12
F ifteen Italian tourists tested positive for coranavirus on Wednesday, taking the total confirmed cases in the country to 28, including 3 in Kerala who have now recuperated. An Italian tourist had tested posi- tive a day earlier. His wife too has become a confirmed case. With the count going up by the day, the Government announced that all interna- tional passengers will hence- forth be screened at airports for the disease. Earlier, travellers from only 12 countries were being screened at the airports. An Indian driver accom- panying the Italian tourists has also tested positive. So far, a total of 16 Italian tourists have been tested positive apart from the driver. Meanwhile, Paytm has advised all its employees to work from home for the next couple of days after one of their employees from Gurugram tested positive. He is supposed to be the same Delhi man who had returned from Italy and tested positive on Tuesday. Paytm also decided to shut its offices in Gurugram and Noida for at least two days. A Paytm spokesperson said, “One of our colleagues based out of Gurugram office who recently returned from Italy post a vacation has sadly been tested positive for coron- avirus. He is receiving appro- priate treatment and we are extending complete support to his family. As a precaution- ary measure, we have suggest- ed his team members to get health tests done immediately. We have also advised all our colleagues to work from home for a couple of days while we get our offices sanitised. However, there will not be any impact on our daily operations and Paytm services will con- tinue as usual.” Meanwhile, 21 Italian tourists were shifted out from an ITBP quarantine centre and sent to a private hospital in Gurugram and a centre in Delhi. Their three Indians tour operators have been trans- ferred to Safdarjung Hospital. The Italian tourists and three Indians were admitted to the ITBP centre in Chhawla on Tuesday. The centre already has 112 people, 76 Indians and 36 for- eigners, since February 27 after they were evacuated by an Indian Air Force (IAF) plane from China’s Wuhan, the epi- centre of the deadly coron- avirus. The first samples of these 112 people had tested negative when reports came in last week. Meanwhile, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said so far 5,89,000 people have been screened at airports, over 15,000 at major and minor sea ports, around 10 lakh at bor- ders with Nepal and around 27,000 were currently under community surveillance. Of the confirmed cases, 16 are of a tourist group from Italy. An Italian man and his wife are being treated at Jaipur’s SMS Hospital, while 15 members of the group and their Indian dri- ver have been quarantined at the ITBP camp in Chhawla. Among others is a 45- year-old man from Delhi’s Mayur Vihar and six of his rel- atives from Agra whom he recently visited. They are all being treated at Safdarjung Hospital. According to Health Ministry officials, the Italian tourists wanted to go back to their country after the first per- son in their group tested pos- itive in Jaipur, but authorities advised them to stay in India. Continued on Page 4 H ours after Congress lead- ers accused the BJP of confining eight of its MLAs, including allies, to a hotel in Haryana as part of a conspira- cy to topple the 14-month-old Madhya Pradesh Government, six of them returned to Bhopal on Wednesday evening. Six legislators of the Congress, the BSP, the SP and independents accompanied by two Ministers, soon after reach- ing Bhopal, reached Chief Minister’s residence in the evening. However, Congress leaders claimed that four of their MLAs are still missing. The Congress has alleged the BJP is making attempts to poach its MLAs in a bid to top- ple of the Kamal Nath Government, a charge denied by the Opposition party. The MLAs were allegedly taken to a hotel in Manesar (Haryana), where State Ministers Jaivardhan Singh and Jitu Patwari accompanied by senior party leader Digvijay Singh had reached after mid- night on Wednesday. They were not allowed to meet the legislators, but they managed to meet BSP MLA Rambai and took her with them to Bhopal. Those who returned to Bhopal are: Congress’ Aidal Singh Kansana, Kamlesh Jatav and Ranveer Jatav, BSP’s Janjeev Kushwaha and Rambai, while SP’s Rajesh Shukla. Those still missing are Surendra Shera, Bisahulal Singh, Hardeep Singh Dang and Raghuraj Kansana. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath told PTI, “Things are under control... The MLAs will come back”. Interestingly, the Scindia camp Ministers did not reach CM House. However one of them, Pradyumn Singh Tomar speaking to the media extend- ed support to the Kamal Nath Government but did not reply as why certain Ministers were not seen at CM House on their return to the State Capital. Scindia earlier had pleaded ignorance about the horse- trading episode as media had questioned him on this in Gwalior. “Whistleblower” of the horse-trading controversy, senior Congress leaders Digvijay appeared before the media on Wednesday and said there is no threat to the Kamal Nath Government. He again mounted charges on former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan saying Chouhan had hired two char- tered planes to ferry MLAs out of Madhya Pradesh. According to Digvijay, four MLAs were taken to Bengaluru. “The BJP is apprehensive of anti-mafia action initiated by the Nath Government and is engaging in such dirty tactics,” Congress MP media cell in- charge Shobha Oza said. Continued on Page 4 W ith no domestic buyers in sight even after months of aggressive hawking, the Government has now decided to allow Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to acquire total stake in the national carrier Air India. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday changed the rules for the sale of Air India by per- mitting NRIs to control up to 100 per cent stake as against the earlier limit of 49 per cent. The decision comes at a time when the Government has invited preliminary bids for selling the “Maharaja” lock stock and barrel. However, foreign invest- ments in the national carrier, including that of foreign air- lines, shall not exceed 49 per cent, either directly or indi- rectly, an official statement said. It said the condition that substantial ownership and effective control of Air India shall continue to be vested in Indian nationals. Addressing media on the issue, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, “Today’s deci- sion on Air India is one mile- stone decision.” The airline will come under private hands but it will continue to provide ser- vices to passengers and it would also increase investment opportunities, he said, without explaining much details of pre- sent status of the situation. “To permit foreign invest- ment up to 100 per cent by those NRIs, who are Indian nationals, in case of Air India Ltd, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved to amend the extant FDI policy,” the statement said. It said in light of the pro- posed strategic disinvestment of 100 per cent of Air India, it has been decided that foreign investment in the national car- rier be brought on a level play- ing field with other scheduled airline operators. The amendment “are meant to liberalise and simpli- fy the FDI policy to provide ease of doing business in the country,” it said, adding it would lead to largest FDI inflows and thereby contribut- ing to growth of investment, income and employment. Allowing 100 per cent investment by NRIs in the car- rier would also not be in vio- lation of Substantial Ownership and Effective Control (SOEC) norms. NRI investments would be treated as domestic invest- ments. Under the SOEC frame- work, which is followed in the airline industry globally, a car- rier that flies overseas from a particular country should be substantially owned by that country’s Government or its nationals. A fter President Ram Nath Kovind rejected the last remaining mercy plea of Pawan Kumar Gupta, one of the four death-row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape and mur- der case, the Delhi Government on Wednesday moved a city court seeking a fresh date for execution of the four convicts. According to Delhi Prison Rules, a 14-day period has to be given to a death-row convict after the dismissal of a clemen- cy plea before the prisoner can be hanged. All the four are to be hanged together. A Union Home Ministry official said President Ram Nath Kovind has rejected the mercy petition of 25-year-old Pawan Kumar Gupta. The Delhi Government told Additional Sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana that all legal remedies of the convicts have been exhausted and nothing survives now. The judge then directed the convicts to file their response by Thursday even as the prosecution said no notice was required. While issuing the notice, the court said principles of nat- ural justice are part of Article 21 (right to life and personal liberty) of the Constitution and the sacrosanct principle of “Audi alteram partem” (listen to the other side) cannot be ignored. Continued on Page 4 E xpelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and seven others, including policemen, were on Wednesday found guilty by a Delhi court for the custodial death of Unnao rape survivor’s father. District judge Dharmesh Sharma convicted them of culpable homicide, not amounting to murder. The court said the accused had no intention of killing him, “however, they beat up the victim in a brutal manner that led to his death.” The judge also criminated the role of doctors who were entrusted to take of the rape victim’s father, saying “doctors at the district hospital were negligent and acted like butchers”. Judge Sharma also said the facts and circumstances brought on the record prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused hatched another crucial part of the conspiracy to foist a false case upon the victim by planting a country- made gun and four cartridges. The court said the accused — Ashok Singh Bhadauria, KP Singh (both policemen), Kuldeep Singh Sengar, Vineet Mishra, Birendra Singh, Shashi Pratap Singh, Suman Singh and Atul (Sengar’s brother) — are held guilty of committing offence under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy). Continued on Page 4 E nding the seven-month long blackout of social media platforms, the Jammu & Kashmir administration final- ly lifted the ban on accessing social media via 2G mobile/broadband internet ser- vices while curbs on high speed 3G and 4G internet services were further extended till March 17, on Wednesday. Members of the media fra- ternity, students community and internet users heaved a sigh of relief and shared messages on social media platforms in jubilation. As per the latest order, the Government has also done away with the list of selected websites that could be accessed by the internet users across the region. The fresh order issued by Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary, Home Department, stated, “People with post-paid SIMs will have access to inter- net services but those with pre-paid SIMs will be able to access internet only after undergoing verification applic- able for post-paid SIMs and internet connectivity will be available on fixed landline con- nections”. Internet services were sus- pended across J&K ahead of the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5. It was restored in a phased manner across J&K. L ooming coronavirus threat is all set to play spoilsport with Holi festivities. President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah and party president JP Nadda, on Wednesday said they would not attend any Holi Milan function in view of the coron- avirus outbreak. Holi is on March 10. Meanwhile, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday that he would not celebrate Holi in wake of communal violence in North- east Delhi. In a tweet posted using the official Twitter handle of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, President Ram Nath Kovind said, “With alertness and safeguards, we all can help contain the outbreak of COVID-19. In a precau- tionary measure, the Rashtrapati Bhavan will not hold the traditional Holi Milan. The Prime Minister too tweeted that he would not hold Holi Milan as experts have advised to reduce mass gatherings to avoid the spread of coronavirus. “Experts across the world have advised to reduce mass gatherings to avoid the spread of COVID19. Hence this year, I have decided not to partici- pate in any ‘Holi Milan’ pro- gramme,” Modi tweeted. Following Modi’s announcement, Nadda, Shah and other senior party leaders also said they would not par- ticipate in any Holi Milan function due to concerns over spread of coronavirus. “The world is battling COVID-19 novel coronavirus. The countries & medical fra- ternity are jointly making efforts to contain its spread. Keeping this in mind, this year, I will neither celebrate Holi nor organise Holi Milan. Stay safe, stay healthy,” Nadda tweeted. According to sources, Nadda has written to all State unit presidents, asking them to avoid holding Holi Milan pro- grammes as a precautionary measure. Similarly Union Home Minister Shah urged the peo- ple to avoid public gatherings. “Holi is a very important fes- tival for Indians but in the wake of coronavirus, I have decided not to participate in any Holi Milan this year. I also appeal everyone to avoid pub- lic gatherings and take good care of yourself and your fam- ily,” he said on Twitter. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan has urged people to avoid crowded places and physical contact with people. RNI Regn. No. CHHENG/2012/42718, Postal Reg. No. - RYP DN/34/2013-2015

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Page 1: ˆ 1 2 $ ˙1 ! !3ˆ ˝ 4 ˝!˙# $$˝˜%&’ !(˜)˚˜ˇ* · ˘ˇ ˘ ˇ ˆ ˙ ˆ ˝˘ ˛ ˆ˙ ˆ !˝" ˘ˇ ˚ ˇ ˜ !"#$$$ % ˆ˘ ˇ˘ # ˇ ˘

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# ��$��$��������$������������������������������5�%������� ��������������������������������������� �������#��������������������%����������������4���������6*���������������� �����4��*$!'���%������� ��%����������������� ��!

����� 17 ��73��

Fifteen Italian tourists testedpositive for coranavirus on

Wednesday, taking the totalconfirmed cases in the countryto 28, including 3 in Keralawho have now recuperated. AnItalian tourist had tested posi-tive a day earlier. His wife toohas become a confirmed case.

With the count going up bythe day, the Governmentannounced that all interna-tional passengers will hence-forth be screened at airports forthe disease. Earlier, travellersfrom only 12 countries werebeing screened at the airports.

An Indian driver accom-panying the Italian tourists hasalso tested positive. So far, atotal of 16 Italian tourists havebeen tested positive apart fromthe driver.

Meanwhile, Paytm hasadvised all its employees towork from home for the nextcouple of days after one of theiremployees from Gurugramtested positive. He is supposedto be the same Delhi man whohad returned from Italy andtested positive on Tuesday.Paytm also decided to shut itsoffices in Gurugram and Noida

for at least two days.A Paytm spokesperson

said, “One of our colleaguesbased out of Gurugram officewho recently returned fromItaly post a vacation has sadlybeen tested positive for coron-avirus. He is receiving appro-priate treatment and we areextending complete supportto his family. As a precaution-ary measure, we have suggest-ed his team members to gethealth tests done immediately.

We have also advised all ourcolleagues to work from homefor a couple of days while weget our offices sanitised.However, there will not be anyimpact on our daily operationsand Paytm services will con-tinue as usual.”

Meanwhile, 21 Italiantourists were shifted out froman ITBP quarantine centre andsent to a private hospital inGurugram and a centre inDelhi. Their three Indians tour

operators have been trans-ferred to Safdarjung Hospital.

The Italian tourists andthree Indians were admitted tothe ITBP centre in Chhawla onTuesday.

The centre already has 112people, 76 Indians and 36 for-eigners, since February 27 afterthey were evacuated by anIndian Air Force (IAF) planefrom China’s Wuhan, the epi-centre of the deadly coron-avirus. The first samples ofthese 112 people had testednegative when reports came inlast week.

Meanwhile, HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan said sofar 5,89,000 people have beenscreened at airports, over15,000 at major and minor seaports, around 10 lakh at bor-ders with Nepal and around

27,000 were currently undercommunity surveillance.

Of the confirmed cases, 16are of a tourist group from Italy.An Italian man and his wife arebeing treated at Jaipur’s SMSHospital, while 15 members ofthe group and their Indian dri-ver have been quarantined atthe ITBP camp in Chhawla.

Among others is a 45-year-old man from Delhi’sMayur Vihar and six of his rel-atives from Agra whom herecently visited. They are allbeing treated at SafdarjungHospital. According to HealthMinistry officials, the Italiantourists wanted to go back totheir country after the first per-son in their group tested pos-itive in Jaipur, but authoritiesadvised them to stay in India.

Continued on Page 4

��� � )�8�43

Hours after Congress lead-ers accused the BJP of

confining eight of its MLAs,including allies, to a hotel inHaryana as part of a conspira-cy to topple the 14-month-oldMadhya Pradesh Government,six of them returned to Bhopalon Wednesday evening.

Six legislators of theCongress, the BSP, the SP andindependents accompanied bytwo Ministers, soon after reach-ing Bhopal, reached ChiefMinister’s residence in theevening. However, Congressleaders claimed that four oftheir MLAs are still missing.

The Congress has allegedthe BJP is making attempts topoach its MLAs in a bid to top-ple of the Kamal NathGovernment, a charge deniedby the Opposition party.

The MLAs were allegedlytaken to a hotel in Manesar(Haryana), where StateMinisters Jaivardhan Singh andJitu Patwari accompanied bysenior party leader DigvijaySingh had reached after mid-night on Wednesday. Theywere not allowed to meet thelegislators, but they managed to

meet BSP MLA Rambai andtook her with them to Bhopal.

Those who returned toBhopal are: Congress’ AidalSingh Kansana, Kamlesh Jatavand Ranveer Jatav, BSP’s JanjeevKushwaha and Rambai, whileSP’s Rajesh Shukla.

Those still missing areSurendra Shera, BisahulalSingh, Hardeep Singh Dangand Raghuraj Kansana.

Meanwhile, MadhyaPradesh Chief Minister KamalNath told PTI, “Things areunder control... The MLAs willcome back”.

Interestingly, the Scindiacamp Ministers did not reachCM House. However one ofthem, Pradyumn Singh Tomarspeaking to the media extend-ed support to the Kamal NathGovernment but did not replyas why certain Ministers werenot seen at CM House ontheir return to the State Capital.

Scindia earlier had pleadedignorance about the horse-trading episode as media hadquestioned him on this inGwalior.

“Whistleblower” of thehorse-trading controversy,senior Congress leadersDigvijay appeared before themedia on Wednesday and saidthere is no threat to the KamalNath Government.

He again mounted chargeson former Chief MinisterShivraj Singh Chouhan sayingChouhan had hired two char-tered planes to ferry MLAs outof Madhya Pradesh. Accordingto Digvijay, four MLAs weretaken to Bengaluru.

“The BJP is apprehensive ofanti-mafia action initiated bythe Nath Government and isengaging in such dirty tactics,”Congress MP media cell in-charge Shobha Oza said.

Continued on Page 4

����� 17 ��73��

With no domestic buyers insight even after months

of aggressive hawking, theGovernment has now decidedto allow Non-Resident Indians(NRIs) to acquire total stake inthe national carrier Air India.

The Union Cabinet onWednesday changed the rulesfor the sale of Air India by per-mitting NRIs to control up to100 per cent stake as against theearlier limit of 49 per cent. Thedecision comes at a time whenthe Government has invitedpreliminary bids for sellingthe “Maharaja” lock stock andbarrel.

However, foreign invest-ments in the national carrier,including that of foreign air-lines, shall not exceed 49 percent, either directly or indi-rectly, an official statementsaid.

It said the condition thatsubstantial ownership andeffective control of Air Indiashall continue to be vested inIndian nationals.

Addressing media on theissue, Union Minister PrakashJavadekar said, “Today’s deci-sion on Air India is one mile-stone decision.” The airline willcome under private hands butit will continue to provide ser-

vices to passengers and it wouldalso increase investmentopportunities, he said, withoutexplaining much details of pre-sent status of the situation.

“To permit foreign invest-ment up to 100 per cent by

those NRIs, who are Indiannationals, in case of Air IndiaLtd, the Union Cabinet chairedby Prime Minister NarendraModi has approved to amendthe extant FDI policy,” thestatement said.

It said in light of the pro-posed strategic disinvestmentof 100 per cent of Air India, ithas been decided that foreigninvestment in the national car-rier be brought on a level play-ing field with other scheduledairline operators.

The amendment “aremeant to liberalise and simpli-fy the FDI policy to provideease of doing business in thecountry,” it said, adding itwould lead to largest FDIinflows and thereby contribut-ing to growth of investment,income and employment.

Allowing 100 per centinvestment by NRIs in the car-rier would also not be in vio-lation of Substantial Ownershipand Effective Control (SOEC)norms. NRI investments wouldbe treated as domestic invest-ments. Under the SOEC frame-work, which is followed in theairline industry globally, a car-rier that flies overseas from aparticular country should besubstantially owned by thatcountry’s Government or itsnationals.

���%%� �� � �� 17 ��73��

After President Ram NathKovind rejected the last

remaining mercy plea of PawanKumar Gupta, one of the fourdeath-row convicts in the 2012Nirbhaya gang-rape and mur-der case, the DelhiGovernment on Wednesdaymoved a city court seeking afresh date for execution of thefour convicts.

According to Delhi PrisonRules, a 14-day period has to begiven to a death-row convictafter the dismissal of a clemen-cy plea before the prisonercan be hanged. All the four areto be hanged together.

A Union Home Ministryofficial said President RamNath Kovind has rejected themercy petition of 25-year-oldPawan Kumar Gupta.

The Delhi Governmenttold Additional Sessions JudgeDharmendra Rana that all legal

remedies of the convicts havebeen exhausted and nothingsurvives now. The judge thendirected the convicts to filetheir response by Thursdayeven as the prosecution said nonotice was required.

While issuing the notice,the court said principles of nat-ural justice are part of Article21 (right to life and personalliberty) of the Constitutionand the sacrosanct principle of“Audi alteram partem” (listen tothe other side) cannot beignored.

Continued on Page 4

���%%� �� � �� 17 ��73��

Expelled BJP MLA KuldeepSingh Sengar and seven

others, including policemen,were on Wednesday foundguilty by a Delhi court for thecustodial death of Unnao rapesurvivor’s father. District judgeDharmesh Sharma convictedthem of culpable homicide,not amounting to murder.

The court said the accusedhad no intention of killinghim, “however, they beat up thevictim in a brutal manner thatled to his death.” The judge alsocriminated the role of doctorswho were entrusted to take ofthe rape victim’s father, saying“doctors at the district hospitalwere negligent and acted likebutchers”.

Judge Sharma also said thefacts and circumstancesbrought on the record provebeyond reasonable doubt that

the accused hatched anothercrucial part of the conspiracyto foist a false case upon thevictim by planting a country-made gun and four cartridges.

The court said the accused— Ashok Singh Bhadauria,KP Singh (both policemen),Kuldeep Singh Sengar, VineetMishra, Birendra Singh, ShashiPratap Singh, Suman Singhand Atul (Sengar’s brother) —are held guilty of committingoffence under section 120-B(criminal conspiracy).

Continued on Page 4

����� 9400/

Ending the seven-monthlong blackout of social

media platforms, the Jammu &Kashmir administration final-ly lifted the ban on accessingsocial media via 2Gmobile/broadband internet ser-vices while curbs on high speed3G and 4G internet serviceswere further extended tillMarch 17, on Wednesday.

Members of the media fra-ternity, students communityand internet users heaved a sighof relief and shared messageson social media platforms injubilation.

As per the latest order, theGovernment has also doneaway with the list of selectedwebsites that could be accessedby the internet users across theregion.

The fresh order issued byShaleen Kabra, PrincipalSecretary, Home Department,stated, “People with post-paid

SIMs will have access to inter-net services but those withpre-paid SIMs will be able toaccess internet only afterundergoing verification applic-able for post-paid SIMs andinternet connectivity will be

available on fixed landline con-nections”.

Internet services were sus-pended across J&K ahead ofthe abrogation of Article 370 onAugust 5. It was restored in aphased manner across J&K.

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

����� 17 ��73��

Looming coronavirus threatis all set to play spoilsport

with Holi festivities. PresidentRam Nath Kovind, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi andtop BJP leaders, includingHome Minister Amit Shahand party president JP Nadda,on Wednesday said they wouldnot attend any Holi Milanfunction in view of the coron-avirus outbreak. Holi is onMarch 10.

Meanwhile, Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal saidon Wednesday that he wouldnot celebrate Holi in wake ofcommunal violence in North-east Delhi.

In a tweet posted using theofficial Twitter handle of theRashtrapati Bhavan, PresidentRam Nath Kovind said, “Withalertness and safeguards, we allcan help contain the outbreakof COVID-19. In a precau-tionary measure, theRashtrapati Bhavan will nothold the traditional Holi Milan.

The Prime Minister too

tweeted that he would nothold Holi Milan as expertshave advised to reduce massgatherings to avoid the spreadof coronavirus.

“Experts across the worldhave advised to reduce massgatherings to avoid the spreadof COVID19. Hence this year,I have decided not to partici-pate in any ‘Holi Milan’ pro-gramme,” Modi tweeted.

Following Modi’sannouncement, Nadda, Shahand other senior party leadersalso said they would not par-ticipate in any Holi Milanfunction due to concerns overspread of coronavirus.

“The world is battlingCOVID-19 novel coronavirus.The countries & medical fra-ternity are jointly makingefforts to contain its spread.Keeping this in mind, this year,

I will neither celebrate Holi nororganise Holi Milan. Stay safe,stay healthy,” Nadda tweeted.

According to sources,Nadda has written to all Stateunit presidents, asking them toavoid holding Holi Milan pro-grammes as a precautionarymeasure.

Similarly Union HomeMinister Shah urged the peo-ple to avoid public gatherings.“Holi is a very important fes-tival for Indians but in thewake of coronavirus, I havedecided not to participate inany Holi Milan this year. I alsoappeal everyone to avoid pub-lic gatherings and take goodcare of yourself and your fam-ily,” he said on Twitter.

Health Minister HarshVardhan has urged people toavoid crowded places andphysical contact with people.

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Besides strengthening itsconventional fighting capa-

bilities, India is now focusingon a dynamic response alongits western (Pakistan) andnorthern (China) that is belowan all out war, Army Chief MM Naravane said here onWednesday.

Elaborating upon thisaspect, he said the Balakotairstrikes demonstrated that ifone was skilful, escalation doesnot always lead to war.Moreover, he noted that theIndian Army was looking totap blockchain technologies,lasers and directed energyweapons for possible militaryuse.

Addressing a seminar, theArmy Chief said the force hasanalysed the changing charac-ter of war within the overallframework of conflict, as rele-vant to the Indian contextadding, “the 'grey zone' and itsvaried nuances are receivingour concerted attention.”

Talking about the new phe-nomenon of showing military

prowess below the threshold ofan all-out conflict, he quotedthe examples of the Houthirebels attack on Riyadh airportand oil facilities in Saudi Arabiaand closer home, the Balakotairstrike. He said these sawshort, intense and escalatorycycles of military activity in fullmedia glare, “where sophisti-cated information narrativesplayed an equally importantrole.”

For years, Indians were

told that if and when theInternational Border (IB)between India and Pakistan iscrossed it would escalate to afull-fledged war, the Armychief noted.

“Balakot demonstrated thatif you play the escalatory gamewith skill, military ascendancycan be established in shortcycles of conflict that do notnecessarily lead to war,” hesaid.

Naravane said the future

wars have possibly entered theera of 'contested equality,'wherein technology will makeunequals, equal. “Perhaps thatis already happening -- the bat-tle wining factor in futurecombat may not be numericalequivalence but technologicalsuperiority,” he said while high-lighting the growing impor-tance of artificial intelligenceand cyber.

Naravane pointed out thatChinese dominance in theSouth China Sea showed smallincremental steps -- none ofthem serious enough to war-rant any action or reaction --cumulatively achieved the aimwithout firing a single shot orinviting retaliatory action.

The Chinese way of war,epitomised by thinkers such asSun Tzu, has given a new leaseand life to the concept of “non-contact or grey zone warfare”,where one shed the binaryapproach to conflict, Naravanesaid. He also asserted that therise of non-state actors such asterrorists demands that victo-ry in war is formulated in anuanced manner.

����� 17 ��73��

With the arrest of threeaccused in the February

2019 Pulwama terror attackthat took a toll of 40 CRPFjawans, the NIA has securedthree emails exchanged by thesuicide bomber Adil AhmadDar, the contents of which areexpected to unravel the largerconspiracy in the case.

Following the lead, theNIA on Wednesday arrestedtwo more accused, Abdul GaniBhat and his son MuntazirAhmed Bhat, leading to totalfive arrests in the case. Both areresidents of Pulwama andaccused of being involved infunding and provision of logis-tics for the deadly terror attack.

The emails were exchangedon the encrypted ProtonMailmobile app and the last mailwas sent by him on January 18,2019, sources said, adding themails related to planning aboutthe terror strike with theirhandlers based in Pakistan.

The leads have come soonafter the arrest of Taroq AhmedShah, 50, on Tuesday and hisdaughter Insha Jan of

Hakripora village inPulwama. OnWednesday, the NIAconducted fresh raidsat the house of fatherand daughter whowere arrested by theNIA in connectionwith the Pulwamaattack case. It alsoquestioned a suspectwho is a resident ofQasbayar area inPulwama in further-ance of the probe.

In the Pulwamaattack last year, asmany as 40 CRPFpersonnel were killedin an IED blast exe-cuted through an explosives-laden car that rammed a con-voy of the CRPF.

Tariq Ahmed Shah workedas a tipper driver in the SouthKashmir, disclosed duringinvestigation that his house atHakripora, Pulwama was usedby Adil Ahmed Dar (Fidayeen),Mohd. Umar Farooq, aPakistani terrorist and IEDmaker, Kamran anotherPakistani terrorist (both werelater killed in encounters with

security forces), SameerAhmed Dar, a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist fromPulwama and MohmmadIsmail alias Ibrahim, a Pakistaniterrorist.

“ Accused Tariq AhmedShah facilitated all the terror-ists at his house for shelteringand for planning of the heinousattack on the CRPF convoy.His house was also used by theabove mentioned terrorists forpreparing and recording of

video of Fidayeen Adil AhmedDar, which was released byJaish-e-Mohammad soon afterthe Pulwama attack,” the NIAhas said.

Shah's daughter Insha Jan,23, facilitated the terrorists attheir home and provided foodand other logistics duringtheir stay on more than 15occasions for two-four dayseach time, in their house dur-ing the year 2018-2019, theNIA said.

����� 17 ��73��

The Govt spent �446.52crore on the foreign visits

of Prime Minister NarendraModi in the last 5 years, theMinistry of External Affairssaid on Wednesday.

Responding to a questionin the Lok Sabha, Minister ofState for External Affairs VMuraleedharan said the expen-diture includes cost of char-tered flights. According to datagiven by him, a cost of �121.85cr was incurred in 2015-16while an expenditure of �78.52cr was incurred in 2016-17. In2017-18, a cost of �99.90 cr wasincurred.

����� 17 ��73��

Carrying forward PrimeMinister Narendra Modi

and President Donald Trump'sassertion during the latter'svisit to India on furtherstrengthening defence andstrategic ties, US DefenceSecretary Mark Esper will holdbilateral talks with DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh hereMarch 16-17. Besides review-ing growing military ties, thetwo leaders are also expected tofocus on defence trade. At pre-sent, India has procuredweapons worth over 18 billiondollars in the last few years.

Esper's visit comes daysafter Modi on February 25said during the joint pressconference with Trump here

increasing the bilateral defenceand security cooperation is avery key aspect of “one of themost important partnerships”of the 21st century. He alsoannounced that the two coun-tries decided to have compre-hensive global partnershipthereby giving a strong fillip tostrategic ties.Trump announcedthat the two countries havefinalised defence deals worthUSD 3 billion and asserted thattheir focus was on having acomprehensive trade deal.

The relations between thetwo countries have never beenas good as they are now, Trumpsaid, adding that the countrieshave made “wonderful deal”.

Talking about defence andstrategic ties between the twocountries, Trump said the US

is looking forward to providingIndia with some of the best andmost feared military equipmenton the planet.

“We make the great-est weapons ever made: air-

planes, missiles, rockets, ships.We make the best. And we'redealing now with India. But thisincludes advanced air defencesystems and armed andunarmed aerial vehicles,” Trump

said after announcing the threebillion dollar deal for 24 navalmulti-role helicopters and sixApache attack helicopters.

In this backdrop the Indianand US Defence Ministers willtake stock of the defence tiesincluding further enhancingjoint training amongst all thethree Services and exchange ofofficers for courses in eachother's country.

The two leaders are alsolikely to review the progressmade in further promoting jointventures to manufacture front-line weapons in India besidesaccess to cutting-edge defencetechnology of the US, sourcessaid here on Wednesday. Theseprojects come under the ambitDefence Trade and TechnologyIntiative inked between the two

countries some years ago. India and US are in

advanced stage of negotiationsfor some defence deals and thetwo defence ministers may alsoreview their progress, officialssaid. The proposed dealsinclude six more P-8I long-range maritime patrol aircraft($1.8 billion), the NationalAdvanced Surface to Air MissileSystem-II for the missile shieldover Delhi ($1.8 billion), 30 SeaGuardian armed drones (over$2.5 billion) and 13 big MK-45naval gun systems for war-ships ($1.02 billion).

The US may also push itscase for selling their fighter jetsF-18, , F-15EX(upgraded ver-sion of F-16) or F-21 for the big'Make in India' project to man-ufacture 114 jets for the IAF.

����� 17 ��73��

The three Services reportedlesser number of suicides

last year than that reported inthe two years preceding 2019.

The Indian Navy, Air Forceand Army reported 95 cases ofsuicide by their personnel in2019, Minister of State forDefence Shripad Naik told theLok Sabha on Wednesday in awritten reply

He informed the Housethat the Navy reported twocases, Air Force 20 cases andArmy 73 cases of suicide lastyear. While there were a totalof 107 suicides in 2018 with theNavy, Air Force and Armyreporting 8 cases, 16 cases and83 cases respectively, the num-ber of suicide cases in 2017 was5, 21 and 77 in Navy, Air

Force and Army respectively. In the last three years, it

means, the Army saw 233 of itsmen ending their lives, the AirForce 57 personnel and theNavy 15 of its men committing

The Defence Institute ofPsychological Research (DIPR),after conducting a number ofstudies since 2006, has listed

domestic and personal prob-lems, marital discord, stressand financial trouble as themajor causes of suicides byarmed forces personnel.

The central governmenthas taken several steps towardsstress amelioration amongsttroops like deployment oftrained psychological counsel-lors, improvement in the qual-ity of food and clothing, train-ing in stress management andprovision of recreational facil-ities, he said.

“Buddy system, leave con-cessions, approachability ofseniors, facilities for move-ment of troops from borderareas and establishing griev-ance redressal mechanism atvarious levels are some of theother steps that have beentaken,” the minister added.

����� 17 ��73��

The Centre on Wednesdaylaunched the second phase

of the ambitious �1.40-lakhcrore Swachchh Bharat Mission(Grameen) aimed at ensuringeffective solid and liquid wastemanagement in every pan-chayat. As it highlighted theconstruction of 10 crore toiletsin rural areas and over 5.9 lakhvillages in 699 districts of 35states/UTs declaring them-selves open defecation free(ODF) in the first phase of theMission, launched in 2014, theGovernment released a surveyreport on the impact of themission on convenience, safe-ty and self respect of women inrural India.

The report claimed 93 percent women feel safer fromassault by not going out in theopen to defecate, 91 per centwomen save up to one hour oftheir day earlier spent on walk-ing to defecation sites and 88per cent women are proud to

own a toilet. Similarly, 93 per cent

women felt that they need nothave to stop eating to controlthe urge to defecate anymore,81 per cent women said theyneed not worry about privacywhile changing menstrualhygiene material anymore, 93per cent women no longer fearcontracting infections by notgoing out in the open to defe-cate.

The survey, done by theBill and Melinda Gates

Foundation and UNICEF dur-ing February, covered 6,993women living in Bihar, UttarPradesh, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

SBM (G) Phase-II willfocus on sustaining the gainsmade in the first phase of theprogramme in the past fiveyears in terms of toilet accessand usage, and will ensure thatno one is left behind, Union

Jal Shakti MinisterGajendra Singh Shekhawat toldreporters after the launch at the

National Dissemination andConsultation Workshop onSBM (G) Phase-II.

He said the programmewill be implemented from2020-2021 to 2024-2025 in amission mode with a total out-lay of Rs 1,40,881 crore.

“This will be a novel modelof convergence among differ-ent verticals of financing. Ofthis, Rs 52,497 crore will beallocated from the budget ofdepartment of drinking waterand sanitation.

The remaining amount willbe dovetailed from the fundsbeing released under the 15thfinance commission, MGN-REGS and revenue generationmodels particularly for SLWM,”he said.

On February 19, the cabi-net approved the second phaseof the Swachh Bharat Mission,Prime Minister NarendraModi's pet project focussedon sustainability of ODF andmanagement of solid and liq-uid waste.

����� 17 ��73��

The Supreme CourtWednesday allowed banks

and financial institutions fromproviding services related tocryptocurrencies by settingaside the RBI’s 2018 circularwhich had prohibited them.

Cryptocurrencies are dig-ital or virtual currencies inwhich encryption techniquesare used to regulate the gener-ation of their units and verifythe transfer of funds, operatingindependently of a centralbank.

A three-judge bench, head-ed by Justice RF Nariman, saidthe Reserve Bank of India(RBI) circular is liable to be setaside on the ground of “pro-portionality”.

“Accordingly, the writ peti-tions are allowed and the cir-

cular dated April 6, 2018 is setaside,” said the bench, alsocomprising justices AniruddhaBose and V Ramasubramanian.

“When the consistentstand of RBI is that they havenot banned VCs (virtu-al currencies) andwhen theGovernment ofIndia is unable totake a call despiteseveral committeescoming up with sever-al proposals includingtwo draft bills, both of whichadvocated exactly oppositepositions, it is not possible forus to hold that the impugnedmeasure is proportionate,” thebench said in its 180-pageverdict.

The apex court deliveredthe verdict on pleas challeng-ing the RBI circular.

����� 17 ��73��

The Supreme Court asked theDelhi High Court on

Wednesday to hear on March 6a plea seeking lodging of FIRsagainst some BJP leaders for

alleged hate speeches whichpurportedly led to recent

riots here and said itmay also explore thepossibility of “peace-ful resolution” of thedispute”.

The apexcourt, which said it

“wants to see if peace ispossible”, observed thatadjournment of hearing by thehigh court for “such a longperiod” in April on separatepetitions related to the violencein northeast Delhi was not“justified” and such mattersshould not be delayed for long.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde requested the

chief justice of the high court todispose of these matters “as expe-ditiously as possible” on their ownmerits and in accordance withlaw and also prepone the hear-ing on other related pleas.

The bench, also comprisingjustices BR Gavai and SuryaKant, directed that the hearingon other connected mattersalong with all the applicationsfor impleadment and interven-tion on the issue, which havebeen adjourned to a later dateby high court, may be advancedand be taken up on March 6.

The bench passed the orderwhile hearing a plea filed by 10riots victims seeking registra-tion of FIRs against BJP lead-ers Anurag Thakur, KapilMishra, Parvesh Verma andAbhay Verma and others fortheir alleged hate speeches.

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����� 17 ��73��

No early resolution to par-liament logjam is in sight

as the proceedings in theParliament remained paral-ysed for the third consecutiveday on Wednesday with theCongress resolving that itsprotest will continue till adebate on Delhi riots is allowedin both the Houses.

The BJP and the Modi-Government has made it clearthat the discussion would bepossible only on March 11, aday after 'Holi' in the LokSabha and on March 12 in theRajya sabha.

Congress' leader in LokSabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury said his party hasbeen demanding that thereshould be a discussion inParliament on the recent riotsin the national capital. “TheGovernment should accept itsresponsibility and the perpe-trators of the violence shouldbe punished. We have beenasking the Government repeat-edly to debate on the issue,” hesaid.

The Government is of a

view that in about a week'stime , situation in the Capitalwould return to complete nor-malcy with relief and rehabil-itation work already underwayin the North-East Delhi.Speaker of Lok Sabbha andChairman of Rajya Sabha havealso spoken that a debate onDelhi violence would be heldpost-Holi.

As the Government andopposition are trying to makeDelhi's communal violence apolitical blamegame, the tollhas reached 53 with moreinjured succumbing to theirinjuries.

Parliament could hardlytransact any substantial busi-ness as upper house wasadjourned soon after it beganits proceedings and Lok Sabhaalso witnessed adjournmentfor the day after the Chair hadto put-off proceedings repeat-edly in the wake of loud andcontinuous protests from theCongress benches.

Proceedings in the lowerhouse were disrupted for thethird day on Wednesday asopposition parties createduproar demanding an imme-

diate discussion on the Delhiviolence. The House was firstadjourned soon after it met at11 am, then at noon and final-ly for the day a little past 2 pm.

The Opposition partieswere demanding an immediatediscussion on Delhi violencebut Parliamentary affairsMinister Pralhad Joshi said itcan be taken up on March 11in the Lower House and onMarch 12 in Rajya Sabha.

Not convinced, the oppo-sition continued the proteststorming the well on severaloccasions. Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla was not present dur-

ing the day and the proceedingswere chaired by presiding offi-cers.

Amid din, the Direct TaxVivaad Se Vishwas Bill waspassed by the House.Opposition parties continuedto demand resignation ofHome Minister Amit Shah andcontinued to chant slogans --'Modi Sarkar Shame Shame','Pradhan Mantri Jawab Do'.

Earlier, Congress mem-bers trooped into the Wellshouting slogans and some ofthem displayed placards,demanding resignation ofHome Minister Amit Shah.Nearly 30 members from theCongress were in the Well.Some of them were heard ask-ing where the Speaker wasand also shouted 'we want jus-tice'. Despite the din, twoquestions were taken up dur-ing the Quest ion Hour.Supplementaries to a queryrelated to coal productionwas answered by Joshi, who isalso the Coal Minister. KiritSolanki, who was in the chair,told agitating members thatQuestion Hour should con-tinue.

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RAIPUR | THURSDAY | MARCH 5, 2020chhattisgarh 03

Delegation of Chhattisgarh Teachers Association on Wednesday paid courtesy call on Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel athis office in the State Assembly premise. The delegation gave a letter of thanks to Chief Minister for announcing in thebudget merger of Shikshakarmis, who have completed two years of service, from July 1, 2020. Pioneer Photo

Budget session of C’garh Assembly

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

Alegislative house com-mittee will now probe

alleged custodial deathsoccurred in the state recently.Speaker, Charandas Mahanton Wednesday ordered forconstituting a house commit-tee to probe into the deaths ofjail inmates and accused inpolice custody.

BJP legislator BrijmohanAgrawal raised the matter ofcustodial deaths of KrishnaSarthi and Pankaj Beck inSurajpur district of Surgujaregion during the questionhour.

Replying to his queryHome Minister TamradhwajSahu refused to accept thedeath of Pankaj Beck as a cus-todial death. He committedsuicide at some other placeafter running away from the

custody of police, he said.Opposition members

opposed the claim of theminister and charged thatpolice also registered an FIRinto the matter and also hadmade arrest but the accused

after being released from jailwas indulged in threatening.

While on the other handopposition members alsogrilled the minister over thedeath of one Krishna Sarthi.They charged that Sarthi was

arrested without any causeand after beating him blueand black he was hanged tothe ceiling of a lockup of apolice station.

The opposition memberswanted to know as to why till

date no arrest was made intothe matter and why no com-pensation was provided tothe family members of thedeceased.

Replying to it the minis-ter informed that the matterof compensation was pend-ing before the LegalAssistance Service.

Dissatisfied over theanswer of the ministerregarding action on theaccused Leader of OppositionDharamlal Kaushik, legisla-tors Ajay Chandrakar,Narayan Chandel, ShivratanSharma and Saurabh Singhdemanded of the Speaker toform a House Committee intothe matter.

Speaker gave consent totheir demand and ordered forconstituting a housecommittee to probe intocustodial deaths.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Health and family welfareminister T. S. Singhdeo

announced suspension of twodrug inspectors onWednesday. He made theannouncement while answer-ing to call attention motionduring the budget session ofthe state assembly regardingthe Pendari sterilization campin which 83 women weretaken ill, out of whom 13 died,in 2014.

Congress MLAs ShaileshPandey and Rashmi AshishSingh raised the issue throughcall attention motion.

Replying to it ministersaid there had been delay insubmission of chargesheetwhich was not submitted evenafter receipt of lab reports, forwhich drug inspectors

Dharamveer Dhruve andassistant drug inspectorRajesh Kshatri will be sus-pended.

Minister stated that theincident had occurred onNovember 8, 2014 in which 13women had died due to drugrelated complication. Insteadof taking action against thoseinvolved in procurement ofmedicine, the doctor, chiefmedical and health officerBilaspur Dr R.K. Bhange wasterminated. After Kolkata Labreport confirmed sub-stan-dard quality of Ciprocintablet, it was banned in thestate.

Licenses of MessersMahavar Pharma PrivateLimited, Khamardih, Raipurwere cancelled while directorsRamesh Mahavar and SumitMahavar were booked for the

crime. Similarly, license ofMessers KavitaPharmaceuticals, Tifra,Bilaspur was also cancelled, hesaid.

Minister furtherannounced financialassistance of `4 lakh ascompensation for the victims.State government also adopted32 children, provided themfree health services at privatehospital in Bilaspur. Apartfrom these government alsomade a recurring deposit of `3lakh in joint account ofminors and collector. TotalAmount after accruinginterest will be given to themon their attaining 18 years ofage. They are also beingprovided free education. Withmembers insisting on takingstern action, minister thenannounced the suspension.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Under Dr Khoochand BaghelHealth Assistance Scheme and

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan MantriJan Arogya Yojana, stakeholdersin the state can now register free ofcost to make their e-card.

Chief District Medical andHealth officer Dr Meera Baghel saidunder the scheme, through‘Ayushman Mitra’ or kiosk centre, inboth registered government or pri-vate hospital, the patients can availthe health services.

‘Ayushman Mitra’ or kiosk cen-tre operator will search database ofperson under the scheme.

If name of beneficiary is foundin database, then the person's aad-har number or other governmentphoto-identity card and ration card

number is collected. Based on thecertification of beneficiary the B.I.Sapproval is taken from Trust. Afterapproval for registration, e-card

print will be printed for beneficiary.Under the schemes, beneficiary

can avail benefit through therenewed ration card, if card is notavailable, then they should beincluded in Ayushman BharatScheme eligible families. Such ben-eficiaries should have the SECC IDnumber or PM’s Letter holder.Thirdly, such family or beneficiaryhaving already derive benefit orholding the e-card under thescheme, they can also be derive thebenefit. Dr Baghel said even if allthese documents are not availablethen also beneficiary can search thename and if his name is found inthe database, then the person canderive the benefit. For which aadharcard or other personal governmentphoto-identity card is necessary.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Secretary Food, Civil Suppliesand Consumer Protection Dr

Kamalpreet Singh in a letter to allthe district collectors instructedto hold consumer protection andawareness programmes in theirrespective districts on theoccasion of World ConsumersDay on March 15.

In a circular issued to districtcollectors they have beeninstructed to organise camps atschools and colleges and makeaware the students as well as com-mon consumers about their rightand consumer protection.

The district consumerforums too have been asked topublicize the important orders tothe consumers with the help ofpublicity mediums.

The judges, members, advo-cates of district consumer forumshave been asked to organizeworkshops and explain the com-mon citizens about the process ofdisposal of disputes related to

consumers.The government and non

government organisations(NGOs) will assist the districtconsumer forum in this regard, ithas been instructed.

DGP asks cops toeffectively controlover-speeding vehiclesRAIPUR: Chhattisgarh DirectorGeneral of Police (DGP) DMAwasthi on Tuesday instructeddistrict Superintendent of Police(SP) to take strict action againstspeeding vehicles.

In a letter addressed to SPs,the DGP instructed to initiatestrict action against over speedingvehicles in urban and ruralregions through regular speedchecks.

While expressing concernover deaths happening due toover-speeding vehicles, he said“there is need to control thevehicle running over theprescribed speed limits. It is theresponsibility of police toeffectively control deaths due tospeed.”

He further said every monththere will be a review of effortsput in by the district police tocontrol deaths due to speed.

STAFF REPORTER nRAIPUR

For effective implementa-tion of Cigarettes and

Other Tobacco Products Act(COTPA) 2003, healthdepartment organised aday-long state level work-shop at new circuit house.

Police, transport, labour,food and drug administra-tion, urban administrationand developmentdepartment, medical anddental college officers from13 districts participated inthe workshop. They weresensitised on the cigarettes,other tobacco products, itsside effects and modes tocontrol it, and existing lawsto deal with the problem.

Food and drugController S.N. Rathore said

tobacco consumption causesmore harm to body forwhich social awareness isneeded along with effective

implementation of COTPAand Food Safety andStandards Authority of India(FSSAI) norms. There is

need for inter departmentalcoordination for reductionin consumption of tobacco.

National Tobacco

Control Programme statenodal officer Dr KamleshJain said instead of workingas officer, need is to work as

a social worker to fight themenace. Along withcreating awareness there is aneed for stern implementa-tion of provisions of laws,he added.

Tobacco has around4000 types of chemicals outof which 200 causing harmhave been found throughresearch while it causes 60different types of cancer.

Advocate Ranjeet Singhfrom New Delhi and AnantChristian from Gujaratspoke on details of COTPA2003. Officers from Bijapur,Balod, Balrampur-Ramanujganj, Bemetara,Dantewada, Janjgir-Champa, Kawardha,Kondagaon, Koriya,Narayanpur, Raigarh, Sukmaand Surajpur alsoparticipated.

After quitting theoutlawed CPI (M),Kawasi was working as‘Gopniya Sainik’ (secrettroop) and was assistingpolice forces in counter-insurgency operations

STAFF REPORTER n SUKMA

Naxals killed a former col-league who, after surren-

dering, was working as a policeinformer, police said here onWednesday.

Hunga Kawasi, who hadsurrendered last year, waskilled by rebels with sharpedged weapons late last nightnear Palem village underKukananr police station limits,a senior police official said.

After quitting the outlawed

Communist Party of India(Maoist), Kawasi was workingas ‘Gopniya Sainik’ (secrettroop) to provide informationto police and assisting them incounter-insurgency operations,he said.

On Tuesday night, Kawasihad gone to Palem, locatedaround 400 kms away from thecapital, to visit a local fair, theofficial said.

The rebels abducted himfrom the fair and took him to anearby forest. This morning,his body lying in a pool ofblood, was spotted by local vil-lagers who then informedpolice, the official said.

A police team was rushedto the spot and launched acombing operation in the area,he said, adding that the bodyhad been taken for postmortem.

STAFF REPORTER nNARAYANPUR

AChhattisgarh ArmedForce (CAF) jawan was

injured in an encounterwith Naxals in Narayanpurdistrict of the state, policesaid here on Wednesday.

The gun-battle tookplace at around 11 am whena joint team of securityforces was out on patrollingto ensure security to a roadconstruction work underChhotedongar police sta-tion area, located around350 km from capital Raipur,a police official informed.

"The personnel belong-ing to the CAF and districtforce were involved in theoperation launched from

the police camp in Aamdaivalley," he said.

When the securityforces were advancingthrough forest adjacent toAamdai Ghati hill, anexchange of fire broke outbetween the two sides, hesaid.

However, the ultras fledfrom the spot after a briefgun-battle, he added.

"Head constable AnandBhagat, belonging to CAF's9th battalion, sustainedbullet injuries in thegunfight", he added.

The injured jawan wasairlifted to Raipur for treat-ment, the official said addingthat a search operation wasunderway in the area.

STAFF REPORTER n RAIPUR

Directorate of Panchayat hasgiven instructions to district

collectors and CEOs of districtpanchayats to organise specialgram sabhas on the occasion ofInternational Women’s Day i.e.March 8.

In the orders it is stated thatin year 2019-20, women got elect-ed on the 50% posts of three-tierpanchayat institutions and theyhave been fulfilling their dutiesdedicatedly, as an exemplary signof women empowerment.

Like previous years,International Women’s Day willbe celebrated this year as well.

Directorate Panchayat has issuedguidelines in the context, direct-ing officials concerned to organ-ise special gram sabhas in grampanchayat headquarters on theaforementioned date.

In these gram sabhas, issuesrelated to women, nutrition, edu-cation, security, rights and equalopportunities will be especiallydiscussed. For successful execu-tion of the event, support ofwomen self-help groups, hygieneambassadors, mahila jagritisamitis, women groups, aangan-badi workers, mitanins, ANMworkers and communityresource persons etc will besought.

House panel to probe into custodial deaths Two drug inspectors suspended

over botched sterilization camp

State citizens can make theire-card for health services

Consumer protection andawareness programmes on Mar 15

The district consumerforums too have beenasked to publicize theimportant orders to theconsumers with the helpof publicity mediums

Beneficiary can availbenefit through therenewed ration card, ifcard is not available,then they should beincluded in AyushmanBharat Scheme eligiblefamilies. Suchbeneficiaries should havethe SECC ID number orPM’s Letter holder

Naxals kill formercolleague in Sukma

Naxals attackpolice team, CAFjawan injured

Special Gram Sabhaon InternationalWomen’s Day

Workshop on tobacco menace held

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New Delhi:ndia has grantedcitizenship to nearly 19,000people from five neighbouringcountries, including 15,036Bangladeshi nationals, since2014, the Rajya Sabha wasinformed on Wednesday.

Union Minister of State forHome Nityanand Rai saidthose who were granted Indiancitizenship belonged toBangladesh, Pakistan,Myanmar, Sri Lanka, andAfghanistan.

Among the 18,999 peoplewho were granted Indian citi-zenship, a total of 15,036 werefrom Bangladesh, he said in awritten reply.

The highest number ofBangaldeshi nationals -- 14,864

people — were granted Indiancitizenship in 2015 under thesection 7 of the Citizenship Act,1955 following the signing ofthe Indo-Bangladesh landboundary agreement.

A total of 2,935 Pakistani,914 Afghan and 113 Sri Lankancitizens and one Myanmarnational were granted Indiancitizenship from 2014 to 2019,Rai said. PTI

����� 17 ��73��

The Supreme CourtWednesday allowed banks

and financial institutions fromproviding services related tocryptocurrencies by settingaside the RBI’s 2018 circularwhich had prohibited them.

Cryptocurrencies are digi-tal or virtual currencies inwhich encryption techniquesare used to regulate the gener-ation of their units and verifythe transfer of funds, operatingindependently of a central bank.

A three-judge bench, head-ed by Justice RF Nariman, saidthe Reserve Bank of India (RBI)circular is liable to be set asideon the ground of “proportion-ality”.

“Accordingly, the writ peti-tions are allowed and the cir-cular dated April 6, 2018 is setaside,” said the bench, alsocomprising justices AniruddhaBose and V Ramasubramanian.

“When the consistent standof RBI is that they have notbanned VCs (virtual curren-cies) and when theGovernment of India is unableto take a call despite severalcommittees coming up withseveral proposals includingtwo draft bills, both of whichadvocated exactly oppositepositions, it is not possible forus to hold that the impugnedmeasure is proportionate,” thebench said in its 180-page ver-dict.

The apex court deliveredthe verdict on pleas challengingthe RBI circular.According tothe circular, the entities regu-lated by the RBI were prohib-ited from “providing any servicein relation to virtual currenciesincluding those of transfer orreceipt of money in accountsrelating to the purchase or saleof virtual currencies”.

The petitioner, Internet andMobile Association of India(IMAI), had argued in thetop court that the RBIhad banned cryp-tocurrencies on“moral grounds” asno prior studies wereconducted to analysetheir effect on the econ-omy.

It had contended that theRBI barred all the entities reg-ulated by it from providing ser-vices to any individual or busi-ness dealing in virtual curren-cies. In 2013, the RBI in anadvisory cautioned users, hold-ers, and traders of virtual cur-rencies, including Bitcoins,about the potential financial,operational, legal, customerprotection, and security-relat-ed risks that they were expos-ing themselves to.On July 3,2018 while hearing IMAI’s plea,the top court had refused to staythe RBI circular prohibitingbanks and financial institu-tions from dealing with thecryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

New Delhi: The Supreme Courtasked the Delhi High Court onWednesday to hear on March 6a plea seeking lodging of FIRsagainst some BJP leaders foralleged hate speeches whichpurportedly led to recent riotshere and said it may also explore

the possibility of “peacefulresolution” of the dis-

pute”.The apex

court, which said it“wants to see ifpeace is possible”,

observed thatadjournment of hear-

ing by the high court for“such a long period” in April on

separate petitions related to theviolence in northeast Delhi wasnot “justified” and such mattersshould not be delayed for long.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde requested thechief justice of the high court todispose of these matters “asexpeditiously as possible” ontheir own merits and in accor-dance with law and also preponethe hearing on other relatedpleas.

The bench, also comprisingjustices BR Gavai and SuryaKant, directed that the hearingon other connected mattersalong with all the applications forimpleadment and interventionon the issue. PTI

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����� 17 ��73��

No early resolution to par-liament logjam is in sight

as the proceedings in theParliament remained paral-ysed for the third consecutiveday on Wednesday with theCongress resolving that itsprotest will continue till adebate on Delhi riots is allowedin both the Houses.

The BJP and the Modi-Government has made it clearthat the discussion would bepossible only on March 11, aday after ‘Holi’ in the LokSabha and on March 12 in theRajya sabha.

Congress’ leader in LokSabha Adhir RanjanChowdhury said his party hasbeen demanding that thereshould be a discussion inParliament on the recent riots

in the national capital. “TheGovernment should accept itsresponsibility and the perpe-trators of the violence shouldbe punished. We have beenasking the Government repeat-edly to debate on the issue,” hesaid.

The Government is of aview that in about a week’stime , situation in the Capitalwould return to complete nor-malcy with relief and rehabil-itation work already underwayin the North-East Delhi.Speaker of Lok Sabbha andChairman of Rajya Sabha havealso spoken that a debate onDelhi violence would be heldpost-Holi.

As the Government andopposition are trying to makeDelhi’s communal violence apolitical blamegame, the tollhas reached 53 with more

injured succumbing to theirinjuries.

Parliament could hardlytransact any substantial busi-ness as upper house wasadjourned soon after it beganits proceedings and Lok Sabhaalso witnessed adjournmentfor the day after the Chair hadto put-off proceedings repeat-edly in the wake of loud andcontinuous protests from theCongress benches.

Proceedings in the lowerhouse were disrupted for thethird day on Wednesday asopposition parties createduproar demanding an imme-diate discussion on the Delhiviolence. The House was firstadjourned soon after it met at11 am, then at noon and final-ly for the day a little past 2 pm.

The Opposition partieswere demanding an immediate

discussion on Delhi violencebut Parliamentary affairsMinister Pralhad Joshi said itcan be taken up on March 11in the Lower House and onMarch 12 in Rajya Sabha.

Not convinced, the oppo-sition continued the proteststorming the well on severaloccasions. Lok Sabha SpeakerOm Birla was not present dur-ing the day and the proceedings

were chaired by presiding offi-cers.

Amid din, the Direct TaxVivaad Se Vishwas Bill waspassed by the House.Opposition parties continuedto demand resignation ofHome Minister Amit Shah andcontinued to chant slogans --‘Modi Sarkar Shame Shame’,‘Pradhan Mantri Jawab Do’.

Earlier, Congress mem-bers trooped into the Wellshouting slogans and some ofthem displayed placards,demanding resignation ofHome Minister Amit Shah.Nearly 30 members from theCongress were in the Well.Some of them were heard ask-ing where the Speaker wasand also shouted ‘we wantjustice’. Despite the din, twoquestions were taken up dur-ing the Quest ion Hour.

Supplementaries to a queryrelated to coal productionwas answered by Joshi, who isalso the Coal Minister. KiritSolanki, who was in the chair,told agitating members thatQuestion Hour should con-tinue.

As the ruckus continued,he adjourned proceedings tillnoon after which it wasadjourned for the day.

Congress has claimed thatall opposition parties have con-sensus that till a discussion onDelhi riots is allowed, they willnot allow Parliament to func-tion. “Today also, we protestedinside the House. Till the timea debate on Delhi riots isallowed in Parliament, ourprotest both inside and outsidewill continue,” Chowdhury toldreporters outside theParliament.

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In a major success for thesecurity agencies, a special

investigation team of theGadchiroli police onWednesday arrested dreadedMaoist Dinkar Gota, who wasone of the masterminds of thedastardly landmine blast inwhich 15 C-60 commandosand a private driver were killedon May 1, 2019, and a fellowfemale Maoist.

Identifying the arrestedfemale Maoist as one SunandaKoreti, the Gadchiroli policesaid that Gota was at that timea Divisional CommitteeMember (DVCM) of the northGadchiroli Maoist committee,while Sunanda is a Maoistfrom Korachi Maoist Dalamoperating in easternMaharashtra.

“Acting on a tip-offreceived by Gadchiroli districtpolice superintendent ShaileshBalkawde, a special investiga-tion team of police arrestedGota and Sunanda early thismorning. There was a bountyof Rs 18 lakh on these Maoists,”a senior district police said.

Beginning as a member ofTipgad naxal ground way in2005, Gota has his way upin thenaxal ranks. “Apart from hisinvolvement in the May 1,2019 landmine blast, there are109 serious crimes registeredagainst Gota in various policestations in Gadchiroli district6.

Of the total crimes, he has beenbooked for 33 murders. He wasalso behind a major arson inci-dent that took place at Dadapuron May 1, 2019 in whichMaoists set ablaze 36 vehicles.There is a bounty of Rs 16 lakhon Gota,” the police officersaid.

Sunanda, who began tooperate Maoist in Gadchirolidistrict in 2009, has 38 seriousoffences registered against herin various police stations. Thestate government hadannounced a bounty of Rs 2lakh on her.

Gota and Sunanda, whohave been booked under sec-tions 435, 427, 143, 147,148,148 and 120 (B) of the IPC,various sections of UnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act andother acts, were producedbefore a Gadchiroli courtwhich remanded them inpolice custody for 14 days.

The arrest of Gota andSunanda comes on the heels ofthe surrender of GadchiroliMaoist divisional committeemember Vilas Kolhe alongwith his AK-47 rifle, and arrestof eight Maoists in connectionwith the Dadapur-Jambulkheda incident.

It may be recalled that 15commandos and a driver werekilled in a landmine blast oftwo security vehicles carriedout by Maoists in Kurkhedatehsil of Gadchiroli district ineastern Maharashtra on May 1,2019.

The shocking attack onthe security vehicles had comenearly ten hours after theMaoists set on fire at least 36private vehicles and two siteoffices of a road engaged con-struction and repair work alongthe Purada-Malewada-Yerkhade stretch of along theMaharashtra-Chhattisgarhnational highway number 136.

The C-60 commandos ofthe Gadchiroli police weretravelling in two vehicles fornaxal combing operations,when they found several fallentrees blocking the road leadingto an isolated stretch of theroad in a forest area.

When the security per-sonnel alighted to clear theroad, landmines planted byMaoists blew up, leaving 16personnel dead. Those killedcomprised 15 commandoesand one driver.

The incident, which tookplace at shortly after noon atJamburkheda, six kilometresaway from Kurkheda town,comes nearly one year after thesecurity agencies killed as manyas 40 Maoists were killed in twobiggest-ever naxal encountersundertaken in the jungles ofGadchiroli district in easternMaharashtra.

In the twin encounters thattook place on April 22-23,2018, the security personnelhad nearly eliminated all theMaoists operating in thearea.

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From Page 1

“We dare the BJP to have afloor test,” she added. Sheclaimed that eight MLAs weretaken out of the State and fourhave returned while remaining

are still with the BJP. However,as the matter snowballed intomajor political controversynationally, the BJP leadersswitched to defensive.

BJP State head VD Sharmawas the first to rebut horse

trading charges saying the partywasn’t part of any such thing.“It’s their internal conflicts andleaders like Kamal Nath,Digvijay and Scindia shouldoffer answers on this.”

������������� �������� ������<<<

From Page 1Three coronavirus patients report-

ed in Kerala earlier have already beendischarged.

The Ministry also said that two caseswith high viral load have been detectedin Telangana. Their samples have beensent to the National Institute of Virologyat Pune for confirmation of coronavirus,health authorities said on Wednesday, asthe Government stepped up precau-tionary measures.

The virus scare hit the IT corridorat Cyberabad herewitha complex, hous-ing software companies, being “closed”for sanitisation after a person workingthere was suspected to be suffering fromthe infection. The State reported its firstCOVID-19 case on Monday when a 24-year-old software personnel, who recent-ly returned from Dubai, had tested pos-itive for the virus.

State Health Minister E Rajendersaid in a release on Wednesday that sam-ples of two persons have been sent toPune for full confirmation with regardto COVID-19.

The two persons are among the 47whose samples were tested at the State-run Gandhi hospital here on Tuesday.According to the Minister, 45 samplestested negative. The two persons are --a foreigner who came from Italy andanother who moved closely with theman who tested positive for the virus,he said. According to a police official, ofthe 21 buildings in the complex locat-ed in the IT corridor “only one buildinghas been closed for sanitisation, that tooit has not been entirely closed.”

Meanwhile, Vardhan held a meetingwith Delhi Health Minister SatyendraJain and civic body officials onWednesday and urged them to augmentfacilities of isolation wards in city hos-pitals if more cases of coronavirus getsrecorded.

“We have to work as a unit to com-bat the COVID-19 threat to the nation.A coordinated, collective effort in a mis-sion mode is required,” he said at themeeting. As part of the country’s pre-paredness for containing the spread ofthe disease, the Union Health Ministersaid that all the foreign nationals, and notjust those from 12 countries listed ear-lier, will henceforth be screened forCOVID-19 at 21 designated airports.

Addressing the media, he said the

Government has adopted a clusterapproach, as a part of which healthauthorities will check and sensitiseevery household within 3 km-radius ofthe house of the infected person, to pre-vent community spread of the virus.

Vardhan said that at present, 15 lab-oratories in India are conducting testsfor coronavirus. Nineteen more labora-tories are being established, he said,adding seven to eight labs started func-tioning on Tuesday and rest will be madeoperation by Wednesday.

Health Ministry officials said dur-ing contact tracing procedure, theMinistry’s Integrated DiseaseSurveillance Programme (IDSP) haveidentified 66 people who had come incontact with the Delhi man who havebeen tested positive for corona virus,while 88 people who had come in con-tact with the 24-year-old Hyderabadman have been identified.

Vardhan further said theGovernment intends to set up a labora-tory in Iran so that Indians there can betested for a possible exposure to novelcoronavirus before being brought back.An estimated 1,200 Indians, mostlystudents and pilgrims, are in Iran cur-rently.

While coronavirus infection is show-ing signs of receding in China with 38new fatalities, taking total number ofdeaths to 2,981, in Iran, over 2,000 coro-navirus cases and 77 deaths have beenreported.

“If the Iranian Government lends itssupport, a testing facility could be set upthere as well, so that Indians there canbe tested before they can be broughtback,” the Union Health Minister said.

One scientist from the NationalInstitute of Virology (NIV) in Pune hasbeen sent to Iran while three more fromthe Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR) will leave at 4 pm on Wednesdayto check the feasibility of setting up alaboratory there for conducting coron-avirus test.

Responding to a question overshortage of masks across the country, theUnion Health Minister said, “We haveensured that the export of N95 masksand personal protective equipment,etcetera, are banned and taken care of.The Ministry has taken adequate mea-sures to ensure there is no scarcity ofthese.”

From Page 1

The court also held the convictedthe accused under a section of ArmsAct. While convicting Makhi policestation in-charge, Ashok SinghBhadauria, and Sub Inspector, KPSingh, the court said that “being sea-soned police officials, disobeyed thedirection of law to protect the life andliberty of the victim when he, as wellas Kishore Kumar Mishra, was beingbeaten up by the co-accused persons…They allowed the assailants their pro-tective police cover affording them afree hand to do what they did… ulti-mately the victim died due to theinjuries sustained in the incident.”

The court, however, acquittedother accused persons --- constableAmir Khan, Shailendra Singh, RamSharan Singh and Sharadveer Singh --- giving them benefit of doubt. Thecourt said, “It is apparent that toomany persons behind the curtainswere supporting, assisting or abettingthe gruesome act but then each onecannot be held culpable as per law onmere suspicion.”

It had on December 20 sentSengar to jail for the “remainder of hisnatural biological life” for raping thewoman in 2017, when she was aminor.

The CBI had examined 55 wit-nesses in support of the case and thedefence examined nine witnesses.The court had recorded the statementsof the rape victim’s uncle, mother, sis-ter and one of her father’s colleaguewho claimed to be an eyewitness to theincident.

According to the CBI, on April 3,2018, there was an altercation betweenthe rape victim’s father and one ShashiPratap Singh. The chargesheet filed onJuly 13, 2018, said the victim’s fatherand his co-worker were returning totheir village, Makhi, when they askedSingh for a lift. Singh denied them thelift, triggering an altercation amongthem. Singh called his associates, fol-lowing which Kuldeep’s brother AtulSingh Sengar reached the spot alongwith others and beat up the woman’sfather and his co-worker.

The woman’s father was subse-quently taken to the police station bythem where an FIR was lodged againsthim and he was arrested. Thechargesheet said that all this whileKuldeep Sengar was in touch with thedistrict police superintendent andMakhi police station in-charge AshokSingh Bhadauria. Later he also spoketo the doctor who examined the rapevictim’s father.

Charges were framed againstKuldeep, Atul, Bhadauria, sub-inspec-tor Kamta Prasad, constable AmirKhan and six others in the case. Thecase was transferred to Delhi from atrial court in Uttar Pradesh on thedirections of the Supreme Court onAugust 1 last year.

In July, 2019 a truck rammed intothe car the rape victim was travellingin with some family members and herlawyer. Two of her aunts died in theincident. She was airlifted from a hos-pital in Lucknow and to AIIMS inDelhi. The victim has been providedaccommodation in Delhi and is underCRPF protection.

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From Page 1The hanging of Mukesh

Kumar Singh (32), VinaySharma (26) and AkshayKumar Singh (31) besidesPawan previously scheduledfor March 3 was deferred forthe third time in six weeks bythe court on Monday in yetanother twist in the casemarked by apparent delayingtactics by the condemned pris-oners. The President hasalready rejected the mercypetitions of Mukesh, Vinayand Akshay.

The court on Mondaypostponed the hanging till fur-ther orders.

Nirbhaya’s father expressedthe hope that the convicts willbe hanged this month. “Pawanhas one option left -- that is tochallenge the mercy plea inSupreme Court as the othershave done. Let’s see what hap-pens next, but we are confidentof getting justice,” saidNirbhaya’s father adding that heis hopeful that the convicts willbe hanged this month and jus-tice will be finally deliveredafter a long wait.

The first date of execution--January 22--fixed on January7 was postponed by the courtto February 1. But on January31, the court indefinitely post-poned the hanging. OnFebruary 17, the court againissued fresh date for executionof death warrants for March 3at 6 am.

The Delhi High Court,meanwhile, declined to enter-tain a plea seeking directions tothe National Human Rights

Commission (NHRC) to inter-vene and enquire into the men-tal and physical state of the fourdeath row convicts.

A Bench of Chief JusticeDN Patel and Justice C HariShankar said the petition wasnot maintainable as it shouldhave been first filed before theNHRC.

Asking the petitioner tomove the NHRC, the Benchdisposed of his plea.

Six people, including thefour convicts and a juvenile,were named as accused. RamSingh, the sixth accused,allegedly committed suicide inTihar jail days after the trialbegan in the case.

The juvenile was releasedin 2015 after spending threeyears in a correctional home.

The case has witnessed aseries of twists and turns rightafter a Delhi court onSeptember 13, 2013 awardedthe death sentence to the fourconvicts, less than one yearafter the 23-year-old physio-therapy intern, who came to beknown as ‘Nirbhaya’ (fearless),was gang-raped and savagelyassaulted on the night ofDecember 16, 2012 in a mov-ing bus in south Delhi. She diedof her injuries a fortnight laterin a Singapore hospital.

Review petitions and cura-tive petitions were then filed ina staggered manner in theSupreme Court against theDelhi High Court order onMarch 13, 2014 confirmingthe death sentence.

The last option of mercypetition before the President toescape the gallows was exer-cised by the convicts one byone.

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B-school Xavier School ofManagement (XLRI) will confer

the prestigious ‘Sir Jehangir GhandyMedal for Industrial and Social Peace’to Sanjiv Mehta, chairman and man-aging director of Hindustan UnileverLtd. He will also deliver the convo-cation address to the graduating stu-

dents at the event on March 21.Father Christie, director, XLRI fur-

ther added, “We are immensely happyto present this year’s ‘Sir JehangirGhandy Medal for Social andIndustrial Peace’ to Mr. Sanjiv Mehtain appreciation of his compassionateand ethical business leadershipapproach and multi-faceted industryresponsibilities.”

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The US launched an airstrikeagainst Taliban fighters to

defend Afghan forces onWednesday, an American mil-itary spokesman said, as vio-lence spirals after a string ofdeadly attacks by the insurgents,throwing the country’s nascentpeace process into grave doubt.

News of the airstrike insouthern Helmand province— the first in 11 days — camehours after US PresidentDonald Trump told reportershe had had a “very good” chatwith the Taliban political chief,who on Saturday signed a his-toric deal with Washington towithdraw foreign forces.

Since the signing in Dohahowever, the militants have

ramped up violence againstAfghan forces, casting a pallover peace talks between Kabuland the Taliban, due to begin onMarch 10.

US Forces-Afghanistan

spokesman Sonny Leggetttweeted that the airstrike tar-geted Taliban fighters who were“actively attacking” an Afghanforces checkpoint in Helmand.

“This was a defensive strike

to disrupt the attack,” he tweet-ed. “We call on the Taliban tostop needless attacks anduphold their commitments. Aswe have demonstrated, we willdefend our partners whenrequired.” He said insurgentshad carried out 43 attacks oncheckpoints in Helmand onTuesday alone. Provincialpolice spokesman MohammadZaman Hamdard told AFP:“In the past two days we havewitnessed the most intenseTaliban attacks in Helmand.”

“They have attacked sever-al districts and many militarybases,” he added.

Elsewhere the insurgentskilled at least 20 Afghan soldiersand policemen in a series ofovernight attacks in otherprovinces, government officials

told AFP on Wednesday.“Taliban fighters attacked at

least three army outposts inImam Sahib district of Kunduzlast night, killing at least 10 sol-diers and four police,” saidSafiullah Amiri, a member ofthe provincial council.

A defence ministry officialspeaking to AFP on conditionof anonymity confirmed thearmy toll, while the provincialpolice spokesman HejratullahAkbari confirmed the policefatalities.

The insurgents alsoattacked police in centralUruzgan province Tuesdaynight, with the governor’sspokesman Zergai Ebaditelling AFP: “Unfortunately,six police were killed andseven wounded.”

2� ��������������"��������K� ����Washington: The race to winthe Democratic Party’s nomi-nation to challenge PresidentDonald Trump in theNovember election has effec-tively narrowed down to adirect contest between ex-vicepresident Joe Biden andSenator Bernie Sanders as thetwo septuagenarians securedmajor victories in the “SuperTuesday” primaries held in 14States across the US.

In a remarkable reboundfor his campaign, 77-year-oldBiden won nine of the 14 statesthat voted to pick a Democraticcandidate on “Super Tuesday”,the most important day in therace for the White House.

The former US vice-pres-

ident overturned predictions tonarrowly take the key state ofTexas from his main chal-lenger, Sanders, 78. He alsowon the primaries in Virginia,North Carolina, Alabama,Tennessee, Oklahoma,Arkansas, Minnesota andMassachusetts.

However, Sanders won bigin California - the biggest prizeof the night - as well as inColorado and Utah. He alsowon from his home state ofVermont.

The two now lead the raceto face President Trump, aRepublican, in the November3 presidential election.

“We are very much alive,”Biden told a crowd in Los

Angeles. “Make no mistakeabout it, this campaign willsend Donald Trump packing.”

According to NBC Newsprojections, Biden gained 342on Super Tuesday, bringinghis delegate total to 395.Sanders, meanwhile, so farwon 245 delegates and is nowat 305.

Sanders, by winning big inthe State of California – whichsends 415 pledge delegates –signalled that his fight to winthe Democratic nomination tochallenge Trump was far fromover. Either of the candidatesneed at least 1,991 of the 3,979pledged delegates to win thepresidential nomination of theDemocratic Party. PTI

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South Korea struggled to findenough hospital beds for

sick patients, Iran and Italygrappled with rising deaths,and Saudi Arabia banned citi-zens from performing the pil-grimage to Mecca as the coro-navirus that tormented Chinaacquired firm footing else-where in the world.

As the number of newcases drops precipitously inChina, attention has shifted toSouth Korea, Italy and Iran,countries with major coron-avirus clusters that the WorldHealth Organisation saysaccount for 80 per cent of newcases outside China.

“People are afraid anduncertain. Fear is a naturalhuman response to any threat.But as we get more data, we areunderstanding this virus andthe disease it causes more and

more,” said WHO’s leaderTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

WHO said about 3.4 percent of people infected with thevirus COVID-19 globally havedied, making it more fatal thanthe common flu.

Death rates in outbreaksare likely to skew higher earlyon as health officials focus onfinding severe and fatal cases,missing most milder cases.WHO says the majority ofpeople with the new coron-avirus experience only mildsymptoms and do not requireany treatment.

In Daegu, the SouthKorean city at the centre of thatcountry’s outbreak, a shortageof hospital space meant about2,300 patients were being caredfor in other facilities whilethey awaited a hospital bed.

Attending a meeting onquarantine strategies in Daegu,Prime Minister Chung Se-

Kyun assured his country, say-ing, “We can absolutely over-come this situation... We willwin the war against COVID-19.”

South Korea reported 435new infections on Wednesday,far smaller than its high of 851a day earlier. A total of 5,621people in South Korea havecontracted the virus and 32have died.

Iran reported 92 deathsamong its 2,922 confirmedcases, the most of any countryexcept China. Among the ill aremembers of the government,and the country cancelledFriday prayers for the secondweek in a row.

The deaths in Italy rose to79. The outbreak in Italy hasbeen concentrated in thenorthern region of Lombardy,but fear over the virus’ spreadled even the Vatican to insistPope Francis was not infected.

Rome: Italy is closing allschools and universities fromThursday until mid-March tohelp curb the spread of thenovel coronavirus, Ansa andother Italian news agenciescited government sources assaying.

The measure was one ofseveral being considered by thegovernment at a meeting onWednesday to combat COVID-19, which has killed 79 peoplein Italy and infected more than2,500, the most in Europe. AFP

London: One of the world’sbiggest publishing trade fairs,the London Book Fair, hasbeen cancelled because of thecoronavirus outbreak inEurope, its organisers said onWednesday.

Reed Exhibitions saidmany international exhibitorsand visitors to the fair, whichwas scheduled to take placefrom March 10 to 12, were fac-ing travel restrictions as theeffects of the virus took hold.

“We have been followingUK Government guidelinesand working with the rollingadvice from the public healthauthorities and other organi-sations, and so it is with reluc-tance that we have taken thedecision not to go ahead withthis year’s event,” it said. AFP

Brussels: A first EU officialworking in the bloc’s Brusselsadministration has tested pos-itive for the novel coronavirus,European officials said onWednesday.

“We have confirmation ofthe case,” EU Commissionspokeswoman Dana Spinanttold AFP.

A spokeswoman for the

European Defence Agencyconfirmed that a male publicservant of the agency hadreturned from Italy onFebruary 23 and subsequentlytested positive.

Meetings at the headquar-ters of the Brussels-basedagency have been cancelleduntil March 13, ElisabethSchoeffmann said. AP

Beijing: As the dreaded coron-avirus appeared to spread inIndia, top Chinese doctors treat-ing patients in Wuhan, the epi-centre of the outbreak, onWednesday advised their Indiancounterparts to prepare plans,train medical staff and educatethe public about wearing masksand washing of hands to containthe disease.

Four top medical specialists,who were selected to treat coro-navirus cases in Hubei provinceand its capital Wuhan in the lasttwo months, interacted withthe foreign and domestic mediafor the first time through anonline press conference from thevirus-hit Wuhan city onWednesday.

While the coronavirusinfections showed signs of reced-ing in China with 38 new fatal-ities on Tuesday, taking the totalnumber of deaths to 2,981. PTI

Tehran: Iran says the new coro-navirus has killed 92 peopleamid 2,922 confirmed casesacross the Islamic Republic.

Health Ministry spokesmanKianoush Jahanpour announcedthe new figures at a news con-ference on Wednesday inTehran. There are now over3,140 cases of the virus across the

Mideast. Of those outside Iran,most link back to the IslamicRepublic. The virus has sickenedtop leaders inside Iran’s civiliangovernment and Shiite theocra-cy. Iran stands alone in how thevirus has affected its government,even compared to hard-hitChina, the epicenter of the out-break. AP

Ankara: European countriesmust support Turkey’s “solu-tions” in Syria if they want toresolve the migration crisis,President Recep TayyipErdogan said on Wednesday,accusing Europe of “trampling”on refugees’ rights.

“If European countrieswant to resolve the issue, theymust support Turkey’s effortsfor political and humanitariansolutions in Syria,” Erdogansaid in a televised speech.

“All European countriesclosing their borders torefugees today, trying to pushthem back by hitting themand sinking their boats, in facteven shooting at them, aretrampling over the universaldeclaration of human rights,”he said in Ankara.

Following the deaths ofover 30 Turkish soldiers inSyrian regime fire last week inIdlib, Turkey opened its borders

with Europe to refugees andmigrants.

Turkey is home to around3.6 million Syrian refugees andmany other migrants fromcountries includingAfghanistan use Turkey as atransit country to Europe.

It fears another mass influxif Idlib, the last rebel strong-hold, falls to Syrian forces.

Thousands of migrantshave massed at the Turkish-Greek border since Erdogangave them the green light to tryto enter Europe, leading toclashes with Greek police.

Erdogan criticised theGreek response, saying: “TheGreeks — who are resorting toany means to stop refugeescoming into their country,even drowning them or killingthem with live ammunition —they shouldn’t forget theymight need this same mercyone day.” AFP

Kuala Lumpur: MalaysianPolice questioned ex-premierMahathir Mohamad’s daughterand 18 other activists onWednesday over peacefulprotests triggered by the elderlyleader losing power and a cor-ruption-tainted party’s return.

The reformist “Pact ofHope” alliance, which tookpower in a historic victory twoyears ago, collapsed last week and94-year-old prime ministerMahathir resigned. He thensought to return as premier butunexpectedly lost out toMuhyiddin Yassin, who isbacked by the scandal-miredUnited Malays NationalOrganisation (UMNO), whichhad been ousted in 2018.

Protests, with crowds of nomore than a few hundred peo-ple, took place in Kuala Lumpurfollowing the weekend decisionto appoint Muhyiddin PM. AFP

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It is now apparent that the rapidspread of COVID-19 could turninto a serious global disaster, poten-tially costing hundreds of thousandsof elderly lives and millions of jobs

and livelihoods. Alternatively, in a fewmonths, we might be sighing with reliefthat some combination of spring weatherand containment measures averted such acalamity. Happy though that second sce-nario might be, it is vital for us to learnfrom what is happening.

Three obvious lessons stand out. Thefirst is that in the extraordinarily interde-pendent world that trade, technology andtravel have created, much of what goes onin other countries is our business. Not onlycan a physical virus spread around theworld with unprecedented speed but so cana computer virus, complete misinforma-tion, an economic recession, a nuclear acci-dent or disregard for the environment. Afresh approach to foreign and security pol-icy has to be based on much more thannational sovereignty and must include thepromotion of global welfare and high stan-dards.

The second lesson is that a crisis is han-dled less honestly, openly and successful-ly by corrupt or authoritarian systems. InIran, rumours abound that officials arebeing told not to report cases of the virus,while the number of deaths suggests thatfar more people are infected than has beenofficially admitted. As on Tuesday, itreported 77 deaths from COVID-19 and2,336 confirmed cases of infection.

The original suppression of news of theoutbreak in China was a grave error,notwithstanding the subsequent use ofcolossal State power to bring down theinfection rates. All this is clear evidence thatin the crises yet to come in the 21st cen-tury, the free flow of information, the shar-ing of warnings and the airing of disagree-ment will be characteristics of the politi-cal systems that are best at protecting theircitizens.

The third lesson is one I outlined forThe Telegraph earlier — that it is time forthe abuse, consumption and trafficking ofthe world’s endangered wildlife to stop. Inrecent days, China has given some indica-tion that the sickening markets in whichall kinds of wild animals are sold, dead andalive, will be banned permanently. That willbe very welcome and it is to be hoped thatsuch an example will be followed by othernations such as Vietnam and Laos. The riseof Coronavirus is a clear indication that thedegrading of nature will come back to hithumans very hard.

These three lessons are straightforwardenough and conveniently fit the way inwhich most Westerners — with the majorexception of US President Donald Trump— see the world: We need outward-look-ing countries, promoting the global goodthrough strong cooperation, with a huge

concern for the environment.They do not require us torevise the way we see the worldbut rather to promote it moreeffectively and persuade othersthat we are right.

Yet, there is an emergingfourth lesson as stock marketstumble and serious economicconsequences loom, which ismuch harder for us in theWest to accept — that, since theend of the Cold War, we haveconducted much of our dailylives and business affairs with-out resilience in the forefront ofour minds.

From the 1990s onwards,our economic growth has beenbest promoted by building verycomplex global supply chainsand taking on high levels ofdebt in households and busi-nesses alike. We must acknowl-edge that there are many waysin which a country like Britainis more resilient than in thepast.

Yet in other crucial ways,Britain and other developednations have steadily becomemore fragile when faced withan unexpected global down-turn, particularly one in whichmillions of people might sud-denly stop work, factories ceaseproduction and entire towns

and cities be isolated. Within days, an interrup-

tion of the production of partsin a factory in China can leadto the lay-off of workers. Evengiant American corporationssuch as Boeing and Apple arefinding that production of air-craft and iPhones is rapidlyaffected by a slowdown ofactivity in China. Many busi-nesses have opted for fewer,larger component suppliers,with the result that the eggsthey need come from surpris-ingly few baskets.

Even more striking, if theworld sinks into recession inthe coming weeks, will be theconsequences of the remorse-less build-up of debt by manycompanies. Central banks havedone much since the crash of2008 to remove weaknesses inthe financial system, insistingthat banks carry far more cap-ital and that risks are bettermonitored. But at the sametime, they have presided overultra-low interest rates for fartoo long, balking at opportuni-ties to raise them for fear ofjeopardising growth and thebuoyancy of stock markets.

As a result, much of thecorporate world is now awashwith debt. American compa-

nies owe around $10 trillion —at around 50 per cent of the US’gross domestic product (GDP),an all-time record. That meansthat if there is a sudden loss ofturnover, they will go bust at avery fast pace, with interestrates already so low that thereis minimal scope for reductionsthat will help them.

Admittedly, this is not justa Western problem — Chinesecompanies are arguably evenmore indebted and, even beforethe Coronavirus crisis began,they were starting to default ata record rate. But the buildingup of historically unprecedent-ed levels of debt, along withever more fragile supply chains,have been results of our con-stant search for growth and lowprices at the same time over thelast 30 years.

Adjusting to a world inwhich we give resilience greaterweight will be a huge and dif-ficult effort for everyone whoenjoys mass consumption andeasy money. Elections are notcurrently won by promisingless debt and a more resilientsociety and economy. TheCoronavirus crisis is a majorwarning signal that this willhave to change.

(Courtesy: The Telegraph)

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Sir — According to data releasedby the Centre for MonitoringIndian Economy on March 2, theunemployment rate in February2020 increased from 7.16 per centin January to 7.78 per cent, thehighest since October 2019. Thereport also listed a spike in theunemployment rate in rural areasfrom 5.97 per cent in January to7.37 per cent in February. Also,the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth rate declined from7.1 per cent in Q1 to 4.7 per centin Q3 of the 2019-20 fiscal year.

The spread of Coronavirus hasadded a new layer of complicationfor the economy. It is now difficultto judge which one is more prob-lematic, the slump in growth or thevirus that has stalled life andglobal exchanges as we know it.The spread of Coronavirus has hitboth production and exports.Global supply chains of criticalitems remain disrupted. China hasshut down its factories andrestricted the movement of peo-ple to contain the epidemic. If thevirus is not brought under controlsoon, our numbers will dip further.

Shantanu AgrawalVia email

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Sir — The speed at whichCoronavirus is spreading acrossthe globe is baffling. The best way

to tackle this epidemic is bymastering the information cam-paign. Authorities must roll outa massive publicity campaign onthe characteristics of the virus, itsmutation patterns, its intensity,

the health risks involved and thepersonal behavioural changes weneed to undertake as a preventivemeasure.

Gurmeet SinghVia email

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Sir — It was sickening to observea small section of Oppositionmembers of both Houses ofParliament disrupt the proceed-ings of the Budget session for thelast three days since it began. Theissue was that the recent violentincidents in the north-easternpart of Delhi should be discussedimmediately. The Treasury (theBJP Government) side replied thatit was prepared for the debate onMarch 11 after Holi as there weresome important legislations to beadopted quickly. Presiding offi-cers’ pleas to Opposition membersto let the Houses functionsmoothly were ignored. Theywere repeatedly reminded of theirduties and responsibilities to theirelectors to present their problemsbefore the nation throughParliament but to no effect. Oneis familiar with proceedings in,say, the House of Commons, butdisputes and debates do not touchthis low. Will our guilty MPs learnto act with maturity and dignity?

M RatanVia email

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Visuals of marauding mobs, grief andabsence of law enforcing agencies bringback to many the painful memories of the

Partition. There is a constant switching ofplaces between the perpetrator and the victim,as depicted by Urvashi Butalia in her classic TheOther Side of Silence. There is no perfect victimand the role of victims as perpetrators and per-petrators as victims keeps the hate narrativegoing. The real question is, can any amount ofrevenge achieve ends of justice or give closure?Or, is it that vigilante justice only succeeds in cre-ating another agonising sense of victimhood?

The vigilante mode of “punishing” soft tar-gets or labelling them as “perpetrators” turnsthem into an “object” of hate, caught in the eyeof a storm. These soft targets, allegedly guilty ofpast perpetration, fall victim to violent retribu-tions. They are also dubbed as “undesirable” andeven “illegals.” Being a soft target, they are pro-filed as belonging to a different and less thanequal human group or identity.

The recent attack on a Bengali worker inThiruvananthapuram on not being able to pro-duce an Aadhaar card, or the alleged detentionof Bengali migrant workers in Pune by vigilantes,are classic examples of painting someone as an“illegal” without bothering to verify the truth.

The use of religious flags to differentiate aHindu house from a Muslim home in times ofcommunal tension is a frightening demarcationof the targetted other. The recent anti-immigrantpublic discourse across India thrives through thisplot of segregation and violence in the name ofpunishing the perpetrator. The widely-sharedviral image of a persecutor and the victim fur-thers the process of othering and segregation.

In the domain of everyday transactions, ask-ing for proof of identity has become the new nor-mal. Be it under a surveillance camera, face iden-tification or simply through an identity check,an intentional segregation of the “other” as sus-pect is carried out in the name of finding an “ille-gal Bangladeshi.” This lays bare the everydayoperation of a surveillance society that would actas the forerunner of a “surveillance State”, whichis not sanctioned by a constitutional Republic likeours.

Two issues arise here: Does a surveillancesociety subjectively transform a democratic, con-stitutional apparatus into a surveillance State?Alternatively, does it just confine itself at the levelof the public? Overt determination of identity byproof or by tracking and profiling does not keepthe State at the back anymore. Although the Statecannot control the visual effect of on-camerascenes of aggression and lynching, to which it canrespond only later. In the meantime, violenceendows perpetrators with a sense of triumph.While instigators, who triggered the violenceappear on the scene only later, with support oftheir sponsors in power. This makes law enforcerstoothless and they become mute spectators oforchestrated violence. A surveillance society helpsthe henchmen spread a doctored narrative of vio-lence. This is how the victim’s identity is oftenblurred or altered by terming him/her as viola-tors or guilty. Similarly, one who is identified asthe perpetrator could also be swapped from oneside to the other. This new art of shifting blamein the form of present or past guilt, creates animage of the “other” who is tasked to prove hisidentity. In this way, the present practice of legaladjudication in Assam’s Foreigners’ Tribunal

places the burden of proof on the“accused.” Until a person proves her-self/himself to be an Indian citizen, s/heremains a person of uncertain nation-ality.

It is a similar situation wheremigrant labourers, minorities and gen-erally those who are considered as out-siders, is concerned. A surveillancesociety creates its own outsiders fromthe figure of a migrant.

The anti-immigrant rhetoric fur-thers this strange imaging of themigrant who travels to a new place. Themigrant is couched in the image of thepersecutor or the perpetrator againstthe native, by citing a narrative such asthe Partition. In the safe spaces markedfor a particular group or identity, themigrant becomes an illegitimate intrud-er.

However, this logic of othering caneven make the insider a victim. Allegedcases of Bengalis termed asBangladeshis in Bengal by securityforces in public spaces like metro sta-tions and railway platforms point to thisnature of harassment of an insider. Theban on fish-eating in various schools inKolkata run by certain community-based organisations and not allowingfish eaters in some housing complex-es in the city point to such racially-dis-criminatory practices on an insider.

The insider victim or the outsiderare all subjected to suspicion and dis-crimination on the basis of cultural dif-ferences that can assume a form ofracism even.

The culture of law is such that itgoes by what is called “reasonable sus-picion.” Entries pertaining to theNational Population Register (NPR) askfor the father’s birthplace and NPR rulesallow officials concerned to segregate

doubtful cases. This is a complex inter-play of suspicion and surveillance forthe identification of the “illegal”, usingNPR data. Such proof seeking and sur-veillance create conditions of discrim-ination and exclusion of the culturaland religious other.

Punning on author Timothy HugeBarrett, one may say that the “reason”of suspicion is clouded by the reason ofunreason. Suspicion never fails to finda reason, whether it stands the test oftruth or not. People declared as foreign-ers by Assam’s Foreigners’ Tribunals andlodged in detention camps were laterfound to be genuine Indian citizens. Toknow why suspicion and its reasons areunreasonable in going after a perceived“illegal”, one can only look at the reli-gion, language or origin of the so-called“illegal.”

In most cases, it would be someonewho does not belong to one’s own com-munity. Such a preconceived idea of“we” and “them” never draws a line ofdistinction between vigilante legalismand constitutionalism. On and off-camera violence on “them” further con-structs the identity of the victim in devi-ous ways to cloak reasons of/for vigi-lantism. Contrastingly, cases of manyvictims of miscarriage of justice, as ithappened in Assam’s NRC exercise,point to limits of processes of legal adju-dication of citizenship.

The new norm of surveilling,snooping and othering a strangerchanges the welcoming attitude towardsthe “other.” The drive to find “illegals”among strangers becomes an obsession.This obsession with “illegal immi-grants” creates blind spots in oureveryday relationships with the other.The “illegal immigrant” is mirrored inmany ways, such as doubtful voters and

foreigners, who legitimise racist atti-tudes towards others.

Is India fast moving towards suchlegal blinds that allow for a legal archi-tecture of discreet probe into citizen-ship of its own people?

Suspicion leads to illegal checks,physical and mental harassment of the“other” on ethnic, racial, religious andlinguistic lines. It can even pass as “rea-sonable suspicion.” The result is that anon-immigrant, non-border-crosserIndian migrant citizen could be sus-pected to be an illegal Bangladeshi ora Nepali, or a Chinese, depending onhow one looks.

Legal resonance for this vestige ofsuspicion is found contextually. TheGauhati High Court declared thatvoter’s ID, PAN, passport, land revenuereceipt and so on do not prove citizen-ship conclusively in a specific case.More generally, Article 326 of theConstitution makes citizenship a pre-condition for being a voter and hencea voter cannot but be a citizen.Specifically, the recommendationsmade by Supreme Court in the LalBabu Hossein versus ElectoralRegistration Officer case in 1995 makeit clear that there must be sufficientmaterial evidence before someone issuspected to be “illegal”, which inmost referred cases of suspects israther shoddily observed. Hence alarge number of Indian citizens face thedanger of “suspicion” turning them intoan “illegal” and a subject of hatred.

Surely, India can redeem itself fromsuch calculated chaos of persecution,pogrom and detention camps by mov-ing towards civic and constitutionalmorality.

(The writer is philosopher and apolitical analyst based in Shillong)

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After decades of mindless useand wastage of water, we arebeing punished for taking

this precious natural resource andasset for granted as nature hasresponded finally and definitively.

In spite of being in a water-richzone due to numerous glacier-fedrivers flowing through them, eighttowns in the Himalayan region ofIndia, Nepal and Pakistan are nowdiscovering that their water resourceshave dwindled by 70 per cent.

This alarming data was pub-lished in the latest edition of the jour-

nal Water Policy. The researchersstudied 13 towns in these countriesand zeroed down on eight that arefacing an acute water stress.

How deep this crisis is becameevident from the rising dependenceon freshwater springs in these areas,which ranged from 50 per cent to 100per cent. What is exacerbating thecrisis is the fact that encroachmentsin the form of small eateries, hotelsand guest houses have overrun nat-ural water bodies, resulting in catch-ment areas disappearing from thetopography.

The small villages in the upperHimalayas have been steadily wit-nessing an exodus of the populationand bigger towns such as Devprayagin Uttarakhand have become over-crowded.

This has resulted in the naturalresources in these towns beingexploited to the hilt and now theyhave been exhausted beyond their

carrying capacity. The Water Policyreport specifically names Devprayagas one of the severely impactedtowns.

Unplanned urbanisation andrunaway tourism are largely to beblamed for the water scarcity and thereport further states that leftunchecked this condition can further

exacerbate and double the gapbetween demand and supply ofwater by 2050.

The increased incidence of watershortages should have not goneunnoticed by the respective Stateadministrations in India. But it hap-pened and the long queues at watertaps and near water tankers, which

used to be the preserve of cities havestarted becoming a normal thing inthe mountains as well now.

Perhaps the first hint of a waterscarcity was the vegetation of the hillsin the higher reaches becoming dry.Then came the abandonment ofstep farming on mountain slopes dueto water sources such as waterfalls,rivulets and glacier-fed water chan-nels drying up. Water resources inthe hills have always been on thereceiving end. The construction ofnumerous hydel projects during the90s wreaked havoc on the delicateecology of the Himalayas as riverafter river and water bodies startedto disappear due to water beingdiverted for electricity generation.

This led to the land mafia usurp-ing these dried up riverbeds for realestate development and the sand androck mafia plundering them forbuilding material.

The road back to water self-suf-

ficiency for the Himalayan towns andvillages is nothing short of daunting.First and foremost, the respectiveState Government must cut back onthe illegal construction and concen-trate on water conservation. Thewater run-offs during monsoonmust be conserved and guided to theerstwhile water bodies.

This will not only breathe newlife into the ancient water bodies butrestore much-needed water indepen-dence. Similarly, efforts must bemade to ensure that rivers, channelsand rivulets that used to feed villages,hamlets and farmlands are restoredto their former glory by channelis-ing and allocating required amountof water quantities to them.

We need to give back to naturewhat we have taken away from it, andthat is the ecological balance in thesesensitive Himalayan zones.

(The writer is an environmentaljournalist)

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Bengaluru: Seeking to allayfear among the citizens in thewake of coronavirus scare,Karnataka Health Minister BSrirumulu on Wednesdaymade an appeal to the peoplenot to pay heed to rumoursspreading on social media.

In a series of tweets,Sriramulu assured people thatthe Government has takenadequate measures to ensurethat the disease does notspread further.

“Don’t lend your ears torumours about the coron-avirus in the social media.Rely only on the authenticinformation,” the HealthMinister tweeted.

The Minister’s tweet cameas Bengaluru reported the firstcase, after a techie from the citywith a travel history to Dubaiand interaction withHongkong-based people there,was admitted to a hospital inHyderabad.

As panic gripped the city,

Sriramulu said the apartmentwhere the software engineerwas staying has been sanitised.

Besides, his 25 colleagueshave been identified.

One of them has beenadmitted to the hospital as aprecautionary measure and hisblood sample has been sent forlab test.

“So far 40,207 people havebeen screened at theInternational airport. 251 bloodtests have been done, of which238 were found negative, whilethe rest of the reports are yet tocome,” Sriramulutweeted.

The health departmentsaid three people have beenadmitted to the isolation wardat the Rajiv Gandhi Institute ofChest Diseases (RGICD).

Meanwhile, a parentappealed to people not to panicabout the Coronavirus in thetechie's apartment, where hisson too resides. PTI

Thiruvananthapuram: AsIndia braces itself to tackle freshincidences of coronavirus,Kerala’s successful handling ofthe nation’s first three positivecases, backed by a rigid proto-col, including a 28-day quar-antine to contain its spread,offers a model to others.

With a strong chain ofcommand, starting from thehealth department to fieldworkers, the state has shownthe way to the rest of thecountry on dealing with suchan outbreak, health officialshere said. “We have almostcontained the situation inKerala, but that does not meanthat we are safe. Yes, we treat-ed and cured three patients, butthat does not mean that we willlower our guard,” health min-ister KK Shailaja told PTI.

Kerala,she said,has alsodecided to intensify surveil-lance, especially at airports,railway stations and bus depots.

The three positive cases --all medical students fromWuhan, epicentre of the virus,were reported from Alapuzha,

Thrissur and Kasaragod dis-tricts. They have been dis-charged from hospitals andnone of them are under homequarantine.

Two of them had travelledby the same flight from Wuhan.The Minister said the healthdepartment is fully equipped todeal with the coronavirusscare,guided by the protocol setout by Indian Council ofMedical Research and NationalInstitute of Virology.

Explaining how the statedealt with the situation, she saidhealth department officialstraced those who returned toKerala from infected areas andisolated them even if they hadminor symptoms. The restwere home quarantined.

“Trained health workerswere deployed to assist them.We monitored everyone andheld daily review meetings,” shesaid. Kerala is also the onlystate which strictly mandates 28days of home quarantine forthose returning from COVID-19 countries, while it is 14 daysat the national level. PTI

Kolkata: The West Bengal Government hasasked all state-run schools to sensitise studentsabout steps needed to reduce the risk of novelcoronavirus infection.

In a circular, the school education depart-ment directed district inspectors of schools toinstruct heads of institutes to distribute pam-phlets to students, advising them to follow basichygiene habits like frequently washing hands,using handkerchief/tissue paper while sneezing

to reduce the risk of infection.The department will send the pamphlets to

schools for distribution among students. “Requested to instruct all Head of theinstitutions of Primary/Junior HighSchools/High/Higher Secondary schools underhis/her jurisdiction to sensitise their studentsthrough awareness generation for prevention ofspreading of novel coronavirus,” the circularsaid. PTI

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The Union Government’s proposal to bring inmore heritage sites including ancient temples

that are currently under the control of StateGovernments to the list of Centrally protectedmonuments has stirred a hornets’ nest in TamilNadu.

While MK Stalin, Leader of the Oppositionin the Assembly who is also the DMK supremotermed the move as an attempt by the BJP-ledCentre to impose Sanskrit culture in Tamil Nadu,devotees across the State expressed their happi-ness over the proposal. “We believe the temples, if brought under the Archaeological Survey ofIndia, would get freedom from the corruptHindu Religious and Charitable EndowmentDepartment,” said TR Ramesh, president, TempleWorshippers Society.

Prahlad Patel, Union Minister for Culture,had told the Lok Sabha on February 10 that theGovernment was in the process of reviewing thenumber of monuments under the protection ofthe ASI as well as the ones protected by the StateGovernments. The Minister had said that therewere 3691monuments all over India which wereprotected by the ASI.

“The list of Centrally protected monu-ments can go up to 10,000. In Tamil Nadu alone,

there are about 7,000 temples, many of which arehundreds of years old. On the other hand, thereare some monuments under the ASI that can beshifted to the State list,” Patel had said.

Monuments and sites that are more than100 years old come under the purview of theAncient Monuments and Archaeological Sitesand Remains Act, 1958. There are restrictions onany construction activities within 100 meters ofthe Centrally protected monuments. Structuresof temples like the Big Temple in Thanjavur comeunder the supervision of the ASI.

Stalin in a statement alleged that the exist-ing monuments under the control of the ASIremain neglected. “The present proposal to bringmore such monuments from the State list underthe ASI’s control is unjust,” said the DMK chief,a sworn rationalist.

Temples in Tamil Nadu, especially thosecoming under the HRCE Department are in theeye of a controversy following large scale “dis-appearance” of prime land belonging to the tem-ple. The HRCE Department had told theMadras High Court in January 2018 that it hasno records about 50,000 acres of prime landwhich was owned by the temples. “Though theHigh Court had asked the HRCE Departmentto submit the details of the missing land in sixmonths, the officials have not done so even aftertwo months, pointed out Ramesh.

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Mumbai: Members of theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation's standing com-mittee on Wednesday urged thecivic administration to screentravellers at railway stationsand toll plazas for COVID-19.

Expressing concerns aboutthe coronavirus outbreak,members asked the civicadministration to providedetails of the steps taken to con-trol the spread of the virus.

The BMC informed thestanding committee that untilnow 62 people were quaran-tined at an isolation facility atKasturba Hospital and 400 peo-ple are being monitored as perthe Union Government's guide-lines. PTI

Jaipur: Rajasthan HealthMinister Raghu Sharmainformed the House onWednesday that at least 215people came in contact with theCOVID-19 affected group ofItalian tourists that had visitedvarious places in the State.

Replying to an adjourn-ment motion in the StateAssembly, Sharma said swabsamples of 93 people havebeen taken.

A total of 51 suspectedpatients have been tested neg-ative whereas reports of 41 oth-ers are still pending, he said.

Fifty-three people inJhunjhunu, 14 each in Jodhpurand Jaisalmer, 44 in Bikaner, sixin Udaipur and 76 people inJaipur came in contact with thegroup. The Minister informedthe members of the Housethat the 15 Italian tourists whohad reached Delhi, via Jaipurand Agra, have been tested pos-itive for COVID-19.

He said that though thereis no prescribed medication orvaccine to treat the disease, thesuspected patients in the stateare being given swine flu med-ication as a precautionary mea-sure. PTI

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In a continued tirade againstthe Centre Bengal Chief

Minister Mamata Banerjee onWednesday said that the ModiGovernment is trying to spreadcoronavirus scare in India inorder to divert the attention ofthe nation from the Delhiriots.

“I don’t give less impor-tance to the Corona threatwhich is very real but sudden-ly they (Centre) are blowing itout of proportion so that theydo not have to explain theirfailure in controlling the Delhiriots that left more than 50people dead,” Banerjee saidadding how corpses are stillbeing fished out from drainsand claiming “at least 700 peo-ple are still missing. There is amound of dead bodies.”

Banerjee had been underceaseless attack from the Leftand the Congress for main-taining a “dubious silence” onDelhi riots when Union Home

Minister Amit Shah was visit-ing Bengal last week. Her “lateanti-BJP outburst” was prompt-ly interpreted by the Congressas “ploy to hoodwink the peo-ple.”

Banerjee who was speakingin a meeting at Buniyadpur inSouth Dinajpur districtannounced that her partywould undertake a “BJP ChiChi” (shame shame) campaignin all the blocks of the State.“On Friday TMC will launch aBJP chi chi campaign to con-demn the genocide in Delhi”and the role played by theadministration to control theriots, she said.

The same slogan will alsobe used in the coming days todenounce the “discriminatory”Citizenship Amendment Act,National Population Registerand National Register forCitizens, she said.

Banerjee’s “Chi Chi” cam-paign is thought to be acounter-coinage for the BJP’sproposed Aar Noi Anyay (no

more injustice) campaignwhich they will start soon inBengal.

Condemning the “GoliMaaro” (shot them) sloganoften being raised from BJPmeetings and rallies Banerjeesaid after inventing such hateslogans in Delhi they are now

trying to import it in Kolkata.“What audacity! They are call-ing the people gaddars (trai-tors). Who is a gaddar? Whowill decide that? You (the BJP)are the descendents ofGaddars,” she said adding herparty would “never allow suchpeople to infiltrate Bengal.

Such people (BJP) have noplace in our country.”

Incidentally two more per-sons: one from Liluah offHowrah and the other fromSodepur were arrested onWednesday for raising GoliMaaro slogan from Amit Shah’srally on Sunday. WithWednesday’s arrest total num-ber of such people apprehend-ed went up to 7 sources said.

In a circuitous attack onShah who during her speechfixed a target of 200 seats fromBengal Banerjee said “the BJPis saying that they will target200 out of 294 seats suggestingthe rest they will leave for theLeft and the Congress withwhom they have a hiddenunderstanding … But I tellthem that I will target even oneseat where the BJP is contest-ing.”

In a statement aimed at theHindu gallery Banerjee said“the BJP always plays theHindu card by chantingHindu… Hindu but in Assam

they have victimized moreHindus than Muslims. Themajority of the 19 lakh peoplethrown out of the NRC areHindu Bengalis.”

She also said that the BJPGovernment in Tripura wasattacking the Scheduled casteand in Assam they are tortur-ing the tribal population. “Asyou (BJP) had committed greatatrocities against the tribalpeople in Jharkhand the peo-ple of that State threw you outof power.”

In a strong counter attackto what Banerjee said the BJPState president Dilip Ghoshwondered “who is actuallycondemning violence: MamataBanerjee or Narendra Modi”adding “the Prime Minister hasalready tweeted against theDelhi riots but MamataBanerjee has not said a singleword against the people whocommitted violence in Bengalby burning trains and railwaystation after the enactment ofthe CAA.”

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Hours after the banon accessing social

networking sites was lift-ed across the UnionTerritory of Jammu &Kashmir on Wednesday,unidentified terroriststargeted a Special policeofficer(SPO) along witha civilian in Warporaarea of Sopore inBaramulla district.

According to initialpolice reports, “SPO identifiedas Wajahat Hussain ofWatergam, dressed in civvies,was attacked near bus standand killed on the spot while alocal shopkeeper succumbed tohis injuries in the nearby hos-pital”. The shopkeeper wasidentified as Omar Subhan,police said. Another civilian,Showkat Ahmad also sustainedminor injuries in the attack,official sources said.

Meanwhile, an encounterbetween the joint team of secu-rity forces was currentlyunderway in central Kashmir'sBudgam district till the time offiling the report.

According to officialsources, the security forces

launched a cordon and searchoperation in Dooniwara area,following information aboutthe presence of militants there.During the searches, the mili-tants hiding in a house openedfire that was retaliated by thesecurity forces.

“The exchange of fire wasgoing on till last reports camein,” the official said, adding thatthere were no casualties report-ed so far. Meanwhile, in Jammua team of Special operationsGroup (SOG) detained onePankaj Sharma R/O Tarore,Samba who was working as anoperative of Pakistani intelli-gence agencies.

According to policespokesman, “the individual

was in touch acrosssince last few years. Inthis period he had sentacross photos andvideos of vital areasand installations most-ly of Jammu ,Sambaand Kathua districts tohis Pak handlers viasocial media platformsin lieu of monetarygains”.

Police spokesmansaid, “during ques-tioning he has con-

fessed his involvement in pass-ing the crucial information ofvital installations includingsensitive bridges on NHW andin border areas to his Pak han-dlers”.

Preliminary probe indi-cates some monetary transac-tions in the two bank accountsof the alleged accused. Thedetained person has beenhanded over to P/S TrikutaNagar Jammu for furtheraction. A case under relevantsections of law has been regis-tered against the said accused.His bank accounts are beingfurther analyzed for more sus-picious transactions. Furtherinvestigations in the case ingoing on.

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Puducherry: Chief Minister ofPuducherry V Narayanasamy onWednesday urged Union HomeMinister Amit Shah urging him towithdraw the new provisions in theNational Population Register (NPR)2020 as they were causing panic amongthe people.

In a letter to Shah, the ChiefMinister said the population censusshould be as per the 2010 format andthe additional provisions now includ-ed in the NPR should be withdrawn.

The Chief Minister said the peo-ple were panicky over the additionalprovisions in the NPR, hence he urgedthe Union Minister to scrap the pro-visions. He said that already WestBengal, Bihar and Kerala, among oth-ers, have expressed their protest againstthe NPR and taken a stand they wouldnot implement the NPR 2020. PTI

Bengaluru: Karnataka ChiefMinister BS Yediyurappa onWednesday termed the vio-lence over the Citizenship(Amendment) Act as unnec-essary when Parliament hadalready passed it.

"The law passed byParliament has its own value indemocracy. Knowing wellabout the importance of lawpassed by parliament, I feel theCAA (and NRC) related vio-lence is unnecessary," he said.

Participating in a specialdiscussion on the Indian con-stitution in the KarnatakaAssembly, the Chief Ministersaid there is a special place toprotest in democracy but thelaw passed by parliament mustalso be respected.

"The laws passed by par-liament has its own signifi-cance," Yediyurappa said.

Amid fears being expressedin some quarters that the con-

stitution may be "changed",Yediyurappa said such appre-hensions are baseless and haveno meaning to it.

"It is not possible to changethe constitution. It cannot bedone," the Chief Minister said.

He also expressed his con-cern over poverty in societyand plight of farmers even

after 70 years of independence.Yediyurappa also called

upon public representatives tospend the grants for the bene-fit of poor people.

The chief minister alsohighlighted the plight ofwomen who are afraid of trav-elling at night due to increas-ing incidences of crime. PTI

Amaravati: The AndhraPradesh Council of Ministerson Wednesday decided tokeep the process of theNational Population Register(NPR) in abeyance in theState till the Centre reverts tothe 2010 questionnaire.

The cabinet, which methere under the chairman-ship of Chief Minister YSJagan Mohan Reddy, adopt-ed a resolution requesting the

Centre to change the NPRquestionnaire and alsoremove the apprehensionsamong the people on theissue.

Briefing reporters afterthe meeting, stateInformation and PublicRelations Minister PerniVenkataramaiah (Nani) saidthe Cabinet felt it was not justto forcibly impose the NPRwhen crores of people were

frightened over it.The onus is on the Centre

to remove the apprehensionsand create awareness amongpeople on the NPR. We areonly asking the Centre to ful-fil its responsibility, theMinister said. Asked if thestate has the power to over-rule the Centres decision,the minister said, We felt it isjust. If we don't have power.We will see." PTI

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Maharashtra PWD MinisterAshok Chavan on

Wednesday announced thatthe MVA Government willorder an inquiry into the stric-tures passed by the Comptrollerand Auditor General of India(CAG) in the tendering process�3,700 crore mid-seaChhatrapati Shivaji memorialproject unveiled by the BJP-ledGovernment.

Replying to a question inthe State Legislative Council,Chavan said: “Our Governmentis all for setting mid-sea memo-rial for Maratha warriorChhatrapati Shivaji. But, we willfirst order into the stricturespassed by the CAG on the ten-dering process of the project.Later, we will take a policy deci-sion in the matter”.

“Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj is reverential figure inthe entire country and it isessential that we set up a grandmemorial for him. But theCAG has raised objections tothe tendering process followedby the previous BJP-ledGovernment. In addition, thereare several litigations against theproject on environmentalissues,” the Minister said.“Following a directive by theSupreme Court, the work onthe construction of the mid-seaShivaji memorial for more thana year now,” Chavansaid.

Chavan also slammed theprevious Devendra Fadnavisgovernment for not havingmade any progress in the con-struction of the Shivaji duringthe last five years when it wasin power in the state.

It may be recalled that inthe first session of the StateLegislature held in Nagpur inDecember after the MVA gov-ernment assumed office onNovember 28 last year, the rul-ing NCP leader DhananjayMunde had demanded aninquiry into the alleged irreg-ularities in the mid-seaChhatrapati Shivaji memorialproject.

“The previous BJPGovernment that came topower invoking Maratha war-

rior Chhatrapati Shivaji’s namehad the project had launchedthe mid-sea Shivaji memorialthrough a Jal Puja at the handsof Prime Minister NarendraModi. The Devendra Fadnavisgovernment committed irreg-ularities in the tenderingprocess of the project,” Mundehad said.

The proposed Shivajimemorial — 212 metres inheight that includes a 123.2-mstatue standing atop an 88.8-mpedestal — was a flagship pro-ject of the previous BJP-ledGovernment.

The equestrian statue of thegreat Maratha warrior kingwill come up on a rocky isletaround 3.5 km from the MarineDrive in south Mumbai.

The memorial will — apartfrom the statue of Shivaji —house an open-air theatre, alibrary and a museum show-casing the Maratha warrior'slife. Besides, the memorial willhave a viewing gallery akin tothe one at Statue of Liberty inNew York harbour. It will havea landscaped+ garden that canaccommodate 3,000 people at atime. In 2017, L&T was short-listed for �3,826-crore after theconsortium of RelianceInfrastructure and Afcons quot-ed an estimate of �4779-crorefor the project.

The project was estimatedto cost around �3,826 crore, butnow official sources said therehas been “a further revision inthe cost”.

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Slamming the poaching ofruling party MLAs report-

edly indulged in by theBharatiya Janata Party inMadhya Pradesh, the Congressand NCP in Maharashtra onWednesday compared the BJP’s“Operation Lotus” to“Coronavirus” “for whichefforts are being made to dis-cover antibiotic” and said the JPNadda-led party had provedonce again that it can’t livewithout power.

Amid allegations by seniorCongress leader Digvijay Singhand Madhya Pradesh chiefminister Kamal Nath that theBJP was trying to lure theirparty’s MLAs by offering �25-30 crore, former Chief Ministerand senior Congress leaderAshok Chavan said: “The BJP’sOperation Lotus is like

Coronavirus, We are trying todiscover an antibiotic to curethis virus”.

Talking to media persons atthe Vidhan Bhavan here,Chavan — who is a PWDMinister in the MVAGovernment in the State —said: “The BJP regularly resortsto ‘Operation Lotus’ in stateswhere it is not power. It tries topoach MLAs from the rulingparty. But, I am confident thatthat the BJP will not succeed inits operation in MadhyaPradesh”.

“There may be any politi-cal party in power in differentstate, but the BJP should learnto function in a democraticmanner. Kamal Nath is an effi-cient Chief Minister and thereis no threat to the Congressgovernment in MadhyaPradesh,” Chavan said.

Hitting out at the BJP for its

ongoing efforts to lureCongress MLAS in MadhyaPradesh, State NCP MinisterJitendra Awhad tweeted inMarathi: “There is a lot of fearamong the people about coro-navirus. There is also outbreakof Dengue. There is rift in thesociety over CAA and NRC.When all these are happening,it is shame on the BJP whichcannot remain without powerhas stooped so low ( in MadhyaPradesh”.

“The BJP has establishedthat the levels of political areplunging low in the country.The BJP has created an imagefor itself that it can’t remainwithout power. The BJP iskeeping the Congress MLAslocked up. How long peoplecan tolerate this kind of act bythe BJP,” Awhad said in anoth-er tweet. In his retaliation toChavan’s statement, senior BJP

leader Sudhir Mungantiwarsaid: "Congress is itself likecoronavirus. Ashok Chavan isa senior leader of Congress andhe should not say such things.But Congress starts with theletter 'C' and so does coron-avirus. BJP starts with 'B', soBJP has nothing to do withcoronavirus."

On Monday, MP’s formerChief Minister Digvijay Singhhad alleged that the BJP wastrying to destablise the KamalNath Government in MadhyaPradesh by offering CongressMLAs �25 to 35 crores each.BJP leader and former MPCM Shivraj Singh Chouhan hitback at Digvijay Singh accus-ing him of indulging in black-mail and alleged that theCongress leader was makingsuch charges against the BJP inMadhya Pradesh "to stay rele-vant".

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Mumbai: The Maharashtra BJP has sus-pended the chairperson of a party-ruledmunicipal council and deputy head of anoth-er local body which recently passed resolu-tions against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye post-ed the suspension letters on his Twitter han-dle on Wednesday.

As per the letters, issued on Tuesday, the

Parbhani- based Selu Municipal Council'schairperson Vinod Borade and PalamMunicipal Council's deputy chairpersonBalasaheb Rokade have been suspended bythe party. BJP state president ChandrakantPatil has stated in the letters that both theparty workers showed indiscipline by votingagainst the CAA, hence they have been sus-pended from the party. PTI

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Asian and European stocksmostly rose on Wednesday

after the Federal Reservesprang its first emergency ratecut since the global financialcrisis to counter economic fall-out from coronavirus.

In the first unscheduledrate reduction since 2008, theFed axed its key interest rate bya half point to a range of 1.0-1.25, arguing it was neededbecause “coronavirus posesevolving risks to economicactivity”.

Wall Street then tankedon fears the central bank wasin panic mode over the spread-ing COVID-19 disease, whichhas so far killed 3,200 peopleworldwide and infected morethan 90,000.

However, equities inEurope and A\sia mostlyadvanced on Wednesday as

investor nerves subsided, deal-ers said.

In commodities, oil ralliedon indications that the OPECcrude producing cartel couldslash output this week in orderto prop up prices.

“Market sentiment cer-tainly seems to have stabilisedafter a historic US sessionwhich saw the role of monetarypolicy undermined as traderssold into an extraordinary boutof easing from the Fed,” said IGanalyst Joshua Mahony.

“The US economy is actu-ally yet to feel a significant eco-nomic impact from this virus,and thus the decision to takesuch drastic action providedmarkets with a warning ofexactly how big this threat is,”added Mahony, noting the Fedstill has a scheduled rate call intwo weeks.

In late morning deals,London stocks jumped 1.3 per-

������$�� ��� 17 ��73��

It is almost a year since JetAirways shut down opera-

tions, and while some of thatairline’s Boeing 737 are still fly-ing about with Jet’s unmistak-able dark blue tails for SpiceJetand Vistara, the aviation indus-try in India lurches towardsanother crisis. It should not belike this, Vistara just took deliv-ery of their very first Boeing787 Dreamliner and was goingto start long-haul operations byApril. But not just India, theglobal aviation industry hassuddenly found itself in a cri-sis, and this one has nothing todo with dodgy software on air-craft and questionable financialpractices. This is all to do withthe Chinese Flu that has theworld in a panic. This viral out-break is the first truly globalviral outbreak made possible inno small part thanks to the avi-ation and tourism industriesand unsurprisingly both sectorsare staring down the abyss.

Just look at China, accord-ing to statistics from flighttracking service Flightradar24,civilian air traffic in China isdown 80 percent. Passenger

traffic is down even more, asmany of the flights operatingare cargo flights ferrying essen-tial supplies to and from effect-ed cities.

China was for the pastdecade the fastest growing avi-ation market in the world, andnow huge airport terminalsincluding Beijing’s brand newone sit almost deserted.Chinese skies notorious fortheir heavy congestion anddelays are viryaully empty andthat is evident to regularobservers of flight trackingservices. And international ser-vices to and from China havevirtually ended with severalnations including India puttingrestrictions on visitors frommainland China. But thedemand collapse isn’t just onsectors to and from China, as

the Covid 2019 contagiongrows to impact South Koreaand Japan as well, travel to andfrom those nations has alsobeen impacted. With thou-sands of cases also detected inItaly and several hundredacross Europe, conferences andevents big and small are beingcancelled. The cancellation ofthe Geneva Motor Show beingby far and away the most sig-nificant one so far. All this isleading to thousands of can-celled tickets and hotel reser-vations and hundreds ofgrounded planes.

Aircraft are quite differentfrom cars in the sense that theyget used extremely heavily,most planes fly a minimum ofeight-ten hours a day at theminimum and some low-costcarriers use their planes for

twelve hours daily at the veryleast. As it is all Indian carriershave cancelled all services toChina and Hong Kong. Flightsto Seoul and Tokyo might benext on the chopping block.

Additionally, as demandfor Bangkok and Singaporehas fallen, services havedropped by half by airlines.With non-essential travel advi-sories across the corporate sec-tor and aviation ironicallybecoming an airborne vector ofsorts, demand is collapsingeven in India. Speak to airlineand security staff at airportsover the past two days andthey’ve noticed demand dropoff by a significant numberalthough until the industry

releases their statistics forMarch we will not know thetrue decline in both interna-tional and domestic passengernumbers. And Indian carriersdon’t have it half as bad as anyof the Chinese airlines, sever-al of whom will probablyemerge from the viral crisis stillon long-term life support. Evenairlines like Cathay Pacific ofHong Kong and SingaporeAirlines have grounded a thirdof their fleets, thanks to theirdependence on traffic to andfrom China. And as demand toEurope and even the Indiansubcontinent starts showingsigns of a precipitous fall, evenairlines like Dubai’s Emirates,the world’s largest A380 oper-

ator have sliced back services.Once the true toll of the viralimpact in the United States isclear, the world’s largest avia-tion market by a long distance,things could go really pearshaped for the industry. Ofcourse, it may not be as bad asit is for tourism dependantEuropean airlines and this viralattack could kill off many air-lines and without a steady sup-ply of Chinese, Indian andeven American tourists to bol-ster national and local budgets,countries like France and Italycould face major budgetaryissues.

And the government isplanning to sell Air India in themidst of all this. To be fair,when they took the decision,they had little idea of what wascoming but maybe, just maybeit might be a good idea to keepthings on hold and let themarket recover. And the mar-ket may not recover for sometime to come. While free mar-kets should reign and thus it isimportant that Air India shouldbe privatised, the situation is bcoming critical and the gov-ernment might need to inter-vene for the entire industry.

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Aiming further improve-ment in ease of doing busi-

ness, the Cabinet onWednesday approved 72changes to the companies lawwith focus on decriminalisationof various provisions and per-mitting direct overseas listingof Indian corporates.

Reduction in penalties forcertain offences as well as intimeline for rights issues, relax-ation in CSR compliancerequirements and creation ofseparate benches at theNational Company LawAppellate Tribunal (NCLAT)are among the raft of other pro-posed changes in theCompanies Act, 2013.

Briefing reporters,Corporate Affairs MinisterNirmala Sitharaman said thepriority is to “decriminalise”

provisions in the Act.There would be 72 changes

resulting in amendments to 65sections of the Act and the aimis to ensure greater ease ofdoing business as well as living.

Sitharaman, who is also thefinance minister, said 23offences would be recategorisedout of 66 compoundableoffences under the Act. Besides,seven compoundable offenceswould be omitted, she said.

She also said penaltieswould be reduced in case ofvarious compoundableoffences. Generally, com-poundable offences are thosewhich can be settled by payingcertain amount of money.

According to the corporateaffairs ministry, there are 52proposals that would result in48 amendments for greaterease of doing business for lawabiding corporates by way of“removing criminality totally inrespect of 35 procedural andtechnical defaults”.

Mumbai: The Bombay HighCourt on Wednesday refusedto stay the auction proceedingsof some rare paintings seized bythe Enforcement Directoratefrom the residence of fugitivediamond businessman NiravModi. The auction is scheduledfor Thursday.

A division bench of ActingChief Justice BPDharmadhikari and Justice NR Borkar was hearing a petitionfiled by the businessman’s sonRohin Modi, claiming that thepaintings were owned by theRohin Trust, of which he wasa beneficiary, and not owned byNirav Modi. PTI

London: Fugitive diamondmerchant Nirav Modi, fightinghis extradition to India oncharges over the nearly USD 2billion Punjab National Bank(PNB) fraud and money laun-dering case, has filed anotherplea for bail to be heard by theHigh Court in London onThursday.

The 49-year-old, who hasbeen lodged at WandsworthPrison in south-west Londonsince his arrest in March lastyear and is scheduled for anextradition trial in May, ismaking his fifth attempt at get-ting bail on the basis of achange in circumstances. PTI

New Delhi: The AppointmentsCommittee of the Cabinet(ACC) on Tuesday approved thedesignation of Ajay BhushanPandey as the new FinanceSecretary. Pandey, currently theRevenue Secretary in the UnionFinance Ministry, will replaceincumbent Rajiv Kumar.

A 1984 batch IAS officer ofthe Maharashtra cadre, he isknown for his work with theUnique IdentificationAuthority of India (UIDAI)and has also served asChairman of Goods andServices Tax Network (GSTN).

Pandey had taken charge asthe Revenue Secretary inNovember 2018, replacingHasmukh Adhia who was toretire at the end of the month.

A graduate of electricalengineering from IIT, Kanpur,Pandey, in 1998, went on tojoin the University ofMinnesota where he obtainedhis MS and PhD degrees incomputer science. IANS

����� 17 ��73��

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on Wednesday

said the exercise of consolida-tion of 10 public sector banks(PSBs) into four is on courseand the merger will come intoeffect from April 1, 2020. TheUnion Cabinet, she said, hasgiven a go-ahead for the merg-er proposal and the govern-ment has been in regular touchwith these banks. There will beno regulatory issues, she said.

“The banks’ merger is oncourse and decisions havealready been taken by therespective bank boards,” shetold reporters here.

The mergers are aimed atcreating global sized banks inIndia. In the biggest consoli-dation exercise in the bankingspace, the government inAugust 2019 had announcedfour major mergers of publicsector banks.

����� 17 ��73��

Crude oil prices onWednesday surged 2.37

per cent to �3,539 per barrel asparticipants enlarged theirholdings tracking a positivetrend overseas.

Analysts said raising ofbets by participants kept crudeprices higher in futures tradehere.

On the Multi CommodityExchange, crude oil for deliv-ery in March traded higher by�82, or 2.37 per cent, to �3,539per barrel in 32,831 lots.

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The government onWednesday asked Bharti

Airtel, Vodafone Idea and othertelecom companies to payremaining AGR dues as per theSupreme Court order withoutfurther delay, according tosources.

The telecom departmentwrote to all telcos asking themto pay balance dues “without

delay” and submit detailedbifurcation of payments (expla-nation of self-assessedamounts), which it said arenecessary for proper reconcil-iation of legitimate AGR dues.

The Government has so farreceived about �26,000 crorefrom AGR payments, includingadhoc/ buffer amounts given bytelcos to meet any reconcilia-tion differences with the tele-com department. PTI

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The International Cricket Council(ICC) has turned down Cricket

Australia’s request to have a reserveday for the semifinals of the ongoingWomen’s T20 World Cup. The twosemifinals are scheduled to take placetoday in Sydney but the forecast ofrain throughout the afternoon threat-ens to jeopardise both fixtures.

Cricket Australia chief KevinRoberts on Wednesday revealed thatthe apex body declined the requestunder tournament rules.

“We’ve asked the question (on areserve day),” Cricket Australia chiefKevin Roberts was quoted as sayingon the radio station SEN.

“It’s not part of the playing con-ditions and we respect that. We’reoptimistic based on the drainage atthe SCG combined with a weatherforecast that is not perfect but not ter-rible either,” he added.

According to the rules laid out bythe ICC for the tournament, theremust be at least a 20 overs match withboth sides playing 10 overs each.

“We’re really hopeful and plan-ning for different scenarios tomorrownight but the important thing is get-ting our team ready to play a 10 over

match, a 12 over match, an 18 overmatch or whatever it happens to beif it’s not a full 20-over contest,”Roberts said.

However, an ICC spokespersondefended the decision, according tomedia reports, stating that adding areserve day would extend the dura-tion of T20 World Cup which is sup-posed to be “short and sharp”

“The ICC T20 World Cups areshort sharp events where reservedays are factored in for the final.Allowing for any other reserve dayswould have extended the length of theevent, which isn’t feasible,” he said.

“There is a clear and fair alterna-tive should there be no play in any ofthe semi-finals with the winner of thegroup progressing.”

In case either or both the semifi-nal matches are washed out, India andSouth Africa will qualify for Sunday’sfinal at the Melbourne CricketGround having finished on top oftheir respective groups.

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Saurashtra entered their secondsuccessive Ranji Trophy final

with a 92-run win over Gujarat onday five of their semifinal here onWednesday.

Saurashtra captain and lead pacerJaydev Unadkar led from the front with a seven-wick-et haul as Gujarat were bowled out for 234 in the finalsession on day five.

Chasing 327, Gujarat had resumed the day at sevenfor one. They were down and out at 63 for five beforecaptain Parthiv Patel (93) and Chirag Gandhi (96)shared a 158-run stand to raise hopes of an improb-able win.

However, Unadkat removed both the set batsmento fashion a memorable win for his team.

Saurashtra will host Bengal in the final from March9. Saurashtra had lost last year’s title clash to Vidarbha.

Resuming on seven for one, the visitors lost theirsecond wicket on the same score.

Unadkat struck early as he removed Samit Gohil(5), who was caught at second slip.

Unadkat had his third scalp when took a returncatch to send back Dhruv Raval (1). Gujaratwere in trouble at 18 for three.

When it looked like Bhargav Merai(14) and skipper Parthiv were steady-ing Gujarat’s ship, Prerak Mankadbroke through by trapping Merai infront of the wicket as Gujarat slipped to60 for four. Soon, it became 63 for fiveafter Rujul Bhatt (1) also fellcheaply.

Parthiv held one end up andthen found an allay in Chirag,their heroics helped Gujarat to taketea at 206 for five, still needing 121runs in the final session.

Just then, Unadkat turnedthe tables in favour of the hostsby dismissing Parthiv and newman Axar Patel (0) in thesame over.

With the two wickets,Unadkat also completedhis 20th five-for. Saurashtra thenwrapped up the tail, and fitting-ly, Unadkat took the last wicket.

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����� .<�17<�

Firm title contenders after a sensation-al unbeaten run in the group stages,India will have to ensure a solid all-

round performance to get the better of for-midable England in the semifinals of theICC women’s T20 World Cup at SydneyCricket Ground today.

India have been the best side so far andthey would be seeking their maiden finalappearance in the showpiece’s history witha win over England.

In the earlier seven editions, India havenever reached the final but this time, theyhave emerged as serious title contendersafter a string of superlative performances.

They are in red-hot form, but histo-ry favours England as they have won allthe five matches played between the twosides in this tournament.

The last time, the two teams met in aT20 World Cup, England won by eightwickets in the semifinals in West Indies.

Before that, India lost in 2009, 2012,2014 and 2016 editions — all in groupstages.

“After losing the last semifinal, as ateam we realised we have to work as a unit,and right now you will see that our teamis working as a unit and we are not relianton just one or two players,” India captainHarmanpreet Kaur said, referring to thesemifinals loss in 2018.

Seven players in this Indian teamplayed in that semifinal and they wouldbe looking to turn the tables on theEnglishwomen this time.

The Indians will also take confidencefrom the win against England in the tri-series in Australia ahead of this WorldCup.

On form, most of the Indians are intop form with teenage sensation ShafaliVerma being the leading batter, havingscored 161 runs in four innings.

With a batting average of 40.25, the 16-year-old is on the third spot among lead-ing run-getters in the tournament, fol-

lowed by England’s Natalie Sciver (202)and Heather Knight (193).

One-down Jemimah Rodrigues isalso in good touch and has made usefulcontributions though she has not scoredbig so far, with 34 being her highest.

The middle order has also stepped upwhenever needed with VedaKrishnamurthy, Shikha Pandey and RadhaYadav making their presence felt in differ-

ent matches.The two most experienced players in

skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and openerSmriti Mandhana have, however, notbeen living up to the expectations and thesemifinals could be their big comeback.

In the bowling department, leg-spin-ner Poonam Yadav is on top of the tour-nament chart with nine wickets from fourmatches. She has been ably supported by

Shikha Pandey (7 from 4 matches).For England, who have qualified for

the semifinals after finishing second ingroup B with three wins and one loss, bat-ting has been their strength.

Natalie has plundered 202 runs withan average of 67.33, including three fifties,and the Indians will have to find a way tostop her in her tracks.

In the bowling department also,

England have the likes of left-arm spinnerSophie Ecclestone (8 wickets) and pacerAnya Shrubsole (7 wickets) who are at sec-ond and third spot in the tournament chart.

SQUADSIndia: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain),Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, SmritiMandhana, Shikha Pandey, Poonam Yadav,Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy,Taniya Bhatia (wk), Radha Yadav,Arundhati Reddy, Harleen Deol,Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Richa Ghosh, PoojaVastrakar.England: Heather Knight (Captain),Tammy Beaumont, KatherineBrunt, Kate Cross, Freya Davies,Sophie Ecclestone, GeorgiaElwiss, Sarah Glenn, Amy Jones(wk), Natalie Sciver, AnyaShrubsole, Mady Villiers, FranWilson, Lauren Winfield, Danni

Wyatt.

����� .<�17<�

Teenage Indian batting sensationShafali Verma on Wednesday rose

to the top spot in the ICC women’sT20I rankings, riding on her stellar runat the ongoing World Cup.

The 16-year-old Verma takes overfrom New Zealand’s Suzie Bates, whohad been the top batter since October2018 after wresting the spot from WestIndies captain Stafanie Taylor.

However, Smriti Mandhana hasslipped a couple of rungs to sixth in thelatest list.

Verma and England spinnerSophie Ecclestone will go into the semi-finals of the event as the top ranked bat-ter and bowler respectively.

Verma’s explosive batting at the topof the order saw her score 161 runs infour innings, including knocks of 47and 46 against Sri Lanka and NewZealand. It helped her become only thesecond India batter after Mithali Raj totop the women’s T20I batting rankings.

Ecclestone, who took eight wick-ets in four matches including a best ofthree for seven against the West Indies,is the first England bowler to be num-ber one since Anya Shrubsole in April2016 and the first England spinner atthe top since Danni Hazell in August2015.

Among the Indian bowlers,Poonam Yadav is up four places toeighth after a good run in World Cup.

New Zealand captain Sophie

Devineis nowthe solenumberone all-r o u n d e rafter cominginto the tour-nament as a jointnumber one alongwith Australia all-rounder Ellyse Perry.

A u s t r a l i aremain at the topof the T20I teamrankings with 290points and Englandin second positionwith 278.

����� .<�17<

Shafali Verma has not only lit up theWomen’s T20 World Cup with her explo-

sive batting but the “naughty” teenager has alsoadded immense happiness and positivity to theIndian team off the field, feels captainHarmanpreet Kaur.

The 16-year-old Verma has scored 161runs at a stunning strike rate of 161, settingthe tone for India’s four Group A victories withfearless batting despite being in her first glob-al tournament.

Ahead of today’s semifinal showdownwith England at SCG, her captain acknowl-edged what the fresh-faced teenager hasoffered India behind the scenes.

“She’s very naughty, gets so much happi-ness and positivity to the team, always wantsto enjoy it,” Kaur said.

“And when batting with her she’s motivat-ing you and releasing pressure, that kind ofplayer you need in your team. Whoever isplaying, wants to play for the country and givetheir best, she’s enjoying for the team,” sheadded.

Kaur said since this Indian side has beentogether for a while, it has now built a con-ducive environment for youngsters like Vermato prosper.

“Now this team has been together for along time, we learn a lot from each other, learna lot of cricket. It makes it easier for playerssuch as Shafali because when anybody entersthe team, they see everyone is workingtogether.

“They also feel nice and try to do whatothers are doing,”she said.

The skipper, herself known to bea power-hitter, has endured a poorstart to the tournament by failing to

reach double digit scores.Kaur insisted that

everyone in the team isbeing handed out their

roles to ensure that the sidecontinues to perform well.

“Right now, what weare trying to do, is

give individualroles so that

everyonec a nc o m ea n d

performfor the

team. I didn’tperform with the bat

but the team is doing well andwe are enjoying that. That ismore important for us.”

Verma has certainly been inform Down Under but there’sno getting away from India’sdisappointing women’s T20World Cup record againstEngland.

They have never beatenHeather Knight’s side in thecompetition, a run whichincludes an eight-wicket defeatin the 2018 semifinals.

����� .<�17<

England captain Heather Knight feels tack-ling spinners, particularly the in-form

Poonam Yadav, will be crucial to her side’schances of upstaging an unbeaten India in thesemifinal clash.

Yadav bamboozled hosts Australia in theopening match of this tournament and herwicket-taking exploits haven’t stopped there.She is leading the charts with nine scalps in fourmatches.

But the leg-spinner couldn’t cast her spellthe last time India met England in the tour-nament, conceding 29 from her four overs asKnight’s side romped to an eight-wicket vic-tory to reach the final two years ago.

“We’ve practised for her a lot, I thought weplayed her outstandingly in the last T20

World Cup and that was due to the prepara-tion we had,” Knight said on the eve of thematch.

“We don’t have (assistant coach) AliMaiden anymore, who bowled brilliant leg-spin, but we’ve got a few coaches who havebowled it brilliantly and we’ve been really clearon how we’re going to do things against her,”she added.

Yadav has gone on to become India’s lead-ing T20I wicket-taker and her ability todeceive on Australian pitches has forcedKnight to take note ahead of their crunchmatch.

“She’s a massive threat for them and is animproved bowler since the last World Cup, sofor us to be successful, we’re going to have toplay her and all their spinners well. That’s goingto be key in the game,” the England skipper said.

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Former India spinner Sunil Joshi was onWednesday named chairman of the

national selection panel by the BCCI’sCricket Advisory Committee (CAC),which also picked ex-pacer HarvinderSingh in the five-member group.

The CAC, comprising Madan Lal, RP Singh and Sulakshana Naik, named thetwo selectors. Joshi replaces MSK Prasad(South Zone), who had an extended runafter completing his four-year tenure.

“The committee recommended SunilJoshi for the role of Chairman of the seniormen’s selection committee,” read a state-ment from BCCI Secretary Jay Shah.

In an unprecedented decision, theBCCI said the CAC will review thepanel’s performance after one year and“make recommendations” accordingly.

Harvinder was chosen from CentralZone and replaces Gagan Khoda in thepanel. The existing members of the selec-tion panel are Jatin Paranjpe (West),Devang Gandhi (East) and SarandeepSingh (North).

“We have picked the best guys for thejob. We picked them (Joshi andHarvinder) because they were very clear

in their views,” Lal said after the interviews.Specifically on Joshi, Lal said: “We

liked his straight-forward attitude. He isexperienced also (having been part of theBangladesh support staff). He has alsocoached UP.

“I asked him how he handledBangladesh selectors. He has done thetoughest of jobs. His thoughts were thebest.”

Lal said candidates’ playing experi-ence in all three formats was considered.

“Their experience in Tests, ODIsand first-class was considered. The restwe will get to know (with their perfor-mance). After one year’s time, if we findthey have not done a good job, we willdecide accordingly,” he said.

Joshi’s selection from South Zoneand Harvinder getting picked fromCentral Zone also shows that the Boardhas stuck with the zonal policy.

“Our zonal system is very effectiveand you need it as India is a huge coun-try,” said Lal .

The 49-year-old Joshi played 15 Testsand 69 ODIs between 1996 and 2001, tak-ing 41 and 69 wickets respectively.

Harvinder, who is 42, representedIndia in three Tests and 16 ODIs

between 1998 and 2001, taking four and24 scalps respectively.

On selectors dealing with the high-

profile team management includingskipper Virat Kohli and head coach RaviShastri, Lal assured the chosen ones willnot shy away from taking tough calls.

“We have selected those who can

take the hardest of decisions. (Be it)Ravi Shastri or Virat Kohli, we are tak-ing about the India team. We selectedthose who can take tough calls.”

������ Gearing up for a return to com-petitive cricket with the IPL, ChennaiSuper Kings captain Mahendra SinghDhoni credited his franchise for making hima better player and helping him tackle somedifficult situations both on and off the field.

Dhoni, who has been on a sabbatical

since India’s semifinal exit from the ODIWorld Cup last year, on Monday receiveda rousing reception at the the MAChidambaram Stadium here during his firsttraining session with CSK ahead of the eventbeginning March 29.

“...CSK has helped me improve ineverything, whether it was being a humanbeing or being a cricketer, handling situa-tions that are tough both in and out of thefield and how to be humble once you aredoing well,” Dhoni was quoted as saying ona Star Sports show.

His ardent CSK fans fondly call himThala, and the 38-year-old said the love andrespect he has got from them is special.

“Thala’ basically means brother, so forme it’s more the abstract of the fans, the loveand affection towards me is the reflectionof that,” he said.

“Whenever I am in Chennai or downSouth they never call me by my name, theyaddress me as Thala and the moment some-one calls me Thala they are showing theirlove and respect but at the same time he isa CSK fan.” PTI

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���%������������������ ��� �����������������������G��������#�;����G���������R� ����� �� The Madan Lal-ledCricket Advisory Committee (CAC)had two common questions for thepotential national selectors: “how willyou handle Mahendra Singh Dhoni’sfuture with the Indian team and skip-per Virat Kohli’s stature?

All the Five candidates were askeda common question on Dhoni, who hasnot played since the World Cup semi-final loss to New Zealand in July.

However, the former skipper willlead Chennai Super Kings in the IPLbeginning March 29.

“Yes, the CAC had one commonquestion and that was about their callwith regards to Mahendra Singh Dhoniand whether they will select him forT20 World Cup,” a senior BCCI officialsaid.

It is understood that the new BCCIregime wants the selection committeeto have a clear cut stand on Dhoni’sinternational future.

“Dhoni is both a sensitive andtricky issue and that’s why the questionneeded to be asked,” the source added.

A few of the candidates were alsoasked whether they are “only lookingat the chairman’s post” or they wouldbe happy to become just a selector.

Lal was also asked if Virat Kohlibeing a strong captain was consideredwhile picking the panel and he said bothJoshi and Harvinder had the “bestanswers” on this particular topic.

“We have this factor the most in ourmind. Our captain is a high perform-ing player. We have kept it in mind thatwe find somebody who can communi-cate with him, because in the end it isthe captain, who has to run the team.

“Captain matters a lot to the teamand so it is important on how you com-municate with him. What is gone is inthe past, the two selectors that wepicked had the best answers on thistopic.” PTI

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Jurgen Klopp insisted the best ofLiverpool’s season may still be to comedespite a third defeat in four games saw

them crash out of the FA Cup 2-0 at thehands of Chelsea on Tuesday.

Klopp made seven changes to the sidebeaten for the first time in 45 Premier Leaguegames at Watford on Saturday, but still nameda far stronger XI than the youthful teams thathad seen off Everton and Shrewsburyto reach the fifth round.

However, goals from Willian andRoss Barkley gave Frank Lampard'smen a much-needed lift at StamfordBridge.

“Losing 2-0 is not good, but it is rel-atively easy to explain. We made twomassive mistakes around the goals,” saidKlopp.

Liverpool remain well on course fora first league title in 30 years with a 22-point lead at the top of the Premier League,but run the risk of their competitive cam-paign coming to an early end once the titleis sewn up unless they can overturn a 1-0 firstleg deficit against Atletico Madrid in theChampions League next week.

“It is not the best three weeks of thewhole season but it is a chance to make it thebest three weeks now and that is the plan,”added Klopp. “Nobody has to feel sorry forus, we will win football games and that iswhat we want to do on Saturday.”

A run of five wins in 16 league games anda 3-0 thrashing at home by Bayern Munichin the first leg of their Champions League last16 tie last week meant the pressure was onChelsea to keep their hopes of silverware thisseason alive.

Chelsea got the lift they needed from theopening goal as Liverpool’s understudygoalkeeper Adrian undid the good work ofa brilliant save from Willian within a minute.

The Brazilian was gifted possession

again just outside the Liverpool box and thistime Adrian could only turn his powerfuldrive into the bottom corner.

At the other end, Kepa Arrizabalaga, whohad been dropped for the previous fivegames, showed why Chelsea spent £72 mil-lion ($92 million) on him just over 18 monthsago as he made three reaction saves in a mat-ter of seconds to deny Mane, Divock Origiand Takumi Minamino what seemed a cer-

tain equaliser. Chelsea then lost MateoKovacic and Willian to injury either side ofhalf-time to further deplete Lampard’s mid-field options.

But that may provide the opportunityBarkley needs to kickstart his flaggingcareer at the Bridge.

The England international doubledChelsea’s lead in spectacular style midwaythrough the second half as he galloped for-

ward from inside his own half before smash-ing past Adrian from outside the area.

Newcastle and Sheffield United alsobooked their place in the quarter-finals onTuesday.

�%��� 041��7.�7,

Ole Gunnar Solskjaeris wary of the threat

Wayne Rooney poses toManchester United’s FACup hopes as the Derbyforward looks to provethere is “still fight in anold dog”.

The Old Traffordgiants, on an eight-match unbeaten run inall competitions, head toPride Park today for afifth-round tie that willpit them against theirall-time top-scorer.

Rooney scored aclub-record 253 goalsacross 559 appearancesduring a trophy-ladenspell at United between2004 and 2017, whenhe returned to boyhoodclub Everton before aspell with Major LeagueSoccer outfit DC United.

The 34-year-oldreturned to home soil tojoin Championship sideDerby as player-coach atthe end of last year andis now preparing to lineup against his formerclub.

“He gave absolutelyeverything for this cluband we all appreciatethat,” Solskjaer said. “Butany goal he scoresagainst us wil l bechalked off his goal tally!He doesn’t want to scoretoo many of them.

“He’s a threat, in andaround the box, setplays, and of course thisgame Wayne will showwhat he can do and hewants to prove thatthere’s still fight in an olddog.

“We’ve got to be onour toes, don’t give himany space in and aroundthe box or in midfield.”

“At the latter endwhen he played in mid-fielder, you can see he’sgot Scholesy-like passingrange,” he added, in ref-erence to former Unitedmidfielder Paul Scholes.

Solskjaer was askedwhether England’s all-time top scorer was

under-appreciated insome quarters but saidthat was not the case.

“He’s been a fantas-tic player for ManUnited and he playedhere for so long, he’s theclub’s top scorer, he’swon so many trophies,”said the Norwegian boss.

“For me, I don’tthink the fans underrat-ed him. I think everyonereally, really appreciateswhat he did for us.

“He’s still very wel-come, he’s still aroundthe place, he still comesto Old Trafford. He willget a good receptionfrom our away fans inthat game definitely.”

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Returning four-time major winner Kim Clijsterslost in the first round of the WTA tournament

in Monterrey, Mexico, just her second match ofan ambitious comeback after her 2012 retirement.

The 36-year-old Belgian mother of threeplayed her first match in over seven years in Dubailast month where she was defeated by GarbineMuguruza.

In the first round in Mexico, a still unrankedClijsters was drawn to face second seed JohannaKonta, the British number one, and went down6-3, 7-5.

“I felt some things were better,” Clijsters saidin comments carried by wtatennis.com.

“Some things still need a lot of improvement.That’s why it’s good to play matches. In Dubai, Ididn’t start well because I was overwhelmed, buttoday I started and served much better than I didthere.

“Those are a few of the positive things, andthe points that have to be better, I’ll work very hardto improve them for other matches.”

Clijsters added: “I’ve been through differentgenerations and played many players throughoutmy whole career.

“I’m still at a stage where I want to focus onwhat I’m doing and how I’m feeling, and also startreading my opponents.

“It’s a process that I have to trust and keepworking hard to improve in every match I play.I’d like to take big steps but I have to focus on smallstep and improving day by day.”

Konta acknowledged she had been star-struck.

“As a young player, I never thought I’d get toplay Kim Clijsters in my career,” she said.

“I feel truly privileged and honored to sharethe court with such a champion. It’s nice to haveher back.”

�%��� .��43;7

Joshua Kimmich edged Bayern Munich intothe German Cup semi-finals with the only

goal in a 1-0 win at Schalke 04 on Tuesday.Bayern sit top of the Bundesliga and are

also set for a place in the Champions Leaguequarters having beaten Chelsea 3-0 in the firstleg of their last-16 tie.

There was also a major upsetas fourth-tier Saarbrucken per-formed a giant killing act on top-flight Fortuna Duesseldorf bywinning a thrilling penalty shoot-out 7-6 following a 1-1 draw.

Saarbrucken’s hero was theirgoalkeeper Daniel Batz, who saved a penaltyin regular time and then stopped two more inthe shoot-out.

The minnows took the lead in the 31stminute but were pushed into the shoot-outafter Fortuna equalised in the 90th minutethrough Mathias Jorgensen.

Defending Cup winners Bayern have won13 of their past 14 games under coach HansiFlick but played on Tuesday without injuredstrikers Robert Lewandowski and KingsleyComan, who scored all the goals in last year’s3-0 final win over RB Leipzig.

Kimmich’s first-time strike from the edgeof the area came in the 40th minute whileSchalke hit the woodwork and had a goal ruled

out for offside. In the other quarter-finals,Bayer Leverkusen host Union Berlin whileEintracht Frankfurt greet Werder Bremen.

�%��� 40.�7,�40

England can look forward to facing theworld’s top-ranked side Belgium in

the next UEFA Nations League later thisyear, but for now manager GarethSouthgate’s chief concerns surround thecoronavirus outbreak and the fitness offorward duo Harry Kane and MarcusRashford going into Euro 2020.

Tuesday’s draw for the next NationsLeague saw England — who finishedthird last year in the inaugural version ofthe competition — come out in a groupwith Belgium, Denmark and Iceland inLeague A.

Those matches will be played fromSeptember to November, with the four-team finals set for June 2021.

“We enjoyed the competition lasttime, and the quality of the fixtures againshows how exciting this could be,”Southgate said after Tuesday’s draw cer-emony in Amsterdam.

England played Belgium twice at the2018 World Cup, in the group stage andthe third-place play-off, and lost bothmatches.

They are also due to host Denmarkat Wembley in a friendly on March 31.However, there are currently worries thatgame — and the scheduled March 27

clash with Italy — might be postponedor played behind closed doors if requiredto contain the coronavirus outbreakwhich has already caused the postpone-ment of numerous sporting events world-wide.

“We don’t need to spec-ulate at the moment,”Southgate said. “I think wehave to be adaptable andhave to make sure that weare prepared for every even-

tuality, but as we stand we are trying notto get too worried by all the hype, makesensible decisions on hygiene and go fromthere.” England cruised through qualify-ing for Euro 2020, in which they will playgroup games at Wembley and would alsobe at home in the semi-finals and finalshould they get there.

However, loss of form to certainsquad members — not least the strugglesof goalkeeper Jordan Pickford — andinjuries to Kane and Rashford are prob-lems.

It was feared Tottenham Hotspurstriker Kane would not play again thisseason after having hamstring surgery inJanuary, while Manchester United’sRashford is out with a back injury.

“All I know is that both players havegiven themselves the best possible chanceof being fit and available not only for usbut for the end of the season for theirclubs,” said Southgate.

“Obviously that is their priority,they have got to get back playing clubfootball, then of course we are hopingboth come through with no issues aheadof the summer for us.”He added: “Wehave really good competition for places,but clearly we want to be going to theEuros with our best players and there isno doubt that Kane and Rashford wouldbe in that category.”

Belgium manager Roberto Martinezwas pleased with Tuesday’s draw — histeam, who lead the world rankings, facedIceland in the last Nations League and arealready set to take on Denmark at theEuropean Championships inCopenhagen.

It is the approaching Euro itselfwhich is at the forefront of his mind, andthe Spaniard is hopeful Real Madrid starEden Hazard will be fit to play in Junedespite needing an operation on a poten-tially season-ending foot injury.

“I’m very confident. I think if theoperation goes well I think Eden couldfinish the season with Real Madrid,” hesaid.

����� 14=��0/0)4��

On a comeback trail,Hardik Pandya turned in

yet another all-round show tohelp Reliance 1 inch ahead tothe semi-final of the 16th DYPatil T20 Cup here.

Pandya blasted a 29-ball46 (1x4, 4x6) after beingpromoted to one drop posi-tion against DY Patil A andlater, bowled a crucial spell of2/39, as Reliance 1 emergedwinner by a narrow marginof seven runs.

The star of Reliance 1’sbatting was AnmolpreetSingh (93: 60b, 8x4, 3x6),who shared a rapid openingstand of 101 with India whiteball opener Shikhar Dhawan(43: 28b, 6x4, 1x6).

The chase for DY Patil Aalmost worked out well withhandy contributions, espe-cially from Shubham Ranjane

(43) and Rinku Singh (36),but their effort ended withthe score at 198-9.

For Reliance 1, DigvijayDeshmukh returned withfigures of 3-25.

Reliance 1 will now faceBPCL in the semi-final onFriday.

BPCL got through afterposting an impressive 190-4in the first quarter-finalagainst RBI.

Akhil Herwadkar (65:41b, 8x4, 1x6) was the keycontributor alongside open-er Aakarshit Gomel (36).

Two India white ballplayers Shivam Dube (33no) and Shreyas Iyer (18) alsomade their presence felt inBPCL innings.

The chase for RBI wasprogressing well till they lostwickets at regular intervals tofinish at 176-8, 14 short of thetarget. The other semi-final

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South African fast bowlerLungi Ngidi took six wickets

as Australia were bowled out for271 in the second one-day inter-national at the Mangaung Ovalon Wednesday.

Ngidi had career-best fig-ures of six for 58. He dismissedthree of Australia's top four in afirst spell of three for 26 andclaimed three more wickets inthe closing overs of the innings.

Captain Aaron Finch andD'Arcy Short both hit 69 forAustralia, but largely because ofNgidi, they were unable to cap-italise on a fast start by Finch andDavid Warner. Finch and

Warner posted 50 off the first 37balls of the innings before Ngidihad Warner caught at cover. He

followed up by dismissing SteveSmith and Marnus Labuschagneoff successive balls.

Labuschagne's wicket wasNgidi's 50th in one-day interna-tionals in his 26th match -- thefastest South African to thelandmark.

When Finch was caughtbehind off Anrich Nortje,Australia had lost their top fourfor 158 runs.

But Short, who gained aplace on the tour when GlennMaxwell was ruled out becauseof surgery, made a maiden one-day international half-century toenable Australia to make a com-petitive total on a pitch whichhad some uneven bounce.

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The International ShootingSport Federation (ISSF)

on Wednesday said theupcoming New Delhi WorldCup will not carry rankingpoints, even as the organis-ers remained hopeful ofgoing ahead with the tourna-ment despite a few with-drawals owing to the novelcoronavirus threat.

The ISSF said there willno ranking points in thetournament scheduled to beheld from March 15 to 26 asthe organisers are not in aposition to guarantee partic-ipation of all athletes owingto the extraordinary situa-tion.

“Due to local restric-tions relating to the COVID-19 virus introduced by theMinistry of Health andFamily Welfare of India, theorganisers of the ISSF WorldCup in New Delhi cannotguarantee the participation ofall the athletes who wouldlike to enter those competi-tions,” the ISSF said in a state-ment.

“Therefore no rankingpoints can be earned at thisWorld Cup. Still, it will bepossible to achieve the MQSthat can influence on athletes’chances to get the desiredOlympic quota places.”

Countries such asBahrain, China, Taiwan,Hong Kong, Macau, NorthKorea and Turkmenistanhave already pulled out ofthe tournament due to thevirus. Due to the travelrestrictions imposed by theIndian government, SouthKorea, Italy and Iran are alsounlikely to participate in theevent.

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Next month’sBadminton Asia

Championships havebeen moved out ofWuhan, epicentre ofthe coronavirus out-break, to the Philippinecapital Manila, officialssaid on Wednesday.

Numerous sportsevents have been can-celled, postponed ormoved in recent weeksall over the worldbecause of the deadlyvirus.

China, where thevirus emerged inDecember and wheremore than 2,900 peoplehave died, has beenhardest hit with all

sports stopped.The Asia

Championships will bestaged in Manila onApril 21-26.

“Badminton Asia(BA) together withPhilippine BadmintonAssociation has beenworking closely toensure visa approvalfor player and officials'entry into Manila forall participants in thisimportant and presti-gious Championship,”BA said in a statement.The coronavirus hasforced the postpone-ment or cancellationof several badmintontournaments, disrupt-ing the build-up to theTokyo Olympics.

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Ross Barkley has praised teenage midfield-er Billy Gilmour after his sparkling per-

formance in Chelsea’s 2-0 FA Cup win.The 18-year-old Scot belied his rookie

status to boss Tuesday’s fifth-round victoryover the Premier League champions-elect,deservedly winning the man-of-the-matchaward.

He mopped up in defence, set upattacks and even nutmegged Brazil midfield-er Fabinho in a virtuoso coming-of-age per-formance at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea boss Frank Lampard said he hadabsolute trust in Gilmour, describing him as“huge in talent”.

The club’s injury crisis could pave theway for the youngster’s full Premier Leaguedebut against Everton this weekend.

Barkley has offered a ringing endorse-ment of the former Rangers youth star.

“Billy was ready for his chance againstLiverpool and he took it,” he said.

“With injuries it gives opportunities forother lads to take and the manager is will-ing to put lads in. If you deserve the chanceand play well you get in the team.”

He said Gilmour impressed every dayin training.

“For a young lad he is really mature withhis ability on the ball, he makes the rightdecision most of the time,” he said. “He issimilar to Jorginho. He is a quality player anda good addition to the squad.

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England captain Harry Kane is con-fident he will be fit for Euro 2020 and

has targeted a Tottenham return earlynext month.

The striker has been sidelined sinceNew Year’s Day with a torn hamstringtendon, which required surgery.

But Kane is ahead of schedule in hisrecovery and Spurs manager JoseMourinho has said he could be fit forthe final “three, four or five” matches ofthe season.

In an interview with the EveningStandard Magazine, Kane said: “In myhead, I am definitely at the Euros.

“Unless something pretty drastichappens between now and then, I’ll be

there. I’m still not back training with thefirst team but I’m working hard in thegym, I’m getting stronger all the time.

“We’re talking a few more weeks,and I’ll be playing again. I don’t want tomake a prediction for which game Imight be back, but I am hoping some-where between the start and the mid-dle of April.”

Tottenham travel to Bournemouthon April 18 before the north Londonderby at home to Arsenal the followingSunday, their fourth-last league matchof the season.

They end the campaign with tripsto Newcastle and Crystal Palace, eitherside of a visit from Leicester.

Kane has recovered quickly from astring of injuries in recent seasons.

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I����" ����%� �����'���� ���+on Friday will be playedbetween Indian Oil andWestern Railway.

Meanwhile, WesternRailway chased down a tallIncome Tax total of 217-5.

The chase for WesternRailway was fashioned by half-centuries from MrunalDevdhar (68), Asat KhanPathan (67) and Ahad Malik.

Western Railway rompedhome with five wickets tospare.

Indian Oil, meanwhile,chased down Indian Navy’s183 with two wickets to spare.

Aditya Tare played a cap-tain’s knock as he slammed 44-ball 56 (4x4, 2x6).

Aiding Tare was RohanRaje, who made 30 off 21 balls.

Raje also made a usefulcontribution with the ball tofinish with figures of 3-35.

Indian Oil won the contestwith two balls to spare.