12
A special CBI court has acquitted all 32 accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case, including former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, for lack of evidence saying that the demolition was not pre-planned and blamed anti- social elements for razing of the disputed mosque in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992. “The CBI had not been able to establish charges against the accused. There is evidence to show that the accused had tried to pacify the crowd, not to pull down the Babri mosque,” the Special Judge CBI SK Yadav said in his judg- ment here on Wednesday. The court observed that the incident was not pre- planned and the accused had tried to persuade the mob against demolishing the struc- ture. The court even men- tioned former VHP president Ashok Singhal saying he tried his best to persuade the people who were behind the demoli- tion. “The leaders who were present at the site during the demolition were trying to stop the mob and not incite them. Stone pelting started from behind the disputed structure. RSS and VHP did not have a role in demolition”, the Judge said, adding that Kar Seveks who are blamed for demolition were directed to bring water and flowers to keep both their hands occupied. The judge even mentioned the witness number 9 Ms Anju Gupta, a former police officer, produced by the CBI, who during her statement had admitted that several criminals and dacoits had been among the Kar Sevaks. “The prosecution could not prove the link between the accused and the antisocial ele- ments involved in razing the Babri mosque,” the court said. The Special Judge said that there was not a single evidence against any accused of insti- gating the crowd and rejected all the 350 evidence produced by the CBI against the 49 accused, of which 17 have died, under Section 351 of the CrPC. Special Judge Yadav, who demits his office day after today, read out his exhaustive judgment in the presence of all the 32 accused, of which 26 were present physically. “As there was no concrete evidence, hence all the accused have been acquitted,” the Judge said. Lawyer IB Singh who was present inside the court said that the judge said that the CBI has failed to provide evidence that these accused were part of any conspiracy. “The legal evidence was lacking. CBI produced pho- tographs but could not produce negatives. Even newspaper cut- tings were not in order. The CBI didn’t produce the actual notes of reporters,” Singh said quoting the judge. O pposition parties slammed the decision of a special CBI court in Lucknow to acquit several senior BJP leaders, including LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, and Kalyan Singh, in a crimi- nal conspiracy case related to the Babri Masjid demolition. While the Congress said the verdict was against the constitutional spirit, Left termed it a complete travesty of justice and said they hope the Central Government will appeal in a higher court and follow the Constitution and judicial system. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the verdict was against the constitutional spirit. “The decision of the Special Court to acquit all the accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case runs counter to the Supreme Court judgment as also the constitutional spir- it,” said Surjewala at a Press conference soon after the ver- dict. Surjewala added that every Indian who believes in the Constitution and communal amity expected the Centre and State Governments to file an appeal against the verdict. “The decision of the Special Court to acquit all the accused in the Babri Masjid demolition case runs counter to the Supreme Court judgement as also the constitutional spir- it,” he said. Surjewala cited the SC judgment in para 788 XVII x, which said: “On 6 December 1992, the structure of the mosque was brought down and the mosque was destroyed. The destruction of the mosque took place in breach of the order of status quo and an assurance given to this court. T he BJP, the RSS and the Shiv Sena on Wednesday welcomed the Babri Masjid demolition case verdict in which all 32 accused, including BJP leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti, have been acquitted. Advani welcomed the court verdict by chanting “Jai Shri Ram” and said it came in “footsteps of another order which paved the way for my dream of seeing a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya”. “It is a very important decision and a matter of hap- piness for us. When we heard the news of the court’s order, we welcomed it by chanting Jai Shri Ram,” Advani said in a video message. Another BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi, acquitted in the case, expressed happiness on the verdict and shared sweets at his residence. The RSS has issued a state- ment and appealed that all sec- tions must accept the “Babri Masjid demolition case ver- dict”. In its statement, the RSS said that the “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh welcomes the special CBI court’s decision to acquit all accused, including LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti — among all — in the demolition of the controversial structure.” “All sections of the society should come together in unity and harmony and work suc- cessfully to face the challenges before the country”. Mathura: A Mathura court on Wednesday dismissed the plea seeking the removal of a mosque near the birthplace of Lord Krishna here, the peti- tioners’ counsel said. “We will move the upper court as several pertinent issues have not been considered by the court,” the counsel for the plaintiffs said. Last week, a group of peo- ple moved the Mathura court over the 17th century Shahi Idgah mosque they claim was built at the birthplace of Lord Krishna. The suit demanded the annulment of an earlier Mathura court ruling, ratifying a land deal reached between the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Seva Sansthan and the Shahi Idgah Management Committee on the mosque. PNS U nion Home Ministry on Wednesday allowed the opening of colleges, schools, cinema hall with 50 per cent occupancy from October 15 and given the power to the States to take a call. Exhibition halls and swim- ming pools used for sports training can also be opened now. However, entertainment parks will remain closed. The Ministry of Home Affairs’ new guidelines titled “guidelines for re-opening” has given powers to States for opening up the education and entertainment sector. In the case of schools, the guidelines said the students may prefer online and attendance should not be mandatory if someone can’t come to schools physi- cally. The students must obtain parental consent for coming to school campuses. The UGC has already said colleges and universities will only open from November 1. The States were given flex- ibility to increase the gathering of people above 100 for social, political and religious gather- ing subject to strict social dis- tancing norms. If functions are conducted in halls, maximum number allowed is 200 persons but it should not exceed 50 per cent of the seating capacity. “Activities permitted from October 15, 2020, in areas out- side the containment zones: Cinemas/theatres/ multiplex- es will be permitted to open with up to 50 per cent of their seating capacity, for which, SOP will be issued by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. T he body of the 19-year-old Dalit girl, who succumbed in Delhi hospital to gangrape and torture by four men two weeks ago, was cremated at midnight by the Hathras police without the consent of her parents triggering a massive outrage across the country. The Opposition parties demanded resignation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath after the victim’s family was denied the right to perform her last rites. As the incident drew flaks from the Opposition, the Yogi Government formed an SIT to probe the matter and directed it to submit a report in seven days. Also, he announced an aid of 25 lakh to the family members of the victim. TV footage showed the victim’s mother begging the police to let her have one last glimpse of her child and allow them to bring her body to their home. The family wanted to per- form the last rite during the day as per their tradition, but the police kept them at bay and consigned the body to the flames without their consent. The body of the girl reached the village in an ambu- lance around midnight. The police didn’t even allow media person to go any- where near the pyre. “This was so gross. In our family, the body is not cremated after sunset,” said one of the relatives of the girl. S taying the notification issued by it in August to implement the three ordi- nances issued by the Centre that had preceded the farm Bills which have now been enacted, the Maharashtra Government on Wednesday set up a Cabinet sub-commit- tee to study implementation or otherwise of the “anti-farmer” Central farm laws which have evoked vociferous protests from farmers . The development came after the ruling Congress Ministers threatened to boycott the weekly Cabinet meeting if the MVA Government did not stay the implementation of notification. Ahead of the State Cabinet meeting, Maharashtra Co- operation Minister for Balasaheb Shamrao Patil of the NCP stayed a controversial notification issued by State Director of Marketing Satish Soni on August 10 to strictly implement the three farm ordi- nances promulgated by the Centre before the same were passed by Parliament. The State Government decided to set up a Cabinet sub-committee to study the three recently enacted farm laws, hold talks with the farmer orgaisations and come out with suitable amendments to the enacted central farm laws. A fter tough bargaining from the Lok Janshakti Party for more seats, the BJP, the JD(U) and the LJP sealed the seat-sharing deal on Wednesday to fight the Bihar Assembly election together under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. “The Central leadership has appointed representatives to hold talks with allies. We will complete this process by tomorrow,” BJP national general secretary in charge of Bihar Bhupender Yadav said here after the meet- ing of the NDA allies in the State. State BJP leaders, including Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi, attended the meeting.

ˆ))*˘! ˜ +˜$*...2020/09/30  · on December 6, 1992. “The CBI had not been able to establish charges against the accused. There is evidence to show that the accused had tried

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Page 1: ˆ))*˘! ˜ +˜$*...2020/09/30  · on December 6, 1992. “The CBI had not been able to establish charges against the accused. There is evidence to show that the accused had tried

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Aspecial CBI court hasacquitted all 32 accused in

the Babri Masjid demolitioncase, including former DeputyPrime Minister LK Advani,for lack of evidence sayingthat the demolition was notpre-planned and blamed anti-social elements for razing of thedisputed mosque in Ayodhyaon December 6, 1992.

“The CBI had not beenable to establish charges againstthe accused. There is evidenceto show that the accused hadtried to pacify the crowd, notto pull down the Babrimosque,” the Special JudgeCBI SK Yadav said in his judg-ment here on Wednesday.

The court observed thatthe incident was not pre-planned and the accused hadtried to persuade the mobagainst demolishing the struc-ture. The court even men-tioned former VHP presidentAshok Singhal saying he triedhis best to persuade the peoplewho were behind the demoli-tion.

“The leaders who werepresent at the site during thedemolition were trying to stopthe mob and not incite them.Stone pelting started frombehind the disputed structure.

RSS and VHP did not have arole in demolition”, the Judgesaid, adding that Kar Sevekswho are blamed for demolitionwere directed to bring waterand flowers to keep both theirhands occupied.

The judge even mentionedthe witness number 9 Ms AnjuGupta, a former police officer,produced by the CBI, whoduring her statement hadadmitted that several criminals

and dacoits had been amongthe Kar Sevaks.

“The prosecution couldnot prove the link between theaccused and the antisocial ele-ments involved in razing theBabri mosque,” the court said.

The Special Judge said thatthere was not a single evidenceagainst any accused of insti-gating the crowd and rejectedall the 350 evidence producedby the CBI against the 49accused, of which 17 havedied, under Section 351 of theCrPC.

Special Judge Yadav, whodemits his office day aftertoday, read out his exhaustivejudgment in the presence of allthe 32 accused, of which 26were present physically.

“As there was no concreteevidence, hence all the accusedhave been acquitted,” the Judgesaid.

Lawyer IB Singh who waspresent inside the court saidthat the judge said that the CBIhas failed to provide evidencethat these accused were part ofany conspiracy.

“The legal evidence waslacking. CBI produced pho-tographs but could not producenegatives. Even newspaper cut-tings were not in order. TheCBI didn’t produce the actualnotes of reporters,” Singh saidquoting the judge.

���� �.�� .,/�

Opposition parties slammedthe decision of a special

CBI court in Lucknow to acquitseveral senior BJP leaders,including LK Advani, MurliManohar Joshi, Uma Bharti,and Kalyan Singh, in a crimi-nal conspiracy case related tothe Babri Masjid demolition.

While the Congress saidthe verdict was against theconstitutional spirit, Lefttermed it a complete travesty ofjustice and said they hope theCentral Government willappeal in a higher court andfollow the Constitution andjudicial system.

Congress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala said thatthe verdict was against theconstitutional spirit.

“The decision of theSpecial Court to acquit all theaccused in the Babri Masjiddemolition case runs counter to

the Supreme Court judgmentas also the constitutional spir-it,” said Surjewala at a Pressconference soon after the ver-dict.

Surjewala added that everyIndian who believes in theConstitution and communalamity expected the Centre andState Governments to file anappeal against the verdict.

“The decision of theSpecial Court to acquit all theaccused in the Babri Masjiddemolition case runs counter tothe Supreme Court judgementas also the constitutional spir-it,” he said.

Surjewala cited the SCjudgment in para 788 XVII x,which said: “On 6 December1992, the structure of themosque was brought downand the mosque was destroyed.The destruction of the mosquetook place in breach of theorder of status quo and anassurance given to this court.

���� �.�� .,/�

The BJP, the RSS and theShiv Sena on Wednesday

welcomed the Babri Masjiddemolition case verdict inwhich all 32 accused, includingBJP leaders LK Advani, MurliManohar Joshi and UmaBharti, have been acquitted.

Advani welcomed thecourt verdict by chanting “JaiShri Ram” and said it came in“footsteps of another orderwhich paved the way for mydream of seeing a Ram Mandirin Ayodhya”.

“It is a very importantdecision and a matter of hap-piness for us. When we heardthe news of the court’s order, wewelcomed it by chanting JaiShri Ram,” Advani said in avideo message.

Another BJP veteran MurliManohar Joshi, acquitted in thecase, expressed happiness onthe verdict and shared sweetsat his residence.

The RSS has issued a state-ment and appealed that all sec-tions must accept the “BabriMasjid demolition case ver-dict”.

In its statement, the RSSsaid that the “RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh welcomesthe special CBI court’s decisionto acquit all accused, includingLK Advani, Murli ManoharJoshi and Uma Bharti —among all — in the demolitionof the controversial structure.”

“All sections of the societyshould come together in unityand harmony and work suc-cessfully to face the challengesbefore the country”.

Mathura: A Mathura court onWednesday dismissed the pleaseeking the removal of amosque near the birthplace ofLord Krishna here, the peti-tioners’ counsel said.

“We will move the uppercourt as several pertinent issueshave not been considered bythe court,” the counsel for theplaintiffs said.

Last week, a group of peo-ple moved the Mathura courtover the 17th century ShahiIdgah mosque they claim wasbuilt at the birthplace of LordKrishna.

The suit demanded theannulment of an earlierMathura court ruling, ratifyinga land deal reached between theShri Krishna Janmasthan SevaSansthan and the Shahi IdgahManagement Committee onthe mosque. PNS

���� �.�� .,/��

Union Home Ministry onWednesday allowed the

opening of colleges, schools,cinema hall with 50 per centoccupancy from October 15and given the power to theStates to take a call.

Exhibition halls and swim-ming pools used for sportstraining can also be openednow. However, entertainmentparks will remain closed.

The Ministry of HomeAffairs’ new guidelines titled“guidelines for re-opening” hasgiven powers to States foropening up the education andentertainment sector. In thecase of schools, the guidelinessaid the students may preferonline and attendance shouldnot be mandatory if someonecan’t come to schools physi-cally. The students must obtain

parental consent for coming toschool campuses.

The UGC has already saidcolleges and universities willonly open from November 1.

The States were given flex-ibility to increase the gatheringof people above 100 for social,political and religious gather-ing subject to strict social dis-tancing norms.

If functions are conductedin halls, maximum numberallowed is 200 persons but itshould not exceed 50 per centof the seating capacity.

“Activities permitted fromOctober 15, 2020, in areas out-side the containment zones:Cinemas/theatres/ multiplex-es will be permitted to openwith up to 50 per cent of theirseating capacity, for which,SOP will be issued by Ministryof Information &Broadcasting.

�����&�� �����,�(-�'�

The body of the 19-year-oldDalit girl, who succumbed

in Delhi hospital to gangrapeand torture by four men twoweeks ago, was cremated atmidnight by the Hathras policewithout the consent of herparents triggering a massiveoutrage across the country.

The Opposition partiesdemanded resignation of UttarPradesh Chief Minister YogiAdityanath after the victim’sfamily was denied the right toperform her last rites.

As the incident drew flaksfrom the Opposition, the YogiGovernment formed an SIT toprobe the matter and directedit to submit a report in sevendays. Also, he announced an

aid of �25 lakh to the familymembers of the victim.

TV footage showed thevictim’s mother begging thepolice to let her have one lastglimpse of her child and allowthem to bring her body to theirhome.

The family wanted to per-form the last rite during the dayas per their tradition, but thepolice kept them at bay andconsigned the body to theflames without their consent.

The body of the girlreached the village in an ambu-lance around midnight.

The police didn’t evenallow media person to go any-where near the pyre. “Thiswas so gross. In our family, thebody is not cremated aftersunset,” said one of the relativesof the girl.

������������� 0�01+�

Staying the notificationissued by it in August to

implement the three ordi-nances issued by the Centrethat had preceded the farmBills which have now beenenacted, the MaharashtraGovernment on Wednesdayset up a Cabinet sub-commit-tee to study implementation orotherwise of the “anti-farmer”Central farm laws which haveevoked vociferous protestsfrom farmers .

The development cameafter the ruling CongressMinisters threatened to boycottthe weekly Cabinet meeting ifthe MVA Government did notstay the implementation of

notification.Ahead of the State Cabinet

meeting, Maharashtra Co-operation Minister forBalasaheb Shamrao Patil ofthe NCP stayed a controversialnotification issued by StateDirector of Marketing SatishSoni on August 10 to strictlyimplement the three farm ordi-nances promulgated by theCentre before the same werepassed by Parliament.

The State Governmentdecided to set up a Cabinetsub-committee to study thethree recently enacted farmlaws, hold talks with thefarmer orgaisations and comeout with suitable amendmentsto the enacted central farmlaws.

���� �.�� .,/�

After tough bargaining fromthe Lok Janshakti Party

for more seats, the BJP, theJD(U) and the LJP sealed theseat-sharing deal onWednesday to fight the BiharAssembly election togetherunder the leadership of ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar.

“The Central leadershiphas appointed representativesto hold talks with allies.

We will complete thisprocess by tomorrow,” BJPnational general secretary incharge of Bihar BhupenderYadav said here after the meet-ing of the NDA allies in theState.

State BJP leaders, includingDeputy Chief Minister SushilModi, attended the meeting.

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Page 2: ˆ))*˘! ˜ +˜$*...2020/09/30  · on December 6, 1992. “The CBI had not been able to establish charges against the accused. There is evidence to show that the accused had tried

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����������� ������ ����� ������������� ������������������������� ������� ����!������ �����������"������������#$%�%��&�����'�������(�������)*+�������(��+%$**)*�,���-��*%.)+/$*01/.�������������23��� �����������������-��))�����+44�4��������������������5����!�����6���+�������������7�������!�����6���� ��������47�27�5�78!��7��%�**!��6�������7����� �� ���9��-����6���:���6��� �;����� ������6 �(����;�������������6��3�����'����#�����6-��$� �����8�� �9�� �������<����(�-�9'����+%%***)������6*%%+/*%%*/==�������������#�����6&+0%�������$�-#4'��8��� ���-(�+)*%0*%�2��������6*%)*+/1.>1**;/1.>>**�������9#�����6/��&���������������(�������&�? �7���������9+))$*%$�,���������6*=))+)0/$//0+/=

���������� ����������������������������������������������������� ��������������� ������������������������������������������ ��������������� �� ��������������� ����� ��������������������������������������� ����������� ���� �� ���������������������������������������������������������� ������������ ����� ��������������� ��������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� �������� �!����������������"���������� ���������������������������� �������������������� ���� ��������������������������������� �����������������������������#��������������������������� ���� ����$����%����&�������������������������� ��������������� �����������������������'����������������������������������� ���������������"��������������������(�����������������������������

Shimla :Himachal ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur onWednesday reviewed thepreparations for arrival ofPrime Minister Narendra Modito inaugurate Atal TunnelRohtang on October 3 and vis-ited the public meeting venueat Sissu, North and SouthPortal of the Tunnel, SASEHelipad and rally venue atSolang Nallah.

Presiding over the meetingwith the senior officers of theState Government and district

officers of Kullu district atWildlife Hall Manali in Kullu,the Chief Minister said thatconstruction of the Atal TunnelRohtang was finally completedand Prime Minister NarendraModi will visit Lahaul onOctober 3 to inaugurate thisengineering wonder and a greatgift to the nation, thus fool-proof arrangement must bemade for ensuring the successof the event.

Thakur said adequatearrangement must be made for

ensuring social distancing inand after the function. He saidthat adequate arrangementsshould be made for comfort-able stay of the visitingMinisters, media and otherdignitaries. He said that AtalTunnel Rohtang is an impor-tant achievement from a strate-gic point of view for the Nation,which would go a long way intransforming the economy ofthe people of the landlockedLahaul-Spiti and even Pangiarea of Chamba district. PNS

���� (/+� ��+4/

India-born New York-basedartist Spandita Malik got a

rare global recognition, as shegot selected amongst 18 artistsfor her unique mixed mediaimage-making work on genderviolence in India.

Born and brought up inChandigarh, Spandita wasappreciated for her new seriesNa´ri. She has recently gradu-ated from Parsons School ofDesign with an MFA inPhotography after her FashionDesign degree from NIFT, NewDelhi.

British Journal ofPhotography, published since1854, has announced to cele-brate the best emerging talentfrom across the globe in its nextissue, selecting 18 talents fromover 250 nominations byindustry experts.

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Page 3: ˆ))*˘! ˜ +˜$*...2020/09/30  · on December 6, 1992. “The CBI had not been able to establish charges against the accused. There is evidence to show that the accused had tried

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Amid a growing infectionrate in the State, nearly 75

per cent of the active Covid-19patients have opted for homeisolation. Of 14,804 activecases, around 10,000 patientshave opted for home isolationin the State.

Of the around 4,000patients admitted in variousgovernment and private hos-pitals and Covid Care Centres(CCCs), 49 are on ventilatorwhile 293 patients are beinggiven Oxygen support, accord-ing to data received fromDepartment of Health andFamily Welfare, Haryana tillSeptember 29.

Talking to ‘The Pioneer’over the phone, HaryanaDirector General of HealthServices, Dr Suraj BhanKamboj said that the StateGovernment notified guide-lines for home isolation for

patients with mild symptomswith the positive cases.

Home isolation policyseems to have produced desiredresults in the State as around80-90 per cent of the total of110,814 recoveries are of thosepatients who were quarantinedat their homes. As onSeptember 29, Haryana had14,804 Covid-19 active cases, ofwhich around 10,000 patientswere in home isolation whileremaining are either takingtreatment in government andprivate hospitals or CCCs.

“The patients in home iso-lation are regularly monitoredthrough phone calls and homevisits by the health officials forfollow-ups. Patients who devel-oped moderate or severe symp-toms are being shifted to hos-pitals,” he added.

DG Health said that thecall for home isolation facilityfor asymptomatic Covid-19patients or those with mild

symptoms has seen goodresponse. Around 75 per centof Covid-19 patients arepresently in home isolation.The home isolation facility hasled to many beds lying vacantat CCCs with residents prefer-ring home isolation. Only thosewith no proper facility forhome isolation are beingadmitted at CCCs, where theauthorities concerned take upthe entire responsibility, headded.

Around 3 to 5 per centpatients in home isolation needhospitalization. Team has beenformed and Covid-19 patientsin home isolation are beingmonitored by their doctors.“Our doctors make calls peri-odically to check on thepatients’ health and usuallythree to five per cent are hos-pitalized, he added.

When contacted, Dr UshaGupta, director, HaryanaHealth services said that with

a surge in the number of pos-itive cases, home isolation hasemerged as a very useful toolunder test, track and isolatestrategy, to handle growingpatient load “Emphasis hasbeen put on home isolation, asalient feature of State’s modelof Covid-19 managementdevised by the Ministry ofHealth and Family Welfare,Government of India, sheadded.

She said that Governmentdata reveals that Gurugramhas 2109, the highest numberof home isolated active Covid-19 patients followed by 1150 inFaridabad. In Kurukshetra dis-trict, 988 Covid-19 patients arein home quarantine while 932in Panchkula, 914 in Ambala,870 in Hisar, 730 in Rohtak,650 in Karnal, 624 in Panipat,615 in Rohtak and 536 inRewari, Lowest numbers ofhome isolated patients were inrural parts of the State where-

in cases are reported consider-ably low, she added.

Gupta further said,“Patients are more likely torecover in home isolation withthe family around. The psy-chosomatic issues of a patientare resolved under home iso-lation. With a large number ofpatients opting for home iso-lation, the available resourcesare not exhausted and provid-ed to needy patients. Some doc-tors have been engaged in pro-viding counselling to patientsrequiring homeisolation..Repeated health fol-low-ups are done by doctors viaphone.”

Dr Dhruva Chaudhary,who is the nodal officer forCovid-19 in Haryana said thatthe health department has alsoset up call centres in all the dis-tricts for digital tracking ofpatients in home isolation andmonitoring their healththrough phone calls. “We were

digitally tracking the health andmovement of patients in homeisolation through their mobilephones.

Digitally, doctors makedaily consultation calls, whilepsychiatrists offer counsellingand dieticians regulate theirdiet. Usually two to three per-sons do return to the hospitalfor admission. We, however,strictly follow the ICMR pro-tocol before recommending aCovid-19 patient for home iso-lation.”

He further said that thehome isolation concept is use-ful as now the major chunk ofpatients admitted are thosewho are critically ill. “A rapidresponse team is availableround the clock for patientsunder home isolation. If apatient develops breathless-ness or any other complication,an ambulance is dispatched tohis/her residence and thepatient is referred to

Government Hospital,” headded

Chaudhary said that as perthe guidelines of the Ministryof Health and Family Welfare,patients suffering fromimmune-compromised status(HIV, transplant recipients,cancer therapy etc) are not eli-gible for home isolation.

However, patients agedabove 60 and those with co-morbid conditions such ashypertension, diabetes, heartdisease, chronic lung/liver/kid-ney disease, cerebrovasculardisease etc shall only be allowedhome isolation after evaluationby the treating medical officer.

He said, “Even though ourrapid response team carriesoximeters for a check-up,patients are advised to purchasepulse oximeters for regularmonitoring of oxygen satura-tion level at home.

The saturation up to 95per cent is satisfactory. In case

it is below that level, a doctorshould be informed immedi-ately.”

A 45 -year-old patient ofPanchkula, who preferredhome isolation, said, “There isno need to get oneself admit-ted to a hospital or Covid cen-tre when a similar treatment ispossible at home.

More than anything, it isthe separation from family andmental exhaustion that dis-turb a patient most at a centre.”

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The Haryana governmenton Wednesday appointed

senior IAS officer VijaiVardhan as the state's newchief secretary. The 58 year old1985 batch IAS officer replacesKeshni Anand Arora, whoretired on September 30, anofficial order said.

He will be the 34th chiefsecretary of Haryana since itwas carved out as a separatestate in 1966.

The Haryana cadre officerwill also hold the charge of gen-eral administration, person-nel, training, parliamentaryaffairs, vigilance and adminis-trative reforms departmentsand secretary in-charge of plancoordination, the order said.He is due to retire in November2021.

Currently, Vardhan is theAdditional Chief Secretary(ACS), Home, Jails, CriminalInvestigation andAdministration of JusticeDepartment. He was also theFinancial Commissioner,

Revenue and DisasterManagement; andConsolidation Departments.

The Haryana governmenton Wednesday also effected thetransfer of five other IAS offi-cers. Among those shuffledinclude Rajeev Arora, ACS,Health. He will be the newHome Secretary.

Sanjeev Kaushal, ACS,

Agriculture and Farmers''Welfare Department, has beenposted as the ACS andFinancial Commissioner,Revenue and DisasterManagement andConsolidation Departments;and the ACS, CooperationDepartment, relieving VijaiVardhan of the charge.

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Haryana Chief Secretary,Keshni Anand Arora, an

IAS officer of the 1983 batch,superannuated from the post ofChief Secretary on Wednesdaywith the Haryana IASAssociation bidding a farewellto her. Additional ChiefSecretaries, PrincipalSecretaries, Directors and other

senior administrative officers ofvarious departments were pre-sent in the farewell ceremony.

Principal Secretary to theChief Minister, Rajesh Khullardescribed her as a very simpleperson with outstandingadministrative skills whoplayed a pivotal role in devel-opment of the state govern-ment at this post. Furthermore,she worked assiduously during

COVID-19 which instilledenthusiasm and energy amongthe officers.

The newly appointedHaryana Chief Secretary, VijaiVardhan said she has alwaysworked in cooperation with theteam, adding that her retire-ment will create a void and thestate will be deprived of the ser-vices of an excellent officer.

He concluded while quot-ing poetry of Nida Fazli –‘Har admi mein hote hain,das-bees admi, jisko bhidekhna ho, kai bar dekho.’Arora was topper of her batch,besides being a topper in M.A.(Political Science) and M. Phil.She was appointed the first ladyDeputy Commissioner ofHaryana since the formation ofthe State of Haryana and sheserved as DeputyCommissioner ofYamunanagar from April 16,1990 to July 1, 1991. She playedan important role in imple-mentation of adult literacy byvoluntary organizations in thedistrict and in handling law andorder situation during MandalCommission.

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Shiromani AKali Dal workerswill join three separate

Kisan Marches starting from allthree Sikh religious Takhts toChandigarh on Thursdaywhere the party will hand overa memorandum demandingrevocation of the recentlypassed Agricultural Acts tothe central Governmentthrough the Punjab Governor,party senior vice presidentDaljit Singh Cheema said onWednesday.

He said that while partyPresident Sukhbir Singh Badalwould lead the Kisan Marchfrom Sri Akal Takth at SriAmritsar Sahib, former unionminister Harsimrat Kaur Badalwould lead the march from SriDamdama Sahib at TalwandiSabo and Prem SinghChandumajra from SriKeshgarh Sahib at SriAnandpur Sahib.

The party Spokesman saidthe march from Sri AmritsarSahib would travel viaJ a l a n d h a r ,Phag wara ,Nawansheher,Ropar, Kurali and Mullanpur

before culminating atChandigarh. He said the marchfrom Talwandi Sabo wouldtravel via Maur, Rampura,Tappa,Barnala, Sangrur,Bhawanigarh, Patiala, Rajpura,Airport light, Zirakpur andChandigarh.

The march from SriAnandpur Sahib will join themarch being led by the SADPresident at Ropar bypass.Cheema said while the Marchfrom Amritsar would start at 8am, that from Talwandi Sabowould start at 9 am and thatfrom Anandpur Sahib wouldstart at 10 am. He said due toshortage of time the pro-gramme scheduled to be heldat the Dussehra ground atMohali on the same day hadbeen cancelled.

FARMERS TO STAGE SIT-INS OUTSIDE HOMES OFPUNJAB BJP LEADERS

A section of farmers inPunjab have decided to stagesit-ins outside the homes of BJPleaders from Thursday besidesextending their “rail roko” agi-tation the Centre’s farm laws foran indefinite period.

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Punjab Chief Minister CaptAmarinder Singh on

Wednesday gave approval forwaiver of annual licence fee forbars, marriage palaces, hotelsand restaurants for 2020-21proportionately for April toSeptember.

Agreeing with the recom-mendations of a Group ofMinisters (GoM), the chiefminister also gave approvalfor waiving quarterly assessedfee for April-September, anofficial statement said here.

The financial implicationsafter 50 per cent waiver ofannual licence fees pertainingto the period from April 1 toSeptember 30, 2020 would beto the tune of over Rs 13.55crore in respect of 1,065licensee bars in hotels andrestaurants, which is half theestimated revenue collectionfor 2020-2021.

Similarly, for 2,324 licenseemarriage palaces, the financialimplications would amount toRs 3.50 crore which wouldalso be half of the estimatedrevenue collection for 2020-2021, as per the statement.

"In respect of waivingadvance quarterly assessed feeon bars'' licences, no implica-tions of financial nature areinvolved as the waiver wouldonly be on assessed fee col-lected in advance which is

adjustable and now the collec-tion is being proposed to bedeferred to the point of pur-chase by bars," it said.

Hotel and RestaurantAssociation of Punjab, HotelRestaurant and ResortAssociation, Punjab and theMarriage Palace Association, intheir representation to theGoM earlier, had sought relax-ation in licence fee and quar-terly assessed fee due to theoutbreak of COVID-19 pan-demic and subsequent imposi-tion of curfew and lockdown,which severely affected theirbusiness.

The matter was then dis-cussed with the ExciseCommissioner Rajat Agarwaland Financial Commissioner(Taxation) A Venu Prasad, andsubsequently referred to thechief minister for approval.

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Farmers protested againstthe alleged delay in pro-

curement of paddy by puttingup road blockades at variousplaces in Haryana onWednesday.

In Ambala district, thefarmers had put up road block-ades on Ambala-Hisar andAmbala-Jagadhri highways,leading to disruption of trafficmovement. Similar road block-ades were held in Kurukshetraand some of the adjoining dis-tricts. Hundreds of farmershad put their tractors and trol-leys in the middle of the high-ways and sat on a dharnathere.

They blocked the Ambala-Hisar Highway near the citywhile the Ambala-JagadhriHighway was blocked nearSaha village. Police said theyhad diverted the traffic on thehighways through alternateroutes.

Police personnel were alsodeployed on highways and invarious grain markets, theysaid.Bharatiya Kisan Union(BKU) leaders Sukhwinder

Singh Jalbera and RameshRana said the farmers startedbringing their paddy in variousgrain markets of Ambala dis-trict a few days ago.

They claimed that theirproduce is not being pur-chased and it has been lying inthe open area of the grain mar-ket.

Haryana Chief MinisterManohar Lal Khattar has saidthat the farmers will not faceany problem in the procure-ment process. He has asked theprocurement agencies toimmediately lift the procuredpaddy.

However, senior Congressleader and MLA KiranChoudhary said the Haryanagovernment's claims onsmooth paddy procurementhave fallen flat.

"They had made theseclaims earlier this year duringwheat procurement too, buteven at that time farmers faceda lot of problems.

Now, farmers in districts,including Kurukshetra, Kaithal,Ambala, Karnal are protestingagainst delay in procurement oftheir paddy crop,” she said.

"The government had saidit will procure every singlegrain of farmers, but they haveput a cap of 33 quintal peracre... already farmers areprotesting against the anti-farmers'' agri laws, now they arebeing put to inconvenience byapathetic attitude of the BJP-JJPgovernment," she said.

In Kurukshetra district,farmers held protests at variousmandis, alleging delay in paddyprocurement and a lack ofcoordination between the gov-ernment departments and var-ious agencies.

The state government hadstarted procurement in Karnal,Kaithal, Kurukshetra andYamunanagar from Sunday,while in other districts it beganon Tuesday.

Haryana BKU chiefGurnam Singh addressed theagitating farmers at Shahbad-Markanda and then atKurukshetra before going toPehowa, where farmers haveblocked the Chandigarh-Hisarroad since Tuesday.

He claimed that in thepresent procurement process,

many "impractical conditions"for farmers had been put rang-ing from fixing moisture limitfor the crop to issuing of gatepasses in the mandis which hadleft peasants harassed.

"Many farmers have beenforced to sell their produce out-side the ''mandi'' to privatetraders at throwaway prices," hesaid.

Gurnam Singh said farm-ers were holding ''dharnas'' infront of most mandis in thestate on Wednesday.

The Haryana BKU chiefsaid a meeting of all farmerorganisations has been called atKurukshetra on October 8, tochalk out future course ofaction if the government failedto procure paddy.

Deputy Superintendent ofPolice, Pehowa in Kurukshetra,Gurmaij Singh said the farm-ers are sitting on the road inKurukshetra district since twodays and the traffic has beendiverted.

He said police personnelhave been deployed at the pur-chasing centre as well at the''dharna'' site.

HARYANA BJP LEADERSHYAM SINGH RANAQUITS PARTY OVER NEWLAWS

Haryana BJP leader ShyamSingh Rana on Wednesdayquit the party over the recent-ly enacted agriculture laws.The former MLA from Radaurin Yamunanagar district sub-mitted his resignation to stateBJP chief Om PrakashDhankar.

Rana, who was chief par-liamentary secretary in thefirst term of the M L Khattar-led BJP government, said hewas quitting the party keepingthe farmers' issue in mind. Inhis resignation letter toDhankar, Rana said keeping inview the problems faced by thefarmers, “I support them andresign from all the posts Ihold and also resign from theparty”. Talking to reporters inYamunanagar, he said the farm-ers issue was not beingresolved. He said thousands offarmers were protesting againstthe farm laws. Rana said thefarmers’ apprehensions per-taining to the new agriculturelaws were not unfounded.

Chandigarh: Chandigarhreported four Covid-19 fatali-ties as 129 fresh positive casessurfaced on Wednesday. “Thetotal positive cases stood at11938 including 1963 activecases. The death toll reached162,” stated Chandigarh HealthDepartment’s evening bulletin.

With 215 patients beingdischarged including personsfrom home isolation in the last24 hours, the total recoveriesjumped to 9813, the bulletinstated. Giving details ofCOVID-19 fatalities, the bul-letin stated, “A 30 years oldmale resident of Dhanasexpired at GMSH-16 onSeptember 29. A 61 years oldmale resident of Sector 50, acomorbid expired at PGIMER,a 48 years old male resident ofManimajra, a comorbid died atPGIMER and a 49 years oldmale resident of Sector 41, acomorbid expired at MayoHospital, Mohali on September30, the bulletin said. PTI

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As many as 1625 freshCovid-19 cases took

Haryana's infection tally to128,599 on Wednesday, while26 more fatalities pushed its tollto 1625 the health depart-ment's daily bulletin said.

Currently, there are 14,340active Covid-19 cases inHaryana.On a positive note, theauthorities discharged 2063patients of the disease from dif-ferent hospitals of the State aftertheir recovery on the day. Atotal of 1, 12, 877 patientshave so far recovered from thedisease and the recovery per-centage in the State is 87.77.The infection rate (IR) in thestate has increased to 6.72 per-

cent with a doubling rate of 30days.Of the 26 fatalities onWednesday, four were report-ed from Panipat while threeeach from Jhajjar,Yamunanagar; two each fromGurugram, Faridabad, Karnal,Hisar, Sirsa andFatehabad.Among the districtswhich reported a big spike incases are Gurugram (282),Faridabad (155), Hisar (142),Kurukshetra (134), Sonepat(119) and Panchkula (113).

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As many as 1435 fresh casesof Covid-19 and 47 deaths

were reported in Punjab onWednesday. With this, the totaltally of infections reached113886 and the death toll stoodat 3406 in the state.

In the past 24 hours, sevendeaths were reported inHoshiarpur, six in Ludhiana,five fatalities each in Jalandharand SAS Nagar, four each inBathinda and Gurdaspur, threedeaths in Ropar, two deathseach in Amritsar, Ferozepurand Sangrur and one each inBarnala, Fatehgarh Sahib,Fazilka, Moga, Muktsar, SBSNagar and Patiala, according tothe Punjab HealthDepartment’s medical bulletin.

A highest of 167 freshcases were reported inAmritsar. 163 positive caseswere reported in Ludhiana,

143 in Jalandhar, 123 in SASNagar, 96 cases in Patiala, 90 inBathinda, 89 in Pathankot, 76in Ferozepur, 66 in Hoshiarpur,27 cases each in Sangrur andMuktsar, 58 in Fazilka, 25 inMoga, 39 in Ropar, 17 cases inMansa, 29 in SBS Nagar, 22 inFatehgarh Sahib, 11 in Barnalaand 4 in Tarn Taran, the bul-letin stated.

According to the bulletin,the state has 16814 activepatients, of which 372 patientsare on oxygen support and 49are critical and on ventilators.Till date, 93666 patients havebeen cured of the virus in thestate.Of the 3406 COVID fatal-ities in the state so far, a max-imum of 741 deaths have beenregistered in Ludhiana district,390 in Jalandhar, 361 inAmritsar, 321 in Patiala, 191 inSAS Nagar, 146 in Sangrur, 157in Hoshiarpur, 113 in Bathinda,145 in Gurdaspur.

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With 7592 COVID-19 pos-itive cases and 106 fatal-

ities in the month ofSeptember, the union territoryof Chandigarh has witnessed itsfirst peak of the deadly virus.

The case tally may havecrossed the 11000-mark butthere is a glimmer of hopecoming in for the city as theCOVID-19 graph is showing adeclining trend over the pastone week.

As on September 30, thetotal case tally stood at 11938while the toll reached 162.There were 1963 active cases inthe city. The biggest single-dayspike of 449 cases was record-ed on September 13. And, itwas after September 23 that the

positive cases have seen adecline and COVID-19 relatedparameters except mortalityrate have improved inChandigarh.

Sample this, 253 positivecases were reported onSeptember 24, 244 cases onSept 25, 207 cases on Sept 26,173 cases on Sept 27, 171 caseson Sept 28, 138 cases on Sept29 and 129 on Sept 30.

“As the positive cases havebeen coming down on a dailybasis and the number ofinfected patients admitted inhospitals are lesser as com-pared 15 days back, it seemsChandigarh has seen its firstpeak of COVID-19 inSeptember but the secondwave of infection cannot beruled out,” said Dr RKKochhar, Head of the

Department ofGastroenterology and Sub-Dean (Research), PGIMER,while talking to The Pioneer.

Several states have alsowitnessed a decline in COVID-19 cases in the past one week.But we have to be very cautiousand continue following thesafety protocols of wearing amask and maintaining socialdistancing, he said.

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India on Wednesday success-fully test fired Brahmos

supersonic cruise missile hav-ing a range of around 400 km.The missile travels at a speedthree times that of the sound.The speed of the missile ismore than Mach 2.8.Moreover, all the systemsincorporated in the latest ver-sion of the extended version ofthis missile are indigenouslydesigned and manufactured.

The latest test firing of themissile was carried out by theDefence Research andDevelopment Organisation(DRDO) off the coast ofBalasore in Odisha, officialssaid. This was the second testof the missile. BrahMosAerospace, an India-Russianjoint venture, produces the

supersonic cruise missile thatcan be launched from ships,aircraft and land platforms.

With China ramping up itsmilitary strength in the Tibetregion during the ongoingvolatile situation at the Line ofActual Control(LAC), Indiahas also deployed its Brahmosmissiles along with Nirbhayand Akash missile systems tocounter any threat. Brahmoscan take out a target includingtanks and built up establish-ment with precision strikes. Infact, some batteries of thisadvanced missile weredeployed two years back in theeastern sector of the LAC.

As regards the latest test,officials said "it is one moremajor step in enhancing theindigenous content (of the mis-sile)." This was the land-attackcruise missile and can be used

to destroy key warships such asaircraft carriers.

"Today's successful launchhas paved the way for the ser-ial production of the indige-nous booster and other indige-nous components of the pow-erful BrahMos weapon systemand realising the Atma NirbharBharat (self-reliant India)pledge," the defence ministrysaid.

Defence Minister RajnathSingh in a tweet congratulatedthe DRDO and the teambehind the BrahMos missile forthe "spectacular mission".

"Congratulations to Team@DRDO_India and@BrahMosMissile for the suc-cessful flight testing of #BRAH-MOS Supersonic CruiseMissile with IndigenousBooster and Air Frame fordesignated range. This achieve-

ment will give a big boost toIndia's #AtmaNirbharBharatPledge," he tweeted. HomeMinister Amit Shah also con-gratulated the scientists forthis feat.

BrahMos is a two-stagemissile with a solid propellantbooster engine as its first stagewhich brings it to supersonicspeed and then gets separated.The liquid ramjet or the secondstage then takes the missilecloser to Mach 3 or three timesthe speed of sound in cruisephase.

The missile has a flightrange of up to 290-km withsupersonic speed all throughthe flight, leading to shorterflight time, consequently ensur-ing lower dispersion of targets,quicker engagement time andnon-interception by any knownweapon system in the world.

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Union Home Minister AmitShah on Wednesday dis-

tributed 200 electric potterywheels (chaak) and other pot-tery equipment to 200 trainedartisans at a function held atVillage Randheja in his con-stituency Gandhinagar viavideo conference from NewDelhi. Shah lauded the variousself-employment schemes ofKhadi and Village IndustriesCommission (KVIC) like

Honey Mission, KumharSashaktikaran Yojana, LeatherArtisans’ Empowerment andProject DigniTEA. While dis-tributing electric chaaks, theHome Minister interacted withthe beneficiaries.

Shah said the electric chaakwill not only help potters toenhance their production butalso enable them to make newfancy products that will fetchthem good income during theDussehra and Diwali festivals.He urged every beneficiary to rope in at least 10 other fami-

lies with Kumhar SashaktikaranYojana for the larger benefit ofthe community.

KVIC Chairman VinaiKumar Saxena informed thatmore than 18,000 electricchaaks have so far been dis-tributed across the countrybenefiting nearly 80,000 peopleof the community. He said theaverage income of pottersunder Kumhar SashaktikaranYojana has gone up from near-ly �3000 per month to nearly�10,000 per month.

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Aday after trading chargeson the status of Ladakh

and the Line of ActualControl(LAC), India andChina on Wednesday held thesixth round of diplomatic leveltalks, under the aegis ofWorking Mechanism forConsultation and Co-Ordination(WMCC) toresolve the five-month-longstand-off at the border.

The ministry of externalaffairs said after the talks thetwo sides reviewed the currentsituation along LAC and haddetailed discussions on devel-opments since the last WMCCmeeting. The two sidesattached importance to meet-ings between the two DefenceMinisters and the two ForeignMinisters earlier this month.

India and China agreedthat the next (7th) round ofmeeting of SeniorCommanders should be held atan early date so that both sidescan work towards early andcomplete disengagement of the

troops, the ministry said.Even though there is no vis-

ible lowering of tension, boththe sides reiterated their com-mitment to sort out the issuethrough the five-point actionplan etched out by the foreignministers of two countries.

Earlier, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar and hisChinese counterpart Wang Yihad held more than two hourlong bilateral meeting onSeptember 10 in Moscow onthe sidelines of the ShanghaiC o o p e r a t i o nOrganisation(SCO). Bothstressed the need for continu-ing sustained dialogue andmaintain peace and tranquili-ty at the LAC.

Even though the two sidessince then have refrained frombolstering their military pres-ence further, war of words onTuesday indicated the logjammay take a long time to beuntangled.

China triggered the tensionby stating it “does not recognizethe so-called Union Territory(of Ladakh) illegally estab-

lished by India” and opposesinfrastructure developmentthere. It also said China onlyaccepted the 1959 LAC.

India outright rejected itand said it never accepted theso-called unilaterally defined1959 LAC. This was proposedby Chinese premier Zhou Enlaion November 7, 1959 to PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru.

In this backdrop, the diplo-matic level talks under theaegis of the WMCC on borderaffairs took place onWednesday virtually. TheIndian side was led by JointSecretary in the ministry exter-nal affairs Naveen Srivastavaand China was represented byHong Liang. Both the officialshave so far held six rounds ofparleys since the stand-offs inearly May. The last round washeld on August 20.

The focus of the latest talkswas to de-escalate tensions,people familiar with the devel-opments said, adding the twosides discussed ways to imple-ment the five-point agreementreached between their foreign

ministers in Moscow onSeptember 10.

In Bejing, Chinese foreignministry spokesman WangWenbin told a media briefingthat the main topics discussedare how to implement the five-point consensus reached inMoscow by the two foreignministers to resolve outstand-ing issues on the ground and toease the situation along theborder.

The five-point action planincluded measures like quickdisengagement of troops,avoiding action that could esca-late tensions, adherence to allagreements and protocols onborder management and stepsto restore peace along the LAC.

On the basis of the under-standing reached betweenJaishankar and Wang, the twosides held a nearly 14-hour-long Corps commander-leveltalks on September 21 follow-ing which they announced aslew of decisions to de-escalatethe situation. Incidentally, itwas the sixth round of militarylevel talks regarding the ongo-

ing situation at the LAC.The decisions included to

stop sending more troops to the

frontline, refrain from unilat-erally changing the situation onthe ground and avoid taking

any actions that may furthercomplicate matters. It was forthe first time that the two

armies announced specificmeasures to ease tensions ineastern Ladakh.

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Amid the continuing bordertensions with China in

eastern Ladakh, reports haveemerged suggesting the People’sLiberation Army (PLA) isrecruiting civilians from Tibetfor “technical” and profession-al posts into its ranks.

While China’s WesternTheatre Command did notitself comment on the devel-opment but Chinese expertsclaimed the move to be as partof a regular recruitment plan,assessments here suggest thePLA is seeking to deploy localTibetans after being con-strained due to mirror deploy-ment in Ladakh by the IndianArmy.

The Tibetans being recruit-ed are being absorbed on the

posts of kitchen staff, drivers,administrators, software tech-nicians, spectrum monitorsand other positions but theyhave been covertly combatisedfor ostensible deployment ininsurgency in India along theLine of Actual Control (LAC).

Reports attributingChinese experts also assertedthe recruitment should not behyped as being related toChina-India border tensions.

Meanwhile, internationalexperts on Tibetan affairs saidChina has introduced newrecruitment policies, coercingthousands of Tibetans in theregion into mass labourthrough a militarised system.

The militarised vocationaltraining system is an attempt topractically suppress Tibetanculture and dilute Tibetan reli-

gion (negative influence ofreligion as per Chinese gov-ernment contention), take awaytheir lands and herds, turnedinto wage labourers and sub-sequently used as cannon fod-der for insurgency along theIndian States and UnionTerritories like Ladakh,observers on China said.

While an estimated onemillion Uyghur Muslims arehoused in detention campsand compelled to work asforced labour for cheap afterbeing subjected a variety ofsubjugation measures like re-education amid constant sur-veillance, the Tibetans arebeing coerced differently, theysaid.

In Tibet, China has adopt-ed the use of a grid system,detention camps in disguise,

according to which, the ethniccommunity is divided into sec-tions of control, and data ofindividuals are recorded inmilitary-style with a combatvisualisation through the use ofmaps and charts. The employ-ment process also entails pro-paganda against the commu-nity by subjecting them to“thought education” to “educateand guide the unemployed tochange their closed, conserva-tive, and traditional employ-ment mindset.”

The poverty alleviationprogram mandates the increas-ing use of military training sys-tems like the reformation ofthoughts, re-education, andteaching of Chinese languageand teaching Communist ide-ology besides combat drills,they added.

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Even as the country’s covid-caseload breached the 62-

lakh mark with 80,472 newcoronavirus cases and 1,179deaths on Wednesday, recover-ies crossed 51 lakh, which theUnion Health Ministry said ishighest in the world. The con-tinuous upward trajectory ofIndia’s Recovery Rate hastouched 83.33% on Wednesday.86,428 have recovered and dis-charged in the last 24 hours, itadded.

The last 10 lakh recoveriescame about in 11 days, said theMinistry in a statement. A totalof 97,497 people have died dueto the disease till now. Thecountry now has a total of62.25 lakh coronavirus cases,including 97,497 deaths, 51.87

lakh recoveries and 9.40 lakhactive cases.

Presently the active casesfor only 15.11 per cent of thetotal positive cases of the coun-try, standing at 9,40,441.

More than 76 per cent ofthe Active Cases are concen-trated in 10 States viz.Maharashtra, Karnataka ,Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha,Assam, Chhattisgarh andTelangana. Maharashtra con-tributes maximum with morethan 2,60,000 active cases.

Similarly, ten States/UTscontribute 78 per cent of thetotal recovered cases.Maharashtra leads the tally withmore than 10,00,000 recoveriesfollowed by Andhra Pradeshwith more than 6,00,000 cases,said the statement.

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New Delhi: The SupremeCourt Wednesday refused topostpone UPSC civil servicespreliminary exam, to be held onOctober 4, because of COVID-19 pandemic and floods inseveral parts of the country.

A bench of Justices A MKhanwilkar, B R Gavai andKrishna Murari asked theCentre to consider grantingone more chance to those aspi-rants who may not appear intheir last attempt allowed for theexam due to the pandemic.Italso refused to consider the pleafor clubbing of this year''s examwith that of 2021 saying “thiswill have a cascading effect”.

The bench was hearing aplea seeking postponement ofthe Civil Services Exam for twoto three months, so that theflood/ incessant rains recede andthe COVID-19 curve flattens.

The Union Public ServiceCommission (UPSC) opposedthe plea saying all necessary pre-

cautions have been taken andadequate arrangements havebeen made for holding the exam.

The bench said that assome public exams have recent-ly been conducted successful-ly by the authorities by observ-ing proper protocols, it is pos-sible to conduct the UPSCpreliminary examinations.

It added that the grievanceof lack of transport facility at 72

examination centres and sub-centres have not been sub-stantiated by the petitioners.

Dealing with the griev-ances of the aspirants that dueto the COVID-19 situationstudents could not take thecoaching and other facilities,the bench referred to the avail-ability of facility of onlinestudy material to them.

The top court said that it

has impressed upon ASG SVRaju, appearing for the Centre,to explore the possibility of giv-ing one more opportunity tosuch students who fail to takeup the exam in their lastattempt.

It said that a formal deci-sion can be taken by theDepartment of Personnel andTraining (DoPT) expeditious-ly. PTI

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New Delhi:The SupremeCourt Wednesday soughtMaharashtra Assembly secre-tary’s response on journalistArnab Goswami’s plea chal-lenging the show cause noticefor initiation of breach of priv-ilege motion against him forthe reportage on actor SushantSingh Rajput death case.

A bench headed by ChiefJustice S A Bobde issued noticeto the secretary seeking hisresponse within a week.

The show cause notice hasbeen issued to Goswami for

making certain remarksagainst Maharashtra ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackrey inhis news debates on Rajput’scase. Senior advocate HarishSalve, appearing for the Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, saidGoswami has not interferedwith either the proceedings ofany of the committees of theAssembly or the Assemblyitself.

“There is only breach ofprivilege notice and there is nomotion initiated,” said thebench, also comprising Justices

A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian.

“Where is this that thecommittee of the privilege hasdeliberated upon and decided,”the bench asked Salve, adding,“Your contention is that anoutsider cannot be sum-moned”. Salve said a defama-tion complaint could be filedand there is no interference inthe proceedings of the house.

“Interference is not need-ed to be physical only,” thebench said. PTI

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Kohima: In a first among theeight northeastern states, theNagaland government haslaunched a programme to giveskill development training onlivelihood to migrant workerswho have been forced to returnto the state from other statesdue to the outbreak of Covid-19, officials said on Wednesday.

An official of NagalandIndustries and CommerceDepartment said that the stategovernment, with support fromthe Shillong-based NorthEastern Council (NEC), wouldinitially provide skill develop-ment training to around 100returnees under the"Livelihood GenerationProgramme for ReturnedMigrant Workers due to Covid-19 Pandemic".

After the training, the gov-ernment would offer "seedmoney" of Rs 2 lakh each so thatthey can launch a startup.Thestate government has alreadysanctioned Rs 2.40 crore for the

programme funded by the NEC,a regional planning body."Afterthe withdrawal of travel restric-tions by the Union HomeMinistry in May, around 16,000native migrant workers from dif-ferent parts of the countryreturned to their homes inNagaland," an official said.Anotification of the new pro-gramme said that the mainobjective of this special assis-tance from NEC for indigenousreturned migrant workers ofNagaland is to target the issue ofunemployment and displace-ment caused by the pandemic,thereby creating opportunitiesfor the interested migrantreturnees to set up their enter-prise for livelihood generation.

"The returnees should havereached Nagaland via specialtrain, airway or roadway betweenMay 22 and August 6 this year.They should also have a releasecertificate from the assignedquarantine centres," the notifi-cation said. IANS

�&*)+,�-����.�!�'+ �.)'��!)*�!)�&&+��#����/&$��).$�'0�(&$��$�� Kolkata: West Bengal

Sunderbans Affairs MinisterManturam Pakhira has testedpositive for Covid-19, sourcesin the state health departmentsaid.

He was first admitted toKakdwip Super SpecialityHospital on Tuesday but laterhe was taken to Beleghata IDhospital in Kolkata for treat-ment.Bengali actor and TrinamoolCongress leader SohamChakraborty also tested posi-tive for Covid-19 and wasadmitted to a private hospitalnear the EM bypass.

Several state cabinet mem-bers, including TransportMinister Suvendu Adhikari,Fire and Emergency ServicesMinister Sujit Bose, FoodMinister Jyotipriyo Mullickand Animal HusbandryMinister Swapan Debnath hadtested Covid-19 positive in thepast. They have all recovered now. IANS

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Page 5: ˆ))*˘! ˜ +˜$*...2020/09/30  · on December 6, 1992. “The CBI had not been able to establish charges against the accused. There is evidence to show that the accused had tried

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Recently, the Government released anorder to put the posters of rapists

and misdemeanors on the streets of thestate. On the same note, posters of allfour accused of gang-rape will be puton the streets. Superintendent of PoliceVikrant Vir said that the posters of theserape accused will be put on the streets.Their photos have also been shared onsocial media.

After the death of the of Hathrasvictim, IG Piyush Mordia has takencharge of this case personally. He hassent the JN Medical College test reportto the Forensic Science Laboratory,

Agra to confirm the rape. He is wait-ing for this forensic report and post-mortem report in Delhi. He told thatunder no circumstances will theaccused be spared. According to IG, apreliminary attack report was pre-pared after the September 14 incidentand the victim was admitted to JNMedical College for the treatment.Later, she revealed to be molested by theaccused named in the attack report thenthe molestation section was added inthe case, later the daughter filed a state-ment after coming to her full senses, inwhich she accused the attackers of rapeon which section of rape was also addedin the report.

Aligarh: The mental condition of people has fall-en so much that daughters are now feeling unsafeeven in their own house. Police attitude is alsoincreasing crime in this field. The incident ofHathras has also hurt the wounds of Aligarh.Every time there was anger, there were agitations,candlelight march and then everyone forgets.After all, when will women feel safe?

Prof. SA Azmi, a psychiatric specialist at theJN Medical College, explains that there are manyreasons to make daughters a soft target. He toldthat now porn content is readily available on theinternet which increased the sexual desire of theperson watching it. The person tries to do as hesees and learns from childhood. Sometimes suchincidents happen due to hormonal changes aswell. Such people see young girls as soft targets,this is their mental disorder. PNS

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The All India MuslimPersonal Law Board (AIM-

PLB) said that it will appealagainst the special CBI courtverdict in the Babri Masjiddemolition case in the highcourt.

AIMPLB SecretaryZafaryab Jilani said that thejudgment pronounced onWednesday by the special CBIcourt in the case was wrong.

“We will appeal against thejudgment in the High Court,”said the lawyer, who was alsopart of the Babri Masjid ActionCommittee.

Prominent Sunni cleric andAll India Muslim Personal LawBoard (AIMPLB) memberMaulana Khalid Rasheed

Firangi Mahali said everyoneknows how the “Babri masjidwas demolished in full publicview” and the “law of the landwas shredded to pieces”.

“The Muslims, in this coun-try, have always respected courtdecisions. In the final judgmentof the Babri masjid case, thecourt had clearly said that theMuslims had been wronglydeprived of a mosque that hadbeen constructed well over 450years ago. Then the SupremeCourt also said that it was anunlawful destruction. However,if there was a criminal conspir-acy, it had to be decided by thecourt. Now, Muslim organisa-tions will sit together and decidewhether today's judgment has tobe appealed against or not,” hesaid.

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The aggrieved family members ofthree Rajouri based labourers, killed

in Amshipora encounter in Shopian onJuly 18, are set to visit Kashmir valleysoon where dead bodies of their lovedones will be exhumed and handed overto them to perform their last rites as pertheir own traditions.

Three youths identified as AbrarAhmed (25), Imtiyaz Ahmed (20) andMohammed Ibrar (16), were killed inAmshipora village of Shopian on July18. The trio had gone there to earn theirlivelihood. In a brief statement the offi-cial spokesman of the Jammu andKashmir police Wednesday said, “Sincethe DNA samples matched with thefamilies, the three dead bodies will beexhumed and handed over to families

after the due process of law”.Meanwhile, in Rajouri the family

members of deceased labourers claimedthe local authorities have already con-tacted them to facilitate their visit to theKashmir valley. The dead bodies ofthese youths were buried after theencounter in north Kashmir’s Baramulladistrict.

On its part, the Army has alreadyinitiated the summary of evidence(SoE) against its personnel after the con-clusion of the Court of Inquiry into the“encounter”.

The Army men were prime faciefound guilty for exceeding powersvested under the Armed Forces SpecialPowers Act (AFSPA) and for contra-vening dos and don’ts of the Chief ofArmy Staff as approved by the SupremeCourt.

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Kerala has become the epi-centre of Covid-19 as the

State on Wednesday diagnosed8,830 new persons with the pan-

demic. This is the highest num-ber of patients to be diagnosedin a single day till date, accord-ing to Health Minister KKShylaja in a release. ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan calledoff his daily press briefing as

Kerala surged ahead with morepatients and fatalities. Therelease said 23 deaths in the statehave been attributed to Covid-19 by the National Institute ofVirology, Alappuzha. As onWednesday evening, Kerala has

67,061 Covid-19 patients. Theday saw hospitalisation of morethan 3,400 patients who were ina critical condition.Neighbouring Tamil Nadu hasbrought down the Covid-19considerably by Wednesday.

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CHENNAI: Rama Gopalan, founder of HinduMunnani, an umbrella organisation of allHindutva forces in Tamil Nadu passed away inChennai on Wednesday.

He was 94 and was undergoing treatment ina private hospital for multiple ailments. He wasan RSS pracharak for more than seven decades.

A widely respected scholar, Rama Gopalanalways stood for the rights of the Hindus in TamilNadu irrespective of the castes and creeds. He wasat the forefront of all agitations against attacks onHindu religion. It was Rama Gopalan whowrote to the Union Home Minister when womencops were molested by activists of extremist organ-isations at Vellore in 2016. This was in responseto the indifference of the State administrationtowards the complaint filed by women cops.PNS

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New Delhi: With just two daysleft for the notifications for thefirst phase of Assembly electionson 74 Assembly seats in Bihar,the RJD had urged the Congressto decide on the seat sharing for-mula within 24 hours keepingaside “all the differences”.

Bihar Congress presidentMadan Mohan Jha have heldseveral rounds of meeting withthe Central party leadership todiscuss and finalise the arrange-ment with RJD and otheralliance partners for the BiharAssembly elections scheduledlater this month.

The Congress swung intoaction following the pressureapplied by the RJD to finalise theseats by Wednesday evening.Congress' Bihar in-charge ShaktiSingh Gohil had called theparty's Bihar unit presidentMadan Mohan Jha and legisla-tive party leader Sadanand Singhto Delhi.

Sources from both the par-ties said that the RJD leadershipwants to allocate about 55 to 58seats to the Congress and a Lok

Sabha bypoll seat of ValmikiNagar.

The Congress had won 27seats in the 2015 Assembly elec-tions while the RJD hademerged as the single largestparty with 80 seats. The totalassembly seats in Bihar assem-bly is 243.

Congress is already upsetwith the RJD for virtually throw-ing out RLSP from the alliance.After the RLSP and HAM quitthe Grand Alliance, only theRJD and the Congress are left init to challenge the NDA.

In 2015 elections, theCongress contested on 41 seatsand won 27, while RJD con-tested from 101 seats and won80. “The top leadership called uswith details of the seats wherethe Congress has a good chanceat the backdrop of many issuesincluding a long anti incum-bency against the Nitish KumarGoverment. The standing com-mittee has scrutinised them andwe will inform our alliancepartner RJD either onWednesday evening orThursday morning,” Jhasaid. PNS

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In the wake of rising Covid-19 cases,Karnataka on Wednesday declared that

the penalty for not wearing a mask in pub-lic places would be increased to �1,000 inurban areas while it is �500 in rural areas.

Speaking to reporters after a meetingwith officers here, Karnataka MedicalEducation minister Dr K. Sudhakarasserted people have begun displayingnegligence by not wearing masks and fail-ing to maintain social distancing norms.

“The area police have been authorisedto collect the fine. Moreover, the state gov-ernment had to take such harsh decisions

to increase the fine amount from �200.The fine will be imposed on those not fullycovering their noses and mouths withmasks,” he said.

Sudhakar added that the state gov-ernment had again imposed a partial banon participation of people in social, reli-gious, political gatherings as well as wed-dings and other cultural ceremonies.

“No more than 50 people can attendthese ceremonies. Action will be initiat-ed against organisers or owners of theorganisation if more people are found insuch gatherings,” the minister main-tained.

He added that buses (public transport)can operate with 50% of their capacity.

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Having the second highestnumber of active Covid-

19 cases (1,07,737) in thecountry after Maharashtra,nine of the 30 districtsacross Karnataka reported a

surge in Covid cases inSeptember, an official said onWednesday.

“More testing has shownthat positive cases increased innine districts, and reduced in14 districts since the first weekof September but remainedsteady in seven districts acrossthe state,” Karnataka Covid-19war room in-charge Munish Moudgil toldreporters here.

The nine districts areBengaluru Urban, Ballari,Belagavi, Dakshina Kannada,

Dharwad, Hassan, Kalaburagi,Shivamogga and Udupi.

As the epicentre of thecoronavirus pandemic,Bengaluru remained at thetop, accounting for 40-45 percent of the new cases in thesouthern state.

“Though the positivityrate was high in 19 districts inthe first week, effective mea-sures, including tracking, trac-ing, testing and treating,reduced it in 10 districts by thefourth week, as is evidentfrom the data,” said Moudgil,a senior IAS officer.

The state health depart-ment ramped up testing in thenine districts which haveshown higher positive cases tocover more people.

“More positive cases areexpected as we ramp up test-

ing by three times a day acrossthe state,” said Moudgil.

Though the positivity rateper 100 tests is decreasing, thevirus spread is increasingacross the state.

According to the state's lat-est health bulletin, a whopping10,453 new cases were regis-tered on a single day(Monday), taking its tally to5,92,911 till date, including1,07,737 active cases.

Bengaluru registered 4,868fresh cases till Monday mid-night, taking its Covid tally to2,28,437, including 46,610active cases.

Of the new cases in thedistricts, Hassan reported 475,Mysuru 414, DakshinaKannada 362, Shivamogga347, Udupi 319 and Ballari313.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir onWednesday reported 975 new Covid-19cases, taking the Union Territory's cor-navirus tally past the 75,000-mark to75,070.

A statement issued by the Informationand Public Relations Department said thatof the 975 new cases reported onWednesday, 568 were from Jammu divisionand 407 from Kashmir division.

Of the total 75,070 cases in Jammu andKashmir, 56,872 persons have recoveredcompletely.

Meanwhile, 17 patients succumbed tothe virus on Wednesday, 11 from Jammudivision and 6 from Kashmir division, tak-ing the UT's death toll to 1,181. IANS

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Page 6: ˆ))*˘! ˜ +˜$*...2020/09/30  · on December 6, 1992. “The CBI had not been able to establish charges against the accused. There is evidence to show that the accused had tried

Death and taxes are cer-tain but when, how orwhy can be mostuncertain. Expertsfind ways and means

— sometimes genuine and some-times sham — of minimising taxliability. This is to contextualise anarbitral panel under the PermanentCourt of Arbitration rejectingIndia’s income tax claim of about�22,100 crore from Vodafone.

The tax dispute goes back to2007 when Vodafone InternationalHoldings, a company registered inthe Netherlands, acquired CGPInvestments Limited, a companyregistered in Cayman Islands.Normally, acquisition of one foreigncompany by another foreign com-pany should have nothing to dowith Indian law and taxmen. Acompany’s shares are supposed tobe situated in the country where itis registered. Legally, only CaymanIslands’ Government had the rightto tax the capital gain made by theshareowner as the share sale tookplace there. However, CaymanIslands does not impose income taxor capital gains tax (and that is whyso many companies are registeredthere.)

Through other offshore entities,the Cayman Island company con-trolled CK Hutchison HoldingsLtd’s 67 per cent stake in theIndian company, Hutchison EssarLtd (HEL). So the end result of thisshare sale was that the ultimate“owner” of the Indian company gotchanged from the Hong Kong-based Hutchison to the UK-basedVodafone, both controlling theIndian company indirectly througha chain of intermediate companies.Since the share sale in CaymanIslands did not entail any incometax, it was a “tax-efficient” arrange-ment.

HEL was a joint venture compa-ny formed by the Hong Kong-based Hutchison and Essar Group.HEL held a telecom licence. Theshare sale transaction in CaymanIslands meant that the Hong Kongcompany Hutchison ceded controlof HEL to British companyVodafone to the extent of 67 percent of HEL shareholding. Had theshares of the Indian company beensold directly, Indian income taxwould have been unquestionablypayable on capital gains. ButVodafone indirectly acquired 67 percent control in HEL fromHutchinson in a $11.2b deal.

Indian taxmen did not like what

they saw as a tax-dodgingarrangement. They argued thatthe Cayman Islands’ share salewas actually an indirect sale ofshares of the Indian company.They raised a demand (2009) of$2.2 billion as capital gains tax.With interest and penalty, thetotal tax demand rose to �22,100crore. Vodafone contended thatit was not liable to pay taxbecause the transaction did notinvolve transfer of any capitalasset situated in India.

On January 20, 2012, theSupreme Court ruled that theGovernment had no jurisdictionto levy tax on overseas transac-tions between two foreign com-panies. A sale transactionbetween two foreigners wasbeyond Indian tax jurisdictioneven if the subject matter of salewas controlling interest in anIndian company having valuableassets. No Indian company haddirectly sold anything.

The Government requestedthe Supreme Court to lift thecorporate veil to see the true sub-stance of the transaction, thetrue end-beneficiaries of thetransaction and not go by mereform, or the corporate bound-aries of shell companies throughwhich ultimate owners operate.These arguments were notaccepted. The top court said thatthe law as it then stood did notallow lifting the corporate veilbased on such interpretations.Instead of “look through,” thecourt adopted a “look at”approach.

Unwilling to give up the taxclaim, the Government amend-

ed the tax law retrospectivelywith effect from June 1, 1976,giving itself the power to re-openpast mergers and acquisitions ifthe underlying asset was inIndia. Vodafone then contestedthe claim under the BilateralInvestment Treaties (BITs)between India and theNetherlands and between Indiaand UK.

A PCA arbitral tribunalrecently adjudicated the invest-ment treaty arbitration disputeand rejected the Indian taxdemand. The retrospectivechange in income tax Law in2012 was held to vitiate the guar-antee of Fair and EquitableTreatment (FET) given toDutch/British investors underthe BITs.

The Government can nowappeal against the order in theHigh Court of Singapore. Ifnot, it has to spend about �85crore (�40 crore to PCA as 60per cent of litigation cost and�45 crore refund to Vodafone).

Another similar arbitrationinvolving UK’s Cairn Energy Plcis expected to be concludedsoon, where $1 billion of CairnEnergy’s shares have been con-fiscated.

India and similarly placedfinancial resource-starved coun-tries face this dilemma. Wewant to welcome foreign capitalto bring financial resources andtechnology to expand the earn-ing capacity of the Indian econ-omy, create jobs and raiseincome levels. The investorshave a legitimate expectation ofa fair and equitable non-discrim-

inatory taxation and regulatoryregime, ease of doing businessbut the Government also has alegitimate interest in collectingtaxes. Last year, we reducedcorporation tax for new manu-facturing companies to a recordlow of 15 per cent.

There should certainly be acertainty about tax liability butretrospective changes in taxlaws are undesirable. Theychange assessment of futureprofits and may negate the verybasis of important investmentdecisions.

Discerning eyes can see thatthe primary driver of theCayman Islands sale was acquir-ing controlling interest in theIndian telecom company andthe deal was structured to makeit an offshore transaction beyondthe reach of Indian taxmen, aninnovative tax avoidance mea-sure. The world’s rich shift theirincomes and wealth from theirhigh-tax home countries tothese “tax haven” countries likeCayman Islands having almostno income tax. How can “taxhaven” countries defend givingshelter to people running awayfrom their taxing home jurisdic-tions is a big internationaldebate. It is an ideological bat-tle between tax-freeGovernments of these countriesand remaining “tax-and-spend”Governments who want toimpose their ideology on nationsfollowing “minimalistGovernment” ideology.

One country’s “black money”(tax-evaded income) is a sourceof survival for another. That is

how “tax havens” flourish. Onewould wish greater internation-al cooperation in enforcementand “tax-and-share” being put inplace but the interminabledebate on limits of taxation, sov-ereignty and protection to crim-inals, acceptability of nationallaws on crime and taxation byoutsiders, unfair/unjust/exces-sive taxation and fair end-use oftax proceeds block any suchagreements from fructifying.

Taxation of foreigners andforeign companies presents spe-cial challenges. There is a clashbetween two principles. One isthe US system based on “situs”of the assessee’s nationality andthe other is the Organisation forEconomic Cooperation andDevelopment (OECD) systembased on “source” of theassessee’s income.

The tax liability attaches toassessees based on their nation-ality. A Government may tax itscitizens and the companies reg-istered under its national laws.The 2012 Supreme Court judg-ment was based on the law thenin force which limited extra-ter-ritorial application of tax laws.

The “situs” of the taxed enti-ty is now pitted against the“source” of the entity’s income.The OECD project on BaseErosion and Profit Shifting(BEPS) is gaining traction.

More and more Governmentsare now coming to clash with theclassical worldview on foreigntaxation and asserting that aGovernment’s jurisdictionextends to foreigners and foreigncompanies who may be presenton their soil or drawing suste-nance from it. Big MNCs likeGoogle, Apple, Facebook,Amazon and Netflix are invitingglobal attention for earningfrom different countries withoutcontributing enough to the localpublic exchequer.

There is a global consensusregarding the need for a compre-hensive mechanism to tax cross-border transactions in the dig-ital economy. OECD, UN andEU are working on a resolution.We amended the Income TaxAct in 2018 to bring the conceptof ‘Significant EconomicPresence’ from April 1, 2019, andintroduced equalisation levy(Google tax) in an attempt to taxincomes being collected by for-eigners from Indian consumers.In an imbalanced world, theterms of trade and investmentsare not always favourable toemerging economies. They alsodon’t have the freedom to printmoney and spend. Balance hasto be struck between fair taxa-tion and honest tax compliancein form and substance.

(The author is an IAAS officer,superannuated as SpecialSecretary, Ministry of Commerceand Industry.)

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������������ �������Sir — As yet another girl fromUttar Pradesh succumbed to thebrutal physical torture that shewas subjected to, after beinggang-raped, it is clear that thereis still a long road ahead towardspurging our culture and psycheof the deeply-embedded toxici-ty of male dominance. The rapeof the 19-year-old Dalit girlfrom Hathras mirrors a typicalcaste-ridden patriarchal set-upthat bestows a sense of entitle-ment on a certain section of menand engenders the objectificationof woman. The horrific act ischaracterised by the same age-old feature: Upper caste youthsassaulting a Dalit woman andinflicting fatal injuries on her.Equally archetypal is the delay inthe arrest of the beastly perpetra-tors. The much tom-tommedlaws for the prevention of thesexual assault of women thatwere tightened after the 2012Nirbhaya case are proving to beineffective. It is time to revisitthese laws and introduce stricterreforms. Swift justice is crucial asit can act as a strong deterrent byputting the fear of law in theminds of such criminals.

N Sadhasiva ReddyBengaluru

�����������Sir — Union External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar will be vis-iting Japan on October 6 and 7to participate in an informalmeeting of the Quad,Quadrilateral Security Dialogue,a multi-lateral group comprisingIndia, US, Japan and Australia.The meet was initially planned tobe held in New Delhi but got

cancelled and will now takeplace in Tokyo. It holds greatimportance as extensive discus-sions will take place on thestrengthening of strategic tiesbetween India and Japan, espe-cially with tensions brewing inthe South China Sea, which hasbeen a matter of great concernfor the larger Indo-Pacific region.During the visit, Jaishankar willalso, separately, meet US

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,Japanese Minister for ForeignAffairs Motegi Toshimitsu andAustralian Foreign MinisterMarise Payne. The ForeignMinisters will discuss the much-needed coordination in responseto the various challenges emerg-ing from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Kavya ShahUjjain

��� �����������Sir — The collection of statisti-cal data and its dissemination arevital for good governance in ademocracy. It is equally true thatthe “No Data Available (NDA)”strategy undermines the existingtransparency in the polity.Further, India has reliable insti-tutions engaged in data collec-tion, aggregation and analysis.The Registrar General andCensus Commissioner of Indiais responsible for conductingpopulation census and registra-tion of births and deaths. TheDirectorate of Economics andStatistics is the apex body foragriculture statistics in India.And the Labour Bureau is vest-ed with the job of developingdatabases on labour and employ-ment. In this context, the currentGovernment’s reluctance in dis-closing crucial data, includingthe number of deaths of migrantlabourers and healthcare staff, isbaffling. It is clear that the rul-ing dispensation is worried aboutfacing criticism for its abysmalhandling of the pandemic.

Haridasan RajanKozhikode

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The Coronavirus pandemic and the globaleconomic recession have destroyed the jobsof millions of people across the world at

staggering levels. Due to the lockdown and social-distancing, many casual, regular workers and self-employed people were unable to work and hadto lose their livelihoods. Understandably, this hasaggravated the already grim employment situa-tion worldwide, particularly in developing regionssuch as South Asia, for both white and blue col-lared workers.

The job loss scenario in South Asia: As perthe latest report by the International LabourOrganisation (ILO), nearly 400 million full-timejobs were lost this year by the second quarter (Q2April-June). South Asia significantly accountedfor 110 million of the total 235 million full-timejobs estimated to be lost during the Q2. Therewere 21 million full-time job losses in the firstquarter (Q1) and 110 million in the Q2 of thisyear. Since Q1, it is estimated that job lossesincreased by over 400 per cent in both South Asiaand Africa.

Another report highlighted the major reduc-tion in working hours that had occurred in LatinAmerica (20 per cent) and South Asia (18 percent) in Q2. Job losses were the highest in theinformal sector, given the casual and temporarynature of jobs in the services and industrial sec-tors, owing to severe lockdowns. The South Asianregion has the highest share (75 per cent) of theinformal workforce, especially in India, as 81 percent of those employed work in the informal sec-tor.

Job losses in India during the lockdown:Livelihoods of most of the people were affectedduring the lockdown and the pandemic inIndia, especially of those engaged in the informalsector. Although there have not been any officialestimates, several surveys conducted in thecountry highlight the misery of the people whohave been left jobless. An important finding fromseveral studies during the lockdown was that onan average, six out of 10 workers had lost theirjobs or livelihood sources. Seven out of 10 casu-al labourers had lost their jobs, while six out of10 self-employed respondents could not pursuetheir usual economic activities and four out of 10regular workers had been retrenched.

Frighteningly, as many as 41 lakh youths inthe country faced a job loss due to the contagion-induced lockdowns while construction and farmsector workers accounted for the majority of lay-offs, according to a joint report by the ILO andthe Asian Development Bank (ADB). While theGovernment has not released any data pertain-ing to job losses during the lockdown, it acknowl-edges the quantum of migrants, around 1.5 crore,who returned to their homes. The estimates bythe Government indicate that around eight-10crore workers were affected due to the lockdown,mostly those who were in the informal sector andwhose work was non-agricultural in nature.

Based upon the data analysis of the PeriodicLabour Force Survey (PLFS) to understand thelikely impact on informal workers in urban areasduring and after the lockdown period, we esti-mated that about 93 million people were involvedin five sectors that have been the most affected,namely manufacturing, trade, hotel and restau-rant, construction, transport, storage and com-munications, finance, business and real estate. Outof the total 93 million informal workers in thesesectors, 50 per cent are self-employed, 20 per centare casual workers on daily wages and 30 per cent

are salaried or contract employeeswithout any social safety net.

Job losses as India unlocks: Similarto the independent survey findings, theCentre for Monitoring Indian Economy(CMIE), an independent think-tank,also estimated that 21 million peoplehave rejoined work after theGovernment began the “unlocking” ofthe economy. The reversal of job loss —if not incomes — has been achieved andthe employment rate is moving towardspre-lockdown levels.

Almost two-thirds of the jobs added(14.4 million) were of self-employed(small traders) and wage labourers. TheCMIE report also mentioned that about6.8 million daily wage earners losttheir jobs since April and 15 millionpeople took to farming during this peri-od either as self-employed or casuallabour. This reveals that the loss of jobsin the self-employment and casuallabour category is a temporary phenom-enon, which is not true in case of full-time salaried jobs. Salaried people(both permanent and temporary) whohave lost their jobs may not get back toemployment in the near future.Particularly, white-collar jobs, oncelost, are far more difficult to retrieve.

White-collar job losses: The CMIEreported that about 18.9 million salariedpeople lost their jobs during the lock-down. Such jobs were estimated at 86.1million in 2019-20, which fell to 67.2million by July. These are preferredforms of employment for most peopleas they offer better terms of employmentand wages. The biggest loss of jobsamong salaried employees was of white-collar professionals, which included 5.9million workers between May andAugust. This group includes engineers,software engineers, physicians, journal-ists, accountants, analysts, teachers andmostly those who are professionallyqualified and were employed in some

private or Government organisation.However, the pandemic did not impactwhite-collar clerical employees toomuch. These largely include employeesranging from secretaries, office clerks toBPO/KPO workers and data-entryoperators. They possibly shifted to thework from home (WFH) mode, said theCMIE report. Since the lockdown wasannounced, several companies acrosssectors have taken to job cuts, along with salary reductions and leave with-out pay.

This exposed the fragility of India’sformal sector, which was traditionallyconsidered the ideal place in the labourmarket. The report also highlighted thesupport the formal sector requires forresilience. These ballooning numbers ofjob losses for formal white-collar work-ers, having higher value addition, aredepicting a worrisome picture of theIndian job market. There is consider-able research that indicates that job loss-es can result in permanent economicdamage if workers stay unemployed fortoo long. This is the key concern of pol-icymakers in the country and otherstakeholders today.

Towards resilience for formal jobs:The COVID-19 pandemic and theglobal economic recession, undoubted-ly, have put a major strain on nationaleconomies and the employment sce-nario. In India, apart from the agricul-ture sector, which has shown a positivegrowth rate, both the manufacturingand services sector are under majorstress. This has serious implications forthe informal and casual workers, smalland medium enterprises as well as bigbusinesses.

As India unlocks, there are recov-eries recorded for casual workers and forthe self-employed ones with obviouslimitations for the economic activitiesthat can be undertaken for the moment.For the regular/salaried workers (per-

manent and temporary employees) joblosses and revised terms of contract andsalaries, owing to the poor performanceof businesses and enterprises, haverevealed the fragile state of affairs.This is a serious cause of concern for theIndian economy.

Many countries across the world,such as the US and the UK, are provid-ing various kinds of support to business-es and salaried workers to stem job loss-es and the problems arising from them.They are taking various measures suchas contribution to salaries, unemploy-ment allowances, loans and so on,often surpassing the debt limits, to helptheir citizens during the ongoing pan-demic and recession. As we movetowards the “new normal” of COVID-19 protocols, WFH, a virtual economy,digitisation and automation of workprocesses, more and more white-col-lar jobs will be threatened.

In India, the Government has urgedbusinesses to keep jobs intact withoutany potential and significant support. AsIndia unlocks, formal sector jobs in theGovernment space and the private sec-tor are facing various churns from lay-offs, delayed payments, reduced salariesand so on.

Clearly, the Government needs toact now and focus on regeneration ofeconomic activities as well as stimula-tion of aggregate demands, giving dueconsideration to those who have losttheir jobs in the formal sector, and alsoto businesses rendered vulnerable by thepandemic. The road towards anAtmanirbhar Bharat and “New India”should ensure resilience in the formaleconomy, give immediate support andharness our data and digital capabilitiesto make a significant impact on the livesof people.

(Balwant is Research Director,IMPRI and Senior Fellow, IHD andKumar is Director, IMPRI)

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Aconstant and consistent pat-tern is emerging in the corri-dors of the Indian judiciary,

particularly the apex court. Thedesign, indicative of attacks on theChief Justices of India (CJIs), past,present or incoming, is neither adesirable sign for the judiciary noris it, in any which way, a healthy mea-sure of our democracy. Though onecannot, in truth, deny that there havebeen instances of corruption in thejudiciary, but to taint and paint allwith one brush is in no way serving

the nation or standing up for thatwhich is right.

Those who make unfoundedallegations vitiate the atmosphere,reduce the strength and indepen-dence of the judiciary and gradual-ly make it supine and weak.Subsequently, over a period of time,due to the constant and consistentattacks on the judicial system, itbegins to crumble and has no optionbut to start leaning towards theexecutive for support.

When the judiciary begins toshake and eventually tremble, antic-ipating the unending onslaught ofattacks, then the entire system criesfoul and finally alleges that the judg-ments are not strong enough toensure that justice is delivered inevery possible sense. So, at a time likethis, it is prudent to ponder whetherPublic Interest Litigations (PILs) domore harm to the judicial systemthan to the individual judges.

It is a fact, that in spite of a majorhue and cry, a particular judge of the

Supreme Court continued — unaf-fected and happy — till his retire-ment. No media campaign or pub-lic scrutiny could alter this position.But it is an equally disturbing truththat the image of the judiciary notonly got dented but also went downin the eyes of the citizens of the coun-try.

That poses a very pertinentquestion to all stakeholders in ourdemocracy — is this trend healthyand does it serve any purpose to anyconstituent? The larger questionalso related to the issue is whetherthis continuing trend shall visiblyshake the citizenry’s faith in the judi-cial ecosystem? Because, make nomistake about it, the country’s judi-cial ecosystem and all the stakehold-ers in it have been facing erosion —one inch at a time — owing to mul-tiple events which have unfolded inthe recent past.

If this goes unchecked, we areheading for real bad times that willnot just impact the judiciary but will

threaten democracy itself.The one feasible option forward

is to improve the system, alter theway it functions today, rather thandemolish it brick by brick, with alle-gations and complaints.

A major thrust should betowards stressing on the need tosimultaneously improve and consol-idate the judicial system, so that onlyindividuals with impeccable integri-ty get selected by the Collegium andmake it to the top. Most important-ly, if the system is strong, then indi-viduals do not matter in actualterms.

The judicial system is a complexjigsaw puzzle with many entitiesfrom the Bar and the Bench, the ever-growing number of litigants, themedia, the restless people of thecountry empowered by the socialmedia and PILs — an array of coter-ies that keep fighting among them-selves for one reason or the other.

In the end, if the judicial process-es in India do not end up becoming

robust and protected, all the stake-holders in the system would end upbeing the major losers.

It is to be first acknowledged thatthere are a series of attempts beingmade by outsiders to precipitatefights and differences between theBar and the Bench and these shouldbe collectively thwarted by the entirejudicial system.

People who are placing individ-uals and individual interests over andabove institutional interests are notbothered about the system and in theprocess end up committing a greatdisservice to the nation. Needless tosay, they ultimately forget that theywould end up being the biggest losersin the long run. However, whatremains unrealised is that the realcasualty in this prolonged tug of waris the sanctity and the institutionalintegrity of the system itself.

Such people will realise finallythat by fighting some robed luminar-ies, they may emerge as crusaders inthe short-term but in the long haul

end up causing greater damage to thesystem to which they owe everything,and destroy its credibility making itvulnerable to the core. Does such ajudicial system serve any purpose?

The CJIs are such luminarieswho come with the heft of decadesof dedicated service in the judiciaryand a great service to the nation atlarge. The testimony of evidence forthis emanates from the hundreds ofjudgments penned in their capacitiesas judges at various High Courts andsubsequently upon their elevation tothe apex court.

A flurry of allegations againstthem at the time of elevation showsthe judiciary in a bad light and caus-es the people to lose faith in themand question their every move. It isthe solemn duty of all stakeholdersin the Bar and the Bench to wake upto this bid to tarnish individuals andthereby weaken the system. It is timeto pause, introspect and react.

(The writer is a SpecialCorrespondent of The Pioneer)

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US President Donald Trumpand his Democratic rival

Joe Biden fiercely clashed overa number of issues, includingthe Covid-19 pandemic, racism,economy and climate, duringthe first presidential debate,marked by angry interruptionsand bitter accusations.

During the first of the threepresidential debates inCleveland, Ohio, on Tuesday

night moderated by Fox Newsanchor Chris Wallace, 74-year-old Trump and his 77-year-oldrival Biden also traded barbsabout each other’s families, mak-ing it one of the most chaoticWhite House debates in years.

“The fact is that everythinghe’s (Trump) saying so far issimply a lie. I’m not here to callout his lies. Everybody knowshe’s a liar,” Biden said.

Trump responded, sayingBiden is a liar and graduated

last in his class.Attacking Trump over the

handling of the COVID-19pandemic that has killed morethan 200,000 people and infect-ed over 7 million in the US,Biden said the president has“no plan” to fight the deadlydisease and he lied toAmericans.

“He still hasn’t evenacknowledged that he knewthis was happening, knew howdangerous it was going to beback in February, and he did-n’t even tell you. He is on recordas saying it. He panicked or hejust looked at the stock market,one of the two, because guesswhat, a lot of people die and lotmore are going to die unless hegets a lot smarter, a lot quick-er,” he said. Trump hit back,saying, “don’t ever use theword smart with me.”

“When you talk aboutnumbers, you don’t know howmany people died in China. Youdon’t know how many peopledied in Russia. You don’t knowhow many people died in India.They don’t exactly give you a

right number. Just so you under-stand,” Trump said, defendinghis handling of the crisis. As thetwo rivals clashed on medicate,Trump said the Democrats wereplanning socialising of medicine.Biden replied, “What this clownis doing?” Trump also justifiedhis administration’s decision towithdraw from the Paris climatedeal, saying the agreement wasa “disaster”.

Biden, however, vowed torejoin the historic accord ifvoted to power.

They also clashed over theissue of racism in Americaduring the debate wherein theRepublican leader hesitated tocondemn white supremacists.

“Are you willing, tonight, tocondemn white supremacistsand militia groups and to saythat they need to stand down?”the moderator asked Trump.

“I would say almost every-thing I see is from the left wing,not the right wing,” Trumpreplied. “I’m willing to do any-thing. I want to see peace.”

When pressed further, hesaid, “Give me a name”, towhich Biden chimed in, “ProudBoys”, referring to a far-rightoutfit that has been designatedas a hate group by the nonprofitlegal advocacy organisation,Southern Poverty Law Centre.

“Proud Boys -- Stand back,stand by,” Trump responded

and then moved attention tothe left-wing anti-fascist move-ment known as Antifa.

Biden alleged that Trumphas used everything as a “dogwhistle” to try to generateracist hatred and division.

Defending his record aspresident, Trump attackedBiden for his role in crafting the1994 crime bill.

“I’m letting people out ofjail now,” he said to Biden.“You’ve treated the black com-munity as bad as anyone in thecountry. You called themsuperpredators and you’vecalled them worse than that.”

“I never said that,” Bidenresponded. The former vicepresident was also critical ofTrump’s handling of the eventsafter the death of African-American George Floyd inpolice custody in Minneapolis.

Trump also asserted that hepaid millions of dollars inincome taxes and dubbed therecent New York Times reportthat he paid just USD 750 inincome tax in the year he waselected US president as “wrong”.

Biden described Trump asthe “worst president Americahas ever had.”

On nominating Judge AmyConey Barrett for the SupremeCourt to fill up the vacancy fol-lowing the death of Judge RuthBader Ginsberg, Trump said:“We won the election and wehave a right to do it”. Biden dis-agreed. Trump also rued thatBiden was getting better pressthan him.

“They give you good press.They give me bad press becausethat’s the way it is, unfortu-nate...I don’t care. I’ve gottenused to it. But I’ll tell you, Joe,you could never have done thejob that we did. You don’t haveit in your blood,” Trump added.

Biden also branded Trump“a fool”, when the president wastalking about the large crowdthat he has been drawing in theelection campaign.

Hitting back, Trump saidnobody shows up to Biden’s ral-lies. Trump also expressedhope that the November 3election would be “fair” andurged his supporters to watch

“very carefully” the entire vot-ing process to ensure there isnothing fraudulent.

Trump raised concernsover the use of mail-in ballots,saying there are high chancesof the process getting manipu-lated. “I hope it’s going to be afair election, and if it’s a fairelection, I am 100 per cent onboard, but if I see tens of thou-sands of ballots being manip-ulated, I can’t go along withthat,” Trump said, in his latestinstance in which theRepublican leader has refusedto commit to accepting theresults of the polls.

Biden said Trump is scaredof mail-in ballots since he isscared of the election result.

“Here’s the deal. The fact isthat I will accept it and he(Trump) will too. You knowwhy? Because once the winneris declared after all the ballotsare counted, all the votes arecounted, that will be the end ofit,” Biden said.

“If it’s me in fact, fine. If it’snot me, I’ll support the out-come,” he added.

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Chaos, interruptions, per-sonal attacks and insults,”

one Chinese newspaper editorsaid of the US presidentialdebate. An Australian counter-part said the debate was“swamped” by the “rancorengulfing America.” Denmark’sprime minister bemoaned thequarrelling and interruptions ondisplay. The first debate pittingRepublican President DonaldTrump against Democratic chal-lenger Joe Biden was not ahighlight of political oratory inthe eyes of many overseas.

Yet interest ran high for itspotential impact on what may bethe most consequential U.S.election in years, now just overa month away.

Observers from Asia andAustralia to Europe and Africalooked for possible impact onfinancial markets and curren-cies, although the reaction wasmuted overall. Share pricesslipped further in Japan and thedollar weakened against theJapanese yen and the euro,while U.S. futures were lower,auguring a weak opening onWall Street. European boursesshowed few initial tremors.

The debate itself went asexpected, said Jeffrey Halley, asenior market analyst at Oanda.

“Markets have remainedcalm, as no policy surprises have

emerged from the debate,” hesaid. “The debate will not movethe needle on the Democrat leadin the national polls.”

The greater worry is overhow tight the race might be andwhether a delay in electionresults might prove disruptive,said Stephen Innes of AxiCorp.

“A highly polarized andpossibly legally contested U.S.election is just around the cor-ner,” Innes said. “With mail-invotes likely to be too high (andpotentially questioned), there isa chance that we still will notknow the result by InaugurationDay, with constitutional chaosensuing.”

In Europe and Africa wokeup to reports about the cacoph-onous showdown overnight.

“The comments I’ve seenfrom various European press isbasically: ‘I’m happy I’m not anAmerican voter this year.’ It’s justa mess,” said Jussi Hanhimaki, aFinnish-Swiss professor ofInternational History at theGraduate Institute in Geneva.

“That’s all extremely dis-turbing for many Europeans,who generally would think theUnited States would be a sym-bol of democracy — that’s beenthe oldest democracy in theworld — that has this long, longtradition of, yes, very acrimo-nious debate, but there’s alwaysbeen a winner and a peacefultransfer of power,” he said.

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Indian-American supportersof President Donald Trump

said the Republican leader“sealed the deal” at the firstpresidential election debatewhile the community memberssupporting his Democraticchallenger Joe Biden assertedthat the former vice presidentmade a “successful case” tooccupy the White House forthe next four years.

Indian Americans, whoaccount for one per cent of thecountry’s population, but areincreasingly getting active indomestic politics, organisedwatch parties, mostly virtual, towatch the first of the three pres-

idential debates betweenTrump and Biden.

President Trump andBiden began the first presi-dential debate in Cleveland,Ohio on Tuesday with heatedexchanges over health care,the coronavirus and the futureof the Supreme Court.

“President Trump seals thedeal for his re-election, crush-ing Biden at the debate. Gameover,” said Al Mason, co-chairof the Trump Victory IndianAmerican Finance Committee.

Indian American attorneyfrom California Harmeet KDhillon slammed debate mod-erator Chris Wallace, a popu-lar Fox news anchor, forallegedly taking sides.

“Chris Wallace is a dis-grace. Republicans need tostop allowing the slanted mediato have any role in debates infuture years,” tweeted Dhillon,co-chair of Lawyers for Trumpand co-chair of Sikhs forTrump.

However, Biden’s support-ers said that during the debatethe former vice president suc-cessfully made the case thatTrump is thoroughly unde-serving of another four years.

“The choice in this electioncould not be any clearer,” NehaDewan, national director ofSouth Asians for Biden, said.

“In the debate we saw twovery different men with polaropposite temperaments and

divergent governing philoso-phies. We saw Joe Biden astatesman on debate stage andwhat a president looks like.Who was, calm, steady, strong,resilient…. Biden proved that he has what it takesto lead us out of the messTrump has made,” said AjayJain Bhutoria, National FinanceCommittee member, Biden forPresident 2020.

But Trump’s supportersdisagreed.

“Biden’s few major flawswere exposed as he refused toanswer the law and order andPortland protests. He won’tanswer Supreme Court judgehe won’t answer,” said RajBhayani, founder of SuperPAC

American4Hindu.“President Trump was

forthright in explaining hisachievements in his close tofour years term in appointing300 Federal judges and possibly appointing threeSupreme Court judges, a his-toric opportunity,” said SampatShivangi, a member of theIndian Voices for Trump.

During the debate, the twoleaders frequently interruptedeach other with angry inter-jections, with Biden eventual-ly snapping at Trump “Will youshut up, man?”

That was after the presi-dent badgered him over hisrefusal to comment on whetherhe would try to expand the

Supreme Court in retaliation ifTrump’s high court pick, AmyConey Barrett, was confirmedto replace the late Justice RuthBader Ginsburg.

“Tonight’s presidentialdebate was without much ofdecor but contentious asexpected with angry exchangesincluding not so polite wordsby Biden ‘will you shut upman’,” he said.

“One of the most enter-taining and combative sessionsand Trump came in fullycharged up and Biden was defending — onracial issues, law and order,enforcement and economy —Trump was a winner,” saidSridhar Chityala.

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The Trump administration’stop intelligence official said

Tuesday that he has declassifiedRussian intelligence allegingdamaging information about Democrats during the 2016 election even though heacknowledged it might not betrue. The announcement, justhours before the first presiden-tial debate of this November’selection, drew harsh criticismfrom lawmakers who accusedNational Intelligence DirectorJohn Ratcliffe of politicizing

intelligence. In a letter Tuesday to Senate

Judiciary Committee ChairmanLindsey Graham, R-S.C.,Ratcliffe said that in late July2016, U.S. intelligence agenciesobtained “insight” into Russianspycraft alleging that HillaryClinton, who was running forpresident, had “approved acampaign plan to stir up a scan-dal against” Trump.

But Ratcliffe added thatAmerican intelligence agen-cies do “not know the accura-cy of this allegation or theextent to which the Russian

intelligence analysis may reflectexaggeration or fabrication.”

The announcement was astartling break from conventiongiven that the nation’s intelli-gence chiefs are generally loathto publicly discuss sensitivegovernment intelligence, par-ticularly when that informationis unconfirmed — as Ratcliffehimself admits is the case here.But Trump himself has beeneager to install loyalists in therole of intelligence director,and Ratcliffe and his prede-cessor, Richard Grenell, haveauthorized a series of disclo-

sures in recent months aimedat undermining the Russiainvestigation and providing apolitical advantage to Trump.

Graham signaled Tuesdaythat he intended to ask formerFBI Director James Comeyabout the issue when Comey tes-tifies before the committee,which has been doing its owninquiry into the origins of theRussia probe. Sen. Mark Warner,the top Democrat on the Senateintelligence committee, calledRatcliffe’s decision “disturbing,”especially this close to a presi-dential election.

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US Senator Kamala Harrishas criticised President

Donald Trump’s conduct dur-ing the first night of the pres-idential debates as one that“denigrates the office”, as sheextended support to theDemocratic Party’s presidentialnominee, saying Joe Bidenunderstands who are important— the American families.

President Trump andDemocratic challenger Bidenhad heated exchanges on thefirst of three PresidentialDebates in Cleveland, Ohio onTuesday night.

“I think the American peo-ple deserve to have an ability tocompare and contrast the can-didates. I think tonight pro-vided a very clear contrast. Onthe one hand, you have JoeBiden who looked into thecamera, who spoke to theAmerican people continuous-ly, who understood who wasimportant on that stage, whichis the American families,”Harris told CBS News in aninterview.

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United Nations: The Maldiveshas thanked India for the finan-cial assistance of USD 250 mil-lion —”the single largest finan-cial assistance from a donor” —to support the island nationamid the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic has alsohighlighted the importance ofglobal cooperation. In theMaldives, without the support ofour friends, our bilateral andmultilateral partners, we wouldnot be able to continue weath-ering this storm,” Minister ofForeign Affairs of MaldivesAbdulla Shahid said in hisaddress to the General Debate ofthe 75th Session of the UNGAon Tuesday. “I thank all ourpartners who have generouslyextended financial, material andtechnical support during this cri-sis, even when they themselvesare going through challengingtimes. One such example isIndia. The recent budget supportof 250 million US dollars, wasthe single largest financial assis-tance from a donor during thispandemic,” he said. PTI

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European Union and Britishnegotiators hunkered down

on Tuesday to seek last-minutecompromises on everythingfrom fisheries to competition inhopes of creating a post-Brexittrade deal. But the atmospherewas soured by UK lawmakersvoting to let their governmentwriggle out of commitments ithas already made to the bloc.

The EU has threatenedlegal action if Britain does notdrop a bill that breaches thelegally binding divorce agree-ment the two sides reached latelast year. UK lawmakersnonetheless voted 340-256Tuesday to push the legislationpast its last major House ofCommons hurdle.

Time is short for the UKand the EU to mend fences. Atransition period that followedBritain’s departure from the EUon Jan. 31 ends in less than 100days, on December 31.

Rome: US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo urged theVatican on Wednesday to jointhe United States in denounc-ing violations of religious free-dom in China, saying theCatholic Church should be atthe forefront in the fight toinsist on basic human rightsthere.Pompeo made the appealat a conference on religiousfreedom organised by the USEmbassy to the Holy See, withtop Vatican officials in theaudience. AP

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New Delhi: The Confederationof Indian Industries (CII), oneof the largest of its kind in theCountry, has nominated ShriAnil Kumar Chaudhary,Chairman, SAIL as theChairman of its PSE Council.

This PSE Council plays avital role in the overall func-tioning of CII, which workswith Government and the public sector enterprises onvarious policy issues and servesas a reference point for theindustry. Formed in 2007, theCouncil has grown fromstrength to strength over theyears. Today, it consists of 96members comprising 10Maharatnas, 14 Navratnas and72 Miniratnas.

NEW DELHI: Massively bol-stering India’s combat capabil-ity and enhancing nationalsecurity, the BRAHMOS sur-face-to-surface supersoniccruise missile featuring anindigenous Booster andAirframe Section along withmany other Made in Indiasub-systems was successfullytest fired for designated rangeat 1030 hours today onSeptember 30, 2020 from ITR,Balasore in Odisha.

The test firing was jointlyconducted by DRDO andBrahMos Aerospace.

The BRAHMOS Land-Attack Cruise Missile (LACM)incorporating an indigenouslydeveloped first stage solid pro-pellant booster along withother major ‘Made-in-India’

components was successfullytest launched today. Cruising ata top speed of Mach 2.8, theprecision attack weapon flewfor designated full range.

Defence Minister ShriRajnath Singh congratulatedDRDO and team BrahMos forthe spectacular mission.

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The Government is openingup the economy for greater

participation of the privatesector and has been working indifferent ways to remove entrybarriers for new investments,Commerce and IndustryMinister Piyush Goyal said onWednesday.

He said the Governmenthas opened up defence manu-facturing for the domesticindustry in a much bigger wayand coal mining for commer-cial engagement.

It has also made a numberof changes in single brandretailing to promote new busi-nesses, the minister said addingthe other sectors where stepshave been taken include civilaviation, agriculture and finan-cial services.

“The Government is open-ing up the economy for greaterprivate sector engagement.Railways is also opening up forgreater private sector partner-

ships...Government also hasbeen working in different waysto deregulate, remove entrybarriers for new investments,”he said while addressing theFederation of TelanganaChambers of Commerce andIndustry.Goyal also saidreforms in the agriculture sec-tor will increase the produc-tivity and income of farmers.

About railways, he saidduring September 1-29, 15 percent more freight was carriedas compared to the corre-sponding period of last year.

“Yesterday, we moved 33per cent more freight than wemoved on September 29, 2019,”he said.

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The Centre on Wednesdaysaid it has procured about

44,809 tonnes of paddy worth�84.60 crore in the past threedays, at the minimum supportprice (MSP) from Punjab andHaryana.

The procurement data,which is released on a dailybasis, sends a message to farm-ers who are protesting againstnew farm laws that theGovernment was continuingwith the MSP procurementprocess.

Farmers of Punjab andHaryana and several otherstates are protesting againstthe new farm laws, which theyfeel will lead to procurement inthe hands of corporates and theend of MSP.

In a statement, the Unionagriculture ministry said thearrival of kharif crops has justbegun and the MSP operationis in full swing.

About 41,303 tonnes and3,506 tonnes of paddy fromPunjab and Haryana, respec-tively, have been procured atthe MSP rate of �1,888 perquintal in the past three days

till September 29, it said. Total44,809 tonnes at �84.60 croreunder MSP has been procuredfrom 2,950 farmers of Haryanaand Punjab during the period,it added. Paddy procurementcommenced from September26 in Punjab and Haryana,while in the remaining stateson September 28.

For the current year, thegovernment has fixed the MSPof paddy (common grade) at�1,868 per quintal, while thatof A-grade variety at �1,888 perquintal. That apart, under thePrice Support Scheme (PSS),the Government through itsnodal agencies has procured46.35 tonnes of moong at �33lakh MSP value so far, benefit-ting 48 farmers in Tamil Nadu.

Similarly, 5,089 tonnes ofcopra (the perennial crop) hav-ing an MSP value of �52.40crore has been procured, ben-efitting 3,961 farmers inKarnataka and Tamil Nadu inthe past three days.

The Ministry said it hasgiven nod for procurement of14.09 lakh tonnes of kharifpulses and oilseeds from TamilNadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra,Telangana and Haryana.

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The Finance Ministry onWednesday said the

Government will borrow �4.34lakh crore in the second half ofthe current fiscal to meet itsexpenditure requirement amidCovid-19 crisis afflicting thecountry’s economy.

The Government is stick-ing to �12 lakh crore borrow-ing target for the current fiscal,Economic Affairs SecretaryTarun Bajaj said.

In the first half endedSeptember, the Governmenthas done borrowing of �7.66lakh crore and remaining �4.34lakh crore will be mobilisedduring the second half of thecurrent fiscal, he said.

The Government hadenvisaged to raise 58 per centof the total borrowing target of�6.98 lakh crore from the datedsecurities in the first half of thecurrent fiscal. Against this, thegovernment has borrowed�7.66 lakh crore during April-September.

Hard-pressed for funds tocombat rising coronavirusinfections, the Government inMay increased its market bor-rowing programme for thecurrent financial year by morethan 50% to Rs 12 lakh crore.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman in the 2020-21Budget had pegged the grossmarket borrowing — which isalso a reflection of fiscal deficit–, for the current fiscal at�7.80 lakh crore. The amountwas up from �7.1 lakh crore in2019-20.The Govt raisesmoney from the market tofund its fiscal deficit throughdated securities and treasurybills. The Budget has peggedfiscal deficit at 3.5 per cent forthe current fiscal, down from3.8 per cent of the GDP in thelast financial year.

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The Union Government’sfiscal deficit remained

above the annual target for sec-ond month in row at the end ofAugust, mainly on account ofthe impact of lockdown on rev-enue collections.

According to the datareleased by the ControllerGeneral of Accounts (CGA),fiscal deficit during April-August was at 109.3 per cent ofthe annual target estimated inthe Budget.

In absolute terms, the fis-cal deficit was at �8,70,347crore. It stood at 78.7 per centof Budget Estimates (BE) in thecorresponding period duringthe last fiscal.

Fiscal deficit or the gapbetween the expenditure andrevenue had breached theannual target in July.

The Government hadpegged fiscal deficit for 2020-21 at �7.96 lakh crore or 3.5 percent of GDP in the Budget pre-sented by Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman inFebruary.

These figures, however,may have to be revised signif-icantly in view of the econom-ic disruptions created by theoutbreak of coronavirus pan-

demic.Fiscal deficit had soared

to a seven-year high of 4.6 percent of the Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) in 2019-20,mainly on account of poorrevenue realisation, whichdipped further towards theend of March because of anationwide lockdown to con-tain the spread of coron-avirus.

As per CGA data, the gov-ernment’s revenue receiptsstood at �3,70,642 crore or 18.3per cent of BE in April-August.During the same period of thelast fiscal, it was at 30.7 per centof BE.

Tax revenue stood at

�2,84,495 crore or 17.4 per centof BE during the first fivemonths of the fiscal. During thecorresponding period of thelast fiscal, it was at 24.5 per centof BE.

Total receipts of the gov-ernment stood at 16.8 per centof BE or �3,77,306 crore. In theBudget, the Government hadestimated the total receiptsfor the fiscal at �22.45 lakhcrore.

The Government’s totalexpenditure stood at�12,47,653 crore or 41 percent of BE at end-August.During the same period of thelast fiscal, total expenditurewas at 42.2 per cent of BE.

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The Government onWednesday slashed the rate

at which most of the natural gasproduced in India is sold by asteep 25 per cent to USD 1.79.

Gas produced by state-owned Oil and Natural GasCorp (ONGC) and Oil India

from areas given to them onnomination basis will cost USD1.79 per million British thermalunit for six-month periodbeginning October 1, 2020, anofficial order said. The price ofnew gas from difficult fieldssuch as deepsea has also beencut to USD 4.06 per mmBtufrom USD 5.61, the order said.

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Industry think-tankBroadband India Forum

(BIF) on Wednesday opposedany auctioning of spectrum inE and V bands saying doing sowould deny consumers thebenefits of broadband connec-tivity, and it goes against theregulator’s suggestions andglobal best practices.

In a letter to TelecomSecretary Anshu Prakash, BIFsaid it “strongly” disagreedwith industry associationCOAI’s views that E and Vband spectrum should beurgently auctioned to mobilecarriers. BIF argued that Eand V bands cannot be placed

on the same footing as mobileaccess spectrum.

“Any auctioning of E andV bands woulddeny...Consumers and thenation at large with the bene-fits of broadband connectivityand economic growth...Goagainst the concerned Trai rec-ommendations...Go againstinternational best practices,”Broadband India Forum (BIF)President T V Ramachandransaid in the letter.

BIF said that as per theTrai recommendations of 2014,spectrum in both E band (71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz) as wellas V band (57-64 Ghz) were tobe opened up.

It added that the Telecom

Regulatory Authority of India(Trai) had further reiterated in2015 its recommendation fordelicensing of the V band inresponse to the telecom depart-ment’s comments. “You wouldappreciate that Trai’s recom-mendations are aligned to thebest practices followed inter-nationally,” BIF said. Over 70countries have already openedup the 60 GHz band (V band)for delicensed usage, includingprogressive markets like USA,UK, Australia, Korea, Japan,South Africa and Sweden, itadded. “Moreover, in the coun-tries where the band has beendelicensed, innovation in the 60GHz band has flourished,” BIFadded.

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The all-India House PriceIndex (HPI) rose 2.8 per

cent in the first quarter of thecurrent financial year on anannual basis, according to datareleased by the Reserve Bank ofIndia. The quarterly HPI forthe April-June 2020 is based ontransaction-level data receivedfrom housing registrationauthorities in 10 major cities.

The cities are Ahmedabad,Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi,Jaipur, Kanpur, Kochi, Kolkata,Lucknow and Mumbai.

“On an annual basis (y-o-y), the all-India HPI increasedby 2.8 per cent in Q1:2020-21as compared with 3.4 per cent

a year ago; annual growth incity wise HPI varied from anincrease of 16.1 per cent(Bengaluru) to a contraction of6.7 per cent (Delhi),” the RBIsaid.

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Equity benchmarks closedwith modest gains after a

choppy session on Wednesday,propped up by buying in selectfinance and banking stocksamid mixed cues from globalmarkets.

After trading on a volatilenote through the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 94.71points or 0.25 per cent higherat 38,067.93.

On similar lines, the broad-er NSE Nifty rose 25.15 pointsor 0.22 per cent to finish at11,247.55.

Tech Mahindra was thetop gainer in the Sensex pack,spurting 2.84 per cent, fol-lowed by Titan, Nestle India,HUL, HDFC Bank, HDFC andITC.

On the other hand, BhartiAirtel led the losers’ chart,slumping 3.34 per cent.

Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank,M&M, Sun Pharma and ICICIBank were among the otherlaggards, shedding up to 2.77per cent. Reliance Industriespared intra-day gains andclosed 0.49 per cent lower afterthe company announced thatglobal private equity firmGeneral Atlantic will invest Rs3,675 crore to buy a 0.84 percent stake in its retail arm,extending the conglomerate’sfundraising spree.

According to traders,domestic equities traded on achoppy note following mixedglobal cues after the first USpresidential election debatefailed to cheer markets.

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Fugitive liquor baron VijayMallya’s United Breweries

(Holding) Ltd on Wednesdaytold the Supreme Court that ithad offered over �14,000 croreto various banks to settle itsdues and that the company’sassets exceeded its total debt.

Senior advocate C.S.Vaidyanathan, appearing forUnited Breweries, submittedbefore a bench comprisingJustices U.U. Lalit, Vineet Saranand S. Ravindra Bhat that theresponse of the banks hadbeen received.

He contended that since

the company’s assets exceededthe total debt, it was not thecase wherein the companyshould be directed to wind up.

He insisted that theEnforcement Directorate (ED)had attached many assets of thecompany, as a result of whichnone was available to the banks.

“The total amount offeredis over �14,000 crore whereasthe total due amount is �6,203crore plus interest. But theallocation has been only Rs 430crore,” Vaidyanathan contend-ed. He added that not a singleattached property had beenactually attached by the EDsince 2009.

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In a major relief for taxpayers,the Centre on Wednesday

announced extension of thedue date for filing income taxreturns for assessment year2019-20 by a couple of monthsto November 30, 2020.

The decision has come inthe wake of many taxpayersfacing difficulty in filing theirincome tax returns due to theoutbreak of Covid-19 pan-demic.

The last date for filingreturns for AY 2019-20 wasextended earlier till September30, the third such extension

during the pandemic. It hasbeen further extended tillNovember to provide moretime to taxpayers.

“On further considerationof genuine difficulties beingfaced by taxpayers due to theCovid-19 situation, CBDT fur-ther extends the due date forfurnishing of belated & revisedITRs for Assessment Year 2019-20 from 30th September, 2020to 30th November, 2020,” theIncome Tax Department saidin a tweet.

The government hasalready extended the date forfiling income tax returns for AY2020-21 to November 30.

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New Delhi: Drivers whoferry Indane LPG cylindersfrom IOC bottling plants inGurgaon and Karnal weretrained in tyre care and safe-ty, particularly tread wearIndicators present on thetyres, by a team ofAutomotive TyreManufacturers Associationand its technical arm IndianTyre Technical AdvisoryCommittee (ITTAC) in col-laboration with Indian Oil.

“Transporting LPGcylinders is a matter of hugeresponsibility.

The need for safety isheightened in case of driverswho ferry cooking gas,” saidITTAC chairman TomThomas.

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Snapping a two-session los-ing streak, the rupee

strengthened by 10 paise toclose at 73.76 against the USdollar on Wednesday, sup-ported by macroeconomicdata and positive domesticequities. At the interbankforex market, the domesticunit opened strong at 73.81and shuttled between a high of73.69 and a low of 73.86against the greenback.

It finally finished at 73.76,registering a gain of 10 paiseover its previous close of73.86. According to DevarshVakil, Deputy Head RetailResearch - HDFC Securities,better-than-expected currentaccount data helped the rupeeoutperform amongst its Asiancurrency peers.

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Director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri will showcasedying arts of India, like folk theatre and

qawwali in his forthcoming film, The Last Show.The Buddha In A Traffic Jam director is giving

a chance to the Qawwali folk artistes of Bhopal toshowcase their art.

According tosources, the directorflew to Bhopal tobegin the shoot of thisfilm, with actorsAnupam Kher andSatish Kaushik. Theartistes dedicated aqawwali to the direc-tor. He loved theirperformance anddecided to do some-thing about the revivalof old and forgottenqawwali groups ofBhopal.

Agnihotri stated,“The film is a tributeto dying arts of Indialike folk theatre,qawwali, brass bandand others. I haveworked hard to findthese old artistes whoare lost in oblivionand nobody cares about them. You might not haveheard of this qawwali group but they are masters oftheir art.”

The film is being jointly produced by AnupamKher, Rumi Jafry, Satish Kaushik and Agnihotri.

There is a stir of anticipationamongst fans and viewers to

watch R Madhavan and AnushkaShetty together after a long time. Theduo, last seen in the 2006 Tamil titleRendu, will be seen as an on-screencouple after 14 years in the Telugu-Tamil thriller Nishabdham onAmazon Prime Video.

In a candid chat, directorHemanth Madhukar revealed howAnushka and Madhavan reunion inthe film is a bonus for the viewers inthe forthcoming thriller.

He shares, “Initially, I didn’tknow that they have done a film ear-lier and had been knowing each other

for 14 years now. But when I sawAnushka’s excitement to essay thecharacter of a mute girl andMadhavan’s curiosity to play a musi-cian, I was quite content. One is hand-some and the other one is cute,together they are versatile actorswhich sparked their chemistry on thescreen. When we usually work withactors who haven’t worked togetherbefore, it becomes a challenge todirect them. However, with them, itcame naturally and their chemistrywas even more amazing than what Iexpected.”

Revealing more about the leadcharacter’s casting, Hemanth men-

tioned that Producer Kona Venkatfinalised Anushka for Sakshi’s char-acter in the film during their recentflight journey. He said, “Initially, I hadsomeone else in mind for the char-acter. However, Kona met Anushkaduring his journey and was quite con-vinced that there couldn’t be a betterchoice than her to essay the charac-ter. We are glad to reunite these twoagain.”

It is a story of Sakshi, a talentedartist who is deaf and mute and getsentangled in a criminal investigationwhen she unexpectedly witnesses atragic incident that occurs in a villawith a reputation for being haunted.

With a team of police detectivesdetermined to get to the bottom ofthe case and the list of suspects rang-ing from a ghost to a missing younggirl, the film promises to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller that will keep theaudience guessing until the veryend.

Produced by TG Vishwa Prasad,the film marks American actorMichael Madsen making his Indianfilm debut. It also stars Anjali in thelead role and Shalini Pandey,Subbaraju and Srinivas Avasarala inother pivotal roles.

(The film will stream from October2 on Amazon Prime Video.)

As the workforce grapples with thechanging normal, remote workinghas proved to be the boon of one’s

professional life. The work-from-homepattern has undoubtedly saved all of usfrom the brunt of the pandemic this year.However, how much does difference itmake in the productivity level? Apartfrom pandemic, has it turned out to bea better option for the workforce? Wetried to look at the trends and learn itfrom the experts.

Ayush Jaiswal, Co-founder & CEO,Pesto Tech, says, “In a survey conduct-ed on remote work in India, it was foundthat more than 85 per cent respondentshave been working remotely for less thana year, clearly showcasing the switch dueto pandemic. However, remote work hadalready started gaining popularity in pre-pandemic days, unlocking the truepotential of human productivity andaddressing the loopholes of the tradition-al office set up.”

He adds that here, the bigger picturethat emerged was that of talent being uni-versal. Over a period of time, business-es have also started recognising the widertalent pool accessible to them once theygo remote and are no longer confined byborders. Some of the companies thatwere already aboard the remote workbandwagon pre-COVID, includeInvision, Stack Overview and Zapier, toname a few. In fact, more than 57 per centof respondents were employed by glob-al companies.

As per a report by Flexjobs, thegrowth in remote work over the past 12years is whooping 159 per cent with morethan 44 per cent growth taking place inthe past five years. A growth of over eightper cent was reported in just one year(2016-2017). In March 2020, as globalrestrictions and lockdown ensued as aresult of COVID-19 pandemic, othersquickly hopped onto the wagon. Fewmonths into the pandemic and teamsgoing remote, giants like Facebook,Apple, and Twitter were amongst the firstfew to extend work from home till thenext couple of years.

For Vikas Bagaria, founder, PeeSafe, working remotely has never beena challenge because of the industry heoperates in. Says he, “Considering the fact

that our sales team is based all over thecountry we have always been comfort-able with calls and virtual meetings. Weare working in the hygiene industry andour physical offices and warehousesopened soon. So, we did not face anybrunt of working from different loca-tions.”

Sanchit Gaurav, founder and CEO,Housejoy, shares specific schedules thathis team followed while working fromhome. “From attending video meetingsin the morning to regular follow-up calls,we made sure that there was never anygap in our approach to work. We workedfrom Monday to Friday and celebratedon Friday evenings. Now since 50 percent of the team is back to office, we havenot mandated the same, yet we contin-ue to follow the same schedule,” says he.

Though work from home is going tostay and it’s not going away anytime soon,remote work can very often be misun-derstood. Perhaps, it would help tolook at work under the following self-explanatory categories:

Work from anywhere: co-workingspaces, cafes, etc.

Work from home: office in yourhouse

Work in a traditional office setupWorking in a pandemic: no social

life, no vacation, no sports, little inter-actions

It’s critical to understand that cur-rently, we’re all working during a pan-demic. So, we might be facing problemsthat will not exist in the near future.However, with a lot of things changingaround us, the lines often get blurred.

Impact onproduc-tivityLet’s startwith the ques-tion of produc-tivity, since it isa key parameterfor any businessto assess its work-force. A valid ques-tion that arises iswhether remote workwill be able to ensure the

same levels of productivity as that of on-site employees. Abhinav Girdhar,Founder, Appy Pie, says, “Remote work-ing has enhanced productivity by addingcomfort and reducing the time spent incommuting to and fro from work. It takesaway multiple distractions and adds flex-ibility thus increasing overall productiv-ity.” Multiple studies have reached thesame conclusion — remote workers aremore productive. Ayush lists the reasons:

Remote workers are less distractedIn this 2012 Stanford study, it was foundthat remote work leads to increased lev-els of productivity, up by 13 per cent tobe exact, thanks to a less distracting envi-

ronment. Since organ-isations are now tran-sitioning to openoffice space layoutsbustling with amyriad of activities,a lot of employeesno longer haveaccess to quiet spacesand find it difficult toconcentrate on theirdesks.

They work moreIn Owl Labs’ 2019 State of Remote Workreport, it was found that remote work-ers work 43 per cent more than on-siteworkers and tend to be more goal-ori-ented than just focussing on the num-ber of hours.

They are more efficientThe open office distractions vanishwhen working at home, which comeswith its own set of distractions (more onthat later). In addition to increased lev-els of productivity, remote workers alsodeliver more on performance, thanks tothem having more autonomy over theirwork. Combining results from the var-ious reports mentioned earlier, it wasfound that remote workers produceresults with 40 per cent fewer qualitydefects.

Impact on IncomeAyush compares the results of varioussurveys done over the past few years andthese are the key takeaways:

Remote workers earn more: TheOwllabs report found the fraction of

remote workers earning salaries higherthan $100,000 per year in the US to beroughly 2.2 times that of on-site work-ers.

Remote workers save more: In thereport by FlexJobs and Global WorkplaceAnalytics, it was found that remote work-ers save more, around $4,000 a year, otherreports suggest even higher savings. Asper a survey by Upwork, a firm inCalifornia, which supplies freelanceprofessionals to companies, Americanssave time and money by working fromhome.

Experience pays: As per the And Coreport, seven per cent of workers who’vebeen remote for under a year earn over1,00,000, this number jumps to 18 percent for those who’ve worked remotelyfor seven years or more.

Among other findings, it was foundout that the ability to work remotelymakes employees happier, feel moretrusted, better able to achieve work-lifebalance, and more inclined to take a paycut to benefit from added flexibility. Inshort, remote work is a win-win solutionfor both the employees and the employ-ers.

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Rajiv Chaudhry, General Manager,Northern Railway and North

Central, held a review meeting with thedepartmental heads through video con-ferencing. Deliberations were held onkeeping focus on safety on tracks, freightloading and transparency in working ofrailways.

He informed that Northern Railwaymaintained a good track record byachieving 96 per cent punctuality oftrains. The freight loading has alsobeen increased up to 30 per cent inSeptember. He emphasised on maximumuse of technology so that human inter-vention can be minimised and trans-parency in all sphere of railway workingmay be established. He said that theefforts should be enhanced for minimis-ing human failure in train operations.

“The monitoring system of progress

of construction projects should also bea focus area as the development of rail-ways are very much dependent on theseprojects. Department heads should com-plete the work in stipulated time man-ner in particular construction projects,”added the GM.

The safety has always been theprime focus of Northern Railway. Hereviewed the work done and instructedthe divisions on conducting drives toenhance the safety and counsel the staffwhenever necessary. He also instructedthat Business Development Units shouldcreate an environment of trust, supportand confidence among the customers.“Loading of food grains and other itemshave steadily increased with every pass-ing month. Northern Railway is commit-ted to provide safe, smooth and efficientservices to its customers,” said Chaudhry.

The DelhiD e v e l o p m e n t

Authority (DDA) inassociation with TheNational Institute ofUrban Affairs (NIUA),is preparing the nextMaster Plan of Delhi-2041 (MPD-2041). Aspart of the process, aseries of discussions andconsultations have beencarried out with variousstakeholders and civilsociety groups to seekinputs from the peopleof Delhi that will helpdrive the agenda for theMaster Plan.

To get insights fromthe youth, a series ofYouth Sabhas are beingorganised. The objec-

tive of these meetings isto understand issuesfaced by the youth (agedbetween 15-30 years) inthe city and discuss pos-sible planning solutions.

After the success ofthe first Youth Sabha onSeptember 24, the sec-ond series, on ‘safe andequitable access to pub-lic spaces’, is today at 3pm. The discussion aimsto understand thechanging needs of recre-ational facilities, thechallenges in terms ofaccessibility and ade-quacy of such infra-structure from youngcitizens of differentsocio-economic con-structs, including the

larger public realm andwhat can be done tomake the area safe forall. The design modulewill get feedback fromall the participants andthe three Sabhas will beanchored by youth rep-resentatives from theCSOs — DDA, NIUAand PRIA and IGSSS.

There were a total of900 registrations for theyouth sabha. Thedetailed schedule of thesessions are available onDDA website and offi-cial twitter handles@ o f f i c i a l _ D D A ,@NIUA_India. Use theh a s h t a g ,#YouthforDelhi2041 toknow more.

Bhupesh Baghel, Chhattisgarh ChiefMinister, unveils development works

worth �300 crore for Kondagaon district.Baghel said that ChhattisgarhGovernment stood strong with the poor,farmers, tribal people and labourers dur-ing the difficult time of lockdown. He saidthat while the rest of the country and theworld struggled with economic chal-lenges, Chhattisgarh’s economy remainedunaffected. While addressing the inaugur-al and foundation-laying programme in

Kondagaon via video conferencing fromhis residence office on Wednesday, heunveiled the development works, includ-ing inauguration of 25 works worth�155 crore and foundation laying of devel-opment works worth nearly �145 crore.

Baghel talked about various pro-pub-lic policies, saying that the third install-ment of Rajiv Gandhi Kisaan NyayYojana will be transferred to the farmers’account on the State Foundation Day onNovember 1. He said that the State

Government has provided financial sup-port to people through various steps suchas farmers’ loan waiver, paddy procure-ment, Godhan Nyay Yojana, minor for-est produce collection and procurementat support price, regular employment topeople of rural areas under MNREGA.

The 49 works include setting up ofMa Danteshwari Corn Processing Unit,Maha Nariyar Abhiyan, Tatamari TourismCentre, Flower Valley Keshkal, MariLivelihood Development Project, UdaanLivelihood Centre, Sanvedna KaryakramLeemdarha Midway, District Library andStudy Centre, Bus Stand Kondagaon,Kosarteda Water Augmentation Scheme.

Commenced with the aim to provideadditional source of income to cattleranchers and to protect cows, GodhanNyay Yojana of Chhattisgarh is one of itskind. This scheme has been appreciatedacross the country and abroad. He saidthat till date, �21 crore has been paid tocattle ranchers and villagers against cow-dung procurement.

MLA Mohan Markam presided overthe programme. It was addressed by heldKondagaon district in-charge MinisterGuru Rudrakumar, UrbanAdministration Minister Dr Shiv KumarDaharia, Member of Rajya Sabha,Phoolodevi Netaam, Chhattisgarh StateHandicraft Development BoardChairman Chandan Kashyap, and MLASantram Netam.

RITES Ltd has beenawarded the Turnkey

contract for construction ofRoad Over Bridges (ROBs)in replacement of existinglevel crossings on competi-tion basis from RailwayBoard amounting to �205.85crore.

A MoU will be executedbetween RITES and SouthCentral Railway (SCR) inthis regard in due course.This contract covers con-struction of four ROBs inreplacement of level cross-ings in Vijaywada division ofSCR on Vijaywada-Vishakhapatnam section inAndhra Pradesh.

The Directorate of Tourism,Jammu, celebrated the 41stWorld Tourism Day across des-

tinations such as Suchetgarh Border,Katra, Bhimgarh Fort, Reasi, Mansar,Patnitop, Kishtwar, Basholi andPoonch with active participation ofvarious stakeholders like tour andtravel organisations, hotel associationsand taxi union.

The main function was organisedat Suchetgarh Border in collaborationwith the senior officers of the 36Battalion of BSF, where RK Katoch,Director Tourism, Jammu, was thechief guest. Representatives of differ-ent organisations deliberated uponvarious issues being faced by thetourism sector in view of the prevail-ing COVID-19 pandemic. The stake-holders strongly extended their com-mitment towards the cause of thetourism development in JammuDivision of J&K UT.

Anil Kumar Chandail, Dy.Director Tourism, Publicity, Jammu,gave a detailed overview of thetourism sector and necessary inter-ventions, which need to be put inplace for better revival of the tourismsector. He explained the importanceof the sector, its revival in view of theongoing pandemic and the need towiden its horizon to the rural areas forfocussing on the preservation ofsocio-cultural heritage, values and tra-ditions. He added that the definitionof tourism is not restricted to leisuretrips only but has got diversified byincluding people for exchanging thevalues and traditions, which couldhelp in the development of ruraltourism. Several stakeholders fromtour and travel associations — BBKotwal, Anchal Singh — spoke on theoccasion.

The highlights of the functionwere colourful cultural programmepresenting the rich Dogra,

Bhaderwahi, Punjabi culture andpledge on ‘Dekho Apna Desh’.

Earlier, the DivisionalCommissioner and Director Tourismof Jammu, flagged-off the “GarudSewa, an open roof tourist luxury bus”with the slogan — Chalo SuchetgarhBorder. This new initiative of runninga luxury bus from TRC, Jammu toSuchetgarh Border is part of theBorder Tourism initiative taken byJammu Paryatan headed by BaldevKhullar and Gian Sharma. The 27-seater is a sight-seeing bus and first-of-its-kind in Jammu Division. Thebus shall run on daily basis fromJammu at around 10.30 am towardsSuchetgarh Border for sightseeing.Other destinations covered enrouteare Gharana Wetland where migrato-ry birds from various parts of theworld visit. While concluding theevent, the Director Tourism, Jammu,thanked the BSF authorities for their

valuable coordination. At Katra, the function started with

enthusiasm by flagging off bike rallyby CO, CRPF Jatinder Gupta,President Municipal Committee,Katra, Vimal Indu, Joint DirectorTourism, Jammu, Neelam Khajuriaand ASP, Katra, Amit Bhasin. It con-cluded at Bhimgarh Fort, Reasi. A totalof 50 bikers participated in the event.A few mesmerising performanceswere presented by local dogri artistsat Bhimgarh Fort. A small 3D animat-ed film was also showcased to theaudience on the history and impor-tance of Bhimgarh Fort and GeneralZorawar Singh.

At Patnitop, a seminar was organ-ised jointly by the Directorate ofTourism, Jammu, the PatnitopDevelopment Authority and PatnitopHotels Association. On the occasion,the chief guest was executive engineer,PDA, KK Gupta and Assistant

Director Tourism, National Highway,Dr Umesh Shan. They enlightened thestakeholders about the importanceand history of the world tourism day.The Community Health Worker alsoeducated the members about the“dos and don’ts” for Coronavirus.Lastly, Taxi shikar walas were givenaway registration certificates andsome prominent local hoteliers, tourand travel agents were felicitated withappreciation certificates.

At Basholi, the World TourismDay was celebrated by the CEO,Lakhanpur-Sarthal DevelopmentAuthority, DC Bhatti with BlockMedical Officer, Basholi. The CEO,LSDA, presented a lecture on theimportance of tourism to the stake-holders, while the BMO, Basholi,highlighted the importance of preven-tive measures to be taken during thepandemic. Approximately, 200 wallclocks, caps and shirts were also dis-

tributed to the participants for massawareness about tourism.

At Poonch, it was held at JallianLoran with great enthusiasm. Peopleappreciated the initiative taken by thetourism department. The event waspresided by CEO, PoonchDevelopment Authority, Dr TanvirAhmed Khan besides BDC Chairman,Block Mandi Shamim Ganai as guestof honour. During the programme,various Centrally-UT sponsoredschemes of the Government werehighlighted. Department also dis-tributed calendar, information mate-rial, sceneries and masks to the gen-eral public.

At Mansar, the Surinsar-MansarDevelopment Authority celebratedthe day in coordination withDirectorate of Tourism, Jammu,wherein the CEO, Surinsar-MansarDevelopment Authority, highlightedthe achievements of the authority.During the event, theparticipants/stakeholders were alsomade aware about salient features ofTourist Trade Act, 1978. The membersof Panchayat Mansar and BariGarh/stakeholders thanked DrJatinder Singh MOS (Independentcharge) Ministry of Development ofNorthern Region and Minister of Statefor PMO Office for initiating theDPRs of the “Comprehensive MansarDevelopment Plan” at an estimatedcost of �198 crore, which was prepared by the Directorate ofTourism, Jammu.

At Kishtwar, the occasion was cel-ebrated with theme “Tourism andRural Development”. Tree plantationdrive was also organised in TRCKishtwar under “Green J&K Drive” incoordination with the forest depart-ment. Hanief Malik (KAS), DDCKishtwar, was the chief guest whostarted the event by planting the deodar saplings.

The Indian Coast GuardShip Kanaklata Barua

was commissioned at Kolkataby Jiwesh Nandan, IAS,Additional Secretary, MoDon Wednesday, via videoconferencing. DG KNatarajan, PTM, TM,Director General IndianCoast Guard, Rear Admiral(Retd) VK Saxena Chairman& Managing Director M/sGRSE Ltd, IG AK Harbola,TM, Commander CoastGuard Region (NE) andother MoD dignitariesattended the conference. Thisis second time in the Indianmaritime history that CoastGuard ships are commis-sioned through digital medi-um, maintaining the strictprotocol of social distancingdue to the pandemicCOVID-19.

Kanaklata Barua, the lastin the series of five FastPatrol Vessels (FPVs), hasbeen designed and builtindigenously by M/s GardenReach Shipbuilders &Engineers (GRSE) Ltd,Kolkata. It is a fine exampleof ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ andis fitted with state-of-the-artnavigation and communica-tion equipment, sensor andmachinery. The 49 m shipdisplaces about 310 tons,propelled by three MTU

4000 Series engines designedto attain a maximum speed of35 knots. The ship is designedto carry one RIB (RigidInflatable Boat) high speedboats and one Gemini boatfor swift boarding and ‘Search& Rescue’ operations.

The ship is named inhonour of Ms KanaklataBarua, a freedom fighter whowas martyred while leadinga procession carrying theIndian national flag duringthe 1942 Quit India move-

ment. The Kanaklata Baruais a replacement of a similarnamed vessel which was incommission from 1997 to2018. The ship is command-ed by Commandant (JG)Subhash Kapoor.

The ship, on joining theCoast Guard fleet, will bedeployed extensively for EEZsurveillance, CoastalSecurity and other duties asenshrined in the CoastGuard charter of duties.With the commissioning of

this ship, Indian CoastGuard has 151 ships andboats and 62 aircrafts.Further, 40 ships are at var-ious stages of construction atdifferent Indian Shipyardsand 16 Advanced LightHelicopters are under pro-duction at M/s HAL,Bengaluru, which will pro-vide the added strength tothe surveillance capabilitiesof ICG to deal with theever-dynamic maritimechallenges.

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DDA HOLDS YOUTH SABHA 2020

The students and staff of SRMInstitute of Science and

Technology (SRMIST),Kattankulathur participated in theGovernment of India’s Fit IndiaFreedom Run on Tuesday. Theevent was flagged off by ViceChancellor of SRMIST DrSandeep Sancheti, and organ-ised by the Department ofPhysical Education & SportsScience, SRMIST. Students partic-ipated in this event virtually.

The five-kilometer run was

held within the Kattankulathurcampus with proper social dis-tancing precautions for COVID-19 in place. Dean Prof T V Gopalwelcomed the gathering. Flaggingoff the event, Sancheti said, “Apartfrom keeping fit and reducinganxiety, such events are also goodavenues to make new friends.”

The event was organisedunder the initiative taken by ourPrime Minister Narendra Modiand the Ministry of Youth Affairsand Sports.

Page 12: ˆ))*˘! ˜ +˜$*...2020/09/30  · on December 6, 1992. “The CBI had not been able to establish charges against the accused. There is evidence to show that the accused had tried

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Kolkata Knight Riders founda fast and furious JofraArcher too hot to handle as

they were restricted to 174 for sixby Rajasthan Royals in their IPLmatch here on Wednesday.

Archer (2/18) hit the deckhard and clocked the fastest deliv-ery of the tournament (152.1kph) in a fiery spell, taking twokey wickets of KKR — in-formopener Shubman Gill (47 from 34balls) and skipper Dinesh Karthik(1) — after the Royals opted tofield.

With Archer triggering a mid-innings collapse, the big-hittingAndre Russell (24 from 14) toowas dismissed cheaply and it wasleft to England World Cup-win-ning skipper Eoin Morgan (23-

ball 34 not out) to stay till the end.Archer bowled the first over

of the match and there was fullpace in display in the range of 145-150kph mark and it needed Gill'sbrilliance to see him off with justone run from it.

With Gill looking well set fora second successive fifty, Archerwas reintroduced in the 12thover and he dismissed the setopener straightway with a leadingedge.

In his next over, Archer dis-missed Karthik with a beauty, fullof pace that went straight with abit of inswing and the KKR skip-per was forced to play, edgingstraight to Jos Buttler.

Russell was finally promotedup at No 5 but the star Jamaicanbecame victim of Ankit Rajpootwhile trying to accelerate thescoring rate.

Russell’s wicket meant KKRlost four wickets for 33 runs in theback-10 and with KKR playingwith an extra bowler, it was left toMorgan to prop up the total.

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Coming off heartbreakinglosses, the game between

Mumbai Indians and Kings XIPunjab will be a test of charac-ter for both sides as they lookto regain momentum onThursday.

KXIP were at the receivingend of the highest successfulrun-chase in the tournamenthistory as Rajasthan Royalsoverhauled a target of 224 withthree balls to spare on Sunday.

While Kieron Pollard andIshan Kishan led a remarkablefight-back, chasing 202, beforeMumbai went downto Royal ChallengersBangalore in a SuperOver.

D e f e n d i n gchampions MumbaiIndians lost their opening gamebut bounced back to beatKolkata Knight Riders.However, Rohit Sharma’s menfailed to cross the line againstRCB.

Similarly, after losing toDelhi Capitals in their open-er, KXIP came back strong-ly to register their firstpoints by defeating RCB.But, despite a fabulous bat-ting display, they lost toRajasthan.

KXIP have failed totighten the screwswhen it matteredmost. In their twolosses, they were ina good positionbut could notgrab themoments.

Their bowl-ing looked out ofsorts againstRajasthan as theyfailed to defend a big

total with Rahul Tewatia hittingpacer Sheldon Cottrel for fivesixes in an over to win thematch for his team.

Even Mohammed Shami(3/53), who has been in brilliantform prior to that onslaught,was taken to the cleaners.

Skipper KL Rahul andMayank Agarwal have madeinspiring starts this season, hit-ting a century and a fifty each,and getting the duo out earlywill be the key for Mumbai.

Against Rajasthan, the pairshared a 183-run opening standwith Agarwal scoring his maid-en ton while Rahul, fresh from

recording the highestscore by an Indian inIPL history, hit a 54-ball 69.

Mumbai Indiansare blessed with a

splendid batting firepower withthe likes of Rohit, SuryakumarYadav and Ishan Kishan at thetop-order, followed by the big-hitting Pollard and HardikPandya.

A major cause of con-cern for them will be pace

ace Jaspirt Bumrah’sinconsistency. Thespeedster has picked uponly three wickets in as

many games and hasfailed to make

the kind ofimpact thatis expectedfrom abowler of hiscalibre.

Mumbai,though, will

have the psy-c h o l o g i c a ladvantage hav-ing played agame in AbuDhabi before.

���� ���� � �� The much-awaitedChallenger series, popularly known aswomen’s mini IPL, will be held in theUnited Arab Emirates fromNovember 4 to 9, a senior IPL offi-cial confirmed the development onWednesday.

“Yes, the dates of the tournamenthave been finalised. It will be heldfrom November 4 to 9. There will besingle round robin league between thethree teams Trailblazers, Velocityand Supernovas along with the final.In all four matches will be held,” asenior IPL official told PTI.

“The final has been slotted onNovember 9 as we didn’t want toschedule on the the day of the men’sfinal. There is enormous interest forthe women’s event and its only com-mercially prudent that it is separatedfrom men’s event,” the official said.

Only last week, the BCCI hasannounced the new women selectionpanel under former left-arm spinner

Neetu David, which has now beenentrusted to pick the three squads.

It is expected that the teams willbe flying to the UAE by the secondweek of October and will undergo asix-day mandatory quarantine peri-od on arrival.

“The girls haven’t had training forsuch a long time and they would needto be given adequate time for net prac-tice,” the source said.

It is expected that all three teamswill have more Indian girls this timeconsidering the fact that for healthsafety reasons, teams need to carrymore players.

Also top players from Australiaand England will not be available dueto the Women’s Big Bash League,where they have already signed priorcontracts.

The four matches are likely to beheld in Sharjah or Dubai consideringthat Abu Dhabi has separate quaran-tine rules. PTI

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Mumbai Indians bowling coach ShaneBond on Wednesday said Kings XI

Punjab skipper K L Rahul would be histeam’s prime target in their upcoming clashand called the opener a dynamic batsman,capable of scoring around the field.

Kings XI openers Rahul and MayankAgarwal are enjoying a superb run in theongoing IPL, leading the run-scorers’ tallywith 222 and 221 runs respectively, includ-ing one century and a fifty each.

And Bond very well understands theimportance of stopping the duo onThursday, insisting that early wickets wouldbe key to success for the title-holders.

“KL Rahul has got runs against us in thelast few games and he is a brilliant player.We are having our bowlers’ meeting thisafternoon, in terms of our planning for ouropponents who are playing well. KL is adynamic player, who scores all around thefield,” the former Kiwi pacer said.

“We also know that he (Rahul) takes histime generally through the middle overs, sothat’s perhaps an opportunity to create some

pressure on him and the batsmen aroundhim.

“We will have specific ideas about howwe can get him out. In the end, we can’t allowhim (Rahul) to score in the areas he is very,very strong. He scores well over extra-cover,picks up over fine-leg.”

Bond stressed that MI has the potentialto restrict the marauding Kings XI’s batting

line-up.“We have got a quality bowling unit, we

just have to put pressure on them. Mind you,the two key batters for Kings XI Punjabplayed brilliantly so far.

“If we can create some pressure and getthose boys out early, and put some little bitmore pressure on that middle-order early,we can restrict them to a score, stop themfrom scoring (big) runs,” he said.

Bond said having already played two outof their three matches in Abu Dhabi so far,MI are well-versed with the conditions ofthe ground.

“We are reasonably confident with ourbatting line-up. They have put up good runson the board so far and we are a tough bat-ting order to stop. We have played on thisground twice and so we sort of know whatto expect with the conditions, so thatshould help us a bit,” he said.

He also said that Tuesday's matchbetween Sunrisers Hyderabad and DelhiCapitals has indicated that the wickets mightslow down as the tournament moves on, butthe bowlers need to be accurate with theirline and lengths.

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Tottenham staged a second-half comeback before elim-

inating Chelsea on penalties toreach the quarterfinals of theLeague Cup.

The first nine penalties wereall successfully converted beforeChelsea’s Mason Mount missedthe target to ensure Tottenhamadvanced 5-4 in the shootoutafter the game ended 1-1.

Tottenham, playing its sec-ond of three games in a four-dayspan, was completely over-whelmed by Chelsea in a firsthalf when Timo Werner scoredhis first goal for the westLondon club.

Sergio Reguilón gave theball away on his Tottenham

debut at left back before Wernerscored in the 19th minute. Butthe recruit from Real Madridmade amends in the second halfwhen Jose Mourinho’s side wastransformed, showing the threatmissing before the break.

Reguilón chipped the ballover for Erik Lamela, who gotahead of Emerson Palmieri tonet the equalizer in the 83rdminute past goalkeeperEdouard Mendy, who wasmaking his debut in theChelsea goal.

No extra time is played inthe League Cup, so the gamewent straight to penalties andTottenham scored all its spotkicks in a shootout without theusual pressure coming fromthe stands.

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Saying she is “struggling towalk,” Serena Williams

ended her latest bid for a 24thGrand Slam title and withdrewfrom the French Open beforeher second-round match onWednesday because of an

injured Achilles heel.Williams hurt herself dur-

ing her semifinal loss at the USOpen three weeks ago andsaid she hasn’t had “enoughtime to properly heal” andneeds “four to six weeks of sit-ting, doing nothing.”

The sudden announce-

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MATCHES 24KINGS XI PUNJAB 11MUMBAI INDIANS 13

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Of all the talented cricketers thatShane Warne has seen over

the years, Sanju Samson is the onethat strikes him as “something else”and the Rajasthan Royals mentorfeels that the big-hitting batsmanwould become an India regular inall formats if this IPL goes well forhim.

The clamour to have the enor-mously gifted Kerala batsmanplay regularly for the nationalteam has grown over the years andknocks of 74 (32 balls) and 85 (42balls) for RR in the ongoing IPLhave only amplified the noise.

Warne, the IPL-winning for-

mer Royals captain and brandambassador, believes the day is notfar away.

“I hope Sanju has a consistenttournament this year. If he has aconsistent tournament this year, I

think you will see him represent-ing India in all forms of the game,”Warne told PTI.

The legendary Australian isimpressed with Samson’s maturi-ty and his evolution as a batsman,who is taking way more responsi-bility in this edition.

“He’s (Samson) such a talent-ed player. I have seen a lot of tal-ented cricketers in my time butwatching Samson bat in the nets,being around him, speaking tohim over the years and nowwatching him evolve, I mean he issomething else,” he said.

“He is a very special talent andI hope he hit the international stagevery soon,” added Warne.

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ment came roughly an hourbefore the 39-year-oldAmerican was supposed tohead out onto Court PhilippeChatrier to face TsvetanaPironkova.