ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will...

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T he Centre on Saturday allowed operation of Metro trains from September 7 and public gathering up to 100 people from September 21 with strict social distancing norms. But cinema halls and swimming pools will continue to remain shut. The schools and colleges will be shut up to September 30, but the Centre has allowed 50 per cent of teachers and non-teaching staff to come to institutions from September 21 for the conduct of online and tele-counseling. The Ministry of Home’s new Unlockdown-4 Guidelines said that students from 9th standard can visit the campus- es with the consent of parents from September 21 to meet the teachers. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has con- vened a virtual meeting with all metro companies on September 1 to discuss the standard operating procedures (SOP).The SOPs says cus- tomised entry/exit will be allowed at each station to con- trol footfall. The Metro train operation will be starting only in graded manner and intake of passen- gers as well as their entry to the platforms will be “controlled.” The CISF will also be part of these procedures, especially in handling the passenger movements. The guidelines said that open-air theaters will be allowed to start from September 21. “Metro rail will be allowed to operate with effect from 7th September 2020 in a graded manner, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA)/ Ministry of Railways (MOR), in consulta- tion with MHA. In this regard, Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be issued by MOHUA. “Social/ academic/ sports/ entertainment/ cultural/ reli- gious/ political functions and other congregations will be permitted with a ceiling of 100 persons, with effect from September 21. However, such limited gatherings can be held with the mandatory wearing of face masks, social distancing, provision for thermal scan- ning and hand wash or sani- tizer,” said the guidelines. The MHA said extensive discussions took place with States on the opening of schools and colleges. Though classes will be not conducted till September 30, partial activ- ities will start from September 21. The Centre has asked the States to develop opening up procedures on this regard. “After extensive consulta- tion with States and UTs, it has been decided that schools, col- leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September 2020. Online/distance learning shall continue to be permitted and shall be encouraged,” the guide- lines said. Turn to Page 4 I ndia on Saturday crossed over 3.53 million coronavirus cases, with average 72,000- 76,000 cases per day during the last four weeks. It took 15 days from 2.5 million cases on August 14 to cross 3.5 million marks. Now the third-most-affect- ed country by total cases, sec- ond by active cases, and fourth by death toll, the latest coron- avirus trends over the last four weeks are extremely worrying. With this rate of the spike, India is expected to pip Brazil to the second spot by September 10. The States that have been worst affected by a total tally of cases are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. The States that have reported the biggest 24-hour jump in active cases are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana. Maharashtra on Saturday reported a single-day highest spike of 16,867 coronavirus cases which pushed its case tally to 7,64,281. With 328 new fatalities, the death toll due to the pandemic reached 24,103. The earlier highest one-day increase in the num- ber of patients was 14,888 on August 26. There are 1,85,131 active cases. 11,541 patients were discharged during the day, taking total recoveries to 5,54,711. In State capital Mumbai, 1,432 new cases and 31 deaths were reported. The total number of Covid-19 cases in the city rose to 1,43,389 and death toll to 7,596. An IPS officer who was part of the Mumbai Police's team which was probing actor Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case has tested positive for coronavirus infection. With most of the medical equipment such as coronavirus testing kits and masks available at cheaper rates in the market, the Centre has informed the Maharashtra Government that it would discontinue their sup- ply from October. Pune city reported 1,972 new cases and 32 deaths. Turn to Page 4 T he Delhi High Court has held that annual and devel- opment charges cannot be taken from the parents of stu- dents “during the pendency of the present lockdown”, when schools are yet to reopen. The prima facie opinion was expressed by Justice Jayant Nath in his order of August 25 while hearing a plea moved by the parents’ association of a pri- vate school, which started tak- ing the annual and develop- ment charges along with the tuition fees from July. The court restrained the school from taking the annual and development charges from the parents for the month of July till further orders. It also issued a notice to the Delhi Government and the school, seeking their stand on the plea of the parents’ associ- ation, which was represented by advocate Gaurav Bahl. Turn to Page 4 T he Congress has reminded Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to provide details of steps taken to investigate allegations that the social media giant did not apply hate speech rules to posts by BJP members. This is second letter from the Congress within a fortnight. It came after former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “America’s Time magazine exposes WhatsApp-BJP nexus: Used by 40 crore Indians, WhatsApp also wants to be used for making payments for which Modi government’s approval is needed. Thus, BJP has a hold over WhatsApp.” Addressing a press confer- ence, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, “The unholy intimacy between social media giant Facebook’s India opera- tions and the Narendra Modi- led BJP Government is now unravelling fast and is no longer just an India issue but a global one.” Detailed report on Page 4 A ctress Rhea Chakraborty was grilled by the CBI for seven hours on the second consecutive day on Saturday over her alleged role in the cir- cumstances leading to Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. A day after she was questioned for 11- long hours by the CBI, Rhea — who has been accused by Sushant’s family of abetting the actor’s death — arrived at the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO)’s guesthouse at Santa Cruz’s Kalina area for ques- tioning at 1.30 pm for the sec- ond day of questioning. Her questioning went on seven- long hours. Around 8.30 pm, Rhea stepped out of the DRDO guesthouse along with her brother Showik, who was grilled for the third consecutive day and drove her to Juhu res- idence, in her car. She was accompanied by an escort vehi- cle of the Mumbai police. After Rhea lodged a com- plaint with the Santa Cruz police station against some media persons on Friday night for allegedly trying to enter her residence, the Mumbai police had provided her protection and escort to take her for ques- tioning at the DRDO and bring her back from there after seven-hour-long grilling. Her brother Showik, who had also accompanied Rhea, was questioned separately for the third consecutive day. Meanwhile, Goa-based hotelier Gaurav Arya, whose name has figured in drug- related issues involving Sushant, Rhea and others, will appear before the ED for ques- tioning on Monday. Turn to Page 4 A “rat hole” tunnel, at least 25 feet deep and 170 metres long, has been detected by the Border Security Force (BSF) along the International Border in Galar village of Samba sec- tor in Jammu frontier. The tunnel, which origi- nated from the Pakistani side of the International Border, was detected by one of the patrol parties of BSF during its special anti-tunnel drive late on Friday, sources said. The detection of this under-construction tunnel has already created a flutter in the security grid. Senior BSF offi- cers of Jammu frontier and other Central agencies also visited the spot to take stock of the ground situation on Saturday. High alert has been sound- ed in the entire border belt to ascertain whether the same under-construction tunnel has been used by the terrorists to sneak inside the Indian terri- tory with help from the Pakistani Rangers. Addressing a Press confer- ence in one of the border out- posts in Samba sector on Saturday, BSF Jammu Frontier Inspector General NS Jamwal told reporters, “BSF was receiv- ing various inputs about the existence of tunnels in Samba border area. In view of the pre- vailing security scenario in recent times, the BSF Jammu had launched a special anti- tunneling drive along the International Border of Jammu region”. He said, “On August 28, 2020, a vigilant BSF patrol party during an anti-tunneling drive, while carrying out in- depth scanning of area, sus- pected a place at International Border in Samba district and detected a tunnel of approxi- mately 25 feet deep and about 3-4 feet in diameter in Indian territory near border fencing in Galar area”. Turn to Page 4 A mid continuing tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), India has decided not to take part in a multi-nation exercise next month in Russia where China and Pakistan mil- itary contingents will also be present. A 200-team of the Indian armed forces was earli- er scheduled to take part in the exercise from September 14-30. The prestigious exercise named named “Kavkaz-2020” will be conducted in Astrakhan area of South Russia. India will officially convey its decision to withdraw from the event to Russia shortly. This step has now cast a shadow over the forthcoming high-profile visits of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to Russia to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) minister- ial-level conclave. Meanwhile, open-source satellite imagery indicates that China may be developing two new air defence positions to cover the disputed border in the Doklam and Sikkim sectors as well as an area where Indian and Chinese troops had clashed in May. The satellite imagery has been shared by the open-source intelligence analyst who uses the name @detresfa on Twitter. It suggests that China may be developing surface-to-air mis- sile facilities in these two loca- tions. With China refusing to budge, a high-level meeting attended among others by Jaishankar and Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat decided against taking part in the military exercise in Russia in view of the presence of China and Pakistan, sources said. While Rajnath is expected to visit Russia next week to attend the SCO meeting, Jaishankar is likely to arrive in Moscow on September 10. Earlier, there were speculation that both the Indian Ministers may also meet their Chinese counterparts during the meet. Turn to Page 4 New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was admitted to AIIMS here on August 18 for post-Covid care, has recovered and is likely to be discharged in a short time, hospital authorities said on Saturday. “He has recovered and is likely to be discharged in a short time,” the AIIMS said in a statement. Dehradun: Uttarakhand BJP president Bansidhar Bhagat on Saturday said he has tested pos- itive for Covid-19. Taking to Twitter, Bhagat himself announced his test result and asked all those who came in contact with him last week to undergo Covid-19 testing.

Transcript of ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will...

Page 1: ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September

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The Centre on Saturdayallowed operation of Metro

trains from September 7 andpublic gathering up to 100people from September 21with strict social distancingnorms. But cinema halls andswimming pools will continueto remain shut.

The schools and collegeswill be shut up to September30, but the Centre has allowed50 per cent of teachers andnon-teaching staff to come toinstitutions from September21 for the conduct of onlineand tele-counseling.

The Ministry of Home’snew Unlockdown-4 Guidelinessaid that students from 9thstandard can visit the campus-es with the consent of parentsfrom September 21 to meet theteachers.

The Ministry of Housingand Urban Affairs has con-vened a virtual meeting with allmetro companies onSeptember 1 to discuss thestandard operating procedures(SOP).The SOPs says cus-tomised entry/exit will beallowed at each station to con-trol footfall.

The Metro train operationwill be starting only in gradedmanner and intake of passen-

gers as well as their entry to theplatforms will be “controlled.”

The CISF will also be partof these procedures, especiallyin handling the passengermovements. The guidelinessaid that open-air theaters willbe allowed to start fromSeptember 21.

“Metro rail will be allowedto operate with effect from 7thSeptember 2020 in a gradedmanner, by the Ministry ofHousing and Urban Affairs(MOHUA)/ Ministry ofRailways (MOR), in consulta-tion with MHA. In this regard,Standard Operating Procedure(SOP) will be issued byMOHUA.

“Social/ academic/ sports/

entertainment/ cultural/ reli-gious/ political functions andother congregations will bepermitted with a ceiling of 100persons, with effect fromSeptember 21. However, suchlimited gatherings can be heldwith the mandatory wearing offace masks, social distancing,provision for thermal scan-ning and hand wash or sani-tizer,” said the guidelines.

The MHA said extensivediscussions took place withStates on the opening ofschools and colleges. Thoughclasses will be not conductedtill September 30, partial activ-ities will start from September21. The Centre has asked theStates to develop opening up

procedures on this regard. “After extensive consulta-

tion with States and UTs, it hasbeen decided that schools, col-leges, educational and coachinginstitutions will continue toremain closed for students andregular class activity up to30th September 2020.Online/distance learning shallcontinue to be permitted andshall be encouraged,” the guide-lines said.

Turn to Page 4

"��� �2���2345

India on Saturday crossedover 3.53 million coronavirus

cases, with average 72,000-76,000 cases per day during thelast four weeks. It took 15 daysfrom 2.5 million cases onAugust 14 to cross 3.5 millionmarks.

Now the third-most-affect-ed country by total cases, sec-ond by active cases, and fourthby death toll, the latest coron-avirus trends over the last fourweeks are extremely worrying.With this rate of the spike,India is expected to pip Brazilto the second spot bySeptember 10.

The States that have beenworst affected by a total tally ofcases are Maharashtra, TamilNadu, Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.The States that have reportedthe biggest 24-hour jump inactive cases are Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Odisha and Telangana.

Maharashtra on Saturdayreported a single-day highestspike of 16,867 coronaviruscases which pushed its casetally to 7,64,281. With 328new fatalities, the death toll due

to the pandemic reached24,103. The earlier highestone-day increase in the num-ber of patients was 14,888 onAugust 26. There are 1,85,131active cases. 11,541 patientswere discharged during theday, taking total recoveries to5,54,711. In State capitalMumbai, 1,432 new cases and31 deaths were reported. Thetotal number of Covid-19 casesin the city rose to 1,43,389 anddeath toll to 7,596.

An IPS officer who waspart of the Mumbai Police'steam which was probing actorSushant Singh Rajput suicidecase has tested positive forcoronavirus infection. Withmost of the medical equipmentsuch as coronavirus testingkits and masks available atcheaper rates in the market, theCentre has informed theMaharashtra Government thatit would discontinue their sup-ply from October. Pune cityreported 1,972 new cases and32 deaths.

Turn to Page 4"� � �2���2345

The Delhi High Court hasheld that annual and devel-

opment charges cannot betaken from the parents of stu-dents “during the pendency ofthe present lockdown”, whenschools are yet to reopen.

The prima facie opinionwas expressed by Justice JayantNath in his order of August 25while hearing a plea moved bythe parents’ association of a pri-vate school, which started tak-ing the annual and develop-ment charges along with thetuition fees from July.

The court restrained theschool from taking the annualand development charges fromthe parents for the month ofJuly till further orders.

It also issued a notice to theDelhi Government and theschool, seeking their stand onthe plea of the parents’ associ-ation, which was representedby advocate Gaurav Bahl.

Turn to Page 4

"��� �2���2345

The Congress has remindedFacebook founder Mark

Zuckerberg to provide detailsof steps taken to investigateallegations that the social mediagiant did not apply hate speechrules to posts by BJP members.

This is second letter fromthe Congress within a fortnight.It came after former Congresschief Rahul Gandhi tweeted,“America’s Time magazineexposes WhatsApp-BJP nexus:Used by 40 crore Indians,WhatsApp also wants to beused for making payments forwhich Modi government’sapproval is needed. Thus, BJPhas a hold over WhatsApp.”

Addressing a press confer-ence, Congress spokespersonPawan Khera said, “The unholyintimacy between social mediagiant Facebook’s India opera-tions and the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government is nowunravelling fast and is nolonger just an India issue but aglobal one.”

Detailed report on Page 4

����&������ � 006�5

Actress Rhea Chakrabortywas grilled by the CBI for

seven hours on the secondconsecutive day on Saturdayover her alleged role in the cir-cumstances leading to SushantSingh Rajput’s death. A dayafter she was questioned for 11-long hours by the CBI, Rhea —who has been accused bySushant’s family of abettingthe actor’s death — arrived atthe Defence Research &Development Organisation(DRDO)’s guesthouse at SantaCruz’s Kalina area for ques-tioning at 1.30 pm for the sec-ond day of questioning. Herquestioning went on seven-long hours.

Around 8.30 pm, Rheastepped out of the DRDOguesthouse along with herbrother Showik, who wasgrilled for the third consecutiveday and drove her to Juhu res-idence, in her car. She wasaccompanied by an escort vehi-cle of the Mumbai police.

After Rhea lodged a com-plaint with the Santa Cruzpolice station against some

media persons on Friday nightfor allegedly trying to enter herresidence, the Mumbai policehad provided her protectionand escort to take her for ques-tioning at the DRDO and bringher back from there afterseven-hour-long grilling.

Her brother Showik, whohad also accompanied Rhea,

was questioned separately forthe third consecutive day.

Meanwhile, Goa-basedhotelier Gaurav Arya, whosename has figured in drug-related issues involvingSushant, Rhea and others, willappear before the ED for ques-tioning on Monday.

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A“rat hole” tunnel, at least 25feet deep and 170 metres

long, has been detected by theBorder Security Force (BSF)along the International Borderin Galar village of Samba sec-tor in Jammu frontier.

The tunnel, which origi-nated from the Pakistani side ofthe International Border, wasdetected by one of the patrolparties of BSF during its specialanti-tunnel drive late on Friday,sources said.

The detection of thisunder-construction tunnel hasalready created a flutter in thesecurity grid. Senior BSF offi-cers of Jammu frontier andother Central agencies alsovisited the spot to take stock ofthe ground situation onSaturday.

High alert has been sound-ed in the entire border belt toascertain whether the sameunder-construction tunnel hasbeen used by the terrorists tosneak inside the Indian terri-tory with help from thePakistani Rangers.

Addressing a Press confer-ence in one of the border out-posts in Samba sector onSaturday, BSF Jammu FrontierInspector General NS Jamwaltold reporters, “BSF was receiv-ing various inputs about theexistence of tunnels in Sambaborder area. In view of the pre-vailing security scenario inrecent times, the BSF Jammuhad launched a special anti-tunneling drive along theInternational Border of Jammu

region”.He said, “On August 28,

2020, a vigilant BSF patrolparty during an anti-tunnelingdrive, while carrying out in-depth scanning of area, sus-pected a place at InternationalBorder in Samba district anddetected a tunnel of approxi-mately 25 feet deep and about3-4 feet in diameter in Indianterritory near border fencing inGalar area”.

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Amid continuing tension atthe Line of Actual Control

(LAC), India has decided not totake part in a multi-nationexercise next month in Russiawhere China and Pakistan mil-itary contingents will also bepresent. A 200-team of theIndian armed forces was earli-er scheduled to take part in theexercise from September 14-30.

The prestigious exercisenamed named “Kavkaz-2020”will be conducted in Astrakhanarea of South Russia. India willofficially convey its decision towithdraw from the event toRussia shortly.

This step has now cast ashadow over the forthcominghigh-profile visits of DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh andExternal Affairs Minister SJaishankar to Russia to attendthe Shanghai CooperationOrganisation (SCO) minister-ial-level conclave.

Meanwhile, open-sourcesatellite imagery indicates thatChina may be developing twonew air defence positions to

cover the disputed border inthe Doklam and Sikkim sectorsas well as an area where Indianand Chinese troops had clashedin May.

The satellite imagery hasbeen shared by the open-sourceintelligence analyst who usesthe name @detresfa on Twitter.It suggests that China may bedeveloping surface-to-air mis-sile facilities in these two loca-tions.

With China refusing tobudge, a high-level meetingattended among others byJaishankar and Chief ofDefence Staff (CDS) GeneralBipin Rawat decided againsttaking part in the militaryexercise in Russia in view of thepresence of China andPakistan, sources said.

While Rajnath is expectedto visit Russia next week toattend the SCO meeting,Jaishankar is likely to arrive inMoscow on September 10.Earlier, there were speculationthat both the Indian Ministersmay also meet their Chinesecounterparts during the meet.

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New Delhi: Union HomeMinister Amit Shah, who wasadmitted to AIIMS here onAugust 18 for post-Covid care,has recovered and is likely to bedischarged in a short time,hospital authorities said onSaturday. “He has recoveredand is likely to be dischargedin a short time,” the AIIMS saidin a statement.

Dehradun: Uttarakhand BJPpresident Bansidhar Bhagat onSaturday said he has tested pos-itive for Covid-19. Taking toTwitter, Bhagat himselfannounced his test result andasked all those who came incontact with him last week toundergo Covid-19 testing.

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Page 2: ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September

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One doesn’t really have to watch thelatest web series on the OTTplatform to know that Neena Gupta

is a great actor. In a career of nearly fourdecades and movies like Swarg, Yalgar andBadhaai Ho under her belt, she has onceagain given a performance that is great. InMasaba Masaba where she pairs up withher daughter in a fictionalised version oftheir lives, she shines beautifully. Here, onegets to see her insecurity as an actor, herstruggle as a mother who wants the bestfor her daughter and makes her strong andindependent in a dog-eat-dog world ofentertainment and fashion. Her excitementon meeting Farah Khan for a role is notonly cute and sweet, it is amusing as well.Another scene that really brings a smile is

�What is your role in Aye MereHumsafar?

I play Pratibha Devi Kothari, abusinesswoman who has lost herhusband. However, she has to step out ofthe house to earn in order to bring up mychildren. I pound masalas at home andsell it to people.

The show is set in Rajasthan and theseries shows how tough it is for a womanwith no husband support to standindependently. But this is what I do sinceI want the best for my children.�The show has a message. What is it?

Through my character, the showwants to let women know that there is aneed to stand independently. While theshow is set in Rajasthan, the series is astory on women across India. Thosewomen who get married off at an earlyage and unfortunately lose theirhusbands, need to stand on their ownand be financially independent likePratibha Devi does. The othermessage is women don’t have tothink about what the society has tosay. Just because she is a womandoesn’t mean that she has to live therest of her life at home. She can livewith dignity and work as well.�How did you get on board theproject?

I got my first project Diya Aur BaatiHum from Shashi Sumeet Production.Due to the present pandemic, it was notpossible for me to go for auditions butwe did have a few calls back and forthand zoom meetings. Saying yes to thisshow is like coming back home. I wastold that both Shashi and Sumeetdecided that they were looking forPratibha Devi, they were in agreementthat I would be a perfect role to play asthe mother. All I was told that I wouldplay an independent woman, this wasenough for me.

The production house had given memy first show, there was no way I wouldturn them down. Also, the show is to beaired on Dangal TV. I have only heardgood things about this channel. On dayone of the shoot Shashi ma’am came onthe sets and told me that she had got herPratibha Devi. It was great to get so muchlove and respect.�Did you think that Bhabho wouldbring you so much fame — Diya AurBaati Hum?

Not at all. When I had started to playthis character, I had not fullycomprehended the character. It took metime to understand the role. However, asthe show progressed and got feedbackfrom the channel, Shashi ma’am andSumeet sir on how to play this character

and how to behave. This helped me playthis role so well. I owe the fame ofBhabho to the team, they were the onethat made her so big. To give an example.I was in Chandigarh for a shoot and amother with her son had come to metme. She said: ‘Bhabho iske sar par haanthrakhdo, yeh bhi Suraj ban jayega’. Theymade Bhabho a Goddess.�You took a small break, what kept youbusy?

I had been working non-stop for nineyears. I was never able to spend time withmy children during their schooling all

through. But then my son came inClass XII and I told him that Iwould be there for him. For this Itook a break. Now, that the examsare over, I am back at work.�How did your journey begin?

I come from a very mediocreRajasthani family. I always tried toearn extra so that I could help myfamily financially. My brother woulddo the same. I used to take up stageshows. Today, with God’s grace I amwhere I am. I am thankful for this.Now, I have a house in Boravali,Mumbai.�You were very young, only 11,was it tough to act at such a youngage in films?

Actually, I used to play around onthe sets. I didn’t realise what was

happening. Most times, I would bescolded for prancing around when I

should have been busy getting readysince I was the heroine. The film was

about child marriage. Balika Vadhu isinspired from this film. The film was ahit and I ended up doing 55 movies as alead. I have done films with KiranKumarji, Govinda, Asif Shiekh, Jagdeepji,Rakesh Roshanji to name a few. Yourwork and honesty always pay.�How do you choose your projects?

I take up roles that my gut tells meto take up. If I feel right about thecharacter that I am being offered, I neversay no to it.�Were there never any Bollywoodplans?

Like I said, I come from an ordinaryMarwari family. They had to sacrifice alot to let me work in films. I neverrealised that I would end up doing TVshows as well. My parents told me thatI needed to restrict myself to this onlyand not go beyond.�What next?

For now, I am concentrating ondoing this show. I hope the viewers willlike the series. I request people to watchthe show that goes on air on August 31,2020 at 7 pm from Monday to Friday.

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So this was the one with 20million negative views tothe trailer! One wonders

why such hullabaloo becausefor such a strong reactionthere needs to be somethingbig that is bad or somethingthat is good. Sadak 2 is neither.It is a rippleless movie on atwisted, 90s subject withMahesh Bhatt trying hard togive life lessons on familialbetrayal, superstition and faithin dhongi babas.

All that is fine, but itseems Bhatt has not movedwith the times because Sadak2 , despite the toweringpresence of Sanjay Dutt andthe arresting beauty andhistrionics of Alia Bhatt, not tomention the wasted role of

Aditya Roy Kapur who is atbest a sidekick of a sidekick inthe film, the movie really has

no story of worth to tell.Alia Bhatt is an activist

heiress on the run, all the way

to Mt Kailash if you please, andshe carries with her the weightof a quickly sewn together

intrigue of Godmen andrelatives who are after her lifefor no apparent reason.

Why they want her killed isnot convincingly told in theroad trip where Dutt is fightinghis ghosts after losing hisoriginal Sadak wife to anaccident and living with theagony of having buried astillborn child.

Mahesh Bhatt has beenstorytelling with much morechutzpah, better music and anunderstanding of an issue butin Sadak 2 he is jaded, all overthe place, almost directionlessand somehow gives you thefeeling of having lost his wayon a Sadak he so well-definedlast time round.

No need to get too hassledabout this one. It is not worthtoo much of a reaction, whichis sad because Alia is good asusual, so is Dutt with hisveteran looks and acting skillsas he knows them.

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how she haggles with the sabziwala for �3 for pyaz (notkanda) — a typical Dilliwala attitude.

Despite the disclaimer that the series is a fictionalaccount of the mother-daughter, there is relatability if

one is from the fashion andentertainment industry. For theothers, they can take heart and beentertained in the six-episodeseries of 32 minutes each as itprogresses giving a sneak peek inwhat their life would actually havebeen — the drama, to be judgedand under scrutiny all the time.

While this is Masaba Gupta’sfirst stint as an actor, even thoughshe had judged a show — MTVSupermodel of the Year last year onMTV India channel, she appearsat ease here. Her relaxed demeanorand rather good performancecould be due to the presence of hermother.

The other starcast that needsa mention here are Neil

Bhoopalam and Rytasha Rathore.Bhoopalam as the broodinginvestor in House of Masabafashion, is interesting to watcheven though he doesn’t have manydialogues. Rathore, who playsMasaba’s onscreen BFF, is great.

She is funny and thefriendship between the two comesout so naturally, it is amazing.Another actor who needs amention is Amairah Awatanyewho plays little Masaba Gupta. Sheis cute. There are places wheredirector Sonam Nair has put in herplace of the grown up Masaba, itis endearing.

Overall, an interesting watch,especially Neena Gupta.

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Page 3: ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September

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The Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) organised a “mas-

sive” protest across the cityagainst BJP-ruled municipalCorporations after the nation-al Capital was ranked the dirt-iest city in a cleanliness surveydone by the CentralGovernment.

The protest was organisedby the leadership of AAP MCDin-charge Durgesh Pathak.Around 150 human bannerswere placed on all major fly-overs, foot-over bridges andunderpasses of Delhi. AAP’sLeader of Opposition in EDMCManoj Tyagi held a protestoutside the east Corporationoffice at the Patparganj whileVikas Goel, LoP in northCorporation and Prem SinghChauhan, LoP in SDMC heldoutside the Civic Centre.

Many AAP councillors andMLAs also organised protestsin their respective areas.

Party MLAs SaurabhBhardwaj, Somnath Bharti,MLA Praveen Deshmukh,MLA Madanlal were also par-

ticipating in the protest. Pathak said, “It is very

unfortunate that Delhi, whichis the capital of the country hasfound to be the dirtiest city dueto BJP. Tourists from differentcountries of the world come to

Delhi, the Prime Minister ofthis country Narendra Modilives in Delhi, all the CabinetMinisters of the CentralGovernment and all the MPslive in Delhi. But the reluctanceand the corruption of the BJP-

led MCDs have made Delhi thedirtiest city.”

“The ranks of the areasunder BJP ruled MCDs arevery poor as per the survey.SDMC was ranked 31, NorthMCD ranked 43 and EDMC

was 46. One of the key respon-sibilities of the municipal cor-porations of Delhi is cleaningthe city but the survey clearlyshows that they have miserablyfailed,” he added.

The BJP ruled

Corporations have failed inthe sectors of education andhealth because they could notprovide books to the studentsand disburse salary to the doc-tors, he said, adding that peo-ple will give a befitting reply to

the BJP in the upcoming elec-tion. “We will run the MCDswithin the same budget andmake a cleanliness model ofDelhi just like the educationand health model if we come topower in MCDs,” he added.

��������"������� �2���2345

With 1,954 fresh cases ofcoronavirus on Saturday,

the total number of personsinfected with Covid-19 reached1,71,366 lakh, while the death tollfrom the disease rose to 4,404.

According to the Delhihealth department bulletin theactive cases tally was 14,040and out of the total number ofbeds in Covid hospitals, 10,177are vacant.

Fifteen fatalities have alsobeen recorded in the last 24hours. As per report, 3,948 bedsin Covid care centres are occu-pied by persons under quar-antine, including travellers whohave returned by ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ and bubbleflights, it said.

The number of tests doneper million, as was 81,508 it said.A total of 1,52,922 patients haverecovered, migrated or beendischarged. The highest single-day spike of 3,947 cases wasreported in Delhi on June 23.

The number of Covid-19containment zones in Delhi has

risen to 803.In July, the number of such

areas was more than 700 inDelhi, but it gradually declinedin August owing to theGovernment allowing the “red”zones to be denotified 14 daysafter the discharge of the lastconfirmed case, instead of the

earlier norm of 28 days.According to the Indian

Council of Medical Research,suspected individuals who testnegative for Covid-19 in rapid-antigen tests should undergo RT-PCR to rule out the infection.

Rapid-antigen testingrequires a prescription and an

ICMR form filled by a registereddoctor, and a Government iden-tity proof, same as that for RT-PCR test.

Testing was ramped upJune 18 onwards, when Delhistarted conducting tests throughthe faster rapid-antigenmethodology.

��������"������� �2���2345

The Delhi Police has arrest-ed a group of four men for

killing a 23-year-old man afterhe along with his associateallegedly stole mobile phone ofone of them. The accused havebeen identified as Istihar (30),Anish (24) Mustaq Ahmed(32) and his brother Shiraj(28), all residents of NarainaIndustrial Area in West Delhi.

According to DeepakPurohit, the Deputy

Commissioner of Police (DCP),West district, incident took placeon Friday in west Delhi’s Narainaand body of victim with severeinjury marks was found lyingunder a tree. “A rope and a whitemuffler was also recovered fromthe spot. The man was lateridentified as Rahul, a resident ofJawahar Camp, Kirti Nagar,”said the DCP.

“In his statement to police,Shesh Kumar who witnessedthe incident stated that whenhe woke up around 5.30 am on

Friday, he found that his neigb-hours Mustaq, Shiraj Ahmad,Anish and Ishtihar were badlybeating up a man and takinghim in an adjoining park ofshanties,” said the DCP.

“The men had sticks, pipe,iron rod with them and theytied the man to tree and start-ed beating him badly withsticks, pipe and iron rod.However, when Kumar tried tointervene and requested them torelease the injured man, they didnot pay any heed to his request

and told him that the victim andhis associate had stolen mobilephone of one of them from atruck,” said the DCP.

“But his associate man-aged to escape with the phoneand now they would not sparethe victim. Based on his state-ment, a case was registeredunder section 302 (murder)and 34 (Acts done by severalpersons in furtherance of com-mon intention) of Indian PenalCode and the four meninvolved in the offence were

arrested,” said the DCP.“During interrogation, all

the accused disclosed that thevictim and his associate hadstolen Shiraj’s mobile phonefrom his truck. While his asso-ciate ran away with mobilephone, they managed to catchhold of the victim and tookhim to an adjoining park oftheir shanty and tied him to atree and beat him badly. Whenhis condition started to deteri-orate, they ran away from thespot,” the DCP said.

��������"������� �2���2345

Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) on Saturday criti-

cised the Delhi Governmentsaying that the KejriwalGovernment is rubbing salt onthe wound by raising the pen-sion charge in electricity billsinstead of giving relief to themduring the corona period.

Reacting strongly over theissue, BJP president AdeshGupta said the pension chargeon electricity bills has beenincreased from 3.8 to 5 per centby DERC and this will have anadverse impact as people arealready struggling financially.

Gupta said every yearbefore the implementation oftariff in electricity bills, publichearing is done, but this time

DERC in collusion with theDelhi Government increasedthe pension charge withoutpublic hearing. “TheCommission has increased thepension charge and put aneconomic burden of 98 croreon the people of Delhi,” he said.

“The Delhi BJP has beencontinuously raising voice overincreased electricity bills but the Delhi Governmentdoes not consider it necessaryto solve the problems beingfaced by the people of Delhi,”he said.

The BJP president addedthe power companies are col-lecting huge electricity bills,fixed charges from all the estab-lishments, shops, industries thatwere closed in lockdown andhad not consumed electricity.

��������"������� �2���2345

Delhi Police is planning toset up an IT cell to flag

“unlawful content” on socialmedia which may have thepotential to disrupt the law andorder situation, as a part oftheir pilot project.

Police said the project willkick-start once they receive anapproval from the Ministry ofHome Affairs (MHA) but fornow, they have been allocatedRs 25 lakhs for the project.

According to a seniorpolice official, police is in theprocess of setting up an IT cell,which initially would start as apilot project for three monthsand based on it’s outcome,

police will take it forward butfor now we are awaitingapproval from MHA.

“The aim is to flag unlaw-ful content on social media,contents which may causecommunal disharmony oraffect the law and order situation and will takeappropriate action againstthem,” he said.

Most of them hired for thispilot project are youngsterswho are well-qualified, some of them are still pursuingtheir masters.

They are hired on contractbasis and are equipped in han-dling social media and haveknowledge in informationtechnology, police said.

New Delhi: The Yamuna was flowing closeto the warning mark in Delhi on Saturday,but the water level is expected to recede, offi-cials said. “The water level was recorded at204.14 meters at the Old Railway Bridge at7 pm. It was 204.23 at 10 am and 204.41meters at 5 pm on Friday,” an official of theirrigation and flood control department said.

The warning level is 204.50 metres, andthe danger mark is 205.33 metres. Water wasbeing released into the Yamuna at the rateof 7,862 cusec at 6 pm from the Hathnikundbarrage in Haryana’s Yamunanagar district.The flow rate was 12,210 cusec cusec at 1am on Saturday, the maximum in the last24 hours. “The flow rate has remainedbetween 8,000 cusec to 25,000 cusec overthe last three days, which is not very high,”he said. One cusec is equivalent to 28.32 litreper second. The water discharged from thebarrage, which provides drinking water toDelhi, normally takes two-three days toreach the capital. PTI

��������"������� �2���2345

Union Home Minister AmitShah, who was admitted to

AIIMS on August 18 for post-Covid care, has recovered and is likely to be dischargedsoon, hospital authorities saidon Saturday.

“Amit Shah, Union HomeMinister, is admitted at AIIMS,New Delhi for post-Covid care.He has recovered and is likely to be discharged in ashort time,” the AIIMS said ina statement.

On August 2, Shah, 55, hadsaid on Twitter that he had test-ed positive for Covid-19. Hehad undergone treatment forthe coronavirus infection atMedanta Hospital and was dis-charged after he tested negativefor the disease.

According to an earlierstatement by AIIMS, he wasadmitted to the hospital onAugust 18 following complaintsof fatigue and body aches, daysafter his discharge.

��������"������� �2���2345

Delhi Congress has accusedthe Delhi Government of

hiding the actual figures of theCovid-19 and conducting lessaccurate Rapid Antigen Testinstead of reliable RT-PCRtests to show that the numberof people infected with life-threatening coronavirus under control.

Congress Delhi unit pres-ident Anil Kumar said now thatthe Covid cases are surging inDelhi with 1,808 new cases

being reported on Friday andtotal cases crossing over1,69,000 but the cityGovernment is blaming theCentral Government sayingthat it is not being allowed toconduct more tests and at the same time he announcedthat testing would be doubledfrom the present 20,000 to40,000 per day.

Kumar said the DelhiCongress has been demandingfrom day one that Delhi shouldramp up testing — somethingto the tune of 1 lakh per day but

the Arvind Governmentinstead, penalised the labs forcarrying out fast tests.

“It is ironic that ChiefMinister Arvind is now wor-rying about a ‘second surge’ ofthe pandemic in Delhi, thoughhe had totally failed to controleven the ‘first surge’, butallowed the people to lowertheir guard in taking Covidpreventive steps such as wear-ing masks, using sanitisers tokeep the hands clean, andmaintaining social distancing,”he said.

��"���&��� �2���2345

At times when few States have taken the cog-nizance on JEE-NEET exam amid threat of

corona spread, sources in Delhi Governmentsaid the matter came with Delhi DisasterManagement Authority ( DDMA ) and top offi-cials brain stormed over it.

According to a source in Government, DelhiFinance Minister Manish Sisodia proposed forthe cancellation of the exam and forwarded itto Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also.

“The matter of conducting the JEE-NEETexam in Delhi has come to DDMA. FinanceMinister proposed to cancel the exam in viewof health of student amid the pandemic. ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal also decided to can-cel the exam however Lieutenant Governor AnilBaijal has changed the decision and decided toconduct the exam,” a senior Government offi-cial said on the condition of anonymity.

The official also added the decision to con-duct the exam was taken on file not in the vir-tual meeting.

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Page 4: ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September

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Security cover has beenenhanced for Telangana's

lone BJP MLA Raja Singh inthe wake of 'threat perception'to him and he has been askednot to move around on a twowheeler in his constituency,police said here on Saturday.He has instead been requestedto use the bullet proof vehicleprovided by the government.

However the legislator, ina video message, demanded toknow what this threat percep-tion was and said he had tomove around on a two wheel-er at times as some areas hadnarrow alleys where a fourwheeler could not enter

���#�������%&���������������"�������'��( �!�$����&)*"��� �2���2345

The Congress has remindedFacebook founder Mark

Zuckerberg to provide detailsof steps taken to investigateallegations that the social mediagiant did not apply hate speechrules to posts by BJP members.This is second letter from theCongress within a fortnight.

It came after formerCongress chief Rahul Gandhion Saturday referred to anarticle by TIME magazinewhich, he claimed “exposes(the) WhatsApp-BJP nexus”.Addressing a press conference,Congress spokesperson PawanKhera said, “The unholy inti-macy between social mediagiant Facebook’s India opera-tions and the Narendra Modi-led BJP Government is now

unravelling fast and is nolonger just an India issue but aglobal one.” Khera said,“Beyond just Ankhi Das, whathas now been revealed expos-es that another senior execu-tive, Shivnath Thukral ofWhatsapp, is an unabasheddevotee of the ruling estab-lishment and was partisan inhis professional conduct.”

“The expose revealsThukral was hired by Facebookin 2017 only because he wasextremely close to the rulingestablishment. It elaboratesthat Thukral’s relationship withthe ruling party goes as far backas 2013 when he operated web-sites and Facebook pages forthe 2014 election campaign inconjunction with other BJPaffiliates who continue to holdsenior positions in the current

government,” Khera added. Declaring the party was

“compelled to writeagain...because of further rev-elations made public in anoth-er article by another reputedand credible American mediapublication,” Congress GeneralSecretary KC Venugopalalleged a “quid-pro-quo rela-tionship” between FacebookIndia and the ruling BJP. “Weurge you to let us know whatsteps your company is planningto take to investigate thesematters... will also be pursuinglegislative and judicial actionsin India to ensure a foreigncompany cannot continue tocause social disharmony inour nation for pursuit of privateprofits,” said the letter toFacebook.

Referring to the article by

TIME magazine, Rahul Gandhitweeted, it “exposes (the)WhatsApp-BJP nexus”.“America’s Time magazineexposes WhatsApp-BJP nexus:Used by 40 crore Indians,WhatsApp also wants to beused for making payments forwhich Modi government’sapproval is needed. Thus, BJPhas a hold over WhatsApp,”Rahul tweeted.

The letter also claimed that“more than just one person inyour company’s leadership teamin India are biased and partisanin favour of the ruling BJP intheir professional endeavours”.In its report the magazinepointed out WhatsApp (whichis owned by Facebook) has“sizeable” business prospectsin India, where around 400 mil-lion people use the messaging

service. WhatsApp is alsorolling out a digital paymentservice - WhatsApp Pay - inIndia, for which it needs clear-ances from the BJP-led centralgovernment, claimed the arti-cle. TIME magazine also wrotethat both Facebook andWhatsApp are used to “spreadhate speech and misinforma-tion... (and have been) blamedfor helping to incite deadlyattacks on minority groups”.Congress has demanded a tem-porary ban on approvals beinggranted to WhatsApp for itsdigital payments operations.The party also referred to asenior Facebook executive, whois now in charge of public pol-icy for WhatsApp India, andasked if his appointment hadinfluenced its hate speech poli-cies.

The article referred to aJanuary video by BJP leaderKapil Mishra, in which he canbe seen giving Delhi Police anultimatum to remove anti-CAA (Citizenship AmendmentAct) protesters from the city’sJaffrabad and Chandbagh areasor face the consequences.Hours later violence broke outacross the national capital - vio-lence that lasted nearly a weekand left over 50 dead and hun-dreds injured.

TIME magazine reportedthat although that particularvideo was taken down (it vio-lated Facebook’s rules onincitement to violence), a sec-ond version remained onlinefor six months - somethinganother Congress MP, KartiChidambaram, pointed out onSaturday.

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In a major spike in infectionsin Maharashtra, an all-time

high of 16,867 people testedpositive for Covid-19 onSaturday, while 328 more peo-ple succumbed to the pan-demic in various parts of thestate.

Surpassing the earlier all-time of 14,888 infectionsrecorded on August 26, theCovid-19 appeared headingtowards a peak as it left a record16,867 people infected in var-ious parts of the state.

With the fresh infectionsand fatalities, the total positivecases jumped from 747,995 to764,281, while the Covid-1otoll rose from 23,775 to 24,103.

Of the total 328 deathsreported on Saturday, Punecircle led the state with 47deaths, where there were 38deaths in Thane, 31 each inMumbai and Nagpur, 23 inSangli, 21 in Raigad, 20 inJalgaon, 16 in Nashik and 15deaths each in Kolhapur andNanded

Similarly, on the lower side,there were 9 deaths in Solapur,8 each in Ahmednagar andLatur, 7 in Palghar, 6 each inSatara and Beed, 4 in Amravati,3 each in Dhule, Ratnagiri,Aurangabad and Osmanabad,2 each in Jalna and Chandrapurand one death each inNandurbar, Hingoli, Parbhani,Akola, Buldhana, Wardha andGondiya.

There was a spurt in deaths

in Sangli, Raigad and Jalgaondistricts, while four districtsreported zero deaths.

With 31 fresh deaths,Mumbai’s Covid-19 toll rosefrom 7,565 to 7,596, while thenumber of infected casesincreased by 1,432 to touch143,389.

Pune district with 1,69,448infected cases continued to bethe worst-affected city inMaharashtra. The number ofdeaths in Pune increased from3974 to 4021.

Thane district remainedon the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – with 129854total cases, while the pandem-ic toll rose from 3709 to 3747.

In a related development,as many as 11,541 patientswere discharged from hospitalsin the state after full recovery,taking the total number ofpatients discharged from var-ious hospitals after full recov-ery since the second week ofMarch this year to 5,54,711.The recovery rate stood at72.58 per cent. The mortalityrate in the state is 3.15 per cent.The state health authoritiespegged the number of “activecases” in the state at 1,85,131.

Out of 40,10,200 samplessent to laboratories, 7,64,281have tested positive (19.05 percent) for COVID-19 untilSaturday.

Currently, 13,12,059 peopleare in home quarantine while35,524 people are in institu-tional quarantine.

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Chandigarh: A 58-year-olduncle of cricketer Suresh Rainadied while four members of hisfamily sustained injuriesallegedly in an attack by rob-bers in Punjab's Pathankot dis-trict.

The deceased has beenidentified as Ashok Kumar, agovernment contractor.According to police, the inci-dent took place at Thariyal vil-lage in Punjab's Pathankot onthe night intervening August 19and 20.

Kumar's elder brotherShyam Lal confirmed that thevictim was the cricketer's uncle.He said Raina is expected tovisit the village. Earlier, a seniorpolice official had said theycan't confirm the victim's rela-tionship with the cricketer.

According to police, threeto four members of the noto-rious “Kale Kachhewala” ganghad come with an intention toloot, attacked Ashok Kumarand his family members attheir house in Thariyal villagenear Madhopur of Pathankot.At the time of the attack, theywere sleeping on the terrace oftheir house.

Ashok Kumar sufferedhead injuries and died on thesame night, police said.Confirming Kumar's death,Pathankot SeniorSuperintendent of PoliceGulneet Singh Khurana hadearlier said he had no confir-mation about the victim's rela-tion with the cricketer. “We areinvestigating the matter,” saidthe SSP. PTI

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From Page 1In a related development,

the ongoing Sushant SinghRajput death investigationsassumed a political dimen-sion, as Maharashtra HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh of theNCP flagged the alleged linksof filmmaker Sandeep Singh -who produced 2019 biopic“PM Narendra Modi” alongwith Suresh Oberoi, AnandPandit and Acharya - with theSushant Singh death case.

Talking to news agencyANI, Deshmukh said: “I havereceived many requests & com-plaints to investigate the rela-tionship between SandeepSingh, who made PM Modi’sbiopic & BJP; regarding hisconnection with Bollywood &drugs. I will send these requeststo CBI for investigation”.

Alleging that there was “alot of mystery” behind thehaste with which the NarendraModi government ordered CBIprobe into the Sushant Singh

Rajput death. “The close rela-tionship between SandeepSingh, a link in the SushantSingh Rajput case and theBharatiya Janata Party is nowgetting revealed. It is learnedthat Sandeep Singh had calledthe BJP office 53 times. If it istrue, then who is this ‘boss’ inthe BJP office and how is theBJP so close to SandeepSingh?,” Maharashtra Congressgeneral secretary andspokesperson Sachin Sawantasked in a statement issued hereon Saturday.

Talking to media personsoutside Arya’s resort, Arya’sDelhi-based lawyer ManuSharma said: . “He will be pre-sent at the Mumbai ED officeto give his statement... We willcooperate fully”.

On Friday, the ED officialshad visited Hotel Tamarind atGoa’s coastal village Anjuna.Seeing the hotel shut, theystuck the summons paper onthe door of the hotel. Hotel

Tamarind has been shut sinceMarch this year, because of thelockdown restrictions

Meanwhile, picking upthe threads after they grilled foreleven hours on Friday, the CBIsleuths subjected her secondround of questioning.

Rhea -- who had on Fridaybeen questioned on variousissues like her relationship withSushant, her strained relationswith his family members, boutsof depression reportedly suf-fered by the actor, on why sheleft the actor’s flat on June 8,whether she was administeringmedicine and if yes if the med-icine given to the actor wereprescribed by doctors andasked her about the psychia-trists, doctors and spiritualhealers whom she had takenSushant to - was grilled overseveral others issue.

On Saturday, Rhea wasquestioned once again on issueson Sushant’s financial & pro-fessional matters, whether she

supplying banned drugs orgiving drugs mixed in liquidsto the actor, whether she hadreceived any money from theactor, what transpired in theirtrip to Europe and about herstrained relations withSushant’s family members.

During the course of herday-long questioning, Rhea isunderstood to have been ques-tioned by the CBI on issues likeher relationship with Sushant,on why she left the actor’s flaton June 8, whether she wasadministering medicine and ifyes if the drugs given to theactor were prescribed by doc-tors, about the psychiatrists,doctors and spiritual healerswhom she had taken Sushantto, whether she was takingdecisions in the actor’s finan-cial & professional matters,whether she supplying drugsor giving drugs mixed inliquids to the actor, whethershe had received any moneyfrom the actor, what transpiredin their trip to Europeandabout her strained relationswith Sushant’s familymembers.

Rajput’s flatmate SiddharthPithani, cook Neeraj Singh,domestic help Keshav, manag-er Samual Miranda andaccountant Rajat Mewati werequestioned by the CBI sleuthsonce again.

While Neerak was ques-tioned for the 10th consecutiveday on Saturday, whileSiddharth was grilled for theninth day.

Meanwhile, MaharashtraCongress upped the ante on thealleged links between film-maker Sandeep Singh, whowas one of the producers ofbiopic “PM Narendra Modi”released last year, with theSushant Singh Rajput deathcase. Talking to media personshere, State Congress generalsecretary and spokespersonSachin Sawant said: “Giventhat Sandeep Singh’s name isbeing linked to drug dealingand he has close associationwith the BJP, the connectionbetween the BJP and the drugmafia should also be investi-gated”.

“We have learnt thatbetween September 1 and

December 23, 2019, SandeepSingh made 53 phone calls tothe Maharashtra BJP office.Who was he talking to in theBJP office? Who is SandeepSingh’s ‘handler’ in BJP? Thesewere some of the seriousquestions that have been raisedby Sawant,” Sawant said.

“The BJP and SandeepSingh had such a close rela-tionship that the BJP gave himthe responsibility of makingModi’s biopic. In return, theGujarat government signed aMoU worth Rs 177 crore withLegend Global Studios.

How was Sandeep Singh’scompany the only one for thisdeal? Why were other filmcompanies not make a part ofVibrant Gujarat? SandeepSingh is also an accused in asexual abuse case of a minorduring a visit to Mauritiussponsored by the Indianembassy in 2018.The BJPselected such a controversialperson to make a biopic ofModi and this selection wasalso supported by the thenChief Minister?, “Sawant asked.

“It is astonishing thatSandeep Singh, who is facingserious charges of sexualharassment, was selected tomake a film on the life of thePrime Minister without anyverification by the HomeDepartment .Also, how didthe then Home Minister andChief Minister not know abouthis background? How did heattend the poster launch of thefilm? The BJP will have toanswer these questions,”Sawant said.

“The leaked WhatsAppmessages of Riya Chakraborty,who is under investigation inthe Sushant Singh case, are alsofrom the time when the BJPwas in power in the state. Thethen Chief Minister and theHome Minister belonged to theBJP, and it can be said that dur-ing the BJP rule, drugs were soeasily available though justWhatsApp chats. So was theBJP government, which is nowdemanding an inquiry intoBollywood and the drug mafia,was supporting it?” theMaharashtra Congressspokesperson asked.

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From Page 1It added that the following activities will

be permitted in areas outside theContainment Zones only with effect fromSeptember 21 for which, SOP will be issuedby the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare(MoHFW): a.States/ UTs may permit up to50% of teaching and non-teaching staff to becalled to the schools at a time for onlineteaching/ tele- counseling and related work.b.Students of Classes 9 to 12 may be per-mitted to visit their schools, in areas outsidethe Containment Zones only, on voluntarybasis, for taking guidance from their teach-ers. This will be subject to written consentof their parents/ guardians.

The guidelines said that skill develop-ment centres and research and lab work inhigher education centres will be opened upin a phased manner with concernedMinistries.

“Higher education institutions only forresearch scholars (Ph.D.) and post-graduatestudents of technical and professional pro-grammes requiring laboratory/ experimen-tal works.

These will be permitted by theDepartment of Higher Education (DHE) inconsultation with MHA, based on the assess-ment of the situation, and keeping in viewthe incidence of COVID-19 in the States/UTs.,” said the guidelines.

The call on resuming the internationalair travel in a full-fledged manner will betaken later. The MHA also directed the Statesnot to impose extra rules except inContainment Zones and also not to make anyhurdles in inter-state border traffic.Administrations in Containment Zones areleft to local authorities.

“Vulnerable persons, i.e., persons above65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities,pregnant women, and children below the ageof 10 years, are advised to stay at home, exceptfor meeting essential requirements and forhealth purposes,” reiterated the MHA.

From Page 1Andhra Pradesh has retained the

second spot in most coronaviruscases reported in the last 24 hours.The rapid surge of coronavirus casescontinued in Andhra Pradesh asmore than 10,000 were added afreshfor the fourth day in a row. The over-all toll rose to 3,796, while the totalrecoveries increased to 3,12,687.

Karnataka is on the third spotwhich added 8,324 fresh coronaviruscases on Saturday taking the tally to3,27,076 whereas fatalities touched5,483 with 115 fresh deaths. The spikein cases was led by Bengaluru urbandistrict, which recorded 2,993 freshcases and 25 deaths.

Tamil Nadu recorded 6,352 newcases and 87 deaths in the last 24hours, taking total number of cases to4,15,590 including 52,726 active,7,137 deaths & 3,55,727 discharges.Chennai recorded 1,285 new cases,taking total cases to 1,33,173 includ-ing 13,653 active.

In Uttar Pradesh, 62 more peopledied of coronavirus disease pushingthe death count to 3,356, while 5,684new cases took the state's infectiontally to 2,19,457. The latest deathsreported include seven each inKanpur and Prayagraj and four inBareilly. Of the fresh Covid-19 cases,664 were in Lucknow, followed by 367in Gorakhpur, 306 in Prayagraj, 300in Kanpur, 190 in Shahjahanpur, 188in Moradabad, 182 in Varanasi, 150in Ghaziabad, 141 in Saharanpur, 123each in Bareilly and Rampur, 121 inGautam Buddh Nagar, 119 in Jhansi,113 in Meerut and 107 in Aligarh.

Delhi has been witnessing a slightincrease in the number of new casesbecause of various factors. The nation-al capital has reported 1945 new cases

and 15 deaths in the past 24 hours tak-ing the total number of positive casesto 1,71,366 including 1,52,922 recov-eries, 14,040 active cases and 4,404deaths. This is the capital's highest sin-gle-day spike in August till date.

As per the data of the UnionHealth Ministry, the total tally of coro-navirus cases crossed 2.5 million onAugust 14.

For every million population,India's coronavirus cases and fatali-ties are one of the lowest compared tothe global averages. The country nowaccounts for 11.11 per cent of all activecases globally (one in every 9 activecases), and 7.43 per cent of all deaths(one in every 13). Among states withmore than 25,000 cases, the five withworst recovery rates at present areChhattisgarh (55.48%), Kerala(66.16%), Punjab (66.85%), Jharkhand(67.52%), and Karnataka (71.22%).Five states with the highest test pos-itivity rate (TPR) - the percentage oftested people turning out to be pos-itive for Covid-19 infection (by cumu-lative data for tests and cases) - areMaharashtra (18.99%), Puducherry(18.16%), Chandigarh (13.14%),Karnataka (11.75%), and AndhraPradesh (11.4%).

Kerala has reported 2,397COVID-19 cases, taking the infectioncount to 71,700. The death toll roseto 280 with six more fatalities. Thestate reported the highest number ofrecoveries in a day with 2,225 peoplebeing discharged from various hos-pitals and the cumulative of thosecured rose to 48,083. The activecases stood at 23,277.

Of the fresh cases, 68 hadreturned from abroad and 126 fromother states.

Gujarat recorded its highest sin-gle-day spike of 1,282 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total count to93,883.

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From Page 1While the Indo-China

strand-off is believed to be thereason behind India pullingback from the military exercise,India may also cite the coron-avirus pandemic as one of thereasons, sources said here onSaturday.

By not participating, NewDelhi wanted to convey themessage that it cannot be busi-ness as usual as China has so farrefused to withdraw its troopsfrom the friction points inEastern Ladakh despite tenrounds of military and diplo-matic-level talks since thestand-offs began in early May,

officials said.Incidentally, India had

taken part in a similar exerciselast year where teams fromboth these countries were alsothere. The exercise is held annu-ally under the aegis of the SCO.This year more than 20 coun-tries including Russia will berepresented. The latest devel-opment comes days afterJaishankar termed the currentlogjam at the border as “mostserious” since 1962 in an obvi-ous reference to the India-Chinawar then.

He had said the stand-offsin eastern Ladakh are “surely themost serious situation after

1962.” He also said the numberof troops deployed there byIndia and China in the aftermathof the face-offs is also “unprece-dented” and pinned his hopes onresolving the differences throughdiplomacy.

The Minister also said infact, after 45 years, we have hadmilitary casualties on this bor-der. Jaishankar may hold talks onthe LAC issues his Chinesecounterpart Wang Yi on thesidelines of the SCO meet.

Both the countries havereiterated their commitment toresolve the issue through dia-logue in the last ten rounds oftalks. The Corps Commanders

of the two armies are likely tohold yet another round at theLAC in the next few weeks.During the last meeting onAugust 2 between Lt GeneralHarinder Singh and MajorGeneral Liu Lin, the two sidesagreed to withdraw from thefriction points.

They also agreed to thin outadditional troops deployed indepth areas close to the LACsince the stand-offs started.However, China had not pulledback its troop from the frictionpoints like the Pangong Tso(lake). In fact, reports indicat-ed the Chinese army had builtfresh bunkers and huts there.

From Page 1“The Pakistan-made sand bags with markings of

Shakargarh/Karachi factories were also found at the mouth of the tun-nel to hide it”, he added.

IG BSF, NS Jamwal said, “The place of opening of the tunnel isaround 170 metres from the International Border towards Indian sidein the field of a local farmer”.

With this detection, the alert BSF troops foiled the nefarious designof Pakistan to infiltrate terrorists into Indian territory, he added.

BSF authorities have also decided to lodge a strong protest withtheir Pakistani counterparts with concrete evidence.

The tunnel found in village Galar of Samba is the seventh suchtunnel found on the International Border since July 2012.

In the past, terrorist handlers sitting across the border inPakistan have used this mode of infiltration to push armed terroristsinside the Indian side.

Recently, even the National Investigation Agency in its chargesheetfiled in the Pulwama terror attack case has clearly stated that one ofthe main accused in the case Umar Farooq infiltrated into India throughthe International Border at Jammu-Samba Sector in April, 2018 andtook over as Jaish-e-Mohammad Commander of Pulwama.

In a separate statement BSF spokesman said, “The tunnel’s ori-gin is in Pakistan territory close to the IB. Efforts of alert BSF troopsdeployed in our multi-tiered counter-infiltration grid once again result-ed in neutralising the evil designs of terrorists in deep connivance withPak establishments”.

The BSF authorities are suspecting presence of a few more tun-nels across Jammu frontier.

The BSF authorities are already carrying out ‘inch by inch’ search-es on ground zero to detect deep tunnels in the absence of expertiseand technological aid at their command.

Chronology:On July 27, 2012 BSF had detected tunnel along IB in Samba

sectorAnother tunnel was detected by BSF on May 2, 2014 in the sameSamba sector

On August 23, 2014 Indian Army again detected a tunnel alongAkhnoor sector

On 4 March 2016, a 30-metre long tunnel was detected along IBIN RS Pura Sector

On November 29 2016, it is believed terrorists who targeted NagrotaArmy camp and three other infiltrators had crossed cross border tun-nel in Ramgarh sector of Samba

On February 14, 2017 another cross border tunnel was detectedin Ramgarh sector of Samba

On September 30, 2017 an under-construction trans-border tun-nel was detected in Arnia sub-sector of RS Pura

The court has listed thematter for further hearing onSeptember 16.

According to the order,during the hearing via video-

conference, the school con-tended that the lockdown is overand hence, it can levy the annu-al and development charges.

However, the Delhi gov-ernment, represented by its

Additional Standing CounselGautam Narayan, told the courtthat the Directorate ofEducation’s April 18 circular,asking the schools not to chargethe annual and developmentfees during the lockdown peri-od, continues to apply as none

of the schools has physicallyopened.

The Delhi government saidtherefore, the school in questioncannot charge the annual anddevelopment fees till the com-pletion of the lockdown period.

After hearing both sides, the

judge said, “In my opinion,prima facie, it appears that theannual and developmentcharges cannot be charged fromthe parents during the penden-cy of the present lockdown.”

The court said the parentshave to pay the tuition fees.

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Page 5: ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday said the

Government is committed tothe development of drought-prone Bundelkhand region andaround 500 projects worthover �10,000 crore have beensanctioned for improving wateravailability. In his address afterthe virtual inauguration of col-lege and administration build-ings of Jhansi-based RaniLakshmi Bai CentralAgricultural University, aprominent institute of theBundelkhand region, the PMModi said that India has con-trolled the spread of crop-threatening migratory pestdesert locusts by usingadvanced technologies, includ-ing drones, and ensured therewas not much crop damage.

Observing that the benefitof water from three rivers,Ken, Betwa and Yamuna, wasnot reaching the Bundelkhandregion, Modi said the pro-posed Ken-Betwa river linkingproject has the potential tochange the fortune of the areaand the Centre is in discussionwith both Uttar Pradesh andMadhya Pradesh on this issue.Besides water projects, Modisaid thousands of crores worthof projects are being imple-mented in this region, includ-

ing Bundelkhand Expresswayand Defence Corridor, thatwill create job opportunities.

PM Modi stressed on theneed to promote greater use oflatest technologies in the farmsector. Modern technology ishelping deal with the challengesrelated to agriculture. Oneexample of it was how theGovernment used technologyto minimise damage caused bylocust attack in about 10 Statesrecently,” he said.

“In May, the Bundelkhandregion had faced locust prob-lem. ...I was told the regionfaced the locust attack after 30years. Not only Uttar Pradesh,

more than 10 states faced thelocust problem,” the PM saidwhile talking about the locustattack in Bundelkhand.

Talking about the stepstaken to minimise the prob-lems faced by the people dur-ing the coronavirus pandemic,the PM said free rations arebeing provided to crores ofpoor and rural families inUttar Pradesh.

Around 10 lakh poorwomen in Bundelkhand havebeen given free gas cylindersduring this period. UnderGarib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan,over 7 hundred crore rupeeshave been spent in UP so far,

under which employment wasprovided to lakhs of workers.

After the inauguration, thePrime Minister interacted withuniversity students and askedabout ways to address certainchallenges like reducing importof edible oils and increasingfood processing, especially infruits and vegetables.

Modi asked a studentwhether awareness amongfarmers can be created aboutmicro, drip and sprinkler irri-gation in the drought-proneBundelkhand region. Duringthe interaction, the PrimeMinister stressed on promotingrecycling of water and rainwa-ter harvesting through innov-ative and less costlier technol-ogy in the region.

Invoking Rani LakshmiBai’s Quote that “I will not givemy Jhansi”, the Prime Ministergave a clarion call for ‘MeriJhansi- Mera Bundelkhand’and urged the people of Jhansiand Bundelkhand to makeAtmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan asuccess.

The Prime Minister notedthat Agriculture has a majorrole to contribute in ‘MeriJhansi- Mera Bundelkhand’Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.He said self-reliance inAgriculture targets at makingFarmers both- producer as wellas entrepreneur. PM said in line

with this spirit, several historicagricultural reforms were taken.Just like other industries, nowFarmers can also sell their pro-duce anywhere in the country,wherever they fetch betterprices.

Rani Lakshmi Bai CentralAgricultural University startedits first academic session in2014-15 and is offering bothunder-graduate and post-grad-uate courses in agriculture,horticulture and forestry. It iscurrently operating from theIndian Grassland and FodderResearch Institute, Jhansi as themain buildings were gettingready.

Speaking on the occasion,Agriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar said the inaugu-ration was long awaited and willbenefit farmers not only in theBundelkhand region but theentire country. There is scopefor promoting organic farmingin the region towards which thegovernment is working, he said,and added that the governmentis working towards doublingfarmers’ income by 2022.

Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath saidsetting up of a central agricul-tural university in Jhansi willbenefit the drought-proneBundelkhand region and helpfarmers become self-reliant.

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As the Monsoon Session ofParliament is set to start

from September 14, it will be a‘new normal’ for the MPs inview of the ongoing Covid-19pandemic.

Union Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan on Saturdayinstructed the Health Ministryto develop standard operatingprocedures (SoPs) for theMembers of Parliament (MPS)and the Legislative Assemblysessions comprising Covid pro-tocols and preventive mea-sures.

The directions were givenby the Union Health Ministerduring the 20th meeting of thehigh-level Group of Ministers(GoM) on COVID-19. TheGoM was briefed on the cur-rent status of Covid-19 in thecountry.

The direction for framingSoPs came a day after LokSabha Speaker Om Birla saidthat MPs will be requested toget themselves tested forCOVID-19 at least 72 hoursbefore the start of the MonsoonSession of Parliament.

Besides MPs, all those whoare expected to enter theParliament premises, includingofficials from ministries, rep-

resentatives from the mediaand staff of Lok Sabha andRajya Sabha secretariats, willget tested for the coronavirusbefore the start of the session,Om Birla had said.

The GoM also expressedconcern over the forthcomingfestival season and advisedeveryone to adopt safe andCovid-appropriate behaviour.Vardhan expressed satisfactionat the various coordinatedefforts of the CentralGovernment and those of thestates and union territories.

It was noted that despitebeing resource constrained anddensely populated, timely lock-down and rapid augmentationof infrastructure by India haveenabled the cases per millionand deaths per million toremain considerably lowercompared to other countries.

Dr Sujit Singh, DirectorNCDC (National Centre forDisease Control) presented adetailed report on surveillanceefforts undertaken in Indiaduring the pandemic throughthe IDSP (Integrated DiseaseSurveillance Programme) net-work. He highlighted the chal-lenges faced and the learningsfrom the various States.

He also threw light on thetrajectory of COVID in some

States and elaborated on theirresponse and management.

The major concern areasin the country were high-lighted. It was mentioned thatthere needs to be continuedattention on promotion ofwearing of masks, physicaldistancing and respiratory eti-quette.

Dr Vinod K Paul,Chairperson of theEmpowered Group-1 on theMedical Emergency manage-ment plan, apprised the GoMof the process of a Covid vac-cine development in Indiaand around the world. Hestated that 29 candidates,including 2 Indian ones, are inClinical Trials out of which 6are in Phase III. In India,Bharat Biotech’s vaccine can-didate based on inactivatedvirus procured by ICMR is inPhase II trial along with ZydusCadila’s candidate which isbased on viral DNA.

The Oxford vaccine can-didate developed by SerumInstitute of India is already inPhase III trial in Maharashtraand some other States. RajeshBhushan, Health Secretary,apprised the GoM of theefforts made by the HealthMinistry towards mentalhealth during the pandemic.

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Healthcare systems aroundthe world need to devel-

op ways of supporting peoplein the community who arerecovering from Covid-19,researchers have said as theynoted that more than one-third of the people who havebeen severely ill with the dis-ease could have long-termsymptoms, some of themdebilitating.

The top three could befatigue, breathlessness and

psychological distress,observed the researchersbased on their study, results ofwhich have been published inthe Journal of RehabilitationMedicine.

“Although COVID-19starts as an acute infection ofthe lungs, it can develop intoa “multi-system illness” leav-ing people with symptomsthat can last for months andyears - including breathless-ness, fatigue, weakness, pain,cardiac problems, cognitiveand psychological problems,”said the study by experts from

the University of Leeds, LeedsTeaching Hospitals NHSTrust, Leeds CommunityHealthcare NHS Trust andNHS Leeds ClinicalCommissioning Group.

Dr Manoj Sivan, AssociateClinical Professor at theUniversity of Leeds and aConsultant in rehabilitationmedicine in the NHS Trustssaid: “It has been estimatedthat to date, 23 million peopleworldwide have been infectedby the disease. Most will haveexperienced a mild illness buta sizeable minority, up to onemillion, will have after-effectsthat will last for many monthsand possibly years.

“We know from previousoutbreaks of Spanish flu,SARS and Ebola that up to athird of survivors can sufferfrom long term problems,particularly chronic fatiguethat has implications on fam-ily life, work and health econ-omy.

“With COVID-19, there isan opportunity to interveneearly, provide timely special-

ist rehabilitation, and ensurepeople have the best func-tional recovery and return totheir vocation as early as pos-sible.”

People who have beenseverely ill with Covid-19were screened after they wererecovered.

The screening identifiedsymptoms that need to beurgently assessed by relevant

specialist healthcare profes-sionals in secondary or pri-mary care services. Servicesinclude respiratory medicine,pulmonary rehabilitation,physiotherapy, occupationaltherapy, psychology or com-bined multidisciplinary clin-ics.

Dr Ian Clifton, HonorarySenior Lecturer at theUniversity of Leeds and

Consultant in RespiratoryMedicine, added: “One of thechallenges we face is thatCOVID-19 is a new diseaseand we do not yet know thecourse that people will followas they recover. It is essentialthat recovery services haveinput from a range of special-ties, so expert help is on handwhen and where it is needed.”

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The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) arrested

Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) ter-rorist Shabeel Ahmed afterbeing deported from SaudiArabia late last night. Ahmedis linked to 2007 Glasgow air-port attack mastermind KafeelAhmed.

Shabeel is the cousin of theUK airport attack plotter Kafeel.Ahmed was also wanted inIndia in a case registered by theDelhi Police Special Cell in 2015and was declared a proclaimedoffender by a Delhi court inJuly, 2016, NIA officials saidwithout revealing much abouthis deportation citing involve-ment of foreign relations.

In India, the role of Ahmedcame under scrutiny after theSpecial Cell busted a major AlQaeda in Indian Subcontinent(AQIS) network with the arrestof Cuttack-based cleric AbdulRehman and others inDecember 2015, they said.

Rehman had told the secu-rity agencies that he had metAhmed in Bengaluru in 2009,shortly after the latter hadreturned from the UK afterserving a prison term in con-nection with the 2007 attack inthe UK in which a person waskilled.

Ahmed is said to havemoved from Bengaluru toSaudi Arabia in 2010-11 andwas staying there since then.

Another AQIS suspect SyedMohammed Zishan Ali,believed to be married toAhmed`s sister, was broughtfrom Saudi Arabia in August2017.

The NIA will subject thealleged LeT operative to sus-tained interrogation and also

take him to places likeBengaluru to unravel his larg-er network in the country.Ahmed is a big catch and hisquestioning will be crucial forthe anti-terror probe in whichofficials of the sister agencieswill also take part, they added.

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Students unions on Saturdaymounted pressure on the

Government to stall the con-duct of NEET and JEE entrancetests beginning next week withthe AISA writing to ChiefMinisters to invoke the StateDisaster Management Act andthe Congress-backed NSUImembers sitting on a hungerstrike.

The All India StudentsAssociation (AISA) urged theChief Ministers to invoke theState Disaster ManagementAct to postpone or cancel theNEET and JEE exams sched-uled next month.

“Students who are appear-ing for exams conducted by theCentral Government are resi-dents of your State, and itbecomes your Government’sprerogative to safeguard theirhealth and interests. It was awelcome step by few state gov-ernments to file a review peti-tion in Supreme Court askingit to review its order-demand-

ing holding of exams.However, it is more importantfor your government to standby your students, as you arewell aware of the threat of pan-demic and havoc it has had onthe lives and livelihoods ofmany families,” the letter toCMs states.

Also three leaders of theCongress-affiliated NationalStudents Union of India(NSUI) sat on indefinitehunger strike at Panaji Goademanding that JEE and NEETexaminations be postponed.The leaders, including NSUI’s

Goa unit chief Ahraz Mulla,Prasenjeet Dhage and NaushadChawdhari who also demadedthat college fees be waived by60 percent in view of theCOVID-19 situation.

While some of the protest-ing States like Jharkhand haveopened up their public trans-port to facilitate students andparents movements for thepurpose of exams, all eyes areon the Supreme Court which islikely to take up the matter ofStates’ on Monday as Six stateshave appealed for postpone-ment of the NEET and JEE.

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The Supreme Court is sched-uled to pronounce on

August 31 its verdict on thequantum of sentence to beawarded to activist-lawyerPrashant Bhushan, convictedfor contempt of court over histwo tweets against the judicia-ry.

A bench headed by JusticeArun Mishra will pronounce itsverdict against Bhushan, whofaces simple imprisonment ofup to six months or with a fineof up to Rs 2,000 or with both

as punishment underContempt of Court Act.

On August 25, the topcourt was urged by senioradvocate Rajeev Dhavan toshow “judicial statesmanship”and not make Bhushan a “mar-tyr” by punishing him for con-tempt over his tweets criticis-ing the judiciary, after theactivist-lawyer rejected freshsuggestions from the court foran apology.

As the top court reservedits verdict on the sentence tobe awarded to Bhushan,Justice Arun Mishra, who

presided over a three-judgebench, at the fag end of thenearly three-hour-long hear-ing had asked why he cannotseek an apology and whatwas wrong in using this word.

Justice Mishra is demit-ting office on September 2.

The apex court on August14 had held Bhushan guilty ofcriminal contempt for his twoderogatory tweets against thejudiciary saying they cannotbe said to be a fair criticism ofthe functioning of the judi-ciary made in the public inter-est.

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The EnforcementDirectorate has busted ille-

gal Chinese betting apps host-ed on websites operating out ofIndia and froze �46.97 croreheld in four HSBC bankaccounts of the racket worthover �1,300 crore.

The ED conducted search-es on Friday at 15 locationsspread across Delhi, Gurgaon,Mumbai and Pune in a moneylaundering case on the regis-tered offices of the companies,their Directors and CharteredAccountants involved in ille-gally running Online BettingAPPs from websites which arehosted from outside India ledto the seizure of 17 Hard disks,five laptops, phones and crucialincriminating documents.

During the searches, EDhas identified multiple bankaccounts mostly held withHSBC Bank. Analysis of twoaccounts of DokypayTechnology Private Limitedrevealed that, in the last year,the account has seen collectionof �1,268 Crore out of which�300 crore came via Paytmpayment gateway and around�600 Crore was transferredout via Paytm payment gate-way.

Account analysis ofLinkyun Technology revealeda similar pattern. Outwardforeign remittances for pay-ments to the extent of �120crore from these accounts wasalso revealed.

Large unexplained finan-cial transactions are also seenwith other Indian companiesthat are running OnlineChinese Dating APPs forIndian customers. There is asuspicion that, apart fromindulging in banned activitieslike online betting, this net-work of companies with theirreliance on online wallets andtheir lax regulatory systems

could have been used forhawala transactions as well.ED is in the process of obtain-ing information from onlinewallet companies, HSBCBank and Registrar ofCompanies.

The ED had initiatedinvestigation underPrevention of MoneyLaundering Act (PMLA)based on the FIRs lodged byCyber Crime Station (CCS) ofHyderabad Police under var-ious IPC Sections relating tocheating and criminal con-spiracy besides provisions ofthe Telangana State GamblingAct 2017, Prize Chits &Money Circulation SchemeAct against DokypayTechnology Private Limitedand Linkyun TechnologyPrivate Limited and others.

Three persons werearrested by Police Yan Hao,24, working as Manager ofBeijing Tomorrow PowerCompany, permanent resi-dent of Room 1009, WestFlourishing road, Haidain distreet, Beijing, China; DhirajSarkar and Ankit Kapoor.

“These accused wereadopting a novel modusoperandi for doing onlinebetting scam, the ED said ina statement.

The PMLA proberevealed that, with the help ofsome Indian CharteredAccountants, some Chinesenationals floated multipleIndian Companies. Initiallydummy Indian Directors wereused to incorporate the com-panies and, after some time,Chinese nationals travelled toIndia and took Directorshipin these companies. Somelocals were hired and used toopen Bank Accounts withHSBC Bank and open tradeaccounts with online walletsnamely Paytm, Cashfree,Razorpay and the like, theagency said.

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Page 6: ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September

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Lucknow: A case of double murder in a high-secu-rity zone has sent shock waves across the state capi-tal. The wife and son of a senior railway officer wereshot dead in the posh Guatampalli area on Saturday,police said.

Their bodies were recovered from their residencein Railway Colony. Police and forensic department offi-cials reached the crime scene and have started inves-tigations. The double murder in Lucknow's high-secu-rity zone has sent the police department into a tizzy.

Senior police officials including Director Generalof Police HC Awasthi reached the spot.

Prima facie, the police are denying the possibili-ty of it being a case of loot. IANS

Malappuram (Kerala): For Kerala healthauthorities, Saturday brought good newsas a 110-year-old woman tested negativefor Covid-19 and was discharged from thestate-run Medical College near here.

Pathu (110) thus became the oldestCovid patient to recover in the state.Previously, the state also saw two elderlyCovid patients, aged 105 and 103 years,recovering and returning home.

“Pathu had turned Covid positive OnAugust 18 after she contracted the diseasefrom her daughter. She will be under obser-vation at her home now,” the healthauthorities said. IANS

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In a second back to back antiterrorist operation in South

Kashmir district of Pulwama,a joint team of security forcesearly Saturday morninggunned down three HizbulMujahideen terrorists whileone sepoy of the Indian Armyattained martyrdom duringthe gunfight.

According to a policespokesman, “On a specificinput regarding presence of ter-rorists in village Zadoora areaof Pulwama, a joint cordon andsearch operation was launchedby Police, 50RR and182/183BN CRPF late Fridaynight. During the search oper-ation, as the presence of ter-rorists got ascertained theywere given the opportunity tosurrender, however they fired

indiscriminately upon the jointsearch party, which was retal-iated leading to an encounter”.

In the ensuing encounter,03 terrorists were killed andtheir bodies were retrievedfrom the site of encounter.

Police spokesman said theterrorists were identified as

Adil Hafiz, Arshid Ahmad Darand Rouf Ahmad Mir, all res-idents of Pulwama.

They were all affiliatedwith proscribed terror outfitHizbul Mujahideen, headded.As per police records,Adil Hafiz was involved incase FIR No. 112/2020 per-

taining to attack on naka partyat Prichoo Bridge in which onepolice personnel was martyredand another was injured.

During the said encounter,one Army jawan also receivedcritical injuries who was shift-ed to hospital for treatmentwhere he succumbed to his

injuries and attained martyr-dom.

Later, the army paid abefitting tribute to SepPrashant Sharma.

In a solemn ceremony atBB Cantt, Lt-Gen BS Raju,Chinar Corps Commander andall ranks paid homage to thebraveheart.

Sep Prashant Sharma was23 years old and had joined the26 Mechanised InfantryBattalion of the Army on 21Nov 2016. He was presentlyserving with 50 Rashtriya RiflesBattalion. He belonged toVillage Khanjapur ofMuzaffarnagar District in UttarPradesh and is survived by hisparents.

The mortal remains of SepPrashant Sharma were takenfor last rites to his native place,where he would be laid to restwith full military honours.

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Gujarat recorded its highestSingle-day spike of 1,282

new COVID-19 cases onSaturday, taking its total countto 93,883, state health depart-ment said.

With 13 deaths, the tollrose to 2,991, it said.

A total of 1,111 patientswere discharged in the day, tak-ing the number of recoveries to75,662, the department said ina release.

Gujarat's COVID-19 caserecovery rate now stands at80.59 per cent, it said.

A total of 74,234 tests wereconducted in the last 24 hours,which comes at the rate of1,142.06 tests per day per mil-lion population.

Lucknow: Sixty-two morepeople died of Covid-19 inUttar Pradesh pushing thedeath toll to 3,356, while 5,684new cases took the state's infec-tion tally to 2,19,457, accord-ing to an official statementissued here on Saturday.

The latest Covid-19 deathsreported include seven fatalitieseach in Kanpur and Prayagrajand four in Bareilly, the state-ment said.

Lucknow, Gorakhpur,Hapur and Amroha eachreported three Covid-19 fatal-ities, while Varanasi, Ayodhya,Kushinagar, Basti, Unnao andBijnor each reported two coro-navirus deaths, it said.

Of the fresh Covid-19cases, 664 were in Lucknow,followed by 367 in Gorakhpur,306 in Prayagraj, 300 inKanpur, 190 in Shahjahanpur,188 in Moradabad, 182 inVaranasi, 150 in Ghaziabad,141 in Saharanpur, 123 each inBareilly and Rampur, 121 inGautam Buddh Nagar, 119 inJhansi, 113 in Meerut and 107in Aligarh, according to thegovernment statement.

The count of active Covid-19 cases in the state now standsat 53,360, it said. So far,1,62,741 Covid-19 patients in

the state have recovered fromthe disease and have been dis-charged, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Uttar PradeshChief Minister Yogi Adityanathon Saturday directed officials toramp up Covid-19 testing to1.50 lakh per day.

The testing is crucial intackling the menace of corona,hence the efforts should betowards augmenting it on aregular basis, he pointed out.

Presiding over a high-levelUnlock review meeting at hisofficial residence, Adityanathsaid providing proper Covid-19treatment to the patients is acommitment of his govern-ment.

The chief minister askedthe DMs and CMOs to hold

two meetings everyday andstressed the need of compul-sory use of masks and adher-ence to social distancingnorms.

Adityanath said the train-ing of medical staff to operatemedical equipment should beemphasised upon and the staffconducting High Flow NasalCannula (HFNC) machinesshould be given priority.

He said communicationwith the home isolated patientsshould be maintained to getfeedback on their conditionand the CM helpline can alsobe used for this purpose.

Adityanath also asked tointensify contact tracing, sur-veillance and door-to-door sur-vey works. PTI

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Himachal Pradesh ChiefMinister Jai Ram Thakur

on Saturday visited the strate-gic Atal Tunnel, earlier knownas Rohtang tunnel, construct-ed at an altitude above 10,000feet with an outlay of �3,500crore. He said it would beinaugurated by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi next month.

The Chief Ministerreviewed the progress work ofthe tunnel with officials of theBorder Road Organisation(BRO), an official statementsaid.

He directed the BRO offi-cials to expeditiously give finaltouch to the tunnel, so that itcould be made ready for inau-guration by Prime MinisterModi by the end of September.

The tunnel is extremelysignificant from the militarylogistics point of view, headded.

Thakur said the PrimeMinister has shown keen inter-est in early completion of thismega project, which wouldnot only be important from thestrategic point of view, butwould also give boost totourism activities in Lahaul-Spiti district besides creatingemployment and self-employ-ment avenues in the area.

He said that by cuttingthrough the Pir Panjal range,the tunnel has reduced thedistance between Manali andLeh by 46 km.

He said the Atal Tunnelwould be a boon to the resi-dents of Lahaul who remain cutoff from the rest of the coun-

try for nearly six months inwinters due to heavy snowfall.

The ambitious Atal Tunnelwould provide all-weather con-nectivity to Leh and the for-ward areas of Ladakh.

The Chief Minister saidthat for all-weather connectiv-ity up to Leh-Ladakh, addi-tional tunnels would have to bebuilt on the 475 km Manali-Leh route so that the high pass-es do not impede movementdue to heavy snowfall.

A 13.2 km long tunnelwould have to be built to nego-tiate the 16,040-feet highBaralacha Pass and another14.78 km-long tunnel would berequired at the Lachung La Passat 16,800 feet and the third7.32-km long tunnel would berequired at Tanglang La Pass at17,480 feet.

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It may be recalled about theincident that took place on

January 20 in Ramsnehi Nagar,Ramghat Road, Quarsi. Theson of grocer businessmanDinesh Sharma was kidnappedfor ransom by Jitendra Kumar ofKasganj, who used to live as atenant in Dinesh Sharma'shouse.

Police arrested the accusedfrom Agra and recovered thechild safely. Lakhs were lootedin daylight by miscreants livingin the neighborhood of X-raytechnician's house in Gulistanancolony near FM tower locatednear the same police station.There have been many suchincidents in district. Even afterthis, the need of verification oftenant is not considered.

The city has a population ofabout 12 lakhs. Of these, morethan one and a half lakh peoplelive on rent, out of which morethan half are living withoutpolice verification. Police haveseen such cases even during theinvestigation of criminalsinvolved in several criminalincidents.

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The survey for doubling ofMoradabad-Chandausi-

Bareilly-Aligarh route has start-ed. Based on the report, theRailway Board will approvedoubling. And then the workwill start. This will save 1 hourin reaching Aligarh. Right nowit takes 3.50 hours fromMoradabad.

After doubling, the numberof trains and goods trains willincrease on this route. DivisionalRailway Manager Tarun Prakashtold media person that a thirdline is also being surveyedbetween Bareilly to Roza to runmore and more goods trains.Approval will be given onlyafter the report.

The work of doublingbetween Laksar-Haridwar willbe completed by October.Doubling from Roza to Sitapurwill be completed by March2021. 80 percent of the electri-fication work in the division hasbeen completed.

The names will be written infour languages ??at Uttarakhandstations: DRM said that theRailway Board has decided towrite the names of the stationsof Uttarakhand in English,Hindi, Urdu and Sanskrit.

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As many as 792 villages in 16districts of Uttar Pradesh

have been affected by floods,with the Sharda and the Saryurivers flowing above the dangermark at some places in thestate, a government officialsaid on Saturday.

The flood-affected districtsin the state are Ambedkarnagar,Ayodhya, Azamgarh, Bahraich,Ballia, Barabanki, Basti, Deoria,Farrukhabad, Gonda,Gorakhpur, Kushinagar,Lakhimpur Khiri, Mau,Shahjahanpur and Sitapur.

According to the office ofthe relief commissioner, of 792villages hit by the deluge, 437villages are completely flooded.

The Sharda river was flow-ing above the danger mark atPalia Kalan in LakhimpurKheri, while the Saryu river

was flowing above the dangermark at Ayodhya, Elgin Bridgein Barabanki and Turtipar inBallia. Chairing a meeting ofsenior officials of the stategovernment, Chief MinisterYogi Adityanath on Saturdaysaid relief work in flood-hitareas should be conducted infull steam.

Ration kits and medicalfacilities should also bearranged in flood-affectedareas, he said and asked offi-cials to conduct an early surveyof the damage to the crops andcompensation payment.

Backward Class Welfareand Divyanjan EmpowermentMinister Anil Rajbhar onSaturday said the chief minis-ter has issued instructions toensure constant patrolling ofembankments and assertedthat all embankments aresafe.

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Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant onSaturday claimed that coronavirus cases in

the coastal state were on the rise since GaneshChaturthi and this was because people violat-ed safety norms during the festival.

There has been a spike in cases, as peopledid not wear masks or follow social distanc-ing norms during the festivities, Sawant said.

“We have noticed that the number ofCOVID-19 cases have increased after GaneshChaturthi. Daily count was hovering around150 cases per day before the festival, but nowthere has been a rise,” Sawant said.

Urging people to practise social distanc-ing, the chief minister said he took precau-tionary measures during his daily work rou-tine.

The chief minister was addressing peopleafter flagging off Arogya Express vans at hisAssembly constituency Sankhalim on Saturday.

The coastal state has so far recorded16,006 COVID-19 cases and 175 deaths.

Guwahati: Assam Education Minister HimantaBiswa Sarma said on Saturday that classes forstandard 12 and final year of undergraduate pro-grammes will commence on September 15 in aninformal and experimental way.

Speaking at a press conference here, he saidthese informal classes will be on till September30, but it will be discontinued if any student orteacher tests positive in between.

“The principals or heads will make four-fivesmall groups, which will come and interact withteachers in informal classes,” Sarma said.

“In little primary or middle-primary schools,the kids are now coming once a week for col-lecting mid-day meals. From September 15, theywill come twice a week and the teachers will handover a study material along with a question paperfor submitting it in the next week,” Sarma said.

The teachers will evaluate the answer sheetsin front of the students and will give tasks for thenext week, he added.

“The teachers will have to come fromSeptember 1 and will oversee proper sanitisationof their institutes. We are arranging funds for thesame and it will be sent to them within the nextfew days,” Sarma said. PTI

Chennai: Tamil Nadu hasachieved a recovery rate of 85.45per cent with 3,49,682 peoplehaving been cured of coron-avirus, the “highest” in thecountry, Chief Minister KPalaniswami said here onSaturday. The state's mortalityrate was a “very low” 1.7 percent, he said.

In his video-conferencemeeting with District Collectorson Saturday to review the lock-down being enforced to containthe spread of coronavirus,Palaniswami said his govern-ment had so far spent �7,162crore towards controlling thepandemic, treatment and reliefmeasures.

“I wish to point out thatTamil Nadu has the highestrecovery rate of 85.45 per cent(3,49,682 cured) in the countryand the death rate is a very low1.7 per cent,” he said.

As of Friday, Tamil Nadu'soverall tally of coronavirus casesstood at 4.09 lakh. So far 7,050related deaths have been record-ed.

Currently, there are 58,840beds in COVID hospitals, 77,223beds in COVID-19 special cen-tres, and 26,801 beds with oxy-gen facilities. Apart from these,there are 4,782 beds in IntensiveCare Units and 5,718 ventilatorshave also been kept ready.

With 146 testing facilities forCOVID-19, including 83 privateunits, the government has so fartested 45.73 lakh people in thestate, he said.

Also, zinc and vitamintablets are being given free ofcost to frontlineworkers.”Kabasura Kudineer (aherbal concoction) is being dis-tributed to improve immunity.Due to these measures therecovery rate in Tamil Nadustands at 85.45 per cent anddeath rate is at 1.7 per cent,”Palaniswami said.

On the free distribution ofreusable masks, he said the gov-ernment had distributed 46 lakhmasks in Chennai, besides 72.56lakh masks in the rest of TamilNadu.

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Page 7: ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September

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Sweden: At least 10 peoplewere arrested in southernSweden and several police offi-cers were injured in violencewhich broke out after an anti-Muslim Danish politician wasblocked from attending aQuran-burning rally, policesaid Saturday.

Protesters threw stones atpolice and burned tyres on thestreets of Malmo late Friday,with violence escalating as theevening wore on, according topolice and local media.

The demonstration ofabout 300 people was con-nected to an incident earlier inthe day in which protestersburned a copy of the Islamicholy book, police spokesmanRickard Lundqvist told Swedishtabloid Expressen.

Between 10 and 20 pro-

testers were arrested late Fridayand “have all been released,”police spokesman Patric Forstold AFP.

The violence had subsidedby Saturday morning.

Rasmus Paludan, who

leads the far-right Danish anti-immigration party Hard Line,was due to travel to Malmo tospeak at Friday’s event, whichwas being held on the same dayas weekly prayers for theMuslim sabbath. AFP

Dubai: The president of theUnited Arab Emirates hasissued a decree cancelling a lawon boycotting Israel and allow-ing trade and financial agree-ments between the two coun-tries, the UAE official newsagency WAM reported onSaturday.

The decree from UAEPresident Khalifa bin Zayed AlNahyan aims at “supportingbilateral cooperation in order toarrive at (the establishment) ofbilateral relations”, the agencysaid.

The announcement comesas El Al Airlines plans to oper-ate Israel’s first direct flightbetween Tel Aviv’s Ben GurionAirport and the UAE’s capitalAbu Dhabi, carrying an Israelidelegation and top aides to U.S.President Donald Trump, whobrokered an Aug. 13 accord to

normalise Israel-UAE ties.Trump’s senior adviser Jared

Kushner will be among theU.S. officials on the El Al flightdeparting on Aug. 31 at 10 a.m.(0700 GMT), a U.S official said.

The Israel-UAE deal awaitsnegotiations on details such asopening embassies, trade andtravel links before it is official-ly signed.

There are no official airlinks between Israel and theUAE, and it was unclearwhether El Al would be able tofly over Saudi Arabia, which hasno official ties with Israel, to cutdown on flight time.

In May, an Etihad Airwaysplane flew from the UAE to TelAviv to deliver supplies to thePalestinians to use for the novelcoronavirus epidemic, markingthe first known flight by a UAEcarrier to Israel. AGENCY

Beijing: Chinese President XiJinping has called for buildinga “new modern socialist” Tibet,constructing an “impregnablewall” against separatism in thesensitive Himalayan region and“sinicisation” of the TibetanBuddhism, the official mediareported on Saturday.

Xi, also the GeneralSecretary of the rulingCommunist Party of China(CPC), in his address to theseventh Central Symposiumon Tibet Work, said that effortsmust be made to build Tibetthat is united, prosperous, cul-turally advanced, harmoniousand beautiful, Xinhua newsagency reported.

Underlining the need tofully implement the CPC’s poli-cies on governing Tibet for anew era, Xi, in a comprehensiveaddress on the Himalayanregion, called for efforts to builda “new modern socialist” Tibet.

He told officials attendingthe two-day symposium that

they should make efforts to“ensure national security andenduring peace and stability,steadily improve people’s lives,maintain a good environment,solidify border defence andensure frontier security,” thereport said.

Tibet, officially referred toas the Tibet AutonomousRegion (TAR), remaineddeeply devoted to Buddhismwhere the Dalai Lama isrevered as the spiritual headdespite his self-exile to Indiasince 1959 after China tookcontrol of the region in 1950.It also shares borders withIndia, Bhutan and Nepal.

President Xi said that thework in Tibet must insist onmaintaining the unity of themotherland and strengtheningnational unity as the focus.

“It is necessary to strength-en the education and guidanceof the masses, extensivelymobilise the masses to partic-ipate in the struggle againstseparatism, and form animpregnable wall for main-taining stability,” he said.

While Beijing views theDalai Lama as a separatist and“splittist” who seeks to splitTibet from China, the 1989

Nobel Peace Prize laureate sayshe only seeks greater rights forTibetans, including religiousfreedom and autonomy.

The 14th Dalai Lama fledto India in 1959 following acrackdown on an uprising bythe local population in Tibet.India granted him politicalasylum and the Tibetan gov-ernment-in-exile is based onDharamsala in HimachalPradesh since then.

Xi also spoke of “sinicisa-tion” of the Tibetan Buddhism.

“It is necessary to dig out,sort out and publicise the his-torical facts of the exchangesand integration of all ethnicgroups in Tibet since ancienttimes, guide the people of allethnic groups to see the direc-tion and future of the nation,deeply realise that the Chinesenation is a community of des-tiny, and promote exchangesand integration of all ethnicgroups,” Xi said.

“Sinicisation” broadlyrefers to bringing non-Chinesecommunities under theChinese culture and politicalsystem being pursued by theCPC under the broad defini-tion of socialism with Chinesecharacteristics. PTI

Washington: Kamala Harris is“not competent” to be president,US President Donald Trump hassaid as he launched an attack onthe Indian-origin senator’s cre-dentials for the top post.

Addressing his supportersat a Republican campaign rallyin New Hampshire on Friday,Trump said he would supportseeing a female president in theUS but suggested that hisdaughter and senior WhiteHouse adviser Ivanka Trumpwould be a better candidate forsuch a role.

Harris, 55, was a presiden-tial aspirant until last yearbefore she dropped out of therace because of lack of popularsupport. Harris returned topolitical limelight after JoeBiden, the Democratic Party’spresidential candidate, pickedher as his running mate in theNovember 3 election.

Born to a Jamaican fatherand an Indian mother, Harrisis the first Indian-Americanand first Black woman to bepicked by a major Americanpolitical party for the top post.

“You know I want to seethe first woman president also,but I don’t want to see a womanpresident get into that positionthe way she’d do it, and she’s notcompetent,” Trump said.

“She’s not competent,” hesaid amidst applause from hissupporters, a few of whom

screamed Ivanka Trump, at anelection rally on Friday.

“They’re all saying, ‘wewant Ivanka’. I don’t blameyou,” he said responding to hissupporters.

This was Trump’s first elec-tion rally after he formallyaccepted the nomination of theRepublican Party on Thursdayfor the presidential election.

Trump said Harris with-drew from the DemocraticParty’s presidential race beforeprimary season kicked off asher popularity dropped downto single digit.

“How about her? Sheerbeauty? What a beauty though.They pick a woman who startsoff...She (Harris) starts off (herpresidential campaign) sort ofstrong. She’s one of thefavourites. Within a period ofa few months, she goes down,down 15, 12, 11, nine, eight,five, three, two,” he said, under-lining the popularity downslideof Harris in the few monthsafter her highly impressivecampaign launch.

“Then she goes, I’m goingto leave because I’ve decidedthat I want to leave. I want toleave. She left (the race ofpresidency) because she would-n’t have gotten any votes. Shewas terrible. And this would beyour president possibly. I don’tthink so. I don’t think so,”Trump said, speculating onthe possibility that Harris couldemerge as a Democratic pres-

idential candidate in 2024. Attacking Biden, Trump

said he is running on the mostextreme, far left platform of anynominee in American history.

“And of our foreign adver-saries who are devising a planto destroy the United Statesfrom within all they have tolook, is that the Biden-Harris(ticket),” he said.

Hours before Trump deliv-

ered his acceptance speechfrom the South Lawn at theWhite House, Harris allegedthat the president’s policieshave been “a reckless disregard”for the danger a pandemicwould pose to American lives.

She said Trump has “failedat the most basic and importantjob of a President of the UnitedStates. He failed to protect theAmerican people”. PTI

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Washington: Indian-originSenator Kamala Harris, the USDemocratic Party’s vice-presi-dential candidate, has pledged torejoin the Paris climate agree-ment and re-enter the Irannuclear deal to restore “ourplace in the world” and win backthe “trust and support” of theUS’s Asian and European alliesif her party wins the Novemberpresidential election.

Kamala Harris, 55, is therunning mate of Democraticpresidential candidate Joe Biden.At a virtual fundraiser on Friday,she was asked how a Biden-Harris administration wouldrestore the “trust and support ofour European and Asian allies.”

In response, Kamala Harrisslammed President Donald

Trump and pledged to “rejoin”the Paris agreement on ClimateChange and “strengthen and re-enter” the Iran nuclear deal.

“Joe Biden and our admin-istration is gonna have a mas-sive job to repair the damagedone by Donald Trump and hisadministration, and to restoreour place in the world,” she said.

In 2017, Donald Trumpannounced his decision to with-draw from the Paris deal, say-ing the accord would have costAmerica trillions of dollars,killed jobs, and hindered the oil,gas, coal and manufacturingindustries.

In 2018, Trump pulled outof the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“Part of our strength when,when we as a country, histori-

cally, walk into that roomaround the globe. Part of thestrength of our standing it’’s notjust about our military it’s notjust about our economicstrength. It’s about the fact thatfolks believe that when we saysomething we mean it,” theSenator from California said.

“We are loyal to our friendsthat we keep our word, includ-ing when we make commit-ments, be it to NATO or to theParis agreement that we will fol-low through. And DonaldTrump, he just doesn’t get it. Imean it’s such an extension ofhis character as a human beingI believe that he doesn’t under-stand the importance of integri-ty and consistency in one’’sword,” Ms Harris said. PTI

0������.���������������:� �&������������������9� ����� � �$������

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#,)������!�� ��������"!������������� ��� ���������� ��Moscow: Belarus, shaken by

three weeks of massive protestsagainst its authoritarian presi-dent, on Saturday cracked downhard on the news media, deport-ing some foreign journalistsreporting in the country andrevoking the accreditation ofmany Belarusian journalists.

Two Moscow-basedAssociated Press journalists whowere covering the recent protestsin Belarus were deported toRussia on Saturday. In addition,the AP’s Belarusian staff weretold by the government thattheir press credentials had beenrevoked. “The Associated Pressdecries in the strongest termsthis blatant attack on pressfreedom in Belarus. AP calls onthe Belarusian government toreinstate the credentials ofindependent journalists andallow them to continue report-ing the facts,” said LaurenEaston, the AP’s director ofmedia relations. AP

Bamako: Tensions mounted onSaturday between Mali’s mili-tary junta and the country’slongtime political oppositionafter the coup leaders failed toinvite prominent oppositionfigures to a planned forum onthe country’s political future.

The meeting ultimatelywas cancelled and the juntaleadership instead met withimam Mahmoud Dicko, anopposition leader who onFriday urged the junta to speed

up the transition to civilian ruleso the West African countrycould avoid further crushingfinancial sanctions.

“I ask them to be part ofthe solution and not anotherproblem,” he said.

Only a week earlier, theopposition coalition known asM5-RFP that includes Dickohad publicly backed the coup,with thousands of their sup-porters taking to the streetsafter the junta’s overthrow of

President Ibrahim BoubacarKeita. M5-RFP had led sever-al months of demonstrationscalling for his resignation threeyears before his final term wasdue to end. In a statement lateFriday, one M5-RFP leadersaid the alliance regretted notbeing invited to take part inSaturday’s planned discussionsbetween the junta and variouspolitical actors. AP

�����������!������������$���'���� �����������Beijing: At least 17 peopledied on Saturday when arestaurant in northern Chinacollapsed, state media said,with rescuers pulling dozens ofsurvivors from the rubble andsearching for others believed tobe trapped.

The two-storey buildingused for banquets came downin the morning in Xiangfencounty, in Shanxi province,according to broadcaster

CGTN.Xinhua news agency

reported that “45 people havebeen brought out, of which 17were dead, seven seriouslyinjured and 21 slightly injured.”

Rescuers in orange overallsand hard hats combed thecrumbled ruin of the building,images on the CGTN websiteshowed, with a decorativepainting seen on one of the fewwalls still intact. AFP

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Washington: In the span of 48hours, two Black men in UScities hundreds of miles apartwere shot by police in episodesthat set off a national conver-sation about the need for offi-cers to open fire on peoplewalking away from them.

The Jacob Blake shootingin Kenosha, Wisconsin, andthe killing of Trayford Pellerinin Lafayette, Louisiana, twodays earlier have thrust intothe spotlight a thorny andlong-running legal issue thathas on several occasions goneall the way to the US SupremeCourt.

And the Blake shooting hasraised a host of other questions,including why the officer feltthe need to shoot him seventimes in the back at close

range, and the prudence ofpolice opening fire with chil-dren nearby.

Wisconsin authorities areinvestigating those questions asthey weigh charges against theofficer in a case that has reignit-ed national protests over racialinjustice.

The shootings come less than three months afteralmost daily clashes betweenpolice and protesters inresponse to the death of GeorgeFloyd after a Minnesota officerknelt on his neck for severalminutes.

Laws governing the use ofdeadly force differ from state tostate, and past shootings ofpeople who were fleeing fromofficers have played out differ-ently across the country. AP

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Kenosha (US): Family mem-bers of Jacob Blake, a Blackman who was paralyzed after aKenosha police officer shothim in the back, are leading amarch and rally Saturday to callfor an end to police violence.

Event organizers said thedemonstration would include amarch to the Kenosha CountyCourthouse and speeches bymembers of Blake’s family, Lt.Gov. Mandela Barnes, U.S.Rep. Gwen Moore and othercommunity leaders.

“We are heartbroken andenraged, but we are steadfast inour demand for justice,” TanyaMclean, a Blake family friendwho helped organize the event,said in a statement. She saidBlake’s shooting is not an iso-lated incident, but part of a“brutal, racist system.” AP

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The centre in a letter to thestates has promised it

would clear their goods andservices tax (GST) dues despitethe massive shortfall in GSTcess collection amid the coro-navirus pandemic, a situationthat has been described as “anact of God” by FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharaman.The government in the lettersaid it wants to stay clear of“avoidable borrowing at thecentral level when it could bedone at the state level” as cen-tral revenues are under “greatstrain” due to the pandemic.

The Union FinanceSecretary and the Expenditure

Secretary will hold an onlinemeeting on September 1 toanswer queries of the states ontwo options that the centre hasproposed - the first being stateswon’t have to service debt orrepay it from other sources, andthe second being states won’thave to repay the principalamount from any othersources.

The central Governmenton Saturday wrote to States sug-gesting options of borrowingmoney to make up for the�2.35 lakh crore shortfall inGST revenues expected in theongoing fiscal.

Two days after first sug-gesting to states to borrowmoney to make up for theshortfall at the GST Councilmeeting, the Finance Ministrywrote to State Governmentssaying they could borrow eithervia a special window it willfacilitate through the RBI orraise debt from the market.

While the Centre has rea-soned its recommendations on

premise that it is already sad-dled with a large borrowingrequirement given the slow-down in revenue collectionsdue to a slump in the economy,non-BJP ruled states such asPunjab, Kerala, Delhi and WestBengal have already stated thatraising debt is not an option foralready stretched state finances.

In a letter to finance sec-retaries of all states and unionterritories, Union FinanceSecretary Ajay Bhushan Pandeysaid while additional borrow-ing by the Centre influences theyields on central governmentsecurities (G-secs) and hasother macro-economic reper-cussions, the yields on statesecurities do not directly influ-ence other yields and do nothave the same repercussions.

“Hence, it is in the collec-tive interest of Centre andstates and in the interest of thenation and of all economicentities including the privatesector, not to do any avoidableborrowing at the central level

when it could be done at thestate level,” Pandey wrote in theletter. Compensation paymenthas been an issue since August2019 with GST collections fal-tering.

In the current fiscal, thecompensation requirement ofstates has been estimated at �3lakh crore, of which�65,000crore would be funded fromthe revenues garnered by levyof cess.

This leaves a shortfall of�2.35 lakh crore.

The Centre has estimatedthat of this �2.35 lakh crore,�97,000 crore compensationrequirement is due to GSTrollout and the remaining is onaccount of the impact ofCovid-19 on the economy.

In the GST Council meet-ing on August 27, FinanceMinister Nirmala Sitharamanhad said that Covid-19 is an“Act of God” and it was neces-sary to differentiate betweenGST shortfall and the pan-demic-related shortfall.

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There should not be a furtherdelay in appointing mem-

bers of the National ConsumerDisputes RedressalCommission (NCDRC), theSupreme Court has said, askingthe Centre to complete theprocess soon.

A bench of Justices LNageswara Rao, Hemant Guptaand S Ravindra Bhat made theobservation while extending

the term of an NCDRC mem-ber who is scheduled to retireon Sunday. “The finalisation ofthe selections and appoint-ments of members of NCDRCdoes not brook further delay,”it said. “We hope and trust thatthe appointments to theNCDRC shall be made soon.”

The apex court was con-sidering a plea by the NCDRCmember who has filed anapplication seeking a direc-tion for extension of his servicetill the regular appointmentsare made. Attorney General KK Venugopal submitted thatthe recommendations madeby the selection committeewere under the consideration ofthe appointments committee ofthe cabinet (ACC).

The top court said as theapplicant was due to retire onAugust 30, the term of hisappointment was extended fora month.The apex court hadearlier expressed its displeasureover pending vacancies in theNCDRC and said the issue hadto be addressed urgently.

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In a tweet, Tesla CEO ElonMusk solved a mystery

involving a 27-year-oldRussian, an insider at anunnamed corporation and analleged million-dollar paymentoffered to help trigger a ran-somware extortion attack onthe firm.Prosecutors declinedto name the target, but Muskwas happy to oblige.Accordingto the billionaire, the schemetook aim at the electric carcompany’s 1.9 million-square-foot factory in Sparks, Nevada,which makes batteries for Teslavehicles and energy storageunits.”This was a seriousattack,” Musk tweetedThursday night, responding toa Tesla blog post that detailedthe brazen scheme.DefendantEgor Igorevich Kriuchkov triedto recruit a fellow Russianspeaker who worked at theplant, according to a criminalcomplaint filed in US DistrictCourt in Nevada.

Reaching out to theunnamed worker via WhatsAppin July, Kriuchkov allegedlyflew to the United States with aRussian passport on a touristvisa and sought to entice theworker to betray Tesla.Kriuchkov allegedly took theworker, who he’d he’d first metin 2016, on a road trip to LakeTahoe before offering the per-son $ 1 million to plant malwareon computer systems at “VictimCompany A”. Kriuchkov float-ed the scheme at a Reno area baron August 3 after the two drankheavily until last call, the com-plaint says. But the plant work-er informed Tesla, which con-tacted the FBI and won theemployee’s cooperation. In sub-sequent meetings monitoredand recorded by federal agents,Kriuchkov laid out a scheme tohave the worker infect Teslacomputers with a program thatwould steal valuable data beforescrambling plant systems withransomware, according to thecomplaint.

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The GST Network onSaturday started providing

auto-drafted input tax credit(ITC) statement GSTR-2Bwhich would assist the taxpay-ers in determining their ITCliability.

GSTN handles the IT back-bone of Goods and ServicesTax (GST).

GSTR-2B will be generat-ed on GST portal for every reg-istered person on the basis ofthe information furnished byhis suppliers and will be madeavailable for each month, on

the 12th day of the succeedingmonth, GSTN said in a state-ment.

“It is expected that GSTR-2B will help in reduction intime taken for preparingreturn, minimising errors,assisting reconciliation andsimplify compliance relating tofiling of returns,” it said.

Jaipur: Rajashthan HousingCommissioner Pawan Arorasaid a large number of peopleplanted saplings at City Park,Mansarovar by registering on

Mandal’s RHB Green app.People came in two slots from8am to 10 am and from 4 pmto 6 pm in the park.

PNS

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The economic impact ofCovid-19 on India’s GDP is

expected to be anywhere inbetween 17 per cent and 30 percent during Q1FY21.

According to leading econ-omists, the measures to curbthe pandemic heavily dentedmanufacturing, services andother sectors apart from agri-culture during the quarter.

The country had observedmobility restrictions as man-dated under the lockdownmeasures for the better part ofthe first quarter of FY21.

It was only on June 1 thatpartial unlock measures were

implemented.However, a contraction at

this scale has not been wit-nessed since the quarterly seriesbegan in the late 1990s.

In financial parlance, aGDP contraction not only indi-cates the economy’s movementtowards a recession, but alsounderlines the reduction inpurchasing power along withlower taxes for the government,higher defaults on debt andfalling Capex spends.

“We estimate a contractionof 17 per cent in Q1FY21 GDPas a direct result of lockdown,supply side constraints, and lowto nil activity in non-essentialmanufacturing and services.While a robust growth in agri-culture during this period isgoing to provide some cushionto the GDP growth, it will beinsufficient to substitute the

downfall arising out of thecontraction caused in the man-ufacturing and services sector,”Sunil Kumar Sinha, PrincipalEconomist, India Ratings &Research, told IANS.

“Local or regional or week-end lockdowns and healthrelated concerns of the gener-al public are continuing to actas hindrances towards nor-malcy of economic activityand the eventual sustainabilityof growth.

“Given the evolving situ-ation, there is an urgent needto prop-up demand in theeconomy which had been lan-guishing from even beforethe Covid-19 related lock-down, otherwise supply sidemeasures announced so farwill soon run into difficultydue to lack of demand,” Sinhaadded.

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After company law, theGovernment has now set

out to decriminalise variousoffences under the GST lawsto improve ease of doingbusiness and ensure bettercompliance.

As part of the changesbeing considered by theFinance Ministry, a group ofofficers has been constitutedby the Central Board ofIndirect Taxes and Customs(CBIC) to hold stakeholderconsultations and get inputsfrom the industry.

A final proposal will thenbe moved to the Cabinet.

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If one were to talk about warriors andsuperheroes, the first thing that willstrike your mind is fancy costumes,swords, shields and some magicpowers. But what if we tell you that

the COVID-19 has changed the scenarioby and large and that the modern day war-riors no longer wear all that fancy stuff.Yes, you read that right. Hence, if you spota person covered in a PPE kit, don’t hes-itate in offering them a heartfelt thankyou.

Meet Masoom Reza, a COVID-19warrior and a phlebotomist by profession,who works with SRL Diagnostics. Rezawas the first person in Delhi-NCR to col-lect a sample of a suspected coronapatient back in March.

“I have been into this profession since2008 and joined SRL Diagnostics in2012. I was the first person to collect asample from a suspected Corona patientin Delhi and he turned out to be positive.It was definitely a bold decision. I said yesto the work when most of the peopleturned down the task out of fearbecause I thought if I am getting achance to work and do my bit in thetime of crisis, it is a matter of pridefor me and my family,” the 35-year-old tells you.

Not that it was easy for Rezato conduct the first test, it tookhim a lot of courage and cost hima sleepless night. “The nightbefore the sample was tobe collected, I couldn’tsleep at all. I was upthinking of all the pos-sibilities, planning onhow to take the bestof precautions andfighting a lot offears in mind. Myworries grewwhen the patienttested positive. Ididn’t tell mywife that I havecollected a sam-ple of a Coronapositive patient. Iwas afraid. It tookme a few days to getback to normal andbreak the news to mywife,” Reza, who is afather of two boys — aneight-month old and a five-year-old, tells you.

Just like any of us,Reza too started count-ing days and kept aclose watch on his bodyto check for any symp-toms. “Initially, the fearlevel was very high.Sometimes I felt that Iwas having a sorethroat, which wasprobably out of con-

tinuous thinking andfear. But fortunately,nothing happened andI am perfectly fine. Now

it has been around fivemonths since I am collectingsamples and the fear of catchinginfection has dropped mani-fold,” he asserts.

COVID-19, he says, has dis-rupted the whole process ofsample collecting. “Earlier we

had to just visit the patient andcollect a sample, but now there is

an added pressure of wearing thePPE kit first. It takes time.

Sometimes we get late becauseof this, but patients nowadaysare very understanding. We

call them up and inform them about thedelay and they understand our situation.We have to be very cautious when we arewith the patient,” Reza, who works from9 to 6, tells you.

In his 12 years of career, Reza has col-lected so many samples that he doesn’teven remember the numbers now. “I havebeen collecting samples for years but Ihave never seen such fear in people as itis in patients who get tested for Corona.I had collected samples from HIV patientstoo, but they too were not that afraid.People fear even the word Corona, hencewhen we go for collecting samples wemake sure to comfort the patient first. Iexplain to them that there is nothing topanic. If they test positive, they have toisolate themselves for 21 days and followthe steps that the doctor advises. Thishelps the patients to a great extent,” he tellsyou. It takes about five minutes to collecta nasal and throat swab sample.

But not all is smooth in his life. In the5-month long fight against Corona,despite being on the forefront, Reza hascome across people who didn’t shy awayfrom discriminating against him, becausehe wore a PPE kit.

“There have been many instanceswhere I faced discrimination. Take forexample when I went to take a sample ofa patient, the guard of the society gave meweird stares seeing me covered in PPE kit.Maintaining six-feet distance is one thing,but doing that in a humiliating way feelsbad. Even if I went to collect a normalblood sample, people stared at me.Sometimes, I even stopped by to tell peo-ple that this PPE kit is for everybody’s pro-tection. It is not as if someone is wearingit then he is spreading infections. Coronacan happen to anyone and everyone, dis-criminating and taking Corona as anexcuse is not acceptable. Some werekind enough to understand my point,while others just laughed it off,” Reza, whocollects around 12 samples every day,recalls.

However, the mentality is now chang-ing and people have learnt to accept thefact that Corona can happen to anyone.“People are becoming more aware of thesituation. They have learnt to handle thesituation with patience and caution,” hetells you.

He tells you that there is no need topanic. One just has to follow the precau-tions and guidelines laid down by theGovernment and he can reduce the riskof catching the infection. “The basic stepis to avoid touching your eyes, nose andmouth. Even if your hands are clean, avoidtouching your face. This reduces the riskof catching infection. All the doctors,nurses and the hospital staff are workinglong hours to ensure public safety, there-fore as a responsible citizen it is everyone’sduty to take care of themselves so that weare able to reduce the pressure on thehealthcare workers,” he says.

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Reza is not an exception. There aremany people who are workingjust as hard as him, if not more.Meet Subhendu Roy, a Kolkata-based phlebotomist who has

been into this profession for 17 years withSRL Diagnostics.

Roy, whose original working shifts wereof eight and a half hours, tells you that dur-ing Corona it has been increased to up toten hours a day, depending upon thepatients that they are getting.

“The more we will work, the more thepatients will be benefited. This is why I don’tmind working long hours as long as I amable to do something for my patients,” hesays.

He agrees with Reza and tells you thatthe pandemic has changed the working ofthe industry. “Before visiting a patient forsample collection, I call them up and tellthem that I am on my way. Once I reachthe patient’s house, my focus is only on toreducing the contact with the patient asmuch as possible while collecting the sam-ple. This is because my job demands me toconsider every patient as Corona positive.Hence, I stay extra careful with everyone.I then put the sample in a frozen boxto avoid contamination. Before step-ping out of the house, I take off thePPE kit and return it to the lab. Anduntil I reach home, I avoid touch-ing any surfaces,” Roy, who collectsabout 20 samples a day, explains.

There are patients who tend tohold his hands out of fear, in sucha case, PPE kit comes to theirprotection. “There are cer-tain patients, especiallykids who suddenlyhold our hands out offear and anxiety. Idon’t want to askthem not to, so Ikeep quiet because Iam safe in that PPEkit. Just to ensuremore safety, I sani-tise the area whichthe patient hastouched beforetaking off the kitand sending it tothe lab,” he tellsyou.

The mostcommon questionthat every patientasks him is ‘zyadadard to nahin hoga’?“Both nasal andthroat samples are pain-less. I tell patients that theymight feel a little itching intheir nose and throat and noth-ing else,” he says and tells you thatthe sample collection process takesabout four minutes.

However there is a trick. Themore you lose your body, the more

painless theprocess will be.“Some patientskeep their bodyvery stiff during

the collection.This may result inpain. Hence, I askpatients to lettheir body lose

and relax and itwill be done in a few

minutes,” he tells you.But not all sample

collection processes wentsmooth for Roy. “Once,while I was collecting asample of a man, thenasal swab went well.But when I was collect-ing his throat swab sam-

ple, he went to the washroom and pukedblood immediately after the collection.That was one of a case and is extremelyrare,” he recalls.

Leading the Corona battle from theforefront, is not as easy for Roy as itseems. “It’s been five months since I amliving in a separate room. I have my wife,a five-year old boy and my mother athome. I want to keep them safe, henceI have isloated myself. We don’t eat fromthe same plate. Now even my five-year-old understands that it is important totake precautions but sometimes when Ireturn home from work and he rushestowards me to play with him. When Irefuse, he asks me ‘aap to PPE kitpehentey hain phir mere sath kyun nahinkhelte?’ I tell him that safety shouldn’t becompromised at any cost,” Roy, who losthis father during the lockdown, tells you.

He says that it definitely feels bad tonot be able to spend time with his fam-ily, par kuch paane ke liye kuch khonapadta hai. “It feels bad, but my familyknows that this is my job and we have toaccept it. Moreover, technology is here tosolve most of our woes. When I missthem a lot, I video call them. If we willnot take precautions now then we mighthave to regret later. Therefore, it is bet-ter to take all the necessary precautions.I work to earn a living for my family andkeep them happy and if I am getting tocontribute my bit towards the society, Iwill never say no to it. I am proud of mywork,” he says.

Unlike Reza, Roy fortunately neverfell a victim to discrimination because ofhis job. “My neighbours don’t know whatexactly my job is, so fortunately I havenever experienced any indifferent behav-iour from any one. My patients have allbeen supportive and so is my family.However, I make sure that I am taking allthe precautions when at home or outsidefor work to keep myself and others safe,”he tells you.

When asked whether or not hefeared going out for sample collection, hesays, initially there was a little fear, butnow there is none. “When I started thework five months ago, I was afraid to goand visit the patients. But then, I valuemy job a lot and know that I have to domy best. Not that I have any other option,but to work. This gave me courage andmotivation. After that I have never suf-fered a setback. It’s been five months, andwith God’s grace I am perfectly healthyand fine,” he says.

Roy, who has absolutely no complaintsand is all praise for work, says that the onlychallenge that he had to face was to wearPPE kit for long hours. “Initially, it washard to adapt to wearing the PPE kit. Itfeels very hot in the kit, but now that themonsoon has come that problem has beensolved. Sometimes, I feel suffocated butnow that it is for our safety, I am gettingused to wearing it,” Roy tells you.

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Khel Ratna awardee Rani Rampal feelsthat equal opportunities like men’s

team has contributed tremendouslytowards the improved performance of thewomen’s hockey team in the past decade.

“From when I started to now, manythings have changed for the good inwomen's hockey. Back when I beganplaying, women’s team played very fewtournaments. We mostly played majorevents like Commonwealth Games and theAsian Games but now the scenario haschanged so much,” Rani said in a mediarelease.

“Hockey India and the managementensured that we played tournamentsround the year which has contributedtremendously towards our performanceimproving over the years and has alsohelped popularize women's hockey,” sheadded.

Rani is the first woman from the sportto receive the prestigious Khel Ratna awardand only the third hockey player afterDhanraj Pillay and Sardar Singh to receivethe country's highest sporting honour.

“Over the past one week, since myname was officially announced for theKhel Ratna award, I have been reflectingback on my journey so far and it makesme feel overwhelmed that women's hock-ey gets equal importance as the men’s team

“...And a women’s player being recog-nized with the highest award definitelygoes to show the sport is moving in the

right direction,” she said."I thank the Ministry of Youth Affairs

and Sports, SAI and Hockey India for giv-ing us all the opportunities to showcase ourpotential and at the same time recogniz-ing our efforts,” she added.

Men’s forward Akashdeep Singh, whoreceived the Arjuna award this year, alsoexpressed his happiness.

“I thank everyone who has been partof my journey so far. I have been very for-tunate to play for my country along withsome of the greatest players in the sport.

“I also thank Hockey India and SAI fortheir support and ensuring we are provid-ed with the best facilities to train," the strik-er said.

Both Rani and Akashdeep are current-ly part of the on-going national coachingcamp at Sports Authority of India,Bengaluru campus.

���� �2���2345

It was a memorable day forIndian table tennis icon

Manika Batra who wasbestowed with nation’s highestsporting honour, the RajivGandhi Khel Ratna, byPresident Ram Nath Kovind ina virtual ceremony on Saturday.

However, this year’s awardcame with its set of criticism asmany questioned if Manikadid enough to be recommend-ed by the National SportsAward Selection Committee.Her charismatic show at the2018 Commonwealth Gamesand Asian Games duly won herthe Arjuna. But a pale 2019 fol-lowed by lack of tournamentsin 2020 questioned the justifi-cation for Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna.

The 2018 CommonwealthGames double gold medallist,however, shunned the critics,saying she seldom pays atten-tion to what people say behindher back.

To be honest, an athlete’sjob is to perform for India andI am always focussed on that —making my country proud byperforming well,” Manika toldIANS. “It’s not my decision tobe recommended for theawards, the committee doesthat. I can only perform tomake my claims and I intend tokeep doing so without payingattention to what people aresaying behind my back.”

Manika expressed her hap-piness on being conferred with

the biggest sports award ofIndia and said she was gratefulto everyone who made it hap-pen.

“I am happy to be con-ferred with Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna. I am grateful that thenation and the governmentrecognised my achievements intable tennis. I am also gratefulto those who have been sup-portive of me, especially thesports ministry and SportsAuthority of India, table tennisfederation, the entire table ten-nis fraternity, my training teamin Pune and all my sponsors,including IOS. Their supportand wishes were important,”said Manika.

The 2021 Tokyo Olympicsare less than a year away andthe current world No. 63 is stillto confirm her berth at theGames. Manika admitted thatgiven the uncertainty aroundthe Olympics she is solelyfocussed on training. “I don’tknow what exactly is my imme-diate target since things areuncertain as far as tourna-ments are concerned. But fornow, I am sweating out in thetraining and keeping myselfmotivated. Getting conferredwith Khel Ratna further helps,”she said.

“I am yet to achieve a lot inmy career, that includes doingwell for India at the Olympics.For that, my eyes are current-ly on improving my worldrankings and I am willing to doall the hard work for it,” Manikasaid.

"��� �2���2345

Delighted at winning the ArjunaAward, India’s central defender

Sandesh Jhingan on Saturday said theteam’s ultimate goal is to qualify forthe FIFA World Cup.

Jhingan said to make the world'sbiggest tournament, the Indian teamwill need to regularly feature in theAFC Asian Cup, break into the top100 and then aim for the top 50 inthe FIFA rankings.

“Our ultimate dream as a nationis to qualify for World Cup," Jhingansaid.

“... But there are certain stepswhich we need to climb on the path-way - like being regular for the AFCAsian Cup, breaking into the top 100,then into the top 50, winning tour-naments at home, and abroad.”

“Physically and mentally, youneed to be in sync. As players, weneed to stay hungry,” he added.

Jhingan became the 27th foot-baller to receive the Arjuna Award.

Considering the circumstancesarising out of the COVID-19 pan-demic, the player from Punjab saidhosting the national sports awardsvirtually was appropriate.

“Under current circumstancesthat were on the cards, and no com-plaints at all. The Secretariat Housein Chandigarh is a grand place too.

As kids, we grew up looking at it withawe from outside. So getting into it— that too to receive the ArjunaAward is huge - that’s my happiness.”“Life does not end here. The fact thatI have not been able to meet the hon-ourable President motivates me to domore, and get an appointment withhim in the near future,” Jhingan said.

Is the award a motivation or anextra pressure, given that he nowjoins an elite list, Jhingan said hetakes it as a responsibility.

“People who know me knowhow much I crave to be under pres-sure. But I see this award as aresponsibility. I thrive under theresponsibility.”

“I always prefer to be that guy inthe room with all the responsibilitythan one sitting at the corner. Therecognition of my performancesmakes me extremely happy.

“A big thank you to the AIFFpresident Mr. Praful Patel and gen-eral secretary Mr. Kushal Das fornominating me,” Jhingan said.

�"�� 62350

Formula One championLewis Hamilton set a track

record at the Belgian GrandPrix as he clinched a record-extending 93rd pole position onSaturday, finishing well aheadof Mercedes teammate ValtteriBottas.

Hamilton is primed toextend his championship lead,which stands at 37 points overRed Bull's Max Verstappen and43 over Bottas.

“I didn’t make a mistake,"Hamilton said proudly.

“That’s one of the cleanestqualifying sessions I've everhad. It’s a phenomenal feelingdriving around this track, howfast this track has become.”

The six-time F1 championdedicated it to ChadwickBoseman, who played BlackAmerican icons JackieRobinson and James Brownbefore inspiring audiences asthe regal “Black Panther” inMarvel's blockbuster moviefranchise.

Boseman died Friday ofcancer. He was 43.

“This was an importantpole. I woke up today to thesaddest news of Chadwick pass-ing away,” Hamilton said.

“That news broke me, so itwasn’t easy to get back focused.For what he’s done for our peo-ple and super heroes - to showthe kids what's possible in life.Wakanda forever.”

Hamilton stood up on hisall-black Mercedes car with hisarms crossed, which is the"Wakanda forever" salute thatbecame a pop culture landmarkafter the release of "BlackPanther" two years ago.

Bottas trailed the Britishdriver by 0.511 seconds inqualifying while Verstappenwas 0.526 adrift in third.

“I need to attack if I wantto keep my title hopes (alive),”said Bottas, who won the open-ing race of the season inAustria.

It was a strong perfor-mance from Renault driver

Daniel Ricciardo, who startsfrom fourth on Sunday at the 7-kilometre (4.3-mile) track nes-tled in the Ardennes forest.

Things are going from ter-rible to abysmal for Ferrari, withCharles Leclerc in 13th andSebastian Vettel 14th.

Ferrari’s lack of form wassuch that Leclerc, who won lastyear from pole position, washappy to qualify in 13th.

“Honestly, yes. It’s sad to saythat but getting into Q2 was anice surprise. I’m starting from13th and I think it will be dif-ficult unless it rains,” he said.

Vettel registered the previ-ous track record on his way tovictory here in 2018, but thisseason the veteran German

driver has not even finished inthe top five in six races.

Earlier, Hamilton led thethird and final practice, withVettel last - a humbling experi-ence for the four-time F1 cham-pion - and Leclerc faring littlebetter in 17th place.

While Leclerc has twopodium finishes this season,Vettel is enduring his worst startsince 2008. He has twice fin-ished 10th and once 12th.

Vettel last won at theSingapore GP in September -his only victory in 2019 - andthe German driver’s last podi-um finish was in Mexico inOctober.

Since then he has retired inthree out of nine races.

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Pi e r r e - E m e r i c kAubameyang clinchedthe Community Shield

for Arsenal with his penaltysecuring a 5-4 shootout victo-ry over Liverpool on Saturdayin the curtain-raiser to a sea-son that is beginning late andwithout fans due to the pan-demic.

The game was settled onpenalties at Wembley Stadiumafter Takumi Minamino's firstgoal for Liverpool in the 73rd

minute canceled outAubameyang's early opener.

The Arsenal captainlatched onto Bukayo Saka'sdiagonal pass before curlinginto the net and paying tributein the goal celebration to actorChadwick Boseman, who diedthe previous day of cancer atthe age of 43.

He performed the"Wakanda Forever" salute thathas become a symbol to cele-brate black excellence sincebeing performed by Boseman'scharacter in the 2018 film,

"Black Panther."Arsenal tweeted an image

of Aubameyang folding hisarms across his chest with themessage: "For Chadwick."

Aubameyang also scoredtwice at Wembley in both theFA Cup semifinals and final.

Arsenal beat PremierLeague champion Liverpoolto lift the Community Shield atthe end of the same month thatit picked up the FA Cup.

The Premier League seasonstarts a month later than orig-inally scheduled on Sept. 12.

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Koneru Humpy took the spotlight asshe beat Monika Socko in a nervy

tie-break to help India pip Poland in thesemifinals and reach the summit clashof the FIDE Online Chess Olympiad onSaturday.

After the two teams won one roundeach in regular play, world rapid cham-pion Humpy was pitted against Socko forthe Armageddon (a tie-break), and theIndian beat her rival in style with blackpieces to clinch a spot in the final for herside.

India will play the winner of theother semifinal between Russia and theUSA, in the summit clash on Sunday.

It was, however, not an easy job forthe Indian team as it lost the first round2-4 before bouncing back strongly in thesecond with a crushing 4.5-1.5 win.Humpy did the rest in the match-deciding tie-break.

Former world championViswanathan Anand came into his ownwith a much-needed win over Jan-Krzystof Duda in 78 moves in the sec-ond round after losing to his opponentin the first round.

Captain Vidit Gujrathi led the waywith a win over Gzegorz Gajeswkiwhile Humpy and D Harika also post-ed victories. Young prodigy RPraggnanandhaa, who replaced NihalSarin, was beaten by Igor Janik whileVantika Agrawal drew with AlicjaSilwicka.

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Tom Banton’s explosive 71 off42 balls proved to be in vain

for England as the firstTwenty20 international againstPakistan was abandoned as a noresult because of rain inManchester.

The opener smashed fourfours and five sixes in an enter-taining knock featuring lustyhitting and unorthodox scoops,helping England score 131-6 in16.1 overs before it started torain at Old Trafford on Friday.

Pakistan never got to bat inwhat would have ended upbeing an unsatisfactory five-over match, with the ground-staff unable to get the wet out-field in a fit state to play.

England will be concernedthat Banton’s departure sparkedthe loss of four wickets for 14runs in 19 balls before thestoppage.

Before that, opener JonnyBairstow was out for 2 andDawid Malan made a run-a-

ball 23 after Pakistan won thetoss and decided to field firstunder floodlights below gloomyskies.

England had scored just 34-1 after six overs, the team’s low-est powerplay total since the2016 World Twenty20 final.

Imad Wasim (2-31) andShadab Khan (2-33) werePakistan's best bowlers inManchester, where there wereno spectators because of coro-navirus restrictions. The othermatches in the series are onSunday and Tuesday. Englandwon a rain-affected test series1-0.

"��� �6�5

The Arjuna Award has come his way after13 years of toil in international cricket

and motivated by the recognition, veteranIndia pacer Ishant Sharma plans to contin-ue in top flight till the time his “body allows”.

Ishant, 31, made his international debutin both Tests and ODIs in 2007 and playedhis first T20I the following year.

He remains a vital player in Test crick-et.

“I realised my passion for cricket at avery young age and since then I have beenstriving to give my 100 per cent effort dayin and day out. Every step I took toimprove my game was aimed at takingIndia’s name to a higher level,” he said in astatement.

“Till the time my body allows, I willcontinue to do so, and by God's grace afterthat as well,” the pacer added in the state-ment that he shared on his official Twitterhandle. The 31-year-old, who has played 97Tests, 80 ODIs and 14 T20Is for India, is oneof the 27 sportspersons who have been hon-oured with the Arjuna Award this year. He,

however, could not attend the online cere-mony due to his IPL commitments here.

“I sincerely thank the (sports) ministryfor this recognition.

“Lastly, a huge shout out to BCCI forgiving monumental support in this journeyand the journey going forward. Not to for-get, congratulations to all the fellow ArjunaAwardees,” he added.

Ishant is here with his Delhi Capitalsteammates for the 13th edition of the IndianPremier League (IPL), which is slated to startfrom September 19.

���� �6�5

Royal Challengers Bangalore captainVirat Kohli on Saturday posted

pictures from his training session withhis teammates. This was the squad's firstpractice session after they completedtheir six-day quarantine in the UAEahead of the 13th edition of the IndianPremier League (IPL) which is set tobegin on September 19.

“Been 5 months since the last timeI stepped onto the field. Felt like 6 dayswhen I got into the nets. Great first ses-sion with the boys @royalchallengers-bangalore (sic.),” said Kohli in his cap-tion to the pictures on his social mediahandles.

The team had earlier indulged in ateam-building session after completingtheir mandatory quarantine period.

The 2020 season of the IPL had tobe shifted to the UAE due to theCOVID-19 situation in India. Thetournament was originally scheduled tostart on March 29 and was initially post-poned till April 15. It was then put offindefinitely due to the lockdown in thecountry that was imposed to deal withthe virus.

The 31-year-old last played inIndia’s Test series in New Zealand. Hewas set to lead the side in an ODI seriesat home against South Africa in March.While the first match of the series inDharamsala was washed off, theremaining matches were called offdue to the pandemic and the SouthAfrican side were escorted back to theircountry.

"��� �2���2345

Two cricketers among a total of13 COVID-19 cases and all-

rounder Suresh Raina’s pulloutowing to “personal reasons” causedquite a bit of turbulence for theupcoming IPL on Saturday withChennai Super Kings being theworst hit franchise.

Raina, who retired from inter-national cricket earlier this month,decided to “return home for per-sonal reasons" as his team CSKgrappled with 13 confirmedCOVID-19 cases in its camp. Thetournament starts September 19and will be played across three citiesin the UAE.

“Thirteen personnel have test-ed positive of which 2 are players.All the affected personnel as well astheir close contacts are asympto-matic and have been isolated fromother team members. They arebeing monitored by the IPLMedical Team,” the BCCI pressrelease stated without naming thefranchise.

The two players who have test-ed positive include a white-ball T20specialist seamer for India and atop-order India A batsman. TheBoard did not reveal any names.

The BCCI stated that a total of1,988 RT-PCR COVID-19 testswere carried out between August 20and 28 across all participant groups

in the UAE.The ones tested include players,

support staff, team management,BCCI staff, IPL operational team,hotel and ground transport staff.

“As per the IPL 2020 Healthand Safety Protocols, testing on allparticipants will be conducted reg-ularly throughout the IPL 2020Season,” it further stated.

All positive cases need to gothrough a 14-day quarantine peri-od following which they will haveto return two negative RT-PCR testsbefore being allowed inside the bio-bubble for the tournament.

Raina’s pullout came as a shock-er and so far, it is being attributedto his desire for some downtime

with his young family in these test-ing times. The player is yet to issuea formal statement on his reasonsfor coming back.

“Suresh Raina has returned toIndia for personal reasons and willbe unavailable for the remainder ofthe IPL season. Chennai SuperKings offers complete support toSuresh and his family during thistime,” CSK tweeted CEO KasiViswanathan’s statement.

CSK’s quarantine period inDubai has already been extendedtill September 1.

“Suresh’s absence will be a bigblow for the CSK and also, he is oneof the biggest draws in IPL. But inthese times, if any player doesn’t feel

100 per cent and has some otherpressing priorities, any teamrespects that and CSK is no differ-ent,” a senior IPL official privy todevelopment in CSK camp told PTIon conditions of anonymity.

While it couldn’t be officiallyconfirmed but speculation was rifethat a family tragedy coupled witha spike in COVID-19 cases in theteam might have disturbed theformer India left-hander whoretired on August 15 alongside hisskipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Amid all this, there was somegood news as well with RajasthanRoyals fielding coach DishantYagnik recovering from COVID-19to join the squad in Dubai.

He has completed his 14-dayquarantine along with two negativereports as he joined the squad inDubai.

While it is understood that thehigh-profile event is not underthreat as of now but one franchisebecoming a “COVID-19 hotspot”is slowly becoming an issue forother teams as well as the BCCI.

“If there are 13 cases from onlyone franchise then it is an issue forsure for everyone. The biggestaspect will be whether foreigncricketers will now start being pan-icky as they are more touchy aboutthese issues,” an official said.

“We need to keep a tab on play-ers’ mental health,” he added.

"��� �2���2345

India’s sporting heroes werebestowed the annual national

awards in an unparalleled onlineceremony amid the COVID-19pandemic during which athleteslogged in from multiple cities to behonoured by President Ram NathKovind on Saturday.

This year a whopping 74 win-ners were picked for the nationalhonours, including an unprece-dented five Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatnas and 27 Arjuna awardees. Ofthese, 60 attended the virtual cere-mony conducted across 11 SportsAuthority of India (SAI) centres invarious cities.

Cricketers Rohit Sharma (KhelRatna) and Ishant Sharma (Arjuna)missed out due to their IPL com-mitments in the UAE, while starwrestler Vinesh Phogat (KhelRatna) and badminton playerSatwiksairaj Rankireddy (Arjuna)had to pull out of the ceremony aftertesting positive for the dreadedvirus.

The other three Khel Ratnawinners — TT player Manika Batra,Paralympic gold-medallistMariyappan Thangavelu andwomen’s hockey captain RaniRampal — attended the ceremony.

While Batra logged in fromPune, Thangavelu and Rampaljoined from Bengaluru.

President Kovind applaudedas names of the attending awardeeswere called out and their achieve-ments were cited as is the conven-tion. Missing, however, was thegrandeur of the RashtrapatiBhavan’s Durbar Hall.

“This is the first awards cere-mony in COVID times duringwhich the President has participat-ed,” Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju saidat the beginning of the ceremony.

The athletes can look forwardto enhanced cash awards this year.The prize money for the KhelRatna was increased to Rs 25 lakhfrom the previous amount of Rs 7.5lakh this morning.

Arjuna awardees, 22 of whoattended the ceremony, were given

Rs 15 lakh, which is Rs 10 lakh morethan the previous sum.

The Dhronacharya (Lifetime)awardees, who were earlier given Rs5 lakh, were awarded Rs 15 lakh,while the regular Dhronacharyacame with Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs

5 lakh per awardee.Dhyanchand Awardees were

given Rs 10 lakh instead of Rs 5lakh.

The strict COVID-19 protocolmeant that for the first time in 44years' history of the awards, the win-ners, guests and dignitaries did notgather at the Durbar Hall to berecognised for their excellence.

President Kovind congratulat-ed all the winners and exudedconfidence that India can achieve itsgoal of finishing among top-10countries in the 2028 Los AngelesOlympics.

“My heartiest congratulations toall the award winners! All of you,through your performance, haveprovided unforgettable moments ofcollective success to all Indians,”Kovind said in his address duringthe ceremony, which lasted littlemore than hour.

“I am confident that with thecollective efforts made on thestrength of everyone’s participation,India will emerge as a sportingsuperpower.

“Our goal is to be in the top-10podium finisher countries in the2028 Olympic Games. We will def-initely achieve this goal.”

Kovind said India needs todevelop a sporting culture andeveryone should work towardsachieving that.

He said the entire sportingworld has been affected by the pan-demic, but hoped athletes willcome out stronger from this expe-rience.

“COVID-19 also has a hugeimpact on the sports world.Olympic Games have been post-poned...In our country too, allsports activities have been affected.Players and coaches may be lessmotivated by practice and compe-tition stops,” he said.

“I believe that the people ofsports will come out of this test withmore mental strength and will cre-ate new history of achievements.”

The top Arjuna awardees thisyear included star sprinter DuteeChand, woman cricketer DeeptiSharma, golfer Aditi Ashok and

men's hockey team strikerAkashdeep Singh.

The Dronacharya award in thelife-time category was bestowed oneight coaches, the prominentamong them being archery coachDharmendra Tiwary, NareshKumar (tennis), Shiv Singh (boxing)and Romesh Pathania (hockey).

In regular category, there werefive recipients of the Dronacharya,including hockey coach Jude Felixand shooting coach Jaspal Ranaamong others.

In a tragic turn of events ofFriday, a Dronacharya (Lifetime)winner, athletics coachPurushottam Rai, died in Bengaluruafter suffering a heart attack.

The Dhyan Chand award thisyear was given to 15 individuals,including Sukhvinder Singh Sandhu(football), Trupti Murgunde (bad-minton) and Nandan Bal (tennis)among others.

Aditi Ashok and former foot-baller Sukhwinder Singh Sandhudid not attend the award functionas they are out of the country.

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No 1-ranked Novak Djokovicand former top-30 memberVasek Pospisil would be the co-

presidents of a new group they are try-ing to set up to represent men’s pro-fessional tennis players.

A letter emailed to players — andobtained by The Associated Press onFriday — pushes the formation of aProfessional Tennis PlayersAssociation, abbreviated PTPA.

Sent around shortly beforeMonday's start of the US Open, the let-ter says its objective is “to solicit sup-port from players to form an associ-ation with a mandate to promote, pro-tect and represent the interests of itsplayers ... And protect the future oftennis.”

Tennis players never have had aunion the way North American teamsports do. Each player is consideredan independent contractor.

“Unlike many other professionalsports, men’s professional tennis hasnever had a representative body thatis represented for players by players,”the email said.

The men’s tennis tour is organisedby the ATP; the women’s tennis touris run by the WTA. Djokovic is thepresident of the ATP Player Counciland Pospisil has been a member fortwo years, but he tweeted Friday

night that he was resigning.“It has become clear that, as a play-

er council member within the currentstructure of the ATP, it is very diffi-cult, if not impossible, to have any sig-nificant impact on any major decisionsmade by our tour,” Pospisil wrote.

There was talk earlier this year,prompted largely by tweets from 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger

Federer, about the possibility of merg-ing the men's and women’s tours.

This proposal would set up some-thing just for men ranked in the top500 in singles and top 200 in doubles.

“The goal of the PTPA is not toreplace the ATP but to provide play-ers with a self-governance structurethat is independent from the ATP andis directly responsive to player-mem-

bers’ needs and concerns,” the emailsaid.

The letter said the PTPA would begoverned by board of trustees with upto nine members, elected annually.

The trustees would appoint twoco-presidents with two-year terms—and that first leadership duo would beDjokovic, a 33-year-old from Serbiawho owns 17 Grand Slam singles tro-

phies, and Pospisil, a 30-year-oldfrom Canada who won the 2014Wimbledon doubles title and is cur-rently No 92 in singles.

Among the areas the PTPA wouldlook into, according to the email: ATPand tournament rules and regulations,revenue sharing, disciplinary actions,pensions, travel, on-site food andamenities, insurance and medicalcare.

There would be a dues structurewith players paying an amount basedon their ranking — from a high in sin-gles of USD 1,500 for those from 1-50 down to USD 75 for those in spots401-500, and a high in doubles of USD1,000 for those 1-30.

The total fees listed in the letterwould bring in USD 317,500 each year.

The email asks players to sign aletter backing the PTPA, and says “ifa significant number of players sup-port this initiative we will move for-ward” with writing bylaws and propos-ing a board of trustees.

At least one player is on the recordas saying he'll sign on: 2016Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic.

“Players have had plenty of timeto think and reflect and take a look atcertain parts which they may not behappy with and discuss," Raonic saidFriday after reaching the Western &Southern Open final.

“A lot of us were kept in the darkby our leadership for six months. Wewere disappointed with many things.I voiced my opinion on many things,such as ... Executives in other sportstaking pay cuts to support us. As ten-nis players, we weren’t making adime for months and months. ...Lower guys weren’t making a dime,”Raonic said.

“But our executives were stayinghome and didn’t feel it necessary totake any pay cuts. I pushed for that onevery single phone call we had.”

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Naomi Osaka pulled out ofthe Western & Southern

Open final Saturday becauseof a left hamstring injury, giv-ing the title to VictoriaAzarenka in a walkover.

The tournamentannounced Osaka’s decisionabout 90 minutes before thechampionship match wassupposed to begin in LouisArmstrong Stadium at thesite of the U.S. Open.

The Western & SouthernOpen normally is held inOhio but was moved to NewYork this year because of thecoronavirus pandemic as partof a two-tournament "con-trolled environment.”

The U.S. Open startsMonday. One of Osaka’s twoGrand Slam titles came atFlushing Meadows in 2018.

“I’m sorry to have towithdraw today with aninjury,” Osaka said in a state-ment released by the Western& Southern Open.

“I pulled my left ham-string yesterday in the secondset tiebreak and it has notrecovered overnight as I hadhoped. This has been anemotional week and I want tothank everyone for the out-pouring of support.” Osaka,a 22-year-old who was bornin Japan and is now based inthe U.S., brought the push for

racial justice to the tennistour by saying she was notgoing to play in her semifi-nal, joining athletes in theNBA, Major League Baseballand other sports in sitting outthis week in reaction to thepolice shooting in Wisconsinof a Black man, Jacob Blake.

Osaka’s stance promptedthe tournament to say it wastaking a “pause” to back thecause and scrapping allscheduled matches forThursday.

When play resumedFriday, Osaka did compete,and she beat Elise Mertens 6-2, 7-6 (5). But Osaka grabbedher left hamstring after chas-ing a ball during thetiebreaker.

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England batsman Ollie Popewill be out of action for up

to four months after dislocat-ing his left shoulder in thethird and final cricket testagainst Pakistan.

Pope landed awkwardlyMonday after diving to pre-vent a boundary on Day 4 of

the drawn match. Englandwon the series.

The timing of the injurymay help Pope.

“It is hoped that Popewill return in time forEngland's winter tours of SriLanka and India starting in

the early part of 2021,” theEngland and Wales CricketBoard said in a statement onFriday.

The 22-year-old Pope leftthe field immediately and willundergo an operation in thenext couple of weeks.

Pope out for up to 4 months with shoulder injury

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Page 12: ˇ ˆ ˘ ˙˝ ˛ ˚ ˆ ˜ ˆ...2020/08/29  · leges, educational and coaching institutions will continue to remain closed for students and regular class activity up to 30th September

The COVID-19 pandemic hasimpacted each and every sector.Fashion industry is no excep-

tion and has left its mark with everyindividual. Those who think that theterm only denotes couture and henceexpensive, couldn’t have got it morewrong. One doesn’t have to wearexpensive couture to be in fashion.Ready to wear clothing is fashion too,says Monisha Jaising. She is one ofIndia’s first and foremost fashiondesigners, and was also one of the firstto exhibit and retail through ensem-ble.

She tells you that in order tounderstand fashion one has to firstunderstand the difference betweenready to wear and custom-made. “Inthe fashion world when one saysready-to-wear it means Prêt short forPrêt-à-Porter, a French word whichtranslates to ready-to-wear. It is highquality fashion produced in factoriesin a range, sizes and quality to fit themajority of people. Custom-made isone of a kind clothing that reflects thestyle of the designer who has made it.However, in India, ready-to-wearmeans clothing we buy off the shelfand custom-made means clothingmade by the tailor, an ageold prac-tice. Both work as long as theperson wearing them feelscomfortable in it,” Jaisingexplains.

One is told that design-ers too are thinking differ-ently. “They are all think-ing post COVID-19.The virus is not some-thing that will disappearfrom our lives. Fashionhas changed. Theremay be other virusesout there in the futuregiven the way we areabusing Nature. Thisis a wake-up call forall designers.Everyone is think-ing differently andthe future of fash-ion is definitelygoing to change.Due to the pan-demic people arehaving smaller wed-dings and thereforethey are getting used tominimalist living andcelebration. Health isgoing to be of primeimportance. Eventhough health will beimportant, it doesn’tmean that one needs tocompromise on fashion.Fashion is all aboutlifestyle; it is the way welive. Whilst everything ischanging and one is mov-ing towards a healthierlifestyle, fashion too willchange and become more

functional and minimalistic,” Jaisingsays.

However, minimalistic doesn’tmean that one will have to compro-mise on luxury. It will just mean thatpeople will go for clothing that iseasy to wear, carry and store. It alsomeans that they will be looking forclothing that can be worn more thanonce.

“Take the wedding lehenga forexample. With the weddings withsmaller gatherings and reduced func-tions, instead of three-four functions,it would most probably be down toone. The bride-to-be may not want alehenga in which she will look like aChristmas tree, though some may pre-fer to do so. But most will be wantinga lehenga that is more functional withpockets where she can put the facemask and sanitiser. It should be some-thing in which she is comfortable andable to breathe given that she will alsobe wearing a mask, something that shecan zip in and out. It would be advis-able for the bride-to-be to put aghoonghat — it will add to the pro-tection,” Jaising tells you.

Material one chooses for thelehenga will be just as important.

Materials that are smooth andsilky should be a strict no-no.

“Porous and rough texturematerials are better. Thiswill allow the wearerbreathing space. Colour

too would play a big rolegiven that people have started

having Zoom parties. Whilepeople may not be able to tell the

material one is wearing what willstand out are the bright colours.

Colours will play an important role.For Indian skin tone bright coloursalways work. Those wanting towear darker ones, they will have to

look at their skin tone. But most peo-ple know what colours suit them,” shesays.

Interestingly, what is makingdesigners do a rethink on fashion isbecause there has been no disease that

has been so infec-tious. “In the last10 years, therehasn’t been a dis-ease which is socontagious that iswhy it is every-where. Also, theworld hasbecome a small-er place. There isso much contact.Our populationhas also increased,there is rat-race.Hence, the virus isalso doing a rat-race and has madethe world take towork virtuallyincluding thefashion industry.We are alreadyhaving virtualrunway shows.We are alreadyhaving conversa-tions with cus-tomers online.

While this isnot the future,what will hap-pen is that therewill be a combi-nation of work-ing offline andonline even ifthe virus is notthere willemerge thatwill increaseone’s efficien-c y , ”J a i s i n gsays.

�How did you get into acting?I used to do plays in my

school in Chhapra tehsil in Sarandistrict, Bihar. I prepared for engi-neering (IIT) but ended by doing

BSc but decided to drop MScsince I didn’t want to end

up being aProfessor. That

is when Idecid-

ed to pursue acting. Back then, in the80s, it was not an ideal career choice toget into theatre or cinema in Bihar eventhough I had permission from my par-ents. I started my training and got intotheatre. �In your films you have played variedroles, a character that you loveddoing?

I have not had a favourite character.I have never paid attention to thesethings. As an actor, it is my job to give agood performance. And till I get roles, I

will continue to do my job the bestway possible. There can’t be a role

that I can choose as a favourite.One can’t love only one leaf on atree, similarly, one can’t chooseone role.�You began your career withTV and went on to do films.What were the challengesfaced?

Actually, it started fromdoing theatre. I have been asso-

ciated with it for the last 36years. I still do theatre. There are

no challenges involved when oneis an actor. He has to give his best

performance wherever he is andwhatever be the genre and medium.

Acting is the same; you train yourselfaccordingly, be it theatre or cinema.�Would you agree that TV will soonbe replaced with OTT platforms?

It is very difficult to predict whatwill happen in the future. When TVcame in, people used to say that TV ishere to stay forever. There was a timewhen people would not come to watch9 pm play because they preferred tostay at home and watch TV. But thingshave changed. People are tired of TVand looking for newer ways to entertainthemselves. Whether OTT will replaceTV will depend on the kind of contentthat will be available on it. But onething that will not go away is cinema.�What made you say yes to playingRavan in Ramayan back in 2008?

Ravan is not a negative character,he is not the villain. He is a symbol ofwhat one should do and what not to dofor generations to come. He symbolisesmany things — greed, pride, untruthand demolition. On the other hand, is alearned scholar and is intelligent. Thisis what Ramayan has shown — thattheir will Ravans in every yug.�How tough was it to play the role?

When the original Ramayan wasaired, it was a landmark show. It is

impossible to better it. I told the makersthat it is difficult to play this character.But they insisted and expressed theirdesire that I take it up. I spent almostfour hours in discussion with AnandSagarji. We talked about the variousfacets of Ravan. Finally, I agreed on onecondition, that I play the role the way Ideemed fit and nobody was to interferein that. I didn’t want him to be eitherrealistic nor make him a mythical char-acter but wanted him to be placedsomewhere in between. I tried tohumanise him. Why should he not cry?There is no human being who is devoidof emotions.�Did you have to prepare for therole?

Before I finally got to the sets, Istudied a lot about Ravan, the storiesassociated with him, books written onhim. There are so many things that Iread that many would not even know.By the time it was time for me to playthe role, I had a fair idea of what he waslike — his negatives and positives, whyand how he became what we see himas. This made it possible for me to givemy interpretation to the role. Also, eachday, I would be prepared to play therole differently.

� What is your role in Mafia?I play Ritwik. He is a calm, composed and family-oriented per-

son. He is married to Priyanka; it is an arranged marriage. He isdoing well in his life.� How easy was it to identify with your character?

In a way yes. However, there are parts of his character that Icouldn’t identify with. In the series, Ritwik comes from a very ortho-dox North Kolkata Ghoti family. I was not aware of this commu-nity. I had to really work on the orthodox aspect of my character.He wants a wife who will stay at home and be there for him.� From Jaipur to Mumbai, how has the journey been?

I am from Ajmer actually. From there to Mumbai has had itsups and downs. I saw many hardships. I did my engineering andeven worked for three years. But then I got selected for Film andTelevision Institute of India in Pune. At FTII, the two years wereamazing. I got to learn so many things and gave me a lot of con-fidence. After that I came to Mumbai and did a few series for CrimePatrol. Then I got my break in 2016 with an international film asa lead character — CRD on Netflix. But before I got this break, Ihad no work so I took acting workshops. I did theatre and evenwrote for it. That kept me in rhythm. In 2017, I got another greatfilm — Cat Sticks — that did the international film festival circuit.I then went on to do a short film, Grey and then a Hindi film —Nameplate. Then I got Mafia in 2019.� Do you think it is important for actors to talk about their strug-gles in detail rather than gloss over it?

I had to struggle as well. But my parents supported me finan-cially. But there were so many of my friends whom I have seen com-pletely change because of the things that they had to go through.Their struggles made them a different person altogether. They hadto compromise because they had no money. While it is good toknow that the other person also struggled and overcame it, youcan’t escape yours; it is a personal journey that each has to under-

take.� How did acting happen?

I was always interested in acting. Back in 2003, there wasa boom in engineering colleges in India. I come from a mid-dle-class family. My father spent a lot of money so that I could

study engineering. He wanted me to have a financially securefuture. I worked since I didn’t have any other option given my fam-

ily background. In India we respect our parents and didn’t wantto go against their wishes. It took a lot of time for them to haveconfidence in me that I would be able to make a name for myself.� What made you say yes to films like CRD, Cat Sticks andNameplate?

To be honest, I didn’t have any other choice. It was much laterthat the director was a National Award winner — Kranti Kanade.I had a year to prepare myself for this film. This changed every-thing for me.� You write stage plays as well. How did you get interest in this?

I have always been interested in a scene and the drama thatcomes with it. Theatre is all about drama. My plays don’t involvea big set-up or require art direction. They are about the actor onthe stage and his audience. My plays are performance-based.� How do you pick your projects?

Now, I do. Money is the last thing that I look for in the pro-ject. If I have enough money in my account to make me comfort-able, I take up projects that interest me and yet pay less. The scriptand the director are important for me. I am not a celebrated actor.I get calls from first-time directors who have a small budget andwant to make a film with me. Projects like Mafia pay me well andmake it possible for me to take up good but less paying work.� How much is enough money?

It is a feeling for internal security. One would need more moneyif one had a big family. At present, it is just my wife and me andwe have enough to get by. Also, our wants are limited and we arehappy with what we have. My priority for now is to work with agood director.� What next?

Grey and Nameplate will soon be released on the OTT plat-form. I am also doing a film where I play a chef from Goa. We weresupposed to start the shoot but these are uncertain times and don’tknow when the shoot will begin.

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He shot to fame for his role as Kroor Singh in the1990s DD series Chandrakanta. He went on to

do films like Ready and Delhi 6. The actorwill now be seen in the re-televised 2008

Ramayan on Dangal TV. Shalini Saksena chats him up

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Are you craving for a cup of coffeefrom your favourite café and are

wondering when it will open so youcan slay your craving? Are you a per-fectionist when it comes to a cup ofcoffee and freshly brewed cup is yourmantra? Believe it or not all this andmuch more is possible now with PourOver Brew Bags.

One can make the strongest cof-fee with just two ingredients: brew bagand a cup with hot water. Place theflaps of the sachet on either side of thecup, tear the sachet open and pour 30ml (approximately 1/4th cup) of hotboiling water. Allow the water to per-colate and a gourmet cup of coffee isready! The coffee can be enjoyedeither black or can be topped withsome milk/sugar as per taste. Thebrew bags come in a pack of 10sachets. It’s priced at Rs 400 for thepack.

Lakshmi Dasaka, co-founder-COO, Slay tells you that the idea to

introduce brew bags is to reach out toa wider customer base, where the cof-fee stores are not available. “We wantour product to become a default go to,whether it is to order through thedelivery app service providers or to

make a gourmet coffee at home.Since they are available online, peo-ple can order it in even fromsmaller cities and towns andenjoy a good cup of cof-fee,” Dasaka says.

She tells you that theidea to introduce brewbags was to make it easyfor the consumer to makea fresh cup of coffee fromthe comforts of theirhome. “Usually, if onewants to make a freshbrew one has to firstground the coffee andthen filter it through thefilter paper to get a decoc-tion.

“With these bags wehave eliminated two-threesteps and made it easy forthe consumers. They alsodon’t need a filter; all theyhave to do is open thebag, pour boiling hotwater and let the liquid

filter through and within minutes, onehas a fresh cup of the strongest cof-

fee. One can add a dash of milkand sugar,” Dasaka says.

There is a reason whythey chose to introducebags for the strongest coffee.“Even before the pandemic,we would get comments thatthey wanted us to deliverthem a cup of strong coffee.

We realised that

people in India love strong coffee.While we will soon be introducingbrew bags with other flavours, wedecided to go with this first,” Dasakaexplains.

Not only this, the brand has alsoadded to their kitty of coffee withLavender (hot), Caramel (hot andcold) and Watermelon (cold) coffees.Those who like flowery smells, laven-der is an excellent choice. When youopen the seal, the smell that emits isamazing. But if you are more tradi-tional, then caramel is a good optionas well, especially, cold. The flavourhits the taste buds brilliantly.

Though for many watermelonand lavender coffees may soundstrange but Dasaka tells you that nonew flavour is introduced withouttesting by over a 100real-time con-sumer and internal team. Lavender(hot) won hands down over cold asdid watermelon (cold). For now,watermelon is not available in Delhithough in Bengaluru this coffee is get-ting rave reviews from the customers.

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Pandemic has resulted into chal-lenges for all. The pressure toperform has increased amidstall the changing businessrequirements. Many organisa-

tions are restructuring, and a few peopleare losing their jobs. Airbnb recently hadto let go 25% of their staff. Sometimes awhole unit is shutdown but many timesit is downsizing by a percentage. Peoplejudged to be lower in performance arebeing let go.

But who judges your performance?The buck usually stops with your manag-er. In the post-pandemic world whenyou are working remotely this is evenmore so. Now, there is a limited opportu-nity to showcase your work beyond yourmanager and chances are that he/she hasmore influence on your career.

What if you are working for a micro-manager? It was tough to please themanager even when you were in office.Now the manager may feel even moreinsecure when you are not in front ofhis/her eyes and suspects or even blamesyou of shirking work and taking thingslightly. Manager is under pressure to per-form and may believe that you are onewho is letting him/her down. In the postpandemic world, as the manager may bethe only tether with which you are con-nected to the organisation, you do notwant to be in this situation. So how doyou handle a micromanager and comeout as a winner not just a survivor?

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A tough manager may not necessari-ly be a micromanager. A manager whopushes you to do more may also not be amicromanager. A workaholic managermay not be the micromanager you sus-pect him/her to be. Consider the follow-ing to determine if you are working for amicromanager.

● Decision making: A micromanag-er likes to keep all the decision making tohimself/herself. The manager wants youto come up with options for him/her tomake the choice. Each option needs to bedeveloped to a certain level for their con-sideration, multiplying your work. Themanager will remind you about the lastdecisions he/she took and the impact itmade and make you feel incompetent tomake decisions of your own.

● Find faults: When the managerreviews your work, he/she will find faultsfirst. A micromanager will not take thetime to acknowledge the improvementsfrom last time, he/she will highlight theproblems and start working on it them-selves. He/she do not trust you to do agood job. Instead of helping you becomebetter by providing feedback, he/she willsend you the final copy, asking you tolearn from your “mistakes”. The managerbelieves he/she is better than any of theteam members.

● Frequent Updates: The managerseeks frequent updates / reports onprogress. He/she expects you to slackoff, expects problems in your work, giveyou less time than required for the jobbecause he/she believes that he/she willhave to work on it anyways. If youspend more than 10% of your timemaking reports for your manager, itmay mean that you are working for amicromanager.

● Create Dependence: The managerkeeps critical connections/knowledge/information to themselves and create a

dependence on himself/herself. Themanager believes that you cannot betrusted with more or that you may not beable to handle it. The manager will makeyou feel that you still have a long way togo and without his/her help, you may notbe able to take a step.

● Create Undue Pressure: Since themanager is the critical piece in any work,he/she may be overwhelmed. He/she willcome to review your task only close tothe deadline and then find faults in itrequiring you to work outside of officehours to make the changes. And stillhave the audacity to tell you that, ‘Youshould know better’ and that he/she hasto work hard just because he/she has todeal with your incompetence. Themicromanager keeps on the edge.

��������� ���������� �The main thing is to take charge of

the situation. Instead of being the victimof circumstances, become the master ofyour own destiny. Not every pointer willwork for your situation as each situationis unique. So, take your pick from thefollowing suggestions.

LOOK INSIDE!Do begin with an introspection and

self-awareness. Does the manager behavethe same with all? Or does he/she reservea special treatment for you alone. Thereare chances that you are the reason for allthe micromanaging that you are getting.

● Observe: Find out what treatmentyour colleagues are getting. It was easierwhen you were in office, but you shouldget some opportunities to observe thebehaviour of your manager towardsother colleagues during staff calls. Youcan also schedule one on one discussionswith some colleagues to discuss experi-ences and compare notes. If others arefacing similar challenges, then it pointsto the fact that you may not be the cul-prit here.

● Seek Feedback: You can also seekfeedback from friendly colleagues. Keepan open mind. Feedback can be ugly, andit may be difficult to accept it. Seek feed-back from at least a couple of people, donot depend on one person’s views. Whenseeking feedback make sure that youseek specific instances and relevantdetails to gain insights from them. If youreceive non-specific feedback that tellsyou that things are generally good thatmay not mean much. People may be shy-ing away from telling you about your

shortcomings. This may mean that youmust work on your team relationships.

If you receive specific feedback aboutcertain elements, then that will becomethe starting point. In the next sectionsyou will see many pointers to help youdeal with specific issues as you work tomakeover your image.

DO EXPRESSYour manager may not even know

about what you are feeling unless youtake the opportunity to talk about it. It isimportant to express your concern in theright way.

● Not a complaint: Do share yourfeelings. The feedback in not about aperson but a situation. It should be howyou felt and how it impacts you. Also feelfree to share what would make you feelbetter.

● Be specific: What was said, whenit was said and what you felt, why youfelt that way should definitely beincluded.

● It is about both: When you share,make sure that it should notcome as you are talking onlyabout his/her behaviour. Beopen to listen. Seek feedbacktoo.

BE DEPENDABLE● Deliver on time, every time: Even

if the manager is not satisfied with thequality of work you deliver, make surethat you are dependable when it comesto timely submission of work.

● Make agreements early in thecycle: Whenever you get a new task,make sure to get an agreement onthe structure/agenda. Seek time todiscuss the plans with your manag-er and get his/her inputs. This will showhim/her that you take your work serious-ly and that you are sincerely trying yourbest. Also, this will help set a boundaryon deliveries and check-ins.

● Regular and consistent reporting:The micromanager wants to feel in con-trol and wants to be sure that things areprogressing. He/she will appreciate thefact that the progress is being sharedwith him/her regularly. Instead of send-ing out a dedicated email on the topic,use the new tools such as Microsoftteams, SharePoint, OneDrive, GoogleDocs or Google drive to create a shareddocument or space where the updatedstatus is available on a regular agreed fre-quency. This may take pressure off andyou will start building some confidence.

● Support in management report-ing: The manager sends out reports tothe leadership team on the progress ofvarious projects. He/she may be using aspecific format for your projects and maybe doing some extra work to convertyour inputs into a report more consum-able by the leadership. If you can provideyour inputs in such a way that the man-ager does not have to rework, that willshow the manager that you are willing togo the extra mile.

BUILD BONDS & STRENGTHENTHE RELATIONSHIP

Human beings want to reciprocate. Ifyou do good to someone, they feel oblig-ated to return the favour. You can readmore about it in The 100/0 Principle: TheSecret of Great Relationships by Al Ritter.

● Seek mentorship and career guid-ance: Regularly connect with the manag-er for discussing career development.

Seek his/her guidance. Connectingmonthly is a good practice. Make sureyou share your personal and professionalaspirations with the manager and seekhelp to make advancements. The manag-er may initially give you a lot of feedback.Some of that will help you understandhis/her perception of your abilities. Seekguidance and make efforts to improve.Be consistent and share these efforts dur-ing your regular reviews.

● Work closely with colleagues:Help your colleagues when they needyou. Support them as they present theirprojects. Seek their help when you needit. The better you are connected to theteam the better it is.

SEEK TO UNDERSTAND THE BIGPICTURE

● Know the why: Your ability torelate to organisational and departmentalgoals will help you refine your work.Make sure that you incorporate theimprovements in the projects/worksbased on your understanding of ‘why’.When you bring these perspectives inyour communication and work, yourmanager will be more confident of yourabilities.

● Align with the how: Eachorganisation has their own values.Make sure that the work you do alignswith those values. For example, if oneof the values is “Customer First” andyou are working on a cost reductioninitiative, make sure that you do notcompromise on this value. You mayhave to work harder to find a way toreduce the cost while delivering better

experience to cus-tomers but in the

long run yourefforts will pay.

Again, make surethat you highlight

what you are doing andexplain the why.

MAKE YOUR MANAGER SUCCESSFUL● Understand any concerns: The

manager may be insecure about some-thing — the overall success of the projector his/her own reputation or his/her owncareer progress. If you proactively under-stand concerns, it will help you under-stand how you can be in alignment withthe manager’s goals. The more you alignto the goals the better your relationshipwith the manager. You can seek someinputs in your one-on-one with the man-ager to understand the top priorities. Incurrent environment, do prefer to havethese calls as video calls where possible.

● Work with stakeholders: Everyproject that has linkages with otherdepartments can only be successful withthe support from other stakeholders. Itwill be great if you can be proactive andseek inputs from other stakeholders asyou work. If you keep them informedand engaged the projects will havegreater acceptability. The manager will bemore confident on your work.

● Get credit to your manager too:Make sure that you highlight the contri-butions of the manager in the success ofthe project. You must never seek to getall the credit yourself. If your managergets his/her due, he/she will feel morealigned and secure with you.

These steps will help you navigatethe situation and develop more align-ment with your manager, try them out!

The writer is an author. She has justpublished Get Your Next Promotion with

SAGE Publications India

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Hit by the coronavirus storm, economies are cluelessand running for cover. Champions of free marketeconomy often quote Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand

doctrine as the panacea for all economic ills. No differentthis time. They suggested that an economy can work in afree market where every one strives for personal interest. Thatwas Laissez Faire, advocated over two centuries ago. Therewere many takers and with collapse of Marxism the worldbecame a global village for free market votaries leading tonew models of disruption and growth. Social Darwinism wasthe new mantra. But, man proposes, God disposes. So onehuge disruption by the nature upset the apple cart.Economies fell like nine pins as the pandemic brought theglobe to a screeching halt. Taken unawares, the free markettheorists were at their wit’s end as the IMF believed that glob-al economy was in distress. With global forecasts project-ing gloom, answers to the loss of livelihoods are hard to find.The big question for humanity is where to find solace. Theobvious answer seems to lie now in the visible hand, withthe invisible one vanishing completely. The control and com-mand structure of Governments that were thought super-fluous appear to be the only silver lining. As the big govern-ment returns, strategies are being worked out for coping withthe current global economic crisis. What to do and how todo are the questions to be addressed. Indian History has someclues. The 1784 famine of Lucknow (then Awadh) had throwna similar challenge to the then Nawab, Asaf-ud Daula. Thefamine persisted for long, affecting both the rich and the poor.There was a great pressure on the Nawab to keep the econ-omy going and protect lives and livelihoods. He decided togo for a huge construction project. But there was a uniqueangle to the project. While the poor labourers would carryon the construction work in the day time, the noblemen andthe rich were asked to demolish the constructed structureat night. This continued and the Nawab could sail throughthe crisis. For those who are interested in history, it was thiseconomic strategy that was behind the construction of thenow famous monument of Lucknow in India, the BadaImambara. Interestingly, this economic prudence of theNawab to stimulate the economy worked much before Keynespropounded his theory. What the Nawab visualised, andKeynes realised 150 years later, was that governmentspending has a catalysing effect on reviving an economyunder distress. Economic stimulation is a process that mustbe initiated by government spending, and once the revivalstarts, the private capitalists start putting in money. It is thisfiscal multiplier effect that pulls out an economy from a reces-sion. It is thus the visible hand that does the trick in timesof a crisis when the invisible hand has failed. Unconventionaltimes call for unconventional approaches. As democracieslike US, European Union and India struggle to revitalise theireconomies, the approach of the Indian Nawab adopted overtwo centuries and a quarter ago makes sense. But it is impor-tant to understand that big governments do not always haveto use the heavy hand. At times it is the big heart that makesthe important difference. The invisible hand theory, then,works in fair weather.

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We are always carrying out actswith our bodies, minds andspeech. In this classification,

the mind and the speech are mentionedseparately, because their functions needto be highlighted. Mind is always busythinking about all sorts of things. It issaid that there are on average 50,000thoughts per day. Even during sleepwhen the brain is active, the mind mustbe too. The speech has been singled outof all the senses, because it makes a bigdifference in our lives. Suppose we speakangrily to someone, we evoke a nega-tive reaction almost instantly. On theother hand, if we appreciate someone,we endear ourselves to that person.

There are two types of acts — mate-rial and spiritual. Material acts are basi-cally in relation to material objects likethe use of hands to do some physicalwork or walk to go to some place.Spiritual acts are in relation to the spir-it, that is either soul or God. Prayer saidto God is one example, and treat oth-ers as equal souls, irrespective of theirbodies is another. (The Gita 13.27)

To start with the material acts, allacts done either by the body or the mindor the speech come to fruition. Mostly,there is a time lag but some acts bringinstant result. Some of the acts come tofruition in future lives. That is what dis-tinguishes horoscopes of different peo-ple. Then, some acts bring smallrewards like a labourer working all daygetting paid meagre wages at the end ofthe day, while a scientist may make animportant discovery and earn mil-lions. What one gets is overseen bydivine authorities. God has set rules,which divine authorities implement.They have no independent jurisdiction.However, it is difficult for us to knowwhat exactly is in store for us. Both the

timing and the type are generallyshrouded in mystery. Material actshave no permanence; we do them andwe are rewarded or punished.

On spiritual acts, Lord Krishna hasspoken about them extensively in TheGita. For example, in the verse #2.40, hehas stated that neither there is waste ofeffort in it nor there is opposite effect.Such acts are only beneficial. He has saidthat even a small spiritual act protectsone from great fear. Such acts are neverextinguished like the material acts.They keep on accumulating to our cred-it. If these acts relate to God, He getsinvolved personally in rewarding thedoer. Of course there are many differ-ent types of spiritual acts, and they allplease God. The Lord has mentionedmany such acts in the twelfth chapterof The Gita (12.13-19). Lord Krishnaspecifically mentions those faithful,who have made Him their shelter, whofollow the nectar of wisdom spoken byHim, are exceedingly dear to Him.(12.20) In another place, the Lordmentions those who preach Hissupreme secret knowledge amongst His

devotees. He states that no other thanthem please Him more. (18.68-69)

God rewards doers of spiritualacts in many ways. They get theirdesired objects. Sanjaya mentions a fewsuch rewards; they get opulence, victo-ry and wealth. (18.78) The Lord doesmention two types of devotion. One isfor material gains like an artharthi (seek-er of wealth) or an artah (distressed per-son). This is ‘sakama’ bhakti. Theother type of bhakti is nishkama inwhich the focus is on gaining liberation.The later one is of course higherbecause getting liberated from thecycle of birth and death is the ultimategain for the small soul.

While material acts may or may notbe rewarded, spiritual acts come underthe exclusive jurisdiction of God. Healways takes note of all spiritual acts.One must remember, God is never adebtor; He does not have to be. He mustreward anyone who pleases Him insome way or other. God is unbelievablygenerous.

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Understanding the com-plexity of the human brainhas been a key scientificquest for a long time.What our ancient sages

talked about thousands of years ago isbeing slowly discovered. For instance,when evolved beings are present, com-munication occurs through anexchange of thoughts or telepathy.Today advanced computers accessingthe brains of people in two separatelocations show that what one personis visualising, another can see — albeita somewhat garbled but clear enoughimage of the ‘thought’ it is.

� ��Over the years the concept of seva

or the act of helping others has beenadvocated in numerous scriptures andreligions. Sikhism, Islam, Christianityand all other religions have preachedthe importance of serving others andgiving to the needy and underprivi-leged. Highlighted in the book, KarmaSutra, the criticality of not just doingseva but also the methods, the reasonsand even the internal progression oneundergoes whilst actually performingthe act of seva, provide much food forthought. It is human nature to starthelping others with the intent of gain-ing societal admiration. This is why wesee many people being publiclyapplauded for their philanthropicefforts. As the person progresses on thespiritual path, the intent behind his or

her seva shifts to becoming more outof a sense of duty and gratitude for allthat he or she has got. And finally, itbecomes a habit wherein the persondoes not even take doership or own-ership for the act. I believe that help-ing others is actually a ‘selfish’ actbecause of the positive karmic debtearned by the blessings and good wish-es of the receiver. So rather thanbeing a selfless act, seva becomes self-ish, albeit in a positive way — the giveralso becomes the taker here! The ulti-mate goal is to rid ourselves from the‘doership’ of the act itself.

But what actually happens insidethe brain when one goes out onto thestreet and feeds people or helps anelderly lady cross the road? The answeris more complex than simply ‘feelinggood’. The spirit which rests inside eachone of us takes a ‘selfie’ in that moment,capturing a wholistic image of whothey are, which becomes better look-ing with each good deed. Almost all ofthe human form thrives on beingappeased by their ‘selfie’ which isactually just their self-esteem (gener-ally at a more physical level than spir-it level). Every act of seva raises the self-esteem and self-impression of theindividual concerned. You could callthis ‘seva mein meva’.

The more we study the humanbrain, the more the data points to thisdirection. Studies show that doing sevareduces the activity in the amygdala,an area that is linked to emotional

responses, especially fear.Neurobiologists also agree that whenwe help others, our brains release oxy-tocin, serotonin and dopamine bring-ing about the feel good factor. Thesehormones have the effect of boostingour mood and counteracting the effectof cortisol (the stress hormone).Moreover, research has found thatengaging in such activities can also dullthe sensation of pain. This doesn’t havejust a singular benefit. Done on a reg-ular basis, a general sense of positivi-ty prevails that further encourages youto perform more acts of seva, leadingyou from the initial phase of doing itto feel good about something you did,to a habit and finally not thinking ofit as your deed at all.

�����We all know that dhyan or medi-

tation has a calming effect and bringsus a sense of peace and internal bal-ance. Advanced meditators have beenthrough lab experiments where theyhave been able to significantly alterbody temperatures, shut off and switchon parts of their body that convention-al science doesn’t believe possible.

However, the impact of meditationon the brain was something relativelylesser known till more recently. Theresults are fascinating. It has beenfound that the brains of experiencedpractitioners of meditation have struc-tural differences from those of others.

There is observable thickening in

the cerebral cortex in areas associatedwith attentional and emotional integra-tion. There is also a significant increasein grey matter density in the part of thebrain associated with self-awareness,compassion and introspection.

The posterior cingulate, which isinvolved in mind wandering, and self-relevance saw a difference too. Thosewho meditate have a higher ability tofocus and very interestingly self-rele-vance that links to self-esteem. This isanother interesting area raised in thebook, Aatma Sutra, where the conceptof self-worship is discussed. While thisis a function of realising the divinitywithin, the journey begins with self-love. What is also shared is that whenwe watch ourselves as doing the ‘rightthings’ such as serving other beings,planting trees or impacting the envi-ronment positively, our self-imagegets positively impacted. This in turnmakes us feel better about ourselvesand therefore raises our levels of self-esteem.

It is therefore no surprise that therewas also a difference in the tem-poroparietal junction in the brain, orTPJ, of meditators. This is associatedwith empathy and compassion… bothindicators of a higher level of spiritu-al evolution. Apart from all the otherpositives, yet another was a significantdecrease in grey matter density in theamygdala, which plays a role in fear,anxiety and stress.

What is quite interesting to knowthat meditation can act as a ‘dampen-er’ for the anti-aging creams andserum market. A powerful side effectof meditation has been found to be itsability to diminish age-related effectson gray matter and reduce the declineof our cognitive functioning therebypotentially making us less prone to ail-ments such as dementia. Now couldthis be a reason why a lot of ourancient yogis are said to be 100s if not1000s of years old. I guess we will justhave to wait for science to discover thistoo.

While scientists today have justabout started to prove the impact ofseva and dhyan on the brain, theunknowns are still far more than theknown. If we were to go by what ourscriptures and texts say, these not onlychange the course of our current life,but also that of future lives and steadi-ly help us along the path of spiritualprogress. These give us the one kindof wealth that we can carry into theafterlife — karmic currency.

So the final question that arises is,what next? The right time to begin, isnow. Just look around you and if theintent is present- many doors willopen!

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The American-German poet, CharlesBukowski’s simple yet astoundinggravestone reads: “Don’t Try”. To

many it might appear to be underestimat-ing, but to a larger audience the two wordsask them to be just natural. Instead ofbreaking a sweat to reap benefits fromsomething that doesn’t raise your eyebrows,Bukowski asks them to wait patientlybecause something innate, will surface.Instincts and innate talent is what Bukowskiasks one to delve into.

Life coaching, streamlined as it sounds,seldom does it converse with the inner con-voluted realms of an individual. Life coach-es are suggested to or consulted by peoplefrom different walks of their lives. A stu-dent. An aspiring entrepreneur. An execu-tive recently promoted in the company’s topbrass seat. To each one their own. Theneeds could be varying per the situationdemanding. But, as history is evident, nomatter how many lessons does one note intheir diary to react in a similar way juxta-posing their situation with someone else’s;when it comes to application, nothing buttheir instincts are in charge of the leashguiding their horses.

As late American business magnate,Steve Jobs voiced: “Your time is limited, sodon’t waste it living someone else’s life.Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is liv-ing with the results of other people’s think-ing. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinionsdrown out your own inner voice. And mostimportant, have the courage to follow yourheart and intuition. They somehow alreadyknow what you truly want to become.Everything else is secondary.”

Jobs here refers to the call we have with-in ourselves. One can connect to their dom-inant inner being and can unravel newavenues only if he goes within himself.There are timeless pearls of wisdom inancient scriptures and books to peek into

for valuable lessons and guidance, but in anutshell, during these challenging times, it’sall about ideating ways of how to cope withour day-to-day situation and to find moremeaning in what we are doing. Corporateleaders, good artists, scientists, and busi-nessmen of the bygone era, were visionariesdriven by sheer confidence. However, thisconfidence was ignited by something assimple as a gut feeling to achieve it, for thatis what quenched their burning desire. Topaint the worldly canvas by bringing theirthoughts to existence.

It’s not only the hard work that deter-mines a person’s success, but it’s the inspiredaction that comes from within, especiallywhen a person identifies his innate strengthand vision. Although most of the manage-ment theories deal with quick-fix approach-es, what a corporate leader needs are lessonsof wisdom where they can connect truly totheir inner vision.

As the whole world is gripped by fearand uncertainty, people are losing theirexpectations and faith, and are faced withanxiety, stress and fear. These negative emo-

tions take a toll on our mental health whichin turn affect our immune system. This isthe time where we all need to calibrate our-selves to the strength of our inner wellbeing,which is dominant and inherent in us.Spirituality is nothing but tapping thoseinnate strengths. We usually tend to openour inner world only when the noise of theexternal world subsides. So now, when weare isolated completely, all of the chaos ofthe external world is naturally shut down,and we get ample time to reflect and goback within ourselves. Our mind-madeclutters will slowly wither away, and whenthere’s nothingness, a new world wouldslowly emerge.

It reels us back to learning from howpeople of repute in the ancient times didn’thave professional individuals/life coaches torun to and seek help from during turbulentphases of their careers, but it was thethumping voice within that directed thecourse for them to achieve the unprecedent-ed feat.

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.������ �����!���������������#�������������������Thialand s currently gripped

by a wave of students’protests. Though initially thedemonstrators raised the ban-ner of revolt against theGovernment of Prayuth Chan-ocha, gradually they are tryingto bring forth an alternative tothe existing political system.The young protesters are vent-ing their ire against the Thairoyalty as well. This is quiteserious as it may emboldenother political actors like thesupporters and sympathisers offormer Prime MinistersThaksin Shinawatra andYingluck Shinawatra. HoweverThaksin’s party, known as ThaiRak Thai Party (TRT), hasbeen banned in the countryafter his political exile in Dubaisince 2008. But Yingluck’s PheuThai Party is fully active inThailand. Moreover, the RedShirt Movement volunteerswho have been rallying behindthe fight against the Bangkokelite might give the protests anew twist.

Today the students arevoicing their rage against thetwo eternal symbols of powerin Thailand i.e. two M’s — themonarchy and the military.But why?

The long held demandsand frustration of the peoplehave finally surfaced, but thistime, the Thai students havetaken the lead. The studentmovement, known as “FreeYouth”, has been able to gath-er thousands at the DemocracyMonument in the heart ofBangkok.

The protesters have out-lined broadly three maindemands: First, the dissolutionof the Parliament i.e. resigna-tion of the PrayuthGovernment and new elec-tion; second, amendments tothe Constitution of Thailand;and third, an end to intimida-tion and persecution of polit-ical opponents.

Apart from other demands,the new movement also high-lights two very striking issues:One is the reversal of a 2019order that allowed two armyunits to be positioned rightunder the King’s own com-mand, and second, anotherlaw passed in 2017 which gavethe King complete control overthe crown’s all property hold-ings. These laws, along withother unpopular initiativeslaunched by the Prayuthregime time and again haveirked the public. The studentsand other youth in Thailandhave really acted as agents ofchange. The movement, start-ed in January, has however wit-nessed slight loss in momen-tum due to the Covid pan-demic.

In fact, there has been amarked decline on the power,prestige and long arm of rev-erence of the Thai Monarchywith the death of truly people’sking Bhumibol Adulaydej in2016. And when the mantlepassed on to his lesser knownand very unpopular son MahaVajiralongkorn, the aura andcharisma around the palaceand the King graduallydeclined. King MahaVajiralongkorn today mostlylives in Germany and he canrightly be called as a King-in-

absentia who simply wantsstability and peace back home.And for these compulsions ofthe King, the nominally civil-ian Government of Prayuth isruling the country with the fullbacking of the armed forces.

Since the coup of 2014, theactivists ranging from the RedShirts to the present have beenaccusing Prayuth of using theThai military’s proximity to themonarchy to enhance his owngrip on power. However,Prayuth and his cronies denysuch allegations; what cementshis closeness with the King isthe sustained stability that hehas guaranteed so far to thecountry. After overthrowingthe popularly electedGovernment of YingluckShinawatra, the men-in-uni-form took over under the lead-ership of Prayuth. And he hasruled the country with theNational Council for Peaceand Order since then to 2019,when he nominally ended thejunta rule, with a blatantlyrigged election to shed hisuniform. And it is very clear toall that the military retains fullcontrol over all political insti-tutions across the country.

Lately, Prayuth is serious-

ly concerned about the grow-ing demonstrations around thecountry, particularly in thecapital city. What is aggravat-ing his problem is the call byanother student group whoissued an unusually clear 10-point demand for reform in thepolitical system. Thousands ofdemonstrators are chanting“Long live democracy” anddemanding the resignation ofPrayuth who took over in 2014coup and to put an end to mil-itary domination in politics. Infact, these students have set anexample by questioning theactual role and powers of themonarchy that used to be ataboo for decades in Thailand.But whsat surprises the inter-national community is howanyone within Thailand daresto question or criticise theKing or the monarchy. It is acountry that zealously guardsthe royalty. Hence, the uniquelaw called “Lese Majeste” is inaction in the country whichleads to severe punishments toanyone who tries to defame themonarchy. This law might landa person who criticises theKing in prison for 15 years. Itis considered one of thestrictest in the world. It has

been increasingly enforcedsince the coming of the Prayuthregime simply to clamp downfree speech and anti-govern-ment protesters. Even the topglobal governance bodies suchas the UN have been repeatedlycalling Bangkok to amendthese draconian laws.

Meanwhile Prayuth haswarned the protesters againstdragging the monarchy into themovement. But what comes asa big relief to the demonstra-tors is that the King has askedthe Government not to bookanyone under the infamous“Lese Majeste” law.

Around the same time,Thailand’s economy is on freefall. It is witnessing the worst-ever economic downturn sincethe Asian financial crisis 2008.The political crisis in Thailandshows the grotesque ineffi-ciency crept long into the civil-military set-up of the country.The student movement mightlead to a showdown betweenthe military-backed PrayuthGovernment and the studentgroups who are demandingimmediate reforms.

International human rightsorganisations such as theAmnesty International say that

the Thai Government is usingthe police forces to suppress thestudents’ movement. And thegroup argue that this appear tobe a new crackdown on free-dom of expression.

Political instability inThailand has its roots in theturbulent past of the country.Many say that Thailand enjoysa “coup season” now and then.Therefore the country has notbeen able to be either governedby a democratic leadership ora full-fledged military regimefor a long time. The power-tus-sle between the urban andelite minority and the poorurban majority is there at theheart of Thai politics. It seemsto be a permanent stalemate forthis middle income group EastAsian nation. Other two factorsthat strongly influence thecountry are — coups as ameans to resolve political cri-sis and the indecisive perenni-al role of the royalty in politics.

Youngsters played key rolesin a multitude of political, eco-nomic and social movementsaround the world. What theylook for and demand is change.Fiercely reclaiming their spacesin public squares, the youngpeople are literally threatening

the very existence and rele-vance of ones who are at thethreshold of power. However,unseating the governors wouldnot herald any immediate solu-tion to the governed, includingthe young. The road ahead forstability and peace could onlybe an earmarked plan for piece-meal engineering i.e. gradualchange. Probably accompa-nied by constitutional amend-ment or change in due courseof time.

The fragile democracy inThailand has always beenunder threat. Its breathingspace is limited. In fact, theassault of assorted collectivistideologies such as militarism,socialism, imperialism, author-itarianism, etc, has carefullyhastened the march of liberal-ism in the 19th, 20th and 21stcenturies all along. AndThailand has not been anexception. Is it leading to anArab Spring kind of scenario inThailand? Like all those protestmovements marked by theabsence of charismatic leadersand a definite agenda and pro-pelled by young anger andsocial media activism, if thecurrent Thai movement quick-ly passes into oblivion, then it

would be very depressing forthe movement itself.

Questioning the King andthe military-backedGovernment of the country hashighlighted the current move-ment around the world. Butthen the protesters need torealise that the deep symbiosisbetween the Thai palace andthe military is still intact.Though the political repre-sentatives who are in powerdisdain the very system theyare running, they are not dis-lodged from the seat of powerby anyone. It indicates howweak and unorganised theopposition political forces arein Thailand. Certainly, the stu-dent activism has altered thepolitical scenario in the coun-try. And it is the right momentfor the Opposition, includingthe Thaksin followers, to rallybehind the youngsters. Thismight force the King and thepower brokers in Bangkok torethink opening of politicaldialogues involving all com-peting forces. This mightrestore the lost democraticheritage of Thailand.

(The writer is an expert oninternational affairs)

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Even as Thaliand is witness-ing an unprecedented open

criticism of King MahaVajiralongkorn, whose much-admired father King BhumibolAdulyadej ruled for sevendecades, the Government ofPrayuth Chan-ocha has beenable to pressurise Facebook toblock in Thailand a group withmore than a million membersthat engages in open discussionabout the Thai monarchy, aninstitution that is staunchlyprotected from criticism bystrict laws.

Protesting students’ opendefiance of the taboos aroundspeaking ill of the monarchyhas infuriated ultra-conserva-tives and the military, who areunlikely to let it go without aresponse. Security forces inrecent weeks already had beentrying to intimidate students

and other activists from hold-ing demonstrations.

With key Cabinet postsstill in the hands of former gen-erals, voices have grown loud-er against the enduring militaryinfluence and Prayuth’s per-formance.

And therefore, PrimeMinister Prayuth Chan-ochahas tried to paint the move-ment as a trigger for politicalpolarisation and has warnedthat it could destroy the nation.“If each side insists on defeat-ing the other politically, ourcountry will collapse,” he toldreporters. “If that happens,just wait and see, everyone willlive on a fiery land, consumedby flames. If that happens I amat a loss for what to do.”

Prayuth said at a newsbriefing following a Cabinetmeeting on August 25 that the

government asked Facebook toblock the page because it vio-lates Thai law. He said the gov-ernment would stand firm onits stance if a legal challenge tothe request is made.

The Thailand Governmentis determined to crack down onthe social media use by the pro-testers as it called them “illegal”online sites. A top official inThailand on August 26 saidthat his country will step upaction against online contentthat breaks its laws, two daysafter forcing Facebook to blocka group that was posting mate-rial critical of the monarchy.

Minister of DigitalEconomy and SocietyBuddhipongse Punnakantatold a news conference that hisdepartment would get a courtorder within 48 hours to blockaccess in Thailand to any web

address deemed to containillegal material.

The platforms would thenhave 15 days to comply or facelegal action.

“We are protecting oursovereignty, which may notmean protecting physical bor-ders in the traditional sense butrather, as I said yesterday, thatwe are protecting our cybersovereignty,” saidBuddhipongse. He declaredthat such attacks “happen fastand are constantly damagingThais.”

Buddhipongse said Thaiauthorities had asked Facebookto close the offending “RoyalistMarketplace” site, and it was upto the tech company’s judge-ment whether to block it onlyin Thailand or globally.

Facebook said that whilepeople in Thailand can no

longer access Facebook group“Royalist Marketplace,” it isstill available in other places,adding that the company plansto “legally challenge” the gov-ernment’s request.

“After careful review,Facebook has determined thatwe are compelled to restrictaccess to content which theThai government has deemedto be illegal,” the companysaid in a statement.

Pavin Chachavalpongpun,a 49-year-old academic whocreated Facebook group“Royalist Marketplace” in April,bemoaned the decision, andquickly set up a similarFacebook group that alreadyhas hundreds of thousands ofmembers.

“I’m furious, you know,because this is something thatI am passionate about. I am

passionate because I just wantto see Thailand becoming moreand more democratic,” Pavin,who lives in exile in Japan, saidin an online interview.

Pavin was not in Thailandwhen the country’s currentPrime Minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, orchestrated a militarycoup in 2014, when he was thearmy chief. Following the coup,the ruling junta summonedcritics of the government andmonarchy, including Pavin,who decided to remain abroad.

Pavin, who is an associateprofessor at Kyoto University’sCenter for Southeast AsianStudies, said “RoyalistMarketplace” achieved 1 mil-lion members just a few daysago. He criticised Facebook forthe move. “By accepting therequests, whether you like it ornot, you become a part of

that, you become a part of thesupport that you gave to theauthoritarian regime inThailand,” he said.

Facebook acknowledgedthe seriousness of blocking thepage, saying that such govern-ment requests “have a chillingeffect on people’s ability toexpress themselves.” “We workto protect and defend the rightsof all internet users and arepreparing to legally challengethis request,” the company saidin its statement.

Pavin said that after theFacebook group was blocked,he immediately created anoth-er one that is essentially thesame, called “RoyalistMarketplace-Talad Luang.”“Talad Luang” is Thai for“Royalist Marketplace.”

The new group has alreadyattracted more than half a mil-

lion members, with many fromthe original one migratingover. The monarchy is consid-ered sacrosanct in Thailandand any criticism is normallykept private. A lese majeste lawcalls for a prison sentence of upto 15 years for anyone foundguilty of defaming the king.

Earlier, pro-democracyhashtags linked to high schoolprotests were trending on socialmedia with photographs andvideos showing young stu-dents at schools in a number ofcities lined up on playgroundsand giving the salutes duringthe compulsory daily singing ofthe national anthem. The dis-plays of solidarity began inearly August and are a remark-able show of defiance within aneducational system that stress-es obedience to elders.

(With inputs from AP)

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Couple of years ago, a lady cameseeking guidance on how toimprove her relationship with

husband, which had become sour. Shewas advised to look within, identify andacknowledge her own fault lines, andaddress them before expecting her part-ner to behave. When she began reflect-ing upon herself, she realised that sheimpulsively reacts and responds to exter-nal trigger on instinctive judgment,without applying forethought. Sheworked upon her fault line, and theirrelationship improved.

Later, her aunt gave me particularsof a girl and wished to know about hermarital prospects. After analysing herchart, I confronted the lady: “Is she notmarried yet?” “That is what I wish toknow”, said the lady. “It appears that youare hiding something. From my analysis,it appears that she must have got mar-ried under unusual circumstances tosomeone belonging to another race orreligion.” I countered. “Well, this chartbelongs to the other twin of the girlwhom you had counselled earlier. Theircharts look similar. They were broughtup under similar conditions. How comeone girl had a traditional marriage and

the other one opted for an unconven-tional route?” The lady asked.

Well, what apparently looks similar,at the subtle level there are wide differ-ences, which only a well versedastrologer can figure out. How does itmatter whether it was the case of othertwin? Only parentage and how one isbrought up, will not define a person’smindset. Bear in mind; every being isborn unique, reflects varying desire andmind-trends, coming as it may withindividualistic Karmic carryover fromthe past, and hence the difference.“Please explain astrologically as I under-stand the subject a bit as 7th housemarked with marriage and their lordremains the same in both the cases”, thelady asked.

Well, instead of the 7th house, betterlook at their 7th cusp sub-lord for theanswer. In case of the elder one, the 7thcusp falls at 19 degrees, 31 minutes and5 second in Virgo sign, jointly ruled byMercury as sign lord, Moon as constella-tion lord and Mercury again as sub-lord.Now, Mercury occupies the lunar con-stellation ruled by benevolent Jupiter, theone marked with conventionality, andso, won’t allow breaking established soci-

etal norms. She, therefore, had a tradi-tional marriage with her own caste fel-low.

In case of the younger one, the 7thcusp falls at 22 degrees, 53 minutes and49 seconds in Virgo sign, the sign andconstellation lords remaining the sameas the elder one, the sub-lord is the Sunin debilitation, which occupies the con-stellation owned by erratic Rahu. Rahu isplaced adverse to Mars, which gave herthe courage to take a bold stand. Rahuagain, ill-disposed off to Uranus markedwith unconventionality, made her defysocietal norm. Saying sorry for trying totest me, the lady later revealed that theyounger one ran away with an Englishboy, stayed with him as live-in-partnerfor a year before getting married.

Recently, I had the occasion to coun-sel twin girls the same day. The elderone was receptive and responsive. Theyounger one was stuck to what tempedher in immediate terms, rather than pur-suing the discipline which she had origi-nally pursued. Why such oppositetrends?

Being a question pertaining to per-sonality, here, a look at the lagna cusp ofthe two charts becomes imperative. Incase of the elder one, lagna cusp fell at

20 degrees, 27 minutes and 25 secondsin Gemini sign jointly ruled by Mercuryas the sign lord, Jupiter as the constella-tion as well as sub-lord. Jupiter occupiesits own sign Sagittarius, a dual sign, andis conjunct Moon. Because of being adual sign, though she would be subjectto vacillation by herself, but whenexposed to reason, she will be receptiveand responsive, as would conjunction ofbenefic Jupiter with mind signifyingMoon mean.

On the contrary, the lagna cusp ofthe younger one fell as 25 degrees, 40minutes and 06 seconds in Gemini sign,where the sign and constellation lordremaining the same, the sub-lordbecomes Mercury. Mercury occupies afixed sign Aquarius ruled by Saturn,implying a fixated one track mind, notopen to listening or counsel. Mercury isill-disposed off to mischievous Neptune,which makes her stuck to self-delusionalideas, and not keen for a reality check.Also, it accounts for her insensible rea-soning and judgement. And the result isthere to see.

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