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saturday, april 17, 2021
Delhi City Edition
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16 pages O ₹10.00
Speculation after former Minister Natwar Singh meets Modi
Monsoon likely to be normal this year, says Meteorological dept.
Iran starts enriching uranium to 60%, its highest level ever
Rohit’s MI takes on Warner’s SRH in Chennai today
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P r i n t e d at . Ch e n n a i . Co i m b ato r e . Be n g a lu ru . Hy d e r a b a d . M a d u r a i . No i da . V i s a k h a pat n a m . Th i ru va n a n t h a p u r a m . Ko c h i . V i j ayawa da . M a n g a lu ru . Ti ru c h i r a pa l l i . Ko l k ata . Hu b b a l l i . M o h a l i . M a l a p p u r a m . M u m b a i . Ti ru pat i . lu c k n ow . c u t tac k . pat n a
Centre promises more oxygen, U.K. nod for extradition of ventilators for U.P., Chhattisgarh Nirav Modi in PNB case
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Pandits in Valley feeling alienated, says report NEW DELHI
A report prepared by the Concerned Citizens’ Group, led by former External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, has said Kashmiri Pandits, who did not migrate from the Kashmir Valley even at the peak of militancy, “were being ignored in the plans of the government for the economic rehabilitation of the community”. NEWS A PAGE 8 DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Uttar Pradesh to shut down on Sundays LUCKNOW
With mounting cases of COVID19, the Uttar Pradesh government on Friday announced that it would have a weekly shutdown in the State on Sundays. Patients in Lucknow, meanwhile, continued to struggle to find beds in hospitals. The city was filled with testimonies of how patients were finding it difficult to get admitted in hospitals or secure oxygen supply smoothly in time. NEWS
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Record COVID cases, deaths in Capital
‘Allow interState movement of medical oxygen’
No guidelines on mutations: Maharashtra
Special Correspondent New Delhi
Union Health Secretary Ra jesh Bhushan has informed Uttar Pradesh and Chhattis garh that their demand for 10 litre and 45 litre jumbo ox ygen cylinders and addition al ventilators having high flow nasal canula will be met very soon, a statement from the Union Health Ministry said. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla has also written to all the States to en sure that no restriction is im posed on the movement of medical oxygen between the States and Union Territories. In the letter, he asked the States not to limit supply on ly to hospitals run in a partic ular State. “There shall be free move ment of vehicles carrying ox ygen in cities without any time limit or intercity res triction,” the letter stated. Mr. Bhalla and Mr. Bhush an chaired highlevel meet ings on Friday to review the status of COVID19 in Chhat tisgarh and Uttar Pradesh. The meeting was attended Dr. V.K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog; Dr. Bal ram Bhargava, Director Gen eral, ICMR; Dr. (Prof.) Sunil Kumar, DGHS; Chief Secre taries, Directors General of
Staff Reporter Mumbai
CICSE defers exams for Classes 10, 12
Poonawalla appeals to U.S. President
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CICSE) on Friday deferred the Board exams of Classes 10 and 12 in view of the COVID19 surge. The exams were to be held from May 4. A page 9
Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer, Serum Institute of India, has tweeted an appeal to U.S. President Joe Biden, seeking lifting of the embargo on U.S. export of raw materials for vaccine. A page 10
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Police and Health Secretar ies of both States. Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pra desh and Maharashtra are the only States that have more than 1 lakh active CO VID19 cases. Both Chhattisgarh and Ut tar Pradesh are reporting a very high number of new cases and deaths. The Minis
try said Chhattisgarh had re ported a nearly 6.2% in crease in weekly new cases based on 7day moving aver age. “In last two weeks, the State has seen almost 131% increase in weekly new cas es.” the Ministry said.
Maharashtra Health Minis ter Rajesh Tope on Friday said the State has wit nessed double mutation of the virus without any doubt and awaits the Centre’s instructions on how to deal with it. “As per the oral informa tion that I have received, Maharashtra has witnessed double mutation. Centre should tell us the remedy or NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control) is ex pected to guide us. We have not yet received any communication from them,” Mr. Tope said. He said the State govern ment had also written to the NCDC and was waiting for a response. “We await their reply even today.” The Minister’s statement comes days after reports that double mutations had been detected in 61% of 361 samples collected between January to March. Interest ingly, no official report has yet been submitted, with Mr. Tope also saying he had only oral information on the double mutation.
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MORE REPORTS A PAGES 5 &10
Gujarat hospitals gasp for oxygen Situation worse in smaller towns as virus spreads to rural areas
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Bharat Biotech to make 6 cr. doses by July
Mahesh Langa
He can appeal decision in U.K. High Court within 14 days Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The U.K.’s Home Depart ment has approved the ex tradition of diamond mer chant Nirav Modi to India in connection with the ₹13,758 crore Punjab National Bank (PNB) fraud, about two months after the Westmin ster Magistrates’ Court in London ruled that a prima facie case was made out against him. “The Secretary of State for the U.K.’s Home Depart ment, Priti Patel, has cleared Mr. Nirav Modi’s extradi tion,” said a CBI official on Friday. The accused now has the legal recourse of approach ing the U.K. High Court with in 14 days to seek permission for moving an appeal against the Secretary of State’s deci sion. “Unless there is an ap peal, a requested person must be extradited within 28 days of the Secretary of State’s decision to order ex tradition (subject to any ap peal),” according to the U.K. government’s website. In its order dated Febru ary 25, the Westminster Ma gistrates’ Court found suffi cient grounds warranting Mr. Modi’s trial in India. It al so took on record the evi dence furnished by the Cen tral Bureau of Investigation
Special Correspondent
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Hospitals in Gujarat are fac ing an acute shortage of oxy gen as COVID19 cases and deaths soar in the State. There have been several in stances of patients dying in hospitals or ambulances without supply of oxygen, including five patients at a private hospital in Navsari. “There is a massive shor tage of medicalgrade oxy gen in hospitals. The govern ment has ramped up capacity but it isn’t enough,” said a top hospital manager. The government has di rected that 70% of the total oxygen produced in the State be reserved for medi cal and healthcare purpos es. Though the supply is be ing streamlined in major cities, the situation is wor sening in smaller towns as the virus penetrates the hin terland. Sources said it will take 23 more days to streamline supply in smaller towns. The State hit its highest singleday toll of 8,920 new
NEW DELHI
Special Correspondent
The production of indige nously developed Covaxin vaccine will be doubled by MayJune and then in creased nearly 67 fold by JulyAugust 2021. Current ly, Bharat Biotech makes one crore vaccine doses a month. Production may reach nearly 10 crore doses a month by September, the Department of Biotechnol ogy said on Friday. The DBT has funded three other staterun facili ties — the Haffkine Biophar maceutical Corporation Ltd, Mumbai; Indian Im munologicals Limited, Hyderabad and Biologicals Limited, Bulandshahr — to make vaccines. Haffkine has been given ₹65 crore but it will take 612 months to be able to produce the vaccine; the other facilities are expected to begin pro ducing 1015 million doses a month by August.
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cases and 94 deaths on Fri day. The actual number of cases and deaths is likely to be substantially higher than the official numbers if the long queues outside crema toria in all major cities are anything to go by. In one crematorium in Su rat, as many as five bodies were cremated on one pyre. In Rajkot, local media re ports said 52 persons died of COVID19 on Friday.
“There is no respite from the surge in cases and deaths. We are likely to cross the 10,000 cases per day mark in the next few days, while the active cases are likely to reach around 1 lakh by the end of this month,” a medical expert said. As of Friday, the State’s total ac tive cases stood at 49,737. DON’T CONCEAL COVID-19 DATA, HC DIRECTS GUJARAT A PAGE 10
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T.N. tops with material worth ₹446.28 crore recovered
AHMEDABAD
Healthcare workers shift a patient with oxygen cylinder to a COVID19 Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad. FILE PHOTO: VIJAY SONEJI
Employees confined The agencies alleged that he kept his employees, some of whom were dummy direc tors in the firms floated by him, in illegal confinement in Cairo. He also disposed of their mobile phones in Dubai. A Dubaibased server, in which information on the electronic communications between the accused per sons was stored, was also destroyed. The U.K. court did not
find any merit in Mr. Nirav Modi’s submissions on the state of his mental health and the condition of barrack 12 in Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail, where he would be kept after extradition. Based on a video inspection, the court observed that the prison was spacious enough and had sufficient security. The court was also convinced that he would get a fair trial in India. The businessman had fled the country on January 1, 2018. On India’s request, he was arrested in London on March 19, 2019, and he has since then been in judicial custody there.
Cash, other freebies worth ₹1,000 crore seized by EC in ongoing Assembly polls
Special Correspondent
The Capital reported 19,486 fresh COVID19 cas es and 141 deaths on Friday — the highest singleday spike in infections and fa talities since the beginning of the pandemic. The health bulletin is sued by the Delhi govern ment said 98,957 tests were conducted in 24 hours with a positivity rate of 19.69%. Out of the total tests conducted, 64,939 were RTPCR tests. The city has 61,005 ac tive cases with 29,705 pa tients in home isolation. According to the CO VID19 patient manage ment system, out of the 15,680 beds available in hospitals for COVID19 pa tients, 4,412 are vacant. The case tally has risen to 8,03,623. The death toll stands at 11,793. There are at present 9,929 contain ment zones in the city.
and the Enforcement Direc torate, alleging that he had conspired to destroy the proof against him and inti midate witnesses.
The Election Commission of India on Friday said it had seized cash, liquor, drugs, precious metals and other freebies worth ₹1,001.43 crore meant for distribution to voters in the ongoing As sembly elections. “Seizures crossed ₹1,000 crore for the first time in any Assembly electoral process,” the ECI said in a statement. Of the total seizures as on Thursday in Assam, Pudu
cherry, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and the States where byelections are being conducted, Tamil Nadu topped the tally with sei zures of ₹446.28 crore. It was followed by ₹300.11 crore in West Bengal, ₹122.34 crore in Assam, ₹84.91 crore in Kerala and ₹36.95 crore in Puducherry. A total of ₹10.84 crore was seized in connec tion with the various bypolls. In 2016 for the five Assembly elections, the total seizures were only ₹225.77 crore.
When asked about FIRs filed against those involved and the details of political parties and individuals in volved, an EC spokesperson did not respond. Association for Democrat ic Reforms founder Jagdeep S. Chhokar said the ECI may not necessarily know which parties are responsible. When the ECI comes across cash or other freebies, they seize the items. CONTINUED ON A PAGE 8
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Girls face more pressure during pandemic: study They are dealing with increased pressure to get married and have to do more household chores Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Twentyfive girls from seven cities set out to interview their peers to record the impact of COVID19 on their lives and found that adolescent girls were grappling with an increased pressure to get married, spent longer hours on household chores, lacked tools to continue school education online, and reported an increase in genderbased violence. The study titled ‘COVID In Her Voice: A Girlled and Centred Participatory Research Study’ was released on April 13. It was conducted CM YK
by girls aged 1324 from Ahmedabad, Alwar, Bareily, Delhi, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune within their communities. It adopted a unique methodology where girls were trained as researchers to conduct interviews with a total of 153 girls from their respective communities. The study was supported by the U.K. government and conducted by EMpower, a global philanthropy focused on atrisk youth in emerging markets. Among the biggest challenges girls faced was the inability to attend online school. This was a result of
Among the biggest challenges was the inability to attend online school.
nearly 80% respondents reporting an increase in household chores, which meant that 64% of girls and young women felt they did not have the space or get the
time to study online. Lack of access to resources and technology was also a challenge — nearly 28% of those surveyed didn’t have the tools such as mobile phones or Internet access to learn online. With households from marginalised communities facing financial stress due to the economic impact of COVID19, girls believed that the pressure to get married had increased, with nearly 42% reporting this. Almost 90% of girls reported experiencing mental distress and despair without any access to information about coping
mechanisms. Their mental distress was exacerbated because of barriers in communicating with friends and teachers. Up to 26% respondents believe there was an increase in genderbased violence and felt that fears and threats of violence intensified restrictions on their freedom. On concluding the field research, seven girl leaders finalised a list of priority recommendations which include establishing girl friendly spaces within the community such as skills training centres and violencefree spaces. A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
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Night epass valid for weekend curfew: govt. Press Trust of India New Delhi
Those who have a valid night curfew epass are not required to take a separate pass for the weekend cur few, the Delhi government said on Friday. Amid a surge in CO VID19 cases, Chief Minis ter Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday had announced a curfew this weekend and the closure of malls, gym nasiums and auditoriums till April 30 as part of sweeping restrictions to break the chain of the in fection. The Delhi govern ment had on April 6 an nounced a sevenhour night curfew.
Increase oxygen beds, CM tells officials Kejriwal orders multiple assistance numbers in hospitals Special Correspondent New Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind Kejri wal on Friday directed the officials to develop more COVID19 facilities, increase oxygen beds across the Capital and ensure real time information about hospital beds on the Delhi Corona app. Review meeting Mr. Kejriwal convened a re view meeting on the COVID situation in Delhi where dis cussions were held on the steps taken by the govern ment to improve the health infrastructure and other in frastructural requirements. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Mi nister Satyendar Jain, and other senior Delhi govern
ment officials were present at the meeting. He added that the health teams must reach out to every COVID19 patient in home isolation and provide oximeters. Mr. Kejriwal, the govern ment stated, said the focus is on increasing bed capaci
ty, which will ensure adeq uate treatment for the peo ple who require urgent assistance. “There should be multi ple assistance numbers in the hospitals and nodal per sons should be appointed at every helpline number. No urgent calls should be mis sed and turned down,” Mr. Kejriwal said. “Delhi’s home isolation system is the best in the country and we must conti nue to set an example,” he added. Mr. Kejriwal, at the meet ing, said that citizens should receive all help and assistance since the govern ment has told patients to prefer home isolation if they had mild or no symp toms.
Set up help desks in all hospitals, LG directs officials at meeting Special Correspondent New Delhi
Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal on Friday issued directions to the authorities con cerned to strictly enforce COVIDappro priate behaviour in crowded places, ap pealing to the people to cooperate with government officials in this regard. Mr. Baijal also directed that help desks to assist patients and their attendants at all city hospitals be set up as COVID cases continue to soar across the Capital. The LG issued these directions at a meeting to review the enforcement of CO VIDappropriate behaviour and prepa redness for implementing guidelines in this regard along with the Chief Secretary, the Delhi Police Commissioner, the Divi sional Commissioner, MCD Commission ers and other senior officers concerned. According to Raj Niwas, Mr. Baijal ad vised “targetted and aggressive” deploy ment and enforcement in areas where crowding occurs and asked that a tempo ral graph of outcomes be prepared in re lation to peak hours. He also asked the Chief Secretary to en sure the setting up of helplines that in form about the availability of beds in hos pitals apart from displaying this information on government portals. Concerted and coordinated efforts were required from all agencies and sta keholders to contain the existing surge in COVID cases, he added.
IN BRIEF Traffic Police suspend process to collect dues for pending challans NEW DELHI
The Delhi Traffic Police has suspended the process to collect dues for pending challans in cash in view of a surge in COVID-19 cases here, officials said on Friday.
Over 19K new cases, 141 deaths: Capital scales new COVID peak Out of 15,680 beds available in hospitals, 4,412 are lying vacant, states govt. data Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The Capital reported 19,486 fresh COVID19 cases and 141 deaths on Friday — the high est singleday spike since the beginning of the pandemic. The health bulletin is sued by the Delhi govern ment said 98,957 tests were conducted in 24 hours with a positivity rate of 19.69%. Out of the total tests con ducted, 64,939 were RTPCR. The city has 61,005 active cases with 29,705 patients under home isolation. On November 19, the city re corded its previous highest singleday fatality count with 131 deaths. The COVID19 patient management system shows that out of the 15,680 beds available in hospitals for treatment, 4,412 are vacant. At dedicated COVID Care Centres that have a capacity of 5,525 beds, 5,049 are va cant. According to the Delhi Corona app of the Delhi go vernment, of the total of 1,269 COVID19 ICU beds with ventilator, 183 were va
A woman gets tested for COVID at a government dispensary in Paschim Vihar in Delhi on Friday. SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR *
cant and out of those with out ventilator, 300 were vacant. Since the pandemic be gan, 8,03,623 positive cases have been reported with 11,793 deaths. There are at present, 9,929 containment zones in the city and in the past 24hours, 2,279 calls were dispatched to ambu lances for the control room. The health bulletin said 76,646 beneficiaries were vaccinated in the past 24 hours out of which 59,493 got their first dose and 17,149 got their second dose. So
far, 24,50,424 beneficiaries have been vaccinated out of which 4,22,875 have re ceived their second dose. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who has been appointed as the nodal Minister for COVID19 man agement in the Capital, visit ed GTB hospital, Rajiv Gand hi Hospital and Lok Nayak Hospital in the city to review the situation on the ground. “Visited GTB hospital and reviewed its patient admis sion system. Met some of the patients and also inte racted with the doctors. I
Corona App data incorrect, says Kumar
Staff Reporter NEW DELHI
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party meeting for the same.
Delhi Congress chief Ch. Anil Kumar on Friday said a majority of people in the ci ty live in one or tworoom flats where home isolation is not possible. He said the Delhi government could have chosen community centres and schools for providing isolation facili ties and taking some of the load off hospitals. He alleged that the situa tion on the ground is very different from the availabil ity of beds shown on the Corona App of the Delhi go vernment and claimed that the data was incorrect. Mr. Kumar said Chief Mi nister Arvind Kejriwal has not consulted Opposition parties and experts to come up with a strategy to be adopted to control the virus. He said Congress had suggested him to call an all
Hits out at civic bodies The Delhi Congress also lashed out at the BJPruled municipal corporations of Delhi for doing nothing to keep the pandemic under control. “Civic body hospi tals could have been rea died to accommodate some of the COVID19 patients, providing some breather to the overstressed private and government hospitals,” Mr. Kumar said. Commenting on the weekend curfew, Mr. Ku mar said the government had decided not to close li quor shops where crowd ing happens over the wee kend. He added that people providing essential services are struggling to get passes to commute during the cur few.
10 IAS officers appointed The Delhi government also appointed 10 IAS officers as “nodal officers” for CO VID19 hospitals run by it and asked them to work from the healthcare facility they have been assigned. “The officers will be over all incharge of the COVID19 hospital assigned to them and will exercise general su perintendence, directions and control over the func tioning of the hospital,” an order issued by the health department read.
Prosecute weekend curfew violators: CP
Home isolation not possible for majority in city: Congress Special Correspondent
would like to thank the med ical staff who have been working roundtheclock,” Mr. Sisodia tweeted after the visit. He also met the HODs of Lok Nayak Hospital.
Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Shrivastava on Friday said the weekend lockdown restrictions imposed by the Delhi government will be en forced strictly by the force. CP to district DCPs The Commissioner held a vi deoconference meeting on Friday with district Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCP) to review the prepa redness and plan of action to follow on the ground for strict enforcement of CO VID19 restrictions and DDMA order. He asked the officers to prosecute those flouting rules without a valid ground or exemption. Delhi Police PRO Chin moy Biswal said the CP asked district DCPs to make extensive arrangements of pickets, patrolling and pol ice presence on the ground. “If anyone is found moving without a valid emergency
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Curb your enthusiasm
or movement pass for essen tial services or goods, they would be stopped, and case will be registered against them and they may face ar rest too. Medical services, food materials, fruits and ve getable supply need to go on as usual for normal life,” he said. “These will operate nor mally, and our personnel will facilitate it. But no one under the garb of these ac tivities can undertake undue movement to violate the res triction orders,” the CP said. They also said doctors and journalistswill be allowed to travel freely with a valid identity card. The DCPs were asked to ensure that policemen are careful — wear masks, follow social distancing and hand hygiene. Hours before wee kend lockdown came into force, Delhi Police launched a COVID helpline number — 01123469900 — to facilitate movement pass.
Allow 24hour home delivery: NRAI to govt. Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
Delhi police personnel put up barricades during weekend night curfew at Rajouri Garden in west Delhi on Friday.
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Delhi BJP MPs to assist those in home isolation
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‘Give free meals through homeless shelters’ Food rights network writes to CM, seeks COVID ration cards
Special Correspondent New Delhi
Staff Reporter
The Delhi BJP on Friday convened a meeting where it was decided that the party’s seven MPs would join the fray in assisting COVID19 patients who are un der home isolation.
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Distribute food, oximeters: Gupta Delhi President Adesh Gupta said: “The decision taken today was to distribute oximeters, medicines and masks to homequarantined patients, to provide rice, flour, lentils, potatoes, oil, spices through Modi Kits in all areas besides getting these areas sanitised.” CM YK
The Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan on Friday wrote to Chief Minister Arvind Kejri wal urging the government to provide free meals through homeless shelters and dedicated relief centres to migrant workers, daily wagers and others who have been affected by the restrictions. The DRRAA said restric tions like night curfew and
other curbs were adversely impacting economic activi ty in Delhi. Stating that the Delhi go vernment must ensure that ration is made available to all those in need, the DRRAA said: “Provide free hot cooked meals through homeless shelters and ded icated relief centres and en sure no person desirous of obtaining food is turned away from these centres. Universalise the public dis
tribution system by provid ing ration all persons in need of food security, irres pective of whether they possess a ration card.” It also suggested that CO VID ration cards be gener ated for people who re quire temporary documentation. “At this time of distress, the government should al low selfcertification for emergency food securi ty....,” the letter read.
Commenting on orders by the Delhi government to stop dinein facilities at res taurants in the Capital and allow them to open only to provide home delivery or ders, the National Restau rant Association of India (NRAI) said it supports this decision in the larger public health interest. But it re quested the government to help in the delivery segment “We request the govern ment to allow roundthe clock home delivery of food in line with what Mumbai has done and to smoothen the process of epasses and issue clear directions to the law enforcing agencies so that our workers, who are also frontline warriors, are not subjected to any undue harassment by these law enforcing authorities,” the NRAI said. As an industry, the NRAI said the situation has left them where they were standing at the start of the pandemic. “We were closed for the most part of last year. We opened up gra dually with restricted ca pacities and curtailed oper ating hours and fought hard to regain some of our lost vibrancy. Just when things were looking up, this se cond wave has come as a massive dampener," the NRAI said. A ND-NDE
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Timings DELHI SATURDAY, APR. 17
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Migrants leaving city in hordes, but not due to lockdown fears
JNU issues advisory for students
Their trips were mostly pre-planned, though some are apprehensive of shutdown
The Jawaharlal Nehru Un iversity on Friday issued an advisory asking students who are on campus to leave for their home. The univer sity said that there were 64 positive cases on the cam pus and 322 cases have been recorded since March 2020. “Keeping in mind the wellbeing and safety of stu dents and all campus resi dents, it is advisable, where feasible, for the students to leave for their hometown in order to stay safe and also help curb the virulent spread of the COVID19 vi rus,” an advisory issued by Registrar of the university said. The advisory added that the predicament of stu dents and research scholars to pursue and complete their academic assignments is understandable. Howev er, the library, the hostel mess and eateries may be super spreaders. “There is no place better than home for getting a safe environ ment,” it added.
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but we are not leaving for good just yet,” said Mr. Gupta. Rajeev Kumar sat with his peers – all labourers in Rajas than — at the bus stand wait ing for a bus to Etah because they too wanted to cast their vote. “There is no fear of the lockdown at the moment. We are only going for a few days,” he said.
Hemani Bhandari NEW DELHI
Metro trains to run at reduced frequency Staff Reporter NEW DELHI
The Delhi Metro Rail Corpo ration (DMRC) on Friday said that in view of the wee kend curfew, set to be im posed from Saturday, fre quency of metro trains across the network will reduce. In a statement issued, DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said, “Metro services will be available with a head way of 15 minutes across the network on the weekend, that is on April 17 and 18.” He further added: “The two sections where there is a bifurcation in the network – Noida and Vaishali section on the Blue Line and Kirti Nagar and Inderlok section on the Green Line, the head way will become double – services will be available af ter every 30 minutes in these sections.”
Special Correspondent
Despite the Delhi govern ment announcing weekend lockdown, migrant workers in the Capital appear not to be leaving the city yet, though they’re gathering at transport hubs in hordes. Most migrant workers The Hindu spoke to at Anand Vi har ISBT said they are going home for reasons other than lockdown fear and plan to return. Some, however, were scared that the weekend lock down might extend. Vir Singh (33) from Uttar Pra desh’s Badaun, sat with his wife, children and other fa mily members with eight pieces of luggage and said he was scared if the lockdown will extend. However, they will come back if the lock down is not announced, he said. He also said that the fear of lockdown is not the reason they are leaving. “Currently, we are going home to cast
Migrant workers at the Vaishali bus stand in Delhi on Friday. *
SANDEEP SAXENA
our vote in panchayat elec tions and plan to come back in 2025 days but we haven’t forgotten last year also. Thankfully, we were back home when the lockdown was announced but my ne phew was stuck in Delhi. I re member bringing him on a bike after riding all night,” he said. Mr. Singh works as a la bourer and resides in Nangli Dairy. Hari Lal Gupta, a resi dent of Sonipat and a vegeta
Three arrested after brief exchange of fire STAFF REPORTER NEW DELHI
Three men were arrested af ter a brief exchange of fire for an alleged robbery attempt in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpu ra on Thursday night, police said. The accused, Sabir (30), Ravi (32) and Zuber (22), have previous criminal record. Sa bir and Ravi sustained bullet injuries on their legs and were shifted to a hospital for
treatment, they said. According to the police, while Bhajanpura SHO Ashok Sharma along with his team was enforcing night curfew in the area on Thursday night, he noticed three persons on a scooty trying to rob a person. Sensing police presence, they tried to escape but were chased by the police. Sophis ticated pistol with six live car tridges were recovered from them, said the police.
ble vendor, and his brother Hari Prasad Gupta, a labour er in Delhi, got together at Anand Vihar bus stand to go to their village in Azamgarh but not because of the lock down fear. Other reasons “Our brother is really unwell and we have to meet him. We’ll come back in a few days. Last year during the lockdown, we got stuck here in Delhi so that scare is there
Fear of the past However, there were some who had packed their lug gage for more than a few days fearing a repeat of 2020. Ha mid Ali and Sabeena, with their threeyearold son and elder brother, were all set to leave for Mainpuri. “I am a la bourer. Work has been less in the last few days and then this weekend lockdown has been announced. This might extend. Last year also it had started with two days and then we’ll be stuck here with out any transport to go home. I am leaving now. Don’t know when I’ll be back,” he said.
HC to hold in-camera proceedings in scribe’s anticipatory bail plea Varun Hiremath is accused of rape Staff Reporter New Delhi
The Delhi High Court on Fri day agreed to conduct in camera proceedings in the anticipatory bail plea of a Mumbaibased television journalist in an alleged rape case. Justice Mukta Gupta gave the direction after senior ad vocate Kapil Sibal, repre senting journalist Varun Hi remath, requested for incamera hearing. The High Court, on April 9, granted interim protec tion from arrest to Mr. Hire math in the case till April 16, provided he joined the pol ice investigation. Mr. Hire math has approached the court after his earlier antici patory bail plea was dismis sed by a trial court here on March 12. The trial court had said that consent cannot be im plied from the complai nant’s previous experiences with the accused. If the wo
man stated in her evidence before the court that she did not consent, the court shall presume that she did not, the trial court had said while rejecting his anticipatory bail plea. The woman, in her FIR filed at Chanakyapuri Police Station, had alleged that she was raped by Mr. Hiremath at a fivestar hotel here on February 20. Mr. Hiremath’s counsel, however, claimed that there had been a history of pre vious sexual relationship between the accused and the complainant.
Ghaziabad manufacturers asked to stop making industrial-use oxygen
Dust storm brings relief from soaring temperature
They were told to ramp up supply for medical purposes
Special Correspondent
Press Trust of India Ghaziabad
With the COVID19 surge con tinuing unabated, the district administration here on Friday asked manufacturers to halt production of industrialuse oxygen and ramp up the sup ply for medical purposes, offi cials said. District Magistrate Ajay
Shankar Pandey said the ad ministration also asked all hospital in the city to not de ny treatment to COVID19 pa tients even if they have no beds. He said such hospitals can refer the patient to a ded icated COVID19 facility after giving them preliminary treatment. The administration on Fri
day met oxygen manufactur ers and suppliers here and is sued a slew of instructions to them so that adequate supply is maintained here to meet the high demand. Joint Commissioner of In dustries, Virendra Singh has been ordered to monitor the city’s biggest oxygen manu facturing unit, he said.
New Delhi
A dust storm with strong gusts of wind provided relief from the soaring tempera tures on Friday evening after the maximum temperature settled at 40 degrees Celsius, three degrees above normal for the season. The minimum settled at 20.2 degrees Celsius, which was two degrees below normal.
The IMD reported that during the storm, the wind speed surged to about 5070 km per hour and light rain was also recorded at many parts of the city. The maxi mum temperature is likely to stay below the 40degree Celsius mark for the next five days, it said. “Partly cloudy sky with possibility of very light rain accompanied with gusty winds on April 17,” read the extended forecast.
Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai-600002. Group Editorial Officer: Krishna Prasad. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act). Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 11 No. 91 ●
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4 NORTH & EAST
DELHI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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Assam Oppn. alliance candidates fly back
Haryana CM asks farmers to stop their agitation ‘It’s our duty to protect all from COVID’
Chandigarh imposes weekend lockdown amid surge in virus cases
Naga tribe declines to pay ‘taxes’ to extremists
The order, which came into effect on Friday, shall remain in force till April 30
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Mohammed Iqbal
CHANDIGARH
JAIPUR
Amid rising COVID19 cases, Haryana Chief Minister Ma nohar Lal on Friday urged the farmers to stop their ag itation during the ongoing pandemic. Tens of thousands of farmers, mostly from Pun jab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at several places at Delhi borders, demanding a repeal of three farm laws. “I urge my farmer broth ers to stop their agitation during this hour of crisis. The government has always and is always ready to listen to the demands raised by them. There may be some difference of opinion, but right now, there is a dire need to remain vigilant while prioritising our health. Therefore, I request my farmer brothers to end their agitation and return to their homes,” said Mr. Lal. The Chief Minister was in teracting with the people of the State today during the ‘Haryana Ki Baat’ pro gramme held through live telecast. Mr. Lal said that it is eve
After a week’s stay in Con gressruled Rajasthan, the Assam Assembly election candidates of the Opposi tion alliance, including those from the All India Un ited Democratic Front (AI UDF), flew back to Guwaha ti on Friday. The candidates were brought to Jaipur on April 9 amid fears of horsetrading by the BJP. The candidates, num bering about 20, were stay ing in a luxury hotel near Jaipur and were expected to be in here till May 2. The Congress party was report edly bearing the expenses of their stay. However, as per sources, they were concerned about the worsening COVID19 sit uation in Rajasthan and feared that they might not be able to reach Assam for the May 2 counting.
GUWAHATI
VIKAS VASUDEVA CHANDIGARH
< >
The government is always ready to listen to the demands raised by the farmers...but right now, there is a dire need to remain vigilant while prioritising our health
Manohar Lal Haryana Chief Minister
ryone’s democratic right to agitate, but it is our collec tive responsibility to protect ourselves, family members and our near and dear ones from this global pandemic that has become a global threat to humanity. “There fore, farmers on moral and ethical grounds should stop their movement to prevent this pandemic,” he said.
Amid surge in COVID19 cases, Chandigarh has an nounced imposition of ‘weekend lockdown’ from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., effective Friday. The decision regarding the weekend lockdown in the Union Territory, among other restrictions, was taken at a meeting held here, presided over by Governor of Punjab and Chandigarh’s admi nistrator V.P. Singh Bad nore. A government order said there will be a wee kend lockdown starting from 10 p.m. on April 16 till 5 a.m. on April 19. Resi dents must stay indoor during the lockdown pe riod and only essential activ ities will be allowed. During the weekend lockdown, home delivery of food will be allowed, it said. “The order shall come in to force with effect from 10 p.m. on April 16, and shall remain in force till April 30,” read the order issued by State Disaster Management Authority, Chandigarh. Apart from this, other res
Schools in Haryana to remain shut till April 30 Teachers asked to come to schools SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT CHANDIGARH
The Haryana govern ment has decided to close schools for stu dents of Classes I to XII till April 30, owing to spike in COVID19 cases. As per the order, the decision will be applica ble for government schools as well as private ones. An official statement, however, said that all
trictions were also an nounced till April 30, includ ing shutting of all gymnasium and spa; run ning of cinema halls with 50% capacity; functioning of all government offices with 50% of staffers; and a ban on social, cultural, political, re ligious events. Notably, the samples of the latest findings of the Post
teachers will continue to come to schools like be fore so that examination results can be prepared and released on April 30. It added that the new academic session, 2021 2022, can be started from May 1 this year. “The admission pro cess and other adminis trative work will conti nue in the schools as before,” the statement al so said.
Graduate Institute of Medi cal Education and Research (PGIMER), sent to National Centre for Diseases Control, have revealed that 70% of the samples had UK variant of COVID 19 while 20% had 681 H mutant of COVID19. Dr. Jagat Ram, Director of PGIMER said that the PGIM ER’s department of Virology had sent 60 positive samples
of COVID19 to the Nation al Centre for Diseases Control (NCDC), New Del hi, in March 2021. “It was found that 70% of the samples had UK var iants of COVID19, one sample was found to have double mutation and 681H mutant of COVID19 was observed in 20% of the samples. Majority of the samples were from Chan digarh,” said Dr. Ram. “Considering the high transmission and faster spread of COVID19 by the U.K. variant, it is suggest ed that everyone should follow COVIDappropriate behaviour by wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and using hand sanitisers frequently.” ‘Breaking the chain’ Stressing on the need of vac cination for priority groups, Dr. Ram said, “The priority groups of population should get vaccinated against CO VID19 disease, which will help in protection against this disease and reduce the intensityseverity of the dis ease that will further help in breaking the chain of the COVID19 transmission.”
A Nagaland tribe has de clined to pay “taxes” to several extremist groups in the State unless they unite for the greater cause of the Nagas. The “no unity, no tax” declaration by the Konyak community in the State’s Mon district is believed to be a move to provide fiscal relief to the people by end ing multiple taxation. Nagaland has several ex tremist groups and all ex cept a hardline faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Kha plang) have signed cease fire agreements with the Centre. Each of these groups runs parallel governments and extracts taxes from the people, the police person nel included. People end up paying at least 2425% of their an nual income to these extre mist groups, and defiance has at times been met with a violent response. The decision by the Ko nyak Union, the apex body of communitybased or ganisations, is the first tribespecific instance of resisting “taxation”.
56 farmers taken into preventive custody by police in Kurukshetra Special Correspondent GURUGRAM
As many as 56 farmers were taken in to preventive custody at Kurukshetra here on Friday after they staged de monstration against the visit of State Bharatiya Janata Party president Om Prakash Dhankar to participate in a party’s programme. The farmers were later let off, said the police. A large number of farmers, owing
EDUCATIONAL
allegiance to BKU (Chaduni), gath ered outside Ambedkar Bhawan in Sector 4 around 3 p.m. to protest against the participation of Mr. Dhankar in a training programme in the city for the party workers of Shahbad Assembly constituency. The protesters tried to block his way to prevent him from leaving the ve nue, but he was escorted to safety by the police.
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OBITUARY & REMEMBRANCE DEATH C.G.RISHIKESH (78), Retired Assistant Editor, Frontline, Chennai passed away on 14-04-2021. Address: A5, Madhurima, 32, Conran Smith Road, Gopalapuram, Chennai-600086. Mobile : 9840742980
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THE HINDU
SOUTH 5
DELHI
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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IN BRIEF
Cases soar, Karnataka CM tests positive
Weather Watch Rainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday
Yediyurappa was infected last year too; Jagan seeks 60 lakh vaccine doses; Kerala cases cross 10,000 Special Correspondent
Karnataka bus strike enters 10th day BENGALURU
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi warned RTC workers, who are on strike demanding a pay hike, against threatening those willing to return to duty. The strike, which saw a driver — Rabeed Rasul K. Avati, 56 — dying in a stone throwing incident, entered the 10th day on Friday.
Bengaluru
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who cam paigned hard for Saturday’s byelections, tested positive for COVID19 on Friday. He contracted the infection for the second time and was un der treatment at Manipal Hospital. Karnataka reported its biggest singleday spike of 14,859 cases and 78 fatalities on Friday.
137 temples, monuments in A.P., Telangana shut ANANTAPUR
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has ordered the closure of all 137 temples and monuments under its control in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from Friday till May 15 owing to the pandemic. There are eight monuments in Telangana and 129 museums/ temples/forts controlled by the ASI in A.P.
Mr. Yediyurappa earlier tested positive in August 2020 and had got one dose of vaccine. He appealed on Twitter that all those who had come in contact with him recently should be ob servant and selfquarantine. A statement from Manipal Hospital said that he was un
Endless wait: People standing in a long queue for COVID19 test at Kottamaidan in Palakkad on Friday. K.K. MUSTAFAH *
der evaluation and being treated for respiratory symp toms. Karnataka on Friday de cided to impose restrictions on gatherings and celebra tions. For marriages and pol
itical events, 200 people were permitted in an open space, but religious gather ings were banned. For mar riages in a closed space, the limit was 100 people, and for birthdays and other celebra
Fousiya set to renew legal battle SC order in ISRO espionage case has kindled Maldivian woman’s hope for justice K.S. Sudhi KOCHI
The Supreme Court order asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look in to the D.K. Jain Commission report on the Kerala Police framing space scientists in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) espion age case has rekindled hopes of justice for Fousiya Hasan, the Maldivian woman who was imprisoned in Kerala for three years in the case. “Though I had engaged a lawyer in India to file the case, it had to be put off fol lowing the pandemic,” Ms. Hasan told The Hindu from Sri Lanka. After learning about the
Fousiya Hasan
Supreme Court order, Ms. Hasan said she would dis cuss the developments with her lawyer in India. She had earlier announced her deci sion to seek compensation from India for her illegal cus tody and the torture she suf
fered at the hands of the police. The police had picked her along with Mariam Rashee da, another Maldivian, on charges of espionage three decades ago. “I don’t know the names of the police officers who as saulted me. I don’t remem ber those details now. They kicked and slapped me on my face and back. They pricked my fingers and toes. They wanted me to confess that I paid ISRO scientists Nambi Narayanan and Sasi kumar money and smuggled out the secrets,” she said. “Besides assaulting me, the police destroyed my life and also that of my daughter.
Her studies were disrupted. She was shocked by the pol ice action,” she said. The 79yearold woman does not know when justice would be delivered. “I don’t have much hope left now. It has been a long wait for nearly 30 years with out any compensation. I am in another country and the case will take time to com plete. It may take months and months in courts. I know the court procedures,” said Ms. Hasan about the le gal hurdles that she had to clear before claiming the compensation. “I can’t walk properly and I am unable to stand for long,” she said.
tions, it was 50 in open spac es and 25 in closed areas. At funerals, the limit was 50 pe ople in an open space and 25 in a closed area. Andhra Pradesh Chief Mi nister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Red dy wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting 60 lakh doses of COVID19 vaccine to cover the popula tion aged above 45 for the first dose in the next three weeks. The Chief Minister said the State proved its capabili ty, but the same could not be continued as the vaccine stock was exhausted. The State reported 20 deaths and 6,096 new infec tions on Friday morning. The tally increased by 1,000 infections in just a day. In another spike , Telanga na recorded 3,840 cases on Thursday. There were nine deaths, the highest this year. Greater Hyderabad re
corded 505 cases. On Friday, Kerala’s new cases stood at 10,031 with a TPR of 14.8%. The active case pool in the State now was 69,868 patients, with two districts having over 10,000 active cases. The State added 21 recent deaths to its tally. Fresh infections soared in Tamil Nadu, with its daily count surpassing 8,000 on Friday. The State recorded 8,449 new cases of COVID19 and 33 deaths, taking its tally to 9,71,384 and toll to 13,032. With this, the active cases have exceeded 60,000 for the first time since the start of the pandemic. As many as 61,593 persons, including 22,420 in Chennai, are pre sently under treatment across the State. (With inputs from Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai bureaus)
Kerala HC quashes FIRs against ED officials ED Deputy Director had moved court Special Correspondent Kochi
In a setback to the Left De mocratic Front government, the Kerala High Court on Friday quashed the two first information reports (FIR) filed by the State police against unnamed officials of the Enforcement Directo rate (ED) in Kochi for alleg edly forcing Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair, accused in the diplomatic channel gold smuggling and money laundering cases, to give false statements against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi jayan and other higherups. Justice V.G. Arun, while quashing the FIRs, observed
that the police could not re gister FIRs for the offence under Section 193 of the In dian Penal Code (fabrication of false evidence) against the ED officials in view of the prohibition under Sec tion 195(1)(b) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). According to Section 195(1) (b) of the CrPC, only the court before which the pro ceedings in a case were pending could take cogni sance of an offence relating to fabrication of evidence. The court passed the ver dict disposing of two peti tions filed by P. Radhakrish nan, Deputy Director, ED, against registration of FIRs.
Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.00 Hrs)
Forecast for Saturday: Thunderstorm with lightning, hail and gusty wind very likely at isolated places over subHimalayan West Bengal, Sikkim and Uttarakhand; with lightning and gusty wind at isolated places over Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pra desh, Delhi, West Bengal and Kerala city rain max min Agartala................ —....37.3....22.6 Ahmedabad ........... —....39.5....25.1 Aizawl................... —....28.4....15.8 Allahabad.............. —....42.2....22.6 Bengaluru ............. —....33.4....20.8 Bhopal .................. —....39.2....22.1 Bhubaneswar......... —....37.6....23.0 Chandigarh ........... —....41.8....22.9 Chennai ............. 0.1....33.8....25.9 Coimbatore ........... —....36.3....23.0 Dehradun .............. —....36.6....17.5 Gangtok ............. 3.3....26.5....13.0 Goa....................... —....34.0....26.2 Guwahati ........... 0.2....32.2....23.3 Hubballi ................ —....34.0....22.0 Hyderabad ............ —....36.8....24.1 Imphal .................. —....30.1....17.2 Jaipur ................... —....38.4....25.0 Kochi .................... —....32.6....25.4 Kohima .............. 1.8....27.4....12.4 Kolkata ................. —....35.5....28.4
city rain max min Kozhikode.................... —....34.2....26.0 Kurnool ....................... —....39.9....27.0 Lucknow...................... —....41.1....22.7 Madurai ..................... 60....35.5....22.5 Mangaluru ................... —....35.0....24.6 Mumbai ....................... —....32.7....24.5 Mysuru ........................ 7....36.0....21.0 New Delhi ................... —....40.0....20.2 Patna .......................... —....38.6....24.6 Port Blair.................. 0.8....27.6....25.5 Puducherry ............... 0.5....33.4....24.4 Pune............................ —....37.0....18.6 Raipur ......................... —....36.2....22.0 Ranchi ......................... —....35.0....24.8 Shillong....................... 2....24.2....11.6 Shimla......................... —....25.0....14.4 Srinagar....................... 1....13.2......8.0 Thiruvananthapuram......... —....34.0....25.2 Tiruchi......................... —....38.7....25.3 Vijayawada .................. —....36.8....25.2 Visakhapatnam ............. —....33.0....25.4
(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius) Pollutants in the air you are breathing
Yesterday
CITIES
SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE
Ahmedabad..... Bengaluru ....... Chennai .......... Delhi .............. Hyderabad ...... Kolkata ........... Lucknow ......... Mumbai .......... Pune............... Visakhapatnam
40 ..5 16 23 ..4 25 23 ..1 ..— 17
.58 .33 .16 .54 .51 .20 .84 ...9 .21 .59
49 52 56 79 34 71 54 82 17 19
....84 ..126 ....31 ..340 ....92 ..137 ..311 ..120 ..105 ....25
.130 ...90 .....— .324 .100 .121 .246 ...91 .100 ...62
....* ....* ....* ....* ....* ....* ....* ....* ....* ....*
In observation made at 6.00 p.m., Sonipat, Haryana recorded an overall air quality index (AQI) score of 421 indicating an unhealthy level of pollution. In contrast, Gummidipoondi, Tamil Nadu recorded a healthy AQI score of 29
Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI) SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system, making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues and monuments. NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters. CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death. PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature death in people with heart or lung disease
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MVA faces Pandharpur bypoll challenge amid COVID19 surge
Bombay HC allows Jain temples to deliver food through volunteers
Man booked for neglecting elderly mother
Temple trusts had sought nod to take away parcels during fast
Raina Asssainar Navi Mumbai
Contest between NCP candidate Bhagirath Bhalke, BJP’s Samadhan Autade today
Special Correspondent Mumbai
Alok Deshpande Mumbai
The byelection in Pandhar pur Assembly constituency in Solapur district on Satur day amid the COVID19 surge in Maharashtra poses a tough test to the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The seat became vacant following the death of Na tionalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Bharat Bhalke owing to COVID19 complica tions in November last year. Both the MVA and the Oppo sition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed the upper hand in the electoral cam paign, which concluded on Thursday. The result will be declared on May 2. While the NCP has fielded Bhalke’s son Bhagirath, the BJP has given its ticket to Sa madhan Autade, who con tested the 2019 poll as an In dependent and secured 54,124 votes. In 2019, the BJP’s Sudhakar Paricharak polled 76,426 votes, and Bhalke won 89,787 votes. Ac cording to the BJP, the com
Samadhan Autade
Bhagirath Bhalke
bined votes secured by Par icharak and Mr. Autade last time are enough to ensure the party’s win this year. The NCP, however, has dismissed such permuta tions. “Every election is dif ferent. Candidates were dif ferent then. The political situation has altered mani fold. We are sure of retaining the seat,” NCP’s chief spokes person Nawab Malik said.
< > People of Pandharpur have
Allies extend support Top leaders from the three parties comprising the MVA have thrown their weight be hind Mr. Bhagirath Bhalke. The NCP firmly believes that
the first opportunity to show this government, involved in corrupt practices, its place Devendra Fadnavis Leader of Opposition
the late MLA’s popularity, developmental efforts, and empathy of the electorate will lead the alliance to victo ry. The BJP, meanwhile, is betting on Mr. Autade’s cha risma and backing from the politically influential Parich arak and MohitePatil fami
lies. During the poll cam paign, the BJP did not miss any opportunity to predict the fall of the MVA govern ment. At a rally, Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadna vis said, “Leave it to me on when the government needs to be changed. You all do not worry... People of Pandhar pur have the first opportuni ty to show this government, involved in corrupt practic es, its place. Ensure that Au tade emerges victorious.” ‘Beware of defection’ NCP State president Jayant Patil was quick to counter Mr. Fadnavis’s taunt. He said the BJP should be worrying about the possibility of another bypoll in case one of its MLAs decides to defect to the ruling alliance. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said, “The one who can dislodge the government is yet to be born. While we don’t poke our noses in so meone else’s business, we don’t spare those who inter fere in ours.”
The Bombay High Court on Friday allowed Jain temples in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik to carry out through volun teers the delivery of special food consumed by the com munity while fasting for nine days, starting April 19. A Division Bench of Justic es S.C. Gupte and Abhay Ahuja was hearing a petition filed by two Jain trusts — Shree Atma Kamal Labdhi Surishwarji Jain Gyanmandir Trust, and Sheth Motisha Re ligious and Charitable Trust. The plea sought special permission to “take away pious boiled cooked food from the premises of the reli
gious trust” for the Ayambil fast. The plea also urged the court to allow the trusts to open their Jain temples while following all the stan dard operating procedures issued by the State govern ment under the ‘Break The Chain’ drive on April 13 to curb the spread of COVID19. The advocate appearing for the trusts told the court that while restaurants and bars are allowed to deliver food, religious trusts were not being allowed to do so. Additional government pleader Jyoti Chavan had op posed the plea and said res taurants are allowed to carry out home delivery through online orders and no one
HC extends interim orders till May 7 Court takes decision in view of ‘alarming’ COVID-19 situation in Maharashtra Special Correspondent Mumbai
Mumbai man donates AC ambulance to serve needy His mother had died without one in 2006 Special Correspondent Mumbai
A Mumbai resident, whose mother died 14 years ago due to the nonavailability of an ambulance on time, has donated an ambulance to a local hospital. It will serve poor and needy patients. A Mahindra Supro air conditioned ambulance has been donated to the Inlaks CM YK
General Hospital in Chem bur by the Namita Dhawan Charitable Trust, named af ter the deceased woman. “The idea of this noble cause came to us when our beloved mother left us in De cember 2006. She was criti cally ill. Sadly, it was too late by the time we could get an ambulance and take her to the nearest hospital,” said Sumeet Dhawan, who founded the trust in memo ry of his mother in 2014. Vishamber Khatri, presi dent, Inlaks Hospital, said,
Namita Dhawan Charitable Trust donates the AC ambulance to Inlaks General Hospital, Chembur. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *
“We urge more such charita ble trusts and donors to do nate medical equipment and
kits so that we could serve pe ople better in the challenging COVID19 pandemic.”
was allowed to go to restau rants personally. The court said home de liveries could be done by a team of not more than seven volunteers and all COVID19 safety norms should be ad hered to by all those cooking and serving food. The Bench said, “Consi dering that the State govern ment has permitted restau rants and other food joints to cater to the public through home delivery ser vices, it would be clearly in the interest of justice to al low 58 Jain temples in Mum bai, and three in Pune and Nashik to deliver the pious cooked food to the homes of the devotees.”
The Bombay High Court on Friday extended till May 7 all interim orders passed across the State owing to the “alarming rise of COVID 19 cases in Maharashtra”. A Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justices A.A. Sayed, S.S. Shinde and P.B. Varale noted that res trictions imposed by the State government under the ‘Break The Chain’ drive on April 13 have rendered it dif ficult to conduct judicial pro ceedings in the court. In a meeting of judges of the administrative commit tee of the court, it was re solved to regulate judicial
The HC said new curbs in the State have rendered it difficult to conduct judicial proceedings. FILE PHOTO *
proceedings of all the Bench es and the courts/tribunals subordinate to the high court by imposing appro priate restrictions. The notice uploaded on the high court’s website read, “Since the prevailing situation in Maharashtra is alarming with exponential rise in active cases and to protect the interest of all those who have been or are disabled to access justice.
The Chief Justice initiated suo motu litigation in public interest and to constitute this Special Bench for mak ing appropriate orders con sidering the plight of the jus tice seekers.” The notice also said that in all matters where interim orders passed by the high court or the courts/tribunals subordinate to the court were “subsisting as on April 9, 12 and 15 as well as those likely to expire within April 19 or soon thereafter” shall unconditionally be extended till May 7 or until further or ders of this Bench.
The Taloja police have booked a resident of Thane for abandoning his 85year old mother. The police said Sehvanti Waman Shinde approached them after she was asked to leave her ne phew’s house in Taloja. The police contacted her son, Ashok Shinde, but he refused to take her home. The phone of her daughter Ranjana More who lived in Khopoli was switched off. The police contacted three more relatives, but they too refused to take responsibility. The police then sent Ms. Shinde to an oldage home in Taloja. On Tuesday, the police brought Ms. Shinde back and called up her children again, but their phones were switched off. “We took suo motu cognisance of the case and registered an FIR against her son. We have not made any arrest yet. We have asked him to come to the police station for further enquiry. During a pandemic, it was wrong on their part to abandon her,” senior police inspec tor Kashinath Chavan said.
Orders in abeyance The Bench also mentioned that “any order or decree for eviction/dispossession/de molition which might have been passed by any court/ tribunal/authority subse quent to April 9 shall remain in abeyance till May 7 unless directed otherwise”. A ND-NDE
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6 EDITORIAL
DELHI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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The roots of a decentred international order Steep climb
T
he three seats of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kur seong in the Darjeeling hills of West Bengal may count for little numerically in the State Assembly of 294 members, but their political significance is a dif ferent story. The demand for a separate Gorkhaland State in the hills has singularly driven politics among the Gorkha population for more than three decades now. The agitation has been often violent. In 2017, dur ing the last eruption of violence, the hills were in block ade for 104 days and several people were killed. The BJP’s close involvement with Gorkha politics suggests that it has certain plans for the region, which could have ripples in other parts of the country where de mands for autonomy or separate States exist. It was in Darjeeling that the BJP got its foothold into West Bengal. From 2009 to 2019, the region sent a BJP member to the Lok Sabha. The BJP’s traditional position in favour of smaller States created an affinity for it, but more impor tantly, the fact that it had little stake in West Bengal pol itics in general allowed it to be experimental here. Though it never declared in clear terms its support for a separate State, by maintaining an ambiguous stance, it became acceptable to an expanding segment of the hill population. In 2014, then BJP prime ministerial nomi nee Narendra Modi said he shared the dreams of the Gorkhas, and the BJP later on shifted to a promise of ‘permanent political solution’. Home Minister Amit Shah campaigned in the hills and reiterated the pro mise. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stayed away from campaigning, avoiding the contentious question. The politics in the hills is framed in antagonistic terms with the Bengali population in the plains. Any concession to the Gorkhas, let alone a separate State, can be viewed unsympathetically by the rest of the pop ulation. The two experiments in the past of allowing au tonomy to the region under the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council from 19882012, and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration established in 2012, more than mitigat ing the grievance of the Gorkhas, splintered their polit ics. The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha which dominated politics in the region is divided into two factions — one led by its founder Bimal Gurung and other by Binay Ta mang and Anit Thapa. Ms. Banerjee’s TMC is said to be in alliance with both factions, which means little more than creating confusion. The Gorkha National Libera tion Front (GNLF), the party set up by Subhas Ghising who started the agitation, is an ally of the BJP. The expe riments of alliances and selfgovernance led to an ero sion of trust in local leaders. While Gorkha politics view Bengali leaders of all parties with suspicion, they have bought into the nationalist politics of the BJP to some extent. The BJP has emerged as a serious player in West Bengal and will remain so in the near future. Darjeeling will test its agility and vision, certainly for the State, but probably beyond its borders too.
Shelley Walia
The International Institute for Strategic Studies puts the overall estimate of China’s military budget at $230 billion (https:// bit.ly/3sofrDw). The intentions for global supremacy are apparent, chiefly to outrun the Pentagon. The primary geopolitical rivals, namely Russia and China may pos sibly provide the strategic and tac tical counterbalance to the hege mony of America. Moreover, the international order is under threat of the rising economic power of the BRICS nations, with China dominating in its economic and military capacity. Rising powers and an agenda Though it is a far cry from surpass ing the United States in its military prowess, particularly Russia which has no ambitions of a global outreach, it is apparent that the fu ture of global politics requires a significant programmatic agenda in the hands of the rising powers that are aggressively building a pa rallel economic order envisaging new centres of hegemonic power. It forebodes the final decline of American ascendency that began after the end of British imperial ism in the aftermath of the Suez Crisis (1956) when a wrap on the knuckles by America led to the withdrawal of Britain and France. Pax Britannica gave way to Pax Americana. From the Renaissance period onwards, 14th15th century Eu rope began its hegemonic ambi tions through trade and com merce, taking almost 500 years to colonise and influence nations across the world. The tectonic shifts in the postcolonial era saw the interrogation of Eurocentrism and its biased accounts of the East, especially with the appearance of Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth
B
y announcing that all U.S. troops would be pulled out of Afghanistan by September 11, President Joe Biden has effectively upheld the spirit of the TrumpTaliban deal, rather than defying it. In the agreement between the Trump administration and the insurgents in February 2020, U.S. troops were sche duled to pull back by May 1, in return for the Taliban’s assurance that they would not let terrorist groups such as alQaeda and the Islamic State operate on Afghan soil. When Mr. Biden ordered a review of the U.S.’s Af ghan strategy, there was speculation that he would de lay the pullout at least until there was a political settle ment. But he chose an orderly pullout — the remaining troops (officially 2,500) will start leaving Afghanistan on May 1, with a full withdrawal by September 11. Be sides the U.S. troops, the thousands of coalition troops under the NATO’s command are also expected to pull back along with the Americans. Mr. Biden’s push to re vive the peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban has hit a roadblock. A U.S.initiated, UNled regional peace conference is scheduled to take place in Ankara, Turkey, on April 24. But the Taliban have made it clear that they will not participate in it, and have threatened to step up attacks if the U.S. did not meet the May 1 withdrawal deadline. It is not clear whether the peace conference will go through without the Taliban’s participation and what it would achieve even if it goes through without the Taliban. This leaves the already shaky Ghani government in an even more precarious situation. After September, the government will be left with itself on the battle ground against the Taliban. For now, Mr. Ghani has held together the powerful sections of the state and society against the Taliban at least in the provincial capitals. But once the Americans are gone, the ba lance of power in the stalemated conflict could shift decisively in favour of the Taliban. In the recent past, whenever the Taliban overran cities, U.S. air power was crucial in driving them back. The country is alrea dy witnessing a series of targeted killings of journal ists, activists and other civil society members op posed to the Taliban. This does not mean that the government is on the verge of collapse. The U.S. has promised that it would continue remote assistance to the government. The role of regional players such as Russia, China and India, which have a shared interest in a stable Afghanistan, will also be crucial in deciding the country’s future. But one thing is certain: the U.S., despite all its military might, has lost the war and its withdrawal, without any settlement or even a peace road map, leaves the Taliban stronger and the govern ment weaker. That is an ominous sign. CM YK
Dents to American supremacy Nevertheless, in all likelihood, America will continue to play a prime role in international affairs though its image representing un iversal brotherhood has sharply declined under the Trump regime, particularly his foreign policy of threatening to withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza tion (NATO) and withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change. Furthermore, his bare faced racist obsession and his han dling of the marginalised immi grants has left the democratic world aghast. The rising tide of far right ultranationalism and ethnic purity experienced in the Brexit phenomena, in Trumpism and in the promotion of the rightwing agenda in India, has set in motion the wearing down of liberal de mocracy. Other threats such as ter rorism, ethnic conflicts and the warning of annihilation owing to climate change necessarily de mand joint international action where American “exceptionalism” becomes an incongruity and an aberration. This indeed has chipped away at the American glo bal supremacy. The world is, as a result, witness to a more decentred and pluralis tic global order, a rather compell ing vision of the empowerment of liberal forces standing up for an in ternational order incentivised by longterm structural shifts in the global economy, indicating the evolving nature of power and sta tus in international politics, espe
Direction by China This is the evolutionary path the developing nations are already embarking on, though the current raging novel coronavirus pandem ic has retarded economic develop ment and sent many economies such as Brazil, India, Turkey and South Africa into a downward spi ral. It is hoped that in the post pandemic period, these econo mies would rise to meet the Amer icanled liberal hegemonic world order. With China spearheading Asian regionalism, a serious chal lenge is possible but there is deep scepticism about China’s selfen hancing economic and military greed reflecting its personal eco nomic rise. China must strengthen the opposition to the W est through the promotion of regional multilateral institutions . Its self centered promotion of building its own stature through the recent concentration on principle of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Silk Road project has, indeed pro voked an understandable clash with India and Japan. More than having individual partners or al lies, China must embrace and give a push to multilateral affiliations in order to not further exacerbate re gional tensions. Power rivalry in a multipolar world would remain a possibility with military conflict not ruled out. It would be overly optimistic to imagine that the threat of war is behind us, though it can be safely said that it is unlikely. Regional military activity can be seen in
Russia’s assertion of power in Ge orgia and Ukraine, Turkey in the east of the Mediterranean, India’s disputes with Pakistan and China’s infiltration into India as well as its rivalry within its periphery. Histo ry is a witness to nations begin ning to flex their muscles once economic rise is assured and re cognised across the world. In deed, the international state of af fairs is rather fuzzy and frenzied. However, the capabilities of the rising economies cannot be under estimated. China and India clearly have the ageold potential to lead as, historically, they have been pioneers of some of the oldest ci vilisations in the world. Whereas, China’s military capabilities must not make China lose its bearings, economically it must spearhead the challenge to the established western world that has ingrained its superiority in the conscious ness of the developing world for centuries. China indeed is a valua ble bedfellow for the launching of a union which could be a formida ble challenge to the West at a stage when multifaceted transnational threats confront the world and need the collective universal atten tion. The fragmentation of global governance consequently can no longer be handled solely by Amer ica. Thus, a more nuanced under standing of power in the circum stance of the declining authority of the West has to be arrived at es pecially when China is still far from approaching U.S. power in just about any area, particularly in its economic or military strengths, its multinationals that lead just about in every category. Its de fence advantages that are unparal leled. China, on the other hand, is in disputably a serious rival to the U.S. in the South China Sea, a world leader in renewable energy, and a formidable actor on the glo bal stage of investment and trade, penetrating India, Israel, Ethiopia and Latin America. As Tongdong Bai writes in his book Against Pol itical Equality, China has risen in its global power by “adopting the
idea of absolute sovereignty and following the nationstate model, which is in conflict with the West ern ideal that human rights over ride sovereignty…. But it cannot continue to rise by doing what it has been doing and it must even tually follow the liberal democrat ic models”. China must remember that its growing power has com pelled Anthony Blinken, the cur rent U.S. Secretary of State, to en courage NATO members to join the U.S. in viewing China as an economic and security threat. Thus, a kind of dualism persists in the world order with no clear hegemony that can be bestowed on one single nation. Global power gradually extends across a wider range of countries, restoring con testation necessary for the smooth working of a balanced world or der, thereby allowing multiple nar ratives to coexist on the interna tional level. This has implications for the functioning of a civilisation that is not controlled by the in domitable will of one. On sharing and treaties The emphasis, therefore, would be a move towards restructuring and advancement, as well as adopting an oppositional posture as a robust replacement of subser vience to western hegemony. The challenges of the 21st century can be met head on through mutual sharing of knowledge and more groundbreaking inclusive trea ties. It is feared that there could be a possibility of a multipolar world turning disordered and unstable, but it is up to the rising nations to attempt to overcome territorial as pirations and strike a forceful note of faith on cultural mediation, worldwide legitimacy, and the ap peal of each society in terms of its democratic values. Interestingly, the sun is now setting on the em pire and the rising nations are gra dually waking up to a new expe rience of freedom and selfconfidence. Shelley Walia has taught cultural theory at Panjab University and is the author of ‘Humanities at the Crossroads’
Vaccine diplomacy that needs specific clarifications The government needs to convince Indians that the vaccine exports have not been made at the cost of their health
Exiting Afghanistan The U.S. pullout without any settlement leaves the Taliban stronger
cially in the context of the rising impact of Asian Regionalism on in ternational trade and commerce.
Vivek Katju
O
n March 18, V. Muraleedha ran, Minister of state in the Ministry of External Affairs, while responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha on the “Distribu tion of Covid19 Vaccine in Foreign Countries”, noted, “External sup plies are done factoring in domes tic production, requirements of national vaccination programme and requests for the ‘Made in In dia’ vaccines. These supplies will continue in the weeks and months ahead, in a phased manner, de pending on production and needs of the national vaccination pro gramme”. As an obligation Mr. Muraleedharan also stated that India was sending these vac cines abroad in the “form of grant, commercial sales of manufactur ers GAVI’s COVAX facility (https:// bit.ly/3x0J4yg)”. Eight days later, Mr. Muraleedharan made the same points while answering a question in the Lok Sabha but he also, significantly, added, “The supply to GAVI’s COVAX facility is an obligation since India is a mem ber of this multilateral body and also a recipient of vaccines from this body (https://bit.ly/32l2gbO).” As on April 13, India had sup plied over 65 million vaccines to 90 countries. Of these more than 10 million were sent as grants, al
most 36 million on a commercial basis and about 19 million under the COVAX programme. These es timates are based on the Ministry of External Affairs statistics. Taken together, these supplies come to around a month of India’s current COVID19 vaccines production. An analysis of the timing of these sup plies is revealing. Vaccines were sent as grants from the third week of January through March; some small quantities have also been sent this month. Vaccines were ex ported on a commercial basis mainly from end January through February, with a small number in March. The COVAX despatch was made overwhelmingly in March, though some small supplies have continued in April. ‘Why’ as a crucial query Mr. Muraleedharan’s responses to the Parliamentary questions fo cussed on ‘how’ vaccine supplies were sent. They also mentioned that these exports were contingent on requirements of the national vaccination programme, vaccines production and the compulsion arising out of the GAVI member ship. They do not however go to the basic question: ‘why’ send vac cines at all. That is certainly a cru cial query for the enormous dom estic need for vaccines made each dose precious; hence, Prime Mi nister Narendra Modi’s emphasis that no vaccine should go waste. An answer to ‘why send vac cines’ was given by Mr. Modi dur ing his address to the Raisina Dia logue on April 13 when he said “…we in India have tried to walk the talk (https://bit.ly/3gfdDKl).” Speaking at the same forum, Ex
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Needed, direction With the spread of what can be called the second wave of the novel coronavirus in India, there is clearly a lack of commitment toward ensuring the wellbeing of the common man. There is no guarantee of even the right to get space for the proper and dignified cremation of a loved one leave alone a hospital bed. For the common man, his earnings are under serious threat and with daily living expenses on the rise, fears
GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO
Darjeeling and Gorkha politics will test the BJP’s vision for West Bengal and beyond
and Edward Said’s Orientalism which began to propel freedom struggles against westerncentric perspectives inherently inadeq uate and biased for the under standing of the emerging new world order. It was the Bandung Conference of 1955, a meeting of Asian and African states, most of which were newly independent, that set the schema for the rise of Asia, politically and economically. The confrontational stance was therefore the expected corollary in third world struggles to create a parallel order.
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In the postpandemic period, developing economies should rise to meet the U.S.led liberal hegemonic world order
ternal Affairs Minister S. Jaishan kar said, “I think equitable access (to vaccines) is critically important in this. Because we all know that no one will be safe till everyone is safe.” Clearly, India wishes to sig nal that it is a responsible global power which does not selfobses sively think of itself alone. Signifi cantly, India has not been shy of comparing its record with that of advanced western countries. Last month, Mr. Jaishankar asked, “Tell me, how many vaccines have in ternationalist countries given? Which one of these countries have said while I do (vaccinate) my peo ple, I will do (inoculate) other peo ple who need it as much as we do”? A side to foreign policy This desire to be a good global citi zen can be traced to the Objective Resolution moved by Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent Assemb ly on December 13, 1946. It noted, inter alia, “This ancient land at tains its rightful and honoured place in the world and make its full and willing contribution to the promotion of world peace and the welfare of mankind (https:// bit.ly/3ggh1or).” Mr. Modi followed this vision when he also told the
Raisina Dialogue, “And we must think of the entire humanity not merely of those who are on our side of the borders. Humanity as a whole must be at the centre of our thinking and action.” The Modi go vernment also time and again in vokes the ancient phrase ‘Vasud haiva Kutumbakam”; Mr. Jaishankar did so at the Raisina Dialogue too. The premise of the ideal ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ is no different to that of the Objective Resolution. These approaches are the ideal istic side of the foreign policy coin whose other face is fashioned by cold and ruthless realism and ex clusive selfinterest. Foreign policy makers often seek to emphasise a country’s tradition of altruism and the imperative of enlightened self interest — in all peoples’ safety and prosperity lies our own — to justify the assistance they give to other lands. But they have to ultimately justify it to their own people on the basis of tangible short or long term strategic and economic inter ests. This is particularly so in times of shortages when the welfare of a country’s own citizenry is directly and obviously at stake. India’s vac cine supplies to foreign countries will be judged by its people on this criterion. How do they measure? Factors that mattered The implications of Mr. Mura leedharan’s responses show that the government made estimates of the vaccines that could be sent abroad on the interplay of three factors: domestic production, the demands of the national vaccine programme and requests for vac cines manufactured in India. What
is not known is how these factors were collectively addressed in the decisionmaking process. For in stance: did the health authorities come to an independent judgment of domestic demand and base the national vaccine programme on this independent judgment? If this was the case, then the foreign sup plies that have been made have been only of those vaccines that the health authorities thought could be spared to be sent outside. In such a scenario, the onus for an swering questions on the making of the national vaccine pro gramme would lie squarely with the health authorities. It would ob viously not be so if domestic avail ability of vaccines was reduced by the number that had to be sent abroad on any consideration. Mr. Muraleedharan clarified that it was obligatory to send vac cines contracted under GAVI’s CO VAX facility. Experts in interna tional law can weigh in on this assertion because sovereign states can always invoke supreme na tional interest to override obliga tions. Certainly, the vaccines sent as grants were voluntary and the commercial contracts of the com pany concerned could always be disregarded under existing laws. Thus, all in all, vaccines sent abroad were for general foreign policy considerations for which there is some justification. But that is insufficient. Specific clarifica tions are needed to convince the people that these exports have not been made at the cost of their health. Vivek Katju is a retired Indian Foreign Service officer
Letters emailed to
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are only increasing. There is inappropriate COVID19 behaviour. The Kumbh mela for example, goes on, unleashing herd spread. Across the country, politicians of every hue have held election rallies in scant regard for safety. Many of us expected sage advice from the Election Commission of India, the Supreme Court of India and even the President of India but have been left deeply disappointed. Human rights are being
compromised. The political leadership needs to take responsibility. Each of us must also commit to rise and overcome this situation. Every small action counts if all rise to the occasion. Naveen Khajanchi, Kolkata
■ It is ironic that when thousands are being hospitalised and hundreds dying due to COVID19, the campaign to accelerate vaccination has been called
‘Tika Utsav’. When States are facing vaccine shortage, how far will the ‘Utsav’ be able to accomplish its objective of vaccinating the most number of people? To overcome the vaccine shortage, the Centre should transfer adequate funds from “PM CARES” to the manufacturers of vaccines so that they can improve the infrastructure at their end. In turn, the Centre can get vaccines at subsidised rates. V. Subramanian, Chennai
With some States beginning to implement ‘mini lockdowns’, many migrant workers have begun returning to their hometowns, clearly implying their mistrust in the government and the administration. There is still no clarity about whether India has sufficient data about its migrant workers. Even now, the States have to be empowered to draw up an ad hoc policy concerning the welfare of migrant workers. We definitely do not want a ■
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repeat of 2020. S. Gowtham Bharathi, Kollampallayam, Erode, Tamil Nadu
The ‘Gridman’ I had always been a bit puzzled by the absence of the ‘Gridman’; sadly, yesterday, I read the touching report in The Hindu about him (Inside pages, April 16). We will miss his tantalising clues. Usha Mukunda, Bengaluru
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
GROUND ZERO 7
DELHI
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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Meth, gold and arms — a force to stop them all The Assam Rifles faces the twin challenges of checking smuggling and preventing illegal crossings into Mizoram even while overseeing the muchdelayed and ambitious Kaladan MultiModal Transit Transport Project. Dinakar Peri reports on the paramilitary force
An Assam Rifles border patrol team being briefed near the IndiaMyanmar border. (Below): A bad road patch on the way to Zorinpui near the IndiaMyanmar border. The Kaladan Project is under construction along the way.
D
ressed in combat uniform and with AK47 assault rifles slung ov er their shoulders, Jagriti, Sophie and Lucy are living their dream. The ri flewomen, posted in Mizoram, are among the 200 women soldiers serving with the Assam Rifles in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. Training in As sam Rifles for women began in 2013 and formal induction took place in 2014. Jagriti, who hails from Aravalli dis trict of Gujarat and is posted with 3 As sam Rifles battalion, said: “I have com pleted four years of service. Earlier, I was deployed in Nagaland, and Jammu and Kashmir, and took part in counter insurgency operations. Throughout my childhood, I saw my uncle in uniform. It was my dream to join the forces. Now I feel proud.” Jagriti, the most experienced of the three, has also served in Nagaland and along the Line of Control (LoC) at Phar kian Gali in north Kashmir, known for heavy infiltration from Pakistanoccu pied Kashmir. Similarly, Riflewomen So phie, who hails from Serchhip in Mizo ram, and Lucy, from Churachandpur in Manipur, have served in diverse roles. Lucy and Sophie are posted with 46 As sam Rifles Batallion. Lucy, selected in 2017, said, “I took to the uniform after seeing people living close to my native place joining the forces.” Sophie had earlier served at Sadhna Pass in Tangd har sector near the LoC. “I was told that I have to go to Kashmir along with other troops. I was happy to serve the coun try. Our focus was to check women sus pected of smuggling goods,” she said. In fact, interceptions have revealed that 60% of the conduits are women. Wo men soldiers are deployed for patrol du ties and also at check posts. Assam Rifles, a paramilitary force, is administratively under the Ministry of Home Affairs and operationally under the Army. Riflewomen have played a stellar role in the short time since they were inducted into the force, said sever al officers to a group of print and televi sion journalists from Delhi who visited Mizoram in March. Recoveries of nar cotics and contraband have gone up sig nificantly since riflewomen have been deployed, one officer said. The women perform all tasks and work equally with their male counterparts. Most impor tantly, they can check women carrying contraband, said the officer. But while the authorised strength is 2,000 riflewomen, Assam Rifles has on ly 200 riflewomen. Jagriti’s battalion has 16 women soldiers. To increase re cruitment, “we need more women to apply,” said another officer. To this end, in their current deployment, Lucy and Sophie are training women who come for the prerecruitment process, organ ised by the Assam Rifles. Rampant drug use The Assam Rifles faces the twin chal lenges of checking smuggling and pre venting illegal crossings into the State which has a porous border and also a CM YK
Free Movement Regime up to 16 km for residents on both sides. It also has to oversee the muchdelayed and ambi tious Kaladan MultiModal Transit Tran sport Project, which seeks to ease In dia’s access to Southeast Asia and also provide an alternate route between the landlocked Northeast and the rest of In dia. The project is finally nearing completion. Drug use and smuggling remain the biggest challenges for Mizoram, which shares the longest border with Myan mar among the four northeastern States that border the Southeast Asian neighbour. “Narcotics is a big challenge for us,” said Brigadier Digvijay Singh, Comman der 23 Sector Assam Rifles, responsible for Mizoram.“But we are doing all that is in our hands. In the three months of 2021 alone, we have recovered narcotics worth almost ₹25 crore. As Mizoram is a dry State, cheap and easy availability of drugs has a wide impact on society. Miz oram has the highest percentage of drug addicts,” he said. According to data available with law enforcement agencies, in 2020, 21 kg of heroin and 130 kg of marijuana and Methamphetamine tablets worth ₹47 crore were found. In 2020, 190 smug glers were apprehended while over 53 were apprehended this year. India is a prime market for illicit opiates originating in Asia. Government estimates say India witnessed a 455% in crease in drug hauls between 2011 and 2020. Last year, on June 26, which is ob served as International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, an an nual antidrug action plan for 202021 for 272 districts was launched by the Mi nistry of Social Justice and Empower ment. In a recent survey conducted by the Social Welfare Department, 27.8% of the total drug users in the State came from Aizawl and the least from Lawng tlai (5.9%). The most alarming fact is that most of the respondents of the sur
vey are educated — nearly 4045% com pleted middle school, 3540% up to high school, and about 1015% are graduates. Today, more than 200 million people are estimated to be consuming illegal drugs in India. In Mizoram, 1,645 people have died due to drug abuse since 1984. In 2020 alone, 67 people died, and 268 people were arrested on drugrelated charges. In India, about 0.7% of the population is affected by drugs. In terms of the per centage of population affected, Mizo ram ranks the highest in the country. Ya ba tablets, produced in the Wa State of Myanmar and which are in high de mand in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru, are smuggled through Mizoram, local officials said. Mizoram also acts as a conduit for transshipment of drugs to other parts of the country, Brigadier Singh said. “As sam Rifles is conducting antidrug cam paigns to create awareness about the ill effects of drugs,” he said. Among the States bordering Myan mar, Mizoram is a peaceful State where “the insurgency ended with the stroke of a pen in 1986” as one official put it. With the other States affected by insur gency, Mizoram is the preferred route for transit, the official said. A major antidrug drive was launched by Assam Rifles in cooperation with the State government and local NGOs. As part of the awareness campaign last year, Mizoram Home Minister Pu Lal chamliana inaugurated an antidrug campaign named ‘Ruihhlo Do’, which means ‘a war against drugs’. It was or ganised along with 46 Assam Rifles in three phases. Recoveries have gone up significantly in the last two years as the antinarcotic grid has been strengthened by the de ployment of women soldiers of Assam Rifles, sniffer dogs, and Xray machines. According to official data on recover ies in the Northeast, narcotics including Methamphetamine and Ya ba tablets worth over ₹368.19 crore were reco vered last year. In addition, contraband such as gold, gems and teak worth ₹52.61 crore and other miscellaneous items including foreign currency worth ₹16.56 crore were recovered.
Apart from being an easy substitute for alcohol, drugs are very easy to be conceal and carry, said Colonel Viplav Tripathi, Commanding Officer of 46 As sam Rifles, responsible for north Mizo ram. “People are doing a lot of business as a small quantity of a drug earns them big money. A Methamphetamine tablet costs around ₹1020 in the border areas. In Aizawl, it is ₹350500. And once it reaches mainland India for the festival season, it costs ₹2,000,” he said. Apart from drugs, other major items smuggled include gold, wildlife, wea pons, Indian currency and foreign ciga rettes. Mizoram is one of the fastest growing hubs of gold smuggling from China, one officer at Aizawl said. More than 8 kg of gold was recovered in 2020, and about 70 kg that was recovered in other parts of country is believed to have gone through Mizoram, said the of ficer. Weapon recovery data show that in 2020, around 30 AK47s, two Chinese pistols, one air rifle, around 600 rifle scopes and about 1.5 lakh detonators were recovered. Local issues Mizoram has a very high literacy rate of 91.2%, but very few employment oppor tunities. This is another reason why pe ople turn to smuggling, according to ob servers. Speaking to the media at Zorinpui near the border where the Ka ladan Project enters India from Myan mar, H. Lalmuansanga, an elected member of the Lai Autonomous District Council, said this was one of the most backward districts of the country and appealed for Central government help. “The Kaladan Project is the gateway to Southeast Asia. Before the project is completed, we need to uplift the local people. The economic condition and education status here is very poor. We need the Central government to con centrate on this area. We need to boost the health system,” he said. Joseph Lalhmingthanga, Secretary, Central Young Lai Association, echoed his views. He said that apart from more recruitment into the Assam Rifles, they also need institutions where skills deve lopment is taught and job opportunities are created for the locals. “I hope the
Central government concentrates not only on international strategic policy but also on meeting local demands. Our population is very small and our needs can easily be met with a little attention,” he said. As the long convoy of vehicles mean dered its way through the hilly terrain, the road from Aizawl to Lwangtlai was blacktopped and good for the most part. But the real test of our spines was from Lwangtlai to Zorinpui. A common sight as we drove across the State was of people carrying cans and drums of wa ter to their homes. Officials said water supply is a major issue across the State. An ambitious project After missing a few deadlines and cross ing several hurdles, India’s ambitious in frastructure project is nearing comple tion. Since the February coup in which the military junta overthrew the democrati cally elected government and took con trol of Myanmar, hundreds of Myanma rese nationals including policemen crossed over into India seeking refuge. This prompted India to seal all the bor der points. Despite this, work was on full swing on a bridge at the border at Zorinpui, next to a bailey bridge built by the Army last year for the project. Officials dismissed any impact of the coup on the project or any threat from the Myanmarbased insurgent group, the Arakan Army. “Of late, there has been no incident where the Arakan Ar my has tried to hinder the progress of the Kaladan project. The project is pro gressing as per the timeline. It will have a huge economic impact on society as well as in the development of south Miz oram,” said Brigadier Singh. “It is sup ported by the local people in Myanmar as development in Rakhine State is not great. So this road will bring a lot of prosperity and business opportunities for those people,” he said. The project has three legs — a 539km sea stretch from Kolkata to Sittwe in Myanmar, an inland waterway on the Kaladan river from Sittwe to Paletwa ex tending to 150 km, and the 110km land route from Paletwa in Myanmar up to Zorinpui in Mizoram. There is also another 88km road stretch from Zorin pui to Lawngtlai in Mizoram. The private company RDS is execut ing the stretch from Lawngtlai till the border at Zorinpui. There is another stretch of 109 km inside Myanmar. The Ministry of External Affairs is executing the project and appointed IRCON (In dian Railway Construction Limited) to monitor the project, explained Captain Vikas Sharma near the project site at Zo rinpui. IRCON floated the project and tenders were given to EPIL and C&C, a joint venture company, Captain Sharma said. The area was named Zorinpui, which means ‘Mizoram’s greatest hope’, in 2008 when the Kaladan Project started. The place around the project site is pop ulated by Mizo communities.
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DINAKAR PERI
The joint venture started work in 2017 but stopped in 2019 as C&C de clared bankruptcy. Subsequently the joint venture subcontracted work to another joint venture, RKRPP, to com plete the work between Kaletwa and Zorinpui. “Five km of the road has been con structed though it is yet to be black topped. Jungles up to 20 km have been cleared for the road and 10 km of road has been surveyed,” said T.S. Negi, pro ject coordinator. Negi said a major chal lenge is working in the jungles where there are a “lot of mosquitoes”. “We are trying to work with eve ryone,” Negi said adding they have hired labour from villages on both sides of the border as they are economically backward and this is a good opportuni ty to take them along. Many obstacles Over the years, the project has seen sev eral interruptions including monsoons, local issues and red tape. “There was also a break because of the pandemic. There was also some fear because of the Arakan Army but work is now progressing smoothly,” said anoth er project official. In early 2019, in a twoweeklong coordinated operation with the Indian Army, the Myanmar Army destroyed 10 12 camps of the Arakan Army which set up camps in the Rakhine area, posing a threat to the project. In November 2019, the Arakan Army abducted five Indians from the project site, one of whom died of a heart attack while in custody. There is no longer any threat from the Arakan Army. It too is supportive of the project as it wants development in the region, a local official said. The project was first conceived in 2003 and an agreement was signed in 2008 at an estimated cost of ₹536 crore. The cost has since gone up to ₹3,200 crore and the deadline revised twice. It is expected to be completed by 2023. The project, which opens an alterna tive route for India’s landlocked North east to Kolkata through Myanmar, also opens connectivity to Southeast Asia. Kaladan can be a major push to counter China’s influence in the region, another official said. As of now, the work on Sittwe seaport as well as the dredging of Kaladan port are complete. In June 2017, India handed over six cargo ves sels to Myanmar. The final stretch is now the roads. Work is being done to convert the 100km road on National Highway to four lanes, between Zorinpui and Lawngtlai. Further on, from Lawngtlai to Aizwal, the existing 246km National Highway 54 connects to Dabaka in Assam. The Kaladan Project holds the pro mise of not only ease of movement but development too in a longneglected State. The correspondent’s trip was facilitated by the Assam Rifles A ND-NDE
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8 NEWS
DELHI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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Centre promises oxygen for U.P., Chhattisgarh “22 districts have crossed their reported highest cases in the last 30 days. Raipur, Durg, Rajnandgaon and Bi laspur are the most affected districts. In contrast to the week 1723 March, in the week of 713 April, RTPCR tests have decreased to 28% from 34% while the antigen tests have increased to 62% from 53%,” the Ministry said. Uttar Pradesh has report ed a growth rate of 19.25% in daily new cases. 46 districts in Uttar Pradesh have crossed their reported high est cases in the last 30 days — Lucknow, Kanpur, Vara
nasi and Prayagraj are the most affected districts. In contrast to the week 1723 March, the week of 713 April, RTPCR tests have de creased to 46% from 48% while antigen tests have in creased to 53% from 51%. The reported shortage of hospital infrastructure such as ICU and oxygen support ed hospitals beds resulting in difficulty to the public in easily accessing critical healthcare services were discussed in comprehensive detail, requiring an urgent ramping up of hospital in frastructure, the Ministry said.
No guidelines on mutations: Maharashtra Mr. Tope also said the State government is working to ensure test reports are given to citizens within 24 hours. “Every district administra tion and private institutions are directed for the same. We are doing 70% RTPCR tests as directed by Centre and we are working on im proving the numbers,” he said. The Minister said new technologies which will en sure around 10,000 tests
per day will be installed in cluding mobile vans. He also said the shortage of Remdesivir is likely to be sorted out by April 21 as new stock will be arriving. “We also want to urge private hospitals to not use this medicine on patients with mild to moderate symptoms. Only those with comorbidity, symptomatic and with severe symptoms should be given this medi cine,” he said.
U.K. nod for extradition of Nirav Modi The CBI had registered the first case against the dia mond merchant and others on January 31, 2018, alleging that they cheated the PNB of about ₹6,498 crore by get ting Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) issued fraudulently to overseas banks for secur ing buyer’s credit in favour of his three firms. Months later, the agency filed a chargesheet against him and 24 others. Subsequently, in August 2018, the first extradition re
quest was sent to the U.K. via diplomatic channels. The second chargesheet was submitted against 30 accused, including some companies, on December 20, 2019, regarding 150 out standing LoUs that caused a loss of about ₹6,805 crore to the bank. Based on the CBI case, the ED also carried out a money laundering probe and attached assets worth hundreds of crores in India and abroad.
Cash, freebies worth ₹1,000 cr. seized by EC “They should confiscate the vehicles and file FIRs,” he said. Out of the total cash of ₹344.85 crore seized, ₹236.69 crore was from Ta mil Nadu and ₹50.71 crore from West Bengal. Assam accounted for ₹27.09 crore, while ₹22.88 crore was recovered from Kerala and ₹5.52 crore from Puducherry. West Bengal and Assam accounted for the majority of liquor seized, with ₹30.11 crore and ₹41.97 crore of the total liquor worth ₹85.01 crore seized respec tively. Out of the ₹161.60 crore
worth of drugs seized, ₹118.83 crore was from West Bengal, with Assam in second place with ₹34.41 crore. Tamil Nadu account ed for most of the precious metals seized worth ₹176.46 crore out of the to tal of ₹270.80 crore, while Kerala accounted for ₹50.86 crore, a distant se cond. “The stupendous rise in seizure figures is because of better preparedness and multipronged strategy of the Commission... For ef fective monitoring, Com mission has appointed five Special Expenditure Obser vers,” the EC said.
Bharat Biotech to make 6 crore doses by July The mainstay of produc tion will be Bharat Bio tech which is in the pro cess of scaling up its Bengaluru manufacturing facility. “Scaling up a manufac turing facility to be able to make 10 crore doses a month is a huge chal lenge,” Renu Swarup, Se cretary, Department of Biotechnology, told The Hindu. “But we’ve asked all companies to accelerate.” “Haffkine didn’t imme diately have the facilities to handle live virus and so building those would take time, Ms. Swarup said. “We don’t how long CO VID will last but there may be other needs in the fu ture. These are now in vestments for the future,” she added. CM YK
“Interministerial teams had visited the sites of vaccine manufacturers in India to get their inputs on how production can be ramped up. In this pe riod, there have been ex tensive reviews and feasi bility studies on the plans being discussed with vac cine manufacturers,” the DBT’s press statement noted. On Friday, India admi nistered 2.2 million vac cine doses, much below its peak of April 5 when it administered over 4.3 mil lion doses. So far India has administered 111 mil lion doses, making it the third largest inoculator in the world. However this has covered only 7% of In dia’s population with only 1.1% getting fully inoculated.
India likely to receive normal monsoon: IMD Separate forecast being developed for Monsoon Core Zone Jacob Koshy New Delhi
India is likely to receive “normal” monsoon rainfall this year, the India Meteoro logical Department (IMD) has said as part of its official April forecast. Except for parts of eastern and north eastern India, many parts of the country are expected to get “above normal” rainfall, the IMD’s models show. “Normal” rainfall refers to a range — 96%104% of the Long Period Average (LPA) of 88 cm. Earlier this week, private weather forecasting compa ny, Skymet Weather, too, said it expected India to get normal rainfall, but said this was likely to be 103% of the LPA, whereas the IMD, on Friday, has estimated it to be 98% of the LPA. The April forecast, which is based on an analysis of se lect meteorological factors in March, is updated in May, along with estimates of how the monsoon will perform in different geographical re gions. In 2019, the IMD fore cast 96% LPA in April, but In dia ended up with record excessive rainfall of 110%. In 2020, it said 100% LPA, but India wound up with 109%. IMD officials, however, said it was unlikely there would be such excessive rain this year. In 2019, the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) — defined as a swing in temperatures in the western and eastern sec tions of the Indian Ocean, where a positive phase usually corresponds to good rains over India — contribut ed to the excess rains. Last year it was La Nina — the converse of an El Nino and associated with a cooling of the equatorial central Pacific — again a feature correlated with heavy India rains.
Wet days ahead: A person riding a scooter during the monsoon in Mumbai last year. REUTERS *
“This year, the models show a weak IOD and neu tral conditions in the central Pacific. It’s unlikely there will be over 105% LPA this year,” D.S. Pai, a meteorolo gist with the IMD’s National Climate Centre, Pune, told The Hindu. Though the IMD now is sues shortterm and extend ed range forecasts — that is, an estimate of rainfall in time frames of three days to 15 days — for the first time this year, it will begin giving monthly forecasts for all months. It has so far refrained from giving a forecast for June and September, months that are known to be erratic as those are the months when the monsoon enters and exits the country, respectively, posing a chal lenge to meteorologists. Dr. Pai, however, said the IMD’s work for several years in honing the skills of a class of models, called dynamical models, has improved their forecasting abilities over three weeks. “So we can now extend it to monthly fo recasts. The overall aim of these models is to be able to accommodate changes in the global weather that will
influence the monsoon. This is more useful for planning,” he said. The IMD also said it was developing a separate fore cast for the Monsoon Core Zone (MCZ), which repre sents most of the rainfed agriculture region in the country. “A separate forecast for the MCZ will be more useful for agricultural plan ning and crop yield estima tion, etc. In the second stage forecast in May, IMD will is sue a separate probabilistic forecast for the MCZ, based on MME [Multi Model En semble] system and a new statistical model,” said a statement. Roxy Mathew Koll, cli mate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteo rology, Pune, tweeted that the reduction in rainfall in eastern India has been con sistently decreasing. For an adequate monsoon, it is im portant for a temperature gradient to be present bet ween the ocean and the land. In recent years, however, the India Ocean has been warming faster than the land surface, reducing this tem perature differential and af fecting the monsoonal flow.
We are continuously ignored by govt., say Pandits in Kashmir Report speaks of alienation among members in the Valley Special Correspondent New Delhi
A report prepared by the Concerned Citizens’ Group, led by former External Af fairs Minister Yashwant Sin ha, has said Kashmiri Pan dits, who did not migrate from the Kashmir Valley even at the peak of militan cy, “were being continuous ly ignored in the plans of the government for the econom ic rehabilitation of the com munity”. “Blaming the Bharatiya Janta Party [BJP] for their woes, the Kashmiri Pandit representative said that it used the plight of the Pan dits in every election, in cluding in the ongoing West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. However, it does nothing for them, especially for those who never migrat ed out of the Valley even in the worst of times,” the re port said. The report said Kashmiri Pandits had become very in secure in the last few years
Two policemen hacked to death in Sukma Press Trust of India Sukma
Two policemen were alleg edly hacked to death by unidentified persons in Chhattisgarh's insurgency hit Sukma district, police said on Friday. The bodies of assistant constables Dhaniram Kashyap and Punem Had ma, bearing injuries in flicted by sharpedged weapons, were found ly ing on a road on the out skirts of Bhejji village around 5 p.m. on Thurs day, a senior police officer said.
‘Mirwaiz Farooq under detention for 20 months’ Press Trust of India Srinagar
The Hurriyat Conference on Friday said it was “extremely unfortunate” that even in the month of Ramzan, its chairman, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, who is a prominent religious leader in Kashmir, has not been released from his
“arbitrary” detention. He was detained on August 4, 2019, a day ahead of the Centre anno uncing the withdrawal of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status, and its bifurcation into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
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and “fear they could be tar gets of a false flag operation before the next general elec tion in India.” “Many alluded to the all pervasive role of the intelli gence agencies in the Valley with access to every militant group through what they called embedded militants. A Valley resident said that there was trouble brewing in the Valley already,” the re
port said. The Concerned Citizens’ Group visited the Valley from March 30 to April 2. The group has asked the state and other political ac tors to address the sense of defeat and anger among the Kashmiris by opening up the democratic space for people to express themselves and also to restore the earlier policy of restraint.
The Hindu Group appoints Krishna Prasad as Group Editorial Officer The Hindu Group Publish ing Pvt. Ltd. (THGPPL), pu blisher of The Hindu, The Hindu BusinessLine, Frontline and Sportstar, has ap pointed Krishna Prasad as Group Editorial Officer ef fective April 16, 2021. He will lead and enable greater synergies across the diffe rent print publications and digital offerings, by coordi nating content efforts across all publications of The Hindu Group.
Krishna Prasad is former EditorinChief of Outlook magazine, and former Edi tor of Vijay Times from The Times of India group. In a 35year career, he has taught journalism on three continents, been a member of the Press Coun cil of India, and was one of the earliest mainstream journalists to embrace the
Krishna Prasad
digital life. Welcoming Krishna Pra sad on behalf of the Board of Directors of THGPPL, Malini Parthasarthy, Chair person, THGPPL, said, “Krishna Prasad as Group Editorial Officer will play a guiding role on content management and strategy across all the publications, working with the editors of the various publications, digital editors, and the bu siness and technical teams to drive THG’s digital trans formation. He will help sit
‘Must ensure democracy prevails in Afghanistan’ Suhasini Haidar NEW DELHI
The U.S. decision to pull out all forces from Afghanistan is a “big step” that will have deep consequences, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who called for a “responsible drawdown” of American and NATO forces. Along with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and Af ghanistan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib, Mr. Jaishankar said it was necessary that Afghanistan’s constitution, democratic processes and the rights ac corded to women and mi norities were ensured under any circumstances, and that the “endgame” in Afghanis tan be “united, democratic and sovereign”. “What all of us see in [U.S.] President Biden’s an nouncement is a big step that is going to take Afghan istan in a certain direction and it is important that we all work together to ensure that the direction is right and the outcomes are good for Afghanistan,” Mr. Jaish ankar said while speaking on a panel with Mr. Zarif and Mr. Mohib during a vir tual session at the ongoing Raisina Dialogue summit, jointly organised by the Mi nistry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation India’s concerns Mr. Jaishankar’s comment indicated India’s concerns about a hasty withdrawal of the U.S. and allied forces from Afghanistan, which could bring the Taliban into a powerful role in Kabul. On Thursday, the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Bipin Rawat, had said In dia’s concern was that “the vacuum that was going to be created should not create space for disruptors to step in, and, therefore, the vio lence continues in Afghanis tan”. Mr. Mohib, who said he had called National Security
A number of issues were discussed during the meeting
Prakash Javadekar tests positive for COVID-19 NEW DELHI
S. Jaishankar
Adviser Ajit Doval on Friday and spoke to him about the transition plan as well as the upcoming intraAfghan and regional talks in Turkey, ad ded that much would de pend on the troops withdra wal plan and what kind of assistance they would conti nue to provide the Afghan National Security and De fence Forces (ANSDF). ‘Uncharted territory’ “We are in uncharted terri tory, and the devil is in the details of what we negotiate with NATO forces,” he said, referring to the continuing threat of violence from fo reign fighters as well as the Taliban. In particular, referring to Islamic State (IS) fighters present in Afghanistan, Mr. Zarif said it was necessary to see that Afghanistan and all its neighbours faced “com mon threats, common chal lenges”. Enumerating India’s de velopment assistance to Af ghanistan since 2001, Mr. Jaishankar said it was an “absolute fantasy” that In dia’s actions in Afghanistan were aimed at Pakistan, and a cause of bilateral diffe rences and regional instabil ity. He said India’s role, in cluding in the construction of the Afghan parliament, the Salma Dam and road networks, was a “positive” one unlike other neigh bours, in a pointed refe rence to Pakistan’s support to the Taliban and terror groups operating there.
Former External Affairs Mi nister K. Natwar Singh met with Prime Minister Naren dra Modi on Thursday, trig gering speculation. The former External Af fairs Minister, who had been away from public life during the pandemic, was driven to the Prime Minister’s resi dence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg for the meeting. It was learnt reliably that Mr. Modi discussed a num
ber of issues during the meeting. It lasted for half an hour. Royal family Mr. Natwar Singh, who hails from the royal family of Bha ratpur, joined the Indian Fo reign Service on April 14, 1953. The former External Af fairs Minister served in In dian missions in Beijing, Washington D.C., Warsaw and was in charge of the NAM summit of 1983 during
the last stint of Prime Minis ter Indira Gandhi. Mr. Natwar Singh served as the External Affairs Minis ter in the first UPA govern ment, headed by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when India firmed up ties with the United States, which ultimately led to the IndiaU.S. civil nuclear deal. The former External Af fairs Minister, who is also prolific writer, published his autobiography One Life is Not Enough in 2014.
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar announced on Friday that he had tested positive for COVID-19. “I have tested #COVID positive today. All those who have come in contact with me in the last 2-3 days may please get themselves tested,” he said on Twitter. He joins a long list of Cabinet Ministers and senior politicians who have contracted the disease.
Riyaz Kazi in judicial custody till April 23 MUMBAI
A court here on Friday remanded police officer Riyaz Kazi, an associate of suspended officer Sachin Waze, in judicial custody till April 23 in connection with the case of an explosivesladen SUV found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence and the subsequent death of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran. Mr. Kazi, an assistant police inspector, was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on April 11. He was produced before a holiday court here at the end of his NIA remand on Friday.
‘Give safe passage to Myanmar journalists’ GUWAHATI
A forum of Manipur journalists has appealed to the State government not to send back three of their Myanmar counterparts who fled the military junta and have taken shelter in Moreh. The All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU) also asked the government to give the journalists a safe passage to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in New Delhi for seeking refugee status. “We are alarmed by the prevailing situation in Myanmar, especially by the fate of the media and mediapersons,” they said.
Former CBI chief Ranjit Sinha passes away at 68 He had tested positive for COVID19 special correspondent New Delhi
New Delhi
IN BRIEF
U.S. pullout a big step, says Jaishankar
Amid speculation, ex-Minister Natwar Singh meets Modi Kallol Bhattacherjee
uate content optimally across publications and en sure synergy between our product offerings. We are confident that he will help us not only build greater synergy in our content of ferings but help us raise the bar in building high quality journalism and widen our digital imagination.” On joining the group, Krishna Prasad, Group Edi torial Officer, THGPPL, said, “For 143 years, The Hindu has been India’s most trusted newspaper, respected the world over for its independence, cred ibility and authority. It is a real honour to be tasked with shaping its direction for the digital age, while keeping journalism front and centre. I look forward to working closely with the group’s editors and journal ists, business and technical teams, to futureproof the institution’s awesome lega cy.”
Former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) chief Ranjit Sinha passed away in the early hours of Friday. He was 68. It is learnt that Mr. Sinha, a 1974batch IPS officer of the Bihar cadre, tested posi tive for COVID19 on Thursday. Earlier stints He earlier headed the Indo Tibetan Border Police and the Railway Protection Force. He was appointed the
CBI chief in December 2012 for a fixed tenure of two years. In 2013, during his stint in the CBI, the Su preme Court had observed that the agency was a “caged parrot that speaks in its master’s voice”. Mr. Sin ha had then said: “Whatever the Supreme Court said is correct.” In 2017, pursuant to a Su preme Court directive, the CBI had registered a case against Mr. Sinha for alleged abuse of authority to scuttle investigations in the coal block allocation cases. A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
NEWS 9
DELHI
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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Mamata blames BJP for COVID-19 surge Amid poll promises, distress brews in Bengal tea gardens
Bengal sees a new high, one more candidate dies
Minimum wage, land ownership are among key issues
Special correspondent Kolkata
On the eve of the fifth phase of the Assembly election, West Bengal saw a record 6,910 new COVID19 cases and 26 deaths, including a candidate, prompting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to blame the BJP for the surge. Speaking at a public meet ing, Ms. Banerjee blamed the spike on “BJP people” from “worsthit” States like Guja rat brought in for erecting stages and marquees for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll rallies. “I will tell the EC to stop the inflow of outsiders from States like Gujarat who are responsible for the COVID19 spread in Bengal ... We have nothing to say if the PM or other leaders come for cam paigning ... Why should the BJP bring people from worst affected States to set up podi ums and pandals for ral lies?” she said. The Trinamool Congress chief said local workers and decorators can be engaged for the purpose after neces sary COVID19 tests. Ms. Banerjee said the CO VID19 surge in West Bengal could have been under check had the Prime Minis ter ensured vaccination for every citizen of the State. “The virus had become weak in the last fivesix months. But, the PM did not take steps to vaccinate every citizen. He did not even res pond to my suggestion for
Shiv Sahay Singh Kolkata
Election fever: Amit Shah campaigning at Krishnanagar in Nadia district of West Bengal on Friday.
free vaccination for people of the State for political rea sons,” she said. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with several political leaders held a public meeting and a roadshow at Tehatta in Na dia, and BJP president J.P. Nadda addressed a public meeting at Ketugram in Bardhaman district. CEO holds meeting The State’s Chief Electoral Officer, Aariz Aftab, held a meeting with representa tives of political parties on maintaining COVID19 proto cols. Trinamool Congress leaders, who participated in the meeting, sought club bing of the last three phases of the election after the fifth round of polling on Saturday. Another candidate con
testing the West Bengal As sembly election died after testing positive for COVID19 on Friday. Pradip Nandy, 73, a Samy ukta Morcha candidate from Jangipur in Murshidabad, was representing the Revolu tionary Socialist Party, a con stituent of the Left Front. He is the second candidate to die of COVID19 in the past 24 hours. On Thursday, Con gress candidate from Sham shergunj, Rejaul Haque suc cumbed to the infection. At least four other poll contestants have tested posi tive for the infection. A number of hospitals in Kolkata are facing a shortage of beds as the number of pa tients continued to rise. The city recorded about 1,844 new infections in the past 24 hours.
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PTI
1,071 companies of Central forces deployed SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Kolkata
The Election Commission of India deployed 1,071 companies of Central forces for polling in 45 Assembly seats across six districts of the State on Saturday. Going by the deployment of the Central armed police forces in the previous four phases, this is the highest ever deployment. This is also the highest number of Assembly seats going to the polls in any phase in the marathon eightphase election in the State. In North 24 Parganas, over 280 companies of
Central forces have been deployed for 16 Assembly seats. Darjeeling has about 142 companies. Purba Bardhaman, where eight seats are going to the polls, will have 155 companies, and Nadia district, where a similar number of seats are going to the polls, will have 151 companies. In north Bengal, 13 seats are spread across three districts — five in Darjeeling, seven in Jalpaiguri and one in Kalimpong. In south Bengal, 16 seats are spread across North 24 Parganas, and there are eight each in Nadia and Bardhaman.
In Jorasanko, a prestige battle for the BJP The seat is the ancestral home of the Tagore family Nistula Hebbar JORASANKO
In the tightly poised 11 seats in Kolkata city, where the Trinamool Congress has held ground in the past, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is hoping to make headway this time around, and one of the seats its hopes are pinned on is the ancestral home of the Tagore family, Jorasanko. The area’s fame outside Kolkata is its connection to the Tagore family, the Tha kurbari, or mansion of the Tagore family, former home to Nobel laureate Rabindra
CICSE defers exams for Classes 10, 12 Press Trust of India
Rich past: Jorasanko, home to the Thakurbari mansion, now comprises a mixed population of non-Bengalis. FILE PHOTO *
nath Tagore, and currently a museum. The office of BJP candi date Meena Devi Purohit is, however, in a crowded area just below the incomplete Vi vekananda Setu, a portion of which crashed in 2016 in the midst of the last Assembly election. The toll of that acci
dent was 27 and it injured scores of others. The illfated flyover remains incomplete. “If elected, I promise a solu tion to the flyover issue. I’ll make sure that the flyover is either completed or com pletely removed.” Ms. Puro hit told The Hindu. She has been a corporator
Rahul slams Modi govt.’s strategy on COVID-19 ‘Centre banking on divine intervention’
New Delhi
in Kolkata for almost three decades and many civic is sues of the area, rather than any civilisational ones, domi nate the fliers she distri butes. Both Ms. Purohit and Trinamool candidate Vivek Gupta are nonBengalis. Mr. Gupta, owner of the newspaper Sanmarg, was earlier a Rajya Sabha MP from Trinamool. The area is now dominated by trading communities from Rajasthan and workers from Bihar, as it is contiguous to Bara Bazaar, once the largest wholesale market in Asia. The three corporators from the area — Sunita Jhaveri, Vijay Ojha and Ms. Purohit — are all nonBengalis. Ms. Purohit, therefore, wears the accusation of the
BJP being a “Bohorigato”, or a party of outsiders, very lightly. “We are a party founded by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, who is a son of Bengal. How can we be out siders?” she says. Her confidence also stems from the fact that in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the As sembly seat showed a lead of 14,000 votes for the BJP. The Trinamool’s hold on the city’s 11 seats is consi dered firm and the BJP’s own realistic assessment is that they are in the fight in only three to four seats, including Jorasanko. Unlike in other States, the BJP is more of a rural party in West Bengal than urban, and the Kolkata seats are hence a battle joined.
In the past few elections, Be nam Oraon, a tea garden worker at Nagrakata Tea Es tate in West Bengal, attend ed several election meetings and kept a note of the pro mises political parties made. In this election, however, he is contesting as a candidate from the Nagrakata Assemb ly segment in Jalpaiguri dis trict representing an unre gistered Progressive People’s Party . “My election symbol is football. This is to give a message that tea garden workers have been treated like a football by political parties,” he said. As the districts of Darjeel ing, Kalimpong and Jalpaigu ri go to the polls on April 17, more than 10 lakh workers of tea gardens and leaf facto ries are set to vote in the 13 Assembly constituencies. Kiran Kalindi, a trade un ion leader of the Progressive Planters Workers Union (PPWU), said the wages of tea garden workers stand at ₹202 per day. “Several tea gardens remain closed in the Dooars. The workers are still demanding a notification for inclusion of tea garden work ers’ wages under the Mini mum Wages Act,” said Mr. Kalindi. The issue of a legally bind ing wage for tea garden em
EC tightens restrictions in West Bengal Special Correspondent
Tough conditions: Lakhs of workers are caught in a vicious cycle of bondage. REUTERS *
ployees has been raised for many years but political par ties have shied away from addressing it. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in its ma nifesto for the Assembly election, has promised to in crease the wages to ₹350 per day. The Trinamool Congress has promised pucca housing to over three lakh perma nent tea garden workers through the ‘Cha Sundari’ project. The party has also promised that 23 tea gar dens will come under a rene wal project. The Left parties have said they will place emphasis on addressing the concerns of workers of closeddown tea gardens and take steps for reopening them. Anuradha Talwar, an acti vist, said the daily wages were as low as ₹68 during the Left Front regime. After a lot of pressure, it was in creased to ₹202. “A similar promise of increasing the wages was made by the BJP in Assam but the owners went to court, and the tea
garden workers were left in the lurch. Unless there is a legal guarantee of minimum wage, the workers will conti nue to suffer.” The denial of any right to land also makes the workers vulnerable. Though the Cha Sundari project promises houses to workers, they have to get a ‘no objection’ certificate from the tea gar den management, which cannot be easily obtained. Debjit Dutta, another acti vist, said as the BJP is keen on the implementation of the Citizenship (Amend ment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, a sense of unease is visible. “The tea garden workers, who came from the States of Bihar and Jharkhand before Indepen dence, have worked in the gardens for generations but cannot prove their citizen ship,” he said. With no ow nership of land and denial of minimum wage, lakhs of workers continue to live in a vicious cycle of bondage, plucking and processing tea leaves, he added.
EC notice to Trinamool leader for ‘beggar’ remark It flags ‘disparaging’ comment on SCs
NEW DELHI
Special Correspondent
The Election Commission on Friday ordered curbs on campaigning for the last three phases of the West Bengal election, including extending the silence pe riod before voting from 48 to 72 hours and barring all campaigning from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m., in view of the rising COVID19 cases. The EC said it observed violations of its August 2020 guidelines during the ongoing Assembly polls and warned parties that it would not hesitate in ban ning such events if it continued.
NEW DELHI
The Election Commission is sued a notice to Trinamool Congress leader Sujata Mon dal Khan on Friday for mak ing a “disparaging” com ment on Scheduled Castes, which the EC found to be in violation of the model code of conduct (MCC) in force for the West Bengal poll. The EC said it received a complaint from a BJP dele
gation led by Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi about Ms. Khan’s remarks in an in terview to a television chan nel. The EC notice said she called the SC community “beggars by nature”. Find ing her remarks in violation of the MCC and sections of the Indian Penal Code, the EC asked her to explain her stand and why her status as a star campaigner should not be revoked.
Former Law Minister writes to CJI Special Correspondent New Delhi
The Council for the Indian School Certificate Exami nations (CICSE) on Friday deferred the Board exams of Classes 10 and 12 in view of the rise in COVID19 cas es across the country. In light of the surge in COVID19 cases across the country, examinations for Classes 10 and 12, which were to be held from May 4, have been deferred, said Gerry Arathoon, chief ex ecutive and secretary of the CICSE. “We will closely monitor the situation and review it in the first week of June to take a final decision on conduct of examination,” he said. Option for Class 10 “While Class 12 exams will be conducted at a later stage, Class 10 students will get an option to either ap pear in offline exams later or get evaluated on the ba sis of fair and unbiased cri teria to be developed by the Board,” Mr. Arathoon added. Earlier this week, the Central Board of Secon dary Education (CBSE) cancelled its Class 10 Board exams and deferred the Class 12 Board exams. Sev eral State Boards have postponed or cancelled their exams too. CM YK
Special Correspondent New Delhi
Former Congress chief Ra hul Gandhi on Friday slammed the Narendra Mo di government’s strategy and said on Twitter that af ter imposing a “Tughlaqi lockdown”, it is now bank ing on divine intervention to fight COVID19. Mr. Gandhi, who was scheduled to address a press conference on the se cond wave, however, can celled it. Party insiders say he, along with other senior leaders, may do so after a virtual meeting of the Con gress Working Committee (CWC) on Saturday. “The Central govern ment’s COVID19 strategy — Stage 1 Impose a Tughlaqi lockdown, Stage 2 Ring bells, Stage 3 Sing praises to the Lord,” Mr. Gandhi said on Twitter. On Instagram, he also shared a video clip of his comment from a virtual press conference last year on April 16 on how the lock down would only allow authorities to ramp up med ical facilities but the virus would return. Mr. Gandhi shared a vi deo of a news clip of hospi tals being overwhelmed with fresh COVID19 cases, in an attempt to convey that
Rahul Gandhi
little was done in the past one year. ‘Mismanaged situation’ The Congress has been criti cising the handling of the pandemic by the Modi go vernment. Party chief Sonia Gandhi, at a recent meeting with Chief Ministers of Con gressruled States, accused the Central government of mismanagement. “The Modi government has mismanaged the situa tion — exported vaccine and allowed a shortage to be created in India. Mass gath erings for elections and reli gious events have accelerat ed COVID19, for which all of us are responsible to some extent. We need to accept this responsibility and keep the interest of the nation above our own,” Ms. Gandhi told her party colleagues at the virtual meet on April 10.
Former law minister Ash wani Kumar on Friday wrote to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and other judges of the top court urging them to take note of the worsening COVID19 situa tion and issue “suitable di rections” to the Centre and State governments to ban political rallies, protest as semblies and religious or festive congregations of more than 50 people. Mr. Kumar asked the Su preme Court “to issue suit able directions suomoto in the exercise of its plenary jurisdiction in pursuance of Article 21 of the Constitution”. Noting that the daily cas es of infection had crossed 2 lakh, Mr. Kumar said, “It is officially acknowledged and medically confirmed that the lifethreatening surge in the number of co rona cases, which is high est in the world, is substan tially on account of a free run enjoyed by the super spreading events, includ ing political rallies, reli gious congregations and festive events...” Mr. Kumar said that while there may be a case against a complete lock down, it was essential to put a stop to mass gather ings that spread the CO VID19 infection. A ND-NDE
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10 NEWS
DELHI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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India adds 2.33 lakh cases, 1,338 deaths Researchers propose method Maharashtra leads with 63,729 cases, followed by U.P.
Union Ministries, PSUs told to make beds available ‘Work with State, district authorities’
Chennai
Special Correspondent NEW DELHI
The Union Health Ministry has advised Central minis tries and their PSUs to dedi cate their hospital beds for COVID19 management in States/ UTs and to ensure that details of such dedicat ed hospitals/blocks be pro vided to the public. In a release issued on Fri day, the Ministry said, “To substantially augment the hospital infrastructure for effective clinical manage ment of severe COVID19 pa tients across the country, the Health Ministry has ad vised all Central Ministries to issue instructions to the hospitals under their con trol or their PSUs to set up exclusive dedicated hospital
Virus check: A health worker collecting a swab sample for COVID-19 testing in New Delhi on Friday. SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR *
The country has so far re ported a total of 1,45,21,654 cases and 1,75,673 deaths. As many as 14,73,210 sam ples were tested in India on Thursday (results of which were made available on Fri day), the secondhighest number of tests conducted in a single day. Over 14.9 lakh tests were conducted on Sep tember 24, 2020. A total of 26.34 crore samples have
been tested in the country since the beginning of the pandemic. Around 27.3 lakh vaccina tion doses were adminis tered in the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. on Friday in the country, which is 5.83 lakh doses less than what was gi ven in the previous 24 hours. A total of 11,72,23,509 doses had been administered as of 7 a.m. on Friday.
wards or separate blocks within the hospitals for CO VID Care, as was done last year,” noted the Ministry release. It added that these hospi tals/blocks should have sep arate entry and exit points to provide treatment servic es including specialised care for the confirmed COVID19 cases. Additionally, these dedicated hospital wards or blocks have to be equipped to provide all supportive and ancillary services in cluding oxygen supported beds, ICU beds, ventilators and specialised critical care units (wherever available), laboratory services, imaging services, kitchen, laundry etc., along with a dedicated health work force.
Don’t conceal COVID19 data, HC directs Gujarat
Variants found in 1,189 samples
Report accurate figures, it tells govt.
Special Correspondent
special correspondent AHMEDABAD
A day after raising doubts about the actual number of COVID19 cases and the numbers reported by the State government while hearing a suo motu petition, the Gujarat High Court on Friday asked the State to pu blish actual data on the number of RTPCR tests con ducted and people found positive for COVID19. A Division Bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Jus tice Bhargav Karia also asked the government to re lease the actual number of patients who died of CO VID19 and those who died with comorbid conditions. The court observed that transparency was needed to
RTPCR tests were able to detect them: Health Ministry NEW DELHI
erase the general concep tion that the data shared by the government were not accurate. “Accurate report ing of RTPCR testing with correct figures of positive results should be made pu blic,” the Bench said. Restore trust The court said the State had nothing to gain by suppress ing real and actual data, say ing “suppression and con cealment of accurate data would generate more se rious problems, including fear, loss of trust and panic amongst public at large”. The High Court advised the government to establish an “honest and transparent dialogue” with the public to restore trust.
The Union Health Ministry on Friday said that so far 1,189 samples had tested positive for variants of con cern for SARSCoV2 in In dia. These include 1,109 samples with the U.K. var iant; 79 samples with the South African variant and 1 sample with the Brazil variant. The Ministry said the RT PCR tests being used in India did not miss the U.K., Brazil, South Africa and Double Mu tant variants. “The Indian Genomic Consortium for COVID19 has shared the genome se quencing data with States multiple times and has so far processed more than 13,000 samples,” noted the release. Minister for Chemicals
India variant found in U.K. Press Trust of India London
U.K. health authorities have identified 77 cases of the highly infectious B.1.617 variant of coronavirus, first found in India, and has designated it a Variant Under Investigation (VUI). Public Health England (PHE), which releases weekly updates on the
number of confirmed new cases of Variants of Concern (VOC) and VUI in the U.K., reported on Thursday that the variant first detected in India includes a number of mutations. “The variant, first detected in India, includes a number of mutations including E484Q, L452R, and P681R,” the PHE weekly report said.
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and Fertilizers D.V. Sadanan da Gowda on Friday noted that the Department of Phar maceuticals and the Nation al Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority were continuously monitoring the production of remdesivir. “The production has gone
up from 28 lakh vials per month to 41 lakh vials per month during the last week,” he said. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Friday reviewed the preparedness of AIIMS, Delhi, in the light of recent surge in cases.
U.P. to shut down on Sundays, patients struggle to find beds The State recorded 27,426 new COVID19 cases and 103 deaths over 24 hours, said officials Omar Rashid LUCKNOW
Mounting cases of COVID19 forced the Uttar Pradesh go vernment on Friday to de clare a weekly shutdown in both rural and urban areas on Sundays and take steps to increase the number of CO VID19 beds in the city. COVID19 patients in Luck now, meanwhile, continued to struggle to find beds in hospitals. The city was filled with testimonies of how pa tients were finding it difficult to get admitted in hospitals or secure oxygen supply smoothly in time. The State recorded 27,426 new cases and 103 deaths in
They outline how it resembles a reaction to heparin Shubashree Desikan
Special Correspondent
India registered 2,33,728 new COVID19 cases as of 11.45 p.m. on Friday, the highest singleday spike so far. As many as 1,338 deaths were recorded on the day. Maharashtra reported 63,729 infections (account ing for 27% of the new cases) on Friday, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 27,426 new in fections and Delhi with 19,486 new cases. Maharash tra also recorded the highest number of casualties (398) on Friday. Delhi followed with 141 new deaths, while Chhattisgarh registered 138 new casualties The figures do not include cases and deaths from La dakh U.T. The data is sourced from covid19india.org, an in dependent aggregator of dai ly COVID19 figures.
to treat blood clots after jabs
the last 24 hours, including a massive 6,958 cases and 35 deaths in Lucknow, as per health department figures. Physiotherapist Ashish Srivastava’s father (73), a dia betic with breathing pro blems, died in a private hos pital but it was preceded by the family’s desperate at tempts to find him a bed in a hospital. Despite running around with an oxygen cylin der supporting the septuage narian in a private car, the fa mily alleged they failed to find a hospital that admitted him as hospitals demanded a COVID19 report first or cited lack of beds. Mr. Srivastava said he
dialled the COVID centre here for threefour days but they did not admit his father, who had tested positive. “We kept waiting outside the hospital with the oxygen. Despite registering several times at the COVID centre, he didn’t get the bed,” said Mr. Srivastava, adding that no officials offered help des pite their pleas. Hospital negligence Retired district judge Ra mesh Chandra also suffered a tragedy as his wife died with COVID19 symptoms and was allegedly not admit ted to any hospital. He alleged he was given
false assurances of help by the officials leading to was tage of crucial time. His wife died due to the negligence of the administra tion, alleged the retired judge. The couple had been administered Covaxine shots but still ended up with symp toms. Mr. Chandra says he first took her to a govern ment hospital but they said they could not accommo date her. “They made us wait for sixseven hours and told us to take the patient away. It would be at own our risk if we let her stay there, they warned us,” he said. He then tried other hospi tals but even they refused
before approaching a major private hospital where he was told they did not carry out any COVID test. He says he made calls to the num bers provided by the admi nistration but nobody came home with medicine or ad mitted her to the hospital. “They kept us hanging. She died at home. They left her to die. Had they told us they can't arrange anything, I would have made alternate arrangements elsewhere in Gonda district,” he said. Patients and their kin are also dialling the emergency services of the U.P. police as they struggle to find beds in hospitals or get tested.
Chennai
The U.S. on April 13 paused the use of Johnson and John son’s vaccine following ad verse reactions in a few vac cinated persons while investigations are on to un derstand the mechanism of the rare reaction better. This followed the fact that six pe ople in about 7 million vacci nated with J&J’s vaccine de veloped blood clots in the days following vaccination. A similar adverse reaction to AstraZeneca’s vaccine has been observed in rare cases. In this situation, a German and Austrian group, led by Andreas Greinacher of Un iversity Medicine Greif swald, in Germany, has an nounced a partial understanding of this me chanism and a possible method of treatment. Several countries have set age limits for the use of the AZ vaccine. Researchers have come closer to identifying the rea son for the blood clotting events, seen in rare cases,
The AstraZeneca vaccine is named Covishield in India.
following vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine. In two separate papers published in The New England Journal of Medicine, a group of researchers from Norway and another from Austria and Germany have outlined how this adverse reaction resembles a reac tion to heparin — a blood thinner. Heparin can induce a con dition where the platelet number dips and blood clots form. This is known as hepa rininduced thrombocytope nia (HIT). After vaccination, the vac cinated person develops specific antibodies which can bind to the platelets or
‘Lift ban on export of vaccine raw material’ Adar Poonawalla appeals to Biden
thrombocytes and activate them to form clots which could eventually block the blood vessel (thrombosis). There is an accompanying decrease in the free platelets (thrombocytopenia). The researchers are not sure whether it is the vac cine that is causing the reac tion or it is due to some fac tor in the person’s constitution. The researchers differen tiate the blood clots arising from vaccination from HIT and have also outlined a way to test patients exhibiting the worrying symptoms and to manage the condition. They have developed a screening assay to deter mine whether the person has developed these particu lar antibodies. The researchers advise first ruling out heparinin duced thrombocytopenia and then testing for vaccine induced immune thrombot ic thrombocytopenia (VITT) followed by specific treat ment of the condition with immunoglobin.
NSA against three for selling COVID drug at higher rates Special correspondent
special correspondent NEW DELHI
LUCKNOW
Adar Poonawalla, chief ex ecutive officer, Serum Insti tute of India (SII), on Friday tweeted an appeal to U.S. President Joe Biden seeking lifting of the embargo on U.S. export of raw materials, which, he said, was affect ing its production of CO VID19 vaccine. He said: “If we are to truly unite in beating this virus, on behalf of the vaccine in dustry outside the U.S., I humbly request you to lift the embargo of raw material exports out of the U.S. so that vaccine production can ramp up. Your administra tion has the details.” The SII is making the AstraZeneca vaccine Covishield. The appeal comes when the World Health Organiza tion (WHO) on Friday urged countries in the southeast Asian region to apply all tools to prevent further in fections and save lives.
The police in U.P.’s Kanpur have said they will slap the National Security Act (NSA) against three persons who were arrested on charges of allegedly smuggling and selling Remdesivir, an injec table drug used in the treat ment of COVID19, at rates higher than in the market. The recovered injec tions, which cost around ₹5,400 each did not have any batch number, the STF said.
‘Worrying trends’ “Cases are rising for the past several weeks. These are worrying trends as we conti nue to see opening of socie ties and emergence of var iants. Basic public health measures remain the foun dation of pandemic res ponse and we need to rein force them. We need to apply all the tools we have, and apply them together,”
Adar Poonawalla
said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director, WHO SouthEast Asia region. Surveillance, testing, con tact tracing, isolation, sup portive quarantine and compassionate care — they all work to stop infections and save lives, and so do vaccines, she said. Consistent use of masks, hand hygiene, ventilation and social distancing conti nue to be best guards even today, and should be strictly followed, even by people who had already been vaccinated. On the role of virus var iants in the current surge of cases, Dr. Singh said the WHO had been tracking var iants globally since the be ginning of the COVID19 out break. With the emergence of new variants of concern, these efforts had been stepped up to set up sys tems to quickly identify and study emerging variants.
70% of trains operational now: Railways Special Correspondent New Delhi
Railway Board Chairman and CEO Suneet Sharma on Friday said 70% of passen ger train services were cur rently operational, and no State had yet asked the Rail ways to stop services amid a surge in COVID19 cases. “I assure you that there is no dearth of services, the situation is quite normal...” Mr. Sharma said during a press conference. He added that the Railways had put up all details on the Indian Rail way Catering and Tourism Corporation website.
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15 The establishment in place, everyone comes in (12) 18 Doctor Hammond Stein gets a reprimand (12) 21 Get on, fix bait inside (6) 22 Song of songs able to amuse when heard (8) 24 He refuses to strike — pitch onside (8) 25 Died — one’s nameless at the rim (6) 26 Honestly done, or not so honestly done (2,3,3) 27 Time taken to go through high command (6) ■ DOWN 1 Left it — involving artist for painting (8) 2 Granite’s broken, extremely cross (8) 3 Standard tools? (6,3,6) 5 Rising star gets a flower (4) 6 Rebuilt the tattered home, has the best equipment to fight (5,2,3,5) 7 Make things hard for boy to support girl (6) 8 Swelling comes down over the years (6) 11 Happiness buried under ice by spoil sport (7) ■ ACROSS 1 Second of April every year, that’s fine (6) 4 Dance with a Kuwaiti in desert (8) 9 Rule, say, kept in cold storage (6) 10 Soldier, is ahead by small number (about five hundred) (8) 12 Controlled some of them from there in Edinburg (6,2) 13 Gullible people are crazy from top to bottom, like direction to follow (6)
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14 Moral make up of the Indian state (7) 16 Bill, Harry, Paul follow me in admitting guilt (3,5) 17 See the real picture, part of it is exquisite (8) 19 Say no to limited editions (33) 20 Finally, time to support a titan (2,4) 23 Separated himself — at heart is a rogue (4)
Solution to puzzle 13223
Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku
The Thevaram hymns are songs of devotion that are the out come of divine inspiration and hence remain relevant to sin cere devotees who wish to seek God. Among these, it is held that Siva graced and granted that the songs of the saint devo tee Karaikal Ammaiyar would spread the cause of Saivism and foster Siva devotion among people, pointed out Selvi Lemuria Manickam in a discourse. From Sekkizhar’s ac count of her story, she emerges as a woman devotee with ex traordinary viveka that makes her fully aware of the hurdles to true devotion. So she seeks a rare boon from Siva, to be granted to live as a mere skeleton without the physical frame. In this wish is subsumed the jnana that transcends the sense of pride in one’s physical appearance and inhe rent achievements and to aim for the ultimate goal, to be filled with the everlasting longing to be with the Lord. No wonder Sekkizhar records that the terrestrial and celestial worlds celebrate when Siva grants her wish. Living in a skeletal frame, she decides to visit the Lord in Kailasa. Not willing to climb the mountain with the feet, she walks on her head and hands all the way up. Parvati asks Si va about this strange display of love. Siva says, “She is the mother who worships us. She is going to spread the tenets of Saivism to the world.” He addresses her as ‘Ammaiye’ mean ing mother. Ammaiyar is the title given exclusively to her by Siva. She falls at His feet and the boons she asks are pointers to mankind. She desires to cherish the undying bliss of de votion to Siva. She also wishes not to have any further births. In case she has to be born owing to karma she wants to never forget the love for Siva. Finally she wishes to remain at His feet and be an eternal witness to His renowned cosmic dance. A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
SHOWCASE 11
DELHI
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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Yarn it!
A picture paints a
1,000 cusswords What happens when a teenager generously offers to take your photo for you
Instapick KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature: Visitors to the New York Botanical Garden are being treated to monumental floral sculptures by Yayoi Kusama, as part of KUSAMA: Cosmic Nature. The 92yearold Japanese artist’s work relates in different ways to the natural world. One of the artworks debuting at the show is this 16foot dotted octopus called Dancing Pumpkin. Till October 31. @nybg
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Talking point
Jane De Suza
World Earth Day: US President Biden’s World Leaders Summit is on April 22, two days after the Global Youth Climate Summit in collaboration with earthday.org. While this year will see activities around the theme, Restore Our Earth, what is significant is the growing involvement of young climate activists around the world. Don’t miss the Earth Day Live digital event, 9.30 pm IST, on earthday.org
My publishers are demanding a decent pic ture for my author profile. They have reject ed my attempt at passing off a 14yearold photo as recent. That’s when my teenage niece, most generously, offers to peel herself off her phone and take me outdoors to pho
Pick of the week
tograph me haloed against the sunset from a nearby hilltop. So, here I am — struggling up this hill, huff ing, hair soggy, kajal running ditchwater streaks down my cheeks — while she cheers me on, running ahead in her shiny pink shoes. Sweet child! She chirps, “Meanwhile, why don’t you
Where Jane De Suza, author of Flyaway Boy, pokes her nose into our perfect lives.
World Heritage Day
Bourdain’s last book
Prince Philip on Audible
Dial N for navratra food
Ready for South Korea?
Brides take note
From classic davarahand coffee filters to Kerala urulis — interest in traditional products, especially for the kitchen, has been growing in recent years. Now, Chennai residents can browse over 410 such products sourced from across 14 states, as Bengalurubased Zishta opens in the city today. With revival stories and a keen eye for hand craft, the brand’s popular picks include cast iron skillets and eeya chombu, the tin utensil used to make rasam that’s trending on the ’gram. The newest addition is Manipuri pottery. Buy at zishta.com.
Whether it is the Harappan civilisation or Sangam literature, heritage enthusiasts are encouraged to show off a bit on April 18. Dubbed ‘India’s first Heritage Olympiad’ by arts consulting enterprise Cultre, this hourlong competition is open to participants at heritageolympiad.com. ₹299. There’s more on World Heritage Day: 10 days after receiving the mummified remains of 22 pharaohs and queens in a grand parade, the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization has prepared 14 mummies, ready for visitors from April 18.
Chef and TV host Anthony Bourdain’s new book will be published posthumously. Coauthored by his longtime assistant Laurie Woolever, World Travel: An Irreverent Guide covers 43 countries and has Bourdain’s recommendations for restaurants and other attractions. On April 20. Back home, celebrities like Kareena Kapoor Khan, Malaika Arora and Karan Johar are cooking up a storm on the new show, Star vs Food, which dropped on April 15. DiscoveryPlus.
While only 30 royal family members are permitted to attend the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral service on April 17, it will be broadcast on a number of networks. Prince Philip was known for speaking his mind and the last week has seen his memorable quotes and funny moments shared on social media. Now audiobooks streaming service, Audible, has got in on the act, with a list of titles on the late Prince and the royal family. There’s The Wicked Wit of Prince Philip and Young Prince Philip: His Turbulent Early Life, for starters.
The newly opened Dhansoo Café has a navratra menu that includes saboodana poha, aloo chaat, sama ke chawal ki kheer and more, all put together by chef Ashish Singh at. Pacific Mall, Tagore Garden, Delhi; on until April 22; 11 am to 9 pm. 1911 at The Imperial is doing satvik cuisine in a thali, with pethe ki sabzi, kuttu ke pakode, kaju badaam ki sabzi, and more. On until April 21; 12 noon to 8 pm. Café G, Crowne Plaza Today Gurugram also has Navratri VratBhoj delicacies. On until April 21; 12:30 pm to 3:30 pm, 7 pm to 10:30 pm.
Join an online discussion by The Hindu on The Rising Korean Wave in India, and how this will influence postpandemic travel to South Korea. Panelists include singer and Kbeauty expert, Chinmayi Sripada, chef Vikramjit Roy, lifestyle content creator Scherezade Shroff, and moderator Rathi Jafer, director, InKo Centre. Everything from Kdrama, Kbeauty, Kimchi fried rice, even the TamilKorean language connect will be explored. In association with Korea Tourism Organization. April 22, 4 pm. Register at bit.ly/3tr1aqQ
With weddings and jewellery shopping continuing during the pandemic, Tanishq (from the Tata Group), has decided to get community specific. Rivaah, a new jewellery line, targets brides across the country with over 400 themed pieces inspired by Indian embroidery and traditions. So, in addition to the maang tikka and oddiyanam there are thalis for different subcommunities in the South, and staples like the maavinakayi haara (mango motif necklace) for the Kannada bride. Details: tanishq.co.in.
The Submersible EcoPangaea Tourbillon GMT 50mm Mike Horn special edition and (below) explorerMike Horn GETTY *
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In a postpandemic world where sustainability is on everyone’s mind, Mike Horn shows us nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it Mitrajit Bhattacharya
Isolation, social distancing… terms we’ve become intimately familiar with now have been part of Mike Horn’s lexicon for almost 25 years. The South Africaborn Swiss adventurer is renowned for pitting himself against the most challenging of endeavours (often alone), be it swim ming the Amazon River or climbing 8,000+ metres of the Gasherbrum 1 and 2 peaks sans supplementary oxygen. All this with sustainability at its heart (bring ing attention to melting ice caps and de forestation). It may be farfetched to draw parallels between what Horn has been doing and what we dealt with dur ing the pandemic. “I think the pandemic has given us time to take a step back and think about where we are headed,” Horn says. “We can make big changes in the 30,00032,000 days that we live. All se ven billion people on the planet have to decide that we want our world to CM YK
right side. She protests each time. “My eyes look manic, my legs are sooo fat, my smile is demented, my stomach looks like I’m having hippo babies — wait, I’ll suck in my breath, now from a 45 degree angle — didn’t you do geometry? Lean more… 123 shoot!” Finally: “Nooo! I look like I’m laying an egg! You se cretly hate me, what did I ever do to you to get these awful pictures?” We do make it to the hilltop and while I collapse into a gasping, retching bundle, she clicks a pic. “Just as promised!” She trills happily. I look like an axemurderer or worse, his victim. “No problem,” she says, “I’ll put filters. Deer eyes and rabbit whiskers. No one will even recognise you.” “It’s an author pic. I need to be recognised.” “Now!’ she shrieks. ‘The sun is setting. Capture me pushing it into the horizon. Now! Now! Eww, you missed it. I’m pushing nothing into nothing. Omg, I look mental. How will I ever go out in public again?” Not with me, for sure!
Go traditional
Geneva watches 2021
Concerts, stand-up, other events and the articles you just can't miss.
SREEJITH R KUMAR
film me running up the hill?” Five seconds la ter: “Just for peeps to see how I’m helping you out.” Five seconds after that: “Quick, now you’ve lost me. I’m so far ahead. Wait, I’ll run back.” She runs up and down seven times, while I stumble behind her, filming the video. “No, no, my ponytail isn’t swinging enough. Again!” I manage to get grass, pebbles, dis carded chips packets, and on occasion, sky — when I go sprawling. She coos, “I love you. You’re totally saving my face.” Put like that, I have to save her face, even though it’s through filming her back. Remember how selflessly she offered to click my pic. “Oh, sorry, you need to rest. No more vids!’ says this goldenhearted child. ‘I’ll ca sually lean against this tree. Unposed pics are so it! Wait, does my neck look long enough?” I assure her it looks swanlike. “Eww, is it curved? Click again!” After 15 tries, she burst into tears. “This just isn’t my right profile. You have to take it from the right side.” Huh?! “My left side is my right side. Please please. I could never live down the shame if I post this.’ I give her 23 different versions of her left
Horn and a hydrogenfuelled future
change.” Edited excerpts from an interview. How involved is Panerai in giving shape to your vision of exploration? ■ Let me tell you a story. When I sailed to the Philippines, I had to change the axe of my radar. The piece of metal had taken me 27 times around the world, helped me cross Antarctica, the North Pole, sail to the Amazon, to the Sundar bans… and I thought, ‘Let’s make a watch out of it’. I gave the problem to Panerai [with whom he’s been associated since 2001], saying, ‘You make amazing time pieces but the metal has no story to tell. This piece has planted five million trees, cleaned beaches, taken plastic out of the ocean. It has taken me on explorations and has always brought me back alive.” JeanMarc Pontroue [CEO] loved the idea. That’s how the fivepiece Submersi ble EcoPangaea Tourbillon GMT 50mm Mike Horn edition was born. That also
started the move towards building a watch that is 100% recycled. At last month’s Monaco Ocean Week, you spoke about hydrogen as the energy for the future. ■ Hydrogen moves the planets, so it can help us conserve ours. Car bon emission is our problem. Why not look at what we have all around us? Last year, when I participated in the Dakar car rally, I was criticised be cause, after crossing the North Pole [where I brought attention to the melt ing ice caps], I jumped into a dieselpo wered car and drove across the desert. But I was there to see how we could change rally vehicles [Horn’s project, GenZ, aims to enter a competitive hy drogenpowered car in the 2023 ral ly]. When I first launched the re search programme, everybody said
it’s impossible. Then I approached the CEA [French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission] last year and, three months later, they came up with a solution. Now we are building 300 kilowatt hydrogen fuel cells that can gen erate 400 horse power. I think this is the future of mobility. Is aiming for carbon neutrality in the transport sector by 2050 a realistic target? ■ I think we need to invest now. We know that electric isn’t the solution; there is not enough lithium. Hydrogen was wrongly communicated as a danger ous substance to travel with; now it has been proven to be safe. It is the power source that can give us the distance we need. The new raid rally vehicle we are developing can give us 600 km from 30 kg of hydrogen and that is as much a com bustion engine would do. Now the infras tructure should follow. How did you get interested in high latitude sailing? ■ It is the feeling of going somewhere that nobody else has been! In 2019, my custommade boat, Pangaea [which uses a combination of solar and hy drogen fuel cell power], became the first to get to the highest point in the polar ocean. The tough part of high latitude sailing is that you are never sure of coming back alive. We need to have all the in formation to make deci sions, so as to ensure the sa fety of the vessel and the lives of the crew. Last year, you sailed to Greenland and Svalbard. ■ It was the first time we went back to the polar region after the pandemic broke. The purpose was to research the impact of lockdown on the lives of whales [as they were not being hunted during the pandemic]. We recorded whale songs and had the op portunity to decode many pat terns related to their beha viour and to compare them [before and after Covid19].
Rolex
Zenith JaegerLeCoultre
Green
room Breitling
IWC Schaffhausen
Three broad trends stood out at the recently concluded Watches and Wonders trade show in Geneva: an increased use of recycled materials, continued reduction in the size of dials, and, most strikingly, the introduction of green as the colour of expression — on dials, bezels, and even on the movement. Check out seven showstoppers, and the full story by Mitrajit Bhattacharya, on weekend.thehindu.com.
Dial up brilliance Bejewelled timepieces are the flavour of the season, writes Riaan Jacob George — from Bulgari’s daring colour combinations in its high jewellery cuff watch, the Serpenti Misteriosi Cleopatra (pictured) to Piaget’s avant garde Limelight Gala, with its rainbow hues. Track the trend and read the full story on weekend.thehindu.com. A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
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Neha Bhatt
In the past year, several antholo gies, such as Unpaused and Paava Kadhaigal have made it to OTT platforms, following the tried andtested formula of four short films under one umbrella, loosely tied together by a common theme. In the latest anthology, Ajeeb Daastaans, four stories are built around fractured relation ships — and unusual ways of navi gating them. In Shashank Khaitan’s Majnu, Jaideep Alhawat and Fatima Sana Shaikh find themselves in a knot ty love triangle at a brooding ha veli. In Neeraj Ghaywan’s Geeli Pucchi (Sloppy Kisses), the stron gest film in the anthology, two women (Konkona Sensharma and Aditi Rao Hydari) who work in a factory are drawn to each other as they grapple with their widely di verse identities. In Raj Mehta’s dark drama Khi launa (Toy), actors Nushrratt Bharuccha, Abhishek Banerjee and child actor Inayat Verma stumble through toxic alleys of elite apathy as their days living in a shanty take a bizarre turn. In Kayoze Irani’s quietly poetic An kahi, Shefali Shah and Manav Kaul strike a special connection that unfolds in unexpected ways. The films travel a full arc, with bit ing twists in the tales. Some are subtle, others startling. Produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, the contrasting stories are located in a variety of livedin spaces as the characters work through strands of dysfunctional love, jealousy, prejudice, oppression, loneli ness, revenge. Exploring patriarchy Where did the ideas come from? For Ghaywan, the film was a track that was on his mind when he was writing his first film, Masaan, ma ny years ago. “But it was too ajeeb (strange) for Masaan, so I thought here is an opportunity for me to make something different and I jumped at it,” says the director ov er a Zoom interview. Hydari, who appreciated the sensitivity of Ghaywan’s first film, adds, “Say ing yes to the film was a nobrain
(Clockwise from left) Stills from Geeli Pucchi, Majnu and Ankahi SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *
Netflix’s latest anthology explores themes like dysfunctional love, prejudice, loneliness and revenge
Ajeeb Daastaans & the four shorts formula
er. It was a world and a working style that was very different and I wanted to experience a film like this.” The film, says Ghaywan, gave him the chance to talk about the largely unexplored intersec tion of caste, class, gender, sex uality in India. “For example, Ko ko (Konkona) and Aditi’s characters come from different backgrounds, yet their expe rience of patriarchy is the same,” he says. One of the ajeeb elements he wove into the film was playing with the classic idea of a manic pixie dream girl through Hydari’s character. “I feel it’s such a male gaze and is so prevalent and I wanted to subvert it,” he says. Prep involved several discussions
a real incident. It’s about different kinds of people trying to sur vive…. They have common traits and that blurs the differences bet ween them,” he says, adding that it was a tricky subject to navigate, especially with a child at the centre. His lead actor, Bharuccha, was taken in by the ending. “I did not see it coming. It’s a very bold, brave move and we did it without toning it down,” she says. Prep ping for her role of a domestic worker meant she had to shoot herself mopping the floor at home and send it to Mehta to prove she could do it. “I like doing a role I haven’t done before. It was different and challenging. The method to my madness is just to have fun with it,” says the Pyaar Ka Punchnama actor.
on the history of politics and caste to let it seep into the actors. Sensharma was spotted on set reading Yashica Dutt’s Coming Out as a Dalit’, but Ghaywan also relied heavily on the raw energy of the actors, both of whom he said have a different process. “Ko ko wants to understand every bit of it and Aditi’s process is more being in the moment.” Across the divide In Khilauna, that also explores the dynamics of class divide, the title runs as a telling metaphor through the story. What attracted Raj Mehta of Good Newwz to the film is that it could be interpreted in many ways. “Sumit (Saxena), the writer, built the story around
Writers are going to change the game and directors have to take it forward. The audience has definitely evolved and you can’t just give them the old dated stuff RAJ MEHTA, DIRECTOR
Shifting sensibilities Coming off the back of a tremen dous amount of global content re leased on OTT platforms during the pandemic, Ajeeb Daastaans caters to an audience whose tastes have shifted. Mehta be lieves it’s time to raise the bar. “Writers are going to change the game and directors have to take it forward. The audience has defi nitely evolved and you can’t just give them the old dated stuff,” he says. Bharuccha added that “it’s a great time to be an actor”, with a lot more possibilities and experi mentation in the works. The pan demic has also shifted sensibilities. “The way I look at the world has changed a bit. My sensitivity towards urban apathy has changed, one of my favourite sub jects that I keep exploring. I got to see it first hand,” says Ghaywan. Has it then become easier to tell stories that push the boundar ies of Hindi cinema? “That Karan Johar and Netflix have come to gether to make a film like this is a healthy sign of changing times and how there is freedom to make these kinds of films,” says Ghaywan. The anthology, he says, shows that “there is no black or white. There are shades of everything in our lives.” Ajeeb Daastaans is now stream ing on Netflix Watch the cast in conver sation with Neha Bhatt on weekend.thehindu.com
FOOD SPOT (Clockwise from left) Martin Howard, and snapshots from Tikli Bottom KARAM PURI/GLORIOUS HOTELS OF INDIA *
Rahul Verma
One of the best potato curries I have ever eaten was at a Jain household, decades ago. The potatoes were soft but not mushy and had soaked in the flavours of the gravy. I later asked what the masalas were, assuming that there would be a long list. Nothing but hing (asafoetida) and cumin seeds, I was told. Since then, I have been a fan of Jain food, cooked without onions and garlic, and usually with just two or three spices. Last week, stuck at home and thinking wistfully about the next meal, I was struck by a yen for satvik food. I did some research and found a restaurant called Jain Annapurna Shudh Satvik Rasoi in Ramprasth Colony, just across the border from Vivek Vihar in East Delhi (Phone number: 9810836525). I was impressed by all that the menu offered: It had some nice veggie dishes served with the bread of your choice: lachcha parathas, rotis smeared with ghee, or plain rotis. We asked for the special masala puri thhali (₹216), mung dal khichri in desi ghee (₹152), muttar ki sabzi with tomatoes and zeera aloo with lachcha paratha (₹172), and masaledar lauki tamatar ki sabzi with zeera aloo and ghee roti (₹172). I started with the masala puri. A mix of spices had been kneaded into the dough. The fragrance and taste of ajwain in it gave the puri a nice punch, and I had it with the light potato curry and the muttar ki sabzi, which was mildly sweet and soft, but not soggy. The gheetopped lachcha paratha was soft and CM YK
Light fare for warm days Jain Annapurna Shudh Satvik Rasoi home delivers fresh food with minimal processes and spices
Mung dal khichri with pickles and chutney; masala puri with lauki ki sabzi and rasedar aloo SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *
layered, and went really well with the potato, cooked with tomatoes in a dry preparation. The lauki — bottle gourd — was pretty amazing too. The gourd had taken in the flavours of the light gravy, which had been simmered with tomatoes, cumin seeds
and chillies. The rotis were soft, and made softer still with a dab of ghee. The mung dal khichri was the grand finale. It was deliciously light, though creamy and aromatic. What didn’t work was the raita, which had turned too sour. It reminded me of a dish
Remembering Martin Howard, naval captain and raconteur, who hosted everyone from backpackers to retired prime ministers at his Gurugram haveli CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
The food was mostly cooked with hing, zeera, red chillies and desi ghee, said Ritu Jain, of Jain Annapurna Shudh Satvik Rasoi. She wouldn’t say what the masalas in the puri were CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC called sannata, prepared with curd collected from different households for a village feast. This curd dish used to be so sour that it evoked total silence — or sannata! The raita didn’t reach the sannata level but my lips stayed puckered for quite a while. I, however, enjoyed the food so much that I called up the rasoi and spoke to the lady in charge: Ritu Jain. The food was mostly cooked with hing, zeera, red chillies and desi ghee, she said. She wouldn’t tell me what the masalas in the puri were (it is a family secret, she said) but agreed that there was ajwain in it. How was the khichri so light? “Haath ka kamaal hai (It’s all in the hand),” she replied. I give her a big hand. The writer is a seasoned food critic
The squire from Tikli Bottom Cosmo Brockway
There is nothing more poignant in a faraway land than stumbling across a remnant of your native culture, marooned thousands of miles away. I first encountered this sensation as a budding young travel writer one foggy Christmas outside Delhi. Turning up the drive, lined with Traveller Palms and pecking Guinea Fowl, a rosepink bungalow came into view. Under the pillared portico, stood a tall Englishman with a polkadot cravat and twinkling eyes. My host, Martin Howard, was an exuberant, Kiplingquoting, salty humored old India hand, who, with his elegant wife, Annie, lived here, at the delightfullynamed Tikli Bottom. Preparations were in full swing for a Christmas party. Annie, breezy in turquoise block print and beaming welcome, thrust some tinsel into my hand with the request, ‘Do decorate the camel’. The real joy of Tikli Bottom, in many ways an English estate with tropical fronds, was the community that the Howards created around them. The bungalow’s interiors were airy and serene, thanks to Annie’s eye, but they were also open to the much loved local children, who bounced on the sofas and jumped in the swimming pool, like flocks of starlings. The couple had opened Tikli to paying guests and visitors came from New
York, Edinburgh and Mumbai, including at least one member of the British Royal Family — all fascinated by this unique swansong of the Raj on the rural fringes of Gurugram. Martin, who was 84 when he passed away last month, was born into a farming family on the East Coast of England. After a successful career as a naval engineer, he came to Delhi and landed a coveted role as Naval Advisor to the British High Commission. Martin had married Annie, as his second wife, on a snowy day in December 1979. The couple took to life among the Delhiwallahs and expats with aplomb. A directorship at the Delhi outpost of Rolls Royce kept them in India after Martin’s retirement from the British Navy and the subcontinent became their permanent home. Farmer at heart Their friendship with Anne Wright, of Kipling Camp fame, led to the Howards buying land near the Haryana village of Teekli and enabled Martin’s dream of returning to his farming roots. They built what Martin liked to call ‘a fourbedroom house with a courtyard — for the breezes’, in fact a Lutyensinspired throwback to a more considered, languid age. Celebrated for their spirit, the couple became known for their own Anglo Indian lifestyle, as British as cucumber sandwiches, and yet deeply rooted in their adopted culture.
Martin was a squire, a plantsman, a storyteller and a buffalo farmer all at once. Diplomats, backpackers and retired prime ministers enjoyed sitting al fresco at his table, as he strewed bon mots and great chunks of If by Kipling. Education for all Martin was concerned about India’s growing population time bomb. He felt education to be key to progress, so in 2000 he founded a school, the first ever for the village. Now operating under an Indianregistered charity, the Baas Education Trust, it is an astonishing success story. “These children need to be told that the sky’s the limit,” he loved to say. “He recognised the importance of faith, but did not want religion to play a central role in his school,” Tom Homfray, the very first volunteer, told me. “He knew that it had the potential to sow division, when he was trying to achieve inclusivity... and unity.” An MBE honour was conferred on Martin by Prince Charles on the final afternoon of his 2017 India Tour. It was a moment of huge pride and recognition, although underplayed by the retired naval captain with characteristic modesty. He leaves behind three daughters, Joanna, Samantha and Tabatha. Perhaps this inspiring life is best summed up in the murmured epitaph of his widow Annie to me, spoken with all the simplicity of a longheld intimacy, “My boy did well.” Cosmo Brockway is a travel and interiors author and his book, Glorious Hotels of India, is available at bookstores nationwide. tiklibottom.com A ND-NDE
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Opponents of Myanmar coup form shadow government
Media tycoon among 5 jailed in Hong Kong Agence France-Presse Hong Kong
It includes members of Suu Kyi’s ousted Cabinet and ethnic minority leaders Associated Press Yangon
Opponents of Myanmar’s ruling junta went on the pol itical offensive on Friday, de claring they have formed an interim national unity go vernment with members of Aung San Suu Kyi’s ousted Cabinet and major ethnic mi nority groups. The move comes on the eve of a diplomatic initiative to solve Myanmar’s crisis by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is ex pected to hold a summit next week. A violent crackdown by the junta has failed to stem opposition to the coup, and as the Army has spread the fight to ethnic minorities in border areas, some ASEAN members believe the crisis threatens regional stability. Opponents of the coup have been seeking an al liance with ethnic minority groups as a way of streng thening their resistance. While it was not clear if the minority political organi sations had formally joined an alliance, the appointment
Silent prayers: People paying tribute to pro-democracy protesters killed in the military crackdown. AP *
EU set to expand sanctions Agence France-Presse Brussels
The European Union is set to impose more sanctions next week over the coup and crackdown in Myanmar, targeting 10
individuals and two businesses controlled by the military. The measures come after the bloc hit junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and 10 other senior officials with sanctions last month.
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of prominent personalities from their ranks showed a commitment to a joint strug gle against the military, which is certain to boost mo rale to the anticoup cause.
Iran says it has started enriching uranium to 60%
Security forces have killed at least 726 protesters and bystanders since the Febru ary 1 military takeover, ac cording to the Assistance As sociation for Political
Pak. suspends social media after protests
Bid to create pressure on nuclear talks Agence France-Presse Associated Press Dubai
Iran began enriching urani um on Friday to its highest level ever, edging closer to weaponsgrade levels to pressure talks in Vienna aimed at restoring its nu clear deal with world pow ers after an attack on its main atomic site. A top official said only a few grams an hour of urani um gas would be enriched up to 60% purity — triple the level it once did but at a rate far slower than what Tehran could produce. International inspectors already said Iran planned to do so aboveground at its Natanz nuclear site, not deep within its under ground halls hardened to withstand airstrikes. The move is likely to raise tensions even as Iran nego tiates in Vienna over a way to allow the U.S. back into the agreement and lift the crushing economic sanc tions it faces. However, its scope also provides Iran with a way to quickly dees calate if it chose. The announcement also marks a significant escala tion after the attack that damaged centrifuges at Na
ELSEWHERE
tanz, an attack this past weekend suspected of hav ing been carried out by Is rael. While Israel has yet to claim it, it comes amid a longrunning shadow war between the two rivals. Mohammad Bagher Qali baf, Iran’s Parliament Speaker, announced the move in a Twitter post. “The young and Godbe lieving Iranian scientists managed to achieve a 60 per cent enriched uranium product,” Mr. Qalibaf said. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the country’s civilian nu clear arm, later acknow ledged the move. Ali Akbar Salehi said the centrifuges now produce 9 grams an hour, but that would drop to 5 grams an hour in the com ing days. “Now, any enrichment (level) is possible if we de cide it,” Mr. Salehi said. While 60% is higher than any level Iran previously en riched uranium, it is still lower than weaponsgrade levels of 90%. Iran had been enriching up to 20%— even that was a short technical step to weapons grade. The deal limited Iran’s enrich ment to 3.67%.
Islamabad
The Pakistan government imposed an hourslong shutdown of social media and instant messaging plat forms on Friday, after days of violent antiFrance protests. The move came after French nationals and com panies in Pakistan were ad vised by their embassy to temporarily leave the country, in the wake of ral lies led by an extremist par ty that paralysed many cities. The Pakistan Telecom munication Authority cut Twitter, Facebook, What sApp, YouTube and Tele gram until late afternoon on Friday to “maintain pu blic order and safety”, fol lowing a request by the In terior Ministry. The announcement came just before Friday prayers, which usually draw huge crowds to mos ques where firebrand ser mons have in the past cata lysed protests. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday that four police officers had been killed and more than 600 injured in clashes.
Prisoners, which monitors casualties and arrests. The National Unity Go vernment is nominally an upgrade from what had been called the Committee Repre senting Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, which was formed shortly af ter the coup by elected law makers who were barred by the Army from taking their seats. The junta declared the CRPH an illegal organisa tion, and issued arrest war rants for its leading members. ‘Support us’ A video posted on Friday on social media showed veteran activist Min Ko Naing an nouncing the formation of the new body. He was a lead er of the failed 1988 uprising against a previous military dictatorship and is one of the country’s most respected political figures aside from Ms. Suu Kyi. He went quickly underground after the coup. “Please support the Na tional Unity Government for the future of our citizens and our younger generation,” he said.
Russia bans FBI chief, other U.S. officials as tensions soar
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was jailed for 14 months on Friday along with four other veteran de mocracy activists for their roles in protests that helped trigger a sweeping crackdown on dissent by China. Mr. Lai was given two jail terms for separate rallies in August 2019, at the peak of a democracy uprising that paralysed the financial hub for months. The jail terms were the first ever for the 73year old millionaire, who has spent decades using his media empire to support democracy in Hong Kong. Among the other defen dants was Martin Lee, 82, a respected barrister known as the “father of democra cy” in Hong Kong, who was once chosen by Beijing to help write the city’s miniconstitution. They also included Mar garet Ng, a 73yearold bar rister and former Opposi tion lawmaker. Mr. Lee and Ms. Ng were given prison terms, but their sentences were sus pended.
It expels 10 U.S. diplomats in retaliation for sanctions Agence France-Presse Moscow
Russia on Friday banned top officials from U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, including FBI chief Chris topher Wray, from entering the country as it announced a wave of titfortat sanctions and expulsions of diplomats, as tensions soar between the rivals. Moscow nonetheless said it viewed the prospect of a summit between Mr. Biden and Russian President Vladi mir Putin “positively”. On Thursday, Washington had announced sanctions and the expulsion of 10 Rus sian diplomats in retaliation for what it says is interfe rence by the Kremlin in U.S. elections, a massive cyberat tack and other hostile activity. Moscow issued a forceful response on Friday, an nouncing that top U.S. offi cials, including Attorney General Merrick Garland and Mr. Biden’s chief Dom estic Policy Advisor Susan Rice, would be banned from entering Russia. Earlier on Friday, Foreign
‘Biden, Suga may announce next inperson Quad summit’
Finland offers to host meet Agence France-Presse helsinki
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto has offered Finland as a host country for a possible meeting between U.S. president Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart. Vladimir Putin, Mr. Niinisto’s office said on Friday.
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Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that Russia was responding to U.S. sanctions in “a titfortat manner” by asking 10 U.S. diplomats in Russia to leave the country while also expelling five Pol ish diplomats in response to a similar move by Warsaw. ‘Serious consultations’ Mr. Lavrov also said that Mr. Putin’s top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, had re commended that U.S. envoy John Sullivan leave for Wash ington to conduct “serious consultations”. But Russia’s Foreign Mi nistry insisted that it viewed
Sriram Lakshman
U.S. President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minis ter Yoshihide Suga at the White House on Friday — the first foreign leader visit for a presidency that began at the height of the COVID19 pan demic. The two leaders are likely to announce the next inper son Quad (India, the U.S., Ja pan and Australia) meeting, according to a senior admi nistration official. At their first summit level meeting, held virtually on March 12, Quad leaders had committed to meeting in person before the end of this year. Mr. Suga and Mr. Biden are also expected to discuss regional security, including North Korea, China and Chi naTaiwan issues. Japan is al so expected to announce a $2 billion 5G network tech nology initiative. Mr. Suga is scheduled to meet VicePresident Kamala Harris in the morning and will hold a joint press confe rence with Mr. Biden follow ing their meetings in the af ternoon, where an
Yoshihide Suga
announcement on the Quad is “likely”. The leaders are expected to review a Quad initiative to supply up to a billion doses of the Johnson and Johnson ( J&J) COVID19 vaccine to South East Asia and the Pacific. The plan will harness In dia’s vaccine manufacturing capabilities, American and Japanese finance and Austra lia’s distribution capacity. However, these plans could run into trouble as U.S. drug authorities paused the use of the J&J vaccine this week af ter a handful of the close to 7 million recipients developed blood clots. Reviewing progress “…I think the two leaders are going to review the pro
gress to date on this [the Quad vaccine distribution plan] and underscore future plans of what we want to do — the future plans of what we want to do in the Quad going forward,” a senior ad ministration official told re porters on a briefing call on Thursday. “So we view the Quad, even though it’s an unofficial gathering, as a huge part of the architecture of the Indo Pacific going forward,” the official said.
Mr. Biden’s proposal to hold a summit with Mr. Putin “positively”, adding that it was “currently under con sideration”. Mr. Biden’s offer earlier this week of a summit had amounted to a peace offer ing, as tensions between Russia and the West have es calated over the conflict in Ukraine and the new penal ties levied by Washington. The U.S. penalties wi dened restrictions on U.S. banks trading in Russian go vernment debt and sanc tioned 32 individuals ac cused of meddling in the 2020 presidential vote.
U.S. mass shooting leaves 8 dead in Indianapolis Associated Press Indianapolis
U.S. President is hosting Japanese leader in White House
“When it comes to this possible meeting, the readiness of Finland to organise it has been presented to both Washington and Moscow,” a spokesman for the Finnish President’s Office told AFP by email. Austria has also offered to host the world leaders.
A gunman killed at least eight people at a FedEx facil ity in the U.S. city of India napolis before turning the gun on himself in the latest in a string of mass shootings in the country, authorities said on Friday. The incident came a week after President Joe Bi den branded gun violence an “epidemic” and an “in ternational embarrass ment” as he waded into the tense debate over gun control.
The gunman responsible for the overnight shooting was not immediately identi fied and it was not known if he was an employee at the FedEx facility near the air port in the state capitol of Indiana, deputy police chief Craig McCartt told CNN. Several others were in jured in the shooting, which started when the gunman opened fire in the parking lot and then went inside and kept shooting. When the police entered the plant, the gunman “immediately took his life”, Mr. McCartt said.
Korea ties Some amount of time will be spent discussing the Japan South Korea relationship, which has historically been strained since Japan’s occu pation of Korea in 1910. The two leaders will also discuss China’s recent asser tiveness with regard to Tai wan, with a view to sending a message to China that fly ing its fighters into Taiwan’s airspace is destabilising, as per the official who briefed reporters on Thursday. The U.S. and Japan would like to “calm tensions” and “dis courage provocations”, the official said.
U.S. says Russia was given Trump campaign poll data Manafort aide passed it on, it says Associated Press Washington
SC confirms annulment of Lula convictions BRASÍLIA
Brazil’s full Supreme Court upheld a ruling annulling former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s corruption convictions, clearing the way for him to run for a new presidential term. In an 8-3 ruling, the court upheld Justice Edson Fachin’s March 8 decision quashing Mr. Lula’s convictions on procedural grounds, which has upended Brazilian politics as far-right President Jair Bolsonaro gears up to seek reelection.
65,000 flee attacks on Nigeria town: UN ABUJA
As many as 65,000 people have fled the northeastern Nigeria town of Damasak following a series of jihadist attacks, the UN refugee agency said on Friday. Fighters from the so-called Islamic State West Africa Province stormed the town in Borno state three times in a week to strike a military garrison, burning homes and a UN office and killing at least 12 people. AFP
CM YK
It was one of the more tanta lising, yet unresolved, ques tions of the investigation in to possible connections between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign: why was a busi ness associate of campaign chairman Paul Manafort gi ven internal polling data — and what did he do with it? A Treasury Department statement on Thursday of fered a potentially signifi cant clue, asserting that Konstantin Kilimnik, a Rus sian and Ukrainian political consultant, had shared sen sitive campaign and polling information with Russian in telligence services. Mr. Kilimnik has long been alleged by U.S. officials to have ties to Russian intel ligence. But the statement in a broader Treasury Depart ment sanctions announce ment was the first time the U.S. government had so di rectly drawn a connection from the Trump campaign to the Kremlin’s intelligence services. The revelation was all the more startling be
Donald Trump
cause it went beyond any al legation made in either spe cial counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report or in an even more damning and detailed document released last year by the Senate Intel ligence Committee. Both those investigations were unable to determine what Mr. Kilimnik did with the data and whether he shared it further. The issue resurfaced on Thursday be cause Mr. Kilimnik was one of 32 people and entities sanctioned by the U.S. go vernment for interference in the 2020 election. Offi cials say Mr. Kilimnik sought to promote the bogus narra tive that Ukraine, not Rus sia, had interfered in the 2016 election. A ND-NDE
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14 BUSINESS
DELHI
THE HINDU
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021
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market watch 16-04-2021
% CHANGE
Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 48,832 ddddddddddddddd0.06 US Dollar dddddddddddddddddddd 74.35 ddddddddddddddd0.77 Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 46,431 ddddddddddddddd0.28 Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 66.77 ddddddddddddddd0.24
NIFTY 50 PRICE CHANGE
Adani Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 755.50. . . . . . . . . 5.15 Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2663.70. . . . . . . 76.00 Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 669.20. . . . . . . . . 0.35 Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3634.65. . . . . . . 37.15 Bajaj Finserv. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9824.75. . . . . . . 85.05 Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 4616.60. . . . . . -43.70 Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 540.75. . . . . . . . . 1.40 BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 413.80. . . . . . . . . 8.95 Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3696.50. . . . . . . . . 3.80 Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 938.05. . . . . . . 23.85 Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 127.85. . . . . . . . -0.40 Divis Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3821.85. . . . . . . 38.45 Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 4893.25. . . . . . . 47.70 Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. . . . 2434.85. . . . . . . 22.25 Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1353.20. . . . . . . . . 3.95 HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1012.75. . . . . . . 20.85 HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2574.05. . . . . . . 26.90 HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1428.65. . . . . . . . -1.45 HDFC Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 690.65. . . . . . . . -3.80 Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 2894.85. . . . . . . 32.30 Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 370.00. . . . . . . 16.45 Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2458.90. . . . . . . . -1.75 ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 566.95. . . . . . . . -8.25 IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 862.95. . . . . . . . . 4.60 Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1353.75. . . . . . . . -7.00 Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 90.15. . . . . . . . . 0.05 ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 207.95. . . . . . . . . 1.25 JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 619.40. . . . . . . . -9.70 Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1764.10. . . . . . . . -9.15 L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1359.15. . . . . . -15.50 M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 821.65. . . . . . . 16.55 Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 6648.10. . . . . . . . . 3.85 Nestle India Ltd. . . . .. 17252.10. . . . . 376.45 NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 102.45. . . . . . . . . 1.10 ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 107.30. . . . . . . . . 2.20 PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 209.85. . . . . . . . . 2.05 Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1932.10. . . . . . -12.20 SBI Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 914.20. . . . . . . . . 5.50 State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 339.90. . . . . . . . -2.80 Shree Cement . . . . . . . .. 30821.10. . . . . 515.70 Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 646.05. . . . . . . 12.80 Tata Consumer Products Ltd. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 671.30. . . . . . . 12.00 Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 310.00. . . . . . . . . 6.50 Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 890.25. . . . . . . . -7.95 TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3195.15. . . . . . -23.80 Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . 1010.30. . . . . . . 17.15 Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1549.05. . . . . . . 10.50 UltraTech Cement . .. . . . 6715.20. . . . . 175.90 UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 611.75. . . . . . . . . 4.40 Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 469.20. . . . . . . 38.50
EXCHANGE RATES Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit except yen at 4 p.m. on April 16 CURRENCY
TT BUY
TT SELL
US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 74.15. . . . . . . 74.47 Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 88.85. . . . . . . 89.24 British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102.35. . . . 102.80 Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 68.12. . . . . . . 68.43 Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 11.37. . . . . . . 11.42 Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 80.58. . . . . . . 80.97 Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 55.59. . . . . . . 55.86 Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . .. . 59.31. . . . . . . 59.57 Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 17.97. . . . . . . 18.05 Source:Indian Bank
IN BRIEF
Maruti increases prices as input costs increase
‘Economy in better shape than during 2020’s COVID19 wave’
Honda recalls 77,954 cars for faulty pumps NEW DELHI
Honda Cars India on Friday announced a recall of 77,954 units of its various models, including Amaze, City, WRV, Jazz, Civic, BRV and CRV, to replace a faulty fuel pump. This will largely impact cars manufactured in 2019. It had recalled about 65,651 units last year for the same issue.
India badly placed to tackle infections: Fitch
Agence France Presse
‘States short of health infrastructure’
Beijing
CEA Subramanian says uncertainty is much lower because of vaccination drive PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI
The Indian economy is in a better shape as compared to the previous COVID19 wave witnessed last year because of vaccines, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA) K. V. Subrama nian said on Friday. “There is a second wave therefore people should be careful about it and follow all regulations,” he said, speak ing at an event organised by Amazon. “But overall com pared to previous episode, we are in a better shape be cause vaccine is out and vac cination drive is proceeding. So uncertainty is much low er,” the CEA added. Following the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, India went in for one of the stric
Remain on guard: People should be careful and follow all regulations, says the CEA. EMMANUAL YOGINI *
test lockdowns, leading to a massive contraction of about 24% in GDP. Beginning March this year, the second wave start ed rearing its head with a sudden jump in cases, forc ing many States to go for lo
U.S. Treasury keeps India on currency watch list Country meets 2 of 3 review criteria
calised restrictions. India ad ded a record 2,17,353 new coronavirus infections in a day, according to the Union Health Ministry data updat ed on Friday. This is the se cond consecutive day that the country has reported ov
Jio, Bharti pay DoT ₹2,307 cr. for spectrum
er two lakh cases. The CEA said “one key thing that stood out during this pandemic is the rollout of ecommerce and digitisa tion, something that India has embraced.” As many as 800 million people were provided essential supplies through the public distribu tion system and cash transf er through the Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile ( JAM) with a click of button, while most advanced countries like the U.S. provided financial sup port to its citizens by issue of cheques implemented over two months, he added. “I think Indian economy is really equipped very well to usher in the significant growth that is happening in ecommerce,” he said.
China’s economy expand ed at a record pace in the first quarter as the country continued its rapid recov ery from last year’s pan demicfuelled slump, offi cial data showed Friday. The 18.3% expansion in gross domestic product was the fastest pace since quarterly records began three decades ago, but came off a historic contrac tion in 2020 during the depths of the pandemic. While the coronavirus first emerged in central China in late 2019, the country was also the quick est to bounce back after authorities imposed strict control measures and con sumers stayed home. GDP rose 0.6% from Q4 of 2020, slowing slightly amid local virus outbreaks.
Hyundai ships 1.04 lakh cars, is top PV exporter Firm’s total SUV exports cross 2 lakh
Special Correspondent
Sriram Lakshman Washington DC
India is one of the 11 coun tries on the U.S. Treasury’s ‘Monitoring List’ with re gard to their currency prac tices, according to the April 2021 edition of the semian nual report, the first from the Biden administration. India was on the list in the December 2020 report as well. The report on Macroeco nomic and Foreign Ex change Policies of Major Trading Partners of the Un ited States, which is submit ted to the U.S. Congress, re views currency practices of the U.S.’s 20 biggest trading partners. Three criteria are
used to review partners: a significant (at least $20 bil lion) bilateral trade surplus, a material current account surplus, and ‘persistent onesided intervention’ in forex markets. The other 10 countries on the list with India are China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Ire land, Italy, Malaysia, Singa pore, Thailand, and Mexico. All of these, except Ireland and Mexico, were on the De cember 2020 list. India met two of the three criteria — the trade surplus criterion and the “persis tent, onesided interven tion” criterion, according to the U.S Treasury Department.
NEW DELHI
Special Correspondent
The Department of Tele com (DoT) said it has com pleted the assignment of frequencies to successful bidders in the recently concluded spectrum auc tions, adding it has re ceived ₹2,306.97 crore from Reliance Jio and Bhar ti Airtel by assigning them spectrum immediately. “[The] Department of Telecom has successfully completed the assignment of frequencies to success ful bidders of the spectrum auction 2021,” DoT said. It said the government had received ₹157.38 crore from Bharti Airtel and ₹2,149.59 crore from Jio.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd. has again emerged as the country's leading passenger vehicle exporter by ship ping more than 1.04 lakh cars during FY21, the com pany said in a statement. HMIL also became the leading exporter of sport utility vehicles with cumula tive shipments of the Creta and Venue crossing two lakh units to overseas markets in cluding Mexico, Saudi Ara bia, South Africa, Nepal and Chile. The new i20 was shipped to all key markets across Africa and Latin America, HMIL said. Despite numerous chal
CHENNAI
Higher rural demand to spur growth: Usha International
Quess to buy out Tata stake in Conneqt
Firm to strengthen portfolio to facilitate higher rural share
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki announced a price increase of up to ₹22,500 for select models following a rise in input costs. This is the second time the firm is raising prices this year. Maruti Suzuki had, in January, increased prices by up to ₹34,000.
China’s GDP grew record 18.3% in Q1
Yuthika Bhargava NEW DELHI
Consumer durables maker Usha International plans to further strengthen its pro duct portfolio and distribu tion network in rural mar kets to increase their contribution to the overall business to up to 25% in the next few years. “Rural will continue to be a very big story for India this decade,” Ajay Sharma, SVP, Head – Rural Division, Usha International. “Higher de mand across rural India is expected to be among the primary drivers for econom ic growth over the next two
Ajay Sharma
three quarters,” he added. Mr. Sharma added that while Usha had a fairly ro bust presence in rural India already, faster growth in consumption in rural India had spurred accelerated spends on distribution out
reach, consumer promo tions and new product offerings. Currently, rural markets contribute 1820% to the company’s overall business, and Mr. Sharma said he ex pected this to go up to 25% in the next 23 years. The firm sells products ranging from sewing ma chines to fans. “The demand for brand ed goods and services has been on the rise in rural In dia for the last couple of years and this saw a huge spurt in the months follow ing the pandemic,” Mr. Shar ma said.
lenges emerging out of the global pandemic, HMIL con tinued to drive operational excellence to ensure cus tomer satisfaction, said MD & CEO S.S. Kim. The Indian unit of the South Korean automaker, which commenced ship ments to Nepal through Railways, currently exports 10 models to 88 countries.
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI
Despite several healthcare reforms, India remains bad ly placed to tackle the cur rent wave of COVID19 infec tions sweeping the nation, Fitch Solutions said on Fri day, adding that the unpre cedented crisis had high lighted the need to increase investment in healthcare. After some success in curbing the virus, India’s economy had returned to functioning normally by the second half of 2020. “However, over the re cent weeks, the virus has started spreading rapidly, partly due to complacency on the social distancing measures and maskwearing policies,” Fitch said. With daily COVID19 cas es crossing the grim miles tone of 2 lakh, several hospi tals across the country are stretched beyond their ca pacities in handling the ris ing burden of the highly in fectious disease. States such as Maharash tra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Pun jab and Karnataka, bearing the maximum load of the pandemic, are already fall ing short of health infras tructure and equipment, ranging from oxygen to ven tilators, Fitch said. “Despite several health care reforms, India remains badly placed to tackle the rapid spread of the corona virus,” it said, adding the epidemic could be worse in India if it was not adequate ly contained. With 8.5 hospital beds per 10,000 population and 8 physicians per 10,000, the healthcare sector is not equipped for such a crisis. “Moreover, the signifi cant inefficiency... and acute shortage of the health care delivery systems in the
Indonesia, Afghanistan buy more Indian sugar Exports stand at 29.72 lakh tonnes
public sector do not match up with the growing needs of the population,” it noted. ‘Inadequate cover’ Besides, more than 80% of the population still does not have any significant health insurance coverage and ap proximately 68% has limited or no access to essential medicines. “The low level of public spending on health is both a cause and an exacerbating factor accounting for the poor quality, limited reach and insufficient public pro visioning of healthcare. “Dealing with the CO VID19 pandemic has brought out the critical im portance of the public sec tor in health provisioning,” the agency said. Fitch also said India’s vac cine rollout had been slow. The country of 135 crore people has administered 8.09 crore vaccine doses un til April 2021, the most after the U.S. and China. Still, In dia lags far behind in immu nisations per capita having vaccinated only about one in 25 people, compared with almost one in two in Britain and one in three in the United States. “India’s soaring virus cas es puts its position as a glo bal supplier [of vaccines] at risk — the country has had to hold back vaccine exports in order to maintain domestic supply,” Fitch Solutions ob served in the note.
Mindtree net up 54%, to pay ₹17.5 dividend Special Correspondent
Bengaluru
Special Correspondent
Bengaluru
Quess Corp, a business ser vices platform, said it will acquire the residual 30% equity stake in Conneqt Business Solutions from Tata Sons for ₹208 crore. Quess had acquired 51% of Conneqt in November 2017 and further increased its stake to 70% in May 2019 via infusion of primary capital, which was later used to fund its acquisition of Allsec Technologies. “The consolidation of our holding in Conneqt will further accelerate Con neqt’s transition to non voice services,” said Suraj Moraje, Group CEO and MD, Quess Corp.
COIMBATORE
Mindtree reported a 2.8% (qoq) decline and 53.9% (yoy) increase in net pro fit to ₹317.3 crore for the quarter ended March. The firm posted a reve nue of ₹2,109.3 crore — a growth of 4.2% and 2.9% q oq and yoy, respectively. “As we enter FY22, we are confident that conti nued client demand for our transformative servic es, a strong order book and our strategic investments [will] position us well to de liver doubledigit growth,’’ Debashis Chatterjee, said CEO and MD. The board re commended a final divi dend of ₹17.5 per share.
Major destinations for sugar exports from India this sea son (October 2020 to Sep tember 2021) are Indonesia and Afghanistan, according to the Indian Sugar Mills As sociation (ISMA). ISMA, quoting market re ports and information from ports, said that 29.72 lakh tonnes of sugar have been exported so far this season compared with 30.64 lakh tonnes during the same pe riod in the previous season. However, the current sea son’s exports include 4.48 lakh tonnes exported under the Maximum Admissible Export Quota of 20192020
season, which was extended till December 31, 2020. Industry sources said that during the last season, ma jor sugar exports were to Iran and Afghanistan. This year, with currency restrictions, exports to Iran were affected, they added. Also, with lower output in Thailand, Indian exports to Indonesia have picked up.
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Divya clinches second Asian gold Vinesh, Anshu also bag the yellow metal; Sakshi takes silver in 65kg section
Arundhati in last eight Roma sets up lastfour BOXING Sports Bureau KIELCE (POLAND)
WRESTLING Y.B. Sarangi KOLKATA
Divya Kakran emerged as the second Indian woman to se cure two gold medals in the Asian wrestling champion ships on Friday as women wrestlers of the country re turned four gold medals in Almaty, Kazakhstan. In the continental event marred by the absence of strong countries China and Japan, three Indian women — Divya (72kg), Vinesh Phogat (53kg) and Anshu Malik (57kg) — bagged gold medals. Only Rio Olympics bronze medallist Sakshi Malik set tled for silver in 65kg. A day after Sarita Mor be came the first Indian woman to win two Asian titles, Di vya, who had claimed the 68kg crown in New Delhi a year ago, took the gold in a CM YK
Finishing on top: Divya won the gold in the 72kg category. *
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Golden moment: Anshu and Vinesh. Special Arrangement *
depleted 72kg field consist ing of just four wrestlers. Divya defeated Tse vegmed Enkhbayar of Mon golia 20 and Zhamila Bak bergenova of Kazakhstan 85. Divya beat Korean Sujin Park 20 in her last bout. Olympicqualified wres tler Vinesh beat Otgonjargal Ganbaatar of Mongolia 110 and Meng Hsuan Hsieh of Chinese Taipei 120 in the group stage. She reached the
final as her Korean opponent Hyunyoung Oh forfeited her match due to an injury. Vinesh then defeated Meng by fall to clinch her maiden title. “The main aim was to wrestle the Japan and China wrestlers, but they are not here. If there is a gold medal on the offering, I will take it,” she said. Anshu cruised against Sev ara Eshmuratova of Uzbekis tan 100, Nazira Marsbek Ky
zy of Kyrgyzstan 100 and Battsetseg Altantseseg of Mongolia 91 before over coming Korean Shinhye Lee with a 22 scoreline. Anshu again beat Battset seg 30 in the final to claim her first Asian gold. Sakshi, who could not win the 62kg Olympic weight trials and qualified in 65kg, lost the summit clash to Bo lortungalag Zorigt of Mongo lia via fall.
Threetime Khelo India champion Arundhati Choudhary defeated Colum bia’s Deyaneira Casas to make the women’s 69kg quarterfinals in the World youth boxing champion ships here. Babyrojisana Chanu (51kg) also advanced, beating Estonia’s Diana Gorisnaja Arundhati, who recently won a gold in the Adriatic Pearl tournament, scored a comfortable 50 win to be the third Indian to enter the lasteight stage. Gitika, who replaced a more experienced Rajni Singh in the Indian side, proved her worth by posting a 50 victory over European youth champion Diana Er makova of Russia in a 48kg firstround clash. Arshi Khanam (54kg) went down 41 against Asian
junior champion Nigina Uk tamova of Uzbekistan in the prequarterfinals. In the men’s section, Su mit got the better of Rafael Perdomo of Venezuela as the referee stopped the con test in the 69kg prequarterfinals. Akash Gorkha tamed Ger many’s Enrico Kliesch 50 in a 60kg openinground bout. Vikas Singh (52kg)lost his prequarterfinal to Mongo lia’s Sukhbat Enkhzorigt 41. The results: Men, prequar terfinals: 52kg: Vikas Singh lost to Sukhbat Enkhzorigt (Mgl) 41; 69kg: Sumit bt Ra fael Perdomo (Ven) RSC. First round, 60kg: Akash Gorkha bt Enrico Kliesch (Ger) 50. Women, prequarterfinals: 54kg: Arshi Khanam lost to Ni gina Uktamova (Uzb) 41; 69kg: Arundhati Choudhary bt Deyaneira Casas (Col) 50; 51kg: Babyrojisana Chanu bt Diana Gorisnaja (Est). First round, 48kg: Gitika bt Diana Ermakova (Rus) 50.
clash with United EUROPA LEAGUE Agence France-Presse PARIS
Roma’s Edin Dzeko scored the equaliser in a 11 draw against Ajax to advance to the Europa League semifi nals 32 on aggregate in Rome on Thursday. Roma will meet Manchester Unit ed, which beat Granada 20. The results: Quarterfinals (second leg): Manchester Un ited 2 (Cavani 6, Vallejo 90og)
bt Granada 0. United wins 4-0 on aggregate. Slavia Prague 0 lost to Arse nal 4 (Pepe 18, Lacazette 21 pen, 77, Saka 24). Arsenal wins 5-1 on aggregate. Roma 1 (Dzeko 72) drew with Ajax 1 (Brobbey 49). Roma wins 3-2 on aggregate. Villarreal 2 (Alcacer 36, Ge rard Moreno 43) bt Dinamo Za greb 1 (Orsic 74). Villarreal wins 3-1 on aggregate. Semifinal lineup: Roma v Manchester United; Arsenal v Villarreal.
Hitman: Alexandre Lacazette fires in his second goal, and Arsenal’s fourth, against Slavia Prague on Thursday. REUTERS *
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THE HINDU
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Deepak Chahar has the ball talking in CSK’s thumping win Opening bowler’s four for 13 breaks the back of PBKS; du Plessis (36 n.o.), Moeen (46) help Chennai chase down 107run target with 4.2 overs to spare IPL 2021 Amol Karhadkar
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eepak Chahar’s inspiring spell of swing bowling set up Chennai Super Kings’ fa cile win over Punjab Kings to help the threetime cham pion open its account in IPL14. Thanks to Chahar’s trade mark spell up front, aided by Ravindra Jadeja’s magic in the field, CSK stifled PBKS to a meagre 106 for eight at the Wankhede Stadium in Mum bai. The toporder then en sured that the team present ed M.S. Dhoni — making his 200th appearance for CSK, which includes 24 in the Champions League — with a fitting gift, a dominant six wicket victory. Chahar sealed the fate of the game in the PowerPlay it self once Dhoni elected to field. With the dew yet to set in, the swing bowler took just four balls to flummox Mayank Agarwal. The deliv ery started on the middle stump but moved away after pitching to hit the top of offstump. Had Ruturaj Gaikwad not dropped Chris Gayle at point two balls later, Chahar may have celebrated twice in the first over. In Chahar’s next ov er, captain K.L. Rahul took on Jadeja’s arm while attempting a sharp single and the fielder, running in from the covers, struck timber to find the bat sman short.
Nortje out of quarantine
It meant Gayle had no op tion but to rebuild the in nings along with the opening game’s hero, Deepak Hooda. But Chahar had different plans as he struck twice in his third over. He first saw Jadeja lunge forward to pouch an uppish drive by Gayle and then used the shortball ploy effectively against Nicholas Pooran. Dhoni persisted with Cha har even after the PowerPlay and Hooda offered Faf du Plessis catching practice at midoff in the seventh over. At 26 for five, the game was all but done and dusted. Despite M. Shahrukh Khan’s impressive innings (47, 36b, 4x4, 2x6), with little support from the other end, PBKS had to find solace in the fact that it managed to reach three figures without being bowled out. In the chase, Gaikwad and du Plessis struggled for tim ing against accurate pace bowling. Although Gaikwad holed out in the deep off Arshdeep Singh, Moeen Ali (46, 31b, 7x4, 1x6) continued his silken touch with the willow. While Moeen scored freely — his twin fours off Mo hammed Shami, either side of the wicket, were a treat to watch — du Plessis (36 n.o.) took his time before going af ter leggie M. Ashwin. CSK lost Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu off successive Shami deliveries, but by then the writing was on the wall.
‘Dhoni the heartbeat of CSK’ Amol Karhadkar
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Swing king: Deepak Chahar castled Mayank Agarwal with a beauty, triggering Punjab Kings’ slide.
SPORTZPICS/IPL
SCOREBOARD PUNJAB KINGS K.L. Rahul run out 5 (7b, 1x4), Mayank Agarwal b Deepak Chahar 0 (2b), Chris Gayle c Jadeja b Deepak Chahar 10 (10b, 2x4), Deepak Hooda c du Plessis b Deepak Chahar 10 (15b, 1x4), Nicholas Pooran c Shardul b Deepak Chahar 0 (2b), Shahrukh Khan c Jadeja b Sam Curran 47 (36b, 4x4, 2x6), Jhye Richardson b Moeen 15 (22b, 2x4), M. Ash win c du Plessis b Bravo 6 (14b), Mohammed Shami (not out) 9 (12b), Riley Meredith (not out) 0 (0b); Extras (w4): 4; Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs): 106. FALL OF WICKETS
11 (Mayank, 0.4 overs), 215 (Rahul, 2.5), 319 (Gayle, 4.2), 4 19 (Pooran, 4.4), 526 (Hooda, 6.2), 657 (Richardson, 12.1), 7 87 (M. Ashwin, 16.5), 8101 (Shahrukh, 19.1). SUPER KINGS BOWLING Deepak Chahar 41134, Sam Curran 30121, Shardul 40 350, Jadeja 40190, Moeen 3 0171, Bravo 20101. CHENNAI SUPER KINGS Ruturaj Gaikwad c Hooda b Arsh deep 5 (16b), Faf du Plessis (not out) 36 (33b, 3x4, 1x6), Moeen Ali c Shahrukh b M. Ashwin 46 (31b, 7x4, 1x6), Suresh Raina c Rahul b Shami 8 (9b, 1x4), Am
bati Rayudu c Pooran b Shami 0 (1b), Sam Curran (not out) 5 (4b, 1x4); Extras (lb5, w2): 7; Total (for four wkts. in 15.4 overs): 107. FALL OF WICKETS 124 (Ruturaj, 4.6), 290 (Moeen, 12.3), 399 (Raina, 14.2), 499 (Rayudu, 14.3). PUNJAB KINGS BOWLING Shami 40212, Richardson 30 210, Arshdeep 2071, Meredith 3.40210, M. Ashwin 30321. Toss: Chennai Super Kings. ManoftheMatch: Deepak Chahar. Super Kings won by six wickets with 26 balls to spare.
That’s 200! Dhoni’s longevity is a tribute to his commitment to the game and franchise, says Fleming. SPORTZPICS/IPL *
Assured Mumbai Indians vs unsettled Sunrisers Hyderabad S. Dipak Ragav
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Press Trust of India Mumbai
Delhi Capitals pacer Anrich Nortje, on Friday, came out of his hard quarantine that was extended by a couple of days following a false COVID19 positive report. The Proteas speedster had tested positive while in quarantine, but was retested and came out negative in three RTPCR results. “Our pace superstar is now out of quarantine. After a false positive result for COVID19, Anrich Nortje tested negative thrice, and is now part of our team bubble,” DC tweeted.
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ahendra Singh Dhoni may have joked about playing his 200th game in Chennai Super Kings’ yel low as a sign of him “getting old”, but head coach Ste phen Fleming said the achievement is a testament to his commitment to the franchise. “He has been absolutely the heartbeat of CSK, there’s no doubt about it. Whether it’s performances, guidance or leadership… you run out of things to say about him,” Fleming said on Friday after CSK celebrated Dhoni’s mil estone with its maiden win in IPL 2021. “His longevity also has to be mentioned and appre ciated... to play 200 games and still have a desire to do well and perform well is a testament to his attitude to
Chipping in: Rahul Chahar spun it MI’s way against KKR while Pandey came up with two good knocks though SRH fell short on both occasions. SPORTZPICS/IPL *
BCCI offers conditional support for cricket’s inclusion in LA Games
umbai Indians will look to build on the momen tum gained from a brilliant win over Kolkata Knight Rid ers when it takes on an unset tled Sunrisers Hyderabad at the M.A. Chidambaram Sta dium in Chennai on Saturday. The reigning champion managed to defend a small total with some exceptional bowling, especially towards the end, a performance which suggested that its loss in the opener was an aberra tion. Even in that game, against RCB, MI did well to take the contest to the final ball. Although the fivetime winner will feel it has most bases covered, it will want to improve the batting, given it did not manage to post a big total in either game.
The pitch in Chennai so far has been better for the team batting first, and it will be in teresting to see whether the captain winning the toss opts to set a total for the first time. After two losses, both while chasing, SRH could consider defending a score if it gets lucky with the toss again, given it has one of the best bowling attacks in the
Pakistan wins series 3-1 PAK IN SA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
wards the game and the franchise. I think the fran chise has grown and MS has grown with it, so it’s a very good relationship and great fun.” For Punjab Kings, M. Shahrukh Khan gave a glimpse of his talent with a composed knock of 47. The Tamil Nadu youngster hopes to cash in on the wealth of knowledge shared by some of the stalwarts of the game. “Obviously I am new to the IPL. It’s different com pared to domestic cricket. Getting to learn a lot of things, trying to improve my game 1% every session I go in,” Shahrukh said. “I am having conversa tions with Wasim Jaffer (bat ting coach) and Andy Flow er (assistant coach), and they have been helping me with my batting.”
competition. The team has a bit of a hea dache in terms of figuring out its best combination. The big question will be how it can accommodate Kane William son if he is matchready. Adding stability The New Zealand skipper adds stability to the batting unit, an area of concern, es
pecially in the middleorder. SRH will also hope players such as Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar can bat more aggressively and thus limit the reliance on David Warner and Jonny Bairstow. The 2016 champion needs to get on the board soon, and a win against a side like MI could be the booster shot it desperately seeks.
Stokes to undergo surgery on Monday: ECB Press Trust of India London
Ben Stokes will be out of action for “up to 12 weeks” as his fractured left index finger will require surgery that will take place in Leeds on Monday. A repeat Xray and CT scan revealed that he has a fracture in his left index finger, an injury that he picked up on Monday. Stokes will fly home on Saturday. While he is ruled out of the entire tournament, it remains to be seen if another key Royals player, Jofra Archer, can recover in time from a hand injury to take part in the later stages of the IPL.
Ostapenko outlasts Ankita Sevastova eases past Karman, gives Latvia a 20 lead
CENTURION
Amol Karhadkar MUMBAI
The BCCI’s apex council on Friday offered conditional support for cricket’s inclu sion in the 2028 Olympic Games. The marathon meeting on Friday night is understood to have decided to inform the International Cricket Council (ICC) that it will sup port the inclusion of men’s and women’s events in the quadrennial showpiece
events only if the BCCI’s sta tus as an autonomous sports federation is retained. The BCCI at present isn’t an affiliate of the Indian Olympic Association and is keen on participating in the Olympics without being a party to the proposed Na tional Sports Code. While the apex council didn’t discuss the compen sation package for domestic cricket stakeholders an nounced by the AGM last De
cember in the wake of a cur tailed domestic season, the council decided that the 202122 domestic season will start with the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy in September. It will then act as an ideal curtainraiser for the T20 World Cup, to be played in India in OctoberNovember. The apex council has re tained the cricket advisory committee headed by Madal Lal for appointing the wo men’s support staff.
Pakistan beat South Africa by three wickets with one ball to spare in the fourth and final T20I here on Fri day. Faheem Ashraf shone with three wickets. Pakistan's 31 series win completed a clean sweep of four series against South Africa during the season.
Faheem Ashraf.
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The scores: South Africa 144 in 19.3 overs (Rassie van der Dus sen 52, Janneman Malan 33, Faheem Ashraf 3/17) lost to Pakistan 149/7 in 19.5 overs (Fakhar Zaman 60).
Rublev ends Nadal’s campaign Tsitsipas, Evans, and Ruud complete semifinal lineup MONTE CARLO MASTERS Agence France-Presse MONACO
Big scalp: Andrey Rublev put paid to Rafael Nadal’s hopes with a threeset win in the quarterfinals. AFP *
CM YK
Rafael Nadal’s bid for a 12th Monte Carlo Masters title was shattered by Russia’s An drey Rublev, who swept to a 62, 46, 62 quarterfinal win on Friday. Nadal, bidding to reach the semifinals of a Masters event for the 75th time, fol lowed World No.1 Novak Djo kovic, who was beaten in the third round, out of the tournament. “For Rafa, it must be in credibly difficult to play with this pressure of always hav ing to win,” said Rublev who
also made the Miami Masters semifinals at the start of April. “I’m shocked to see the level which he can reach despite this pressure. It’s much easier to play when you have nothing to lose.” It was only the second time in 16 appearances in Monte Carlo that Nadal had failed to make the semifinals. World No. 8 Rublev will face unseeded Casper Ruud, who put out defending champion Fabio Fognini, 64, 63 for a place in the final. Earlier, Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the last four when his quarterfinal oppo nent Alejandro Davidovich
withdrew after losing the first set 75. Tsitsipas, the World No. 5, will play his sixth Masters 1000 semifinal on Saturday against Djokovics’s conque ror Dan Evans of England, who battled past Belgian Da vid Goffin 57, 63, 64. Tsitsipas is the highest seed left after World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev was forced to withdraw due to a positive COVID19 test. The results: Quarterfinals: Ste fanos Tsitsipas bt Alejandro Davidovich 75, retd.; Dan Evans bt David Goffin 57, 63, 64; Casper Ruud bt Fabio Fog nini 64, 63; Andrey Rublev bt Rafael Nadal 62, 46, 62.
Grinding it out: Ostapenko had a battle on her hands against Ankita before prevailing in a marathon threesetter. COURTESY: LATVIAN TENNIS UNION *
BILLIE JEAN CUP Kamesh Srinivasan
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ormer French Open champion Jelena Osta penko overcame a fiercely determined Ankita Raina 62, 57, 75 to put host Latvia 10 ahead in the Billie Jean King Cup World Group playoff tie at the indoor are na in Jurmala on Friday. With the Indian leading 54 in the third set, the 23 yearold Ostapenko handled the climactic phase like a champion. However, the 28 yearold Ankita couldn’t close it out, opening the door for the Latvian. Perhaps, a better start could have helped Ankita. Not used to facing an oppo nent of such quality seemed to be playing on the Indian’s mind as she decided to go on an allout attack and kept
making errors. Though Osta penko, too, struggled with her serve and strokes, Anki ta was unable to capitalise on the opportunities that came her way. Precise and purposeful After shrugging off the ex citement of the first set, An kita was a lot more precise and purposeful in the se cond set. She jumped to a 20 lead and stretched it to 52. However, Ostapenko, who found her serving rhythm, fought back. Ankita kept her cool, ran hard dur ing the rallies and placed the ball well to force errors from the Latvian. At 56, Ostapenko’s serve let her down again, taking the contest to the decider. After being treated for a hip strain, she got off to a smooth start in the third set.
While the Latvian No. 2 became more confident and solid, Ankita’s accuracy failed her at a crucial junc ture though she continued to put in the hard yards. Ankita played well above her ranking of 174, pushing a Grand Slam champion to the limit. In the second singles, Anastasija Sevastova breezed past Karman Kaur Thandi 64, 60. After giving it her all in the first set, the latter ran out of steam as Se vastova made her scamper around the court. The reverse singles and doubles will be held on Sa turday, and India will hope to come up with something special. The results: Latvia leads India 20 (Jelena Ostapenko bt Anki ta Raina 62, 57, 75; Anastasi ja Sevastova bt Karman Kaur Thandi 64, 60). A ND-NDE
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TV PICKS IPL: Star Sports 1 & SS Select 1 (SD & HD), 7.30 p.m.
Italian Grand Prix: Qualify ing, Star Sports 2HD & 3, 5.25 p.m. Premier League: SS Select 2 (SD & HD), 5 p.m. & 12.15 a.m. (Sunday) Serie A: Sony Ten 2 (SD & HD), 6.30 p.m. FA Cup: Sony Ten 2 (SD & HD), 10 p.m. Billie Jean King Cup: Euros port (SD & HD), 4.30 p.m.
IN BRIEF
Harmanpreet Kaur recovers from COVID19 NEW DELHI
Indian women’s T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur, on Friday, announced that she has recovered from COVID19. Harmanpreet had tested positive and made it public on March 30. After more than two weeks, her RTPCR report has come negative. “Happy to inform you all that I have tested negative & I’m feeling better. Wishing strength to the ones who are in the middle of the fight,” Harmanpreet tweeted. PTI
Kenisha Gupta swims to her third gold TASHKENT
Kenisha Gupta completed a hattrick of gold medals at the Uzbekistan Open swimming championships, securing the 50m freestyle with a personal best time of 26.61s on Friday. The 18 yearold had won the 100m and 200m freestyle, also with careerbest performances.
Yuka Saso on top; Aditi T35 at Lotte meet KAPOLEI (US)
Aditi Ashok found each of the 14 fairways but missed a few greens in regulation for another threeunder 69 to be tied 35th after the second round of the Lotte Championship on Thursday. Yuka Saso of the Philippines is 16under 128 and leads New Zealander Lydia Ko by a stroke. PTI
Coleman’s ban reduced, but will still miss Tokyo GENEVA
World 100m champion Christian Coleman's suspension over doping test violations has been upheld on appeal but reduced to 18 months, the CAS said on Friday. However, Coleman will still miss the Tokyo Olympics. He was first suspended for two years from May 14, 2020. AFP
Pathak primed for Tokyo action Thinks the competition with Sreejesh has only made him better
Buenos Aires
Young goalkeeper Krishan Pathak, one of the architects of India’s superb show against Argentina, said he wants to be in top form for the Tokyo Olympics and is eyeing another superlative performance against Great Britain in the FIH Pro League games next month. The 23yearold, who earned his 50th internation al cap during India’s tour of Argentina, played a big role in his side registering back toback victories against the reigning Olympic champion in the FIH Pro League this month. “I am very happy to have completed 50 international caps. So much has happened in such a short space of time. I have had the opportunity to play in big tournaments and learnt a lot from my se niors,” Pathak said in a re lease issued by Hockey In
India Test specialist Hanuma Vihari had a forgettable English county debut for Warwickshire against Nottinghamshire on Thursday. He was caught without scoring by Haseeb Hamid off England international Sturt Broad off the 23rd delivery he faced. PTI
Prajnesh crashes out INDIANS ABROAD Sports Bureau Orlando
Former world No.8 Jack Sock beat Prajnesh Gun neswaran 63, 64 in the se cond round of the $52,080 Challenger tennis tourna ment here. In doubles, Yuki Bham bri and Australia’s Matthew Ebden had to give a wal kover in the doubles quar terfinals, on medical grounds. The results: $52,080 Chal lenger, Orlando: Second round: Jack Sock (USA) bt Prajnesh Gunneswaran 63, 64. Doubles: Quarterfinals: Christian Harrison & Dennis Novikov (USA) w/o Matthew Ebden (Aus) & Yuki Bhambri. $15,000 ITF men, Cairo, Egypt: Second round: Bautis ta Vilicich (Arg) bt Sasikumar Mukund 62, 62.
CM YK
Coming good: Goalkeeper Pathak played a big role in India scoring backtoback wins over Argentina. FIHPROLEAGUE.COM *
dia. “The coaches have always believed in my talent. I want to continue working hard and win games for In dia. Reaching this milestone makes me proud.” Impressive While fellow custodian P.R. Sreejesh was brilliant when the visitor won the first match in a penalty shoot out, Pathak was equally im pressive during India’s 30
win over the host in the se cond game. “I got to learn a lot from the Argentina tour. I know I have to prove my worth as a goalkeeper every time I am playing,” said Pathak. “I feel we showed a lot of fight and character there. Over the past year, we’ve had good games against the top sides in the world and I feel that gives us the right kind of boost going into a
tournament like the Olympics.” India will play Great Bri tain in the FIH Pro League on May 8 and 9. “We have to be focused on the job at hand right now. Hope our good form conti nues against Great Britain,” Pathak said. For much of his career, Pathak has been Sreejesh’s understudy and thinks the competition for places has only made him better. “There’s so much one can learn from Sreejesh. He’s been playing at the highest level for so many years,” he said. “I have improved as a cus todian in the last four years and that is because of what I have gathered and learnt watching people like Sree jesh and others play and train on a daily basis.”
Widespread concern as COVID-19 cases surge in Japan TOKYO OLYMPICS Associated Press Tokyo
The head of the Tokyo Olym pics on Friday was again forced to assure the world that the postponed Games would open in just over three months and not be cancelled despite surging COVID19 cases in Japan. Organising committee president Seiko Hashimoto was asked at a news confe rence if there were any con ditions under which the Olympics would be cancelled. Various concerns, but... “There are a variety of con cerns but as the Tokyo 2020 organising committee we are not thinking about can celling the Games," Hashi moto said. The question gained trac tion after the general secre tary of ruling LDP, Toshihiro Nikai, on Thursday raised the possibility of cancella tion of the Games.
Seiko Hashimoto.
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Nikai tried to backtrack la ter, and Japanese Prime Mi nister Yoshihide Suga issued a statement saying there was “no change to the govern ment position to do everyth ing to achieve safe and se cure Olympics.” Hashimoto acknowledged Nikai's concern and suggest ed it was probably shared by the Japanese public. Polls show as many as 80% in Ja pan oppose holding the Olympics during the pandemic. COVID19 cases have been rising across Japan. Despite this, the International Olym
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FC Goa looks to put its best foot forward
Delhi Challengers wins rainmarred game Fine halfcenturies by Sameer Chaudhary and Vaibhav Rawal and three wickets by Asif Mansoori helped Delhi Challengers Cricket Academy beat Wonders Club, Noida by 46 runs through the DLS method when rain stopped play and enter the pre quarterfinals of the 31st AllIndia Hitkary Om Nath Sood Memorial tournament.
Press Trust of India
\ DELHI ROUND-UP \
The scores: Wonders Club Noida 247/8 in 40 overs (Karan Sharma 115, Jageer Singh 48, Asif Mansoori 3/50) lost to DCCA 197/3 in 28 overs (Sameer Chaudhary 74, Vaibhav Rawal 52 n.o., Uvais Ahmed 42), via DLS method.
Yash, Bhavy and Raunak hog the limelight Manofthematch Bhavy Goel made 89 not out and Raunak Modi added 67 not out as Dahiya Academy entered the final of the Kragbuzz Sports Under14 tournament with a 10 wicket win against Positive Roads Academy. In the other semifinal, Yash Kaushik’s unbeaten century and Rishabh Kumar’s five for saw Ravinder Fagna Academy beat Udaybhan Academy by 128 runs. overs (Abhiraj Gagan Singh 53, Rajveer Bhatia 39) lost to Dahiya Academy 164/0 in 22.4 overs (Bhavy Goel 89 n.o., Raunak Modi 67 n.o.); RFA 219/3 in 25 overs (Yash Kaushik
NOTTINGHAM
in big tournaments and learnt a lot from my seniors
Press Trust of India
The scores: PRA 163/5 in 25
Vihari falls to Broad for a duck on county debut
have had the < > Iopportunity to play
HOCKEY
No cancellation, asserts Games chief
113 n.o., Rizwan Khan 71 n.o.) bt UBA 91 in 18 overs (Rishabh Kumar 5/25, Anuj Bhardwaj 3/5).
Angel Academy by nine wickets in the 11th Ghevra Under16 tournament. The scores: SAA 104 in 26
Shivam stars for Sporting Shivam Gupta smashed an unbeaten 52ball 106 and Himanshu Rana added 65 as Sporting Club beat Rann Star Club by eight wickets to enter the quarterfinals of the 4th RK Kapoor T20 tournament. In another game, Money Grewal picked up four wickets as Goat Club beat SS Sports by four wickets to make last eight.
overs (Krishna Goel 3/33) lost to Yorks Club 105/1 in 14.4 overs (Vyom Arora 62 n.o.).
The scores: RSC 189/9 in 20 overs (Sombir Sheokand 61, Ayush Singh 39, Aditya Sharma 37, Yogesh Kumar 3/35) lost to Sporting Club 190/2 in 16.3 overs (Shivam Gupta 106 n.o., Himanshu Rana 65); SSSC 196/6 in 20 overs (Deepanshu Phore 73, Deepak Khatri 46, Money Grewal 4/45) lost to Goat Club 200/6 in 19 overs (Naman Grover 47, Gagan Sodhi 40 n.o., Puneet Mehra 38, Deepak Khatri 2/32).
Mohit, Swastik excel Mohit Malik’s four wickets and Swastik Chhikara’s 65 not out saw Haryana Academy beat RP Academy by eight wickets in the Captain Dharampal Under19 tournament. The scores: RPA 108 in 25 overs (Mohit Malik 4/35) lost to Haryana Academy 109/2 in 7.4 overs (Swastik Chhikara 65 n.o.).
Yorks Club posts win Vyom Arora made 62 not out as Yorks Club beat St.
Bucks’ balanced attack carries the day Curry headlines Warriors’ win NBA Agence France-Presse Los Angeles
Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 15 points on return from a sixgame injury ab sence as Milwaukee Bucks used a balanced attack to beat Atlanta Hawks 120109 on Thursday in Atlanta. Antetokounmpo finished well below his scoring aver age, but it didn't matter be cause he got plenty of help from his supporting cast as seven Bucks players fin ished in double figures. Hawks star Trae Young, returning from a calf injury that sidelined him for two
games, also finished with 15 points. Meanwhile, Los Angeles fans took advantage of re laxed rules on attending sporting events. A limited number of spectators were allowed into Staples Center for the first time in over a year to watch Boston Celtics beat their Lakers 121113. Elsewhere, Stephen Cur ry once again carried the of fensive load for Golden State Warriors, scoring 33 points in a 119101 win over Cleve land Cavaliers. The results: Cavaliers 101 lost to Warriors 119; Hawks 109 lost to Bucks 120; Lakers 113 lost to Celtics 121; Suns 122 bt Kings 114.
Garv sizzles Garv Bhandari topscored with 80, while Satyam Singh and Ronit Bhardwaj took three wickest each as Suryavanshi Academy beat MCG Cricket Academy by 66 runs in the BLS Under15 tournament. The scores: Suryavanshi Academy 184/8 in 45 overs (Garv Bhandari 80, Rohit 3/34) bt MCGA 118 in 41 overs (Satyam Singh 3/10, Ronit Bhardwaj 3/19).
Good knocks by Dhairya and Sumit Halfcenturies by Dhairya Dutta and Sumit Rai helped DIS Academy beat SD Youth Ac ademy by 37 runs in the 4th Dobhal tournament. The scores: DIS 240/7 in 40 overs (Dhairya Dutta 76, Sumit Rai 75, Sachin Yadav 4/36) bt SDA 203/6 in 40 overs (Sachin Yadav 60, Naitik Yadav 44).
Narrow win for UYC Nitin Choudhary and Dheeraj Vijay scored half tons and as UYC Academy beat Yuva Shalkti Academy by two wickets in the BLS Under17 tournament. The scores: YSA 236/8 in 50 overs (Shresth Yadav 124, Aditya Choudhary 48, Mayur Chauhan 3/38) lost to UYC 237/8 in 45.5 overs (Nitin Choudhary 66, Dheeraj 59).
Double for Priyanka Rana ASIAN U-14 Sports Bureau AHMEDABAD
Priyanka Rana bagged both the singles and doubles tit les in the Altevol Asian un der14 tennis tournament on Friday. Priyanka beat Aish warya Jadhav 61, 64 for the singles title, and won the doubles title with Prar thana Solanki. In the boys’ event, se cond seed Kriish Tyagi de nied a double crown for top seed Samprit Sharma, as he beat him 36, 60, 62 in the final. The results (finals): Boys: Kriish Tyagi bt Sam prit Sharma 36, 60, 62.
Girls: Priyanka Rana bt Aishwarya Jadhav 61, 64. Doubles: Priyanka Rana & Prarthana Solanki bt Thaniya Sarai Gogulamanda & Aish warya Jadhav 61, 64.
MARGAO
Having achieved a historic firstever point in its pre vious match, FC Goa will hope for a victory in its se cond group match of the AFC Champions League against UAE’s Al Wahda here
Delhi postpones Senior Division League
on Saturday. FC Goa became the first Indian team to earn a point in the tournament after a goalless draw against Qatar’s Al Rayyan in its opening Group E match on Wednesday. Now, Juan Ferrando’s
men are expected to ap proach their next game diffe rently, hoping to log three points against Al Wahda. The Abu Dhabibased side holds the edge, having a su perior continental expe rience with 12 previous ap pearances in the ACL.
Humpy eyes classical World crown
New Delhi
Subdued return: Giannis Antetokounmpo finished well below his scoring average, but it didn't matter as seven Bucks players finished in double figures. AP *
The Sports Ministry has in cluded six athletes, includ ing Olympicbound wres tlers Sonam Malik and Anshu Malik, besides four sailors in its Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) core group.
Daily tests Japanese Olympics Minister Tamayo Marukawa told re porters on Friday the go vernment was considering daily virus tests on athletes during the Games as a way to guarantee safety.
Olympian Ahmed Hussain passes away
Ahmed Hussain Lala. Special Correspondent
V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM
HYDERABAD
Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD
NEW DELHI
World rapid chess cham pion Koneru Humpy feels the best way to beat the pan demic, which has thrown the competitive circuit out of gear, is to work on her opening repertoire in pur suit of another dream — win ning the classical format World championship.
Football Olympian Ahmed Hussain Lala passed away in Bengaluru on Friday, aged 89. Ahmed represented In dia in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and was born in Hyderabad before he moved to Bengaluru. Ahmed was also a well known defender of the famed Hyderabad City Pol ice team in the 1950s under the tutelage of one of In dia’s greatest coaches ever, late S.A. Raheem. He was a regular for Mo hammadan Sporting in the Kolkata league for many years. Ahmed represented India at various other inter national tournaments in cluding the 1958 Asian Games and the Merdeka Tournament in 1959. He was the coach of the Indian team for the Presi dent Cup in Seoul while P.K. Banerjee was the chief coach.
Football Delhi has decided to suspend its Senior Divi sion League and will now take a decision on its re sumption in June. The association in formed the Delhi High Court on Friday about the same in a case filed by Hin dustan FC seeking proper safety measures and strict adherence to government guidelines for sporting ac tivities in the face of rising COVID19 cases in the city and to safeguard the lives and interests of players, coaches, officials and club owners. That included creating biobubbles and restricting interactions with nonstakeholders. FD had, through its counsel, submitted in the previous hearing on Mon day that the league had been pushed back for three days, from April 15 to April 18 pending a meeting with all stakeholders to decide the course of action on Tuesday. The court had directed FD to submit a status re port on the same. Football Delhi had, in its Executive Committee meeting on Fe bruary 7, decided to to start the competition on March 15 before delaying it by a month.
Selfdriven “I need to have a wider opening repertoire and am really working hard on that. I have been preparing on my own with my father cumcoach (Koneru Ashok) being more of a mentor, giv ing invaluable inputs,” the 34yearold Humpy told The Hindu. The champion from Vi jayawada, who was recently adjudged Sportstar Aces SportswomanoftheDe cade (individual nonOlym pic sports), said: “The pan demic was so unexpected, and it changed the whole world scenario. It is certain ly disappointing not to be engaged in onboard chess battles. In fine form “I definitely would have loved to compete in more tournaments after winning the 2019 World rapid cham pionship. I was in the kind of form that would have
Humpy.
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K.V.S. GIRI
fetched a few more titles. If you remember, I won the Cairns Cup in the US after that World title,” she said. And, Humpy said, being jointwinners with Russia in the online Olympiad team gold in 2020 was one of the most memorable moments in her career. How do you look at your career now? “Basically I am not thinking about winning a tournament. I just want to enjoy the game. For many years, there were expecta tions that I would win the World championship. “Hence, the World cham pion tag is something I cher ish,” said the 34yearold Humpy, who has featured in nine World championships. The biggest challenge now was remembering all the novelties she prepares before a major event, she said. “It is really demand ing, which also means that I need to spend more time on preparations.”
Rushil and Tejasvi emerge champions Sports Bureau
games.
JHAJJAR
The results: Boys, final: Rushil Khosla bt Yogee Panwar 64, 61; Semifinals: Rushil bt Daksh Aggarwal 62, 63; Yogee bt Manish Yadav 63, 64.
Rushil Khosla defeated se cond seed Yogee Panwar 64, 61 in the final of the AI TA National series under18 tennis tournament at the Joygaon Academy here on Friday. The 14yearold Rushil, 195 in the u18 rankings list, kept marching on in a draw of 64 after beating top seed Vivek Kumar 61, 63 in the first round. He did not drop a set in six rounds and won the title dropping 25 games in all.
Doubles, final: Daksh & Dha nanjay Athreya bt Tushar Mittal & Aditya Rathee 67(7), 63, [108].
Rushil.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Tejasvi Dabas bagged the girls title beating Hannah Nagpal for the loss of two
Girls, final: Tejasvi Dabas bt Hannah Nagpal 61, 61; Semi finals: Hannah bt Rachita Tal war 36, 64, 62; Tejasvi bt Lakshmi Gowda 61, 62. Doubles, final: Janani Ramesh & Karthika Vijay bt Sanvi Ahlu walia & Radhika Mahajan 64, 46, [102].
Grapplers Sonam, Anshu and four sailors in TOPS Press Trust of India
pic Committee and Tokyo organisers are pressing on. The IOC, which relies on selling broadcast rights for 73% of its income, has seen its cash flow stalled by the postponement. On Thurs day, the minister in charge of Japan’s vaccine rollout, Taro Kono, said even if the Olympics go on, there may be no fans at all at the venues. Fans from abroad have al ready been barred. No fans, however, might simplify matters. Organisers can then focus solely on the 15,400 Olympic and Para lympic athletes entering Ja pan, and keeping them in a bubble. Tens of thousands of judges, officials, media and broadcasters will also have to enter Japan.
Anshu (57kg) and Sonam (62kg) were included in the TOPS core group after they secured their Olympic berths by ensuring silver me dals at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Almaty. The 19year old Anshu went on to win the gold me
dal on Friday defeating Mon golia’s Battsetseg Altantset seg 30 in the title clash. Joining them in TOPS pro gramme would be four To kyobound sailors, who created historic first for the country by qualifying for the Olympics. After Nethra Ku
manan became the first In dian woman sailor to qualify for the Olympics in the laser radial event in the Mussanah Open Championship, Vishnu Saravanan and the pair of Ganapathy Chengappa and Varun Thakkar also made the cut for Tokyo.
‘Jehan has to deliver consistently’ PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI
Indian racer Jehan Daruva la’s performance in the Formula 2 season opener is a “definite step forward” but he needs to deliver consistently to have a shot at graduating to Formula One, his mentor and chief of Red Bull’s much ac claimed driver develop ment program, Dr. Helmut Marko, said. After a mixed debut sea son last year, India’s F1 hopeful Jehan finds himself third in the Formula 2 standings after the first round in Bahrain where he finished second and fourth in the two sprint races be fore coming sixth in the feature race. The current season is being seen as a make or break one for the 22yearold from Mumbai, who is aiming to become only the third Indian to reach Formula 1. Marko, who played a pi votal role in the career of fourtime champion Sebas tian Vettel and has pro duced umpteen Formula 1 drivers, said the aim for Je han has to be to win the tit le and Red Bull will take it from there though there is no automatic entry to their junior team Alpha Tauri. A ND-NDE