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A0:4B7:B8=67Q =4F34;78
In the run-up to the drone
attack on the Indian Air
Force (IAF) Station in Jammu
on June 27, the Pakistani covert
agency Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI) had stepped
up espionage bids by making
fake calls to gather “sensitive”
information about deploy-
ments of the Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) at various
locations/establishments in
Jammu and Kashmir (JK).
Some voice calls were
made from mobile numbers
9412**8321 and 9675**0429
to CRPF officers/personnel
with the callers introducing
themselves as Deputy Director
of the Intelligence Bureau,
namely Vinod Sharma and
Palwinder Sharma.
Following the fake calls, the
CRPF has sought to sensitise
the personnel that any infor-
mation relating to deployment
should only be disclosed after
confirming the identity of the
caller by returning the call.
In a circular issued just days
before the Jammu air force sta-
tion drone attacks, the CRPF
said, “… it is intimated that con-
tinuous attempts have been
made by the above callers
(callers from these two num-
bers) to elicit information
regarding deployment of troops
by calling up the CRPF and
establishments by making spoof
calls. All officers/men may
please be suitably sensitised
on the matter and any infor-
mation pertaining to deploy-
ment should only be disclosed
after confirming the identity of
the caller by returning the call.”
The letter titled, ‘Regarding
fake calls by unknown person-
nel to gather sensitive infor-
mation about deployments of
the force’, that was issued by the
Inspector — General of CRPF,
Kashmir Operations Sector,
has been circulated to all the
Deputy Inspectors — General
of South and North Kashmir
Operation Sectors as also the
Anantnag Operations Sector. It
has also been forwarded for
information to the Special
Director-General of CRPF,
Jammu and Kashmir Zone, IG
(Operations) at the force’s
directorate here, IG
(Intelligence) Srinagar Sector
and DIsG of Srinagar
North/South besides all units
and additional companies
under Kashmir/Srinagar oper-
ation sectors.
“While making spoof calls
to security personnel has been
a common tactic of the ISI to
extract information, the recent
such bids by the hostile
Intelligence agency has raised
alarms in the security estab-
lishment, especially as the
phone/mobile numbers of the
force’s personnel seem to have
been accessed by the inimical
agencies. There are other
means of compromising these
smart phones loaded with var-
ious applications by planting
malware/ransomware,” a senior
official said.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Neutralising antibodies
against the Delta variant
(B1.617.2) of Covid-19 were not
found in at least 16.1 per cent
samples from those who had
been administered both doses
of the Covishield vaccine, as per
a study conducted by
researchers from the Indian
Council of Medical Research
(ICMR). The study is yet to be
peer reviewed.
On the other hand, neu-
tralising antibodies were not
observed in 58.1 per cent of
serum samples from those who
had been given only one shot of
Covishield. Neutralising anti-
bodies are proteins produced by
the body to block pathogens, i.e.
bacteria or viruses from infect-
ing host cells.
Reacting to the study, Dr
Rahul Bhargava, Director-Bone
Marrow Transplant
Programme, Fortis Memorial
Research Institute, Gurugram
said, “It is not surprising to see
that 16 per cent did not devel-
op antibodies. But what is more
important is which is this sub-
set who has not mounted the
response? They need to be
identified and revaccinated
with an alternative vaccine.”
This also suggests that there
is a need for a second booster
to enhance antibodies, he
added.
This means that some peo-
ple in India may require an
additional booster shot of
Covishield. On the other hand,
those who have had Covid-19
may require just one shot to
develop an adequate immune
response, say experts.
The study also found that
the titres of neutralising anti-
bodies generated by the vaccine,
which specifically target the
coronavirus and kill it, were
lower against the Delta variant
when compared with the B1
strain which led to the first
wave in India.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The Congress and BJP con-
tinued to spar over the
reports of a French judicial
probe into C60,000 crore Rafale
jet deal.
In a tweet posted in Hindi
on Sunday, Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi asked why
Prime Minister Modi’s
Government was not ready for
a JPC probe. He went on to give
probable reasons: “guilt con-
science,” “friends, too, need to
be protected”, “JPC doesn’t
need a Rajya Sabha seat”, and
“all the options are right”.
Rahul Gandhi took to
social media on Sunday morn-
ing to post an image with the
caption “Chor ki dadhi” (thief’s
beard).
The BJP hit back at the
Congress for raising questions
over the Rafale deal and sought
to know why its Government
did not procure the fighter
planes for 10 years despite a
depleted squadron strength of
the Indian Air Force.
“Is it because the Gandhi
family did not get their desired
‘’commission’’?” asked BJP
spokesperson Sambit Patra.
Congress spokesperson
Pawan Khera told media per-
sons here that the Rafale deal
was an inter-Governmental
one between India and France
and one of the two countries
had initiated a probe while the
other was yet to even comment.
“It’s been 24 hours since
France has ordered a probe on
matters like corruption, influ-
ence peddling, money laun-
dering, favouritism.
The whole nation, the
whole world is now looking to
New Delhi. Why the silence?”
Khera said.
“Now it is getting clearer
that in the Rafale deal we have
bought an item that costs C570
crore at C1,670 crore,” he said.
Khera said it was now
becoming an “open and shut
case “and alleged that anti-cor-
ruption clauses from the deal
were removed. He also accused
middlemen of being involved
in the proceedings.
“In April, it was revealed
that according to documents
seized from a middleman
arrested in another case by the
Enforcement Directorate,
crores and crores of rupees
were gifted to this middle man
in the Rafale deal. We don’t
know what the ED did with
those documents, but France is
now probing them,” Khera
said.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Pushkar Singh Dhami was
sworn in as the eleventh
and youngest Chief Minister of
Uttarakhand along with his
Cabinet Ministers at the Raj
Bhawan on Sunday evening.
The new Chief Minister has
retained all the Ministers of the
previous Cabinet and elevated
three Ministers of State.
After Governor Baby Rani
Maurya administered the oath
of office and secrecy to Dhami,
Cabinet Ministers Satpal
Maharaaz, Harak Singh Rawat,
Subodh Uniyal, Banshidhar
Bhagat, Arvind Pandey, Yashpal
Arya, Bishan Singh Chufal,
Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha
Arya, Ganesh Joshi and
Yatishwaranand were sworn in.
Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekhya
Arya and Yatishwaranand were
elevated to the status of Cabinet
Ministers from their position as
State Ministers in the previous
Cabinet.
Talking to the media after
being sworn in, Dhami said his
Government will work to fill
the backlogs of appointments
in Government departments
and facilitate employment for
the youths. Stating that the
Government will reach the
doorsteps of the citizens, he
said that steps will also be taken
to address the economic impact
of Covid-19 being faced by the
people.
Continued on Page 2
?=BQ =4F34;78
Severe heatwaves, responsible
for thousands of deaths
across India over the last three
decades, are now increasing in
frequency.
According to a research
paper, authored by M Rajeevan,
Secretary of Ministry of Earth
Science, along with scientists
Kamaljit Ray, SS Ray, RK Giri
and AP Dimri, heatwaves have
claimed more than 17,000 lives
in 50 years in the country. The
paper said there were 706 heat-
waves in the nation from 1971-
2019.
“Heatwave is one of the
extreme weather events (EWE).
In 50 years (1971-2019) EWE
killed 1,41,308 people. Of this,
17,362 people were killed due
to heatwaves — a little over 12
per cent of the total deaths
recorded,” the paper said. The
maximum heatwave deaths
were in Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana and Odisha, it
added.
270=30=?A0:0B7Q =4F34;78
Factories and manufacturing
units in the national Capital
are facing an unprecedented
operational and financial
impact of the prolonged lock-
down necessitated by the
Covid-19 pandemic. Ever since
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
announced the nationwide shut
down in March 2020, Delhi has
been under lockdown to break
the chain of the deadly virus.
Even though the Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP)-led Delhi
Government made several
attempts to unlock the city but
the surge of cases that followed
each relaxation of the lockdown
led to the city being shut down
again.
The health emergency not
only played havoc with the
health infrastructure and the
lives of the people, it also
resulted in financial difficulties
for manufacturers, who were
left with no option but to shut
their units. As a result, their
production capacity was
reduced by over 50 per cent
and they are still struggling to
fix issues like shortage of
labour, restoring supply chain
management and reducing the
staggering gap of demand and
supply. And no help from the
Government is forthcoming.
Taking about the immedi-
ate challenges being faced by
the manufacturing sector,
Sanjay Gaur, Managing
Director, Urja Packaging,
Patparganj Industrial Area said,
“We are struggling on the
financial front as collection
from the markets is not satis-
factory. The cost of raw mate-
rial has increased manifold
and to start manufacturing
one needs raw materials. But
the suppliers have refused to
release further consignments
on credit, which has halved the
production.”
Labour scarcity, impor-
tantly those with technical
knowledge to operate machines
and skilled staff, are also one of
the key factors that affected
production and overall opera-
tion of goods and services, he
said.
:D:YR_UZ_:27deReZ`_decZV
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?=BQ 90D
In order to ward off any
drone strikes on vital securi-
ty installations in Srinagar, the
district authorities have banned
the use, possession, sale, stor-
age and transportation of
drones with immediate effect.
The authorities
in two other fron-
tier districts of
Rajouri and
Kathua had already
issued similar
orders after the Air
Force Station,
Jammu was targeted by drone
bombers.
Following the drone strikes
on the Indian Air Force (IAF)
station, the security audit of
vital installations was done
and adequate measures were
taken to prevent similar strikes
in future.
According to an order
issued by the office of Deputy
Commissioner, Srinagar,
Mohammad Aijaz Asad, “To
secure aerial space near vital
installations and highly popu-
lated areas, it is imperative to
discontinue the use of drones
in all social and cultural gath-
erings to eliminate any risk of
injury to life and damage to
property.”
Meanwhile, people who
already have drone cameras or
similar Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles (UAVs) in
their possession
have been directed
to ground the
same in the local
police stations
under proper
receipt.
Mohammad Aijaz Asad
issued these orders after SSP,
Srinagar, recommended impos-
ing restrictions on the storage,
sale, possession, use and trans-
portation of drones in the dis-
trict.
The order said that decen-
tralised air space access has to
be regulated in view of the
recent incidents of misuse of
drones posing a threat to the
security infrastructure as
reported by the media and
other reliable sources.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
India’s vaccination coverage
on Sunday touched another
milestone, crossing the land-
mark of 35 crore. A total of
35,12,21,306 vaccine doses
have been administered so far
since the launch of the nation-
wide vaccination drive on
January 16. A total of 63,87,849
vaccine doses were given in the
last 24 hours.
India has also been wit-
nessing a continuous fall in the
active caseload and the coun-
try’s active caseload on Sunday
stood at 4,79,316. A net decline
of 10,183 has been witnessed in
the last 24 hours, and active
cases were now only 1.59 per
cent of the country’s total pos-
itive cases.
As more people are recov-
ering from Covid-19 infec-
tion, India’s daily recoveries
continued to outnumber the
daily new cases for 52 consec-
utive days. And, 52,299 recov-
eries were registered in the last
24 hours. More than 9,000
(9,228) recoveries were report-
ed during the last 24 hours as
compared to the daily new
cases.
However, the Northeast
region seems to be becoming a
matter of concern. After dis-
patching the expert teams to six
States, including Manipur,
Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura
in the north east, where Covid-
19 cases were rising, Union
Minister of State (Independent
Charge) Development of North
Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr
Jitendra Singh, chaired the
meeting of senior officials of all
eight NE States, including
Sikkim and noted that the sec-
ond Covid wave took a huge
toll in the region before show-
ing an overall declining trend
since early June even as some
pockets continue to cause con-
cern.
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In a novel initiative the Char
Dham Hospital here has
partnered with the department
of Industries to promote tradi-
tional musical instruments,
arts and their practitioners.
Noted physician Dr K P Joshi
of Char Dham hospital told
media persons here on Sunday
that a competition to find hid-
den talent in the fields of tra-
ditional musical instruments
such as Dhol, Damau,
Ransingha and other arts
would be soon organised. He
said that a completion would be
organised in all the 13 districts
of the state at the district indus-
tries office. “We will select five
artists and performers from
every district and hold a state
level competition in Dehradun.
Five contestants would be
picked directly from wild card
entries in the final. A special
panel consisting of prominent
artists and other personalities
would judge the 70 contestants
and select the top ten,’’ he said.
Dr Joshi added that Rs
51,000, Rs 31,000 and Rs
21,000 would be paid to con-
testants securing first, second
and third place respectively in
the contest. He said that the top
ten contestants would also be
provided a job with the help of
the department of industries.
Appreciating the initiative, the
Industries director Sudhir
Chandra Nautiyal said that the
department would also try to
associate the contestants with
different schemes of the gov-
ernment. It would help in aug-
menting the income of the
artist, he added.
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From Page 1
“Our basic mantra is that
the Government will function
as a partner of the citizens. I
was born in the border area of
Pithoragarh and studied till
class V there before relocating
to Khatima along the Indo-
Nepal border. I am familiar
with all areas of the State,” said
Dhami.
On being asked about
some party leaders reportedly
being disappointed over his
choice as the Chief Minister, he
said there was no such discon-
tent in the party.
“The party has given me a
responsibility to fulfill which I
will take my seniors along with
me respectfully and the juniors
with affection. Our govern-
ment will have a special focus
on the youths,” said the Chief
Minister.
Earlier, before being sworn
in, Dhami met former Chief
Ministers Tirath Singh Rawat,
Trivendra Singh Rawat, and
Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri.
He also visited Satpal
Maharaaz. There was talk of
Maharaaz, Harak Singh Rawat
and some other leaders being
miffed at the choice for the post
of CM.
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BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal on Sunday wrote
to Prime Minister Narendra
Modi demanding Bharat
Ratna, India’s highest civilian
honour, be conferred upon
Indian doctors and healthcare
workers who have been at the
forefront in the fight against
Covid-19 pandemic.
In his letter to PM Modi,
Kejriwal advised that rules be
tweaked so that all healthcare
workers can be honoured
together as a group. “The coun-
try wants that this year Bharat
Ratna should be given to doc-
tors, nurses and paramedics .
By this, I do not mean any par-
ticular person. All the group of
doctors, nurses and paramedics
of the country should get this
honour,” Kejriwal wrote.
Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal
tweeted, “? This year the
‘Indian Doctors’ should get
Bharat Ratna. ‘Indian Doctor’
means doctors, nurses and
paramedics. This will be a true
tribute to all who have been
martyred. This will honour
those who serve without wor-
rying about their lives and
families. The entire country
will be happy with this deci-
sion?.”
“I want to request the cen-
tral government to award this
year’s Bharat Ratna to “Indian
Doctor”. By “Indian Doctor” I
mean the entire medical com-
munity - all doctors, nurses and
paramedics should be given the
award, collectively. This is the
greatest manner in which we
can pay our respect and
homage to all those who have
martyred while serving the
nation on Covid duties,”
Kejriwal said.
“Lakhs of doctors and
nurses served the people self-
lessly without caring about
their lives and families. What
better way to honour them and
say thank you? If the rules do
not allow Bharat Ratna to be
given to any group, then I
request you to change the rules.
Today the whole country is
grateful to its doctors.
Conferring them with Bharat
Ratna would make every
Indian happy,” he added.
Sharing a message, he
said,”I received an interesting
message once; it read that all
temples are shut during Covid
because God is serving at hos-
pitals wearing a white coat. It
signifies the amount of love and
respect doctors command.
Despite this there were some
incidents around the country
where doctors were mistreated,
yet in 99% cases, our doctors
bore through the agony in
empathy for the patients and
their families.”
“Even in such tough times,
the doctors served their duties,
and we lost a lot of doctors and
paramedics during this time;
they were martyred on duty. I
pay homage on behalf of the
entire country to all such lives
we have lost,” Pertinently, the
Indian Medical Association
has said that 798 doctors,
including 128 in Delhi, have
died during the virulent second
wave of infections.
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The Delhi Government have
allowed stadium and sports
complexes to open without
spectators from Monday. In its
latest order issued on Sunday,
the Delhi Disaster
Management Authority
(DDMA), said that cinema
halls, multiplexes, banquet halls
and swimming pools will con-
tinue to remain shut. Social and
political gatherings, auditori-
ums, schools, colleges, spas,
amusement parks are also pro-
hibited, according to DDMA
order.
While the social and polit-
ical gatherings, auditoriums,
schools, colleges, spas, amuse-
ment parks are prohibited in
Delhi and Capital Region, the
new relaxations will come into
effect from 5am on July 5th,
2021 and restricted activities
are extended till 5 AM, July
12th.
All schools, colleges, edu-
cational/training/coaching
institutions will remain closed.
Political, sports, entertainment,
academic, cultural, religious
and festival related gatherings
are restricted. In Government
offices, 100 % of Grade I staff
have been allowed.
Only 50 per cent staff is
allowed in private offices,
which are to remain open
between 9 am and 5 pm. “All
stand-alone shops, neighbour-
hood shops, residential com-
plex shops can open on all days
without odd-even rule.
However, the opening hours for
shops dealing with non-essen-
tial goods/services will be from
10 am to 8 pm,” DDMA said.
Public transport – metro, buses
will continue to function with
50 per cent capacity, it stated.
There must be strict adher-
ence to standard operating
procedures (SOPs) and other
guidelines of the Government,
and compliance of Covid
appropriate behavior while
opening the stadia and sports
complexes, the DDMA order
read.
To boost the economic
activities in Delhi, last week,
DDMA allowed the reopening
of gyms and yoga institutes
with 50 per cent attendance.
Banquets, marriage halls and
hotels were also allowed to
host weddings with 50 guests
only. Meanwhile, Delhi report-
ed 93 new Covid 19 cases and
four deaths in the past 24
hours, the positivity rate of the
national capital dipped to 0.11
per cent and now 1,016 active
cases are there in the city.
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?C8Q =4F34;78
Former Maharashtra home
minister Anil Deshmukh
on Sunday moved the Supreme
Court seeking protection from
any coercive action in a money
laundering case.
The Enforcement
Directorate had, on Saturday,
issued fresh summons to the
71-year-old NCP leader seek-
ing his appearance on July 5 in
the case.
The ED has, so far, issued
three notices to Deshmukh,
who has been asked to record
his statement at the central
agency's office in south
Mumbai on Monday.
Deshmukh has moved the
top court seeking protection
from any coercive action,
Mumbai-based advocate
Inderpal B Singh said in a
video message released for the
media.
The former minister had
skipped the two earlier sum-
mons citing his vulnerability
to COVID-19 as the reason for
non-compliance in his last
communication to the agency.
He instead offered the ED
to record his statement
through video conferencing.
The fresh summons by
ED was issued in connection
with the criminal case regis-
tered under the Prevention of
Money Laundering Act
(PMLA) related to an alleged
Rs 100 crore bribery-cum-
extortion racket that led to
Deshmukh's resignation in
April this year.
The first summons fol-
lowed raids conducted by the
ED at his premises in Mumbai
and Nagpur apart from that of
his aides and some others last
month.
The agency subsequently
arrested two of his aides in this
case, personal secretary
Sanjeev Palande (51) and per-
sonal assistant Kundan Shinde
(45).
They are in ED custody till
July 6.
The agency, sources said,
apart from the present case
wants to question Deshmukh
about his and his family mem-
bers' alleged links with certain
shell companies that were
being used to launder funds
much before the present alle-
gations of bribery in the
Mumbai Police setup came to
light.
The ED case against
Deshmukh and others was
made out after the CBI booked
him in a corruption case relat-
ed to allegations of at least Rs
100 crore bribery made by for-
mer Mumbai Police commis-
sioner Param Bir
Singh.
In his letter to Chief
Minister Uddhav Thackeray
after he was removed from the
police commissioner's post,
Singh had alleged that
Deshmukh had asked sus-
pended Mumbai Police assis-
tant police inspector (API)
Sachin Waze to extort over Rs
100 crore a month from bars
and restaurants in Mumbai.
Deshmukh had to resign
from his post in April follow-
ing the allegations and he has
repeatedly denied any wrong-
doing.
In his last communication
sent to the agency through his
lawyers, Deshmukh said the
agency had already recorded
his statement during his sev-
eral hours of interaction with
the ED investigators when they
raided his premises here on
June 25.
RYRVi95VdY^fY
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=4H;0D=34A8=620B4
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As many as 194 crocodiles
have been relocated from
a lake near the 'Statue of
Unity' in Gujarat's Narmada
district in the last two years
for the safety of tourists who
come to enjoy boat rides there,
officials said on
Sunday.
The Panchmuli lake, situ-
ated near the 182-metre tall
statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel in Kevadia, a major
tourist attraction, had a large
number of crocodiles that
posed a threat to visitors, they
said.
In 2019-20 (October-
March), we relocated 143
crocodiles. In 2020-21, anoth-
er 51 crocodiles were shifted
to two rescue centres in
Gandhinagar and Godhra,
Kevadia Range Forest Officer
Vikramsinh Gabhania, told
PTI.
There are still many croc-
odiles in the lake, he said.
The Panchmuli lake, also
known as 'Dyke-3' of the Sardar
Sarovar Dam, was developed
for tourists visiting the Statue
of Unity. Hence, the authorities
decided to relocate crocodiles
from the water body to prevent
any harm to tourists, the offi-
cial said.
In 2019-20, 73 rescued
crocodiles were released in
the the Sardar Sarovar reser-
voir. The animals rescued
later from the lake were shift-
ed to the rescue centres at
Godhra in Panchmahal dis-
trict, and Gandhinagar, he
said.
Some 60 cages are placed
around the lake to trap the
crocodiles. The part of the
lake where sea planes (flying
between Ahmedabad and
Kevadia) land is completely
safe, he said.
In 2019, the Gujarat State
Forest Development
Corporation Ltd (GSFDC)
started the boat ride in Dyke-
3 (Panchmuli lake), which is
rich in flora and fauna and
surrounded by lush green
forests, as part of the eco-
tourism activity in the region
surrounding the Statue of
Unity, according to the
state tourism
department.
A spokesperson of the
Statue of Unity authority said
the boat ride is a major tourist
attraction in the area and wit-
nesses a heavy rush of visitors,
especially on weekends.
6dY) (#Ra^R^SX[TbaT[^RPcTS
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U^abPUTch^Uc^daXbcb
BC055A4?AC4AQ
=4F34;78
Delhi Police
C o n s t a b l e
returned the bag of
a 53 year-old
labourer who forgot
his bag containing
his hard earned C1
lakh cash on a
bench at Shivaji
Bridge railway sta-
tion and boarded
Bareilly-New Delhi
intercity express to reach his
home town in Uttar Pradesh’s
Khurja.
Vijay Kumar, who lives in
Shakur Basti is the only bread-
winner of his family and on
June 30, he withdrew C1 lakh
from his bank account. He
bought 55 kg ration to head
back to his hometown Khurja
in Uttar Pradesh where he
wanted to build a house for his
children. But unfortunately, he
loaded the two bags of ration
in the train and in a hurry, left
his cash bag behind.
Meanwhile, Constable
Narendra posted with the New
Delhi Railway police station
who was on duty at Shivaji
Bridge station was on June 30
noticed a bag lying on one of
the benches.
He enquired with a few
passengers if it belonged to any
of them.
According to Constable
Narendra, he decided to keep
the unclaimed bag with two
cash bundles amounting to C1
lakh with some chapatis packed
in a foil paper, water bottle and
cheque book, bank passbook
and an aadhar and ration card.
Hours later, around 6.30
PM, when Vijay returned at
Shivaji Bridge station in search
of money, he was handed over
his carry bag and Rs one lakh
safely by the constable after due
formalities.
“Vijay Kumar left his carry
bag at the station. Our
Constable Narender found the
bag unclaimed and returned
the belongings to Kumar along
with his cash of Rs one lakh,”
said Harendra Kumar, the
Deputy Commissioner of
Police (DCP), Railways.
2^]bcPQ[T
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RPbWc^[PQ^daTa
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Delhi Police have arrested
three men for allegedly
impersonating as Municipal
Corporation of Delhi (MCD)
officers and extorting money
from shopkeepers from east
Delhi’s Mansarovar Park area.
The accused have been
identified as Omparkash (55),
a resident of Seelampur, Vikas
Panchal, a resident of Ram
Nagar Extension, Mandoli
Road and Sandeep Garg, a res-
ident of Shahdara. Police said
that the trio accused previ-
ously worked in MCD and
BSES on contract basis.
According to R
Sathiyasundaram, the DCP,
Shahdara district, on Saturday,
complainant Satender Sharma,
a resident of Shahdara, report-
ed that three persons, imper-
sonating as MCD officers,
came to his shop at East Nathu
colony, Mandoli Road and
asked him to show trade
license. “Thereafter, they
threatened him for action
against the shop and asked him
to pay C3,000 for the settle-
ment. Complainant paid
C3,000. Sharma got suspicious
and asked for their identity
cards, following which some
heated arguments ensued
between them and they start-
ed running. The complainant
Omparkash with the help of
other shopkeepers and report-
ed to police,” said the DCP.
“During interrogation,
Omparkash disclosed that he,
along with his associates
Kumar and Garg, used to
impersonate as MCD officials
and check the trade and other
licenses of the shops and extort
money from them by threat-
ening the shopkeepers regard-
ing cancellation of license etc.”
said the DCP. “Later, raids
were conducted and, on his
instance, both of his associates
were arrested,” the DCP
added.
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
The International Wrestler,
Sushil Kumar, who is
lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Prison
following the brawl and
death of 23 year-old wrestler
Sagar Dhankar, has request-
ed the prison authorities for
a television to get updates
regarding wrestling.
“Kumar has made a
request through his advo-
cate. He has requested for a
television set so that he would
get the updates about
wrestling matches,” said a
senior prison official on
Sunday.
Earlier, a Delhi court
extended the judicial cus-
tody of Kumar till July 9. He
has been shifted to Tihar jail
number 2 from Mandoli jail,
where he was earlier lodged.
Kumar and his associ-
ates allegedly assaulted
wrestler Sagar Dhankar and
two of his friends Sonu and
Amit Kumar on the inter-
vening night of May 4 and 5
over a property dispute.
Dhankar, 23, succumbed to
injuries later. The two-time
Olympic medallist wrestler
was arrested, along with co-
accused Ajay Kumar, on May
23 from outer Delhi’s
Mundka area.
Police said 12 accused
people, including Kumar,
have so far been arrested in
connection with the case.
The police have claimed
that Kumar is the “main cul-
prit and mastermind” of the
murder and said that there is
electronic evidence in which
he and his associates could
be seen beating Dhankar.
DXbUUQbbUcdUT
V_bY]`Ubc_^QdY^W
Qc=34_VVYSUbc
CecXY;e]QbQc[cDYXQb:QY
QedX_bYdYUcV_bQdUUfYcY_^
?C8Q 6DF070C8
Arising number of shoot-out
encounters, which have
seen at least a dozen suspected
insurgents and criminals being
shot dead as they tried to
escape from custody in less
than two months, has whipped
up a political furore in Assam.
The rise in the number of
such incidents since the new
government came to power on
May 10 has led the opposition
to allege that the Assam Police
has turned trigger happy
under the Himanta Sarma-led
regime.
The Assam Police has,
however, refuted this allegation,
claiming that it was the mili-
tants and criminals who forced
its personnel to resort to firing.
There have been about 12
deaths in police encounters or
firing when criminals had tried
to flee custody in the last cou-
ple of months, Special Director
General of Police (Law and
Order) Gyanendra Pratap Singh
told PTI in an interview.
Among them are six sus-
pected Dimasa National
Liberation Army (DNLA) mil-
itants and two alleged insur-
gents of United People's
Revolutionary Front (UPRF),
who were killed in separate
encounters with the police in
Karbi Anglong district.
Four other suspected crim-
inals were killed in different
encounters in Dhemaji, Nalbari,
Sivasagar and Karbi Anglong
districts. Many of the accused
had allegedly snatched the ser-
vice pistols of the police officers,
following which shootouts had
taken place.
Some encounters had taken
place when the police attempt-
ed to arrest the accused persons
andsomewhentheytriedtoflee
on being taken for crime scene
reconstruction, he said.
The police had to resort to
firing when these militants and
criminals attempted to escape
from custody. Only they can say
why they tried to flee, the offi-
cer said. Declining to comment
on why there has been a sudden
rise in the number of such
encounters by the police, the
senior officer said that no
enquiry has been instituted in
any case where the criminal
was injured.
Enquiry is ordered in cases
where the fleeing criminal is
injured only if there is any rea-
son (to suspect that there was
some extraneous issue
involved). No enquiry has been
ordered in any of such incidents
in the last two months, he said.
The incidents, where the
accused have lost their lives,
have been reported to the rel-
evant authorities, including the
National Human Rights
Commission, as is the proce-
dure, the Special DGP said.
Among those injured in
such police encounters are rape
accused and cattle smugglers.
In all the encounters where
the accused were injured, they
were taken for crime scene
reconstruction and attempted
to run away, prompting the
police to open fire on them, he
said.
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- 1. 20?BD;4 4G0707E4BB2 5A?AC42C8= =Tf3T[WX) 5^aTaPWPaPbWcaP W^T X]XbcTa 0]X[ 3TbWdZW ^]Bd]SPh^eTScWTBd_aTT 2^dac bTTZX]V _a^cTRcX^] Ua^ P]hR^TaRXeTPRcX^]X]P^]Th [Pd]STaX]VRPbTCWT43WPS^] BPcdaSPhXbbdTSUaTbWbd^]b c^ cWT =2? [TPSTa bTTZX]V WXb P__TPaP]RT^]9d[h$X]cWTRPbT A18 CF40:B =AB 5A 8=C4A4BC=E4A3D4C3b =Tf3T[WX) CWTATbTaeT1P]Z^U 8]SXP A18 WPb PT]STS cWT ]^ab Pb _Ta fWXRW d]R[PXTS PcdaXch _a^RTTSb ^U cTa ST_^bXcb C3b fXcW QP]Zb fX[[ PccaPRc cWT aPcT ^U X]cTaTbc Pb P__[XRPQ[T c^ bPeX]Vb PRR^d]cb ^acWTR^]caPRcTSaPcT^UX]cTaTbc ^]cWTPcdaTSC3fWXRWTeTaXb [^fTa A0:4B7:B8=67Q =4F34;78 In the run-up to the drone attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) Station in Jammu on June 27, the Pakistani covert agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had stepped up espionage bids by making fake calls to gather “sensitive” information about deploy- ments of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at various locations/establishments in Jammu and Kashmir (JK). Some voice calls were made from mobile numbers 9412**8321 and 9675**0429 to CRPF officers/personnel with the callers introducing themselves as Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau, namely Vinod Sharma and Palwinder Sharma. Following the fake calls, the CRPF has sought to sensitise the personnel that any infor- mation relating to deployment should only be disclosed after confirming the identity of the caller by returning the call. In a circular issued just days before the Jammu air force sta- tion drone attacks, the CRPF said, “… it is intimated that con- tinuous attempts have been made by the above callers (callers from these two num- bers) to elicit information regarding deployment of troops by calling up the CRPF and establishments by making spoof calls. All officers/men may please be suitably sensitised on the matter and any infor- mation pertaining to deploy- ment should only be disclosed after confirming the identity of the caller by returning the call.” The letter titled, ‘Regarding fake calls by unknown person- nel to gather sensitive infor- mation about deployments of the force’, that was issued by the Inspector — General of CRPF, Kashmir Operations Sector, has been circulated to all the Deputy Inspectors — General of South and North Kashmir Operation Sectors as also the Anantnag Operations Sector. It has also been forwarded for information to the Special Director-General of CRPF, Jammu and Kashmir Zone, IG (Operations) at the force’s directorate here, IG (Intelligence) Srinagar Sector and DIsG of Srinagar North/South besides all units and additional companies under Kashmir/Srinagar oper- ation sectors. “While making spoof calls to security personnel has been a common tactic of the ISI to extract information, the recent such bids by the hostile Intelligence agency has raised alarms in the security estab- lishment, especially as the phone/mobile numbers of the force’s personnel seem to have been accessed by the inimical agencies. There are other means of compromising these smart phones loaded with var- ious applications by planting malware/ransomware,” a senior official said. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Neutralising antibodies against the Delta variant (B1.617.2) of Covid-19 were not found in at least 16.1 per cent samples from those who had been administered both doses of the Covishield vaccine, as per a study conducted by researchers from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). The study is yet to be peer reviewed. On the other hand, neu- tralising antibodies were not observed in 58.1 per cent of serum samples from those who had been given only one shot of Covishield. Neutralising anti- bodies are proteins produced by the body to block pathogens, i.e. bacteria or viruses from infect- ing host cells. Reacting to the study, Dr Rahul Bhargava, Director-Bone Marrow Transplant Programme, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram said, “It is not surprising to see that 16 per cent did not devel- op antibodies. But what is more important is which is this sub- set who has not mounted the response? They need to be identified and revaccinated with an alternative vaccine.” This also suggests that there is a need for a second booster to enhance antibodies, he added. This means that some peo- ple in India may require an additional booster shot of Covishield. On the other hand, those who have had Covid-19 may require just one shot to develop an adequate immune response, say experts. The study also found that the titres of neutralising anti- bodies generated by the vaccine, which specifically target the coronavirus and kill it, were lower against the Delta variant when compared with the B1 strain which led to the first wave in India. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Congress and BJP con- tinued to spar over the reports of a French judicial probe into C60,000 crore Rafale jet deal. In a tweet posted in Hindi on Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asked why Prime Minister Modi’s Government was not ready for a JPC probe. He went on to give probable reasons: “guilt con- science,” “friends, too, need to be protected”, “JPC doesn’t need a Rajya Sabha seat”, and “all the options are right”. Rahul Gandhi took to social media on Sunday morn- ing to post an image with the caption “Chor ki dadhi” (thief’s beard). The BJP hit back at the Congress for raising questions over the Rafale deal and sought to know why its Government did not procure the fighter planes for 10 years despite a depleted squadron strength of the Indian Air Force. “Is it because the Gandhi family did not get their desired ‘’commission’’?” asked BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told media per- sons here that the Rafale deal was an inter-Governmental one between India and France and one of the two countries had initiated a probe while the other was yet to even comment. “It’s been 24 hours since France has ordered a probe on matters like corruption, influ- ence peddling, money laun- dering, favouritism. The whole nation, the whole world is now looking to New Delhi. Why the silence?” Khera said. “Now it is getting clearer that in the Rafale deal we have bought an item that costs C570 crore at C1,670 crore,” he said. Khera said it was now becoming an “open and shut case “and alleged that anti-cor- ruption clauses from the deal were removed. He also accused middlemen of being involved in the proceedings. “In April, it was revealed that according to documents seized from a middleman arrested in another case by the Enforcement Directorate, crores and crores of rupees were gifted to this middle man in the Rafale deal. We don’t know what the ED did with those documents, but France is now probing them,” Khera said. ?=BQ 347A03D= Pushkar Singh Dhami was sworn in as the eleventh and youngest Chief Minister of Uttarakhand along with his Cabinet Ministers at the Raj Bhawan on Sunday evening. The new Chief Minister has retained all the Ministers of the previous Cabinet and elevated three Ministers of State. After Governor Baby Rani Maurya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Dhami, Cabinet Ministers Satpal Maharaaz, Harak Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Banshidhar Bhagat, Arvind Pandey, Yashpal Arya, Bishan Singh Chufal, Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi and Yatishwaranand were sworn in. Dhan Singh Rawat, Rekhya Arya and Yatishwaranand were elevated to the status of Cabinet Ministers from their position as State Ministers in the previous Cabinet. Talking to the media after being sworn in, Dhami said his Government will work to fill the backlogs of appointments in Government departments and facilitate employment for the youths. Stating that the Government will reach the doorsteps of the citizens, he said that steps will also be taken to address the economic impact of Covid-19 being faced by the people. Continued on Page 2 ?=BQ =4F34;78 Severe heatwaves, responsible for thousands of deaths across India over the last three decades, are now increasing in frequency. According to a research paper, authored by M Rajeevan, Secretary of Ministry of Earth Science, along with scientists Kamaljit Ray, SS Ray, RK Giri and AP Dimri, heatwaves have claimed more than 17,000 lives in 50 years in the country. The paper said there were 706 heat- waves in the nation from 1971- 2019. “Heatwave is one of the extreme weather events (EWE). In 50 years (1971-2019) EWE killed 1,41,308 people. Of this, 17,362 people were killed due to heatwaves — a little over 12 per cent of the total deaths recorded,” the paper said. The maximum heatwave deaths were in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha, it added. 270=30=?A0:0B7Q =4F34;78 Factories and manufacturing units in the national Capital are facing an unprecedented operational and financial impact of the prolonged lock- down necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic. Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the nationwide shut down in March 2020, Delhi has been under lockdown to break the chain of the deadly virus. Even though the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi Government made several attempts to unlock the city but the surge of cases that followed each relaxation of the lockdown led to the city being shut down again. The health emergency not only played havoc with the health infrastructure and the lives of the people, it also resulted in financial difficulties for manufacturers, who were left with no option but to shut their units. As a result, their production capacity was reduced by over 50 per cent and they are still struggling to fix issues like shortage of labour, restoring supply chain management and reducing the staggering gap of demand and supply. And no help from the Government is forthcoming. Taking about the immedi- ate challenges being faced by the manufacturing sector, Sanjay Gaur, Managing Director, Urja Packaging, Patparganj Industrial Area said, “We are struggling on the financial front as collection from the markets is not satis- factory. The cost of raw mate- rial has increased manifold and to start manufacturing one needs raw materials. But the suppliers have refused to release further consignments on credit, which has halved the production.” Labour scarcity, impor- tantly those with technical knowledge to operate machines and skilled staff, are also one of the key factors that affected production and overall opera- tion of goods and services, he said. :D:YR_UZ_:27deReZ`_decZV 3DNDJHQFPDGHIDNHFDOOVWRJHWLQWHORQ53)XQLWVLQ- . ?=BQ 90D In order to ward off any drone strikes on vital securi- ty installations in Srinagar, the district authorities have banned the use, possession, sale, stor- age and transportation of drones with immediate effect. The authorities in two other fron- tier districts of Rajouri and Kathua had already issued similar orders after the Air Force Station, Jammu was targeted by drone bombers. Following the drone strikes on the Indian Air Force (IAF) station, the security audit of vital installations was done and adequate measures were taken to prevent similar strikes in future. According to an order issued by the office of Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Mohammad Aijaz Asad, “To secure aerial space near vital installations and highly popu- lated areas, it is imperative to discontinue the use of drones in all social and cultural gath- erings to eliminate any risk of injury to life and damage to property.” Meanwhile, people who already have drone cameras or similar Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in their possession have been directed to ground the same in the local police stations under proper receipt. Mohammad Aijaz Asad issued these orders after SSP, Srinagar, recommended impos- ing restrictions on the storage, sale, possession, use and trans- portation of drones in the dis- trict. The order said that decen- tralised air space access has to be regulated in view of the recent incidents of misuse of drones posing a threat to the security infrastructure as reported by the media and other reliable sources. 1RDQWLERGLHVDJDLQVW 'HOWDLQDIWHUYD[ 2_eZS`UZVd_`e W`f_URWeVc dVT`_UU`dV`W 4`gZdYZV]U+DefUj ?=BQ =4F34;78 India’s vaccination coverage on Sunday touched another milestone, crossing the land- mark of 35 crore. A total of 35,12,21,306 vaccine doses have been administered so far since the launch of the nation- wide vaccination drive on January 16. A total of 63,87,849 vaccine doses were given in the last 24 hours. India has also been wit- nessing a continuous fall in the active caseload and the coun- try’s active caseload on Sunday stood at 4,79,316. A net decline of 10,183 has been witnessed in the last 24 hours, and active cases were now only 1.59 per cent of the country’s total pos- itive cases. As more people are recov- ering from Covid-19 infec- tion, India’s daily recoveries continued to outnumber the daily new cases for 52 consec- utive days. And, 52,299 recov- eries were registered in the last 24 hours. More than 9,000 (9,228) recoveries were report- ed during the last 24 hours as compared to the daily new cases. However, the Northeast region seems to be becoming a matter of concern. After dis- patching the expert teams to six States, including Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura in the north east, where Covid- 19 cases were rising, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh, chaired the meeting of senior officials of all eight NE States, including Sikkim and noted that the sec- ond Covid wave took a huge toll in the region before show- ing an overall declining trend since early June even as some pockets continue to cause con- cern. 8]SXP´bePRRX]T R^eTaPVTRa^bbTb $Ra^aTPaZ ?T^_[TfPXcX]cWT^QbTaePcX^]PaTPPUcTaVTccX]VX]^Rd[PcTSfXcWPS^bT^UcWT 2^eXS (ePRRX]TPcPePRRX]PcX^]RT]caTX]dQPX^]Bd]SPh ?C8 4`_XcRZdVdaZeTY W`c;A4ac`SV RddhYj`UZ 8`ge_`ecVRUj RQJ%-3VSDURYHU5DIDOH DIWHU)UDQFHRUGHUVSUREH J`f_XVdeVgVc4 `WDeReVcVeRZ_d R]]Z_ZdeVcdWc`^ acVgZ`fd4RSZ_Ve ?dbWZPa3WPX cPZTb^PcWPb cW 2^UDccPaPZWP]S µ%XVLQHVVHVOHIWWRVLQNRUVZLPE*RYW¶ Z]]VcYVRehRgVd_`hXVeeZ_X ^`cVWcVbfV_eZ_:_UZR+DefUj 19?;0?dbWZPaBX]VW3WPXfPb bf^a]X]PbcWT2WXTUX]XbcTa^U DccPaPZWP]SX]3TWaPSd]^]Bd]SPh?C8 2WX[SaT]_[PhX]P_^]S^]cWTQP]Zb^UHPd]PaXeTac^VTcb^TaTb_XcTUa^cWT bR^aRWX]VWTPcX]=Tf3T[WX^]Bd]SPh ?C8 E`hRcU`WWdVTfcZej eYcVRedDcZ_RXRcSR_d dR]VfdV`WUc`_Vd F^aZTabcaP]b_^acV^^Sbc^cWT2F6EX[[PVT2^eXSRPaTRT]caT]TPa0ZbWPaSWPX]=Tf3T[WX^]Bd]SPh ?C8 4Zej¶dSZk^V_cfV]RT`WYV]aUfcZ_Xf_acVTVUV_eVUWZ_R_TZR]TcZdZdecZXXVcVUSj4`gZU 4`gZU* :?:?5:2 CC0;20B4B) $' $' %' 340C7B)#!'%$ A42E4A43) !(%'##% %'! 02C8E4)#( % 070)%(' (% :4A0;0)!(%'$ ! :´C0:0)!'$%# $%# C=)!#(%!''% 34;78) ##$$#(# /CWT3PX[h?X^]TTa UPRTQ^^ZR^SPX[h_X^]TTa 7`]]`hfd`_+ fffSPX[h_X^]TTaR^ X]bcPVaPR^SPX[h_X^]TTa ;PcT2Xch E^[ $8bbdT '! 0XaBdaRWPaVT4gcaPXU0__[XRPQ[T ?dQ[XbWTS5a^ 34;78;D2:=F 17?0;17D10=4BF0A A0=278A08?DA 270=3860A7 347A03D= 7H34A0103E890HF030 4bcPQ[XbWTS '%# 51,1R5HJQ877(1*5(*'1R8$'2''1 347A03D==30H9D;H $!! *?064B !C! @A:?:@?' 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- 2. ]PcX^]! 347A03D=k=30H k9D;H $!! 3ULQWHGDQGSXEOLVKHGE$MLW6LQKDIRUDQGRQEHKDOIRI0.3ULQWHFK/WGSXEOLVKHGDW8QLJDWH*HQHUDO0HGLD3YW/WG2OG1HKUXRORQ2SS8WWDUDNKDQG-DO6DQVWKDQ'KDUDPSXU'HKUDGXQ3K0RE DQGSULQWHGDW$PDU8MDOD3XEOLFDWLRQV/WG3ORW1R+WR+6HODTXL,QGXVWULDO $UHD'HKUDGXQ8WWDUDNKDQG(GLWRUKDQGDQ0LWUD$,5685+$5*(RI5H(DVWDOFXWWD5DQFKL%KXEDQHVZDU1RUWK/HK:HVW0XPEDL $KPHGDEDG6RXWK%DQJDORUH KHQQDLHQWUDO.KDMXUDKR'HOKL2IILFH1R%HKLQG*XODE%KDZDQ %DKDGXU6KDK=DIDU0DUJ1HZ'HOKL3KRQH RPPXQLFDWLRQ2IILFH)6HFWRU12,'$*DXWDP%XGK1DJDU83 3KRQH /XFNQRZ2IILFHWK)ORRU6DKDUD6KRSSLQJHQWUH)DL]DEDG5RDG/XFNQRZ7HOHSKRQHV $OWKRXJKHYHUSRVVLEOHFDUHDQGFDXWLRQKDVEHHQWDNHQWRDYRLGHUURUVRURPLVVLRQVWKLVSXEOLFDWLRQLVEHLQJVROGRQWKHFRQGLWLRQDQGXQGHUVWDQGLQJWKDWLQIRUPDWLRQJLYHQLQWKLVSXEOLFDWLRQLVPHUHOIRUUHIHUHQFHDQGPXVWQRWEHWDNHQDVKDYLQJDXWKRULWRIRUELQGLQJLQDQZDRQWKHZULWHUVHGLWRUVSXEOLVKHUVDQGSULQWHUVDQGVHOOHUVZKRGRQRWRZHDQUHVSRQVLELOLWIRUDQ GDPDJHRUORVVWRDQSHUVRQDSXUFKDVHURIWKLVSXEOLFDWLRQRUQRWIRUWKHUHVXOWRIDQDFWLRQWDNHQRQWKHEDVLVRIWKLVZRUN$OOGLVSXWHVDUHVXEMHFWWRWKHH[FOXVLYHMXULVGLFWLRQRIFRPSHWHQWFRXUWDQGIRUXPVLQ'HOKL1HZ'HOKLRQO5HDGHUVDUHDGYLVHGDQGUHTXHVWHGWRYHULIDQGVHHNDSSURSULDWHDGYLFHWRVDWLVIWKHPVHOYHVDERXWWKHYHUDFLWRIDQNLQGRIDGYHUWLVHPHQWEHIRUH UHVSRQGLQJWRDQFRQWHQWVSXEOLVKHGLQWKLVQHZVSDSHU7KHSULQWHUSXEOLVKHUHGLWRUDQGDQHPSORHHRIWKH3LRQHHU*URXS·VZLOOQRWEHKHOGUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQNLQGRIFODLPPDGHEWKHDGYHUWLVHUVRIWKHSURGXFWV VHUYLFHVDQGVKDOOQRWEHPDGHUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQNLQGRIORVVFRQVHTXHQFHVDQGIXUWKHUSURGXFWUHODWHGGDPDJHVRQVXFKDGYHUWLVHPHQWV ?=BQ 347A03D= In a novel initiative the Char Dham Hospital here has partnered with the department of Industries to promote tradi- tional musical instruments, arts and their practitioners. Noted physician Dr K P Joshi of Char Dham hospital told media persons here on Sunday that a competition to find hid- den talent in the fields of tra- ditional musical instruments such as Dhol, Damau, Ransingha and other arts would be soon organised. He said that a completion would be organised in all the 13 districts of the state at the district indus- tries office. “We will select five artists and performers from every district and hold a state level competition in Dehradun. Five contestants would be picked directly from wild card entries in the final. A special panel consisting of prominent artists and other personalities would judge the 70 contestants and select the top ten,’’ he said. Dr Joshi added that Rs 51,000, Rs 31,000 and Rs 21,000 would be paid to con- testants securing first, second and third place respectively in the contest. He said that the top ten contestants would also be provided a job with the help of the department of industries. Appreciating the initiative, the Industries director Sudhir Chandra Nautiyal said that the department would also try to associate the contestants with different schemes of the gov- ernment. It would help in aug- menting the income of the artist, he added. C`USYQS_^dUcdV_b `b_]_dY^W_SQQbdQbdYcdUc 3a:?9^bWX cTPbd_fXcW ST_PacT]c^U 8]SdbcaXTbU^acWT X]XcXPcXeT From Page 1 “Our basic mantra is that the Government will function as a partner of the citizens. I was born in the border area of Pithoragarh and studied till class V there before relocating to Khatima along the Indo- Nepal border. I am familiar with all areas of the State,” said Dhami. On being asked about some party leaders reportedly being disappointed over his choice as the Chief Minister, he said there was no such discon- tent in the party. “The party has given me a responsibility to fulfill which I will take my seniors along with me respectfully and the juniors with affection. Our govern- ment will have a special focus on the youths,” said the Chief Minister. Earlier, before being sworn in, Dhami met former Chief Ministers Tirath Singh Rawat, Trivendra Singh Rawat, and Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri. He also visited Satpal Maharaaz. There was talk of Maharaaz, Harak Singh Rawat and some other leaders being miffed at the choice for the post of CM. 3XVKNDU'KDPLWDNHVRDWK DVWK0RI8WWDUDNKDQG BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, be conferred upon Indian doctors and healthcare workers who have been at the forefront in the fight against Covid-19 pandemic. In his letter to PM Modi, Kejriwal advised that rules be tweaked so that all healthcare workers can be honoured together as a group. “The coun- try wants that this year Bharat Ratna should be given to doc- tors, nurses and paramedics . By this, I do not mean any par- ticular person. All the group of doctors, nurses and paramedics of the country should get this honour,” Kejriwal wrote. Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal tweeted, “? This year the ‘Indian Doctors’ should get Bharat Ratna. ‘Indian Doctor’ means doctors, nurses and paramedics. This will be a true tribute to all who have been martyred. This will honour those who serve without wor- rying about their lives and families. The entire country will be happy with this deci- sion?.” “I want to request the cen- tral government to award this year’s Bharat Ratna to “Indian Doctor”. By “Indian Doctor” I mean the entire medical com- munity - all doctors, nurses and paramedics should be given the award, collectively. This is the greatest manner in which we can pay our respect and homage to all those who have martyred while serving the nation on Covid duties,” Kejriwal said. “Lakhs of doctors and nurses served the people self- lessly without caring about their lives and families. What better way to honour them and say thank you? If the rules do not allow Bharat Ratna to be given to any group, then I request you to change the rules. Today the whole country is grateful to its doctors. Conferring them with Bharat Ratna would make every Indian happy,” he added. Sharing a message, he said,”I received an interesting message once; it read that all temples are shut during Covid because God is serving at hos- pitals wearing a white coat. It signifies the amount of love and respect doctors command. Despite this there were some incidents around the country where doctors were mistreated, yet in 99% cases, our doctors bore through the agony in empathy for the patients and their families.” “Even in such tough times, the doctors served their duties, and we lost a lot of doctors and paramedics during this time; they were martyred on duty. I pay homage on behalf of the entire country to all such lives we have lost,” Pertinently, the Indian Medical Association has said that 798 doctors, including 128 in Delhi, have died during the virulent second wave of infections. DVVd3YRcReCRe_RW`c U`Te`cdYVR]eYTRcVh`cVcd 34;782FA8C4BC?38 BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78 The Delhi Government have allowed stadium and sports complexes to open without spectators from Monday. In its latest order issued on Sunday, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), said that cinema halls, multiplexes, banquet halls and swimming pools will con- tinue to remain shut. Social and political gatherings, auditori- ums, schools, colleges, spas, amusement parks are also pro- hibited, according to DDMA order. While the social and polit- ical gatherings, auditoriums, schools, colleges, spas, amuse- ment parks are prohibited in Delhi and Capital Region, the new relaxations will come into effect from 5am on July 5th, 2021 and restricted activities are extended till 5 AM, July 12th. All schools, colleges, edu- cational/training/coaching institutions will remain closed. Political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural, religious and festival related gatherings are restricted. In Government offices, 100 % of Grade I staff have been allowed. Only 50 per cent staff is allowed in private offices, which are to remain open between 9 am and 5 pm. “All stand-alone shops, neighbour- hood shops, residential com- plex shops can open on all days without odd-even rule. However, the opening hours for shops dealing with non-essen- tial goods/services will be from 10 am to 8 pm,” DDMA said. Public transport – metro, buses will continue to function with 50 per cent capacity, it stated. There must be strict adher- ence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) and other guidelines of the Government, and compliance of Covid appropriate behavior while opening the stadia and sports complexes, the DDMA order read. To boost the economic activities in Delhi, last week, DDMA allowed the reopening of gyms and yoga institutes with 50 per cent attendance. Banquets, marriage halls and hotels were also allowed to host weddings with 50 guests only. Meanwhile, Delhi report- ed 93 new Covid 19 cases and four deaths in the past 24 hours, the positivity rate of the national capital dipped to 0.11 per cent and now 1,016 active cases are there in the city. 'HOKLHQWHUVVL[SKDVHRI XQORFNLQJSURFHVV''0$ S 0[[PaZTcbPaZTc R^_[TgTbP]SP[[bfX[[ aTPX]^_T]Ua^ P c^'_ S ATbcPdaP]cbUa^'Pc^ _fXcW$_TaRT]c ^RRd_P]RhfWX[TQPabPaT P[[^fTSc^^_T]Ua^]^^] c^ _fXcW$_TaRT]c RP_^]bTPcX]V S PaaXPVTWP[[bQP]`dTcWP[[b P]SW^cT[bfX[[QTP[[^fTSc^ W^[SfTSSX]VRTaT^]XTb fXcWPPgXd^U$ _T^_[T7^fTeTaPaaXPVT RTaT^]XTbfX[[bcX[[QT P[[^fTSfXcWPPgXd^U !_T^_[TPcW^TP]SX] cWTR^dacPbQTU^aT S 6hbP]SH^VPX]bcXcdcTb RP]^_TaPcTPc$_TaRT]c RP_PRXch S 5d]TaP[fXcW!_T^_[T S 3T[WXTca^fX[[ad]Pc$ _TaRT]cRP_PRXch S 3C2P]SR[dbcTaQdbTbRP] ^_TaPcTPcPgXd$_Ta RT]cbTPcX]VRP_PRXch H92E:D@A6?² ?C8Q =4F34;78 Former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Sunday moved the Supreme Court seeking protection from any coercive action in a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate had, on Saturday, issued fresh summons to the 71-year-old NCP leader seek- ing his appearance on July 5 in the case. The ED has, so far, issued three notices to Deshmukh, who has been asked to record his statement at the central agency's office in south Mumbai on Monday. Deshmukh has moved the top court seeking protection from any coercive action, Mumbai-based advocate Inderpal B Singh said in a video message released for the media. The former minister had skipped the two earlier sum- mons citing his vulnerability to COVID-19 as the reason for non-compliance in his last communication to the agency. He instead offered the ED to record his statement through video conferencing. The fresh summons by ED was issued in connection with the criminal case regis- tered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) related to an alleged Rs 100 crore bribery-cum- extortion racket that led to Deshmukh's resignation in April this year. The first summons fol- lowed raids conducted by the ED at his premises in Mumbai and Nagpur apart from that of his aides and some others last month. The agency subsequently arrested two of his aides in this case, personal secretary Sanjeev Palande (51) and per- sonal assistant Kundan Shinde (45). They are in ED custody till July 6. The agency, sources said, apart from the present case wants to question Deshmukh about his and his family mem- bers' alleged links with certain shell companies that were being used to launder funds much before the present alle- gations of bribery in the Mumbai Police setup came to light. The ED case against Deshmukh and others was made out after the CBI booked him in a corruption case relat- ed to allegations of at least Rs 100 crore bribery made by for- mer Mumbai Police commis- sioner Param Bir Singh. In his letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray after he was removed from the police commissioner's post, Singh had alleged that Deshmukh had asked sus- pended Mumbai Police assis- tant police inspector (API) Sachin Waze to extort over Rs 100 crore a month from bars and restaurants in Mumbai. Deshmukh had to resign from his post in April follow- ing the allegations and he has repeatedly denied any wrong- doing. In his last communication sent to the agency through his lawyers, Deshmukh said the agency had already recorded his statement during his sev- eral hours of interaction with the ED investigators when they raided his premises here on June 25. RYRVi95VdY^fY ^`gVdD4W`cac`eVTeZ`_ =4H;0D=34A8=620B4 ?C8Q 07430103 As many as 194 crocodiles have been relocated from a lake near the 'Statue of Unity' in Gujarat's Narmada district in the last two years for the safety of tourists who come to enjoy boat rides there, officials said on Sunday. The Panchmuli lake, situ- ated near the 182-metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Kevadia, a major tourist attraction, had a large number of crocodiles that posed a threat to visitors, they said. In 2019-20 (October- March), we relocated 143 crocodiles. In 2020-21, anoth- er 51 crocodiles were shifted to two rescue centres in Gandhinagar and Godhra, Kevadia Range Forest Officer Vikramsinh Gabhania, told PTI. There are still many croc- odiles in the lake, he said. The Panchmuli lake, also known as 'Dyke-3' of the Sardar Sarovar Dam, was developed for tourists visiting the Statue of Unity. Hence, the authorities decided to relocate crocodiles from the water body to prevent any harm to tourists, the offi- cial said. In 2019-20, 73 rescued crocodiles were released in the the Sardar Sarovar reser- voir. The animals rescued later from the lake were shift- ed to the rescue centres at Godhra in Panchmahal dis- trict, and Gandhinagar, he said. Some 60 cages are placed around the lake to trap the crocodiles. The part of the lake where sea planes (flying between Ahmedabad and Kevadia) land is completely safe, he said. In 2019, the Gujarat State Forest Development Corporation Ltd (GSFDC) started the boat ride in Dyke- 3 (Panchmuli lake), which is rich in flora and fauna and surrounded by lush green forests, as part of the eco- tourism activity in the region surrounding the Statue of Unity, according to the state tourism department. A spokesperson of the Statue of Unity authority said the boat ride is a major tourist attraction in the area and wit- nesses a heavy rush of visitors, especially on weekends. 6dY) (#Ra^R^SX[TbaT[^RPcTS Ua^[PZT]TPaBcPcdT^UD]Xch U^abPUTch^Uc^daXbcb BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78 Delhi Police C o n s t a b l e returned the bag of a 53 year-old labourer who forgot his bag containing his hard earned C1 lakh cash on a bench at Shivaji Bridge railway sta- tion and boarded Bareilly-New Delhi intercity express to reach his home town in Uttar Pradesh’s Khurja. Vijay Kumar, who lives in Shakur Basti is the only bread- winner of his family and on June 30, he withdrew C1 lakh from his bank account. He bought 55 kg ration to head back to his hometown Khurja in Uttar Pradesh where he wanted to build a house for his children. But unfortunately, he loaded the two bags of ration in the train and in a hurry, left his cash bag behind. Meanwhile, Constable Narendra posted with the New Delhi Railway police station who was on duty at Shivaji Bridge station was on June 30 noticed a bag lying on one of the benches. He enquired with a few passengers if it belonged to any of them. According to Constable Narendra, he decided to keep the unclaimed bag with two cash bundles amounting to C1 lakh with some chapatis packed in a foil paper, water bottle and cheque book, bank passbook and an aadhar and ration card. Hours later, around 6.30 PM, when Vijay returned at Shivaji Bridge station in search of money, he was handed over his carry bag and Rs one lakh safely by the constable after due formalities. “Vijay Kumar left his carry bag at the station. Our Constable Narender found the bag unclaimed and returned the belongings to Kumar along with his cash of Rs one lakh,” said Harendra Kumar, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Railways. 2^]bcPQ[T aTcda]bC [PZW RPbWc^[PQ^daTa BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78 Delhi Police have arrested three men for allegedly impersonating as Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) officers and extorting money from shopkeepers from east Delhi’s Mansarovar Park area. The accused have been identified as Omparkash (55), a resident of Seelampur, Vikas Panchal, a resident of Ram Nagar Extension, Mandoli Road and Sandeep Garg, a res- ident of Shahdara. Police said that the trio accused previ- ously worked in MCD and BSES on contract basis. According to R Sathiyasundaram, the DCP, Shahdara district, on Saturday, complainant Satender Sharma, a resident of Shahdara, report- ed that three persons, imper- sonating as MCD officers, came to his shop at East Nathu colony, Mandoli Road and asked him to show trade license. “Thereafter, they threatened him for action against the shop and asked him to pay C3,000 for the settle- ment. Complainant paid C3,000. Sharma got suspicious and asked for their identity cards, following which some heated arguments ensued between them and they start- ed running. The complainant Omparkash with the help of other shopkeepers and report- ed to police,” said the DCP. “During interrogation, Omparkash disclosed that he, along with his associates Kumar and Garg, used to impersonate as MCD officials and check the trade and other licenses of the shops and extort money from them by threat- ening the shopkeepers regard- ing cancellation of license etc.” said the DCP. “Later, raids were conducted and, on his instance, both of his associates were arrested,” the DCP added. BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78 The International Wrestler, Sushil Kumar, who is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Prison following the brawl and death of 23 year-old wrestler Sagar Dhankar, has request- ed the prison authorities for a television to get updates regarding wrestling. “Kumar has made a request through his advo- cate. He has requested for a television set so that he would get the updates about wrestling matches,” said a senior prison official on Sunday. Earlier, a Delhi court extended the judicial cus- tody of Kumar till July 9. He has been shifted to Tihar jail number 2 from Mandoli jail, where he was earlier lodged. Kumar and his associ- ates allegedly assaulted wrestler Sagar Dhankar and two of his friends Sonu and Amit Kumar on the inter- vening night of May 4 and 5 over a property dispute. Dhankar, 23, succumbed to injuries later. The two-time Olympic medallist wrestler was arrested, along with co- accused Ajay Kumar, on May 23 from outer Delhi’s Mundka area. Police said 12 accused people, including Kumar, have so far been arrested in connection with the case. The police have claimed that Kumar is the “main cul- prit and mastermind” of the murder and said that there is electronic evidence in which he and his associates could be seen beating Dhankar. DXbUUQbbUcdUT V_bY]`Ubc_^QdY^W Qc=34_VVYSUbc CecXY;e]QbQc[cDYXQb:QY QedX_bYdYUcV_bQdUUfYcY_^ ?C8Q 6DF070C8 Arising number of shoot-out encounters, which have seen at least a dozen suspected insurgents and criminals being shot dead as they tried to escape from custody in less than two months, has whipped up a political furore in Assam. The rise in the number of such incidents since the new government came to power on May 10 has led the opposition to allege that the Assam Police has turned trigger happy under the Himanta Sarma-led regime. The Assam Police has, however, refuted this allegation, claiming that it was the mili- tants and criminals who forced its personnel to resort to firing. There have been about 12 deaths in police encounters or firing when criminals had tried to flee custody in the last cou- ple of months, Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Gyanendra Pratap Singh told PTI in an interview. Among them are six sus- pected Dimasa National Liberation Army (DNLA) mil- itants and two alleged insur- gents of United People's Revolutionary Front (UPRF), who were killed in separate encounters with the police in Karbi Anglong district. Four other suspected crim- inals were killed in different encounters in Dhemaji, Nalbari, Sivasagar and Karbi Anglong districts. Many of the accused had allegedly snatched the ser- vice pistols of the police officers, following which shootouts had taken place. Some encounters had taken place when the police attempt- ed to arrest the accused persons andsomewhentheytriedtoflee on being taken for crime scene reconstruction, he said. The police had to resort to firing when these militants and criminals attempted to escape from custody. Only they can say why they tried to flee, the offi- cer said. Declining to comment on why there has been a sudden rise in the number of such encounters by the police, the senior officer said that no enquiry has been instituted in any case where the criminal was injured. Enquiry is ordered in cases where the fleeing criminal is injured only if there is any rea- son (to suspect that there was some extraneous issue involved). No enquiry has been ordered in any of such incidents in the last two months, he said. The incidents, where the accused have lost their lives, have been reported to the rel- evant authorities, including the National Human Rights Commission, as is the proce- dure, the Special DGP said. Among those injured in such police encounters are rape accused and cattle smugglers. In all the encounters where the accused were injured, they were taken for crime scene reconstruction and attempted to run away, prompting the police to open fire on them, he said. 0bbP) !PRRdbTSVd]]TSS^f]X]! ^]cWb*__]RP[[b_^[XRT²caXVVTaWP__h
- 3. dccPaPZWP]S 347A03D=k=30H k9D;H $!! ?=BQ 347A03D= The State health department reported 78 new cases and 144 recoveries from the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) on Sunday. The cumulative count of Covid-19 patients in the state has now increased to 3,40,724 while a total of 3,25,692 patients have so far recovered from the disease. Death of two patients from Covid-19 was reported by the health department on the day which increased the death toll from the disease to 7331 in the state. The recovery percentage from the disease is now at 95.59 and the sample positivi- ty rate is at 6.05 per cent in the state. The authorities collected 26,991 samples in different parts of the state on Sunday. Death of two patients was reported at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh on the day. The department reported 17 patients from Dehradun, 14 from Haridwar, nine each from Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar, eight from Rudraprayag, seven from Uttarkashi, five from Pithoragarh, three each from Chamoli and Tehri, two from Champawat and one from Pauri on Sunday. No patients were found in the Almora and Bageshwar districts. The state now has 1,749 active patients of the disease. Dehradun district is at top of the table in the list of active cases with 694 cases while Bageshwar is in the second position with 186 active cases. Pithoragarh has 140, Nainital 128, Pauri 116, Chamoli 95, Champawat 82, Tehri 66, Uttarkashi 62, Rudraprayag 56, Almora 49 Haridwar 44 and Udham Singh Nagar 31 active cases of the disease. The State reported only one new case of Mucormycosis (Black fungus) on Sunday. Two patients were reported dead from the disease on the day. A total of 507 patients of the dis- ease have so far been reported in the state out of which 106 have died. In the ongoing vac- cination drive, the health department vaccinated 57,897 people in 352 sessions held on the day. A total of 8,75,899 people have been fully vacci- nated so far in the state while 36,99,202 have received the first dose of the vaccine in the state. 2^eXS ()']Tf_PcXT]cbcf^STPcWbaT_^acTS^]Bd]SPh ?=BQ 347A03D= The state health department has substantially reduced the number of tests for Covid in Uttarakhand. The data maintained by the Social Development for Communities Foundation shows that the department conducted the least number of tests in the week ending July 3. In this week only 1,59,779 tests were conducted by the department which is the lowest number in the last three months. In this week ( June 27 to July 3) 1109 new cases and 245 deaths were reported by the department. 2^]RTa])7TP[cWST_cR^]SdRcX]V UTfTacTbcbU^a2^eXS Dr Sona Kaushal Gupta Internet addiction is a new addiction taking its toll on people’s mental health and wellbeing. Google searches are the new fashion as every infor- mation is available at the click of a button. But when these web searches are about our health, they can prove to be hazardous. Too much depen- dance on the internet and the visual world may lead people into fostering false beliefs and perceptions and sway them away from reality. A distraught mother called me up and said that her 18 year old son was acting very selfish and self centered. He only thinks and talks about himself and his problems. It seems that he has no empathy and does not care about his family at all, she complained. She fur- ther told me that she was wor- ried as she had web searched and read about narcissism. The details shared online about narcissism matched with her son’s behaviour. She asked me if her son was a narcissist. The parents of a 20 year old brought him to me for coun- seling as he was distraught and always talking of supernatur- al powers and life after death. The young boy sounded and looked confused as he told me that he had read many online stories of supernatural powers and life after death. He liked such stories and was making videos about death and life after death. His parents complained that since then his behaviour had changed and he was not paying attention to his studies. Many people have become very dependent on Google as their source of information today. They rely completely on all the information given there and this is the root cause of many problems doctors are facing with the patients today. Our search for a holiday des- tination or an online shopping spree or for a movie, a recipe, a contact or an address, it’s all just one click away. And we have to thank technology for this boon but sometimes it’s a bane too. When we try to find a cure or a diagnosis for our mental or physical ailments, it’s hazardous and may prove to be disastrous. When it comes to our health related issues we should take help of qualified doctors who will treat us according to our symptoms. Online knowl- edge is half-baked knowledge when dealing with human emotions and ailments and many people think they are sick just by consuming this half- baked knowledge which they are also not qualified to under- stand. This is the cause of a great number of mental ill- nesses in people today. People begin to imagine their illness or try to diagnose it using online information. This leads to more anxiety and stress and compli- cates their life further. It’s a common complaint by many doctors that it becomes very difficult for them to con- vince some of the patients about their treatment or diag- nosis when they come with a preconceived information overload from 'Dr Google' about their condition. In fact many have already diagnosed themselves and come to the doctors for endorsement. Like the two examples I have cited above. In the first case the mother thought her son was a narcissist because she had read about this on the internet and diagnosed her son. Actually during counselling he told me that he was preoccupied with his career issues and he was going through his own stress- es and strains and was irritat- ed that his family, especially his mother did not understand him. In the second case the young boy was always on the internet and too much of online stories and videos had messed up his thinking and cognitions. He was confused between the real and the virtual world. The parents were not able to understand this. Online information may or may not be authentic. Doctors spend years mastering their profession, sometimes spend 10 or more years studying medicine, depending on the level of their degrees. A doctor has read umpteen medical books, gained complete knowl- edge of the human mind and body, taken rigorous training from senior teachers in dealing with patients and suffering. He deals with the patients and their symptoms first hand. However patients don’t read medical textbooks but just use online searches and try to become doctors. Treatment can never be generalised. What works for one patient may not work for another and different patients may respond differ- ently to the treatment or man- ifest symptoms in different ways or respond differently to medicines. Even with the recent advances in artificial intelli- gence , my advice is to trust your doctors and try to build a good relationship with them. No technology or machines can replace the professional human touch which has empathy, knowledge and kindness. An online search can never come anywhere near to a doc- tor's examination, diagnosis or treatment. Many times I have to remind my computer or IT engineer patients or my chartered accountant, lawyer or journalist patients that no mat- ter how much online reading I do I can never become a lawyer or a software engineer. They agree to this fact whole heart- edly but still many of them can- not resist the urge to search online about their illness and apply this to themself. It’s important that people make use of technology to grow and gain information in their own fields instead of trespassing into other arenas of which they have little knowledge. Here I would like to emphasise the fact that reading is very important and a very good habit but the quality and authenticity of the reading you do matters a lot. We have to be careful to know how much of online information is authentic and reliable. The internet can some- times be a very dangerous source of information when it comes to mental or physical health. Sometimes when we tell our patients to read about some issues or learn practical tips from videos like breathing exercise techniques or relax- ation techniques we also tell them clearly and assertively to read from proper authentic and right sources. Sadly, today we do not have any ‘policing body’ to check the facts of the informa- tion on the internet .We have to be very careful of what we read and its sources and not apply it on ourselves if it is a health related issue. No one but your doctor can help you in that as he understands you and your ailment best, as every human body is unique, and what might suit you might not be good for the other. So it’s imperative to consult and trust your doctor and not let your health suffer from half baked knowledge online which may make us suffer and repent later on. All of us desire to be healthy and fit for which one must adopt a healthy lifestyle and when needed consult and trust your doctors. Recently, we have seen or read about incidents of violence against doctors. It’s very sad to hear of such incidents where doctors have been stigmatised and hit even during the Covid outbreak. Also the trust in doctors has declined over time due to several other reasons. The first reason I feel is the print and the visual media which mostly highlights and reports the negative experi- ences of some of the doctors. Very few times have the good work doctors do on a daily basis been highlighted or shared by the media. Thus the general impression about doc- tors which goes out to the pub- lic is very negative.They are many a times shown to be greedy reckless unempathetic and unkind.There is immense damage being done to the doc- tor-patient relationship because of this image of doctors which is shown by the media maybe for its TRP. We are also often compared to god and when a patient dies we are targeted. People need to remember that we are not god but humans and we are all just doing our duty and humans are not immortal. Also we need to remember that the doctor treats but the costs and the infrastructure are not in his hands. It’s the hospital management which deals with this but unfortunately it’s the doctor who gets targeted. (The author is a neuro psychologist founder of a cri- sis helpline. Views expressed are personal) Cadbch^daS^Rc^aX]bcTPS^U3a6^^V[T *XHVWROXPQ ?=BQ347A03D= The Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has started the task of cleaning the drains of the Paltan Bazaar after receiving complaints about waterenteringvariousshopsdue to rainfall. Several shopkeepers ofPaltanBazaarcomplainedthat due to the incompetent work done by the contractor working under Dehradun Smart City Limited (DSCL) in the area, water entered their shops due to overflowing roads and drains when it hardly rained for 30 to 40 minutes. The local shop- keepers also accused the work- ersworkingunderthesmartcity project of filling the drains with debris instead of disposing of them properly which also led to the waterlogging in the area. Talking about the issue, the president of Doon Valley Mahanagar Udyog Vyapar Mandal (DVMUVM), Pankaj Masson said that the rainwater entered several shops in Paltan Bazaar on Friday that damaged some goods and shopkeepers had to constantly wipe out the water to save their products. It happenedmainlytotheshopsin front of which, new roads and drains were recently construct- ed. Also, the main reason was that the workers working under the smart city project disposed of the debris in the old drains that caused waterlogging in the area,statedMasson.Hesaidthat a team from MCD arrived on Saturday on receiving the com- plaint and cleaned some drains in the area where the rainwater hadenteredtheshops.However, Masson added that to avoid any suchissuesduringheavyrainfall, the association requested Dehradun mayor Sunil Uniyal 'Gama'andRajpurMLAKhajan Das to issue orders to clean all the drains. Considering this request,themayorinstructedthe team to start cleaning drains from Sunday. The MCD team arrived in Paltan Bazaar along with 'Gama' and started the cleaning of drains. On being asked about the issues of local shopkeepers, the mayor said that the shopkeepers have told him their issues regarding the smart city project and he has assured them that no such thing will be done which would work against the local busi- nessmen. =34S_]]U^SUcdQc[ _VSUQ^Y^WTbQY^cY^ @QdQ^2QjQQb ?=BQ 347A03D= Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami presided over his first Cabinet meeting after he and the cabinet ministers were sworn-in earlier in the evening. Cabinet minister Subodh Uniyal said that vari- ous important decisions regarding the youths and nec- essary requirements of the state had been taken in the meeting. According to officials, a media briefing will be held on Monday to elaborate on the decisions taken in the cabinet meeting. Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party state president Madan Kaushik said that in the 2022 Assembly elections the party will win more than 60 seats under the leadership of young chief minister Dhami. He said this during a meeting held by Dhami with his cabinet colleagues after their swearing- in. Detailed discussions were held on development works in this meeting. Kaushik said that during its four and a half years term in office the BJP state gov- ernment had proved its com- mitment to development and its positive attitude with its works. He said that leadership change had to be affected in the state due to a constitutional issue but BJP is such a party that this has not affected the development works which are continuing unhindered. The BJP state government had per- formed better on the issues of employment, self-employment, education, health and resolving all types of fundamental issues, he claimed. Kaushik further said that the party organisation had stood firmly with the state government during the Covid- 19 pandemic due to which the state had succeeded in check- ing the disease. The party is still not sitting idle but busy prepar- ing for a possible third wave of Covid, he said. The BJP state president further said that during its three-day Chintan Shivir held recently in Ramnagar, the BJP had chalked out its roadmap for the 2022 Assembly elec- tions. Party programmes till the month of December had also been planned. He further said that the people had voted the BJP candidate to victory in the Salt Assembly by election which shows that the people trust the party. “There is enthu- siasm among the people and party workers. Considering the expectations from a young and energetic leadership, we are confident that the BJP will win more seats than it did in the 2017 Assembly elections,” said Kaushik. Along with Chief Minister Dhami, the party’s national general secretary and state in- charge Dushyant Kumar Gautam, all ministers, state general secretary (organisa- tion) Ajey and other office bearers of the party were also present in the meeting. 5YR^ZY`]UdWZcde4RSZ_Ve ^VVeZ_XRWeVcSVZ_Xdh`c_Z_ FX[[fX]% bTPcbd]STa h^dcW2WXTU X]XbcTa):PdbWXZ ?=BQ 347A03D= Despite the recent approval of the State government to run the coaching classes with fifty per cent occupancy for students aged above 18 years, the students are still reluctant to return to the coaching cen- tres. According to the coach- ing centres operators, par- ents and students are still hesitant about joining physi- cal classes due to Covid-19, especially due to the possibil- ity of a third wave. The chief executive officer (CEO) of Achieverz Classes, Manu Pant said that parents are concerned about their children's safety and avoiding sending them for physical coaching classes even when they are above 18 years. Since the State government has not allowed physical classes in schools yet considering the risk of Covid-19, people will remain hesitant to send their grown-up children for physi- cal coaching classes too, stat- ed Pant. However, the man- aging director of VR Classes, Vaibhav Rai said that stu- dents who are serious about cracking their exams are approaching the coaching centres for physical classes. According to him, most of the students who prepare for competitive exams in coach- ing centres belong to remote areas of the State and a full- fledged online session of sev- eral hours is not possible with them due to issues like bad internet connection or insuf- ficient means to study through online classes. What a student can learn by directly interact- ing with its teacher cannot be taught through online classes, opined Rai. He also said that many students also arrive in Dehradun from other cities of neighbouring states but due to the rule of bringing a negative RT-PCR report, many are having problems in returning back here for coaching class- es. On the other hand, Manu Pant from Achieverz Classes said that students are getting comfortable with online class- es rather than risking their health due to Covid. However, he said that the sudden increase in the online education system has also increased the competition for regional coaching centres because now the students have the choice to study from any coaching centre across the country that provides online classes. He also informed that parents pay less for the online session compared to the phys- ical classes. Since the big coaching institutions that function nationwide have lowered their fees for online sessions, par- ents are reluctant to pay the usual fees to the local coach- ing centres, disclosed Pant. However, he termed this sit- uation a short term appre- hension and said that within six months or one year, the situation will return to normal if the Covid situation doesn’t worsen in the State. Shubham Nautiyal, the general secretary of Uttarakhand Coaching and Library Association (UCLA) also said that students have not joined the coaching class- es yet but they will soon do as application forms of many competitive exams have been issued. He said that since most of the students live in mountainous areas of the State, it might take some time for them to arrive here. Nautiyal also said that this year has been quite hard for coaching centres as many have shut down their centres due to instability during the Covid- 19 pandemic. Talking about precautions in the coaching centres, he said that though all the coach- ing centres are not running physical classes, those which are currently functioning are following all the norms from keeping sufficient distance among students and faculties to using masks and sanitisers. He added that all the coach- ing classes will be functional soon in the city as per the arrival of students. 6WXGHQWVUHOXFWDQWWR UHWXUQWRFRDFKLQJFHQWUHV ?PaT]cbP]SbcdST]cbPaTbcX[[ WTbXcP]cPQ^dcY^X]X]V_WhbXRP[ R[PbbTbSdTc^2^eXS ( Tb_TRXP[[hSdTc^cWT_^bbXQX[Xch ^UPcWXaSfPeT ?=BQ =08=8C0; Multitudes of tourists thronging Nainital on the weekend not only disrupted the traffic system and civic sanita- tion here but also raised con- cerns among locals due to lack of Covid appropriate behaviour among the visitors. Such crowds of tourists were seen after a considerable time in Nainital which brought some business and relief to members of the business fraternity. However, locals aver that while it is mandatory for tourists to enter the state after presenting a Covid negative report, many are reaching here without even getting tested. The visitors can be seen blatantly violating even the basic Covid guidelines. Many could be seen sauntering without wearing masks and crowding. The arrival of tourists has provided a welcome relief to those in the tourism business with most hotels in Nainital and nearby packed for the weekend. Apart from the reg- istered hotels in this city, other hotels and lodges were report- edly charging arbitrarily from the tourists. Even though the weekends are known for increased traffic of tourists, the district administration appeared unprepared for this. Tourists had started arriving here on Saturday and on Sunday all the tourist spots here were packed with visitors. D_ebYcdcdXb_^WQY^YdQ V_edRQcYS3_fYT`b_d_S_c
- 4. ]PcX^]# 347A03D=k=30H k9D;H $!! ?=BQ =4F34;78 As ventilation is consid- ered a well-established method for reducing potential exposures to infectious aerosols, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has favoured portable high-effi- ciency particulate air (HEPA) air cleaners, together with masks, which it said, can reduce exposure to SARS- CoV-2 aerosols indoors by 90 per cent. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, can be spread by exposure to droplets and aerosols of respiratory fluids that are released by infected persons when they cough, sing, talk, or exhale. To reduce indoor trans- mission of SARS-CoV-2 between persons, the CDC recommends measures includ- ing maintaining physical dis- tance, universal masking (the use of face masks in public places by everyone who is not fully vaccinated), and increas- ing room ventilation. “Ventilation systems can be supplemented with portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) cleaners to reduce the number of airborne infec- tious particles,” the CDC said in a statement. Researchers from the CDC used respiratory simu- lators to mimic a person with Covid-19 and other, uninfect- ed persons in a conference room. They found HEPA air cleaners to be most effective when they were close to the aerosol source. “Using two HEPA air cleaners close to the aerosol source reduced the aerosol exposure of the uninfected participants and speaker by up to 65 per cent. A combination of HEPA air cleaners and uni- versal masking reduced expo- sure by up to 90 per cent,” the CDC said. Ventilation is a well-estab- lished method for reducing potential exposures to infec- tious aerosols. By removing airborne particles from a room, ventilation systems can reduce exposures that occur by inhalation of infectious aerosols, deposition on sus- ceptible mucous membranes, or conveyance to mucous membranes by contaminated hands. During the ongoing pan- demic, public health and pro- fessional organisations have provided guidance for increas- ing ventilation and air filtra- tion to decrease the spread of SARS-CoV-2.The results of this study suggest that portable HEPA air cleaners can reduce exposure to SARS-CoV-2 aerosols in indoor environ- ments, with greater reduc- tions in exposure occurring when used in combination with universal masking, the CDC said. 96A2RZcT]VR_Vcd^Rdd^RjcVUfTV4`gZUdacVRU ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Government on Sunday said it has set up two more vaccine testing facilities in Pune and Hyderabad. The new labs for batch testing and quality con- trol of vaccines are being readied at the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune, and National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, (NIAB) Hyderabad as Central Drug Laboratory (CDL). The facilities are expect- ed to test approx 60 batches of vaccines per month. This will not only expedite the Vaccine manufacture and supply but also be logistical- ly convenient considering that both Pune and Hyderabad are the two Vaccine manufacturing hubs Currently, Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) at Kasauli, which is the National Control Laboratory for test- ing and pre-release certifi- cation of Immunobiologicals (vaccines and antisera) is being utilized for the pur- pose, according to a govern- ment official from the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science Technology. The facility at NCCS, Pune, has now been notified as Central Drugs Laboratory for testing and release of Covid-19 vaccines through a gazette notification issued by the Health Ministry while the facility at NIAB ,Hyderabad is likely to receive necessary notifica- tion soonCell no: 9968717937 ?=BQ =4F34;78 From setting up of oxygen plants to supplying oxygen cylinders, from manufacturing masks, PPE kits and disinfec- tants to providing necessities and groceries, cooked food and dry ration to the needy— several cooperatives across the States, whether big or small, have been doing their bit to heal the country reeling under the worst-ever Covid-19 crisis. “During the Covid-19 pandemic, cooperatives soci- eties did not shy away from their responsibilities but came forward to help and support the members, families and communities by supplying essential items as needed,” Bhagwan Shankar, Additional Chief Secretary, Food Civil Supplies and Cooperation Department, Sikkim, said. “Cooperatives may not be a panacea for all remedies but they can definitely make sig- nificant contributions in help- ing distribute resources across the country,” he said at an event “Cooperatives and the challenges of Covid-19 pan- demics” organized by the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) to mark the International Day of Cooperative celebrated recent- ly.This year’s theme is “Rebuild Better Together,” aimed to highlight the resilience and sustainability of cooperatives’ people-over-profit business model. In keeping with the theme, cooperative giants like Indian Farmers Fertilizer Cooperative (IFFCO) and Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd (Kribhco) came forward to set up oxygen manufacturing plants at several locations while Kerala’s Uralungal Labor Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS) translocated an entire Oxygen plant from a factory to the hospital site at Kozhikode Medical College to meet the increasing demand for oxygen for patients. Similarly, Amul and many other dairy cooperatives estab- lished oxygen facilities in their respective districts while the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) used its own resources and raised funds to carry out relief activities through its network of field offices across the country. The NCDC also jumped in the fray to do its bit. With the health system heavily impacted due to Covid-19 pandemic, it launched the scheme Ayushman Sahakar, pledging credit support of C10,000 crore to cooperatives to set up new or upgrade existing health infrastructure. On its part, SEWA Cooperative Federation reached out to 1.7 lakh indi- viduals at the grassroots level with Covid-care packages including health and ration kits. Kerala's cooperatives earned accolades for running 1,300 kitchens across the State delivering food to people in quarantine while in Odisha, women cooperatives engaged lakhs of members to help needy people by providing necessities and groceries, cooked food and dry ration. In fact, the Covid-crisis in India drew attention from across the world. In the UK, a number of British retail members expressed the urgent need to extend their collective support and soli- darity to their Indian col- leagues, therefore Co-opera- tives UK coordinated a fund- ing call to support cooperative members in India. For instance, funding for essential medical equipment was granted to SEWA Co-opera- tive Federation which cur- rently works with 106 women’s co-ops all around India. “Cooperatives need sup- portive and enabling policy and legal environments to create productive and reward- ing workplaces, and narrow wealth, income and environ- mental inequalities,” said Bruno Roelants, Director General of the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). However, noting that earnings of many coopera- tives suffered due to the pan- demic, Shankar said, “It became necessary for the gov- ernment to provide them with a conducive atmosphere to nurture them during the cri- sis. The facilitators of the cooperative sectors require more than ever support in terms of easily available finance, in the form of grants, subsidies and soft loans to such cooperative based busi- nesses.” Currently, there are more than eight lakh cooperatives, covering 90 per cent of the vil- lages in India and they are more relevant than ever. Executive Director, NCDC Mukesh Kumar felt that despite the pandemic many cooperatives have been performing well because of their well-planned structured system. 6^ecbTcbd_cf^^aT2^eXSePRRX]T cTbcX]VUPRX[XcXTbPc?d]T7hSTaPQPS 2^^_TaPcXeTbTgcT]SWT[_c^ ]TTShPUUTRcTSX]_P]STXR ?=BQ =4F34;78 Agitating farmers under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Sunday decided to take out a march every day to Parliament from July 22 till the session con- tinues, to protest against the three farm laws enacted by the Parliament. The farmers unions said that a chetavani patra (warn- ing letter) will be given to all the opposition MPs to protest the laws inside the House. Parliament's Monsoon ses- sion is set to begin on July 19. We will also ask the opposition MPs on July 17 to raise the issue every day inside the House while we will sit outside in protest. We will tell them to not to benefit the Centre by walking out of a ses- sion. Don't let the session run till the government addresses the issue, farmer leader Gurnam Singh Charuni said while addressing a press conference. We will continuously protest outside Parliament till they hear our demands, Charuni said. He added that five people from each farmer union would be taken to join the protest. The SKM also called for a nationwide protest on July 8 against the rising prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders. It asked people to come out and park their vehi- cles at state and national high- ways from 10 am till 12 pm. Whatever vehicle you have, tractor, trolley, car, scooter, just bring it to the nearest state or national high- way and park it there. But don't create a traffic jam, he said. He also asked for LPG cylinders to be brought to the protest. The SKM also called for a nationwide protest on July 8 against the rising prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylin- ders. It asked people to come out and park their vehicles along state and national high- ways from 10 am till 12 pm. Whatever vehicle you have, tractor, trolley, car, scooter, just bring it to the nearest state or national high- way and park it there. But don't create a traffic jam, Balbir Singh Rajewal said. He also asked for LPG cylinders to be brought to the protest. 0VXcPcX]VUPaTabc^cPZT^dcPaRWc^ ?Pa[XPT]cTeTahSPhUa^9d[h!! ?=BQ =4F34;78 RSS head Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said lynching is against Hindutva and asserted that Hindus and Muslims were not two entities but one. Speaking at a book launch event organised by the 'Muslim Rashtriya Manch', the Muslim wing of RSS, Bhagwat said, We do not dis- criminate on the basis of reli- gious practices and how one worships or celebrates one's festivals. He said both the commu- nities face problem or crisis when they start accepting that they were not one entity. “It has been proven that we’re descendants of the same ancestors from the last 40,000 years. People of India have same DNA. Hindus and Muslims are not two groups, there is nothing to unite, they're already together,” he said adding the term Hindu- Muslim unity is misleading as Hindus and Muslims are essentially one. On the incidents of mob lynching , he said lynching is against Hindutva''. Bhagwat said develop- ment in the country is not possible without unity, the basis of which should be nationalism and glory of ancestors. We are in a democracy. There can't be dominance of Hindus or Muslims. There can only be dominance of Indians, he said. He stressed that nation- alism should be the basis of unity among the people of the country. “There are some works that politics can’t do. Politics can't unite people. Politics can’t become tool to unite people but can become a weapon to distort unity,” Bhagwat further said at the launch of 'The Meetings of Minds: A Bridging Initiative’, written by Dr Khawaja Iftikhar Ahmed. This is not for the first time that the RSS chief has called for Hindu-Muslim unity. The last time he said so was in a RSS organised three- day conclave in 2018 here at 'Vigyan Bhavan' - the first major public outreach of the RSS- where he spoke at length on social and c o m m u n a l harmony in the country and the role of the Muslim com- munity in the development of the country. ;h]RWX]VPVPX]bc 7X]SdceP)1WPVfPc ?=BQ =4F34;78 ASikh delegation from Kashmir on Sunday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah demanding an anti-con- version law for Jammu and Kashmir like the one prevalent in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, to prevent forceful conversions in the Union Territory. The meeting came days after reports of Sikh girls being abducted and forcefully con- verted to Islam. Shah later tweeted: “Met a delegation from All Sikh Gurudwara Mangaement Committee- Kashmir.” Though the delegation did not speak to the media after the meeting, it is learned that they submitted a memoran- dum to the Home Minister narrating various incidents of “love Jihad” in the valley and Jammu targeting Sikh girls. The main demand in the peti- tion was preventing forceful religious conversion and implementing law for anti- conversion in Jammu and Kashmir like UP and Madhya Pradesh. Recently, the Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee protested against the alleged conversion of two Sikh girls after they were allegedly kidnapped. The Sri Akal Takhat Sahib, the highest temporal seat of Sikhism, had taken a serious view of reports of Sikh girls falling victim to ‘love jihad’ and has written to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha seeking a law to prevent forceful religious con- version and marriage. BXZWST[TVPcX^]Ua^:PbWXaTTcb BWPWbTTZbP]cXR^]eTabX^][Pf ?=BQ =4F34;78 Army chief General M M Naravane will hold bilat- eral talks with the military leadership of the United Kingdom and Italy during his four-day visit to the two coun- tries starting Monday. The par- leys will cover the entire gamut of defence and strategic ties and the Army chief will explore ways to further strengthen the ties. Giving details of his sched- ule, officials said here on Sunday, Naravane will be inau- gurating the Indian Army Memorial in the famous town of Cassino and will be briefed at the Italian Army's Counter IED Centre of Excellence at Cecchingola, Rome. In the Battle of Monte Cassino during World War II, over 5,000 Indian soldiers were killed while fighting to save Italy from fascist forces. Nearly 50,000 Indians were enlisted for Italy’s liberation between September 1943 and April 1945. Both the UK and Italy are important partners for India in the fields of defence, healthcare, aerospace, education, clean technology, renewable energy and information and commu- nication technology among others, officials said. During the four-day visit, he will be meeting his coun- terparts and senior military leaders of these countries with an aim of enhancing India's defence cooperation. His visit to the United Kingdom is scheduled for two days (July 5 and 6) during which the Army chief will interact with the Secretary of State for Defence, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of General Staff and other dignitaries. He will also be visiting various army formations where he will exchange ideas on issues of mutual interest. During the second leg of his tour (July 7 and 8), the Army Chief will be holding important discussions with the Chief of Defence Staff and Chief of Staff of the Italiarmy. Both the countries are important partners for India in the fields of defence, healthcare, aerospace, edu- cation, clean technology, renewable energy and infor- mation and communication technology among others, officials said. As regards Britain, India has a Strategic Partnership with it since 2004 and enjoy a multi-faceted relationship spanning across trade and economy, health, science and technology and defence besides other spheres. Italian defence firms have expressed keen interest in taking a proactive part in the “Make in India” initiative of the Indian government. Italy has also pushed for a central role for India in the European Union’s Indo-Pacific Initiative. 1b]iSXYUVµcfYcYdd_E; 9dQid_R__cdTUVU^SUdYUc 1^cWcWTR^d]caXTbPaTX_^acP]c _Pac]TabU^a8]SXPX]cWTUXT[Sb^U STUT]RTWTP[cWRPaTPTa^b_PRT TSdRPcX^]R[TP]cTRW]^[^Vh aT]TfPQ[TT]TaVhP]SX]U^aPcX^] P]SR^d]XRPcX^]cTRW]^[^Vh P^]V^cWTab^UUXRXP[bbPXS ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Ministry of Earth Sciences on Sunday said the Monsoon, which slowed down over the last fortnight, is expected to revive from July 8. The forecast models show signs of increasing rain activity in South, west coast and East Central India since then. Monsoon Update: @moesgoi models show signs of revival- increasing rains in South, west coast East Central India from 8 July,” , M Rajeevan, Secretary of Ministry of Earth Sciences said. Monsoon rain over the coun- try will also remain extremely subdued till then. Models also make an early indication of formation of a weather system over BoB by12th subsequent active monsoon phase, Rajeevan, who has been researching the Southwest Monsoon for more than three decades, tweeted. After a good spell of rain in the first two and half weeks of June, the Southwest Monsoon has not advanced further since June 19. Delhi, Haryana, parts of west Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, west Rajasthan are yet to see the arrival of the monsoon. Asked as to when the monsoon is expected to cover the remain- ing parts including Delhi, he said it could be around July 11. Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) senior sci- entist RK Jenamani on Sunday said due to western distur- bances, the monsoon is not coming till July 7-8. “Weak monsoon will continue in parts of country till July 08. “Though Delhi witnessed a brief spell of rain, the temperature will once again go up. Western distur- bances have moved away and monsoon is not coming till July 7-8. Break or weak monsoon will continue in parts of coun- try till July 8,” Jenamani added. A study paper of the MoES said that monsoon breaks tend to have a longer life-span than active spells. While, almost 80% of the active spells lasted 3–4 days, only 40% of the break spells were of such short duration. A small fraction (9%) of active spells and 32% of break spells lasted for a week or longer. While active events occurred almost every year, not a single break occurred in 26% of the years considered. On an average, there are 7 days of active and break events from July through August. There are no significant trends in either the days of active or break events. In its forecast for the July, IMD said the country as a whole will witness good rainfall this month. However, parts of north India, some parts of south peninsula, central, east and northeast India could wit- ness rainfall in the category of normal to below normal. It added that the conditions are not favourable for the mon- soon's progress till July 7 due to the lack of a weather system. ^aTaPX]PRcXeXchUa^9d[h'
- 5. ]PcX^]$ 347A03D=k=30H k9D;H $!! ?C8Q BA8=060A Security forces in Kashmir are facing a new challenge on the militancy front — the pres- ence of “hybrid” militants who are not listed as ultras but per- sons radicalised enough to carry out a terror strike and then slip back into the routine life. Over the past few weeks the attacks on “soft targets” in the Valley, including in the Srinagar city, have witnessed a spike and most of the incidents have been carried out by the pistol-borne youth who are not listed as militants with the security agencies, officials said. The new trend has sent security agencies into a tizzy as these “hybrid” militants, or “part-time” militants are very difficult to track and pose a challenge to the security forces. The officials in the security establishment said the “hybrid” militant is a boy next door who hasbeenradicalisedandkepton standby mode by the handlers forcarryingoutaterrorincident. “He carries out a task that is given to him and then waits for the next assignment from his masters. In between, he goes back to his normal work,” they said. The officials said the new trend is happening in the val- ley on the directions of Pakistan and its spy agency, the ISI. “The desperate nexus is modifying methods. Their des- peration is showing. Now, it is the preference for pistol-based targeting of soft targets. Targets which are unarmed and unlike- ly to retaliate like businessmen (including from the minority community), activists, political leaders without protection and off-duty policemen,” they said. The officials said the aim is to spread fear and stop busi- nesses and social activity that “targets terrorists and their ecosystem”. “They target and silence voices that are speaking against separatism and against the per- petrators and instigators of violence, that is the aim,” the officials said. The security agencies believe this type of targeting is not random, but properly planned. “It is never random. It involves watching movement patterns and finding a weak part of the routine. The spot- ter could be an OGW or even a hybrid terrorist who is not on the police list, but has a pistol and intent to kill – just like a mercenary shooter – paid to kill a target. “It is an ecosystem where only numbers matter – hence the victim may have no par- ticular trait to get killed – just a convenient soft target. For the killer, who it (the target) is, does not matter,” they added. Police had in the first week of September last year declared Srinagar city as “terrorist-free”. However, there have been attacks on civilians and police- men after that as well and the officials believe the attacks are the handiwork of the “hybrid” militants. Such attacks have wit- nessed a spike over the last few weeks. On June 23, militants shot dead a 25-year-old shop- keeper, Umar Ahmed, outside his shop at Habbakadal local- ity in the interior areas of the city. The CCTV footage of the attack clearly showed that two men came from behind and fired at him with a pistol. On June 17, militants struck in Saidpora area of Eidgah in the old city here and killed a police- man from close range. The policeman was off-duty. Outside Srinagar, militants shot dead a special police offi- cer, his wife and daughter in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on June 27. Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said there are some sleeper cells, hybrid militants, in the city, but asserted the police will neutralise the module soon. “We will soon neutralise the module active in Srinagar. There are some sleeper cells that we call part-time or hybrid terrorists. We are tracking full- time terrorists but there is dif- ficulty in tracking the part-time or hybrid terrorists as they go back to their normal work after carrying out an incident. But, we are keeping full sur- veillance and we will get them soon,” he said. ?C8Q ?D=4 Alarge number of Maratha quotaactivistsheldaprotest march without the police per- mission in Solapur city in Maharashtra on Sunday demanding restoration of the reservation in Government jobs and education struck down by the Supreme Court in May this year, on the eve of the Monsoon session of the State legislature. At least 3,000 people par- ticipated in the 'Maratha Akrosh Morcha' led by former MLC Narendra Patil, a senior police officer said and added cases will be registered against the organisers for violating the Covid-19 norms. Heavy security was deployed and several key roads leading to Solapur were barri- caded by police to prevent members of the pro-Maratha outfits from reaching their protest venue near the statue of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj in the city. However, despite the heavy security, several protest- ers managed to reach the venue. The march started from the statue of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj and culmi- nated at the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a distance of one km, followed by speeches made by leaders. A delegation of members of various Maratha outfits sub- mitted a memorandum of their demands to the district collec- tor. Solapur Police Commissioner Ankush Shinde told reporters that at least 3,000 people participated in the protest march. We would register cases against the organizers for vio- lating the COVID-19 rules and regulations, he told PTI. In May this year, the Supreme Court struck down the Maharashtra law granting quota to Marathas in admis- sions and government jobs. Talking to reporters at the protest venue, Patil said the government should not under- estimate the power of Marathas. The Maratha community is known for fighting back adversaries. Marathas are not scared of police's high-hand- edness and this was evident during today's protest march in Solapur, said Patil. Before the protest march, I had toured all tehsils in the district and met members of the Maratha community and various outfits. I received a huge response from them for the morcha. There will be a backlash if police try to stop members of the Maratha out- fits, he said. Patil said Maratha outfits will take out similar morchas in other districts of the state, and if denied permission, they will use guerilla tactics and barge into the collectorates. The state government should not test the patience of the Maratha youth over the quota as they can enter the assembly during the session, Patil said. The police commissioner said heavy security was deployed in Solapur to prevent any untoward incident. He said the protest march had not been given permission due to the COVID-19 situation. :D0A274;;0??0=Q :278 Despite pleas by friends and well-wishers, Sabu M Jacob, leading entrepreneur is bent upon quitting Kerala for good. There are invitations from Governments of Tamil Nadu, Telangana and even Maharashtra to the Kitex Group owned by Jacob to set up units in those States. “The uniqueness of these invitations is that they have come with offers of free land and sub- sidised power and water,” said Stanley Sebastian, long time friend of Jacob. Thedayhemovesoutofthe State with his Kitex Group, livelihood of thousands of peo- ple in Kizhakkambalam would end up in smoke , says indus- trialists and bankers in the State. “Sabu is a victim of selec- tive targeting and attacks by a mafia of politicians, brokers and wheeler dealers. He deserved a much better treat- ment by the Government of Kerala,” said C C Suresh Kumar, a leading entrepreneur based in Thrissur. Suresh Kumar said that the chances of entrepreneurs setting up shops in the State look remote now. B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :;:0C0 Aday before a high-level team of the Trinamool Congress was to meet President Ram Nath Kovind on the Tushar Mehta issue party Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien once again raised the issue of judi- cial “impropriety” of a Solicitor General advising an accused. Citing once again the doc- trine of “conflict of interest” O Brien on Sunday said, “Even a Public Prosecutor (leave alone high office of SG) cannot rep- resent or advise the accused.” The Trinamool Congress will on Monday meet the President and seek the removal of the Solicitor General for his alleged “meeting” on Thursday with Bengal Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari an “accused” in the Narada pay off case in which Mehta is repre- senting the Prosecution, Central Bureau of Investigation. Though Mehta later clar- ified that the alleged meeting did not materialise as the Bengal BJP Leader was polite- ly denied imprompt,u appointment O’ Brien dis- missed his clarification as “post facto clarification only given after the meeting was highlighted” by the Trinamool’s letter to the Prime Minister seeking his removal. Arguing “conflict of inter- est” O’Brien iterated “Suvendu Adhikari is an accused in the Narada and Sarada cases,” adding “the Solicitor General was advising and represented the CBI in these cases.” The meeting between the “accused” and prosecution counsel amounted to the “vio- lation of Rule 8(1)(b) of the Law officers (Condition of Service) Rules 1987 …” He reminded that the Solicitor General was appointed to the post by the President and “has to maintain the integri- ty of the post all the times.” Earlier another TMC Rajya Sabha MP, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, said that a high-level party delegation would meet the President on Monday. “We had sought time from the hon- ourable President and he has given us time on Monday. We will meet him to press for the demand for the ouster of the SG,” the senior Trinamool leader said. O'Brien, Roy and TMC Lok Sabha TMC Mahua Maitra had on Friday written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding the removal of Mehta, alleging he had met Adhikari at his official resi- dence. The meeting “reeks of impropriety” given the fact that Adhikari was an accused and in cases that was being counseled by the Solicitor General. Meanwhile, in an unrelat- ed development the Trinamool Congress has approached the National Human Rights Commission seeking redress against attacks mounted by the BJP cadres in areas of Bhagwanpur in East Midnapore known to be a stronghold of TMC-turned- BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari and his father and MP Sisir Adhikari. Until now it was the BJP that had been crying hoarse against Trinamool attacks drawing the attention of Calcutta High Court which ordered NHRC to inquire into the alleged reports of post-poll violence in Bengal. ?C8Q :;:0C0 The West Bengal Government has Rejected as bogus almost 50 per cent of the applications that were filed seeking compensation for the damage caused by cyclone Yaas, following spot verification by district authorities, a senior official said on Sunday. The Government had last month received at least 3,81,774 applications at the camps set up under its Duare Tran (relief at doorstep) pro- gramme, he said. After due verification of all applications, done between June 18 and 30, at least 1,86,815 were rejected —mainly by block development officers or heads of urban local bodies — as they were found to be fake, the official said. Cyclone Yaas, which struck the state and neighbouring Odisha in May, had left behind a trail of destruction, especial- ly in the coastal regions. Of the 1,62,586 applica- tions filed in South 24 Parganas district, 75,773 were rejected. In Purba Midnapore, as many as 1,17,654 submissions were made, 72,878 of which were binned. We found out that 12,000 of the 14,000 applications filed from Nandigram-I block were bogus. In Egra II, only 52 of 6,874 submissions were found to be genuine, he added. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while launching the programme in May, had asked those affected by Yaas to per- sonally apply in writing and not in bulk as she sought to avoid any controversy similar to the one that had erupted during distribution of relief after cyclone Amphan. According to the officer, the government realised that it should have thoroughly cross- checked the applications after cyclone Amphan instead of treating them all as authentic. This time, the adminis- tration verified every claim before giving its approval, he said, adding that the genuine claimants have started receiv- ing compensation from July 1. Banerjee earlier said that around 2.21 lakh hectare of crops and 71,560 hectare of horticulture have been destroyed in Bengal by cyclone Yaas. She also said that the state has incurred a total loss of more than Rs 20,000 crore due to the calamity. According to a state gov- ernment notification, some- one whose agricultural land has suffered damaged by Yaas would get anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 25,000. Any affected farmer culti- vating betel leaf and a person who lost his cattle in the calamity are entitled to a com- pensation of Rs 5,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively. The notification further said that the state would pay a compensation of Rs 5,000 for partially damaged mudhouses and Rs 20,000 for fully dam- aged ones.. ?C8Q 6DF070C8 Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday met over 150 leading indigenous Muslim personali- ties from diverse fields and said they had all have agreed that population growth in some parts of the State is a threat to development. Addressing a Press confer- ence after the meeting here, Sarma said a total of eight sub groups will be formed with members from the indigenous Muslim community to suggest various developmental mea- sures. Today I met over 150 intellectuals, writers, doctors, artistes, historians and profes- sors among others. We dis- cussed various issues con- fronting the Assamese minor- ity people, he added. All present in the meeting agreed that population explo- sion in some parts of Assam pose a threat to the develop- ment of the state, he added. If Assam wants to become one of the top five states in India, then we have to manage our population explosion. This was agreed by all, Sarma said. He also added the govern- ment will be forming eight sub groups with members from the indigenous Muslim com- munity and these will submit reports on development of the community within the next three months. After compilation of the reports, a roadmap will be cre- ated to uplift people from the minority community. We will work in the next five years according to that roadmap, Sarma said. The Chief Minister also told reporters that the next round of meetings will be held with politicians and student bodies representing the minor- ity community. In the next few days, I will sit with representatives of the migrant Muslims or Muslim people who originated from East Bengal... There are distinct cultural differences between the two Muslim communities (indigenous and East Bengal) and we respect that, he added. 0bbP2bPhbX]^aXch [TPSTabPVaTT^]]TTSc^ RdaQ_^_d[PcX^]Va^fcW @d^cPSTP]S)TQTab^UPaPcWP^dcUXcb W^[S_a^cTbcX]B^[P_dafXcW^dc_^[XRT]^S ?=BQ D308?DA Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has initiated a unique scientific exercise serving the combined national objectives of reducing desertification and providing livelihood and multi-discipli- nary rural industry support. The project named “Bamboo Oasis on Lands in Drought” (BOLD) is the first of its kind exercise in India which was launched on Sunday from the tribal village Nichla Mandwa in Udaipur, Rajasthan by KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena in the presence of local MP Arjun Lal Meena and over 2000 villagers. Strict social distancing and Covid-19 norms were followed during the event. Nearly 5000 saplings of special bamboo species – Bambusa Tulda and Bambusa Polymorpha specially brought from Assam – were planted over 25 bigha (16 acres approx) of arid Gram Panchayat land. KVIC has thus created a world record of planting the highest number of bamboo saplings on a single day at one location. Project BOLD, which seeks to create bamboo-based green patches in arid and semi-arid land zones, is aligned with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for reducing land degradation and preventing desertification in the country. The initiative has been launched as part of KVIC’s “Khadi Bamboo Festival” to celebrate 75 years of indepen- dence “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”. KVIC is set to repli- cate the Project at Village Dholera in Ahmedabad district in Gujarat and Leh-Ladakh region by August this year. Total 15,000 bamboo saplings will be planted before August 21. India is a signatory to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). In his keynote address at the UN High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought on June 14, Prime Minister Modi gave a clarion call of restoring 26 million hectares of degrad- ed land by 2030. This assumes great significance as nearly 30 percent of land in India is undergoing desertification at a rapid pace. KVIC chairman VK Saxena said the green patches of bamboo on these 3 places will help in reducing the land degradation percentage of the country, while on the other hand, they will be havens of sustainable development and food security “Bamboo plan- tation drive on such a large scale will create additional income for the local tribal population while it will also support the local bamboo- based industries and thus boost the rural economy. In three years, these bamboo patches will be able to meet the bam- boo requirement of Agarbatti manufacturers in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. This way, the bamboo patches will fulfil the larger UN sus- tainable development goals (SDGs),” Saxena said. Member of Parliament Arjun Lal Meena said the bam- boo plantation program in Udaipur will boost self-employ- ment in the region. BPQdQTX]VPSTP eXRcXbPh:XcTg6a^d_ ^f]Ta´bUaXT]SbPbWT _[P]bc^^eT^dc E4eVR^e`^VVeAcVk e`URjW`cD8¶dcV^`gR] %2/'WRUHGXFHGHVHUWLILFDWLRQ VXSSRUWUXUDOLQGXVWUOLYHOLKRRG 0f^P]PZTbAP]V^[XfWX[T_aXTbcb[^^Z^]PccWT_aTXbTb^UBaXBWP]ZPaPdcWPbcWTBcPcT6^eTa]T]cPVaTTSc^ aT^_T]cT_[TbU^acWT_dQ[XRUa^^]SPhSdaX]VcWT2^eXS (X]SdRTS[^RZS^f]X]2WXZPVP[daBd]SPh ?C8 C=A067D=0C70Q D108) Ahead of a brief Monsoon session of the Maharashtra Legislature, former Chief Minister Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday slammed the MVA Government for curtailing the session to just two days and said that the Uddhav Thackeray dispensation had “locked” democracy in an effort to gag the Opposition from speaking against “corruption” in various Government departments. Talking to media persons on the eve of the two-day monsoon session beginning on Monday, Fadnavis said: “The MVA has locked democ- racy in the state. It has curtailed the Legislature session to two days to prevent the Opposition from speaking against corrup- tion in various government departments. The state gov- ernment may create hurdles for raising the issues of the people, but nothing will come in our way in achieving our objective”. Charging that the MVA government had deprived the Opposition of its right to use various legislative tools in the Legislature to highlight issues of public importance, Fadnavis said: “We cannot use the leg- islative tools like question hour or move calling attention motions to raise issues of pub- lic importance. These legislative tools have been given to us (leg- islators) by the Constitution of India and we have been deprived to use them. That being the case, what is the pur- pose of having a legislature ses- sion at all?”. “The state government has restricted the session for just two days to prevent the Opposition from raising the issue of corruption in various government departments. We wanted to raise the issue of extortion indulged in by the ruling MVA leaders, but the government does not want to expose them. We will not stop from raising issues of corrup- tion even if we are prevented from doing so in the State Legislature. We will go to peo- ple and raise the issues before them”. Alluding to the issue of Maratha reservations, Fadnavis said that the Uddhav Thackeray government had not referred the matter to the State Backward Commission. “The state government can grant reservations to the Maratha community. But it has to prove that Marathas are a backward community”. PWP0bbTQ[h)5PS]PeXb cTPabX]c^6^ecU^aaTbcaXRcX]V bTbbX^]c^cf^SPhb :E82 RWPXaP] E: BPgT]P _[P]cX]V P QPQ^^bP_[X]VPccaXQP[eX[[PVT=XRW[P P]SfPX]DSPX_da^]Bd]SPh $P__[XRPcX^]bU^aRhR[^]TaT[XTUX] 1T]VP[U^d]SUPZTaTYTRcTS)UUXRXP[ 7hQaXSX[XcP]cb)=TfRWP[[T]VTU^abTRdaXchU^aRTbX]:PbWXa