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Congress leader and former
party president Rahul
Gandhi and BJP national pres-
ident JP Nadda on Friday paid
last respects to former
Himachal Chief Minister
Virbhadra Singh who passed
away here on Thursday.
Gandhi, accompanied by
Congress Working Committee
member Rajeev Shukla, laid a
wreath at the mortal remains
of Singh to pay his last respects
to the departed leader at the
state Congress office -- Rajiv
Bhawan. Gandhi later hugged
the late Congress leader's son
Vikramaditya Singh, the
Shimla Rural MLA, to express
his condolences.
Earlier, Nadda accompa-
nied by Chief Minister Jai
Ram Thakur laid a wreath on
Singh's mortal remains at the
Ridge Maidan. Both the lead-
ers also expressed their heart-
felt condolences with Pratibha
Singh, wife of former Chief
Minister and his son
Vikramaditya Singh.
Earlier on July 5, Nadda
had enquired about Singh's
health during his visit to the
hill state. The 87-year-old vet-
eran Congress leader had
breathed his last after pro-
longed illness at Shimla's
Indira Gandhi Medical College
(IGMC) in the wee hours of
Thursday.
On Thursday, Singh's body
was kept at his residence, Holly
Lodge, here for the entire day
for 'antim darshan' while his
body was kept at Ridge Maidan
for the public to pay their last
respects from 9 am to 11.30 am
and later at the state Congress
office from 11.40 am to 1 pm.
A large number of sup-
porters of Virbhadra Singh
had their 'antim darshan' of the
departed leader at both the
places amid chanting of slo-
gans like 'Raja sahab, amar
rahein', 'Jab tak sooraj chand
rahegaa, Raja sahab ka naam
rahega' and 'Raja nahi fakir tha,
janta ki takdeer tha'.
He will be cremated on
Saturday at Rampur, his native
place. A delegation of Congress
leaders will represent party
president Sonia Gandhi at his
cremation. The delegation will
comprise Chhattisgarh CM
Bhupesh Baghel and Congress
treasurer Pawan Kumar
Bansal. Singh, a nine-time
MLA and five-time Member of
Parliament, was Himachal’s
Chief Minister for six terms
since 1983.
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Haryana Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar on
Friday directed the officers
concerned to make the process
of allotment of government
accommodation to the employ-
ees in the state, more trans-
parent.
The Chief Minister while
presiding over the review
meeting of the House
Allotment Policy here said
that employees should get gov-
ernment accommodation
based on their seniority not on
the recommendations they
receive.
He said that the entire
allotment process should be
done transparently. Khattar
directed that an online system
should be developed in which
an employee can get grade-
wise and seniority-wise accom-
modation within the stipulat-
ed period. During the meet-
ing, he took detailed informa-
tion from the officials about the
process that is followed from
inviting online applications for
the allotment to the allocation
of the houses.
The Chief Minister said
that complete data of govern-
ment houses that is available
across the state should be made
available on a single portal so
that the employees can apply
for accommodation as per their
convenience. It was informed
that the work is being done to
provide complete details of the
available government houses to
ensure that details of every
house can be further updated
on one portal.
The Chief Minister was
apprised that data showing the
number of vacant accommo-
dations, type and place will be
uploaded monthly so that
employees are able to select and
apply for the accommodation
as per their requirement.
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Punjab has bagged the top
position in urban sanitation
among all the States as 99.38%
of its Urban Local Bodies sus-
taining ODF status and attain-
ing ODF+, ODF++ status
against 88.18% ULBs in the
country. Out of 163 ULBs of
Punjab, 162 ULBs have been
able to get ODF+ or ODF++
certifications, Local
Government Minister Brahm
Mohindra said on Friday.
The minister said the
process of certification involves
third party assessment for
checking of open defecation,
functionality of Individual,
Public and Community Toilets
and their status of mainte-
nance. All the toilets should be
on google map and there
should be no open defecation.
Mohindra said that if
Punjab is compared to the
neighboring states of Northern
region, as against 99.38% suc-
cessful ODF+, ++ certified
ULBs of the state, the number
of percentage Successful
ODF+, ++ ULBs is 75.40%
(46/61) in Himachal Pradesh,
81.60% (71/87) in Haryana,
88.89% (88/99 in Uttarakhand
(73.75%) 59/80 in Jammu
Kashmir and (80%) 4/5 in
Delhi.
He said that urban Punjab
was also declared ODF on 2nd
October, 2018, when all the
ULBs had achieved third party
certified ODF status which
became possible with trigger-
ing of people those who did not
have household toilets to build
IHHLs, construction and use of
use of Community Toilets and
construction and proper main-
tenance of Public Toilets.
The Local Government
minister said that after all the
Municipal bodies in the coun-
try had been declared Open
Defecation Free, Government
of India has now started assess-
ing the states on the higher
order certification i.e. ODF +
and ODF ++.
He added that in this
process, 4374 Urban Local
Bodies have been assessed
recently by the Ministry of
Housing Urban Affairs for
Open Defecation
F r e e / O D F + / O D F + +
Certification, through the third
party assessment. Across the
Country, 88.18 % ULBs have
achieved ODF+ ODF++ sta-
tus.
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Upping the ante ahead 2022
Punjab assembly polls, the
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
president Sukhbir Singh Badal
on Friday declared to provide
government jobs to the fam-
ilies of Kisan Andolan mar-
tyrs as well as free education
to their children till post-
graduation once the SAD-
BSP alliance comes to power
in the State.
“The present agitation
against the three hatred farm
laws is continuing since the
last seven months. More than
550 farmers have been mar-
tyred during this time. The
SAD-BSP alliance has decid-
ed that once the alliance
came to power in Punjab in
2022, it would look after the
needs of the martyr families,”
said Sukhbir who was cele-
brating his 59th birthday on
Friday.
Sukhbir said that the
farmers, sitting at Delhi bor-
ders, had faced not only
inclement weather including
rain and storms and also
State repression but had con-
tinued their agitation res-
olutely. “We are committed to
ensuring the farmers get their
just dues. While we support
the movement against the
three agricultural laws which
seek to end assured govern-
ment purchase of food grains
as per the minimum support
price, we also consider it our
duty to ensure those who
died while fighting for justice
are given their due,” he said.
“Once we are voted to
power, we will implement
the promises made to martyr
families in the very first
meeting of the State Cabinet,”
he said.
SAD chief said that apart
from government jobs and
free education, the SAD-BSP
Government would also
ensure free medical insurance
of such families. All expens-
es in this regard would be
borne by the Punjab
Government, he added.
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From now on, the owners of
motor vehicles will have to
submit their tax online in
Haryana as the State
Government has decided to
close all the ten tax collection
points for depositing motor
vehicle tax.“Transport
Department had set up tax col-
lection points in 10 districts of
the state under Section 3 of the
Haryana Motor Vehicle
Taxation Act, 2016, which was
notified on September 19, 2016
for collection of motor vehicle
tax from the vehicle owners,”
said an official spokesman.
He said that these tax col-
lection points were set up in the
districts of Gurugram,
Faridabad, Rewari, Jhajjar,
Bhiwani, Sirsa, Jind, Panchkula,
Ambala and Sonipat. Besides
this, vehicle owners were also
given the option to submit
their taxes online, he said.
He further said that after
in-detailed discussions on this
subject, it has now been decid-
ed to close all these ten tax col-
lection points. Now, vehicle
owners can deposit their tax
online only. For this, detailed
guidelines have been given to
all the DTO-cum-Secretary
RTAs of the state so that they
can motivate and spread aware-
ness among vehicle owners for
online submission of tax, he
added.
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Haryana cadre 1982-batch
IAS officer DS Dhesi who
had rejoined the Chief
Minister’s office as Manohar
Lal Khattar’s Chief Principal
Secretary last year, will look
after key government depart-
ments besides being the over-
all incharge of CM's office.
A fresh order has been
issued while re-allocating the
departments to the officers in
the CM's office. The fresh
order will supersede the previ-
ous orders regarding allocation
of departments to the officers
issued in 2020 and 2021.
The Departments have
been allocated to CPSCM DS
Dhesi (IAS retd), PSCM IAS
officer V Umashankar, Advisor
Resource mobilization
Yogender Chaudhary, APSCM
IAS officer Amit Kumar
Agrawal, DPSCM IAS Ashima
Brar, POSD/CM Neeraj
Daftaur, ODS/CM HCS Satish
Kumar, OSD/CM Bhupeshwar
Dayal and OSD/CM HCS
Sudhanshu Gautam
According to the order,
Dhesi will look after all matters
relating to legislative business
including legislative proposals
taken before the Council of
Ministers and issue of
Ordinances, Parliamentary
Affairs, Law and legislative.
He will also look after Citizen
Resource Information, Excise
and Taxation, Irrigation,
General Administration,
Personnel, Administrative
Reforms and Training,
Hospitality and Vigilance,
Home, Criminal Investigation
and Administration of Justice,
Jails, Town and Country
Planning and Urban Estates,
Urban Local Bodies, Industries,
Electronics and Information
Technology, Finance,
Institutional Finance and
Credit Control and Planning.
He will be overall incharge of
CM's office, CM's office estab-
lishment and subject not allot-
ed to any other officer, the
order said.
After retiring as Haryana’s
Chief Secretary in June, 2019,
Dhesi was appointed as chair-
man, Haryana Electricity
Regulatory Commission
(HERC) in August 2019. He
had later resigned and joined as
CPSCM last year in October.
The post of Chief Principal
Secretary to CM was created
for the first time in Haryana.
Meanwhile, PSCM V
Umashankar will look after
the Departments of Renewable
Energy, Revenue,
Rehabilitation and
Consolidation, Science and
Technology, Transport, Mines
and Geology, Civil Aviation
while Principal OSD Neeraj
Daftaur is given the key depart-
ment of Public Relations. IAS
officer Amit Kumar Agrawal is
given Ayush, Health, Medical
Education, Forests and Wildlife
among 10 departments while
IAS Ashima Brar is given 15
departments including
Architecture, Women and
Child Development,
Agriculture, Environment,
Elections among others.
OSD/CM HCS Satish
Kumar is given the charge of
CM announcements, CM relief
fund, Wakf, HRDF and other
sanctions, OSD/CM
Bhupeshwar Dayal will look
after grievance and HCS
Suhanshu Gautam is given
works related to HRMS and
online transfer policy.
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The Special Investigation
Team (SIT), constituted to
investigate sacrilege cases, on
Friday filed the first challan in a
case of desecration of Sri Guru
GranthSahibbeforethecourtof
Judicial Magistrate First Class
(JMIC) Faridkot against six
accused. “The challan has been
presented against six accused
arrested in this case of desecra-
tion pertaining to strewing of
torn pages of Sri Guru Granth
Sahib at Bargari on October 12,
2015, with the next hearing
fixed for July 20,” said SIT head
and IGP Border Range,
Amritsar,SPSParmaronFriday.
The SIT, after informing the
Illaqa Magistrate regarding the
starting of the investigation on
May16,2021,hadarrestedallthe
accused wanted in this case, the
IGP added. It may be recalled
that an FIR No 128, dated
October12,2015,undersections
295,295-A,153-A,201,120-Bof
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at
Police Station Bajakhana was
registered on the statement of
Bargari’sGurudwaraSahibman-
ager Kulwinder Singh.
Pertinently, this SIT was consti-
tutedunderthechairmanshipof
SPSParmarwithothermembers
being Rajinder Singh Sohal,
AIG/CI Punjab; Lakhbir Singh,
ACP/ERS Amritsar; Inspector
Dalbir Singh, IC CIA Faridkot;
and others, after the handing
overofcasestoPunjabPoliceby
the Punjab and Haryana High
Court.
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The Central Bureau of
Investigation on Friday
conducted searches at 14 resi-
dential and official premises of
the accused including the then
vice chancellor of HNB
Garhwal University JL Kaul and
his then officer on special duty
(OSD) DS Negi in Dehradun,
Srinagar in Uttarakhand and
Noida in Uttar Pradesh, said
officials. Three lockers in dif-
ferent banks were also operat-
ed. Various incriminating doc-
uments pertaining to the case
have been recovered.
According to official
sources, the CBI had earlier
registered a Preliminary
Enquiry (PE) against Kaul and
others on the allegation that the
vice chancellor during his
tenure from 2014 till 2016,
committed certain irregulari-
ties in grant of affiliation to var-
ious colleges/institutes. It was
also alleged that the said pub-
lic servant along with his OSD
and other unknown officials of
HNB Garhwal University,
encouraged extension of affil-
iation to different private insti-
tutes/colleges, in contraven-
tion of the guidelines and reg-
ulations for continuation
and/or extension of existing
affiliation of colleges.
After completion of the
inquiry, six regular cases
against the accused including
the then vice chancellor, his
then OSD, other public ser-
vants, private persons, six pri-
vate institutions etc. were reg-
istered. The investigation is
continuing.
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With the cases of COVID-
19 declining in the
state, Haryana Government
on Friday decided to reopen
the schools from July 16
onwards. However, the stu-
dents who want to continue
with online classes would be
allowed to do so. While the
government and private
schools for class 9th to 12th
will be open from July 16, it
has been decided to open
schools for class 6th to 8th
from July 23.
The decision regarding
reopening schools for classes
1 to 5th will be taken later by
the State Government, stat-
ed an order issued by
Haryana Education
Department on Friday.
In view of the surge in
COVID-19 cases, Haryana
Government had on April
16 ordered closure of all
schools, colleges, coaching
institutions, ITIs, libraries
and training institutes
whether government or pri-
vate in the state. Later, sum-
mer vacation was announced
in schools till June 15.
At present, the students
are attending online classes.
Education Minister
Kanwar Pal Gujjar on Friday
said that after reviewing the
situation, it has been decid-
ed to reopen the schools, An
order in this regard has been
issued to district education
officers and others. They
have been directed to ensure
strict compliance of COVID-
19 appropriate behaviour, he
said.
According to the order
issued, there will be no
mandatory requirement for
students to attend the schools
physically.
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For decades the government
has and still continues to act
against prohibited trade in
controlled substances.
However, for one observing
Uttarakhand even for a couple
of decades, the establishment
would appear to be the suppli-
er of something that is repli-
cating the experience and rela-
tionship between a supplier and
a junkie.
Firstly, without being
philosophical one can state
that it’s not just prohibited
substances which have the
effect of what we call drugs on
the people. A knowledgeable
scientist will tell you how var-
ious human emotions and
actions done to address these
emotions can have effects on
the brain and psychology
which are not very different
than drugs. Development is
one thing which seems to be
the top priority of the govern-
ment and rightly so. People
who have enjoyed benefits of
development are more likely to
progress along with their state
and nation than those who are
deprived. However, it is the
concept, method and damage
resulting from so called devel-
opment which appears to be
replicating the experience of a
substance abuser. In the case of
most prohibited drugs, the
novice gets the initial taste for
free and usually enjoys it
beyond what he or she had
thought enjoyment could be.
Then starts the phase of buy-
ing the substance in search of
that initial euphoria, mostly in
vain. As funds deplete while the
substance abuse takes a men-
tal and physical toll apart from
other damage, the user starts
taking desperate measures to
feed the habit to both relive that
first kick and also to survive
with the addiction. Ethics,
common sense and other
aspects are ignored by the user
who lives only for the next hit
even while observing and even
comprehending at times that
the road he or she is on ends in
destruction with sorrow and
loneliness for company to the
end. The user may know that
health and happiness can be
enjoyed better sans the sub-
stance abuse but is unable to
give it up unless very strong
will power or effective and
corrective action are put to
work. Now, instead of a banned
drug like smack or heroin
place the development model
being followed in Uttarakhand.
The establishment gave the
people a taste, in the beginning
apparently for free. The basics
weren’t bad at all- they were
needed. Roads, infrastructure
and basic facilities are not real-
ly development per se- they are
what is meant to be provided
anyway. However, soon after
the state was formed- the dan-
gerous development model was
put forth. Successive govern-
ments expended resources and
damaged the environment to
do what was not really neces-
sary. For example, instead of
actually ensuring proper traf-
fic management and good pub-
lic transportation, the govern-
ment goes for widening roads
by damaging the environment
only to facilitate more traffic
and assured damage in the
future.
This is because the estab-
lishment seems to work in
tandem with the manufactur-
ers and sellers of vehicles and
other products which are very
useful if used properly but
detrimental if used illogically.
Many thousands of trees have
been cut, the mountains have
been eroded, buildings have
been constructed indiscrimi-
nately and urban planning
along with similar aspects has
long gone for a toss. People
have been directly experiencing
the result of climate change and
environmental destruction in
Uttarakhand. It has affected
lives physically, mentally, cul-
turally and economically in
many ways. However, like a
junkie hoping to relive the ini-
tial euphoria, we continue to be
fooled into supporting destruc-
tive actions with the illogical
hope of benefitting from it.
Does one need to be a rocket
scientist to understand that
the best of roads and other
modern facilities will amount
to nothing if the environment
if irreparably damaged? The
environment is the founda-
tion upon which our present
and future depends but apart
from formal statements and the
usual official actions, little is
being done in Uttarakhand to
prevent environmental damage
and nurture our most valuable
and irreplaceable asset. The
pre-monsoon rains blocked
nearly 200 roads in
Uttarakhand due to landslides
and other factors last month
and this is just a glimpse of
what is in store. The damage
will be much more serious in
the future if we continue as it
is. All is not yet lost, all we need
is to prioritise what is really
important and ensure effective
action. What remains to be
seen is whether we are too
addicted to the ‘development’
drug or whether we still have
sense and volition to do the
needful.
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The Delhi High Court on
Friday urged the Centre to
take steps to bring in a Uniform
Civil Code saying the modern
Indian society was “gradually
becoming homogenous” and
“the traditional barriers of reli-
gion, community and caste are
slowly dissipating.”
The court said youth
belonging to various commu-
nities, tribes, castes or religions
who solemnise their marriages
“ought not be forced to strug-
gle with issues” arising due to
conflicts in various personal
laws, especially in relation to
marriage and divorce.
The court made the obser-
vation in a petition questioning
the applicability of the Hindu
Marriage Act, 1955, in respect
to a couple belonging to the
Meena community, where wife
argued that marriage was
under Hindu rites and husband
argued that tribal rights were
applicable.
“The hope expressed in
Article 44 of the Constitution
that the State shall secure for its
citizens Uniform Civil Code
ought not to remain a mere
hope. The Supreme Court had
in 1985 directed that the judg-
ment in Ms Jordon Diengdeh
be placed before the Ministry
of Law to take appropriate
steps. However, more than
three decades have passed since
then and it is unclear as to what
steps have been taken in this
regard,” said Justice Prathiba M
Singh in a judgment.
The husband in the case
above had argued that the
Hindu Act did not apply to
them as they are members of a
notified Scheduled Tribe in
Rajasthan and thus they are
covered by the exclusion under
Section 2(2) of the Act. The
trial court agreed with the
woman’s submission and sum-
marily dismissed the petition
filed by her husband for
divorce. However, Justice Singh
in the ruling said that the mar-
riage was conducted as per
Hindu rites and the provision
of exclusion is meant only to
protect the customary practices
of recognised tribes.
“If members of a tribe vol-
untarily choose to follow
Hindu customs, traditions, and
rites, they cannot be kept out
of the purview of the provisions
of the HMA, 1955.
Codified statutes and laws
provide for various protections
to parties against any unregu-
lated practices from being
adopted.
In this day and age, rele-
gating parties to customary
courts when they themselves
admit that they are following
Hindu customs and traditions
would be antithetical to the
purpose behind enacting a
statute like the HMA, 1955,” the
court added while allowing
the appeal filed by the husband
and asking the trial court to
proceed in accordance with the
Hindu Marriage Act in the case
and decide within six months.
?=BQ =4F34;78
As coronovirus infection is
resurfacing fast in the US,
the UK, Russia and Bangladesh
— and back home Maharashtra
and Kerala record more than
half of the total Covid-19 cases
registered last week — the
Centre on Friday warned that
the pandemic is far from over
and there is no room for com-
placency.
The Government also
expressed its disappointment at
the visuals from tourist spots
and the way people were min-
gling without following Covid
protocols, calling it “a serious
cause of concern” and that
such negligence will increase
the risk of virus spread. More
so because so far less than 5 per
cent of the total population has
been vaccinated.
“The country is still deal-
ing with the second wave and
we need to introspect if we can
afford misplaced belief that
Covid-19 is over,” said Health
joint secretary Lav Agarwal as
he referred to recent spikes in
cases in some countries, includ-
ing Russia and the UK, to cau-
tion people against lowering
their guard.
He mentioned how the
virus has shown resurgence in
the United Kingdom, which
hosted the Euro Cup 2021
semi-finals with a sea of foot-
ball fans enjoying the match
flouting Covid norms.
“We need to continue to
take all precautions. The United
Kingdom, Russia and
Bangladesh have seen a resur-
gence of Covid-19 cases,” he
said. Bangladesh is experienc-
ing an upward trend since
mid-May with most of the
cases detected were of the
Delta variant. It has now imple-
mented a national lockdown,
after concerns about the impact
of the variant.
Fearing repeat here in India
where Delta variant is on the
prowl, Agarwal pitched for
strict adherence to Covid-19
protocol: mask and physical
distancing.
He said more than half of
the Covid-19 cases reported in
India last week were from
Maharashtra (21 per cent) and
Kerala (32 per cent).
?=BQ =4F34;78
WhatsApp on Friday
informed the Delhi High
Court that it has decided to put
on hold its controversial pri-
vacy policy update until the
Personal Data Protection Bill,
2019, comes into force.
Senior Advocate Harish
Salve made the submission on
behalf of WhatsApp before a
Bench of Chief Justice DN
Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh, in
their petition against
Competition Commission of
India.
“Government has asked to
shut down the policy. We have
said we will not enforce it till
Data Protection Bill comes
out. That is open-ended
because we don’t know when
the Bill is going to come
out...We have said we will not
do this for a while. Suppose the
Bill allows me to do it, we will
have completely different ram-
ifications”, said Salve.
The senior lawyer also
informed the Court that the
Union Ministry of Electronics
and Information Technology
(MEITY) has communicated to
WhatsApp that it feels that the
WhatsApp Privacy Policy is
against the Information
Technology (Reasonable
Security Practices and
Procedures and Sensitive
Personal Data or Information),
Rules, 2011.
“We replied to MEITY’s
notice seeking a response, say-
ing that WhatsApp will not
limit functionality for some
time and continue to show
users the updated version...We
will maintain this approach
until Data Protection Bill
comes into force. We have vol-
untarily agreed to put the
update on hold till then,” Salve
said.
?=BQ =4F34;78
As drones have emerged as
the new terror threat, the
Navy has banned the flight of
drones within a radius of three
to four kilometres around all its
bases all over the country. The
other two services Army and
the IAF are also likely to follow
suit.
The order on Friday came
following the drone attack on
the Jammu airbase on June 27.
The order issued in Kochi and
some other bases said it has
prohibited flying of non-con-
ventional aerial objects like
drones and UAVs (Unmanned
Aerial Vehicles) within three
kilometres of Naval Base, Naval
Units and Naval assets.
“Any non-conventional
aerial object, including RPAs
(Remotely Piloted Aircraft
Systems) found violating this
prohibition, will be destroyed or
confiscated without any liabil-
ity, and additionally actions
may be initiated under sections
121, 121A, 287, 336, 337 and
338 of Indian Penal Code
against the operator,” a state-
ment said.
The authorities said the use
of a drone to carry out a terrorist
attack marked the beginning of
a new security threat for the
country. In fact, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi last week held
a high-level meeting to review
the operational readiness to
deal with the new challenge.
Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh, Home Minister Amit
Shah and National Security
Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval
attended the meeting.
The security agencies were
asked to hasten up the pro-
curement of anti-drone systems
at the earliest and the IAF
recently floated a tender for
acquisition of ten such systems.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Farmers’ unions on Friday
turned down Union
Agriculture Minister Narendra
Singh Tomar’s appeal to call off
their seven-month-long
protests and join talks with the
Government.
The farmers unions said
the Centre’s decision to allow
APMC mandis to avail finan-
cial support from the C1 lakh
crore Agriculture
Infrastructure Fund is an
“empty gesture” and mislead-
ing.
Referring to the C1 lakh
crore Agriculture
Infrastructure Fund as highly
misleading, it alleged the aim
of the three contentious Central
farm laws is the collapse of the
agricultural produce market
committees (APMCs).
APMC markets are set up
to provide market linkages and
create an ecosystem of post-
harvest public infrastructure
open to all farmers.
The Union Cabinet on
Thursday approved modifica-
tion in the Central scheme
making the APMC mandis eli-
gible to avail financial support
from the Rs 1 lakh crore
Agriculture Infrastructure
Fund to expand the regulated
markets’ capacity and provide
better facilities to farmers.
0?Q B2F
The Taliban claimed on
Friday that they now con-
trol 85 per cent of Afghanistan’s
territory amid a surge in wins
on the ground and as American
troops complete their pullout
from the war-battered country.
The announcement came
at a Press conference at the end
of a visit by a senior Taliban
delegation to Moscow this
week — a trip meant to offer
assurances that the insurgents’
quick gains in Afghanistan do
not threaten Russia or its allies
in Central Asia.
The claim, which is impos-
sible to verify, was considerably
higher than previous Taliban
statements that more than a
third of the country’s 421 dis-
tricts and district centres were
in their control. There was no
immediate response from the
government in Kabul on the
latest claim.
Earlier this week, Taliban
advances forced hundreds of
Afghan soldiers to flee across
the border into Tajikistan,
which hosts a Russian military
base. Tajikistan in turn called
up 20,000 military reservists to
strengthen its southern border
with Afghanistan.
Detailed report on P8
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Against the backdrop of
scarce availability of oxy-
gen supply during the virulent
second wave of Covid-19,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Friday reviewed the
progress of oxygen availabili-
ty across the country and
directed that new O2 plants be
ready well before the potential
third surge of the pandemic.
Officials briefed the Prime
Minister that once all PSA
(pressure swing adsorption)
plants coming up through PM
CARES would be functional,
they would support more than
4 lakh oxygenated beds.
He was informed that
more than 1,500 PSA oxygen
plants are coming up across
the nation which includes
contributions from PM
CARES as well as various
ministries and PSUs, accord-
ing to the Prime Minister’s
Office.
Oxygen plants contributed
by PM CARES are coming up
in all States and districts of the
country.
Modi instructed the offi-
cials to ensure that these plants
are “made functional at the
earliest” and to work closely
with the State Governments
for the same.
He expressed concern over
rising cases of Covid-19 in
Kerala.
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India, which is yet not done
with the second Covid-19
wave, is now home to Alpha,
Beta, Gamma, Delta and Kappa
variants of coronovirus with
the proportion of cases with
“variants of concerns” going up
from 10.31 per cent in May to
51 per cent on June 20, as per
the Government data.
Kappa variant, which the
Government on Friday said got
overshadowed by Delta strain,
is again on the sprawl with two
cases reported from Uttar
Pradesh on Friday. As per
reports, a 66-year-old man
who tested positive for Kappa
variant in UP’s Sant Kabir
Nagar has died.
However, so far Delta
strain is considered to be most
virulent and was responsible
for the severe second Covid
pandemic which had over-
whelmed the health system in
India in April-MAY this year.
Experts say the Kappa
strain is not much harmful but
more genome sequencing
needs to be done.
Regarding Lambda which
has spread over 30 countries
with Peru becoming the worst
hit, Joint Secretary in the Union
Health Ministry Lav Agarwal
said there is no case of the
Lambda variant of SARS-CoV-
2 in India at present, but it is
closely monitoring the global
landscape of this new variant.
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Kochi: The Kerala High Court
on Friday directed the Centre
not to take any coercive action
against the members of News
Broadcasters Association
(NBA), which represents sev-
eral news channels, over non-
compliance of the new IT rules.
Justice PB Suresh Kumar
also issued notice to the Centre
and sought its stand on the plea
by NBA which has contended
that the new IT Rules give
Government authorities “exces-
sive powers” to “unreasonably
and impermissibly restrict” the
freedom of speech and expres-
sion of the media. Senior advo-
cate Maninder Singh, who
appeared for the NBA, said that
under the new IT rules, a Joint
Secretary would be heading the
oversight mechanism which
would supervise the self-regu-
latory body headed by a retired
judge.
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Washington: Pfizer is about to
seek US authorisation for a
third dose of its Covid-19 vac-
cine, saying that another shot
within 12 months could dra-
matically boost immunity and
maybe help ward off the latest
worrisome coronavirus mutant.
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Moscow: Voicing concern at
the spiralling violence in
Afghanistan, India on Friday
called for immediate reduction
in bloodshed in the war-torn
nation and underlined that the
“legitimacy aspect” of who
should rule the country is of
importance and should not be
ignored.”
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Taking strong exception to an incident of a
woman candidate being molested and a futile
attempt being made to disrobe her during the
nomination process for block pramukh elections
in Lakhimpur Kheri on Thursday, Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered the sus-
pension of the local station house officer and a
circle officer on Friday.
While chairing a review meeting of Team-
9 in Lucknow on Friday, the Chief Minister
sought a detailed report on acts of violence and
indecency in districts during the nomination
process on Thursday.
The CM ordered the suspension of the SHO
of Pasgawan police station and the circle offi-
cer for failing to prevent indecency with the
woman candidate. He ordered strict action
against other police officers present on the spot
and against the miscreants .
“During the polling for block pramukh seats,
police force across the State should be extra vig-
ilant and sensitive.
All necessary action should be taken by con-
fiscating weapons,” said Yogi.
?=BQ ;D2:=F
In a major tragedy in Ayodhya, 15 members
of four families from Agra were swept away
by strong currents while taking a bath at Guptar
Ghat of Saryu river on Friday.
While eight of them were rescued, three
persons, including a girl child, swam across
safely. However, five of the rescued people were
pronounced dead after being taken to hospi-
tal.
The police and local divers were carrying
out search and rescue operations to locate the
other four missing members.
As per reports, 15 members of four fami-
lies from Sikandra area of Agra reached Ram
Nagari Ayodhya in the morning. After visiting
some temples, they visited Guptar Ghat of river
Saryu in the Cantonment area.
While roaming, all the people reached
Jamthara Kachcha Ghat, about 200 metres away
from Guptar Ghat and got down in the water
to take a bath.
Suddenly four women started being swept
away by the strong river current.
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To deal with a possible third
wave of coronavirus, the
Delhi Disaster Management
Authority (DDMA) passed a
colour-coded response action
plan on Friday under which
curbs will be implemented in
accordance to the severity of
the Covid-19 situation here.
At a DDMA meeting
chaired by Lieutenant
Governor Anil Baijal and
attended by Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal, experts
stressed on having 12,000 ICU
beds, sufficient oxygen, drugs
and ambulances to deal with
another surge in cases.
“No doubts will remain
about when the lockdown will
be imposed or when it will
open. Discussion also held
about the Delta plus variant.
We have to stop this variant
from spreading in Delhi, for
which the Government is tak-
ing all necessary steps,”
Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
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Signifying close defence and strategic ties
between the two countries, Defence Minister
Rajnath Singh on Friday discussed the entire
range of relations with Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Defence of Israel Lt General
Benjamin Gantz.
During the tele-
phonic conversation,
Rajnath also congratu-
lated Gantz on assuming
the charge of Deputy
Prime Minister and
Minister of Defence of
Israel.
In a tweet after the
telephonic conversa-
tion, Rajnath said he
looks forward to working closely with Israel
to deepen defence cooperation and advance
the strategic partnership. He also thanked
Gantz for the assistance provided to India by
Israel for handling the COVID-19 pandem-
ic.
Since diplomatic relations were established
between the two nations in the early 1990s,
Israel has emerged as one of the most impor-
tant defence partners of India.
It has provided critical defence technolo-
gy including those for the missile programme
of India in the past few years. Moreover, Israel
is involved in major upgrades of many front-
line weapon systems of India besides hi-tech
electronic warfare systems.
Both the countries are engaged in the
fight against terrorism and Israel has supplied
technology in this regard to the Indian secu-
rity forces. It has also supplied sophisticat-
ed infantry weapons like rifles and machine
guns to India besides three Phalcon early
warning airborne warning systems
(AWACS)
064=284BQ =4F34;78
The Supreme Court of India
on Friday refused to hear a
public interest litigation (PIL)
filed by the Delhi Government
against a Union Environment
Ministry notification on power
plants. The court expressed
amusement over the fact that a
State had filed such a petition
against the Centre.
Following the Supreme
Court’s observation, the State
Government withdrew its case.
“We find it amusing that a
state has come in with a PIL
against the Centre,” the court
said.
PILs are usually filed by
individuals or organisations
when fundamental rights of the
petitioner are violated. It refers
to litigation aimed at securing
some public interest and ensur-
ing justice to otherwise disad-
vantaged people.
“If the Centre has said
something or done something
contrary, then you (Delhi Govt)
can go and inform the court
about what the Centre has
done. You can file a case,” the
court said, referring to Delhi’s
PIL against an April 1, 2021,
notification from the Union
ministry.
The notification said that
rules had been amended to
allow thermal power plants
within 10 kilometres of the
National Capital Region (NCR)
— and in cities with over 10
lakh population — to comply
with new emission norms only
by the end of 2022, a June 16
PTI report said.
Eleven coal-fired NCR
power plants contributed 7
per cent to Delhi’s PM2.5 pol-
lution on an average between
October 2020 and January
2021, according to a study by
Delhi-based not-for-profit
Council on Energy,
Environment and Water, PTI
reported.
The Delhi government had
said in its petition that some 10
thermal power plants in
Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar
Pradesh had not installed the
Flue Gas Desulphurization
(FGD) technology, resulting
in pollution.
Colin Gonsalves, the Senior
Advocate appearing for Delhi,
argued before the Supreme
Court that these plants con-
tribute up to 80 per cent of sul-
phates and other “killer gases”,
which contribute to pollution in
Delhi. He argued that the
Centre was not interested in
controlling pollution and had
failed to honour its commit-
ment to the top court. He
wanted the PIL to be tagged
with others pending case before
the court.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Cautioning that chances of
pre-term delivery increase
if a woman contracts Covid-19
during pregnancy, the
Government on Friday said
would-be-mom should take
Covid-19 vaccines as they are
safe and effective against the
viral infection. Ditto is the case
with breast feeding women,
said Niti Aayog Member
(health) Dr VK Paul on Friday
at a press conference here.
He said available data on
these vaccines suggests that
they are safe to be used by preg-
nant women.
Apart from the mother,
there is also risk to the child in
case she contracts the infection.
The Union Health Ministry has
issued guidelines on this.
Pregnant women should get
vaccinated. It is very impor-
tant, Dr Paul said.
He added that studies have
found that chances of pre-
term delivery increase if a
woman contracts Covid-19
during pregnancy.
On July 2, the Union
Health Ministry announced
inclusion of pregnant women
in the ongoing vaccination
drive against Covid-19.
The ministry accepted the
recommendations of the
National Technical Advisory
Group on Immunisation
(NTAGI) on this subject.
Pregnant women may
now register on CoWin or
walk-in to the nearest Covid
Vaccination Centre (CVC) to
get themselves vaccinated, the
ministry had said, adding that
operational guideline for vac-
cinating pregnant women has
shared with states/UTs.
The ministry also said that
the decision empowers preg-
nant women to make an
informed choice on getting
vaccinated against Covid-19.
Pregnantwomenhavebeen
atincreasedriskofgettinginfect-
ed with the virus which could
alsoresultinrapiddeterioration
ofhealthandaffectthefetustoo.
The vaccination of lactat-
ing women has been advised
and supported by the Indian
Academy of Pediatrics (IAP)
and the Federation of Obstetric
Gynecological Societies of
India (FOGSI).
A0:4B7:B8=67Q =4F34;78
The CRPF has begun paying
an enhanced risk fund to
the tune of C21,50,000 to the
next of kin of personnel who
died due to Covid-19. Earlier,
an amount of C15,00,000 was
paid to the dependents of the
deceased personnel.
In addition to the risk
fund, C1,50,000 is paid through
the Central Welfare Fund to the
family of deceased personnel.
At least 125 CRPF personnel
have succumbed to Covid-19,
officials said.
The final risk fund pay-
ments were being to the
deceased personnel on the
basis of initial situation reports
from the units/officers within
four to five days of the deaths.
However, the CRPF revis-
ited the issue and issued an
order on Thursday to all the
formations to initially pay Rs
16,50,000 and withhold the
payment of Rs 5 lakh till death
certificates certifying the casu-
alty due to Covid-19.
Covid-19 deaths are
authenticated on the basis of
death certificates issued by the
medical/municipal authorities.
The death certificates are issued
much later than the casualty
and the units/officers could
ascertain the actual cause of
death immediately in the initial
situation report, they said.
“To avoid chances of over-
payment in the absence of
Covid death certificates, the
CRPF has now directed all the
formations to withhold pay-
ment of Rs 5 lakh till the death
certificate of the deceased per-
sonnel is received. After the
issuance of the death certifi-
cates, the units/officers should
raise a proposal for issue of
demand/sanction for release of
the remainder amount and the
same will be credited to the
beneficiary,” a senior official
said.
Till now, the CRPF has
reported 24, 892 Covid-19 pos-
itive cases of which 24,599
patients have recovered from
the illness and 125 personnel
have died due to the infection.
At present, only 168 active
cases in the CRPF ranks,
including 25 men who con-
tracted the disease during the
last 24 hours.
New Delhi: The Supreme
Court of India in its order on
Friday decided to drop the ini-
tiation of contempt of court
proceedings against the real
estate company, Supertech after
it refunded the amount to
many homebuyers in one of its
housing projects in Noida.
The Supreme Court had
earlier asked the real estate
company, Supertech, to refund
the money to its deserving
homebuyers.
Supertech had deposited
the money in the homebuyer's
account, after complying with
the Supreme Court's earlier
directions.
The Apex Court, after tak-
ing into record the fact that
money was deposited in the
account of many deserving
homebuyers in one of the hous-
ing projects in Noida, dropped
the contempt proceedings
against Supertech
Agencies
?=BQ =4F34;78
Apre-monsoon rainfall
after14 days of delay raised
hope for the India
Meteorological Department,
which predicted that monsoon
may hit in north and North
West India in the next 24
hours, ending its break.
In a related development,
senior officials of IMD,
Ministry of Earth Sciences
have briefed a parliamentary
standing committee on sci-
ence and technology on Friday
on the monsoon situation in
India. Monsoon had gone into
limbo following a shift of
trough close to the foothills for
the last 10 days or even more.
“Conditions are also
becoming favourable for fur-
ther advance of the southwest
monsoon over remaining parts
of the country during July 11
and 12, said the IMD.
Delhi witnessed a pre-
monsoon showers on Thursday
night after a hot and humid day
when the maximum tempera-
ture was recorded as 41.8
degrees Celsius, five degrees
above normal, while the min-
imum was recorded as 30.6
degrees Celsius.
The IMD said with mon-
soon winds expected to hit on
Saturday, moderate rainfall
with a maximum temperature
of 37 degrees Celsius is expect-
ed. Rain is expected to contin-
ue on Monday and Tuesday,
and the maximum temperature
might drop to 34 degrees
Celsius.
The IMD said strengthen-
ing of easterly winds at lower
levels are also likely over
northwest India during the
next 3-4 days. Under the influ-
ence of these conditions, wide-
spread rainfall was likely over
northwest India during the
next 5 days.
According to Skymet, pri-
vate weather
forecaster, a low-
pressure area is
likely to form
over the Bay of
Bengal, on July
11 ending the
weak monsoon
phase over cen-
tral and north-
ern parts of the
country. Rainfall
activity was
mostly confined to east and
northeast India. Excessive rains
along the foothills of Bihar and
catchment areas of mountain-
ous ranges of Nepal led to
flooding of rivers submerging
northern districts of Bihar like,
Champaran, Sitamarhi,
Madhubani, Supaul,
Madhepura, Muzaffarpur,
Darbhanga, Araria, Kishanganj
and Purnea.
“Only one low-pressure
area has formed so far in this
season. This weather system
formed over the North Bay of
Bengal on 11th June and expe-
dited advance of monsoon over
east, northeast and central
parts of the country. Monsoon
current got blocked after reach-
ing the outskirts of Delhi, West
Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and
Haryana”.
“The line of monsoon
remained stagnant for over
three weeks and continues to
pass through Ambala and
Amritsar. Fresh developments
on account of formation of
low-pressure will lead to favor-
able conditions for monsoon
travel of monsoon to cover
most remaining parts in the
next three days,” it said. The last
pickets of West Rajasthan may
wait a little longer.
In the last one decade, the
most delayed monsoon arrival
over Delhi (when the normal
onset date was June 29) was in
2012 when the onset was
realised on July 7. Similar
week-long delays from normal
were reported in 2019 (July 5)
and 2014 (July 3) over Delhi.
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India's daily Covid cases have been
showing a declining trend for near-
ly two months with the situation
improving in many States. However, as
the cases hover between 35,000 and
45,000 in the last few days and many
districts where cases are not falling at
an expected pace, the Government is a
worried lot.
On Friday, Niti Aayog member Dr
VK Paul said that in some districts, the
infections have remained on an upward
trajectory, triggering worries of anoth-
er surge.
The government has also been
expressing concerns at the blatant flout-
ing of Covid norms and the shocking
sight of overcrowding at popular hill sta-
tions, mere weeks after India crawled out
of the worst phase of its devastating sec-
ond wave.
He said that 66 districts have report-
ed more than 10 per cent positivity for
?=BQ =4F34;78
Observing that courts
have no role in Cabinet
formation and Lok Sabha
Speaker’s decisions, the Delhi
High Court on Friday dis-
missed pleas of Chirag
Paswan, challenging eleva-
tion of uncle Pashupati
Kumar Paras as Cabinet
Minister and as the leader of
Lok Janshakti Party in Lok
Sabha.
“How does this matter to
the Courts,” asked Justice
Rekha Palli, when Chirag’s
advocate tried to narrate
LJP’s visions and father
Ramvilas Paswan’s visions
and how he was ditched by
other five MPs including his
uncle.
“First you resolve your
party issues,” said Justice
Palli, cutting short the argu-
ments. It is well settled that
the right to regulate inter-
nal disputes of the house is
of the Speaker. The petition
is without
merits, the Court said,
rejecting the
plea.
In the initial hearing
itself, the judge disallowed
the challenge to the entry of
Paras into the Union
Cabinet. During arguments,
Solicitor General Tushar
Mehta appeared and
requested the Court that
Lok Sabha Speaker should
not be a part of this
case.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Congress' youth wing pres-
ident Srinivas B V on
Friday took a jibe at newly
appointed Civil Aviation
Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia by
sharing a meme depicting the
Air India mascot (Maharaja)
telling Scindia we are both for
sale. The BJP retorted saying
it reflected the Opposition
party's frustration.
The meme was first shared
from the social media account
of the Congress' Madhya
Pradesh unit but it gained a lot
of traction after it was shared
by the Indian Youth Congress
(IYC) chief.
Srinivas shared the meme
which showed Air India Mascot ''Maharaja'' telling Scindia, Aiyye Maharaj, hum
dono bikau hain (Come
Maharaja, we are both for
sale), and added the caption,
Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi...
Last night, the Madhya
Pradesh Congress shared the
meme and wrote, Bikau ko
bechne ka kaam mila, Gaddari
ka use kuch yu inaam mila
(One who is up for sale has
been given the job of selling,
got a reward for being a trai-
tor).
Hitting out at Srinivas''
post, BJP spokesperson Gaurav
Bhatia said the Congress stoop-
ing to such levels to target a
young and enterprising leader
like Scindia shows its frustra-
tion.
The message is very clear
that the BJP is a party which
taps talent, which knows how
to recognise people of merit
and substance. In Congress, the
mantra is that if anybody has
more potential than the so-
called prince of the Congress
then don''t let him rise and
keep him in the shadow of
Rahul Gandhi, said BJP.
Slamming the Congress
for using the term ''Bikau'',
Bhatia said this comes from
people who are out on bail on
corruption charges.
There were also several
social media posts taking a dig
at Scindia and also many in
which the Congress was
slammed for targeting him.
Scindia resigned from the
Congress and joined the BJP
in March last year and his
move triggered a chain of
events which finally culmi-
nated in the collapse of the
Kamal Nath government just
15 months after its formation,
paving the way for the saffron
party to assume power which
it lost towards the end of
2018.
On joining the BJP, he was
made a Rajya Sabha member,
while Shivraj Singh Chouhan
came back as the chief minis-
ter.
The scion of the former
royal family of Gwalior had
started showing signs of rest-
lessness after the Congress
high command chose veteran
Kamal Nath over him to take
over as the chief minister in
December 2018.
A094B7:D0AQ =4F34;78
The southwest monsoon’s
early break since June 15
has impacted the summer
crops sowing during the ongo-
ing kharif crops season. The
plantation of rice, jowar, bajra,
moongbean, maize, Jute and
Mesta has been reported less
due to either less rainfall or
excessive rainfall this year mon-
soon season.
According to the
Agriculture Ministry data, total
acreage under summer crops
have been reported around
499.87 lakh hectares till July 9,
as compared to 496.85 lakh
hectare during the same peri-
od last year, an increase by 3.02
lakh hectare. The main summer
crop rice acreage has decreased
by 1.35 lakh hectare and coarse
cereals acreage decreased by
14.28 lakh hectare this year.
Presently, 287 of the 694 dis-
tricts are reeling under deficient
or large deficient rainfall so far.
India has received 229.7 mm
rainfall as against the normal of
243.6 mm, almost six percent
deficient monsoon so far.
The ministry said that
Maharashtra, Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab
have less area coverage due to
erratic rain/not covered all
areas during the monsoon peri-
od while the Southern
Penninsula, Bihar, Jharkhand
having less area coverage due to
excess soil moisture.
The plantation of rice has
declined by 1.35 lakh hectare
this year to 114.82 lakh hectares
against 116.17 lakh hectare
last year. Similarly, coarse cere-
als acreage has also decreased
by 14.28 lakh hectare to 73.07
lakh hectares over normal of
corresponding period 87.36
lakh hectare. The ministry’s
data is based on the reports of
the state governments.
Officials say July and
August are the two most cru-
cial months of the four-month
southwest monsoon season.
Any break or deviation in rain
in July and August could have
a devastating impact on the
country’s agriculture and the
production of kharif crops, the
sowing of which has fallen
behind last year’s levels due to
the sudden and unexpected
break in the rains.
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Reacting to the Delhi HC rejecting
Chirag Paswan's plea,Union
Minister Pashupati Kumar Paras said:
I respect the court's decision. Chirag
has the right to Ram Vilas Paswan's
property. He is my nephew, I'll not
cause him pain, but he has strayed off
track. Everyone has gone against him.
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The Covid-19 virus may reach its
endemic stage after a while, just like
influenza, and the vulnerable population
may have to take the vaccine shot annu-
ally, said Samiran Panda, Head, Division
of Epidemiology and Communicable
Diseases, Indian Council for Medical
Research (ICMR).
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the week ending July 8 and 80 per cent
of new cases are reported from 90 dis-
tricts which need focused
attention.
India registered 43,393 new COVID-
19 cases, 44,459 recoveries, and 911
deaths in the last 24 hours, as per the lat-
est update by the Health Ministry on
Friday morning.
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For pregnant women, a suitable time to get
vaccinated would be the 13th week onwards in the
pregnancy. In this period, a pregnant woman
needs to get Tetanus Toxoid (TT) vaccination
done; it would be advised to either get TT vac-
cine on the same day or after a gap of four weeks.
The adverse events after Covid vaccination
are minor and similar in pregnant women, as in
other age groups. Pregnant women should get a
second shot of the vaccine at the recommended
interval. There is no specific preference and any
currently licensed Covid vaccine can be taken,
according to Dr Chandrakant Lahariya, epi-
demiologist and vaccine expert.
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After the videos and pho-
tographs of tourists defying
the Covid norms at popular
tourist spots in Dehradun and
Nainital districts elicited the
attention of the central gov-
ernment upto Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, the district
magistrates in Uttarakhand
claimed to have geared up to
tackle such issues in the tourist
destinations in their respective
districts. Since the State
Government provided relax-
ation in Covid-19 restrictions,
the inflow of tourists from
other states has increased man-
ifold.
Though this influx has
delighted the locals associated
with the tourism industry, oth-
ers are concerned that the lack
of Covid appropriate behaviour
in tourist destinations can turn
out to be an open invitation to
the probable third wave of
Covid-19. Apart from the
Uttarakhand High Court
which had asked the state gov-
ernment some days ago to
consider restricting tourism
on weekends, the Central gov-
ernment too has expressed
concern at the blatant violation
of Covid appropriate behaviour
in the name of tourism.
In Uttarakhand, the num-
ber of tourists had started ris-
ing over a week ago but the
authorities in various districts
decided to take effective mea-
sures only after the pho-
tographs and video of tourists
flouting Covid norms in
Kempty Falls, Mussoorie and
Nainital went viral on social
media platforms. After facing
nationwide flak, the district
magistrate of Tehri, Eva
Shrivastava took the decision of
limiting the number of tourists
in Kempty Falls to 50 visitors
who will be allowed to stay
there only for half an hour.
Uphill, the number of tourists
arriving in Nainital can be esti-
mated from the fact that the
authorities have asked over
5,000 tourists to turn back
from Nainital city due to lack of
parking space and tourists' fail-
ure to provide valid RT-PCR
negative reports. According to
the Nainital district magistrate,
Dhiraaj Singh Garbiyal, the
administration has now decid-
ed to completely prohibit the
entry of two-wheelers into the
main city on the weekends.
The tourists will be stopped
at the distance of 10 kilome-
tres away from the city and will
be brought inside the city
through shuttle services. The
authorities have already started
working on it from Friday, said
Garbiyal. He also said that
four-wheelers will be stopped
outside the city after the occu-
pancy of 75 per cent parking
space is filled in the city. We are
also thinking about stopping
the vehicles outside the city
when parking space is 50 per
cent occupied but it will depend
on the bookings and arrival of
tourists this weekend, said
Garbiyal.
He also informed that the
administration has appealed
to the hotel association to avoid
booking their hotels fully to
avoid overcrowding. According
to Garbiyal, the administration
has ensured that people asso-
ciated with the tourism indus-
try like hoteliers and associat-
ed employees, local transport
operators and local shopkeep-
ers are all vaccinated against
Covid disease as they mostly
interact directly with the
tourists. Besides this, he added
that extra force has been
deployed in all the major loca-
tions to ensure tourists abide by
Covid norms.
Many visitors were also
observed defying Covid norms
in tourist spots in Dehradun
district like Sahastradhara and
Mussoorie but the DM Ashish
Kumar Srivastava said that the
administration is taking all the
possible measures to ensure the
tourists follow Covid guidelines.
I have directed various district
officials like sub divisional mag-
istrates (SDMs) and police to
take action against those who
fail to adhere with Covid guide-
lines.
Authorities are imposing
penalties and taking action
against the offenders in all the
primary tourist locations like
Sahastradhara, Mussoorie and
Rishikesh, informed Srivastava.
He said that awareness cam-
paigns are being conducted in
tourist spots to remind and
encourage people to be cautious
of Covid contagion. It is perti-
nent to mention here that these
developments come after bla-
tant violation of Covid norms
and even decency have been
observed at tourist spots in
Dehradun with people crowd-
ing sans masks and even being
roughed up for smoking
hookahs at Har Ki Paidi have
elicited attention and concern
within one week.
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In his first meeting with the
officials of the department
after assuming the charge of
Public Works Department
(PWD), the Cabinet
Minister Satpal Maharaaz
gave a terse warning to the
officers on Friday that laxi-
ty in work would not be tol-
erated.
In the meeting held at
the PWD head office on the
day, the minister said that
the action would be initiat-
ed against the officers failing
to spend their allotted bud-
get.
He said that the pending
projects should be complet-
ed on time with emphasis on
maintaining the quality of
works.
Expressing dismay on
the conditions of roads the
minister said that pot holes
dot the roads and sign
boards are missing at many
places.
He said that emphasis
should be made on main-
taining alignment of the
roads so that the fuel con-
sumption of vehicles is
reduced.
Maharaaz said that the
roads of strategic impor-
tance would be constructed
on a fast pace.
?=BQ 347A03D=
In protest against the increas-
ing prices, atrocities on
women, growing unemploy-
ment and plight of farmers the
Uttarakhand Congress would
organise a protest march to the
residence of chief minister on
Saturday. The vice President of
Uttarakhand Congress, Surya
Kant Dhasmana told media
persons here on Friday that the
workers of Congress party
would hit the roads on
Saturday and initiate the
process of political change in
the state. He said that the lead-
ers and workers of the party
would march towards the res-
idence of CM from Congress
headquarters at 11 am on
Saturday under the leadership
of state in charge Devendra
Yadav and Pradesh Congress
Committee (PCC) president
Pritam Singh. Dhasmana said
that the Congress was forced to
take the decision during the
pandemic period as people are
reeling under double whammy
of pandemic and price rise. He
said that the prices of petrol
and diesel have skyrocketed
and the mustard oil which was
available at Rs 80 per litre is
now at Rs 200 per litre.
Dhasmana said that the people
of the state have made up to
remove BJP from power in the
state.
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The Uttarakhand Congress
has alleged that the Pushkar
Singh Dhami government has
struck down 3000 posts of
government teachers in the
state. The Spokesperson of
state Congress Garima Dasauni
said that though the Dhami
government played to the
gallery by giving relief to 3000
guest teachers but in the
process it also ensured that
appointment of 3000 perma-
nent teachers was stalled. She
said that the government
spokesperson Subodh Uniyal
had said that the 3000 guest
teachers would be given
appointment on priority in
their home districts and their
posts would not be considered
vacant.
It means that the govern-
ment has struck down 3000
permanent posts of teachers.
She said that the government
has also announced that the
stipend of guest teachers would
be increased to Rs 25000 from
Rs 15000 but has not made any
budgetary provision for it.
Dasauni said that instead of
cutting down the permanent
posts the government should
regularise the services of the
guest teachers.
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The state health department
reported only 65 new cases
of the novel Coronavirus
(Covid-19) and 184 recover-
ies from the disease in
Uttarakhand on Friday. For
the third consecutive day no
death from the disease was
reported on Friday.
The cumulative count of
Covid-19 patients in the state
has now increased to 3,41,088
while a total of 3,26,451
patients have so far recovered
from the disease. In the state
7338 people have so far lost
their lives to Covid -19. The
recovery percentage from the
disease is now at 95.71 and the
sample positivity rate is at 5.92
per cent in the state. The
authorities collected 25,501
samples in different parts of
the state on Friday.
The department reported
13 new patients from
Dehradun, 11 from Haridwar,
ten from Nainital, seven each
from Udham Singh Nagar
and Almora, six from
Pithoragarh, four from
Rudraprayag, three from
Chamoli, two from
Bageshwar, one each from
Tehri and Uttarkashi on
Friday. No new case was
reported from Champawat
district on the day.
The state now has 1,319
active patients of the disease.
Dehradun district is at top of
the table in the list of active
cases with 474 cases while
Nainital is in the second posi-
tion with 132 active cases.
Bageshwar has 105,
Pithoragarh 106, Pauri 91,
Chamoli 88, Champawat 75,
Udham Singh Nagar 47,
Rudraprayag 45, Haridwar 44,
Uttarkashi 42, Tehri 36 and
Almora 34 active cases of the
disease.
The state reported four
new cases of Mucormycosis
(Black fungus) and one death
from it on Friday. A total of
518 patients of the disease
have so far been reported in
the state out of which 104 have
died. In the ongoing vaccina-
tion drive, the health depart-
ment vaccinated 32,109 peo-
ple in 391 sessions held on
Friday. A total of 9,81,106
people have been fully vacci-
nated so far in the state while
38,79,486 have received the
first dose of the vaccine in the
state.
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The Health and Medical
Education Minister, Dhan
Singh Rawat has said that all
the hindrances in the recruit-
ment process of faculty posi-
tions in the government med-
ical colleges of the state would
be removed.
He asserted that the ser-
vice regulations of the medical
colleges would be amended to
give relaxation in age and
other factors so that the vacant
faculty positions in these col-
leges get filled up. The minis-
ter made these observations
during a review meeting of the
medical education department
on Friday. He said the experi-
enced medical professionals
are not being appointed in the
medical colleges due to the
provision of maximum
recruitment age of 42 years. He
said that the officials of the
department have been asked to
amend service regulations.
In the meeting the minis-
ter directed the Principals of
the Dehradun, Haldwani and
Srinagar medical colleges to
keep 100 beds each reserved for
children during the probable
third wave of the disease. The
minister also asked the officials
to take effective measures to
prevent the spread of delta
plus variant in the state. On a
terse note, the minister asked
the Principals to take special
care to maintain sanitation in
the medical college hospitals
and said that sanitation work-
ers should be appointed from
the work outsourcing agencies.
He said that the foundation
stones of the Pithoragarh and
Haridwar medical colleges
should be laid before August 15
and the Almora and Rudrapur
medical colleges should start
functioning before November
this year.
The advocate general of
Uttarakhand S N Babulkar
also took part in the meeting
to give advice on legal issues.
The secretary medical
education Dr Pankaj Pandey,
Vice Chancellor (VC) HNB
Medical University Dr Hem
Chandra, Chairman of
Uttarakhand Medical Services
Recruitment Board Dr D S
Rawat, additional director
medical education Dr
Ashutosh Sayana and
Principals of government
medical colleges of the state
attended the meeting.
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?=BQ 347A03D=
The members of Lok
Panchayat Jaunsar Bawar sub-
mitted a memorandum to the
Dehradun district magistrate
Ashish Kumar Srivastava to
restrict land transactions by
non-tribal people in the
Jaunsar Bawar region.
According to the member of
Lok Panchayat, Bharat
Chauhan, many people who do
not belong to Jaunsar Bawar
are encroaching on the land of
poor and weak locals of
Jaunsar and occupying them
illegally.
He said that as per the rev-
enue records, many non-trib-
al people settled in Jaunsar in
connivance with the revenue
department during the settle-
ment process in the year 1983-
84. Many cases of land disputes
are even pending for settle-
ment in the court of sub divi-
sional magistrate of Kalsi,
Chakrata, stated Chauhan.
He said that the funda-
mental rights of the locals of
the Jaunsari community who
belong to the category of
scheduled caste (SC) and
scheduled tribes (ST) are being
affected due to excessive inter-
ference of non-tribal people
who do not belong to Jaunsar
Bawar. The members of Lok
Panchayat appealed to the DM
to free the land which has been
allegedly occupied by the out-
siders illegally.
They also requested the
DM to revoke all the leases of
the lands and asked him to
direct the SDM to not allow
any lease on the lands in the
area.
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The high altitude medical
services team of Six Sigma
hospital has successfully com-
pleted an arduous ten day
training programme on moun-
tain rescue and medicine at the
Indo Tibetan Border Police
(ITBP) academy Mussoorie.
The CEO of Six Sigma, Dr
Pradip Bhardwaj said that for
the first time in history the
combat wing of ITBP academy
gave training to a civilian
organisation.
A communiqué from the
Six Sigma said that the inau-
gural session of training was
addressed by the Deputy
Inspector General (DIG)
Brigadier Ramnivas in which
he appreciated the works of Six
Sigma in mountainous areas.
Dr Bhardwaj said that the
high altitude medical services
team of Six Sigma has so far
treated 80000 patients in its dif-
ferent medical camps in remote
mountainous areas.
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?=BQ 347A03D=
Within a week of assuming
charge as the eleventh
and youngest Chief Minister of
Uttarkahand, Pushkar Singh
Dhami left for Delhi on Friday
evening to meet the President,
Prime Minister and various
Union ministers in the nation-
al capital. Earlier in the day, he
held his first Janata Darbar at
the chief minister’s residence
where he heard various public
grievances.
According to the chief min-
ister’s office, Dhami will meet
the President Ram Nath Kovind
and Prime Minister Narendra
Modi apart from various Union
ministers in the national Capital
on Saturday. Dhami is sched-
uled to meet Modi at 11:45 AM
after which he will call upon the
President at 1 PM. At 3 AM, the
chief minister will meet the
Union Home minister Amit
Shah after which he will meet
the Union Defence minister
Rajnath Singh at 5 PM. Later, at
5:20 PM, the chief minister is
scheduled to meet the Union
Heavy Industries minister
Mahendra Nath Pandey after
which he will meet the Union
New and Renewable Energy
minister Rajkumar Singh at 6
PM. Dhami is also expected to
meet other Union ministers
after this. It is pertinent to men-
tion here that Dhami is con-
sidered to have been given a
‘free hand’ to achieve the BJP’s
target for 2022 elections. After
taking oath of office and secre-
cy on July 4, this will be his first
visit to meet the President, PM
and Union ministers in the
national Capital.
Meanwhile, on Friday
morning, Dhami heard public
grievances at the CM residence
in the first Janata Darbar since
assuming charge. Most of the
citizens communicated issues
related to road, drinking water,
health and financial assistance
to the Chief Minister.
Dhami said that the offi-
cials concerned had been
directed to ensure swift redres-
sal of public grievances. He
appealed to the public to derive
the maximum benefit of the
government’s public welfare
schemes. He issued directions
to officials for redressal of most
of the grievances on the spot
while also directing them to
speed up the execution of long
term works.
Dhami said that the special
focus of the state government is
on redressal of public griev-
ances, employment, woman
empowerment and rural devel-
opment.
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The Municipal Corporation
of Dehradun (MCD) is
planning to start imposing
penalties on local residents
and shopkeepers violating the
ban on single-use plastics. With
each Covid-19 wave so far, the
consumption of single-use
plastic has grown in Dehradun
which had declined consider-
ably before the Covid pan-
demic began last year.
Last year, the Uttarakhand
Government lifted the plastic
ban during the pandemic to
provide essential products and
services to the needy like med-
icines, dry ration and food
which caused a rise in the
utilisation of single-use plastic.
Though the government rein-
stated the plastic ban in
February this year, local shop-
keepers, vendors and con-
sumers can be seen using sin-
gle-use plastic every day. In
April, the municipal corpora-
tion launched an anti-plastic
campaign and started taking
action against the violation of
single use plastic ban but it had
to stop after Covid curfew was
implemented in the city. Now,
the corporation is planning to
relaunch the anti-plastic cam-
paign in the city. However, offi-
cial sources informed that the
corporation has to face flak
from local shopkeepers when
MCD takes action against the
violation of plastic ban in mar-
ketplaces right after lockdown
or Covid curfew.
A few weeks ago when a
team of MCD imposed penal-
ties on shopkeepers and ven-
dors for using single-use plas-
tic, the local shopkeepers
became aggravated and called
it harassment of small busi-
nessmen during the Covid cri-
sis. Talking about the anti-
plastic campaign, the chief
municipal health officer, Dr
Kailash Joshi said that markets
have been opened recently
after the government provided
some relaxations in Covid
guidelines.
After raising awareness
among locals against the use of
single-use plastic for some
time, the MCD will start
imposing penalties on plastic
ban violations by the end of this
month, informed Joshi.
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6. Vaccinated and sterilized dogs
cannot be removed by the
municipality, and “If any of the
street dogs is injured or
unwell, it shall be the duty of
the RWA to secure treatment
for such dog by the vets made
available by the MCD or pri-
vately from the funds of the
RWA.”
The court formed a com-
mittee, comprising the
Director of Animal
Husbandry Department or
his nominee, senior officers of
all municipal corporations,
Delhi Cantonment Board and
certain advocates, to imple-
ment the guidelines and asked
it to hold its first meeting
within four weeks. Stating
that there was a need to spread
the awareness of animals’ right
to live with respect and digni-
ty, the court asked the AWBI
to carry out an awareness
campaign in association with
media. Noting that some res-
idents sometimes subjected
street dogs to abusive treat-
ment, because of the mis-
placed belief that they carried
the rabies virus, the judgement
said it was the responsibility of
community residents to get
their dogs annually vaccinat-
ed against rabies.
The learned judge is
absolutely right. There would
have been a massive explosion
of rabies cases in India if
stray dogs carried the rabies
virus in any significant mea-
sure. This has not happened.
Since 2005, the Union
Government’s Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare’s
Central Bureau of Health
Intelligence (CBHI) has been
annually publishing a National
Health Profile for the country.
According to its 2018 edition,
there were 97 cases of human
deaths from rabies country-
wide in 2017.
According to the relevant
preceding annual National
Health Profiles, there were 86
human deaths from rabies in
2016, 113 in 2015, 125 in 2014
and 132 in 2013. Nor were
things much worse earlier,
There, for example, were 386,
365 and 485 deaths from
rabies in 1997, 1998 and 1999
respectively. The number was
486 in 2000 and 488 in 2001.
Further, in its Technical
Report Series 931, the WHO’s
Expert Consultation on Rabies
(Geneva, October 5-8, 2004),
observed, “Mass canine vacci-
nation campaigns have been
the most effective measure for
controlling canine rabies.” The
order in the judgement that
stray dogs should be sterilized
and vaccinated and returned
to the same area and such
dogs could not be removed by
municipalities, will signifi-
cantly bolster the animal birth
control (ABC) programme,
being implemented in India,
and which provides precisely
this. And which is in keeping
with the WHO’s policy. The
Technical Report Series 931,
cited above, states, “Since the
1960s, ABC programmes,
coupled with mass vaccina-
tion, have been advocated as
a method to control urban
street male and female dog
populations and ultimately
human rabies in Asia.”
Dogs are instinctively
friendly towards humans, with
whom their association goes
back the stone age. Konrad
Lorenz, pioneering and glob-
ally-famous scientist on ani-
mal behaviour, who was
awarded the Nobel Prize in
1973, writes in Man Meets
Dog, “The whole charm of the
dog lies in the depth of friend-
ship and the strength of the
spiritual ties with which he has
bound himself to man.”
The judgement goes a
long way in promoting justice
and fair-play to both humans
and their best friends.
(The author is Consulting
Editor, The Pioneer. The views
expressed are personal.)
E@7?F5B=5D4?I?EB:?2
Sir — The UP Government would be
announcing its ' New Population
Policy,2021-30' on 11th July on the occas-
sion of the World Population Day(The
Pioneer,Lucknow, July 10,2021). The new
policy is long overdue as the earlier
PopulationPolicywasformulatedwayback
in the year 2000.
However,thereisagreatneedtoexer-
cise abundant caution in communicating
the provisions of the new policy so that it
causes no misgivings among any section
of population.Sample- the Chief Minister
has ben quoted to say, There is also a lack
of awareness about population in certain
communities.....thereisaneedforcommu-
nity -centric awareness efforts. He further
said, while preparing the new population
policy efforts should be made to maintain
the demographic balance in all the com-
munities. Let the government communi-
cateandpropogatethenewpolicyinaway
that causes no confusion.T
Yashvir Tyagi | Lucknow
1B5G57??4G9D817545BC/
Sir— Armedwithajudicialorderuphold-
ing its case, London-listed Cairn Energy
PLC has identified high-value assets of the
Indian government in US,UK, Canada,
Singapore, Mauritius, France, and
Netherlands for enforcing an arbitration
awardthatwentagainstIndia.Cairnhasgot
afavorableorderfromaFrenchtribunalfor
seizing 20 properties valued at more than
20millioneuros oftheIndiangovernment
inthatcountry.TheUniongovernmenthave
decided contest the French court
order.Tribunal judiciaire de Paris ordered
freezing (through judicial mortgages) res-
identialrealestateownedbythegovernment
in central Paris. The court order affected
some20centrallylocatedpropertiesbelong-
ing to the government and valued at more
than 20 million euros, as part of a guaran-
tee of the debt owed to Cairn Energy
PLC.Oneofthepropertiesisbelievedtobe
India House, which houses Indian stu-
dents.Thegovernmentistryingtoascertain
the facts, and whenever such an order is
received,appropriatelegalremedieswillbe
taken, in consultation with its counsels, to
protecttheinterestsofIndia.India’shearing
of the appeal filed against the $1.2 billion
awardatTheHagueislistedforSeptember
24.Cairnregisteredthearbitrationawardin
many jurisdictions, including the US, the
UK,Canada,Singapore,Mauritius,France
and the Netherlands.
Bhagwan Thadani | Mumbai
6B55295C6?BF?D5C
Sir—Thecultureoffreebiespractisedand
perfected by various political parties in
India, feigning as 'populist schemes', has
largely indoctrinated the rural voters and
has affected a well-rounded welfarist ide-
ology. Bribing the voters thr Tough free-
bies”, July 9). Dole-outs are nothing short
of bribes, and that a government has no
imperium to create private assets out of
public funds. Free distribution of goods is
not a substitute for a truer welfare model
that seeks to achieve growth through
enhancing productive resources in the
economy. Over the years, the freebie cul-
turehasbeenrampantinTamilNadu,with
the two major Dravidian parties of DMK
andAIADMKhavespentcroresoftax-pay-
ers'moneytoprovidefreestuff,andinthe
processlefttheState'srevenue-deficitkeep
soaring.
ThepeculiarnatureofTamilNadupol-
iticsmakesafewthingshardertocompre-
hend.StatesinIndianeedhigherpercapi-
ta income, not higher per capita usage of
free goods and services. The Election
CommissionofIndia,mustprohibitpolit-
ical parties from announcing freebies in
theirelectionmanifestosandtreatthemas
a violation of the model code of conduct.
Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai
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D
elhi High Court has
come out with another
landmark judgement.
In a 86-page verdict,
Justice JR Midha has observed,
“Community dogs (stray/street
dogs) have the right to food and
citizens have the right to feed
community dogs but in exercis-
ing this right, care and caution
should be taken to ensure that it
does not impinge upon the rights
of others or cause any harm, hin-
drance, harassment and nui-
sance to other individuals or
members of the society,” Justice
JR Midha further said in his
judgement that any person with
“compassion for stray dogs can
feed them at the private
entrance/porch/driveway of their
house or any other place not
shared with other residents,” and
that no person can restrict any-
one from feeding dogs until and
unless the same is causing harm
or harassment to them.
Stating that community dogs
had to be fed at areas designat-
ed by the AWBI (Animal Welfare
Board of India) in consultation
with the RWAs (Residents’
Welfare Associations) or MCDs
(Municipal Corporations of
Delhi), the judgement said that
while doing so, the authorities
had to be conscious of the fact
that all community dogs were
territorial beings and must be fed
and tended to at places within
their territory. Also, communi-
ty dogs lived in packs and the
AWBI and RWAs should ensure
that “each ‘pack’ ideally had dif-
ferent designated areas for feed-
ing even if that meant designat-
ing multiple areas in a locality,.”
The court also directed all
law enforcement authorities to
ensure that no harassment or
hindrance is caused to people
feeding street dogs at the desig-
nated spots. It also said that
RWAs or Municipal
Corporations have to ensure
that every community dog in
every area has access to food and
water in the absence of caregivers
or community dog feeders.
It is a comprehensive and
outstanding judgement that cov-
ers a wide range of issues. It is
impossible to summarise it here
but some of the salient points,
including those mentioned
above, need reiteration. One of
these is that dogs have to be ster-
ilized and vaccinated and then
returned to the same area.
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B
eijing’s wolf warrior diplomacy
through its aggressive posturing
is already well established. A
question that baffles many is
how President Xi Jinping has taken over
the Chinese society and economy to
strengthen his reign — something that his
predecessors couldnot think of.
One has to accept that when Xi took
over in 2013, the economy was much bet-
ter than it was previously when Hu Jintao
had taken over. Also, because of Hu’s ini-
tiatives, intellectuals had the freedom to
express their concerns on serious issues,
which they lost when Xi assumed power.
Immediate domestic issues that he faced
were employment generation, accommo-
dating the excess manufacturing output,
environmental degradation, and food
security. The rise of the middle class
added to his woes. At the international
level, initiatives such as ‘March West’, the
OBOR, and ‘circular lending’ through its
debt trap policies were efforts to find solu-
tions. As this is a time-consuming job, it
became pertinent for Xi to control the
raising dissent voices and from there his
journey of throttling the society began.
As a first response, in 2013, at the 18th
Party Central Committee’s Third Plenum,
Xi introduced “social management” to
bring about “law and order” to ensure
“stability”. This led to the establishment
of a National Security Commission, and
later in 2014, Social Credit System (SCS)
which worked hand in glove with one
another. The objectives of these institu-
tionalised governance mechanisms were
to monitor individual behaviours to
ascertain their loyalty to the regime and
party cause so that a “rule of law” could
be established. Whipping followed the
structural framework. For instance, in
2015, Xi Jinping made it mandatory for
all the NGOs in the country to have CCP
party cells that would work in coordina-
tion with the PSB that paved the way for
CCP’s anti-corruption drives. Many lib-
eral NGOs were either shut down or taken
over by the party cadres. In the same year,
Party sacked the editor of the Xinjiang
Daily, Zhao Xinwei, for his “inappropri-
ate” discussions on the policies of the gov-
ernment. Several others such as the
Chongqing party chief, Bo Xilai, and for-
mer Politburo Standing Committee mem-
ber, Zhou Yongkang, were not spared and
removed from their positions so that Xi
could get a clear path.
Second, Xi transformed ‘United Front’
to ‘Great United Front’ and targeted to
broaden the range of party influence in
various sectors of the society. Aiming for
social control, in 2015, CCP convened its
first conference, and ever since then it is
unstoppable. Under this initiative, Xi has
attempted to reach out to the “non- Party
intellectuals” who comprise students,
media professionals, and businesses of
Chinese origin. It aimed to ‘develop
friendship’ through “pairing up” by estab-
lishing linkages between CCP workers
and “non-Party intellectuals” through a
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Congress leader and former
party president Rahul
Gandhi and BJP national pres-
ident JP Nadda on Friday paid
last respects to former
Himachal Chief Minister
Virbhadra Singh who passed
away here on Thursday.
Gandhi, accompanied by
Congress Working Committee
member Rajeev Shukla, laid a
wreath at the mortal remains
of Singh to pay his last respects
to the departed leader at the
state Congress office -- Rajiv
Bhawan. Gandhi later hugged
the late Congress leader's son
Vikramaditya Singh, the
Shimla Rural MLA, to express
his condolences.
Earlier, Nadda accompa-
nied by Chief Minister Jai
Ram Thakur laid a wreath on
Singh's mortal remains at the
Ridge Maidan. Both the lead-
ers also expressed their heart-
felt condolences with Pratibha
Singh, wife of former Chief
Minister and his son
Vikramaditya Singh.
Earlier on July 5, Nadda
had enquired about Singh's
health during his visit to the
hill state. The 87-year-old vet-
eran Congress leader had
breathed his last after pro-
longed illness at Shimla's
Indira Gandhi Medical College
(IGMC) in the wee hours of
Thursday.
On Thursday, Singh's body
was kept at his residence, Holly
Lodge, here for the entire day
for 'antim darshan' while his
body was kept at Ridge Maidan
for the public to pay their last
respects from 9 am to 11.30 am
and later at the state Congress
office from 11.40 am to 1 pm.
A large number of sup-
porters of Virbhadra Singh
had their 'antim darshan' of the
departed leader at both the
places amid chanting of slo-
gans like 'Raja sahab, amar
rahein', 'Jab tak sooraj chand
rahegaa, Raja sahab ka naam
rahega' and 'Raja nahi fakir tha,
janta ki takdeer tha'.
He will be cremated on
Saturday at Rampur, his native
place. A delegation of Congress
leaders will represent party
president Sonia Gandhi at his
cremation. The delegation will
comprise Chhattisgarh CM
Bhupesh Baghel and Congress
treasurer Pawan Kumar
Bansal. Singh, a nine-time
MLA and five-time Member of
Parliament, was Himachal’s
Chief Minister for six terms
since 1983.
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Haryana Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar on
Friday directed the officers
concerned to make the process
of allotment of government
accommodation to the employ-
ees in the state, more trans-
parent.
The Chief Minister while
presiding over the review
meeting of the House
Allotment Policy here said
that employees should get gov-
ernment accommodation
based on their seniority not on
the recommendations they
receive.
He said that the entire
allotment process should be
done transparently. Khattar
directed that an online system
should be developed in which
an employee can get grade-
wise and seniority-wise accom-
modation within the stipulat-
ed period. During the meet-
ing, he took detailed informa-
tion from the officials about the
process that is followed from
inviting online applications for
the allotment to the allocation
of the houses.
The Chief Minister said
that complete data of govern-
ment houses that is available
across the state should be made
available on a single portal so
that the employees can apply
for accommodation as per their
convenience. It was informed
that the work is being done to
provide complete details of the
available government houses to
ensure that details of every
house can be further updated
on one portal.
The Chief Minister was
apprised that data showing the
number of vacant accommo-
dations, type and place will be
uploaded monthly so that
employees are able to select and
apply for the accommodation
as per their requirement.
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Punjab has bagged the top
position in urban sanitation
among all the States as 99.38%
of its Urban Local Bodies sus-
taining ODF status and attain-
ing ODF+, ODF++ status
against 88.18% ULBs in the
country. Out of 163 ULBs of
Punjab, 162 ULBs have been
able to get ODF+ or ODF++
certifications, Local
Government Minister Brahm
Mohindra said on Friday.
The minister said the
process of certification involves
third party assessment for
checking of open defecation,
functionality of Individual,
Public and Community Toilets
and their status of mainte-
nance. All the toilets should be
on google map and there
should be no open defecation.
Mohindra said that if
Punjab is compared to the
neighboring states of Northern
region, as against 99.38% suc-
cessful ODF+, ++ certified
ULBs of the state, the number
of percentage Successful
ODF+, ++ ULBs is 75.40%
(46/61) in Himachal Pradesh,
81.60% (71/87) in Haryana,
88.89% (88/99 in Uttarakhand
(73.75%) 59/80 in Jammu
Kashmir and (80%) 4/5 in
Delhi.
He said that urban Punjab
was also declared ODF on 2nd
October, 2018, when all the
ULBs had achieved third party
certified ODF status which
became possible with trigger-
ing of people those who did not
have household toilets to build
IHHLs, construction and use of
use of Community Toilets and
construction and proper main-
tenance of Public Toilets.
The Local Government
minister said that after all the
Municipal bodies in the coun-
try had been declared Open
Defecation Free, Government
of India has now started assess-
ing the states on the higher
order certification i.e. ODF +
and ODF ++.
He added that in this
process, 4374 Urban Local
Bodies have been assessed
recently by the Ministry of
Housing Urban Affairs for
Open Defecation
F r e e / O D F + / O D F + +
Certification, through the third
party assessment. Across the
Country, 88.18 % ULBs have
achieved ODF+ ODF++ sta-
tus.
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Upping the ante ahead 2022
Punjab assembly polls, the
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
president Sukhbir Singh Badal
on Friday declared to provide
government jobs to the fam-
ilies of Kisan Andolan mar-
tyrs as well as free education
to their children till post-
graduation once the SAD-
BSP alliance comes to power
in the State.
“The present agitation
against the three hatred farm
laws is continuing since the
last seven months. More than
550 farmers have been mar-
tyred during this time. The
SAD-BSP alliance has decid-
ed that once the alliance
came to power in Punjab in
2022, it would look after the
needs of the martyr families,”
said Sukhbir who was cele-
brating his 59th birthday on
Friday.
Sukhbir said that the
farmers, sitting at Delhi bor-
ders, had faced not only
inclement weather including
rain and storms and also
State repression but had con-
tinued their agitation res-
olutely. “We are committed to
ensuring the farmers get their
just dues. While we support
the movement against the
three agricultural laws which
seek to end assured govern-
ment purchase of food grains
as per the minimum support
price, we also consider it our
duty to ensure those who
died while fighting for justice
are given their due,” he said.
“Once we are voted to
power, we will implement
the promises made to martyr
families in the very first
meeting of the State Cabinet,”
he said.
SAD chief said that apart
from government jobs and
free education, the SAD-BSP
Government would also
ensure free medical insurance
of such families. All expens-
es in this regard would be
borne by the Punjab
Government, he added.
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From now on, the owners of
motor vehicles will have to
submit their tax online in
Haryana as the State
Government has decided to
close all the ten tax collection
points for depositing motor
vehicle tax.“Transport
Department had set up tax col-
lection points in 10 districts of
the state under Section 3 of the
Haryana Motor Vehicle
Taxation Act, 2016, which was
notified on September 19, 2016
for collection of motor vehicle
tax from the vehicle owners,”
said an official spokesman.
He said that these tax col-
lection points were set up in the
districts of Gurugram,
Faridabad, Rewari, Jhajjar,
Bhiwani, Sirsa, Jind, Panchkula,
Ambala and Sonipat. Besides
this, vehicle owners were also
given the option to submit
their taxes online, he said.
He further said that after
in-detailed discussions on this
subject, it has now been decid-
ed to close all these ten tax col-
lection points. Now, vehicle
owners can deposit their tax
online only. For this, detailed
guidelines have been given to
all the DTO-cum-Secretary
RTAs of the state so that they
can motivate and spread aware-
ness among vehicle owners for
online submission of tax, he
added.
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Haryana cadre 1982-batch
IAS officer DS Dhesi who
had rejoined the Chief
Minister’s office as Manohar
Lal Khattar’s Chief Principal
Secretary last year, will look
after key government depart-
ments besides being the over-
all incharge of CM's office.
A fresh order has been
issued while re-allocating the
departments to the officers in
the CM's office. The fresh
order will supersede the previ-
ous orders regarding allocation
of departments to the officers
issued in 2020 and 2021.
The Departments have
been allocated to CPSCM DS
Dhesi (IAS retd), PSCM IAS
officer V Umashankar, Advisor
Resource mobilization
Yogender Chaudhary, APSCM
IAS officer Amit Kumar
Agrawal, DPSCM IAS Ashima
Brar, POSD/CM Neeraj
Daftaur, ODS/CM HCS Satish
Kumar, OSD/CM Bhupeshwar
Dayal and OSD/CM HCS
Sudhanshu Gautam
According to the order,
Dhesi will look after all matters
relating to legislative business
including legislative proposals
taken before the Council of
Ministers and issue of
Ordinances, Parliamentary
Affairs, Law and legislative.
He will also look after Citizen
Resource Information, Excise
and Taxation, Irrigation,
General Administration,
Personnel, Administrative
Reforms and Training,
Hospitality and Vigilance,
Home, Criminal Investigation
and Administration of Justice,
Jails, Town and Country
Planning and Urban Estates,
Urban Local Bodies, Industries,
Electronics and Information
Technology, Finance,
Institutional Finance and
Credit Control and Planning.
He will be overall incharge of
CM's office, CM's office estab-
lishment and subject not allot-
ed to any other officer, the
order said.
After retiring as Haryana’s
Chief Secretary in June, 2019,
Dhesi was appointed as chair-
man, Haryana Electricity
Regulatory Commission
(HERC) in August 2019. He
had later resigned and joined as
CPSCM last year in October.
The post of Chief Principal
Secretary to CM was created
for the first time in Haryana.
Meanwhile, PSCM V
Umashankar will look after
the Departments of Renewable
Energy, Revenue,
Rehabilitation and
Consolidation, Science and
Technology, Transport, Mines
and Geology, Civil Aviation
while Principal OSD Neeraj
Daftaur is given the key depart-
ment of Public Relations. IAS
officer Amit Kumar Agrawal is
given Ayush, Health, Medical
Education, Forests and Wildlife
among 10 departments while
IAS Ashima Brar is given 15
departments including
Architecture, Women and
Child Development,
Agriculture, Environment,
Elections among others.
OSD/CM HCS Satish
Kumar is given the charge of
CM announcements, CM relief
fund, Wakf, HRDF and other
sanctions, OSD/CM
Bhupeshwar Dayal will look
after grievance and HCS
Suhanshu Gautam is given
works related to HRMS and
online transfer policy.
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The Special Investigation
Team (SIT), constituted to
investigate sacrilege cases, on
Friday filed the first challan in a
case of desecration of Sri Guru
GranthSahibbeforethecourtof
Judicial Magistrate First Class
(JMIC) Faridkot against six
accused. “The challan has been
presented against six accused
arrested in this case of desecra-
tion pertaining to strewing of
torn pages of Sri Guru Granth
Sahib at Bargari on October 12,
2015, with the next hearing
fixed for July 20,” said SIT head
and IGP Border Range,
Amritsar,SPSParmaronFriday.
The SIT, after informing the
Illaqa Magistrate regarding the
starting of the investigation on
May16,2021,hadarrestedallthe
accused wanted in this case, the
IGP added. It may be recalled
that an FIR No 128, dated
October12,2015,undersections
295,295-A,153-A,201,120-Bof
the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at
Police Station Bajakhana was
registered on the statement of
Bargari’sGurudwaraSahibman-
ager Kulwinder Singh.
Pertinently, this SIT was consti-
tutedunderthechairmanshipof
SPSParmarwithothermembers
being Rajinder Singh Sohal,
AIG/CI Punjab; Lakhbir Singh,
ACP/ERS Amritsar; Inspector
Dalbir Singh, IC CIA Faridkot;
and others, after the handing
overofcasestoPunjabPoliceby
the Punjab and Haryana High
Court.
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The Central Bureau of
Investigation on Friday
conducted searches at 14 resi-
dential and official premises of
the accused including the then
vice chancellor of HNB
Garhwal University JL Kaul and
his then officer on special duty
(OSD) DS Negi in Dehradun,
Srinagar in Uttarakhand and
Noida in Uttar Pradesh, said
officials. Three lockers in dif-
ferent banks were also operat-
ed. Various incriminating doc-
uments pertaining to the case
have been recovered.
According to official
sources, the CBI had earlier
registered a Preliminary
Enquiry (PE) against Kaul and
others on the allegation that the
vice chancellor during his
tenure from 2014 till 2016,
committed certain irregulari-
ties in grant of affiliation to var-
ious colleges/institutes. It was
also alleged that the said pub-
lic servant along with his OSD
and other unknown officials of
HNB Garhwal University,
encouraged extension of affil-
iation to different private insti-
tutes/colleges, in contraven-
tion of the guidelines and reg-
ulations for continuation
and/or extension of existing
affiliation of colleges.
After completion of the
inquiry, six regular cases
against the accused including
the then vice chancellor, his
then OSD, other public ser-
vants, private persons, six pri-
vate institutions etc. were reg-
istered. The investigation is
continuing.
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With the cases of COVID-
19 declining in the
state, Haryana Government
on Friday decided to reopen
the schools from July 16
onwards. However, the stu-
dents who want to continue
with online classes would be
allowed to do so. While the
government and private
schools for class 9th to 12th
will be open from July 16, it
has been decided to open
schools for class 6th to 8th
from July 23.
The decision regarding
reopening schools for classes
1 to 5th will be taken later by
the State Government, stat-
ed an order issued by
Haryana Education
Department on Friday.
In view of the surge in
COVID-19 cases, Haryana
Government had on April
16 ordered closure of all
schools, colleges, coaching
institutions, ITIs, libraries
and training institutes
whether government or pri-
vate in the state. Later, sum-
mer vacation was announced
in schools till June 15.
At present, the students
are attending online classes.
Education Minister
Kanwar Pal Gujjar on Friday
said that after reviewing the
situation, it has been decid-
ed to reopen the schools, An
order in this regard has been
issued to district education
officers and others. They
have been directed to ensure
strict compliance of COVID-
19 appropriate behaviour, he
said.
According to the order
issued, there will be no
mandatory requirement for
students to attend the schools
physically.
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For decades the government
has and still continues to act
against prohibited trade in
controlled substances.
However, for one observing
Uttarakhand even for a couple
of decades, the establishment
would appear to be the suppli-
er of something that is repli-
cating the experience and rela-
tionship between a supplier and
a junkie.
Firstly, without being
philosophical one can state
that it’s not just prohibited
substances which have the
effect of what we call drugs on
the people. A knowledgeable
scientist will tell you how var-
ious human emotions and
actions done to address these
emotions can have effects on
the brain and psychology
which are not very different
than drugs. Development is
one thing which seems to be
the top priority of the govern-
ment and rightly so. People
who have enjoyed benefits of
development are more likely to
progress along with their state
and nation than those who are
deprived. However, it is the
concept, method and damage
resulting from so called devel-
opment which appears to be
replicating the experience of a
substance abuser. In the case of
most prohibited drugs, the
novice gets the initial taste for
free and usually enjoys it
beyond what he or she had
thought enjoyment could be.
Then starts the phase of buy-
ing the substance in search of
that initial euphoria, mostly in
vain. As funds deplete while the
substance abuse takes a men-
tal and physical toll apart from
other damage, the user starts
taking desperate measures to
feed the habit to both relive that
first kick and also to survive
with the addiction. Ethics,
common sense and other
aspects are ignored by the user
who lives only for the next hit
even while observing and even
comprehending at times that
the road he or she is on ends in
destruction with sorrow and
loneliness for company to the
end. The user may know that
health and happiness can be
enjoyed better sans the sub-
stance abuse but is unable to
give it up unless very strong
will power or effective and
corrective action are put to
work. Now, instead of a banned
drug like smack or heroin
place the development model
being followed in Uttarakhand.
The establishment gave the
people a taste, in the beginning
apparently for free. The basics
weren’t bad at all- they were
needed. Roads, infrastructure
and basic facilities are not real-
ly development per se- they are
what is meant to be provided
anyway. However, soon after
the state was formed- the dan-
gerous development model was
put forth. Successive govern-
ments expended resources and
damaged the environment to
do what was not really neces-
sary. For example, instead of
actually ensuring proper traf-
fic management and good pub-
lic transportation, the govern-
ment goes for widening roads
by damaging the environment
only to facilitate more traffic
and assured damage in the
future.
This is because the estab-
lishment seems to work in
tandem with the manufactur-
ers and sellers of vehicles and
other products which are very
useful if used properly but
detrimental if used illogically.
Many thousands of trees have
been cut, the mountains have
been eroded, buildings have
been constructed indiscrimi-
nately and urban planning
along with similar aspects has
long gone for a toss. People
have been directly experiencing
the result of climate change and
environmental destruction in
Uttarakhand. It has affected
lives physically, mentally, cul-
turally and economically in
many ways. However, like a
junkie hoping to relive the ini-
tial euphoria, we continue to be
fooled into supporting destruc-
tive actions with the illogical
hope of benefitting from it.
Does one need to be a rocket
scientist to understand that
the best of roads and other
modern facilities will amount
to nothing if the environment
if irreparably damaged? The
environment is the founda-
tion upon which our present
and future depends but apart
from formal statements and the
usual official actions, little is
being done in Uttarakhand to
prevent environmental damage
and nurture our most valuable
and irreplaceable asset. The
pre-monsoon rains blocked
nearly 200 roads in
Uttarakhand due to landslides
and other factors last month
and this is just a glimpse of
what is in store. The damage
will be much more serious in
the future if we continue as it
is. All is not yet lost, all we need
is to prioritise what is really
important and ensure effective
action. What remains to be
seen is whether we are too
addicted to the ‘development’
drug or whether we still have
sense and volition to do the
needful.
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