- External Affairs Ministers Jaishankar of India and Wang Yi of China will meet in Tajikistan to discuss ways to hasten disengagement at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh. Their talks come at a time when a stalemate persists at three friction points. - The Serum Institute of India will produce the Russian vaccine Sputnik V starting September 2021. They intend to produce over 300 million doses annually. - Poll strategist Prashant Kishor met with Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders, fueling speculation about consolidating the opposition ahead of key upcoming state elections.

1. 20?BD;4
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?=BQ =4F34;78
The Government on Tuesday
issued a fresh warning to
the people not to invite the
third wave of Covid-19 by
flouting all social distancing
norms and crowding at hill sta-
tions and tourist places even as
Uttarakhand cancelled the
Kanwar Yatra in view of the
threat of the pandemic.
The Health Ministry said
that people are talking about
the third wave of the coron-
avirus as casually as a “weath-
er update”, and the “gross vio-
lations” of Covid-appropriate
behaviour that were being seen
in several parts of the country
can nullify the gains made so
far in pandemic management.
A day after the Indian
Medical Association (IMA)
cautioned the Government and
asked it not to allow tourism
activities, pilgrimage and mass
gatherings, the Centre decided
to tread cautiously.
“The third wave won’t
come on its own, but people
will invite it,” the Government
said, echoing the views of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
who in a meeting, a few hours
ago, with the Chief Ministers of
Northeastern States stressed
the importance of adhering to
basic rules - wearing of face
masks when in public, avoiding
large gatherings, and ensuring
vaccination - to prevent a third
wave of the pandemic.
“Steps should be taken to
prevent crowds... We all need
to work together to stop the
third wave of the Covid-19
pandemic,” he added.
The message was
promptly followed by the
Uttarakhand Government
which decided to cancel the
Kanwar Yatra this year, in view
of the outbreak.
The Government’s warning
came amid concerns that 55
districts in India have report-
ed more than 10 per cent case
positivity for the week ending
July 13, while approximately
73.4 per cent of the new Covid-
19 cases reported in July were
from Kerala, Maharashtra,
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh
and Odisha, a sign that the
pandemic is not yet over in the
country.
?=BQ =4F34;78
India and China will discuss
ways to hasten up disen-
gagement at the Line of Actual
Control (LAC) in Ladakh dur-
ing External Affairs Minister
Jaishankar and his Chinese
counterpart Wang Yi’s talks in
Tajikistan on Wednesday.
The bilateral parleys on the
sidelines of the two-day
Shanghai Co-operation
Organisation (SCO) in
Dushanbe come at a time when
a stalemate persists at three
friction points at the LAC in
Eastern Ladakh. The 11th
round of Corps Commander-
level talks in early April did not
yield positive results.
At present, more than one
lakh troops from both the
sides are in an eyeball-to-eye-
ball confrontation at the three
friction points including the
Hot Springs, Gogra and the
Depsang Valley.
The talks between the two
Foreign Ministers may break
the logjam leading to the 12th
round of talks between the two
commanders at the earliest.
Incidentally, the diplomatic-
level talks in the last week of
June between India and China
resolved to hold the military-
level talks as soon as possible,
sources said here on Tuesday.
It will be the second face to
face and one-on-one talks
between Jaishankar and Wang
Yi since the stand-offs started
in early May last year at the
LAC. The last time, the two
leaders had met in Moscow in
September last year during the
Foreign Ministers’ meet of the
SCO countries.
The SCO conclave will pri-
marily discuss the worsening
situation in Afghanistan and
the Taliban controlling large
part of that country.
Jaishankar will not hold bilat-
eral talks with his Pakistani
counterpart Shah Mehmood
Qureshi on the sidelines of the
conference. However, he will
meet Foreign Ministers of other
member countries including
China, sources said.
The main focus of the talks
with Wang Yi will be to find an
amicable and mutually agree-
able solution to disengage and
de-escalate the tension at the
LAC.
India has all along insisted
that disengagement and de-
escalation from the three fric-
tion points is the prerequisite
for normalising ties with each
other.
However, China is dilly
dallying and not agreeing to sit
for the 12th round of parleys.
It wants the discussions to be
held at the local commander
level of the two nations. The
Indian security establishment is
wary of this proposal and is
studying all options, sources
said.
The two countries have so
far pulled back their troops
from only one standoff site at
the Pangong Tso (lake). The
troops from both the sides
returned to their bases from the
face-off sites at the northern
and southern banks of the
Pangong lake in February this
year.
0A270=09HC8Q =4F34;78
After Diclofenac-like
painkillers, nimesulide
drug is becoming a major
scourge for white-rumped vul-
tures in the country, threaten-
ing to wipe out the critically
endangered birds which are
categorised under Schedule I of
Indian Wildlife Protection Act
1972.
Researchers have now
sought a ban on the use of
nimesulide for veterinary pur-
poses. Like Diclofenac, nime-
sulide is used to lessen pain in
animals and humans.
The volume of human for-
mulations should also be reg-
ulated to avoid misuse, they
said after concluding that
nimesulide was responsible for
the death of four white-rumped
vultures in two separate inci-
dents in Gujarat during 2019.
They were found dead below a
roosting site in Sanand. Two
others were found dead below
a roosting site in the Wild Ass
Sanctuary, Dhrangadhra in the
State.
In their study published in
the international scientific jour-
nal, Environmental Science
and Pollution Research, the
researchers said that after post-
mortem examination, a thor-
ough scientific viscera analysis
was conducted at National
Centre for Avian
Ecotoxicology at Sálim
Ali Centre for
Ornithology and
Natural History,
Coimbatore, on the
organs, including kid-
ney, liver, intestine and
gut contents, of these
dead birds.
It was found that
all the white-rumped
vultures were exposed to
nimesulide through carcasses
of cattle they consumed before
death. “Uric acid deposits, as
crystals or powder, were
observed in the internal organs
of all four vultures although the
intensity was different,” said the
team of Kanthan
N a m b i r a j a n ,
S u b r a m a n i a n
Muralidharan,
Aditya Roy
Ashimkumar, all from Division
of Ecotoxicology, SACON, and
Shashikant Jadhav from Jivdaya
Charitable Trust, Ahmedabad.
“Therefore it could be con-
cluded that uric acid depo-
sition observed in the viscera in
all the four vultures during
post-mortem and elevated lev-
els of nimesulide residues in the
organs
and gut
content was
responsible for
the mortality of all
the white-rumped
vultures in Gujarat
during 2019,” they
said.
The population of the
white-rumped vulture in India
as of 2015 was about 6000.
Despite efforts, the popula-
tion of the species is yet to
reach a healthy level.
M o r e o v e r,
while mor-
tality of white-rumped vul-
tures due to diclofenac contin-
ued to be reported in India,
poisoning also made its con-
tribution.
Ban on the use of
diclofenac for veterinary use in
India as early as 2006, and the
reduction in volume of
diclofenac formulation for
human use to restrict mis-
use for veterinary purpose in
2015, has slowed down the
population decline of white-
rumped vulture.
But the population is still at
low levels (5729) in India
unlike Nepal and Pakistan
where the population recovered
subsequent to the ban on
diclofenac, said the study.
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?=BQ :278
Agirl from Thrissur who
was the first to test positive
for the Covid-19 virus in the
country in January 2020, has
again been diagnosed with the
infection.
The District Medical
Officer (DMO) of Thrissur
told reporters that the girl was
diagnosed with Covid-19 dur-
ing a mandatory check-up
before her departure to New
Delhi. “She has not yet been
vaccinated and did not show
any signs of the infection,”
said the DMO.
The girl is a medical stu-
dent studying in Wuhan,
China, the global epicentre of
the pandemic. “She had
returned to India in January
2020 when the situation in
Wuhan had taken a turn for the
worse. At that time she had
shown symptoms of the dis-
ease,” he said.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The Russian vaccine Sputnik
V will be produced at the
manufacturing units of Pune-
based Serum Institute of India
(SII) from September this year.
At present, Hyderabad-based
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, which
was the first to sign a deal with
the Russian manufacturers to
distribute and then locally pro-
duce the vaccine in India, has
made a soft-launch of the doses
in 50 cities and towns across
the country.
However, the SII which is
the world’s largest vaccine
manufacturer by volume is
likely to produce 300 million
doses annually. “The parties
intend to produce over 300 mil-
lion doses of the vaccine in
India per year with the first
batch expected in September
2021,” the Russian Direct
Investment Fund (RDIF) said
in a statement, adding that SII
has received cell and vector
samples from Russia’s
Gamaleya Centre.
The SII is currently man-
ufacturing Covishield, the local
version of the Oxford-
AstraZeneca vaccine, Covovax
(developed by Novavax) and
conducting trials of Codagenix
in the UK. The first batch of the
Sputnik vaccine is expected to
be produced at the SII’s facili-
ties in September, Adar
Poonawalla, CEO of SII, said.
Sputnik V — also known
as Gam-COVID-Vac — was
the first Covid-19 vaccine to be
registered for use in any nation,
and it has since been approved
in 67 countries, including
Brazil, Hungary, India and the
Philippines.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Poll strategist Prashant
Kishor on Tuesday met for-
mer Congress president Rahul
Gandhi at his national Capital
residence. This fuelled specu-
lation about some possible
moves to consolidate the
Opposition ranks ahead of the
Assembly elections in Uttar
Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat and
then seek a way forward for the
Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
AICC sources said senior
party leaders, including
Priyanka Gandhi, KC
Venugopal, and Harish Rawat,
the in-charge of Punjab affairs,
were present during the meet-
ing.
While it was not clear what
the meeting was about, it came
against the backdrop of infight-
ing and turmoil in the
Congress unit in Punjab. The
crisis has intensified in recent
months and with Assembly
elections scheduled for early
next year, leaders in the party
have been getting restless over
the delay in its resolution.
Meanwhile, Rawat
informed the media that
Prashant and Rahul meeting
was not regarding Punjab cri-
sis but it was just a courtesy
visit where it was discussed
current socio-economic and
political condition of the coun-
try.
Rahul is a national leader.
Many leaders meet him and
convey their views. Prashant
didn't meet him to negotiate
something regarding Punjab,
said Rawat also mentioning
that during the next couple of
days some good news will
come from Punjab indicating
that the Congress has finally
chalked out a strategy to final-
ly resolve the party's Punjab cri-
sis.
Last week, Punjab Chief
Minister Captain Amarinder
Singh had met Kishor at
Kapurthala House, the CM's
residence in the national
Capital. Kishor is principal
adviser of the Punjab
Government. Earlier, reports
from Chandigarh said the
Rahul-Kishor meeting was
expected to be the last round of
discussions to give the final
shape to the changes in the
Punjab party unit.
Good news for the Punjab
Congress in next three-four
days, said Rawat after the
meeting.
Notably, Rawat has already
made it clear that Punjab will
get a new PPCC chief and there
will be a few new faces in the
Cabinet of Captain Amarinder
Singh.
Even as there is no confir-
mation regarding what actual-
ly transpired in the meeting, it
is believed that the top leaders
discussed Punjab affairs. It is
believed that the leaders dis-
cussed possible changes and
formulations expected to be
taken to resolve the prevailing
conflict with Punjab Congress
unit.
It is believed that in the
two-and-a-half-hour-long
meeting, a strategy was devised
to end the prolonged infighting
between Captain Amarinder
Singh and his bête noire Navjot
Sidhu.
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New Delhi: The Government
has exempted basic customs
duty on imports of specified
active pharmaceutical ingredi-
ents (APIs)/excipients for
Amphotericin B and raw mate-
rials for manufacturing Covid
test kits.
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?=BQ 347A03D=
In view of the concern raised
from the various quarters on
the Kanwad Yatra and its pos-
sible serious repercussions on
the contagion of Covid-19, the
Uttarakhand Government has
suspended the Yatra this year in
the State. The Yatra is sched-
uled to commence from July 26.
This decision was taken by
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh
Dhami on Tuesday evening
after a brainstorming meeting
with the senior officers. In a
meeting held at the State sec-
retariat, Dhami directed the
secretary, home and director
general of Uttarakhand police
to take necessary steps in this
direction. He said that coordi-
nation with the neighbouring
states should be done on the
issue so that the contagion is
prevented from spreading. The
meeting was attended by chief
secretary SS Sandhu, addition-
al chief secretary Anand
Bardhan, DG Police Ashok
Kumar and others.
Talking to media persons
later, Dhami said that the
Government considering fac-
tors like the Delta variant, the
Government does not wish to
turn Haridwar into a hub of
Covid-19, adding that saving
human life is top priority.
The decision of the
Government to suspend the
Kanwad Yatra assumes signif-
icance since the public opinion
in Uttarakhand was in favour
of banning the Yatra this year.
Continued on Page 2
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?=BQ 347A03D=
The Dehradun municipal
commissioner Vinay
Shankar Pandey directed the
zonal officers of the city to
conduct regular inspections of
their respective areas in
Dehradun and ensure no
waterlogging occurs due to
choked drains. He has also
issued orders to fill potholes
on roads to avoid waterlogging
which might cause road acci-
dents too.
He has directed the offi-
cers to conduct the inspections
on a daily basis and asked
them to send the seniors on-
location pictures.
Unlike the past years, the
Municipal Corporation of
Dehradun (MCD) has
received comparatively few
complaints this year during
the rainy season. It has been
more than a month since the
MCD set up a disaster control
room that operates 24 hours a
day in its premises but it has
received hardly around 25
complaints so far. According
to the operator of the control
room Manish, the corporation
used to get the complaints of
mostly overflowing drains but
since the corporation had
started the cleaning of drains
quite early and thoroughly
across the city, the calls regard-
ing the waterlogging issues are
quite less.
We had received about
100 complaints during this
time the last year but we have
got only 25 this time. Most of
the complaints we have
received so far are about fall-
en trees or broken branches of
big trees which are mostly
from the Rajpur area, said
Manish. However, he added
that since the rainy season has
just started, it is possible that
MCD might receive more
complaints in the coming days.
0XQLFLSDOFRPPLVVLRQHURUGHUV
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?=BQ 347A03D=
To prevent people from
dumping garbage in
drains, Rispana and Bindal
rivers, the Dehradun district
magistrate Ashish Kumar
Srivastava directed the
Municipal Corporation of
Dehradun (MCD) to install
CCTV cameras at such loca-
tions.
According to the DM,
garbage thrown in drains and
rivers causes waterlogging
issues in the city due to which
water enters the homes of
nearby residents.
Srivastava has asked the
MCD to install the CCTV
cameras and take legal action
after identifying the culprits.
Besides this, the DM also
informed that Mussoorie
Dehradun Development
Authority (MDDA) is also
working on installing nets
over such drains and parts of
Rispana and Bindal rivers
where people mostly tend to
throw garbage.
On this, officials from
MDDA informed that about
Rs 90 lakh will be spent on
this plan.
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From Page 1
The experts have warned
that if held, the Kanwad Yatra
could cause a spike in the con-
tagion of Covid 19 in the state.
Some of them have specifical-
ly said that amid the looming
spectre of a third wave of the
disease, the Kanwad Yatra
could prove to be a super
spreader event five times more
dangerous than the Kumbh
Mela held in Haridwar in the
month of April. On Monday
the Indian Medical Association
(IMA) too had asked the gov-
ernment to suspend the Yatra
this year.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The Women Empowerment
and Child Development
(WECD) department has sent
four Nepalese women back to
Nepal to live with their fam-
ilies with the help of Help
Cross Trust and Nepal based
organisations.
These four women were
living in Balika Niketan and
Women Welfare and
Rehabilitation Centre in
Dehradun for a period of
about four to 10 years.
According to the WECD min-
ister, Rekha Arya, the depart-
ment decided to send the
four women back to Nepal
after the information about
the families of these women
was gathered with the help of
Help Cross Trust and Nepal
based organisations. She also
instructed the women welfare
officials to make continuous
efforts to connect girls and
women in various Balika
Niketan and other women
homes across the State and
directed them to take care of
them till then like family
members.
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Chief Minister Pushkar
Singh Dhami said that the
state government will com-
plete all tasks within a fixed
time period for which the plan
has been prepared.
Though some works may
get delayed due to the rains, the
government orders for all
works will be issued by August
15.
The stalled workers will be
taken forward swiftly. He said
this in a meeting of the office
bearers of the Bharatiya Janata
Party cells here on Tuesday.
Dhami said that Kanwad
Yatra is part of Sanatan culture
but the life of the general pub-
lic comes first. The
Government is focusing on
how to prevent the spread of
Covid-19. Referring to the cells
of the party, the Chief Minister
said that the Morchas are
guardians of the development
works and that they have to
play an important role now.
“Our identity is as workers of
the party and to maintain our
identity we have to do the work
of the party,” he added.
Earlier, the BJP state pres-
ident Madan Kaushik said that
office bearers of all the party’s
cells will spend 10 days a
month in their respective areas.
All programmes of the party
have been finalised and accord-
ing to this the responsibility of
the cells has also been fixed. He
said that all the Morchas had
done good work during the
Covid pandemic serving the
general public.
Stating that the party cells
did good by holding blood
donation camps, distribution of
masks and sanitisers, facilitat-
ing oxygen cylinders, hospital
beds and tasks related to vac-
cination, he said that now their
role in the election will be
decided.
He stressed that all have to
take the party’s slogan of young
leadership and 60 plus seats to
the common people. The BJP
state general secretary
(Organisation) Ajey informed
the office bearers about the
scheduled programmes of the
party in the coming months.
2]]h`cde`SVWZ_ZdYVUhZeYZ_deZaf]ReVUeZ^V+4
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The State Health
Department reported only
44 new cases of the novel
Coronavirus (Covid-19) and
144 recoveries from the disease
in Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
No death from Covid-19 was
reported on the day. However
10 backlog deaths were report-
ed from Ranikhet of Almora
district on the day.
The cumulative count of
Covid-19 patients in the state
has now increased to 3,41,274
while a total of 3,27,112
patients have recovered from
the disease so far. In the state
7351 people have lost their lives
to Covid -19 till date. The
recovery percentage from the
disease is now at 95.85 and the
sample positivity rate is at 5.82
per cent in the state. The
authorities collected 24,576
samples in different parts of the
state on Tuesday.
The department reported
11 new patients from
Dehradun, eight each from
Haridwar and Almora, five
from Nainital, four from
Udham Singh Nagar, and three
from Uttarkashi, two each from
Champawat and Pauri and one
from Pithoragarh on Tuesday.
No new cases of the disease
were found in Bageshwar,
Chamoli, Rudraprayag and
Tehri districts on the day.
The state now has only 819
active patients of the disease.
Dehradun district is at top of
the table in the list of active
cases with 267 cases while
Chamoli is in the second posi-
tion with 85 active cases.
Nainital has 78, Haridwar 65,
Udham Singh Nagar 56,
Pithoragarh 53, Pauri 46,
Rudraprayag 45, Uttarkashi 38,
Champawat 36 , Tehri 31,
Almora 11 and Bageshwar
eight active cases of disease.
The state reported four
new cases of Mucormycosis
(Black fungus) on Tuesday. A
total of 530 patients of the dis-
ease have so far been reported
in the state out of which 106
have died.
In the ongoing vaccination
drive, the health department
vaccinated 29,486 people in 370
sessions held on Tuesday.
A total of 10,20,087 peo-
ple have been fully vaccinated
so far in the state while
39,37,115 have received the
first dose of the vaccine in the
state.
RYLGQHZFDVHV
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In view of the better perfor-
mance of Rudraprayag and
Bageshwar districts in the
ongoing vaccination drive, the
state government has directed
the authorities to achieve the
target of 100 percent vaccina-
tion of these districts as soon
as possible.
In a meeting of the
National Health Mission
(NHM) held at the Vidhan
Sabha secretariat on Tuesday
the Health minister Dhan
Singh Rawat said that the vac-
cination drive should be expe-
dited. He said Bageshwar and
Rudraprayag districts have
been asked to achieve 100 per-
cent vaccination as soon as pos-
sible so that they create a
unique record in the country.
In the meeting the minister
said that district level conven-
tions of the public representa-
tives should be organised so
that awareness about the dif-
ferent schemes of central and
state governments concerning
health is created.
Rawat announced that
recruitment in 1865 posts of
doctors, Ayush doctors, ANM,
staff nurses and para medical
staff under the NHM would be
made.
He directed the officials to
complete the required depart-
ment formalities on recruit-
ment on these posts. He said
that health, sanitation and nutri-
tion committees should be set
up at village level to strengthen
the health infrastructure. It
would also help in preparation
of schemes at the village level.
The meeting was attended by
the health secretary Amit Singh
Negi, mission director NHM
Sonika, director NHM Dr Saroj
Naithani, officer in charge Dr V
S Tolia and others.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The pandemic of the Covid-
19 has failed to make much
of a dent in income of the state
government from sale of liquor
this year. In fact the excise
department of Uttarakhand
has achieved 114 per cent of the
revenue target for financial
year 2021-22. The department
had a revenue target of Rs 2051
Crore for FY 2021-22 against
which it has collected Rs 2267
Crore. It is pertinent to men-
tion here that the revenue tar-
get of the department was
reduced this year by the gov-
ernment.
The above mentioned
information was provided by
the officials during a review
meeting of the excise depart-
ment chaired by the cabinet
minister Yashpal Arya on
Tuesday. In the meeting, the
minister directed the officers to
increase enforcement activities
against the illicit liquor trade.
He also held elaborate discus-
sion on the reorganisation of
the department structure so
that enforcement activities are
increased.
The minister took stern
note of the fact that the
department was not able to
recover Rs 93 Crores in the last
four years. He said that the
responsibility for it should be
fixed and it should be exam-
ined what action apart from
issuing notices were taken by
the officials concerned for
recovery.
Arya said that district level
officers responsible for the lax-
ity should be identified and
action should be taken against
them. The minister was told
that 245 posts of the depart-
ment out of sanctioned 626 are
lying vacant. He was further
informed that recruitment req-
uisition for ten excise inspec-
tors has been sent to the com-
mission.
The minister directed that
the vacant posts of general
and backlog categories should
be filled.
On Bajpur distillery, Arya
said that its quota of Indian
Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL)
should be increased as it would
help in taking the distillery out
of losses.
The meeting was attended
by secretary, excise, Sachin
Kurve, Additional commis-
sioner, administration Udai
Singh Rana, Additional com-
missioner, Headquarters A R
Semwal, Joint commissioner B
S Chauhan, Ramesh Singh and
T K Pant.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Tourism and Culture
Minister Satpal Maharaaz
has directed officials to fill
vacant positions in the two
departments. He further said
that the grant provided to peo-
ple of Uttarakhand who under-
take the Kailash Mansarovar
Yatra will be increased from Rs
25,000 per person to Rs 50,000.
This minister said this while
chairing a review meeting of the
two departments here on
Tuesday. On being informed
about the details of vacant posts
in the department, the minister
directed officials to soon fill 126
vacant posts in the Tourism
department and 31 vacant posts
in the Culture department.
Maharaaz informed that the
Uttarakhand government will
now double the grant to people
of the state undertaking the
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra from
Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 each. He
said that the Ministry of
Tourism had approved Rs 34.78
crore for the development of
infrastructure facilities on the
Kedarnath route under the
Prasad scheme, which aims to
promotereligioustourisminthe
state. So far, an amount of Rs
27.83crorehasbeenreleasedfor
the work. Along with this,
administrativeapprovalhasbeen
received on DPR of Rs 54.35
croreforthedevelopmentworks
in Gangotri and Yamunotri
under the Prasad scheme. He
furtherinformedthat135places
had been developed under var-
ious tourist circuits including 77
in Garhwal and 58 in the
Kumaon region.
Tourism secretary Dilip
Jawalkar said that amidst the
rapidly decreasing cases of
Covid-19, work is being done
expeditiouslytobringtourismin
Uttarakhand back on track.
This will strengthen the econo-
my and increase employment
opportunities in the State.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Aderogatory comment made
by one of the state
spokespersons of the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) which is
trying to make its presence felt
in the political landscape of
Uttarakhand has given an
opportunity to both BJP and
Congress to attack the party.
Launching an attack on the
AAP, the media in chargeofBJP,
Manveer Singh Chauhan said
that the AAP spokesperson has
compared the people of
Uttarakhand with hungry dogs
which underlines the attitude of
AAP. He said that AAP which
changes its
colour like a
c h a m e l e o n
does not
understand
people of
Uttarakhand
and the state.
Chauhan said
that the brave
people of
Uttarakhand
haveparticipat-
ed in the free-
dom struggle
and given their lives to protect
the motherland but have never
compromised on their honour
and dignity. He said that AAP
should submit an immediate
and unconditional apology to
the people of Uttarakhand for
the comment of its spokesper-
son. The Uttarakhand Congress
too has castigated the AAP for
what it termed a highly deroga-
tory comment of its spokesper-
son. In a joint statement the
spokesperson of Uttarakhand
Congress R P Raturi and
Pratima Singh said that state-
ment of AAP spokesperson
Uma Sisodia is very unfortunate
and deplorable. They said that
on one hand Arvind Kejriwal is
trying to impress the simple and
innocent people of Uttarakhand
bymakingfalsepromisesandon
theotherhandthespokesperson
of his party is making such a
derogatory remark about the
people of the state. Raturi said
that Sisodia has no knowledge
about the people of the state as
one would not find even a sin-
gle person in the country who
is a native of Uttarakhand and
is engaged in begging. The
Congress also demanded that
the AAP should submit an
immediate apology to the peo-
ple of the state for the unfortu-
nateremarkof itsspokesperson.
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?=BQ 347A03D=
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)
leader colonel (retd) Ajay
Kothiyal said that the concept
of summer and winter capitals
in one state is not a practical
concept. Gairsain which is
currently the summer capital
of the state should be the per-
manent capital of
Uttarakhand. He also said that
he will contest the Assembly
election from Gangotri con-
stituency during an online
interaction with The Pioneer
on Tuesday.
Kothiyal said, “Two capi-
tals in one state has various
drawbacks. We believe that
being a mountain state,
Gairsain should have been
made the permanent capital of
Uttarakhand. We are working
out on it and planning how all
important departments should
be built within a radius of 15
kilometres of Bharadisain in
Gairsain. An architect with us
is preparing a sand model for
this purpose.” On being asked
if AAP will make Gairsain the
permanent capital if elected to
office, he said that there is no
doubt that Gairsain should be
the permanent state capital.
Regarding his electoral plans
he recalled that when the then
chief minister Tirath Singh
Rawat was considering con-
testing the Assembly bypoll
from Gangotri, AAP had
decided to field him from
there. “It is now decided that
I will contest the Assembly
election from Gangotri con-
stituency.”
He recalled his experi-
ence of working on the
Kedarnath reconstruction pro-
ject after the 2013 disaster as
the then principal of the
Nehru Institute of
Mountaineer. He said that the
masterplan prepared for
Kedarnath is good and takes
into consideration all the
important aspects. However, at
times the execution does not
seem to be swift enough, he
added.
On being asked about how
he will maintain his army
character while immersing
himself in mainstream politics,
Kothiyal said that while in the
army, he fought a known
enemy while in politics the
enemy is masked. “The char-
acter developed and tested
during my army service is
with me. Politics is challeng-
ing but if I make false promis-
es, become a yes man or
become corrupt and say build
a hotel in Goa, I will not be
able to look people in the eye
as I do now,” he said. On the
question of why people should
vote for AAP he said that dur-
ing his public interactions in
the mountainous regions,
most people had blamed the
two national parties for the
status of health, education
and employment in the state.
He said, “The AAP govern-
ment has delivered on these
issues in Delhi and I have also
proved myself during my work
in Kedarnath and with my
Youth Foundation- which has
trained youths who are now in
the army.”
Regarding the recent
announcements made by
Delhi CM and AAP national
convenor Arvind Kejriwal in
Dehradun regarding electric-
ity, Kothiyal said that these
were not populist measures
but obligations which should
be fulfilled by a government.
“The government must ensure
clean air, drinking water and
electricity to encourage people
to become good citizens.
There are no free lunches,
AAP is providing facilities in
Delhi within the annual bud-
get. We have estimated the
approximate cost of providing
upto 300 units of electricity
free in Uttarakhand. We will
promise only what is in our
hands, what can be facilitated
within the budget.”
On being asked how AAP
will face BJP and Congress
with their comparatively
stronger organisation, he said
that though it will be chal-
lenging, the AAP had won
against these two national
parties in Delhi and proved
itself capable. Addressing the
people of Uttarakhand, he
said, “I entered politics after
my army service on seeing that
the government can do good
work for the people.
Irrespective of what is said and
projected, the mountainous
regions of Uttarakhand are in
a bad shape. We want you to
trust us, we need your support.
We will share our vision with
you and bring it on the
ground.”
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The Haridwar police and
STF jointly cracked the
Haridwar jewellery shop heist
and arrested eight accused
including the leader of the
notorious Tau gang. The police
recovered more than half of the
stolen items. The Tau gang is
wanted in Odisha, Delhi,
Punjab, West Bengal, Madhya
Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat and
other states for various crimes.
Haridwar senior superin-
tendent of police Senthil
Avoodai Krishna Raj S
informed that Morotara jew-
ellers in Jwalapur area was
robbed by armed men on July
8. The police formed 10 teams
to solve the case swiftly. On July
11, the police teams managed
to arrest three accused in the
case and recovered firearms, 11
silver idols and more than Rs
two lakh cash from them.
Interrogating them, the police
learnt about the identities of the
five other accused who were
arrested within 72 hours. These
include the gang leader Satish
Chaudhry and a former police-
man Sanjay. They were arrest-
ed from the Khatauli border.
The police recovered about
1.3 kilogrammes of gold orna-
ments, six kilogrammes of sil-
ver ornaments, about 10 lakh
cash and four firearms. Two
accused in the case are still
absconding.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
Reviewing the Covid-19 sit-
uation in the North-
Eastern States with their Chief
Ministers, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Tuesday
said that it needs to be under-
stood that the “third wave will
not come on its own” and yet
again strongly cautioned
against ‘crowding at hill sta-
tions’ without observing prop-
er precautions. The PM asked
the North Eastern States, which
are witnessing a surge in Covid
cases, to ensure a quick com-
pletion of setting up of 150 oxy-
gen plants in the region.
Modi, who will also meet
Chief Ministers of Southern
States on July 16 to discuss
Covid-19 situation there, said
that the main question in our
mind should be how to prevent
the third wave.
Intriguingly, amidst the
Prime Minister’s appeal for
observing high caution, Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi
Adityanath had allowed per-
mission to ‘Kanwar Yatra’ from
July 25 which will cross neigh-
bouring states ,including
Uttarakhand that will go to
polls along with UP, early next
year. However, the Kanwar
Yatra was on Tuesday can-
celled by the Uttarakhand
Government.
The Prime Minister said in
the meeting that experts are
repeatedly warning against
“carelessness and crowding” as
they can lead to “massive
surge in cases.” He strongly
advocated preventing avoid-
able crowding and rejected the
argument that people are
wanting to enjoy in hill sta-
tions post-second-Covid-19
wave.
Noting the “fast mutating
nature of the virus”, the Prime
Minister advised strict moni-
toring of the mutation and
keeping track of all variants.
He informed the meet that
experts were studying the
mutations and their impact. In
such a scenario, prevention
and treatment are critical, said
the Prime Minister.
Emphasising covid appro-
priate behaviour, Modi said
utility of physical distancing,
mask, vaccine is clear.
Similarly, strategy of testing
tracking and treatment is a
proven strategy.
The Prime Minister
expressed his worry over the
growing number of cases in
“some districts” and stressed
the need to catch these signals
and take strict actions at the
micro level.
He advocated the use of
micro containment protocol in
dealing with the situation and
asked to make full use of the
experience and best practices
gathered over the last one and
half years in this regard.
Chief Ministers of
N a g a l a n d , T r i p u r a ,
Sikkim,Meghalaya,Mizoram,A
runachal Pradesh, Manipur
and Assam attended the vir-
tual meeting and briefed the
Prime Minister about the
progress of vaccination in
their states and steps that are
being taken to take vaccines to
far flung areas. They gave an
account of improvement in
medical infrastructure to bet-
ter tackle Covid cases and the
support lent through the PM
CARES Fund.
The Prime Minister
informed the Chief Ministers
that hundreds of oxygen plants
were being established in the
country through PM-CARES
and Northeast too got about
150 plants.
The Prime Minister
requested the Chief Ministers
to complete the process of
establishing these O2 plants
quickly and underlined the
need to establish temporary
hospitals due to the geograph-
ical situation of the northeast.
Union Home Minister
Amit Shah talked about the
reduction in the overall daily
number of cases but also point-
ed out that some areas of the
country are witnessing high
positivity rates.
The Health Secretary gave
an overview of the Covid cases
in the country and discussed
the high positivity rate in some
North-East States.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
The Centre on Tuesday
declared September 11 as
the new exam date for NEET
PG- 21. Previously, the exam-
ination for postgraduate
courses was to be held in
January, but was postponed to
April and then to August due
to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The date for PG exam
came a day after the new
exam date of September 12
was announced for under-
graduate (NEET-UG) 2021
exam. Making an announce-
ment in this regard, new
Union Health Minister
Mansukh Mandaviya tweeted,
“We have decided to conduct
#NEET Postgraduate exam
on 11th September, 2021. My
best wishes to young medical
aspirants!”
The NEET-PG 2021 is
the eligibility-cum-ranking
examination for admission to
various MD/MS/PG Diploma
courses for the academic year
2021. The examination saw
almost 2 lakh registrations
this year.
Amidst the postponement
of NEET PG, the Centre
announced that medical
interns who were waiting to
take the examination would be
deployed in Covid manage-
ment duties, in a bid to reduce
the strain on healthcare work-
ers and address the issue of
availability of sufficient med-
ical personnel.
The Centre had also
announced that final year
MBBS students would be uti-
lized in teleconsultation and
for monitoring mild Covid
cases under the supervision of
their faculty.
This delay in examina-
tions implies the loss of
almost an entire year for post-
graduate doctors to enter and
serve in the medical work-
force. Candidates may visit
the official website
https://nbe.edu.in/ for infor-
mation about admit card
issuance, eligibility for exam-
ination, centre for examina-
tion and other relevant
updates, according to an offi-
cial in the Ministry.
The NTA has opened the
registration window for reg-
istration to NEET UG 2021
exam. Education Minister
Dharmendra Pradhan on
Monday announced the new
exam dates for NEET-UG
2021 exam. As per the latest
announcement, the exam will
be held on September 12.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Hyderabad-based Bharat
Biotech on Tuesday said
that it expects to receive
emergency use listing (EUL)
for its Covid-19 vaccine,
Covaxin, from the World
Health Organisation (WHO)
very soon.
“The review process has
now commenced with the
expectation that we will
receive EUL from WHO at
the earliest,” Bharat Biotech
stated in an official release.
“All documents required
for Emergency Use Listing
(EUL) of Covaxin have been
submitted to WHO as of 9
July.”
Covaxin, India’s first fully
indigenously made Covid-19
vaccine, has overall efficacy of
77.8 percent, Bharat Biotech
had announced on 3 July.
The final-phase (phase 3)
clinical trial results released
by the company also indicat-
ed that the vaccine was 65.2
percent effective against the
Delta variant of the coron-
avirus.
WHO’s EUL assesses the
quality, safety and efficacy of
Covid-19 vaccines, as well as
their risk management plans
and programmatic suitabili-
ty, such as cold chain require-
ments.
The EUL is a risk-based
procedure for assessing and
listing unlicensed vaccines,
therapeutics, and in-vitro
diagnostics, with the ulti-
mate aim of expediting the
availability of these products
to people affected by a pub-
lic health emergency.
The assessment is per-
formed by a product evalua-
tion group, composed by reg-
ulatory experts from around
the world, and a Technical
Advisory Group (TAG),
which is in charge of per-
forming the risk-benefit
assessment for an indepen-
dent recommendation on
whether a vaccine can be
listed for emergency use and,
if so, under what conditions.
WHO’s Emergency Use
Listing (EUL) is a prerequi-
site for COVAX Facility vac-
cine supply.
It also allows countries to
expedite their own regulato-
ry approval to
import and administer Covis-
19 vaccines.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The southwest monsoon
covered the entire country,
including rain-starved Delhi,
on Tuesday — a delay of five
days from the normal date of
July 8. With this, the monsoon
has taken 40 days to complete
its onset phase, which saw a
mix of very early arrivals over
south and central India
regions and a highly delayed
arrival over north and north-
west India.
“Finally Monsoon Rains
over Delhi! Even though mon-
soon conditions were prevail-
ing last 2-3 days,
@Indiametdept was waiting
for these rains to declare mon-
soon onset. In the last 2 days,
it rained everywhere sur-
rounding Delhi, except Delhi,”
Ministry of Earth Sciences
secretary Madhavan Rajeevan
tweeted.
“The monsoon has arrived
in Delhi,” senior IMD scientist
K Jenamani said after a spell of
rains drenched parts of south
Delhi on Tuesday morning.
Mahesh Palawat of Skymet
Weather, a private forecasting
agency, said the monsoon
made a “weak onset” over
Delhi and only patchy rainfall
is predicted in the city over the
next three days.
The arrival of the mon-
soon is announced based on
factors such as wind speed,
consistency of rainfall, inten-
sity, and cloud cover. The
two-week break by monsoon
has led to a deficient monsoon
in places like Gujarat,
Haryana, and Punjab which
are the main sowing areas.
In 2002, the monsoon had
covered Delhi on July 19.
There have been several
instances when the monsoon
covered the country very late.
For example, in 2002, it
covered the entire country
only by August 15.
The date set for the arrival
of monsoons in Delhi is June
27 and this is the first time in
almost two decades that it has
been delayed by 16 days.
Normally, monsoon reaches
Delhi by June 27 and covers
the entire country by July 8.
Last year, the wind system
had reached the capital on
June 25 and covered the entire
country by June 29.
The weather department
has had a tough time fore-
casting the advancement of
monsoon over Delhi and
north west India this year.
After several wayward
forecasts, the IMD on
Monday acknowledged that
“such type of failure by
numerical models in the pre-
diction of monsoon over the
capital is rare and uncom-
mon”.
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The Delhi High Court on
Tuesday restrained
activist Saket Gokhale from
posting defamatory or scan-
dalous tweets against former
diplomat Lakshmi Puri or
her husband, Union
Minister Hardeep Singh
Puri, observing that reputa-
tions nurtured over years of
selfless service and toil may
crumble with a thoughtless
barb.
In an interim order, the
High Court directed
Gokhale to immediately
delete from his Twitter
account all tweets against
Puri, saying the damage that
she and her husband have
suffered is apparent but it is
one of the unavoidable pit-
falls of access to social media
platforms.
Justice C Hari Shankar
also said if Gokhale fails to
comply with the directions
within 24 hours of the order,
Twitter shall take down the
tweets made against Puri,
former Assistant Secretary-
General at the United
Nations. Gokhale, in his
tweets on June 13 and 26
made reference to certain
property purchased by Puri
in Switzerland and
also referred to her hus-
band.
The court passed the
order on a defamation suit
filed by Lakshmi Puri seek-
ing Rs 5 crore damages from
Gokhale, and a direction
that he deletes the tweets. “It
is an unfortunate truism, of
human nature – which forms
subject matter of philo-
sophical debate since ages –
that we prefer brickbats to
bouquets. Criticism always
makes for better press than
praise, and the more vitriolic
the criticism, the better,”
the court said in its 22-page
verdict.
The exponential fashion
in which social media plat-
forms have evolved, has pro-
vided fertile soil for the
growth and mushrooming of
this unfortunate human ten-
dency, it said. The court
said reputations, nourished
and nurtured over years of
selfless service and toil, may
crumble in an instant; one
thoughtless barb is suffi-
cient.
In her suit, filed through
Karanjawala and
Company, Puri alleged that
Gokhale has made false and
factually incorrect, per-se
defamatory, slanderous and
libelous statements/ impu-
tations against her and her
family.
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With the growing strategic
importance of the
Indian Ocean and China flex-
ing its muscle in the region,
the Government may clear a
long pending proposal to have
a National Maritime Security
Coordinator.
A retired or serving naval
officer of the rank of Vice
Admiral will man the post
and ensure seamless synergy
between all stakeholders
responsible for maritime
security.
The need for having a
Coordinator is all the more
urgent in the aftermath of the
Mumbai terror attacks in 2008
when the terrorists infiltrat-
ed into the city from sea
routes.
The proposal for such a
post was first mooted in 2000
by the Kargil Review
Committee. However, it did
not take off.
The defence ministry has
now firmed up the proposal
and will shortly seek the nod
from the government, sources
said here on Tuesday.
The security coordinator
will head the National
Maritime Commission
(NMC) — which will
coordinate with all organisa-
tions such as the Indian Navy,
the Indian Coast Guard
(ICG), the ports and the ship-
ping ministries — and is like-
ly to report to the National
Security Advisor (NSA), they
said.
The Kargil Review
Committee had recommend-
ed formation of an apex
body that would manage the
country’s maritime affairs by
enforcing linkages between
the Indian Navy, the ICG
and other ministries and
departments of the state gov-
ernments or the central gov-
ernment.
The Indian Ocean, con-
sidered the backyard of the
Indian Navy, is critical for
India’s strategic interests.
China has been making con-
certed efforts to increase its
presence in the region.
The Indian Navy has been
ramping up its presence in the
Indian Ocean to keep a hawk-
eyed vigil over Chinese activ-
ities.
It established the
Information Fusion
Centre-Indian Ocean Region
(IFC-IOR) in 2018 to effec-
tively keep track of the ship-
ping traffic as well as other
critical developments in the
region under a collaborative
framework with like-minded
countries.
Besides this, security of
the 7,000 km long coastline
and more than two million
kms of Exclusive Economic
Zone(EEZ)is also crucial for
the Indian security establish-
ment.
Moreover, over 80 per
cent of Indian trade comes
through the sea and ensuring
its security is vital.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The Dominica High Court
has granted special bail to
fugitive diamantaire Mehul
Choksi for certain medical treat-
ment and he will be required to
return to capital Roseau only
after being certified by a neu-
rologist that he is fit to stand
trial for an illegal entry case
before a Dominica magistrate’s
court.
The bail to Choksi is being
viewed as a setback to India
where he was wanted in con-
nection with the C13,500 crore
PNB credit fraud case.
The Caribbean Court
granted him bail on the condi-
tion that he furnishes $10,000 to
travel to Antigua to seek med-
ical treatment that is not avail-
able in Dominica.
The decision to grant bail to
Choksi, 62, came late on
Tuesday when High Court
Judge Justice Bernie Stephenson
approved a Consent Order stat-
ing that consideration was given
to Choksi’s health which is on
the decline and his need to
access medical services overseas,
Dominia Online, Dominica
News Online reported.
Choksi was charged in
Dominica for illegal entry to
which he pleaded not guilty.
Choksi has been a patient at the
Dominica China Friendship
Hospital (DCFH) since May 29,
2021, as he is bleeding in the
brain among other medical
conditions, the report said.
2W^ZbXVTcbb_[QPX[
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8]SXPbdUUTabbTcQPRZ
?=BQ =4F34;78
Responding to an article
published in The Pioneer
dated July 13 under the title
“India’s Panama paper on
shell firms, tax loopholes gath-
er dust” involving 1.5 GB
Data leakage of legal and tax
consultancy firm Nishith
Desai Associates, Nishith
Desai on Tuesday said that
“there is absolutely no ille-
gality in anything that we or
our clients have done”.
In an email to The
Pioneer, Desai claimed that
the foreign funds mentioned
in the report are all globally
renowned funds who pool
funds from different juris-
dictions for investment in
portfolio companies after
doing thorough KYC and after
compliance with applicable
laws.
“There is absolutely no
illegality in anything that we
or our clients have done. They
are all globally renowned
funds who pool funds from
different jurisdictions for
investment in portfolio com-
panies after doing thorough
KYC and after compliance
with applicable laws. They
need a neutral jurisdiction for
pooling vehicles which pro-
vides flexibility in terms of
enforceability of contracts,
simplified corporate laws,
robust bilateral investment
protection treaty with India,
etc.
All investors in these
pooling vehicles disclose and
pay taxes in their home juris-
dictions including in India as
required by law.
“The Supreme Court of
India has upheld validity of
use of jurisdictions such as
Mauritius for investment into
India. It’s a public knowledge
that even Unit Trust of India
(a Government of India
undertaking) had legitimate-
ly used Guernsey to pool
global investors for mobilising
investments in India. Now,
India has set up Gujarat
International Financial and
Technology City (GIFT) to
provide tax neutrality and
actively promotes global asset
managers to set up funds
there. As has been noted by
the Supreme Court, India has
greatly benefited by increased
flow of foreign investment
from these funds,” said Desai
accusing whistle blower
Pankaj Jain of tarnishing his
reputation and illegally access-
ing his client information.
“The Court has already
issued restraint orders from
sharing the data which has ille-
gally come into his possession.
Since the matter is sub-judice,
it would not be appropriate for
us to make further statements,”
said Desai reiterating that his
firm’s advices to clients were
always consistent with applica-
ble laws and ethical standards.
=XbWXcW3TbPXbPhbWXbUXa
R^XccTS]^X[[TVP[Xch
?=BQ =4F34;78hi
Union Education Minister
Dharmendra Pradhan on
Tuesday reviewed the digital
education initiatives including
PM e-Vidya and Swayam.
The meeting was attended
by Minister of State
Annpurna Devi, Rajkumar
Ranjan Singh and Subhas
Sarkar.
They reviewed the digital
education initiatives of the
Ministry of Education. These
included PM e-Vidya,
National Digital Education
Architecture (NDEAR),
Swayam, among others.
Emphasizing the impor-
tance of leveraging technolo-
gy in Education, Pradhan
said that technology would
help in achieving the goals of
an open, inclusive and acces-
sible education. A vibrant
digital ecosystem in education
will expand learning oppor-
tunities for the students, spur
innovation and entrepre-
neurship in the Education
sector, he further said.
The minister noted that
COVID-19 pandemic neces-
sitated a shift towards digital
medium of education and
assured that Digital initiatives
taken by the Ministry to
ensure continuity of
Education will be further
strengthened and institution-
alised.
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VGZUjRDhRjR^
?=BQ =4F34;78
The Congress on Tuesday
accused the Narendra Modi
Government of wrong polices
and inept economic manage-
ment that resulted in soaring
inflation amid the pandemic.
The party also hoped that
a joint strategy would be
evolved by various parties to
raise the issue in the upcoming
session of Parliament.
‘Come rain or shine, no
respite from GoI’s economic
mess,’ Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi said on Twitter. He
cited a report which said that
Indians were selling their gold
as the second COVID-19 wave
has pushed millions into pover-
ty.
Former finance minister P
Chidambaram said this infla-
tion has not been caused by a
spurt in demand. “On the con-
trary, private consumer demand
is low.
This inflation has not been
caused by excess liquidity or too
much money in the hands of
the people. This inflation has
been caused by the wrong poli-
cies of the government and its
inept management of the econ-
omy,” Chidambaram said at
AICC Press conference.
The party also wants GST
rates to be slashed but slammed
the government and finance
minister Nirmala Sitharaman
for their scant regard for the
GST council.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha
(SKM) on Tuesday said
that it will press the Opposition
parties to ensure that the farm-
ers' demands on the three new
agri laws and MSP are
addressed in Parliament before
any other business is transact-
ed during the upcoming
Monsoon session.
Farmers and leaders from
Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh and even from
distant States like West Bengal,
Chhattisgarh and Karnataka
are arriving at the borders of
Delhi to participate in the
protest. As planned by SKM,
the protest will be planned and
executed methodically and
peacefully, with 200 farmers
participating in the protest
every day, it said. The SKM
said that any attempt to stop the
farmers from protesting will be
illegal and unconstitutional.
The amalgam said it will
issue letters to all the opposi-
tion MPs of Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha on July 17 as a pre-
cursor to the protest on July 22,
demanding that they raise the
demands of the farmers in
Parliament and ensure that
these demands are discussed
and met before any other busi-
ness is transacted in
Parliament, it said.
The umbrella body of over
40 farmer unions that is spear-
heading the agitation for the
scrapping of the central agri
laws said the preparation for
their planned protests at the
Parliament from July 22 is in
full swing. Farmers, mainly
from Punjab, Haryana and
western Uttar Pradesh, have
been camping at Delhi's bor-
ders for over seven months.
They are demanding a rollback
of the three contentious agri
laws and also seeking a legal
guarantee for Minimum
Support Price (MSP). Most of
the Opposition parties have
openly supported the farmers'
agitation.
The Centre has offered to
amend the laws but has ruled
out their scrapping.
CRZdVWRc^VcdUV^R_Ud
Z_ARc]ZR^V_e@aafcXVU :D0A274;;0??0= Q :278
ADivision Bench of the Kerala High
Court on Tuesday declined to enter-
tain a habeas corpus plea seeking a
directive to the Union Government to
make arrangements for bringing back to
India, Nimisha Fatima and her child,
undergoing incarceration in a jail in
Afghanistan.
The petition was filed by
Thiruvananthapuram socialite Bindu,
mother of Nimisha Fatima. Bindu chose
to withdraw the plea when the High
Court told her to file the same before a
single bench.
The Division Bench pointed out to
the mother that it was not possible to con-
sider her plea as habeas corpus in its cur-
rent form and asked her to approach a sin-
gle bench.
Bindu had alleged in her plea that the
Union Government was indifferent to her
requests to get Nimisha Fatima and her
child back to India. Nimisha Fatima, born
in a Hindu family, had married a Muslim
youth and left for a West Asian country
to join the Islamic State, a terrorist orga-
nization. While fighting alongside the IS,
Fatima’s husband and his colleagues fell
to the bullets of the Afghan soldiers who
took into custody the former and her
friends Sonia Sebastian, Mariyam and
Nabeesa (all hailing from Kasaragod
and had married Jihadi youths).
The husbands of Fatima’s friends too
were martyred in the jihad and they are
also incarcerated in the prison. The wid-
ows had told media persons who man-
aged to speak to them that they would like
to lead the rest of their lives as the wid-
ows of jihadis and were not keen to come
back to India.
There were reports in the vernacular
media in Kerala that central investigation
agencies like NIA had told the Union
Government that it would not be advis-
able at this juncture to facilitate their
return to India because of their contin-
ued association with IS.
Lucknow: Investigations following
the arrest of two alleged terrorists in
Lucknow on Sunday, have revealed
that Kanpur is a major hub of terror
activities. ATS sources claimed that
the interrogation of Maseeruddin
and Minhaz Ansari has revealed that
the two were frequenting madrasas in
Nai Sadak and Chamanganj localities
in Kanpur where some other members
were being trained for terror activities.
It was mainly from here that
they were in touch with their handler
Umar Halmandi whose location is on
the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Halmandi governs the Indian module
of the Al-Qaeda.
Similar activities were being held
in about two dozen locations in
Kanpur. Youths from Rehmani mar-
ket were supplying SIM cards and
mobile phones to them. They have
also been detained for questioning,
said an official.
Sources said that the arrested
men had initially planned to trigger
serial blasts in May but the plan was
put off due to the lockdown.
Meanwhile, ATS teams are con-
tinuing to raid various locations to
arrest those who funded and provid-
ed logistical support to Maseeruddin
and Minhaz for their proposed strike.
The ATS will soon take the two to
Kanpur for further investigations and
will also bring them face to face with
other suspects. It may be recalled that
working on a tip off, the ATS had
arrested Maseeruddin and Minhaz
Ansari from a house in Kakori area on
the outskirts of Lucknow on July 11,
after a seven-hour operation.
The ATS team recovered a huge
amount of explosives, firearms and
live pressure cooker bombs from the
house. The parents of Minhaz Ansari
and other family members were also
detained after the operation but were
released after a five-hour interroga-
tion. IANS
.DQSXUPDMRUKXERIWHUURU
DFWLYLWLHVVD$76VRXUFHV
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STP]SX]V5PcXP´baT_PcaXPcX^]
B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :;:0C0
Protestingagainsttheappoint-
ment of Mukul Roy as the
chairman of Public Accounts
Committee of Bengal Assembly
eight BJP MLAs on Tuesday
resigned as chairpersons of var-
ious other standing committees
accusing the ruling Trinamool
Congress of destroying democ-
ratic traditions of the State.
A group of eight MLAs led
by Opposition Leader Suvendu
Adhikari met Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar and sought his inter-
vention into the matter. “We met
the Governor and sought his
interventionastheTMChasbro-
kentheStateAssemblyRule302,”
Adhikari shortly after emerging
from his meeting with the
Governor said adding his party
would also lodge a complaint
withPresidentRamNathKovind
and Lok Sabha Speaker Om
Birla.
TheGovernmentwas“doing
politics over the PAC … and
ignoring the 2.28 crore voters
who voted for the BJP in the
State,” he said.
“WeshallmeetthePresident
and Speaker of Lok Sabha and
draw their attention showing
howdemocraticnormsarebeing
destroyed in Bengal,” Adhikari
said adding “the Government
seldom tables its reports on
income-expenditure … from
2017, they have not submitted
CAG report in Assembly. In
2020, they did not submit a
report over C20,000 crore scam
in Covid equipment purchase…
it seems that the Trinamool
Congress does not want the
PAC Chairman to raise the issue
and so they have appointed
Mukul Roy as its Chairman.”
The MLAs who quit their
posts include Mihir Goswami,
Manoj Tigga and Krishna
Kalyani. “They have tendered
resignations from the
Chairmanship of the Assembly
Committees and Standing
Committees of the West Bengal
LegislativeAssemblywithimme-
diate effect from July 9, 2021 as
per the direction of their party,”
BJP officials said.
Roy a former TMC-turned
saffron leader had won the
Assembly elections from
Krishnagar seat on a BJP ticket
only to quit that party to rejoin
the Trinamool after four years of
leaving it. He was promptly
appointed by Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee as her party’s
national vice president, a post he
hadleftwhilequittingthesaffron
outfit.
“Though he won on a BJP
ticket he has himself gone on
record saying that he has joined
the TMC and so the Trinamool
should not have appointed him
asthePACChairman…thepost
traditionally goes to the princi-
pal opposition party.” The BJP
hadnominatednotedeconomist
Ashok Lahiri for the post.
B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :;:0C0
Apparently tensed about the fate of Mamata
Banerjee who is required to get elected to the State
Assembly within six months of swearing in as the
Chief Minister on May 12, the Trinamool Congress
has decided to approach the Election Commission of
India to hasten up the by-election process in Bengal.
Banerjee who lost the Nandigram Assembly seat
to Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari by a wafer-
thin margin of 19,00 votes had also filed a petition
in the High Court seeking a recounting of votes —
the hearing of which is slated for July 22.
“Failing to digest the electoral defeat the BJP is
trying to disturb Mamata Banerjee by blocking her
way to the State Assembly … they are trying to influ-
ence the Election Commission into not holding the
by-elections in the name of pandemic …” said a senior
TMC leader and minister.
Party MP Shantanu Sen said “the BJP
Government got the ECI to hold 8-phase elections
when BJP leaders and workers came from all around
the country like daily passengers infecting the peo-
ple of Bengal— pushing up the infection rate from
around 3 percent to 33 percent — and now when the
infection rate is around 1.8 percent they are block-
ing the by-elections … this is unfair not only to the
Chief Minister but the people of Bengal.”
The TMC is likely to appeal to the ECI to make
the by-elections a 7-day affair so that the democra-
tic process did not get disturbed.
“Even Home Minister Amit Shah said that
democratic process cannot get disturbed because of
pandemic when he was asked as to why elections were
being held in 8 phases … and now the same BJP is
not allowing the polls to take place,” the TMC leader
said.
Reacting to the TMC’s criticism State Opposition
Leader Suvendu Adhikari said “why is Trinamool so
worried about the elections … they should rather be
more conscious about keeping the people
uninfected.”
'1T]VP[19?;0baTbXV]Ua^7^dbTR^XccTTb
^eTadZd[A^h´bP__^X]cT]cPb?02 RWXTU
C2c^P__a^PRW428U^aTPa[hQh_^[[b
New Delhi: The Government
has exempted basic customs
duty on imports of specified
API/ excipients for
Amphotericin B and raw mate-
rials for manufacturing Covid
test kits. In a notification dated
July 12, the Finance Ministry
said the basic customs duty
exemption on raw materials for
manufacturing Covid test kits
would be till September 30,
2021. While the exemption on
specified API (active pharma-
ceutical ingredients)/ excipients
for Amphotericin B would be
valid till August 31.
EY Tax Partner Abhishek
Jain said this is a well thought
exemption being granted by the
Indian government to fight the
Covidcrisisandisasteptomake
thedomesticindustryself-reliant
while fighting the pandemic.
Shardul Amarchand
Mangaldas Co Partner Rajat
Bosesaidthisislikelytofurther
bring down the cost of such
items in India making it more
affordable for the common
man. Last month, the Finance
Ministry's Revenue Department
had notified the lower rates for
18 Covid related supplies, like
hand sanitiser, pulse oximeters,
BiPAP machine, testing kits,
ambulances and temperature
check equipment. These con-
cessional rates would be applic-
able till September 30, 2021.
GST on Covid-19 drug
Tocilizumab and black fungus
medicine Amphotericin B was
reduced to 'nil', from 5 per
cent. The rate on Remdesivir
andanti-coagulantslikeHeparin
is lowered from 12 per cent to
5 per cent. GST rate on ambu-
lancewascutto12percentfrom
28 per cent.
Tax on medical grade oxy-
gen, oxygen concentrator
(including personal imports),
ventilators, BiPAP machines
and high flow nasal cannu-
la(HFNC) devices has been
reduced to 5 per cent from 12
per cent. PTI
?=B Q =4F34;78
The CBI on Tuesday said it has arrested a Senior
Divisional Mechanical Engineer of Central
Railway for demanding and accepting a bribe of
C10,000 from car rental firm owner who was the
complainant in the matter.
A case was registered on a complaint against
Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer, Central
Railway, Nagpur, Akhilesh Choube on the allega-
tions of demanding a clear the pending bill of a
Nagpur based Travel Company.
It was alleged that the travel company had pro-
vided car on rent to Central Railway, Nagpur and
a rental bill of C1,73,087 for the period from
November 16, 2020 to May 15, 2021 was pending
for payment in the office of Senior Divisional
Mechanical Engineer, Central Railway, Nagpur, the
agency said.
CBI laid a trap and caught the accused official
while demanding and accepting the bribe amount
of C10,000 from the complainant. Searches have
been conducted at the premises of the accused which
led to recovery of certain documents which are
being scrutinised, officials said.
?=B Q =4F34;78
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said
it will hear on July 22 the plea of
Andhra Pradesh Government chal-
lenging the High Court order which
stayed an SIT probe into alleged irreg-
ularities in the land deals in Amaravati
during the previous TDP Regime.
A bench of Justices Vineet Saran and
Dinesh Maheshwari did not agree with
the State Government's submission that
the matter be remanded back to the high
court as investigation in the case has
almost been stalled.
During the hearing, senior advocate
Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the state,
said the writ petition filed before the
high court is an outcome of regime
revenge. If both parties agree that the
matter should be heard here, then the
court can apply its mind, the bench said.
Dhavan said he was not in a position to
say that the matter be heard here but on
instructions, “I can say that it should be
heard in the high court, at length as there
are too many facts and case laws in the
matter and, moreover, it is against the
interim order”.
He said the State Government has
accepted most of the conditions in the
writ petition filed before the high court
by the state's former advocate general
Dammalapati Srinivas such as, it is ready
for a court monitored probe and no
coercive action will be taken till the pen-
dency of the plea.
Senior advocate Harish Salve,
appearing for Srinivas, said his sub-
mission was that the appeal filed by the
State Government be dismissed and
matter be remanded back to the high
court. Dhavan said the proceedings are
not taking place before the high court
and even investigation has almost been
stalled and therefore the matter should
be remanded back.
“I have gone through the entire case
law related to this matter. The Supreme
Court has never stopped an investiga-
tion before. This petition is a vengeance
petition of a lost election,” Dhavan said.
Salve said that if the court goes through
the papers and the FIR filed in the mat-
ter, it will quash the investigation. The
bench said it would hear the matter after
one week and posted the matter for fur-
ther hearing on July 22.
?=B Q =4F34;78
TheEnforcementDirectorate(ED)hasarrest-
ed a Delhi-based Chartered Accountant
Alok Kumar Agarwal under Prevention of
Money-laundering Act for allegedly facilitating
cross-bordertransferofproceedsofcrimeworth
C40 crore from India to Dubai.
The ED had initiated money laundering
investigation on the basis of an FIR registered
by the CBI on May 17 under the provisions of
Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Prevention of
Corruption Act against IFFCO MD and CEO
US Awasthi and others for criminal conspira-
cy, cheating and criminal misconduct.
Agarwal is Chairman of Alankit Group,
which is engaged in providing various services
including equity broking/commodity broking,
depository participant, GST Suvidha Centre,
PAN Centre and TIN facilitation centre among
others. “The allegations against the accused
include routing of proceeds of crime involved
in the impugned investigations through his
groupentitiesbasedinIndiaandDubai.Hefacil-
itated cross border transfer of proceeds of crime
(approximately C40 crore identified so far) to
India from Dubai for monetary consideration.
Investigations are underway to identify all the
otherbeneficiariesoftheillegalmoneyexchange
module (hawala) being operated by him,” the
ED said in a statement. Earlier AD Singh
(Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha) had also
been arrested in this case and he continues to
be in judicial custody after rejection of his bail
application by the Special Court.
Mumbai: The Maharashtra Government on
Tuesday submitted to the Bombay High
Court the medical records of Jesuit priest and
activist Stan Swamy, an 84-yar-old accused
in the Elgar Parishad-Maoists links case who
died in a hospital here while being in judi-
cial custody last week awaiting a medical
bail.
Chief public prosecutor Aruna Pai told
a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ
Jamadar that the state had submitted a com-
pilation of Swamy's complete medical
records since the time he was lodged in the
Taloja prison as an undertrial.
Swamy was arrested by the National
Investigating Agency (NIA) from Ranchi in
October 2020. He was interrogated at the
time of his arrest by the NIA but the cen-
tral agency never sought his custody.
Suffering from Parkinson's disease and
a host of other medical ailments, Swamy,
who was then 83-year-old, was remanded to
judicial custody following his arrest. He was
then admitted to the Taloja prison hospital
in Navi Mumbai.
After informing the high court about
Swamy's death on July 5 this year, senior
counsel Mihir Desai, who had represented
the tribal rights activist in the HC, had told
the court that Swamy's death was a result of
negligence on part of the NIA and the
Maharashtra prison authorities who had
failed to provide him timely and adequate
medical aid. PTI
218 PaaTbcbBa2T]caP[
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C=A067D=0C70 Q D108
The much-discussed bitter
Devendra Fadnavis-
Pankaja Munde feud within the
Opposition BJP came into the
open once again on Tuesday, as
the late senior party leader
Gopinath Munde’s daughter
and former State Minister
Pankaja declared that she was
avoiding a “Dharma Yuddha”
like Pandavas did against
Kauravas.
Addressing a group of her
supporters from Beed,
Ahmednagar and Jalna dis-
tricts who resigned from the
party in protest against the
denial of berth in the Union
Cabinet to her sister-two-time
MP Pritam Munde, Pankaja
Munde used an allegory from
“Mahabharata” to say that she
was avoiding deliberately a
“Dharma Yuddh” like Pandavas
did against Kauravas, while
not mentioning the name of
her political rival.
While urging her support-
ers to withdraw their resigna-
tions, Panjaka made the most
of the occasion to vent out her
pent up feelings arising out of
the denial of ministerial berth
to her sister and the manner in
which she had been sidelined
within the party ever since she
was defeated in the October
2019 State Assembly poll.
“... I would like to avoid a
Dharma Yuddha.... Keeping
personal interests, anyone can
make any kind of decisions. ..
Though I can achieve things by
pursuing my personal interests,
I do not want to. I want to
achieve things for you people.
Please think about avoiding a
Dharma Yuddha. Let’s not leave
the house that we have built
with a lot of difficulty. But if the
roof of the house crashes on us,
then let us see what is to be
done,” Panjaka told her sup-
porters gathered in front of res-
idence in Mumbai.
Pankaja, who was inter-
acting with her supporters on
her return from the national
capital, did not mince words
when she indirectly hinted that
she did not attach much of
importance to former chief
minister and leader of the
Opposition in the State
Assembly Devendra Fadnavis
with whom he has been uneasy
relations since her defeat in the
2019 State Assembly elections.
Referring indirectly to her
“in-house rivals” as Devendra
Fadnavis and his supporters as
“Kauravas” and her supporters
as “Pandavas”, Pankaka said:
“Pandavas were just five, fight-
ing 100 Kauravas. But they won
because of patience… At this
point, we have to avoid a ‘dhar-
ma yuddha”.
“I am a national BJP sec-
retary. My leaders are
Narendra Modi, Amit Shah
and J P Nadda. I am confident
that they also nurse good feel-
ings for me. I am not the one
to be scared of difficulties. I do
not want anything for me. I do
not want anything for my sis-
ter Pritam,” she said.
“The BJP asked me to file
nomination for the Council
polls. Then they told me that
they cannot give me a ticket. I
said: Thank you. Now we have
Bhagwat Karad (Rajyas Sabha
member who has landed a
ministerial berth in the
Narendra Modi Cabinet).
There is nothing wrong with it.
Karad is senior to me in the
party. I am not upset,” she said.
A former minister in the
previous BJP-led saffron
alliance government in the
state, she was defeated by her
cousin Dhananjay Munde in
the October 21 State Assembly
polls by a margin of 30.701
votes in their home con-
stituency of Parli in Beed dis-
trict of Marathwada.
“I may have lost (the 2019
Vidhan Sabha) elections…I
am not finished yet,” she said,
while addressing her party
workers.
In May last year, Pankaja
was denied party ticket to con-
test the Maharashtra Legislative
Council polls
Two months after she was
denied party nomination to
contest the Maharashtra
Legislative Council polls,
Pankaja failed to make it to the
list of 30 State party office bear-
ers announced by Patil.
0e^XSX]VSWPaPhdSSWPbPhb?P]ZPYPd]ST
C=A067D=0C70 Q D108
In an apparent effort to resolve the cri-
sis brewing within the ruling Maha Vikas
Aghadi ( MVA) in Maharashtra over a seri-
ous allegation made by their state party
president Nana Patole, the State Congress
leaders met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at the
latter’s residence here on Tuesday.
Though Patole had on Monday back-
tracked on his allegation that he was under
surveillance of chief minister Uddhav
Thackeray of the Shiv Sena and deputy
chief minister Ajit Pawar of the NCP, State
Congress leaders – State Revenue Minister
Balasaheb Thorat, former Chief Minister
and current PWD Minister Ashok Chavan
and AICC in-charge for Maharashtra H K
Patil – resorted to a damage control exer-
cise by calling on Pawar.
Patole was not present at the meeting.
The meeting should be seen in the con-
text of the fact that the NCP chief had
refused to react to the comments made by
Patole by saying that he did not want to
react to a comment by a leader of small-
er stature (like Patole).
ThoughtheCongresssought tounder-
play the import of its state party leaders’
move to call on Pawar by saying that they
had gone to Pawar’s “Silver Oak” residence
to enquire about the NCP chief’s health.
Informed sources said that the state
Congressleadersdiscussedthewaystoease
the tension within the ruling MVA over
Patole’s charge against the Chief Minister
and deputy chief minister, the Centre’s
decision to form a new co-operation
ministry in the Union Cabinet and the
impending elections to fill the post of the
Speaker in the State Assembly, which has
been necessitated by Patole’s resignation
from the post in January
this year.
It may be recalled that Patole -- who
had created considerable disquiet in the
ruling MVA last month by announcing
that the Congress would contest the next
State Assembly polls on its own strength
– stirred up the hornet’s nest during the
weekend through his allegation that chief
minister (of the NCP) and Deputy chief
minister (of the NCP) were keeping track
of his movements..
Speaking at a Congress workers’ meet-
ing at the hill station of Lonavla in Pune
district, Patole had said: “Congress
President Sonia Gandhi has said that
Maharashtra is a traditional bastion of the
Congress. We have to bring the Congress
back to power in Maharashtra. We do not
have to be scared of anyone. In the State
Assembly, I had spoken about the tapping
of my phones. I am not allowed to remain
peacefully. The Congress may be in power
but the real power is with the chief min-
ister (of the Shiv Sena) and Deputy Chief
minister (of the NCP).
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6. ing President are able to
manipulate provisions of
Article 76. Oli was sworn in as
caretaker PM again on May 13
as leader of single largest
party and was required to
secure a confidence vote by
June 12 but realising he would
fail, he managed to sabotage
the House after a midnight
coup and get himself appoint-
ed as caretaker PM on May 22.
Many Nepalis have called
Bhandari as Oli’s accomplice
and argued that her discre-
tionary powers are finite and
justiciable as court has now
decreed. No one is above the
ruleoflaw.Itmustalsobenoted
that the same person in same
term of House cannot be
repeatedlyappointedPMunder
Article 76 (3) and allied provi-
sions. Other anomalies that
ariseare(a)requirementofsig-
natures essential for claim to
Government formation; (b) a
PMwhohaslostconfidenceof
the House is unfit to counsel
PresidentonHousedissolution;
(c) resignation of PM manda-
tory after losing floor test; (d)
floor test essential before
appointing Oli PM under
Article 76 (3) on May 13. In
February 2018, Oli with com-
mendableforesighthadsaidthe
Nepal’s Constitution is best in
the world. Besides Oli, once
kingmakers Janata Samajbadi
Party (Mahanta Thakur-
Rajendra Mahato group) are
the best losers: Their 20
Ministersweresackedbarely15
daysinofficebythecourt.The
CitizenshipActOrdinancethat
Madhesi parties have been
seeking was also annulled by
the apex court which said no
constitutional amendment till
thefive-membertaskforcehas
scrutinised the amendment.
Disenchantment with the
political system has drawn
Nepalesebacktowardsmonar-
chy. Surveys carried out in all
seven provinces indicate that
51.7 per cent want Nepal to
becomeaHinduStateand40.3
per cent a secular Nepal.
Mahesh Bhatt, CPN UML, a
youth leader close to Oli, has
been praying for return of
monarchy. Oli too, lately, has
been championing cause of
Hindu Rashtra — sanctioning
construction of a grand new
Ram temple. Talking to jour-
nalists,evenPrachandaadmit-
ted country’s image was better
under monarchy. The King
and Queen were down with
COVIDaftertheKumbhmela.
After Oli’s ascent to power as
anultranationalistandmanag-
ing his Government’s longevi-
ty, he became the most pow-
erful though not the smart
leader of Nepal. Oli, the man
creditedwithshowingIndiaits
place after the blockade, open-
ing up to China and carto-
graphic recovery of territory
from India, was quietly mend-
ing fences with New Delhi,
even promising a Hindu raj
afterdumpingtheChinese.He
told the BBC recently that the
misunderstanding (without
specifying it) with India has
been resolved.
With the return of Deuba
and the Opposition alliance,
India has been dealt a tricky
hand thanks to the devout
independence of judiciary,
proven not once but twice.
Deuba will have to prove his
majority within a month in
which support of the 23-
strong Madhav Nepal fac-
tion will be crucial. Keeping
his mixed flock of Nepali
Congress — they want lead-
ership change; Maoist Centre-
Prachanda’s insatiable thirst
for power; Janata Samajbadi
Party (Upendra Yadav-
Baburam Bhattarai faction);
and CPN UML (Nepal fac-
tion) still finding its feet —
together will not be easy.
(The writer, a retired
Major General, was
Commander, IPKF South, Sri
Lanka, and founder member of
the Defence Planning Staff,
currently the Integrated
Defence Staff. The views
expressed are personal.)
=?B5D81G81D=55DCD855I5/
Sir — The Kerala-based garment manu-
facturing company Kitex Garments
Limited has now decided to invest in
Telangana, backtracking from its earlier
plans to invest in Kerala. It is natural that
businessmenmove togreenerpasturesfor
growth. Here, the company’s Managing
Director,SabuMJacob,chosetoblamethe
State for his decision to move out. He was
miffed at the raids on the company on the
complaintsaboutdumpingdangerouspol-
lutants in the river Kadambrayar, of
openly flouting the minimum wage
requirement, poor dwelling conditions of
migrant labourers and the sufferings of
woman workers during the pandemic.
Historyhasrecordedthegrowthofthe
AnnaKitexGroupinKerala.Itwasin1968
that (deceased) MC Jacob founded it with
just eight employees. Kitex Garments Ltd
was established as a part of the group in
1992. Anna Kitex Group is a case in point.
In 2013, Sabu M Jacob founded a non-
profit charitable organisation called
Twenty-20. The outfit eventually became
the company’s political arm. It achieved
some success in the local body elections.
However, the drubbing it got in the
Assembly election in April 2021 extin-
guished the bigger political ambitions of
its founder. Perhaps, that was the tipping
point. The cautious response of the Left
Democratic Front Government to the
hoax propaganda is reassuring.
Haridasan Rajan | Kozhikode
13895F97D85´J5B?8E75BµD1B75D
Sir — Lucky are the people who do not
have to worry about food every single
morning. The world produces more than
enough food tofeed its populationbut still
some 690 million people have to go to bed
on an empty stomach. The report, ‘The
State of Food Security and Nutrition in the
World’,suggeststhatduetotherecentpan-
demic-induced lockdowns and contain-
ment, another 83-132 million people
maygohungryin2020whichwilltakethe
figure of empty stomachs close to 1 bil-
lion. Looking at these figures, it will not
bewrongtosaythatthe“zerohunger”tar-
get of the sustainable development goals
will not see the light of the day by 2030.
For this, we also share the blame
because we can see in various marriage
receptions, meetings and even in our
homes that a lot of food is wasted. Nearly
30 per cent of the total food produced in
the world goes down the drain. Hunger is
also a major driving force of crimes in the
world. Needless to say that if the problem
of hunger is solved the crime rate would
alsogodown.InthewordsofBharatRatna
Bhupen Hazarika, “Manuhe manuhor
babe jodihe okonu navabe vabibo kunenu
kua xomoniya” (If people do not think
abouteachother,whowill,myfriend?).Let
us all join hands for a good future.
Noopur Baruah | Tezpur
1796D54=9445?B45B21DC=1
Sir — The demise of former Indian play-
er Yashpal Sharma is a huge loss to the
cricketing fraternity, and especially to the
members of India’s 1983 World Cup-win-
ning team. Yashpal was a gifted middle-
order batsman and a brilliant fielder. His
bestmomentsatthe1983WorldCupwere
the brilliant knock of 89 against the fiery
pace attack of West Indies in the opening
game that set the tone for India’s success-
ful campaign in the tournament, and the
vital 61 against England in the semi-finals
that enabled the team’s passage into the
finals.
In Tests, if GR Viswanth’s career best
of222againstEnglandatChepaukin1982
is remembered by generations, equally
Yashpal’s 140 in the same innings was
worth its weight in gold. With his grit,
doggedness and application, Yashpal
Sharma infused a lot of strength and ener-
gy to the Indian team in the 1980s.
Ranganathan Sivakumar | Chennai
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ever before has the
Supreme Court revived
adissolvedHousetwice
infivemonthsasonJuly
12 in Nepal. This is a record
smackingofinfirmitiesinthe2015
Constitution but also indepen-
dence of judiciary. The 167-page
judgment was not just along
expected lines, but went beyond
expectationsofthepetitioners.The
verdictoverturnedthedecisionof
PresidentBidyaDeviBhandarito
dissolvetheHouseonrecommen-
dationsofPrimeMinisterKPOli,
ordered the resurrection of the
Houseat5PMJuly18andpassed
araremandamustothePresident
to appoint under Article 76 (5)
SherBahadurDeubaoftheNepali
Congress as the new Prime
Minister (a record fifth time) by
July 14. Further, it declared that a
party whip does not apply when
lawmakers take part in voting to
electPrimeMinisterunder76(5).
Fearing the criticality of 23
UML lawmakers from MK Nepal
faction who signed on to the
Opposition alliance tilting the
balance, Oli was on the cusp of
a deal with the dissident group.
Thirty petitions were entertained
by the Supreme Court and one
from Opposition alliance seeking
restoration of Parliament and
appointment of Deuba as PM.
The court ordering appointment
of PM was unusual.
The first dissolution on
December 20, 2020, was over-
turned on February 23. Then, as
now,fourformerChiefJusticesof
Nepal had predicted the House
will be restored. Oli has managed
to remain Prime Minister by
Bhandari favourably interpreting
provisionsunderArticles76(1,2,
3, and 5). Acting on recommen-
dationsofOliandhisCabinet,she
dissolvedtheHouseasecondtime
on May 22 and announced snap
pollsforNovember12and19.Oli
failed to secure a vote of confi-
dence, especially after Maoist
Centrewithdrewitssupporttothe
CentreonMay4.Olishouldhave
resigned on moral grounds after
failingtoprovemajority—93-124
— under 100(6) on May 10.
Public confidence in the
Constitution and political system
has eroded and national surveys
blame political leaders for it.
Nepal has had seven
Constitutions. Apparently the
2015 Constitution has loopholes
that need to be fixed. It has space
between which a PM and oblig-
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