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?=BQ =4F34;78
India on Tuesday evacuated
its diplomatic staff, including
Ambassador Rudrendra
Tandon in a C-17 transport air-
craft of the IAF, from strife torn
Kabul. The safe pull-out of
nearly 150 people, including
diplomatic staff and security
personnel of the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police (ITBP) besides
two Delhi-based journalists,
took place after some high
level talks between Indian and
US decision makers.
External Affairs Minister S
Jaishankar called his US coun-
terpart Anthony Blinken to
ensure the safe evacuation of
Indian citizens from the Kabul
airport, which is now in the
control of the US Armed forces.
Jaishankar is in New York.
Similarly, National Security
Adviser Ajit Doval held
detailed discussions with his
US counterpart Jake Sullivan to
co-ordinate the rescue mis-
sion, sources said here on
Tuesday.
After these high-level inter-
ventions, the Indian group was
allowed entry into the US secu-
rity area at the airport. The C-
17 carrying the Indian contin-
gent landed at the Jamnagar
airport on Tuesday at 11.15 am
en route Hindon airbase,
Ghaziabad. It finally reached
Hindon around 5 pm.
A C-17 plane on Monday
morning had also brought out
more than 40 Indians, includ-
ing diplomatic staff, and land-
ed here. Both the C-17s flew
to Kabul and returned cir-
cumventing the Pakistani air-
space, sources said. The US
forces made sure that the two
flights landed and took off
without a hitch, sources said.
They also clarified that the
Indian Embassy in Kabul is not
closed and the local staff is pro-
viding consular services. More
than 1,700 Indians have applied
for their return to India.
It is the second time that
India evacuated all its staff
from the Embassy in Kabul
after a similar exercise was car-
ried out in 1996 when the
Taliban first captured power.
Giving a sense of the cur-
rent situation in Afghanistan,
Ambassador Tandon said the
situation is serious and though
they have returned, India has
not abandoned the people of
Afghanistan and the alliance
will continue. Thanking the
IAF for evacuating them, he
said the flight was undertaken
in crisis situation. The Indian
contingent was flown out
under conditions “that are not
normal,” said Tandon.
Against the backdrop of
several Indian citizens still in
Kabul and other provinces of
Afghanistan, he said India is
continuously monitoring the
situation. He said Air India will
continue to run its commercial
services to Kabul as long as the
airport there functions.
Air India has suspended its
commercial services because of
the situation at the Kabul air-
port. Tandon said, “We con-
tinue to ensure that anyone
who is stuck there is somehow
brought here for which the
Ministry of external affairs has
opened a help desk. There are
many others who continue to
work in Kabul city, despite the
changing situation and have
changed their mind subse-
quently and will be brought
back when the commercial
services begin.”
?=BQ =4F34;78
Putting the Government in a
tight spot, the Supreme
Court on Tuesday issued notice
to the Centre in the contro-
versial Pegasus snooping mat-
ter, making it clear that it did
not want the Government to
disclose anything which com-
promises national security.
At the same time, the court
also said there is nothing wrong
with competent authorities fil-
ing affidavits in cases of inter-
ception of the phones of civil-
ians as alleged by the petition-
ers. The bench headed by Chief
Justice NV Ramana made this
comment after Solicitor
General Tushar Mehta, appear-
ing for the Centre, repeatedly
said divulging information on
affidavit on the issue of whether
the Israeli firm NSO’s Pegasus
spyware was used or not would
involve the aspect of national
security.
The bench said the peti-
tioners, who are civilians and
some of them are persons of
eminence, have alleged snoop-
ing on their phones through
the Israeli spyware.
“They are alleging snoop-
ing or hacking or whatever you
call interception of their
phones. Now, this can be done
in case of civilians also and
rules permit this. But that can
be done only with the permis-
sion of the competent author-
ity. There is nothing wrong in
that. What is the problem if
that competent authority files
an affidavit before us,” the
bench, also comprising Justices
Surya Kant and Aniruddha
Bose, told Mehta.
The bench said it doesn’t
want even a word in the affi-
davit regarding the defence or
national security of the coun-
try. “That issue is absolutely
beyond the domain of these
proceedings and like you, we
are extremely reluctant to
know anything about that...
That is something which must
be confidential and secret.
There is no issue on that,” the
bench said.
While referring to the
aspect of national security,
Mehta said the Government is
not saying it will not tell this
to anyone. “I am just saying
that I don’t wish to tell it pub-
licly,” he told the bench, which
posted the matter for hearing
after 10 days.
He said the Government
had made its stand clear in the
affidavit which was filed on
Monday. “Our considered
response is what we have
respectfully stated in our last
affidavit. Kindly examine the
issue from our point of view as
our affidavit is sufficient,”
Mehta told the bench, adding,
“The Government of India is
before the highest court of the
country.”
He said the Centre has said
in its affidavit that it will con-
stitute a committee of experts
to examine all the aspects and
the panel will submit its report
before the SC.
78C:0=370A8Q 90D
In the third attack on a BJP
leader in the last 10 days, ter-
rorists gunned down Homi
Shali Bugh constituency pres-
ident in South Kashmir’s
Kulgam district on Tuesday.
The slain BJP leader has
been identified as Javed Ahmad
Dar. According to reports, Dar
was standing outside his home
in Brazloo area when terrorists
fired upon him, killing him on
the spot. No personal security
officer was present on the spot.
Just two days ago, several
BJP leaders in Kashmir had
participated in the series of
events to mark the 75th
Independence Day.
The last rites of the slain
BJP leader were performed by
the family. Hundred of people
assembled at the residence of
the BJP leader and joined the
last rites in his native village.
Strongly condemning the
killing, Jammu Kashmir BJP
unit chief Ravinder Raina said,
“Another BJP worker has
become a victim to the sense-
less killings by jehadi terrorists
backed by Pakistan. It is an
attack on the democratic forces
and nationalist voices in
Kashmir. His sacrifice will not
go in vain.”
BJP Sarpanch Ghulam
Rasool Dar, along with his
wife, was “mercilessly” killed by
terrorists inside their home in
Lal Chowk area of Anantnag
on August 9. Three days later,
a three-year-old nephew of a
BJP leader Jasbir Singh
(Mandal President) was killed
in a grenade attack on his
house in Rajouri.
National Conference vice-
president Omar Abdullah and
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti
condemned the killing of Dar.
?=BQ =4F34;78
India on Tuesday reported
88.13 lakh Covid-19 vacci-
nation doses given in the last 24
hours, which is the highest sin-
gle-day vaccination count.
On Tuesday, India report-
ed its lowest single-day rise in
Covid-19 cases in 154 days.
Total 25,166 new infections
were reported in the last 24
hours, the Government
said on Tuesday.
The national recovery rate,
which stands at 97.51 per cent,
is also the highest since March
2020. India on Tuesday report-
ed the highest-ever number of
Covid-19 vaccination admin-
istered in 24 hours, with the
dispensation of more than
88.13 lakh doses.
A Union Health Ministry
release said that 46 per cent of
all adult Indians had
received the first dose, while 13
per cent of all adults had
received both doses.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Amid drop in Covid-19
cases in India, the United
States eased its travel advisory
for India on Monday, lowering
it to Level 2. At the same time
it has urged Americans not to
travel to Jammu Kashmir
(except the eastern Ladakh
region and its capital, Leh) due
to terrorism and civil unrest.
They have also been advised
not to travel within 10 km of
the India-Pakistan border due
to the potential for armed
conflict.
“The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC)
has issued a Level 2 Travel
Health Notice for India due to
Covid-19, indicating a moder-
ate level of Covid-19 in the
country.
Your risk of contracting
Covid-19 and developing
severe symptoms may be lower
if you are fully vaccinated with
an FDA authorised vaccine.
Before planning any interna-
tional travel, please review the
CDC’s specific recommenda-
tions for vaccinated and unvac-
cinated travelers,” the advisory
said.
The new travel advisory of
Level 2, which is considered as
safe, came in the wake of the
significant improvement in
Covid-19 situation in India.
Now that the US acknowl-
edges India’s Covid situation
has improved, it remains to be
seen when does it lift restric-
tions on travellers from the
country.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Taking strong exception to
an act of vandalism in
which Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s
statue was broken in Lahore on
Tuesday, India said Pakistan
has completely failed in its
duty to prevent such incidents.
Giving out this terse mes-
sage after social media was
flooded with the video footage
of a person vandalising the stat-
ue, Ministry of External Affairs
Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi
said, “We have seen disturbing
reports in the media about the
vandalisation. This is the third
such incident wherein the stat-
ue has been vandalised since it
was unveiled in 2019.”
Incidents of violence
against minority communities,
including attacks on their
places of worship, their cultur-
al heritage, and their private
property, are increasing at an
alarming rate. It was only 12
days ago that a mob attacked a
Hindu temple in Rahim Yar
Khan in Pakistan, he said.
Related report on P8
?=BQ =4F34;78
With the fast changing sit-
uation in Afghanistan
with the Taliban taking control
and the Indian diplomatic staff
returning home, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
chaired the Cabinet Committee
on Security (CCS) late on
Tuesday. The Government
announced it will issue an
emergency e-visa to Afghan
nationals who want to come to
the country in view of the pre-
vailing situation.
Modi was briefed by
Ambassador Rudrendra
Tandon, who returned with the
Indian contingent from Kabul.
Home Minister Amit Shah,
National Security Adviser
(NSA) Ajit Doval, Defence
Minister Rajnath Singh,
Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman and Foreign
Secretary Harsh Vardhan
Shringla attended the CCS
meeting.
Meanwhile, reaching out to
citizens of Afghanistan, India
on Tuesday said it will issue an
emergency e-visa to Afghan
nationals who want to come to
the country in view of the pre-
vailing situation in Afghanistan
after the Taliban captured
power there.
The Indian Embassy in
Kabul is not closed and local
staff is providing consular ser-
vices.
More than 1,650 people
have applied for their return to
India, sources said here in the
backdrop of the entire Indian
diplomatic staff, including
Ambassador Tandon, airlifted
to New Delhi in an IAF aircraft.
All Afghans, irrespective of
their religion, can apply for the
“e-Emergency X-Misc Visa”
online and the applications
will be processed in New Delhi.
The announcement came two
days after the Taliban cap-
tured power in Afghanistan.
There are Sikh and Hindus
living in Afghanistan for long.
Punjab Chief Minister Captain
Amarinder Singh on Monday
had appealed to the Central
Government to bring out Sikhs
numbering more than 300.
0?Q :01D;
The Taliban declared an
“amnesty” across
Afghanistan and urged women
to join their Government on
Tuesday, seeking to convince a
wary population that they have
changed a day after deadly
chaos gripped the main airport
as desperate crowds tried to flee
their rule.
Following a blitz across
Afghanistan that saw many
cities fall to the insurgents
without a fight, the Taliban
have sought to portray them-
selves as more moderate than
when they imposed a brutal
rule in the late 1990s. But
many Afghans remain skepti-
cal.
Older generations remem-
ber the Taliban’s ultraconserv-
ative Islamic views, which
included severe restrictions on
women as well as public ston-
ing and amputations
before they were ousted by the
US-led invasion following the
September 11, 2001, attacks.
Kabul remained quiet for
another day as the Taliban
patrolled its streets and many
residents stayed home, remain-
ing fearful after the insurgents’
takeover saw prisons emptied
and armories looted. Many
women have expressed dread
that the two-decade Western
experiment to expand their
rights and remake Afghanistan
would not survive the resurgent
Taliban.
Germany, meanwhile, halt-
ed development aid to
Afghanistan over the Taliban
takeover.
?C8Q C78ADE0=0=C70?DA0
The Kerala Government on
Tuesday said at least 41
Malayalis, including women
and children, have been strand-
ed in Taliban-controlled Kabul
and requested the Centre to
make necessary arrangements
for their safe evacuation to the
home country.
In the wake of panic calls
from the stranded people
received at the Department of
NORKA, State-run welfare
agency of non-resident
Keralites, the Government sent
letters to the External Affairs
Ministry seeking immediate
steps for their repatriation.
As directed by Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, K
Elangovan, Principal Secretary
to the State Government, and
Harikrishnan Namboothiri K,
the CEO of the NORKA, sent
separate letters to the Ministry
detailing the plight of the
stranded Keralites there.
Some of the messages
received by the State
Government even stated that
the Talibans were verifying the
identity of the stranded Indians
and taking away their passports
and other important docu-
ments, he said.
The letter also said that a
“huge threat is hanging on the
life of the Malayalis”.
Peshawar: The banned
Pakistani Taliban or the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) terror group has con-
gratulated the Afghan Taliban
on taking control of
Afghanistan, describing it as a
“victory for the whole Islamic
world”, according to a media
report on Tuesday. In the state-
ment, TTP spokesperson
Mohammad Khorasani reiter-
ated the group’s “allegiance to
the Afghan Taliban leader-
ship,” and pledged to “support
and strengthen the Islamic
Emirates of Afghanistan.”
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?=BQ AA:44
The Independence Day was
marked with patriotic fer-
vour at the Motherhood
University with its vice chan-
cellor Narendra Sharma and
director of administration,
Deepak Sharma handing over
50 barricades to the traffic
police in Roorkee. These bar-
ricades will be used in the city
and other places for traffic
regulation. The university reg-
istrar Rakesh Kumar Yadav
and others were also present on
the occasion.
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?=BQ 270=3860A7
Haryana’s two wetlands --
Sultanpur National Park in
Gurugram district and
Bhindawas wildlife sanctuary
in Jhajjar district -- have been
recognized as wetlands of inter-
national importance under the
Ramsar Convention.
Both of these wetlands
provide an ideal winter home
for a number of migratory
birds as they contain sufficient
food in the form of fish, mol-
luscs, gastropods, arthropods,
hydrophytes besides being ideal
resting and roosting places for
avifauna.
An official spokesperson
said that every year nearly
50,000 migratory birds belong-
ing to over 100 species arrive at
Sultanpur from various parts of
the world mainly Eurasia in
search of feeding grounds and
to pass the winter. In winter,
the Sultanpur provides a pic-
turesque panorama of migra-
tory birds such as Sarus cranes,
Demoiselle crane, northern
pintail, northern shoveller, red-
crested pochard, waders, gray
lag goose, gadwall, Eurasian
wigeon, black-tailed godwit
etc, he added.
The spokesperson said that
Sultanpur is also home to a
number of rare and endangered
species of resident birds includ-
ing the common hoopoe,
paddy-field pipit, purple sun-
bird, little cormorant, Indian
cormorant, common spoonbill,
grey francolin, black francolin,
Indian roller, white-throated
kingfisher, Indian spot-billed
duck, painted stork, black-
necked stork, white ibis, black-
headed ibis, little egret, great
egret, cattle egret, crested lark,
red-vented bulbul, rose-ringed
parakeet, red-wattled lapwing,
shikra, Eurasian collared dove,
red collared dove, laughing
dove, spotted owlet, rock
pigeon, magpie robin, greater
coucal, weaver bird, bank
mynah, common mynah and
Asian green bee-eater. Red-
naped, glossy and black ibis
also add to the beauty of
Sultanpur.
He informed that
Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary
is a freshwater wetland, also the
largest in Haryana. More than
80 species of migratory and
more than a hundred resident
species have been recorded
here. More than 40,000 migra-
tory birds visit Bhindawas dur-
ing winter. Bar Headed Goose
flocks here in large numbers.
Other winter visitors include
Gray Lag goose, Northern pin-
tail, Eurasian teals, Northern
shovellers, Red Crested
Pochards, white-tailed eagle
(very rare), snew, warblers,
Lesser and greater white-front-
ed goose, Greater white peli-
cans etc, he added.
The spokesperson further
said that Bhindawas has tall
trees of Eucalyptus and Babul
which provide very good habi-
tat for raptors including
Oriental Honey-buzzard, crest-
ed serpentine eagle, Indian
spotted eagle, Greater spotted
eagle, common kingfisher, pied
kingfisher and white-breasted
kingfisher, night czar, dusky
Eagle owl, pheasant tailed
jacana, yellow legged button
quails and francolins.
The State Government has
carried out several develop-
ment works at Sultanpur and
Bhindawas wetlands like the
construction of mounds, and
the creation of small islands, he
added. The spokesperson said
that efforts are being made to
improve vegetation in the area
by planting more trees, which
are popular with the birds like
Ficus and kikar.
Df]eR_afc3YZ_URhRdZ_9RcjR_RXVeCR^dRcdZeVdeRX
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Questioning how Punjab is
allegedly targeted by anti-
national forces every time
before polls are due, the Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) on
Tuesday alleged that a deliber-
ate effort was being made to
create a “volatile atmosphere”
in the State ahead of the 2022
state assembly elections.
AAP maintained that after
the elections conclude, these
same anti-national elements
somehow are not found or
pursued by either the intelli-
gence or the security agencies
of both the country and the
state.
In a reference to the speech
made by Chief Minister Capt
Amarinder Singh on the
Independence Day at Amritsar
— where he warned neigh-
bouring Pakistan about
attempts to create trouble in
Punjab — AAP’s senior leader
and Sunam MLA Aman Arora
on Tuesday said that the Chief
Minister should concentrate
more on the worsening law and
order in the State of which he
is also the Home Minister and
which was also his primary
responsibility.
“There are only six months
left for Assembly elections.
Like under the Badals, the law
and order situation in the
Congress rule has gone from
bad to worse. In such a sce-
nario, people may have lost all
faith in the State Government,
but I bow down to the people
of Punjab, who have main-
tained mutual understanding
and goodwill despite the dete-
riorating law and order condi-
tion,” said Arora.
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U^aRTbX]RaTPbTbX]?d]YPQQTU^aT
T[TRcX^]b00?;0PbZb
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Moving a step ahead all
political parties in Punjab,
Shiromani Akali Dal is all set
to launch a massive outreach
programme from Wednesday,
spreading over 100 days cover-
ing all 117 assembly con-
stituencies, from Zira, not only
aimed at exposing the ‘corrupt
and scam ridden’ Congress
Government but also to reach
out to every household across
Punjab ahead ensuing elec-
tions. Launching the party’s
‘Gall Punjab Di’ campaign,
SAD president Sukhbir Singh
Badal would undertake a 100-
day yatra across 100 con-
stituencies, holding 700 public
meetings and addressing each
and every section of the society
during the course of which
SAD workers would go to each
and every village and ward in
the State to take the people’s
feedback which would eventu-
ally be the part of party’s elec-
tion manifesto for 2022 polls.
“The purpose of this exer-
cise is two-fold. First, to bring
the corruption done by the
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder
Singh’s Government as well as
his Council of Ministers before
the people; and secondly to col-
lect feedback from them as to
what they expected from the
next SAD-BSP Government,”
said Sukhbir.
SAD chief also released a
missed call number service
with number — 96878-96878
— to invite Punjabis to join the
party’s campaign as well as
share their aspirations with the
party. A
websitewww.GallPunjabDi.in
— was also launched for the
purpose. At the same time,
Sukhbir also released the
charge-sheet against the
Congress and the Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP). “While the Chief
Minister Capt Amarinder Singh
had a lot to answer vis-à-vis Rs
6,500 crore excise scam, five of
his ministerial colleagues are
accused of indulging in cor-
ruption,” he said.
While Sadhu Singh
Dharamsot was involved in the
SC scholarship scam,
Sukhjinder Randhawa was
involved in the seed scam,
Balbir Singh Sidhu in the
COVID procurement as well as
de-addication tablets scam,
Bharat Bhushan Ashu in the
wheat scam and Sham Sunder
Arora in the JCT land scam,
said Sukhbir.
Taking the Chief Minister
head on, Sukhbir said that Capt
Amarinder had destroyed
Punjab in the last four and a
half years. “Punjab has the
misfortune of having a Chief
Minister who did not come out
of his home, did not meet even
his own Ministers, did not lis-
ten to the people and even
teachers seeking to meet him
were thrashed brutally.
The only work the Capt
Amarinder Government has
done was to loot the State trea-
sury,” said Sukhbir. “Nothing
has been done in the way of
development. In fact, gang-
sters have been patronized and
are wantonly running extortion
rackets from inside State jails,”
he added.
Saying that in his life, he
had seen only three leaders who
had taken an oath and broken
it without any qualms, Sukhbir
said: “Capt Amarinder took an
oath on the holy Gutka Sahib
and broke it by not fulfilling his
promise to eradicate drugs,
ensure a complete Rs 90,000
crore loan waiver and provide
jobs in each
household...Similarly, AAP con-
vener Arvind Kejriwal had
sworn an oath on his children
not to have any truck with the
Congress party but broke it
within days. Even Punjab AAP
convener Bhagwant Mann
swore on his mother to leave
drinking alcohol, but never
honoured the same.” Lashing
out at Arvind Kejriwal, Sukhbir
said that AAP convener want-
ed to implement a failed Delhi
model in Punjab.
?=BQ
270=3860A7
Ha r y a n a
Education
M i n i s t e r
Kanwar Pal
Gujjar on
Tuesday said
that no decision
has been taken
to open the
schools for pri-
mary classes yet
in the state.
The State
Government is
reviewing the
situation and a
decision regard-
ing opening
schools for class
1st to 5th will
be taken
accordingly, the
Minister told
the mediaper-
sons here.
Gujjar said
that the govern-
ment is focusing on COVID-
19 vaccination drive and all
teachers of government
schools are likely to be vacci-
nated by the end of August.
Notably, the government
and private schools for class
9th to 12th had opened on July
16 while schools were opened
from July 23 for classes 6th to
8th. The students have been
given the option of attending
online classes as well.
Haryana Government had
on April 16 ordered closure of
all schools, colleges, coaching
institutions, ITIs, libraries and
training institutes whether
government or private in the
state in view of surge of
COVID cases.
Meanwhile, to ease the
pressure on students, the
Board of School Education,
Haryana had recently
announced to reduce 30 per-
cent syllabus for secondary
and senior secondary classes
for the academic session 2021-
22.
B03_aTbXST]cc^d]STacPZT SPhhPcaPPRa^bb R^]bcXcdT]RXTb
?=BQ 270=3860A7
In the backdrop of decline in
Covid-19 cases, the
Chandigarh Administration
on Tuesday decided to with-
draw night curfew in the
Union Territory. Restaurants
and bars would now stay open
for business from 8 am to 12
midnight.
These decisions were
taken in a meeting presided
over by Chandigarh
Administrator VP Singh
Badnore.
As per the order,
Government offices will now
remain open for public deal-
ings from 12 noon to 1 pm on
all working days except for
Wednesdays and Fridays.
Visitors to these offices must
either have had at least one
dose of a Covid-19 vaccine or
must have tested negative in
an RT-PCR test taken no less
than 72 hours ago.
The Administration has
also decided to lift its 50 per
cent capacity cap on public
transport.
Additionally, people no
longer require permission
from the sub-divisional mag-
istrate for social gatherings
and instead must only inti-
mate them.
Hockey, Football and
Cricket Academies of the
sports department have been
allowed to function, by fol-
lowing all Covid protocol and
subject to the condition that
all eligible players must have
been vaccinated with at least
first dose.
As regards players under
18 years of age, consent of
parents is required. For mar-
riages, social gatherings, etc.
only intimation and under-
taking to adhere to Covid
protocols is required to be
submitted to the concerned
SDM, instead of permission, it
stated.
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- 1. 20?BD;4 H>DC7´B13H5D=3 1DA8430C65´B7DB4 6WPiXPQPS)CWTWP[UQda]cQ^Sh ^UP] 'hTPa^[SP]XbbX]V bX]RT[PbcfTTZfPbTgWdTS Ua^Pa^^^UWXbVXa[UaXT]S³b W^dbTX]PeX[[PVTWTaT^] CdTbSPh_^[XRTbPXS 1H?;;CABB40C5A C08;=03D=B4?C =Tf3T[WX)1h_^[[c^UX[[d_P ePRP]cbTPcX]APYhPBPQWPUa^ CPX[=PSdfX[[QTWT[S^] BT_cTQTa cWT4[TRcX^] 2^XbbX^]bPXS^]CdTbSPh CWTAPYhPBPQWPbTPcUa^ CPX[=PSdUT[[ePRP]cU^[[^fX]V cWTSTPcW^U0803:TQTa0 ^WPTSYP]!^]PaRW !cWXbhTPaU^[[^fX]VPWTPac PccPRZ ?=BQ =4F34;78 India on Tuesday evacuated its diplomatic staff, including Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon in a C-17 transport air- craft of the IAF, from strife torn Kabul. The safe pull-out of nearly 150 people, including diplomatic staff and security personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) besides two Delhi-based journalists, took place after some high level talks between Indian and US decision makers. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called his US coun- terpart Anthony Blinken to ensure the safe evacuation of Indian citizens from the Kabul airport, which is now in the control of the US Armed forces. Jaishankar is in New York. Similarly, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval held detailed discussions with his US counterpart Jake Sullivan to co-ordinate the rescue mis- sion, sources said here on Tuesday. After these high-level inter- ventions, the Indian group was allowed entry into the US secu- rity area at the airport. The C- 17 carrying the Indian contin- gent landed at the Jamnagar airport on Tuesday at 11.15 am en route Hindon airbase, Ghaziabad. It finally reached Hindon around 5 pm. A C-17 plane on Monday morning had also brought out more than 40 Indians, includ- ing diplomatic staff, and land- ed here. Both the C-17s flew to Kabul and returned cir- cumventing the Pakistani air- space, sources said. The US forces made sure that the two flights landed and took off without a hitch, sources said. They also clarified that the Indian Embassy in Kabul is not closed and the local staff is pro- viding consular services. More than 1,700 Indians have applied for their return to India. It is the second time that India evacuated all its staff from the Embassy in Kabul after a similar exercise was car- ried out in 1996 when the Taliban first captured power. Giving a sense of the cur- rent situation in Afghanistan, Ambassador Tandon said the situation is serious and though they have returned, India has not abandoned the people of Afghanistan and the alliance will continue. Thanking the IAF for evacuating them, he said the flight was undertaken in crisis situation. The Indian contingent was flown out under conditions “that are not normal,” said Tandon. Against the backdrop of several Indian citizens still in Kabul and other provinces of Afghanistan, he said India is continuously monitoring the situation. He said Air India will continue to run its commercial services to Kabul as long as the airport there functions. Air India has suspended its commercial services because of the situation at the Kabul air- port. Tandon said, “We con- tinue to ensure that anyone who is stuck there is somehow brought here for which the Ministry of external affairs has opened a help desk. There are many others who continue to work in Kabul city, despite the changing situation and have changed their mind subse- quently and will be brought back when the commercial services begin.” ?=BQ =4F34;78 Putting the Government in a tight spot, the Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Centre in the contro- versial Pegasus snooping mat- ter, making it clear that it did not want the Government to disclose anything which com- promises national security. At the same time, the court also said there is nothing wrong with competent authorities fil- ing affidavits in cases of inter- ception of the phones of civil- ians as alleged by the petition- ers. The bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana made this comment after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appear- ing for the Centre, repeatedly said divulging information on affidavit on the issue of whether the Israeli firm NSO’s Pegasus spyware was used or not would involve the aspect of national security. The bench said the peti- tioners, who are civilians and some of them are persons of eminence, have alleged snoop- ing on their phones through the Israeli spyware. “They are alleging snoop- ing or hacking or whatever you call interception of their phones. Now, this can be done in case of civilians also and rules permit this. But that can be done only with the permis- sion of the competent author- ity. There is nothing wrong in that. What is the problem if that competent authority files an affidavit before us,” the bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, told Mehta. The bench said it doesn’t want even a word in the affi- davit regarding the defence or national security of the coun- try. “That issue is absolutely beyond the domain of these proceedings and like you, we are extremely reluctant to know anything about that... That is something which must be confidential and secret. There is no issue on that,” the bench said. While referring to the aspect of national security, Mehta said the Government is not saying it will not tell this to anyone. “I am just saying that I don’t wish to tell it pub- licly,” he told the bench, which posted the matter for hearing after 10 days. He said the Government had made its stand clear in the affidavit which was filed on Monday. “Our considered response is what we have respectfully stated in our last affidavit. Kindly examine the issue from our point of view as our affidavit is sufficient,” Mehta told the bench, adding, “The Government of India is before the highest court of the country.” He said the Centre has said in its affidavit that it will con- stitute a committee of experts to examine all the aspects and the panel will submit its report before the SC. 78C:0=370A8Q 90D In the third attack on a BJP leader in the last 10 days, ter- rorists gunned down Homi Shali Bugh constituency pres- ident in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday. The slain BJP leader has been identified as Javed Ahmad Dar. According to reports, Dar was standing outside his home in Brazloo area when terrorists fired upon him, killing him on the spot. No personal security officer was present on the spot. Just two days ago, several BJP leaders in Kashmir had participated in the series of events to mark the 75th Independence Day. The last rites of the slain BJP leader were performed by the family. Hundred of people assembled at the residence of the BJP leader and joined the last rites in his native village. Strongly condemning the killing, Jammu Kashmir BJP unit chief Ravinder Raina said, “Another BJP worker has become a victim to the sense- less killings by jehadi terrorists backed by Pakistan. It is an attack on the democratic forces and nationalist voices in Kashmir. His sacrifice will not go in vain.” BJP Sarpanch Ghulam Rasool Dar, along with his wife, was “mercilessly” killed by terrorists inside their home in Lal Chowk area of Anantnag on August 9. Three days later, a three-year-old nephew of a BJP leader Jasbir Singh (Mandal President) was killed in a grenade attack on his house in Rajouri. National Conference vice- president Omar Abdullah and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti condemned the killing of Dar. ?=BQ =4F34;78 India on Tuesday reported 88.13 lakh Covid-19 vacci- nation doses given in the last 24 hours, which is the highest sin- gle-day vaccination count. On Tuesday, India report- ed its lowest single-day rise in Covid-19 cases in 154 days. Total 25,166 new infections were reported in the last 24 hours, the Government said on Tuesday. The national recovery rate, which stands at 97.51 per cent, is also the highest since March 2020. India on Tuesday report- ed the highest-ever number of Covid-19 vaccination admin- istered in 24 hours, with the dispensation of more than 88.13 lakh doses. A Union Health Ministry release said that 46 per cent of all adult Indians had received the first dose, while 13 per cent of all adults had received both doses. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Amid drop in Covid-19 cases in India, the United States eased its travel advisory for India on Monday, lowering it to Level 2. At the same time it has urged Americans not to travel to Jammu Kashmir (except the eastern Ladakh region and its capital, Leh) due to terrorism and civil unrest. They have also been advised not to travel within 10 km of the India-Pakistan border due to the potential for armed conflict. “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 2 Travel Health Notice for India due to Covid-19, indicating a moder- ate level of Covid-19 in the country. Your risk of contracting Covid-19 and developing severe symptoms may be lower if you are fully vaccinated with an FDA authorised vaccine. Before planning any interna- tional travel, please review the CDC’s specific recommenda- tions for vaccinated and unvac- cinated travelers,” the advisory said. The new travel advisory of Level 2, which is considered as safe, came in the wake of the significant improvement in Covid-19 situation in India. Now that the US acknowl- edges India’s Covid situation has improved, it remains to be seen when does it lift restric- tions on travellers from the country. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Taking strong exception to an act of vandalism in which Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s statue was broken in Lahore on Tuesday, India said Pakistan has completely failed in its duty to prevent such incidents. Giving out this terse mes- sage after social media was flooded with the video footage of a person vandalising the stat- ue, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “We have seen disturbing reports in the media about the vandalisation. This is the third such incident wherein the stat- ue has been vandalised since it was unveiled in 2019.” Incidents of violence against minority communities, including attacks on their places of worship, their cultur- al heritage, and their private property, are increasing at an alarming rate. It was only 12 days ago that a mob attacked a Hindu temple in Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan, he said. Related report on P8 ?=BQ =4F34;78 With the fast changing sit- uation in Afghanistan with the Taliban taking control and the Indian diplomatic staff returning home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) late on Tuesday. The Government announced it will issue an emergency e-visa to Afghan nationals who want to come to the country in view of the pre- vailing situation. Modi was briefed by Ambassador Rudrendra Tandon, who returned with the Indian contingent from Kabul. Home Minister Amit Shah, National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla attended the CCS meeting. Meanwhile, reaching out to citizens of Afghanistan, India on Tuesday said it will issue an emergency e-visa to Afghan nationals who want to come to the country in view of the pre- vailing situation in Afghanistan after the Taliban captured power there. The Indian Embassy in Kabul is not closed and local staff is providing consular ser- vices. More than 1,650 people have applied for their return to India, sources said here in the backdrop of the entire Indian diplomatic staff, including Ambassador Tandon, airlifted to New Delhi in an IAF aircraft. All Afghans, irrespective of their religion, can apply for the “e-Emergency X-Misc Visa” online and the applications will be processed in New Delhi. The announcement came two days after the Taliban cap- tured power in Afghanistan. There are Sikh and Hindus living in Afghanistan for long. Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday had appealed to the Central Government to bring out Sikhs numbering more than 300. 0?Q :01D; The Taliban declared an “amnesty” across Afghanistan and urged women to join their Government on Tuesday, seeking to convince a wary population that they have changed a day after deadly chaos gripped the main airport as desperate crowds tried to flee their rule. Following a blitz across Afghanistan that saw many cities fall to the insurgents without a fight, the Taliban have sought to portray them- selves as more moderate than when they imposed a brutal rule in the late 1990s. But many Afghans remain skepti- cal. Older generations remem- ber the Taliban’s ultraconserv- ative Islamic views, which included severe restrictions on women as well as public ston- ing and amputations before they were ousted by the US-led invasion following the September 11, 2001, attacks. Kabul remained quiet for another day as the Taliban patrolled its streets and many residents stayed home, remain- ing fearful after the insurgents’ takeover saw prisons emptied and armories looted. Many women have expressed dread that the two-decade Western experiment to expand their rights and remake Afghanistan would not survive the resurgent Taliban. Germany, meanwhile, halt- ed development aid to Afghanistan over the Taliban takeover. ?C8Q C78ADE0=0=C70?DA0 The Kerala Government on Tuesday said at least 41 Malayalis, including women and children, have been strand- ed in Taliban-controlled Kabul and requested the Centre to make necessary arrangements for their safe evacuation to the home country. In the wake of panic calls from the stranded people received at the Department of NORKA, State-run welfare agency of non-resident Keralites, the Government sent letters to the External Affairs Ministry seeking immediate steps for their repatriation. As directed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, K Elangovan, Principal Secretary to the State Government, and Harikrishnan Namboothiri K, the CEO of the NORKA, sent separate letters to the Ministry detailing the plight of the stranded Keralites there. Some of the messages received by the State Government even stated that the Talibans were verifying the identity of the stranded Indians and taking away their passports and other important docu- ments, he said. The letter also said that a “huge threat is hanging on the life of the Malayalis”. Peshawar: The banned Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terror group has con- gratulated the Afghan Taliban on taking control of Afghanistan, describing it as a “victory for the whole Islamic world”, according to a media report on Tuesday. In the state- ment, TTP spokesperson Mohammad Khorasani reiter- ated the group’s “allegiance to the Afghan Taliban leader- ship,” and pledged to “support and strengthen the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan.” ?PZCP[XQP]R^]VaPcd[PcTb 0UCP[XQP]RP[[bXc³eXRc^ah U^afW^[T8b[PXRf^a[S´ :_UZR¶dV_g`je`2WVgRTfReVU 2aViT`fcedRjd8`ge _VVU_`eUZdT]`dV eYZ_XdT`__VTeVUe` _ReZ`_R]dVTfcZejSfe RWWZURgZe`_TZgZ]ZR_d¶ aY`_VeRaaZ_Xa`ddZS]V 6QRWLFHWRHQWUH RQ3HJDVXVVQRRSLQJ PccTa_^bcTSU^aWTPaX]VPUcTa SPhb B^[XRXc^a6T]TaP[bPXSSXed[VX]VX]U^aPcX^]^]PUUXSPeXc^]cWTXbbdT^U fWTcWTacWT8baPT[XUXa=B³b?TVPbdbb_hfPaTfPbdbTS^a]^c f^d[SX]e^[eTcWTPb_TRc^U]PcX^]P[bTRdaXch ?TcXcX^]TabWPeTP[[TVTSb]^^_X]V^]cWTXa_W^]TbcWa^dVWcWT8baPT[X b_hfPaT CWTQT]RWbPXSXcS^Tb]³cfP]cTeT]Pf^aSX]cWTPUUXSPeXcaTVPaSX]V cWTSTUT]RT^a]PcX^]P[bTRdaXch^UcWTR^d]cah %VcR]ZeVddecR_UVUZ_RSf] :TaP[P6^ecbTTZb2T]caT´bX]cTaeT]cX^] 5HFRUG/RYLGMDEVLQDGD 2^VcZTR_dRUgZdVU RXRZ_deecRgV]]Z_X_VRc ARZdeR_S`cUVcZ_:_UZR =`hVdedZ_X]VURj cZdVZ_4`gZU* TRdVdZ_`gVcWZgV ^`_eYdRe#'' DBcaPeT[PSeXb^ahc^8]SXPTPbTSc^³bPUT´ CTaa^aXbcbZX[[aS 19? 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- 2. ]PcX^]! 347A03D=kF43=4B30H k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·VZLOOQRWEHKHOGUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQNLQGRIFODLPPDGHEWKHDGYHUWLVHUVRIWKHSURGXFWV VHUYLFHVDQGVKDOOQRWEHPDGHUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQNLQGRIORVVFRQVHTXHQFHVDQGIXUWKHUSURGXFWUHODWHGGDPDJHVRQVXFKDGYHUWLVHPHQWV ?=BQ AA:44 The Independence Day was marked with patriotic fer- vour at the Motherhood University with its vice chan- cellor Narendra Sharma and director of administration, Deepak Sharma handing over 50 barricades to the traffic police in Roorkee. These bar- ricades will be used in the city and other places for traffic regulation. The university reg- istrar Rakesh Kumar Yadav and others were also present on the occasion. ^cWTaW^^S D]XeTabXch_aTbT]cb $QPaaXRPSTbc^ CaPUUXR?^[XRT ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Haryana’s two wetlands -- Sultanpur National Park in Gurugram district and Bhindawas wildlife sanctuary in Jhajjar district -- have been recognized as wetlands of inter- national importance under the Ramsar Convention. Both of these wetlands provide an ideal winter home for a number of migratory birds as they contain sufficient food in the form of fish, mol- luscs, gastropods, arthropods, hydrophytes besides being ideal resting and roosting places for avifauna. An official spokesperson said that every year nearly 50,000 migratory birds belong- ing to over 100 species arrive at Sultanpur from various parts of the world mainly Eurasia in search of feeding grounds and to pass the winter. In winter, the Sultanpur provides a pic- turesque panorama of migra- tory birds such as Sarus cranes, Demoiselle crane, northern pintail, northern shoveller, red- crested pochard, waders, gray lag goose, gadwall, Eurasian wigeon, black-tailed godwit etc, he added. The spokesperson said that Sultanpur is also home to a number of rare and endangered species of resident birds includ- ing the common hoopoe, paddy-field pipit, purple sun- bird, little cormorant, Indian cormorant, common spoonbill, grey francolin, black francolin, Indian roller, white-throated kingfisher, Indian spot-billed duck, painted stork, black- necked stork, white ibis, black- headed ibis, little egret, great egret, cattle egret, crested lark, red-vented bulbul, rose-ringed parakeet, red-wattled lapwing, shikra, Eurasian collared dove, red collared dove, laughing dove, spotted owlet, rock pigeon, magpie robin, greater coucal, weaver bird, bank mynah, common mynah and Asian green bee-eater. Red- naped, glossy and black ibis also add to the beauty of Sultanpur. He informed that Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary is a freshwater wetland, also the largest in Haryana. More than 80 species of migratory and more than a hundred resident species have been recorded here. More than 40,000 migra- tory birds visit Bhindawas dur- ing winter. Bar Headed Goose flocks here in large numbers. Other winter visitors include Gray Lag goose, Northern pin- tail, Eurasian teals, Northern shovellers, Red Crested Pochards, white-tailed eagle (very rare), snew, warblers, Lesser and greater white-front- ed goose, Greater white peli- cans etc, he added. The spokesperson further said that Bhindawas has tall trees of Eucalyptus and Babul which provide very good habi- tat for raptors including Oriental Honey-buzzard, crest- ed serpentine eagle, Indian spotted eagle, Greater spotted eagle, common kingfisher, pied kingfisher and white-breasted kingfisher, night czar, dusky Eagle owl, pheasant tailed jacana, yellow legged button quails and francolins. The State Government has carried out several develop- ment works at Sultanpur and Bhindawas wetlands like the construction of mounds, and the creation of small islands, he added. The spokesperson said that efforts are being made to improve vegetation in the area by planting more trees, which are popular with the birds like Ficus and kikar. Df]eR_afc3YZ_URhRdZ_9RcjR_RXVeCR^dRcdZeVdeRX ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Questioning how Punjab is allegedly targeted by anti- national forces every time before polls are due, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday alleged that a deliber- ate effort was being made to create a “volatile atmosphere” in the State ahead of the 2022 state assembly elections. AAP maintained that after the elections conclude, these same anti-national elements somehow are not found or pursued by either the intelli- gence or the security agencies of both the country and the state. In a reference to the speech made by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on the Independence Day at Amritsar — where he warned neigh- bouring Pakistan about attempts to create trouble in Punjab — AAP’s senior leader and Sunam MLA Aman Arora on Tuesday said that the Chief Minister should concentrate more on the worsening law and order in the State of which he is also the Home Minister and which was also his primary responsibility. “There are only six months left for Assembly elections. Like under the Badals, the law and order situation in the Congress rule has gone from bad to worse. In such a sce- nario, people may have lost all faith in the State Government, but I bow down to the people of Punjab, who have main- tained mutual understanding and goodwill despite the dete- riorating law and order condi- tion,” said Arora. FWhcWaTPc^UP]cX]PcX^]P[ U^aRTbX]RaTPbTbX]?d]YPQQTU^aT T[TRcX^]b00?;0PbZb ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Moving a step ahead all political parties in Punjab, Shiromani Akali Dal is all set to launch a massive outreach programme from Wednesday, spreading over 100 days cover- ing all 117 assembly con- stituencies, from Zira, not only aimed at exposing the ‘corrupt and scam ridden’ Congress Government but also to reach out to every household across Punjab ahead ensuing elec- tions. Launching the party’s ‘Gall Punjab Di’ campaign, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal would undertake a 100- day yatra across 100 con- stituencies, holding 700 public meetings and addressing each and every section of the society during the course of which SAD workers would go to each and every village and ward in the State to take the people’s feedback which would eventu- ally be the part of party’s elec- tion manifesto for 2022 polls. “The purpose of this exer- cise is two-fold. First, to bring the corruption done by the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh’s Government as well as his Council of Ministers before the people; and secondly to col- lect feedback from them as to what they expected from the next SAD-BSP Government,” said Sukhbir. SAD chief also released a missed call number service with number — 96878-96878 — to invite Punjabis to join the party’s campaign as well as share their aspirations with the party. A websitewww.GallPunjabDi.in — was also launched for the purpose. At the same time, Sukhbir also released the charge-sheet against the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). “While the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had a lot to answer vis-à-vis Rs 6,500 crore excise scam, five of his ministerial colleagues are accused of indulging in cor- ruption,” he said. While Sadhu Singh Dharamsot was involved in the SC scholarship scam, Sukhjinder Randhawa was involved in the seed scam, Balbir Singh Sidhu in the COVID procurement as well as de-addication tablets scam, Bharat Bhushan Ashu in the wheat scam and Sham Sunder Arora in the JCT land scam, said Sukhbir. Taking the Chief Minister head on, Sukhbir said that Capt Amarinder had destroyed Punjab in the last four and a half years. “Punjab has the misfortune of having a Chief Minister who did not come out of his home, did not meet even his own Ministers, did not lis- ten to the people and even teachers seeking to meet him were thrashed brutally. The only work the Capt Amarinder Government has done was to loot the State trea- sury,” said Sukhbir. “Nothing has been done in the way of development. In fact, gang- sters have been patronized and are wantonly running extortion rackets from inside State jails,” he added. Saying that in his life, he had seen only three leaders who had taken an oath and broken it without any qualms, Sukhbir said: “Capt Amarinder took an oath on the holy Gutka Sahib and broke it by not fulfilling his promise to eradicate drugs, ensure a complete Rs 90,000 crore loan waiver and provide jobs in each household...Similarly, AAP con- vener Arvind Kejriwal had sworn an oath on his children not to have any truck with the Congress party but broke it within days. Even Punjab AAP convener Bhagwant Mann swore on his mother to leave drinking alcohol, but never honoured the same.” Lashing out at Arvind Kejriwal, Sukhbir said that AAP convener want- ed to implement a failed Delhi model in Punjab. ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Ha r y a n a Education M i n i s t e r Kanwar Pal Gujjar on Tuesday said that no decision has been taken to open the schools for pri- mary classes yet in the state. The State Government is reviewing the situation and a decision regard- ing opening schools for class 1st to 5th will be taken accordingly, the Minister told the mediaper- sons here. Gujjar said that the govern- ment is focusing on COVID- 19 vaccination drive and all teachers of government schools are likely to be vacci- nated by the end of August. Notably, the government and private schools for class 9th to 12th had opened on July 16 while schools were opened from July 23 for classes 6th to 8th. The students have been given the option of attending online classes as well. Haryana Government had on April 16 ordered closure of all schools, colleges, coaching institutions, ITIs, libraries and training institutes whether government or private in the state in view of surge of COVID cases. Meanwhile, to ease the pressure on students, the Board of School Education, Haryana had recently announced to reduce 30 per- cent syllabus for secondary and senior secondary classes for the academic session 2021- 22. B03_aTbXST]cc^d]STacPZT SPhhPcaPPRa^bb R^]bcXcdT]RXTb ?=BQ 270=3860A7 In the backdrop of decline in Covid-19 cases, the Chandigarh Administration on Tuesday decided to with- draw night curfew in the Union Territory. Restaurants and bars would now stay open for business from 8 am to 12 midnight. These decisions were taken in a meeting presided over by Chandigarh Administrator VP Singh Badnore. As per the order, Government offices will now remain open for public deal- ings from 12 noon to 1 pm on all working days except for Wednesdays and Fridays. Visitors to these offices must either have had at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine or must have tested negative in an RT-PCR test taken no less than 72 hours ago. The Administration has also decided to lift its 50 per cent capacity cap on public transport. Additionally, people no longer require permission from the sub-divisional mag- istrate for social gatherings and instead must only inti- mate them. Hockey, Football and Cricket Academies of the sports department have been allowed to function, by fol- lowing all Covid protocol and subject to the condition that all eligible players must have been vaccinated with at least first dose. As regards players under 18 years of age, consent of parents is required. For mar- riages, social gatherings, etc. only intimation and under- taking to adhere to Covid protocols is required to be submitted to the concerned SDM, instead of permission, it stated. 2WP]SXVPaW[XUcb]XVWc RdaUTf*aTbcPdaP]cb QPabRP]^_TaPcTUa^ 'Pc^ !XS]XVWc ATbcPdaP]cbP]S QPabf^d[S]^f bcPh^_T]U^a QdbX]TbbUa^' Pc^ ! XS]XVWc =^STRXbX^]^]^_T]X]V bRW^^[bU^a_aXPahR[PbbTbhTc X]7PahP]PbPhb4SdX]XbcTa
- 3. dccPaPZWP]S 347A03D=kF43=4B30H k0D6DBC '!! ?=BQ 347A03D= Senior leader of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) colonel (retd) Ajay Kothiyal will be the Chief Ministerial candi- date of the party in the 2022 Uttarakhand assembly elec- tions. If voted to power, the AAP will make Uttarakhand a global spiritual capital for Hindus. The AAP's national convener and Delhi chief min- ister Arvind Kejriwal made these announcements on his one-day visit to Dehradun on Tuesday. Talking about choosing Kothiyal as the party's Chief Ministerial candidate in Uttarakhand's assembly elec- tions next year, Kejriwal said that when the deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia asked Uttarakhand's public whether Kothiyal should be the CM, the party received an overwhelming response from the public. He said, The public has chosen Kothiyal as the CM candidate of AAP, not us. The people of Uttarakhand no longer want corrupt political leaders who have looted the State for years instead of doing any develop- ment work. They now want a patriotic army man as a Chief Minister who will serve the people instead of filling his own home with the loot.” He further said that when some political leaders of two promi- nent parties were busy looting the State, Kothiyal was fighting for the country at the border. He has trained thousands of youngsters who wished to join the army. Unemployment and migration are two major issues of today's youth in Uttarakhand and Kothiyal knows how to tackle such issues. The party is already making plans with him to tackle such issues here, assert- ed the Delhi CM. Kejriwal also announced that AAP will make Uttarakhand a spiritual capital for Hindus living across the world. Uttarakhand is called the land of gods. It has various religious places and pilgrim- ages like Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunotri, Gangotri, Haridwar and Rishikesh among several others. Many visit these places every year but with the right management, this number can be increased to at least 10 times than what it is today which will also gen- erate employment opportuni- ties for locals. If voted to power, AAP will work towards making Uttarakhand a global spiritual capital for Hindus, stated Kejriwal. He also promised people that he will return soon with more announcements for Uttarakhand. Kothiyal said that his party will need six months to show what they can do for the devel- opment of Uttarakhand and the public can compare it with the work of other parties. “I request people of Uttarakhand not to fail me in the coming assembly elections. We will not ask for votes in the assembly elections after this assembly election as people will already know about the capabilities of AAP,” said Kothiyal. After addressing the media persons, Kejriwal along with other senior party members and several party workers partici- pated in AAP’s roadshow Devbhoomi Sankalp Yatra from Clock Tower to Dilaram Chowk in Dehradun. V[cZhR]R__`f_TVd`eYZjR]Rd4TR_UZUReV`W22A ?=BQ 347A03D= By proclaiming that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would make Uttarakhand the spiritu- al capital of world for Hindus if it comes to the power in the state and by projecting Col (Retd) Ajay Kothiyal as its Chief Ministerial face the AAP’s national convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has played the Hindu card and at the same time tried to woo the vote bank of the ex-servicemen in Uttarakhand. The declaration of the Kejriwal on Hindu spiritual capital is interesting since the AAP has often been accused by the BJP and other Hindu organisations for engaging in Muslim appeasement. In Uttarakhand the Hindu voters are in overwhelming majority and the state has the shrines of the Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri pop- ular among the Hindus as Char Dham. Understanding the importance of the Hindu votes the opposition Congress too is assertive on Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board and has declared that it would scrap the board as it is antagonistic to the traditions and interests of the Teerth Purohits of the Char Dham. It is learnt that the AAP’s central leadership was concerned on the feedback from Uttarakhand where the party was being considered as the Pro Muslim organisation. The gruesome murder of Uttarkashi resident Dilbar Singh Negi in the Delhi riots last year also is an issue here. Political commentator Suren Rawat said that the AAP wants to shed the image of a pro Muslim party and the dec- laration of the Kejriwal to make Uttarakhand a spiritual centre of Hindus is an attempt in this direction. On Tuesday, Kejriwal also publicly acknowledged that Kothiyal would be the CM face in Uttarakhand. The AAP wants to cash on the image of Kothiyal who is known for his contribution in Kedarnath reconstruction works and his efforts to train youngsters for recruitment in the armed forces of the country. The party believes that Kothiyal’s projec- tion would also attract the ex servicemen voters in the elec- tions. A rough estimate put the number of armed forces veter- ans and Veer Naris (widows of armed forces personnel) at 1.70 lakhs similarly the state is home to about thirty thousand retired paramilitary forces per- sonnel. Similarly an estimated 1.50 lakh personnel belonging to the state are serving in dif- ferent wings of armed forces of the country. .HMULZDOSODV+LQGXFDUG ZRRVH[VHUYLFHPHQYRWHEDQN ?=BQ 347A03D= Former Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presi- dent Kishore Upadhyaya has demanded that the state gov- ernment should make a law to ensure that no one be made homeless in the name of anti encroachment drive in Uttarakhand. He said that the State cabinet in its meeting on August 16 has decided not to remove the slums for next three years but the declaration is not enough. Upadhyaya said that the state government was plan- ning to destroy the slums after an order by the Uttarakhand High Court (HC) in the year 2018 but brought an ordinance to protect slums for three years under public pressure. Upadhyaya said that the state government should also set up a transparent system for reha- bilitation of the people being shifted due to development project or threat of disaster. ?=BQ 347A03D= The regional transport office (RTO) of Dehradun has shifteditsvariouscounterstothe multipurposehallontheground floor of its premises as per the direction of Uttarakhand trans- port secretary Ranjit Sinha. Last month, Sinha had expressed his disappointment to the officials during his sur- prise inspection of the RTO that various counters are either established on the second and third floor which is less acces- sible for disabled people and senior citizens or in the rooms on the ground floor where people have to stand outside in queues in hot and rainy days. He had directed the RTO offi- cials to set all the main coun- ters at a single place on the ground floor for easy access of the public. Considering this, the RTO has set counters in the multi- purpose hall on the ground floor of the RTO building. The regional transport officer (administration) Dinesh Chandra Pathoi informed that counters for new registration of vehicles, permit registrations, challan submission among others have been set up on the ground floor. People arriving in RTO will not have to stand outside on hot and rainy days. There is ample space for peo- ple to wait near the counters. We have made proper seating arrangements in the multipur- pose hall for this purpose, stat- ed Pathoi. He also disclosed that the RTO has also sent a demand to the transport department for the allocation of budget to the RTO to get adequate fans, almirahs and tables besides some other supplies for the staff. 572VKLIWVFRXQWHUVWRJURXQG IORRUIRUHDVDFFHVVRIVHUYLFHV ?=BQ 347A03D= In what can be termed as a pre-election gift to the peo- ple of the State, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami kick started the free pathology test scheme at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya hospital (Coronation) here on Tuesday. Started under the public private participationmodelonthefunds made available by the National Health Mission (NHM), 207 types of the pathological tests wouldbedonefreeofcostinthe government hospitals of the state. The scheme would be implemented in two phases. In thefirstphase,theschemewould commencein38districtsubhos- pitals and community health centres in the six districts of Almora, Tehri, Dehradun, Nainital, Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar. The free patholo- gy test scheme would be imple- mented in the remainder of the districts in the second phase. Speaking on the occasion, Dhami said that the people standing at the end of the soci- ety would benefit from the scheme. He said that the Government is committed to providebenefitsofthesocialwel- fare schemes to every citizen. The CM asserted that the stategovernmentisfocussingon strengthening the State Health services and the services are improvingatafastpace.Hesaid that 72 per cent of the state has receivedthefirstdoseofthevac- cineagainstCovid-19and23per cent have received the second dose. Dhami claimed that the state would complete the target of 100 per cent vaccination by December end. The State has received 17 lakh vaccines this month and the number is expectedtoincreasenextmonth. He said that the Union Governmenthasextendeditsfull support to Uttarakhand in the last seven years. The Health Minister, Dhan Singh Rawat said that a very good beginning has been made with the start of the free pathology test scheme. He said that big ceremonies wouldbeorganisedineverydis- tricttomakepeopleawareabout the scheme. The Minister said that a total of 3.17 people have received the benefit of Atal Ayushman Uttarakhand Yojana (AAUY). A budget of Rs 5 Crore has been earmarked for the scheme inthefinancialyear2021-22.The secretary health Amit Negi, director general (DG), health services, Dr Tripti Bahuguna, Director NHM, Dr Saroj Naithaniandotherswerepresent on the occasion. ?=BQ 347A03D= The State Health depart- ment reported 31 new cases of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) and 41 recoveries from the disease in Uttarakhand on Tuesday. Death of one patient of the dis- ease was reported in the state on that day. The cumulative count of Covid-19 patients in the state is now at 3,42,637 while a total of 3,28,885 patients have recov- ered from the disease so far. In the state 7373 people have lost their lives to Covid -19 till date. The recovery percentage from the disease is at 95.99 while the sample positivity rate on Tuesday was 0.16 per cent. The State Health depart- ment reported seven new patients of Covid -19 each from Bageshwar, four each from Chamoli and Dehradun, three each from Uttarkashi and Almora, two each from Champawat, Pauri, Rudraprayag and Udham Singh Nagar and one each from Nainital and Pithoragarh dis- tricts on Tuesday. No new patient was found in the Tehri district on the day. The State now has 330 active cases of Covid-19. Dehradun with 115 cases is at the top of the table of active cases while Chamoli has 45 active cases. Almora has seven and Tehri has only two active cases respectively. The State reported no new case of Mucormycosis (Black fungus) on Tuesday. A total of 574 patients of the disease have so far been reported. In the ongoing vaccination drive 1,19,493 people were vacci- nated in 914 sessions in differ- ent parts of the state on Tuesday. ?=BQ 347A03D= Acapacity building work- shop was organised at the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) headquarters on ‘Ease of Doing Business’ subject on Tuesday. The workshop was presided over by the director – operation of UPCL, ML Prasad. Informing about the work- shop, the Superintending Engineer (SE), N S Bisht said that executive engineer UPCL, Anil Dhiman and representa- tive of industries department Pritam Tiwari gave detailed presentation on the subject in the workshop. He informed the objective of the workshop was to make required changes on the basis of feedback data and speedy disposal of the pending cases. Bisht said that the UPCL is endeavouring to make the facil- ities given to entrepreneurs easy and accessible on the www.investutttarakhand.com portal and official website of the UPCL. Many entrepreneurs and industry representatives par- ticipated in the workshop. 4XQ]YQe^SXUcVbUU`QdX__WidUcdcSXU]U !ch_Tb^U _PcW^[^VXRP[cTbcb f^d[SQTS^]TUaTT ^UR^bcX]cWT 6^eTa]T]c W^b_XcP[b RYLGQHZ FDVHVUHFRYHULHV RQ7XHVGD D?2;^aVP]XbTb RP_PRXchQdX[SX]V f^aZbW^_^]TPbT ^US^X]VQdbX]Tbb PZT[Pfc^ _a^cTRcb[db) :XbW^aT D_PSWhPhP ?=BQ 347A03D= About 1,500 street vendors have been provided micro- loans under the Prime Minister Street Vendor's Atmanirbhar Nidhi (Svanidhi) Scheme in Dehradun. The Central Government launched this scheme last year to provide affordable micro-loans to street vendors who were adversely affected due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dehradun deputy municipal commis- sioner Sonia Pant informed that the eligible street vendors are provided loans up to Rs 10,000 for one year under this scheme. In Dehradun city, Pant stated that the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) has provided the letter of recommendations (LoRs) to 2,202 vendors out of which about 1,500 vendors have been sanctioned the loan of up to Rs 10,000. She also said that the departments concerned are also doing socio-economic profiling of the eligible beneficiaries and their family members in the city to collect the data on the basis of which, benefits of other schemes will also be extended to them. In Dehradun, socio- economic profiling of over 900 eligible beneficiaries and their family members have been done so far and the eligible members will be offered bene- fits under various Central Government schemes, stated Pant. She said that socio pro- filing of other beneficiaries is under process and since most of the beneficiaries are poor vegetable and fruits street ven- dors, the other schemes will help in the upliftment of their family members too. ?=BQ 347A03D= Over 23,000 applicants working in public trans- portation have applied to the Uttarakhand transport depart- ment to be the beneficiaries for the monetary aid provided by theStategovernmentwithinone week. On August 11, the trans- port department invited the applications from the drivers, conductors and cleaners work- ing in the public transportation to provide financial help whose livelihood was affected due to Covid curfew this year except for the buses of Uttarakhand Transport Corporation (UTC). The department announced last week that a total of Rs 12388.20 lakh will be spent to provide the monthly monetary aid of Rs 2,000 each to all the eli- gible beneficiaries from the chief minister relief fund for the next six months. The department will trans- fer this money to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries through regional transport offi- cers and district magistrates. In the last seven days, the depart- ment has received over 23,000 applications from various dri- vers and conductors of Uttarakhand but only 8,023 applications have been approved so far. The State deputy trans- port commissioner Sanat Kumar Singh informed that out of over 23,000 applications, the department has approved 8,023 applications, rejected 442 applications, 383 applications are put on hold while 14,157 applications are still pending for approval. On the question that the web portal of the department http://uk.gov.in is only showing registration options for drivers and conductors and not for the cleaners, Singh said that the department is developing a new portal in which there will be a registration option for the clean- ers too. “As per our estimation, the number of cleaners is hardly about 3,000 in the State. With the launch of the new web por- tal, the registration of the clean- ers will start too,” stated Singh. He also disclosed that the num- ber of eligible beneficiaries in the State will certainly go over 50,000 beneficiaries. eTa!P__[XRP]cbP__[hU^a ^]TcPahPXSX]caP]b_^acST_c ?=BQ =08=8C0; Hearing on a petition regarding the DNA test of Dwarahat MLA Mahesh Negi accused of sexual exploita- tion, the Uttarakhand High Court has directed the state government to submit the investigation report along with an affidavit by October 5. This instruction was issued by the single bench of justice RC Khulbe. During the hearing on Tuesday the counsel for the prosecution said that the DNA report had not been present- ed yet. It was also stated on behalf of the alleged victim that the DNA test of the accused should be conducted as he was the father of her child. It was further stated that it had been ascertained in investigation that Negi had accompanied the alleged vic- tim in many locations. The stay order issued in the past should also be quashed, the counsel stated. According to the case details, the alleged victim had submitted an application with the police in Dehradun during September 2020 alleging that the MLA had sexually exploit- ed her and that the MLA and his wife were issuing death threats to her. The petitioner has also stated that two of the investigation officers in the case have been transferred by the government so far as the MLA is from the ruling party, considering which the inves- tigation should be conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The alleged victim has further averred that the Dehradun police are conducting the investigation in a biased man- ner whereas she has evidence of the various alleged mis- deeds of the MLA. BeP]XSWX bRWTTQT]TUXcb PQ^dc $ bcaTTceT]S^ab 83cUU[cbU`_bd QVVYTQfYdY^SQcU QWQY^cd=1 CaXTbc^P__TPbT 7X]SdbQhb_XaXcdP[ RP_XcP[_a^XbT* :^chWXhP[´bUPRTc^ PccaPRcPaTSU^aRTb eTcTaP]b ?=BQ =08=8C0; Aformer employee of the Jal Sansthan has received jus- tice after 41 years from the Uttarakhand high court. The high court has ordered that all the dues, pension and other retirement benefits of Kan Singh Rana whose service was terminated by the Jal Sansthan in 1980, should be paid by the department. The high court single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwar also found the Jal Sansthan petition to be lacking sub- stance and rejected it. According to the case details, Dehradun resident Rana had filed petition in the labour court in Dehradun in 1980 stating that his service had been terminated by the Jal Sansthan without issuance of any notice or providing him a reason for the same. The labour court ruled in his favour but the department challenged this in the high court stating that it had not been heard in the labour court and that the decision was one-sided. The HC had earlier direct- ed the department to submit its objection in the labour court where it was rejected. The department had stated that the worker had not worked in his office for 240 days due to which he had been fired. The department chal- lenged the decision in the HC again, hearing on which the court cited Uttar Pradesh Industrial Disputes Act and Supreme Court decisions and directed the department to clear Rana’s dues. Rana is currently aged about 78 years. 6YbUTU]`_iUUWUdcZecdYSUQVdUb$!iUQbc D_PSWhPhPbPXScWPccWT BcPcT6^eTa]T]cbW^d[S P[b^bTcd_PcaP]b_PaT]c bhbcTU^aaTWPQX[XcPcX^] ^UcWT_T^_[TQTX]VbWXUcTS SdTc^STeT[^_T]c _a^YTRc^acWaTPc^U SXbPbcTa
- 4. ]PcX^]# 347A03D=kF43=4B30H k0D6DBC '!! ?=BQ =4F34;78 Aday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that there will be no cut in excise duty on fuel as the pre- vious UPA Government had reduced fuel prices by issuing Oil Bonds of C1.44 lakh crore, the Congress on Tuesday hit back by saying that the Government since 2014-15 has spent C73,440 crore on servic- ing oil bonds and collected C 22.34 lakh crore through taxes on petroleum products. Addressing the AICC press conference, former Union Minister Ajay Maken said the official figures expose BJP’s oil bond falsehood. “Since 2014- 15, the Modi Government has spent C73,440 crore on servic- ing of oil bonds and against this, they have collected C22.34 lakh crore through taxes on petroleum products,” Maken said at AICC Press confer- ence. Maken pointed out that spending on servicing of oil bonds is just 3.2 per cent of the tax collection from petroleum products. The Congress said that in the current fiscal also, the Government has only a liabil- ity to pay C20,000 crore in the form of bond repayment and interest on the outstanding oil bonds. At the present rates, the Government is expected to collect C5 lakh crore from taxes on petroleum products. He said that the real rea- son is not oil bonds but reduc- tion in subsidy by 12 times and increase in taxes by three times. “In 2020-21 alone, tax on petrol-diesel was C4.53 lakh crore. It is three times more than 2013-14, “ Maken said. He said that the BJP raised central taxes on petrol and diesel by C23.87 and C28.37 per litre in the last seven years. He said that the Government collected addi- tional C1.89 lakh crore every year. Slamming the Government for high taxation on fuel, Maken said, “The Modi Government has extort- ed C22,33,868 crore by levying excise on petrol-diesel in the last seven years.” Citing the official figures of the petroleum planning and analysis cell, he said that during the UPA Government, it gave a subsidy on petroleum products to the tune of C1.64 lakh crore in 2012-13 and C 1.47 lakh crore in 2013-14. “On the contrary, the pre- sent Modi Government dras- tically reduced this amount year after year to C12,231 crore in 2020-21,” he said. “Since the lockdown, the increase on excise duties on petrol and diesel has sur- passed all forms of exploitation and extortion”, Maken said. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Battling a prolonged second wave of the pandemic, the Northeastern States will get a central financial package of C 1,300 crore as an aid to fight the crisis which refuses to abate in the region. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya made an announcement in this regard on Tuesday. After reviewing the Covid- 19 situation with Health Ministers of all the Northeastern States in Guwahati, Mandaviya told reporters that the fund is being provided to purchase medi- cines, enhance oxygen supply, increase beds — general, ICU and children — at local and district-level hospitals. “The fund will also be utilised to speed up the vacci- nation drive by the States in the region. The Government of India is committed to provide enough vaccines to the States,” he said adding the peak in the region was seen much later than the rest of India and so it was taking time to decline. “In the last two weeks, the cases have started declining in the Northeast and this is a good sign. All the States took various steps to contain the second wave and it is ending now,” Mandaviya said. The NE States, which were considered the safest in the country during the first wave of the pandemic, are now being ranked among States with the highest number of cases. A tiny State like Mizoram has 10,618 active cases now. This is a huge number when compared with bigger States like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where the daily figures are around 500. The daily positivity rate in Mizoram is 7-10%. Assam’s 8,654 active cases may not be considered high as the State recorded over 5.78 lakh cases from March 31 last year. Manipur remains closest to Assam with 6,671 active cases though it had about 1.07 lakh confirmed cases during that period, said an official from the Union Ministry. There is a fear that if the third wave strikes, NE may report a huge surge. This could be because other States have already seen this surge and States in the region are yet to experience peaking. Assam, which reported the highest 3.6 lakh cases in the second wave in the region, has been able to fully vaccinate only about 24.21 lakh people of the 2.31 crore 18+ population. Similarly, the lowest of 1.67 lakh second dose has been administered in Nagaland. “A large number of people are yet to be fully vaccinated in the Northeast. If a third wave strikes now, it can turn disas- trous. The situation will improve if it does not. The pos- itivity rate is coming down even in Mizoram, though it’s not at par with Assam’s less than 1%,” the official added. However, considering the acceleration of the inoculation drive, they hope that a signif- icant number of people may escape the wrath of the third wave. Nevertheless, they are not sure whether cases will drop in winter, like in the first wave. “Last year, we did not see many cases during winter. But no one knows what is on the cards,” Assam NHM director, Lakshmanan S had said recent- ly. 4V_ecV@dC$!!TcW`c ?`ceYVRdee`eRT]V4`gZU ?=BQ =4F34;78 The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday arrested two ISIS operatives — Mizha Siddeeque and Shifa Harris — in connection with ISIS Kerala module case. The arrested accused per- sons are residents of Kannur district in Kerala. The NIA had registered a suo moto case under sections Indian Penal Code sections relating to criminal conspira- cy and waging war against the nation among others besides relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on March 5 this year in a case relating to terrorist activities of one Mohammed Ameen alias Abu Yahya of Kerala and his asso- ciates, the NIA said in a state- ment. Yahya and his cohorts have been running various ISIS propaganda channels on different social media plat- forms such as Telegram, Hoop and Instagram for propagating the violent Jihadi ideology of ISIS and radicalising and recruiting new members for the ISIS module, it further said. “Investigation has revealed that accused Mizha Siddeeque is affiliated with ISIS. She had travelled to Tehran along with her associates to join ISIS in Syria. On instructions of accused Mohammed Ameen, she had created a page on Instagram to propagate, moti- vate, radicalise and recruit gullible Muslim youth for ISIS. She had also radicalized other accused in the case namely her cousin Mus’Hab Anwar, Shifa Harris and was motivating them to join ISIS,” it further said. Shifa Haris alias Ayesha has affiliation with ISIS and on directions of accused Mus’Hab Anwar and Mizha, she had transferred funds to Mohammad Waqar Lone alias Wilson Kashmiri for support- ing ISIS activities. Shifa was willing to perform Hijra to ISIS controlled territory for joining ISIS, it added. 1,$DUUHVWVWZR .HUDODUHVLGHQWVIRU ,6,6FRQQHFWLRQV ?=BQ =4F34;78 The BJP on Tuesday lashed out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of pursuing “reckless” politics by revealing the identity of the family of a minor rape victim and “falsely” claiming to have done it with their consent. Rahul’s Twitter account was blocked for allegedly revealing the identity of the family of a rape victim which is against the law. Congress, in a letter to Twitter, had claimed that they had a letter of consent from the family stating they had no objection to their identity being disclosed which BJP claims is not true. A section of media claimed that the rape victim’s family denied having given any consent letter to allow the use of their pictures by the Congress. BJP president J P Nadda and BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra attacked Rahul as an irresponsible and careless leader, devoid of sensitivity. “If you have zero sensitiv- ity, loads of arrogance and reckless style of politics, then you have scant regard for the rule of law,” Nadda said, refer- ring to Rahul. Inaugurating the Kozhikode office of the BJP, Nadda also accused Gandhi of being a “political tourist” in Kerala after losing the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi. “The real intentions and emotions of a person do not change merely by changing the state,” Nadda said. Addressing a press con- ference here, Patra accused t h e ex-Congress president of sub- mitting a “forged letter” to Twitter to get his account “unlocked”. “When Twitter blocked his account for disclosing the identity of a rape victim’s fam- ily, Rahul Gandhi lied about consent given by the family. No responsible politician behaves in such a manner,” Patra said. Patra claimed that the Congress had presented a “forged” letter to get Gandhi’s Twitter account unlocked. “Does such an irresponsi- ble person have the right to be on any public platform…. He has used the family of a rape victime to further his own political career,” Patra said. While public has already locked his political account, Twitter should also lock his account, quipped BJP leader. 5DKXOSXUVXLQJ UHFNOHVVSROLWLFV DOOHJHV%-3 ?=BQ =4F34;78 Ag r i c u l t u r e M i n i s t e r Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday held a meeting with his ministry officials to plan the celebration of the International Year of Millets in 2023. The United Nations (UN) has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets, acting on India’s proposal. “The proposals for activities to be undertaken to celebrate the International Year of Millets were discussed in detail in the meeting today,” an official state- ment said. The Government will organise events in India as well as in other countries. A series of programmes will be organised throughout the year, it said. For this, cooperation of State Governments, local administration of all districts, urban bodies, MPs and other public representatives from across the country will also be taken, it added. In the meeting, Tomar said the Government has taken sev- eral steps to boost production of millets. The country even cele- brated 2018 as the national year of millets and notified them as nutritious cereals giving an ‘unique identity’. As a result, millet produc- tion in India has risen to 176 lakh tonne in 2020-21 crop year (July-June) from 164 lakh tonne in 2017-18 crop year, he said. The Minister said 96 high- yielding, disease-resistant, including 10 nutritive-cereal crops and three biofortified varieties have been released. Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Chaudhary, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal, ICAR Director General Trilochan Mohapatra and other senior officials were present in the meeting. 'DWDH[SRVHV%-3¶VRLO ERQGIDOVHKRRGVDV0DNHQ C^PaW^[SbTTcc^ _[P]RT[TQaPcX^]^U8]c´[ hTPa^UX[[TcbX]!! ?=BQ =4F34;78 Aday after hosting the Olympics medal winners at his home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with the Indian para-athlete contingent for Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and their families and coaches via video conferencing and assured them that India is being increasingly made ‘Divyang-friendly’. As many as 54 para-ath- letes from across nine sports disciplines will be heading to Tokyo to represent the nation. This is India’s biggest ever con- tingent to the Paralympic Games. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister lauded the para-athletes for their self con- fidence and will power and credited their hard work for the biggest ever contingent to the Paralympic Games. Modi said he is hopeful after interacting with the para athletes that India will create a new history at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. The Prime Minister said that” today’s new India does not put pressure for medals on the athletes but expects them to give their best.” Referring to the recent Olympics, the Prime Minister said that the country is firmly with the athletes in their efforts whether they win or miss. The Prime Minister dis- cussed the importance of men- tal strength along with physi- cal strength in the field. He praised the para athletes for overcoming their circum- stances and moving forward despite them. The Prime Minister said that our villages and remote areas are full of talent and the contingent of para athletes is a living example of that. “Today the country is try- ing to reach them, special attention is being paid to the rural areas,” said the Prime Minister. Modi informed informed players that for recognizing local talents, 360 Khelo India Centres have been established. Soon this number will be increased to 1000 centres, he said. Prime Minister said equipments, grounds and other resources and infra- structure are being made avail- able to the sportspersons. The Country is helping its sportspersons with an open heart. The country provided necessary facilities and targets through ‘Target Olympic Podium Scheme’, said the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister insist- ed that in order to reach the top, we have to shed fears that made home in the hearts of the older generation when families were apprehensive if a child was interested in sports and there were no career prospects in sports barring one or two sports. This insecurity needed to be destroyed said the Prime Minister emphasizing that “we have to keep on improving our ways and system to develop sports culture in India.” He pointed out that tradi- tional sports are getting a new identity along with the pro- motion of international sports. He mentioned establishment of Sports University in Imphal, Manipur, status of sports in the New National Education Policy and Khelo India Movement as key steps in that direction. “Whatever state, region you belong to, whatever lan- guage you speak, above all this, today you are ‘Team India. This spirit should permeate every part of our society at every level”’, the Prime Minister said. The Prime Minister said that earlier, giving facilities to Divyang Jan was treated as welfare, today the country is working for this as part of its responsibility. That is why, the Parliament enacted a law like ‘The Rights for Persons with Disabilities Act to provide comprehensive security to the Divyang Jan. He said ‘Sugamya Bharat Campaign’ is the biggest example of this new thinking. Today hundreds of government building, railway stations, train coaches, domes- tic airports and other infra- structure are being made Divyang friendly, he said. Efforts like standard dic- tionary of Indian Sign Language, Sign language translation of NCERT are changing lives and giving con- fidence to numerous talents all over the country, said the Prime Minister. Sports Minister Anurag Thakur also attended the vir- tual meet. =_TYY^dUbQSdcgYdX D_[i_`QbQi]`YQ^c ?=BQ =4F34;78 The CBI has taken over the investigation into cases against former Chief Minister of Kerala Oomen Chandy, for- mer Union Minister K C Venugopal, both senior Congress leaders, and other politicians related to allegations of sexual exploitation by a prime accused woman in the sensational multi-crore solar scam. The cases against six politi- cians, including Chandy, were registered over the last several years and investigated by the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police based on a complaint by the woman, an accused in the multi-crore solar panel scam during the United Democratic Front (UDF) government. The woman had alleged that she was sexually exploited by them in 2012, officials said. The CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) gov- ernment in Kerala had recom- mended a CBI enquiry into the cases in January this year, months ahead of the Assembly elections in the State in April- May. The Opposition Congress in the State had then dubbed the move as “politically moti- vated”, saying the CPI-M-led government could not find anything against the party lead- ers and took the decision as elections were round the cor- ner. Besides Chandy and Venugopal, MP Hibi Eden, Adoor Prakash, MLA A P Anil Kumar, and BJP leader A P Abdulla Kutty are the accused in the six cases. The case against Kutty was registered in 2014 when he was a Congress MLA from Kannur. He later joined the BJP. In a letter to the Police Commissioner of Ernakulam on July 19, 2013, the woman had levelled charges of sexual misconduct and corruption against several Congress and UDF leaders, including Chandy, some of his ministers and two former Union minis- ters. The agency has taken over the six FIRs registered by the Kerala Crime Branch and re- registered them to investigate the allegations, officials added. 218cPZTb^eTa_a^QT^]aP_T RWPaVTbPVPX]bcTg22WP]Sh ?=BQ =4F34;78 Afirst-of-its-kind handbook on formation and promo- tion of Fish Farmer Producer Organisations (FFPOs) under the central flagship Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) was released on Tuesday at an event here. The handbook, which was released by Parshottam Rupala, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, provides a road map for setting up a FFPO as a cooperative and spells out sim- ple steps to be taken by the Community Based Business Organization engaged by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC). Sundeep Kumar Nayak, Managing Director, NCDC and Jatindra Nath Swain, Secretary, Department of Fisheries, were also present on the occasion. Rupala shared that PMMSY, the flagship scheme for fishers provides financial and technical assistance for setting up FFPOs to econom- ically empower the fish farm- ers while Nayak pointed out that various awareness and sensitization programmes for promotion of FFPOs have been held in the past several months to encourage the farmers to set up such entities. “The Department of Fisheries has kept a target of forming 500 FFPOs in the country, of which 50 FFPOs will be formed by the NCDC in the first year under the Cooperative Societies Act,” Swain added. Finding potential in the cooperative sector as a way to boost the income of the farm- ers and fishers among others to help make them self-reliant, the Modi Government has recent- ly set up a new Ministry called the Ministry of Cooperation. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Union Minister of Road Transport Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that India will soon fully devel- op Lithiumion vehicles, which will bring down the cost of Electric Vehicles and he con- firmed that he will be launch- ing India’s first electric tractor next month. And while the new scrap- page policy will increase sales of new vehicles, he said, he has requested manufacturers to give 5% discount on new vehi- cle bought against scrapping the old vehicle. “Vehicles in Delhi/NCR will be scrapped after 10 and 15 years as per judgement of the NGT,” said Gadkari in the presence of MoS Gen V K Singh. He said he was glad to share that India now manu- factures almost 90 percent of world leading car brands and very soon the nation will become a major transport manufacturing hub of world. Gadkari said as conveyed by PM the scrappage initiative will promote a circular econo- my and make the process of economic development more sustainable and environment- friendly. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Election Commission on Tuesday said the bypoll to fill up a vacant seat in Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu will be held on September 13. The Rajya Sabha seat from Tamil Nadu fell vacant following the death of AIADMK member A Mohammedjan (72) on March 23 this year following a heart attack. He had earlier served as a minister in Tamil Nadu. The bypoll will be held on September 13, the poll panel said in a statement. According to established practice, the counting of votes will be held an hour after the polling con- cludes at 4 pm on September 13. The commission said all Covid-related protocols will be followed during the poll. Each individual will wear a face mask during every elec- tion-related activity. At the entry of hall or premises used for election purposes, thermal scanning of all people will be carried out and sanitiser will be made available at all locations, the commission said. “The chief secretary, Tamil Nadu is being directed to depute a senior officer from the state to ensure that the extant instructions regarding COVID- 19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the said by election,” the EC statement said. Mohammedjan’s term was to otherwise end on July 24, 2025. 8]SXPc^b^^] STeT[^_;XcWXdX^] eTWXR[Tb)6PSZPaX Bd]STT_:dPa =PhPZP]PVX]V 3XaTRc^a=232P]S 9PcX]SaP=PcW BfPX]BTRaTcPah 3T_PacT]c^U 5XbWTaXTbfTaT P[b^_aTbT]c^]cWT ^RRPbX^] 5Xabc^UXcbZX]S WP]SQ^^Z^]55?bU^a R^^_TaPcXeTbaT[TPbTS 1h_^[[c^C=APYhP BPQWPbTPc^]BT_
- 5. ]PcX^]$ 347A03D=kF43=4B30H k0D6DBC '!! B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :;:0C0 Trinamool Congress leader Sushmita Dev has said that being the Chief Ministerial face of her party in Assam was not the condition for her join- ing the party. Dev a former Congress women's cell chief on Monday left her old party of 30 years to join the TMC after a brief meeting with Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. On whether she was hope- ful of getting projected as her new party's Chief Ministerial candidate in Assam, Dev said her joining the TMC was 'unconditional'. She said my joining the All India Trinamool Congress was unconditional ... I willl follow the directions of my leader- ship, saying Mamata Banerjee was the most able leader on whom she had supreme faith. I have full confidence in madam Mamata Banerjee ... She is the most able leader and Abhishek Banerjee is the most able general, she said. On whether she had lost confidence I Rahul Gandhi, she said, Rahulji too is a very able leader and I have no questions on his leadership. I wish him success in future. On Sonia Gandhi she said, whatever I had to say about Madam Sonia ji I have already written in my letter written to her on 15 August... I had a 30- year association with the Congress... My father was a Congress leader... I am doing Congress politics since I was a student. Earlier in a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi she wrote “I cherish my three-decade-long association with the Indian National Congress. May I take this opportunity to thank the party, all its leaders, members and workers who have been my memorable journey. Madam, I thank you personally for your guidance and the opportunities you gave me. I value the enrich- ing experience.” The daughter of Santosh Mohan Dev the late Union Minister Susmita has been a popular name in Assam’s Barak Valley and is likely to be the face of her new party in the North-eastern State where the TMC has been trying to make a desperate attempt to set foot in, in its bid to become a nationally relevant political party. ‘Kolkata: The Bengal BJP is likely to move the court to seek disqualification of Trinamool Congress MLA Mukul Roy who won the April-May Assembly elections on BJP ticket before moving across to the TMC. Roy a former nation- al vice president of the BJP joined the Trinamool Congress on June 11 and was promptly appointed as its national vice president by Trinamool supre- mo Mamata Banerjee. Subsequently besides demanding his disqualifica- tion from the House the BJP has been protesting his appointment as the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. “We have raised the issue formally with Speaker Biman Banerjee. The petition was to be heard this week but it has again been postponed … now I am movintg the Calcutta High Court seeking Mr Roy’s disqualification from the House … or for that matter we will also appeal to the High Court to set a date for the com- pletion of the hearing by the Speaker in this matter,” Bengal Oppostion Leader Suvendu Adhikari said. Meanwhile, Roy is known to written an application to the Speaker seeking an extention of the date of hearing. “Mukul da has asked for month’s time,” a TMC MLA said. PNS :[`Z_VUE4f_T`_UZeZ`_R]]j+DfdY^ZeR 270=30=?A0:0B7Q 14CC807 The startup zone started at Chanpatia in West Champaran district of Bihar has turned out a huge success story for many who returned back to the State after Covid- 19 pandemic hit the country. The move has not only helped skilled labourers to set up their own brand with the help of district administration, but also created thousands of direct and indirect employment in the home district. The suc- cess of the initiative can be eval- uated with the fact that a vari- ety of products manufactured here are being exported to international markets such as Spain, Nepal and Bangladesh. Mrityunjay Sharma, owner of a clothing brand called Lisso, returned to the state from Delhi after he lost his job due to the pandemic. He was helped by district administra- tion to avail 25 lakh under Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) loan to set up his own brand. Now, within a short span of time, he started getting orders in bulk and overall transaction has reached in Crores, a month. The startups at this pro- duction hub are burdened with huge orders coming from across the country. With the products being available with- in the district at very low cost compared with that imported from Surat and other cities of Gujarat, many new shops also came into existence adding to the economic activities of the small town. Aamil Husain, 35, who used to work in Dubai in a tex- tile company and returned back after the first wave of Covid-19. With the support of district administration, he started his own brand called Sufiya Textile and now his company supplies orders in local markets as well as neigh- bouring states. “I had no clue after return- ing back here. The situation started turning grimmer day by day and I lost all hopes to go back to work. During the skill mapping test started by local authorities, I got an opportu- nity to interact with top offi- cials who helped me a lot in set- ting up my company. The offi- cials kept in touch and pro- vided the platform needed to develop the business initially. Now, we are getting huge orders and working continu- ously to fulfill demand from local markets, he said. Similarly, Anand Kumar, an owner of Aarti Industries, deals in Utensils, closed his two factories from Delhi and invest- ed at the startup zone at Chanpatia. “Getting such an opportunity to work at home is something I was looking for years. I shifted all the machines and inventory here from Delhi after knowing about initiative. My products are being supplied to various states in the country and Nepal also, he said. Talking to the pioneer, District Magistrate of West Champaran Kundan said that many of skilled and unskilled workers returned back to the state after Covid-19 created havoc in India earlier this year. “After skills mapping exercises at quarantine centers, we found that some of them are highly trained and skilled in the tex- tile, leather and woodcraft sec- tor. We started exploring ways to set up all these ventures here. “We called a meeting of people who left Bihar years ago and became well-versed in these sectors. They provided inputs of the latest technology, machines, and raw materials needed for bulk production of goods. In order to speedy implementation of the pro- ject, a single senior official (single window system) was appointed for every enterprise that yielded positive results,” he said. “The district officials also provided them all requisite support including buying of raw materials, machinery and helping them to sell their prod- ucts in national or international markets. The products manu- factured here are exported to international markets such as Spain, Nepal and Bangladesh as well,” he said. The initiative in West Champaran was inaugurated by the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in December last year. %LKDU¶VVWDUWXS]RQHDJUHDWVXFFHVV 1T]VP[19?c^^eT 72bTTZX]VdZd[³b ^dbcTaUa^7^dbT C=A067D=0C70Q D108 The Covid-19 fatalities and infections appeared to be relatively on the lower side for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, as the State logged 116 deaths and 4,408 fresh cases. A day after the Covid-19 deaths dropped to 100 deaths and the infections went down to 4,145 in the State, there was a marginal increase in the number of deaths and fresh cases in the State. With 116 fresh fatalities reported on Monday, the total number of deaths in the State increased from 1,35,139 to 1,35,255, while the infections - - with 4,408 new cases – went up from 63,96,805 to 64,01,213. As 5,424 patients were dis- charged from the hospitals across the state after full recov- ery, the total number of people discharged from the hospitals since the second week of March last year increased from 61,95,744 to 62,01,168. The recovery rate in the state rose from 96.86 per cent to 96.87 per cent. The total “active cases” in the state dropped from 62,452 to 61,306. The fatality rate in the state stood static at 2.11 per cent. Pune with 14,325 active cases emerged as the first in the state in terms of maximum number of “active cases” in the state, while Thane with 6985 cases stood second in the state, followed by Satara (6797), Sangli (5,915), Ahmednagar (5747), Solapur (5,131), Kolhapur (3157) and Mumbai (3048). Of the 5,12,91,383 samples sent to various laboratories across the state so far, 64,01,213 have tested positive (12.48 per cent) for COVID-19 until Tuesday. Currently, 3,53,807 peo- ple are in home quarantine while 2,233 people are in insti- tutional quarantine. :D0A274;;0??0= Q :278 Even as the LDF Government in Kerala is going ahead with its one-year long grandiose ‘mega-cente- nary celebrations’ of the Mappila Rebellion of August 21, 1921 that saw the biggest ethnic pogrom in Eranadu and Valluvanadu regions (spread across Palakkad, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts) resulting in the massacre of thousands of people, the fes- tivities had been dampened by disclosures made by persons who mattered in modern India. V P Menon, Secretary of State, who was the Man Friday to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the country’s first home minister and deputy prime minister, in his interview to Harry Hodson (who was the Reforms Commissioner to India till 1941 before Menon stepped into his shoes) had made it clear that the Mappila Rebellion was no way con- nected to the Khilafat Movement as made out by the Congress leaders of that time. The recordings of Menon’s interview have been preserved in the archives of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, according to Left his- torian Narayani Basu who authored The Unsung Architect of Modern India, the biography of Menon. Basu is the great granddaughter of Menon. “Khilafat leaders… were not non-communal. They were merely making use of Gandhiji for their own purpose,” Basu quotes Menon of telling Hodson who had called on the former in his capacity as editor of The Sunday Times. Menon hailed from the region which saw the worst communal holocaust during the pogrom and had lost many of his friends and relatives to the knives of religious zealots. “In later years , as the Administrative Reforms Commissioner and Secretary of State, he was privy to the intel- ligence despatches sent by the British Army to Delhi as well as London,” said Prof P G Haridas, eminent historian of Kerala University. Prof M G S Narayanan, for- mer chief of Indian Council of Historical Research and who was a native of the region blames the Communists for distorting the Mappila Rebellion and portraying it as a peasant upsurge. “The Conmunists who were always in the look out for opportunities to foment trou- ble, took advantage of this Hindu-Muslim divide after independence. Their ideo- logues like E M S Namboodirippadu character- ized the rebellion as a peasant revolt. They rechristened the Mappila Rebellion as Malabar Rebellion and Peasant Rebellion. These labels are mislead- ing,” wrote Prof Narayanan in his preface to “Gandhi and Anarchy”, authored by Sir C Sankaran Nair, the only Keralite till date to occupy the coveted position of the president of the Indian National Congress. Sir Nair was highly critical of Mahatma Gandhi’s support to the Khilafat Movement, which the Father of the Nation thought would help him con- nect with the Muslim commu- nity to strengthen India’s free- dom movement. But his dreams were shat- tered and Gandhiji came down heavily on the leaders of the Rebellion. “I am aghast at the site of our Muslim brethren mas- sacring their brothers and sis- ters. The information that all these killings happened as part of their attempts to convert the Hindus into Islam” writes the Mahatma in Young India (22- 9-21) of which he was the edi- tor. 0DSSLOD5HEHOOLRQIHVWLYLWLHVGDPSHQHG ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached immovable properties worth C234 crore of Vivekanand Shankar Patil, a four time MLA and former Chairman of Karnala Nagari Sahakari Bank Ltd, in a bank fraud case. The attached properties, inter-alia, include Karnala Sports Academy and many land parcels. ED initiated investigation on the basis of an FIR regis- tered by Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Mumbai Police in 2019. “The fraud came to light after an audit was done at the instance of Reserve Bank in 2019-20, when it was revealed that Patil was siphoning off funds from the bank through 63 fictitious loan accounts to the loan accounts of Karnala Charitable Trust and Karnala Sports Academy, which were founded and controlled by him,” the agency said in a statement. The “fraud” was going on since 2008. It was found that management of the bank was under control of Vivekanand Patil. The agency had arrested Patil on June 15 this year and filed a prosecution complaint (chargesheet in police par- lance) on August 12. Money laundering investi- gation under PMLA revealed that the defrauded amount was to the tune of approxi- mately C560 crore (including interest) in respect of 67 ficti- tious accounts, it said. To hide the swindling, the available funds were routed to these fictitious accounts and from these accounts to the several bank accounts of enti- ties founded/ controlled by Patil. These funds were then utilised by Karnala Charitable Trust and Karnala Sports Academy for construction of properties such as sports com- plex, college and schools and for other personal gains, there- by using the proceeds of crime and projecting the same as untainted in contravention of offence of money laundering, it added. ‘New Delhi: The CBI on Tuesday arrested Dibakar Das, Chief Managing Director (CMD) of a private company Rubi Star Marketing Pvt. Ltd. in a chit fund scam. The CBI had registered a case on June 8, 2017 against the CMD of the company based at North 24 Parganas (West Bengal) and others including two directors and branch manager. The case was among many such cases registered at the behest of the Supreme Court. “It was alleged that the accused had entered into conspira- cy with an ulterior motive of siphoning off the illegally collect- ed money amounting to C38 crore from the investors under var- ious fraudulent schemes on assurance of paying high returns on such investments on maturity and later closed its operation and fled away by cheating the said investors for their due amount, and misappropriated the money invested with the accused com- pany,” the agency said in a statement. It was further alleged that an amount of C5,65,18,924 was also diverted from the company's account to the bank account of CMD, which was misappropriated by the accused.The arrested accused was produced before the Court of ACJM, Barrackpore, North 24 Parganas, Kolkata and has been remand- ed to five days police custody. PNS ?=BQ ;D2:=F After Allahabad was rechris- tened as Prayagraj and Faizabad as Ayodhya, the process has been initiated to rename Aligarh and Mainpuri districts too. A resolution to change the names of these two districts has been passed in the meetings of the Aligarh and Mainpuri dis- trict panchayats. The proposal to rename Mainpuri as Mayan Nagar and Aligarh as Harigarh was tabled in the meeting of the District Panchayat Board on Monday. The Houses passed the motion by voice vote. Now the proposals will be sent to the Government level. After that, there is a provision to take fur- ther action from there itself. Around a fortnight ago, the district panchayat had passed a resolution to rename Firozabad as Chandra Nagar. The meeting of the district panchayat in Mainpuri was held under the chairmanship of president Archana Bhadauria in the Collectorate auditorium. Member Yogendra Pratap moved a proposal to name Mainpuri as Mayan Nagar and it was accepted after a discus- sion, sources said. In the first meeting of the District Panchayat Board in Aligarh, Bijauli block chief Umesh Yadav and Atrauli block chief Kehri Singh proposed that earlier the name of the district was Harigarh. In such a situa- tion, a proposal to rename Aligarh as Harigarh should be passed by the House and sent to the government. District panchayat presi- dent Vijay Singh said that the Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha has also given a memorandum to rename Aligarh as Harigarh. Aligarh district panchayat president Vijay Singh said the proposal to rename Aligarh as Harigarh has been unanimous- ly accepted. Lucknow: With 17 UP districts having zero active and fresh Covid-19 cases, 27 new cases were reported across the state on Tuesday. The districts with zero active cases include Aligarh, Amethi, Badaun, Ballia, Bahraich, Chitrakoot, Deoria, Farrukhabad, Firozabad, Hardoi, Hathras, Kasganj, Kaushambi, Mahoba, Sant Kabir Nagar, Shamli and Shravasti. “What has come as a big relief as none of the 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh have reported fresh Covid cases in double digits lately,” Additional Chief Secretary (Information) Navneet Sehgal said. “It indicates that the dangerous virus is receding in the state with as many as 54 districts reporting no Covid case in the last 24 hours while over 21 districts report- ed new cases in single digits,” he added. In another significant development, the active case- load in the most populous state, which was at a high of 3,10,783 in April, has been reduced to 420 now, where- as states like Kerala and Maharashtra account for an active caseload of 1,72,250 and 62,452, respectively. Of the 1,83,270 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the reports of only 27 came out positive in the most pop- ulous state while 24 patients recovered from disease, tak- ing the total recovery figures to 16,85,785. With proactive measures such as the aggressive T3 (trace, test and treat) approach and prevention through vaccination and partial corona curfews to eradicate the pandemic, the UP government has left no stone unturned to minimise the devastating impact of coro- navirus, as a result of which the positivity rate has slumped to 0.01 per cent, the lowest in the country, Sehgal pointed out. PNS 0DKDORJV RYLG GHDWKV 218PaaTbcb23^U AdQXBcPaPaZTcX]V 278C5D=3B20 43PccPRWTbC!#RaX^ePQ[T PbbTcb^UU^dacXT;0?PcX[ :0A=0;0=060A810=:5A0D3 ?a^RTbbc^ aT]PT0[XVPaW PX]_daX R^T]RTb ?=BQ ;D2:=F After the terrorist threats in Uttar Pradesh in the past, along with the arrest of two ter- rorists of the Al-Qaeda backed organisation in Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to expand the scope of Anti- Terrorists Squad (ATS). The Government has made preparations to open a new ATS commando centre in western UP at Deoband. The Government has allotted 20,000 square metres of land near Deoband in Saharanpur for Uttar Pradesh ATS Commando Centre. Advisor to the CM, Shalabh Mani Tripathi in a tweet on Tuesday said ,After the news of barbaric and return of Taliban in Afghanistan, Yogiji has decided to open ATS Commando Centre in Deoband with immediate effect. Work on war footing has also started. About one-and-a-half dozen smart ATS officers selected from across the State will be post- ed in the centre. Preparations are underway to open ATS Commando Training Centre in Lucknow and Noida before Deoband too. Saharanpur is only 30 km away from Deoband. More than eight terrorists and ISI agents have been arrested in Saharanpur recently. There are more than 300 madrasas in Deoband. Due to Darul Uloom, students from all over the country and the world come to Deoband for education. Deoband, which is called the city of knowledge, is now on the radar of the Government due to terrorist activities. Because of this, the UP Government has decided to set up an ATS com- mando centre in Deoband. Selected commandos of Uttar Pradesh Police will be given training in Deoband. To do this work, about one-and-a-half dozen officers of the state will also be posted there. A confidential proposal was invited from the Saharanpur dis- trict administration on this. The district administration had sent a proposal to set up an ATS com- mando centre at the Industry Training Center in Deoband. The Government has approved it. 83 *RYWWRRSHQ$76 FRPPDQGRWUDLQLQJ FHQWUHLQ'HREDQG _^UgS_b_^Q SQcUcY^!' E@TYcdbYSdc 0]PTaXP[eXTf^UU[^^SPUUTRcTSCTaPbXP3XPaPPcAPVW^_daX]EPXbWP[X3XbcaXRc^]CdTbSPh ?C8 CaX]P^^[2^]VaTbb[TPSTaBdbWXcP3TefW^Y^X]TScWT_Pach^]^]SPhSdaX]VP?aTbbR^]UTaT]RTX]=Tf3T[WX^]CdTbSPh ?C8