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Delhi riots toll climbs to ���������������
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38 as violence continues ����������������
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T
����������
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he death toll in Delhi’s
worst riots in more
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than three decades
climbed to 38 on
����������������������������
Thursday as the violence
ebbed but did not subside
completely and thousands
���������� of people began picking up
the pieces of their shattered
lives and livelihoods.
Four days after com-
munal clashes that began in
northeast Delhi over the
amended citizenship law
and spiralled into bloodshed,
arson and looting, the body
ofamanwasfoundinadrain
in Johri Enclave and there
were scattered incidents of
vehicles and shops being set
on fire in Maujpur, Bhajan-
pura and other areas.
���������������������������������������
While there was no pre-
������������������������������������������������
�������������������������������������������
cise figure for the number
�����������������������������������������
of arrests, Solicitor Gener-
������������������������������������������
al Tushar Mehta told the
Delhi High Court that 48
FIRs were lodged in relation
�������������� ���������������������������� to the violence.
���������������������������������������������� Delhi Police transferred
���������������������������������������� the riots probe to the Crime
��������������������������������������������� Branch and formed two
���������������������������������������� Special Investigation Teams.
�������������������������������������������� The GTB Hospital in
����������������������������������������� Dilshad Garden, where
�������������������������������������������� many of the 200 injured in
������������������������������������������ the riots that broke out on
������������������������������������������ Monday are being treated
and where scores of people
lined up outside the mor-
������������������������������������������� tuary to claim the bodies of
����������������� ��������������������������� their loved ones, recorded
����������������������������������������� five more deaths.
����������������������������������������� “Besides, there was one
����������������������������������������������� more death at the LNJP
������������������������������������������� Hospital and another in Jag
���������������������������������������������� Pravesh Chandra Hospital,
���������������������������������������������� taking the total death toll to
������������������������������������������ 38,” a senior Delhi Health
����������������������������� ��� Department official said.
“The situation is return-
ing to normal. We are here
to reassure people that we
are with them,” newly
appointed Special Com-
missioner S N Shrivastava,
who visited the affected
areas, told reporters.
Battle scarred and des-
olate with scorched, black-
ened walls, the ashen
remains of vehicles, glass
shards and bricks, several
fires still burnt in the most-
ly mixed neighbourhoods
of the national capital’s
northeastern edge.
Shops, pharmacies and
other establishments were
closed and people stayed
indoors unless it was imper-
ative tostep out. Several fam-
ilies were seen leaving with
whatever they could salvage
from their vandalised
homes.
As they tried to come to
terms with the losses to
their shops, workshops and
in some cases fruit and veg-
etable carts, residents
recounted the violence of the
night before. In Yamuna
Vihar, three to four rioters
came around 4 a.m. on
Thursday to burn vehicles.
“One of them was hold-
ing a bucket in his hand. He
started pouring some liq-
uid on three vehicles. One
of the cars caught fire. We
raised an alarm after which
they fled,” a local said,
adding, groups of people in
the neighbourhood stay
up all night to keep watch.
A few kilometres away,
a charred board at a private
school in Brijpuri read,
“Welcome to a very happy
school”.
The 52-year-old Arun
Modern Senior Secondary
School looks no less than
a cemetery, said an official,
looking around at the dam-
age which he estimated to
be over Rs 70 lakh.
The GTB Hospital also
presented a picture of
despair with some sobbing
uncontrollably and others
maintaining a stoic silence
with barely held back tears
as they waited at the hos-
pital to receive the bodies
of those killed in the com-
munal mayhem.
Among those who lost
their lives was 22-year-old
Ashfaq Hussain, an elec-
trician who got married
only 10 days ago and was
shot while he was return-
ing home in Gokalpuri after
attending to a complaint.
Still trying to wrap his
head around what had hap-
pened, his relative held up
a smiling photograph of
his bride Tasneem Fatima.
Relatives of 35-year-old
Mudassir Khan from Kar-
dampuri said they have
been coming to the mor-
tuary for two days to claim
his body.
������������
��������
����������
�����������������
The Delhi High Court
Thursday allowed
impleadment of the
Centre in the PIL seek-
ing lodging of FIRs and
arrests in northeast
Delhi where communal
violence has erupted
over the amended citi-
zenship law.
A bench of Chief Jus-
tice D N Patel and Jus-
tice C Hari Shankar
granted four weeks to the
Centre and the police to
file their replies to the
PIL seeking lodging of
FIRs against three BJP
leaders for allegedly
making hate speeches.
Solicitor General
Tushar Mehta told the
bench that as the Cen-
tre is responsible for
maintaining law and
order in Delhi, it be
made a party in the
matter, which was
allowed by the court.
He informed the
bench that 48 FIRs have
been lodged in relation
to the violence and said
there be no judicial
intervention till nor-
malcy is restored in the
national capital. Mehta
said the FIRs have been
lodged in relation to
arson, looting and the
deaths. ���
A controversy broke out
today over the timing of the
transfer of Delhi High Court
judge, Justice S Muralidhar,
who had yesterday taken
on the police for not reg-
istering a case against three
BJP leaders for their alleged
hate speeches.
The Congress and other
Oppsoition parties
slammed the “midnight”
notification describing it
as “shameful” while the
Centre accused the oppo-
sition of politicising a “rou-
tine” transfer.
The Union Law Ministry
last night issued three sep-
arate notifications for the
transfer of Justice Muralid-
har and two other judges,
Justice Ranjit Vasantrao
More of the Bombay High
Court and Justice Ravi Vijay
Kumar Malimath of the
Karnataka High Court.
Justice Muralidhar was
transferred to the Punjab
and Haryana High Court.
The transfers were
approved by President Ram
Nath Kovind. The notifi-
cations came a few hours
after a bench headed by Jus-
tice Muralidhar, the third
senior-most judge in the
Delhi High Court, expressed
“anguish” over Delhi Police’s
failure to register FIRs
against alleged hate speech-
es by BJP leaders Parvesh
Verma, Kapil Mishra and
Anurag Thakur in con-
nection with the protests
against the new Citizenship
law.
Union Law Minister
Ravi Shankar Prasad said
Justice Muralidhar was
transferred on the recom-
mendation of the Supreme
���������������
���������������
�����������������
�������������
������������������
��������������������
���������������
�������������������
�����������
certainly sad and shame-
ful,” she tweeted.
Taking a dig at the gov-
ernment over what he
called Muralidhar’s “sud-
den” transfer, former Con-
gress chief Rahul Gandhi
tweeted, “Remembering
the brave Judge Loya, who
wasn’t transferred.”
Special CBI judge B H
Loya, who was hearing the
high-profile Sohrabuddin
Sheikh fake encounter
case, died in alleged mys-
terious circumstances on
1 December 2014.
Congress chief
spokesperson Randeep
Surjewala at a press con-
ference on the issue alleged
that the BJP government
was “waging a battle of
revenge” against the judi-
ciary. He called the trans-
fer a classic case of “hit-and-
run injustice” by the gov-
ernment.
The CPI-M noted with
concern the “midnight
transfer” of Justice Muralid-

�������������������������� Cong leaders meet ���������������

��������������
Court Collegium and
accused the Congress party
of politicising a routine
har.In a statement, the
party said this transfer was
part of a recommenda-

��������������������������� Prez, demand Amit �����������

transfer.
He added that a “well-
tion of the Supreme Court
collegium, which the Delhi

��������� 34 lives in northeast Delhi and

����������������������
The BJP on Thursday accused
the Congress and the AAP of
“politicising” the riots in Delhi
and claimed that attempts to
instigate violence had been
made for two months after
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi gave the call for ‘aar
yaa par’ (fight to the finish)
in December last year.
Addressing a press con-
ference at the party office,
senior BJP leader and Union
Minister Prakash Javadekar
asked why other political par-
ties were silent on the attack
on the policemen and on the
death of Intelligence Bureau
staffer Ankit Sharma.
“In such a situation, the
duty of all political parties
should be to consolidate
peace,” he said.
Taking on the AAP which
governs Delhi, Javadekar said
that its MLAs should have
worked for peace, but chief
minister Arvind Kejriwal iden-
tified riot victims by religion
in the Assembly. He alleged
that attempts to instigate vio-
lence had been made for the
last two months since Sonia
Gandhi gave the call for ‘fight
to the finish’ at a rally.
Javadekar said the BJP was
working to restore peace and
condemned the Congress,
the AAP for doing politics
over the violence that claimed
left over 200 injured.
He asserted that peace
was restored in two days due
to Union Home Minister Amit
Shah’s effective handling.
He said the Congress’s
demand for Shah’s resignation
was “petty politics.”
Earlier in the day, the Con-
gress hit out at the government
over the transfer of Delhi
High Court Judge S Muralid-
har, alleging that the Modi dis-
pensation was waging a bat-
tle of revenge against the
judiciary.
Muralidhar was transferred
to the Punjab and Haryana
High Court, on a day when a
bench headed by him
expressed “anguish” over the
Delhi Police’s failure to reg-
ister FIRs against alleged hate
speeches by BJP leaders
Parvesh Verma, Kapil Mishra
and Anurag Thakur.
Shah’s resignation
��������������������
����������������������
A Congress delegation, includ-
ing party chief Sonia Gand-
hi, on Thursday urged Pres-
ident Ram Nath Kovind to call
for Home Minister Amit Shah’s
resignation over his alleged
“abdication of duty” during
the communal violence in
Delhi and remind the Centre
of its “raj dharma”.
The delegation, includ-
ing former Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh, Leader of
Opposition in Rajya Sabha
Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed
Patel, P Chidambaram, K C
Venugopal, Priyanka Gand-
hi Vadra, Anand Sharma and
Randeep Surjewala, also sub-
mitted a memorandum to
the president over the wave
of violence in Delhi.
Reading out parts of the
memorandum before the
media outside the Rashtrap-
ati Bhavan, Sonia Gandhi said
that instead of taking reme-
dies to diffuse the situation in
Delhi, the Centre and the
newly-elected Delhi govern-
ment have remained “mute
spectators” to the violence.
The violence has taken
the lives of over 30 people and
businesses have fallen prey to
looting, Gandhi said.
The party also asked the
president to call for the resig-
nation of Home Minister Amit
Shah over alleged “abdication
of duty” during the violence.
Manmohan Singh, in his
remarks to the media, said the
Congress leaders called upon
the President to convey to him
that what has happened in the
last four days in the nation-
al capital is a matter of deep
concern and national shame.
�����������
����������������������
Delhi chief minister and AAP
supremo Arvind Kejriwal today
said that anyone found involved
in the communal riots and vio-
lence raging in Northeast Delhi
should be given the harshest
punishment possible in accor-
dance with the law of the land.
No such person should be
spared, whether directly involved
in killings, arson, loot and destruc-
tion of property or accused of incit-
ing violence, he asserted.
Addressing a press confer-
ence here, Kejriwal said, “If any-
one from our party is found to have
played a role in the riots he
should be given double punish-
ment. There should be no poli-
tics on the question of security."
The CM was asked about the
alleged involvement of AAP coun-
cillor Tahir Hussain. ���
settled process” was fol-
lowed in the transfer.
At the BJP briefing,
senior leader and Union
minister Prakash Javadekar
said the transfer was in line
with the recommendation
of the Collegium. The rec-
ommendation was made
on 12 February.
The Congress alleged
that the transfer of Justice
Muralidhar was aimed at
saving some BJP leaders in
the Delhi violence case
and exposed the govern-
ment's “intimidation and
vendetta politics” against
the judiciary.
Congress leader Priyan-
ka Gandhi Vadra accused
the government of making
attempts to “muzzle” jus-
tice and “break people’s
faith in an upright judiciary”.
“The midnight transfer
of Justice Muralidhar isn't
shocking given the cur-
rent dispensation, but it is
High Court Bar Association
had protested “for well-
argued judicial-adminis-
trative considerations.”
The party said the post
haste implementation of
the transfer appeared to be
in response to what unfold-
ed in the Delhi High Court
yesterday.
The CPI (M) said, “The
fact remains that the Bench
headed by Justice Muralid-
har called the bluff of the
Delhi police in trying to
shield the hate speeches of
top BJP leaders in Delhi in
the course of the Delhi
Assembly election and
after.”
The CPI (M) politburo
urged the Government
that in “these times of
acute confidence deficit, the
transfer order must be
kept in abeyance to rein-
force the confidence of
the people in the judicial
system of the country.”

US body condemns ��������������������������������������������������

Delhi violence
���������
�����������������������
Expressing “grave concern”
over the violence in New
Delhi, a US commission on
international religious free-
dom urged the Indian gov-
ernment to take swift action
for the safety of its citizens.
The US Commission on
International Religious Free-
dom (USCIRF) said that the
Indian government should
provide protection to people
regardless of their faith amid
reports of attack on Muslims
and expressed “grave con-
cern” over the violence.
“We urge the Indian gov-
ernment to make serious
efforts to protect Muslims and
others targeted by mob vio-
lence,” USCIRF Chair Tony
Perkins said in a statement
on Wednesday.
Reacting to the statement,
India on Thursday described
the comments by the USCIRF
and by “few individuals” over
the violence in Delhi as “fac-
tually inaccurate, misleading”
and an attempt to politicise
the issue.
Mi n i s t r y o f Ex t e r n a l
Affairs (MEA) Spokesper-
son Raveesh Kumar said,
“We have seen comments
made by USCIRF, sections of
the media and a few indi-
viduals regarding recent
incidents of violence in
Delhi. These are factually
inaccurate and misleading,
and appear to be aimed at
politicising the issue”.
���������
����������������������
India on Thursday brought
back 112 people from the
coronavirus-hit Chinese city
of Wuhan and another group
of 124 from Tokyo who were
on board a cruise ship infect-
ed by the deadly virus.
A C-17 Globemaster III
transport aircraft of Indian Air
Force evacuated 76 Indians and
36 foreign nationals from
Wuhan while an Air India
flight brought back the group
of 124 people from Tokyo.
The foreign national evac-
uated from Wuhan included
23 from Bangladesh, six from
China, two each from Myan-
mar and Maldives and one
each from South Africa, USA
and Madagascar.
Besides 119 Indians, the
people evacuated from Japan
included two from Sri Lanka
and one each from Nepal,
South Africa and Peru. The
group was among 3,711 peo-
ple who were on board the
coronavirus-infected Dia-
mond Princess ship when it
docked at the Yokohama port
near Tokyo on 3 February.
“In line with India’s neigh-
bourhood first policy and
Indo-Pacific vision, the spe-
cial flight also evacuated five
foreign nationals ~ two Sri
Lankans, one Nepalese, one
South African and one Peru-
vian,” the External Affairs
Ministry said.
Three Indian crew mem-
bers didn’t board the Air India
flight as they conveyed their
wish to continue their stay on-
board the cruise ship to com-
plete the period of extended
quarantine put in place by the
Japanese government.
Out of the total 138 Indi-
an nationals originally on-
board Diamond Princess, 16
Indian crew members have
tested positive for coron-
avirus and are receiving med-
ical care at an onshore med-
ical facility in Japan.
All the evacuees will under-
go a 14-day quarantine at the
facility set up by the Indian
Army in Manesar.
India sent the C-17 Globe-
master to Wuhan on Wednes-
day and it carried 15 tonnes
of medical supplies for coro-
navirus-affected people in
China.
On its return, the aircraft
brought back 112 people
including 23 citizens from
Bangladesh, six from China,
two each from Myanmar and
the Maldives and one each
from South Africa, the US
and Madagascar.
Earlier, India had evacuated
around 650 Indians from
Wuhan in two Air India flights.
“In all 723 Indian nation-
als and 43 foreign nationals
have been evacuated from
Wuhan, China in these three
flights,” the Ministry of Exter-
nal Affairs (MEA) said.
On the medical supplies
delivered by India to China,
the MEA said they will help
augment the country’s efforts
to control the coronavirus
outbreak which has been
declared as a public health
emergency by theWorld Health
Organisation.
“The assistance is also a
mark of friendship and soli-
darity from the people of
India towards the people of
China as the two countries also
celebrate 70th anniversary
of establishment of diplo-
matic relations this year,” it said.
 CMYK

02
BJP is revealing its true colours and hidden agenda
by criticising freedom fighters...
CONGRESS LEADER U T KHADER
BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020 CONDEMNING THE ALLEGED STATEMENT OF BJP MLA AGAINST FREEDOM FIGHTERS

Bihar passes resolution No ‘nazdeekiyan’ with Kishor accused

of plagiarism in
RJD, we will remain ‘Baat Bihar Ki’
for caste-based census with NDA: JD-U
drive, case field
PATNA, 27 FEBRUARY

Lalu Prasad-led RJD has been making this demand for past five years PRESS TRUST OF INDIA tion is required. This helped A case has been filed against
PATNA, 27 FEBRUARY in passing the resolution election strategist-turned-
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE “SC/ST/OBCs have been against National Population politician Prashant Kishor for
PATNA, 27 FEBRUARY It’s a historical fact that deprived and dejected social- The ruling JD(U) in Bihar on Register (NPR) and National alleged plagiarism in his
the social and spatial ly and economically for ages. Thursday rejected specula- Register of Citizens (NRC) ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ campaign

T
he political develop-
ments in Bihar taking
place at quick inter-
vals have turned quite
interesting ahead of the com-
ing Assembly elections.
In another curious devel-
opment, the Bihar Assembly
today unanimously passed a
resolution favouring caste-
based Census in the state.
This comes barely a day
after the state Assembly had
passed another unanimous
resolution about not imple-
menting the National Regis-
ter for Citizens (NRC) and also
not implementing the Nation-
al Population Register on the
current format, thus becom-
ing the first NDA sate to pass
such resolution.
Assembly Speaker Vijay
Kumar Chaudhary moved
the resolution in the House
which was unanimously
adopted by all and passed.
Strangely, the main Oppo-
sition party in the state, the
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)
headed by Lalu Prasad, had
been making this demand for
the past five years.
In July 2015, Prasad had
first sat on day-long fast in
Patna’s Gandhi Maidan seek-
ing immediate release of
demarcation within India
exists even today.
SC/ST/OBCs have been
deprived and dejected
socially and economically
for ages. Caste-based cen-
sus will provide a radical
ground at the policy level
for greater reforms
TEJASHWI YADAV
OPPOSITION LEADER
caste census figures saying the Given this background,
new data would form the the Bihar Assembly’s move to
basis for increased reserva- pass resolution for caste-
tion for the downtrodden based Census assumes much
class. significance.
In December last year, The RJD expressed hap-
too, the RJD chief had pressed piness over the development
for conducting caste-based and asked the Central gov-
census saying the NPR forms ernment to consider their
which have numerous demand.
columns incorporate “one “Thanks to the continu-
more” pertaining to respon- ous efforts by party chief
dent castes. Lalu Prasad and Opposition
The RJD which remains a leader Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar
strong votary a caste-based Assembly has finally passed
census has been pressing for a resolution to this effect. Now
re-allocation of quotas to Modi government should
castes in proportion to their conduct the caste-based cen-
population saying the 50 per sus,” the RJD said today.
cent cap put on reservation Tejashwi said its a histor-
by the Supreme Court has ical fact that the social and
been breached by the gov- spatial demarcation within
ernment. India exists even today.
Caste based census will pro-
vide a radical ground at the
policy level for greater social
and economic reforms,”
Tejashwi said.
What is further intriguing,
both the resolutions passed
from the Assembly followed
close-door meetings between
chief minister Nitish Kumar
and Opposition leader Tejash-
wi, son of Lalu Prasad.
The first resolution about
not implementing the NRC
was passed on Tuesday short-
ly after Tejashwi had met the
chief minister in latter offi-
cial chamber.
Again on Wednesday
evening, both these two lead-
ers met over tea in the offi-
cial chamber of the Assem-
bly Speaker and this saw the
passage of the resolution
favouring caste-based
census.
The BJP which is a part-
ner in the Nitish Kumar gov-
ernment has reacted bitter-
ly to this move of the chief
minister. “The government is
passing the resolutions like
a “chhapamar” (hit and run
squad). It looks to be a might-
is-right-like situation in the
state,” BJP legislator Sachhi-
danand Rai said.
tionstemming from the alleged
‘nazdeekiyan’ (closeness) wit-
nessed in the assembly premis-
es here over the last couple of
days between chief minister
Nitish Kumar and Opposi-
tion RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav
and said it is firmly with the
NDA.
JD(U) state unit president
Vashishtha Narayan Singh
pointed at the 'vishvaman'
(spewing of venom) by Yadav
against the state government
in his public statements when
asked about his meeting with
Kumar inside his Vidhan
Sabha premises chamber on
Tuesday.
Pictures of Kumar and
Yadav having tea with Speak-
er Vijay Kumar Chaudhary
after the day's proceedings on
Wednesday went viral on
social media.
“Koi nazdeekiyan nahi
(there is no closeness with
RJD)....We (JD(U)) are firmly
with the NDA and will remain
so,” Singh told reporters here
answering their questions
on it.
“In public life people do
meet each other despite polit-
ical differences. Coordina-
tion at some level between the
government and the opposi-
unanimously. Nothing fur-
ther should be seen in this,”
he said.
“While hazarding a guess
with regard to our relations
with Yadav's party (RJD) please
do keep in mind his 'vishva-
man' against us for getting a
clearer perspective,” Singh
said.
The 20-minute-long meet-
ing between the chief minis-
ter and Yadav had followed
heated exchanges during a
debate on an adjournment
motion moved on CAA-NPR-
NRC by Yadav and others
with the demand that the
House pass a resolution against
these like many other states.
The chief minister had
read out from a letter written
by the state government to the
Centre requesting that the
contentious clauses be
dropped from the NPR form
and suggested that it be treat-
ed as a resolution, endorsed
by the House and the Centre
be notified about the same.
Kumar had also admon-
ished Yadav on the floor of the
House for making personal
attacks against him. He had
said, “Your father (Lalu Prasad)
has a right to do so, but not
you.”
launched here last week,
police said on Thursday.
According to the com-
plaint lodged at the Pataliputra
police station in the city on
Wednesday night, Kishor
has used content developed
by Shashwat Gautam, a data
analytics coordinator with the
Congress, for his campaign,
Station House Officer (SHO)
Kamleshwar Prasad Singh
said. Gautam has also named
as accused his former aide
Osama, who was privy to
the content and whom he sus-
pects of making the same
available to Kishor after part-
ing ways, the officer said.
Based on the complaint,
a case has been lodged under
sections 420 (cheating
and dishonesty) and 406
(criminal breach of trust) of
the Indian Penal Code, he
added.
Further investigation in the
matter is underway, Singh
said. Gautam, who hails from
the East Champaran district,
joined the Congress last year.
The George Washington
University alumnus was ear-
lier associated with city-
based think tank ADRI and
worked with chief minister
Nitish Kumar. PTI

Balraj Kundu to
withdraw support
from ‘corrupt’
Khattar govt
CHANDIGARH, 27 FEBRUARY
Haryana Independent MLA
Balraj Kundu announced his
decision to withdraw sup-
port to the M L Khattar dis-
pensation on Thursday,
saying he was “deeply hurt”
with the government giving
“clean chit” in the sugar
mills corruption he had
flagged.
“I had extended my
support to an honest
chief minister and an
honest government, but I
came to know today that the
display of honesty is a farce,”
the MLA told reporters
outside the Assembly,
after the chief minister
refused to order any probe
into allegations made
without substantial proof or
due to personal
enmity.
“I withdraw my support
to this government and on
Friday I will formally hand
over my letter to the
Governor and the Speaker,”
said Kundu, who repre-
sents Meham constituen-
cy in the Assembly. PTI
SAD says Punjab minister is
hand-in-glove with drug mafia
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 27 FEBRUARY
The Shiromani Akali Dal
(SAD) on Thursday accused
Punjab health minister Bal-
bir Singh Sidhu of having
hand in glove with the drug
mafia.
Addressing a Press con-
ference at the Press gallery in
the Punjab Assembly with the
SAD legislators, former min-
ister Bikram Singh Majithia
said the minister diverted
five crore buprenorphine
tablets used to treat narcot-
ic addiction to private cen-
ters and is providing shelter
to the accused by indulging
in a cover up operation.
Demanding Sidhu’s dis-
missal, Majithia said he
should be charged under the
Narcotic Drugs and Psy-
chotropic Substances (NDPS)
Act. “A separate inquiry should
also be ordered into the mat-
ter to buttress the investiga-
tion being carried out by the
Enforcement Directorate
(ED) keeping in view the
seriousness of the Rs 300
Crore drug tablet scam,” he
added.
Majithia said exemplary
action should be taken against
Sidhu as he was not only
responsible for the death of
thousands of addicts due to
diversion of buprenorphine
tablets, but also for creating
new addicts as the drug if not
given under medical super-
vision could result in addic-
tion. The SAD leader alleged
the principal secretary (health)
had served 12 show cause
notices to various private
centers on 2 December, 2019
with details of the missing
drug tablets and stated that
action would be initiated
against them under the NDPS
Act as well as licensing rules.
He said the centers were
TENDER
asked to submit a reply in ten
days. Majithia also released
the show cause notice issued
to Rusan Pharma which
accuses the company of dis-
pensing 2.87 crore tablets by
bypassing the government
system.
SAD leader, Dr Sukhwinder
Sukhi said instead of taking
action against the private
centers as well as Rusan
Pharma, the health minister
indulged in a cover up oper-
ation by overruling the inquiry
of the health secretary and
asking civil surgeons to do
physical verification to cre-
ate utilisation record.
“This is against the grain
of the procedure used to dis-
pense the medicine which is
online so that a proper record
is maintained as to who it is
being administered to and by
whom. Rules stipulate that the
tablet has to be put under the
tongue of medical practi-
tioners and there is no record
of 5 crore tablets being used
in this manner out of the total
of 8.3 crore tablets to be used
for this purpose between
January and November 2019”
the Akali leader added.

SP MP Azam Khan, wife, Modi had cast

son shifted to Sitapur jail
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
SITAPUR (UP), 27 FEBRUARY
A day after surrendering at
a Rampur court and being
remanded in judicial custody
there, SP MP Azam Khan, his
wife and son were on Thurs-
day shifted to Sitapur jail,
where party chief Akhilesh
Yadav met them.
After meeting Khan, Yadav
said the Smajwadi party
party MP has been targeted
by the BJP under a “political
conspiracy”. “I met Azam
sahab. His wife is not well and
son also has injury in his hand.
I hope the jail administration
will provide them due facil-
ities. After the BJP came to
power, Azam Khan was tar-
geted. It was a political con-
spiracy due to which he was
sent to jail. The court will help
him,” he said.
Akhilesh was talking to
reporters after meeting Azam
Khan, his legislator-wife
Tazeen Fatma and MLA-son
Abdullah Azam, who were
shifted to the district jail
here from Rampur on early
Thursday morning.
“The three reached Sita-
pur Jail on Thursday morn-
ing. They are expected to be
here till 2 March,” a jail offi-
cial said. On reaching Sita-
pur from Rampur, Khan ear-
lier spoke to reporters wait-
ing for him at the jail entrance.
Asked about the num-
ber of cases lodged against
him, Khan said, “The entire
country knows what is hap-
pening to me and my fami-
ly.” On being shifted to Sita-
pur Jail, he said it was the gov-
ernment's decision.
Khan and his family mem-
bers surrendered before a
Rampur court on Wednesday
and were sent to judicial
custody till 2 March for their
alleged role in securing a
fake birth certificate of their
former MLA son Abdullah.
The case relates to two
birth certificates of Abdullah
Azam, who allegedly gave a
wrong date of birth while fil-
ing his nomination papers for
the UP assembly elections in
2017.
Abdullah's election was set
aside by the Allahabad High
Court last December.
A Rampur BJP leader,
Akash Saxena, had lodged an
FIR at Ganj police station on
3 January, 2019, alleging
fraud related to Abdullah
Azam's two birth certifi-
cates. In April, police filed the
charge sheet in court.
It alleged that Azam
Khan's son also had two
passports and two PAN cards.
In one birth certificate,
issued by the Rampur munic-
ipality, Abdullah's birth date
was mentioned as January 1,
1993. The other certificate said
he was born in Lucknow on
30 September, 1990, accord-
ing to the charge against
him. A case was also regis-
tered against Azam Khan
and his wife as they had
submitted an affidavit testi-
fying to the authenticity of
their son's second birth cer-
tificate.
a spell on me
too: Shinde
SOLAPUR, 27 FEB RUARY
Congress veteran Sushilku-
mar Shinde said on Thurs-
day that “a little Modi wave”
still prevails in the country,
and conceded that initial-
ly he himself had been
impressed by the prime
minister.
Things began to go
downhill after Narendra
Modi's first two years in
office, he said. Addressing
party workers here, Shinde
said the Congress suc-
ceeded in making the Shiv
Sena - a former BJP ally -
accept a common mini-
mum program for running
a coalition government in
Maharashtra. “We brought
a secular government to
power in Maharashtra and
this is just a beginning,” he
said. He further said that
prime minister Modi still
enjoys some public support.
“I know that a little Modi
wave is still there. He had
cast a spell on us. He had
cast a spell on me too,”
the former Maharashtra
chief minister said.
“During the initial two
years, I too said that he was
doing good work, but later
the economic situation
started deteriorating, mis-
leading claims about
employment were exposed,
a rift was being created
between communities and
the situation in the coun-
try deteriorated due to
some wrong decisions on
religious lines,” he said.PTI

CMYK
 CMYK

03
BJP is responsible for the riots. It's their Gujarat
model, which is nothing but spreading hatred
SAMAJWADI PARTY CHIEF AKHILESH YADAV
ACCUSING BJP OF SPREADING VIOLENCE IN DELHI BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020

THUMBNAILS
Brides during a mass mar-
riage ceremony in Amrit-
sar on Thursday � AFP
India is incredible, lot of progress made in bilateral ties during visit: Trump
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
WASHINGTON, 27 FEBRUARY
President Donald Trump has
described the US' relationship
with India now as “extraordi-
nary” and said a lot of progress
was made in bilateral ties
during his maiden official
visit to the “incredible coun-
try” where America is going
to do a lot of business.
Trump's remarks came
even as his likely Democrat-
ic Party rival in the November
presidential elections Bernie
Sanders criticised the US pres-
ident for what he claimed
was a “failure of leadership”
on the issue of human rights
in the light of the communal
riots in Delhi. President Trump
and his family visited India
from February 24 to 25 at the
invitation of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. Trump was
accompanied by top brass of
his administration, includ-
ing National Security Advisor
Robert O'Brien.
Talking to reporters after his
return from India on Wednes-
day, Trump said, “He (Prime
Minister Modi) is a great gen-
tleman, a great leader. It's an
incredible country.”
Trump visited Ahmedabad,
Agra and New Delhi. During
his stay, he addressed a mas-
sive rally in Ahmedabad along
with Modi, visited Agra and
held official meetings in New
Delhi.The US president was
feted at the world's largest
cricket stadium in the
“Namaste Trump” event in
Ahmedabad and was cheered
by tens of thousands of peo-
ple. “We were treated very, very
well and we really enjoyed it.
A lot of tremendous progress
was made in terms of rela-
tionship -- our relationship with
India is extraordinary right
now,” Trump said.
“We are going to be doing
a lot of business with India, they
are sending billions and bil-
lions of dollars now to the Unit-
ed States,” Trump said in
response to a question.
But in the midst of the
positive comments on India
by Trump, his family and
administration officials, his like-
ly Democratic Party rival in the
November 3 presidential elec-
tion, Sanders slammed the
president and said the Trump's
statement regarding the vio-
lence in New Delhi during
his India visit was a “failure of
leadership”.
Asked about incidents of
violence , the US president had
said, “As far as the individual
attacks, I heard about it, but
I didn't discuss that with him
(Modi). That's up to India.”
Reacting on Trump's state-
ment on the issue, Sanders on
Wednesday tweeted, “Over
200 million Muslims call India
home. Widespread anti-Mus-
lim mob violence has killed at
least 27 . Trump responds by
saying 'That's up to India'. This
is a failure of leadership on
human rights.”
Meanwhile, President
Trump's daughter Ivanka
noted that the president
announced that the US Inter-
national Development Finance
Corporation (USIDFC) will
open an office in India.
The USIDFC will estab-
lish a permanent presence in
India to strengthen our eco-
nomic ties, improve devel-
opment plus further women's
economic empowerment
through WGDP (Women's
Global Development and Pros-
perity Initiative)!”
On her arrival from India,
she thanked Prime Minister
Modi for “your warm hospi-
tality as we visited your beau-
tiful country and celebrated
the strength, spirit and unity
of the US and India!” “Through-
out our visit we saw monu-
mental achievements of
human creativity & proof of
the infinite capacity of the
human heart!” she said.

Sunanda death case: The

HC: Centre party in PIL for FIRs against leaders

Delhi High Court on Thurs-
day sought the AAP gov-
ernment's response on
Congress MP Shashi Tha-
roor's plea that the police
be directed to place
before the trial court cer-
tain tweets of his wife
Sunanda Pushkar before
her death in 2014. PTI
I-T raid: The Income Tax
department on Thursday
raided at least 25 premis-
es linked to Chhattisgarh
government officials and
others on charges of tax
evasion, officials said.
Those covered under the
action include family mem-
bers of a IAS officer in
the state. PTI
BJP MLA robbed of mobile:
A BJP MLA was robbed of
his mobile phone while
waiting for a cab near Civil
Lines in the city, an official
said on Thursday. MLA
Babveer Singh Luthra was
waiting for a cab when
two motorcycle-borne mis-
creants approached him
and snatched the mobile
phone from his hand, DCP
SG urges court to allow the impleadment application moved by MHA, instead of waiting for petitioners' reply as done by the previous bench
Congress leaders led by party chief Sonia Gandhi walk to meet President Ram Nath Kovind and
submit a memorandum on the violence in the capital city, in New Delhi on Thursday. � AFP
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
PCI advises media not to glo-
rify Delhi violence: In the
that any decision at this junc-
ture may not be conducive for
restoration of normalcy. The
India rejects
statements of
OIC, USCIRF,
Sanders on
Delhi violence
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
India today rejected the
observations made by the
Organisation of Islamic Coop-
eration (OIC), the US Com-
mission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF)
and Democratic presidential
candidate Bernie Sanders
on the violence in Delhi,
particularly that Muslims
were specifically targeted,
saying these were factually
inaccurate and misleading
and appear to be aimed at
politicising the issue.
“Our law enforcing agen-
cies are working on the
ground to prevent violence
and ensure restoration of
CAPITAL TURMOIL
Mayawati wants SC-supervised probe:
BSP chief Mayawati on Thursday demand-
ed a Supreme Court-supervised probe into
the communal violence in parts of north-
east Delhi and said that the Centre and
the AAP government should pitch in
together to compensate people for the
loss suffered in the riots.The former Uttar
Pradesh CM said police should be given a
free hand to control the law and order sit-
uation in the national capital.In a state-
ment, she said the recent violence in
northeast Delhi was much like the 1984
anti-Sikh riots. PTI
Sordid tales of vandalised schools in
Delhi: “Welcome to a very happy school” ministries of home and law and justice to
reads a half-charred board at a private implement the 267th report of the Law
school in Brijpuri area which is now home Commission, prepared in March 2017, on
to broken desks and burnt books after it
hate speech. The panel had suggested
was vandalised during the violence.Arun amendment in IPC and CrPC by inserting
Modern Senior Secondary School, which is
“new section 153C (Prohibiting incitement
over 32 years old, looks no less than a to hatred) and section 505A (Causing fear,
cemetery, say officials, who claim the alarm, or provocation of violence in cer-
damage is estimated to be over Rs 70 lakh. tain cases)”. PTI

(South) said . PTI
Uproar in Pb
House over
Kartarpur
pilgrims
CHANDIGARH, 27 FEBRUARY
Opposition parties creat-
ed an uproar in the Punjab
Assembly on Thursday over
the questioning by police of
some pilgrims returning
from the Kartarpur Sahib
gurdwara in Pakistan.
Punjab jails minister
Sukhjinder Singh Rand-
hawa told the Assembly
that some pilgrims were
questioned following infor-
mation from the Intelli-
gence Bureau (IB) unit in
Amritsar. He clarified that
the state government has
nothing to do with the ques-
tioning and it was done on
the directive of the IB.
MLAs belonging to the
Opposition parties accused
the government of harass-
ing pilgrims making use of
the visa-free Kartarpur Cor-
ridor to visit the Sikh shrine,
just across the border from
Gurdaspur district.
The uproar in the House
comes days after Punjab
Director General of Police
Dinkar Gupta triggered a row,
suggesting in the media
that Pakistani agencies could
make overtures to Indian pil-
grims to Kartarpur Sahib.
SAD’s legislative wing
leader leader Sharanjit Singh
Dhillon raised the issue
during the Zero Hour.
“Devotees are being ques-
tioned in police stations by
Punjab police,” he said, cit-
ing a media report, and
sought a reply from the
Congress-led government.
Aam Aadmi Party legis-
lator Kultar Singh Sand-
hwan described the ques-
tioning of pilgrims as
“shameful” and sought the
immediate dismissal of DGP
Dinkar Gupta over this.
Akali leader Bikram Singh
Majithia sought the sus-
pension of Gurdaspur’s
senior superintendent of
police and a station house
officer. Jails minister Rand-
hawa quoted from a letter
written on February 17 by
an IB official to the Gur-
daspur senior SSP, seeking
the questioning of some
pilgrims.
He said the state gov-
ernment will take strict
action against the SSP and
the concerned SHO if they
are found at fault.Later AAP
and Lok Insaaf Party MLAs
also walked into the Well of
the House, and staged their
separate walkouts. SNS
T
he Delhi High Court
on Thursday made
the Centre a party in
the PIL which has
sought lodging of FIRs and
arrests in communal violence
in northeast Delhi over the
amended citizenship law and
gave it four weeks to file a reply
to the petition.
A bench of Chief Justice D
N Patel and Justice C Hari
Shankar said that “looking at
the complexity of the situa-
tion”, the Central government
was seeking more time to file
a reply to the plea which has
also sought lodging of FIRs
against three BJP leaders over
their alleged hate speeches in
connection with the Citizen-
ship Amendment Act (CAA)
related violence.
On Wednesday, a different
bench of the high court, com-
prising of Justices S Muralid-
har and Talwant Singh, had
expressed anguish over the
police failure to register FIR
against the three BJP leaders
-- Anurag Thakur, Parvesh
Verma and Kapil Mishra -- over
their alleged hate speeches and
had asked the police com-
missioner to take a “con-
scious decision” on it by
Thursday. Justice Muralid-
har was transferred late last
evening to the Punjab and
Haryana High Court, days
after the Supreme Court col-
legium had made the rec-
ommendation.
When the arguments com-
menced post-lunch on Thurs-
day before the new bench,
Solicitor General (SG) Tushar
Mehta at the outset said some
of the alleged hate speeches
in question were three weeks
Remember Tienanmen
Square, Beijing in 1988?
And how Deng Xiaoping
handled it? Perhaps there
is a lesson there on how
to handle the engineered
disturbances of NE Delhi!
I'm sure all comrades will
agree!”
TATHAGATA ROY
MEGHALAYA GOVERNOR
Relatives wait outside mortuary for bodies to be handed over
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
Still to come to terms with the
loss of their loved ones in
violence in parts of northeast
Delhi, relatives are anxious-
ly waiting outside GTB hos-
pital's mortuary for the post-
mortem to be conducted
before the bodies are hand-
ed over to them.
Family members of people,
who are missing since the
violence broke out, also have
been asking hospital author-
wake of the communal riots
in Delhi, the Press Council of
India has advised the media
not to glorify violence and
desist from publishing or
telecasting pictures likely to
cause revulsion. The PCI also
drew the media's attention
towards the norms of jour-
nalistic conduct on covering
of communal disputes and
clashes. “News, views or
comments relating to com-
munal or religious disput-
es/clashes shall be publish-
ed after proper verification
of facts and presented with
due caution and restraint in
a manner which is conducive
to the creation of an atmos-
phere congenial to commu-
nal harmony, amity and
peace,” the norms state. PTI
to more than a month old and
yet instead of waiting for one
more day the matter was
mentioned by the petitioners
before the bench headed by
Justice Muralidhar on the
ground that there was “great
urgency”.
Mehta said the petitioners
could have waited for one
more day as the matter was
listed for hearing before the
Chief Justice's bench on Thurs-
day.
The SG said that everyone
was trying to restore nor-
malcy in the national capital
and urged the court not to
intervene at this stage as it
would not be conducive to
maintaining law and order in
the city.
He further said: “Consid-
ering the prevailing situa-
tion, it is the considered opin-
ion of the police authorities
The Gujarat model has
been repeated in Delhi.
Whether the home minister
could not handle the situa-
tion in Delhi or he himself
had given such instructions
to the police should be
probed. He should resign
immediately.
NAWAB MALIK
MAHARASHTRA MINISTER
ities to check whether were
brought dead or are being
treated.
Relatives of 35-year-old
Mudassir Khan who have
been waiting at the mortuary
at GTB hospital said they are
still to recover from the shock.
“We have been coming
here since last two days. Yes-
terday, the in-charge IO said
that files were ready and the
post-mortem would be con-
ducted. Today, we have been
waiting here since 8 am and
the post-mortem is underway.
decision (on lodging of FIR)
will be taken at an appropri-
ate stage in accordance with
law”.
The SG also submitted
that the authorities have
examined all the audio/video
clips and other material includ-
ing that on Twitter and “after
having carefully considered
all these materials, a con-
scious decision is taken to defer
the decision on the question
(of lodging FIR)”.
He also urged the court to
allow the impleadment appli-
cation moved by the Min-
istry of Home Affairs (MHA),
instead of waiting for the
petitioners' reply as done by
the previous bench.
“Union of India's implead-
ment cannot depend on the
yes or no of the petitioner,”
said Mehta, who also stated
he was authorised by the LG
to appear for the police.
Delhi government stand-
ing counsel Rahul Mehra,
who also claimed to be appear-
ing for the police, said he will
not get into the issue of
appearance and instead urged
the bench to issue some direc-
tions in view of the serious-
ness of the situation prevail-
ing in north-east district of the
city.
Mehra said, “The court
yesterday had asked why FIRs
regarding hate speeches were
not lodged when FIRs for
other offences have been reg-
istered”.
He also told the bench
that as on date 48 FIRs have
been registered in connection
with the deaths, arson, loot and
other offences committed in
that area.
The Delhi Police's ‘inac-
tion’ towards protecting
the lives and properties of
minorities in the national
capital is a ‘reminiscent’ of
the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. It's
shocking. No one wants a
repeat of what happened
in 1984.
NARESH GUJRAL
SHIROMANI AKALI DAL MP
Family members of peo-
ple, who are missing,
also have been asking
hospital authorities to
check whether they
were brought dead or
are being treated
“We hope to get the body
soon. We will conduct the
last rites today itself,” his
nephew Arbaaz Khan said.
Talking about the situation
in his area in Mustafabad,
Arbaaz said with security
confidence and normalcy.
Prime Minister (Narendra
Modi) has publicly appealed
for peace and brotherhood.
We would urge that irre-
sponsible comments are not
made at this sensitive time,''
External Affairs Ministry
spokesperson Raveesh Kumar
said in response to ques-
tions on the statements made
by the USCIRF, American
media and some individuals.
In a statement, the OIC
said it condemned the recent
and alarming violence against
Muslims and called upon
the Indian authorities to
bring the instigators and
perpetrators of anti-Muslim
violence to justice.
“Over 200 million Muslims
call India home. Widespread
anti-Muslims mob violence
has killed 27 and injured
many more. Trump responds
by saying 'That's up to India'.
This is a failure of leadership
on human rights,'' Sanders
had tweeted yesterday.
In a statement, USCIRF
Chair Tony Perkins stated,
“The ongoing violence in
Delhi and the reported attacks
against Muslims, their shops,
and their houses of worship
are greatly disturbing. One of
the essential duties of any
responsible government is to
provide protection and phys-
ical security for its citizens,
regardless of faith. We urge
the Indian government to take
serious efforts to protect
Muslims and others target-
ed by mob violence.”
The USCIRF quoted
reports to say that several
mosques have been set alight
or vandalised. SNS
Our country has fallen
into the hands of despots.
More than 35 people have
died. They are indulging in
dividing the electorate on
communal lines for vote bank
politics. There is still no case
filed against Kapil Mishra for
his instigating acts.
SIDDARAMAIAH
CONGRESS LEADER
deployment, it is returning to
normal but there is still fear
among people. “No one is
able to sleep peacefully. There
is still fear. Children are not
going to school, everyone is
preferring to stay indoors and
we are not even using our vehi-
cles to commute. We are in
shock over what happened
within three days,” he said.
Mudassir was outside his
house in Kardampuri on Mon-
day when he was attacked by
a mob, his family said. He sus-
tained bullet injury on his
“While I am yet to recover from what has
happened at the school, my biggest relief
Pink Floyd's Roger Waters recites poem by
is that children were not in the premises
activist Aamir Aziz, calls CAA 'fascist,
when this happened. I do not even want
to imagine what would have happened if
racist': “Everything will be remembered,
Everything recorded”, Pink Floyd co-
that was the case,” school principal Jyoti
Rani said. PTI
founder and legendary musician Roger
Waters said recently as he read out Delhi
student Aamir Aziz's poem at
CBSE postpones class 10, 12 exams: The a protest and described
Central Board of Secondary Education has the CAA as “fascist”
postponed class 10 and 12 exams sched- and “racist”.A video
uled on 28 and 29 February in the vio- from the protest
lence-hit North East Delhi and parts of showing Waters
East Delhi, officials said. The exam post- reciting the English
ponement announcement by the CBSE version of Aziz's
came for the third time this week due to popular poem “Sab
communal violence . “In view of a request
Yaad Rakha Jayega”
received from the Delhi government and has been circulating wide-
to avoid inconvenience to students, staff
ly on Twitter and other social media plat-
and parents, the exams scheduled for Feb- forms.“This is a young man none of us
ruary 28 and 29 in North East Delhi and know, his name is Aamir Aziz. He is a
other affected areas stand cancelled. The young poet and activist in Delhi. He is
next date for the affected students will be involved in the fight against Modi and his
notified shortly,” CBSE Secretary Anurag fascist, racist citizenship law. I will read a
Tripathi said. PTI little bit from one of his poems,” the musi-
cian said, criticising the Indian PM. PTI
PIL in SC seeking implementation of Law
Commission's report on hate speech: A
Tarigami demands action against BJP lead-
plea was filed in the Supreme Court on ers: Blaming Delhi Police's inaction and
Thursday seeking direction to the Centre
politics of hate spread by BJP as reasons
to implement a Law Commission's report
for Delhi violence which has consumed 37
which suggested changes in penal and lives so-far, CPI (M) leader Mohammad
procedural laws to effectively deal with Yousuf Tarigami alleged that the BJP gov-
the offence of hate speech.The filing of ernment didn’t even tolerate the judge of
the PIL, which might be taken up within Delhi High Court - who had on Wednesday
few days, assumed significance as the criticised the government as well as the
Delhi High Court has been criti- police for the violence and transferred
cal of some of the alleged
him.It is clear that the violence in Delhi
hate speeches made by has the sanction of the police and
politicians ahead of mas-
that of the powers that govern
sive rioting in north-east them.. Both PM and Union home
Delhi. BJP leader and
minister maintained silence for
lawyer Ashwini Upad- three days when mayhem, madness
hyay, in his PIL, has and terror was ruling the roads and
sought a direction to the streets of Delhi, Tarigami claimed. SNS
“The people of Delhi
ignored hate and voted
Riot-hit Guj town Khambat
for the AAP in the name
of development (in just declared ‘disturbed’ area
held polls).The Sangh pari-
var could not accept this STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Khambat town in central
and as a result Delhi is AHMEDABAD, 27 FEBRUARY Gujarat remained tense since
burning in the fire of hate Sunday when members of two
Even as the Khambat town in communities clashed and
ADVOCATE RAKESH RATHOD Anand district is limping back indulged incidents arson and
VANJARA COMMUNITY to normalcy, the Gujarat Gov- stone pelting.
REPRESENTATIVE ernment has invoked the At least 20 houses and
Disturbed Areas Act, 1991, in nearly two dozen vehicles
a substantial part of the city. were torched during the clash-
Coming as it did, the invo-
cation of the law to prevent
panic sale of properties comes
es.Failure to control the com-
munal clashes and arson tak-
ing place in their presence has
head and was declared brought on the 18th anniversary of the led to transfer of senior police
dead by doctors at GTB hos- Godhra train inferno which officials.
pital. He used to work in a plas- had triggered an un-prece- More than 70 people
tic scrap manufacturing unit dented communal riots in belonging to both the com-
and lived with his wife and chil- most parts of north and cen- munities have been arrested
dren in Kardampuri area. tral Gujarat. till Thursday while 3,000 peo-
Many relatives and friends The Disturbed Areas Act, ple, including former BJP
of riot-affected victims are in force in Gujarat for more MLA Sanjay Patel and former
waiting in the hospital anx- than three decades, prohibits councillors have been booked
iously to get details about panic sale of properties by res- for the violence.
their loved ones. Some of idents of troubled areas to The first incident of vio-
them claimed that neither members of another com- lence in Khambat was report-
police nor the hospital author- munity--- a process that fur- ed from Akbarpura area of the
ities are telling them exactly ther aggravates the ghet- town but it spread to other
when will the post-mortem be toization of the urban areas areas on Monday and Tues-
conducted. after communal clashes. day too.

CMYK
04
Previous goverments are responsible for dip
in per capita income in Uttar Pradesh
UTTAR PRADESH CHIEF MINISTER YOGI ADITYANATH
BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020 CLAIMING THAT HIS GOVERNMENT IS WORKING TO IMPROVE PER CAPITA INCOME

BJP using Savarkar as shield for Naidu detained at airport

neo-nationalism politics: Sena YSRCP supporters raise slogans of ‘Go Back Babu’ over his opposition to proposed 3 capital plan
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA the Sena said in its editorial in the Republic Day? Will the neo- STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE left his car and tried to walk attempt to clear the way for
MUMBAI, 27 FEBRUARY party mouthpiece 'Saamana'. fans of Savarkar throw some HYDERABAD, 27 FEBRUARY but was prevented by police the convoy. TDP leader Nakka
“Veer Savarkar is not mere- light on it? Demand for passing and security and then he sat Anand Babu alleged the pro-

The Shiv Sena on Thursday
accused the BJP of using Hin-
dutva ideologue Veer Savarkar
as a “shield” to play the politics
of neo-nationalism.
Terming the BJP's love for
Savarkar as “fake”, the Sena said
that instead of targeting the
Maharashtra government, the
state BJP leaders should ask
why the party- ruled Centre has
failed to honour the freedom
fighter so far.
It also said that if the BJP
thought that it could corner the
Sena over the issue of Savarkar,
then it was mistaken.
“The BJP leaders in Maha-
rashtra declared that they would
target the (state) government on
the issue of Veer Savarkar. This
makes it clear that Savarkar is not
a subject of respect or faith for
the BJP, but just a political issue,”
ly a subject of discussion, but he
should be practised in life.
Savarkar's life symbolised sac-
rifice, principles, radiance and
struggle,” it added.
“Everyone paid respects to
Savarkar on his death anniver-
sary (observed on Wednesday).
But those who pretend to remem-
ber Savarkar, have they really
understood him? BJP says it will
corner the government on the
issue of Savarkar. But those who
themselves are cornered, should
not talk about cornering others,”
the Uddhav Thackeray-led party
said. Instead of targeting the
Maharashtra government,
whether the BJP-ruled Centre has
honoured Savarkar is the ques-
tion that the BJP leaders in the
state should ask, it added.
“Why didn't the Centre con-
fer Bharat Ratna on Savarkar on
a resolution in Maharashtra
Assembly in honour of Savarkar
if fine.
“But what happened to the
letters sent to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi by former chief
minister Devendra Fadnavis in
which he sought Bharat Ratna
for Savarkar? The Centre did
not even take note of the letters.
This is an insult of Maharash-
tra and Veer Savarkar,” the Sena
said.
After his release from
Andaman (Cellular Jail), Savarkar
devoted his life to social work in
Ratnagiri.
“Political leaders, including
Mahatma Gandhi and RSS
founder Hedgewar, met him.
Gandhiji sought his cooperation
for eradication of untouchabil-
ity and propagation of Swadeshi,”
it added.
F
ormer Andhra Pra-
desh chief minister
and TDP president N
Chandrababu Naidu
was detained by police at
Visakhapatnam today after
YSRCP supporters blocked
his way from the airport for
almost five hours, raising slo-
gans of “Go Back Babu” over
his opposition to the pro-
posed three capital plan
and declaring Visakhapat-
nam as executive capital.
Naidu was scheduled to
hold a meeting with farm-
ers at Pendurthi in Vizag
and Vizianagaram districts
as a part of his Praja Chait-
nya Yatra. Both TDP and
YSRCP supporters had gath-
ered near the airport since
early morning as Naidu re-
ached Vizag around 11:30.
But his convoy was unable
to leave the airport due to
the protests by YSRCP sup-
porters who even sat in front
of his vehicle.
Ruling party supporters
carried posters with Naidu’s
photograph but crossed out
in black. They shouted “Go
back Babu”. They also car-
ried banners which pro-
claimed the TDP chief as a
traitor who has betrayed
the cause of North Andhra.
Naidu has been leading
a protest to continue Ama-
ravati as the capital of the
state and opposed the three
capital plan of chief minis-
ter YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The YSRCP leaders and
supporters who had assem-
bled in large numbers tried
to hurl eggs, tomatoes and
even footwear at the former
CM’s convoy. They attacked
the vehicles of other TDP lea-
ders with eggs and tomatoes
who had come to the airport
to receive Naidu, including
party MLA K Atchannaidu
and V Ganesh Kumar. At
one point the TDP president
down there on protest.
A visibly angry Naidu ar-
gued why he was not allowed
to proceed for his meeting
despite having permission
from the police. He wondered
why he was being stopped
when he and his party had
never stopped Reddy from
his padayatra when TDP
was in power. “Let the police
do whatever they can. They
can fire at me or kill me in
an encounter,” said Naidu,
furious with the police.
Later the police detained
him under section 151 of
CrPC to prevent cognizable
offences and took him back
to the airport lounge to send
him back to Vijayawada.
TDP leaders questioned
how the police allowed such
a large number of support-
ers of YSRCP inside the air-
port premises. They alleged
the police did not make any
testers were “paid artists”
brought in by YSRCP in lieu
of money.
However, YSRCP leaders
claimed it was not just their
activists who protested but
by all those who wanted
north Andhra to develop
along with coastal region.
They said Naidu’s claim that
5,000 people came from
Pulivendula was false. “Police
had the only option of send-
ing back Naidu rather than
stopping the thousand of pro-
testers who were asking him
to go back. It was for the po-
lice to act to save law and
order, said Ambati Ram-
babu.
Other passengers had to
face the brunt of the agita-
tion as they were forced to
wait till the airport author-
ities made alternative arr-
angements for them to depart
from the airport.

I, NEMAI Sarkar, S/o. late

I, SEEMA Bhattacharyya,
spouse of No. 287887‘R’
Sergeant Dipendranath
Bhattacharyya, R/o. Vill. +
P.O.: Baduria (Rathkhola),
P.S.: Baduria, Dist.: North 24
Parganas, Pin-743401, West
Bengal have changed my
name from Seema
Bhattacharyya to Sima
Bhattacharyya, vide affi-
davit sworn before the 1st
Class Judicial Magistrate,
Basirhat Court on
30.01.2020.
(B01837)
I, ALAUDDIN Ahmed, S/o.
late Janmahammed Biswas,
DOB 02.04.1957, residing at
R a g h u n a t h g a n j ,
Darbeshpara, Murshidabad,
WB shall henceforth be
known as Alauddin Ahamed
for all purposes, vide
Affidavit 3031 Notarized, Md
Abdul Latif dt. 25.02.20 at
Jangipur Court.
(B01841)
I, CHAMPA Paul, father –
Lt. Ramesh Chandra Paul,
residing at Harihat, Sakhari
Patty, P.O. + P.S.: Katwa,
Dist.: Purba Bardhaman, by
mistake my name and
D.O.B. is recorded as Kanak
Chapa Pal, D/o. Ramesh Ch.
Pal and 28.10.1957 in my
Higher Secondary Admit
Card, by affidavit issued by
Honourable SDEM Katwa
Court on 14.02.2020, correc-
tion has been made to my
name and date of birth, now
my name is Champa Paul,
D/o. Lt. Ramesh Chandra
Paul and my D.O.B. is
19.10.1956. Champa Paul,
D/o. Lt. Ramesh Chandra
Paul and Kanak Chapa Pal,
D/o. Ramesh Ch. Pal is the
same, single and identical
person.
(B01842)
I, KULA Prasad Thakur,
S/o. Lt. Bishnu Prasad
Thakur, do hereby declare
that Kula Prasad Thakur &
Kali Prasad Thakur is same
and one identical person,
vide affidavit (No. 2703)
sworn before Ld 1st Class
Magistrate Court, Alipore,
19.02.20.
(B01849)
Sidweshwar Sarkar, R/o.
Tentulbaria, North 24
Parganas, W.B.-743245, do
hereby declare that Nemai
Sarkar & Nemai Pramanick
is same and one identical
person, vide affidavit sworn
before Ld. 1st Class
Magistrate, Kolkata dated
24.02.2020, No. 2781.
(B01844)
I, MRIDULA Bal, W/o. Sri
Dulal Chandra Bal, D/o.
Amiya Biswas, have
changed my name from
Mridula Biswas to Mridula
Bal, both are same and one
identical person, vide affi-
davit sworn before Notary
Public, Kolkata dated
19.02.2020.
(B01843)
I, MOHIUDDIN, S/o. late
Makdum of Q-660, Pakaria
Talab, Kol.-24, henceforth be
known as Mohiuddin, S/o.
late Makdum, vide affidavit
before the 1st Class Judicial
Magistrate at Alipore on
10.01.2020. Mohiuddin, S/o.
late Makdum and Md
Mainuddin Qureshi, S/o.
late Md Makdum is the
same and one identical
person.
(B01847)
SALE NOTICE
Offers are invited from
public pursuant to solemn
order for sale by public auc-
tion dated 02.09.2019
passed by Hon’ble High
Court at Calcutta in G.A. No.
1946 of 2018 of C.S. No. 272
of 1933 in sealed cover
enclosing therewith
Demand Draft / Bankers
Cheque or like instrument
drawn in favour of under-
signed Receiver “Anima
Chakraborty” as Earnest
Money Deposit not less that
20% of the value offered in
connection with the sale of
the immovable property
being 5-storied brick built
building constructed on a
total land area of 12 cottahs
14 square feet being situat-
ed at 115, Cotton Street,
Kolkata-700007. While sub-
mitting such offer, the
offerer shall not write his
name and address on the
face of the sealed cover.
Such offer will be received
by the Receiver and will be
opened in the Court.
Anima Chakraborty
Advocate and Receiver
Bar Association Room No. 3
High Court at Calcutta
Mobile: 9830035587
9038132399
(B01850)
TENDER No. WBTBCL/2020
02-0015 — West Bengal Text
Book Corporation Ltd.
invites sealed offer from
paper mills / authorised
dealer for supply of 58/60
gsm crème wove paper. For
details and any amendment
please visit our website:
www.wbtextbookcorpora
tion.com
(B01848)
e-TENDER is invited for
Construction of Academic
Building. For details of ten-
der and tender documents
may be downloaded from
http://www.wbtenders.gov.
in
(Tender ID No.
2020_DHE_275233_1)
Tender Ref No.
WB/BC/NIT-02/2019-20.
Principal
Behala College
(B01852)
UNIVERSITY OF
KALYANI
E-tender is invited
against Tender ID No.:
2020_UOK_275110_1 for
Extension of Construction
at Bengali Department
(Ground Floor and First
Floor). Estimated
Amount: Rs. 42,83,783.
Last date for submission
of quotation: 16.03.2020.
For details please visit
website: www.klyuniv.
ac.in (for viewing only)
and http://wbtenders.
gov.in (for viewing & ten-
der submission).
Sd/-
Registrar
(B01846)
UNIVERSITY OF
KALYANI
Nadda: An ordinary‘worker’ can Shah to address pro-CAA
become ‘president’ only in BJP meeting in Bhubaneswar
E-tender is invited
against Tender ID No.:
2020_UOK_275093_1 for
Purchase of 15 Nos. of
Split Air Conditioner for STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE with state BJP leaders.
Department of
Mathematics. Last date BHUBANESWAR, 27 FEBRUARY He is scheduled to stay over
for submission of quota- night, visit Puri Jagannath
tion: 09.03.2020. For Union home minister Amit Temple and Lingaraj Temple,
details please visit web-
site: www.klyuniv.ac.in Shah is scheduled to address before inaugurating super spe-
(for viewing only) and a pro-CAA public meeting ciality private hospital and
http://wbtenders.gov.in
(for viewing & tender here, the first since the violent return to Delhi on 29 Febru-
submission). clashes in Delhi, tomorrow. ary. The timing of his visit and
Sd/-
The state unit of the BJP has CAA meeting drew sharp crit-
Registrar
(B01845) been on the overdrive mobil- icism from the Congress here.
ising people for the meeting. “Instead of coming here
Shah who is to chair the East- and preaching about CAA,
UNIVERSITY OF ern Zonal Council meeting in Shah should have concen-
NORTH BENGAL the morning where Odisha trated on dousing the flames
Office of the Registrar CM Naveen Patnaik,West Ben- in Delhi,” said veteran Congress
NOTICE INVITING
e-TENDER
gal CM Mamata Banerjee and MLA Suresh Routray. Sheer
Following e-Tenders are their counterparts Nitish Kumar incompetence of the Union
invited from reputed
and Hemant Soren are to at- home minister has been exp-
Vendors, for details
please visit: https:// tend, will address the CAA osed. It seems he is keen on
wbtenders.gov.in rally in the afternoon and also moving out of Delhi for a break,
Sl.No.; NIT No.; Tender
Id respectively are: hold a close-door meeting he quipped.
1. 241/R-2020; 2020_ STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE There was no one in pol- try, who has established
DHE_275083_1. SHIMLA, 27 FEBRUARY itics in my family. BJP is the himself as international
2. 243/R-2020; 2020_
DHE_275112_1. only party, which doesn’t leader.
3. 244/R-2020; 2020_ Bharatiya Janata Party’s go by dynasty or individ- The national BJP Pres-
DHE_275130_1.
Registrar national president, Jagat ualism. It goes by ideolo- ident hails from Bilaspur
(B01851) Prakash Nadda was today gy.”He said most other district of Himachal
accorded warm welcome political parties in the Pradesh. He has remained
on his first visit to home country indulge in ‘van- MLA thrice, once leader of
state Himachal Pradesh shvad’, ‘parivarvad’ BJP Legislative Party and
ALL after elevation to the top (dynasty) or a particular twice as minister in
CLASSIFIED party post in the country samudayey (community), Himachal government.
last month. but BJP is a party with a dif- He had moved to the
ARE Elated over the response ference, which works on national BJP politics in
of people at ‘Abhinandan ‘vicharvad’ (ideology). 2010 by quitting his cab-
CARRIED rally’ in Solan and then at “We know who is going inet berth.
a civic reception in Shim- to be the next president of Avoiding any reference
FREE OF la, Nadda said he has Congress. It cannot go to controversial issues in
COST become the party president beyond one family. We the country, he told the BJP
with the blessings of ‘Dev know that who is going to workers that they were
ON Bhoomi’ and its people and be President of NCP, SP, BSP fortunate to have associ-
he will never let his home or Telugu Desam. But ated with this party. “My
OUR state down. nobody knows this in BJP, friends in other political
“I am from a small state. except for the fact that a parties keep asking me
WEBSITE I could never imagine that worker will become the the scope of entering into
I would get such a big President,” he said. BJP now. When I ask them
responsibility. But this can He said it is BJP where why- they say they are fed
only happen in BJP that an a person from an ordi- up of raising slogans for one
ordinary worker can nary family has become family all the time,” he
become party president. Prime Minister of the coun- said.

KOLKATA CHANDIGARH RAIPUR & CHATTISGARGH

Statesman House,
4, Chowringhee Square
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SCO 56-57 (First Floor)
Near G.P.O, Sectro-17D
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AI to be accessible
Raipur 492001
Tel: (033) 22127070-76, Mob: 09779188811 Tel.: 5035985, (M): 9425202097
(033) 41071700 Email: Email:
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could help find solutions the most crucial tech-
to challenges like zero nologies of the future.”
 BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020
05
THUMBNAILS
Ensure peaceful civic polls: Guv
Dhankhar asks state poll commissioner to take steps to avoid rerun of 2018 panchayat poll violence
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE stake holders, Dhankhar told mission must take all steps to
KOLKATA 27 FEBRUARY
Governor Jagdeep that as a constitutional body dispel fears and impressions
Dhankhar urges the the commission “is obligated that it is an extension of the

Special operation under-
way at the Jolly Grant air-
port in Dehradun to con-
trol the menace of jackals.
The forest department has
fixed five cages inside the
airport to trap jackals,
which run on the runway
and pose danger to the
movement of aircraft. SNS
Delhi pollution control:
Environment minister
Gopal Rai said on Thursday
that the AAP government
will prepare a three-level
action plan~ quarterly,
annually and five years ~
to reduce pollution in the
Capital. Experts suggested
the government to issue a
direction that no outdoor
construction activities
should be conducted in
winters when the pollu-
tion levels rise.
PTI
G
overnor Jagdeep
Dhankhar asked
State Election Com-
missioner Sourav
Das to take necessary steps to
ensure that the upcoming
municipal polls are not vio-
lence-ridden and not a rep-
etition of the scenario that was
noticed in the panchayat elec-
tions held in May 2018.
Das and commission sec-
retary Nilanjan Sandilya
reached Raj Bhawan at 11:30
a.m. today and the meeting
continued for 20 minutes.
During the meeting, Dhan-
khar told Das that “all steps
need to be taken to ensure that
there is no violence and the
kind of scenario noticed in the
panchayat elections held in
May 2018. The polls then were
reportedly hit with wide-
spread violence”. He urged the
commissioner to inform him
India, Myanmar ink MoUs for development of Rakhine
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
India today reiterated its com-
regarding all the steps taken
under Article 243(3) of the Con-
stitution. Dhankhar took stock
of the arrangements for the
polls so as to ensure peace-
ful, orderly and fair elections,
which is scheduled to be held
in the second or third week of
April.
He told the commission-
er that “in required situa-
tions” the latter may “take
recourse even to transferring
officials ... in the interest of
commissioner to in-
form him regarding all
the steps taken under
Art 243(3) of the Con-
stitution. He takes
stock of the arrange-
ments for the polls
scheduled on second
or third week of April
ensuring fair and peaceful
polls” and suggested that a
prior engagement with the
concerned administrative and
police heads concerned would
be wholesome and productive.
“State Election Commission
like the Election Commis-
sion of India is the de facto boss
of the bureaucracy”, stated the
release issued by Raj Bhawan.
Stressing on giving all par-
ties equal opportunities and
engaging in dialogue with all
to provide a level-playing field
to all parties and candidates”
and “focused that free and fair
election giving all parties
equal opportunities is at the
heart of Democracy in its true
spirit.” Under Article 243K, the
commission has all the pow-
ers that Election Commis-
sion of India has under Arti-
cle 324 of the Constitution
wherein it has the authority
and competence to ensure that
one party doesn’t have an
undue advantage over anoth-
er just because it is in power,
the release stated adding:
“State Election Commission
like the Election Commis-
sion of India is the de facto boss
of the bureaucracy.”
He stressed that the com-
mission should ensure level-
playing field to all as it is fun-
damental and non negotiable.
“The State Election Com-
The two countries agreed
to cooperate in countering ter-
rorist groups and their actions.
Both sides condemned
government and must engage
in dialogue with all stake
holders,” the statement read.
He stated that the State Elec-
tion Commission needs to
flag the issue to police and
administrative authorities
that any partisan approach
would invite exemplary con-
sequences.
Dhankhar expressed hope
that “timely precautionary
steps” by the commissioner
would “prevent unwholesome
scenario and instil confidence
in the electorate” and called
upon voters to exercise their
right to vote fairly and fear-
lessly. Meanwhile, Das
informed Dhankhar that the
Grievance Management Sys-
tem will be in place by the sec-
ond week of March and the
commission will hold a meet-
ing with the District Magistrates
on 4 March.
J&K authorities
clear lands
encroached by
Roshni Act

Bombay tourism: Tourists

visiting Mumbai will soon
be able to watch a cere-
monial drill at the state
police headquarters on
the lines of the famous
Changing The Guard cere-
mony at Buckingham
Palace. The announce-
ment was made by Maha-
rashtra Tourism minister
Aaditya Thackeray. PTI
Watchman convicted: A
Hyderabad court on
Thursday sentenced a 62-
year-old man to 10-years
rigorous imprisonment for
having unnatural sex with
a boy in May 2019. First
Additional Metropolitan
Sessions Judge Suneetha
Kunchala found the
watchman guilty and
imposed `2,000 fine. PTI
mitment to support Myanmar’s
efforts for promoting peace,
stability and the socio-eco-
nomic development in
Rakhine State which was
rocked by violence against
Rohingya Muslims as the two
countries signed ten MoUs in
diverse fields.
Four of the MoUs pertain
to launching development
projects in the Rakhine State
under the Rakhine State Devel-
opment Programme.
The agreements were
exchanged after wide-ranging
talks between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and visiting
Myanmar President U Win
Myint. The Myanmar President
arrived here yesterday on a
four-day visit to India. He
was given a ceremonial wel-
come at the Rashtrapati Bha-
van this morning. Later, Exter-
nal Affairs minister S Jais-
hankar called on him.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Myanmar’s President
Win Myint before a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday. � AFP
A joint statement issued by
the two sides said India also
expressed its support for the
bilateral agreements signed
between Myanmar and
Bangladesh for the repatria-
tion of the displaced persons
from Rakhine State and hoped
that the two countries would
continue to work together in
this direction.
The statement said India
also reaffirmed its support
for Myanmar’s efforts toward
national reconciliation and
democratic transition to estab-
lish a democratic federal
union. Modi expressed India’s
full support for Myanmar’s
peace process, being pur-
sued through a dialogue
between the government,
military and ethnic armed
groups under the nation-
wide ceasefire agreement
framework.
terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations and empha-
sised the need for stronger
international partnership in
countering terrorism and vio-
lent extremism, including
through increased sharing of
information and intelligence.
India and Myanmar reit-
erated that defence and secu-
rity cooperation remained
one of the key pillars of Myan-
mar-India bilateral relations.
They commended the pos-
itive momentum in exchang-
ing visits of defence person-
nel. The two leaders acknowl-
edged that the MoU on Defe-
nce Cooperation, signed in July
2019, had set the path for
closer cooperation. The Indi-
an side reiterated its com-
mitment to assist Myanmar
in capacity building of Myan-
mar Defence Services and
enhance cooperation to add-
ress security concerns.
beneficiaries
JAMMU, 27 FEBRUARY
The Jammu authorities have
during the past week cleared
encroachments by influen-
tial persons over 6,500 acres
of prime land across Jammu
and Kashmir after the High
Court took serious note of
the “loot” of the govern-
ment and forest lands at
throwaway price under the
Roshni Act introduced dur-
ing the regime of Farooq
Abdullah in 1990.
The district authorities are
busy pulling down encroach-
ment of forest and other
lands of the government
but the sprawling Bathindi
colony that has come up here
on the prime forest land in
the outskirts of Jammu con-
tinues to be an acid test for ICICI Bank Limited
the administration as top Registered Office: ICICI Bank Tower, Near Chakli Circle, Old Padra Road,
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CPM questions Mamata’s ‘silence’ on Delhi violence
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 27 FEBRUARY
The CPI-M state leadership
today slammed the chief min-
ister and Trinamul Congress
supremo Miss Mamata Baner-
jee for her ‘silence’ on ongo-
ing violence in north east
Delhi that has claimed 34
lives in the national capital.
The party leadership has
also asked all mass organisa-
tions, students’ platforms and
common people cutting across
their religious colours to stage
state-wide protest against the
union home minister Amit
Shah on Sunday when he
would attend a rally organised
by Bengal BJP at the Sahid
Minar ground.
Md Salim, CPI-M polit-
buro member, today said,
“Why is Mamata Banerjee
silent at a time when vio-
lence is ravaging Delhi claim-
ing so many lives including a
police officer of intelligence
branch? She is maintaining
silence because she does not
want further progress in con-
nection with the inquiry on
ponzi scams Sharadha and
Narada in Bengal. So many
investigating officers probing
the scams have already been
transferred elsewhere.”
“The chief minister is busy
with offering prayers in Puri
and all set to meet Amit Shah
in Bhubaneswar tomorrow.
And Shah is also coming to
Kolkata on Sunday, hardly a
day after the Bhubneswar
meet, to attend his party rally,”
Md Salim alleged.
“Her party won’t make any
protest against BJP as well Shah
whose hands have already
become bloody with bloods
of riot victims in Delhi. The
state government is failed to
prevent BJP that is sponsor-
ing politics of religious divi-
sions and hatred in Bengal. We
won’t allow Shah to address
in his party programme silent-
ly without any disruptions at
Sahid Minar on Sunday,” the
CPI-M leader said.
“People of Bengal who are
anti-CAA and anti-NRC, dif-
ferent mass organisations
and students’ wings cutting
across their religious colours
will stage protest against BJP
shouting slogans ‘go back
Amit Shah’ at Sahid Minar that
had witnessed many protest
programmes including
Rabindranath Tagore’s his-
toric decision to renounce
the Knighthood award in
protest against Jallianwala
Bagh massacre in 1941,” he said
requesting people to maintain
communal harmony in the
state.
Earlier in January when
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
visited Kolkata there had been
a state-wide protest against
him shouting slogans ‘go back
Modi’, he added.
“How many people belong
to CPI-M now so that the
party can get them together
to protest against Amit Shah?
CPI-M is vanishing fast in the
country just doing the poli-
tics of opposition against peo-
ple as well as us,” said Dilip
Ghosh, state BJP president.
Amit Shah’s effigy burnt:
State Chhatra Parishad activists
took out a procession on AJC
Bose Road and burnt an effi-
gy of Union home minister,
Amit Shah near Nonapukur
tram depot today charging him
of failing to combat the vio-
lence in the national Capital
over the last few days.
This is a rehearsal of the agi-
tation we are planning to
organise against Shah when
he visits Kolkata on 1 March.
This is an occasion when
the actions of Congress and
the ruling party in this state,
Trinamul can be compared by
the people,the Chhatra
Parishad leader said. While our
leaders are demanding the res-
ignation of Union home min-
ister for the Delhi clashes,
Trinamul’s reaction to this
conflagration is muted, he
claimed. Apart from asking for
peace, chief minister, Mama-
ta Banerjee who always has a
word on everything under
the Sun is silent on this issue,
Parishad leader Prasad said.
She seems to have said a
goodbye to the times when she
was a strident critic of the BJP,
he said.
The chief minister is pay-
ing lip service to secularism
while pandering to the BJP,
Prasad said. The meeting
between the Union home
minister and the chief min-
ister is scheduled to be held
tomorrow at Bhubaneshwar
is another indicator of TMC-
BJP bonhomie, he claimed.
ing former chief ministers
Farooq Abdullah and Ghu-
lam Nabi Azad, have built
their mansions in the area.
The deputy commis-
sioner of Udhampur dis-
trict with a single stroke of
pen expu-nged illegal entries
for 6,063 acres of government
land. These encroachments
indicate that the revenue staff
was hand-in-glove with the
encroachers.
The Roshni Act that aimed
at conferring ownership
rights on encroachments
to the tune of about 2,50,000
acres of land also came
under criticism as allegations
were made that the step of
the Kashmir-centric gov-
ernment was towards alter-
ing the demography of the
Hindu majority Jammu. The
court’s observation came
after the J&K government
filed a status report on the
beneficiaries of the Roshni
Act, which was scrapped in
November 2018 by then
governor Satya Pal Malik. SNS
On behalf of ICICI Bank Ltd. Phoolbagan Branch
Dear Customers,
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said premises, effective from March 27, 2020.
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Mobile No.: +91 98303 66967, 75960 97264
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GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
METAL & STEEL FACTORY, ISHAPORE
NORTH 24 PARGANAS, W.B.-743144
WALK-IN INTERVIEW
For hiring of TWO (02) (MBBS Doctors) FOR 6
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ISHAPORE on Contract basis.
The Walk-in Interview has been scheduled on
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Candidates with MBBS Degree from MCI recognized
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Practitioner may attend with Biodata and all relevant

55,785 travellers screened for Fake degree Maharashtra Assembly original certificates.
Please visit our website: www.msf.gov.in for further
issue rocks
COVID-19 at Bombay airport HP Assembly seeks ‘classical’ tag details.
Dr. Bappaditya Dutta

for Marathi language

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, 27 FEBRUARY
The Maharashtra Health
Department said on Thursday
that a total of 55,785 travel-
ers have been screened for pos-
sible novel coronavirus infec-
tion at the Mumbai interna-
tional airport so far.
Passengers arriving from
12 Covid-19 affected countries
~ China, Hong Kong, Thailand,
Singapore, South Korea, Japan,
Nepal, Indonesia, Vietnam,
Italy, Iran and Malaysia~ are
being screened at the Mum-
bai airport.
Those who are suspected
to have contracted the dead-
ly infection are sent to isola-
tion facilities for treatment.
However, no case of coro-
navirus infection has come to
light in the state so far, the
Health Department said in the
statement.
As many as 98 travelers who
had arrived from Covid-19-
affected areas were quaran-
tined in hospitals across the
state, but 95 of them tested neg-
ative for the virus as per the
National Institute of Virolo-
gy's (NIV) reports.
At present, five persons
are quarantined -- three at
Naidu Hospital in Pune and
two at Mumbai's Kasturba hos-
pital. Reports of swab samples
of three of these passengers
were awaited from the NIV.
All travelers from the
Wuhan city of China -- the
epicentre of the outbreak
of epidemic -- are being iso-
lated and tested, whether
they show any symptoms are
not, the Health Department
said. Follow-up at home is con-
ducted for the travelers from
Covid-19-affected countries
who do not show any symp-
toms during the screening at
the airport. “To date, out of 312
travelers, 228 have complet-
ed their follow-up of 14 days,”
the department said.
Screening arrangements
at Goa airport reviewed:
A high-level meeting was
held at the Dabolim interna-
tional airport near here in
Goa on Thursday to review the
arrangements to screen pas-
sengers for the novel coron-
avirus (Covid-19).
Goa Health Minister Vish-
wajit Rane chaired the meet-
ing, which was also attended
by Union health ministry's
joint secretary Alok Saxena,
along with officials from the
Airports Authority of India and
the state health department.
“We have taken adequate
precautions to screen pas-
sengers arriving at the airport.
We will ensure that all pas-
sengers are examined and
suspected cases are identified,”
Rane told reporters after the
meeting.
Arrangements are in place
at the airport so that people
are safe, he said, adding aware-
ness is being spread about
Covid-19. Saxena said coop-
eration extended by all state
governments has helped curb
spread of the deadly virus in
the country.
SHIMLA, 27 FEBRUARY
The issue of selling of around
5 lakh fake degrees by two
private universities of
Himachal Pradesh rocked the
state Assembly with Congress
raising the issue during
Question Hour in the House.
Raising the issue under
point of order, leader of the
Opposition Mukesh Agni-
hotri said it was a serious
issue and the state govern-
ment didn’t inform the house.
“The issue has been raised
by the University Grants
Commission and state Edu-
cation minister Suresh
Bhardwaj should have
informed the house on his
own,” Agnihotri said.
He demanded thorough
probe into the entire episode
and strict against the private
univerisities for indulging in
such irregularities. State
Education minister Suresh
Bhardwaj responding to the
Opposition’s charge, said
UGC had received com-
plaint against 13 universities
and among these, two uni-
versities were from HP. SNS
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, 27 FEBRUARY
The Maharashtra legislative
Assembly on Thursday unan-
imously passed a resolution
recommending to the Cen-
tre to accord Marathi the
status of a “classical lan-
guage”. The resolution was
moved by minister for Marathi
language Subhash Desai.
The one line resolution
asked the Centre to take a deci-
sion to declare Marathi as a
“classical language”. Speak-
ing on the issue, Food and Civil
Supplies minister Chhagan
Bhujbal said Marathi was an
ancient language, older than
even Sanskrit.
All political parties in the
state should step up efforts
to persuade the Centre to
accord classical language
status to Marathi, he said.
The Assembly also unan-
imously passed a bill which
makes Marathi a compulso-
ry subject across all schools
in the state.
Works Manager / Admin
davp 10201/11/0084/1920 For General Manager
Former chief minister
Prithviraj Chavan (Congress)
said it was during his tenure
that a committee was set up
on the issue under the chair-
manship of litterateur Rang-
nath Pathare who gave a 500-
page report on classical lan-
guage status for Marathi.
“We forwarded the report
to the Centre in July 2013. But
then there was a change in
government (at the Centre in
May 2014). “In the last few
years, efforts to get classical
status for the Marathi lan-
guage have not yielded result.
At the same, five languages
have been declared as clas-
sical,” he said.
Ashish Shelar (BJP) said the
Marathi language was 1,500
to 2,000 years old and there
was proof for back this claim.
The development came on
'Marathi Bhasha Din' (Marathi
language day) which is cel-
ebrated on February 27, the
birth anniversary of poet
and Jnanpith award winner
late V V Shirwadkar.
06 BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020 Vol. CXXXXXIV 50

Incorporating and directly descended

from THE FRIEND OF INDIA - Founded 1818
Turkey & Subcontinent A MEMBER
OF THE

Mr Trump in India
T
he diplomatic irony has been rather excep-
tionally bitter. Donald Trump’s 36-hour visit to
India was somewhat pushed out of focus by
the communal flare-up that has overwhelmed
parts of Delhi, with the death toll rising to 27 till
Thursday afternoon. And yet the US President and
Prime Minister Narendra Modi were able to convey
a robust message to the west of the Radcliffe Line,
thanks largely to their personal chemistry. And
unlike some previous US Presidents, Mr Trump
chose not to follow up his visit to India with anoth-
er to Pakistan... as often as not to sing a different
piece. No, he hasn’t played a game of footsie while
on his first trip to the subcontinent - in an election
year to boot. Unmistakable is the emphatic ring to
the joint appeal to Pakistan to ensure that its terri-
tory was not used to launch terror attacks on India.
Furthermore, the government in Islamabad, not to
forget the GHQ in Rawalpindi, has been asked to
“bring to justice” the perpetrators of the Mumbai
and Pathankot outrages; the two leaders might as
well have added Pulwama to the frightful list of ter-
ror strikes. It is quite apparent that both countries
have utilised the opportunity to condemn terrorist
proxies and cross-border terrorism. The concerted
signal that has been emitted to Pakistan assumes
deeper significance when contextualised with last
ASIAN VOICES
It is important to recognise that unlike the Middle Eastern theatre which is contiguous Saving the ozone
to Turkish borders and direct interests, pandering to Pakistani urgency is realpolitik
I
remember growing up hearing
and reflective of the carefully calibrated Turkish chessboard moves. India must call about the expanding gigantic
ozone hole over Antarctica. Scien-
Turkey's bluff and hypocrisy on terrorism, as it will remain contextually linked to Pakistan's tists repeatedly warned us that deple-
tion of the ozone layer would mean
own incorrigibility, duplicity and infamy that we would lose our protection
against harmful UV rays. They pre-
dicted increased incidences of skin
cancers in humans and ecosystem
collapse if humanity did not act
immediately and collectively to stop
using ozone-depleting substances
such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC)
and hydrofluorocarbon (HFC).
Last year, NASA reported that the
ozone hole over Antarctica was the
smallest that it had been since it was
first discovered in 1982. NASA report-
ed that the hole had reached its largest
size in 2000 and that it is expected to
return to its 1980 level by 2070. While
some of this shrinking has been a
result of abnormal Antarctic weather
during a handful of anomalous years,
scientists attribute much of this
progress to the successful eradication
of ozone-depleting substances from
human industrial activity. This ozone
problem occurred when ozone-
depleting gases like CFC and HFC

week's decision of the Financial Action Task Force
(FATF) to retain the country on the “grey list” for its
failure to suitably address the scourge and “export”
of terror. The occasional bouncers of Imran Khan ~
the threat of a nuclear war over the status of Kash-
mir ~ count for little in the overall construct. Nor for
that matter has the belligerent former cricketer
been able to convince the OIC (Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation), helmed by Saudi Arabia, to
convene a conference on Kashmir and the citizen-
ship issue. Internationally, Pakistan stands in
unsplendid isolation.
Neither the United States of America nor India
had actually expected a trade deal to be concluded.
Given the red herrings across the trail, it is rather
uncertain whether it can be signed by the end of
this year, as Mr Trump imagines. At any rate, it will
be a transitory phase in terms of America’s gover-
nance, specifically the presidential election in
November and the inaugural in January. Nonethe-
less, a positive development has been the $2.6 bil-
lion defence deal which envisages that India will
buy 24 MH-60 helicopters for its Navy. Additionally,
to beef up the strength of the Army, six AH-64 E
Apache choppers will be bought at a cost of $ 800
million. The agreements afford a critical impetus
to India-US defence ties and are of far greater
import than the hugs in Ahmedabad. Having said
that, the host country ought to have put its best
foot forward. On the contrary, the national Capital
was convulsed by communal frenzy over the iden-
tity of an Indian... 73 years after Partition.
A
ncient India’s connection
with Anatolia dates back
to the Vedic era (1000
BC). The rich cultural
exchanges continuing till the
Mughal-Ottoman empires. Mod-
ern history is replete with cordial
engagements around Dr MA
Ansari’s famous mission to
Turkey, the Khilafat movement
and above all, India’s principled
support towards Turkey’s war of
independence. Mahatma Gand-
hi had openly taken a stand
against injustices on Turkey, dur-
ing the First World War. However
post-independence, the civilisa-
tional bonhomie had encoun-
tered the contretemps of the new
global order and ‘blocs’. Turkey
was part of CENTO (Central
Treaty Organisation) that was
ideologically opposed to the
Soviet ‘bloc’, towards which India
was predisposed. Co-religiousi-
ty, Cold War sensibilities and mil-
itary regimes in Islamabad and
Ankara, ensured a more-than-
cordial relationship between the
two nations, to the occasional
chagrin of India.
Turkey had issued a rare
communique in favour of Pak-
istan after the 1965 Indo-Pak war
and subsequently supplied
ship position. Psychologically, a more tangible and strategic Kashmir (sic) and Turkey will drifted up to the stratosphere and
the flipflop in the Pakistani nar- diplomatic-economic joinst- continue to raise its voice against reacted with the ozone molecules to
rative of getting inspired from manship in the Pak-Turk realm the oppression.” Islamabad lap- destroy them. These gases were pro-
more overtly secular moorings to has been unmistakably, acceler- ped up the rare endorsement of duced to be used in refrigeration, air
veering towards abject religiousi- ated. This has led President its position and Delhi rightfully
ty has often seen Kemal Ataturk Erdogan to renege on the spirit summoned the Turkish Ambas-
emerge as the reference leader of his statement on a visit to sador for a verbal demarche.
for many Pakistanis, most nota- India in 2017 ~ “Turkey will India referred to the recent Turk- conditioning, and aerosol spray cans.
bly the former President, Pervez always be by the side of India in ish enthusiasm to take unwar- In response to this news, in 1987, the
Musharraf. full solidarity while battling ter- ranted interest in the internal Montreal Protocol on Substances that
Today, the overt Islamisation rorism”, with the unquestionable affairs of other countries by stat- Deplete the Ozone Layer was finalised
of Turkish society with the emer- context of the source of ‘terror- ing, “This recent episode is but and eventually ratified by 197 signa-
gence of Recep Erdogan-led ism’ in India being, Pakistan. one more example of a pattern tories ~ making it the first treaty with-
Islamist party, Justice and Devel- Turkey has had a complicated of Turkey interfering in the inter- in the United Nations to have univer-
opment Party (AKP) has found relationship with terrorism, nal affairs of other countries. sal ratification. This international
enhanced traction, emotions where it has attacked the Kurdish India finds that completely treaty aimed to protect the stratos-
and gravitation with Pakistan’s militia and sided with some unacceptable.” pheric ozone layer by phasing out the
own confused and diluted secu- other extremist militias in the Turkey is an old hat in production and use of harmful gases.
larity of the past. Syrian battlegro- charming Pakistan with churlish Since it has come into effect, it is esti-
Both nations are und. Turkey has initiatives like naming the road mated that over 99 percent of these
also at the crossroad also shown belliger- on which the Indian Embassy in problematic chemicals have been
of balancing their ence against Saudi- Ankara is situated as Cinnah eradicated and is considered to be one
historical and frac- US interests and Caddesi i.e. Indian Embassy on of the most successful international
tured ties with the often taken contrar- Jinnah Road! The power struggle agreements in human history.
United States, which ian positions, spar- within the Ummah and Turkey’s
affords a common ing no effort to ambition to assume a leadership IN MEMORIAM
belligerence and embarrass Riyadh role will require it to play along
‘voice’ against the in the Khashoggi with Pakistan’s sensitivities and GHOSH DR. NALINI BHUSHAN —
Western powers that affair. The churning necessities, and the recent tilt Our revered father — remembered
BHOPINDER
enables them to SINGH
in the Middle East and statements are part of that this day and everyday by his family
adopt heroic pos- with no clear win- gameplan. While the Indo-Turk members. (BPL7373)
tures within the The writer IS Lt Gen
ners in sight, has trade is not insignificant at $7.8
PVSM, AVSM (Retd), GOSWAMI SUKLA — In everlasting
Ummah, and espe- Former Lt Governor of offered an opportu- billion (2019), it is still less than memory of my mother, who left me
cially amongst the Andaman & Nicobar
nity to Turkey to $18 billion with Malaysia, which
Islands & Puducherry this day in 2002. — Kaustav.
electoral consti- cobble together an too had sullied the relationship (BPL7376)

Towards Pandemic? armaments to the depleted Pak-

istani armoury. The 1971 Indo-
Pak war was no different; Turkey
tuents. With much alternate bloc com-
in common and the possibilities posed of ‘unnaturals’ (e.g. Iran,
of a realpolitik win-win situation Qatar, Malaysia, Pakistan etc.)
with India on Kashmir, and
incurred Delhi’s wrath.
It is important to recognise
ANNOUNCEMENT

C
hina is in crisis. So too are large parts of the
world. Fears that the novel coronavirus might
soon be identified as a global pandemic are
frightfully real. Over the past few days, there has
been a surge in cases in Japan, Iran ~ where it is
said to have impinged on the presidential election
turnout ~ South Korea and Italy to name but a few
countries. However, if the statement by the Direc-
tor-General of the World Health Organisation,
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, is any indication,
it is not a pandemic quite yet ; in that event it would
have spread internationally and in an uncontrolled
manner. While some contend that this is already a
pandemic in all but name, WHO is cautiously opti-
mistic about the measures that China has adopted
though there is some criticism over President Xi
Jinping's handling of the grave health crisis, the like
of which the world has not suffered in recent times.
If WHO has been somewhat hesitant in its usage
of the term, ‘pandemic’, it largely stems from its
concern over public reaction not the least because
of the overwhelming ignorance about the affliction.
was among the last countries to
recognise Bangladesh. Turkey’s
continued support to Pakistan
had even led to the withdrawal
of its ambassador from Dhaka in
2016, when the authorities in
Bangladesh had executed Jam-
aat-e-Islami leaders convicted of
horrific crimes in the Liberation
War.
Re-imagining and project-
ing itself as the most progressive
and powerful Islamic nation at
the forefront of Ummah (Islamic
world), Ankara has tactically
supported Islamabad to burnish
its own emerging leadership
ambitions, with the implied
undercurrents of dislodging
Saudi Arabia from such a leader-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
emerging from supporting each that could rival the Saudi Arabi- that unlike the Middle Eastern DAS PRADIP KUMAR (Bar-at-Law)
other, Turkey has emerged as an stranglehold over the Ummah theatre which is contiguous to — On February 24, 2020 (Monday) at
amongst the staunchest sup- via institutions like OIC (Organi- Turkish borders and direct inter- his Kolkata residence, left for his
porters of Pakistan in the United sation of Islamic Cooperation). ests, pandering to Pakistani Heavenly Abode. A Memorial Service
Nations and other fora. Affluent Open provocation to undo urgency is realpolitik and reflec- will be held on March 5, 2020 (Thurs-
Arab allies like Saudi Arabia and past equations, tenor and posi- tive of the carefully calibrated, day) at 6-30 p.m. at Bhabanipur Brah-
the United Arab Emirates are tions has been the preferred Turkish chessboard moves. India mo Sammilan Samaj, 1A, Dr. Rajendra
increasingly ‘balancing’ their act Turkish strategy. On a recent visit must call Turkey’s bluff and Road, Kolkata-700020. All his friends,
in favour of India, in the deeply to Pakistan, Erdogan has stirred hypocrisy on terrorism, as it will relatives and colleagues are request-
hyphenated Indo-Pak realm. the hornet’s nest and gratuitous- remain contextually linked to ed to attend his Memorial Service. —
Pakistan is reciprocating the ly obliged Islamabad on the con- Pakistan’s own incorrigibility, The bereaved family.
Turkish delight as it urges Turkey tentious issue of Kashmir, espe- duplicity and infamy. There are (BPL7375)
to counter-leverage the embar- cially since Pakistan is struggling no major counter-levers avail-
rassing ‘abandonment’ by Arab to bankroll sympathisers to its able to Delhi on Ankara’s latest PERSONAL
Sheikhdoms, by joining hands position. Erdogan’s words in provocation, other than sticking
with the avowedly anti-Saudi Islamabad were both calculated to its own principled stance,
bloc that includes Turkey, Qatar, and short ~ “Events that hap- issuing diplomatic demarches DASCHAUDHURI A. B. (Baba) and
Iran and Malaysia. pened a hundred years ago in and waiting for the inevitable Shyamali (Ma) — Happy Golden Mar-
The metamorphosis from a Çanakkale in Turkey are being Pakistani mis-step and disre- riage Anniversary !! — Daughters
religio-psycho-cultural bond to repeated in Indian-occupied- pute. Uma and Runa. (BPL7374)
editor@thestatesman.com

Can't just watch the Chinese dying

Even if it is not “containable”, it can be slowed. The
world bears witness to a cocktail of insufficient CHINA'S INITIATIVES
medical knowledge, xenophobia and anxieties.
SIR, Your editorial (6 February) deserves compliments
“Using the word pandemic now does not fit the SIR, I am deeply shocked by Force aircraft, and he seems especially others’ opinions dor to Denmark and Ugan- for highlighting China's efforts to contain the outbreak
facts, but it may certainly cause fear,” is the warning Mr Niraj Srivastava’s article, worried about the possibility on the subject he writes on. da. But his contention is un- of coronavirus. The country's initiatives have been
of WHO's Director-General. The economic impact “The Killer Virus” (17 Febru- of its crew getting infected I’m afraid that he has missed diplomatic and bereft of hu- appreciated the world over, specifically the extraordi-
has been tremendous, stoking fears of a possible ary), in which he has criti- by the deadly virus. Ever PK Singh’s article, “Solidarity manitarian considerations. nary achievement of constructing the 1000-bed hospital
recession yet again. Airlines have been hit, major cized the Government of since the BJP under the lea- needed to fight the virus” Yours, etc., Asim Mukhopad- for coronavirus patients. Beijing has strengthened its
international events are being cancelled, and com- India’s decision to send me- dership of Narendra Modi (14 February). Mr Singh hyay, Kolkata, 17 February. administrative apparatus to address the crisis. It has
panies dependent on Chinese-made components dical supplies to China started its second innings writes, “WHO, South-east imposed a lockdown and a public health emergency.
where coronavirus has al- with a thumping majority of Asia region, must continue CONFUSED CITIZEN Also exemplary is the blanket travel ban. China's claim
have halted production. The word “pandemic”
ready killed an estimated 303 in the Lok Sabha, it has to strengthen its readiness to SIR, The Government has on 5 February that there has been a drop in the number
brings to mind the devastation of the Great Plague,
2700 people and afflicted got itself involved in various respond”. We live in a dyna- informed Parliament that it of suspected cases affords a ray of hope amidst the pre-
the Black Death or Spanish flu. The term's conno- more than 20,000. It has imbroglios, the latest being mic world that is intercon- has not taken any decision vailing gloom. The dreaded disease has spread to sever-
tation is intrinsically about its spread. Spanish flu shattered the powerful cou- the countrywide upsurge nected and on the move. on preparing a National al countries in South-east Asia and to Italy as well.
killed up to 100 million people as it swept the globe ntry’s economy and morale. over the Citizenship Amend- Member states in the region Register of Citizens. But this Yours, etc., Biswanath Chaudhuri, Kolkata, 6 February.
a century ago. According to one estimate, the swine Mr Srivastava is somewhat ment Act. will continue to step up and assurance may not be en-
flu pandemic in 2009 killed up to 203,000 people ~ idiosyncratic when he writes The Government’s gesture stand tall. The Indian Gov- ough to bridge the political
lower than the toll linked to seasonal flu in many that at a time when all coun- towards China is not only ernment has taken the right trust deficit. Placing the na- Several states, where and National Register of Cit-
years. The capacity of the health services and the tries are keeping a distance commendable, but cha- decision, one that it was tionwide NRC project in the Opposition parties are in izens. So it was but natural
government's response to the outbreak are as vital from China, is it sensible for llenging no less. I doubt if expected to take. If it were abeyance or at least declar- power, are now reluctant to for critics to link NPR, for
in China as in all the affected countries. Outside of India to embrace it? Our pol- Mr Srivastava is aware of the Indians instead of the Chi- ing a five-year moratorium proceed with the NPR up- which funds were sanc-
icy makers would do well to situation around him. If he nese, could we appreciate pending a wider consensus date. Many others are un- tioned in December 2019, to
Wuhan, the mortality rate is much lower in the rest ponder over this question can produce an editorial the rest of the world over- on the issue would have nerved over the exercise. the nationwide NRC that top
of China. Other countries with poor sanitation, before the aircraft takes off. from The Statesman, it is not looking our needs watching been more rational. Given This is a pity as NPR, which BJP leaders have been pro-
decrepit public health systems and malnourished By using the word, “aircraft”, at all illogical to expect him us die? Mr Srivastava has the radical nature of the ex- could have been used to mising for several months. It
populations, could pay a far higher price. India, for he implies an Indian Air to read the paper regularly, served as India’s ambassa- ercise, the extent of mistrust strengthen welfare mea- would be useful to recall
instance, fares poorly in all the three parameters. it has generated was only to sures, is now a victim of the Prime Minister Narendra
The affliction cries out for international support, be expected. CAA-NRC controversy. Un- Modi’s original call for ‘min-
and quite the most acutely so the patient. China All Indian citizens may be like the UPA government, imum government, maxi-
has shown the way by putting two hospitals in asked to prove their citizen- which did not pursue NRC mum governance’ and refo-
place within the span of a fortnight. Though the ship all over again, to the after the first NPR exercise cus on the economy that is
satisfaction of the petty in 2010, the NDA govern- in dire need of attention.
structures are prefabricated, it is the speed of the
bureaucracy. Inherent is the ment has become a victim With the NRC out of the
operation that has been truly astounding. And mistrust of the BJP dispen- of the BJP’s hypernational- way, the government will be
given the phenomenal progress of medical science, sation at the Centre. That ism. It has jumped the gun in a position to generate
it is fervently to be hoped that a vaccine wil be mistrust is only reinforced by promising a nationwide optimism over India’s eco-
developed in the not too distant future. Till Thurs- by the Assam chapter of the NRC to follow the controver- nomic prospects.
day afternoon, China has recorded 2715 deaths and NRC. The failure has been sial CAA. The Citizenship Yours, etc., Narayan
78,064 confirmed cases. The label of “pandemic” admitted by all parties, Rules, 2003, envisage NPR as Chandra Ghosh,
can only be of academic interest. including the BJP. the staging point for a local Madanpur, 7 February.
 CMYK

BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020 07

Gambling ills must
be correlated with the following social
deviations : domestic violence,
100 YEARS AGO
divorce, bankruptcy, drug and alcohol
abuse, risky or illicit sexual behaviour
(especially prostitution) and problem
OCCASIONAL NOTE

be brought into focus

BHARAT DOGRA and public meetings against casinos
is seldom taken seriously, people
nos have become identified in the
public mind with several social prob-
impacts of gambling.
Crystal Fulton, Professor of Uni-
gambling.
“Additionally, Stokowski (1996)
and Long (1996), who studied gam-
bling towns in Colorado and South
Dakota, clearly indicated that the rates
of criminal activities increased due to
the development of casino enterprises
in these two locations. The increase in
the number of pathological gamblers
is another concerning issue regarding
the development of casino gambling.”
According to Gordon Moody
Association (Help for Problem Gam-
blers), “Anyone who gets caught up in
the downward spiral of problem gam-
bling finds only too soon that the neg-
ative impact on his or her life can be
devastating. Finding money to gam-
ble is usually the most immediate and
obvious issue which brings with it
enough problems, but in addition an
all-consuming compulsion to gamble
at any cost leads to difficulties which
affect employment, quality of life,
family relationships and mental and
physical health.
“And, of course, problem gam-
bling doesn’t just affect the individual.
It’s estimated that for every problem
gambler at least 10 other family mem-
bers, friends and colleagues are also
directly affected.”
A 2010 study in the UNLV Gam-
ing Research and Review Journal
revealed that those classified as prob-
lem gamblers were on average 84 per
cent more likely to use hard drugs, 31
per cent more likely to binge drink and
260 per cent more likely to hire a pros-
titute.
Hence it is clear that gambling
The Hon. Mr. W.E. Crum, in his presiden-
tial address at the annual meeting of the
Bengal Chamber of Commerce, reviewed
some of the leading topics which have
engaged the attention of the Chamber
during the past year, and the retrospect
affords some ground for satisfaction.
Considering what the Empire has passed
through during the last five years, there is
something to be thankful for when we
find the president of the Chamber of
Commerce peacefully discoursing on
such subjects as currency, fiscal policy,
and experimental farms. In one impor-
tant matter Bengal has been more fortu-
nate than other parts of India. Mr. Crum
attributed its comparative freedom from
serious labour trouble to the fact that
employers have been particularly solici-
tous for the welfare of their workmen.
That this, however, as Mr. Crum said,
does not always secure immunity from
strikes is shown by the experience of
Madras mills where the conditions of
labour are “as nearly ideal as it is possible
for them to be.” The result of industrial
peace in Bengal has been greatly to the
advantage of both employers and
employees and of the general community
as well. There are several other subjects in
Mr. Crum’s address which will repay
detailed consideration. Not the least
important of them is the bridging of the
Hooghly. As bridge-builders the Govern-
ment have not hitherto appeared to
advantage, but it must be admitted that
they have been handicapped by war con-
ditions.
NEWS ITEM

S
ome time ago when adverse
public opinion started building
about undesirable social impacts
of casinos in Goa, the government
announced that it would stop all ‘orig-
inal Goans’ from entering casinos. This
was taken as an implicit recognition by
the government that adverse social
impacts had started manifesting despite
the limited reach of mostly boat-based
casinos.
At the same time local people in
the know took the government assur-
ance about not allowing original
Goans into casinos, whatever that
means, with several pinches of salt as
even powerful politicians were them-
selves found to visit casinos. It was
pointed out that there was hardly any
evidence of the ban being in place.
What politicians say at election rallies
CROSSWORD
pointed out.
In the subsequent debate it also
emerged that actually there were plans
to take casinos big-time to some
prime land locations and that a new
airport was being planned as part of
this initiative. A big player in casinos
was quoted as saying: “The Indian
government has asked casinos to build
integrated resorts in Goa. Gambling
operators who did not enter Macau,
when the game was liberalized at the
beginning of the millennium do not
want to miss the boat in Goa and want
to bet on what might be the next
Macau. We expect Goa to quickly
become a $ 1 billion market as it tran-
sitions to land-based casinos.”
Whatever may be the truth about
these plans it is clear that even with
their present-day limited range, casi-
NO 27876
A time for us to forget borders
PRAMOD MISHRA
lems. Women may not take any part
in gambling but still suffer its adverse
social impacts.
While gambling has been a seri-
ous addiction for a long time in histo-
ry, in modern times this problem has
taken novel forms with technology
making it possible to spread gambling
on a much wider scale. In addition,
powerful interests have been pleading
for legalising casino gambling and
other forms of gambling including
betting on sports events. Gambling is
not only being legalised in many parts
of the world; in addition many local
governments are even promoting
gambling to earn revenue. According
to one estimate the size of global legal
gambling may amount to $335 billion.
In such a situation there is need for
wider recognition of the adverse social
versity College, Dublin has written,
“Harmful gambling can have crippling
financial and social effects on the
gambler, their friends and family. In
the first national study on the social
impact of harmful gambling in Ire-
land, we examined how it affected
recovering gamblers, their families
and friends...Talking to people from
all walks of life...we found that a com-
mon theme was the devastating social
effects gambling had on people’s
lives.”
A review of existing research on
this subject by Shou-Tsung Wu and
Yeong-Shyang Chen says, “Although
some researchers have found that the
development of casino gambling has
no direct association with an increase
in criminal activities, most studies
have shown that casino gambling may
has very serious social impacts and
the rapid spread of legal gambling
should be resisted by social move-
ments. In addition, communities
should also resist the widespread
practice of various forms of illegal
gambling. In schools and in commu-
nity places there should be a clear
message against gambling, backed
with adequate information on the
adverse social impacts of gambling.
The highly dubious arguments given
for legalising gambling, including bet-
ting in sports events and casino gam-
bling, should be resisted strongly by
providing all the strong evidence
against the adverse social impacts of
all forms of gambling.
The writer is a freelance journalist who has
been involved with several social movements.
HOOLIGANISM IN
BURRA BAZAR
The Commissioner of Police met some of
the leading residents of Burra Bazar yes-
terday and at their request special patrols
of armed sergeants will be placed in this
area and a special staff deputed from the
Detective Department to run bad liveli-
hood cases against known bad charac-
ters. Government have been asked to leg-
islate in order to give police magistrates
power to remove from Calcutta up-coun-
try and other foreign bad characters who
have no proper means of livelihood. On
the other hand the Commissioner of
Police has asked the Marwari residents
to assist the police by giving evidence
against known bad characters, which up
to the present it has been almost impos-
sible to get anyone to do.
NEW CAWNPORE
HOSPITAL
Sir Harcourt Butler will open the

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION
2 Officer command-
3 Wine waiter’s
4 Copy video record-
5 Ex-PM’s involving
6 US soldier in
7 Maria not unhappy
ACROSS (8) 8 The man with lots
18 Is Escoffier’s oven
1 Agreements from
set apart? (8)
Spain about the 12
19 I will block return
French area in part 14
of Europe (7)
of unimpressive
spam? (1-4)
5 Wrong to retreat
20 Novel adding to its
in uncultivated
country, being
setting? (3,3,4,5)
23 Pub importing old 16
aggressive (7)
9 Lying about per-
ale ultimately as a
unit (2,3)
son in office not
getting elected (9)
10 Government lies at
24 Circular shape?
Staff carrying 17
barrel with it to
the fore of under-
standing a country
yard (9)
26 Criticise daughter
in Africa (5)
engaging in inter- 20
11 Development of
course in tight
lodge cuisine invol-
fabric (7)
ves historic apple
(6,9)
27 Former lover with 21
13/12 Unusually diffi- a bit of work
starts to upstage
dent being involv-
everyone in area
ed with a sexier
title for the Queen of date (7)
22
(5,11) DOWN
15 Trusty French
25
nobleman, collared 1 Just ignore source
by a couple, dump- of something un-
ed in Cornish river usually rough and
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required.
(By arrangement with The Independent, London)
T
he origin of the novel coronavirus
(Covid-19) in Wuhan, a city of 11
million people, has globally stig-
matised the beautiful city in cen-
tral China; and the epidemic’s spread all
over China affecting about 80,000 people
around the world has done the same to
China. The discourse surrounding the
fast-spreading virus and its origin city and
country has once again revealed the ten-
sion between the boundaries of what is
national and what is global.
Even in 2004, when I had travelled
to Wuhan to give four lectures on four
different days on writing in higher edu-
cation, dissertation writing, literary stud-
ies and postcolonial studies at Central
China Normal University after three days
of stay in Beijing, one could tell that the
Chinese dragon was roaring to rise and
shake off its European burden of colo-
nial history. High-rises were coming up
everywhere—Shanghai, Beijing, Wuhan.
City streets and shops, including the
loud (5,3) multi-storey grocery stores with live
ing everyone left seafood in gigantic aquarium-like glass
earlier for pub (5) tanks and animals on floors and cages
(how sinister they appear now from news
romance, in emb- reports about the rise of the virus from
race of German
actress (9) one of the live animal floors of a grocery
store) were crowded with shoppers.
ing, perhaps, omit- What struck me was the youthful age
ting start (3) of the city population. Young men and
doctor in crude women with the latest gadgets walking
nonsense? It’s the streets and riding buses with bus dri-
material for vers taking swigs of green tea from their
conflict (11) glass/plastic bottles. I had never seen
column showing anybody drinking green tea like that. At
upturn in sense (5) times, I wished I had cooking facilities in
my hotel so I could try some of the
with a lover (9) seafood at the grocery stores, but I was
of money but not staying at the university hotel, where I
with the bosses (5) had Mao fish almost every day for dinner
See 13 Across when I ate by myself.
Murdered wife of
Locally, the fish was named after
Parisian: malevo-
lent figure enga- Mao because even though originally
ged in it (9)
Space and oppor-
called Wuchang fish, Mao had men-
tioned it in one of his poems: ‘No sooner
tunity to replace
Henry with tragic
had I drunk water from Xiang River than
I savoured Wuchang fish.’ Indeed, the
king (9)
Not the modern fish was both cheap ($5 for a whole
fashion? Dolls yet baked fish with delicious sauce all over it)
to be abandoned and tasteful. It was also in Wuhan that I
(3,5) got to know about the nine schools of
Dogs are entering
narrow gap on a
Chinese cuisine and taste the many
courses from the turntable at restaurants.
climb (5)
Youngster not I also came to know that the city not only
about to complete had its own very rich cuisine culture, but
plumbing chall- also hosted international restaurants.
enge? (1-4)
When a colleague from my institution,
Beginning without
skill is a pain (5) who had also gone there to give a lecture,
Weary, having and I went to a Brazilian restaurant, the
scored runs in variety and preparations of meat were
match (3) astonishing.
One night, the university’s English
faculty invited me to such a dinner,
where I got to eat lotus stem and lotus
root as vegetables (who knew you could
eat lotus!) and another night the English
Department faculty from Wuhan Univer-
sity (a higher ranking university than
Central China Normal) hosted me for
dinner in the city where I learned from
them about their curriculum and teach-
ing methods and shared with them my
experiences of the educational systems
in India, Nepal and the United States,
including theories and stories from my
globally known doctoral programme and
mentor. These highly educated Chinese
colleagues were curious and knowledge-
able. After a while, you forgot that you
were talking to colleagues from a differ-
ent country.
When I woke up early and went for a
walk in the morning, I found all the open
spaces and parks filled with people, espe-
cially the elderly, who did Tai Chi to the
tune of some music coming out of the
communal soundbox. Nobody looked
obese; everyone, old and young, looked
fit and slim. People in the streets and the
shops didn’t speak English. One day,
when I got caught in the rain, I went to a
store and asked for an umbrella; but
when the salesperson didn’t understand
what I was saying, I explained through
gestures. And he understood and sold me
an umbrella. Communication in the
absence of language is challenging; but if
there is goodwill between people, lan-
guage no longer poses a barrier for com-
munication.
One day, I rode a bus for a four or
five-hour journey to the Three Gorges
Dam. And the road went through villages
and green rice paddies. The dam was still
being built. I spent the night in the town
near the dam in a hotel. I had no prob-
lem communicating despite the absence
of a shared language.
Now that Wuhan has become the
epicentre of the coronavirus, it is impor-
tant to remember that 11 million people
live there—people who have been cut off
from the world and from other Chinese
cities. Even in this unprecedented crisis,
people must eat, shop for basic necessi-
ties and live in safety until the threat of
the virus subsides.
The Chinese government is now
being praised all over the world for taking
draconian measures to stop the virus. For
example, according to the New York
Times, the city of Beijing has imposed
new rules. Workers are not allowed to eat
face-to-face; offices and elevators can fill
only half their capacity at any one time,
and each worker needs to keep 2.5
square metres of workspace around
them. However, the world over, the Chi-
nese government was faulted for not
allowing the information to come out at
the earliest despite the early warnings of
a 34-year-old doctor, Li Wenliang, who
was interrogated by the police for
‘rumour-mongering’ and who later con-
tracted the virus and died.
There is no doubt that the legacy of
Western colonialism, and the present
threat that China’s rise poses to Western
powers, may have come out directly or
indirectly in the coverage of the virus in
many Western media outlets. But it is
also equally important to note that China
is no longer a small power but a global
player on the world stage, and so needs
to develop both a thick skin and a rea-
sonable degree of openness in matters
of health and safety because health, safe-
ty and other basic necessities are not
explicitly political matters. So, the regime
doesn’t need to be threatened about
openness in these matters. A rising glob-
al power needs to have an equally capa-
cious heart.
At the same time, it is also equally
important to remember that out of
China’s 1.4 billion people, about 79,000
people have contracted the Covid-19
virus and 2,764 have died. While precau-
tion, prevention and search for a cure are
important, there is no room for Sinopho-
bia, as has developed, for example, in
South Korea, where some shops have
begun posting signs saying, ‘No Chinese’.
Instead, despite the recent rise of hyper-
nationalism in many countries, this is the
time that countries need to forget their
borders and come together to control
and eliminate the virus because the virus
has transgressed national borders with-
out a passport or visa, and spread across
countries and continents.
The Kathmandu Post/ANN.
Georgina McRobert Memorial Hospital
in Cawnpore on Monday the 1st March.
The hospital has been built and endowed
by Sir Alexander McRobert principally for
the benefit of European and Anglo-Indi-
an residents of Cawnpore. The hospital
is situated in the heart of the Civil Lines
on a plot of land measuring about ten
acres and it is estimated that the cost of
buildings and equipment will exceed four
lakhs of rupees. His Honour will also on
the same day lay the foundation stone of
the Sonatana Dharma Arts and Commer-
cial College. The College authorities are
aiming at the establishment of a first
grade commercial college at Cawnpore.
PUNJAB AND
THE REFORMED
COUNCILS
LAHORE, FEB 27
A Punjab Government Press commu-
niqué just issued publishes the proceed-
ings of the committee which has advised
the Lieutenant-Governor on certain mat-
ters connected with the Reform Scheme.
The opinion of the committee is now
under the consideration of the Govern-
ment. The committee has made various
recommendations regarding the urban
and rural electorate, the distribution of
urban and rural seats, the franchise for
the Legislative Assembly and votes for the
Council of State. For the University seats
the committee advised that the franchise
should be extended to all fellows and
honorary fellows of the Punjab University,
all M.As and M.Sc’s and all other gradu-
ates of seven years’ standing of Punjab or
any Indian university or any other recog-
nised university of the British Empire.
The Sikh members, however, pressed a
claim for a larger share of representation.
ELECTRIC
TRAMWAYS FOR
BANGALORE
BANGALORE, FEB 27
The question of constructing electric
tramways in Bangalore has been dis-
cussed very frequently in recent years.
Before the war broke out the Government
of Mysore sanctioned a scheme, but it
was held in abeyance owing to the
impossibility of obtaining materials at a
reasonable price. As soon as the
Armistice was concluded the Chief Elec-
trical Engineer was requested to take up
the question and he submitted a note to
the Government of Mysore approving
generally the suggestions of the Chief
Electrical Engineer and directing investi-
gation of traffic prospects and the prepa-
ration of estimates.

CMYK
08
I think it (economy) will bounce back. It has tremendous
potential. I see light at the end of the tunnel, it is not far
ANIL AGARWAL
BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020 CHAIRMAN OF VEDANTA RESOURCES

THUMBNAILS
NCLAT sets aside insolvency Jet Airways’
Mehul Choksi fined: The
Sebi on Thursday slapped
a total fine of Rs 5 crore
on fugitive businessman
lenders to
proceedings against Flipkart fresh EoIs seek
Mehul Choksi, Gitanjali
Gems and another individ-
ual for violating various
The order came over a petition filed by Mr Neeraj Jain, director of Flipkart India Private Ltd
regulations, including list- PRESS TRUST OF INDIA quantities of LED TVs and
ing norms. Mr Choksi, the NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY BIG RELIEF deliver the same to Flipkart at PRESS TRUST OF INDIA and expressed interest in Jet
maternal uncle of diaman- � A three-member Bench of the NCLAT released its desired location. MUMBAI, 27 FEBRUARY Airways, a source said

taire Nirav Modi, is the
promoter and managing
director of Gitanjali Gems.
Mr Nirav Modi, who has
allegedly defrauded state-
run Punjab National Bank
of over Rs 14,000 crore, is
currently lodged in a
British jail. PTI
India-NZ trade: New
Zealand on Thursday said
it will look forward to a
bilateral trade agreement
with India in case New
Delhi does not join the
China-backed mega trade
deal RCEP. The Narendra
Modi-led government in
November decided not to
join Regional Comprehen-
sive Economic Partnership
deal as negotiations failed
to satisfactorily address
New Delhi's “outstanding
issues and concerns”. How-
ever, the possibility of
India joining the trade
pact is open provided its
concerns are addressed by
the member nations. PTI
T
he National Compa-
ny Law Appellate Tri-
bunal (NCLAT) has
set aside the order of
the NCLT to initiate insol-
vency proceedings against e-
commerce major Flipkart.
A three-member Bench of
the NCLAT released Flipkart
from the corporate insolven-
cy resolution process and
directed the interim resolu-
tion professional (IRP) appoint-
ed by NCLT to hand over the
records and assets of the com-
pany back to its promoter
immediately.
Earlier, on 24 October 2019,
the Bengaluru Bench of the
National Company Law Tri-
bunal (NCLT) had admitted
the insolvency plea filed by
Cloudwalker Streaming Tech-
nologies, an operational cred-
itor of Flipkart.
“We set aside the impugned
order dated 24 October 2019
passed by the adjudicating
authority (NCLT) and the
application filed under Sec-
tion 9 by the operational cred-
itor Cloudwalker Streaming
Flipkart from the corporate insolvency resolution According to the opera- earlier.
process and directed the interim resolution pro- tional creditor, Flipkart received Defunct airline Jet Airways' The airline, which was
fessional (IRP) appointed by NCLT to hand over the delivery of the first few batch- committee of creditors has grounded in April last year,
records and assets of the company back to its pro- es but after that it avoided tak- decided to issue fresh expres- owes more than Rs 8,000
moter immediately ing delivery of the LED TVs on sion of interest (EoI) for the crore to banks, with those
the ground of lack of ware- carrier, which is undergoing from the public sector having
� Earlier, on 24 October 2019, the Bengaluru Bench house space. insolvency proceedings, significant exposure.
of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had admitted the insolvency plea It further submitted that according to a regulatory fil- Set up in 2011, the Far
filed by Cloudwalker Streaming Technologies, an operational creditor of Flipkart later, Flipkart started delay- ing. East Asia Development Fund
� The operational creditor failed to submit any documents to prove in existence ing the collection of the LED “We wish to inform that the is a state finance develop-
of the operational debt and the amount in default TVs, and in some instances did 8th CoC meeting of Jet Airways ment institution which war-
not collect them at all. (India) Ltd was held on 18 Feb- rants a flexible approach to
In an attempt to gain more ruary and in the e-voting projects' structuring and
Technologies Pvt Ltd, company on 24 February. ments to prove in existence profit out of the goods ordered, concluded on 25 February, the financing, as per its LinkedIn
petition is rejected,” said the Flipkart's operational cred- of the operational debt and the Flipkart was putting pressure CoC passed the resolution profile. Mumbai-headquar-
NCLAT. itor Cloudwalker Streaming amount in default,” the appel- on Cloudwalker Streaming to issue fresh invitation of EoI tered Enso Group has report-
It further said: “The Flip- Technologies, which used to late tribunal said observing that Technologies to offer the (round) for the corporate edly been roped in by the fund
kart India Pvt Ltd (corporate supply the e-commerce major Cloudwalker Streaming Tech- already imported and ware- debtor,” Jet Airways said in BSE to find an Indian partner
debtor) is released from the imported LED TVs, had filed nologies also failed to submit housed LED TVs, at a dis- filing on Wednesday. to form a consortium that
corporate insolvency resolu- a petition before the NCLT con- the copy of invoices and copies counted price. Against this backdrop, would later put in a for-
tion process.” tending that Flipkart default- of all the documents referred Later, the operational cred- the CoC extended the last mal bid.
The NCLAT order came ed for an amount of Rs 26.95 in the application. itor demanded payment for date of submission of reso- It has interests in diverse
over a petition filed by Mr Neer- crore. Cloudwalker Streaming the LED TVs procured and lution plans to 9 March. The sectors, including oil and gas,
aj Jain, director of Flipkart India However, it was rejected by Technologies had contended imported from 11 October earlier deadline for submit- metal mining, healthcare,
Private Ltd. the NCLAT, saying that the that Flipkart contacted it in sell- 2017 to 1 December 2017, ting the bids was 18 February. infrastructure and real estate,
“Interim resolution pro- demand notice delivered ing its product of LED TVs and based on the import and the The decision to call for as per its website. Earlier,
fessional will hand over the under Section 8(1) of the entered into a supply agree- purchase order issued by Flip- fresh bids was taken after a South American conglomer-
records and assets of the cor- Insolvency & Bankruptcy ment on 29 December 2016. kart, which failed to collect team from Russia's Far East ate Synergy Group and New
porate debtor to the pro- Code (IBC) was “not proper As per the agreement, it more than 70 per cent of the Asia Development Fund Delhi-based Prudent ARC
moter immediately, who will and was also incomplete”. would receive the purchase stock as ordered by them till along with Enso Group were given time to submit res-
manage the corporate debtor,” “The operational creditor order, after which it will import March 2018. It issued a demand met the committee of credi- olution plan. Reportedly, they
it added on its order passed failed to submit any docu- and procure the required notice on 8 June 2019. tors (CoC) earlier this month failed to meet the deadline.

PUMA revenue growth:

Global sports brand PUMA
posted a revenue growth
of 23 per cent at Rs 1,413
crore in its India business
in the year ended Decem-
ber 2019. Despite a slow-
down that impacted sev-
eral companies, PUMA
recorded strong double-
digit growth during the
year under review, said a
Press release. SNS
Bharti AXA: Bharti AXA
General Insurance, a joint
venture between Bharti
Enterprises and AXA, on
Thursday said it has start-
ed delivering policies and
renewal premium to its
customers through the
instant messaging plat-
form ~ WhatsApp. The
company claims to be the
first amongst non-life
insurers in India to intro-
duce this facility, accord-
ing to a Press release. SNS
GoAir: Leading global
authority on airline on-
time performance, Cirium,
has reported that GoAir is
ONGC, HPCL buy out
bankers in Petronet MHB
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
State-owned Oil and Natur-
al Gas Corp (ONGC) and its
subsidiary Hindustan Petro-
leum Corp Ltd (HPCL) have
bought out lenders in Petronet
MHB Ltd, the firm that owns
a petroleum product pipeline
in Mangalore, for about Rs 371
crore.
A consortium of eight pub-
lic sector banks held 34.56
per cent stake in Petronet
MHB Ltd, where ONGC and
HPCL held 32.72 per cent
apiece.
ONGC and HPCL bought
17.28 per cent stake each
from lenders, the firms said
in separate but almost iden-
tical regulatory filings.
The two firms paid Rs
185.38 crore each for acquir-
ing 17.28 per cent more share
in Petronet MHB Ltd. They
now hold 49.996 per cent
each in the company that
transports petroleum prod-
ucts from Mangalore Refin-
ery.
Mangalore Refinery and
Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL)
is also a subsidiary of ONGC.
MRPL uses the pipeline of
Petronet MHB for moving
fuel.
In a regulatory filings,
ONGC and HPCL said
Petronet MHB Ltd had a net-
worth of Rs 796.30 crore as of
31 March 2019.
“The acquisition will open
up possible opportunities
for synergy, better cost eco-
nomics and revenue max-
imisation,” they said, ad-ding
that no governmental
or regulatory approvals
are required for the acquisi-
tion.
The acquisition is expect-
ed to be completed by 31
March.
“The company has entered
into a share purchase
agreement dated 27 February
2020, with consortium
of 8 nationalised banks, which
hold equity shares in Petronet
MHB Ltd, for acquisition
of 9.48 crore equity shares
aggregating to 17.28 per
cent of the paid-up equity
share capital at a price of
Rs 19.55 per share,” HPCL
said.
ONGC also posted a sim-
ilarly worded filing shortly after
HPCL disclosure.
“Post-acquisition the share-
holding of HPCL
in Petronet MHB will be
about 49.996 per cent,” HPCL
added. ONGC said it hold
49.996 per cent stake in
Petronet MHB after the acqui-
sition.
ONGC owns 51.11 per
cent stake in HPCL.
Ind-Ra revises
steel sector
outlook
to ‘negative’
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
India Ratings and Research
(Ind-Ra) today said it has
revised its outlook on the steel
sector from 'stable-to-nega-
tive' to 'negative' for FY2021-
21. The revision has been
made seeing the steel demand
growth expectations of 5 per
cent and margin pressures
led by iron ore price risks, the
agency said in report.
High iron ore premiums for
new mine owners both cap-
tive and merchant could shift
the cost positions of steel
mills, it said.
“The slowing economic
activity as reflected in Ind-Ra's
GDP estimates of 5 per cent
and 5.5 per cent for FY20 and
FY21, respectively, would con-
tinue to affect demand growth
in the steel sector and any sig-
nificant pick-up is unlikely,”
Ind-Ra said in a report. PTI
IOC invests `3,000 cr to
upgrade Haldia refinery
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
KOLKATA, 27 FEBRUARY
State-owned Indian Oil Cor-
poration (IOC) has made an
investment of around Rs
3,000 crore to upgrade its
refinery at Haldia to meet
BS-VI emission norms, an
official said today.
The oil marketing PSU
will invest another Rs 388
crore for setting up a grass-
root bottling plant at Kharag-
pur, diesel exhaust fluid (DEF)
plant at Budge Budge and lube
blending unit at Paharpur in
West Bengal.
“IOC has made an invest-
ment of Rs 3,000 crore for
upgrading the refinery at Hal-
dia for the manufacture of
petrol and diesel to comply
with BS-VI emission norms,”
Mr Pritish Bharat, ED (West
Bengal, Sikkim and A&N),
said.
The new norms will come
into force from 1 April.
He said the new BS-VI
compliant fuel will have very
low sulphur content as com-
pared to BS-IV petrol or diesel.
The company has incurred
a total expenditure of around
Rs 17,000 crore across its
refineries in India to manu-
facture BS-VI compliant fuel,
Mr Bharat told reporters here.
“All the retail outlets of IOC
will be ready to supply BS-VI
compliant fuel from 1 April,”
he said.
The official said IOC will
be investing Rs 163 crore to
set up a new bottling plant at
Kharagpur with a proposed
capacity of 120 mtpa, which
will be commissioned by
2021.
The company is also com-
ing up with a DEF plant at
Budge Budge at an investment
of Rs 75 crore, Mr Bharat
said, adding, the new type of
fuel will be required to be used
by heavy commercial vehicles
for reducing emission of nitro-
gen oxide.
IOC will be investing Rs 150
crore for a modern lube blend-
ing unit at Paharpur in the
southern outskirts of the city,
he said. To a query, Mr Bharat
said initially, customers will
not have to pay a higher price
for purchasing BS-VI com-
pliant fuel.
He said IOC has awarded
contracts to two private play-
ers for setting up compressed
bio-gas plants in the state.
Besides plans to automate
all its retail outlets, the com-
pany will also augment its LPG
distributor network.
For IOC's various pipeline
projects in West Bengal, it will
invest an aggregate amount
of Rs 3,352 crore, Mr Bharat
added.

Need to boost demand to

the only airline from India
to have made it to the list
of top 10 most punctual
airlines in the Asia-Pacific
region. Cirium tracks
around 30 lakh flights per
month using 600 global
sources, according to a
Press statement. SNS
Transport hubs: Knight
Frank India, international
property consultancy, in
its latest study, has pro-
jected that the total retail
opportunity across various
transport hubs in India will
grow manifold in the new
decade, a release says. SNS
Lakhotia Group initiative:
Kidz Wings preschool, an
educational wing of the
Lakhotia Group, has added
a new branch in Kolkata. It
was inaugurated by Mr
Atin Ghosh, Deputy Mayor
of Kolkata Municipal Cor-
poration and wife Mrs
Jhuma Ghosh, says a Press
release. SNS
32 food processing
projects cleared
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
The government today said
it has sanctioned 32 projects
in the food processing sector
leveraging an investment of
Rs 406 crore under the Prad-
han Mantri Krishi Sampada
Yojana (PMKSY).
These projects are spread
in 17 states and aim to cre-
ate employment for 15,000
people.
The projects were cleared
under the 'unit' scheme of
PMKSY by the Inter-Minis-
terial Approval Committee
chaired by food proces-
sing minister Harsimrat Kaur
Badal, an official statement
said.
Meetings of the Inter-Min-
isterial Approval Commi-
ttee (IMAC) to sanction
these projects were held on
21 and 26 February, it said,
adding that the projects
approved are running across
quadrilaterals of the country
covering over 100 agro-climatic
zones.
The main objective of the
project is creation of pro-
cessing and preserva-
tion capacities and mod-
ernisation/expansion of
existing food processing
units with a view to increas-
ing the level of processing
and value addition, leading
to a reduction of wastage of
food.
According to the ministry,
the processed food market is
expected to grow to $543 bil-
lion by 2020 from $322 billion
in 2016.
The period of implemen-
tation of PMKSY is 2016-20
and total outlay is Rs 6,000
crore.
fight coronavirus: PHDCCI
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
India needs to boost its domes-
tic consumption demand
and domestic capacities to
mitigate the likely impact of
Coronavirus (COVID) on
global trade, the PHD Cham-
ber of Commerce and Indus-
try (PHDCCI) said today.
"The fundamentals of the
Indian economy remain
strong and businesses will
adjust consequently in the
backdrop of robust economic
reforms undertaken by the
government to create a strong
and resilient economic envi-
ronment in the country,"
PHDCCI president D K Aggar-
wal said in a statement, while
noting that sectors such as
pharmaceuticals, solar and
iron and steel have been fac-
ing disruptions in imports of
raw materials from China
due to the outbreak of the
virus.
He called for a focus on
strengthening India's sup-
ply chain to its top 10 export
destinations including the
US, UAE, Hong Kong, Singa-
pore, UK and Germany, where
China significantly contributes
to their imports.
"It is very unfortunate
that Coronavirus has severe-
ly hit the world's second
largest economy, China, lead-
ing to a subdued global
demand scenario and weak-
er prospects for exports across
the nations," Mr Aggarwal
said, apprehending the spread
of the disease in many coun-
tries.
As China is a major play-
er in global trade, contribut-
ing around 13 per cent in world
merchandise exports, export-
ing majorly to the US, Hong
Kong, Japan, Korea, Vietnam,
Germany, India and the
Netherlands, the impact on
global trade would undermine
the growth prospects of the
world economy.
The disease, according to
PHDCCI figures, may hit
global GDP by 0.3 percentage
points, which amounts to
more than 250 billion dollars.
Disruptions in the global
supply chains will not only hit
China's exports but also
exports of the importing
countries as they are import-
ing a large chunk of raw
materials and intermediate
goods from China while
exporting to other respec-
tive destinations, PHDCCI
said.
Pidilite to buy majority
stake in Tenax India
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
Manufacturer of adhesives,
construction chemicals and
specialty chemicals Pidilite
Industries today announced
acquiring 70 per cent stake in
the Indian subsidiary of Ital-
ian firm Tenax SPA for around
Rs 80 crore. It has entered into
a definitive agreement with
Tenax SPA for acquiring 70 per
cent of the share capital of
Tenax India Stone Products for
a cash consideration of Rs 80
crore, said a statement.
Incorporated in 2005, Tenax
India is a subsidiary of Tenax
Italy and is engaged in sales
and distribution of Tenax
Italy products in India.
Tenax Italy is a leading
manufacturer of adhesives,
coating, surface treatment
chemicals and abrasives for
the marble, granite and stone
Industry. “This acquisition
will help expand Pidilite's
presence in the fast-growing
adhesives, coatings and sur-
face treatment chemicals
market for the marble and
stone industry and bring
world class technology to
India by investing in a man-
ufacturing plant,” Pidilite
Industries managing director
Bharat Puri said.
Tenax Italy will continue
to be a partner having 30 per
cent stake in Tenax India and
provide technical support
and market understanding of
marble, granite and stones
business in India and Saarc
markets. This acquisition by
Pidilite will enable Tenax
India to fully leverage the
sales, distribution and mar-
keting capability of Pidilite in
India and Saarc markets.

VIL, COAI push

Stocks fall on coronavirus woes, F&O expiry
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, 27 FEBRUARY
Equity indices reeled for the
fifth straight session today,
pressured by a sell-off in bank,
IT and energy counters, as the
global markets grappled with
fears of the coronavirus out-
break turning into a pan-
demic.
The expiry of February
series derivatives contracts too
kept the domestic markets
volatile, traders said.
After plunging over 465.69
points during the day, the
30-share BSE Sensex finally set-
tled 143.30 points, or 0.36
per cent, lower at 39,745.66
points.
Similarly, the broader NSE
Nifty fell 45.20 points or 0.39
per cent to end at 11,633.30
points.
The Sensex has now lost
1,577.34 points in five days,
while the Nifty has shed 492.60
points during the same peri-
od.
ONGC was the top loser in
the Sensex pack today, drop-
ping 2.61 per cent, followed
by HCL Tech, Mahindra &
Mahindra, SBI, IndusInd Bank
and ICICI Bank.
On the other hand, Sun
Pharma, Titan, Axis Bank and
Asian Paints climbed up to 3.68
per cent.
World markets extended
their losses while safe-haven
assets like gold and US trea-
suries strengthened after Pres-
ident Donald Trump
announced that the US was
stepping up its efforts to com-
bat the Covid-19 outbreak.
for urgent
relief measures
imports for various goods, Sectorally, BSE realty, oil and
SENSEX DOWN 143 POINTS he noted. gas, metal, teck, IT, industri- NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY
Benchmarks also remained als, energy, telecom and auto
� Equity indices reeled for the fifth straight session on Thursday, pressured by a volatile on account of month- indices ended up to 2.09 per Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) has
sell-off in bank, IT and energy counters, as the global markets grappled with fears ly expiry of derivatives con- cent lower, while consumer told the government that
of the coronavirus outbreak turning into a pandemic tracts, he said, adding that sen- durables and healthcare set- it is unable to pay Supreme
� The expiry of February series deriv- timent remained sluggish tled on a positive note. Court mandated Rs 53,000
atives contracts too kept the domes- amid reports that GDP growth Broader BSE mid-cap and crore dues and sought state
tic markets volatile, traders said is likely to stay flat at 4.5 per small-cap indices fell up to 0.83 support to survive the crisis,
cent in October-December per cent. a contention that was sup-
� The 30-share BSE benchmark Sen- 2019. The government's GDP Bourses in Seoul and Tokyo ported by industry association
sex finally settled 143.30 points, or estimate for the December ended with significant loss- COAI.
0.36 per cent, lower at 39,745.66 quarter is scheduled to be es, while Shanghai and Hong With the crucial meeting of
points released on Friday. Kong closed with gains. DCC likely to be held tomor-
� The broader NSE Nifty fell 45.20 Further, relentless selling Stock exchanges in Europe row to discuss relief mea-
points or 0.39 per cent to end at by foreign portfolio investors plunged up to 1.80 per cent sures for the AGR-hit indus-
11,633.30 points (FPIs) spooked retail investors, in their morning sessions. try, VIL has made a strong push
traders said. Brent crude oil futures fell for setting off Rs 8,000 crore
According to provisional 1.33 per cent to $52.11 per of GST credits and a three-year
Indian markets were in seek safety in gold and bonds, Shares & Stock Brokers. data available with stock barrel. moratorium on payment of the
the negative territory as the said Mr Narendra Solanki, India is at risk of getting exchanges, so far this week, On the currency front, the remaining amount which
rapid global spread of the head fundamental research severely impacted by the epi- FPIs have offloaded stocks Indian rupee appreciated should be staggered over 15
coronavirus kept investors (investment services) - AVP demic economically because worth a whopping Rs 6,812.57 marginally to 71.62 per US dol- years at a simple interest rate
on the edge and made them equity research, Anand Rathi of its high reliance on Chinese crore on a net basis. lar (intra-day). of 6 per cent. PTI

Parl will pick new leader: Mahathir
The announcement comes after the ruling alliance collapsed � Snap elections to be called if the vote ends in an impasse
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KUALA LUMPUR, 27 FEBRUARY
M
alaysia's interim
leader Mahathir
Mohamad on
Thursday said Par-
liament will pick a new prime
minister next week follow-
ing the collapse of the ruling
alliance and that snap elec-
tions will be called if the vote
ends in an impasse.
Mahathir, who met the
king earlier on Thursday, said
the monarch couldn't find a
candidate with a clear major-
ity to lead the nation after con-
sulting all 222 lawmakers over
the last two days. As such, he
said the king decided to have
the lower house of Parlia-
ment vote on a new leader on
March 2.
“If the lower house fails to
find a person with the major-
ity, then we will have to go for
a snap election,” he told a news
conference.
A failed bid by Mahathir's
supporters to form a new
government without his des-
ignated successor, Anwar
Britain threatens to
walk away as EU trade
talks open post Brexit
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON,27 FEBRUARY
Britain laid out its opening
demands for the upcoming
trade talks with the Euro-
pean Union on Thursday,
including a blunt threat to walk
away from the negotiating
table if there is no progress
within four months.
The two sides appear head-
ed for a rocky first round of
negotiations as they try to forge
a new relationship following
the UK’s departure from the
now 27-nation bloc.
Britain and the EU both say
they want to reach a free
trade agreement, but have
starkly divergent views on
how it should be overseen and
what constitutes fair com-
petition between their two
economies.
The EU says Britain must
agree to follow the bloc’s rules
in areas ranging from state aid
to environmental protec-
tions, and give European
boats access to UK fishing
waters, if the two sides are to
strike a good deal.
But the UK is demanding
the right to diverge from the
bloc’s rules in order to strike
new trade agreements around
the world that it thinks will bol-
ster the British economy.
“In pursuit of a deal we will
not trade away our sover-
eignty,” Michael Gove, the
minister in charge of Brexit
preparations, told lawmakers
in the House of Commons.
“We will not be seeking to
dynamically align with EU
rules on EU terms, governed
by EU laws and EU institu-
tions.”
Britain’s negotiating man-
date insists that “we will not
agree to any obligations for
our laws to be aligned with the
EU’s, or for the EU’s institu-
tions, including the Court of
Justice, to have any jurisdic-
tion in the UK”
That conflict will be one of
the big hurdles in talks, which
are due to begin Monday in
Brussels. Fishing is likely to
be another flashpoint. EU
nations, especially France,
want Britain to grant European
UN disarmament chief: Nuke arms race is threatening world
ASSOCIATED PRESS
UNITED NATIONS, 27 FEBRUARY
The UN disarmament chief
warned Wednesday that the
specter of an unbridled nuclear
arms race is threatening the
world for the first time since
the 1970s, the height of the Cold
War between the United States
and the former Soviet Union.
Izumi Nakamitsu didn't
name any countries but she
was clearly referring to the
United States and Russia, and
possibly China, when she told
the UN Security Council that
relationships between states
especially nuclear-weapon
states are fractured.
So-called great power com-
petition is the order of the day,
Nakamitsu said.
Division, distrust and a
dearth of dialogue are increas-
ingly the norm. Russia-US
relations have been at post-
Ibrahim, and Mahathir's shock
resignation on Monday broke
apart the ruling alliance less
than two years after it defeat-
ed a corruption-tainted coali-
tion that had led the country
for 61 years.
Both Mahathir and Anwar
are vying for the premier-
ship, renewing a political feud
that stretches back more than
two decades.
“The king is obviously
being very cautious. He decid-
ed not to give Anwar or
Mahathir to form a govern-
ment and let the MPs decide,”
said James Chin, head of the
Asia Institute at Australia's Uni-
versity of Tasmania. “This
means horse trading will carry
on all weekend until Monday
morning.”
Anwar was Mahathir's
deputy in the 1990s during
Mahathir's first stint as prime
minister, but he was sacked
following a power struggle
and later jailed on sodomy and
corruption charges that he said
were trumped up.
Anwar led a reform move-
ment that helped build a
fishing boats long-term access
to UK waters. Britain wants
to negotiate fishing quotas
annually.
Britain left the EU on 31
January but remains bound
by the bloc’s rules until a
post-Brexit transition period
ends on 31 December. A
divorce agreement between
the two sides allows for the
transition to be extended for
two more years, but British
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
insists he will not agree to that.
Johnson’s Conservative
government says the UK will
be leaving the bloc’s structures,
including its single market for
trade in goods and services,
as of 1 January, 2021.
Britain hopes by then to
have a trade agreement with
the bloc similar to the one
struck between the EU and
Canada. Such a deal would
eliminate tariffs and quotas
on trade and goods, but it’s
less clear what it would mean
for the services sector that
makes up four-fifths of Britain’s
economy. The UK also aspires
to strike side agreements in
areas including fisheries, law
enforcement and judicial
cooperation.
The British government is
warning businesses that no
matter what happens there will
be new barriers to trade
between Britain and the EU,
which currently accounts for
almost half of UK trade. Even
with a free trade deal there will
be new border checks and cus-
toms forms to fill out.
The EU-Canada deal also
took years to strike, now the
two sides have just months.
Cold War lows since Moscow's
2014 annexation of Ukraine's
Crimea.
Last year, Russia and the
US both withdrew from the
1987 Intermediate-range
Nuclear Forces Treaty, the US
saying it pulled out because
of Russian violations and the
Kremlin denying breaching the
treaty's terms.
Russia has said the US also
appears reluctant to extend the
New START treaty, the only
treaty governing the number
of strategic nuclear weapons
deployed by the two countries,
which expires in 2021.
Last week, US Defense
Secretary Mark Esper touted
a multibillion-dollar plan for
a top-to-bottom moderniza-
tion of America's nuclear
arsenal to keep up with Rus-
sia and outpace China.
In late December, Russia's
defense minister reported to
Pakistan’s fresh efforts to fight terrorism and promote security
is affording the US to expand trade between the two countries
fledgling opposition but was
jailed a second time for sodomy
in 2014 in a move he said was
aimed at killing his political
career.
Mahathir, who retired in
2003 after 22 years in power,
made a comeback in 2016,
spurred by anger over a mas-
sive graft scandal involving a
state investment fund.
Mahathir and Anwar rec-
onciled and forged an alliance
that won the 2018 election that
ushered in the first change of
government since indepen-
dence from Britain in 1957.
New Tunisian
government
after months
of deadlock
TUNIS (TUNISIA), 27 FEBRUARY
Tunisia has a new govern-
ment at last, after four
months of arguing among
rival parties.
After a 15-hour debate, the
Tunisian parliament voted
129-77 with one abstention
to approve the government
of Prime Minister-designate
Elyes Fakhfakh on Thursday.
A previous effort to form
a government by a different
prime minister failed last
month. The Islamist party
Ennahdha has six ministe-
rial posts, more than any
other party, because it came
out on top in a parliamen-
tary election in October.
But it didn't win a major-
ity and has struggled to reach
compromise with other par-
ties about who should run the
government. President Kais
Saied had threatened to dis-
solve parliament and call a
new election if it couldn't agree
on a new government. AP
CATCALL
A woman wearing a protective mask holds her cat as she poses for a picture during a protest
against corruption in the Iraqi government in the southern city of Basra on Thursday. � AFP
President Vladimir Putin that
a new intercontinental weapon
that can fly 27 times the speed
of sound had become opera-
tional, bolstering the country's
nuclear strike capability.
Nakamitsu warned that
the specter of unconstrained
nuclear competition looms
over us for the first time since
the 1970s.
We are witnessing what
has been termed a qualitative
CMYK
US COMMERCE SECRETARY WILBUR ROSS
AFTER MEETING PAKISTAN’S TOP LEADERSHIP
But their relationship
remained uneasy as Mahathir
refused to set a time frame to
hand over power to Anwar.
Mahathir, the world's old-
est leader at 94, said Wednes-
day that he wanted to form a
nonpartisan government if
chosen as premier for a third
time. He said he had quit to
show he wasn't power crazy
and because he didn't want
to work with the former cor-
rupt regime that he had oust-
ed in 2018 polls.
But his unity government
plan was rejected by Anwar's
Mass shootout in US: Gunman
kills five at brewery, kills self
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MILWAUKEE (US), 27 FEBRUARY
An employee opened fire at
one of the nation's largest
breweries in Milwaukee, killing
five fellow workers before ta-
king his own life, police said.
The assailant who attacked
the Molson Coors complex on
Wednesday was identified
as a 51-year-old Milwaukee
man who died of a self-inflict-
ed gunshot wound, police
said.
“There were five individ-
uals who went to work today,
just like everybody goes to
work, and they thought they
were going to go to work,
finish their day and return to
their families. They didn't
and tragically they never will,”
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Bar-
rett said.
Authorities offered no
immediate motive for the
attack and did not release
details about the shooter or
how the shooting unfolded.
None of the victims was
identified. Police, who were
nuclear arms race, one not
based on numbers but on
faster, stealthier and more
accurate weapons, she said.
Regional conflicts with a
nuclear dimension are wors-
ening, and proliferation chal-
lenges are not receding.
The Security Council meet-
ing was requested by Ger-
many to commemorate the
50th anniversary of the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty on
CMYK
Mahathir Mohamad,
who met the king on
Thursday, said the
monarch couldn't find
a candidate with a
clear majority to
lead the nation after
consulting all 222
lawmakers over the
last two days
camp and other opposition
parties, which said it would
only create a “Mahathir gov-
ernment” that was not
accountable to the people
and was unsustainable.
Anwar said lawmakers
from the three remaining par-
ties in his alliance had nom-
inated him to be prime min-
ister when meeting the king
after Mahathir rejected their
offer to restore their former gov-
ernment. Anwar's camp con-
trols 41 per cent of parlia-
mentary seats, 20 seats short
of a simple majority.
Mahathir on Thursday also
said he had rescinded his res-
ignation as chairman of his
still contacting relatives, said
identities would not be
released for at least 24 hours.
No one was wounded beyond
those who were killed, author-
ities said.
Officers worked for hours
to clear the more than 20
buildings in the complex
where more than 1,000 peo-
ple work. They announced at
a late evening news confer-
ence that the work was done
and all employees had been
allowed to go home. Police
Chief Alfonso Morales said
authorities believe the shoot-
er operated alone.
President Donald Trump
addressed the shooting before
speaking at the White House
about his administration's
March 5 and to support the
upcoming conference to
review and advance its goals
which starts April 27 and ends
May 22.
Russia and the United
States clashed at the meeting
over the breakdown in arms
control negotiations.
But they supported a state-
ment by the 15-member Secu-
rity Council saying the treaty,
known as the NPT, remains the
cornerstone of the nuclear
nonproliferation regime and
the foundation for the pursuit
of nuclear disarmament and
the peaceful uses of nuclear
energy.
The council resolved to
advance the NPT's goals and
underlined the treaty's essen-
tial role in the preservation of
international peace, security
and stability as well as the ulti-
mate objective of a world
without nuclear weapons.
BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020
Bersatu party.
Bersatu ditched the gov-
erning alliance four days ago
in a bid to form a new gov-
ernment with several oppo-
sition parties. But it flopped
after Mahathir quit in protest
of the plan to work with the
United Malays National Orga-
nization, the party of dis-
graced ex-Prime Minister
Najib Razak who is on trial for
corruption.
Mahathir reiterated Thurs-
day that he still cannot accept
UMNO but was willing to
embrace UMNO members
who leave the party. He said
he will accept the outcome of
Monday's vote and that the
new leader elected can choose
anyone he likes as his Cabi-
net members, alluding back
to the unity government plan
he proposed.
The political drama that
unfolded over the weekend saw
37 lawmakers, led by Bersatu,
ditching the ruling alliance,
depriving it of majority sup-
port. The king dissolved the
Cabinet but reappointed
Mahathir as interim leader.
efforts to combat the coron-
avirus. “Our hearts break for
them and their loved ones,”
the president said.
“We send our condolences.
We'll be with them, and it's
a terrible thing, a terrible
thing.” The attack occurred
at a sprawling complex that
includes a mix of corporate
offices and brewing facili-
ties. The complex is widely
known in the Milwaukee area
as “Miller Valley,” a reference
to the Miller Brewing Co. that
is now part of Molson Coors.
Molson Coors CEO Gavin
Hattersley called the shoot-
er “an active brewery employ-
ee.” “Unfortunately, I am dev-
astated to share that we lost
five other members of our fam-
ily in this tragic incident,” he
said in an email sent to
employees.
“There are no words to
express the deep sadness
many of us are feeling right
now.” He said the office would
be closed the rest of the week
and the brewery shuttered “for
the time being”.
Uncertainty looms ahead of
US-Taliban peace deal signing
AGENCIES
DOHA, 27 FEBRUARY
Washington and the Taliban
are set to sign a deal Saturday
to secure America's exit from
its longest war through grad-
ually withdrawing troops and
starting talks between Kabul
and the insurgents.
The agreement will likely
be heralded as marking the
start of a hopeful new era for
Afghanistan, which has seen
40 years of conflict.
But what happens next is
anyone's guess, with questions
swirling around the Taliban's
intentions and Afghanistan
once more in the grip of a polit-
ical crisis threatening to plunge
the impoverished country
further into the abyss.
The accord, to be signed
in Doha, comes after more
than a year of talks between
the Taliban and the US that
Germany's Foreign Minister
Heiko Maas told the council
that despite its achievements
the NPT is facing serious set-
backs: Nuclear disarmament
has come to a standstill. New
technologies are creating dan-
gerous strategic imbalances.
And proliferation crises are
demanding our fullest atten-
tion. He pointed to North
Korea acquiring nuclear
weapons, disregarding the
NPT and Security Council
resolutions, as a key failure.
Maas said the only realis-
tic way ahead is applying
pressure and stepping up
nuclear diplomacy.
He urged international
support for US efforts to nego-
tiate with North Korea, and for
the 2015 Iran nuclear deal
which remains the best and
only promising tool to keep
Iran from obtaining nuclear
weapons.
Syria rebels fight
back but army
makes more gains
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
IDLIB, 27 FEBRUARY
Syrian rebels on Thursday
reentered a key northwestern
town they had lost earlier
this month, reversing one of
the main gains of the gov-
ernment's devastating offen-
sive in the region.
The counteroffensive could
be short-lived however and
Russian-backed Syrian troops
continued to chip away at
other parts of the rebel bas-
tion, ignoring growing appeals
for a ceasefire.
The UN Security Council,
where Moscow has system-
atically vetoed truce initiatives,
was due to meet again on
Thursday amid growing con-
cern Idlib was witnessing the
nine-year-old war's worst
humanitarian emergency yet.
On Thursday, jihadists and
Turkish-backed rebels man-
aged to reenter Saraqeb, a key
crossroads town in Idlib
province they had lost earli-
er in February.
State news agency SANA
acknowledged that there were
"fierce clashes" between the
army and "terrorist groups on
the Saraqeb front".
A correspondent accom-
panied the rebels into Saraqeb,
where he found a ghost town
of bombed out buildings
deserted by its inhabitants.
The counterattack by the
rebels temporarily reverses one
of the key gains notched up
by the government since the
launch of its offensive against
the country's last rebel enclave
in December.
The cash-strapped gov-
ernment had been keen to fully
secure the M5, a highway
which connects Syria's four
main cities and passes through
Saraqeb.
The Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights
said that the air strikes were
carried out by government ally
faltered repeatedly as vio-
lence raged.
While the deal's contents
have not been publicly dis-
closed, it is expected to see the
Pentagon begin pulling troops
from Afghanistan, where
between 12,000-13,000 are
currently based.
The US has said an initial
drawdown over the coming
months would be to about
8,600, similar to the troop
level President Donald Trump
inherited after his 2016 elec-
tion win.
Further reductions depend
on how well the Taliban hon-
TENDER
09
Russia, which has come under
heavy Western criticism for the
high civilian death toll from
its bombing campaign.
State media accused the
"terrorists" of launching car
bombings and other suicide
attacks against government
forces attempting to retake the
town.
It said that the army had
inflicted heavy losses on the
attackers, despite the military
support it said they had
received from neighbouring
Turkey.
Some 950,0000 civilians
have fled the government
offensive, raising fears in
Ankara of a new mass influx
of refugees.
Turkey already hosts the
world's largest number of
Syrian refugees with around
3.6 million people, placing an
increasingly unpopular bur-
den on public services. The
Turkish defence ministry said
two of its soldiers had been
killed by government fire in
Idlib, taking its losses this
month alone to 19.
Turkey, which supports
several rebel groups in the Idlib
region, immediately respond-
ed to the attack by hitting Syr-
ian "regime targets", the min-
istry said.
The United Nations has
warned repeatedly that the
fighting in Idlib has the poten-
tial to create the most serious
humanitarian crisis since the
start of the civil war in 2011.
"As the UN Security Coun-
cil meets today, it is urgent for
Council members to adopt a
resolution calling for a cease-
fire in Idlib," David Miliband,
the chairman of the Interna-
tional Rescue Committee,
said.
More than half a million
of those displaced since
December are children, tens
of thousands of whom are
sleeping rough in the harsh
winter of northern Syria.
our pledges to start talks with
the government of President
Ashraf Ghani, who until now
they have dismissed as a US-
backed puppet, and seek a
comprehensive “intra-Afghan”
ceasefire and peace deal.
The insurgents are also
supposed to guarantee
Afghanistan is never again
used by jihadist groups such
as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State
to plot foreign attacks.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime
Minister Imran Khan met
Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim
bin Hamad Al-Thani in Doha
on Thursday, just two days
prior to the signing of a land-
mark peace deal between the
US and the Taliban.
Qatar's Energy Minister
Saad Sheirda Al-Kaabi received
Khan at the airport.
This is the second visit of
Prime Minister Khan to Qatar
after taking office in 2018.

10
BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020
WEATHER
CITY
SINGAPORE
MAX(°C)
32
MIN(°C)
26 H
HONG KONG 21 19 H
TOKYO 12 4 CL
LONDON
DUBAI
8
23
2 H
19 S
SAN FRANCISCO 21
NEW YORK 8
11 CL
0 H
MOSCOW 3
S= sunny, CL= clear,
0 R
H=hazy, R= rainy...
THUMBNAILS
Russian President Vladimir
Putin and Mayor of
Moscow Sergei Sobyanin
at the Dream Island amu-
sement park ahead of its
upcoming inauguration in
Moscow on Thursday. � AFP
Strasbourg fire kills five: A
fire on Thursday in the
French city of Strasbourg
has left five people dead
and seven injured, the res-
cue services said. The fire
broke out overnight in a
seven-storey apartment
block and firemen had to
evacuate many people as
thick smoke enveloped
their homes. AFP
Domingo drops Spain
show: Scandal-hit opera
star Placido Domingo on
Thursday said his apology
over sexual harassment
allegations had given a
“false impression” but can-
celled his appearance in an
upcoming performance in
Madrid. AFP
Heathrow win: Britain's
Court of Appeal on Thurs-
day ruled in favour of
green campaigners who
oppose the building of a
third runway at London's
Heathrow airport,
Europe's busiest. The
court said the UK govern-
ment had failed to take
into account its commit-
ments to the Paris Agree-
ment to limit climate
warming. AFP
Pak confirms
first two cases
of virus
KARACHI/ISLAMABAD,
27 FEBRUARY
After two persons returning
from Iran tested positive for
the deadly coronavirus in
Pakistan's largest city Karachi,
all educational institutions
in Sindh and Balochistan
provinces have been closed.
On Wednesday, a young
man tested positive for the
novel coronavirus in Karachi,
the first confirmed case in
Pakistan. Shortly after, anoth-
er case was confirmed and
both have returned from
Iran, Special Advisor on
Health Dr Zafar Mirza said.
Sindh Education Minis-
ter Saeed Ghani announced
on Twitter that “all Govt and
private educational institu-
tions will remain closed on
Thursday & Friday (27th &
28th Feb).”
Balochistan government
announced to close down all
educational institutions
across the province till March
15. An official handout said
the government took the
step “as a precaution to pro-
tect children from coron-
avirus.”
“I can confirm first two
cases of coronavirus in Pak-
istan. Both cases are being
taken care of according to
clinical standard protocols
& both of them are stable. No
need to panic, things are
under control,” Mirza tweet-
ed on Wednesday.
“If you or somebody you
know have recently returned
from China, Iran or a coun-
try where #COVID?19 is
prevalent and if there are
symptoms like fever, cough,
difficulty in breathing, please
report by calling at 1166,” he
was quoted by the Dawn
news on Thursday.
Pakistan has closed its bor-
der with Iran where at least
19 people have died from the
virus. He said the government
had taken effective protec-
tive measures. PTI
Saudi Arabia halts pilgrimage over virus
Iran reported the highest death toll from the virus ~ 22 dead from among 141 confirmed cases ~ outside of China, where the outbreak began
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DUBAI, 27 FEBRUARY
S
audi Arabia on Thurs-
day halted travel to the
holiest sites in Islam over
fears about a viral epi-
demic just months ahead of
the annual hajj
pilgrimage, a move that came
as the Mideast has over 240
confirmed cases of the new
coronavirus.
The extraordinary deci-
sion by Saudi Arabia stops forei-
gners from reaching the holy
city of Mecca and the Kaaba,
the cube-shaped structure
the world's 1.8 billion Muslims
pray toward five times a day.
The decision also affected
travel to Prophet Muham-
mad's mosque in Medina.
Authorities also suspended
entry to the kingdom to those
with tourist visas from nations
affected by the new virus.
The decision showed the
worry about the outbreak
potentially spreading into
Saudi Arabia, whose oil-rich
monarchy stakes its legiti-
macy on protecting Islam's
holy sites.
The epicenter in the
Mideast's most-affected coun-
try, Iran, appears to be in the
holy Shiite city of Qom, where
the faithful in reverence reach
out to kiss and touch a famous
shrine. Iran now has the high-
est death toll from the virus
22 dead from among 141 con-
firmed cases outside of China,
where the outbreak began.
The tiny, oil-rich nation of
Kuwait announced a sudden
jump to 43 cases from 26 on
Thursday as well, all linked to
travellers who recently came
from Iran. There have been no
confirmed cases of the new
coronavirus in Saudi Arabia
amid the outbreak.
“Saudi Arabia renews its
support for all international
measures to limit the spread
of this virus, and urges its cit-
izens to exercise caution before
traveling to countries experi-
encing coronavirus outbreaks,”
the Saudi Foreign Ministry
said in a statement announc-
ing the decision.
“We ask God Almighty to
Trump plays down virus threat, faces credibility test; Pence to lead efforts against crisis
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, 27 FEBRUARY
US President Donald Trump
faces a critical personal chal-
lenge in grappling with the new
coronavirus outbreak: Ask-
ing Americans to believe him
after he and some of his top
advisers have contradicted
federal scientists in playing
down the threat.
Keenly aware of the stakes
not just for public health but
also his credibility, Trump
conducted a lengthy press
conference Wednesday
evening aimed at reassuring
everyone that he has the cri-
sis well in hand.
Trump surrounded himself
with his administration's top
ALERT EYES
Pakistani soldiers wearing facemasks patrol near the closed Pakistan-Iran border in Taftan on as
fears over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus escalate following its outbreak. � AFP
spare all humanity from all
harm.”
Disease outbreaks always
have been a concern sur-
rounding the hajj, required of
all able-bodied Muslims once
in their life, especially as pil-
grims come from all over the
world.
The earliest recorded out-
break came in 632 as pilgrims
fought off malaria. A cholera
outbreak in 1821 for instance
killed an estimated 20,000
pilgrims. Another cholera out-
break in 1865 killed 15,000 pil-
grims and then spread world-
wide.
More recently, Saudi Ara-
bia faced the danger from
another coronavirus, one that
caused the Middle East res-
piratory syndrome, or MERS,
which jumped from ill camels
to humans. The kingdom
increased its public health
measures during the hajj in
2012 and 2013, though no
outbreaks occurred amid the
pilgrimage.
Since September 2012,
there have been nearly 2,500
cases of MERS reported, with
858 deaths attributed to the
virus, according to the World
Health Organization.
Since it emerged in Decem-
ber in central China, the new
coronavirus has sickened
82,000 people globally, with
more than 2,700 deaths.
While millions attend the
hajj, which is this year set for
late July into early August,
millions more come during the
rest of the year to the holy sites
in the kingdom. Those other
pilgrimages are referred to as
the umrah. One of the biggest
times for the umrah is the Mus-
lim holy fasting month of
Ramadan, which is set to
begin at the end of April.
“It is unprecedented, at
least in recent times, but given
the worldwide spread of the
virus and the global nature of
the umrah, it makes sense
from a public health and safe-
ty point of view,” said Krist-
ian Ulrichsen, a research fel-
low at the James A Baker III
Institute for Public Policy at
Rice University.
“Especially since the Iran-
health experts. And he encour-
aged Americans to be prepared
for the virus' potential spread.
But he continued to min-
imise the risk, saying the out-
break may get a little bigger;
it may not get bigger at all. And
he continued to distance him-
self from the stated opinion
of public health officials that
it’s inevitable the virus will spr-
ead within the United States.
CMYK
Protection of our environment is fundamental to the
enjoyment of all human rights
ACCUSING BRAZIL AND THE USA OF ‘ROLLING BACK’ ON ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
ian example illustrates how a
religious crossroads can so
quickly amplify the spread
and reach of the virus.” But by
leaving the suspension of
travel to the holy sites open-
ended, Saudi Arabia has
opened the possibility of this
year's hajj potentially being dis-
rupted as well.
The hardest-hit nation in
the Mideast is Iran, where
the state-run IRNA news
agency reported the new 22
deaths out of 141 cases of the
illness, named COVID-19.
Experts are concerned Iran
may be underreporting cases
and deaths, given the illness'
rapid spread from Iran across
the Persian Gulf. For example,
Iran still has not confirmed any
cases in Mashhad, even though
a number of cases reported in
Kuwait are linked to the Iran-
ian city.
In Bahrain, which con-
firmed 33 cases as of Thurs-
day morning, authorities halt-
ed all flights to Iraq and
Lebanon. It separately extend-
ed a 48-hour ban over flights
from Dubai and Sharjah in the
United Arab Emirates, through
which infected travelers
reached the island kingdom
off the coast of Saudi Arabia.
Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani said there were no
immediate plans to quaran-
tine cities but acknowledged
it may take one, two or three
weeks to get control of the virus
in Iran.
As Iran's 80 million people
find themselves increasingly
isolated in the region by the
outbreak, the country's sanc-
tions-battered economy saw
its currency slump to its low-
est level against the US dol-
lar in a year on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Iraq's Health
Ministry on Thursday
announced the first coron-
avirus case in the capital,
Baghdad, bringing the over-
all number of cases reported
in the country to six. All have
been linked to Iran.
Iraq has taken drastic mea-
sures to stem the spread,
including ordering schools
and universities closed for 10
days, starting Thursday.
The government also
banned public gatherings and
ordered the closures of cine-
mas, cafes, clubs and other
social forums for the same peri-
od. It wasn't immediately
clear whether the ban of pub-
lic gatherings would include
anti-government protest sites
such as Baghdad's landmark
Tahrir Square, where demon-
strators have been staging a
sit-in for months.
As businesses, schools and
people in general think about
preparing, the X-factor may be
an unpredictable president
who has clashed repeatedly
with scientists in his own
administration and tends to
see any crisis through the
lens of his own reelection
chances.
I don't think it's inevitable,
Trump said at the news con-
ference, where he announced
Vice President Mike Pence
would lead the administration's
response to the outbreak.
I think it has a chance that
it could get worse. There is a
chance you can get fairly sub-
stantially worse. But noth-
ing's inevitable. He also said
he had recently learned that
CMYK
UN'S HUMAN RIGHTS CHIEF MICHELLE BACHELET
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a meeting at the new COVID-19 coronavirus infectious
disease control headquarters at the prime minister's office in Tokyo on Thursday. Abe called on
public schools to close nationwide from 2 March to prevent the spread of the new virus. � AFP
South Korea, US postpone military drills
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, 27 FEBRUARY
The South Korean and US
militaries on Thursday
announced that they were
postponing their annual
joint drills due to concern
about a viral outbreak that
has infected soldiers in both
countries' armed forces, put
many troops in quarantine
and closed base facilities.
Twenty-two South Kore-
an soldiers and one Ameri-
can service member in South
Korea have tested positive for
the new coronavirus, which
has infected about 1,770
people in the Asian country,
the largest outbreak out-
side mainland China.
The allies have previ-
ously suspended or scaled
back their regular military
exercises, but that was part
of diplomatic efforts to dis-
arm North Korea, which
views the training as a
rehearsal for an invasion.
It's the first time that the
allies have put off their drills
due to concerns about an
infectious disease, accord-
ing to the South Korean
Defence Ministry.
In a joint news conference,
South Korean and US mili-
tary officers said their joint
drills planned for the first half
of this year will be put off until
thousands die from the flu each
year, contrasting that to the
coronavirus.
After two days of the stock
market tumbling, Trump took
to Twitter on Wednesday
morning to blame the media
and Democrats for causing
undue alarm and harming
American financial markets.
He singled out MSNBC
and CNN for doing every-
thing possible to make the
coronavirus look as bad as pos-
sible, including panicking
markets, if possible, and added
that incompetent ‘Do Noth-
ing Democrat’ comrades are
all talk, no action.
He blamed part of this
week's stock market slide on
people's reaction to Tuesday
Virulence of China virus declines; toll 2744
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
BEIJING, 27 FEBRUARY
The virulence of the novel coro-
navirus continues to show a
declining trend in China which
reported 29 new fatalities,
the lowest in weeks, taking
the death toll to 2,744 while
the confirmed cases climbed
to 78,497, officials said on
Thursday.
The country's National
Health Commission (NHC)
said it received reports of 433
new confirmed coronavirus
cases and 29 deaths on Wedn-
esday from 31 provincial-
level regions on the mainland.
Among the deaths, 26 were
from the epicentre of the
virus Hubei province and its
capital Wuhan and one each
from Beijing, Heilongjiang
and Henan, it said.
In Hubei province alone
2,641 people died due to the
virus since it erupted in
December last year including
2,104 fatalities in Wuhan.
further notice.
South Korean military
chief Park Han-ki proposed
the delay out of concerns for
troop safety and Robert
Abrams, the commander of
the US military in South
Korea, accepted Park's pro-
posal based on the severity
of the virus outbreak, said
Kim Joon Rak, a spokesman
at the South Korean Joint
Chiefs of Staff.
Lee Peters, a US military
spokesman, said the post-
ponement decision “was
not taken lightly” and that
two countries' alliance
remains “ironclad and
unbreakable”.
South Korea boasts a
600,000-strong military, while
the US has 28,500 troops in
the country and those troops
are at particular risk due to
the close quarters at the
bases where they are sta-
night's Democratic debate
and the possibility one
of those candidates might
replace him.
And Trump acknowledged
that the outbreak could have
an impact on GDP but insist-
ed that the US economy is still
doing great.
The setting for Trump's
evening press conference ~ the
White House press briefing
room ~ was meant to offer a
sense of calm and assurance
by the president.
It was only the second time
in his presidency that Trump
had spoken from the podium
in that room, and aides
acknowledged he was trying
to underscore that he has the
situation under control and
China’s National Health
Commission received
reports of 433 new
confirmed cases and
29 deaths on Wednes-
day from 31 provin-
cial-level regions on
the mainland
The province, which is
under lockdown, reported
409 new confirmed cases on
Wednesday, taking the total
confirmed cases to 65,596, local
health commission said.
Wuhan reported 383 new
confirmed cases and 19 new
deaths on Wednesday. In total,
the city has registered 47,824
confirmed cases.
In all 34,978 people were
hospitalised in Hubei province
of which 6,581 were still in
severe condition and 1,403 oth-
ers in critical condition.
The commission also said
Hubei reported 403 suspect-
ed cases, taking the total to
tioned.
In recent days, South
Korea suspended some uni-
lateral field training, placed
9,990 troops under quar-
antine and banned most of
its enlisted soldiers from
leaving their bases. The US
military closed some ameni-
ties at several bases and was
urging its personnel to avoid
handshakes and large gath-
erings if possible.
Experts say the post-
ponement of the drills was
inevitable because the poten-
tial spread of the virus into
military barracks could weak-
en military readiness.
North Korea has not
publicly reported any case
of the virus, but experts say
the country also likely redu-
ced its own military training
as it's preoccupied with
guarding against the virus.
understands the gravity.
In advance, Trump played
down the mortality rate for a
pathogen that has been con-
firmed to have killed 2,700 peo-
ple globally. His top economic
adviser, Larry Kudlow, echoed
Trump's outlook, saying Tues-
day that the US had con-
tained the threat of a domes-
tic outbreak.
Trump's and Kudlow's
comments were at odds with
warnings from Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion officials who said Amer-
ican communities need to
prepare now for when the
disease starts spreading
domestically. So far, there
have been just 60 confirmed
cases in the US.
2,019 cases. Capital Beijing
reported 10 cases on Wednes-
day, taking the total number
of cases to 400.
All over China, a total of
2,358 people were still sus-
pected of being infected with
the virus. A total of 32,495 peo-
ple had been discharged from
hospital after recovery includ-
ing 23,200 in Hubei province.
By the end of Wednesday,
91 confirmed cases including
two deaths had been report-
ed from Hong Kong, 10 con-
firmed cases in Macao and 32
in Taiwan including one death.
Bruce Aylward, an epi-
demiologist who led an
advance team from the World
Health Organisation (WHO),
told the media in Geneva that
China has changed the course
of COVID-19 outbreak, not-
ing that the rapidly escalat-
ing outbreak has plateaued and
come down faster than the pre-
viously expected.
Aylward said the unani-
mous assessment of the 25-
Iraq closes
public spaces as
first nCoV case
hits capital
The government
ordered the closure of
schools and universi-
ties, cafes, cinemas
and public spaces until
7 March in a bid to
contain the virus
BAGHDAD, 27 FEBRUARY
Iraq announced the first con-
firmed case of coronavirus in
the capital Baghdad on
Thursday, taking nationwide
infections to six and raising
concerns about the capacity
of the dilapidated health sys-
tem to respond.
The government
announced sweeping mea-
sures late Wednesday to try to
contain the spread of the
virus, ordering the closure of
schools and universities, cafes,
cinemas and other public
spaces until March 7.
It also banned travel to or
from some of the worst affect-
ed countries, including China,
Iran, Japan, South Korea, Thai-
land, Singapore, Italy, Kuwait
and Bahrain.
Iraq had already blocked
entry for foreigners travel-
ling from neighbouring Iran,
the main source of coron-
avirus infections in the Mid-
dle East, or China, where
COVID-19 originated.
The health ministry said the
first case in Baghdad was in
a young man who had recent-
ly returned from Iran.
The patient was placed
under quarantine in a Bagh-
dad hospital and is currently
“in good health,” it said in a
statement.
Iraq's six confirmed cases
have all been traced to neigh-
bouring Iran, a popular tourism
destination for Iraqis, who
also visit the country to receive
medical treatment.
Many hospitals in Iraq are
poorly equipped or in disre-
pair and there are fewer than
10 doctors for every 10,000 peo-
ple, the World Health Orga-
nization says.
The health ministry advised
against large gatherings, urg-
ing officials to take steps to
“restrict intermixing,” a move
that may deal a blow to anti-
government protests that have
gripped Baghdad and south-
ern Iraq since October. AFP
New case may be 1st from
unknown origin: A new
coronavirus case in California
could be the first in the US that
has no known connection to
travel abroad or another known
case, a possible sign the virus
is spreading in a US commu-
nity, health officials said.
The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention report-
ed the case Wednesday.
California officials said the
person is a resident of Solano
County, northeast of San Fran-
cisco, and is getting medical
care in Sacramento County.
They said they have begun the
process of tracking down peo-
ple who the patient has been
in contact with, a process
known as contact tracing.
member team which con-
ducted a nine-day field study
trip to Beijing, Guangdong,
Sichuan and Hubei is that
besides adopting a science-
driven agile response, China
followed a pragmatic approach
which is “technology-pow-
ered and science-driven”.
“They are using big data,
artificial intelligence (AI) in
places,” Aylward said, adding
that China has managed mas-
sive amounts of data in find-
ing each COVID-19 cases and
tracing contacts.
However, President Xi Jin-
ping, who presided over a
high power meeting on
Wednesday said while the
positive trend in preventing
and controlling the epidem-
ic is expanding and economic
and social development is
rapidly recovering, the situ-
ation in Hubei and Wuhan
remains “complex and grim
as the risk of a rebound of the
epidemic in other regions
cannot be overlooked”.

THUMBNAILS
Rijiju's hope: Sport minis-
ter Kiren Rijiju on Thurs-
day said he expected the
Tokyo Olympics to go
ahead smoothly despite
fears being expressed
about the fate of the
Games amid the novel
coronavirus threat. The
Olympic Games are sched-
uled to be held in July-
August.
Moscow chess: Indian
Grandmaster B Adhiban
held Azerbaijani's Rauf
Mamedov to a draw in the
eighth round to remain in
contention for the top
spot in a Moscow chess
tournament. Adhiban was
on 5.5 points after the
draw which followed a 74-
move marathon.
Leeds win: Mateusz Klich
fired Leeds back to within
four points of Champi-
onship leaders West Brom
with a 1-0 victory at Mid-
dlesbrough on Wednesday.
The Polish international
midfielder's goal on the
stroke of half-time
clinched a third consecu-
tive 1-0 win.
Beckham relieved: David
Beckham's quest to launch
a Major League Soccer
franchise will finally come
to fruition on Sunday
when Inter Miami make
their competitive debut in
a season-opening clash
with Los Angeles FC after
a six-year journey marked
by setbacks.
Request for Cup clarification
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 27 FEBRUARY:
South Korea has sought clar-
ity on India's stand on its ath-
letes participating in the
shooting World Cup to be held
in New Delhi from 15 March
to 26 March.
In a letter to Raninder
Singh, president of the
National Rifle Association of
India, the South Korean shoot-
ing federation said that while
the tournament's organis-
ing committee had on 12
February assured it of allow-
ing the South Korean sharp-
shooters to participate, it
wanted further information
following a travel advisory put
out by India yesterday.
"Currently, there is a great
deal of concern and worry
among athletes and officials
Tennis will miss Sharapova as much as she will miss tennis, even if rivals shed no tears
PAUL NEWMAN
There will be plenty of peo-
ple around the world – espe-
cially those involved in the pro-
motion of women’s tennis –
who will miss Maria Sharapova
(in photo), but the news of the
32-year-old’s retirement is
unlikely to cause too much
sadness in the locker room.
From the days when she intim-
idated her teenaged contem-
poraries at Nick Bollettieri’s
academy in Florida with her
ferocious on-court commit-
ment, through to her reign at
the very top of her sport and
then her controversial come-
back following a 15-month sus-
pension for a drugs offence,
the Russian was never one to
seek out friends among her
rivals.
Sharapova once told The
Independent that she pre-
ferred to spend as little time
as possible in the locker room.
“It’s my least favourite place
in the world,” she said. “I do
my job at the site. I play my
matches. I do what I have to
do and I prefer to live my life
away from the site rather than
talk tennis all day.”
Whether she was playing
tennis, designing clothes,
De Bruyne makes the difference
Guardiola’s approach made things hard for City but when De Bruyne switched roles, the night changed
Real Madrid 1
Manchester City 2
MIGUEL DELANEY
MADRID, 27 FEBRUARY:
I
f this is to be a last run at
the Champions League
for Pep Guardiola’s Man-
chester City, it has start-
ed with new ground broken –
as well as some significant men-
tal blocks broken.
It was quite a turnaround
all round. Against the oppo-
sition that mean the most to
Guardiola, and the club most
associated with the European
Cup, in a situation that seemed
to sum up so much of what has
gone wrong in this competi-
tion for the Catalan, he may
well have produced a victory
that means the most.
That’s how significant this
2-1 comeback against Real
Madrid felt. It was a night of
realisation, and some reck-
oning. This was the first time
Madrid had failed to win – let
alone lost – a Champions
League knockout first leg since
2013. It also felt like Guardi-
ola’s first big away win in
Europe since, well, his last
one here in 2011.
Will that be the prelude to
something as great? This did
have the feel of a significant
night precisely because of the
turnaround. The feel of that
mental block being broken was
meanwhile made all the stark-
er by the fact it was Madrid that
went into meltdown, especially
with Sergio Ramos’ late red
card.
City, by contrast, displayed
supreme resilience through a
that they might not be able
to participate. We have com-
pleted the payments for flight
tickets and visas," said South
Korean Shooting Federation
secretary-general Yongjae
Lee in the letter.
"We hope to get a direc-
tion from the federation and
the organising committee
as soon as possible. Kindly
state your position regarding
the COVID-19."
The NRAI president could
not be reached by telephone.
The Union health ministry
yesterday issued a new trav-
el advisory cautioning Indi-
ans against non-essential
travel to South Korea, Iran and
Italy.
It also states that people
coming in from these three
countries are to be quaran-
tined for 14 days on arrival.
walking down a catwalk or run-
ning her business affairs,
Sharapova was always the
ultimate professional. Even
during her enforced break
from the sport she took the
opportunity to enrol in cours-
es at Harvard Business School
and do an internship at a
London advertising agency.
Making tennis friends was
never on her agenda. “Once
her work is done she’s gone,”
Bollettieri once recalled when
asked about her approach to
practice. “She doesn’t like to
hang around. There’s no bull-
shitting afterwards with the
other players. It’s all busi-
ness.”
Sharapova did not have
too many sympathetic ears in
media centres either, but she
was rarely late for Press con-
ferences and interviews (unfor-
tunately the same cannot be
said for many of her contem-
poraries) and was often good
value. At the Australian Open
in 2012 she was asked about
comments by a rival, Agniesz-
ka Radwanska, who had crit-
icised her on-court grunting.
“Isn’t she back in Poland
already?” Sharapova said in a
cutting response, referring to
the fact that Radwanska had
Referees always come (to the Bernabeu)
and make decisions against us on purpose,
it’s always the same.
Action during the match � AFP
series of setbacks. There was
first of all the unfortunate
Aymeric Laporte injury. There
was then even more anxiety
at the back, as illustrated by
the error that led to Isco’s
opening goal. Most of all,
though, there was the way
this seemed to be setting up
the same old story: a ques-
tionable Guardiola approach
needlessly complicating an
away game. City played
through all of that, to just
play through Madrid. The
peerless De Bruyne, of course,
was central to that. It did
make a difference, however,
that he was actually moved to
the centre. It was in that sense
as if this game represented a
realisation for Guardiola’s side
as a whole. They realised they
were just better than this
pedestrian Madrid, who seem
Italian golfers quarantined, forced out
AGENCIES
MILAN, 27 FEBRUARY:
Italian golfers Edoardo Moli-
nari and Lorenzo Gagli have
been quarantined in Muscat
and forced to pull out of the
Oman Open starting Thurs-
day over fears they may have
the coronavirus.
Gagli suffered flu-like symp-
toms during the week and as
Molinari, the older brother of
former British Open winner
Francesco, was his room-
mate both have been placed
in isolation as a precaution-
ary measure.
Gagli told Italian news-
paper La Nazione that he had
been told he would have to
remain isolated until next
Wednesday.
“It's an inexplicable deci-
sion,” Gagli said.
“If there was a risk of con-
tagion, then they would have
to isolate dozens of golfers and
cancel the tournament.”
Italy, which has reported
12 deaths and 400 confirmed
cases in Europe's worst out-
break of the virus, has attempt-
ed to lockdown the epicentre
in the north to contain its
spread.
Molinari, 39, comes from
Turin in the north of Italy
while 34-year-old Gagli hails
from Florence in Tuscany,
where there have also been
cases.
“We are following the sit-
uation,” Marco Durante, head
of the pro sector of the Ital-
been knocked out of the tour-
nament.
Even through to her final
match last month, Sharapo-
va remained one of the sport’s
best -known figures, despite
the fact that she had not won
a Grand Slam title for six years.
Contrast her fame with the
comparative anonymity of
some of her successors and you
appreciate how much the
sport’s administrators will
lament her retirement. How
many people would recognise
the latest female Grand Slam
singles champion, Sofia Kenin,
if she walked down the street?
From the day Sharapova
stormed on to the world stage
with her Wimbledon triumph
at the age of 17, the Russian
was box office. Her glamorous
good looks helped, as did her
extraordinary life story. Yuri,
her father, had to borrow
money to buy their air fares
from Russia to Florida in 1994
as he sought to develop her ten-
nis talent. Neither of them
could speak English at the
time and Sharapova’s moth-
er, Elena, was unable to join
them for two years because of
visa issues.
Bollettieri recognised Shara-
pova’s talent immediately and
CMYK
so lacking in any kind of greater
idea.
This is compounded by
the fact Zidane himself does-
n’t think too much about the
opposition. Those close to
the Real Madrid dressing room
say it usually only amounts to
“15 minutes” ahead of big
games. In other words, he
doesn’t go into anything like
the detail Guardiola does.
Madrid generally just trust
themselves regardless of the
opposition.
That made Guardiola’s
usual attempt to quadruple or
quintuple bluff the opposition
all the more curious. You can’t
play poker against someone
playing solitaire. This oppo-
sition just aren’t looking at it
like you. And, for much of the
first half, that meant City did-
n’t really look like City. They
ian Golf Federation, told Sky
Sport Italia.
Formula One
Formula One teams were try-
ing to focus on the second ses-
sion of winter testing in
Barcelona while casting wor-
rying glances towards the
spread of coronavirus with the
message: “We are concerned,
but there's no need to panic”.
As veteran driver Robert
Kubica steered his Alfa Romeo
to the day's best time at Mont-
melo, talk in the paddock
was of growing fears over the
spread of the virus which has
killed over 2,700 people and
infected more than 80,000 in
34 countries.
The F1 world champi-
onship, which gets under way
in Melbourne on March 15,
had already lost the Chinese
Grand Prix from its schedule.
Ferrari, whose headquar-
ters are at Maranello in north-
ern Italy, one of the areas
put her on a scholarship at his
academy. She was in a talented
group of girls that included Jele-
na Jankovic and Tatiana
Golovin. “When she was 12 or
13 Maria used to scare the shit
out of them,” Bollettieri
recalled. “She intimidated
them with her game and with
the sheer force of her per-
sonality.”
A few years later Sharapo-
va faced Golovin in a semi-final
in Miami. Golovin, who was
CMYK
VINICIUS JR
FOOTBALLER, REAL MADRID
were barely on the ball, ced-
ing up to 70 per cent of pos-
session to Madrid. When they
had it, Bernardo Silva and De
Bruyne were being deployed
in curious false-nine posi-
tions.
The whole set-up had the
effect of slowing the game
down, but they weren’t alone
in that. Madrid’s big games this
season have all been low scor-
ing, never going above a goal.
They don’t have the same fire-
power any more, especially with
Eden Hazard out.
It does feel telling that a pre-
vious member of the sup-
porting cast, in Karim Benze-
ma, is now the main event and
main scoring threat. His 30th-
minute header was parried by
Ederson, with Vinicius Junior
fluffing the follow-up. They
were there to be got at. It just
affected by the COVID-19,
insisted that the team was tak-
ing all sensible precautions.
German Open postponed
Badminton's German Open
will not go ahead next week
and the Polish Open has been
postponed, officials said as two
more Olympic qualifying
events fell victim to the coro-
navirus.
It hasn't yet been decided
whether the German Open,
originally scheduled for March
3-8, will be postponed or can-
celled entirely, the Badminton
World Federation said late
Wednesday.
New dates are being sought
for the Polish Open, which was
meant to take place on March
26-29, but it will not now fall
in the qualifying period for the
Tokyo Olympics. Both events
were in the same month as the
All England Open, one of the
biggest events in the bad-
minton calendar, although
that tournament is current-
ly still set to go ahead.
Olympics speculation
Athletes preparing for the
Tokyo Olympics will have to
“wait and see” whether the
Games go ahead as concerns
soar about the coronavirus,
the head of Australia's team
said Thursday.
Despite reassurances from
Tokyo organisers that all plans
were on track, chef de mission
Ian Chesterman said the ulti-
mate decision would be made
also born in Russia, suffered
a serious ankle injury in the
third set and eventually had
to retire, but while she was
being treated on the court
Sharapova appeared to show
a callous lack of interest. She
said later that she had not
appreciated the seriousness
of Golovin’s injury. The crowd
had already been booing
Sharapova after she had taken
two toilet breaks, but she
shrugged off their animosi-
BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020
took a while for City to get this.
It was often as if City needed
to bring it back to basics a bit,
and just look to play through
Madrid more. It was thereby
no coincidence they looked so
much better when De Bruyne
decided to drop deeper and
drive through the middle. It was
the source of City’s best moves.
Alongside him, Riyad
Mahrez was having the most
Riyad Mahrez of games, often
brilliant and frustrating in the
same passage of control. He
took Ferland Mendy out of the
game with one audacious
twist, only to then shoot wide
with the feeblest of efforts. If
that was typical Mahrez, it
was also a fitting prelude to typ-
ical City 2019-20. Their best
spell was the set-up for one of
their worst moments, and a
Madrid goal. Nicolas Ota-
mendi lost it, Kyle Walker tried
to take too much out of it, and
Vinicius just took it off him to
play in Isco.
It was a horror show, but
also appeared an inevitable
progression of the anxiety
that was gripping that back-
line without Laporte. The die
had been cast in another way,
though. City had realised they
were the better side. They
went back to a more natural
approach, and naturally began
to boss the game. De Bruyne
did that more than anyone. He
set up Gabriel Jesus’ equalis-
er, before scoring the penal-
ty that gives City such an
advantage. It was just reward.
They had been the much bet-
ter team. It just took them a
while to realise that.
THE INDEPENDENT
by the International Olympic
Committee.
“It's a huge operation, the
Olympic Games, so nobody
wants to cancel the Games,
that's for sure,” Chesterman
said in Sydney, after announc-
ing members of Australia's sail-
ing team, which plans to head
to Tokyo in late May.
Although the Olympics
are scheduled to open on
July 24 and the Paralympics
on August 25, many teams are
planning to arrive earlier as
part of their final preparations.
Boxing affected
The International Boxing
Association (AIBA) on Thurs-
day cancelled the European
leg of its continental forum in
Italy, citing the novel coron-
avirus outbreak in that coun-
try.
The forum was scheduled
to be held on Saturday in
Assisi, where the Indian box-
ing team is currently partic-
ipating in a preparatory camp
for next month's Olympic
qualifiers in Jordan.
“Scheduled for February
29th in Assisi, Italy AIBA Euro-
pean Forum 2020 is cancelled
due to COVID-19 (coron-
avirus). This decision was
taken by AIBA leadership in
the best interests of the del-
egates,” AIBA Interim Presi-
dent Dr Mohamed Mous-
tahsane said in a statement.
The Indian boxers are
scheduled to fly out of Italy
on Friday.
ty.“It’s part of the sport,” she
said. “It happens everywhere.
The crowd needs entertain-
ment.”
Sharapova, who could com-
mand huge appearance fees,
was one of the players spec-
tators everywhere wanted to
see. Her game was never ele-
gant, but she struck the ball
with enormous power and
had a ferocious will to win.
She won five Grand Slam
singles titles – among cur-
rently active players only Ser-
ena and Venus Williams have
won more – and spent a total
of 21 weeks at the top of the
world rankings. She would
surely have achieved more
but for both the shoulder
problems that dogged her in
the latter stages of her career
and the ban which she served
after testing positive in 2016
for meldonium. Sharapova
said she had taken the drug
legitimately for medical rea-
sons for 10 years but had
failed to read a communica-
tion from the World Anti -Dop-
ing Agency informing all ath-
letes that it had been added
to its prohibited list.
Whether she was playing
a tennis match, designing
clothes or running her sweet-
Tousart gives Lyon the
edge against Juventus
Action during the match � AFP
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
LYON, 27 FEBRUARY:
Cristiano Ronaldo drew a
blank as a Lucas Tousart goal
handed Lyon a surprise 1-0
win over Juventus in the first
leg of their Champions League
last-16 tie in France.
Midfielder Tousart net-
ted in the 31st minute on
Wednesday to give Lyon a lead
to defend when they head to
Turin for the return on March
17.
The goal came with Juven-
tus defender Matthijs de Ligt
off receiving treatment, but
it was just reward for an excel-
lent first half by a Lyon side
enduring a mediocre cam-
paign.
They then survived late
Juventus pressure to claim
their finest European result
since defeating Manchester
City in last season's group
stage.
“It was a top-class first-half
performance from us. It was
much harder in the second
half, but I was happy with how
we hung in there,” said Lyon
coach Rudi Garcia.
“I said to the boys that
when you're at home in the
first leg it's very important not
to concede, and now we need
to go and score there. We
must remain humble, it's
only half-time.”
Maurizio Sarri's side have
genuine ambitions of winning
a trophy that has evaded
Juventus for almost a quar-
ter of a century now, but they
could not claim a precious
away goal here, with Paulo
Dybala seeing a late effort dis-
allowed.
“In the first half it was not
the Juve that we know. We did-
n't get going in attack. I am
struggling to understand cer-
tain things,” said Sarri, who
thought his team could have
had two penalties.
“We didn't do enough
given this was a Champions
League match but fortunately
we still have 90 minutes to turn
it around.”
The match went ahead
before a full house at the
Groupama Stadium, includ-
ing around 3,000 Juventus sup-
porters allowed to attend
despite calls from some French
politicians to block their
access amid fears about the
spread of the coronavirus.
Those fans, and the Juve
squad, would have crossed the
Alps with confidence. The
Serie A leaders came as over-
whelming favourites against
manufacturing business,
Sharapova knew what the
public wanted. Her commit-
ment to all her interests was
unwavering. On the morning
after she had completed her
full set of Grand Slam titles by
winning the French Open in
2012, she boarded a budget
flight to Spain, where she
spent two days putting the final
touches to what has been her
highly successful Sugarpova
confectionery enterprise. In
her spare time, even when on
tour, she loved to immerse her-
self in sales figures and read
consumer reports.
Sponsors, ranging from
Nike to Tag Heuer and from
Canon to Land Rover, queued
up to be associated with Shara-
pova, who for 11 years in a row
topped a list of the world’s high-
est-earning sportswomen
compiled by Forbes maga-
zine. Her career earnings are
estimated by Forbes at $325m
(about £252m), a total bettered
only by Serena Williams, with
whom she had a career-long
rivalry.
It was no wonder that the
Women’s Tennis Association
welcomed Sharapova back
with open arms and tourna-
ments threw wild cards at her
11
a Lyon team looking like pos-
sibly the weakest left in the
competition.
The visitors' attack was led
by a Ronaldo in fine shape,
with the 35-year-old having
scored in all nine appear-
ances in 2020 and netted 19
times since the beginning of
December.
He and his club -- beaten
in five Champions League
finals since last lifting the
trophy in 1996 -- are in a
hurry to succeed in this com-
petition, but they did not
play like contenders to go all
the way.
Bidding to win a Cham-
pions League knockout tie for
the first time in a decade, it
was Lyon who quickly gained
the upper hand, with new sign-
ing Bruno Guimaraes out-
standing anchoring the mid-
field.
Karl Toko-Ekambi, anoth-
er January signing, headed off
the bar from Houssem Aouar's
corner midway through the
first half. It was a warning to
Juve of what was to come.
Sarri's team went tem-
porarily down to 10 men after
De Ligt was left stricken,
blood streaming from a head
wound, following a collision
in Lyon's area.
With the Dutchman off,
Lyon pounced. Aouar burst
into the box from the left
and teed up Tousart to score
from six yards.
With the heavily bandaged
De Ligt back on, Lyon con-
tinued to threaten, Toko-
Ekambi twice firing off target.
Juventus sent on Gonza-
lo Higuain and Aaron Ram-
sey in the second half and
started to push Lyon back.
Nevertheless, they strug-
gled to create chances, with
Ronaldo rarely looking like
adding to his recent tally and
having a late penalty appeal
rejected.
Higuain squandered a
good chance before Dybala
was denied by the offside
flag, and the Turin giants will
have to turn the tie around
in three weeks.
“We believe in ourselves.
With our fans right behind us,
we can progress through to
the next stages,” insisted
Ramsey.
They can look to what
happened at the same stage
a year ago for inspiration --
then, they needed to overturn
a 2-0 deficit against Atletico
Madrid, and a Ronaldo hat-
trick did the job in the return
at home.
when she returned from her
15-month ban three years
ago. Nevertheless, the reaction
of players at that time told a
different story as some object-
ed to the ease with which she
was immediately allowed back
into tournaments. “In my
opinion, for the kids, for the
young players, it’s not OK to
help with wild card players who
have been banned for doping,”
Simona Halep said before
Sharapova’s return in Stuttgart
in 2017.
Nevertheless, if opinions
about Sharapova have always
covered a broad spectrum,
there was one aspect of the
Russian’s character that was
never in doubt: she simply
loved playing tennis. That
was why she put herself
through so many comebacks
and why she continued to
want to play when prize money
was of little consequence to
her. “I really love playing,”
she said when asked towards
the end of her career how she
kept her motivation. “There’s
nothing else that really gives
me that feeling and that com-
petitiveness and the thrill,
the emotion that I get on
court.”
THE INDEPENDENT

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�������������������� Verma stars as Indian girls move ahead
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Swashbuckling Australian
batsman David Warner(in
photo) has been reinstated as
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH)
captain ahead of the upcom-
ing edition of the Indian Pre-
mier League (IPL).
Warner had missed the
2018 IPL season in the after-
math of the infamous Sand-
paper Gate controversy where-
in he was handed a one-year
ban by Cricket Australia. The
Australian board had also
said that the left-handed bats-
man will not be considered
for team leadership positions
in the future.
However, Warner returned
to IPL action last year and
played under Kane Williamson
for the Hyderabad-based fran-
chise. "I'm thrilled to be given
the captaincy for IPL 2020,"
Warner said in a message
posted on the SRH Twitter han-
dle. "I'm extremely grateful to
be given the opportunity to
lead the team once again.
"I'd like to thank Kane
and Bhuvi (Bhuvneshwar
Kumar) for the way you guys
led throughout the last cou-
ple of years, you guys did an
outstanding job. And I'll be
leaning on you guys for sup-
port and your insight to the
game as well. And to the man-
agement thank you once
again for giving me this oppor-
tunity. And I'll try my very, very
best to lifting that IPL Trophy
this year," he added.
Bengal back
referrals
���������������������
Bengal coach Arun Lal and
captain Abhimanyu Easwaran
today supported the cricket
board's move to use the deci-
sion review system - DRS - for
the first time in the semi-finals
of the Ranji Trophy. The DRS
will be in use for the first
time on India's domestic cir-
cuit in the two Ranji semi-finals
beginning on Saturday. The
four semi-finalists -- Bengal,
Karnataka, Saurashtra and
Gujarat -- will benefit from the
use of the virtual pitch map
(for lbw decisions) and slow-
motion cameras, with each
team getting four reviews in
every innings. ���
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www.thestatesman.com
How India will run rings round New Zealand
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Ajinkya Rahane(in photo)wants
to take on the New Zealand pace
battery with more intent in
the second Test and his fool-
proof strategy includes coun-
tering the awkward angles
which became a nightmare
for Indian batsmen during the
first Test at the Basin Reserve.
Rahane, who top-scored
with 46 in the first innings of
the opening Test, is hopeful that
a turnaround will happen on
a green top at the Hagley Oval,
which he reckons will be bet-
ter for batting compared to the
one they got in Wellington.
“I am not saying (we have
to be) more aggressive but
having that intent and clear
mindset will help us,” Rahane
told reporters on Thursday.
New Zealand pacers Trent
Boult, Tim Southee and Kyle
Jamieson used the short ball lib-
erally after coming wide of the
crease with an angle that was
disconcertingforthebatsmen.
“I think they used that angle
really well in Wellington. Bowl-
ing wide of the crease or from
the centre, they changed angles
while bowling the short balls.
I think their plan was completely
clear.
“As a batsman, if you going
to think about a particular
shot, then you need to back
yourself and play that shot.You
cannot doubt yourself. We
need to forget what happened
inWellington,” the Indian vice-
captain said.
According to Rahane, the two
In the four seasons he has
played for SRH, Warner has
tallied 562, 848, 642 and 692
runs -- finishing with the
Orange Cap in 2015, 2017
and 2019. With 4,706 runs
from 126 IPL games, the Aus-
tralian opener is fourth in
the list of the tournament's
all-time run getters, behind
the Indian trio of Virat Kohli,
Suresh Raina and Rohit Shar-
ma.
Sunrisers will begin their
IPL 13 campaign against
Mumbai Indians on April 1 at
the Rajiv Gandhi Interna-
tional Stadium.
Royals to play in Guwahati
Rajasthan Royals will be play-
ing two of their home games
in Guwahati in the upcoming
edition of the Indian Premier
League (IPL).
Royals will host Delhi Cap-
itals and Kolkata Knight Rid-
ers on April 5 and 9 respec-
tively at the Barsapara Stadi-
um. Both the games will be
played in the evening having
an 8 p.m. start, as per a BCCI
release.
Pressure on De Kock ahead of Oz one-day games
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South Africa's Quinton de
Kock claimed he had not felt
under pressure as captain
after a tense one-run win in
a Twenty20 international
against England earlier this
month.
“I was still calm the whole
way,” he said, citing confi-
dence in the knowledge his
players understood if they
stuck to the basics they could
prevail in a tight finish.
De Kock's calmness has
been tested considerably
since then - and the challenge
is set to be ratcheted up in a
three-match one-day series
���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
net sessions at the Hagley Oval
is being used to practice negat-
ing the awkward angles that Neil
Wagner and company can cre-
ate.
“That's what I said: try and
learn what mistakes we did as
a group, what can we learn. I
think we have to practice those
angles. We had a practice ses-
sion and we have one more
tomorrow. And you have to prac-
tice that and trust your ability
in the middle,” Rahane said in
a reassuring tone.
While net sessions are impor-
tant, it's the instincts in match
situations that counts, he said.
“But to change or adjust
those angles there are times you
need to be instinctive while you
are batting. It can mean stand-
ing on off-stump, or standing
outside the crease or staying
deep inside the crease like if it
is a pitch for cut shot then you
can stand deeper in the crease.
This is the mental side of the
game,” Rahane said.
“For me, as a batsman it is
importantyoushowyourintent
to the bowler, if you stand in
one spot then the bowler does-
n't need to change anything.
These are small things we have
been working onin practice and
how to use the crease and the
angles.
Doesn't matter how much
you practice you must trust or
have the belief to be able to do
it in the middle,” he added.
Cheteshwar Pujara has
drawn a lot of flak for his dour
approach in the first Test where
his painstaking 11 off 81 balls
put enormous pressure on the
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Shafali Verma's(in photo) 34-
ball 46 followed by a superla-
tive performance from the
bowlers helped India notch
up a narrow four-run win
over New Zealand in a crucial
group A match of the ICC
Women's T20 World Cup here
on Thursday.
Invited to bat, India post-
ed a below-par 133 for eight
against New Zealand in the
crucial group A match with
Shafali top-scoring with a
34-ball 46 and Taniya Bhatia
chipping in with a 25-ball
23.
India, however, produced
a disciplined performance
with the ball to restrict New
Zealand to 129 for six and reg-
ister their third successive
win in the tournament.
With this win, India topped
Group A, having beaten Aus-
tralia and Bangladesh in their
last two outing.
Defending the total, India
introduced spin straight away
but Deepti Sharma bled 12
runs with opener Rachel Priest
(12) hitting her for two bound-
aries.
But experienced pacer
Shikha Pandey removed Priest
in the next over when she had
her caught at mid wicket.
With Shikha and left-arm
spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad
bowling in tandem, New
Zealand played with caution
to reach 28 for one.
Back into the attack, Deep-
ti then cleaned up Bates with
a beauty of a delivery as New
Zealand slipped to 30 for two.
against Australia, starting at
Boland Park in the Cape
Winelands on Saturday.
On the face of it, De Kock,
27, has been handed an almost
impossible task. Several of
South Africa's most experi-
enced players, including for-
mer captain Faf du Plessis, fast
bowler Dale Steyn and con-
sistent scorer Rassie van der
Dussen, have been rested.
Aaron Finch will be leading
what looks like a full-strength
touring side with the excep-
tion of Glenn Maxwell, who
is missing because of surgery.
Steve Smith and David
Warner, who returned to the
scene of the sandpaper scan-
dal in Wednesday's victory at
other batsmen.
“Pujara was trying his bit,
he was actually looking to score
runs. But I think Boult, Southee
and all their bowlers did not give
away much. It is all about hav-
ing that intent and I think
Pujara was actually looking to
score runs. It happens to all bats-
men, I mean all batsmen go
through that phase,” Rahane
said.
Each batsman is different
and everyone will have their
Poonam Yadav and Radha
Yadav then mounted the pres-
sure on the Kiwis and soon the
Black Caps were 34 for 3 when
the former dismissed skipper
Sophie Devine (14).
Maddy Green (24) and
Katey Martin (25) then tried
to resurrect the innings with
a 36-ball 43-run stand.
However, Gayakwad
returned to remove Green,
who danced down the pitch
only to end up with an out-
side edge as Bhatia did the rest.
Radha then dismissed
Martin to leave New Zealand
at 90 for 5 in 16.3 overs.
Needing 44 off 21 balls, Kerr
(34) blasted four boundaries
to accumulate 18 runs in the
penultimate over bowled by
Poonam to bring the equation
down to 16 off six balls.
In the final over, Heyley
Jensen (11) and Kerr cracked
a four each but Shikha held
her nerves in the end to com-
plete the win.
Earlier, 16-year-old Shafali
provided the fireworks as
India scored 49 for one in the
Newlands retain their places.
Already this season, De
Kock has carried the burden
of being South Africa's best
batsman as well as being
wicketkeeper and skipper.
South Africa's crushing
defeat in the third Twenty20
international against Aus-
tralia earlier this week meant
they have lost five out of six
series across all formats since
the start of their tour of India
in September.
The only exception being
a rain-affected one-day series
against England. During that
time they have won only five
out of 17 completed match-
es.
In four of those wins De
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������
counter mechanism style, he
explained. “You have to come
back stronger and play accord-
ingly. If you can trust your abil-
ity at the centre and counter
attack and everyone's game is
different. I play completely
different game than Virat and
Pujara. As a team we need to
figure it out how we are going
to play in the middle, com-
munication will be the key,” he
said.
While the 22-yard strip at the
powerplay overs. But they
lost six wickets for 43 runs to
squander the good start.
Smriti Mandhana (11),
who returned to the playing
XI after missing the last match
due to illness, departed early
but Shafali and Taniya (23) kept
the scoreboard ticking, adding
51 runs for the second wick-
et.
In the 10th over, Taniya was
caught by Amelia Kerr at
backward point, while
Jemimah Rodrigues (10) was
caught by Kerr in the 12th over
as India slipped to 80 for 3.
Skipper Harmanpreet
Kaur's (1) poor form also
continued as she was soon
back to the hut after being
caught and bowled by Leigh
Kasperek.
Shafali, who was dropped
at long-on in the 8th over and
at mid-wicket in the 10th
over, then holed out to Jensen
at deep extra cover. She had
four hits to the fence and
three maximum shots in her
innings.
Left-handed batter Deep-
Kock has been South Africa's
top-scorer and in three of them
he has been man of the match.
He has been his country's
leading run-scorer in five of
the six series and the second-
highest run-scorer in the
other. As an opening batsman,
De Kock has top-scored for
his side in six out of ten
white-ball matches.
When he fails, as he did
when bowled in the first over
by Mitchell Starc in the first
and third T20 matches, the rest
of the batting has crumbled.
Never entirely comfortable
and seldom articulate in fac-
ing the media, De Kock strug-
gled to explain Wednesday's
loss.
Hagley Oval can't be separat-
ed from the outfield due itslush
green cover, Rahane said accord-
ing to HanumaVihari there will
be good pace and bounce on
this wicket.
“I generally don't see the
wicket before the game. But see
whatever we expected, we got
in Wellington, we expect the
same here. The India A guys
played here and Hanuma
(Vihari) was telling us that the
wicket was much better.
“There is good pace and
bounce on this wicket. We will
have to see and assess the con-
ditions very quickly on the
first day of the game and play
accordingly.”
Shaw injured
Young opener Prithvi Shaw
missed Thursday's training
session due to a swelling on his
left foot, increasing Indian
team management's worries
ahead of the second Test against
New Zealand beginning on
Saturday.
According to sources, Shaw
will undergo a blood test on
Thursday to ascertain the rea-
son of the swelling.
In case the medical report
is favourable, a call will be
taken during Friday's practice
session on his availability for
the second Test. If Shaw is not
comfortable while batting, he
will not make it to the playing
XI.
Shubman Gill had a good net
session on Thursday and it is
expected that he would be
asked to open the innings
alongside Mayank Agarwal if
ti Sharma (8) and Veda Krish-
namurthy (6) brought up the
100 in the 15th over but both
departed soon as India
slumped to 104 for 6.
Radha Yadav then blasted
14 off nine balls, which includ-
ed a six in the final over, to give
some respectability to the
total.
Brief Score:
India women: 133 for 8 in 20
overs (ShafaliVerma 46; Amelia
Kerr 2/21).
New Zealand women: 129
for six in 20 overs (Amelia Kerr
34 not out; Shikha Pandey
1/21).
Australia win
In Canberra, Australia strolled
to back-to-back victories at
the Women's Twenty20 World
Cup as a potent opening part-
nership between Alyssa Healy
and Beth Mooney helped the
hosts beat Bangladesh by 86
runs. Healy's return to form
continued as she made a
carefree 83 to hit the top of
the tournament's run-scor-
ing charts, ably supported
by Mooney who ended
unbeaten on 81.
Sri Lanka gave them a
fright three days earlier but
there were no such scares
for the hosts as Bangladesh
only managed 103 for nine in
reply and Meg Lanning's side
climbed to second in Group
A.
Brief scores: Australia 189/1
(Alyssa Healy 83, Beth Mooney
81 not out; Salma Khatun
1/39); Bangladesh 103/9 (Far-
gana Hoque Pinky 36; Megan
Schutt 3/21, Jess Jonassen
2/17)
“I'm not too sure,” he said.
“It was just another blow-out.”
When De Kock was appoint-
ed, Cricket South Africa's
acting director of cricket,
Graeme Smith, described his
“unique outlook and manner
in which he goes about his
business”, adding he was
“tactically very street smart.”
There has been some evi-
dence of that in some of his
on-field decisions but jour-
nalists seeking meaningful
insight from the captain are
likely to be disappointed.
De Kock acknowledged
he is not the finished article.
South Africa: Quinton de
Kock (captain, wkt), Temba
Bavuma, Beuran Hendricks,
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Indian officials nettled
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The Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI) on
Thursday took a dig at the
Hagley Oval pitch where
New Zealand and Team
India will be taking on each
other in the second and
final Test beginning Satur-
day.
"Spot the pitch," read a
tweet from BCCI with a
couple of confused emojis
as the 22 yards looked quite
similar to that of the lush
green outfield.
The pitch at the Hagley
Oval will be closely watched
by the Indian team as they
look to bounce back and level
the series after losing the first
Test by 10 wickets in Welling-
ton.
Shaw is unable to make it.
During Thursday's nets,
head coach Ravi Shastri was seen
paying extra attention to Gill's
session. At one point, Shastri
walked up to Gill and was seen
giving some technical inputs
about footwork to Gill and
what's required to check his
uppish drives. The Indian team
management is hopeful that the
swelling will not be a serious
concern for Shaw.
The Mumbai opener didn't
even take part in the custom-
ary warm-up session where
players had a good time play-
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Virat Kohli(in photo) will be
itching to make a comeback
in the second Test and the best
chance for New Zealand will
be to exploit the sideways
movement which can spell
trouble for the Indian captain,
feels opener Tom Latham.
Kohli had an indifferent
tour of New Zealand so far. He
was out for 2 and 19 in the first
Test in Wellington.
“When Virat comes out
to bat we will be ready. He is
a quality player and there is
a reason why he is up around
that No 1 rank for such a
period of time,” Latham said
at the media conference on
Thursday.
“He has done it for long
time and done it in all con-
ditions. If the surface is con-
ducive to sideways move-
ment we will try and exploit
that,” said Latham.
Jasprit Bumrah and
Mohammed Shami might
have had a below par game
in Wellington but Latham
said they remain world class
bowlers and the team would
be certainly wary of them.
“We have played those
guys really well in the first Test.
But they are World class per-
formers and we will be wary
of them. Certainly they would
be on top of their game and
if we play well it will give us
a good chance. We need to be
consistent for long periods,”
he said.
Latham is sure that Neil
Wagner's comeback will add
firepower to the side.
Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav
Maharaj, Janneman Malan,
David Miller, Lungi Ngidi,
Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehluk-
wayo, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz
Shamsi, Lutho Sipamla, Jon-
Jon Smuts, Kyle Verreynne.
Australia: Aaron Finch
(captain), Ashton Agar, Alex
Carey (wkt), Pat Cummins,
Josh Hazlewood, Marnus
Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh,
Kane Richardson, D'Arcy
Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell
Starc, Matthew Wade, David
Warner, Adam Zampa.
Fixtures:
February 29, Paarl
March 4, Bloemfontein
March 7, Potchefstroom.
��
The Indian batters were
found wanting against the
pace and bounce which
was on offer at the Basin
Reserve.
Apart from Mayank Agar-
wal and to an extent Ajinkya
Rahane, the likes of Virat
Kohli, Prithvi Shaw and
Cheteshwar Pujara all found
it difficult against the New
Zealand pace trio of Trent
Boult, Tim Southee and
Kyle Jamieson.
And with Neil Wagner set
to feature in the second
Test, the task becomes all the
more difficult for the Indi-
an batters to come out with
an improved performance
and deny what can be their
first series defeat in the
ongoing ICC World Test
Championship.
ing touch rugby.
Shaw had a poor outing in
the first Test in Wellington,
getting dismissed cheaply in
both the innings. Tim Southee
got him for 16 with an
unplayable delivery in the first
innings and he also found
Trent Boult's short ball difficult
to negotiate when he was on
14 in the second essay. Skipper
Virat Kohli has already said
that he has confidence in
Shaw's ability to come good
because of his destructive abil-
ity and will certainly play him
if he is fit.
“I haven't yet seen him but
when he rocks up for train-
ing he will be absolutely
fizzing up to get going and
obviously he will be raring to
go. He is been a quality per-
former for a number of years
for us,” Latham said.
The Hagley Oval surface
will have bounce and Lath-
am expects Wagner to be
more than a handful.
“It's something that Neil
has obviously been so good
at for so long and he is sec-
ond to none in terms of accu-
racy.
“He is a short guy and that
makes him harder to play. If
the surface is up for that plan
he will be looking to go round
with that.”
The first day will be impor-
tant reckoned Latham.
Hagley Oval has been a
happy hunting ground for
the New Zealanders.

Pradhan, Japan’s ambassador
meet CM to talk investment
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A
high level delegation
led by union minis-
ter for petroleum,
natural gas and steel
Dharmendra Pradhan and
the ambassador of Japan to
India Satoshi Suzuki, met
chief minister Naveen Patnaik
in Bhubaneswar exploring
avenues for steel clusters and
Japanese investment.
The discussions centered
around developing steel clus-
ters and downstream indus-
tries.
Chief minister Naveen Pat-
naik offered an exclusive Japan
Industrial Cluster and town-
ship near Bhubaneswar.
He proposed that Japan-
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ChiefministerNaveenPatnaik
flanked by union ministers
Arjun Munda and Renuka
Singh Saruta inaugurated the
Capacity Building Programme
for tribal panchayati raj insti-
tution members in
Bhubaneswar on Thursday.
Union Tribal Affairs Min-
ister Arjun Munda said the
capacity building programme
of will empower PRI func-
tioning in tribal areas.
It will help in accessing var-
ious programs, schemes and
availing different kinds of
entitlements.
Chief minister Naveen Pat-
naik said a training pro-
gramme for 30,000 sched-
uled tribe PRI members, in a
period of six to nine months
will be conducted.
He highlighted initiatives
of his government for the
socio-economic and educa-
tional empowerment of the
tribal communities.
As many as 6700 hostels
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A headmaster of a government
primary school in Rajnagar
block was placed under sus-
pension on the charges of
irregularities in mid day meals
(MDM).
Maheswar Pradhan, the
head of Kushailo primary
school, was found to have
inflated the students’ atten-
dance to misappropriate the
noon meal ration.
On 25 February, only one
student had turned up at the
school due to heavy rain. The
noon meal provision had been
suspended for the day.
However the school head-
master had reported to the con-
cerned authorities that all the
38 enrolled students had
turned up at school and had
their noon meal. Following
complaints lodged by
guardians, an inquiry was
conducted. The headmaster
was suspended after veraci-
ty was found in the allegation
against him, said officials.���
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The historic Asura Vihara
Gumphas (caves) near Choud-
war, an ancient archeological
site having three rock cut
caves, have been handed over
to a private company by the
state government.
The three caves, dating to
����������
BY VIRTUE of an affidavit
before the Executive Magis-
trate, Bhubaneswar, dt. 17-
08-2019, I have changed my
name from Sugreeb Sah to
Sugreeb Shaw. Henceforth, I
shall be known as Sugreeb
Shaw for all purposes.
(BPL7377)
ese invest in sectors like auto-
mobiles, food processing,
chemicals and petro chemi-
cals in the state.
Odisha today is the high-
est producer of steel in India
and the strong base of steel
making in the state provides
a huge opportunity for ancil-
lary and downstream indus-
tries.
The state government is
now focusing on encouraging
value addition in steel and
stainless steel so as to achieve
at least fifty percent value
addition by the year 2030, he
said.
The CM also urged the
Japanese ambassador to con-
sider to be the partner coun-
try for the make-in-Odisha
Conclave-2020 as it had done
and 1731 schools have been
established to provide qual-
ity education to more than six
lakh students.
Mission Suvidya has been
initiated to ensure quality
standards in all the hostels
thereby setting high bench-
marks, he said.
Mission Jeebika has been
successful in promoting liveli-
hoods and already about
23,000 tribal households have
been covered to provide sus-
tainable economic uplift-
ment, stated the CM.
Special Development
Councils have been set up, he
added.
Block chairpersons belong-
ing to tribal sub-plan blocks
and sarpanchs from every
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The CJM court, Raigarh
(Chhattisgarh), rejected the
petition of Raigarh police
for narco analysis and a brain
mapping test of the arrest-
ed former MLA Anup Sai.
Sai, a former MLA of Bra-
jrajnagar in Odisha has been
arrested in connection with
a double murder case and is
in judicial custody in Raigarh
district jail.
Today, the CGM court did
not allow an applicant of
the police to a conduct narco
test.
Police had prayed for the
tests stating that Anup Sai is
not cooperating with them
during interrogation.
Meanwhile the police sci-
entific team of Chakradhar-
nagar have started to match
the tyre marks collected from
the murder spot in 2016 with
of the Innova and Bolera of
Anup seized by the police.
The police suspected that
the 1st century C.E are locat-
ed at the Indrani hillock near
the Indranipatana village near
Choudwar. The caves are sim-
ilar to the ones at Khandagiri
and Udayagiri and belong to
the same period, said histo-
rian Anil Dhir.
A team from Indian Nation-
al Trust for Arts and Cultural
Heritage, while conducting
the survey of the Mahanadi Her-
itage Documentation Project,
stumbled on this when they
were prevented from approach-
ing the site as it has been
walled over by a private cement
company.
The three west facing caves
are rectangular in plan and
hewn out of an outcrop of
laterite rock. Before being
walled in, they were visible from
the NH-42 connecting Katak
with Talcher, just 300 metres
away from the highway.
in the previous edition of the
Conclave.
The chief minister express-
es hope for wider and deep-
er engagement between the
state of Odisha and Japanese
industries in the coming years.
Union Steel minister Dhar-
mendra Pradhan highlighted
the potential of Odisha and
said the state is poised to be
the steel hub of the country.
He also emphasised on
TSP block, representatives of
all the 62 ST communities of
the state, NGOs and selected
tribal domain experts are par-
ticipating in the programme.
Union minister of state
(MoS) Renuka Singh Saruta,
ST/SC development minister,
Odisha Jagannath Sarka and
secretary tribal affairs, govt of
India, Deepak Khandekar also
addressed the meeting.
Ranjana Chopra, principal
secretary ST/SC development
department said more than
450 persons are participating
in the programme.
Odisha is the first State in
the entire country to con-
duct capacity building train-
ing programs for all the ST PRI
members .
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Anup Sai used the vehicle to
murder Kalpana Dash and
her 14 year old daughter
Babli.
In connection to the mur-
der case one senior lawyer of
Jharsuguda Sudhansu Puro-
hit has revealed an interest-
ing link.
He told mediapersons that
few days before the murder,
Kalpana had contacted him
over mobile to file a case
against a high profile person
of the district. She had not
revealed the name of the
person but said that she will
do so when he meets her for
the case.
According to Anil Dhir, the
Project Coordinator of
INTACH’s Mahanadi Heritage
Project, these unique caves were
made by Jain monks and were
later used by Buddhist monks.
The place has rich oral his-
tory and local folklore has it that
the Choudwar region was the
Virata kingdom during the
Mahabharata era and was the
abode of the Pandavas while
in exile.
Locals believe that a demon
named “Manda Khia
Rakhyasa”, who lived in the
caves, had spread terror due
tourism, and other areas of
investment in the state.
He noted that already two
Japanese steel majors had
invested in Odisha by tying up
with steel companies.
Nippon, one of them is
associated with Arcelor Mit-
tal which has taken over the
Essar project in Odisha, he
observed.
Union additional secre-
tary, ministry of steel, Rasika
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The BJP has issued show
cause notices to two of its
zilla parishad members
who had voted in a bypoll
in favour of the BJD candi-
date.
The BJP had issued a
whip asking their mem-
bers not to vote in the
byelection to the post of
chairperson zilla parishad.
The byelection was neces-
sitated due to the death of
the chairman Purusota-
m a m a n g o o f t h e Co n -
gress.The polling was held
on 19 February and the BJD
candidate emerged the win-
ner.
The Congress had 11
members, the BJD 7 and BJP
four. But the BJD managed
to upstage the Congress
and win the by-election.
Puspanjali Mutuka, a ZP
member of Ramanaguda
and Netrananda Kaibarta of
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Chairman, Paradip Port Trust,
Rinkesh Roy announced the
completion of dredging oper-
ations at Mahanadi River
Mouth today.
It was last dredged almost
20 years ago.
The work was done by
the dredger of the Dredging
Corporation of India Ltd. and
had commenced in January
this year.
It may be noted that the
Integrated Fishery Harbour
was constructed by PPT with
the aid of the union ministry
of agriculture, government of
India. The aim was to avoid
eventualities inside the com-
mercial harbour during ship-
ping operations.
The construction of the
fishery harbour was com-
pleted during 1995 and it
was commissioned during
1998. Subsequently, it was
handed over to Odisha gov-
ernment on 27 September
2011.
to his demands of a cartload
of Manda Pithas along with
a “Nara bali” (human sacri-
fice) every day. Bhima, the sec-
ond of the Pandavas, had
challenged the demon and
slain him in a fierce duel at this
spot.
The locals held an annu-
al festival at the spot for cen-
turies, which has been dis-
continued since the last two
years. The villagers had protest-
ed when the wall was being
made, but they were arrested
and thrown in jail.
Dhir, lamented that chief
Choubey gave a presenta-
tion about the new initia-
tives called Purvodaya which
aims to drive accelerated
development of eastern India
through the establishment
of integrated steel hubs for
which Odisha has the poten-
tial.
The eastern belt has the
potential to add more than 75
percent of the country's incre-
mental steel capacity envi-
sioned by the national steel
policy. It is expected that out
of the 300 Mt capacity by
2030-31, over 200 Mt can
come from this region alone.
State minister, steel and
mines, Prafulla Mallick, chief
secretary, Asit Tripathy and offi-
cers of the centre and state were
present.
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Padmapur were served show
cause notice after the dis-
trict BJP president S K Pat-
naik appraised the state
leadership about the cross
voting.
In another development
, the Congress members
led by district president
Durga Prasad Panda and
Apalaswamy Kadraka and
others filed a case in the
Rayagada police station
against the BJD on charges
of horse trading. They
alleged that the ruling BJD
had abducted a few ZP
members.
The fishery harbour is
operational at Paradip locat-
ed in the right bank of
Mahanadi about 1km
upstream of the river mouth
having a width of 100 metres,
for which dredging is required
at regular intervals.
The fishery harbour is
presently managed by the
Odisha state government
fisheries department.
The local fishing com-
munity has been facing dif-
ficulties as the river mouth has
been silted up over the years
and the fishing vessels face
a hindrance in navigating
during approach and exit
from the fishery harbour.
The Mahanadi river mouth
was last dredged almost 20
minister Naveen Patnaik who
vows by conservation and pro-
tection of heritage had him-
self inaugurated the private
cement plant in May 2018.
In this fasttracking of indus-
trial projects, the archaeolog-
ical site was overlooked and the
caves too were included in
the land allotted.
Dhir further stated that it
was a pity that this important
site has neither been notified
by the state archeology depart-
ment nor the archaeological
survey of India.
The Indira Gandhi Nation-
al Centre for Arts had docu-
mented the site in 2001 and
accorded it monument ser-
ial number OR/CTC-51.
A B Tripathy, state convener
of INTACH said the caves
should be retrieved from the
company and the allotment
of the site cancelled.
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Brahmabarada in Jajpur dis-
trict is all set to host the three-
day-long international Islam-
ic congregation, best known
as Ijtema, in which around two
lakh Muslims from across the
world are expected to partic-
ipate. Muslims, including
scholars and religious heads,
from Bangladesh, Morocco,
Yemen, Sri Lanka, France,
Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji,
South Africa and Ghana have
started arriving at the religious
venue. The event will be held
under a tent spread across 200
acres at Brahmabarada on
Baruan Balichandrapur road,
while all arrangements have
been made. Entry to the zone
has been restricted.
The annual global Muslim
congregation will begin after
their early morning prayers
named Fajr Namaz on Satur-
day and conclude with a mass
prayer on Monday, said the
organisers.
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years back.
Mr Roy told media persons
that there is a narrow window
between January and February
to complete the work smooth-
ly in tranquil conditions and
PPT has completed this task
successfully.
Now four a metre depth is
maintained at critical areas
of the river mouth even dur-
ing low tide.
The marine department of
PPT will soon install tempo-
rary buoys in the channel
and a tender has already
been floated for permanent
ones. Under Corporate Social
Responsibility, concrete road
connectivity and lighting of
the fishery harbour road have
already been done.
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Coal India Limited which
meets 80 per cent of the coal
requirement of the country
will produce about 610 mil-
lion tonnes while the target
stands at 660 Mt in the cur-
rent financial year, said its
chairman Pramod Agrawal in
Talcher on Thursday.
Talking to media persons
during his one day visit to
Talcher coalfield, the chair-
man said that coal produc-
tion in CIL mines including
in MCL was hit this year due
to an extended monsoon in
certain areas.
The CIL production till
date is 2.5 per cent less than
last year.
“The production in CIL was
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Aallmi Ijtema Preparato-
ry committee local chief Shaik
Zavier Ali, said allopathic,
homeopathic and unani treat-
ment facilities would be avail-
able at the venue, besides
round-the-clock ambulance
services.
“We feel proud of the fact
that we have been hosting the
event of international impor-
tance in a remote village like
Brahmabarada for the second
time. We will ensure proper
accommodation, sanitation
and care of all the delegates,
religious heads and their asso-
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Revision of royalty on coal and
share in the increasing cess
being collected by the centre
besides, internet and bank-
ing services in unconnected
areas will be raised by states
at the Eastern Zonal Coun-
cil meeting chaired by Union
Home Minister Amit Shah in
Bhubaneswar on Friday.
Odisha chief minister
Naveen Patnaik and his coun-
terparts of West Bengal, Jhark-
hand, Bihar share most of the
above mentioned demands
and are expected to do so.
Official sources said there
are several issues on the agen-
da including inter-state water,
power transmission lines,
royalty and operationalisation
of coal mines, land and for-
est clearance for railway pro-
jects, cattle smuggling etc.
“Odisha will raise issues
relating to adoption of postage
stamp method for unified
power tariff in different states,
down due to heavy rain fall
which was five times greater
than last year.
However production
picked up from December and
we will perform better for the
rest of the fiscal”, he said.
The chairman said given
the growth and development
of the country, the need for
coal will also increase and CIL
has targetted production of
one billion tonnes of coal by
the turn of 2024-25.
He said that the country
imported 235 Mt of coal last
fiscal out of which 120 MT was
avoidable.
MCL CMD B N Shukla, and
the director technical O P
Singh were present at the
press conference.
Agrawal, who is on his two-
day maiden visit to subsidiary
ciates who are coming from
various countries,” said Shaik
Zavier Ali.
Around 1000 trained vol-
unteers would manage the
whole affair, including traffic
arrangements from the rail-
way station, air port and bus
stand, to the venue, he said.
Camps for volunteers have
been put up at Jajpur Road,
Bhadrak, Cuttack and
Bhubaneswar Railway Sta-
tions, bus stands and other
places for assistance to mem-
bers of jamaats.
As many as 40 platoons of
police forces have been
deployed at the venue. Besides,
two additional SPs, 6 DSPs, 7
SDPOs, 5 inspectors, 15 sub
inspectors will camp at the site.
Jajpur SP Charan Singh Meena
will camp at the site, officials
said. Notably, Brahmabarada
is organising such an inter-
national Islamic congrega-
tion for the second time after
24 years. The last meet was
held in 1996. (representa-
tional image)
disaster resilience infra-
structure, rail projects, oper-
ation of mines, financial
inclusion, grants to gram
panchayats under the 14th
finance commission, and
devolution of power to pan-
chayat bodies,” said official
sources here. Coal royalty,
implementation of direct
benefit transfer, telecom and
internet connectivity, use of
the Aadhar database, timely
release of central grants will
also be raised by the state, the
official said.
Chief minister Naveen
Patnaik has raised many of
these issues several times in
the past andwritten to the cen-
tre saying that green cess is
to be shared with states, revi-
sion of coal royalty, telecom
connectivity and lack of bank-
ing services. “We will raise the
issues relating to coal royal-
ty revision and mobile phone
connectivity to 11,000 vil-
lages in remote Odisha,” said
the Chief Secretary, Asit Tri-
pathy
company MCL, inspected
mining operations at Asia’s
largest Talcher coalfields
under its command in the
state of Odisha.
He reviewed the produc-
tion and dispatch operations
of MCL.
B N Shukla, chairman-
cum-managing director, MCL
who accompanied the chair-
man during his coalfields
visit, also briefed him on cur-
rent and future prospects of
the company, particularly in
Talcher.
During his visit to the coal
mines, including Kaniha open
cast project, Ananta OCP,
Hingula OCP and inspection
coal corridor, the chairman
interacted with and moti-
vated various field level teams
operating in the area.
14
RSP blast
furnace crosses
milestone,
produces 15 MT
of hot metal
Blast Furnace-5
‘Durga’ one of coun-
try’s largest operat-
ing Blast Furnaces
had started hot metal
tapping in 2013. The
furnace had sur-
passed 10 Million
Tonnes of Hot Metal
production in March
2018. Dash exhorted
the workforce to
cross another 1 mil-
lion mark
ROURKELA, 27 FEBRUARY:
Blast Furnace-5, ‘Durga’, of
Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) sur-
passed a major milestone
on 22 February by producing
15 Million Tonnes of hot
Metal.
Mr. Dipak Chattaraj, CEO,
RSP has congratulated the
employees of Blast Furnace
as well as all other associat-
ed agencies for the achieve-
ment. P K Dash, ED (Works),
D K Mohapatra, ED (MM), B
R Babu, CGM (Blast Fur-
naces) and others visited the
Blast Furnace.Dash exhort-
ed the workforce to strive hard
to achieve the next 1 million
tonne of Hot Metal from the
furnace in four months. He
cut a cake and released bal-
loons to mark the celebrations.
Blast Furnace-5 ‘Durga’
one of country’s largest oper-
ating Blast Furnaces had
started hot metal tapping in
2013. The furnace had sur-
passed 10 Million Tonnes of
Hot Metal production in
March 2018 and followed it
up with surpassing 14 Million
Tonnes Hot Metal production
in October, 2019. The last
one million tonne was pro-
duced in just 132 days. SNS
AIR to broadcast shows on
Women’s Day from 1 to 8 March
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
DHENKANAL, 27 FEBRUARY:
All India Radio Stations have
decided to broadcast pro-
gramme on International
Women’s Day week from 1
to 8 March promoting women
empowerment awareness .
This was decided at a quar-
terly meeting of the Region-
al Programme Coordination
Committee held here . Head
LEISURE
10 MINUTE CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Phantom (5)
4 Whirl (4)
8 Petty quarrel (4)
9 Underground storey (8)
10 Run away to wed (5)
11 Shopping container (6)
13 Item of headwear (6,3)
17 Attic (6)
18 Consecrate (5)
19 Breakfast food (5,3)
21 Operatic song (4)
22 Dull (4)
23 Exhausted (5)
SOLUTIONS TO YESTERDAY’S CROSSWORD
ACROSS 12 Stetho-
scope,
1 Flea,
3 Sea (Fleecy), 16 Apropos,
18 Sight,
8 Rhizome,
9 Aware, 20 Again,
21 Imitate,
10 Sieve,
11 Omitted, 22 Ewe,
23 Rags.
By arrangement with The Independent
Figures in parentheses denote
the number of letters in the words required
BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020
Adulterated fertilisers sold
in Sambalpur, probe begins
Stones, polythene, sand and soil found in packets, many farmers make similar allegations
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SAMBALPUR, 27 FEBRUARY
A
fter reveiving allega-
tion from the farm-
ers that the market-
ing federation, a gov-
ernment run organisation,
was selling adulterated fer-
tilizers, both the police and
agriculture departments have
launched an investigation
here.
The Ainthapali police led
by IIC Jogesh Panda have
verified the Markfed godown
at Bareipali and collected
samples for conducting tests.
The agriculture department
has also taken a similar step.
It is learnt that Natu Biswal,
a farmer, had purchased a fer-
tilizer from the Markfed
godown. But when he opened
the bag to use it for the crop,
he found stones, polythene,
ANTI-CAA PITCH
Congress protest against CAA in Bhubaneswar � SNS
of programme , assistant
director , AIR, Cuttack Tarunk-
anti Rout presided over the
meeting .This apart , the Com-
mittee focused on programmes
on government schemes like the
PM Soil Health Card. Improve-
ment of the programme qual-
ity was also discussed. Region-
al programme coordination
committee secretary Abhay
Kumar Das and heads of sta-
tions attended the meeting.
BEETLE BAILEY/Mort Walker
RED EYE/Bill Yates & Mel Casson
DOWN
1 Aircraft (6)
2 Slightly ill (3-6)
3 Furniture item (5)
5 Not well lit (3)
6 Type of bet (6)
7 Weather map line (6)
12 Impasse (9)
14 Soapy froth (6)
15 Holy (6)
16 Garment (1-5)
DADDY DAZE/John Kovaleski
18 Counterfeit (5)
20 Age (3)
DOWN worship,
7 Taxi,
1 Forest,
2 Elite, 13 Terrace,
14 Cassis,
3 Start-up,
4 Ahead, 15 Stress,
16 Apace,
5 Covert,
6 Hero- 17 Pony,
19 Guava.
sand, soil.
Biswal immediately
brought it to the notice of the
godown manager, but did
not get any response. Biswal
apart, many other farmers who
have purchased fertilizer from
MARKFED also levelled sim-
ilar allegations as to poor
quality and adulteration.
Finally Biswal lodged FIR
in the Ainthapali police sta-
tion and also submitted a
SOA all set to unveil new healthcare initiative SUM Ultimate Medicare
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 27 FEBRUARY:
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA),
is all set to unveil its newest
healthcare initiative—SUM
Ultimate Medicare (SUMUM)
here on 29 February with
Union Home Minister Amit
Shah, Steel Minister Dhar-
mendra Pradhan and CM
Naveen Patnaik inaugurat-
ing it.
It is widely known that
Dharmendra Pradhan patro-
nises SOA and SUM hospital
which has earned a reputation
of being one of the best hos-
pitals , at least in some depart-
ments, in eastern India.
Built on the foundation
of the belief that world class
healthcare should be acces-
sible to all Indians and with
a motto of ‘Transforming
written complain to the agri-
culture department.
“We have collected sam-
ples of the fertilizers from
the godown. The agriculture
department has also done
so and sent it for testing.
Once we get the laboratory
report, action as per the law
will be taken,” informed IIC
of Ainthapali police station
Jogesh Panda.He further said
that a station dairy has also
Lives’, SUMUM is emerging
as a world class hospital with
healthcare infrastructure of
international standard claimed
SOA sources.
Spread across ten acres, the
nine storied hospital will offer
next-generation treatment in
patient-focused and tech-
nology-enhanced settings to
the people of the region and
beyond under one roof. It
BJP issues showcause
notices to 2 ZP members
who voted in favour of BJD
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
RAYAGADA, 27 FEBRUARY:
The Ainthapali police The BJP has issued show
led by IIC Jogesh cause notices to two of its zilla
Panda have verified parishad members who had
the Markfed godown voted in a bypoll in favour of
at Bareipali and col- the BJD candidate.
lected samples for The BJP had issued a whip
conducting tests. The asking their members not
agriculture depart- to vote in the byelection to
ment has also taken a the post of chairperson zilla
parishad. The byelection was
similar step.
necessitated due to the death
of the chairman Purusota-
been registered. ‘But after mamango of the Con-
getting the report, a case gress.The polling was held on
would be registered and no 19 February and the BJD
injustice to farmers would be candidate emerged the
tolerated”. The deputy direc- winner.
tor of agriculture (DDA) SK Roy, The Congress had 11
when contacted, said that members, the BJD 7 and BJP
the laboratory report is expect- four. But the BJD managed
ed within 15 days. At the to upstage the Congress and
same time we have for recall win the by-election. Pus-
of the entire stock from the panjali Mutuka, a ZP mem-
said godown, he added. ber of Ramanaguda and
REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE Netrananda Kaibarta of
Engineer dies
while working
at Tata BSL site
DHENKANAL, 27 FEBRUARY
An assistant engineer,
Sibashankar Kumar [28] died
while working at the Tata BSL
yesterday.
He was working at the
CRM site in Tata BSL when he
sustained injuries and was
rushed to the hospital where
hewasdeclared dead.The body
has been sent for post mortem.
Sibashankar hailed from Bihar
and was working at Tata BSL
for two and half years. A com-
mittee was formed to ascertain
the cause of death. The com-
mittee will assess the opera-
tions to understand how the
engineer was injured. SNS
istry of Government of India
has ranked SOA Deemed to be
University among the top 25
universities in the country
consecutively for the last four
years while positioning the IMS
and SUM Hospital in the 21st
place among medical col-
leges.
Envisioned as a one-stop,
next-generation multi-super
specialty quaternary care hos-
pital, SUMUM will be served
boasts of state-of-the-art by ‘Centres of Excellence’
advanced diagnostic, surgical involving disciplines of Car-
and life saving equipment diac Sciences, Neuro Sci-
and offerssuper-specialty con- ences, Critical Care and Pul-
sultation. monology, Gastro Sciences,
IMS and SUM Hospital is Joint Replacement and Ortho-
also the first in Odisha to pedics, Renal Sciences and
have successfully conduct- Onco Sciences.
ed Bone Marrow Transplan- The hospital has 14 Mod-
tation (BMT).The National ular OTs besides dedicated
Institutional Ranking Frame- trauma ICUs and has pro-
work (NIRF) of the HRD Min- cured best-in-class interna-
NEED TO KNOW
Medical Assistance
Capital Hospital 2390688
Municipality Hospital 2591237
ESI, Sahid Nager 2544647
Ambulance
Red Cross 2392005
Capital Hospital 2390688
Municipality Hospital 2590255
Blood Banks
Water Supply
Capital Hospital 2394985
Municipality Hospital 2591206 High-level water tank: 2390433 Airport Enquiry 2596105,
Srabble and Scrabble Tiles are registered trademarks.
All rights in the game are owned in the U.S.A by Hasbro Judd's solution
Inc., in Canada by Hasbro Canada Inc., and elsewhere by tomorrow.
J.W. Spear & Sons Limited, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc. 10-25-12
The byelection was
necessitated due to
the death of the
chairman Purusota-
mamango of the Con-
gress.The polling was
held on 19 February
and the BJD candidate
emerged the winner
Padmapur were served show
cause notice after the district
BJP president S K Patnaik
appraised the state leadership
about the cross voting.
In another development
, the Congress members led
by district president Durga
Prasad Panda and
Apalaswamy Kadraka and
others filed a case in the
Rayagada police station
against the BJD on charges
of horse trading. They alleged
that the ruling BJD had
abducted a few ZP
members.
Man caught stealing goats in
Baripada, taken to police station
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BARIPADA, 27 FEBRUARY:
Chandua police produced a
person in court after he was
caught by women of Phulja-
hara village stealing goats.
Villagers alleged that the
accused had been stealing
goats from the locality since
long and yesterday afternoon
Situ, the accused was caught
when he was at a grazing
ground attempting to take a
goat. Women in the area
caught and thrashed him .
Some younger who were at the
spot at that time had captured
some video clips when women
were beaten him and they later
tional technologies like, Pet CT
Scan, 3 Tesla MRI and HDR
Bravos Brachy Therapy for
advanced cancer treatment.
A greenfield project, the
new state-of-the-art health-
care facility aims at providing
an ecosystem of healing with
high-quality care and safety
features besides a wide spec-
trum of clinical education
and research opportunities.
Our dream was to have a
world-class hospital in the
city and we aim to make
healthcare simple. With the
opening of SUMUM our
cherished dream of empow-
ering the health of our com-
munity is set to be fully real-
ized,” Prof. (Dr.) Manojranjan
Nayak, Founder President of
SOA, said.
“SUMUM will provide a
dynamic healing environ-
24-hr Medicine Shops Electricity
Cesu control room 2390286
Kar Clinic: 2516666
Ravindra Medical Hall: Telephone Directory
2598090, 2597628
Directory Enquiry: 197/1500
Fault Complaint: 198/2198
Hearse Service
Gurudwara 2390076 Railway
Fire Service Enquiry: 139/2532233/2534042 Twin-City Commissioner
Central Enquiry(Khurda Road) 0674-2530035
Fire Station 101/2312088
2490666 Deputy Commissioner of
Police, BBSR: 2540555
Air Service
District Intelligence Bureau
2540294
SUDOKU
Directions Make a 2 to
7 letter word from the
letters in each row.
Add points of each
word, using scoring
directions at right, 7-
letter words get 50-
point bonus. "Blanks"
used as any letter
have no point value.
All Judd's words are in
The Official Scrabble
Players
Dictionary(Merriam-
Webster) and OSW
Official Scrabble answer to
Words(Chambers). previous
puzzle
Residents protest
as Dhenkanal
faces prolonged
loadshedding
DHENKANAL, 27 FEBRUARY:
Locals are up in arms against
the power supply distribution
authorities due to unde-
clared loadshedding.
With the matriculation
examinations on, the residents
here threatened to hit the
streets if the traunt power sup-
ply authorities stop such
power cuts .
There was power cut for
over eight hours on Tuesday
night and Wednesday morn-
ing and for a few hours yes-
terday. Power supply was dis-
rupted in the town and Parjang
block . The central power sup-
ply utility had announced
power cut on 20,22 and 23 for
maintainance work but the
loadsheeding continued. CESU
executive engineer Satya Brata
Mohanty pleaded that the out-
age was due to a fault in the
system. It was rectified,
he added. SNS
Villagers alleged that
the accused had been
stealing goats from
the locality since long
posted video clips on social
media platforms.
On being informed, Chan-
dua police rushed to spot
and rescued the accused from
the villagers around 5 pm. The
accused was later brought
to police station. Following the
complaint of Ramdas
Murmu(40) a villager of
Phuljhara, he had been arrest-
ed after a case registered in
the police station under sec-
tion 379 of IPC.
ment focused on complete
patient recovery marked by the
ethos of trust, transparency and
inculcating a culture of empa-
thy and compassion and not
just be limited to treating
sickness,” he said.
“SUMUM is poised to
revolutionise the regional
landscape in healthcare with
the patients, their families
and the society at large as the
ultimate beneficiaries of top-
notch medical care.
We endeavour to become
the ultimate destination of
health, wellness and hope for
the people of the region. We
look forward to setting new
benchmarks in healthcare
facilities and reach out to
people to include them in
our ambit of compassionate
care,” said Dr. Swetapadma
Das, CEO of SUMUM.
2596177(IA)
Bus Stand
Barmunda bus-stand (OSRTC):
2354695
Private Bus Enquiry : 2354769
Police Control Room : 100
Sudoku is a number-placing
puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with
several given numbers. The
object is to place the numbers 1
to 9 in the empty squares so
that no row, no column and no
3x3 box contains the same
number. The difficulty level
increases through the week.

Fresh cracks appear in houses,
Bowbazar residents alarmed
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F
issures widened into
cracks in some of the
houses adjoining the
East-West Metro route
on B. B. Ganguly Street where
tunnelling have started afresh
recently, even as a bereaved
family in one of these hous-
es feared losing the last
mementos of a boy who had
been the apple of their eye. Res-
idents of the affected struc-
ture at 10/1a Chaitan Sen
Lane are spending uneasy
moments including the griev-
ing Basak family who are
apprehending that they would
have to leave behind Rhiju’s
paintings, photo frames, com-
piled self-written poetry, hand
written notes and shelves full
of books, if they have to shift
from their ancestral home.
The Basaks are spending
days in apprehension as the
cherished belongings of their
child who died in 2012, are on
the verge of being lost that have
been ruined due to tunnelling.
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Odisha bagged the first prize
at the national level for its out-
standing performance in the
field of development and pro-
motion of MSMEs.
Yesterday, Principal Sec-
retary, MSME Department,
Hemant Sharma, IAS received
the prestigious award from
Union Minister MSME , Nitin
Gadkari at a event in Delhi.
Odisha MSME depart-
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Vedanta Limited, alumina
refinery here held a volun-
tary blood donation camp
within the plant premises in
collaboration with the Dis-
trict Red Cross Blood Bank,
Bhawanipatna.
The camp was inaugurat-
ed in the presence of the Chief
Operating Officer, Lanjigarh
unit, Mr. Rakesh Mohan and
other senior officers.
Over 120 units of blood
were donated by the employ-
ees and associate partners.
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Dalmia OCL Eye Centre com-
pleted 5 years of serving the
underprivileged sections of the
society in Sundargarh dis-
trict of Odisha.
The eye hospital was joint-
ly instituted by L V Prasad Eye
Institute andDalmia Cement
(Bharat) Limited(earlier OCL
India Limited)at Rajgangpur
in 2015, with the vision of mak-
ing Sundargarh district blind free.
The institute achieved anoth-
er milestone during this year with
total number of patients treat-
ed here going past the 1 lakh
mark.
Sunil Gupta, Regional Man-
ufacturing Head, East, Dalmia
Cement (Bharat) Limited and
Dr. Tara Prasad Das,Vice Chair-
man, LVPEI, were present to
mark the occassion.
Since its inception till this
year, Dalmia OCL Eye Centre
has performed 6,577 surgeries,
out of which 4,538 have been
operated free of charge.
The community screen-
ing program has covered 722
villages in Sundargarh dis-
trict, including all the children
of Govt. Schools.
Mr. Sunil Kumar Gupta,
said, “We are delighted to
complete 5 years of serving the
Numerous cracks, fissured
ceiling and dilapidated pillars
have turned the second floor
of the Basaks at 10/1a Chai-
tan Sen Lane unliveable. Their
son Rhiju Basak’s bedroom,
accommodating piles of books,
as his last memories to the fam-
ily, in particular is in a bad con-
dition. According to Kajal
Basak, Rhiju’s father, while the
fissures appeared when the first
tunnel boring machine Chan-
di was burrowing underneath,
numerous additional cracks
have developed in last few days.
The Basaks along with five
other families, living in the
ment, in recent times, has
taken many major reforms to
attract MSMEs and large
industries
to the state.
Various schemes and poli-
cies have been formulated to
suit to investors as well as the
entrepreneurs.
In a reformative move
measures like establishing
facilitation centres at district
level Single Window system,
incentive schemes etc. to pro-
mote rapid growth in the sec-
Mr. Rakesh Mohan, said:“We
have received proactive support
and cooperation from our
employees and associate part-
ners in donating their blood for
this noble cause. Their efforts
are truly appreciative at a time
when there is a shortage of
blood in the blood bank.Vedan-
ta is always keen to participate
in such initiatives that help
our community.”
Over the past year, the team
has helped in collecting over
450 units of blood and donat-
ing it to the District Head-
quarter Hospital at Bhawani-
patna, Kalahandi district.
people of Sundargarh. Through
our centre, we have treated and
supported over 1,00,000
patients in last five years.
Thanks to this concerted effort,
we have made significant
progress towards eradicating
blindness in the district.”
Dr. Tara Prasad Das, said Our
goal is to provide high-qual-
ity, low-cost, self-sustaining per-
manent eyecare infrastructure
in distant areas of the coun-
try and this was possible only
with the support of our part-
ners, well-trained staff and
excellent doctors. We will con-
tinue to deliver more efficient
service to eliminate blind-
ness in Sundargarh.”
From this year onwards, the
LVPEI run eye centre will also
be benefited by the eye care
provider’s newest initiative
‘Pashyantu’ which is advance
eye care on wheels. It would reach
Dalmia OCL Eye Centre, Raj-
gangpur at least twice a month
and take care of retinal condi-
tions including vein occlusion,
diseases in children and follow
up care of the patients operat-
ed at Bhubaneswar LVPEI. This
would substantially reduce the
travel and all indirect cost
incurred by patients for fol-
low up care and check-ups.
building which is more than
150 years old, are spending
days in despair to think about
the damage that has been
done to the belongings and last
memories of their beloved
son.
“Since the first round of tun-
nelling done in the month of
August, this floor has been in
ruins,” said Kajal Basak. “Dur-
ing the earlier tunnelling
work, the beam from ceiling
was hanging and the whole
place including the walls and
the pillars. However, in the
recent few days, numerous
cracks have developed at sev-
tor have been taken up.
MSME sector registered a
100.49% growth rate in disposal
of cases under MSEFC, 88.65%
growth rate in Capacity build-
ing and rolling out of legisla-
tions like IPR 2015, Odisha
MSME Development Policy
2016, Startup Policy 2016 etc.
The award ceremony was
attended by Union MSME
Minister of State Pratap Chan-
dra Sarangi, Union MSME
Secretary Dr. Arun Kumar
Panda and others.
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AM RI Ho sp it al s,
Bhubaneswar has started
Cadaveric Kidney Trans-
plantation and conducted
one yesterday.
On 26 February, AMRI
Hospitals Bhubaneswar
received a telephonic Call
from State Organ and Tis-
sue Transplant Organization
(SOTTO) that one cadaver-
ic kidney is available for
transplantation.
Dr. Subodh Das, Sr. Con-
sultant, Urology & Kidney
Transplant Surgeon, Direc-
tor Transplant & Renal Sci-
ence, Dr Sukant Kishore
Das, Senior Consultant,
Nephrology & Kidney Trans-
plant Physician, started
the formalities. The Donor
was 56 years old female, lying
brain dead at Apollo Hos-
pital.
The kidneys were suc-
cessfully retrieved and 1
kidney was brought by AMRI
Hospitals team with due
sterility and medications
as per guidelines.
The Kidney received by
AMRI team was a difficult
kidney to operate upon as
it had two renal artery con-
nections instead of one and
a challenging task; despite
this, the team lead by Dr.
Subodh Das & Dr. Sukant
Kishore Das completed
the transplantation suc-
cessfully.
The entire process is
being closely supervised
by Dr. Manish Kumar, Med-
ical Superintendent, AMRI
Hospitals & Ms Nilanjana
Mukherjee, Unit Head, AMRI
Hospitals Bhubaneswar.
During the earlier
tunnelling work, the
beam from ceiling
was hanging and the
whole place
including the walls
and the pillars.
However, in the
recent few days,
numerous cracks
have developed at
several places. When
complained to the
authorities, they said
that the cracks
existed from before.
Now we are forced to
live in a state of fear
A RESIDENT
eral places. When complained
to the authorities of Kolkata
Metro Rail Corporation Lim-
ited, they said that the cracks
existed from before. Now we
are forced to live with these
cracks under risky condi-
tions,” he rued.
Similar fears were seen
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Bengal unwilling to join
One Nation, One Ration
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West Bengal government is
unwilling to join Centre’s ‘One
Nation One Ration
Card'(ONORC) scheme that is
to come into effect from June,
tentatively, and seeks to make
one single ration card valid for
drawing subsidised food grains
from any state of this country.
The Union minister of food
and public distribution sys-
tem(PDS), Ram Vilas Paswan,
had announced the scheme
earlier and said it will be imple-
mented in the country by 1, June
2020. However, the Centre has
now given states and UnionTer-
ritories time till June 30, to
implement the ‘One Nation,
One Ration Card’ scheme.
In general, ration cards are
distributed by state govern-
ments, enabling a ration card
holder in a state to draw food
grains at a subsidised rate
from any fair price shops in that
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Sweet-sellers in the city are in
a tizzy following a notification
by the Food Safety and Stan-
dards Authorityof India (FSSAI)
asking these businessmen to
display the manufacturing
and expiry dates of non-pack-
aged sweets from 1 June.
A meeting convened by
Paschim Banga Mistanna
Byabsayee Samiti, the associ-
among the residents of Satish
Upendra Bhawan at 10 Chai-
tan Sen Lane. The cracks on
the outside wall towards the
right side of the entrance of
the building, as claimed by Dr
Sobhan Dutta, have become
deeper after the resumption
of the tunnelling work. The
cracks in the ceiling of his
chamber at the ground floor
of the building have become
deeper in the last two to three
days. Similarly, cracks are also
said to have appeared recent-
ly in the house of Sukalyan
Dutta, living in the adjacent
premises of 11, Chaitan Sen
Lane.
Meanwhile, the return of
the residents, who have been
shifted to various hotels in the
city, has been delayed by a few
days. Around 25 persons liv-
ing in around four buildings
have been asked to return
home on 3 March instead of
26 and 27 February due to the
TBM’s movement underneath.
Authorities of KMRCL were
unavailable to talk on bieng
contacted.
particular state. The ONORC
scheme will however allow a
ration card holder to draw
ration from any state in the
country. The decision has
been made after it was observed
that millions of Indians migrate
to other states for job and
other purposes and that is
when they are unable to draw
ration using their card that was
issued by the state government
of the state the person has
migrated from. The scheme
aims to ensure that no poor is
deprived of PDS entitlement
even if that personshifts from
one place to another.
It is learnt that West Ben-
gal government is unwilling to
join this ONORC scheme due
to certain differences with the
Centre. Talking to The States-
man, the state food supplies
minister, Jyotipriyo Mullick,
said, “Firstly, we have not
received any letter or notice
from the Centre to join this
ation of sweet sellers in Ben-
gal, will discuss threadbare the
ways and means of getting out
of the dilemma of stating the
expiry date of the sweets which
were neither packaged nor
tinned till date.
"We have called a meeting
of our members in Kolkata to
discuss the issue and the prob-
lems that might occur fol-
lowing the implementation of
the notification. The repre-
sentatives of our committee
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A Swedish parliamentary del-
egation, on a visit to the coun-
try, took up the contentious Cit-
izenship Amendment Act (CAA)
issue during an interaction
withWest Bengal ministers and
opposition leaders at the Assem-
bly here on Thursday, Speaker
Biman Banerjee said. The 10-
member delegation asked about
West Bengal's views on the
CAA, Banerjee said.
“We told the delegation that
West Bengal Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee has emphat-
ically declared that Citizenship
Amendment Act will not be
implemented in the state,” he
said.The delegationwastoldthat
a resolution brought by the
governmentagainsttheCAAwas
passed in the Assembly.
“The view of the state, the
chief minister and the govern-
ment is that the bill can never
be implemented in West Ben-
gal,” he said while talking to
reporters in his chamber in
the Assembly, following the
delegation's visit.
The delegation, led by Karin
Enstrom, MP and former
scheme. The state govern-
ment has already invested Rs
200 crores, approximately, for
digitisation of ration cards.
Who will reimburse that
amount?”
The minister further added,
“A huge amount of fund that
the Centre is supposed to give
West Bengal government, is still
pending. The due amount of
funds that the Centre is yet to
clear is around Rs 5500 crores
approximately.”
Mr Mullick highlighted,
“West Bengal government
has made public distribu-
tion system much secured
and transparent. We have
already installed electronic
point of sales (E-POS)
machines at the ration shops
that helps in identification of
the ration card holder and the
amount of ration drawn by a
card holder.” E-POS machines
use biometric method for
identification.
are likely to meet the FSSAI
authorities in Delhi on 3 or 4
March and convey the issues
faced the confectioners," said
Jagannath Ghosh, a spokesper-
son of Paschim Banga Mistanna
Byabsayee Samiti.
Prajesh Nandy, co-owner
of century-old Girish Chandra
Dey and Nakur Chandra Nandy,
feels that before issuing any ran-
dom notification, the author-
ities should also clarify ways
to implement it.
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��������������������� A student of design depart-
ment of Visva Bharati Uni-
��������������������
versity from Bangladesh has
���������������������� been served notice to leave
���������������������� the country by the Central
���������������������� government for allegedly
������ taking part in anti-govern-
ment activities.
defence minister of Sweden, Apsara Mim has taken
interacted with ministers and part in the agitation by the
opposition leaders on parlia- Left student’s union recent-
mentary practices in the two ly against CAA. Later she has
countries. also participated in an agi-
“Theyaskedmanyquestions, tation in front of the central
which our ministers answered office of the VBU.
to their satisfaction during the On 4 January the Left par-
1 hour 45 minute- long inter- ties and trade unions have
action,” he said, adding that the called a nationwide bandh
visitors also explained the for 24 hours for several
Swedish parliamentary system demands. The Leftist stu-
to the senior members of the dent union at VBU had been
Assembly. campaigning for the bandh
Leader of Opposition Abdul and Ms Mim had also joined
MannanoftheCongress,CPI(M) the agitation on that day.
Legislature Party leader Sujan Ms Apsara Mim, a first year
ChakrabortyandMinisterofState student of design depart-
for Parliamentary Affairs in ment at Silpasadan was
West Bengal Tapas Roy were served notice from
among those who participat- the Foreigners Regional
ed in the interaction, along with Registration Office at Kolkata,
the speaker. which is under Union min-
istry of external affairs to
leave India within 15 days after
receiving the notice.
The notice was issued on
14 February.There has been
no official statement from the
VBU authorities on this issue
so far. ���
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Twelve policemen, including
four civic police volunteers suf-
fered injuries in a clash with
a group of hooligans who
attacked them while the police-
men raided a Kali puja fair at
a village in Monteswar Police
Station limits in Burdwan
(East) last night after being told
that gambling was going on.
The condition of three of the
injured policemen ~ assis-
tant sub inspectors Prasanta
Pramanik and Idrish Ali and
civic police volunteer Sheikh
Mustafa ~ was stated to be crit-
ical.
The injured policemen
were shifted to a private spe-
cialty hospital in Burdwan
town where the senior police
officers including the SP, Bur-
dwan (East), Bhaskar Mukher-
jee, visited them today. ���
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Choose the right path to success
AMIT GOYAL
T
he banking industry serves a
broad range of individual and
business customers. Banks and
credit unions have variety of var-
ious personnel to serve the requirements
of their clients from customer service
representatives to financial advisors to
non-public bankers. These institu-
tions employ private bankers to sup-
ply a further level of service for top and
ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) clients.
A private banker provides in-depth analy-
sis on an individual or company's
financial circumstances and makes
recommendations based on a specif-
ic investment, estate planning, and char-
itable objectives. Private bankers are
typically employed with an outsized
financial organisation, while finan-
cial advisors or wealth managers serve
outside the banking environment. In
essence, private bankers are personal
financial advisors for the very rich.
� What do private bankers do:
Private bankers add many various
parts of the financial services indus-
try. This includes banks, credit
unions, investment banks, and wealth
management firms. They provide
banking, advisory, and investment
Real problems afflicting young professionals
Corporate organisations must
focus on holistic wellbeing of the
employees
PRAKRITI PODDAR
M
ost professionals find sta-
bility while they are work-
ing. For some, it is the best
phase of life as here they
strike financial stability, security and com-
mitment to dedicate themselves for the
respective profession that last a lifetime.
However, often the initial phase of this
life proves to be challenging, even
intimidating for the professionals.
There is also the possibility of
feeling overwhelmed by the transition
or isolated as you begin this phase of
life. Then there is also the dreadful
possibility of meeting a bully or two
or feeling intimidated by a senior or
even a boss who does not seem to like
you. Some professionals are not just
step into job but also step out of the
comfort of their homes as they start
living an independent life. Living away
from dependency for the first time
makes them more vulnerable and
intimidated. The result brings up the
hard challenges of life in front of us.
Instead of rising through the
ranks, we see burnout, loneliness,
physical burden of illnesses and a slow
creeping of mental and emotional
health issues. It is afflicting young pro-
fessionals in a major way today.
� Burnout as a modern-day
health hazard: Such is the rise in
this phenomenon that World Health
Organisation (WHO) recently recog-
nised burnout as an occupational
happening impacting health of indi-
viduals. Burn-out has been described
as a syndrome conceptualised as
resulting from chronic workplace
services to ultra-rich clients. Private
bankers are typically assigned to
clients of a selected bank branch.
Unlike financial advisors, they do not
have the responsibility of continuous
prospecting. For smaller banks or
credit unions, a private banker may
make phone calls or reach out to
prominent individuals or businesses
to attract new high net-worth clients
to the financial institution. Private
bankers, in partnership with and sup-
ported by the bank, can also be liable
for implementing client appreciation
events to make sure a high level of
retention for the bank. Many private
banking divisions in large banks han-
dle virtually all aspects of clients’
finances. A private banker often
works with relatively few clients to
supply the main target and person-
alised service that non-public bank-
ing clients often demand. In some
firms, private bankers specialise in
managing client portfolios while rela-
tionship managers handle other
client needs.
� Educational qualifications:
Most financial institutions require
private bankers to hold at least a
bachelor’s degree. Undergraduate
work best fitted to a career privately
stress that has not been successfully
managed. Feelings of energy deple-
tion or exhaustion; feelings of nega-
tivism or cynicism related to one’s job;
and reduced professional efficacy are
characteristics of this condition.
According to WHO, depression
and anxiety alone cost global econo-
my approximately one trillion dollars
annually due to lost productivity. In
fact, the WHO has deemed depression
a leading cause of disability. Approxi-
mately one-third of the mental health
cost burden is related to productivity
losses, including unemployment, dis-
ability, and lower work performance.
� From neutron star to a star: The
bright star in us begins to fade exactly
as does the neutron star. The neutron
star is known to be the brightest, and
it works really hard to be big, bold,
and impactful, till all the hydrogen
runs out. And then it just bursts. The
similarity is uncanny and we need to
take heed and build resources to con-
serve our energy and provide us with
long lasting productive health.
CMYK
To supply a further level of
service for top and ultra-
high-net-worth clients,
professionals such as
private bankers are in high
demand these days
banking focuses on accounting,
finance, or business. Although not
necessary, a marketing or advanced
diploma in banking & finance degree
may also benefit a private banker in
his or her career. Most employers like
to hire experienced candidates with
master’s degrees in disciplines like
finance, accounting or business
administration. Many employers also
look for experienced job candidates
who have a graduate degree in math-
ematics, statistics or law. Course add
subjects like taxation, risk manage-
ment, investing, and financial plan-
ning are especially valuable to
prospective private bankers.
� Skills required: Private bankers
must even be ready to analyse finan-
cial information to make and imple-
ment recommendations. That’s why
they should have a great understand-
ing of the banking and financial sys-
tems, along with knowledge about
credit and lending practices. They
should also stay up to date with cur-
rent events like economic and mar-
ket news. Even though they normally
affect high net-worth individuals, pri-
vate bankers should be ready to affect
all kinds of clients.
They must be ready to analyse
Remember that it is the leader who
has spent little time nurturing all the
other aspects of his life. It is time that
we promote the values key to good
health and help provide nurturing work
environments for our employees.
Having spent almost two decades
in the business of wellbeing, our com-
pany defined the wellbeing hexagon.
It is only when we incorporate a struc-
ture of wellbeing through the verticals
can one completely flourish. Opti-
mum health is skewed when any of
these factors is given less credence
than the other/s.
What is important to remember
is that a decline of optimal health in
any one of the vertical leads to an
imbalance and the other pillars com-
pensate for the loss of one until they
burnout as well.
But only attending to physical
health and skill development pro-
grammes tied in with leadership train-
ing will not solve the problem. The
mindset of employers needs to shift
to a new understanding of being the
principal providers for good holistic
CMYK
financial information to make and
implement recommendations. A pri-
vate banker’s greatest responsibility
is to take care of relationships with
HNWIs to make sure their assets
remain with the financial organisa-
tion. An individual working as a per-
sonal banker must establish a rapport
with individuals quickly and build
trust with potential or current clients.
This is why excellent interpersonal
and communication skills are
required.
� Career path: Many private
bankers begin working in entry-level
securities analyst positions in wealth
management firms, banks, broker-
ages or other organisations within the
market. Many financial analysts study
stocks, bonds, and other securities to
supply financial plans, analytical
reports, and proposals for personal
bankers, portfolio managers, and
other senior investment profession-
als within the firm. With experience
and a record of high performance, a
securities analyst specialising in
investments can rise into a personal
banker position.
Other professionals within the
field begin working as personal finan-
cial advisors serving retail clients at
health practices.
� Tackling burnout is crucial in
improving productivity: As consul-
tants, we have documented internally
the facade of wellbeing in corporates.
There is no holistic structure being
adopted.
Employers need to become
mindful of the burden that employees
face. The experience of an overworked
mind leads to a lack of motivation,
unforeseen errors, and lack of positive
interactions with the community.
Mental health problems have an
impact on employers and businesses
directly through increased absen-
teeism, negative impact on productiv-
ity and profits, as well as an increase in
costs to deal with the issue. In addi-
tion, they impact employee morale
adversely.
Investing in the holistic health
care is a necessity. It ensures that
employees are better equipped to
understand how to utilise their abili-
ties positively. It also improves team
work and creates a support system
BHUBANESWAR, FRIDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2020
banks and other financial services
firms. Personal financial advisors do
much of an equivalent work that non-
public bankers do, but they typically
affect clients who don’t have the
wealth to justify the value of the high-
ly personalised services private
bankers typically offer. A record of
success as a retail-level advisor can
cause an edge as a personal banker.
� Salary: A private banker’s com-
pensation is typically comprised of a
base salary plus commissions based
on assets under management (AUM)
fee. According to the foremost cur-
rent information available on Pay
scale, entry-level private bankers can
earn the minimum amount as 25000
per month including commissions
and bonuses. Private bankers with a
little book of clients tend to earn a
lower income than private bankers
with an outsized, established book of
business. Similarly, private bankers
who add regional banks or credit
unions are less likely to get on the
upper end of the salary scale than
those that work for larger national
financial institutions.
The writer is professor of TKWs Institute of
Banking and Finance
within the workplace that fortifies the
employees trust in the organisation
and the ability to depend on them.
It is important for organisations to
implement measures that allow suffi-
cient relaxation and leisure time for
employees to re-energise. The culture
of being available on official mails and
social media groups 24*7 has to end
and a real office cut-off time needs to be
laid down. Similarly, it must be ensured
that employees are not disturbed on
weekends and are allowed to spend
time doing activities outside work.
It is also important to make coun-
sellors easily available to employees
so that they open up and seek help
before it’s too late. Managers must
also be trained to be alert to identify-
ing symptoms of burnout among
employees and initiate remedial mea-
sures. Thus, it is essential to ensure
that employees are mentally fit, phys-
ically and nutritionally healthy.
The writer is councillor in HR, Corporate and
Education upliftment, director Poddar Well-
ness Ltd and Managing Trustee of Poddar
Foundation
16
PLUS POINTS
Felicitating leaders
Orpit Services Pri-
vate Limited, a unit
of Lakhotia Group,
hosted National
Women’s Leader-
ship Awards 2020 to
applaud the
admirable contri-
butions of women
entrepreneurs and
business excellence
gives every achiever
a platform to showcase their achieve-
ments and get them recognised in their
fields. Jyoti Jain, chairperson of FICCI
FLO Kolkata, Suchismita Paul, Mrs India
Worldwide 2019, Manish Maheshwari,
director of Orpit Services Private Limit-
ed, Geetanjali Mukherjee, CEO of Orpit
Services Private Limited, Harshit
Chokhani, brand ambassador of the
event were present to grace the occa-
sion. Women leaders from all over the
country were felicitated for their excep-
tional work. The National Women’s
Leadership Awards 2020 showcased
their high goals and outstanding
achievements through innovation, lead-
ership, dedication and commitment
towards learning.
Digital
transformation
Technology has seeped in to our lives to
such an extent that we can literally mon-
itor our own health status by technology
aided devices. Health Tech, or digital
health, uses technologies like databases,
applications, mobiles to improve the
delivery, payment, and/or consumption
of care, with the ability to increase the
development and commercialisation of
healthcare related products. With this
backdrop Medica Hospitals with The
Bengal Chamber organised the third
edition of Health Tech 2020 at Vivanta,
Kolkata recently. On this occasion Price-
waterCoopers Pvt Ltd released a thought
paper on “A technology boost for achiev-
ing universal health protection”.
The programme brought together
healthcare industry with doctors and
healthcare delivery professionals,
administrators, technology providers
and related stakeholders like policy
makers, financers start ups, academia,
research institutions to name a few.
Clinical challenge
The doctors
at Fortis Flt
Lt Rajan
Dhall Hos-
pital in Vas-
ant Kunj
performed a
unique and
first of its
kind proce-
dure to re-
construct a jaw using 3D printing tech-
nology in the city recently. The titanium
jaw was constructed using this novel
technology and implanted it onto a 30-
year-old man from Faridabad. It gave
him complete control over his mouth,
which allowed him to chew food prop-
erly after seven years since his jaw was
removed due to cancer. The procedure
was successfully planned and per-
formed by Dr Mandeep Singh Malhotra,
head of department (HOD), head, neck
and breast oncoplasty and his team at
Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj (FHVK).
Enhancing economy
JK Lakshmipat University (JKLU) organ-
ised an international conference on
“Innovations in Technology, Manage-
ment and Design for Achieving Sustain-
able Development Goals (ICSDG)” at
their Jaipur campus in association with
Central University of Rajasthan, Indian
Institute of Crafts and Design (IICD)
Jaipur, Institute of Electronics and
Telecommunication Engineers, Materi-
als Research Society of India and Indian
Society for Training and Development
(ISTD) Jaipur recently. The conference
provided a platform for showcasing
innovations in technology, management
and design that can address sustainabil-
ity issues and catalyse actions and part-
nerships across disciplines and bound-
aries, to support United Nation’s 2030
agenda of Sustainability Development
Goals (SDG). The meeting was attend-
ed by many dignitaries and attracted
around 100 papers from different parts
of the country and abroad. Sustainabili-
ty promoting works of local artisans and
cultural events were also displayed at
the end of the event.