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Reg. No. Mcs/048/2018-20; RNI No. 1541/1957 I M.p.c.s office Mumbai-400001

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Vol. 64 No. 248 | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021 | 15 Pages | EDITIONS: Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper
Worship the forces of
EDIT
S&P SAYS PACE OF EIJAZ KHAN GETS CANDID Nature, because, these are

A WORRYING SPURT IN
the ones that we are

REBOUND TO IMPACT ABOUT HIS RELATIONSHIP closely associated with,

INDIA RATINGS Pg 7 MAHARASHTRA & KERALA WITH PAVITRA PUNIA Pg 24

and interact with.
_
Sri Ma
Pg 10

FOLLOW NORMS OR GET LOCKED IN

Thackeray leaves people with two options as he tells administration to crack the whip
SA, BRAZIL STRAINS
ENTER INDIA
FPJ NEWS SERVICE /
New Delhi

SANJAY JOG
Mumbai
Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases in Ma-
harashtra over the last few days, Chief
Minister Uddhav Thackeray rapped the
divisional commissioners and district
collectors on Tuesday, for lack of imple-
mentation of standard operating proce-
dures (SOPs) for various sectors, that
had been decided upon last year. He
asked them to send out teams that
would take stern action for violation of
SOPs and COVID 19 norms during wed-
dings, gatherings, parties and other so-
cial events.
At the video conference, Thackeray
did not announce any decision on a
fresh lockdown in the state. However, at
the outset, he made it clear that it was
for the people to decide whether they
wanted a fresh lockdown or to live
freely, with some restrictions.
“If people do not wear masks or follow
health rules, then the district and police
administration have a responsibility to
strictly enforce these rules. They must
take strict, punitive and necessary ac-
tion, without showing leniency,’’ the CM
said. His directives came on a day when
3,663 fresh Covid-19 cases and 39 deaths
with a 2.49 per cent fatality rate were re-
ported in the state. CONTD. ON P13
The lethal South African
strain of the coronavirus
was detected in four people
in January and the Brazil
variant in one person in
the first week of February. UK variant. According to
With that, it can be said the ICMR chief, existing
that both strains have offi- vaccines have the potential
cially entered India. India to neutralise the UK vari-
also has 187 patients who ant and experiments are on
have been infected with the CONTD. ON P13

Spike, yes, but cases less severe PUDUCHERRY BOSS

KIRAN BEDI SACKED
Daily case count up, doubling rates down N RATHI CHITHRA / Chennai

DIPTI SINGH & SWAPNIL MISHRA With the flattening of the pandemic laxation of the lockdown, violation of In a late night development,
Mumbai curve, the average daily positivity physical distancing and other norms, President Ram Nath Kovind
rate had dropped to below 3 per cent and local trains for all are the con- directed that former super

Share autos or
With over 500 new cases being report-
ed every day, Mumbai’s positivity rate
is again on the rise, with senior BMC
officials attributing it to the move-
in January. But in the last seven days, tributing factors. cop-turned-politician Kiran
it has again surged to 4.22 per cent. Re- Another indicator of surging cases Bedi “shall cease to hold” the
in the city is the overall case doubling office of Lieutenant Gover-
Date Doubling Growth rate and the weekly growth rate of in- nor of Puducherry.

super-spreaders?
ment of people across the state and fection. The President has instead
laxity in observance of Covid-safety Feb 16 445 days 0.16% While Mumbai has conducted over asked Telangana Governor
protocol by citizens. Feb 15 455 days 0.15% 30.39 lakh cumulative Covid-19 tests Tamilisai Soundararajan to
A few doctors are calling this spike till now, the doubling rate has now de- hold additional charge as LG
SHASHANK RAO & in the daily case count as a second Feb 14 479 days 0.14% clined, from 564 days on February 1 to of Puducherry.
SWAPNIL MISHRA wave, while civic health officials have 445 on February 16, 2021. Meanwhile, Bedi, who received an elec-
Mumbai maintained that it is too early to term Feb 13 496 days 0.14% the daily growth rate increased to 0.16 toral drubbing as the BJP’s from the Raj Nivas. In recent
it thus. Feb 12 525 days 0.13 % per cent on Tuesday, February 16 from Chief Ministerial candidate weeks, senior Congress lead-
Covid-19 cases are on the According to the daily count data 0.12 per cent on February 1. in the 2015 Delhi Assembly ers had even suggested that
rise and the possibility of a shared by the Mumbai civic body, the Feb 11 533 days 0.13% Kakani said many people who had elections, was appointed they boycott the Assembly
second wave is being dis- positivity rate has increased to 4 per followed strict home quarantine Lieutenant Governor in May polls as the Government was
cussed. In the current cir- cent, from 3.2 per cent last week. Feb 10 555 days 0.12% CONTD. ON P13 2016. From the beginning her not allowed to function.
cumstances, public transit is tenure remained controver- On February 10, a delega-

Housing societies on notice

a major factor, given that
commuters are in rampant
violation of Covid norms.
For instance, the share au-
torickshaws and taxis are
back in business in the city
and the metropolitan region.
These services are running
FPJ INSIGHT sial with the Raj Nivas and tion led by Puducherry Chief
the elected Congress Gov- Minister V Narayanasamy
urbs. Likewise, in the island ernment headed by V had met President Kovind in
city, share taxis too are run- Narayanasamy having mul- Delhi. It was during this
ning at ease, especially in tiple face-offs and getting em- meeting that the delegation
business areas like Nariman broiled in judicial litigation. urged the President to recall
Uptick in cases from high-rises as opposed to slums
No lockdown but
Point, Churchgate, Chhatra- While the Chief Minister Bedi, accusing her of inter-
pati Shivaji Maharaj Termi- and the Lieutenant Governor fering in the administration

take care: Mayor

without permission.
"We have not given permis-
sion. It's for the Disaster
Management to decide," said
Avinash Dhakne, Maharash-
tra Transport Commission-
er.
The RTOs that are the pri-
mary agency under which
these autos and taxis come
haven't authorised them to
ply on a shared basis. Yet,
passengers intrepidly board
shared rickshaws as though
all is well. In public percep-
tion, social distancing, clear-
ly, is only for the birds. Un-
flinchingly, two persons sit
on either side of the driver,
with three or more in the
back during peak hours.
This is the scene outside sev-
eral suburban railway sta-
tions like Borivli, Kandivli,
Bandra, Kurla, Ghatkopar,
Govandi and other sub-
nus etc. Though there is no
over-seating like in the
share-autos, all four seats in
these vehicles are occu-
pied.Meanwhile, the Brihan-
mumbai Municipal Corpo-
ration has warned citizens
to follow Covid norms strict-
ly or be ready to face action.
It has decided to deploy
more than 300 clean-up mar-
shals on the Western, Cen-
tral and Harbour train lines,
to closely monitor all those
passengers who set off on
their journeys without a
mask. “Earlier, we had de-
ployed clean-up marshals
outside railway stations but
now we will deploy them at
every railway station, to
keep a tab on passengers.
Our staff has been directed
to take strict action against
violators of Covid norms.
CONTD. ON P13
DIPTI SINGH
Mumbai
Given the steady spike in
the number of new corona
cases in the city, the Brihan-
mumbai Muncipal Corpo-
ration (BMC) wards, both
in western and central sub-
urbs, have started sending
circulars/advisories to
housing societies, asking
them to adopt 'Covid-appro-
priate behaviour'. The civic
body has appealed to hous-
ing societies to minimise
the entry of outsiders.
Additional Municipal
Commissioner (Health)
Suresh Kakani said, local
ward officials have been in-
structed to send notices to
housing societies and resi-
dential buildings to strictly
follow Covid-19 protocols.
"We have asked ward offi-
cers to take a call either abide by the norms or kept blaming each other for of the Union territory. The
depending on the situation be ready to face yet another the standoff, the administra- delegation also claimed that
in their wards. However, it lockdown. It has also issued tion suffered as many gov- Bedi was “impeding” the im-
is an appeal to citizens to new guidelines /advisories PRATIP ACHARYA / Mumbai ernmental schemes were plementation of various
stay alert and take precau- for residential societies, say- stuck pending clearance schemes. CONTD. ON P13
tions. In many residential ing more cases are being re- Seeking to assuage Mum-
buildings, people are flout- ported from residential baikars’ fears of another
ing the Covid safety proto-
cols," Kakani said.
To arrest the spread of
buildings than slums.
Ward officials are saying
they have noticed that
lockdown due to the rise
in the number of Covid-19
cases in the city, Mayor
Tentative dates for
HSC, SSC exams
cases, the civic body has Covid-19 norms and Kishori Pednekar on
started to warn residents to CONTD. ON P13 Tuesday said there would
not be another lockdown
100 test+ve in IT City highrise in the city.
“There is no chance of
RONALD RODRIGUES
Mumbai
School Certificate (SSC)
board theory examinations
BENGALURU : A Covid cluster has surfaced in a multi-storeyed
imposing another lock- from April 29 to May 20, 2021
residential complex in Bengaluru after 103 residents tested
down, the spike in cases is The Maharashtra State "The timetable of SSC and
positive. The surge was recorded after 45 residents recently
not very high and it can be Board of Secondary and HSC board examinations
attended a party at the SNN Raj Lakeview Apartments, which
easily controlled by im- Higher Secondary will be available at the web-
has 1,500 residents living in 435 flats. According to media
plementing stricter poli- Education on Tuesday an- site of Maharashtra State
reports, most of those infected are youngsters and
cies and penalising those nounced tentative dates for Board of Secondary and
asymptomatic. They have been put under home quarantine.
who are flouting Covid-19 Class 12 Higher Secondary Higher Secondary Educa-
Several drivers, maids and cooks working in the complex have
protocols,” Mayor Ped- Certificate (HSC) board theo- tion. It is not final and is sub-
also tested positive. The first case was detected on February 10
nekar told The Free Press ry examinations from April ject to change, based on the
whereas the party was held on February 6. Karnataka is the
Journal. CONTD. ON P13 23 to May 21, 2021, and those situation.
third worst-hit state after Maharashtra and Kerala.
for Class 10 Secondary CONTD. ON P13

'Toolkit did not speak of violence'
NARSI BENWAL
Mumbai
Advocate Nikita Jacob,
through her lawyer, on Tues-
day told the Bombay High
Court that she absconded be-
cause she was scared that
Delhi Police might arrest her
and this could jeopardize her
career. She further said that
the 'toolkit' was prepared by
many youngsters, including
Disha, and it only urged the
people to support farmers
and had no mention of vio-
lence. The HC is likely to
pass orders on Jacob's plea
seeking interim protection
from arrest till the time she
moves an appropriate court
in Delhi.
Senior advocate Mihir De-
sai, who was appearing for
Jacob, told a bench of
Justice Prakash Naik that
his client is an 'enthusiastic
environmentalist' and had
no intention of suggesting
farmers or the protestors
take over the Red Fort
during the Republic Day
tractor rally.
"The Delhi police had raid-
ed my house on February 11
and seized my client's phone
and also her computer. They
did not arrest her the same
day since it was already sun-
set; nonetheless, they told
her that they would return
the next day to arrest her.
CONTD. ON P13
48 die asMP bus
plunges into canal
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bhopal
Forty-eight people,
including 25 men, 21 women
and two children, drowned
in Bansagar canal when a
jam-packed bus heading for
Satna skidded off the road
and fell into the water body
on Tuesday morning.
The 35-seat bus was packed
to capacity with 55 passen-
gers. Seventeen girl students,
who were on their way to at-
tend the entrance exam of
ANM in Satna, are among the
casualties.The passengers
had boarded the bus around
4.30 am from Sidhi bus stand.
The driver had gathered at
the bus stand that there was a
traffic jam on the highway at
CONTD. ON P13
We don’t crib about grass: Ashwin
FPJ SPORTS DESK
Chennai
Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin – not the one
to look the other way -- has hit back at the crit-
icism of the pitch at Chennai, most of which
was directed at him since he was playing on
home ground, where the ball spun from the
first session and kicked up dust after the ball
had landed. Thanks to all the imponderables,
he delivered a man-of-the-match performance
as India beat England by 317 runs.
Yesteryear England captains Michael
Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen were among
those who criticised the strip, with the former
describing it as a 'stinker', while the latter pre-
dicted India would have lost again had the
toss not gone Virat Kohli's way.
But Ashwin - who is refusing to rest on his
laurels and is behind only Anil Kumble for
the most Test wickets in India of any home
player - responded to such criticism by stating
the country's greats have not complained
Axar Patel celebrates a wicket with skipper Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma. India won the when they have seen plenty of grass on sur-
match by 137 runs. faces overseas. CONTD. ON P13

LAST WORD TAILPIECE

SC clarifies: No case against Sardesai

AGENCIES
New Delhi
The Supreme Court on
late Tuesday night clarified
that its website had "inad-
vertently" shown that a suo
motu contempt case has
been registered against
journalist Rajdeep Sardesai
for his tweets.
"This is in the context of a
news item being flashed on
some news channels about
suo motu criminal con-
tempt proceeding being ini-
tiated against Rajdeep
Sardesai by the Supreme
Court; it is made clear that
no such proceeding has
been initiated against him’’.
Earlier, the news with re-
gard to the suo motu con-
tempt case was reported in
the media based on the in-
formation available with
the top court's website.
It was stated that the case
was registered following
the filing of a petition by
one Aastha Khurana under
Article 129 of the Constitu-
tion, seeking initiation of
the contempt proceedings.
On September 17, 2020, At-
torney General K K Venu-
gopal had declined consent
for initiating action against
Sardesai for the same set of
tweets.
The plea had said that the
top court in the past has
passed various landmark
judgements and each time
the alleged contemnor has
passed various disrespect-
ful comments and ques-
tioned the fairness and
credibility of the court.
It especially referred to a
tweet by Sardesai made on
August 31, 2020, with re-
spect to the top court ver-
dict imposing a fine of Rs
one on advocate Prashant
Bhushan for contempt of
court.  
MOHAN BHAGWAT AT MITHUN'S
Actor Mithun Chakraborty hosted
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mo-
han Bhagwat at his residence in Mumbai
on Tuesday. Apparently, the RSS wants to
leave no stone left unturned before the elec-
tion in West Bengal.
Though Mithun claims only breakfast
was on menu and not politics, observers are
wondering whether with Sourav Ganguly
out of action, the RSS-BJP combine is look-
ing at Mithun for providing them with the
necessary optics.
interestingly, they had last met when the
actor had dropped in at the RSS headquar-
ters in Nagpur in 2019. The 70-year-old film
star says he has a more enduring "spiritual
relationship" with Bhagwat.
Mithun, however, has friends in the TMC,
too, and was a Rajya Sabha member of the
Trinamool in the past. Before he hopped
over to Mumbai for 'nariyal paani' with
Mithun, Bhagwat was in Bihar for almost
five days. There, too, he invited doctors,
lawyers and professors for a brunch at Vijay
Niketan, the RSS headquarters.
CONTD. ON P13
MUMBAI MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021
BMC confiscates parked truck with gas cylinders
MUMBAI: After receiving complaints from citizen groups, the
BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation confiscated a parked truck
with gas cylinders in it. After a fire broke out in Andheri on
February 10, Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had appealed to
citizens for submitting written complaints about cylinders kept at
public places.
On Tuesday, Mumbai North Central District Forum (MNCDF)
lodged a complaint on Twitter. -Staff Reporter

STRICT CURBS IN VIDARBHA ‘BJP conspiracy to put pressure

AFTER RISE IN COVID CASES
New guidelines will remain in place till February 28
SANJAY JOG | Mumbai
Even though Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray did not announce a fresh
lockdown in Maharashtra amidst the rise
in COVID-19 cases, various districts in
Vidarbha with a high positivity rate have
imposed a slew of measures to curb the
spread of the virus.
In Akola and Nagpur, amongst other
districts in the Vidarbha region where the
COVID-19 cases have surged since
February 1, the district administration has
taken decisions related to the closure of
schools and colleges, restriction on the
guest list for marriages and complete ban
on religious functions. As reported by the
Free Press Journal, Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray had directed the Nagpur and
Amravati divisional commissioners to be
vigilant and step up coronavirus
containment measures.
In Akola, the district administration
ordered the closure of schools from
Standard 5 to Standard 9 and colleges. It
has also banned religious and political
events. Only 50 people are allowed to
attend wedding ceremonies. The
administration swung into action after
500 patients were found in the last one
week.
The new guidelines will remain in place
till February 28. Akola District Collector
Jitendra Papalkar has announced the
formation of joint squads for the strict
implementation of these guidelines, which
make it mandatory to use face masks and
sanitisers and maintain social distance.
The use of masks and sanitisers in hotels
and restaurants has been made
mandatory. Punitive action will be taken
against the establishment that does not
follow the COVID-19 norms.
The time for the wedding ceremony is
limited to 10 pm. In rural and urban
areas, five people cannot come together.
Processions and rallies have also been
banned.
As far as Nagpur city is concerned, the
municipal corporation has intensified
action against those who are not
following the COVID-19 rules. The civic
body’s flying squad imposed a penalty of
Rs 10,000 at one wedding ceremony after
it found that there were more people and
vehicles than prescribed.
on celebrities to tweet exposed’
FPJ POLITICAL BUREAU
Mumbai
Congress, on Tuesday, claimed
that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s
(BJP) conspiracy to put pressure
on celebrities to tweet on farmers’
protest was exposed following
the police investigation. The
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress
Committee spokesman Sachin
Sawant, who had demanded
inquiry into similar tweets from
celebrities, said that the party’s
allegation that the BJP pressured
celebrities to tweet against the
farmers' agitation has proved to
be true.
“After our demand to probe if
celebrities were arm twisted by
BJP, not a single celebrity came
forth and said that it was his or
her own opinion. Our demand
was right. BJP’s IT Cell and 12
influencers have been found
involved. Further inquiry will
SPLASHING COLOURS
Cops get vaccinated at Rajawadi Hospital.
PIC: BL Soni
‘
After our demand to probe if celebrities
were arm twisted by BJP, not a single
celebrity came forth and said that it was his
or her own opinion. Our demand was right.
BJP’s IT Cell and 12 influencers have been
found involved. Further inquiry will unmask
BJP’s huge conspiracy against India.
-Sachin Sawant, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Shiv Sena’s
unmask BJP’s huge conspiracy
against India,” said Sawant in a
after Home Minister Anil
Deshmukh announced that a Gulabrao Patil’s
tweet. He demanded that the preliminary probe by the
police should take immediate
action against BJP IT cell and 12
Maharashtra Police has revealed
that the BJP’s IT cell chief and 12
Twitter account
others. “Even though BJP
president JP Nadda, Union
other influencers were involved in
the case pertaining to the tweets
gets hacked
Minister Prakash Javedkar and by celebrities that had similar
former Chief Minister Devendra hashtags like #IndiaTogether and Patil lodged a case on
Fadnavis have tried to cover up #IndiaAgainstPropagada to
the BJP's conspiracy, the silence of counter the tweets posted by Monday night with
these celebrities says a lot about foreign celebrities who had come Jalgaon police
the BJP's conspiracy,” he alleged. out in support of the Indian
Sawant’s statement came a day farmers.
FPJ POLITICAL BUREAU
Mumbai
Shiv Sena Minister Gula-
brao Patil’s Twitter account
was hacked by an unknown
person after a photo of a for-
eigner was posted on it.
Patil has personally lodged
a case on Monday night
with the Jalgaon Superin-

News of Rathod’s resignation wrong: Raut tendent of Police.

SANJAY JOG |Mumbai SUICIDE CASE
� Pooja Chavan, who hailed
The news of Forest Minister from Beed district, died after
Sanjay Rathod’s resignation in falling from a building in
wake of the rising chorus from Pune's Hadapsar area in the
the opposition in connection wee hours of February 8
with Tik Tok star Pooja Chavan’s � BJP leader Autl Bhatkhalkar
death was denied by Shiv Sena, on Tuesday alleged the Shiv
saying that police investigation Sena was trying to shield its
is still underway. As the news leader who is a minister in
of Rathod’s resignation the Maharashtra cabinet,
repeatedly flashed on TV from any legal action in
channels, the ruling party connection with the death of
continued to keep mum. Finally, the 23-year-old woman.
the party Member of the � The state DGP Hemant
Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut Nagrale reached Pune to take
broke the silence. stock of the police probe into
"Chief Minister Uddhav the death. Furthermore,
Thackeray has ordered an members of the Banjara
inquiry. There is a rule of law in community on Tuesday took
out morcha in support of
the state. Action will be taken Rathod.
well within the framework of
the law. A high level inquiry is
underway into the matter.
Investigation is not done in just
one direction, but various
angles are being considered.
The CM is keeping an eye on
this matter. Similarly, Home
Minister Anil Deshmukh is also
taking stock of the probe,” said
Raut.
Raut clarified he had no
information about Rathod’s
resignation. “If Rathod has
submitted his resignation to the
CM, the latter will announce it,”
he said. He further added that
the news of Rathod’s
resignation is wrong.
Incidentally, Rathod was
conspicuous by his absence at
the meeting convened by
Thackeray with the party.
Patil, who is minister of
water supply and sanitation
and also the Jalgaon district
guardian minister, has an
active account @Gulabrao-
jiPatil. He has been quite ac-
tive on Twitter.
However, after he found
that, on his account, a pho-
tograph of a foreigner was
flashing, he came to know
that his account had been
hacked. Patil said that, so
far, no suspicious tweet has
been made from his ac-
count.
The minister said the cy-
ber police has been investi-
gating his complaint. Most
notably, the timeline of
Patil’s account, which was
previously open to all, has
now been protected. As a re-
Jehangir Art Gallery reopens after 11 months. PIC: BHUSHAN KOYANDE sult, no one can see his
timeline anymore.

Court junks BJP’s plea for leader Congress ready to contest all
of opposition status in civic body 227 seats alone, claims Patole
OUR BUREAU | New Delhi
The Supreme Court, on Tuesday,
rejected the Bharatiya Janata
Party's (BJP) plea to grant it the
Leader of Opposition (LoP) status
in the BrihanMumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC), which it had
refused in 2017 since it was then
in coalition with Shiv Sena.
"The LoP post cannot be claimed
on mere change of heart. This is
an everyday phenomenon in
politics. Today, you may be
friends, tomorrow not. Legal rights
cannot be dependent on relations
between the parties," ruled a
bench headed by Chief Justice of
India Sharad Arvind Bobde, which
also comprised Justices AS
Bopanna and V
Ramasubramanian.
On January 21, the court had
issued notice to the Maharashtra
government and the Mumbai
Mayor on a petition by BJP
corporator Prabhakar Tukaram
Shinde that he must get the post
by virtue of being leader of the
second largest party. Shinde had
challenged a Bombay High Court
verdict on September 21, holding
that Ravi Raja of the Congress will
continue to be LoP as appointed in
2017.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi,
appearing for Shinde, told the
court that the Congress is a part of
the ruling coalition in Maharashtra
and still it is enjoying the status of
the LoP in the Municipal
Corporation of Greater Mumbai.
The bench declined to entertain
his line of argument that the
Congress, which is in coalition
with Shiv Sena in the state, should
not get the LoP post. The party is
in power in the state. This does
not mean it will be treated in
power in the civic bodies as well,
it said.
In the 2017 municipal elections,
the BJP got 82 seats. Shinde, who
is leader of the BJP group in the
municipal corporation, submitted
that the political dynamics have
changed in Maharashtra after the
Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi
coalition began to govern the
state after the 2019 assembly
elections. Shinde's contention was
that BJP had voluntarily given up
the LoP status. His petition said,
"In the present case, the BJP
group, the second largest, which
had earlier decided to stay neutral
in the BMC, has now decided to
take over the role of the principal
opposition group. The dynamics
pertaining to the party with the
greatest numerical strength in the
opposition has changed with the
BJP group replacing the Congress
group." The Congress on Tuesday
welcomed the SC's decision of not
acknowledging the BJP as the
opposition in the BMC. "This
decision of the SC has shown BJP
the real meaning of opposition
party," said Ravi Raja senior
Congress corporator, who is the
LoP in the BMC. However, mayor,
Kishori Pednekar stated, this
decision will not affect the Shiv
Sena. "The decision of the court
doesn't bother us because now
that we are the ruling party, there
is bound to be an opposition and
we don't care who that is," said
Pednekar.
No formal announcement as Congress is sharing power with Shiv Sena & NCP
SANJAY JOG | Mumbai
Days after he took over as the
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress
Committee (MPCC) president,
Nana Patole, on Tuesday, said the
party is all geared up to contest
the elections alone to the India’s
richest civic body, the
BrihanMumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC).
"A meeting of the Congress party
was held to decide the strategy
regarding the BMC elections. The
party held discussions on
strengthening the organisation in
each ward. Congress is ready to
fight for all the 227 seats of the
corporation on its own, said
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress
Committee President Nana
Patole," a party officer bearer said.
However, Patole restrained from
making a formal announcement
on going solo, as the Congress
party is sharing power with Shiv
Sena and Nationalist Congress
Party (NCP) in the Maha Vikas
Aghadi government.
Patole has shown restraint, as a
section of the Congress party
along with Shiv Sena and NCP are
in favour of contesting elections
together in a serious bid to defeat
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
while strongly countering its
MissionMumbai 2022.
Earlier, newly appointed Mumbai
Regional Congress Committee
president Bhai Jagtap had said, as
the city unit chief, he was of the
firm opinion that the Congress
should contest all the 227 seats in
the BMC. However, Shiv Sena
Member of the Parliament (MP)
Sanjay Raut had said the MVA
would contest the BMC elections
together. “MVA will fight the civic
polls in Maharashtra's capital and
will win it. In Mumbai, who else
but Shiv Sena can win? MVA is
here to stay permanently,” Raut
had said.
At today’s meeting, the Congress
leaders also discussed the
loopholes in the structuring of the
wards. They had alleged that
demarcation or redrawing of ward
boundaries ahead of the 2017
civic polls were done to favour
the BJP and had demanded fresh
delimitation.
Patole said that SC, ST, and
women candidates do not get
proper representation after the
wards were restructured in 2017.
"The Congress party is a party that
takes everyone along and the role
of the Congress is that all the
sections of the society should get
justice. In this regard, a
committee has been appointed
under the chairmanship of senior
leader Janardan Chandurkar and
the report of this committee will
be submitted to the chief minister
and the EC," he
added.
Bird Flu in Maharashtra: 65
poultry birds reported dead
MUMBAI: A total of 66 birds, including
65 poultry birds, were found dead
because of bird flu in Maharashtra.
Samples are being sent for testing to
the National Institute of High Security
Animal Diseases in Bhopal and Disease
Investigation Section in Pune.
The fall in bird flu cases has brought
relief to the state government at a time
when it is struggling to contain the
fresh surge in COVID-19 cases across the state.
According to the Department of Animal Husbandry, so far, 7,12,172
poultry birds, including 5,78,360 birds from Navapur in Nandurbar
district, were scientifically culled. Besides, 26,03,728 eggs and 72,974 kg
poultry feed have also been destroyed from infected zones. The state
government has released Rs 3.38 crore as compensation to farms where
the culling of poultry birds and the disposal of eggs and poultry feed
have been carried out to contain bird flu. The state government has
delegated powers to the district collectors under the Prevention and
Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals Act, 2009, for
the prevention, control and eradication of the disease. -Sanjay Jog
Kangana withdraws lawsuit
against merged flats’ notice
MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Kangana
Ranaut on Tuesday withdrew her suit
filed in a civil court here against the
notice issued by the Municipal
Corporation of Greater Mumbai for
alleged illegal merger of flats.
The MCGM, also known as the
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
(BMC), had in March 2018 issued a
notice to Ranaut over merger of three
flats owned by her in the Orchid Breeze building in Khar area.
It was alleged that the flats were merged into a single unit in violation of
sanctioned plans. In December last year, the Dindoshi civil court had
dismissed her application challenging the notice. -Agencies

BHIMA-KOREGAON CASE
300 parents to stage protest Over 5,700 houses sold in city
for reduction of school fees ‘Conspiracy isn’t by accused, SWEETY ADIMULAM | Mumbai

but rather to implicate them’

RONALD RODRIGUES | Mumbai
Around 300 parents of the
students studying in private
unaided schools will be staging
a protest on February 17 at
Azad Maidan against the fees
charged during the COVID-19
pandemic. The protest termed
'Chalo Azad Maidan' has been
organised by the Forum for
Fairness in Education (FFE), a
non-governmental organisation,
and will witness the
participation of parents from
different parts of Maharashtra.
Parents said they have
repeatedly appealed to the state
School Education Department to
grant relief, written several
letters to state government
authorities and staged online
protests, but there has been no
response. Jayant Jain, president
of FFE, said, "As schools have
shifted to the online mode of
education, there has to be a
total waiver of unjustified fees,
such as bus fees, canteen,
laboratory, library, sports,
annual day and other
miscellaneous fees."
Jain said, "The bifurcation of
tuition fees must be shared with
parents. Currently, schools are
not providing offline services
such as canteen, bus or sports
facilities. Parents have faced a
loss of jobs, salary cuts and
economic losses in businesses.
STAFF REPORTER | Mumbai
Speaking at an online press
conference on the US firm Arsenal
Consulting’s report, which
concluded that incriminating
evidence was planted in the
computer of Bhima-Koregaon
accused and activist Rona Wilson,
senior advocate Mihir Desai said
that the conspiracy is not by the
accused, but rather to implicate
them.
Desai said the evidence found on
Rona Wilson’s computer was used
as a central pillar to arrest various
others in the case. Once it has been
shown that the evidence is prima
facie suspect, the case should be
quashed and all accused should be
released on bail immediately.
Stating that it ‘punches a hole’ in
the prosecution’s case, he said that
since nowadays more and more
electronic evidence is used to
implicate several people and
attacks, such as that on Wilson, can
be used as a surveillance tool,
there needs to be a full-fledged
inquiry into who planted it.
Colleague of Jesuit priest Stan
Swamy, Father Solomon, another
speaker, said that for people of the
60’s and 70’s it is unimaginable
that such attacks could take place
and Stan Swamy, now 83, was
‘baffled initially’ when Solomon
had told him that computers could
be attacked. He recalled that
Swamy had asserted to the NIA
Bhima-Koregaon
site in Pune district
during his questioning that he had
no knowledge of the content
pointed out to him by the agency
that it alleged was found on his
device and had disowned them.
Sagar Gonsalves, son of activist
Vernon Gonsalves, also in
custody in the case, said the
letters were used as a
propaganda tool and the
damage they have done
cannot be put into words.
“They were used to create a
narrative so that
In Mumbai alone, over 5,791
sale conveyance deeds were
recorded by the mid of February
according to the data available
with the Department of
people see them as Registration and Stamps,
urban naxals. government of Maharashtra.
People who know Following the whopping sale of
nothing about houses, the state exchequer has
their work have made about Rs 206.94 crore
even called for from stamp duty fees. The state
their government had declared 3 per
execution, cent stamp duty fees on every
which is purchase of a property up till
extremely March 31. Earlier, the discount
harsh,” he offer was 2 per cent. In the
said. state, the overall 90,904
conveyance sale generated a
revenue of around Rs 7,44.44
crore.
The reduction in stamp duty
from the previous 5 per cent to
2 and 3 per cent subsequently
yielded encouraging reaction
from homebuyers. Besides,
several developers also offered
zero stamp duty on purchase of
property in their respective
project apart from offering other
gifts and discounts. Thus,
buyers also found to be making
the best use of the available
benefits.
Reportedly, December, 2020,
recorded the highest sale of
houses. With just 2 per cent
stamp duty benefit, about
18,000 sale conveyance deeds
were registered from Mumbai
alone.
15-year-old boy successfully undergoes surgery on testis
MUMBAI: A 15-year-old boy with severe testicular pain gets a
new way of life at Zen Multispecialty Hospital, Chembur. A
resident of Chembur was complaining of testicular pain in the right
testis for 2 days. Dr. Vishakha Kalikar, Laparoscopic surgeon, Zen
Multispeciality Hospital, said, “On arrival, his sonography
suggested that there was no blood flow to his testis. The patient
underwent a bilateral orchiopexy that is fixing the testis in their
original position. The boy was discharged within 24 hours.”
MUMBAI
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

LHB COACHES GETTING DETACHED

ANTI-CREEP TEST NOT DONE, REVEALS PROBE

CBC that holds two coaches came off twice on Feb 11, official says 'knuckles and pin' likely cause
SHASHANK RAO
Mumbai We have sought an explanation
On February 11, an unusual from our staff & DAR enquiry is on
incident occurred when two
Cops have seized Dr. Tupe’s mobile phone for investigation
coaches of Linke Hofmann Western Railway Official on the condition of anonymity

Nair Hospital doctor

Busch (LHB) make of a long-
distance train got detached
twice. What's surprising is report is prepared," said a WR was moving at slower

ends life with heavy

that these coaches had under-
gone periodical maintenance
and were sent 'on-line' for
service on February 9 itself.
This has sprung open a dis-
cussion on the quality of
maintenance done and post-
checking and tests carried out
before it goes on track for pas-
senger service.
This has come up in the ini-
tial enquiry of Western Rail-
way which is conducting a de-
tailed examination and en-
quiry into this incident. This
event has occurred at a time
when the Indian Railways are
promoting LHB coaches over
the earlier ICF make of coach-
The anti-creep test is carried out to ensure that coaches don't separate while the train is moving
es that will be decommis-
sioned.
The centre buffer coupler
(CBC) that holds the two
coaches, came off both the
times and allegedly there
could be issues with the
'knuckles and pin' which
holds the two coaches. "Initial
enquiry shows that the anti-
creep test wasn't conducted af-
ter the maintenance, which is
mandatory. We have sought an
explanation from our staff
and DAR enquiry is on. We
will understand the actual
reason only when the entire
investigation is over and the
official on condition of
anonymity.
The anti-creep test, accord-
ing to WR officials, is namely
carried out to double-check
and ensure that coaches don't
separate while the train is
moving. Sources said that fol-
lowing this incident, a drive
too has begun at various rail-
way workshops for refresher
training to their staff han-
dling these LHB coaches and
maintaining them.
A 18-car LHB coach train
is permitted to travel up to
160 kmph while 24-car train
can run at speeds up to 130
kmph. In this case the train
speeds plus they were emp-
ty. The first time the coach-
es of Bandra Terminus and
Ramnagar railway station
in Uttarakhand, uncoupled
at 5.27 am between Jogesh-
wari and Ram Mandir sta-
dose of anaesthesia
tions in which the train was
stranded for 73 minutes.
Dr. Tupe injected 4 vials of anaesthesia on both his hands
The same coach again got
separated between Naigaon SACHIN GAAD & SWAPNIL MISHRA Dr Tupe in an unconscious
and Vasai Road wherein it Mumbai state. They rushed him to the
took 21 minutes to re-couple Nair hospital where he was
the coaches. Later it was A 28-year-old doctor from declared dead before
halted at Virar where the BYL Nair Hospital allegedly admission.
troubles coaches were sepa- committed suicide by "Following the incident we
rated and sent for investiga- injecting a heavy dose of have registered an accidental
tion. No passenger was in- anaesthesia at his quarters death report and further
jured in the incident. on Monday night. Deceased investigation is underway,”
Dr Bhimsandesh Tupe was said Shriram Koregaonkar,

ED enquired about tendering process in MMRDA: Rajeev

pursuing MD in anaesthesia.
5 men who set up NCP office-bearer He had just returned from his
hometown in Aurangabad.
senior inspector of Agripada
police station.
According to the police, Tupe

in false drugs case arrested by ANC The police did not find any injected four vials of

‘
— PIC BY BL SONI suicide note. They said he anaesthesia on both his
PRATIK SALUNKE committed suicide due to hands. Four empty vials
MUMBAI: The Azad Maidan unit of Anti Mumbai I was asked about the personnel reasons. The police along with an entire box of
Narcotics Cell (ANC) had recently arrested tendering process of recovered a box of anaesthesia vials was
five accused in the case of possession of The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development MMRDA and who takes anaesthesia vials from his recovered from his room.
150 grams of mephedrone (MD). Authority (MMRDA) commissioner RA Rajeev room. After reaching Mumbai, Tupe
However, the investigation into the case appeared before the Enforcement Directorate the decision According to the police, Tupe had informed his brother who
revealed an entirely different story. (ED) on Tuesday in a case linked to Tops Grup — RA Rajeev, MMRDA Commissioner had gone to his native place is also a doctor at Nanavati
According to the police, the main and Shiv Sena legislator Pratap Sarnaik. for a week to see his father, hospital that he had reached
conspirator Abdul Ajij Shaikh, 37, alias Ajju, wanted to make The MMRDA chief arrived at the ED’s Ballard who recently had a paralysis safely. Tupe's postmortem
his brother an office-bearer of the Nationalist Congress Party Estate office around noon for recording his and solutions limited, with MMRDA as per attack. After returning to was conducted at the BYL
(NCP). To dislodge the current secretary holding the post, he statement. He left the ED office at around 7.15 which there were about 350 to 500 guards Mumbai on Monday morning, Nair hospital and his body
decided to set him in a false drugs case. However, before the pm. “I was asked about the tendering process of director Marth Sasidharan and Amit Chandole, which were to be deployed on MMRDA sites on he resumed duty was handed over to his
execution, their streak of good luck got over and the person MMRDA and who takes the decision,” he told both earlier arrested in the case. The duo are a monthly basis. That out of the same, only 70% immediately. Around 9.30 family.
carrying MD landed in the police net. media persons after the questioning adding that allegedly discussing bribing the officer who is of guards were actually deployed; that however pm, after taking a round of The police have seized his
The police have so far arrested five people in the case including an his statement was recorded till 4 pm. When slated to be questioned in the case. the billing was done for all the guards as per his ward, he returned to his mobile phone for further
anti-drug activist and a police informant. asked about the alleged clean chit given to the Meanwhile, the ED has issued fresh summons to contract and the wages paid details were room and told the staff to investigation. Dr Ramesh
According to the police, Ajju wanted to make his brother an NCP Tops Grup by MMRDA before Mumbai police’s Armaan Jain, grandson of late Bollywood actor submitted to MMRDA for 100 % of the contract contact him for any Bharmal, dean, Nair hospital
secretary, the pose has been held by one Vijay Koli, and Ajju also has Economic Offences Wing which is also probing a and director Raj Kapoor, in connection with the value based on the number of guards to be emergency. Around 10 pm, a said the exact reason for the
some issues with Koli. For the same, he met several NCP members case, Rajiv said, “No clean chit has been given” same case. Jain has been asked to appear on deployed as per the contract and not on the staff member went to his death is not known. The body
however nothing worked out, said police. According to the police, in To recall, the MMRDA clarified on Monday that Wednesday. The ED has earlier detailed before basis of actual deployment of the guards,” the quarters after he failed to is handed over to the
January, Ajju along with one Asif Sardar, 49, an anti-drug activist Rajeev will be visiting the ED office on behalf of the court the alleged misappropriation based on agency has earlier told the court. “That answer multiple phone calls. Agripada Police station for
decided to set Koli in a drugs case and procured 150 grams of MD MMRDA though the case pertains to his the statements recorded of Ramesh Iyer of accordingly compliance documents like PFs/ESIC The staff member found the further investigation. “We are
with the help of another accomplice. The contraband substances predecessor’s tenure. The ED is slated to record Topsgrup and Amar Panghal, ex-finance director are being submitted for 100% of the contract room locked from inside. Dr also conducting internal
were later passed on to one Ayyaz Mandaviwala, 46, who was the statement of another senior officer of of Topsgrup. “Iyer and Panghal in their value and not on the basis of actual deployment, Tupe was not answering the inquiry and have appointed a
tasked to put the packet of drugs in Koli's car. Mandaviwala is a MMRDA whose name allegedly surfaced in statements stated that in the year 2014, a i.e at the reduced strength of the guards doorbell. The staff members member to investigate the
known police informant. — SACHIN GAAD chats between former Tops Grup managing contract was signed by M/s Topsgrup services deployed.” broke open the door to find matter,” he said.

ACTOR’S DEATH Maharashtra logs 3,663 212 beneficiaries get 2nd dose of vax 
new coronavirus cases
Nahar’s wife, mother-in-law SWAPNIL MISHRA
6,215 health care and frontline workers vaccinated in the last 24 hours

booked for abetment to suicide

Mumbai SWAPNIL MISHRA/ Mumbai

Maharashtra reported 3,663 More than 200 beneficiaries were

PRIYANKA NAVALKAR
Mumbai
A day after actor Sandeep Nahar
allegedly committed suicide, his
family arrived from Haryana to take
his body to their hometown. While
the family claims that Nahar never
spoke about his problems, they
always knew about the couple's
temper and marital issues. Police
said that Nahar hanged himself
with a bedsheet and the cause of
death is asphyxiation due to
hanging.
Goregaon Police booked Nahar's
wife Kanchan Sharma and her
mother for abetment to suicide
under relevant sections of the
Indian Penal Code late on Tuesday
night. Police said that Nahar's
father claimed in his statement that
Kanchan and her mother harassed
the late actor to a point where he
had to contemplate suicide. Acting
on this Information, the duo were
booked. No arrests have been
made as of now, said police.
An investigating officer said that
Nahar, who had recently appeared
in a commercial advertisement, had
married his live-in girlfriend in
August 2020. The problems
between the couple soon began
cropping up, it has been revealed
prima facie.
A close relative of Nahar's said that
the late actor was very soft spoken
and did not share a lot. "The late
actor and his wife Kanchan had
recently returned from a mini
vacation to Goa. We thought
everything was fine. We are
shocked to see his Facebook post
and video, wherein he said that he
is going to commit suicide. Nahar
had also sent the same message
and video to his close group of
friends, who tried reaching out to
‘
We thought
everything was
fine. We are
shocked to see his
Facebook post and
video, wherein he said
that he is going to
commit suicide
— Sandeep Nahar’s relative
him, but to no avail," said the
relative.
When Nahar's friends and family
began calling Kachan, she claimed
that the actor was sitting in the
bedroom, as he wanted to be
alone. When Kanchan knocked on
the door, it went unanswered. She
called for help, only to find him
hanging from the ceiling fan.
An officer said that hours before
he committed suicide, Nahar
had bought a bottle of alcohol,
which was empty. Police said
that prima facie it is a clear-cut
case of suicide.
new coronavirus cases and 39
covid-19 fatalities on Tuesday,
continuing the trend of increase
in cases in the last few days,
pushing its tally to 20,71,306
with 51,591 deaths so far.
Mumbai, meanwhile reported
461 new cases and three covid
deaths, increasing its total count
to 3,15,030, with 11,423.
Meanwhile, Health Minister
Rajesh Tope said there was no
reason to panic but safety
norms must be followed, while
Chief Minister Uddhav
Thackeray warned that if people
did not follow social distancing
and wear masks, another
lockdown may follow.
Since last Wednesday,
Maharashtra has been reporting
more than 3,000 cases on a
daily basis. On Sunday, it
recorded 4,092 cases, the
highest single-day spike in more
than a month. Moreover, the
number of districts showing a
rise in active COVID- 19 patients
has increased in the last few
days, the government data
showed.
“There has been a relaxation in
travel restrictions since February
1 which could have been one of
the factors behind the increase
in numbers,” said a health
department official.
State surveillance officer Dr.
Pradeep Awate said the
recovery rate in the state was
95.7 per cent, and the case
fatality rate was 2.49 per cent.
Dr. Awate further said there
could be various factors for the
rise, including the weather
pattern. “The cold weather has
risen and, three to four weeks
ago, there were gram panchayat
elections across 14,000 villages
where people stepped out for
campaigning. Family functions
have increased in a big way
with marriages seeing a large
number of guests and all this
may have resulted in a slight
increase.”
inoculated with the second dose
of the covid-19 vaccine on
Tuesday compared to 71 which
was done just a day before.
However, the technical glitch in
the Co-Win continues to be a
problem at the vaccine centres as
the names of first-time
beneficiaries were still missing for
the second consecutive day.
According to the data, 6,215
health care and frontline workers
were vaccinated in the last 24
hours, of which 212 were given a
second dose. So far 1,25,625 remained sluggish. For many who receiving text messages or calls
beneficiaries have been inoculated took the vaccine on January 16, from the local ward office.
since the vaccination drive started the software flashed that they had According to experts, the first dose
across Mumbai. not completed 28 days. of the vaccine helps recognise the
Meanwhile, for the third Even for many who got the virus and ramp up the immune
consecutive day, more FLWs have second dose on Monday, the system which helps the body fight
been vaccinated compared to software generated a provisional against diseases. The second dose
HCWs at the 23 centres across the certificate saying this was their is called the booster shot, which
city. On Tuesday, 70 per cent FLWs first dose. In Mumbai, only five helps in further boosting the
and 59 per cent of HCWs were centres could even administer the immune system.
inoculated. second dose, while in most others, “In the public health set-up, one
Civic officials said the software the software did not support even needs to follow the guidelines and
didn’t recognise that beneficiaries the creation of vaccine sessions. if our national immunisation
eligible for the second dose had Additional municipal guidelines say the second dose
already taken the first shot. In a commissioner Suresh Kakani said must be taken on completion of
few centres, the software crashed healthcare workers should visit four weeks, we should abide by
at the beginning of the day and vaccination centres only after it,” said an expert.

Plea seeking administrators over

cooperative societies dismissed
NARSI BENWAL
Mumbai
The Bombay High Court on
Tuesday dismissed a petition
challenging the decision of the
Maharashtra government's decision
to postpone the elections and to
allow the present managing
committees of all the cooperative
societies, district cooperative banks
and even sugar factories to
continue till fresh elections aren't
held.
A bench of Justices Ramesh
Dhanuka and Virendrasingh Bisht
was dealing with a plea filed by
one Arun Kulkarni, a member of
Balgawade Vividh Karyakari
Sahakari (Vikas) Seva Society,
Sangli.
Kulkarni through his counsel Satish
Talekar challenged the state's
ordinances that not only postponed
the elections but also allowed the
existing managing committees to
continue in the societies till fresh
elections are held.
Notably, the polls were due in
January 2020, however, the same
couldn't be done in view of the
pandemic. The state had in June
2020 passed an ordinance by
which it permitted the managing
committees to function. The
petitioner claimed that the said
ordinance allowed the existing
committees to function only for six
months.
Talekar argued that the ordinance
breached the fundamental right to
equality as it deprived many others
of their chance to get elected into
the managing committees. He even
highlighted the fact that law
permits the state to appoint
administrators to look after the
functioning of all such cooperative
societies.
The judges, however, dismissed the
plea noting that Kulkarni had no
locus standi in the matter.
Pandemic in Maharashtra under control,
allow local bodies to meet physically: HC
NARSI BENWAL
Mumbai
Observing that the pandemic
in the state is 'well under con-
trol' the Bombay High Court
on Monday ordered the Ma-
harashtra government to re-
consider its decision to per-
mit the local self-govern-
ments to conduct their gener-
al body meetings only
through video conferencing
and not physically.
A bench of Chief Justice Di-
pankar Datta and Justice
Girish Kulkarni questioned
the rationale behind the
state's decision especially in
view of the fact that the ses-
sions of the Parliament and
also the state assembly are be-
ing held physically.
"We are also informed that
the Lok Sabha sessions in
New Delhi is being conducted
in the physical presence of
the members; so also, the ses-
sions in the Maharashtra
Legislative Assembly," the
judges noted.
"The pandemic in this state
is well under control. Activi-
ties in almost all spheres have
opened up. The Secretariat is
working in full swing. The
Courts have opened up pro-
viding access to justice for all.
The local bodies are also per-
forming their statutory du-
ties. The situation, thus, is
not so grim as in the past
year," the bench added.
The bench was seized with
a plea filed by two corpora-
tors of Thane Municipal Cor-
poration (TMC) seeking a di-
rective to the state govern-
ment and the urban develop-
ment department to allow the
civic body to hold its general
body meetings physically and
not virtually.
The judges further took into
Jhanvi murder: At most, case of culpable
homicide, not of murder, Shree in bail plea
MUMBAI: An accused in the
Jhanvi Kukreja murder, 22-year-old
Shree Jogdhankar, in his bail
and Hotel Administration student
and has his final exams due in
March. Jogdhankar through his
account that there is no con- application filed on Monday before advocate Mahesh Vasvani said in
tainment zone in Thane dis- a sessions court has said that if his plea that “the incident is clearly
trict. They also noted the sub- police’s allegations are taken at alleged to have happened on the
mission that the state has al- face value, at worst it is a case of spur of the moment” and that it is
ready allowed cinema halls to culpable homicide not amounting of a personal nature and not a
function 100 per cent physi- to murder and not a case of social or public crime. He also
cally in areas with no con- murder. denied that it was “premeditated”
tainment zones. He sought temporary bail for three or with knowledge.
"In such view of the matter, months as he is a B.Sc Hospitality — STAFF REPORTER
there could hardly be any
plausible reason as to why the
general body meetings of the
TMC cannot be conducted in
the physical presence of all
the councillors, more so con-
sidering that only 131 coun-
cillors of the civic body
would be required to transact
the business of the meeting
and that the meeting hall is
also spacious enough to ac-
commodate all such council-
lors," the bench said.
The bench further said
there isn't any justification on
part of the state for barring
local self-governments from
holding physical meetings.
Man killed in leopard attack in Chandrapur dist
NAGPUR: A leopard killed a 40-year-old man in
Chandrapur district, a forest official said on
Tuesday.
The incident occurred on Monday late night near a
BEST members quiz BMC’s
un(fare) �400 cr loan deal
Committee questions BMC’s decision to slash BEST budget, then terming it as ‘loan’ and charge 4% interest
PRATIP ACHARYA / Mumbai
The Committee members of
the Brihanmumbai Elec-
tricity Supply and Trans-
port (BEST) Undertaking
on Tuesday questioned the
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation's (BMC) pro-
posal of granting Rs 400
crore to the transport body
in the form of loan.
To ease BEST of its finan-
cial burden, the municipal
body proposed a Rs 406 crore
loan to the cash-strapped
transport undertaking in its
2021-22 budget. Earlier, in
the 2020-21 budget, the BMC
had proposed Rs 1,500 crore
to the transport undertak-
ing. However, amid the pan-
demic outbreak the BMC
slashed the budget by Rs 500
crore.
“The BMC has cut the pro-
posed grant to BEST and
now granting that amount
in the form of a loan, this
will not ease the burden on
NMMC budget
to be presented
on February 18
No hike in tax expected
AMIT SRIVASTAVA
Navi Mumbai
The Navi Mumbai Munici-
pal Corporation’s (NMMC)
budget for the financial
year 2021-22 will be pre-
sented on Thursday and
there shall be no rise in the
property tax. The civic
chief Abhijit Bangar con-
firmed that the budget will
be presented on February
18.
Bangar while talking to
FPJ, confirmed that there
will be no rise in taxes.
“The budget has to present-
ed before February 20, and
we have planned it for
Thursday,” said Bangar.
The property tax collec-
tion during 2020-21 affected
severely due to
outbreak of the pandemic.
the
Despite a drop in the
collection in property tax,
the civic body has decided
not to hike any kinds of
taxes.
Last year, the NMMC ad-
ministration had present-
ed a Rs 1.09 crore surplus
budget. The budget had
stressed civic works, waste
management, e-gover-
nance, health, and educa-
tion. The civic body had
also proposed to collected
Rs 630 crore from property
tax. However, it could not
achieve the target due to
the Covid outbreak.
Due to Covid, many of
the projects could not be
executed which are likely
to get space in the budget
for the financial year 2021-
22.
In the 2021-22 budget, the
civic administration is
likely to spend a major
chunk on health infra-
structures. During the
Covid pandemic, the civic
administration faced an
acute shortage of manpow-
er especially para-medical
staffs. A new medical col-
lege may also get space in
the budget as the civic
body is mulling to start a
medical college at its Vashi
hospital.
Nallasopara shootout an act of revenge, duo and planner held
Three shooters are still at large; the shootout occurred outside the Q-n-Q Bar in Moregaon on Sunday
SURESH GOLANI / Mira Bhayandar
Less than 36 hours after two
men were injured after they
were shot at by some uniden-
tified assailants outside a
bar in Nallasopara, the Mira
Bhayandar-Vasai Virar
(MBVV) police apprehended
a duo including a local polit-
ical leader for their involve-
ment in the crime.
As per prima-facie find-
ings, the shootout was or-
dered to avenge a four-year-
mine area in Durgapur in east Maharashtra, he
said.
The deceased is identified as Naresh Sonawane, the
official added.
NO RESPITE IN SIGHT
MONEY MATTERS
� BMC proposed a Rs 406 crore loan to the cash-strapped BEST in its 2021-22 budget
� In 2020-21 budget, BMC had proposed Rs 1,500 crore to BEST but due to pandemic
slashed it to Rs 500 crore
the transport body in any
way, rather it will increase
our liability,” said Sunil
Ganacharya, senior BEST
committee member.
In the budget statement,
BMC stated that it will be
providing the loan amount
to clear out the outstanding
gratitude dues of 3,649 BEST
Reopen offline classes for Std X, XII students: Schools at home in Kharghar
RONALD RODRIGUES / Mumbai
Authorities of the Central
Board of Secondary Educa-
tion (CBSE), Council for the
Indian School Certificate
Examinations (CISCE) and
state board schools have ap-
pealed to the Brihanmum-
bai Municipal Corporation
(BMC) to allow the reopen-
ing of offline classes for
Standard 10 and 12 in view
of board examinations.
Schools state the offline
classes should be reopened
at least for those students
who are facing difficulties
in coping with online edu-
cation or do not have access
to virtual classes.
With approximately two
months left for board exam-
inations, schools state that
CIDCO transfers 919 sqm land to
MIRA ROAD LPG CYLINDER BLASTS
MBMC panel probes cause MVRC for Airoli-Kalwa rail link
Citizens stare at more such disasters due to govt apathy
SURESH GOLANI
Mira Bhayandar
As the six member commit-
tee of the Mira Bhayandar
Municipal Corporation
(MBMC) probes the multiple
LPG cylinder blast incident
which rocked Mira Road on
February 8, citizens living in
various residential pockets
of the twin-city continue to
stare at similar disasters due
to the apathy of concerned
government agencies.
Deafening explosions
awoke residents after a mas-
sive blaze broke out in LPG-
cylinder laden trucks which
were parked in an open
ground amidst a cluster of
buildings in the Ram Nagar
area of Mira Road. The filled
LPG cylinders were loaded
in unguarded trucks.
Soon after the incident, a
six-member committee com-
prising- Executive Engineer-
Deepak Khambit, Ward Offi-
cer- Swapnil Sawant, Fire of-
ficer- Dr. Prakash Borade,
Surveyor- Sunil Mhatre, li-
cense officer-Avinash
Sawant and headed by addi-
tional commissioner- Dilip
old murder case of the politi-
cian’s younger brother. How-
ever, the actual shooters are
still at large.
According to the police, the
shoot-out was reported out-
side Q-n-Q Bar located in the
Moregaon area of Nalla-
sopara (east) in Palghar dis-
trict at around 9:15 pm on
Sunday. Baliram Deepchand
Gupta who runs a mobile
shop and his friend- Rajku-
mar Gupta were indulged in
a binge session on a hand-
-AGENCIES
employees. Ganacharya
highlighted instead of pro-
viding the fund in the form
of loan, BMC could have re-
leased the Rs 500 crore
which it had slashed from
last year’s budget.
“Being a parent body, it's
Constable hangs self
BMC's legal responsibility to
provide financial aid to the
students need to attend of-
fline lectures before their
board exams. Rohan Bhat,
trustee of Children's Acade-
my group of schools, said,
"There are many students of
Standard 10 and 12 who are
facing academic and techni-
cal challenges in coping
with online education. Of-
fline classes should be re-
Dhole was constituted to
probe the incident, sans rep-
resentative from the police
department which immedi-
ately launched an offence
and booked four people in-
cluding the LPG distributor,
truck drivers and the land
owner.
However, round-the-clock
loading and unloading activ-
ities from trucks to delivery
tri-cycles carts have been re-
ported from public roads lo-
cated in densely populated
areas. Some roadside cor-
ners have been turned into
temporary shelters to leave
back hundreds of chained
cylinders, thus posing a
grave danger of explosions.
One such makeshift shelter
is located on the road outside
a pre-primary school in
Bhayandar (W).
“The probe is into its ad-
vanced stages and a final
meeting has been called on
Friday to submit the find-
ings which are not only re-
stricted to that particular in-
cident but to chalk out a
roadmap to ensure such inci-
dents are averted,“ revealed
a panel member.
The spot outside Q-n-Q Bar
where the shootout occured
cart outside the bar when
some unidentified men ar-
rived on a bike motorcycle
and opened fire on the duo.
While Baliram who sus-
BEST. The BMC will be
charging a 4 per cent inter-
est on the loan amount, then
how will the money help us
in any way ?” Ganacharya
questioned.
Members of the committee
also pointed out, till that
BEST have obeyed all the or-
ders that have come from the
BMC including the decision
to slash the minimum bus
fares into Rs 5. Ganacharya
also stated, the fare reduc-
tion has been an added
cause in financial loss of
BEST.
Praveen Shinde, BEST
chairperson and senior Shiv
Sena corporator stated, he
will be proposing the de-
mands of the committee
members to the municipal
commissioner and will also
send it to the BMC standing
committee for its approval.
“I will also suggest the
BMC provide the grant with
zero interest rate,” Shinde
said.
opened at least for those stu-
dents who are unable to
cope with online learning."
Francis Joseph, co-founder
of School Leaders Network
(SLN), said, "Every school is
awaiting an answer from the
BMC regarding when they
can reopen schools especial-
ly for classes 9 to 12, who
have to appear for board ex-
AMIT SRIVASTAVA
Navi Mumbai
The City and Industrial De-
velopment Corporation
(CIDCO) has approved the
transfer of 919 sqm land in
Digha village in Navi
Mumbai to Mumbai Rail
Vikas Corporation (MRVC)
for the proposed Airoli-
Kalwa Elevated corridor.
The decision was taken fol-
lowing the request by
MRVC for transfer and pos-
session of the given land
from CIDCO in the year
2018.
Two pieces of land—
566sqm and 353sqm—in
Now, KDMC initiates drive against NMMC’s Abhay
unsafe buildings, encroachments Yojana scheme
PRIYANKA DHOMSE / Thane
The Kalyan-Dombivali Mu-
nicipal Corporation (KDMC)
will keep a strict vigil on
dangerous structures and
encroachments on footpaths
in the twin city. The KDMC
has initiated a special drive
against both encroached
footpaths and dangerous
structures.
"A total of 471 dangerous
structures in Kalyan-Dom-
bivli were listed following
the structural audit by the
civic body. Most of these
structures were given warn-
ing notices several times, in
order to vacate their build-
tained minor injuries man-
aged to flee the spot, four
rounds were fired at Rajku-
mar out of which three hit
him on the back and one bul-
let went blank, police said.
Sensing the seriousness of
the case the Crime Branch
(Unit III) had been assigned
to conduct investigations.
On the virtue of technical
surveillance and running a
background check of the vic-
tims, the police came across
the criminal antecedents of
MahaSeWA to
meet revenue
Minister over
non-agri tax
SWEETY ADIMULAM / Mumbai
The Maharashtra Societies
Welfare Association (Ma-
haSeWA) will make a repre-
sentation before the revenue
ministry over the non-agri-
cultural (NA) Tax issue, said
Ramesh Prabhu, chairman
of the association represent-
ing about 30,000 housing so-
cieties across Mumbai. Prab-
hu said, "The representation
will mainly focus on reduc-
ing the NA tax percentage as
the existing charges, im-
posed by the government are
exorbitant."
Meanwhile Prabhu assert-
ed that if a nominal amount
is charged as NA Tax, no
housing society would re-
fuse to pay. The Maharashtra
government is sending bills
of pending NA Tax to hous-
ing societies located in sub-
urbs based on 3% of ready
reckoner rate. Interestingly,
in 2018 state had reduced the
NA charges to 0.05%, howev-
er, the bills have not been
sent accordingly.
NA tax is a British era sur-
charge on land that has been
diverted from agriculture for
other purposes.
ams in two months time.
Their peers from all across
the country have moved
ahead and are preparing in
classrooms or labs."
School authorities have
appealed to the BMC to al-
low reopening of offline
classes for Standard 10 and
12 soon. Bhat said, "We un-
derstand that the situation
due to the Covid-19 pandem-
ic is serious. Schools should
be given permission to re-
open offline lectures for a
handful of students of Stan-
dard 10 and 12 who genuine-
ly need personal attention
and offline help in order to
prepare for board exams."
Currently, schools in
Mumbai are shut offline for
all standards as per direc-
tions of the BMC.
Digha village have been
transferred by the CIDCO.
The Rs 476 crore Airoli-
Kalwa Double Elevate rail
link was sanctioned in 2016
and MVRC is handling the
project. The project will
ease pressure from Thane
railway station as trains
from Navi Mumbai will di-
rectly land at Kalwa sta-
tion towards Kalyan.
Dr Sanjay Mukherjee,
vice chairman and manag-
ing director of CIDCO said,
“The decision regarding al-
lotment of land for this
project has been taken for
the public interest. The de-
velopment of this project
ings, since last 2-3 years.
However, very few of the res-
idents respond the notices.
Hence, the demolition drive
has been carried taking ac-
tion against such struc-
tures," said Suhas Gupte,
senior official, encroach-
ment department, KDMC.
the injured victims.
Further investigations led
to the arrest of one of the as-
sailants identified as Salman
Shaikh (21) from Navi Mum-
bai. After rounds of sus-
tained interrogations, he
confessed of being given a
supari (contract) by Chan-
drashekhar Gupta (34) to
eliminate Rajkumar Gupta
to avenge his brother's
killing. Gupta suspected Ra-
jkumar’s involvement in his
brother’s murder.
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021
5, including NMMC vet
dead in E-way accident
5 others injured after five vehicles pile-up on Mum-Pune Expressway near Khopoli
AMIT SRIVASTAVA
Navi Mumbai
Five people died and at least
five others were injured af-
ter five vehicles piled-up on
the Mumbai-Pune Express-
way near Khopoli in Raigad
district in the early hours of
Tuesday. The accident took
place around 12.45 am, the
police said. Veterinary med-
ical officer of Navi Mumbai
Municipal Corporation
(NMMC) was among the de-
ceased.
Dr Vaibhav Jhunjhare,
along with his family was
coming to Navi Mumbai
from Solapur in his car
when the accident oc-
curred. His mother Usha
Jhunjhare, 63, wife Vaishali
Jhunjhare, 38 and daughter
Shriya, 5 also died in the ac-
cident. However, his 11-year-
old son Arnab suffered in-
juries in the accident and he
has been admitted in a hos-
pital at Panvel. The family
resided at civic official
quarter in sector 15 at
Uses wife’s saree to hang self from ceiling fan; no suicide note found
AMIT SRIVASTAVA / Navi Mumbai
A 47-year-old police consta-
ble attached to Kharghar po-
lice station committed sui-
cide in his house at
Kharghar on Monday night
around 11.45 pm. The consta-
ble allegedly hanged himself
from a ceiling fan in his
home.
This is the second incident
in the last two days, when a
police personnel committed
suicide under the Navi
Mumbai police commisison-
erate. On Sunday morning, a
47-year-old assistant police
inspector attached to APMC
police station had killed him-
will reduce the pressure on
Thane railway station and
travellers from Kalyan will
be able to travel conve-
niently to Navi Mumbai.”
“The Planning Depart-
ment has confirmed that
no layout has been pre-
pared in the subjected land
and it is non-nodal area.
The major part of the said
land falls in the Regional
Park Zone (RPZ) and minor
part falls in a residential
zone,” stated a press note
from the public relations
office of CIDCO.
The allotment will be exe-
cuted on a leasehold basis
for the tenure of 90 years.
extended by two
weeks till Mar 1
The civic body has collected
�97.88 cr under the scheme
AMIT SRIVASTAVA
Navi Mumbai
The Navi Mumbai Munici-
pal Corporation (NMMC)
has extended the Abhay Yo-
jana for two weeks and now
citizens will not have to pay
any penalty for delayed pay-
ment of property taxes. The
two months scheme to get a
rebate in the penalty for de-
layed payment of property
taxes had ended on Febru-
ary 15. Now, citizens can pay
the property tax till March
1, to get the benefits.
The civic body collected Rs
97.88 crore as property tax
during the scheme period
and also waived off 52.30
crore penalty for delayed
payments.
The civic body had given
two months period to take
benefits of the scheme
which began on December
15, and ended on February
15, which has now been ex-
tended till March 1.
As per the property tax de-
partment of NMMC, the
civic body collected Rs 187
crore tax from April 2020 to
December 21, 2020.
MMR
Nerul.
The others who received
injuries are Swapnil Kam-
ble, 30, a resident of Gore-
gaon (w), Prakash Nahar,
65, a resident of Goregaon
(w), Kishan Chaudhary and
Kaluram Jat.
The police said that Dr
Jhunjhare had gone to his
native place to bring back
his family. They were re-
turning to Navi Mumbai in
their car, when they met
with the accident. Accord-
ing to his colleagues from
NMMC, Dr Jhunjare had
self by shooting at his chest.
According to police, the
constable resided with his
wife and two children at sec-
tor 12 in Kharghar. “On Mon-
day night, when his wife and
daughters were in other
rooms, he hanged himself
from the ceiling fan with the
saree of his wife. The wife
NMMC seeks suggestions and
objections on draft voter list
AMIT SRIVASTAVA
Navi Mumbai
The draft voter lists of citi-
zens who reside under the
Navi Mumbai Municipal
Corporation (NMMC) ju-
risdiction has been pub-
lished on Tuesday and peo-
ple can check at the civic
headquarters or at
www.nmmc.gov.in.
zens can submit their ob-
Citi-
jections and suggestions
till February 23. The elec-
tion of NMMC is likely to
take place in the first week
of May.
The voter list has been
prepared by the state Elec-
tion Commissioner of In-
dia for the constituencies
that came into existence on
January 15, 2021, would be
valid for this election.
The format to submit an
objection or suggestion can
be downloaded from
Mobile picture chariots create
Covid vax awareness in Thane
PRIYANKA DHOMSE
Thane
The Thane collectorate has
initiated a campaign to
spread awareness about
the COVID-19 vaccines
within its citizens through
mobile picture chariots.
"This campaign initiated
within 36 districts of state
Maharashtra has been an-
nounced with an aim to
clear misconceptions and
false myths about the
COVID-19 vaccines within
the citizens," said an offi-
cial from Thane collec-
torate.
Around 16 mobile vans
with picture chariots will
be the part of the cam-
shifted his family to native
place during the pandemic
as he was on Covid duty.
The NMMC administration
has expressed grief and
condolences to his family.
“The exact reason behind
the accident has not been
understood yet. There was a
trailer, a truck, and three
cars in the pile-up. Four peo-
ple died on the spot, while
one later died in a hospital.
Those who suffered injuries
were rushed to a hospital
near Panvel,” said a police
officer.
spotted him after some time
and raised an alarm. They
rushed him to a hospital, but
he was declared ‘brought
dead’ by the doctors.”
The police are trying to as-
certain the reason behind
his death. No suicide note
was found from the house.
“The constable was not
coming to the police station
since January 30 without
taking any leave. The admin-
istration had marked him
absent. We have come to
know that he had undergone
heart surgery in the past,”
said Bimal Bidve, a police in-
spector from Kharghar po-
lice station.
www.nmmconline.gov.in.
The civic body has ap-
pealed to citizens to submit
their objections or sugges-
tions in the right format.
As per the instructions of
the State Election Commis-
sion, Maharashtra, there
are three kinds of objec-
tions and suggestions will
be accepted on the draft
voter list by ward offices.
Typing mistakes, voters
name included in other
wards by mistake and vot-
ers’ names omitted by mis-
take.
The election of NMMC
was scheduled to take place
in April 2020. However, it
was put on hold following
the outbreak of Covid-19.
After completing the
hearing on objections and
suggestions, the final list of
polling booths with the vot-
er lists will be published on
March 12.
paign carried within the
state, which will be contin-
ued for next 10 days.
"This campaign will also
be supported through
street plays, carried out in
public places, focusing on
the awareness of COVID-19
vaccines," added the offi-
cial.
 MONEY
BIZ BUZZ Sensex, Nifty end marginally lower; PowerGrid rallies 6%
Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended Sensex settled 49.96 points or 0.10% lower at
Indian exports to United States rise marginally lower on Tuesday as investors booked
profits at higher levels amid a mixed trend in
52,104.17. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty inched
1.25 points or 0.01% lower to close at 15,313.45.
14% to $4.9 billion in December global markets. After touching a lifetime high of Axis Bank was the top laggard in the Sensex pack,
India's exports to the United States jumped by over 14% to 52,516.76 in the opening session, the 30-share BSE shedding 2.42%, followed by ICICI Bank, Infosys. MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

S&P says pace of rebound

4.89 billion dollars in December 2020 from 4.28 billion dollars

Amazon to make
in the year-ago period. December also marked the fourth
consecutive month of positive growth, indicating a strong
recovery in trade.

India's high priority for now should

Fire TV stick, other
to impact India ratings
be to grow at 7-8%: Bimal Jalan
Describing the Budget 2021-22 as "extremely good", former
RBI governor Bimal Jalan said that India's high priority for
now should be to grow at 7-8%, and then give a "great
devices in India
preference" for employment rather than only investment. Jalan AGENCIES
further said it does not seem that India will be able to achieve New Delhi
a USD 5-trillion economy target by 2024-25. "This year's SEES INDIA ON COURSE FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY IN 2021-22, GDP GROWTH AT 10%
Budget is extremely good... I think the rate of growth in India E-commerce and technolo-
should be 7-8%," he said. AGENCIES Budget. gy major Amazon will soon
New Delhi � India needs to quickly S&P said while high start manufacturing of its
vaccinate most population
Tata Comm partners with Google India's improving growth
for recovery to continue
spending announced in the
Budget would aid revival,
electronics products in-
cluding the 'Fire TV' stick
Cloud to expand cloud adoption prospects are critical to sus- � Budget to support India the economy was still facing in India.
Tata Communications has partnered with Google Cloud India tain the high fiscal deficits recovery through several risks as it transi- After a virtual conversa-
to drive cloud adoption for Indian businesses. This partnership projected by the govern- spending in 2021, 2022 tioned from stabilisation to tion with Amit Agarwal, Further, Amazon also has
will expand its managed public cloud services portfolio to ment in the Union Budget � Improving growth recovery. Global Senior Vice Presi- announced its plans to be-
include capabilities for Google Cloud, the company said. "The for 2021-22 (Apr-Mar), S&P prospects critical to "We estimate that India dent of Amazon and Coun- gin manufacturing Amazon
partnership between Tata Communications and Google Cloud Global Ratings said. sustain India's deficits faces a permanent loss of try Head for India and Devices in India. In a blog-
India will enable organisations to deploy and access Google India's GDP growth is ex- output versus its pre-pan- Chetan Krishnaswamy, post, the company said that
Cloud services through Tata Communications' IZO Managed pected to bounce back in � India faces permanent demic path, suggesting a Vice President, Public Poli- it will commence its manu-
loss of output vs pre-
Cloud while providing them ease-of-use coupled with end-to- 2021-22 on account of rapid pandemic path long-term production cy of Amazon India on facturing efforts with con-
end services," the company said. normalisation and low base deficit equivalent to about Wednesday, the Union Min- tract manufacturer Cloud
effect. � India's long-term 10% of GDP," S&P said. ister for Electronics and IT, Network Technology, a sub-
Kotak hikes two-, three-year MCLR, The agency sees GDP
growing 10% in 2021-22,
production deficit
equivalent to 10% of GDP
The agency said India
needed to "quickly and thor-
Ravi Shankar Prasad took
to Twitter and the home-
sidiary of Foxconn in
Chennai and start produc-
cuts overnight, 1-year loan rates which is close to the Re- � India's banking system oughly" vaccinate most of grown social media plat- tion later this year.
Kotak Mahindra Bank has increased its marginal cost of funds- serve Bank of India's performance to improve its population for recovery form Koo, to make the an- As per the blog, the device
based lending rates on two-year and three-year tenures by 5 growth forecast of 10.5%. from 2022-23 to continue, while the emer- nouncement. manufacturing programme
basis points each, according to data available on the lender's S&P said the Indian econ- gence of new COVID-19 "Held a very good conver- will be able to produce hun-
website. The private sector bank has reduced lending rates on omy is on track for a recov- ability of the government's from the original aim of variants and the possibility sation with @AmitAgarwal dreds of thousands of Fire
overnight, six-month and one-year tenures by 5-10 bps. ery in the next financial strained fiscal position," it 3.5%. of early withdrawal of glob- and @Chetankrishna of TV Stick devices every
year and expects the pace of said. The sharp rise in the ex- al fiscal stimulus were ma- @amazonIN today. Delight- year. Amazon will continu-
Govt may add 7-8 coking coal mines post-crisis upturn to have
"important implications"
The Budget projected a fis-
cal deficit target of 6.8% of
pected fiscal deficit for 2020-
21 was primarily due to the
jor risks to recovery. On the
banking front, S&P expects
ed to share that soon Ama-
zon will commence manu-
ously evaluate scaling ca-
pacity to additional market-
in second auction tranche for the country's sovereign GDP for next year, while it government cleaning up its performance to begin im- facturing of electronics places or cities depending
The Union Coal Ministry may add seven to eight new coal credit rating. sharply revised up the pro- books by bringing some be- proving materially from products like FireTV stick on the domestic demand, it
blocks to the list of mines planned to be offered for the "This includes the sustain- jection for 2020-21 to 9.5% low-the-line items into the 2022-23. in India," Prasad said. added.
second tranche of commercial coal auction, Additional
Secretary M. Nagaraju said at a stakeholder conference ahead
of the next auction round. The coal ministry has already
selected 75 mines with reserves of around 37 bln tn fuel for
the auction.
No respite: Petrol at TEPID DEBUT
BROOKFIELD INDIA FMCG industry grows 7.3%,
Mahindra for harnessing pvt sector's
capability for vaccine distribution
Rs 99.87 in Rajasthan REIT FALLS 2% ON
LISTING DAY rural sales up 14.2%: Nielsen
Mahindra group chairman Anand Mahindra called for MUMBAI: Petrol price on MUMBAI: Shares of AGENCIES/ Mumbai gories continued a high-
harnessing the capability of the private sector to scale up Tuesday soared to Rs 99.87 Brookfield India Real Estate value growth of 46% ver-
COVID-19 vaccine distribution saying widespread vaccination per litre in Rajasthan - the Investment Trust on Tuesday The FMCG industry in In- sus corresponding quarter.
is India's main hope against any new waves, which are now a highest level India has closed the day over 2% dia has recorded a value "The 'home and personal
serious threat. In a tweet, Mahindra said although India ever seen - as fuel prices lower in its debut trade growth of 7.3% in October- care' basket made a con-
currently stands at the fourth position it is not enough. "Up to were hiked for the eighth against its issue price of Rs December quarter helped sumption-led recovery (5%
(sic) 4th place but this is clearly not enough. We have the day in a row. 275. by consumption-led recov- volume growth vs year
production capability," he said. Petrol price was raised by Rates are higher in states On the BSE, the stock ery during the festive period ago), while Food categories
30 paise per litre and diesel that levy higher VAT. listed flat at Rs 275.05. and increase in sales from saw a 10% growth riding on
Jubilant Foodworks forms subsidiary by 35 paise, according to a
price notification of state-
In Mumbai, petrol price
rose to Rs 95.75 a litre and
During the day it jumped
1.83% to Rs 280.05. Later it
traditional as well as organ-
ised trade, according to data
boost in consumption as
well as a price increase in
in Netherlands for biz opportunities owned fuel retailers. diesel was priced at Rs closed at Rs 269.96, analytics firm Nielsen. "The FMCG industry in In- some food baskets," it said.
Jubilant Foodworks, which operates Domino's Pizza and Simultaneously, the oil 86.72. Rajasthan, which registering a decline of 1.8 The metro market wit- dia, saw a bounce back with This growth recovery was
Dunkin' Donuts chains in India, on Tuesday said it has formed firms hiked cooking gas levies the highest VAT on 3%. nessed "significant recov- a growth of 7.3% in the quar- widespread in the food bas-
a wholly owned subsidiary in the Netherlands to explore (LPG) price by Rs 50 per fuel in the country, had the On the NSE, it listed with a ery", while rural India, ter ending December 2020. ket, including 'Staple Foods'
business opportunities in the food service industry in the cylinder and that of jet highest petrol and diesel premium of 2.43% at Rs which is performing well This growth in Traditional that grew 18% in the Decem-
European country. "(It has been) incorporated as a wholly fuel (ATF) by 3.6%. prices. In Sriganganagar 281.70 from the issue price. after a quick recovery from trade (Grocer, Chemist, Paan ber quarter, vs a year ago.
owned subsidiary of the company for exploring business LPG now comes for Rs town of the state, petrol It later closed at Rs 269.20, the pandemic, continued to shops etc.) and Organised While, rural markets con-
opportunities," the company said. 769 per 14.2-kg cylinder in soared to Rs 99.87 and lower by 2.10%. be "buoyant" and witnessed Trade (Modern Trade and tinued to grow in double dig-
the national capital. diesel jumped to Rs 91.86 In traded volume terms, double-digit growth during Ecommerce) was driven by its - accelerating to 14.2% in
Bank of Maha unions say market The increase in petrol
and diesel priced pushed
per litre.
While branded/premium
12.70 lakh shares were
traded at the BSE and over
the quarter under review.
Large manufacturers also
consumption," it said.
The festive period-led
the October-December quar-
ter, from 10.6% in the July-
players fuelling privatisation news retail rates, which differ or additive mixed petrol is 82.81 lakh units at the NSE bounced back with con- growth uptick in Novem- September quarter. "This
Bank of Maharashtra has once again been named in a news from state to state depend- already over Rs 100-mark during the day. sumption-led growth dur- ber, was sustained in De- sharper recovery is on the
report as a potential candidate for privatisation, but its union ing on the incidence of lo- at some places in three The initial public offer of ing the quarter, while the cember also, it added. back of favourable agricul-
leaders claim it is an instance of misinformation. "The media is cal sales tax or VAT and states of Maharashtra, Brookfield India REIT was small ones clocked double- In October-December tural sector performance,
reporting these names without any source, and this is fuelling freight charges, to their Madhya Pradesh and Ra- subscribed 8 times earlier digit growth amid rise in quarter, products such as government action towards c
sentiment in the market," said Devidas Tuljapurkar, general highest level. jasthan, the Rs 99.87 a litre this month. consumption, said the liquid toilet soap, antisep- rural employment genera-
secretary, Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation. In Delhi, petrol now price of regular petrol is The initial public offer of FMCG Snapshot for Q4 2020 tic liquid, floor cleaner, toi- tion, and as rural India had b
comes for Rs 89.29 per litre the highest that the coun- had a price band of Rs 274- released by NielsenIQ's Re- let cleaner in the 'Hygiene a lesser impact of the pan- h
Govt raises Rs 310 crore by tendering and diesel for Rs 79.70. try has ever seen. 275 apiece. tail Intelligence team. & Immunity building' cate- demic," it added.
g
shares in Engineers India buyback
Center has raised Rs 310 crore by tendering its shares in the
buyback programme undertaken by Engineers India,
Department of Investment and Public Asset Management SAT stays Sebi's order banning RailTel raises Unacademy set to
h
1

Biyani, other Future promoters
Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said. "Engineers India buyback
of shares fully subscribed. Government received Rs 310 crore
out of total buyback size of Rs 587 crore," he tweeted.
NRIs eye southern real estate market AGENCIES/ Mumbai
for investment: Commonfloor report The Securities Appellate
Non-resident Indians (NRIs) are increasingly showing interest Tribunal (SAT) has stayed
in the southern markets, especially Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the order passed by market
Kerala, for real estate investments, with over 75% of searches regulator SEBI, that had
in these markets during 2020, according to a report. The put a one-year ban on Fu-
maximum search or demand comes from those NRIs living in ture Retail Chairperson
the US, followed by the UAE and Britain, said the report by Kishore Biyani and some
Commonfloor, a Quikr platform. other promoters from the
securities market.
India's GDP to contract 1% in SAT has also directed the
Future Group promoters to
December quarter, says BofA deposit a sum of Rs 11 crore
Against the majority view of a rebound in the growth as an interim measure.
numbers for the December quarter, the house economists at "In a hearing held on Feb-
the Wall Street brokerage Bank of America Securities on ruary 15, 2021, the Securi-
Tuesday pencilled in a 1% contraction in India's GDP for the ties Appellate Tribunal has
third quarter. On an average, economists at almost all the stayed the effect and opera-
rating agencies and brokerages have forecast 0.4-0.7% tion of SEBI's order accus-
positive growth for the economy. ing the promoters of the
Future Group of insider
Heranba Industries IPO to open on trading in the context of
purchases of Future Retail
February 23; to raise Rs 625 crore shares made in March
Gujarat-based crop protection chemicals manufacturer 2017," Future Corporate Re-
Heranba Industries will hit the capital market on February 23 sources Private Limited
to raise up to Rs 625 crore and the price band for the initial (FCRPL) said.
public offer has been fixed at Rs 626-627 per share. The The case will now come
company will raise the money through an Offer for Sale (OFS) up on April 12, 2021 before
of up to 90,15,000 equity shares, according to a statement. SAT for the next hearing.
Earlier on February 3, the
Sebi had barred Kishore
Biyani and certain other
promoters of Future Retail
from the securities market
for one year for indulging
in insider trading in the
shares of the company.
In addition, the regulator
had imposed a fine of Rs 1
crore each on Kishore
Biyani, Anil Biyani and Fu-
ture Corporate Resources.
Besides, they have been
asked to disgorge Rs 17.78
crore for the wrongful
gains made by them.
The development comes
at a time when Future
Group is locked in a bitter
legal battle with e-com-
merce giant Amazon over
the former's Rs 24,713-crore
deal with Reliance.
In August last year, Future
group had entered into a
deal with billionaire
Mukesh Ambani's RIL to sell
its retail, wholesale, logistics
and warehousing units.
According to FCRPL, re-
structuring of the home
furnishing businesses in
the Future Group (with the
physical store format of
Future Retail and online
store format of Future En-
terprises being demerged
into a new company) had
been well known in the
public since 2016.
"Future Group counsel
Somasekhar Sundaresan
argued that the actual
terms of the restructuring
were initiated only in April
2017, while the purchases
were made in March to
avail of the creeping acqui-
sition limits under the
takeover regulations," FCR-
PL said in a statement.
Rs 244 crore
ahead of IPO
NEW DELHI: RailTel Corp
of India Ltd has raised
around 2.44 bln rupees by
allotting 25.96 mln equity
shares to 14 anchor in-
vestors ahead of its initial
public offering.
The shares were allotted
at 94 rupees apiece, which
is the upper end of the
price band, on Monday.
Amongst domestic in-
vestors, HDFC Life Insur-
ance picked up the largest
allocation of 14.34% stake
for 349.9 mln rupees, fol-
lowed by Nippon Life MF
with 12.29% stake for 299.9
mln rupees.
Other domestic institu-
tions that were allocated
shares were ICICI Pruden-
tial MF, HDFC MF, IIFL
Mutual Fund, Tata Mutual
Fund and Edelweiss Mutu-
al Fund. UK-based Aurigin
Capital and Utilico Emerg-
ing Markets Trust, Cohe-
sion MK Best Ideas Sub-
Trust also invested.
acquire TapChief
AGENCIES/ New Delhi
Edtech major Unacademy
on Tuesday announced ac-
quisition of majority stake
in professional networking
platform TapChief.
As part of the deal, Un-
academy will acquire a ma-
jority stake in TapChief,
and enable the exit of all ex-
isting investors, a state-
ment said.
Unacademy said post the
acquisition, TapChief will
join the Unacademy Group
with a valuation of Rs 100
crore. It, however, did not
provide details about the
quantum of stake acquired,
the investors exiting and
money invested by Unacad-
emy.
TapChief leverages a host
of technology solutions to
empower professionals to
interact and learn from ex-
perts, work with businesses
from across the world, and
aggregate their personal
brand online. It has more
than 1.5 lakh registered
professionals, who use the
platform to collaborate
with a number of experts
from their chosen domains
and take up short-term pro-
fessional projects.
Founded in 2016 by
Shashank Murali, Binay
Krishna, and Arjun Krish-
na, TapChief also caters to
over 150 enterprise cus-
tomers across sectors.
In the past, the company
has raised funding from
Blume Ventures, Cred
founder Kunal Shah, for-
mer Flipkart executive
Mekin Maheshwari,
Paytm, Aprameya Rad-
hakrishna (TaxiForSure),
500 Startups and others.
"Our endeavour at Un-
academy has always been
to democratise education
and make learning accessi-
ble and affordable for
everyone.," Unacademy
Group co-founder and chief
executive officer Gaurav
Munjal said.

Nureca IPO subscribed 14.77 times
on second day of subscription
The initial public offer of Nureca Limited, which is into the
business of home healthcare and wellness products, was
subscribed 14.77 times on the second day of subscription on
Tuesday. The Rs 100 crore-public issue received bids for
2,07,03,200 shares against 14,01,595 shares on offer, as per
data available with the NSE.
Logistics major Seven Islands files
for Rs 600 crore initial public offer
Seven Islands Shipping has filed its papers with stock
exchange regulator for a Rs 600 crore initial public offering
(IPO) of equity shares. The issue comprises a fund raise via
fresh issue amounting to Rs 400 crore and an offer for sale up
to Rs 200 crore by FIH Mauritius. The portion reserved for
qualified institutional buyers will be 50% of the offer, for non-
institutional investors 15% and for retail investors 35%.
Ampere Electric to set up plant in
Tamil Nadu; to invest Rs 700 crore
Ampere Electric, the electric-mobility arm of Greaves Cotton,
on Tuesday said it will invest Rs 700 crore in a phased manner
over 10 years to set up a manufacturing plant at Ranipet in
Tamil Nadu. The proposed plant will be spread in 1.4 million
sq feet and is expected to be completed by this year.
EPFO may declare interest rate
on deposits for 2020-21 on Mar 4
NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body EPFO is likely to announce
the rate of interest on provident fund deposits for financial year
2020-21, on March 4, when its Central Board of Trustees will
meet at Srinagar.
The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is likely to
take up the proposal to announce rate of interest for 2020-21 at
its Central Board of Trustees (CBT) meeting scheduled on March
4, source said.
Talking to PTI, K E Raghunathan, an EPFO trustee said that on
Monday he received the intimation that the next CBT meeting is
scheduled to be held on March 4, at Srinagar and that the
agenda papers are likely to be sent soon.
He said that there is no mention about discussion on interest
rate for 2020-21 in the intimation mail.
Speculation is rife that the EPFO may lower interest on
provident fund deposits for this fiscal (2020-21), from 8.5% it
provided for 2019-20,in view of more withdrawals and lesser
contribution by members during this fiscal mainly due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, in March, EPFO had lowered
interest rate on provident fund deposits to a seven-year low of
8.5% for 2019-20, from 8.65% in 2018-19.
The EPF (employees provident fund) interest rate provided for
2019-20 was the lowest since 2012-13, when it was 8.5%.
The EPFO had provided 8.65% interest rate to its subscribers
for 2016-17, and 8.55% in 2017-18.
CURRENCY RALLYING AS FIRMS SIGNAL IT COULD GAIN ACCEPTANCE AS A MEANS OF PAYMENT
Electrified by Tesla, bitcoin crosses $50,000
AGENCIES/ Mumbai
After a wild stretch in which Bitcoin
repeatedly set new highs amid mur-
murs of its seemingly unstoppable as-
cendance, the digital currency
crossed the $50,000 mark for the first
time on Tuesday.
Bitcoin is rallying as more compa-
nies signal the volatile digital curren-
cy could eventually gain widespread
acceptance as a legitimate means of
payment. Bitcoin has been mostly
seen as a store of value, like gold, with
few places accepting it in exchange
for goods or services.
Companies have been leery because
Bitcoin's volatility and its use by par-
ties who want to avoid the traditional
banking system for a myriad of rea-
sons. Last Monday, however, the elec-
tric car company Tesla sent a tremor
through the digital currency markets,
saying that it was buying $1.5 billion in
Bitcoin as part of a new investment
strategy, and that it would soon be ac-
cepting Bitcoin in exchange for its cars.
Then Blue Ridge Bank of Char-
lottesville, Virginia, said that it would
become the first commercial bank to
provide access to Bitcoin at its branch-
es. The regional bank said Wednesday
that cardholders can purchase and re-
deem Bitcoin at 19 of its ATMs.
BNY Mellon, the oldest bank in the
US, followed a day later, saying it
would include digital currencies in
the services it provides to clients.
Mastercard said it would start sup-
porting "select crypto currencies" on
its network.
While most expect a slow evolution
toward widespread usage of bitcoins
as currency Richard Lyons, a finance
professor at the University of Califor-
nia at Berkeley, says it's inevitable.
Lyons predicts Bitcoin and other
digital currencies "will become trans-
actional currencies increasingly over
the next five years.
It's not going to happen overnight,"
he said.
Lee Reiners, who teaches fintech
and cryptocurrency courses at Duke
University School of Law, said BNY
Mellon's move makes sense because
"there are now numerous high-net-
worth individuals and investment
funds embracing crypto as an asset
class to be added to their portfolio."
But Reiners believes companies will
remain hesitant to accept Bitcoin for
payment because of its volatility.
 MONEY MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

BIZ BUZZ
McLeod Russel back in black in Q3, Adani to invest Rs 10K cr FPJ’s ‘Free initiatives’ campaign
revenues rise 22.3% to Rs 448 crore
McLeod Russel India Ltd posted a consolidated net profit of
10.4 mln rupees for Oct-Dec, compared with a loss of 229.7
mln rupees a year ago. Revenue from operations for the
to develop Dighi Port wins gold at Adfest 2020 A STAFF REPORTER REG. NO. MCS/048/2018-20; RNI NO. 1541/1957 I M.P.C.S office Mumbai-400001 www.freepressjournal.in | twitter.com/fpjindia tively. But the masthead is-
quarter rose 22.3% to 4.48 bln rupees. Sequentially, the net AGENCIES/ Mumbai development of facilities Mumbai n’t where we stopped.
WEATHER
350C. 240C.
Sunrise: 06:57 am
Sunset: 06:00 pm

profit fell 99.3% and revenue was down 10.3%. The for dry, container, and THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
>
We dedicated the first
company's other income fell to 9.4 mln rupees from 106.8 mln Adani Ports and Special liquid cargo. Free Press Journals's "Free ini- `2 Vol. 63 No. 185 | WEDNESDAY | DECEMBER 4, 2019 | 28 Pages | EDITIONS : Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal >

two pages of our newspa-

rupees a year ago. Economic Zone (APSEZ) "DPL will evolve as an tiatives" campaign has won HUMAN RIGHTS
DAY
The rights of one human are the rights of every human—this message drives home strongly on International Human Rights Day. The National
Human Rights Commission’s latest report recorded 91,887 cases of human rights violation. With Human Rights under threat across the world, it
is only fitting that this Human Rights Day, Free Press Journal be the flag bearer of one of the most important rights of a democracy — Freedom of
per to the problem at
on Tuesday said it has alternative gateway to a gold at Adfest 2020, Asia's SPECIAL EDITION Expression — and remind people of their other many Rights.
hand. Pages which were
Titan Jan jewellery sales rise 28% completed the acquisi-
tion of Dighi Port for Rs
JNPT and will invite and
support the development
biggest and reputed adver-
tising creative award shows.
Respect, dignity Voices of dissent being
curtailed is worrying
filled with the perspec-
tives, opinions, solutions of
YoY on wedding season demand The campaign, created and clean loos
Abha Singh to imagine what the situation is like in

important opinion makers

705 crore and would in- of port-based industries
F
Tier 2 and 3 cities.
I think we are a highly unequal society.
reedom of expres- 49% of our electorate comprises women,
sion is as impor- but only 14% of our Parliamentarians are

Jewellery sales of Titan Co Ltd surged 28% on year in January by Taproot Dentsu, won in and influential celebrities. 
tant as the air we women. Equal pay for equal work also re-

vest over Rs 10,000 crore
APSEZ to service cus-
on port land," it said.
breathe and the mains a distant dream. In the latest For-
food we eat. For tune 500 list, only 33 women are CEOs and
this reason, democracy this is the highest ever. UN SDG 8
Prahlad Kakar is the greatest gift to humankind. Our provides for equal pay for equal value of

largely due to strong demand during the wedding season, the
in developing it as an al-
tomers in Maharashtra
As per the terms and
best use of print in media
A "This is one of the simple
Constitution gives us the rights of liberty, work. The fact that they wish to achieve it
fraternity and equality. The manner in by 2030 and it is still not a reality, deeply
ll inequality starts with the which voices of dissent like Sudha saddens me.
feeling of entitlement. Bharadwaj and Arun Ferreira are being We have some very progressive laws for
While raising children, giv- curtailed is worrying. The killing of lib- women like equal inheritance under the

management said at Edelweiss India e-Conference, 2021. Sales ternate gateway to JNPT. which includes the high- requirements of the Res- category.  Adfest an- and brave ideas and such
ing more attention, better erals like Gauri Lankesh is an ominous Hindu Succession Act, but we rarely see

at Tanishq rose during the month as some weddings were JNPT is India's largest
postponed from Oct-Dec to Jan-Mar or Apr-Jun. The share of container port and is one
wedding jewellery in total sales was 23% in 2019-20 (Apr- of the 12 major ports in
Mar) compared with 14% about 5-6 years ago, the company the country.
said. "APSEZ completed the
acquisition of 100% DPL
RComm deeper in red on quarter in for Rs 705 crore on Feb-
ruary 15, 2021....DPL, the
Oct-Dec, consolidated sales fall 12% 12th port to join APSEZ's
Reliance Communications Ltd slipped deeper into red in the string of economic gate-
December quarter, posting a consolidated net loss of 14.46 bln ways across the eastern
rupees as against a loss of 14.20 bln rupees a quarter ago. and western coast of In-
The company had posted a 105.98-bln-rupee loss in Oct-Dec dia would establish the
2019. Revenue from operations fell 11.7% on quarter to 1.74 company's footprint in
bln rupees. On a year-on-year basis, revenue fell 33.3%. Maharashtra, the largest
contributor to India's
MTNL consolidated net loss widens on GDP," APSEZ said.
This would enable
quarter to Rs 640 crore in Oct-Dec
ly industrial areas and
development in the
Mumbai and Pune re-
gions, it said.
"APSEZ plans to invest
over Rs 10,000 crore to
develop the port into a
multi-cargo port with
world class infrastruc-
ture as well as investing
in the development of
rail & road evacuation
infrastructure for seam-
less and efficient cargo
movement," it said.
It will strengthen and
repair existing infra-
structure and invest in
olution Plan, the trans-
fer of concession rights
has also been approved
by the Maharashtra
Maritime Board ('MMB')
and APSEZ has settled
the dues of financial
creditors, MMB, and oth-
er admitted costs and
claims, it said.
APSEZ is the largest
port developer and oper-
ator in India with 12
strategically located
ports and terminals rep-
resenting 24% of the
country's total port ca-
pacity.
nounced the winners of the
Adfest 2020 Lotus Awards
on February 15, 2021.
These awards were
scheduled to take place in
Thailand last year, but
were postponed due to the
coronavirus pandemic.
With 60 jurors, the judging
process was guided by
Grand Jury President Judy
John, Global Chief Creative
Officer at Edelman, Toronto.
Taproot Dentsu Mumbai
and Dentsu Webchutney
Mumbai were among seven
offices whose winning
works helped Dentsu win
Adfest’s Network of the Year On relevant days, both do get applauded. This is
for the fouth year in a row. nationally and internation- brand centric which was
Campaign: To lead the ally, we dedicated our born out of the name of the
change was to be the masthead to the problems newspaper itself – Free
change. So, we changed that were being highlight- Press. We live in an era
our masthead. ed on that day. where less is more. I’m de-
We leveraged the word
“free” in our brand name
On World Food Day, for
example, we changed our
lighted that this new-age
approach was liked the
and replaced the word masthead to Free Food. On minute it was presented to
“press” with the problems National Sports Day we Abhishek Karnani, Director,
we wanted to raise aware- were Free Sports, Free FPJ. And even more de-
ness about. ‘ School on World Education lighted to hear a gold
Problems that India Day, and Free Rights on award being given which
needs to be freed from. Human Rights Day. is very rare at such award
And problems that will get Similarly, on Children's shows," Santosh Padhi aka
solved once certain sec- Day and National Farmers' Paddy, Chief Creative Offi-
tions are provided with
certain facilities for free.
Day, we were Free Child
and Free Farmer respec-
cer & Founder, Taproot
Dentsu said. 

Nestle India's Q3 net

Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd posted a consolidated net
loss of 6.38 bln rupees for the December quarter, against a
loss of 5.82 bln rupees a quarter ago and 10.65 bln rupees a
year ago, the company said in an exchange filing today. The
topline rose 5.3% on quarter but fell 11.6% on year to 3.6 bln
rupees.
Varun Beverages consolidated loss
narrows to Rs 19.7 crore in Oct-Dec
Varun Beverages Ltd's consolidated net loss narrowed to
197.33 mln rupees in Oct-Dec from 593.12 mln rupees a year
ago. In Jul-Sep, the company had reported net profit of 1.53
bln rupees. Revenue from operations--net of excise duty--for
the quarter rose 9.1% on year to 13.31 bln rupees, but fell
26.2% sequentially.
Jain Irrigation consol loss narrows
YoY to 1.2 bln rupees in Oct-Dec
Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd's consolidated net loss in the
December quarter narrowed to 1.19 bln rupees from 2.79 bln
rupees a year ago, and 1.69 bln rupees in Jul-Sep. Revenue
during the quarter rose 9.9% on year and 12.6% sequentially
rises to Rs 483 crore
AGENCIES
Mumbai
FMCG major Nestle India
today reported a net profit
of Rs 483 crore in the Octo-
ber to December quarter
due to strong domestic
sales growth that was
broad-based and largely
driven by volume and mix.
Nearly two-thirds of its
key products were boosted
by in-home consumption
and posted double-digit
growth, the company said.
ly demonstrated the unwa-
vering commitment to stay
the course on our purpose
and values," said Suresh
Narayanan, Chairman and
Managing Director.
Biz optimism for Jan-Mar quarter positive: D&B
AGENCIES/ Mumbai
Business optimism has turned positive
on a year-on-year basis for the ongoing
quarter after witnessing negative
growth throughout 2020, amid rising
consumer demand, higher businesses
transactions and normalisation of sup-
ply disruptions, according to a survey.
The Dun & Bradstreet Composite Busi-
ness Optimism Index stood at 79.9 for the
first quarter of 2021, registering an in-
crease of 26.8% as compared to the year-
ago quarter. Five out of six optimism in-
dices have registered an increase as com-
pared to the first quarter of 2020.
The latest survey was carried out in
December and covered 350 chief execu-
tive officers and managing directors.
Singh further said the surge in opti-
mism is also likely to have been driven
by rising consumer demand, higher
businesses transactions and normalisa-
tion of supply disruptions.
These factors have led to an increase
in demand for passenger vehicles, two-
wheelers and retail sales, all-time high
GST revenue collection in December
2020, and the highest e-way bills collec-
tion (a receipt required for inter- and in-
"The survey data indicates a positive tra-state transport) in over two-and-a-
upturn in GDP growth during January- half years, he said.
March 2021. The latest Index reflects the
optimism generated from green shoots
Dun & Bradstreet's commerce disrup-
tion tracker also shows less disruption
of economic recovery and the deploy- to business activity, with data for De-
ment of COVID-19 vaccines from Janu- cember 4, 2020, indicating only 41% of
ary 2021," said Dun & Bradstreet Global businesses were still disrupted, com-
Chief Economist Arun Singh. pared with 90% in mid-July 2020.

Credit Suisse upgrades India markets

to 14.28 bln rupees. In Q3 FY20, it had a net "Our employees, partners,
profit of Rs 473 crore. suppliers, stakeholders in- L&T Finance
GE T&D India posts Rs 56 crore net The sale of products to- deed our entire ecosystem

profit in Q3 versus loss year ago

talled Rs 3,417 crore in Q3
FY21 as compared to Rs
went beyond the call of
duty and made extraordi- NEW DELHI: Credit Suisse passed. China has limited po-
raises Rs3K cr
GE T&D India Ltd posted a net profit of 559.2 mln rupees in
Oct-Dec, compared with a 377.3-mln-rupee loss a year ago. In
3,131 crore in the year-ago
period.
nary efforts in an excep-
tionally challenging year,"
has upgraded India and
Australia from Market
tential for future GDP gains,
negative EPS momentum
via rights issue
Jul-Sep, the company had reported net profit of 86.1 mln E-commerce grew by he said in a statement. Weight to Overweight while relative to the region, late-cy- MUMBAI: L&T Finance
rupees. Revenue from operations for the quarter rose 10% on 111% and now contributes The board of directors downgrading China and cle valuations and the re- Holdings (LTFH) said it has
year and 18.8% sequentially to 10.34 bln rupees. 3.7% of domestic sales, the has recommended a final Thailand stock markets. gion's biggest potential pay- closed its rights issue and has
company said adding de- dividend of Rs 65 per equi- "The upgrades reflect our back from pandemic related raised over Rs 2,998 crore.
Neogen Chemicals consolidated PAT mand in out-of-home chan-
nels continues to improve
ty share amounting to Rs
627 crore for the year 2020.
expectation that economic
and earnings recoveries are ther," Credit Suisse said
current account windfalls.
We also cut Thailand from
LTFH has closed its rights
issue to raise Rs 2,998.61
rises 4% on year to Rs 8.5 crore but still impacted by Covid- The total dividend for 2020 just starting their most rapid about India and Australia. Overweight to Market crore. The rights issue was
Neogen Chemicals Ltd's consolidated net profit for the 19 pandemic. aggregates to Rs 200 per eq- phases for the two markets. "We downgrade China from Weight for the opposite rea- oversubscribed by
December quarter rose 3.9% on-year to 85.12 mln rupees. Innovation and renova- uity share which includes EPS momentum for the two Overweight to Market son Â- that the most exciting approximately 15%, it said.
Revenue from operations rose 3.5% to 851.79 mln rupees. tion pipeline continues to one interim dividend of Rs are among the region's best, Weight in an APAC portfolio phase of its recovery lies too The non-banking finance
Sequentially, the net profit rose 15.4% and revenue was up be a thrust area, it added. 135 per equity share paid on and the pandemic is no because the most exciting pe- far in the future in 1H22," company is present in
3.9%. The company's other income rose to 348,000 rupees "The year gone by has tru- November 20 last year. longer a major factor for ei- riod of its recovery has Credit Suisse said. businesses, including rural
from 184,000 rupees a year ago. finance, housing finance,
infrastructure finance and
Prabhat Dairy consolidated net
profit down 14% YoY, sales fall 54% Defer Net neutrality, demand telcos Axis Bank, United India investment management.
The allotment of shares
will take place next week on
Prabhat Dairy Ltd's consolidated net profit for the December
quarter fell 14.2% on year to 87.85 mln rupees, the company
said in an exchange filing today. Revenue from operations for
NEW DELHI: Industry body
COAI has urged the govern-
ment to bring over-the-top
settle cases with Sebi no new licensing conditions,
including that of traffic man-
agement practices for net
the same day, the company
said, adding the shares will
be listed on BSE and NSE on
the quarter slumped 54.2% to 923.56 mln rupees. (OTT) service providers neutrality etc., should be im- NEW DELHI: Axis Bank An investigation by Sebi or by February 26.
Sequentially, the net profit fell 5.7%, while revenue rose 5.1%. like WhatsApp, Google Duo posed on TSPs," Cellular Op- and its promoter United In- found that during October "We are delighted that
etc under licensing regime erators Association of India dia Insurance Company 1, 2017 to September 30, 2018 our rights issue was
Andhra Sugars consolidated net profit and defer net neutrality
rules on telecom operators
(COAI) said.
Telecom operators have
have settled with regulator
Sebi cases of alleged disclo-
period, the value of trades
by United India Insurance
oversubscribed and we are
thankful to our investors for
falls 23% on year, sales down 4.4% till the time 'same service been demanding that the sure lapses and have paid Company in the securities their support.
Andhra Sugars Ltd's consolidated net profit fell 22.6% on year same rules' are applied on government should impose more than Rs 51.5 lakh as of Axis Bank on each trad- "The response reflects the
for the December quarter, to 251.11 mln rupees. Revenue from the apps. messaging apps till the time 'same service, same rules' to total settlement amount. ing day was more than Rs 10 faith in the resilience of our
operations was down 4.4% at 3.56 bln rupees. Sequentially, COAI, whose members in- clarity emerges in the inter- provide a level playing field The matter pertained to lakh. business model which
the net profit fell 23.7% and revenue was down 8.8%. clude Reliance Jio, Bharti national jurisdictions. in the sector. alleged lapses in disclo- The promoter was re- along with our AAA credit
Airtel, Vodafone Idea etc, "Till the time any decision The net neutrality princi- sures with respect to quired to make disclosures rating, and the strong
BGR Energy posts loss of Rs 78 crore wrote to the telecom depart-
ment on February 9 in re-
is taken regarding licensing
of OTT communication
ples, approved by the tele-
com department in 2018,
change in promoter's share-
holding in the private
about such transactions to
the private lender within
backing of our parent, gives
us the confidence of
in October-December period sponse to the recommenda- providers, the un-equitabili- prohibit service providers lender. The entities were al- two working days as re- continuing on our path of
BGR Energy Systems Ltd posted a consolidated net loss of tion of the Telecom Regula- ty between TSPs (telecom from discriminating leged to have violated Pro- quired under PIT norms. creating a stable and
782.2 mln rupees for the December quarter, as against a net tory Authority of India service providers) and OTTs against internet content hibition of Insider Trading In five instances, the said sustainable organisation for
profit of 271.2 mln rupees a year ago. The loss narrowed from (Trai) on OTT players that should not be increased fur- and services by blocking, (PIT) norms, as per two sep- disclosures were made by all our stakeholders,"
the 1.51-bln rupees loss posted in Jul-Sep. no regulations should be ther in any manner. throttling or according pref- arate settlement orders United India to the lender Dinanath Dubhashi, MD &
imposed on the calling and "Therefore, till such time, erential higher speeds. passed on Monday. with a delay of 10-17 days. CEO of LTFH, said.
VA Tech Wabag Oct-Dec consolidated
PAT rises 36% YoY to Rs 41.7 crore
VA Tech Wabag Ltd's consolidated net profit for the December
quarter jumped 35.7% on-year to 417.8 mln rupees. Revenue
Blue economy: Favourable policy Indian ad spends to rise
measures offer long-term growth 23% in 2021: GroupM
from operations rose 17.2% to 7.96 bln rupees. Sequentially,
the net profit rose over twofold and revenue rose 30.9%.

Sandhar Tech consolidated net profit TEJI MANDI
doubles to Rs 29 crore in third quarter
Sandhar Technologies Ltd's consolidated net profit for the
December quarter doubled on year to 292.41 mln rupees, and
According to the world bank, Blue Economy
is the sustainable use of ocean resources for
revenue rose 23.5% to 5.93 bln rupees. Sequentially, the net economic growth. It involves improving the
profit rose 50.8% and revenue was up 18.8%. livelihoods while preserving the health of
the ocean ecosystem.
Clariant Chem net profit rises 23% on It covers a wide range of interlinked
established and emerging sectors like
year to Rs 13 crore in third quarter fisheries, material goods (hydrocarbons,
Clariant Chemicals net profit for the December quarter rose minerals, and sand and gravel), services
22.6% on year to 132 mln rupees. Revenue from operations (shipping, ports, shipbuilding, tourism), and
for the quarter rose 7.3% to 2.02 bln rupees. Sequentially, the renewable energy (wind, wave, tidal,
net profit fell 93.1%, while revenue rose 11.8%. thermal and biomass).
Dredging Corp posts Rs 25 crore loss Importance for India :
The Indian Ocean Region is abundant with
in third quarter versus PAT year ago resources. It is particularly rich in areas of
Dredging Corp of India Ltd reported a net loss of 256.07 mln fisheries, aquaculture, ocean energy, sea-
rupees in Oct-Dec from a profit of 313.6 mln rupees a year bed mining, and minerals.
ago. Revenue from operations jumped 27.9% to 2.59 bln It provides tremendous economic
rupees. The company's other income fell to 5.52 mln rupees opportunities to develop marine tourism and
from 10.14 mln rupees a year ago. shipping activities.
Among these, fisheries and minerals
Take Solutions consolidated net loss activities are growing fast.
It is necessary for India to tap the
narrows QoQ to Rs 25 crore in Oct-Dec enormous potential of the ocean-based Blue
Take Solutions Ltd posted a consolidated net loss of 254.54 Economy. As per a Niti Aayog report, it has
mln rupees in Oct-Dec, as against a net loss of 1.16 bln rupees acted as a catalyst for the development of
a quarter ago. In Oct-Dec of 2019, the company had reported the number of industries, both on land and
a net profit of 504.38 mln rupees. Revenue from operations for at sea. And, it can serve as a growth
the quarter jumped 27% to 2.16 bln rupees. catalyst in realizing the vision to become a
$10 trillion economy by 2032.
Goodyear India October-December net Growing emphasis on fisheries:
up fourfold on year at Rs 49 crore India is emerging as a global player in the
Goodyear India Ltd's net profit for the December quarter fisheries sector. It shipped 12,89,651 MT of
jumped over fourfold on year to 489.7 mln rupees. Revenue seafood worth USD 6.68 billion during
from operations rose 20.7% to 5.14 bln rupees. Sequentially, 2019-20. The industry managed to grow
the net profit rose 0.8% and revenue was up 6.9%. despite the covid impact. In 2018-19, India
had exported 13, 92,559 MT of seafood
worth USD 6,728.50 million.
Frozen shrimp remained the major export
item in terms of quantity and value followed
by frozen fish. The USA and China have
emerged as the major importers of India's
seafood. This sector has demonstrated an
impressive annual growth of 10.87% since
2014-15. It reached a record fish production of
142 lakh tons in FY 2019-20. And, provides
livelihood to over 2.8 crore people in India.
Budgetary provisions:
Recognizing the potential of fisheries, the
Indian government has been constantly
increasing its focus on this sector. In line with
this, the finance minister has allocated an
amount of Rs 1220.84 crore in FY 21-22 for
the fisheries department. It is the highest ever
annual budgetary support for the Department,
34% increase over the previous budget.
The Finance Minister also announced a
substantial investment to develop modern
fishing harbors. To start with, 5 major AGENCIES
fishing harbors – Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai India's rank
Visakhapatnam, Paradip, and Petuaghat –
will be developed as hubs of economic Advertising spends across
� slipped by one
notch to being tenth
activity. These centers will be upgraded and media platforms in India
modernized with state-of-the-art will grow by 23.5% in 2021 in overall ad spends
infrastructure and amenities. Substantial to Rs 80,123 crore in 2021 af- and the growth in
investment to be made in the end-to-end
supply chain, seamless cold chain, and
ter a sharp 21.5% decline in
the pandemic-hit 2020, a me- 2021 will help it
hygienic handling. It will enhance the dia buying agency estimat- regain the ninth spot
quality of fish and export competitiveness. ed on Tuesday.
Further, there is also a plan of developing Terming the estimates as
inland fishing harbors along the banks of "not optimistic, but realis- have incremental spending
rivers and waterways. This is a welcome tic", GroupM South Asia's happening on television, it
announcement as fishing harbors are central chief executive Prasanth said, adding that print me-
to the growth of the Blue Economy. They are
also closely linked to the social-economic
Kumar pointed out that
they will still be lower as
dia will also hold its 16%
share of the overall pie in
development of fishermen and coastal compared to the nearly Rs 2021, he said.
communities. 83,000 crore achieved in In India, digital will have
2019. a 40% share in incremental
Beyond fisheries : Weeks before the an- ad spends as against the
Finance Minister has further announced to nouncement of the pan- 90% levels seen globally, it
set up a multipurpose seaweed Park in Tamil demic, the agency had esti- said.
Nadu with an investment of Rs 100 crore. It mated a 10.7% growth in ad TV's share will slip mar-
provides enormous scope for developing
indigenous seaweed-based industries like
spends for 2020 to Rs 91,641
crore.
ginally in the ad spends on
the back of an 18% growth,
value-added products, nutraceuticals, India's rank slipped by but the medium will contin-
biofuels, bioplastics, etc. Moreover, this has one notch to being tenth in ue to be at the numero uno
the potential to provide livelihood to at least the overall ad spends across spot with a 45% share, it
1.5 crore people. Coastal fisherwomen have the world and the hand- said, adding a 28% growth
been engaged in seaweed collection for the some growth in 2021 will will lead digital mediums to
past few decades. Growing focus on this help it regain the 9th spot, gobble up TV's share.
segment will be beneficial to them. the agency said, adding that When asked about the
Teji Mandi (TM Investment Technologies
from a share in incremental
spends, the country will be
lack of measurement in
certain genres within TV,
Pvt. Ltd.) is a SEBI registered investment at the sixth spot. Kumar said the TRPs
advisor. No information in this article should Unlike the global experi- played an important role
not be construed as investment advice. ence, where digital is gain- and the absence of the data
Please visit www.tejimandi.com to know ing ground very fast, the ad presented its own set of
more. spends in India will also challenges.
EDIT MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021
SINCE 1928
FOUNDER EDITOR: S SADANAND
A worrying spurt in
Maharashtra & Kerala
T
he second --- or is it the third? --- surge of the Covid-19
pandemic in Maharashtra could well be traced to the
reopening of the economy. After a three-month hia-
tus, a record number of new cases of infection are being re-
ported from the state. In the last week, the total cases
recorded were 21,356, the highest since the week ending
January 17. Maharashtra has now left Kerala behind in the
number of new infections. On Sunday alone, there were
4,092 new cases, the highest single-day number since Janu-
ary 6. The total caseload of Maharashtra now stands at
20,67,643, with 51,552 fatalities. Whether the latest spurt is
due to the resumption of near-normalcy or otherwise is
hard to tell, but in the absence of any other explanation, it
is natural to link the surge to the relaxation of the anti-
Covid-19 norms and stipulations. More and more people are
seen on the road and in public transport. The wearing of
masks is random, if at all; social distancing is mostly ob-
served in its breach, especially on the local trains which re-
sumed service from February 1. Reopening of public eating
places too might have played a role in reviving the virus.
Meanwhile, the vaccination programme in the state was hit
by glitches, with only a quarter of those eligible to take the
second jab able to take it and several others listed to be vac-
cinated for the first time going back without receiving it on
Monday. The problem was ascribed to a computer glitch.
On the other hand, the nation-wide vaccination pro-
gramme too seems to have been marred by shortages of the
vaccines, though Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan re-
assured that soon regular supplies of the vaccines would
resume and a regulated programme to give the first jabs to
the 50-plus population would be duly rolled out. Till the last
weekend, over 80 lakh Indians had been given their first
jabs and were now expected to take the second soon. The
priority in the first round was rightly given to healthcare
workers and those in the frontline of the anti-Covid-19
drive. The second dose being mandatory, health authorities
closely monitor the programme for the post-jab response
and corrective action, if required. Thus far, barring stray
cases of unusual reaction from a few recipients of the first
jab, the vaccination seems to have proceeded on the expect-
ed lines. Though Vardhan has ruled out the availability of
the vaccine in the open market anytime soon, he was
nonetheless confident that with 18-19 vaccine candidates
under development, there should soon be no shortages for
the authorities to administer the jab to enough Indians, in
order to induce herd immunity. However, the immediate
challenge is to tackle the renewed surge in Maharashtra
and Kerala. Whether the two worst-hit states should re-im-
pose the restrictions of the early days of the pandemic to
stop the surge needs to be seriously examined. Nothing can
be more precious than human life itself .
For & anti-CAA in
poll-bound states
W
ith the three Muslim migrant sensitive states of
Assam, West Bengal and Kerala set to go to the
polls, the BJP has brought upfront the controver-
sial Citizenship Amendment Act which prioritises non-
Muslims from neighbouring countries for the grant of cit-
izenship. The anti-CAA protests had seen the Muslim mi-
nority organise itself nation-wide against the BJP govern-
ment. Following the outbreak of the coronavirus early last
year, the protests had died down. However, the BJP has now
sought to exploit the CAA to galvanise the anti-Bangladeshi
opinion in the three states scheduled to elect new assem-
blies in the next couple of months. Union Home Minister
Amit Shah, in his pre-election rallies in Assam and West
Bengal, has reiterated that the CAA would soon be imple-
mented. Notwithstanding the protests against the legalisa-
tion of religion as a denominator for conferring citizenship
on non-Muslim refugees from the Islamic Pakistani,
Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the truth is that even without
such an explicit mention, priority was always given to them
in grant of citizenship. By incorporating religion in the
Act, the de facto was sought to be made de jure, thus giving
cause for provocation to the Muslim minority and the hyp-
ocritical secularist-liberal elements. Shah’s objective in ex-
cluding Muslims in the CAA might have been to polarise
the polity in the states where the sentiment against illegal
Bangladeshi migrants is a huge factor, electorally. While he
has promised to implement the CAA, the Congress, the
Communists and the Trinamool Congress have undertak-
en to oppose it. Since these parties have their gaze fixed on
the sizable Muslim vote, they will compete for the anti-CAA
voters while Shah seeks to consolidate the pro-CAA elec-
torate. The election outcome alone will tell whether or not
Shah’s gambit has succeeded.
FPJ ARCHIVES
JANUARY 25, 1963
NEHRU CAUTIONS PEKING
Accept terms in full or face catastrophe'
THE FPJ NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JAN. 24: Prime Minister Nehru today gave a clear
warning to Peking that her refusal to accept 'in toto' the Colombo
proposals would lead to a catastrophe.
He declared that the Government of India was completely and
wholy bound by these proposals.
He said that the proposals wee "advantageous to us and were
gained by diplomacy. We should accept them."
Letters to the editor should be sent to: The Free Press Journal, Free Press House, Free Press Journal Marg, 215 Nariman Point, Mumbai. 400021; Fax: 22874688, e-mail: mail@fpj.co.in; Type letter, leave space, write your views and name. Letters may be edited for clarity and space.
Out of Africa: WTO's first woman chief
New Vistas
AARSHI TIRKEY & KRIPA ANAND
A
fter South Korea’s candidate, Yoo Myung-hee, pulled
out of the race on February 6, the path was paved for
Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to become the next di-
rector general of the World Trade Organisation. She is the
first woman and the first African in the organisation’s 25-
year history to have accomplished this. In fact, the United
Nations itself — since its inception in 1945 — has never had
a woman in the number one spot.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala has already made history in Nigeria by
becoming the country’s first woman finance minister (be-
tween 2003-2006 and 2011-2015) and by briefly serving as the
foreign minister in 2006. She is a seasoned economist and an
international development expert; she has an economics de-
gree from Harvard University and a PhD in Regional Eco-
nomics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology. She also has worked at the World Bank for 25
years, rising to the number two position of managing direc-
tor in 2007, handling a US$ 81 billion operational portfolio in
Africa, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia. During her
time here, Dr Okonjo-Iweala was at the forefront of numer-
ous initiatives to help poor countries. In 2010, she raised US$
50 billion from donors for the International Development As-
sociation (IDA), which is the World Bank’s fund for the low-
est income countries. In an interview with South China
Morning Postin August 2020, she said, “I come with a résumé
that shows I’ve done reform… And those reforms were bold
— they were courageous, if you allow me to say so.”
The appointment of a new WTO DG became necessary af-
ter the former chief, Roberto Azevêdoresigned a year before
the end of his term, officially stepping down on August 31,
2020. He had said that he wanted to give WTO members
enough time to choose his successor. However, this rendered
the organisation leaderless during a difficult time. The lib-
eral international economic order was — and still is — fac-
ing a backlash, while the trade and technology war between
the US and China has had a negative effect on global trade.
The US’s reluctance on appointments to the appellate body
also stymies the WTO’s efforts to settle contentious trade dis-
putes. The negotiations for the Doha Development Agenda
have stalled — without any conclusive decision on important
issues, such as public stockholding programmes for food se-
curity. Moreover, despite the resistance of developing coun-
tries, developed countries were keen on steering negotia-
tions towards 'Singapore issues', which covers investment,
competition policy, government procurement, and trade fa-
cilitation. The division between developed and developing
countries became acute, with the Trump administration for-
mally submitting a 2019 proposal to do away with the WTO’s
self-declaratory mechanism for determining developing
country status — a move that would affect India.
However, the biggest challenge facing the multilateral trad-
ing system today is Covid-19, because of which the world is
facing its deepest recession since World War II. National
lockdowns, export bans and trade restrictions that followed
the pandemic have only highlighted the importance of keep-
ing trade routes open for medical goods, equipment and vac-
cines. Now that a vaccine is here, a more pressing issue has
been the use of advance purchase agreements (APAs) by de-
ONE FLEW OVER THE NEST
Trump remains 2024 candidate of choice for most Republicans, poll shows
And he'll lose again... even by bigger margins.
Remember when Sarah Palin was the run away favorite for the Republican nomination? How about Guliani? Or when Jeb! was garunteed
to be the nominee. 3 year predictions don’t tend to count for much.
This does not bode well for those of us who were unwilling to destroy our lives to support a demagogue ... I suspect there will be repercussions
for Americans left or right who backed away from Trump and his vicious mob. And 'Mitch Ado about Nothing' should be held accountable.
I will never cease to be amazed at how people can be so brainwashed by this obvious lying, cheating vile individual. Those being some of
the nicest things I can think of to call it.
In these changed times and climes, religion seems to have become every Indian’s identity
Now , polarisation has crept
into the ‘gentleman ’s game ’
Outlook
SUMIT PAUL
‘How religion poisons everything........’
The subtitle of Christopher Hitchens’ ‘God is not
Great’, 2007.
F
ormer prolific batsman Wasim Jaffer re-
cently stepped down as coach of the Ut-
tarakhand state team, alleging that the
Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) secre-
tary and selectors had been ‘pushing non-deserv-
ing players’ to be selected in the team. CAU re-
sponded by dragging Jaffer’s religion into the
controversy. CAU Secretary Mahim Verma made
several allegations against Jaffer, the most seri-
ous of which was that Jaffer was promoting ‘re-
ligion-based selection’ in the team. He was even
accused of inviting maulvis to the team’s train-
ing!
This religious segregation, nay polarisation, is
now worming its way into the ‘gentleman’s game’
as well. And this is really upsetting in the ‘new’
India. In his active cricketing career of close to
two decades, playing 31 Tests for India and scor-
ing prolifically on the domestic circuit, Jaffer was
never called a religiously prejudiced cricketer.
But now in these changed times and climes, reli-
gion seems to have become every Indian’s identi-
ty and the bête noire of every sane and sensible
individual. Today, almost every second Muslim is
a fanatic and every Hindu is a religious and true
nationalist.
Mind you, there’ve been very many Muslim
cricketers donning the cap for India and playing
for the country with excellence and a great sense
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Fools and wise-folk are alike harmless. It
is the half-wise, and the half-foolish, who are the most dangerous.”
― JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE, MAXIMS AND REFLECTIONS
States for a large part of her life and also obtaining dual cit-
izenship, Dr Okonjo-Iweala — who was supported by Africa,
the European Union, and the Caribbean — did not receive
the same support from the Trump administration. At a WTO
meeting in October 2020, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell
had said, “One delegation could not support the candidacy of
Dr Ngozi and said they would continue to support the South
Korean minister [Yoo Myung-hee] — that delegation was the
USA.” Yoo Myung-hee withdrew her candidacy in the first
week of February after months of diplomatic pressure to
pull out of the race.
The fact that Dr Okonjo-Iweala is from Nigeria, a develop-
ing country, would also mean that she has a deeper under-
standing of the social, economic, political, and cultural is-
sues affecting low- and middle-income countries. Having
worked for the upliftment of LDCs at the IDA and being well-
versed with the ground realities that a developing country
faces could very well be the balancing factor that the organ-
isation requires. This is crucial, since the WTO has some-
times been accused of favouring developed nations. Devel-
oping countries will be watching how the new DG deals with
issues like the special & differential (S&D) treatment provi-
sions that are being disputed by developed countries. While
There have been WTO chiefs from Europe, many would argue that the WTO DG’s role is purely admin-
istrative, the DG does wield significant soft power and there
Oceania, Asia, and South America but not one have been several instances of the use of this soft power in
from Africa so far, despite the continent the past. A great example of this is Azevedo’s efforts that
helped achieve consensus among countries on the Bali Pack-
representing 27 per cent of the WTO’s age in 2013.
membership, with 35 per cent members from Dr Okonjo-Iweala will be taking over an organisation that
has been leaderless since last August and is possibly facing
developing countries. Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s its deepest crisis yet. The WTO has not been able to secure a
appointment as the WTO chief comes at a time multilateral trade deal for years and has also failed to meet a
when the world is extremely divided in terms 2020 deadline to end subsidies for overfishing. Most notably,
since 1995, the WTO has not been able to finalise any trade-
of colour, race, and ethnicity negotiation round of global trade talks, thereby failing to
provide any benefits to its members. The Doharound that be-
veloped countries to secure vaccines first — while leaving gan in 2001 was unable to benefit poor countries; many of
developing countries to wait. Recognising the inequality in these were African countries. The organisation has also
vaccine distribution and procurement, South Africa and In- been unsuccessful in reaching any major pacts since 1995,
dia submitted a proposal before the WTO to suspend Covid- apart from the Trade Facilitation Agreement in 2017. Also, of
19 related intellectual property (IP) rights to allow countries course, international trade has been majorly affected by the
to manufacture vaccines in a timely and affordable manner. coronavirus pandemic, fuelling a recession that is going to
With Azevêdo’s resignation, it was high time that the WTO affect us for years. Harvard Economics Professor Kenneth
saw a woman and an African in the top spot. There have been Rogoff writes in an article, “the short-term collapse in glob-
WTO chiefs from Europe, Oceania, Asia, and South Ameri- al output now underway already seems likely to rival or ex-
ca. However, the organisation has never been led by an ceed that of any recession in the last 150 years.”
African, despite Africa representing 27 per cent of the The WTO has had to grapple with massive dislocations in
WTO’s membership, with 35 per cent members from devel- international trade brought about by the pandemic. The or-
oping countries. Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s appointment as the ganisation needs to be revamped and Dr Okonjo-Iweala, with
WTO chief comes at a time when the world is extremely di- her passion for trade and promise for proactive leadership
vided in terms of colour, race, and ethnicity. could very well be the guiding force that the WTO desper-
Fadumo Dayib, the first female Somali presidential candi- ately needs. The world is in turmoil right now, with the pan-
date sees her appointment “as a validation of African demic being a major contributing factor. In a July 2020 in-
women’s competency and leadership skills, and of African terview for The Africa Report, Okonjo-Iweala said that “mul-
women’s excelling despite the systematic hurdles and obsta- tilateralism has never been needed more than now…A mul-
cles facing them.” Dr Okonjo-Iweala brings an impressive tilateral trading system is one that can produce results for
skill set to the table and would also bring a fresh perspective all, win-win solutions. And the WTO is squarely at the cen-
to the WTO as she has not worked in the organisation before. tre of that.” With the right leadership, the WTO can rein-
Since she is chair of the board ofGlobal Alliance for Vaccines
and Immunisation(GAVI), and is the World Health Organi-
force its relevance to the world, by fostering transparency
and predictability, reducing trade tensions, and by helping to
sation’s Covid-19 special envoy, member states — particular-
ly developing countries and LDCs — can hope to place vac-
promote growth and development for all.
cine manufacturing and distribution at the top of the WTO’s Aarshi Tirkey is Junior Fellow, and Kripa Anand a
agenda. Research Intern with ORF.
However, despite having studied and worked in the United Observer Research Foundation
#Trump for 2024?
LETTERS
WEDNESDAY'S SWIPE TO THE
EDITOR
The Guardian@guardian
Good idea?
Finance Minister Nirmala
ArizonaSunshine@rmwiersema Sithraman has committed
to the setting up of a ‘Bad
Bank’ (asset reconstruction
company) to solve the
Jason Beers@beers_jason growing problem of non-
performing assets of public
sector banks. So far, so
good. The tricky question
Elan Durham@europabridge1
is: Who will take a haircut?
Normally, bad housing
loans are easier to
liquidate. But the crux of
Jo Coote@CooteJo the problem is complex,
hypothecated corporate
fixed assets to a consortium
of banks, which are rather
difficult to resolve. The
bulk of bad loans are with
10 PSBs, which are, as on
March 2020, approximately
15 per cent of total
advances. Incidentally, such
an exercise has never
succeeded in the resolution
of industrial, corporate bad
loans in Mexico, Brazil,
Argentina, Italy, Greece,
Malaysia, Indonesia and
other countries. Most
of patriotism. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, off- zealot is so nonchalantly pasted on a Muslim to importantly, who will own
spinner Ghulam Ahmed (uncle of former Pak-
istani captain Asif Iqbal), Syed Mustafa Hassan
malign his character and besmirch his image.
This is absolutely unfair.
the bad bank? It cannot be
the government nor, as per
Kirmani, Abid Ali, Abbas Ali Baig, Muhammad Muslims have been living in India for centuries the FM’s suggestion, a
Azharuddin, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, and their contributions to the nation-building consortium of banks,
Muhammad Kaif, Muhammad Shami, among have never been doubted. But a paradigm shift in obviously because they
others. Never did we identify these remarkable public perceptions, especially in those of Hindu cannot simultaneously be a
cricketers with their religion (read Islam). It was India, is being noticed of late. Muslims have been seller of bad debts and
their private issue and they too never brought in relegated to the status of second-class citizens equity holders of an
their religion like today’s Pakistani cricketers, and their patriotism is being questioned. organisation that buys such
who offer namaaz on the ground and pray togeth- Cricket, which was the last bastion of secular- stressed assets. Both the
er in full public view. Jaffer also played without ism and India’s composite culture, is now being finance ministry and the
ever bringing in his Islam. And now, after playing besmeared with religious hues and overtones. RBI must undertake a
for 20-odd years, he’s being called a religiously in- Players from the minority section are being tar- study before setting up
clined coach who’s promoting players of his reli- geted and their integrity is being debated. Except such a bank.
gion and also inviting religious personalities to for Anil Kumble’s wholehearted support, all the Satish Murdeshwar
the game. This is a serious and shameful allega- bigwigs who played alongside Wasim are quizzi-
tion. cally silent. Wasim first played for Bombay and Spin win
Years ago, cricket scribe Rajan Bala wrote: “The after that, he relocated to Vidarbha. The Chennai test witnessed
beauty of the Indian cricket team is its seamless Though the Vidarbha team stands by him, his a juicy pitch from Day 1 and
accommodation of Muslim player/s and creating Bombay teammates have chosen to keep mum. was tailor-made for
a sense of bonhomie and camaraderie which nev- Sachin Tendulkar, Sanjay Manjrekar and Rahul spinners. Winning the toss
er allowed fanaticism to thrive.” So very true. Dravid have not said anything about this un- on such a spiteful wicket
SMH Kirmani, a devout Muslim, played in an era pleasant episode that has tarnished Wasim’s im- would have been a boon for
when his coevals were Sunil Gavaskar, Bedi, age and shaken him. Ajinkya Rahane feigns ig- any captain and skipper
Prasanna, Venkatraghavan, Kapil Dev, BS Chan- norance. The BCCI hasn’t thus far issued an offi- Virat Kohli, having lost his
drashekhar etc. Neither his teammates, nor cial statement in support of Wasim. Ganguly is last four test matches,
cricket lovers ever thought of Kirmani as being a also silent. Who’re they afraid of ? These people grabbed the opportunity
religiously odd man out in the team. Even today, can condemn foreign celebrities for poking their with both hands. Rohit
Siraj and Shami are Muslim cricketers playing nose into India’s internal matters, but are sadly Sharma set the ball rolling
for India.
But when a respected Muslim cricketer and
doing nothing to show solidarity with Wasim.
This reminds one of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s
with a hurricane century on
the first day and R Ashwin
coach like Wasim Jaffer is falsely accused of pro- famous quote, “In the end, we will remember not turned the tables on the
moting players of his religion, this further push- the words of our enemies, but the silence of our second day. On the third day,
es the already cornered Muslims and makes them friends.” he played saviour, scoring a
feel vulnerable. Why all of a sudden, is every We’re indeed living in intolerant times, with ter- century and on the fourth
Muslim being seen as a fanatic and anti-India? ribly prejudiced people. Alas, no sphere has been day, got two early wickets, to
Just like the way the blasphemy card is played by spared. This is indeed saddening. hasten the end. The Chennai
the majority Muslims in Pakistan against the hero proved a match-winner
Hindu, Sikh and Christian minorities to settle old The writer is an advanced research scholar of Semitic in his own right.
scores, here in India, the label of a fanatic or a languages, civilisations and cultures. C K Subramaniam
Uttarakhand: Badrinath to reopen for devotees on May 18
DEHRADUN: The sacred portals of Badrinath will be reopened for devo-
tees on May 18 this year. The gates of the famous Himalayan temple
located in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district are closed every year with the
onset of winter during which it remains snowbound. The temple will be
reopened for devotees at 4.15am on May 18, a Chardham Devastha-
nam Board official said. The auspicious hour and date for the reopening
was decided at a ceremony on Basant Panchami on Tuesday at Naren-
dra Nagar palace, the residence of the erstwhile Tehri royals, he said.
NATION
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Drones, cameras to monitor Chinese False propaganda; laws

FARMERS’ PROTEST
Sedition law can’t

troops pullback at Pangong Lake benefit small farmers: Modi

SUMIT KUMAR SINGH
New Delhi
Indian Army teams armed
with drones and cameras are
monitoring evacuation and
dismantlement of military
infrastructure by Chinese
troops at Pangong Lake in
Eastern Ladakh. Further, the
disengagement process at
both northern and southern
banks of the Pangong Lake is
expected to be complete by
February 20.
The Indian Army team
along with the Chinese Peo-
ple's Liberation Army (PLA)
team will physically verify
and re-verify disengagement
at Pangong Lake. “It will be a
joint inspection team, both
from Indian Army and Chi-
nese PLA," said a senior gov-
ernment officer.
FAST NEWS
PLA soldiers during military disengagement along the LAC at the
India-China border in Ladakh.
The officer stated Indian
Army teams will use drones
and high-resolution cameras
to check and record disman-
tlement of military infra-
structure, especially created
— MoD / AFP
along Pangong Lake by Chi-
nese troops.
China has created a mili-
tary garrison at Finger 7
where 13 jetties were sta-
tioned, long-range guns were
GODHRA TRAIN BURNING CASE
positioned, bunkers were
constructed and permanent
structures built to accommo-
date thousands of People’s
Liberation Army troops.
"We will verify physically
whether each and everything
is dismantled and removed
from the position. We will go
up to Finger 8 to check if dis-
engagement is happening as
per the agreed terms," the of-
ficer explained.
The agreement states Chi-
nese troops will move back to
Finger 8 and Indian troops
will pull back to the Dhan
Singh Thapa post between
Finger 2 and 3 of the north
bank of Pangong Lake.
Further, there would be a
temporary moratorium on
military activities, includ-
ing patrol to the traditional
areas.
AGENCIES
Lucknow
Accusing the opposition of
"false propaganda" against
the new agri-marketing legis-
lation, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Tuesday
claimed those who had made
laws for bringing in foreign
firms are now creating a
scare among farmers over lo-
cal companies.
Laying the foundation
stone for a statue of warrior-
king Suheldev in Uttar
Pradesh’s Bahraich, Modi
said his government is trying
to rectify the "mistakes" of
the earlier regimes that had
failed to honour deserving
leaders. Addressing the
event through video confer-
ence, the PM defended the
new farm laws, saying the re-
forms will benefit the small
and marginal farmers.
Farmers themselves have
now scaring farmers in the
name of local companies," he
said, without elaborating.
The BJP has in the past
claimed other parties too had
advocated similar farm re-
forms in the past, but failed
to implement them. "Those
who spoke lies and carried
out false propaganda for pol-
itics are now being exposed,"
he said.
He unveiled beautification
chal," he said. Modi hailed
his image as a "development-
oriented" and "sensitive"
ruler.
In his 30-minute speech, the
PM accused the previous
governments of not honour-
ing leaders like Netaji Sub-
has Chandra Bose, Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel and BR
Ambedkar.
The projects launched in
Bahraich include the con-
be invoked to
quieten disquiet:
Delhi court
AGENCIES / New Delhi
A Delhi court has said the
law of sedition cannot be in-
voked to quieten the disquiet
under the pretence of muz-
zling miscreants. Additional
Sessions Judge Dharmender
Rana made the observation
while granting bail to two
persons — Devi Lal Burdak
and Swaroop Ram — arrest-
ed by Delhi Police earlier this
month for allegedly commit-
ting sedition and spreading
rumours by posting fake
video on Facebook during
ongoing farmers' protest.
The court said the law of
sedition was a powerful tool
in the hands of the state to
maintain peace and order in
the society. "However, it can-
not be invoked to quieten the
disquiet under the pretence
of muzzling the miscreants.

‘Key conspirator’
begun exposing those in-
Siddiqui is UPCC media dept head volved in "false propaganda"
about them, he said.
LUCKNOW: Once a right hand man of BSP chief Mayawati, The PM said farmers in UP
Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who had joined the Congress 3 years ago, have been getting encourag-
projects in Shravasti and
Bahraich, honouring the
11th century king who is an
icon of the state's Rajbhar
community.
struction of a 4.20-metre high
statue of Suheldev, who is
said to have killed Ghaznavid
general Ghazi Saiyyad Salar
Masud in a battle on the
Evidently, law proscribes any
act which has a tendency to
create disorder or disturba-
nce of public peace by resort
to violence," the judge said in

held in Gujarat
was elevated as new head of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee ing results after the enact- "Though Maharaja Suhel- banks of the Chittora lake in an order passed on Feb 15.
(UPCC) Media and Communication department. Siddiqui had created ment of the new laws. "The dev's bravery has not found Bahraich in 1033. Also Meanwhile, a court on
a sensation when he released Mayawati tapes accusing the BSP chief entire country has seen that place in history books, he has planned is the development Tuesday extended by 7 days
of extorting money from party leaders and selling tickets, 3 years those who made laws for always been in the hearts of of tourist amenities includ- the police custody of actor-
ago. Later, he had joined the Congress, which was looking for a GANDHINAGAR: A key con- Police claimed Bhatuk was bringing in foreign compa- people through the folklore ing a cafeteria, a guesthouse activist Deep Sidhu in the
Muslim face in the party. His appointment as media head assumes spirator in the infamous 2002 involved in stone-pelting on nies in the farm sector are of Awadh, Terai and Purvan- and a children's park there. Red Fort violence on R-Day.
importance in the light of party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Godhra train burning case — the train bogey and even

C-cases, deaths nosedive

Vadra’s whirlwind tour of Western UP in support of agitating farmers. who had been on the run for
Siddiqui has been entrusted with the responsibility to streamline the
party’s media department, which is in a mess due to infighting.
the last 19 years — was ar-
rested from Godhra town, po-
Besides Siddiqui, senior party leader Satish Ajmani has been made
the treasurer of the UPCC to fill its empty coffers.
lice said on Tuesday.
Panchmahal police claimed
arrested accused Rafiq Hus-
2 PFI agents arrested with explosives sain Bhatuk, 51, was part of
LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Police Special Task Force (STF) arrested 2 the ‘core group’ of culprits
Popular Front of India (PFI) agents in Lucknow on Tuesday and involved in the conspiracy,
recovered high-quality explosives and arms from them. The arrested PFI wherein a mob had torched a
agents, Asad Badruddin and Feroz Khan residents of Kerala. Badruddin coach of Sabarmati Express
is a self-styled Commander of the PFI. ADG (law and order) Prashant at the Godhra station in
Kumar claimed the arrested PFI agents came here to Lucknow to Panchmahal district of Gu-
execute attacks on Hindu politicians and plant bombs at prime jarat on February 27, 2002,
locations. “Well-known leaders were on their target,” claimed Kumar. which caused the death of 59
The ADG claimed 16 high-quality explosives, devices for explosions, a ‘karsevaks’.
pistol, 7 live cartridges, anti-India literature and incriminating The police raided a house
documents were recovered. During the probe, they admitted to hitting in Signal Falia area near the
senior leaders of Hindu organisations and planting bombs at prime Godhra station on Sunday
locations to create terror and incite communal violence in the state, night and picked up Bhatuk
said Kumar. They also admitted to recruiting Muslim youths and for hatching a conspiracy
training them in arms to take forward their anti-India campaign. and inciting a mob to set the
rail compartment on fire.
4 of a family killed in UP road mishap
pouring petrol inside, before
it was torched by other accu-
sed. The train burning had
triggered the worst
communal riots in the histo-
ry of Gujarat.
After his name cropped up
in the probe, Bhatuk fled to
Delhi. “He is facing murder
and rioting charges, among
others. Bhatuk worked at
railway stations and at con-
struction sites as a labourer
in Delhi. He sometimes sold
household items on a hand-
cart,” the police said.
Three co-accused — Salim
Ibrahim Badam alias Salim
Panwala, Shaukat Charkha
and Abdulmajid Yousuf Mi-
tha — are still absconding
and are believed to be in
Pakistan.
Naqvi offers PM’s
‘chadar’ at Dargah
NEW DELHI: Minority Affairs
Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
on Tuesday travelled to Ajmer
and offered a "Chadar" on
behalf of PM Modi at the Ajmer
Sharif Dargah of Sufi saint
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti on
the 809th Urs there that attracts
pilgrims of all religions from
across the country. He read out
the PM’s message, extending
greetings and best wishes to the
followers of the Sufi saint in
India and abroad on the annual
URs. The message said: “This
annual celebration is a beautiful
example of social unity and
brotherhood.” —Our Bureau
OUR BUREAU/AGENCIES
New Delhi/Bangaluru
India on Tuesday recorded a
slump in the Covid-19 cases,
active cases as well as deaths.
Only 9,121 persons were
found infected in 6.16 lakh
tests in the past 24 hours,
while the active cases fell by
2,765, after an increase for 3
days, and the deaths dropped
to 81 as against the previous
day’s 90. The daily recovery
rate was also up at 97.32% of
total 10.93 total infections in
the country, with the recov-
ery of 11,805 in 24 hours.
VIRUS TIDBITS
� India’s fight against Covid-
19 is inspiring the world: PM
� Average daily deaths
reported last week was 93 in
country: Govt
� Consignment of made-in-
India COVID-19 vaccines
reaches Dominican Republic
� NITI Aayog member gets
2nd dose of Covaxin at AIIMS
nation. A bench comprising
Chief Justice of India
Sharad Arvind Bobde and
Justices AS Bopanna and V
hosted in the apartment com-
plex in Bomannahalli.
BBMP Commissioner Man-
junath Prasad said “We are
taking all the measures to
control further spread of the
coronavirus. We have also
called a meeting of citizens’
groups of the city to discuss
how the spread can be con-
trolled among the people.”
AstraZeneca vaccines not
returned to India, says SA
Meanwhile, South Africa’s
Health Minister Dr Zweli
Mkhize clarified the country
has not returned Oxford-As-
traZeneca vaccines to the In-

Tapovan tunnel: Rescuers

Those discharged have
LUCKNOW: 4 of a family, including parents, were killed when their car reached 10.63 crore. The cu-
was hit by a truck near Fatehpur village in Auraiya district of Uttar mulative death toll of the
Pradesh on Tuesday morning. Residents of Baleshwar locality in Agra, country reached 1,55,813.
Raj Kumar (50) was going to Kanpur along with family and brother-in- The cumulative active cas-
Ramasubramanian admitted
for hearing the writ petition
filed on January 20 by advo-
cate Arvind Singh.
Surge in case in Bengaluru
dian biotechnology and
pharmaceuticals company,
Serum Institute of India, the
maker of this vaccine.
However, South Africa

keep at it as hopes recede

law Mahavir (50) to fix the marriage of his daughter Diksha (27). His es stood at 1,36,872, which is A major Covid-19 cluster has plans to share 1 million As-
son Rajit (25) was driving car. When they reached near Fatehpur 1.25% of the total infections. emerged in an apartment traZeneca COVID-19 vac-
village in Auraiya, a truck suddenly step down the breaks. Rajit lost So far, 20.73 crore people have complex in Bengaluru with cine doses with other
control of the wheels and hit the truck. Eyewitnesses claimed after undergone the Coronavirus 105 residents testing positive African countries, a senior
hitting the truck, the car went into the air and overturned several tests. Monday. On Sunday, 28 peo- official said.
times on the road before coming to a halt. Except for Rajit, all Vax to judges, staff, lawyers ple had tested positive and “I would like to clarify a few
ARUN SHARMA / Tapovan
occupants of the car, his parents Rajkumar, mother Bhawna, sister
Diksha and maternal uncle Mahavi died on the spot. —Srawan Shukla
UTTARAKHAND TRAGEDY The Supreme Court on Tues-
day fixed a hearing on March
the city’s civic body Bruhat
Bengaluru Mahanagara Pa-
media reports that said we
have returned the vaccines
Bright lights illuminate the 3 on a PIL filed by a lawyer like (BBMP) had indicated to India. We have not re-
Guj BJP announces candidates for 2 RS seats surreal scene deep inside the for including judges, judicial that more cases may emerge. turned the AstraZeneca vac-
AHMEDABAD: The BJP on Tuesday announced the names of tunnel: slush and mud, tread staff and lawyers in the pri- According to officials, all cines to India,” WION quoted
candidates who will be contesting the byelections for two Rajya marks of vehicles that have ority category for adminis- those who have tested posi- South Africa’s Health Minis-
Sabha seats in Gujarat, where polls will be held on March 1. The been going in and out for the tration of the Covid-19 vacci- tive had attended a party ter Dr Zweli Mkhize.
state BJP’s OBC Morcha president Dinesh Anavadiya and Ram past week, and a single exca-
Mokariya, the founder-chairman of a courier company, will contest vator still at work. 3 more
the bypolls. The byelections for two Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat
were necessitated following the demise of Congress leader Ahmed
Patel and BJP leader Abhay Bhardwaj.
bodies of the estimated 30
people initially feared
trapped inside the Tapovan
Congress seeks reversal of Money-laundering: ED
chargesheet against
Green nod for Puri corridor project
PURI: The Shree Jagannath Temple Management Committee has
hydel project tunnel in Ut-
tarakhand’s Chamoli district
were pulled out on Tuesday.
‘Modi tax’ on petrol, diesel Hooda, 4 retd IAS men
approved a Rs800-crore heritage corridor project aimed at But the pace of work dur- NEW DELHI: Former Con- Meghalaya further lowers NEW DELHI: The ED has

redeveloping the 12th century shrine's surrounding areas, sources ing the day has been slow, of-
said on Tuesday. The committee, during a meeting chaired by ficials said. Water is seeping
Gajapati Maharaha of Puri Divyasingha Deb, approved the proposal out from the yet to be cleared
for the Shree Jagannath Heritage Corridor (SJHC) project by the Shree the tunnel’s part, and is bei-
Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), on Monday. The SJTA will ng continuously pumped out.
seek approval of the National Monuments Authority (NMA), But it means more slush.
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the Puri-Konark Fewer rescue workers were
Development Authority (PKDA) before starting work from June 1. at the job during Tuesday
evening than the day before.
Strike hits Banihal-Qazigund tunnel work At around 150 metres, it’s
BANIHAL/JAMMU: Hundreds of labourers went on a sudden strike on easy to see what the rescue
Tuesday, affecting the ongoing work on the double-tube 8.5-km
Banihal-Qazigund tunnel along the 270-km Jammu-Srinagar national
workers are up against. A sol-
id wall of mud blocks the rest
highway, officials said. The tunnel is nearing completion and is of the tunnel.
expected to be opened for public use by March-end. "Local labourers The water seepage and the
stayed away from work and also did not allow any type of work by slush made agencies deploy
skilled and unskilled non-local workers in the morning," an official said. just the lone excavator which
makes trips up and down the
Gujarat: Lion hit by goods train tunnel.
AMRELI: A lion was severely injured after it was hit by a goods train Rescue workers typically
on Tuesday near Rajula town in Amreli district of Gujarat, an official work a 4-hour shift, and are
said. A team has been formed to investigate the circumstances surr- relieved by the next batch of
ounding the incident, the official said. The lion, aged between 5 to 9 men. Breathing in the tunnel
years, was hit by a goods train which plies between Rajula and Pipa- is somewhat harder, as if the
vav port in Amreli district. "Forest officials learnt about the incident oxygen level is depleted.
from trackers. The injured lion was first shifted to Babarkot rescue NTPC starts giving relief
centre and then taken to Sakkarbaug Zoo in Junagadh for further State-run power giant NTPC
treatment," said Deputy Conservator of Forests, Nisha Raj. —Agencies on Tuesday said it has start-
58
is the toll as total
11 bodies have been
recovered from the
tunnel, 146 people
are still missing.
ed disbursal of compensa-
tion to families of workers at
its Tapovan project, a compa-
ny statement said. A team
from NTPC, led by Tapovan
project head RP Ahirwar, vis-
ited Vimala Devi at her
house on Monday.
23 limbs found in addition to
58 bodies: The rescuers have
recovered 23 limbs in addi-
tion to 58 bodies so far. The
last rites of 55 bodies and 20
limbs have been performed
after collecting DNA sam-
ples, said DIG Nilesh Anand
Bharne, also the spokesman
of the state police.
But the police believe all
the 20 limbs do not belong to
20 persons separately, which
means one or more than two
limbs may belong to one per-
son. Bharne also did not rule
out this possibility when en-
quired. "It is possible two
limbs belonged to one per-
son," he said. Of the 58 bodies
recovered so far, 31 have been
identified.
Under the supervision of
Ayush Agarwal, SP,
Rudraprayga, DNA samples
of 49 bodies and 56 family
members have been sent to
the forensic lab for matching.
So far, FIRs related to 179
missing persons have been
registered at the Joshimath
police station.
gress President Rahul Gand-
hi on Tuesday tweeted the
Modi government’s resolve
to keep looting the public for
progress of just “two”
friends even as party
spokesman Pawan Khera
sought withdrawal of excise
duty, calling it a “Modi Tax”
that drives the “Hum do,
hamare do” sarkar.
Khera told media the base
price of petrol is Rs31.82 litre,
but the "Modi tax" make the
common man pay Rs89.29 a
litre and ditto with diesel at
Rs79.70 a litre against the
base price of Rs33.46 a litre.
He said the additional ex-
cise duty on petrol went up
by Rs23.78 per litre and diesel
Rs28.37 per litre in 6 years
and 8 months. It is the "Modi
tax" that must be rolled back,
he said, adding, the fuel loot
by the government has been
going on since October 18,
2014 when the Modi govt
petrol, diesel prices by over
Rs5/ ltr: Meghalaya govt on
Tuesday slashed retail prices of
petrol and diesel by over Rs5
again by reducing VAT on them,
CM Conrad K Sangma said. The
decision came amid strike by
commercial transporters that
entered second day Tuesday. The
new petrol price will be Rs85.86
from its current price of Rs91.26,
while the new diesel price will be
Rs79.13 from its present Rs86.23
in Shillong, Sangma said.
abolished subsidy on diesel
given to farmers as its first
anti-farmer act, since then it
is imposing higher duty on
petrol and diesel for the peo-
ple to bear the burden.
If Modi govt was so con-
cerned about farmers, why it
abolished the diesel subsidy
they were getting as soon as
it came to power. The subsidy
alone helped the farmers in
2012-13. —Our Bureau
filed a chargesheet against
former Haryana CM Bhupin-
der Singh Hooda, 4 retired
IAS officers and some others
in a money-laundering case
linked to alleged irregulari-
ties in the allocation of over
a dozen industrial plots
worth over Rs30 crore in the
Panchkula area in 2013, offi-
cials said on Tuesday.
The agency claimed "wor-
thy applicants were driven
out of merit and applicants
who were closely connected
to Hooda, in terms of his per-
sonal capacity and also in
terms of the political party
he belongs to, were allotted
these plots". The ED said the
plots were allocated to "ac-
quaintances of the then CM
(Hooda)". The Haryana Vigi-
lance Bureau booked a case
in 2015 to probe these alleged
irregularities and subse-
quently, the CBI and the ED
filed their respective cases.

IED blast targets

CRPF vehicle in UK MP, Modi discuss Alumni support Disha, want her released
J&K, no casualty
SRINAGAR: Militants triggered
climate change co-op SHANKAR RAJ / Bengaluru

The Alumni from Mount Carmel College in Ben-

an IED to target a security forces
vehicle in Anantnag district of J&K
on Tuesday, but there was no loss
of life, police said. Militants
targeted a CRPF bunker vehicle in
Pazalpora area of Bijbehara in
south Kashmir’s Anantnag, a cop
said. He said the blast damaged
a few civilian vehicles, but no
loss of life reported. The security
forces fired a few shots in the air
after the blast. Meanwhile,
National Conference leader Hilal
Lone was arrested under the
UAPA for allegedly delivering a
"hate speech" at a rally during
last year’s DDC polls in
Bandipora, a cop said on Tuesday.
NEW DELHI: President-des-
ignate of the 26th UN Cli-
mate Change Conference of
the Parties (COP26) and
British MP Alok Sharma
called on PM Modi on Tues-
day during which they dis-
cussed the India-UK collabo-
ration on climate change is-
sues in the run up to the cru-
cial meet.
“Pleased to meet COP26
President-designate @Alok-
Sharma_RDG today. We dis-
cussed India-UK cooperation
on climate change agenda
and COP26," Modi tweeted af-
ter the meet.
“My best wishes to UK for
successful organisation of
the climate summit,” he said.
Sharma, the president-des-
ignate of the 26th UN Cli-
mate Change Conference of
the Parties, called on Prime
Minister Modi during which
they discussed India-UK col-
laboration on climate change
issues in the run up to
COP26, according to a Prime
Minister's Office statement.
PM Modi reiterated India's
commitment to the Paris
Agreement and to work con-
structively for the successful
outcome at COP26.
galuru extended its full support to 22-year-old cli-
mate activist Disha Ravi and condemned her arrest
by the Delhi Police. Disha is an alumnus of the col-
lege and studied business administration there be-
fore she joined Goodmylk, a company that makes
plant-based alternatives for dairy products.
In a statement, the alumni said: “The blatant tar-
geting of a young woman citizen expressing her
support with the nation’s protesting farmers is
horrifying and completely unacceptable. We de-
mand that the Delhi Police release her and the Ben-
galuru Police and Karnataka government act to
protect the constitutional rights of a woman resi-
dent of the state of Karnataka.”
The statement said Disha Ravi coordinated with
climate activists from around the world to high-
light issues related to climate change. “She has co-
ordinated with climate activists across the world to
get politicians and corporations to act and under-
take measures to prevent the world from getting
worse. Her participation as a young woman of
colour in climate change activism has been impor-
tant in bringing attention to the vulnerabilities
faced by marginalised communities in countries of
Global South.”
Disha drew inspiration from the freedom strug-
gle to protest and lend a voice to the farmers’ move-
ment. “Her sense of history is remarkable as she
has drawn from her personal, familial history of
farmer-grandparents and the difficulties they suf-
fered due to the impact of climate change on agri-
cultural practices. She has also drawn her inspira-
tion to protest and lend her voice to farmers’
protests in the country from the greatest of peo-
ple’s movements in India—the Independence
struggle,” the statement signed by 330 members of
the Mount Carmel College alumni.
Disha Ravi was arrested by Delhi Police on Sat-
urday from her home in north Bengaluru for edit-
ing parts of the ‘toolkit’ shared by Greta Thunberg,
an international climate activist.
Meanwhile, Disha’s arrest sparked protests in
Bengaluru with activists questioning whether
due procedures were followed during her arrest.
The activists wanted to know how Disha was
picked up by the Delhi Police from Bengaluru
without first securing a transit remand from a
magistrate in Bengaluru.
AAP completes 6 yrs in power in Delhi, Kejri lauds govt’s efforts
NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday completed six years in
power in Delhi. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal lauded his government's efforts in
handling the Covid-19 pandemic, providing free ration for poor families during
lockdown, etc. Addressing a press conference, Kejriwal said, "A year ago people
gave me the chance to serve the people of Delhi again. Despite it being a
difficult year, Delhi govt could successfully tackle Covid-19. We also made efforts
to reduce air pollution. We spoke to farmers and requested them to stop stubble
burning and introduced new technology to find a solution.”
NATION
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Crisis in Pondy govt

Continued from Page 1
FOLLOW NORMS OR GET LOCKED IN

as one more MLA quits

Thackeray observed that the government had allowed longer
operating hours for restaurants and hotels but rules were being
openly flouted. He expressed serious displeasure over the
administration’s inaction and directed divisional commissioners
and district collectors to be vigilant and take steps accordingly in
areas where the Covid positivity rates were high.
Thackeray’s diktat was: “The district administration should take
strict action and revoke licences of halls or meeting venues where

Protesting para teachers Opposition demands resignation of CM Narayansamy

weddings and other ceremonies take place without people
wearing masks. Even though people are careless and non-
compliant, the local administration and police should not show any

jump into Adi Ganga N CHITHRA

ARITRA SINGHA / Kolkata
A section of the para teach-
ers who have been protesting
against the ruling Trinamool
Congress for not giving them
a permanent post and also
not increasing their salaries,
on Tuesday jumped into the
Adi Ganga canal that flows
beside West Bengal CM Ma-
mata Banerjee’s residence to
protest against the govt.
Due to the timely interven-
tion of the police including
the Kolkata Commissioner of
police Soumen Mitra, the
protesters could not enter the
CM’s residence. The security
has been beefed up in the
area since then.
A group of para-teachers
has been on a sit-in protest out-
side Bikash Bhawan, the edu-
cation minister’s office in
Kolkata since last December 8.
Talking to Free Press Jour-
nal, Bhagirath Ghosh, a para
teacher said that they will
continue their protest.
“Our sit-in demonstration is
about to enter three months.
For the last two weeks we
were on hunger strike.
Though we have lifted our
hunger strike, we will contin-
ue with our demonstration
till the demands are fulfilled,”
mentioned Bhagirath.
Notably, the CM had recently
announced a three per cent an-
nual pay hike for para teach-
ers in the budget, but they as-
serted the raise is not enough.
Incidentally, soon after Ma-
mata Banerjee’s announce-
ment of recruitment and
hike, the opposition parties
cried foul as they claimed
just because of the election
the TMC supremo is giving
out doles.
Chennai
The Congress government in
Puducherry faced a major
existential crisis on Tuesday
with one more MLA, A John
Kumar, resigning bringing
the strength of the ruling
party and its ally DMK on a
par with that of the opposi-
tion’s tally. The development
comes just a day before the
scheduled visit of Congress
leader Rahul Gandhi to the
poll-bound Union Territory.
The Opposition parties have
been quick to demand the
resignation of Chief Minis-
ter Narayansamy.
Much of the current crisis
has come about thanks to the
BJP’s meticulously executed
Karnataka and Madhya
Pradesh type of strategy to
weaken a ruling establish-
ment through resignations.
Puducherry Congress MLA A John Kumar resigns on Tuesday.
While the overall strength
of the Assembly is 30, in re-
cent days four Congress leg-
islators including two minis-
ters – A Namassivyam and
Malladi Krishna Rao -- had
quit (Namassivayam and an-
other ex-MLA had joined the
BJP) and one legislator was
disqualified, bringing down
the party’s tally to 10 includ-
ing the Speaker. The
–ANI
Narayansamy government
has the support of three
DMK MLAs and an Inde-
pendent legislator. On the op-
position side, the All India
NR Congress has seven legis-
lators and the AIADMK four.
Add to this the tally of three
nominated legislators, all be-
longing to the BJP. That
makes it a 14-14 tie.
Puducherry has a strange
No to quitting
Chief Minister Narayansamy,
after a party consultation,
rejected the Opposition’s call
for his resignation. “As far as
we are concerned, the
government is strong and all
legislators stand united. The
opposition’s call for [my]
resignation is unjustified,”
he told journalists adding
that his Government would
act by the Constitution.
legislative practice in place –
the nominated legislators are
nominated by the Centre
through the Lieutenant Gov-
ernor – in this case Kiran
Bedi, who was the BJP Delhi
Chief Ministerial candidate
in 2015. And they can vote on
any motion moved in the As-
sembly. Reports suggest Ku-
mar, who resigned on Tues-
day, is likely to join the BJP.
laxity in performing their duties. Strict action should be taken
immediately, if hotels and restaurants do not follow the rules.’’
The CM further said, municipalities should start regular
disinfectant-spraying in public places. “Increase testing through
mobile labs by going from village to village. Make sure that all the
systems in the field hospital are functioning properly,’’ he exhorted.
Further, he asked divisional commissioners and district collectors to
strictly implement Covid-19 protocol, SOPs, and impose penalties
for non-compliance as measures to curb the rapidly rising cases in
the state.
Thackeray directed the divisional commissioners and district
collectors to “perform targeted tests in areas or at the periphery
where Covid-19 infection was on the rise. At least 20 contacts
from a single patient must be traced.’’
“Everything has begun, restrictions have been relaxed, youngsters
are out of the house, everyone is behaving as if the threat of
coronavirus is over. As a result, we are endangering senior citizens
in our own home,’’ he noted. He said the state government had
created Maharashtra's health map by implementing the ‘My Family,
My Responsibility’ campaign. Health workers should inquire about
the state of patients suffering from related health problems, he
said.
Thackeray also asked the administration to talk to business
organisations and associations and ask them to ensure that SOPs
were strictly enforced. The CM reminded that these organisations
and associations had approached the government with repeated
requests to lift the lockdown. “Adopt and implement containment
measures wherever they are needed,’’ he added.
SA VARIANT IS SPOTTED IN 4

PDP demanding restoration School principal gets death,

to assess the effectiveness of the vaccines against the South
Rahul only leader African and Brazilian variants.
Incidentally, there are no direct flights from South Africa or Brazil.
who can take over
teacher lifer for raping minor
The South Africa strain was detected in four returnees -- one from

of J&K status: Mehbooba

as Cong chief: Bora
SIVASAGAR: Rahul Gandhi is the
AGENCIES / Srinagar only leader who can take on the
Angola, one from Tanzania and two from South Africa, ICMR
Director General Balram Bhargava said. All the co-travellers and
their contacts have been tested and quarantined. The ICMR-NIV is
LAW KUMAR MISHRA than capital." now attempting to isolate and culture the SA variant from the
Patna The Judge rejected the ar- samples of these four individual returnees; the Brazilian variant is

PDP president Mehbooba
Mufti on Tuesday said her
party was not merely de-
manding statehood but the
restoration of pre-August
2019 status for Jammu and
Kashmir.
She also called for resump-
tion of dialogue for the reso-
lution of the Kashmir issue
and alleged that there was
"jungle raj" in the country.
"We are not demanding (the
return of) statehood. We are
demanding the pre-August 5,
2019 position of J&K and we
also want the Kashmir issue
-- for which thousands of
youth have rendered sacri-
fices, lakhs of homes have
been destroyed and losses in
millions of rupees have been
suffered -- to be resolved by
talking to Pakistan and the
people of J&K," Mufti said.
The PDP chief was speak-
Lord Ram Lala in Ayodhya
adorns khadi silk angvastram
SRAWAN SHUKLA
Lucknow
Lord Ram Lala in Ayodhya
will now wear designer Kha-
di silk ‘Angvastram’ from
Tuesday on the auspicious
occasion of Vasant Panchmi.
The dresses have been de-
signed by famous Bolly-
wood fashion designer Man-
ish Triapthi in collabora-
tion with Uttar Pradesh
Khadi and Gramodyog de-
partment. Tripathi hails
from Ambedkar in the state
and spent most of his time
in Lucknow.
The week is going to be
packed with colorful design-
er Khadi silk dresses for
Probe into attempt of abduction sought
SRINAGAR: PDP president
Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday
demanded an impartial probe
into the alleged attempt of
abduction and molestation of a
minor girl by Army personnel in
Bandipora district of J&K,
claiming the family was being
pressurised to withdraw the FIR.
ing to reporters after the par-
ty's convention in north
Kashmir's Kupwara district.
Mufti said and people were
being arrested first and then
their crime was being
proven.
"There is a saying that
show me a person, I will
show you the crime, which
means that first they arrest a
person, then they prove the
crime. Many of our leaders
are in custody and they have
been shown no orders and
Lord Ram Lala in Ayodhya.
The Lord will adorn yellow
Khadi silk Angvastram on
Tuesday to mark the begin-
ning of Vasant Panchmi.
Khadi Angvastram in six
more colors have also been
designed by Tripathi for the
Lord.
Besides Lord Ram Lala, de-
signer Khadi silk dresses
have also been designed by
Ma Sita, Lord Lakshman
and Lord Hanuman. After
approval from the Chief
Minister Yogi Adityanath,
the famous Bollywood fash-
ion designer has handed
over these dresses to the
management of Ram Lals
temple in Ayodhya.
mantle of Congress presidentship
as he alone can fight PM Modi, For the first time in the histo-
gument of the defence that
since this was the first crime
being isolated and cultured at ICMR-NIV-Pune.
The South African variant is circulating in 41 countries around the
the party's Assam unit chief ry of criminal justice system of the accused, harsh pun- world, including the United States.
Ripun Bora has said, amid a in Bihar, a 31-year-old princi- ishment should not be given.
growing chorus within the pal of a private school has Court said since the teacher Spike, yes, but cases less severe
Congress seeking Gandhi's return been awarded capital pun- was also involved in the during the lockdown and when trains were shut for the public,
to the helm. Bora said he has ishment and his colleague, crime and "his act have now started venturing out to work, thereby increasing the
been appealing and demanding a school was in com- risk of exposure.
Gandhi take up the party teacher life mon inten- Mumbai has been a Covid hotspot ever since the pandemic hit the
presidency, and asserted he will imprison- tion of rape, country. However, cases had started declining significantly by the
continue to do so till such time ment on he also de- end of June. But in the last fortnight, there has been a sudden
the Wayanad MP becomes charges of served life surge in the number of cases reported daily
there is nothing against Congress chief again. raping an sentence." Hearteningly, however, there is not much change in the number of
them.  "There is jungle "I am the first MP who from the eleven-year- The 11- fatalities, with the numbers having come down marginally in the
raj here right now, the jungle very beginning has been raising old student year-old girl past two-three months. The daily death count has remained below
raj is happening across the his voice that Rahul Gandhi of their was a stu- 5 for the past month.
country also now, but it is should take up the leadership of school. dent of class Additional Municipal Commissioner (health) Suresh Kakani said,
more so in J&K," she said. the Congress party," the chief of Pronouncing the judge- V when crime “There has been a rise in cases over the last couple of days, with a
On the arrest of National the Assam Pradesh Congress ment in the case registered was committed. She was decrease in the doubling rate and increase in growth rate being
Conference (NC) leader Hilal Committee told PTI in an in 2018 at Phulwarisharif po- called for private coaching by indicators of the same. We are stepping up containment measures
Lone, the former chief min- interview here. lice station in Patna, the ad- the principal of New Central accordingly. We are not speaking of a lockdown but citizens will
ister of the erstwhile state "In several meetings and also ditional district and sessions PublicSchool. Her parents have to be more alert and follow Covid-safety protocol."
said the BJP government during a Zoom conference of judge VI and designated learnt about the rape when Dr Deepak Baid, president, Association of Medical Consultants,
was "inflicting cruelty" on party chief Sonia Gandhi, I have judge Awaddesh Kumar for the girl started vomitting. On said the main reason for a surge in the positivity rate in the last
the people of Kashmir as raised this several times that trial of offences under POC- statement of the girl, an FIR one week is the violation of Covid norms by citizens. Officegoers
well as the people in other only he can be Congress SO said: "The court is unable was registered on September are not wearing masks in office, due to which the chances of
parts of the country. president," Bora said. to impose the sentence less 22, 2018. infection increase. “Even though cases have increased, there is no
need to panic. I urge citizens to wear masks whether they are in
Continued from Page 1
office or visiting crowded places, so that they will not contract
infection,” he said.
Tentative dates for HSC, SSC exams Meanwhile, health experts have hinted it is a sign of a second
48 die as MP bus plunges into canal
wave if the cases keep increasing on a daily basis. “Currently, we
The timetable is just for information of students. The final timetable Chuhia Ghat and decided to take a short cut. have to closely monitor the number of cases for the next seven
will be provided to schools and junior colleges in printed format He drove down a narrow road constructed along the canal, which is days. Only after that can we come to the point where we could
before the examinations," the state board announced. Schools and part of the Bansagar project. Somewhere along the road, the driver determine if it indicates a second of wave or not,” he said.
junior colleges have been asked to send in their suggestions or lost control of his vehicle and the bus plunged into the water.Some
objections to the tentative timetable in written format to the board by students and other passengers standing in a mass near the door Housing societies on notice
February 22. On January 21, 2021, Varsha Gaikwad, state school jumped off as the vehicle plunged. They, in turn, raised an alarm physical distancing norms were being rampantly flouted by most
education minister, had announced, "HSC (Class 12) board theory and passers-by rushed to the site to save the passengers. citizens and this was causing a rise in cases.
examinations in Maharashtra will be held from April 23 to May 29, Seven people, including the driver, managed to swim to safety. A Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar said, "It has been noticed that
2021, while, SSC (Class 10) board exams will be held from April 29 to magisterial probe has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the majority of commuters travelling on locals are not wearing masks.
May 31, 2021, tentatively." Also, the minister had announced that all accident. This will force us to take harsh decisions and act against those
SSC and HSC board exams would be conducted offline, in compliance Till evening, 48 deaths had been reported: 37 bodies were found flouting Covid norms, as the number of cases are on rise now. We
with the Central and state government Covid-19 rules and regulations. trapped inside the bus, 10 were found floating and one victim died cannot afford to let the situation go out of control. Hence, we will
in hospital. A braveheart named Shivrani rescued two passengers review the situation and take preventive measures."
PUDUCHERRY LG KIRAN BEDI... who were drowning in the canal. Authorities have issued stringent guidelines to societies and have
Bedi’s removal comes close on the heels of a crisis in the Narayansamy begun testing hawkers in many wards and have stepped up the
Government with four legislators, including two ministers, resigning No lockdown but take care: Mayor number of screenings and tests. "We have not issued guideline to
from the party. One of them, MLA Malladi Krishna Rao, is now slated to “The economy of Mumbai was severely hit due to the lockdown and housing societies but have started conducting more tests and
join the BJP. Incidentally, the fast-paced developments have happened we don't want to repeat such a scenario again. However, now screenings. Our focus is on early detection and early treatment,"
just a day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's visit to Puducherry to Mumbaikars will have to be more aware and behave in a cautious said Kiran Dighavkar, Assistant Commissioner of G north ward
launch the party's campaign for elections due by May. manner because the pandemic is very much around,” Pednekar said. (Dharavi, Mahim and Dadar).
Meanwhile, echoing the mayor's statement, Additional Municipal “We have asked housing societies to strictly minimise the entry of
‘Toolkit did not speak of violence' Commissioner Suresh Kakani said, currently, the civic body was outsiders, implement thermal screening and ensure testing of high-
She is a young advocate, who knows her duties. She feared her career concentrating on ramping up testing of high-risk contacts (HRCs) at risk contacts. Society chairmen should ensure strict home isolation
would be jeopardised and thus she absconded," Desai told the court. the ground-level. “Imposing another lockdown is far from our for mild Covid cases and high-risk contacts. They should also
"As far as the toolkit in question is concerned, it is just a document thoughts because presently, we are concentrating on curbing the inform about arrivals from corona-affected countries who have not

Gram Pradhan shot prepared by several people and circulated on the internet. It caught
everyone's attention only after Swedish activist Greta Thunberg shared
it," Desai said. Further trashing the police's contention that the toolkit
spread. The vaccination drive is also underway, hence we need to be
more vigilant about the situation,” Kakani told the FPJ on Tuesday.
“For the past 24 hours, the BMC has been sending notices to the
undergone mandatory Covid testing. Symptomatic patients should
be directed to the nearest municipal dispensary. Get maximum
residents (especially those above 50 years of age) tested for Covid-

in UP, villagers
attack policemen
SRAWAN SHUKLA / Lucknow
Even as dates for panchayat
polls are yet to be announced,
political rivalry has started
taking lives in rural Uttar
Pradesh. A Gram Pradhan
was shot by two unidentified
motor-cycle borne assailants
near
Saraikhwaja
village in
Jaunpur dis-
trict Tuesday
afternoon.
Rajkumar
Yadav (50),
Gram Prad-
han of
Makhmelpur
village in Jaunpur district,
was going on a mobike to at-
tend a function in a nearby
village. When he reached
near Saraikhwaja Village,
two moto-cycle borne as-
sailants came from behind
and shot him on his head.
He died on the spot. Politi-
cal rivalry is said to be mo-
tive behind the murder. His
rival did not want him to con-
test again.
Ironically, the sensational
murder took place just 3 kilo-
meters away from Poorvan-
chal University where the Ut-
tar Pradesh Governor
Anandiben Patel was partici-
pating in varsity's convoca-
tion day function.
After the crime, the as-
sailants made
a good escape.
On learning
of the inci-
dent, a large
number of
villagers
rushed to the
spot and held
a demonstra-
tion. They at-
tacked police men when they
tried to take the body in their
possession for post mortem.
Later, the mob blocked
Shahganj-Jaunpur highway,
pelted stones and torched
several vehicles. Additional
force was deployed there to
control agitated villagers. Af-
ter assurance from senior po-
lice officers to nab assailants,
they allowed police to take
away the body.
urged people to create a 'tweetstorm', Desai said that it only informed
people what they should do to support farmers. "It only says that you
should support farmers through Twitter. Basically, telling people to do
this and do that but not violence. The toolkit nowhere mentions
violence or suggests people take over the Red Fort," Desai argued.
Desai further pointed out that initially, the FIR did not name Jacob and
her name was added at a later stage. "They have charged my client
with sedition. But the ruling in Kedarnath's case by the top court clearly
states that sedition cannot be slapped unless there is violence. It is our
case, the toolkit did not speak of violence at all."
The submission was made in response to the contention of the Delhi
Police through special counsel Hiten Venegaonkar, who urged the court
not to grant any protection to Jacob since she has absconded. He further
alleged that the toolkit was prepared by jailed activist Disha Ravi, Jacob
and a few others, who were active members of a Khalistani group.
"We do not want to name those two persons at this stage of the matter.
But yes, they belong to the banned outfit - People, which propagates
Khalistani ideology," Venegaonkar submitted.
According to Venegaonkar, the preliminary probe reveals that Disha had
formed a WhatsApp group on December 6 and the toolkit was prepared
by the all the accused in the first week of January and was saved in
their Google drive.
"The drive shows Disha and Jacob as the creators of the toolkit. It was
used by the protestors during the Republic Day rally wherein there was
a massacre of over 400 policemen, who were left injured. Unfortunately,
all this took place when the Prime Minister was delivering his speech,"
Venegaonkar claimed.
Having heard the contentions, Justice Naik adjourned the matter for
passing orders till Wednesday.
Shantanu Muluk gets pre-arrest relief: The Aurangabad bench of the
Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted interim protection from arrest to
Shantanu Muluk, the associate of advocate Nikita Jacob; he too is
accused of preparing the toolkit which allegedly instigated the violence
at Delhi during the Republic Day tractor rally by farmers. A bench of
Justice Vibha Kankanwadi noted that 'mere apprehension of arrest is a
key factor' and that Muluk is a resident of Beed district and would
require time to reach New Delhi, engage an advocate and seek
protection from arrest. The judge, accordingly, protected Muluk from
arrest for 10 days to enable him to visit Delhi and seek protection from
a court there, since the FIR is lodged in the national capital.
managerial bodies of housing societies, asking them to follow Covid-
19 protocols,” he added.
We don’t crib about grass: Ashwin
‘‘I'm completely fine with people having opinions, because we'll also
have our opinion when we tour abroad,’’ Ashwin said. ‘‘But we don't
complain or crib, we just get on with it. I've never seen any of our
greats talk about pitches having a lot of grass, or all these things.’’
Speaking on the BBC's Test Match Social on Sunday, Vaughan was
indeed uncharitable: 'Clearly, India have panicked after the first Test;
they have picked two spinners and the pitch has exploded. It's not a
good Test match wicket. England are trying to be busy and do the right
things but it's very difficult on this kind of surface.’’ Shane Warne had
the last word: This one was a turner from ball one. England should've
bowled India out for 220. It’s no different between spinning and
seaming & Rohit [Sharma] showed how to play on this surface.’’
MOHAN BHAGWAT AT MITHUN'S
The host and the guests squatted on the floor in Indian tradition and
had their food.Those present included noted danseuse and retired
civil servant Shobhna Narayan, the president of the Indian medical
Association, Dr Sahjananad Prasad Singh, the chairman of the Bar
Council of India, Mannan Kumar Mishra, a former judge of the Patna
High Court, Rajendra Prasad Singh, Lt General (retired) J N
Chaudhury and former officer on special duty in MHA on Ayodhya
affairs, Kishore Kunal. —MUMBAI/PATNA
Govt gets 6 weeks for curbs on OTT
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave six weeks to the
Centre to regulate OTT platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime,
after the Centre assured it to take "some action." A Bench of Chief
Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V
Ramasubramanian reacted to a submission by Additional Solicitor
General Sanjay Jain that the Centre was already contemplating "some
action" to regulate the OTT platforms. It tagged a PIL seeking OTT
regulations by an autonomous body. The CJI sought to know from
Jain as to what action was stipulated and asked him to to file a
detailed response in six weeks. —Our Bureau
19 in testing camps organised by the BMC ,” said S Dhonde,
Assistant Municipal Commissioner of P south ward (Goregaon).
Meanwhile, the BMC has also stepped up testing of high-risk
contacts (HRCs) to arrest the spread. Civic officials have now
initiated door-to-door testing of HRCs through mobile vans.
Share autos or super-spreaders?
"According to auto unions, the local share-auto stands have
even cut down the share fare to Rs 5, to attract more
passengers. Due to Covid-19, people prefer taking BEST buses
and for long distances, use local trains that have now been open
to all from February 1, at select timings.The unions, on the other
hand, have been demanding a fare hike which hasn't happened
for the past five years or so.
"It is dangerous if share-autos are over-seated. These shared
autos are like super spreaders. Action should be taken not just
against drivers but also passengers," said Thampy Kurien,
autorickshaw union leader.Coming to the local trains, the
number of daily commuters have touched a combined 37 lakh
on Central and Western Railways. Of these, around 20-22 lakh
are on Central Railway and 15-17 lakh on Western Railway.
These are the numbers in the last 15 days since February 1,
when local trains resumed for all but at select times. The AC
local too is seeing a steady rise in riders hip, with the sale of
944 daily tickets and season tickets, catering to nearly 15,000
passengers on CR. Likewise, on the WR, the AC local has catered
to over 48,000 passengers,  with 5, 200-plus tickets and season
tickets being sold.
"We will go by state government directives," said a railway
official.The BEST undertaking also isn't doing much, as its buses
are running full. There are serpentine queues seen at bus stops
while buses are running packed, with little scope for social
distancing. There are 3,300 buses ferrying around 22 lakh
passengers daily.On February 16, the financially struggling BEST
sought Rs 406 crore from BMC.
"The civic body is giving it as a loan@4%. We are demanding
for the amount to be provided as a grant. All through the
lockdown, our buses were plying for people but when it comes
to helping us, we are provided a loan," said Sunil Ganacharya,
BEST Committee member.
Tamil family wins legal battle to stay in Australia
MELBOURNE: A Tamil family won another victory in an
Australian court on Tuesday in their battle to avoid
deportation to Sri Lanka. Three-judge bench on Tuesday
rejected an appeal by the Australian government against an
earlier judge's ruling that the younger daughter had been
denied procedural fairness when she made a protection
visa application that would have allowed her to remain in
Australia.
WORLD
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

MYANMAR ARMY PROMISES NEW ELECTION

The military has not given a date, but has imposed a state of emergency for a year

Suu Kyi faces new charge

AGENCIES / Yangon
Myanmar's military has repeated its
promise to hold new elections and re-
linquish power as anti-coup protests
continue across the country.
Army spokesman Brigadier General
Zaw Min Tun, once again claimed that
the military took control after alleged
voter fraud, but did not provide any ev-
idence.
“Our objective is to hold an election
and hand power to the winning party,”
Zaw Min Tun told the junta’s first news
conference since overthrowing Suu
Kyi’s government.
The military has not given a date for
a new election but has imposed a state
of emergency for one year. Zaw Min
Tun said the military would not hold
power for long.
“We guarantee ... that the election
will be held,” he told the nearly two-
hour news conference, which the mili-
tary broadcast from the capital, Naypy-
itaw, live over Facebook, a platform it
has banned.
Asked about the de-
tention of Nobel prize
winner Suu Kyi and
the president,
Zaw Min
Myanmar’s foreign policy would not change, it will
remain open for business and deals would be upheld
Tun dismissed the suggestion they
were in detention, saying they were in
their homes for their security while
the law took its course.
He also said Myanmar’s foreign poli- AGENCIES nitely without court permission.
cy would not change, it remained open Yangon The legal maneuver comes two weeks af-
for business and deals would be up- ter the military seized power in a coup
held. Police in Myanmar filed a new charge that shocked many in the international
The military will be hoping its reas- against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, community who had been hopeful that
surances will dampen the campaign of her lawyer said on Tuesday, in a move that Myanmar was taking steps toward democ-
daily opposition to its rule and to the may allow her to be racy. Since then,
ousting Suu Kyi and her government. held indefinitely the junta has ratch-
As well as the demonstrations in without trial as part The new charge was for breaking eted up the pres-
towns and cities across the ethnically of an intensifying a law that has been used to sure on protesters
diverse country, a civil disobedience crackdown by au- resisting the
movement has brought strikes that are thorities who seized
prosecute people who have takeover, including
crippling many functions of govt. power in a coup. violated coronavirus restriction. It violently breaking
Meanwhile, peaceful demonstrations Suu Kyi, who was carries a maximum punishment of up some demon-
against Myanmar's military takeover deposed and detained strations and or-
resumed Tuesday, following violence in the military three years in prison dering internet ac-
against protesters a day earlier by se- takeover on February cess blocked.
curity forces and after internet access 1, already faced a charge of illegally pos-
was blocked for a second straight
night.
sessing walkie-talkies - an apparent at-
tempt to provide a legal veneer for her Malaysia to deport Myanmar migrants
Groups of demonstrators turned house arrest. KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's government
out early in Yangon and other cities The new charge was for breaking a law will repatriate 1,200 Myanmar migrants
to protest the Feb. 1 coup and de- that has been used to prosecute people next week despite a military coup in
mand that the nation's elected leader, who have violated coronavirus restric- their home country, but has assured that
Aung San Suu Kyi, and members of tions, lawyer Khin Maung Zaw told re- they will not include minority Muslim
her ousted government be freed from porters after meeting with a judge in a Rohingya refugees or those registered
detention. court in the capital, Naypyitaw. with the UN refugee agency. But the UN
It carries a maximum punishment of High Commissioner for Refugees on
three years in prison. But, perhaps more Tuesday voiced concern that there may
worryingly, because of changes to the Pe- be vulnerable women and children
Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun nal Code instituted by the junta last week, among the group.
Army spokesman it could allow her to be detained indefi-

Independent panel to Prosecutors seek Siddharth

probe Capitol riots fine for Navalny
AGENCIES / Washington
US House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi has said the Congress
will establish an "outside, in-
dependent" commission to
investigate the January 6 at-
tack on the US Capitol by the
supporters of former US
President Donald Trump.
In a letter to lawmakers,
she said the commission
would be modelled on the in-
quiry into the September 11,
2001 attacks on New York
and the Pentagon, the BBC
reported on Monday.
"We must get to the truth of
how this happened," she
said.
Trump was acquitted by
the Senate of inciting the vi-
olence. But Democrats and
some Republicans have
backed an independent
probe into the riots, which
left five persons dead.
Pelosi said that US Army
Lieutenant General Russel
Honore had, over the past
few weeks, been assessing
the security needs of the
Capitol in light of the attack.
"It is clear from his find-
ings and from the impeach-
ment trial that we must get
to the truth of how this hap-
pened," she said.
The commission, she said,
"would investigate and re-
port on the facts and causes"
of the attack; "the interfer-
ence with the peaceful trans-
fer of power"; and the "pre-
paredness and response" of
both the Capitol police and
other branches of law en-
forcement.
AGENCIES
Moscow
Prosecutors on Tuesday
asked a Moscow court to fine
jailed Russian opposition
leader Alexei Navalny on
charges of defaming
a World War II veter-
an, maintaining
pressure on the top
Kremlin foe.
Navalny rejects the
accusations of slan-
dering the veteran
who was featured in
a video last year pro-
moting constitution-
al amendments that
allowed an extension of
President Vladimir Putin's
rule.
Navalny, 44, an anti-corrup-
tion investigator and Putin's
most prominent critic, was
arrested last month upon re-
turning from Germany,
where he spent five months
recovering from a nerve-
agent poisoning that he
blames on the Kremlin.
Russian authorities have re-
jected the accusation.
Earlier this month, a
Moscow court sentenced
Navalny to two years and
eight months in prison for
violating terms
of his proba-
tion while re-
cuperating in
Germany. The
sentence stems
from a 2014 em-
bezzlement
conviction that
Navalny has
rejected as fab-
ricated and the
European Court of Human
Rights has ruled to be un-
lawful.
During Tuesday's hearings
at Moscow's Babushkinsky
District Court, prosecutors
asked the judge to order
Navalny to pay a fine of
950,000 rubles (about $13,000)
for slandering the 94-year-
old veteran.
Chatterjee is UN
envoy in China
BEIJING: Senior UN official
Siddharth Chatterjee of India
has formally taken over as the
United Nations Resident
Coordinator in China, a key
posting of overseeing the work
of 27 agencies, funds and
programmes of the global
organisation in the world's
most populous country.
He will be UN Secretary-
General Antonio Guterres's
senior-most UN representative
in China.
Chatterjee, whose early in the
Indian Army, was decorated for
gallantry by the President of
India in 1995. He holds a
master's degree in public policy
from Princeton University in the
United States, and a bachelor's
degree from the National
Defence Academy in India.
Commenting on his new
assignment, Chatterjee told PTI
here: "Over the past four
decades, the world has
witnessed the profound
economic and social
transformations that have taken
place in China, lifting hundreds
of millions out of poverty.
Aus to amend laws to
make Google, FB pay
AGENCIES
Canberra
Australia's government said
on Tuesday it will amend
draft laws that would make
Google and Facebook pay for
news to clari-
fy that pub-
lishers
would be
paid in lump
sums rather
than per
click on news article links.
The legislative changes de-
scribed in a government
statement as "clarifications
and technical amendments"
follow Australian ministers'
weekend discussions with
Facebook CEO Mark Zucker-
berg and Sundar Pichai,
chief executive of Alphabet
Inc. and its subsidiary
Google.
The conservative govern-
ment hopes to enact the so-
called News Media Bargain-
ing Code before the current
session of Parliament ends
on Feb. 25.
The amendment to be in-
troduced to Parliament on
Wednesday "improve the
workability of the code
while retaining its overall ef-
fect," Treasurer Josh Fry-
denberg and
Communica-
tions Minis-
ter Paul
Fletcher said
in a joint
statement.
The opposition center-left
Labor Party agreed at a
meeting of lawmakers on
Tuesday to support the bill,
guaranteeing its passage
through the Senate where
the government does not
hold a majority of seats.
But the government might
have to compromise with
further Senate amendments.
Australia Institute's Center
for Responsible Technology,
a think-tank that supports
the proposed world-first leg-
islation, accepted the pro-
posed changes.

GLOBE-TROTTING
I am a hostage, says Dubai
princess from ‘jail villa’
AGENCIES
London
A daughter of Dubai's pow-
erful ruler who tried to flee
the country in 2018 only to
be detained by
commandos in
a boat off India
has re-
emerged in
A resident clears snow from a sidewalk on Tuesday in Chicago, Illinois.
new videos
published on
The city is digging out after a snowstorm dropped more than 17 inches Tuesday, say-
of snow in some areas of the city in the past 24 hours. –AFP ing she doesn't
know if she's
"going to sur-
60 killed, many hurt in Congo boat capsize vive this situa-
BUTEMBO: At least 60 people died after a boat carrying around tion."
700 capsized in the Congo river in Mai-Ndombe province on The videos released by the
Monday. Al Jazeera quoted Steve Mbikayi, minister for BBC show Sheikha Latifa
humanitarian action, as saying that on Monday 700 people were bin Mohammed Al Mak-
on board the vessel that sunk near the village of Longola Ekoti, toum at a ‘jail villa,’ appar-
in Mai-Ndombe province, the previous night. "So far the rescue ently located in the sky-
team has recovered 60 lifeless bodies and 300 survivors. There scraper-studded city-state
are still several missing after this shipwreck," Mbikayi said. The
Australian PM apologises over
in the United Arab Emi-
rates. Her father, Sheikh
handling of rape complaint
Mohammed bin Rashid Al ment. Morrison apologised with Defence Industry
Maktoum, also serves as the for the government's han- Minister Linda Reynolds
prime minister and vice I want to make sure dling of her complaint. when she went out for
president in the hereditari- The allegations are now drinks with a group in-
ly ruled
that any young woman under a renewed police in- cluding her alleged attack-
UAE. working in this place is as vestigation. er, an older male colleague.
"I'm
hostage," the
a safe as possible Morrison said he was
"shattered" by her claims,
She said she was offered
her a lift home by the man
sheikha says and had called for a review at the end of the night, but
in one video. –Scott Morrison into parliament's environ- instead he took her to Par-
"This villa ment and culture. liament House.
has been con- "I hope her call is a wake- The woman said she was
verted into AGENCIES / Canberra The 26-year-old woman up call for all of us," he told drunk and fell asleep in the
jail. said she had feared losing reporters in Canberra on minister's office, before
"I can't even Australian Prime Minis- her job after the 2019 inci- Tuesday. But Morrison waking to find the man sex-
go outside to ter Scott Morrison has dent, and had little support also drew criticism for say- ually assaulting her.
get any fresh apologised to a former po- from her bosses, the BBC ing he understood the alle- "I woke up mid-rape es-
air," she also said. litical adviser who has al- reported on Tuesday. gations better after consid- sentially," she told Network
The government's Dubai leged that she was raped She spoke out in a TV in- ering them as a father of Ten. "I started crying... I
Media Office did not imme- by a senior colleague in a terview on Monday that two girls. told him to stop."
diately respond to a request minister's office in the has prompted shock and The woman, then 24, was She said the man left im-
for comment from The As- Parliament. outrage over her treat- a few weeks into a new job mediately afterwards.
sociated Press.

WHO authorises AstraZeneca vax for emergency use 2 plead guilty as leading
boat had departed from Kinshasa and was heading to Equator
province.
5 get death in B'desh writer’s murder
DHAKA: A Dhaka court has sentenced five militants including
fugitive sacked army major Syed Ziaul Haq to death in
DASHBOARD
AGENCIES / Toronto

The WHO has granted an emergency authoriza-

HK activists go on trial
connection with the 2015 writer-blogger Avijit Roy murder case. Single dose of Pfizer COVID-19 tion to AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, a move AGENCIES / Hong Kong The two who pleaded
Another defendant, Safiur Rahman Farabi, has been jailed for vaccine provokes strong immune that should allow the UN agency's partners to ship guilty were Au Nok-hin and
life, bdnews 24 reported on Tuesday. Judge Mojibur Rahman of response: Study millions of doses to countries as part of a UN- Two former Hong Kong law- Leung Yiu-chung, both for-
Dhaka's Anti-Terrorism Special Tribunal delivered the verdict on backed programme to tame the pandemic. makers pleaded guilty to il- mer members of the Hong
Tuesday. Four of the five convicts who received capital Hungary is 1st EU nation to get Chinese vax In a statement Monday, the WHO said it was clear- legal assembly charges Kong legislature. Au pleaded
punishment are Md Mozzammel Hussain alias Saimon alias ing the AstraZeneca vaccines made by the Serum In- Tuesday, as a trial opened for guilty to both charges, while
Shahriar, Md Abu Siddiq Sohel alias Sakib alias Sajid alias No new virus stitute of India and South Korea's AstraZeneca- them and seven other promi- Leung pleaded guilty just to
Shahab, Md Arafat Rahman and Akram Hossain alias Abir. cases raise hopes SKBio. The WHO's green light for the AstraZeneca nent democracy activists in participating in an illegal as-
Besides Ziaul, Abir is also on the run. New Zealand will vaccine is only the second one the UN health agency what is seen as a crackdown sembly. Prosecutors dropped
has issued after authorizing the Pfizer-BioNTech on dissent in the semi-au- the organizing charge
Rockets strike near US base in Iraq, 1 killed end lockdown
vaccine in December. Monday's announcement tonomous Chinese territory. against Leung. The other
BAGHDAD: Rockets struck outside Irbil international airport near UK PM Johnson should trigger the delivery of hundreds of millions The activists are charged seven pleaded not guilty.
where U.S. forces are based in northern Iraq late Monday, killing warns no 'cast of doses to countries that have signed up for the UN- with organizing and partici- Before the trial, supporters
one U.S.-led coalition contractor and wounding more, Iraqi iron' guarantee backed COVAX effort, which aims to deliver vac- pating in an illegal assembly and several of the accused
security and coalition officials reported, sparking fears of new over lifting lockdown cines to the world's most vulnerable people. during massive anti-govern- rallied outside the court.
hostilities. At least three rockets hit areas between the civilian ment protests in 2019. One banner read "Peaceful
airport in the Kurdish-run region and the nearby base hosting
Moderna to fill
They include Martin Lee, Assembly is Not a Crime;
U.S. troops. One civilian contractor with the coalition was killed BRUSSELS: The European Commission says it expects Moderna to make up a shortfall in an 82-year-old veteran of Shame on Political Prosecu-
and five others wounded, a coalition spokesman, Col. Wayne deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine by next month. Hong Kong's democracy tion." Lee Cheuk-yan,
Marotto, said in a statement posted on social media. One U.S.
service member was also injured, he said. He did not reveal the vaccine gap by EU Commission spokeswoman Vivian Loonella told reporters that Moderna told EU authorities
about delays in vaccine deliveries for this month, but that "it's likely" the US company "will be
movement, and Jimmy Lai,
a newspaper publisher who
another former lawmaker
who is among the defen-
nationality of the dead contractor and said this was under
investigation. No one immediately claimed responsibility. March: EU caught up in March." Spanish media reported on Tuesday that Spain will be receiving just
under half of the 400,000 Moderna doses it was expecting this week.
is being held without bail on
other charges related to his
dants, said that the law has
become an instrument of po-
–Agencies pro-democracy activities. litical suppression.
 THE FREE PRESSJOURNAL MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

BRINGING UP FATHER / FRANK JONSON DENNIS THE MENACE ACROSS Crossword #020
TAROT
TA MESSAGE
AROT MESSA
AGE FOR
F DAY
THE DAY 4 Hunting dogs (6)
7 Novice (8)
SEVEN OF CUPS 8 Modifies to fit (6)
10 Inundation (5)
13 Extremely wicked
(4)
T oday, y
Today, ou will spend time
you 14 Bodybuilder's
ffantasizing daydreaming.
antasizing & daydreaming. bane (4)
15 Eye part (4)
YYou
ou will think of possible 16 Spout (3)
scenarios
scenari os and how things
things 17 Slacken (4)
19 Pairs (4)
wwould have
ould ha ve been in those
21 Colonic
scenarios.
scenari It's
os. It 's alright
alright to inflammation (9) DOWN 16 Elation or gladness (3)
daydream,
da ydream, but being in 23 Barrel (4) 1 Powdered tobacco 18 Inquiring of (6)
rreality important
eality is impor tant too. BLONDIE / Dean Young & Mile Gersher 24 _ __ __ person : (5) 20 Famous mountain
all of us can say 2 It can be drunk; ranges in Russia (5)
YYou confused
ou will be conf used this ? (1,2,1) chocolate is made 21 24 hours (3)
rregarding
egarding a decision, get
get 26 Home from this (5) 22 Colloquial
information
complete inf ormation and "improvements" 3 Cast off (4) expressions for
(abbr.) (1,1,1) 4 Hoist (5) thanks ? (3)
take
then take a call. Matters
Matters related
related to home and 27 Taverns or pubs 5 Mountain range (4) 23 Coded message (6)
jewellery
jewellery will be of focus.
focus. (4) 6 Moral or legal 25 Opp. of SSW (3)
29 Ground (4) obligations (6) 28 Deadens or
Tip
Tip for
for the day:
day: Chant "Di
"Divine Clear" throughout
vine Clear" throughout 32 Cosy (4) 9 Royal circlet (6) anesthetizes ? (5)
day.
the da y. 33 Willow (5) 11 Attorney's deg. (3) 30 Aspired (5)
34 Mucus (6) 12 Complies with (5) 31 Garments, or
Lots
Lots of divine mir
miracles
acles your way,
way, Sheetal
Sheetal Sapan
Sapan Mhatre.
Mhatre. 35 Daring (8) 13 Pressing - time of apparel (5)
36 Deteriorates or day (7) 32 Tennis ranking (4)
FAQ
GUIDING LIGHT corrodes (6) 15 Exploit, employ (3) 33 Betting price (4)

Solution
Numbs, 30 Aimed, 31 Dress, 32 Seed, 33 Odds.
What are Bioplastics?
Significance of Maghi Ganesh Jayanti
20 Urals, 21 Day, 22 Tas, 23 Cipher, 25 NNE, 28
LLD, 12 Obeys, 13 Evening, 15 Use, 16 Joy, 18 Asking,
DOWN: 1 Snuff, 2 Cocoa, 3 Shed, 4 Heave, 5 Ural, 6 Duties, 9 Diadem, 11
There are many types of bioplastics
— Sheetal Nair
35 Boldness, 36 Erodes.
depending on the source material. Each has its y, 27 Inns, 29 Land, 32 Snug, 33 Osier, 34 Phlegm,
own strengths and weaknesses. The most widely Uvea, 16 Jet, 17 Ease, 19 Duos, 21 Dysentery, 23 Cask, 24 I am a, 26 D i
used bioplastic is thermoplastic starch. It is Vakratunda Mahakaya memorate the arrival of Lord Ganesha and his ACROSS: 4 Hounds, 7 Neophyte, 8 Adapts, 10 Flood, 13 Evil, 14 Flab, 15
used as packaging material. Transparent Suryakoti Samaprabha। mother Parvati from Kailasa (heavenly abode)
biodegradable thermoplastic produced from corn Nirvighnam Kuru Me Deva to earth. A practice which has been going on
is called polylactic acid (PLA). It is similar in
Sarva-Kaaryeshu Sarvada॥ since the times of the Maratha rulers of yore, it EASY_PAGE_1_4.TIF
FPJ - SUDOKU - 23 Level: Hard

characteristics to PET plastic. It is one of the
materials used for 3D printing and is also used
to manufacture plastic containers.
PLASTICS are synthetic materials made from
petrochemicals. Plastic products are cheap, easy
to manufacture and durable, but they come at
the cost of harming the environment. Bioplastics
are an alternative form of plastics derived from
biological substances rather than from petroleum.
The materials used for manufacturing bioplastics
include biomass like corn, sugarcane, cellulose,
rice, tapioca, etc.
Bioplastics are not necessarily biodegradable.
The emphasis here is to manufacture plastic
objects from renewable resources instead of
non-renewable resources. Their methods of
manufacture help to reduce the carbon footprint
of the products. So they are environmentally
friendlier and more sustainable than plastics
produced from fossil fuels.
TRUE OR FALSE?
Rainbows can be seen at night.
True. Rainbows are formed when light—
either from the sun or moon—passes
through water droplets in clouds. Night-
time rainbows contain the same colours
as daytime rainbows but the human eye
cannot catch these colours at night so
rainbows at night are seen as great bands
of black and grey or white arching across
the sky.
4342 / © 2020 Amrita Bharati, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan
E
verything good in the Sanatan Dharma
starts by invoking the Elephant God since
the belief is that he is supposed to be the
one who chases away evil. It is due to certain re-
strictions that our Vedic culture put; stopping
its spread else like the Elephant God’s statue
found in South-east Asia, the religion too would
have had it’s mark across the globe.
Ganesha’s significance can hence be felt in
each and every occasion or festival. The two ma-
jor festivities associated with him are Vinayaka
Chaturthi or Ganesh Chaturthi and Maghi
Ganesh Jayanti or Varad Chaturthi. While the
first one is more popular and is recognised as a
holiday in many states across the country the
second one is more relevant as his birth an-
niversary across Maharashtra and it's Konkan
belt.
Even though a majority feels that the former
is his birthday it actually is celebrated to com-
(Spiritual organisations keen to be featured in this space contact : features@fpj.co.in)
gained more prominence since the push was
given by Lokmanya Tilak for the same during
the freedom struggle.
Whilst Maghi Ganesh Jayanti is a more tradi-
tional celebration of the birth of the elephant
god and another lore associated with it, that of
the Moon mocking Ganesha’s appearance lead-
ing to a curse on the Moon to wax and wane
every 15 days.
This prominently shows that even though
the latter was a celebration intended to be of
more importance how the freedom move-
ment led to Ganesh Chaturthi gaining promi-
nence across the country and being celebrat-
ed by the Hindu diaspora across the world.
Festival hence remain a mirror of how the
importance of a certain ritual is viewed by WHAT TO DO: Fill in the grid so
the society and hence, the act of defiance to- that every row, every column
wards the Colonial rule turned a minor fes- and every 3x3 box contains the
digits 1 to 9. Every puzzle has
tivity into a major one.
only one correct solution.

YOUR DAY By Nilikash P. Pradhan

ARIES: You will get enough time to chill
out and relax. Love is in the air. Your
energy level will be high and nothing
seems to hold you back.
TAURUS: You may go on a shopping
spree. People working in the social sector
will be praised for their hard work and
will get enough support from people.
GEMINI: You will shuffle through different
responsibilities. However, it would be
advisable that you do not take too much
workload, it will affect health, so be careful.
CANCER: Do not waste your energy at
one go or else it will affect your health.
Be open to criticism. Legal matters need
to be handled with utmost care.
LEO: If you are involved in any court
cases, then try to postpone the hearing
and look for another date. You may face
problems at the workplace.
VIRGO: You may achieve success on the
profession front. Students need to work
hard if they want to achieve success.
Stay focused and keep doing your best.
LIBRA: On the professional front, you
may face a few challenges from your
rivals. New names may get added to the
list of enemies.
SCORPIO: Investing overseas can
provide you with new business
opportunities. Financial gains through
stocks/shares are also indicated.
SAGITTARIUS: Inventing new business
schemes may attract more clients and
lead to more financial benefits. Your
prestige/ status will improve.
CAPRICORN: Work pressures could leave you
feeling physically and mentally drained today.
Take care of your health. Don’t neglect your
social and domestic commitments.
AQUARIUS: Trust your instincts. Do not
jump from one relationship to others. You
may feel lonely and would want someone
who could give you a shoulder to lean on.
PISCES: Several developments are likely
to happen in your professional life. You
may lend your support to someone who
is in emotional distress.

PUBLIC NOTICE
INDO BORAX & CHEMICALS LIMITED
Regd. Office : 302, Link Rose, Linking Road, Santacruz (West),
Mumbai-400 054
CIN - L24100MH1980PLC023177
Sub : Transfer of Shares of the Company in the name of following
transferees.
Pursuant to the Circular SEBI/HO/MIRSD/DOS3/CIR/P/2018/139/
2018 dated 6th November, 2018 issued by Securities Exchange Board
of India, and also any other applicable provision of the Act/
Regulations. It is hereby informed that the Company has received
Transfer Applications from the following investors as per the details
given below :
Sr. Folio Certificate Distinctiv No. of Name of Name of
No. No. No. e Nos. Shares the Transferee
Transferor
1 P01154 0021584 2158301- 100 Pardeep Raj Kumar Sharma
2158400 Jain
2 J00843 0022881 2288001- 100 Jawaharmal Sheela Agarwal
2288100 Agarwal
Accordingly, we hereby bring to the notice of the General Public that
any person/entity or authority who has objection to this transfer of
securities as referred above shall intimate in writing to the attention of
the Company or its Registrar & Transfer Agent (RTA) M/s. Link Intime
India Private Limited, C-101, 247 Park, LBS Marg, Vikhroli (West),
Mumbai-400 083, within the stipulated period of 30 days of publishing
this notice in the newspaper and if no objection is received or intimat-
ed to the Company or its RTA within stipulated period of 30 days, the
Company shall forthwith to proceed with the transfer of above shares
in the name of above transferee. Further the Company or RTA or any
of its Officers, of both Company & RTA will not be responsible for any
claim whatsoever arising or lodged with the Company after period of
30 days from the date of this notice, and no claim whatsoever will not
be entertained thereafter in connection with the above referred trans-
fer of shares.
For Indo Borax & Chemicals Ltd.
Pravin Chavan
Place : Mumbai, dated 15th February, 2021 Company Secretary

PUBLIC NOTICE
TAKE NOTICE THAT THE My Client, Bank of
Baroda, M. J. Market, Mumbai, is considering
the Housing Loan to their client against the
security of Flat No. D-3102 admeasuring 314.58
Sq. Mtrs., Carpet area i.e 3386.24 Sq Ft. of area
with exclusive right to use 17.98 sq. mtrs.
equivalent to 193.64 sq.ft of area, on the 31st
level (28th floor) of the" D" Wing, along with 5
(Five) covered no. of car park on P6 level
parking bay no . N8,N9,N10,N11,N12, IN THE
BUILDING KNOWN AS " INDIABULLS BLU",
situated at 56 Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower
Parel, Mumbai-400013, being constructed on
plot of land bearing Cadastral Survey Number
131, 132, both aggregating to 33590.58 sq.mtrs
Or thereabouts of Lower Parel Division within
the limit of Mumbai Muncipal Corporation and
falling in 'G' South Ward Situated at Ganpatrao
Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai-400013 an
undivided portion of the land bearing City
Survey No. 1/132 adm. Approx.. 4454.14 sq.
mtrs. Or thereabout situated at Ganpatrao
Kadam Marg, Mumbai-400013.
Any persons having any claims or right in
respect of the said above flat by way of
inheritance, share, sale, mortgage, lease, lien,
licence, gift, possession, or encumbrance
howsoever or otherwise is hereby required to
intimate to the undersigned within 5 days from
the date of publication of this Notice of his such
claim , if any, with all supporting documents
failing which the transaction shall be completed
without reference to such claim and the claims,
if any of such person shall be treated as waived
and not binding on us.
Mr. Niteen K. Kamat
Advocate for Bank of Baroda,
Radha Niwas 2nd floor,
Dada Patil Road, Near Waman Hari Pethe
Jewelers,Thane West 400602
Mobile - 9820004085
 MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021 FPJ SPORTS

Karatsev makes
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Serena
far," two-time major champ
Melbourne
Sets up showdown Halep said, "but also: She
was stronger in the impor-

S with Osaka for a

erena Williams was not tant moments."

his first Grand

pleased with the way Williams is 0-4 in Grand
her play suddenly was Slam finals since her last
slipping in the Australian place in the final championship. One of those

tops
Open quarterfinals. defeats came against Osaka

Slam semifinal
After one mistake against at Flushing Meadows. An-
No. 2 seed Simona Halep - other came at Wimbledon in
who won the last time they 2019 against Halep, who
played each other - Williams made an unheard-of total of
pointed at her racket strings three unforced errors in a ASSOCIATED PRESS major semifinalist - after
and made a sour face, as if to performance she described Melbourne also eliminating two other
indicate it wasn't her fault. as "the best day, actually, of seeded players, No. 8 Diego

A
After another, Williams my life." slan Karatsev never Schwartzman and No. 20

looked up at her guest box
with palms up and asked,
"What is happening?"
That dismay didn't last
long. Williams recalibrated
her shots with the help of
terrific footwork, overcame
33 unforced errors and
claimed the last five games,
beating Halep 6-3, 6-3 Tues-
day to return to the final four
at Melbourne Park for the
first time since she won the
tournament in 2017. That
was her most recent Grand
Slam title.
"I just realized I was mak-
ing a lot of unforced errors
in those games that I lost.
And I knew that I had an op-
portunity to play better," said
Williams, now two wins
away from claiming her
record-tying 24th major sin-
gles championship.
"So I was just like, Just stay
in there. You just can keep
going.' And that's what I just
did."
She set up a showdown
against No. 3 Naomi Osaka, a
three-time Slam champ who
will carry a 19-match win-
ning streak into Thursday's
semifinals.
"She's Serena," Osaka said.
"I feel really intimidated
when I see her on the other
Halep
side of the court."
This will be their fourth
matchup; the most memo-
rable, of course, was Osaka's
victory in the 2018 U.S. Open
final.
On that night, Williams got
into an argument with the
chair umpire after her coach,
Patrick Mouratoglou, was
caught trying to relay a sig-
nal - that's not allowed in
Grand Slam play - and
wound up being docked a
game. Osaka's win closed
with thousands of fans fill-
ing Arthur Ashe Stadium
with boos, and both of the
athletes in tears during the
trophy ceremony.
"We both have had closure,"
Williams said, "and we have
reached out to each other."
There were no spectators
Tuesday in Rod Laver Arena,
because they've been banned
from the tournament during
a five-day government lock-
down in response to a local
rise in COVID-19 cases (the
applause and other crowd
noise TV viewers hear is
added to the broadcast feed
and isn't actually happening
in the stadium).
Displaying the improved
movement that Mouratoglou
says has been a point of em-
phasis and Williams says is a
result of a problematic left
Achilles tendon finally heal-
ing, the 39-year-old Ameri-
can covered the court impec-
cably. She stretched points
with defense or swung at
balls while they were still on
the rise, trying to take time
away from Halep.
"I know that, throughout
my career, speed has been
one thing that's been super
good in my game," Williams
said.
Plenty was super good in
the first set. Serves at up to
124 mph (200 kph). Returns
that included a cross-court
forehand winner on Halep's
very first service point, a
stinging shot about which
Williams said with a chuck-
le: "I just saw it, and it
looked like a donut, and I
went for it."
Then the miscues started
mounting - a double-fault
here, a wild volley there - and
Williams trailed 2-0, then 3-1
in the second set.
A key moment came at 3-
all, when Williams earned
her sixth break chance of the
game by taking a 21-stroke
exchange that ended with a
wide forehand from Halep.
Williams converted that
break on a 13-shot point in
which she ran wide of the
doubles alley for a forehand
that extended things until
Halep dumped a forehand
into the net.
"My feeling after this
match is that I was not that
If Williams is going to get
No. 24 on Saturday, she could
end up needing to have beat-
en each of the top three play-
ers in the rankings: Halep,
Osaka and, perhaps in the fi-
nal, No. 1 Ash Barty, whose
quarterfinal against No. 25
Karolina Muchova is
Wednesday.
The other remaining quar-
terfinal is between two
Americans, No. 22 Jennifer
Brady and unseeded Jessica
Pegula.
In men's action, 114th-
ranked qualifier Aslan
Karatsev of Russia became
the first man in the profes-
sional era to get to the semi-
finals in his first Grand Slam
appearance, defeating No. 18
seed Grigor Dimitrov 2-6, 6-4,
6-1, 6-2.
Defending champion
Djokovic fended off sixth-
seeded Alexander Zverev 6-7
(6), 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (6) in a night
match to reach the Aus-
tralian Open semifinals for
the ninth time. He has never
lost at Melbourne Park after
making it to the last four.
Osaka overpowered 71st-
ranked Hsieh Su-wei of Tai-
wan 6-2, 6-2, helped by serves
that reached 122 mph (196
kph).
had managed to
make it into the
main draw of a Grand
Slam tournament. Now he
just refuses to leave the
Australian Open.
Karatsev, a 27-year-old
Russian qualifier who is
ranked 114th, became the
first man in the profes-
sional era to reach the
semifinals of his first ma-
jor tennis tournament by
beating 18th-seeded Grigor
Dimitrov 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 on
Tuesday.
"It's an unbelievable feel-
ing," Karatsev said.
"Of course, it's first time.
First time in main draw;
first time semis. It's in-
credible."
That's a pretty good word
for what he has managed
to do. Karatsev failed in
nine previous attempts to
go through qualifying
rounds to play at a Grand
Slam tournament.
Now he's making the
most of it, getting past
Dimitrov - a three-time
Felix Auger-Aliassime.
"It's great to see. I think
it's great to see," Dimitrov
said about Karatsev's suc-
cess.
"Surprised? No."
Bothered by back spams
that developed Monday,
Dimitrov was not at his
best. He finished the
match barely able to serve
- and barely able to walk
up the stairs as he depart-
ed Rod Laver Arena.
Dimitrov jumped out to
an early lead with three
service breaks in the first
set. He then held seven
break points in Karatsev's
first two service games in
the second set, but didn't
convert any of them.
That's when Karatsev
started to believe he could
stretch his already remark-
able run even further.
"It was really tough in
the beginning for me to
hold my nerves," Karatsev
said. "It was tricky. I tried
to play in the second set, to
find a way how to play."

Ruthless Hyderabad West Ham overcome Sheffield

tame Kerala Blasters ASSOCIATED PRESS
London
West Ham manager David
Moyes last week bemoaned
the fact his side was the only
Dawson was offside when
Rice struck his initial shot.
However, Moyes would not
And five minutes before
halftime, Lingard dispos-
sessed Oliver Norwood,
FPJ NEWS SERVICE A howler from Kerala West Ham overcame the lack team in the Premier League have to wait long for his raced upfield and exchanged
Vasco keeper Albino Gomes in of a recognized striker to not to have been awarded a penalty drought to come to passes with Jarrod Bowen
the 21st minute almost gift- beat Sheffield United 3-0 in penalty this season. an end. before he was wiped out in
Watched by their closest ed Hyderabad the opener. the Premier League, main- That nearly changed after Lingard, back in the team the area by an ungainly chal-
playoff rivals, a ruthless He made a mess while at- taining its pursuit of Cham- only five minutes when after sitting out at Manches- lenge from Chris Basham.
Hyderabad FC made a tempting to clear a long pions League qualification. Craig Dawson, following up ter United in the FA Cup un- Lingard wanted to take the
statement with a 4-0 demo- ball before Costa With Jesse Lingard pulling Rice's free-kick, was pushed der the terms of his loan penalty but captain Rice
lition of former champions Nhamoinesu cleared it out the strings in attack, Declan over in the penalty area by deal, was influential in the pulled rank before tucking
Kerala Blasters in the Indi- of danger. Rice, Issa Diop and Ryan Enda Stephens. Referee Si- inside-left position and twice away his first goal of the sea-
an Super League here on Seconds later, another big Fredericks provided the mon Hooper awarded the forced good saves from son, and the first spot kick of
Tuesday. chance went begging for goals on Monday. spot kick but VAR ruled that Aaron Ramsdale. his career.
A brace from Fran San- the Nizams. Victor Sheffield United arrived in
daza (58, 63') and goals from whipped a teasing cross in London knowing a win
Aridane Santana (86') and the box for Santana, who would lift the team off the
Joao Victor (90') helped Hy- blazed his header over the foot of the table for the first
derabad climb to third on bar. time since Nov. 7.
the league table. The result While Hyderabad eventu- David McGoldrick could
meant Kerala Blasters are ally grew in the game, a de- have pulled the visitors level
now mathematically out of fensive mistake from them with a close-range header,
the playoff race. in the 39th minute almost but his weak effort was kept
Kerala were on top for the handed Kerala the opening out by a combination of Ben
majority of the opening goal. Prasanth Karutha- Johnson's back and goal-
half, registering four shots dathkuni pounced on a keeper Lukasz Fabianski's
on target compared to Hy- miscued backward pass by hand.
derabad's zero. Akash Mishra before fir- The miss proved costly
Hyderabad looked livelier ing a shot that went moments later when West
towards the end of the first straight to Hyderabad cus- Ham defender Diop was left
half but it only showed todian Laxmikant Katti- unmarked to head in Aaron
when Joel Chianese shifted mani. Cresswell's corner.
from the flanks towards the Throughout this season, It was the eighth time that
middle. However, ineffi- Hyderabad have always West Ham have scored from
ciency in the final third come out stronger in the a corner this season, more
from both sides meant that second half, scoring more West Ham United's Algerian midfielder Said than any other team - and
the scoreline remained goals after the break. And the eighth time the Blades
Benrahma (2R) vies with Sheffield United's
goalless at the break. they did that again. have conceded from a cor- ���������������������������������
English defender Phil Jagielka ner. ���������������������������
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Government of India ������������������������������������������������������
BHABHA ATOMIC RESEARCH CENTRE �������������������������������������������������
Hot Lab Utility & Engg. Services Section
North Site, Trombay, Mumbai–400 085 ������
NOTICE INVITING e-TENDERS ����������������������������������������������������������������������
The Chief Engineer and Head, HLU&ESS, Bhabha Atomic Research �������������������������������������������������������������������������
Centre, North Site, Trombay, Mumbai – 400 085 on behalf of the ���������������������������������������������������������������������������
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President of India invites online item rate tenders on two bid system
for following works :- ����� ��� ���� ����������� ������� ��� ���� �������� ��������� ������
1.NIT No.BARC/HUES/RM-262/11/2020-21, Name of work – Annual �������������������������������������������������������������������������
maintenance contract for ventilation fans, split and package A. C., fan
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coil units, water pumps, water coolers, etc., for two years at RLG, BARC,
Mumbai-400085.Estimated cost – Rs.52.50/- lakhs. Earnest Money ����������������������������������������������������������������������������
– NIL, Declaration to be given: Period of completion – 24 months, ���� ����������� ��� ����� ���������� ��� ���� ���������� �������� �����
Tender Processing Fee - Rs.3019/-. Dates for downloading of �������������������������������������������������������������������
tender documents: 18-Feb-21(10:00 Hrs.) to 28-Feb-21(18:00Hrs.) ����������������������������������������������������
Last date and time of submission of bid – 15-Mar-21 (15:00 Hrs.) Last �����������������������������������
date for submission of original documents : On or before 16-Mar-21 �������������� �������������
APPENDIX IV
[See rule 8 (1)] Date and time of online opening of Part –A : 18-Mar-21 (14:00 Hrs.) ������������������ �����������������������������������������
POSSESSION NOTICE The bid forms and other details can be obtained from the Website
(for immovable property) www.tenderwizard.com/DAE or www.barc.gov.in
Whereas, ���������������������������������������������������������������������
The Authorized Officer of INDIABULLS HOUSING FINANCE LIMITED (“IHFL”)
only in the website www.tenderwizard.com/DAE
under the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement
of Security Interest Act, 2002 and in exercise of powers conferred under Section ����������������������������������������������9969395522 Shri.Rudresh,
13 (12) read with Rule 3 of the Security Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002 issued e-mail: : twhelpdesk231@gmail.com
Demand Notice dated 30.07.2018 calling upon the Borrowers RUPESH K.
Chief Engineer, HLU&ESS
PUSALKAR ALIAS RUPESH KAMLAKAR PUSALKAR AND CLEMETN
C DSOUZA (GUARANTOR) to repay the amount mentioned in the
Notice being Rs.17,18,789/-(Rupees Seventeen Lakhs Eighteen
Thousand Seven Hundred Eighty Nine Only) against Loan Account No. R062XII
(earlier Loan Account no. HHLVSH00293615) as on 28.07.2018 and
KALYAN DOMBIVLI MUNICIPAL
interest thereon within 60 days from the date of receipt of the said Notice. CORPORATION
Further the IHFL has assigned all its rights, title and interest of the above loan
account in favor of Indiabulls Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd. as Trustee of PWD DEPT.
Indiabulls ARC–XII, Trust by way of an Assignment Agreement dated 31.12.2019. TENDER NOTICE NO. 51 (2020-21)
The Borrower (s) having failed to repay the amount, Notice is hereby given
Tenders are invited by the Commissioner, Kalyan
to the Borrower (s) and the public in general that the undersigned has taken
symbolic possession of the property described herein below in exercise of
Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC), Kalyan and
powers conferred on him under Sub-Section (4) of Section 13 of the Act read Dombivli through E-tender 7 works from the Registered
with Rule 8 of theSecurity Interest (Enforcement) Rules, 2002 on 15.02.2021 Contractor with appropriate class.
The Borrower (s) in particular and the public in general is hereby cautioned not The blank tender forms and detailed information will be
to deal with the property and any dealings with the property will be subject to the available on the Maharashtra's website
charge of the Indiabulls Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd for an amount of www.mahatenders.gov.in from 17/02/2021 to 03/03/2021 upto
Rs.17,18,789/-(Rupees Seventeen Lakhs Eighteen Thousand Seven Hundred 2.00 p.m. The completed tender's are to be uploaded on or
Eighty Nine Only) as on 28.07.2018 and interest thereon. before 03/03/2021 upto 2.00 p.m. and the tenders will be
The Borrower’s attention is invited to provisions of Sub-Section (8) of opened on 04/03/2021 at 3.00 p.m. if possible.
Section 13 of the Act in respect of time available, to redeem the secured
assets. Right to rejects any or all tenders without assigning any
DESCRIPTION OF THE IMMOVABLE PROPERTY
reason there of is reserved by the Commissioner, and whose
FLAT NO. 102, CARPET AREA ADMEASURING ABOUT 37.74 SQ. MTR. 1ST decision will be final and legally binding on all the tenderer.
FLOOR, BUILDING-C, WING-B, CONSTRUCTED ON LAND BEARING SURVEY For more details and information visit Maharashtra's
NO. 13, HISSA NO. 1/C/3, 1/C/1, 2/A/7, 1/D, 2/A/8, 2/A/1, 2/A/2, 2/A/3, 2/A/4, website www.mahatenders.gov.in
2/A/5 AND 2/A/6 TOTAL ADMEASURING ABOUT 9890 SQ. MTRS. SITUATED Sd/-
AT VILLAGE CHINCHAWALI, TALUK – KARJAT, DISTRICT RAIGAD-410201, KDMC/PRO/HQ/590 City Engineer
MAHARASHTRA AND BOUNDED AS UNDER. Dt. 16.02.2021 Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation
EAST : AS PER TITLE DEED WEST : AS PER TITLE DEED Kalyan
NORTH : AS PER TITLE DEED SOUTH : AS PER TITLE DEED
Sd/
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Date : 15.02.2021 ������������������������������������������
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 (V)INGLISH CHALLENGE MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

SPORTS CAFE
Sub-junior women hockey trials on Feb 18
MUMBAI: Hockey Maharashtra will be conducting trial to select the
sub-junior women’s team to participate in the forthcoming 10th
Hockey India Sub Junior Women National Hockey Championship to
be held at Simdega, Jharkhand from March 10 to 18, 2021. The
selection process will be held at the Mumbai Hockey Association
England dance to spin tune
FPJ NEWS SERVICE
Chennai
India 1st Inn: 329 & 286
England 1st: 134 & 2nd
Ltd ground, Churchgate on February 18 and 19 (Thursday & Friday)
(53-3 overnight )
from 2.00 pm. Registered players born on or after 1st January, 2005

S
pinners Axar Patel and D Lawrence st Pant b Ashwin 26
are eligible to participate in the selection trials. Those interested in Ravichandran Ashwin J Leach c R Sharma b Patel 0
representing Maharashtra are requested to report at the ground by predictably completed J Root c Rahane b Patel 33
1.30 pm. the annihilation of clueless B Stokes c Kohli b Ashwin 8
England batsmen, getting O Pope c I Sharma b Patel 12

England, Bangladesh Legends named back India in contention for B Foakes † c Patel b K Yadav 2

MUMBAI: England Legends and Bangladesh Legends will be the the World Test Champi- M Ali st Pant b K Yadav 43
onship final with 317-run win
two new teams in the 'Unacademy Road Safety World Series T20' and level series 1-1, on the
O Stone lbw b Patel 0

which will be played in Raipur from March 2 to 21, the organisers fourth day of the second Test
S Broad not out 5

said on Tuesday. According to a media release, Australia Legends here on Tuesday.

Extras: (b-6, lb-1) 7

have pulled out of the event because of the coronavirus-related

Debutant Patel made full
travel restrictions in their country and Bangladesh Legends have use of favourable conditions
been named as their replacement. England Legends have been to bag five-wicket haul, while
included as the sixth team for the tournament. Ashwin finished with a
match-haul of eight wickets,
not to forget his classy hun-
Indian team for Delhi WC announced dred with the bat.
NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding his subdued outing in national They demolished England
selection trials, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Anish for a paltry 164 on the fourth
Bhanwala was on Tuesday picked in Indian men's 25m rapid-fire day in pursuit of an impossi-
team for the ISSF World Cup in Delhi owing to his better prospects ble target of 482, giving India
of securing an Olympic quota. All the country's top shooters, their biggest win over the
including the 15 Tokyo Olympics quota holders, are going to tourists in terms of runs.
India have now risen to sec-
participate in the mega event, scheduled to be held at the Dr Karni
ond in the WTC standings
Singh Shooting Range from March 18-29. and need to at least win one
more and draw another in
Pique named in Barca squad for CL the four-match series to
BARCELONA: Gerard Pique has been included in the Barcelona make the cut for the final in
squad for the Champions League tie against Paris Saint-Germain June.
after recovering from a knee injury. Ronald Koeman has named the After a crushing 227-run de-
Spanish defender in his squad for the first leg of the last-16 clash feat in the first Test, Virat
Kohli couldn't have imagined
with the French champions. Pique was out of action with a cruciate a better comeback going into
knee ligament issue since November, but he was able to return to the crucial Day/Night Test in
training with the first team at the start of the week. Ahmedabad in just over a
week's time.
Greenwood signs contract with Man U "The conditions
MANCHESTER: Manchester United on Tuesday announced that were challenging
Mason Greenwood has signed a new contract which will keep him for both sides, but
we showed more ap-
at the club until June 2025, with the option to extend for a further plication with the
year. Greenwood is a product of the club's famed academy and has bat. We didn't
been at Manchester United since the age of seven. The 19-year- panic out
old, who is United's youngest-ever goalscorer in European there look-
competition, has already made 82 appearances for the club. ing at the
turn
China, Japan to skip ISSF World Cup
NEW DELHI: Shooting powerhouses China and Japan are among a
host of countries skipping the ISSF World Cup in New Delhi,
scheduled from March 18-29. Some of the countries which have
not sent in their entries for the tournament include the likes of
China, Japan, Germany, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Kuwait
and Malaysia, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) said in
a release on Tuesday.
FC Goa look to end run of draws
MARGAO: A run of six consecutive draws have led to FC Goa
and bounce, we showed grit,
got into the game and scored
600 runs in the game," an ec-
static Kohli said in the post-
match presentation.
While critics, mostly from
the English side, had panned
the pitch but two hundreds
and three fifties by the home
team batsmen showed that it
was all about understanding
of conditions and brilliant
application from the likes of
Rohit Sharma, Ashwin,
Kohli, Rishabh Pant and
debutant Patel.
From the visitors' own
ranks, No.9 Moeen Ali went
on a six-hitting spree in his
18-ball 43 to show the ones
above him in the order, how
it is done on a dust bowl.
"Credit to India, they out-
played us in all three depart-
ments. It has been an educa-
tion for us, you could come
"As much as people were
predicting things from the outside,
I thought the balls that was doing
much wasn't getting wickets. It
was the mind of the batsmen that
got us wickets," Ashwin said
up with conditions like these
and we have to learn from
this and find a way to score
runs," said Kohli's opposite
number Joe Root.
The Indian team currently
is so strong that it could afford
to rest its best pacer Jasprit
Bumrah, miss out its premier
all-rounder Ravindra jadeja
but yet make a telling state-
ment, nullifying any advan-
tage that England team might
have possessed.
Opener Rohit should come
in for special mention consid-
ering the start that India
needed after first Test disas-
ter. Rohit set the tone and then
it was a Test match that Ash-
win will remember forever.
Young Rishabh Pant, whose
glovework at times invites un-
necessary scrutiny, pulled off
a lovely stumping to get rid of
Dan Lawrence (26 off 53 balls)
off Ashwin.
Ashwin flighted one to en-
tice Lawrence out of the
crease and the ball turned
and travelled between the
batsman's legs.
Pant was unsighted for the
better part as he moved down
the leg and maintaining his
balance, collected it to effect a
smart stumping that would
make even Wriddhiman Saha
and all his ardent fans very
happy.
Ben Stokes (8 off 51 balls)
has been famous pulling off
Houdini acts but on Tuesday,
no such magic was in store
against two top-quality slow
bowling operators.
Stokes, for close to an hour,
scratched around for eight
runs as
TOTAL: (54.2 overs) 164
FoW: 1-17, 2-49, 3-50, 4-66, 5-90, 6-
110, 7-116, 8-116, 9-126, 10-164
BOWLING: I Sharma 6-3-13-0, A Patel
21-5-60-5, R Ashwin 18-5-53-3, M Siraj
3-1-6-0, K Yadav 6.2-1-25-2
"My job is to manage
the squad of players
that we have here,
both Axar and Ashwin kept a and trying to do that
tight leash on him.
Coming round the wicket,
to the best of my
ability. I think we've
Ashwin got one to turn away
as Stokes, with a forward de- got some wonderful
fensive prod, tried to keep the players and a squad of
ball down. players that is more
But all he managed was an
inside edge onto the pads and than capable of
Kohli, who had placed him- winning here," Root
self at wide second slip, glee- said at the post-match
fully caught the loopy gift. press conference.
Root, as he waged a lonely
battle, got a reprieve when his
reverse sweep off Kuldeep Ya-
dav, while batting on 32, was
dropped by Mohammed Siraj
stationed at deep point.
Fittingly it was another
smart Pant stumping off
Kuldeep that brought
curtains down on a
highly satisfactory
outing for Kohli
and company.
"If you looked at our second
innings, we got 300 as well. It
wasn't unfair if the toss went
either way. Both teams should be
in the game from the first session -
Virat Kohlii

Bumrah doubtful for white ball Test India in 2nd

Bairstow, Wood
going from favourites to finish third behind Mumbai City and ATK
Mohun Bagan to fighting for a spot in the top four in the Indian
Super League (ISL). They take on Odisha FC at the Fatorda
KUSHAN SARKAR
spot in WTC
for Pink ball
Stadium here on Wednesday and will be vying to break that
unwanted streak. Goa currently lie in fourth, level on points with
fourth-placed Hyderabad and only two points adrift of Bengaluru FC
New Delhi
rankings
India's senior speedster PTI / Chennai
in sixth. They have three games left to play in the league stage and

Jasprit Bumrah is likely to
the match against bottom-placed Odisha FC could be their best be rested for the eight white
chance to take three points. ball matches against Eng-
land as part of the team's ex-
Indian eves to face Serbia in friendlies tensive workload manage-
NEW DELHI: The Indian women's team is all set to kick-off its ment programme.
preparations for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup with three The matches are scheduled
in March.
international friendly matches in Alanya, Turkey where in the first of Bumrah was rested for the
these three matches, it will square-off against Serbia on second Test at Chepauk,
Wednesday. Coached by Maymol Rocky, the team has had a two- which India won by 317 runs
month training camp in Goa, before setting sail for Turkey, where to level the four-match series
midfielder Sangita Basfore will be leading the side. 1-1.
However, Bumrah will be
AIFF show-causes FC Goa captain Bedia back in action for the upcom-
ing two high-stakes Test
MARGAO: FC Goa captain Edu Bedia was on Tuesday show- matches in Ahmedabad,
caused by the All India Football Federation's (AIFF) Disciplinary which will decide New
Committee for an allegedly violent foul on an opponent during his Zealand's opposition in the
side's Indian Super League match against Chennaiyin FC last inaugural World Test Cham-
week. The incident occurred during the injury time of the match on pionship final.
February 13 at Bambolim, which ended in a 3-3 draw. It is almost certain that the
Indian think-tank (head
KXIP to be renamed Punjab Kings coach Ravi Shastri, skipper
Virat Kohli and bowling
NEW DELHI: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kings XI coach Bharath Arun) along
Punjab has been renamed to Punjab Kings, co-owner of the with the trainers and physios
franchise, Mohit Burman has confirmed. Burman has also said would take a final call on
that the franchise will unveil a new logo on Wednesday ahead of resting the pace spearhead,
the upcoming mini-auction slated to be held in Chennai on keeping a gruelling season in
Thursday. mind.
"Jassi has already bowled
close to 180 overs, including
nearly 150 overs (149.4 overs)
WHAT’S in four Test matches (till first
Test versus England) since
the start of Australian tour.
05.00: Australian Open; Pre Show; Sony Six
"Add to that, the number of
hours spent on the field. It is
only logical that after these
two Tests in Motera, where
he will have a big role to play,
he should be given rest for
white ball leg," a senior BCCI
official, privy to the develop-
ments, told PTI on condition
of anonymity.
The logic behind resting
Bumrah for the white ball leg
is simple. The five T20 Inter-
nationals and three ODIs
against England will be the
last chance for Indian team
management to have a look
at all potential players going
into this year's World Cup.
"Bhuvneshwar Kumar
might make a comeback and
Mohammed Shami after a
break will play a few white
ball games. Nattu (T Natara-
jan) and Saini will also come
back in the white ball teams.
As far as Jassi is concerned,
he can well get ready playing
14 to 16 high intensity IPL
games for Mumbai Indians,"
the source said.
Ravichandran Ashwin had
a good IPL 2020 for Delhi Cap-
itals and it will be interesting
to see if the senior off-spin-
ner has a Rahul Dravid-like
comeback (2011 England se-
ries) in the white ball games
against England.
By 2011, Dravid had not
played white ball cricket for
close to two years but his stu-
pendous Test-match per-
formance led to a surprise re-
call in the ODI teams. The
batting great, though, decid-
ed to retire just after that se-
ries as he didn't want any un-
certainty about his place in
the shorter formats.
In the case of Ashwin,
when he was dropped,
Kudeep Yadav and Yuzven-
dra Chahal became India's
go-to bowlers in the shorter
formats. PTI
The resounding 317-run win
over England in the second
Test here on Tuesday pro-
pelled India to second in the
World Test Championship
standings issued by the ICC.
After the series-levelling
win at Chepuak, India have
69.7 percentage of points
(PCT) and 460 aggregate
points, behind New Zealand
who have already qualified
for the WTC final to be held
at the Lord's June.
New Zealand have 70.0 PCT
and 420 points.
India, who had lost the first
Test by 227 runs at the same
venue, need to win the one
more and at least drawn anoth-
er to make it to the WTC final.
They were fourth on the
table before Tuesday's result.
Virat Kohli's men are cur-
rently playing in their sixth
series of the WTC cycle, hav-
ing won 10 matches, lost four
and drawn one.
Australia are at the third
spot with 69.2 PCT and 332
points while England are
fourth with 67.0 PCT and
442 points. The third Test --
a day/night affair -- begins
in Ahmedabad on February
24.
Ahmedabad Test
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
Chennai
England on Tuesday brought in wicket-keeper Jonny
Bairstow and pacer Mark Wood to their squad for the
day/night Test against India, starting February 24 in
Ahmedabad.
England lost the second Test here on Tuesday by 317 runs
as India drew level in the four-match series.
The selectors also decided to send spin all-rounder Moeen
Ali, who played in the second game, back to England as
part of their rotation policy to manage workload of the
players.
Bairstow was given rest after the two-Test series against
Sri Lanka, where he had scores of 47, 35 not out, 28 and 29.
Wood was also given a break after the series in the island
nation where he went wicket-less in the first Test and took
three wickets in the second.
"Moeen Ali will return to England for a break while Jon-
ny Bairstow and Mark Wood join the squad having been
rested for the first two Tests," the England and Wales
Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement.
England squad for Third Test
Joe Root (C), James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Jonny
Bairstow, Dominic Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Zak
Crawley, Ben Foakes, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie
Pope, Dom Sibley, Ben Stokes, Olly Stone, Chris Woakes,
Mark Wood.

Union Bank
05.30: Australian Open; Quarterfinals; Sony Six
12.30: Australian Open; Mid Show; Sony Six
14.00: Australian Open; Quarterfinals; Sony Ten 2
18.00: Australian Open; Post Show; Sony Six

strike it rich
19.30: ISL; FC Goa vs Odisha; Star Sports 2
00.30: Champions League; Pre Show; Sony Ten 2
01.30: Champions League; Porto vs Juventus; Sony Ten 2
01.30: Champions League; Sevilla vs Dortmund; Sony ten 1

FPJ NEWS SERVICE

THIS DAY, THAT YEAR

1984 Mumbai
An acrobatic fielder and flamboyant Consistent goal-scorer
wicketkeeper-batsman is born. AB Prince Chaurasia and Suraj
de Villiers was destined to be a Shahi, both struck a brace of
sportsman - such was his natural goals each to lead Union
talent that tennis, golf, cricket or Bank of India to a deserving
rugby could have been his calling. 5-2 win against Income Tax
Cricket won, and by the age of 21 in the men’s final of the
he was being hailed as "the future" School of Sports sponsored
in South Africa. After a bright start to and Lawrence Bing-organ-
his career in 2004, there were a ised Winter Rink hockey
couple of years when he sparkled only intermittently, but 2008 turned out tournament, under lights at
to be memorable. He made a double-hundred against India, and his the Dominic Savio HS hock-
match-winning knocks of 174 at Headingley and 106 not out in Perth ey turf, Andheri.
paved the way for historic Test series wins in England and Australia. In Later, Union Bank’s Prince
2010, de Villiers broke Gary Kirsten's record for the highest South Chaurasia and Suraj Shahi
won the Top-goal scorer and
African score, making an unbeaten 278 against Pakistan. The year after,
he was named the limited-overs captain. Best player awards respec-
tively, while Income Tax’s
Sudhir Dixit was declared as
the Best goalkeeper of the
tournament.
Freunds ace forward
Ruqqaiya Shaikh was ad-
judged as the Best player of
the tournament, while
Bhillai’s Manish Dhawal and
Kajal Rathore bagged the
Top-goal scorer and Best
goalkeeper awards respec-
tively.
Results (finals): Women: Bhillai
SC 2 (M Dhawal 2) bt Freunds
SC 1 (Madhavi Patil).Men: Union
Bank of India 5 (P Chaurasia 2, S
Shahi 2, V Shetty) bt Income Tax
2(V Singh, A Chetty).

Printed and Published by Girdharlal Lakhotia for the Proprietors, Indian National Press (Bombay) P. Ltd., at Journal Press, Free Press House, Free Press Journal Marg, 215, Nariman Point, Mumbai-400 021. Tel: 69028000, Advt. Dept. 69028026. E-mail: mail@fpj.co.in • OFFICE: Indore: 3/54, Press Complex, A. B. Road, Indore-452 008, Tel: 2555111-2, Fax: 2558555,
New Delhi: 1/8 INS Bldg., Rafi Marg, New Delhi-110 001; Tel.: 23718853; Kolkata: Tel.: 22875645; Chennai: Tel: 28217766; Bhopal: Tel: 2660570, 4271345. Air Surcharge Rs. 2.00 only. Managing Editor: Girdharlal Lakhotia. Editor: S. S. DHAWAN. Reg. No. MCS/048/2018-20; RNI No. 1541/1957
 Bug in SHAREit Android app can get your data hacked
New Delhi: A bug in Android file sharing app SHAREit which has been
downloaded over 1 billion times in Google Play Store contains several
unpatched vulnerabilities that can be abused by hackers to leak sensitive
data of its users. The bugs can be exploited to run malicious code on
smartphones where the SHAREit app is installed, according to a new report
by cyber security firm Trend Micro. Now banned in India, SHAREit was one of
the most downloaded applications in 2019, which means millions of Indian
users may also be at data leaking risk. “We discovered several vulnerabilities
in the application named SHAREit. The vulnerabilities can be abused to leak
a user's sensitive data and execute arbitrary code with SHAREit permissions
by using a malicious code or app,” said Echo Duan, a security researcher
with Trend Micro. –IANS

MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

Amazing Ayurveda
Shwetpradarantak
Rajj Churn
Key property:
can cut headache risk.
This formulation is effec-
tive against brain related
This
ayurvedic formation can
problems. This powder can
also help you sleep better.
Think twice before spanking your kids
help control white dis- Ingredients: Shank- According to a study, smacking children is as bad as physical and emotional abuse, and it ups the risk of trauma later in life
charge in women. It pushpi (Morning
can provide relief Glory), sweet flag, FROM OUR BUREAU problems, parental sub- ences and spanking, at lished in the Journal of
in back pain. It brahmi patti (Indi- New Delhi stance use, parental in- age 3. Paediatrics.
also promotes an Pennywort), carceration, and ACEs and spanking at 3 For decades, parents

S
weight gain. jatamansi (Nardus panking is just as parental death—have years were unique risk have debated discipli-
Ingredients: White root), kutmeetha, bad as adverse ex- statistically indistin- factors for increased ex- nary methods for chil-
kohl and rose water. ashwagandha and periences like guishable effects on ex- ternalizing problems at 5 dren who misbehave.
Quantity: 1 to 2 grams. It paathavidhara. abuse, neglect, and fami- ternalizing behaviour years, the study shows. Those who support
can be taken with rock sug- Quantity: 2 to 3 grams. It ly dysfunction for in- problems in early child- Results support calls to spanking believe their
ar or rice water. Or as per can be taken with milk or creasing risk for future hood. consider physical pun- children won’t suffer
directed by the physician. as per directed by the trauma in children’s Researchers analysed ishment as a form of lasting negative effects.
physician. lives, a new study shows. responses from 2,380 ACE. Spanking opponents,
Smriti Amrit Churn (To know more about Shri Mohta The study provides evi- families in the Fragile “This suggests that the including paediatric and
Ayurvedic Rasayanshala, dence that spanking and Families and Child Well- detrimental effects of psychology organisa-
Key property: It helps boost call: 0151-2523227/ or reach at adverse childhood expe- being Study. Mothers re- spanking and ACEs on tions, say non-violent
memory. It's consumption mohtarasayanshala @gmail.com) riences, or ACEs—which ported outcomes of ex- children are likely to be discipline is the better
include measures of ternalizing and internal- similar,” says Julie Ma, practice based on many
Disclaimer: The description of the above-mentioned physical and emotional izing child behaviour assistant professor of so- studies that have shown
products is an excerpt from a booklet, Sankshipt Aushad abuse, neglect, intimate problems at age 5; and cial work at the Universi- that spanking is likely to
Parichay Patrak. Please consult your doctor/ or contact partner violence, the main predictors, ad- ty of Michigan and lead worsen children’s
the clinic before taking them. parental mental health verse childhood experi- author of the paper, pub- behaviour problems.

Sleep for at
least 6 hrs Heavy metal pollution dips in Most Indian firms to turn to AI
for decision-making by 2023
to remain
productive: Ganga water, thanks to pandemic AGENCIES / New Delhi AIOps will become the
new normal for IT opera-
and AI, IDC India.
By 2026, 20 per cent of all AI

Says Musk O
AGENCIES / New Delhi ver 40 per cent of con- tions, with at least 40 per solutions will be closer to AGI
sumer-focused AI sys- cent of large enterprises (artificial general intelligence) -

A
new study by a team
of scientists from the
Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) Kanpur
shows a significant reduc-
tion of heavy metal pollu-
tion during the COVID-19
pandemic in the Ganga wa-
ter, informed the Ministry of
Science and Technology on
Monday.
The scientists analysed
daily geochemical record of
the Ganga river and showed
that reduced industrial dis-
charge during 51 days of
mandated nationwide lock-
down decreased the dis-
solved heavy metal concen-
trations by a minimum of
50 per cent.
In contrast, inputs from
agricultural runoff and do-
mestic sewage like nitrate
and phosphate remained al-
most the same as these
sources were not impacted
by the nationwide confine-
ment.
The research was support-
ed by the Indo-US Science
and Technology Forum
(IUSSTF), a bilateral organi-
sation under the Depart-
ment of Science and Tech-
nology (DST), Government
of India and US Department
of States. It was published
by ‘Environmental Science
and Technology Letters’.
–ANI
tems in finance, adopting AIOps solutions leveraging neuro-symbolic
healthcare, government and for automating major IT sys- techniques that combine deep
other regulated sectors in In- tem and service manage- learning with symbolic meth-
dia will include provisions ment processes by the same ods to create robust humanlike
to explain their analysis and time, the IDC predicted. decision making.
decisions by 2023, a new IDC “Businesses are embrac- “By 2024, 50 per cent of en-
report said on Tuesday. Indi- ing technologies like conver- terprises will run varying
an organisations are looking sational AI and machine levels of analytic and AI
for technology vendors and learning, driven by their models at the edge and 30 per
integration partners to business objectives of inno- cent of those edge AI appli-
bridge the talent gap and en- vation, resiliency, and offer- cations will be accelerated
hance decision-making ing transformative experi- by heterogeneous accelera-
capabilities. ences,” said Rishu Sharma, tors,” the report mentioned.
“AI is turning out to be Principal Analyst, Cloud —IANS
helpful in directing deci-
sions on everything from
bank loans, risk assessment,
automated customer serv-
The scientists analysed daily geochemical ice, crop advisory, health-
care, and others,” said Swap-
record of the Ganga river and showed that nil Shende, Senior Market
reduced industrial discharge during 51 days Analyst, IDC India.
By 2025, the number of
of mandated nationwide lockdown data analysts and scientists
decreased the dissolved heavy metal to adopt AutoML for the end-
to-end machine learning
concentrations by a minimum of 50 per cent. pipeline from data prepara-
tion to model deployment
will double in the country.

San Francisco: Tesla and

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in a
podcast disclosed that he
sleeps no more than six Specific area of brain Marijuana legalisation for adults linked
prompts desire to overeat to increased usage in teens
hours a night because sleep-
ing less decreases total
productivity.
In an episode of the pod-
cast ‘The Joe Rogan Experi- AGENCIES / Texas
ence’ Musk confessed that he AGENCIES / New Jersey recreational use: an 18% in- in these normally low-risk

A
tends to work a lot and even study led by the 10- crease in the likelihood of groups may be attributed to

schedule meetings at one or
two in the morning.
“I tried sleeping less, but
then total productivity de-
creases. I don’t find myself
wanting more sleep than six
(hours),” he said.
Earlier, Musk said then
that one has to work at least
80 hours a week to be suc-
cessful. He went even fur-
ther and said that it could be
as much as 100 hours if you
really want to change the
world you live in.
“There were times when,
some weeks...I haven’t count-
ed exactly, but I would just
sort of sleep for a few hours,
work, sleep for a few hours,
work, seven days a week.
Some of those days must
have been 120 hours or some-
thing nutty,” Musk noted.
In 2018, Tesla employees
told Business Insider that
they would frequently see
their boss asleep while
curled under tables, desks,
and even on the factory floor.
–IANS
member team of re-
searchers from the
University of Texas at El
Paso discovered a specific
area of the brain tied to rec-
ollection and the desire to
seek and consume food. It
could lead to a way to
inhibit the desire to overeat.
Science is a step closer to a
new response to obesity,
thanks in part to a study con-
ducted by a team that in-
cluded Sergio Iniguez, Ph.D.,
associate professor of psy-
chology at The University of
Texas at El Paso.
Iniguez, who directs
UTEP’s Iniguez Behavioral
Neuroscience Lab and
helped design novel experi-
mental techniques for the re-
search, said that people tend
to overeat when exposed to
cues or environments that
remind them of treats,
which is one reason why
people opt for dessert even
after a filling meal.
The study showed that
neurons in a specific part of
the brain control the link
between the cue (seeing the
dessert) and the action
(ordering the dessert).
Iniguez and team found
that animal subjects con-
sumed fewer treats when
they regulated that region
of the animal’s brain.
The techniques and the
data eventually could help
overcome some issues
linked to obesity such as
stroke, Type 2 diabetes, high
blood pressure, high levels of
bad cholesterol, and coro-
nary heart disease.
“This is a big discovery be-
cause we now have experi-
mental tools that allow us to
turn off neurons while the
subjects engage in a specific
behaviour,” Iniguez said.
“This research shows that
a specific part of the pre-
frontal cortex of the brain is
important for the initial
stages of learning to seek
food.”
–ANI
T
he findings of a recent
study suggest that
since California's legal-
isation of adult recreational
marijuana in 2016, adoles-
cents living there might be
more likely to use it.
Paschall, PhD, a senior re-
search scientist at the Pre-
vention Research Center of
the Pacific Institute for Re-
search and Evaluation in
Berkeley, California says,
“The apparent increase in
marijuana use among Cali-
fornia adolescents after
recreational marijuana legal-
isation for adult use in 2016 is
surprising given the steady
downward trend in marijua-
na use during years before
legalisation.”
Paschall and his colleagues
analysed data from over
three million 7th, 9th, and
11th graders who participat-
ed in the California Healthy
Kids Survey from 2010-2011
through 2018-2019 school
years. The adolescents pro-
vided information on their
grade, sex, ethnicity, race and
lifetime and past-30-day mar-
ijuana use. The marijuana
use question was updated in
the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019
surveys to include the words
“smoke, vape, eat, or drink,”
reflecting the wide variety of
marijuana products now
available.
The researchers observed
significant increases in the
prevalence of lifetime and
past-30-day marijuana use
among nearly all demograph-
ic groups from 2017-2018 to
2018-2019 school years, after
the legalisation of adult
lifetime use and a 23% in-
crease in past-30-day use.
These numbers may reflect
greater use of vaping prod-
ucts, and the overall increase
was even more likely among
those in demographic groups
with historically lower rates
of marijuana use.
“I was somewhat surprised
to see relatively greater in-
creases in the prevalence of
marijuana use among
younger adolescents (7th
graders) relative to 9th and
11th graders, among females
versus males, among non-
Hispanic versus Hispanic
youth, and among Whites
versus youth in other racial
groups,” says Paschall.
“In other words, there were
greater increases in marijua-
na use prevalence after recre-
ational marijuana legalisa-
tion among youth in ‘low-
risk’ groups, which is
concerning.”
Paschall says he can only
speculate as to the reason,
but that the greater increases
marijuana use becoming
more normative due to legal-
isation, along with relatively
greater overall declines in
marijuana use among youth
in historically ‘high-risk’
groups during the study
period.
The study also indicated
greater increases in the fre-
quency of past-30-day mari-
juana use among older ado-
lescents, males, African
American and Asian youth
who were regular users.
There were notable increases
in marijuana use frequency
among adolescents in 2018-19,
which may reflect national
increases in the use of
vaping products.
The researchers suggest
that recreational marijuana
legalisation may present in-
creased opportunities for
adolescents to obtain mari-
juana and that the increasing
availability of non-smoking
products such as edibles may
prove appealing as well.
–ANI

Deep cleaning tips and tricks: Beyond the reach of humble broom
AGENCIES / New Delhi Both spaces have a whole you out. Similarly, it is im- with a cleaning solution rust strain remover would
lot of corners, fixtures, and portant to get the right kind that has orange oil. see you through this prob-

W
ith the change of
season, a whole lot
of spring cleaning
is due. In addition to the
cleaning one regularly
does, the task of deep
cleaning is humungous.
Here are a few tips from
experts of a popular home
service provider that can
help you to overcome some
of the most difficult clean-
ing challenges, and reach
sports beyond the humble
broom.
Break down the challenge
Depending on the size of
the house or the fight in the
cleaning army, you should
break down the cleaning
challenge. Identify the most
difficult challenges like
wash rooms and kitchen,
and take them on first.
equipment to be cleaned
with really tough grease
and stains. If you keep them
for the end, you may get
tired by the time you get
around to cleaning them up.
Stick to the basics
The first round of cleaning
has to be a basic one – dust-
ing, wiping, vacuuming,
washing, etc. Then comes
the hard part, scrubbing,
brushing, etc., and there-
after, closing the whole ritu-
al with a final round of
basics.
Arm yourself with the
right gadgets
Cleaning everything with
the floor mop, kitchen
duster, or even the utensil
scrubber will hardly get the
stains out but surely wear
of cleaning agents,
solutions, and equipment.
Use gloves and home
made cleaning solutions
You may not be wearing
gloves during regular
cleaning, but during deep
cleaning you may end-up
using a variety of harsh
cleaning reagents. There-
fore, it is advisable to wear
gloves and use home made
cleaning solutions. Domes-
tic options like vinegar
and baking soda are high-
ly effective in removing
toughest stains by them-
selves and even amplify-
ing impact of detergents
and cleaning solution.
Baking soda in combina-
tion with vinegar, salt
pastes, and other mixes
can be used to unclog the
drain, clean oven, ceramic
stove top, stainless steel,
and even refrigerator. Sim-
ilarly, lemon is an equally
effective cleaning weapon
in your pantry which can
help to remove rust to
stubborn stains.
Cut the grease with
a hot rag
Indian cooking leads to
easy greasing of food
which collects dust over
time. You would find it
easy to cut the tough
grease on cabinets, slabs,
etc, if you use a hot rag
Hot rag or sponge can be
microwaved for 20-30 sec-
onds or even in dipped in
hot water. The heat helps
to cut the oils in the grease
and helps it come out easy.
The orange oil is to leave a
shiny coating.
Use microfibre cloth or
scrubs for cleaning
Microfibres have dual bene-
fits. They are good collec-
tors of dust, and are great
cleaners. Plus, they help in
giving finishing touch to fix-
tures, mirrors, tiles, etc.
They are best used towards
the final round of cleaning.
The rust strains in wash
rooms
Rusting of sinks, tubs, and
toilets leaves some really
hard stains. A good anti-
lem. However, it is impor-
tant to caution against use
of bleach for removing
rusts as it will leave stains.
Use stiff nylon brushes to
clean toilets and make them
look sparkling clean.
Use duct tape on sofa
and carpets
Yes, duct tape has yet anoth-
er use cleaning, especially if
you have pets like dogs and
cats at home. Roll duct tape
on a sponge or paint roller
and use its stickiness to re-
move pet hair from sofas
and carpets.
However, we caution to
use this first on a part of the
mattress and sofa to see if
the tip is actually working
on the kind of upholstery
you have at home.
–IANS

I got to know her importance
once she was evicted...
Eijaz Khan made his love for Pavitra Punia Insta official this Valentine’s Day. Cinema Journal
ike every year, the current
caught up with the actor to talk about his relationship status
LIPIKA VARMA
L
season of Bigg Boss also
witnessed love blossom-
ing between two contest-
ants: Eijaz Khan and Pavitra
Punia. But, it wasn’t all rosy from
the word go for the two. After sev-
eral fights and disagreements, the
two eventually developed feelings
for each other. And, recently Eijaz
made his relationship with Pavitra
official by putting up a ‘I love her’
post on Instagram.
“We are very much in love and to-
Cinema Journal EXCLUSIVE!
Shashank Arora, Sharib
Hashmi on Tigmanshu
Dhulia’s suspect list!
PIC: INSTAGRAM/SHASHANK ARORA
VINAY MR MISHRA
I
t has been widely re-
ported that filmmak-
er Tigmanshui Dhu-
lia is making the
screen adaptation of
Vikas Swarup’s much ac-
claimed novel Six Suspects.
While Scam 1992: The Har-
shad Mehta Story fame
Pratik Gandhi and actress
Richa Chadha lead the pact
of suspects, Cinema Journal
has got exclusive updates on
the other cast members of
the upcoming web series.
According to sources,
Shashank Arora, who played
Salman Khan’s younger
brother in Bharat, whas been
cast as one of the primary
characters. Along with him,
Sharib Hashmi, who has be-
come one of OTT favorites,
also plays a pivotal role in
the show. Sharib recently an-
nounced he will be a part of
Sidharth Malhotra-starrer
Mission Majnu. Interestingly,
the project will mark the re-
union of Sharib and Pratik,
who earlier shared screen
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021
gether. She is amazing. I am happy
to have her in my life. Love makes
the world go round...so don’t get
scared, rise in love,” Eijaz says
about his relationship with Pavitra.
Eijaz says he and Pavitra are
poles apart, and probably that’s
why they fell for each other. “We
are polar opposites. She is water
and I’m fire... She is genuine, real,
nice and humble. She is as beauti-
ful as a rainbow. Her positive qual-
ities aren't limited to a few things.”
Talking about how he realised
his love for her, Eijaz says, “We
went through a lot of emotions in-
space in Hansal Mehta’s
Scam 1992. Not just this, vet-
eran actor Ashish Vidyarthi
will also be seen in promi-
nent role in the show.
“The other cast members
primarily comprise of fresh
faces,” a source said. The
shooting for the show will
soon go on floors. But, not
much is known about the
characters the actors are be-
ing cast for. Shashank,
Ashish and Sharib remained
unavailable for a comment.
Six Suspects is helmed un-
der Priti Sinha and Namra-
ta Sinha’s banner Reel Life
Entertainment. The show a
murder mystery is touted
as an “Agatha Christie
meets Elmore Leonard”
drama. The book primarily
revolved around murder of
the son of Uttar Pradesh’s
Home Minister. What hap-
pens when police find six
strange, displaced charac-
ters with a gun in their pos-
session, and each of them
with a reason to kill the
man, forms the crux of
the plot.
Gerard Butler
wants to produce
films to
have control
side Bigg Boss house. At that time,
we didn’t want to accept a lot of
things; mostly I didn’t want to ac-
cept. But, when she was evicted
from the house, I got to know how
important she was to me. Indispen-
sable, actually. I couldn’t live one
minute without her. I respect her a
lot... I respect her individuality. I
learnt how to align my life accord-
ing to her aspirations. And, I want
to see her happy all the time.”
Ask him if he plans to take
things to the next level and tie the
knot with Pavitra, Eijaz quickly re-
sponds, “Don’t talk about these
things. We are in a very happy
space right now. Things will
happen as and when they are
supposed to.”
Eijaz has had a rocky personal
life. He was in a relationship in the
past with actor Anita Hassanan-
dani, Italian-Canadian singer Na-
talie Di Luccio, and Niddhi
Kashyap. Sharing his take on rela-
tionship, Eijaz says, “I don’t want
to compare my relationship with
any individual. Every individual is
different. I can talk only for my-
self. Our parting ways was ‘aapsi
sahmati se’ taken decision. What I
have learnt is I wasn’t ready for
those relationships. And, I’m hap-
py they have all moved on and
found happiness. I wasn’t ready for
it because I didn’t love myself, did-
n’t respect myself. I wanted to get
validation; I gave my best and ex-
pected them to do the same. Any
relationship needs to have a bal-
ance. For instance, I don’t want to
get into a relationship where my
heart skips a beat. I want to be
in a relationship where my
heart is at peace. From my
past relationships I have learnt
Ayushmann
Khurrana
lists perks of
being an actor
B
ollywood star Ayush-
mann Khurrana is
currently shooting for
Anek in Shillong, Megha-
laya, after an outdoor stint
in Kaziranga, Assam. He
says as an actor he is really
fortunate to visit so many
new places and make new
memories. “Anek is giving
me the opportunity to ex-
plore India and marvel at its
beauty like never before. Af-
ter Assam, I’m now at Shil-
long. I have incidentally
been here before but I could-
n’t explore it like the way I
wanted to. I’m shooting a
film at this picturesque
place for the first time in my
life and I have to admit that
I been blown away with how
picture perfect it is,”
Ayushmann said.
“As actors, we are
really fortunate
to visit so many
new places and
make so many
memories,”
he added.
—IANS
erard Butler says he enjoyed serving as a producer on the disaster action film Greenland as the stint
G allowed him to have control in shaping the film. Butler also starred in the Ric Roman Waugh directorial
alongside Deadpool star Morena Baccarin. Greenland, which released last year, follows a family’s fight for
survival in the face of a cataclysmic natural disaster. Though he is known for big-budget studio tentpoles
like Gods of Egypt and Geostorm, Butler said he would like to further lend support to independent films. “I’m a
control freak! As an actor, when you’re coming up, you beg for roles, and you’re lucky to get one and then you
suddenly find yourself in a position where movies are being made, because you’re involved.”
that you have to heal yourself first,
otherwise you end up scarring oth-
ers. I am now ready for love so
that’s why this amazing person
[Pavitra] walked into my life.”
In the previous seasons of Bigg
Boss, there have been several in-
stances where two contestants
have professed their love for each
other inside the house. In some
cases the love story progressed
into marriage, while the unlucky
ones fell apart. Take, for example,
Gauahar Khan and Kushal Tan-
don, and Tanisha Mukerji and Ar-
maan Kohli from the season seven
of the reality show. Both the pair
started off as friends and soon fell
for each other. Even after the show
ended, Gauahar and Kushal were
quite open about their love for
each other, while Tanisha and Ar-
maan kept it low profile. But as
PICS: INSTAGRAM/EIJAZ KHAN
fate would have it, things didn't
work out for either of them, and
the couples ended up parting ways.
Other contestants whose relation-
ship didn’t reach the ‘happy ever
after’ were Karishma Tanna and
Upen Patel (season 8), Aarya Bab-
bar and Minissha Lamba (season
8) to name a few.
These guys might have been un-
lucky in love, but there are some
love stories which are still going
strong. Last season’s contestants,
actor-model Asim Riaz and singer
Himanshi Khurana, are still dat-
ing. In all seasons of Bigg Boss so
far, there’s only one love which has
managed to get a happy ending.
Prince Narula and Yuvika Chaud-
hary (Bigg Boss 9), fell in love on
the show and got married in 2018.
And, we hope that Eijaz and Pavit-
ra’s love story too goes Prince and
Yuvika way!
Nagarjuna wraps up Brahmastra shoot
T
elugu superstar Nagarjuna has wrapped up his portions for
the upcoming fantasy adventure film Brahmastra, the actor
tweeted a slew of pictures from the set on Tuesday while
sharing the news. In the images, the star is seen posing with co-ac-
tors Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt, and director Ayan Mukerjee.
Brahmastra also has Amitabh Bachchan in the cast and is the first
part of a sci-fi trilogy. The film is scheduled for release in 3D, IMAX
and standard formats.
Ravi Dubey to headline web
series titled Matysakaand
T
elevision ac-
tor Ravi
Dubey, who
recently unveiled
the trailer of the
new season of his
show Jamai 2.0, has
another ace up his
sleeve. According
to a source, Ravi is
all set to play a lead
role in the web
series titled
Matysakaand. Ravi
is currently in
Jaipur shooting for
the series. The
source also said
that many Bolly-
wood actors had au-
ditioned for the
part, but was eventually bagged by Ravi. The
show will also feature actors Piyush Mishra
and Ravi Kishan!
—CJ Desk
—PTI
‘I am a
happy
hustler’
Taranveer Singh talks
about his journey from being
an assistant director to making
a directorial debut under
Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s banner
AB lovely human beings I have ever come
across! For a new filmmaker like myself,
s an assistant director Taranveer having a positive experience is important
A Singh used to run door to door for
assignments. As an outsider, hus-
tling was his way to find a space in
in an industry. I also assisted on the film
Karthik Calling Karthik and I must say
Excel Entertainment is a fab place to
the industry. But that is now his back- work for any young mind. We are always
story. Taranveer’s directorial debut, Tues- encouraged to share innovative ideas...
days & Fridays, is up for a theatrical release somewhere that gives confidence.
on February 19. Produced by Sanjay Leela After working with them, you finally
Bhansali, the movie revolves around two decided to write Tuesdays & Fridays?
people, Varun and Sia, and how their seven- No, in between I also hounded Ayan Muk-
week dating plan turns into a twisted love erji and worked as an AD with Dharma
story. The movie marks the debut of Anmol Production. I absolutely loved the film
Thakeria Dhillon, son of veteran actress Wake Up Sid, I can watch the film any-
Poonam Dhillon, and former Miss India, time and many times! Though I did not
Jhataleka Malhotra. It also features Niki know Ayan, I tried to reach out to him
Walia, Zoa Morani, Anuradha Patel, through everyone I knew back then. Then
Parmeet Sethi among others. two of my friends who knew Ayan man-
In a conversation with the Cinema Jour- aged to set up an interview. And, I went to
nal, Taranveer revisits his journey re- meet Ayan with the printout of my CV,
plete with blood, sweat, and tears, and work sample and story ideas...exactly
talks about the sweet fruit of his persever- what we do for any job interview. Now,
ance. Excerpts from the interview: when I look back it sounds stupid. In fact,
As your debut film gears up for release, when I asked Ayan if he needs a hard
what is your frame of mind right now? copy of my CV after our conversation, he
Nervous, anxious and I am feeling exactly smiled and said, ‘no, thanks’. However, he
what I always felt before the result is de- must have seen something worthy in me
clared after the exam. For the world, I am and took me on his next film, Yeh
a debutant film director, but I worked for Jawaani Hai Deewani. In a way, I really
the last 15 years to finally get my debut. hustled to find my space, but I am happy! I
I started in 2007 when I enrolled in think I redefined the word ‘hustle’, I am a
film school. happy hustler!
That is quite a regular story of every bud‐ Your film is backed by Sanjay Leela
ding filmmaker who starts their journey Bhansali. Does that put you under
from film school to film set...isnʼt it? extra pressure?
Yes, but my journey is about how I bagged There are two things I would love to
my first job as an assistant director (AD) achieve through this film: I want the audi-
with one of my favourite filmmakers. I ence to watch my film and love it; also, I
absolutely loved the film, Jaane Tu... Ya want Sanjay sir to feel proud of me. I am a
Jaane Na, when it released and I was in new director, making a film with
film school back then. I was a huge new actors and though it is a tiny
admirer of Abbas Tyrewala be- film, with the budget we got, I
cause he is one of the finest screen- want to justify that. So, I am look-
play writers and storytellers of our ing for a positive result. Having
time. So, after watching that film, I said that, I also know that I got a
made up my mind to work with him chance to work with senior actors
as an AD and I started almost like Anuradha Patel, Parmeet
hounding him; I started mes- Sethi only because I was helm-
saging him and convincing ing the film under SLB Pro-
him how interested and duction; no one knows me
passionate I am to work here. Why would a senior
with him... And, finally, I actor listen to my script?
worked with him in his It has only happened be-
second film Jhootha Hi cause of the banner. I
Sahi. He is one of the am thankful!
Bollywood Bytes
Nushrratt Bharuccha takes over the music scene
N
ushrratt Bharuc-
cha’s recent mu-
“Saiyaan Ji is extreme-
ly close to my heart be-
views, we have main-
tained our winning
sic video, Saiyaan
Ji, with Yo Yo Honey
ing my first single music
video ever with Honey
streak.” On the work
front, Nushrratt will
Singh has been making sir. Saiyaan Ji is our next be seen in Hurdang
quite some noise ever fourth song together af- opposite Vijay Varma,
since it released. ter Dil Chori, Care Ni Janhit Mein Jaari and
Nushrratt says featuring Karda and Chote Chote Chhorii for which she
in the video has been a Peg and with the song was recently seen
special journey for her. now crossing 100 million shooting. —CJ Desk
PIC: TWITTER/ NAGARJUNA
—IANS
PICS: VIRAL BHAYANI
Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor
go site seeing!
I
f reports are to be believed, love birds
Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor will soon
move in together. It is said the couple,
who has been dating for three years, is get-
ting a home built for themselves. On Tues-
day, Alia and Ranbir were spotted at a con-
struction site in Pali Hill, Mumbai. The
couple was accompanied by veteran actor
Neetu Kapoor, Ranbir’s mother. It is also
said Alia and Ranbir spent the coronavirus
lockdown together. A report by an enter-
tainment portal claimed that Alia bought
a place in Ranbir’s building for whopping
Rs 32 crore. —CJ Desk
 REG. NO. MCS/048/2018-20; RNI NO. 1541/1957/M.P.C.S. OFFICE MUMBAI-400001
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021
www.freepressjournal.in

There is no secret to
success. It is the result of
❝ preparation, hard work,
and learning from failure.
� GENERAL COLIN POWELL

As bus skids, plunges into canal

����������������������������������
F orty-seven people, including 24
men, 21 women and two young
children, drowned in Bansagar
canal when a packed bus heading
towards Satna from Sidhi district
skidded off the road and fell into it
on Tuesday morning. The accident
took place near Sharda Patna vil-
lage, under Rampur Nanki police
station, around 7.30 am. Around 55
people had crowded into the 35-
seater bus. Seventeen girl students,
who were on their way to attend the
entrance exam of ANM in Satna,
are among those dead. Sources said
the passengers had boarded the bus
Kiran
around 4.30 in the morning from the Bedi
removed
Sidhi bus stand. The driver had
heard there was a traffic jam on the
highway at Chuhia Ghat and he
took a short cut. He drove down a
narrow road constructed along the
canal, which is part of the
K iran Bedi has
been removed as
the Lieutenant Gover-
Bansagar project. Somewhere along nor of Puducherry, the
the road, the driver lost control of
his vehicle and the bus fell into the
water. Seven people, including the
driver, Balandru Vishwakrma,
managed to swim to safety.

INDIA'S EMPHATIC WIN

D ebutant left-arm spinner Axar

Patel's five-wicket haul in
England's second innings -- cou-
Rashtrapati Bhavan
said in a statement on
Tuesday. Telangana
pled with Ravichandran Ashwin's Governor Tamilisai
all-round performance -- made In- Soundararajan has
36L USING LOCALS dia's job easy as they registered a 'BE READY FOR been directed to dis-
commanding 317-run win in the charge functions of
EVERY DAY second Test on Tuesday, and level
ANOTHER LOCKDOWN' the Lieutenant-Gover-

S ome 36 lakh commuters are us-

ing Mumbai's suburban train
network every day after its services
were thrown open to the general
public on February 1 amid the coro-
navirus outbreak. The daily subur-
ban train passengers comprise 19.3
lakh people on Central Railway and
16.5 lakh on Western Railway. Since
February 1, CR has fined 2,060 pas-
sengers a cumulative sum of 1.21
lakh for not wearing masks while
the figure of those penalised on WR
was 2,558 and the amount was Rs
3.21 lakh.
the four-match series 1-1. The win
takes India to the second spot on
the World Test Championship
points table. India need one more
win in this series to seal a spot in
the final that will be played in June
at Lord's, London, in England.
C oncerned over the recent surge
in Covid-19 cases in Maharash-
tra, Chief Minister Uddhav Thacker-
nor of Puducherry.
Earlier in the day,
Puducherry Social
ay on Tuesday asked citizens to strict- Welfare Minister Kan-
ly follow government-mandated dasamy said the Cabi-
guidelines on masks and social dis- net headed by Chief
tancing or be prepared for another Minister
round of lockdown. After reporting Narayanasamy will re-
4,092 Covid-19 cases on Sunday, high- sign after the resigna-
est single-day tally in more than a tions of Congress leg-
month, Maharashtra registered 3,663 islators in Puducherry
new cases on Tuesday, 461 of them in ahead of the assembly
Mumbai. This was the seventh elections later this
straight day when the state's daily year.
count remained above the 3,000-mark.

�����������������������������������

��������������������������������� Ffuture
ourteen-month old Fatima faced a bleak
afflicted with a killer muscular
disorder, but a Rs 16 crore 'revolutionary'
gene therapy she underwent at a city hospi-
tal after winning a 'lottery' has given her a
new lease of life. Fatima, daughter of Mo-
hammed Basil and Khadija from Bhatkal
town in the coastal Uttara Kannada district
in Karnataka, is recovering after she was
given 'Zolgensma', the gene therapy at Ban-
galore Baptist Hospital late last month. She
emerged "a lucky winner of a lottery"
through a compassionate access pro-
gramme by drug major Novartis that
helped her get the costly treatment, afford-
able only by multi-millionaires, the hospital
said. "The cost of this medicine is about 2.1
million US dollars, which is roughly about
Rs. 16 crore," hospital Director (CEO)
Naveen Thomas said.
 FREE PRESS
� ������ MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

ONE FOR INSPIRATION

�����������������������
T wo crows, husband and wife, and a cobra lived on
a banyan tree in a forest near a small kingdom.
The cobra was wicked and ate the crows' eggs when the

Int'l Vedic
crows left the nest in search of food. The crows did not
know what to do. They went to a wise jackal and ask

School
for advice. The jackal suggested a plan to them. As per
the plan, one of
the crows flew
Khadi saris for
women cops
U
to the royal ttarakhand Chief Minister
palace and find- Trivendra Singh Rawat on Tues-
ing a chance,
stole a very pre-
cious necklace
W omen front desk executives of
the Delhi Police at its various
offices will soon be seen donning
day said an International Vedic
School will be built on the banks of Bha-
girathi in Tehri where students will be
belonging to the khadi silk saris. The Delhi Police has taught Sanskrit apart from Hindi and
queen, even as purchased 850 exquisite khadi silk English languages. Launching the Tehri
the guards watched. The crow deliberately flew slowly sarees at a cost of RS 25 lakh for its lake festival on the occasion of Vasant
to its nest, so that the guards could follow it. On reach- women officers at the front desk. Panchami, he said the institution will
ing the banyan tree, the crow dropped the necklace The Khadi and Village Industries help the entire world learn about Indian
into the tree's hollow cove, where the snake lived. On Commission (KVIC) has supplied 850 culture. Rawat said the future of Ut-
finding a cobra in the hollow, the guards killed it and exquisite dual-tone sarees made of tarakhand tourism lies in Tehri where
retrieved the necklace. The crows thanked the jackal high quality "Tasar-Katia Silk" to lake festival will be held every year on
and lived happily thereafter. Delhi Police. Vasant Panchami.

Honda Sleep and success

unveils Musk prescribes six hours

Rs 1.96L T esla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
in a podcast disclosed that he
sleeps no more than six hours a night
has to work at least 80 hours a week
to be successful. He went even fur-
ther and said that it could be as

bike
because sleeping less decreases total much as 100 hours if you really
productivity. In an episode of the pod- want to change the world you live
cast 'The Joe Rogan Experience' Musk in. "There were times when, some
confessed that he tends to work a lot weeks ... I haven't counted exactly,
and even schedule meetings at but I would just sort of sleep for a
one or two in the morning. "I few hours, work, sleep for a few
tried sleeping less, but then total hours, work, seven days a week, "
productivity decreases. I Musk noted. In 2018, Tesla employ-
don't find myself want- ees told Business Insider that they
ing more sleep than six would frequently see their boss
(hours)," he said. Earlier, asleep while curled under tables,
Musk said then that one desks, and even on the factory floor.

H
onda Motorcycle &
Scooter India Pvt
Ltd today launched 'Aks-e-Mausiqui' Overcoming petrol blues
the CB350 RS motorcycle
starting at 196,000 rupees,
ex-showroom. Bookings for
A n online exhibition of archival portraits of leading
Indian classical artists, including Kishori Amonkar,
Pt. Birju Maharaj and
E ven as filling-up a full tank of petrol is fast becoming
a pipe dream for many, the alternative as well as fu-
turistic electric powered vehicles seem to offer better run-
the motorcycle are open on Shovana Narayan, tak- ning price realisation. The running cost of EVs comes to
the company's official web- en at their live per- Rs 1 per km, Rs 9 for petrol, Rs 6 for diesel and about Rs 2.5
site and across all Honda formances is current- per km for vehicles being run on CNG.
BigWing dealerships, but ly open for view. The
the company said deliveries photographs are taken
would start only by early by Lucknow-based
March. The new motorcycle photographer Rakesh
is the fourth model to be Sinha The exhibition
launched under the BigWing is titled 'Aks--e--
portfolio, which caters to Mausiqui' (Shadow of
350-500cc range. Music).
 ��������� FREE PRESS
MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021 ������ �
Also into dairying, warehousing QUICK NEWS

AAP's
6 years in power �������������������������� B'desh navy ship at Mumbai

B angladesh Navy ship Prot-

toy visited Mumbai for two

T O
he Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) on Tuesday com-
pleted six years in power in
Delhi. On this occasion, Del-
hi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal lauded his govern-
ment's efforts in handling
the Covid-19 pandemic, pro-
viding free ration for poor
families during lockdown,
etc. Addressing a press con-
ference, Kejriwal said, "Del-
hi government could suc-
cessfully tackle Covid-19."
n Monday, when a blue-
coloured helicopter landed in a
cloud of dust in an open
ground in Vadpe village near Bhiwandi
in Maharashtra, virtually the entire
village ran out to gawk at it and wel-
come its owner Janardhar Bhoir.
Bhoir, 55, a down-to-earth farmer-cum-
builder-cum-entrepreneur, but with
high-flying ambitions, has invested in a
chopper to help manage his businesses
spread across several cities and states
in western and northwest India. "I be-
long to farming family. A few years ago,
I entered the realty business construct-
ing huge warehouses which are in
great demand in this region, and later
diversified into the dairy business
also," Bhoir said. A veritable frequent
flyer, almost every week he flies to
places in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi,
Punjab, Haryana and occasionally to
other major cities, but rued that he
wasted a lot of time in road traffic, at
airports and getting convenient con-
nections to smaller places that are off
the air-map. "A pilot friend of mine
had suggested I could consider acquir-
ing a helicopter," he explained.
days on Sunday and Monday.
The ship had a crew of 137 per-
sonnel and was docked at the
Mumbai Port Trust for these
two days. Due to COVID-19 re-
strictions, routine courtesy call-
ons, social get togethers, ex-
change visits and other sports
fixtures between the visitors
and host naval personnel were
avoided, the Indian Navy said.
74 years of Delhi Police
T he Delhi Police on Tuesday
celebrated its 74th Raising
Day with a grand ceremonial pa-
rade at the New Police Line,
Kingsway Camp Ground. Police
Commissioner SN Shrivastava
emphasised on a scientific ap-
proach for Delhi police and the

Myanmar diaspora
various measures taken for it.
Bitcoin past $50K mark Chief guest Minister of State for
'Miracles
do happen' A fter a wild stretch in which Bitcoin
repeatedly set new highs amid protests coup Home G. Kishan Reddy conferred
medals on 75 police personnel.

A mid fading hopes of the

survival of those who
went missing after a glacier dis-
aster in Uttarakhand's Chamoli
district 10 days ago, NDRF
Commandant PK Tiwari on
Tuesday said search-and-res-
cue operations will go on till the
last victim is reached. Asked
about the chances of survival of
those missing, the NDRF com-
mandant said he cannot say
anything with confidence but
miracles do happen.
murmurs of its seemingly unstoppable
ascendance, the digital currency
crossed the $50,000 mark for the first
time on
Tuesday.
Bitcoin is
rallying
as more
compa-
nies sig-
nal the
volatile digital currency could eventu-
ally gain widespread acceptance as a le-
gitimate means of payment. Bitcoin
has been mostly seen as a store of val-
ue, like gold, with few places accepting
it in exchange for goods or services.
T he Myanmar diaspora has gone
global in their protests against the
military coup in their homeland by
staging demonstrations in countries
like Japan, Taiwan, India and Thai-
land. The
Myanmarese
diaspora is
protesting in
Tokyo outside
the Japan Foreign Ministry office ask-
ing the Japanese government to con-
demn the army action in Myanmar.
Pro-democracy protestors are dressing
up in red - the colour of Suu Kyi's Na-
tional League for Democracy (NLD)
party and carry her photographs.
Memoirs of Ashoka
P enguin Random House India is
to publish prizewinning writer
Irwin Allan Sealys stunning new
novel, titled "ASOCA: A Sutra", an
imagined memoir of Ashoka The
Great, the emperor who ruled most
of the Indian Subcontinent and
played a pivotal role in the spread
of Buddhism from India to other
parts of Asia in the 3rd century
BC. Earlier, Penguin had published
the 30th anniversary edition of
Sealy's critically acclaimed debut
novel "The Trotter-Nama".

1L visit Kaziranga KXIP is now Punjab Kings

Students protest Disha arrest
Free Internet for
BPL families
T he Covid-19 pandemic
could not dampen the spir- I ndian Premier League
(IPL) franchise Kings XI

T o bridge the digital divide

by providing high-speed,
affordable Internet connectivi-
ty to every household, Kerala
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi-
jayan on Monday launched the
KFON (Kerala Fibre Optic Net-
work) in the state. Speaking at
the launch event, the Chief
Minister said that KFON will
revolutionise the digital space.
"With KFON, free internet con-
nectivity will be provided to 20
lakh BPL families. It will also
cover villages in all 14 districts.
S tudents in Delhi and Bengaluru held
protests against the arrest of 21-year-old
Disha Ravi and demanded her immediate re-
lease. Student activists of All India Students'
Association (AISA) were on Tuesday seen
protesting
outside the
Delhi Police
headquarters
demanding
the immedi-
ate release of
arrested 'climate activist' Disha Ravi. AISA
activists were seen protesting with placards
amid slogans of 'Inquilab Zindabad' and
'Disha Ravi ko riha karo' on Tuesday.
it of 1.11 lakh tourists, includ-
ing 175 foreigners, from visit-
ing the UNESCO world her-
itage site
Kaziranga
National
Park and
Tiger Reserve (KNP & TR), con-
sidered as one of the best con-
served wildlife reserves in the
country. Besides rhinos, the
KNP & TR has 121 tigers, 1,089
elephants and huge numbers of
Asiatic buffalo, swamp deer
and other endangered animals
and snakes.
Punjab has been renamed Pun-
jab Kings, co-owner of the fran-
chise, Mohit Burman has con-
firmed. Bur-
man has also
said that the
franchise will
unveil a new
logo on Wednesday ahead of the
upcoming mini-auction slated to
be held in Chennai on Thursday.
"We put it to research, both with
fans and with closed groups, and
have finally arrived at the new
name," he said.
 FREE PRESS
� ������ MUMBAI | WEDNESDAY | FEBRUARY 17, 2021

OSAKA, SERENA COUNTRY'S LARGEST HOCKEY STADIUM

SAIL INTO SEMIS
J apanese tennis player Naomi Osa-
ka advanced to the semi-finals of
the ongoing Australian Open after
overpowering Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh
on Tuesday. The three-time Grand
Slam champion
Osaka defeated
Hsieh in two
consecutive
sets and sealed
a comfortable
victory in 66
minutes at Rod
Laver Arena. In the other women's sin-
gles quarter-finals, American tennis
player Serena Williams Serena defeat-
ed Romania's Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3 in
the quarter-finals and as a result, the
American has her dream intact of reg-
istering her 24th Grand Slam win.
O disha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday laid the founda-
tion stone for the country's largest hockey stadium in Rourkela
ahead of Men's Hockey World Cup 2023,
which will be hosted in Bhubaneswar and
Rourkela. The new international hockey sta-
dium to be named after "Birsa Munda" is go-
ing to be the modern field hockey facility.
The stadium site is located within the sprawling campus of Biju Pat-
naik University of Technology and is adjacent to the Rourkela air strip.
INDIA OUTPLAYED US: ROOT
The second Test against India was an edu-
cation for England on how to play in condi-
tions favouring spin bowlers, said England
captain Joe Root after his team lost the sec-
ond Test by 317 runs to India on Tuesday.
"Credit to India, they outplayed us in all
three departments. It has been an education for us. You could come up
with conditions like these and we have to learn from this," said Root.
'Brahmastra's
'universe'
S outh superstar Nagarjuna
Akkineni on Tuesday finished
shooting for the upcoming fanta-
sy-adventure "Brahmastra" and
said he is waiting for the audience
to experience the film's "outstand-
ing" universe. Directed by Ayan
Mukerji, "Brahmastra" is billed
as a three-film series and stars
Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt.
The first part will see Kapoor play
Shiva, a man with special powers.
Nagarjuna took to Twitter and
shared pictures from the sets.

Jacqueline's
ballerina avatar 'Darlings' to go
A ctress Jacqueline Fernandez
took her hotness quotient
on floor
notches higher with pictures she
posted on Tuesday dressed as a bal-
lerina. The posted two pictures in a
T he Shah Rukh Khan production
Darlings, starring Alia Bhatt, is
set to go on floors soon. The makers
ballerina avatar, looking fit as ever. plan to release the film later this
For caption, she left emojis of a lion, year, it was revealed on Monday. An
a tiger, a rainbow and a heart. Her official announcement on the proj-
post has garnered over 12 lakh likes. ect will be made soon. Darlings is
Fans have been gushing in the com- pitched as a quirky story about a
ment section, over how they cannot mother-daughter duo. While Alia
get enough of her graceful and sen- plays the daughter, actress Shefali
suous look. Shah is cast as the mother.

In Eng, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu

Godzilla vs. Kong to release on March 31
T he much-awaited 'Godzilla vs.
Kong' will be released in four
languages. The makers of the high-
ly-anticipated flick, Warner Bros.,
shared the news on Twitter along
with a teaser clip from the movie.
They noted that the forthcoming
film will be released in English,
Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu. Godzilla
vs. Kong', which is releasing on
March 31, will be simultaneously
available to watch in movie the-
aters and on the streaming service
HBO Max. Warner Bros. had earli-
er moved the film's release date two
months earlier than expected.
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