RNI NO.

: DELENG/2005/15351
MILLENNIUMPOST.IN REGD. NO.: DL(S)-01/3420/2018-20

PUBLISHED FROM DELHI | KOLKATA VOL.16, ISSUE 180 | Wednesday, 30 June, 2021 | New Delhi | Pages 12 | Rs 3.00
No Half Truths

City: Pg 2 Nation: Pg 6 Film: Pg 12

Woman wilfully converts to Monsoon reaches one of its last Vanessa Kirby to
Islam, faces extortion, threats outposts in Raj 2 weeks early star in The Son

COVID-19 MIGRANTS’ ISSUES

India records 37,566 new SC terms Centre’s apathy in creating

national database ‘unpardonable’
cases; 907 more deaths Orders states, UTs to implement ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ scheme by July 31
Cipla gets DCGI nod to import Moderna’s Covid OUR CORRESPONDENT “The attitude of Ministry

vaccine for restricted emergency use in India

OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The single-
day rise in fresh cases was
recorded below 40,000 after
102 days, bringing India’s
COVID-19 infection tally to
3,03,16,897, while the daily
fatalities remained below
1,000 for the second consec-
utive day.
India saw 37,566 new cases
being reported in a day, while
the COVID-19 death toll rose
to 3,97,637 with 907 daily
fatalities, the lowest in 77 days.
The number of active
cases has further declined to
5,52,659, comprising 1.82 per
cent of the total infections,
while the national COVID-
19 recovery rate has improved
to 96.87 per cent, according
to the Union Health Ministry
data updated on Tuesday.
A net decline of 20,335
cases has been recorded in
the active cases in a span of
24 hours.
Also, 17,68,008 tests were
conducted on Monday, tak-
A medic shows a vial of the Covid-19 Sputnik V vaccine during its
launch in Bengaluru, on Tuesday
Highlights
»»Moderna’s vaccine will be
the fourth to be available
in India after Covishield,
Covaxin and Sputnik
»»Govt clarified that there will
be no need for bridging
study. First 100 people who
will be administered the
ing the total cumulative tests
done so far for detection of
COVID-19 in the country to
PTI
doses will be watched
»»EU member states will have
option to accept WHO
authorised vaccines like
Covishield to issue certificate
for travel: Official
»»European Medicines Agency
(EMA) has not received an
authorisation request till Mon-
day for the Covishield vaccine
40,81,39,287, while the daily
positivity rate has declined to
2.12 per cent. It has been less
than 5 per cent for 22 consec-
utive days, the ministry said.
The weekly positivity rate
has declined to 2.74 per cent.
Recoveries continue to
outnumber daily new cases for
the 47th consecutive day. The
number of people who have
recuperated from the disease
surged to 2,93,66,601, while
the case fatality rate stands at
1.31 per cent, the data stated.
Meanwhile, India’s drug
regulator DCGI has granted
permission to Mumbai-
based Cipla to import Mod-
erna’s COVID-19 vaccine for
restricted emergency use in
the country.
Moderna’s vaccine will be
the fourth COVID-19 jab to
be available in India after Cov-
ishield, Covaxin and Sputnik.
“An application was
received from Moderna
through their Indian partner
Cipla following which Mod-
erna’s COVID-19 vaccine has
been granted restricted emer-
gency use authorisation by the
drug regulator. Continued on P5
NEW DELHI: The Supreme
Court on Tuesday termed
as unpardonable the Cen-
tre’s apathy and lackadaisi-
cal attitude towards creating
National Database for Unor-
ganised Workers (NDUW)
and ordered its commence-
ment by July 31 so that all
migrant workers are registered
this year and welfare measures
extended to them during pan-
demic distress.
The top court issued a slew
of directions to authorities on
a plea of three activists seeking
welfare measures for migrant
workers and ordered states
and Union Territories (UTs)
to frame schemes for provid-
ing free dry ration to them till
the pandemic lasts, while the
Centre will have to allocate
additional foodgrains.
A bench comprising jus-
tices Ashok Bhushan and M
R Shah also directed states and
Union Territories to implement
the ‘One Nation, One Ration
Card’ scheme by July 31.
The Centre pointed out
that Chhattisgarh, West Ben-
gal, Assam and Delhi have
not implemented the ONORC
Takeaways
»»SC directed states and
UTs to run community
kitchens at prominent
places
»»It also ordered the
Centre to provide dry
ration for free distribution
among migrant workers
»»Right to life under
Constitution may be
interpreted to include
right to food, says SC
scheme which helps in availing
free ration at place of work.
The top court referred to
its order of August 21, 2018
directing the Ministry of
Labour to make available a
module to states and UTs for
the registration of unorgan-
ised workers and said the stand
taken by the Centre does not
commend us.
“When the unorganised
workers are waiting for regis-
tration and are waiting to reap
the benefit of various welfare
schemes of the States and Cen-
tre, the apathy and lackadai-
sical attitude by the Ministry
of Labour and Employment
is unpardonable. There was
urgency in the portal to be
finalised and implemented
looking to the pandemic and
dire need of unorganised
workers to receive the benefit.”
of Labour and Employment
in not completing the mod-
ule even though directed as
early as on 21.08.2018 shows
that Ministry is not alive to the
concern of the migrant work-
ers and the non-action of the
Ministry is strongly disap-
proved,” it said.
The top court directed the
department of Food and Pub-
lic Distribution to allocate and
distribute foodgrains as per
demand of additional food-
grains from the States for dis-
bursement of dry food grains
to migrant labourers.
Justice Bhushan, writing
the 80-page judgement for
the bench, also directed states
and UTs to run community
kitchens at prominent places
for feeding those who do not
have sufficient means.
The top court referred to
the worldwide awareness over
the right to food of human
beings and said that the fun-
damental right to life under
Article 21 may include this
right as well.
There has been worldwide
awareness regarding right to
food to human being.
 Continued on P5

SC issues notice after Parl panel tells Facebook, Google, IPS Balaji Srivastava to Monsoon
Gauri Lankesh murder Session
they must follow new IT rules be next Delhi Police chief,
accused files for bail likely from
Seeks Twitter’s response on locking of accounts of Prasad, Tharoor within 2 days gets additional charge
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday
issued a notice to Karnataka government on the July 19
petition filed by Kavita Lankesh, sister of jour- S N Shrivastava’s retirement confirmed
nalist Gauri Lankesh, challenging the Karnataka Twitter stares at more FIRs as UP Police MPOST BUREAU
High Court order which dropped charges under
goes to SC for action against India MD
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act NEW DELHI: The
(KCOCA), against one of the accused, Mohan NEW DELHI: Senior IPS officer Monsoon session of Par-
Nayak, in the assassination case of the journalist. OUR CORRESPONDENT media giant is mired in a row of the 1988-batch, Balaji Srivas- liament is likely to com-
The court said that the bail plea of Nayak with the central government tava is all set to head the Delhi mence on July 19 and
should be decided uninfluenced by a Karna- NEW DELHI: In more trouble over not following the new IT Police as a notification from conclude on August 13,
taka High Court verdict that dropped KCOCA. for Twitter, two FIRs were lodged rules, Twitter India MD Manish the Union government paved sources said on Tuesday.
Kavita’s lawyers argued that Nayak was cit- OUR CORRESPONDENT in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Maheshwari was recently sum- the way for his appointment as The nearly month-
ing the High Court order to get bail, despite that Pradesh against senior officials moned by Ghaziabad police in Commissioner of Police here, long session is likely to
order still being challenged in the top court. of its India office over the social UP in a probe into an objection- giving him additional charge of have around 20 sittings,
 Continued on P5 NEW DELHI: Facebook and media platform putting up a dis- able video posted in connec- the position from Wednesday the sources said.
Google representatives Tuesday torted map of the country. tion with an assault on an elderly onwards, putting to rest specu- The Mon-

In today’s
deposed before the Parliamentary
Standing Committee on Informa-
tion Technology over the issue
paper of social media misuse and safe-
guarding citizens’ rights, with
... sources saying they were told to
comply with the new IT rules, gov-
City ernment instructions and court
CAPITAL HIT BY SEVERE HEAT WAVE3 orders.
The panel, chaired by Congress
Nation MP Shashi Tharoor, had asked
LIGHTNING CLAIMS 11 LIVES IN BIHAR 4 them to appear in-person at the
parliament secretariat here.
Edit The sources also said the rep-
RIGHT SOLUTIONS? 7 resentatives were conveyed that
there are loopholes in their existing
International data protection and privacy policy
RUSSIA RECORDS HIGHEST DAILY DEATH TOLL 8 mechanism, and that they need to
put in place stringent safeguards
Business to protect data privacy and data
security of their users.
DEVAS JOINS CAIRN TO SEIZE AI’S ASSETS10 While Facebook’s country
Sport public policy director Shivnath
Thukral and general counsel Nam-
VENUS RISES TO 90TH WIMBLEDON WIN11 rata Singh appeared before the
The Delhi Police also said it
has registered a POCSO case on a
complaint by the National Com-
mission for Protection of Child
Rights (NCPCR) against Twit-
ter, for allegedly allowing access
to child sexual abuse material on
the social media platform.
It is the latest in the run-
ins between Twitter and Indian
authorities. While the social
panel on behalf of the company,
search engine Google was repre-
sented by its country head (gov-
ernment affairs and public policy)
Aman Jain and director (legal)
Gitanjali Duggal.
The agenda of the Parliamen-
tary panel meeting was to safe-
guard citizens’ rights and prevent
the misuse of social/online news
media platforms.
The sources said that Thar-
Muslim man.
While Maheshwari had been
granted protection from UP
Police’s coercive actions by the
Karnataka High Court and had
also offered to submit to virtual
questioning, authorities in Uttar
Pradesh decided to file a Special
Leave Petition in the Supreme
Court on Tuesday, appealing this
high court order. Continued on P5
oor expressed concern about the
privacy of women users of social
media platforms. He said he has
also received complaints from sev-
eral women MPs in this regard.
Later, Google said in a state-
ment that it has consistently
invested in product changes,
resources and personnel as part
of its efforts to keep users safe in
compliance with the local laws in
India. Continued on P5
lations of SN Shrivastava being
granted an extension.
The notification issued on
Tuesday read, “Balaji Srivastava,
IPS (AGMUT: 1988) will hold
the additional charge of Com-
missioner of Police, Delhi in
addition to his regular charge
until the appointment of a regu-
lar incumbent or until further
orders, whichever is earlier.”
Just hours before Sriv-
astava was given additional
charge as CP, Delhi, Com-
missioner Shrivastava’s retire-
ment was confirmed through a
Home Department order from
the Delhi government - issued
with the approval of the L-G’s
office here. “Consequent upon
attaining the age of superannu-
ation, Sachchida Nand Shriv-
astava, IPS (AGMUT; 1985)
presently posted as Commis-
sioner of Police, Delhi shall stand
Balaji Srivastava
retired from government service
with effect from June 30,” stated
the order undersigned by Dep-
uty Secretary (Home), Pawan
Kumar. Significantly, this is the
second Delhi Police Commis-
sioner in a row to be appointed
on an additional charge basis
instead of on a permanent basis
- SN Shrivastava having gotten
the position the same way last
year. Shrivastava was given addi-
tional charge as Commissioner
during the north-east Delhi riots
last year, almost a month before
his predecessor was set to retire.
Curiously, Shrivastava con-
tinued serving as Commis-
sioner on an additional charge
for almost all of his tenure, his
position being made permanent
just one month ago. 
 Continued on P5
soon session
of Parliament
usually com-
mences in the
third week of
July and concludes ahead
of Independence day.
A recommendation
about the duration of the
session has been made by
the Cabinet Committee
on Parliamentary Affairs,
the sources said.
All Covid related pro-
tocols will be followed
within the Parliament
complex during the ses-
sion, the sources said,
adding that it is hoped
that all those entering
the complex during the
session have taken at
least one dose of Covid
vaccine.

Do not have ITR of political parties: I-T dept to RTI activist ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD

RTI activist had approached I-T dept seeking tax returns filed by political parties in last ten years
NEW DELHI: The I-T Depart-
ment has given a “contradic-
tory” response when asked for
tax returns of political parties
under the Right to Informa-
tion Act, by first saying that
the information is not held by
it and then citing exemption
clauses to refuse disclosing the
information, an RTI activist
claimed on Tuesday.
The Central Informa-
tion Commission, the highest
adjudicator of RTI matters, had
ordered in 2008 that tax returns
of political parties should be
disclosed under the transpar-
ency law, a position which
was repeatedly reflected in its
orders later.
RTI activist Venkatesh
Nayak approached the Income
Tax Department seeking tax
returns filed by political parties
in the last ten years.
“The applicant is hereby
informed that, the requested
information is not held as
such, by the CPIO as regis-
tered information nor is the
requested information required
to be maintained as such by the
CPIO, under extant rules or
regulations,” the RTI response
said.
Citing a Supreme Court
order, I-T Department’s Cen-
tral Public Information Offi-
cer said where the information
sought is not part of the public
authority’s record and where
it is not required to be main-
tained under any law or regu-
lations, the act does not cast
an obligation upon the public
authority to collect or collate
such non-available information
and furnish it to the applicant.
The CPIO went on to cite
five of the 10 exemption clauses
of the RTI Act to underline that
the sought information, not
held by her, was exempt from
disclosure.
She also cited another apex
court order that stated the
information related to mat-
ters of an assessee is personal
information which stands
exempt from disclosure under
The Central
Information
Commission had
ordered in 2008 that
tax returns of political
parties should be
disclosed under the
transparency law, a
position which was
repeatedly reflected
in its orders later
the RTI Act.
“The CPIO gave a totally
contradictory reply to this RTI
application. First she claimed
that she does not hold the
information. She also claimed
that the information is not
available in the desired form
as explained in the RTI applica-
tion. She cited a much-abused
para from the CBSE judgement
of the Supreme Court in sup-
port of her denial. Then she
also claimed that five out of
the 10 exemption clauses are
applicable to the information
sought,” Nayak said.
The RTI exemptions cited
by the CPIO to deny informa-
tion relate to intellectual prop-
erty rights, trade secrets and
information in the nature of
commercial confidence, fidu-
ciary relationship, threat to life
and safety of persons who give
information to law enforce-
ment agencies in confidence,
impediment to investigation,
prosecution or apprehension
and privacy of an individual.
“How can exemptions
apply to information which
she believes that she does not
hold, nor even knows who is
likely to have it is a big ques-
tion that she has not looked at
while issuing this contradictory
reply,” Nayak said.
Ordering the disclosure of
income tax returns of political
parties, the then Information
Commissioner AN Tiwari had
said it is recognized that politi-
cal parties do need large finan-
cial resources to discharge their
myriad functions.
“But this recognition is
tinged with the apprehension
that non-transparent politi-
cal funding could, by exposing
political parties, and through it
the organs of State which come
under the control or its influ-
ence, to the corrupting influ-
ence of undisclosed money, can
inflict irreversible harm on the On Sri Lankan government’s request, Indian Navy’s Hydrographic
institutions of government. Survey ship INS Sarvekshak carries out extensive underwater
There is public purpose in pre- survey around MV Xpress Pearl, which sank earlier this month. A
venting such harm to the body- large number of submerged objects were detectedPTI
politic,” he had said. AGENCIES
2 mp
Woman wilfully converts to
Islam, faces extortion, threats
Ayesha Alvi has now moved Delhi HC for her and her family’s protection
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: After having will-
fully converted her religion from
Hinduism to Islam, Ayesha Alvi
(formerly Renu Gangwar), who
works in the Capital but hails
from Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjah-
anpur, has now moved the Delhi
High Court seeking protection
for herself and her family from
vigilante groups sending life-
threats and a purported “witch-
hunt” by the UP Police.
Alvi sought protection as also
her right to privacy, saying that
because of her conversion she
and her family are being targeted
and malicious content is being
published in the media which
should be stopped immediately.
Advocate Kamlesh Kumar
Mishra, who represents the
woman, said the petition is
likely to come up for hearing
on Wednesday. The plea said
Alvi converted to Islam on May
27 in Delhi and since June 23,
when she was in Shahjahanpur,
she started getting calls from
media persons requesting for
a meeting which she refused.
Court asks separatist leader if he
has faith in Indian judicial system
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court
on Tuesday asked Kashmiri
separatist leader Shabir Shah,
arrested in a money laundering
case, whether he has faith in the
country’s judicial system and its
Constitution.
Special Judge Dharmender
Rana put the queries to Shah’s
lawyer during the hearing of his
bail application.
“Ask your client if he has faith
in judicial system and the Con-
stitution of India,” the judge
asked advocate M S Khan dur-
ing the hearing held through
video conferencing.
At this the counsel replied
that Shah had full faith in the
system and law of the land.
“Ask him again in person and
inform the court on July 1,” the
judge said.
Student
grant under
EMC set to
be increased
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Entrepre-
neurship Mindset Curriculum
(EMC) is not a mere scheme or
initiative but an indispensable
subject in every Delhi school
and will have a long-term impact,
Deputy Chief Minister Manish
Sisodia said on Tuesday, adding
that the Delhi government had
decided to revise grants under
the EMC Seed Money Project.
Sisodia, who is also Delhi’s Edu-
cation Minister said the gov-
ernment has revisited the Seed
Money Project under which they
used to disburse Rs 1,000 to chil-
dren to start their own enterprise
— raising it to Rs 2,000.
“We plan to give Rs 2000
to children, after reviewing the
prototype they create based on
their idea. We are ready to give Rs
50,000 if children want to form a
group of 25 students and create
an enterprise,” he said.
His comments came at a
review meeting for EMC where
he interacted with district and
zonal EMC coordinators and
also launched a one-of-its-kind
web application for all principals,
teachers and EMC coordinators
to access related teaching-learning
material. “It is not just an initia-
tive or a scheme but an indis-
pensable subject that will equip
our students with the mindset
and skills needed to triumph in
any challenge,” the Dy CM said.
“The thematic units of EMC
include sharing success stories of
students and activities. Through
this live interaction with entrepre-
neurs, the minds of children are
ignited to ask pertinent questions
to entrepreneurs,” Sisodia said.
Although every possible care and caution has been taken to avoid errors or omissions, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that information given in this publication is merely for reference and must not be taken as having authority of or binding in any way on the writers, editors,
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Printed and Published by Jaiyendra Kumar Sharma on behalf of Front Row Media Pvt. Ltd. and printed at The Indian Express Pvt. Ltd., A-8, Sector-7, Noida-201 301 (U.P.) and published from First Floor, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
New Delhi 110 002. Editor: Durbar Ganguly. Email: editor@millenniumpost.in, Tel. No. 011-47777500
City
She has said media persons
came to her place without her
permission and took her pho-
tographs and videos and she
started getting calls threaten-
ing that her conversion news
will be published in the media
and she would be arrested and
demanded money.
Thereafter, one of them forc-
ibly took Rs 20,000 while oth-
ers too tried to extort money
from her and her family, the
plea alleged, adding that absurd
and imaginary details are being
reported in the media regarding
her conversion.
The petitioner (Alvi) is an
Shah is currently lodged in
Tihar central jail here.
The Enforcement Director-
ate opposed his bail applica-
tion and assured the court that
within six months it will con-
clude the evidence as it has to
examine several witnesses in
the case.
According to the prosecu-
tion, in August 2005 case, the
special cell of Delhi Police had
arrested one Ahmed Wani, an
Loni triple murder case solved, deceased’s nephew held
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Ghaziabad
police has worked out the tri-
ple murder case in Loni area
and arrested an accused who
has been identified to be a
close relative of family. The
police has revealed monetary
issues between family as reason
behind the crime.
As per police, the arrested
accused have been identi-
‘Plans on for heliport,
aero-museum in Ggm’
PIYUSH OHRIE
GURUGRAM: Haryana Dep-
uty Chief Minister Dushyant
Chautala on Tuesday announced
in Gurugram that his govern-
ment has started planning to
set up an aero-museum and a
heliport in the NCR city — a
first for the state — in a bid to
boost civil aviation in the area.
Expressing his government’s
commitment to enhance the
industry of civil aviation in the
field of innovations, manufac-
turing and tourism the Deputy
Chief Minister laid the plans
for the future investments in
Gurugram and other cities of
Haryana.
Civic agencies in Gurugram
have already been directed to
find land for developing these
institutions along the Dwarka
Expressway and the Global
City that is being developed in
Gurugram.
The Deputy Chief Minister
expressed hope that if imple-
mented this would lead to
further development of new
institutions related to the field
of civil aviation in Gurugram.
The Haryana Government
adult and she is protected by
the Constitution to choose her
own faith and she cannot be
targeted and harassed for the
choice she makes with regard
to the religion she follows, the
petition said.
In the plea, she said she had
given a complaint to the Delhi
Police Commissioner on June 24,
seeking immediate intervention
for her protection with regard to
her conversion to Islam on her
own free will and without any
threat or coercion from anyone
but no action has been taken on
her complaint yet.
“There is no other option
alleged hawala dealer, claiming
that Rs 63 lakh were recovered
from Wani, of which Rs 52 lakh
were allegedly to be delivered
to Shah.
According to the prosecu-
tion, Wani had claimed that he
had given Rs 2.25 crore to Shah.
The ED registered a case
under the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act (PMLA)
against Shah and Wani in
2007.
fied as Ayyub, nephew of the
deceased and Riyaz, a cloth
trader. A senior police offi-
cer said that statements from
Ayyub’s daughter-in-law, who
was present in the house at the
time of incident and is an eye-
witness, were recorded and the
accused was arrested.
“Afsana told police that she
along with her husband Azha-
ruddin and brother-in-law
Imraan rushed to the ground
is now exploring different ways
to attract new businesses to
Gurugram.
In addition to Gurugram,
the Deputy Chief Minister
also made an announcement
of opening four flying schools
across the state on a PPP model.
The slew of announcements
came after Chautala chaired a
meeting of officials of the Civil
Aviation Department.
Tenders have been signed for
schools in Mahendergarh and
Bhiwani and two more are set to
come up in Karnal and Pinjore.
“The possibilities of develop-
ing a heliport and aero-museum
in Gurugram are being explored.
For this, the Gurugram pub-
lic agencies are finding land
banks around the Global City
and Dwarka Expressway area,“
said Chautala.
Highlights
»»She has said media persons came to her place without her
permission and took her photographs and videos
»»After this, she started getting calls threatening that her
conversion news will be published in the media and she
would be arrested and demanded money
»»One of them forcibly took Rs 20,000 while others too
tried to extort money from her and her family
»»Absurd and imaginary details are being reported in the
media regarding her conversion, the plea said
other than approaching this
court for immediate direc-
tions to stop the harassment
of the petitioner,” said the plea,
filed through advocate Kam-
lesh Kumar Mishra and Nitin
Kumar Nayak.
It sought to direct the author-
ities to ensure that the woman
is not taken away from Delhi by
force or coercion by any gov-
ernment agency or person and
she and her family be granted
protection and not harassed
or interrogated regarding her
conversion.
The plea further sought
directions to the media to not
DAILY CHECK UPS
A health worker attends a patient at a Covid care centre at CWG village near Akshardham,
on TuesdayPTI
floor after hearing to the sound
of gunshot and saw Ayyub
shooting the family. When she
tried to save them, the accused
opened fire at her but the gun
got stuck. Luckily, Afsana sur-
vived and the accused fled from
the spot through the terrace of
house,” said DIG Amit Pathak,
SSP of Ghaziabad police.
The officer further said
that on the basis on Afsana’s
statement, police lodged an
LSR College student wins
prestigious Diana Award
She helped underprivileged kids amid Covid
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: A 21-year-old
student of Lady Shri Ram (LSR)
College has received the coveted
Diana Award for advancing the
UN Sustainable Development
Goals and empowering young
changemakers. Devanshi Ran-
jan, a final-year student, has
been working with NGO Ladli
Foundation Trust to help under-
privileged children, especially
girl students, with their studies
amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Established in memory of
Diana, Princess of Wales, the
award is considered the “high-
est accolade” a young person
can achieve for social action or
humanitarian efforts. It is given
out by the charity of the same
name and has the support of both
her sons — the Duke of Cam-
bridge and the Duke of Sussex.
“I found out that I will be
honoured with the Diana award
on May 5. I was extremely elated
publish or broadcast any mali-
cious content regarding her
and to not divulge her personal
details and also remove the con-
tents already shown.
It sought to direct the UP
agencies to not harass the woman
or any other persons who have
not converted in the state of UP
and on whom the provisions of
the UP Prohibition of Unlawful
Religious Conversion Ordinance,
2020 does not apply.
The petition has made DCP,
SHO of Jamia Nagar Police Sta-
tion, Delhi government, Direc-
tor General of UP Police, UP
government as parties.
FIR and arrested Ayyub who
and confessed to the crime.
“The accused told police that
he wanted to start a new busi-
ness and had demanded Rs 10
lakh from Riyaz. Despite asking
multiple times, Riyaz refused
to give him the money. Ayyub
claimed that the fact that Riyaz
could give him the money but
always refused made the latter
angry,” said Pathak.
“On Sunday evening, he
but couldn’t share the news with
anyone except for my immediate
family till the commencement
of the virtual ceremony on June
28,” Ranjan told.
“My work centered around
the COVID-19 pandemic relief
work. A number of surveys and
reports showed an increase in the
number of drop-outs in schools,
especially the female students,
as availing education online was
not affordable for all. I worked
with NGO Ladli Trust and under
its programme “Pathanshala’’
conducted workshops and edu-
cated students from slums and
villages,” she added.
Ranjan during this period
Dowry death case: Bail
denied to victim’s spouse
ARNABJIT SUR
NEW DELHI: In a case of alleged
dowry death involving a Chris-
tian couple, the Delhi High Court
has denied bail to the spouse of
the victim while noting that the
aspect of the deceased suffer-
ing from depression cannot be
considered enough to hold that
she had killed herself due to her
mental illness and not because of
“the alleged maltreatment and
cruelty meted out to her by the
applicant for dowry demands”.
A single-judge bench of Jus-
tice Anu Malhotra, while dismiss-
ing the bail plea of the accused,
one Rajesh Lal, observed that
the complainant, the deceased’s
father, had allegedly stated that
Lal had called up his daughter
and when she told him that she
was coming back to his house,
the accused purportedly said that
if she came near him then he
would stab her with a knife and
that these were “aspects which
cannot be overlooked”.
The bench further noted
that the relation between the
deceased’s family and the accused
were very strained and even
the neighbours of the deceased
also indicate allegedly that the
deceased was not happy with the
relations with the accused and
his family members “who used
to harass her for dowry demands
went to Riyaz’s house and
requested his uncle to give him
Rs 10 lakh but Riyaz denied.
There was a heated argument
between them and later Riyaz
asked the accused for dinner.
Ayuub then conspired to kill
Riyaz if he didn’t fulfill his
demand,” he added.
The accused was sent to
judicial custody after produc-
ing him infront of the court on
Tuesday.
taught over 1,000 children in
the slums across New Delhi. She
also distributed books, stationery
and other resource material in
the semi-urban and rural areas
of Delhi-NCR.
“We congratulate all our
new Diana Award recipients
from the UK and all over the
globe who are changemakers for
their generation. We know by
receiving this honour they will
inspire more young people to get
involved in their communities
and begin their own journey as
active citizens,” said Tessy Ojo,
CEO of The Diana Award dur-
ing the virtual award ceremony.
The Diana Award, given to
people under the age category
9-25 years, was conferred on
400 people globally.
The award recipients have
been put forward by adults who
know the young people in a pro-
fessional capacity and recognise
their efforts as a positive contri-
bution to society.
millenniumpost
WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 | NEW DELHI
The aspect of the deceased suffering from
depression cannot be considered enough
to hold that she had killed herself due to
her mental illness and not because of “the
alleged maltreatment” by her husband
and beat her for the same”. had told the court that his wife was
As per case records, the vic- suffering from a mental disorder
tim, identified as one Macklina, called Somniloquy which is a sleep
had allegedly hanged herself to talking illness. He alleged that he
death at her paternal house on wasn’t made aware about her ill-
February 28 last year after report- ness before their marriage and
edly being harassed on account of that she always behaved abnor-
dowry from her in-laws, includ- mally with his relatives and fam-
ing her husband, mother-in-law, ily, skipping all family functions
sister-in-law and the husband’s and rituals due to the stigma.
cousin sister, all of whom have During the course of their
been named in an FIR lodged by marriage, the deceased had been
the deceased’s father. While the frequenting between her paternal
rest have been granted interim and in-laws’ home on account
protection by courts, Lal remains of receiving treatment for her
incarcerated. mental illness and it was during
The FIR alleged that the her stay there that she allegedly
accused along with his family, hanged herself to death.
used to harass her over dowry Lal alleged that the allegations
right after her marriage in 2019 against him and his family in the
despite giving Rs. 5 lakhs and FIR are vague and there is no
spending around Rs. 25 lakhs corroboration between the facts
in the marriage. of the case and the evidence on
Her father, Jerome George, record. He submitted that the fact
also alleged that her in-laws used that his wife died of her mental
to beat her up regularly and that illness cannot be ruled out and
Lal had even threatened Mack- her in-laws had lodged a com-
lina that he would stab her if plaint against him only because
she returned back to his house. he once took her to a hospital for
In his defence, the accused treatment against their wishes.
2 held for fraudulently
withdrawing Rs 97,500
from BJP MP Sakshi
Maharaj’s bank account
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Two persons
were arrested for allegedly with-
drawing Rs 97,500 from the
bank account of BJP MP Sakshi
Maharaj using fake cheques, the
Delhi Police said on Monday.
The accused have been iden-
tified as Dinesh Rai (30) and
Nihal Sinha (27), both resi- and arrested during a raid.
dents of Patna in Bihar, the ATM cards of different banks
police said. were recovered from him, a
They said a case of cheat- senior police officer said.
ing and forgery was registered On Sinha’’s instance, Rai
at Parliament Street police sta- was also nabbed from the city.
tion on a complaint that some- A fake cheque and debit cards
one had withdrawn Rs 97,500 were recovered from his posses-
from BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj’’s sion, the officer said.
bank account using three fake During interrogation, it was
cheques. The original cheques found that Rai was the king-
were with Sakshi Maharaj and
the accused had also forged his
pin of the racket. He arranged
the fake cheques and gave them
signature. to Sinha. They used to present
During investigation, a these cheques at banks and
statement of the complainant’’s would get the money credited
account and a copy of the fake to different accounts. Later, they
cheques were obtained, the would withdraw the money
police said.
Sinha was traced to Patna
from these bank accounts, the
officer said.
City Briefs
DWARKA: 3 CONSTRUCTION WORKERS DIE
NEW DELHI: Three construction workers died after
falling from the top of a DDA construction site at
Sector 14 in Dwarka here, while another sustained
severe injuries and remains under treatment, the Delhi
Police said. The three construction labourers were
identified as Panna Lal Yadav (50), Basant (29) and
Mangal Prasad Singh. police said, adding that a
case under IPC sections of negligence with respect to
use of construction machinery, among others, is being
registered.
FRESH SUMMONS TO SIDHU, OTHERS;
SIDHANA GETS PROTECTION AGAIN
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday issued fresh
summons to actor-activist Deep Sidhu and other ac-
cused in the Republic Day violence case, directing
them to appear before it on July 12 virtually. The
second summonses were issued after the first failed to
reach the accused. The court had taken cognizance of
the chargesheet against Sidhu and other accused on
June 19. Meanwhile, gangster-turned-social activ-
ist, Lakha Sidhana was granted interim protection
from arrest in a second case related to the Red Fort
violence against the police.
DECAPITATED BULL FOUND IN NOIDA
NOIDA: Tension was triggered in the area after
a decapitated black bull was found dumped at a
garbage site in Sector 45 area of Noida on Tuesday
morning. Police acted on a compliant filed by an ani-
mal activist, following which an FIR has been lodged
under 3/8 Cow Slaughtering Act and Section 295 of
the Indian Penal Code. A sharp knife was also recov-
ered from the garbage lying near the carcass.
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 City mp 3
Capital hit GANGA RAM HOSP 1ST TO REPORT 5 CASES
101 new cases and 4 more deaths
by severe
heat wave
Covid-induced CMV NEW DELHI: Delhi recorded
Delhi requests
Delhi government on Tuesday vaccination in Delhi does not

with rectal bleeding

101 fresh COVID-19 cases and
four more deaths on Tuesday,
according to a health depart-
OUR CORRESPONDENT ment bulletin. The positivity
rate increased slightly to 0.15
Centre to replenish
vaccine stock to
continue high rate
requested the Centre to replen-
ish the Covid vaccine stock in
the national Capital before the
current stock runs out. As on
Tuesday morning, Delhi had
stop, she added. Issuing the daily
vaccination bulletin, the MLA
from Kalkaji said a total of 75,
43,765 doses of vaccines have
been administered in Delhi, out

seen, 1 death so far

NEW DELHI: As the mon-
soon continued to play tru-
ant, a severe heat wave
scorched parts of Delhi on
Tuesday with the maximum
temperature at Safdarjung
Observatory, considered the
official marker for the city,
rising to 43 degrees Celsius,
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Delhi has now
infection.”
“A lot of emphasis has been
given to black and white fun-
pression of immunity predis-
posing them to symptomatic
reactivation of CMV infection.
per cent from 0.10 per cent on
Monday, the bulletin stated.
The number of active cases
decreased to 1,531 from 1,553
on Monday. Over 14 lakh
patients have recovered from
COVID-19, it said. The death
toll stands at 24,971, it said.
Tuesday’s bulletin said a total
of vaccination
of 66,397 tests, including 42,973
RT-PCR tests, were conducted
in Delhi the previous day.
Meanwhile, to ensure
that the “high-speed vaccina-
tion” process continues, the
a stock of 5.25 lakh vaccines
including 3.75 lakh doses of
Covishield and 1.5 lakh doses
of Covaxin.
“We request the Central gov-
ernment to provide more vac-
cines to Delhi before the existing
stock for two days gets over so
that the ongoing high speed
of which, around 17 lakh people
have got both doses. Of the over
two lakh people who got vacci-
nated on Monday, around 1.5
lakh were in the 18-44 years
category, and over 35,000 doses
have been administered to those
above 45 years, who got their
second doses. MPOST

Facing court deadlines, WCD dept directs

the highest this year so far.
This is the first heat
wave in Delhi this sum-
mer season, according to
the India Meteorological
Department.
A severe heat wave
seared Lodhi Road, Ridge
and Pusa areas, where
the mercury soared to
42.6 degrees Celsius, 43.4
degrees Celsius and 44.3
degrees Celsius, respec-
tively, seven notches above
the average temperature.
Najafgarh (44.4 degrees
Celsius), Pitampura (44.3
degrees Celsius) and Mung-
eshpur (44.3 degrees Cel-
sius) also reeled under a
severe heat wave.
For the plains, a “heat
wave” is declared when the
maximum temperature is
more than 40 degrees Cel-
sius, and at least 4.5 notches
above normal.
A “severe” heat wave
is declared if departure
from normal temperature
is more than 6.5 degrees
Celsius, according to the
IMD.
reported the country’s first cases
of Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
related rectal bleeding in at least
five Covid-19 patients — all of
whom were otherwise immu-
nocompetent, with one of them
succumbing to massive bleed-
ing and severe Covid infection
and one other patient needing
life-saving surgery.
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital
here reported the first five cases,
of which three have made a full
recovery on a regimen of anti-
viral therapy. All five cases were
reported over the last 45 days.
According to Professor Anil
Arora, Chairman of the hospi-
tal’s Institute of Liver Gastroen-
terology and Pancreaticobiliary
Sciences, “During the second
wave of COVID-19, in April-
May 2021 we have seen five
cases of CMV infection in
otherwise immunocompetent
patients with COVID-19. These
patients presented with pain in
the abdomen and bleeding in
stools. These patients presented
with a mean of 20 to 30 days
after the diagnosis of Covid-19.
None of them had other pre-
disposing immunosuppressed
states accounting for this viral
gus, but we did not know until
recently that a new virus called
Cytomegalovirus (CMV), which
is a normal part of the body in
about 80 to 90 per cent of the
population, may get reactivated
due to the immunosuppression
caused by the COVID-19 infec-
tion,” Prof Arora added.
Doctors at the Ganga Ram
hospital said that the COVID-
19 infection itself and the
medicines used for its treat-
ment (steroids) do suppress the
immunity of patients and make
them susceptible for uncommon
infections with varied presenta-
tions. One such opportunistic
infection is (CMV) virus.
Cytomegalovirus exists in
80 to 90 percent of the Indian
population in asymptomatic
form as our immunity is strong
enough to make it clinically
asymptomatic. Clinical pre-
sentation with symptoms sec-
ondary to CMV is usually seen
in patients whose immunity is
compromised.
But in the series all patients
presented with low lymphocyte
count (6-10 per cent as against
a normal of 20 to 40 per cent)
indicating Covid-induced sup-
Out of five cases with age group
of 30-70 years were from Delhi
NCR, four had presented with
lower gastrointestinal bleed
(that is bleeding in stools) and
one patient presented with
intestinal obstruction. Two of
them had massive bleeding, one
requiring emergency lifesaving
surgery in the form of removal
of the right side of the colon.
The other three patients were
successfully treated with anti-
viral therapy with ganciclovir,
Prof Arora said.
“Cytomegalovirus colitis was
confirmed by PCR testing for
CMV viremia and tissue biopsy
from the large intestine which
showed intranuclear inclu-
sion bodies which was further
confirmed to be due to CMV
infection by the specific immu-
nohistochemistry stains,” Dr
Sunila Jain, Senior Consultant
Pathologist, said.
“In such cases, a high index
of suspicion and timely inter-
vention in the form of an early
diagnosis and effective antiviral
therapy can be life-saving”, Dr
Praveen Sharma, Senior Consul-
tant, Gastroenterology Depart-
ment, said.
officers to expedite data on Covid orphans
ABHAY SINGH
NEW DELHI: Facing court-
mandated deadlines, the Delhi
government’s Department of
Women and Child Develop-
ment has now said it will ini-
tiate action against officers
who are not complying to
compile the data on children
orphaned by Covid-19 in
the stipulated time, further
directing to finish the exercise
expeditiously.
According to officials, in the
wake of COVID-19 pandemic
several children were rendered
vulnerable, particularly those
who lost either or both parents
to the virus or those who were
subjected to deprivation due
to economic hardships being
faced by their caregivers.
“The Supreme Court and
High Court of Delhi have
also expressed concern over
Over 1,300 kids
who lost either one
or both parents
identified so far
safety and well-being of chil-
dren affected by the COVID-
19,” read the circular from the
WCD department.
As per the WCD, the dis-
trict officers are directed to
ensure that the data collection
of vulnerable children due to
COVID-19 pandemic and
their production before Child
Welfare Committee (CWC) is
done expeditiously so that the
compliance report can be filed
before the Supreme Court and
High Court in time.
“In the event of any lapse
they would be held accountable
for the same. Non compliance
will be viewed seriously,”the
order read.
According to the WCD,
in the prevailing situation of
COVID-19 pandemic, it is of
utmost importance to ensure
that preventive and remedial
measures are being taken to
protect all the vulnerable chil-
dren and provide all facilities
for their care and protection.
“District Child Protection
Officers (DCPO’s) in Delhi are
taking this task on a war foot-
ing. Thus in view of above, the
conveners of district task force,
nodal officers, district WCD
officers are hereby directed to
ensure that the District Child
Protection Units (DCPUs) in
their concerned districts are
provided with adequate man-
power support from the dis-
trict office or from the other
offices functional in their Dis-
trict (ICDS, CCIs, PMMVY,
Poshan),” the order read.
According to officials, the
conveners of district task force,
nodal officers, district WCD
officers, department of WCD
should also ensure to expand
and expedite department’s
reach to COVID orphans or
children with single parent
whether through phone calls
or physical visits for verify-
ing such data enabling them
to arrange for producing such
children before CWCs.
“They also need to facilitate
DCPOs to upload data of these
children on the Bal Swaraj Por-
tal as desired by NCPCR,” one
official said.
Till June 12, the Delhi
Commission for the Protec-
tion of Child Rights had iden-
tified 59 kids who had lost both
parents to the virus and over
1,300 who had lost at least one
parent to the pandemic.

DU mulls seeking jab Sisodia claims

status from aspirants
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Uni-
versity is now contemplat-
ing asking aspiring students
whether they have been vacci-
nated or not — to keep a record
as the national Capital starts
entrance examinations for vari-
ous courses here.
While Jamia Millia Isla-
mia has already started with
entrance, DU is gearing up for
it amid COVID-19. Amidst the
scare of Covid-19, DU officials
have hinted that they would
seek details of candidates’ vac-
cination status at the time of
the online registration for
admission to various under-
graduate, postgraduate, and
research programmes across
its colleges and departments
this year.
“We will create a database
for students who are vacci-
nated. This however has noth-
ing to do with their admission.
We will compile different data
on those students who are fully,
partially vaccinated or not vac-
cinated,” a DU official said.
Students in the universities
have been demanding that they
be fully vaccinated at the behest
of the administration. “Before
the universities start physi-
cally, we should be fully vacci-
nated for our safety and safety
of others,” Harouneet Kaur, a
final year DU student said. The
demands by the students have
gone unheard, as of now.
DU is yet to take a final call
on the matter but it is also plan-
ning to collect data on the vac-
cination status of all students
already enrolled across its col-
leges. “I will soon be writing
to all the principals to collect
information from all students
and teachers on their status
of vaccination. We will help
those students who could not
get vaccinated as of now. We
want our entire university to
be vaccinated before we reopen
and re-start physical classes,”
DU acting vice-chancellor PC
Joshi said.
Colleges across DU have
been shut since March last
year in view of the Covid-19
pandemic.
The university reopened
briefly in November last year
for laboratory work of final
year research students but it
was again closed in April when
the second wave of the pan-
demic hit the country.
The universities are still
shut with Education Minis-
try yet to issue the guidelines,
regarding the reopening of the
university.
BJP workers
vandalised his
official vehicle
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Deputy Chief
Minister Manish Sisodia on
Tuesday alleged that BJP lead-
ers and “goons” vandalised his
official vehicle while protesting
the construction of a school in
Rohtas Nagar.
The BJP in counter alle-
gation claimed attack on its
workers and accused Sisodia of
using “intemperate” language
against them.
Sisodia also alleged that the
BJP men ransacked the school
and misbehaved with engineers
and teachers there.
“BJP leaders and goons pro-
testing construction of school
in Rohtas Nagar sabotaged
the school and vandalised
my official vehicle. They mis-
behaved with female teach-
ers, engineers and workers
by breaking into the school.
Why the BJP people are so
much irritated by education,”
Sisodia, who holds the edu-
cation portfolio, tweeted in
Hindi.
The Delhi Police said they
have received a complaint from
the school but no FIR had been
registered yet.

TO PROVIDE SAFE PASSAGE TO LEOPARDS, OTHER ANIMALS

Plan afoot to create India’s

1st urban wildlife corridor
NEW DELHI: Forest depart-
ments of Delhi and Haryana
are working on an interstate
plan to build a wildlife corridor
on a busy road stretch near the
Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary
to provide safe passage to leop-
ards and other animals, officials
said on Tuesday. This will be the
first such corridor for wildlife
management in an urban setting
in the country, an official said.
The wildlife sanctuary cov-
ering 32.71 sqkm area on the
Southern Delhi Ridge of Ara-
valli hill range lies in south-
ern Delhi and northern parts
of Faridabad and Gurugram
districts of Haryana.
It is part of the Northern
Aravalli leopard wildlife cor-
ridor, which extends from the
Sariska National Park in Rajas-
than to Delhi Ridge.
The Delhi forest department,
which has been trying to pro-
vide an enriched habitat to leop-
ards in Asola Bhatti, is seeking
to utilise the expertise of the
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
(DMRC) in building under-
passes on busy roads around
the wildlife sanctuary, according
to Delhi Deputy Conservator of
Forests (South Division) Amit
Anand. On Monday, a two-year-
old female leopard was killed
after being hit by a vehicle on
Pali road in Faridabad.
This is the second such inci-
dent within a year. In October
last year, a leopard was killed
in a road accident near Mangar
village on Gurugram-Faridabad
road, according to Divisional
Forest Officer, Faridabad, Raj-
kumar Yadav.
Bombay Natural History
Society’s Delhi head Sohail
Madan said around five leopards
have died in the last five years
on the roads passing through or
abutting the wildlife sanctuary.
There are three major
roads with heavy traffic flow
around the wildlife sanctuary
— Surajkund-Faridabad road,
Gurgaon-Faridabad road and
Mehrauli-Badarpur road —
according to officials.
Another road connecting
Chhatarpur in south Delhi to
Mangar village in Faridabad cuts
through the sanctuary.
“We have had talks with
officials in Haryana. We will
be chalking out a proper plan
for the wildlife corridor, DCF
(South) Anand said.Whenever
any leopard goes towards Farid-
abad, it uses the same corridor
— a stretch of Gurgaon-Farid-
abad road and Pali road south of
the wildlife sanctuary — he said.
“The road cuts through the
leopard corridor.... We have to
find a solution. We will utilize
the expertise of DMRC which
will advise us on the matter of
building an underpass on the
Pali-Surajkund road, he added.
The two forest departments
are looking to build several wild-
life corridors in that region. It
is an interstate matter, so a plan
will be made and the agencies
concerned will be approached,
an official said.
Yadav said the idea is at
a nascent stage, but “we will
try to build three underpasses
because several such incidents
have taken place in the recent
past”. “The idea was mooted
earlier too, but could not be
implemented. This time, there
is a strong recommendation and
we have taken it up with senior
officials,” he said.  PTI
4 mp Nation millenniumpost
WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 | NEW DELHI

‘300 free electricity units in PM MODI HOLDS MEETING WITH SHAH, RAJNATH AND DOVAL

Punjab if AAP wins polls’ Govt to come out with policy to

OUR CORRESPONDENT
CHANDIGARH: AAP leader
and Delhi Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal promised
free electricity to every Pun-
jab household that consumes
up to 300 units of power if his
party forms government in
the state next year. The Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) leader did
not clarify whether 300 units
of free electricity will be given
per month as Punjab has a two-
month billing cycle.
In Delhi, the AAP govern-
ment provides 200 units of free
power per month.
Kejriwal, however, said if
any household gets an electric-
ity bill of 301 units, then the
consumer will have to pay for
the entire consumption.
Unveiling a slew of sops
ahead of the state Assembly
polls early next year, Kejriwal
told reporters here, "The AAP
government in Punjab will pro-
vide up to 300 units of free elec-
tricity to each family." He said if
voted to power, his party gov-
ernment will also waive arrears
of domestic consumers.
There are many people in
villages who got "wrong" bills
and their power connections
were cut because of the non-
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal
addresses a press conference in
Chandigarh, on Tuesday
payment and such people
resorted to stealing power.
"They are living in fear. We
will give them respectable lives.
Therefore, their old domestic
bills will be waived. Arrears and
pending bills will be waived,"
he said. In another announce-
ment, Kejriwal said if voted
to power, AAP will provide
24-hour power supply on the
lines of Delhi.
Dubbing pre-poll prom-
ises as "Kejriwal's guarantee",
he said despite a surplus power
production in the state, long
power cuts are imposed and
people do not get electricity
for farming. "It is a Kejriwal
guarantee and these are not
Captain's (Amarinder Singh)
promises," he said.
Kejriwal said power in Pun-
jab is the "costliest" in the coun-
try despite the state being an
electricity producer. "We do
not produce power in Delhi.
We buy it from other states and
despite that we have power in
the national capital almost at
the cheapest rates," he said.
Kejriwal alleged collusion
between the power companies
and those who are at the helm
in the government. "Because
of this collusion, the power is
costly in Punjab,"he alleged.
"We have to eliminate this
collusion. If this collusion is
eliminated and we set the
power companies right, then
power can be cheaper in Pun-
jab the same way it is in Delhi,"
he stated. The promises will be
implemented at the first stroke
of a pen, the Delhi CM said.
He, however, said it would
take three to four years for
implementing the promise of
giving 24-hour power sup-
ply while pointing out that it
took him more than two years
to ensure it in Delhi as he got
power transmission lines and
transformers changed.
tackle emerging security threats
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Expeditious
framing of a broad-based
policy to deal with emerging
security threats and futuristic
challenges facing the country
was a major focus of a meet-
ing Prime Minister Narendra
Modi held with Home Minis-
ter Amit Shah, Defence Minis-
ter Rajnath Singh and National
Security Advisor Ajit Doval on
Tuesday, people familiar with
the development said.
The meeting took place
two days after explosives-laden
drones were used to carry out
an attack on the Jammu Air
Force station in the first such
instance of suspected Paki-
stan-based terrorists deploy-
ing unmanned aerial vehicles
to strike at vital installations.
"The government is coming
out with a policy to collectively
deal with the emerging chal-
lenges. It was decided to expe-
dite the framing of the policy,"
one of the persons cited above
said after the meeting.
Security personnel stand guard outside IAF station in Jammu, which
was bombed on early hours of Sunday by Pakistan based terrorists by a
drone, on Tuesday
Various ministries and
departments are working on
the policy to effectively coun-
ter the new and emerging non-
traditional security challenges
facing the country.
The defence ministry and
the three services will play a
leading role in the formulation
of the policy as well as in its
implementation by coordinat-
ing with all the leading stake-
holders and security agencies.
It has also been learnt that
the three forces are being told
to adequately focus on bridging
the gaps in effectively dealing
with new-age challenges such
as drone attacks and go for the
procurement of the necessary
hardware to contain those.
The meeting also discussed
various other aspects, including
equipping the security forces
with modern equipment and
involving more youngsters,
start-ups and the strategic com-
munity in the field.
NIA takes over probe in
Jammu airport drone attack
NEW DELHI/JAMMU: The
National Investigation Agency
(NIA) on Tuesday took over
the charge of investigation
into the recent drone attack
on the Indian Force station
located at the Jammu airport,
an official said. The decision to
hand over the probe into the
first-of-its-kind terror attack
at the Indian Air Force station
in the early hours of Sunday
was taken by the Ministry of
Home Affairs. In pursuance of
the Home Ministry order, the
NIA said it has re-registered
the case of Police Station Sat-
wari dated June 27.
The case was registered at
the NIA Jammu under vari-
ous sections of the Explosive
Substances Act, the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act,
and sections 307 (attempt to
murder), 120B (criminal con-
spiracy) of the Indian Penal
Code, an agency spokesper-
son said.
Sections 3 and 4 of the
Explosive Substances Act
(causing explosion likely to
endanger life or property/
attempt to cause explosion, or
for making or keeping explo-
sives with intent to endan-
ger life or property) have also
been included. The spokes-
person said the case relates
to an explosion that occurred
inside the premises of the Air
Force Station, Satwari campus,
Jammu and a subsequent blast,
after about six minutes, car-
ried out by drones in a well-
planned conspiracy that led
to the injury to two Air Force
personnel and damaged the
office buildings.  MPOST

Niti Aayog moots 100% I-T exemption

for donations to not-for-profit hospitals
NEW DELHI: After some
years of its suggestion to
revamp district healthcare
centres on a public-private
partnership model, the gov-
ernment’s think tank Niti
Aayog has mooted 100 per
cent income tax exemption
for donations and provi-
sion of working capital loans
with lower interest rates for
not-for-profit hospitals to
strengthen healthcare services
in the country.
In a report titled ‘Not-
for-Profit Hospital Model in
India’, the Aayog also pitched
for involving high perform-
ing hospitals in public-private
partnership (PPP) models for
managing primary health care
(PHCs), operations of gov-
ernment facilities and PSU
hospitals.
“Income-tax exemption
could be increased from the
current 50 per cent exemption
to 100 per cent exemption
for philanthropy toward the
identified not-for-profit hos-
pitals. This could be a catalyst
in channelising the much-
needed funds to deserving
hospitals,” the report said.
According to the report,
the government can consider
the provision of working capi-
tal loans with lower interest
rates, which would be more
financially viable for not-for-
profit hospitals and would
assist in adequate cash flows
during times of need.
The report also pointed
out that most of the not-for-
profit hospitals reported long-
pending reimbursements for
the treatment of government
scheme beneficiaries, which
remain uncleared despite
persistent follow-ups. “The
timely release of these funds
can be a substantial boost to
their working capital for oper-
ations,” it said. Noting that
the not-for-profit hospitals
currently account for only a
miniscule share of hospitali-
sation cases, the report said
that public hospitals that offer
healthcare at negligible cost
are overstretched. The burden
of healthcare provision shifts
to private hospitals, which
generally offer healthcare at a
higher cost to the patient, as
they must sustain themselves,
it added.  MPOST

Jewar airport:
YEIDA allocates
Rs 540 crore
RAHUL SINGH

NOIDA: Aiming to boost the progress of

international airport at Jewar, the Yamuna
Expressway Industrial Development Author-
ity (YEIDA), has allocated funds worth Rs 540
crore for the airport project which will be spent
on land acquisition and other development
works. The decision was taken in authority’s
70th board meeting where a budget of Rs 4,123
crore was approved, which is by far the biggest
budget approved by the authority.
While addressing media, Arvind Kumar,
chairman of YEIDA, said that the Jewar airport
project has been taken up on priority while the
rehabilitation process is underway at villages
such as Nagla Phoolkan, Dayanatpur Khera,
Nagla Ganeshi, Kishorpur and Rohi.
“Out of the total 3, 000 families that have
to be relocated due to the airport project, 1855
families have already started the construction
work at land allotted to them for construction
of house. Around six hundred families in vil-
lage Rohi are facing some inconvenience but we
are in constant touch with them and providing
all possible support,” said Kumar.
As per a senior YEIDA officer, a total of
42 proposals were tabled before the author-
ity board. A multimodal connectivity plan has
also been sought by the board for which Rs 300
crore has been set aside.
“The meeting was also focused to discuss
development of two key projects - Film city and
Heritage city for which the board has directed
contractual firm to prepare Detailed Feasibil-
ity Report (DPR) for Heritage city and submit
within next 15 days while the DPR for film film
city has been approved and sent to government
for further consideration,” said Arun Vir Singh,
CEO, YEIDA.

Lightning claims 11
lives in Bihar
PATNA: Eleven people were killed while six
were injured in various parts of Bihar upon being
struck by lightning on Tuesday, the disaster man-
agement department said.
According to the department, West Champaran
and East Champaran districts accounted for three
deaths each followed by Patna (two) and Nalanda,
Madhepura and Aurangabad (one each). Besides,
four people were seriously injured in East Cham-
paran and another two in Patna districts.
According to the department, the state has
received 339 mm of rainfall since the onset of
monsoons, which is 139 per cent above normal.
This has led to floods in at least four districts of
north Bihar West Champaran, East Champaran,
Gopalganj and Saran where nearly 80,000 people
in 65 villages have been affected.  AGENCIES
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 Nation mp 5
‘PROCESS OF RELAXING CURBS SHOULD BE CAREFULLY CALIBRATED’ Rahul Gandhi slams govt’s
Focus on 5-fold strategy of Covid stimulus package
management: MHA to states
OUR CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI: Hitting out at

OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Centre
asked the states on Tuesday to
focus on the five-fold strategy
for effective COVID-19 man-
agement and said the process
of relaxing restrictions should
be carefully calibrated.
In an advisory to all the
state governments and Union
Territory administrations
on COVID-19 management
for the month of July, Union
Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla
also said the states should reg-
ularly monitor the districts
with a high number of active
coronavirus cases per million
(10 lakh) population as it is
an important indicator to pre-
dict the need for upgrading the
health infrastructure and logis-
tics, so that early and prompt
action can be taken.
He said with the decline in
the number of active corona-
virus cases, many states have
started relaxing the restrictions.
Bhalla said the process of
relaxing the restrictions should
be "carefully calibrated", and
prompt and targeted action
needs to be taken by the states,
adherence to Covid-appro-
priate behaviour is crucial to
guard against any surge in the
number of cases.
To reiterate, Covid-appro-
priate behaviour includes man-
datory use of face masks, hand
hygiene, following physical,
social distancing (maintaining
a two-yard distance with any-
body) and proper ventilation of
closed places, he added.
While easing the restric-
tions, it must be ensured that
there is no let up in adherence
to Covid-appropriate behav-
iour, the home secretary said.
"I would, therefore, urge
you to issue directions to the
districts and all other authori-
ties concerned to take neces-
sary measures as advised by
People crowd a market after further ease in COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, in Patna, Tuesday the health ministry in its letter
dated June 28 for the manage-
in line with the advisory issued occupancy, necessary action "There should be a con- ment of COVID-19.
by the Union health ministry. should be taken for contain- tinuous focus on the five-fold "I would also advise that the
"States, UTs should closely ment and upgrading the health strategy for an effective man- orders issued by the respective
monitor case positivity and bed infrastructure," the communi- agement of COVID-19 i.e. test- state governments, UT admin-
occupancy on a regular basis, cation said. track-treat-vaccination and istrations, district authorities
taking the districts as admin- The home secretary said for adherence to Covid-appropri- in this regard should be widely
istrative units. the districts with a high positiv- ate behaviour," he said. disseminated to the public and
"On witnessing any early ity rate and bed occupancy, the Bhalla said as has been the field functionaries for their
sign of an increase in the case states may consider imposing emphasised in previous home proper implementation," he
positivity rate and higher bed restrictions. ministry orders and advisories, added.
the government over the stim-
ulus measures announced by
Finance Minister Nirmala
Sitharaman to support the
pandemic-hit economy, Con-
gress leader Rahul Gandhi on
Tuesday said that no family can
spend the economic package
on its daily needs and that it
is nothing “but another sham”.
Notably, the Union Finance
Minister had on Monday
announced Rs 1.5 lakh crore
of additional credit for small
and medium businesses, more
funds for the healthcare sec-
tor, loans to tourism agencies
and guides, and waiver of visa
fee for foreign tourists as part
of the package to support the
economy.
Reacting to the govern-
ment’s stimulus package for the
economy, the former Congress
president said, “No family can
spend FM’s ‘economic pack-
age’ on their living-food-med-
icine-child’s school fees. It’s not
a package, but another sham”.
In an attack on the gov-
ernment, Gandhi accused the
Modi government at the Centre
of snatching away the future of
youngsters. Taking to Twitter,
the Congress leader said that
parents of educated youngsters
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi leaves from his residence, in New Delhi,
on Tuesday
in the country are forced to see
their children work as rickshaw
pullers, daily labourers or sell
pakoras on the streets.
The pakora remark is a jibe
at PM Modi who had once said
that a person earning Rs 200 by
selling pakoras is also employ-
ment. The PM’s remarks in
2018 had attracted much criti-
cism, especially from Congress.
Senior Congress leader P
Chidambaram also criticised
the government over the pack-
age and said that the answer to
this “crisis” is to spur demand
by putting money in the hands
of the people, especially the
poor and the lower middle
classes.
Suggesting the government
to overcome from the eco-
nomic slowdown, Nobel lau-
reate Abhijit Banerjee has said
that the government should not
be afraid of inflation.
“I know inflation is bad for
the politics, but from the eco-
nomic point of view, a small
jump in inflation is good for
the economy of a country
like India. The government
should focus on increasing the
demand by putting money in
the hands of the people. For
it, the government should
print more currency notes by
keeping aside inflation,” the
Indian-American economist
has stressed.

Govt okays 17th

From Page 1 Twitter stares at
be eligible to travel to the European Union Ltd., the police said.

tranche of electoral
member states under its ‘Green Pass’ scheme. Most significantly, the FIR copy, seen by
Millennium Post, does not name anyone in
IPS Balaji more FIRs as UP the suspect column, though senior officials

bonds; sale on July 1

have said the probe will look into content
India records 37,566 Srivastava to be Police goes to SC
posted by 10 Twitter accounts.
Notably, the microblogging platform

new cases, 907

has lost its legal shield as an intermediary in
next Delhi Police... for action against India, becoming liable for users posting any
unlawful content.
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Electoral bonds
more deaths India MD
WTH INPUTS FROM ABHAY SINGH NEW DELHI: Ahead of the
Assembly elections in five
have been pitched
as an alternative
Parl panel tells
As per the Delhi Police, Balaji Srivastava, states, the government on

“This new permission for restricted emer-

gency use potentially opens up a clear pos-
sibility of this vaccine being imported to
India in the near future,” NITI Aayog Mem-
ber (Health) Dr V K Paul said at a press
conference.
It became the fourth vaccine, he said.
“Our efforts to invite and to have other
internationally developed vaccines specifi-
cally Pfizer and J&J also continue. Those
processes are on. We are also looking at
increasing the production of availability of
vaccines that are being manufactured in our
country,” Paul added.
On whether a commercial deal has been
struck with Moderna or it is a donation and
goodwill gesture by the US, he said, “It is
IPS (AGMUT-1988) is presently posted as
Special Commissioner of Police, Vigilance,
Delhi Police. “He has previously worked as
DGP (Puducherry), DGP (Mizoram), Spe-
cial C.P. Intelligence, Economic Offence
Wing and Special Cell, Delhi. He also worked
as Additional DG (Andaman and Nicobar
Island),” the police said.
Srivastava has served in the Cabinet Sec-
retariat for nine years and handled sensitive
assignments. He studied Economics (Hons.)
from St. Stephens College, DU followed by
an M.A. (Economics) from the Delhi School
of Economics and an LL.B. from Delhi
University.
SC terms Centre’s
The Karnataka high court on Tuesday
adjourned the matter till July 5 after the
Uttar Pradesh police urged it to defer the
hearing.
The first FIR over the distorted map was
lodged at the Khurja Nagar police station
in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh on
Monday evening against Maheshwari and
News Partnerships Head Amrita Tripathi
under Indian Penal Code section 505 (2)
based on a complaint by an office-bearer of
right-wing outfit Bajrang Dal.
Section 505 (2) relates to “statements cre-
ating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will
between classes”. Charges under Information
Technology Act section 74 (publication for
Tuesday approved the issuance
of the 17th tranche of electoral
to cash donations
Facebook, Google bonds, which will be open for
sale from July 1 to 10.
made to political
parties as part of
must follow new IT
Electoral bonds have
been pitched as an alterna- efforts to bring
tive to cash donations made transparency in
rules to political parties as part of
efforts to bring transparency political funding
in political funding. However,
opposition parties have been Mumbai and Lucknow.
“We always welcome opportunities to raising concerns about the The sale of the first batch
engage in dialogue with the policy makers alleged opaqueness in fund- of electoral bonds took place
and share details of our efforts in combat- ing through such bonds. from March 1-10, 2018. The
ing illegal content and ensuring the safety of "State Bank of India (SBI), 16th tranche of bond sale took
users across our platforms,” a Google spokes- in the XVII phase of sale, has place from April 1-10, 2021.
person said.
The spokesperson further stated: “We
been authorised to issue and
encash electoral bonds through
According to the provisions
of the scheme, electoral bonds

important for us to say that a regulatory step
has been taken in the matter and it opens
pathways for import in technically any of
the modalities you are referring to. Let us
see how these opportunities will be used for
apathy in creating
fraudulent purpose) have also been invoked
in the case, according to the FIR.
Twitter had on Monday removed the
national database wrong map that showed the Union Territo-
ries of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir out-
have consistently invested in significant prod- its 29 authorised branches with can be purchased by a person
uct changes, resources and personnel, and effect from July 1 to July 10, who is a citizen of India or
have made significant progress in balanc- 2021," the finance ministry entities incorporated or estab-
ing the openness of our platforms with the
responsibility of keeping the community
said in a statement.
The 29 specified SBI
lished in the country. Regis-
tered political parties that have

importing vaccines into our country.”
He clarified that there will be no need for
bridging study and said this modification in
the regulations happened several weeks ago.
First 100 people who will be administered the
doses will be watched, he said.
On temperature of storage of Moderna,
Paul said, “Up to seven months storage is -25
to -15 degrees so medium term storage is -20
degrees. An unopened vial can be kept in 2 to
8 degrees in a normal cold chain for 30 days.
So seven months storage - long term is -20
degrees and normal cold chain conditions for
a period of 30 days. It has two doses which
are given 28 days apart.”
“Moderna is coming as a ready to inject
form there is no manufacturing base as of
now in India. We also hope Moderna will
produce this vaccine on Indian soil going for-
ward,” he said.
On the issue of indemnity, Paul said, “It
is being addressed and being taken up for
examination. It is under consideration.”
Earlier on Tuesday, an EU official said that
individual member states of the European
Union will have the option to accept vaccines
authorised by the World Health Organisa-
tion (WHO) like Covishield for obtain-
ing the bloc’s digital COVID certificate or
‘Green Pass’. The official said the European
Medicines Agency (EMA) has not received
an authorisation request till Monday for the
Covishield vaccine manufactured by Pune-
based Serum Institute of India (SII). There
have been apprehensions in India that peo-
ple who took Covishield jabs are unlikely to
‘unpardonable’
Our country is no exception. Lately, all
Governments have been taking steps and tak-
ing measures to ensure that no human being
should be affected by hunger and no one
dies out of hunger. The basic concept of food
security globally is to ensure that all people,
at all times, should get access to the basic
food for their active and healthy life.
The Constitution of India does not have
any explicit provision regarding right to food.
The fundamental right to life enshrined in
Article 21 of the Constitution may be inter-
preted to include right to live with human
dignity, which may include the right to food
and other basic necessities, it said.
The verdict directed states, UTs and the
Licence Holders or contractors to cooperate
with the Centre to complete the process of
registration of migrant workers and unorga-
nized labourers for welfare schemes.
The Central Government may under-
take exercise under Section 9 of the National
Food Security Act, 2013 to re-determine the
total number of persons to be covered under
the Rural and Urban areas of the State, it
directed.
It also directed states and UTs to register
all establishments and license all contrac-
tors under the law and ensure that statutory
duty imposed on the contractors to give par-
ticulars of migrant workers is fully complied
with.
side India, following an uproar.
And on Tuesday, Madhya Pradesh police
said that a First Information Report (FIR)
was registered against Maheshwari under
section 505(2) of the Indian Penal Code
over the distorted map, on a complaint from
state BJP spokesperson Durgesh Keswani.
MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra had
instructed the legal action against Twitter.
And yet in another case now, the police
in Delhi have registered a case under various
sections of the POCSO Act, IPC and the IT
Act, on a complaint from the National Com-
mission for the Protection of Child Rights,
whose chief has claimed in the complaint
that the platform in hosting and exposing
children to pornography.
This comes days after the NCPCR, the
country’s apex child rights body, asked Dep-
uty Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell)
Anyesh Roy to explain why no action had
been taken against Twitter even after a case
in this regard had been registered.
“Acting on a complaint received from
the National Commission for Protection of
Child Rights regarding the availability of
child sexual abuse and child pornographic
material on Twitter in the form of various
accounts and links, an FIR under relevant
sections of IPC, IT Act and POCSO Act has
been registered by the Cyber Crime Unit,
and investigation has been taken up,” Delhi
Police Public Relations Officer Chinmoy
Biswal said.
The complaint was against Twitter Inc
and Twitter Communication India Private
safe in compliance with the local laws in the branches are in cities such as secured not less than one per
country.” Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, cent of the votes polled in the
Comments from Facebook were not Thiruvananthapuram, Patna, last election of the Lok Sabha
immediately available. New Delhi, Chandigarh, or a legislative Assembly are
Tharoor also expressed displeasure over Shimla, Srinagar, Dehradun, eligible to receive electoral
some members of panel being quoted in the Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur, bonds.
media to report about the proceedings, with
sources saying the MPs present in the meet-
ing agreed the confidentiality clause should
be adhered to.
Sources also said that the panel has asked
Twitter to explain within 48 hours why it had
blocked access of Union minister Ravi Shan-
kar Prasad and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor
to their accounts.
SC issues notice
after Gauri
Lankesh murder
accused files for...
Lawyers also argued special investigation
team had clearly indicated the accused were
involved in an “organised crime syndicate”,
which attracted KCOCA charges.
A Bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar,
Dinesh Maheshwari and Aniruddha Bose
posted the case for further hearing on 15 July.
The High Court is to pass orders on Nayak’s
bail plea o Wednesday.  AGENCIES

UP: 22 district panchayat chiefs

elected unopposed
LUCKNOW: Chairpersons of
22 zila panchayats out of a total
of 75 in Uttar Pradesh were on
Tuesday declared elected unop-
posed by the state poll panel
with the BJP claiming victory in
21 seats. The Samajwadi Party
said the remaining one seat in
the Etawah district was bagged
by its candidate. The voting for
the remaining 53 seats of dis-
trict panchayat chairpersons
will be held on July 3 from 11
am to 3 pm. The counting of
votes will start the same day
after the polling ends. UP State
Election Commissioner Manoj
Kumar, in a statement on Tues-
day, said chairpersons of zila
panchayats of 22 districts have
been elected unopposed. The
poll panel did not announce the
party affiliation of winning can-
didates but the BJP later claimed
victory over 21 seats and the
SP over one seat of the Etawah
district. The panchayat polls
or those for district panchayat
chiefs are not held on party basis
but candidates enjoy the tacit
support of various parties.
The districts where whose
zila panchayat chairpersons
won unopposed are Saharan-
pur, Bahraich, Etawah, Chi-
trakoot, Agra, Gautam Buddh
Nagar, Meerut, Ghaziabad,
Bulandshahr, Amroha, Mora-
dabad, Lalitpur, Jhansi, Banda,
Shravasti, Balrampur, Gonda,
Gorakhpur, Mau, Varanasi,
Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur. AGENCIES
6 mp
Monsoon reaches one of its last
outposts in Raj 2 weeks early
Yet to arrive in the north Indian plains, says MeT
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The southwest
monsoon has reached Barmer
in west Rajasthan, one of its
last outposts, two weeks before
its normal schedule but is yet
to arrive in the north Indian
plains including Delhi which
have been reeling under sear-
ing heat, the Met office said on
Tuesday.
The northern limit of south-
west monsoon (NLM) contin-
ues to pass through Barmer,
Bhilwara, Dholpur, Aligarh,
Meerut, Ambala and Amrit-
sar, the India Meteorological
Department (IMD) said.
After arriving two days late
in Kerala, the monsoon had
raced across the country, cover-
ing eastern, central and adjoin-
ing northwest India seven to 10
days earlier than normal.
It has even covered parts
of north India, including Raj-
asthan’s Barmer -- a border
district and mainly desert
area -- but parts of west Uttar
Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana
Why Centre’s approval needed for door-to- President Kovind lays
MONEY LAUNDERING CASE
Deshmukh fails to door vaccination? HC asks Maharashtra govt foundation stone for
appear before ED ‘Don't spare big fish in
Requests for virtual interaction
MUMBAI: Former Maha-
rashtra home minister Anil
Deshmukh did not appear
before the ED in connection
with a money laundering case
on Tuesday, citing COVID-19
and his old age, and requested
for a virtual interaction on a
day suitable for the central
agency.
The Enforcement Director-
ate (ED) had asked the 71-year-
old NCP leader to appear
before it at 11 am on Tuesday,
after he did not depose before
the investigating officer here
on Saturday.
Deshmukh had on Saturday
sought a fresh date for appear-
ance in the money laundering
case related to an alleged multi-
crore bribery-cum-extortion
racket that led to his resigna-
tion from the post of home
minister in April this year.
On Tuesday, Deshmukh
submitted a letter to the agency
through his lawyer Inderpal
Singh as authorised represen-
tative, in compliance with the
summons.
In the letter, Deshmukh
requested for a copy of the
ECIR (Enforcement Case
Information Report) and other
documents from the ED.
"I am a law abiding citizen.
I am sanguine to expose the
falsity, hollowness and lack of
substance in the allegations lev-
elled against me," he said in the
SC junks plea against order rejecting Huge air pollution Nation Briefs
PIL to halt Central Vista work
This project will also have new office buildings and a
Central Secretariat to accommodate various ministries
NEW DELHI: The Supreme
Court on Tuesday dismissed
a plea challenging the Delhi
High Court order which had
rejected a PIL seeking to halt
Central Vista construction
work in view of the COVID
pandemic.
A bench of Justices A M
Khanwilkar, Dinesh Mahesh-
wari and Aniruddha Bose said
it is not inclined to interfere
with the high court order as the
PIL petitioners had selectively
chosen Central Vista proj-
ect and did not even do basic
research about other public
projects which were allowed
during the lockdown in the
national capital.
It said the high court find-
ings on the PIL that it was
"motivated" and filed with "ill-
intent" and "lack of bona fides"
is a possible view. The top court
also refused to interfere with
the Rs 1 lakh cost imposed
on the petitioners. The main
Central Vista project envis-
ages building a new Parlia-
Nation
are yet to receive rainfall.
According to Kuldeep Sriv-
astava, the head of the IMD’s
regional forecasting centre,
Barmer is among the few sta-
tions in west Rajasthan which
are usually covered by the
southwest monsoon in the last.
Southwest monsoon reaches
west Rajasthan by the first week
of July.
However, it covered Barmer
two weeks before its normal
schedule, IMD’s Director
General Mrutunjay Mohapa-
tra said.
“A system in the Arabian
Sea provided impetus to the
monsoon which covered some
parts of Rajasthan including
Barmer in early June,” Mohapa-
tra said.
In case of Delhi, Haryana,
parts of Punjab, west Uttar
Pradesh and west Rajasthan,
the easterlies bring monsoon
over this area from the Bay of
Bengal, he said.
“But there has been no
active system currently in the
Bay of Bengal that could help
Ambedkar memorial
Legal representative of former
home minister Anil Deshmukh,
arrives at the ED office after
ED issued a second summon to
Deshmukh to question him in
Mumbai on Tuesday  PIC/PTI
letter.
Deshmukh also cited
COVID-19 times and the
fear of exposure (to the
infection) due to his age
and co-morbidities and sent
his lawyer as the authorised
representative.
"I am a septuagenarian,
about 72 year of age, and suf-
fering from various co-morbid-
ities, including hypertension
and cardiac problems," he men-
tioned in the letter.
Deshmukh also said he
already had a long interaction
with the probe agency officials
on June 25, spanning over sev-
eral hours, during the course
of search and recording of his
statement. AGENCIES
caused by sugar MAHA: MP MAN HELD FOR
KIDNAPPING 14-YEAR-OLD GIRL
Main Central Vista project envisages building a new Parliament House
ment House, a new residential
complex to house offices and
the prime minister and the vice
president.
It will also have new office
buildings and a Central Secre-
tariat to accommodate various
ministries. During the hearing,
the bench said, if this was your
conduct, then Rs 1 lakh cost
was less , adding that when an
Commuters on a road during heavy monsoon rain in Jabalpur 
the easterlies to bring monsoon
over this region,” Mohapatra
added.
The meteorological office
had earlier predicted that the
MUMBAI: The Bombay High
Court on Tuesday asked the
Maharashtra government why
it needs an approval from the
Centre to start door-to-door
vaccination programme for
senior citizens, specially-abled
and bedridden persons in the
state.
The state government on
Tuesday filed an affidavit in the
HC, saying home vaccination
on an experimental basis can
be started, but only for those
who are completely immobile
Baghel writes to PM, seeks 1 crore PM to chair
vaccine doses for Chh’garh in July council of
OUR CORRESPONDENT
RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief
Minister Bhupesh Baghel has
requested Prime Minister Nar-
endra Modi to provide at least
one crore doses of vaccines
against COVID-19 to the state
next month, an official said
here on Tuesday.
In a letter to the PM, Baghel
informed him that 9,98,810
vaccine doses were left in the
state, which will be sufficient
only for three days, the offi-
cial from the public relations
department said.
"Despite repeated demand,
sufficient stock of vaccines is
not being provided to the state,"
the chief minister said in the
letter.
Baghel said Chhattisgarh
affidavit was filed before the
high court that the project was
fully compliant with COVID
protocols, then why did you
pursue the case.
Senior advocate Siddharth
Luthra, appearing for petition-
ers -- Anya Malhotra, a trans-
lator, and Sohail Hashmi, a
historian and documentary
film maker -- said that when
PIC/PTI
wind system may reach Delhi
by June 15, which would have
been 12 days early.
However, westerly winds
have been blocking its advance
fake vaccination cases’
and bedridden.
It, however, also said the
proposal will have to be first
approved by the Union gov-
ernment. "Why do you (Maha-
rashtra government) need
approval? Health is a state sub-
ject too. Is the state government
doing everything after taking
approval from the Centre?
ministers
CM Bhupesh Baghel
has set a target of administer-
ing first dose of the vaccine
to all eligible beneficiaries in
a month, and requested the
prime minister to immedi-
ately direct the Union Health
Ministry to provide one crore
doses to the state in July, the
official said.
the petition was filed they were
non-compliant and later they
have complied with the condi-
tions. They were non-compli-
ant from April 19 to April 30
, he said.
The bench said that being
public spirited persons had
they done research on how
many projects were given per-
mission to continue the con-
struction activity and how they
selected this Central project.
As a PIL petitioner, have
you done any honest research
as to how many other public
projects were allowed and how
did you pick up this project
and say that it will be a super
spreader of virus, the bench
said.
Luthra said the petitioners
were specific that they wanted
order only with respect to
stalling the construction activ-
ity which was not in com-
pliance with the COVID
protocol directions issued by
Delhi Disaster Management
Authority (DDMA). AGENCIES
into Delhi, parts of Uttar
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab
and Haryana.
Normally, monsoon
reaches Delhi by June 27 and
covers the entire country by
July 8. Last year, the wind sys-
tem had reached Delhi on June
25 and covered the entire coun-
try by June 29.
However, this year, the
wait for Delhi, Haryana, parts
of west Uttar Pradesh, Punjab
and west Rajasthan has been
overdue even as the mercury
and humidity have continued
to soar, the IMD said, adding
immediate relief was unlikely.
“Prevailing meteorological
conditions, large scale atmo-
spheric features and the fore-
cast wind pattern by dynamical
models suggest that no favour-
able conditions are likely to
develop for further advance
of southwest monsoon into
remaining parts of Rajasthan,
west Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,
Chandigarh and Delhi and
Punjab during the next six to
seven days,” the IMD said.
Have states like Kerala, Bihar
and Jharkhand taken approval
from the Union government? a
division bench of Chief Justice
DipankarDatta and Justice G S
Kulkarni asked.
Meanwhile, the Bombay
HC on Tuesday said the Mum-
bai police, probing instances of
fake vaccination camps against
COVID-19 in the city, must
identify the “big fish” in such
cases and should not spare
them. A bench of Chief Jus-
tice Dipankar Datta and Jus-
The chief minister further
said the inoculation drive is
being carried out at a fast pace
in the state where over three
lakh people are currently being
vaccinated every day.
So far, 71 per cent of front-
line personnel and 70 per cent
of health workers have received
both doses of the vaccine, while
100 per cent of the frontline
staff and 91 per cent health
workers have received the first
dose, he said.
Besides, nearly 80 per
cent of the citizens aged 45
and above have been given
the first dose, while 16 per
cent of beneficiaries in the
18-44 age category have
received the first dose, since the
vaccination drive commenced
for them.
mills across UP: NGT
NEW DELHI: Noting that
huge air pollution is caused
by sugar mills at various loca-
tions in Uttar Pradesh result-
ing in unchecked degradation
of environment, the National
Green Tribunal has directed
the UP pollution control board
(UPPCB) to undertake special
drive for remedial measures.
A bench headed by NGT
Chairperson Justice Adarsh
Kumar Goel asked the UPPCB
to give an action taken report
to the Oversight Committee
constituted by NGT which is
headed by Justice SVS Rathore,
former Judge of the Allahabad
High Court.
The tribunal was hearing a
plea filed by UP resident Saroj
Kumar Mishra alleging viola-
tion of environmental norms
by a sugar mill at Banda Road,
Powayan in Shahjahanpur.
The plea stated that ash gen-
erated from the mill and the
polluted air are resulting in dis-
eases in the area.
"The pollution is also affect-
ing the students of Didar Singh
Rana School, Takiya Road,
Powayan, Shahjahanpur. The
LeT commander, Pak terrorist
killed in encounter in Srinagar
OUR CORRESONDENT
SRINAGAR: A top Lashkar-
e-Taiba (LeT) commander
Nadeem Abrar and a Paki-
stani terrorist were killed in an
encounter in Parimpora area of
the city, police said on Tuesday.
The two were gunned down
by a police party in the early
hours of Tuesday, they said.
Giving details of the inci-
dent, a police spokesman said
Abrar -- a top commander of
LeT involved in many killings
-- was arrested during check-
ing of vehicles at Parimpora on
Monday and put on sustained
interrogation.
There was a specific input
about terrorists carrying an
attack on highways. Keeping
in view the seriousness of the
input, a few joint checkposts of
the Jammu and Kashmir Police
and the CRPF were placed
along the highway, he said.
“On Parimpora naka
(checkpost), a vehicle was
stopped and the occupants
were asked to show their iden-
tity cards. The person sitting at
the back seat tried to open his
bag and took out a grenade.
The police party swiftly swung
into action and grabbed him.
“Both the driver and the
person sitting at the back seat
were taken into police custody.
tice G S Kulkarni also directed
the Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC) to inform
the court about steps that the
civic body proposed to take
to check those duped by such
camps for antibodies and any
adverse effects on their health
because of the fake vaccine.
The court was hearing a
bunch of public interest liti-
gations (PILs) on increasing
the accessibility of citizens to
the vaccination drives against
COVID-19. AGENCIES
meet today
NEW DELHI: Prime Minis-
ter Narendra Modi will chair
a meeting of the Union coun-
cil of ministers on Wednesday,
which is likely to discuss the
Covid situation and may also
review functioning of few min-
istries, sources said on Tuesday.
The meeting will be held
virtually on Wednesday eve-
ning, the sources said.
The work done by the Road
and Transport Ministry and
Civil Aviation and Telecom
ministries may be reviewed in
the meeting, the sources said.
A wider discussion on the
COVID-19 situation is also
likely during the meeting, they
said. AGENCIES
mill is required to install req-
uisite equipments including
filters to stop pollution," the
plea said.
Taking note of a report
filed by UPPCB on the plea,
the NGT said, "The State PCB
may ensure that requisite air
control device is installed in
the interest of health of the stu-
dents in the adjoining school.
"It is a matter of common
knowledge that huge air pollu-
tion is caused by such units at
various locations in the State
of UP resulting in unchecked
air pollution beyond the pre-
scribed norms in violation of
the Air (Prevention and Con-
trol of Pollution) Act, 1981.
"There is thus need for a
special drive by the State PCB
to check the status of air pol-
lution being caused by such
units throughout the State and
take remedial measures," the
bench said.
The NGT said that if the
Oversight Committee consid-
ers that any further direction
is required, the Committee may
give its recommendations to
this Tribunal. MPOST
millenniumpost
WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 | NEW DELHI
Two terrorists killed during an
encounter with security forces
in Maloora area of Srinagar
There was a specific
input about terrorists
carrying an attack on
Srinagar-
Leh Highway
highways. Keeping in
view the seriousness
Anchar
Mujgund Lake
Hazratbal
Shrine
of the input, a few
joint checkposts of the
Dal
Srinagar Lake Jammu and Kashmir
Parimpora Police and the CRPF
Rainawari
Srinagar-
Baramulla
were placed along
Highway Lal Chowk the highway
Jammu &
his house after cordoning it
Kashmir off when the Pakistani terror-
Area ist hiding inside the premises
Pampore
enlarged opened fire at the team.
In the initial round of fire,
INDIA KBK three CRPF personnel were
injured and Abrar accompa-
After taking off his mask, it was nying the search party also got
identified that he was Abrar, wounded, the spokesman said.
a top LeT commander,” the The force was strengthened
spokesman said. and they retaliated with heavy
He said a pistol and some firing, he said.
hand grenades were recovered “In the ensuing gunfire, the
from Abrar’s possession. foreign terrorist who fired from
The LeT commander con- inside the house was neutral-
fessed that he had kept his ised and Abrar was also killed.
AK-47 rifle in Maloora local- Two AK-47 rifles along with
ity, the spokesman said. ammunition were recovered
Abrar was then taken to the from the site,” he added.
house so that the weapon (AK The spokesman said Abrar
47 rifle) could be recovered. was involved in killings of sev-
The police party was entering eral security force personnel.
Mayawati accuses UP govt of ‘deceit’
OUR CORRESPONDENT
LUCKNOW: President Ram
Nath Kovind On Tuesday said
Babasaheb Ambedkar wanted
that women’s right to equal-
ity should be given a clear
legal basis and the country’s
system is now progressing on
that path.
He made the observa-
tion while laying the founda-
tion stone of a memorial to President Ram Nath Kovind
the Dalit icon, being built by addresses during foundation
the UP government, a move stone laying of Dr BR Ambedkar
termed as an act of deception Memorial and Cultural Centre in
ahead of the Assembly polls by Lucknow on Tuesday  PIC/PTI
BSP Supremo Mayawati.
Meanwhile, Prime Minis- progressing on the path sug-
ter Narendra Modi in a tweet gested by him on many issues
hailed the UP government’s like property rights for women.
decision of constructing a This showed that Babasaheb’s
memorial to Ambedkar, say- visionary thinking was far
ing it will popularise the ide- ahead of his times,” Kovid said
als of respected Dr Babasaheb during the programme at Lok
Ambedkar among the youth. Bhawan here. The president
Laying the stone for Bharat further said the real success
Ratna Dr Ambedkar Memorial lies in building society and the
and Cultural Centre, Kovind nation according to values and
said, “Women have been given ideals of Dr B R Ambedkar.
the same fundamental right to For the Dalit icon, it was
equality as men in the Consti- the country that mattered, not
tution. Dr Ambedkar wanted religion, caste or sect, Kovid
that the fundamental right to stressed, adding that 93 years
equality should be given a clear ago on this day, Dr Ambedkar
legal base through a separate started “Samta” magazine to
bill on issues related to inheri- propagate his idea of an egali-
tance of property, marriage and tarian society. “Without equal-
other aspects of life.” ity, all-round development of
“Today, our legal system is society is not possible,” he said.
THANE: The railway police in Maharashtra’s Kalyan
have arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly
kidnapping a 14-year-old girl from Madhya Pradesh,
an official said on Tuesday. The accused Arvind
Kailas Singh, a native of Patharia in Damoh district
of Madhya Pradesh, had allegedly kidnapped the
minor from a village, senior inspector Valmiki Shardul
said. Railway police personnel had found the girl on a
platform at Kalyan railway station on June 27, and on
questioning, it was found that the victim’s parents had
spotted her and the accused in Pune and were taking
them back to Madhya Pradesh, when the accused
escaped with her. While Singh has been booked for
kidnapping and handed over to the Madhya Pradesh
police, the minor has been returned to her parents, the
official added.
MAHA: HRY MAN HELD FOR ROBBING
PASSENGERS ON EXPRESS TRAINS
THANE: The Railway police in Maharashtra’s Thane
district have arrested a man from Haryana for alleg-
edly stealing valuables from passengers on express
trains, an official said on Tuesday. The police have
recovered stolen valuables worth Rs 9.79 lakh from
Jagdish (42), a native of Hisar, Haryana, senior
inspector Patil of Railway police’s crime branch said.
As per the police, the accused had offered to help
a lady passenger travelling by Tirunelveli Express to
Mumbai and between Badlapur and Vittalwadi sta-
tions flicked jewellery from her bag, a year ago.
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 Editorial mp 7
EDITORIAL Insurmountable odds
Right solutions? Pakistan’s desperate attempts to hoodwink FATF have persistently

T failed but its leadership hardly seems to take any lessons

he announcements made by Nirmala Sithara-
man on Monday seem timely as they will pro-

A
vide some degree of relief to the sectors that are
worst hit by the pandemic. At the same time, braham Lincoln had
the announcements are not likely to have any positive once said, “You can
bearing on the cyclical fiscal strain the economy is going fool some of the peo-
through. The reason, as it is evident, is that there has been ple all of the time,
hardly any direct fiscal support announcement. The key PRABHU DAYAL and all of the people some of
highlights of the announcement mostly comprise credit the time, but you cannot fool
guarantee measures, effectively meaning that the govern- all of the people all of the time.”
ment will stand as a guarantor to the loans given by finan- This is a simple lesson that
cial institutions to the specific sectors that have suffered Pakistan refuses to learn while
the most from the pandemic. The size of the Emergency relentlessly trying to hoodwink
Credit Guarantee Scheme is to be increased from Rs three the international community.
lakh crore to Rs 4.5 lakh crore. This could indeed prove Therefore, one is heartened
out to be an effective measure as the ECLGS scheme has so by the fact that following its
far been quite effective — benefitting more than one crore recent meeting on June 20-25,
units through credit disbursements amounting to more the Financial Action Task Force
than two lakh crore rupees. Also, there is a Rs 1.1 lakh (FATF) sent across a stern mes-
crore credit guarantee scheme for Covid-hit sectors. While sage that it had not been fooled
these guarantees seem promising in helping out the needy by Pakistan’s jiggery-pokery.
and boosting infrastructure indirectly, much will depend The FATF is an intergovern-
on how much the banks are willing to lend. The prece- mental organisation founded in
dents are not so good in this respect. The issue is further 1989 at the initiative of the G7
compounded by the low-interest rate of 8.9 per cent. The Adding further to develop policies to combat
loan guarantee, along with the low interest rate, will boost money laundering and, in 2001,
the demand for loans in an unusual manner. This might to its woes, its mandate was expanded to
also serve as an inertial factor for the banks against lend- the FATF has include terror financing.
ing. The number of measures announced by the finance The FATF maintains two
minister are impressive but it remains to be seen how given Pakistan different lists which are infor-
much of the intended sum trickles down to the required a new six-point mally called the ‘black list’
areas. Apart from the MSMEs and small businesses, there and the ‘grey list’. The blacklist
is no doubt that the tourism sector was also badly affected action plan that comprises “countries or juris-
by the pandemic. One of the announced measures seeks to primarily focuses dictions with such serious stra-
provide free visas to the first five lakh foreign visitors after tegic deficiencies against which
the opening of the borders. Much of the fate of the tourism
on combating the FATF calls on its members
industry will depend on the state of the pandemic world- money and non-members to apply
wide and within India. The announced measure may, laundering counter-measures”. The grey
however, provide secondary support in the process and list includes those countries
serve as an incentive for those willing to explore beyond for which “FATF calls on its
the boundaries of their nations. The government has also members to apply enhanced
announced loan guarantees to the sector within ECGS. due diligence measures pro-
The emphasis mostly seems on providing monetary stimu- portionate to the risks arising
lus by persuading banks to take a risk and lend the money from the deficiencies associated
to the above-mentioned sectors, and the government is with the country”. Pakistan was
willing to offset the possible losses incurred, on account of added to the grey list in Octo-
non-repayment, by the financial institutions in future. The ber 2012 but managed to come
effective support from the government will come in only out of it in February 2015. It
over the coming years. This might not be useful in rais- was added to the grey list for
ing the confidence level of consumers, which is essential the second time in June 2018.
for leading towards increased investment and consump- FATF works with the Inter-
tion. Beyond credit guarantee, there have also been some national Monetary Fund (IMF)
other impressive measures from the finance minister. The and the World Bank which take
additional earmarking of Rs 23,220 crore for FY 22 over into account its findings and
Rs 15,000 crore allocated under the budget for short-term recommendations. For exam-
emergency preparedness with an emphasis on pediatric ple, the IMF puts conditions
care is quite an obvious measure. The two other provisions for bail-out packages based on
that need to be mentioned here include — the extension the fulfilment of FATF-related
of Atmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana till March 31 next compliances. Thus, the nam-
year and the extension of the performance-linked incen- ing and shaming by the FATF
tive scheme for electronic manufacturing by a year. As we has costs, which Pakistan has
build back post-pandemic, consumer confidence will play found out. Pakistan’s economy
a crucial role. This will come only through a certain level is already in shambles, and the
of financial leverage provided by the government. It will
enhance both the tangible capacity and spirit of the con-
FATF insists that Pakistan should break its ties with all terrorist organisations
FATF grey-listing adds to its
woes. Therefore, Pakistan is
desperately trying to wriggle
its way out of the ‘grey list’.
When Pakistan was put on
the ‘grey list’ in 2018, a 27-point
‘Combating the Financing of
Terorism’ (CFT) action plan
was given to it that aimed at
putting meaningful curbs on
terror financing. Since then,
Pakistan has been attempting
to convince the FATF that it is
complying with the action plan
in order to exit the grey list. At
its plenary meeting between
October 21-23, 2021, the FATF
had voted to continue keep-
ing Pakistan on the ‘grey list’
for its failure to substantially
deliver on six of the 27 action
points. Then, at its next meet-
ing on 22-25 February 2021,
the FATF noted that Pakistan
had largely addressed 24 out
of the 27 action points. Now,
at the recent meeting between
June 20-25, the FATF has stated
that “Pakistan has completed
26 of the 27 action items listed
in its 2018 action plan.”
No doubt, Pakistan thinks
that its efforts are yielding
some success. Pakistan’s For-
eign Minister Shah Mahmood
Qureshi said there was “no
room” to keep the country on
the FATF’s ‘grey list’ since it
has implemented 26 out of the
27 points of the action handed
out by the global body against
money laundering and terror
financing.
However, the FATF has
not let Pakistan off the hook
because it wants the country “to
address as soon as possible the
remaining CFT item by dem-
onstrating that terror financing
investigations and prosecutions
target senior leaders and com-
manders of UN-designated ter-
rorist groups.” There are eight
UN-designated terror groups
that were named by FATF in
the past – the Afghan Taliban,
Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-
Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Moham-
med (JeM), Jamaat-ud-Dawah
(JuD), Falah-e-Insaniyat Foun-
dation, al Qaeda and Islamic
State. Pakistan has failed to
convince the FATF that it is
serious about taking action
against these terror groups.
Moreover, the FATF has given
Pakistan a new six-point action
plan that primarily focuses on
combating money laundering.
Thus, Pakistan will con-
tinue to find itself between a
rock and a hard place. On the
one hand, the FATF is unre-
lenting in its insistence that
Pakistan should come clean,
completely break its ties with
all terrorist organisations and
put meaningful curbs on them.
On the other hand, the Imran
Khan government is unable to
break these ties because Paki-
stan’s deep state is hand in glove
with terrorism and uses it as an
instrument of state policy.
It’s a well-known fact that
Pakistan is the nerve centre of
terrorism. Jamat-ud-Dawah,
Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-
Mohammed and Hizbul Muja-
hideen carry out their terrorist
operations against India from
Pakistan’s territory. Moreover,
many terrorist organisations
like the Taliban, Haqqani net-
work, al Qaeda and Islamic
State carry out attacks in
Afghanistan and have safe
sanctuaries inside Pakistani ter-
ritory. Pakistan has been claim-
ing that these organisations are
based in Afghanistan, have suf-
ficient funds of their own and
that Pakistan is not financing
or helping them. However, the
US is aware that the ISI, the
Pakistan army’s intelligence
wing, is financing and helping
the leaders of these organisa-
tions. It may be recalled that
Pakistan had hired a top US
lobbyist firm to push its case
with the Trump administra-
tion and to also get bailed out
of the grey list.
In pursuit of its game-
plan to hoodwink the FATF,
Pakistan had also hurriedly
pushed through three legisla-
tions — the Anti-Terrorism
(Amendment) Bill, 2020, the
Anti-Money Laundering (Sec-
ond Amendment) Bill and the
Islamabad Capital Territory
(ICT) Waqf Properties Bill —
by calling a special session of
the Parliament in September.
However, it was apparent that
these were merely in the nature
of window-dressing, for there
was no let-up in the terror-
ist attacks being abetted from
Pakistani soil against India or
Afghanistan. Clearly, the FATF
is not so gullible to be taken in
by Pakistan’s stratagems.
India bears the brunt of
Pakistan’s use of terrorism and
sees the FATF as an important
body that can put pressure on
it to dismantle the infrastruc-
ture that supports cross-border
attacks. India has also furnished
evidence to show how Pakistan
continues to be a safe haven for
UN-designated terrorists such
as Dawood Ibrahim, Masood
Azhar, Hafiz Saeed and Zakir
ur Rahman Lakhvi. The FATF’s
decision to keep Pakistan on
the grey list has been a vindi-
cation of India’s stand.
Views expressed are personal

Need for strategic thinking

sumers. Certainly, the government is faced with signifi-
cant revenue shortfalls on account of the pandemic and
the resultant lockdowns. Perhaps it is time to explore some
alternative revenue sources. Maybe tweaking the tax struc-
ture could help a bit. But, the need for direct fiscal support
at this juncture cannot be downplayed. It has to be done
with the optimum utilisation of the money that the gov-
ernment has in its coffers and the incremental amount that

Despite successfully responding to a range of challenges, Antarctic Treaty is

it could garner through its innovative approach. The chal-
lenge is to walk the tightrope. How better you could do!

facing radically different circumstances in 2020s; writes Donald Rothwell

DearEditor
T
he 1959 Antarc-
tic Treaty celebrated
its 60th-anniversary
ALL LIVES MATTER last week. Negotiated
during the middle of the Cold
This is in reference to the editorial ‘Not enough justice’. War by 12 countries with Ant-
22 and a half years imprisonment to the US cop lethally arctic interests, it remains the
squeezing George Floyd’s neck certainly will not bring only example of a single treaty
him back to his family. It will also not help much that governs a whole continent.
either to repair the societal hatred prevalent in the It is also the foundation of a
society where some of the Americans deem themselves rules-based international order
superior just because the colour of their skin is white. for a continent without a per-
Such hatred is not limited to the US only. In fact, the manent population.
The treaty is remarkably
very categorisation of humanity into colours of ‘white- short and contains only 14
brown–black’ is ridiculous. Why use the term ‘Black’ articles. Principal provisions
for people of ‘African origin’ to make them realise that it include promoting the freedom
is the colour of skin that matters and not their identity of scientific research, the use of
as equal human beings? People of African origin who the continent only for peaceful
were initially brought into the slave trade on the shores There is purposes, and the prohibition
of America have already suffered much. Although of military activities, nuclear
American schools and employment agencies do not considerable tests and the disposal of radio-
discriminate on the basis of colour, much more needs to speculation active waste.
However, since the treaty
be done to stop hatred against the people. The people and as to China’s was negotiated in a very differ-
politicians who spread hatred on the basis of caste, colour ent era and there have been sev-
and creed must be reined in globally. interests in eral environmental, resource
Antarctic and geopolitical disputes
— BRIJ BHUSHAN GOYAL, LUDHIANA
via email
resources, related to Antarctica in recent
decades, it begs the question: is
especially it still fit for purpose?
millenniumpost.in fisheries and Territorial claims
The most important provi-
Log on to write letters to the editor or send them to minerals sion of the treaty is Article IV,
letter2editor.mp@gmail.com. You can also send your comments to The Editor, which effectively seeks to neu-
Millennium Post, Pratap Bhawan, 5 Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002 tralise territorial sovereignty in
Antarctica. For the Antarctic
territorial claimants, this meant
a limit was placed on making
Australian PM Robert Menzies (left) at the first Antarctic Treaty
consultative meeting in 1961
claim of any country, which
effectively makes it the last
unclaimed land on earth.
The treaty also put a freeze
on any disputes between claim-
ants over their territories on the
continent. Claimants agreed
to abide by the rules and obli-
Islands, their Antarctic rela-
tionship remains frosty.
A key reason why the
treaty has been able to survive
has been its ability to evolve
through several additional con-
ventions and other legal pro-
tocols. These have dealt with
promotion of Southern Ocean
marine reserves. An agreement
was reached in 2016 on a Ross
Sea Marine Protected Area, and
momentum is building for a
broader network of Southern
Ocean marine protected areas.
China and Russia have resisted
these initiatives.
Membership of the treaty
has grown in the intervening
years, with 54 signatories today.
Scientific engagement in
Antarctica is considered crit-
ical to exercising influence
under the treaty. New treaty
parties have to meet certain
criteria relating to active scien-
tific programmes before they
can participate in meetings as
“consultative parties”. A total
of 29 treaty parties, including
Australia, meet these scientific
engagement thresholds.
Building, operating and
conducting scientific research
programmes are key to the
success not only of the treaty
but also to the claimants’ cred-
ibility in Antarctica. Austra-
lia, for instance, has permitted
Belarus, China, France, India,
Italy, Russia, and the US to
conduct scientific programmes
at their own research bases
within its Antarctic territory,
which covers 42 per cent of the
continent.
Where to from here?
to the potential for Antarctic
mining to take place sometime
in the future. Calls to revisit the
prohibition on Antarctic min-
ing would seem inevitable.
There is also uncertainty as
to China’s intentions in Ant-
arctica. China joined the treaty
in 1983, became a consulta-
tive party in 1985, and in 2017
hosted a consultative party
meeting in Beijing.
China has a developing
scientific programme on the
continent, with four research
stations (three of which are in
Australia’s Antarctic Territory),
and a fifth planned. While
Australia and China cooper-
ate on several Antarctic scien-
tific and logistics programmes,
the direction of China’s Ant-
arctic engagement and long-
term support for the treaty is
not clear.
There is considerable spec-
ulation as to China’s interests
in Antarctic resources, espe-
cially fisheries and minerals,
and whether China may seek
to exploit weaknesses in the
treaty system to secure access
to those resources.
All of the treaty signatories,
but especially those with sig-
nificant stakes in the continent,
need to give the future of the
treaty more attention.
The Australian parliament,

Tweet of the day any new claim or enlargement

The Riemann Hypothesis is a
mathematical problem that has re-
mained unsolved for 161 years—
until mathematical physicist Kumar
Eswaran from Hyderabad did it. It
took five years for an expert com-
mittee to approve the proof -- and
a $1 million prize
of an existing claim. Likewise,
no formal recognition was
given to any of the seven terri-
torial claims on the continent,
by Argentina, Australia, Chile,
France, New Zealand, Norway
and the United Kingdom.
Russia, the United States
and China — signatories with
significant Antarctic interests
SHASHI THAROOR who have not formally made
@SHASHITHAROOR territorial claims — are also
bound by the limitations of
Article IV. And one sector of
Antarctica is not subject to the
gations of the treaty, which
meant countries that don’t rec-
ognise claims (such as China
and Russia) are free to go about
scientific research and peaceful
activities.
Expansion
Though the compact has
held for 60 years, there have
been tensions from time to
time. Argentina and the UK,
for instance, have overlapping
claims to territory on the con-
tinent. When combined with
their ongoing dispute over the
nearby Falkland (Malvinas)
the conservation of marine liv-
ing resources, prohibitions on
mining, and the adoption of
comprehensive environmental
protection mechanisms.
As disputes have arisen
over the years, many have been
addressed through the expan-
sion of the treaty framework
with these agreements. This
framework is now referred
to as the “Antarctic Treaty
System”.
These measures have been a
great success, but tensions have
arisen in recent years over the
While the Antarctic Treaty
has been able to successfully
respond to a range of chal-
lenges, circumstances are rad-
ically different in the 2020s
compared to the 1950s. Ant-
arctica is much more accessi-
ble, partly due to technology
but also climate change. More
countries now have substantive
interests in the continent than
the original 12. Some global
resources are becoming scarce,
especially oil.
This will inevitably result in
increased attention being given
for instance, last conducted
an inquiry into the Australian
Antarctic Territory in 2018.
None of the 22 recommenda-
tions, however, had a precise
focus on the Antarctic Treaty.
The mining ban under the
Madrid Protocol to the treaty
could be subject to review in
2048. If the treaty’s signatories
wish to ensure it remains fit for
purpose in 2048 and beyond,
more strategic thinking needs
to be given to Antarctica’s
future.  DTE
Views expressed are personal
8 mp World
Covid: Russia
records
highest daily
death toll
MOSCOW: Russian author-
ities have reported 652 new
Coronavirus deaths on Tues-
day the highest daily tally in
the pandemic. The new record
comes as Russia struggles to
cope with a surge in infections
and deaths and low vaccine
uptake.
Russia's state Coronavirus
task force has been registering
over 20,000 new Coronavirus
cases and around 600 deaths
every day since last Thursday.
On Tuesday, 20,616 new con-
tagions were recorded.
Russian officials have
blamed the surge, which started
in early June, on Russians' lax
attitude toward taking nec-
essary precautions, growing
prevalence of more infectious
variants and laggard vaccina-
tion rates. Although Russia was
among the first countries to
announce and deploy a Coro-
navirus vaccine, only about
14% of the population has
received at least one shot.
Russia's Coronavirus task
force has reported nearly 5.5
million confirmed Coronavi-
rus cases in the pandemic and
134,545 deaths.  AGENCIES
HIMACHAL PRADESH PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)
Office 01783-260033 Email : ee-cho-hp@nic.in
No. PW.CHD.CB.Tender/2020 2795-2894 Dated : 23.06/2021
The Executive Engineer HPPWD Chopal District Shimla H.P. on behalf of Governor of H.P invites the online bids on item
rate, in electronic tendering system, in 2 Cover System for the under mentioned work from the eligible and approved
contractors/Firms registered with HPPWD Department.
Sr. Name of work Estimated Starting date Earnest Deadline for
No. Cost for down- Money submission
loading Bid. (in Rs.) of Bid.
1 R/R damages on Nahan Dadahu Haripurdhar Kupvi (MDR) road km. 4370500 30.06.2021 86000/- 15.07.2021
110/500 to 132/0 (SH: P/L bituminous Macadam and Grading III for
correction layer in between km. R.D. 115/0 to 119/0).
2 R/R damages on Nahan Dadahu Haripurdhar Kupvi (MDR) 4335500/- 30.06.2021 86000/- 15.07.2021
road km. 110/500 to 132/0 (SH: P/L bituminous Macadam
and Grading III for correction layer in between km. R.D.
119/0 to 123/0).
3 R/R damages on Nahan Dadahu Haripurdhar Kupvi (MDR) 4240500/- 30.06.2021 85000/- 15.07.2021
road km. 110/500 to 132/0 (SH: P/L bituminous Macadam
and Grading III for correction layer in between km. R.D.
123/0 to 126/0).
4 R/R damages on various roads under PIU Sub division (SH: 4325400/- 30.06.2021 86000/- 15.07.2021
P/L bituminous macadam and Grading III for correction layer).
5 R/R damages on various roads under PIU Sub division (SH: 4325400/- 30.06.2021 86000/- 15.07.2021
P/L bituminous macadam and Grading III for correction layer).
The bidders are advised to submit the hard copy of documents submitted online for the separate tender after
next day of deadline date of bid. Other details of tender from the department website www.hptenders.gov.in
Executive Engineer
HPPWD Division Chopal District Shimla H.P
No 1922/2021-2022 on behalf of Governor of Himachal Pradesh
World passes three billion vaccine
mark in race to contain COVID-19
At least 3.9 million people have died from COVID-19 while some
wealthy countries are succeeding in bringing the virus infections down
PARIS: More than three bil-
lion COVID-19 vaccines have
been administered around the
world, an AFP tally found Tues-
day, as countries race to contain
the virulent Delta variant that
is fuelling outbreaks all over
the globe.
The highly infectious strain
of Coronavirus has caught
many nations off guard, with
Russia reporting its highest
daily death toll yet, Australia
shutting down city after city
and fears growing over major
sporting events like Euro 2020
and the Olympic Games.
At least 3.9 million people
have died from COVID-19,
and while some wealthy coun-
tries are succeeding in bring-
ing infections down thanks to
strong vaccination drives, oth-
ers where shots are not as read-
ily available are struggling.
According to the tally, high-
income countries as defined by
the World Bank have admin-
millenniumpost
millenniumpost.in
NO H ALF TR
CHANGE OF NAME
I, Preeti Rani W/o Manish
Kohli R/o A-16, Ground Floor,
Jhilmil Colony, Delhi-110095,
after my marriage to Manish
Kohli have changed my name
to Preeti Kohli for all future
purposes.
millenniumpost
WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 | NEW DELHI
"Multilateral cooperation
will be key to our collective
ability to stop this global health
crisis," US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken told the min-
isters in the ancient Italian city
of Matera.
Western leaders have
pledged to donate one billion
doses to poorer countries, but
have been widely criticised for
being too slow to help.
Vaccine hesitancy has also
played a part in slow uptake.
In Russia, which recorded
its highest daily death toll on
Tuesday since the outbreak of
the pandemic, officials have
introduced mandatory shots
for some groups of citizens to
counter scepticism. The coun-
Medical personnel test Israeli children the Coronavirus at a basketball court turned into a Coronavirus try reported 652 Coronavirus
testing center, in Binyamina, Israel, Tuesday  PTI fatalities over the past 24 hours,
with a record-high number of
istered an average of 79 doses In low-income nations, the ters from the Group of 20 major daily deaths -- 119 -- in Saint
per 100 inhabitants, with the figure is just one shot per 100 economies stressed the need Petersburg, which is due to
United Arab Emirates, Bahrein people. for greater global cooperation host a Euro 2020 quarter final
and Israel taking the lead. On Tuesday, foreign minis- in the face of the pandemic. on Friday.  AGENCIES
‘Use of weaponised
drones for
U THS
terrorism calls for
serious attention’
UNITED NATIONS: The possibility of the
use of weaponised drones for terrorist activities
against strategic and commercial assets calls for
serious attention by the global community, India
has told the UN General Assembly, a day after
two explosives-laden drones crashed into the
Indian Air Force (IAF) station at Jammu airport.
A fresh attempt to attack a military installa-
tion with the help of drones was foiled by alert
Army sentries at the Ratnuchak-Kaluchak sta-
tion who fired at the unmanned aerial vehicles
that flew away, an incident that came hours after
an IAF station saw the first terror attack using
quadcopters. The first drone was spotted at
around 11.45 pm on Sunday followed by another
at 2.40 am over the military station, which wit-
nessed a terror attack in 2002 in which 31 peo-
ple were killed, including 10 children. The IAF
attack is the first instance of suspected Pakistan-
based terrorists deploying drones to strike at the
country's vital installations. "Today, misuse of
information and communication technology
such as internet and social media for terrorist
propaganda, radicalisation and recruitment of
cadre; misuse of new payment
HIMACHAL PRADESH PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT methods and crowdfunding
INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB) platforms for financing of ter-
The Executive Engineer, Bhawarna Division, HPPWD Bhawarna on behalf of Governor of Himachal Pradesh, invites the item rate bids, rorism; and misuse of emerg-
in electronic tendering system from the eligible class of contractors registered with HPPWD for the works as detailed in the table:- ing technologies for terrorist
Sr. Name of work Estimated Starting date for Earnest Deadline for Sub- purposes have emerged as the
No. Cost (Rs.), downloading Bid Money mission of Bid most serious threats of terror-
1 Construction of 30.00 mtr span Bridge including both side 19,34,867/- 07/07/2021 36,600/- 22/07/2021 ism and will decide the coun-
approaches over Tahal Khad on Kharouth to Ghaneta via
Mahant Nagar (Kabrian) road at RD 1/390. (SW:- Con- ter-terrorism paradigm going
struction of 30.00 mtr. Span RCC slab i.eSuper Structure) forward, Special Secretary,
The bidders are advised to note other details of tenders from the department Website WWW.hptenders.gov.in Ministry of Home Affairs in
Executive Engineer
HPPWD Division Bhawarna the Government of India, V S K
Pin-176083, Tel:01894-247777 e-mail: eepwd-bhaw-hp@gov.in Kaumudi said.  AGENCIES
No 1972/2021-2022 on behalf of Governor of H.P
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021
Oil prices too challenging need ONGC, OIL put on notice to
perform or get shipped out
to cool them: India tells OPEC
Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said India is a price-sensitive
market and it will buy oil wherever it gets competitive rates
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: Ahead of a
meeting of oil producers’ car-
tel OPEC, India on Tuesday
said the current oil prices are
“very challenging” and rates
need to be a “little bit sober”
lest they impact a consump-
tion-led recovery of the global
economy.
Oil Minister Dharmendra
Pradhan, who last week again
urged OPEC to phase out its
production cuts, said India is
a price-sensitive market and
it will buy oil wherever it gets
competitive rates.
The rebound in interna-
tional oil prices from lows
hit last month on the back of
demand recovery has led to a
spike in petrol and diesel retail
prices in India.
Fuel rates are at record
highs across the country and
petrol has crossed Rs 100 a litre
mark in about a dozen states
and union territories, while
diesel is being sold at over Rs
100 a litre in Rajasthan and
Odisha.
“Today’s price is a very chal-
lenging one,” Pradhan said at
BNEF Summit. “I am persuad-
ing my producer friends” for a
reasonable price of oil.
He said he had a very good
discussion with OPEC Secre-
tary-General Mohammed Bar-
DoT starts online portal
for spectrum allocation
for trials to telcos
NEW DELHI: Telecom com-
panies can now apply online
for licence to use spectrum for
trials and demonstration on
Saral Sanchar Portal and there
will also be deemed approval in
certain cases, the Department of
Telecom said on Tuesday.
The Wireless Planning and
Coordination (WPC) wing has
made the provision of online
approval of licence for trials on
Saral Sanchar Portal where com-
panies can submit their applica-
tion and no physical submission
will be required.
The application can be
made on self-declaration basis
for instant issue of licences for
indoor experimentation, dem-
onstration and manufacturing.
There will be one licence
issued that will meet all the
licensing requirements of the
user for the use of spectrum,
RBI imposes
penalties on 4
co-operative
banks
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank
on Tuesday said it has imposed
penalties on four co-operative
banks, including a Rs 112.50
lakh fine on Hyderabad-based
Andhra Pradesh Mahesh Co-
operative Urban Bank, for con-
travention of certain regulatory
directions.
A penalty of Rs 62.50 lakh
has been imposed on The
Ahmedabad Mercantile Co-
operative Bank, Ahmedabad; Rs
37.50 lakh on SVC Co-operative
Bank, Mumbai; and Rs 25 lakh
on Saraswat Cooperative Bank,
Mumbai.
The penalty on Andhra
Pradesh Mahesh Co-operative
Urban Bank was for non-com-
pliance with directions issued
by RBI contained in Master
Directions on ‘Interest Rate
on Deposits’ and ‘Know Your
Customer’.
The Ahmedabad Mercantile
Co-operative Bank has been
penalised for violation of norms
contained in Master Directions
on ‘Interest Rate on Deposits’.
As per the RBI, it imposed
penalty on SVC Co-operative
Bank for non-compliance with
directions on ‘Interest Rate on
Deposits’ and ‘Frauds Monitor-
ing and Reporting Mechanism’.
Saraswat Cooperative Bank was
penalised for non-compliance
with directions on ‘Interest Rate
on Deposits’ and ‘Maintenance
of Deposit Accounts’.  PTI
kindo last week.
“OPEC meeting is sup-
posed to be there in the next
few days, and I hope the price
will be a little bit sober, that is
our expectation,” he said.
OPEC, Russia and several
other allies in a production
accord are set to meet on July
1 to decide on output quotas for
August and possibly beyond.
Expectations are high that the
alliance may agree to raise pro-
duction by 500,000 to 700,000
barrels per day, short of the
expected deficit between global
oil demand and supply.
International oil prices have
risen past USD 75 per barrel
in recent days -- highest since
April 2019 -- on consumption
recovery as well as supplies
being short of demand.
High oil prices are adding
import of related products and
sub- assemblies, demonstration,
possession of wireless equip-
ment etc.
While the Department of
Telecom has already issued a
circular in 2019 to use spec-
trum for testing products and
services by just informing the
department, there were chal-
lenges in outdoor testing for the
homegrown industry in harden-
ing the products in the licensed
band that require field trials for
longer periods.
The DoT has incorporated
provision of deemed approval
within 6 to 8 weeks from the
date of application for all out-
door radiating licenses. Telecom
secretary Anshu Prakash said
that the new online application
is expected to boost the ecosys-
tem of design and applications
in wireless technologies.  PTI
Credit growth to
industry remained -ve
during 2020-21: RBI
Private sector banks recorded higher
loan growth when compared to PSBs
MUMBAI: Credit growth to
the industrial sector remained
in the negative territory dur-
ing 2020-21, mainly due to the
pandemic and resultant lock-
downs, RBI data showed on
Tuesday.
However, “personal loans
continued to grow at robust
pace and recorded 13.5 per cent
growth (Y-oY) in March 2021;
industrial loan growth, on the
other hand, remained negative
during all quarters of 2020-21.”
The RBI further said
working capital loans in the
form of cash credit, overdraft
and demand loans, which
accounted for a third of total
credit, contracted during 2020-
21, indicating the impact of
the coronavirus pandemic.
The data further revealed that
private sector banks recorded
higher loan growth when com-
pared to public sector lenders.
Their share in total credit
increased to 36.5 per cent in
March 2021 from 35.4 per cent
a year ago and 24.8 per cent
five years ago, it said. Credit to
household sector rose by 10.9
per cent (Y-o-Y) and its share
in total credit increased to 52.6
per cent in March 2021 from
49.8 per cent a year ago, as per
to inflationary pressures.
Inflation is a challenge to
growth, Pradhan said.
He has many times called
on OPEC to price oil at reason-
able levels that support growth
and stop propping up oil prices
with its output cuts.
In March, tensions esca-
lated when Saudi Arabia’s
energy minister Prince Abdu-
laziz bin Salman responded to
Pradhan’s repeated pleas by
saying India should tap into
its reserves of crude that it
bought cheaply in 2020 during
the market crash.
Days later, Pradhan termed
the statement as an “undiplo-
matic response from a friendly
nation”. Thereafter, his ministry
asked refiners to look at sources
outside of the Middle East for
buying oil.
Finance Minister asks ministries
to surpass capex target set for FY22
NEW DELHI: Finance Min-
ister Nirmala Sitharaman on
Tuesday exhorted ministries to
aim to achieve more than their
capital expenditure (capex) tar-
gets for this fiscal, highlighting
that enhanced spending will
play a critical role in revitalising
the economy post-pandemic.
During a meeting with
senior officials to review the
status of implementation of
Budget announcements and
measures to expedite infrastruc-
ture investment, she also urged
the ministries and their Cen-
tral Public Sector Enterprises
(CPSEs) to ensure clearance
of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises (MSME) dues
by July 31. This was the sixth
review meeting by the finance
minister with ministries and
departments on the infrastruc-
ture roadmap.
Sitharaman further urged
the ‘Quarterly Basic Statistical
Returns-1: Outstanding Credit
of Scheduled Commercial
Banks, March 2021’, released
by the central bank.
Growth in credit to the pri-
vate corporate sector, however,
declined for the sixth succes-
sive quarter and its share in
total credit stood at 28.3 per
cent.
RBI said the weighted aver-
age lending rate on outstand-
ing credit has moderated by
91 basis points during 2020-
21, including a fall of 21 base
poins in Q4.
It also said bank branches
in urban, semi-urban and rural
areas recorded double-digit
credit growth (Y-o-Y) in March
2021, whereas metropolitan
branches, which accounted
for 63 per cent of bank credit,
logged 1.4 per cent growth. PTI
India is the world’s third-
largest consumer of crude and
OPEC nations such as Saudi
Arabia have traditionally been
its principal oil source. But
OPEC and its allies, called
OPEC+, ignoring its call for
ease supply curbs had led to
the world’s third-biggest oil
importer tap newer sources to
diversify its crude oil imports.
As a result, OPEC’s share in
India’s oil imports has dropped
to about 60 per cent in May
from 74 per cent in the previ-
ous month.
The two sides have some-
what patched up relations, with
Saudi Arabia and the UAE sup-
plying critical medicine, oxy-
gen and equipment to help
India battle its second wave of
coronavirus infections.
At the BNEF Summit, he
was asked if India would use
the oil it had bought a rock bot-
tom prices in April/May last
year.
“There are two things -- one
strategic (oil reserves) totalling
9.5 days of consumption (of the
country). Yes, taking advantage
(of low oil prices last year) we
filled up our (underground)
cavern,” he said, adding oil was
also stored on floating storages,
refinery tankages and pipelines.
“We have utilised that (oil
stored in refineries, floating
storages and pipelines) in the
the ministries to explore Public
Private Partnership (PPP) mode
for viable projects, the finance
ministry said in a statement.
“While reviewing the capital
expenditure performance of the
ministries and their CPSEs, the
Finance Minister emphasised
that enhanced CAPEX will play
a critical role in revitalising the
economy post-pandemic and
encouraged the ministries to
front-load their capital expen-
diture,” it said.
Ministries were also
requested to aim to achieve
more than their capex targets, it
added. Union Budget for 2021-
ICA- T7531(3)/2021
ICA- T7575(2)/2021
ICA- T7572(2)/2021
last few months,” he added.
Strategic reserves are for use
in emergencies such as supply
disruption or price shocks.
When asked if India will
buy from Iran if sanctions are
lifted, Pradhan said India is a
price-sensitive market. “Wher-
ever I will get competitive oil
price, I will opt for that,” he
emphasised.
The minister further said
energy demand in India is
expected to return to pre-
COVID levels by the end of
2021.
When lockdown was first
imposed last year to curb
spread of coronavirus, fuel
demand was “destroyed in a big
way,” he said, adding consump-
tion appeared to have returned
to near normalcy in September
and October 2020.
But the outbreak of the sec-
ond wave of COVID-19 infec-
tions in April and May has
again led to “severe demand
destruction,” he said. “But in
last three weeks of June, there
is a sign of demand resurgence
because of easing of lockdown
restrictions by states and a
gradual pick up in economic
momentum.”
Stating that challenges
remain, he said with economic
activity gaining momentum,
fuel demand will return to nor-
mal by end of 2021.
22 has provided a capital out-
lay of Rs 5.54 lakh crore, an
increase of 34.5 per cent over
the Budget Estimate of 2020-21.
However, the efforts from
the budgetary side to increase
the capital expenditure have to
be complemented by the public
sector enterprises, she added.
Infrastructure expenditure
is not just the central govern-
ment budgetary expenditure on
infrastructure but also includes
infrastructure spending by state
governments and private sec-
tor, the minister said. It also
includes government expen-
diture through extra-budgetary
resources. Therefore, Sithar-
ICA- T7559(3)/2021
ICA- T7566(4)/2021
ICA- T7570(3)/2021
Business
NEW DELHI: Petroleum Min-
ister Dharmendra Pradhan on
Tuesday put state-owned ONGC
and OIL on notice saying oil and
gas reserves they hold need to
be monetised through joint ven-
tures with domain experts or
the government will take them
away and auction them.
Speaking at BNEF Summit,
he said state-owned firms can-
not indefinitely sit on resources
when the nation is a net
importer of oil and gas. Despite
India bidding out acreages to
private and other companies
since the 1990s, Oil and Natu-
ral Gas Corporation (ONGC)
and Oil India Ltd (OIL) hold a
“sizeable number of acreage for
years,” he said.
“We have asked them to do
two things - do it yourself, (pro-
duce oil and gas) through some
joint venture and through a new
business model. But the govern-
ment cannot permit you to hold
resources for an indefinite time,”
he said. ONGC and OIL, which
discovered and brought to pro-
duction all of India’s eight sedi-
mentary basins, produce about
three-fourths of the nation’s oil
and gas.
The two, especially ONGC,
have faced criticism ranging
from not being able to quickly
bring discoveries to produc-
tion to lower recovery. Prad-
han said India needs energy for
its ambitious economic growth
agenda. “We want to reduce
import dependency. We want
to monetise our own resources.”
“So we have given policy
guidance to our state-owned
oil companies - either you do
on your own through new part-
ners and new economic model,
aman said, ministries are to
actively work on getting proj-
ects funded through innovative
structuring and financing and
provide all support to private
sector for enhancing infrastruc-
ture spending.
The finance minister asked
the secretaries of ministries
to push expenditure on large
important projects to ensure
that the achievement is com-
mensurate with timelines.
She also asked the ministries
to take up regular reviews of
sector-specific projects with the
concerned state governments
for effective implementation
of the same.  PTI
ICA- T7568(2)/2021
ICA- T7546(3)/2021
ICA- T7543(2)/2021
Petroleum and natural gas
Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
Government has
already taken away
dozens of small and
marginal discoveries
from the two firms
and auctioned them
in Discovered Small
Field (DSF) rounds
(else) the government will after
a particular period intervene
and use its authority to bid out
the resources,” he said.
The government has already
taken away dozens of small and
marginal discoveries from the
two firms and auctioned them
in what is known as Discovered
Small Field (DSF) rounds. DSF
offers pricing and marketing
freedom to operators, some-
thing which ONGC and OIL do
not have currently, constraining
their efforts to monetise smaller
discoveries.
But now Pradhan has indi-
cated the government would not
hesitate to take away larger idle
discoveries and auction them
to private and foreign players.
Earlier this month, the
minister had stated that the
Directorate General of Hydro-
RIL signs pact to invest in
Abu Dhabi National Oil Co
NEW DELHI: Reliance Indus-
tries has signed a pact to invest
an undisclosed amount in a pet-
rochemicals hub in Abu Dhabi.
A company statement said
the oil-to-telecom conglomer-
ate will join Abu Dhabi National
Oil Co’s Ruwais project.
“Abu Dhabi National Oil
Company (ADNOC) today
announced that Reliance has
signed an agreement to join a
new world-scale chlor-alkali,
ethylene dichloride and poly-
vinyl chloride (PVC) produc-
ICA- T7550(3)/2021
ICA- T7539(4)/2021
ICA- T7528(3)/2021 (1) Website design for WBSPMG, (2)
KMDA TENDER NOTICE
e-NIT No: 01/SE/C-V/R&B/KMDA of www.wburbanservices.gov.in,
nd
2021-22 (2 Call)
Online Bid is invited by the of receipt of proposal is 14th July
Superintending Engineer, Circle-V, 2021.
R&B Sector, KMDA, Unnayan
Bhavan, Main Block, 7th floor, Salt
lake, Kolkata-700091, from
bonafide, reliable, experienced &
resourceful firms / individuals
contractors, joint ventures /
consortium for the work,, Name of
Work, Earnest Money, Time of
Completion, Design
Construction of substructure of
Bailey Bridge along with allied works
at Railpar, Asansol, Pachim
Bhardhaman, on EPC Mode Turnkey
Contract Basis., Rs.2,15,077/-, 75
days, Last date & time of online Bid
Submission: 28.07.2021 upto 14:00
hrs., For details contact the above
office or visit KMDA website.
www.kmdaonline.org (KMDA-153)
www.wbtenders.gov.in
ICA- T7517(3)/2021
mp 9
carbons (DGH), the oil minis-
try’s technical arm, had the “full
mandate” to identify unmone-
tised major fields that could be
offered for bidding.
“Resources don’t belong to
a company. They belong to the
nation and the government.
They cannot lie with a com-
pany indefinitely. If somebody
cannot monetise them, we will
have to bring a new regime,”
he had said on June 10. The
statement comes weeks after
his ministry told ONGC to sell
a stake in producing oil fields
such as Ratna R-Series in west-
ern offshore to private firms
and get foreign partners in KG
basin gas fields.
PTI had on April 25
reported a seven-point action
plan, ‘ONGC Way Forward’. It
was drawn by the ministry that
called for the firm to consider a
sale of a stake in maturing fields
such as Panna-Mukta and Ratna
and R-Series in western offshore
and onshore fields like Gandhar
in Gujarat to private firms while
divesting/privatizing ‘non-per-
forming’ marginal fields.
It wanted ONGC to bring in
global players in gas-rich KG-
DWN-98/2 block where out-
put is slated to rise sharply next
year, and the recently brought
into production Ashokenagar
block in West Bengal.
Also, identified for the pur-
pose is the Deendayal block in
the KG basin which the firm had
bought from Gujarat govern-
ment company GSPC a couple
of years back.
This proposal is the third
attempt by the oil ministry to
get ONGC to privatise its oil
and gas fields.  PTI
tion facility at TA’ZIZ in Ruwais,
Abu Dhabi,” the statement said.
It, however, did not give
details of the investment made.
“The agreement capitalizes
on growing demand for these
critical industrial raw materials
and leverages the strengths of
ADNOC and Reliance as global
industrial and energy leaders.
“The project will be con-
structed in the TA’ZIZ Indus-
trial Chemicals Zone, which is a
joint venture between ADNOC
and ADQ,” it added.  PTI
ICA- T7561(3)/2021
ICA- T7536(4)/2021
Notice inviting EOI from Reputed
Organisation
West Bengal State NGRBA Program
Management Group invites details
of scope of work from reputed
Organisation having experience in
the similar fields under the following
heads:
Holding of Webinar, (3) Diverse IEC
activities.
Details may be had from
www.kmdaonline.org. The last date
Program Director, WBSPMG
ICA- T7524(3)/2021
and
ICA- T7514(3)/2021
10 mp
Cabinet may soon clear plan
for govt guarantee to bad bank
Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), entrusted with task of setting up a bad
bank, has pegged government guarantee to be around Rs 31,000 crore
OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabi-
net may soon clear a proposal to
provide government guarantee
to security receipts issued by the
National Asset Reconstruction
Company (NARCL) as part of
resolution of bad loans.
Indian Banks’ Association
(IBA), entrusted with the task
of setting up a bad bank, has
pegged the government guaran-
tee to be around Rs 31,000 crore.
The proposed bad bank or
NARCL will pay up to 15 per
cent of the agreed value for the
loans in cash and the remain-
ing 85 per cent would be gov-
ernment-guaranteed security
receipts. The government guar-
antee would be invoked if there
is loss against the threshold
value. According to sources, the
proposal is before the Cabinet
and its nod is required to extend
sovereign guarantee to security
receipts issued by NARCL.
Approval from the Cabinet
that is expected soon will pave
the way for operationalisation
of the bad bank announced by
Govt disburses `25.25 cr Markets fall for 2nd straight session as Sensex ` falls four paise to
seed capital to SHGs in drops 186 points, Nifty ends below 15,800 close at 74.23 against $
first year of PMFME MUMBAI: Equity indices lan-
NEW DELHI: The Centre on
Tuesday said it has disbursed Rs
25.25 crore in the first year of
the PMFME scheme for meet-
ing seed capital requirements
of eligible 8,000-odd Self Help
Group (SHG) members engaged
in food processing activities.
The Pradhan Mantri For-
malisation of Micro Food Pro-
cessing Enterprises (PMFME),
launched on June 29 last year,
aims to enhance the competi-
tiveness of existing individual
micro-enterprises in the unor-
ganised segment of the food
processing industry and pro-
mote formalisation of the sector.
The scheme envisages finan-
cial support of Rs 40,000 for
working capital and purchase
of small tools for each member
of SHGs engaged in food pro-
cessing activities. This is being
‘New pandemic package to raise fiscal deficit SBI to charge on cash withdrawal Gadkari calls
by 60 bps, opens `70K cr new loan window’ beyond 4 free transactions/month for ratings
MUMBAI: The latest credit
push for the pandemic-hit sec-
tors and other relief supports
will have an additional 60 bps
impact on the fiscal deficit, and
can offer an additional liquid-
ity window of Rs 70,000 crore
to banks, says a report.
Finance minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman on Monday
announced Rs 1.5 lakh-crore
of additional credit for small
businesses, more funds for the
healthcare sector, loans to tour-
ism agencies and guides, and
waiver of visa fees as part of a
credit-led package to support
the pandemic-hit economy.
The package, mostly made
up of government guarantees to
banks and microfinance insti-
tutions for loans they extend
to the pandemic-hit sectors,
‘Slew of reforms by govt to spur investment’
India received $64 billion in FDI in 2020, the fifth largest recipient of inflows in the world
NEW DELHI: Chief Eco-
nomic Adviser K V Subrama-
nian on Tuesday said a number
of reforms undertaken by the
government in the last one year
especially focused on remov-
ing supply side frictions are
expected to spur investment,
including foreign investment.
Speaking at a virtual dis-
cussion on World Investment
Report 2021 organised by Insti-
tute for Studies in Industrial
Development (ISID), Subra-
manian said the fact that India
recorded the highest growth
amidst pandemic when FDI has
shrunk by about 50 per cent for
the emerging economies, indi-
cates that foreign firms put their
money where their mouth is.
Business
State-owned Canara Bank has expressed
its intent to be the lead sponsor of NARCL
with a 12% stake. The proposed NARCL
would be 51% owned by PSBs and the
remaining by private sector lenders
Finance Minister Nirmala Sith-
araman in the Budget this year,
the sources added.
The Finance Minister in
Budget 2021-22 announced that
the high level of provisioning
by public sector banks of their
stressed assets calls for measures
banks, SBI Research said in a MUMBAI: The rupee weakened
implemented with the support
of National Rural Livelihood
Mission (NRLM) and its net-
work of State Rural Livelihood
Mission (SRLM).
“To date, NRLM has recom-
mended 43,086 SHG members
to state nodal agencies for an
amount of Rs 123.54 crore. State
nodal agencies have approved
the seed capital of 8040 mem-
bers and disbursed the amount
of Rs 25.25 crore to SRLM,” the
government said in a statement.
In case of the other compo-
nent of the scheme — promot-
ing ‘One District One Product
(ODOP) — the government
said it has approved ODOP
for 707 districts for 35 states
and Union Territories, includ-
ing 137 unique products as per
the recommendations received
by states.  PTI
totals up to Rs 6.29 lakh crore
together with the previous such
packages.
Assuming equal distribu-
tion of the new announcement
of Rs 1.10 lakh crore, with 50
per cent and 75 per cent guar-
antee cover and a risk weight
of 100 per cent, banks may
have a capital relief of around
Rs 7,500 crore that can further
generate credit of around Rs
Observing that FDI in
merger & acquisition (M&A)
versus greenfield that distinc-
tion is pertinent, he said, “the
fact that the same M&A did
not happen as much in other
countries but happened in India
actually thereby recording sig-
nificant growth ... is indicative
of the India story.”
As per the report by the
UN Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD)
released earlier this month,
India received $64 billion in
foreign direct investment (FDI)
in 2020, the fifth largest recipient
of inflows in the world, pushed
up by acquisitions in the infor-
mation and communication
technology (ICT) industry.
to clean up the bank books.
“An Asset Reconstruction
Company Limited and Asset
Management Company would
be set up to consolidate and
take over the existing stressed
debt,” she had said in the Bud-
get speech. It will then manage
guished for the second straight
session on Tuesday as investors
pared back their exposure to
riskier assets amid a cautious
trend in global markets due to a
fresh spurt in COVID-19 cases
in many countries.
A weakening rupee and
the fiscal impact of the gov-
ernment’s new stimulus mea-
sures also sapped risk appetite,
traders said.
The 30-share BSE Sensex
ended 185.93 points or 0.35 per
cent lower at 52,549.66. Sim-
ilarly, the broader NSE Nifty
tumbled 66.25 points or 0.42
per cent to 15,748.45.
Kotak Bank was the top
loser among the Sensex con-
stituents, shedding 1.54 per
cent, followed by ICICI Bank,
Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Axis
Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra,
SBI and Maruti.
70,000 crore, according to an
SBI Research analysis.
The fiscal impact of latest
announcements and earlier is
not linear as a substantial por-
tion of the package is contin-
gent liabilities. Ignoring these,
the immediate impact will be
slightly over Rs 1.23 lakh crore
which will be around 0.6 per
cent of the GDP, SBI chief econ-
omist Soumya Kanti Ghosh
said in the report.
Monday’s announcement
broadly emphasises four sec-
tors health, tourism, MFIs and
agriculture. The other mea-
sures announced fine-tune the
scope of the already existing
arrangements, he said.
Under the credit guarantee
schemes to further the flow of
credit to the weaker sections of
CEA K V Subramanian
Major project announce-
ments in the ICT industry
included a $2.8 billion invest-
ment by online retail giant Ama-
zon in ICT infrastructure in
India, the report said.
Stressing that India is the
only country among large econ-
omies that has done a slew of
Highlights
»»The proposed bad bank
or NARCL will pay up
to 15% of the agreed
value for the loans in
cash and the remaining
85% would be
government-guaranteed
security receipts
»»The government
guarantee would be
invoked if there is loss
against the threshold
value
»»Approval from
the Cabinet will
pave the way for
operationalisation of the
bad bank
and dispose of the assets to alter-
nate investment funds and other
potential investors for eventual
value realisation, she had said.
Last year, IBA made a pro-
posal for the creation of a bad
bank for swift resolution of non-
On the other hand, Power-
Grid, HUL, NTPC, Dr Reddy’s,
Nestle India and IndusInd Bank
were among the gainers, spurt-
ing up to 1.75 per cent.
The latest credit push for
the society, guarantees will be
provided to banks for loans to
new or existing NBFC-MFIs or
MFIs for lending up to Rs 1.25
lakh to around 25 lakh small
borrowers. Interest rate on such
loans will be capped at MCLR
plus 2 per cent.
Though most of the lat-
est announcements are part/
extension of the past packages,
overall, this is a timely relief to
the sectors/segments that were
impacted most by the second
wave of the pandemic.
The Rs 50,000-crore guar-
antee cover package to boost
the medical infrastructure in
underserved areas across the
124 aspirational districts, can
lead to the overall improve-
ment in human development,
the report said.  PTI
reforms in the last one-and-a-
half years, Subramanian said
these are especially focused on
removing a lot of supply side
frictions paving way for invest-
ment to flow in. Citing Say’s law,
he said, supply eventually cre-
ates its own demand.
“The labour reform, the agri-
cultural reform, the change in
definition of MSME to avoid the
phenomenon of dwarfism and
most importantly, the enter-
prise policy focused on the pri-
vate sector...this is where path of
future FDI must be understood
in the context of the enterprise
policy focused on the private
sector,” he said.
Unveiling the PSE policy
in Budget 2021-22, Finance
performing assets.
The government accepted
the proposal and decided to go
for asset reconstruction com-
pany and asset management
company model in this regard.
Meanwhile, state-owned
Canara Bank has expressed its
intent to be the lead sponsor of
NARCL with a 12 per cent stake.
The proposed NARCL
would be 51 per cent owned
by PSBs and the remaining by
private sector lenders.
National Asset Reconstruc-
tion Company will take over
identified bad loans of lend-
ers. The lead bank with an offer
in hand of NARCL will go for
a ‘Swiss Challenge’ wherein
other asset reconstruction
players will be invited to bet-
ter the offer made by a cho-
sen bidder for finding higher
valuation of a non-performing
asset on sale.The company has
picked up those assets that are
100 per cent provided for by the
lenders. Banks have identified
around 22 bad loans worth Rs
89,000 crore to be transferred
to NARCL in the initial phase.
the pandemic-hit sectors and
other relief supports will have
an additional 60 bps impact
on the fiscal deficit, and can
offer an additional liquidity
window of Rs 70,000 crore to
NEW DELHI: The country’s
largest lender SBI will levy
charges for cash withdrawal
beyond four free transactions
in a month from customers
holding the basic savings bank
deposit (BSBD) accounts.
These customers will also be
levied charges for cheque book
beyond 10 leaves in a year.
As per the revision in ser-
vice charges for BSBD accounts,
State Bank of India (SBI) will
levy charges ranging from Rs
15 to Rs 75 for the “additional
value added services” with effect
from July 1, 2021.
Non-financial transactions
and transfer transactions will
be free of cost at branches,
ATM, CDM (cash dispensing
machines) for the BSBD account
holders.
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
had said barring four strategic
areas, public sector enterprises
(PSEs) in other sectors will be
divested. The policy would give
a clear roadmap for disinvest-
ment in strategic and non-stra-
tegic sectors.
The four sectors are atomic
energy, space and defence;
transport and telecommuni-
cations; power, petroleum, coal
and other minerals; and bank-
ing, insurance and financial ser-
vices in non-strategic sectors.
Talking about role of invest-
ment in economy, Subramanian
said the gross fixed capital for-
mation in the March 2021 quar-
ter increased by almost 30 per
cent year on year.  PTI
Devas joins Cairn in bid
to seize Air India’s assets
NEW DELHI: Devas Multi-
media Pvt., a company seeking
over $1.2 billion it won in inter-
national arbitration from India,
has joined Cairn Energy Plc in
seeking to seize Air India Ltd.’s
assets abroad.
Calling the flagship airline
an “alter ego” of the Indian
state and therefore liable for the
sovereign’s debts, Devas filed a
petition in New York asking Air
India to pay the amount or for-
feit its U.S. property including
planes, cargo handling equip-
ment and artwork.
The move may threaten
India’s much-delayed plans to
sell the indebted loss-making
carrier and risks denting India’s
image as an investment desti-
nation. India last year suffered
two big losses in international
arbitrations--the $3 billion tax
dispute with Vodafone Group
Plc and the $1.2 billion dis-
pute with Cairn. India has chal-
lenged both rulings.
Around the time of Cairn’s
petition in May, Indian author-
ities asked state-run banks to
protect their dollar deposits on
concern that these could also
be at risk of seizure, Bloomberg
News had reported.
Indian authorities and
Devas are engaged in multiple
court cases globally in which
Devas seeks the award money
while India wants to liquidate
the company and investigate
report.
Arijit Malakar, Head
of Research Ashika Stock
Broking, said, “Domestic mar-
kets remained weak in line with
Asian markets as investors were
concerned with the more infec-
tious Delta variant of the coro-
navirus and the re-imposition
of restrictions in parts of Asia,
Europe, South Africa and South
America.”
Sector-wise, BSE metal, oil
and gas, telecom, bankex and
auto indices fell up to 1.35 per
cent, while healthcare, FMCG
and utilities closed with mod-
est gains.
Broader BSE midcap and
smallcap indices fell up to 0.42
per cent.
Meanwhile, international
oil benchmark Brent crude was
trading 0.27 per cent lower at $
73.94 per barrel. PTI
SBI said it will charge Rs
15 plus GST per cash with-
drawal for transaction at bank
branches, SBI ATM or from
other bank’s ATMs beyond 4
free cash withdrawals.
“Charges will be recovered
beyond 4 free cash withdrawal
transaction (including ATM
and branch),” SBI said.
With respect to cheque book
services, first 10 cheque leaves
will be free of cost in a finan-
cial year.
Thereafter, 10 leaf cheque
book will be levied Rs 40 plus
GST; 25 leaf cheque book at Rs
75 plus GST and emergency
cheque book will attract a charge
of Rs 50 plus GST for 10 leaves
or part thereof, SBI said.
“However, senior citizen
customers are exempted (on
United orders 270 jets
to replace old ones
WASHINGTON: United Air-
lines said Tuesday that it is
ordering 200 Boeing Max jets
and 70 Airbus planes so it can
replace some of its aging planes
and grow after the pandemic
eases. At list prices, the deal
would be worth more than $30
billion, although airlines rou-
tinely get deep discounts, some-
times more than half, according
to analysts. United declined to
disclose terms.
It is one of the largest orders
ever for commercial planes and
underscores that airlines see a
recovery underway and expect
to return to the profitability they
enjoyed before the pandemic
crushed air travel more than a
year ago. It is also, of course, a
major boost for the world’s two
WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 | NEW DELHI
Devas seeks the award money while
India wants to liquidate the company and
investigate an alleged fraud
an alleged fraud.
The dispute goes back to
2011, when an Indian state-
owned company Antrix Corp.
annulled an agreement with
Devas citing force majeure.
Devas said in its petition that
the annulment eroded the
value of its multi-million dol-
lar investments.
An arbitration tribunal
in 2020 awarded Devas more
than $111 million plus inter-
est. Devas also won $562.5 mil-
lion in damages plus interest
from separate proceedings at
the International Chamber of
Commerce.
Devas says Antrix has paid
neither of these. An Air India
spokesman declined to com-
ment. A representative for
by 4 paise to end at 74.23 (pro-
visional) against the US dollar
on Tuesday as weaker domes-
tic equities and stronger dollar
index weighed on forex market
sentiment.
At the interbank foreign
exchange market, the rupee
opened at 74.26 per dollar as
against its previous close of
74.19. It hovered in the range
of 74.20 to 74.28 during the day
before ending at 74.23 against
the greenback.
“Rupee depreciated amid
weaker domestic equities and
stronger dollar index as the
Asian regional currencies once
again face cases of a new vari-
ant of coronavirus and probable
strict restrictions at state level,”
Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst,
HDFC Securities said.
The expectations of higher-
than-expected fiscal deficit after
cheque book services),” said the
state-owned lender.
BSBD accounts can be
opened by any individual after
valid KYC (know your cus-
tomer) documentation.
Such accounts are primar-
ily meant for poorer sections
of society to encourage them to
start saving without any burden
of charges or fees.
According to a study
revealed by IIT-Bombay in April
this year, SBI earned over Rs 300
crore by way of imposing ser-
vice charges on nearly 12 crore
BSBD account holders during
2015-20.
The study observed that SBI
levying a charge of Rs 17.70 for
every debit transaction beyond
four on the BSBD account hold-
ers was not “reasonable.”  PTI
main aircraft makers, especially
Boeing.
The Chicago-based com-
pany saw orders plummet after
Max jets were grounded follow-
ing two deadly crashes. The pan-
demic has hurt sales too.
Boeing needs to play a bit of
catch-up,” and so it likely gave
United a steep discount, said
George Dimitroff, analyst with
Ascend by Cirium. From here
forward, pricing will get firmer,”
Dimitroff said.
“I think that United is prob-
ably taking advantage of the last
of the good pricing.” United
claims the orders will create
25,000 jobs over several years,
although executives did not
describe how they arrived at
that figure.  AGENCIES
millenniumpost
Indian Space Research Organ-
isation, which controls Antrix,
didn’t immediately respond to
requests for comments.
India’s top court in Novem-
ber had halted implementation
of the $1.2 billion award after
the country’s Attorney Gen-
eral K.K. Venugopal denied
possibility of a settlement say-
ing Indian authorities have
“discovered a serious fraud
in the entire series of trans-
actions leading up to the dis-
putes including the arbitration
agreement.” Lawyers for Devas
had denied the allegations. On
a petition by Antrix, a com-
pany court in India last month
ordered winding up Devas. An
appeal is pending hearing in an
appellate court.  AGENCIES
governments’ announcement of
new relief package on Monday
weighed on investor sentiment.
“Near-term momentum
remains sideways with spot
USDINR expected to remain
in tight range of 74 to 74.50,”
Parmar added. Meanwhile, the
dollar index, which gauges the
greenback’s strength against a
basket of six currencies, rose
0.10 per cent to 91.97.  PTI
system for
MSMEs
MSME Minister Nitin Gadkari
NEW DELHI: MSME Minis-
ter Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday
called for creation of a ratings
system for the sector and a
dashboard for effective moni-
toring of various schemes.
Addressing a webinar,
he said a simple and trans-
parent methodology should
be evolved to give ratings to
MSMEs (micro, small and
medium enterprises) hav-
ing good turnover and GST
(Goods and Services Tax)
records to enable them to get
financing from banks and
institutions.
The whole world now wants
to invest in Indian industry and
with an effective ratings system,
MSMEs can get good invest-
ment from abroad, he added.
Gadkari also proposed set-
ting up a dashboard for mon-
itoring schemes to prevent
delays in decision-making.
He asked SIDBI to take
decisions within three months
and provide support to the
sector.
MSMEs contribute nearly
30 per cent to country’s GDP
and provide employment to
more than 11 crore people --
second highest after the agri-
culture sector.  PTI
millenniumpost
NEW DELHI | WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021
T20 World Cup to be held
from Oct 17-Nov 14: ICC
The first round of tournament, comprising 8 qualifying
teams, will now be split between Oman and UAE
DUBAI: This year's T20
World Cup, which has been
moved to the UAE and Oman
from India due to the COVID-
19 pandemic, will be played
from October 17 to November
14, the International Cricket
Council (ICC) announced on
Tuesday.
The ICC statement came a
day after BCCI intimated the
governing body that the event
can be moved out of India.
"The BCCI will remain the
hosts of the event, which will
now be held in Dubai Inter-
national Stadium, the Sheikh
Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi,
the Sharjah Stadium, and
the Oman Cricket Academy
Ground, from 17 October to
14 November 2021," the ICC
stated.
The first round of the tour-
nament, comprising the eight
qualifying teams, will now be
split between Oman and UAE.
Four of these teams will
November 14.
"Our priority is to deliver
the ICC Men's T20 World Cup
2021 safely, in full and in its
current window," said acting
ICC CEO Geoff Allardice.
"...the decision gives us the
certainty we need to stage the
event in a country that is a
proven international host of
multi-team events in a bio-
secure environment.
"We will work closely with
the BCCI, the Emirates Cricket
Board and Oman Cricket to
ensure fans can enjoy a won-
BCCI President Saurav Ganguly with BCCI Secretary Jay Shah. ICC derful celebration of cricket.
Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 shifted to UAE and Oman due to the ongoing BCCI president Sourav
COVID-19 situation in India  PTI Ganguly added: "We would
have been happier host-
then progress to the Super the final in India. ing it in India but consid-
12s round where they'll The eight teams compet- ering the uncertainty due
join the eight automatic ing in the preliminary stage to the COVID-19 situa-
qualifiers. are Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ire- tion and the importance of
The upcoming edition will land, Netherlands, Scotland, a world championship, the
be the first men's T20 World Namibia, Oman and Papua BCCI will now continue to
Cup played since 2016, when New Guinea, before the play- host this tournament in UAE
West Indies beat England in off stage and the Final on and Oman."  AGENCIES
Venus rises to 90th Wimbledon Mithali Raj
win in 90th career major back in top
WIMBLEDON (England):
Venus Williams accumulated
10 aces Tuesday by smacking
serves at up to 114 mph not
quite like the old days, but not
too shabby, either.
She drove forehands to cor-
ners. She made her way to the
net for crisp volleys. And when
it was all over, the 41-year-old
American celebrated her first
Wimbledon match win since
2018 by raising her arms and
yelling Come on! before repris-
ing her familiar smile-and-twirl
wave at No. 3 Court.
A five-time singles cham-
pion at the All England Club
who is making her 23rd appear-
ance there, Williams began her
record-extending 90th Grand
Slam tournament with her 90th
career victory at Wimbledon,
beating Mihaela Buzarnescu of
Romania 7-5, 4-6, 6-3.
Williams is a former No.
1-ranked player who came into
this week ranked 111th and hav-
ing lost in the first or second
round at the past eight majors.
"You can't win them all. Life
is about how you handle chal-
lenges. Each point is a challenge
on the court. No one gives you
anything, said Williams, who
was diagnosed a decade ago
with Sjogren's syndrome, an
Sport mp 11
Venus Williams of the US celebrates
winning the women's singles first
round match against Romania's
Mihaela Buzarnescu on day two of
the Wimbledon Tennis Championships
in London, Tuesday  PTI
autoimmune disease that can
cause fatigue and joint pain. I
like to think I handle my chal-
lenges well.
The schedule on Day 2 of the
tournament, like on Day 1, was
jumbled by showers. At least 18
matches were postponed until
Wednesday and a dozen were
suspended in progress shortly
after Williams finished off a vic-
tory that lasted more than 2
1/2 hours.
Her sister Serena, a seven-
time Wimbledon champ,
and eight-time winner Roger
Federer were assured of play-
ing later Tuesday, because their
matches were on Centre Court,
which has a retractable roof.
Women's winners included
2018 champion Angelique Ker-
ber, No. 1 seed Ash Barty, No. 8
Karolina Pliskova, No. 15 Maria
Sakkari, two-time Slam finalist
Vera Zvonareva, 2020 French
Open semifinalist Nadia Pod-
oroska and Americans Shelby
Rogers, Madison Brengle and
qualifier Claire Liu. Another
U.S. woman, No. 28 seed Ali-
son Riske, was beaten 6-2, 4-6,
6-1 by Tereza Martincova of the
Czech Republic.
In men's action, 20-year-
old American Sebastian Korda
whose father, Petr, won the 1998
Australian Open and whose
sisters, No. 1-ranked Nelly and
Jessica, are on the LPGA Tour
made a successful Wimbledon
debut, eliminating No. 15 Alex
de Minaur 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-6
(5). No. 4 Alexander Zverev, No.
9 Diego Schwartzman and No.
26 Fabio Fognini also advanced.
Buzarnescu is a 33-year-old
left-hander who has dealt with
a series of injuries and has gone
from the top 20 to outside the
top 150.  AGENCIES
5 of ICC ODI
rankings for
batswomen
DUBAI: India captain Mith-
ali Raj has returned to the top
five of the latest ICC Women's
ODI Rankings for batswomen
after top-scoring for India with
72 in the series opener against
England in Bristol.
The 38-year-old, who has
completed 22 years in interna-
tional cricket, rescued her side
from a precarious 27 for two
but India's total of 201 for eight
was not challenging enough for
England, who will be defending
their World Cup title in New
Zealand next year. Mithali, who
had led India to the final of the
last World Cup played at Lord's
in 2017, has gained three slots
to reach fifth position after the
Bristol knock. The former top-
ranked batter returns to the top
five for the first time since Octo-
ber 2019. There was not much
else to write home about for the
Indian side in terms of rank-
ings, with all-rounder Pooja
Vastrakar re-entering in 97th
place among batters and 88th
among bowlers.  AGENCIES

Switzerland
beat France
5-4 on
penalties at
Euro 2020
BUCHAREST: Au revoir
France, this summer belongs
to Yann Sommer.
The Switzerland goal-
keeper, who left in the middle
of the European Champion-
ship's group stage to be with
his wife for the birth of their
second daughter, made the
biggest save of his life against
one of the best players in the
world.
That gave the Swiss a 5-4
penalty shootout victory over
World Cup champion France
on Monday and a spot in the
quarterfinals of a major soccer
tournament for the first time
in 67 years. The match had fin-
ished 3-3.
Sommer dived to his right
to save the final penalty by
Kylian Mbapp , the young
France forward who became
a superstar at the last World
Cup by scoring in the final.
I think that everything we
had in us, we left out on the
field, Sommer said.
I'm unbelievably proud of
this team, how we've done it
this evening.
Sommer, who flew back
to Germany after the team's
3-0 loss to Italy to be home
when his daughter was born
on June 16, made the decisive
DELHI JAL BOARD GOVT OF NCT OF DELHI
save on the 10th penalty after OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (NW)-III
the previous nine had all been OVER HEAD TANK ASHOK VIHAR DELHI
successful. STOP CORONA-WEAR MASK, FOLLOW PHYSICAL DISTANCING, MAINTAIN HAND HYGIENE
What an evening of foot- Press NIT No. 10(2021-22)
ball, Sommer said.
"It was our chance to
finally go through the round
of 16, because we never made
it before. It's incredible. We
played with heart and with
character. It's amazing.
The Swiss haven't reached
the quarterfinals at a major
tournament since they hosted
the World Cup in 1954. This
team also ended a run of three
consecutive exits in the round
of 16. They were knocked out
by Poland after losing a pen-
alty shootout 5-4 at Euro 2016.
We made history tonight,
Further details in this regards can be seen at https://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in
Switzerland captain Granit ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER) Sd/- Mukesh Jindal
Xhaka said.  AGENCIES Advt. No. J.S.V./2021-22/143 Executive Engineer(NW)III
12 mp Leisure millenniumpost
WEDNESDAY, 30 JUNE, 2021 | NEW DELHI

Vanessa Kirby to
star in The Son
Like The Father, The Son has been adapted
by Zeller and Christopher Hampton, from
Zeller’s critically-acclaimed stage play
LOS ANGELES: Actor Vanessa “The young man is is trou-
Kirby has been tapped to play Iain Canning and bled, distant and angry, playing
a pivotal role in ‘The Son’, film- truant from school for months.
maker Florian Zeller’s follow up Emile Sherman are Peter strives to be a better father,
to his feature directorial debut producing the movie searching to help his son with
‘The Father’. those intimate and instinctive
along with Joanna
Booker Prize-winner
According to Variety, the moments of family happiness.
movie also features Hollywood Laurie of See-Saw But the weight of Nicholas’ con-
stars Hugh Jackman and Laura dition sets the family on a dan-
Dern.
Films and Christophe gerous course,” the plotline reads.

Sacred Hunger to get

Like The Father, The Son Spadone Iain Canning and Emile Sher-
has been adapted by Zeller and man are producing the movie
Christopher Hampton, from along with Joanna Laurie of

Zeller’s critically-acclaimed stage
play. The duo recently won the
best adapted screenplay Oscar.
The Son centres on Peter
(Jackman) as his busy life with
series adaptation
new partner Emma (Kirby) and See-Saw Films and Christophe
their baby is thrown into disar- Spadone.
ray when his ex-wife Kate (Dern) Zeller is also producing.
turns up with their teenage son, Shooting will start in coming
Nicholas. weeks. PTI

Karan Johar announces film on

LOS ANGELES: Author Prize with Michael
Barry Unsworth’s Booker Ondaatje’s ‘The English
Prize-winner novel ‘Sacred Patient’.
Hunger’ will be adapted We’re honored to have

lawyer-activist C Sankaran Nair

into a series.
According to Dead-
line, ‘Plan B’ and ‘Marshall’
executive producer Chris
Bongirne and his produc-
tion company Smokestack
Films has joined hands
with financier Stephen
Leist to buy the rights to
the 1992 book.
The story follows
the journey of a strug-
gling young English doc-
tor aboard 18th century
slave ship the Liverpool
Merchant.
In 1992, ‘Sacred Hun-
ger’ shared the Booker
the opportunity to adapt
Unsworth’s poignant work
for the screen. The deeply
powerful story dives deep
into England’s early slave
trade to reveal a tale of
shared humanity as stun-
ningly relevant today as it
was bitingly critical at the
time.
“Television is the per-
fect medium for the brutal
relevance, scope and sweep
of this timely story,” Bon-
girne said. PTI

MUMBAI: Filmmaker Karan Johar on Tues-

day announced that his next production ven- The movie will unravel the
ture is based on the life of C Sankaran Nair,
the former President of the Indian National legendary courtroom battle

Congress and member of the Viceroy's Exec-
utive Council.
Titled ‘The Untold Story of C Sankaran
Nair’, the film is inspired from real life events
and adapted from the book The Case That
Shook the Empire , written by Raghu Palat,
(great-grandson of Sankaran Nair) and his
wife Pushpa Palat.
The movie, to be directed by Karan Singh
Tyagi, will unravel the legendary courtroom
battle that Sankaran Nair fought against the
British Raj to uncover the truth about the Jal-
lianwala Bagh massacre.
Johar, 49, who shared the details about
the film on Twitter, said he was honoured to
share Nair's story with the world.
Extremely excited and honoured to be
bringing the untold story of C. Sankaran
Nair, a historic man to the big screens.
Directed by @karanstyagi, he wrote.
Johar's Dharma Productions will be pre-
senting the movie along with Still & Still
Nushrratt
that Sankaran Nair fought
against the British Raj to
uncover the truth about the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre
Bharuccha is
totally acing
Media Collective.
The makers are yet to announce the cast this all-white
of the movie.
Besides this film, Johar is also produc- look
ing movies ‘Sooryavanshi’, ‘Brahmastra’,
‘Dostana 2’, ‘Meenakshi Sundareshwar’ as
well as Madhuri Dixit-starrer web series
‘Finding Anamika’ and season two of ‘Fabu-
lous Lives of Bollywood Wives’.
His next directorial venture is period
drama ‘Takht’, starring Ranveer Singh, Alia
Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Kareena Kapoor Khan,
Anil Kapoor, Janhvi Kapoor and Bhumi Ped-
nekar. PTI

Blossoming adolescence Arjun Kapoor looks

UNDER TURBULENCE
R
emember…. the
Impressionists?
They wanted to
leave the studio to
capture nature on their can-
vas. Look here…everything
looks a little hazy… the early
morning mist … loose brush
strokes, an opera actor father,
now working in a factory
decodes ‘Sunrise’, a famous
painting of Claude Monet in
front of his son. But Wang
Han, his 11-year-old child,
cannot fathom his father’s
idea of instilling a penchant
for artwork in him so deep
at night. Since a child’s non-
age does not end early, he
becomes all the more pas-
sionate to get a new white
shirt for leading his class-
mates in morning calisthen-
ics in the school. His mother,
though initially refuses to
spend a year’s worth of fab-
ric coupons on such a luxury,
eventually agrees. The entire
factory town, on the other
hand, is seen reeling under
fear with frequent blood-
sheds as a result of violent
conflicts between the Red
Army and the Conservatives.
And, the news of the rape of
a neighbor’s daughter by a
local chieftain makes things
worse for the residents. Soon,
Wang loses his new shirt.
back at year gone by
Grand Prix award at Berlin
International Film Festival,
2001.
What Monet did through On the work front, the actor
his palette, here DOP Dong
Jinsong attempts to paint the will next be seen in the Mohit
same effect on-screen - fram- Suri-directed thriller ‘Ek Villain
ing images through a sugges-
tive haze. The bleak beauty of 2’ and comedy ‘Bhoot Police’
the town, a flowing river with
its virgin riverbank and the MUMBAI: Actor Arjun Kapoor says in the past
block housing of the poverty- one year, from being a tired and confused person,
ridden factory workers in the he has evolved into someone who is ready to face
hilly province of Guizhou in the challenges life has to offer.
China will definitely linger in In an Instagram post, the ‘Sandeep Aur Pinky
the mind of the viewers. The Faraar’ actor, who celebrated his 36th birthday
11 FLOWERS (FILM) film’s tone is set deliberately over the weekend, also thanked his family, friends
somber and repressive with and colleagues for standing by his side.
Language : Mandarin a blend of juvenile pranks. “What a difference a year makes... A year
Director : Wang Xiaoshuai Credit goes to the mischie- ago I was deflated, tired & confused, today I
Year of making : 2011 vous kid-quartet, augment- sit ready with energy, vigour & determina-
Narrative : ing a sense of universality in tion to face any curveball life throws my
the plot. way,” the actor wrote alongside a pho-
Cinematograph: The pint-size kid Liu Wen- tograph of him clicked on his birth-
Sound: qing takes a lot of loads on- day lunch.
Mise-en-scene: screen with his naïve acting. “I just want to acknowledge
Editing : Wang Jingchun as Papa and all those close to me who have
Yan Ni as his wife Deng, both believed in me, supported me &
Using the white shirt meta- look wonderfully unforced as cared for me. My work
phorically, Wang Xiaoshuai, well. Xiaoshuai’s ‘11 Flowers’ mates, friends, family &
a sixth-generation Chinese though sketches brilliantly my baby thank you for
Director explores his own a child’s blossoming adoles- standing by my side,” he
childhood experience during cence under an exploitive added.
the waning Mao-Xi dynasty, environment of the cultural On the work front,
in the mid-70s in his film. revolution in China, it dwells the actor will next be
‘11 Flower’s is crafted beauti- mostly into a world of edu- seen in the Mohit Suri-
fully with the same theme he cated proletariats, who lack directed thriller ‘Ek
used in his earlier film ‘Bei- the desire to fight back. Villain 2’ and comedy
jing Bicycle’ that won Jury MPOST ENTERTAINMENT DESK ‘Bhoot Police’.  PTI