TUESDAY www.thestatesman.

com
14 DECEMBER FIND US ONLINE
Scan this with your
smartphone

2021
twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd
facebook.com/thestatesman1875
Pages 12 |`5|LC

KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR

BLINKEN COMPETES CHANCELLOR SCHOLZ ‘PREVIOUS GOVTS DID NOT ROHIT SHARMA
WITH TOP RUSSIAN PAY MUCH ATTENTION TO RULED OUT OF
OFFICIAL IN INDONESIA DEFENCE SECTOR’ S AFRICA TESTS

P9 P6 P5 P12

WEATHER
Modi opens Kashi Sonia skips speech, gives
message to dissenters
PARTLY CLOUDY SKY. SHALLOW FOG IN THE

Vishwanath Dham
MORNING. THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM
TEMPERATURES WOULD BE AROUND 23 AND
06 DEGREES CELSIUS RESPECTIVELY.
RAINFALL: Nil INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE supposed to travel to Jaipur dent,” she said while address-
RELATIVE HUMIDITY Calls it a symbol of India’s spiritual soul, energy and dynamism NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER due to her health reasons but ing the CWC meeting.
decided to come for the rally, The Congress has already
Max: 97% Min: 41% STATESMAN NEWS Congress president Sonia but did not address. Rahul announced its schedule for
TEMPERATURE SERVICE BJP CMs' conclave in Gandhi skipped her speech addressed the huge gathering internal party elections and
Max: 22.4°C (-1) Min: 06.6°C (-2) NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER Varanasi: Uttarakhand and paved way for Rahul and attacked the BJP on Hin- the membership drive is on
SUN RISES SUN SETS Chief Minister Pushkar Gandhi who addressed the dutva and inflation. and the party will elect a new

P
07:06 hrs 17:26 hrs rime Minister
MOON RISES MOON SETS Narendra Modi
14:26 hrs 03:33 hrs today inaugurat-
ed Shri Kashi
Vishwanath Dham in
Varanasi, saying the new
complex was not just a
THUMBNAILS grand building but a
symbol of the “Sanatan”
culture of India.
“It is a symbol of our
spiritual soul. It is a sym-
bol of India’s antiquity, tra-
ditions, India’s energy
and dynamism,” he said.
The PM also prayed at
the Kaal Bhairav Temple
and Kashi Vishvanath
Dham in Kashi and took
a holy dip in river Ganga.
Starting his address
with pranam at the feet
of ‘Nagar Kotwal’ (Lord
Suspended Rajya Sabha MPs with others protest
near Mahatma Gandhi statue during Winter Ses-
Kaal Bhairav), he sought
sion, in the Capital on Monday. SUBRATA DUTTA
the lord’s blessings for the
countrymen. Modi cited
Puranas which says that
Retail inflation rises to 4.91 pc in Nov: Retail as soon as one enters Ka-
inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price shi, one becomes free
Index, in November marginally rose to 4.91 per from all bondage. “Bless-
cent, accelerating towards the upper limit of ings of Lord Vishweshwa-
Reserve Bank of India's target range as fruit ra, a supernatural energy
and vegetable prices climbed, the government awakens our inner soul
data showed today. The Consumer Price Index as soon as we come here.”
based retail inflation stood at 4.48 per cent in The PM said, “when
October 2021 and 6.93 per cent in the same one comes here, they
month of last year. P8 will see not only faith but
will also feel the glory of
the past here. How antiq-
SC agrees to hear plea over gig workers: The uity and novelty come
Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre alive together. How the
to respond on a plea seeking social security inspirations of the ancient
and welfare benefits for "gig workers" are giving direction to the
employed by online food delivery, taxi aggre- future, we are witnessing
gators such as Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato etc. this very vividly in Vish-
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of
Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi on Monday. ANI
to every worker in the
construction of this grand
complex despite the pan-
demic.
He also felicitated the
workers and had lunch
with them. He lauded
the artisans, people asso-
ciated with the con-
struction, administra-
tion and those families
who had their homes
there.
The PM said the
invaders attacked this
city, tried to destroy it. The
city has been a witness
to the history of
wanath Dham complex.” Aurangzeb’s atrocities
Dwelling on the glory and his terror who, he
of Kashi, Modi said that said, tried to change civ-
Kashi is imperishable ilization by the sword, and
and is under the patron- tried to crush the culture
age of Lord Shiva. He with fanaticism. But the
expressed his gratitude soil of this country is
Singh Dhami, Haryana gathering at a Jaipur rally on But sources say that the skip President in 2022.
CM Manohar Lal Khat- Sunday. Sources say that she was deliberate and it was a Majority of the Congress
tar, Goa CM Pramod has given a subtle message to clear message to the dis- leaders have maintained that
Sawant are among the the dissenters that Congress senters that they should fall Rahul should become presi-
BJP-ruled states’ CMs will move forward under in line and Rahul is the accept- dent and the idea in CWC meet
which met at BJP CM Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. able leader of the party. Rahul was mooted by A K Antony fol-
Conclave in Varanasi, This is the second time after will also address a rally on 16 lowed by Rajasthan Chief
Uttar Pradesh on Mon- 16 October that the Congress December in Dehradun to Minister Ashok Gehlot and
day. interim president tried to honour army veterans. other leaders.
Himachal Pradesh give message to the dissent- Sonia, responding to However, the new president
CM Jai Ram Thakur, ing group. In the meeting of queries by Congress dissenters will have the tough task to
Gujarat CM Bhupen- the Congress Working Com- over who takes decisions in revive the grand old party
drabhai Patel, Aruna- mittee (CWC), the highest the party, said on October 16 and take it to the winning podi-
chal Pradesh CM Pema decision making body of the that she is the “full-time and um in crucial assembly elec-
Khandu were also seen party, called in October, she hands-on Congress Presi- tions of Gujarat in 2022 fol-
present at the conclave. had said that no one should dent”. lowed by Madhya Pradesh,
BJP had organised a talk to the media. “I am, if you will allow me Rajasthan and Chhattisgrah
CM conclave in Vara- However, the Congress to say so, a full-time and in 2023 and the general elec-
nasi, on the day of the maintained that she was not hands-on Congress Presi- tions in 2024.
inauguration of the
Kashi Vishwanath Cor-
ridor project by Prime
Minister Narendra TRIBUTES
Modi, for the CMs and
deputy CMs of BJP-
ruled states. ANI
different from the rest of
the world. If there is an
Aurangzeb, said the PM,
Shivaji is also there. If any
Salar Masood comes,
then brave warriors like
King Suheldev make him
taste the might of India’s
unity. And even during
the British era, the peo-
ple of Kashi knew what
happened to Hastings, he
added.
The PM said that Kashi
Vishwanath Dham will
give a decisive direction
Vice-Presient M Venkaiah Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and others pay homage to martyrs
to India and lead to a
of Parliament attack on its 20th anniversary at Parliament House, on Monday. SUBRATA DUTTA
brighter future.

2 TMC MPs submit privilege LS passes NDPS

Fresh cases dip to 7,350, 202 deaths Govt provoking
notice against ex-CJI Gogoi (Amendment) Opp to disrupt
Bill to correct STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE capital on Monday identi- his employees and in turn they House: Kharge
ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
Council.
“Addressing a question on
drafting error NEW DELHI / BENGALURU/JAIPUR,
13 DECEMBER
fied 30 fresh cases of Covid-
19 out of 46,169 tests con-
had approached a private lab
near Electronics City whose
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER

Two Trinamool Congress
Rajya Sabha MPs on Monday
submitted a privilege notice
against former Chief Justice
of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi for
his comments regarding the
House during his interview to
a private channel.
his attendance in the Rajya
Sabha, Gogoi stated-You
ignore the fact that for one or
two sessions, I had submit-
ted a letter to the House say-
ing due to Covid (on grounds
of medical advice) I will not
be attending the session.
Until a little before the lastWin-
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
The Lok Sabha on Monday
passed the Narcotics Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances
(Amendment) Bill 2021 with
voice vote.
The NDPS (Amendment)
Bill, 2021 was introduced in
India logged 7,350 fresh Covid-
19 cases and 202 deaths in the
last 24 hours, the Union health
ministry said on Monday.
The nationwide toll now
stands at 4,75,636.
The recovery of 7,973
patients in the last 24 hours
ducted for the purpose, accord-
ing to the Delhi government's
latest health bulletin. The
positivity rate stood at 0.06
per cent.
Four held for fake Covid
report: The Karnataka police
have arrested four persons in
lab technicians were bribed Leader of opposition Mallikar-
and swapped the swab sam- jun Kharge on Monday alleged
ples of the South African with
those of a healthy person.
3,46,97,860 in the Rajya Sabha that by not
considering revoking the
They had prepared a fake suspension of the 12 MPs, the
negative RT-PCR report by 26 government is forcing the op-
November which was then
shown to the hotel staff. How-
91,456 position to disrupt the House.
Kharge said, “The gov-
ever, all his contacts have ernment is not considering

TMC’s Jawahar Sircar and
Mausam Noor submitted the
notice in the Upper House. The
ex-CJI also came to the par-
liament in the morning today.
In the notice addressed to
Rajya Sabha secretary general
PC Mody, the two MPs said
that Rajya Sabha MP Ranjan
Gogoi on 9 December made
certain statements in a video
interview to a news channel
that were in contempt of the
Rajya Sabha and constitute
a breach of privilege of the
ter session, you could enter
the RS after only a RT-PCR and
personally I did not feel com-
fortable going there. Social dis-
tancing norms have been
enforced, they are not being
observed. The sitting arrange-
ments I don’t find very com-
fortable. I go to the RS when
I feel like, when I think there
are matters of importance on
which I should speak...I am
an independent member of
the House,” the notice said,
quoting Gogoi.
the Lok Sabha on December
6, 2021 which seeks to replace
the Narcotic Drugs and Psy-
chotropic Substances (Amen-
dment) Ordinance, 2021.
Moving the Bill, finance
minister Nirmala Sitharaman
said that this Bill will amend
the NDPS Act, 1985 to corre-
ct a drafting error. The Act
regulates certain acts such
as manufacture, transport
and consumption related
to narcotic drugs and psyc-
hotropic substances. IANS
has taken the cumulative tally
to 3,41,30,768.
The active caseload stands
at 91,456, the lowest in 561
days. The daily positivity rate
stands at 0.86 per cent, below
2 per cent for last 70 days and
less than 3 per cent for 105 con-
secutive days now.
With the administration of
19,10,917 vaccine doses in
the last 24 hours, the inocu-
lation coverage reached 133.17
crore as of today morning.
Delhi cases: The national
connection with providing a
fake RT-PCR certificate to a 66-
year-old South African nation-
al who tested positive for
Covid-19, sources in the health
department said on Monday.
Police said that two employ-
ees who worked in a software
company in Bengaluru owned
by the South African,
and two staff members of a
private lab, have been arrest-
ed for making the fake RT-PCR
report.
He had approached two of
tested negative.
Rajasthan second highest in
Omicron cases: Four fresh
cases of Omicron variant have
been detected in Rajasthan
which took the total number
of infected people in the state
to 13, health officials said on
Monday.
After Maharashtra, the
UNION HEALTH MINISTRY
state now stands second in the
country with the highest num-
ber of Omicron-infected
patients. (With agency inputs)
7,350
its decision, and as you (chair-
man) is the custodian of the
House, we request that the
suspension be revoked. The
adamant view of the gov-
7,973 ernment is to force the oppo-
sition to disrupt the House,
so we decide to walkout.”
Chairman M Venkaiah
4,75,636 Naidu adjourned the House
till 12 noon and said both the
FIGURES AS OF sides should resolve the mat-
8.00 A.M. MONDAY ter. “Is this the way to run the
13 DECEMBER 2021
House? House adjourned till
noon,” he said. IANS

2 policemen killed, 12 injured as DRDO successfully Harnaaz Sandhu crowned Miss Universe
terrorists attack bus in Srinagar tests SMART system SNS & AGENCIES
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, 13 DECEMBER
An officer was among two
policemen killed and twelve
others injured on Monday
evening when terrorists
attacked a bus of the J&K
Armed Police (JKAP) in Sri-
nagar. Among the victims
was an assistant Sub-Inspec-
tor of police, Ghulam Hassan
and Shafique Ali, senior grade
constable, police said.
Condition of two injured
cops was stated critical.
Reports said that the bus
was carrying the JKAP per-
sonnel of 9th battalion from
Srinagar to headquarters of
the armed force at Zewan.
Fourteen cops were injured
and four of them suffered
critical wounds.
The injured policemen
were rushed to the hospital
where two critically injured
succumbed.
Taking advantage of dark-
ness in the area, terrorists
indiscriminately fired at the
bus near the Pantha Chowk.
Security forces have cor-
doned the area and also sealed
the Srinagar-Jammu high-
way that was being combed.
Earlier during the day, two
unidentified terrorists were
killed in an encounter with
security forces at Rangret in
Srinagar.
Meanwhile, an alert has
been issued in Kashmir after
a special police officer (SPO)
Saqib Ahmad Tantrey of a
BJP activist Abdul Rashid
Zargar in Kupwara fled with
two AK-47 rifles.
A massive search operation
has been launched to track
down the deserter cop.
In another incident, a Pak-
istani woman intruder was
shot dead by BSF at the inter-
national border in Jammu.
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BALASORE, 13 DECEMBER
The Defence Research and
Development Organisation
(DRDO)-developed super-
sonic missile assisted torpe-
do system was successfully
launched from Wheeler Island
in Odisha on Monday.
The system is a next gen-
eration missile-based stand-
off torpedo delivery system.
During the mission, full range
capability of the missile was
successfully demonstrated.
The system has been
designed to enhance anti-sub-
marine warfare capability
far beyond the convention-
al range of the torpedo, said
a DRDO release .
The entire trajectory was
monitored by the electro
optic telemetry system, var-
ious range radars, including
the down range instrumen-
tation and down range ships.
The missile carried a torpe-
do, parachute delivery system
and release mechanisms.
The canister-based missile
system consists of advanced
technologies viz. two stage
solid propulsion, electro-
mechanical actuators and
precision inertial navigation.
A number of DRDO lab-
oratories developed various
technologies for this advanced
system and industry aided the
development and produc-
tion of many sub-systems.
Defence minister Rajnath
Singh congratulated the teams
for the successful test and said
the development of the sys-
tem is a perfect example of
building futuristic defence sys-
tems in the country.
Secretary, department of
defence R&D & chairman
DRDO, Dr G Satheesh Reddy
said the system will bolster
Navy and promote self-reli-
ance in defence, harnessing
expertise and capabilities,
stated the DRDO release.
After more than two decades,
India’s Harnaaz Sandhu was
crowned the 70th Miss Uni-
verse, topping a field of some
80 contestants in a pageant
that was touched by politics
and the pandemic.
India was elated as messa-
ges pourned in from every co-
rner on social media as Sand-
hu became the third Indian
beauty to conquer the title.
Lara Dutta was the last to
be crowned Miss Universe
in 2000 and Sushmita Sen proud of you!!!! Congratulations been 21 years since India got
the first in 1994. @harnaazsandhu_03. Thank Miss Universe crown and it’s
“Congratulations @Har- you for representing India so happening right now.”
naazSandhu03 !!!! Welcome to beautifully, for bringing back Harnaaz is an alumna of
the club!!! We’ve waited 21 long the Miss Universe Crown to Chandigarh’s Post Graduate
years for this!!! You make us India after 21 years (by a 21- Government College Sector 11
So So proud!!! A billion dreams year-old, you were destined).” and also a Punjabi film actress.
come true!! @MissDivaOrg The previously reigning Her mother is a gynaecologist.
@MissUniverse,” Dutta tweet- Miss Universe, Andrea Meza The young model also has
ed. of Mexico, crowned her suc- numerous pageant titles to her
Taking to Instagram, Sen cessor, a Bollywood actress, name like Times Fresh Face
wrote, “#yehbaat ‘Har Hin- in the Israeli Red Sea resort Miss Chandigarh 2017, Miss
dustani Ki Naz’ Harnaaz Kaur town of Eilat. Max Emerging Star India 2018
Sandhu #MissUniverse2021 Sandhu said she was feel- and Femina Miss India Pun-
#INDIAAAAAA...Soooooo ing “overwhelmed because it’s jab 2019. (ANI photo)
02
I paid my homage to Havaldar Satpal Rai ji who laid down his life
in the service of our nation, and thanked him for his service
RAJU BISTA, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT, DARJEELING

NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021 ON HIS PARLIAMENT SPEECH ON THE DEATH OF HAV RAI OF DARJEELING IN THE TAMIL NADU HELICOPTER CRASH

Edu dept seeks reopening

‘GREEN RIDE’
LG reviews status of
traffic management

of colleges, schools in city

ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Anil Bai-

jal chaired a meeting of senior officials
Educational institutions were closed in view of the worsening pollution situation on the status of traffic management
in the national capital on Monday and
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE uation is steadily improving. If we emphasized the vital linkages between
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER look at the pollution figures from the effective traffic management and
1st of December till yesterday, the reduction in pollution.

T
he Delhi government's Edu-
cation Department has
sought immediate reopen-
ing of colleges, coaching
institutes and schools for grade 6
and above as also of primary schools
up to the 5th grade with effect from
20 December. The schools and col-
leges were ordered closed in view
of the worsening pollution situation
in the city.
The Environment Department
has forwarded the Education Depart-
ment’s proposal to the Air Quality
Management Commission for its
decision as authorised by the
Supreme Court. Stating this here on
Monday, Delhi Environment Min-
ister Gopal Rai said these were
among the important decisions
taken at a joint meeting of the Delhi
government’s different departments
held with regard to the pollution sit-
uation in the city. Gopal Rai told media
persons that appropriate action
with regard to the proposals given
to the Environment Department
would be taken on the basis of the
decision of the commission.
Rai stated that the various agen-
cies requesting to ease the ban on
construction and demolition activ-
ities had been directed to submit writ-
ten applications, which would be for-
warded to the Air Quality Manage-
ment Commission and reviewed on
16 December. The minister informed
that besides this, the ban on trucks
entering Delhi will continue for
now, and essential services will con-
tinue to be exempted. The anti-dust
campaign, the anti-open burning
drive and checking of the PUC cer-
tificate of vehicles in Delhi will con-
tinue till further orders.
Gopal Rai said, “The trend over
the past one week shows that the pol-
lution levels in Delhi, which had
become quite severe after Diwali, are
gradually going down and the sit-
AQI has remained within the range
of 250 to 325.
Regarding the current pollution
levels, experts have said that we might
see a slight increase in this over the
next three days.
Pollution is expected to decrease
after 16 December.” The Environ-
ment Minister added, “The ban on
trucks for entering Delhi, barring
essential services, and the request
for easing the curbs on construction
and demolition activities will be dis-
cussed at a review meeting to be held
on 16 December. The dust control
measures like water sprinkling will
also continue for now. All depart-
ments, the MCDs, the PWD and the
Fire Brigade have been directed to
sustain this campaign until further
orders. So far, 6,953 sites have been
inspected by the respective teams
under the anti-dust campaign. Out
of these, 597 have been issued
notices and imposed fines amount-
ing to a total of Rs 1.65 crore.”
"Chaired a meeting on the status
of traffic management in Delhi,"
Tweeted Delhi LG Baijal. "While appre-
ciating the progress made so far,
Bank of Baroda celebrates the ‘Green Ride - Ek Pehal Swachh
emphasized the vital linkage between Hawa ki Aur’ initiative with model and fitness enthusiast Milind
effective traffic management and Soman (left). Under this initiative, the actor accomplished 1400-
reduction in pollution and called km journey from Mumbai to Delhi via Gujarat, Rajasthan and
upon the officials to use state of the Haryana on a bicycle and on an eco-friendly electric car. SNS
art technology to strengthen the cur-
rent institutional mechanism of traf-
fic management," Baijal tweeted.
In the meeting, Delhi LG "Reviewed
the progress of Intelligent Traffic Man-
Delhi airport installs e-boarding
agement System (ITMS), status of
measures taken for decongestion and gates for seamless travelling
prevention of accidents, the status of
enforcement including E-challan sys- ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL e-gates can simply walk past
tem etc," read a tweet. NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER the e-boarding gates for
The meeting was attended by the security checks and then
Commissioner of Police, Additional The Delhi airport has intro- board a flight without hav-
Chief Secretary (Home) and other duced e-boarding gates ing to show their documents
senior officers. across all three terminals again," said DIAL.
The air quality in the national cap- for passengers flying out of E-boarding gates have
ital moved to the 'poor' from the the city for contactless, seam- been set up at Terminal 3 and
'Very Poor' category on Sunday morn- less travelling amid the Terminal 2 and deployment
ing. COVID-19 pandemic. is in progress at Terminal 1.
Delhi International Air- These e-gates allow pas-
port Limited (DIAL) said sengers carrying wide lug-
that following the govern- gage/passengers with

Kejriwal launches scheme for people to remain healthy & happy

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal on Monday launched
a "Dilli ki Yogshala" scheme to
ensure that people remain
healthy and happy, and need
no medication.
The idea was conceptualised
in February 2021 and would
be implemented with effect
from January 2022, he
announced.
While launching the
scheme, Kejriwal said the basic
idea behind the scheme was
that the government should
facilitate the emergence of a
people's movement for yoga
for keeping everybody in the
city healthy and happy. Under
the scheme, the Delhi gov-
ernment will provide a yoga
trainer free of cost for provid-
ing training to people for doing
regular yoga to remain free from
diseases. All that Delhi’ites
have to do is to form a group
of at least 25 persons and give
a missed call at 9013585858.
Soon, the caller will get a
call back from one of the offi-
cials assigned the job of pro-
viding a yoga trainer to such
groups free of cost. The yoga
expert will train people to
practice yoga on their own so
that they do not fall ill.
Kejriwal said, "We have
been thinking for some time
to do something so that Del-
hiites not only remain healthy
but also happy and calm so that
happenings like the road rage
that we often see are not there.
But when we conceptualised
the scheme, we could visualise
that it was not easy to make
yoga a people's movement as
it was costly to get a yoga
trainer. People will not take
much interest in the scheme
unless a good trainer is pro-
vided to them free of cost.
Besides this, such a beneficial
activity can be carried on reg-
ularly only if people do it in
groups. We began working on
it in February this year and now
we are in a position to imple-
ment it."
The Chief Minister con-
gratulated the officials who
ment's Digital India cam-
paign, GMR-led DIAL has
rolled out an e-boarding
facility to enable faster and
brought the programme to seamless processing of the
this stage. He said tomorrow departing passengers across
the idea was bound to be all flights.
copied in other states as it hap- "All boarding gates have
pened in the case of other contact-less e-boarding gates
such schemes launched in with boarding card scan-
the past in Delhi. ners, which will allow pas-
He pointed that the Delhi sengers to flash their phys-
government today had 400 ical or e-boarding cards to
trained yoga trainers ready verify flight details and once
for implementing the scheme done, they can proceed for
aimed at helping people remain security checks. E-gates are
healthy and happy. Around empowered by touchless
20,000 people are likely to technologies. Passengers
benefited by it at this stage, he who have verified their board-
added. ing passes by scanning at the
reduced mobility (PRM) to
pass through it easily, pas-
sengers carrying only the
hand baggage can walk
through the normal lane e-
gates, DIAL added.
The touchless procedure
not only minimizes touch-
ing of facility surfaces and
people interaction under
COVID-19 but also shortens
the boarding time.
The facility has reduced
50 per cent of the transac-
tion time, resulting in lower
queues, and has also
improved the security aspect
where boarding card details
are verified with the airlines
back office.

OPENING OF HEALTH CLUB / GYM
Approx. 2000 sq.ft. area
available at Ordnance Club,
Calcutta for opening of Health
Club / Gym. Great ambience &
excellent location.
If interested, please call on
Mob. (9622196664), Tele. (033-
22230151).
Note: For terms and conditions
visit: www.ordnanceclub.com
LEGAL NOTICES
IN THE COURT OF
MS. SHEETAL CHAUDHARY
PRADHAN
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
SS-209/2021
Simpsy Teckchandani, d/o
Late Shri Kishu Teckchandani,
r/o W-31, Third Floor, Greater
Kailash-1, South Delhi, Delhi-
110048.
— Petitioner
Versus
1. Govt. of NCT of Delhi,
Through SDM, Hauz Khas,
M.B.Road, Saket, New Delhi-
110017.
2. Dimpsy Teckchandani.
d/o Late Shri Kishu Teckchan-
dani, r/o W-31, Third Floor,
GreaterKailash-1, South Delhi,
Delhi-110048.
— Respondents
Whereas on application U/S
372 of the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 has been made by
Simpsy Teckchandani suc-
cessor of Late Ranjana
Teckchandani And Late Kishu
Teckchandani for grant of
Succession Certificate in
respect of debts/securities
of deceased.
And whereas the said appli-
cant shall come for hearing on
21-01-2022 at 10-00 A.m.
Therefore, the public at
large is hereby given notice if
any person has objection to
the grant of succession cer-
tificate in favour of the said
applicant, he may appear and
file objections in writing, in
person or through duly
appointed pleader, on the
said date and time.
Given under my hand and
the Seal on 09-12-2021.
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
MS. SHEETAL CHAUDHARY
PRADHAN
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
SS-180/2021
1. Mr. Sunil Kumar, s/o Late
Shri Raju.
2. Ms. Sonu, d/o Late Shri
Raju, Both R/o A-175, Om
Enclave Pat-I, Agwanpur, Amar
Nagar, Faridabad, Haryana.
3. Ms. Jyoti, d/o Shri Raju, r/o
433/1, Ground Floor, Gali No.
02, Meethapur, Badarpur,
South Delhi, Delhi-110044.
4. Ms. Vejendri, w/o Late
Shri Vikash, r/o A-175, Om
Enclave Pat-I, Agwanpur, Amar
Nagar, Faridabad, Haryana.
—Petitioner
Versus
1.The State
2. The Commission/Deputy
Commissioner or South Delhi
Municipal Corporation (SDMC)
Office at Shri Aurobindo Marg
Geeen Park, Extension. Block-
A, Green Park, New Delhi.
(with service record and
after death beneifts of
deceased due.)
3. Incharge SDMC Office
Ward No. 199, Jalvihar, Laj-
pat Nagar, New Delhi.
(with service record and
after death beneifts of
deceased due.)
—Respondents
Whereas on application U/S
372 of the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 has been made by
Mr. Sunil Kumar & Ors. suc-
cessor of Late Raju for grant of
Succession Certificate in
respect of debts/securities
of deceased.
And whereas the said appli-
cant shall come for hearing
on19-01-2022 at 10-00 A.m.
Therefore, the public at
large is hereby given notice if
any person has objection to
the grant of succession cer-
tificate in favour of the said
applicant, he may appear and
file objections in writing, in
person or through duly
appointed pleader, on the
said date and time.
Given under my hand and
the Seal on 08-12-2021.
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
MS. SHEETAL CHAUDHARY
PRADHAN
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
SS-215/2021
Anit Sharma, w/o Late Sh.
Manoj Kumar, r/o H.No. J-
3/363, DDA Flats, Kalkaji, South
Delhi-110019.
Mb:- 9540009826.
Adhar Card No. 620708021201
—Petitioner
Versus
1.The State of NCT of
Delhi,Through SDM Kalkaji
Plot No. 37, Tuglkabad Insti-
tutional Area, M.B. Road, New
Delhi-110062.
2. Indian Post, Opp. To Police
Station, Block-I, Lajpat Nagar-
III, New Delhi-110024.
3. Nikhil Kumar, s/o Lt Sh.
Manoj Kunmar, r/o H. No. J-
3/363, DDA Flats, Kalkaji, South
Delhi, Delhi-110019.
E-mail ID:
kumarnikhil105@gmailcom.
Mob. No. 9990009826.
4. Sh. Akhil Kumar,s/o Lt.
sh. Manoj Kumar, r/o H. No. J-
3/363, DDA Flats, Kalkaji, South
Delhi, Delhi-110019.
E-mail ID:
kumarakhil55@gmailcom
Mob. 9971270096.
2.
3. Incharge SDMC Office
Ward No. 199, Jalvihar, Laj-
pat Nagar, New Delhi.
(with service record and
after death beneifts of
deceased due.)
—Respondents
Whereas on application U/S
372 of the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 has been made by
Mr. Anita Sharma. successor
of Late Manoj Kumar for grant
of Succession Certificate in
respect of debts/securities
of deceased.
And whereas the said appli-
cant shall come for hearing on
21-01-2022 at 10-00 A.m.
Therefore, the public at
large is hereby given notice if
any person has objection to
the grant of succession cer-
tificate in favour of the said
applicant, he may appear and
file objections in writing, in
person or through duly
appointed pleader, on the
said date and time.
Given under my hand and
the Seal on 09-12-2021.
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
MS. SHEETAL CHAUDHARY
PRADHAN
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
SS-181/2021
Arun Kumar Bahl, Aged
about 62 Years, s/o Late Sh.
Dina Nath Bahl, Alias D.N.
Bahl, r/o S-414, Greater Kailash-
I, New Delhi-110048.
Versus
State Through SDM ITC Lim-
ited Virginia House, 37, Jawa-
harlal Nehru Road, Kolkata-
700071, India
—Respondents
Whereas on application U/S
372 of the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 has been made by
Mr. Arun Kumar Bahlsucces-
sor of Late Dina Nath Bahl @
D.N. Bahl for grant of Succes-
sion Certificate in respect of
debts/securities of deceased.
And whereas the said appli-
cant shall come for hearing on
19-01-2022 at 10-00 A.m.
Therefore, the public at
large is hereby given notice if
any person has objection to
the grant of succession cer-
tificate in favour of the said
applicant, he may appear and
file objections in writing, in
person or through duly
appointed pleader, on the
said date and time.
Given under my hand and
the Seal on 08-12-2021.
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
Seal of the Court
PROCLAMATION REQUIRING
ATTENDANCE OF
DEFENDANT
(Order 5, Rule 20 of the Code
of Civil Procedure)
In the Court of
Ms. Chitranshi Arora
Civil Judge-02
Room No. 8 Ground Floor
South-East
Saket Courts Complex
New Delhi
Case Reg. No.- CS SCJ-
1632/2019
Uphar Finvest Ltd.
— Plaintiff
Versus
Ajay Kumar Shukla And Anr.
— Defendant
To,
1. Mr. Ajay Kumar Shukla, H.
No. TA-24, Gali No. 1. Tugh-
lakabad Extn. Reliance Fresh,
New Delhi-110019.
Also at: 1193/13, Govind-
puri, Kalkaji, New Delhi-110019.
2. Praveen Pramanik A-80/A,
Bhoomiheen Camp, DDA Flat
Kalkaji, New Delhi-110019.
Whereas you are inten-
tionally evading service of
summons, it is hereby notified
that if you shall not defend the
case on the 01th day of Feb-
ruary, 2022, the day fixed for
the final disposal, it will be
heard and determined ex-
parte.
Given under my hand and
the Seal of the Court on this
03rd day of December, 2021.
Civil Judge-02
South-East
Saket Courts
New Delhi
Seal of the Court
IN THE HIGH COURT OF
DELHI AT NEW DELHI
(Ordinary Original Civil
Jurisdiction)
CS (OS) No. 429/2016
Sh. Desh Raj
—Plaintiff
Versus
Sh. Mam Chand & Ors.
— Defendants
To,
Defendant No. 27, Smt. Shan-
ti (Since deceased) Through
Legal Heirs:-
27(a) Sh. Kishan, (son), s/o
Late Shiv Charan, r/o Village
Habibpur, Nangla, Balani, Distt.
Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh.
27(b) Sh. Hargian Singh,
(son),s/o Late Shiv Charan,
Maruti Kunj, Bhondsi, District,
Gurugram, Haryana.
Whereas the abovenamed
plaintiff has instituted a suit
for partition against the above-
named defendants and
Whereas it has been shown to
the satisfaction of the Court
that it is not possible to serve
you in the ordinary way, there-
fore, this notice is given by
publication directing you the
abovenamed defendants to
make appearance before the
Court of Ld. Joint Registrar
(Judicial) on 16-12-2021 at 11-
00 a.m.
Take notice that in default of
your appearance on the day
beforementioned, the peti-
tion/application will be heard
and determined in your
absence.
Given under my hand and
the seal of this court on this
the 09-12-2020.
Assistant Registrar
(Original)
for Registrar General
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
MS. SHEETAL CHAUDHARY
PRADHAN
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
SS-183/2021
Savita, Aged about 62 Years,
d/o Late Sh. Kishori Lal, r/o B-
36, Ground Floor, Amar Colony,
Lajpat Nagar-IV, New Delhi-
110024.
Versus
1. State Through SDM
Defence Colony, Old Gargi
College Building Lajpat Nagar-
IV, New Delhi-110024
E-mail ID:
defencesdm@nic.in
2. Reliace Industries Ltd.
Maker Chambers-IV Nariman
Point, Mumbai 400021. India
info@ril.com
—Respondents
Whereas on application U/S
372 of the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 has been made by
Mr. Savita successor of Late
Swarn Kaur for grant of Suc-
cession Certificate in respect
of debts/securities of
deceased.
And whereas the said appli-
cant shall come for hearing on
19-01-2022 at 10-00 A.m.
Therefore, the public at
large is hereby given notice if
any person has objection to
the grant of succession cer-
tificate in favour of the said
applicant, he may appear and
file objections in writing, in
person or through duly
KOLKATA
Statesman House,
4, Chowringhee Square
Kolkata-700 001
Tel: (033) 22127070-76,
(033) 41071700
Fax: (033) 2212-6181 / 7107-1780
Email: thestatesman@vsnl.com
statesmandisplay@gmail.com
thestatesmanclassified@gmail.com
DELHI
Statesman House,
148, Barakhamba Road,
New Delhi-110 001
Tel: (011) 2331 5911
Hiten Rathore
hiten.statesman@gmail.com
Mob: 9212192123
Tel: 011-43043793
Ishan House (2nd floor)
A-90, Sector II, NOIDA,
UP 201 301
Tel: (0120) 4171421
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
delhi@thestatesmangroup.com
BHUBANESWAR
Plot 3A, Zone B, Sector A,
Mancheswar Industrial Estate,
Bhubaneswar-751 010.
Tel: (0674) 2588060/61/62/ 2586371,
Telefax: 0674-2588061
Email:
bhubaneswar@thestatesmangroup.com
statesmanbbsr@gmail.com
AIR-SURCHARGE; Kathmandu - Re. 2, Eastern Region - Re. 1
appointed pleader, on the
said date and time.
Given under my hand and
the Seal on 08-12-2021.
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
Seal of the Court
IN THE COURT OF
MS. SHEETAL CHAUDHARY
PRADHAN
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
(South East)
Saket Courts, New Delhi
SS-191/2021
Geeta, s/o Sh. Ram Kishan
Sharma, w/o Late Sh. Pawan,
r/o H. No. 103, Gali No. 8, Garhi
Siri Niwaspuri, S.O. East of
Kailash Phase-I, New Delhi-
110065.
— Petitioner No. 1
Lakshay, s/o Late Shri
Pawan (Minor Through Her
Natural Guardian/Mother),
R/o H. No. 103, Gali No. 8 Garhi
Siri Niwaspuri, S.O. East of
Kailash Phase-I, New Delhi-
110065.
— Petitioner No. 2
Dhruv, s/o Late Shri Pawan,
(Minor Through Her Natural
Guardian/Mother), R/o H. No.
103, Gali No. 8, Garhi Siri
Niwaspuri, S.O. East of Kailash
Phase-I, New Delhi-110065.
— Petitioner No. 3
Versus
State Through SDM (South
East) DM Office Road, Nation-
al Park, Old Gargi College
Building, Lajpat Nagar-4, New
SILIGURI
Spencer Plaza, 18/19, 1st Floor
Burdwan Road
Above Vishal Mega Mart
Siliguri-734005, West Bengal
Ph.: 9832082429
Email:
sil_statesman@yahoo.co.in
SHIMLA
Cabin No. 305, P. C. Chambers
Near Jodha Niwas
The Mall Shimla-171001, H.P.
Tel: 0177-2815000
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
shimla@thestatesmangroup.com
HYDERABAD
The Statesman Limited, 2nd
Floor, UNI Building,
A.C. Guards, Hyderabad-500004,
Mob: 9866323009
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
hyderabad@thestatesmangroup.com
BANGALORE
No. 68, First Floor, Gold Tower,
50 Residency Road, Bangalore-
560025.
Tel.; 080-22229129, 080-22234813
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
bangalore@thestatesmangroup.com
All other stations in India - Re. 1
Delhi-110024. IN THE HIGH COURT OF
—Respondent No. 1. DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd. PROCLAMATION OF SALE
(Through its Branch Mana-
Execution Petition No. 44 of
2016
gar) Operation Center, 90-A,
(Arising out of CS(OS) No.
Udyog Vihar, Sector 18, Guru-
gram-122015.
1366/2015
Lakshmi Builders, Through
—Respondent No. 2. its Proprietor,
Mr. Vinod Sharma
Max Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
(Through its Branch Mana- — Decree Holder
Versus
gar) Registered Office, Max
House, 3rd Floor, 1 Dr. Jha
Devinder Lakra
—Judgment Debtors
Marg, Okhla, New Delhi-110020. To,
—Respondent No. 3. The General Public,
—Respondents Whereas the abovenoted
execution petition has been
Whereas on application U/S
filed by the aforesaid Decree
372 of the Indian Succession
Act, 1925 has been made by
Holder for execution of Judg-
ment and Decree dated 03-
Mr. Geeta Devi & Ors. suc-
cessor of Late Ved Prakash for
03-2016 passed in CS(OS) No.
1366/2015 for recovery of
grant of Succession Certifi- amont along with interest
and cost till realization and
cate in respect of debts/secu-
rities of deceased. whereas this Court has
ordered to sell the property
And whereas the said appli-
comprise in Plot No. 663, Vil-
cant shall come for hearing on
lage Mundka, Delhi by Public
04-01-2022 at 10-00 A.m. Auction by Court Auctioner
Therefore, the public at on 20-01-2022 at the afore-
large is hereby given notice if said property. The reserve
any person has objection to price of the property com-
prise in plot No. 663, Village
the grant of succession cer-
Mundka, Delhi is fixed at Rs.
tificate in favour of the said
55.00 Lacs. The Details of the
applicant, he may appear and
property for realization of the
file objections in writing, in amount shown herein above
person or through duly are as under:-
appointed pleader, on the Schedule of Property
said date and time. The Property Comprise in
Plot No. 663, Village Mundka,
Given under my hand and
Delhi.
the Seal on 08-12-2021.
Date & Time of inspection of
ACJ/CCJ/ARC
the suit property by the
(South East)
prospective buyers. (The DH
would make the neceassary
Saket Courts, New Delhi
arrangements in this regard in
Seal of the Court
MUMBAI
5, Kasturi Buildings, Jamshedji
Tata Road, Mumbai-400 020
Tel: (022) 2202 1045,
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
mumbai@thestatesmangroup.com
manuelfrancis@thestatesman.com
CHENNAI
Fagun Mansion (4th floor), 26,
Ethiraj Road, Chennai-600 008, Tel:
(044) 28278037, 28224800
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
chennai@thestatesmangroup.com
LUCKNOW
2/2, Butler Palace (Near Jopling
Road), Lucknow-226 001,
Ph.: (0522) 2206705
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
lucknow@thestatesmangroup.com
RANCHI
11/C, Road#1, Ashoknagar, Ranchi
- 834 002
Fax: (0651) 2247054
Email:
delhistatesman@gmail.com
ranchi@thestatesmangroup.com
consultaion with the owner of
the suit property) SALE BY
Date of Sale
20-01-2022 AUCTION
Reserve Price
Rs. 55.00 Lacs
22nd December, 2021 to
6th January, 2022 Between
ON 19-12-2021 at 11.30 At
National Security council Sec-
retariate, Sardar Patel Bhawan,
10:00 a.m. 1.00 p.m.
The sale of property shall be Sansad Marg, New Delhi.
subject to usual terms and Maruti Van, Computers, Pho-
tostate, Shredding, Furniture
conditions including but not
limited to the following: Misc.
Entry 10,000/- Full Payment
1. The sale of property will
be in one lot. The property is
with Tax # 9818003790
being sold on as is where is
basis.The amount by which
1) Auction Unserviceable
Stores, 16-12-2021 at 11:00 at,
the biddings are to be
increased shall be determined
National Museum Janpath,
Delhi, Security 5,000/-
by the officer conducting the
same. In the event of any dis-
2_) E-Auction unservice-
able stores 22-12-2021, at 2:30
pute arising as to the amount
bid or as to bidder, the Plot
Inspection 20 & 21-12-2021,
at BCAS, Mahipalpur, Delhi.,
shall at once again be put to
auction.
Security 10,000/-,
3) E-waste Items., 23-12-
2. The highest bidder shall
be declared to be the pur-
2021 at 2:30 P.M. Inspection on
21 & 22-12-2021 from 11:00am
chaser of the plot provided
to 3:00 pm. At BCAS Janpth,
always that he is legally qual-
ified to bid and provided that Delhi, Security 10,000/- Accu-
it shall be in the discretion rate 9868215515
of th officer holding the sale to
decline acceptance of the
highest bid when the price
offered appears so clearly
inadequate as to make it
advisable to do so. I, GITA Majumdar, spouse
3. For reasons to be record- of Bishnu Majumder, resi-
ed it shall be in the discreation dent of Flat No. D2, Srabani
of the officer conduction the Co-operative Housing
sale to adjourn it subject Society, A-10/114, Kalyani,
always to the provisions or P.O. & P.S.: Kalyani, Dist.:
Rule 69 of order XXI. Nadia, W.B., Pin-741235 have
All persons interested in changed my name from
the purchase of above men- Geeta Majumdar to Gita
tioned immovalbe porperty Majumdar, vide affidavit
are invited to bid at the auc- dated: 02.12.2021 before in
tion as specified in the procla- the Court of Ld. J.M. (1st
mation of sale. However, the Class) at Kalyani, Nadia.
sale of the property shall be
subject to its confirmation I, “BHAKTA Bahadur
by the Hon'ble Delhi High Gharti Chhetri” certifies
Court and shall be subject to that as per Notary Public,
the usual terms and condi-
Howrah affidavit dated:
tions.
27.02.2003 according to
Given under my hand and
which I “Bhakta Bahadur
the Seal of this Court, in terms
Khetri” will now be known
of order dated 15-11-2021.
as Bhakta Bahadur Gharti
Assistan Registrar(O)
Chhetri and all my papers
For Registrar General
will be with this name.
Seal of the Court
COURT NOTICE I, TAMANSHU
(U/O 5 Rule 20 CPC) Bhattacharjee and
IN THE COURT OF Tamanshu Ghosh, son of
SH. RAJESH SHARMA late Chinmoy Ghosh and
Additional District Judge Ratna Hazra of Kalinagar
Gurugram
Para, P.O.: Kalna, District:
Shri Bhagwan Purba Bardhaman, W.B.-
Versus
713409 is the one and same
Jagdish
identical person, vide affi-
CNR No. HRGR01-003512-
davit sworn before the
2019 Metropolitan Magistrate
Next Date: 11-01-2022 Court on 01.12.2021.
Publication Issued to:
Def. 4 (I) Krishan Yadav
Def. 4 (A) Vaibhav, s/o Kris-
han
Def. 4 (B) Babo, w/o Kris-
han
Def. 4 (C) Shalu, d/o Krishan,
NOTICE — Take notice that
all r/o Mam Chand Market,
the original Deed being No.
Gangaria Marg, Vill - Sikan- 4315 for the year 1988 regis-
darpur Ghosi, Gurugram,
tered in the office of
Haryana, Sanjay Singh, s/o
A.D.S.R.O. Bidhannagar,
Prahlad Singh, r/o Vill - Sikan-
recorded in Book No. I,
darpur Ghosi, Tehsil and Dis- Volume No. 87, Pages from
trict- Gurugram. 465 to 480, was lost on
In above titled case, the 20.09.2013 from possession
defendant(s)/respondent(s)
of my client Subir
could not be served. It is
Bhattacharjee, S/o.
ordered that defendant(s)/ Jitendralal Bhattacharjee, of
respondent(s) should appear Bhatpara, 24 Pgs. (N) to that
in person or through coun- effect a G.D.E. was lodged
sel on 11-01-2022 at 10-00 a.m. being Serampore P.S. G.D.E.
For details logon to
No. 1629 dated: 20.09.2013, if
https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t
any person found the same
rs=district_notice&dis- kindly contact the under-
trict=gurugram. signed as early as possible
Dated, this day of 10-12- within 7 days from the date
2021. hereof.
Additional District Judge Annewsha Dutta
Gurugram Advocate
Seal of the Court Barasat Judges’ Court

‘Four ministers of Cong
govt want to join AAP’
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 13 DECEMBER
T
he Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) on Monday
claimed four minis-
ters of the Congress
‘Channi govt should file suit
against former CMs for
encroaching 900 acres of land’
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 13 DECEMBER
Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP)
Punjab president and Mem-
ber of Parliament (MP) Bhag-
want Mann on Monday
demanded a case against
two former Chief Ministers
of the state for allegedly
encroaching 900 acres of
government land in the SAS
Nagar (adjoining Chandi-
garh).
Mann said as Punjab Con-
gress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu
has claimed illegal occupa-
tion of 900 acres of govern-
ment land and shamlat in SAS
Nagar (Mohali) adjoining
the capital (Chandigarh) by
two former CMs, the Charanjit
Singh Channi government
should identify the two for-
mer CMs who had
encroached land worth Rs 1.5
lakh crore in just one district.
"The government should
also explain the reasons or
compulsions that are stop-
ping them from taking action
against such a large scale
land mafia?," the AAP leader
said in a statement.
Mann said on the basis of
the report of Justice Kuldip
Singh Commission, Navjot
Singh Sidhu had stated that
900 acres of land worth Rs 1.5
lakh crore had been illegal-
Cong holds assembly within HP
Vidhan Sabha, stages walkout
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
TAPOVAN (DHARAMSHALA),
13 DECEMBER
In a unique protest against the
Himachal Pradesh govern-
ment after the opposition
members were denied debate
on backdoor entries in jobs,
ignoring merit in recruitment
and jobs on compassionate
grounds, Congress members
on Monday held a symbolic
assembly within assembly to
put forward their views and con-
cerns on the issues.
Aa soon as the assembly con-
vened on 3rd day of ongoing
winter session at Tapovan in
Dharmashala in Kangra district,
opposition members includ-
ing the Leader of Opposition
Mukesh Agnihotri, Ram Lal
Thakur, Asha Kumari, Sunder
SinghThakur,Vinay Kumar and
Vikramaditya Singh sought
debate under Rule 67.
government in Punjab led by
Charanjit Singh Channi are
in touch with them ahead of
the early 2022 Assembly polls.
"All those leaders want to
leave their Congress party and
join the Aam Aadmi Party, but
ly acquired by the families of
two former CMs. "The names
of the two former chief min-
isters must have been men-
tioned in the report, then why
is the Congress party and their
government refraining from
making their names public?
Sidhu should also explain why
he is reluctant to name these
politicians," he asked.
The AAP leader said if the
governments have the guts
to take over the possession
by removing the illegal occu-
pations of the above two for-
mer CMs, then the entire
debt of all the farmers and
farm laborers of Punjab could
be compensated, which is
amounting to about Rs 1.5
lakh crore.
Mann said that the Justice
Kuldip Singh Commission
constituted in 2012 had sub-
mitted its report in 2013 to
the Punjab and Haryana
High Court on the illegal
and improper occupation
of government and com-
munal lands around Chandi-
garh by politicians, high offi-
cials and other cronies. "But
despite the passage of eight
long years, the Congress and
SAD-BJP governments have
not shown the courage to act
on this report, as these politi-
cians are involved too," he
added.
The debate was however
denied by HP Vidhan Sabha
SpeakerVipin Singh Parmar by
saying that under Rule 67
debate on more than one issue
can't be held.
"Rule 69 (2) of Rules of Pro-
cedure and Conduct of Busi-
ness in Himachal Pradesh Leg-
islative Assembly doesn't allow
debate on more than one topic
under Rule 67, hence, the
motion is being rejected," Par-
mar added.
This led to Congress mem-
bers moving into the well of the
house and they put forward their
views on backdoor entries in
jobs, ignoring merit in recruit-
ment and jobs on compas-
sionate grounds by holding sym-
bolic assembly inside Vidhan
Sabha.
Agnihotri, Ram Lal Thakur,
Harshvardhan Chauhan, Asha
Kumari, Jagat Singh Negi,Vikra-
maditya Singh and Bhawani
Mamata Banerjee is offering Rs 5000 to each and every poor woman of
Goa with an eye on impending assembly election.
CRITICISING TRINAMOOL CONGRESS' POLL PROMISE TO PROVIDE MONTHLY INCOME SUPPORT TO WOMEN IN GOA
because of the sand mafia and
corruption allegations on
them, Aam Aadmi Party has
refused them," AAP leader
and co-in-charge of Punjab
Raghav Chadha said address-
ing a digital Press conference
on Monday.
He said these four minis-
ters of Channi government
are constantly approaching
them to join AAP for the last
few days. "Since, these four
leaders are facing serious
allegations related to sand
mafia, we have decided not
to include them in our party.
AAP has no need for a 'sand
mafia' disguised as a leader,"
he added.
Chadha said AAP is an
honest party. "We do politics
for welfare and development
of the people. There is no place
for such corrupt and mafia
people in AAP. We do not
want such people who have
sold even the soil of Punjab,
which is called mother; was
not spared by these corrupt
leaders of Congress. Our
party does not want such
sand thieves and mafia lead-
ers of Congress," he added.
Confirming the claims
made by Chadha, AAP
‘Feel sad and bad about Channi’
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 13 DECEMBER
Former Punjab Chief Minis-
ter Capt Amarinder Singh on
Monday said he felt sad and
bad about Chief Minister Cha-
ranjit Singh Channi over the
way he was being treated by
the Congress party.
"I feel sad for him that
despite having a tremendous
potential, he is being made to
be subservient to the whims
of the PCC President Navjot
Sidhu", Singh said, while
remarking, "Channi will even-
tually end up as a night watch-
man only".
Reacting to the appoint-
ment of Sidhu as the Chairman
of the Congress Election Com-
mittee for Punjab, with Chan-
ni being made to work under
him, Amarinder said it was
unprecedented that a Chief
Minister was made subservient
‘Over 21k Delhi’ites received
Covid compensation’
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
A total of 21,235 people in
Delhi have received Rs 50,000
ex-gratia as COVID-19 com-
pensation till date, SocialWel-
fare Minister Rajendra Pal
Gautam said on Monday.
"The Delhi Government
received a total of 25,100 appli-
cations for ex-gratia under the
Mukhyamantri COVID-19
Aarthik Sahayata Yojana. Out
of these, the sum of 50,000
rupees has been paid to 21,235
applicants till now," he said in
a press brief on Monday after-
noon.
"There are about 2,000 such
cases who refused to take
assistance under the scheme.
A major section of the refusals
came from families that were
financially well-off and did
not seem to require the aid,"
Gautam said, adding, "Apart
from this, most of the appli-
cations are in the finalisation
Singh Pathania addressed Con-
gress members and expressed
their views in the assembly.
The members even passed
resolution on these issues
including implementation of
Old Pension Scheme, SMC
teachers with Ram Lal Thakur
presiding over the symbolic
assembly as Speaker.The oppo-
sition members later staged a
walkout from the house.
Talking to media, Ram Lal
Thakur said the state govern-
ment was ignoring the issues
of the common man who were
already facing the brunt of
Covid pandemic and in addi-
tion, they were not being
allowed to raise their issues.
"The Chief Minister Jai Ram
Thakur government was
indulging in backdoor entries
in jobs, ignoring merit in
recruitment and refusing jobs
to persons on compassionate
grounds.
03
SENIOR CONGRESS LEADER ADHIR RANJAN CHOWDHURY
NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021
Haryana notifies criteria for excluding "creamy layer" within BCs
CHANDIGARH, 13 DECEMBER tutions) Act 2016.
As per the notification issued
man and Members of Union
Public Service Commission
islative Assembly will not be able
to claim the benefit of reser-
Haryana government has noti- by the Haryana scheduled and of State Public Service vation.
fied new criteria for exclusion castes and backward classes wel- Commission, Chief Election Similarly these instructions
persons within the Backward fare department, persons Commissioner and Comp- will be applicable to sons and
Classes (BCs) as "creamy layer" appointed to constitutional troller and Auditor General of daughters of Class I and Class
by amending relevant sections posts or constitutional per- India, Persons holding similar II officers of the all India, Cen-
Supremo Arvind Kejriwal of Haryana Backward Classes sonalities like President, Vice- constitutional posts and sons tral and state services, whose
tweeted, "Aam Aadmi Party (Reservation in Services and President, Judges of Supreme and daughters of Members of parents are serving in these cat-
is going to form the govern- Admission in Educational Insti- Court and High Courts, Chair- Parliament or Members of Leg- egories. SNS
ment in Punjab after a few
months. So many leaders
from other parties are
approaching to join the Aam
Aadmi Party. We will not
include any corrupt and
criminal leader (to the party)
under any circumstances.
We will give a clean and hon-
est government to Punjab."
On the same issue, AAP
Punjab state president Bhag-
want Mann tweeted, "Con-
gress government is about to
go. Only one month is left.
That's why many of their
big leaders are voraciously
looting the Punjab. We will
not include any dishonest
leader in our party."
A few days back, AAP
Supremo Kejriwal has also
claimed that 25 MLAs and two
MPs of Punjab Congress are
approaching him to join the
party. But he refused to
include Congress leaders in
the party, saying, "We don't
want Congress's waste". "We
do not do manipulative pol-
itics. We do politics of devel-
opment and public welfare,"
he had said.
to the PCC president.
"No self respecting leader
should accept such humilia-
tion," the former Chief Min-
ister remarked, while sug-
gesting that Channi should
resign than face such humil-
iation and insult.
He pointed out as how the
Congress had claimed that it
had appointed a Scheduled
Caste as the Chief Minister but
has now made him subservient
to the PCC president. "Was he
just a showpiece to get the SC
votes?" he asked.
"Just because someone is
behaving like a spoilt child and
throwing tantrums day in and
day out, you are submitting to
all his blackmail and in the
process insulting and humil-
iating your Chief Minister,
who is doing a good job", he
said, while remarking, "the
Congress is going down the
dumps".
stages barring a few that have
met some technical problems
that are being worked upon.
About 1,500 applicants will
soon receive the aid."
As for the monthly aid pro-
gramme under the scheme,
where Rs 2,500 are being given
per month to dependents and
widows 12,668 applications
have been received. Of these
9,484 cases have been approved
and 7,955 applicants have
started receiving the month-
ly pension, he said.
Meanwhile, 1,120 applica-
tions are in the process of ver-
ification and will start receiv-
ing the money after it is done.
"Aid has been extended to
1,529 persons on the portals
andwillberemittedtotheirbank
accounts in three to four days.
We are clearing all applications
as soon as we can. There are
some cases where queries
have been raised and will be
cleared once the queries are
resolved."
"The unemployment rate
in the state has increased to 14
per cent which is highest in the
country and the number of
unemployed youth is over 14
lakh. Instead of providing job
opportunities to them, the
government was indulging in
recruitment on outsource basis
wherein merit and reserva-
tion roster was not being fol-
lowed," he added.
He also accused the state
government of creating unrest
in police force by not remov-
ing pay parity in constables
salaries and added it will push
them towards corruption.
Meanwhile, State Jal Shak-
ti minister Mahender Singh
Thakur termed Congress mem-
bers protest as mere gimmick
and said the opposition mem-
bers were taking such steps to
disrupt the proceedings of the
house as was the case in the
past.
04
Do not care who will be CM of Uttar Pradesh. If Samajwadi Party wins
the UP polls, will its chief Akhilesh Yadav appoint a Muslim Deputy CM
AIMIM CHIEF ASADDUDIN OWAISI
NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021
ASKING IF AKHILESH YADAV WOULD APPOINT MUSLIM DEPUTY CM IN CASE SP WINS UP ASSEMBLY POLLS

THUMBNAILS
KCR to meet Stalin Anti -conversion Bill may be tabled in the
current Assembly session, says Bommai
during TN pilgrimage STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BENGALURU, 13 DECEMBER,

State chief minister, Basavaraj

said the proposed Bill “will not
bring good to anyone”. The gov-
ernment should realise that the
community is hurt, he said. This
surising the government to
table the Bill in the ensuing
Assembly session in Belagavi.
Ram Sene president, Pramod
CM KCR visited Sri Ranganathaswamy temple in Tiruchirappalli for puja Bommai, said today that his
government is looking to
is because there is a feeling that
the government “ does not trust
Muthalik, for one, said that” if
it is not done, we will launch a
table the anti -conversion Bill us. That is not a good thing.” state-wide agitation from 1 Jan-
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Telangana's row with the in the assembly session in Bela- While urging the Bommai uary. K S Eashwarappa, Rural
HYDERABAD/ CHENNAI, NDA government on paddy gavi , post clearance from the administration to reconsid- Development and Panchayat
13 DECEMBER procurement has worsened it's scrutiny committee and the er its proposal to bring in the Raj minister, however, reiter-
already strained relationship cabinet. anti -conversion Bill, he said ated in this context that nobody

Christmas preparation
in Kolkata on Monday.
BISWAJIT GHOSHAL
Paddy procurement :
Paddy procurement in
Burdwan East is failing to
pick up pace and which
has now prompted the
senior officials to hold a
meeting.Chief Minister's
agricultural advisor
Pradip Majumdar today
presided over a meeting.
The state has set a tar-
get of 6.75 lakh metric
tonne paddy procure-
ment for Burdwan East
this year. SNS
T
elangana chief min-
ister K Chandrasekhar
Rao will meet his Tamil
Nadu counterpart and
DMK chief MK Stalin at Chen-
nai tomorrow at a time when
TRS is at loggerheads with the
NDA government at the Cen-
tre over paddy procurement
in the state.
The chief minister today
flew out along with a large
entourage comprising his
family members on a special
aircraft for his two day long
visit to Tamil Nadu.
He visited Sri Ran-
ganathaswamy temple in
Tiruchirappalli for a special
puja along with his family
members and tomorrow he
will Thirutani Murugan tem-
ple before meeting the Tamil
Nadu chief minister at his
residence in Alwarpet in late
afternoon.
In 2019, Rao had visited
the Sri Ranganathswamy tem-
ple and had met Stalin who
was then in the Opposition.
Rao who had just won the
Assembly elections for the
second time was trying to
cobble together a non BJP and
non Congress alliance prior
to the Lok Sabha elections.
DMK and Congress are alliance
partners. However, despite
meeting several regional lead-
ers the alliance did not take
off. Last year too Rao had
spoken of a third front prior
to civic elections in Hyderabad
but didn’t take any initiative
after the polls.
This time circumstances
have changed with the steady
rise of BJP in Telangana and
TRS had attended a meeting
of the Opposition parties led
by the Congress.
The TRS has so long sup-
ported the NDA government
at the Centre on the floor of
the Parliament but after the
refusal of union Food ministry
to consider buying parboiled
paddy from the state TRS has
taken up the path of con-
frontation.
Stalin too had reached out
to his counterparts in other
states including Telangana
over scrapping National Eli-
gibility cum Entrance Exam-
ination batting for the primacy
of states over education.
with BJP.
Now that the Opposition
unity against BJP at the Cen-
tre gained momentum in the
backdrop of upcoming UP
Assembly elections and Tri-
namul Congress chief and
West Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee is trying
to bring out an Opposition
unity sidelining Congress.
Roa, who was close to both
Mamataand Stalin and he met
with Stalin when he was in the
Opposition in 2019 as part of
a futile attempt to float a
non-BJP, non-Congress front.
He had also held talks with
West Bengal CM and Trina-
mul Congress chief Mamata
Banerjee, Odisha CM and
Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen
Patnaik, Janata Dal-Secular
leader and former Prime Min-
ister HD Deve Gowda and
Samajwadi Party President
Akhilesh Yadav.
At the same time, he told
newsmen that the govern-
ment would bring in laws
which were good for the peo-
ple and in the larger interest
of society. While assuring reli-
gious groups not to panic, he
said that a majority of the peo-
ple wanted a ban on religious
conversions.
According to him, the pro-
posed Bill will not pose any
threat to people of different
faiths in praying and follow-
ing their respective religions.
He was quick to add that reli-
gious conversions were not
good for the society and there
was no scope for misusing
people’s poverty to lure them
to change their faith.
The proposed Bill has
become controversial with
different sections expressing
their apprehension. The Arch-
bishop of Bengaluru, Peter
Machado, for instance, has
there is absolutely no question
of any forceful conversion.
Yet, he said that “if someone
wants to join us we cannot
throw them out,” while affirm-
ing at the same time that the
community would abide by the
rules and regulations of the
country.
The state Congress presi-
dent, D K Shivakumar, on his
part, charged that the proposed
Bill was aimed at targeting
the minority community and
that the party would oppose
it tooth and nail. “ We will
oppose the introduction of
the bill, in whatever form it is
brought,” he said. More impor-
tantly, the opposition leader
maintained that the govern-
ment’s move would come in
the way of state’s develop-
ment as it would impact for-
eign investment.
Meanwhile, right- wing
organisations have been pres-
should have any doubts about
the government’s intentions.
Whether in the Belagavi ses-
sion or later, it was deter-
mined to introduce the law to
check conversion.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka
government proposes to intro-
duce a law to prohibit “love
jihad “ to prevent conversion
for the sake of marriage, accord-
ing to energy minister, Sunil
Kumar.
The minister’s statement has
only added to the controver-
sy surrounding the govern-
ment’s move to table the anti-
conversion Bill in the ongo-
ing Assembly session. He told
that after introducing the anti
conversion Bill , the govern-
ment was proposing to enact
a law to prohibit “Love Jihad.”
Minister Araga Jnanendra,how-
ever, claimed that he was not
aware of any such move, it is
learnt.

Body found: The dead

body of a middle-aged
widow, who was working
as a cook at a workmen's
hostel, was recovered
from a brick kiln in the
outskirts of Burdwan
town on Monday
morning. SNS
Sukanta hits out at govt:
State BJP president,
Sukanta Majumdar lashed
out at the state govern-
ment for allegedly throt-
tling democracy. Majum-
dar alleged that TMC is
deliberately obstructing
& opposing BJP's political
program and warned that
if the state administra-
tion tries to foil the
scheduled demonstra-
tion, BJP will intensify its
agitation. SNS
TMC & MGP will come to power in Goa: Mamata
SOMA MOOKHERJEE
KOLKATA, 13 DECEMBER
West Bengal chief minister and
Trinamul supremo Mamata
Banerjee today said AITC and
Maharashtrawadi Gomantak
Party (MGP) will come to
power together in Goa.
"We all belong to this coun-
try. Consider me as your fam-
ily member as I understand
your language, including
Marathi and Konkani. Goa
shall always be for Goans", she
told her party workers in Goa
and reminded them that “we
are not here to divide votes,
instead we are here to unite
voters. If other parties want
to join us they will have to
remember that Trinamul Con-
gress will not cow down to any
force. We will fight.” Miss
Banerjee highlighted that she
had visited Goa as a Union Rail-
way Minister in Madgaon to
launch a service of the Konkan
Railway.
She said Trinamul wants
empowerment of women in
Goa and highlighted some of
the popular schemes of West
Bengal like providing free
ration to the people of Ben-
gal.
Drawing a comparison
between the central govt’s
'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao'
scheme and Bengal govern-
ment’s Kanyasree scheme,
she said, in the former though
100 crores were allocated by
the centre, 74 per cent has gone
to advertisements. “On the
contrary, under Bengal gov-
ernment’s Kanyashree scheme,
over Rs 7,000 crores has been
given to girl child, Once they
turn 18, if they are unmarried,
they are given Rs 25,000 by the
state government for higher
education." She said her
party’s main focus in Goa is
the student community, the
fisheries and mining sector.
TMC national general sec-
retary Abishek Banerjee today
said it is amazing to see a party
(TMC), which had negligible
presence in Goa just two
months back, grow manifold
TENDER
with a determination to bring
a new dawn for Goa. "Of the
1,700 political parties in India,
AITC is the only party that is
taking the BJP head on. We are
not keyboard warriors; we
are the real warriors. We do
not exist on the yardsticks of
Twitter and Facebook; we are
out there on the ground to fight
for the people’s rights," he told
the members.
Trinamul Goa state
incharge Mohua Moitra said
"The people of Goa need a plat-
form, a symbol to defeat the
BJP. It is unfortunate that the
existing political parties failed.
If we want to defeat the BJP,
the only alternative is AITC and
Mamata Banerjee.”

Ex-Goa CM joins TMC in Mamata’s presence

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA,13 DECEMBER
Deserting the ship, the lone
NCP MLA joins Trinamul Con-
gress in presence of party
supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Former Goa Chief Minis-
ter and the lone Nationalist
Congress Party legislator
Churchill Alemao on Monday
merged with the All India Tri-
namool Congress in the pres-
ence ofWest Bengal CM Mama-
ta Banerjee.
Miss Banerjee, who is on
a two-day trip to Goa ahead
of the state polls early next year,
has several public meetings
lined up, including an inter-
action with the media detail-
ing her party’s roadmap for the
upcoming assembly elections.
Owner of Churchill Brothers
FC, Alemao on Monday after-
noon submitted a letter to
Goa Assembly speaker stating
that the legislative group of NCP
in Goa stood dissolved and had
merged with AITC.
A two-time Member of
Parliament, Alemao is likely
to contest the 2022 polls on an
AITC ticket. This is, however,
not Alemao’s first stint with
the West Bengal-based party.
Ahead of the 2014 General
Elections, he had joined
AITC and contested from
the South Goa seat.
Alemao becomes the sec-
ond MLA to join AITC after
former INC Chief Minister
Luizinho Faleiro joined
Banerjee’s partyin Septem-
ber this year. AITC has entered
into a pre-poll alliance with
Maharashtrawadi Goman-
tak Party (MGP) for the Goa
legislative elections. In addi-
tion to that, Trinamul Con-
gress has also announced
its Griha Laxmi scheme in
Goa, under which every
woman head of a household
will get Rs 5,000 as a cash
transfer each month irre-
spective of their income.

SECTION 1

CPM looks to better utilise its social media handles Executive Engineer, HP.PWD. Nerchowk Division
(Name of Authority Inviting Bids)
NOTICE INVITING TENDER (NIT)
The Superintending Engineer1stCircle HPPWD Mandi on behalf of Governor of Himachal Pradesh invites the percentage rate bids, in electronic tendering sys-
According to party tem, for construction of roads under RIDF for each of the following works including their maintenance for five years from the eligible and approved contractors registered
insiders, leaders dis- with HP.PWD. and HP Jal Shakti Vibhag (Contractors of HP Jal Shakti Vibhag are eligible to participate for the works having amount put to tender above Rs.100 Lacs).
Non registered contractors may submit the bids; however successful bidder has to register in appropriate class with appropriate authority in HPPWD*.
cussed building a District RIDF Name of the work Estimated Cost Total Cost Period of Bid Security
strong network of (Rs. Lakh) (Rs. Lakh) Completion (Rs. Lakh)
The bid security
social media users, is two percent of
the total cost,
especially in the rounded to the
run-up to two Construction Maintenance
nearest thousand

important elections (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
to the Siliguri Mandi XXVII Construction of Doyda Pul Chhajwan Khabu Panchayat Ghar Dusra 3,09,05,536
Khabu to Darviyas road Km. 0/0 to 7/500 under NABARD RIDF XXVII
- 3,09,05,536 One Years 6,19,000

SANKHA GHOSH
SILIGURI, 13 DECEMBER
Amid the changing face of the
media, the CPI-M is lagging
far behind when it comes to
social media networking, an
organizational report of the
Darjeeling district secretari-
at of the party has said. Social
media presence of the party
is low in YouTube, while only
15-20 party activists are active
on Twitter, which, the party
now feels is not adequate.
The party has also iden-
tified one of its weaknesses
as the lack of posters and cam-
paign contents in Bengali,
Hindi and Nepali languages.
According to party insid-
ers, leaders discussed build-
ing a strong network of social
media users, especially in
the run-up to two impor-
tant elections to the Siliguri
Municipal Corporation (SMC)
and the Siliguri Mahakuma
Parishad (SMP). The party has
now decided to make opti-
mum use of digital platforms,
social media and networking
applications in a bid to reach
out to the masses.
The official Facebook page
of the 'CPI (M) Darjeeling DC'
was created in 2015, and the
number of followers present-
ly is 20636, where 18,775
people have liked the page.
There are four to five posts
on an average in the page
every day.
The party's Darjeeling
district Twitter handle-
(@cpimddc), which was cre-
ated in 2019, has 932 fol-
lowers, while 11500 tweets
have been posted there so far.
There is an 82-member What-
sApp group that runs Twit-
ter.
"In Darjeeling district, 15-
20 comrades are regularly
active in this important social
media platform. But this
number is not adequate. We
need to take initiatives to
increase the number of active
Twitter handles. The official
YouTube channel (CPIM Dar-
jeeling District), which was
opened in 2020, has only
120 subscribers. Posts are
not made regularly there," the
report says.
The report has suggested
using the YouTube channel
as an important medium for
campaigns. It also under-
lined that party activists will
have to take the responsibility
of popularizing the party's
Instagram page which has
been created recently.
Unlike the Trinamul Con-
gress and the BJP, the CPI-M
has failed to rope in IT pro-
fessionals to revamp its social
media activity due to pauci-
ty of funds and is instead rely-
ing on tech-savvy young
party members and sympa-
thizers, party sources have
said.
"Political and organiza-
tional programmes are cam-
paigned with area commit-
tees and the district com-
mittee through WhatsApp
groups on a regular basis.
Apart from the district sec-
retariat, the district com-
mittee and area commit-
tees, such groups are active
Assembly constituency-wise,
ward-wise in the Siliguri
Municipal Corporation, and
at the gram panchayat level
Municipal Corpora-
tion and the Siliguri
Mahakuma
Parishad. The party
has now decided to
make optimum use
of digital plat-
forms, social media
and networking
applications
in a bid to reach
out to the masses
under the Siliguri Mahaku-
ma Parishad. The party's
social media activities are
monitored from the district
party headquarters-Anil
Biswas Bhawan-in Siliguri.
The district party secretary
oversees the social media
operations. But we need to
admit that our social media
activities have not been up
to the mark. We have lagged
behind other political par-
ties in this regard. We are aim-
ing at enrolling more vol-
unteers who are dedicated,
active and politically aware,
and providing them with
proper training so that they
can reach out to more peo-
ple," said a senior party
leader.
Distt. Mandi HP. (SH:-ROFD Retaining walls, Breast walls, Cross
Drainages work, Clearing and Grubbing, Setting outs, Drain Parapets,
Citizen Information Board, Logo Boards, Km. Stones, 200mtr. Stones and
Soling in Km. 0/0 to 7/500).
2. Date of release of Invitation for Bids through e-procurement: 17.12.2021.
3. Cost of Bid Form: Rs. 5000 per package/job (non-refundable) only in form of Demand Draft in favour of Executive Engineer, HP.PWD. Nerchowk Division.
4. Availability of Bid Document and mode of submission: The bid document is available online and bid should be submitted online on website
www.hptenders.gov.in. The bidder would be required to register in the web-site which is free of cost. For submission of bids, the bidder is required to have valid
Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) from one of the authorized Certifying Authorities (CA). "Aspiring bidders who have not obtained the user ID and password for
participating in e-tendering may obtain the same from the website: www. hptenders.gov.in.
Digital signature is mandatory to participate in the e-tendering. Bidders already possessing the valid digital signature issued from authorized CAs can use the same
in this tender.
*Non-registered bidders may submit bids; however, the successful bidders must get registered in appropriate class with appropriate authorities before
signing the contract.
5. Submission of Original Documents: The bidders are required to submit (a) original Demand Draft towards the cost of bid document and (b) original bid security
in approved form and (c) original affidavit regarding correctness of information furnished with bid document as per provisions of Clause 4.4B(a) (ii) of ITB with
Superintending Engineer 1st. Circle, HPPWD., Mandi (address and details of office where to be submitted) , on a date not later than three working days after the
opening of technical qualification part of the Bid, either by registered post or by hand.
6. Last Date/Time for receipt of bids through e-tendering: 24.12.2021 up-to 11.00 Hours (time).
Key dates:-
1 Date of online publication 17-12-2021 at 11:30 A.M.
2 Document download start and end date 17-12-2021 at 11:30 A.M. up to 24-12-2021 at 10:30:A.M.
3 Bid submission start and end date 17-12-2021 at 11:30 A.M. up to 24-12-2021 at 11:00A.M.
4 Date of technical bid opening 24-12-2021 at 11:30 A.M.
5 Physical submission of original documents i/c original EMD & Cost of Tender documents etc. 24-12-2021 at 10:30 A.M.
7. The site for the work is available.
8. Only online submission of bids is permitted, therefore; bids must be submitted online on website www.hptenders.gov.in. The technical qualification part of the bids
will be opened online at 11.30 Hours (time) on 24.12.2021 (date) in the office of Superintending Engineer, 1st.Circle HPPWD Mandi by the authorized officers. If
the office happens to be closed on the date of opening of the bids as specified, the bids will be opened online on the next working day at the same time.
9. The payment for routine maintenance to the contractor shall be regulated based on his performance of maintenance activities.
10. The bids for the work shall remain valid for acceptance for a period not less than Seventy Five (75) days after the deadline date for bid submission.
11. Bidders may bid for any one or more of the works mentioned in the Table above. To qualify for a package of contracts made up of this and other contracts for which
bids are invited in the same NIT, the bidder must demonstrate having experience and resources sufficient to meet the aggregate of the qualifying criteria for the
individual contracts.
12. Other details can be seen in the bidding documents. The Employer shall not be held liable for any delays due to system failure beyond its control. Even though the
system will attempt to notify the bidders of any bid updates, the Employer shall not be liable for any information not received by the bidder. It is the bidders'
responsibility to verify the website for the latest information related to the tender.
13. As per Govt. Notification No.PBW (B)A(3)1/2020-I dated 07.10.2021, in case the tendered amount of the lowest bidder comes more than 5% in 1st call the
negotiation can be conducted with him but the negotiated amount should remain within 5% of the amount put to tender (on market rate) and tendered amount below
30% of the estimated cost will be summarily rejected.
Executive Engineer,
HP.PWD. Division,
Nerchowk.
For Superintending Engineer HPPWD 1st Circle Mandi
 05
It is a good very good step but Prime Minister Narendra Modi should give equal
importance to all religions as he is the PM of a country which has many religions
NATIONAL CONFERENCE NATIONAL PRESIDENT FAROOQ ABDULLAH
NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021
ON THE INAUGURATION OF KASHI VISHWANATH CORRIDOR

THUMBNAILS
‘Previous govts did not pay much Cyclone Jawad: Central team
completes field visit to Odisha
attention to defence sector’
Rajnath Singh inaugurated several iconic events of the Department of Defence Production (DDP)
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE rating several iconic events of ment. In any situation, we can fact that the private sector has
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER the Department of Defence take a decision only when we contributed to about 90 per
Production (DDP), as part of are completely self-reliant.” cent of the country's defence

Samyukt Kisan Morcha
(SKM) leader Gurnam Singh
Chaduni (C) greets after
returning from Delhi bor-
ders, in Amritsar on Mon-
day.� ANI
UP BJP yatras: The Bhar-
tiya Janata Party (BJP) in
Uttar Pradesh will launch
five 'Jan Vishwas Yatras'
from different places in
the poll-bound state on 19
December. The sixth
yatra will start on 20
December. IANS
Rahul, Priyanka padayatra:
As part of Congress' ongo-
ing nationwide 'Jan Jagran
Abhiyan', former party
President Rahul Gandhi and
General Secretary Priyanka
Gandhi Vadra will be partic-
ipating in Padyatra in Ame-
thi on December 18, the
party said on Monday. IANS
Samaydaan campaign: The
Gujarat government has
announced that over 22
lakh teachers of govern-
ment, grant-in-aid, private
primary and secondary
schools will provide an
extra one hundred hours
each to the children under
the 'Samaydaan' campaign
to make up for the learn-
ing loss suffered due to
the pandemic. The 'Samay-
daan' campaign will be
held from December to
April 15 next year, where
more than two lakh teach-
ers of the state's 43,500
primary schools and
around 12,500 secondary
schools will donate 100
hours each in addition to
school hours, to compen-
sate for the education loss
due to Covid-19. IANS
D
efence Minister Raj-
nath Singh today
accused the previ-
ous governments
of not paying much attention
to the defence sector, thus
affecting the nation’s strate-
gic autonomy.
Before the Modi govern-
ment came to power in 2014,
the defence sector lagged
behind due to lack of invest-
ment, innovation and research
& development. This led to
dependence on imports to
meet the country's defence
requirements, he said.
The minister was inaugu-
SC sets aside K'taka HC order dismissing
poll petition against ex-PM's grandson
INDO-ASIAN NEWS
SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
The Supreme Court on Mon-
day set aside a Karnataka
High Court order, which
dismissed an election peti-
tion by BJP leader A. Manju
at the onset on "hyper-tech-
nical ground" against win-
ning candidate Prajwal
Revanna of the Janata Dal-
Secular, from Hassan Lok
Sabha constituency.
A bench of Justices San-
jay Kishan Kaul and M.M.
Sundresh said: "The appel-
lant (Manju) states the case
clearly and in no uncertain
terms with supporting mate-
rial in the election petition.
Whether the violation is
made out by respondent no
1 (Revanna) or not would be
a matter of trial but certainly
not a matter to be shut out
at the threshold."
Revanna, grandson of
ex-Prime Minister H.D. Deve-
gowda, was accused of
resorting to corrupt practices
by allegedly not disclosing
his complete assets in his poll
affidavit. The high court
had termed Manju's plea as
"not maintainable", as it
the Ministry of Defence ded-
icated week from December
13-19, 2021 to celebrate ‘Azadi
Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ com-
memorating 75 years of Inde-
pendence. A virtual exhibition,
‘Path to Pride’, public exhibi-
tions, curated museums and
a booklet showcasing 75 res-
olutions of DDP were inau-
gurated by Rajnath.
Sharing his insights on
what freedom means to a
nation, Rajnath said: “Free-
dom is not just a thing to be
attained or earned… it is also
a thing to maintain, for which
one has to strive continu-
was filed without an affidavit,
which made it incomplete.
Pra j w a l Re v a n n a w a s
declared the winner with
6,76,606 votes, while Manju
was at second place with
5,35,282 votes.
The bench said while the
requirements to be met in
the election petition may be
technical in nature, they
are not hyper-technical, as
observed in the Ponnala
Lakshmaiah case.
The top court cited a
Constitution Bench judg-
ment, which opined that
the defect in verification of
an affidavit cannot be a suf-
ficient ground for dismissal
of the petitioner's petition
summarily and such an affi-
davit can be permitted to be
filed later.
It noted that it cannot say
the high court fell into an
error while considering the
election petition, as a whole,
to come to the conclusion
that the allegations of the
appellant were not confined
only to Section 33A of the RP
Act, "but were larger in
ambit as undue influence
and improper acceptance of
nomination of respondent
No 1 were also pleaded as
ously. Freedom is not a goal,
but a path. To a sovereign
nation, freedom means the
ability and capacity to take any
decision related to defence and
socio-economic develop-
violation of the mandate
under Sections 123 and 100
of the RP Act".
The bench said further
proceedings in the election
petition are required to be
taken up urgently as almost
two and a half years have
gone on the preliminary
skirmishes rather than the
meat of the matter, "which
we are sure the single judge
of the high court would so
do".
"In effect, were such
material to be available with
the electorate, they would
have exercised another
option on the basis of it.
However, while the require-
ments to be met in the elec-
tion petition may be tech-
nical in nature, they are not
hyper-technical."
Setting aside the high
court's January 17, 2020
decision, observing that
Manju's petition was not
supported by an affidavit in
Form 25, as prescribed under
Rule 94A of Conduct of Elec-
tion Rules, 1961,
the apex court asked it to
examine the matter afresh
and permitted Manju to file
an appropriate affidavit
within 15 days.
He was of the view that
while India attained freedom
in the fields such as agricul-
ture, education and health
post-Independence, not much
attention was paid towards the
defence sector till the Modi
government assumed office
in 2014.
Saying that this government
does not shy away from tak-
ing bold decisions in the
interest of the nation, he list-
ed out a number of policy
reforms aimed at promoting
self-reliance in defence man-
ufacturing.
Rajnath appreciated the
Nitish in a quandary as BJP
seeks ban on namaz in open
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
PATNA, 13 DECEMBER
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar finds
the going tough with his key
alliance partner, the BJP,
raising the contentious issues
which have the potential to
damage his party vote bank.
Days after the Haryana CM
ML Khattar strongly spoke
against offering namaz in the
open saying “this practice
won’t be tolerated”, the BJP
has now sought for similar
action in Bihar.
“Offering namaz in the
open by the Muslims is not
good. It will create tension
in the society. We urge the
chief minister to put a ban
on such practice in Bihar too,”
a BJP legislator Hari Bhushan
Thakur said. He added every
Friday they block the roads
to offer namaz. “We have no
objections over offering
namaz but that should be
done at home or inside the
mosque,” Thakur said.
His demand was sup-
ported by BJP leader and Pan-
chayati Raj minister Samrat
Chaudhary who said none
should be allowed to spread
“anarchy” on the streets by
capturing roads. “If anyone
wants to offer prayers, places
exports. He exuded confi-
dence that this active and
continued partnership
between the government and
the private sector will help to
soon achieve ‘Make in India,
Make for the World’ as envi-
sioned by Prime Minister
Modi.
He hoped that the week-
long events will generate
awareness among people
about the progress made in
the defence sector, instill
national spirit and further
strengthen their trust in the
country’s defence prepared-
ness.
of worship are there, not
the roads?” Chaudhary said
adding the Haryana gov-
ernment had done the right
thing by banning namaz
prayers in the open.
No comments have come
from the JD-U which heads
the four-party NDA in Bihar,
the other three being the
BJP, Hindustani Awam Mor-
cha (HAM) and Vikashseel
Insan Party (VIP). This is
the second time in the past
one fortnight that Kumar
has been caught in a pecu-
liar situation.
Earlier this month, the
Bihar assembly Speaker Vijay
Kumar Sinha from the BJP
had introduced a new prac-
tice in the House by asking
the members to sing “Vande
Mataram” which drew strong
protests from Muslim mem-
bers, all belonging to the All
India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Mus-
limeen (AIMIM). The AIMIM
members refused to recite it
saying recital of national
song was not the criteria for
assessing one’s loyalty towards
the country.
A series of recent devel-
opments have unnerved the
ruling JD-U which has a sig-
nificant support base among
the Muslim community.
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 13 DECEMBER
A six-member inter-ministe-
rial team led by Saurav Ray, Joint
Secretary at Ministry of Home
Affairs, completed its field visit
to assess damages caused due
to remnants of cyclone Jawad
in Odisha, an official said on
Monday.
After visiting the affected
areas of Ganjam, Puri, Jagats-
inghpur, Cuttack, Jajpur and
Kendrapara districts, the team
held a discussion with Odisha
government officials here on
Monday.
Ray mentioned that they saw
heavy loss to farmers at the
ground-level caused by the
cyclonic rain. He opined that
the famers who suffered loss
needed governmental sup-
port and assistance, said an offi-
cial.
The field-level assessment
of damages caused due to
remnants of cyclone in the
state would be completed
within a week and the report
will be submitted to the Cen-
tral team, the official said.
Lokpal launches digital platform
to address citizens’ complaints
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
Lokpal Chairperson Justice
Pinaki Chandra Ghose today
inaugurated’ a digital plat-
form for management of com-
plaints called ‘LokpalOnline’
that can be accessed by all cit-
izens of the country and com-
plaints can be filed from any-
where and at any time.
Speaking on the occasion,
Justice Ghose said corruption
is a key element in under-per-
formance of the economy and
it undermines democracy and
rule of law. He said LokpalOnline
is an end-to-end digital solu-
As per very preliminary
estimates, standing crop on
more than 5.78 lakh hectares
area in 131 blocks of 12 districts
were severely damaged due to
the natural disaster. The affect-
ed districts are -- Ganjam,
Bhadrak, Puri, Cuttack, Bala-
sore, Kendrapara, Keonjhar,
Khordha, Jagatsinghpur, Naya-
garh, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chan-
dra Mahapatra there was
bumper crop in many districts
this year. The crops were almost
in ripening condition when the
cyclone came near Odisha
coast causing heavy rainfall.
The farmers were given
advisories to harvest the crop,
and bring those to safe places
as per the forecast of Indian
Meteorological Department
(IMD). The farmers also tried
their best.
However, all the ripened crop
could not be harvested and col-
lected within a short span of
time. Besides, many variety
of paddies and other major
crops were nearing the ripen
stage, the Chief Secretary point-
ed out at the meeting.
ner with benefits to all stake-
holders.
It facilitates handling of
complaints during the complete
lifecycle of the Complaint,
right from its filing to the final
disposal and this will bring more
transparency and efficiency in
the complaint handling mech-
anism.
In her address, Justice Abhi-
lasha Kumari, Judicial Mem-
ber, Lokpal said that the main
aim of Lokpal is to free the coun-
try from the malady of cor-
ruption and to build a strong
and corruption free India. She
said in March 2019, Justice
Ghosh was appointed as India’s

Gujarat Dalits seek parity with Patels in case withdrawals
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, 13 DECEMBER
Even as the BJP Government
in Gujarat is toying with the
idea of withdrawing criminal
cases against the Patel job
quota agitation leaders, the
state’s Dalits have demand-
ed that similar cases filed
against protesters from their
community should also be
withdrawn.
Dalit rights activist Kan-
tilal Parmar has shot off an
open letter to chief minister
Bhupendra Patel on Sunday
demanding that the criminal
cases pending on people
who protested against the
2016 public flogging of a
Dalit family skinning a dead
cow in Una should be
dropped.
Withdrawing cases against
Patels who resorted to vio-
lence while demanding reser-
vations in jobs and educa-
tional institutes but not doing
so for Dalits who protested
against the infamous Una
flogging amounts to dis-
crimination by the BJP Gov-
ernment, Parmar told The
tion for the management of
complaints against public ser-
vants filed under the Lokpal and
Lokayuktas Act, 2013.
first Lokpal and as a body, it
is still growing and progress-
ing.
She said total transparen-
inals. jobs and educational insti- He said the LokpalOnline cy, accountability, convenience
According to Dalit rights activist Kantilal Par- Though no one has offi- tutes. is a web-based facility, which and efficiency in functioning
mar, withdrawing cases against Patels who cially stated, it is well known All BJP MPs belonging to will quicken the disposal of is the hallmark of Lokpal, for
resorted to violence while demanding reserva- that former chief minister the Patel community met complaints in an accountable, which the ultimate beneficia-
tions in jobs and educational institutes but not Vijay Rupani was replaced chief minister Bhupendra transparent and efficient man- ry is the common man.
doing so for Dalits who protested against the with new incumbent Bhu- Patel on Friday and demand-
pendra Patel precisely to ed that cases against the agi-
infamous Una flogging amounts to discrimina- woo the influential Patel tators be taken back.
tion by the BJP Government community ahead of next Thereafter, the delibera-
year’s assembly elections. tions were followed up by state
Statesman on Monday. filed against the agitators As part of that agenda, BJP president C R Paatil with
More than 200 cases of a against the Gram Rakshak Dal the BJP government has start- community leader Naresh
non-serious nature against (GRD) recruitment scam and ed discussions with Patel Patel at Khodaldham, a tem-
the Patel agitators have those booked for violation of community for withdraw- ple for presiding deity of
already been withdrawn, Covid-19 lockdown norms ing the cases filed massive vio- Leuva Patels who have a
added the Dalit rights activist. should also been withdrawn lence during the 2015 agita- stranglehold over state pol-
He said that the cases as they are not habitual crim- tion demanding quotas in itics.

Diamond trader
UN’s Team Prez, PM pay tributes to martyrs returning from S
India’s 16-day
campaign on of 2001 Parliament attack Africa is Guj's 4th
Omicron case
gender-based STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE ANI
violence NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER GANDHINAGAR, 13 DECEMBER

President Ram Nath Kovind and Gujarat on Monday detected

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
The United Nations Country
Team in India, along with its
partners, marked the con-
clusion of its annual “16 Days
of Activism against Gender
Based Violence”campaign
with a joint declaration by
members of its Multi-Partner
Trust Fund (MPTF) and a
showcase of youth potential
in environments that ensure
protection from and pre-
vention of gender-based vio-
lence.
Shombi Sharp, the UN
Resident Coordinator for
India said “The elimination
of violence against women
must be mainstreamed in
education systems, in city
planning and rural devel-
opment, in poverty and nutri-
tion programmes, in health
policies and sanitation pro-
grammes, and in addressing
how violence affects women’s
access to decent employ-
ment. I want to commend
India for recognizing this
and putting women at the
heart of its economic growth
policies.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
on Monday led the nation in
paying tributes to the securi-
ty personnel who laid down
their lives fighting terrorists dur-
ing the 2001 Parliament attack.
Kovind tweeted: "I pay
homage to the brave security
personnel who laid down their
lives on this day in 2001,
defending the Parliament of the
world's largest democracy
against a dastardly terrorist
attack. The nation shall forever
remain grateful to them for their
supreme sacrifice."
Remembering the brave-
hearts, the Prime Minister
tweeted: "I pay my tributes to
the security personnel who were
martyred in the line of duty dur-
ing the Parliament attack in
2001. Their service to the
nation and supreme sacrifice
continues to inspire every cit-
izen."
Paying homage, Home Min-
ister Amit Shah tweeted in
Hindi: "I salute the courage and
valour of all the soldiers, who
made their supreme sacrifice
to protect the temple of Indi-
an democracy, Parliament
House, in the cowardly terrorist
attack. Your unparalleled val-
our and sacrifice will always
inspire us to serve the nation."
Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh tweeted: "My tributes to
those brave security person-
nel who sacrificed their lives
during attack on the Parliament
House in 2001. The nation
will remain grateful for their
courage and supreme sacrifice
in the line of duty."
On the 20th anniversary of
the attack, a programme was
organised on the Parliament
premises to pay homage to the
bravehearts who made the
supreme sacrifice.
Vice-President and Rajya
Sabha Chairman Venkaiah
Naidu, Lok Sabha Speaker Om
Birla, Defence Minister Rajanth
Singh, Rajya Sabha Deputy
Chairman Harivansh Narayan
Singh, Congress MP Rahul
Gandhi, Leader of the Oppo-
sition in the Rajya Sabha
Mallikarjun Kharge, Union
Ministers Pralhad Joshi,
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Arjun
Ram Meghwal, among others
paid tribute to the victims of
the attack.
Families of the deceased
were also present at the event.
On December 13, 2001,
five terrorists stormed the Par-
liament complex and opened
indiscriminate firing. Nine
people, including eight secu-
rity personnel were killed while
fighting the terrorists.
All the five terrorists were
neutralised by the security
forces.
its fourth Omicron case in 'Dia-
mond City' Surat.
A 42-year-old diamond trad-
er from the gem hub of Ashwani
Kumar Road tested positive
for the new variant following
his long travel history in South
Africa.
"The 42-year-old male
patient is into diamond busi-
ness since years and a frequent
traveller to South Africa. He
returned from the country to
Surat on December 2 and was
reported Covid-19 positive on
December 8. We sent his sam-
ples on that day for genome
sequencing and today it showed
him to Omicron positive,"
Deputy Municipal Commis-
sioner,Health,AshishNayaksaid.
"Thepatientisasymptomatic
and he was initially admitted
in the hospital for three days but
thereafter we have placed him
in home isolation," he added.
"He has three kids and wife,
all of whom were Covid-19
negative on December 8, but
once again, we will have them
tested.Theentirefamilyhasbeen
kept in isolation and closely
monitored. The area where he
lives has been marked as micro
containment zone.”
06 NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021 Vol. CXXXXXV 290

Incorporating and directly descended

Legislation Reimagined A MEMBER
OF THE

from THE FRIEND OF INDIA - Founded 1818

Public consultation before presenting a Bill can obviate subsequent problems; prior to ASIAN VOICES
Deft move announcing any policy or moving a legislative proposal, the British government puts in
Legal framework
T he nuanced nature of some recent foreign policy
the public domain, consultation documents called Green Papers that allow people, both
inside and outside Parliament, to give the concerned department feedback on its policy
initiatives must be commended. The latest
move from South Block, which is reported to
or legislative proposals. The British Government also issues White Papers as statements
for urban
have extended invitations to the heads of state of five
Central Asian nations to join the Republic Day cele- of policy, that often set out proposals for legislative changes, which may be debated, underground
brations in 2022 as chief guests, is welcome indeed. In
fact, later this month, New Delhi is also hosting the
before a Bill is introduced. The practice of issuing Green and White Papers ensures that
third edition of the India-Central Asia Foreign Minis-
ters’ meeting. Often under the radar, India’s relation-
ship with the moderate Muslim-majority former Sovi-
et republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
the Government comes to know of all reservations that the public has vis-à-vis any proposed
policy or legislation I n 2009, the 12th National Assembly
passed Law No 30/2009/QH12 ~
the Law on Urban Planning, in
which articles refer to underground

Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan is of vital strategic sig-
nificance. Leveraging India’s cultural, civilisational,
and historical links to these nations ~ backed by
financial support to develop their energy, healthcare,
IT, education, agriculture, and infrastructure sectors ~
is a good idea. A line of credit to the tune of $1 billion
is already in place and specific projects to enhance
connectivity and make overland trade routes viable is
in progress. Crucially, cooperation between India and
the Central Asian republics on counter-terrorism and
de-radicalisation strategies given the geographical
proximity of the Af-Pak theatre is essential.
The timing of the outreach could not have been
better as it comes against the backdrop of a concerted
attempt by Turkey, which under President Recep
Erdogan has ambitions of becoming a pivotal player,
to draw the Turkic states of the region into its
embrace. Just last month, at a summit in Istanbul, the
seven members of the Cooperation Council of Turkic
Speaking States ~ Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzs-
tan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan, plus Hungary and Turk-
menistan as observers ~ renamed themselves as the
Organisation of Turkic States (OTS). The OTS stretches
6,100 kilometres from Hungary to Kyrgyzstan and it
has a combined population of over 170 million with
an aggregate GDP of over $1.3 trillion. In Istanbul, the
assembled leaders proclaimed that the alliance,
“based on deep roots, kinship, brotherhood, and
political solidarity”, would guide cooperation in the
economic, socio-cultural, and humanitarian spheres.
Make no mistake; this could, if Ankara has its
way, effectively be the beginning of a major strategic
alignment.
Mr Erdogan is big on Muslim solidarity and clear-
ly sees Turkey at the centre of a latter-day Ottoman
Empire, as it were. Under his leadership, Turkey has
emerged as a major ally of Pakistan and, in recent
years, taken positions on Jammu and Kashmir anti-
thetical to India’s. Turkey was also one of the first
states to recognise the independence of the former
Soviet Central Asian republics and this gesture still
resonates in the region. As an effusive former Kyr-
gyzstan Prime Minister Djoomart Otorbaev wrote
recently: “Despite a shared culture and traditions, his-
tory had separated Turkic-speaking people not only
geographically and linguistically but also in essence.”
He and other influential pro-Turkey voices are calling
for Mr Erdogan to abandon pan-Islamism in favour of
“pan-Turkism”. Turkey’s active support for Azerbaijan
in its 2020 war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh
which cemented a special relationship between the
two nations is being cited approvingly by many. In
sum, The Great Game appears to have begun anew
and India must continue to manoeuvre deftly.
Chancellor Scholz
T
he Chief Justice of India,
addressing lawyers and
judges on Constitution
Day, lamented that the
legislatures never assessed the
impact of the laws they passed.
The CJI was referring to cheque
bounce provisions in the Nego-
tiable Instruments Act that had
burdened all tiers of judiciary
with unsurmountable pendency,
but what the CJI had said applies
squarely to several recent enact-
ments.
The now defunct Farming
Acts, that generated widespread
and sustained protests, epito-
mise the unthinking approach,
sometimes adopted by the Gov-
ernment; the Farming Acts were
passed and repealed by Parlia-
ment without debate or discus-
sion ignoring the golden dictum:
“The majority will have its way,
but the minority must have its
say.”Many recent Acts have come
into being, not for a public pur-
pose but to regulate behavioural
norms of society; such laws often
cause unrest and lead to opera-
tional problems for enforcement
agencies and the judiciary.
For example, the Bihar Pro-
hibition and Excise Act 2016, pre-
scribes a minimum of 10 years of
jail for alcohol consumption, as
also a minimum fine of Rs.1 lakh.
So far, about three lakh people
have been arrested under this
Act, and more than 30 lakh litres
of hooch has been confiscated.
Between April 2016 and Septem-
ber 2020, the Excise Department
conducted 488,450 raids, arrest-
ing 67,367 people. Consequent-
ly, courts in Bihar were flooded
with more than 2 lakh cases filed
against prohibition violators,
leaving little time to judges for
more important cases. The Chief
Justice of Patna High Court was
constrained to write to the Chief
Minister, asking him to amend
the prohibition law, so that
Courts could function normally.
The number of enactments
circumscribing personal liberty,
which bring individuals in con-
flict with the State, are growing;
many recent laws prescribe long
prison sentences ~ up to life
imprisonment ~ for cow slaugh-
ter and consumption of beef.
cerned. While examining the
draft legislation, the Law Ministry
has to ensure that the concerned
Department/Ministry had com-
plied with the process of pre-leg-
islative consultation. Finally,
before the new policy or Bill is
introduced in Parliament, the
Cabinet is to be made aware of
the feedback of the public and
the response of the Depart-
ment/Ministry. Alternatively,
after recording reasons, Depart-
ments/Ministries can bypass this
procedure.
It would appear that the
Government has invariably pur-
sued the latter option. Arun PS
and Sushmita Singh in their
study “Democratising Law Mak-
ing ~ The Tale of PLCP” state that
89% of Bills introduced in parlia-
ment from June 2014 to May
2019 were passed in secrecy, after
little or no consultation. The rul-
ing party ensured the passage of
the ban on cow slaughter. The handle the additional burden Bills by its majority in Parliament;
Dowry Prohibition Act, enacted created by the new enactments. most amendments moved by
to curb the evil practice of dowry, For example, over 60 lakh cheque opposition MPs to improve upon
was so widely misused that the bounce cases, referred to by the the legislation were defeated,
Supreme Court nullified the real- CJI in his speech, are pending in often influenced by political fac-
ly draconian provision of the Act. our courts. Our jails, that are al-
tors rather than policy-based
Enactments criminalising ready full, do not have the capac- ones.
everyday actions fall flat because ity to accommodate any more Debates in Parliament are
a guilty mind inmates. becoming fewer; important Bills
(mens rea) is an Public consul- like the Union Budget 2018 were
essential element of tation before pre- passed without debate or with lit-
a criminal offence senting a Bill can tle debate. Fewer Bills are being
under traditional obviate subsequent referred to Parliamentary Com-
jurisprudence. New problems; prior to mittees; while 68 Bills were
offences are creat- announcing any referred in the 15th Lok Sabha
ed by legislatures policy or moving a only 24 were referred in the 16th
with little thought legislative proposal, Lok Sabha ~ coming down to
or preparation, the British govern- zero in 2020. The last Bill referred
which often results ment puts in the to a Joint Parliamentary Commit-
in the accused public domain, tee was the Right to Fair Com-
walking free on consultation docu- pensation and Transparency in
DEVENDRA
technical grounds. SAKSENA
ments called Green Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation
Lord Macaulay, Papers that allow and Resettlement (Second
while drafting the The writer is a retired
Principal Chief Commissioner
people, both inside Amendment) Bill in 2015. During
Indian Penal Code of Income-Tax and outside Parlia- the 15th Lok Sabha the Govern-
desisted from pro- ment, to give the ment invented the practice of
viding the death concerned depart- presenting ordinary Bills as
penalty for rapists because he ment feedback on its policy or Money Bills; Finance Act 2017
reasoned that if punishment for legislative proposals. The British had numerous provisions that
rape and murder was the same Government also issues White had nothing to do with imposi-
then rapists would also murder Papers as statements of policy, tion of taxes or appropriation of
their victims. Contrast it with the that often set out proposals for sums out of the Consolidated
Disha Act, which was passed as legislative changes, which may Fund. While striking down cer-
a knee-jerk reaction to the hor- be debated, before a Bill is intro- tain provisions of the Finance Act
rific rape and murder of a young duced. The practice of issuing 2017, a five-judge Constitution
college-going girl. The Disha Act Green and White Papers ensures
provides capital punishment for that the Government comes to
Bench, led by the Chief Justice of
India, ordered that the validity of
space and urban underground works.
Clause 19, Article 13 explains that
underground space is the space that
is planned to be used to build urban
underground works.
Article 66 of the law states that the
exploitation and use of underground
space for the construction of under-
ground works must comply with
approved urban planning.
The construction management of
works on the land must not affect the
underground space that was already
included in underground space plan-
ning.
Article 67 of the law refers to the
management of the construction of
underground works. The construction
of underground works must comply
with approved underground space
planning. Regulations on the con-
struction of underground works are
promulgated by the Ministry of Con-
struction.
The construction of underground
transport routes and the system of
underground public works must
ensure safety and be suitable for the
organisation, exploitation and use of
underground and above ground
space; ensure a convenient connec-
tion with other underground works
and above ground traffic works.
The construction of technical
tunnels and trenches must not affect
the use of space on the ground and
must ensure safety in exploitation,
operation, repair and maintenance.
Under the law, the Government is
assigned to specify the management
of underground space.
On April 7, 2010, the Government
issued Decree No.39/2010 on
the management of urban under-
ground construction space, which
clearly explains that “urban under-
ground space planning is the organi-
sation of urban underground con-
struction areas to build underground
works”.
The Decree also clearly states that
underground works are works built
underground in urban areas, includ-
ing underground public works, under-
ground traffic works, underground
technical focal works and under-
ground parts of on-ground
public works, electricity wires
lines, cables, underground technical
pipelines and technical tunnels.

A
momentous phase in the political history of
Germany has ended and another just begun. A
fresh experiment is on the anvil in Germany,
one that will bring the curtain down on the Angela
Merkel era, the longest given the 16-year stint. The
Social Democrat, Mr Olaf Scholz, is the new Chancel-
lor and Ms Merkel has not sought an extended term.
The coalition’s terms of engagement aim to modernise
Europe’s largest economy and accelerate what they
call the “green transition”. The alliance is the first at
the federal level between the ideologically disparate
Greens, the libertarian Free Democrats (FDP) and
Scholz's centre-left SPD. The three parties together
enjoy a majority in the Lower House of Parliament
and hope the government will be sworn in early next
month after they ratify the 177-page coalition pact.
Named after the parties’ respective colours, the traffic-
light alliance will usher in a new era of relations with
Europe, and plans to speed up digitalisation of the
continent’s biggest economy while maintaining fis-
cal discipline. At a media briefing, flanked by the FDP
and Greens leaders, Mr Scholz recalled that when the
first traffic light was erected at the city's Potsdamer
Platz in 1924, many questioned whether it could work.
“Today, the traffic light is indispensable when it comes
to regulating things clearly and providing the right
orientation and ensuring that everyone moves for-
ward safely and smoothly,” he said. “My ambition as
Chancellor is that this traffic light alliance will play a
similarly groundbreaking role for Germany.” Mrs
Merkel leaves big shoes to fill. She has navigated Ger-
many and Europe through multiple crises and has
been a champion of liberal democracy in the face of
rising authoritarianism in different parts of the world.
Her detractors contend that she has managed, rather
than solved, problems and leaves her successor tough
decisions on many fronts.
The incoming government faces immediate chal-
lenges, with Europe grappling with the fallout from
Brexit, a crisis on the European Union’s border with
Belarus and surging Covid-19 cases. Scholz (63), an
experienced politician who was finance minister in
the outgoing “grand coalition” of the SPD and con-
servatives, said that fighting the pandemic would be
uppermost on his agenda.But his coalition also has
ambitious medium and long-term plans, including a
faster expansion of renewables, an accelerated exit
from polluting coal and a hike in the minimum wage,
according to its pact. With the migrant crisis still fes-
tering, it is time for Europe to offer a collective salute
to Mrs Merkel for her intrinsically accommodating
attitude towards the migrants from North Africa and
the Arab region as they were buffeted from shore to
shore in search of shelter.
Then, love-jihad laws in States
like UP and MP make inter-faith
marriages punishable with im-
prisonment. Significantly, there
is no prohibition in the Constitu-
tion for inter-faith marriages and
the Special Marriage Act 1954
(and before that the 1872 Act)
was specifically enacted to legit-
imise marriage between people
following different religions.
While modern jurispru-
dence decriminalises actions that
do not harm anyone other than
the perpetrator (like suicide or
sexual relations between consult-
ing adults), it seems that unwill-
ing or unable to appreciate the
fine distinction between a social
or moral wrong and a legal
wrong, our legislatures have pro-
ceeded in the reverse direction,
often enacting laws criminalising
social or moral evils, that have an
immense potential for misuse.
Cow vigilantes routinely wreak
havoc in the guise of enforcing
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Kolkata needs car parking plans
SIR, Recently, the Bombay High
Court asked authorities in Mum-
bai to fix the number of cars per-
mitted to be owned by a single flat
without a designated parking
space. The direction by the High
Court was dictated out of anguish
at unmanaged indiscriminate
rape and envisages the comple- know of all reservations that the the passage of the Finance Act In Article 3 of the Decree, there
tion of investigation in seven public has vis-à-vis any proposed 2017 as a Money Bill should be are also five principles for managing
days and the subsequent trial in policy or legislation. decided by a larger Bench. urban underground construction
fourteen days. Little thought, Similar provisions exist in A learning from the fiasco of space, in which special attention is
however, appears to have been India but are seldom used. A Pre- the Farming Acts could be to paid to the second principle “urban
given by the lawmakers, as to Legislative Consultation Policy introduce legislation only after underground space must be planned,
how within this short period the (PLCP) was announced by the consulting stakeholders. The Pre- built, managed and used”.
culprits would be identified and Government on 5 February 2014. Legislative Consultation Policy Urban space on the ground devel-
caught, legal formalities under Under PLCP, all Departments and should invariably be followed opment planning must be closely
the Criminal Procedure Code Ministries are required to proac- and the Manual for Parliamen- combined with the safe and effective
complied with and a fair trial tively publish the draft legislation tary Procedures may be amend- use of underground space. Regarding
conforming to the requirements or at least essential elements of ed to ensure that reasons are the ownership of underground con-
of the Evidence Act, could be the proposed legislation, a brief invariably assigned for rejecting struction works,
completed. It may be noted that justification for such legislation, public feedback or the recom- Article 4 of the decree states that
trial in the Nirbhaya Case, which its broad financial implications, mendations of a Parliamentary the granting of certificates of owner-
had the public, police and the and an estimated assessment of Committee. An independent ship of underground construction
judiciary in overdrive, was com- the impact of such legislation on body, like the Law Commission, works must comply with the provi-
pleted only after nine months. environment, fundamental ri- could be tasked with ascertain- sions of the law on granting of certifi-
An inescapable corollary to ghts, lives and livelihoods of the ing the impact of all important cates of land use rights, house owner-
the criminalisation of ordinary affected people. Such details are Acts after one year of operation, ship and other assets attached to the
actions is the multiplication of to be proactively shared and be with the power to suggest land.
criminal cases making the police kept in the public domain for at amendments. Viet Nam has had regulations on
lose focus on serious crimes. least thirty days. Thereafter, the Finally, as the American urban underground space develop-
Also, the sheer volume of trivial summary of feedback received judge Louis Brandeis had said: “If ment for more than ten years. Howev-
cases eats away precious judicial from the public/other stakehold- we desire respect for the law, we er, until now, no locality in the country
time of our overburdened judi- ers is to be placed on the website must first make the law has introduced planning in this field.
cial system, which is unable to of the Department/Ministry con- respectable.” Why is that?
editor@thestatesman.com
CONTRAST
SIR, The entire country mourned the death of Chief of Defence Staff,
parking of cars on the roadside. except in some pockets of south General Bipin Rawat. PM Narendra Modi took the initiative to be pre-
The situation in Kolkata has and central Kolkata. sent at Palam Air base to pay tribute to the departed soul, as the cas-
not yet reached this stage due to However, it is also true that ket carrying his mortal remains arrived from the Nilgiris. In fact most
various reasons including its com- many cars occupying permanent of the cabinet members along with Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh
parative lesser affluence. In this parking spaces on the road adja- were present.
city, parking of private cars cent to shopping areas at Contrast this with the happenings when another braveheart,
overnight on the roadside is still Barabazar, Gariahat etc. are owned Field Marshal SHFJ Manekshaw, synonymous with the Bangladesh
not permitted by authorities by residents and business opera- liberation died, albeit a natural death at Wellington in Tamil Nadu's
tors in those areas. These cars with Nilgiris district. No dignitary, let alone the then PM Manmohan Singh,
permanent parking on busy road- was present at the funeral, except Mr Pallam Raju, a junior minister
sides add to congestion and vehic- in the ministry of defence.
ular pollution. Yours, etc., Aloke Bhattacharya,
In the backdrop of parking Kolkata, 12 December.
problems faced in Mumbai,
authorities here should anticipate
the parking problem getting aggra- nient than parking on the road issues of other shopping areas of
vated in Kolkata in the near future. side. As a result, this facility mostly the city may be taken up later.
It is therefore the right time for idles with its cumbersome, opera- Parking fees should be kept high
proper car parking provisions to be tor-dependent system. enough to discourage car parking
made specifically in those shop- Proper multi-level car parking on permanent basis. It will be bet-
ping areas in Kolkata. facilities, similar to the one at ter if actions are initiated by the
It is known that a mechanized South City Mall should be devel- executive without waiting for judi-
multi-tier parking facility already oped at two ends of Rashbehari cial intervention.
exists at Gariahat Road. However, Avenue ~ near Deshapriya park Yours, etc., Kunal Kanti Konar,
that limited facility is less conve- and Gitanjali stadium. Parking Kolkata, 13 December.
 NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021 07
Political positions must not
100 YEARS AGO

OCCASIONAL NOTE

dictate response to Mon

Sir George Roos-Keppel, whose prema-
ture death at the age of 55 is announced,
was one of the most famous captains of
the Marches who ever made their names
in frontier fighting. He came into promi-
nence in 1899 in connection with a raid
which he planned and executed upon one
of the most troublesome tribes bordering
HARSHA KAKAR on the Khyber, and thereafter he was con-
cerned in practically every frontier opera-

E
very incident in which there is
a loss of civilian lives results
in demands for repeal of
AFSPA (Armed Forces Special
Powers Act); the one in Mon district of
Nagaland is no exception. Most such
demands are political and do not con-
sider national security imperatives. In
this case, the Chief Ministers of Naga-
land and Meghalaya have both
approached the Union government
on the subject. Joining them have
been former CMs of Jammu and
Kashmir, Mehbooba Mufti and Omar
Abdullah, with a similar demand for
the territory. In regions where the sit-
uation has returned to normal, AFSPA
has been lifted, Punjab, Tripura and
Meghalaya being examples.
India has faced insurgencies and
terrorism fuelled by jealous neigh-
bours for decades. Political actions to
resolve these insurgencies have failed
for multiple reasons. Discussions with
insurgent groups, funded and armed
by neighbours, can only succeed from
a position of strength, which is pro-
vided by resolute security operations.
State security agencies have proved
incapable in containing them, lead-
ing to induction of central forces.
Officially, internal security man-
agement is the responsibility of Cen-
tral Police forces, created for this pur-
pose. It is only after they fail that
armed forces are inducted to battle
militant groups which have gained
ascendancy in the region. Operations
to regain the situation are slow and
deliberate as the intention is always
to avoid innocent casualties, while
ensuring insurgents are targeted.
The armed forces remain the last
bastion of the nation, and hence
under no circumstances can they be
permitted to fail if national integrity is
to be maintained and state control re-
established. If they have to operate
with similar restrictions as police
forces, then the situation may prove
to be disastrous. Further, despite
adverse comments from multiple
directions, it must be clarified that the
Indian Army, operating in large parts
of the NE and J and K have done so
with one hand tied behind their
Biden’s China boycott a half-measure
ROBERT HUISH AND
SIMON C DARNELL
backs.
Unlike other nations facing simi-
lar terrorist groups such as Pakistan,
Indonesia, Philippines, Russia and
South American countries, Indian
armed forces have never employed
disproportionate force including use
of helicopter gunships or airpower.
Casualties borne by the army testify
to this. The intention has always been
to save innocent lives despite high
losses to the forces. However, there
are occasions when incidents occur
leading to civilian casualties. These
should be considered as an exception
rather than a rule. It must be accepted
that AFSPA is an enabler and essential
to bring peace into a region.
Further, in disturbed areas there
will always be organisations, funded
by vested interests, seeking to dis-
credit forces so as to demoralize
them. Wherever operations have been
conducted with malaise, the army has
acted against the perpetrators, even
faster than civil courts.
Utpal Kumar, quoting the home
ministry report of 2019-20 on the NE
states in an article in the First Post
states, “The last six years have seen a
significant decline in insurgency inci-
dents by 70 per cent, casualties of
security forces personnel by 78 per
cent and civilian deaths by 80 per
cent. The year 2019 recorded the low-
est insurgency incidents and casual-
ties among civilians and security
forces since 1997.” The armed forces
have brought peace and development
in troubled regions and this fact must
be accepted. However, they have also
created enemies.
In Nagaland, where the Mon inci-
dent occurred there are cadres of dif-
ferent terrorist groups, including
some in talks with the government.
Those in talks with the government
reside in designated camps and con-
tinue holding weapons, while extor-
tion and drug trade funds salaries and
maintenance. Even flying over these
camps can invite a volley of bullets.
Anti-India groups employ Myan-
mar territory as bases and operate
from there. They infiltrate, conduct
operations including ambushes on
security personnel and then with-
draw. Recent ambushes on the army
and the army operations into Myan-
mar in 2015 bear testimony to this.
The population residing in areas
where the army operates, including J
and K and parts of North-east, are
aware that check posts are established
at regular intervals, based on intelli-
gence inputs to nab insurgents.
People know they must halt and
identify themselves, failing which
there could be repercussions. Over
the years there have been incidents
in J and K and NE where people who
had not stopped were fired upon.
For any security force, a person
fleeing from a check post implies that
there is an ulterior motive. In some
cases these checks have resulted in
encounters with terrorists or arrests.
In this instance, the vehicle refused
to halt at the check post despite
warnings. This led to the army open-
ing fire.
In counter-insurgency opera-
tions decisions are taken in seconds
and soldiers act on instinct. There is
no doubt that in Mon mistakes hap-
pened on both sides, the first refus-
ing to stop and the other having to
take a split-second call on whether to
open fire or let the vehicle go.
There were claims that the army
subsequently opened fire on the mob
which attacked them. If every soldier
in the party was injured, one even had
his neck split by a machete and the
officer remains in intensive care, then
it only proves that the army opened
fire after it was attacked post a dia-
logue, and its personnel grievously
injured, all a result of close interac-
tion with an unruly crowd.
Multiple inquiries have com-
menced, and statements are being
made by political parties and vigilante
groups. The army has issued an apol-
ogy and nominated its own inquiry. It
is important that all work in unison
to rebuild trust and establish norms
to prevent similar occurrences, rather
than exploiting the situation.
The writer is a retired Major-General of
the Indian Army.
Olympics in Beijing it says, “We’re
basically OK with what China is
doing.” Or at least, “We don’t care
tion which took place up to and after the
time when he was appointed Chief Com-
missioner of the North-West Frontier
Province in 1908. He held this post for
eleven years, a fact which in itself is elo-
quent of his administrative ability, and
illustrates the tendency of the Indian
Army to produce great soldier-adminis-
trators. When the war broke out, and
Turkey threw in her lot with the Hun, a
dangerous reaction at once set in
throughout the whole borderland, and it
was only his firmness, tact, and
unequalled reputation among the tribes-
men that enabled Sir George Roos-Kep-
pel to preserve so large a measure of
peace on the frontier up to the end of the
war in Europe. His appointment to the
Council of India was a fitting climax to his
distinguished career, and it is a tragic mis-
fortune that he should not have lived to
serve out his term of office. His ancestry
was Dutch, and so was his physique -
broad and heavily built, with massive
head, square jaw, and an air of quiet, but
unmistakable determination.
NEWS ITEMS
EROSION OF TOWN
OF NOAKHALI
Owing to the continued erosion of the
town of Noakhali, it is necessary that a
decision should now be arrived at as to
the future headquarters of the district,
should it be necessary to abandon the
existing town. In view of the divergent
opinions expressed on the question of a
suitable new site for the headquarters of
the district, the Governor-in-Council con-
siders it most desirable that a public
inquiry should be made in the matter by a
small committee, composed of officials
and non-officials, before whom all sec-
tions of the community could represent
their views. The Committee will advise
where the new headquarters of the dis-
trict could be located to the best advan-
tage, assuming their construction to be
necessary.
INDIAN BOYS IN
THE SCOUT
MOVEMENT
The Indian boy has proved wonderful in
acting up to the ideals of the Scout move-
ment, remarked Sir A.D. Pickford, the Chief
Boy Scout Commissioner for India, during
his address to the Bengal Chamber of

I
n ordering a diplomatic boycott,
but not an athletic boycott, of the
Beijing Winter Olympics, U.S.
President Joe Biden effectively
pulled his goalie from the net.
China and the United States con-
tinue to face off over how “people and
economies should be governed.” Fol-
lowing a virtual summit, Biden and
China’s President Xi Jinping
expressed longstanding grievances
against each other.
In protest of an “ongoing geno-
cide” in Xinjiang amid other human
rights abuses by Beijing, Biden’s
diplomatic boycott of the 2022
Olympic Games is mostly a half mea-
sure that will annoy Beijing and could
put U.S. athletes at risk.
Within a day of Biden’s
announcement, Canada, the United
Kingdom and Australia followed suit
with the same half-measured stance.
Xi’s government has a proven
track record of punishing anyone
who disagrees with it — including
athletes and sports organizations. In
2019, Houston Rockets general man-
ager Daryl Morey tweeted “fight for
freedom; stand with Hong Kong.”
China responded by suspending all
business ties with the franchise. The
country also recently banned all
Boston Celtics games after Celtics’
forward Enes Kanter expressed public
support for a free Tibet.
Beyond broadcasting rights and
business ties, China has a proven
track record of hostage diplomacy.
China only released the “two
Michaels” — Michael Kovrig and
Michael Spavor — in exchange for
Huawei’s Meng Wanzhou this year.
The country has been known to
use U.S. allies, like Australia and
Canada, as “proxy punching bags.”
China puts pressure on them, so the
allies in turn pressure the U.S.
All of this begs the question: Is
China beyond punishing Olympic
athletes from a country engaged in a
diplomatic boycott?
Could arbitrary charges be
imposed by Beijing on athletes who
express dissent against the country’s
treatment of Hong Kong, Taiwan or
the people of Tibet and Xinjiang?
Could athletes be detained if drug
tests come back positive? What
actions could occur if athletes test
positive for Covid-19?
These are all questions that
diplomats and political leaders are
good at handling. But for the U.S.,
and now several other nations
including Canada, they won’t be there
to help during the games.
Although regular diplomats will
be present in the country to assist
with consular situations, this might
not be enough to protect athletes.
The diplomatic boycott of the
Olympics has angered Beijing
enough that the city has threatened
retaliation through “resolute coun-
termeasures.”
Hopefully, these countermea-
sures will not include arbitrary
detainment of athletes, but there is
no guarantee.
What’s more, the U.S., Canada
and several other countries have not
signed on to the “Olympic Truce,” a
UN resolution document that
ensures a peaceful environment for
the games and safe passage for all
athletes. This high-level symbolic
diplomatic duelling brings about real
practical risks to athletes.
This is not the same as arguing
against political activism in sport,
which is to be acknowledged and
even celebrated. We aren’t moved by
the argument that sports should stay
out of politics. We understand the
perspective that a sport-based boy-
cott will likely not force China to
change its policies, to stop commit-
ting genocide, acts of global espi-
onage and vengeance against its citi-
zens. And we are sympathetic to ath-
letes who want to be allowed to com-
pete so they do not miss their one
chance at the Olympics.
But those arguments can
obscure the fact that hosting the
Olympics is used by nations like
China, as a way to build prestige and
consent for their national brand and
policies.
They use sport to normalize and
entrench themselves geopolitically.
So when foreign athletes go to the
enough to do anything about it.”
Leaders shouldn’t be OK with
China’s behaviour or abuses. Nor
should the international community
tacitly support China, or respond
with taps of symbolic pressure. The
real move to be made here is to boy-
cott the games entirely. Athletes and
all.
With the current political ten-
sions, the gentle threat from world
leaders like Biden, mixed with China’s
proven track record of hostage diplo-
macy, puts athletes in danger.
Athletes are at risk of arbitrary
detainment as retaliation. Whether it
be related to Covid-19 protocols,
doping or dissent against China’s
policies. And athletes from non-boy-
cotting nations will be seen as com-
placent in this politically charged
environment.
None of this will do much to
advance the values of the Olympics,
diplomacy or sport itself.
Protest is ultimately about send-
ing strong messages to make change.
Biden’s half measure of holding back
diplomats, while sending in athletes
— with Australia, the U.K. and Cana-
da following suit — is short-handed.
As long as athletes stand witness to
the Olympic flame in Beijing and
compete in the games, complacency
will overshadow any message of con-
demnation.
The writers are, respectively, Associate
Professor in International Development
Studies, Dalhousie University and Associate
Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical
Education, University of Toronto.
Commerce yesterday outlining the aims
and objects of the Scouts. I regard the Boy
Scout organisation as a business organisa-
tion, he said, and therefore in speaking to
business men I propose to deal with the
movement in a business way. There are
two objects in my address to you. One is
quite frankly to stimulate interest in the
Scouts and appeal for funds to help us in
continuing the great work, and secondly
we are extremely anxious that the move-
ment should be better known in order that
we may get better support in future.
PUNJAB
GOVERNMENT
AND THE SIKHS
The Punjab Government, in the course of
a communiqué gives the Sikh community
the fullest assurance that the Government
will not, in any way, interfere with their
religious freedom, but rather desires to
strengthen and uphold the Sikh religion.
Sikhs must be on their guard against
those who mixed politics with religion
and sought to destroy the old mutual con-
fidence between the Sikhs and the Gov-
ernment, it continues. In certain cases the
Government was compelled to apply the
law which regulates seditious meetings,
because violent speeches were made and
warns the community against those
meetings, which are called religious, but
are used for purposes of political propa-
ganda. The Government also gives expres-
sion to its fullest sympathy with the legit-
imate aspirations of the Sikh community.

CROSSWORD
YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION ACROSS
9 Basic Swiss cheese Mike
cut for the French (9)
10 Papers, I see, love part of
the US (5)
11 Game bird or chicken
might do this (5)
12 What one may do to cloth
softly on doctor (3-6)
13 Member of nonet in
desert in outskirts of El
Paso (5)
15 Curse spread about trip
abroad in religious writing
(9)
17 Drink before sporting
fixture in Ascot? (7)
19 Steal from credit card, and
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required. (By arrangement with The Independent, London)
request gear for heist
(3,4)
21 Little horseman’s time
after work (9)
22 Offspring’s hand put in tin
(5)
24 Removing article from
wrapping is rude (9)
27 Number in wintertime
roughly cut bread (5)
28 A fish out of river at right
angles to a vessel (5)
29 A man excited about
Heather’s Budweiser,
bourbon and Twinkies? (9)
DOWN
1 Ginger cat is a character
Alice encounters (3,5)
2 TV channel in an uplifted
state (6)
3 Inventor disheartened to
get sick (4)
4 Question and hint: what
may clean ears in 2 or 10?
(1-3)
5 Artist’s material for
sculpting picked up (4)
6 Sees chop is grilled with
ribs (10)
7 Terrible Russian brought
up copper and coating of
lamina for incense boat (8)
8 Agreed I will cut eggs – a
raw, green sort (6)
14 Off making an ascent, not
caught in dicey position
(3,2,1,4)
NO 29117
15 Some enormous keg going
in part of boat (5)
16 Another exam, one taken
in break (5)
18 Socialist’s troops eating
small pieces variously seen
in this grid (8)
20 Large struggles by family
in Succession drama (4,4)
21 One dam protecting
another in German city (6)
23 Flier has a minute to
infiltrate Asian land (6)
25 Intelligence about soldiers
in recent warzone (4)
26 European in need of right
anorak (4)
27 Conservative guy’s house
across the pond (4)
ASSEMBLY’S
REFORMS DEMAND
It is understood that Mr. Montagu's dis-
patch dealing with the Indian Assembly's
Reforms demand, while paying a tribute
to the work of the Assembly, will point out
that Parliament before generally over-
hauling the Government of India Act will
have to satisfy itself, not merely that the
Assembly is well-worked, but that the
whole of the Reforms machinery recently
created is inadequate for the purposes
Parliament had in view. In this connec-
tion the working of the electorate is also a
most important consideration, and hith-
erto only a portion of the electorate has
exercised its powers. Moreover, none of
the speakers in the Assembly have speci-
fied in their speeches any direction in
which the provisions of the Act have bro-
ken down or hampered the usefulness of
the Assembly.
08
NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021
THUMBNAILS
iQOO CEO: Smartphone
maker iQOO on Monday
announced the appoint-
ment of Nipun Marya as
chief executive officer
for iQOO India. Nipun will
be responsible for driving
the growth of iQOO brand
and its operations in India
as it focuses on growing
its market share to
cement its position in the
premium performance
smartphone segment,
said a Press release issued
by the company. SNS
Bank of Baroda launches
‘bob World Wave’: Bank
of Baroda has joined
hands with National Pay-
ments Corporations of
India (NPCI) to launch ‘bob
World Wave,’ a wearable
line of products for pay-
ments, integrated with a
complete health ecosys-
tem. The bob World Wave
wearable device will allow
customers to monitor
their Sp02, body tempera-
ture, heart rate and
blood pressure, said a
Press release. SNS
MADAME opens new stores:
MADAME, one of the lead-
ing fashion brands in
India, opened two retail
outlets consecutively in
Delhi. The newly opened
stores at Rohini and Shiv
Nagar Extension, Jail
Road in New Delhi, will
offer the curated selec-
tion of apparel, shoes
accessories, and hand-
bags for women and will
feature a unique collec-
tion that is ideal for win-
ter season, said a Press
release. SNS
Gati-KWE: Gati-KWE, an All-
cargo Group company
and the leader in express
logistics and supply chain
solutions, dedicated to
the nation its largest Sur-
face Transhipment Cen-
ter (STC) spread over 1.5
lakh sq ft and connecting
to all major national high-
ways, in strategically
located Western Peripher-
al Expressway in Farukh
Nagar. Gati-KWE plans to
set up five more similar
STCs at Mumbai, Nagpur,
Indore, Bengaluru and
Hyderabad, said a Press
release. SNS
Coal crisis: With no
respite in sight to the
continued shortage of
coal faced by the Non-
Regulated Sector, the
Federation of Indian
Mineral Industries (FIMI)
has written to the Prime
Minister's Office
requesting for
resumption of normal
coal supplies by Coal India
Limited and availability of
railway rakes by Railway
Board. IANS
Prepaid card for home
learning: Convergia,
edtech venture of S.
Chand and Co., has
introduced an innovative
pre-paid card option for
the home learning app ~
Learnflix. Its objective is
to introduce value-based
offering in the EdTech
space that is affordable
and makes payment for
accessing the app easy.
Learnflix prepaid
recharge cards are
available in 20 states
with more than 200
partners, said a Press
release. SNS
Rosneft plays key role in energy dialogue with India
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
MOSCOW/NEW DELHI,
13 DECEMBER
Russian energy company Ros-
neft is playing a key role in the
energy dialogue, actively devel-
oping with Indian partners an
integrated format of cooper-
ation along the entire tech-
nological chain, from pro-
duction to refining and sales
of petroleum products.
The development and
expansion of the energy dia-
logue between Russia and
India should be a priority task
for both the political and busi-
ness elites of the two countries.
Russia is India's long-
standing and time-tested part-
ner. There is regular high-
level interaction between the
two countries ~ heads of the
Retail inflation rises
to 4.91 per cent in Nov
Base effects will keep headline inflation elevated in coming months: Barclays
SNS & AGENCIES
KOLKATA, 13 DECEMBER
R
etail inflation, as mea-
sured by the Con-
sumer Price Index,
in the month of
November marginally rose
to 4.91 per cent, accelerating
towards the upper limit of
Reserve Bank of India's tar-
get range as fruit and vegetable
prices climbed, the govern-
ment data showed today.
The Consumer Price Index
(CPI) based retail inflation
stood at 4.48 per cent in Octo-
ber 2021 and 6.93 per cent in
the same month of last year.
As per the data released by
the National Statistical Office
(NSO), food inflation was at
1.87 per cent in November this
year compared to 0.85 per cent
in the preceding month.
The price rise is sharper in
the urban areas than the
rural. CPI inflation in urban
areas rose by 5.54 per cent in
November 2021 while it stood
at 4.29 per cent in rural areas.
During October 2021 also the
inflationary pressure in urban
areas was higher. Urban CPI
inflation stood at 5.04 per
Operative PMJDY a/cs Millions of workers will lose livelihood if
rise from 60% to 85% COTPA amendment Bill is implemented
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
The share of operative Prad-
han Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana
(PMJDY ) accounts has
increased from 60.38 per cent
in March 2017 to 85.70 per cent
in November 2021. This was
stated by Union minister of
state for finance Bhagwat
Kisanrao Karad in a written
reply to a question in the Lok
Sabha today.
Whether a large number of
accounts are dormant/inop-
erative, the minister stated that
as per Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) guidelines dated 18 Feb-
ruary 2009, a savings account
should be treated as inoper-
ative/dormant if there are no
transactions in the account for
over a period of two years.
In this regard, the minis-
ter stated, RBI has advised
Financial Literacy Centres
Mandaviya invites global investors to Flipkart infuses $145 million
invest and strengthen Make-in-India in agritech startup Ninjacart
ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL
DUBAI, 13 DECEMBER
India's minister of health
and family welfare, chemicals
and fertilisers, Mansukh Man-
daviya today invited global
investors from the India Pavil-
ion to invest and strengthen
Make-in-India.
The minister said:
"Investors have tremendous
opportunities in India because
it is a strong democratic coun-
try, ease of doing business is
a big facilitator, and under the
leadership of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, the pace of
development has increased.
Middle class is expanding, and
consumption power is rising.
The Prime Minister has invit-
ed the global investors to
come to the country and
invest to strengthen Make-in-
India."
On India's fightback against
two countries hold annual
meetings and there are other
mechanisms of political inter-
action. Contacts have been
established in the sphere of
military and technical coop-
eration and the economy. In
this situation, it is important
to systematically develop
cooperation in the energy
sphere as well.
Among the joint assets in
Russia are Vankorneft, Taas-
Yuryakh Neftegazodobycha
and Sakhalin-1. In India,
Nayara Energy operates a
high-tech refinery in the city
of Vadinar and is one of the
fastest-growing networks of fill-
ing stations in India. After
Rosneft's acquisition of a part
of Nayara Energy's equity, the
Indian company launched
an ambitious refinery devel-
cent in October 2021 while for
the rural areas it stood at
4.07 per cent.
However, one year back the
trend was different. During
November 2020, the rural
inflation was higher at 7.2 per
cent as compared with 6.73
per cent per cent for the
urban.
The RBI has been man-
dated by the government to
(FLCs) and rural branches of
banks to conduct outdoor
financial literacy camps for cus-
tomers in collaboration with
ground level stakeholders at
the district/ panchayat /vil-
lage level.
They also conduct specif-
ic camps for target audiences
like farmers, small entrepre-
neurs, self help groups, senior
citizens, including women.
The Centres for Financial
Literacy project of the RBI
also impart financial educa-
tion among adults. In addition,
banks in general organise
camps to create awareness
about the banking habits.
On the question whether
the beneficiaries can avail
formal credit under the PMJDY,
the minister stated that the
beneficiaries can avail over-
draft facility up to Rs 10,000
after fulfilment of certain
minimum conditions.
Investors have tremendous opportuni-
ties in India because it is a strong democ-
ratic country, ease of doing business is a
big facilitator, and under the leadership
of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the
pace of development has increased...
MANSUKH MANDAVIYA
UNION MINISTER
coronavirus, the health min-
ister said: "India is a world
leader in vaccine manufac-
turing sector. Two Indian
companies have not only
done the R&D but manufac-
turing the vaccines also in the
country. Our vaccine manu-
facturing capacity is 310 mil-
lion doses per month and 86
per cent of the population have
got first dose of the vaccine
while 55 per cent of the pop-
ulation above 18 years of age
have got the second dose. This
opment programme. These
assets, which are the compa-
ny's most successful inter-
national projects, allowed
Rosneft to become a leader in
investment cooperation
between the two countries.
To understand the scale, let
me quote the following figure:
the volume of mutual invest-
ments in the projects with
the participation of Rosneft
and Indian partners exceed-
ed $17 billion. This is more
than half of the total volume
of accumulated Russian-Indi-
an investments at the moment.
It is important to under-
stand that this is far from the
limit. So far Russia is not
India's main partner in the
energy sector, although we
have all opportunities to do
so, given the potential of the
PMJDY beneficiaries can avail overdraft facility up to
Rs 10,000 after fulfilment of certain minimum conditions.
UNION MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE
stance against the backdrop
of concerns over the emer-
gence of the new coronavirus
variant Omicron, but it said
that price pressures may per-
sist in the near-term.
This was the ninth time in
a row that the monetary pol-
icy committee (MPC), head-
ed by RBI Governor Shak-
tikanta Das, maintained the
status quo.
But the RBI made no mate-
rial changes to its inflation and
growth estimates. It still
expects CPI at 5.1 per cent for
Q3 and 5.7 per cent for Q4 of
this financial year and soft-
en thereafter. Brent crude
oil, India's biggest import,
was down over 16 per cent last
month. It was trading around
$76 a barrel today.
keep retail inflation at four per Commenting on the devel-
cent with a margin of two per opment, Rahul Bajoria, chief
cent on either side. Howev- India economist of Barclays
er, November data have been India, said: “As expected,
within the central bank's tar- November CPI rose on the
get for a fifth consecutive back of higher vegetable
month. prices, despite the reduction
The central bank, last in excise duty on motor fuel.
week, had kept the benchmark Over the coming months,
interest rate unchanged at four base effects will keep head-
per cent and decided to con- line inflation elevated, push-
tinue with its accommodative ing it beyond six per cent.
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE shops situated under trees and
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER on pavements which will not
be recognised by the munic-
The proposed amendment to ipalities or given licences.
the Cigarettes and Other Therefore, the entire sale
Tobacco Products (COTPA) Act of beedis will come to a grind-
puts the livelihood of millions ing and abrupt halt. If the sale
of women in jeopardy. The new of beedis comes to a halt,
insertion ~ Section 10A(3), then the entire beedi indus-
makes it mandatory for per- try will come to a halt.
sons to obtain licences, per- A study by Vibha Vasuki, a
missions and registrations human rights lawyer and Siva
for selling and distributing any Prasad Rambhatla, senior
tobacco product. professor of social anthro-
This insertion, if imple- pology, titled, "A study on
mented, will be an extreme- the status of alternate employ-
ly harsh measure for small ven- ment schemes for women
dors who do not have the com- beedi rollers" delves into the
petency or financial means to impact this COTPA amend-
obtain such licence. “Beedis” ment will have on millions of
are mostly sold by small ven- women beedi rollers in the
dors and hawkers who have country.
a small-scale set up for sell- The report says that until
ing tobacco products. skill-building and alterna-
Most of the sales of “beed- tive employment is provided
is” take place from micro on a large scale for their liveli-
on its industries and devel-
opment. With its theme of a
New and Self-reliant India, the
Pavilion truly showcases the
principle of Vasudhaiva
Kutumbakam (the world is one
family) and rich cultural her-
itage of India."
In his tweet message from
the India Pavilion, Mandaviya
said: "Met @FICCI_India offi-
cials at the #IndiaPavilion of
is India's strength." #Expo2020Dubai. Discussed
"PM Modi has further various issues related to phar-
taken ahead the principle of ma & health sector. Modi
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Govt is relentlessly working
We are providing “India- towards transforming,
made, India-researched” vac- strengthening health sector
cines world over and helping of India & is increasing its
everybody in getting pro- strength, self-reliance in the
tected against Covid," he sector."
added. Mandaviya also met H.E.
On India Pavilion, Man- Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem,
daviya said: "The Pavilion group chairman and CEO, DP
showcases India's rich culture World and visited the pavil-
and its 75 years of journey and ions of the UAE, the US and
provides detailed information Saudi Arabia at EXPO2020.
India has been one of Rosneft's key strategic
partners for many years. Projects with Indian
partners are probably the most effective inter-
national projects for the Russian company. First
is the Vankor project, which Rosneft has been
implementing with a consortium of Indian
investors since 2016. The Vankor field is the
largest field discovered and commissioned in
Russia in the last twenty five years.
Northern Sea Route and sim- interest in Rosneft's unique
ilar positions with regard to the low-carbon Vostok Oil project
energy transition to a low-car- that produces low-sulphur
bon economy. Prime Minis- oil. The Indian interest extends
ter Narendra Modi is an advo- far beyond the usual pattern
cate of a smooth, balanced of partnership in the upstream
move toward carbon-free asset. India is also assessing
energy. the possibility of participat-
India's fast-growing econ- ing in the construction of ves-
omy is demanding more and sels for Vostok Oil at the Zvez-
more energy resources, and the da shipyard in the Far East.
country's authorities show We see that, in fact, there
BHAGWAT KISANRAO KARAD
Tega Industries
makes stellar
debut on SEs
MUMBAI, 13 DECEMBER
Tega Industries made a stellar
debut on the stock exchange
today. Its share got listed on the
National Stock Exchange (NSE)
at Rs 760, which is 68 per cent
premium over its issue price of
Rs 453 per share.
On the Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE), the share got
listed at Rs 753, which is 66 per
cent higher than its issue price.
The initial public offering (IPO)
of Tega Industries had also
received a robust response
from all categories. It was over-
subscribed 219 times.
Kolkata-headquartered Tega
Industries is a manufacturer and
distributor of specialised, crit-
ical, and recurring consum-
able products for the global
mineral beneficiation, mining,
and bulk solids handling indus-
try. Globally, Tega Industries is
the second-largest producer
of polymer-based mill liners.
On the National Stock
Exchange, the share of Tega
Industries touched a high of Rs
767.70 in early trade.
On the Bombay Stock
Exchange, the stock got listed
at Rs 753, which was lower
than the level on the NSE. How-
ever, the stock surged to a high
of Rs 767.10 on the BSE, which
was close to the high achieved
on the NSE. ANI
hood, beedi rolling is the only
viable occupation for mil-
lions of women across India.
The study states that beed-
is dominate tobacco con-
sumption in India. They are
thin, hand-rolled cigarettes
that are wrapped in a tendu
leaf and filled with tobacco.
About 7.7 per cent of adults
in India smoke beedis which
have a market share of 85 per
cent of all smoking products
in India. Any anti-tobacco
legislation largely impacts
the beedi industry.
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
BENGALURU, 13 DECEMBER
As e-grocery picks up momen-
tum in India, Walmart-owned
Flipkart today announced to
invest $145 million in agritech
startup Ninjacart, which has
helped over 1,00,000 farmers
across 150 villages to gener-
ate better revenues.
The third round of invest-
ment will further empower mil-
lions of agri-value chain par-
ticipants, including farmers,
resellers, retailers, consumers,
and supply chain participants,
the company said in a state-
ment.
Ninjacart has been invest-
ing significantly in tech plat-
forms and supply chain infra-
structure over the past two
years.
"With this investment, we
are further able to strength-
en our grocery footprint and
is a need for a new institutional
platform for practical coop-
eration between Russia and
India in the energy sector,
where the parties can discuss
and develop proposals for
joint projects and increased
investments in the sector.
India has been one of Ros-
neft's key strategic partners for
many years. Projects with
Indian partners are probably
the most effective interna-
tional projects for the Russ-
ian company. First is the
Vankor project, which Rosneft
has been implementing with
a consortium of Indian
investors since 2016. The
Vankor field is the largest field
discovered and commis-
sioned in Russia in the last
twenty five years. The project
is paradigmatic, as it has
Incentive scheme
for additional
borrowing by states
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
The government has recent-
ly announced a new incen-
tive scheme for states that
could achieve their targets
and become eligible for
incremental borrowing.
This was stated by Union
minister of state for finance
Pankaj Chaudhary in a writ-
ten reply to a question in the
Lok Sabha today.
Giving more details, the
minister stated that out of
the net borrowing ceiling
(NBC) of four per cent of
GSDP for the states for 2021-
22, 0.50 per cent of GSDP was
earmarked for incremental
capital expenditure to be
incurred by the states dur-
ing 2021-22.
The target for incremental
capital expenditure for each
state to qualify for this incre-
mental borrowing was fixed.
This earmarking for incre-
mental capital expenditure
has been done because the
capital expenditure has a
high multiplier effect,
enhances the future pro-
ductive capacity of the econ-
omy, and results in a high-
er rate of economic growth,
The manufacturing process
is highly labour intensive.
The over hundred-year-old
cottage industry employs
workers in mostly the unor-
ganised sector comprising
mainly of home-based women
workers from poor house-
holds. Ninety-six per cent of
the total beedi workers are
home-based while only four
per cent work in factories. A
majority (84 per cent) of
home-based workers are
women while only 16 per
cent are men.
As a member nation sig-
natory to the WHO Framework
Convention on Tobacco Con-
trol (FCTC), the Central gov-
ernment is obligated to pro-
mote and provide suitable
alternative livelihoods for
tobacco workers, including
beedi rollers.
Beedi workers are among
offering as consumers across
the country throng to e-gro-
cery for quality and affordable
options in the fresh category,"
said Kalyan Krishnamurthy,
chief executive officer, Flip-
kart Group.
Flipkart offers grocery in
1,800 cities and towns, and aims
to take its offering to 2,000 more
towns by middle of next year.
Fresh fruits and vegeta-
bles will be an integral part of
the expansion, with the com-
become the basis for building
an integral format of cooper-
ation between Rosneft and
Indian partners.
Another joint production
project in Russia, Taas-Yuryakh
Neftegazodobycha, is an exam-
ple of a Eurasian hub, with rep-
resentatives from India (a
consortium of investors) and
the UK (BP) involved in its
development.
Finally, since 2001, India's
ONGC, together with Ros-
neft, has been part of the
Sakhalin-1 project.
All these examples are a per-
fect illustration of how suc-
cessful the Russia-India ener-
gy dialogue can be.
Cooperation between Ros-
neft and India is based not
only on the development of
production projects in the oil
the minister stated.
To become eligible for
incremental borrowing, the
minister stated that states
were required to achieve at
least 15 per cent of the tar-
get set for 2021-22 by the end
of first quarter of fiscal 2021-
22, 45 per cent by the end of
second quarter, 70 per cent
by the end of third quarter
and 100 per cent by 31 March
2022.
Providing details and
number of states which were
granted permission to
mobilise the additional bor-
rowings after the end of first
quarter, the minister stated
that eleven (11) states name-
ly, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Ker-
ala, Madhya Pradesh,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Naga-
land, Rajasthan and Uttarak-
hand had achieved the tar-
get set by the ministry of
finance for the capital expen-
diture in the first quarter of
2021-22.
As an incentive, these
states were granted additional
borrowing permission of
0.25 per cent of gross state
domestic product (GSDP)
amounting to Rs 15,721
crore, the minister stated.
the most marginalised com-
munities in India. Despite
legislation for their welfare,
there is little evidence to sug-
gest that much has been put
into practice. There has been
no allocation of welfare funds
for beedi workers since 2017-
18.
The study claims that since
the passing of the Cigarettes
and Other Tobacco Products
Act (COTPA) in 2003, there has
been a decline in the beedi
industry.
The anti-tobacco legisla-
tions have made it harder for
the beedi industry to survive
causing a direct impact on the
livelihood of beedi workers.
The study emphasises the
need for alternative skill devel-
opment and employment for
women beedi rollers who are
dependent on the beedi indus-
try for their livelihood.
pany investing in technology
capabilities to ensure the
highest and most stringent
quality checks for the end
consumer.
"India is at a cusp of for-
malising the agriculture indus-
try, with the advent of better
road connectivity, GST, seam-
less payments, digital infra-
structure, etc. This opens up
a tremendous opportunity to
organise our agri-ecosystem
landscape like never before.
We are investing in this huge
potential to create value,"
said Thirukumaran Nagarajan,
co-founder and chief execu-
tive officer of Ninjacart.
Earlier this year, Ninjacart
inked a memorandum of
understanding with the Union
ministry of agriculture and
farmer welfare to strengthen
the market linkages and pro-
mote best practices in the
farming sector.
and gas industry. I would like
to remind you that, since
2017, Rosneft has been a co-
owner of Nayara Energy,
which owns Vadinar, one of the
largest and most high-tech
refineries in India. The pur-
chase of this asset is still the
largest foreign investment in
the Indian economy. How-
ever, this investment is justi-
fied and strategically flaw-
less: the investors were focused
on the dynamically develop-
ing Indian domestic market
with one of the world's high-
est growth rates.
Nayara Energy now also
owns one of India's largest net-
works of gas stations, and
during the time that Rosneft
has been a shareholder of the
company, the network has
almost doubled in size.

Taliban seek ties with US, ex-foes
Afghan Foreign Minister Muttaqi said Taliban government wants good relations with all countries
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, 13 DECEMBER
A
fghanistan’s new Tal-
iban rulers are com-
mitted in principle
to education and
jobs for girls and women, a
marked departure from their
previous time in power, and
seek the world’s “mercy and
compassion” to help millions
of Afghans in desperate need,
a top Taliban leader said in a
rare interview.
Afghan Foreign Minister
Amir Khan Muttaqi also told
The Associated Press that the
Taliban government wants
good relations with all coun-
tries and has no issue with the
United States. He urged Wash-
ington and other nations to
release upward of $10 billion
in funds that were frozen
when the Taliban took power
Aug. 15, following a rapid
Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian man in West Bank S African President tests Covid positive
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
TEL AVIV, 13 DECEMBER
Israeli soldiers on Monday
killed a Palestinian man, while
two others were injured in the
West Bank city of Nablus,
medics and witnesses said.
The head of the Emer-
gency and Ambulance
Department at the Palestin-
ian Red Crescent Society,
Ahmad Jibril, told reporters that
31-year-old Jamil al-Kayyal was
shot dead, and two other men
were moderately injured,
Islamabad court terms enforced
disappearances a 'stain on Pakistan'
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
Islamabad High Court Chief Jus-
tice Athar Minallah on Mon-
day expressed severe displea-
sure at the practice of enforced
disappearances, saying "chief
executives" of the country were
ultimately answerable for such
acts and at one point wondered
if they should be charged under
Article 6 of the Constitution (high
treason), Dawn reported.
Justice Minallah gave these
remarks during an exchange
with Attorney General of Pak-
istan Khalid Jawed Khan while
hearing a petition filed by the
family of missing journalist
Mudassar Naaru.
In the hearing on Monday,
the IHC Chief Justice called
enforced disappearances a
"stain on Pakistan" and the
"worst form of corruption" as
he noted that former chief
executives nowadays take pride
in the practice by writing about
it in their books, Dawn report-
ed.
LEISURE
10 MINUTE CROSSWORD
ACROSS
1 Celestial body (4)
3 Upper-class person
(Informal) (4)
7 Move (5)
8 Sloping letters (7)
10 Stretch (8)
11 Make eyes at (4)
13 Tryst (11)
17 Too (4)
19 Exercise weight (8)
21 Evil (7)
22 Depart (5)
23 Retained (4)
24 Depend (4)
SOLUTIONS TO YESTERDAY’S CROSSWORD
ACROSS 12 Philoso-
1 Ewe, pher,
16 Unaccept- 2 Earls,
3 Nick,
5 Horn (Uni- able,
20 Anger,
corn), 21 Spectre,
9 Pirates, 22 Tiny,
10 Onset,
11 Cash-and- 23 Dray,
24 Hut.
carry,
By arrangement with The Independent
Figures in parentheses denote
the number of letters in the words required
The Ministry would like to affirm Sudan's full commitment to the principles of good
neighborliness and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.
military sweep across
Afghanistan and the sudden,
secret flight of U.S.-backed
President Ashraf Ghani.
“Sanctions against
Afghanistan would ... not have
any benefit,” Muttaqi said
Sunday, speaking in his native
Pashto during the interview
in the sprawling pale brick For-
eign Ministry building in the
heart of the Afghan capital of
Kabul.
“Making Afghanistan
reports Xinhua news agency.
Palestinian eyewitnesses
said that a special Israeli army
force stormed al-Ain refugee
camp and the old city of
Nablus to arrest wanted Pales-
"Had the state existed some-
where, why would the affect-
ed family need to approach the
court, and why would we need
to bring this to the Prime Min-
ister's notice?" the chief justice
questioned.
In August 2018, Naaru went
on vacation to the Kaghan val-
ley, but has since been miss-
ing. He was last spotted near
the Kaghan river. Initially, his
family and friends thought
that he may have accidental-
ly fallen into the river and
drowned, but his body was
never found. Others began
speculating that Naaru may have
killed himself — a claim instant-
ly rejected by the family, say-
ing he had no signs of despair,
BEETLE BAILEY/Mort Walker
RED EYE/Bill Yates & Mel Casson
DOWN
1 Wept (6)
2 Difficult and tiring (7)
3 Snare (4)
4 Throw (5)
5 Flightless bird (7)
6 Make out (11)
9 Appear (4)
12 Bristly growth (7)
14 Intimidate (7)
15 Ready money (4) DADDY DAZE/John Kovaleski
16 Somnolent (6)
18 Sharp point (5)
20 Mislaid (4)
DOWN 13 Handgun,
1 Expect, 14 Pottery,
15 Defect,
3 Netball, 17 Curb,
4 Cash dis- 18 Botch,
penser, 19 Pact.
6 Observe,
7 Note,
8 Rota,
unstable or having a weak
Afghan government is not in
the interest of anyone,” said
Muttaqi, whose aides include
employees of the previous
government as well as those
recruited from the ranks of the
Taliban.
Muttaqi acknowledged the
world’s outrage at the Tal-
iban-imposed limitations on
girls’ education and on women
in the work force. In many parts
of Afghanistan, female high
tinian activists, who are
involved in carrying out attacks
against Israel.
The Israeli soldiers also
arrested a third man from
his home in the refugee camp,
they said.
Israeli media reported that
several Palestinian gunmen
opened fire at the Israeli
troops to prevent them from
proceeding into the city of
Nablus, but no injuries were
reported among the soldiers.
On Friday, a Palestinian
demonstrator was killed and
the report said.
His family subsequently
tried to register a first infor-
mation report against "uniden-
tified persons".When the police
refused to cooperate, they were
forced to approach civil rights
organisations but to no avail.
A few months following his dis-
appearance, one of his friends
said he had spotted Naaru at
a detention centre for "miss-
ing persons".
In a previous hearing of
the case, it had been asserted
that Naaru, who was also a social
activist and human rights
defender, had been receiving
threats allegedly from officials
of state institutions before he
went missing.
SUDAN FOREIGN MINISTER ASMA MOHAMED ABDALLA
DENYING ETHIOPIAN ACCUSATIONS OF SUPPORTING REBEL FORCES
school students between the
grades of seven and 12 have
not been permitted to go to
school since the Taliban took
over, and many female civil ser-
vants have been told to stay
home. Taliban officials have
said they need time to create
gender-segregated arrange-
ments in schools and work
places that meet their severe
interpretation of Islam.
When they first ruled from
1996-2001, the Taliban shocked
the world by barring girls and
women from schools and
jobs, banning most enter-
tainment and sports and occa-
sionally carrying out execu-
tions in front of large crowds
in sports stadiums.
But Muttaqi said the Tal-
iban have changed since they
last ruled.
“We have have made
progress in administration
and in politics ... in interac-
dozens were injured during
clashes with Israeli soldiers
near Nablus, medics and eye-
witnesses said.
The Palestinian Health
Ministry said in a statement
that the demonstrator suc-
cumbed to a severe injury.
Every Friday, the Pales-
tinians organise rallies and
protests against the Israeli
government's policies of
expanding settlements and
confiscation of lands, and
the demonstrations usually
turn into clashes with soldiers.
US sanctions
B’desh's elite
paramilitary
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
The US Treasury Department
has imposed sanctions on the
Rapid Action Battalion (RAB),
Bangladeshs elite paramilitary
unit, after widespread allega-
tions of serious human rights
abuse.
The Treasury said as part
of the Bangladeshi govern-
ment's war on drugs—threat-
en US national security inter-
ests by undermining the rule
of law and respect for human
rights and fundamental free-
doms, and the economic pros-
perity of the people of
Bangladesh.
RAB is a joint task force
founded in 2004 and composed
of members of the police,
army, navy, air force, and bor-
der guards seconded to the RAB
from their respective units.
Its mandate includes inter-
nal security, intelligence gath-
ering related to criminal activ-
ities, and government-direct-
ed investigations. IANS
09
NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021
US Secy Blinken competes with top
Russian official in Indonesia
tion with the nation and the ASSOCIATED PRESS in Jakarta announced Patru- spokesperson Teuku Faiza-
world. With each passing day JAKARTA, 13 DECEMBER shev’s visit, saying he would syah.
we will gain more experience be in the Indonesian capital Blinken met Monday after-
and make more progress,” Fresh from delivering a stern for the same two days as the noon with Indonesian Pres-
he said. new warning to Russia over top American diplomat. The ident Joko Widodo before a full
Muttaqi said that under the Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of timing means that Patru- slate of events on Tuesday,
new Taliban government, girls State Antony Blinken arrived shev’s meetings will coincide including the speech.
are going to school through in Indonesia on Monday to find with a major speech Blinken The Russian embassy said
to Grade 12 in 10 of the coun- a top aide to Russian President plans to give Tuesday on the Patrushev’s main interlocu-
try’s 34 provinces, private Vladimir Putin already in Biden administration’s Indo- tor in Indonesia would be
schools and universities are Jakarta for security talks. Pacific strategy. Law and Security Affairs Min-
operating unhindered and Just a day after joining his There was no indication ister Mohammad Mahfud.
100% of women who had pre- Group of Seven foreign min- that the two men might meet Blinken traveled to Jakar-
viously worked in the health ister colleagues in issuing the in Jakarta. ta from a Group of Seven for-
sector are back on the job. “This blunt demand for Russia to Nor was there any indica- eign ministers meeting in
shows that we are committed step back from a military tion that either would acknowl- Liverpool, England, at which
in principle to women par- escalation near the Ukrainian edge the other’s presence in he and his counterparts told
ticipation,” he said. border, Blinken began a 48- Indonesia, which is the head- Russia on Sunday to “de-esca-
He claimed that the Taliban hour visit to Indonesia with quarters of the Association of late” its military buildup near
have not targeted their oppo- his plane parking in the shad- Southeast Asian Nations and the Ukrainian border.
nents, instead having ow of that of Putin’s national a key regional security play- The G-7 called on Russia
announced a general amnesty security adviser Nikolay Patru- er. to “de-escalate, pursue diplo-
and providing some protec- shev. Patrushev is considered Indonesia’s foreign ministry matic channels, and abide
tion. Leaders of the previous the third most senior official downplayed the dueling vis- by its international commit-
government live without threat in Russia’s government. its. “It just so happened that ments on transparency of
in Kabul, he said, though the Shortly before Blinken their arrival time to Indone- military activities,” and praised
majority have fled. landed, the Russian embassy sia coincided,” said ministry Ukraine’s “restraint.”
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE ment said on Monday. The President is in good to Deputy President David
JOHANNESBURG,13 DECEMBER The President, who is fully spirits but is being monitored Mabuza for the next week, an
vaccinated, started feeling by the Military Health Ser- official statement said on
South African President Cyril unwell after leaving the State vice of the South African Monday. The President also
Ramaphosa is receiving treat- Memorial Service in honour National Defence Force, it just wrapped up his visit from
ment for mild Covid-19 symp- of former Deputy President FW added.Ramaphosa is in self- four West African states includ-
toms after testing positive de Klerk in Cape Town earli- isolation in Cape Town and has ing Nigeria, Cote d'Ivoire,
for the virus, an official state- er on Sunday. delegated all responsibilities Ghana and Senegal.
Afghan Taliban distance themselves from TTP
AGENCIES for enemies to interfere in
KABUL, 13 DECEMBER the region and in Pakistan. And
we request Pakistan to look into
TTP intensifies attacks in Pak
The Afghan Taliban, who are their demands for the better PESHAWAR, 13 DECEMBER "Two gunmen riding a motor-
now running the Islamic Emi-
rate of Afghanistan (IEA), have
of the region and Pakistan."
Calling the issue of tackling TheTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
bike opened fire on a policeman
who was guarding a two-mem-
distanced themselves from
the recent claims by the banned
TTP Pakistan's internal mat-
ter, Mujahid said that IEA has
(TTP) terror group has intensi-
fied its targeted attacks on secu-
berfemalepoliovaccinationteam
in Sheikh Uttar area, killing him
terror outfit in Pakistan, which
claimed to be a branch of the
maintained, "it would not
interfere in other country's
rity personnel across the coun-
try, after ending a month-long
on the spot," said Sajjad Khan,
district police chief of Tank area.
IEA. affairs". ceasefire agreement. Sunday's attack was not
The Afghan Taliban state- "We do not interfere in In the latest such incident, claimed by any organisation, but
ments comes after the Tehreek- Pakistan's affairs," he added. unidentified gunmen shot dead the militant group said they
e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief The IEA rejection to own a policeman, who was guard- had carried out the earlier one.
Mufti Noor Wali Mehsud, up to TTP comes at a time when ing a polio vaccination team in The latest attacks come as the
claimed that the organisa- it acknowledged mediating Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) TTP refused to give any exten-
tion is a branch of the IEA, call- talks and negotiations between province on Sunday, making it sion to the month-long cease-
ing TTP being operated under Pakistan and the terror group, the second consecutive killing fire agreed with the Pakistan gov-
what he called a larger umbrel- which led to the month-long in two days. ernment.The group accused the
la of the IEA. ceasefire. On Saturday, two men, asso- Pakistani authorities of violat-
"Tehreek-e-Taliban Pak- It was the mediation of ciated with the TTP, shot dead ing the terms of the agreement
istan is a branch of Islamic Emi- the Afghan Taliban that facil- a policeman, who was guard- and rejected any possibility of
rates of Afghanistan and is part itated and materialized the ing another polio vaccination extending the agreement any
of that umbrella on this land," ceasefire during November, team in the same area. further. ANI
stated Noor Wali Mehsud in which the TTP later declined
a video, in which he is seen to extend any further. oned militants of the TTP, who umbrella branch of the Afghan
addressing the TTP fighters. As per the agreement would be handed over to the Taliban and has operated under
However, the TTP claim was between TTP and the Pak- TTP through the IEA. the same in the country.
brushed aside by the IEA istan government, both sides But TTP claims that the IEA decision to distance
spokesperson, who said that accepted that the IEA would Pakistan government failed itself from TTP may be taken
TTP is not part of it. play the role of a mediator and to implement the decisions as a big blow to the TTP as Pak-
"They are not, as an orga- that both sides would form a reached and opted to con- istan may launch a major
nization, part of IEA and we five-member committees each, duct raids, detaining and killing offensive against the group.
do not share the same objec- which would discuss the future TTP militants. On the other hand, IEA
tives," said Afghan Taliban course of action and demands "Under the circumstances, facilitation of previous talks may
spokesperson Zabihullah under the supervision of the it is not possible to extend the continue to try and engage with
Mujahid. IEA as the mediator. ceasefire," read a statement both parties through back
"We advise TTP to focus on The ceasefire agreement, issued by the TTP. channels and help them silent-
peace and stability in their that stayed on from Novem- While the IEA has distanced ly in reaching another agree-
country. This is very important ber 1 to 30, included consent itself from TTP, it is a known ment, without officially own-
so they can prevent any chance to release of at least 102 impris- fact that TTP has been an ing up to the group.
NEED TO KNOW
HOSPITALS 22586262, 22585007 � port 011-25671580; Terminal I-
Punjab Roadways 23867842,
� AIIMS 26588500, 26588900
B 25671576, Palam Road
23860626
� Moolchand Medcity (formerly
RAILWAY INQUIRY 25671579, 18001803838
� Rajasthan Roadways
General Inquiry 139 23864470
� JET AIRWAYS Flight Inquiry
Hospital) 42000000 & 24-hour � U.P. Roadways 23868709
and Reservation 39841111
Chemist Shop 42000447 � Toll Free Nos. 1800112511
� EMIRATES Flight Inquiry and
� Vidyasagar Institute for Men- � SMS Inquiry Nos. 57886,
FLIGHT INQUIRY Reservation 33773377
tal Health and Neuro-Sciences 54959, 5676747 � Air Canada Flight Inquiry
26924300, 26924304 � AIR INDIA Flight Inquiry and
25656421/25656431 Reserva-
� Batra Hospital & Medical ROADWAYS INQUIRY Reservation 18001801407 tion 41528181
Research Centre 29051280, � ISBT (General Inquiry): � INDIGO AIRLINES New Delhi � Air France Flight Inquiry and
29958747 23868836, 23865181 City Office 43513185, Call Cen- Reservation 23466262 (City)
� Deen Dayal Upadhyay � Haryana Roadways 23861262 tre 09910383838,
25652294 (Airport)
25496320, 25494403 � Himachal Roadways 18001803838, Reservation � Kuwait Airways Flight Inquiry
� Guru Tegh Bahadur 23717473, 23325320 43513186; Indigo Airlines Air- and Reservation 23354373
SUDOKU
Directions Make a 2 to
7 letter word from the
letters in each row.
Add points of each
word, using scoring
directions at right, 7-
letter words get 50- Sudoku is a number-placing
point bonus. "Blanks"
used as any letter puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with
have no point value. several given numbers. The
All Judd's words are
object is to place the numbers 1
in The Official
to 9 in the empty squares so
Scrabble Players
Dictionary(Merriam-
Webster) and OSW that no row, no column and no
Official Scrabble answer to 3x3 box contains the same
Scrabble and Scrabble Tiles are registered trademarks.
All rights in the game are owned in the U.S.A by Hasbro
Words(Chambers).
Judd's solution previous number. The difficulty level
Inc., in Canada by Hasbro Canada Inc., and elsewhere by tomorrow. puzzle increases through the week.
J.W. Spear & Sons Limited, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc.
10-25-12
10 NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021
WEATHER
CITY MAX(°C) MIN(°C)
SINGAPORE 29 25 H
HONG KONG 19 16 CL
TOKYO 13 6 CL
LONDON 12 7 H
DUBAI 28 17 S
SAN FRANCISCO 14 7 H
NEW YORK 12 4 H
MOSCOW -1 -3 R
S= sunny, CL= clear,
H=hazy, R= rainy...
THUMBNAILS
A rescue team help a
woman in her home in a
flooded area near the Ebro
River in Tudela, northern
Spain. Heavy rain has led to
flooding in northern
Spain.� AP
Magnitude 5.5 earthquake
rattles Philippines: An
earthquake with a prelimi-
nary magnitude of 5.5
struck Occidental Mindoro
province on Monday, the
Philippines Institute of Vol-
canology and Seismology
said.The institute said the
quake, which struck at
5.12 p.m. local time, hit at
a depth of 104 kilometres,
about 23 kilometres
northeast of Paluan. IANS
3 dead in S.Korean chemi-
cal factory blast: Three
workers were found dead
after an explosion took
place at a chemical facto-
ry in the South Korean
city of Yeosu on Monday,
firefighters said. Fire
broke out at 1.37 p.m. at a
petrochemical manufac-
turing factory in the
Yeosu Industrial Complex
in Yeosu, 450 km south of
Seoul, reports Yonhap
News Agency. IANS
Moon, Morrison agree to continue cooperation for stable supply chain
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CANBERRA, 13 DECEMBER
Visiting South Korean Presi-
dent Moon Jae-in and Aus-
tralian Prime Minister Scott
Morrison on Monday agreed
to continue to work together
to secure a stable supply chain
of critical minerals as they met
in Canberra for a summit.
Australia is rich in resources
and energy, including iron
ore, coal and liquefied natural
gas, and the leaders' agreement
is expected to boost South
Korea's competitiveness in
the electric vehicle and sec-
ondary battery industries,
which are crucial in the car-
bon-neutral era, according
to the presidential palace in
Seoul.
"This is an area where Aus-
tralia and Korea are already
working very closely togeth-
Long queues form as UK starts booster blitz against omicron
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON, 13 DECEMBER
Long lines formed at vacci-
nation centers in Britain as peo-
ple heeded the government’s
call for all adults to get boost-
er shots to protect against
the omicron variant of the coro-
navirus, which the prime min-
ister said Monday has caused
at least one death.
In a televised announce-
ment late Sunday, Prime Min-
ister Boris Johnson said every-
one 18 and up would be offered
a third vaccine dose by Dec.
31 — less than three weeks
away, and a month earlier
than the previous target.
“We are now facing an
emergency in our battle with
the new variant, omicron,”
Johnson said. He said boost-
ers would “reinforce our wall
of vaccine protection” against
an anticipated “tidal wave of
omicron.”
U.K. health authorities say
omicron cases are doubling
every two to three days in
Britain, and it will replace
delta as the dominant strain
Tornadoes kill dozens in five
states; final toll still unclear
Crews recovered pieces of peoples’ lives — a backpack, shoes, a cellphone with 27 missed messages
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MAYFIELD, 13 DECEMBER
R
escuers were forced to
crawl over the dead to
get to the living at a
Kentucky candle fac-
tory walloped by a tornado,
part of an unusual cluster
that killed dozens in the Mid-
west and South and flattened
whole towns.
By the time churchgoers
gathered Sunday morning to
pray for the lost, more than
24 hours had elapsed since
anyone had been found alive.
Instead, crews recovered pieces
of peoples’ lives — a backpack,
a pair of shoes and a cellphone
with 27 missed messages were
among the items. Still, a defin-
itive death toll remained elu-
sive, though it was expected
to be lower than initially
feared.
Kentucky was the worst-hit
by far in a swarm of twisters
across several states, remark-
able because they came at a
time of year when cold weath-
er normally limits tornadoes.
They left at least eight people
dead at the state’s Mayfield
UK faces ‘tidal wave’ of Covid’s
Omicron cases: Boris Johnson
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON, 13 DECEMBER
Prime Minister Boris Johnson
warned Sunday that Britain
faces a “tidal wave” of infec-
tions from the omicron coro-
navirus variant, and
announced a huge increase
in booster vaccinations to
strengthen defenses against
it.
In a televised statement,
Johnson said everyone age 18
and older will be offered a third
shot of vaccine by the end of
this month in response to
the omicron “emergency.”
The previous target was the
end of January.
He said cases of the high-
ly transmissible variant are
doubling every two to three
days in Britain, and “there is
a tidal wave of omicron com-
er to build those reliable,
trusted supply chains in these
critical minerals and rare
earths that we know will power
the new energy economy and
the global economy into the
future," Morrison said at a joint
press conference with Moon
following the talks, which
came as the Covid-19 pan-
demic has caused major dis-
ruptions to global supply
within days. But it’s unclear
whether the expected wave of
infections will inundate the
country’s health system.
About 10 people are in
U.K. hospitals with COVID-19
caused by omicron, and John-
son on Monday reported the
country’s first COVID-19 death
involving the variant.
Scientists in South Africa,
where omicron was first iden-
tified, say they see signs the
variant may cause less severe
disease than delta but cau-
tioned it was too soon to be
certain.
Health authorities around
the world are watching Britain
closely to see what an omicron
surge looks like in a country
with an older, more highly vac-
cinated population than South
Africa’s.
The U.K. Health Security
Agency says existing vaccines
appear less effective in pre-
venting symptomatic infec-
tions in people exposed to omi-
cron, though effectiveness
appears to rise to between 70%
and 75% after a third vaccine
dose.
Consumer Products candle
factory and another 12 were
reported killed in and around
Bowling Green. At least anoth-
er 14 people died in Illinois,
Tennessee, Arkansas and Mis-
souri.
Authorities are still trying
to determine the total num-
ber of dead amid confusion
over how many were able to
escape the factory and the dif-
ficulties of searching other
hard-hit areas. The twisters
made door-to-door searches
impossible in some places.
“There are no doors,” said
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
Beshear said Saturday that
ing.” “And I’m afraid it is now
clear that two doses of vac-
cine are simply not enough
to give the level of protection
we all need,” Johnson said. “But
the good news is that our
scientists are confident that
with a third dose – a booster
dose – we can all bring our level
of protection back up.”
He announced a “nation-
al mission” to deliver boost-
er vaccines, with pop-up vac-
cination centers and seven-
day-a-week getting extra sup-
chains.
The leaders also agreed to
upgrade the bilateral rela-
tionship to a comprehensive
strategic partnership on the
occasion of the 60th anniver-
sary of formal diplomatic ties
this year, reports Yonhap News
Agency.
Moon arrived in Canber-
ra on Sunday, becoming the
first South Korean president
More than 80% of people
age 12 and up in Britain have
received two vaccine doses, and
40% of adults have had three.
Giving the rest boosters by the
end of the month will be a huge
challenge, requiring almost 1
million doses administered a
day. Johnson acknowledged
that many routine medical pro-
cedures would have to be
postponed to meet the goal.
Teams of military plan-
ners and thousands of vol-
unteer vaccinators will help
give the jabs at doctors’ offices,
hospitals, pharmacies and
pop-up vaccination centers.
While the online appoint-
ment booking system will not
be open to under-30s until
Wednesday, Johnson said any
adult could show up at a walk-
in center to get a booster
starting Monday.
Lines built up at big Lon-
don vaccination clinics on
Monday morning. The line for
shots at St. Thomas’ Hospital,
on the south bank of the River
Thames in London, stretched
across Westminster Bridge
toward Parliament.
The strong, clear evidence is that all of the vaccines continue to provide
very clear coverage against serious illness, hospitalisation and loss of life.
only 40 of the 110 people
working in the candle facto-
ry at the time were rescued,
and that “it’ll be a miracle if
anybody else is found alive in
it.” But on Sunday, the com-
pany said that while eight
were confirmed dead and
eight remained missing, more
than 90 others had been locat-
ed.
“Many of the employees
were gathered in the tornado
shelter and after the storm was
over they left the plant and
went to their homes,” said Bob
Ferguson, a spokesman for the
company. “With the power out
and no landline they were
port from teams of military
planners and thousands of vol-
unteer vaccinators.
Johnson’s Dec. 31 target
applies to England. The other
parts of the U.K. — Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland
— are also expected to speed
up their vaccination cam-
paigns.
The U.K. Health Security
Agency says existing vaccines
appear less effective in pre-
venting symptomatic infec-
tions in people exposed to omi-
cron, though preliminary data
show that effectiveness
appears to rise to between 70%
and 75% after a third vaccine
dose.
More than 80% of people
age 12 and up in Britain have
received two doses of vaccine,
and 40% of adults have had
three doses.
to pay a state visit to Australia
in 12 years.
He is also the first foreign
leader that the country has
invited since the start of the
pandemic, officials said.
During their talks, Moon
and Morrison agreed to part-
ner in future industry areas
related to carbon neutral tech-
nology and the hydrogen
economy.
They also agreed to expand
their countries' cooperation
in defence, defence material,
digital transformation and
their response to the pan-
demic to contribute to region-
al stability, peace and pros-
perity.The leaders agreed on
the importance of dialogue and
diplomacy for complete denu-
clearisation and lasting peace
on the peninsula.
They also noted Australia's
decision to allow visits by
The government’s appoint-
ment-booking website strug-
gled to keep up with demand.
The National Health Service
advised people to try access-
ing the site later in the day or
on Tuesday, if they were hav-
ing problems.
The government also ran
out of rapid at-home virus test
kits, which have been dis-
tributed free to households dur-
ing the pandemic. The web-
site where tests can be ordered
AS AUSTRALIA'S INT'L BORDER TO OPEN TO STUDENTS, SKILLED WORKERS
hard to reach initially. We’re
hoping to find more of those
eight unaccounted as we try
their home residences.”
Night-shift workers were in
the middle of the holiday
rush, cranking out candles,
when the word went out to seek
shelter.
For Autumn Kirks, that
meant tossing aside wax and
fragrance buckets to make
an improvised safe place. She
glanced away from her
boyfriend, Lannis Ward, who
was about 10 feet away at the
time.
Suddenly, she saw sky and
lightning where a wall had
been, and Ward had vanished.
“I remember taking my
eyes off of him for a second,
and then he was gone,” Kirks
said.Later in the day, she got
the terrible news — that Ward
had been killed in the storm.
“It was indescribable,” Pas-
tor Joel Cauley said of the
disaster scene. “It was almost
like you were in a twilight
zone. You could smell the
aroma of candles, and you
could hear the cries of peo-
ple for help. Candle smells and
EU ministers debate ways to shield Ukraine from Russia
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS, 13 DECEMBER
European Union foreign min-
isters met Monday to discuss
how to thwart the threat of a
possible new Russian invasion
of Ukraine and what measures
to take should Moscow decide
to send its troops across the
border.
US intelligence officials
say Russia has moved 70,000
troops toward Ukraine’s bor-
der and is preparing for a
possible invasion early next
year. Moscow denies it has any
plans to attack Ukraine and
rejects Western concerns as
part of a smear campaign.
“We are on deter mode,”
to dissuade Russia, EU foreign
policy chief Josep Borrell said.
Borrell, who is chairing
Monday’s meeting, said that
no decisions about sanctions
against Russia would be taken
but that the ministers would
fully vaccinated South Kore-
ans starting this Wednesday
and expressed hope the move
will lead to increased
exchanges and business
between the two countries.
They also agreed to expand
their countries' cooperation
in defence, defence material,
digital transformation and
their response to the pan-
demic to contribute to region-
al stability, peace and pros-
perity.
On the summit's sidelines,
the two sides signed a contract
under which the Australian
Army will buy 30 units of the
K-9 Thunder self-propelled
howitzer and 15 units of the
K-10 armored ammunition re-
supply vehicles from South
Korea's Hanwha Defense.
Moon later paid his respects
at the Australian National
Korean War Memorial.
said none were available on
Monday. Starting Wednesday,
people in England must show
proof of vaccination or a neg-
ative test to ender nightclubs
and other crowded venues.
Johnson’s Dec. 31 target
applies to England. The other
parts of the U.K. — Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland
— are also expected to speed
up their vaccination cam-
paigns.
The British government
AUSTRALIAN HEALTH MINISTER GREG HUNT
all the sirens is not some-
thing I ever expected to expe-
rience at the same time.”
Four twisters hit Kentucky
in all, including one with an
extraordinarily long path of
about 200 miles (322 kilome-
ters), authorities said. Beshear
had said Sunday morning
that the state’s toll could
exceed 100.
But after state officials
heard the candle company’s
update, he said that after-
noon it might be as low as 50.
With afternoon high tem-
peratures forecast only in the
40s, tens of thousands of peo-
ple were without power. About
300 National Guard mem-
bers went house to house,
checking on people and help-
ing to remove debris. Cadav-
er dogs searched for victims.
The outbreak also killed at
least six people in Illinois,
where an Amazon distribution
center in Edwardsville was hit;
four in Tennessee; two in
Arkansas, where a nursing
home was destroyed and the
governor said workers shield-
ed residents with their own
bodies; and two in Missouri.
discuss what steps to take
and when, in coordination with
the United States and Britain.
“In any case, we will send
a clear signal that any aggres-
sion against Ukraine will have
a high cost for Russia” and
underline the 27-country
bloc’s support for Ukraine’s sov-
ereignty and territorial integri-
ty, Borrell told reporters in Brus-
sels.
Lithuania warned that Rus-
sia’s troop movements of late
were no mere menace.
“We are convinced that
Russia is actually preparing for
the all-out war against
Two missing after reported
collision off southern Sweden
ASSOCIATED PRESS
COPENHAGEN, 13 DECEMBER
Two freight ships collided in
the Baltic Sea off southern Swe-
den Monday, with at least
two people reported missing.
One of the vessels capsized and
will be towed to a Swedish port.
At least 11 vessels, one
airplane and one helicopter
took part in the search for the
missing crewmembers, but the
Swedish Maritime Adminis-
tration said later Monday it had
“ended its search operation
at sea for the two missing per-
sons in the water” and that the
pair had not been found.
The capsized vessel is being
towed closer to land where
divers from the Swedish Armed
Forces and the Coast Guard,
raised the country’s official
coronavirus threat level on Sun-
day, warning the rapid spread
of omicron “adds additional
and rapidly increasing risk to
the public and health care
services” at a time when
COVID-19 is already wide-
spread.
Concerns about the new
variant led Johnson’s Con-
servative government to bring
in vaccine certificates for
nightclubs and to reintro-
duce restrictions that were
lifted almost six months ago.
Masks must once again be
worn in most indoor settings
and as of Monday, people
were urged to work from
home, if possible.
Many scientists say those
measures are unlikely to be
enough and are calling for
tougher ones. But cafes, pubs
and other businesses located
in city centers fear plummet-
ing commuter numbers will
hammer business in the usu-
ally busy pre-Christmas peri-
od.
Johnson is facing a major
rebellion from unhappy Con-
6 January panel set to vote on
holding Meadows in contempt
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, 13 DECEMBER
The House panel investigat-
ing the 6 Jan Capitol insur-
rection is set to recommend
contempt charges against for-
mer White House chief of staff
Mark Meadows on Monday as
lawmakers are releasing new
details about thousands of
emails and texts he has hand-
ed over to the committee.
In laying out the case for
the contempt vote, the nine-
member panel released a 51-
page report Sunday evening
that details its questions
about the documents he has
already provided — includ-
ing 6,600 pages of records
taken from personal email
accounts and about 2,000
text messages.The panel did
not release the documents but
described some of them. The
report gives details about
Meadows efforts’ to help
Donald Trump overturn his
defeat in the presidential
election, communications
with members of Congress and
organizers of a rally held the
morning of the insurrection
and frantic messages among
aides and others as the vio-
lent attack unfolded that day.
The panel says it also
wants to know more about
whether Trump was engaged
Ukraine,” Lithuanian Foreign
Minister Gabrielius Lands-
bergis said.
If carried out, it would be
“an unprecedented attack on
a country that shows a West-
ern direction. That means
that the answer has to be
unprecedented from the West-
ern countries as well,” Lands-
bergis said.
But the EU’s big powers,
France and Germany, and
other members of the 27-
nation further from Russia’s
borders, do not share the
same assessment as the U.S.,
Poland and the Baltic coun-
tries of Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania.
They acknowledge Russia’s
troop movements but do not
consider an attack imminent.
In 2015, France and Ger-
many brokered a peace agree-
ment that helped end large-
scale hostilities in Ukraine’s
east, where Ukrainian forces
among others, will search it.
The towing had begun but
“we have no idea when the
work can be completed,” the
agency said in a statement.
Once near land, police in
Sweden will take over the
case.
The Administration said it
received a pre-dawn alarm that
two cargo ships had collided
servative lawmakers when
Parliament votes on the new
restrictions Tuesday. Dozens
are expected to oppose the
restrictions — especially vac-
cine passports, which they
say are unfair and economi-
cally damaging.
Health authorities around
the world are watching Britain
closely to see what an omicron
surge looks like in a country
with an older, more highly vac-
cinated population than South
Africa’s.
The measures are still high-
ly likely to pass, with support
from the opposition Labour
Party.
Johnson’s Dec. 31 target
applies to England. The other
parts of the U.K. — Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland
— are also expected to speed
up their vaccination cam-
paigns.
The British government
raised the country’s official
coronavirus threat level on Sun-
day, warning the rapid spread
of omicron “adds additional
and rapidly increasing risk to
the public and health care
in discussions regarding the
response of the National
Guard, which was delayed for
hours as the violence escalated
and the rioters brutally beat
police guarding the Capitol
building.The report says that
the documents provided by
Meadows show that he sent
an email to an unidentified
person saying that the guard
would be present to “protect
pro Trump people” and that
more would be available on
standby. The committee does
not give any additional details
about the email.
The committee says in
the report that Trump’s for-
mer top White House aide “is
uniquely situated to provide
key information, having strad-
dled an official role in theWhite
House and unofficial role
related to Mr. Trump’s reelec-
tion campaign.”
The contempt vote comes
after more than two months
of negotiations with Meadows
and his lawyer and as the panel
has also struggled to obtain
information from some of
Trump’s other top aides, such
as his longtime ally Steve
Bannon. The House voted to
recommend charges against
Bannon in October, and the
Justice Department indicted
him on two counts of con-
tempt last month.
have been fighting Russia-
backed separatists since 2014,
when Russia annexed
Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsu-
la.
Efforts to reach a political
settlement to the separatist
conflict, which has killed more
than 14,000 people in seven
years, have failed.
Sporadic skirmishes con-
tinue along the tense line of
contact. Russia so far refus-
es to meet France and Ger-
many for more “Normandy for-
mat” peace talks.
The EU foreign ministers’
meeting is a prelude to a busy
week of diplomacy in Brussels
focused on Ukraine. The lead-
ers of EU nations meet
Wednesday with their coun-
terparts from Ukraine, Arme-
nia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and
Moldova. An EU summit on
Thursday is expected to also
focus on what actions might
be necessary.
south of Ystad in Sweden,
close to the Danish island of
Bornholm.
The authority identified the
ships as Karin Hoej of Den-
mark and the British ship
Scot Carrier.
The Danish ship capsized
fully and was floating upside
down.
The cause of the accident
is still unclear, Swedish Mar-
itime Administration said.
Sweden’s TV4 had report-
ed that oil has started to flow
into the water. However, the
Swedish Coast Guard said it
was carrying out an environ-
mental rescue operation “to
prevent oil or other harmful
substances from being released
into the sea” and there were
currently no ongoing oil spills.
services” at a time when
COVID-19 is already wide-
spread.
Concerns about the new
variant led Johnson’s Con-
servative government to bring
in vaccine certificates for
nightclubs and to reintro-
duce restrictions that were
lifted almost six months ago.
Masks must once again be
worn in most indoor settings
and as of Monday, people
were urged to work from
home, if possible.
Robert Read, professor of
infectious diseases at the Uni-
versity of Southampton, said
it was still unclear how severe
cases of COVID-19 from omi-
cron would be but “the evi-
dence is that omicron prob-
ably requires much larger
amounts of antibody in the
blood in order to thwart the
virus as much as possible.
“We need to get those third
doses into as many adults as
we possibly can, just in case
this virus turns out to be a rag-
ing bull just rather than a
pussy cat,” Read told radio sta-
tion LBC.

Walking a different path
Peer pressure
is designed
to doom
ambitious
people as herd
mentality
does not
guarantee
success
SRIRAM
SUBRAMANIAN
I
n a vast ocean, the captain of a
ship needs to steer clear of ice-
bergs to reach the destination.
This seems like a familiar story.
A lot of people believed that the
Titanic was unsinkable, and tragedy
struck.
This analogy can be connected
to peer pressure and career choices.
A mammoth ocean stares at every
student at the point where primary
education ends and the doorway to
secondary education opens. The
ocean and its stretch reflect the
diverse choices that an individual
can make. The ship one steers
through it is called a career, and the
destination is the correct career
choice. But, ahoy there, captain! The
massive icebergs can seriously dam-
age the vessel. They represent peer
pressure.
Peer pressure is a product of
herd mentality. “Safety in numbers”
is a comforting social factor for
most. Not only for humans, but even
other creatures -- school of fish,
flocking birds, marching locusts and
herding animals. Numbers don’t
always mean faultlessness; it’s just a
mere sense of security, based on the
accumulation of rationale that one
assumes with those numbers.
The comforting herd mentality
can often derail professional lives
and cause a career calamity. It is not
just the tip of the iceberg, but basi-
cally the whole framework of doom.
The worldview of a lot of successful
people has been to walk the path
that the crowd overlooked. Follow-
ing the crowd gives a certain com-
fort of not being left alone and men-
tally, it creates a makeshift cushion
that provides safety. The need of the
hour is to snub peer pressure and
think about a career path indepen-
dently, avoiding that comfort zone.
But with so many options available,
choosing one can be easier said than
done.
The diversity of career choices
that are out there today can easily
make it a tough task to select one.
The multiple professional paths are
a by-product, which has been
obtained by the dissection of sub-
jects into various strata of their
purest forms. For instance, media or
communication studies can help a
student to become a public relations
executive or journalist. Similarly,
many disciplines have different
career paths originating from them.
FUTURISTIC ROLES
The rise of the creative economy
will augment demand for
professionally skilled talent
ADITI SRIVASTAVA
I
n 2007, the Bollywood movie
Taare Zameen Par was a conver-
sation starter on many issues --
dyslexia, parenting, the cookie-
cutter approach of schools and the
subtle yet deep struggles of kids. But
the movie was also refreshing in
many ways, especially how the pro-
tagonist transforms when he is
allowed and encouraged to express
himself creatively and feels that he is
finally understood and accepted.
Last year, after a wait of almost
three and a half decades, the
National Education Policy 2020 was
introduced and it became a conver-
sation starter for putting much-
deserved focus on creativity, design
thinking, innovation and 21st cen-
tury skills. According to a knowledge
paper developed by the Pearl Acade-
my and Federation of Indian Cham-
bers of Commerce and Industry that
explored the role of the creative
economy in nation-building, “while
it is difficult to precisely predict the
types of new jobs that could emerge
in future, it is possible to predict the
skills mix that these jobs could
require.”
The further rise of the creative
economy is imminent, and with it,
the demand for professionally
skilled talent for existing and
upcoming roles. Schools, where
young minds are shaped, can be a
catalyst in identifying and honing
creative skills among students,
including, but not limited to, the
fields of fashion, photography,
Therefore, making career choices
can be a daunting prospect.
Here’s some food for thought as
to why going solo and not following
the peer group whilst making a
career decision can be the key to a
successful professional calling.
Human heterogeneity
No two people are the same.
Every mind thinks differently. Trying
to streamline one’s way of thinking
with someone else’s can curb ambi-
tions. Out of all the places we are
exposed to at an interactive level, a
classroom establishes itself as the
most diverse environment. It has
multitude personalities, attitudes
and outlooks. There can be an intro-
vert who likes to observe and
analyse, another student can be out-
spoken and hyper-social, whereas
some are witty entertainers.
The different characteristics of
every individual carve them out for a
specific skill set or nature of work.
Peer pressure neglects the beauty of
human heterogeneity, and therefore,
is an erroneous factor that should
be avoided when choosing a career.
Customise your group
Social media has always borne
the brunt of parents’ anger in case of
academic distractions for students.
There’s a plus to the platform as well,
which is often ignored. Groups that
are formed on social media can
often initiate discussions and help
an individual get acclimated to a
future profession.
design, performing arts, filmmaking
etc. Students with an interest in
those areas can be rest assured of an
exciting, fulfilling career ahead. Here
are some trends:
Fashion technology
If one loves numbers and data
as much as they appreciate the art of
fashion, then becoming a fashion
data scientist can be an excellent
career choice. Or if one feels pas-
sionately for the environment, they
can make a lot of difference by help-
ing the fashion industry do real work
around sustainability.
This is just a glimpse into the
future of jobs in fashion. Some of the
newer job profiles and skills in
demand in the fashion industry
include fashion data scientist, sus-
tainability consultant, robotics and
automation specialist, and green
technology expert.
Textile, a subset of fashion, also
offers numerous avenues as the
industry is rapidly moving towards
large-scale digitisation. Marrying
new design ideas and technologies
with Indian crafts would invite more
demand than ever. Textiles in sports
would see the highest growth with
strong functional-oriented design-
ers leading the way.
While in apparel factories we
are already witnessing the presence
of collaborative robots or cobots
that work alongside humans, pat-
tern makers will have an edge if they
have coding skills and know how to
implement them to create unique
patterns.
Joining a group of engineering
graduates with the aid of technology
can be beneficial to students who
are looking at a full-time job as an
engineer. Socialising thus can be
better and help find the right bal-
ance of compatibility, rather than
following the peer group and then
hopping into a profession that is
incompatible with one’s personali-
ty.
Clicking with your bunch
One must support their prefer-
Graphic, UI/UX & game design
According to a 2021 report on
the future of creative jobs by Klyn-
veld Peat Marwick Goerdeler-India
and Pearl Academy, the design
industry and professionals are at the
forefront of reimagining the way
every product and experience will
be developed going forward. The
need for personalisation, increased
online activities and technologies
like the Internet of Things, virtual
reality and three-dimensional print-
ing are prompting designers to
rethink about leveraging user-cen-
tric data for better product develop-
ment. If technology is the backbone
of all industries today, from educa-
tion to healthcare and e-commerce
to entertainment, then design is the
heart and soul. Organisations now
realise that technology is not the dif-
ferentiator anymore; it is the user
experience and customer’s interface
with technology that matters.
One of the least probable pro-
fessions to get affected by automa-
tion, design will continue to evolve
into a hybrid industry that is con-
sidered as much technical as it is
creative. The newer job profiles that
are emerging in design include user
research, digital product designer,
information architect, usability ana-
lyst, voice interface designer, design
ence with pride. Embracing one’s
choices with a sense of satisfaction,
and without looking back, is the first
step to be liberated from the stress
of choosing a career path. When one
knows they’ve selected the right set
of people who are agreeable to their
school of thought on profession and
career, the road ahead becomes
easy. The biggest roadblock -- peer
pressure -- is then confined to the
rear-view mirror and does not both-
er anymore.
Peer pressure is designed to
strategist and creative technologist.
Visual merchandising
Despite the trend of online
shopping, brick and mortar stores
still remain an essential part of the
retail fashion industry. In such a sce-
nario, visual merchandising is noth-
ing but the art of displaying prod-
ucts to make them attractive and
appealing to customers.
Retail stores use visual mer-
chandising to maximise sales of a
product through state-of-the-art
entrance and window displays that
have their foundations in customer
behaviour and aesthetics. While it is
already an established field abroad,
in India it is still emerging and grad-
ually becoming integral to the retail
and creative industry.
There is a glut of brands in fash-
ion retail, with each one vying for
attention from the same set of cus-
NEW DELHI, TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021
doom ambitious people. Herd men-
tality does not guarantee success. To
arrive at the correct career choice,
or the 3Cs, one needs to stay away
from the 2Ps, namely, peer pressure.
Respecting diversified person-
alities, aligning oneself with similar
thinkers, and embracing preferences
based on our own reasoning are the
keys to unlocking a compatible
career.
The writer is co-founder and chief
executive officer, Clever Harvey, Mumbai
tomers. The role of visual merchan-
dising, hence, becomes that much
more important. Increasingly, job
roles in areas such as footwear, eye-
wear, jewellery, etc are in demand.
Digital photography
Digital photography is a form of
digital arts and like anything “digi-
tal” is a vast, exciting and growing
field. Photography, as a visual ele-
ment, has its application in a wide
range of industries, from fashion to
manufacturing, e-commerce to
events. Career options in the field
include portrait photographer, com-
mercial photographer, scientific
photographer, photojournalists and
freelance photographer.
The writer is president,
Pearl Academy, New Delhi
11
PLUS POINTS
Scholarship offer
Lakshmipat Singhania Education Foundation
and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst
have come up with the LSEF-UMass Scholar-
ship 2022, providing Rs 20 lakh each to 15 stu-
dents for Master’s of science in data analytics
and computational social science, and applied
economics, and Master’s of public policy pro-
grammes from UMass-Amherst. Students will
receive dual degrees.
The applicants need to be Indian citizens,
who have completed (or will complete before
July 2022) a minimum of three years of under-
graduate degree in any discipline from an
accredited institution or university in India.
Mathematics as a subject up to plus 2 or equiv-
alent, and a minimum of 75 per cent marks in
undergraduate, Classes X and plus 2 grades (or
equivalent) are mandatory.
Shortlisted candidates will be invited for
an aptitude assessment and personal interview.
Software programme
Great Learning has launched a six-month post-
graduate programme in software development
and engineering. It will enable freshers, gradu-
ates and early professionals to obtain in-
demand software development skills.
The programme aims to bridge the gap
with knowledge and skills to become ready for
roles like JavaScript developer, back-end devel-
oper, full stack engineer, Python developer and
front-end engineer.
It will provide dedicated placement assis-
tance with recruitment processes from leading
technology companies and also career support
in the form of mock interviews with industry
experts, resume guidance and dedicated place-
ment drives. Some hiring companies include
Capgemini, Dell, Amazon, Flipkart, Uber, Intel,
Cognizant and Deloitte.
For best outcomes
Convoke, a national research symposium, will
encourage the teaching staff of government
schools and Bharti Foundation network to use
research-based solutions through a scientific
approach, and showcase their efforts at the
grassroots level in improving learning out-
comes.
They can share their micro research
papers, which will be analysed by a panel of
educationists. The shortlisted ones will be pre-
sented during the symposium scheduled in
January 2022.
The event was chaired by Rajiv Kumar, vice
chairman, NITI Aayog, and attended by Rakesh
Bharti Mittal, co-chairman, Bharti Foundation
among other dignitaries. Applications are open
now. For details, visit https://bhartifounda-
tion.org/convoke/
Industry collaboration
Sharda University has signed a memorandum
of understanding with PHD Chamber of Com-
merce and Industry. It will provide the univer-
sity ready access to industries under the
umbrella of the organisation. It will also facili-
tate practical exposure to faculty members and
students, giving them the opportunity to par-
ticipate in industry-led sessions, webinars,
seminars, workshops, events, internships and
placements.
There will be an academia-industry meet
on the forthcoming World Intellectual Property
Day, that is 26 April 2021, for showcasing the
technologies developed by the innovative fac-
ulty and students of the university to industries
for not only identifying the opportunities for
technology transfer, but also to strengthen the
linkages in a continuous and self-sustained
manner.
 HARD ROAD TO VICTORY
New Formula 1 champion, Dutchman Max Verstappen,
has said he battled through "intense pain" towards
NEW DELHI
TUESDAY 14 DECEMBER 2021 12
the end of the race as he clinched the world champi-
onship title for Red Bull after passing Mercedes' Lewis Hamil-
ton on the last lap."I had a massive cramp in my calf, so
in my throttle leg, so all the time in the straights when
I was going flat out and when I actually went for the
move I had a massive cramp," he said after the title
triumph. "Well, I mean, of course it didn't look
great, but I always said to myself I'm going to
push until the end.”
For more updates www.thestatesman.com Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-II/6088/2018/-19-20

THUMBNAILS
Khelo India Women's Hockey
League 2021: Fourteen teams
will participate in the Khelo
India Women's Hockey League
2021 (Under 21) Phase 1 held
at Major Dhyan Chand Nation-
al Stadium, New Delhi from 15
to 21 December 2021. The
opening ceremony at 9:20 am
on 15 December.
AIBA becomes IBA: The Inter-
national Boxing Association
(AIBA) Extraordinary Congress
on Monday ushered in a new
era for the sport as the fed-
eration changed its acronym
from AIBA to IBA while adopt-
ing a comprehensive set of
governance reforms.
Just wanted a trial, nothing personal against Lovlina: National champion Arundhati
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
WorldYouth champion boxer Arund-
hati Choudhary, who had
approached court against selection
of Olympic bronze medalist Lovli-
na Borgohain in India squad for the
Women'sWorld Championships, has
said that she has nothing person-
al against her compatriot and just
wanted a trial before the big event.
The 19-year-old boxer had moved
the Delhi High Court against the Box-
ing Federation of India (BFI) after
the federation made an exception
to pick Tokyo Olympics medallist
Lovlina directly in 70kg for the
World Championships, without
any trial.
Arundhati objected to the selec-
tion and challenged the federation's
decision in court. However, BFI
later told the court that fresh trials
are required to be conducted for the
championship as the tournament,
scheduled to be held in Istanbul,
has been postponed from Decem-
ber this year to May 2022, in view
of the COVID-19 situation.
This has provided a ray of hope
for the Kota boxer.
"Phew, a bit relaxed!" That was
the first reaction from Arundhati,
when she came to know that she
would get "a fair chance" now.
Speaking to IANS, the boxer
said that she is really up for the chal-
lenge and has been preparing for
it rigorously.
"Yeah, I wanted to have a trial
and for that I moved court. I don't
know about the dates (for the tri-
als) but whenever, it will take place,
I would be given a fair chance, for
which I am really happy," an elat-
ed boxer said.
Asked if she ever spoke to Lovli-
na about this, the boxer said, "No,
I didn't speak to her. I have great
regard for her. She made India
proud. I just wanted a trial and that's
it…Nothing personal sort of with Lovli-
na or anybody."
Arundhati, a strong-willed per-
son who is constantly thriving and
conquering in the combat sport of
boxing has made India proud by win-
ning gold at AIBA Youth Men's and
Women's World Championships
2021.
A three-time gold-medal winner
at the Khelo India Games, she has
successfully climbed the success lad-
der in a short span of time. Her skills
and extensive training have led
her to bag gold in 60kg, 66kg and
69kg at different national interna-
tional tournaments.
Her successful performances
got noticed by the boxing fans
globally which got her the title of
'Best Asian Junior Women Boxer' in
2018. She became the World Youth
Champion in 2021 and senior
National Champion in October
2021.
Arundhati this year won the
senior national title too. "It was a
great achievement for me at the
senior level. I also won the Best Asian
Boxer award. I just love boxing and
my dream is to make India proud
at the international level," she said.
The young pugilist hails from
Kota, Rajasthan and was always active
in sports during her school days. She
used to play basketball at the state
level but switched to boxing at the
age of 15 on the insistence of her
father who wanted her to excel in
individual sports.

Rohit Sharma ruled out

Dhawan's inclusion
‘Having Dravid is amazing as in ODI team makes
there is a sense of relaxation’ no sense: Karim

of SA Tests due to injury

INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 DECEMBER
MUMBAI, 13 DECEMBER
Former India wicketkeep-
Having Rahul Dravid as the er Saba Karim is of the opin-
head coach is the most "amaz- ion that including Shikhar
ing" thing to have happened Dhawan in the ODI squad
Gujarat opener Priyank Panchal has been named as the replacement in the Test squad to Team India, said white- for the South Africa series
ball skipper Rohit Sharma, will make little sense as the
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE year-old, who captains Gujarat adding that there "has been opening slot is already a
MUMBAI, 13 DECEMBER in domestic cricket, was in the a sense of relaxation" ever since crowded place.
squad as a reserve opener the legend took over the reins. "Even if Dhawan is there

T
he Board of Control for
Cricket in India (BCCI)
on Monday
announced that
opener Rohit Sharma has
been ruled out of the Test series
against South Africa due to a
left hamstring injury picked
during a training session on
Sunday. In vice-captain Shar-
ma's place, Gujarat opener
Priyank Panchal has been
named as the replacement in
the Test squad.
"Team India Test vice-cap-
tain Rohit Sharma sustained
a left hamstring injury dur-
ing his training session here
in Mumbai yesterday. He has
been ruled out of the upcom-
ing 3-match Test series against
South Africa. Priyank Panchal
will replace Rohit Sharma in
the Test squad," said a release
by BCCI.
Sharma had recently
replaced fellow Mumbaikar
Ajinkya Rahane as the vice-
captain of the Test side apart
from being promoted as
India's white-ball captain.
His absence is a big blow to
India's plans of winning a Test
series in South Africa for the
first time. Sharma had scored
906 runs in 21 innings at an
average of 47.68 and was
India's highest run-getter in
Test cricket in 2021.
He was also the second-
highest run-getter in Test
cricket this year after England
captain Joe Root. In India's last
Test against England at The
Oval in September, Sharma
was the 'Player of the Match'
for his wonderful knock of 127
off 256 balls in India's 157-run
win. Panchal was the captain
of the India A team's three-
four day matches tour to
South Africa, where he cap-
tained in two matches, reg-
istering scores of 96, 24, and
0 in his three innings.
Panchal had been a part
of India's extended squad
that played against England
in four Tests at home in Feb-
ruary and March. The 31-
alongside Abhimanyu
Easwaran for the home Tests
against England, which India
won 3-1. In 100 FC matches,
Panchal has scored 7011 runs
at a healthy average of 45.52,
including 24 centuries and 25
half-centuries with an unbeat-
en 314 as his highest score.
The three-match Test series
between India and South
Africa begins from December
26 to 30 at SuperSport Park in
Centurion, followed by the sec-
ond Test at Wanderers in
Johannesburg from January
3 to 7 and the third Test at New-
lands in Cape Town from Jan-
uary 11 to 15.
India's Test squad:
Virat Kohli (Captain), KL
Rahul, Mayank Agarwal,
Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya
Rahane, Priyank Panchal,
Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari,
Rishabh Pant (wicket-keep-
er), Wriddhiman Saha (wick-
et-keeper), R Ashwin, Jayant
Yadav, Ishant Sharma,
Mohammed Shami, Umesh
Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul
Thakur and Mohammed Siraj
Sharma was recently pro-
moted from being T20I cap-
tain to full-time white-ball
skipper, replacing Virat Kohli
as the ODI captain, and the
stylish batter is excited about
the "huge responsibility"
entrusted on him by the Indi-
an cricket board.
"Working with Rahul bhai,
it was three-odd games (T20I
series vs New Zealand) but it
was fantastic. We have seen
how he has played his crick-
et, hard and tough. There has
been a sense of relaxation as
well, because it is important
to keep the atmosphere light
and cheerful when you are
doing the job on the field, which
is so demanding," said Shar-
ma in a video shared by bcci.tv.
Sharma said that a
demanding sport like crick-
et needs a relaxed atmos-
phere, which the former crick-
eter has provided.
"You need to have the
atmosphere where people
can relax and chill around. It's
been a little while but I have
had so many interactions
with him in the past about the
game, my personal game with
him. It's good to have him on
board and will be a very fruit-
ful one for the future," said
Sharma, who will be leaving
for South Africa this week
with the team for a three-Test
and ODI series.
Sharma reckoned that his
journey of being a white-ball
captain will be 'exciting'. He
also stressed on his relation-
ship with his predecessor,
Kohli, saying that he has
enjoyed 'each and every
moment' in playing togeth-
er and will continue to do so.
"I am deeply honoured and
grateful for the opportunity.
It's a huge responsibility and
very happy about it. Looking
forward to lead India in white-
ball cricket, going to be an
exciting journey. I have had
limited opportunities to lead
Team India but whenever I
have got an opportunity, I have
tried to keep it very simple,
tried to keep one thing in com-
mon, which is clear com-
munication to players," said
Sharma.
in the squad, will he be part
of the playing XI? KL Rahul
and Rohit Sharma have
opened in Tests and T20s,
so I think they will open in
ODIs as well. So, if you are
including Dhawan in the
squad and not playing him,
should he be in the team? I
don't see the point of his
inclusion, what is the need?"
Karim said while speaking
on the Khelneeti podcast on
YouTube.
Karim said that the only
thing in Dhawan's favour is
his left-hand-right-hand
combination with Rohit
Sharma.
"The only thing possible
is the left-hand-right-hand
combination of Rohit and
Dhawan. It has been a for-
midable partnership as well.
It would be difficult for
Dhawan to come back into
this side. I still think that he
should be given one more
opportunity because he is
a big player with experience.
Have to see what the selec-
tors and the team manage-
ment think," he said. ANI

Real Madrid win derby and only
Sevilla, Betis can keep up the pace
AGENCIES
MADRID, 13 DECEMBER
Real Madrid took another step
towards this season's La Liga
title with a 2-0 win at home to
Atletico Madrid in the city
derby here. A first-half goal from
Karim Benzema and an excel-
lent strike from Marco Asen-
sio gave Carlo Ancelotti's men
a win against a rival, who were
their equals for long parts of
the game, but suffered from
the loss of several first-choice
defenders at key moments.
Thibaut Courtois was on
hand to frustrate the chances
that his former club did cre-
ate, producing fine saves on
Sunday night to deny Antonie
Griezmann in the first half and
JoaoTomas andThomas Lemar
after the break.
Benzema passed a fitness
test to start the game and put
Real ahead with an excellent
volleyed goal following Vini-
cius Jr's pass in the 16th minute
and Vinicius again turned
provider to set up Asensio, who
swept home his low cross 12
minutes into the second half,
Xinhua reports.
Sevilla rode their luck to con-
firm they remain in the title race
with a 1-0 away to Athletic Club
Bilbao to confirm their can-
didacy for this season's La
Liga title.
Sevilla had just two chances
all game, butThomas Delaney's
magnificent 36th-minute shot
was unstoppable, while Ath-
letic hit the woodwork twice
through Dani Garcia and Unai
Vencedor and should have
had a penalty after Jules
Kounde's late challenge on Iker
Muniain.
Betis also kept in the title
race with a 4-0 thrashing of Real
Sociedad, whose title hopes
have run out of steam after a
run of just one point from four
games.
Left-back Alex Moreno net-
ted twice, along with former
Real Sociedad Juanmi and
Nabil Fekir as the home side
ran riot in the BenitoVillamarin
Stadium.
FC Barcelona's crisis con-
tinues as they were held to a
2-2 draw away to Osasuna
just days after they were
knocked out of the Champi-
ons League.
Nico Gonzalez put Barca in
front in the 12th minute, but
their lead lasted just two min-
utes before David Garcia head-
ed Osasuna level.
Es Abde put Barca back in
front after a break, but Barca
never looked secure and it
was no surprise when Chim-
my Avila fired home the equal-
izing goal for Osasuna in the
81st minute as the ball sat up
nicely for him at the edge of
the Barca area.
To make matters worse for
Barca, Ousmane Dembele
had to leave the pitch with a
possible muscle problem and
Barca are now 18 points behind
Real Madrid.
Villarreal appear to be
recovering from a poor start
to their domestic campaign and
followed their qualification
for the last 16 of the Champi-
ons League on Thursday, with
a 2-0 win at home to Rayo Val-
lecano.
Goals in the 32nd and 36th
minute from Aissa Mandi and
a Gerard Moreno penalty gave
Unai Emery's side all three
points against a rival that
deserved more after pepper-
ing the Villarreal goal with
shots.
Valencia continue to grind
out results, even though coach
Jose Bordalas was sidelined with
Covid-19 for their 2-1 win at
home to Elche.
Elche were close to taking
a vital point in their battle
against relegation when Lucas
Boye's 75th-minute strike can-
celed out Goncalo Guedes'
powerful 23rd-minute open-
er for the home side, but Cris-
tiano Piccini's powerful shot
from a corner sealed a home
win four minutes from time.
Alaves striker Joselu became
his club's all-time top scorer
in LaLiga thanks to the late
equalizer that earned his side
a 1-1 draw 1-1 at home to
Getafe.
Getafe led through Enes
Unal's 20th-minute goal and
looked comfortable until Joselu
side-footed home from close
range with just four minutes
left.
Asian Champions Trophy: India take on Korea as Malaysia pull out
INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE
DHAKA, 13 DECEMBER
Olympic bronze-medallist
India will return to action for
the first time since their his-
toric third-place finish in the
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games ear-
lier this year when they take
on South Korea in their first
match of the 6th Men's Asian
Champions Trophy here on
Tuesday.
India, the three-time Asian
ChampionsTrophy winners will
be defending the title they
jointly won with archrivals
Pakistan in 2018 in Muscat,
Oman, taking on a field deplet-
ed by the last-minute with-
drawal of Malaysia.
Led by skipper Manpreet
Singh, who will have drag-
flicker Harmanpreet Singh as
'East Bengal facing payments problem'
PULAKESH
MUKHOPADHYAY
KOLKATA, 13 DECEMBER
With victory proving elusive
in any of the Indian Super
League matches so far in
this season, a very senior
East Bengal official alleged
here today that footballers and
even "managers" were being
denied their pay, a charge
which came to be repudiat-
ed by Shivaji Samaddar, the
Shree Cement-appointed
chief executive officer of the
trouble-tormented outfit
enduring yet another horror
season. And he could not say
whether new foreigners or
coaching staff were being
looked for to re-energise the
struggling outfit.
The East Bengal executive
committee member, speak-
ing on conditon of anonymi-
ty as he did not "want to aggra-
vate a crisis that was palpa-
ble already," told The States-
man that the club's ISL per-
his deputy, India have put up
a new-look squad, resting sev-
eral players that were part of
the bronze medal-winning
campaign in Tokyo and will be
testing junior and upcoming
players. Though they may
have put up a new-look side,
the Indians still start as
favourites for the title con-
sidering their recent perfor-
mances, including the fourth-
place finish in the Men's Junior
World Cup in Bhubaneswar ear-
lier this month.
The other teams remaining
in the fray in this five-team event
besides India and Korea are
three-time winners Pakistan,
hosts Bangladesh, and Asian
Games gold medallists Japan.
Teams will play in a single
pool round-robin format with
the top four teams reaching the
formance encouraged no
high hopes, and that unpaid
wages were turning out to be
a major problem.
"They seem to have
stopped paying people's
salaries," the official said,
adding: "There are com-
plaints from some players.
Some managers too are
unpaid and all of them are try-
ing to clear out. It is a very
serious situation."
Samaddar was dismis-
sive when spoken to in Goa,
where the team were.
"Nothing like it" was all he
said, though, without elab-
orating, with the contradic-
tory comments underscor-
ing a clear, continuing antag-
onism between the club and
the investor.
While the East Bengal
high-up said that the investor
simply cold-shouldered the
club whenever cooperation
was offered, especially where
the team's alarming ISL show-
ing was concerned, there
semi-finals.
Malaysia was forced to
withdraw after a player tested
Covid positive during a prepara-
tory camp for the tournament.
As per the current regulations
in the country, all the players
and coaching staff were clas-
sified as close contacts and
therefore had to quarantine for
a minimum period of seven
days, effectively disrupting
their preparations.
Though the field got deplet-
ed, the Indians go into the event
with other objectives too.
India have won this pres-
tigious event thrice since its
inception in 2011 and skipper
Manpreet emphasized on get-
ting off to a good start as the
first step in their quest for
another title. "Korea is a good
team and are very capable of
was no denying the strained
relationship between the
partners since long ago, much
of it blamed on some terms
of an agreement which the
duo never signed as a con-
sensus was never reached.
Samaddar said that team-
building having started late
for this season in the wake
of an uncertainty about their
participation in the ISL, the
choice of home-grown foot-
ballers had been difficult,
which explained East Bengal's
plight.
"Most of our previous
season's Indian players had
left us when we got cracking,
after word came through
that we would be in the tour-
nament all right," he said.
Told that the foreigners in
the team were scarcely bet-
ter, Samaddar said that their
overall assessment would be
made later on. There are
doubts, however, that the
partnership will go on beyond
the current season.
slowing down our attack. In this
same venue during the Asia Cup
in 2017, we had drawn (1-1)
against them in the league
stage. Hence, it's important we
don't get complacent against
them and ensure our basics are
right when we play them
tomorrow," he was quoted as
saying in a release by Hockey
India.
Speaking about the impor-
tance of the tournament for
Team India, Manpreet said,
"The tournament is quite an
important one for us as it is our
first tournament after the
Tokyo Olympics. The new cycle
has started for us. If we start
well, then our confidence lev-
els will go high," he said.
India are giving a chance to
several youngsters for this
tournament, and Manpreet
Senior National hockey
AGENCIES
PUNE, 13 DECEMBER
Hockey Punjab became the first
team to make it to the quar-
ter-finals of the 11th Hockey
India Senior Men's National
Championship at the Major
Dhyanchand Hockey Stadi-
um, Nehrunagar-Pimpri on
Monday, beating Hockey
Andhra Pradesh 7-1 in a pre-
liminary league match here.
Hockey Karnataka and
Hockey Chandigarh remained
unbeaten and stayed on the
course of quarter-final berths
registering second wins respec-
tively pools. Hockey Karnata-
ka downed Le Puducherry
Hockey 4-1 in Pool C and
Hockey Chandigarh edged
out Manipur Hockey 1-0 in Pool
E.
In a Pool D encounter, Pun-
jab thrashed Hockey Andhra
Pradesh to remain unbeaten
in a group reduced to three
teams after Hockey Andaman
and Nicobar failed to turn up
went on to explain why doing
well for them here will be cru-
cial. "In the Men's Asian Cham-
pions Trophy 2021, young-
sters have been given a chance
to be a part of the squad
because some of them were
unable to get a chance over the
past two years as the focus was
on the core team preparing for
the Olympics. The youngsters
have been working hard for
quite a while, and hence, they
have been given a chance to
prove themselves," he added.
Some of these youngsters
will be part of the Indian squad
for the 2023World Cup and the
2024 Paris World Cup as the
seniors in the team are not get-
ting any younger and the selec-
tors will have to take a call on
their continuity in the squad
soon.
for the championship.
Punjab began their match
with India international and
2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze
medallist Rupinder Pal Singh
(2nd min) converting his team's
second penalty corner. There-
after, Hockey Punjab displayed
a collective show with Lovepreet
Jainth (5th); Ranjot Singh (19th),
Sudarshan Singh (29th) sound-
ing the board. Hockey Andhra
Pradesh surprised Punjab
whenVenkata Sree Arjipineni
Balaji (26th) scored to end the
first half 4-1.
Changing ends, Parampreet
Singh (40th), Sankalp Singh
(42nd), and Sudarshan com-
pleted the tally.
Earlier, Hockey Punjab beat
Hockey Uttrakhand on Day 1
of the competition and now
have a game against the no-
show Andaman and Nicobar.
Hockey Punjab (6 points) qual-
ified for the knock-out stage,
while Hockey Andhra Pradesh,
who lost their first match
bowed out.

Printed and published by VINOD KUMAR GUPTA for THE STATESMAN LTD, Statesman House, 148 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi ��Editor: RAVINDRA KUMAR ��Executive Editor: ARYA RUDRA ��Printed at Vibha Publication Pvt Ltd, D-160 B, Sector 7, NOIDA 201301 (UP). ��The Statesman Ltd. RNB REG. No. M-8905,RNI No. 507/57