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12
A fter successfully conduct- ing the coronavirus vacci- nation dry run in four States, a similar mega-drill will be kicked off across the country on January 2. This is aimed at preparing the entire administration and management of vaccine supply, storage, and logistics, including cold chain management, as Covid-19 vaccines are likely to get approval any time soon. The dry run will be con- ducted by all the States and UTs in their respective Capitals in at least three-session sites. Some States will also include districts that are situated in dif- ficult terrain/have poor logis- tical support and Maharashtra and Kerala are likely to sched- ule the dry run in major cities other than their Capital, a senior official from the Union Health Ministry said. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan chaired a high- level meeting to review the pre- paredness at session sites for Covid-19 vaccination with respective Secretaries (Health), NHM MDs and other health administrators of all States/UTs through video conference. The planning for the vac- cine introduction will be as per the operational guidelines issued by the Ministry on December 20. For each of the three session sites, the medical officer in-charge will identify 25 test beneficiaries (healthcare workers). The States/UTs have been asked to ensure that the data of these beneficiaries is uploaded in CoWIN. These beneficiaries will also be available at the ses- sion site for the dry run. The States and UTs shall prepare the facilities and users to be creat- ed on CoWIN application including uploading the data of healthcare worker beneficiaries. The States/UTs also been asked to ensure physical veri- fication of all proposed sites for the adequacy of space, logisti- cal arrangements, internet con- nectivity, electricity, safety, etc. As the vaccine adminis- trators will play an important role in the vaccination process, training of trainers and those who shall administer the vac- cine has been taken up across various States. Around 96,000 vaccinators have been trained for this purpose. The official said an impor- tant focus of the dry run will be on management of any possi- ble adverse events following immunisation, besides adher- ence and management of infec- tion control practices at the ses- sion site to prevent disease transmission. He said, “The mock drill will include concurrent moni- toring and review at block and district levels, and preparation of feedback. The State Task Force shall review the feedback and share with the Ministry.” The first round of the dry run was conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Punjab on December 28-29 in two districts each where five- session sites with 25 beneficia- ries each were identified. No major issues were observed in the operational aspects of the dry run. T he Centre on Thursday announced the dates for CBSE Class X and Class XII board examinations, which will be held in May-June 2021 against the normal schedule for March every year. Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” said the CBSE board exams for Class X and Class XII will be held between May 4 and June 10, and the results will be announced around July 15. “CBSE will conduct Classes X, XII board exams from May 4 to June 10. The Board will announce the results of Classes X, XII board exams by July 15,’’ Pokhriyal said during his scheduled live session with the students. The Minister said that the CBSE Board will release the date sheets online at the board’s official website soon. “Students should also check the official CBSE website cbse.nic.in for final 2021 datesheets for both theoretical and practical board examina- tions,” he said. With the CBSE board exams announcement, other boards like States and ICSE will now also schedule their exam- inations accordingly to put in line the next admission process. Sources in ICSE said that it will also announce the schedule of Class XII and X examinations next week for greater conve- nience of students and other stakeholders to plan the session and the offline mode of exam- inations accordingly. The Minister told the stu- dents that the Board has reduced the curriculum for Class X and XII by 30 per cent. He also wished the students good luck for the upcoming exams as he concluded the live session. The announcement of dates by the Union Education Minister was streamed live on his official Twitter handle and Facebook page. The CBSE 2021 board exam date sheets will be avail- able for Class X and Class XII exams separately, containing date and time of examination along with other important instructions at the official web- site of CBSE. Continued on Page 2 R esults from the primary analysis of the ongoing phase 3 clinical trial of the US biotechnology company Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine have shown 94.1 per cent effi- cacy in preventing sympto- matic infections, according to a peer-reviewed study pub- lished in The New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers said while the results were encouraging, they were limited by the short dura- tion of follow-up so far. The study found that among over 30,000 partici- pants randomised to receive the vaccine or a placebo, 11 in the vaccine group developed symp- tomatic Covid-19 compared to 185 participants who received the placebo. The researchers said this demonstrates 94.1 per cent efficacy in preventing sympto- matic Covid-19, adding that cases of the severe disease occurred only in participants who received the placebo. “Our work continues. Over the next months, we’ll have increasing amounts of data to better define how this vaccine works, but the results so far show a 94.1 percent efficacy. These numbers are com- pelling,” said Lindsey Baden, an infectious diseases specialist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the US where the trial took place. “And, importantly, the data suggest protection from severe illness, indicating that the vaccine could have an impact on preventing hospi- talisations and deaths, at least in the first several months post-vaccination,” said Baden, co-principal investigator for the study, and lead author of the paper. The study enrolled 30,420 participants at 99 sites in the US, including over 600 participants enrolled at the Brigham. Continued on Page 2 F ollowing the Covid-19 and its highly transmissible United Kingdom (UK) strain, the Delhi Government has imposed night curfew from 11 pm on December 31 to 6 am on January 1, and again from 11 pm on January 1 to 6 am on January 2 to prevent large gath- erings during New Year cele- brations. According to an order issued by Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Dev, the night curfew will also be imposed to ensure social distancing is maintained. No gatherings will be allowed in open public places like Connaught Place and India Gate during the night curfew. New Jersey: China has deployed a fleet of underwater drones called Sea Wing (Haiyi) glider in the Indian Ocean, which can operate for months and make observations for naval intelligence purposes, according to defence analyst HI Sutton. Writing for the Forbes magazine, HI Sutton said that these sea gliders, which the Chinese are deploying “en masse”, are a type of Uncrewed Underwater Vehicle (UUV) which were launched in mid- December 2019 and recovered in February after making over 3,400 observations. Citing the government sources, HI Sutton in his report said that these gliders are sim- ilar to those deployed by the US Navy, one of which was seized by Beijing in 2016 to ensure “safe navigation of passing ships.” Continued on Page 2 T o avoid inconvenience to highway commuters on account of the mandatory roll- out of FASTag from Friday, hybrid lanes at toll plazas on National Highways will remain operational till February 15, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a state- ment on Thursday. Payments can be made through FASTag as well as cash at the hybrid lanes, the MoRTH said, in apparent bid to ensure there was no panic- like situation from Friday. “Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has mandated fitment of FASTag with effect from January 1 in M and N categories of motor vehicles sold before December1, 2 0 1 7 ,” the Ministry said in a statement. Continued on Page 2 T he Kerala Legislative Assembly on Thursday saw the ruling LDF and the Opposition UDF unanimous- ly adopting a resolution con- demning the Centre for the threee farm laws enacted by Parliament and expressing sol- idarity with the farmers agi- tating against the legislation. Moving the resolution, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alleged, “The three contentious agri laws were passed even without sending them to the standing committee of Parliament. If this agitation continues, it will severely affect Kerala, which is a consumer state,” he said. Stating that the reforms in the field of agriculture should be implemented as carefully envisioned, he said with the implementation of the laws, the bargaining power of farmers would be weakened, giving an advantage to the corporate. Detailed report on P5 A s a child who grew up in the 1990s, like so many Indians we saw hope in our country after the economy was opened up. Things have not quite panned out according to plan over the past three decades, but it would be falla- cious to argue that India has not progressed. We had hoped that by 2020, India would be standing tall among other nations on earth, yet the natural fault lines of caste, religion, creed and sex still divide us. It is no point blaming one side over anoth- er, as every side is responsible. We are told that India is a young country and that youth brings us hope, but after a bru- tal year in which millions have lost their income and education has come to a standstill, India faces a challenge like no other nation on earth. It is a challenge that each and every one of us must stand up to and do our part and, in this regard, we can take some inspiration from India’s premier sports team, the men’s Test cricket team which, after being pummeled to the ground in Adelaide, saw each and every team member on the field and off the field stand up and do his part in achieving a victory a few days ago that no one — not one commentator or one fan — saw coming. It was a comprehensive victory, and when we are told that sports is but an imitation of life, this Test victory which might not eclipse the dramatic win at Eden Gardens of 2001, is one that should teach all of us the power of resilience and that together, we can overcome even the toughest situations. But while many of us will want to write off 2020 as a lost cause, we should not do that. Yes, many of us lost loved ones during the year, many millions have died due to the accursed pandemic, and others lost jobs and opportunities. But new life has also come into the world, there were children born in trains taking migrants back home; it has also been a blessing that the pestilence that has overtaken our lives has by and large spared young ones. Most of us were very care- ful in the early days of the lock- down in the months of March, April and May, deserted streets in major cities made them look like ghost towns as if an apocalypse has wiped out humanity, well, thankfully it had not. Of course, there has also been the indiscretion and stupidity of youth on display of late, crowding bars, beaches and, in Goa right now, the dance floor. Yet, most of humanity has stepped up to the plate, microbiologists and vac- cine scientists have worked around the clock for the past nine months to ensure that a safe and successful vaccine can be developed. Others such as frontline medical staff, emer- gency workers, police and even municipal staff have put their own lives at risk to ensure that things do not collapse. Over here, one must thank the countless number of delivery men and women who ensured that the wheels of commerce stayed on and did not fall off altogether. It is dismaying to many of us to see people gathering with little or no worry at large gath- erings where social distancing norms go for a toss and mask compliance is non-existent. The development of vaccines is not the same as deployment and the eventual deployment of a vaccine in a country of 1.3 bil- lion will be a logistical and administrative challenge like no other. It is also true that Central, State and municipal governments have made mis- takes, several of them in fact, indeed early celebrations of “management” in some areas and States were premature. Continued on Page 2

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Page 1: ˇˇ ˚ ’) *! ’˜+,-˛. ˛) ˛ * +˛˜,˘- # 5 ˇ˘’,˝;˝’4’&

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After successfully conduct-ing the coronavirus vacci-

nation dry run in four States,a similar mega-drill will bekicked off across the countryon January 2.

This is aimed at preparingthe entire administration andmanagement of vaccine supply,storage, and logistics, includingcold chain management, asCovid-19 vaccines are likely toget approval any time soon.

The dry run will be con-ducted by all the States andUTs in their respective Capitalsin at least three-session sites.Some States will also includedistricts that are situated in dif-ficult terrain/have poor logis-tical support and Maharashtraand Kerala are likely to sched-ule the dry run in major citiesother than their Capital, asenior official from the UnionHealth Ministry said.

Union Health SecretaryRajesh Bhushan chaired a high-level meeting to review the pre-paredness at session sites forCovid-19 vaccination withrespective Secretaries (Health),NHM MDs and other healthadministrators of all States/UTsthrough video conference.

The planning for the vac-cine introduction will be as perthe operational guidelinesissued by the Ministry onDecember 20. For each of thethree session sites, the medicalofficer in-charge will identify25 test beneficiaries (healthcareworkers).

The States/UTs have beenasked to ensure that the data ofthese beneficiaries is uploaded

in CoWIN. These beneficiarieswill also be available at the ses-sion site for the dry run. TheStates and UTs shall prepare thefacilities and users to be creat-ed on CoWIN applicationincluding uploading the data ofhealthcare worker beneficiaries.

The States/UTs also beenasked to ensure physical veri-fication of all proposed sites forthe adequacy of space, logisti-cal arrangements, internet con-nectivity, electricity, safety, etc.

As the vaccine adminis-trators will play an importantrole in the vaccination process,training of trainers and thosewho shall administer the vac-cine has been taken up acrossvarious States. Around 96,000vaccinators have been trainedfor this purpose.

The official said an impor-tant focus of the dry run will beon management of any possi-ble adverse events followingimmunisation, besides adher-ence and management of infec-tion control practices at the ses-sion site to prevent diseasetransmission.

He said, “The mock drillwill include concurrent moni-toring and review at block anddistrict levels, and preparationof feedback. The State TaskForce shall review the feedbackand share with the Ministry.”

The first round of the dryrun was conducted in AndhraPradesh, Assam, Gujarat,Punjab on December 28-29 intwo districts each where five-session sites with 25 beneficia-ries each were identified. Nomajor issues were observed inthe operational aspects of thedry run.

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The Centre on Thursdayannounced the dates for

CBSE Class X and Class XIIboard examinations, which willbe held in May-June 2021against the normal schedule forMarch every year.

Union Education MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”said the CBSE board exams forClass X and Class XII will beheld between May 4 and June10, and the results will beannounced around July 15.

“CBSE will conduct ClassesX, XII board exams from May4 to June 10. The Board willannounce the results of ClassesX, XII board exams by July 15,’’Pokhriyal said during hisscheduled live session with thestudents.

The Minister said that theCBSE Board will release thedate sheets online at the board’sofficial website soon.

“Students should alsocheck the official CBSE websitecbse.nic.in for final 2021datesheets for both theoreticaland practical board examina-tions,” he said.

With the CBSE boardexams announcement, otherboards like States and ICSE willnow also schedule their exam-inations accordingly to put inline the next admission process.Sources in ICSE said that it will

also announce the schedule ofClass XII and X examinationsnext week for greater conve-nience of students and otherstakeholders to plan the sessionand the offline mode of exam-inations accordingly.

The Minister told the stu-dents that the Board hasreduced the curriculum forClass X and XII by 30 per cent.He also wished the studentsgood luck for the upcomingexams as he concluded thelive session.

The announcement ofdates by the Union EducationMinister was streamed live onhis official Twitter handle andFacebook page.

The CBSE 2021 boardexam date sheets will be avail-able for Class X and Class XIIexams separately, containingdate and time of examinationalong with other importantinstructions at the official web-site of CBSE.

Continued on Page 2

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Results from the primaryanalysis of the ongoing

phase 3 clinical trial of the USbiotechnology companyModerna’s Covid-19 vaccinehave shown 94.1 per cent effi-cacy in preventing sympto-matic infections, according toa peer-reviewed study pub-lished in The New EnglandJournal of Medicine.

Researchers said while theresults were encouraging, they

were limited by the short dura-tion of follow-up so far.

The study found thatamong over 30,000 partici-pants randomised to receive thevaccine or a placebo, 11 in thevaccine group developed symp-tomatic Covid-19 comparedto 185 participants whoreceived the placebo.

The researchers said thisdemonstrates 94.1 per centefficacy in preventing sympto-matic Covid-19, adding thatcases of the severe disease

occurred only in participantswho received the placebo.

“Our work continues. Overthe next months, we’ll haveincreasing amounts of data tobetter define how this vaccineworks, but the results so farshow a 94.1 percent efficacy.These numbers are com-pelling,” said Lindsey Baden, aninfectious diseases specialistat the Brigham and Women’sHospital in the US where thetrial took place.

“And, importantly, the

data suggest protection fromsevere illness, indicating thatthe vaccine could have animpact on preventing hospi-talisations and deaths, at leastin the first several monthspost-vaccination,” said Baden,co-principal investigator forthe study, and lead author ofthe paper. The study enrolled30,420 participants at 99 sitesin the US, including over 600participants enrolled at theBrigham.

Continued on Page 2

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Following the Covid-19 andits highly transmissible

United Kingdom (UK) strain,the Delhi Government hasimposed night curfew from 11pm on December 31 to 6 am onJanuary 1, and again from 11pm on January 1 to 6 am onJanuary 2 to prevent large gath-erings during New Year cele-brations.

According to an orderissued by Delhi Chief SecretaryVijay Dev, the night curfew willalso be imposed to ensuresocial distancing is maintained.

No gatherings will beallowed in open public placeslike Connaught Place and IndiaGate during the night curfew.

�������������������� ����

New Jersey : China hasdeployed a fleet of underwaterdrones called Sea Wing (Haiyi)glider in the Indian Ocean,which can operate for monthsand make observations fornaval intelligence purposes,according to defence analyst HISutton.

Writing for the Forbesmagazine, HI Sutton said thatthese sea gliders, which theChinese are deploying “enmasse”, are a type of UncrewedUnderwater Vehicle (UUV)which were launched in mid-December 2019 and recoveredin February after making over3,400 observations.

Citing the governmentsources, HI Sutton in his reportsaid that these gliders are sim-ilar to those deployed by the USNavy, one of which was seizedby Beijing in 2016 to ensure“safe navigation of passingships.”

Continued on Page 2

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To avoid inconvenience tohighway commuters on

account of the mandatory roll-out of FASTag from Friday,hybrid lanes at toll plazas onNational Highways will remainoperational till February 15, theMinistry of Road Transportand Highways said in a state-ment on Thursday.

Payments can be madethrough FASTag as well ascash at the hybrid lanes, theMoRTH said, in apparent bidto ensure there was no panic-like situation from Friday.

“Ministry of RoadTransport & Highways hasmandated fitment of FASTagwith effect from January 1 in Mand N categories of motorvehicles sold beforeDecember1, 2017,” theMinistry said in a statement.

Continued on Page 2

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The Kerala LegislativeAssembly on Thursday saw

the ruling LDF and theOpposition UDF unanimous-ly adopting a resolution con-demning the Centre for thethreee farm laws enacted byParliament and expressing sol-idarity with the farmers agi-tating against the legislation.

Moving the resolution,Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayanalleged, “The three contentiousagri laws were passed evenwithout sending them to thestanding committee ofParliament. If this agitationcontinues, it will severely affectKerala, which is a consumerstate,” he said.

Stating that the reforms inthe field of agriculture shouldbe implemented as carefullyenvisioned, he said with theimplementation of the laws, thebargaining power of farmerswould be weakened, giving anadvantage to the corporate.

Detailed report on P5

% �����& �'��(� �� ���)����*���)��������!�

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As a child who grew up inthe 1990s, like so many

Indians we saw hope in ourcountry after the economy wasopened up. Things have notquite panned out according toplan over the past threedecades, but it would be falla-cious to argue that India hasnot progressed.

We had hoped that by2020, India would be standingtall among other nations onearth, yet the natural fault linesof caste, religion, creed and sexstill divide us. It is no pointblaming one side over anoth-er, as every side is responsible.We are told that India is ayoung country and that youthbrings us hope, but after a bru-tal year in which millions havelost their income and educationhas come to a standstill, Indiafaces a challenge like no othernation on earth. It is a challengethat each and every one of usmust stand up to and do our

part and, in this regard, we cantake some inspiration fromIndia’s premier sports team, themen’s Test cricket team which,after being pummeled to theground in Adelaide, saw eachand every team member on thefield and off the field stand upand do his part in achieving avictory a few days ago that noone — not one commentator orone fan — saw coming. It wasa comprehensive victory, andwhen we are told that sports isbut an imitation of life, this Testvictory which might not eclipsethe dramatic win at EdenGardens of 2001, is one thatshould teach all of us the powerof resilience and that together,we can overcome even thetoughest situations.

But while many of us willwant to write off 2020 as a lostcause, we should not do that.Yes, many of us lost loved onesduring the year, many millionshave died due to the accursedpandemic, and others lost jobsand opportunities. But new

life has also come into theworld, there were childrenborn in trains taking migrantsback home; it has also been ablessing that the pestilencethat has overtaken our lives has by and large spared youngones.

Most of us were very care-ful in the early days of the lock-down in the months of March,April and May, deserted streetsin major cities made themlook like ghost towns as if anapocalypse has wiped outhumanity, well, thankfully ithad not. Of course, there hasalso been the indiscretion andstupidity of youth on display oflate, crowding bars, beachesand, in Goa right now, thedance floor. Yet, most ofhumanity has stepped up to theplate, microbiologists and vac-cine scientists have workedaround the clock for the pastnine months to ensure that asafe and successful vaccine canbe developed. Others such asfrontline medical staff, emer-

gency workers, police and evenmunicipal staff have put theirown lives at risk to ensure thatthings do not collapse. Overhere, one must thank thecountless number of deliverymen and women who ensuredthat the wheels of commercestayed on and did not fall offaltogether.

It is dismaying to many ofus to see people gathering withlittle or no worry at large gath-erings where social distancingnorms go for a toss and maskcompliance is non-existent.The development of vaccines isnot the same as deploymentand the eventual deployment ofa vaccine in a country of 1.3 bil-lion will be a logistical andadministrative challenge like noother. It is also true thatCentral, State and municipalgovernments have made mis-takes, several of them in fact,indeed early celebrations of“management” in some areasand States were premature.

Continued on Page 2

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China on Thursday com-pleted the track-laying

work for a railway line linkingthe cities of Lhasa and Nyingchiin Tibet, close to the Indianborder in Arunachal Pradesh,official media here reported.

The Sichuan-Tibet Railwaywill be the second railway intoTibet after the Qinghai-TibetRailway. It will go through thesoutheast of the Qinghai-TibetPlateau, one of the

world's most geologically activeareas.

The Sichuan-Tibet Railwaystarts from Chengdu, capital ofSichuan Province and travelsthrough Ya'an and enters Tibetvia Qamdo, shortening thejourney from Chengdu toLhasa from 48 hours to 13hours.

Linzhi, also known asNyingchi, is located close toArunachal Pradesh border.

Last month, President XiJinping instructed officials toexpedite construction of thenew railway project connectingSichuan Province and Linzhi inTibet, saying it would play a keyrole in safeguarding the borderstability.

With a designed speed of160 km per hour, the 435-kmrail line passes through 47

tunnels and 120 bridges,according to its constructorTibet Railway ConstructionCo., Ltd.

Construction started in2014 on the railway connectingLhasa, the regional capital, andNyingchi in eastern Tibet. It isthe first electrified railroad inTibet and is slated to beginoperations in June 2021, theXinhua report said.

So far, a total of 31.2 billionyuan (about $4.8 billion) hasbeen invested in the project,according to official data. Withmore than 90 per cent of therailway built in areas morethan 3,000 metres above sealevel, the high altitude andcomplex geological conditionshave posed great challenges to the project, thereport said.

From Page 1Eligible participants were

18 years old or more with noknown history of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and whose loca-tions or circumstances putthem at appreciable risk of theinfection and high risk ofsevere Covid-19, theresearchers said.

They noted that the raceand ethnicity proportion ofthe trial was 79 per cent white,10 per cent Black or AfricanAmerican, and 20 per centHispanic or Latino partici-pants.

The participants receivedtheir first injection betweenJuly 27 and October 23, fol-lowed by a second shot 28 dayslater. Each jab, given intra-muscularly, had a volume of 0.5millilitres (mL), containing100 micrograms (μg) ofmRNA-1273 vaccine or salineplacebo.

In the placebo group, 185participants developed symp-tomatic Covid-19 illnesswhereas in the vaccine group,only 11 participants did.

In secondary analyses, thevaccine’s efficacy was similar

across groups of key interest,including those who alreadyhad antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 at the time of enrol-ment, and among those whowere 65 years of age or older,the researchers said.

Thirty participants hadsevere Covid-19 -- all in theplacebo group, they said. Theywere closely monitored foradverse events in the weeks fol-lowing their injection.

The researchers said over-all, reactions to the vaccinewere mild -- about half ofrecipients experienced fatigue,muscle aches, joint pain andheadaches, more so after thesecond dose.

Baden said while theseresults are encouraging, theyare limited by the short dura-tion of follow-up so far.

“Longer term data from theongoing study may allow us tomore carefully evaluate thevaccine’s efficacy among dif-ferent groups, determine theimpact on asymptomatic infec-tion, understand when immu-nity wanes, and determinewhether vaccines affect infec-tiousness,” she added.

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From Page 1The secondary education board

releases the CBSE date sheets inNovember and holds the CBSE Class 10and CBSE Class 12 board examinationsin February and March every year. Thisyear, however, due to the ongoing coro-navirus pandemic, the release of CBSEBoard exam time table has been delayed.

Pokhriyal reiterated that the CBSEBoard examinations 2021 will not beconducted online and will be held asbefore which means under physicalsupervision at examination halls.

“Exams will be held as before.Students’ physical presence will beneeded during board exams,” Pokhriyalsaid. Pokhriyal also rejected suggestionsabout cancellation of board examina-tions and said that cancelling the examsand promoting students will result in“putting a stamp on these students” andthese students might face trouble in get-ting jobs and admissions at higher edu-cation level in future.

Pokhriyal said that the Education

Ministry reached out to 33 crore stu-dents online and also conducted NEETexams amid COVID-19. The govern-ment has already announced the sched-ule of NEET and JEE for year 2021which is to be held four times betweenFebruary and April.

The National Testing Agency (NTA)released new rules for JEE Main 2021exams. According to the new rules, can-didates who appeared for JEE Main 2019or JEE Main Advanced 2019 will not beallowed to appear for JEE exams 2021.The NTA had said that a candidate canattempt JEE (Advanced) a maximum oftwo times in consecutive years whetheror not he/she has passed the qualifyingexamination (JEE Main).

From the commencing academicyear, candidates will have an opportu-nity to take the exam four times a year,i.e., in February, March, April, and May.Applicants would be allowed to appearin all four attempts and the best of twoattempts will be considered for the finalmerit list.

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From Page 1"Taken at face value, it

may be surprising that Chinais now deploying these types ofUUV en masse in the IndianOcean. China has alsodeployed the Sea Wing from anice breaker in the Arctic," HISutton wrote.

According to the defenceexpert, reports from Decemberlast year suggested that 14would be employed in theIndian Ocean mission but only12 were used. HI Sutton saidthat these gliders are unpow-ered with large wings to glidethat can run for long periods oftime, adding that they are notfast or agile, however, they areemployed for long-range mis-sions.

Furthermore, the defenceanalyst said these Chinese glid-ers that are placed in the IndianOcean were reportedly gather-ing oceanography data, which"sounds innocuous" however, iscommonly gathered for navalintelligence purposes." ANI

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From Page 1Category M stands for a motor vehicle with at least four

wheels used for carrying passengers. Category N stands for amotor vehicle with at least four wheels used for carrying goods,which may also carry persons.

“It is clarified that this Central Motor Vehicle Rule standsin force as it is. However, at hybrid lanes of fee plazas on NationalHighways, fee payment can be made through FASTag as well asin cash mode till 15th February, 2021,” the statement said.

In FASTag lanes, payment of fees will continue to be throughFASTag only, it said.

The Ministry has also clarified that it is committed to imple-mentation of 100 per cent E-tolling at fee plazas from January1, 2021 onwards, mandated under CMV (Central MotorVehicles) Rules, as amended.

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From Page 1But if one is to believe the numbers, while far too many have

died, India has done a relatively good job and possibly some ofthe benefits of herd immunity have indeed kicked in, particu-larly in densely populated slum areas. That is no reason to cel-ebrate, and antipathy towards political leadership should not bea reason to disobey public health missives because the challengesthat lie ahead of us in 2021 are immense.

Despite some sectors showing promise, the manufacturingeconomy is in ruins. Millions of workers have headed home fromthe industrialised hubs of the country. Even some sectors likeautomobile, which have shown promise in the past few months,are being extremely cautious for 2021. In a country like India,where demographics are skewed towards the young, the lack ofjob creation over the past year, keeping in mind that things werealready slowing down in 2019, has been devastating. An armyof unemployed and frustrated youth is a challenge for any nationand urgent reforms coupled with demand creation, whether thatis through tax reduction or incentives, are necessary for job cre-ation. The Finance Ministry has been smart in not overplayingits hand too soon, despite what the Opposition has asked for.Narendra Modi maintains his immense personal popularity andpolitical capital, despite 2020 being a year bookended by protestssurrounding the Capital. The New Year will be a year for somehard political and economic decisions by the Government.

We can only hope that 2021 will be the year in which Indiaand the rest of the world can successfully bounce back and showthe resilience of mankind to adversity. We must remain cautiousagainst enemies both small, like the virus, and large, like on ourborders. And we should all do our bit to ensure that we can pre-vail. Here is wishing each and every one of our readers a veryHappy New Year and hoping that 2021 will be a lot better.

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Indian fishermen, appre-hended in Sri Lanka for

allegedly poaching in its terri-torial waters, have been pro-vided consular assistance by theConsulate General of India inJaffna, the Indian HighCommission here said onThursday.

The high commission saidit was in touch with the SriLankan Government to facili-tate the early release of thedetained fishermen.

"High Commission@CGJaffna were providedConsular Access to Indian fish-ermen who are apprehended inSri Lanka and extended all pos-sible support to them. Theywere given essential daily useitems and offered legal andother forms of assistance," it

said in a tweet.India and Sri Lanka on

Wednesday held through videoconferencing a meeting of thejoint working group on fish-eries and discussed the issuesrelated to fishermen and theways to overcome challengesposed by the COVI-19 pan-

demic."The Fourth Joint Working

Group Meeting on Fisheriesheld in the usual cordial atmos-phere, which marks India-SriLanka ties, concludes.Deliberation during theMeeting contributed tostrengthening constructivecooperation between the twocountries," the high commis-sion tweeted on Wednesday.

Fishermen from bothcountries are arrested fre-quently for inadvertently tres-passing into each other'swaters.

During his five-day visit toIndia in February, Sri LankanPrime Minister MahindaRajapaksa and his Indian coun-terpart Narendra Modi agreedto resolve the long-festeringfishermen issue with a"humane approach".

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Chief Minister YogiAdityanath dedicated to

people 10 development projectsworth �197.21 crore, includingthe new Carpet Expo Mart inBhadohi, on Thursday.

This mart will be an inter-national world-class complexthat will provide all possibleassistance to ensure that thecarpet industry of Bhadohiscales to a new high.

Apart from this, he alsolaid the foundation stones offive projects and gave the ben-efits of several Central and stategovernment schemes to about750 beneficiaries.

The CM also held a meet-ing with the MPs, MLAs andleaders of Vindhyachal divi-sion.

In his address, the CMassured the weavers and arti-sans of full support from thegovernment. He hailed themastery of artisans in manu-facturing carpet in Bhadohi

and said that the carpet exportsfrom only Bhadohi districtwere around �4,000 crore.

“Eighty per cent of thecarpet export of the country isfrom Bhadohi. The new martwill accelerate the intrinsic artand many decade-old crafts-manship of Bhadohi with newtechnology and ideation underone roof. This will also ease theprocess of business for theartisans by creating a marketspace for buyers and sellersunder the same umbrella,” theCM said.

Being a part of the ambi-tious ODOP scheme of the UPgovernment, the carpets ofBhadohi, along with otherproducts like the silk sarees ofVaranasi, the black rice ofChandauli, the kala namakrice of Siddharthnagar, the ter-racotta of Gorakhpur, thewooden art of Saharanpur andother products of the ODOPscheme have given a new iden-tity of Atmanirbhar Bharat,” headded.

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Beijing: China and India are inconsultations to hold the ninthround of Corps Commander-level meeting to discuss the dis-engagement of troops in east-ern Ladakh, the ChineseDefence Ministry spokesmanSr. Colonel Tan Kefei said onThursday.

Since the eighth round ofCorps Commander-level talksbetween the armies of Chinaand India, the two sides havemaintained consultations ondisengagement of frontlinetroops and strengthened man-agement of border troops, Tan

told an online media briefing.The situation in the border

areas is generally stable, he said,according to a transcript postedon the Chinese DefenceMinistry website. China is will-ing to maintain communicationwith India through military anddiplomatic channels, he said.

India is expected to workwith China towards the samegoal, implement the consensusreached at the CorpsCommander-level meetings,and take pragmatic measures tofurther abate the tension inborder areas, Tan said. PTI

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An angry crowd onThursday set ablaze a

police post in Agra's Tajganjarea after vandalising it,lootinglaptops and wireless sets andbeating up policemen, injuringtwo of them following thedeath of a man in a road acci-dent.

The police had to makeheavy deployment of force tocontrol and chase away therampaging mob, said InspectorGeneral of Police A SatishGanesh of Agra police range.

Ganesh said a youth wasearlier severely injured in themorning after his tractor-trail-er overturned in the district.

He was hospitalised butdied during the treatment afterwhich an angry mob withsome miscreants attacked Torapolice post under Tajganj policestation area and set it afire, hesaid.

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Delhi Health Minister,Satyendra Jain on

Thursday said that four personswho recently came to Delhifrom the United Kingdom andtested positive for Covid-19,have been found infected withthe new strain of coronavirus.

Jain said that a total of 38people have been found posi-tive since coming to Delhifrom the UK recently, andkept in a separate institution-al isolation unit in the LNJPHospital premises.

"Four such patients havebeen found infected with thenew UK strain of COVID-19.The persons who came in theircontact have been also tracedand tested, and its not in them.

So, only these four cases of newstrain in Delhi so far," he said.

"Flights have been stoppedand those who came before thatare being traced and tested rig-orously," he added.

Delhi recorded 677COVID-19 cases and 21 newfatalities on Wednesday, even asthe positivity rate dropped to0.8 per cent, authorities said.

"Positivity rate has droppedto 0.8 per cent from 15.26 percent on November 7. About 85per cent beds are vacant, so thesituation has improved a lot.And, so, it had been decided tomake LNJP Hospital and GTBHospital, partial COVID-19facilities now. All services,including the OPD will besoon resumed gradually," Jainsaid.

On the preparedness forthe vaccination, he said, workis on to set up 1,000 vaccina-tion centres.

Jain said the night curfewhas been imposed as the situ-ation is under control rightnow, but huge gatherings couldspell trouble again.

The Delhi government hasimposed night curfew from 11pm to 6 am on December 31and January 1 to avoid largegatherings during New Yearcelebrations due to COVID-19and its highly transmissibleUK strain.

A formal order stated thatnot more than five people willbe allowed to assemble at pub-lic places in Delhi during nightcurfew to avoid large gather-ings in view of COVID-19.

Amid mounting concernsover the new variant of theCOVID-19, the Delhi govern-ment had earlier said that peo-ple who had arrived hererecently from that country, arebeing traced and tested, whilean institutional quarantinefacility has been set up sepa-rately for positive cases at theLNJP Hospital.

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Ahead of the New Year’s Eve,the Gurugram Police

claimed to have deployed 4,000cops but the main concern toensure that people follow thecovid-19 guidelines during theNew Year events.

As per senior police offi-cials the biggest challenge forthe Gurugram Police is to getpeople to follow the Covidrules amid the ongoing coron-avirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the police sus-pect that footfall in the pubsand bars this year could be verythin due to the coronaviruspandemic.

According to officials, thistime the main challenge will beto get the people immersed inthe celebrations to follow theCovid norms. As the new strainof the virus has entered inIndia, there is a need to createsocial distance between peoplevisiting malls and restaurants.

“This time we have to takeextra precautions in view ofNew Year celebrations. Weurge the people to followCovid-19 guidelines. We don'twant to create any panic butwill ensure action against thosewho flout the Covid-19 norms”said Gurugram police com-missioner, K.K. Rao.

The police chief alsoinformed that the securityarrangements in the city are onalert in view of the farmers'movement. Some anti-socialelements may provoke agitatingfarmers under the grab of cel-ebration so that they can enterthe district and travel to Delhi.

“Such people are beingmonitored so that the law andorder situation can be main-tained in the city. Along withthis, instructions are beinggiven to the station in-chargesto keep an eye on the liquor

shops in their concerned areas.Nobody would be allowed todrink in the open and createruckus,” Rao said.

“The police have complet-ed all preparations for the newyear celebration. Tight securi-ty arrangements are beingmade. All the police in-chargewith additional force have beeninstructed to be vigilant whileon duty,” he said.

Also, strict guidelines havebeen issued for restaurant andclub owners in the city. Barowners have been asked not toserve liquor beyond the per-missible limit.

The Gurugram Police hasasked bar owners to check theID card of each individualwho enters the premises andensure proper CCTV coverageat the entrance so that theirfaces can be clearly captured.

Special joint teams of rev-enue, Excise and police per-sonnel equipped with videog-raphers have been formed tocheck any violation and takestrictest possible action.

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The Delhi Commission forProtection of Child Rights

(DCPCR) has reached out tothe chairpersons, DistrictDevelopment Committees andMembers of LegislativeAssembly (MLAs) seeking sup-port and cooperation in boost-ing the efforts being made bythe commission to make Delhi‘Child Labour-Free’ by 2023.

According to official, theDCPCR has sought interven-tion in three areas primarily-ensuring monthly meetings ofDistrict Task Force (DTF) forrescue and rehabilitation ofchild labourers.

“The commission alsowants to ensure efficient uti-lization of Child Labour Fundfor rehabilitation of the rescuedchildren and helping in aware-ness generation on the menaceof child labour. The MLAshave been requested to popu-larize Child Helpline Number1098 and DCPCR’s WhatsappNumber 9599001855 forreporting child labour,” said theofficial.

“Being the Chairperson ofrespective DistrictDevelopment Committees, theMLAs shall be frequently inter-acting with the DistrictMagistrate, other departmentalofficers, representatives ofRWAs, Markets, Mandis andIndustrial Associations besidesthe public at large. Thus, theMLAs can raise the issue ofchild labour with all the stake-holders as well as the public andthereby, help the Commissionin eradicating child labour fromDelhi,” said the official.

“Keeping in view the snow-balling menace of child laborduring the pandemic, DCPCRhas remained engaged in evolv-ing a long-term strategy tomake Delhi ‘Child Labor-Free’by 2023,” said the official.

“Besides coordinating reg-ular rescue operations, a num-ber of measures have alreadybeen initiated by DCPCR suchas tracking of rescued children,monitoring meetings of theDTF meetings, reaching out tocivil society partners for infor-mation of instances of childlabour and monitoring transferof compensation, backwagesand restoring,” said the official.

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Thousands of farmersprotesting at borders of the

National Capital will celebrateNew Year without their fami-lies as their talks with theGovernment remained dead-locked over the main con-tentious issues of the repeal ofthree farm laws and a legalguarantee for MSP. However,the security remained tight atthe Delhi borders with hun-dreds of personnel deployed atSinghu, Ghazipur and Tikriborder points where the farm-ers have been camping.

Meanwhile, All India KisanSangharsh CoordinationCommittee (AIKSCC) onThursday said that the CentreGovernment’s appeal to thefarmer leaders to suggest analternative to repeal of thethree farm acts is impossible as

the government itself has thrustthese laws over the peopleundemocratically.

“The laws will hand overcontrol of agriculture markets,farmers’ land and food chain tocorporates, including GiantMNCs. Unless they arerepealed there is no scope todiscuss pro farmer changes inMandis and farm processesfor ensuring ‘doubling farmers’income’,” said AIKSCC.

The farmers, mainly fromPunjab and Haryana, in thesechilling winters are protesting atvarious borders includingSinghu, Tikri, Chilla andGhazipur borders of the nation-al capital for more than a monthagainst these three new laws.

The protests have also ledto traffic congestion forcingpolice to divert vehicular move-ment. Taking to Twitter onThursday, the Delhi Traffic

Police alerted commuters aboutthe routes that remained closedowing to the agitation andsuggested them to take alter-native roads.

“Tikri, Dhansa Borders areclosed for any TrafficMovement. Jhatikara Borders isopen only for LMV (Cars/Light Motor Vehicles), twowheelers and pedestrian move-ment,” it tweeted.

“The Chilla and GhazipurBorders are closed for trafficcoming from Noida &Ghaziabad to Delhi because offarmer protests. Please takealternate route for coming toDelhi via Anand Vihar, DND,Apsara, Bhopra & Loni Borders.

“Singhu, Auchandi,PiauManiyari, Saboli & Mangeshborders closed. Please takealternate route via LampurSafiabad, Palla & Singhu schooltoll tax borders.Traffic has beendiverted from Mukarba andGTK road. Please avoid OuterRing Road, GTK Road & NH-44,” they tweeted.

“Available Open Borders toHaryana are Jharoda (OnlySingle Carriageway/Road),Daurala, Kapashera, Badusarai,Rajokri NH-8,Bijwasan/Bajghera, PalamVihar and Dundahera Borders,”the Delhi Traffic Police said ina tweet.

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New Year’s revelries willremain muted by coron-

avirus strain this year. Wherecan one take part in public cel-ebrations as the clock strikes12 to usher in a New Year?That was the question doingrounds on Thursday with theannouncement of a night cur-few and imposition of section144 in several states and unionterritories, throwing plansinto disarray for those plan-ning to celebrate outside theirhomes.

Amid the scare of the newcoronavirus strain,Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala,Punjab, Odisha, Rajasthan,Uttarakhand, Gujarat, TamilNadu and Karnataka haveimposed renewed restrictionsahead of the New Year cele-brations to help prevent thespread of coronavirus. Hotels,restaurants, pubs, public placesand beaches were closed to thepublic for late-night celebra-tions on Thursday. Even thefireworks display was notallowed.

As many as 25 passengersall of whom recently returnedwere found to be infectedwith the new United Kingdomvariant genome of SARS-CoV-2 so far.

According to hotel indus-try sources, hotels, restaurantsand pubs, big and small, saidthey received many calls can-celling their pre-bookings even

though there was really noneed to. The Hilton GardenInn, Saket, for instance, whichwas offering a stay for two,along with a full-fledged fes-tive treat, at a discounted priceof Rs 12,500 said many non-resident’ guests had cancelled.The ITC, Maurya, New Delhi,was giving an array of offersfor the festive meal, includinga special ‘midnight buffet’from 12.30 am to 3 am.

But that probably standscancelled and senior stafferssaid they are still discussingthe order with concernedauthorities and would abide byall guidelines imposed by thegovernment. According toPublic App, one of India’slargest location-based socialnetwork, “78.82 per cent” —out of over one lakh Delhi res-idents surveyed — said theywould prefer celebrating NewYear at home over any hotel orrestaurant.

In Maharashtra, a night

curfew in all the municipalareas was imposed from 11 pmto 6 am and will remain inforce till 5 January. Gatheringsin restaurants, bars and pubshas not been allowed post-11pm, Loudspeaker/DJ musicbeyond permissible decibellimit and fireworks are alsoprohibited. The StateGovernment has also imposedrestrictions on parties inrestaurants, pubs, bars, beach-es, rooftops, and boats.

In Delhi, the governmenthas been imposed night cur-few beginning 11 pm onDecember 31 to 6 am onJanuary 1. For January 2, thenight curfew will begin at 11pm on January 1 and contin-ue till 6 am on January 2. Anorder issued by DDMA statedthat not more than five peoplewill be allowed to assemble atpublic places in Delhi duringnight curfew to avoid largegatherings.

The Karnataka

Government, through guide-lines and orders, has also pro-hibited parties, and specialevents at clubs, pubs, restau-rants, and other places thatattract people in large num-bers without social distancing.

The Kerala Governmenthad set a 10 pm deadline forNew Year’s Eve celebrations inthe state in view of the coro-navirus pandemic situation.No public gatherings wasallowed.

The Odisha Governmentalso closed all shops, com-mercial establishments, offices,institutions and movement oftill 5 am on Saturday.

The Punjab Governmenthas imposed night curfew tillJanuary 1, 2021 so that revel-ers could not be celebrated.

In Tamil Nadu, theauthorities have barred largegatherings beaches and roadsand banned midnight partiesin restaurants, hotels, clubs,

resorts and similar places.Amid concerns over the

new, more infectious coron-avirus strain, the Centre onWednesday issued an adviso-ry to all states and UnionTerritories to keep strict vigilon New Year celebrations thatcould be potential “super-spreader” events. A total of 25people in the country havetested positive for the newUnited Kingdom variantgenome of SARS-CoV-2 so far.

In West Bengal, theKolkata Police have takenmeasures to ensure that allCOVID-19 safety protocolsare maintained and there is nolarge gathering for celebratingthe New Year eve, as orderedby the Calcutta High Court tocheck a spike in infections.

Uttarakhand’s CapitalDehradun has banned publiccelebrations like parties athotels, bars and restaurants onNew Year’s Eve and New Year.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi on Thursday said

that preparation for a coron-avirus vaccine was in the laststages and that people willsoon get vaccines manufac-tured in India even as he cau-tioned against rumours aboutcoronavirus vaccination.

“In 2020, there was a ques-tion mark from all sides due toCovid-19 pandemic. But 2021is coming with the hope of atreatment for Covid-19,” saidModi after laying the founda-tion stone of a new All IndiaInstitute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) in Gujarat’s Rajkot viavideoconference.

He said that while he washopeful that the way in whichIndia fought unitedly againstthe infection, it would similar-ly work hard to make the vac-cination programme successful.

“The country is preparingto undertake the world’slargest vaccination driveagainst the infection,” he saidwhile cautioning people to notget carried away by rumoursagainst vaccine.

Modi said: “In our coun-try, rumours spread quickly.Different people, for theirpersonal gains or due to irre-sponsible behaviour, spreadvarious rumours.

“Maybe, the rumours willbe spread when the vaccina-

tion drive begins; some havealready begun,” the PrimeMinister said.

He appealed to the peopleto refrain as responsible citi-zens from forwarding mes-sages on the social mediawithout checking.

The Prime Minister saidthat when India faced anyproblem, the entire nationunited to help each other.“The way in which peopletook proper steps is the reasonwhy we are in good a situationeven amid the pandemic,despite a 1.3-billion popula-tion. More than one crorepeople have fought the pan-demic and won.

“India’s record is muchbetter than other countries inthe fight against Covid-19.”

He said that the numbersof infections in India weregoing down. “India hasemerged as the nerve centre ofglobal health. In 2021, wehave to strengthen India’s rolein healthcare,” he said.

Modi said that ‘dawai bhiaur kadaai bhi’ should be ourmantra for 2021. “Earlier, Isaid ‘dawai nahi toh dhilainahi’ (no relaxation till nomedicine). Now, I am saying‘dawai bhi aur kadaai bhi’(strictness even with medi-cine). Our mantra for 2021 is‘dawai bhi aur kadaai bhi’.”

Pointing out that ‘health iswealth’, Modi said: “this year

taught us this maxim. Whenthere is any attack on health,it affects the family and theentire society comes in itsgrip.” The Prime Minister alsosaid that it was time toremember on the last day ofthe outgoing year the frontlinewarriors who safeguardedpeople while risking theirlives.

“I pay my humble tributesto all frontline warriors wholost their lives in the line ofduty,” Modi said, adding thatthe country also paid tributesto scientists, workers, doctorsinvolved in the fight againstCovid-19 and those workingtirelessly for developing a vac-cine for coronavirus.

Later at a webinar, Dr VGSomani, Drug ControllerGeneral of India, hinted thatapproval for coronavirus vac-cine in the country couldcome soon.

“Probably we will have ahappy new year, with some-thing in hand,” he said

Somani also said that theapproval process for the vac-cines was expedited by pro-cessing the applications quick-ly and allowing phase 1 and 2trials simultaneously, withoutwaiting for the complete data.“There has been no compro-mise on the safety of efficacyof the data,” he clarified. “Theonly thing is that the regula-tor has accepted partial data.”

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Ahead of rolling of the UnionBudget, the ruling BJP has sug-

gested tax relief to the middle-classby increasing standard deductionsand providing benefits to small andmedium businesses by loweringraw material cost.

BJP specialist in economicaffairs and National SpokesmanGopal Krishna Agarwal said theparty has given proposal duringmeeting with the Finance Minister

Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday. Talking to The Pioneer,

Aggarwal said the Union Budgetwill be presented on February firstand hoped the suggestions onreducing income tax and raw mate-rial prices would provide relief tothe middle class and small businessrespectively. He pointed to the risein commodity prices.

The middle-class would bene-fit if the standard deductions arebroad-based.

As unprecedented Coronavirus

pandemic did not allow the wintersession of the Parliament, the gov-ernment hopes that the budgetsession in January would make upfor the winter session.

In the background of econom-ic squeeze caused by the pandem-ic, the budget 2021-22 may involvespecial economic announcementsfor the segments particularlyimpacted by an year-long lock-down.

As the Modi-Government hadearlier announced some succour topoor in terms of free ration andloan relief to businessmen, theBJP has proposed that some taxrelief to middle-class too wouldmake a happy economic proposi-tion.

“The middle-income group isfeeling a lot of pinch, and they needsome support” said Agarwal.

“Incentivising consumption bythem would also help the indus-try,”I can say the Budget will takecare of the middle class.”

Last time, the Budget hadmaintained the status quo withoutmaking any major change thatwould have effectively benefited thetax-paying middle-class.

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Prime Minister NarendraModi will lay the founda-

tion stone of Light HouseProjects (LHPs) under GlobalHousing TechnologyChallenge-India (GHTC-India) at six sites across sixStates on January 1, via videoconferencing. PM Modi willalso announce winners underAffordable SustainableHousing Accelerators - India(ASHA-India) and give outannual awards for excellence inimplementation of PradhanMantri Awas Yojana - Urban(PMAY-U) Mission.

During the event, thePrime Minister will also releasea certificate course on innov-ative construction technologiesnamed NAVARITIH (New,Affordable, Validated, ResearchInnovation Technologies forIndian Housing) and a com-pendium of 54 innovativehousing construction tech-nologies identified throughGHTC-India. Besides thehousing and urban affairs min-ister, chief ministers of Tripura,Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh,Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,Tamil Nadu and AndhraPradesh will be present on theoccasion.

The Light House Projects(LHPs) showcase the best ofnew-age alternative globaltechnologies, materials andprocesses in the constructionsector for the first time in thecountry at such a large scale.

“They are being con-structed under GHTC-Indiawhich envisages to provide anecosystem for adoption ofinnovative technologies in thehousing construction sector in

a holistic manner. The LHPsare being constructed at Indore(Madhya Pradesh), Rajkot(Gujarat), Chennai (TamilNadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand),Agartala (Tripura) andLucknow (Uttar Pradesh).They comprise about 1000houses at each location alongwith allied infrastructure facil-ities.

These projects will demon-strate and deliver ready to livehouses at an expedited pacewithin twelve months, as com-pared to conventional brickand mortar construction, andwill be more economical, sus-tainable, of high quality anddurability,” the PrimeMinister’’s Office said.

These LHPs demonstrate avariety of technologies, includ-ing Prefabricated SandwichPanel System in LHP at Indore,Monolithic ConcreteConstruction using TunnelFormwork in LHP at Rajkot,Precast Concrete ConstructionSystem in LHP at Chennai, 3DVolumetric Precast ConcreteConstruction System in LHP atRanchi, Structural Steel Framewith Light Gauge Steel InfillPanels in LHP at Agartala andPVC Stay In Place FormworkSystem in LHP at Lucknow.The LHPs will serve as live lab-oratories for facilitating trans-fer of technology to the fieldand its further replication.This includes planning, design,production of components,construction practices and test-ing for both faculty and stu-dents of IITs, NITs, otherEngineering colleges, Planningand Architecture colleges,builders, professionals of pri-vate and public sectors andother stakeholders.

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BJP president J P Nadda onThursday gave new respon-

sibilities to RSS leaders in theBJP.

V Satish, joint general sec-retary, is to look afterParliamentary office, ST mor-cha and ‘vishesh sampark”.

Suadan Singh, vice-presi-

dent, to be stationed atChandigarh, to overseeHaryana, Punjab, HimachalPradesh and Chandigarh.

Shiv Prakash, Joint-General Secretary, is to lookafter Madhya Pradesh,Chattisgarh, Maharashtra,Andhra Pradesh, Telanganaand west Bengal. He Will be atBhopal.

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The cold wave in North India willcontinue till January 2 and it will

get intense from the next week.Parts of northwest and central Indiaappear set to begin the New Year ona wet note, as isolated rains and thun-derstorms have been forecast acrossthe region starting Friday, January 1.

The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) has issued a yel-low watch over Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh, Delhi, and UttarPradesh, thereby urging residents to‘be aware’ of their local weather sit-uation and remain wary of the light-ning and thunderstorms.

The IMD also predicted light rainin eastern Rajasthan, Delhi, westernUttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryanabetween January 2 and January 6.Immediately after this rain spell, afresh western disturbance—a stormthat originates as low-pressure sys-tems over the Mediterranean Sea andpushes moist, high-altitude westerlywinds towards India—is likely toaffect the north Indian weather fromJanuary 3 onwards.

The system is expected to bringlight/moderate scattered to fairlywidespread rainfall/snowfall overthe Western Himalayan region fromJanuary 3-5.

“Cold Day to Severe Cold Dayconditions in isolated to some pock-ets very likely over Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh & Delhi, Uttar Pradeshand West Madhya Pradesh duringnext two days and over HimachalPradesh during next 24 hours,” theIMD said.

According to Kuldeep Srivastava,the head of the IMD’s regional fore-

casting centre, clear skies over Delhi-NCR, multiple western disturbancesaffecting the Himalayan region andthe global impact of La Nina were themajor reasons behind such low min-imum temperatures. “After December12, western disturbances mostlyaffected the western Himalayanregion, leading to significant snow-fall and rain over Jammu andKashmir and Himachal Pradesh,”Srivastava said.

After the wind system with-draws, cold north-westerly windsblow from Jammu and Kashmir andHimachal Pradesh to Delhi-NCR,bringing the minimum temperaturedown, he said.

“Uplifted fog” over Punjab andHaryana made the winds even cold-er, he added. “ The global factor ofLa Nina further contributed to the fallin temperatures,” Srivastava said.

“Dense/very dense fog in somepockets over Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh & Delhi and UttarPradesh and dense fog in isolatedpockets over Bihar, Assam &Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur,Mizoram & Tripura during next 2days and over Uttarakhand, WestMadhya Pradesh during next 24hours,” the IMD said.

The IMD said a trough in lowerlevel easterlies is expected to bringisolated rain and thundershowersover the plains of northwest India andadjoining West Madhya Pradesh onFriday and Saturday, January 1-2.

According to the IMD, groundfrost conditions in isolated pocketsvery likely over Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh & Delhi and northRajasthan during next 24 hours.

The cold wave sweeping Kashmir

intensified as the mercury fell sever-al notches to settle well below thefreezing point across thevalley,Srinagar city -- the summercapital of Jammu and Kashmir --recorded a low of minus 5.9 degreesCelsius, which was over three degreesbelow the previous night’s minus 2.2degrees Celsius.

Gulmarg tourist destination innorth Kashmir recorded 10.4degrees Celsius as against the pre-vious night’s low of minus 11 degreesCelsius.

The ongoing cold wave condi-tions in Haryana and Punjab inten-sified at many places, with Hisar reel-ing at minus 1.2 degrees Celsius. Athick blanket of fog again envelopedmost places in the two States early inthe morning, reducing visibility lev-els. The minimum temperatureshovered well below normal limits asa few places experienced the season’scoldest night so far. Hisar in Haryanarecorded the season’s coldest night sofar and the mercury dropped eightnotches below the normal.

Cold wave conditions also per-sisted in many places inPunjab.Bathinda reeled under severechill recording a minimum temper-ature of 0 degree Celsius, the season’slowest so far, while Amritsar andFaridkot, too, braved the chill at 1.6degrees Celsius and 1.2 degreesCelsius, respectively.Pathankot,Halwara, Adampur, Ludhiana andPatiala also recorded below normalminimums at 2.2, 3.1, 4.8, 4.1 and 4.8degrees Celsius, respectively. Intensecold conditions prevailed inRajasthan where over a dozen dis-tricts recorded night temperaturesbelow 5 degrees Celsius.

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The EnforcementDirectorate has seized gold

and diamond jewellery worthover �4 crore after it raidedpromoters of a Tamil Nadu-based company in a moneylaundering probe linked to analleged bank loan fraud. Thesearches were conducted underprovisions of the Prevention of

Money Laundering Act(PMLA) and the residentialpremises of K Subbaraj, chair-man of Tiruchirappalli-basedCethar Ltd, its managing direc-tor K Pothiraj and director ofNSK Builders Pvt Ltd N S KKalairaja were covered, it said.

Gold and diamond jew-ellery worth � 1.77 crore alongwith several property docu-ments were seized in raid.

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More than 40 top com-manders heading

Pakistan based terror outfitswere eliminated among 225 ter-rorists in over 100 encountersby the joint teams of securityforces across Jammu &Kashmir in 2020, DirectorGeneral of Police DilbaghSingh said on Thursday.

Compared to 2019, thesecurity forces gunned down65 more terrorists in 2020. Atotal number of 160 terroristswere gunned down in 2019.Meanwhile, the number oflocal recruits inducted by dif-ferent outfits in its ranksrecorded an upward trend in2020. However, the shelf life ofthese terrorists was reducedbetween 3 days to 3 months in2020.

Addressing an annual Pressconference in the lawns of thePolice headquarters in JammuDGP Dilbagh Singh toldreporters the total number of

infiltration bids, incidents relat-ed to terrorist violence andcivilian killings have also comedown.

Sharing details DGP said“We undertook over 100 suc-cessful operations in J&K.Ninety operations took place inKashmir and 13 in Jammu. Asmany as 225 terrorists werekilled — 207 in Kashmir and 18in Jammu division.”

He said that among theslain terrorists, 46 were topcommanders belonging to var-ious outfits. “Today, all topcommanders of various outfitshave been eliminated,” headded.

The DGP said 16 Jammu &Kashmir Police personnel — 15in Kashmir and one in Jammu— and 44 security forcesjawans — 42 in Kashmir and

two in Jammu — were killedwhile fighting terrorism thisyear. Singh said that police andsecurity agencies have crackeddown on overground workers(OGWs) of terror outfits, whothrow grenades or work as messengers and couriers.

“As many as 635 OGWswere arrested and 56 out ofthem were booked under thePublic Safety Act (PSA),” hesaid.

During the year, 299 ter-rorists and their associateswere arrested and 12 terroristssurrendered, he said.

The police chief said that426 weapons, over 9,000ammunition and magazines,and a huge cache of explosivematerial were recovered andseized during anti-terror oper-ations.

There has been a decreasein the number of civiliankillings this year. “As many as38 civilians were killed this yearas compared to 44 last year,”Singh said.

He, however, said that therehas been a slight increase in ter-rorist recruitment this year ascompared to last year. “But 70per cent of them have eitherbeen eliminated or have left ter-

ror outfits and returned. Asmany as 46 terrorists havebeen arrested and 76 havebeen killed (among newrecruits). Their shelf life isvery less,” the DGP said.

He said that there is alarge scale decrease in the levelof infiltrations this year. Due tothe strong anti-infiltration grid,the infiltration is down, he said.Singh said that Pakistan is try-ing to increase the arch of ter-rorism to Jammu region andfoment communal troublehere.

“There were a dozen ter-rorists active in the Jammuregion, the number hasreduced to three now. They arein Kishtwar district, we aretracking them,” Singh said.

The police chief furthersaid that despite severalattempts by Pakistan, cases ofinfiltration this year is the low-est in the last three-four years.

“So, they (Pakistan) had torely on local recruits and theytried to supply weapons, explo-sive materials and cash to themthrough drones, most of thesewere foiled,” he said.

“The best thing is that thetrend of local youths joiningterror group is constantlydecreasing,” he added.

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Pakistani troops opened fireand shelled mortars in

unprovoked violations of aceasefire agreement along theLine of Control (LoC) inKupwara and Rajouri districtsof Jammu & Kashmir, officialssaid on Thursday.

In the Tangdhar sector ofKupwara, Pakistani troopsspecifically targeted mosquesand houses in border villages,an Army official said inSrinagar.

“Pakistan initiated anunprovoked ceasefire violation

along LoC in Tangdhar Sector,Kupwara by firing mortars andother weapons yesterdayevening,” the official said.

In the Nowshera sector ofRajouri, Pakistan Army per-sonnel engaged in heavy firingand mortar shelling on forwardposts.

“At about 1,515 hourstoday, Pakistan Army initiated

unprovoked ceasefire violationby firing with small arms andintense shelling with mortarsalong LoC in Nowshera sectorin Rajouri district,” a defencespokesman said in Jammu.

Indian Army personnelguarding the LoC retaliatedbefittingly to the unprovokedceasefire violations, officialssaid.

Jammu and Kashmirrecorded 5,100 instances ofceasefire violations by Pakistanalong the LoC in 2020 — thehighest in the past 18 years —in which 36 people were killedand over 130 were injured,

official sources said. Twenty-four security personnel wereamong the 36 killed.

Security forces officialssaid that shelling and firing byPakistani troops was “veryheavy” in 2020, virtually mak-ing the 2003 India-Pakistanborder truce “redundant”.

“Pakistani troops repeat-edly targeted forwards postsand villages along the Line ofControl (LoC) and theInternational Border (IB) tocreate a fear psychosis amongthe people and destabilise thepeace along the borderline,” asenior police officer said.

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Srinagar: Terrorists fired on aCRPF company in Anantnagdistrict of Jammu & Kashmiron Thursday, injuring an offi-cer, police said.

The terrorists opened fireon the C company of 89 bat-talion of the Central ReservePolice Force (CRPF) at Sangamin Anantnag district, a policeofficial said. The official saidsub-inspector Hardayal Yadavwas injured in the firing.

Security forces have cor-doned off the area andlaunched a search operation totrack down the terrorists, headded. PTI

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Seeking to pep up the some-what dampened mood of

the people of the country’scommercial capital on the eveof the New Year, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) onThursday evening sent out anunusual but a welcome messageto Mumbaikars: “Don’t StopThe Party, Mumbai - Just TakeIt Indoors After 11:00!”.

Amid a “night curfew”triggered by a new strain of theSARS-CoV-2 detected in theUnited Kingdom, the BMCtweaked the rules a bit to per-mit restaurants to home deliv-er food in the metropolis after11 pm.

No wonder, a tweet put outby the BMC on its officialhandle: “Don’t Stop The Party,Mumbai — Just Take It IndoorsAfter 11:00! Restaurants areallowed to home deliver foodin the city post 11:00pm” cameas a pleasant surprise forMumbaikars.

However, the BMC cameout with a rider in the sametweet: “Covid-preventionnorms will have to be fol-lowed to ensure Mumbai ringsin the new year with safety”, acondition that the Mumbaikars— reconciled as they are to thechallenging Covid-19 timesthey are passing through –did not mind.

Known all along as “a citythat never sleeps”, Mumbaiand its people will for the firsttime will be ushering in NewYear without celebrations inrestaurants and at public places.

The tweaking of the “NightCurfew” rules by the BMCcame ten days after theMaharashtra government onMonday announced the impo-sition of a “night curfew” from11 pm to 6 am betweenDecember 22 and January 5 inthe metropolis and otherMunicipal Corporation areas inthe state, in the wake of thedetection of a new strain of theSARS-CoV-2 in the UnitedKingdom. Even the BMC had

last week announced the banon all celebrations after 11 pmat all places, including buildingterraces.

More than a week ago, theHotel and RestaurantAssociation of Western India(HRAWI) had exhorted itsmember-hotels and restaurantsin Mumbai and other majorcities across the state to gear upfor early New Year’s eve cele-brations coinciding with“Thailand Time”.

The hotels and restaurantsin Mumbai and MunicipalCorporation areas inMaharashtra — as per theadvice by HRAWI — will ringin the New Year as early as at10.30 pm on December 31which is 12 midnight as per"Thailand Time". In effect, thehotels and restaurants willusher in the year 2021 one-hand-a half hour early.

However, State HomeMinister Anil Deshmukh dis-played a bit of leniency whenhe said on Wednesday: “As partof efforts to ensure against the

spread of Covid-19, hotels,restaurants, bars and pubs willshut down at 11 pm. However,if Mumbaikars want to visitfriends and family members forearly morning dinner or go tomarkets, they can do so, butthere is restriction on theassembly of five or more per-sons at public places”.

Notwithstanding theminor tweaking of “night cur-few”, Mumbai will not be thesame on the eve of the NewYear. In normal times, hun-dreds and thousands peoplewould converge on beaches,gardens or waterfronts andpublic places like the Gatewayof India, Marine Lines,Girgaum and Juhu Chowpatty.

Given to partying and rev-elry on the New year eve, a largenumber of Mumbaikars havegone out of the metropolis tonearby get-away places includ-ing hill stations, far-away beachtowns, farmhouses, jungle andother tourist destinations wherethere are no Covid-219 restric-tions to ring in 2021.

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The Kerala LegislativeAssembly on Thursday saw

the ruling LDF and theOpposition UDF unanimous-ly adopting a resolution con-demning the Centre for theFarm Bills 2020 enacted by theParliament and expressing sol-idarity with the farmers agi-tating against the legislation.

The special Session of theLegislative Assembly was con-vened by the Governor fol-lowing repeated directive by theCPI(M)-led LDF Governmentto convene the House.

Though the Governmenthad asked Governor ArifMohammed Khan to convenethe Session last week, the lat-ter had declined to do so stat-ing that there were no situationthat mandated a specialSession. Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, who was hurtby the Governor’s stance on theissue did not yield an inch andpressed for convening the spe-cial session which theGovernor had to oblige.

The Chief Minister who

introduced the resolution gavea piece of his mind to theGovernor in harshest term.But Vijayan maintained silence

about Prime Minister NarendraModi despite the demand byKC Joseph of the Congress torebuke Modi.

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In a drop in the number ofCovid-19 infections and

fatalities, Maharashtra record-ed 3,509 infected cases and 58deaths on Thursday, even as3,612 people were dischargedfrom various hospitals in var-ious parts of the state after fullrecovery.

A day after the state logged3537 infections and 70 deaths,the infected cases droppedmarginally to 3509, whiledeaths came down to 50.

With 3612 fresh infections,the total infections in the stateclimbed from 19,28,603 to19,32,112. Similarly, with 58new deaths, the Covid-19 tollin the state from 49.463 to49,521.

As 3612 patients were dis-charged from the hospitalsacross the state after full recov-ery, the total number of peopledischarged from the hospitalssince the second week of Marchthis year went up to 18,28,546.The recovery rate in the staterose marginally from 94.62per cent to 94.64 per cent.

With 9 new deaths, the

total number of deaths went upfrom 11,107 to 11,116, whilethe infected cases rose by 714to trigger a jump in the totalinfections from 2,92,722 to2,93,436.

Meanwhile, the number of“active cases” total cases in thestate dropped from 53,066 to52,902. The fatality rate in thestate stood at 2.56 per cent.

Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affectedcity-district in Maharashtra,saw the total number of casesincrease from 3,72,103 to3,72,655, while the total num-ber of deaths in Pune rose from7760 to 7767.

Thane district remainedin the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – after the totalnumber of infections rose from2,54,074 to 2,54,457, while thetotal deaths climbed from 5573to 5577. Of the 1,27,47,633samples sent to laboratories,19,32,112 have tested positive(15.16 per cent) for COVID-19until Thursday.

Currently, 2,81,303 peopleare in home quarantine while3,578 people are in institutionalquarantine.

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Lucknow: A petty dispute over seat arrangement in Bulandshahrturned a classroom into a war room and claimed the life of a class10 student. According to police, the ordinary classroom fight tooka life when both the boys — aged 14 — fought over seats in theclass on Wednesday. Police said that one of the classmates wasso incensed by the heated argument that he got his uncle’s gunto school and shot his classmate dead on Thursday morning.

“The accused went home and stole a licensed revolver belong-ing to his uncle, who is in the army and currently home on leave,”a senior police officer, Santosh Kumar Singh, told local media persons. PNS

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With reports of moreTrinamool Congress

MLAs preparing for a “rightturn” in coming weeks, the Leftand the Congress havedemanded immediate sum-moning of the BengalAssembly for the MamataBanerjee Government to cleara trust motion.

Speaking to newsmen theLeft and Congress leaders onThursday said that it was theGovernment’s duty to seek atrust motion against the back-drop of wholesale migration of TMC legislators tothe BJP.

“Many TMC MLAs havecrossed over to the BJP andthere are reports of many moreplanning to go in the comingweeks. Against this backdropthere is a clear lack of clarity onwho is on which side which isunprecedented in the history ofState legislature…. It is beingdifficult to keep track on floor

crossing. So we want theGovernment to summon theHouse immediately and proveits majority,” CPI(M) legislativeparty leader Sujan Chakrabartysaid drawing severe criticismfrom both the ruling partyand the BJP.

Congress and the StateLeader of Opposition AbdulMannan said there was the“Government is afraid to call aSession because it is sufferingfrom trust deficit … it has notrack of TMC MLAs as towhich party they belong tonow… Even the Speaker has norecord regarding the MLAs’political loyalty … this is thereason we are asking theGovernment to prove itsmajority on the floor of theHouse and clear the doubtsfrom the mind of the people …it is only after the Trust Motionthat the House and the entire people will be able toknow the number of the MLAs supporting theTrinamool Congress today.”

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Lucknow: In an attempt tobring smiles to the underpriv-ileged people of the State,Prime Minister Narendra Modiand Chief Minister YogiAdityanath will lay the foun-dation stones of the LightHouse Project (LHP) on Friday.

Under this project, 1,040urban poor families ofLucknow would get a flat eachof 415 sq ft area for only �4.76lakh. The State Governmenthas set the timeline of a year tocomplete the project. The actu-al cost of this flat will be �12.59lakh, of which �7.83 lakh willbe given as grant by the Central

and UP Governments. Theremaining amount of �4.76lakh will have to be paid by theallottees of the economicallyweaker section (EWS).

The allotment of the flats,situated off Shaheed Path underAwadh Vihar Yojana, will bedone as per Pradhan MantriAwas Yojana (Urban) andDistrict Urban DevelopmentAuthority (DUDA). For this, alottery will be drawn by the dis-trict magistrate of Lucknow.

The Prime Minister willvirtually attend the foundationlaying event of Global HousingTechnology Challenge India

(GHTC India) and distributionof houses under PradhanMantri Awas Yojana (Urban) insix states of the country.

Yogi Adityanath will be join-ing the event virtually at 11 amon Friday. In the programme, thePM will also announce awards inmany categories.

The Union Housing andUrban Affairs Ministry haschosen Indore in MadhyaPradesh, Rajkot in Gujarat,Chennai in Tamil Nadu,Ranchi in Jharkhand, Agartalain Tripura, and Lucknow in UPto construct houses under theLHP project. PNS

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As we see off a rather tur-bulent and difficult year,it would be worthwhileto review how well the

military faced up to the nation’ssecurity challenges and, moreimportantly, where it goes fromhere. As has been the case withthe vast majority of peoples andcountries around the world, theCOVID-19 impact has been quitedisruptive and debilitating for ourmilitary as well. A situation nodoubt further compounded by theunprovoked aggression by theChinese People’s Liberation Army(PLA) in Eastern Ladakh alongthe Line of Actual Control (LAC),which undoubtedly caught themilitary by surprise.

The year had started on anexcellent note with theGovernment finally biting thebullet and announcing theappointment of General BipinRawat as the first Chief of DefenceStaff, two decades after it was firstofficially mooted following theKargil conflict. It went a step fur-ther by carving out a Departmentof Military Affairs, to be headedby the CDS as its ex officio sec-retary, to deal with issues pertain-ing exclusively to military matters.While a year is insufficient tocomment on the efficacy of thesechanges, suffice it to say thatGeneral Rawat has not distin-guished himself in his new role.

However, the unilateral andpartially successful attempt byChina to alter the status quoalong the LAC thrust a whollyunprepared military into the deepend, pushing all other concernsout of the window. Till the com-mencement of this imbroglio, thesubstantial tract of disputed ter-ritory that we claim was regular-ly patrolled by our security forcesas per the mutually accepted pro-tocols that have been in place forover two decades. Also, make nomistake, despite all the talk ofmutual withdrawal and easing oftensions, there is little doubt thatthe Chinese have no intention ofwithdrawing from the occupiedareas, especially in the Depsangand Galwan sub-sectors, withoutmaking us pay a heavy price.

The PLA now poses a clearand present danger to our posi-tions at Daulat Beg Oldi. Its lossin any future conflict wouldadversely impact our ability tocontinue holding on to the SaltoroRidge, west of the Siachen Glacier.That would be a serious strategicsetback as currently our occupa-tion of the Saltoro Ridge allows usto dominate the entire region up

to the Karakoram Pass, includ-ing the Shaksgam Valley thathas been illegally ceded toChina by Pakistan. Our exist-ing posture threatens the secu-rity of the China-PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC)passing through this region asit is vulnerable to interdiction.Its importance to both Chinaand Pakistan cannot be overes-timated given the massiveinvestments made, which couldbe motivation enough for col-lusive or collaborative action bythe two neighbours.

Despite the Army havingbeen caught napping in the ini-tial stages, its speedy and robustresponse — especially after thehorrendous loss of lives atGalwan — was commendable.Subsequently, under the ambitof “Operation Snow Leopard”, itraised the stakes considerably byoccupying dominating heightsalong the Kailash Range in theChushul and Pangong Tso sub-sectors which has negated someof the PLA’s earlier advantages.While these heights are well indepth within our territory andhave never been claimed by theChinese, they do dominate bothbanks of the Pangong Tso aswell as the important Chineseadministrative base at Moldo.Most importantly, it allows us tochoke off the Spanggur Gap, thearea through which the PLA’smechanised elements could oth-erwise have advanced towardsour positions at Chushul, there-by opening up an approach toLeh. However, the shoe is now

on the other foot, as it providesus a suitable launch pad for ariposte towards Moldo and theChinese depth areas, if the sit-uation so warrants.

However, we should not bemisled by the selective rhetoricwhich suggests that the Chineseare on the back foot, the PLAis demoraled and their leader-ship floundering for a way outof the impasse without loss offace. While our action does giveus a tactical advantage and hasstabilised the situation, it has byno means robbed the PLA ofthe inherent advantages itenjoys, given the superior eco-nomic strength and its militarysize. However, they may be infor an unpleasant surprise,given the extended lines ofcommunication and difficultiesof combat at such high alti-tudes, apart, of course, from thefact that they face an extreme-ly tough and battle-hardenedopposition with ample experi-ence in mountain warfare.

On our part, we have toaccept that our Governmenthas always had a very defensivemindset when it comes toChina. In fact, the ModiGovernment has shown exces-sive restraint at the present time,not only refusing to name Chinabut going so far as to try anddelink the Depsang intrusionfrom the transgressions else-where in an attempt to justify theongoing negotiations, whichappear to be restricted to troopwithdrawals from the Chushul-Pangong Tso sub-sector. Even

our occupation of the KailashRange was only in response tothe PLA’s transgressions in thevain hope that it would deterfurther attempts at ingress orescalation. On that occasion, thePLA probably miscalculated ourwillingness to stand up to theirprovocative behaviour and wasthus caught off guard by ourrobust response. At that time,they just did not have the req-uisite force levels in place to reactbefore the onset of winter.

In similar circumstances, amore determined Governmentwould probably have respond-ed to such aggression by mirror-ing the Chinese and resorted to“salami slicing” actions along theLAC by occupying disputedareas along our claim line wherethe PLA has no permanentpresence. This could have thenbeen used as a bargaining chipduring negotiations to ensure anequitable delineation of the LACwhich, in time, would haveallowed the Prime Minister tonegotiate and resolve the borderissue to our advantage.

The Government’s unwill-ingness to take the initiative ispartly explained by its fear ofChinese reaction as well as dri-ven by the fact that it has no illu-sion as to the poor state our mil-itary is in; something that can-not be rectified in short order byloosening the purse strings.Unfortunately, misperceptions,lack of clarity and sheer disinter-est in strategic affairs have beenthe hallmark of our political lead-ership, which finds little time for

anything other than domesticpolitics. This has resulted in asuperficial understanding of thegeopolitical complexities sur-rounding the issue of nationalsecurity at the institutional level.

The Armed Forces haveborne the brunt of this igno-rance, being subjected to neglectby successive Governments overthe years. In all likelihood, it hasbeen premised on the belief,however misconceived, that apowerful military poses an exis-tential threat to the politicaldispensation in power. It must,therefore, be kept in check andout of decision making.However, far more damaging hasbeen the political leadership’sbelief that the military’s utility hasbeen severely constrained, if notrendered irrelevant, as chances ofa conventional conflict havegreatly diminished with theadvent of nuclear weapons in theregion. A belief which has beengiven considerable boost by theArmy leadership’s almost single-minded focus on counter-insur-gency operations; even to theextent of accepting a gradualdegradation of our convention-al capabilities without protest.

As to the future, there is lit-tle scope for optimism as a fewmonths from now will herald thestart of a new campaigning sea-son along the LAC as the snowmelts. Given our defensive mind-set, our choices will be whollylimited to dancing to the PLA’stune. Their options are many;they could, for example, play awaiting game and do nothing atall for now, having already forcedus to concede territory. On theother hand, they could exertpressure elsewhere along theLAC to ensure that we respondin much the same manner wedid this year. In fact, their biggesterror would be to escalate the sit-uation to teach us a lesson asthen Modi would be forced torespond in kind, to avoid his rep-utation being tarnished.

However, if PresidentJinping does not cross thatRubicon, the Modi Governmentwill continue to do what it doesbest, focus on increasing itsfootprint by winning the forth-coming Bengal elections.Undoubtedly, it will resort to dis-simulation regarding the LACsituation, using every means atits disposal to push the narrativethat our borders are quiet, safeand inviolate. It will then be backto business as usual and the CDScould then return to the oner-ous task of simplifying militaryuniforms and badges of rank.

(The writer is a military vet-eran, who is a consultant with theObserver Research Foundationand Senior Visiting Fellow withThe Peninsula Foundation,Chennai. The views expressed arepersonal.)

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������������ Sir — The talks between theCentre and farmers’ unionshave borne some fruitfulresults with the UnionGovernment accepting twoof the demands. The agree-ments reached are on decrim-inalising stubble burning andensuring that the subsidies forelectricity remain.

The farmers in Punjab andHaryana had been complainingof being unfairly targeted overstubble burning, for whichthere are few alternatives. The Electricity (Amendment)Bill that the Centre has in theworks is another bone of contention and the Centreaims to move the subsidyoffered by the States to farm-ers into the Direct BenefitTransfer (DBT) mode.

However, the key issue ofminimum support price andguaranteed procurement ofagricultural produce remains.Though the farmers have con-firmed that the agitation willcontinue, the agreementsmark some forward motion intalks that have remaineddeadlocked for weeks.

CK SubramaniamMumbai

�������������� ����Sir — After the House ofCommons overwhelminglyendorsed the 1,200-page agree-ment, the House of Lords has alsovoted in favour of the British rat-ification. The approval of a tradedeal between the UnitedKingdom and the EuropeanUnion was hurried through theBritish Parliament in just a day on

Wednesday, a decisive but rushedconclusion to a long Brexit storythat has divided Britons andconvulsed their politics for morethan four years now.

Despite the lack of time forscrutiny, the ease with which thepact sailed through the House ofCommons was in stark contrastto many knife-edge votes heldbefore last year’s general elections

when Parliament was gridlockedover Brexit.

British Prime Minister BorisJohnson will now surely enjoy hisIndia visit as the deal will lead torearrangement of the UK’s for-eign economic policy and inter-national relations, which offers ahappy opportunity to India too.

Yash Pal RalhanJalandhar

�� ��������������Sir — The Union Government’stwo-day dry run for the Covid-19 inoculation drive was aimedat end-to-end testing of the vac-cination process and includedplanning and preparations as perthe operational guidelines. Itinvolved the creation of facilitiesand users, session site creationand mapping of sites, healthcareworkers’ data upload, receipt ofvaccines and vaccine allocation,session planning, deployment ofvaccination teams and logisticsmobilisation at the session sites.

The objective of the dry runis also to undertake and confirmfield implementation and guidethe way forward prior to theactual implementation. Theexercise was expected to provideinsights on any gaps or bottle-necks during the actual conductof vaccination.

Now, the Government needsto prioritise its vaccination planaccording to select populationgroups such as healthcare work-ers, frontline workers and seniorcitizens.

Bhagwan ThadaniMumbai

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Amid the COVID-19 pandemic and lock-down in India, the month of June broughta rude shock for the country when

Chinese and Indian soldiers confronted eachother in the disputed area on the Galwan rivervalley. There were casualties on both sides anda violation of decades of mutual faith and under-standing between the countries on the use offirearms.

The Indian perspective: New Delhi main-tains that the territorial dispute has been elevat-ed by China by claiming that it was related tothe latter’s sovereignty. Further, Beijing’s nega-tive comments on the abrogation of Article 370of the Indian Constitution and terming of thecreation of Ladakh as a Union Territory as “ille-gal” have not gone down well with New Delhi.For India, these are all internal issues. It calls forfairness in understanding of the situation as Indiadid not react when China reorganised theTibetan provinces in 1965. India is also con-cerned about the repeated mention of ArunachalPradesh as southern Tibet since 2005.

China has also expressed its criticism overIndia building a feeder line from Daulat Beg Oldito Darbuk-Shyok in 2019. On the other hand,China has continued to build such feeder linesfor the last 20 years. Hence, New Delhi does notunderstand the logic behind Chinese objectionsto India’s construction activities. It realises thatChina would not want the Indian ArmedForces to reach the Line of Actual Control (LAC)swiftly.

However, Beijing wants smooth movementof Chinese patrol personnel belonging to thePeople’s Liberation Army. If China continueswith such a stance, India believes that the bor-der negotiations would not be very fruitful.

Another area of contention is Chineseinvestment in the China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC) in the Gilgit-Baltistan areawhich is a sovereign territory of India and thesubject of a long-running conflict betweenPakistan and India. Beijing has retorted thatthese are commercial investments but India isnot convinced because China has deployed over36,000 security personnel in this area.

There is a feeling in New Delhi that Chinawants to teach a lesson to India because it hasdecided against joining the Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) and instead focussed on improv-ing US-India ties, especially amid the 2+2 dia-logue process, foundational defence agree-ments, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue orQUAD and other such arrangements. Also,because of the asymmetry in power relations,China is showing its military might to India.

The Chinese perspective: While the Juneevent was acknowledged as being unfortunate,the official position of the Chinese leadershipwas that the Indian side triggered the confronta-tion, which raised tensions. Unlike New Delhi,Beijing did not announce the casualties on itsside in the Galwan clash because of the under-standing that the situation would be blown outof proportion through the media.

The fundamental reason that the border con-tinues to be a disputed matter between India andChina is the asymmetry in the thinking that pre-vails on both sides. While India seeks to verifythe LAC first and then engage in discussing ver-itable solutions, China’s thinking is top-down.

It wishes to arrive at a mutual under-standing first and then build a mutu-al political consensus to demarcate theLAC. Beijing fears that if it agrees tothe Indian line of thinking, then Chinawould lose a large part of the territo-ry.

In China’s strategic calculations,India’s position is that of a rising powerguided by its increasing national mil-itary strength. Despite this, for Beijing,India is not a competitor, especiallyafter the US has become a strategicchallenger for China. Further, its aimsto maintain peaceful ties with NewDelhi because its BRI network has topass through India on land and in theIndian Ocean.

In fact, during a webinar conduct-ed by the RAND Centre for Asia PacificPolicy, it was clear that the Chinesehave refuted the prevailing narrative inthe international western media thatChina was making use of the pandem-ic to become more assertive andaggressive.

A renewed vigour in the QUADties arising out of concerns of aggres-sion by China has also been dismissedby Beijing, as each of the four countries,India, Australia, Japan and the USwould not compromise their bilateralrelations with it.

The warmth in Indo-US ties hasalso been downplayed by China as“superficial.” According to Chineseanalysts, China does not want USinvolvement in the dispute.

While there is no need for Chinato make use of its military strength toprevail over India at any time throughborder skirmishes, yet with all clarityit subscribes to the notion that the sizeof the territory is immaterial but whatholds immense value in its strategic cal-culations is honour, interest and fear.

The way forward: According tothe Indian perspective, it is importantto respect the previous agreements of1993, 1996, 2005 and 2013 and toensure disengagement and tranquilli-ty along the border by ensuring theretreat of 60,000 troops in violation ofthe previous agreements.

There is a need to define and clar-ify the LAC to avoid such incidentsagain. It is necessary to have newConfidence Building Measures as wasdecided in the Xiamen BRICS meetingof 2017.

However, the Chinese think thatunder no circumstances should eitherside fire in the sky or at each other.They must reduce frontline deploy-ment of troops unlike the current sit-uation. There has to be an increasedcoordination of the soldiers at the fron-tier to avoid confrontation by givingthem authority to resolve tensions. Andfinally, setting up a hotline between thetwo countries is pertinent as China hassuch a communication channel withthe US, Russia and other countries.

Conclusion: India and China musttake a step forward and shed theirnationalistic stand; else the border dis-pute would remain unresolved. A lotof confusion was caused by politicsafter the Galwan incident. Therefore,it is important to understand the sit-uation with a bipartisan view. Perhaps,they can take lessons from their ownrecent history, wherein they haddemonstrated their maturity to resolveborder disputes in exchange of peaceand tranquility.

For instance, India peacefullyresolved its border disputes withBangladesh. China settled border dis-putes peacefully with Russia andTajikistan, among other countries.While both India and China recognise

the clarification of the LAC as a cru-cial step in dispute resolution, yet, since2002, China has been unwilling to con-tinue with exchange of maps withIndia. New Delhi says that this has beendeliberately discontinued by China tooccupy more land under the garb ofambiguity.

A major concern in India is tryingto understand why China has been sostrident in occupying disputed territo-ry. India’s position that the Galwanincident was a premeditated action bythe Chinese troops is the reasonbehind the comprehensive economicconsequences on bilateral relations, forexample, ban on some mobile applica-tions, restrictions on infrastructureinvestments and so on.

This demonstrates an opposingofficial position and this has been at thecore of non-resolution of disputes. Asa reaction, India has increased its mil-itary capabilities to thwart Chineseincursions into its territory and mustcontinue with its preparedness, espe-cially with the change in guard of theWestern Theatre Command (WTC)and appointment of General ZhangXudong.

For India, it is important that theleadership does not give in to the pres-sures of vertical or horizontal escala-tion and continues with negotiationsat the highest level. It must institution-alise the conflict resolution mechanismin order to settle the dispute once andfor all, so that Galwan-like incidents donot recur. If China continues with itsexpansionist autocratic tendencies vis-à-vis India, New Delhi must go to theInternational Court of Justice for arbi-tration of land under dispute.

(The writer is CEO and EditorialDirector, IMPRI. The views expressed arepersonal.)

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The deadlock between theprotesting farmers and theGovernment shows no sign of

ending even after six rounds of delib-erations and concerted efforts to reachan amicable solution. Consequently,the protracted protest against thefarm laws will drag on. The sit-in ofgrowers from Punjab and Haryana atthe Singhu Border was not by choicesince they were stopped from enter-ing Delhi. But it would not be accu-rate to call it a sit-in dharna anymore.It is more of a live-in one. The tractortrolleys the farmers came in havebecome their home, with canopies ofpolythene sheets and blankets protect-

ing them from the biting cold. FromSinghu Border to Panipat, NationalHighway NH44 wears the look of amakeshift township. Communitykitchens are busy dishing out food andbeverages while medical camps are dis-tributing medicines and giving first-aid. And yes, pizza distribution is goingon at Singhu Border, much to theamusement of the social and nation-al media. Milling about in the largelyrural crowd of growers and Nihangsare people in western outfits as sup-port pours in from people who do nothave any connection with agriculture.A group of young girls from Ludhianais lending support by performing“sewa.”

The sit-in so far is peaceful eventhough more than 30 of them are saidto have died during the protest so far.The farmers want nothing less than therepeal of the three farm laws and legalstatus for the Minimum Support Price(MSP). The Government insists thatit has no intention of withdrawingMSP and the new laws would helpachieve the target of doubling theincome of farmers by 2022, the target

set by the Prime Minister.The “godi media” is abuzz with

stories that the people protesting at theSinghu Border are anything but farm-ers. They maintain that the growers ofthe country are happy with theGovernment. How else would youexplain the recent victories of the BJPin Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh andGoa? Meanwhile, the two sides seemto be digging in their heels. The farm-ers are in for a long haul as theGovernment wants this agitation to fiz-zle out like others before it. To be hon-est, both sides are not helping theircause. The farmers asking for totalrepeal and not negotiating would notget what they want. The Governmentsays the three laws will end the free runof middlemen and give growers thechoice to sell their produce anywhere.In this situation, the Government musttake the initiative to ease the situation,as discrediting the protesters doesn’thelp in mitigating it.

One thing is for sure, all is not wellwith Indian agriculture. It provides alivelihood to 70 per cent of the coun-try’s 1.3 billion people, with 82 per cent

of farmers being small and marginal.Most farmers in such a scenario are asgood as meagre wage earners. Partiesmay be winning elections but it doesnot mean that farmers are happy. Atleast 10,281 people involved in thefarm sector ended their lives in 2019,accounting for 7.4 per cent of the totalnumber of suicides in India, says theNational Crime Records Bureau’sAccidental Deaths and Suicides inIndia report for 2019. People commitsuicide out of utter helplessness anddespair looms large over Indian agri-culture, big time.

If one looks at the price structure,it becomes very clear where the prob-lem lies. Everything which comes fromthe farm sells at a good price to the endconsumer. But the farmer gets just 10to 40 per cent of the price that the con-sumer pays. The reason being thatfarm produce changes hands four tofive times before it is purchased by theend consumer for use.

“It is pathetic that the producergets a pittance while the middlemenmake money,” says Sahajdeep Singh,a young farmer from Rajasthan.

“Things might not work out for thefarmer even if middlemen are elimi-nated. It would then be monopolisedby corporates. The farmer wouldhave no negotiating status vis-à-vis thecorporates,” he adds.

He fears that corporates mightmonopolise the distribution chainand reap more profits than all the mid-dlemen put together as they wouldhave better resources to hold andrelease the stock when the price suitsthem. Prices for farmers are almost sta-tic but inflation is rising and so is thecost of agriculture inputs. The marginsare thin and if you are a small or mar-ginal farmer you don’t have a choicebut to take a loan. According to theNational Bank of Agriculture andRural Development data, about 52 percent of the agricultural households inthe country were estimated to beindebted. At the all-India level, about60 per cent of the outstanding loanswere taken from institutional sourceswhich included Government (2.1 percent), co-operative society (14.8 percent) and banks (42.9 per cent).

True, the MSP may not be a

panacea but it certainly helps themnegotiate a better price. Punjab farm-ers can afford smartphones as theirlandholding size is more and yield peracre is above average.

According to an estimate, theaverage Indian agricultural householdincome is �77,124 in a year. Punjabfarmers earn �2,16,708 per annum andthat of Bihar �42,684 or roughly�3,500 per month. So forget doubling,even quadrupling their income wouldnot be enough. The farmers would stillbe dangling below the poverty line.

Indian agriculture sector needsfunds. It needs investments in coldstorage, an efficient transportation sys-tem, irrigation facilities, research andfacilities for scientific practices. Despitebig talk about the farmers’ income, theactual investment in the sector is goingdown. So the powers that be provideshort-term succour that people canremember when they go to vote. TheUPA did it and the NDA is doing itnow.

The biggest problem with Indianagriculture is that by the time it is har-vest season, farmers are neck-deep in

debt as they take loans from banks ora local moneylenders-cum-middle-men to purchase, seeds, fertilisers, pes-ticides and diesel. So when the harvestcomes, they have no option but to sellthe whole crop immediately. They can-not wait for prices to swing in theirfavour.

Sadly, real issues are swept underthe carpet and farmers become a pawnin the games political parties play. Sofar the protest is free from any politi-cal influence, consciously or otherwise.It is also non-violent even thoughfarmers are dying of cold. In a protestof this size, things could changeinstantly. It would, therefore, be ineveryone’s interest to resolve theimpasse soon. Both must talk with anopen mind, keeping the arrogance ofpower aside. History tells us thatfarmers’ protests have always beenturning points in a nation’s life. Thisisn’t the first protest and it won’t be thelast either. But this would define theway farmers resolve their issues.

(The writer is a columnist and doc-umentary film-maker. The viewsexpressed are personal.)

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Peshawar: Pakistani policehave arrested over 30 people,most of them belonging to aradical Islamist party, after aHindu temple was vandalisedand set on fire by a mobprotesting its renovation innorthwest Pakistan.

A central leader of radicalJamiat Ulema-e-Islam party,Rehmat Salam Khattak, isamong those arrested in policeraids following the attack onTerri temple and Samadhi ofShri Paramhans Ji Maharaj inKarak area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) onWednesday, police said.

The mob, led by somelocal clerics and the supportersof Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party(Fazal ur Rehman group),protesting the expansion workof the shrine, demolished thenewly constructed work along-side the old structure.

Over 350 people have beennamed in the FIR, ProvincialPolice Chief KPK Sanaullah

Abbasi has said.The Samadhi of Shri

Paramhans Ji Maharaj is con-sidered very sacred by theminority Hindu communityin Pakistan. It is dedicated toShri Paramhans Ji Maharajand was built where he died in1919 in Teri village of Karak.

The controversy over theSamadhi of Shri Paramhans JiMaharaj erupted many decadesago. According to the detailssubmitted to the SupremeCourt in 2014 in a case aboutit, the Hindus had been visit-ing the shrine till 1997 when itwas dismantled by the locals.

The Supreme Court in2014 ordered the KhyberPakhtunkhwa government torestore and reconstruct theHindu shrine.

The order was issued overa petition of a Hindu lawmak-er who had claimed that theshrine had been occupied by aninfluential cleric of the area.

According to police offi-cials, a meeting of clerics washeld at Shanki Adda in Teri,Karak before the attack.

The enraged people wereraising slogans, vowing theywould not permit any con-struction work at the shrine.

The protesters were peace-ful in the initial stage but on theprovocation of some clerics,they turned violent andattacked the shrine, police said.

Meanwhile, the country’sSupreme Court on Thursdaytook notice of the attack on thetemple and ordered the localauthorities to appear before thecourt on January 5. PTI

Hong Kong: Hong Kongmedia tycoon Jimmy Lai hashad his bail revoked after pros-ecutors succeeded in asking thecitys highest court to send himback to detention.

Lai had been granted bailon Dec 23 after three weeks incustody on charges of fraudand endangering national secu-rity. His appeal hearing is slat-ed for Feb 1.

The court said onThursday that it was “reason-ably arguable” that the previousjudge’s decision was erroneousand that the order of grantingbail was invalid.

Lai was charged with fraudon Dec 3 for allegedly violatingthe lease terms for office spacefor the Next Digital, the mediacompany he founded. He waslater charged again on Dec. 12under the sweeping nationalsecurity law imposed by Beijingon suspicion of colluding withforeign forces and endangeringnational security. AP

Minneapolis: Police inMinneapolis shot and killed aman during a traffic stop on thecity’s south side on Wednesdaynight, stirring anxiety aboutrenewed protests following thefirst police-involved death inthe city since George Floyd’sdeath while being arrested inMay.

Police said the man died inan exchange of gunfire, andChief Medaria Arradondo saidwitnesses said the man firedfirst. He said the officers’ bodycameras were turned on andpromised to release the videoon Thursday.

“I want our communitiesto see that so they can see forthemselves,” he said. Until then,Arradondo said, “Please allowme, the (state) investigators,allow us the time, let us get theevidence, get the facts, so wecan process this.”

Police spokesman JohnElder said the incident hap-pened about 6:15 pm. AP

Kabul: More than 3,00,000children in war-ravagedAfghanistan face freezing win-ter conditions that can lead toillness and death without prop-er winter clothing and heating,a humanitarian organisationsaid on Thursday.

The ongoing military con-flict in Afghanistan hasdestroyed many homes andforced thousands of children toshelter in camps for the home-less. There they are at risk ofnot only hunger and disease,including COVID-19, but alsodeath from freezing tempera-tures.

Chris Nyamandi,Afghanistan country directorfor Save the Children, said ina statement Thursday that earlysnow in northern Afghanistanhas impacted children partic-ularly badly.

“The most vulnerable chil-dren are those whose schoolshave shut because of the wors-ening winter conditions,” he

said. “Their families dont have

the money to buy winter cloth-ing. Instead children are forcedto huddle at home to escape thebitter cold.”

Schools are closed untilMarch in the coldest parts ofAfghanistan, where the tem-perature can plummet to as lowas minus 27 degrees Celsius(minus 16 degrees Fahrenheit).

Save the Children has pro-vided winter kits to more than100,000 families in 12 ofAfghanistans 34 provinces. Thekits include fuel and a heater,blankets and winter clothesfor children including coats,socks, shoes, hats.

“The situation is bleak forchildren forced to live in campsin places like Balkh province.It is already very cold in thisnorthern province withovernight temperatures as lowas minus ten. But it will getmuch colder before March,”Nyamandi said. AP

Washington: US PresidentDonald Trump has indefinite-ly extended the visa sanctionson countries refusing to repa-triate their citizens who vio-lated laws in the United States.

The visa sanctions on suchcountries were set to expire onDecember 31.

Trump issued a memo-randum on April 10 whichempowered the Secretary ofState and the homeland secu-rity secretary to deny visas tocountries refusing to accept

their citizens who violatedAmerican laws.

“In light of the ongoingCOVID-19 pandemic and thecontinuing public health risk itposes to Americans,” Trumpsaid in a memorandum issuedon Wednesday that his April 10“memorandum shall continuein force until terminated by thepresident”.

According to the April 10memorandum, the secretary ofstate is authorised to “initiate aplan to impose the visa sanc-

tions” if the Homeland SecurityDepartment determines acountry not acceptingreturnees is delaying or imped-ing operations “necessary torespond to the ongoing pan-demic”.

The April 10 memoran-dum noted that countries“denying or unreasonablydelaying” the repatriation oftheir citizens would be deemedto be causing “unacceptablepublic health risks forAmericans”. PTI

Beijing: China accused the USof staging a show of force bysailing two Navy warshipsthrough the Taiwan Strait onThursday morning.

The Navy said the ArleighBurke-class guided missiledestroyers USS John S. McCainand USS Curtis Wilbur “con-ducted a routine Taiwan Straittransit” in accordance withinternational law.

Their movement “demon-strates the US commitment toa free and open Indo-Pacific,”the Navy said in a statement onits website.

China’s Defence Ministrycalled the move a “show offorce” and a provocation that“sent the wrong signal to theTaiwan independence forcesand seriously endangered peaceand stability in the TaiwanStrait area.”

“We firmly oppose this,” theministry said in a statement on

its official microblog, addingthat it monitored the ships’passage from the air and sea.

“The Chinese People’sLiberation Army at all timesmaintains a high level of alertand can respond at any time toany threat or provocation andresolutely defend national sov-ereignty and territorial integri-ty.” While China claims Taiwanas its own territory, the busyTaiwan Strait is generally con-sidered an international water-way.

China fiercely opposes anysignal of US military support forTaiwan, a self-governing repub-lic that relies on Washington fordefensive weapons and politicalbacking in the face of Chinesethreats to annex the island byforce. Taiwan’s Defence Ministryissued a statement saying it hadobserved the passage of theships passage and that “the sit-uation is normal.” AP

Washington: Sixty-one percent of the new White Houseappointees are women and 54per cent are people of colour,President-elect Joe Biden’s tran-sition team has said, assertingthat the Biden-Harris admin-istration will prioritise diversi-ty of ideology and background,and foster talent to address thecountry’s most complex chal-lenges.

On Wednesday, President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris surpassedtheir goal of naming 100 mem-bers of their incoming admin-istration.

These accomplished indi-viduals join a historic and bar-rier-breaking administration

that looks like America, and is ready to deliver results for working families on dayone, Biden’s transition teamsaid.

The Biden-Harris admin-istration will prioritise diversi-ty of ideology and background,and foster talent to address thenation’s most complex chal-lenges, it said.

The White House staff rep-resents a small percentage ofthe total number of Biden-Harris appointees that willserve across the federal gov-ernment, said the transitionteam.

“The first 100+ WhiteHouse appointees, includingthose announced today, repre-sent America in the followingways: 61 per cent are women,54 per cent are people of colour,AAPI appointees representmore than twice their share ofthe national population,

LGBTQ+ appointees accountfor 11 per cent of all WhiteHouse staff,” it said.

According to the statisticsreleased by the Biden transi-tion, almost 20 per cent ofappointees are first-genera-tion Americans and about 40per cent of White Housesenior staff have children athome.

“From the beginning, VicePresident-elect Harris and Ihave sought to build an admin-istration that looks likeAmerica. Building a diverseteam will lead to better out-comes and more effective solu-tions to address the urgentcrises facing our nation.

The appointees namedtoday will draw from theirexpertise and life experiences tohelp us build the country backbetter. Moving forward togeth-er, there’s nothing we can’taccomplish,” Biden said. PTI

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Beijing: A Uighur Muslimdoctor has been jailed on ter-rorism charges, Beijing con-firmed on Thursday, a dayafter her family told US politi-cians she had been sentencedto 20 years.

Gulshan Abbas vanishedinto detention two years ago,but her relatives told a US con-gressional committeeWednesday that the 58-year-old had been sentenced to 20years in prison because ofactivism on behalf of Uighurs.

Rights groups say an esti-mated one million Uighursand other Turkic minoritieslanguish in detention camps inChina’s northwestern Xinjiangregion in prison-like condi-tions. China insists they are“vocational training centres”,but activists say inmates facetorture and forced labour.

“Gulshan Abbas has beensentenced according to the lawby Chinese judicial organs fortaking part in organised ter-rorism, aiding terrorist activi-ties and seriously disruptingsocial order,” foreign ministryspokesman Wang Wenbin toldreporters.

He did not give furtherdetails of her alleged crimes.

“We urge US politicians torespect facts, stop fabricatinglies to smear China, and stopusing the Xinjiang issue tointerfere in China’s domesticaffairs,” he added.

Various Western countriesand organisations includingthe US, EU and UN have crit-icised China’s policies inXinjiang, most recently high-lighting alleged forced labourpractices involving UighurMuslims. AFP

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Lahore: Pakistan’s former for-eign minister and oppositionPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PM-N) stalwartKhawaja Muhammad Asif wason Thursday remanded in thecustody of the anti-graft bodyfor 14 days in the assets beyondmeans case.

Asif, 71, was arrested by theNational Accountability Bureau(NAB) on Tuesday in Islamabadin connection with the chargesof possessing assets beyond hisknown sources of income.

The Accountability CourtLahore on Thursday acceptedthe plea of NAB and granted it

14-day remand of Asif, the closeaide of deposed prime ministerNawaz Sharif who condemnedthe arrest. “The arrest ofKhawaja Asif is a result of thenexus between the selectors(army and ISI chiefs Gen QamarJaved Bajwa and Gen FaizHameed) and the selected(Imran Khan). Such belittle actsreflect the Government’s state ofpanic, but it is moving even clos-er to its end through suchactions,” Nawaz said in a tweetfrom London where he hasbeen living in self-exile after theKhan Govt declared himabsconder. PTI

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Sanaa (Yemen): Yemen’s primeminister renewed accusations onThursday that the country’sShiite rebels and Iran wereresponsible for the deadly explo-sion at the airport in the south-ern Yemeni city of Aden the pre-vious day that killed at least 25people and wounded 110.

The explosion took place asCabinet members were disem-barking from a plane that hadlanded in Aden just minutes ear-lier on Wednesday. AP footagefrom the scene showed manyministers rushing back insidethe plane or running down thestairs, seeking shelter. None ofthe Cabinet members were hurt.

Hours after the blast, thecountry’s internationally recog-nised government said the Iran-backed Houthi rebels had firedfour ballistic missiles at the air-port. Rebel officials have so farnot responded to requests fromcomment and there has been noclaim of responsibility for an air-port attack. AP

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Jaipur:The State Governmenthas created 603 new posts inclerical grade II recruitmentgiving gifts to the unemployedin the new year. The result hasalso been released today by theRajasthan Staff Selection Boardafter selecting these candi-dates. These include 345 postsof general category, 223 ofother backward classes and 35posts of scheduled tribes. Nowincluding these posts, for therecruitment of clerical grade II,12 thousand 601 candidateshave been sent by the StaffSelection Board for the recruit-ment of 12 thousand 601 can-didates and 726 candidates forthe total 13 thousand 327 postsin the scheduled area.

It is worth mentioning thatafter the administrative reformsdepartment sent the meaningfor recruitment to the posts ofclerical grade II, the RajasthanStaff Selection Board had senta recommendation for 10 thou-sand 763 posts in non-sched-uled areas and 1278 posts inscheduled areas in February2020.

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The RBI on Thursdayannounced it will conduct

simultaneous purchase andsale of government securitiesunder Open MarketOperations (OMO) for Rs10,000 crore each on January 7,2021

The decision was takenafter a review of current liq-uidity and financial condi-tions, the Reserve Bank said ina statement.

Simultaneous purchase andsale of G-sec under OMOs,

popularly known as OperationTwist, involves purchasing thesecurities of longer maturitiesand selling an equal value ofsecurities of shorter maturities.

On January 7, the RBI willpurchase three governmentsecurities (G-Sec) of differentmaturity dates aggregating toRs 10,000 crore and sell twosecurities aggregating to thesame amount using the multi-ple price auction method.

The RBI further said itreserves the right to decide onthe quantum of purchase/saleof the securities.

New Delhi:GST investigation officers have arrest-ed three persons for fraudulently claiming Rs12.90 crore input tax credit by issuing fake invoic-es, the Finance Ministry said on Thursday. “TheDirectorate General of GST Intelligence,Gurugram has arrested three persons -- AlokBhargava and his sons Akul and Atin Bhargava,owners of M/s Delhi Foils, M/s Abinox Industriesand M/s Matalax Industries, Wazirpur, NewDelhi,” it said in a statement. These firms hadcumulatively taken input tax credit of Rs 12.90crore fraudulently, involving invoice value approx-imating �72 cr on the strength of invoices issuedby non-existent firms without the actual receiptof material with an ulterior motive to defraud thegovernment exchequer, the ministry said. PTI

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Equity benchmarks Sensexand Nifty closed almost

flat on the last trading day of2020 on Thursday, capping offa tumultuous year with hand-some gains of around 15 percent.

In choppy trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex inched up by5.11 points 0.01 per cent to itsnew closing record of47,751.33.

After opening on a firmfooting, the index hit its all-time high of 47,896.97 duringthe day.

The broader NSE Niftycrossed the 14,000 level for the

first time, touching a recordintra-day peak of 14,024.85.The 50-issue index pared gainsto close at 13,981.75, down byjust 0.20 points.

The indices, however, fin-ished the year 2020 with over-all gains of around 15 per cent.The Sensex gained 15.7 percent while the Nifty jumped14.9 per cent in the year.

HDFC was the leadinggainer among Sensex stocks onThursday, rising by 1.65 percent, followed by Sun Pharma,ICICI Bank, Asian Paints, Titanand Infosys.

TCS was the biggest loser,shedding 1.33 per cent.Ultratech Cement, BhartiAirtel, Kotak Bank and TechMahindra were among theother major laggards.

“Markets reached an all-time high on the final day of a

tumultuous 2020 which wasfilled with deep market cor-rections and unexpectedrebounds. However, theEuropean markets lost steamon the final trading day owingto the pandemic and reportsregarding an increased tariff onEU products by the UnitedStates.

“Despite the havoc creat-ed by the COVID-19 pandem-ic, the economy is expected torecover in 2021 giving a boostto the equity markets in addi-tion to upgrades in corporateearnings,” said Vinod Nair,Head of Research at GeojitFinancial Services.

Sector-wise, BSE realty,consumer durables, metal andhealthcare gained up to 1.18per cent, while telecom, FMCGand energy closed in the red.

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The Union Government’sfiscal deficit soared to �

10.75 lakh crore, or 135.1 percent of the 2020-21 BudgetEstimates (BE), at the end ofNovember 2020, mainly onaccount of low realisation ofrevenue due to disruption inbusiness activities amid thecoronavirus pandemic.

The fiscal deficit at theend of November 2019 hadstood at 114.8 per cent of2019-20 BE.

In absolute terms, the fis-cal deficit stood at �10,75,507crore at the end of November2020, according to the latestdata released by the ControllerGeneral of Accounts (CGA).

The lockdown imposed to

curb the spread of coronavirushad significantly impactedbusiness activities and, in turn,contributed to sluggish revenuerealisation.

The fiscal defict, or gapbetween the expenditure andrevenue, had breached theannual target in July this year.

The government’s totalreceipts stood at �8,30,851crore (37 per cent of BE 2020-21) till the end of November2020. This included �6,88,430crore tax revenue (net to cen-tre), �1,24,280 crore of non-taxrevenue and �18,141 crore ofnon-debt capital receipts. Non-debt capital receipts consist ofrecovery of loans and disin-vestment proceeds.

The tax revenue collectionwas 42.1 per cent of BE of

2020-21, compared with 45.5per cent of BE (2019-20) dur-ing the corresponding period ayear ago.

Non-tax revenue was 32.3per cent of BE. During the cor-responding period of the lastfiscal, it was 74.3 per cent of BE2019-20.

During the correspondingperiod last fiscal, the totalreceipts were 48.6 per cent of2019-20 BE.According to thedata, over Rs 3.34 lakh crorewere transferred to state gov-ernments as devolution ofshare of taxes by theGovernment of India up toNovember 2020. The CGAdata said the total expenditureincurred by the governmentstood at �19,06,358 crore or 63per cent of BE.

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Foreign direct investment(FDI) equity inflows into

India grew 21 per cent to USD35.33 billion during April-October period of the currentfinancial year, according to anofficial data. In the year-agoperiod, FDI equity inflowsstood at USD 29.31 billion, asper the data of the Departmentfor Promotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT).

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Bank credit grew 6.05 percent to �105.49 lakh crore,

while deposits rose 11.33 percent to �144.82 lakh crore dur-ing December 5-18, RBI datashowed.

In the fortnight endedDecember 20, 2019, bank cred-it stood at �99.47 lakh croreand deposits at �130.09 lakhcrore.

In the fortnight endedDecember 4 this year, bankcredit grew 5.73 per cent to �105.04 lakh crore and depositsby 11.34 per cent to �145.92lakh crore. In October, non-

food credit grew 5.6 per centcompared to a growth of 8.3per cent in the same month ofthe previous year.Growth inloans to agriculture and alliedactivities accelerated to 7.4 percent in the month from 7.1 percent last year.

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In a significant development related to warbetween e-commerce giants and traders of

India, the Union Government has directed theEnforcement Directorate and Reserve Bank ofIndia to take necessary action against Amazonand Walmart-owned-Flipkart.

The Centre has taken strong cognizance ofvarious complaints made by the Confederationof All India Traders (CAIT) for blatant violationof FDI Policy and Foreign Exchange ManagementAct, 1999 (FEMA) by these companies.

CAIT National President B.C. Bhartia andSecretary General Praveen Khandelwal informedthat on several complaints made by the CAIT toUnion Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal in therecent past against Amazon & Walmart-owned-Flipkart, the Department of Promotion ofIndustries and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of theMinistry of Commerce in its letter issued onDecember has asked both EnforcementDirectorate and Reserve Bank of India to takenecessary action against Amazon and Flipkart.

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Retirement fund body EPFOhas retained 8.5 per cent

interest rate on employees’provident fund (EPF) for 2019-20 for its over six crore mem-bers as decided earlier, and alsobegan crediting the same intotheir accounts on Thursday.

A large number of themembers of the Employees’Provident Fund Organisation(EPFO) would be able to seetheir updated EPF accountswith credit of 8.5 per centinterest for 2019-20, fromFriday, a senior official toldPTI.

The official further saidthe labour ministry has alreadysent the direction to credit the8.5 per cent interest on EPF for2019-20 to the EPFO, and thebody has already started cred-

iting interest into the members’account for the last financialyear.

Labour Minister SantoshGangwar said, “We had saidthat it would be our endeavourto provide 8.5 per cent interestrate on EPF for 2019-20. Wehave issued a notification toprovide 8.5 per cent rate ofinterest on EPF for 2019-20.We have also began the processto credit the said rate of inter-est into subscribers’ account.”

The minister added that hehas asked to ensure that allthose members who are retir-ing on December 31 also get8.5 per cent rate of interest for2019-20. The process for cap-ital gains for a payment of 0.35per cent interest for 2019-20has also been completed, headded.The EPFO in September2020 decided to retain 8.5 per

cent interest rate. But, it hadspilt the rate of return into twocomponents of 8.15 per cent(from debt income) and 0.35per cent (from capital gains)from the sale of ETFs(exchange-traded funds), sub-ject to their redemption byDecember 31, 2020.

The EPFO had earlierplanned to liquidate some of itsinvestment in ETFs to provide8.5 per cent interest for the lastfinancial year. However, itcould not do so because of thechoppy market conditionsamid the lockdown, induced bythe COVID-19 pandemic. Theofficial said the market condi-tions are more than favourablethese days. Earlier in the day,Gangwar approved the 8.5 percent interest rate for last finan-cial year after receiving thefinance ministry’s concurrence.

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The Government onThursday kept the interest

rates on small savings schemes,including PPF and NSC,unchanged for the January-March quarter amid moderat-ing bank deposit rates.

Public Provident Fund(PPF) and National SavingsCertificate (NSC) will contin-ue to carry an annual interestrate of 7.1 per cent and 6.8 percent, respectively. Interest ratesfor small savings schemes arenotified by the finance ministryon a quarterly basis. “The ratesof interest on various small sav-ings schemes for the fourthquarter of 2020-21 ending onMarch 31 shall remainunchanged from those notifiedfor the third quarter (October

1-December 31, 2020),” theministry said in a notification.

Accordingly, the interestrate for the five-year SeniorCitizens Savings Scheme hasbeen retained at 7.4 per cent.The interest on the senior cit-izens’ scheme is paid quarter-ly. Interest rate on savingsdeposits has been retained at 4per cent annually. The girlchild savings scheme SukanyaSamriddhi Yojana will offer 7.6per cent rate during the fourthquarter of the current fiscal.The annual interest rate onKisan Vikas Patra (KVP) hasbeen retained at 6.9 per cent.Term deposits of one-five yearswill fetch interest rate in therange of 5.5-6.7 per cent, to bepaid quarterly, while the inter-est rate on five-year recurringdeposit is pegged at 5.8%.

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Contracting for the ninthconsecutive month, the

output of eight core infra-structure sectors dropped by2.6 per cent in November,mainly due to decline in pro-duction of natural gas, refineryproducts, steel and cement.

The production of eightcore sectors had recorded agrowth of 0.7 per cent inNovember 2019, data releasedby the commerce and industryministry showed on Thursday.

Barring coal, fertiliser andelectricity, all sectors -- crudeoil, natural gas, refinery prod-ucts, steel and cement --recorded negative growth inNovember 2020.

During April-November,

the sectors’ output dropped by11.4 per cent as compared to agrowth of 0.3 per cent in thesame period of the previousyear.

The output of crude oil,natural gas, refinery products,steel and cement declined by (-)4.9 per cent, (-)9.3 per cent, (-)4.8 per cent, (-)4.4 per cent,and (-)7.1 per cent, respectively,in November this year.

On the other hand, coaland electricity sector outputgrew by 2.9 per cent and 2.2 percent during the month underreview. Fertiliser sector growthstood at 1.6 per cent as against13.6 per cent in the samemonth last year.

The eight core industriesaccount for 40.27 per cent ofthe IIP.

In October, the output ofthese eight key sectors had con-tracted by 0.9 per cent, whilethere was a 0.1 per cent dip inSeptember this year.

Aditi Nayar, PrincipalEconomist, ICRA, said that inline with the core sector per-formance, the pace of growthof many other indicatorsslipped in November, reflectinga combination of the baseeffect, fewer working days onaccount of a shift in the festivecalendar, and a potential step-down in production followingthe satiation of pent-updemand. “Based on the avail-able information, we expect theIIP to revert to a temporary butunpalatable 2-5 per cent con-traction in November 2020,”she said.

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New Delhi:Markets regulatorSebi on Thursday extendedtimelines for compliance withcertain regulatory requirementsby trading members and clear-ing members in view of theprevailing situation due to thecoronavirus pandemic. Thedeadline for maintaining callrecordings of orders or instruc-tions received from clients hasnow been extended tillFebruary 28, 2021.As per thenorms, KYC (Know YourCustomer) application formand supporting documents ofclients need to be uploaded ona system of KRA (KYCRegistration Agency) within 10days. In this regard, Sebi saidthe period of exclusion will be

from January 1, 2021 toFebruary 28, 2021. A 15-dayperiod after February 28 will begiven to clear the backlog.

Stock exchanges and clear-ing corporation have beenasked to direct their membersto clear the backlog, if any, byJanuary 31, 2021, with regardto KYC application form andsupporting documents of theclients to be uploaded on sys-tem of KRA by the members.The decision to extend time-lines for compliance with reg-ulatory requirements has beentaken in view of the prevailingsituation due to the COVID-19pandemic and representationreceived from stock exchanges,Sebi said in a circular. PTI

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Rising for the sixth straightsession, the rupee spurt-

ed 24 paise to end at a near-ly four-month high of 73.07against the US dollar on thelast day of the year onThursday, supported by aweak American currency andrise in risk appetite.Traderssaid market sentimentsimproved on hopes of globaleconomic recovery followingthe rollout of COVID-19 vac-cines and extraordinary fiscaland monetary stimulus.

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Before I start with which cars I enjoyed drivingthrough the year, I would like to wish all auto-

motive enthusiasts and readers a very Happy 2021!I sincerely hope that all of you can enjoy driving inthe coming year and also get the vaccination as soonas possible. Of course, driving in 2020 was a lot lesshectic than one presumed. And despite a few launch-es early in the year, the Hyundai Aura and the KiaCarnival followed by the Auto Expo 2020, which willgo down in recent history as the last big bash of theindustry, we never saw this coming. I remembergoing out on March 29, 2020 and driving throughcentral Delhi, stunned looking at the empty roadsof the capital. Having spent most of my life here, Ihad never seen Delhi like this.

Not that empty roads were an excuse to drivelike a maniac but that brings me to the car thataccompanied me for a majority of the lockdown —the Hyundai Elantra petrol. While it was launchedlate last year and now plays in the large sedan seg-ment by itself after Honda withdrew the Civic, it isa lovely car. And that is not just because it looks good.A strong naturally aspirated engine, great rear seatsand boot space, it really advertises the fact that youdo not need a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV). It is fast,handles well and does everything it says on the label.

But we live in times where the SUV is king,which brings me to the more influential launchesof the year — the Hyundai i20 & the Kia Sonet. Boththese vehicles are a demonstration of what theHyundai Motor Group is doing in the Indian mar-ket — loading small cars up with a host of tough-to-beat features and a commanding customer inter-est. Both Hyundai and Kia are not playing the pricegame anymore and that shows in the cars that theyproduce. Truth be told, splitting the i20 and the Sonetis like splitting hair. The third-generation i20makes its predecessors proud and is the only pre-mium hatchback in the market that you should buy,frankly speaking.

But as I said earlier, we live in the era of SUVsand as far as the market is concerned, and lookingat the most influential new car of 2020, it has to bethe Kia Sonet, which is my car of the year. This isin no way denigrating the new second-generationHyundai Creta but the Sonet is in a price bracketthat has never seen such stunning quality — a seven-speaker Bose audio system while now coming on allnew Hyundai-Kia cars was unbelievable in such asegment.

In terms of fit, finish and performance, all whilebringing price into the equation, the Sonet barelyshades it against the i20 and Creta from its sistercompany. But this is solely my opinion. When itcomes to awards such as the Indian Car Of The Year2021 (ICOTY 2021) where I am proud to say I ama juror, I cannot second-guess my fellow jurors. Wecome from different publications and angles, somelike the SUVs and others like the hatchbacks, somelike me look at the infotainment system and plas-tic, others obsess about handling dynamics. This iswhat makes the ICOTY special. You can keep a tabover who wins via icoty.org.

Make no mistakes, this does not discount otherlaunches. The new fifth-generation Honda City ticks

all the boxes both as a car that you can drive andbe driven around in. The next-generation MahindraThar, all legal issues concerning the grille aside, isa vehicle that surprises you with the stunningimprovements made. Mahindra has done a stunningjob on the Thar, and I can’t wait to take it on a longroad journey even though Maruti-Suzuki willlaunch the Jimny next year (will they resurrect theGpysy brand?).

While not a vehicle that I might enjoy drivingis something that the market sorely needed, Kia islikely to bring in a smaller MPV this year. Thereis also the Tata Altroz, a car that shows how farTata has come in the past few years. The NissanMagnite will definitely blur the distinctionsbetween hatchbacks and SUVs thanks to itsentry-price.

When it comes to pricier segments, thevehicle that genuinely surprised me this year wasthe Volkswagen T-Roc. Sure, as an import, it isexpensive but both cars — the T-Roc and the

Skoda Karoq — sold out in weeks displaying thatthe Indian customers are willing to pay for good,high-quality products in the �20-25 lakh bracket.There was the BMW 2-series Gran Coupe whichdespite being front-wheel drive, a reminder thatBMWs can put a smile on yourface like no other carbrand can. Inmy onlyinter-

national driving trip this year, I drove the X5M andX6M, both vehicles that completely defied logic andphysics and were utterly crazy. Mercedes-Benz was-n’t far off too, the GLE and GLS came into the mar-ket and both were great to drive and knowing that

there is a bit of India on every Mercedes-Benzsold today, thanks to the work that

Mercedes-Benz Research andDevelopment India (MBRDI) in

Bengaluru does on the MBUXplatform is wonderful. Audi

was a bit quiet this year butthe RSQ8 made sure thatit was heard and 2021 willbe a big year for them aswell.

I’m really lookingforward to 2021 and Ihope you guys are too.

Thanks for reading andhave a superb year ahead!

The clothes that I prefer arethe garments that I inventfor a lifestyle that does not

yet exist, the world of tomorrow,”said late French couturier PierreCardin once. As the year endswith the sad news of his demiseat 98, we look back at how Cardinbrilliantly possessed an inventiveartistic sensibility balanced witha perfect sense of business.

He has been the only veteranin fashion who felt more proudwhile stating how he earned morethrough a pair of stockings thana haute-couture gown or anensemble with a six-figure pricetag. The entrepreneurial design-er, who passed away on Tuesday,understood the important role hisexclusive haute couture showsplayed in stoking consumer desireand became an early pioneer oflicensing. His name emblasonedhundreds of products, fromapparel, accessories, pens, per-fumes to other home goods. Hesaid in an interview in 1970,“Fashion is always ridiculous,seen from before or after. But inthe moment, it’s marvellous.”

Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier,who made his debut in Cardin’smaison, paid tribute to his men-tor on Twitter, “Thank you MisterCardin to have opened for me thedoors of fashion and made mydream possible.”

The 1970s saw a huge Cardinexpansion that brought his outletsto more than 100,000, with aboutas many workers producing underthe Cardin label worldwide. Hewas in the vanguard in recognis-ing the importance of the Asianmarket, both as a manufacturing

hub and for its consumer poten-tial. He was present in Japanstarting in the early 1960s, and in1979 became the first Westerndesigner to stage a fashion showin China.

Well, as much as the vision-ary had a mark on the rest of theworld, his influence on the Indianfashion industry too was deep. Itwas his belief in the Indian audi-ence that he expanded his busi-nesses here. He said, “With theopening of the Indian economy, Ihave believed that the potential forgrowth here is greater than almostanywhere else in the world.” Well,Cardin himself referred to Indiaas the “Paris of Asia!”

The country welcomed thepriest of fashion, launching hisready-to-wear garments andaccessories outlet in New Delhi in1994.

Sunil Sethi, President of theFashion Design Council of India,recalls his stint with the couturi-

er when he came to showcase inIndia. “Even when I was not anactive part of the Indian fashion

fraternity, I was invited to his showin New Delhi, which was in thebackdrop of the Hauz Khas ruins,

in 1994.” For the show, he fash-ioned garments out of variousIndian weaves and fabrics.

He says, “French designers inthe 70s and the 80s were knownto be very unapproachable andonly believed in dealing with therich and famous customers. ButCardin appealed to the masses bymaking his products in the pretline and at an affordable price.”

Sethi believes that he had a lotto offer to the Indian fashionindustry when he first got popu-larised here in the 70s. “Europewas abuzz with his creations in the60s itself. However, in India hebecame popular only in the 70sand the 80s. People across theworld had started to know his sen-sibilities already. Even though wedidn’t know much about his fash-ion, we were able to recognise hisaspirational design brand, espe-cially through his other productslike his writing instruments andperfumes. Even to this date, hispens are the most-owned prod-ucts in India. I’d say he was oneof the few designers who heldsuch a sensibility even such a longtime ago.”

Designer Archana Jajuextends my deepest condolencesto the family and friends of thelegendary designer. She says, “Hisavant-garde style is unparalleledand has inspired a revolution inthe industry. I will always fondlyremember him as one of my firstrole models. Along with an acuteunderstanding of the craft, Pierre’smarket wisdom was one to admireas well. When the world wasobsessed with haute couture, heperceived the need of the hourand shifted to designing pret-a-porter. The industry has truly losta stalwart.”

In 2021, probably for manymore than a year after pandem-

ic restrictions, most workers andstudents will return to campus-es, offices and other workplaces.Left behind will be pets who havebecome accustomed to humansstaying home with them.

Here are some tips on how toprepare them and signs of distressto watch for.

The Purdue University pro-fessor has studied and taughtabout animal behaviour for sometwo decades and consults withmany veterinarians and otherswho work with household ani-mals.

Begin from now ● Start practicing to give them

a routine and sense of pre-dictability, taking small stepsincrementally.

● Provide them with toys andtreats to focus on while youwork in a different room.

● Take walks without them;don’t take them on every carride.

● Even if the weather isn’t good

for driving, pull your car outof the garage and sit for awhile.

● If you don’t drive, find anoth-er venue to create space.

● If you feel your pets will findit hard to adjust, consult yourveterinarian to make a plan.

Signs for concern afterreturning to workplace● Changes in eating or drinking

habits.● For cats, common signs of dis-

tress are inappropriate urina-tion or defecation outside thelitter box.

● For dogs, excessive whiningand barking, leaving treats

untouched, changes in toiletinghabits.

● Destructive behaviour.● Acting abnormally frantic

when you return home.

What to do if the pets are ableto adjust ● Call your veterinarian before

things get worse.● Use baby-type monitors to

check on your pets remotely.● Have a friend or paid dog-

walker stop by.● Leave on soft music playing or

TV talk shows (not the kindwhere they yell at each other).

—AP

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Fast bowler Neil Wagner playedalmost all of New Zealand’s first

cricket test against Pakistan with twobroken toes but will not play the secondtest and is facing a six-week recovery.

Wagner was struck by Pakistanpaceman Shaheen Afridi while battingon the second day of the first test at BayOval in Mount Maunganui, sustainingtwo fractures to toes on his right foot.

In spite of the injury, Wagnerbowled 21 overs in Pakistan's firstinnings and 28 in the second, leavingthe field for painkilling injections beforereturning to bowl again.

In the second innings he bowled amarathon spell of 11 overs, securing twovital wickets as New Zealand complet-ed a win by 101 runs on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Wagner was ruledout of the second test at Christchurchbeginning Sunday and likely will haveto rest for six week before is injury is fullmended. Pakistan captain Mohammad

Rizwan was full of admiration forWagner's effort of continuing to bowlin the first test despite his injury.

“I can’t explain Neil Wagner,”Rizwan said.

"Eleven overs in a row on aninjured toe, he’s a different guy. Hisaggressions were beautiful. He’s a bigbowler.”

New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson, who was man of the matchin the first test, praised Wagner’scourage and dedication.

“People talk about the size of hisheart but to have a couple of broken toes… he was in a lot of pain,” Williamsonsaid.

“We were trying to use him whenthe injection was taking effect. It waskind of unique for all of us, but in par-ticular Neil.”

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Astruggling Australia areprepared to risk playingseasoned opener David

Warner in the third Test againstIndia even if he is not 100% fit,assistant coach AndrewMcDonald said on Thursday.

In the absence of Warner,who was recovering from a groinmuscle tear, Australia’s battingfailed miserably in the first twomatches.

“That’s a real, clear option.He may not be 100 per cent fit —who is coming off an injury? Younever know until you get outthere,” McDonald said.

“Look, if he’s 90-95% fit andthe conversation is that he's fitenough to be able to go out thereand perform his duties for theteam, then I’m sure that’ll be aconversation the coach has withthe player.

“Most times Justin (Langer)is pretty open with the players interms of giving them accountabil-ity around that.”

Warner has been named inthe squad along with Victorianyoung gun Will Pucovski for thethird Test as Australia look tobounce back from the eight-wicket loss in the Boxing DayTest here.

McDonald said Warner isoptimistic about making a come-back in Sydney.

“He’s (Warner) very opti-mistic that he should be ready togo, which is a great news for us.We are really excited to have him

back.“I’m sure that he’s excited to

come back into the group as well.There’s nothing worse than beinginjured when you are at the topof your game as David has beenover a period of time.”

Pucovski, too, is set for apotential debut after the young-ster suffered a concussion in thefirst warm-up match against theIndians earlier this month.

“He will be put throughtests whatever it needs to be putthrough to make himself avail-able for selection to potentiallyopen the batting. So it’s good to

have a little bit of depth out there.”One of the biggest setbacks

for the Aussies so far has been arare slump in form for battingmainstay Steve Smith, who has sofar scored only 10 runs in fourinnings in the series.

“I wouldn’t be too quick tobe judging Steve Smith not look-ing good in the middle. Helooks pretty solid and hitting theball well at the nets,” McDonaldsaid.

Asked if life in a bio-bubblewas affecting Smith, he said: “No,none whatsoever. Obviously weworked closely at UAE with the

Rajasthan Royals and there'snothing to suggest that there’s alink there.

“I’m sure ideally you wouldprefer to be with your familyaround Christmas time andJustin addressed that. Some play-ers and staff members unfortu-nately are going to be disconnect-ed from family during Christmastime, less than ideal there’s nodoubt.

“Yeah, it’s a challenge torebound. The world’s best play-ers usually rebound. He’s (Smith)in a really good space to be hon-est, come Sydney Test.”

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Pacer Umesh Yadav was onThursday ruled out of the

remainder of the series againstAustralia due to the calf injuryhe sustained during theMelbourne match and theIndian team management islikely to prefer Shardul Thakurover left-arm pace sensation TNatarajan for the third Test.

According to sources,senior pacer Yadav, who missedthe third Test due to a calfmuscle tear, is heading homefor rehabilitation.

The third Test begins inSydney from January 7.

“Umesh will have to go foran extensive rehab. He has leftfor India,” a BCCIsource privy todevelopmentsin Australiatold PTI onThursday.

“While peo-ple are excitedabout theb r i l l i a n tp r o g r e s sshown by TNat araj an ,we mustn'tforget he has playedonly one first classmatch for TamilNadu. And Shardulhas been a sea-soned domestic redball pacer forMumbai,” the sourceadded.

“Shardul was real-ly unfortunate that

his Test debut against WestIndies ended abruptly due toinjury even before he couldbowl an over. He has beenshaping up well and mightreplace Umesh in the playingXI.”

The final call will be takenby the head coach Ravi Shastri,stand-in skipper AjinkyaRahane and bowling coachBharath Arun after reachingSydney.

Shardul has so far played62 first class games and has 206wickets to show for his efforts.

Another aspect that Indiawould like to address ahead ofthe Third Test is a long tail thathas affected the team.

Shardul has six first classhalf centuries and during hisstint with the national team inwhite ball games, he has provedto be a decent batsman.

“Obviously the nextfew training sessionswill be important

and that’s why thefinal call is likelyto be taken inSydney,” the

source said. As far as Yadavis concerned, he is expectedto head off to NationalCricket Academy inBengaluru for extensive

rehab programme. The 33-year-oldhad hobbled off

the field aftersuffering theinjury duringthe third dayof the BoxingDay Test.

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Joining the Indian teamafter completing his

mandatory 14-day quar-antine, star batsman RohitSharma on Thursdaywent through his firstpractice session inAustralia under thewatchful eyes of battingcoach Vikram Rathour.

The prolific opener isexpected to play the thirdTest in Sydney fromJanuary 7.

“The engine is justgetting started and here isa quick glimpse of whatlies ahead. #TeamIndia#AUSvIND,” BCCI tweet-ed with two pictures ofthe batsman. While hetrained, the rest of the

squad took a brief two-day break after India’sfine win in the secondTest at MCG.

The 33-year-oldMumbaikar, who hadmissed the limited-oversseries as well as the firsttwo Tests againstAustralia due to a ham-string injury that he sus-tained during the IPL,was seen taking catchingpractice in the pho-tographs.

Three throwdownexperts — Raghavindraa,Nuwan Seneviratne andDayananda Garani —were also there to assistRohit. Prior to meetinghis teammates, Rohit hadspent two weeks in quar-antine in Sydney.

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India captain Virat Kohli heldon to his second position

while stand-in skipper AjinkyaRahane broke into the top 10after gaining five places in thelatest ICC men's Test battingranking released on Thursday.

Rahane climbed to thesixth spot after scoring 112 and27 not out to inspire India'seight-wicket series-levellingwin in the second Test againstAustralia in Melbourne. It is justone below his career-best rank-ing of fifth attained in Octoberlast year.

Off-spinner RavichandranAshwin, too, was rewarded forhis five-wicket haul at the MCGas he gained two places to theseventh spot, while pacer JaspritBumrah rose to the ninth posi-tion.

Ravindra Jadeja, whoscored a crucial 57 and cap-tured three wickets in the sec-ond Test, remained at numberthree but reduced the gap withJason Holder to seven points inthe allrounder's ranking.

He, however, gained 11and four positions to reach acareer best-equalling 36th and14th positions in batting andbowling respectively.

MCG debutants ShubmanGill and Mohammad Sirajmade notable entries in 76thand 77th positions in the list for

batsmen and bowlers, respec-tively.

Gill scored 45 and 35 notout opening the innings, whileSiraj finished with five wicketsin the match.

India's batting mainstay

Cheteshwar Pujara's lack ofform saw him lose two spots toslip to the 10th place.

Australia left-arm fastbowler Mitchell Starc's fourwickets in the match helpedhim reach a career best-

equalling fifth position.Matthew Wade's scores of

30 and 40 as opener helped himreach 50th among batsmenfrom 55th, while CameronGreen gained 36 slots to reach115th position.

New Zealand captain KaneWilliamson, meanwhile, endedthe year at the top position afterhe dethroned Australia's SteveSmith, who slipped to the thirdspot after managing scores of 0and 8 in the two innings atMCG.

Williamson, who hadbriefly occupied the top spottowards the end of 2015, wasrewarded for his player of thematch effort in the first Testagainst Pakistan in Tauranga,which New Zealand won by101 runs.

Williamson gained 13 rat-ing points for his effort of 129and 21 to go 11 points clear ofKohli, who is on paternityleave, and 13 ahead of Smith.

Ross Taylor (up threeplaces to 14th) is another NewZealand batsman to move up,while 26-year-old fast bowlerKyle Jamieson reached the top30 after just five Tests, follow-ing his hauls of three for 35 andtwo for 35 in Tauranga.

For Pakistan, Fawad Alam'svaliant second-innings centuryhas lifted him 80 places to102nd position while wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan's

scores of 71 and 60 have helpedhim advance 27 places to acareer-best 47th position.

Left-arm fast bowlerShaheen Afridi has movedfrom 35th to 33rd after grab-bing four wickets in the firstinnings.

In Centurion, a knock of199 by Faf du Plessis saw himnot only win the player of thematch award but also gain 14places to reach 21st position,one behind team-mate DeanElgar, who too gained fourspots after a knock of 95.

Lungi Ngidi gained fourplaces and is 56th amongbowlers.

For Sri Lanka, DineshChandimal's knocks of 85 and25 have lifted him three placesto 38th while Dhananjaya deSilva (up nine places to 34th)and Kusal Perera (up fourplaces to 60th) have also madenotable gains among batsmen.

Left-arm fast bowlerVishwa Fernando has gainedtwo slots to reach 45th positionafter his three-wicket haul.

In the ICC Test team rank-ings, New Zealand are in line towrest the top spot fromAustralia, who remain fraction-ally ahead since the Test teamrankings are updated only at theend of each series.

Even a draw in the secondTest against Pakistan could seeNew Zealand take the top spot.

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The Indian women’s team’s wait to resumeinternational cricket since the coronavirus-

induced break continued with its scheduledtour of Australia getting postponed to next sea-son, Cricket Australia said on Thursday.

The Indian team, which last played the T20World Cup final in March, was scheduled toplay three ODIs on January 22 in Canberra,January 25 in Melbourne and January 28 inHobart.

However, the governing body added thetour will now be a part of the build-up to the2022 World Cup, which has been pushed toMarch-April due to the pandemic, and willinclude three T20Is.

“We are very hopeful of delivering anexpanded schedule between the Australian andIndian women’s teams for next season, whichwould be an outstanding result for fans in bothcountries,” CA interim chief executive officerNick Hockley said in a statement.

“We had initially hoped to play India thissummer, however the impact of the global pan-demic made it necessary to postpone until nextseason.”

India had lost to Australia by 85 runs intheir last international outing at the MelbourneCricket Ground.

“It will be wonderful to once again host theIndian women's team, who were centre stagefor that unforgettable ICC T20 World Cup finalat the MCG in March, and to do so with anexpanded schedule from what was originallyplanned,” Hockley said.

Dates and venues of the postponed tour willbe confirmed in due course, CA said.

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Goalkeeper Karl Darlowpulled off a string of saves to

help Newcastle hold Liverpool toa 0-0 draw as the defendingchampion’s vaunted attackingtrio came up empty.

Mohamed Salah missed twogood chances when he had justDarlow to beat, and strike-part-ner Roberto Firmino saw twoheaders saved at St. James' Parkon Wednesday.

Three days after strugglingWest Bromwich Albion earned apoint at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp’steam was frustrated once again,although Darlow needed somehelp in the form of a late goal-lineclearance from Fabian Schar todeny Sadio Mane and maintainthe stalemate.

Liverpool has now won onlytwo of eight league away gamesthis season but still tops thetable, three points ahead ofManchester United.

Liverpool could have takenthe lead 11 minutes before thebreak when Salah beat the offsidetrap to control the ball in front ofthe advancing Darlow, who gothis hand on the Egyptian's shotto steer it wide of the post.

The goalkeeper then pro-duced a fine reaction save in stop-page time to repel Firmino’sheader from point-blank range.

Salah had another chance tobreak the deadlock in the 67thwhen he was played in byFirmino but directed his effortpast the upright.

Liverpool goalkeeper AlissonBecker then had to pull off a div-ing save of his own 11 minutesfrom time when Ciaran Clarkmet Matt Ritchie’s free kick witha downward header.

Liverpool nearly scoredmoments later when Darlowpushed the ball away onto Mane’sleg and Schar had to hack the balloff his line before the forward

could tap into an empty net.Darlow then clawed away

another Firmino header nearthe end to preserve his cleansheet.

It was the only PremierLeague game played Wednesdayafter Fulham recorded a numberof coronavirus cases and itsmatch at Tottenham had to bepostponed.

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Lewis Hamilton is now a“Sir” as well as a seven-

time Formula One champion.Hamilton received a

knighthood Wednesday aspart of Queen Elizabeth II’sNew Year’s honours list,which also recognized Britishperformers, politicians, pub-lic servants and people out-side the limelight who workedto defeat the coronavirus andits devastating impacts.

Hamilton, who secured

his seventh F1 title last monthto equal MichaelSchumacher’s record, has saidhis recent success was partlyinspired by the Black LivesMatter movement.

The 35-year-oldrace car driver took theknee on the grid andwore anti-racism slo-gans during the sea-son.

H a m i l t o ntold the BBClast week that“it was a differ-

ent drive than what I’ve hadin me in the past, to get to theend of those races first so thatI could utilize that platform”against racism.

Supporters have sug-gested Hamilton wouldhave been knighted soon-er if not for his tax status.Hamilton’s knighthood

was awarded in the“overseas” sec-

tion of the hon-ours listbecause he

lives in low-

tax Monaco.His tax affairs made news

in 2017 when the ParadisePapers leak showed he avoid-ed paying more than USD 4million in taxes on a privatejet registered in the Isle ofMan, a tax haven.

Motorsport U.K.Chairman David Richardssaid Hamilton’s tax status hadbeen “totally misunderstood"and that the racing championwas among the 5,000 highesttaxpayers in the U.K.

In other honours, veteran

comic actress Sheila Hancockwas made a dame, the femaleequivalent of a knight, inrecognition of her six-decadecareer.

Acclaimed makeup artistPat McGrath, dubbed the“most influential makeupartist in the world” by Vogue,also received a damehood.

There was a knighthoodfor cinematographer RogerDeakins, a 15-time AcademyAward nominee who has wonOscars for "Blade Runner2049" and “1917.”

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Will Puckovski’s history ofbouncing back strongly

from concussion-inducedbreaks gives Australia assistantcoach Andrew McDonaldconfidence that the youngopener will not have trouble inscoring runs if drafted intoplaying XI.

Pucovski, who wasprimed to make debut inAdelaide, was ruled out of thefirst two Tests after being hiton the head in the first warm-up game. That was the 22-

year-old's ninth concussion,not all from cricket. He hasnow been included in thesquad for the remainder of theseries.

“We do know with thehistory that Will has had, andwith my time with him atVictoria. He had a pretty goodtrack record of performingwhen he has returned,”McDonald was quoted as say-ing by Australian AssociatedPress (AAP).

“I think the selectors willput a bit of trust put into theplayer around whether he’smentally ready. And clearly itwill be up to the coach oncehe lays eyes on him to seewhere he’s at in terms of beingskill ready.

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