ˇˆ˙˝˛˚˙˜ ˇˇ! ˆ#ˇ$˜˜%&˜’(ˆ˙˝˛)˙˜ ˇˇ! ˛ :˜ ˆˇ;,7

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T he makers of the Amazon Prime Video series Tandav on Monday apologised uncon- ditionally after complaints that one of its episodes had hurt “Hindu sentiments”. The apology came after a case was registered against the makers of the web series in Lucknow and the Information and Union Broadcasting Ministry sought the view of the Amazon Prime on a flood of grievances against the series. The statement from the cast and crew of Tandav said, “We have been closely moni- toring viewer reactions to the web series Tandav and today during a discussion, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed us regarding a large number of grievances and petitions received on various facets of the web series with serious con- cerns and apprehensions regarding its content hurting the sentiments of the people. “Tandav is a work of fiction and any resemblance to acts and persons and events is pure- ly coincidental. The cast and crew did not have any intention to offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any insti- tution, political party or person, living or dead. “The cast and crew of Tandav take cognisance of the concerns expressed by the peo- ple and unconditionally apol- ogise if it has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments,” the statement said. A complaint filed by an Uttar Pradesh policeman said that 17 minutes into the first episode, “people dressed up in a very bad manner to represent Hindu gods and goddesses... shown to speak in a very uncalled for language... that hurts religious sentiments”. A mid the ongoing talks to defuse tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh, China has added fuel to fire by building a village inside the disputed territory in Arunachal Pradesh. India says it has taken note of the con- struction along the border there and has ramped its infrastructure development projects. The latest development has rung alarm bells in the securi- ty establishment in India. It is apprehended that China wants to maintain the pressure on India by opening several fronts along the 4,000-km LAC stretching from Ladakh in the west to Arunachal Pradesh in the east. The fresh construction detected by satellite images by Planet Labs shows that China has built a new village of about 120 homes. The village is about five km inside the Indian ter- ritory. China has all along dis- puted the claim, sources said here on Monday. Giving details about the new construction, they said the village is on the banks of Tsari Chu river in the Upper Subansiri district. Incidentally, the Chinese troops in 1959 had fired on an Indian post there. “We have seen recent reports of China undertaking construction work along the border area with India. China has undertaken such con- struction activity in the past several years,” the MEA said, adding, “The Government remains committed to the objective of creating infra- structure along the border areas for the improvement of livelihood of its citizens, includ- ing in Arunachal Pradesh.” The latest satellite images pertain to November last year. The image dated a little more than a year before that — August 26, 2019 — does not show any construction activi- ty. So, the village was set up last year. This was the same area where the Chinese army last year detained five locals. The stand-offs now in Ladakh are due to the Chinese alarmed over rapid infrastruc- ture development all along the LAC by India on its own side. However, sources said India has not built any roads or infra- structure development close to the new Chinese village. They also said the maps of the Surveyor General of India earmark that the new con- struction for the Chinese vil- lage is in the Indian zone. Reports said the new vil- lage is a Chinese military post and it was first detected by satellites, including Google Earth, about ten years back. The new pictures of November clearly indicate the post is vast- ly upgraded, thereby posing a challenge to the Indian securi- ty forces. The Indian security estab- lishment maintains that the coming up of this village is a violation of several agreements between the two countries. The pacts clearly say both countries to “safeguard due interests of their settled popu- lations in the border areas’’ and decree that pending an ultimate settlement of the boundary question, the two sides should strictly respect and observe the Line of Actual Control and work together to maintain peace and tranquility in the border areas. T he Supreme Court told the Centre on Monday that the proposed tractor rally on the Republic Day by farm- ers protesting against the new farm laws is a “law and order” matter and the Delhi Police is the first authority to decide who should be allowed to enter the national Capital. A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, while hear- ing the Centre’s application seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor or trol- ley march or any other kind of protest which seeks to disrupt the gathering and celebra- tions on January 26, said that the Delhi Police has all the authority to deal with the matter. “Does the SC say as to what are the powers of police and how they will exercise them? We are not going to tell you what to do,” said the bench, also comprising Justices LN Rao and Vineet Saran. The SC told Attorney General KK Venugopal that it will take up the matter for hearing on January 20. “The question of entering into Delhi is a law and order matter and will be determined by the police,” the bench said, adding, “Mr Attorney General, we are adjourning the matter and you have all the authority to deal with this matter.” W est Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has once again looked up to Nandigram for a slice of polit- ical luck and as an apparent strategy to blunt the impact of the defection of her erstwhile spearhead, Suvendu Adhikari, a powerful mass leader of the region. Mamata on Monday told a huge rally at the “ground zero” of what they call Trinamool’s “farm revolution” that she was more than eager to contest from the place as this was a lucky ground for her. “I will fight from Nandigram… Rather I will fight both from Nandigram and Bhawanipore… My soul has told me that this place is lucky for me… it is a holy place… and that I should fight from Nandigram… I have always started my campaign for the Assembly polls from this place,” Mamata said once again attacking the “turncoats” who quit the TMC before elec- tions and vowing once again not to let the BJP capture Bengal. “You may win many elec- tions, you may become all powerful, you may be the Prime Minister of India and you may rule the world but I vow from this holy land of Nandigram that I will never allow the BJP to enter Bengal,” Mamata said, adding how some people were quitting the party as “all these years they have earned huge black money which they want to save.” Mamata’s sharp attack received an equally high-deci- bel reply from Adhikari, who led a road-show down SP Mukherjee Road, past Banerjee’s Kalighat residence. He at once took up the chal- lenge welcoming the TMC supremo at Nandigram and pre-declared the result: a “hands down” defeat for the Chief Minister. “I welcome her to Nandigram… which catapult- ed her to power and which she remembered after five years… Let her contest from Nandigram and if I am field- ed by my party there I take a vow today that if I cannot defeat her by a margin of half- a-lakh votes then I will quit politics,” Adhikari said. A fter a 46-year-old health worker died in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district a day after receiving the coron- avirus vaccination, the family blamed his death on vaccina- tion on Monday. However, the autopsy report attributing the death to “cardio-pulmonary disease”, officials said on Monday. Meanwhile, nearly 3,600 healthcare workers received the Covid-19 vaccine shots in Delhi on Monday, a further dip in the figures compared to that on opening day of the immunisation drive, with sources saying just eight med- ical staff got the jabs at AIIMS. The family of Mahipal, who was working as ward boy in State-run Deen Dayal Upadhaya Hospital in Moradabad, said he was not suffering from any ailment other than fever and cough, and blamed his death on vac- cination. However, the UP Government said the man died due to septicemic shock and cardiac arrest and the death was not related to the Covid-19 vac- cination. New Delhi: Protesting union leaders on Monday said farm- ers have a constitutional right to take out their tractor rally peacefully and asserted that thousands of people will par- ticipate in the proposed event on January 26. The reaction came after the SC said the Delhi Police is the first author- ity to decide the entry of protesting farmers into Delhi. T he parliamentary stand- ing committee on Information Technology (IT) has summoned officials of Twitter and Facebook on January 21 in connection with the prevention of misuse of social media. The panel would discuss measures of safeguarding cit- izens’ rights and ways to pre- vent misuse of social media in the light of the evidence presented to it by the com- mittee. “Evidence of representa- tives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and to hear the views of the representatives of Facebook and Twitter on the subject ‘safeguarding cit- izens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms, including special emphasis on women security in the digital space,” according to Lok Sabha Secretariat notice. This would be the agenda of the committee’s next meeting. The sitting will be held from 4 pm onwards on January 21, it said. The 31-member parlia- mentary standing committee on IT is headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Monday said accepting the new privacy policy of social messaging app WhatsApp was a “vol- untary” thing and one can choose not to use or join that platform if one did not agree with its terms and conditions. “It is a private app. Don’t join it. It is a vol- untary thing, don’t accept it. Use some other app,” Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva said. A s the vaccination drive against Covid-19 resumed in the State on Monday after a day’s gap, as many as 31,902 persons were inoculated on the second day. A total of 380 sessions were conducted to vaccinate the 31,902 healthcare profes- sionals, said Health and Family Welfare Director Bijay Panigrahi.“We will complete vaccination of the remaining 1.78 lakh health workers by January 25 starting from today. A total of 1,698 sessions will be conducted in the eight days,” Panigrahi said.He said the number of sessions to be con- ducted per day has been fixed. While 380 sessions were con- ducted on the day, 192 sessions would be held on Tuesday, 92 sessions on January 20, 436 ses- sions on January 21, 141 ses- sions on January 22, 178 ses- sions on January 23 and 279 sessions on the concluding day, January 25. Earlier, 13,890 health work- ers were vaccinated in the State on the first day of the much- awaited vaccination pro- gramme. The recipients of vac- cine would be administered the second dose exactly after a gap of 28 days. T he Keonjhar Town police on Monday arrested Sanjay Mohanty, BJP Yuva Morcha’s Keonjhar district secretary, in connection with the attack bid on Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Niranjan Patnaik on Sunday night. Four other accused were also identified and efforts were on to apprehend them, informed Keonjhar SP Mitrabhanu Mahapatra. An FIR, lodged on Sunday with the Keonjhar Town police mentioned the names of the alleged assailants, including Sanjay Mohanty.Niranjan Patnaik said in a series of tweets, “I was shocked to know that the miscreants were mem- bers of BJP’s youth wing. This is a clear case of political vendetta and desperation of BJP. Congress is raising relevant issues in the State and speak- ing out against the policies of BJP, which is desperately trying to get a foothold in Odisha. Congress is the biggest hurdle for them.” “I am shaken by this incident! Not because it hap- pened to me or because of the trauma it has caused me. I am shaken because if it could happen to me, how safe are our mothers and daughters in Odisha?,” he added. Notably, Patnaik’s car was attacked by the miscreants near Kashipur late on Sunday evening. When Patnaik was returning from the Keonjhar District Congress office after attending a pro- gramme, a Bolero intercepted his car. As Patnaik’s PSO Rajesh Singh enquired the matter, three youths got down from their SUV. While one of them caught hold of the security offi- cer’s neck, the two others beat him up.The attackers then went to the driver of the vehicle. In the meantime, an ambu- lance approached the spot. Some Congress activists also reached there. Hearing the ambulance siren, the miscre- ants thought it to be a police vehicle and fled the spot, said Singh. S tate capital Bhubaneswar on Monday registered five new Covid-19 positive cases, with which the city’s total tally increased to 31,808, including 209 active cases. Of the new cases, three were from quarantine and two were local contacts. However, seven persons recovered on the day, taking the total recoveries to 31,333.In Cuttack, two pos- itives were reported on the day, increasing the city’s total tally to 16,287. A s many as 134 new Covid- 19 positive cases were regis- tered on Monday in 21 districts and from State pool, pushing total tally to 3,33,444. Of new cases, 79 were reported from quarantine and 55 were local contact cases. Sundargarh district recorded the day’s highest 25 cases followed by Sambalpur 19, Puri 16, Jharsuguda 12 and Nuapada 11. Besides, one case was reported from State pool. Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Deogarh, Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nayagarh, Nabarangpur and Rayagada dis- tricts did not register any case since Sunday. O rissa High Court, which has a sanctioned 27 posts of judges, is at present func- tioning with only 15, including the Chief Justice while two more judges will superannuate within six months. In this backdrop, legal practitioners and litigants are pressing hard for filling up all the vacant posts of judges at earliest.So far as pendency of cases is concerned, experts are stressing upon raising sanc- tioned posts to 42.As per sta- tistics of National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) as on date, at least 1,72,123 cases are pending inHigh Court out of which 53,046 are criminal matters. Among pending cases, 45,665 are 5-10 years old while 27,841 are 10-20 years old. There are also 4,421 cases of 20-30 years old; and that apart, 833 cases are awaiting adjudication for more than 30 years, said sources. NJDG sources further stated that 27,097 cases are pending in High Court for 3- 5 years, 34,046 cases for 1-3 years and 32,220 cases are waiting adjudication for less than one year period. If cases of already-abol- ished Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT) are transferred, litigation burden of High Court is likely to cross 2.5-lakh mark by end of 2021, sources said.

Transcript of ˇˆ˙˝˛˚˙˜ ˇˇ! ˆ#ˇ$˜˜%&˜’(ˆ˙˝˛)˙˜ ˇˇ! ˛ :˜ ˆˇ;,7

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    The makers of the AmazonPrime Video series Tandavon Monday apologised uncon-ditionally after complaints thatone of its episodes had hurt“Hindu sentiments”.

    The apology came after acase was registered against themakers of the web series inLucknow and the Informationand Union BroadcastingMinistry sought the view of theAmazon Prime on a flood ofgrievances against the series.

    The statement from thecast and crew of Tandav said,“We have been closely moni-toring viewer reactions to theweb series Tandav and todayduring a discussion, theMinistry of Information andBroadcasting informed usregarding a large number of

    grievances and petitionsreceived on various facets of theweb series with serious con-cerns and apprehensionsregarding its content hurtingthe sentiments of the people.

    “Tandav is a work of fictionand any resemblance to actsand persons and events is pure-

    ly coincidental. The cast andcrew did not have any intentionto offend the sentiments of anyindividual, caste, community,race, religion or religious beliefsor insult or outrage any insti-tution, political party or person,living or dead.

    “The cast and crew ofTandav take cognisance of theconcerns expressed by the peo-ple and unconditionally apol-

    ogise if it has unintentionallyhurt anybody’s sentiments,”the statement said.

    A complaint filed by anUttar Pradesh policeman saidthat 17 minutes into the firstepisode, “people dressed up ina very bad manner to representHindu gods and goddesses...shown to speak in a veryuncalled for language... thathurts religious sentiments”.

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    Amid the ongoing talks todefuse tension at the Lineof Actual Control (LAC) inLadakh, China has added fuelto fire by building a villageinside the disputed territory inArunachal Pradesh. India saysit has taken note of the con-struction along the borderthere and has ramped its infrastructure developmentprojects.

    The latest development hasrung alarm bells in the securi-ty establishment in India. It isapprehended that China wantsto maintain the pressure onIndia by opening several frontsalong the 4,000-km LACstretching from Ladakh in thewest to Arunachal Pradesh inthe east.

    The fresh constructiondetected by satellite images byPlanet Labs shows that Chinahas built a new village of about120 homes. The village is aboutfive km inside the Indian ter-

    ritory. China has all along dis-puted the claim, sources saidhere on Monday.

    Giving details about thenew construction, they said the

    village is on the banks of TsariChu river in the UpperSubansiri district. Incidentally,the Chinese troops in 1959 hadfired on an Indian post there.

    “We have seen recentreports of China undertakingconstruction work along theborder area with India. Chinahas undertaken such con-

    struction activity in the pastseveral years,” the MEA said,adding, “The Governmentremains committed to theobjective of creating infra-structure along the borderareas for the improvement oflivelihood of its citizens, includ-ing in Arunachal Pradesh.”

    The latest satellite imagespertain to November last year.The image dated a little morethan a year before that —August 26, 2019 — does notshow any construction activi-ty. So, the village was set up lastyear. This was the same areawhere the Chinese army lastyear detained five locals.

    The stand-offs now inLadakh are due to the Chinesealarmed over rapid infrastruc-ture development all along theLAC by India on its own side.However, sources said India hasnot built any roads or infra-structure development closeto the new Chinese village.

    They also said the maps ofthe Surveyor General of India

    earmark that the new con-struction for the Chinese vil-lage is in the Indian zone.

    Reports said the new vil-lage is a Chinese military postand it was first detected bysatellites, including GoogleEarth, about ten years back.The new pictures of Novemberclearly indicate the post is vast-ly upgraded, thereby posing achallenge to the Indian securi-ty forces.

    The Indian security estab-lishment maintains that thecoming up of this village is aviolation of several agreementsbetween the two countries.The pacts clearly say bothcountries to “safeguard dueinterests of their settled popu-lations in the border areas’’ anddecree that pending an ultimatesettlement of the boundaryquestion, the two sides shouldstrictly respect and observethe Line of Actual Control andwork together to maintainpeace and tranquility in theborder areas.

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    The Supreme Court toldthe Centre on Mondaythat the proposed tractor rallyon the Republic Day by farm-ers protesting against the newfarm laws is a “law and order”matter and the Delhi Police isthe first authority to decidewho should be allowed toenter the national Capital.

    A bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde, while hear-ing the Centre’s applicationseeking an injunction againstthe proposed tractor or trol-ley march or any other kind ofprotest which seeks to disruptthe gathering and celebra-tions on January 26, said thatthe Delhi Police has all theauthority to deal with thematter. “Does the SC say as towhat are the powers of policeand how they will exercisethem? We are not going to tell

    you what to do,” said thebench, also comprisingJustices LN Rao and VineetSaran. The SC told AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal that itwill take up the matter forhearing on January 20.

    “The question of enteringinto Delhi is a law and ordermatter and will be determinedby the police,” the bench said,adding, “Mr AttorneyGeneral, we are adjourningthe matter and you have all theauthority to deal with thismatter.”

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    West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee hasonce again looked up toNandigram for a slice of polit-ical luck and as an apparentstrategy to blunt the impact ofthe defection of her erstwhilespearhead, Suvendu Adhikari,a powerful mass leader of theregion.

    Mamata on Monday told ahuge rally at the “ground zero”of what they call Trinamool’s“farm revolution” that she wasmore than eager to contestfrom the place as this was alucky ground for her.

    “I will f ight from

    Nandigram… Rather I willfight both from Nandigramand Bhawanipore… My soulhas told me that this place islucky for me… it is a holyplace… and that I should fightfrom Nandigram… I havealways started my campaignfor the Assembly polls fromthis place,” Mamata said onceagain attacking the “turncoats”

    who quit the TMC before elec-tions and vowing once againnot to let the BJP captureBengal.

    “You may win many elec-tions, you may become allpowerful, you may be thePrime Minister of India andyou may rule the world but Ivow from this holy land ofNandigram that I will never

    allow the BJP to enter Bengal,”Mamata said, adding howsome people were quitting theparty as “all these years theyhave earned huge black moneywhich they want to save.”

    Mamata’s sharp attackreceived an equally high-deci-bel reply from Adhikari, wholed a road-show down SPMukherjee Road, pastBanerjee’s Kalighat residence.He at once took up the chal-lenge welcoming the TMCsupremo at Nandigram andpre-declared the result: a“hands down” defeat for theChief Minister.

    “I welcome her toNandigram… which catapult-ed her to power and which sheremembered after five years…Let her contest fromNandigram and if I am field-ed by my party there I take avow today that if I cannotdefeat her by a margin of half-a-lakh votes then I will quitpolitics,” Adhikari said.

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    After a 46-year-old healthworker died in UttarPradesh’s Moradabad district aday after receiving the coron-avirus vaccination, the familyblamed his death on vaccina-tion on Monday.

    However, the autopsyreport attributing the death to“cardio-pulmonary disease”,officials said on Monday.

    Meanwhile, nearly 3,600

    healthcare workers receivedthe Covid-19 vaccine shots inDelhi on Monday, a further dipin the figures compared tothat on opening day of theimmunisation drive, withsources saying just eight med-ical staff got the jabs at AIIMS.

    The family of Mahipal,who was working as ward boyin State-run Deen DayalUpadhaya Hospital inMoradabad, said he was notsuffering from any ailmentother than fever and cough,and blamed his death on vac-cination.

    However, the UPGovernment said the man dieddue to septicemic shock andcardiac arrest and the death wasnot related to the Covid-19 vac-cination.

    New Delhi: Protesting unionleaders on Monday said farm-ers have a constitutional rightto take out their tractor rallypeacefully and asserted thatthousands of people will par-ticipate in the proposed eventon January 26. The reactioncame after the SC said theDelhi Police is the first author-ity to decide the entry ofprotesting farmers into Delhi.

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    The parliamentary stand-ing committee onInformation Technology (IT)has summoned officials ofTwitter and Facebook onJanuary 21 in connectionwith the prevention of misuseof social media.

    The panel would discussmeasures of safeguarding cit-izens’ rights and ways to pre-vent misuse of social mediain the light of the evidencepresented to it by the com-mittee.

    “Evidence of representa-tives of the Ministry ofElectronics and InformationTechnology and to hear theviews of the representativesof Facebook and Twitter onthe subject ‘safeguarding cit-izens’ rights and preventionof misuse of social/onlinenews media platforms,including special emphasison women security in thedigital space,” according to

    Lok Sabha Secretariat notice.This would be the agenda ofthe committee’s next meeting.The sitting will be held from4 pm onwards on January 21,it said.

    The 31-member parlia-mentary standing committeeon IT is headed by CongressMP Shashi Tharoor.

    New Delhi: The Delhi HighCourt on Monday saidaccepting the new privacypolicy of social messagingapp WhatsApp was a “vol-untary” thing and one canchoose not to use or jointhat platform if one did notagree with its terms andconditions. “It is a privateapp. Don’t join it. It is a vol-untary thing, don’t accept it.Use some other app,” JusticeSanjeev Sachdeva said.

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    As the vaccination driveagainst Covid-19 resumedin the State on Monday after aday’s gap, as many as 31,902persons were inoculated on thesecond day.

    A total of 380 sessionswere conducted to vaccinatethe 31,902 healthcare profes-sionals, said Health and FamilyWelfare Director BijayPanigrahi.“We will completevaccination of the remaining1.78 lakh health workers byJanuary 25 starting from today.A total of 1,698 sessions will beconducted in the eight days,”Panigrahi said.He said thenumber of sessions to be con-ducted per day has been fixed.While 380 sessions were con-

    ducted on the day, 192 sessionswould be held on Tuesday, 92sessions on January 20, 436 ses-sions on January 21, 141 ses-sions on January 22, 178 ses-sions on January 23 and 279sessions on the concludingday, January 25.

    Earlier, 13,890 health work-ers were vaccinated in the Stateon the first day of the much-awaited vaccination pro-gramme. The recipients of vac-cine would be administered thesecond dose exactly after agap of 28 days.

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    The Keonjhar Town policeon Monday arrested SanjayMohanty, BJP Yuva Morcha’sKeonjhar district secretary, inconnection with the attack bidon Pradesh CongressCommittee (PCC) presidentNiranjan Patnaik on Sundaynight. Four other accused werealso identified and efforts wereon to apprehend them,informed Keonjhar SPMitrabhanu Mahapatra.

    An FIR, lodged on Sundaywith the Keonjhar Town

    police mentioned the names ofthe alleged assailants, includingSanjay Mohanty.NiranjanPatnaik said in a series oftweets, “I was shocked to knowthat the miscreants were mem-bers of BJP’s youth wing. This

    is a clear case of politicalvendetta and desperation ofBJP. Congress is raising relevantissues in the State and speak-ing out against the policies ofBJP, which is desperately tryingto get a foothold in Odisha.Congress is the biggest hurdlefor them.” “I am shaken by thisincident! Not because it hap-pened to me or because of thetrauma it has caused me.

    I am shaken because if itcould happen to me, how safeare our mothers and daughtersin Odisha?,” he added. Notably,Patnaik’s car was attacked bythe miscreants near Kashipurlate on Sunday evening. WhenPatnaik was returning from theKeonjhar District Congressoffice after attending a pro-gramme, a Bolero interceptedhis car. As Patnaik’s PSO RajeshSingh enquired the matter,

    three youths got down fromtheir SUV. While one of themcaught hold of the security offi-cer’s neck, the two others beathim up.The attackers then wentto the driver of the vehicle.

    In the meantime, an ambu-lance approached the spot.Some Congress activists alsoreached there. Hearing theambulance siren, the miscre-ants thought it to be a policevehicle and fled the spot, saidSingh.

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    State capital Bhubaneswaron Monday registered fivenew Covid-19 positive cases,with which the city’s total tallyincreased to 31,808, including209 active cases.

    Of the new cases, threewere from quarantine and twowere local contacts. However,seven persons recovered on theday, taking the total recoveriesto 31,333.In Cuttack, two pos-itives were reported on the day,increasing the city’s total tallyto 16,287.

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    As many as 134 new Covid-19 positive cases were regis-tered on Monday in 21 districtsand from State pool, pushingtotal tally to 3,33,444. Of newcases, 79 were reported fromquarantine and 55 were localcontact cases. Sundargarh districtrecorded the day’s highest 25cases followed by Sambalpur19, Puri 16, Jharsuguda 12 andNuapada 11. Besides, one casewas reported from State pool.

    Bhadrak, Dhenkanal,Deogarh, Kandhamal, Koraput,Malkangiri, Nayagarh,Nabarangpur and Rayagada dis-tricts did not register any casesince Sunday.

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    Orissa High Court, whichhas a sanctioned 27 postsof judges, is at present func-tioning with only 15, includingthe Chief Justice while twomore judges will superannuatewithin six months.

    In this backdrop, legalpractitioners and litigants arepressing hard for filling up allthe vacant posts of judges atearliest.So far as pendency ofcases is concerned, experts arestressing upon raising sanc-tioned posts to 42.As per sta-tistics of National Judicial DataGrid (NJDG) as on date, at least1,72,123 cases are pendinginHigh Court out of which53,046 are criminal matters.

    Among pending cases, 45,665are 5-10 years old while 27,841are 10-20 years old. There arealso 4,421 cases of 20-30 yearsold; and that apart, 833 casesare awaiting adjudication formore than 30 years, saidsources. NJDG sources furtherstated that 27,097 cases arepending in High Court for 3-5 years, 34,046 cases for 1-3years and 32,220 cases arewaiting adjudication for lessthan one year period.

    If cases of already-abol-ished Odisha AdministrativeTribunal (OAT) are transferred,litigation burden of High Courtis likely to cross 2.5-lakh markby end of 2021, sources said.

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    Police on Monday arrested aman and his mother-in-law for allegedly murdering aGaon Sathi at Bhawanipur vil-lage under the SundargarhTown police station. Theaccused were identified asBhaja Oram and MadhabilataSingh. According to reports,the woman was having an illic-

    it affair with the deceasedRamesh Singh and her son-in-law was opposing it. In order toeliminate Ramesh, the accusedduo hatched a plan and invit-ed him to a feast that wasarranged at the woman’s house.While Ramesh was havingliquor at the feast, the womanattacked him with a sharpweapon and slit his throat,killing him on the spot.

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    Unidentified miscreantslooted Rs 4 lakh from abusinessman nearChakalapadar village underthe Jharigaon police limits inNabarangpur district onMonday.

    According to reports, vic-tim Rajendra Yadav was trav-elling by a motorcycle carryinga bag containing the cash. Inthe meantime, three motor-bike-borne miscreants attackedhim with a sword and snatchedaway the bag from his posses-sion. The looters fled the spotsoon after committing the

    crime. Locals rescued the busi-nessman and took him to theDistrict Headquarters Hospitalfor treatment as he sustainedinjuries on his right hand.Police started investigation intothe incident and efforts were onto trace and nab the criminals.

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    Although the StateGovernment has made itmandatory to display the man-ufacturing and expiry dates forthe sweets sold in the shops, yetin Baleswar district the guide-lines are hardly followed.

    Hundreds of shops sellingsweets in their counters areflouting the rules with impuni-ty. One can find hardly anyshop which has displayed thedates either of manufacture orexpiry. Since October theGovernment has made itmandatory to display the datesfor each sweet prominently asper the guidelines of FSSAI.While some shops have dis-

    played, most of the shops havefound an easy and simple wayto display “Manufactured todayand expired tomorrow”. Thesetags are permanently fixed oneach type of sweet.

    The sweets which are madeout of milk have two daysexpiry period after manufac-ture while other productshave a life of 5 days , saidreports. In the district theenforcement agencies are silenton these acts of violations andfor name's sake carrying outchecks in certain shops.

    Inspector of food safetyAnnushree Khatua , however,said that the department hadbeen spreading awarenessamong the shopkeepers andalso carrying out raids. In theraids so far they besides seizingsweets also recovered a penal-ty of over Rs 12,000, she said.In the meanwhile, it is allegedthat none of the shops are fol-lowing the guidelines and arampant violations were seenwhen people were observingMakara Utsav when sweets aremandatory components.

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    Dangaria Kandha, aParticularly VulnerableTribal Group (PVTG) ofRayagada district, is gifted withtie and dye skill. Their shawlknown as “Kapda Gunda”,which is hand woven withyarn having natural colours, isvery famous.

    During a recent awarenessworkshop organised by theoffice of DevelopmentCommissioner(handicrafts)under the aegis of the UnionMinistry of Textiles, outgoingCollector Pramod KumarBehera as chief guest deliber-ated the need to conserve thetie and dye skill of the Dangariatribe.He emphasised on con-ducting researches on theirproducts. Deputy DirectorShailaja from the UnionMinistry complemented the

    Collector by saying that R&Dfor these kind of creative prod-ucts is necessary to sustain theiraesthetic value. “My Ministry iscommitted to take this processforward," she said.

    Scribe Badal Kumar Tahsuggested to hire the services ofprofessional designers fromIndustrial Design Centre, IIT,Mumbai and NID-Ahmedabadand requested the districtadministration to provide logis-tics.Participating as a guests ofhonour, General Manager,Regional Industries Centre,Rayagada, Bikash ChandraBaina clarified some bottle-necks faced by the entrepre-neurs in e-marketing and theirsimple solutions.

    He assured to synthesisethe efforts of the TextileMinistry with availableschemes. Project Manager ofOdisha PVTG Empowerment

    and Livelihoods ImprovementProgramme (OPELIP) atDangaria KandhaDevelopment Agency (DKDA),Chatikana, Bissam Cuttack,Sudarshan Padhi explained thesteps taken for improvement ofthe handicrafts of DangariaKandhas, especially the tech-nical training of women fromthe community. He stressed

    upon the training of trainers forproducing more weavers andcraftspersons. As a token ofrecognition to the traditionalcraftspersons, 66 ID cards fromMinistry of Textiles were dis-tributed amongDangaria trib-als from Khambesu village andDhokra artisans from Gotigudavillage. Sewing machines werealso distributed.

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    Beating the chilly winter anddense fog on the wee hoursof Saturday, some reportersand youth activists have takenthe task of cleaning all the stat-ues of freedom fighters andsons of the soil which lieneglected at the township area.

    About a dozen of reportersand youth activists led bysenior journalist –cum- Odiapoet, Matrudutta Mohanty , byforming ‘Nation BuildCampaign (Rasthra NirmanAbhijan)' started the statuecleaning.

    Taking broomsticks andwater jugs along with detergentpowder, they carried out thecleaning works of statues ofSubaha Bose, MahatmaGandhi, Dr BR Ambedkar,

    Gopabandhu Dash,Dinabandhu Sahu andSarojkanta Kanungo amongothers. The motto of theRasthra Nirman Abhijan is topay respect and tribute to thefreedom fighters and the sonsof the soil ,whose statues lieneglected in the district.

    “We started the work lastweek. This is the second timewe have carried out the statuecleaning work in the township.We have decided to clean thestatues by giving three to fourhours per week,” said scribeBiren Das.

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    Aperson was killed andmore than 15 others wereinjured when a picnic busoverturned near the Dumbalaarea under the Adaba policestation in Gajapati district onMonday.

    The deceased was identi-fied as Sunil Sahu, a native ofBhubaneswar. The injured wereshifted to a hospital in Mohanain Gajapati distrcit. Accordingto sources, the mishap occurred

    when the bus named MaaDakhinakali with 20 passengerswas heading to Bhubaneswarfrom Gupteswar in Koraput.Most of the passengers werefrom Bhubaneswar.

    On being informed,Mohana Fire Services person-nel rushed to the spot and shift-ed the injured to MohanaCommunity Health Centre.The health condition of sixamong them was stated to becritical. They were later shift-ed to the MKCG Medical

    College Hospital in Brahmapur.“We had come to Gupteswarfor a picnic and were returningto Bhubaneswar. The bus over-turned from the ghat road dueto over-speeding by the driver,”said a passenger who sufferedminor injuries.

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    JSPL Foundation chairper-son Shallu Jindal has beenhonoured as one of the 'Top 10Impact Leaders of India' dur-ing the 'India CSR LeadershipSummit - 2021', organised byIndia CSR Network onJanuary 16.

    Jindal led JSPLFoundation, the CSR arm ofJindal Steel & Power Limited(JSPL) which provided abouthalf a million meals (cookedfood and dry food kits) tomigrant workers, daily wageearners, street dwellers, desti-

    tutes, truckers, shelter homesand other socially vulnerable

    populace. Besides, theFoundation provided sanitiz-ers, hand wash, disinfectants,masks which were manufac-tured as a part of the IncomeGeneration Activities by morethan a thousand women inSelf Help Groups.

    This assured everydayincome to the underprivi-leged families during the cashcrunch period. Thousands ofdairy, vegetable and mush-room farmers associated withthe Foundation were keptimmune to distress selling byfacilitating sale of their farmproduce in plant townships.

    ����� ���������

    Apublic hearing was organ-ised in presence of theADM Sambalpur UmakantRaj, officers of the StatePollution Control Board,SDPO Tapan KumarMohanty, Bamaloi SarapanchSeshadev Pradhan amongothers for expansion of theAryan Ispat near Rengaliunder Sambalpur district.

    The people presentexpressed consent for theexpansion of the plant.Butthey emphasized on local

    employment and businessopportunities to the localyouths as there are ample ofopportunities. They furtherdemanded for supply ofdrinking water to the peoplestaying near the plant, health-care, road construction,periphery development andmany other developmentalproposals that the companyauthorities agreed to carryout. Consultant for pollutioncontrol for Aryan Ispat Ltd DrArundhati Tej assured directand indirect employment tothe local youths. It needs a

    mention that amidst Covidrestrictions, as many as 63people of the locality tookpart in the public hearing. 45persons pledged their fullsupport. But six people sup-ported it conditionally andseven people opposed theexpansion. But only five peo-ple preferred to keep silent.

    However, BamaloiSarapanch Seshadev Pradhansuggested for rehabilitatingthe villagers of Phulchanger toanother suitable place becausethey were feeling suffocatedfor staying close to the plant.

    ����� ���������

    Co m m i s s i o n e r - c u m -Secretary of Public WorksDepartment Krishan Kumar,along with Chief Engineer andother senior officials of thedepartment on Sunday visitedKendrapada district to reviewthe progress of ongoing con-struction work of a mother andchildcare hospital atShyamagudi that has beenstarted with an estimated costof Rs 110 crore.

    Besides, they accessed theongoing construction work ofthe District HeadquartersHospital (DHH) building andInfection unit building work.Krishan Kumar showed hisdispleasure at the slow progressof the construction works anddirected to complete the projectwithin the existing deadline, set

    by the State Government ear-lier. Later , Krishan Kumar paida visit to a bridge constructionsite at Govari river and also vis-ited the Baladevjew temple tosee the progress work.

    District Collector AmritRituraj, DRDA PD DillipParida, Sub CollectorJyotishankar Mohapatra,besides all the senior officialsof the line department accom-panied Krishan Kumar duringhis visit.

    Notably, 5T Secretary VKarthikeya Pandian on lastOctober 15 2019 , had visitedthe Mother and child care hos-pital to review the ongoing con-struction works and had direct-ed to the district administrationto complete at least the firstcomponent of the hospitalbefore the end of February2020.

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    PCC president NiranjanPatnaik visited KanpurIrrigation project near Jodaunder the Champua Assemblyconstituency of Keonjhar andheld a meeting with the pro-ject-affected people. It is allegedthat land oustees were threat-ened by the district admin-istation to part with theirancestral home land.

    On his way from Keonjharto the project site, Patnaik wasaccorded warm welcome at

    Basudevpur from where thou-sands of people led him to theaffected area.

    In his address to the affect-ed people, the PCC chief saidthe present Governments standfor 3Ps (Prachar,Pratisruti,Pratarana) and workonly for rich people and cor-porate houses like Adani andAmbani. He lamented thatyouths were roaming joblessand farmers were agitating onthe street.

    Due to the wrong policy ofthe both the Central and StateGovernments, the Kanpur

    Irrigation project which hadbeen started by the CongressGovernment is now incom-

    plete, told Patnaik, adding thathe was with the common peo-ple in their struggle against the

    injustice. He further told thathe would meet the Collector,Keonjhar to discuss the prob-lem of the people.

    He further told that theGovernment was collectinghighest revenue from Keonjharand its people couldn't beallowed to live in miserablecondition. He assured to urgeupon the Collector to spendfrom the DMF fund if therewas scarcity of funds to takeforward the project work.

    Later, he proceeded to Jodato see how people were livingin a very miserable condition

    due to want of doctors andother paramedical staff andequipment in the CentralHospital, Joda.

    He briefed the mediaper-sons that the health conditionsin the mining rich area is in avery miserable conditions andappealed to local youths to fightagainst the apathetic attitude ofthe Government.

    District Congress presi-dent Biplab Mishra, JadumanaiBarik, PC Naik, AshokThakkar, Gurubox SinghAlluwalia and AC Das amongothers were present.

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    ������������� �� ��� ���(��������������������������������� �����������)������������������)�������������������� ������ �������������

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    An old woman was crushedunder the wheels of goodstrain near the Jadupur Roadjunction in Kenrapada district.The deceased was identified asSita Swain (75) of Oatar villagein the district Police sourcessaid the woman was mentallysick and she had earlier tried tocommit suicide by jumping

    into a pond but she was res-cued by fellow villagers. Herfamily members said she wasmissing from home from earlymorning. Following a franticsearch, they found her body onthe railway track.

    The Cuttack GRP sent thedead body for postmortemand are investigating into inci-dent, said Marshaghai policestation IIC Kalahandi Behera.

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    Union Minister of RoadTransport and Highways,Nitin Gadkari, on Monday,inaugurated Road SafetyMonth where he highlightedthe central Government's com-mitment towards safety.

    "Till now, we have beenobserving National Road SafetyWeek. But from today, we willobserve National Road SafetyMonth. 70% of deaths are in theage group of 18-45 years,"Nitin Gadkari said.

    Gadkari also said that thereis a need to save lives in thecountry where 415 people aredying every day due to roadaccidents.

    "If we wait till 2030, 6-7lakhs more people will die. So,we've made a commitmentthat before 2025, road accidentsand deaths due to it will bebrought down by 50% withhelp of people's participation,"Gadkari added.

    In 2020, the CentralGovernment had participatedin a conference in Sweden,where a vision was conceptu-

    alised - to have zero road fatal-ities in India by 2030, he said.

    "We had promised toreduce such fatalities by 50%.Tamil Nadu has done it, with asuccess rate of 53%.," Gadkaristated.

    Providing details of hisministry about an increasedtarget of per day roads con-struction, Gadkari said, "Wehave achieved the target of con-structing 30 kilometres of road,I believe that by the end ofMarch, perhaps we will achievethe target of constructing 40kilometres of road per day."

    "World Bank and ADB(Asian Development Bank)approved two projects worth?7,000 crore each. We'll receiveapproval from finance ministry

    soon. So, we'll spend ?14,000crore to improve black spots -death traps - on roads," theUnion Minister of RoadTransport and Highwaysadded.

    The event at VigyanBhavan was also attended byDefence Minister RajnathSingh, Union minister VKSingh and chief executive offi-cer (CEO) of Niti AayogAmitabh Kant.

    Globally India is one of theworst-hit nations when itcomes to road accidents. Indiaaccounts for about 5 lakh roadaccidents annually, one of thehighest in the world, in whichabout 1.5 lakh people die andanother 3 lakh become crip-pled.

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    North India will continue toreel under the grip of anintense cold wave for a fewmore days. The IndianMeteorological Department(IMD) on Monday extendedthe cold wave warning in northIndia till January 22.

    According to the IMD,change in wind direction fromeasterly to westerly/north west-erly is likely to bring downminimum temperature by 2 to4 degree Celsius during thenext three days and after thatrise by 2-4 degree Celsius overthe northwest India.

    RK Jenamani, the seniorscientist, IMD, said that thewarning for the cold wave inNorth India has been extend-ed till January 22. Earlier, theIMD had issued a cold wavewarning for January 13-15 andthen extended it till January 18.A few days back, the weatherbureau had issued a cold wavewarning for 13-15 January andthen extended it till 18 January.A cold day is when the mini-mum temperature is less than10 degrees Celsius and themaximum is at least 4.5 degreesCelsius below normal.

    However, Jenamani saidthat the dense fog spreadacross northern plains inPunjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand will begin lifting

    from Tuesday. Dense fog willbegin lifting from Tuesdayover northern plains in Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh and Uttarakhand. Thiswill lead to hotter days andcolder nights.

    “A fresh WesternDisturbance is likely to affectWestern Himalayan Regionfrom 22nd January. Under theinfluence of its interaction withlow level easterlies from 23rdJanuary; scattered to wide-spread rain/snow likely overWestern Himalayan Regionduring 22nd-24th January,” theIMD said in a tweet.

    “Under the influence oflower level wind reversal fromeasterly to westerly/northwest-erly, Cold Wave conditionslikely in isolated pockets overEast Uttar Pradesh, Punjaband Haryana, Chandigarh &Delhi during 18th-20th andWest Uttar Pradesh and northRajasthan during 19th-21st

    January, 2021,” the IMD said.In Rajasthan, the night

    temperatures dipped to near-zero, and Pilani recorded atemperature of 0.4 degreesCelsius, followed by Churu,which witnessed a temperatureof 1.9 degrees Celsius.Meanwhile, dense fog could bewitnessed in parts of UttarPradesh as major cities such asAgra, Kanpur and Jhansirecorded below six degreesCelsius temperatures, signifi-cantly below season's normal.Moderate fog is expected overisolated places in the state overTuesday and Wednesday. InPunjab and Haryana too, thetemperatures remained belownormal levels. Bathinda record-ed 3.4 degrees Celsius, whileGurdaspur and Faridkot wit-nessed 7 and 5.5 degreesCelsius respectively.Chandigarh recorded a lowtemperature of 8.3 degreesCelsius.

    ����� ��������

    COVID-19 pandemic hasrevealed the need to investin health, and the call for sus-tainable funding to the WorldHealth Organisation (WHO)so that the global body can fullyrespond to public health needs,Union Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan said onMonday.

    He pointed out that anyproposed increase in budgetneeds to also consider theglobal economic impact of thedisease.

    The Minister, who chairedthe 148th session of WHOExecutive Board through videoconference, said the poorestand most vulnerable are thehardest hit by COVID-19 as theimpact of the crisis will reversehard-won development gainsand hamper progress towardsachieving SustainableDevelopment Goals,

    Stressing the need toensure fair and equitable dis-tribution of coronavirus vac-cines, Dr Harshvardhan saidthe pandemic has presented anopportunity whereby “health”has been placed on the globalagenda of Governments, part-ners and donors.

    He thanked the medicalprofessionals, scientists andresearchers as well as other

    essential workers around theworld who continue workingunder difficult and challengingcircumstances to deal with thepandemic. He also offered hiscondolences to the familieswhose dear ones died due tothe disease, according to astatement by the health min-istry.

    "We all know how difficultthe year 2020 has been for thewhole world… how humanityhas battled this crisis with all itsmight, but it has also been ayear in which the wisdom andevidence of science was judi-ciously adopted. I call the year2020 as the ‘year of science' anda ‘year of incredible scientificachievement.

    “In less than 12 months,researchers have characteriseda novel illness, sequenced a newvirus' genome, developed diag-nostics, produced treatmentprotocols, and established theefficacy of drugs and vaccinesin randomised controlled tri-als," Vardhan was quoted assaying by the ministry.

    The Union minister alsoexpressed optimism that inthe current year, the unprece-dented crisis caused by thepandemic shall be mitigatedand successfully reversedthrough committed politicalleadership and sustained glob-al cooperation and solidarity.

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    Union Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar,on Monday said that the pre-vious Governments could notintroduce these reformsbecause of pressure tactics.

    “These reforms will go along way in elevating the livingstandard of farmers. Wheneverany reform is introduced,impediments are bound tocome in the way,” Tomar said.

    The tenth round of talksbetween the Centre and 41protesting farmers' unions isscheduled for Wednesday at 12noon at Vigyan Bhawan in theheart of the national Capital.Separately, a Supreme Court-appointed panel to resolve thecrisis is also scheduled to holdits first meeting on Tuesday.The previous rounds of talksbetween the Government andfarmers have failed to reach anyconcrete results, as protestingunions have stuck to theirmain demand for repealingthe new laws, but theGovernment has refused to doso.

    “Misinformation is beingspread across the country thatMSP (minimum supportprice) is being discontinued

    but the government has madeit clear that the MSP will con-tinue. Procurement on MSPhas also been increased.Pulses-oilseeds have also beenincluded in the MSP. Theselaws were expected earlier butthe previous governmentcould not implement becauseof pressure. It was the Modigovernment that took a boldstep and brought these lawspassed in Parliament.. .Whenever a good thing hap-pens, there are obstacles,"Tomar said while addressing anational conference on recentagriculture reforms, Myths vsFacts organized byConfederation of NGOs ofrural India.

    The statement is beingseen as a reiteration of the gov-ernment's stand that it was onlywilling to discuss the laws

    clause by clause and amendthem suitably – something thathas been rejected by farmers,who called the last round oftalks “120 per cent failure”. Theminister added that the lawswere made after extensive dis-cussions between experts, sci-entists and farmer unionsbased on recommendations ofa panel led by Professor MSSwaminathan, the father of India's Green Revolution.

    He also cited agriculturebudget figures for this fiscalagainst those in 2013-14 whenthe PM Modi-led governmentfirst came to power to showcasethe government's commitmenttowards farmers' welfare.“There will be a five-foldincrease in the agriculture bud-get,” he added.

    On eve of the tenth roundof meeting, a delegation offarmers representing over 270farmer producer organizationsfrom Madhya Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Assam, Karnataka,Chhattisgarh and Odisha metMinister of State forAgriculture Parshottam Rupalaand appealed not to repeal thelaws. Minister of State forAgriculture KailashChoudhury was also present inthe meeting.''

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    The Centre on Monday saidthat avian influenza hasbeen confirmed in 14 Statesacross the country so far. Ofthem, avian influenza has beenconfirmed in five states inpoultry birds while in nineStates it is confirmed incrow/migratory and wild birds.

    “Further, avian influenzahas been confirmed in samplesof the dead heron from TisHazari, and in crow from RedFort, Delhi and advisory in thisregard has been issued to Delhifor taking necessary action,” itsaid.

    According to the ministryof animal husbandry, cullingand sanitization operationshave been completed in theepicenters of Latur district inVillage Kendrewadi,Ahmedpur, Village Sukani,and Village Tondar(Vajrawadi) in Udgir talukand village Kurdwadi in Ausataluk.

    Further, in MadhyaPradesh (Districts of Harda andMandsaur) and Chhattisgarh(District Balod), rapid responseteams have been deployed forthe culling of poultry birdsaround one km radius of epi-

    centers of the outbreak in poul-try. Culling operation of poul-try is continuing in the epi-centers of Haryana (DistrictPanchkula).

    “In Maharashtra, rapidresponse teams has beendeployed and culling of poul-try birds is underway in all theaffected epicenters,” it said.

    According to the CRISIL’sanalysis that rated 87 poultrycompanies comprising nearly30 percent of the industry’s rev-enue, the bird flu has choppedaround 30 percent off broilerchicken volume, bringing downdaily chicken demand in thecountry from 100 lakh kg inDecember 2020 to an estimat-ed 70 lakh kg in January 2021.

    Apart from this, the ratingagency added that wholesaleprices of broiler chicken havecrashed 20-30 percent from Rs105-110 per kg in December toRs 80 per kg. Following this,the overall revenue coulddecline 30-40 percent inJanuary 2021 due to a fall inrealizations and volume.

    It noted that as wholesaleprices usually correct sharplyfollowing such outbreaks, thefall in prices tends to be tem-porary.

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    Doctors have warned thatpeople should avoid drink-ing alcohol or taking immuno-suppressant drugs in the daysbefore and after receiving theCovid-19 vaccine to ensurethat it works properly.

    “People will have toobserve extra precautions dur-ing the 28 days gap between thetwo doses for the vaccine tobecome effective. The benefi-ciaries should also refrain fromvisiting crowded places, wearface masks, use sanitizers, min-imise contacts and refrain fromconsuming alcohol orimmunosuppressant drugs,"said Dr Jugal Kishore DirectorProfessor and Head,Department of CommunityMedicine, VMMC andSafdarjung Hospital in thenational Capital.

    "It's a strain on the body. Ifwe want to stay healthy andhave a strong immuneresponse, don't drink alcohol,"he said.

    Dr Ramesh Keshav, HeadCardiac AnesthesiaDepartment at the RMLHospital in the national Capital,who took the first shot on thefirst day of the roll out of thevaccine drive agreed sayingthat heavy drinking and drugabuse should in other timesotherwise also has to be avoid-ed as they compromise with thebody immunity.

    He cited the Union HealthMinistry’s guideline that saidthat protective levels of anti-bodies are generally developedtwo weeks after receiving thesecond dose of vaccines.

    Dr Kishore explained thatalcohol consumption, intake ofsteroids and tobacco may leadto impaired liver function in aperson who has been vacci-nated and the person’s immuneresponse may be compromised.

    “In such a case, the personmay not develop adequateimmunogenicity and the pur-pose of vaccination is defeated,”he said.

    In fact, existing scientificliterature on alcohol and theimmune system shows thatexcess alcohol is an immuno-suppressant so people whodrink a lot are more suscepti-ble to infections, a view sup-ported by the doctors worldover.

    “Heavy drinkers havemany problems and poorimmune function is one ofthem,” immunologist EleanorRiley at the University of

    Edinburgh, UK said.Heavy alcohol use is also

    associated with a number ofother health problems, includ-ing an increased risk of heartdisease, cancer, and liver dis-ease.

    While alcohol should beavoided, a team of researchersin their study has suggestedthat health behaviours anddepression, stress, or lonelinessalso have been known to alterthe body’s ability to develop animmune response to vaccinesincluding the new Covid-19vaccines.

    The international organi-sation Association forPsychological Science (APS)said that simple interventions,however, may maximise thevaccine’s initial effectiveness. Itquoted the study which rec-ommends exercising and get-ting a good night’s sleep in the24 hours before vaccination.The report has been acceptedfor publication in the journalPerspectives on PsychologicalScience.

    Health experts say thatwhile vaccination programmesare being rolled out in variouscountries, not everyone willgain the full benefit immedi-ately. “Environmental factors,as well as an individual’s genet-ics and physical and mentalhealth, can weaken the body’simmune system, slowing theresponse to a vaccine,” as perthe APS.

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    Out of total of 3,81,305 ben-eficiaries, who have so farbeen vaccinated for coron-avirus since the rollout of theanti-Covid jab drive on Sunday,at least 580 adverse events fol-lowing immunization (AEFI)have been reported in thecountry. The Union HealthMinistry said that seven werehospitalised but none of themwas serious.

    It also said that the death oftwo persons soon after takingCovid-19 vaccine in UttarPradesh and Karnataka was notrelated to the jab.

    Manohar Agnani,Additional Secretary in theUnion Health Ministry, whileaddressing a Press briefing

    here on Monday said that theydied due to heart related ail-ments. Agnani said “a cumu-lative 580 adverse events fol-lowing immunization (AEFIs)and seven hospitalizations have

    so far been reported in thecountry since the nationwideCOVID inoculation drivewhich began on January 16.Majority complained fever,headache and nausea, accord-ing to the provisional data ofongoing vaccination drive.

    He said that of the twodeaths reported, death of the 52year male from Moradabad,UP (who was vaccinated onSunday and died next day is notrelated to vaccination as per thepost mortem report. Deathwas caused due to cardiopul-monary disease.

    Similarly, he said that thesecond death which was of amale (43), a resident of Bellary,Karnataka was vaccinated onSaturday and died Monday.“The cause of death is anteri-

    or wall infarction withCardiopulmonary failure. Thepost mortem is being con-ducted,” he said.

    The Government howeverhasn’t given any details aboutthe adverse reactions happenedfor which particular vaccine.

    On Monday, till 5 pm,1,48,266 beneficiaries were vac-cinated across 25 states andUnion territories, taking thetotal tall of the vaccinated peo-ple to 3,81,305. On the first dayie Saturday around 2 lakh peo-ple were inoculated, saidAgnani.

    Of the 1,48,266 beneficia-ries who were administered thevaccine on Monday, 8,656 werefrom Bihar, 1,822 from Assam,36,888 from Karnataka, 7,070from Kerala, 6,665 from

    Madhya Pradesh, 7,628 fromTamil Nadu, 10,352 fromTelangana, 11,588 from WestBengal and 311 were fromDelhi.

    In Delhi, three hospitali-sations were reported, out ofwhich, two have been dis-charged, and one with faintingis under observation at MaxHospital, Patparganj.

    In Uttarakhand, one of thebeneficiaries is stable andunder observation at AIIMSRishikesh, the official stated. InChhattisgarh, one beneficiaryis under observation, while inKarnataka, two cases of hospi-talizations were reported, hesaid. "No case of serious/severeAEFI attributable to vaccina-tion till date," the additionalsecretary added.

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    The CBI has arrested a ChiefAdministrative Officer ofNorth East Frontier Railway(NFR), Maligaon (Assam), aDeputy Chief Engineer, anAssistant Executive Engineer ofNFR, an employee of privatecompany based at Guwahati(Assam) and a private person(relative of the arrested CAO)in a case related to allegedbribery of � 1 crore.

    The agency recovered�2.39 crore in cash duringsearches at 26 locations, includ-ing Delhi. Uttarakhand, Assam,Tripura and West Bengal,linked to the five accused per-sons.

    The arrested accused arethe CAO Mahendra SinghChauhan, Deputy ChiefEngineer Hem Chand Borah,Assistant Executive Engineer(AEN) Lamxi Kant Verma, anemployee of ABCIInfrastructures Pvt. Ltd.Bhupendra Rawat and privateperson Indra Singh.

    “The total amount of �2.39crore was recovered. Thesearches includes an allegedbribe of �1 crore, whichexchanged hands on Sunday.During searches, a sum of�18.5 lakh and �6.5 lakh havebeen recovered from thepremises of Deputy ChiefEngineer and AssistantExecutive Engineer (AEN)respectively. In addition, �60lakh was recovered fromDehradun and �54 lakh fromGuwahati premises of CAO, on

    Sunday. Besides this, there hasbeen recovery of jewellery anddocuments related to propertyfrom these locations,” the CBIsaid in a statement.

    Earlier, the CBI had regis-tered a case against the accusedpersons and unknown othersunder relevant sections of theIndian Penal Code andPrevention of Corruption Act.

    It was alleged that theaccused were abusing their

    official position for obtainingillegal gratification. It was fur-ther alleged that the arresteddirector of the private compa-ny was in contact with theCAO in various on-going pro-jects in the NFR region. It wasalso alleged that on hisdemand, the said Director,through his employee, deliv-ered a bribe of Rs.1 crore to therelative of said CAO at his res-idence in Dehradun. “Theaccused allegedly exchangingbribe money were caught yes-terday. The alleged bribe of RsOne crore was recovered,” itsaid. .

    The agency had on Sundaybusted a major corruptionracket. It was alleged that somesenior public functionaries ofNFR were involved in corruptpractices with private contrac-tors for the on-going projectsunder the division. The con-tractors were allegedly beingfacilitated in awarding the con-tracts, processing of subse-quent bills and release of pay-ments by the public func-tionaries in lieu of bribe, it fur-ther said adding investigationand searches are continuing.

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    Etawah (Uttar Pradesh): Eightcows were killed and six wereinjured after speeding RajdhaniExpress mowed them downnear Tamera Ki Madaiya villageon Delhi-Howrah route inJaswantnagar area of Etawahdistrict.

    The incident took place onSunday, between Jaswantnagarand Balrai railway stations.

    According to the villagers,a herd of cattle was grazingnear the tracks when 14 ofthem were mowed down by theRajdhani Express.

    Eight cows died on thespot, while six suffered critical

    injuries.The gateman and villagers

    alerted the district officialsincluding SDM JaswantnagarJyotsana Bandhu, who rushedto the spot. The SDM super-vised the rescue operation andshifted the six injured animalsto a nearby gaushala for treat-ment, said the police.

    “We have shifted theinjured cows to a nearby'gaushala' for treatment. Itappears that the incidentoccurred due to heavy fog inthe area. Further investiga-tions are underway in thisregard,” said the SDM. PTI

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    It’s time for Republic Day andcelebrities in Kerala are agogto know who are all those whohave made it to the list of thisyear’s list of civilian awards vizPadma Sri, Padma Bhushan etc.

    People in Kerala areobsessed with the titles ofPadma Sree and other Padmaawards. The year 2010 sawfilm director Ranjith making“Pranchiyettan the Saint”, amovie that set the box office onfire. The film is about a busi-nessman in Thrissur who wasduped Rs 1.5 crore by a con-man promising the former aPadma Sree award.

    The craze for these awardsis visible only in Kerala thoughthe titles come with a lot of doand don’ts issued by theMinistry of Home Affairs. Thewinner is accorded State hon-ors during his/her final riteswith police band playing theLast Post and gun salute. Thewinner is not expected to dis-play the honorifics anywhereincluding his/her visiting card.

    There are no cash incentivestoo. But there were reportsabout a celebrity in the Statespending Rs four crore for thistitle.

    Perumbavoor, a small townin Ernakulam district city hasa Padma Sree awardee whodoes not have a house to stay.Acharya Kunhol, a Sanskritscholar who works round-the-clock for the upliftment of theHarijans in the State wasawarded Padma Sree last year.But he stays in a thatched shedeven one year after the title wasconferred on him by thePresident of India.

    Though it is customary on

    the part of the State adminis-tration to congratulate theawardee, nobody from theKerala Government hadextended that courtesy to himtill date. “Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan issued a state-ment condemning the Centrefor not awarding the titles to atleast one person in the list ofnearly 50 persons that wassubmitted by KeralaGovernment. No need to spec-ify that all the names in the listwere strong critics of NarendraModi. But Vijayan failed tocongratulate Acharya Kunhol,”said K K Sudhakaran, secretary,Tapasya and a close associate ofthe Acharya.

    Last year, The Pioneer hadreported about the patheticsituation of the hut in whichthe Acharya stays. He hadexpressed his helplessness inoffering a cup of black coffeewhen a group of media personshad called on him. “I have nocomplaints against anybodyand am content with whatev-er the God has given me,” saidthe Acharya who keeps himself

    busy by teaching Sanskrit to thepoor children around. Thoughhe has contacts with all theleading politicians in the State,the Acharya has notapproached any one of themwith requests for help.

    His children are all namedafter persons who revolution-ized the world through selflessservices. Ambedkar, GoldaMeir, Martin Luther King, SaiLakshmi , Devadas andAmritanandamayi!

    Bobby Chemmannur, abusiness baron from Kerala’sThrissur has said that he wasapproached by people in thegovernment with the offer of aPadma Sree. “But when theydemanded Rs 50 lakh to meetthe initial expenses, I backedout. Later I heard a Keralaentrepreneur who paid Rs 4.5crore was honored with aPadma Sree,” saidChemmannur who is knownfor his friendship with lateDiego Maradonna. He refusedto divulge details about the per-sons and the year of the inci-dent.

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    Ahead of the Republic Daycelebrations in Jammu &Kashmir, Director General ofPolice Dilbagh Singh onMonday claimed there areinputs that the terrorists arekeen to carry out some mis-chief as they are desperate todisturb communal harmony,peace and order in theregion.

    Chairing a high level secu-

    rity review meeting of thesenior officers of Police, Army,BSF, CRPF and Intelligenceagencies here in the policeheadquarters the DGP saidthat the year 2021 will have itsown challenges as new strate-gies have been adopted byPakistan with new terror oper-atives emerging on groundwhich need to be countered.

    Last week, a tunnel wasdetected along theInternational border in the

    Samba sector by the BSFjawans.

    The security agencies arestill investigating whether thesame was recently used to pusharmed infiltrators inside theIndian territory or not. On theoccasion DGP also directedthat the deployments for repub-lic day may be beefed up andthe QRTs, escorts, guards willhave to be alert.

    He directed that allarrangements be made so that26th January celebrations areheld peacefully. He said thatthere are inputs that the ter-rorists are keen to carry outsome mischief as they are des-

    perate to disturb communalharmony, peace and order. Hedirected the officers to take careof vulnerable persons andplaces to thwart the nefariousdesigns of enemies.He saidthat well coordinated surveil-lance systems must be ensuredto undo nefarious plans of theenemies.

    The high level securityreview meeting was attendedby COS 16 Corps MajorGeneral Sharad Kapoor, IGPJammu Zone Mukesh Singh,IGP CRPF Jammu P. S.Ranpise, DIG Udhampur ReasiRange Sujit Kumar, DIG DodaKistwar Ramban Range Abdul

    Jabbar, DIG BSF Jammu S. K.Singh, SSP Jammu ShreedharPatil, SSP CIV PHQ RajeshBali, SSP CID CI Jammu TahirSajad Bhat, SSP CID SB JammuRohit Baskotra and othersenior officers.

    Meanwhile, in SrinagarInspector General of Police(IGP) Kashmir range, VijayKumar said that the threeyouth killed in Lawaypora gun-fight were involved in militan-cy and that the police willsoon present ‘concrete evi-dence’ to their parents.

    He said that the bodies ofslain militants aren’t beinghanded over to families in

    view of the Covid-19 pandem-ic as people would assemble infunerals and break the Covidprotocol.

    Talking to reporters on thesidelines of a road safety weekfunction in Srinagar, the IGPsaid: “We have collected 60 per-cent evidence and in next days,we will collect more evidenceincluding the technical oneand will first convince the par-ents of slain trio that their sonswere involved in militancy andwere providing logistic supportto militants.”

    IGP Kumar while replyingto a query that the father of oneof the slain youth has demand-

    ed the body of his son, said thatbecause of the Covid-19 pan-demic, bodies of slain militantsaren’t being handed over totheir families.”If we hand overthe bodies, people will assem-ble for funerals and break thecovid protocol, which wouldendanger the lives of people.The bodies of slain militants arebeing buried in the presence oftheir family members.”

    The families of the slainyouth have demanded a probeinto their killings, saying theywere innocent and were killedin a staged gunfight. Severalpolitical parties have alsodemanded a fair probe into the

    gunfight.Earlier this month, the

    families of the trio staged aprotest at the Press Enclave inSrinagar, demanding a probeand return of the bodies.

    The IGP said that, of late,youth are being lured into mil-itancy as OGWs as they arebeing provided with pistolsand grenades.

    “Yesterday, we arrested ayouth from Anantnag, alongwith a pistol and grenade whowas tasked to kill someone. Weare at it and will counter thetrend through human trackingand this is our top priority,” hesaid.

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    Kolkata: In a grim reminder forthe Election Commission of Indiathat comingAssembly elections inthe State could be splattered inblood, supporters of TrinamoolCongress and the BJP clashed atthree places with rods and brick-bats during a three-km saffronrally led by Suvendu Adhikari andBengal BJP president Dilip Ghoshin South Kolkata.

    The incident tended to mimicthe December 10 attack on NJPpresident JP Nadda’s convoy atDiamond Harbour with a groupof Trinamool supporters cap-tured on camera throwing brick-bats at the BJP rally passing downthe SP Mukherjee Road some twokm away from Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s Kalighat res-

    idence.The initial attack by the TMC

    men sparked the clash when theBJP men counter attacked,sources said. “The BJP workersthen chased them right insidetheir mohalla (locality) and beatthem up,” sources said adding theclashes took place near CharuMarket, a few hundred yardsaway from the Tipu SultanMosque. The police rushed to thespot and controlled the crowd,sources said.

    Subsequently the TMC mentoo gathered at different placesand attacked the BJP men whowere returning from the rally. Anumber of people were injured inthe skirmish, sources said addingmotorbikes and some shops were

    also vandalized.Reacting to Monday’s inci-

    dent Adhikari a former BengalMinister said “we had obtainedthe necessary police permissionfor this rally but still they made ascanty police bandobast makingroom for some TMC men tomount the attack… it was a pre-planned attack as a few men wereseen pelting stones before disap-pearing inside the lanes…Butthese tactics will not work becausepeople of Bengal are with us andthey want a change.”

    Bengal Minister Arup Biswashowever blamed the BJP workers“who came from outside andattacked our men who were justfixing party flags for future polit-ical programmes.” PNS

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    ANigerian drug peddler’s effort to befoolthe Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)sleuths fell flat on his flat, as the NCB –though the doctors’ intervention --had adozen of Cocaine pellets extracted fromabdominal cavity where they had reachedafter he had gulped seeing the agency offi-cials come to arrest him.

    The NCB said here on Monday that theincident took place on January 14 when itsofficials zeroed in on the accused NigerianIfeamyichukwu Pius moving around a five-star hotel at Juhu to deliver pellets contain-ing Cocaine.

    At that time, Pius had concealed Cocainepellets in his mouth. Seeing the NCB officialsrush towards him, the accused peddler

    gulped a dozen pellets – containing 1 grameach of Cocaine and the Cocaine pellets land-ed in his stomach.

    Without losing any time, the NCB offi-cials rushed him to J J Hospital, where an x-ray and CT scan examination confirmed thatthe pellets were lodged in his abdominal cav-ity,The doctors extracted the dozen pelletsfrom his abdomen. The retrieved cocaine pel-lets were handed over to the NCB officials.

    “Accused Nigerian drug peddler was dis-charged from the hospital today. We are try-ing to ascertain his antecedents and also whoare his associates in Mumbai,” NCB’s ZonalDirector Sameer Wankhede said.

    This is the first instance where a peddlerwas carrying drugs in his mouth and dis-tributing them to the customers.

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    Kakinada: At a time when alle-gations of multiple templeattacks are making headlines inAndhra Pradesh, the initiativeof installing surveillance cam-eras at all religious places hasenabled the state's EastGodavari district police onMonday to arrest a drunkenbutcher for damaging the tri-dents (trishul) of a local tem-ple in Kakinada more than aweek ago.

    The police arrestedVanumu Lakshmana Rao, 39, aresident of Kondayyapalem inKakinada, and also managed toprocure the footage of hiscriminal act. The police sharedfootage of an inebriated Raodancing and talking in front ofthe goddess idols holding thetridents and touching them.

    In another video capturedby a CCTV camera from theleft side, Rao raised his handand pushed the idol's trident,resulting in its top part break-ing.

    He committed the crime injust 10 minutes: between 10:20p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on thenight of January 9 at SriNookalamma Temple inKakinada's Kondayyapalem.

    “He (Rao) was subjected toa thorough interrogation. Thearrested accused has confessedto have committed thisoffence,” said a police official.

    On that fateful day, Raoborrowed his friend's bicycleand got drunk. He later went tothe temple, broke the tridentsand went away.

    In the footage shared by thepolice, the bicycle was foundfallen on the ground as Rao wasseen dancing, talking andbreaking the tridents, even aspassersby zipped by on theroad beside unbothered.

    “Priest of the templeattended as usual in the morn-ing at about 6 a.m. on January10th and noticed that the twotridents outside the templewere partly broken,” said theofficial.

    The cement idols standingon either sides of theNookalamma temple's entrydoor used to hold two tridents.

    Following a complaint bythe temple's committee presi-dent Karri Gangaraju at 1 p.m.on January 10, next day of thecrime, that two tridents weredamaged, police managed toarrest Rao on Monday. IANS

    Amaravati: In a bid to ensurethat students of Governmentschools in Andhra Pradesh donot play truant, the StateGovernment on Mondaylaunched a special mobile app tomonitor the regular attendanceof the students in all the schools.

    The app was designed toreview the students' attendance,which can be accessed both bythe teachers and the parents.

    Officials said that 90 percent of the information per-taining to the guardians andtheir wards has been furnishedinto the app.

    The application will send analert message to the parentsabout their child's attendance ona daily basis. The same messagewill also be sent to the village andward volunteer, an integral cogin the decentralization of gov-ernance system introduced inthe southern state.

    “If the child is absent formore than two days, a volunteerwill visit the household andascertain the reasons,” said theofficial. IANS

    Thiruvananthapuram: Keralaon Monday reported 3,346new Covid-19 cases, said state'sHealth Minister K.K. Shailaja,adding that the test positivityrate now stands at 10.11 percent.

    As many as 68,399 peopleare under treatment in variousfacilities across the state.

    Ernakulam has the highestnumber with 574 cases, whileKasargod with the least num-bers with 574 infections.

    As many as 2,965 positivecases are through contacts.Atleast 17 fatalities were report-ed on Monday, pushing the tollin the state to 3,480. 53 healthworkers have tested positive forthe coronavirus on Monday.

    2,09,786 people are underobservation at various places inthe state. Of this 1,98,681 areunder institutional quarantine,while 11,105 under observationat various hospitals in the state. IANS

    Bengaluru: The anti-cow slaughter ordinance cameinto effect in Karnataka on Monday, with provisionsof up to seven years in jail and (or) a fine of up toRs 10 lakh for those 'illegally' involved in cow slaugh-tering, smuggling or selling of beef in the State.

    “All provisions of the Karnataka Prevention ofSlaughter and Preservation of Cattle Ordinance,2020 to come into force from January 18,” theKarnataka government has said in an order.

    The new amended law bans transportation ofcattle within Karnataka or to other states. The trans-portation is allowed only with due permission fromthe competent authority and against the paymentof fee, if the purpose is to use cattle only for the agri-cultural or animal husbandry activities.

    The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter andPreservation of Cattle Act, 2020, which envisagesa ban on all forms of cattle slaughter and stringentpunishment for offenders, is a revised version of aBill that was passed in 2010 when the BJP was inpower.

    Subsequently in 2013, Congress came to powerand the BJP's 2010 contentious Bill was shelved. TheCongress had reverted to the less stringentKarnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter andPreservation of Animals Act, 1964, which allowscow slaughter with certain restrictions.

    While the 1964 law banned the killing of “anycow or calf of she-buffalo”, it allowed the slaughterof bullock, buffalo-male or female if it was certi-fied by a competent authority to be above the ageof 12 years or incapacitated for breeding or deemedsick.

    Due to lack of majority in the Upper House, theruling BJP was unable to move this Bill there anddecided to take an Ordinance route and promul-gated the Ordinance on December 28.

    After the state Cabinet passed it, the Ordinancewas sent for the approval of the Governor VajubhaiRudabhai Vala. The Ordinance was formallyapproved on January 5 and it is coming into effectin the state from Monday onwards.

    According to the order, three to seven yearsimprisonment and a fine starting from Rs 50,000to Rs 5 lakh can be imposed under this law and sub-sequent repeat offences can invite fines up to Rs 10lakh. IANS

    Lucknow: All ten BJP candi-dates for the biennial electionsto the Uttar Pradesh LegislativeCouncil on Monday filed theirnomination papers. ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath waspresent when the candidatesfiled their nomination papers.

    Among the candidates arestate BJP chief Swatantra DevSingh, Deputy Chief MinisterDinesh Sharma, former bureau-crat Arvind Sharma, LaxmanPrasad Acharya, Salil Bishnoi,

    Govind Shukla, KunwarManvendra Singh, AshwiniTyagi, Dharamvir Prajapati andSurendra Chaudhary.

    Earlier, all the candidatesreached the BJP's state head-quarters where they were givena warm welcome by party work-ers to the beating of 'dhols'. Thecandidates offered prayers at atemple and then went togetherto the Vidhan Bhawan, locatedacross the road, to file the nom-ination papers. IANS

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    Saharanpur (UP): The body of Ankur Agarwal, brother of LuvAgarwal, an IAS officer posted in the Health Ministry, was foundin mysterious circumstances in the Sarsawan industrial area onMonday night. Ankur’s licensed pistol was found lying near hisbody.

    Senior police officials reached the site on learning of the inci-dent and sent the body for post-mortem analysis.

    SP (rural) Saharanpur said that prima facie, it seemed to bea case of suicide but further investigations would reveal the rea-sons behind the death. Sources said that a family dispute mayhave led to Ankur taking the drastic step. Further details are awaited. IANS

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    The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) partners – Shiv Sena,NCP and Congress – wrested powerin a majority of the Gram Panchayatsin Maharashtra on Monday, amidclaims by the Opposition BJP that ithad emerged number one party in theelections.

    Given that the Gram Panchayatelections are not fought on party sym-bols, there was no official data on thepoll outcome. However, unconfirmedreports indicated that the rulingMVA had collectively captured powerin a maximum number of GramPanchayats in the elections to 14,234local self-bodies that went to polls.

    However, as per the electionresults available till late in the eveningsuggested that of the total gram pan-chayats that went to polls, the candi-dates in elections in 1,523 local bod-ies were elected unopposed.

    From the results trends available,the ruling Shiv Sena had emerged assingle largest party with 1,900 grampanchqyats in its kitty already, whileits alliance partner NCP had also cap-tured power 1,507 gram panchayatsand the Congresss had walked awaywith 1,365 gram panchayats. On its,the BJP competing neck and neckwith the Shiv Sena by winning littlebelow or around 1900 gram panch-yarts.

    On his part, Maharashtra PradeshCongress Committee Chairman andState Revenue Minister BalasahebThorat claimed that the MVA part-ners had won 80 per cent of the14,000-odd gram panchayats thatwent to polls and that the Congresshad won a majority in 4000 grampanchyats across the state.

    “With these results, it is clear thatthe people of the state have showntheir faith in the work done by the

    Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi govern-ment in the last one year. The BJP hassuffered a crushing defeat in the stateand the BJP leaders should accept thedefeat with open heart instead of mis-leading the people by giving false fig-ures,” Thorat said.

    In a related development, formerchief minister and senior BJP leaderDevendra Fadnavis claimed that theBJP had emerged as the number oneparty in the Gram Panchayat elec-tions. “In Vidarbha, we have scoreda pheneominal victory. In Konkan weare getting good results. Especially inSindhudurg where Rane family andRavindra Chavamn worked, we havewon 80 per cent of theGrampanchayats,” Fadnavis said.

    Disputing the claims of a victo-ry by Fadnavis, Thoart said that thepeople of the state had shown greatfaith in the MVA government and theresults of today's Gram Panchayatelections have further validated theirtrust.”In Kolhapur, Nandurbar, Latur,Nanded, Amravati, Yavatmal, Nagpur,Wardha, Chandrapur, Osmanabad,Washim and Buldhana districts,Congress has emerged as the No. 1party. The people have shown faith inthe candidates of Congress, NCP andShiv Sena by defeating BJP in theseelections as well just like they did inthe recent legislative council elec-tions,” he said.

    Thorat said that in the Vidarbharegion, the Congress party hasachieved great success and has wonmore than 50 per cent of the GramPanchayats. The people of Vidarbhahave helped Congress gain unprece-dented success in these elections.Thorat also expressed confidencethat the Congress would emerge asthe number one party in Marathwada.The voting percentage and seats of theCongress had increased inMarathwada.

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