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THE ASIAN AGENATION| 3

NEW DELHI THURSDAY 3 MARCH 2022

SPORT | 8 DELHI AGE| 16

Instead of illegal weapons, Shreyas Iyer jumps Finally Shah Rukh Khan’s film
UP now makes missiles, 27 places to 18th Pathaan is taking off; actor &
says Shah in UP’s Chandauli in ICC T20 rankings Deepika off to Spain for shoot
www.asianage.com RNI No. 57290/94, Regd No: DL-SW-05/4189/15-17 Vol. 29 No. 16 | 16 PAGES | `5.00

WINDOWS ■ Embassy asks Indians to reach Pesochin, Babaye or Bezlyudovka by 6 pm local time Wed, giving them 5 hrs to make 11-16 km journey

‘Leave Kharkiv now, even if on Russian troopers in Kharkiv,

Actress Pooja Hegde at the
trailer launch of her upcoming
film Radhe Shyam in Mumbai
on Wednesday. — AFP
TMC decimates Opp
in Bengal, wins 102
of 108 civic bodies
Kolkata: Ten months after
its landslide victory in the
West Bengal Assembly
polls, the ruling Trinamul
Congress on Wednesday
steamrolled the entire Opp-
osition in the civic polls,
bagging 102 of the 108
municipalities in the state,
an SEC official said.The
TMC secured Kanthi
Municipality, the bastion of
Leader of Opposition and
Nandigram’s BJP MLA
Suvendu Adhikari, while
Hamro Party, a new entrant
in hill politics, trounced
TMC, GJM and BJP to win
Darjeeling Municipality. The
CPI (M)-led Left Front won
Taherpur Municipality in
Nadia district.
Full report on Page 3
Tikait: Camp near
UP counting centres
Baghpat, UP: Farmer
leader Rakesh Tikait on
Wednesday urged people
to come on tractors and
camp near counting centres
in Uttar Pradesh, claiming
“irregularities” could take
place.Counting of votes for
the Uttar Pradesh Assembly
elections will take place on
March 10. — PTI
Full report on Page 3
7K new Covid cases,
223 deaths in 24 hrs
New Delhi: India logged
7,554 new coronavirus
infections and 223 related
deaths in the last 24 hours.
The daily count of Covid-19
cases has remained less
than one lakh for 24 conse-
cutive days. In Delhi, as
many as 325 fresh cases and
one death was reported.
Full report on Page 3
COUNTERPOINT
foot’: India advisory to citizens clash
PM Modi speaks to
Putin, seeks safety of
Indians till evacuated
VINEETA PANDEY
NEW DELHI, MARCH 2
As Russia intensified its
attack on Ukraine, India
asked all its citizens to
immediately leave
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s sec-
ond largest city that has
been under relentless
attack, and reach either
Pesochin (nearly 11 kilo-
metres away), Babaye (12
kms) or Bezlyudovka (16
km away in Belgorod,
Russia) “as soon as possi-
ble” by foot or on any
vehicle available.
Meanwhile, Prime Mini-
ster Narendra Modi spoke
to Russian President
Vladimir Putin late
evening on Wednesday
seeking safety of Indians
till they are evacuated.
“The leaders reviewed
the situation in Ukraine,
especially in the city of
Kharkiv where many
Indian students are stuck.
They discussed the safe
evacuation of the Indian
nationals from the con-
flict areas,” the PMO said.
The embassy said
Indians must reach these
settlements by 6 pm
SC hearing on
plea for FIRs
against parties
giving freebies
PARMOD KUMAR
NEW DELHI, MARCH 2
The Supreme Court on
Wednesday agreed to
hear a public interest
plea to register police
cases against political
parties promising free-
bies in their election
manifestos. A bench of
Chief Justice
Ramana and Justices
N.V.
A.S. Bopanna and Hima
Kohli posted the matter
for hearing on Thursday
(March 3) after advocate
Barun Kumar Sinha
mentioned the matter
for an early hearing.
“Forget about when
elections are over and
all that. What will the
courts do, stop the elec-
tions? Election bribing
is taking place every-
where. We know that.
It’s not for a particular
state. You have to prove
before a court of law,”
said CJI Ramana, agree-
ing to hear the matter on
Thursday.
The PIL, filed by Hindu
Sena vice-president
Surjit Singh Yadav, said
he was aggrieved by the
offers and promises by
the Congress, Samaj-
wadi Party, Bahujan
Samaj Party and the
Aam Aadmi Party in the
ongoing Assembly
■ Turn to Page 4
with Ukrainian Army
Nazism is born in silence. Shout about killings of civilians: Zelensky
Kyiv, March 2: Russian
forces shelled several Ukr-
ainian cities on Wednes-
day as troops battled in
the streets of Kharkiv and
Ukraine’s President
accused Moscow of wanti-
ng to “erase our country”.
A Russian missile attack
on Tuesday night dam-
aged Kyiv's main televi-
sion mast, which was
built at Babi Yar, the site
of World War II's biggest
slaughter of Kyiv Jews
and a place of memorial
and pilgrimage. A woman cries as she leaves a house damaged by a
An Indian student (left), evacuated from war-torn Ukraine, hugs her mother upon her
Russian airstrike, according to locals, in Gorenka, outside
Urging Jewish people
arrival at the NSCBI Airport in Kolkata on Wednesday. Family members holding the around the world to speak Kyiv, on Wednesday. — AP
national flag greet Indian evacuees at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New up, Ukraine’s President
Delhi. Relatives and friends gather near a garlanded photo of Naveen Shekharappa, a Volodymyr Zelensky said
Abramovich to sell Chelsea FC, says
medical student who was killed in heavy Russian shelling in Kharkiv, to mourn his in a televised address, “I
demise outside his residence at Chalageri village in Karnataka’s Haveri. — PTI am now addressing all the
Jews of the world. Don’t
proceeds to help Ukraine war victims
22-year-old Punjab India again abstains Babai and Bezlyudivka as
soon as possible. Under all
you see what is happen-
ing? That is why it is very
London, March 1: Faced
with the threat of finan-
The Russian billionaire
said he will not be asking
student dies of stroke on UNGA resolution
circumstances they must important that millions of cial sanctions targeting to be repaid $2 billion in
reach these settlements Jews around the world Russians, Chelsea owner loans he has granted the
Chandigarh: A 22-year- United Nations: India on by 1800 hrs (Ukraine time) not remain silent right Roman Abramovich con- club during 19 years of
old student from Punj- Wednesday abstained today,” the Indian emb- now. Nazism is born in firmed Wednesday he is injecting cash to elevate
ab’s Barnala district on a UN General assy tweeted in all-caps at sile-nce. So shout about trying to sell the Premier the team into one of the
who had suffered an Assembly resolution 4.57 PM, India time. kill-ings of civilians. League club he turned most successful in
Ischemia stroke and was that strongly deplored Indians stranded in Kha- Shout about the murders into an elite trophy-win- Europe.
undergoing treatment Russia’s aggression rkiv said leaving the area of Ukrainians.” ning machine with his “I have instructed my
for about a month died against Ukraine, the in the absence of vehicles Russian Army para- lavish investment. team to set up a charita-
Wednesday in the war- third abstention in less was nearly impossible troopers landed in Abramovich’s trophy ble foundation where all
hit Ukraine. PAGE 4 than a week. — PTI and alleged they were not Kharkiv, Ukraine’s sec- asset made him a high- net proceeds from the
being allowed on trains. ond-most populous city, profile target for politi- sale will be donated,” he
Ukrainian time (9.30 pm Kharkiv. For their safety Ministry of external and clashes with the cians demanding he be said. “The foundation
IST) on Wednesday. and security they must affairs spokesperson Ukrainian Army were included among wealthy will be for the benefit of
“Urgent advisory to all leave Kharkiv immediate- Arindam Bagchi said the reported. — Agencies and influential Russians all victims of the war in
Indian nationals in ly. Proceed to Pisochyn, ■ Turn to Page 4 ■ More on Page 6 hit with British sanctions. Ukraine.” — AP
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS
‘Putin has no idea
what’s coming,’
warns Prez Biden
Washington, March 2:
US President Joe Biden
warned Vladimir Putin
that the Russian leader
“has no idea what’s
coming”, as Western
nations tightened an
economic noose around
Russia, whose invading
forces bombarded not elaborate. US law-
Ukrainian cities and makers stood, applaud-
appeared poised for an ed and roared, many of
advance on Kyiv. them waving Ukrainian
In his hour-long State flags and wearing the
of the Union address to country’s blue and yell-
lawmakers on Tuesday ow colours, as Mr Biden
night, the US President delivered his speech.
said: “Putin’s war was “In the battle between
premeditated and democracy and autoc-
unprovoked. He reject- racies, democracies are
ed repeated efforts at rising to the moment
diplomacy. He thought and the world is clearly
the West and Nato choosing the side of
wouldn’t respond. And peace and security —
he thought he could this is the real test,” Mr
divide us here at home.” Biden said, but warned
Declaring Russia’s of a long struggle
invasion of Ukraine as ahead, adding: “It’s
the first unifying battle going to take time.”
in democracy’s new From his Kyiv bunk-
duel with tyranny, Mr er, Ukrainian President
Biden said, “While he Volodymyr Zelensky
may make gains on the had beseeched Mr
battlefield — he will Biden for a strong mes-
pay a continuing high sage to Russia.
price over the long “Let each of us... stand
run.” Straying from the and send an unmistak-
prepared text, Mr Biden able signal to Ukraine
added, “He has no idea and to the world,” Mr
what's coming.” He did Biden said. — Agencies

WEATHER Daughter-in-law has no absolute

Max: 27 C
Min: 14OC
RH: 45%
O

right to live in shared house: HC

Rain: Nil
Forecast: Sunny
ASTROGUIDE
Plava: Uttarayana
Tithi: Magha Bahula
Chaturdasi till 1.01 am
Star: Dhanishta till 3.47 am
Varjyam: 9.03 am to 10.33 am
Durmuhurtam: 8.58 to 9.45
am; 11.14 pm to 12.03 am
Rahukalam: 3 pm to 4.30 pm
SUNSET TODAY 6.22 PM
SUNRISE TOMORROW 6.44 AM
MOONRISE TOMORROW 7.18 AM
MOONSET TODAY 7.04 PM
Under DV Act, can be evicted if given alternative residence
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, MARCH 1
The Delhi high court has
ruled that a daughter-in-
law does not have an
absolute right of resi-
dence in a shared house-
hold under the Domestic
Violence Act, and she
can be evicted at the
behest of aged in-laws
who are entitled to live
peacefully. Justice
Yogesh Khanna, hearing
an appeal by a daughter-
in-law against a trial
court order denying her
the right to stay in the
matrimonial house, said
in case of a shared
household, the property
owner can insist on the
eviction of his daughter-
in-law, and in this specif-
ic case it would be appro-
priate if alternative
accommodation is pro-
vided to the appellant as
long as her marriage
continues.
The judge said in this
case, both in-laws are
senior citizens and they
are entitled to live peace-
fully and not be haunted
by marital discord
between their son and
daughter-in-law. “I am of
the considered opinion,
since there exists a fric-
tional relationship
between the parties, at
the fag end of their lives
it is not advisable for old
parents to stay with the
appellant, and hence it
would be appropriate if
an alternative accommo-
dation is provided to the
appellant as directed in
the order under Section
19(1)(f) of the Protection
of Women from
Domestic Violence Act,”
the high court said in a
■ Turn to Page 4
 CITY
THE ASIAN AGE | THURSDAY | 3 MARCH 2022 | NEW DELHI
SHORT TAKES
Woman files
molestation plaint
against colleagues
Gurgaon: A woman working
with a bakery in Sector 34
here has accused two of her
colleagues of molesting her,
police here said on
Wednesday. According to the
complaint filed by her, the
two men threatened to kill
her and get her fired her
from job. The woman, who
hails from Assam, accused
Satish Sharma and Sanjay
Chauhan, both her col-
leagues, of sexual harass-
ment, said a police officer.
An FIR has been registered
under section 354 (molesta-
tion) of the IPC at Sadar
Police Station against both
the accused who are
absconding now, he said. “It
was on February 28 when
they started fighting with me
and then sexually harassed
me. But I was shocked when
they not only threatened to
kill me but also threatened to
get me fired from the job,”
the woman said in her com-
plaint, according to the
police. “We are look into the
matter and verifying the
facts. Action will be taken as
per the law,” said inspector
Dinesh Kumar, SHO of Sadar
police station. — PTI
Man gets 5 years
jail for attempting
to rape neighbour
Gurgaon: A local court on
Wednesday sentenced a man
to five years’ rigorous impris-
onment and imposed a fine
of `7,000 for attempting to
rape a woman, police here
said. The sentence was
announced by additional dis-
trict and session judge Raj
Gupta. The incident had hap-
pened December 13, 2018,
when Amit, the convict, tried
to rape his neighbour in
Nathupur village. Following
her complaint at the DLF
Phase-3 Police Station, the
accused was arrested the
next day and was sent to
judicial custody. “My hus-
band is a taxi driver and was
on duty that night. At late
night when I went out to toi-
let, my neighbour Amit
grabbed me from behind and
tried to rape me. I raised an
alarm but he ran away,” the
woman had said in her com-
plaint, according to police.
The case was on since then
and the accused was lodged
in jail. — PTI
Man injured during
road rage in
Delhi, 2 arrested
New Delhi: A man got injured
after he was beaten up fol-
lowing a quarrel broke out
over touching of vehicles
between two parties in north
Delhi’s Bhalswa Dairy area,
police said on Wednesday.
The injured has been identi-
fied as Ravinder, they said.
According to police, a dis-
pute ensued between two
parties due to vehicle touch-
ing. Ravinder and Golu were
in one party, while one Vakil
and Masum were in another
party. Ravinder and Golu
were on bike and Vakil and
Masum were in a car, they
said. The vehicles of both the
parties touched with each
other, following which Vakil
and Masum started beating
Ravinder and Golu. In the
quarrel, Ravinder received
some injuries and was taken
to Babu Jagjivan Ram
Memorial hospital in
Jahangirpuri, Deputy
Commissioner of Police
(outer north) Brijendra
Kumar Yadav said. Police
said that the condition of
Ravinder is fine. The alleged
Vakil and Masum were
nabbed and they are already
in police custody, they said.
42-yr-old woman
found dead in
Gurgaon colony
Gurgaon: A 42-year-old
woman was found dead in
her rented house in Kanhai
Colony here, police said on
Wednesday. She had marks
on her neck and was sup-
posedly strangulated, police
said. The woman was identi-
fied as Kamla Devi, a native
of Panna in Madhya
Pradesh, and was found
dead on Tuesday in the
house where she lived with
a man. The man is abscond-
ing and is a prime suspect
in the matter, they said,
adding an FIR has been reg-
istered at Sushant Lok
police station and a probe
is on. “The accused is still
absconding and we are try-
ing to nab him,” said
inspector Jasveer, SHO
Sushant Lok police station.
— PTI
■ ‘Efforts being made to allay fears of family members of those stranded in Ukraine’
Reach out to students evacuated or still
stuck in Ukraine: Delhi govt to officials
New Delhi, March 2: The
Delhi government has
asked district authorities
to reach out to the families
of students evacuated from
the war-hit Ukraine or
those who are still stuck
there to extend any help
they need and assure them
that all necessary steps are
being taken for their wel-
fare, officials said on
Wednesday. They also said
district authorities have
engaged teachers and other
staff in their respective
jurisdiction to effectively
execute these orders.
According to the orders
issued by district authori-
ties, the teams concerned
will meet the families of
stranded students and
assure them that adequate
High court resumes physical NDMC bans polythene carry bags
hearings, Hybrid mode still on thinner than 75 microns in its area
New Delhi, March 2: The
Delhi High Court
Wednesday resumed full-
fledged physical function-
ing which was earlier
restricted due to the
Covid-19 pandemic. All the
judges started holding
physical hearings while
continuing the hybrid sys-
tem which gives an option
to the parties and the
advocates to appear virtu-
ally through the video con-
ferencing platform.
Since March 2020, the
high court has been hold-
ing proceedings through
video conferencing follow-
ing the outbreak of Covid-
19, and subsequently, few
benches started holding
physical courts every day
on rotation basis.
The high court had
resumed physical hear-
ings from November 22
last year but they were
suspended on December
30 and a decision was
taken to shift to the virtu-
al mode on account of the
third wave of the virus.
It had started graded
physical functioning last
month and advised all
A doctor checks the ear of a student for prevention of deafness at a screening camp
on the National World Hearing Day in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Cop among 6
held for drug
trafficking
Gurgaon, March 2: An
assistant sub-inspector
of the Delhi police and
his five associates were
arrested for allegedly
peddling drugs, officials
said on Wednesday.
According to Palwal
police, around 1,370 kg
of marijuana worth
over `2 crore was seized
and the five arrested
included ASI Shoyeb,
Asif, Mohammad, Aas
Mohammad, Lakhpat
and Taufiq, all residents
of Nuh and Palwal dis-
tricts.
The contraband was
packed in 44 sacks and
hidden under coconuts
in a truck that came to
Mewat from Odisha,
they said. Shoaib was
with the special cell of
Delhi police and escort-
ing the truck in his car,
Rajesh Duggal, superin-
tendent of police,
Palwal said. — PTI
AISA activists protest in New Delhi on Wednesday
against recent killing of a student named Naveen in
Ukraine.
steps are being taken to
ensure the welfare of their
wards. They will also visit
the houses of students
evacuated from Ukraine
◗ THE HIGH court had
resumed physical hearings
from November 22 last
year but they were sus-
pended on December 30
and a decision was taken
to shift to the virtual
mode on account of the
third wave of the virus
stakeholders to get them-
selves vaccinated at the
earliest.
Before that, complete
physical hearings were
resumed from March 15,
2021 but on April 8, 2021, it
was ordered that matters
would be taken up
through virtual mode only
on account of the second
wave.
Last year, the high court
had issued its standard
operating procedure
(SOP) to regulate the entry
of lawyers and litigants
inside the court building
and said that those dis-
playing symptoms of flu,
fever, and cough shall not
be allowed.
In the protocol issued by
Registrar General Manoj
Jain, the high court clari-
DU’s School of Open Learning
prohibits protests outside campus
New Delhi, March 2: The
Delhi University’s School
of Open Learning (SOL)
has prohibited protests
outside its campus build-
ing as regular demonstra-
tions are leading to distur-
bance in academic activi-
ties, according to officials.
No official notification or
order has been issued in
this regard by the SOL
administration.
Officiating Principal
Uma Shankar Pandey told
PTI that he has just
“reminded” the police
about an order issued by
the Delhi High Court in
2006, as for the last few
days, people have been
holding protests and dis-
turbing students.
“No official notification
has been issued in this
regard. I have just written
to police reminding them
about the order issued by
the high court. The protes-
tors are causing distur-
bance in academic activi-
— G.N.JHA
and ask about their wellbe-
ing and offer whatever help
they need, an official of the
Central district said.
Such orders have been
fied that no litigant, who
is represented by a lawyer,
would be permitted entry
unless there is a specific
direction.
It has also said that those
coming to the high court
have to strictly follow
social distancing norms
and wear masks at all
times.
The SOP also made it
clear that advocates,
party-in-person, and regis-
tered clerks above the age
of 65 years and those suf-
fering from co-morbidities
may refrain from physi-
cally appearing in courts.
“No litigant, who is rep-
resented by an advocate,
would be permitted entry
unless there is specific
direction by the court. The
advocates, party-in-per-
son, and registered clerks
above the age of 65 years
and those suffering from
co-morbidities may
refrain from appearing in
courts. Persons displaying
symptoms of flu, fever,
cough, etc. shall not be
permitted entry inside the
court complex,” the SOP
had said. — PTI
— G.N. JHA
◗ OFFICIATING PRINCIPAL
Uma Shankar Pandey told
PTI that he has just
“reminded” the police
about an order issued by
the Delhi High Court in
2006, as for the last few
days, people have been
holding protests and dis-
turbing students
ties,” Pandey clarified. In a
letter sent to police last
week, the principal said
that it has been noticed for
the last 15 days that some
groups of “unauthorised”
persons, including student
outfit Krantikari Yuva
Sangathan (KYS), has been
protesting, demonstrating
and staging dharnas in
front of the SOL main gate.
“I may like to inform you
that Hon’ble High court of
Delhi through its order on
August 3, 2006, had stated
that the defendants be
restrained permanently
from holding demonstra-
issued by all 11 districts of
the national capital.
Chief minister Arvind
Kejriwal had on Tuesday
urged the Central govern-
ment to bring back Indians
stranded in Ukraine at the
earliest and provide them
with all help.
A senior administrative
official of the South Delhi
district said that these
efforts are being made to
allay fears of family mem-
bers of those stranded in
different cities of Ukraine
by offering them whatever
help they need. “These are
tough times for the families
of students who are still
stuck in Ukraine. Officials
will meet families of such
students and put them in
touch with other higher
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, MARCH 2
The New Delhi Municipal
Council on Wednesday
imposed a complete ban
on the use of polythene
carry bags thinner than
75 microns in its area
with a provision of a fine
of `5,000 on its breach.
The NDMC also plans to
ban the use of virgin or
recycled carry bags and
other plastic commodities
including polystyrene
materials thinner than
100 microns from July 1
this year and those thin-
ner than 120 microns
from December 31 this
year.
Besides the use, the ban
would also apply to the
manufacturing, stocking,
sale and distribution of
these non-degradable pol-
luting materials. “The
NDMC, exercising its
power under subsection
(z) of section 12 of the
NDMC Act, 1994, has
imposed a complete ban
on the sale, use, stocking
and distribution of plas-
Delhi records
325 Covid-19
cases, 1 death
New Delhi, March 2:
Delhi on Wednesday
reported 325 Covid-19
cases and one death,
while the positivity rate
stood at 0.81 per cent,
according to data shared
by the city’s health
department. The nation-
al capital’s case count
has now increased to
18,60,561 and the death
toll has risen to 26,127.
The number of Covid-19
tests conducted a day
ago stood at 40,284, the
bulletin stated.
On Tuesday, Delhi
reported 344 Covid cases
with a positivity rate of
0.80 per cent and 4
deaths due to the infec-
tion. The day before, the
city had logged 258
infections with a posi-
tivity rate of 0.71 per
cent and zero death.
Delhi had on Sunday
recorded 484 cases with
a positivity rate of 0.95
per cent and three
deaths. — PTI
tions and dharnas, shout-
ing slogans, holding meet-
ing etc. within the premis-
es of School of Open
Learning and at least at a
distance of not less than
200 meters from the build-
ing,” the letter read.
The letter came against
the backdrop of ongoing
protests by KYS since
reopening of the universi-
ty campus. On February
18, Pandey had filed a
police complaint alleging
some agitating students
entered the building and
misbehaved with women
security guards and man-
handled the staff.
The KYS, on the other
hand, had accused authori-
ties of attacking students
and fracturing one of the
student’s arm. The outfit
on Wednesday strongly
condemned the letter to
police sent by the principal
terming it “anti-student,
illegal and arbitrary
order”. — PTI
authorities engaged in the
evacuation process, pro-
vide them with helpline
numbers and other help as
well,” the official told PTI.
Another official from
Shahdara district said that
teachers and other staff
who are engaged in this
exercise will also ask stu-
dents evacuated from
Ukraine under the
Operation Ganga about
their experiences and the
difficulties they faced.
“They will be extended
whatever help they
require,” the official said.
He added that teams of
teachers and other staff of
the district have also been
deployed at the airport for
immediate help of evac-
uees. — PTI
◗ DRAWING UP a phase-
wise plan to make the
NDMC areas free of plastic,
the civic body has also
decided to prohibit plastic
commodities including
polystyrene from July 1
while a complete ban will
be imposed on the plastic
carry bags from December
31, 2022.
tic carry bags (virgin or
recycled) less than 75
microns henceforth,” a
senior NDMC official
said.
The NDMC areas are
home to the offices and
residence of the members
of the country’s central
legislature, apex court
and the Executive, besides
those of several promi-
nent industrialists and
others.
Drawing up a phase-wise
plan to make the NDMC
areas free of plastic, the
civic body has also decid-
ed to prohibit plastic com-
modities including poly-
styrene from July 1 while
a complete ban will be
51-yr-old man arrested for
duping banks of crores
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, MARCH 2
A 51-year-old man was
arrested by Delhi police
crime branch for allegedly
duping banks to the tune of
several crores on the basis
of forged documents, the
Delhi police said on
Wednesday. The accused
has been identified as
Surender Yadav (51), a
native of Rewari, Haryana,
they said.
The police stated that the
accused had cheated SBI
Bank, J&K Bank and
Syndicate Bank of crores
of rupees by getting cred-
it/loan from the banks on
the basis of forged proper-
ty and business docu-
ments.
According to the police a
2 arrested for killing
man in south Delhi
New Delhi, March 2: The
Delhi police has arrested
two persons for allegedly
killing a 27-year-old man
following a quarrel in
south Delhi’s Hauz Khas
area, officials said on
Wednesday. The accused
have been identified as
Deepak Kumar (31) and
Himanshu Kumar (24),
both residents of Gautam
Nagar here, they said.
After receiving informa-
tion about the incident,
the police reached the
spot and found the body
of the deceased, identi-
fied as Shivam Pandey,
lying there, officials said.
The police analysed the
footage from CCTV cam-
eras and found that
Pandey along with five to
six of his friends had
come to the house of a
man named Sanjeev in
Gautam Nagar area, they
said.
When he was talking to
Sanjeev, four men came
from inside the house and
started firing at Pandey
who tried to escape.
However, the four men
chased him and after
Pandey fell down, one of
them fired three rounds
Tunnel at Pragati Maidan
may be ready this month
New Delhi, March 2:
Commuters travelling to
the India Gate and other
central Delhi areas from
east Delhi, Noida and
Ghaziabad will soon be
able to avoid traffic snarls
at ITO and nearby stretch-
es as the construction of a
tunnel underneath the
Pragati Maidan is likely to
be completed this month,
officials said. Officials
said it will be Delhi’s first
tunnel in which traffic
moves.
Officials of the Public
Works Department
(PWD), which is helming
the project, said that along
with the tunnel six under-
passes are also being con-
structed at Mathura Road,
Ring Road and Bhairon
Marg to streamline traffic
movement in the region.
They said that once the
tunnel is operational,
motorists travelling from
Noida, Ghaziabad and
imposed on the plastic
carry bags (virgin or recy-
cled) less than 120
microns from December
31, 2022.
The officer said that the
defaulters shall be liable
to pay environmental
compensation of `5,000
per default. A public
notice has been issued by
the NDMC in this regard
in accordance with the
Plastic Waste
M a n a g e m e n t
(Amendment) Rules 2021
notified by the Ministry of
Environment, Forest and
Climate Change..
“Single-use plastic items
like earbuds with plastic
sticks, sticks for balloons,
plastic flags, candy sticks,
ice cream sticks, poly-
styrene (thermocol) for
decoration, plates, cups,
glasses, cutlery such as
forks, spoons, knives,
straws, stirrers, trays.
wrapping or packaging
films around sweet boxes,
invitation cards, cigarette
packets, plastic or PVC
banners less than 100
microns are being dis-
tip off was received about
one proclaimed person car-
rying a reward of `25,000.
With the help of technical
surveillance it was found
that the accused was con-
stantly changing his hide-
outs. Subsequently the
accused was arrested from
Rewari, Haryana.
The police further said
that in 2010, accused per-
sons namely Anita Yadav
and Surender Yadav had
approached SBI, Chandni
Chowk branch, for finan-
cial assistance i.e cash
credit for smooth running
of their business (trading
in electrical equipment)
and presented themselves
as the proprietor of M/s.
Pragati Associates. The
proposal was scrutinised
and credit facilities aggre-
at his head and fled, a sen-
ior police officer said.
On Tuesday, the police
laid a trap at Gulmohar
Park here and nabbed
Deepak and Himanshu,
Deputy Commissioner of
Police (south) Benita
Mary Jaiker said.
Interrogation revealed
that Pandey had called
Deepak one day in a very
“insulting manner” fol-
lowing which both of
them called their associ-
ates and a fight broke out
between them, the police
said.
Deepak found out that
Pandey and his friends
were looking for him and
had even visited his
house. So, Deepak decid-
ed to kill Pandey, the
police said.
Deepak brought two pis-
tols and Himanshu
brought one firearm and
shared their plan to kill
Pandey with Sanjeev,
police said.
When Pandey came to
Sanjeev’s house, Deepak
and his associates fired at
him. Two country-made
pistols were recovered
from the two accused,
police added. — PTI
pg 2
east Delhi will have sig-
nal-free access to the India
Gate, Supreme Court,
Mathura Road and vice-
versa.
Under the project, the
PWD is constructing a 1.2-
km-long tunnel and six
underpasses at an esti-
mated cost of `777 crore.
The tunnel will start near
the National Sports
Complex of India (NSCI)
on the Purana Qila Road
and pass underneath the
redeveloped Pragati
Maidan to culminate at
the Ring Road near
Pragati Power station.
“It will be Delhi’s first
tunnel in which the traffic
will move. The construc-
tion work of the project is
in its last leg and is likely
to be over later this month
positively. After the com-
pletion of the project we
plan to open the facility at
the earliest,” an official
said. — PTI
couraged in NDMC area,”
the official added.
NDMC has also
announced the imposition
of a complete ban on the
sale, use, stocking and dis-
tribution of plastic carry
bags (virgin or recycled)
less than 120 microns
from December 31, 2022.
The civic body also
urged the RWAs, MTAs,
NGOs as well as govern-
ment and non-govern-
ment offices to join the
initiatives launched by
the NDMC to eliminate
the plastic waste from the
streets, lanes, roads and
other public places.
“The NDMC is organis-
ing various awareness
programmes in markets,
residential areas and
prominent public places
on behavioural change to
reduce, reuse and recycle
the plastic and say no to
single-use plastic,” the
official said. “The NDMC
area’s safai sewaks will
also visit shops in market
areas to create awareness
about this initiative,” he
added.
gating to 24 crores were
sanctioned. Accused per-
sons availed the limit as
per their needs and
requirement, but they
never repaid the loan.
Later, when SBI scruti-
nised the property docu-
ments deposited by the
accused and his wife
Anita, it was revealed that
the collateral
security/mortgaged prop-
erty documents deposited
by them were already
mortgaged with Syndicate
bank and J&K Bank and
titles/ownership of one of
the properties was also
found to be disputed.
The accused persons did
not join the investigation
of the case and were
absconding to evade their
arrest.
2 arrested for
raping 2
minor girls
in Ghaziabad
Ghaziabad, March 2: Two
men were arrested on
Wednesday for allegedly
raping two girls — one a
five-year-old and another
of 14 years age — in two
different cases in the
Murad Nagar area of the
district, police said.
In the first case, a five-
year-old girl was lured by
her neighbour Sandip to
his home when she visit-
ed a shop near her home
to buy something, police
said.
In the second case,
accused Babloo abducted
the 14-year-old girl on his
motorcycle and took her
to a sugarcane field by
Pipe Line Road in Murad
Nagar and raped her
there.
After the girl reached
home, she was alleged
gangrape by Babloo and
her friends following
which Babloo was arrest-
ed. The police have
begun a probe into the
case and are trying to
ascertain the identity of
other accused in the gan-
grape case. — PTI
 NATION
THE ASIAN AGE | THURSDAY | 3 MARCH 2022 | NEW DELHI
pg 3

SHORT TAKES
Hurriyat leader held
under stringent PSA
Srinagar: Senior Hurriyat
Conference leader Gulzar
Ahmed Dar alias Gulzar
Ahmed Gulzar who was
arrested by the police here
on Monday has been formal-
ly detained under Jammu
and Kashmir’s stringent
Public Safety Act (PSA). The
officials said that Gulzar who
is the vice-chairman of the
separatist amalgam led by
jailed leader Massarat Aalam
was giving “derogatory and
inciting statements” to
Radio Pakistan as a member
of the Hurriyat Conference
faction (previously headed
by Syed Ali Shah Geelani)
and “trying to disturb peace
and tranquillity in Srinagar
city.” “He has been detained
under PSA vide No.
DMS/22/PSA/137 dated
28.02.2022 by police station
Batamaloo and lodged in
Central Jail Srinagar,” an
■ Ruling party wins 102 of 108 bodies, Suvendu fails to protect his bastion
TMC decimates Opp. in civic polls
RAJIB CHOWDHURI
KOLKATA, MARCH 2
West Bengal's
Trinamul Congress on
Wednesday swept the
ruling
third phase of civic polls,
winning 102 out of 108
municipalities in the state.
While the CPI(M)-led Left
Front managed to secure
only one, Taherpur munic-
ipality in Nadia, the BJP
and Congress lost their
deposits.
The TMC secured Kanthi
Municipality, the bastion
of Leader of Opposition
and Nandigram's BJP
MLA Suvendu Adhikari,
while Hamro Party, a new
entrant in hill politics,
trounced TMC, GJM and
BJP to win Darjeeling
Municipality.
The CPI (M)-led Left
Front won Taherpur
Municipality in Nadia dis-
trict.
On the other hand,
Berhampore municipality
in Murshidabad, which is
in the stronghold of local
Congress MP and state
unit chief Adhir
Choudhury, was won by
chief minister Mamata
Banerjee's party for the
first time.
The mainstream parties
were however stunned by
two new outfits in the
hills. One of them is the
Hamro Party which won
Darjeeling municipality
within six months of its
launch by Ajoy Edwards, a
former GNLF leader who
is also the owner of a cen-
tury-old famous restau-
rant, Glenary's, at the hill-
top.
TMC supporters celebrate in Birbhum after the party’s
landslide victory in the municipal elections.
His party bagged 18 out
of 32 wards while reduc-
ing the Gorkha Janmukti
Morcha (GJM), led by
Bimal Gurung, to three
from 31 in 2017. Another
new hill outfit, Bharatiya
Gorkha Prajatantrik
Morcha, founded by ex-
— PTI
GJM leader Anit Thapa
recently, also performed
well, winning nine seats.
The TMC, which bagged
only one seat earlier,
added another this time.
The BJP, which has an MP
and MLA in the hills, was
nowhere. In a rare
instance, four municipali-
ties– Beldanga in
Murshidabad, Jhalda in
Purulia, Egra in East
Midnapore
Chanpdani
and
Hooghly–
became hung.
Elated over yet another
landslide poll victory by
her party, TMC supremo
tweeted, "Heartfelt grati-
tude to Ma-Mati-Manush
for according yet another
overwhelming mandate to
us. Congratulations to the
winning candidates of the
All-India Trinamul
Congress in the municipal
elections. Let victory
enhance our responsibili-
ty and dedication. Let tri-
umph impart humility. Let
us together work for
peace, prosperity and
development of the state.
Jai Bangla!"
2013 JHEERAM GHATI MASSACRE
Setback to NIA as
HC rejects plea to
dump police FIR
RABINDRA NATH
CHOUDHURY
RAIPUR, MARCH 2
In a setback to the
National Investigation
Agency (NIA),
Chhattisgarh high court
on Wednesday rejected its
plea to dump the police
FIR filed in connection
with the 2013 Jheeram
Ghati incident in which
27 Congress leaders were
massacred by Maoists in
Bastar in the state.
The development has
paved the way for the spe-
cial investigation team
(SIT) constituted by the
Chhattisgarh govern-
moved the special court
in Jagdalpur in Bastar
challenging the police
FIR. The court rejected
the NIA’s petition.
The NIA then moved the
Chhattisgarh high court
challenging the special
court’s verdict in the case.
The NIA while seeking to
dump the police FIR had
pleaded in the HC that the
agency may be allowed to
probe if there was any
conspiracy in the attack.
A division bench of
Justices R.C.S. Samant
and Arvind Singh
Chandel, which had earli-
er granted a stay on the
SIT probe in the case, on

NIA calls Bengal

order issued by Srinagar’s ment to probe into the Wednesday pronounced
district magistrate said.
Under the PSA, a person can
be detained for a period of
six months to two years
Instead of illegal arms, UP minister Giri in
alleged conspiracy angle
in the incident. The son of
former Congress legisla-
tor Uday Mudaliar filed
its verdict in the case
rejecting the NIA plea to
dump police FIR.
NIA sources said the
bomb blast case
without the authorities seek-
ing a formal trial.

Tejashwi calls
now makes missiles: Shah AGE CORRESPONDENT
KOLKATA, MARCH 2
an FIR in Darbha police
station in Bastar in 2018
alleging conspiracy in the
deadly attack.
national probe agency
may move the Supreme
Court to challenge the
high court’s order.
Chandauli (UP), March 2: The Bhupesh Baghel Several senior Congress
Nitish govt ‘circus’ Mamata Banerjee
Union home minister
Amit Shah on Wednesday
The
Investigation
National
Agency
government later consti-
tuted the SIT to investi-
leaders such
Chhattisgarh PCC chief
as

Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi said illegal weapons were (NIA) summoned West gate the conspiracy angle Nand Kumar Patel and his
Yadav took apart the Nitish
government in Bihar, calling
it a “circus” that lacked coor-
Hindu Yuva made earlier in Uttar
Pradesh to scare and kill
people but now shells and
Bengal fisheries minis-
ter Akhil Giri, known for
his rivalry with Leader
in the incident and made
a plea to NIA to transfer
necessary documents
newly-married

ter Mahendra Karma were

son
Dinesh, and former minis-

dination, indulged in “loot

and plunder”. Speaker Vijay
Kumar Sinha resorted to
Vahini stir missiles are being manu-
factured to protect the
country. He was apparent-
of the Opposition
Suvendu Adhikari, for
questioning in a bomb
related to the case to SIT.
The NIA, however,
brutally murdered by the
Maoists in the incident.

adjournment of proceedings
for a few minutes, disrupting
the Opposition leader’s
speech midway, as BJP lead-
ers were left frothing at the
mouth over references to the
RSS and its ‘khatarnaak’ (dan-
gerous) world view. As the
House reassembled, Mr Yadav
spoke in detail of contribu-
tions made by Muslims in the
freedom struggle. He pointed
out that people from the
minority community had
coined the slogan ‘inquilab
zindabad’ and penned the
song ‘sare jahan se achcha
Hindustan hamara’. The
declamation was made with
reference to a remark by BJP
MLA Haribhushan Thakur that
Muslims should be stripped
of voting rights if they found
greets Didi
in Varanasi
Varanasi (UP), March 2:
West Bengal chief min-
ister Mamata Banerjee
faced protests from
Hindu Yuva Vahini dur-
ing her visit to Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi's constituency
here on Wednesday, with
members of the right-
wing outfit waving black
flags and raising slogans
against her.
Ms Banerjee, who
reached the city
Wednesday evening to
campaign for the SP can-
didate, was moving
ly referring to the defence
industrial corridor com-
ing up in the state.
Mr Shah also listed vari-
ous achievements of the
BJP government in the
state.
Chandauli will go to
polls during the seventh
phase on March 7.
"Earlier, illegal weapons
were made in Uttar
Pradesh, which were used
to scare or kill people.
Today, shells and missiles
are being made here,
which are used to protect
India. This change has
come during the BJP gov-
ernment," Mr Shah said
addressing an election
meeting here."
Union home minister Amit Shah during his visit to Kashi
Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. — PTI
Mr Shah also exuded you have to vote to take the
confidence that the BJP tally (of seats) beyond 300."
will win the ongoing The home minister said,
Assembly elections. "In UP, one or two
"I have been to around 150 'bahubalis' (musclemen)
(Assembly) seats of in UP are still left, who will be
and seen the election mood sent to the jail after March
at every place. In the first 10. Till the time law and
five phases of the elec- order situation is
tions, the SP and the BSP improved, development
will be wiped off, and the cannot take place and
people are working to form industrial investments
the BJP government. Now, cannot come." — PTI
blast case that killed two
Trinamul Congress
workers at Khejuri in
TIKAIT URGES PEOPLE TO CAMP
East Midnapore
January 3 this year.
on
NEAR COUNTING CENTRES IN U.P.
The summons report-
edly came to Mr Giri Baghpat (UP), March 2: day before the counting is
amid a mood of celebra- Farmer leader Rakesh taken up and camp with
tion in his family over Tikait on Wednesday tractors at the counting
the win of his son, urged people to come on sites from March 9 itself,”
Suprakash, as a council- tractors and camp near Tikait told reporters in
lor in the Contai counting centres in Uttar Baraut in Baghpat.
Municipality in East Pradesh, claiming “irreg- He also asked people to
Midnapore. This is the ularities” could take reach with beddings a day
first time in nearly four place.Counting of votes ahead as they will not be
decades when the influ- for the Uttar Pradesh allowed to go there on
ential Adhikari family Assembly elections will March 10.
would have no municipal take place on March 10. During the zila panchay-
representative at Contai. “What was done in the at polls held in the state
Mr Giri however zila panchayat (elections) last year, opposition par-
denied getting any such cannot be ignored. Reach ties had alleged large
notice. the counting centres a scale irregularities. — PTI

Unvaccinated
‘Vande Mataram’, the national towards the
song, problematic.

Panchayat member
shot dead in J&K
Srinagar: A member of a
panchayat in Jammu and
Kashmir’s southern Kulgam
district was shot and critical-
ly wounded by unidentified
assailants on Wednesday
evening. A report said that
the gunmen targeted inde-
pendent Panch Muhammad
Yakub Dar at Kulpora
Srandroo, a remote village of
Kulgam district. He was
rushed to hospital, but he
succumbed to his injuries on
the way. Dr. Muzaffar Zargar,
medical superintendent of
the district hospital, said Dar
was brought dead to the
hospital. The police blamed
the murder of the panch on
separatist militants.
Dashashwamedh Ghat
to attend the 'Ganga
Aarti' when activists of
Vahini gathered in front
of her convoy at the
Chetganj crossing.
The protesters shouted
slogans against her and
waved black flags while
the police tried to stop
them. Banerjee got down
from her vehicle and
stood on the road for
some time.
As the convoy moved
on, BJP supporters
showed her black flags
and raised slogans of
"Mamata Banerjee
wapas jao (go back)" and
"Jai Shri Ram" in
Gadaulia area.
The police personnel
deployed in the area
tried to snatch the black
flags and chase away the
protesters.
The Hindu Yuva Vahini
can’t board
Mumbai local
SHAHAB ANSARI
MUMBAI, MARCH 2
The Maharashtra gov-
ernment on Wednesday
informed the Bombay
high court that it won't
withdraw restrictions
imposed on unvaccinat-
ed people from travelling
in Mumbai local trains.
The HC expressed its
displeasure over the
state’s stand and allowed
the petitioners to chal-
lenge the new order if
they are aggrieved by it.
Stating that the govern-
ment has not respected
the sentiments observed
by the HC, Chief Justice
Maha Budget Session to be a
stormy affair amid Malik row
BHAGWAN PATAB and
SONU SHRIVASTAVA
MUMBAI, MARCH 2
The budget session of
the Maharashtra state
legislature, starting
from Thursday, is likely
to be a stormy affair as
the ruling MVA alliance
government has taken a
firm stand of not bowing
before the BJP's agres- Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative
sive demand to seek the Council Pravin Darekar, former CM Devendra
resignation of minister Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil
Nawab Malik, who is fac- addressed the media in Mumbai. — DEBASISH DEY
ing allegations of money
laundering and links minority affairs minis- said that the situation
with the underworld. ter, was arrested by the and reasons might have
The BJP has shot back Enforcement Directorate been different then. "It is
saying it will fight till (ED) last week in connec- the prerogative of the

DIGGY LOYALIST
was founded by BJP Dipankar Datta said, “We the minister resigns. tion with a money laun- chief minister from
leader and UP chief min- will remember this. This "Chief minister dering probe linked to whom to seek the resig-
ister Yogi Adityanath is a lesson the court has Uddhav Thackeray is the activities of fugitive nation and from whom

IS WOMEN CONG nearly two decades ago.

The West Bengal chief
learnt from the state gov-
ernment in this case.”
firm on the decision of
not seeking the resigna-
gangster Dawood
Ibrahim and his aides.
not," he added.
Leader of opposition

CHIEF IN MP
minister and TMC presi- The bench allowed the tion of Nawab Malik. When reminded about Devendra Fadnavis said
dent, who is a bitter crit- government to publish The matter is presently the ouster of Anil that if the NCP doesn't
ic of Mr Modi, is sched- the fresh order and also in the high court," said Deshmukh and Sanjay want to seek Mr Malik's
RABINDRA NATH CHOUDHURY uled to campaign for the allowed the petitioners to deputy chief minister Rathod from the Cabinet resignation, then this
BHOPAL, MARCH 2 SP and its allies in challenge the fresh order Ajit Pawar on Tuesday. after they faced allega- government is dedicated
Varanasi. — PTI once it is published. Mr Malik, the state tions earlier, Mr Pawar to Dawood Ibrahim.
The AICC on Wednesday
appointed Vibha Patel, a loy-
alist of former chief minister
Digvijay Singh, as president
of Madhya Pradesh unit of
women wing of Congress.
Kashmir Valley schools reopen after 31 mths
YUSUF JAMEEL

India logs 7,554

The appointment comes a
couple of weeks after the SRINAGAR, MARCH 2
AICC removed Archana
Jaiswal, a loyalist of MP There was joy, content-

cases, 223 deaths

Pradesh Congress
Committee (PCC) president
and former chief minister
Kamal Nath, from the post of
president of state women
Congress. Sources said Ms
Jaiswal had lobbied hard to
retain the post, but lost to
Ms Patel in the race for the
post. Ms Patel is said to be
enjoying the backing of the
powerful ‘axis’ in state
Congress comprising
Digvijay Singh, former minis-
ter Ajey Singh and former
Union minister Arun Yadav,
which is believed to be
emerging as a counter
weight to Mr Nath in the
party in the state. She was
mayor of Bhopal Municipal
Corporation in 1998 when Mr
Digvijay Singh was chief
minister of Madhya Pradesh.
Sources said another leader
Noori Khan, a loyalist of Mr
Nath, had also unsuccessful-
ly lobbied for the post.
Earlier, Ms Jaiswal’s appoint-
ment as president of state
women Congress had caused
a rift between the Digvijay
and Kamal Nath camps,
leading the AICC leadership
to remove her from the post.
ment and thrill among
students and teachers
alike as schools in
Kashmir Valley reopened
on an optimistic note
after about two and a half
years on Wednesday.
Schools and other edu-
cational institutions in
Jammu and Kashmir
were shut days before the
Centre abrogated Article
370 and split the state up
into two Union
Territories on August 5,
2019. Reopened after the
customary winter break
in March 2020, these
were, however, again
closed within days in the
face of Covid-19. After
being reopened in the
first week of March 2021,
the authorities had imme-
diately ordered their clo-
sure once again as the
deadly second wave of the
pandemic peaked.
Though the schools in
the ‘summer zone’ of
J&K, including the win-
ter capital Jammu and
the higher education
institutions in Kashmir,
began reopening in a
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, MARCH 2
India logged 7,554 new
coronavirus infections
and 223 related deaths in
the last 24 hours. The
daily count of Covid-19
Teachers greet students with flowers as they arrive to cases has remained less
attend their classes on the first day of reopening of than one lakh for 24 con-
secutive days.
schools in the Valley after a gap of almost three years
In Delhi, as many as 325
due to abrogration of Article 35A and Covid-19 in fresh Covid-19 cases and
Srinagaron Wednesday. — PTI one death were reported
phased manner in Qasim Bakshi, a student in the last 24 hours. The
February, Wednesday was at a Srinagar private city’s positivity rate
the first day of school school. Another student stands at 0.81 per cent.
reopening in Srinagar Mehreen Shah said that The number of daily
and most other parts of she was feeling ecstatic cases in Delhi has been
the Valley. over the resumption of on the decline after
Students excited over the normal functioning of touching the record high
the reopening exchanged schools. of 28,867 on January 13.
greetings with each other “For the first time in the The city had recorded a
and their teachers. “I’m past couple of years, our positivity rate of 30.6 per
so happy to be at the school appears to be as cent on January 14, the
school again. I hope and such. It was earlier giving highest during the ongo-
pray, this time the normal the look of a decayed ing wave of the pandem-
schooling will go on. If place,” said Engineer ic.
you ask me, I was fed up Muhammad Shahid Dar, The active cases, which
with online teaching…it chairman of Crescent have dipped to 85,680
was getting boring,” said Public School, Srinagar. cases in India, comprise
0.20 per cent of the total
infections. The national
Covid-19 recovery rate
has also improved fur-
ther to 98.60 per cent.
There has been a reduc-
tion of 6,792 cases in the
active Covid-19 caseload
in a span of 24 hours.
The total tally of Covid-
19 cases and related
deaths have increased to
4,29,38,599 and 5,14,246
respectively. India's
Covid-19 tally had crossed
the 20-lakh mark on
August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on
August 23, 40 lakh on
September 5 and 50 lakh
on September 16. It went
past 60 lakh on
September 28, 70 lakh on
October 11, crossed 80
lakh on October 29, 90
lakh on November 20 and
surpassed the one-crore
mark on December 19.
The country crossed the
grim milestone of two
crore on May 4 and three
crore on June 23 last year.
 NATION
THE ASIAN AGE | THURSDAY | 3 MARCH 2022 | NEW DELHI
pg 4

SHORT
35 hurt as speeding
TAKES
PM: We’re able to rescue citizens from 22-year-old
from Punjab

Ukraine because of India’s rising power

bus overturns in MP
Singrauli, MP: At least 35
passengers were injured,
four of them seriously, after
a speeding bus overturned
in Madhya Pradesh’s
Singrauli district on
Wednesday, police said. The
accident took place near
Gurjar Dhaba under Jiyawan
police station area, about 50
km from the district head-
quarters, in the morning, an
official said. As many 35
passengers of the private
bus heading to Waidhan
from Sidhi were injured in
the accident, said Kapoor
Tripathi, the in-charge of
Jiyawan police station. The
injured passengers were pro-
vided treatment at Deosar
community health centre,
while four who were serious-
ly injured were referred to
the trauma centre at
Waidhan, he said. The driver
and conductor of the bus
fled from the spot following
the accident, the official
said. — PTI
Sonbhadra/Ghazipur
(UP), March 2: Prime
Minister Narendra Modi
on Wednesday said India
has been able to evacuate
its citizens from war-hit
Ukraine because of its ris-
ing power and assured the
country that his govern-
ment will leave no stone
unturned for the safe
return of all Indians
stranded there.
Addressing election ral-
lies in Uttar Pradesh’s
Sonbhadra and Ghazipur
districts, Mr Modi spoke of
the government’s rescue
efforts in the wake of the
Russian military offensive
against Ukraine and also
underlined the need for
India to become self-
reliant. “The dynasts ques-
tion our vaccine, they
question our armed forces
and make fun of ‘Make in
India’. Such people have
shamed the country and
The dynasts ques-
tion our vaccine,
they question our
armed forces and
make fun of ‘Make
in India’. Such peo-
ple have shamed
the country and its
people. They can’t
make India strong,
— Narendra
Modi,
Prime Minister
the people of the country
that the Government of
India will leave no stone
unturned for the safe
return of its citizens.’’
Mr Modi also targeted
his rivals, accusing them
of ignoring the problems
of the poor when in power.
Sonbhadra and Ghazipur
will go to the polls in the
dies of stroke
in Ukraine
Chandigarh, March 2: A
als of Sonbhadra is also 22-year-old student from
used in the development of Punjab’s Barnala dis-
its people,” he said and trict who had suffered
highlighted that an Ischemia stroke and
Sonbhadra has been was undergoing treat-
included in the list of aspi- ment for about a month
rational districts. “ died Wednesday in the
“Our government has war-hit Ukraine.
also honoured great tribal Chandan Jindal was
leaders including Birsa admitted at the
Munda. Ten tribal muse- Emergency Hospital
ums are also being set up,” Vinnytsia in Ukraine,
Modi said. official sources here
Earlier the Minimum said.
Support Price (MSP) used His family has request-
to be given on only eight to ed the government to
10 forest products. “Our bring back his mortal
government is giving MSP remains.
on over 90 forest products. Jindal was studying at
We have provided over 20 Vinnytsia National
lakh plots of land to tribal Pirogov Memorial
families,”’ Prime Minister Medical University,
Modi said. Vinnytsia.
Sonbhadra has two Jindal’s uncle Krishan
assembly constituencies Gopal told reporters in
reserved for STs. Barnala that they had
“The BJP focuses on the received information
development of small about his poor health on
farmers. Over `350 crore February 3 and the

4 ENROUTE TO
its people. They can’t last phase on March 7. have been deposited in the authorities in Ukraine
make India strong,” he Modi said the previous bank account of over 2 had sought the family’s
said. governments of “dynasts” lakh families in approval for performing

MUMBAI CAUGHT Asserting that the coun-

try has made it a priority
exploited the natural
resources of the
Sonbhadra district,” the
Prime Minister said.
an operation.
Gopal said he and

WITH 32 KG GOLD
AKSHAYA KUMAR SAHOO
BHUBANESWAR, MARCH 2
The Odisha police on
Wednesday seized 32 kg of
gold jewellery which was
being transported to
Bhubaneswar from Mumbai
via a train. Four persons
were taken into custody for
questioning in this connec-
tion. Government Railway
Police (GRP) sources said
that the gold ornaments
were being transported by
the four persons who were
travelling in the Mumbai-
Bhubaneswar Konark
Express. The four persons
who were carrying the gold
to rescue all Indians stuck
in Ukraine, Modi said, “It
is due to India’s rising
strength that we are able
to bring back stranded
Indians from Ukraine.
Operation Ganga has been
launched and I have sent
four ministers to oversee
the evacuation.
“Our army and air force
have also been deployed to
rescue Indians in distress
faster. Today I also assure
■ After harrowing week, 100 kids enter Poland from Ukraine
Narrow escape for Kerala student
New Delhi, March 2: It
Sonbhadra region but
never did anything for its
development.
He told the gathering
that if the “corrupt”
become strong, they would
again indulge in the loot of
money sent by the Centre
for the welfare of the poor.
“We have made a scheme
to use the development of
District Mineral Fund to
ensure that a portion of
the earnings from miner-
Speaking at Ghazipur, Chandan’s father
Mr Modi accused the oppo- Shishan Kumar went to
sition parties of turning a Ukraine on February 7.
blind eye to the problems — PTI
faced by women.
“The dynasts never
realised the problems of
women but our govern-
Kin of J&K
ment gave them free gas
connection. Over 2.5 lakh
free gas connections under
kids stuck
Ujjwala scheme have been
given in Ghazipur alone,”
An Indian student evacuated from war-torn Ukraine is received her family member
upon arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday. in Ukraine
he said. — PTI — PTI
hold protest
Why were students not
AGE CORRESPONDENT
SRINAGAR, MARCH 2
ty, heaved a sigh of relief
flown back earlier: Didi
RAJIB CHOWDHURI reasons in the matters of
The parents and other
family members
scores of students from
J&K stranded
of

items have been identified
by the police as Hasmukhlal
Jain, Surseh Sahadev Khare,
Mahesh Bhomsar and
Deepak Patel. All of them
hail from Mumbai. “The four
persons brought the gold
ornaments from Mumbai to
sell them to traders in and
around Bhubaneswar. We
zeroed in on them due to
their suspicious activities,”
Chandrasekhar Sahu, sub-
divisional police officer,
Khurda Road Zone (GRP)
said while briefing the
media. “They evaded tax. So
far, they have not disclosed
who their prospective buy-
ers are,” Sahu said. The
detained persons admitted
that they had earlier brought
gold jewellery to
Bhubaneswar and sold to
local traders. Further investi-
gation is underway in the
case. Earlier, numerous
instances of seizure of
smuggled gold at the Biju
Patnaik International Airport,
Bhubaneswar, had been
reported. In another inci-
dent, the Odisha police con-
fiscated a massive haul of
fake currency notes with an
overall face value of over `7
lakh in Bhubaneswar.
was a providential escape
for 25-year-old medical
student Assoiun Hussain
who was just 50 metres
away when his batchmate
Naveen Shekarappa
Gyanagoudar was killed
in shelling in war-torn
Ukraine’s Kharkiv town.
A day later, Hussain’s
family in Kerala are
thankful he escaped but
also know that many per-
ils lie ahead.
Assoiun along with oth-
ers is on his way to west-
ern Ukraine from Kharkiv
to escape the fierce
Russian assault, his broth-
er Afsal Hussain said.
“Naveen’s death came as
a shocker. My mother, who
was concerned and
stressed, collapsed as the
news broke out. She is
now admitted at a hospi-
tal. It is testing times for
us, who are thousands of
kilometres away,” he said.
The Russian attack
began last week and heavy
shelling has been reported
from several areas of
Ukraine, including capital
Kyiv and Kharkiv.
“My brother had taken
shelter in an underground
Indian students flash victory signs after crossing the
Ukraine-Poland border, amid Russia-Ukraine conflict, in
Budomierz, Poland, on Wednesday. — PTI
metro rail station, which unable to escape because
was 50 metres from the of the continuous
place Naveen died. He was shelling, say parents, who
his batchmate,” Afsal have also flagged their
Hussain said as he and concern over the Indian
others in Kerala’s embassy’s advisory ask-
Kannaur city scan social ing students to reach
media platforms for Ukraine’s borders for
updates. evacuation.
Gyanagoudar, who Meanwhile, 100 Indian
hailed from Chalageri in students managed to cross
Haveri district of over to Poland from war-
Karnataka, was a fourth- hit Ukraine on Wednesday
year medical student like morning after experienc-
Assoiun Hussain at the ing several anxious
Kharkiv National Medical moments over the last one
University. week. The students, who
Several students, who had to brave hunger and
are holed up in bunkers in freezing temperatures
Ukrainian cities, are amid a sense of uncertain-
when they crossed over to
Poland. They now await
their flight back home on
Thursday.
“We finally made it after
experiencing so many
anxious moments in the
last one week, including
freezing nights at the
underground railway sta-
tion in Kyiv,” said Ansh
Pandita, a third-year stu-
dent of the Taras
Shevchenko National
Medical University in the
Ukrainian capital.
The students shared
their picture as soon as
they entered Poland. From
the border, they were
taken into buses kept in
readiness by the Indian
mission. “At Lviv, we saw a
little over 20 students from
the Kharkiv Medical
College waiting to cross
over,” said Ansh, who
hails from Ghaziabad and
had taken over the role of
the leader of the group.
The students had posted
videos on social media
platforms seeking help
when they were stranded
at the Vokzal station,
Kyiv’s main train hub.
— PTI
KOLKATA, MARCH 2
West Bengal chief minis-
ter Mamata Banerjee on
Wednesday accused the
Centre of “negligence” by
not evacuating the strand-
ed Indian students from
Ukraine before the inva-
sion by Russia. The
Trinamul Congress supre-
mo also offered herself to
visit war zones to save
lives, unlike the Union
ministers who she claimed
play more politics on duty.
Before flying to
Varanasi to campaign for
Samajwadi Party leader
Akhilesh Yadav on
Thursday for the Uttar
Pradesh Assembly
Election, Ms Banerjee
said, “It is unfortunate
but true when the PM
came to know about the
entire crisis three-four
months ago which I found
in YouTube and discus-
sion in the media, why
wasn’t the evacuation of
these students planned
then?”
She alleged, “I have seen
we actually lag behind
because of some coordi-
nation gaps and political
external affairs.
Somebody died while oth-
ers are moving here and
there. When the govern-
ment was aware of the
developments, why didn’t
it bring back the students
earlier? Why did it act
late? Now the train is run-
ning late. The passengers
are suffering. Why would
they? Trains must run on
time. So this is a fault and
negligence which is a
crime. We can not play a
game with our students.”
The CM noted, “These
boys and girls would not
have cried lying in
bunkers or had to wait at
the Romanian border or
had to lose life in search
of food if they were res-
cued earlier. It is the onus
of whoever is in govern-
ment to evacuate the citi-
zens. He is bound to do it.
But I found the civil avia-
tion minister giving lec-
tures which are not suit-
able. It is not good to pub-
licise efforts after some-
thing happens. Humanity
and saving lives are more
important than address-
ing political rallies for
elections.”
in
Ukraine Wednesday held
a protest demonstration
in Jammu, urging the
authorities to initiate
steps for the safe evacua-
tion of their wards.
In Srinagar, the fami-
lies of several stu-
dentsalleged that the
authorities have failed
to acknowledge their
concern. “We are
extremely worried about
the safety of our chil-
dren. Those at the helm
of affairs here apparent-
ly do not feel our pain,”
said one of them.
A report had earlier
said that three different
groups of 49 Kashmiri
students have managed
to leave Ukraine for
Moldova and Romania
on their own.
A report from Delhi
said that the first batch
of 13 J&K students and a
Kashmiri family
reached Delhi on
Wednesday afternoon.
They flew from
Romania, the report
said, adding that they
will stay in Delhi
overnight and return
home on Thursday.

‘Daughter-in-law has no absolute ‘Leave Kharkiv now, even if Tewari hits out
right to live in shared house: HC
■ Continued from Page 1
recent order. The court noted that
◗ THE APPELLANT, mother of
two minor daughters, had
on foot’: India issues advisory at partymen over
the relations between the parties ■ Continued from Page 1 ◗ NEARLY 17,000 Indians out an SOS: “Please help. I
contended that the property was

were “far from cordial” and there
was even a complaint by the hus-
band, who lived in separate rental
accommodation, against his wife,
and he had not claimed any right in
the property in question.
“Admittedly, the right of resi-
dence under Section 19 of the DV
Act is not an (absolute) right of res-
idence in shared household, espe-
cially, when the daughter-in-law is
pitted against an aged father-in-law
and mother-in-law. In this case,
both being senior citizens aged 74
and 69 years, and being in the
evening of their life, (they) are enti-
tled to live peacefully and not be
haunted by the marital discord
between their son and daughter-in-
law,” the court said. The court dis-
missed the appeal by the appellant
and recorded the pledge given by
the respondent father-in-law that
he would provide alternative
accommodation to the appellant as
long as her matrimonial relation-
ship with his son was in existence.
The respondent father-in-law had
SC hearing on plea over parties giving freebies
■ Continued from Page 1
elections being held in five states.
The PIL challenged the
offers/promises of freebies by polit-
ical parties during the Assembly
elections if they are voted to power.
The plea also said that candidates
who are found offering freebies
may be declared disqualified from
contesting elections in that state as
this is important for free and fair
elections.
The petition further said the
Election Commission should be
purchased out of joint family funds
and from sale proceeds of the
ancestral property, and thus she
also has a right to reside there
filed a suit for possession in 2016
before the trial court on the
grounds that he was the absolute
owner of the property and the hus-
band of the appellant — his son —
had shifted to some other place,
and that he was not inclined to live
with his daughter-in-law.
The appellant, mother of two
minor daughters, had contended
that the property was purchased
out of joint family funds and from
sale proceeds of the ancestral prop-
erty, and thus she also has a right to
reside there.
The trial court passed a decree of
possession in favour of the respon-
dent and held that the property was
his self-acquired property, and after
the termination of the applicant’s
licence, she had no right to stay
there.
directed to evolve a mechanism at
the time of filing nominations, dec-
larations to the effect that their
political parties, on whose symbol
they are contesting elections, have
not made any offer and promise of
freebies at the cost of public money
if they are voted to power.
“If such declarations by the can-
didates are found wrong, such can-
didates must be declared disquali-
fied from contesting elections and,
if elected, such election may be
declared void,” the petition said.
advisory is based on Russian
inputs. “We have not chosen
the time,” he said.
There is a huge shortage of
public transport in Kharkiv
which has lost several build-
ings to Russ-ian missile
attacks and is expected to fall
soon.
Kharkiv, a city near the
Russian border, has been fac-
ing intense shelling for the
last couple of days now leav-
ing close to two dozen civil-
ians dead including an
Indian student. It is expected
that the Russians will try to
capture the city Wednesday
night.
India’s foreign secretary
Harsh V. Shringla spoke with
the Russian and Ukrainian
ambassadors in India
demanding safe passage of
Indian nationals who are still
in Kharkiv and other
Ukrainian cities. The
Russian ambassador-desig-
nate to India Denis Alipov
said that the Russian govern-
ment is constantly in touch
with the Indian side to pro-
vide safe passage to Indian
nationals.
“We are in touch with the
Indian authorities with
regard to its citizens current-
ly in Kharkiv, Sumy in the
areas in the north-east of
Ukraine. We will do our
utmost to keep Indians up to
date on what is happening.
India has requested an emer-
gency exit of its citizens. We
are working to protect civil-
ian life and to provide
have left Ukraine since
the initial advisories were
issued. This includes those
who had not registered
with the embassy of India
in Kyiv previously.
humanitarian corridors so
that stranded Indians have a
safe passage. Hopefully, it
will happen in the very near
future and Indian nationals
will be safe and sound on
Russian territory,” Mr Alipov
said. He assured Russia will
do everything to safeguard
against any civilian casual-
ties. Mr Alipov added that
Russia will also investigate
the death of the Indian stu-
dent.
However, Indian students in
Kharkiv and other parts of
Ukraine had a different tale
of struggle to tell.
“My daughter, with 1,000
other Indian students, is
stuck at Pivdennyi Vokzal
Railway station. Ukrainian
soldiers are threatening to
shoot if they try to board the
train. A missile blasted near
the station by the Russian
fighter,” said one parent.
Students alleged that trains
were not letting Indians in.
However, it was later men-
tioned that male students
helped girls board the train
first and leave the area as
they waited to take the next
train. Indians said there
aren’t enough bunkers for
them to take shelter.
One Dr Ishaan Kaul sent
am stuck in Nova Astrakhan
Luhansk Oblast with my wife
and daughter. Here Russians
have captured the territory. I
am unable to leave from here.
I have been trying to contact
the embassy for many days
but no one responds. I need
help to move out of here.
Please respond.”
Nearly 17,000 Indians have
left Ukraine since the initial
advisories were issued. This
includes those who had not
registered with the embassy
of India in Kyiv previously.
As flights under Operation
Ganga increased, during the
last 24 hours six flights have
landed in India, taking the
total number of flights to 15.
The total number of
Indians who have returned
onboard these flights is 3,352.
Out of these, 1,796 were evac-
uated through Romania, 430
through Poland and 1,126
through Hungary. As many
as 15 flights are scheduled
over the next 24 hours, many
of which are already enroute.
The IAF has joined
Operation Ganga, and the
first C-17 flight from
Bucharest will return to
Delhi late on Wednesday
night, while three more IAF
flights will be undertaken
from Budapest, Rzeszow and
Bucharest. Meanwhile, India
is sending humanitarian aid
in the form of medicines,
medical equipment, tents,
blankets, solar lamps to
Ukraine through Poland and
Romania routes.
crisis in Ukraine
Cong leaders are nowhere to be seen
when students are stuck, says leader
Chandigarh, March 2: Congress
MP Manish Tewari on
Wednesday took on his own
party leaders in Punjab, claim-
ing they were nowhere to be
seen when thousands of Indian
children were in jeopardy in
war-ravaged Ukraine and his
head “hangs in shame” at the
callousness.Tewari asked if
only the Punjab MPs were sup-
posed to be doing all work and
questioned where were chief
minister Charanjit Singh
Channi, state Congress chief
Navjot Sidhu, former state unit
chief Sunil Jakhar and AICC
incharge Punjab affairs Harish
Chaudhary.
His outburst comes on a day
when he, along with other
Congress MPs Gurjeet Aujla,
Amar Singh, Santokh
Chaudhary, Jasbir Singh Gill
and Ravneet Bittu, met Union
minister of state for external
Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi, seek-
ing increased efforts for evacu-
ation of the students stuck in
the eastern European country.
In a series of tweets, Mr
Tewari said, “I’m appalled
great leaders of @INCPunjab
Congress are nowhere to be
seen/heard when thousands of
our children our
in jeopardy. Is it
only Punjab
MPs who have to
do the heavy lift-
ing? Where is
@CHARAN-
JITCHANNI,
Manish @sherryontopp,
Tewari @ S u n i l j a k h a r,
@Barmer_Harish. Is power be
and end all?”
“The reason to be in public
life is public service. Elections
are not the beginning and the
end of politics. Can’t you see
the videos, hear the cries of our
children? Is this your Punjab
model? I hang my head in
shame at your sheer callous-
ness. Wake up gentleman there
is a life beyond elections,” he
further tweeted.
He also hit out at the AAP, the
SAD and the BJP, telling them,
“if you care for Punjab stand up
and be counted”.
“Where are the rest of the
political parties who fought the
Punjab elections so passionate-
ly? @AamAadmiParty,
@Akali_Dal, @BJP4India. Why
are you MIA?” Mr Tewari said
in another tweet. — PTI
 EDIT
THE ASIAN AGE | THURSDAY | 3 MARCH 2022 | NEW DELHI
pg 5

Subhani

3 MARCH 2022

Genocide risk in Kyiv: Will

world look the other way?
C
rime, especially killing, is an addiction; whether for individuals or
nations. The experience and indulgence of a supreme power of con-
trolling millions of people, with a licence to disrupt their lives, or toy-
ing with their destiny, or just kill them, without accountability, with-
out answerability, without a process, or reason, must be hard to resist.
A reason why the Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an act of aggres-
sion, “…a special military operation…”, the euphemism for war used in the
official announcement, and for a stated justification of “…protecting people,
including Russian citizens, subject to genocide…”, is now itself turning into a
potential genocide by an invader in a sovereign neighbouring country, in the
full view of the world.
The military supremacy of Russia over Ukraine is moot; but history, includ-
ing the recent, has enough chapters on how supreme military powers have
found it easy to invade, but extremely hard to hold on to a conquered but hos-
tile land.
Possibly surprised, even furious, at the slow march of its forces into
Ukrainian cities, and stunned by the resistance in place; unexpected and
unforgettable images of a little girl telling a soldier to go back, threatening him
with her fists; a civilian lying down in front of an
The world must now armoured tank and trying to stop it with his bare
rethink the sense of hands; of young people taking guns they have
urgency with which it never used before to protect their cities, Russia has
would act; else the set on to a more dangerous tactic of bombing cities,
including and especially civilian targets.
blood of the When the hubris of demagogues meets with
Putin’s war strikes at world RIP, RAMADHIN
LETTERS

innocents would not comeuppance, it turns more lethal for the weak.
be the responsibility With a desire to show its power and demoralise the
of only the Russians. Ukrainian resistance, Russians took to bombard-
There are sins of ing Kharkiv, the second-largest city of the victim
nation, leaving dozens dead. Over half a million
order, exposes UN’s futility Europe’s darkest hour
The demise of legendary
West Indies spinner,
Sonny Ramadhin, who
omission, too. people have turned refugees within a week, in the An extended war in today must spur the world
could make the ball turn
most severe humanitarian crisis in Europe in over Europe could to recognise the futility of both ways, played 43
three decades.
With almost nothing, from US and European nation sanctions to the debates Ashwani Kumar de-freeze frozen
conflicts in the
evading hard choices to
sustain principles that can
Tests between 1950 and
and resolutions in the United Nations to the “peace” talks being held in ensure a just and humane 1961 for 158 wickets at
region and challenge
Belarus proving any deterrent; civilian deaths, and untold human trauma, will
the received wisdom
world order. Indian diplo- 28.98, is saddening. He
only multiply with each hour of the war. macy is challenged again to
When and if Russia takes over any city with a large civilian population, there that economic inter- navigate, as best as possi- was 92. Many stories are
is little precedent to predict the casualties and pain it would inflict on the dependence between ble, the balance between told of his tremendous
population. nations could principle and pragmatism. feats on the 1950 tour

A
The attack on major cities, and strikes at civilian areas and infrastructure, s I write this,
which among others killed an Indian youth, clearly deviates from the Putinian Ukraine, a na-
pronouncement that it would be a “special military operation”, which had the tion of 44 mil-
only silver lining in the crisis — that it would remain a military operation and lion people, is
spare the civilians from direct line of fire. fighting valiant-
Not anymore. With the conflict now clearly becoming one of a superpower ly to defend its freedom and
playing to demonstrate its power to inflict fatal blows, slaughter of innocent territorial integrity against
civilians, including women and children, is a real risk. A possible genocide is Vladimir Putin’s “war of
a very real risk in coming weeks. choice for all the wrong
The world must now rethink the sense of urgency with which it would act; reasons”. Caught between
else the blood of the innocents would not be the responsibility of only the disbelief, despair and com-
Russians. There are sins of omission, too. pulsions of realpolitik, the
world at large seems help-
less to help beyond an
expression of outrage even
as the Russian armed for-
Raj Bhavan discordance ces continue to penetrate
deep inside Ukraine. Mos-
cow has placed its nuclear
UN and its instrumentali-
ties as facilitators of global
peace.
The escalating armed
hostilities in Ukraine
underscore the urgency of
reform of the UN system so
that the aspirations of the
“numerical majority” are
not suborned by the
“mighty minority”
through an uncon-
scionable exercise of the
veto power, seen in the
West-sponsored UNSC res-
olution against Russia. In a
bizarre scenario, the
aggressor, acting as a judge
in its own cause, vetoed the
alone safeguard
international peace
the received wisdom that
economic interdependence
between nations could
alone safeguard interna-
tional peace. The trajectory
of the Ukrainian conflict
could rekindle internation-
al interest in nuclear capa-
bility as the ultimate deter-
rent and defence against
threats to territorial
integrity, in a setback to
the nuclear disarmament
process.
In asserting the inviolabili-
ty of the sovereignty and when he combined with
territorial integrity of Alf Valentine to form
nations, without explicitly
endorsing Russia’s censure cricket’s “spin twins” as
in the UNSC by its absten- West Indies conquered
tion, India’s has been a fine England away from home
balancing act. While rein-
forcing the sacrosanct for the first time. His
principles of the UN Char- English exploit was cele-
ter, India has preserved its
strategic neutrality in the brated in the famous
service of its overarching “Victory Calypso” — and
and multidimensional nat-
ional interests. Jawaharlal
is still remembered more
Nehru had cautioned that than 70 years later.
“no government dare do
anything, which in the
short or long run is not
Sankar Paul
Chakdaha, West Bengal

T
he makers of the Indian Constitution were quite categorical, as forces on alert, in an omi-
reflected in the words of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, that “the governor under
the Constitution has no functions which he can discharge by himself:
nous signal of a possibly
prolonged confrontation.
no functions at all... the governor is bound to accept the advice of the min- Russia’s exclusion from
istry”. The constitutional provisions were made accordingly, and various the SWIFT financial sys-
high courts and the Supreme Court have reiterated on several occasions tem and more pledges of
the primacy of the council of ministers, elected by the people and account- military support from the
able collectively to the legislature, in all matters of policy and governance. United States and other
It leaves no role to the governor in governance though it is done under countries, meanwhile, is of
his/her name. A proper understanding of this fact should give no occasion some comfort to those who
for a skirmish between the two. stand on the right side of
Sadly, that has not been the case and it has worsened of late. Reports history.
from several states which are ruled by parties not affiliated with the rul- Mr Putin’s repeated mis-
ing dispensation at the Centre talk of routine discordant notes emanating adventures starting with
from the Raj Bhavans. The governor of Kerala throws tantrums at will; the Georgia in 2008 and the
latest was his stand that he would not address the state Assembly at the annexation of Crimea in
beginning of the year as mandated by the Constitution unless his feeling 2014 represent a brazen
of hurt at being slighted by a senior bureaucrat was assuaged. While the infraction of the first prin-
former governor of Tamil Nadu started interacting with district collectors ciples of the UN Charter.
directly, the present incumbent has chosen to wade into matters such as Russia’s ambition to
language policy and a bill seeking to make NEET ineffectual in admission redraw the territorial map
to medical courses. There is no day when the governor and the govern- of Central Europe and to
ment are not at loggerheads in West Bengal. The latest is from Telangana forcibly reconfigure its
where the governor and the Cabinet have differed on the issue of address geopolitics is a case with-
to the House. out parallel in the 21st cen-
The gubernatorial post was created at a time that India was a nascent tury. The possibility of a
democracy making baby steps. The governors in their wisdom as elder sovereign nation losing its
statesmen were expected to offer wiser counsel to the elected representa- identity within days by
tives with little administrative experience. India has come of age as a deployment of brute Rus-
democracy and the governors should return to their role the founding
fathers had envisaged for them.
sian force inspired by the
fading memories of imperi-
al grandeur and superpow-
er status of the erstwhile
Soviet Union tests the
assumptions of a rules-
based international order.
Just as the world was
beginning to limp back to a
semblance of normality,
THE ASIAN AGE having suffered the conse-
quences of a devasting
KAUSHIK MITTER K. SUDHAKAR Covid-19 pandemic, Rus-
Editor Printer & Publisher
sia’s unprovoked assault
THE ASIAN AGE office is located at: on the territorial integrity
New Delhi: Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg, New Delhi-110002. Phone: of Ukraine has ramifica-
(011) 23211124. tions for global political
Published and Printed on behalf of and for
stability. It raises once
◗ Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, Jawaharlal Nehru National Youth Centre, 219 Deen Dayal Upadhyay Marg,
New Delhi 110 002 at BFL Infotech Ltd., C-9, Sector-III, Noida -201301. again the profoundly imp-
◗ London: Quickmarsh Ltd, 8th Floor, Block 2, Elizabeth House, 39 York Road, London, SE1 7NQ. ortant question about the
RNI Registration number: 57290/94 role and relevance of the
critical UNSC resolution to
shield itself against a for-
mal international censure
for its act of war in
Ukraine.
Moscow’s justification
for Ukraine’s “demilitari-
sation” as a measure of self-
defence, through what it
describes as “special mili-
tary operations” to prevent
the former Soviet republic
from moving into the US-
led Nato’s orbit, is an
orchestrated case of invent-
ed injury to reclaim lost
territory and restore the
dented Russian prestige
following the dismember-
ment of the USSR. Mr
Putin’s excursions in
Georgia, Crimea, Moldova
and Donbas are clearly
part of a time driven strate-
gy bolstered by the China-
Russian entente and facili-
tated by divisions in
Europe to “reset the imper-
ial table” and reclaim
Russia’s lost sphere of
influence. Revelling in
revanchism, Mr Putin
longs for Moscow’s old
glory and wishes to rewrite
the past into the future.
Though Mr Putin’s asser-
tion that Ukraine cannot be
treated as a state indepen-
dent of Russia is a histori-
cal absurdity post-1991, his
boastful challenge that
“any country attempting to
interfere will create conse-
quences you have never
seen” has introduced a
chilling dimension to a
grim situation. An extend-
ed war in Europe could de-
freeze frozen conflicts in
the region and challenge
Throughout its evolution,
international law has been
repeatedly called upon to
defend not only its efficacy
but also its existence as an
instrument of world peace.
The debates in the UNGA
and UNSC on several defin-
ing moments bear testimo-
ny to its impotence for
securing peace in zones of
conflict. This reminds us
we live in a world of power
untamed by legal
constraints.
Will the world find its
voice to denounce Mr
Putin’s war gambit or yield
yet again to validate the
ancient Greek wisdom that
“those who have the odds
of power exact as much as
they can and the weak
yield to such conditions, as
they get”, is the question.
A resolution of the
Ukraine crisis consistent
with its sovereignty and
territorial integrity will
indeed test the “tenuous
balance between power
and principle”. It will
demonstrate whether the
question of justice can be
divorced from the equation
of power and whether in
civilising itself in the use of
state power, the world has
progressed from force to
diplomacy, from diploma-
cy to law.
For the moment, we must
accept that the repeated tri-
umph of force over free-
dom in times of conflict
belies the claim that the
present global order is de-
signed to secure the tri-
umph of freedom every-
where.
manifestly to the advan-
tage of the country...”.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s implicit message to
Mr Putin in his telephonic
conversation and through
India’s UNSC statements is
to step back from the red
line and work towards a
negotiated settlement.
Despite the formidable,
vastly superior war
machine at his command,
Mr Putin must know in
today’s wired world, any
act of injustice or brutality
will have global ramifica-
tions. He would know from
history that the cry for free-
dom is an “unending fren-
zy” once it seizes popular
imagination and that nei-
ther the aggressor nor the
victim can escape the rav-
ages of war. He should
know that just as Iraq and
Afghanistan have irre-
trievably diminished Ame-
rica’s credibility as the
superpower arbitrator of
global peace, the percep-
tion of Mr Putin as an
aggressor in Ukraine has
dented his standing both in
the chanceries of the world
and in the collective con-
sciousness of the people as
a whole.
A collective global will to
stand in solidarity with the
Ukrainian people fighting
for their freedom and dig-
nity will be the test of civil-
isational progress anchor-
ed in empathy for the op-
pressed and resistance
against injustice.
The writer is a former
Union law minister
GOOD INDIAN APP
QUICK COMMUTING has been an
issue in Indian cities which don’t have
a robust network of buses. Uber and
Ola cashed on this opportunity. When
brands grow they gradually forget
their initial aim of making people’s
lives better. The same is happening to
these travel giants in Guwahati, the
only city they are serving in the entire
Northeast region. I was in Guwahati
for some days and I ordered a ride via
Uber app but my ride was cancelled
four times and the fifth time when the
cab arrived, the amount it displayed
was almost double that shown the first
time. It is then that the driver of my cab
took pity on me and suggested a local
app named PeIndia. True to its reputa-
tion, it was fast and affordable. I
ordered all my rides on PeIndia there-
after. Instead of giving our money to
American companies like Uber, why
not support local entrepreneurs?
Noopur Baruah
Tezpur, Assam
ASH WEDNESDAY
A DAY OF REPENTANCE and
prayer, Ash Wednesday is the day
when Christians from all over the
world confess their sins and profess
their devotion to God. The ashes
typically are embossed with the
words, “Remember you are dust
and to dust you shall return,” while
the sign of the cross is marked on
the forehead by the priest. This
speaks to us of both humility and
exaltation, of death and of new life.
The ashes signify our inner fragili-
ty and poverty, and the cross on our
foreheads our salvation in the
mercy of God. This year, Ash
Wednesday fell on March 2.
Jubel D’Cruz
Mumbai

T
he developments in Ukraine are keeping
Indians glued to their TV sets. Even Hindi
television channels abandoned their cov-
erage of the last phases of the endless Uttar
Pradesh polls to concentrate on the war in
Ukraine. Informed sources indicate that the BJP
moved a large number of its troops to Belarus.
These stayed put even after the exercise ended.
Second, the external affairs ministry needed to
have got its embassy in Kyiv to develop detailed
contingency plans for students in that country. An
important point emerging now is that students in
to this is the delay in having a detailed contin-
gency plan for the best and worst-case scenarios.
Missions have earlier done this, but critical to suc-
cess is time and imagination.
The government was offering a rolling defence
that evolves from day to day. It began with pro-
international disputes shall be settled by “peace-
ful means”. It’s not clear which part of this Russia,
a permanent and veto-wielding UN member, does
not understand.
This brings the issue of Indian votes. As the
world’s largest democracy, albeit falling in global

K.C. Singh is upset as its electoral strategy, to recover ground
lost in the first few phases, is getting derailed.
The Union government’s concern, ever aware of
public perceptions, has increased exponentially as
some TV channels began carrying telephone
interviews with students stuck in Ukrainian cities
or border crossing-points, in western Ukraine,
many places were restrained by their universities
from leaving due to the likely educational impact.
A threat from the embassy that the university
may be blacklisted for future recruitment would
have settled the matter. It is possible the Uk-
rainian government too may have discouraged an
exodus of foreigners as it causes panic among
BJP guests on television demonising Ukraine and
the West as provoking Mr Putin with Nato’s ex-
pansion. But Ukraine’s application has been pend-
ing for years. Then came the charge that Ukraine
was unhelpful to India after the 1998 nuclear tests.
But the United States, Japan and Australia were
even more scathing on that, even sanctioning
rankings of liberal democracies, how does failing
to uphold the UN Charter square with India’s aspi-
rations to be a UNSC permanent member? What
was India’s quarrel with China over Doklam? Was
it not that China was breaching Bhutanese sover-
eignty to access it? Is it not possible that China can
use Russia-like pluck and revised history to lay

After dragging its with Poland, Hungary and Romania. The news
became grimmer when the death was reported of
a student in Kharkiv, the second-largest city,
their population. The initial step then should have
been to send extra hands to deal with a crisis later.
Third, having sold Air India, the ticket tariff had
India. Then why join the Quad with them?
Most of the retired military officers had a pro-
Russia tilt, many having spent their careers work-
claim to large parts of Nepal and march up to the
Terai region?
The Narendra Modi government must, as the

feet, fence-sitting which lies close to the Russian border.

The Opposition, naturally, jumped on the gov-
ernment. The facts are that when the Indian
embassy in Kyiv issued the advisory on February
to be settled at the very start. When the airline
started scalping students with reportedly three
times the normal charge, government was still in
slumber. Many students would have ruled out
ing with the Soviets and their equipment. Also, it
was argued that Chanakya would be happy at
India’s pragmatism by being equidistant and neu-
tral. But is that not what Jawaharlal Nehru’s non-
Americans say, put their money where their
mouth is. Attending “Democracy Summits” while
appeasing autocratic rulers plunging the world
into chaos over dubious claims does not raise

on Ukraine, India 15, its language was still recommendatory, not

definitive. Nine days still remained for the
Russians to launch the offensive.
travel to India as the amounts were beyond their
budget. Belatedly, the government decided to pick
up the ticket tab, but by then the crisis had turned
alignment was all about? The last argument miss-
es an important point: The cardinal principles on
which the post-World War II security order and
India’s prestige. It compromises it. If Germany
can abandon the Nord Stream-II gas pipeline,
Western oil giants write off their Russian invest-

needs a gameplan First, did the Indian government not take the
warnings emanating from none less than US
President Joe Biden seriously enough, that were
repeated on the day of the advisory, that Russia
into war.
Finally, there is the diplomatic dimension.
Seeing that India has sat on the fence and
abstained on two UN Security Council resolu-
the United Nations was created. Article 2(4) of the
UN Charter reads: “All members shall refrain in
their international relations from the threat or
use of force against the territorial integrity or
ments and Europe unite against aggression, India
also needs to stop holding its nose and breathe
with them.

was readying to attack? It was also known that on tions, did South Block worry that strongly urging political independence of any state, etc.” It is pre- The writer is a former secretary in the external
the pretext of a joint military exercise, Russia had students to leave may upset the Russians? Linked ceded by Article 2(3), which lays down that all affairs ministry. He tweets at @ambkcsingh.
 WORLD
THE ASIAN AGE | THURSDAY | 3 MARCH 2022 | NEW DELHI
SHORT TAKES
RAIN DISASTER
MOVES SOUTH,
SYDNEY ON ALERT
Lawrence, Australia, March 2:
Emergency services ordered
some Sydney residents to pre-
pare to flee on Wednesday as
heavy rainfall barrelled down
Australia’s east coast, burying
towns in floodwater, killing 13
and putting hundreds of thou-
sands at risk.
A week-long torrential down-
pour has swollen rivers and
reservoirs past bursting point,
causing chaos in an area 800
kilometres (500 miles) long.
From Brisbane to Sydney,
more than 30 evacuation warn-
ings are in place and several
dams are overflowing, with
some near Sydney under threat
of bursting. Terrified residents
have sought refuge on higher
ground, in make-shift evacua-
tion centres, or by clambering
into attics or onto rooftops
praying for rescue by boat or
helicopter. In the hard-hit town
of Lismore, Lucy Wise said the
floods came much quicker and
much higher than expected.
NZ ARRESTS
46 IN GLOBAL
PAEDOPHILE PROBE
The Hague, March 2: New
Zealand authorities arrested 46
people as part of an interna-
tional operation into tens of
thousands of accounts possess-
ing and sharing child sexual
abuse material online, Europol
said on Wednesday.
The arrests were part of a
probe launched in 2019 after an
online service provider's
report indicated “a large num-
ber of offenders used the plat-
form to exchange particularly
disturbing child abuse
images”, Europe’s law enforce-
ment cooperation agency said.
The report included refer-
ences to “imagery depicting
sadistic acts of sexual abuse of
infants and children”, a
Europol statement said.
The operation, led by New
Zealand’s interior ministry,
saved 146 children across the
world, it said. The investiga-
tion identified more than 90,000
online accounts worldwide and
information was shared with
relevant national authorities,
Europol said.
7-HOUR POWER
CUTS IN LANKA AS
CRISIS DEEPENS
Colombo, March 2: Sri Lanka
will face over seven-hour
power cuts on Wednesday, the
longest to be experienced by
the island nation since 1996,
officials said, amidst the worst
economic crisis in decades.
Sri Lanka is currently reeling
under a severe foreign
exchange crisis and the govern-
ment is unable to foot the bill
for essential fuel imports to
keep the power plants running.
“There will be five and a half
hour cuts during the day and
two hours later in the night-
time,” Sri Lanka’s Public Uti-
lities Commission top official
Janaka Ratnayaka said.
This will be the longest power
cuts to be experienced in the
island since 1996, officials
said.
The power generation has
been hit by the foreign exch-
ange crisis as fuel to operate
thermal power plants are in
short supply. Due to fuel short-
age, long fuel queues were seen
at retail stations with diesel
being limited.
SPACE JUNK ON
COLLISION COURSE
WITH MOON
Cape Canaveral (US), March 2:
The moon is about to get wal-
loped by 3 tons of space junk, a
punch that will carve out a
crater that could fit several
semitractor-trailers.
The leftover rocket will
smash into the far side of the
moon at 5,800 mph (9,300 kph)
on Friday, away from tele-
scopes’ prying eyes. It may take
weeks, even months, to con-
firm the impact through satel-
lite images.
It’s been tumbling haphazard-
ly through space, experts
believe, since China launched
it nearly a decade ago. But
Chinese officials are dubious
it’s theirs.
No matter whose it is, scien-
tists expect the object to carve
out a hole 33 feet to 66 feet (10 to
20 meters) across and send
moon dust flying hundreds of
miles (kilometers) across
the barren, pockmarked sur-
face.
Low-orbiting space junk is
relatively easy to track. Objects
launching deeper into space
are unlikely to hit anything
and these far-flung pieces are
usually soon forgotten, except
by a handful of observers who
enjoy playing celestial detec-
tive on the side.
Ukrainian soldiers cross a destroyed bridge, on the outskirts of Kyiv,
Ukraine, on Wednesday.
Russia wants to ‘erase us’: Zelenskyy
Russia pounds Ukrainian cities says captured the Black Sea port of Kherson on the 7th day of invasion
Kyiv, March 2: Russian
forces shelled several
Ukrainian cities on
Wednesday as troops bat-
tled in the streets of
Kharkiv and Ukraine's
president accused Moscow
of wanting to “erase our
country”.
Russia also said it had
captured the Black Sea
port of Kherson on the
seventh day of Moscow's
invasion, while Russian
artillery massed outside
the capital Kyiv — raising
fears of an imminent
assault.
Several victims were
reported killed by the
shelling in southern and
eastern Ukraine, adding to
a civilian death toll of at
least 350 people, including
14 children, according to
Ukrainian authorities.
Russia has defied mas-
sive economic and diplo-
matic sanctions and grow-
ing global isolation to
push on into pro-Western
Ukraine, where its forces
have encountered stiff
resistance.
“There is nowhere in
Kharkiv where shells have
not yet struck,” said Anton
Gerashchenko, an adviser
to Ukraine's interior min-
ister, after Russian air-
borne troops landed in the
city before dawn.
In Kyiv, mayor Vitali
Klitschko said that “the
enemy is drawing up
forces closer to the capi-
tal”.
“Kyiv is holding and will
hold. We are going to
fight,” the former champi-
on boxer added.
Many residents have
been hunkered down for a
week and dozens of fami-
lies could be seen shelter-
ing on Wednesday in the
Dorohozhychi metro sta-
tion.
“What happens to us
down here when the food
runs out? Do we try to get
out and run?” said
Volodymyr Dovgan, a 40-
year-old IT engineer.
With the international
community piling pres-
sure on Russia to halt the
conflict, the Kremlin said
a Russian delegation
would be ready to meet
Ukrainian officials at an
undisclosed location on
China: Won’t join in UNGA resolution deplores Russian war
financial sanctions
Beijing, March 2: China
won’t join the United
States and European gov-
ernments in imposing
financial sanctions on
Russia, the country’s
bank regulator said on
Wednesday.
China is a major buyer
of Russian oil and gas
and the only major gov-
ernment that has ref-
rained from criticizing
Moscow’s attack on
Ukraine. Beijing opposes
the sanctions, said Guo
Shuqing, the chairman of
STATE | OF UNION
Biden brands Putin a dictator
Washington, March 2:
Accusing his Russian
counterpart of waging a
“premeditated and unpro-
voked” war against Ukr-
aine, President Joe Biden
in his first State of the
Union address asserted
that “dictators” like
Vladimir Putin would
“pay a price” for “invad-
ing” a foreign country.
Set upon a backdrop of a
conflict in Ukraine that gr-
ows deadlier each day, Bi-
den called for a united re-
sistance to Russia's aggre-
ssion and sought to rea-
ssure pandemic-weary
Americans who are also
feeling the pinch of rising
Sergyi Badylevych (centre), 41, hugs his wife Natalia Badylevych (right), 42, and their
baby in an underground Metro station used as bomb shelter, in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Russian radio stn
taken off airwaves
Moscow, March 2: A
Russian radio station crit-
ical of the Kremlin was
taken off the airwaves , its
chief editor said and the
Associated Press con-
firmed, after authorities
threatened to shut it down
over the coverage of
Russia’s
Ukraine.
invasion of
The move against Echo
Moskvy, one of Russia's
oldest radio stations,
comes amid growing pres-
sure on Russia’s independ-
ent media to follow the
Kremlin’s official line
while covering the inva-
sion of Ukraine.
Officials also threatened
to block Dozhd, Russia's
top independent TV chan-
nel. The Prosecutor
General's office accused
the two media outlets of
spreading content that
incites extremist activi-
Wednesday. A Ukrainian
delegation member, David
Arakhamia, said there
the China Banking and
Insurance Regulatory
Commission.
“We will not join such
sanctions, and we will
keep normal economic,
trade and financial
exchanges with all the rel-
evant parties, Guo said at
a news conference.
“We disapprove of the
financial sanctions, par-
ticularly those launched
unilaterally, because they
don’t have much legal
basis and will not have
good effects.” — AP
US Prez flubs during speech, calls Ukrainians ‘Iranian people’
inflation.
Biden said Ukraine is on
the front line of the global
battle between democra-
cies and autocracies, and
that democracy will pre-
vail. “A Russian dictator,
invading a foreign coun-
try, has costs around the
world,” Biden said in a
prime-time speech, nearly
a week after President
Putin ordered a special
military operation against
Ukraine.
“Throughout our history
we’ve learned this lesson
when dictators do not pay
a price for their aggres-
sion, they cause more
chaos. They keep moving.
Firefighters extinguish a fire in the Kharkiv regio-
nal police department building, which is said was
hit by recent shelling, in Kharkiv on Wednesday.
— AFP
ties, as well as false infor-
mation regarding the
actions of Russian mili-
tary personnel as part of a
special operation in
Ukraine.
Shortly after Moscow
invaded Ukraine
Thursday, Russian offi-
on
cials threatened independ-
ent media with closure if
their coverage of the
attack deviated from the
official narrative, includ-
ing describing the
assault as an invasion or a
war.
The website of the
Current Time, a Russian
TV channel launched by
the US-funded Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty
that also has been critical
of the Kremlin, became
unavailable Sunday after
the channel reported rec-
eiving a notification from
the authorities. — AP
would be talks but did not
specify a place, date or
time. — AFP
United Nations, March 2:
The 193-member
General Assembly on
Wednesday adopted a reso-
UN
lution that strongly
deplored Russia’s aggres-
sion against Ukraine, days
after a similar resolution
was vetoed by Russia in
the Security Council on
the escalating crisis
between Moscow and Kyiv.
The General Assembly
on Wednesday voted to
reaffirm its commitment
to the sovereignty, inde-
pendence, unity and terri-
torial integrity of Ukraine
within its internationally
recognised borders and
“deplores in the strongest
And, the costs and threats
to America and the world
keep rising,” the 79-year-
old Democrat, the oldest
serving US President, said
addressing the joint ses-
sion of the US Congress.
“That’s why the Nato
alliance was created to
secure peace and stability
in Europe after World War
II. The United States is a
member along with 29
other nations. It matters.
American diplomacy mat-
ters, he said, launching a
blistering attack on the 69-
year-old Russian presi-
dent.
“Putin’s war was pre-
meditated and unpro-
— AFP
EU CUTS SEVEN
RUSSIAN BANKS
FROM SWIFT
Brussels, March 2: The EU
on Wednesday excluded
seven Russian banks from
the global SWIFT net-
work, as sanctions were
ratcheted up over
Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
The banks immediately
cut out from the secure
interbank messaging net-
work that permits trans-
actions are Russia’s sec-
ond-biggest lender VTB
Bank as well as Bank
Otkritie, Novikombank,
Promsvyazbank, Rossiya
Bank, Sovcombank and
VEB(Vnesheconombank).
Their listing was the lat-
est package of coordinat-
ed Western punishment of
Russia for its invasion of
Ukraine, now in its sev-
enth day. “At the speed of
light, the European Union
has adopted three waves
of heavy sanctions
against Russia’s financial
system, its high-tech
industries and its corrupt
elite,” European
Commission chief Ursula
von der Leyen said in a
statement. — AFP
● THE RESOLUTION was
adopted with 141 votes in
favour, five Member
States voting against and
35 abstentions. The
General Assembly broke
into an applause as the
resolution was adopted.
terms Russia’s aggression
against Ukraine.
Nearly 100 UN Member
States co-sponsored the
resolution titled
Aggression Against
Ukraine’, including
Afghanistan, Canada,
France, Germany, Ireland,
Kuwait, Singapore,
Turkey, Ukraine, the
voked. He rejected efforts
at diplomacy. He thought
the West and Nato would-
n’t respond. And, he th-
ought he could divide us
here at home. Putin was
wrong. We were ready,
Biden said.
Biden said that Putin
badly miscalculated the
attack on Ukraine. “Putin
thought he could roll into
Ukraine and the world
would roll over. Instead he
met a wall of strength he
never imagined. He met
the Ukrainian people,
Biden said.
“In this struggle as
President (Volodymyr) Ze-
lenskyy said in his speech
Ukrainian soldiers carry water supplies near a military base in Lviv on
— AFP Wednesday.
RUSSIA’S WAR IN UKRAINE
More than 8,36,000
people have fled Ukraine
–The UN's
refugee agency
Kharkiv fighting
Street fighting breaks out
after Russian paratroop-
ers land in Ukraine’s sec-
ond city, where police and
university buildings are
bombarded a day after
local government offices
were reduced to
rubble.
Holocaust site hit
Five people are killed in
the attack on the Kyiv tel-
evision tower at Babi Yar,
the site of a Nazi massa-
cre in which over 33,000
of the city's Jews were
shot.
Appeal to Russian
mothers
Ukraine’s defence min-
istry invites the mothers
of Russian troops cap-
tured on the battlefield to
come and collect their
sons, in an apparent
attempt to embarrass
Moscow.
UN court to hold
war hearings
The UN's International
Court of Justice says it
will hold hearings over
Ukraine’s claims of “geno-
cide” by Russia as the
General Assembly votes
on whether to order
Russia to withdraw its
troops.
Independent media
blocked
Russia blocks an inde-
pendent television channel
and a liberal radio station,
tightening a virtual media
blackout on the
war.
Navalny tells Russians to protest
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny urges
Russians to protest daily against the inva-
sion of Ukraine, saying they should not
be a “nation of frightened cowards”.
United Kingdom and the
United States.
The resolution was
adopted with 141 votes in
favour, five Member States
voting against and 35
abstentions. The General
Assembly broke into an
applause as the resolution
was adopted.
The UNGA resolution
was similar to the one cir-
culated in the 15-nation
Security Council last
Friday.
The UNSC resolution,
which received 11 votes in
favour and three absten-
tions, was blocked after
permanent member
Russia exercised its veto.
to the European Parli-
ament Light will win over
darkness.’ The Ukrainian
Ambassador to the United
States is here tonight. Let
each of us here tonight in
this Chamber send an
unmistakable signal to
Ukraine and to the world,
he said amidst applause
from a packed house of
lawmakers.
US President Joe Biden
appears to have made a
gaffe during his maiden
State of the Union speech,
calling Ukrainians the
“Iranian people” while
urging them to stand unit-
ed against the Russian
aggression. — PTI
Companies exit
Russia
A string of Western com-
panies say they are freez-
ing or scaling back busi-
ness with Russia, including
Apple, three of the world's
largest shipping compa-
nies and energy firms Eni,
ExxonMobil and Boeing.
Russia ‘takes’
Kherson
Russian forces claim to
have taken the besieged
Black Sea city of Kherson
in the south but the
mayor says that it is still
in Ukrainian hands.
Oil, gas price soars
Oil prices soar past $113
a barrel, despite the
Inte-rnational Energy
Agency members agree-
ing to release 60 million
barrels from stockpiles.
European gas
prices also hit a
record high as
does the
price of alu-
minium.
Russian lender
leaves EU
Russia’s largest lender
Sberbank says it is leaving
the European market, cit-
ing “abnormal cash out-
flows” after it was target-
ed by Western sanctions.
Nord Stream 2
goes under
Russian-owned Nord Stre-
am 2 goes insolvent after
Germany halts the gas
pipeline while the Euro-
pean subsidiary of Russia's
Sberbank also prepares to
enter insolvency.
World Bank aid
The World Bank prepares
a $3-billion aid package for
Ukraine.
Following the failure of
the Council to adopt the
resolution, the Security
Council voted on Sunday
again to convene a rare
“emergency special ses-
sion of the 193-member
General Assembly on the
crisis.
India on Wednesday
abstained on a UN
General Assembly resolu-
tion that strongly
deplored Russia's aggres-
sion against Ukraine, the
third abstention in less
than a week by the coun-
try in the world body on
resolutions on the escalat-
ing crisis between
Moscow and Kyiv. — AP
Covid: US sets up
‘test to treat’ plan
Washington, March 2: US
President Joe Biden on
said his administration
has launched a new ini-
tiative that will allow
Americans to get tested
for Covid-19 at a pharma-
cy and immediately
receive free pills if they
test positive.
“We’re launching the
“Test to Treat” initiative
so people can get tested at
a pharmacy, and if
they’re positive, receive
antiviral pills on the spot,
at no cost,” Biden said
during his State of the
Union speech.
The United States has
pg 6
— AFP
RUSSIA SAYS IT’S
READY FOR NEW
UKRAINE TALKS
Moscow, March 2: A
Kremlin spokesman says a
Russian delegation will be
ready on Wednesday
evening to resume talks
with Ukrainian officials
about the war in Ukraine.
Spokesman Dmitry
Peskov told reporters
Wednesday that in the sec-
ond half of the day, closer
to evening, our delegation
will be in place to await
Ukrainian negotiators.
He did not indicate
where the talks could take
place.
There was no immediate
word from Ukrainian
authorities about their
plans.
The first round of talks
on resolving the Russia-
Ukraine war were held
near the Belarus-Ukraine
border last Sunday.
They produced no break-
through, though the two
sides agreed to meet
again.
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
accused Russia of trying
to force him into conces-
sions by continuing to
press its invasion. — AP
METRO OFFERS
SHELTER FROM
RUSSIAN SHELLS
Kyiv, March 2: The
wounded Ukrainian sol-
dier dropped his crutches
to the Kyiv metro station
floor and picked up his
five-year-old son, first wip-
ing tears from his shaking
wife’s face.
The sweet smell of sweat
from the bodies of shelter-
ing Ukrainians permeated
the damp, chilly air
around them. But Sergiy
and Natalia Badylevych
were oblivious to the cook-
ing odours and the dozing
families spread out on the
floor of what has become
one of Kyiv's deepest and
safest bomb shelters.
They had been reunited
for the first time since wit-
nessing a Russian missile
strike on Kyiv’s TV tower.
Sergiy carefully stre-
tched out his broken leg
and admitted he thought
he had lost his two sons.
“Yesterday, they stepped
outside, and two minutes
later there was a blast,” he
recalled in the rapid stut-
ter of a very stressed man.
“I called my wife, I want-
ed to tell her to run home,
but someone on the street
was yelling at her to run to
the shelter,” he said.
“I had no idea whether
she was alive.” The 41-year-
old pulled his little boy clos-
er with his left hand while
rubbing his face vigorously
with his right. — AFP
ordered more of these
treatments than any ot-
her country in the world,
Biden said, adding Pfizer
Inc (PFE.N) will offer the
US 1 million pills in Ma-
rch and more than double
that in April. The Pfizer
pill, he said, reduces the
chances of ending up in
the hospital by 90%.
The Biden administra-
tion announces a national
preparedness plan for
Covid-19, mapping out
how “to move forward
safely and get back to our
more normal routines,”
the White House said .
— Reuters
 THURSDAY | 3 MARCH 2022 | NEW DELHI
quick Lending rates
BITES are inching up
INDICATORS % FALAKNAAZ SYED
Sensex 55468.90 -1.38
Nifty 50 16606.00 -1.12
S&P 500* 4,383.45 1.79
Dollar (`) 75.71 0.49
Pound Sterling (`) 100.56 -0.50
Euro (`) 84.03 -0.23
Gold (10gm)* (`) 51,889▲1,202 2.31
Brent crude ($/bbl)* 110.29 5.07
IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.814 0.00
US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 1.794 0.083
* As of 8:30 PM IST
Exports up 22%
to $33.8 bn, trade
deficit widens
Exports rose by 22.36 per cent
to $33.81 billion in February on
account of healthy growth in
sectors like engineering, petro-
leum and chemicals, even as
the trade deficit widened to
$21.19 billion, according to pre-
liminary data released by the
commerce ministry. Imports
jumped by about 35 per cent
to $55 billion, with inbound
shipments of petroleum and
crude oil surging 66.56 per
cent to $15 billion.
DHL suspends
deliveries to
Russia, Belarus
German logistics giant DHL
announced it was stopping
deliveries to Russia and
Belarus, joining a growing list
of Western businesses to cease
operations in the countries.
The "inbound services to
Russia and Belarus have been
suspended", DHL said, adding
that it was "not accepting ship-
ments to those countries until
further notice". DHL also
closed its operation and offices
in Ukraine until further notice.
Energy prices
push eurozone
inflation to record
Eurozone inflation soared in
February to a record high of
5.8 per cent, mainly on the
back of surging energy prices,
the EU's official statistics
agency Eurostat said. The
acceleration, from 5.1 per cent
in January, was announced as
oil and gas prices rocketed
even higher. The surge in infla-
tion comes at a difficult time
for European leaders as they
warn their citizens of the "price
to pay" from tough sanctions.
NMDC Apr-Feb
output, sales
jump 26%
NMDC has posted a 26 per
cent jump in its iron ore output
to 37.18 million tonnes (mt)
during April-February 2021-22.
During the year-ago period,
the PSU had produced 29.52
mt of iron ore, the Ministry of
Steel said. In February 2022,
the company saw its produc-
tion growing 11.7 per cent to
4.31 mt from 3.86 mt in the
same month last year. NMDC's
sales during the 11-month peri-
od also grew by 25.5 per cent.
Printed & Published by
K. Sudhakar on behalf of
Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited.
Printed at BFL Infotech Ltd, C-9 Sector
3, Noida-201301. Published at 219, N D
Tiwari Bhawan, Deen Dayal Upadhyay
Marg, New Delhi-110002.
Editor: Kaushik Mitter, RNI
Registration number 30074/09,
Air surcharge Re 1. © All rights
reserved. Reproduction in whole or
in part without written permission of
The Editor,
Financial Chronicle ® is prohibited.
„RBI’s VRRR auctions push up rates
MUMBAI, MARCH 2
The era of rock bottom
lending rates looks to be
officially over.
Lending rates on fresh
loans have risen since the
December Monetary Policy
of the Reserve Bank of
India and have held on as
the Russia-Ukraine crisis
deepened.
According to the data
from the Reserve Bank of
India’s latest release for
January 2022, the average
lending rates on new loans
has risen by 10 basis points
month-on-month (MoM),
with private banks seeing
an increase of 12 basis
points MoM compared to 7
basis points MoM increase
for nationalised banks.
However, loan rates have
moderated by 3 basis
points MoM to around 8.83
per cent on outstanding
loans. Bankers said that
the central bank has used
the backdoor approach of
raising interest rates
through the variable
reverse repo rate (VRRR)
auctions, ensuring that the
money market rates move
towards the benchmark
policy repo rate at 4 per
cent rather than the
reverse repo rate (of 3.35
per cent) which has led to
interest rates on commer-
cial paper (CP), certificate
of deposits (CD) and short-
term rates moving up.
It has been more than 20
months since the last
change in repo rate, when
it was reduced to 4 per cent
on May 22, 2020, the lowest
rate since April 2001.
A senior official of a pri-
vate bank said, “Lending
STOCK MARKET
NERVOUS OVER
CRUDE OIL SPIKE
RAVI RANJAN PRASAD
MUMBAI, MARCH 2
The stock market exhibit-
ed a heightened volatility
on rising negative implica-
tions of the Ukraine-
Russia conflict and soar-
ing crude oil price and fell
more than one per cent.
Reports of delay in the
mega IPO of Life
Insurance Corporation of
India due to uncertain
market conditions also
dented sentiments.
The Sensex fell over 1200
points intra-day as more
bad news poured from
Ukraine but recovered
later to close 778.38 points
or 1.38 per cent down at
55,468.90. The Nifty-50 fell
over 300 points to below
16,500 level but later
recouped losses closing
1.12 per cent or 187 points
down at 16,605.95.
A sharp surge in crude
oil prices is a key risk for
the market, said analysts.
There was no change in
foreign portfolio investors
strategy as they continue
to sell heavily with Rs
4,338.94 crore worth equity
sold on Wednesday while
the domestic institutions
were net buyers by Rs
3,061.70 crore.
RUPEE SKIDS 47 P
AGAINST DOLLAR
74.61
+23p
Rupee vs dollar
75.33
-27p
74.84
-29p
75.60
-99p
` per US $
22 23 24 25 28 2
February 2022 March
(Inverted scale) Source: KBK Infographics
Mumbai, March 2: The
rupee depreciated by 47
paise to close at 75.80
against the dollar on Wed-
nesday, pressured by the
Russia-Ukraine crisis,
which sent crude oil above
the $110 a barrel mark.
Forex traders said sus-
tained foreign fund out-
flows and a weak stock
market also weighed on
investor sentiment. —PTI
rates have begun rising
from the monetary policy
in December 2021 because
the variable reverse repo
rate is now closer to the
repo rate. Banks with sur-
plus liquidity can place
their money with the RBI
at a rate closer to the repo
rate. The purpose of hav-
ing a such a wide corridor
where the reverse repo rate
is 3.35 per cent and the repo
rate is 4 per cent is a back-
door approach of raising
interest rates by the cen-
tral bank.”
Instead of raising the
reverse repo rate above 3.35
per cent, the central bank
would accept the money
available with the market
through the variable
reverse repo rate (weekly
auction at variable rate)
that is closer to 3.99 per
cent. “This has resulted in
all the rates going up; com-
mercial paper rates have
gone up, CD rates have
gone up, the T-bill rate of
three months has also
risen to 4.70 per cent as on
date, six months’ is at 4.16
per cent, one year is at 4.55
per cent. The short-term
lending rates have risen by
30-50 basis points. So, prac-
tically, whatever surplus
liquidity is there with
Banks worried as India asks Indonesia to raise palm oil supply
trade settlements
with Russia stall
NUPUR ANAND
MUMBAI, MARCH 2
Indian banks are scram-
bling after bills for
imports from Russia
have started bouncing
and payments for
exports have been stuck
in the wake of sanctions
imposed by the west on
Russia following its inva-
sion of Ukraine.
"Due to the various
sanctions the payment
settlements have halted
and that's a concern for
banks right now. This
has been shared by
lenders with the central
bank and the industry
body," said a senior bank-
ing source involved in
the discussions.
The Reserve Bank of
India has met with select
bankers and is trying to
assess the exposure that
lenders have to Russia
and to Ukraine and the
impact it may have on
Indian banks, said
another senior banking
executive.
Digital wallets poised
75.33
to beat cash at stores
SANGEETHA G
CHENNAI, MARCH 2
Digital wallets are project-
ed to overtake cash as the
most popular in-store pay-
75.80
ment method by 2023.
-47p
Digital wallets were the
leading e-commerce pay-
ment method in 2021.
Cash continued to be the
leading in-store payment
method in 2021 with 37.1
per cent of transaction
value, followed by digital
wallets at 24.8 per cent,
and credit/charge cards at
18.1 per cent. However, dig-
ital wallets are projected
to overtake cash as the
most popular in-store pay-
ment method by 2023
when they are projected to
account for 30.8 per cent of
POS transaction value, as
per a global report by
banks, they want to place
that liquidity for three
days to one week under
VRRR. The cut-off for
VRRR auctions is coming
at 397 basis points, 399 bps
etc, helping banks earn 60
basis points more,” added
the banker.
The rates in January and
mid-February were hard
but now are stable due to
the Russia Ukraine crisis,
said another banker.
The one-year marginal
cost of funds based lending
rate (outstanding loans) for
large banks moderated in
the range of 0-5 bps year-
on-year while for mid-sized
banks it has swung in a
wide range of -52/+20bp
YoY. Foreign banks wit-
nessed the maximum
increase (at +20 bps) while
DCB Bank saw the maxi-
mum decline at -52 bps YoY,
said a report of Motilal
Oswal. "Lending rates on
fresh loans have been
volatile over the past few
months. In the past six
months, PSU banks have
seen a decline while pri-
vate banks have hiked
fresh lending rates. The
gap between fresh lending
rates of private and PSU
banks stands at around 150
bps,” said Kotak report.
The extent of the pay-
ments that are stalled is
not clear at the moment
and the regulator is try-
ing to assess it.
Russian exports to
India stood at some $6.9
billion in 2021. Its
exports to India include
defence goods, mineral
resources, fertilisers,
metals and precious
stones. India exported
$3.33 billion worth of
goods to Russia in 2021,
mainly pharmaceutical
products, tea and coffee.
The Indian Banks'
Association also met
with select bankers on
Monday to determine
the impact of trade dis-
ruptions.
Meanwhile, banks have
started contacting corpo-
rate clients to under-
stand their exposure to
Russia and to Ukraine to
see if their business
could be significantly
impacted, resulting in
delayed loan re-pay-
ments for banks.
—Reuters
financial technology com-
pany FIS.
India’s point of sales
(POS) market is projected
to increase by 28.8 per cent
between 2021 and 2025
when it will exceed $1.08
trillion. In the case of e-
commerce, digital wallet
was the leading payment
method in 2021 accounting
for 45.4 per cent share.
Debit cards accounted for
14.6 per cent and credit/
charge cards for 13.3 per
OIL ROCKETS
ABOVE $110
OVER UKRAINE
CONFLICT
DAVID GAFFEN
NEW YORK, MARCH 2
Oil relentlessly
marched higher beyond
$110 a barrel on
Wednesday, responding
to a flood of divestment
from Russian oil assets
by major companies
and expectations that
the market will remain
short of supply for
months to come.
The market's surge
has been dramatic, with
global benchmark Brent
crude gaining 11 per
cent this week alone.
Global benchmarks
were off earlier highs
after Brent hit its high-
est level since 2014
while US crude surged
to a peak not seen since
2011.
Brent crude futures
peaked at $113.94 a bar-
rel before easing to
$110.09 by 12:08 p.m. EST
(1708 GMT), up $5.12 or
4.9 per cent. US WTI
crude futures hit a high
of $112.51 a barrel, and
were last $4.64, or 4.5 per
cent, higher at $108.05.
Both benchmarks
pulled back after US
Federal Reserve Chair
Jerome Powell said the
Fed would boost inter-
est rates several times
to quell inflation, start-
ing with a 25 basis
points hike this month.
Relief in the form of
more supply is unlikely
in the near-term. The
Opec and allies—which
include Russia—stuck
to their long-term plan
to boost output by just
400,000 barrels per day
at a brief meeting on
Wednesday.
—Reuters
RAJENDRA JADHAV,
KRISHNA N. DAS &
AFTAB AHMED
MARCH 2
India has asked Indonesia
to increase palm oil ship-
ments to the country to
compensate for a loss of
sunflower oil supplies from
the Black Sea region due to
the Ukraine crisis, several
government and industry
sources in India said.
India, the world's biggest
buyer of edible oil, relies
on top producer Indonesia
for more than half of its
palm oil imports, but has
been worried by restric-
tions Jakarta put on its
Grover stripped of co-founder tag
New Delhi, March 2: Pay-
ment startup BharatPe
has stripped its co-
founder Ashneer Grover
of all positions for his
alleged "misdeeds" and
may take further legal
actions, including clawing
back of some of his share-
holding. BharatPe, which
allows shop owners to
make digital payments
through QR codes, in a
statement said Grover
resigned after receiving
the agenda for an upcom-
ing board meeting that
cent share of payments.
By 2025, digital wallets are
projected to account for
52.9 per cent of transac-
tion value.
Though a newer concept,
‘buy now, pay later’ is
India’s fastest-growing
online payment method.
BNPL is projected to rise
to 8.6 per cent of e-com-
merce market value by
2025, up from just 3 per
cent in 2021.
Prepaid cards, bank
transfers and cash on
delivery market shares
are in decline and are pro-
jected to collectively com-
prise just 8.8 per cent of e-
com transaction value by
2025. By 2025, e-commerce
market in India is expect-
ed to be worth $120 billion,
growing 96 per cent. from
2021 levels.
Exxon’s Russia exit puts
partner OVL in a fix
New Delhi, March 2:
Exxon Mobil Corp's deci-
sion on Tuesday to exit oil
and gas operations in
Russia has put India's
flagship overseas firm
ONGC Videsh in a fix as it
is a partner in the global
energy giant-operated
Sakhalin-1 oil fields in
Far East Russia, sources
said.
ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL)
and three other state-
owned Indian firms hold
49.9 per cent stake in a
separate Vankor oilfield
in west Siberia but that
investment will not be
impacted as they repatri-
ated their dividend
income from last year in
January 2022 and would
not immediately face
issues because of Russia
being cut off from the
global payment system
SWIFT over its Ukraine
invasion.
ExxonMobil holds 30 per
cent stake in the
Sakhalin-1 offshore oil
assets, where ONGC
Videsh Ltd—the overseas
investment arm of state-
owned Oil and Natural
Gas Corporation—has a
20 per cent interest.
The field, which pro-
duced some 227,400 bar-
rels of oil a day (11.35 mil-
lion tonnes a year) and
over 12 billion cubic
metres of natural and
associated gas in 2021, is
operated by ExxonMobil.
While it has not put a
timeframe for leaving the
venture, the exit of
ExxonMobil would mean
technical manpower and
expertise would no longer
be available at the project,
three sources with knowl-
edge of the matter said.
In all likelihood,
Russia's Rosneft, which
holds 20 per cent partici-
exports in January to calm
local prices.
Limited palm supplies,
followed by the halt in
exports of sunflower oil
from the Black Sea
region—which accounts
for 60 per cent of world
sunoil output and 76 per
cent of exports—have sent
global vegetable oil prices
to record highs.
In India, the landed cost
of imported crude palm oil
has risen 38 per cent since
Indonesia announced
export curbs on January
27. The cost of soyoil, the
second most consumed oil
in India after palm, has
surged 29 per cent this
included submission of an
independent audit regard-
ing his conduct.
The board of the compa-
ny met last evening, and
the meeting went past
midnight, following which
a statement was issued.
The company said it
reserves the right to take
action based on the
report's findings.
"The Grover family and
their relatives engaged in
extensive misappropria-
tion of company funds,
including, but not limited
TATA ALTROZ MANUFACTURING EXPANDS IN FEB.
AUTOMATIC India Services PMI 50(Seasonally- No change on previous month
BOOKINGS OPEN 57.5 55.5
Increasing
MICHAEL GONSALVES
rate of growth
PUNE, MARCH 2
Tata Motors, India’s
biggest automaker by rev-
enues, on Wednesday
started accepting bookings
for the upcoming Altroz
DCA, the automatic ver-
sion of the Altroz hatch-
back, which would be
launched by March 15.
The booking amount is
Rs 21,000.
The Tata Altroz with the
DCT unit will rival the
likes of the Maruti Suzuki
Baleno AMT, Hyundai
i20 CVT, Honda Jazz CVT,
and Volkswagen Polo
automatic.
Altroz DCA (dual clutch
automatic) will use a dou-
ble clutch gearbox with
wet-clutch technology and
sold in XT, XZ and the XZ+
variants along with a sepa-
rate dark edition line-up.
BPCL SEEKS EXTRA OIL FROM GULF,
FEARING RUSSIAN SUPPLY HIT
NIDHI VERMA
NEW DELHI, MARCH 1
Bharat Petroleum Corp
is seeking extra oil from
Middle Eastern produc-
ers for April, fearing
Western sanctions
against Russia could hit
deliveries of Urals
crude, a source familiar
with the matter said.
BPCL, India's second
biggest state refiner, on
an average buys two mil-
lion barrels of Russian
Urals every month on a
delivered basis, where
the seller arranges for
insurance of the cargo
and ships. The oil is
processed at BPCL's
310,000 barrels per day
(bpd) Kochi refinery in
Kerala.
BPCL has booked one
million barrels of Urals
for loading in March and
three million in April.
Traders are willing to
meet the existing com-
pating interest in the
fields, will take over
Exxon's share, they said.
The Sakhalin-1 project,
where the partners have
so far invested $17 billion
in developing the reserves
lying below the sea that
freezes during winter, is
regarded as a technical
marvel.
It involved developing
three oil and gas fields off
Sakhalin—Odoptu,
Chayvo and Arkutun-
Dagi—by drilling record-
setting wells from shore
that bored down and side-
ways for up to seven miles
to reach the reservoirs
year, while sunoil suppli-
ers have stopped offering
the oil after Russia invaded
Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia
accounted for nearly 13 per
cent of India's edible oil
imports last year, supply-
ing 1.6 million tonnes.
Indian government offi-
cials held a virtual meeting
with Indonesian authori-
ties this week on stepping
up palm exports to India,
said two official sources.
Crude palm oil is now
being offered at about
$2,075 a tonne, including
CIF, in India for March
shipments. A year ago, it at
$1,089. —Reuters
to, creating fake vendors
through which they
siphoned money away
from the company's
account and grossly
abused company expense
accounts in order to
enrich themselves and
fund their lavish
lifestyles," it alleged.
Minutes before midnight
of March 1, Grover got an
email inviting him for a
board meeting at 19:30 on
March 2. At 12:05 on
Tuesday, he resigned.
— PTI
Adusted)
55.3 53.7
57.6
50.8
54.0
50 55.4
Increasing rate of contraction 48.1
2021
Feb Mar Apr May Jun July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb
Source: Nikkei, IHS, Markit/KBK Infographics
FC BUREAU
NEW DELHI, MARCH 2
The manufacturing output
of the country continued
to expand in February,
with the Purchasing
Managers' Index (PMI) ris-
ing to 54.9 last month from
54 in January. However,
there was negligible fresh
job creations during the
month, a private survey
showed on Wednesday.
This number comes at a
time when economic
growth during the third
quarter was estimated to
have slipped. As uncertain-
pg 7
mitments, but have told
BPCL they will not quote
for supplies in future
months, the source said,
adding: "No one knows
how the situation will
pan out in April, so
BPCL wants to be pre-
pared."
The source said Gulf
producers had not com-
mitted to additional sup-
plies for BPCL, as alloca-
tions for April loading
are due to be finalised
next week.
BPCL also intends to
draw from its invento-
ries to make up for any
shortfall of Russian oil,
the source said.
On Monday, Indian Oil
Corp said it would
accept Russian oil and
Kazakhstan's CPC blend
only on a delivered basis
due to insurance risks.
IOC last week bought
Russian oil in a tender
after a two-year gap.
—Reuters
that had frustrated the
Soviets when they discov-
ered oil there in 1979.
OVL joined the project
in 2001 and ExxonMobil
began pumping oil from
the fields that were con-
sidered too deep and
remote to produce, in
2005.
Sources
ExxonMobil has publicly
said
stated that it is starting a
process to discontinue
operations and develop-
ing steps to exit the
Sakhalin-1 venture. It
would no longer invest in
new developments.
— PTI
FM LAUNCHES
E-BILL SYSTEM FOR
DUES CLEARANCE
MADHUSUDAN SAHOO
NEW DELHI, MARCH 2
In order to plug the
chances of 'rent-seeking'
in the clearance of dues to
contractors or suppliers of
government departments,
finance minister Nirmala
Sitharaman on Wednesday
formally launched the new
electronic bill or e-Bill pro-
cessing system. The e-Bill
platform, which has been
rolled out on a pilot basis
in eight ministries, will
now be implemented in a
phased manner in next fis-
cal in all ministries,
departments. Suppliers
and contractors will be
able to submit their claim
online, trackable on a real-
time basis.
Speaking at the 46th Civil
Accounts Day, Sitharaman
elaborated that the system
will ensure end-to-end
digitisation and make the
payment process transpar-
ent within the government
departments. "The e-Bill
will shut even any small
window which is available
for 'misuse in terms of
rent-seeking', as a contrac-
tor or supplier to the gov-
ernment will be able to file
their claims digitally," she
said.
55.9 55.5
52.3 PMI: Purchasing 54.9
Managers Index
2022
ty looms with the escalat-
ing Ukraine-Russia con-
flict, the economy may
reflect the same with over-
all exports, manufacturing
and other micro indicators
witnessing headwinds in
March.
According to the IHS
Markit's survey, February
saw "strong increases" in
new work orders. Within
new work, international
demand rose at the quick-
est pace in three months.
"Output and new orders
expanded at stronger
rates, while buying activi-
ty continued,” it said.
 GAMES
THE ASIAN AGE | THURSDAY | 3 MARCH 2022 | NEW DELHI
pg 8

TWO TO TANGO Rahane,

SHORT TAKES
Djokovic splits
with coach Vajda
Paris: Novak Djokovic’s turbu-
lent start to 2022 took another
twist Wednesday as the 20-
time Grand Slam champion
revealed he had split from his
long-time coach Marian Vajda
after last year’s ATP Finals.
Djokovic was deported on the
eve of the Australian Open in
January and on Monday lost his
number one ranking to Russian
Daniil Medvedev.
“Marian has been by my side
during the most important and
memorable moments in my
career,” said the 34-year-old
Djokovic on his official website.
Djokovic began working with
the Slovakian coach since he
was a teenager in 2006, though
they split for a year in 2017.
“Together we have achieved
some incredible things and I am
very grateful for his friendship
and dedication over the last 15
years.”
Vadja stopped working with
Djokovic following the tour
finals in Turin in November.
He had not been seen as part
of Djokovic’s back-room team
in Melbourne before the
Serbian player was deported in
a visa row over his Covid vacci-
nation status. — AFP
Archana, Sreeja
enter main draw
New Delhi: Indian paddlers
Archana Kamath and Sreeja
Akula qualified for the women’s
singles main draw of the WTT
Contender Muscat 2022. They
will join Manika Batra, who got
a direct entry into the round of
32.
In the men’s singles, however,
none of the five players made it
to the main draw. It leaves G.
Sathiyan, another direct entrant
into the second stage, to fight
for India’s honours. He will
clash with 16-year-old Chinese
Lin Shidong in the round of 32.
In the third round of the quali-
fiers, Archana defeated Oze
Yilmaz 11-8, 5-11, 12-10, 11-7. The
145th ranked player from
Turkey managed to take the
second game off Archana and
came close in the third at 10-10.
BCCI | CONTRACTS
Pujara,
Pandya demoted
Eyes on ‘Centurion’ Kohli and ‘Captain’ Sharma in first Test
Mohali, March 2: Two
men at the peak of their Mohali, March 2: Out of ● The biggest
careers and separated by a favour veteran batter
year. Supremely success- Cheteshwar Pujara and demotion, however,
ful, insanely wealthy, and former Test vice-captain was for injury-
achievers in their own Ajinkya Rahane were ravaged allrounder
right with manic follow- downgraded in the latest Hardik Pandya, who
ers growing exponentially central contracts list of the
with each passing day. BCCI that was ratified by has been shunted
But 48 hours before Virat the Board’s Apex Council out from Grade ‘A’ to
Kohli gears up to play his on Wednesday. ‘C’ in the list along
landmark 100th Test and The BCCI has four cate- with senior opener
Rohit Sharma walks out gories — A+ which has
from the PCA Stadium annual remuneration of `7
Shikhar Dhawan.
pavilion in a navy blue crore while A, B and C cat-
India blazer for the first egories are valued at `5 er by `1 crore after being
time, they simply looked crore, `3 crore and `1 crore demoted from Grade ‘B’ to
like two men possessed respectively. ‘C’. Saha, who has
and intensely focussed to Last time, 28 cricketers breached the central con-
make their milestone were provided central con- tract clause by public com-
moment special. tracts but this year, 27 have ments on selection matters
While social media went been awarded contracts and statements on BCCI
into a frenzy before BCCI with Rohit Sharma, Virat president Sourav Ganguly
allowed crowd for the Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah and head coach Rahul
momentous occasion, static as A+ players. Dravid, has been kept in
there were not even 10 Accordingly, Pujara, Grade ‘C’ even though it
people around when the Rahane and Ishant has been made clear by the
Indian team bus entered Sharma, who were in team management that he
the stadium premises on Grade ‘A’ are now in Grade is unlikely to play for India
Wednesday. ‘B’, after a slump in form again.
Yes, there are billboards that saw them being On the day, ratification
and cut-outs around the dropped from the upcom- happened but this was
stadium but how many ing home Test series decided long back that
people will turn up on a against Sri Lanka. some of the non-perform-
warm Friday morning
when India open a two-
Grade ‘A’, which earlier
had 10 players, has now
ers will be demoted.
Spinner Kuldeep Yadav
match series against Sri
Lanka could be anybody’s
shrunk to five with
Ravichandran Ashwin,
and pacer Navdeep Saini,
who were part of the earli-
guess — crowd allowed or Ravindra Jadeja, Rishabh er group, have been
not. Pant, K. L. Rahul and dropped from the list alto-
Inside the cauldron were Mohammed Shami retain- gether.
two men— one aged 34, ing their slots. Mayank Agarwal, who
who has basically turned The biggest demotion, has been inconsistent
the corner in traditional however, was for injury- throughout, has now been
format in such a whirl- ravaged all-rounder demoted to Grade ‘C’ from
wind fashion that he has Hardik Pandya, who has Grade ‘B’.
now become the undisput- been shunted out from The ones who have been
ed leader of men, making Grade ‘A’ to ‘C’ in the list rewarded are Mohammed
a mockery of perceptions. along with senior opener Siraj, who is now in Grade
Rohit, in his own way, Shikhar Dhawan, who now ‘B’ for his lion-hearted per-
proved that perceptions plays only one format and formances while
are just that “percep- that is ODIs. Suryakumar Yadav, by
tions”. Controversial keeper-bat- virtue of playing the requi-
One could even imagine ter Wriddhiman Saha, who site number of games, is
that wry smile for all Virat Kohli (left) and captain Rohit Sharma at a has been dropped from the now in Grade ‘C’.
those who thought that he practice session at the IS Bindra PCA Stadium in Test team, will still be rich- — PTI
is just another white-ball Mohali on Wednesday. — PTI
bully.
Within a few yards of
him was a mega-star, who
SHREYAS JUMPS BLUES FOR SALE? DOUBTS

Team India to get new

But the 99th ranked Indian saw
through the crucial phase to
stamp her authority. In the main
draw, she will take on higher-
ranked (No. 42) Mo Zhang of
China in the round of 32.
Sreeja, in her third-round win
(11-5, 11-13, 12-10, 11-4) over
Yang Huijing, had to endure
good resistance from the 223rd
ranked Chinese. — PTI
Marsh ‘critical’,
flown to Adelaide
Adelaide: Australia wicket-
keeping legend Rodney Marsh,
who remains in an induced
coma after suffering a heart
attack last week, has been
flown to a city hospital here
from Bundaberg in a “critical
but stable condition.” The 74-
year-old had suffered the heart
attack on the way to a charity
event at Bundaberg in
Queensland on February 24.
A report in the Sydney Morning
Herald quoted a Bundaberg
Hospital spokesperson as say-
ing “Marsh was transferred
interstate on Monday in a criti-
cal but stable condition.”
Marsh was shifted to Adelaide
to be closer to his family,
according to the report.
The wicketkeeper batter, who
played 96 Tests for Australia
between 1970 and 1984, snaring
355 dismissals behind the
stumps, had moved to Adelaide
two decades ago when he
became coach of the National
Cricket Academy. — PTI
Gukesh, Erigaisi
is best described as a Test
cricket devotee. Ian
Chappell recently urged
Kohli to take the lead in
saving Test cricket.
Not more than 20 odd
people were witness to
what an intense practice
session looks like where
the two stars took multi-
ple turns to bat various
nets — throwdowns, spin-
ners, pacers, and net
bowlers.
If Rohit would tuck
Shami off his hips, Virat
would bring the cover
drive against Mohammed
Siraj out of the closet.
They batted at different
nets at different times.
There was a delivery from
Siraj that could have got
any batter.
Some 30 yards away, qui-
etly watching the former
skipper was his one time
deputy. ‘Captain Sharma’
kept a hawk eye on the
proceedings, having him-
self batted close to 45 min-
utes. — PTI
IPL teams to train from mid-March
Mumbai, March 2: All the
IPL teams will start train-
ing in the city from
March 14 or 15 onwards
and five practice venues
have been identified.
It is understood that the
MCA ground in suburban
Bandra Kurla Complex,
MCA ground in Thane,
the Dr DY Patil University
ground and a football
pitch along with the CCI
27 SPOTS TO 18TH GROW OVER OWNERSHIP
physios, trainers soon IN T20 RANKINGS
Dubai, March 2: Riding on
his splendid run against
London, March 2: Pressure is growing on Roman
Abramovich to sell Chelsea, and one potential buyer
claims the Russian oligarch is already trying to offload
the Premier League club.
Chandigarh, March 2: gories of recruitment in who may be non-compli- Sri Lanka recently, India Chelsea and Abramovich’s representatives have not
The Indian team will which category 1 consti- ant or non-motivated batter Shreyas Iyer has disputed Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss saying he
soon have new physios tutes working with sen- regarding injury preven- jumped a massive 27 spots “received an offer on Tuesday to buy Chelsea from
and Strength and ior men and women’s tion and performance in the latest ICC T20I Abramovich” along with three other people.
Conditioning coaches, teams while those in cate- enhancement pro- rankings, even as Virat “Abramovich is currently asking far too much,”
who will be part of a ded-
icated Sports Science &
gory 2 will work with jun-
ior men and women and
grammes.”
The BCCI in the past
Kohli fell out of the top 10.
India’s recent home
Wyss was quoted as telling Swiss newspaper Blick.
As Russia’s war on Ukraine entered a seventh day,
Sports Medicine (SSSM)
team headed by Nitin
domestic cricket.
However, one of the
has dealt with a lot of
players who have not
series win against Sri
Lanka has had major
the British government was yet to say if Abramovich
would be included among the wealthy Russians to be
Patel. interesting aspects of the taken their rehabilitation ramifications on the play- targeted in sanctions.
The BCCI will be mak- new appointment is the seriously and literally er rankings aiding attack- Alisher Usmanov, a Russian metals tycoon who is a
ing a plethora of recruit- enhanced role of rehab made NCA their “second ing top-order batter Iyer major sponsor of Everton, has already been sanc-
ments for its SSSM team specialists and perform- homes” as the joke would to make a massive jump to tioned by the European Union. — AP
which includes physios ance analyst among S&C be in Indian cricket cir- reach the 18th position in
and trainers (S&C) for coaches at the NCA for cuit. the list for batters.
Team India (men and which applications had However, things Iyer scored three
women, junior (men and been sought. changed post Mahendra unbeaten half-centuries
women), A teams as well One of the key operat- Singh Dhoni was captain during India’s 3-0 win
as dedicated “rehab spe- ing environment that and later with Virat against Sri Lanka in
cialists” working on BCCI has clearly men- Kohli’s take-over of February, with the 27-
injury managements. tioned is an interesting Indian men’s team when year-old amassing an
Both physios and S&C one. fitness became para- impressive 204 runs at a
coaches have two cate- “Dealing with players mount. — PTI strike rate of 174.
Pacer Bhuvneshwar
Kumar jumped three
spots to 17th on the
bowler rankings.
Sri Lanka’s Pathum
Nissanka scored an
● The Maharashtra government on state’s deputy Chief impressive 75 in the sec-
Minister would soon con- ond game of the series,
Wednesday conducted a meeting with duct a similar meeting for and he was rewarded with
BCCI and Mumbai Cricket Association in Pune, the other venue for a six-spot rise to ninth on
South Mumbai for a smooth conduct of IPL. the rankings, while Kohli
the IPL, which is now a 10-team affair. “For Pune, the meeting — who was rested for the
will be held soon, pro- series — dropped five
cash-rich tournament, IPL. posed to be chaired by places to 15th. The other
which begins on March Ministers of the state DCM sir to ensure that big mover with the bat in
26. Players are likely to government — Aaditya the tournament is suc- T20I cricket this week is Leicester’s Jamie Vardy celebrates after scoring against
start coming into the city Thackeray and Eknath cessfully carried out in all Mohammad Waseem of Burnley during their English Premier League match at the
from March 8.
The Maharashtra gov-
Shinde — along with
MCA chief Vijay Patil
our city venues,” said
Aaditya.
the UAE. His unbeaten
century against Ireland
Turf Moor Stadium in Burnley on Tuesday. — AP

in joint lead (Cricket Club of India) ernment on Wednesday and apex council mem- It is also understood in the final of ICC Men’s

Vardy back with

Kanpur: Tamil Nadu
Grandmaster D. Gukesh defeat-
ed former national champion
Abhijeet Gupta of PSPB in the
penultimate round here on
Wednesday to catch up with
overnight leader Arjun Erigaisi
of Telangana as the Senior
National Chess Championship is
headed for a close finish. In top
board battles in the tenth
round, second seed Erigaisi
agreed for a draw against
Grandmaster P. Iniyan of Tamil
Nadu after 41 moves, while
defending champion Aravindh
Chithambaram and Delhi
Grandmaster Aryan Chopra
signed peace after 63 moves.
Gukesh showed immense disci-
pline and skills in the endgame
to beat Abhijeet in 64 moves to
climb to the top spot along
with Erigaisi on eight points.
— PTI
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and the Reliance
Corporate Park ground in
Ghansoli have been iden-
tified by the authorities
as practice venues for the
Ukrainian athletes join army after invasion
Washington, March 2:
Less than two weeks ago,
Dmytro Pidruchnyi was
competing at the Winter
Olympics in Ukraine’s
national colours. Now he’s
wearing a military uni-
form and ballistic helmet.
Pidruchnyi is a world
champion in biathlon,
which combines skiing
and shooting, and a three-
time Olympian. He
returned home from
Beijing last week just
before Russia launched its
invasion of his country.
“I’m currently in my
hometown Ternopil serv-
ing in the National Guard
of Ukraine. This photo
was taken during air
alarm,” he posted on
Instagram on Tuesday
under a picture in uni-
form.
Pidruychnyi also made a
conducted a meeting with
BCCI and Mumbai
Cricket Association in
South Mumbai for a
smooth conduct of the
memorial statement for
Yevhen Malyshev, a 19-
year-old former athlete on
Ukraine’s junior biathlon
team. The exact circum-
stances of Malyshev’s
death are unclear, but the
International Biathlon
Union said on Wednesday
he “died this week serving
in the Ukrainian mili-
tary.”
Pidruchnyi is one of
many athletes who have
joined up with the
Ukrainian armed forces.
Tennis player Serhiy
Stakhovskiy had been tak-
ing some time away from
the game after retiring in
January following the
Australian Open. When
Russia invaded, he
returned to Ukraine from
his home in Hungary and
joined up.
“I’m still not sure how
bers Ajinkya Naik and that all the participants
Abhay Hadap, treasurer will have to undergo RT-
Jagdish Achrekar, were PCR test 48 hours prior to
present at the meeting. their arrival in Mumbai.
He also said that the — PTI
Dmytro Pidruchnyi
I’ve done it. I know that “They don’t understand
it’s extremely hard on my war. They’re too little to
wife. My kids don’t know understand what’s going
that I’m here,” on,” he added.
Stakhovsky, who spent Former boxing world
nearly two decades on the champion Vasyl
tennis tour, told the BBC Lomachenko has joined a
on Tuesday. territorial defence unit,
T20 World Cup Qualifier
A, helped him reach the
12th position with the bat.
— PTI
he posted on social media,
and world heavyweight
champion Oleksandr
Usyk has also been pic-
tured holding a rifle. Usyk
is originally from Crimea,
which Russia annexed in
2014.
Two other former cham-
pions, Vitali and
Wladimir Klitschko, have
symbolic non-combat
roles in Ukraine’s defence.
Vitali is the mayor of Kyiv
and Wladimir is a trusted
adviser.
Other athletes are
watching from afar.
Figure skater Olga
Mikutina was born in
Ukraine’s second-largest
city of Kharkiv, near the
Russian border. The city
has come under heavy
assaults from Russian air
and ground forces.
— AP
a bang for Foxes
Burnley, March
Leicester dented Burnley’s
bid to avoid relegation
2:
from the Premier League
as Jamie Vardy returned
from injury to inspire a 2-0
win at Turf Moor on
Tuesday.
Brendan Rodgers’ side
stole the points with two
goals in the last eight min-
utes as Vardy set up James
Maddison and then netted
himself.
Burnley remain in the
relegation zone, one point
below Everton, after their
three-game unbeaten run
came to an end in painful
fashion.
A win or draw would
have taken Burnley out of
the bottom three for the
first time since November.
But instead they will
have to get over a gut
punch of a defeat that
keeps their top-flight sta-
tus in severe peril.
“We weren’t as good as
we have been, particularly
in the first half. Without
being terrible, we just let
soft things against us, did-
n’t play with enough
tempo,” Burnley boss Sean
Dyche said.
For Leicester, it was a
welcome first league win
in six matches since they
beat Liverpool on
December 28.
“It has been a long time
coming. It’s tough getting a
big injury. To come back
and to be involved in both
goals and get the win, it’s
very good,” Vardy said
after his first goal since
December.
Rodgers added: “He’s a
real catalyst. He makes
runs and presses and is
normally in the right areas
to score. To have that qual-
ity and mentality back will
help us.”
— AFP