একলা সময়

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কোনো মানুষই সুখী নয়।

মানুষ সাধারণত স্বার্থপর।

মানুষ মাত্রেই দার্শনিক।

সব মানুষই অসৎ নয়।

ধনীরা সুখী।

সকল মানুষই ধার্মিক নয়।

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উন্নতির পর্যায়ে

 জীবনের গল্প বড়ই অদ্ভূত রকমের এমনই বলছিল সোমনাথ নামের এক কলিগের । এরকম সময় সে বলে উঠল এক উদ্ভট কথা আর কথাটা শুনে মনোহরের মনে কী একটা ভাবনা উদয় হতে হতে মিলিয়ে যায়। হঠাৎ কীরকমের ভাবনাময় পরিস্থিতি তার মাথার মধ্যে দিয়ে চলে গেল সে শতচেষ্টা করেও আর তার মনে এল না। সারাদিন এক অদ্ভুত পরিস্থিতির মধ্য দিয়ে কাজ শেষে দিনের শেষে সন্ধ্যার মুখে তার মনে পড়ল আবাই সেই একরকমের এক ভাবনা। সে আবারও একটু চিন্তিত হয়ে পড়ল কিছুসময়ের জন‍্য, এমতাবস্থায় সে আর করবে এইভাবে দেখতে দেখতে তার চিন্তাটা রোগের কারণ হয়ে দাঁড়াল। সে বেশিরভাগ সময়েই ভাবনার মধ্যে দিয়ে বয়ে চলে। সে অজান্তেই কখন এমন অবস্হার মধ্যে দিয়েবয়ে চলে সে নিজেও জানে না। একদিন তার এই ভাবনা স্বপ্নের মধ‍্যেও স্পষ্ট ফুটে উঠল। আর এবার সে দেখল যে, সে একা এক ছোট্ট পাহাড়ের উপর দাঁড়িয়ে আর সেই জায়গাটা প্রায় জলমগ্ন আর জল হঠাৎ বাড়ছে আর সে তলিয়ে যাচ্ছে, সে সাহায‍্যের জন‍্য চেঁচানোর চেষ্টা করেও পারছিল না তার গলা যেন কিসে চেপে গেছে এদিকে জল বাড়তে বাড়তে তার কাঁধ থেকে গলা ছাপিয়ে মুখ এবং শেষে নাক ছাপিয়ে তাকে আরও গভীরে আরও গভীরে চলে যেতে হচ্ছে, সে আর থাকতে পারছে না সে বাঁচার জন্য নিজেকে সজোরে ঝাঁকাতেই সে শুনতে পেল এক বিড়ালের শব্দ এবং সাথে সাথে তার চোখ খুলে গেল ও দেখল তার সারা গা ঘামে ভিজে গেছে ও তার বিড়াল ঘরের এককোনে ভয়ে জড়সড় হয়ে রয়েছে, সে বুঝতে পারল যে তার গলার উপর বিড়ালের ভড় থাকার জন‍্য সে হয়ত চেঁচাতে পারছিল না।

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The deaths they continue to cause by diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya are staggering. Our health authorities have to take stronger steps to curb vector-borne illnesses

When one looks at vector-borne diseases, one immediately thinks of mosquitoes. The other household pests that spread disease are cockroaches, which can spread salmonellae and gastroenteritis by contaminating our food by depositing bacteria. They can also be found in clean homes, because they find food and water without much trouble.

The rate at which a population replaces itself is 2.1. As per the latest NFHS data, India’s total fertility rate, or the average number of children per woman, has declined to 2, falling faster than anticipated. This means the window to cash in on our demographic dividend is getting shorter. Will this work for or against India? Two experts debate

If jobless growth continues, we risk becoming old without becoming rich

Children become adults at 18. Deciding when to marry is the basic human right of all adults

Folklore has it that in the medieval ages the king’s consent was required for people to cohabit. The expression “fornication under consent of king” whose abbreviation translated into a more popularly used word to depict the act, arose out of the necessity for such consent and required branding on the house of cohabitation as to grant of such consent.

The many mutations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus since the pandemic began in late 2019 have significantly altered its transmissibility, infectivity and immune escape potential. Here are some of the latest variants

Flurona, Deltacron, B.1.621.1, P.1, 20I/501Y.V1 … The Covid-19 lexicon seems nothing less than an indigestible alphanumeric soup these days. Some of these are scientific handles, which mean nothing to the uninitiated but hold a world of information to the scientists. Others are portmanteau words created by random strangers and immediately adopted by much of the world.

The annual wholesale price based inflation remained in double digit for a ninth successive month though it decreased marginally in December to 13.56 per cent, revealed the index numbers of wholesale price in India (Base Year: 2011-12) for the month of December, 2021 (Provisional) released here on Friday by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The annual rate of inflation, based on wholesale prices, rose to 13.56 per cent from 14.23 per cent reported for November 2021 and on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) has risen exponentially over December 2020, when it stood at 1.95 per cent, the Ministry stated.

“The high rate of inflation in December 2021 is primarily due to rise in prices of mineral oils, basic metals, crude petroleum and natural gas, chemicals and chemical products, food products, textile and paper and paper products etc as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year,” the Ministry said. “The month over month change in WPI for the month of December 2021 stood at (-) 0.35 per cent as compared to November 2021,” it added.

Inflation in food articles has increased to a 23-month high at 9.56 per cent in December, against 4.88 per cent in November, similarly the vegetable price also jumped 31.56 per cent, against 3.91 per cent in the previous month. In the food articles category, pulses, wheat, cereals and paddy all witnessed a month-on-month price rise, while potato, onion, fruits and egg, meat and fish saw some softening, the Ministry said.

While the inflation in manufactured items was lower at 10.62 per cent in December, against 11.92 per cent in the previous month, in fuel and power basket the rate of price rise was 32.30 per cent in December, against 39.81 per cent in November, the Ministry said.

Data released earlier this week has stated that the retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (Combined) rose to 5.59 per cent in December, from 4.91 per cent a month ago as food prices inched up.

The food inflation has spiked from the marginal 0.1 per cent in October 2021, to an unpleasant 23-month high of 9.6 per cent in December 2021, reflecting the unfavourable base particularly for vegetables, said a senior officer of the Commerce Ministry.

Despite the continued double-digit WPI inflation in December 2021, it is expected that the MPC will pause in February 2022. “The duration of the current wave and the severity of restrictions will determine whether policy normalization can commence in April 2022, or be delayed further to June 2022,” the Ministry added.

Chief Secretary orders strict containment protocols in J&K

It was informed that the COVID cases in Jammu and Kashmir have risen by 10 times over the past 10 days, which has necessitated strict observance of CAB, COVID SOPs and protocols and curtailment of unnecessary movement by the general public.

Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta chaired a meeting on Friday to review the rising COVID cases in Jammu and Kashmir and directed observance of strict containment protocols to effectively reduce the rate of transmission.

It was informed that the COVID cases in Jammu and Kashmir have risen by 10 times over the past 10 days, which has necessitated strict observance of CAB, COVID SOPs and protocols and curtailment of unnecessary movement by the general public.

The Chief Secretary appealed to the general public to act responsibly during the third wave of the pandemic and avoid unnecessary and non-essential movement, especially during the weekend, and prevent further surge in cases.

Emphasising that Omicron has a growth advantage over the delta variant, Dr Mehta impressed upon the divisional and district administrations to ensure fool-proof enforcement of all COVID protocols and SOPs.

He directed mass scale awareness campaign for promoting the district COVID helpline numbers for seeking medical assistance through tele-consultations and re-activation of block-level COVID medical grid to provide isolation facilities at Panchayat level, primary medical assistance at primary health care centres, and referral to district ad tertiary healthcare facilities in cases of emergencies.

The district administrations were directed to enhance their testing figures including RtPCR testing and expedite identification, isolation and micro- containment of the infection, besides speeding up vaccination drive in the 15-17 age category which is currently at 40%. They were asked to complete the vaccination in this age category within one week by raising the number of vaccination sites and decentralising the process.

The Chief Secretary asked the Health & Medical Education Department to prioritize administering booster doses in vulnerable populations through the continuing ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ campaign.

Moreover, the Revenue, Police and Health Departments were directed to vaccinate the frontline workers, healthcare workers and volunteers with the third precautionary dose.

The Chief Secretary directed the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Director SKIMS, Director General, Family Welfare, MCH & Immunization, and Principal GMC Srinagar to regularly give media briefings on the mitigation measures, current trajectory of the disease and suitably address the public concerns on the matter.

Air Quality dips further in Delhi

The air quality in the national capital was in the ‘satisfactory’ category continuously for three days from January 9 to January 11,
while it slipped to the ‘moderate’ category on January 12.

 With the dip in capital’s temperature, Delhi’s air quality has deteriorated further as it slipped from the ‘moderate’ category to ‘very poor’, with the city recording an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 312, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR).

The air quality in the national capital was in the ‘satisfactory’ category continuously for three days from January 9 to January 11, while it slipped to the ‘moderate’ category on January 12.

Meanwhile, the air quality in Noida and Gurugram is in the ‘poor’ category. The AQI in Noida stands at 262, while Gurugram’s AQI is at 256.

As per the government agencies, and AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

HP Cabinet approves new energy, sports policy

A state government official said the Cabinet gave its nod to Swaran Jayanti Energy Policy-2021 which envisages clean and green energy development through expeditious use of full energy potential specially hydro and solar. 

The Himachal Pradesh government on Friday gave nod for new energy and sports policy in a Cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

A state government official said the Cabinet gave its nod to Swaran Jayanti Energy Policy-2021 which envisages clean and green energy development through expeditious use of full energy potential specially hydro and solar.

The policy will aim to add an additional 10,000 MW of green energy through hydro, solar and other green energy sources by 2030, expeditious development of green energy sources, a four pronged strategy by way of participation of state, joint, central and private sectors.

It also aimed at developing an adequate and efficient transmission network in the State by creating a transmission Master Plan to facilitate planning and timely execution of hydro and solar projects. It also lays stress on renewable energy sources viz solar, wind, biomass and other non-conventional energy sources.

The Cabinet also gave its approval to the Himachal Pradesh Swarnim Jayanti Sports Policy 2021 which lays emphasis on developing, maintaining and optimally utilizing high quality sports infrastructure, encourage public private participation in creating sports infrastructure, coordinate with educational institutions for promotion of sports and to encourage, train and support sportspersons for participation and excellence in national and international championships with high standards of ethics.

The policy also aims at introducing scientific research in training for long term sports development and recognize and honour talent in sports and reward young women and men who have achieved excellence in sports, he added.

He stated that it also decided to dispense with the process of 15 marks evaluation and enhancement of weightage of written test from 85 to 100 marks for direct recruitment to Class-III posts to ensure more objective selection in a transparent manner.

The Cabinet gave its ex post facto approval for 100 percent waiver/exemption of Token Tax, Special Road Tax and Passenger Tax of various categories of vehicles to provide relief to the transporters keeping in view the effect due to the Corona pandemic. It decided to waive of remaining 50 percent Token Tax on Stage Carriage, Taxi, Maxi, Auto and Contract Carriage buses, Institutional Buses and 100 percent Token Tax on Contract Carriage Buses and Special Road Tax on Stage Carriage with effect from 1st August, 2020 to 30th June, 2021. It also decided to waive off 100 percent Token Tax on Stage Carriage, Contract Carriage and Institutional Buses and Special Road Tax of Stage Carriage with effect from 1st July, 2021 to 30th November, 2021. It also decided to waive off 100 passenger tax on contract carriage and institutional buses with effect from 1st April, 2020 to 30th November, 2021.

He further stated that the Cabinet gave its approval for restructuring of the State Taxes and Excise Department. Creation and filling up of posts would be carried out by the Department in a phased manner in consultation with the Finance Department and in sync with the restructuring proposal.

The Cabinet gave its nod to provide relief to flood affected farmers of Lahaul Spiti district for current agriculture and horticulture losses caused due to extensive rains on 27 to 30 July last year. The farmers would be provided Rs 2000 per bigha for losses between 25 to 50 percent, Rs 2500 per bigha for losses between 50 to 75 percent and Rs. 3000 per bigha for losses to agricultural and horticultural crops above 75 percent. Rs 3000 per bigha would also be provided to farmers for losses to their lands caused due to landslides/flash floods/avalanches etc and Rs 1000 per bigha would be provided for desilting of agricultural and horticultural lands, he added.

IRFC becomes first CPSE to list Green Offshore Bonds at Indian stock exchanges

Speaking on the exclusive listing, Mr Amitabh Banerjee, Chairman and Managing Director, IRFC said: “IRFC’s return to the bond market and the overwhelming support from international investors underscores the confidence in IRFC as the premier quasi-sovereign issuer in the country.”

Indian Railway Finance Corporation Limited (IRFC) has become the first Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) to exclusively list its Green Offshore Bonds at Indian stock exchanges.

IRFC, the dedicated market borrowing arm of the Indian Railways, has launched its USD 500 million 144A/Reg S USD Bonds under the 7 billion Global Medium Term Note (GMTN) Programme rated at par with the sovereign, with exclusive listing at India INX and NSE-IFSC.

IRFC is the first CPSE to list its offshore bonds exclusively at Indian stock exchanges established in the GIFT City, Gandhinagar.

The bonds were issued in a single tranche of 10 year. The order book of the USD 500 million 10-year tranche was over-subscribed to the tune of 2.4 times.

In the current highly uncertain volatile conditions, the bonds have been priced very tightly over the 10-year benchmark UST on account of superior credit quality of IRFC.

Even in volatile market conditions this year, IRFC managed to price the deal at negligible new issue concession over their existing secondary.

The captioned bonds issuance received strong response from the US, Asia, Europe and EMEA.

The investors ranged from Sovereign funds, Investment Funds, Pension Funds, Insurance funds, Asset Management Companies, Banks and Hedge funds spread across the globe.

IRFC’s USD 144A/Reg S Bonds are Green Bonds issued under IRFC’s Green Framework for Green Debt Financing with exclusive listing being done at INX and NSE-IFSC.

Speaking on the exclusive listing, Mr Amitabh Banerjee, Chairman and Managing Director, IRFC said: “IRFC’s return to the bond market and the overwhelming support from international investors underscores the confidence in IRFC as the premier quasi-sovereign issuer in the country.”

Banerjee further said the listing of Green Offshore Bonds by IRFC will give impetus to other CPSEs and other SOEs across India to follow the same path and proceed with exclusive listing at Indian Stock Exchanges.

Tata steel initiates steps to combat COVID-19

Similar to the preparation done for the earlier two waves, the company is geared up to address the challenge this time around, by providing facilities in health care, safety, access control, transport and administration fronts to contain the spread of the virus. 99% of its employees are already double vaccinated through the various drives undertaken by the company.

Tata Steel Meramandali has put in place a series of measures in its plant located at Narendarpur in Dhenkanal district of Odisha, to combat the threat of the third wave of the pandemic, the company claimed in a statement.

Similar to the preparation done for the earlier two waves, the company is geared up to address the challenge this time around, by providing facilities in health care, safety, access control, transport, and administration fronts to contain the spread of the virus. 99% of its employees are already double vaccinated through the various drives undertaken by the company.

The unique POD concept, dividing employees into self-contained smaller groups which operate independently, developed by the unit during the early phase of COVID, has been put in action.

It makes it easier to keep track of positive cases, isolate them and treat them without infecting others. To stop crowding at canteens, food parcels are provided to replace in-house dining facilities, it added.

James Webb Space Telescope finally to launch on Christmas

The mission will explore the outer planets while focusing on our own solar system, as many exoplanets resemble Neptune and Uranus.

NASA’s next-generation space telescope is ready to launch after more than two decades of development.

The James Webb Space Telescope is set to launch on Saturday (Dec. 25) at 7:20 a.m. EST during a 32-minute window (1220 GMT). The enormous observatory will launch from Kourou, French Guiana, atop a European launch company Arianespace’s Ariane 5 rocket. Beginning at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT), NASA will broadcast live coverage of the launch on Space.com or directly on the agency’s website.

Now, providing all goes well, the James Webb Space Telescope will spend a little under two days on the launch pad. If the rocket misses its Saturday launch window, possibilities will be available every day until the end of the year.

NASA is in charge of the observatory, with cooperation from European and Canadian space agencies. The telescope will spend its first month in orbit unfurling in a laborious deployment phase and travelling out to its station, which will be 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometres) beyond Earth.

Scientists believe that by mid-2022, the telescope will be collecting data on the solar system, galaxy, and far beyond. The observatory will focus on gathering infrared light, which will aid scientists in studying the universe’s initial origins.

The James Webb Space Telescope was announced by NASA in 2002, and construction began two years later. Although the observatory was supposed to start in 2007, it has been plagued by delays and cost overruns.

The telescope will investigate the atmospheres of a variety of exoplanets. It will also look for atmospheres similar to Earth’s, as well as the signatures of important chemicals like methane, water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and complex organic molecules, in the hopes of discovering life’s fundamental building blocks.

The mission will explore the outer planets while focusing on our own solar system, as many exoplanets resemble Neptune and Uranus.

(With European Space Agency inputs)

Bengal train accident: Death toll reaches 9, Railway Minister visits spot

The railway authorities have announced a compensation of Rs five lakh for the families of the victims and Rs one lakh for the seriously injured and another Rs 25,000 for the injured. According to the railway authorities the reason for the accident is yet to be determined, but there was no problem regarding signal and it is expected that the derailment took place because of some problems on the track. The death count in the Guwahati-Bikaner Express train accident in north Bengal climbed to nine and the officials said tracks have been cleared for traffic. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw arrived at the spot on Friday.

Twelve coaches of the Guwahati-Bikaner Express derailed in the Domohani area of West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Thursday evening.

“This is a tragic incident. It is very unfortunate. A statutory enquiry has already been ordered. The Hon’ble Prime Minister has been concerned about the death and the injured passengers and I am continuously in touch with the Prime Minister. I am also in touch with the ground situation and today I have come to find out the root cause of the accident. Once it is detected we will try to solve it so that there is no such accident for similar reasons,” Vaishnaw said after reaching the accident spot.

Nine persons died and another 36 persons were injured in the accident. According to sources in the Railways, the condition of 15 persons is serious. “The injured people have been sent to Jalpaiguri Super Speciality Hospital and North Bengal Medical College,” a senior official of North Frontier Railways said.

Meanwhile, the rescue operation has been concluded and the tracks have been cleared. “The rescue operation was conducted all through the night. Special teams from the BSF and NDRF went on with the rescue operation. The rakes were cleared off from the tracks at night only and the damaged engine was removed in the morning. There was some problem because of the darkness but we finally managed to do it,” the official said.

Nine trains were diverted through alternative routes following the accident, which include Guwahati-Howrah Saraighat Express, Kamakhya-Anand Vihar Express, New Delhi-Agartala Tejas Rajdhani Express and Trivandrum-Silchar Express and Kanchanjungha Express.

According to the Railways, the Guwahati-Bikaner Express 15633 (up) that started from Bikaner in Rajasthan was heading to Guwahati in Assam via Patna when the accident took place near Mainaguri in Jalpaiguri around 5.15 p.m. on Thursday. Mainaguri was not one of the train’s 34 stoppages and the Bikaner Express was merely passing Jalpaiguri at the time of the incident.

There were a total of 1,200 passengers on board, including 700 who boarded the train from Bikaner and 98 passengers who boarded the train from Patna junction.

The railway authorities have announced a compensation of Rs five lakh for the families of the victims and Rs one lakh for the seriously injured and another Rs 25,000 for the injured. According to the railway authorities the reason for the accident is yet to be determined, but there was no problem regarding signal and it is expected that the derailment took place because of some problems on the track.

Calcutta HC asks poll body to consider postponing civic elections

Jayanta Mitra, the advocate appearing for the state election commission, had said that the commission cannot take the decision of stopping an election because it is the state’s responsibility.

 Amid an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, the Calcutta High Court on Friday asked the West Bengal state election commission to consider postponing the election in four Municipal Corporations by at least four to six weeks.

The commission has been given 48 hours to come out with its stand on the matter.

The division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava was hearing a PIL filed by one Bimal Bhattacharya, who argued that considering the escalating Covid-19 situation, the civic polls should be postponed.

West Bengal is currently among the top contributors nationwide of the coronavirus cases.

The PIL was filed after the state’s poll panel announced that elections in four municipalities — Asansol, Bidhannagar, Siliguri and Chandannagar — would be held as scheduled on January 22, and counting would take place on January 25.

Elections are due in seven municipal corporations of West Bengal, including Asansol Municipal Corporation, BidhanNagar Municipal Corporation, Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, Durgapur Municipal Corporation, Howrah Municipal Corporation and Siliguri Municipal Corporation.

During the hearing on Thursday, the state government and the commission have tried to push the responsibility on each other.

Jayanta Mitra, the advocate appearing for the state election commission, had said that the commission cannot take the decision of stopping an election because it is the state’s responsibility.

“According to law, the commission cannot cancel a pre-declared election but if the disaster management act is implemented in the state, then the election will have to be cancelled,” Mitra said.

On the other hand, the advocate appearing for the state said that the commission only has the authority to cancel the election and the state has got nothing to do with it. The division bench asked both the state and the commission about their lack of coordination in this matter. On Friday, the court directed the commission to take the final decision on this issue.

Under-utilised: NICD lab sending large quantities of Covid test kits to laboratories in Odisha, Jharkhand

“Recently, on the instructions from the ICMR we have distributed huge quantities of test kits that were lying unutilized here and scheduled for expiry by 31 December to central government-run labs in Odisha and Jharkhand for their use. I don’t know why our state government is not sending adequate number of swab samples as much as possible to us despite repeated requests made to Swasthya Bhaban,”

The state-of-the-art National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD) laboratory at Beliaghata run by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Union health ministry has handed over huge quantities of kits required for RT-PCR tests for Covid-19 confirmation among other laboratories in Odisha and Jharkhand at a time when Bengal recorded the highest percentage of novel coronavirus positivity rates, at 32.18 per cent, in the country.

The reason: The NICD laboratory equipped with hitech and highly expensive Cobas 8800 worth around 5 crore rupees is underutilized owing to the Bengal health department’s alleged reluctance to send more swab samples of Covid-19 suspects to the Beliaghta lab for RT-PCR tests. Fearing expiry of the unutilized kits, the NICD laborary sent large numbers of them to several VRDL labs in the two neighbouring states during end of December. “Our lab has the capacity of conducting Covid confirmatory tests on 3500 swab samples every day but we are getting around hardly 1000 samples from the state health department particularly at this time when maximum tests are required amidst the virtually uncontrolled alarming surge in number of coronavirusaffected cases in our state,” Dr Shanta Dutta, director of the NICD, told The Statesman.

“Recently, on the instructions from the ICMR we have distributed huge quantities of test kits that were lying unutilized here and scheduled for expiry by 31 December to central government-run labs in Odisha and Jharkhand for their use. I don’t know why our state government is not sending adequate number of swab samples as much as possible to us despite repeated requests made to Swasthya Bhaban,” Dr Dutta said. Swab samples from different state government hospitals including the ID Hospital, Beliaghata, are sent to the NICD laboratory. “Following our repeated requests the health department has informed us to increase the number samples for our laboratory.

Apart from sending the existing 1000 samples daily, they will send 800 more, so far as we have come to know,” she added. “We will request the ICMR to provide us more kits soon if the state health department sends us 1800 samples daily. Presently, we are conducting tests manually on 1000 samples sent by the health department daily so far. We will use the Cobas machine inaugurated by the Prime Minister more than one year ago,” the NICD head said. “I am not aware of what the NICD director is saying about the quantity of swab samples. We will increase the quantity for them as when it is required,” said Mr N S Nigam, principal secretary of the health department.

Nominations for 1st phase in UP polls begins today

Candidates can submit their nominations online through the Suvidha App and submit the copy of the application regarding online submission to the returning officer.

The filing of nominations for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections for 58 seats in 11 districts will begin on Friday under strict Covid guidelines, said Ajay Kumar Shukla, UP chief electoral officer.

At the time of filing of papers, only two persons will be permitted to accompany the candidate to the returning officer’s room.

Candidates can submit their nominations online through the Suvidha App and submit the copy of the application regarding online submission to the returning officer.

Due to the implementation of Covid protocol by the ECI, no candidate will be allowed to take out procession at the time of filing nomination papers. Only two vehicles can be used by the candidate at the time of nomination, he said. The ECI has fixed the polling time from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Shukla further said, “The Election Commission is committed for holding free, fair, inclusive, peaceful and Covid-safe polling in the state.”

Out of the 58 Assembly seats going to polls in the first phase, nine seats are reserved for scheduled castes. The elections for the 403 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly will be held in seven phases.

The last date for filing nominations for the first phase is January 21. The scrutiny of nominations will be done on January 24 while the last date for withdrawal of papers is January 27.

The eleven districts where polling will be held in the first phase are Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.

Indian-American Saurabh Chawla, who bought stolen Apple products from school employees in the US and sold those on eBay and Amazon, has been sentenced to 66 months in prison.

Colorado resident Chawla, 36, bought up stolen electronics and other goods and resold them on e-commerce platforms. He also bought stolen iPads from New Mexico school districts.

According to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, Chawla worked with a FedEx distribution centre manager from Delaware named Joseph Kukta to steal packages before they made it to customers.

Those thefts included shipments of Nike sneakers and devices from Apple, Epson, Kenwood, and Magellan, among other merchandise.

Chawla allegedly paid Kukta $1.5 million, according to court documents.

The Chawla saga came to light when US District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Kristy Stock, 46, of Waterflow, New Mexico, to 18 months in prison for federal charges of interstate transportation of stolen goods and tax fraud.

Stock admitted that from 2013 to 2018, she stole more than 3,000 iPods purchased by the school district and sold them on eBay to Chawla and others for her personal benefit.

“From October 2015 to 2018, Stock and Chawla dealt directly with each other, in emails, texts, and phone calls. Stock repeatedly advised Chawla of the items she had obtained, providing details such as the model, colour and number of Apple products available,” according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

Chawla and Stock then negotiated a price, and Stock shipped the items to Chawla’s relative on the Eastern Shore in Maryland.

Chawla paid Stock through PayPal.

Stock admitted that she received more than $800,000 in illegal proceeds from selling stolen iPods worth more than $1 million. A
After his relative received the stolen goods from Stock, Chawla listed them for sale online through eBay at a substantial markup.

According to Stock’s plea agreement, and other court documents, beginning in 2014, “defendant James Bender agreed to allow a good friend, defendant Chawla, and a relative of Chawla’s, SC2, to sell goods and merchandise through Bender’s eBay accounts”.

Chawla’s eBay account had previously been suspended due to security concerns.

From May 2014 through August 2019, Bender and Chawla conspired so Chawla could use Bender’s eBay and PayPal accounts to sell stolen goods and merchandise.

“Chawla, age 36, of Aurora, Colorado, and Bender, age 36, of Baltimore, Maryland, were sentenced to 66 months and to a year and a day in federal prison, respectively,” said the US Attorney’s Office.

Additionally, Chawla was sentenced to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $713,619, and to sign an order of forfeiture requiring him to forfeit a 2013 Tesla Model S ($2,308,062.61) from accounts held in his name, and the sale of property in Aurora, Colorado.