COLOMBO, 5 April, 2021 (TON): On Sunday, the national "Aluth Sahal Mangalyaya" (New Rice Festival) was held under the patronage of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Aluth Sahal Mangalyaya is the annual ritual of dedicating the year’s first harvest of rice to the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura.

The event was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Services for the 54th time under the guidance of Chief Incumbent of Atamasthana Ven. Prof. Pallegama Sirinivasa Nayaka thero.

A large number of farmers from different parts of the country were present at the traditional ceremony.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa performed the traditional custom of filling the bowl with fresh rice amidst the chanting of Seth Pirith by the Maha Sangha led by Ven. Pallegama Sirinivasa Nayaka Thero. And later, the Ministers and MPs as well as a large number of farmers from different parts of the country filled the bowl with fresh rice.

NEW DEHLI, 5 April, 2021 (TON): The Delhi Metro is undertaking the conversion of its remaining fleet of six coach trains into eight coach trains by adding 120 additional coaches on routes such as Red, Yellow and Blue Line of the metro network.

The conversion is expected to be completed by the end of this year after which all the trains running on these Lines will be eight coaches only, a senior DMRC official said, adding that by the end of this month, the process of converting all twelve six coach trains on Yellow Line into eight coaches will be completed thereby taking the total number of eight coach trains on this line to 64.

He said, remaining nine six coach trains on Blue Line and thirty nine six coach trains on Red Line will be converted into eight coach trains by the end of this year taking the total number of trains on these lines to 74 and 39 respectively.

Out of these 120 coaches, 40 coaches have been procured from M/s Bombardier and 80 coaches from Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML). “This activity is being carried out to increase the carrying capacity of the three main corridors of the Delhi Metro i.e. Red (Line-1), Blue (Line-3/4) and Yellow (Line-2) Lines which contribute to almost 40-50 per cent of passenger utilization every day. It is noteworthy to mention that these Lines which were initially made operational under Phase-I were built on Broad Gauge having provision of running trains up to eight-coach formation,” he added.

DHAKA, 5 April, 2021 (TON): A launch overturned following a collision with a cargo vessel in the Shitalakkhya river in Narayanganj, that killed at least five women.

Sadar Upazila Executive Officer Nahida Bari said, rescuers found the bodies of the women aged between 35 and 40 after the tragedy near Madanganj Ghat on Sunday.

Mobarak Hossain, a deputy director at Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority or BIWTA said that the launch Sabit Al Asad was packed with passengers beyond capacity and sank around 6pm.

Kabir Hossain, in charge of Muktarpur River Police Station, earlier said a storm disrupted the rescue operation.

Badiuzzaman Badal, a leader of the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport and Passenger Association, said the launch was carrying 40-50 passengers.

Some of the rescued passengers were brought to Munshiganj General Hospital for treatment.

Relatives of the missing passengers gathered at Munshiganj Launch Pier and the banks of the river. However, the authorities could not immediately identify the victims.

BALLIA, India, 5 April, 2021 (TON): Uttar Pradesh minister Anand Swaroop Shukla on Sunday claimed that gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari received foreign funding as he presented himself as “savior of Muslims”.

Speaking to reporters here, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs hit out at the former regimes of the SP, BSP and Congress for not doing enough to punish people like Ansari.

“The former governments of the state used to shield him (Ansari) for Muslim appeasement. As a result of this, his ‘mafia raj' continued. The Yogi Adityanath government is making efforts to punish him, and has broken his financial empire,” he said.

"Time has come for Ansari to get the punishment for the crimes he has committed. That is why he is feeling afraid now. He got foreign funding as he used to present himself as savior of Muslims," Shukla said but failed to give any proof for his claim.

Punjab's home department had recently asked the Uttar Pradesh government to take Ansari's custody from Rupnagar jail on April 8, with BSP MP Afzal Ansari on Sunday saying that his brother's "safety" is now the responsibility of the judiciary and the Adityanath dispensation.

The Uttar Pradesh Police has also set up a SIT to probe into the issue of fake documents of the ambulance which was used to ferry Ansari from the Rupnagar jail to a Mohali court recently.

By Aroosa Hafeez

India and Pakistan both rely on snow-fed rivers that rise in Himalayas. The Indus River is one of the mighty rivers of the world and a blessing for the subcontinent because of geographical and economic value. However, conflicts and animosities between India and Pakistan have been continuous over the interpretation of water sharing ever since partition. India is upstream country and Pakistan is the downstream country, Pakistan depends upon the Indus for its sustenance. The Indus River originates from southwestern Tibet Autonomous Region of China and flows through the Ladakh Himalaya, IIOJK and then into Pakistan to drain into the Arabian Sea, forming the Sapta Sindhu ("Seven Rivers") delta in the Sindh province. The total length of the river is 3200 km (1988 miles) and is joined by 5 major Tributaries. The total drainage area of river is exceeding 450,000 square miles.

After the partition of subcontinent, the water system has been bifurcated with the headworks in India and the canals running through Pakistan. However, the territorial disputes remained biggest obstacle and security threat between both the countries. The Indus River passes through Indian illegal occupied Jammu and Kashmir which is in dispute between both the countries. IIOJK is also considered to be the source of water in Pakistan thus the territorial dispute has somehow taken hydro-strategic turn.

As the demand of water has been increasing and supply is decreasing with the passage of time, the water dispute between both the countries is also intensifying. However, the irrigation system that was built before partition is interdependent and way complex. India being the upper riparian can anytime reduce or stop the water flow to its lower riparian, Pakistan but there are treaties and international laws that does not permit to do so and avoid conflicts. After the 8 years of negotiations in 1960, India and Pakistan signed a water distribution agreement known as Indus Water Treaty (IWT). A resolution was partly initiated and brokered by the World Bank to use the water available in the Indus system of rivers. The treaty divides the control of six rivers between the two nations. India got control over Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej while Pakistan got control over Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum.

A two day meeting between India and Pakistan was held on 23rd and 24th March, 2021 under the Indus Water Treaty after the gap of 2 years. The Indian delegation was led by P.K. Saxena, India’s Indus Commissioner, and his team from the Central Water Commission, the Central Electricity Authority and the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation. The Pakistani delegation was led by Indus Commissioner Syed Muhammad Meher Ali Shah. Both the sides discussed a host of issues under the Indus Waters Treaty during the annual Permanent Indus Commission meeting. After the meeting, India approved two Hydropower Projects on Rivers that flows into Pakistan, the Pakal Dul Hydro Electric Project and Lower Kalnai hydropower projects. The Pakal Dul Hydro Electric Project (1,000 MW) is proposed on the Marusudar river, a tributary of the Chenab river, in Kishtwar district in IIOJK. The Lower Kalnai project is proposed in Kishtwar and Doda districts, IIOJK.

Pakistan has raised objection over the projects, saying that the projects violate the World-Bank mediated Indus Water Treaty (IWT) on sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries. Pakistan also sought additional information on these hydropower projects in Ladakh. The treaty gives right to Pakistan to raise objections to designs of Indian hydroelectric projects on the western rivers. According to the Treaty the waters of the western rivers Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab were allocated to Pakistan except for “specified domestic, non-consumptive and agricultural use, permitted to India.”

According to Indian officials India has fast-tracked hydropower projects worth $15 billion in Kashmir in recent months but according to the IWT India is not permitted to build projects on the Indus, Jhelum or Chenab rivers to divert or store water flowing to Pakistan. The treaty clearly spells the do's and don'ts for both countries; as it allows India to use only 20 per cent of the total water carried by the Indus River but India is continuously violating treaties.

Pakistan is completely dependent on Indus River for agricultural use however; India has other River system upon which it can rely. India takes the advantage of being an upper riparian and many times tends to block or divert the water flow in summer season which subsequently creates drought and release more water in the season when not required, which creates floods in monsoon season. Furthermore, India has repeatedly threatened Pakistan to cut the water flow of the Indus river basin without even considering the international laws on cross border water sharing. India enjoys an obvious advantage of being an upper riparian. However, Pakistan’s government needs to approach international forum for redress since the projects which India is building will ultimately destroy Pakistan’s agriculture sector.

Undoubtedly, India is taking advantage of being an upper riparian and is thus trying to maintain its hegemony on lower riparian countries. The perceptions of hegemonic power results in rise of water security threat for lower riparian. India has been using water as a weapon against Pakistan, India’s strategy is to deliberately harm Pakistan economically and create serious scarcity of water in it. However, the competition of limited water resources for Pakistan can intensify the relations between both the countries that are already feeble and hostile, if India kept on taking advantage of being an upper riparian.

NEW DEHLI, 4 April, 2021 (TON): Prime Minister Narendra Modi greeted people on the occasion of Easter on Sunday. 

“Greetings on Easter! On this day, we remember the pious teachings of Jesus Christ. His emphasis on social empowerment inspires millions across the world,” he tweeted.

Easter is celebrated by Christians all over the world in the belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

BEIJING, 4 April, 2021 (TON): At least 11 people were killed after a truck collided with a passenger bus in eastern China over a busy holiday weekend, media reported on Sunday.

The truck drove through a barrier on a highway north of Shanghai in Jiangsu province and crashed into the bus around 1 a.m. local time Sunday (1700 GMT), sources said.

As traffic piled up at the site of the crash, two other trucks were involved in a rear-end collision. Nineteen people were injured and sent to the hospital.

Footage broadcast by local media showed the passenger bus overturned amid the debris from the barrier. Other early morning videos showed rescue vehicles and two cranes in action.

Road accidents are still common in China, due to poor compliance with the highway code.

AHMEDABAD, India, 4 March, 2021 (TON):  Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases, the Gujarat government on Saturday empowered district collectors and municipal commissioners to reserve beds in private hospitals for treatment of the infected patients.

Announcing the decision during a review tour of Vadodara, state Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said the expenses incurred on patients on such beds would be paid by the government.

"The state government has taken a decision to give powers to municipal commissioners and district collectors to reserve private hospital beds for coronavirus patients," Patel, who also holds the health portfolio, told reporters.

Patel, who during his tour met district and civic officials, said circuit houses in Vadodara would be converted into COVID care centers for asymptomatic patients who live in slums, chawls or small houses where effective isolation may not be possible.

"We have also decided to form a committee of expert doctors to check if patients admitted in private hospitals really require such admission or whether they have been given beds despite being asymptomatic. Such (asymptomatic) patients will be discharged and those who really require beds will be admitted in hospitals," Patel said.

There was no shortage of Remdesivir, a medicine known to be effective in treating the infection, and 50,000 vials had been ordered, he informed.

Gujarat, on Friday, reported 2640 cases, the highest single-day addition, as well as 11 deaths.    

TEHRAN, 4 April, 2021 (TON): Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf said on Sunday that the roadmap for the Iranian 25- Year Corporation with China was a serious warning to the US.

He said that the document made the US learn that international relations are changing rapidly to the detriment of the country so that it is no longer in a position to impose a model, program, or agreement unilaterally on independent states.

Noting that the world is not limited to the West, and the next century is the century of Asia, the Iranian speaker said, highlighting the roadmap as strategic.  

He proposed that the same models can also be pursued for the improvement of strategic relations with other countries, the neighboring countries in particular.  

Ghalibaf said that the roadmap only draws general outlines for relations between the two countries and future plans are needed to turn the document into tangible economic cooperation and cooperation in many other areas.

COLOMBO, 4 April, 2021 (TON): Raids will be carried out to identify shops selling food unfit for human consumption during the festive season, the Sri Lanka Public Health Inspectors Association said.

The association said that about 3,000 public health inspectors have been deployed for this purpose.