Former Indian cricketer and prolific cricket commentator Reema Malhotra was part of NewsX’s special series NewsX India A-List. She talked about how her passion for the sport and women’s cricket has vastly changed in the last few years.

Reema Malhotra, known as an ‘all-rounder’, has made India proud on the world stage. She spoke about how women’s cricket has vastly changed in the last few years with a significant increase in terms of facilities as well as matches.

When asked about her journey of becoming a cricketer and representing India as a part of the women’s cricket team, Reema said, “I was not aware of women’s cricket team while I was playing multiple sports. I used to go along with my father who was a cricketer to watch his matches of Indian Airlines and from there, my interest aroused. I used to play street cricket with boys and then, there was only men’s cricket. I got selected for a baseball camp. The cricketers and coaches noticed me and told me about women’s cricket and they asked me if I was interested. I said yes and that was the beginning of my journey. I started playing cricket professionally from my college and I had debuted for India by then. It was in 2005 that I was selected for the World Cup and it was then that my profession and passion became one which was cricket. I was blessed with parents who supported me and were very encouraging, especially my father. I would also like to thank my mentor Diana for whom I am here today.”

According to her, the game-changing moment was her scoring back-to-back runs at the One Day Women League held in Chennai. She states, “That is when I understood that sports had made me tougher and I am made for this. I used to be happy when I scored runs and was appreciated. The happiness doubled when my parents also appreciated me for playing so well. I learned a lot from cricket. I was awarded for being an all-rounder and the highest runner. While travelling to Delhi I received a call that I was selected for the World Cup. That is when I realised that I had to fulfil my passion.”

Reema’s love for the game and passion has kept her going. She said, “I have always followed what makes me happy. Whenever I was in the field, I was happy. Cricket can give you success but also can lead to your failure and it is from cricket that I have learned that your failure on the platform can make you reach heights. During 2007, I was not playing for any of the teams. That was one of the lowest points in my life. While I was playing for the Indian Railway team, I could not bat so much and if you are not playing for the domestic then how will you be picked? But I never gave up and my parents have always supported me as they have taught me that falling down is part of life. I never looked back from that point and my family has played a vital role in this.”

Speaking about her journey as a commentator, Reema expressed, “I am loving this avatar. All of a sudden, I was selected to play for India and even this happened the same way. I had received a call from Star Sports when India had been playing in the semi-final and they wanted that to be covered in Hindi because my forte was that. I told them that I have never done that but they confidently told me that I am a part of the game. You know how the women’s team works and that is your forte. I still remember that moment and the Star Sports team helped me a lot. This is my second passion or innings”.

Throwing light on the state of women’s cricket in the country, she commented, “In 1983 men’s cricket, World Cup had been climbing the upper graph while it was in 2017 that Women’s Cup started following the same trajectory. After BCCI has come, many things have been changing for women’s cricket. Women’s T20 Challenge has also begun and in a few years, Women’s IPL will be played full-fledged. If you compare, there is a vast difference and now there is also the contract system. The graph is climbing up and if you take little steps, you will reach the heights and that is what BCCI is doing. Women’s cricket team have to be patient for a full-fledged IPL and this is a positive step.”

Reema also took this opportunity to congratulate Mithali Raj for scoring a record of 10,000 runs and the second woman to achieve this score world over. She stated, “The hard work and fitness that goes in to achieve this is difficult. Hats-off to Mithali. She is an inspiration to youngsters not only on the field but also off the field.”

There is a continuous activity happening deep under the earth, tectonic plates are colliding continually and water streams are colliding with each other or with tectonic plates at jet speeds. These collisions when happening at high-intensity results in earthquakes which are increasingly becoming frequent with the advancement of modern times. However, earthquake is not the only outcome of these collisions. Low-intensity collisions do not cause earthquakes but they do create a resultant force that emanates from the earth and affect our lives. These are called geopathic stress lines and it affects both living and non-living beings when they spend most of the times on these lines and more so when they spend time on an intersection of such lines.

Vastu consultants, architects, designers, and engineers in general deal with human health 95% of the time; medicine is used only when we have a disorder. We use walls to design the quality of space. Space, which used to mean emptiness, now means energy. It is the effect of this energy on our vitality, emotional and mental levels that we perceive as quality. In 1930, a German scientist Von Pohl conducted a study in two towns that showed that 80% of cancer cases were located in 10% of the area. These areas were found to be on underwater current crossings, at certain angles, that produced a vortex of harmful “earth radiation” that disturbed the immune system. Though a lot of scientific work has happened in Europe on detecting these earth radiations and their effect on living, ancient sages and philosophers of all ancient civilisations were able to detect such earth energies and predict their effect just by walking barefoot on a piece of land. Fortunately, modern researchers in Europe have developed tools to detect these energies using the principles of resonance from physics.

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF GEOPATHIC STRESS ON NATURE AND LIFE?

You must have seen trees growing vertically till some height and suddenly the trunk slants at an angle. This is due to a geopathic stress line in the vicinity. You will also see trees that have developed cancerous knots on its trunk when they are directly on an intersection of two stress lines. In villages where the boundary of habitation is made from hedges, you will see at a few places the hedge has not grown fully. You can safely say that a stress line is passing through that hedge at that place. Ant-hills and beehives are another good indicators of geopathic stress lines. If you have a pet cat in the house observe where she finds it most comfortable. Cats prefer to sleep on geopathic stress lines or their intersections.

When these stress lines pass through roads and highways it is observed that these are the points of most accidents. When these stress lines cross at the location of a machine in a factory it is observed that such machines fail very often.

WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF THESE STRESS LINES ON HUMAN BEINGS?

If you are working or studying on these lines you may suffer from a lack of concentration and mild headaches. Sleeping on these lines and more so on the intersection of two such lines may initially cause disturbed sleep, fearful dreams, and stiffness in the body when you wake up or tiredness in the morning. If you or a family member frequently wakes up in the middle of the night then it may be because they are sleeping on these stress lines.

Prolonged exposure for more than three years can gradually cause chronic ailments like hypertension, heart condition and in some cases auto-immune disorders and cancer. Please be aware that Vastu is not about the cure but prevention. If you are suffering from any of these ailments you should consult a qualified medical practitioner. Vastu can be a catalyst to good health but can’t be a substitute for proper medical advice.

HOW CAN WE CORRECT THESE DETRIMENTAL EARTH ENERGIES?

Very few Vastu consultants know how to reduce the effect of these detrimental earth energies. Unfortunately, the residents can suffer from these energies even when the house or buildings are designed perfectly as per Vastu principles. The reason is that most Vastu practitioners consider the structure of the building while designing and not the earth energies. Only a few Vastu consultants know how to incorporate these into the design. Even if the space is not designed with these detrimental energies in mind or if you are facing the symptoms elaborated in this article, you can seek a Vastu consultation where you can detect the location of these geopathic stress lines in your home or office and the Vastu consultant will also be able to implement some corrections and cure to harmonise these detrimental energies such that they do not affect your life adversely.

The writer is a Vastu consultant with more than two decades of corporate leadership experience and has served more than 300 business owners on their paths to success.

A perfect example of a marriage of convenience, the growing diplomatic alignment between China and Russia emanates from their respective strategic necessities, most notably, to stave off a common threat—the United States. The growing friendship between China and Russia, despite their own competition in areas like Central Asia, is a typical response to growing global resentment over their expansionist and revisionist agendas.

These diplomatic dalliances, in most conditions, are triggered when you have a common enemy. In the case of the Beijing-Moscow nexus, there is more than one perceived enemy or threat. The recent regularity in the meetings among Quad officials and ministers, capped by the virtual meeting of the Quad heads of states held last month, has rattled Beijing, which perceives the grouping as a major front to combat China’s agenda in the Indo-Pacific. The rise of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, as a leader in vaccine diplomacy and the endorsement of India’s pivotal role in the global fight against the Covid pandemic by the western world has further riled up China, which now sees India as a competitor and a threat to its regional hegemony. This perception has been strengthened by the fact that the Biden administration has doubled down on Trump’s emphasis on developing deeper strategic and military cooperation with India.

The recent sanctions against Beijing over the Uighur human rights violations, the US-China face-off at the Alaska meeting, combined with Washington’s growing hatred against Moscow and President Vladimir Putin, whom US President Biden openly addressed as a “killer”, and the emerging global diplomatic blockade against these two “suspecting partners” are the primary reasons which have forced them to partner against the US-led bloc. Simultaneously, one must note that the US too sees China as a far bigger threat than Moscow in current situations and shares India’s perception of China as an aggressive player interested in changing the status quo, through militaristic means, if necessary.

It would be interesting to see how Moscow, which is content playing second fiddle to China, will now balance its ties with New Delhi. For India too, the road ahead with Russia will demand striking a precarious diplomatic balance.

China, which is facing Washington’s sanctions spree, is also losing out on global markets. Not only India—which has scuttled Beijing’s opportunity to encash the Covid pandemic by supplying vaccines to the world and is fast becoming an alternative to many European countries for trade and business—but ASEAN nations like Vietnam and Singapore are also making the most of the business opportunity thrown out of Beijing’s “alienation” from the global demand-supply chain. Moscow’s vaccine is also under global scrutiny and their “manufacturing and global supplier status” has taken a hit. While India balances Moscow with multi-billion-dollar defence deals, China has lost the large Indian market, which was indirectly a factor for its status as an “invincible regional manufacturing hub”. Things have gone awry to the extent that after Australia shut its doors on China and Russia, seeing an opportunity, there was a quick move to meet the Dragon’s demand for coal supplies.

Their strategic cooperation list also extends to a lunar research station project, clinical trials of the Cansino AD5-nCOV vaccine, action against “colour revolutions”, and Chinese trade and tourism expansion in Crimea. The two nations are also aligning with Iran, another strategic partner of India, for naval exercises and defence partnerships, and eyeing Afghanistan for future diplomatic investments.

In fact, strategic think tank experts in Washington DC view the Quad as a “factor building the new power blocs” to define future diplomacy and strategic affairs. While the Quad has brought anti-China countries together, it has also gotten Russia and China closer. Aparna Pande, Director in Hudson Institute and an expert on India-US ties and South Asia, says, “The recent Quad meeting and the deepening ties among the Indo-Pacific countries is the result of two decades of patient efforts. The Russia-China relationship too is not new as over the last few years, as India and other countries in Asia have drawn closer to the United States, Russia has drawn closer to China. There are strategic (geopolitical, economic, and defence) reasons for this deepening partnership which relate to how Russia perceives the expansion of NATO in its near abroad and its desire to both remain relevant and create challenges for the United States in trouble spots globally.”

Another South Asia expert, Michael Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center, says, “It’s only natural that a deepening Quad would not only bring Quad countries closer together, but also bring the rivals of the Quad countries closer together. China-Russia relations have been intensifying steadily in recent years.”

To Kugelman, the new Quad is a trigger for the Beijing-Moscow bonhomie. “The Quad has only delivered further momentum to a China-Russia relationship that already had its foot on the accelerator. What we’re seeing now is an evolving and expanding rivalry in the Indo Pacific between the Quad countries and their partners on the one hand, and the China-Russia grouping on the other. The region will increasingly become a strategic battlefield where this competition plays out,” says the Woodrow Wilson Center Deputy Director.

The question now is: how will India take the Russia-China closeness as it still maintains sound ties with Moscow? And is Russia, with China, in the long run going to become a designated enemy of the US and India too? Moscow, in fact, had tried hard with the Biden administration to maintain the “friendly nation” status it enjoyed under President Donald Trump, but in vain. In fact, America’s hatred and suspicion of Russia has grown post the presidential election results.

Pande also says, “Till now India has managed to balance its relations with Russia even though it has built closer ties with the US. Delhi would like to make sure that Moscow keeps India’s interests in mind and does not get too close to Beijing or build deep (especially defence) ties with countries like Pakistan that would hurt Indian interests. For this reason, India has continued to purchase oil/gas and defence equipment from Russia and continues to emphasise close ties as well try to include Russia even in the Indo-Pacific.”

However, for others like Kugelman, the Russia-China closeness gives India the “alternative to opt out of defence deals with Moscow and settle for US firms.” Diplomats and strategic affairs experts are thus intrigued and watchful as to how long India and Russia can continue swinging together, especially with New Delhi’s growing closeness with Washington DC.

Kugelman opines, “Deepening Russia-China relations could actually provide one more incentive for New Delhi to distance itself from Russia. The India-Russia relationship had already weakened a bit in recent years, amid a growing US-India relationship. We think about the S-400 deal, but in reality India has been much more interested in investing in US arms than Russian arms in recent years…These days, the India-Russia relationship is really propelled more by nostalgia than anything else, aside from some continued defence cooperation. The trend lines of India-Russia relations are not terribly great, and that could become more the case as the China-Russia relationship continues to grow.”

However, Pande feels that India will still make efforts to wean out Russia from the Chinese embrace. “India would like to wean Russia away from a close embrace with China but whether or not that is possible is yet to be seen. There are areas of friction between Russia and China, some historical, some geopolitical, and others economic. However, as long as both Russia and the US view each other as adversaries, there is little India will be able to do to wean Russia away and instead India will need to make sure it is not hurt by any fallout (like the CAATSA sanctions and S-400 deal).”

Washington’s diplomatic challenges are many, says Kugelman. “With China in alliance with Russia and some European nations still reluctant to sever ties with Beijing, the US certainly hopes to work with an ever-growing group of like-minded partners to counterbalance China. Just as many countries, including those in Europe, are hesitant to antagonize China due to business considerations, there will be hesitation from some countries, especially in Europe, to ally against Russia because of Russian energy supplies…China and Russia will try to push back against the US and its partners too, just as the latter will try to do against China and Russia.’’

But in all this, Russia’s growing alliance with China is more out of the larger strategic benefits it offers Moscow—economic cooperation bilaterally as well as opportunities to partner multilaterally on the global stage. Kugelman says, “These are all benefits for Russia that outweigh the costs of a worse relationship with the US (Moscow had no interest in improving ties with Washington) or further blows to its relationship with India (Moscow knows this relationship, while still cordial, is not on a good glide path).”

Sounding the growing China-Russia relationship is “here to stay and is not a temporary diplomatic response”, Kugelman sees it as an “answer to shifting geopolitics amidst their relationships with the US and India taking some nosedives”.

Needless to say, it seems like a rather delicate dance of diplomacy. Only time will tell if New Delhi emerges as a game-changer with the US!

Two former chief ministers of Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah have reacted to many decisions of the Central government in the recent past and have criticised the BJP for disempowering the people of Jammu and Kashmir post 5 August 2019.

Omar Abdullah said that there has been no development as promised by the central government after disempowering people by snatching their rights and privileges with the abrogation of Article 370.

He claimed that the central government is only taking away not only the rights but the symbols of self-respect like state flag, state constitution and changing the laws to pile up unemployment in Jammu and Kashmir.

Taking a dig at the BJP government he said, “Have J&K unemployed youth got jobs? We were told investors will come from all over the world to invest here. Has a single company invested in Jammu and Kashmir?”

Omar Abdullah has said that the BJP government has lost the plot on Kashmir and they will have to restore the rights of the people in order to bring peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Taking a dig at the levels of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti, after being denied passport, on Monday took to Twitter and said, “Passport Office refused to issue my passport based on CID’s report citing it as ‘detrimental to the security of India. This is the level of normalcy achieved in Kashmir since Aug 2019 that an ex Chief Minister holding a passport is a threat to the sovereignty of a mighty nation.”

Reacting to the denial of passport Omar Abdullah tweeted and said, “What a shame J&K police is going along with this farce. How is it that Mehbooba Mufti was not a threat to the nation when her party was allied with the BJP? As Chief Minister she was in charge of the Home Department & head of the Unified Command, now suddenly she’s a threat!”

Both these chief ministers have been very critical in the recent past about the policies of the BJP in Jammu and Kashmir and have accused them of suppressing the dissent by unleashing agencies like ED and NIA to silence all voices of opposition.

Dehradun: In view of the second wave of Covid-19 in the country, the Uttarakhand government on Tuesday announced that a negative Covid-19 RT-PCR test report will be mandatory for those arriving from 12 states including Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh from 1 April.

“Persons travelling from states namely — Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab. Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan by road, air and train to Uttarakhand are advised to carry negative RT-PCR test report,” said a statement issued by the Uttarakhand government. The statement further said that the test report should not be older than 72 hours.

“Persons coming from above-mentioned states as well as persons residing in Uttarakhand shall strictly adhere to the norms of safety and social distancing as per the guidelines of Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and state government. Violation of norms shall be liable under the relevant provision of Disaster Management Act 2005, Epidemics Act 1897 and sections of IPC,” the statement said.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, there are 1724 active cases in the state.

ANI

BJP president J.P. Nadda on Monday promised that the party will work towards making Assam free of floods in the next five years if it returns to power in the state.

Addressing a public meeting at Dharmapur, which will go to polls in the second phase on 1 April, Nadda said satellite mapping will be done and reservoirs will be created. “We want to free Assam from floods. Satellite mapping will be done, reservoirs will be created. We want to make every village in the state ‘aatmanirbhar’,” he said.

Nadda also referred to promises made by the party in its manifesto, including on employment, delimitation exercise and providing financial support for 30 lakh women across the state.

“I want to say one thing very clearly—Prime Minister Narendra Modi never saw anyone on the basis of religion. He has always worked on the basis of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’,” he said.

The second phase of polling in the state will be held on 1 April and the third and final phase on 6 April. The counting of votes will take place on 2 May. The first phase took place on 27 March.