Tokyo gold medallist Pramod Bhagat once had no money to buy racket

by Argus News

Patna, Sep 5: India's badminton player Pramod Bhagat, who won a gold medal in the Tokyo Paralympics in SL3 category, did not have enough money to buy even a badminton racket in early stages of his career.

Bhagat, a native of Bihar's Hajipur town in Vaishali district had natural talent in sports.

"He used to beat any person in the city during his childhood. When he was just five years old, he became a polio victim. As our financial state was not good and my sister Kishuni Devi and her husband Kailash Bhagat did not have a child, they adopted Pramod and took him to Bhubaneswar," said Rama Bhagat, the father of Pramod Bhagat.

"Initially we did not have money to buy a badminton racket for him. Then his uncle and aunt managed to buy a racket for him and he started training for the game," he added.

"Pramod completed his class 12 examination from Bhubaneswar followed by ITI. As he was continuously practicing badminton, he qualified for the Tokyo Paralympic games," he said.

Suresh Bhagat, the brother of Pramod Bhagat, said, "We are very happy with the efforts of Promod. He won the gold medal for our country and the state. At the same time, the sports infrastructure of Bihar is extremely bad. Hence, many talented players are unable to play in national events."

Pramod Bhagat managed to beat Daniel Bethell of England in the men's singles (SL3) final on Saturday and won the gold medal for India.
(IANS)

Indo-Canada tensions: USD8 billion at stake

by Sisir Mishra

Its massive domestic markets and favourable demographics can afford India more manoeuvrability in terms switching trade deals from Canada while the latter may not have too many luxuries

The lingering tensions between India and Canada will take a heavy toll on the growing economic ties between the two countries. India is the fifth largest economy in the world while Canada stands at ninth. The two countries are on an even keel when it comes to the size of their bilateral business at USD8 billion.

Thirty Indian software companies do business in Canada and their combined business works out to Rs40,500 crore. These companies have engaged a combined 17,000 local resources. If the current standoff continues, they are likely to suffer.

Indian companies have played a big role in augmenting the per capita income of local people. In case they shut shop, thousands of Canadian staff in payroll of these firms will be jobless.

According to a CII report, 85 per cent of Indian companies had planned to increase their investments in Canada. But the current downslide in the bilateral relations has forced them to keep their plans on hold.

India companies have made decent investments in Canada. Besides software firms, various other firms have invested in non-IT sectors such as banking, natural resources and forest produce.

In 2022, India was the 10th largest trading partner of Canada. In 2022-23, its total exports to Canada were USD422 cr while in the same period, its total imports added up to USD 405 dollar. From USD 700 crore in 2021-22, the bilateral business between the two countries has gone up to USD816 crore – a growth of over 15 per cent.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPI) has invested in Kotak Mahindra Bank, online food delivery platform Zomato, online payment platform Paytm and leading IT firm Wipro. The total investments of CPPI in these Indian firms are over Rs1 lakh crore.

Also Read: 'Absurd, Motivated': India Rejects Canadian Allegations Over Killing Of Khalistani Terrorist

Canada’s imports from India include jewellery, gems, pharmaceutical produce, readymade garments, organic chemicals, light engineering and steel items while India imports dal, newsprint, potash, iron scraps, minerals and industrial chemicals from Canada. India is a large market for Canada, especially its dal.

The political tussle between the two countries will affect Canada more. India is currently fifth largest economy in the world while Canada is pegged at ninth slot (USD 2.2 lakh crore). Canada depends heavily on the US and the latter accounts for over 75 per cent of Canada’s total exports.

India’s large domestic markets and favourable demographics can afford India more manoeuvrability in terms switching trade deals from Canada while the latter does not have too many options. Both the countries must shun one-upmanship and find diplomatic ways to end tensions.

Also Read: National News

Hirakud Dam Opens 6 Gates To Release Floodwater

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

Sambalpur, Sep 21: In view of the rise in the inflow of water from the upper catchment area, the Hirakud Dam opened six sluice gates to release excess water from the reservoir this afternoon.

The gates were opened at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Now, the dam is releasing water through four gages on the left side and two gates on the right due to excess water.

Notably, all the gates had been closed a few days back as the inflow of water into the reservoir declined due to scanty rainfall.

By this time, the reservoir was receiving 1,58,892 cusec water and discharging 38,168 cusec water. The water level of the reservoir stood at 629.10 ft against its water holding capacity of 630 ft.

Odisha To Witness Rain In Next 5 Days; 9 Districts Get Yellow Warning

by Pabitra Mohan Senapaty

Bhubaneswar, Sep 21: Southwest monsoon has remained active in Odisha and, thus, light to moderate rain is very likely to lash north and south interior Odisha in the next five days.

A bulletin issued at 1.30 p.m. today by the India Meteorological Department revealed that the low-pressure area over Southeast Jharkhand & neighbourhood with the associated cyclonic circulation extending up to 7.6 km above mean sea level is tilting southwestwards with height persists. The monsoon trough at mean sea level passed through Jaisalmer, Kota, Tikamgarh, Sidhi, the center of the low-pressure Area over Southeast Jharkhand, Digha and thence southeastwards to the East-central Bay of Bengal.

With this, the southwest monsoon is active in Odisha, said the IMD.

The weatherman issued an orange warning of heavy to very heavy rainfall to occur at one or two places over the districts of Sundargarh and Jharsuguda till tomorrow morning. Besides, it also issued a yellow warning of heavy rainfall (7 to 11 cm) to very likely to occur at one or two places over the districts of Nawarangpur, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Bargarh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj.

Tokyo gold medallist Pramod Bhagat once had no money to buy racket

Download Mobile App