Washington: US President Donald Trump's daughter and senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump has praised 15-year-old Jyoti Kumari, who cycled down 1200km carrying her ailing father during the nationwide lockdown in India, terming her act as a "beautiful feat of endurance and love".
Stuck in Gurugram in Haryana due to the COVID-19-induced travel restrictions and lockdown, a tenacious Jyoti asked her father to sit on the rear side carrier of her cycle and took him to his native place in Bihar, covering 1200km in seven days.
Ivanka took to Twitter on Friday to highlight the story of the Indian girl, a class eight student, whose journey has become an extensive talking point even on social media where there has been talk about whether she has it in her to pursue cycling as a career.
"15 yr old Jyoti Kumari, carried her wounded father to their home village on the back of her bicycle covering +1,200 km over 7 days.
"This beautiful feat of endurance & love has captured the imagination of the Indian people and the cycling federation!" Ivanka said in a tweet.
Ivanka, who is advisor to President Trump on job creation, has visited India twice, most recently in February this year along with her father. In 2017, she led the US delegation at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in India.
Impressed with the doggedness with which Kumari pedalled her way to Bihar from Gurugram, carrying her ailing father, the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) will invite Kumari to appear for a trial next month, in what could be a life-changing opportunity.
CFI Chairman Onkar Singh recently told PTI that if Kumari passed the trial, she will be selected as a trainee at the state-of-the-art National Cycling Academy at the IGI Stadium complex here. Jyoti's father, Mohan Paswan, an autorickshaw driver in Gurgaon got injured and the lockdown left him without any source of income. He had to return the autorickshaw to the owner.
The father and daughter duo started their journey from Gurgaon on May 10 after buying a cycle with whatever money they had and reached their village on May 16.
15 yr old Jyoti Kumari, carried her wounded father to their home village on the back of her bicycle covering +1,200 km over 7 days.
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) May 22, 2020
This beautiful feat of endurance & love has captured the imagination of the Indian people and the cycling federation!?? https://t.co/uOgXkHzBPz
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Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 21 paise to 91.29 against the US dollar on Monday, amid higher crude oil prices, a strong American currency and intense global volatility due to the escalated Middle East tension.
Negative equity market sentiment and massive withdrawal of foreign funds also weighed on the Indian currency, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 91.23 and declined further to 91.29 against the greenback in initial deals, trading 21 paise down from its previous closing level.
On Friday, the rupee lost 17 paise to settle at 91.08 against the dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.22 per cent higher at 97.78.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up 3.91 per cent at 76.78 per barrel in futures trade.
Analysts said that crude prices soared after the US and Israel launched military strikes against Iran.
In the latest strike, the US and Israel forces pounded targets across Iran on Sunday, dropping massive bombs on the country's ballistic missile sites and wiping out warships. The attack was intensified after the killing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Experts say that India faces the risk of a sharp increase in its import bill with the rising crude prices in the international market as the country's 85 per cent fuel requirement is met through imports.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex tumbled 691.47 points or 0.85 per cent to 80,595.72, while Nifty tanked 240.95 points or 0.96 per cent to 24,937.70 in early trade.
On Friday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 7,536.36 crore, according to exchange data.
According to the government data released on Friday following a revamp of the GDP calculation framework, the country's economic growth has been projected at 7.6 per cent in the currency fiscal.
The latest RBI data released on Friday showed India's forex reserve dropped by USD 2.119 billion to USD 723.608 billion during the week ended February 20. The overall reserves had jumped by USD 8.663 billion to an all-time high of USD 725.727 billion in the previous reporting week.
