DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA

JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES SINCE 1932 `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

CONSENT CLAUSE FOR CBI PROBE REVOKED

Leadership squirms as
Gehlot ratchets it up,
calls Pilot nikamma Pilot breaks
silence: Sad,
not surprised
at charges, bid
A PASSAGE — AND A MESSAGE to stifle voice
The USS Nimitz carrier strike group and Indian Navy warships sail in the Indian Ocean Monday amid tensions with China over Ladakh and the South China MANOJ CG
Sea. The Nimitz’s transit is part of the Passage Exercise. Photo courtesy US Pacific Fleet via Twitter REPORT,PAGE5 Gehlot outside a hotel in Jaipur, Wednesday. Express NEW DELHI, JULY 20

HOURS AFTER a BSP-turned-

CM accuses him of conspiring with
Ahead of anniversary, PM’s J&K package
CongressMLAfromRajasthanal-
legedthatSachinPilothadoffered
BJP; another CLP meeting called today him money to join the BJP, Pilot
hit back on Monday, saying such

audit: 50% funds used, third of projects done

HAMZAKHAN& MANOJCG
JAIPUR, NEW DELHI, JULY 20
EFFECTIVELY SLAMMING the
5of 9projectsrelateto infrastructure,
includefour-laningof section of NH-1A
‘People want growth, can’t say door on former Deputy Chief
Minister Sachin Pilot and ruling
out anypossibility of rapproche-
“vexatious” allegations were be-
BUSINESS AS USUAL ing levelled to “malign” him and
to “stifle” the “legitimate con-
BY UNNY cerns” that he had raised against
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Sources close to Pilot said his
next move will depend on the
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

NAVEED IQBAL
SRINAGAR, JULY 20
NEARLY FIVE years since the an-
nouncement of the Prime
Minister’sDevelopmentPackage
(PMDP)forJammuandKashmir,
only 49 per cent of the funds al-
located towards 54 projects (ex-
cludingLadakh)hasbeenutilised,
accordingtoareviewundertaken
by the administration in July.
The review splits the PMDP
outlay for the Union Territories
of Jammu and Kashmir, and
Ladakh.Of theRs58,627croreal-
locatedfortheUnionTerritoryof
J&K, only Rs 28,768 crore has
been utilised. The package was
announced by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi at a rally in
Srinagar on November 7, 2015.
J&K was a state then, run by a
BJP-PDP coalition, with Mufti
Mohammad Sayeed as the Chief
Minister.
In the last about five years,
only nine projects have been
J&K
ONEYEARAFTER
AUGUST5
AN EXPRESS SERIES
fully “completed”, and eight
more “substantially completed”
in J&K. The outlay for this set of
17 projects stood at Rs 10,465
crore, which is less than a fifth of
the total package for the Union
Territory.
A majority of 31 projects are
“ongoing”, two are “slow mov-
ing” and four are at the DPR
(Detailed Project Report) stage.
ThoseatDPRstageincludesmall
hydro power projects (PMDP
outlay Rs 2,000 crore), those un-
derBharatMala(Rs2,700crore),
flood management of river
Jhelum — Part 2 (Rs 1,178 crore)
and the Sudhmahadev-Goha
tunnel (Rs 2,100 crore).
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
that because they are afraid’ ment, Rajasthan Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot ratcheted up the
rhetoric Monday, calling Pilot a
INSIDE
(for) all-round well-being of the “nikamma” and a “nakara” (use- WHIP ONLY FOR
ADIL AKHZER
people of the Union Territory. less and worthless).
SRINAGAR, JULY 20 We have started our journey. He said Pilot had been “con-
HOUSE,NOT FOR
spiring” to “stab the party in the PARTY MEETING: HC
AS THE countdown begins to What’s your assessment of the back” but “no one believed that PAGE 5
mark one year of the abrogation implementation of the Prime CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
of special status, splitting and Minister’s J&K package?
downgrade of the state of The PM’s package was de-
Jammu and Kashmir, the first
LieutenantGovernor
clared in 2015. Only 27 per cent
expenditure (was When Parnami was state BJP chief,
son had set up a firm with Sanjay Jain
of the Union recorded) by the end
Territory of J&K, of 2018. We have
G C Murmu, speaks now reached 54 per
to The Indian Express. THE EXPRESScent. Projects com- alimitedliabilitypartnershipfirm ignated partners, with each con-
Excerpts:
INTERVIEW
WITH
pleted (have gone
up) from seven to 17.
DEEP MUKHERJEE
JAIPUR, JULY 20
Kuber Prime Infrastructure.
According to documents ob-
tributing Rs 50,000 as capital.
Udai’s address mentioned in
Political process has started, On August 5, The Ranbir canal in tained from the Ministry of theLetterof Consentforthepart-
vacuum temporary: Murmu Jammu and G C MURMU Jammu has been FOUR YEARS ago, when Ashok Corporate Affairs, and accessed nership is the same as provided
L-G, J&K
Kashmir will mark cleaned up after 11 Parnami was the Rajasthan BJP by The Indian Express, Kuber by his father Ashok Parnami in
INSIDE one year since its years. In the Keran President, his son Udai Parnami Prime Infrastructure was incor- theaffidavithesubmittedahead
special status was abrogated sector,electricitysupplywasnot had entered into a partnership porated on June 2, 2016, as an of the 2018 Assembly election.
CLASS12NCERT: and the state was split. What
has changed?
there, we had to use DG sets. For
the first time, we have laid an
with Sanjay Bardia alias Jain —
now arrested for allegedly con-
LLP with the Registrar of
Companies in Jaipur. The first
Ashok Parnami, a BJP candidate,
had lost the elections from the
SEPARATISTPOLITICS August 5 is not a mile- electricity line there. Our idea is spiring to topple the Ashok subscriber list shows Sanjay Adarsh Nagar constituency.
OUT, AUG5MOVEIN stone…thatwasadecisiontaken to expand employment oppor- Gehlotgovernment—andfloated Bardia and Udai Parnami as des- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
PAGE 7 to abrogate a temporary provi- tunitiesfortheyouthbybringing
sion.Ourhorizonsarelong-term, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

WORLD Much awaited Oxford TRACKING INDIA’S COVID CURVE Data hints Delhi may be Ex-SC judge to
be in UP Dubey
vaccine gets immune 140 CASES: RECOVERED: 7,00,086 past peak, but can’t let panel as CJI
11,18,042 DEATHS: 27,497
response in early tests guard down: Guleria
DAYS SINCE
PANDEMIC
BEGAN TESTS: 1,40,47,908| DOUBLING RATE: 20.52** says ‘law needs

E
ASTHA SAXENA
arrest, trial’
E X P L A I NE D

KAUNAIN SHERIFF M Promise NEW DELHI, JULY 20 ‘We seem

NEW DELHI, JULY 20
ON COVID, TOP GOP
LEADERS BREAK OXFORD UNIVERSITY re-
RANKS WITH TRUMP searchers on Monday said their
vaccine candidate had triggered
ACROSS U.S., MANY a dual immune response in hu-
WALK OFF JOBS TO mans against the coronavirus
PROTEST RACIAL that causes Covid-19.
INEQUALITY Apreliminaryreportonearly-
PAGE 12 stagehumantrialdataof thevac-
cine candidate — which is being
developedjointlywiththeBritish
EXPLAINED pharmagiantAstraZeneca—had
shown an “accepted safety pro-
file”, the researchers said.
In a paper published in The
Lancet medical journal, the re-
searchers said the candidate,
ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, had during
PhaseIandIIhumanclinicaltrials,
induced neutralising antibodies
SIMPLY PUT
that specifically rendered the
OXFORDVACCINE, virusnon-infectiousin“allpartic-
OTHER VACCINES ipants” who had been adminis-
PAGE 11 tered a second dose.
TheOxford-AstraZenecavac-
and some
● caution
THE OXFORD candidate,
along with the Chinese
and Moderna candi-
dates, represent rising
hope that scientists are
getting closer to a vac-
cine that would defeat
the coronavirus. It is im-
portant to remember
though, that the Oxford
data is from early stage
clinical trials; results of
the larger Phase III trials
will be crucial.
cine candidate is made from a
weakened version of a common
coldadenovirusthatcausesinfec-
tions in chimpanzees. The team
of researchers led by Dr Sarah
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
to have ANANTHAKRISHNAN G
AIIMS DIRECTOR Dr Randeep flattened NEW DELHI, JULY 20
Guleria, who is part of the core the curve’
team monitoring the pandemic THE UTTAR PRADESH govern-
KEYSTATES TOTAL SURGEIN 7-DAYAVG DOUBLING in India, has told The Indian ment Monday agreed to expand
TOWATCH CASES 24HOURS GROWTH* RATE** Express that data from the na- meanthatyoucanletyourguard the one-man inquiry commit-
■ Maharashtra 3,10,455 9,518 2.88% 24.97 tional capital suggests that the down. We still need to be very tee constituted to probe the
■ Delhi 1,22,793 1,211 1.26% 57.17 Covid curve is flattening and the careful. If you start decreasing death of gang-
■ Tamil Nadu 1,70,693 4,979 3.03% 23.73
city“mayhavecrossedthepeak”. social distancing and mask- ster Vikas
On Monday, Delhi reported wearing, there can be a resur- Dubey in an en-
■ Karnataka 63,772 4,120 7.34% 9.81 954 cases — the first time in genceof casesandyoumayhave counter on July
■ Andhra Pradesh 49,650 5,041 7.90% 9.12 weeks that the daily tally has another spike,” Guleria, the 10, to include an
dipped below 1,000. This takes country's top pulmonologist, ex-judge of the
* Compounded Daily Growth Rate over last 7 days ** Calculated over 7-day growth
the total number of confirmed told The Indian Express. Supreme Court
DAILY IN, DAILY OUT cases to 1,23,747. The number of “The infection has not gone and a retired
CASE FATALITY RATIO POSITIVITY RATE
active cases is 15,166. away totally, but it has come police officer. Dubey was
7 DAYS EARLIER: 7 DAYS EARLIER: DETECTED TODAY
“If you look at the data from down. We have to continue to This was after killed on
2.64 7.44 40,425 Delhi, it does suggest that we sustain (this) by following social the top court July 10
NOW: NOW: RECOVERED TODAY: seemto have flattened thecurve distancing, wearing masks, and underlined the
2.46 7.96 22,664 and, maybe, are showing a
downward trend. So, it is possi-
close surveillanceso thatif there
is a small cluster developing
state’s “respon-
sibility to maintain rule of law”
Deaths as a ratio of Positives against Becoming sick vs
positive cases (in %); number tested recovering; more ble that we have crossed the somewhere, it does not become which, it said, “requires arrest
indicator of progress (in %); indicator of recoveries for 14 days peak as far as Delhi is concerned. an area of spread. All those and conviction if found guilty”.
in averting deaths the spread of disease may signal the peak But, considering the trend in measures which are being fol- A Bench comprising Chief
DataasonJuly18,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbersinclude
datafrompreviousdays.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareindicative,notdefinitive
other cities and even in the US, lowed need to be aggressively JusticeSABobde andJusticesAS
having crossed the peak doesn’t CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

PAGE 1
ANCHOR In sixth heaviest deluge, highland & corridors shelter Kaziranga rhinos
ABHISHEK SAHA
GUWAHATI, JULY 20
THEFLOODSinAssamhavesub-
merged 85 per cent of the
KazirangaNationalPark,famous
for its one-horned rhinoceros.
Already 113 animals, including
11rhinos,havedied—two of the
rhinos succumbed to natural
causes. And with this year's del-
uge said to be the “sixth heavi-
est” in the park's history, the fear
is that the animal toll will rise.
But park officials insist there
is hope. Theysaythe33newarti-
ficialhighlandscreatedwithinthe
sanctuary in 2017-18 and better
corridor management will make
adifferencethistime.Inthefloods
last year, over 300 animals had
died, including over 20 rhinos.
“Elephants and deer migrate
whereasavastmajorityoftherhi-
nostendtoremaininsubmerged
partsoftheparkandforthem,the
highlands provide succour,” said
park director P Sivakumar.
“Obviously, the highlands
have helped. On a recent trip, I
saw over 50 animals on three
highlands.Wehavealsoensured
thatfoodisprovidedatthe high-
lands,” said Forest Minister
Parimal Suklabaidya.
Thisyear,theCentreapproved
Rs 12.5 crore for a highland and
road project that will heighten
someofthelowroadsinthejungle
to the level of the existing tourist-
circuitroad.“Inthenon-monsoon
period,itcanbeusedforpatrolling
andduringfloods,itwillserveasa
highland,”Sivakumarsaid.
But still, artificial highlands
have their critics. Uttam Saikia,
HonoraryWildlifeWardenof the
park, warned that these “high-
lands should not come up in the
core areas of Kaziranga because
it might damage the ecology”.
“They can be built in the periph-
ery and additional areas.
Animals are forced to take shel-
ter in these artificial highlands,
the mountains are the natural
highlands for them,” he said.
Sivakumar rules out any new
constructioninside thecorearea.
And Akashdeep Baruah, a senior
IFSofficerwhowastheparkdirec-
torwhenthehighlandswerecon-
structed,maintainsitis“possible”
that had they not been there,
more animals would have died.
“Thehighlandswerebuilt for
a very limited purpose and they
areservingthatwell—theywere
Rhinos take refuge on a highland in the flood-hit Kaziranga neverthoughttobeapermanent
National Park, in Golaghat district, Monday. PTI solution,” Baruah said.
Sivakumar says the park ad-
ministration is also focussing on
managing animal corridors, in-
cludingthosecuttingacrossNH-
37. “Recently, we took over 500
hectares, which will help in de-
velopingthreecorridors,”hesaid.
During floods, animals in
Kaziranga migrate to the upper
reaches, crossing the highway --
and often get hit by vehicles. At
least 15 hog deers have been
killedinroadaccidentssofarthis
season. On Sunday, a video of a
rhinorestingonNH-37,whilefor-
est officials and police restricted
traffic,wentviralonsocialmedia.
“Traffic control on the high-
wayhasbeenmoreeffective.This
year, rescue teams have been
strengthened with more equip-
ment and boats. We have been
abletorescuebiganimalsalsoon
boats,”MinisterSuklabaidyasaid.
As of now, officials say, 140 ani-
mals have been rescued.
However, Honorary Wildlife
Warden Saikia contends that
floodsareessentialtoKaziranga’s
eco-system. “It’s a process that
maintains ecological balance —
deaths are a part of that process.
Forthelast100years,weseethat
floodsplayaveryimportantrole
in the natural balance. But obvi-
ously for us humans, we feel re-
ally bad,” he said.

New Delhi
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
FROM PAGE ONE
Sanjay Bardia
Udai, however, is no longer a
partner in the firm now. He quit
January-end 2017. A day before
he resigned, Udai appointed
Sanjay Bardia’s wife Vineeta
Bardia as a designated partner.
When contacted, Udai
Parnamisaid,“Imethim(Sanjay
Bardia) through someone when
we wanted to do a project in the
coalsector.Wehadincorporated
the company after I liked the
work, but later it didn’t seem al-
right to me. Moreover, no trans-
actions had taken place. You can
seethatnoworkhadtakenplace
during that period. I am not in
touch with him.”
Udai said he was a business-
man and not in the BJP.
Atpresent,SanjayBardiaand
hiswifeVineetaarethetwodes-
ignated partners in the firm.
Bardia was arrested by the
Special Operations Group (SOG)
of the Rajasthan police.
Both Congress and BJP have
accused Bardia of being close to
the other party.
Ashok Parnami was an MLA
from2008till2018,andhadear-
lier served as Mayor of Jaipur for
four years till 2008. He is a
known Rajeloyalist.Parnamire-
signed as state BJP President in
April 2018, after the BJP lost sev-
eral bye-elections in the state.
The post remained vacant for
nearlytwomonthsprimarilybe-
causeRajeopposedthecandida-
ture of Gajendra Singh
Shekhawat, who is now Union
Minister and alleged by the
Congress to be one of the con-
spiratorsintheattempttodesta-
bilise the Gehlot government.
Guleria
followed even in the coming
weeks so that we don't see a
resurgence of cases,” he said.
“If there is a continued
downward trend for another
two weeks, it will mean a dip for
almostfourweeks.Normally,we
would say that when you have a
downward trend for more than
28days,whichistwoincubation
periods, considering the current
infection rate, it is unlikely to
spread further,” he said.
Guleria was part of the high-
level committee formed by the
Ministry of Home Affairs to aug-
mentthecapital’sinfrastructure
andmedicalserviceswhendaily
cases were at their peak.
“Delhi was not doing very
well a few weeks ago, but we
havenowshowngoodimprove-
ment. We are now in a better
place,” he said.
“Themostimportantparam-
eter of looking at any virus is the
mortality rate, which will mat-
ter in the longrun. We are trying
very hard to bring our mortality
rate down to 1%... Nowwe know
a lot about the virus’s coagula-
tion and we give anticoagula-
tion, the fact that steroids are
helpful, the importance of giv-
ing oxygen,” said Guleria.
Healsosaidthattherewasn't
much proof of community
transmission at national level.
J-K Governor
investment…We formulated
some 14 policies to promote in-
dustries, start-ups, we planned
an investment summit in May
but due to COVID-19 pandemic,
we had to postpone.
What’s the progress on
private investments?
We have not yet allotted
land. We have identified 6000
acres of government land. Our
policy is that we will only bring
environment-friendly indus-
tries. We will give preference to
local youth and entrepreneurs.
We will see to it that no agricul-
tural land is diverted.
What are your expectations
about the political process?
The political process has
started. We conducted
Panchayat elections… we
planned elections for the re-
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maining seats in February-
March but then Covid-19
came… local bodies are getting
direct funds from the
Government of India and under
the finance commission. But
they don’t have structure... We
have already chalked out a plan
to create a separate cadre for the
Panchayats… That is half done.
Second part is that the delimita-
tion committee is already ap-
pointed, now delimitation will
start. The Assembly elections
should also come simultane-
ously or after that. So this paral-
lel work is going on. I think this
vacuum is temporary.
When are the Assembly
elections expected?
The Election Commission
has to take a decision, whether
as per earlier delimitation, or
new. I hope that by the turn of
thisyear,someprocesswillstart.
Key mainstream political
leaders were kept under
detention. Even released,
they are under house arrest.
Over a period of time, most
have been released... There is a
process, a committee which
looks at threat perception... the
courts are monitoring it. Those
releasedarenotunderhousede-
tention.Whereverthereishouse
detention, there are clear direc-
tions… some released leaders
have even travelled to Delhi.
The PDP's Mehbooba Mufti is
the only one still detained
under the PSA? Why?
The committee is reviewing
it from time to time.
Almost all separatist leaders
are in jail. Has the
government tried reaching
out since you took over?
I think there is a different
mechanism... Personally I have
no knowledge of that.
How do you address
concerns that the new
domicile policy will change
the demography of the state?
You had a Permanent
Resident Certificate (PRC), that
has a new name of domicile.
Changes are very few. Changes
are for those who are here for
the last 70 years, who didn’t
have PRC. Only they have been
made eligible, like Gorkhas. In
the Maharaja’s time, there were
10,000, but maybe they are
30,000now...AllPRCholdersau-
tomaticallywillgetthedomicile.
Then Valmikis, who were
broughtfromPunjab,2000fam-
ilies, now they may be 20,000.
They have been working here
but they have no rights... Then
the displaced people, in 1947
they have come, but have noth-
ing. No new person will be
jumpingandcoming.Politicking
is going on, nothing else.
Locals fear their land will be
taken away.
Land is protected. We will
not touch agriculture land, and
only government land. If some
localpersonwantstoconverthis
land to industry, there can be a
different procedure. But we are
not touching that right now.
Land is very scarce. 30% of GDP
comes from agriculture. Then
hospitality and tourism. These
two cover 50% GDP of the state.
Until last count, 128 militants
have been killed by security
forces this year. Most of them
are said to be local militants.
Definitely, it is a matter of
concern... These youngsters
don’t know for what they are
fighting. They are not just mili-
tants, they are a threat to the
common people…We take par-
ents when there is a cordon but
they don’t listen... They should
be more aware that picking up
arms is no solution...nowhere in
the world.
Is there any surrender policy
for militants?
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
VIDEO OF THE DAY
Gehlot ratchets up rhetoric, slams Pilot
someonewithaninnocentface
could do such a thing".
Gehlot’sattack,thesharpest
till date, left the Congress lead-
ershipsquirming.Apartyleader
told The Indian Express: "The
Congress leadership disap-
proves such personal remarks.
He has been told about it. He is
aseasonedleaderandheneeds
to be careful." The leadership,
thepartyleadersaid,stillhopes
for a reconciliation.
Another meeting of the
stateCongressLegislatureParty
is to be held at 11 am Tuesday.
The CM’s remarks came on
the day a division bench of the
RajasthanHighCourt,hearinga
petition by rebel MLAs, ques-
tioned the show-cause notices
served on them by Speaker CP
Joshiforskippingapartymeet-
ing.Itsaidawhipcanonlybeis-
sued for an Assembly session,
not a party meeting. The mat-
ter will be heard Tuesday.
Also Monday, the
Governor’s office revoked the
Pilot breaks silence: Sad, not surprised at charges
outcome of the battle in court.
In his first written state-
ment since the crisis began on
July 12, Pilot said: “I am sad-
dened but not surprised to be
at the receiving end of such
baseless and vexatious allega-
tions being leveled against me.
This is done solely to malign
me and to stifle the legitimate
concerns that I had raised
against the party leadership of
the state, as a member and
MLA of INC. This attempt fur-
ther aims at defaming me and
attacks my credibility.”
“Thenarrativeisbeingredi-
rected to avoid addressing the
main issue. I will be taking ap-
propriateandstrictestpossible
legal action against the MLA
who was made to make these
accusations. I am sure more
suchconcoctedallegationswill
be thrown at me to cause as-
persions on my public image.
ButIshallbeunfetteredandre-
main firm in my beliefs and
convictions,” he said.
Pilot's statementcame on a
day when Gehlot called him a
That we have flagged, be-
cause that decision has to be
takenatthehighestlevel...Atour
level, we are trying to persuade
them. And if they surrender, we
will treat them properly.
Recently a BJP leader was
killed along with two family
members.
Thesepeople(thoseopposed
to the political process) have
handlers and they want to cre-
ate sensation... We will ensure
no one is exposed to these
things, whether it is the BJP or
non-BJP or anybody.
There is talk about return to
statehood.
The government has already
promised that statehood will
come back. But it is a matter of
timing — what and when to do.
All major developments, infra-
structure development, job cre-
ation…all this has to be done
very quickly. That is why it was
deliberately kept as a UT…
The new media policy… the
government will decide what
is news/can be published.
Ithinkmediapolicyhasbeen
read very wrongly. Our idea was
how to accredit and how not to
accredit them…We introduced
itastherewasnoearmarkingfor
electronic and social media.
There have been cases filed
under UAPA against
journalists, FIRs regularly…
That is circumstantial evi-
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
MASJID MUBARAK BEGUM: THE STORY BEHIND ‘RUNDI KI MASJID’
Thecarefullycrafteddomesandminaretsofthismosque,carrywithinthemthestoryofacolonialpastwhen
BritishresidentsinIndiaweretrulyenamouredbyeverythingIndian
TALKING ADOPTION:
2 MOMS ON JOURNEY
Aconversationwith
authorLakshmiIyer,
illustratorNilouferWadia
general consent clause under
Section 6 of the Delhi Special
PoliceEstablishmentAct,1946,
which is required for a CBI in-
vestigation.
Speakingtomediapersons,
Gehlot said of Pilot: “The man-
ner in which he weaved a con-
spiracyinthelastsixmonths,to
separate from the party with
the help of the BJP, join the BJP
or topple the government…
When our (rebel) MLAs said
theywon’tgotoBJP,thenitwas
said that we will form a third
front.Ifyouresign,noBJPcandi-
date will contest against you,
this promise was taken, and
that an alliance government
will be formed, like Bihar."
“Nooneusedtobelievethat
thispersoncandosuchathing.
Innocent face, good command
over spoken Hindi and English
— and he impressed the media
in the entire country,” he said.
“In seven years, Rajasthan
must have been the only state
in India where no demand was
“nikamma” and a “nakara”
(useless and worthless).
Sources close to Pilot said
Gehlot's “venomous” out-
bursts proved Pilot’s point that
Gehlothadnevergivenhimre-
spect or treated him well.
Gehlothassaidintelevisionin-
terviews that he and Pilot had
not spoken to each other for
the last one-and-a-half years.
These sources said Pilot’s
next move will depend on the
verdict of the High Court,
whereheandhis18MLAshave
challengedthedisqualification
proceedings against them. An
adverse verdict will, of course,
limit his ability to manoeuvre.
Ontheotherhand,afavourable
ruling will give him the space
to take his battle against
Gehlot, within the party, to a
new level.
Sources said Pilot has not
snapped his links with the
party leadership and has re-
peatedly said that he is not
joiningtheBJP.Sourcescloseto
him said he has told the
Congress leadership that
dence. If somebody is indulging
in that kind of thing, which at-
tractstheIPCorCrPC,thenIhave
nothing to say.
Besides Pakistan, now China
has been making statements
on Kashmir.
J&K is an integral part of
the Union of India. It is interna-
tionally recognised…Anyone is
free to give any statement.
4G internet is still not
allowed in J&K. Why?
It’s monitored by the court. I
wish we got this permission, so
that 4G should start.
If the decision to abrogate
special status is so unpopular
that the government doesn’t
allow normal activity of
mainstream regional
political parties, how is it
going to ensure peace?
A narrative was created here
that 370 is protecting them and
because of that there is auton-
omy. In fact, 370 was not giving
(any) advantage. After I came
here, out of 890 Union laws, 350
were already implemented; an-
other 370 Union laws were not
applicable to J&K. After abroga-
tion, only 170 more laws are rel-
evant. They are very good laws,
like protecting women, protect-
ing SC/STs, Forest Rights Act.
But are the people happy?
Khush hona chaahiye. I feel
90% of the people in Kashmir
look for development, growth,
FULL COVERAGE
made to change the Congress
state president, not by any sen-
ior or any junior. No one would
have read a small news item
that Pilot sahab should be re-
moved as state Congress com-
mittee president,” he said.
“Hum jaante thhey ye
nikamma hai, nakara hai, kuch
kaam nahi kar raha hai, khali lo-
gon ko ladwa raha hai. (Pilot
used to say) mere saath ho ki
nahi ho? Mein yahan baingan
bechnenahiaayahoon,meinya-
han koi sabzi bechne nahi aaya
hoon. Mein mukhya mantri
banne aaya hoon (We knew he
wasuselessandworthless,and
wasmerelytryingtomakepeo-
ple fight. Pilot used to say are
you with me or not. I am not
here to sell brinjals or vegeta-
bles, I have come here to be the
CM),” he said.
Gehlot said “you will never
find in history that a PCC presi-
dentandtheheadofthepartyis
conspiring to drown his party
and government… people
Gehlot never gave him his due,
despite the fact that he had
worked hard as PCC chief. In
the 2018 Assembly elections,
the Congress won 41 of the 49
seats in the 12 eastern districts
of Rajasthan where he carried
out a focused campaign, Pilot
islearnttohavetoldtheleader-
ship.
Ten of the 18 MLAs with
Pilot are from eastern
Rajasthan, where theCongress
won most of the seats in dis-
tricts like Dausa, Karauli,
Bharatpur,SikarandJaipur.The
Congresswon18of the24con-
stituencies in Tonk, Dausa,
Karauli and Sikar districts.
Eight MLAs in the Pilot camp
are from these four districts.
Sources close to Pilot said
he would never join the BJP,
but the Gehlot camp was out
to tarnish his image before the
Congress leadership. Congress
MLA from Badi, Giriraj Singh
Malinga's allegation on
Monday that Pilot had offered
him money to join the BJP is
part of that attempt, they said.
employment opportunities,
(where) their future is secure,
and they are safe. They have a
steady income, they have an op-
portunity to grow. Over time,
some of them were silenced. If
they say the right thing, some-
body will kill them. Wherever I
go,theyareinterestedin growth
(and the future) and nothing
else. But they cannot openly say
that because they are afraid.
Dubey probe
Bopanna and V Ramasubrama-
nian also disagreed with the
state police that no steps should
be taken that could “demoralise
the police force”. The CJI said,
“We don’t appreciate the argu-
ment that if we do something, it
will demoralise the police force.
If theruleof lawisstrengthened,
itwillnotdemoralisethepolice.”
The state government was
representedbySolicitor General
of India TusharMehtawhilefor-
mer Solicitor General Harish
SalveappearedfortheUPPolice.
The Court was hearing a
clutchof petitions seekinganin-
dependent inquiry into the en-
counters leading to the death of
Dubey and his aides. One of the
petitioners, the NGO People’s
Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL),
sought an investigation into all
the police encounters in UP.
UP Director General of Police
Hitesh Chandra Awasthy had
submittedinanaffidavitthatthe
state had already set up a probe.
Mehta reiterated this on
Monday, adding that the “per-
THE LEGACY OF
C S SESHADRI
Breakthrough research
in algebraic geometry
among contributions
fromBombaycorporatehouses
sponsor… as you have been a
corporate affairs minister”.
Referring to the ongoing
court case, Gehlot mocked and
questioned Pilot for hiring
lawyersHarishSalveandMukul
Rohatgi,sayingtheycommand
a tall fee. “Where is this money
coming from?” he said.
Claiming there was “a big
conspiracy” to topple his gov-
ernment, he said: “There are
several powers involved. There
wereI-Traids.Igottoknowtwo
days ago that raids will be car-
ried out on CM's chahete and
milne waley log (favourites).
Andthenraidswereindeedcar-
ried out on them."
He also claimed that rebel
MLAs were being hostage.
“Everyone knows how they are
being kept; their mobiles have
been taken… Many of them
want to come. They are crying
over the phone. Some say they
are using the barber’s phone,
otherstheirson’sphone.”
Addressing a press conference
in Jaipur, Malinga claimed that
Pilot had offered him Rs 35
crore to switch sides.
The Pilot camp pointed out
that in the run-up to the Rajya
Sabha elections on June 19,
there were allegations of
horse-tradingandMalingahad
denied receiving any offer to
switch sides.
Meanwhile, former minis-
ter and Dausa MLA Murari Lal
Meena hit out at Gehlot for his
remarks against Pilot. “He is
such a senior leader... the lan-
guage he has used today…it
seems he has lost his balance.”
Meena is among the 18
MLAs supporting Pilot. “Pilot
and all of us are still in the
Congress. How can he say that
Pilot has not done anything?
When Pilot took over as PCC
chief, the Congress had 21
seats,” he said.
“Gehlot wants to push
Sachin and all of us out of the
Congress… otherwise, why
would anyone use such lan-
guage?” he said.
son who was killed is a person
who has already shown his
propensity and ability to fire at
police and kill them”.
When the Solicitor General
pointed out that “he (Dubey)
was on parole… was facing 64
FIRs…”, the CJI said they were
wellawareof thegangster’spast.
“You don’t need to tell us.”
At the previous hearing,
JusticeBobdehadreferredtothe
action taken by the Court in the
case of the December 6, 2019,
encounter, killing four alleged
rapistsinHyderabad,andhinted
that it might adopt a similar
process in the Dubey case too. A
Bench headed by the CJI had
then ordered a probe by a three-
member commission, headed
by its former judge Justice V S
Sirpurkar and including an ex-
Bombay High Court judge and a
former CBI director.
On Monday, the CJI said, “We
also understand there is a big
difference between what hap-
pened in Telangana and this...
But you must also understand
thatasastateyouhavearespon-
sibility to maintain rule of
law...That requires arrest and
conviction if found guilty,”
Justice Bobde said. “Like in
Telangana, you add an SC judge
andaretiredpoliceofficerto(the
probe) committee.”
Salve had sought to draw a
distinction between the Dubey
andHyderabadencounters,say-
ing that in the latter the concern
was whether it was police vigi-
lantism while the UP case was
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
Bengaluru struggles to
combat surge in
Covid-19 cases
NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY
In today’s episode we’re looking at how
private and public institutions are
struggling to handle the number of
Covid-19 cases in the city
about a “dreaded gangster”.
“Even police have funda-
mentalrights.Thereisadreaded
terrorist and if police have exer-
cised their right to self-defence,
has it exceeded the right to self-
defence? Was it just a case of
petty trigger finger, or some-
thing genuine?” Salve said,
adding “this is a dramatic arrest
of a man who has slaughtered
police personnel… We have to
also not demoralise the force”.
While the Court first asked
UP to nominate members for
the new panel, it then said, “You
don’t make the appointment,
you give the names.” Chief
Justice Bobde said they were
making this suggestion as the
coronavirus pandemic would
make it difficult for a person to
move from one state to another
for the inquiry.
Appearing for the PUCL,
Senior Advocate Sanjay Parikh
called for an inquiry by a sitting
SC judge into the “thousands of
encounters” that had taken
place in UP. The PUCL also ques-
tioned statements by ruling
party members allegedly legit-
imising the encounters.
The CJI said the court could
not spare a sitting SC judge for
the same and added that the
PUCL plea will be heard sepa-
rately. Later, the CJI, turning to
the Solicitor General, said, “if
Chief Minister has made some
statements, Deputy Chief
Minister has made some state-
ments & some things have hap-
pened, you please look into it
also, if it (the matter) doesn’t get
cluttered...Whatisatstakeisnot
one incident in UP… What’s at
stake is this whole system.”
Oxford vaccine
Gilbert of The Jenner Institute at
Oxford genetically changed the
adenovirusbyaddingthegenetic
material of the spike glycopro-
tein(s) that are found on the sur-
face of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
(which causes Covid-19).
The Oxford AstraZeneca
ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine can-
didate is currently undergoing
large (Phase III) human trials in
the United Kingdom and Brazil.
During human clinical trials,
vaccine candidates are assessed
onthreeparameters,viz.,reacto-
genicity(abilitytoproducecom-
mon, adverse reactions), im-
munogenicity(abilitytoprovoke
animmuneresponse),andsafety.
InPhasesIandIIoftheOxford
trial, 1,077 participants were en-
rolledtoreceiveeitherChAdOx1
nCoV-19 (543) or MenACWY
(534), the vaccine against sepsis,
whichwasusedasanactivecon-
trol. The study revealed two im-
portant outcomes: first, that
there were “no serious adverse
events related” to the vaccine
candidate; second, that while
neutralising antibodies, which
specifically kill the virus, in-
creased in a two-dose regimen,
the vaccine candidate also
showed a “marked increase” in
theresponsegeneratedbycellu-
lar immunity.
AlsoonMondayinTheLancet,
Chinese scientists reported en-
couraging results in a separate
Covid-19candidatevaccinetrial–
again, an adenovirus-based for-
mulation triggered an immune
responsewithoutanyseriousad-
verse reactions.
Monday'sfindingshavecome
less than a week after the
American biotech company
Moderna published interim re-
sults of Phase 1 trials of its own
vaccine candidate, which in-
duced immune responses in all
participants with “mild or mod-
erate” systemic adverse events.
When contacted, Adar
Poonawalla, CEO of the Pune-
based Serum Institute of India,
said: “The trials have shown
promisingresultsandweareex-
tremely happy about it. We will
beapplyingforlicensuretrialsto
the Indian regulator in a week's
time.”
(WITHANURADHA
MASCARENHAS,PUNE)
J&K audit
Officials in the UT administra-
tion said in June 2018 (when
President’s rule was imposed in
the erstwhile state of J&K), the
funds released under PMDP
stood at 26 per cent. “It has in-
creased to 49 per cent now,” an
official said, who did not wish to
be named.
In the last two years, the
numberof “completed”projects
have increased from seven to
nine. While in June 2018, about
nine projects could not be initi-
ated “for one reason or the
other”, work has begun on all
such projects now.
When contacted, Rohit
Kansal, Principal Secretary,
Power and Information, who is
alsothespokespersonof theJ&K
administration, told The Indian
Express, “We have accelerated
work on PMDP and we have
worked hard to remove all bot-
tlenecks impeding progress. In
the last 18 months or so, there
has been considerable accelera-
tion, and several large projects
are now moving apace.”
One of the largest infrastruc-
ture projects the J&K adminis-
tration has completed – four-
laning of the Rs 4,707-crore
Chenani-Nashri section of NH-
1A – had a PMDP component of
only Rs 781 crore. A lot of work
was already underway when it
was brought under PMDP.
Among the nine projects com-
pleted so far, five relate to infra-
structure, one concerns in-
creased remuneration for
Special Police Officers in the
Union Territory, and another is
an interest subvention scheme
on assistance for restoration of
livelihood for traders. Over the
last two years, “substantially
completed” projects include
those for repair and restoration
under the Union ministries of
home affairs, finance and de-
fence.
Large infrastructure projects
such as the Rs 5,100 crore
Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch road
and the Rs 1,800 crore Srinagar
semi-ringroadprojectareeither
movingatasnail’spaceorawait-
ing release of additional funds.
The Jammu Semi Ring Road,
with a project cost of Rs 1,400
crore, has made 24 per cent
physicalprogressinitsconstruc-
tion over the last two years.
Legislative changes since
August 5, 2019, have, however,
expedited implementation of
political promises. Property
rights to women marrying out-
side the state are now protected
with the extension of the domi-
cile clause to all individuals who
have resided in the erstwhile
state for more than 15 years.
Citizenship was also promised
and granted to over 20,000
refugees from West Pakistan, as
well as an unspecified number
of safai karamcharis.
In September 2019, a
month after the revocation of
J&K’s special status, the admin-
istration in the newly-carved
Union Territory of J&K, pub-
lished full-page advertise-
ments in local dailies to explain
the “benefits” of the abrogation
of Article 370 and Article 35A.
Besides promising local people
fundamental rights as enjoyed
by citizens in the rest of the
country, the administration
said “development and
progress will percolate to the
grassroots”.
The administration’s wide-
scale efforts to seek investment
has so far resulted in 35 MoUs
with companies promising a
total investment of Rs 2,141
crore. The Jammu and Kashmir
Global Investors Summit 2020
which was initially slated for
October 2019, was rescheduled
thrice and has now been de-
ferred indefinitely, with the
Covid-19 pandemic posing a
fresh challenge.
FULLREPORTSON
www.indianexpress.com
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

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954 CASES, 35 DEATHS ON MONDAY BACK AT WORK AFTER A MONTH

First time in weeks, ‘People would say Delhi spreading virus

to other states, it can be opposite now’
cases below 1,000 Health Minister Satyendar Jain on combating Covid, why he moved to pvt hospital, the road ahead
in the existing setup. We have
created a bed capacity of 15,000
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
CASES PAST THE PEAK as per projections, and even the
CM has said there will be no al-
THE EXPRESS terations in the ongoing plan.

CASES IN Delhi fell below the
1,000 mark for the first time
sinceJune1onMonday,withthe
city recording 954 cases over 24
hours. The number of people
who recovered in the same du-
rationwas 1,784. Thirtyfive peo-
ple died, taking the toll to 3,663
and the total fatality rate to 2.9%.
On June 1, which was also a
Monday, the city saw 990 cases
in the 24-hour period between
Saturday midnight and Sunday
midnight.
Hospitalisation rate andtotal
active cases have dipped consis-
tently over the past two weeks,
withseveralexpertssayingDelhi
seems to be past its peak. Data
shows that on Monday, out of
15,462hospitalbeds,3,488were
occupied.
The growth rate of Covid-19
cases touched 1.21% in the city
over the past week, down from
close to 5% last month.
According to data shared by
the Delhi government, testing in
thecity peaked in theweekend-
ing July 12, with 1,46,340 tests
being conducted in that dura-
tion. In the week ending July 19,
as many as 1,38,315 tests were
conducted. The positivity rate, it
said, had come down to 7% as
opposed to 9% in the week end-
ing on July 12.
The increase in the number
of testsconductedwasfuelledby
RapidAntigenTests,whichpoint
out positive cases with signifi-
cant success but also give false
negatives around 50% to 60% of
the time.
Between Saturday and
Sunday, 4,177 laboratory tests
(RT-PCR/ TrueNat/CBNAAT)
■ Cumulativecases ■ Activecases
150000
120000
66,602
90000
60000
24,988
30000
0 AT 11.30 AM on Monday, Delhi
June23
CORONAVIRUS IN THE CAPITAL
TOTAL CASES
HOSPITAL BEDS 15,462 11,974
1,23,747 VENTILATORS 1,178
Daily cases Recoveries
July 19 1,211
July 20 954
Total 15,166*
were conducted, while 7,293
Rapid Antigen tests were con-
ducted. While Delhi has been
testing close to 20,000 people
per day, a dip is seen every
Sunday, nationally.
The number of RT-PCR tests
hasbeendippinginDelhiandhas
remainedbelow7,000forthepast
week, with the focus shifting to
antigen testing.
According to protocol, those
who have symptoms have to be
tested again using the RT-PCR
test, the gold standard, to make
suretheyarenotamongthefalse
negatives recorded in Rapid
Antigen tests.
While the government does
notmakepublictheinformation
1,23,747
15,166
July20
Total Vacant
722
Deaths Tests
1,860 31 20,206
1,784 35 11,470
1,04,918 3,663 8,30,459
*Total active cases
regarding the number of people
sent for repeat testing each day,
it told the Delhi High Court last
week, that of 2,81,555 people
tested using antigen kits, 19,480
had tested positive. Of the re-
maining, 1,365 went in for fol-
low-up RT-PCR tests, of which
17.8% (243) tested positive.
“The protocol to retest those
with symptoms has been com-
municatedtoeverydistrictmag-
istrate. There is no curb on test-
ing. Anyone who has
influenza-like symptoms is free
to get tested in whichever mode
they choose – RT PCR or Rapid
Antigen. Getting a test done in
Delhi is very easy now,” a Delhi
government spokesperson said.
INTERVIEW
WITH
SATYENDAR JAIN
DELHI HEALTH MINISTER
ASTHA SAXENA
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
Health Minister Satyendar Jain
reached his office at Delhi
Secretariat, almost a month af-
ter he had tested positive for
Covid-19. With dipping oxygen
levels,hehadbeenadministered
plasma therapy last month. His
first day back at work was spent
clearing almost 70 files. The
Indian Express spoke to him
about combating Covid — both
personally and for the city.
How has the past month
been?
The most important thing
during treatment of Covid-19 is
to stay positive. I never lost hope
even though doctors and people
aroundmeweregettingworried
about my health. During the en-
tire treatment, I was never
scared.IneverfeltIhavebeendi-
agnosed with a serious illness;
infact,Ipushedmyself tostayac-
tive. When I was in the ICU, I in-
sistedthatdoctorsshiftmetothe
room at the earliest, and then I
was determined to get dis-
charged soon. People should not
bescaredatall.If thediseasewill
nottakeyourlife,panicmaylead
to trouble. Delhi’s medical sys-
tem is one of the best in the
country. I think ours is the only
state which has ramped upfacil-
Health Minister Satyendar Jain resumes work at his office in Delhi Secretariat on Monday,
almost a month after testing positive for coronavirus. Prem Nath Pandey
ities in an aggressive manner in
a short period of time.
You were first admitted to
Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality
hospital, but later shifted to
Max Saket.
As my condition deterio-
rated, doctors suggested going
for plasma therapy. But by that
time, the hospital (Rajiv
Gandhi) had not received the
nod to start the therapy. I was
told the permission was ex-
pected in the next few days. I
was adamant to stay there for
the treatment but my wife pan-
icked. She had lost her father re-
cently and was already worried.
She immediately called the CM
and I was shifted to another
hospital against my wishes
(laughs). The government hos-
pitals in Delhi are in no way in-
ferior to private hospitals.
Rajiv Gandhi Hospital
had not received the nod
to start plasma therapy. I
was told permission was
expected in the next few
days. I was adamant to
stay there but my wife
panicked. She called up
the CM and I was shifted
to another hospital.”
Delhi has seen a dip in the
number of cases. What
comes next?
Even though the numbers
are going down, we need to stay
cautious and can’t let our guard
down. We don’t know how this
virus will behave. For instance,
in the US, initially it looked that
the numbers are manageable.
But now, it’s reporting the high-
est number of cases. The virus
seems to have washed away
from Europe but we still don’t
know. So we have to wait and
watch. We can’t be celebrating
thatthevirusisover.Earlier,peo-
ple used to say that the virus is
being spread from Delhi to their
states, but it can be completely
opposite now. Cases of Covid
started in Delhi as thousands
from across the globe travelled
to the city and stayed here. That
was the reason behind the dra-
matic increase in the numbers.
What helped bring Delhi
back on track?
As per our plan, the next tar-
get was to increase bed capacity
to30,000.Butthatplanhasbeen
putonholdasthesituationisun-
der control right now. However,
we are not leaving any changes
The Delhi Corona App was
then put into place, beds were
added and soon the process was
easedout.Atpresent,anadequate
number of beds are available,
which is one of the reasons peo-
ple are assured and sitting at
home.Thereasonbehindthesuc-
cessof homeisolationisthelarge
number of beds arranged by the
Delhi government. If we had
started home isolation and beds
were notavailable, people would
have been worried. Now people
areassuredthattheywillgetabed
even in the middle of the night.
Ours was the first government to
distributepulseoximeters.These
have been game-changers.
On Monday, the Uttar
Pradesh government also
started home isolation for
patients. Do you feel other
states should follow suit?
Whateverthegoodpractices,
everyone must follow. Delhi had
to do it earlier because it was the
need of the hour. For instance,
when we converted Lok Nayak
into a complete Covid facility of
2,000beds,questionswereraised
ontheneed.Buttherewasatime
when1,000patientswereadmit-
ted to the hospital. If we hadn’t
created the facility, how would
we have handled the situation?
How does it feel to be back at
work? What have the doctors
recommended?
Doctors will always ask you
to rest. But I have a different def-
inition of rest... To rest is to be at
the place where you enjoy it — I
enjoy work so I feel best while I
am working.

AMID RUBBLE
A woman knits outside her house that was demolished near East Laxmi Market, Monday. Praveen Khanna

On duty since March, contractual

doc dies of Covid, family in lurch
SOMYA LAKHANI
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
A QUARANTINE centre in South
Delhi’s Chattarpur, the Radha
Soami Covid care centre, and
serosurveillancecentreinPushp
Vihar—sinceMarch,DrJavedAli
(42) had done duties at these
three places before contracting
coronavirus in June.
After a three-week-long bat-
tle with the virus, Dr Ali, who
was a contractual doctor with
Delhi government's National
Health Mission (NHM), died at
8.40amonMondayatthe AIIMS
Trauma Centre.
He is survived by his wife Dr
Heena, and their two children,
aged 6 and 12. Dr Heena told The
Indian Express, “He was a dedi-
cated doctor who did not take a
single day off since March and
was on Covid-19 duty through-
out. He even worked on Eid."
Forthelast10days,DrAliwas
on ventilator support. "My chil-
dren and I didn't even get to see
himonelasttime.Thereisnopro-
visionforthefamiliestosaygood-
bye. My six-year-old son doesn't
understanddeath,andkeepssay-
ing ‘main Allah se dua karunga
Dr Javed Ali died on Monday
Papa ko ghar vaapis bhej de,”said
Dr Heena, over the phone. She
said Dr Ali had no comorbidities.
Dr Ali hailed from UP's
Chandausi,anddidhisMBBSata
state medical academyinRussia.
His friend Dr Abu Bukr, who
studied with him in Russia, re-
called their conversation in
March. “He was a brilliant crick-
eter. I had told him that once all
this is over, we will meet for a
game of cricket. I had recently
found out he was in Lok Nayak
hospital, but he was in no shape
to talk to us by that time. I am
heartbroken.”
DrAlijoinedNHMin2011and
waspostedataDelhigovernment
dispensary in South Delhi's
Sangam Vihar before Covid-19
struck. His NHM colleague Dr
DheerajNathsaid,"Hetestedpos-
itive on June 24, and complained
ofbreathingproblemsonJune26.
Hewastakentoaprivatehospital,
where Remdesivir was adminis-
tered to him. His condition dete-
rioratedandhewasshiftedtoLok
Nayak. Over the phone, he used
to say he will be back.’
The conversation changed a
few days later when his oxygen
levels dropped, said Dr Nath. “He
sounded scared. He was then
moved to AIIMS Trauma Centre.”
Hiswifesaidnofinancialhelp
wasextendedbythegovernment
when Dr Ali was at the private
hospital as he was a contractual
doctor with NHM. “It's our job to
treat people, but what about our
safety, our treatment? Who will
fill the void? Who will help edu-
cate his children? The govern-
ment must ensure safety of fam-
iliesofhealthcareworkers,evenif
they are contractual healthcare
workers,” said Dr Heena.
On Monday, Dr Alka
Choudhary, Delhi president of
NHM Doctors’ Welfare
Association, said she has written
to Delhi Health Minister
SatyendarJainaboutgivingmed-
ical benefits to NHM members,
including doctors, paramedics,
dataentryofficers,amongothers.
“In March, we had ap-
proached the health minister
with the same demand. If we fall
sick while treating Covid-19 pa-
tients, we have to foot our own
bills. No one cares about us. If we
test positive and are at home,
our leaves and salary are cut too.
Dr Ali's wife spent their money
on his treatment. Why call us
warriors? Why talk about our
future? Make sure we and our
families are safe in the present.”
“The death of a doctor who
was a corona warrior is very un-
fortunate. Help will be extended
to the family. If a representation
has been sent to the govern-
ment, we will try to help in the
best way that we can,” said a
health department official.
As of now, there are over
2,000membersof NHM,includ-
ing 240 doctors, on Covid-19
duty. Dr Choudhary said, “Many
NHM healthcare workers are
shaken up after Dr Ali’s death
and want to go on strike to de-
mand health benefits, but we
want to meet the health minis-
ter first. We have faith in him.”

New Delhi

4 THE CITY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
SDMC, JAL BOARD TRADE CHARGES
Wall on drain at ITO led to
waterlogging, says PWD
ASHNA BUTANI
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
A DAY after a drain, which runs
betweentheunder-construction
WHO headquarters at ITO and
the Anna Nagar slum, over-
flowed and washed away 10
houses, officials from the Public
WorksDepartment(PWD)saida
wall built on the drain was the
root cause of the waterlogging.
While the drain at ITO is un-
der the jurisdiction of the South
MCD, officials said the wall was
not built by them. “It’s part of a
DelhiJalBoardsewagetreatment
plant to supply water to the
Pragati power project. When
therewaslesswater,DJBhadbuilt
thewalltostorewater,treatitand
usethewaterfortheproject.This
was done without the SDMC’s
permission;wearenowbreaking
it,” said a senior MCD official.
However, the DJB claimed it
had sent a letter to the South
MCD regarding construction of
the wall on November 26 last
year. A DJB spokesperson said,
“We had sent a notice on con-
struction to the MCD, after we
received an order from the
National Green Tribunal.”
TheNGTorderhadpointedto
sewageoverflow“fromthegates
of the Dr Sen Nursing Home nal-
lah (near IP Metro station) in-
stalled by the agency operating
the STP. DJB has proposed a weir
on the drain to trap it by
December 19”. The letter stated
thatconstructionof theweirwas
tobecompletedbyJanuary2020.
Drains need to be allowed to
carry water uninterrupted. The
practice of blocking drains to ei-
ther divert water or store it for
treatment usually works well
throughout the year, but results
in a massive problem on days
heavy rainfall is seen. A majority
of stormwater drains in the city
werecarvedoutanddetermined
by the flow of the water during
the monsoon.
Woman falls to death from 5th
floor flat, boyfriend booked
SAKSHI DAYAL
GURGAON, JULY 20
A 26-YEAR-OLD woman, who
police say worked as an airhost-
ess, fell to her death from the
fifth floor of a gated condo-
minium in Gurgaon Sunday
night. Police have booked her
boyfriend, who was with her at
thetime,forabetmentof suicide.
According to officials, the FIR
has been lodged on the basis of
acomplaintsubmittedbyBabyla
Bhutia, sister of the victim
Peggyla Bhutia, who used to re-
side in Phase 3.
The incident took place
around 10 pm at Bestech Park
View Spa in Sector 65. The vic-
Gurgaon: 2 roads cave in after rain
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
TRAFFICINpartsof Gurgaonwas
disrupted Monday after small
portions of two roads caved in
following heavy rainfall on
Sunday night. According to po-
lice, while the first cave-in oc-
NSO SURVEY FINDINGS
Delhi households spend more on education than most states
SUKRITA BARUAH
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
PEOPLE IN Delhi are, on average,
spending more on education
than people in urban areas in
other states, other than
Himachal Pradesh, according to
thefindingsof thelatestall-India
survey conducted by the
National Statistical Office (NSO).
The report, Household Social
Consumption on Education in
India,releasedlastweekmapped
1.13 lakh households during July
The drain overflowed and washed away 10 houses on Sunday. Praveen Khanna
According toexperts,the best
way to avoid flooding during
monsoon is to ensure the drains
are allowed to flow unimpeded
andtakethewatertotheYamuna.
Meanwhile, residents of the
slum recalled a change in water
flow on Sunday. “The water
flowed backwards. When that
happened, water rushed into the
pit at a very high speed, bringing
down settlements and trees. We
arescaredourhousewillgonext,
it’sbuiltontheedgeof thedrain,”
said Sikandar Saini (19).
The pit he was referring to
was the basement under con-
struction at the WHO site. A
PWD official said, “A basement
that is 3-4 floors underground is
being constructed. So when the
water hit the SDMC wall ahead,
it created pressure and flowed
back to the WHO basement.”
Thefactthattheareaisalow-
lyingregiononlyaddstocompli-
cations. Officials said there is no
optionbuttopumpoutthewater
—eightpumpsweredeployedby
the PWD, while the SDMC has
deployedsupersuckers.Officials
estimate that the WHO base-
ment is around 40-feet deep.
(Inputs by Abhinav Rajput)
tim’s boyfriend is a resident of
Sispal Vihar.
Inhercomplainttopolice,the
victim’s sister claimed Peggyla
had been in a relationship with
her boyfriend for the last three
years.However,sheclaimedthat
for the last four weeks, he had
“cut off all links” with her and
blocked her on all social media.
On July 18, she stated, Bhutia re-
ceived an email from her
boyfriend “inviting her for a get-
together at his friend’s place”. It
wasduringthisgettogetherthat
she fell from the fifth-floor flat.
“Thevictimwasimmediately
rushed to Artemis hospital, but
succumbed to her injuries dur-
ing treatment,” said Subhash
Boken, PRO of Gurgaon Police.
At IFFCO Chowk
2017-June 2018 accounting for
1.52 lakh students. In Delhi, it
mapped 1,317 households.
The findings of the report
show that the all-India average
of expenditureperstudentinthe
academic year across all types of
courses at all levels of education
is Rs 9,948. If one were to only
look at urban areas, this average
expenditure across the country
rises to Rs 19,893. In this, Delhi is
close to the top with an average
expenditure of Rs 27,359. This is
only higher in Himachal
Pradesh, where it is Rs 27,970.
Homes gone, families
take shelter at tent
JIGNASA SINHA
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
OVER 20 families from the Anna
Nagar slum cluster at ITO spent
Sunday night in a tent set up by
authorities near Indraprastha
Metro station, after their homes
were washed away in the rain.
The office of the central dis-
trict magistrate has started re-
leasing funds to those displaced.
Nidhi Srivastava, DM (central),
said at least 10 families have
been given cheques of Rs 25,000
each.
On Monday, government of-
ficialsalsoadvisedotherfamilies
living next to a drain, which
overflowed and destroyed over
10 houses, to shift to the tent as
the ground is unstable.
Among them was Rajan
Singh (37), a driver. He said, “It
was difficult last night, we didn’t
have anything to eat and could-
n’t sleep. My wife is pregnant...
Inhercomplaint,thevictim’s
sister claimed Peggyla had tried
her best to get back together
with her boyfriend “because she
reallylovedhim”. The complaint
alleges,“Whywouldhesendher
an email to join him for a get-to-
gether at his friend’s place, and
how is it that this mishap hap-
pened at that very moment?”
Police said nobody has been
arrested so far. “An FIR has been
lodged under IPC Section 306
(abetment to suicide) at Sector
65 police station. Further inves-
tigation is on,” said Subhash
Boken, PRO of Gurgaon Police.
“The postmortem of the
woman will be conducted on
Tuesday. The man has not been
arrested yet,” he said.
curredundertheflyoveratIFFCO
Chowk, the other occurred near
the Sector 46 turn in Sector 50.
Officials from NHAI, which is
repairing IFFCO Chowk cave-in,
said work will be done in “1-2
days”. At Sector 50, Gurugram
Metropolitan Development
Authority officials said repairs
will take up to a week.
In Delhi, the average expenditure touches Rs 27,359
we also have two daughters.
Yesterday, my wife ran from the
house minutes before the drain
swept nearby houses away. We
thought we were lucky that we
still have our home but the au-
thorities told us it’s not safe to
live there.” The family was only
allowed to take things like
clothes, medicines and books.
They are now living in the tent.
The tent is divided into two
—onehalf formen andthe other
for women and children. There
are two fans outside and the
families sleep on a carpet.
RekhaRani(40),ahousewife,
said she has been living in Anna
Nagar with her husband and
their two sons for the last 25
years. “Last night, wedidn’t have
food and slept at a temple but
had to leave as my husband said
we weren’t safe.”
The family, which moved to
the tent, said they said they left
their house with nothing except
their phones.
Deputy CM Manish Sisodia met Areeba Irrfan, the Class XII
Delhi govt school topper of the Southeast district, Monday
‘Online learning may not
be solution, but necessary’
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
THEDELHIgovernmentMonday
commenced leadership training
for its school principals for
this year in collaboration with
IIM-Ahmedabad. The Principal
Training Programme with the
premier management institute
had begun begun four years ago,
andthenewroundistakingplace
with 50 new heads of schools.
“Fromacademicstoadminis-
tration,planningtodecisionmak-
5 months since NE Delhi riots, 700
compensation applications pending
Victims shuffle between offices; pandemic, lockdown slows process further
SOURAV ROY BARMAN
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
AMONG THE many lives up-
ended in Delhi in February were
that of an expecting mother,
days into her pregnancy, and a
father barely making ends meet
with a little help from his son.
In the riots that tore through
Northeast Delhi between
February 23 and 26, claiming at
least 53 lives, Gulzeb Parveen
(21) lostherhusband MohsinAli
(23), while Ikramuddin lost his
younger sonAakib,whohadjust
turned 19.
While public attention has
shifted from riots to the pan-
demic, hundreds of families, in-
cluding that of Mohsin and
Aakib, are struggling to pick up
the pieces, with compensation
announced by the Delhi govern-
ment eluding them.
Senior officials, quoting offi-
cial records, told The Indian
Express that till June-end, of
around3,200claimsforcompen-
sation, 1,700 were approved,
around 700 remain pending,
whileover900wererejected.“So
far, a little over Rs 20 crore has
been disbursed as relief across
categories,” said an official.
Theperusal of recordsshows
that under the category of
deaths, in seven cases, compen-
sation amounts of Rs 9 lakh each
have not been released owing to
absence of bank account details
in one case, pending DNA re-
ports in three cases, absence of
FIRinonecaseandclaimantsnot
appearing in two cases.
“In our case, the compensa-
tion has not been released as we
still await Mohsin’s death certifi-
cate. The crime branch direct us
to Khajuri Khas police station.
Police station directs us to North
MCD, which directs us to Lok
Nayak Hospital. Mohsin’s father
is on the verge of collapsing. He
wentaroundgovernmentoffices
evenonMonday.Initially,hisDNA
report was awaited, which came
inApril.Butwearefacingtrouble
evennow. Wealsodon’thavede-
ing,Iwantschoolstobecomede-
centralised autonomous institu-
tions and take charge of educa-
tion... Running the school is the
responsibilityofeachschoolprin-
cipal who is central to the entire
school system. We, as ministers,
Education Directors and officers,
are just the facilitators,” said
Education Minister Manish
Sisodia in his opening address.
He also stated that the heads
ofschoolsmustcommittoonline
learning at this time. “Online
learningmaynotbeasolutionbut
it is a necessity today,” he said.
Abreakdownofthisexpendi-
tureshowsthataverageexpendi-
tureoncoursefee,whichincludes
tuition, exam and development
fee, in Delhi is Rs 16,514. This was
wellabovethenationalurbanav-
erageofRs12,395.However,there
are states in which this average is
higher in urban areas, including
HimachalPradesh(Rs19,532)and
Haryana (Rs 17,146), as well as
Telangana and Punjab. The aver-
ageexpenditureonotheritemsin
Delhiisalsoamongthehighest—
Rs3,332forbooks,stationeryand
uniform; Rs 3,175 for transport;
The riots in February left 53 people dead. Archive
tailsontheprogressmadebythe
police in investigating his death.
Hiswifeisnowexpectingandhas
moved back to Hapur,” Imran
Khan, his uncle, said.
Mohsin, who was an office
beareroftheBJP’sminoritycellin
Hapur, was charred to death
barely 400 metres from Khajuri
Khas police station and 200 me-
tres from a CRPF camp on
February25.Adieselgeneratorset
trader,Mohsin,thefamilyclaims,
hadgonetotheareatoattendtoa
call from a marriage hall owner.
“North MCD officials say the
delay in his death certificate is
due to the lockdown. Without
that,theDelhigovernmentisnot
releasing the relief amount of Rs
9 lakh,” Imran said.
Aakib, his father Ikramuddin
said, had stepped out to buy
clothes on February 24 after tak-
ingRs1,000.“Westayinarented
house in Bhagirathi Vihar. His
sisterwastogetmarriedinApril,
so he had gone out to buy
clothes. Later, we came to know
he had suffered head injuries
near Bhajanpura petrol pump.
On March 2, he passed away at
GTB Hospital,” Ikramuddin said.
He used to sell bangles for a
living,helpedbyhisson:“Firstwe
lostAakib.Thenthelockdownef-
fectively spelt doom for us. It is
gettingdifficulttoevenpayrent.”
TheSDM’sofficehasbeenex-
pressing inability to transfer the
As UP begins home
isolation, AAP says
proud to set example
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
THE AAP Monday said the Uttar
Pradesh government’s decision
to allow home isolation was a
“momentofpride”forDelhi’srul-
ing AAP, which has consistently
advocated the need to isolate
people with mild or no symp-
toms at their homes itself.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay
SinghpointedoutthattheBJP-led
Centre had opposed the Delhi
government on home isolation,
insistingthatallCovidpatientsbe
hospitalised. “But now, they are
alsofollowingthehomeisolation
rules.Around1.3lakhpeoplehave
recovered in Delhi and 80% of
themrecoveredunderhomeiso-
lation. The Kejriwal government
arrangedoximetersforallpatients
of home isolation, regular tele-
phonic counselling and proper
quarantine centres,” he said.
Lt-Governor Anil Baijal had
brieflystruckdowntheDelhigov-
ernment’s home isolation rules
lastmonth,withtheUnionHome
Ministry claiming that many pa-
tientswerebeingbroughttohos-
and Rs 2,886 for private tuition.
The report also showed that
32.9% males and 32.2% females
from Delhi between the ages 3-
35whohadneverenrolledined-
ucationinstituteshadnotdoneso
because of financial constraints.
The distribution of students
aged 3-35 years in Delhi shows
that a larger percentage of these
students are attending govern-
mentinstitutions,with14%of all
students in government institu-
tionsattheprimarylevel,9.7%at
the upper primary or middle
level, 17% at the secondary and
New Delhi
relief amounttothefamily,citing
absenceofapost-mortemreport.
“Theinvestigatingofficersaysde-
lay in furnishing the report is due
to lockdown,” Ikramuddin said.
The refrain of delay due to
lockdown also finds mention in
officialrecordsavailablewiththe
Northeast Delhi DM’s office. In
case of injuries, till June 15, out
of 359claims,105werepending,
of which as many as 63 had
‘lockdown’writtenagainstthem.
In case of 30, MLC papers were
absent and in case of 12, bank
details were not available.
The segment on residential
property damages shows that
out of 1,286 claims, 152 were
pending, of which 78 were due
to lockdown. The majority of
pending cases, 178 out of 355,
had ‘lockdown’ marked against
them, including in case of dam-
age to commercial property.
Incasesof propertydamages,
around 900 out of 2,700 claims
have been rejected citing rea-
sons such as “no damage as per
assessment”,“casesnotfallingin
eligibility criteria”. Another rea-
sonthathasbeencitedisthe“re-
lieving of sector SDMs”.
“This is another important
factor.Asmany as 12SDMs were
appointed for the purpose of
clearing and verifying relief
claims across four sub-divisions
of Yamuna Vihar, Shahdara,
Seelampur and Karawal Nagar.
Sanjay Singh
pitalsafterdeteriorationinhealth
while under home isolation.
But it was restored after the
Delhi government opposed the
move.Singh,whoistheAAP’sUP
in-charge,saidhehadrepeatedly
requested the Yogi Adityanath
government to adopt home iso-
lation and increase testing.
“Itisamatterof pridethatthe
modelofCMKejriwalisbeingfol-
lowed in other states... But I be-
lievethatUP governmentshould
increase testing facilities... UP
rightnowhasonly28testingcen-
tres whereas Delhi has 42. But
Delhi has 2.5 crore population
whereas UP has a population of
24 crore,” Singh said.
seniorsecondarylevel,and12.9%
at the graduate level or above.
The distribution of students
amonginstitutionsatvariouslev-
elsinstateswithsimilarlyhighav-
erage expenditure on education
show a higher percentage of stu-
dents in private institutions, par-
ticularly in urban areas. For in-
stance in Himachal Pradesh’s
urbanareas,21%;9.2%;18.6%;and
4.4% of all students are in private
institutionsattheprimary,upper
primary, secondary and senior
secondary, and graduate and
above level respectively.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
They had to be shifted out later,
which also hampered the
process. Even now, the urgency
appears to be missing, despite
DeputyCMManishSisodiawrit-
ing to the Northeast District
Magistrate and other senior of-
ficials,” said a district official.
Sisodia had issued a note to
the DM and the revenue secre-
tary on July 10, observing that in
a lot of cases, compensation was
sanctionedbuttheamountwas-
n’tcredited.Thenotedirectedthe
DM office to look into the forms
that were filed but couldn’t be
submitted at SDM office, forms
that were submitted but haven’t
beenverified,andsoughtatime-
line to provide compensation to
those eligible as quickly as
possible, with the government
“mulling to stop accepting relief
claims after July 25”.
AseniorNortheastdistrictof-
ficial said the DM has written to
the revenue headquarters, seek-
ing more staff for expediting the
task of verification of claims.
Five schools were also dam-
aged in the area, out of which
compensation has been cleared
forthree,whileinthecaseof two,
it remains pending “due to dis-
pute”.In61cases,compensation
could not be transferred due to
“incorrect/dormant accounts”.
In some cases, victims had
approached the court seeking
release of compensation. In one
such case of serious injury, the
Delhi High Court had on July 8
ordered that the person be ex-
tended the amount of Rs 2 lakh
within 10 days, saying “there is
no reason for any delay in releas-
ing compensation”.
The government had prom-
ised to extend compensation up
toRs10lakhincasesofdeaths;Rs
5 lakh for permanent incapacita-
tion;Rs2lakhforseriousinjuries;
Rs 20,000 for minor injuries; Rs
5,000 for animal loss. In cases of
complete damages to residential
units, up to Rs 5 lakh is being ex-
tendedforeveryaffectedfloor;Rs
2.5 lakh in case of substantial
damages; Rs 5 lakh in case of
uninsured commercial units.
BRIEFLY
DUnodfor
ECAquota
admissions
New Delhi: DU’s standing
committee of the
Academic Council
Monday decided to hold
admissions to all cate-
gories under the extra-
curricular activity quota
basedonself-attestedcer-
tificates. Several teachers
have raised objections.
Manhangs
selfatAICC
office
New Delhi: A 45-year-old
man employed at the
AICC office allegedly
committedsuicideinside
the servant quarters of
the building in Akbar
Road Sunday.
41heldafter
raidatclub
New Delhi: Police con-
ducted a raid at a club in
Paschim Vihar and ar-
rested 41 people for vio-
lating social distancing
norms Sunday night.
Manheldfor
‘killing’mother
New Delhi: A 45-year-old
woman was allegedly
killed by her son in
Ambedkar Nagar for
constantly scolding him
over his liquor and drugs
habit. Police have ar-
rested the accused.
Drugsseized
New Delhi: Four people
werearrestedandover1.7
kg heroin was seized in
two cases by Narcotics
Control Bureau. Officers
said it was being smug-
gledthroughinternational
courier services ENS.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

5 GOVT & POLITICS

THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020

RAJASTHAN POWER PLAY Navy conducts joint

PleabyrebelMLAs:HCobserves
DELHI CONFIDENTIAL
whipdoesn’tapplytopartymeets
HAMZA KHAN
JAIPUR, JULY 20
HEARING A petition by rebel
Congress MLAs led by Sachin
Pilot on disqualification notices
issued to them by the Speaker,
the Rajasthan High Court ob-
served on Monday that a whip
can be issued only for an
Assembly session but not with
NO TEMPLE TRYST respect to a party meeting.
The hearing in the case, by
WHILE SHRI Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust didn't Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty
hesitatetoannounceitsinvitationtoPrimeMinisterNarendra and Prakash Gupta, could not be
Modi for the 'bhoomi pujan' at Ayodhya to start temple con- concluded and the matter will
struction, the organisation's move to make no reference to a now be heard on Tuesday. The
coupleof nameshastakenmanyfromtheRamTemplemove- High Court had earlier allowed
ment by surprise. It was BJP patriarch L K Advani who had un- the MLAs time till Tuesday 5.30
dertaken the Rath Yatra to bring the issue to political cen- pm to file their response.
trestage, while former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh had The MLAs have argued that
lent his weight to the agitation. Both, incidentally, are facing there were no grounds to dis-
trial in the alleged conspiracy for Babri demolition. While qualifythemjustformissingtwo
Singh recently deposed before the court in Lucknow, Advani meetings of the Congress
is slated to depose soon. The two leaders were synonymous Legislature Party (CLP).
with the Ram Temple movement, but no public invitation to Appearing for the respon-
them has raised eyebrows among the cadres who fuelled the dents, including Speaker C P
movement. Joshi, Abhishek Manu Singhvi
said that the court proceedings
were “non-maintainable, pre-
MAPPING SEATS mature and without jurisdic-
The Jaipur bench of the Rajasthan High Court. Rohit Jain Paras
ification. Singhvi contended that
the Tenth Schedule of the
Constitutiondealingwithdisqual-
ification – one of whose clauses
has been challenged by the rebel
MLAs –is designed and intended
to be an autonomous, self-con-
tainedcodetodealwithdefection
and disqualification of members.
Singhvi cited various judgments
to say that courts have limited
grounds of interfering in a
Speaker’sorderondisqualification.
Talking to journalists, Joshi’s
counsel Prateek Kasliwal said
that only a show-cause notice
has been issued so far. “Why is it
being pre-empted that Speaker
willactinthefavourof oneside?”
The counsel for the petition-
ers, former Solicitor General of
India Harish Salve, asked
whethertherewas any“applica-
tionof mind”whennoticeswere
issued by the Speaker, adding
that disqualification notice over
Rajasthan govt
revokes ‘general
consent’ for
CBI probe
HAMZA KHAN
JAIPUR, JULY 20
THE ASHOK Gehlot government
has revoked the general consent
under Section 6 of the Delhi
Special Police Establishment
(DSPE) Act, 1946, which is re-
quired for CBI investigation in
the state. The agency will now
have to seek prior permission on
case to case basis in Rajasthan.
The development comes in
the backdrop of political turmoil
in the state.
“...prior consent of
GovernmentofRajasthanshallbe
required to be taken on a case to
casebasisforinvestigationof any
offenceorclassof offencesunder
Section3oftheDSPEAct,1946by
the Delhi Special Police
Establishment,” reads the notifi-
exercise with US
carrier strike group
SHUBHAJIT ROY
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
TheUSSNimitzonMondaypartic-
ipatedinexerciseswiththeIndian
Navy, at a time when Indian and
Chinese forces are locked in a
standoff at the LAC in Ladakh.
A US Navy statement said,
“TheNimitzCarrierStrikeGroup,
consisting of flagship USS Nimitz
(CVN 68), Ticonderoga-class
guided missile cruiser USS
Princeton (CG 59) and Arleigh
Burke-class guided missile de-
stroyersUSSSterett(DDG104)and
USSRalphJohnson(DDG114),par-
ticipatedincooperativeexercises
withtheIndianNavyintheIndian
Ocean commencing July 20.”
“It was a privilege to operate
withtheIndianNavy,”RearAdm.
Jim Kirk, commander, Nimitz
Carrier Strike Group, stated.
“RADM Vatsayan, Flag Officer
CommandingEasternFleet,leads
a powerful and highly skilled
Fleet.Theopportunitytohavethe
Nimitz Carrier Strike Group join
with his Fleet for a series of exer-
cisesimprovedourinteroperabil-
ity and is a testimony to the flex-
ibility of both our Navies.”
“While operating together,
the US and Indian naval forces
conducted high-end exercises
designed to maximize training
and interoperability, including
air defense. Nimitz CSG’s opera-
tions are designed to provide se-
curity throughout the region
while building partnerships
with friends and allies,” the US
navy statement said.
It said that naval engage-
mentssuchastheseimprovethe
cooperation of US and Indian
maritime forces and contribute
to both sides' ability to counter
threats at sea, from piracy to vi-
olentextremism.“Theseengage-
ments also present opportuni-
ties to build upon the
pre-existing strong relationship
between the United States and
India and allow both countries
to learn from each other,” it said.
Nimitz Carrier Strike Group
is currently deployed to the
Indian Ocean in support of a free
and open Indo-Pacific, it said.

HOWTOseatmembersofbothHousesintheMonsoonSession
tion” as far as interim injunctive
relief was even contemplated.
Singhvi argued that whether
non-attendance of a meeting,
anintra-partydisagreementwas
violative of fundamental rights.
cationdatedJuly19andissuedby
the order of Governor. Jaishankar: China’s rise
affected its neighbours
whilemaintainingphysicaldistancingnormsisturningoutto He also argued that the criticism of the party, constitute Apart from Salve, the MLAs Congress leaders here have
betricky.RajyaSabhaChairpersonMVenkaiahNaiduandLok Speakerhadexclusive,non-trans- as grounds for disqualification is were represented by ex- been claiming that the CBI may
Sabha Speaker Om Birla met on Monday with a new option — ferableandnon-delegablepowers also for the sole consideration of Attorney General Mukul start investigations in the state
-of usingbothHousesformembersof eachHouse.TheUpper toadjudicateonissuesofdisqual- the Speaker. Rohatgi, among others. to pressure the party.
House and its galleries can accommodate 127 MPs, and the
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

‘Don’t think Gehlot, Pilot

LowerHousewithitsgalleriescanseataround290,takingdis- External
tance norms into account. Members of each House beyond At MP Cong NEW DELHI, JULY 20 Affairs
these capacities will sit in the other House, it is proposed. The Minister
two leaders have asked their respective secretariats to look legislature party EXTERNAL AFFAIRS Minister S Jaishankar

will bury the hatchet...it’s

intologisticalandtechnicalchallenges—if thisoptionistaken SJaishankaronMondaysaidthat
up. Naidu and Birla also inspected chambers and galleries of meet, MLAs take rise of China has affected the en-
the two Houses before the two-hour discussion. tireworld“veryprofoundly”and unique. I mean every region
oath to stay has impacted its immediate would have its own.”

RELIGION CARD a show scripted by Gehlot’
COMPETITIVE DISPLAY of religiosity between the BJP and the
Congress is no more news. But it did surprise some Congress UNION MINISTER GAJENDRA
leaders when they learnt that Youth Congress activists had, SINGH SHEKHAWAT, who has
on Sunday, distributed Ganga-jal in Delhi on the occasion of been accused by the Congress
Savan Shivratri. Some leaders wondered whether such activ- of taking active role in disrupt-
ities are necessary now, given the pandemic situation in the ing the Ashok Gehlot govern-
Capital. Many leaders, however, saw nothing wrong in it and ment, talks to LIZ MATHEW
argued that religion is no party's monopoly. The Youth about the political crisis in
Congress said its president, Srinivas B V, arranged Ganga-jal Rajasthan. Excerpts:
from Uttarakhand to be distributed to devotees and to be of-
fered to Lord Shiva at various temples in Delhi because it is an How do you see the political
important ritual according to Hindu scriptures. developments in Rajasthan?
The government is in a mi-
nority because of an internal
fight in the Congress between
RAJASTHAN Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot –
HC issues contempt
a fight that has been there since
this government was elected. If
you look at the incidents -– from
notice to Chief Secy
the election victory (in 2018) to
government will not complete
five years.
What will BJP do in the
current situation?
What can we do now? Let
the court decide. We will see
what we can do. Let's see what
stand Pilot-saab is taking. After
that, let's see. Also, let things go
to the floor of the House.
Do you see the possibility of
Gehlot and Pilot burying the
hatchet?
THE EXPRESS
I don't think so. It's a scripted
INTERVIEW story, and Gehlot is the producer
and director (of it); he has de-
cided the climax, too. If there is
with party
MILIND GHATWAI
BHOPAL, JULY 20
WITH TWO Madhya Pradesh
Congress MLAs defecting to the
BJP last week, and speculation
that more are likely to follow
suit, the Congress legislature
party met on Sunday, with leg-
islators taking an oath that they
will not break away.
The oath to 84 Congress leg-
islatorswasadministeredbyfor-
mer tribalministerOmkar Singh
Markam in the presence of
Pradesh Congress Committee
chief and former chief minister
Kamal Nath, at whose residence
the meeting was held.
neighbours.
Healsosaidthatgapinthede-
velopmentofIndiaandChinaover
thelastthreedecadeshas“impli-
cations” for the relationship.
Speaking at the Mindmine
summit, Jaishankar, without
mentioningNepal,referredtothe
situationbetweenthetwocoun-
triesinthewakeof themapcon-
troversy, saying “…bear in mind
alotof itisalsopolitics,theirpol-
itics,ourpolitics-sometimesthe
interplay of. Often, it would be,
you know, sharp positioning,
which may be sort of magnified
bythemedia.Youknow,wecan’t
push these things away, I mean
this is politics at work, it’s not
Rahul says PM’s ‘strongman’
However, he said that the
two sides need to create “struc-
tural linkages” so that they take
care of the “political cycles and
any volatility that they form”.
On India taking positions, he
saidthatearlierthethinkingwas
to “stay out of trouble”, and
“don’t get entangled” into other
people’s issues.
“But today, people turn to us
as part of a solution... We are not
necessarily the bystander who
may get sucked into other peo-
ple’s issues. But we have a con-
tribution to make the big issues
of the day…You can’t say I’m go-
ing to stay away, and there will
be competing choices,” he said.

image now India’s weakness

HAMZA KHAN
JAIPUR, JULY 20
THE RAJASTHAN High Court on
Monday issued a contempt no-
tice to Chief Secretary Rajeeva
Swarup on a contempt petition
in a matter pertaining to a bun-
galow occupied by former Chief
Minister Vasundhara Raje.
The issue had come in news
after former Deputy CM Sachin
Pilot had, in an interview to
Rajasthan Patrika, alleged that
Gehlot was busy saving Raje
rather than fulfilling the prom-
ises made by the party. Pilot had
cited how Raje was still living in
agovernmentbungalowdespite
a HC order against it.
ReactingtoPilot’sclaims,for-
mer BJP MLAs Kailash Meghwal,
who is also a former Assembly
Speaker, and Pratap Singh
Singhvi, had said that “the bun-
galow is allotted to her in the ca-
pacity of a senior MLA. The bun-
galows of this category are
allotted by variousgovernments
to various senior MLAs.”
On September 4 lastyear, the
HC had held as “void” a 2017
amendment which provided
former CMs — for the remainder
of their lives — a government
residence, a car, telephone and a
staff of 10.
Advocate Vimal Choudhary,
appearing for petitioner Milap
Chand Dandia, said on Monday
the government has not served
a notice to Raje and had told the
court that she is entitled the
bungalow as an MLA.
The matter was heard by
Justice Sabina and Justice
Chandra Kumar Songara. The
matter is now listed for
September 10, 2020.
selectionof Chief Ministerto(the
crisis) today --- you will know
there hasbeena verticaldivision
in the party and in the govern-
ment. We have been saying (all
along that) it is vertically di-
vided...but they always denied.
Today Gehlot is saying that
heandthe(former)deputychief
ministerhavenotspokentoeach
otherfor18months;hesaidthat
hisformerdeputyCM(Pilot)was
good for nothing. At the same
time, he is blaming us for this.
How are we responsible for
them not talking to each other;
that his PCC chief was good for
nothing?
Why is the Congress
attacking you?
The Congress knows that
better. What I understand is, ini-
tially I thought he was using my
shoulders totrainhisgunsonhis
PCCchief (Pilot),butnowIrealise
he was trying to kill two birds
WITH
GAJENDRA SINGH
SHEKHAWAT
JAL SHAKTI MINISTER
with one stone: finish Sachin
Pilot and defame me. All I have
done is, I defeated his (Gehlot's)
sonVaibhavintheelection[from
Jodhpur Lojk Sabha seat].
Why were BJP leaders
sympathising with Pilot?
We are in the political field;
this much is allowed.
Have the developments in
Jaipur gone the way the BJP
expected? After Pilot's
rebellion, did things go
wrong for BJP?
Where is BJP in the picture?
We were not expecting any-
thing.Therewasaverticaldivide
in the (Congress) party and we
were expecting there would be
a split. We were sure that this
a deviation from the climax he
hasdecided,onecanseehisrest-
lessness.If yougobacktothelast
fewdays,youcanseethatwhen-
ever there are reports of
Congress leadership being in
touch with Pilot, Gehlot showed
frustration.
What is the immediate future
of Rajasthan politics?
Thefutureofthepeopleofthe
state is in darkness. There's so
much uncertainty.... The CM has
beensobusytogetridofthe“good
fornothingdeputyCM.”Nowthe
priority is to save his chair. At a
time when the state is going
through a pandemic, we have
seen ruling party MLAs playing
‘antakshari’ataresortandwatch-
ing Sholay. At a time when the
government should be feeding
the poor, the Gehlot government
was learning to cook Italian!
FULLINTERVIEWON
www.indianexpress.com
At least five of the 90
Congress legislators did not turn
up, but the party said they had
conveyed their inability to at-
tend due to different reasons.
Party insiders said the oath
was not on the official agenda
but MLAs ended up swearing
their loyalty to the Congress be-
cause Markam said it was the
need of the hour.
TheKamalNath government
lost power in March after 22
MLAs followed party leader
Jyotiraditya Scindia in defecting
totheBJP.Lastweek,Pradyumna
Singh Lodhi and Sumitra
Kasdekar also joined the BJP.
BJPbelievesif thepartycould
get more Congress MLAs to re-
sign, thereby increasing the
number of seats where by-elec-
tions will be held, it will hope to
inch closer to establishing a sim-
ple majority on its own without
having to depend on the Scindia
loyalists.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
TARGETING PRIME Minister
NarendraModibylinkinghis“56-
inch strongman” image with
China’stransgressionsintoIndian
territory, Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi on Monday said if the
Prime Minister allowed the
Chinese to understand that they
can manipulate him because of
his image, he will no longer be
worth anything for India. He said
the PM denied that the “Chinese
are sitting in our territory” which
suggeststhat“heisworriedabout
defending his image”.
The BJP hit back, with party
president J P Nadda accusing
Gandhiofindulgingin"mudsling-
ing"anddescribinghisremarksas
another“failed”editionof“Project
RG Relaunch”.
“The PM fabricated a fake
strongman image to come to
power.Itwashisbiggeststrength.
It is now India’s biggest weak-
ness,”Gandhitweetedalongwith
a video message in which he
talkedaboutChina’sstrategicand
tactical game plan. He said China
isputtingpressureonModitoact
inawaytheywanthimtoorthey
willdestroyhisstrongmanimage,
andhehassofarbeenseenasthe
one succumbing to it.
“And they (China) are think-
ing of putting pressure in a very
particularway.Andwhattheyare
doing,isthattheyareattackinghis
image. They understand that in
order for Narendra Modi to be an
effective politician; in order for
Modi to survive as a politician, he
has to protect the idea of ‘chhap-
pan inch’,” he said.

BJP appoints new

party chiefs in
Gujarat, Ladakh
Surat, Jammu: Three-time
Navsari MP, C R Paatil, was ap-
pointed the Gujarat BJP presi-
dent on Monday, taking over
from Jitu Vaghani, whose tenure
was due to end.
Paatil who is also the party's
co-incharge of Bihar, and is
known as a trouble-shooter, will
be the first non-Gujarati to head
the party unit in the state.
Chief minister Vijay Rupani
welcomed the appointment
calling Paatil, a leader who had
“risen from the ranks”.
Meanwhile,JamyangTsering
Namgyal, 35, a first-term MP
fromLadakh,hasbeenappointed
the president of the party's UT
unit, a post which was vacant af-
ter his predecessor resigned.
Namgyal had hit the headlines
for his energetic speeches in
Parliament. ENS
Omar threatens legal action
against Baghel over Pilot dig
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, JULY 20
FORMER J&K chief minister and
NC vice-president Omar
Abdullah on Monday said he
would take Chhattisgarh CM
Bhupesh Baghel to court after
the latter raised questions on his
release from detention and
hinted that it may be linked to
developments in Rajasthan.
“He and Mehbooba Muftiji
were booked under the same
sections of the law, while she is
stilllanguishing,heisout.Isitbe-
causeMr.Abdullahisbrother-in-
law of Sachin Pilot?” Baghel said
in an interview to The Hindu.
Reacting sharply, Abdullah
tweeted, “I am fed up of the
downrightmaliciousandfalseal-
legation that what Sachin Pilot is
Omar Abdullah and
Bhupesh Baghel
doing is somehow linked to my
ormyfather’sreleasefromdeten-
tion earlier this year. Enough is
enough. Mr @bhupeshbaghel
willbehearingfrommylawyers.”
HetaggedformerCongresspres-
ident Rahul Gandhi and party
spokesperson R S Surjewala.
Baghelresponded,“Pleasedo
not try to turn this tragic demise
of democracy into an opportune
moment@OmarAbdullahji.The
'allegation' was only a question
asked, and we will keep asking
it, as will the country.”
Abdullah replied, “You can
sendyouranswertomylawyers...
Your ‘question’ was malicious &
will not go uncontested.”
In a statement, NC said, “Mr
Baghelhasmaliciouslysuggested
that the release of our Vice
President Mr. Omar Abdullah
from preventive detention was
somehow related to Mr. Sachin
Pilotorthepresentpoliticalsitu-
ation unravelling in Rajasthan.”
Rejectingthe“malicious,false
and politically motivated” state-
ment, NC said, “…we are
presently in the process of con-
sulting our lawyers and shall be
initiatingappropriatelegalaction
againsttheaforesaidstatement.”
Farooq and Omar Abdullah
were released from detention
under PSA in March.
Baghel govt kicks off scheme to buy cow dung
GARGI VERMA
BIJAPUR, JULY 20
THE CHHATTISGARH govern-
ment’sGodhanNyayYojana,un-
der which cow dung will be pro-
cured from cattle rearers for
production of organic fertiliser,
was launched on Monday.
Amid rising Covid-19 cases,
cabinet ministers and district
representatives inaugurated the
scheme at various Godhan col-
lection centres in the state. Total
collection of cow dung on the
first day was 1,994 quintals.
According to the scheme, the
government will buy cow dung
from registered animal hus-
bandmen at Rs 2 per kg and, af-
ter processing it into vermicom-
post, sell it back to farmers for Rs
8 per kg. According to a govern-
ment official, this will provide
additional income to farmers
and ensure that cattle are taken
At the Gothan centre in Bijapur. Gargi Verma
care of, leading to fewer strays.
The government plans to use
gothans (cow sheds) to imple-
mentthescheme.AspartofGram
Suraji Yojana, it had decided to
make 5,000 gothans. Now, with
Godhan Nyay Yojana, it plans to
set up Gothans in all 11,630 gram
panchayats. However, only 2,785
cowsheds have been completed.
Chief Minister Bhupesh
Baghel also inaugurated the
scheme amid festivitiesathisof-
ficial residence. He said it would
be a boon to farmers and cattle
rearers, as well as for the rural
economy during the pandemic,
according to a statement.
"Godhan Nyay Yojana will not
only help cattle ranchers earn
extra income, but also help in
tackling the problem of open
grazing by cattle and encourage
useof organicfertilizers,"hesaid.
However, not all were con-
vinced.InBijapurcity,thereare96
registered animal husbandmen.
Only11ofthemshowedupforthe
schemelaunchandsold400kgof
cowdung."Wehaveavermicom-
post setup. We will engage self-
help groups in buying, weighing
and treating the dung before it
getsconvertedintobio-manure,"
Bijapur CMO Pawan Meriya said.
Some farmers, too, were not
on board with the scheme.
Sudesh Tekam, convenor of a
farmers' organisation in
Rajnandgaon, said, "We have all
decided not to sell cow dung to
thegovernment.If wesellnow,it
will become a noose around our
neck later at a higher cost, be-
causeofficialswillpushitonus."

New Delhi

6 THE OUTBREAK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
UP govt allows
home isolation for
asymptomatic cases
MAULSHREESETH
LUCKNOW,JULY20
WITH THE number of cases in
Uttar Pradesh crossing 50,000,
the state government on
Mondayallowedhome isolation
forCovid-positiveasymptomatic
patients with certain riders.
Till now, every person testing
positiveforCovid-19inUPhadto
shift to institutional isolation fa-
cilities or hospitals depending on
their health condition.
“Sofar,homeisolationwasnot
allowed in the state. But now we
havedecidedtoallowitwithcer-
tain conditions and norms,”
Additional Chief Secretary
(Home)AwanishKumarAwasthi
told mediapersons here.
He said there is an adequate
number of beds in Covid-desig-
nated hospitals in the state, and
the decision to allow home isola-
tionwasmadeonthebasisof“re-
quests from people”.
“We have sufficient numbers
of beds in all the L-1, L-2, and L-3
Covid hospitals,” Awasthi said.
Accordingtothegovernment,the
statehasover1.5lakhbedsin403
L-1hospitals,75L-2(oxygensup-
The Central team in Gaya on Monday. Express
Central team flags Bihar
surge threat, advises
focus on every case
SANTOSHSINGH
PATNA,JULY20
A THREE-MEMBER Central
team, which visited hospitals
and containment zones in Patna
and Gaya over Sunday and
Monday, has flagged the threat
of further surge in Covid-19
cases in the state, authorities at
one of the hospitals said.
The multi-disciplinary team,
ledbyLavAgarwal,jointsecretary
in the Ministry of Health and
FamilyWelfare,onMondayvisited
specialised Covid hospitals in the
state — Nalanda Medical College
and Hospital (NMCH), Patna, and
Anugrah Narayan Magadh
MedicalCollegeandHospital(AN-
MCH), Gaya. The team also went
to some containment zones in
BodhgayaandPatna.
ANMCH principal Dr P K
Agrawal said, “The team’s find-
ings suggested that there could
befurtherrapidriseinCovidcases
in Bihar and there was a need to
find ways of proper treatment of
each patient and analyse every
case. It is their calculation (that
the number of cases could rise
fast).Wehavegottimetogetcau-
tious about treatment.”
No breathability norms in place, ‘sweat chamber’ PPE kits pile up
JAYMAZOOMDAAR
NEWDELHI,JULY20
FROM FACING an acute shortage
due to the “disrupted global sup-
ply chain” in March to certifying
over 600 domestic makers by
May,Indiaemergedastheworld’s
second largest manufacturer of
PPE kits, after China, in just 60
days.Butintherushtoboostpro-
duction, quality norms were left
behind, with these kits being
dubbed as “sweat chambers” by
medicalprofessionalsand“unfit”
fordomesticuseorexportbysev-
eral stakeholders.
Somuchso,thatanestimated
overallstockofmorethan20lakh
kits remained unsold in the first
week of July amid a stall in pro-
duction. And although PPE was
shifted from “prohibited” to the
“restricted” export category with
alimitof5millionkitsonJune29,
sourcessaynolicencehasbeenis-
sued so far.
On the flip side, production
capacity has far outpaced do-
ply facility) hospitals, and 25 L-3
(ventilators) hospitals.
State Health Minister Jai
Pratap Singh said that home iso-
lation would reduce pressure on
hospitals as 85 per cent patients
are asymptomatic. “Home isola-
tionwillonlybeforasymptomatic
patients.Ifanyonehasfluorfever,
he will be kept in a hospital,” PTI
quoted the minister as saying.
Officials said that many peo-
ple with mild Covid symptoms
were not getting tested just to
avoid hospitalisation, thereby in-
creasing the risk of community
spread of the novel coronavirus.
ThiswasalsohighlightedbyChief
MinisterYogiAdityanathduringa
reviewmeetingontheCovidsitu-
ation earlier in the day.
“TheChiefMinistersaidthata
large number of people with
Covidsymptomswerehidingthe
diseasewhichcouldleadtoafur-
ther rise in the infection,” a gov-
ernment spokesperson said.
The CM told officials to allow
homeisolationonlyifallprotocols
relatedtothediseasearefollowed,
the press note issued by the gov-
ernmentsaid.Thedecisionistoen-
courage mild symptomatic pa-
tientstogofortesting,officialssaid.
ANMCH Medical
Superintendent Dr Harish
Chandra Hari said, “The Central
team visited our flu counters and
askedushowtreatmentprotocols
are being followed. We told them
aboutthestandardthreelayersof
treatmentasperICMRguidelines.”
HesaidthededicatedCovidfa-
cility had 50 patients, seven of
whom wereinserious condition.
On Sunday, the team visited
NMCH, Patna and the contain-
ment zone at Rajiv Nagar before
holdingameetingwithseniorof-
ficials of the health department.
The Central team reportedly as-
suredthestategovernmentof all
technicalandresearchassistance.
Ahealthdepartmentofficialsaid,
“The team’s main concern was
the reasons behind the surge in
Covid cases in the last three
weeks, which could be due to
poor adherence to safety and
prevention protocols.”
The team met state Health
Minister Mangal Pandey.
As on Monday, the Covid case
countinBiharis27,455—a jump
from10,205casesonJuly1.There
have been 187 deaths and the
state’s recovery rate has dipped
from78percentthreeweeksago
to 63.87 per cent.
mestic demand, with the price
slumping from up to Rs 1,500 to
under Rs 300 per kit. But health-
care experts at the forefront of
theracetocontaintheCovidout-
break continue to complain that
these kits are “suffocating” and
“unwearable”.
Professor Dr Arvind Baronia,
head of critical care, Sanjay
GandhiPost-GraduateInstituteof
Medical Sciences, Lucknow, said
the facility “returned 60-70% of
the PPEs supplied”. “It is difficult
to spend even a few minutes in
thosemadefromcheapnon-wo-
venfabricwithpolyethylenelam-
ination,” he said.
On April 14, the Bureau of
IndianStandards(BIS)soughttest-
ing of PPEs under ISO 11092
(sweatingguarded-hotplatetest)
because “materials without the
ability to allow moisture trans-
missionaregenerallyuncomfort-
able” and “doctors/healthcare
personnel are subjected to heat
stress”whileusingthemfor“pro-
longed duration”.
But these norms were with-
Andhra now seeing fastest growth ‘Chinese phase 2
in cases, stands fifth in total tally trial finds vaccine
AMITABH SINHA
PUNE, JULY 20
FIRST IT was Delhi, then Tamil
Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka.
Now Andhra Pradesh is seeing a
surge innovelcoronavirusnum-
bers. On Sunday, Andhra re-
ported 5,041 new cases. Only
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu
have gone beyond the 5,000
mark in a single day.
After a four-day rise, Andhra
nowhasthefastestgrowingdaily
coronavirus numbers in the
country,at7.9%(seven-daycom-
poundeddailygrowthrate).Over
20,000 of its total 50,000 cases
(about40%)havecomeinthelast
oneweek.Thisishigherthanany
otherstate,barringMaharashtra,
Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
As a result, Andhra on
Sunday became the state with
the fifth largest caseload in the
country, overtaking Gujarat and
Community transmission in
some areas, says Bengal govt
State announces lockdown for two days every week
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, JULY 20
WEST BENGAL Home Secretary
Alapan Bandyopadhyay on
Monday said that community
transmission of Covid-19 has
been noticed in some areas of
thestate.Healsoannouncedtwo
days of complete lockdown
every week in view of the in-
crease in cases.
West Bengal is the second
statetoadmitcommunity trans-
mission of Covid-19. The Kerala
government had last week con-
firmedthecommunityspreadof
coronavirus in two coastal areas
in Thiruvananthapuram district.
“After talking to experts, we
have observed that there are a
few places in the state where
community transmission of
Covid-19 has been noticed,”
Bandyopadhyay said in a press
conference.
“From today, two days per
week of full lockdown will be
imposed in addition to running
the broadbased containment
zone approach. This week it will
be on Thursday and Saturday,”
he said. Next week there will be
lockdown on Wednesday, and
the other day will be announced
later. “Which days complete
lockdown will be imposed will
be intimated in advance so one
can prepare,” he said.
The state government later
said that all banks in West
Bengal are advised to remain
closed on Saturday and Sunday
and customer service be pro-
vided from 10 am to 2 pm on
working days.
Since June 1, when Unlock
began, the increase in Covid
cases gained momentum, and
gained further pace in July. From
March17toJune30,WestBengal
recorded 18,559 cases and 668
deaths. But, in the first20 days of
July,itrecorded26,210casesand
Healthworkerssharephotosof eachotherwearingPPEgear,at
ascreeningcampinMumbai’sTrombayarea. Amit Chakravarty
drawninthreedays,withsources
saying that it was aimed at “en-
couraging mass production”. On
April 17, the BIS tweeted: “As of
now standards specified by the
Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare are applicable”. The
Ministry's standards required
On Sunday, Andhra reported 5,041 new cases. Only
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have gone beyond the 5,000
mark in a single day. PTI file
Uttar Pradesh. 60,000, while five have between
Amongst the top 10 states, 40,000 and 50,000 cases right
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and now. Rajasthan is the only state
Delhi have more than one lakh in the top 10 that has less than
infections, Karnataka has over 40,000 cases now.
Police distribute masks in Kolkata on Monday as part of the
#MaskUpKolkata initiative to raise awareness. Partha Paul
479 deaths. A senior official said, only 4-5% patients have serious
“Because of unlocking, cases symptomsand7-8%patientshave
jumpedinKolkataandfouradja- mild symptoms. So, almost 88%
cent districts. For migrant work- patients are asymptomatic and
ers,casesincreasedinDarjeeling, may be kept in home isolation or
Malda and other North Bengal SafeHomeprocedure.Allmedical
districts.” facilities will be served to them.”
Bandyopadhyay said that Twodaysago,Chief Secretary
senior officials, experts and doc- Rajiva Sinha had ruled out the
tors will meet every week to dis- possibility of a complete lock-
cuss the Covid situation. “The down in the state.
chain needs to be broken. So, the “Earlier, the possibility of
stategovernmenthasdecidedto community transmission was
go back to the lockdown regime. not showing in the increasing
On the other days strict lock- trend. But now, in a few places,
down will be imposed in con- community transmission has
tainment zones. Efforts to con- beennoticed.Sothegovernment
trol the Covid situation will be is again thinking of a complete
intensified in the coming days.” lockdown. First we are going for
The Home Secretary said, partial lockdown, but if spread
“Afterseeingtheincreaseinnum- of infection is not controlled by
ber of infected persons, the ad- this process, then the govern-
ministration is taking necessary ment has to think of a complete
measures like increasing hospi- lockdown for some days,”
tals, ambulances, beds and other sources in the state administra-
facilities. However, it is seen that tion said.
THE
COVID
BUSINESS
VENTILATORS TO TESTING KITS,
OXYGEN SUPPLIES TO PPE
AN EXPRESS SERIES
Health Ministry’s guidelines on
PPEs. There was no mention of
“moisture transmission” tests or
“breathability”.
“Requirements in standards
areprescribedafterextensivede-
PPEs only to be “impermeable to liberations and consultations
blood and body fluids.” And ex- with all stakeholders taking into
perts say several manufacturers consideration a number of fac-
achievedthiswithlaminationthat tors, e.g. manufacturing capabil-
allowed no breathing at all. itiesinthecountry,availabilityof
Two months later, on June 16, suitablerawmaterials,availabil-
the BIS issued norms “as interim ity of test methods and test facil-
arrangements” based on the ities, manufacturing capacity
In the last one week, there
has been a surge at the national
level as well. For the last five
days, the daily detections have
been more than 30,000, and on
Sunday, the rise in cases went
beyond 40,000 for the first time.
As a result, there is a reversal
in the national growth trend as
well. It had been declining
slowly, but steadily, for the last
more than 20 days, but it has
started to rise again. On Sunday,
the national growth rate was
3.5%, a level that was last
touched on July 5.
Karnataka continues to see a
rapid rise. On Sunday, it added
morethan4,000newcases.Also,
Maharashtra reported more
than 9,500 new infections on
Sunday, another single-day
highest.
Meanwhile, Bihar is knock-
ing on the doors of the top-10
list, with cases growing at more
than 7.1% every day.
Worst-hit MP
districts to
see lockdown
twice a week
MILIND GHATWAI
BHOPAL, JULY 20
THE SUDDEN spike in Covid-19
cases over the last fortnight has
prompted the Madhya Pradesh
government to step up restric-
tions in the most affected dis-
tricts — these districts will now
be under strict lockdown twice
a week instead of once.
Thegovernmenttookthede-
cision on Monday, when the
state’s case count reached
23,310, with 710 cases reported
inthelast24 hours.With17new
deaths, the death toll due to
Covid-19 in Madhya Pradesh
climbed to 738 on Monday.
Amongthedistrictsworsthit
by the outbreak are Gwalior,
Morena, Bhopal and Indore.
Indore has the highest case
count in the state with 6,155
cases, followed by Bhopal with
4,363cases.GwaliorandMorena
have 1,706 and 1,332 cases, re-
spectively. The number of active
cases in the state, which was de-
clining in June, has now climbed
to 6,888.
For the past two weeks,strict
lockdownwasinforceacrossthe
state on Sundays and additional
restrictions were in place in dis-
tricts like Gwalior and Morena.
64 inmates, 3 jail
staffers test positive
Meanwhile,threejailstaffers
and 64 of the total 82 prisoners
in the Bareli jail in Raisen district
havetestedpositiveforCovid-19.
DG (Jail) Sanjay Chaudhary said
they will be isolated or hospi-
talised depending on their
health condition.
versus demand, cost factor, etc.
and after evolving consensus,”
said a BIS spokesperson.
“A panel consisting of stake-
holders and experts has already
beenconstitutedandbasedonthe
recommendations of the panel,
furtheractionshallbetakenindue
course of time to revise the stan-
dard comprehensively," the
spokesperson said.
The BIS did not comment on
whythestandardsissuedonApril
14 were withdrawn. The Health
Ministry did not respond to
emails,phonecalls,andmessages
seeking comment.
Stakeholders say, most new
entrantsinPPEmanufacturing,in-
cluding some textile majors, fol-
lowed “inadequate standards”.
Kulin Lalbhai, Executive
Director of Arvind Limited, said:
“Arvind used breathable fabrics
fromtheonsetandproactivelydid
moisture/vapour transmission
tests on its kits, which were suit-
ableforhighertierortypeofmed-
ical PPEs. Arvind is exploring ex-
port opportunities. Certification
New Delhi
safe, induces
immune response’
ANURADHA
MASCARENHAS
PUNE, JULY 20
THE RESULTS of the phase 2 trial
foraCovid-19vaccinecandidate,
conducted in China’s Wuhan,
found that it was safe and in-
duced immune response, re-
searchpublishedintheLanceton
Monday said.
This comes close on the heels
of the promising trial results of
Oxford’s vaccine candidate.
The vaccine in the trial in
China uses a weakened human
common coldvirus(adenovirus,
which infects human cells read-
ily but is incapable of causing
disease) to deliver genetic mate-
rial that codes for theSARS-CoV-
2spikeproteintothecells.These
cellsthenproducethespikepro-
tein, and travel to the lymph
nodes where the immune sys-
tem creates antibodies that will
recognise that spike protein and
fight off the coronavirus.
The phase 2 randomised
controlled trial of arecombinant
adenovirus type-5-vectored
Covid-19vaccinewasconducted
in China in April and involved
508 people. The primary objec-
tivewas to evaluate theimmune
response and safety of the vac-
cine and determine the most
suitable dose for a phase 3 trial.
Of the 508 participants, 253
received a high dose of the vac-
cine,129receivedalowdoseand
126 received a placebo. The trial
found that 95% (241/253)of par-
ticipants in the high dose group
AIIMS begins process
to recruit volunteers
for Covaxin trials
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
THE ALL India Institute of
Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in
DelhiMondaybegantheprocess
to recruit volunteers for human
clinical trials of the indigenously
developedCovid-19vaccinecan-
didate Covaxin. Addressing a
press conference, AIIMS director
Dr Randeep Guleria said around
1,800 people registered for the
trial at the institute.
Thecountry’stopmedicalin-
stitute is among 12sitesselected
by the ICMR for conducting
phase I and II randomised, dou-
ble-blind and placebo-con-
trolled clinical trials of Covaxin.
In the first phase, the vaccine
would be tested on 375 volun-
teers — 100 of them would be
from AIIMS. The second phase
would include around 750 vol-
unteers from the 12 sites.
“In the first phase, we see the
safety of the vaccine which is of
primaryimportanceandthedose
rangeisalsocalculated.Inthesec-
ond phase, we will see how im-
munogenicitisandthatissubse-
quently followed by phase III,
which involves a larger popula-
fromEuropeandUSagencieswill
be critical for exports, and most
manufacturers will need to ac-
quire those in the months
to come.”
Nishith Dand, managing di-
rector, Sure Safety, a Vadodara
firmthathasdevelopedreusable
PPE kits, said: “A few companies
may still find some takers in
Africa or in our neighbourhood
but no developed country will
touch these ‘sweat chambers’
passed as PPEs. This situation is
completely unwarranted since
usingbreathablefabricsincreases
the cost by only 10-15 percent.”
Meanwhile, production has
been stalled, including in Tamil
Nadu’s textile hub Tiruppur.
“Over 100 units in our garment
cluster used to make PPE kits.
Then we received a lot of com-
plaints and realised that breath-
able fabric was a basic require-
ment. We have found the right
materialandwillstartproduction
soon,” said Periasamy
Subramaniam, CEO of Tamil
Nadu’s Tiruppur Incubation
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
and 91% (118/129) of the recipi-
ents in the low dose group
showed either T cell or antibody
immune responses on day 28
post-vaccination.
Adverse reactions such as
fever, fatigue and injection-site
pain were significantly higher in
vaccine recipients than those in
placeborecipients(72%inthehigh
dose group, 74% in the low dose
group and 37% in the placebo
group). However, most adverse
reactionsweremildormoderate.
Phase 3 trials are needed to
confirm whether the vaccine
candidate effectively protects
against the SARS-CoV-2 infec-
tion, Professor Feng-Cai Zhu,
Jiangsu Provincial Center for
Disease Control and Prevention,
China, said. “The phase 2 trial
adds further evidence on safety
and immunogenicity in a large
populationthanthephase1trial.
This is an important step in eval-
uating this early-stage experi-
mentalvaccineandphase3trials
are now underway.”
The authors noted that pre-
existingimmunitytothehuman
adenovirus, which was used as
the vector for this vaccine, and
increasing age could partially
hamper the specific immunere-
sponses to vaccination, particu-
larly for the antibody responses.
Professor Wei Chen, Beijing
Institute of Biotechnology, China,
said: “It is possible that an addi-
tional dose may be needed in or-
der to induce a stronger immune
response in the elderly popula-
tion,butfurtherresearchisunder-
way to evaluate this.”
AIIMS
director Dr
Randeep
Guleria
tiontoassessitsefficacyandther-
apeuticbenefit.PhaseIofthevac-
cine trial will be done on healthy
people, aged between 18 and 55
years and having no comorbid
conditions. Women who are not
pregnant will also be selected to
be a part of the trial in the first
phase. In the second phase, 750
peoplewillberecruitedandthey
will be between 12 and 65 years
of age,” Dr Guleria said.
Covaxin, which is being de-
veloped by Hyderabad-based
Bharat Biotech in collaboration
with the ICMR and the National
Institute of Virology (NIV), had
recently got approval for human
clinical trials from the Drugs
Controller General of India.
“...If everything works out
ideally, then by the end of the
year or early next year, we
shouldbeinapositiontosaythat
we can start manufacturing. But
there are lots of ifs and buts in-
volved,” Dr Guleria said.
Centre for Textiles & Apparels,
whichissupportedbyNITIAayog.
InMay,areportbyInvestIndia,
the national investment promo-
tionandfacilitationagency,stated
that the Tiruppur Exporters
Association (TEA) estimated “an
INR10,000-15,000crorerevenue
opportunity, this year alone”
through the export of PPEs.
Theoutlookhaschangeddra-
matically. “The fabric we used for
PPEs was not on par with the in-
ternational requirement. It was
also difficult to sterilise our gar-
ment units as thoroughly as re-
quired. We will have to resolve
theseissues.Nowonlyafewunits
aremakingPPEsagainstsomedo-
mestic orders,” said R Senthil
Kumar, joint secretary, TEA.
Tomakemattersworse,global
demand has slumped from the
peak it hit in April-May. “Most
manufacturers are sitting on at
leastoneweek’sproductplusraw
stock. The government should
haveallowedexportearlier tore-
lease some stocks,” said a manu-
facturer based in Raipur.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
SC junks pleas to conserve
sculptures found during
levelling of ground for
Ram temple in Ayodhya
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
THESUPREMECourtonMonday
dismissed two petitions that
sought directions to conserve
the “artefacts and sculptures”
that have emerged during the
levelling of ground for the Ram
Temple in Ayodhya and called
this an attempt to overreach its
verdict in the Ayodhya case.
“Thesearefrivolouspetitions
to get rid of the judgment of this
court...what respectdo you have
for the system?... We will direct
investigation against the peti-
tioners...what nonsense... We
will order CBI investigation
against(the) petitioners,”Justice
Arun Mishra, heading a three-
judge bench, remarked.
The bench, also comprising
Justices B R Gavai and Krishna
Murari, imposed a fine of Rs 1
lakheachonthetwopetitioners:
Satish Chindhuji Shambharkar
and others, and Dr Ambedkar
Bodhikunja Foundation.
Senior advocate Menaka
Guruswamy, who appeared for
Shambharkar and others,
pleaded that the fine may not be
imposed, but the bench did not
relent.ThepleabyShambharkar
said he was associated with an
organisation called ‘Samyak
Vishwa Sangh’, which is “dedi-
cated to study of ancient caves
and artefacts at various ancient
caves and museums in India”.
Referring to recovery of sculp-
tures and other material in May
this year “at the time of leveling
andexcavatingtheland...forcon-
struction of Ram Temple at
Ayodhya”, the petitioner said
these are “remains of rich an-
cient Indian culture, and there-
fore are required to be protected
and scientific, archeological re-
search at to their origin is re-
quired to be made”.
The petition stated,
“However, it is learnt that those
artefacts and sculptures are pro-
jected as shivling and the re-
mains of Hindu culture and reli-
gion without any scientific,
archeological research, study
and analysis...” It said although
the site has “many histories and
ancientstories”,diggingandlev-
eling of land was “not done un-
der the observation” of the
Archeological Survey of India,
which is “competent authority
for protection and conservation
of ancient sites and monu-
ments”. It said the organisation
hadmaderepresentations tothe
ASI, but there has been “no re-
ply... till date”.
NCERTbook:J&Kseparatism
out,scrappingspecialstatusin
Section on ‘Separatism and Beyond’ replaced with ‘2002 and Beyond’
RITIKA CHOPRA
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
THE NATIONAL Council of
Educational Research and
Training (NCERT) has revised a
chapter in the Class 12 Political
Science textbook to replace con-
tent on separatist politics in
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) with
electoral politics and scrapping
of special status.
The change in J&K’s status
from a state to Union territory
hasbeenintroducedinthechap-
ter titled ‘Regional Aspirations’
in the textbook ‘Politics in India
since Independence’.
On August 5, 2019,
Parliament approved a resolu-
tion abrogating special status to
J&K under Article 370 of the
Constitution. The state was also
bifurcated into two Union terri-
tories — Ladakh with no legisla-
tive assembly and Jammu and
Kashmir with one.
The Indian Express compared
the old and new versions of the
HC asks NIA, state if Varavara
textbook to find that the topic
‘Separatism and Beyond’, which
elaborated on “different forms”
of separatist politics in J&K, has
been deleted.
“Separatist politics which
surfaced in Kashmir from 1989
has taken different forms and is
made up of various strands.
Thereis onestrand of separatists
who want a separate Kashmiri
nation,independentof Indiaand
Pakistan. Then there are groups
that want Kashmir to merge
with Pakistan. Besides these,
there is a third strand which
wants greater autonomy for the
people of the State within the
Indian union. The idea of auton-
omy attracts the people of
Jammu and Ladakh regions in a
different way. They often com-
plain of neglect and backward-
ness. Therefore, the demand for
intra-Stateautonomyisasstrong
as the demand for the State au-
tonomy,” the deleted portion
read.
Under ‘Separatism and
Beyond’, the old version of the
EXPRESS NETWORK 7
textbook stated that the initial
period of “popular support to
militancy has now given way to
the urge for peace” and that the
Centre has started negotiations
with separatist groups.
The above head has now
been replaced with the topic
‘2002 and Beyond’ that talks
about democratically elected
coalition governments of PDP
and Congress in 2002, NC and
Congress in 2009, and PDP-BJP
in 2014.
Thescrappingof J&K’sspecial
status under Article 370 is then
introduced, saying, “During the
tenure of Mahbooba Mufti, ma-
jor acts of terrorism, mounting
external and internal tensions
were witnessed. The President’s
rule was imposed in June 2018
afterBJPwithdrewitssupportto
the Mufti government. On
August 5 2019, Article 370 was
abolished by the Jammu &
Kashmir Reorganisation Act
2019 and the state was consti-
tuted into two Union Territories,
viz., Jammu & Kashmir and
Ladakh.”
Another new paragraph in-
troduced earlier in the chapter
says that despite the special sta-
tus, J&K “experienced violence,
cross border terrorism and po-
litical instability with internal
and external ramifications”. “It
also resulted in the loss of many
lives, including that of innocent
civilians, security personnel and
militants.Besides,therewasalso
a large scale displacement of
Kashmiri Pandits from the
Kashmir valley,” it states.
The chapter now also carries
details on the United Nation’s
1948 resolution that recom-
mendedafree andfairplebiscite
in J&K.
The NCERT has also deleted
one political cartoon on peace in
Kashmir that depicts a dove rid-
dled with bullets. NCERT text-
books are used by all schools af-
filiated to the CBSE.
About 19 school systems
(boards and SCERTs) from 14
states have adopted or adapted
these books.
Draft rules give
e-commerce sites
Puducherry govt
presents Budget
without L-G speech,
sparks Bedi-govt row
ARUN JANARDHANAN
CHENNAI, JULY 20
THE PUDUCHERRY government
on Monday presented the 2020-
21 Budget for the Union Territory
despite an objection from
Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi,
who was not present for the cus-
tomary address ahead of the
Budget presentation.
Chief Minister V asked. “I have not even seen the
Narayanasamy, who holds the
Finance portfolio, presented the
Budget after Speaker V P
SivakolundhucancelledBedi’sad-
dress, followed by a resolution
passed by the House.
Bedi said she needed the file
ofannualfinancestatement(AFS)
anddemandforgrantsbeforeshe
could give her approval to the
Budget. Referring to the section
concerned of the business rules,
Bedisaidshedidn’treceivethefile.
Narayanasamy,however,said
therehasbeennothingoutof the
ordinarydonebyhisgovernment.
He told The Indian Express that
the Budget file recommended by
Bedi was sent for the President's
approval,anditwasapproved.“So
there is no need for the approval
of L-GBediforplacingtheBudget
Puducherry Chief Minister
V Narayanasamy; Lt
Governor Kiran Bedi
Budget.Idonotknowwhatgrants
have been sanctioned… Rule
28(3) says 'No demand for grant
shall be made except on the rec-
ommendationoftheadministra-
tor'.”
SheaccusedNarayanasamyof
doing something “totally illegal
and irregular”.
She said the Budget has al-
readybeenapprovedbytheChief
Secretary, and the file should be
sent to her. “I will clear the file af-
ter I see it… Send me the file to-
day,” Bedi said in a statement re-
leased to the media. “Instead of
doingthat,youareaccusingL-G’s
office…. People should ask (the)
CM to forward the Budget file to
L-G...” After she was informed
about Monday's Budget Session
onSundayevening,Bediwroteto

Rao kin can see him at hospital 48 hours to note

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JULY 20
THE BOMBAY High Court on
Monday sought responses from
theNIAandtheMaharashtragov-
ernment on whether family
members of poet and activist
Varavara Rao, an accused in the
Elgaar Parishad case, can visit or
BJP members protest in Kolkata on Monday against the see him from a reasonable dis-
Dinajpur incident. Partha Paul tanceinviewof the80-year-old’s
critical condition.
Rao was shifted to Nanavati
Varavara Rao
what J J hospital proposed. It also
sought directions to authorities
tosendRaoforacheck-upimme-
diately and submit the latest re-
port, and if necessary, send him
to a private hospital at his own
expense.
OnMonday,advocateSudeep
AppearingforNIA,Additional
Solicitor General Anil Singh said
Raowasunderpropercareatthe
Nanavati Hospital as per Indian
Council of Medical Research
guidelines.
The court observed that Rao
was shifted to Nanavati hospital
as ‘prima facie’ he was facing se-
vere health conditions.
ASG Singh submitted that as
per protocol, no such visits to
Covid-19 patients were allowed,
but he would take instructions if
it could be facilitated.
complaints
HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
THEPROPOSEDrulessettobeno-
tified soon under the new
Consumer Protection Act, 2019,
statethate-commerceentitieswill
havetoacknowledgereceiptofcon-
sumercomplaintswithin48hours
and redress the same within a
monthofreceivingit.
Thoughmostofthesectionsof
the new consumer law came into
file before the Assembly. This has
been the practice we have been
following…” he said.
ButBedi,whohashadseveral
run-inswiththeCongressgovern-
ment headed by Narayanasamy,
said the Chief Minister did not
sendhertheBudgetfileapproved
by the President. “Then how do I
lay it before the Assembly,” she
UPSC to reimburse airfares of civil
services aspirants travelling for test
New Delhi: The Union Public
Service Commission (UPSC) will
Narayanasamyandstatedthatthe
government should submit the
AFS and demand for grants, and
said she would fix a fresh date to
presenttheBudget.However,the
government is of the view that it
wasnotnecessarytosendthefile
again to Bedi after the President
andtheUnionHomeMinistryhad
approved the Budget.
“Astrainservicesarenotfully
functional, the Commission, as a

Bengal: Boy’s body HospitalSundayforneurological

andurologicaltreatment.Hehad
been undergoing treatment at
Pasbola referred to news reports
and said Rao’s wife filed an affi-
davit last week, requesting per-
Public Prosecutor Deepak
Thakare, appearing for the state
prisonauthorities,saidthepossi-
forceonMonday,provisionsrelated
to e-commerce and direct selling
areyettobenotified.
reimburse‘to-and-fro’airfaresof
civilservicesaspirantsappearing
for the personality test in New
one-time measure, has decided
to reimburse the lowest 'to and
froairfare'tothecandidatescom-

found day after girl’s the state-run St George Hospital

since Thursday after testing pos-
mission to see him.
If granted bail, his family
bilityofvideoconferencingcanbe
considered.
“The rules related to e-com-
merce and the Central Consumer
Delhi as train services are “not
fullyfunctional”duetoCovid-19
ingforthepersonalitytests.State
governments have been re-

death sparked violence

itive for Covid-19. During treat- members can take care of him, The court said that it would ProtectionAuthority(CCPA)willbe curbs, according to an official quested to allow the candidates
mentforCovid-19,doctorsfound Pasbola said. not pass orders on merits of the notified by the end of this week...” statement issued on Monday. holding e-summon letters for
his condition to be stable but ob- “Rao’s condition is very seri- bail plea at this stage and sought MinisterofConsumerAffairs,Food The commission will also personality tests to move in/out
servedhehadneurologicalprob- ous.Heisalmostonhisdeathbed responses from authorities. The and Public Distribution Ram Vilas help candidates with their lodg- of the restricted zones for the
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE lems. andifhewastodie,itwouldbein plea will be heard next on Paswan said during a digital press ing and transport requirements, purpose of attending the same,”
KOLKATA, JULY 20 AdivisionbenchofJusticesSS thepresenceofhisfamily.Raohit Thursday. conference on Monday. Proposed the statement said. the UPSC statement said. ENS
Shinde and S P Tavade was hear- hisheadagainstthehospitalbed, Rao’s wife Hemalatha and rules say, e-commerce entities are
A DAY after violence broke out in North Dinajpur district following the ing his writ petition that stated while he was admitted at the J J threedaughtersissuedapressre- alsorequiredtodisplay,“alltherel-
discoveryof thebodyof ateenagegirl,thebodyof aboywasrecovered that jail authorities did not con- Hospitalandsustainedseveralin- lease Monday, urging the evant details about the goods and
from a pond in the same area on Monday. duct check-ups as suggested by juries. He also suffers from other Maharashtra government to al- servicesofferedforsalebytheseller
Police sources said that this boy had been named in a complaint the J J hospital and sought action ailmentsandishallucinatingand lowafamilymembertoattendto including country of origin which
filed by the girl’s father on Sunday. According to the complaint, the girl against the officials. The bench is delirious,” Pasbola submitted. him and sought daily updates. arenecessary...”
was raped and murdered. also heard Rao’s appeal against
“...deadbodyof ayoungboyhasbeenrecoveredfromapondof the the special court rejecting his in-
same area where a young girl died yesterday of poisoning. Inquest has terim bail plea. GOVT. OF BIHAR
beendonebyamagistrateandvideographyofthePostMortemwillbe The writ plea, filed last BIHAR COMBINED ENTRANCE COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION BOARD
done.Policeisinvestigatingboththecasesandlookingintoallpossible Monday,soughtadirectiontoau- I.A.S. Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14.
aspects of the incident...” West Bengal Police tweeted. thoritiestoproduceRao’sreports
Accordingtothecomplaintlodgedbythegirl’sfather,theboyused andareportonactiontakenafter POST GRADUATE MEDICAL ADMISSION COUNSELLING (PGMAC)-2020
to go to the same private tutor as his daughter and would harass her. June 2 while complying with for MD / MS & MDS in Government / Private Medical / Dental colleges of Bihar
Thegirlandtheboybelongedtodifferentreligiouscommunities.While
the complaint alleged rape and murder, the post- Advt. No.- BCECEB(PGMAC)-2020/07 Dated : 20.07.2020
mortem report published on Monday stated the N O T I C E
cause of the girl’s death as the “effects of poison”. In continuation to advertisement no. BCECEB(PGMAC)-2020/05 dated 11.07.2020 and 2020/06
The police said there was no physical or sexual as- dated 14.07.2020 , it is to inform all PGMAC(MD/MS/Diploma/ MDS)-2020 candidates that Rank card
saultonherbody.“Nosignsofexternalinjuryseen. of PGMAC-2020 has already been uploaded on Board's website on 19.07.2020. Detailed programme for
Effects of poison. However, final opinion reserved choice filling / seat allotment / online reporting is uploaded on BCECE Board website vide Adv. No.
pendingtillreceiptofchemicalexaminersreport,” BCECEB(PGMAC)-2020/08 dated 20.07.2020.
said the post-mortem report. Seat matrix is also uploaded on Board website : bceceboard.bihar.gov.in . The candidates are advised
to go through the above mentioned advertisement.
ViolenceeruptedonSundayafterthegirl’sbody
Controller of Examination
wasfound.TheBJPclaimedthevictimwasasister
ofalocalboothpresidentofthepartyandslammed
Chief MinisterMamataBanerjeefornotproviding Enclosure to CO INS India
protection to women. letter No. 227/28/PA dated 06 Jul 2020
Thepolicesaidtheyhavearrested16peoplefor NOTICE FOR VENDOR REGISTRATION FOR CONCLUSION OF PRICE AGREEMENT
alleged involvement in the violence.
FOR MI ROOM, INS INDIA / ECHS POLYCLINIC, EAST DELHI,SHAHDARA FOR
OnMonday,afive-memberTMCdelegationled
LOCAL PURCHASE OF MEDICAL STORES /GENERIC IN NATURE INCLUDING
by minister Gautam Deb met the girl’s family.
Earlier in the day, the police did not allow the BJP LABORATORY, RADIOLOGY & DENTAL CONSUMABLE STORES
1. Applications are invited for Vendor Registration for conclusion of Price Agreement by the Commanding Officer INS India,
to take out a procession with the body of the girl. Dara Shukoh Road, New Delhi — 110011 for the Local Purchase of drugs and consumable medical stores including
Thepartyallegedtherewasanattempttocoverup Laboratory, Radiology & Dental consumable stores for the period of one year.
the death. 2. Vendors willing to register their firms have to forward their acceptance letter for supply of drugs and consumable medical
stores along with the following documents to the above mentioned address. Sealed application along with relevant
documents will be accepted between 0900 - 1700 hrs on all working days (excluding Saturday and Sundays).

1 injured in firing Location of tender box Last date of submission of

acceptance letter & documents
Date of opening of tender
box

by Nepal police Tender box is placed at INS India near main gate.
(a) Particulars of Firm/ Distributor/Dealer:-
10 Aug 2020 at 1030 hrs 11 Aug 2020 at 1100 hrs

along border (i) Name

(ii) Address
(iii) Telephone No. (with STD code)
Patna, Kolkata: A25-year-oldres- (iv) Fax
(v) Email ID
identofKishanganjwasinjuredin
(b) Name of proprietor/partners with contact details like telephone numbers, address, fax and email ID. (Note: If more than
firing by the Nepal Armed Police one proprietor, copy of partnership deed to be attached)
Force(APF)alongtheIndia-Nepal (c) Name of contact person with contact details - Telephone /mobile No. and email ID (Note : Letter of Authorization from
borderinSiliguri,WestBengal,late competent authority of firm to be attached).
(d) For manufacturing firms / OEM: Manufacturing License No. issued by Drug Licensing Auth (copy to be enclosed).
on Saturday night.
(e) For distributor/dealers: Manufacturing Agency agreement I notarized declaration and duration of validity.
This is the second incident (f) Pharmaceutical firms to furnish the following-
within a month in which the (i) DGQA Registration
Nepal APF personnel has shot at Or
an Indian. A Sitamarhi youth was GMP certificate issued by State/Central authority
Or
killed in firing by the personnel Certificate of original inventor of molecule
last month. (ii) Annual turnover certificate of last 03 years duly audited/ signed by Chartered Accountant.
Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) IG (g) (i) DGAFMS/DGQA Registration, if any (Proof to be attached).
SBandopadhyaysaidonMonday, (ii) RC Holder with DGAFMS if any (Proof to be attached).
(iii) Name of Govt agency, the firm is on panel for supplying medical stores, if any (Proof to be attached).
“The incident happened day be- (h) TIN No (Proof to be attached).
fore yesterday. Some people had (j) Permanent Ac No (PAN) (Proof to be attached).
gonetotheNepalsidetograzecat- (k) Bankers of firm, with branch and address, MICR No., NEFT Code, ECS A/C No (Cancelled cheque to be enclosed).
tle.Therewasanaltercation...Four (I) Sales Tax Registration certificate (Copy to be attached).
(m) Latest Income Tax clearance certificate (Copy to be attached).
rounds were fired by Nepal
(n) Audit report for the last (03) three years from Chartered Accountant.
Armed Police. One person re- (p) Non Conviction certificate (non judicial stamp paper).
ceived injuries. He is stable now (q) Self certification regarding quality assurance protocol followed in manufacturing items, as applicable.
andadmittedtoPurniahospital.” (r) ISO/BIS/CE certificate as applicable (copy to be attached).
Kishanganj resident Jitendra (s) Import License, if applicable.
(t) List of products with valid MMC (for drugs) for which inclusion in vendor data base is sought (soft copy may be attached).
Kumar Singh was initially admit- (u) Brief /Information Brochure/ Folder about the applicant firm.
tedtoTedhaghatprimaryhealth- (v) Undertaking to comply with standard terms and condition (for vendors included in the data base).
carecentrefromwherehewasre-
davp 10702/11/0022/2021
ferredtothePurniahospital. ENS

New Delhi
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

8
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
WORDLY WISE

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

An onion can make people cry but there's never
been a vegetable that can make people laugh.
— WILL ROGERS

State and Temple

FOUNDED BY
§

§
RAMNATH GOENKA
Court findings in Padmanabhaswamy case turn on
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
specific facts. But there are wider ramifications

POTATO TEARS Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Price rise underlines need to not just invest in cold stores, but IN THE SRI Marthanda Varma vs State of templebythestateofTamilNadu.Thisis,iron- Padmanabhaswamy temple, lower castes
Kerala, a two-judge Supreme Court bench ically, at the same moment when BJP govern- were not allowed in on important occasions
also crop area planning, for more informed planting decisions overturned a Kerala High Court finding that mentsinstateslikeUttarakhandwantthestate tillthemid-twentiethcentury.Andtheman-

A
the Travancore royal family had no role in
SPURT IN vegetable prices, especially of tomatoes and potatoes, raises ques- controlling or managing the Sri
tionsnotonlyontheReserveBankof India’s(RBI)headroomforfurtherinter- Padmanabhaswamy Temple. In 1949, the
est rate cuts, but even for continuing with its accommodative monetary pol- princely state of Travancore had signed a
icystancetorevivegrowthandinvestmentintheeconomy.Thisisevenmore covenant with the Union of India that the
sowithconsumerpriceinflation,at6.09percentinJune,alreadycrossingthecentralbank’s rulers of Travancore, Balarama Varma and
his legitimate successors, could control the
6 per cent lakshman rekha and the pass-through effects of the Rs 11-12/litre increase in
managementof thetemple. In1971,the26th
diesel prices since last month still to be felt. Vegetables turning dearer can significantly in- Amendment to the Constitution had abol-
fluence household inflation expectations that are also a key metric factored in by the RBI’s ished all royal titles. So the conundrum: If
monetarypolicycommittee.InitslastMay22meeting,thecommitteehadtakennoteofthe there were no royal titles, could there be a
“unusual spike in food inflation in April”, which it expected to “moderate” on the back of a royal family? If there was no royal family,
normal monsoon. how could it control the temple? The
Supreme Court held that the 26th
Retailpotatopricesgoingup,fromroughlyRs20toRs30perkginthelastthreemonths,
Amendmentdidnotimpugntherightsof the
shouldn’tsurprise.Themainrabicrop,whichfarmersharvestinJanuary-Marchandmainly royal family in the case of the
keepincoldstoresformakingstaggeredsalestillOctober-November,hasbeenanestimated Padmanabhaswamy temple.
25 per cent lower this time. The reason: Poor price realisations for the last three seasons The Supreme Court’s finding turned on
(2016-17 to 2018-19), leading farmers to sow less in 2019-20. Given the production short- two claims. A vast number of temples in
fall,thecurrentpricesareactuallyreasonable.Thepotatostoryissimilartoonionslastyear. Kerala had been handed over to state trusts
in 1949. That there was a specific covenant
Then, too, it was the price crash from a bumper 2017-18 crop that made farmers reduce
concerning the Padmanabhaswamy temple
plantings the following year. Aloo prices would have gone the pyaaz way, but for the lock- made it an exception. It also turned on the
down-inducedshutdownof eateriesanddipinconsumptionof potato-basedsnacksfrom metaphysically interesting claim that the
samosasto french fries. More than potatoes, therise in tomato prices— from Rs20 toRs50 royalfamilywasnotroyalbyvirtueof itspar-
perkgwithinhardlytwomonths—isstriking.ThefactthatgrowersweregettingRs3-5/kg ticular title, but because it was a particular
for their produce in May, while even dumping them on roads, should not be lost on con- family.Theroyalfamilyhadplayedakeyrole
sumers. Nor the fact that onions are retailing today at around Rs 20, as against Rs 90-100 at inmanagingthetemple;butthatrolederived
fromthecentralityof kingshipinthemanag-
the year’s start.
ingof thetemple.Itwasthekingwho,afterall,
Therealtakeaway onvegetablesis theneedfor notjustinvesting incoldstores.Neither offered his realm to Padmanabhaswamy as
these nor in-field kanda chawl storage structures have reduced price volatility in potatoes the sovereign. So in this sense the case was
andonions.Whatisnecessary—especiallywhenIndiahasmovedfrombeingastructurally not about a title to property. It was about
deficit to surplus producer — is crop area planning. Farmers should have access to credible whether kingship could have a role when
forecasts of opening stocks, domestic consumption and export demand for all crops to en- therewerenokings.TheSupremeCourtheld
thatitwasthefamilylineage,notthetitle,that
ablethemtomaketherightplantingdecisions.ThisisajobanagencyliketheCommission
made this family royal.
for Agricultural Costs and Prices should be entrusted with. Wild price and acreage swings
The findings in the Padmanabhaswamy
ultimately benefit no one — whether farmers, consumers, processors or policymakers. case turn on facts specific to the case. But the
case has wider political ramifications. Many
have been arguing that thousands of temples
needtobeliberatedfromthestate,particularly
Many have been arguing that
thousands of temples need to
be liberated from the state,
particularly in South India.
They see the political climate
as ripe for it. And they see the
evolving jurisprudence in the
Supreme Court, driven by a
constellation of ‘conservative’
judges, as setting a new
precedent for wresting control
of temples away from the
state. This was most recently
seen in the Chidambaram
temple case, which limited the
duration of management of
to take over more temples.
The spectre of a secular state managing
thousands of temples through properly or-
ganised government departments is an
anomaly. The future chief justice, Patanjali
Sastri,hadarguedinthedebateovertheHindu
Religious and Charitable Endowments Act
that “rigid departmental control over the re-
ligious institutions and management was
against the secular nature of the Indian
Constitution”. The distinction that the state
managesthesecularaspectsofthetempleand
not its religious aspects can be hard to main-
tain. The line between what is a private de-
nominational temple, and what is a public
temple, has always been deeply politicised.
The Right is partially correct that liberals
sometimes worry too little about the statism
implicit in the state running temples. State
managementofthesetemplesneedsscrutiny.
ButtheHindutvanarrative,thatthisphe-
nomenonisanotherinstanceof thestatevic-
timising Hindus, is exaggerated myth mak-
ing. No Hindu religious worship has been
impeded. The histories of the management
of specifictemplesandstateendowmentacts
vary. But broadly speaking, there was a gen-
uine conundrum over who has sovereign
rights over the administration of historically
significanttemples.Templeswereritualscaf-
foldings for maintaining kingship; the king,
while leaving theological matters to priests,
was responsible for management oversight.
Askingshipdissolved,thequestionwas:Who
wouldstepinforthatmanagementrole?The
answer was, other Hindus, but now through
thedemocraticmechanismsof thestate.This
is not an instance of the state exercising sov-
ereigntyoverHindus;itisHinduscollectively
governingtheirtemplesthroughnewmech-
anisms.Sothecampaigntorescuetemplesis
not about rescuing Hindus from the state.
agement of temples is the source of patron-
age. So thecontest is,who controls,asDevraj
Urs once put it, endowment, hereditary and
patronagerights.ItisnotaboutHindusbeing
victimised. The systematisation of temple
management challenged these nodes of
power. A lot of the exaggerated angst about
thestatemanagingtemplescomesfromade-
sire to wrest control over these nodes of
power; it is the ressentiment of privilege as-
serting itself against democratisation. There
isalegitimatequestion:Whoshouldallocate
the vast resources that temples command?
Neitherprivatetrustsnorthegovernmenthas
used them for the enlightened public good.
But this question is not well served by dis-
counting the serious moral imperatives that
led to state oversight of temples. No wonder
the BJP in power understands some of this
logic,evenasitsadherentslaunchcampaigns
to rescue allegedly colonised temples.
There is also an irony here. It is actually
the state’s systematisation of temple man-
agement the created a singular legal identity
for Hindu temples in the first place; Tamil
Nadu, for example, treats collections from
Hindu temples as a common pool that can
be shared by other struggling temples. It is
actuallytheverystate,whomthetempleres-
cue brigade reviles, that created a national
Hindu legal identity, and perhaps unwit-
tingly abetted Hindutva in its political form.
In the Padmanabhaswamy case also, the
court has tried a fine line. While it invokes
the hereditary principle to secure the royal
family’s rights, it still retains the mechanism
of anAdministrativeCommitteewherestate
functionaries have a role. Given its specific
features, it is not clear that the
Padmanabhaswamycasesets,inlegalterms,
a precedent for radically reconstituting the
governanceof templesastheRightsupposes.

UNLOCKING THE CLASSROOM inSouthIndia.Theyseethepoliticalclimateas

ripe for it. And they see the evolving jurispru-
dence in the Supreme Court, driven by a con-
stellationof“conservative”judges,assettinga
Decision must be taken with caution, after wide consultations newprecedentforwrestingcontroloftemples
with local governments, schools, parents away from the state. This was most recently
the temple by the state of Hindu temples are run by Hindus. It is about
Tamil Nadu. This is, displacing one mechanism controlled by
ironically, at the same Hindus, with another set of Hindus.
moment when BJP Temples were not just at the centre of
kingship. They controlled land; and vast re-
governments in states like sources. They were often mechanisms of ex-
But then temples, as we know, are never
about the law. The idols in the temple are
meant to be pathways to a luminous con-
sciousness; the management of temples is
always a pathway to murky politics.

T
seenintheChidambaramtemplecase,which Uttarakhand want the state to clusion,inthereligioushierarchiesandnorms The writer is contributing editor,
HE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC has led to a crisis in education, amplifying and limited the duration of management of the take over more temples. of entry they instituted. Even in the The Indian Express
deepening the many fault lines that existed in an already unequal schooling
system.Inthepushtomoveeducationonline,millionsof children,whodonot
have the privilege of geography, income and broadband speeds, are being left
disadvantaged. In this context, the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development’s
three-day deadline to states and Union territories, asking them to come back with par-

ART IN THE AGE OF COVID

ents’ views on when they would want schools to reopen — August, September or October
— might seem like another pragmatic step that will allow us “to live with the virus”.
But with cases in India crossing one million and showing no signs of slowing down,
opening schools remains rife with risk — and should be approached with immense cau-
tion. Convincing the adult population to follow social distancing and wear masks is still Art that is relayed digitally misses the warmth and context of human contact
work in progress, as is amply evident in public places. To expect children to be better at
it, when put together in enclosed spaces, is a wholly unrealistic assessment in the mid-
dle of a pandemic. How, then, do governments and societies come up with a solution that Yashodhara Dalmia
compensates for the absence of this vital social space in the lives of children? One way
would be to stop panicking about children “falling behind” in some imaginary academic IT WAS ONLY a year after it was discovered is the raw immediacy of these paintings that through digital means. There are virtual
that photography came to India in 1840. stays in memory. shows, webinars and zoom discussions. The
race. The closure of schools is a setback in many other ways — for the millions of children
Unlike painted likenesses of individuals or The last works done by Mughal artists, as vastexpansionof knowledgethishasbought
whose nutrition is supplemented by mid-day meals, for example, it has grim implica- groups, photographs captured the moment wellastheMughalruleitself,becameathing about could only be possible through these
tions for their future health. For others, it is a loss of solidarity and social life that has con- paralleling the functions of memory. But in of the past in the disastrous aftermath of the brilliant and innovative means. It is as if the
sequences for mental health. For teachers who have not been paid salaries, it underlines doing so, it deprived the image of the warm, 1857 uprising. The accurate depiction of re- horizon has expanded endlessly, like those
how societies have undervalued their skills. human context in which the felt experience ality as well as a concern with ordinary peo- of the medieval miniatures where there was
But like Kerala and other states have shown, it is possible for states and local commu- was embedded. In a painted work of the ple in these brilliant workswas overtaken by no border between sea and sky.
nities to set priorities — deliver mid-day meal rations to children’s homes, or mobilise YellowBoys —soldierswhodressedincanary photography. Yet photography shorn of its Yet, if one looks at the participants in
yellow and belonged to Colonel James emotionalcontextcreatedananaestheticat- these virtual discussions, the profiles are
funds from the community to buy mobile phones, smart televisions and smartphones —
Skinner’s irregular troops — for instance, the mosphere, which would irreversibly change mostly punctuated by darkness or related in
so that children grow as well as keep learning. The pandemic has revealed, again and groupwithitshighlyindividualisedfeatures, the nature of the narrative. As the critic John shadows and light. Could this be the dark-
again, that negligible investments in public goods — such as health and education — hob- standing in a row, also reveals an emotional Berger points out: “It had been freed from ness of death? For the isolation of the space
ble societies. And that top-down diktats are not enforceable in an exploding crisis. It is lo- andpsychologicalunity.ItisbelievedMughal the limitations of fine art, and it had become is filled by shades of black. The drama
cal governments that, for better or worse, have the responsibility of containment and artist Ghulam Ali Khan, who most likely a public medium which could be used dem- matches the 16th century Italian artist
mitigation. Similarly, in the absence of a vaccine, communities, panchayats, schools and painted these, was taken by Skinner on his ocratically. Yet the moment was brief. The Caravaggio’s brilliant effects in black. His
travels to make sketches. Where in these virtual very ‘truthfulness’ of the new medium en- darkening shadows and transfixing subjects
parents shouldbeencouraged and empowered todecideif and whentoreopen the class- discussions or these zoom
Skinner, born of a Rajput woman and a couraged its deliberate use as a means of in bright shafts of light created a virtual
room, and how to teach in a way that no child is left behind. Scottish officer in the late 18th century, shows is the drama of being propaganda. The Nazis were among the first drama of life and death. But where in these
would not be admitted to the East India with like-minded people, of tousesystematicphotographicpropaganda.” virtual discussions or these zoom shows is
Company because he was considered a half By the early 20th century, we had works the drama of being with like-minded peo-
the warmth of contact and

PROTECTING DREAMS
breed. Hence he raised his own irregular
troops, which stood out because of their yel-
lowuniformandthemarkeddisplayof brav-
ery and skill. These painted portraits of him
In a crisis, sports federations, other stakeholders must rally and his troops are a vivid testimony of those
feverishtimeswhentheMughalempirewas
around young and vulnerable players who have yet to take off declining and there was a chaos of struggles
the occasional snort? Surely
art relayed digitally can never
create the stir of excitement
at a brush stroke or a wisp of
flying colour or an
of art being reproduced mechanically. But
while art could be shared by the ordinary
folk, there was a lack of the very aura which
a specific context created for it. In the words
of the cultural theorist Walter Benjamin,
“…that which withersin the age of mechan-
ical reproduction is the aura of the work of
ple,thewarmthof contactandtheoccasional
snort? Surely art relayed digitally can never
createthestirof excitementatabrushstroke
or a wisp of flying colour or an unfaltering
line. Nor can the discussion lead to a shared
laughter or a disgruntled shake. When the
COVIDparticleitself glitterslikeabejewelled

A
between rival powers to assume the throne. unfaltering line. Nor can the art. …By making many reproductions it sub- gem, it replaces an artcreated for individuals
MONGST THE LOSSES most unaccounted for during the COVID-19 pan-
These depictions by the artist Ghulam Ali, stitutes a plurality of copies for a unique ex- whichcomesintoitsownbyhumancontact.
demic is the breaking of sporting dreams. In what was supposed to be an who also painted the last Mughal emperor
discussion lead to a shared istence.”
Olympic year where India's fittest athletes would inspire the nation, there Bahadur Shah II in all his tragic glory, are a laughter or a disgruntled In these COVID times, we are experienc- The writer is an art historian and an
are heartbreaking tales of athletes at the start of their journeys having to reminder of these times. Pauper or prince, it shake. ing for the first time art being relayed only independent curator
give up on sport completely. Asian youth medallists in track and field are staring at a fu-
ture where the drudgery of desperation — selling bananas on handcarts or loading crates
of milk or ferrying commuters in a rickshaw — will replace their ambitions of taking off
inasandpitorbreastingthefinishtapetowildapplauseinastadiumonagloriousevening.
This was the grass roots base of the pyramid that would eventually enable India to be JULY 21, 1980, FORTY YEARS AGO
seen as a country with a robust sporting culture. While the government can't be faulted
for first securing training budgets for the Tokyo-bound elite athletes, other stakeholders DETENTE IN ASSAM ciprocalannouncementwithdrawingrepres- leadership. In support, he quoted some of his
now need to step in. Nurturing the base shouldn't be a difficult goal for sports federations THE SPONSORS OF the Assam agitation an- sivemeasuresandactionagainstgovernment statementsintheAndhralegislature.
nouncedapartialandconditionalsuspension employees and release of detenus.
— in this case, the Athletics Federation of India — which must now rally around its run-
oftheir10-month-oldagitationforafortnight DENG ON INDIA
ners and jumpers and throwers at the smallest district levels.
Funds must be raised and devoted to those who fall outside the safety net of govern-
asatokenoftheirwillingnesstoresumenego- REDDY STILL CM THE CHINESE SENIOR Vice-Premier Deng
tiations on a solution to the foreigners’ issue. ANDHRAPRADESHCHIEFMinisterMChenna Xiaoping has said that the Chinese leaders
ment or corporate financial backing for sport. Indian sport has always drawn from the A joint statement, issued by the Assam Reddy is not being disturbed for the present. have the same “serious, positive and active”
burning aspirations and ambitions of talented children from lower income groups, who Students Union (AASU) and the All Assam Thisindicationwasavailableafteranhour-long attitude towards improving bilateral rela-
see the playing field as a great leveller. They are vulnerable in crisis. Legends like Milkha GanaSangramParishad(AAGSP),saidthesus- meetingbetweenthechiefministerandPrime tions as Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “I
Singh, PT Usha and Anju Bobby George as well as the current superstars like Hima Das, pension of the agitation — barring the block- Minister Indira Gandhi in Delhi. During the think you can pass this message to Mrs
ade on oil, jute, bamboo and plywood export talks,itislearnt,MrsGandhigaveapatienthear- Gandhi,” he said in an interview to the edi-
Dutee Chand and Neeraj Chopra could lend their names to fundraisers for India's grass
— till August 3 was being announced in def- ing to the point of view expressed by Reddy, tor of Delhi's defence journal Vikrant. There
roots athletes. It's also the time for federation officials — from national to state and dis- erencetothewishesofthegovernmenttocre- without indicating her opinion. Reddy is un- have been points of difference between the
trict level — to own this responsibility and display leadership. After all, fastest, highest, ate an atmosphere to resume discussions. derstoodtohavetakenpainstotellMrsGandhi two countries in the past. But these were
strongest winners emerge from a wide base. No one wins gold running in a solitary lane. They expected the government to make re- thathehadnevertalkedorworkedagainsther now narrowing.

New Delhi

9
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
THE IDEAS PAGE
Reforms that miss the point
Agriculture sector reforms, such as amending APMC Act, can be counterproductive. State
intervention is needed to make farming economically and ecologically viable
Christophe Jaffrelot
and Hemal Thakker
IN RURAL INDIA, the COVID-related eco-
nomic crisis should be addressed as a prior-
ity, not only because of its social dimension
butalsobecauseof theneedforstructuralre-
formsthiscrisisisrevealing.However,there-
formsannouncedbytheNarendraModigov-
ernment are not necessarily the right ones.
FarminginIndiahasbeenmadeeconom-
ically unviable due to the post-1991 policies.
The priority, since then, has been given to in-
dustry as well as services. Middle-class con-
sumers have been pampered by successive
governmentsattheexpenseof farmers,who
could not sell their crops at a fair price any-
more.Thisunprecedentedneglectof theagri-
cultural sector has resulted in an equally un-
precedented gap between the standard of
livingintheruralandurbanpartsof thecoun-
try.WhileunderUPA2,theurban/ruralratio,
intermsof monthlypercapitaexpenditures,
was reduced for the first time since 1974, it
has jumped from 1.84 to 2.42 between 2012
and2018.Thismeansthatanaverageurban-
dwellertodaycanconsumealmost2.5times
more than an average person in a village.
Inthiscontext,theModigovernmenthas
decided to liberalise India’s agriculture by
amending the Agricultural Produce
Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and the
EssentialCommoditiesActtoderegulatetrad-
ing practices in agricultural markets (man-
dis). Peasants will be allowed to sell their
productswhereveritisvaluableforthemand
barrierstointer-statetradeinagriculturewill
be lifted. Contract farming will also be intro-
ducedinsuchawaythatthebuyercanassure
a price to the farmer at the time of sowing.
This has been touted as the “1991 moment”
for the agriculture sector.
ThemainargumentagainsttheAPMCAct
is that it does not allow the free market to
function due to government intervention,
thereby denying farmers the opportunity to
determine the prices of crops in the market-
place. In theory, this is a valid argument. But
as the High-Level Committee headed by
Shanta Kumar observed in 2015, only 6 per
cent of farmers get the Minimum Support
Price (MSP) — 94 per cent already face the
whims of the market. This is because of bar-
rierstoaccessforfarmersasonly22cropsare
procuredunderMSP.Infrastructureisalsoin-
adequate, there are only an estimated 7,000
APMCmandisacrossIndia,andprocurement
depends on the stocks required by the state.
The APMC Act is not the main problem.
On the contrary, it has historically been part
of the solution — like state intervention in
general. Farm pricing is a case in point. The
Agricultural Prices Commission (APC) that
was established in 1965 gradually included
thelivingcostsof farmerstoassesstheterms
of trade between agriculture and industry
while determining agricultural pricing. The
CommissionforAgriculturalCostsandPrices
(CACP) that replaced the APC in 1985 added
a 10 per cent mark-up over the MSP to ac-
Aditi Nayar
THESPREADOFtheCOVID-19pandemic,and
variousfiscalandothermeasuresannounced
bythegovernmenttocontainitsimpact,have
structurally altered the arithmetic for its fi-
nances for the current fiscal year. While the
fiscal outlook is evolving along with the pan-
demic and its economic fallout, the range of
options suggests that the government’s fiscal
deficit for 2020-21 could surge to anywhere
between Rs 13-16.1 trillion, well above the
budgeted level of Rs 8 trillion.
Thedatawehaveforthefirsttwomonths
of the current year is sobering. With a sharp
squeezeinrevenuereceipts,amidstamarginal
contractionintotalspending,theCentre’sfis-
cal deficit has widened to Rs 4.7 trillion in
April-May,stretchingalreadyto59percentof
the budget estimate (BE) — this is 27 per cent
higher than the same period last year.
The government’s revenue and capital
spending recorded a mixed trend during the
lockdownmonths.Afterexpandingbyasharp
24 per cent in April, partly reflecting up-
frontingof somespending,revenueexpendi-
ture contracted by 26percentin May.Incon-
trast,capitaloutlay,whichhadshrunkby8per
centinthefirstmonthofthelockdown,roseby
a substantial 57 per cent as the lockdown re-
strictions were partly eased.
Encouragingly, the extent of contraction
in the Centre’s gross tax revenues has nar-
rowed down to 37 per cent in May, from 44
percentinApril,ledbyindirecttaxes,astrans-
count for entrepreneurial costs. It helped to
containtheurban/ruraldivide.Suchpractices
have been gradually eroded post-1991. The
problem, therefore, is not state intervention
butthewaythegovernmentdealswithagri-
culture.
Second, the APMC Act helped India to
buildupfoodstocks—partof which,inciden-
tally, should be distributed today. As of June,
theFoodCorporationofIndia(FCI)had832.69
lakh tonnes of rice and wheat in stock, the
most since 2005. India managed to weather
the2008globalfoodcrisisonlybecauseithad
enoughfoodstocksasIndianagriculturewas
not linked to the international futures mar-
ket.Thiswaspossibleduetotheprocurement
done through the APMC Act.
Third, the APMC Act has already been re-
formed to a great extent. Since agriculture is
a state subject, the Act has been modified in
17 states. Some of the initiatives include
Uzhavar Sandhai in Tamil Nadu, the Rythu
BazaarinAndhraPradeshandTelangana,the
Apni Mandi in Punjab, the Raitha Santhe in
KarnatakaandtheKrushakBazaarinOdisha.
Therefore,itisincorrecttodescribetheAPMC
Actasanimpedimentinalleviatingruraldis-
tress. On the contrary, the condition of peas-
antshasoftenbeenaffectedwhentheAPMC
Act has been diluted. Bihar is a case in point:
The APMC Act was revoked in 2006 with the
samerationalethatfurtherderegulationwill
attract private investment in infrastructure.
Notonlyhasthatnotmaterialised,buttheex-
isting APMC market infrastructure was also
dismantled. As the economist Himanshu
pointed out, reforms have “led to prolifera-
tion of private unregulated markets which
charge a market fee from traders as well as
farmers, and without any infrastructure for
weighing, sorting, grading and storage”.
While the reforms announced by the
Modi government are not the right ones,
Indian agriculture does need real reforms.
First,itisstilltooheavilysubsidisedinfavour
of the big players. In the Union Budget 2019-
20, the allocation for the Ministry of
AgriculturewasRs1,30,485croreandthefer-
tiliser subsidy alone was estimated at Rs
79,996 crore. However, these subsidies are
concentrated on a few crops. As the agricul-
tureeconomistBrunoDorinhasshown,only
three crops receive more than 60 per cent of
theso-called“non-product-specific”support
to agriculture — rice, wheat and sugarcane,
The slipped fisc
Amidtheuncertainty,thisyearwillseeasoberingexpansioninfiscaldeficit
actions have improved with the easing of re-
strictions. Reports have also pegged the de-
cline in direct tax collections at about 25 per
centasonJune17—inlinewithourGDPfore-
cast for the first quarter.
On the indirect tax side, GST collections
have recovered sharply, from 28 per cent in
April(ascomparedtocollectionsoverthesame
periodlastyear)to91percentinJune.However,
the inflows in June include late payments for
the previous three months as well and are
therefore unlikely to be a goodrepresentation
of the level of collections we should expect in
the subsequent months. Data on e-way bills
paints a similar picture. GST e-way bills, as a
percentageofthelevelsobservedlastyearhave
alsorisen,fromamuted16percentinAprilto
87percentinJune.However,anoteof caution
—pentupdemand,especiallyforitemsthatare
nowconsideredtobeessentialunderthework-
from-home scenario, could have led to a tem-
poraryuptickinsalesofsmalltomid-sizedcon-
sumerdurablesintheinitial“unlocking”period.
While this would boost both e-way bills and
GSTcollections,itmaynotsustain.
Withthesemixedtrends,howdowefore-
see government finances unfolding over the
year?Buildingintheexpectedimpactof con-
tinuing economic uncertainty on individual
and corporate income levels and non-discre-
tionary spending, the windfall related to the
hikesinexcisedutyleviedonpetrolanddiesel,
and adjusting for lower taxes to be devolved
The APMC Act is not the
main problem. On the
contrary, it has historically
been part of the solution —
like state intervention in
general. Farm pricing is a
case in point. The
Agricultural Prices
Commission (APC) that
was established in 1965
gradually included the living
costs of farmers to assess the
terms of trade between
agriculture and industry —
while determining
agricultural pricing. The
Commission for
Agricultural Costs and
Prices (CACP) that replaced
the APC in 1985 added a 10
per cent mark-up over the
MSP to account for
entrepreneurial costs. It
helped to contain the
urban/rural divide.
tothestates,ICRAexpectsnettaxrevenuesof
the Centre to fall short of the budgeted level
by Rs 3.9 trillion. Further, the current market
conditions also indicate a shortfall of non-tax
revenues from the telecom sector as well as
disinvestmentproceeds.WepegthisgapatRs
2.2-2.3 trillion.
The fiscal support announced by the gov-
ernment under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat
AbhiyanisestimatedataroundRs2trillion.At
thesametime,theexpendituremanagement
measures that had been put in place for the
first quarter have now been extended to the
secondquarter.However,assessingtheextent
of savings that can be generated by such
spending restrictions is challenging at this
juncture.Ifwearetoassumeamoderatecom-
pressioninexpenditure,ourbaselineestimate
is that the Centre’s fiscal deficit will surge to
Rs 13 trillion this year.
However,alackofclaritycontinuestoper-
sistonsomebig-ticketitems.Forinstance,the
provisionoffreefoodgrainsunderthePradhan
Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana has been ex-
tendedtillNovember,atanaggregatecostofRs
1.5 trillion. Our understanding is that only Rs
0.3trilliontowardssuchcostswasincludedin
thefiscalsupportannouncedearlier.Ifthebal-
anceamountisentirelyfundedthroughbudg-
etaryresources,asopposedtothepossibilityof
being partly funded through loans from the
National Small Savings Fund to the Food
CorporationofIndia,thenthegovernment’sfis-
C R Sasikumar
whosemarketpricesareconsequentlymore
attractiveandcompetitive.Thishasledtoen-
vironmental degradation like the depletion
of groundwater levels and monocultures
which are a threat to biodiversity. It has also
ledtotheindustrialisationof agriculture,that
results in the strengthening of a handful of
multinational companies, which supply
chemical inputs. Liberalisation would only
strengthen the role of large companies — in-
cluding those in the agri-food sector.
Structurally, farming needs to be made
economicallyandecologicallyviableinIndia.
Insteadoffurtherliberalisationof agriculture,
state intervention for better pricing, invest-
mentsinwaterharvestingandanagroecolog-
ical transition could ensure a more resilient
systemtoweathershockslikethecurrentone.
After all, the present migrant workers’ crisis
has shown that peasants could not/did not
want to stay in rural India. The magnitude of
the problem may worsen if these workers
have to continue living in their villages.
To make India’s agriculture sustainable,
thegovernmentcoulddrawinspirationfrom
the Andhra Pradesh Community Managed
Farmingmodel,whichpromotesagroecolog-
ical principles with the use of locally-pro-
duced,ecologically-sustainableinputsfocus-
ing on soil health, instead of depending on
chemical fertilisers. Since the agro-ecologi-
cal system of farming is more biodiverse in
nature,itwillmakethesystemmoreresilient
overallandprovideasafetynetforfarmersin
case of crop damage due to various factors
such as climate change or droughts.
By investing again in agriculture and fol-
lowing,atlast,therecommendationsoftheM
SSwaminathanCommittee,theGovernment
of Indiawouldalsohelpbridgethedrasticur-
ban-ruraldivide—somethingtheMGNREGA
had contributed to under UPA 1 and 2. These
structuralreformswouldrepresentforfarm-
ers what the MGNREGA has been for land-
less peasants — who would most probably
benefit from these reforms as well.
Jaffrelot is senior research fellow at CERI-
Sciences Po/CNRS, Paris and professor of
Indian Politics and Sociology at King’s India
Institute; Thakker is food and agriculture
policy analyst and student of environment
policy with specialisations in agriculture
policy and African affairs at the Paris School
of International Affairs, SciencesPo
caldeficitwouldrisefurthertoRs14.2trillion.
It is also clear that the compensation that
istobeprovidedtostategovernmentswillsig-
nificantlyovershootthefundsthatwillaccrue
through the compensation cess. We project
the gap between the available past and cur-
rentcesscollections,andtherequirementfor
compensation (for 2020-21 and what was
pendingfor2019-20attheendof March),ata
staggeringRs3.9trillion.IftheCentreprovides
onlyhalfofthesefunds,itsfiscaldeficitwould
surge further by around Rs 2 trillion to nearly
Rs16.1trillion.However,iftheGSTCouncilde-
cides to, and is procedurally able to, borrow
fundstocompensatethestates—backedbya
guarantee from the Centre — its fiscal deficit
andmarketborrowingswouldnotbeaffected.
Moreover,if thegovernmentdecidestoramp
upitscapitalspendinglaterintheyeartostim-
ulatetheeconomy,itcouldgenerateadditional
fiscal pressures.
Worryingly,theanticipatedfiscalslippage,
eveninourbasecasescenario,exceedstheex-
tentbywhichtheCentre’smarketborrowings
havealreadybeenincreased.However,amidst
alltheseconcerns,yieldsongovernmentsecu-
rityappearremarkablysanguine,asiftheyare
patiently waiting for the central bank to ab-
sorbtheextrasovereignborrowingsinthepri-
mary or secondary market.
The writer is principal economist, ICRA.
Views are personal
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“Other countries should indeed make a choice, not between the US and China,
but between confrontation and cooperation.”
Iran fantasy,
Arab neglect
The costs for India of neglecting new possibilities
for wide-ranging Arabian business are far higher
than a lost railway contract in Iran
RAJA MANDALA
by C Raja Mohan
FEWOFINDIA’Sexternalpartnershipsdraw
the kind of passion that Iran does in Delhi.
India’s Iran romance endures despite the
huge gap between the hype and reality in
ties. The persistent enthusiasm for Iran in
Delhi also stands in stark contrast to the
perennial under-appreciation of India’s
much deeper and wider relationship with
Iran’s Arab neighbours.
Thetheoryof thecaseinDelhiforanex-
tra-special relationship with Iran rests on a
number of claims — historical connections,
civilisationalbonds,energysuppliesandre-
gional security. All these factors are of far
greater import in India’s engagement with
theArabianpeninsula.MillionsofIndianim-
migrants in the Arab nations, massive hard
currency remittances from them, and the
densityofcommercialengagementwiththe
Arab Gulf outweigh the relationship with
Iran. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have, in re-
cent years, extended invaluable support in
counteringterrorismandblockedattempts
to condemn India in the Muslim world.
The sources of this curious inversion in
India’s intellectual imagination are many.
But first to the latest anxiety in Delhi about
the loss of a railway contract in Iran. Large
countries with major foreign investments
and projects win some and lose some. That
is part of doing business in other countries.
Then there is no escaping the political risk
associated with foreign projects. And poli-
tics — both domestic and international — is
all-consuming in Iran.
ThesanctionsregimeimposedbytheUS
hascrippledtheIranianeconomy.Italsotar-
gets third countries that do business with
certain Iranian entities. India is careful not
toattracttheUSsanctions.Indiadidgainan
exemptionfromtheUSsanctionsregimefor
itsparticipationintheChabaharportproject
in Iran. But they don’t apply to some of the
partners suggested by Iran in the railway
project.IranwouldlikeIndiatobreaktheUS
sanctions regime. A prudent Delhi is resist-
ingthattemptation.Itwouldratherlosethe
railway contract than get into the raging
crossfire between the US and Iran.
Sectionsof theforeignpolicyelite,how-
ever, see India’s Iran policy as a continuous
puritytestforDelhi’s“strategicautonomy”.
They expect Delhi to conduct its relation-
ship with Iran without a reference to either
acost-benefitcalculusorIran’stroubledre-
lationshipwithotherswithwhomIndiahas
important partnerships. For the romantics,
it is about proving Delhi’s friendship with
Tehran by defying the US.
NogovernmentinDelhicanbuyintothat
proposition. The criticism of the NDA gov-
ernment today is similar to that directed at
theUPAgovernmentin2005overitsstance
on Iran’s covert nuclear programme. As the
USmountedpressureonIrantocomeclean
15yearsago,therewasastrongviewinDelhi
thatIndiashouldcastitslotwithTehran.But
pragmatistspointedtooneof theprecondi-
tionsfortheIndia-US nucleardeal—Delhi’s
strongcommitmenttopreventtheprolifer-
ationof nuclearweapons.BackingIraninits
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
TWO FRONTS
THIS REFERS to the article, 'A pincer in
Ladakh', (IE, July 20). The timing of the
Chinese ingression into Indian terri-
tory, multiple unprovoked ceasefire vi-
olations along the LOC by Pakistan and
incidences of militant attacks in the
Kashmir valley cannot be ignored as
mere coincidences. Since August last
year, there has been an overt diplo-
matic and strategic understanding be-
tween China and Pakistan to system-
atically undermine India's global
image. The closeness of the Pakistani
armed forces with the fanatic elements
and its dependence on the irregular
militia is an open secret. But the
Chinese regime could be digging its
own grave by joining forces with a
rogue army that can exploit the fault
lines in Xinjiang to appease the hard-
liners back home.
Sudip Kumar Dey, Kolkata
TEHRAN MATTERS
THIS REFERS to the editorial 'Iran and
China',(IE, July 20). While there are po-
liticalrisksforIndiaintheproposedSino-
Iranian deal, New Delhi needs to exer-
cise caution. Improving its track record
on project implementation should also
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
— CHINA DAILY
nuclear confrontation with the non-prolif-
eration treaty (NPT), they warned, would
mean killing support in the US Congress for
the historic civil nuclear initiative signed by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
President George W Bush in July 2005.
Delhi’s vote against Iran in the
International Atomic Energy Agency drew
huge fire from PM Singh’s critics. The prag-
matists were vindicated when Iran con-
cludedanucleardealof itsownwiththeUS
andmajorpowers,adecadelater.Iransurely
can take care of its own interests, and there
is little reason why Delhi must back Tehran
in every one of its fights with Washington.
This does not mean Iran is unimportant
forIndia’sforeignpolicy.Geographicandde-
mographic size, the geopolitical location
nextdoor,naturalresourcesandtheextraor-
dinarytalentsof itspeoplemakeIranoneof
the most important nations of the world.
Mostofthosefabulousassetshavebeen,un-
fortunately,neutralisedbyIran’sprolonged
confrontation with the US.
The tendency to view Iran through the
lens of its confrontation with the US leads
manyinDelhitoignoretheideologicalchar-
acterof theIranianRevolutionandthefears
generatedbyTehran’spromisetoexportitto
the Arab world. Meanwhile, Iran’s four
decades-oldIslamicorderfacesfrequentdo-
mestic rebellions. Iran’s clerical regime has
cleavagesofitsownthatcomplicateTehran’s
global engagement. Tehran’s moment un-
derthesunwillcomeoneday.Butthatmo-
ment is not at hand.
For both internal and external reasons,
Iran will remain a difficult place to do busi-
ness. Delhi must advance ties with it within
theconfinesofthatunfortunatebutrealcon-
straint. Meanwhile, the Arab world has had
its doors open for political, economic and
technologicalcooperationwithIndia.Three
moderateArabnations—Egypt,SaudiArabia
andtheUAE—areconfrontingradicalforces
in the region and are valuable partners for
India incounteringforces of destabilisation.
Those who are worried about India los-
ing to China in Iran should see the scale of
Beijing’s economic advances in the Arab
world.Thetalkofaspectaculardealbetween
ChinaandIranisjusttalk fornow.Butthere
is real Chinese economic action in the Arab
world as the region embraces China's Belt
andRoadInitiative.China’sDigitalSilkRoad
too is gaining ground in the Arab world.
India is no minor economic force in the
Arab world, having had a much longer en-
gagement with the region than China.
Instead of defining an unrealistic competi-
tion with Beijing, Delhi must up its own
commercialgameintheArabworld.Oneof
thenewpossibilitiesforIndialiesinthedo-
main of new technologies.
On Monday, the UAE launched the first
home-grown Arab space mission from a
Japanese rocket. The UAE’s space pro-
grammeisonlyareflectionof theemerging
sentiment among the Gulf Arabs to reduce
theover-dependenceonoil,promotealter-
nativeenergysources,investinhigheredu-
cation, and develop technology hubs. This
provides a solid basis for elevating India’s
economic partnership with the Arab world
to the next level. For India, the costs of ne-
glectingthenewpossibilitiesforwide-rang-
ing Arabian business are far higher than a
lost railway contract in Iran.
The writer is director, Institute of South
Asian Studies, National University of
Singapore and contributing editor on
international affairs for The Indian Express
IDEAS
ONLINE
ONLY IN THE EXPRESS
● A PACT IN
JEOPARDY:
S SAMUEL C RAJIV
● LOCKINGHORNS
ATTHE BORDER:
JOYEETABHATTACHARJEE
www.indianexpress.com
be a priority in wooing back Tehran.
Anjali Bhavana, Thiruvananthapuram
WRONG PRIORITY
THISREFERStothereport,“Ramtemple
Trust fixed Aug 3 or 5 for start of work,
requests PM to join” (IE, July 19).
FocussingontheRamTemplewouldbe
imprudent at a time India has become
the third most affected COVID-affected
country in the world. The need of the
hour is to keep the virus in check.
S S Paul, Nadia
 10 EXPRESS NETWORK WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020

5 Rafale jets REDESIGN OF CENTRAL VISTA PIMPRI-CHINCHWAD

to arrive
by July 29
Proposed LS chamber to
be 3 times present size
and Rajya Sabha Secretariats, se-
Covidclaims3brotherswithin6days ysis,andtheelderbrothershadun- Dr Rohan Kate, who was on from a kidney ailment,” said Dr sorethroatandfever,shewentto
ANANTHAKRISHNAN G curity agencies, Speakers and MANOJ MORE dergoneangioplasty.Theyalsohad the team that treated them, said, Rajendra Wable, dean of YCM YCM Hospital. Her test report
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, JULY 20 committees, and will not only PUNE, JULY 20 diabetesandhypertension,arela- “They were admitted late. They HospitalandMedicalCollege. came positive after her death.”
NEW DELHI, JULY 20 help address the space require- tive said. “Earlier, they lived sepa- wereathomeforfourtofivedays Ajay Patade, BJP leader from Thehusbandwasintothecon-
THECPWD,inanaffidavitfiledin ments, but “will also facilitate to FIVEDEATHSduetoCovid-19took rately. They built one building so aftertheystartedshowingsymp- Indrayani Nagar, said the couple structionbusinessandthefamily
THEINDIANAirForceMondayan- the Supreme Court, has stated keep and maintain the existing placeintwofamiliesfromPimpri- thattheycouldlivetogether,”said toms.Foroneday,theywereatan- lived in a residential society and lived in a rented flat.
nouncedthatthefirstbatchoffive thattheLokSabhachamberinthe iconicbuildingintactasasymbol Chinchwad. One family lost three advocate Sushil Mancharkar, a otherhospitalbeforebeingbrou- did not have close relatives in “After his wife's death, the so-
Rafale fighter jets will come to proposedParliamentbuildingwill of vibrant democracy”. It “will be brothers within six days, and a family friend. The brothers were ghthere.Oneof themwasputon Pimpri-Chinchwad. “They have a ciety residents got him and his
India from France by the end of be“almostthreetimesthesizeof a showcase to the rest of the couplediedinanother,leavingbe- infectedafteroneof theirsonste- invasive ventilator as soon as he 13-year-old daughter, who is all daughtertested.Whilethedaugh-
July.Indiahasbought36Rafalejets present chamber”, while the world...,” the affidavit said. hinda13-year-olddaughter. stedpositiveforCovid-19.Allthree was brought in. The other two alone.Hergrandmother,whowas ter tested negative, he tested pos-
inadealworth7.87billioneuros. “new Rajya Sabha Chamber will On the need for the new Cen- The city has so far recorded were admitted to ICU after they wereonnon-invasiveventilators.” living with her, left after the itive. He was admitted to YCM
In a statement, the Air Force be four times” the current one. tralVista,itsaidworkonthepres- over10,000casesand220deaths. complainedof breathlessness. Inanotherfamily,acoupledied motherdied.Thesocietyresidents Hospital,andfromthere,takento
saidthejetswillbeinductedatAir Theaffidavitcameinresponse ent Parliament building was sta- In case of the three brothers, AspokespersonfromLokma- of Covid-19 within a span of 13 aretakingcareofthegirl,”hesaid. BalewadiCovidCareCentre.Here-
Force Station Ambala on July 29, to petitions challenging the gov- rted in 1921 and completed in who lived in a joint family of 18 nya hospital in Chinchwad said, days.WhilethewifediedatYCM A person who claimed to be a turned on July 18 as his daughter
subjecttoweather.Itsaid,“Nome- ernment’s plan to redesign the 1927and“itisalmost100yearsold members,theywereadmittedto “All three had oxygen saturation Hospital, the husband died after relative said the woman died the wasalone.Hetoldthedoctorsthat
diacoverageisplannedonarrival. Central Vista comprising the andaHeritageGrade-Ibuilding”. a private hospital on July 8. The levels much below 94 per cent. being discharged from the hos- day she was hospitalised. “She since he had no symptoms, he
Thefinalinductionceremonywill CentralSecretariatandothergov- “Overtheyears,theParliame- youngest(56)diedonJuly12,the Two of them had saturation lev- pital.Hehadrequestedhomeiso- died after she was admitted on shouldbeallowedhomeisolation.
takeplaceinsecondhalfofAugust ernment buildings. ntaryactivitiesandthenumberof eldest(68)diedadaylater,andthe els between 80 and 86 per cent, lationashehadnosymptoms,and July6.Shewasunderstressasher On Sunday, his daughter called
20 wherein full media coverage The current strength of Lok people working therein and visi- third (61) died on July 18. and the third had 65 per cent. wanted to take care of his daugh- husbandhadbeenadmittedfora me... I rushed to find him uncon-
would be planned.” Sabha,theCPWDpointedout,has tors have increased manifold. All three had co-morbidities. They were critical when they ter.“First,thewifedied...Andthen kidneyailmenttoaprivatehospi- scious. He was declared dead at
Itstatedthataircrewandgro- remainedat545asperthedelim- Therefore it is showing signs of Theyoungestsufferedfromparal- were brought in.” the husband died, he suffered tal. When she had symptoms of YCMHospital,”saidtherelative.
und crew of the Air Force “have itation carried out on the basis of distressduetooverutilisationand
undergonecomprehensivetrain- 1971 Census. “It is likely to in- isnotabletomeetthecurrentre-
ingontheaircraft,includingitshi-
ghly advanced weapons systems
crease substantiallyafter2026as
the freeze on the total number of
quirements in terms of space,
amenitiesandtechnology,”theaf-
LETTER FROM HEALTH MINISTRY, ICMR
Surat: Glaring gap in
and are fully operational now”
and after the aircraft arrive, “ef-
fortswillfocusonoperationalisa-
seats is only till 2026, it said.
Tocopewiththis,thenewLok
SabhaChamber,theaffidavitsaid,
fidavit said. It said the Central
Secretariat is currently spread
over17buildingsandthereare39
Govt urges states to add labs to death figures put out by
tion of the aircraftatthe earliest”.
Meanwhile, the Air Force lea-
dership is set to meet for its bian-
will beabletoaccommodate876
membersand1224membersdu-
ringjointsessions,whilethenew
ministries located in the Central
Vista in various buildings.
The different locations of the
ramp up testing, get more kits civic body, state govt
nualconferencetodiscussdeploy- RajyaSabhachamberwillbeable government offices “result in dif-
ments and the national security to accommodate 400 members. ficulty in inter-departmental co- KARISHMA MEHROTRA sivelystudyaspects”surrounding
scenario from July 22 to July 24. The proposed Parliament ordination, inefficiency, linger NEW DELHI, JULY 20 SOHINI GHOSH the death of Covid-19 patients.
DefenceMinisterRajnathSinghis building has been designed in traveltimecausingtrafficconges- & KAMAAL SAIYED The order was “effective im-
likelytoinauguratetheconference. consultation with the Lok Sabha tion and pollution”. THE HEALTH Ministry and the GANDHINAGAR,SURAT,JULY20 mediately”,anddirectedthecon-
Indian Council of Medical Rese- stitutionofadeathauditcommit-
arch (ICMR) have suggested a set AN UNEXPLAINED gap has teeinmedicalcollegescomprising
HIMACHAL PRADESH of short-termandmedium-term emerged between the figures of members from the departments
JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT actions for state governments to Covid-19 deaths put out by the of medicine, paediatrics, anaes-
e-PROCUREMENT NOTICE enhance the country’s Covid-19 Suratdistrict administrationand thesiaandcommunitymedicine.
testing capacity. theSurat MunicipalCorporation Thedeathauditformdetailsthen
*NOTICE FOR BIDS (IFB)*
In a letter to the states on (SMC) and those released by the had to be communicated to the
The Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Division Dharamshala District Kangra (HP) on behalf of Governor of
Himachal Pradesh invites the item rate/lump sum contract bids from the eligible contractors/Firms.Bidders
Monday, Health Secretary Preeti Gujarathealthdepartment,with district-level officers. The 33 dis-
should be registered with Central Govt. or State Govt. or Central Govt. or State Government under takings. The Sudan and ICMR’s director gen- the latter under-reporting at tricts and eight municipal corpo-
Contractor/Firm who have experience in construction of similar work and have established organization for tak- eral Dr Balram Bhargava sug- A health worker collects a swab sample, in Guwahati. PTI least 160 deaths as of July 16. ration areas across the state have
ing up such work and who satisfy the qualification criteria of bid document need only apply. The scope of the gested that states should help in- On comparing the data on beendividedamongthedeathau-
work will be as under:
crease testing capacity by adding the SMC dashboard, the daily ditcommitteesconstitutedinthe
Sr. Name of Work Estimated EMD Cost of Time more labs, enhancing testing fa- 261privatemedicalcollegeshave chines each, it would enhance SMC and Surat rural bulletins, 17 government medical colleges.
No. Cost Tender Form Limit cilitiesofexistinglabs,andprocur- Medical Council of India’s appro- testingcapacityto48,000perday. with the state dashboard, The Askedhowthelagstretchedto
1 Name of work: Renovation and Augumentation of Rs. Rs. Rs. One ing more kits and machines. val, only 263 and 76 of them, re- “Stategovernmentsmustendeav- Indian Express found that the over 100 deaths in the two dash-
3 Nos. water supply scheme WSS Salig Jurther, 10293317/- 135435/- 2500/- Year
WSS Khanyara Dari Sidhbari and Kaned Barwala
The new strategy delineates spectively, have ICMR’s approval ourtoaddatleast5LabsperState state under-reported 19 deaths boards,HealthCommissionerJai-
in Tehsil Dharamshala Distt. Kangra (HP). (SH: immediate measures that states to conduct Covid-19 testing. For into the network,” they noted. as on June 27. Till July 16, the gap prakashShivaharesaid,“We(state)
Laying, jointing & testing of Gravity main and other should take. These include trans- theremaining12governmentand Intheshortterm,theministry increased with the state report- reflectdatacommunicatedtous.”
Miscellaneous works under WSS Salig Jurther.) ferring machines at government 185privatemedicalcollegestobe andICMRhaveaskedstatesto“ur- ing234deathsbythen,andSurat When informed that Surat is
2 Providing House to House connectivity to Rs. Rs. Rs. 6 hospitals to district hospitals and addedtothetestingnetwork,each gently procure rapid antigen kits districtadministrationreporting reporting more than what the
Sewerage Scheme Dharamshala Town Distt. 879639/- 17595/- 250/- Months labs,increasingregistrationof ex- institution needs to acquire two toenhancetheirtestingpotential.” 395 deaths — a difference of 161. stateisreporting,Shivaharesaid,“I
Kangra (H.P). Sub Head: Laying, jointing & testing
of DI K-7 pipe 150mm dia & C/o RCC Manhole istinglabstoconducttesting,add- RT-PCRtestingmachines,ancillary Inthemediumterm,theletter When contacted, Surat Mun- don’t know about this, I’ll check
chamber to part area of Khajanchi Mohalla Kotwali ing more private labs, and “urge- equipment,andtechnicians. stated, government labs are sup- icipalCommissionerBNPanisaid, with the district administration."
Bazar in Ward No. 6. ntly”procuringrapidantigenkits. Stategovernmentsshouldalso posed to have two RT-PCR ma- “We know there is discrepancy... Additionaldirector,health,Dr
1. The offer should be for the complete job. In the medium term, states prepare a “roadmap” for tempo- chines, but 123 government labs I will check where the lacuna is” PrakashVaghelasaidthestatewas
2. Availability of bid document and mode of submission: The bid documents is available online and bid have been asked to help procure rary “redeployment” of any RT- (out of 391 labs conducting RT- Inanofficeorderissuedinthe declaringdeathsbyfollowingthe
should be submitted in online mode on website https://hptenders.gov.in. For submission of bids, the bid- RT-PCR machines and RNA ex- PCRmachinesthatareatresearch PCRtests)have one andwill need first week of April from the addi- guidelinesofMedicalCertification
der is required to have Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) from one of the authorized certifying Authorities
(CA). “Aspiring bidders who have not obtained the user ID and password for participating in e-tendering tractionkitsforgovernment labs, and educational institutions un- to add another. This measure tionaldirectorofMedicalServices of Cause of Death issued by
in HP Jal Shakti may obtain the same from the website https://hptenders.gov.in. Digital signature is and help upgrade district hospi- der the ambit of the government wouldenhancetestingcapacityby & Medical Education & Research, National Centre for Disease
mandatory to participate in the e-tendering. Bidders already possessing the digital signature issued from tals’ diagnostic labs. to district hospitals and labs, the almost30,000testsaday,itnoted. Raghavendra Dixit, a structure of Informatics and Research under
authorized CAs can use the same in this tender. Theletternotedthatwhile281 officers wrote. In addition, if pri- FULL REPORT ON deathauditswasputinplaceasit the Indian Council of Medical
3. Schedule of tendering
governmentmedicalcollegesand vate labs have two RT-PCR ma- www.indianexpress.com was “necessary to comprehen- Research.
1 Key Dates:
a) Date of online publication 08.07.2020 at 17.00 P.M.
b) Period of availability of bidding documents
on website https://hptenders.gov.in.
c) Date of submission of e-tender
08.07.2020 at
29.07.2020 at
08.07.2020 at
17.00
11:00
17.00
P.M. Upto
A.M.
P.M. Upto
Missing for three days, minor Sikh girl
2 Opening of bids: The bids will be opened online
by the authorized officer at the appointed time.
29.07.2020 at 11:00 A.M.
in Afghanistan reunited with family
a) Time and date for opening of part one of the bid At 11.30 A.M dt. 29.07.2020 in the office of world and atrocities inflicted on
(the technical qualification part) the Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Division DIVYA GOYAL Sikhs here. A local Muslim youth
Dharamshala
LUDHIANA, JULY 20 who lives in a house opposite to
b) Time and date for opening of part two of the bid To be notified later the gurdwara brainwashed and
(the financial bid) of bidders who qualified in
part 1 of the bid A 15-YEAR old Sikh girl, who had threatenedmysisterandtookher
gonemissingfromBabaSriChand away. She was taken to Panjshir
3 Last date of bid validity. 120 days for the deadline date for submis-
sion of bids. gurdwara in Kabul’s Shor Bazar fromwherewebroughtherback
4 Friday,wasreunitedwithherfam- today. They tried to get her mar-
Officer inviting bids. Designation: The Executive Engineer Jal
Shakti Division Dharamshala ily Monday, local community ried forcibly. She was instigated
leaderstoldTheIndianExpress.Her against her own family.”
4. Terms and conditions: The offer should be for complete job of construction of scheme. familyclaimedthatshewastaken The girl had lost her father in
(A) The e-tender documents shall be uploaded online in 2 covers:- away Friday by a local Muslim an Islamic State (IS) terror attack
Cover-I shall contain scanned copies of “eligibility information”.
Cover-2 shall contain “Financial Bid” on the prescribed form.
youth who “brainwashed and Gurdwara from where the at Gurdwara Har Rai Sahib in
(B) Cover-I shall contain scanned copies of following “eligibility information” (scanned copies to be threatened”hertomarryhimand girl went missing. Pritpal Singh Kabul on March 25. At least 25
uploaded) on the website https://hptenders.gov.inat the appropriate place. “convert to Islam”. membersoftheSikhcommunity
(i) Bid security/Earnest money deposited through e-payment mode in ICICI bank authorized by the Sikh community members were killed in the attack.
Govt. Of HP as well as cost of tender form. Bank guarantee submitted as bid security shall be
saidthegirlwas“convincedtore- Sheisatmyhomeandsafe.People The girl's brother, who runs a
valid for 45 days beyond the validity of the bid. Bid security of unsuccessful bidders shall be
refunded as promptly as possible within 45 days after the expiry of the validity of bid. turn”bytheeffortsofgovernment who influenced and took her medicine and cosmetics shop in
Eligibility Criteria: andlocalSikhMPNarinderSingh away are in police custody. Police Kabul,said,“Eachdayhereisnow
1. The bidder/contractor/firm should be registered with central Govt. or State Government department or Khalsa. A police complaint has is helping us,” Khalsa told The a punishment. You don't know
Central/State Government under Taking. been registered for an attempt to Indian Express over phone. whenyouwillbetargetedagain.”
The list of works for similar nature executed by the intending contractor/firm alongwith performance cer- forcefully marry a minor girl. Thegirl’s22-year-oldbrother, Against the backdrop of the
tificate from the authority under which the work executed, indicating gross amount paid was executed
must be submitted. The works executed in state/Central Government Departments, PSUs (Public Sector “The girl was influenced and who lives with his mother and incident, the Sikh community in
under takings), Autonomous Bodies of Central and State Govt. Shall only be considered. takenawayonthepretextofmar- brother on the gurdwara prem- Afghanistanhasreiterateditsde-
2. The work shall be considered completed if it is executed 90% either to awarded physical quantities or riage.Sheisaminor.Wehaveres- ises,said,“Mysisterisjust15.She mand for immediate evacuation
financial values. cued her and brought her back. doesn’tknowanythingaboutthe to India.
3. The contractor/firm must have registered under GST/EPF/Income Tax and latest clearance certificate
thereof.
4. The lowest bidder must got himself registered with HP Jal Shakti Department before the acceptance of
tender. CX.´fi. ´ff½fSX MXÑfaÀfd¸fVf³f IYfSX´fûSmXVf³f BÊX-d³fd½fQf Àfc¨f³ff PLEA ON HATE SPEECH, FAKE NEWS
5. Average annual financial turnover during the last three year ending 31 march of the previous year should

FB points to steps
d³f¸³fd»fdJ°f I f¹fÊ/Af´fcd°fÊ WZ °fb BÊ -d³fd½fQf¹fZÔ Qû ·ff¦fûÔ ¸fZÔ
be atleast 30% of the estimated cost
(A) Experience in execution of works of similar nature for each of the last Seven years, and detail of work ªfe.EÀf.Me. ¸fZÔ ´faªfeIÈ °f, ´fid°fd¿N°f E½fa A³fb·f½fe NZ IZ QfSûÔ/
in progress or contractually committed with certificate from the concerned officer not below the rank R ¸fûË ÀfZ Afg³f »ffBÊ ³f BÊ -d³fd½fQf ´fûMÊ »f ½fZ¶fÀffBÊ M
of Executive Engineer or equivalent from government department or public sector under taking a list
of clients with their contract detail shall also be provided.
(B) Name of firm, addresses, telephone number, mobile No., Fax No., E-main ID.
khttp://etender.up.nic.inl ´fS Af¸fadÂf°f I e ªff°fe
W` aÜ d³fd½fQf ¸fc»¹f ªfe.EÀf.Me. ÀfdW°f °f±ff ²fSûWS SfdVf taken, Google says
allegations baseless
(C) An affidavit that the Firm have not ever been black listed by any government/semi-government/ AfS.Me.ªfe.EÀf./E³f.BÊ .ER .Me./¶f`ÔI ¦ffS¯Me IZ ¸ff²¹f¸f ÀfZ
board/Corporation/Private organization. Ad²fVffÀfe Ad·f¹f³°ff, d½fôb°f ´ffSm ¿f¯f £f¯O, A¸fSûWf IZ
(D) Cover-2 shall contain BOQ where contractor will quote his offer for each item. ·ffS°fe¹f ÀMZ M ¶f`ÔI , Vff£ff-ªffZ¹ff (dªf»ff-A¸fSûWf) ¸fZÔ
(E) The tender of the contractor/firm who fail to fulfil the eligibility information will be summarily rejected.
5. Bid Opening Details: Àfa¨ffd»f°f ¨ff»fc £ff°ff Àfa. (Current Account)-
The bid shall be opened on 29.07.2020at 11.30 AMin the office of Executive Engineer Jal Shakti Division, 30723557626, IFSC Code- SBIN 0007413, PRITAM PAL SINGH
Dharamshala by the authorized officers. If the office happens to be closed on the date of opening of the MICR No. 244002026 ¸fZÔ MZ ¯OS £fb»f³fZ I e dQ³ffaI NEW DELHI, JULY 20
bid as specified, the bid will be opened on the next working day at the same time and vanue. ÀfZ EI dQ³f ´fc½fÊ °fI ªf¸ff I SmÔ Ü A³¹f d³f¹f¸f ½f Vf°fÊ d½f·ff¦f
6. The bids for the work shall remain valid for acceptance for a period not less than 120 days after the dead DENYING THAT it has shared user data with American in-
line date for bids submission. IZ d³f²ffÊdS°f d³f¹f¸f ½f Vf°fÊ C.´fi.´ff½fS I fS´fûSm Vf³f d»f. IZ
7. Other details can be seen in the bidding documents. The officer inviting tender shall not be held liable for R f¸fÊ E/¶fe IZ A³fbÀffS Wû¦fe dªf³WZÔ dI Àfe ·fe I f¹fÊdQ½fÀf ¸fZÔ telligenceagencies,Facebook,Inc.hassubmittedbeforethe
any delays due to system failure beyond its control. Even though the system will attempt to notify the bid- A²fûWÀ°ffÃfSI °ffÊ IZ I f¹ffÊ»f¹f ¸fZÔ QZ£ff ªff ÀfI °ff W` Ü DelhiHighCourtthatitimplementedcomprehensivestan-
ders of any bid updates, the employers shall not liable for any information not received by the bidders. It dardsandundertookmanyinitiativestocurb“hatespeech
is the bidder’s responsibility to verify the website for the latest information related to the tender.
d½fÀ°fÈ°f d½f½fS¯f BÊ -d³fd½fQf ´fûMÊ »f ½fZ¶fÀffBÊ M ´fS d³fd½fQf
£fb»f³fZ IZ Ad³°f¸f d°fd±f E½fa Àf¸f¹f °fI C´f»f¶²f SWZ ¦ffÜ andfakenews”andothertypesof “harmful”contentonits
8. The tenders of the contractor/firms who fail to fulfill the eligibility information will be summarily rejected.
9. No subletting of works by the contractor/firm is permissible. d³fd½fQf ¸fZÔ dI Àfe ·fe ÀfaVfû²f³f ¹ff d°fd±f d½fÀ°ffS BÊ -d³fd½fQf platform. US-basedtechnology firm Google LLC termed as
10. The representative of the firm/contractor shall inspect the site himself and make conversant with the site ´fûMÊ »f ´fS A½fV¹f QZ£f d»f¹ff ªffEÜ BÊX-d³fd½fQf £fb»f³fZ IYe “falseandbaseless”theallegationthatthecompanyhasun-
conditions. lawfully accessed personal data of Indian citizens.
11. Instruction for e-tendering: dQ³ffaIY-18.08.2020 1. BÊX-³fd½fdQf Àfa£¹ff-
121/BÊX.MXe.Àfe.dõX./E¸f./2020 d½fôb°f ´ffSm ¿f¯f £f¯O ²ff¸f´fbS The submissions were made before a bench of Justices
i) The contractor should register himself on website https://hptenders.gov.in. and obtain used ID, pass-
word before bidding. IZ A³°f¦fÊ°f 132 IZ .½fe. C´fIZ ³Qi ³fªfe¶ff¶ffQ ´fS 40 E¸f½feE Rajiv Sahai Endlaw and Asha Menon, who heard a PIL by
ii) Entire tender process will be carried out on line through above mentioned website. Contractors/Firms
´fdS½f°fÊI I û WMfI S 63 E¸f½feE ´fdS½f°fÊI I e À±ff´f³ff I f formerRSSideologueKNGovindacharya,seekingremoval
are advised to procure e-token/digital signing certificate from suitable tenders or from authorized of fake news and hate speech from online platforms.
agency. I f¹fÊÜ ²fSûWS SfdVf ø . 4000/- d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf I f
The HC had earlier issued notice to the Home Affairs,
iii) Before submission of online bids, bidder must ensure that scanned copy of all necessary documents ªfe.EÀf.Me. ÀfdW°f ¸fc»¹f ø . 590/- 2. BÊ-d³fd½fQf Àfa£¹ff-
have been uploaded with the bid. Finance, and Information Technology ministries, besides
122/BÊ.MXe.Àfe.dõX./E¸f./ 2020 d½fôb°f ´ffSm ¿f¯f JaO ,
The tenderer should quote their firm price subject to no escalation what so ever till successful fulfilment Facebook,GoogleandTwitterIndia.TheCentreandTwitter
of contract. The financial bid should be inclusive of all taxes and no extra claim will be entertained. d¶fªf³füS IZ A³°f¦fÊ°f 132 IZ .½fe. C´fIZ ³Qi ªf»fe»f´fbS ´fS
India are yet to respond.
Central/State/Local taxes vat and any levy charges, including cess as per provision of building and other (SAS Based) ½ffd¿fËI ´fdS¨ff»f³f E½fa A³fbS Ãf¯f I f I f¹fÊÜ
Govindacharya’scounselViragGuptahascontendedthat
construction workers welfare cess Act. 1996 and Himachal Pradesh Building and other construction work- ²fSûWS SfdVf ÷ . 24000/-, d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf I f ªfeEÀfMe ÀfdW°f
ers Rules, 2008. The Department will deduct labour cess @ 1% from each running bill from the gross thethreeplatformsbedirectedtodiscloseinformationabout
¸fc»¹f ÷ . 1770/- kkSXfáÑX dWX°f ¸fZÔ d¶fªf»fe ¶f¨ff¹fZÔll their designated officers in India as per rules. He submitted
amount of work done by the contractor.
The tenderer shall have to maintain EPF accounts and bear EPF contribution of its workers/employees. WXÀ°ff./- A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹f³°ff d½fôb°f ´ffSmX¿f¯f ¸f¯OX»f thatwhilethegovernmentinteractswithsocialmediafirms,
NO. EE/JSD/EA-I/e-Tender/2020-21:3106-3205 Executive Engineer, dõX°fe¹f CX.´fi. ´ff½fSX MÑXf³Àf. IYf´fûÊ d»f. ¸fbSXfQf¶ffQ, the latter claim to have no presence in India and maintain
Dated: 08.07.2020 Jal Shakti Division, ´fÂffaIY: 1766/d½f.´ff.¸fa.dõX.¸fb./BÊX-d³fd½fQf/2020 dQ³ffaIY: thattheydobusinessthroughtheirforeignparentcompany.
1698/HP Dharamshala 20/07/2020 ThecourtwillhearthematternextonSeptember16.

New Delhi
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11
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com

SIMPLY PUT QUESTION &ANSWER

CORONAVIRUS DASHBOARD

3,774,769
US
296,364
THE WORLD
United Kingdom
276,202
Iran
776,212
Russia
How close or far is vaccine
Oxford researchers have published promising trial results of vaccine candidate against Covid, days after
Moderna published its own results. What are the findings, and how is the global vaccine hunt placed now?
344,224
Mexico human trials. The frontrunners include:
PRABHARAGHAVAN
353,590 NEWDELHI,JULY20 Inactivated
Peru Thesearevaccinesmadebyusingparticles
RESULTS PUBLISHED on Monday of early hu- of theCovid-19virusthatwerekilled,making
2,098,389 11,18,206 mantrialsof aCovid-19vaccinedevelopedby them unable to infect or replicate. Injecting
Brazil
India the University of Oxford and drugmaker particular doses of these particles serves to
330,930 364,328 AstraZenecahaveshownpromise.Theresults buildimmunitybyhelpingthebodycreatean-
Chile South Africa
come around a week after US biotech firm tibodies against the dead virus.
Moderna had released its own early trial data FRONTRUNNERS: Sinovac, Wuhan
TOTAL CONFIRMED: 14,538,115 DEATH COUNT: 606,922 and at a time when several firms are racing to Institute of Biological Products-Sinopharm,
find an effective vaccine against the coron- Beijing Institute of Biological Products-
Source: Johns Hopkins University, updated at 11 pm on July 20 . JHU’s India tally and Health avirus that has killed over 600,000 globally. Sinopharm,BharatBiotech,InstituteofMedical
Ministry’s tally (below) may not match if these are accounted at different times. Biology(ChineseAcademyofMedicalSciences)
HowdoestheOxford-AstroZeneca
vaccinecandidatework? Non-replicating viral vector
WhensomeoneisinfectedwiththeCovid- This is the category the Oxford-
What is ‘inflammageing’? Does 19virus(SARS-CoV-2),thereasonitspreadsin
the body easily is because of the spikes on its
AstraZenecavaccinebelongsto.Itusesaweak-
ened, genetically modified version of a differ-

it have a role in severe Covid? surface.Thesespikes,knownasthe‘spikepro-

AS ONE ages, inflamma-
tionthroughoutthebody
reaches higher levels.
Known as ‘inflammage-
ing’, this can inhibit im-
munity.Becausethemost
severe Covid-19 cases
tein', allow the virus to penetrate cells and,
thereafter, multiply.
The vaccine developed by Oxford and
American Association for AstraZeneca, which belongs to a category
the Advancement of called non-replicating viral vector vaccines,
Scienceexplainshowour triestobuildthebody’simmunityagainstthis
immunesystemweakens spikeprotein.Theideaistocreateantibodiesto
withage.Asthishappens, fight this spiked surface so that the virus does
our bodily defence sys- notevenhavethechancetopenetratethecells.
PAPER tems respond more The vaccine uses a different virus — in this
Inside Oxford Vaccine Group lab, samples from trials. John Cairns, University of Oxford via AP
antibody responses were detected in 32 of 35
participantsstudiedafterasingledose,andin
all nine participants assessed after they were
administered a second, booster dose.
phaseIIItrialsinIndiabeforethevaccinecanbe
launched.Sofar,thefirmhasreceivedpermis-
sion to manufacture certain doses for testing
purposes, said a senior government official.
ent virus to carry the Covid-19 spike protein.
FRONTRUNNERS: Oxford-AstroZeneca,
CanSino Biological Inc-Beijing Institute of
Biotechnology, Gamaleya Research Institute
Protein subunit
Thisvaccineusesapartofthevirustobuild
an immune response in a targeted fashion. In
this case, the part of the virus being targeted
would be the spike protein.
FRONTRUNNERS: AnhuiZhifeiLongcom

CLIP
have occurred mostly in slowlytobacterialandvi- case, a weakened version of a common cold Thevaccineshowedmildtomoderatead- “Wewillbeapplyingforthelicensuretrialsto Biopharmaceutical-Institute of Microbiology
olderpeople,researchers ral infections, leaving the virus(adenovirus)thatinfectschimpanzees— verse reactions, including pain, feverish feel- the Indian regulator in a week’s time. As soon (Chinese Academy of Sciences), Novavax,
areinvestigatingwhether elderly more vulnerable. tocarryjustthecodetomakethespikeprotein, ings, chills, muscle aches, headaches and astheygrantuspermission,wewillbeginwith CloverBiopharmaceuticalsInc-GSK-Dynavax,
inflammageinghasarole. In addition to the de- likeaTrojanhorse.Theadenovirus,genetically malaise. The effects were reduced using pro- the trials for the vaccine in India,” said Adar Vaccine Pty Ltd-Medytox, University of
Isitthetriggerthatcauses
NEW RESEARCH terioration of immunity, modifiedsothatitcannotreplicateinhumans, phylacticparacetamol,accordingtothestudy. Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute. Queensland-CSL-Seqirus
extreme inflammatory another common condi- willenterthecellandreleasethecodetomake
responses, which are common in the tion of ageing is inflammageing. This onlythespikeprotein.Thebody’simmunesys- Howsignificantisthis? HowdoesthiscomparewithModerna’s RNA
lungs of severe Covid-19 patients? is characterised by chronic low-grade tem is expected to recognise the spike protein Whiletheresultsseempromising,itisim- vaccineresults? Such vaccines use the messenger RNA
In a Perspective published in the inflammation, which occurs without asapotentiallyharmfulforeignsubstance,and portant to remember this data is from early- Moderna,thefirstfirmtobeginhumantri- (mRNA)moleculesthattellcellswhatproteins
journal Science, researchers Arne an infection. While inflammation is startsbuildingantibodiesagainstit. stage clinical trials. This data cannot give clar- als for a Covid-19 vaccine candidate in collab- tobuild.ThemRNA,inthiscase,iscodedtotell
Akbar and Derek Gilroy of University essentialtotheimmune response,in- Onceimmunityisbuilt,theantibodieswill ity on questions like how long the antibodies orationwiththeUSNationalInstituteofAllergy thecellstorecreatethespikeprotein.Onceitis
College London discuss the impact of flammageing is not. Research has attacktherealvirusifittriestoinfectthebody. willlastinthebody,animportantfactorinde- and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), published injected,thecellswillusethemRNA’sinstruc-
inflammageing on immunity in age- shown that this state of elevated in- termining how effective the vaccine will be. early stage results last week for its vaccine, tions, creating copies of the spike protein,
ing individuals. They suggest that re- flammationcanworsenmanyage-re- Whatdothelatestresultsmean? Thiswill requiredatafromlarger,phase IIItri- whichusesadifferenttechnology(mRNA).The which in turn is expected to prompt the im-
ducing inflammation using anti-in- lated diseases, and further inhibit the ThepreliminaryresultsfromphaseI/IItri- als, which are currently under way. data it released in the New England Journal of mune cells to create antibodies to fight it.
flammatory drugs may provide a response from an already declining als of the vaccine, published in The Lancet, of- MedicineonJuly14showedsimilarabilitiesto FRONTRUNNERS: Moderna-NIAID,
therapeutic strategy, not only for en- immune system. In the case of Covid, fered some promise by showing the vaccine Whathappensnext? induceantibodyandneutralisingantibodies,as BioNTech-Fosun Pharma-Pfizer, Imperial
hancingimmunitybutalsofor poten- the Perspective suggests it could be was notonly safe, but also seemed tobuild an Globally, Oxford and AstraZeneca have al- well as some T-cell response. Moderna is ex- College London, Curevac, PLA Academy of
tially improving Covid-19 outcomes the initial trigger that kicks off the ex- immuneresponseintheparticipants.Forone, ready begunphaseIII trials inBrazil,targeting pected to begin its phase III trials on July 27. Military Sciences-Walvax Biotech
in older patients. treme inflammatory responses seen it was found that being injected with the vac- 5,000volunteers.AsimilartrialinSouthAfrica Given the differences in the way the data
In an article introducing the in the most severely ill patients. cine led to participants building neutralising is also expected to be under way. has been presented by Moderna and the DNA
Perspective, Science publisher EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE antibodies.Anotherpotentialpositivewasthat Meanwhile,SerumInstituteofIndia,which University of Oxford/AstraZeneca, some ex- These vaccines use genetically engi-
it increased the number of T cells — a type of hastiedupwithOxfordandAstraZeneca,plans pertssayitisdifficulttoprovideapropercom- neeredDNA moleculesthat,again,arecoded
white blood cell that protects the body from tomake“millionsofdoses”ofthevaccineover parison of the two at this stage. with the antigen against which the immune
pathogens and cancer cells and works to ac- thenextthreemonths,afteritreceivesaman- response is to be built.
INDIA COUNT: 11,18,043 (27,497 DEATHS) tively destroy infected cells.
A single dose of the vaccine elicited an in-
ufacturing licence. The firm is expected to
manufacturethevaccineforlow-andmiddle-
Whicharetheothertopcontenders?
Over160potentialvaccinesarebeingstud-
FRONTRUNNERS:
Pharmaceuticals-International Vaccine
Inovio

crease in antibodies specifically against the income countries. iedglobally,with23ofthemrecognisedbythe Institute,OsakaUniversity-AnGeS-TakaraBio,

TOP 10 STATES REST OF INDIA
AndamanandNicobarIslands203
ArunachalPradesh 740
spikeproteinbythefirst28days.Neutralising However, Serum will have to conduct World Health Organization as candidates in Zydus Cadila, Genexine Consortium.

Assam 23999

Series of missions to Mars: why, when

49,247 UP Chandigarh 717
Chhattisgarh 5407
1,22,793 26,569 DadraandNagarHaveli 605
Delhi Biahr Goa 3657
Haryana 26164
HimachalPradesh 1483
JammuandKashmir 13899
Jharkhand 5535 habitableconditionsandmicrobiallifeinMars’ first interplanetary one. The previous three
Kerala 12480 MEHRGILL ancient past. Over its mission of one Martian were all Earth-observation satellites.
42,487 Ladakh 1178
West Bengal MadhyaPradesh 22600 NEWDELHI,JULY20 year (687 Earth days), it will collect Martian Hope is scheduled to reach Mars’s orbit in
48,355 Manipur 1911 rock and sediment samples for analysis. February 2021 and then start orbiting the
Gujarat 45,076 Meghalaya 450 ON SUNDAY, the UAE launched the Arab The rover is equipped with specialised planet. Its mission life is one Martian year.
Telangana Mizoram 284
world’sfirstmissiontoMars.Thelaunchofthe equipment to collect data, analyse weather
3,10,455 49,650
Nagaland
Odisha
988
17437 spacecraft Amal (Hope) took place from the conditionsthatcanhelpplanforfuturehuman Tianwen-1: Soil study
Maharashtra
Andhra Pradesh Puducherry 1999 Tanegashima Space Center, Japan, aboard missions, and produce oxygen from the car- China’s first Mars probe will be launched
Punjab 10100
63,772 Rajasthan 29434
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ H-II A rocket. bon-dioxide-rich atmosphere. on a Long March 5 Y-4 booster from Xichang,
1,70,693 Karnataka Sikkim 283 The UAE launch marks the first of three Perseverance is expected to land on China.Theprobeconsistsofanorbiter,alander
Tamil Nadu Tripura 2878 missions being planned to Mars in the end of February 18, 2021. NASA’s Curiosity rover has and a rover and aims to study Martian topog-
Uttarakhand 4515 July.ChinaplansitsfirstMarsprobe,Tianwen- been exploring Mars since 2012. raphyandgeologyanddeterminethecompo-
1(formerlyHuoxing1),inthecomingfewdays. sition of the surface material, climate and en-
UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof 11pm,July20.Somestatesmayhave The US, the only country that has sent previ- Hope: Atmospheric data vironment.
reportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove. ous missions to Mars, plans its Perseverance Hope was developed by UAE scientists in Tianwen-1 is expected to reach the Red
7,00,087 PATIENTS DISCHARGED IN 35 STATES AND UNION TERRITORIES mission on July 30. the US, and its launch is the 45th for H-II A. Planet by early 2021 and will use high-reso-
The end of July 2020 offers a launch win- Carryingthreeinstrumentsincludingacamera lution cameras to search for a suitable land-
dowwithEarthandMarsalignedattheirclos- andaspectrometer,thespacecraftisonanor- ing site somewhere in the Utopia Planitia re-
Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak and what you should/should not do? est in two years, which means using less fuel. bitalmissiontocollectdataonMartianclimate gion. The spacecraft weighs around 240 kg
Write to explained@indianexpress.com Japan’s H-IIA rocket takes off with dynamicsandhelpscientistsunderstandwhy and will carry cameras, a subsurface radar, a
Perseverance: Hunt or life UAE’s Hope orbiter in Japan. AP Mars’s atmosphere is decaying into space. spectrometer, a magnetometer, and atmos-
NASA’s Perseverance will look for signs of HopeistheUAE’sfourthspacemissionand pheric sensors.

The legacy of C S Seshadri, mathematician, researcher, educator

KABIRFIRAQUE
NEWDELHI,JULY20
INLIFE,themathematicianCSSeshadriwas
recognised with awards ranging from the
Padma Bhushan and the Shanti Swarup
Bhatnagar Award in India to fellowships
withRoyalSocietyfellowshipandAmerican
Mathematical Society abroad. In death, he
has received tributes from the Prime
Minister, the President and leaders in sci-
ence and mathematics.
From the huge body of his contributions
to mathematical research and teaching, two
stand out. He founded the Chennai
MathematicalInstitute,whichattractstalent
from around the world with its courses on
mathematics,computerscienceandtheoret-
icalphysics.Theotherstandoutcontribution
is his breakthrough research in algebraic
geometry; there is a theorem and a type of
constant named after him.
Seshadri died on Friday, aged 88.
The Institute
InChennaiinthemid-1980s,Seshadrigot
anofferfromthenewlyformedSPICScience
Foundation to set up a School of
Mathematics. Seshadri was then at the
Institute of Mathematical Sciences, where
he had launched a doctoral programme but
waskeenonaprogrammethatwouldcom-
bine high-level research with undergradu-
ate teaching.
“Since it seemed to offer a more realistic
path towards launching an undergraduate
teachingprogramme,Seshadrimadetherad-
ical decision to move to this private setting,”
his long-time friend P S Thiagarajan told The
Indian Express by email from California.
Thiagarajanisatheoreticalcomputerscientist
whomSeshadrihadrecruitedattheInstitute
ofMathematicalSciences,andwhomhetook
alongtobuildthenewschool.“Iwasdelighted
tojoinhimonthisadventure,”hesaid.Others
who joined them were then PhD students
Vikraman Balaji (mathematics) and
MadhavanMukund(computerscience),both
now senior faculty members at the Chennai
Mathematical Institute.
It began as a teaching programme with
initialrecognitionfromBhojOpenUniversity
(Madhya Pradesh). The curriculum centred
C S Seshadri (1932-2020)
onmathematicsbutincludedcorecomputer
science courses. In 1998, the School of
MathematicswasreorganisedastheChennai
MathematicalInstitute(CMI),whichwenton
to be recognised as a deemed university by
the UGC in 2006.
Today, CMI offers undergraduate educa-
tion in mathematics and computer science,
a research programme in these subjects as
well as theoretical physics, and an MSc pro-
gramme that includes data science. It plans
toexpandintoquantumcomputing,cryptog-
raphy,computationalbiologyandmathemat-
ical economics, Thiagarajan said.
“Without a doubt, CMI with its present
stature and potential would not exist with-
out the vision, leadership and monumen-
taleffortsof Seshadri,”Thiagarajansaid.“His
personality, a delightful mix of simplicity,
lack of malice, love of life and uncompro-
mising standards of excellence, attracted
the goodwill and support of all those who
came into contact with him. This has con-
tributedimmeasurablytothefoundingand
development of CMI.”
His research
Senior school students are familiar with
graphs that plot straight lines from linear
equations in two variables; science stream
students go on to work with higher-order
equations that describe two-dimensional
shapes such as a circle or 3D shapes such as
cube. Seshadri’s field of study was algebraic
geometry,acoredisciplineinmodernmath-
ematicsthatinvestigatesthegeometryofso-
lution-sets of such equations.
Applications of algebraic geometry arise
in statistics, control theory, robotics, coding
theory,integerprogrammingandtheoretical
physics.TheNarasimhan-Seshadritheorem,
developed in 1965 with his friend M S
Narasimhan,playsacentralroleinconformal
field theory and string theory.
Born in 1932 in Kanchipuram and edu-
cated in Chengleput (Tamil Nadu), Chennai
and Mumbai (he got his PhD from Bombay
University),Seshadri made hismajor contri-
butionsafterhewenttoParisin1957.“Atthe
time that he finished his doctoral work, the
subjectitself wasundergoingauniquerevo-
lution,”saidCMI’sProfessorBalaji,oneof the
PhDstudentswhohadjoinedSeshadriinhis
move from the Institute of Mathematical
Sciences in the 1980s.
“Seshadri went to Paris in 1957 and very
quicklyenteredthesanctumofthisnewtem-
pleofalgebraicgeometry.Thisprovidedadis-
tinctively unifying perspective which con-
nected it to all branches of mathematics at
some level,” Balaji said.
Itwasinthissettingthatoneshouldview
Seshadri's collaboration with Narasimhan,
Balaji said. Their theorem’s roots lay in the
work of the French mathematician André
Weil and were closely linked to the work of
Henri Poincaré.
TheNarasimhan-Seshadritheoremsetup
acorrespondencebetweentwobasicclasses
of objects, Balaji said. “Setting up such corre-
spondences was somewhat like the process
ofidentifyingaRosettastoneforthedecipher-
ing of hieroglyphics. The two classes in the
Narasimhan-Seshadri theorem were analo-
gous to two of the lines in the Rosetta stone,”
hesaid.“Athirdlinecameupmuchlaterfrom
theworkofSimonDonaldsonduringthemid-
1980s. Once this was provided, many subtle
and beautiful aspects of differential geome-
try,topology,mathematicalphysicsandnum-
bertheorygotunravelledmiraculously.”
From Seshadri’s work with Narasimhan
arose the concept of “Seshadri constants”.
After Paris
Seshadri returned to India in 1960 and
joined Tata Institute of Fundamental
Research,wherehehelpedestablishaschool
of algebraic geometry. In 1984, he moved to
theInstituteofMathematicalSciences,where
he recruited Thiagarajan who was then
abroad.FromtherewouldfollowtheChennai
Mathematical Institute.

New Delhi

12 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
King Salman
SAUDI ARABIA
KingSalman,84,
ishospitalised
SAUDI ARABIA’S 84-year-
old ruler, King Salman bin
Abdulaziz, has been ad-
mitted to hospital in the
capital Riyadh, suffering
from inflammation of the
gall bladder, state news
agency SPA said on
Monday. The king, who
has ruled the world’s
largest oil exporter and
close US ally since 2015, is
undergoing medical
checks,theagencyadded,
without giving details.
Afterthenews,IraqiPrime
Minister Mustafa al-
Kadhimipostponedavisit
scheduledtoSaudiArabia,
said Foreign Minister
PrinceFaisalbinFarhanAl
Saud said. The de facto
rulerandnextinlinetothe
throneisthecrownprince,
Mohammed bin Salman,
who has launched re-
forms to transform the
kingdom’s economy and
end its “addiction” to oil.
EU SUMMIT
Nostimulusdeal
yet,buttalks
progressing
EUROPEANUNIONleaders
said on Monday they were
cautiously optimistic that
agreement on a massive
stimulus plan for their
virus-blighted economies
was within reach, but ten-
sions between them re-
mained high after days of
summit squabbling. Slow
tocoordinatetheirinitialre-
sponse to the Covid-19
pandemic and already
weakened by Britain’s de-
parturefromthebloc,adeal
on the economic aid plan
would demonstrate that
Europeans can step up to a
crisis and remain united.
The Brussels summit
draggedintoitsfourthday-
approaching the record
length set at a 2000 meet-
ing in France.
NORTH KOREA
Kimfiresofficials
forextortionlinked
tohospitalproject
North Korea’s leader has
sacked officials building a
hospital after they pressed
thepublicforcontributions,
media reported on
Monday,thesecondrebuke
linked to the high-profile
project in a country where
such problems are rarely
publicised.LeaderKimJong
UnorderedthePyongyang
GeneralHospitaltobebuilt
by the 75th anniversary of
the founding of the ruling
party,callingita“topprior-
ity” in improving public
health.Butduringhislatest
visit to the site, Kim fired a
group of managers for fail-
ingtoallocateabudgetand
supplyingequipmentfrom
ordinary citizens.
POPULAR RAPPER, WHO ANNOUNCED HE IS RUNNING RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, HELD HIS FIRST POLITICAL RALLY
‘Harriet Tubman never actually freed slaves’: Kanye kicks off campaign
MEG KINNARD
COLUMBIA, JULY 20
RAPPER KANYE West, in his
first event since declaring him-
self a presidential candidate,
ranted against historical figure
Harriet Tubman on Sunday,
saying the Underground
Railroad conductor “never ac-
tually freed the slaves, she just
had them work for other white
people,” comments that drew
shouts of opposition from
some in the crowd.
West delivered a lengthy
PORTLAND: FEDERAL AGENTS CLASH WITH PROTESTERS
Federal agents try to disperse Black Lives Matter protesters near a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, on Monday.
Protesters outside the courthouse set a fire in the building’s entryway in yet another night of conflict with federal agents
who repeatedly teargassed the demonstrators to drive them away, officials said. AP
UK suspends HK extradition
treaty, stoking China tensions
WILLIAM JAMES
& ANDY BRUCE
LONDON, JULY 20
BRITAIN ANNOUNCED on
Mondayitwouldsuspend itsex-
tradition treaty with Hong Kong
inanescalationof adisputewith
China over its introduction of a
national security law for the for-
mer British colony.
Foreign Secretary Dominic
Raab told Parliament the treaty
would be suspended immedi-
ately and an arms embargo
wouldbeextendedtoHongKong.
“We will not consider reacti-
vating those arrangements, un-
less and until there are clear and
robust safeguards, which are
able to prevent extradition from
the UK being misused under the
new national security legisla-
tion,” Raab said.
Man opens fire at
US federal judge’s
house, killing her
son and injuring
her husband
MARYCLAIRE DALE
JULY 20
A GUNMAN shot and killed the
20-year-oldsonofafederaljudge
as he answered the door of the
family home Sunday in New
Jerseyandshotandwoundedthe
judge’s husband before fleeing,
according to judiciary officials.
Theshootingsoccurredatthe
North Brunswick home of US
District Judge Esther Salas, and
killed her son, Daniel. Her hus-
band, Mark Anderl, was injured.
Salas was in the basement at
the time and wasn’t injured. The
perpetrator, believed to be a lone
gunman posing as a FedEx deliv-
eryperson,wasnotincustody,the
official said.
Salashaspresidedoveranon-
going case brought by Deutsche
Bank investors who claim the
company made false statements
about its anti-money laundering
policies and failed to monitor
“high-risk” customers including
Jeffrey Epstein. AP
monologue, touching on topics
from abortion and religion to
international trade and licens-
ing deals, before a crowd in
North Charleston, South
Carolina. Whether he is actu-
ally seeking the nation’s high-
est office remains a question.
Tubman is one of the most
respected figures of 19th cen-
tury America. An African
American who escaped slavery,
she helped enslaved Black men
and women travel north to
freedom and fought for the
Union during the Civil War. She
later became a supporter of
Britain’s Foreign Secretary
Dominic Raab on Sunday
accused China of gross
human rights violations
The ban is another nail in the
coffin of what then Prime
Minister David Cameron in 2015
cast as a “golden era” of ties with
China, the world’s second-
largest economy.
London has been dismayed
by a crackdown in Hong Kong,
which returned to Chinese rule
in 1997, and the perception that
Tens of thousands in
US to walk off jobs to
protest racial inequality
AARON MORRISON
NEW YORK, JULY 20
ORGANISERSOFanationalwork-
ers strike said tens of thousands
were ready to walk off the job
Mondayinmorethantwodozen
US cities to protest systemic
racism and economic inequality
that has only worsened during
the coronavirus pandemic.
Dubbed the “Strike for Black
Lives,” labour unions, along with
social and racial justice organisa-
tions from New York City to Los
Angeles,willparticipateinarange
of planned actions. Where work
stoppagesarenotpossibleforafull
day,participantswilleitherpicket
during a lunch break or observe
moments of silence to honour
Blackliveslosttopoliceviolence.
“We are ... building a country
whereBlacklivesmatterinevery
aspect of society — including in
the workplace,” said Ash-Lee
Henderson, an organiser with
the Movement for Black Lives, a
coalition of over 150 organisa-
tions that make up the Black
women’s suffrage.
On abortion, West said that
while he believes it should be le-
gal, financial incentives to help
struggling mothers could be a
way to discourage the practice.
“Everybody that has a baby
gets a million dollars,” he said as
an example.
Wearing a protective vest
and with “2020” shaved into his
head, the entertainer appeared
on a livestream of the event.
Several hundred people gath-
ered in a venue, where gospel
music played before West’s ap-
pearance.
Chinadidnottellthewholetruth
over the coronavirus outbreak.
Raab said he would extend a
longstanding arms embargo on
China to include Hong kong,
meaning no exports of weapons
orammunition and a banon any
equipmentwhichmightbeused
for internal repression, like
shackles and smoke grenades.
Australia and Canada sus-
pendedextraditiontreatieswith
Hong Kong earlier this month.
US President Donald Trump has
ended preferential economic
treatment for Hong Kong.
China — once courted as the
prime source of investment in
British infrastructure projects
fromnucleartorail-hasaccused
Britain of pandering to the
United States. Officials in Hong
Kong and Beijing have said the
law is vital to plug gaps in na-
tional security. REUTERS
Labour unions,along
withsocialandracial
justiceorganisations
fromNewYorktoLos
Angeles,participatein
‘StrikeforBlackLives’
Lives Matter movement.
“The Strike for Black Lives is a
moment of reckoning for corpo-
rationsthathavelongignoredthe
concernsoftheirBlackworkforce
and denied them better working
conditions, living wages and
healthcare,”saidHenderson,who
isalsoco-executivedirectorofthe
Tennessee-based Highlander
Research and Education Center.
Amongthestrikerswillbees-
sential workers — nursing home
employees, janitors and delivery
workers.Fastfood,ride-shareand
airportworkersarealsoexpected
to take part. The strike continues
an ongoing global reckoning on
raceandpolicebrutalitysetoffby
the death of George Floyd. AP
Kanye West makes his first presidential campaign appearance
in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Sunday. AP
UAE launches
Amal, its first
mission to Mars
ASSOCIATED PRESS
TOKYO, JULY 20
A UNITED Arab Emirates space-
craftrocketedintoblueskiesfrom
aJapaneselaunchcenterMonday
atthestartofaseven-monthjour-
ney to Mars on the Arab world’s
first interplanetary mission.
The liftoff of the Mars orbiter
named Amal, or Hope, starts a
rush to fly to Earth’s neighbour
that is scheduled to be followed
in the next few days by China
and the United States.
At the space centre in Dubai,
peoplewatchingweretransfixed
by the liftoff, then cheered and
clapped, with one woman with
offering a celebratory cry com-
mon for weddings.
Amal blasted off from the
Tanegashima Space Center
aboard a Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries’ H-IIA rocket on time
at 6.58 am after being delayed
five days by bad weather.
Mitsubishi later said the
probe successfully separated
from the rocket and was now on
its solo journey to Mars.
Journalist who
wrote on graft
held in Zimbabwe
Harare: Zimbabwean police on
Monday swooped in and de-
tained a prominent journalist
and a protest leader ahead of
anti-government protests
planned for the end of this
month, their lawyers said.
The journalist, Hopewell
Chin’ono, has a huge following
on Twitter, where he regularly
posts about alleged government
corruption.
“They are breaking into my
home.Alerttheworld!”Chin’ono
tweeted as police raided his
home. His lawyer Beatrice
Mtetwa said he is detained at a
policestationinHarare,butisbe-
ing denied access to lawyers.
The arrest of Chin’ono, a
Harvard University Nieman
Fellow, drew sharp criticism in
Zimbabwe and abroad.
“Political intimidation of the
press has no place in democra-
cies,”tweetedtheUSembassyin
Harare, which in the past has
beenaccusedbythe rulingparty
of “sponsoring” Chin’ono. AP
MEANWHILE
BAR REFAELI CONVICTED OF TAX EVASION
An Israeli court convicted top model Bar Refaeli on Monday on four counts of tax
offences, capping a prolonged tax evasion case against her and her family that sullied
the image of a once beloved national icon.
As virus cases surge,
top GOP leaders break
ranks with Trump
SenateleaderamongthosepubliclycontradictingPresident
ALEXANDER BURNS,
JONATHAN MARTIN &
MAGGIE HABERMAN
JULY 20
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s
failuretocontainthecoronavirus
outbreak and his refusal to pro-
mote clear public-health guide-
lines have left many senior
Republicans despairing that he
will ever play a constructive role
inaddressingthecrisis,withsome
concluding they must work
aroundTrumpandignoreoreven
contradict his pronouncements.
In recent days, some of the
mostprominentfiguresintheGOP
outsidetheWhiteHousehavebro-
ken with Trump over issues like
the value of wearing a mask in
public and heeding the advice of
health experts like Dr. Anthony
Fauci,whothePresidentandoth-
ersintheadministrationhavesub-
jectedtocausticpersonalcriticism.
They appear to be spurred by
several overlapping forces, in-
cluding deteriorating conditions
in their own states, Trump’s
seemingindifferencetotheprob-
lem and the approach of a presi-
dentialelectioninwhichTrumpis
badly lagging his Democratic
challenger,JoeBiden,inthepolls.
Once-reticentRepublicangov-
ernors are now issuing orders on
mask-wearing and business re-
strictions that run counter to
Trump’sdemands.Someofthose
governors have sought out part-
ners in the administration other
thanthePresident,includingVice
PresidentMikePence,whoisseen
bygovernorsasfarmoreattentive
The team works on the open-source and low-cost ventilator,
in Herat Province, Afghanistan. Reuters
All-girls robotics team
in Afghanistan designs
low-cost ventilator
STORAY KARIMI
HERAT, JULY 20
IN THE eastern Afghan city of
Herat, 18-year-old high school
student Somaya Faruqi adjusts a
suction cap as she puts the fin-
ishingtouchesbeforeunveilinga
low-cost, lightweight ventilator
created by her and six other
young women.
The all-female Afghan
Robotics Team, which has won
international awards for its ro-
bots, started work in March on
an open-source, low-cost venti-
lator as the coronavirus pan-
demic hit the war-torn nation.
RACE FOR
THE WHITE
HOUSE
The event was reportedly
for registered guests only, al-
though a campaign website
had no registration or RSVP in-
New Delhi
Trumpdidn’twearamaskduringatriptoAtlantathisweek. NYT
High stakes forRepublicans in poll yr
MANY SENIOR mem-
bers of the Republican
party are concerned
that Trump’s handling
of the coronavirus —
which has seen him trailing
his Democratic rival Joe Biden
by a big margin in multiple
polls — could not only end up
costing the party the presi-
dency but also control of the
Senate. Such a scenario would
to the continuing disaster.
“ThePresidentgotboredwith
it,” David Carney, an adviser to
Texas governor, Greg Abbott, a
Republican,saidofthepandemic.
A handful of Republican law-
makers in the Senate have pri-
vatelypressedtheadministration
to bring back health briefings led
by figures like Fauci. And in his
homestateofKentuckylastweek,
Sen.MitchMcConnell,themajor-
ity leader, broke with Trump on
It took the team almost four
months to finalise the ventilator,
which is partly based on a
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) design, and
they received guidance from ex-
perts at Harvard University.
Thedeviceiseasytocarry,can
runonbatterypowerfor10hours,
and costs roughly $700 to pro-
duce,comparedwiththe$20,000
price of a traditional ventilator.
Although the ventilator still
has to undergo final testing from
authorities before it can be used,
officials welcome it in a country
withonly800ventilatorstotreat
the fast-growing number of
coronavirus cases. REUTERS
formation.
Speaking without a micro-
phone, West became tearful at
one point while talking about
his mother, who died follow-
ing plastic surgery complica-
tions in 2007.
West missed the deadline to
qualify for the ballot in several
states, and it was unclear if he
was willing or able to collect
enough signatures required to
qualify in others. Last week, he
qualified to appear on
Oklahoma’s presidential ballot,
the first state where he met the
requirements before the filing
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
result in the Democrats
being able push
through Bills and re-
align the Supreme
Court without much bi-
partisan cooperation. Senior
GOP leaders met Trump in the
White House on Monday to
discuss ways of fighting the
virus even as they seek to
change the narrative around
how it was handled so far.
nearlyeverymajorissuerelatedto
the virus. “The straight talk here
that everyone needs to under-
standis:Thisisnotgoingawayun-
til we get a vaccine,” McConnell
said Wednesday, contradicting
Trump’spredictions.Theresultisa
wideningbreachbetweenTrump
andleadingfiguresinhisparty,as
thevirusburnsthroughmajorpo-
litical battlegrounds in the South
and the West, like in the states of
Arizona,TexasandGeorgia. NYT
China using
Uighur labour
to produce
face masks
NEW YORK TIMES
JULY 20
AS THE coronavirus pandemic
continues to drive demand for
personal protective equipment,
Chinese companies are rushing
to manufacture the gear for do-
mestic and global consumption.
A New York Times investigation
has found that some of those
companies are using Uighur la-
bor through a contentious gov-
ernment-sponsoredprogramme
that experts said often puts peo-
ple to work against their will.
Uighurs are a largely Muslim
ethnicminorityprimarilyfromthe
Xinjiang region. The programme
sends Uighurs and other minori-
ties into factory jobs. Now their
labour is part of the PPE supply
chain. The Times found at least 17
companiesinXinjiang participate
inthelabourtransferprogramme.
The companies produce
equipment primarily for domes-
tic use, but the Times identified
several other companies outside
Xinjiang that use Uighur labour
and export globally. The Times
tracedashipmentofmaskstothe
US state of Georgia from a factory
in Hubei province, where more
than100Uighurworkershadbeen
sent. The workers are required to
pledge their loyalty to China at
weeklyflag-raisingevents. NYT
deadline.
West needed to collect
10,000 signatures by noon
Monday to appear on the South
Carolina ballot, according to
state law. The entertainer
tweeted out a list of locations
around the Charleston area
where petitions could be
signed. Email to an address
purportedly associated with
the campaign was not returned
Sunday afternoon.
West, who is married to real-
itytelevisionstarKimKardashian
West, initially announced his
candidacy on July 4. AP
No: PW-DPD-CB-Tender/2020:5363-65
HIMACHAL PRADESH PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
%
☎ 01905-272269, Fax: 272862, Email: ee-dhar-hp@nic.in
INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)
Dated: 18.07.2020
The Executive Engineer, Dharampur Division, HPPWD Dharampur , Distt: Mandi (H.P) on behalf of Governor of H.P invites the item rate bids, in elec-
tronic tendering systems from the eligible class of contractors registered with HPPWD for the work as detailed in the table.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020 13
Sr. Name of work Estimated Starting date for Earnest Deadline for

SALUTE THE SOLDIER

No. Cost downloading Money submission
(In Rs.) Bid (In Rs.) of Bid
HARYANA STAFF SELECTION COMMISSION
1 2 3 4 5 6 BAYS NO. 67-70, SECTOR 2, PANCHKULA-134151
1. Construction of 40 Mtrs Span Bridge over Gharwaswra Chaswal Answai 1,78,69,595/- 01.08.2020 212000/- 14.08.2020 (www.hssc.gov.in)
Kapahi road at RD 4/480 (SH: Construction of Sub Structure and Super
Structure and both side approaches) Notice for Scrutiny of Documents for the
The bidders are advised to note other details of tender from the department website www.hptenders.gov.in.
on behalf of Governor of H.P.
various post of ITI Instructors against Advt. No. On 21 Jul 2000, IC-59276 Lt Hari Singh Bist of 3/11
GR had made supreme sacrifice during OP Rakshak
Dharampur Division, HPPWD Dharampur,
Executive Engineer,
Distt: Mandi (H.P)
12/2019, Cat. Nos. 11, 12, 23, 26, 09, 10, 13, 19, (J&K ) in Jul 1999
1675/H.P.
24, 17 and 21 of Skill Development & Industrial Colonel 11 GR & Sikkim Scouts
Training Department, Haryana. and All Ranks

Reference Commission’s earlier notices dated Lt Hari Singh Bist

03.03.2020, 12.03.2020, 13.03.2020, 14.03.2020,
16.03.2020 and 26.03.2020 for Scrutiny of Document,
it is notified for the information of candidates that
Commission has re-scheduled the date for scrutiny of
documents for the various posts of ITI Instructors
against Advt. No. 12/2019, Cat. No. 11, 12, 23, 26,
09, 10, 13, 19, 24, 17 and 21 of Skill Development &
Industrial Training Department, Haryana and
accordingly the scrutiny of documents for the said
posts will now be held from 01.09.2020 to 30.09.2020
as per schedule being notified separately.
Note: Other terms and conditions will remain the
same.
Sd/- Superintendent,
For Secretary Haryana Staff Selection Commission,
Dated, Panchkula,
the 20th July, 2020 81854/HRY.
Panchkula.
TOURISM CORPORATION OF GUJARAT LIMITED
(A Government of Gujarat Undertaking)
Nigam Bhavan, 1st Floor, Sector–16
Gandhinagar – 382016, Gujarat
Tender Notice
The tender is invited by Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd. (TCGL), for the
appointment of agency for "Development of Sasan Gir village
Taluko–Mendarda, Dist- Junagadh" Estimated Cost of the Project:
Rs.10,22,76,014/-. The interested bidders/agencies may download the tender
document from the website: www.nprocure.com from 21/07/2020 onwards,
pre-bid on date 29/07/2020. Last date of submission on online: 10/08/2020.
Tender may also be referred on www.gujarattourism.com. Managing
Director of TCGL reserves the right to reject or accept any or all tenders without
assigning any reason thereof. ■ Managing Director

New Delhi
 14 CLASSIFIEDS & TENDERS
Classifieds
PERSONAL
I, Sushma Kumari W/o-Anil
Kumar Sharma R/o-RZ-225A
Gali.No.5A Sadh Nagar Palam-
Colony,New Delhi-45,have
changed my name,from
Sushma Kumari to Sushma
Sharma Vide-Affidavit Dated-
02.07.2020, Delhi.
0040541769-9
I surjit kaur madaan W/o
mahinder pal Singh R/o.E-44
2and floor sector-1 rohini ND-
85. have changed my name to
surjit kaur. 0040542321-7
I Inderjeet S/o Charanjeet Singh
R/o-A-62,Omex Galleria Sector-
14, Bahadurgarh, Haryana.
have change my name to
Inderjeet Singh.
0040542321-1
I Mannu Ajmani Alias Mannu D/o
TilakRaj Ajmani W/o Ajay
Kumar Sharam R/o RZ 33
A/1,Mahavir Enclave-1,Palam
Village, NewDelhi -110045 Have
Changed My Name To Manisha
Sharma As Per Affidavit
0050166694-1
I Meenakshi Khatri W/O, Vikas
Malik R/o N802, The Palm Drive
Sector 66, Golf Course
Extension Road, Gurgaon have
changed my name to
Meenakshi Malik for all
purposes. 0040542334-1
I Neeru Dahiya W/O, Jitender
Singh R/o 1/405, Mission Road,
Sonipat, Haryana have
changed my name to Neeru for
all future purposes.
0040542284-1
I Swati Bhanot Perti W/o Muddit
Perti R/o C-401, Vanashree CHS,
Palm Beach road, Sector No-
58A, Seawoods, Navi Mumbai,
Nerul Node-3, Thane,
Maharashtra-400706, have
changed my name to Swati
Bhanot 0070708989-1
I mahinder pal Singh madaan
S/o.dhanna ram R/o E-44 2and
floor sector-1 rohini ND-
85.have changed my name to
mahinderpal singh.
0040542321-5
I, Varsha Johar D/o, Kamal
Kumar Gupta, (R/o 171 1st
Floor, Ram Nagar Extn, Krishna
Nagar, Delhi 110051) declaring
name Varsha Johar & Varsha
Gupta Belong to Same Person
and have Changed My Name To
Varsha Gupta For All
documentation Purpose.
0040542124-1
I, Siddik Shaikh S/o Amanulla
Shaikh and Anowara Bibi R/o
Bangaljhi, Nadia, WB-741123,
have changed my name to
Siddik Biswas
0070708979-1
I, Puja Sharma W/o Arijit Das R/o
447, 3rd Floor Rishi Nagar,Rani
Bagh, Saraswati Vihar, North
West Delhi-110034 Have
Changed my Name to Pooja
Das. 0070708985-1
I, Pravin Kumar Agarwal S/O Om
Prakash Agarwal R/O 179-180,
SF, E-16, Rohini Sector-8, Delhi,
Changed Name to Praveen
Agarwal. 0040542321-3
I, Nirmail Kaur W/o Swaran
Singh R/o 415 LIG Flats-DDA
Pocket-13, Dwarka Delhi-
110045, changed my name to
Nirmal Kaur. 0040542321-4
I, Meena w/o-Pushpankar Deo
R/o-B-1044, DDA-MIG-Flats,
East-of-Loni-Road, Delhi-
110093,I Want To Declare That
Meena And Meena Rani Both
Are the same Person.
0040542321-8
I, Mariyam Jamil D/o-Jamil
Ahmad R/o-B-39/A,First-
Floor,Mustaqeen Manzil,
Shaheen Bagh,Jamia
Nagar,Okhala,New Delhi-
110025,have changed my name
to Mariyam Jameel for
all,future purpose.
0040542321-2
I, Lakhan Singh S/o Badan Singh
Pathak R/o Vamanpura, Agra,
UP-283122, have changed my
name to Laxman Singh
0070708981-1
I, LALJIT S/O RAM BILAS
RESIDENT-330/27,VIR-BHAGAT
SINGH COLONY,ROHTAK ROAD,
SONIPAT,HARYANA.HAVE
CHANGED MY NAME TO LALIT
SINGH. 0040542321-10
I, Kathleen Minica baluja w/o
Surinder Baluja R/o-12/17, Arya
Samaj-Road, KarolBagh, Delhi-
110005, Have Changed my
Name To Monica Baluja
Permanently.
0040542345-2
I Jujhar Singh S/o Pritam Singh
R/o-A-40 WZ-222 Hari Nagar
Clock Tower, New Delhi.have
changed my name to Jojar
Singh. 0040542345-1
I, HARISH S/O KEDAR NATH
RESIDENT-252, SECTOR-15,
SONIPAT, HARYANA. HAVE
CHANGED MY NAME TO HARISH
KUMAR,FOR ALL PURPOSES.
0040542321-9
I, Divya Arora wife of Shri
Naveen Sardana Resident of
House No. A-1/333, Second
Floor, Janak Puri, New Delhi-
110058 have changed my name
from Divya Arora to Divya
Sardana for all intents &
Purposes. Inform that Divya
Arora & Divya Sardana both are
one & same Person Name
0040542300-1
I Amar singh madaan S/o Dhana
ram R/o flat.no-91 dhudial
apartment pitampura ND-
34.have changed my name to
Amar singh.
0040542321-6
LOST & FOUND
Lost original General Power of
Attorney against my House
No.138B, CD-Block, Pitampura,
Delhi-34 finder may Contact to
Lata Lalwani at above noted
address. 0040542306-1
Lost of Original Sale Deed duly
Regd,as document No.3670,in
Book No.I,Volume No.9077 on
Page 30 to 37 08/05/2020 in the
office of Sub-Rgistrar,Delhi on
14.05.2020 in Respect of
Flat.No.D-6, Idpl Appartments,
Road.No.44, Pitampura ,Delhi-
110034 exeuted by Smt. Preeti
Chaudhary W/o Shri Raman
Chaudhary in Favour of
Smt.Suman Goel W/o Shri
Dinesh Goel.9911455421,
8368744748(Gulshan Kumar).
0040542321-11
Lost Original Papers ViZ Share
Certificate of Arvind CGHS Ltd,
Membership No.258 Flate.No-
B-101, in the Name of
Mrs.Shwata Lal and Mr.Puneet
Sharma S/o Shiam Sunder
Situated at Plote No.9 Sector-
19B, Dwarka, Phase-ll New
Delhi-110075, alongwith
Photocopy of Property
papers.Voter-ID Card and
Electricity Bill Etc. FlR lodged
Vide LR.No-419025/2020 Dated-
16/7/2020, Fonnder inform at:-
9899974230 0040542311-1
Lost My Original
Marksheet/Certificate Of 10th
Roll.No.6332025, Year-2003,
from CBSE-Delhi., Finder May
Contact:-Ruchi Sharma, C-148,
Pandav Nagar East, Delhi-92
0040542324-2
LOST MY ORIGINAL-SALEDEED
2PAGE DATED-28-02-2000
PAGE.No.5,6 FOUNDER MAY
INFORM RAJ KISHOR
VERMA,S/o VIJAY PAL
SINGH,H.No.751-D,
GALI.No.13,BHOLANATH-
NAGAR,SHAHDARA,DELHI-
110032. 0040542282-1
Lost My Original Certificate Of
10th Roll.No.6360797, Year-
2010, from CBSE Delhi., Finder
May Contact Priya: 9873475710
0040542324-1
This is for information of public
that my property document
Permission to Mortgage and Tri
Party Agreement of M2-07GF
lost. If found inform to Sumer
Singh Mob. 9650577474.
0040542298-1
I, Suresh Sahni S/o Kuldeep Raj
Sahni R/o. WZ-3B, 2nd/Floor,
Gali.No.8, Guru Nanak Nagar,
Tilak Nagar, New Delhi-110018,
have lost Original Registered
General Power,of Attorney
Paper (Dt.13/12/2006), of
House.No.WZ-3B, 2nd/Floor,
Gali.No.8, Guru Nanak Nagar,
Tilak Nagar, New Delhi-110018
somewhere in Guru Nanak
Nagar, Tilak Nagar. Finder may
Please Contact:-9278503506
0040542343-1
PUBLIC NOTICE
My client SUMER SINGH S/o Sh. Shiv
Singh & SMT. BIRHMA DEVI W/o Sh.
Sumer Singh both R/o H-17/25, Sec-7,
Rohini, Delhi have severe their her
relations & debar their son Abhishek
Tewatia and his wife Natasha Tewatia
from all their movable & immovable
properties due to their misconduct.
Anybody dealing with them will do so
at his/her risk. My client will not be
responsible for their act and deeds.
And as the same has been debarred
& disown with our free will and with-
out any kind of pressure as they are
not according to our temperament
and was not obeying to us.
SUBHASH CHANDER (Advocate)
Ch. no. 598, Western wing, Tishazari, Delhi
PUBLIC NOTICE
THE GENERAL PUBLIC IS HEREBY INFORMED
THAT MY CLIENTS SMT. POONAM W/O MURLI
DHAR AND MURLI DHAR S/O SAI DITTA MAL
BOTH R/O 795, G.F. RISHI NAGAR, DELHI-34,
HAD DISOWNED THEIR SON AMIT CHHOKRA
AND HIS WIFE NISHA INCLUDING THEIR CHILD
IN FUTURE FROM ALL ASSETS & LIABILITIES
FROM NOW ONWARD/ PROPERTY PURCHASE
IN FUTURE DUE TO BOTH ARE OUT OF MY
CONTROL. INCASE ANY PERSON DEALS WITH
THEM. WHICH WILL BE AT THEIR OWN RISKS
AND MY CLIENTS SHALL NOT BE
RESPONSIBLE OF ANY CLAIMS AGAINST AMIT
CHHOKRA AND HIS WIFE NISA WITH
IMMIDIATE EFFECT IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
Sd/-
JAGDISH CHACHRA @ ARORA
(ADVOCATE)
DELHI HIGH COURT
Enl. No. 2290/14,
Res/Off. 11, Second Floor, Anand Vihar
Pitam Pura Delhi-110034
PUBLIC NOTICE
It is for general information that I
ZEENIA G GHURRA D/o
GURDIP SINGH GHURA R/o 8,
Tolstoy Marg, Connaught Place
New Delhi-110001, declare that
the name of mine has been
wrongly written as ZENIA
GHURA in my Aadhaar Card No.
308372892774, Pan Card No.
ATYPG2712N And Passport No.
Z5321721. The Actual name of
mine is ZEENIA G GHURRA
respectively which may be
amended accordingly.
PUBLIC NOTICE
It is Hereby Informed to the General
Public at Large that My Client Shyam
Lal Son of Sh. Babu Lal R/o H.No.B-
192, Pandav Nagar, New Delhi-110008
has severed all his relation with his Son
Namely Praveen And Disowned &
debarred from all the moveable and
immoveable properties, so henceforth
my client do not have any kind of
Relationship with his Son, immediate
effect as he is beyond control from my
client, so my client shall not be held
Responsible For Any Kind Of Act,
omission and commission of offences
committed by him, if anybody deals
with him. He/She shall do so at his/her
own risks. Costs and consequences.
M.K. Chaudhary Advocate
Bar Liberary No.1 Supreme Court
Of India New Delhi-110001
PUBLIC NOTICE
General public at large is hereby informed
that my clients namely Sh. Sanjay Jain and
Smt. Monica Jain W/o Sh. Sanjay Jain R/o
BM-31, East Shalimar Bagh, Delhi have
debarred and disown their son Ashish Jain
and his wife Smt. Priyanka Jain from all their
movable and immovable properties and their
business due to their disrespectful behaviour
and involved unlawful activities towards my
clients, have also severed all kind of relations
with them among public at large. They have
already left the house of my clients with their
belongings. If anybody deal with them he or
she/they shall do to act on their risk, cost and
consequences. My clients shall not be
responsible for the same any act omission
and commission committed by them in any
manner whatsoever in future.
Sd/-
Deepak K. Tyagi
Advocate
Chamber No. 455, 2nd Floor,
Western Wings
Tis Hazari Court, Delhi-110054
Mob. No. 9810283029
1. The Executive Engineer HPPWD Dharamshala Division, on behalf of Governor of H.P invites the item rate bids, in electronic
tendering system, for following works from the eligible and approved contractors registered with HPPWD:
Sr.
No.
1 Construction of road from BSNL Telecom Complex 1,07,11,032/- 1,40,000/- Twelve
2 Improvement of Camel Track road KM 0/000 to 2/600 in 2,32,00,860/- 2,64,510/- Twelve
The bidders are advised to note other details of tenders from the departmental website https://hptenders.gov.in. The Executive
Engineer reserves the right to reject any tender or all tenders without assigning any reasons.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
PUBLIC NOTICE
It is to be notified that my client Shri Parvesh
Arora s/o late Shri Sant Ram Arora and
Smt. Jyoti Arora w/o Shri Parvesh Arora,
both R/o 415, First Floor, Sainik Vihar,
Pitampura, Delhi have disinherited,
disowned & debarred their son Sh. Saurabh
Arora, their daughter-in-law Smt. Bhawika
IbYMZXVf³f ³fûdMXÀf
W dS ¹ff¯ff S fª¹f ´fdS ½fW ³f ´ff³fe´f°f ¸fZ Ô ½ffW ³fûÔ I e ¸fb S ¸¸f°f IZ d»fE
WfOʽfZ ¹ fS/´f` M e AfBÊ M ¸Àf/ d¸fÀf»fZ d ³f¹fÀf AfBÊ M ¸f I e A¦f»fZ EI ½f¿fÊ IZ d»fE
JSeQ I e ªff³fe W`Ü B¨LbI Àf´»ff¹fS dQ³ffa I 25.08.2020 °fI A´f³fe
Sachdeva from inheriting their movable and
immovable properties due to their constant
disobedient attitude and mis-behaviour as
Àfe»f¶fa Q Ib MZVf³f “¸fW f´fi ¶ fa ² fI W dS ¹ff¯ff S fª¹f ´fdS ½fW ³f, ´ff³fe´f°f” IZ ³ff¸f
my clients have no control over them.
Henceforth my aforesaid clients have
·fZ ª f ÀfI °fZ W` Ô Ü dªfÀfIZ D ´fS ÀM ûS AfBÊ M ¸f Ib MZ Vf³f d»fJf Wû³ff Ad³f½ff¹fÊ W`Ü
severed their all relations with them and will
not be responsible for the acts and
ÀMûS AfBÊ M ¸f I e d»fÀM ½f A³¹f Vf°fûË IZ d»fE ¸fWf´fi ¶ fa ² fI I f¹ffÊ » f¹f ¸fZ Ô Àfa ´ fIÊ
omissions of the above named persons with I S ÀfI °fZ W` Ô Ü Ib MZVf³f ÀfZ Àfa ¶ fa d ²f°f Àf·fe QÀ°ff½fZ ª f dI Àfe ·fe I f¹fÊ d Q½fÀf ¸fZ Ô
anybody in respect of anything whatsoever.
(BHUPINDER MEHTANI) ADVOCATE
245, Western Wing, Tis Hazari Courts,
AfI S 200/- ÷ ´fE ªf¸ff I S½ff³fZ C´fSfa ° f ¸fWf´fi ¶ fa ² fI I f¹ffÊ » f¹f WdS¹ff¯ff
Delhi-110054. Sfª¹f ´fdS½fW³f, ´ff³fe´f°f ÀfZ ´fi f ´°f I S ÀfI °fZ W` Ô Ü W À°ff./-
¸fW f´fi ¶fa ²fI ,
PUBLIC NOTICE 81841/HRY W dS ¹ff¯ff S fª¹f ´fdS½fW ³f, ´ff³fe´f°fÜ
It is to be notified that my client Shri Rajpal
Sachdeva s/o late Shri Bansi Lal Sachdeva
and Smt. Ritu Sachdeva W/o Sh. Rajpal
OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER TRANS. LINE
Sachdeva, both R/o A-132, Preet Vihar,
Delhi have disinherited, disowned &
debarred their son Sh. Ish Sachdeva, their MAINTT. DIV. IV, JKPTCL, AMBEDKAR CHOWK, JAMMU J&K
daughter-in-law Smt. Hitansha Sachdeva
from inheriting their movable and
E-mail: extlcd2@gmail.com , Ph./Fax: 0191-2453427
immovable properties due to their constant SUBJECT: E-NIT No:TLMD-IV/J/02 of 2020-21 Dated: 24.06.2020
disobedient attitude and mis-behaviour as
my clients have no control over them. CORRIGENDUM
Henceforth my aforesaid clients have
The rate for carriage of T&P/Equipment/Allied Material from
severed their all relations with them and will
not be responsible for the acts and Divisional Store to site of work and back carriage of the damaged
omissions of the above named persons with
equipment shall be paid as per the amount quoted in Sr. No. 41 by
anybody in respect of anything whatsoever.
(BHUPINDER MEHTANI) ADVOCATE the bidder. So the bidders are requested to quote the item rates of Sr.
245, Western Wing, Tis Hazari Courts,
Delhi-110054.
No. 5.12, 5.16, 6.12, 8.10 and 10.00 (items which include carriage of
T&P/Equipment/allied material from Divisional Store to site of work
and back carriage of the damaged equipment) without including the
rates of Mechanical Transport carriage.
Sd/-
PUBLIC NOTICE Executive Engineer,
It is to the public at large that my client No.:TLMD-IV/J/950-53
Virander Singh S/o Lt. Sh. Munshi Ram Dated: 06-07-2020 Trans Line Maintt. Division-IV,
Presently Residing at 16/A Railway Colony DIPJ-951 JKPTCL Jammu
Tughlakabad New Delhi-110044 and
Permanent Resident of Village Gulawad
Tehsil Hodal Distt. Palwal, Haryana hereby
declaring/debarring their Son Kapil and his
wife Smt. Krishna from their life , property
and state, rnovable or immovable and
severed all their relation with them
because they are not under the control of
my clients.
Sd/-
SHIV SHANKAR GAUR
Advocate
Office at:- Plot no. 2, Office No.1,
Keshri Market, M.B. Road,
New Delhi-110044
NOTICE
Himachal Pradesh Road and Other Infrastructure
Development Corporation Limited State Road Project
Nirman Bhawan Nigam Vihar Shimla -171002
F AX: 0177-2620663: Tel: 0177-2620663/2627602
Email ID: pdsrp-hp@nic.in
Assignment Title: Engagement of Company Secretary in HPRIDC
on monthly retainershipfee basis
Himachal Pradesh Road and Other Infrastructure
DevelopmentCorpn. Ltd (the Corporation) intends to engage a
Company Secretary in practice who is member of the institute of
Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), for conducting the secretarial
work of the Corporation and to advise the corporation on Company
Law matters, Corporate Affairs, Good Corporate Governance
Practices, Compliances & procedural aspects etc.
The detailed Request for Expression of Interest (REoI) –cum
–Request for Proposal for the proposed assignment along with scope
of work shall be made available on the HPRIDC website at following
link w.e.f. July 21,2020
http://himachalservices.nic.in/hpridc/
All future corrigendum’s /addendums etc. will also be made
available on the HPRIDC website on the above link. Proposal must
be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by
post) August 06, 2020 at 1500 hours (IST).
Chief Engineer-cum-Project Director
State Roads Project, HPRIDC,
NirmanBhawan, Nigam Vihar,Shimla -171002(H.P)
Tel: - 0177-2620663, 2627602
Fax:- 0177-2620663
252/H.P.
Email: - pdsrp-hp@nic.in
HIMACHAL PRADESH
PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT
e-PROCUREMENT NOTICE
INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)
Name of Work Estimated Earnest Time Start Date for Deadline
Cost in Rs. Money Limit Downloading Submission
Bid of Bid
05.08.2020 18.08.2020
(near Circuit House) to Link with GCDM road near C.E. Months
(KZ) PWD residence km 0/000 to 0/915 (Sanjay Marg
Ward No. 6) in Distt. Kangra (H.P.) (SH: Providing and
Laying Cement concrete Pavement, Retaining wall,
Edge wall, Service Duct, Culverts, Footpath, railing,
Benches and Metal beam Crash Barrier)
05.08.2020 18.08.2020
Tehsil Dharamshala Distt. Kangra (H.P.) (SH: C/o Months
Retaining wall, Breast wall, cross drainage at various
RDs, side drain, parapets and providing and laying
WBM Grading-I and Cobble stone pavement)
Executive Engineer,
Dharamshala Division, HP.PWD., Dharamshala.
1674/HP HIM SUCHANA AVAM JAN SAMPARK. On behalf of Governor of Himachal Pradesh.
GOVERNMENT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR
OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER,
MECHANICAL IRRIGATION DIVISION SRINAGAR,
NEAR J&K BANK(ZALDAGAR
Telefax No. 0194-2503195 e.mail Id: xenmidsrinagar@gmail.com
Sub: “Design, Manufacture, Supply, Installation,
Testing & Commissioning of 01 No. 20 Cusec
Capacity Vertical turbine Pumping units with 8
meters dynamic head coupled with suitable rat-
ing vertical squirrel cage induction motor for
De-watering Station Chonchifaquir”.
Ref:1. This office extension notice 2 issued vide No.
MIDS/Ts/ 1292-96, Dated:- 15.07.2020.
2. This office extension notice 1 issued vide No.
MIDS/TS/ 984-87, Dated:- 01.07.2020
3. This office e- NIT No. 25 OF 2020-21 Dated:
10.06.2020.
CORRIGENDUM
Please read Bowel efficiency at Duty Point of Pump
not less than 80% instead of 88% at S.No. 6 under
Pump Specifications of Annexure “A” (Technical
Specifications) to this office above referred e-NIT for
the subject work.
Rest of the terms and conditions shall remain unal-
tered as laid down in the original N.I.T.
No. MIDS/Ts/ 1335-39 Sd/- Executive Engineer,
Dated:- 16.07.2020 Mechanical Irrigation Division,
DIPK-3167
Srinagar.
New Delhi

15 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
SECTOR WATCH
E-COMMERCE
With $2 billion in
exports, MSMEs get
international reach
via Amazon’s GSP
PRANAVMUKUL
NEWDELHI,JULY20
FROM A Mumbai-based tex-
tilecompanythathasbecome
one of the most popular bra-
nds in the bed-linen category
on Amazon’s US marketplace
to a Bengaluru-based elec-
tronicstoymanufacturerthat
expandeditspresencebeyond
India and the US to the UK,
Canada,AustraliaandtheUAE
—severalMSMEshavegrown
as a part of Amazon’s Global
sellingProgramme(GSP).The
onlineretailer’sGSP,whichhas
clocked$2billioninsalesfrom
India since its launch in 2015,
saw the highest exports last
year from cities like Delhi,
Jaipur,Mumbai,Surat,Benga-
luru and Indore. This January,
AmazonhadaimedforitsGSP
— which comprises 60,000
Indian exporters — to reach
$10billioninexportsbyIndian
sellers by 2025.
Mumbai-basedNMKTex-
tiles,whichwasestablishedin
2006, manufactured and ex-
portedhigh-endbedlinensto
largedepartmentstoresinthe
US and Canada. However, af-
ter 2016,the company saw its
offlineexportsbusinessslow-
ingdown,pushingittorework
itssupplychainandlaunching
itsnewbrandonAmazonGSP
in2017.Inthepastthreeyears,
NMKTextiles’brandCalifornia
Design Den has seen an over
100 per cent y-o-y growth in
Amazon’s US marketplace,
which paved the way for its
expansionintootherAmazon
marketplaces. By 2022, the
brand aims to post $100 mil-
lioninsalesonAmazon’sGSP.
“We will continue to em-
powerIndianmicro,smalland
mediumenterprises(MSMEs)
atAmazon.Wearecommitted
to digitise 10 million MSMEs,
create 1 million incremental
jobsanddrive$10billionine-
commerce exports by 2025,”
Amit Agarwal, senior vice-
president & country head,
AmazonIndia,saidatthelaun-
chofthethirdeditionofAma-
zonGlobalExportsDigest.The
gross merchandise sales on
theGSPfromIndiagrewby47
per cent year-on-year (y-o-y)
in 2019, with Amazon’s flag-
ship Prime Day sales posting
72percenton-yeargrowthfor
exporters from the country.
According to the Amazon
Global Exports Digest 2020,
releasedMonday,solidsheets,
kitchenlinen,toys,towels,ap-
parel, spices and leather bags
wereamongthetopexported
items from the Western part
of India on the GSP, with the
BRIEFLY
PMmessage
toIBMCEO
New Delhi: This is a great
time to invest in India and
thecountryiswelcomingin-
vestmentsinthetechsector,
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi told IBM CEO Arvind
Krishna on Monday.
Mylanlaunches
genericremdesivir
New Delhi: Mylan Monday
said it has commercially
launched generic version of
Remdesivir drug under the
brand name ‘Desrem’ in
Indiafortreatmentofcoron-
avirus patients. PTI
Chevrontobuy
Noblefor$5bn
Houston:ChevronCorpsaid
Mondayitwouldbuyoiland
gas producer Noble Energy
Inc for about $5 billion in
stock, the first big energy
deal since the COVID crisis
crushedglobalfueldemand
andsentcrudepricestohis-
toriclows.IncludingNoble's
debt pile, the deal is worth
nearly$13billion. REUTERS
SENSEX: 37,418.99 ▲ 398.85 NIFTY: 11,022.20 ▲ 120.50 NIKKEI: 22,717.48 ▲ 21.06 HANG SENG: 25,057.99 ▼ 31.18 FTSE: 6,260.95 ▼ 29.35 DAX: 12,984.56 ▲ 64.95
Amazon aims for its
Global Selling
Programme to reach
$10 billion in
exports by Indian
sellers by 2025
highestcontributorsfromthe
region being Jaipur, Mumbai,
Surat, Ahmedabad, Udaipur
andPune.JodhpurandKotain
Rajasthan, and Bharuch in
Gujarat featured among the
topemergingcitiesfromwhe-
re goods are being exported.
Similarly, Bengaluru-
basedPlayShifu,whichstarted
as an indigenous augmented
reality-based recreational so-
lution for Indian children, ex-
pandedtofiveothercountries
clocking eight times y-o-y
growth on Amazon’s global
selling platform in the first
three years of the company’s
operations since 2016.
PlayShifu was an outlier in
India’s southern region, from
wherethekeycategoriestobe
exported include jewellery,
leatherjournals,kanthaquilts,
tapestry,homedécorproducts
and herbal extracts.
Another Mumbai-based
MSMEAromatanCosmetics—
which sells incense and fra-
grances on Amazon — saw
rapidgrowthontheGSP,with
thecompanybeingabletoex-
pandfromitstraditionalmar-
kets. “We have been making
bakhoor, the most authentic
and the purest form of in-
cense,for107years.Ourprod-
uctrangeisconsumedbypeo-
pleallovertheworld.Wehave
beentraditionallyexportingto
theMiddleEastandAfrica.But
Amazonhasgivenusatreme-
ndousopportunitytodirectly
servecustomersintheUSand
Europe. We have rapidly gro-
wn from daily earnings of
$200to$2,500.Weareexcited
to see this growth within a
year and are committed to
making this a $2 million sales
platform in next two years,”
said Taha Nabee, vice-presi-
dent, Aromatan Cosmetics.
Listing the priority areas
whereAmazonIndiaiswork-
ing on to increase exports of
India-made goods on its plat-
form, Agarwal said that the
company’s“workwithvarious
stategovernmentsandindus-
try bodies on creating more
awarenessaboute-commerce
exports on ground, end-to-
end digitisation of processes
forMSMEstogetstartedoffas
exporters, and building effec-
tiveyetlowcostlogisticssolu-
tions is progressing well”.
CUMULATIVE DEBT TO BE RESOLVED IS `57K CR, FROM IL&FS GROUP’S TOTAL DEBT OF ` 99K CR
‘`50,500K cr of IL&FS debt likely to be resolved by FY21-end’
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,JULY20
THE NEW board of IL&FS, led by
Uday Kotak, on Monday said it is
likely to resolve debt worth Rs
50,500crorebytheendofthecur-
rent fiscal. It has also revised the
estimate for the overall debt res-
olutionto57percentandtermed
it“significantlyhigherthantheav-
eragerealisationforfinancialcred-
itors under the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code (IBC) process”.
Thecompanysaidthecumulative
debt to be resolved is Rs 57,000
crore, from IL&FS Group’s total
Won’t hear arguments for re-assessment: SC
after reserving order on window for AGR dues
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,JULY20
THE SUPREME Court on Monday
reserved its verdict on the plea to
allowtelecomcompanies(telcos)
a 20-year window for paying ad-
justed gross revenue (AGR) dues
totalling an approximate Rs 1.5
lakh crore, and made it clear that
it was not going to reopen the is-
sue of calculation of the dues.
“Everybody is disputing the
dues. Tell us only the instalment
OFFICIALS: ATTACKS HAVE RISEN MULTIFOLD SINCE BORDER CLASH WITH CHINESE TROOPS
RiskofChinacyberattacks,DoTseekssecurityaudit
AASHISH ARYAN
NEW DELHI, JULY 20
FOLLOWINGREPORTSof aspike
in coordinated cyber attacks by
Chinesehackers,theDepartment
of Telecommunications (DoT)
haswrittentoallwebportalsand
websiteswithinitsambittocon-
duct a security audit and submit
a compliance certificate as soon
as possible.
Government officials said
suchattackshaveincreasedmul-
tifoldsincetheborderclashwith
Chinese troops on June 15 and
the ban on 59 apps linked to
China.
“Most of these attacks are in
the nature of DDOS (distributed
‘Centre can fund deficit at lower
rates through direct monetisation’
SUNNYVERMA
NEWDELHI,JULY20
AMIDAspikeinthecountry’sdebt
levels and falling revenues, an SBI
report has recommended direct
monetisationasaplausiblewayof
fundingtheCentre’sdeficitatlower
rates without increasing inflation
andaffectingdebtsustainability.
Under monetisation, the gov-
ernment can raise funds directly
from the RBI via issuance of
“COVID perpetual bonds” or such
instruments. The report by SBI’s
economicsdepartmentnotedthat
India’s debttoGDP ratiohas risen
substantially over the years, and
contraction in growth this year
could raise questions over debt
sustainability. TheGDPcollapseis
pushing up the debt to GDP ratio
byatleast4percent,implyingthat
“growthratherthancontinuedfis-
cal conservatism is the only
CBDT chief on faceless assessment: Will
help remove discretion of tax officers
AANCHALMAGAZINE
NEWDELHI,JULY20
WITH THE tax department dis-
posingof about14percentof the
58,000 cases selected in the first
phase which was launched last
October, Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT) Chairman Pramod
Chandra Mody said faceless as-
sessment would help in remov-
ingthediscretionofindividualtax
officers along with bringing in a
time-boundprocessforresolving
any mismatches in assessments.
The Income Tax (I-T) depart-
ment will also consider adding
more items of information for a
taxpayerasitmovestowardspro-
viding more auto-filled details of
financial transactions in the in-
come tax returns, a step forward
fromthelatestrevisedForm26AS
whereallhigh-valuetransactions
aregoingtobereflectedtothetax-
payerintheform.Thiswouldhelp
IL&FS Group non-executive
chairman Uday Kotak. File
debt of around Rs 99,000 crore.
“TheCOVID-19-ledlockdown
has impacted our ability to con-
clude timelines. It has impacted
the sale of real estate assets and
therecouldbeanimpactonvalu-
ations,”saidUdayKotak,non-ex-
ecutivechairmanofIL&FSGroup,
part and the time (for paying the
dues)...Whatishappeninginthis
country! We will not permit this
tohappen...Wehavedecidedthe
definition of AGR and based on
that, demands have been raised
by the DoT (Department of
Telecommunications)andweare
not going to reopen this”, Justice
Arun Mishra, heading a three-
judgeBench,remarked,asacoun-
sel for one of the telcos sought to
dispute the figures.
The Bench, also comprising
Justices S Abdul Nazeer and M R
E
E X P L A I NE D
●
Target is
govtinfo
GOVERNMENT WEB-
SITES and web portals
have been targeted ear-
lier with hackers mostly
looking to just deface and
disrupt. What is different
this time is that the at-
tacks appear to be well
planned, and aimed at
extracting information
and sensitive data.
denial of service), phishing, data
exfiltration, remote access tool
Undermonetisation,the
Centrecanraisefunds
directlyfromtheRBIvia
issuanceof “COVID
perpetualbonds”or
suchinstruments
mantra”togetbackontrack,itsaid.
The SBI report comes amid a
seriesof meetingsbeingtakenby
thePrimeMinister’sOfficepossi-
bly to prepare further measures
to boost growth and economic
activity.
“India’s debt to GDP ratio has
increased gradually from Rs 58.8
lakh crore (67.4% of GDP) in FY12
to Rs 146.9 lakh crore (72.2% of
GDP)inFY20. Higherlevelofbor-
rowing this fiscal are likely to in-
creasegrossdebtfurthertoaround
Rs 170 lakh crore or 87.6% of GDP.
“In the first phase, we put
58,000 cases under the
process; from that, 8,000
cases have been assessed
without any additions...”
PRAMOD CHANDRA MODY
CHAIRMAN, CBDT
in voluntary compliance and re-
sultinlessmismatchesandhence,
lessscrutinyfromthetaxdepart-
ment, Mody told The Indian
Express on Monday.
“Earlier the assessment was
linked to a territory to which an
assessee is linked. In a way, the
taxpayerwasboundbythat.Alot
of things would depend on the
discretion of an assessing officer.
Wehavecompletelyrevampedit.
Instead of territorial jurisdiction,
we have brought in dynamic ju-
risdiction.Thismeansthatthere-
turnisgettingfiledelectronically,
now whether the assessment is
happening at ‘X’ or ‘Y’, it doesn’t
addingthatthepandemichasalso
delayed the recoveries in IL&FS
Financial Services Ltd (IFIN).
The new board took over the
crisis-hitgroupin2019andhasso
far resolved 18 per cent of the
group’stotaldebt.“Rs17,640crore
of debthasbeenaddressedsofar,
including Rs 16,084 crore fund
based and Rs 1,556 crore non-
fund based debt,” said CS Rajan,
MD, IL&FS. He said the company
islookingtowindup61domestic
entitieswithadebtofRs278crore
and9offshoreentitieswithadebt
of Rs310crore.Further,atleast11
projects,largelyroadassets,have
beenidentifiedforterminationin-
Shah, did not mince words and
said,“Wewillnotheararguments
forre-assessment(ofAGRrelated
dues) even for a second”.
The Bench also did not seem
tobeinfavourofallowingsuchan
extended time period for paying
the dues as it observed that the
20-yearperiod—assuggestedby
thegovernment—or15years-as
proposed by Vodafone Idea
Monday—forthepaymentisnot
reasonableandaskedthecompa-
niestocomeupwithanappropri-
ate timeline.
malware and keylogging (track-
ing every keystroke made by a
user),” an official said.
TheDoTletter,sentlateFriday
night,hasalsoaskedthewebpor-
talsandwebsitestoupgradetheir
online security and the systems
used by officials in the ministry.
“A pattern we have seen is
most of these attacks and mal-
ware have CnC (Command and
Control) servers in China.
Right after the (border)
clashes, we observed up to
10,000 attack attempts per day.
It has come down a bit but we
have to be alert,” another official
said.
A report on possible cyber-
attacks and the security aspects
of sensitive government web-
Within this, external debt is esti-
mated to increase to Rs 6.8 lakh
crore (3.5% of GDP),” SBI Group
chief economic adviser Soumya
KantiGhoshwroteinthereport.
The Finance Ministry has, so
far,nottakenanyviewonmoneti-
sation of the deficit, though it has
said it is open to consider all op-
tions.TheFiscalResponsibilityand
Budget Management (FRBM) Act
“clearlymentionsthatdirectmon-
etisation of deficit can be used by
the government in certain excep-
tionalcircumstances.Thecurrent
COVIDpandemicisonesuch,”SBI
said. Monetisation simply means
thattheRBIdirectlyfundsthecen-
tralgovernment’sdeficit.
The report argued bringing
growthbackismoreimportantto
debt sustainability, compared to
fearsofratingdowngradesresult-
ingjustfromhigherdeficitlevels.
Full report on
www.indianexpress.com
matter,” he said.
Modysaidthoughtheprocess
startedinOctober,ithasbeenop-
erationalised now. “We are now
gettingtheresults.Wehavedone
about 8,000 assessments and so
far the experience is that it has
workedwell.Inthefirstphase,we
put 58,000 cases under the proc-
ess; from that, 8,000 cases have
been assessed without any addi-
tions (to tax demand). Among
these taxpayers, nobody was re-
quiredtoreporttoanI-Tofficebe-
cause he doesn’t know here the
process is happening,” he added.
About300caseshaverequired
review in the tax demand, Mody
said, adding that the process will
happen without the taxpayer re-
quired to go to tax offices. Mody
also said that ultimately the tax
administrationwillmovetoadig-
italplatform,withassessmentsto
appeals to be conducted online.
Full report on
www.indianexpress.com
volving debt of Rs 6,035 crore.
Earlier, in March, the IL&FS
board received nod from the
NationalCompanyLawAppellate
Tribunal for its resolution frame-
work for the IL&FS Group.
The board on Monday also
shared a quarterly plan that esti-
matesaddressingadditionaldebt
ofRs8,800crorebySeptember,Rs
18,000 crore by December and
over Rs 6,000 crore by the end of
2020-21. IL&FS said it is currently
pursuing the debt restructuring
processofthreegroupcompanies
with debt of Rs 9,382 crore and
real estatemonetisation for eight
entitieswithadebtofRs473crore.
Naik: Opportune
moment to
minimise external
dependencies
New Delhi: L&T Group Chairman
A M Naik has said this is the op-
portunemomenttominimiseex-
ternaldependenciesastheworld
is seeing groundswell of opinion
against China and seeking viable
alternative supply sources.
In the annual report released
onMonday,heurgedthegovern-
menttointroducemuch-needed
reformsinlandacquisition,com-
petency & skill building. PTI
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
GOLD RUPEE OIL SILVER
`49,916 `74.91 $43.25 `53,948
Note: Gold, silver rates at spot market in Delhi; gold per 10g, silver per 1 kg; Brent crude as of 2300 IST
International market data till 1900 IST
IndiGo to
lay off 10%
sites and portals has also been such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio
staff: CEO
submitted to the Indian and Sun Pharmaceutical.
Computer Emergency Response
Team (Cert-In), the official said.
The DoT has also written to
Last October, a similar letter
sent by the DoT to all web por-
tals and websites yielded no re-
all other ministries and depart-
ments requesting them to mi-
sults. In that letter, dated
October 7, the DoT had said that
grate their websites and web- a security audit was necessary
portals to the gov.in domain by for the “robustness of informa- IndiGoCEORonojoyDutta. File
August 31, if they had not done tion systems and associated net-
so already. works”.
Earlier last month, The letter was sent after the
Singapore-based cybersecurity DoT was alerted that “data exfil- ENSECONOMICBUREAU
firm Cyfirma Research had tration” was taking place from NEWDELHI,JULY20
warned that Chinese hackers one of the web portals of the
had increased their attacks on ministry that did not have a INDIGOWILLlayoff10percentof
top Indian government estab- valid cyber-security audit. Data its around 27,000 employees on
lishments and were trying to exfiltration occurs when a mal- accountoftheeconomiccrisistrig-
collect data from websites and ware or a virus gains unautho- geredbytheCOVID-19pandemic,
web portals of the Defence rised access to any computer the airline’s CEO Ronojoy Dutta
Ministry, and private companies connected to a network. said on Monday. “We did have to
undertakeanumberof measures
suchaspaycuts,leavewithoutpay
Jio pushes for standard int’l roaming
rates; Bharti Airtel, Voda Idea oppose
andvariousothercosts,butunfor-
tunately, these cost savings are
clearlynotenoughtooffsetthede-
NewDelhi:RelianceJioInfocomm
has opposed Bharti Airtel and
Bharti Airtel and Vodafone
Idea, on the other hand, have op-
cline in revenues,” Dutta said in a
statement. IndiGo is India’s only
cash-positiveairline.
Vodafone Idea on the issue of ra- posedthemoveandsaidanysuch “Andfromwherethingsstand
tionalisation of tariff structures in movecouldbedetrimentaltocus- currently, it is impossible for our
international mobile roaming by tomer experience. In May, Trai company to fly through this eco-
pushingforstandardisedrates. floatedaconsultationpaperonin- nomic storm without making
Thetelcohasinitsrecommen- ternationalmobile roaming serv- somesacrifices,inordertosustain
dations on international mobile ice,inwhichitwantedtoknowthe our business operations.
roamingratessaidtheTraicanand telcos’ views on price regulations Therefore,aftercarefullyassessing
must intervene in removing the fortheserviceandthevastgapbe- andreviewingallpossiblescenar-
“disparitybetweenpackandnon- tweencallrateswithoutanypacks ios, it is clear that we will need to
pack”internationalmobileroam- and in those with some bundling bid a painful adieu to 10 per cent
ingtariffs. of services. ENS of ourworkforce,”headded.
TRIBAL DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATIVE
CORPORATION OF ORISSA LTD (TDCCOL)
Tel. 0674-2542475/ 2542617 Fax- 2544828
Email admin@tdccorissa.org.
CAD-282
E-Auction Notification No: 1363
website: www.tdccorissa.org
E-Auction Notice for Sale of Tamarind (with Seeds), Harida (with Seeds), Hill Brooms (Loose), Sal
Date: 17.07.2020
Seeds, Mahua Seeds & Chironjee Pods with Seeds-2020 Crop procured under MSP Scheme
through forward auction platform of NCDEX e-markets limited (NeML)
1. Tender published on website 18th July 2020
2. Name of Client TRIBAL DEVELPMENT COOPERATIVE CORPORATION OF ODISHA
LTD.
3. Address and Concerned Customer Service Group- NCDEX emarkets limited, 1st floor, 101 & 101T,
person for correspondence Akruti corporate park, near GE Garden L.B.S. Marg, Kanjurmarg (west)
Mumbai-400078 Tel-022-48810555 or 7575002165
Email- askus@neml.in
4. Registration Fees Rs. 5,000/- (Five Thousand) only (Non-refundable) + 18% GST
5. EMD Rs. 1.00 Lakh for each Sal Seed & Seeded Tamarind, Rs. 5000.00 for
other MFPs as listed in Annexure in shape of Demand Draft favoring the
Managing Director, TDCCOL, Bhubaneswar from any nationalized bank
has to be submitted within three working days from the date of auction.
6. Security Deposit 10% of Value of BId
7. Last Date of registration 4th August 2020, 11.00 A.M
8. Date of Forward auction 4th August 2020, 3.00 PM
1. All eligible Individuals of partnership firm, Registered Company or Co-operative society or any legal entity should
mandatorily, register with NCDEX e-markets Limited for participation in Forward Action.
2. The schedule of e-auction to be conducted will be uploaded on www.tdccordisha.org & www.neml.in
3. Any changes/modification in the tender documents will be posted on website.
Sd/-
Managing Director
TDCCOL
OIPR-26005/11/0001/2021
TAMILNADUNo.417,
MEDICAL SERVICES CORPORATION LTD.
Pantheon Road, Egmore, Chennai-600 008.
Phone : 28191890 / 28190259; Fax: 044 –28190636 E-Mail: equipment.tnmsc@tn.gov.in
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVE BIDDING – TENDER EXTENSION NOTICE
1. The Tender due dates are extended as follows:
1) Tender No.PKG1/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/RAD/TNMSC/ENGG/2020, dt.04.02.2020 - Digital X-ray
Machine (4), Digital Radiography with Fluoroscopy (8), Mobile X-ray -100 mA (9), Computed Radiography
Machine (5) & C-Arm Machine (19)
2) Tender No.PKG2/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/MAM/TNMSC/ENGG/2020, dt.04.02.2020 - Digital
Mammography System (3)
3) Tender No.PKG3/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/USG/TNMSC/ENGG/2020, dt.04.02.2020 - Ultrasound
Machine (5), Ultrasonogram Colour Doppler with 3 probes (18) & Portable Ultrasound Machine (6)
4) Tender No.PKG4/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/END/TNMSC/ENGG/2020, dt.04.02.2020 - Upper
GI Endoscope Entire Set (13), Video Duodenoscope with ERCP accessories entire set (10),
Video Colonoscope Entire Set (12), Endoscopic table (20), Endoscopic Washer disinfector (13),
Video Bronchoscope (Flexible) (2) & Ultraslim Video Gastroscope (6)
5) Tender No.PKG5/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/RIG/TNMSC/ENGG/2020, dt.04.02.2020 - FESS Complete
Set with Microdebrider (11) & Laparascope (High Definition) (8)
6) Tender No.PKG6/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/OPE-I/TNMSC/ENGG/2020, dt.04.02.2020 - Multipara Monitor
(4), Multiparamonitor with IBP (4), Multiparamonitor with ETCO2 (18), Defibrillator (15), Anesthesia Work
Station with monitor (18), Anesthesia Workstation (20), Operation Theatre fracture Table (with ortho
attachment, C-arm compatible) (17) & Operation Theatre Table (with General Surgery attachment) (10)
7) Tender No.PKG7/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/OPE-II/TNMSC/ENGG/ 2020, dt.04.02.2020 - Operation
Theatre LED light (18)
8) Tender No.PKG8/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/HEM/TNMSC/ENGG/2020, dt.04.02.2020 - CRRT Complete
(Inclusive of bed, RO, consumables 30 kits) (16)
9) Tender No.PKG15/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/CAR-III/TNMSC/ENGG/ 2020, dt.04.02.2020 -
Echocardiogram with 3D TEE probe (7) & Echo Machine (4)
10) Tender No.PKG16/ICB/TNUHP/JICA/C2/CAR-IV/TNMSC/ENGG/ 2020, dt.04.02.2020 -
Electrophysiology and Ablation System (3), Intra Vascular Ultrasound (3), Optical Coherence tomography
(OCT) with FFR (5) &Rotablator (5)
Sl. No. Sale period Submission of Bids Opening of Bids
1
2
Upto 12.08.2020
Upto 13.08.2020
13.08.2020, 11.00 AM
14.08.2020, 12.00 PM
13.08.2020, 12.00 PM
14.08.2020, 01.00 PM
3 Upto 13.08.2020 14.08.2020, 03.00 PM 14.08.2020, 04.00 PM
4 Upto 17.08.2020 18.08.2020, 11.00 AM 18.08.2020, 12.00 PM
5 Upto 17.08.2020 18.08.2020, 12.00 PM 18.08.2020, 01.00 PM
6 Upto 18.08.2020 19.08.2020, 03.00 PM 19.08.2020, 04.00 PM
7 Upto 18.08.2020 19.08.2020, 11.00 AM 19.08.2020, 12.00 PM
8 Upto 19.08.2020 20.08.2020, 12.00 PM 20.08.2020, 01.00 PM
9 Upto 19.08.2020 20.08.2020, 03.00 PM 20.08.2020, 04.00 PM
10 Upto 19.08.2020 20.08.2020, 04.00 PM 20.08.2020, 05.00 PM
For details visit www.tenders.tn.gov.in and TNMSC website www.tnmsc.tn.gov.in.
DIPR/ 2699 /Tender/2020 General Manager (Equipment)
New Delhi
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

16 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
CHELSEA IN FA CUP FINAL
Chelsea beat Manchester United 3-1 on Sunday to
book their place in an all-London FA Cup final,
helped by two glaring errors from goalkeeper David
de Gea and an own goal by Harry Maguire.

1st innings centurion Stokes delivers as opener and bowls with vigour as England level series 1-1
SANDIP G
JULY 20
STUART BROAD’S searing spell with the new
ball and Ben Stokes’s all-round verve fash-
ioned a series-levelling 113-run victory for
England at Old Trafford. The defeat seemed
an inevitability after the visitors had capitu-
lated late on Sunday evening, squandering a
fabulousopportunitytosavetheTestand re-
tain the Wisden Trophy.
It was nip-backers that wreaked havoc
on West Indies. Barring the left-handed
opener John Campbell, the rest of the top
seven were consumed by the inward-bend-
ing deliveries. Broad, reinforcing that he is
stillamatch-influencer,showedthewayand
the rest followed. If the14-ball-three-wicket
burst with the old ball set the match up for
England, his five-ball-two-wicket spell with
the new ball ripped West Indies.
No one quite bowls those as frequently
or masterfully as Broad in contemporary
cricket.His highlightreels mostlyfeaturethe
nip-backers, creaking through tiny spaces
between the bat and body and knocking the
upperhalf of thestumps.TakeOval2009,the
hat-trickagainstIndiain2011,thefirstmorn-
ing at Trent Bridge in 2015, Johannesburg in
2016, the nip-backer jags into the screen
from all corners.
He renders it differently, as compared to
the magnificent Chris Woakes, who has a
dreamy seam presentation and whose back-
benders fetched him the precious wicket of
Kraigg Brathwaite and wicket-keeper Shane
Dowrich. The seam remains upright and the
ball lands on the edge of the seam. Broad
holds it differently, the wrist is stiffer, the
seam position more tilted, subsequently the
ball wobbles a wee bit mid-air. Nonetheless,
he extractsappreciableinwarddeviation.He
has a teasing away-swinger too, a cutter that
he rolls off his fingers, but it’s the nip-backer
that’s his main weapon. Five of his six wick-
ets in the match were thus bargained.
The fundamentals of the Caribbean bats-
men amplified the sting of the nip-backer.
Brathwaite shuffles across in his trigger
movement, Chase has the tendency to plant
hisfront-legandplayacrossit andShaiHope
pushed his hands through the ball a little
morethanusual,besidesoftengettingstruck
Ben Master
All-rounder Ben Stokes scored 176, 78 not out and also returned 1 for 29 and 2 for 30 with the ball at Old Trafford. Reuters
at the crease. None of them possess a firm
front-foot stride, which could have not only
nullified the dangers of the nip-backer but
also forced Broad and Woakes to pull their
length back a fraction.
The impressive Shamarh Brooks later
showed how to defuse those with a decisive
front-foot press, but even he couldn’t stave
off an in-ducker from Sam Curran. He was
anywaywagingalonebattle,afterBroadand
Woakes had snuffed out West Indies best-
laid plans of escaping with a draw even be-
fore lunch, when they were 25 for 3. Soon
they stumbled to 37 for 4.
That West Indies’s resistance lasted this
long was thanks to a sublime 100-run part-
nership between Brooks and Jermaine
Blackwood. Batting as if there was nothing
amiss, with the regular freedom and enter-
prise,theyofferedthevisitorsaremotehope
ofsavingthematch.Theymatchedeachother
strokeforstroke.Brooksdrovegorgeouslyon
both sides of the wicket, Blackwood cut and
flickedwithoutfuss.Inthepreludetotea,they
stroked boundaries so frequently that it
seemed West Indies were on a hot pursuit of
thetarget.At least a drawseemedwithin the
realm of possibility.
The hope, though, turned out to be fleet-
ing. In the fourth ball of the last over before
lunch, Stokes hurried Blackwood into an un-
controlled flap off his chest. It was such an
innocuous delivery, around the stump at the
rib-cagethathecouldneitherduckorweave.
He could just lob it into the outstretched
palms of a lunging Jos Buttler. Yet again,
Stokes deliveredwhen it mattered, just as he
had on countless occasions in this Test. On
the fourth day, he had taken out a well-set
Brathwaite, pulling England back into the
gamewithathrifty11-overspell.OnMonday
again, he bounded in relentlessly.
Hence, the protagonist of this Test win
was as much as Stokes as it was Broad. In the
morning, he straightway led England’s
charge with a belligerent 78 off 57 deliver-
ies. His assault—despite all the delaying tac-
tics West Indies threw up— provided
England the safety valve of runs. England
racked up 92 runs in just 11 overs, eventu-
ally declaring at 129 for 3.
BRIEF SCORES: England 469/9d & 129/3d
(Ben Stokes 78 not out; Kemar Roach 2/37)
beat West Indies 287 & 198 all out in 70.1 ovs
(Shamarh Brooks 62, Jermaine Blackwood
55; Stuart Broad 3/42) by 113 runs
T20 World Cup deferred,
IPL gets a window
SHAMIK CHAKRABARTY
KOLKATA, JULY 20
THE INTERNATIONAL Cricket Council (ICC)
on Monday postponed the 2020 T20 World
Cup that was scheduled to be held in
Australia in October-November. The post-
ponement paves the way for the BCCI to or-
ganisethisyear’sIndianPremierLeague(IPL)
during those months, likely in the United
Arab Emirates. It is learnt that the Indian
board will now approach Union Home
Minister Amit Shah for approval. As per the
ICCrelease,“disruptioncausedbyCOVID-19”
forced the T20 World Cup postponement.
According to a BCCI functionary, follow-
ing the postponement, the Indian board will
first write to the Home Ministry, seeking ap-
provaltoholdtheIPLinIndia.Asperprotocol,
the BCCI has to write to the Sports Ministry,
theMinistryof ExternalAffairsandtheHome
Ministry. But at the moment, the Home
Ministry istaking allCovid-related decisions
in consultation with the Health Ministry.
However, because of the coronavirus
spread in the country, the BCCI is not hope-
ful of getting the go-ahead to organise the
tournamentinIndia.Astheboardfunctionary
said,havingitintheUAE“shouldn’tbeaprob-
lem”,forthecurvehasflattenedconsiderably
intheEmirates.HeinformedthatBCCIoffice-
bearerswillseekanaudiencewiththeHome
Minister sometime next week.
According to BCCI sources, another rea-
son why the UAE is preferred is that both
Emirates airline and Etihad Airways have
started regular flights while in India, only Air
India is doing so at the moment. Also, the
UAE doesn’t have a 14-day quarantine rule.
Downloading the ALHOSN UAE app – “the
officialintegrateddigitalplatformforCOVID-
19 tests in the UAE” – would suffice.
The BCCI seems to be keeping the IPL
franchises abreast of the developments. As a
franchise official said, at least four teams –
Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians,
Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals – have
alreadystartedplanningforanIPLintheUAE.
“Before that, we want a three-week camp at
a remote place in India which falls under
green zone,” said the franchise official.
IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh
Patel, meanwhile, aimed a dig at the ICC for
delaying the announcement. “They (ICC)
According to BCCI sources,
another reason why the UAE is
preferred is that both Emirates
airline and Etihad Airways have
started regular flights while in
India, only Air India is doing so
at the moment.
should have called off the World Cup much
earlier. I don’t know why they delayed. They
should have given all the (Member) boards
enough time to make their own pro-
grammes... Bilateral programmes, even for
us, IPL we could have planned much earlier,”
Patel told The Indian Express.
He informed that the BCCI hasn’t fixed
any dates for the IPL, and a decision will be
taken in the next Governing Council meet-
ing.“WewillhaveaGoverningCouncilmeet-
inginaboutaweekorsoandaccordingly,we
will finalise the dates and the arrangements
to be made for the IPL. We are waiting for the
government’s permission (to hold it in the
UAE). We will (formally) inform the fran-
chises (in due course). Now that the World
Cup is called off, things will start moving,”
saidtheformerIndiamiddle-orderbatsman.
Earlier thisyear, the Indian board had de-
ferred the IPL indefinitely because of the
Covid-induced lockdown. Last week, during
theApexCouncilmeeting,however,theBCCI
office-bearers told the members that the IPL
would be held, subject to the postponement
of the T20 World Cup, and the Indian gov-
ernment’s approval.
OnMonday,attheglobalbody’sIBCBoard
(thecommercialsubsidiaryof theICC)meet-
ing, the decision to postpone this year’s T20
World Cup was finalised. With hosts Cricket
Australiacallingtheorganisationof thisyear’s
event “unrealistic”, the postponement was
expected. The global body has marked two
windowstoholdthepostponedevent.Asper
an ICC release,back-to-back T20 World Cups
will be held in 2021 and 2022, but with an
eye on the pandemic, the game’s governing
bodyhasn’ttakenacallonthesequencewith
regards to host nations.
India was originally scheduled to host
next year’s T20 World Cup, but following the
postponement, this can change.

OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis

CROSSWORD 4175 DAY TODAY BY PETER VIDAL
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20) LIBRA (Sep 24 - Oct 23)
Mars has now The best
commenced a new relationships at the
cycle which is going moment are those
to lift your morale based on joint
and give you a massive shot in interests, and the happiest
the arm, but only if you turn social life is that built on good
your attention to all unfinished conversation. Consider the
business and left-over tasks. legal situation, and make sure
The burning question is: how that, above all else, you know
can you possibly make the most your rights. And don’t give
of all your many talents and anyone the wrong idea about
abundant energy? your intentions.
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21) SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 23)
From now on you The cycle you’re now
will have to move entering is one
very carefully, which warns you
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson flitting about behind about the danger of
the scenes, doing your best burning yourself out, but offers
without being spotted. The you the chance to get your
coming phase in your life is one physical well-being together,
for discretion, so plan cleaning up your diet,
accordingly. Also, if a friend or improving your exercise
partner lets you down, don’t be and tackling niggling
ACROSS Down too hard on them: they might chronic complaints.
1 Freed of entanglements 1 Deck or dock have no choice.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 - Dec 22)
volunteered (7) (5)
GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) Partners and
4 Clean down (5) 2 Business head shows
This should be a business associates
7 The French way to get fat resolution (8)
somewhat sensitive will eventually
(4) 3 Kills a doctor and confesses
day. But, on the other reveal facts which
8 and 9 Down: Not surprising (6)
hand, your you think they ought to know.
ending apparently 4 Stress follows before a claim
confidence should be growing. However, when it comes to
(8,10) (10)
The golden rule is never to take dealing with people in
10 Sharply picked out 5 His victims lose heart
offence, and always realise that authority, extracting the truth
(10) (4)
little slights may be may be like getting blood out of
12 Provide two servings of dry 6 Pointedly heckled
unintended. Partners really are a stone. That doesn’t mean that
wine in a bit (6) (7)
in need of your care and you shouldn’t continue to try.
13 Produced a publication and is 9 See 8 Across
taken to court (6) 11 Exits in the open air MARVIN by Tom Armstrong understanding, so you’ll have to
be patient. CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
15 Unable to work after leaving (8) Areas of your life
the fraternity? (3,2,5) 12 Insect settled on the cheese for CANCER (June 22 - July 23) which are now being
18 All too human story in which a short while You are undoubtedly spotlighted indicate
evil makes a comeback (7) well aware of certain exactly where you
(8) 14 Asian labourer that is not emotional should streamline your affairs
19 An army entertainer at a talk friendly to begin with undercurrents, and and how you should reorganise
show? (4) (6) it’s thanks to your intuitive your relationships. Consider
20 Long time coming to a point 16 Estimated distribution of trade skills that you’re more in tune any and all changes at home, no
(5) (5) than many other people with matter how radical. You never
21 Went by inordinately pleased 17 Leaf-destroying parasite the choices that should now know they might receive a
(7) (4) be faced. That doesn’t mean warm welcome.
that you’ll come up with the
right answers, though, so AQUARIUS (Jan 21- Feb 19)
SolutionsCrossword4174:Across:1Arrangement,9Onthego,10Chill,11Dust,12 tread carefully. Circumstances
Striving,14Orator,16Target,18Passport,19Etna,22Nurse,23Epitaph,24 beyond your control
Interesting.Down:2Rates,3Aces,4Growth,5Michigan,6Nailing,7Goodcompany, LEO (July 24 - Aug 23) may now force you
8Flightpaths,13Complete,15Alsoran,17Greece,20Train,21Girt. Don’t expect any let- to abandon certain
up in the pressure in schemes, or at least reach a
the long-term, even major compromise. Family
if today’s stars are plans are still in a state of some
JUMBLED WORDS DifficultyLevel5s
more relaxed than usual. You
should realise that any friction
uncertainty, while domestic
entertaining looks favourable.
Instructions can be turned to good use, Take advantage of any
SOLUTION SUDOKU 4175

Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto TosolveaSudokupuzzle, giving you the excuse to make opportunities for pleasure.
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget everydigitfrom1to9 long-overdue improvements,
PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
SUDOKU 4176

theanswerforthegivenquip. mustappearineachofthe especially at work.

Nothinginlifeissohardthatyoucan’tmakeiteasierbythe________-EllenGlasgow Other people may
nineverticalcolumns,in VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sep 23) not intend to
(3,3,4,2)
eachoftheninehorizontal This is one occasion mislead or deceive
MZAAE RSTTUY rowsandineachofthe when partners may you, and what you
nineboxes. be better equipped mistake for opposition, could in
to take control. At fact be support. If someone
work employers should be seems to be standing in the way,
NRIOT HISKWY DifficultyLevel
listened to and obeyed, it may be that they are
although they in their turn somehow forcing you to
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; should recognise your role as a make a response which is very
3s=Medium;4s=Hard; conciliator. It’s all a matter of much more mature than in the
Ellen Glasgow 5s=VeryHard;6s= mutual respect and of striking past. They may even deserve
Answer: Nothing in life is so hard that you can’t make it easier by the way you take it. - Genius the right balance. your thanks.
SOLUTION: AMAZE, INTRO, TRUSTY, WHISKY

Vol LXXXVIII No. 217 Regd.No. DL-21046/03-05

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