CMYK

THURSDAY www.thestatesman.com
13 AUGUST FIND US ONLINE
Scan this with your
smartphone

2020
twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd
facebook.com/thestatesman1875
Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC*

KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR

UK HAS PLUNGED INTO CHINA’S 'WELL MIGHT ALI’S

PM TO UNVEIL NEXT
DEEP RECESSION, CLIMBDOWN BOYS GET EVEN
PHASE OF DIRECT
CHANCELLOR ADMITS WITH ENGLAND'
TAX REFORMS
P10 P6 P8 P12

WEATHER
Three dead after police Fresh tweak:
Generally cloudy sky. One or two spells
of thundershower. Temperature will be
fire on Bengaluru mob No lockdown
in the range of 34-28 degrees Celsius.
RAINFALL: Nil
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
Max. 92% Min. 70%
Mob had gone on overnight rampage over social media post by Congress MLA’s kin on 28 August
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA shells and later opened STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
TEMPERATURE BENGALURU, 12 AUGUST fire, killing three people. KOLKATA, 12 AUGUST
SNIPPETS
Max: 33.7°C (+1) Min: 28.3°C (+1) One of the victims has � The state-wide

T
SUN RISES SUN SETS hree people were
05:05 hrs 18:10 hrs killed after police
MOON RISES MOON SETS opened fire to quell
12:19 hrs 23:42 hrs
a mob that went
New moon on 19 August
on a rampage in a city local-
ity irked over a social media
post allegedly put out by a
THUMBNAILS Congress legislator's rela-
tive, with the state govern-
ment terming the violence
as a “well-planned act.”
“Three people have died
(in police firing),” Bengal-
uru Police Commissioner
Kamal Pant told PTI.
Further, 110 people have
been arrested in connection
with the rioting at Pulakeshi
Nagar here.
Scores, including around
Devotees pay homage to Lord Krishna on the
50 policemen, were injured
occasion of Krishna Janmasthami, while main-
in the violence that erupt-
taining social distancing, at the ISKCON Temple
ed on Tuesday night and
in New Delhi on Wednesday. � SNS
continued till the wee hours
of Wednesday, apparently
Private trains: Twenty-three firms including triggered by the online post.
Alstom Transport India Ltd, Bombardier Trans- Pulakeshi Nagar MLA
portation India, Siemens Limited, GMR Infra- Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy’s
structure and some PSUs have shown interest residence and a police sta-
in operating private trains in the country, and tion at D J Halli were among
attended a pre-application meeting Wednes- those targeted by the angry
day, the Railways said. Other companies that mob. The house of the
attended the meeting included defense PSU MLA, who was not at home
BEML, the railways' IRCTC, the state-run BHEL, at the time, was allegedly
Spanish coach and component maker CAF set on fire.
India, Medha Group, Sterlite, Bharat Forge, JKB “The manner in which
infrastructure and Titagarh Wagons Limited. the riots were perpetrated
shows that it was a well
planned act and was intend-
IAF objects to Gunjan Saxena: The Indian Air ed to spread to other parts
Force (IAF) has written a letter to the Censor of the city. These are trai-
Board objecting to its “undue negative” por- tors,” revenue minister Ash-
trayal in the movie Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil oka told reporters after me-
Girl, said a senior official. The movie was eting the Congress MLA in
released on streaming platform Netflix on his office. The minister said
Wednesday. According to the official, the let- the MLA's house was
ter mentions “concerns related to the movie's completely damaged,
portrayal of gender bias as an institutional belongings including sarees
work culture” at the IAF. The movie is based and jewellery were looted
on the life of IAF officer Gunjan Saxena who and rest was set on fire.
became the first woman pilot to take part in The state government on
the 1999 Kargil war. Wednesday announced
been identified as Yasin
Pasha, whose father Afzal
told reporters that his son
was innocent.“My son oper-
ated a meat shop in the area
and had gone for dinner
when the police opened fire
and he died. He is innocent
and was not involved in any
arson,” he said.
Meanwhile, curfew has
been imposed in the affect-
ed areas in and around DJ
Halli and KG Halli.
A teary-eyed Murthy
said he wanted the govern-
ment to provide him pro-
tection and sought a high
level probe either by CBI or
CID. “We were not at home
when nearly 3,000 people
with petrol bombs, clubs,
came and burnt the vehi-
cles, damaged our house.
I need protection from the
government after this inci-
dent,” the MLA said.
The opposition Con-
gress and JD(S) extended co-
mplete support to the state
government in restoring
peace in the violence-hit
parts of the city and
demanded immediate
action against the culprits.
“I humbly request both
Hindus & Muslims of the
Clockwise from above: A mob rioting in DJ Halli and Pulakeshi Nagar areas in Bengaluru area to stay calm, maintain
on Tuesday night; police out on patrol in the riot-hit areas on Wednesday; police person- peace & live in harmony,”
nel examine vehicles set ablaze by the mob. �IANS/AFP Leader of opposition in the
Legislative Assembly,” Con-
that a district magistrate been arrested. lence,” he said. gress leader and former
would conduct an inquiry Chief minister B SYediyu- The rioters also torched chief minister Siddarama-
into the violence. The gov- rappa said the attack on the many police and private iah tweeted. JD(S) patriarch
ernment also decided to residence of the MLA, the vehicles, badly damaged H D Deve Gowda in a tweet,
recover losses caused to police station and rioting the house and looted the condemning the violence,
public property during the are condemnable. “Already belongings of MLA Murthy requested the government
violence from the rioters. given directions to initiate and those of his sister. An to take 'merciless' action
Pant said Naveen, said stringent action against ATM was smashed to pieces. against those involved. The
to be a nephew of the leg- the criminals (and) the gov- To disperse the unruly BJP, meanwhile, accused the
islator, who allegedly put out ernment has initiated all the mob, police resorted to Congress of not being
the social media post has measures to contain vio- lathi charge, lobbed tear gas “vocal” against the rioters.
Complete lockdown would
not be enforced on 28
August so as to avoid the five-
day closure of banking ser-
vices in the last week of this
month.
The remaining dates for
the state-wide complete
lockdown on 20 August
(Thursday), 21 August (Fri-
day), 27 August (Thurs-
day) and 31 August (Mon-
day) remain unchanged.
According to an official
of the state secretariat,
banks are closed on Satur-
day and Sunday as well as
on the days of complete
lockdown. “In the last week
of August, complete lock-
down had been announced
on Thursday, Friday and
Monday. If lockdown was
enforced as per this sched-
ule then banks would have
remained shut for five days
from Thursday to Monday.
This would have posed a lot
of problems for people,” he
said.
An order in this regard
was issued by state chief sec-
retary Rajiva Sinha today.
“...several communications
have been received citing
difficulty to conduct of
business and banking oper-
ations because of two-day
lockdown during Thurs-
day and Friday in the last
week of August 2020 fol-
lowed by one-day lock-
down on the following Mo-
nday. Whereas, state gov-
ernment has considered
the requests for relaxation
of lockdown as would be
necessary and essential,”
said the notification.
Initially the lockdown
was scheduled for nine days
in August which was later
complete lockdown
scheduled on 20 August
(Thursday), 21 August
(Friday), 27 August
(Thursday) and 31
August (Monday) would
remain unchanged
� Bengal registered
2,936 fresh cases and
54 deaths in the last 24
hours taking the total
case count to 1,04,326
and death toll to 2,203.
revised to seven days. Now,
with the withdrawal of the
lockdown on 28 August, it
would be enforced on six
days during the month.
Meanwhile, Bengal con-
tinued to record a steep spike
in Covid cases, registering
2,936 fresh cases and 54 de-
aths in the last 24 hours tak-
ing the total case count to
1,04,326 and death toll to
2,203. Kolkata recorded 619
fresh cases and 19 deaths,
North 24-Parganas 589 cas-
es and 13 deaths while Ho-
wrah and South 24-Parga-
nas recorded 272 and 255
new cases respectively.
In the last 24 hours,
2,725 Covid patients were
discharged from hospitals.
There are now 26,003 active
cases in the state. The cur-
rent bed occupancy rate is
36.57 per cent with 7469 out
of 11775 beds in Covid des-
ignated government hos-
pitals being vacant. There
are 1,735 people in 106 safe
homes, 2,703 people in
government quarantine
centres and 28,838 people
in home quarantine.
Nabanna would remain
closed on 13 and 14 August
to sanitise the premises.

Rajasthan: Forget and forgive, Covid recovery rate soars past
Gehlot tells upset MLAs
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
JAISALMER/JAIPUR, 12 AUGUST
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok
Gehlot on Wednesday said
resentment among the Con-
gress MLAs is natural after the
return of dissident legisla-
tors to the party-fold but
asked them to forgive, forget
and move on.
But with just two days to
go before the Assembly ses-
sion, the party is taking no
chances, deciding to keep
them together at a resort in
the state capital.
The MLAs in the Gehlot
camp were on Wednesday
flown back to Jaipur from
Jaisalmer, where they were
together at another hotel.
They were taken straight
from the airport to the Fair-
mont hotel on the outskirts
of the city, where they had
stayed before being moved to
70 pc; case tally crosses 23 lakh
Jaisalmer. The MLAs ~ most-
ly from the Congress and
some allies ~ are expected to
remain there till the assem-
bly meets on August 14.
The Congress crisis in
Rajasthan appears to have
ended with the intervention
of the top leadership of Sonia
Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who
met rebel leader Sachin Pilot
earlier this week. Pilot had
openly rebelled against Gehlot
last month along with 18
other Congress MLAs. He was
then sacked as deputy chief
minister and the party's
Rajasthan chief.
Meeting reporters in
Jaisalmer, Gehlot said he had
urged the MLAs to bear with
the development, while
acknowledging that it was
natural for them to be upset.
Forget and forgive and
23,29,638
move on in the interest of the
country, the state, the people
of the state and democracy.
Democracy is under threat.
This was a fight to save democ-
racy, in which our MLAS gave
their support, he said.
At earlier Congress Legis-
lature Party meetings, the
loyalist MLAs had called for
disciplinary action against
the dissidents who defied
party whips while demand-
ing a change in the leadership
in the state. “It is natural for
them to be upset. The way this
episode happened, they had
to stay in hotels,” he said
Wednesday.
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 12 AUGUST
India's Covid-19 recovery
rate soared past 70 per cent
on Wednesday with 16,39,599
people having recuperated
from the disease so far in the
country, while active cases
6,43,948 comprise just 27.64 per cent
of the total caseload, the
Union Health Ministry said.
The total Covid-19 tally, on
60,963 the other hand, went past 23
lakh onWednesday with a sin-
gle day increase of 60,963 ca-
ses. The total coronavirus
56,110 cases in the country mounted
to 23,29,638, while the death
toll climbed to 46,091 with 834
new fatalities being reported
46,091 in a span of 24 hours, health
ministry data updated at 8 a.m.
showed. The case fatality rate
UNION HEALTH MINISTRY has declined to 1.98 per cent,
FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M.
WEDNESDAY 12 AUGUST 2020 the ministry said.
India had crossed the 20-
lakh mark on August 7.
“In the first week of July,
the daily average recovered
cases were at 15,000 which
jumped to more than 50,000
in the first week of August,”
the health ministry said.
“With more patients recov-
ering and being discharged
from hospitals and home
isolation (in case of mild and
moderate cases), the total
recoveries have crossed the
16 lakh-mark and recovery rate
has reached another high of
70.38 per cent,” it added.
There are 6,43,948 active
cases of coronavirus which is
the “actual caseload” of Cov-
id-19 in the country and cur-
rently comprise 27.64 per
cent of the total positive cases.
Of the 834 new deaths re-
ported, 256 are from Mahara-
shtra, 118 from Tamil Nadu,
87 from Andhra Pradesh, 86
from Karnataka, 56 from Uttar
Pradesh, 49 from Bengal, 32
from Punjab, 23 from Gujarat,
18 from Madhya Pradesh, 16
from Bihar, 12 from Jammu
and Kashmir and 11 each
from Haryana and Rajasthan.
Ten fatalities have been report-
ed from Odisha, nine from
Telangana, eight from Delhi,
six from Goa, five each from
Chhattisgarh and Kerala, four
each from Assam and Jhark-
hand, two each from Puduc-
herry and Uttarakhand while
Andaman and Nicobar Isla-
nds, Chandigarh, Himachal
Pradesh and Manipur have
registered one fatality each.
The national expert group
on vaccine administration
for Covid-19 met for the first
time on Wednesday and dis-
cussed the procurement me-
chanisms for the vaccine
along with guiding principles
for prioritisation of popula-
tion groups for vaccination.
Pranab Mukherjee
continues to be
critical: Hospital
NEW DELHI, 12 AUGUST
The condition of former Pres-
ident Pranab Mukherjee con-
tinues to be critical and he re-
mains on ventilator support, the
Army's Research and Referral
hospital said on Wednesday.
Mukherjee (84) was admit-
ted to the hospital in Delhi
cantonment on August 10 and
was operated for removal of a
clot in the brain. He tested pos-
itive for Covid-19 prior to the
surgery. “Shri Pranab Mukher-
jee's health condition contin-
ues to remain critical. Present-
ly he is haemodynamically sta-
ble and on a ventilator,” a state-
ment from the hospital said. The
condition of the former presi-
dent had worsened on Tuesday,
doctors attending on him said.
The former president's
daughter Sharmistha Mukher-
jee, meanwhile, prayed for her
father saying, may God do
whatever is best for him. PTI

Joe Biden picks Indian-American Kamala Harris as running mate

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
WASHINGTON, 12 AUGUST
Joe Biden, the presump-
tive Democratic Party
nominee for this year’s US
presidential election has
picked Senator Kamala
Harris as his running mate
to woo the Black voters and
the influential Indian dias-
pora who could play a
key role in his bid to defeat
Donald Trump.
By naming the 55-year-
old lawyer and moderate
Democratic politician
from California as his vice
presidential candidate in
the November 3 election,
Biden made history by
selecting the first Black
woman to compete on a
major party's presidential
ticket.
Harris, whose father is
from Jamaica and moth-
er an Indian, is currently
a Senator from California.
Biden, 77, made the
announcement in a text
message to his support-
ers on Tuesday, ending
days of suspense. It came
about a week ahead of his
virtual Democratic Nation-
al Convention that would
formally nominate Biden
as the party's candidate
for the presidential elec-
tion, challenging incum-
bent President Trump, a
Republican.
“Joe Biden here. I've
chosen Kamala Harris as
my running mate. Togeth-
er, with you, we're going
to beat Trump. Add your
name to welcome her to
the team,” Biden said in
his message. He said Har-
ris will be the best part-
ner for him to finally get
the country back on track.
He described her as “a fear-
less fighter” and “one of
the country's finest pub-
lic servants”.
Harris later tweeted
that Biden “can unify the
American people because
he's spent his life fighting
for us. And as president,
he'll build an America
that lives up to our ideals.”
“I'm honoured to join
him as our party's nom-
inee forVice President, and
do what it takes to make
him our Commander-in-
Chief.”
Former president Bar-
ack Obama, who served
in the White House with
Biden for two terms, said
he has known Harris for
a long time. “She is more
than prepared for the job.
She's spent her career
defending our Constitu-
tion and fighting for folks
who need a fair shake,”
Obama said.
Biden pledged in March
to name a woman as his
running mate. He had fac-
ed mounting pressure to
pick a Black woman as the
country was hit by massive
social unrest over police
brutality against African-
Americans, a key voting
bloc to the Democrats.
Like Obama, a mixed-
race heritage has allowed
Harris to connect across
identities and reach mul-
tiple audiences and vot-
ing blocs.
Harris was born to two
immigrant parents: a Black
father and an Indian moth-
er. Her father, Donald
Harris, was from Jamaica,
and her mother, Shya-
mala Gopalan, a cancer
researcher and civil rights
activist from Chennai.
Harris has emerged as
an outspoken voice on race
and the need for police
reform following the death
of George Floyd in May and
the subsequent protests
it sparked around the
country.
If elected, she would be
the first ever woman to be
the vice president of the
US and the first ever Indi-
an-American and African-
American vice president.
Only two other women
have been nominated as
vice-presidential candi-
dates - Sarah Palin by the
Republicans in 2008 and
Geraldine Ferraro by the
Democrats in 1984. Nei-
ther made it to the White
House.
BIDEN’S MATE, PAGE 6

CMYK