JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES
HUNT FOR A VACCINE
Pfizer claims first major breakthrough: test
vaccine 90% effective in Phase 3 trials
USpharmagiantcontinuestocollect
data,willseekFDAnodafternextweek
KAUNAIN SHERIFF M &
PRABHA RAGHAVAN
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
AMERICAN PHARMA company
Pfizer said on Monday that dur-
ingthefirstinterimanalysisfrom
phase 3 clinical trials, its vaccine
candidate had been found to be
more than 90 per cent effective
inpreventingCovid-19inpartic-
ipants without evidence of prior
SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Pfizer and its partner, the
German biotech company
BioNTech, said the analysis of
phase 3 trial data of the m-RNA
vaccinecandidatebyanexternal
independent Data Monitoring
Committee (DMC) “has not re-
ported any serious safety con-
cerns”.
However, the independent
expert committee has recom-
mended that the study “con-
tinue to collect additional safety
and efficacy data as planned”,
the company underlined. “The
data will be discussed with reg-
ulatory authorities worldwide,”
Pfizer said in a release on
Monday.
The release did not provide
detailsonthespecificsof theim-
mune response, adverse reac-
tions,andage-specificefficacyof
the vaccine candidate. “Pfizer
and BioNTech plan to submit
Stop telecast of
content defaming
Bollywood: HC
to TV channels
SOFI AHSAN
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
RESTRAINING TELEVISION
news channels including
Republic TV and Times Now
from airing or posting any
defamatory content against the
Mumbai film industry and those
part of it, the Delhi High Court
Monday said it expects fair re-
portage and neutrality from the
media.
Itsaidthereneedstobesome
“toning down” because people
do not want their private lives
dragged in public and are “really
scared” of the fourth estate.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher, in his
observationsonTVdebates,said
there is “no civility in (the) dis-
course”.
“I am hearing participants in
debatesareusingcusswordsbe-
cause they get so excited. If you
keep egging them on, that is
what happens,” he said.
JusticeShakdherwashearing
a suit filed by 38 leading Hindi
cinemaassociationsandproduc-
tion houses against Republic TV
and Times Now for publishing
“irresponsible, derogatory and
defamatoryremarks”againstthe
filmindustryandthosepartof it.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
GUJARAT
ASSEMBLYBYPOLLS:
320OFFICIALSTO
COUNTVOTESTODAY
PAGE 4
PAGE 1
ANCHOR Spanish Jesuit priest who became a Gujarati author leaves a mark
GOPAL KATESHIYA
RAJKOT, NOVEMBER 9
FATHER CARLOS G Valles, the
Jesuit priest who left an indeli-
ble mark in Gujarati literary
world, passed away at his home
in Madrid, Spain on Monday. He
was 95. He was showing symp-
toms of Alzheimer’s for the past
few months.
“He passed away at 2 am lo-
caltimeinSpainand5amIndian
Standard Time. Just a few days
ago, on November 4, he had cel-
ebrated his 96th birthday. He
was enjoying good health over-
datafromthefullphase3trialfor
scientific peer review publica-
tion,” the release said.
While Monday’s announce-
ment is not scientifically conclu-
sive evidence on the safety and
efficacyof thevaccinecandidate,
Pfizer has become the first firm
to release promising late-stage
trial data of a potential vaccine
for Covid-19.
“This is a first but critical step
in our work to deliver a safe and
effective vaccine,” chairman and
CEO Dr Albert Bourla said. As of
Monday, over 50 million people
had been infected by the novel
coronavirusworldwide,and1.25
million had died.
The phase 3 clinical trial of
the Pfizer-BioNTech candidate,
BNT162b2, began on July 27 and
enrolled 43,538 participants,
38,955 of whom had received a
seconddosebyNovember8.The
candidate is a single nucleoside-
modified messenger RNA
(modRNA) vaccine, which is
made of a short segment of ge-
netic material — the messenger
RNA — which provides instruc-
tions for a human cell to make a
harmless version of a target pro-
tein,inthiscasethespikeprotein
of SARS-CoV-2, in order to acti-
vate an immune response.
Pfizer's announcement on
the first interim analysis comes
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
First time since border standoff,
Modi, Xi on one platform today
SHUBHAJIT ROY
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
THE STAGE is set for the first en-
counterbetweenPrimeMinister
Narendra Modi and Chinese
President Xi Jinping since the
border standoff in eastern
Ladakh that started in May, with
the two leaders scheduled to
participate in a virtual interac-
tionattheShanghaiCooperation
Organisation (SCO) summit
Tuesday.
Modi will also share a virtual
platform with the Chinese
President on November 17 for
the BRICS meeting and on
HC rejects Arnab plea
for interim bail, police
to question him daily
OMKAR GOKHALE &
SADAF MODAK
MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 9
THE BOMBAY High Court
Monday rejected pleas of
Republic TV editor-in-chief
Arnab Goswami and two others
for interim bail in an alleged
abetment to suicide case regis-
tered against them in 2018, and
said they could move bail appli-
cations before a sessions court
for a decision within four days.
Goswami, Feroze Shaikh and
NitishSardaapproachedtheses-
sions court in Alibag, and their
bailapplicationsstatedthatthey
all, save the symptoms of
Alzheimer’s that he had had for
the past three-four months,”
Father Vinayak, vice-principal of
St Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad
told The Indian Express.
Father Valles taught mathe-
matics at the St Xavier’s College
fore more than 20 years and his
popular image is of the author-
teacher who lived with ordinary
familiesinthewalledcityareaof
Ahmedabadandwouldcyclehis
way to college and back.
While teaching mathemat-
ics, he also established himself
as one of the best essayists in
Gujarati, winning the state gov-
DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA
Workers during a sanitation drive at a railway shed in Kolkata. Eastern and South Eastern Railways are set to resume
suburban train services from Wednesday. Partha Paul
Talks with regulators next, no manufacturing
agreement in India yet, cold chain an issue
KAUNAIN SHERIFF M
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
ONE OF the key takeaways for
India from Monday’s announce-
ment by Pfizer is the US pharma
giant’s decision to hold discus-
sionswithregulatoryauthorities
worldwide.
They last met virtually on
March 26 for G-20 meet
November 21-22 for the G-20
summit. The two leaders have
met at least 18 times in the last
six years but last shared a plat-
form on March 26 when Saudi
Arabia held a virtual G-20 gath-
ering over the Covid pandemic.
Goswami
was arrested
on Nov 4
were ready to cooperate with
police. The court asked the de-
fence lawyers to provide copies
of the bail applications to the
prosecution so that the latter
could file a reply.
Meanwhile, following an or-
der last Friday from the Chief
Judicial Magistrate, the three
men are being questioned by
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
ernment’s award for best essay-
istforfiveyearsinarowandforc-
ingthegovernmenttoputalimit
onthenumberof timesaperson
can be given the prize. He was
awarded Ranjitram
Suvarnachandrak, the highest
literary award in Gujarati in
1978. Hewasthefirstforeignre-
cipient of the ward.
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi led the nation in paying
tributetothedepartedauthorby
tweeting, “Father Vallés en-
deared himself to many, espe-
cially in Gujarat. He distin-
guished himself in diverse areas
such as mathematics and
JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
SINCE 1932
In August, The
Indian Express had
first reported that the
Indian government
had had an “initial
meeting” with repre-
sentatives of Pfizer’s
Indiansubsidiarydays
after Pfizer released the early
phase 1 trial data of its vaccine
Officials said chances of a
border thaw at the SCO meeting
are “bleak”, given the hard posi-
tions the two sides have taken.
Besides, unlike in the past SCO,
BRICSandG-20summits,where
the leaders could meet in retreat
sessions and engage in free-
wheelingdiscussions,thevirtual
format doesn’t provide for one-
on-one conversations.
In 2017, the nearly three-
month-long Doklam border
stand-off was resolved just
ahead of the BRICS summit in
September 2017 in Xiamen. The
Chumar border stand-off in
September 2014 was also
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
RETIRED IAS OFFICER WRITES TO CHIEF SECY
‘Rs 250-cr investment by GSFC in
Canadian firm eroded to Rs 10 cr’
AVINASH NAIR
AHMEDABAD, NOVEMBER 9
A RETIRED IAS officer of 1979
batch, Alexander Luke, has writ-
tenalettertoGujaratchief secre-
tary Anil Mukim, pointing out
how an investment of Rs 250
crore made by Vadodara-based
public sector unit (PSU), Gujarat
State Fertilisers and Chemicals
Ltd (GSFC), in a Canadian firm
seven years ago has eroded to
just Rs 10 crore.
In the letter written to
Mukim and GSFC Chairman and
Managing Director, Arvind
Agarwal, on November 2, 2020,
FATHER CARLOS G VALLES
1925-2020
candidate for the
novel coronavirus,
which,itsaid,demon-
strated a strong im-
mune response.
Pfizer has so far
identified five facili-
ties across the globe,
including in the United States
andGermany,tomanufactureits
Setback for Google, to
be probed for alleged
abuse of dominance
AASHISH ARYAN
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
IN YET ANOTHER setback for
Google, the Competition
Commission of India (CCI)
Monday initiated a Director-
General(DG)-levelprobeintoal-
leged abuse of dominant posi-
tion by the company to promote
its payments app, Google Pay. It
called for investigations to be
completed and a report submit-
ted within 60 days.
This is the third major an-
titrust probe ordered by the
the retired IAS officer has
pointed out that the amount in-
vested in Canadian firm M/s
Karnalyte Resources Inc for a 20
per cent stake the company in
2013 has eroded.
“The primary purpose of the
investmentinsharesofKarnalyte
was an assured supply of potash.
Notonetonappearstohavebeen
received... The potash project is
stillataconceptualstage,”stated
Luke in an article he wrote for a
web portal, counterview.net, on
this issue.
According to him, the GSFC
later increased its stake in the
Canadiancompanyto38percent
and the initial investment made
Covid-19 vaccine. Top govern-
ment sources had confirmed
earliertoTheIndianExpressthat
while Pfizer did not “as of now”
haveanagreementwiththegov-
ernment, and had not identified
anymanufacturingfacility,itwas
possible that a “fill and finish”
option might emerge.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Third major probe by CCI
Indian competition regulator
against Google and the various
services it offers in the country.
Acting on an anonymous
CONTINUED ON PAGE 10
by the state PSU in the Canadian
firm is worth just Rs 10 crore to-
day.Agarwalconfirmedtothispa-
per that the PSU’s equity in Karn-
alytecontinuedtobe38percent.
TalkingtoTheIndianExpress,
the retired IAS officer who
headedthe58-year-oldGSFCbe-
tween2003and’06,successfully
turning it into a profit-making
entity, said, “I waited for seven
years and after realising that the
brief life of the potash project is
over, I decided to write about it.
No further developments are
likely. If I keep quiet on the issue,
I would not have been able to
forgive myself.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Gujarati literature. He was also
passionateaboutservingsociety.
Saddenedbyhisdemise.Mayhis
soul rest in peace.”
Paying tribute to Father
Valles, Chief Minister Vijay
Rupani said: “Though he was
not a born Gujarati, Father Valles
becameasavayaGujarati(better
than Gujarati) by his contribu-
tion to Gujarati literature which
included a number of books, es-
says, travelogues etc. His demise
has left a huge void in the
Gujarati literary world.”
All India Congress
Committee treasurer Ahmed
Patel and Gujarat Congress pres-
`4.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
CHARGES OF FORGERY, CHEATING
Scholarship
scam: FIR filed
in Gaya, Assam
police arrest 21
Accused posed as nodal officer of
school to divert scholarship: FIR
tions 468 (forgery for cheating),
ABHISHEK ANGAD & 471 (dishonestly using a forged
ABHISHEK SAHA document) and 420 (cheating).
RANCHI, GUWAHATI, It names one accused, identified
NOVEMBER 9 as Babar Ali, for allegedly sub-
mittingforgedverificationdocu-
POLICE IN Gaya Monday regis- ments to the district welfare of-
tered their first FIR in the illegal ficer while posing as nodal
siphoning of the Centrally officer of Manu Indian Public
funded pre-Matric scholarship School to illegally divert the
meant for poor minority stu- scholarship.
dents by an alleged nexus of Speaking to The Indian
middlemen, bank correspon- Express, Amir Subhani,
dents,officialsandschoolstaff in Additional Chief Secretary of
Bihar and Jharkhand, which was Bihar's Minority Welfare
revealed in an investigation by Department who also handles
The Indian Express. the Home portfolio, said: “Based
The move comes on The Indian Express
three days af-
ter the Union T HE
report, an ini-
tial inquiry
Ministry of
Minority SCHOLARSHIP was con-
ducted and to-
Affairs, which
administers
S CAM day,anFIRwas
registered in
this scholarship -- Rs 1,400 crore Gaya.”
last year nationally -- decided to On November 5, The Indian
ask the CBI to investigate the Express reported that Manu
nexus that also roped in schools Indian Public School in Gaya's
from Punjab and Assam. Banke Bazaar block has as many
In Assam, the Criminal as 134 scholarship beneficiaries,
Investigation Department (CID) including 128 who stay in a hos-
said Monday that it has arrested tel thereby being eligible for the
21 people, including four head- highest slab of Rs 10,700 per
masters and a teacher, on year.
chargesof fraudandforgerydur- But the school turned out to
ing its investigation into the be a locked, partially painted
scam based on a complaint two-storey structure on a de-
lodged by the state's nodal offi- serted field. Its owner Rajiv
cer in August. Kumar said the beneficiaries
In Bihar, the FIR was regis- were “fake”, and that the school
tered at the Civil Lines Police did not have a hostel. “There are
Station in Gaya under IPC sec- CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
THE WORLD
BIDEN TO CONVENE
COVID-19 TASK
FORCE, TRUMP
PLANS PROTEST
RALLIES PAGE 13
Bihar election results
today: JD(U)-BJP holds
on to hope, RJD upbeat
DIPANKAR GHOSE
PATNA, NOVEMBER 9
THE TWO houses are barely 500
metres apart, but on Monday,
themoodoutsidecouldnothave
been more different.
Outside 1 Anney Marg, the Outside the RJD office in
official residence of Chief Patna Monday. Dipankar Ghose
MinisterNitishKumar,therewas
a pall of silence.
Security per- BUSINESS AS USUAL
sonnel discour-
aged anyone BY UNNY
from lingering
DECISION around, and the
2020 only vehicles
BIHAR parked in the
compound
seemed to be those of the police.
Thegatesat10,CircularRoad,
home to two former Chief
Ministers – Lalu Prasad Yadav
and Rabri Devi – and potential
Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav,
were shut too. Nobody was
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
identAmitChavdaalsocondoled however much extended in the
FatherValles’death.“Gujarathas academicfield,wasaforeignlan-
lost a savaya Gujarati who was guage in India. It was enough to
not born in Gujarat but made teach mathematics, but not to
Gujarat his karmabhumi (place reach the hearts. The heart is
of activity) and made contribu- reached through the mother
tion of highest order to Gujarati tongue. In my region that was
literature,” Patel said. Gujarati,whichalsowasMahatma
FatherValleswasborninSpain Gandhi'smothertongue.Istudied
in 1925 and his father was a itduringthe"languageyear"pre-
known Spanish engineer after scribedforallJesuitseminarians,”
whom a dam is named there. Father Valles’ website elaborates
After Carlos Valles took the holy asto howhewasdrawntowards
orders, he was sent to India in Gujarati language.
1949 and around a decade later While teaching mathemat-
beame a mathematics teacher at ics at St Xavier’s College and at
St.Xavier’sCollegeinAhmedabad. the department of mathematics
“…IhadrealisedthatEnglish, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Ahmedabad
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
FROM PAGE ONE
Breakthrough
days before the company plans
tosubmitsafetyandefficacydata
from the trial to the American
regulator,theUnitedStatesFood
and Drug Administration (FDA)
seekingemergencyuseauthori-
sation “soon after the required
safety milestone is achieved,
which is currently expected to
occur in the third week of
November”.
Pfizer said on Monday that
following “discussion” with
USFDA, the company had “re-
cently elected to drop the 32-
case interim analysis and con-
duct the first interim analysis at
a minimum of 62 cases”.
“Upon the conclusion of
those discussions, the evaluable
case count reached 94 and the
DMCperformeditsfirstanalysis
on all cases. The case split be-
tween vaccinated individuals
and those who received the
placebo indicates a vaccine effi-
cacyrateabove90%,at7daysaf-
ter the second dose.
“This means that protection
is achieved 28 days after the ini-
tiation of the vaccination, which
consists of a 2-dose schedule,”
the company said.
Theclinicaltrialwillcontinue
through to “final analysis at 164
confirmed cases in order to col-
lectfurtherdataandcharacterise
thevaccinecandidate’sperform-
ance against other study end-
points”, the company said.
Cold chain issue
Pfizerhassaiditwouldman-
ufacture up to 100 million doses
of thevaccinebytheendof 2020,
andpotentiallymorethan1.2bil-
lion doses by the end of 2021. It
has so far announced agree-
ments to supply the vaccine to
countries including the US, UK,
Japan, and Canada.
Should the company (and its
partner,theGermanbiotechfirm
BioNTech) decide to approach
Indian regulatory authorities, a
key issue that will have to be ad-
dressed is that of the cold chain.
Pfizer'smRNAvaccinecandidate
requires storage and shipping in
sub-zero temperature condi-
tions.
AsubgroupformedbyIndia's
high-level expert group on vac-
cine administration has started
to map cold storage facilities
across the country, including
those available with the food
processingindustry.The28,000-
unit cold storage network that
thecountry'suniversalimmuni-
sation programme uses, cur-
rentlyhandlestemperatesinthe
range of 2-8 degrees Celsius.
GFSC
Luke, 72, has taken up farm-
ing at his village in Kollam dis-
trictof Kerala.“Ihavenopersonal
interest in this. But I needed to
bring this truth to the people of
Gujarat and India,” he added.
Whenhetookupthereinsof
GSFC in2003, the shares of the
company were trading at Rs 17
per share, which jumped to Rs
251 by the time he quit in 2006,
twoyearsaheadof hisscheduled
retirement.Theloss-makingPSU
had started making profits dur-
ing his tenure.
Chief secretary Anil Mukim
did not respond to calls, while
CMD of GSFC Arvind Agarwal
said, “He (Luke) has sent an
email. It is very long and has
some seven or eight links in it. I
have not yet seen it. He has been
behind this matter for about a
year. In January, he tweeted
something and it is is not proper
formetocomment...Itisaseven-
year-old matter and there is no
point in going in, digging. I don’t
know why he is doing it...”
On the status of GSFC’s in-
vestments in the Canadian firm
and the potash plant project,
Agarwalsaid,“Manyinvestment
decisions in the course of busi-
ness may not succeed. It is not
proper to blame anyone for it. A
person might take 10 decisions,
nine may succeed, one may not.
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If we hold a person responsible
for a decision that may not have
succeeded,thenbythatlogicno-
body will take decisions.”
Adding that GSFC continues
to have 38 per cent equity, he
added, “The question of drop-
ping it does not arise as we have
invested in the shares of the
company...Wehavenotinvested
in a plant or project. It is now for
thecompanytotakeuptheproj-
ect.Wearenotintheday-to-day
management of the company...
Now when company finds the
Potashmarketsuitable,theywill
take up the project.”
Karnalyte Resources Inc
states on its website that it was
founded in 2007 and entered
intoastrategicpartnershipwith
GSFC for USD 44.7 million in
2013. Under this agreement,
GSFC was to purchase 350,000
tonne of potash per year in
Phase-1. The agreement also
states that GSFC was to increase
itsoff-taketo600,000tonnesper
year in Phase 2 and up to
10,00,000 tonne per year in
Phase 3.
Thechairmanboardof direc-
tors of Karnalyte Resources is
VishveshDNanavatywhoisalso
the chief finance officer at GSFC.
Arnab bail plea
police at the Taloja Central Jail
wheretheyarecurrentlylodged.
Theywillbequestioneddaily
for three hours — the CJM court
accepted the police application
seeking permission to question
them. Police had to seek court
permissionbecausetheyhadnot
been granted custody of the
three men.
Goswami, Shaikh and Sarda
werearrestedonNovember4af-
ter police in Raigad reopened a
case involving the death of inte-
riordesignerAnvayNaikandhis
mother Kumud Naik at their
home in Alibag in May 2018.
According to police, the Naiks
committed suicide over alleged
non-payment of dues by
Goswami’schannelandcompa-
nies of the two other men.
In the High Court, the bench
of Justices S S Shinde and M S
Karnik rejected the interim bail
pleas of the three accused, say-
ing “no case is made out for re-
leaseof applicantunderextraor-
dinary writ jurisdiction”.
The bench said its observa-
tions were of “prima facie na-
ture”andrejectionof theinterim
bail applications “should not be
construed as impediment”.
It said its earlier direction of
the accused being at liberty to
apply for bail under Section 439
of the CrPC before the sessions
court remained unaffected and
the application should be heard
and disposed “expeditiously”
within four days of filing.
Senior advocates Harish
Salve and Aabad Ponda, repre-
sentingGoswami,hadsoughthis
interim release, arguing that his
arrest was “completely illegal”.
Goswami’s plea had stated
thattheclosurereportontheFIR
in the case was filed in 2019,
whichwasacceptedbythemag-
istrate the same day, and an A-
summary report was filed.
Pondasaiditwasnotchallenged
in any court nor was there any
protestpetitionbytheinformant
and no remedy was exercised.
The bench said it had exam-
ined the documents on record
and observed that before carry-
ingouttheprobe,themagistrate
was intimated about further in-
vestigation, and there was en-
dorsement of 'seen and file'. It
said statements under Section
164 of the CrPC were recorded
afterobtainingpermissionof the
CJM.
“In our opinion, the further
investigation cannot be termed
as illegal” or one “without seek-
ing permission of the
Magistrate," it said.
Thejudgessaidtherewas“no
doubt in their mind” that the
state government can “always”
directfurtherinvestigationtothe
policeofficersconcerned,aswas
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
VIDEO OF THE DAY
First FIR filed in scholarship scam
150 students in the school but
onlysevenfromminoritycom-
munities. I have never verified
any scholarship application,”
Kumar said.
About20kmaway,atBinda
village in Barachetti block, The
Indian Express tracked down
two of these beneficiaries,
listed in records as Class 7 stu-
dents who received Rs 5,700
each for 2019-20. One of them
was Mohammad Arshad
Ansari, 20, an apprentice bar-
ber, and the other his neigh-
bour, Shaiyma Parveen, 16, a
Class 10 student in a local gov-
ernment school.
Ansari said he had never
studied in Manu Indian Public
School,andthathehadcleared
Class 10 from a government
school two years ago. He con-
firmed that he got the money
thisyearafter“aformwasfilled
byalocalpersononmybehalf”.
Parveen showed her ID card
fromagovernmentschooland
confirmed that she had re-
ceived the money after a
teacher “took down our
names”.
The Indian Express found
that the nexus stole IDs and
passwords to access the
National Scholarship Portal
(NSP) to dupe students and set
up fake beneficiaries, while
genuine poor minority stu-
dents were left out or were
given only a portion of the
money.
TheFIRstates:“FromManu
Bihar: JD(U)-BJP holds on to hope, RJD upbeat
allowedinside,andyetitdidn’t
matter. Through the day, there
wereatleastahundredpeople
standing outside, with gar-
lands, sweets and Tejashwi's
photographs. Tejashwi didn’t
emerge outside, but they
waited nonetheless.
“Pradesh ke agle mukhya-
mantri ka janamdin manaane
aaye hai. Kal unko sabse accha
giftmilega(We'vecometocel-
ebrate the birthday of the
state's next chief minister. He
will get the best gift tomor-
row),” said Munna Yadav, an
RJD worker from Patna.
The long electoral battle for
the Bihar Assembly draws to a
close on Tuesday, when the re-
sults for the 243 Assembly
seats will be announced. The
election has seen Nitish fight-
ing for a fourth term, facing
seeminganti-incumbencyand
economic distress, in an al-
liance with the BJP that
seemed to develop deep fault-
lines,particularlywiththeLJP’s
decision to contest separately,
away from the NDA.
Much of the conversation
around the RJD-led Grand
Alliance,withtheCongressand
theLeftaspartners,hasbeenon
itsabilitytotapintothisanti-in-
done in the present case.
Accepting the state govern-
ment’s submissions through
senior counsel Amit Desai, the
benchsaid,“Thecontinuousper-
suasion of State Government by
theinformantforredressalof her
grievance and the concerned IO,
after intimating the Magistrate,
commences the further investi-
gation,cannotbesaidtobeirreg-
ular or illegal by any stretch of
imagination."
“Victim’s rights are equally
important like the rights of the
accused. We cannot accept peti-
tioner's contention that there
cannot be further probe when
Magistrate's order accepting ‘A’
summary was without notice
and without giving opportunity
to the informant for filing the
protest petition," it said.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
WHY NASA IS OBJECTING TO AN UPCOMING MEGA-CONSTELLATION OF SATELLITES
Thesatelliteswillbeequippedwithlargeantennasthatwillgoupto900squaremetres.
BIHAR ELECTION
UPDATE
Indian Express
reporters talk about the
mood from the ground
Public School, one person was
given the user ID and pass-
word... However, as per the
publishedreport(inThe Indian
Express)therewasnoKYCdoc-
uments submitted, which is a
matter of investigation.”
Theapplicationsneedtobe
verified first by designated
nodalheadsinschoolswhoare
registeredwithdistrictwelfare
officers. They are checked by
thedistrictandstatenodaloffi-
cers before being sent to the
Ministry of Minority Affairs,
which verifies and uploads
themontheNSPbeforedisbur-
sal through Direct Benefit
Transfer (DBT).
The FIR states: “Ansari and
Parveen accepted that they
were not students of Manu
Indian Public School...The
owner of the school also gave
in writing that these two, in-
cluding 133 students, are not
his students and also Babar Ali
does not hold any post in the
school."
ApartfromGaya,TheIndian
Express found that scholarship
records show a beneficiary in
Bihar's Saharsa district from St
Mathews SSS in Purhiran,
which is in Punjab's
Hoshiarpur. The beneficary,
identified as Atul Singha, has
been shown as a Muslim and
the son of “Rahman”. William
Tell, the school owner, said the
institution has no branch out-
sidePunjab,andthattherewas
no student by that name.
cumbency,withTejashwicross-
crossingthestateatabreathless
rate, to shore up votes beyond
the traditional Muslim-Yadav
bastions.
The day before the election
results, the RJD-led alliance
seemed confident, boosted by
the exit polls which gave it a
clear edge.
On Sunday, the RJD leader-
ship had sent out a pointed
message to the cadres, telling
them to accept any result on
counting day with humility
and grace, and to refrain from
inappropriate celebrations, in-
cluding celebratory gunfire.
The cadres were also asked to
stay away from Tejashwi's
home on his 31st birthday, as
he wished to celebrate it in a
simple manner.
Munna Yadav said he was
following both the guidelines.
“Lookateveryonehere.Weare
all from Patna and nearby. We
will be at our stations tomor-
row to ensure nothing goes
wrong. I only have some flow-
ers to give him... Hopefully, he
will come out. Even if he does-
n’t, there is no place I’d rather
be,” he said.
Till late evening, while the
chief ministerial aspirant had-
‘Stop telecast’
The plaintiffs have sought the
High Court’s intervention to en-
sure that the channels and their
journalistsabidebyprovisionsof
the Programme Code under the
Cable Television Network Rules,
1994.
Hearing in the matter has
beenadjournedtoDecember14,
and parties including the TV
channels, have been directed to
file written responses.
Appearing for the plaintiffs,
senioradvocateRajivNayarcited
“defamatory”programmestele-
cast by TV channels and said
when such reportage is used as
a means to increase TRP, others
start following.
Nayar said it started with ac-
torSushantSinghRajput’sdeath,
and “suicide became murder,
Bollywood became criminals,
FULL COVERAGE
Besides, this newspaper
found at least 39 beneficiaries
acrosssixdistrictsinBiharfrom
the Kendriya Vidyalaya at
Nazira in Assam's Sivasagar.
They are all fake, the KV's prin-
cipal said.
In Assam, the arrests were
spread across four other dis-
tricts -- Goalpara, Darrang,
KamrupandDhubri--afterthe
FIRwaslodgedonAugust28by
Mahmood Hassan, who is the
state's nodal officer for the
scholarship.
The CID said that a case has
been registered under IPC sec-
tions120(B),406,409,419,420,
468 and 471, which deal with
fraud,cheatingandconspiracy,
forallegedmisappropriationof
the scholarship's funds for
2018-19 and 2019-20.
“We received several com-
plaints that eligible applicants
were not getting the money.
Middlemen were scamming
the process...Fake mobile
phone numbers and SIM cards
were used,” said Hassan, who
is also director of the state mi-
nority development board.
The modus operandi mir-
rors those found by The Indian
ExpressinJharkhandandBihar.
“In one model, the head mas-
ters had got the students to fill
the applications. After that,
theymanipulatedthebankde-
tailswiththehelpof ownersof
CustomerServicePoints(CSPs)
of banks,andmiddlemen,”said
Surendra Kumar, IGP (CID),
n’t stepped out, his brother, Tej
Pratap Yadav, did, with a sim-
ple message: the RJD was con-
fident, and his brother was on
coursetobetheyoungestchief
minister.
In another part of Patna,
there was another set of con-
trasts. Veerchand Patel Path is
home to the party offices of the
threebiggestplayersinthiselec-
tion -- the RJD, JD(U) and BJP.
Outside the RJD office, the
mood was similar to that out-
side Tejashwi’s residence. As
television cameras turned on,
supporters rushed to them,
feedingeachothersweets,abit
prematurely. But young
Maqsoor Khan was confident.
“This is not premature at all.
The only debate is about the
scale of victory. Dedh sau paar,
ya ek sau picchatar paar (past
150, or past 175),” he said.
About200metresahead,at
the BJP’s office, the conversa-
tion outside was decidedly
more somber, but hope wasn't
lostyet.Theyspokeof howexit
polls have been wrong before,
pointing to 2015. “I don’t be-
lieve these exit polls. The peo-
ple I met were all afraid of jun-
gle raj, and voted for us. They
may not have told the media
Bollywood then became drug
peddlers, drug consumers, drug
solicitors… then Bollywood has
ISIlinks”.Hecalleditascurrilous
campaign.
Advocate Akhil Sibal said
there’s a disjunct between jour-
nalism “as a normative concept
which embodies a certain set of
principlesthatweassociatewith
journalism”andacertainsection
of TV news media “which ap-
pears to have abandoned those
principles”.Theprivilegethatthe
mediaoriginallyenjoyed,hesaid,
needed a rethink.
Justice Shakdher observed,
“Some of us were really young
andweusedtofindDoordarshan
very stale. I wish Doordarshan
comes back. They had some
lovely broadcasters there… I ac-
tuallythinkblackandwhite,and
Doordarshan was much better”.
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
THE CONTROVERSIES
OF IPL 2020
Even before IPL started
in mid-September,
controversies aplenty
Assam.
“In another, middlemen
had fraudulently obtained the
login credentials of the school
without any knowledge of the
headmasterandwereverifying
the applications,” he said. The
CID have also seized three lap-
tops, 217 photographs, 104
bonafidecertificates,173appli-
cationformsand11bankpass-
books.
As part of its investigation,
The Indian Express matched
entries, district by district, on
the NSP with beneficiary bank
accounts in the Public Finance
Management System (PFMS)
to find several cases of the
scholarship being illegally di-
verted -- first in six districts
across Jharkhand and then in
Bihar.
ThisPre-MatricScholarship
Scheme, launched in 2008 by
theUPAGovernment,ismeant
to help students of minority
communities, Muslims,
Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains
and Buddhists, from families
with annual income below Rs
1 lakh.
Tobeeligible,studentsneed
to score at least 50 per cent in
their class exams. Students
from Class 1 to 5 receive Rs
1,000 per year, and students of
Class 6 to 10 receive Rs 5,700 a
year if they are day scholars or
Rs10,700if theyareinahostel.
Most of the corruption, The
Indian Express found, is related
to these last two categories.
because of how aggressive the
Yadav community was this
time, but I believe there was a
silent vote for the NDA,” said
Sanket Singh, a BJP worker
from Patna.
But there was also talk, in
quiet whispers, of possible
electoral miscalculations, par-
ticularly regarding the LJP and
the decision to stick with
Nitish.“Istillthinkwewillwin,
but I am sure that if we had
fought with the LJP and not
Nitish Kumar, we would have
won comfortably. Naaraazagi
toh thi unke khilaaf (there was
resentmentagainsthim),”said
a party worker.
Across the road, the office
of the JD(U) was even emptier,
with just a handful of people
walking around. But here too,
much of the hope rested on
the “silent voter”. “For years,
no leader has done for the EBC
and the women what Nitishji
has done. They will not aban-
don him. Yes, it is a tough fight,
but the only government that
will be formed is of Nitish,”
said Mukesh Kumar, from
Patna Sahib, who had come to
“ensure that he stands with
the JD(U) even in difficult
times.”
Observing that there “needs
to be some toning down” and
that it seems the news channels
were not following the
Programme Code, he asked,
“Whatisthenextstephereif you
do not follow self-regulation?
What is to be done in a matter
like this? You are prejudging is-
sues. It is less news, more opin-
ion. It is a general remark, across
the board. What do we do about
this?”
“Your undertakings to the
courtandtheauthority…itdoes
not seem to be working. All of
you have to think about it. It is a
littledishearteninganddemoral-
ising. It demoralises. Today it is
not hurting us… suppose it is
your(lawyers)fraternitytomor-
row. Surely, you (media) can in-
vestigate…butithastobefairre-
portage… you say so and so is a
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
The concerns over
cyber attacks on two
Indian pharma firms
NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY
In today’s episode, we’re looking at why
cyber attacks on two Indian
pharmaceutical firms is a matter of
concern
person of interest… he is being
investigated,” Justice Shakdher
said.
Observing that people are
“really scared” about the fourth
estategiventhatnoonewantsto
have private lives dragged in
public, he said the question of
privacy may become diluted
when it comes to personalities.
“Becauseif youliveonpublic
praise… you are expected to get
a certain amount of flak as well,
but please see what happened
when the media chased some-
one like (Princess) Diana. The
drift was she died because she
wasracingawayfromthemedia.
What I am trying to say is it has
happened in other cases also.
You need to tell what is to be
done here. You cannot go on like
this.Courtsarethelastoneswho
wanttointerfereinallthis…but
what is happening here… is no
one wanting to follow the
Code?” he said.
Referring to the system
prevalent in other countries, he
said names of accused or sus-
pects are not disclosed till a
chargesheetisfiled.Hesaidhere
the situation is that there is not
even an FIR, but the media al-
ready starts reporting and iden-
tifying persons.
Justice Shakdher asked the
counseltoassistthecourtinthis
regard. He also referred to the
episodeof aDelhi-basedteacher
who“almostgotlynched”dueto
fake reporting and asked, “Does
no one take responsibility be-
cause she does not have money
to come to court and sue these
channels?”.
Hesaid“attheendof theday
we need to resolve this issue”
and asked the counsel to think
what needs to be put in place to
helpchangethewayreportingis
done.
He asked senior advocate
Kapil Sibal, who represents
Facebook in the case, to address
the court on the issue. Sibal said,
“Wemustprotectthefreedomof
thepress,thepressmustprotect
other people’s freedom as well...
that balance has to be brought
about.”
TheHighCourtobservedthat
the aggrieved individuals have
notpersonallybecomeplaintiffs
in the case, and asked why they
were hesitant to take the next
step.
Akhil Sibal said the “mali-
cious attack” is on Bollywood as
a whole, and there is also an ele-
ment that the individuals are
“vulnerable”.
“The idea is not to attack the
media as a whole. The idea is:
this has to stop. There has to be
some course correction. It can-
not go on like this. It is crossing a
line.Wearenothalf-hearted,but
it is also not a fight with the
fourth estate. The fringe, what
usedtobecalledyellowjournal-
ism, appears to be becoming
mainstream. A signal needs to
come from court,” he said.
Border standoff
resolved after Modi had raised
the issue with the visiting
Chinese President in
Ahmedabad.
But this time, there has been
no sign of disengagement and
de-escalation after eight rounds
of military talks, six rounds of
diplomatic talks and at least one
face-to-face meeting between
the Indian and Chinese NSAs,
Defence ministers and External
Affairs ministers.
So far, the key factor that has
kept tensions in check is the ab-
senceof escalatorymovesonthe
border since External Affairs
Minister S Jaishankar and
Chinese State Councillor and
ForeignMinisterWangYiagreed
onajointapproachtodefusethe
situation.
RussiaischairingtheSCOand
BRICSsummits.TheSCOsummit
willalsobeattendedbyPakistan
Prime Minister Imran Khan and
Russian President Vladimir
Putin, among others.
Sources said that this year,
the summit will end with the
adoption of a Moscow
Declaration. There will also be
SCOstatementsonissueslikethe
commemorationof the75than-
niversaryof WorldWarII,digital
economy,Covid,cyberterrorism
andthedrugthreat,sourcessaid.
There will also be decisions re-
lating to major projects and ini-
tiatives in trade and economy.
Jesuit priest
Father Carlos G Valles lived
with ordinary families in
the walled city area of
Ahmedabad. File
intheGujaratUniversity,healso
wrote mathematics text books
in Gujarati and gave terms like
Ganforsetsandmandalforring.
Healsostartedwritingessays
in Gujarati, touching a range of
subjects including spirituality,
simplicity, religion, youth, edu-
cation, and morality. He wrote
more than 70 books in Gujarati,
including best sellers like
Tarunashram, Utkrushtana
Panthe, Sanskartirth, Ek Rashtra
Ek Shikshak and Gandhiji ane
Navi Pedhi.
Sitanshu Yashchandra, au-
thor who was president of
Gujarati Sahitya Parishad till re-
cently, said he saw similarities
between Father Valles and Sir
Alexander Kinloch Forbes, an
EastIndiaCompanyadministra-
tor who had become close
friends of Gujarati poet
Dalpatram and who founded
Gujarati Vernacular Society in
Ahmedabad.
“Though he was a foreigner,
Sir Alexander was a teacher for
Gujarat.So,wasFatherValles.Sir
Alexanderhadapoliticalmission
as he was a servant of the East
IndiaCompanyandFatherValles
hadareligiousmission.Butboth
of them transcended their mis-
sions and became missionaries
of different kinds.”
In 1995, he received Acharya
Kakasaheb Kalelkar Award for
Universal Harmony and in 1997,
the Ramakrishna Jaidalal
Harmony Award. In between
teachingmathematicsandwrit-
ingessaysandbooksinGujarati,
he also represented India thrice
at World Congress of
Mathematicians.
“DespitebeinganEuropean,
he overcame hurdles of culture
and languages and achieved
heightsinGujaratiliterature.His
particular achievement was
sprinkling deep thinking and
sensitivity in humour,” Prof
Jignesh Upadhyay, professor of
Gujarati at DH Arts College,
Rajkot said.
“As his father and elder
brother had died, he returned to
Spain in early 1990s to take care
of his mother. However, he used
to visit Gujarat regularly. His last
visit was in 2016,” Father
Vinayak said.
FULLREPORTSON
www.indianexpress.com
Ahmedabad
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

3 GUJARAT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
BODY FOUND IN KURJE DAM
GUJARAT OIL SUPPLIER KILLED IN MAHARASHTRA
A 29-year-old oil supplier from Gujarat was allegedly kidnapped and killed by unidentified
persons in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, police said Monday. The body of the victim,
Nilesh Rawal, was found floating in Kurje dam in Talasari taluka on Sunday, police said.

State reports CASE TRACKER BJP names 39 presidents for its city, district units
971 fresh Places
Ahmedabad
Confirmed Deaths
43,106 1,921
New cases
183
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
Chauhan in Kheda, Harshgiri
Gosai in Ahmedabad,
Banaskantha, Keshubhai Patel
in Kutch, Vimal Kagathra in
Patel in Junagadh (district),
Mansinh Parmar in Gir
Covid cases, Amreli
Anand
2,915
1,525
26
16
15
4
SURAT, NOVEMBER 9 Ruchirbhai Bhatt
Gandhinagar city, JD Patel in
in Jmanagar (city) and Ramesh
Mungra in Jamnagar (district),
Somnath, Kiritbhai Modhwadia
in Porbander, Kaushik

five deaths Aravalli

Banaskantha
831
2,983
24
33
11
21
THE BHARATIYA Janata Party
(BJP) on Monday named the
Sabarkantha and Rajendra
Jethabhai Patel (Chaudhary) in
Khimbhai Jogal (Ahir) in
Devbhumi Dwarka,
Vekariya in Amreli, Rajivbhai
Pandya in Bhavnagar (city),
presidents of its 39 city and dis- Aravalli. Kamleshbhai Mirani in Rajkot Mukeshbhai Langalriya in
Bharuch 3,047 17 6
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE trict units across Gujarat, many Jashubhai Patel has been ap- (city), Mansukh Khachariya in Bhavnagar (district),
AHMEDABAD,NOVEMBER9 Bhavnagar 4,952 69 8 of them being new appointees. pointed president of Mehsana Rajkot (district), Durlabhji Bhikhubhai Vaghela in Botad,
Botad 849 5 6 The the first major an- district unit, Dashrat Thakore in Dethariya in Morbi, Punitbhai Jagdishbhai Dalwadi in
GUJARAT'S CORONAVIRUS tally Chhota Udepur 704 4 3 nouncement after CR Paatil Patan, Gumansinh Chauhan in Sharma in Junagadh (city), Kirit Jamnagar.
touchednearly1.82lakhcaseson Dahod 2,010 7 15 took over as the party’s state
Mondaywith971freshcases,the president comes months before Senior BJP leaders were
Dang 121
statehealthdepartmentdatasaid. elections to the local self gov- consulted before the names
Five persons, including one in DevbhoomiDwarka 818 5 6 ernment bodies. The tenure of were announced, said
Mehsana,succumbedtotheviral Gandhinagar 5,258 95 39 president of city and district Paatil. File
infection on the day, it said. Gir Somnath 1,873 21 7 units is three years.
At least 1,000 patients were Jamnagar 8,515 35 16 Talking to The Indian Express,
discharged across Gujarat on Paatil said, “We look at different (former Mayor of Surat city),
Monday. So far, 1.65 lakh Covid- Junagadh 3,861 32 16 aspects such as the candidate’s Sandeep Desai in Surat (dis-
19patientshavebeendischarged. Kheda 1,695 15 12 acceptability in the party, sen- trict), Dr Jayram Gamit in Tapi,
Ahmedabaddistrictreported Kutch 2,785 33 20 iority, behavior with the party Marutisinh Atodariya in
over180casesMonday.Mehsana Mahisagar 1,311 13 11 workers along with other fac- Bharuch, Ghanshyam Patel in
and Gandhinagar saw a drop in Mehsana 4,234 33 45 tors. Senior leaders are con- Narmada, Dr Vijay Shah in
infections,adayafterthetwodis- sulted before announcing the Vadodara (city), Ashwin Patel
trictsreported75and66cases,re- Morbi 2,277 18 14 names.” in Vadodara (district),
spectively. Jamnagar and Narmada 1,458 1 8 The new names announced Rashmikant Vasava in Chhota
Junagadh,whichreported16new Navsari 1,375 7 2 on Monday include: Dashrat Udepur, Ashwinbhai Patel in
caseseachonMonday,alsosawa Panchmahal 2,996 22 9 Pawar in Dangs district, Hemant Panchmahal, Dashratbhai
declineascomparedtoadayago. Kansara in Valsad district, Bariya in Mahisagar, Shanker
Patan 2,778 46 38
OnSunday,Junagadhdistrictcol- Bhurabhai Shah in Navsari, Amaliyar in Dadhod, Vipul Patel
lectorhaddesignated24areasas Porbandar 950 4 9 Niranjan Zanzmera in Surat city (Sojitra) in Anand, Arjunsinh
micro-containment zones after Rajkot 14,244 171 90
18 new cases were reported. Sabarkantha 1,859 12 9
Surat 38,777 853 189
Surendranagar 2,540 13 21
Tapi 854 6 5
Vadodara 16,672 223 29
Valsad 1,258 8 4
Other states 148 3

Cumulative Total New Cumulative

Covid-19 tests held at Sardar discharge: cases: cases: deaths:
Bridge area. Nirmal Harindran 1,65,589 1,81,951 971 3,793

Robbers hold children hostage, loot house

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
VADODARA, NOVEMBER 9
TWOMINORSwereallegedlyas-
saulted and held hostage during
a robbery at a railway sectional
engineer’s residence at Govind
Nagar area in Dahod town on
Monday evening, police said.
According to police, the four
accused had recced the area and
tracked the engineer for some
time. On Monday, after the en-
gineer and his wife left for the
marketaround8pmtopurchase
a cake for the birthday of one of
the two children, they entered
the house and decamped with
gold ornaments and cash
amounting to over Rs 30 lakh,
police said.
“The children were alone in
the house when the robbers en-
tered it. It seems the four crimi-
nals were waiting for the couple
to leave before breaking in.
Society residents said they did
not hear any sound as the rob-
bers had held the children cap-
tive,” an officer said. According
to the complainant, the robbers
took Rs 2.5 lakh in cash and gold
jewellery worth Rs 28.5 lakh.
Further probe in the matter is
underway, police said.

(CIN: L65910GJ1987PLC009699)
3, Ravipushpa Apartment, Opp Sunset Row House, Gurukul Road,
Ahmedabad - 380052 Email Id: mccl1987@gmail.com
Website: www.mccl.in.net Telephone No. (079) 27471946
EXTRACT OF STANDALONE UNAUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE
QUARTER AND HALF YEAR ENDED ON SEPTEMBER 30,2020
(Rs. In Lacs)
(Except Earning Per Share)
Q ua rte r H a lf Ye a r Q ua rte r P re vious Ye a r
e nde d e nde d e nde d e nde d
3 0 -0 9 -2 0 2 0 3 0 -0 9 -2 0 2 0 3 0 -0 9 -2 0 1 9 3 1 -0 3 -2 0 2 0
(U na udite d) ( U na udite d ) ( U na udite d ) ( Audite d )
Total Income from Operations (net) 3 9 2 .9 4 2 2 3 .8 7 2 7 7 .2 4 6 2 0 .9 2
Net Pro t / (Loss) for the period (before
Tax, Exceptional and/or Extraordinary 2 4 9 .6 3 7 0 .4 6 2 2 8 .2 6 (9 .3 9 )
items)
Net Pro t/ (Loss) for the period before tax
(after Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) 2 4 9 .6 3 7 0 .4 6 2 2 8 .2 6 (9 .3 9 )
Net Pro t/ (Loss) for the period after tax
(after Exceptional and/or Extraordinary items) 2 4 9 .6 3 7 0 .5 6 2 2 8 .2 6 (4 2 .5 4 )
Total Comprehensive Income for the period
[Comprising Pro t / (Loss) for the period
(after tax) and other Comprehensive Income 2 4 9 .6 3 7 0 .5 6 2 2 8 .2 6 (4 2 .5 4 )
(after tax)]

Equity share capital 6 0 0 .0 0 6 0 0 .0 0 6 0 0 .0 0 6 0 0 .0 0

Earning Per Share (of Rs.10/- each)
(for continuing and discontinued operations)
Basic: 4 .1 6 1 .1 8 3 .8 0 (0 .7 1 )
Diluted: 4 .1 6 1 .1 8 3 .8 0 (0 .7 1 )
Note :
The Above is an extract of the detailed format of Quarter and Half year ended Financial Results filed with the Stock Exchanges
under Regulation 33 of the SEBI (Listing obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.
The full format of the Quarterly and Half year ended Financial Results are available on the websites of the Stock Exchange(s)
and the listed entity ( www.mccl.in.net and www.msei.in ).
FOR MERIT CREDIT CORPORATION LIMITED
SD/-
DIRECTOR
Place : Ahmedabad (HARDIK G. TRIVEDI)
Date : 9th November, 2020 DIN: 06597460

Ahmedabad
 4 GUJARAT
BREAK TIME
Monkeys rest on top of a car parked near Paldi in Ahmedabad. Nirmal Harindran
Surat collector cites pandemic, seeks time
from NGT for action on illegal shrimp ponds
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
SURAT, NOVEMBER 9
IN AN interim report to the
NationalGreenTribunal,theSurat
District Collector has cited the
coronaviruspandemicforadelay
inidentifyingillegalshrimpponds
in the district and sought more
time to complete the mapping
such ponds on rivers Tapi, Min-
dhola, and Kim, and Tena creek.
OnAugust24,thegreentribu-
nal had issued notices to the
Ministry of Environment Forest
andClimateChangeandotherson
a petition filed by an NGO over il-
legal encroachment of shrimp
ponds and salt pans on the flood
At the Polytechnic College where ballot boxes for Karjan
bypolls are kept. Bhupendra Rana
Assembly by-elections: 320
officials to count votes today
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, NOVEMBER 9
THE ELECTION Commission has
deputed 320 officials for the
countingof votesineightcentres
on Tuesday for the bypolls held
toeightassemblyconstituencies
in the state on November 3.
Over 11.39 lakh voters exer-
cised their franchise in Dangs,
Kaprada, Abdasa, Limbdi, Morbi,
Dhari, Gadhada and Karjan.
“Seating arrangements have
TO SHOWCASE 11 LAKH TOYS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY
‘World largest’ toy museum
set to come up in Gandhinagar
DIVYA A
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
THEGUJARATgovernmentplans
to build the largest toy museum
in the world, showcasing 11 lakh
toys from across the country. To
come up in Gandhinagar’s GIFT
(Gujarat International Finance
Tec) City, the museum will be
completedoverthenextthreeto
five years at an estimated cost of
Rs 1,500 crore.
The project has been envis-
aged by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to give a push to
India’s homemade toy industry.
The Children’s University in
Gandhinagar, which functions
under the Gujarat Department
of Higher Education, has been
made the nodal agency for the
project. The university has been
tasked with developing toys as
per “the values and traditions of
ancient and modern India”.
Thestatehasalreadygranted
Children’s University 30 acres at
GIFT City to expand its campus,
of which around 8-10 acres is
likely to be dedicated to the Toy
Bhawan and Museum project.
Once complete, entry to the mu-
plainsofTenacreekandKimriver
in Surat and Bharuch districts.
The petition, filed by NGO
BrackishWaterResearchCentre’s
MSHShaikh,statedtheillegalen-
croachments lead to bottlenecks
inthewaterflowintotheseaand
damagetocoastalecology,andvi-
olated the Environment Protect
Act, 1986, CRZ notifications of
2011 and 2019. The NGT bench
had asked the Centre and others
to file its reply on the petition,
through email, within six weeks.
AnothercomplainttotheNGT,
filed by Surat-resident Roshni
Patel had alleged that illegal en-
croachment of shrimp farms on
Tapi and Mindhola rivers/estuar-
ies in the district had affected the
been made inside the counting
centres for the candidates, their
agents and staff members. The
hall will be sanitised before the
counting begins at 8 am,” the
Election Commission said in a
statement here.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions,
the number of tables for count-
inghasbeenlimited.Masks,face
shields, sanitisers and thermal
guns have also been made avail-
able.Thevoterturnoutintheby-
polls was 60.75 per cent where
81 candidates contested.
seum would be ticketed at a
nominal rate.
Vice-Chancellor Harshad
Shahsaidtheprojectiscurrently
in the primary stage and work
will start over the next two to
three months. “Among the 11
lakh toys, there will be toys
based on education, science, as-
tronomy, language, history, cul-
tureandsocialscience.However,
there will be no guns or toys that
promote violence, or even teddy
bears, which propagate lethargy
in children,” he said.
Shah said Modi held a virtual
meeting with him in August to
discuss the concept, with four
UnionMinisters—NitinGadkari,
Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani and
Ramesh Pokhriyal — also pres-
ent. Later, the PM in his next
Mann Ki Baat programme laid
focus on building toys in India to
give a boost to Atmanirbhar
Bharat, while reducing our de-
pendence of foreign-manufac-
tured toys.
The museum will focus on
the history of India and impor-
tant landmark moments
through toys and tableaus. For
instance, there will be sections
dedicated to ISRO’s Gaganyaan
coastal ecology. The NGT bench
had given the Centre time till
September 22 to file the interim
and action taken reports in the
matter.OnMonday,SuratDistrict
Collector Dr Dhaval Patel said he
has filed interim reports on both
theapplicationsandsoughtmore
timefromtheNGTduetotheon-
going Covid-19 pandemic.
Theinterimreport,filedinre-
sponsetopetitionerRoshniPatel,
mentioned that an assessment
study has been carried out in 12
villages on both sides of Tapi and
Mindhola rivers/estuaries, the
Collector said. The study, the re-
port stated, included identifica-
tionofshrimpfarms,thestatusof
theirlegality/permission,compli-
Vadodara zoo
to reopen
from Nov 13
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
VADODARA, NOVEMBER 9
THE SAYAJIBAUG zoo that has
been closed to the public since
the Covid-19 outbreak, will re-
open for nearly four hours from
Friday.
The Vadodara Municipal
Corporation (VMC) has decided
to reopen the zoo as per the
guidelines issued by the Central
Zoo Authority (CZA) after ex-
tending the closure for over a
month.
The Sayajibaug zoo will re-
main open from 8 am to 10 am
and 4 pm to 5.30 pm each day,
officials said.
Curator Pratyush Patankar
said, “The Covid-19 guidelines
will be strictly enforced.
Construction work at new en-
closures for big cats is almost
complete and soon the
animals will be seen roaming
freely inside their new
enclosures, which will be an
added attraction for the
visitors.”
project, EVM machines and the
First War of Independence in
1857. With the help of DRDO,
replicas of electronically-oper-
ated, battery-operated and so-
lar-basedrockets,PrithviMissile,
Agni Missile and satellites will
also be put on display.
Shah said, “Currently, several
Union ministries are actively
working and guiding us to frame
this subject. They may extend
theirtangibleandintangiblesup-
porttoustocompletetheproject.”
The state will also rope in
hundreds of local artisans to
build toys showcasing the tradi-
tions of India.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani
said, “Gujarat has been at the
centreof industrialdevelopment
inIndiaandit’sourvisionthatthe
state contributes to the toy mar-
ket as well. The state produces
traditional toys and will con-
tribute to the PM’s Atmanirbhar
Bharat Mission with the largest
toy museum in the world.”
At present, the largest toy
museum in the world is the
World’s Largest Toy Museum
Complex in the US state of
Missouri,whichhasover10lakh
toys on display.
ance of condition under permis-
sion status of CRZ violation, and
measurement of individual
ponds.Theapproximateareacov-
ered by the Tapi and Mindhola
rivers/estuaries is around 2,500
hectares.
Dr Patel said, “We have relied
on both the petitions on illegal
shrimppondsinSuratdistrictand
have sought more time (in both
cases).Duetotheprolongedrainy
season and adverse field condi-
tions for survey work, and the
present Covid-19 outbreak, the
measurements of shrimp farms
have not been completed. It will
take three more months and ac-
tion will be initiated soon as per
the report.”
Deputy CM Nitin Patel inspects a bandicoot robot, which can clean manholes, in Gandhinagar on Monday. Gandhinagar
will be the second corporation after Surat to use such robots that cost Rs 38 lakh. Express
16 migratory birds poached from RAPE CASE TRIAL DELAYED
‘Investigating officer busy
Nalsarovar sanctuary, one held maintaining
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
RAJKOT, NOVEMBER 9
A MAN has been arrested for al-
legedly poaching 16 migratory
birds from the Nalsarovar Bird
Sanctuary wetland in
Ahmedabad district early on
Monday, state forest depart-
ment officials said.
Around 4 am on Monday, a
forest department patrol team
stopped the man, later identi-
fied as Rajesh Bhuvatra, a
resident of Shiyal village at
Bavla taluka, and found 15
Garganey ducks and a Godwit
from a polythene bag he was
carrying.
“We had an intelligence in-
put that a poaching attempt
ANKLESHWAR FINANCE FIRM
Masked men ‘rob gold, cash worth Rs 3.30 cr’ at gunpoint
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
SURAT, NOVEMBER 9
GOLD ORNAMENTS worth Rs
3.29croreandRs1.79lakhincash
wererobbedMondayatgunpoint
by four men from a gold finance
firm, India Infoline Finance
Limited (IIFL), at Ankleshwar in
Bharuch district, police said. The
robbers,allegedlywearingmasks
and sports caps, fled with the
DAHEJ INDUSTRIAL FIRE
State submits action
taken report to NGT
Lists measures like off-site emergency mock drills
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
AHMEDABAD,NOVEMBER9
INANactiontakenreportsubmit-
ted on November 7 before the
National Green Tribunal (NGT),
whichhadinitiatedsuomotupro-
ceedingsafterafirebrokeoutata
Vizag chemical plant in July, the
Gujarat government has listed
measuresitplanstoundertaketo
safeguardagainstfireaccidentsin
the state, including filling up va-
cantpostsandoff-siteemergency
mock drills once a year.
In July, the principal bench of
thegreentribunal,whilereferring
to the industrial blast at a chemi-
cal plant, Yashashvi Rasayan
PrivateLtd,inDahej,haddirected
the Gujarat Chief Secretary Anil
Mukim to file an action taken re-
port. The June 3 blast had left 10
workersdeadandseveralinjured.
During a meeting, chaired by
Mukim in August, a Gujarat
PollutionControlBoard(GPCB)of-
ficial had apprised that the
Yashashvi Rasayan incident had
occurred due to “negligence” by
factorypersonnel.Theofficialsaid
the company had all requisite li-
censes at the time, except for a
Petroleum and Explosives Safety
Organisation (PESO) permission
for hydrogen cylinders storage.
It had also come to light that
the mandatory once-a-year in-
spectionofindustrialunits,asper
Rule 3 of Manufacture, Storage
and Import of Hazardous
Chemicals (MSIHC) Rules, 1989,
hadseen“difficulties”inbeingad-
hered to “with the given staff
strength”. The Director of
Industrial Safety & Health was
then asked to fill up the vacant
law and order’
could be made in the wetlands
and, therefore, we had intensi-
fied patrolling in the area.
Suspecting the movement of
the man so early in the morn-
ing, our team stopped him and
found 16 birds from him,”
Brijeshkumar Chaudhary,
Deputy Conservator of Forests
(DCF), Nalsarovar, said.
“Bhuvatra has confessed
that he had poached the birds
from the sanctuary limits. An
investigation is on if he had
poached the birds for his per-
sonal consumption or if he in-
tended to supply them to
someone else,” the DCF said.
Garganey ducks are native
to Europe but migrate to Asia
during winter to escape the
cold. Godwits are also a migra-
goods in 15 minutes, police
added.
Accordingtopolice,twoofthe
robbers were armed with guns
and the others had knives. They
enteredtheIIFLoffice,onthefirst
floor of Ashish Complex in the
Market Yard area of Ankleshwar
town,at9.17am,androundedoff
thefiveemployees,includingtwo
women and a security guard, of
the firm at gunpoint, police said.
The criminals allegedly took
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
The blast had left 10 workers dead and several injured. File
posts in the department.
V B Borgaonkar, Deputy Chief
Controller of Explosives,
Vadodara, too, had echoed issues
of manpower in the meeting and
informed that a total of 1,250 in-
spectionswerecarriedoutbyfour
officersofPESO,Vadodara,during
2019-20. Borgaonkar also in-
formedthatcomplianceofRule3
ofMSIHCRules,1989,thatis,toin-
spect major accident hazard
premises once in a year was “not
possible considering existence of
total40,000licensedpremises,in-
cluding 1800 MAH premises
within the jurisdiction of PESO
Vadodara office”.
Mukim had then asked
Borgaonkar “to take up the mat-
ter at an appropriate level to en-
hance manpower as per their re-
quirements”.
IntheAugustmeeting,Mukim
reportedly had stated: “It is not
onlynecessarytoincreasethefre-
quencyof inspections,butalsoto
tory species, forest officers said.
“Five of the 15 Garganeys were
alive and they have been re-
leased into the open. The 11
other birds, which were found
dead, have been taken to the
Wildlife Care Centre in
Bodakdev, Ahmedabad, for
post-mortem. The accused has
been booked under the
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972,
for the hunting of protected
species,” Chaudhary added.
The incident comes just two
days after a mob allegedly beat
a striped hyena to death and at-
tempted to burn its carcass at
Kalana village in Ahmedabad’s
Sanand taluka. The forest de-
partment has arrested four
men and a juvenile from Kalana
in the incident.
6,866.52 grams gold ornaments
worth Rs 3.29 crore and Rs 1.79
lakhincashfromthesaferoomof
the firm, police said. The robbers
also took four mobile phones
from the employees.
Aftertherobbery,theemploy-
ees came out from the office and
with the help of neighbouring
shop owners, called the Bharuch
police control room.
Ankleshwar police along
withFSLofficialsandadogsquad
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
make inspections more effective
in order to ensure compliance of
statutoryprovisionsandeffective
implementation of safety meas-
ures and practices by the units”.
Apartfromincreasingmanpower
across various departments, per-
taining to ensuring industrial
safety, a decision was also taken
that Gujarat State Disaster
ManagementAuthority(GSDMA)
willbeincludedinthedistrictoff-
siteemergencymockdrills,which
are to be conducted at least once
in a calendar year in all major ac-
cident hazard clusters.
Mukesh Puri, the Additional
Chief Secretary of Urban
DevelopmentandUrbanHousing
Department, who is also chair-
man of GPCB, had also attended
the meeting.
Meanwhile,ablastatachem-
ical factory in Ahmedabad last
week had led to the collapse of a
nearby textile factory and left 12
people, including a minor, dead.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, NOVEMBER 9
ARAPEvictim,whohasbeenpur-
suing due process and litigation
since2001toseealogicalconclu-
sion,sawanunforeseenreasonof
delay on November 7, when the
investigating officer in the case,
whowasissuedurgentsummons
by an Ahmedabad trial court to
depose as a prosecution witness
did not appear.
The reason cited in a report
submitted before the court was
that she was “busy in maintain-
ing law and order at the
PostmortemRoom,V.S.Hospital,
Ahmedabad,” in connection
withthefirethatbrokeoutinthe
have launched a probe into the
matter after the firm manager,
Dhirendra Padhiar, submitted a
complaint. Bharuch Deputy
Superintendent of Police, Chirag
Desai, said, “The entire robbery
incidenthasbeencapturedinthe
CCTV cameras installed inside
the gold firm. The accused had
put on masks and wore hats,
some of them were purportedly
speakinginHindi.Primafaciewe
suspect a professional gang was
GANDHIDHAM
Ration fund
incharge of BSF
battalion booked
for ‘siphoning
off’ Rs 26 lakh
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
RAJKOT, NOVEMBER 9
ANASSISTANTinchargeof ration
fund of the Gandhidham-based
150thbattalionofBorderSecurity
Force (BSF), who has been on the
run for the last four years, was
booked by Kutch (east) police for
allegedly siphoning off Rs 26.11
lakh from the ration fund.
The police FIR comes a few
years after a personnel of the
BSF'sGandhidhambattalionhad
sharedavideoonsocialmediaal-
leging poor-quality food and
liquor being diverted to civilians.
Based on a complaint filed by
Kalusinh Chundavat, the deputy
commandantofthe150thbattal-
ion of the BSF late on Sunday, an
FIR has been filed by the 'A'
Division police station in
Gandhidham against
Mohammed.
In his complaint, Chundavat
hasstatedthatsincethebattalion
shifted its base from Haryana to
Gandhidham in
Mohammed was assistant in-
charge of ration fund.
2016,
But he absconded on June 18,
2016. Bachchan Singh Bist, an-
other officer who was appointed
Mohammed's successor, de-
tectedtheallegedmisappropria-
tion of funds and reported the
matter to his higher ups.
“Thebattalionhadchangedits
base to Gandhidham in January
2016 and Mohammed ab-
sconded in June. During the six
months period, he siphoned off
Rs26.11lakhfromtherationfund
and remains untraceable till
date," Gandhidham 'A' Division
police sub-inspector Jyotsana
Chavda said.
Chavdaistheinvestigatingof-
ficer of the case. According to the
FIR, Mohammed is a native of
Asara village in Baghpat district
of Uttar Pradesh.
“Afterheabscondedfromthe
BSF camp, the matter was re-
ported to the police and he has
not reported back to the camp.
After he absconded, an enquiry
was initiated against
Mohammed. Bacchchan Singh
Bistwasgiventhechargeofassis-
tant incharge of ration fund. He
reportedirregularitiesinthefund
and therefore an audit was or-
dered.Lateron,theGandhidham
shop-keepers from whom BSF
used to purchase ration, started
visiting BSF campus demanding
their dues. Thus, it emerged that
MohammedhadusurpedRs26.11
lakh of the ration fund of the BSF
campus and used it for personal
purposes,” the FIR quotes
Chundavat as saying.
The FIR quotes the deputy
commandant as saying that he
would produce papers of the en-
quiry at relevant time.
The accused has been
on the run for the past
four years.
chemicalfactoryinNarolareaon
November 4.
Urgent summons was issued
on November 6 to ACP with
Ahmedabad city police, Divya
Ravia Jadeja, to appear as a pros-
ecution witness on November 7
in the trial.
Additional sessions Judge
Priyanka Agarwal who is trying
the case, by way of an order on
November 7, reissued the urgent
summons to Jadeja, instructing
her “to remain present on
10.11.2020 (Tuesday), sharp at
11.00 am before the court or else
necessary order shall follow.”
Jadejarefusedtocommenton
thecourtproceedingsandinstead
saidthatshewas“notsummoned
and will go when summoned.”
involved in the robbery.”
The men, Desai said, had a
kept watch outside the office in
a car. “After the employees
reached the office at 9.15 am,
they entered the firm. The gang
carriedouttherobberyinjust15
minutes. Nobody was injured in
the incident, the DySP said. He
added police have been de-
ployed at the entry and exit
points of the town and vigil
upped to nab the robbers.
Ahmedabad
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020 5
GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU “save energy for benefit of self and nation”
TIRUMANGALAM MUNICIPALITY GUJARAT STATE ELECTRICITY CORPORATION LTD.
Roc No: 223/2020/E1 CORREIGENDUM NOTICE Date: 04.11.2020 THERMAL POWER STATION, UKAI DAM - 394 680.
Due to Administrative Reasons the following correigendum is issued in Website No. www.gsecl.in, e-mail: ukaitps@gebmail.com
continuation of tender ROC No: 223/2020/E1 Dated:14.09.2020 for notice Phone : 02624-233231,233244 Fax 02624-233300 (O) 233315 (S)
inviting (3rd Call) Request For Qualiication (RFQ) for the construction of
New Bus Stand in Tirumangalam Municipality on Design, Build, Finance, TENDER NOTICE NO.ADV/UTPS/475:
Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) Basis request for qualiication.
Chief Engineer (GEN), GSECL Ukai TPS invites the Tenders for
Request for Qualiication Extension of last date for Submission up to 18.12.2020
Supply & Works for various materials are available on web site:
Tender Reference and Name of Work Particulars Critical Date www.nprocure.com, (for view, down load and on line submission)
and on web site www.gsecl.in (for view and down load only).
''IMPORTANT'' ROC No: 223/2020/E1, Dt:14.09.2020
Earlier Revised

Whilst care is taken prior to
acceptance of advertising
Bid Submission 18.11.2020 18.12.2020 UP Interested Vendors may surf the above Website and may down load
NAME OF WORK: End Date 3.00 Pm to 3.00 Pm
Tirumangalam Municipality – Notice the said Tender from our website for physical submission of your
inviting request for qualiication (RFQ) Bid opening 18.11.2020 18.12.2020 UP
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for construction of New Bus Stand Date 3.30 Pm to 3.30 Pm

copy, it is not possible to verify
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Express (P) Limited cannot be
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Design, Build, Finance, Operate and
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DIPR:4187/TENDER/2020
Note: Be in touch with above websites till opening of Tender.
CHIEF ENGINEER (GEN)
GSECL. TPS. UKAI
Commissioner (i/c),Tirumangalam Municipality

held responsible for such

contents, nor for any loss or
damage incurred as a result of VADILAL ENTERPRISES LIMITED VADILAL INDUSTRIES LIMITED
transactions with companies, Regd.Office: 10th Floor, Colonnade Building, Opp. Iscon BRTS Bus Stop Regd.Office: ''Vadilal House'', 53, Shrimali Society, Nr. Navrangpura Crossing
Ambli–Bopal Road, Ahmedabad
associations or individuals Web: www.vadilalgroup.com, CIN : L51100GJ1985PLC007995
Navrangpura, Ahmedabad - 380 006.
advertising in its newspapers Email : shareslogs@vadilalgroup.com Ph.: 07926564019-24, Fax: 079 26564027, Web: www.vadilalgroup.com
CIN : L91110GJ1982PLC005169, Email : shareslogs@vadilalgroup.com
or Publications. We therefore EXTRACT OF STANDALONE UNAUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER AND HALF YEAR ENDED ON 30-09-2020
recommend that readers (` In Lacs except per share data)
EXTRACT OF STANDALONE AND CONSOLIDATED UN AUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER AND HALF YEAR ENDED ON 30-09-2020
make necessary inquiries Quarter Current Year Corresponding (` In Lacs)
before sending any monies or ended on cumulative three months Standalone Consolidated
30-09-2020 upto period
entering into any agreements 30-09-2020 ended on
Quarter Current Year Corresponding Quarter Current Year Corresponding
ended cumulative three months ended cumulative three months
with advertisers or otherwise Particulars (6 months) 30-09-2019 Particulars on upto period ended on upto period ended
in the 30-09-2020 30-09-2020 on 30-09-2019 30-09-2020 30-09-2020 on 30-09-2019
acting on an advertisement in previous (6 months) in the (6 months) in the
any manner whatsoever. year previous year previous year
(Un Audited) (Un Audited) (Un Audited) (Un Audited) (Un Audited) (Un Audited) (Un Audited) (Un Audited) (Un Audited)
Total income from operations 9,130.73 16,196.22 13,693.27 Total income from operations 10,225.16 15,450.18 12,530.20 12,848.77 20,365.16 14,974.07
indianexpress.com Net Profit / (Loss) for the period before tax, Exceptional 950.71 1,082.38 (3.70) Net Profit / (Loss) for the period before tax, (1,075.41) (3,118.93) 1,005.97 167.37 (1311.48) 1543.46
Items or Extraordinary items Exceptional Items or Extraordinary items
Net Profit / (Loss) for the period before tax 950.71 1,082.38 (3.70) Net Profit / (Loss) for the period before tax (1,075.41) (3,118.93) 1,005.97 167.37 (1311.48) 1543.46
Net Profit / (Loss) for the period after tax 711.43 809.97 74.03 Net Profit/ (Loss) for the period after tax (805.37) (2,338.97) 1,915.39 68.17 (1071.93) 2280.08
Total Comprehensive Income for the period 706.10 799.31 67.49 Total Comprehensive Income for the period (812.02) (2,352.28) 1,894.65 3.77 (1143.42) 2262.41
Equity Share Capital 86.27 86.27 86.27 Equity Share Capital 718.78 718.78 718.78 718.78 718.78 718.78
Earnings Per Share (of Rs. 10/- each) Earnings Per Share (of ` 10/- each)
Basic : 83.47 93.89 8.58 Basic : (11.20) (32.54) 26.65 0.95 (14.91) 31.72
Diluted: 83.47 93.89 8.58 Diluted: (11.20) (32.54) 26.65 0.95 (14.91) 31.72
Note : Note :
Ilookateveryside 1. The above is an extract of the detailed format of Standalone Unaudited Financial Results of the Company 1. The above is an extract of the detailed format of Unaudited Financial Results of the Company for the quarter and half
beforetakingaside. for the quarter and half year ended on 30-09-2020 filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation 33
of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of the
year ended on 30-09-2020 filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation 33 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and
Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of the Standalone and Consolidated Unaudited Financial
Unaudited Financial Results for the quarter and half year ended on 30-09-2020 are available on Results for the quarter and half year ended on 30-09-2020 are available on Company's website viz
Informyouropinionwith Company's website viz www.vadilalgroup.com and Stock Exchange website www.bseindia.com
2. The above Financial results have been reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of
www.vadilalgroup.com and Stock Exchange website www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com.

insightfulperspectives. Directors at its Board Meeting held on 9th November, 2020 and Limited Review of the above results have 2. The above Financial results have been reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at
its Board Meeting held on 9th November, 2020 and Limited Review of the above results have been carried out by
been carried out by statutory auditor of the company.
statutory auditor of the company.
FOR VADILAL ENTERPRISES LIMITED FOR VADILAL INDUSTRIES LIMITED
Date : 09-11-2020 RAJESH R. GANDHI Date : 09-11-2020 RAJESH R. GANDHI
Place : Ahmedabad CHAIRMAN & DIRECTOR Place : Ahmedabad MANAGING DIRECTOR

Diwali Special
ADVERTORIAL An initiative by R E D *
Read. Engage. Deliver.

Let the festivities begin

F
estivals are larger-than-life celebra-
tions, occurring at regular intervals,
helping us break the monotony of life
and giving us a chance to celebrate the little and
big things in life. They are the carriers of peace
and joy as they make us forget our cultural and
religious differences and unite us, making us
come together for the sole purpose of celebration
and happiness.
Lakshmi, the deity of wealth and prosperity.
The preparation commences many days prior
to the festival, ranging from thorough cleaning of
houses and shops, to people decorating their
houses with fairy lights, flowers, candles, diyas,
rangolis, to visiting families and friends for ex-
changing gifts, to eating special Indian sweets and poverty and disease. As per the Vedanta, every and ward off ignorance. It further states that we
savouries, and so on. devout Hindu has to fill his heart with the oil of can kindle light in many hearts just like a diya that
The festival's essence lies in the Shloka, love, light the wick with the knowledge of truth can light many other diyas.
'Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamya', meaning 'Lead me
from darkness'. We light the lamp of happiness,
prosperity and knowledge to dispel sorrow,

All nations across the globe have certain reli-

gious and cultural festivals, and India, being a
very cultural and diverse nation, is by far one of
the largest countries to celebrate numerous fes-
tivals.
Importance of Diwali in Hindu tradition
The religious festivals are one of the most fa-
mous festivals not only throughout India but also
all over the world.
Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is one of the
biggest and the grandest festivals celebrated
mainly in India. It is a festival commemorated to
mark joy, victory and harmony. Diwali, also
known as Deepavali, meaning 'an array of lamps',
falls during the month of October or November,
after 20 days of Dussehra festival. As per Hindu
mythology, it is believed that on this day Lord
Rama returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of ex-
ile. On his return, the people of Ayodhya lit diyas
to welcome him and celebrated his victory over
Ravana, thus marking it as a day of 'victory of
good over evil'.

On this day people also worship Lord Ganesha,

the demolisher of obstacles, and Goddess

Ahmedabad
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

6 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020

J&K party moves SC for LAUNCHES PROJECTS WORTH OVER RS 200 CR IN VARANASI
PM:CelebrateDiwaliwithlocal
Cracking down on crackers
urgent hearing of pleas The NGT on Monday imposed a total ban on sale

against revoking spl status or use of firecrackers in the National Capital

EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 10
THE JAMMU and Kashmir
People’s Conference on Monday
moved the Supreme Court, seek-
ingurgenthearingofpendingpe-
titions challenging the
Constitutional amendments re-
voking the special status of J&K
and its reorganisation into two
Union Territories. The party has
stated that the Centre is making
“significant changes to the rights
of theresidents”eventhoughthe
petitions are yet to be decided.
“Serious constitutional ques-
tionshavingfarreachingimplica-
tionsandimpactarependingcon-
sideration in the present batch of
petitions and it is imperative that
thesequestionsareconsideredat
an early date… Notwithstanding
the foregoing, pending the final
hearing of these petitions… and
Mehbooba:
Centre left no
middle ground for
people in Valley
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
JAMMU, NOVEMBER 9
notwithstanding the prevailing
pandemic conditions, sweeping
changes are being brought about
by Respondent No.1 (Union of
India) that impact the rights of a
largenumberofpeople,including
dilution of the safeguards earlier
available to the permanent resi-
dentsoftheerstwhileState...”the
party said in an application filed
through Senior Advocate Rajeev
Dhavan and Advocate Pritha
Srikumar Iyer.
It contended that “these
changes will have an irreparable
impactontherightsof Indiancit-
izens,includingcreationofdomi-
cile rights and third-party rights
in land ownership”.The pleasaid
“these changes, which presume
the validity of the aforesaid
Impugned Constitution Orders
and the Reorganisation Act, un-
fairlyprejudiceandpre-judgethe
caseofthePetitionersbefore”the
court.
Srinagar admin
stops HC bar
association from
holding polls
Drugs case:
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
SRINAGAR, NOVEMBER 9
products,boosttheeconomy
MAULSHREE SETH
LUCKNOW, NOVEMBER 9
PRIME MINISTER Narendra
Modi on Monday exhorted
people to promote locally-
made products for Diwali say-
ing that this would also make
the festive season for their
makers better.
Speaking via video-confer-
encing at an event in Varanasi
where he inaugurated infra-
structure projects worth Rs 200
crore and laid the foundation
for projects worth Rs 400 crore,
the Prime Minister said pro-
moting local products would
rejuvenate the entire economy.
He also wished people for
all upcoming festivals.
“Local for Diwali… This
mantra can be heard every-
where ...I say to the people of
Banaras, as well as people of the
country, promote 'local for
Diwali' strongly”.
NCB summons
Arjun Rampal
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Noting that festive pur-
chases didn't only mean 'diyas'
(lamps), Modi said, “I urge the
people to insist on local prod-
ucts.. be vocal... celebrate Diwali
with local products... This will
boost the economy.”
Editors Guild writes
to Yogi for ‘protection
During his address, Modi
also spoke to several local resi-
dents from Varanasi — an inter-
national player, home-maker
and a local businessman.
Listing the projects being in-
augurated and those for which
foundation stones were being
laid, the Prime Minister said sig-
nificant focus is also on the de-
velopment of Varanasi and
added that all-round develop-
ment had taken place in the re-
gion — From cleaning the Ganga
river to health infrastructure,
underground electricity cables,
tourism and sewerage plants.
He also expressed the hope
that after the Covid-19 pan-
demic, tourists would start
coming back to the ghats of
Kashi in large numbers.
During the address, the
Prime Minister also talked
about the recently-launched
Central government pro-
grammes, including the
Swamitva Scheme for physical
distribution of property cards.
He added that property
cards would not only limit
property disputes and en-
croachments in villages but
would also make it easier to se-
cure loans.
Court orders
release of
Vibhor Anand
Region from November 9 midnight to November
30 midnight. A look at what other states are
doing to check air pollution
People buying firecrackers in Thane. Deepak Joshi
UTTAR PRADESH: Additional Chief Secretary (Information)
Navneet Sehgal said the government is yet to take a call on
banningcrackers.However,hestatedthattheNGTdecisionto
ban crackers in the National Capital Region will be imposed in
the districts of Gautam Buddha Nagar and Ghaziabad.
HARYANA ernmentwrotetoNGT,advo-
The state government on cating that Punjab did not
Sunday announced a two- needtobanfirecrackersinits
hourwindowforthesaleand non-attainment cities, the
use of firecrackers on Diwali. government has decided to
However,theNGTdecisionto ban the crackers in the cities
ban crackers in the National
Capital Region will affect 14
that had “poor” AQI last year.
The chief secretary said the
of 22districtsinthestate,and Punjab Pollution Control
hence, the government is
likelytoissuerevisedinstruc-
Board (PPCB) is preparing a
list of the cities which had
tions. poor AQI last year.
MADHYA PRADESH GUJARAT

PDPPRESIDENTandformerChief
Minister Mehbooba Mufti
MondayaccusedtheBJPgovern-
mentattheCentreofvitiatingthe
atmosphereinKashmirandleav-
ingnomiddlegroundforthepeo-
ple in Valley. She claimed that
since “all voices”
have been scut-
tled,youthsinthe
Valley consider it
better to pick up
theguninsteadof
beingjailed.
Objecting to
Mehbooba changes to the
Mufti land regime in
J&K, she said the
BJP government
has done nothing for the return
and rehabilitation of Kashmiri
Pandits in the Valley.
Pointingoutthatevenpeople
“like us” are finding it difficult to
stay in Kashmir, she said “mili-
tancyhasrisentosuchalevelthat
10-15youthstogetherleaveavil-
lage today, because you have
scuttled all the voices”.
A DAY before the Jammu and
Kashmir High Court Bar
Association(JKHCBA)wastohold
its election, the Srinagar district
administrationonMondayissued
anotice,askingtheassociationto
clarifyitspositiononamentionin
itsconstitution—“peacefulsettle-
ment of Kashmir dispute”.
In a separate notice, the ad-
ministration has prohibited
JKHCBA from holding the elec-
tions. It has also imposed restric-
tionsinthedistrictcourtcomplex,
apparentlytothwartanyprotests
by the lawyers.
In a notice to the JKHCBA
president and election commit-
tee, Deputy Commissioner,
Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal
Choudhary stated, “JKHCBA
Srinagar constitution states the
following as its first objective:
‘to find ways and means,
take steps, for resolving the
issues concerning public at
large including larger issue of
peaceful settlement of Kashmir
dispute…’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 9
THE NARCOTICS Control Bureau
(NCB) on Monday issued sum-
mons to actor Arjun Rampal and
his partner Gabriella
Demetriades in connection with
a drug case lodged following ac-
torSushantSinghRajput’sdeath.
Sources in NCB said the couple
has been asked to appear before
the agency at 11 am on
November 11.
Officers said searches were
carriedoutatRampal’sresidence
inBandraand11electronicgadg-
ets were seized.
In mid-October, 30-year-old
South African national Agisilaos
Demetriades,brotherofGabriella,
was arrested from Lonavala. The
resort in which he was staying
with his fiancee was raided and
0.8 gm of charas were recovered
fromhim.Meanwhile,theagency
on Monday questioned film pro-
ducer Firoz Nadiadwala, whose
wifeShabanaSaeedwasarrested
on Sunday.
of press freedom’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
THE EDITORS Guild of India on
Monday wrote to Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath
urging him to address issues on
“protection of press freedom and
journalists’ rights” in the state.
It also asked Adityanath “to
free the jailed journalists, with-
drawcasesthatareunderreview,
as well as to ensure safety of all
working journalists in the state”.
Citing several instances of
cases being filed against journal-
ists in the state, the guild further
said it is “keen to send a delega-
tion of national editors to
Lucknow”, to work with
Adityanath's administration to
“explore ways that can create a
protective environment for the
media to work without fear or
favour”.
In an veiled reference to
RepublicTVeditor-in-chiefArnab
Yogi Adityanath
Goswami, who is presently
lodged in a Maharashtra jail in
connection with an abetment to
suicide case, the guild said to
Adityanath: “whileyouwereright
to promptly uphold the freedom
ofthepresswhenaneditorofaTV
channelwasarrestedinMumbai,
there are far more compelling
casesofintimidation,harassment
byauthoritiesofworkingjournal-
ists in UP, who were prevented
fromdoingtheirjob”andsaidthat
“many of them have been unjus-
tifiably arrested on spurious
charges”.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 9
ASESSIONScourtonMondayor-
deredthereleaseofaDelhi-based
man arrested for allegedly shar-
ing last month false content re-
latedtothedeathofactorSushant
Singh Rajput.
Vibhor Anand was granted
bail last week but the order was
stayed after the prosecution sub-
mittedthatanappealistobefiled
against it. On Monday, the prose-
cution submitted that if he is al-
lowed to be released on cash se-
curity,Anandwillmisusethebail
and will not be available for the
trial. The court said that it had set
conditions to ensure that Anand
will remain present.
While arguing for bail on be-
half of 30-year-old Anand, his
lawyerAshokSaraogihadsubmit-
tedthathehadnointentiontode-
fameanyone’sreputationbutwas
“madetobelieve”thatRajputand
his former manager Disha Salian
were murdered by watching TV
news channels.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh The state government has is-
Chouhanhasappealedtothe sued directions to all police
people to burst crackers in a chiefsanddistrictmagistrates
restricted manner but al- toregulatethesale,purchase
lowed their use by following andburstingof firecrackersin
NGT and Supreme Court thefestiveseasonunderCrPC
guidelines. The government Section 144. In line with this
has banned the sale of im- order, Ahmedabad police
portedcrackersandappealed commissioner has allowed
to the masses to not burst burstingofcrackersonlyfrom
crackers which have the im- 8-10pmonDiwali.Abanhas
ages of gods and goddesses also been put on import or
on them. possession/saleof anyforeign
firecrackers and sale/pur-
PUNJAB chase of 'sky lantern' or 'bal-
Two days after the state gov- loon firecrackers'.
KARNATAKA: Thegovernment,followingtheadviceofatech-
nicalcommitteeforhandlingtheCovid-19crisis,hadinitiallyan-
nounced a complete ban on firecrackers. However, now it has
allowed the sale of “green” crackers from November 7-16.
MAHARASHTRA to curb pollution amid the
Chief Minister Uddhav Covid-19 pandemic.
Thackeray has maintained
thatthestatewillnotbanfire- CHHATTISGARH
crackers but has appealed to Thechiefsecretaryhaspassed
thepeopletorefrainfromus- an order allowing the sale
ing them in the interest of only of “green” firecrackers,
health and safety of all. which will be allowed to be
burst only for a two-hour
RAJASTHAN windowonthedayoffestivals

Dharchula: Scientists warn of major earthquake Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot

on November 1 directed offi-
cials to ensure a ban on the
likeDiwali,Chhatt,Christmas
and New Year.

magnitude earthquakes in the Kangra earthquake in 1905 and entist on a paper that has now saleoffirecrackersinthestate. ODISHA
ESHA ROY Dharchula region and adjoining Bihar-Nepal earthquake in 1934, been published by the institute. Following this, the Home The state government has
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9 areasofKumaonHimalayadueto this region has not experienced Scientists from the institute Departmentissuedanotifica- banned the sale and use of
stress in the region and explored an earthquake of magnitude haveestablishedaseismological tion on November 3, which firecrackers from November
ABOUT 45 KM from the new thegeologicalstructurebehindit. greater than 8.0 in the last 500 network of 15 broadband seis- saidthat“noshopkeepershall 10-30.Inarelease,thegovern-
Kailash Mansarovar road, con- Scientistssaytheselargecon- years, and hence the region is mological stations along the Kali sellanykindof fireworks'and ment said bursting crackers
necting Dharchula in centrations of earthquakes are known as the Central Seismic River valley to investigate. 'no person shall use or allow “releasescopiousamountsof
Uttarakhand to Lipu Lekh on the “release of stress’’ building up in Gap (CSG) region. A gap is a term “TheDharchularegionfallsbe- to fire any kind of fireworks”. harmful chemicals, which
China border, scientists at Wadia the region and that in the near usedtodenoteanareawithlittle tween two knee-like structures, havesevereimpactontheres-
Institute of Himalayan Geology future, there is likelihood of an tectonicactivity.This,despitethe which traps the stress in this re- WEST BENGAL piratory health of vulnerable
haveunearthedlargeconcentra- earthquake of high magnitude Himalayasbeingoneof themost gion.Thisisthereasonwhythere The Calcutta High Court had groups and such pollutants
tions of micro and moderate in the region. “Apart from the tectonically active regions in the have been crowded earthquakes Thursdaybannedtheuseand can further aggravate health
country. However, the Kumaon here within a span of years, nu- sale of firecrackers on Kali conditions of Covid-19 posi-
Central Himalayan, which be- meroussmallerearthquakeshave Puja, Chhath and Kartik Puja tive persons”.
MATHERAN HILL STATION MUNICIPAL COUNCIL longs to this CSG region, is one of occurredhere...Forthestresstobe
MATHERAN-410 102, TAL.- KARJAT, DIST.- RAIGAD
the most seismically active re- released,thereisastrongpossibil-
TEL. : 02148-230341, 230343, 230234
E-mail ID : mcomatheran@gmail.com gions of the Himalayan belt that ity that a high magnitude earth-
OUTWORD NO. : MHMC/1831/2020-21 DATE : 09.11.2020 experienced a considerable quakeof8ontherichterscalemay SIKKIM: The state government has imposed a complete ban
number of moderate and strong occur...’’ added Dr Hazarika. on firecrackers throughout the state in view of the pandemic,
Public Notice Re E-TENDER
earthquakes in the recent past,’’ FULLREPORTON PTI reported.
THE Chief Officer Matheran Municipal Council, has Published the
declaration of e-tender for Development of Olympia Ground (Re-Tender-1).
saidDrDevajitHazarika,leadsci- www.indianexpress.com
Detail information is available on the https://mahatenders.gov.in web site.

FIR against Goa professor for

Sd/-
Chief Officer
Matheran Hill Station Municipal Council, Matheran
Kerala firm that
won panchayat
NOTIFICATION
REVENUE DEPARTMENT
SACHIVAIYA, GANDHINAGAR
in 2015 to
contest 4 more
‘outraging religious feelings’
Date: 21 OCT 2020
The Right to fair compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition istered on the basis of com-
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 SHAJU PHILIP SMITA NAIR plaintsbybothJhaandSingh.Jha
No. AM-2020-650-M-LAM-1219-492-GH THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PANAJI, NOVEMBER 9 said: “She is not my friend on
Whereas the Government of Gujarat, vide its Notification No. NOVEMBER 9 Facebook but we seem to have
AM/2019/328/M/LAM/1219/492/GH Dated-18-06-2019 issued ANFIRwasregisteredonMonday 20 to 25 mutual friends. After
under section-11(1) of the Right to Fair Compensation and AKERALA-BASEDcorporatefirm, against Shilpa Singh, an assistant ABVP’s complaint, I saw this
Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement whichwonapanchayatinthelast professorataGoalawcollege,for April 21 post of her on Facebook.
local body elections, has decided allegedlyoutragingreligiousfeel- I first approached Panaji police
Act, 2013 has declared that the land specified in the SCHEDULE
to field candidates under its ingswithdeliberateandmalicious Shilpa Singh on October 28 and in a written
annexed thereto of Village: Chenpur, Ta. Ghatlodia, Dist. Ahmedabad
Corporate Social Responsibility intention. The case was filed on a note asked that she should seek
is required for the purpose of acquisition for the public purpose of wing (CSR) in four more village complaint by Rajiv Jha, of public apology. Since they (po-
the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project. panchayats in the elections next Rashtriya Hindu Yuva Vahini’s abusive post on October 30”. lice) didn’t react...we again went
The Government of Gujarat, having its opinion that, the circum- month. KITEX grouphad fielded Goa unit. Thedevelopmentcomesdays with a new complaint the
stance so exist for justifying extension of period of the aforesaid candidates under its CSR wing In his complaint, Jha referred afterthecollegesentawrittenre- next day.”
notification u/s 11(1) of the Act, in exercise of the powers conferred Twenty20 in the election to to a Facebook post by Singh, who sponse to a complaint against Singhcalledita“witchhunt”.
by proviso to section-19(7) of the Right to Fair Compensation and Kizhakkambalam panchayat in teachesPoliticalScienceatPanaji’s Singh by ABVP, the students’ out- In a letter to the chancellor’s
Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement 2015.Itwon17outof 19wardsin VM Salgaocar College of Law, on fit of RSS, stating that it does not nominee, executive council, Goa
Act-2013, hereby extend the period of twelve months to the afore- the panchayat, where KITEX April 21 in which she had chal- have a “locus standi” to raise ob- University[ortheGovernor],she
said notification U/S 11(1) of the Act, for publication of a declara- group’s garment units are situ- lengedthepatriarchyanddogma jections about her teaching, and has raised doubts on Jha filing a
ated. The company has now de- by comparing ‘mangalsutra’ to a that no termination order will be complaint six months after her
tion under section-19(1) of the Act. The period of twelve months will
cidedtocontestpollsinfourmore “chained dog”. issued against her. The ABVP had post, and around the time her
be effective from the date 18-06-2020.
neighbouring panchayats -- Singhhasalsoapproachedthe sought her termination. college refused to entertain
By order and in the name of the Governor of Gujarat Mazhuvannoor, Aikkaranadu, policeforpurportedlyabusiveand Confirming the develop- ABVP’s demands to sack her.
Sd/-
(H.J. Rathod)
Kunnathunadu and Vengola. threatening messages she is re- ments, SP (north Goa) Utkrisht FULLREPORTON
No. INF/ABD/930/2020 Under Secretary to Government FULLREPORTON ceiving after “Jha’s [social media] Prasoon said FIRs have been reg- www.indianexpress.com
www.indianexpress.com
Ahmedabad
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020 7
ONLINE TENDERING
Road and Building Department
SHORT TENDER NOTICE No. 16 of 2020-21
Executive Engineer, (R&B) Division, Jamnagar Dist. Jamnagar, Phone No.
0288-2550362 has invited online tenders from contractors registered in
R&B Department, NWRWS & K Department for 4 works. The estimated
cost of the work is between Rs. 60.00 lakh to Rs. 2218.35 Lakh.
Tender docuents are available for Work No. 1 & 2 upto Dt. 23/11/2020,
Work No. 3 & 4 upto Dt. 26/11/2020 on https://rnb.nprocure.com.
Pre-bid meeting conference for the work No. 3 & 4 will be held on Dt.
20/11/2020. For more details visit on given website. For detailed tender
notice visit www.statetenders.com
GOVERNMENT OF ODISHA, Mahiti/Jam/496/2020
“e”-PROCUREMENT NOTICE
WORKS DEPARTMENT
B-384 E-mail- ceworldbankprojects@gmail.com
Bid Identification No. CE-W.B.P.(O)-10/2020-21
1. The Chief Engineer (World Bank Project), Odisha on behalf of
Governor of Odisha invites percentage rate bid in double cover
system in ONLINE MODE from eligible contractors for
construction of Road & Bridge works as detailed below:
2. Nature of work : Bridge work
3. No. of work : 01 no
4. Tender cost : Rs. 10,000.00 (on-line)
5. Class of Contractor : Special Class Contractor
6. Available of bid : From 10.00 A.M. of 11.11.2020 to
document in the 5.00 PM of 02.12.2020
website
7. Date of opening of Bid : Dt. 03.12.2020 11.30 AM
8. The Bidders have to participate in ONLINE bidding only. Futher
details can be seen from the website:
https://tenderodisha.gov.in. Any addendum/ corrigendum/ OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER RURAL WORKS CIRCLE, BERHAMPUR
cancellation of tender can also be seen in the said website. E-Mail / E-despatch
Sd/- NATIONAL COMPETITIVE BIDDING THROUGH e-Procurement
Chief Engineer O-523
Bid Identification No. Online Tender /11-2020-21/BPR
World Bank Project, Odisha Identification No Name of work No. of Works Approx. Estimated Cost (In lakh) Class of Contractor Period of Completion
OIPR/34003/11/0013/2021 Online Tender / 11- Road Works 01 No. Rs. 108.50 laths "B" Class, "A" Class 03 (Three) Calendar Month
2020-21/BPR as applicable as provided

Procurement Officer Bid Identification No Availability of tender online for bidding

REVENUE DEPARTMENT,
From To
SACHIVALAYA, GANDHINAGAR Superintending Engineer, R.W.Circle, Berhampur Online Tender/11-2020-21/BPR 12.11.2020 at 10.00 A.M. 26.11.2020 upto 3.00 P.M.
NOTIFICATION
(i) EMD / Bid Security, Cost of Bid document is to be transferred through On-line as per the procedure mentioned in the DTCN.
(The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
(ii) Non-submission of the information/documents through online by the bidder as per the items mentioned in the eligible criteria of the DTCN will
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013) (30 of 2013) also liable for rejection of his tender.
Dist : Surat Further details & Corrigendum if any can be seen from the website: - www.tendersodisha.gov.in
No. AM-2020-607-M-LSU-1218-1218-GH Date: 3 OCT 2020 Sd/-
Whereas It appears to th Govrenment of Gujarat that the land specified in the Superintending Engineer
R.W. Circle, Berhampur
SCHEDULE annexed hereto, is likely to be required for: National High Speed Rail
Corporation Ltd, Surat (NHSRCL) (herein after referred to as "The Requiring OIPR-25071/11/0010/2021
Body") for the public purpose for the purpose of construction of infrastructure
project of “Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Project” (hereinafter referred to
as “The public purpose Project”). SHAH ALLOYS LIMITED
(1) Now whereas, the Government of Gujarat, Revenue Department has, in Regd Off. : 5/1, Shreeji House, B/h M. J. Library, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad - 380 006
exercise of the powers conferred, by section-10-A [inserted by section 3 of
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, CIN: L27100GJ1990PLC014698 Website : www.shahalloys.com
Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Gujarat Amedment) Act, 2016 (Gjarat Act
No. 12 of 2016)] of The Right to Fair compensation and Resettlement Act. EXTRACT OF UNAUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER
2013 (30 of 2013) (hereinafter referred to as ''The Act'') exempted, in pub-
lic interest, by Notification No :- AM-2019-413-M-LSU-1219-1281-GH, AND HALF YEAR ENDED ON SEPTEMEBR 30, 2020
Date : 04/07/2019 and AM-2019-689-M-LSU-1219-1281-GH, Date: ( ` in Crore except per share data )
28/1112019 published in the Extraordinary Gazette of Gujarat Government
04/07/2019 and 28/11/2019 the below mentioned Scheduled area of land, STANDALONE CONSOLIDATED
to be acquired for the infrastructure Project of The Mumbai-Ahmadabad QUARTER HALF YEAR QUARTER HALF YEAR
High Speed Rail Project, from the application of the provisions of Chapter II Sr.
Particulars ENDED ENDED ENDED ENDED
No.
and III of The Act, and 30.09.2020 30.09.2019 30.09.2020 30.09.2020 30.09.2019 30.09.2020
(2) Now whereas, in exercise of the powers, conferred by sub-section (1) of sec- (UNAUDITED) (UNAUDITED) (AUDITED) (UNAUDITED) (UNAUDITED) (AUDITED)
tion 43 of The Act. The Government of Gujarat has appointed, by Notification Notification
No AM-2020-246-M-LSU-1219-1281-GH, Date: 16/0312020 Competent Revenue Departnent 1 Total Income 110.69 120.04 144.36 110.69 120.04 144.36
Authority and Special Land Acquisition Office Branch -4, Surat. as as the Government of Gujarat
Administrator of Rehabilitation and Resettlement in respect of the scheduled
2 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period (before Tax, (2.26) (11.13) (5.17) (2.26) (11.13) (5.17)
Sachivsalaya, Gandhinagar
land to be acquired for construction of the captioned infrastructure project, and (The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation Exceptional and / or Extraordinary items)
(3) Now whereas, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of sec- and Resettlement Act 2013) (30 of 2013),
tion 11 of ''The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Dist : Surat 3 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period before tax (5.65) (11.28) (1.90) (5.65) (11.28) (1.90)
Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (30 of 2013) (here- NO:-AM-2020-606-M-LSU-1218-35-GH Date: 3 OCT 2020 (after Exceptional and / or extraordinary items)
inafter referred to as the Act), the Government of Gujarat, has notified, vide Whereas it appears to the Government of Gujarat, that the land specified in the
their Notification No. AM-2020-246-M-LSU-1219-1281-GH, Date :' SCHEDULE annexed hereto, is likely to be needed for public purpose viz. for the pur- 4 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period after tax (after (4.85) (5.81) (0.09) (4.85) (5.81) (0.09)
16/03/2020 that the said pose of construction of the infrastructure project of "Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed
Railway Project'' Exceptional and / or extraordinary items)
Scheduled land is required for the public purpose specified here above,
(1) Now therefore in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 5 Total Comprehensive Income for the period (4.82) (5.80) (0.03) (1.43) (5.65) (3.30)
(4) And whereas, the Government of Gujarat is satisfied after considering the
(2) of ''The Right to fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,
report made by The District Collector, Navsari under sub-section (2) of sec- [Comprising Profit / (Loss) for the period (after tax)
Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (30 of 2013) (herein after referred to as
tion 15 of the Act, that the said land is needed to be acquired for ''The pub- "The Act") and the Rules made there-under, it is hereby notified that the
lic purpose project'' specified in the schedule hereto, and Government of Gujarat intends to acquire the said land for the public purpose of
and Other Comprehensive Income (after tax)]
(5) Now therefore, in exercise of the power conferred by sub-section (1) of sec- the infrastructure project specified above. 6 Equity Share Capital 19.80 19.80 19.80 19.80 19.80 19.80
tion 19 of The Act the Government of Gujarat hereby declares that the said (2) Now whereas a proposal is made for acquisition of the above mentioned sched-
scheduled lands is required for the public purpose specified in the schedule uled land for the proposed project of "Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway 7 Reserves (excluding Revaluation Reserve as - - - - - -
hereto. Project'' the bare minimum area of land to be acquired, as per SCHEDULE for the
(6) In exercise of the power conferred by clause-(g) of section-3 of The Act, the Project is H.A. 0-26-04 Sq.mtr. and is situated within the boundary limit of
shown in the Balance Sheet of previous year)
Goverment of Gujarat hereby appoints, Competent Authority and Special Village :- Kudsad, Taluka :- Olpad, District :- Surat 8 Earning Per Share (of Rs. 10/-each)
Land Acquisition Office Branch-4, Surat to perform the function of a col- (3) Now whereas it appears to the State Government, that it is
lector, for all proceeding hereinafter to be carried out under The Act, in expedient to exempt in public interest such area of H.A. 0-26-04 Sq.mtr. of land (for continuing and discontinued operations ) -
respect of the said scheduled lands. to be acquired, for the above stated infrastructure project, from the application of
1. Basic: (2.45) (2.93) (0.05) (2.45) (2.93) (0.05)
(7) The Plans of scheduled lands can be inspected at the Competent Authority the provision of chapter II and III of the Act.
and Special Land Acquisition Office Branch-4, Surat. (4) Now therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 10(A) of The Act 2. Diluted: (2.45) (2.93) (0.05) (2.45) (2.93) (0.05)
[inserted by section 3 of the The RFCTLARR (Gujarat Amendment) Act, 2016]
DISTRICT:- SURAT TALUKA:- KAMREJ VILLAGE: KATHOR (Gujarat Act No. 12 of 2016) The Government of Gujarat, hereby exempt in public
Sr. Survey No./ City Survey No. Area (Ha.Are.Sq.mtr.)
NOTE :
interest, the area of H.A. 0-26-04 Sq. mtr. Land comprised in below mentioned
No. Block No. SCHEDULE to be acquired for the "Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway 1. The above is an extract of the detailed format of Quartely / Annual Financial Results filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation 33 of SEBI
1. 314 - 0-17-56 Project'' from the application of the provision of chapter II and III of The Act. (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of the Quarterly / Half Yearly Financial Results are available on
2. 313 - 0-06-89 SCHEDULE
the Stock Exchange websites viz. www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com and on Company's website viz. www.shahalloys.com.
3. 311/1/PAIKI - 0-16-98 District : Surat Taluka: Olpad Village: Kudsad
4. 310 - 0-17-51
5. 305 - 0-01-11
Sr. No. Survey Number/Block No. Area (Ha.Are.Sq.mtr.) For and on behalf of Board of Directors
6. 298 - 0-02-32 1 400 0-01-88 for Shah Alloys Limited
7. 283 - 0-02-73 2 466 0-24-15 sd/-
8. 278/B - 0-06-18 3 467 0-00-01 Place : Santej K S Kamath (DIN : 00261544)
9. 274/B - 0-02-21 Total 0-26-04
10. 273 - 0-06-77
Date : 07.11.2020 Jt. Managing Director
By order and in the name of the Governor of Gujarat,
11. 269/A - 0-00-36 Sd/-
12. 275 - 0-04-40 (H. J. Rathod)
13. 265 - 0-01-56 No.INF-Surat/835/2020 Under Secretary to Government S.A.L. STEEL LIMITED
14. 255 - 0-01-69 Regd Off : 5/1,Shreeji House, B/h M.J.Library,Ashram Road, Ahmedabad - 380 006
15. 253 - 0-03-94 CIN: L29199GJ2003PLC043148 Website : www.salsteel.co.in
16. 6/3 10 0-00-41 VADILAL CHEMICALS LIMITED Email ID: sal.investor@salsteel.coin
17. 6/3 13/a 0-00-41 Regd. Office : 503-504, Aditya Building, Nr. Sardar Patel Seva Samaj
18. 6/3 B/b 0-02-11
Mithakhali, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, 380006
EXTRACT OF UNAUDITED STANDALONE FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE
19. 6/3 13/k 0-00-90
20. 6/3 26 0-00-02 CIN: L24231GJ1991PLC015390, EMAIL ID: info.vcl@vadilalgroup.com QUARTER AND SIX MONTHS ENDED 30.09.2020
21. 6/3 27/a 0-00-15 (` in Crore except per share data)
22. 6/3 27/b 0-00-25 EXTRACT OF STANDALONE UNAUDITED FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER AND HALF YEAR ENDED ON 30-09-2020
Sr. QUARTER ENDED HALF YEAR ENDED YEAR ENDED
23. 6/3 28 0-01-18 (` in Lacs except per share data) No.
24. 35/a 7 0-00-19
Particulars 30.09.2020 30.09.2019 30.09.2020 30.09.2019 31.03.2020
Quarter Current Year Corresponding
25. 7 36/a 0-00-58 Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited Unaudited Audited
ended on cumulative three months
26. 7 36/b 0-00-68 30-09-2020 upto period 1 Total Income from Operations 79.28 110.98 112.72 237.19 452.14
27. 7 37 0-01-70 30-09-2020 ended on
(6 months) 30-09-2019
2 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period (before (14.14) 15.24 (7.23) 15.71 17.07
28. 7 38/a 0-00-71 Particulars
29. 7 38/b 0-00-74 in the Tax, Exceptional and Extraordinary items)
30. 7 39 0-01-85 previous 3 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period before tax (14.14) 15.24 (7.23) 15.71 17.07
31. 7 40 0-01-00 year
(after Exceptional and Extraordinary items)
32. 7 41 0-00-17 (Un Audited) (Un Audited) (Un Audited)
33. 7 42 0-01-94
4 Net Profit / (Loss) for the period after tax (3.87) 15.13 (4.22) 15.39 15.88
Total income from operations (net) 1268.18 2013.02 1424.52
34. 7 43 0-00-40 (after Exceptional and Extraordinary items)
35. 7 44 0-00-29
Net Profit for the Period before tax, Exceptional Items/ 66.86 49.88 27.27
5 Total Comprehensive Income for the period (3.89) 15.14 (4.25) 15.42 15.82
36. 7 45 0-00-16 Extraordinary Items
[Comprising Profit / (Loss) for the period
37. 7 46 0-00-04 Net Profit for the period before tax 66.86 49.88 27.27
38. 7 56/a 0-02-15 (after tax) and Other Comprehensive
39. 7 114/a 0-00-90 Net Profit for the period after tax 52.28 34.42 30.35 Income (after tax)]
40. 7 114/b 0-00-93 Total Comprehensive Income for the Period 52.05 33.06 30.15 6 Equity Share Capital 84.97 84.97 84.97 84.97
41. 7 115/a 0-00-87
Equity Share Capital 487.40 487.40 487.40 7 Reserves (excluding Revaluation Reserve ) – – – – –
42. 7 115/b 0-00-72
43. 8 55 0-00-89 Earnings Per Share (of Rs. 10 each) as shown in the Audited Balance Sheet of
44. 8 56 0-01-59 Basic : 1.07 0.71 0.62 previous year
45. 8 57 0-00-74 8 Earning Per Share ( of Rs. 10/- each) (for
46. 8 58 0-02-54 Diluted: 1.07 0.71 0.62
47. 8 59 0-00-57 continuing and discontinued operations)
Note :
48. 8 60 0-00-61 1. Basic (0.46) 1.78 0.50 1.81 1.87
49. 8 61 0-01-23 1. The above is an extract of the detailed format of Unaudited Financial Results of the Company for the
quarter and half year ended on 30-09-2020 filed with the Stock Exchanges under Regulation 33 of the
2. Diluted (0.46) 1.78 0.50 1.81 1.87
50. 8 62 0-00-31
51. 217 - 0-29-29 SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of the NOTE :
52. 132 - 0-04-20 Unaudited Financial Results for the quarter and half year ended on 30-09-2020 are available on
Company's website viz www.vadilalchemicals.in The above is an extract of the detailed format of Quartely Financial Results filed with the Stock Exchanges under
53. 133 - 0-02-03
2. The above Unaudited Financial results have been approved by the Board of Directors at its Board Regulation 33 of SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The full format of the
54. 134 - 0-03-75
Meeting held on 09th November, 2020 and Limited Review of the above results have been carried out by Financial Results are available on the Stock Exchange websites viz. www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com and on
55. 135 - 0-03-00
TOTAL 1-64-41 statutory auditor of the company. Company's website viz. www.salsteel.co.in
For and on behalf of Board of Directors
By order and in the name of Governor of Gujarat, for S.A.L. Steel Limited
Sd/- FOR VADILAL CHEMICALS LIMITED
sd/-
(H. J. Rathod) Date : 09th November, 2020 RAJESH R. GANDHI Place : Santej Manish Daulani
No.INF-Surat/537/2020 Under Secretary to Government. Place : Ahmedabad CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR Date : 07-11-2020 Company Secretary

Ahmedabad
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

8
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
WORDLY WISE

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

We realised that the important thing was
not the film itself but that which the film
provoked. — FERNANDO SOLANAS

Government Bihar needs

FOUNDED BY
§

§
RAMNATH GOENKA
Lessons have to be learnt from the past, difficult
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
decisions taken, quick-fixes avoided

OPENING IN VALLEY U K Sinha

Decision of Gupkar Alliance to contest district council polls is a
WHICHEVER PARTY OR combination forms manufacture anything of consequence. even execute these promises. While lakhs of
significant moment in Kashmir, opens up possibilities thenextgovernmentinBiharin the nextfew Poverty continues to behigh andunemploy- jobsin thegovernmenthavebeenpromised,

T
days has to avoid some intractable mistakes
HE DECISION BY the National Conference, People’s Democratic Party, J&K being made across the country over the last
People’sConference,otherregionalpartiesaswellastheCommunistPartyof three decades. Joe Biden, in his victory
India (Marxist), that they will contest the upcoming District Development speech,spokeaboutleadingnotjustwiththe
Council polls in the one-year-old Union Territory together as the recently example of their power, but by the power of
formed People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, is a step in the right direction. It holds their example. Where does Bihar stand on
that parameter?
potential for melting the ice that had formed over all political activity in the state since
All parties are competing to roll out more
August5,2019.Itcouldnothavebeeneasytoarriveatthisdecision.Afterall,thefreezewas and more freebies to a majority of the popu-
not of their making, but the fallout of the new arrangements the Centre put in place last lation — often undeserved and without a
year. Mainstream political leaders and their party workers were detained, some for more sunset. There are scant plans for long-term
than a year — many are still in detention — for no other apparent reason except that they capital formation and employment genera-
wouldundertakepoliticalactivity.Allof themaremainstreamleaderswhohadpartnered tion. What began in the 1980s as a small
measure to help the old, the poor and the in-
political parties at the Centre, including the BJP. After their release, each of the leaders
firm, has degenerated into a race to empty
spokeabouthowletdown,howbetrayed,theyfeltbytheCentre.Butthesepartiesalsore- the treasury by doling out more and more
alise that staying out of the political process, whatever its limits and constraints, is not the cashintohouseholdsandevenofferinguten-
solution. Many of their workers have lost their lives to terrorism and the militancy. sils, colour TVs and gold for daughters’ wed-
It is significant that these parties have chosen to contest these polls as an alliance. dings in some states. The focus on educating
Such an alliance between the regional parties — specifically between the PDP and NC — her, improving her employability and em-
was briefly contemplated after the 2014 election results, before the PDP decided to form
powering her, is absent. Farm loan waivers
and unemployment allowances are becom-
a partnership with the BJP. That decision did not go down well in the Muslim-majority
ingthenorm.Whatistheexamplebeingset?
Valley, and the government collapsed under the weight of its own ideological contradic- What is the power being wielded?
tions, despite all hopes and expectations to the contrary. The PDP, which had canvassed The next government must look at the
votesinthenameof keepingtheBJPout,wasseenashavingbetrayedKashmirforthesake state of the economy and its own adminis-
of power. Six years later, the PDP, as well as other parties, seem to have come around to trative capability before committing to any
major long-term populist (but unproduc-
the view that they need to unite to fight the BJP.
tive) expenditure. While the last two
This is the first time that the DDC is being filled through direct election, and as there
decades in India have seen buoyancy in gov-
is no sign of the Assembly election, it is assumed that it is this body, even with its limited ernment receipts, the ability to splurge for
powers, that will be at the forefront of development activity. The elections are to be held the new government in Bihar is going to be
from November 28. The entry of the People’s Alliance will make it a hard fought contest, seriously constrained during the next few
one in which neither the BJP nor the newly incubated J&K Apni Party can take anything years, mainly due to COVID-related eco-
for granted. nomic shocks. Lift the hood and the statis-
tics are stark: Bihar’s per capita net state do-
mestic product in 2019-20 was just Rs
46,664, against the national average of Rs
AISHWARYA REDDY
1,34,226: A mere 34.7 per cent. In spite of
higher yearly growth in the last 10 years, this
ratio has moved only by 0.4 per cent (from
34.3 per cent to 34.7 per cent) during this
Death of a student is a grim reminder: State, education system period. We had a low base to start from,
which makes for attractive percentages, but
must acknowledge toll of digital inequality, work to lessen it when it comes to even catching up with the
Our exaggerated faith in
DBT is getting exposed in
scandals in schemes like
distribution of scholarships
and mid-day meals. The new
government will have to
internalise that while
technology can be a great
enabler, it can only go thus
far. For a state once proud of
its administrative
machinery, today the
population faces
harassment, lack of
accountability and
sensitivity. The core tenets of
command, supervision and
grievance redressal appear to
have broken down. Higher
levels of administrative
supervision and
accountability at all levels
ment much above the national average. The
manufacturing sector’s contribution to
Bihar’seconomyisjust8.7percentof thena-
tional average. Data for 2017-18 shows that
a mere 1.5 per cent of the nation’s factories
are registered in Bihar; the needle on fixed
capital formation has remained static on 0.6
per cent for over a decade. FDI in the state in
2019-20 was a mere 0.01 per cent of the na-
tionalaverage,andBihar’srankineaseof do-
ing business was 26 in 2019.
Entrepreneurshipseemstobesystematically
discouragedinthestate.Biharistheonlyma-
jor state in the country from where not a sin-
gle company was trading on the BSE or NSE
in2017.Privateequityorventurefundinvest-
ments in the state are nearly nil.
Bihar continues to be the Gangotri sup-
plying unskilled labour to the rest of India. It
is a sad refrain that still rings true — a Bihari
must leave Bihar to makeit. Highly educated
and accomplished Biharis are making signif-
icant contributions in different parts of the
world in IT, finance, medicine and engineer-
ing. A young person, Amanullah, recently
started a small initiative of creating an
alumni group of the once prestigious Patna
Science College. Hundreds of Biharis from
acrosstheworldofferedtohelpout.Thenext
government needs to create conditions to
tap this resource to initiate a reverse brain-
drain.
But a look at the manifestos in this elec-
tion paints a disappointing picture. The BJP
haspromisedtocreateconditionsfor19lakh
jobs — 4 lakh directly in government — and
provide free COVID vaccines for all. The RJD
has promised 10 lakh direct jobs in the gov-
ernment, loanwaiverforfarmersandunem-
ployment allowance to the youth. The
Congress and JD(U) have promised unem-
ployment allowance and farm loan waiver.
The LJPhas promisedtoconstructaSitatem-
ple, among other things. Is that the best we
can do for the people of Bihar? Temples, loan
the fact is that for decades, no major recruit-
ment has taken place in the state without
controversiesaroundnepotism,mismanage-
mentandcorruption.Itisnotuncommonfor
candidates waiting for results to be an-
nounced even three or four years after their
recruitment tests. Officials of the agencies
conducting recruitment have landed in jails
and endless litigation has taken years to re-
solve — often reaching the Supreme Court.
Our exaggerated faith in DBT is getting
exposed in scandals in schemes like distri-
bution of scholarships and mid-day meals.
Thenewgovernmentwillhavetointernalise
thatwhile technologycan be a greatenabler,
it can only go thus far. For a state once proud
of its administrative machinery, today the
population faces harassment, lack of ac-
countability and sensitivity. The core tenets
of command, supervision and grievance re-
dressal appear to have broken down. Higher
levels of administrative supervision and ac-
countability at all levels have to be ensured
before any big ticket expenditure pro-
grammes are launched.
The next government must tackle head-
on the reluctance amongst all the political
partiestograpplewithfundamentalissuesof
economic stagnation, lack of employment
opportunities,absenceof privateinvestment
andadministrativedecline.Thesolutionswill
require deep structural changes, often diffi-
cult and unpopular.
It will not bring immediate results and
will require support from all sections of so-
ciety. The confrontational social and politi-
calsentimentsgeneratedduringtheelection
will have to make way for an effort to build
consensus for an economic revival. My call
to the next government is to work towards
transforming the administrative machinery
into being responsive, sensitive and people
oriented. Its task is to create an environment
for private investment, improve productiv-
ity and value addition in agriculture, educa-

W
rest of the country, it is inconceivable how waiversand unemploymentbenefits?Is this tion, healthcare and industry. It has to lead
HAT PUSHED A 19-year-old student — whose faith in her own dream have to be ensured before
many decades it would take. the future Biharis are clamouring for? by example. It is incumbent upon it to do so.
enabled her journey against great odds from a small town in Whileagriculturalproductionhasshown any big ticket expenditure Besides the obvious worry (who pays for
Telangana to one of Delhi’s best colleges — to end her life? The an- encouraging improvement, Bihar does not programmes are launched. this), a key concern is the state’s capacity to The writer is former chairperson of SEBI
swer is still not entirely known. But the death of Aishwarya Reddy’s
dreams is not just an individual tragedy. It is a sign that the distress of a generation of stu-
dents, struggling to cope with the post-pandemic disruption, is going unheard. It is a
wake-upcallforgovernmentsandeducationalinstitutionstodomore,especiallyinreach-

READING VOLTAIRE IN FRANCE

ing out to the vulnerable in the student community.
Much like Aishwarya’s family did, thousands of families have staked their savings and
resources on the education of their children — only to find that the hard-won access to
classrooms and labs, ideas and opportunities, is being eroded by the lack of a laptop, a
smartphonethatstoppedworking,adatapackthatcannotlastthefullspanof aday,orthe
flickering internet connection that ejects a student from the classroom. Worldwide, edu-
Religions are not only about our beliefs but about what we do with our beliefs
cationsystemshaveturnedtoonlineclassestocopewiththechallengesof thepandemic.
Butunlikethephysicalclassroomandthebrick-and-mortarcampus,wheresolidarityand Ramin Jahanbegloo
friendship can cushion the blow of other deprivations, the digital classroom can multiply
exclusionsanddeepeninequalitiesof geography,casteandgender.Thataninstitutionlike NEARLY SIX YEARS ago, on January 7, 2015, are philosophical only on this condition. rary, the French philosopher, Helvetius: “I
the Lady Shri Ram College — with the intellectual and financial resources at its command two French jihadists, the Kouachie brothers, Philosophy is, above all, an affirmation of the loved the author of the book, De l’Esprit. This
— could not hear the ominous silences in this digital learning project is deeply worrying. assassinated eight employees of the satirical freedom to think. Fanaticism, for Voltaire, is manwasbetterthanallhisenemiestogether;
newspaperCharlieHebdoandinjured11oth- opposedtothecriticalandphilosophicalspirit; butIneverapprovedof theerrorsof hisbook,
The crisis of the pandemic has underlined that academia cannot afford to see stu-
ers.Thatsameday,manyFrenchpeoplegath- it can’t lead to truth and justice. By definition, nor of the trivial truths he emphatically
dents only as efficient learning machines, without stopping to notice — and care for — ered at the Bastille Square and waved heorshewhogivesfreereintohisidolatryand spouted out. I took his side highly, when ab-
theeconomicandemotionalcircumstancesthatshapethemaslearners.Similarly,atech- Voltaire’sTreatiseonTolerance.Inthepastsev- servitudeofthoughtandcomestomurderisa surd men condemned him for these very
nocratic and purely technological solution to the many hard questions thrown up by the eralweeks,Francehaswitnessedanewwave fanatic.ThatiswhyVoltairewagedarelentless truths.”
pandemic — without recognising the responsibilities of the state and educational insti- of terrorattacksinthenameof Islamicfunda- waragainstthefanaticismthatappearedinthe Maybe this is one of the reasons why we
tutions to create a sense of community and security for the young and vulnerable — runs mentalism,takinginnocentlivesmosthorri- CatholicChurch.Oneofhisconcernsisthede- need to go back to our classics in all cultures,
the risk of abandoning thousands of young people to desperate circumstances. Central bly. The outrageous beheading of the well- fenceofthosewhohavenovoiceandwhoare which taught us a more pluralist and dialogi-
meaningteacher,SamuelPaty,onOctober16, often victims of religious extremism. In the cal approach to ideas that we do not share.
and state governments, the entire education system, must respond to this snowballing
andasimilarattackona60-year-oldwoman same manner, in the Treatise on Tolerance Great figures of Indian independence like
crisis of inequality — by gathering data and information, by putting systems in place that and two others in Nice two weeks later were We need to go back to our (1763), Voltaire takes the opportunity to criti- Gandhi, Tagore and Ambedkar were critics of
can detect and react to strains of mental health among students, and by looking for ways acts of deliberate violence and fanaticism. In classics in all cultures, which cise severely the intolerance of Catholics to- secular and religious forms of fanaticism.
to blunt the edge of digital deprivation. The aspirations and futures of millions of young his tribute to Paty, French President taught us a more pluralist wards Protestants. Gandhi believed that “even the teachings
Indians are at stake. Emmanuel Macron referred indirectly to Voltaire’s work is, in many ways, against themselves of the Quran cannot be exempt
Voltaire, underlining the fact that “the
and dialogical approach to fanaticism. In a dialogue between an fromcriticism.Everytruescriptureonlygains
Enlightenment will never grow dim”. ideas that we do not share. Englishman and a Spaniard, published in by criticism. After all, we have no other guide
It seems that with the rise of fanaticism Great figures of Indian 1764 in his Dictionary of Philosophy, Voltaire butourreasontotelluswhatmayberegarded

HOUR OF THE FURNACE aroundtheglobe,thenecessityof readingand

re-inventing Voltaire is felt more than ever.
Reinventing Voltaire means carrying out a
two-fold reflection, in particular, by asking
Solanas advocated a Third Cinema that rejected commerce of oneself what it means today to be commit-
Hollywood, individualism of European arthouse film ted against fanaticism in a global environ-
independence like Gandhi,
Tagore and Ambedkar were
critics of secular and
religious forms of
fanaticism. Gandhi believed
wrotethefollowingindefenceof freedomof
expression,bytakingEnglandasanexample:
“We have only been happy in England since
everyone gained the right to speak his mind
freely.” Voltaire’s key point here is that it is
necessary to express one's disagreement in
asrevealedandwhatmaynotbe”.LikeVoltaire,
he argued that a person who believesin truth
and god cannot go to a mosque, synagogue,
templeorchurchoneday,andthenextdayfos-
ter hatred and violence.
Reading Voltaire today as a critique of re-

T
ment, and by reflecting on freedom of the public space, where divergences are al- ligious violence helps us to evaluate strongly
HE SIXTIES IN Latin America was a period of political and social ferment, thought as a way of looking critically at our that ‘even the teachings lowedandwelcome.Thisistheideawehave Gandhi’sphilosophyagainstformsofreligious
which resulted in cultural movements and expressions that had an impact world away from stereotypes. What we can themselves of the Quran todayof freedomof expressionwhenCharlie fanaticism. After all, religions are not only
beyond the continent. Fernando Solanas, the Argentine filmmaker who died learn from Voltaire is that it is not the very cannot be exempt from Hebdo voluntarily criticises religions in a about our beliefs but about what we do with
thing we think that makes freedom, but the criticism. Every true newspaper which exemplifies the public our beliefs.
last week aged 84, was an exceptional artist who emerged from the chaos
way we think about it. space. Voltaire practised this with regard to
and crises of the 1960s. He spoke for a cinema that rejected the market and aesthetics of Freedomofthoughtis,therefore,thecom- scripture only gains by thosehedidnottotallyapproveof.Agoodex- The writer is Noor-York Chair in Islamic
both Hollywood and European arthouse films, and situated cinema as an expression of mongroundofallphilosophicalschools:They criticism’. ampleiswhathewroteabouthiscontempo- Studies, York University, Toronto
a social collective. Along with fellow Argentine filmmaker Octavio Getino, he wrote the
manifesto for a Third Cinema, a cinema of liberation — on the ground, it took the shape
of a cultural opposition to the dictatorial regimes and their close relations with multi-
national capital. Solanas and Getino famously said: “The camera is a gun which shoots
twenty-four frames a second.” NOVEMBER 10, 1980, FORTY YEARS AGO
Third Cinema was almost a guerrilla activity, with filmmakers forced to shoot and
edit underground and then screen in working class gatherings and peasant communities, AASU INVITES HM their invitation. The two leaders said that of the area was undertaken.
outsidethetheatrenetwork.Solanasreleasedhiscelebratedfilm,TheHouroftheFurnaces, THE ALL ASSAM Students’ Union (AASU) has they had informed Singh at the last meeting
in 1968, which laid bare the poverty, inequality and suppression of rights in Argentina invited Union Home Minister Zail Singh to in New Delhi that the future talks on the is- MUGABE VS NKOMO
resume talks in Assam on November 14 on sue would have to be held in Assam. “Our AN AS YET unknown number of people
under the military junta. Described as a film essay, it shook up audiences by its political
the foreigners issue. The Centre is under- invitation to you stands,” they said. The were killed in a bloody clash between sup-
daring, narrative honesty and freshness of form. WhileSolanas, a supporter of Juan Peron, stood to be considering the suggestion of the AASU letter said, “Very recently you visited porters of Prime Minister Robert Mugabe,
was forced to flee his country following a military coup in 1976, his ideas found adherents agitation leaders to hold the projected talks some states of the north-eastern region and and those Home Affairs Minister Joshua
elsewhere.DirectorslikeGlauberRochainBrazil,TomásGutiérrezAleainCubaandMiguel at Gauhati, reports PTI. In a reply Zail Singh’s it is very surprising that the occasion was Nkomo at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second
Littin in Chile emerged around the same time and challenged the political and aesthetic letter of November 7 to the agitation lead- not utilised to resume discussions with us”. city, police said. Supporters of the two par-
establishment. Their films and ideas found a resonance across the Third World, includ- ers inviting them to New Delhi for talks, ties in the coalition government — Mugabe’s
ing in the parallel cinema movement in India. AASU president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, AGRA CLASHES Zimbabwe African National Union' (ZANU)
and the general secretary, Bhrigu Kumar SEVERAL PEOPLE WERE arrested by the po- and Nkomo’s Patriotic Front (PF) clashed vi-
Solanas joined electoral politics on his return from exile and was elected to the Senate.
Phukau, said under the present circum- lice following a clash between two groups olently at a ZANU rally in the southern city,
However,followingpublicunrestinArgentinain2001,hereturnedtocinema,makingase- stances it would be inconvenient for them at a crossing near the Agra city railway sta- a police spokesman said. A number of peo-
ries of films that explored the role of multinational corporations in controlling national to leave Assam. They would therefore re- tion. The police quickly brought the situa- ple had been killed, said the spokesman,
economies.Eveninhislastyears,thefurnacecontinuedtoboil,thecameraremainedagun. quest the Union Home Minister to accept tion under control and vigorous patrolling who was unable to give a figure.

Ahmedabad

9
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
THE IDEAS PAGE
Misreading the Biden moment
There is a regrettable under-investment in study of US society, political economy, international relations.
A narrow focus on bilateral ties produces a shallow Indian debate on America
RAJA MANDALA
By C Raja Mohan
THE EXTRAORDINARY AND popular Indian
interestintheUSelectionscanbeattributed,
at least in part, to the growing engagement
betweenthetwocountriesoverthelastcou-
ple of decades. But so long as the widening
interface between the two societies is not
matchedbyagreaterawarenessof America’s
complexinternaldynamics,multiplemisper-
ceptions will continue to define India’s pub-
lic discourse on the US.
One is the illusion that Indians have a say
in the US elections. That might be explained
by the prolonged spectacle that the US pres-
identialelectionhasbecomeandtheendless
speculation on what’s in it for India.
Notwithstanding the growing number of
Indian-American voters and the historic sig-
nificance of Kamala Harris, it is important to
remember that the elections are about
American and not Indian politics.
Since the US occupies so much of our
mind space, it is easy to believe that America
might be spending a lot of time thinking
aboutIndia.AmericaindeedmatterstoIndia,
and everyone else in the world, more than
any one of us matters to the US. That is be-
causetheUSisthedominantpowerinthein-
ternational system and even minor shifts in
its policies have big implications for others.
But the reverse is not true.
That brings us to that perennial debate
aboutwhoisgoodforIndia—DonaldTrump
or Joe Biden? Republicans or Democrats?
These are interesting but inconsequential
questions,sinceIndia’spreferencecan’tmake
a difference to the electoral outcome in the
US. What is relevant is the reality that India,
like all other countries, has no option but to
deal with whoever is elected to the White
House.
TheUSpresidentialelectionthisyearhas
unfortunately got enmeshed with India’s in-
ternalpoliticalcontestations.Trump’sdefeat
is being interpreted by some as a setback for
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi be-
causeDelhihasinvestedsomuchintherela-
tionship with the Trump administration. To
makeitevenmoreinteresting,thereismuch
speculation that Biden might be nursing a
grievance against Modi because the Indian
PM was buttering up Trump at the “Howdy
Modi” rally in Houston last fall. Biden has far
too much on his plate to waste time plotting
onhowtogetevenwithModiforsaying“Abki
bar, Trump Sarkar”.
This debate tells us more about the divi-
sions within India and how they colour our
judgementsof othersocieties.SomeinDelhi
hopeandothersfearthattheUSCongresshas
the wisdom or the power to set right India’s
internalproblems.Thosewhoarehopefulor
anxious about critical comments from a sec-
tion of the Democratic Party’s legislators
about Kashmir and the Citizenship
Amendment Act tend to overdetermine the
weight of these concerns in the conduct of
the US foreign policy towards India.
Like Biden, the US Congress has multiple
domestic issues, including systemic racism,
to handle, before putting the Modi govern-
ment in the dock. While some in Congress —
Niraja Gopal Jayal
IN A RELATIONSHIP spanning four decades,
ProfessorCPBhambhri(CPB)wasmyteacher,
colleague, mentor and friend. When he for-
mally retired from the Jawaharlal Nehru
Universityin1998,Ijokedathisfarewellthat
therewerefourCommunistpartiesinIndia–
the CPI, CPI (M), the CPI (M-L) and the CPB.
Heoftenrecalledthatremarkwithachuckle,
acknowledging that his particular brand of
Marxism was a solo act, hostage to no politi-
cal party or school of thought.
Inthe1970s,intheclassroomandbeyond,
hesavagedrelentlesslythetraditionofbehav-
ioural political science which, originating in
America,haddisplacedtheextantinstitution-
alist approach to political studies in India. As
Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph have docu-
mented, in the backdrop of the Cold War and
a troubled US-India relationship, the air was
thickwithspeculationaboutthecovertfund-
ingof academicresearchbytheCIA.Thiswas
particularlysointhefieldof comparativepol-
iticswhere,ledbyGabrielAlmondandDavid
Easton, structural-functionalism and mod-
ernisationtheorydominatedthestudyofpol-
itics in developing societies. Rajni Kothari’s
PoliticsinIndia(1970)wasastudyinthisvein,
and Bhambhri’s Marxist critique of it in the
Indian Journal of Political Science triggered
whatwasarguablythefirstscholarlydebatein
theannalsofIndianpoliticalscience,famously
the House of Representatives has 435 mem-
bers and the Senate 100 — focus on human
rights and religious freedom, others want to
open India’s market and deepen greater bi-
lateraldefencecooperation.TheUSCongress
isavibrantlegislaturewhereallkindsofinter-
ests and ideas find vigorous articulation.
Congress is an important part of the US
government, but only some of the ideas de-
batedtheretranslateintoWashington’spoli-
cies. The last two decades have seen strong
support from the US Congress to the execu-
tive on strengthening all-round cooperation
with India. There is no reason to see that
changing under the next President and
Congress, if Delhi stays engaged with both.
While enduring national interests drive
American foreign policy towards India, per-
sonal and subjective factors are quite impor-
tant in the routine conduct of international
relations. If personnel is policy, Delhi starts
out on a good footing with President Biden.
Those who remember the twists and
turns of the historic civil nuclear initiative
during 2005-08, will fondly recall the role of
Senator Biden in mobilising the much-
needed congressional support for India in
Washington at critical junctures that de-
mandedurgentlegislativeaction.Equallyim-
portantarethepersonnelmanningtheram-
parts of the US foreign and security policy
under Biden. Many individuals expected to
take up top positions under Biden have
worked with him when he was Vice
President in the Obama Administration. The
Indianestablishmentisfamiliarwithmostof
them.
Two professionals being mentioned for
Biden’s Secretary of State —Antony Blinken
and William Burns — have worked closely
with the Indian government on a range of is-
suesduringtheObamayears.SusanRice,an-
othercandidate,wasObama’snationalsecu-
rityadviserinthesecondtermandwasenvoy
to the UN in the first. Michele Flournoy, who
could well become the first woman to head
the Pentagon, served as the Under Secretary
of Defence in the Obama years and was very
much involved in strengthening security co-
operation with India.
Mostof theothersub-cabinetofficialstoo
would come from the Obama stable or the
In a class of his own
C P Bhambhri was a lively intellectual, as staunchly secular as he was Marxist
bringingrivalideologicalperspectivestobear
on the analysis of Indian politics. The imperi-
alising propensities of modernisation theory
came to be widely acknowledged.
It is possible to discern two phases of
CPB’s intellectual journey. His books
Bureaucracy and Politics in India (1971) and
TheWorldBankandIndia(1980)belongtothe
first phase, in which he addressed primarily
a scholarly audience, in a way that reflected
stronglytheideologicalprismthroughwhich
he viewed the world. In the second phase,
which extended over three decades, he was
more the public intellectual, seeking to edu-
cate public opinion through his newspaper
columns, in which historical insights, drawn
fromaprodigiousmemoryof Indianpolitics,
were woven into the analysis of contempo-
raryissues,identifyingcontinuitiesandtrac-
ing patterns, all inflected by his particular
worldview.Inbothphases,hewasalivelyand
combative intellectual, as staunchly secular
as he was staunchly Marxist.
All of these qualities were on full display
in CPB’s classroom. He was a conscientious
teacher (often punning about his own “class
consciousness”)and,apartfrompunctuality,
expected no conformity from students, least
of all of opinion. In July 2016, anguished by
theeventsof Februarythatyear,hewrote(in
thesepages)anopenlettertostudentsenter-
What stands out from our
debates on Biden policies is
India’s regrettable under-
investment in the study of
US society, its political
economy and international
relations. The public focus is
naturally on bilateral
relations and on the
developments of the day. As
the American salience
continues to rise for India,
Delhi badly needs the
capacity to analyse the
structural forces shaping US
policies.
ing JNU. He eloquently described the aca-
demic philosophy of JNU — its character as
anall-Indiauniversity,itscultureof opende-
bate and the freedom to differ from faculty,
its treatment of students as adults and part-
nersinknowledge.Theseprincipleswerepart
of his pedagogical and institutional practice.
CPB was quintessentially JNU. I cannot
think of another person whose identity was
so closely bound up with the institution in
thebuildingof whichhehadbeenacommit-
tedandenergeticparticipant,andwhoseac-
ademicnormsherobustlydefended,among
themtheparticipationof studentsinuniver-
sity affairs. A man of personal and profes-
sionalintegrity,hewasasharpcriticof crony-
ism, regardless of which ideological stable it
came from.
After his retirement, CPB continued to
visit the campus regularly, presiding over a
shabby little cubicle like an emperor, receiv-
ing and entertaining an enormous and di-
verserangeof visitors,listeningtogrievances
and gossip, dispensing advice on how to ne-
gotiate workplace intrigues, and offering tea
laced with commentary on the news of the
day. Nobody entered that cubicle without a
feeling of being warmly welcomed and no-
body left without a couple of sardonic and
freshly minted witticisms about politics and
people.Fewprofessorsinretirementhaveso
C R Sasikumar
Congressional staff. Thanks to India’s wider
and deeper engagement with the US in the
lasttwodecades,Indiawillfindalotof famil-
iar faces across the administration.
WhiletheIndianpublicdiscoursefocuses
on such exciting issues like Biden’s thoughts
on the “Howdy Modi” rally, the government
ishopefullypreparingtodealwiththeconse-
quential issues at the top of the new
Administration’s agenda — trade and eco-
nomic security for the US, climate change,
health security, and rebuilding alliances.
China figures prominently in all of them.
What stands out from our debates on
BidenpoliciesisIndia’sregrettableunder-in-
vestment in the study of US society, its polit-
icaleconomyandinternationalrelations.The
publicfocusisnaturallyonbilateralrelations
and on the developments of the day. As the
AmericansaliencecontinuestoriseforIndia,
Delhibadlyneedsthecapacitytoanalysethe
structural forces shaping US policies.
A narrow focus on bilateral ties produces
ashallowIndiandebateonAmerica.Abetter
understanding of the deeper forces animat-
ingAmericahelpsusdealmoreproductively
with the United States.
Russia and China have invested quite
heavily in academic and policy research on
theUS.If theRussiansinheritedalargestruc-
turefromtheSovietUnion,Chinahassystem-
atically built-up American Studies as a disci-
plineinitsuniversitiesandthinktanksinthe
last three decades.
Indiawenttheotherway.Justasrelations
withtheUSbegantotakeoff,Indiashutdown
a premier institute — the American Studies
Research Centre at Osmania University,
Hyderabad. When the US funding for the
ASRC stopped in the late 1990s, India could
not find the resources to sustain it. Maybe
Delhicanrevivethatinstitutionorstartbuild-
ing a new one devoted to the study of the
United States. For America today is India’s
most important international partner, and
the connections between our two societies
are getting thicker by the day.
The writer is director, Institute of South Asian
Studies, National University of Singapore and
a contributing editor on international affairs
for The Indian Express
many former students, straddling multiple
generations, from India and abroad, calling
on them, partaking of such an enormous
reservoir of affection.
Although the touchstone of scholarly
achievementforCPBwaswritingabook,that
was not sufficient to earn his respect. There
was a second requirement, that of interven-
tioninpublicdebate.Inthis,hesubscribedto
the highest ideal of the public university as a
space where the exercise of democratic citi-
zenshipisnotjustdesirablebutnecessary.To
understandsocial,politicalandeconomicde-
velopments, and to share this analysis with
thelargerpublicwastheresponsibilityof the
university teacher. It was one he discharged
with conviction himself.
The legacy of Professor Bhambhri en-
duresthroughhisstudents,whethertheyare
teachersinIndiaandabroad,orpoliticalcom-
mentators whose writings enhance our un-
derstandingof Indiaandtheworld,orindeed
civil servants striving for a better society.
Meanwhile, his trademark wit and booming
laughter that once echoed down the corri-
dorsof JNUaresurelyenliveningtheproceed-
ings wherever he is now.
The writer is professor, Centre for the Study of
Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, Delhi
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“Beijing should undertake to communicate with the Biden team as thoroughly
as it can, making greater efforts to recover China-US relations to a state of
great predictability.”
Closing of the
American mind
Current suspicion of higher education in US comes
from people who feel disenfranchised by process
of globalisation. It may outstay Trump
Saikat Majumdar
NOW THAT DONALD Trump has been
shown the EXIT sign, we may be able to en-
joy the Netflix series, Trump: An American
Dream, without an immediate sense of
doom. The series reveals the enormity of
the deception behind the rise of a populist
dictator.Howdoes aManhattan real-estate
tycoon, who almost exclusively dealt in
uber-luxury high-rises and casino dens,
toying with 24-carat-gold cutleries in apri-
vatejetsurroundedbyPlayboymodels,end
up as the champion of the working class?
The answer to this is simple: Trump’s
hatred of higher education. “I love the
poorlyeducated”–he’ddeclaredduringthe
2016 primaries — and that became his bat-
tle cry around a nationwide band of dis-
gruntled white voters reeling under the
“humiliation” of a highly-educated Black
president for eight years.
Is populism anti-intellectual? It is hard
to make a large claim. As the Marxist
scholar Terry Eagleton says, when it was
found that Nazi administrators of the
Holocaust liked to while away their time
outsidegas chambers withWagneroperas,
it seemed that defenders of high culture
had some serious explaining to do.
The more urgent question to ask now is
whether the popular suspicion of higher
education in the US is now deep and wide
enough not only to power deceptive pop-
ulism, but to have far-reaching policy im-
plicationsnomatterwhoisinpower.Given
the history of the American university, this
is deeply ironical.
Unlike the universal and cosmopolitan
ambitions of the medieval European uni-
versity, the origins of the American univer-
sity system were humble, parochial and
deeply local. “The American college in the
nineteenth century,” writes the education
historian David Labaree, “was a hometown
entity.” In a land of multiple and compet-
ing church denominations, founding a col-
lege was an effective way to “plant the flag
and promote the faith”. Likewise, a college
was a solid claim for a sleepy country town
to get on the map so that it could demand
a railway stop, the county seat, or even the
state capital, and, in turn, to raise the value
of local real estate. The founding history of
American colleges continues to live in their
deep community engagement — mani-
fested most strikingly through their com-
mitment to collegiate sports and local
alumni support.
Notwithstanding its local and commu-
nity roots, even in the early 20th century,
collegewasalikelierchoiceforthewealthy,
which made up the Republican party.
People supporting the Democratic party
were mostly labourers and wage-earners,
people far less likely to attend college. An
aristocraticoligarchydefinedthefacultyfor
long after. When I started teaching at
Stanford in 2007, a senior professor, a Yale
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
DON’T FLIP-FLOP
Thisreferstotheeditorial,‘Mixedsignals’
(IE, November 9). Seen in the context of
the pressing need to revive investment,
PMNarendraModi’sexhortationstickall
the right boxes. He needs to ensure that
hisassuranceofstabilityisbuttressedby
actions that dispel investors’ concerns
overpolicyflip-flops.Therulechangesin
wholesaleandonlinetradeareexamples
of shifting goal posts. India must ensure
regulatorycertaintywhileseekingtowoo
global investors.
S S Paul, Nadia
DD NEEDED
THISREFERSTOthearticle,‘AnewDDfor
a new time’ (IE, November 9). The na-
tionalbroadcasterhasasignificantcred-
ibilityadvantageoverprivatebroadcast-
ers.Atatimewhenanumberofournews
channelsareventuringintotheentertain-
ment space to improve viewership sta-
tistics, there is a dire need for the public
news broadcaster to set high standards.
The public exchequer must support the
statebroadcaster,butitmustfunctionin-
dependently of the government.
Doordarshan (DD), being a terrestrial
broadcastingnetworkhasawiderreach,
through its regional stations. It has the
advantageof scale,whichmustbetaken
into account while designing a new
roadmap to revamp DD.
Sudip Kumar Dey, Kolkata
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
— GLOBAL TIMES, CHINA
graduate, shared the story that back in the
’60sand’70s,newYaleprofessorswereanx-
iously asked by their senior colleagues: “I
hope you have a trust fund? Surely you
don’t have to actually live on the salary?”
But the demotic spirit of the American
university has been historically resilient,
bolstered by a few landmark policy meas-
ures: The 19th-century establishment of
theland-grant college,which offered train-
ing that sought to address everyday prob-
lems of the local community, and in the
20th century, the GI Bill sponsored college
education for a wide range of war veterans,
including many from poor and working-
class backgrounds. Soon thereafter, the
baby-boomers flocked to college, and that
tooprimarilyfromblue-collarbackgrounds.
Higher education was no longer the ex-
clusive provenance of the wealthy, though
theelitebastionsremained—saythefabled
Andover-Yale network, through which an
academically mediocre George W Bush
could rise to political power. But, at the
sametime,a perceived radicalisation of the
universities and the consequent culture
warsbegantoenergiseaconservativeback-
lash against higher education. The fear of
theuniversityclassroomasavenuefordan-
gerous liberal ideas — a suspicion that
would be well-understood in India today.
But the current suspicion of higher ed-
ucation does not come so much from con-
servative ideologues, who have also had
their high-philosophical champions, prob-
ably most notably in Allan Bloom’s influen-
tial The Closing of the American Mind. It
comes rather from a wide swathe of poor
and blue-collar whites, who feel excluded
anddisenfranchisedbytheprocessof glob-
alisation. Beginning with the depletion of
the manufacturing industries in the rust
belt — traditionally blue states that have
gone swing — they reached a climactic out-
burstof angerin2016,leadingtotheTrump
victory exactly as a similar rage polled
Brexit to victory.
It is the great irony for a nation that cre-
ated land-grant colleges and the GI Bill that
nowtheworkingclassbasicallymeanspeo-
ple without a college degree, irrespective
of people who are wage labourers. Plenty
of space for an anti-intellectual billionaire
television populist to insert himself as a
champion of the working class!
Either way, 2016 feels like a watershed
year. According to a poll conducted by the
Pew Research Center, a majority of people
frombothpartieshadapositiveviewof col-
leges in 2015. But in 2016, only 43 per cent
of Republicans held that view, compared
with 72per cent of Democrats.Mostrecent
polls have shown sharper concerns about
higher education from supporters of both
parties — and what is, perhaps, the great-
est concern to Americans across the board
— the impossibly escalating cost of college.
A deep suspicion of the university is
nowakeyrealityinwhatisbeingdescribed
as the Divided States of America. In it are
the seeds of suspicion of much else:
Globalisation, immigration, the cosmopol-
itan life of the mind, responsibility for the
environment.
Of science, yes. And, at this pointed mo-
ment of political relief, the urgency of the
mask!
The writer is professor of English & creative
writing at Ashoka University
IDEAS
ONLINE
ONLY IN THE EXPRESS
● OFF THE TRACK IN
PUNJAB:
SARTHAK GUPTA
● IN BIHAR,DEMOCRACY
AT WORK:
PREM SINGH
www.indianexpress.com
BIDEN’S BALANCE
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Not
Trump’ (IE, November 9). It is heart-
ening to note that the Joe Biden camp
has categorically stated that it cannot
solve global challenges without the
help of India. But since the Biden team
is divided on what should be the strat-
egy towards China, it will be interest-
ing to see how things pan out with re-
spect to both US-China and
India-China relations next year. More
so when Biden has hinted that he will
be a one-term President with his
deputy Kamala Harris as a shoo-in
candidate for 2024.
Bal Govind, Noida
Ahmedabad
 10 EXPRESS NETWORK WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020

Eyeonjointclinicaltrials,India 34 inmates at
UP juvenile
TRACKING INDIA’S COVID CURVE
252 CASES: RECOVERED: 79,17,373
Pvt schools in
Rajasthan

trainingnationsinSouthAsia
KAUNAINSHERIFFM
NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER9
AS INDIA prepares to administer
a vaccine against the novel coro-
navirusinfectiontoitspopulation
early next year, it is working with
countriesinitsneighbourhoodon
possible collaborative clinical tri-
alsofvaccinecandidatesinthefu-
ture.
A specialist team of scientists
and researchers from the Indian
Council of Medical Research and
theDepartmentofBiotechnology
under the Union Ministry of
Science and Technology, has im-
partedtrainingtodoctorsandreg-
ulatorsinatleastsevencountries,
topgovernmentsourceswhoare
also part of the high-level expert
grouponvaccineadministration,
told The Indian Express.
“Withselectcountries,Indiais
training and building capacity
with their doctors, scientists, as
wellastheirregulators.Theteam
Testing in Delhi Monday. AP
of DBT and ICMR have visited
Bangladeshtwicetotakethisfor-
ward.Theaimofthisexerciseisto
facilitatefuturecollaborativeclin-
ical trials,” the sources said.
According to the sources, the
Indianteamhasfocuseditstrain-
ingonconductingcrucialphase2
and phase 3 human clinical trials
ofthepotentialvaccinecandidate
along lines of India’s regulatory
mechanism.Inphases2and3,re-
actogenicity (ability to produce
common,adversereactions),im-
munogenicity (ability to provoke
animmuneresponse),andsafety
FROM PAGE ONE
of the vaccine candidate are as-
sessed in a larger population.
“Thereiselectronicanddigital
content... this training has been
imparted to regulators and doc-
tors. The content has been de-
signed by India, and training has
been imparted to Sri Lanka,
Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Nepal,andAfghanistan,”asource
said.
This exercise will allow India
toexploretheoptionofbuyingthe
potential Covid-19 vaccine from
theseneighbouringcountries,the
sources said.
“While the aim currently is to
facilitate a future collaborative
clinicaltrial,goingforwardifavac-
cine is clinically tried in these
neighbouringcountries(inaccor-
dance with India's regulatory
framework), India could be
amenable to eventually buying
that vaccine,” the sources said.
Three indigenous vaccine
manufacturersareatpresentcon-
ducting clinical trials of Covid-19
vaccine candidates. Hyderabad-
basedDrReddy'sLaboratorieshas
received approval to conduct
phase2/3trialsofRussia’sSputnik
Vvaccine.Indiaisastakeholderin
thetripartitearrangementamong
the WHO, the vaccine alliance
group GAVI, and the Coalition for
Epidemic Preparedness
Innovations(CEPI)whichisseek-
ing to ensure that the vaccine,
whenavailable,reacheseveryone.
India's collaborative exercise
withothercountriesintheregion
comes in the backdrop of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi high-
lighting, during the last review
meeting on vaccine delivery, dis-
tribution,andadministration,the
requestfromneighbouringcoun-
tries for clinical trials. The Prime
Minister had also directed that
India should “not limit efforts” to
its immediate neighbourhood,
andreachouttotheworldatlarge
to provide vaccines, medicines,
and IT platforms for the vaccine
delivery system.
home test suspend online
DAYS SINCE 85,53,657 DEATHS: 1,26,611
Covid positive PANDEMIC
BEGAN TESTS: 11,85,72,192 | DOUBLING RATE: 130.02** classes after
tussle with govt
MANISHSAHU
LUCKNOW,NOVEMBER9 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
JAIPUR, NOVEMBER 9
AS MANY as 34 inmates at an
overcrowded juvenile home in FOR THE past five days, private
Uttar Pradesh’s Gonda district schools across Rajasthan have
havetestedpositiveforthecoron-
KEYSTATES TOTAL SURGEIN 7-DAYAVG DOUBLING suspended online classes, with
avirusduringarandomsampling
TOWATCH CASES 24HOURS GROWTH* TIME** schoolunionsclaimingthatover
held two days ago. This was the ■ Maharashtra 17,19,858 5,585 0.30% 237.34 50,000institutionshavegoneon
fifthrandomcheckingheldinthe ■ Kerala 4,86,109 5,440 1.43% 50.36 strike.Theirdemandsincludeno
homesinceMarchwhenthepan- ■ Delhi 4,38,529 7,745 1.60% 44.96 cuts in tuition fees, payment of
demic broke out. reimbursement for admissions
“We collected samples two ■ West Bengal 4,05,314 3,920 1.01% 70.94 under the Right to Education
daysago,andreportsfound34in- ■ Karnataka 8,46,887 2,740 0.34% 212.43 (RTE), and withdrawal of in-
mates positive. A medical team structions issued on fee collec-
* Compounded Daily Growth Rate over last 7 days ** Calculated over 7-day growth
hasrushedtothehometoensure tion when schools reopen.
the virus is not spread further," CASE FATALITY RATIO POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILY OUT “AftertheCovidoutbreak,the
Gonda’s acting Chief Medical state government had deferred
7 DAYS EARLIER: 7 DAYS EARLIER: DETECTED TODAY
Officer Dr Devraj said Monday. the payment of fees for private
“The 34 inmates are asympto- 1.49 7.43 45,903 schools.The11lakhteachingand
matic… and are being shifted to NOW: NOW: RECOVERED TODAY: non-teachingpersonnelatthese
tworoomsinthehome,”saiddis- 1.48 7.21 48,405 schools are in dire financial con-
trict probation officer Jaideep Deaths as a ratio of Positives against Becoming sick vs ditionastheschoolscouldn'tpay
Singh, who oversees functioning positive cases (in %); number tested recovering; more them,” said Anil Sharma, presi-
of juvenile homes. The home, indicator of progress (in %); indicator of recoveries for 14 days dent, School Shiksha Pariwar
in averting deaths the spread of disease may signal the peak
which caters to the districts of Sanstha, Rajasthan.
DataasonNovember8,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth,ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers
Gonda, Balrampur, Shravasti and includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareindicative,notdefinitive On October 28, the govern-
Bahraich,has72inmatesagainsta ment said as long as schools are
sanctionedstrengthof 30. closed, online classes will aim to
increase proficiency of students
who will be charged capacity
8TH MEETING OF SENIOR MILITARY COMMANDERS building fees at 60 per cent of tu-

China’s proposal ‘a step

Google setback
complaint filed in February this
year, the CCI in its 39-page order
said prima facie, Google had
abused its dominant position in
theIndianmarkettounfairlypush
Google Pay on two accounts.
ThefirstonewasGoogle'spol-
icy of “mandatory use of Google
Play’s payment system for pur-
chasingtheappsandIAPs(in-app
purchases) in the Play Store”. The
secondwas“excludingothermo-
bile wallets/ UPI (Unified
Payments Interface) apps as one
of the effective payment options
inGooglePlay’spaymentsystem”.
The probe against Google Pay
comes just four days after the
NationalPaymentsCorporationof
India (NPCI) allowed rival
Facebook-ownedWhatsApptogo
live on the UPI in the multi-bank
model.InitsorderonMonday,the
CCI also came down heavily on
Google's policy to charge 30 per
cent commission for all app and
in-app purchases and said since
its Play store cornered about 90
percentofalldownloads,asignif-
icant volume of payments being
processed in the market would
thus be controlled by it.
“Iftheapplicationdevelopers,
in response, raise their subscrip-
tionfeestooffsetthesecostsorre-
move/ reduce premium/ paid
subscription offers for users, it
may affect user experience, cost
and choice. Such conditions im-
posed by the app stores limit the
abilityoftheappdeveloperstoof-
ferpaymentprocessingsolutions
of their choice to the users,” the
CCInotedinitsorder,askingade-
tailed investigation to be made.
Google's plan to charge a 30
per cent commission had come
under severe fire from several
Indian developers who accused
thecompanyofadoptinga“takeit
or leave it” policy.
Following this uproar, Google
delayed the implementation of
the policy by six months from
September 2020 to March 2021.
Thecompanyhas,however,made
it clear it intends to charge the
commission.
EarlierthisyearinOctober,CCI
had received reports of Google
abusing its dominant position in
theAndroid-televisionmarketby
creating barriers for companies
whichwantedtouseormodifyits
Android operating systems for
their smart televisions. It is, how-
ever, not clear, whether the anti-
trust body has initiated a probe
into the issue.
Similarly,inJune2019,theCCI
had prima facie formed an opin-
ion that Google had abused its
dominantpositioninthedomes-
ticsmartphonemarketbyreduc-
ing the ability of original equip-
mentandmobilephonemarkers
to opt for alternate versions of its
Androidmobileoperatingsystem.
Ithadthenaskedforadetailedin-
vestigation into the issue.
The CCI had in 2018 also
launched a probe and fined the
global software conglomerate Rs
136crorefor“searchbias”andgiv-
ing“undue”spacetoitsFlightsop-
tiononitssearchhomepage,over
andaboveotherrivalsinthemar-
ket. The CCI order was, however,
stayed by the National Company
LawAppellateTribunal,wherethe
case is pending.
India is not the only country
wherethesearch-to-softwaregi-
ant is facing an antitrust probe.
Apart from facing regulatory
scrutinyintheEuropeanUnionfor
anti-competitive behaviour,
Google has also faced the ire of
regulatorsintheUS.Abi-partisan
panelofUSsenatorshadincluded
it in the list of companies to be
broken up into smaller compa-
nies. Following the probe, the
United States Department of
Justice (DoJ) also sued Google al-
leging the company had abused
its dominant position in a way
that had harmed its competitors
aswellascustomers.Elevenstates
in the US have joined the DoJ in
the anti-trust lawsuit against
Google“forunlawfullymaintain-
ing a monopoly in general search
services and search advertising”.
forward; India considering it’
KRISHNKAUSHIK
NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER9
ALTHOUGHTHEREwasnomajor
breakthroughintheeighthmeet-
ing of the senior military com-
manders of India and China on
Friday,thetalkswerenotafailure,
assourcessaidthatBeijing'slatest
proposal is a step forward from
what it had stuck to in the previ-
ous meetings. The next round of
talks are also expected soon, and
mayevencomewithinthisweek,
according to a source.
AseniorArmyofficersaidthat
while India’s stand has been for a
completedisengagement,China’s
latestproposalisbetterthantheir
previousproposals.Theofficerdid
not share details of what the pro-
proposal”.
A senior Army officer However,theofficersaid,there
said that while was no breakthrough in Friday's
talksbecausebothsidescouldnot
India’s stand has been come to an agreement.
for a complete The senior Army officer also
said that both sides want to hold
disengagement, the next round of talks “early”.
China’s latest proposal The two sides had stated in a
is better than their joint statement on Sunday that
they “had a candid, in-depth and
previous proposals constructiveexchangeofviewson
disengagement along the Line of
posal entails. Actual Control in the Western
“Complete disengagement is Sector of India-China border ar-
what our stand has been,” the of- eas”andhad“agreedtoearnestly
ficersaid.Inthelatestmeeting,the implement the important con-
officersaid,Chinahasgiven“apro- sensus reached by the leaders of
posal that has gone beyond what the two countries, ensure their
they were stuck at”, and which is frontline troops to exercise re-
“under consideration [by India], straintandavoidmisunderstand-
and it is better than the previous ing and miscalculation”.
itionfees.Butthegovernmentalso
saidafterreopening,CBSEschools
could charge only 70 per cent of
the total fees that was charged in
the last session, and Rajasthan
Board schools 60 per cent, due to
the reduction in syllabus.
“We demand that the
October 28 order by the govern-
ment be withdrawn immedi-
atelyandthereimbursementfor
RTE admissions be paid.... We
alsowantthegovernmenttoen-
sure that students from affluent
families or whose parents are
government employees, pay the
fees so that we can waive off the
fees for needy families,” said
Sharma.
Speaking at a press conference
Sunday, Education Minister
GovindSinghDotasrahadsaidac-
tion will be taken against schools
that don’t conduct online classes
despite taking fees for it. The rep-
resentatives of private schools
held talks with the government
onMonday,followingwhichthey
puttheirplantotakeoutaprotest
march on Tuesday on hold.

SALUTE THE SOLDIER GUJARAT STATE ELECTRICITY CORPORATION LIMITED

REMEMBRANCE
5041534 L/HAV TUL PRASAD PUN
10 NOV
On this day 5041534 L/Hav Tul Prasad Pun of 5/1 Gorkha Rifles made
the supreme sacrifice during 'OP RAKSHAK' Jammu & Kashmir in Nov
1998 in a true act of valour. The brave soldier will always be
remembered for his enthusiasm. To this brave heart we pledge that we
shall always be guided by his immortal spirit and make his name
proud.
CO AND ALL RANKS, 5/1 GORKHA RIFLES
Martyr of CISF on
10th November
CISF proudly remembers the supreme sacri-
fice of th down his life at the altar of duty while
fighting with would remain an abiding source of
inspiration indebted to him for his noble deed.
this brave-heart. On this day, he laid terrorists.
CT/GD MOTI LAL His courage and bravery for the force. The force
3rd RES. BN. will remainourage eternally
BHILAI
10-NOV-1991
KUTCH LIGNITE THERMAL POWER STATION
Tender Notice No. 18 of 2020-2021
The on-line tenders are invited by Executive Engineer, Ahmedabad (R&B)
S. K. V. Nagar, Panandhro, Kutch, Gujarat-370 601 Division, Block - C, 2ND Floor, Multistoried Building, Drive – in Road, Vastrapur,
GSECL www.gseb.com-E&P Dept-GoG http://guj-epdgov.in Ahmedabad - 380 052 from the Registered contractors (R&B) Department.
Tender shall have to be submitting online through E-Tendering for Estimate
TENDER-NOTlCE no: e-Tender KLTPS-25/2020-21. Tenders Cost Rs. 4.42 Lakh for 1 (One) Road Work respectively. Bid can be available
for Supply of various materials and other works are put on & downloading receiving on web site www.nprocure.com on Dated.
website: https://gsecl.nprocure.com, www.gseb.com / www.gsecl.in. 10/11/2020 to 23/11/2020 for 18:00 Hrs.
For Tender above Rs. 5.00 Lacs. Vendors / Manufactures and More details of work & tender can be available on Information Department web
contractors are requested to view, down load, participate and site www.statetenders.com & Notice Board of this office. Please any
submit online from https://gsecl.nprocure.com. Tender below amendment in future by the department see online.
No. INF/ABD/928/2020
Rs. 5.00 Lacs may be view, download & participate only from
www.gseb.com / www.gsecl.in
Addl. Chief Engineer (G)
Station Head, KLTPS.
Regd Office: PSEB Head Office, The Mall, Patiala - 147001
CIN: U40109PB2010SGC033813, Website: www.pspcl.in
e-Tender Enquiry No. 292/P-1/EMP-W-11747 Dt. 30.10.2020
Tender ID. 2020_POWER_55596_1
Scope of Work: COLLECTION & PREPARATION OF COAL, COL-
LECTION OF ASH, GAS, OIL, POLLUTION MONITORING SAM-
PLES AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF D.M. PLANT AT
GGSSTP, RUPNAGAR.
EMD: Rs. 1,20,500.00 for Contractors/Firms and Rs. 60,250/- for Co-
op Societies Registered with Co-operative Societies. Punjab.
Date & Time upto which Tender shall be Received/Uploaded:
08.12.2020 upto 11.00 A.M.
Date & Time of Opening of Tender: 15.12.2020 upto 11.30 A.M.
Tender specification can only be downloaded from PSPCL
website & https://eproc.punjab.gov.in & no hard copy of the
same will be issued by this office.
NOTE:
1. In case any difficulty regarding uploading of the tender the prospec-
tive bidders are requested to get clarification from this office and or
e-procurement System Government of Punjab. Contact No. +91-
(172)- 2970284/63. lt is also requested to get their digital signature
well in time so as to submit tenders through e-tendering only.
2. It is informed that In case tender process is not completed due to
any reason, no corrigendum will be published in newspapers.
Details regarding corrigendum may be seen on website.
eproc.punjab.gov.in
Sd/-
RTP-47/2020 SE/Head Quarters,
101897/Pb GGSSTP, Roopnagar.

MYSORE PAINTS & VARNISH LTD.,

(A Govt., of Karnataka Undertaking)
New Bannimantap Extension, Mysuru-570015
GUJARAT COUNCIL ON SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Phone : 0821-2493831-2497469/2499340,
Dept of Science & Technology, Govt. of Gujarat website: www.mysorepaints.karnataka.gov.in
Block B, 7th Floor, M.S. Building, Sec 11, Gandhinagar - 382011 email: materials-mpvl@karnataka.gov.in
Phone: 079-23259362-68, Fax: 079-23259363
Email: info-gujcost@gujarat.gov.in
Ref: 1. MPVL/MAT/2019-20/435/CALL-3 &
Web: www.gujcost.gujarat.gov.in 2. MPVL/MAT/2020-21/440/CALL-3 DATE : 05.11.2020
E-TENDER NOTIFICATION
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL FOR DO IT YOURSELF (DIY)
Tenders are invited from reputed manufactures/ authorized
KITs FOR SECONDARY & HIGHER SECONDARY dealers for supply of the following materials through e-
STUDENTS Procurement Portal. The details are as mentioned below :
GUJCOST invites Bids/Offer (by e-Tendering) from pro- 1. e-Tender No.:MPVL/MAT/2019-20/IND 435/Call-3 - e-Tender
fessional agencies for Do It Yourself (DIY) KITS to be used Notification for supply of 2K PU Paints & Allied Products. (25
by Secondary and Higher Secondary students in the State. Item’s and Estimated value Rs.1.99 Crore.)
Further details and conditions are provided in the bidding 2. e-Tender No.:MPVL/MAT/2020-21/IND 440/Call-3- e-Tender
document available on website: https://www.nprocure.com, Notification for supply of Synthetic Enamel paints & Allied
www.gujcost.gujarat.gov.in from 10/11/2020. Products. (45 Item’s and Estimated valure Rs.1.88 Crore).
Tender Fees: Rs. 5,000/- in the form of DD Interested parties may visit www.eproc.karnataka.gov.in
EMD for Bid: Rs. 3,00,000/- in the form of DD for participating in the tender.
Interested bidders may bid through online on above men- 1.MPVL/MAT/2019-20/435/Call-3 & MPVL/MAT/2020-21/440/
tioned website from 10/11/2020 to 01/12/2020 at 15.00 Call-3 : Last date for submission of Tender/Bids is 05.12.2020
hrs. Tender Fees and EMD shall be payable in the form of at 17:00:00 hrs.
DD in favour of Member Secretary. Gujarat Council of 2. MPVL/MAT/2020-21/ 435/Call-3 & MPVL/MAT/2020-21/
Science and Technology by 04/12/2020. GUJCOST
440/Call-3 - Technical Bid Opening on 10.12.2020 at 15:00:00
reserves the right to accept / reject any / all tender without
assigning any reason. Other terms and conditions are hrs.
mentioned in the tender document. For Mysore Paints and Varnish Ltd.,
Sd/-
Date: 10/11/2020 Advisor & Member Secretary TIA/General Manager (Admin)
INF/1251/20-21 GUJCOST DIPR/DDMYS/MCA/644/2020-21

Ahmedabad
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

11 GOVT & POLITICS

THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020

Punjab struggles with shortages as Punjab latest

DELHI CONFIDENTIAL
230 goods trains stuck for a month
Inputs get dearer, power cuts eat into production
RAAKHIJAGGA
LUDHIANA,NOVEMBER9
MOHAMMAD ALAM, 50, a
labourer working at the dry port
of Ludhiana, has been sitting idle
with nearly 200 others since
October 1. The reason: Railways
have stopped all freight trains to
Punjab amid an impasse over
farmers’ protests between the
HOWZZAT FOR FRIENDS Centre and state, leaving these
porters without work.
INDIA HAS been involved in coaching cricketers and officials “We used to earn around Rs
from Maldives. Coaching sessions for coaches and umpires 15,000amonth,andnowwehave
have already taken place, and coaching of 30-member men’s been rendered penniless,” says
and women’s teams each will commence soon in Chennai. Alam.
Indiaisalsobuildingacricketstadiumontheisland-nation.On A few hours away, Amarjeet
a visit to Male, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Singh, a farmer at Ferozepur’s
MondayexpressedhopethatanIPLmatchcanbehostedinthe Bhurekalan village, is worried
country in near future. about the urea he needs for his
crop. “There is no trace of urea in
the market. If the goods trains
COURTESY CALL don’t resume soon, we will have
to arrange trucks to get it.”
UNIONMINISTERofState(independentcharge)forCultureand Industrialists too are feeling
Tourism Prahlad Patel on Monday met Agriculture Minister the pinch. Transportation of raw
NarendraSinghTomar.Duringthemeeting,itislearnt,Patelex- materials by road is jacking up
tended an invitation of his daughter's marriage, scheduled at costs. A steel coil for bicycles that
the end of this month. Incidentally, the meeting of the two was priced at Rs 54 a kg last
strongMadhyaPradeshleaderscameadaybeforetheresultsof month now costs Rs 60 a kg.
crucial Assembly by-elections in their home state on Tuesday. “Steel manufacturers are
chargingusmoreonthepleathat
LabourerssitidleattherailwaygodowninLudhiana. GurmeetSingh
Amarinder
appeals to
farmers
Chandigarh: As the dead-
lock continues between
theCentreandPunjabover
running of goods trains to
the state, Chief Minister
Amarinder Singh on
Monday appealed to the
farmers to completely lift
their rail blockade to also
allow passenger trains to
ply in the state, in view of
plants have shut operations. A
Venuprasad,chairmancumman-
agingdirector(CMD),PunjabState
Power Corporation Limited
(PSPCL), says, “We are facing a
shortage of 7500 MW power
everydayasallourthermalplants
have run out of coal. We have no
option but to impose power cuts
ranging from 2-4 hours.”
Ravi Dhingra, a farmer of
Muhammad Pira village, close to
the India-Pakistan border in
Fazilka, rues that these blackouts
have no fixed time. “I have or-
chards of guava, dates, dragon
100 rakes of
coal, 70 with
fertiliser lying
idle: Railways
AVISHEKGDASTIDAR
NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER9
NEARLY230trainsloadedwithes-
sential goods are idled outside
Punjabforthepastonemonthdue
toprotestsbyfarmersinthestate,
accordingtoRailwaysofficials.
Coal for power plants, petro-
leumproductsmeantforthestate
aswellasforLadakhandJ&K,and
fertiliser are the main items in
these rakes.
Chief among them are 100
rakes of coal meant for the five
powerplantsinthestate.Withthe
blockade stretching to over a
month, they have been moved
away and kept in various loop
lines in Delhi and Haryana, a
Northern Railway official said.
Around 10-12 rakes of coal
service these power plants every
day. Punjab has expressed con-
cernthatifcoalstockofthepower
plants is not replenished in time,
the state will face power crisis in
to drop general
consent to CBI
KANCHANVASDEV
CHANDIGARH,NOVEMBER9
AMIDCENTRE-STATErelationson
downward spiral, Punjab has be-
comeanothernon-BJP-ruledstate
to withdraw general consent ac-
corded to the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) to investigate
cases. CM Amarinder Singh
The investigative agency will
havetoseekpermissionfromthe
state government to probe every probe in the state.
case.Inanotificationtothiseffect Punjab has followed in the
published in the state govern- footsteps of non-BJP-ruled states
ment’s gazette on November 8, thathadwithdrawnconsent.The
AdditionalChiefSecretary,depart- states that have withdrawn con-
ment of home affairs and justice, sent include Jharkhand, Kerala,
has issued orders, “In exercise of Maharashtra, West Bengal,
the powers conferred by section Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
6 of the Delhi Special Police
Establishment Act, 1946 (Central
The Amarinder Singh-led
state government had earlier
Act No. 25 of 1946), the withdrawnconsentgiventocases
Government of Punjab hereby of Bargari sacrilege and Behbal
withdraws the general consent Kalan firing after the Assembly
accorded to the members of the had passed a resolution to with-
Delhi Special Police draw these cases from the CBI.
Establishment, anytime herein Punjab is already locked in a
before.” confrontationwiththeCentre,es-
The notification also reads pecially after changes to the farm

GOING GREEN
their raw material is coming via
roadinsteadoffreighttrains,”says
Onkar Singh Pahwa, MD of Avon
INTHEUrbanMobilityIndiaconference,alotof emphasiswas Cycles.
laidontheneedtoshifttopublictransport—andeventonon- Rajesh Bansal, owner of Rana
motorisedtransport—forpersonalmobilityinurbanareas.In Cycles, says even plastic parts
fact,theSecretaryof theMinistryof HousingandUrbanAffairs come at a premium now. “There
saidthatheusestaxiservicesforpersonalcommutinginstead is black marketing of steel. Those
of taking out his car, and that his son cycles 7 km every day to whoarereadytopaymoregetthe
work. stocks instantly, the rest of us are
asked to wait for a fortnight. It is
affecting our supply chain.”
Thesuspensionofgoodstrains
POLITICIANS EXEMPT: FB SPOKESPERSON has dealt a blow to induction fur-
naces too. K K Garg, president of
the initiative taken by the
Centretodiscusstheissue
of the farm laws.
TheCentrehascalleda
meeting of agitating
farmer organisations on
November 13. ENS
thatwestartedworkingroundthe
clock in August, but now we are
back to 12 hours... Besides raising
ourinputcosts,theroadtransport
also slows down the pace of our
operations.”
fruit, malta etc…but these days
wegetwaterforbarelytwohours
against eight hours in our area. I
have my house in Fazilka where
unscheduled power cuts of four
hours have become the norm.”
On Sunday, Punjab Chief
Minister Capt Amarinder Singh
had said he had sought Union
HomeMinisterAmitShah’sinter-
vention into the issue even as the
BJP state president accused the
CM of trying to arm-twist the
Centreby“instigatingfarmers”to
continue with their protests
the winter.
Around70rakesoffertiliserare
also lying idle at various places in
Northern Railway zone awaiting
clearance, official data show.
Railwaysofficialssaidthatasperan-
nualroutine,rakesloadedwithfer-
tiliserareprioritisedacrossIndiato
servicePunjabinthekharifandrabi
seasons.Punjabisheavilydepend-
entonfertiliserfromotherstates.
Thirty rakes of petroleum
productmeantforthestateaswell
as supplies to Ladakh and J&K are
also awaiting clearance. The rest
that, “In view of revocation of all
previousgeneralconsentsissued
earlier, prior consent of the
GovernmentofPunjabshallbere-
quired, hereinafter, on a case-to-
case basis for investigation of any
offence or class of offences under
section 3 of the aforesaid Act, by
the Delhi Special Police
Establishment.
Under Section 6 of the Act, all
statesexceptDelhiandtheUnion
Territories have the discretion to
give their consent to the CBI for a
laws. The state’s Legislative
AssemblynotonlypassedtheBills
negatingtheCentre’slawsbutthe
CM led a dharna of legislators at
JantarMantarinDelhiagainstthe
Union government recently.
The Centre has retorted by
suspendinggoodstrainstoPunjab
affectingsuppliesonthepleathat
thefarmerswereblockingtherail
traffic. The Centre has also with-
held the rural development fund
(RDF) given to Punjab every year
during procurement of paddy.

Facebook removes theNorthIndiaInductionFurnace

Association, says, “We have
around150inductionfurnacesin
Farmers and manufacturers
arenotjustbattlingshortageofin-
puts, but long power cuts too.
against the farm laws.
The Railways has declined to
resumeservicesinPunjab,saying
are containers with various kinds
ofgoodsmeantformultipleplaces,
recordshows.
TAMIL NADU

‘misinformation’ tag Punjab, out of which 25 are in

Ludhiana.Itiswithgreatdifficulty
Withthecoalsupplyferriedby
goods trains drying up, thermal
it will either operate both freight
and passenger trains or none.
FULL REPORT ON
www.indianexpress.com Will form govt on own:
from Himanta video Amid Gujjar stir in Rajasthan, Jats AIADMK day after BJP
claim to choose next CM
and Muslims renew quota demand
ABHISHEKSAHA
GUWAHATI,NOVEMBER9
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE

E
FACEBOOK on Monday removed Himanta CHENNAI, NOVEMBER 9
acautionofmisinformationithad Biswa Sarma
EXPLAINED

put on a video posted three days
ago by Assam minister Himanta
Biswa Sarma, in which he had
claimed that supporters of Lok
Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal al-
legedly shouted ‘Pakistan
Zindabad’sloganswhilereceiving
him at an airport.
Facebook had retained the
videobuthadflaggeditasfalsein-
formation.
AIUDF has maintained that
the supporters raised the slogan
“Aziz Khan Zindabad” – for the
partyMLAfromKarimganjSouth
constituency who was also pres-
ent there.
A Facebook spokesperson
told The Indian Express that it ex-
empts politicians from its third
partyfact-checkingprogramme,
andthatthetagwaserroneously
put on
Sarma’s post.
OnNovember6,Sarmaposted
thevideoandwrote:“Lookatthe
brazenness of these fundamen-
talists anti-national people who
are shouting PAKISTAN ZIND-
ABAD while they welcome MP
BadruddinAjmal.Thisthoroughly
exposesIndianNationalCongress
whichisencouragingsuchforces
by forging an alliance...”
Fact-checking websites such
as AltNews and BOOM Live soon
reported that pro-Pakistan slo-
ganswerenotraised.Later,acau-
tion was put on the video by
Facebook: “False information.
Checked by independent fact-
checkers.”
21 held as Assam CID begins probe
into minority scholarship ‘scam’
Guwahati: The Assam Police CID
on Monday arrested 21 persons,
includingfourschoolheadmasters
andateacher,asitbeganitsprobe
into alleged misappropriation of
pre-matric scholarship funds for
poor minority students for the
years2018-19and2019-20.
A case was filed after a com-
plaint by Mahmood Hassan, di-
rector of the Assam minority de-
velopmentboardandstatenodal
officer of the pre-matric scholar-
shipforminorities.TheCIDsaidin
a press statement that a case has
been registered under Sections
120(B),406,409,419,420,468and
471 of the IPC.
The police in Assam’s Cachar
district, where the incident took
place,hadregisteredacaseagainst
alleged slogans in the video.
On Monday, Opposition
Congress lodged an FIR in
Guwahati against Sarma. In the
FIR, state Congress general secre-
tary Ranjan Bora stated that the
ministerpostedremarksonsocial
media with an “intention to cre-
atereligioustensionbetweentwo
communitiesthroughamislead-
ingstatementandfalseFacebook
post”.
A Facebook spokesperson
said:“Werelyonthird-partyfact-
checkerstohelpreducespreadof
false news and other viral misin-
formation like memes or manip-
ulated photos and videos.
Facebook exempts politicians
from our third-party fact-check-
ing.Afact-checkingratingwasap-
pliedinerroronthispostandhas
been removed.”
The AIUDF and the Congress
have announced an alliance to
fight the upcoming Assam elec-
tions early next year.
On Monday, Sarma tweeted,
“Video is a genuine one and not
doctored. Good that the video is
restored.”
Ajmalhadearliertoldtheme-
dia, “Aziz Khan’s supporters
shouted slogans in his support.
The BJP and Himanta Biswa
Sarmamanipulateditandsaidthe
sloganswere‘PakistanZindabad’.”
“On the basis of evidence col-
lected during investigation so far,
21 persons have been appre-
hendedbyCIDwithsupportoflo-
cal police of Goalpara, Darrang,
Kamrup and Dhubri districts as a
resultofco-ordinatedsearchoper-
ations on multiple places which
startedintheeveningofNovember
8,”theCIDstatementsaid.
The illegal siphoning of the
Centrally-funded scholarship by
an alleged nexus of middlemen,
bankcorrespondents,officialsand
school staff, as reported by The
Indian Express investigation, is
also being probed by the CBI.
ENS
HAMZAKHAN
JAIPUR,NOVEMBER9
AMID THE protests by the Gujjar
community, a section of Jat and
Muslim communities have re-
newedtheirdemandforreserva-
tion under the Other Backward
Classes (OBC) category.
“If the government wants an-
archy and only listens to agita-
tions, then we will decide on a
strategythrougheightmahapan-
chayatsinthedistrict(Bharatpur),
the first of which will be at
PathenavillageonNovember18,”
saidNemSinghFaujdar,convenor
of the Jat Arakshan Sangharsh
Samiti. “We will not set any vehi-
cleonfire,norwillwedamageany
property,butwewilldoachakka
jam that the government can’t
even imagine,” he said.
“Our first demand is that the
state government should write to
the Centre, recommending reser-
vation for Jats of Bharatpur and
Dholpur.Second,ourselectedcan-
An experiment to grow saffron Odisha revokes decision
in Sikkim, with help from J&K to cut scholarship fund
ESHA ROY
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
SO FAR, the cultivation of saffron
— the most expensive spice — in
India has been limited to a few
areas in J&K. The Ministry of
ScienceandTechnology,through
the Department of Science and
Technology (DST), is now look-
ingatextendingitscultivationto
some states in the Northeast.
A pilot project has yielded
successful results in Yangyang
village of South Sikkim, which
produced its first crop of saffron
this September. It was grown
across 1,000 square metres.
Once the quality of the saffron is
assessed, this will be scaled up
10 times in Sikkim itself, said
Dr Arun K Sarma, Director
General, North East Centre For
Technology Application and
Reach (NECTAR), an au-
tonomous body under the DST
whichimplementedtheproject.
Saffron cultivation has long
been restricted to a limited geo-
Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla’s son Vijay (in blue cap)
with his supporters at a protest site in Bharatpur. Express
didates should be given appoint-
ment immediately. Third, cases
filedagainstmembersofthecom-
munityduringtheagitationshould
bewithdrawn,”Faujdarsaid.
The Muslim Minority
Development Committee
(MMDC) has demanded 10 per
cent reservation for backward
Muslim castes “along the lines of
reservation for Gujjars”.
Yangyang village in South
Sikkim produced its first
crop of saffron this
September. Express
graphical area in J&K, mainly
Pampore, followed by Budgam,
Srinagar and Kishtwar districts.
“We have been thinking for
sometime that the soil and
weather conditions in Kashmir
are similar to some areas in the
Northeast.Sowebrought100kg
seeds from Kashmir, along with
a saffron farmer, to South
MMDC General Secretary
Yunus Ali Khan said, “Muslim
OBCs fare worse than other OBC
castes in education and social
backwardness.” The MMDC has
sought separate reservation for
Muslim OBCs in education and
servicesinthestate“onKarnataka
pattern”.
Meanwhile in Karauli, State
Youth Affairs Minister Ashok
Sikkim,’’ said Sarma.
The Botany and Horticulture
departments of Sikkim Central
University, which collaborated
on the project, tested the soil pH
in Yangyang, and found it simi-
lar to the saffron-growing areas
of Kashmir, especially Pampore.
“Saffron seed/ corms were
purchased and air-transported
from Kashmir to Yangyang by
the department. One saffron
grower was engaged and sta-
tionedtolookafterthecomplete
growing process, along with the
facultyof theuniversity,"theDST
said in a statement.
The corms were irrigated
during September and October,
which ensured timely sprouting
and good flower yields, it said.
“The pH level of the soil was a
particularly important factor...
we are carrying out a scientific
analysisof theplanttoseehowit
compares to the saffron plant in
Kashmir. If the quality is indeed
similar, then the Northeast will
beagoodalternativesitetogrow
saffron,’’ said Sarma.
Keeping its
● cool
WHILE THE agitation by
the Gujjars on the railway
tracks has entered its
ninth day, the Ashok
Gehlot government ap-
pears to be patiently try-
ing to avoid any con-
frontation and violence.
The government’s repre-
sentativeshavecontinued
to hold talks with leaders
fromthecommunityeven
asthelatterhavebeentry-
ing to up the ante.
Chandnaandtopofficialsfromthe
district administration held an-
other round of talks with Gujjar
leadersledbyKiroriSinghBainsla
and his son Vijay Bainsla on
Monday.However,noagreement
could be reached.
for SC, ST students
AISHWARYA MOHANTY
BHUBANESWAR, NOVEMBER 9
THEODISHAgovernmenthasre-
voked its decision to reduce the
post-matricscholarshipamount
forSCandSTstudents,following
criticism over the move.
“There will be no change in
the amount of post-matric
scholarship for SC and ST stu-
dents. The students will con-
tinue to get the same amount as
they availed the previous aca-
demic year,” Chief Minister
Naveen Patnaik said in a state-
ment,addingthattheearlierno-
tification has been put on hold
andtheCM’sofficewillverifythe
official file pertaining to the
same again.
“Thedecisiontoslashtheschol-
arshipamountwastakenaswein-
creasedthecoursesbeingcovered
from27to99forthe2020-21aca-
demic session. This would have
meant that more number of stu-
AFTER THE Tamil Nadu govern-
mentrefusedtograntpermission
to the BJP state unit for its much-
hyped Vel Yatra to celebrate Lord
Muruga abodes in the state, a
statement by the saffron party's
state president, L Murugan, has
irkedtheAIADMKleadershipand
invited a strong counter.
OnSunday,duringhissecond
unsuccessful attempt to launch
his Vel Yatra, as the police took
him and others into custody
again,Muruganhadsaidthatthe
Vel Yatra will make BJP an un-
questionableforceinTamilNadu
in the upcoming Assembly polls,
expected by next summer.
Murugan also said that the
nextchiefministerofTamilNadu
willbeapersonchosenbytheBJP.
Thetwopartiesareinalliance
in the state.
Reacting to Murugan’s state-
ment, state Cabinet minister and
senior party leader D Jayakumar
saidtheAIADMKcontinuestobe
powerfulenoughtofacethepolls
Odisha CM
Naveen
Patnaik
dents could be roped in and pro-
videdthescholarship,”aseniorof-
ficialoftheSC/STdevelopmentde-
partmentsaid.
The decision was heavily crit-
icisedbytheOpposition.“...(It)can
create hurdles for poor meritori-
ousstudents.Alotoffamilieshave
suffered from financial setbacks
during the pandemic and the de-
cisiontocutdownonscholarships
would have only added to their
woes. It will discourage the stu-
dents from further pursuing
higher studies. It is not at all sur-
prisingthatthestategovernment
decided to bring in such a resolu-
tion immediately after the elec-
tions to the bypolls,” Youth
CongressOdishapresidentSmruti
Ranjan Lenka said.
TN BJP chief
L Murugan
andformthenextgovernmenton
its own. Ruling out the BJP's
chancesof assumingakeyrolein
the government if AIADMK is
elected for the third consecutive
time, Jayakumar said, “There is
space for talks about a coalition
government. The AIADMK will
form the government, as it has
doneinthepast.Thereisnodoubt
about that.”
However, senior AIADMK
leaderssaidthattheongoingwar
ofwordsbetweenthetwoparties
willnotbeaggravatedtothepoint
of breaking the alliance, as the
AIADMK cannot take a decision
on snapping ties without taking
theBJPcentralleadershipincon-
fidence. “These are necessary
statements to silence the local
leaders of BJP to counter their
over-enthusiasm,” a senior state
ministerandAIADMKleadersaid.
Uttarakhand CM
announces 10-yr
infra plan for
summer capital
LALMANIVERMA
DEHRADUN,NOVEMBER9
UTTARAKHAND CHIEF Minister
Trivendra Singh Rawat on
Mondayannouncedthat11police
outposts would be set up in the
border areas. On the occasion of
the foundation day of
Uttarakhand, the CM also an-
nounced de-
velopment of
infrastructure
and facilities in
summer capi-
talGairsainata
cost of Rs
Trivendra 25,000 crore
Singh Rawat over the next
10years.Rawat
saidacommit-
tee will be constituted under the
ChiefSecretarytoensureplanned
development of Gairsain.
Tomarkthestate’s20thfoun-
dation day, various programmes
wereorganisedbothinDehradun
and Gairsain.

Ahmedabad
 E EXPLAINED
12
CORONAVIRUS DASHBOARD
Delhi cases growing at over
three times the national rate
THEPEAKinDelhi’slatestwaveofcoro-
navirus infections is getting higher by
theday.With7,745newcasesdetected
on Sunday, Delhi scaled a fresh record,
and now is also the fastest-growing
state in the country, having overtaken
Kerala. In the last one week, Delhi has
contributed over46,000cases.Thisisa
couple of hundred cases more than
Kerala; Maharashtra has detected
about36,000casesthis
past week.
With a growth rate
of 1.6% a day, Delhi is
currentlygrowingmore
than three times faster
thanthenationalrate.It
is one of the very few
statesthatarecurrently
witnessing an increase CORONAVIRUS
in their active cases. COUNT
Delhi has close to
42,000 active cases
right now, which is lower than only
Maharashtra and Kerala.
What is more worrying is the fact
that the death count in Delhi has also
beenrisingsharply.Inthelastfewdays,
Delhi has reported more deaths than
any state except Maharashtra. On
Sunday,77deathswerereported,after
79deathsthepreviousday.Thecityhas
recordedcloseto7,000deathstillnow.
Five states — Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal — have recorded more deaths.
INDIA ACTIVE CASES
600,000
582,649
550,000
500,000
Oct 30
LAST 10 DAYS
Note: The Nov 8 figure in this graph is based on the government update on Nov 9
INDIA TOTAL CASES
8,553,657
Source:MinistryofHealth&Family
Welfare,updatedat11pmonNov9
Prevalence, outcomes of heart
disease among Covid-19 patients
A NEW study has re-
viewed the prevalence
and outcomes of hospi-
talised Covid-19 patients
with heart rhythm disor-
ders such as atrial fibrilla- PAPER
CLIP
tion and atrial flutter. It
will be presented at the
American Heart
Association’s Scientific NEW RESEARCH
Sessions 2020 from
November 13 to 17.
Researchers reviewed medical ated with even higher risk of death, as
recordsof435patientshospitalizedbe- wellasmulti-organfailure,suchasres-
tweenMarchandJune2020intheYale piratory and renal failure.The re-
NewHavenHealthSystem.Thedatare- searcherscitetheneedformoreinves-
vealed that 7.8% patients were diag- tigationtounderstandthemechanisms
nosedwithatrial fibrillation/flutterfor ofheartinjuryfromCovidinfectionand
thefirsttimeintheirlives,and15.9%of methods to prevent this complication.
thepatientshadapriorhistoryofthese. Source: American Heart Association
KeralaministerJaleelandthecaseofillegalimportsthroughUAEConsulate
SHAJUPHILIP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,NOVEMBER9
KERALA HIGHER Education Minister K T
JaleelisbeingquestionedbyCustomsofficials
inKochiafterbeingnamedasa“personofin-
terest” in cases of illegal import of dates and
religious texts through diplomatic cargo
mailedtotheUAEConsulate.Theseemerged
duringaprobeintosmugglingof30kgofgold
through diplomatic cargo to the Consulate.
The smuggling case & Jaleel
On July 5, Customs seized 30 kg of gold
stashed in diplomatic cargo addressed to
Consul Chargé D'affaires Rashid Khamis Al
Sheimeili, acting as Consul-General since
April. As per the inventory, the cargo con-
taineddatesandsanitaryfittings.Diplomatic
baggageisoftenchosenbysmugglers,inboth
KeralaandtheUAE,assuchconsignmentsare
exempt from Customs inspection under
Article 35 of the Vienna Convention.
ThearrestofaformerExecutiveSecretary
attheConsulate,SwapnaSuresh,broughtthe
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
Anotherstatethathasbeenrecord-
ing a very high number of deaths rela-
tivetoitssizeisChhattisgarh.Inthelast
coupleof weeks,thestatehasbeenre-
porting between 40 and 60 deaths
every day, although this number has
been comparatively low in this past
weekend, with 22 deaths on Saturday
and13onSunday.Closeto2,500people
havesofardiedinChhattisgarh,which
also saw its caseload
cross 2 lakh on Sunday.
About 46,000 new
cases were detected
across the country on
Sunday, taking the total
number of confirmed
casessofarto85.53lakh.
Odisha has crossed
three lakh cases. A few
days ago, West Bengal
had crossed four lakh.
Odishahassloweddown
in the last few weeks; West Bengal is
one of three states whose current
growthrateishigherthan1%aday,the
others being Delhi and Kerala.
Thebiggestimprovementhashap-
penedinMaharashtra,wherethenum-
ber of fresh cases has remained below
6,000foralmost10daysnow.Twodays
ago, the state reported around 6,800
new cases, but that was only because
over 1,800 unreported cases during
June-September were now added.
AMITABHSINHA
509,673
509,673
Nov 8
WORLD TOTAL CASES
50,550,062
Source:JohnsHopkinsUniversity,
updatedat11pmonNov 9
Overall, about one fifth of
the patients had an
episode of atrial fibrilla-
tion/flutter during hospi-
talisation. Further analy-
sis showed patients with
apriorhistoryofatrialfib-
rillation and flutter had a
higherriskofdeath,inde-
pendent of other health
issues. In-hospital atrial
arrhythmiaswereassoci-
focus on Jaleel. The minister agreed he had
contacted Swapna as she was a consulate
staff,butsaidhewasunawareshehadleftthe
Consulate a year ago. The National
Investigation Agency (NIA) and the
Enforcement Directorate (ED) have already
questioned the minister, who is a CPM-
backed MLA since 2006. The Congress and
theBJPhavebeendemandinghisresignation.
ThegoldseizureledtotheCustomslook-
ing into other imports through diplomatic
cargo.TheprobefoundthattheConsulatehad
imported 17,000 kg of dates in the last three
years and at least 250 packets containing
8,000-oddcopiesofQuranduringMarchthis
year. The dates and religious texts had been
pickedupbytheCentreforAdvancedPrinting
and Technology (CAPT), which runs under
Jaleel’s department, and been taken to his
home district Malappuram for distribution.
Imports allowed/not allowed
AspertheProtocol Handbook-2018 of the
ExternalAffairsMinistry,diplomaticmissions
are allowed to import free of customs duty
certainarticlesfortheirofficialuse,withprior
What next for Pfizer vaccine
Pfizer has reported that its vaccine, BNT162b2, has been more than 90% effective in late-stage trials. How
does it work, and what do the promising results mean for the US and other countries, including India?
PRABHARAGHAVAN
NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER9
USDRUG-MAKERPfizerhas releasedprelim-
inary data from late-stage human trials of the
Covid-19 vaccine it developed with German
biotech firm BioNTech. The vaccine has been
found more than 90% effective. The findings
arecriticalasthevaccineisheadedforareview
bytheUSFoodandDrugAdministration(FDA)
laterthismonth,andtalksoftheshotreceiving
emergency authorisation are closer to reality.
Whattypeof vaccinehavePfizerand
BioNTechdeveloped?
This is a vaccine that was developed using
mRNAtechnology—itmakesuseof themes-
sengerRNAmoleculesthattellcellswhatpro-
teinstobuild.ThemRNA,inthiscase,iscoded
to tell the cells to recreate the spike protein of
the novel coronavirus. Once the mRNA is in-
jected into the body, the cells will use its in-
structions,creatingcopiesofthespikeprotein,
whichisinreturnexpectedtoprompttheim-
mune cells to create antibodies to fight it.
Unlike several other vaccine candidates,
mRNAvaccinesaresyntheticallydeveloped—
they don’t need the virus to be cultivated and
replicated, just the code for the most crucial
part that the body’s immune system is to tar-
get. Another advantage is that they can be
manufactured at a large scale in large vats
called bioreactors.
Theseareplatformsthatcanwork“onde-
mand”, said an Indian vaccine maker who
spoke to The Indian Express on condition of
anonymity.Aftergettingthecodeforthevirus,
it is possible to develop the vaccine within
weeksforpre-clinicaltesting,comparedwith
months taken for more traditional platforms.
Whatdotheearlyresultssay?
Thecompany’sfirstinterimefficacyanaly-
sis signals that the vaccine is able to demon-
strate an effectiveness against Covid-19.
According to the findings, the vaccine was
“morethan”90%effectiveinpreventingCovid-
19amongparticipantswhohadreceivedasec-
onddoseasopposedtothoseparticipantswho
had only received a placebo.
How does the US media call an election?
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER9
PRESIDENTDONALDTrump,whohasnotap-
pearedinpublicsincetheAssociatedPress(AP)
andAmericancablenewsnetworkscalledthe
presidentialelectioninfavourofhischallenger
Joe Biden on Saturday, wrote on Twitter early
onMondaymorning(Indiatime):“Sincewhen
doestheLamestreamMediacallwhoournext
president will be? We have all learned a lot in
the last two weeks!”
Wasitunusualforthemediatocallthe
November3election?
On the contrary, presidential elections in
the US are as a rule called by the media — this
includes President Trump’s own 2016 victory
over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. The
AP,formanydecadesthegoldstandardforcall-
ing US election races, says unequivocally that
it“declareswinners”—it“doesnotmakepro-
jections or name apparent or likely winners”.
ThecallmadebytheAPisindependentand
professional—“ourdecisionteamdoesnoten-
gage in debate with any campaign or candi-
date”,itsays—andisalmostneverdisputed.“If
there’s no way for the trailing candidate to
catch up, no legal way, no mathematical way,
K T Jaleel, Higher Education Minister
approval of the Protocol Special Section (of
thestategovernment).Articlesmeantfordo-
nation are not import duty-free. Goods im-
ported duty-free are not to be sold/disposed
until three years from the date of import.
The Consulate has to get a duty-exemp-
tioncertificatefromtheStateProtocolOfficer
(SPO) every time it wants to import cargo
SIMPLY PUT QUESTION &ANSWER
Outside Pfizer’s headquarters in Manhattan. Reuters/File
The firm also said that analysis of the late-
stagetrialdatashowedthattherewerenose-
rious safety concerns.
ConsideringthattheUSFDAaswellassev-
eralinternationalregulatorsandhealthorgan-
isations have suggested that a Covid-19 vac-
cine has to be able to protect at least 50% of
those receiving it, the findings in Pfizer and
BioNTech's case seem promising.
“The results demonstrate that our mRNA-
basedvaccinecanhelppreventCovid-19inthe
majority of people who receive it. This means
weareonestepclosertopotentiallyproviding
peoplearoundtheworldwithamuch-needed
breakthroughtohelpbringanendtothisglobal
pandemic,”saidAlbertBourla,CEO,Pfizer,ina
statementuponthereleaseof theresults.
“Thisisafirstbutcriticalstepaswecontinue
ourworktodeliverasafeandeffectivevaccine,”
Bourlasaid.
Thephase3trialsofthisvaccinecandidate
—BNT162b2—beganonJuly27andhassofar
enrolled43,538participants,38,955ofwhom
hadreceivedaseconddoseasof November8.
Doesthismeanthevaccinewillreceive
FACT CHECK, GROUND REALITY
then the race is decided, essentially,” Sally
Buzbee,theAP’sexecutiveeditor,toldTheNew
York Times in an interview on the eve of
ElectionDay.“Andifthereisanyuncertainty,or
if thereareenoughvotesouttochangethere-
sult, then we don’t call the race.”
HastheAPalwayscalledUSelections?
Whataboutotherorganisations?
The AP has been calling elections since
1848, when Zachary Taylor became the 12th
President of the United States. Unlike in India,
thereisnocentralorfederalmechanismtorun
the election, actual results may take weeks to
betabulated,anditfallsonthe“decisiondesks”
at American media organisations to “call” the
electionforoneortheothercandidateinevery
stateand,ultimately,forthenationasawhole.
Broadcasters Fox News, NBC, CNN, CBS, and
ABC have their own decision desks — all of
them take their job extremely seriously, have
formidablereputations,andaretrustedwidely.
Thedecisiontocallaracebyanetworkthat
has its own decision desk can come either be-
fore or after that of the AP — late on Saturday
evening (in India), CNN was the first to call
Pennsylvania and, therefore, the presidential
election for Biden; the AP followed minutes
later.However,theelectioninArizonahadbeen
calledbyAPandFoxNewsveryearly,whilethe
withoutCustomsexamination.TheCustoms
foundthattheSPOhadgrantedtheConsulate
aduty-exemptioncertificateduring2016-18,
butnotgrantedexemptionfromCustomsex-
aminationorassessmentin2019-20.Swapna
and her accomplices have reportedly con-
fessedtoCustomsthattheyhadmisusedthe
diplomaticrouteon21occasionstosmuggle
in 168 kg gold. As per the Customs Act, the
Consulate can import through diplomatic
cargoonlyitemsfortheiruse.Sincetheseim-
ports cannot be sold outside or donated, the
Customs registered a case of illegal imports
of religious texts and dates for outside use.
TheCustomsDepartmenthasfoundthat
the imports to the Consulate violate the
CustomsAct,ForeignContributionRegulation
Act,andPreventionofMoneyLaunderingAct.
Where Jaleel figures in this
Jaleel has claimed that the Consulate ap-
proached him through Swapna for facilitat-
ing distribution of consignments. Jaleel sent
a government vehicle from CAPT to pick up
thesepacketsfromtheConsulate.Onepacket
was opened and Quran copies were distrib-
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com
emergencyapprovalintheUS?
Notnecessarily.Theinterimresultsreleased
todaywereofonly94outofnearly40,000vol-
unteers who were injected with the vaccine
candidate.“It’simportanttonotethatwecan-
notapplyforFDAEmergencyUseAuthorization
basedontheseefficacyresultsalone.Moredata
onsafetyisalsoneeded,andwearecontinuing
toaccumulatethatsafetydataaspartofouron-
goingclinicalstudy,”saidBourla.
PfizerandBioNTecharecurrentlyaccumu-
latingthisadditionalsafetydataandestimate
that it will take until the third week of
Novemberforthecompanytomakeavailable
twomonths’worthofsafetydatafollowingthe
secondandfinaldoseofthevaccine.Sincethis
is the amount of safety data specified by the
USFDAinitsguidanceforpotentialEmergency
UseAuthorisation,itislikelythatthefirmswill
be able to approach the regulator for emer-
gency approval then.
Another mRNA candidate, by US firm
Moderna in collaboration with the National
InstituteofAllergyandInfectiousDiseases,has
alsobeenafrontrunnerintheracetowardsan
Emergency Use Authorisation from the US
othernetworksandTheNYTheldonascount-
ingprogressedslowlyoverthenexttwodays.
In 2016, the AP called the race at 2.29 am
ET the day after Election Day (November 8,
2016)throughasimplenewsalertthatwasre-
ceived by media organisations around the
world:“DonaldTrumpelectedpresidentofthe
United States.”
NPR, the syndicator to more than 1,000
publicradiostations,andthefree-to-airbroad-
casterPBSrelyontheAP’scall,asdothenews-
paperchainsGannett(ownerofUSAToday)and
McClatchy.TheNYT,TheWallStreetJournal,The
WashingtonPost,alluseAPdata.Thereal-time
resultsthatappearedonGoogle’ssearchpage,
aswellasthepanelonYouTube,arefromtheAP.
HowdoestheAPmakeitsdetermination
of whohaswon?
Inthe2020generalelection,theAPtracked
over7,000races,includingtheTrumpvsBiden
contest; Senate, House, and gubernatorial
races; and thousands of down-ticket races.
Morethan4,000freelancelocalreporterscol-
lectedcountsfromeverycountyineachofthe
50 states and phoned in to the AP’s vote entry
centres, where the data were assessed and
cross-checked by some 800 clerks before be-
ingfedintotheorganisation’scentralcomputer
system, according to a report in The NYT.
utedamongthestaff of CAPT,while31pack-
etsweresenttoMalappuramandkeptattwo
religious institutes, although these had not
askedfortheQurancopies.Customsweighed
the consignment and found some weight
“missing” compared to the inventory of the
cargo.Investigatingagenciesarelookinginto
chances of contraband accounting for the
missingweight.Also,theprobehasfoundthat
the GPS of the vehicle that took the Quran
copiestoMalappuramwasdisabled.Customs
foundthatthegovernmentvehiclewithreli-
gious text had even gone to Karnataka.
Probe agencies have found that Jaleel vi-
olated protocol by directly interacting with
themissionofaforeigncountry.Customsof-
ficials are of the view that several key func-
tionaries,includingJaleel,havebeenindirect
touch with the UAE and its mission.
Jaleelhasarguedthatthegovernmentin-
currednolossintheimportordistributionof
religioustextsorfoodkits,thatitisagoodwill
gesture from the UAE during Ramzan, and
thatnodiplomaticissueswereinvolvedinhis
links with the Consulate. Facing protests, he
hasdaredtheIndianUnionMuslimLeague,a
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
FDA. The firm also expects the required read-
out from late-stage human trials later this
month, and can reportedly approach the reg-
ulator for an EUA towards end-November.
WillIndiagetaccesstothisvaccine?
Sofar,no.Thefirmshavesofarinkeddeals
for hundreds of millions of doses of the vac-
cine with countries like the US, UK, Japan and
the European Union region.
Basedoncurrentprojections,thefirmsex-
pect to produce globally up to 50 million vac-
cinedosesin2020andupto1.3billiondosesin
2021. While the Indian government had held
an “initial meeting” with representatives of
Pfizer’s Indian subsidiary in late August after
earlyphase1dataofthevaccinehadcomeout,
there has been no major movement on that
front since.
ThelaunchofthisCovid-19vaccineinIndia
would depend on whether Pfizer and
BioNTech, either on their own or through a
partnershipwithanotherIndianvaccinefirm,
approachIndia’sdrugregulator(CentralDrugs
StandardControlOrganisation)forapprovalsto
conduct human trials of the candidate here.
As per India’s regulatory requirements, a
vaccine would have to undergo local trials in
the country before it can receive an approval
for a launch.
IndiaismajorlyfocusedonfiveotherCovid-
19 vaccine candidates, being tested by Serum
InstituteofIndia,BharatBiotech,ZydusCadila,
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories and Biological E.
Whatmajorroadblockscouldpreventa
quickscaleupof thisvaccine?
The vaccine may run into logistical issues
onaccountofcoldstorage—thecandidatere-
portedly needs to be stored at temperatures
below -90°F. This would require an ultra-cold
storagesystem,asstoringitatrefrigeratedtem-
peratures reportedly for more than two days
may render it ineffective.
This means major constraints in storage
anddistributionincountrieslikeIndia,which
is still mapping and scaling up its cold storage
footprinttostoreevenvaccinesatrefrigerated
temperatures. Even countries with more ro-
bust cold chain systems may have to invest
more to adhere to these stricter conditions.
InanFAQpostedonitswebsite,theAPsays:
“AP’sracecallersandDecisionDeskaredriven
entirelybythefacts…AP’sracecallersarestaff
whoaredeeplyfamiliarwiththestateswhere
theydeclarewinners…They…studyelection
rules and recount requirements and track
changesandupdatestoelectionlaw…[,]they
work with AP’s political and government re-
porters[, and] review and rely on information
from AP’s election research group.”
The AP’s race callers use tools including
“AP’s vote count, which it has conducted in
every U.S. presidential election since 1848”,
and data from a wide-ranging survey of the
electorate.“Racecallerscollaboratewithana-
lystswhofocusonstatewideraces,[and]…ed-
itors at AP’s Decision Desk sign off on every
race call for President, Senate and Governor.”
Whenisarace“tooclosetocall”?
Thisisanexpressionthatwasheardrepeat-
edly between November 3 and November 7
asthecountingprogressed.TheAPsaysit“may
decidenottocallaraceif themarginbetween
thetoptwocandidatesislessthan0.5percent-
age points”. Also, “AP may not call winners in
races for US House if the margin is less than
1,000 votes and winners in races for state leg-
islatureif themarginislessthan2percentage
points or 100 votes”.
Congressally,tosaytheQuranshouldnotbe
distributed.TheCPMhasallegedtheCongress
andBJParetargetingJaleelfordistributingthe
Quranandfoodkitsamongthepoor.Muslim
religious leaders have criticised the CPM for
dragging in religion.
Why Jaleel matters to CPM
Jaleel started as a firebrand SIMI leader
and later became an office-bearer of Youth
League, the IUML youth wing. But strained
relations with the IUML leadership, particu-
larly P K Kunhalikutty, led to his ouster in
2005. The CPM fielded Jaleel as a party-
backed candidate against Kunhalikutty in
2006. A good orator, Jaleel could whip up
community sentiments on anti-US, anti-
Israelcampaigns,thethenplanksof theLeft.
Hewonin2006,andagainin2011and2016.
For the CPM, which has been trying to make
inroads into the Muslim vote bank, Jaleel is
important in pulling anti-IUML votes and
votesoffringeMuslimoutfitsopposedtothe
UDF. He has had close links with Chief
Minister Pinarayi Vijayan since the time the
latter was party state secretary.
Ahmedabad

13 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
EvoMorales
BOLIVIA
Moralesheads
homeafternew
socialistpresident
isswornin
FORMER LONGTIME
Bolivian leader Evo
Moralescrossedtheborder
back into Bolivia on
Monday, ending a year in
exile, after a close ally and
memberofhisMASsocial-
ist party was sworn in as
president. Morales, who
led Bolivia for almost 14
years as the first indige-
nous president, entered
the country from
Argentina after a farewell
ceremonypresidedoverby
Argentine President
Alberto Fernandez.
Morales, who left Bolivia
underacloudin2019after
someobserverscitedirreg-
ularitiesinanelectionthat
gave him a fourth term in
office, said that being able
to return filled him “with
happiness”.NewPresident
Luis Arce has said that
Moraleswillplaynorolein
hisgovernment. REUTERS
AUSTRIA
30arrestedin
anti-terrorraids
AUSTRIAN POLICE made
30arrestsinmorethan60
raidsonMondayaspartof
an anti-terrorism opera-
tion, but there was no link
to a deadly attack in
Vienna a week ago in
whichaconvictedjihadist
killed four people, prose-
cutorssaid.Austriahasfor-
mally remanded in cus-
tody 10 suspects in
connectionwiththeattack
by a 20-year-old gunman
who had previously been
convicted of trying to join
IslamicStateinSyria.Police
shothimdeadminutesaf-
ter he opened fire on bars
and bystanders in central
Vienna. REUTERS
PAKISTAN
Courtsendsteen
toshelterhome
aftermarriageto
45-year-oldman
A PAKISTANI court sent a
minor Christian girl to a
shelter home after she
was allegedly converted
to Islam and married to a
Muslim man. Arzoo, 13,
who is a resident of
Karachi’s Railway Colony,
went missing on October
13 and was later found to
have married Syed Ali
Azhar, a 45-year-old
man, after converting to
Islam, according to an
FIR. The Sindh High Court
ordered police to take ac-
tion against the man for
violating child marriage
laws, and sent the girl to a
shelter home. PTI
VIRGIN HYPERLOOP COMPLETES FIRST MANNED TEST
A step forward in the promise of ultrafast ‘Hyperloops’ breaching order in Pell case
ERIC A TAUB
MOAPA, NOVEMBER 9
HYPERLOOP TECHNOLOGY,
which promises to transport
peopleandgoodsatspeedsof up
to600mph,haslongseemedtoo
goodtobetrue.Butonecompany
says it has cleared an important
step toward commercialising it
by moving two of its employees
through a test system.
VirginHyperloopbecamethe
firstcompanytoconductahuman
test of the technology Sunday at
its 500-metre test track in the
desertnorthofLasVegas.Thetwo
volunteers, wearing casual street
clothes, were whisked in a pod
thatwaslevitatedbymagnetsin-
PRESIDENT-ELECT IMPLORES AMERICANS TO WEAR MASKS
Biden moves forward with Covid task
force as Trump tries to cling to power
Incumbent plans to hold rallies to build support for his challenge to election result, campaign says
REUTERS & AP
WILMINGTON, NOVEMBER 9
PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE Biden
convened a task force on
Mondayto devisea blueprint for
tackling the coronavirus pan-
demic in the United States and
hailed progress on a vaccine,
while President Donald Trump
steadfastly refused to acknowl-
edge his electoral defeat.
Biden conferred in Delaware
by video link with the 13-mem-
ber task force that he named,
headed by former US Surgeon
General Vivek Murthy, former
Food and Drug Administration
CommissionerDavidKesslerand
YaleUniversityhealthcareequity
expert Marcella Nunez-Smith.
The task force will liaise with
officials to consider how to safely
reopen schools and businesses
and tackle racial disparities.
Two days after clinching vic-
tory over the Republican
President,theDemocraticformer
vice president cautioned that
Americans still face “a dark win-
ter” and need to be aggressive
about mask wearing and social
distancing as infections continue
to surge around the country.
“We could save tens of thou-
sands of lives if everyone would
justwearamaskforthenextfew
months. Not Democratic or
Republican lives, American
lives,” Biden said. “Please, I im-
plore you, wear a mask.”
Biden labelled as “great
news” Pfizer Inc’s announce-
ment on Monday that its exper-
imental Covid-19 vaccine was
more than 90% effective.
But Biden said it would be
“manymoremonthsbeforethere
iswidespreadvaccination”,again
underscoring the importance of
masks and social distancing.
Meanwhile, Trump has still
Hurdle for Biden transition team
ACCORDING TO US
law, the transition
team of the president-
elect gets access to fed-
eral agencies and fund-
ing to set up the new
administration as soon as the
head of the General Services
Administration (GSA) “ascer-
tains” who the winner of the
election is. Usually, this is done
With election over, cracks in Democratic Party widen
ASTEAD W HERNDON
& ADAM NAGOURNEY
NOVEMBER 9
SINCE US President Donald
Trump won the White House in
2016, a shocked Democratic
Party had been united behind
the mission of defeating him.
Fouryearslater,withtheelection
of Joe Biden, the divides that
have long simmered among
Democratsarenowbeginningto
burst into the open, as the pres-
ident-elect confronts deep gen-
erational and ideological differ-
ences among congressional
lawmakers, activists and the
party’s grassroots base.
The fault lines began to
Australian media on trial for
Josh Giegel and Sara Luchian in their hyperloop pod. NYT
sideavacuumtubeto107mphin
6.25 seconds.
Theriderssatinmoldedseats
covered in white vegan leather,
housed inside the all-white car-
bon fiber-clad pod.
While the G-forces on the
CO-CHAIRS OF
BIDEN’S COVID
TASK FORCE
DR VIVEK MURTHY
Indian-
origin
former US
Surgeon
General, who had
commanded the public
health force that dealt
with Ebola and Zika.
DR MARCELLA
NUNEZ-SMITH
Associate
professor of
internal
medicine,
public health and
management at Yale
and associate dean for
health equity research
at Yale’s medical school.
DR DAVID KESSLER
Professor of
pediatrics
and
epidemio-
logy and biostatistics at
University of California,
San Francisco, and US
FDA commissioner from
1990 to 1997.
not acknowledged defeat in the
election and has launched an ar-
ray of lawsuits to press claims of
election fraud for which he has
produced no evidence.
Trump has no public events
scheduled for Monday, and has
not spoken in public since
Thursday. He plans to hold rallies
to build support for his challenge
totheelectionresults,acampaign
spokesman said.
soon after major news
organisations call the
election in favour of a
candidate. However,
the Trump-appointed
GSA administrator has not yet
set the ball rolling for the
Biden team to begin the tran-
sition, leading to fears of a
rushed and messy process
ahead of the Jan inauguration.
emerge within hours of Biden’s
victory.Moderatesarguedthathis
success, particularly in industrial
Midwestern states that Trump
seized from the Democrats in
2016, was proof that a candidate
who resisted progressive litmus
tests was best positioned to win
back voters who had abandoned
pod were three times that of an
airplane, “itwasmuchsmoother
than I expected,” said Sara
Luchian, 37, one of the test riders
and the company’s director of
passenger experience. And un-
like an airplane, there were no
Biden and Harris address reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday. Reuters
Most Republicans refuse to
acknowledge Biden victory
Former president George W Bush and Senator Mitt Romney
are among the few Republicans to congratulate Biden. Reuters
THE NEW YORK TIMES
NOVEMBER 9
AS TOP Republicans remained
divided Sunday over congratu-
lating President-elect Joe Biden
and declaring the election over,
President Trump’s closest advis-
ers continue to brief him on pos-
sible “legal remedies,” accord-
ing to a White House official.
That path has been encour-
aged most strongly by Rudy
Giuliani, Trump’s personal
lawyer, while most other Trump
advisers have said privately that
the chances of changing the re-
sults of the election through var-
ious court challenges are ex-
ceedingly slim.
Some within the Republican
Partyhavemadeitclearthatitwas
timeforthePresidenttoconcede.
On Sunday, former president
GeorgeW.Bushbecamethehigh-
est-profileRepublicantopublicly
Progressives like
Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez have been
blamed for the
party’s worse-than-
expected results in
congressional
races. NYT
theDemocraticParty.Thosetests
includedsingle-payerhealthcare,
aggressive measures to combat
climate change and expanding
the Supreme Court.
Moderate Democrats said a
disappointing showing by the
partyincongressionalraces—the
party lost seats in the House and
lateral forces that would have
caused the pod to sway, she said.
“It felt not that much differ-
ent than accelerating in a sports
car,” said Josh Giegel, 35, the
company co-founder and the
other volunteer rider.
“Thisisastepof historicalsig-
nificance,” said Jay Walder, the
company’s chief executive,
pointing to 20 months of plan-
ning. “I don’t think you can over-
state it. This is a moonshot mo-
ment. I have no doubt this will
change the world.”
Whether it becomes a giant
leap for mankind is still unclear.
Virgin’stestmightbeassym-
bolicallyimportantasitiscrucial
tothetechnology’sultimatesuc-
cess. While the pod travelled at
declare the election over in defi-
ance of Trump’s refusal to accept
theresults.“Iextendedmywarm
congratulations” to Biden, Bush
said in a statement.
Republican leaders like
Senator Mitch McConnell have
refusedto publicly acknowledge
Biden’s victory without neces-
sarilyembracingTrump’sclaims.
Many of them have either re-
mained silent or have straddled
the line with statements calling
for all legal votes to be counted.
Only a few well-known
Republicans, like Senators Mitt
Romney and Lisa Murkowski,
have congratulated Biden.
Others, like Governor Kristi
Noem of South Dakota lashed
out at Democrats and the news
media on the ABC programme
“ThisWeek,”insistingthat“com-
puter glitches” and reports of
“dead people voting in
Pennsylvania” were examplesof
widespread fraud.
faces a struggle for even narrow
controloftheSenate—wouldgive
liberal Democrats less of a plat-
formtopushBidentotheleft.
After a fiery call among
members of the House
Democratic caucus, in which
some argued that progressives
who have entertained ideas like
defunding the police or
“Medicare for All” had cost the
party congressional seats, some
Democratic leaders pushed fur-
ther away from the left wing.
Butby every early indication,
Biden’s election has embold-
ened progressive energy, no
matter the setbacks in the con-
gressional races.
Senator Elizabeth Warren,
setting policy terms in a state-
a much slower speed than what
proponents of hyperloops claim
the technology is capable of,
company officials described it as
a safety milestone.
“The No. 1 question I get from
investors is, ‘Is it safe enough to
ride?’ ” said Giegel. “We’re every-
day people, we’re not astronauts.
This shows that it’s safe, and ob-
servers can take this back to their
investors and interested munici-
palities.”Thetestalsogivesasense
ofrealitytoanotherwiseabstract
sci-fi-like construct. “You can
show the most elegant diagram
but at the end of the day what is
important is, will people ride it?
This is an example of a picture
worth a thousand words,”
Luchian said. NYT
Trump fires his
Defence Secy
Mark Esper
HELENE COOPER
& ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 9
US DEFENCE Secretary Mark
Esper was fired by President
Donald Trump on Monday, the
latest casualty in the President’s
revolvingdoorof topnationalse-
curity officials who fell on the
wrong side of their boss. Trump
announced the decision on
Twitter, saying in an abrupt post
thatEsperhadbeen“terminated”.
Trump wrote on Twitter that
he was appointing Christopher
Miller, described by the
President as the “highly re-
spected” director of the National
Counterterrorism Centre, to be
acting defence secretary. He will
be the fourth man to lead the
Pentagon under Trump, who
made a point of noting that
Miller has been approved by the
Senate already. NYT
Mark Esper
ment after Biden was declared
victorious, said: “A Band-Aid ap-
proach won’t get the job done.
Wehaveamandateforactionon
bold plans to meet these twin
health and economic crises.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez of New York, a leading
voiceof theparty’sleftwing,said
the next few weeks would set
the tone for how the incoming
administration will be received
by liberal activists.
“Ithinkthat’swhatpeopleare
keeping an eye out for: Is this ad-
ministration going to be actively
hostile and try to put in appoint-
mentsthataregoingtojustsquash
progressivesandorganising?”she
said.“Idon’tenvytheBidenteam.
It’saverydelicatebalance.” NYT
ROD MCGUIRK
CANBERRA, NOVEMBER 9
HIGH-PROFILE AUSTRALIAN
journalists and large media or-
ganisations went on trial on
Monday on charges that they
breached a gag order on report-
ing about Cardinal George Pell’s
sex abuse convictions in 2018
thathavesincebeenoverturned.
A total of 18 individual jour-
nalists, editors and broadcasters
face potential prison sentences
and 12 media organisations face
fines if they are found guilty in
theVictoriastateSupremeCourt
of breaching a judge’s suppres-
sion order on Pell’s case. They
have all pleaded not guilty.
A supporter holds a picture of Aung San Suu Kyi outside
party headquarters in Yangon. Reuters
Suu Kyi’s party
claims victory in
Myanmar election
SHOON NAING
YANGON, NOVEMBER 9
MYANMAR’S RULING party said
on Monday it had won enough
seats in Parliament to form the
next government, after report-
ing a lead based on its unofficial
countof votesfromthecountry’s
secondgeneralelectionsincethe
end of strict military rule.
PartyspokesmanMyoNyunt
told Reuters internal reports
showed the National League for
Democracy (NLD), led by Aung
San Suu Kyi, had won the 322
seats in Parliament needed,
though no official results had
been announced by the election
commission.“Wethankthepeo-
ple,” he said. “For the people, for
the party, this is such an encour-
aging election result.”
The Election Commission is
expectedtoannounceofficialre-
sults later.
Sunday’s election was seen
as a referendum on the fledgling
democratic government led by
Suu Kyi and the NLD, which re-
mains hugely popular at home
but has seen its reputation col-
lapse overseas amid allegations
of genocideagainsttheRohingya
Muslim minority.
Up for grabs in the election
The European Commission's Michel Barnier arrives for
Brexit talks in London on Monday. AP
UK, EU make one more
push for Brexit trade deal
JILL LAWLESS
LONDON, NOVEMBER 9
NEGOTIATORSFROMBritainand
the European Union met on
Monday to seek a breakthrough
ingridlockedtradetalks,withjust
days until a deadline to strike a
post-Brexit deal.
EU chief negotiator Michel
BarnierwasduetomeethisBritish
counterpart, David Frost, in
London, after both sides warned
there was little time to bridge big
differencesbetweenthem.Barnier
tweetedthathewas“Happytobe
back in London today, redoubling
oureffortstoreachagreementon
thefuturepartnership.”
AlthoughPrimeMinisterBoris
Cardinal Pell’s sex abuse
convictions in 2018 have
since been overturned. AP file
Such orders are common in
the Australian and British judi-
cial systems. But the enormous
international interest in an
Australian criminal trial with
global ramifications highlighted
the difficulty in enforcing such
orders in the digital age.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Sunday’selectionwas
seenasareferendumon
thefledgling
democraticgovernment
ledbyAungSanSuuKyi
andtheNLDparty
are 315 seats in the 425-mem-
ber Lower House and 161 seats
in the 217-seat Upper House of
Parliament.
TheNLDcametopower after
a 2015 landslide in which it won
a total of 390 seats, a benchmark
Myo Nyunt said it expected to
exceed, according to data com-
piled from reports by party
agents at polling stations across
the country.
A spokesman for the second
biggest party, the military-
backed Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP)
could not immediately be
reached for comment.
The military, which ruled
Myanmar for nearly 50 years un-
til it began withdrawing from
civilian politics in 2011, controls a
quarter of seats in both houses of
Parliament, under a constitution
itdrewupandwhichSuuKyiand
allies want to amend. REUTERS
JohnsonsaidSundaythatadealis
“theretobedone”beforethetwo
sides’ mid-November deadline,
obstacles remain over fishing
rights and competition rules. On
top of that, controversial legisla-
tion from Johnson’s government
threatens to derail a deal.
Johnson has infuriated the
EUwithaBillthatbreachesparts
of the legally binding with-
drawal agreement that allowed
for Britain’s exit from the bloc in
January. The Internal Market Bill
gives the UK power to override
sections of the agreement deal-
ing with Northern Ireland trade.
Thelegislation hasbeen con-
demnedbytheEU,USPresident-
elect Joe Biden and scores of
British lawmakers. AP
PellwasconvictedonDec.11,
2018, of sexually abusing two
choirboysinaMelbournecathe-
dralwhenhewasthecity’sarch-
bishop in the late 1990s.
The trial of the most senior
Catholic to be charged with child
sexabusewasnotreportedinthe
newsmediabecauseofasuppres-
sion order that forbade publica-
tion of details in any format that
couldbeaccessedfromAustralia.
Details were suppressed to
prevent prejudicing jurors in a
second child abuse trial that Pell
was to face three months later.
Thatsecondtrialwascancelled
due to a lack of evidence, and
Australia’s High Court in April
overturned all convictions after
Pellhadspent13monthsinjail. AP
Ahmedabad

14 ECONOMY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
SECTOR WATCH
EQUITY MARKETS
Sept quarter: DIIs, FPIs
train eyes on banking,
finance stocks amid
economic greenshoots
SANDEEPSINGH
NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER9
AS THE economy started wit-
nessing signs of recovery in
quarter ended September 30,
2020,bothforeignportfolioin-
vestors(FPIs)anddomesticin-
stitutional investors (DIIs)
trained their focus on the
bankingandfinancesectorand
invested heavily in banks and
financialinstitutions.
According to data sourced
fromprimeinfobase.com,ofthe
10 companies that witnessed
the highest buying by FPIs in
the quarter ended September
2020, there were five banks
and a housing finance com-
pany.Similarly,of the10com-
paniesthatwitnessedhighest
buying by DIIs in during the
quarter,threewerebanksand
twofinancecompanies.
ICICI Bank was the biggest
gainer as data shows that FPIs
invested a net of Rs 12,728
crore in ICICI Bank. They also
investedinAxisBank(Rs8,578
crore), Yes Bank (Rs 7,012
crore). The other three
banks/financecompanyinthe
list of top 10 included HDFC
Ltd, Bandhan Bank and HDFC
Bank. As per primeinfo-
base.com, the net investment
in the companies have been
calculated by multiplying the
differencebetweensharehold-
ing of June and September
with the average closing price
forthequarter.So,ofthenetin-
vestmentof Rs63,810crorein
thesetop10companies,thesix
bank/ finance firms garnered
overRs42,000crore.Theother
fourcompaniesthatmadethe
top 10 include Eicher Motors,
Reliance Industries, Asian
PaintsandInfosysandtheyat-
tracted an aggregate invest-
mentof overRs21,600crore.
DIIsalsofollowedasimilar
trend and five banks/finance
companiesoccupiedthelistof
10 companies that witnessed
highest buying by DIIs during
thequarter.DatashowsDIIsin-
vested a net of Rs 9,782 crore
inYesBankandRs2,377crore
inHDFCLtd.Theyalsoinvested
in Bandhan Bank (Rs 2053
crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 1,465
crore) and Mahindra &
Mahindra Financial Services
(Rs1,251crore).
Pranav Haldea, MD, Prime
Database said, “Whenever
there is an economic revival,
thereareexpectationsofcredit
offtake and financial sector
benefits from that revival.
BRIEFLY
HDFCcutsretail
primelendingrate
NewDelhi:HDFConMonday
announced cutting its retail
primelendingrate(RPLR)on
housing loans by 10 basis
points(0.10percent). PTI
EUhitsUS
withtariffs
Brussels:TheEUwill“regret-
tably” impose tariffs on im-
ports of $4 billion in US
goods from Tuesday, EU
TradeCommissionerValdis
Dombrovskis said.
VisionFundCEO
Misraquitsboard
Tokyo:SoftBankhasannou-
nced removal of several
high-profile executives
from its board, including
Vision Fund chief Rajeev
Misra and Chief Operating
OfficeMarceloClaure,after
investor pressure to impr-
ovegovernance. REUTERS
‘PVretailsales
dip8.8%inOct’
New Delhi: FADA said pas-
senger vehicle retail sales in
October saw a year-on-year
fallof8.8%to2,49,860units,
as registrations slowed. PTI
SENSEX: 42,597.43 ▲ 704.37 NIFTY: 12,461.05 ▲ 197.50 NIKKEI: 24,839.84 ▲ 514.61 HANG SENG: 26,016.17 ▲ 303.20 FTSE: 6,172.20 ▲ 262.18 DAX: 13,093.05 ▲ 613.03
Marketexpertssay
strongFPIinflows
intobankandfinance
companiesisinline
withthefactthat
theyarerelatively
undervalued
Given what the economy has
undergone over the last 7-8
months,thereisnowexpecta-
tionofcreditofftakegoingfor-
wardandbankingandfinance
will benefit and that has re-
sultedintoinvestmentsbyFPIs
and DIIs.” During the quarter,
FPIs invested gross of
Rs 4,13,836 crore and a net of
Rs 46,860 crore into domestic
equities. Data shows while
theyraisedtheirholdingin349
NSE-listed companies during
thequarter,theyreducedhold-
ingin535companies.
While FPI ownership of
Indian equities declined from
22.46 per cent in December
2019to21.17percentinMarch
2020and21.05percentinJune
2020, following the sharp fall
in markets due to Covid, the
September quarter saw a rise
in their holding to 21.52 per
cent. Market experts say
strong FPI inflows into bank
and finance companies is in
linewiththe factthattheyare
relatively undervalued and,
thus, provide opportunity for
investment.
In January, the price-to-
earning ratio for Sensex was
25.6 and, in October, it is
around 28.09, which means
theSensexisalreadytradingin
amoreexpensivezoneascom-
paredtothatinJanuary.Incon-
trast,whilethePEratioofBank
index at BSE stood at 32 in
January 2020, it currently is
hovering around 20.37. This
meansthatthePEratioofbank
index was much lower than it
wasinJanuary.
Fund managers feel while
therearesomeconcernsonac-
countofNPAs,thesectorisun-
dervalued and throws oppor-
tunityforinvestorsandseveral
fundhousesareadvisingtheir
investors to invest in sectoral
fundsfocussingonbanks.
“At this point in time, we
believe banking & infrastruc-
turespaceisunder-valuedand
hence, investors with a 3-5
year horizon should consider
SIPs in such funds,” said
SankaranNaren,EDandCIOat
ICICIPrudentialAMC.
Despite market bounce back, MF equity
schemes see outflows of `2,724 cr in Oct
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,NOVEMBER9
EQUITYSCHEMESoffundhouses
witnessed an outflow of Rs 2,724
crore in the month of October
2020 despite the stock market
staging a good performance.
However, the debt market re-
ceivedinflowsofRs1.10lakhcrore
takingthetotalmutualfundassets
under management (AUM) as on
October 31, 2020 to the highest
everRs28.22lakhcrore.
While multi cap funds regis-
tered outflows of R 1,902 crore in
October, sectoral and thematic
funds witnessed net flows of
Rs2,214.67croreduetotwoNFOs
Bigbasket data breach: What user information could be at risk
PRANAVMUKUL
NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER9
INDIA’S TOP online grocer
Bigbaskethassufferedapotential
databreach,resultinginpersonal
information of over 20 million
customersbeingallegedlysoldon
the dark web. This incident fol-
lowsaseriesofdatabreachesthat
haveimpactedIndiancompanies.
Whendidthebreachhappen?
As per cybersecurity firm
AT 42,597, INDEX SURGES 2,336 POINTS IN 5 STRAIGHT SESSIONS ON US POLL CLARITY
All-timehigh:SensexralliesonBidenwin
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,NOVEMBER9
DOMESTIC STOCK markets on
Monday staged a strong rally to a
record high after Joe Biden
clinchedtheUSpresidency,boost-
ingriskappetiteandhopesofpos-
itive global developments ema-
nating from the fact that more
orderlyconditionsandaggressive
pro-growthstrategiesmayprevail
withachangeofregimeintheUS.
The Sensex soared 704 points to
close at a new peak of 42,597.43
andtheNifty50soared198points
to12,461.05inbuyingeuphoria.
The Sensex has jumped 2,336
pointsinthelastfivesessionsamid
the volatility triggered by the US
elections. Firm global cues and a
clear majority to favourite
Democratic party in the US elec-
tiontookbenchmarkindicestoall-
timehighs.
On Monday, foreign portfolio
investors(FPIs)investedanetofRs
4,547croreintodomesticequities
Therupeeopenedhigherat73.94
Hard-earned 1,000 points
The Sensex surged 704 points to close above the 42,000-
level for the first time Monday. It took almost a year to end
above the 42,000-mark, after it had crossed 41,000 last
November. These 1,000 points were witness to the
Covid-19 pandemic, GDP contraction of 23.9%, a US
election and some economic greenshoots emerging now
FPI INFLOW INTO EQUITIES IN 2020
60000
12,123
40000
20000
0 day to an all-time high. The S&P
-20000
-40000
-60000 -61,973
-80000
January
‘False security’: Zoom settles with
‘ADDITIONAL DIRECT FISCAL STIMULUS OF 3-5% OF GDP REQUIRED’
Need further stimulus to offset
loss of working hours: SBI research US FTC, agrees to added scrutiny
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
AN ADDITIONAL direct fiscal
stimulus of 3-5 per cent of the
gross domestic product (GDP)
might be required to offset the
loss of working hours in the
country following the outbreak
of the Covid-19 pandemic, State
Bank of India (SBI) said in its re-
search report on Monday.
Citingtherecentestimatesof
loss of working hours by the
International Labour
Organization (ILO), SBI said “the
maximum hours lost was in Q1
OVERALL POSITIVE FLOW
`98,575.96cr
■ The mutual fund industry
witnessed an overall positive
flow of Rs 98,575.96 crore in
October 2020.
during October 2020, as per
Association of Mutual Funds of
India(AMFI).
Themutualfundindustrywit-
nessed an overall positive flow of
Rs 98,575.96 crore in October
2020. During October 2020, SIP
accountsgrewto3.37crore,lead-
ingtoariseinmonthlySIPcontri-
Cyble, which first
made the details of
the potential breach
public, the alleged
breach occurred on
October14.Bigbasket
said it first detected
the breach on Octo-
ber 30 and after validating the
breach, the company disclosed it
tothemanagementonNovember
1. Cyble made the details of the
breach public on November 7.
Whatinformationhasbeen
TheBSEinMumbaionMonday. AP
perdollaragainstpreviouscloseof
74.20andclosedat74.15.
TheUSdollarfelltoa10-week
low after enough states were
calledforBidenovertheweekend
followingdaysofcounting.Global
markets were buoyed as the
tighter-than-expected election,
which may leave Republicans in
control of the Senate, is expected
to prevent a large US fiscal pack-
age, potentially putting the em-
phasis back on monetary stimu-
lus,analystssaid.
Total - 2020
59,336
47,080
-7,783 11,448
Rs crore
November 9
2021, when the lockdown was
severest”.
“The total number of hours
lost for all these periods comes
to 5948 crore hours ... the gov-
ernmentmightthusneedtogive
a further direct fiscal stimulus of
the size of 3-5% of GDP to offset
the gap between the equivalent
fiscal stimulus and the labour
market disruption through loss
of working hours,” the report by
SBI said.
The Indian economy has
picked up momentum in
October, the report said, citing
indicators of vehicle sales, Apple
mobility,RTOtransactions,man-
bution to Rs 7,800 crore as com-
pared to Rs 7,788.37 crore in
September. Total SIP AUM rose
from Rs 335,571.57 crore as of
September to Rs 342,018 crore as
ofOctober2020.Theoutflowsig-
nificantly moderated for hybrid
scheme category at Rs 1,681.87
crore for October 2020 as com-
pared to Rs 4,219.01 crore in
September 2020 and Rs 4,819.45
crore for August 2020.
Onthedebtside,asurgeinthe
net flows in debt schemes during
October2020wasdrivenbyliquid,
money market, corporate bond
fund, short duration, ultra short
duration, low duration and bank-
ingandPSUfundcategories.
NSVenkatesh,CEO,AMFIsaid:
leaked?
Cyblehasclaimed
that personal infor-
mation of as many as
20millionusers,such
as full names, email
IDs,passwordhashes
(potentially hashed
OTPs), pin, contact numbers , full
addresses, date of birth, location,
and IP addresses of login have
been put up for sale on the dark
web for $40,000.
Howtoknowif yourdatahas
All the sectoral indices wit-
nessed healthy buying interest
wherein banks, telecom and
metals were the top gainers.
Joseph Thomas, head of re-
search, Emkay Wealth
Management, said, “The market
continued its upward trajectory
across indices based on positive
global developments emanating
from the fact that more orderly
conditions and aggressive pro-
growthstrategiesmayprevailwith
achangeof regimeintheUS.”
SENSEX THIS YEAR
41,306.02 42,597.43
1/1/2020 11/9/2020
CLOSING ABOVE
MILESTONES
35,000
42,000
17/1/18
231/18
27/7/18
9/8/18
2/4/19
4/6/19
27/11/19
9/11/20
ufacturing PMI, GST e-way bills,
petrol consumption, vehicle
sales, SBI index, food arrival and
prices.
“The numbers have become
positive when compared to the
pre-Covid levels, and they have
also crossed the peak reached in
last 1 year for some including
manufacturingindex,GSTe-way
bills, vehicle sales (from the pos-
itive level reached 2 years ago).
However, RTO revenue collec-
tion,powerconsumption,freight
traffic revenue, food arrivals,
petrol and diesel consumption
are all still below the pre-Covid
peak level,” the report added.
“The rise in both SIP contribution
and SIP AUMs during October
2020andcontinuedslowingout-
flowinequityschemesreinforces
the retail investor confidence in
the mutual fund as an asset class.
Thistrendisreflectiveineconomy
improving further with green
shoots amply visible — attractive
interest rates, rise in GST collec-
tions, digitalisation-driven effi-
cienciesmakingIndiancorporates
healthier,conduciveGoIpolicyfor
attracting FDI and continued
surge in FII investment coupled
withfavourablegeo-politicalsce-
nario would continue to keep
Indian equity markets an attrac-
tive investment destination over
a long term.”
beenleakedonthedarkweb?
Cyble has listed a portal
www.amibreached.com, where
users can check if their personal
information has been leaked on
to the dark web.
HowdidBigbasketrespond?
Inastatement,theBengaluru-
based firm said it was evaluating
the extent of the breach and au-
thenticity of the claim in consul-
tationwithcybersecurityexperts
and finding “immediate ways to
containit”.Ithasalsofiledacom-
GOLD
`52,183
Note: Gold, silver rates at Delhi spot market; gold per 10 g, silver per 1 kg; Brent crude as of 0000 IST
Dow, S&P hit lifetime peaks
on Pfizer vaccine trial result
REUTERS
NEW YORK/LONDON, NOV 9
THE S&P 500 and the Dow hit
record highs on Monday as the
firstsuccessfullate-stageclinical
trial of a Covid vaccine sparked
hopes of the economy emerging
from a pandemic-driven crisis.
Theblue-chipDowsurgedas
much as 5.7 per cent intra-day,
also getting a boost from Joe
Biden clinching a tightly-fought
presidential election. The com-
panies hit hardest by months of
travel bans and lockdowns
soared, with Boeing Co up 12.6
per cent and airlines and cruise
line operators all trading 20 per
cent to 30 per cent higher. Oil
pricessurgedaround10percent
and US Treasuries sold off after
PfizerandBioNTechsaidthedata
showed the vaccine was more
than 90 per cent effective in pre-
venting Covid.
Pfizer and BioNTech, the first
drugmakers to show successful
data from a large-scale clinical
trial, said they had found no se-
rious safety concerns so far and
expecttoseekUSemergencyuse
authorization later this month.
By 01:36 p.m. EST, the Dow
Jones Industrial Average was up
1,359.24 points, or 4.80 per cent,
and the S&P 500 was up 111.95
points, or 3.19 per cent, while
the Russell 2000 small-cap in-
dex surged 5.7 per cent intra-
energy index was on course for
its best day since April.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq
Composite was up 83.47 points,
or 0.70 per cent, at 11,978.70 as
Netflix Inc, Amazon.com Inc and
gaming company Activision
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
THEFEDERALTradeCommission
(FTC)saidMondayithadreached
a settlement with Zoom, the US-
based video calling software so-
lutions provider which has seen
its user base skyrocket from 10
million users in December 2019
toover300millionbyApril2020.
Asperthetermsof thesettle-
ment, Zoom will have to “imple-
mentarobustinformationsecur-
ity program to settle allegations
that the video conferencing
provider engaged in a series of
deceptive and unfair practices
COAL BLOCK AUCTIONS
Joshi urges states to
support winning bidders
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,NOVEMBER9
UNION COAL Minister Prahlad
JoshionMondaysaidthefirstauc-
tionofcoalblocksforcommercial
usehadbeensuccessfulandcalled
on state governments to support
and cooperate with successful
bidders. A total of 19 coal blocks
across Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra
and Odisha with total geological
reserves of 3,069 million tonnes
of coalhavebeenauctionedoff in
thefirstphaseofauctionsforcom-
mercial coal mining.
The government had, in June,
announcedtheopeningupofcoal
plaint with the Bengaluru Cyber
CrimeCell.“Theprivacy and con-
fidentialityofourcustomersisour
priority and we do not store any
financialdataincludingcreditcard
numbers etc., and are confident
that this financial data is secure.
The only customer data that we
maintain are email ids, phone
numbers, order details, and ad-
dresses so these are the details
that could potentially have been
accessed,” it said.
Whatarethepreviouscasesof
RUPEE
`74.15
INDICES,CRUDERALLY;GOLDFALLS
DOW JONES S&P 500
▲ 29,682.64 ▲ 3,621.39
1,359points 112points
BRENT WTI CRUDE
▲ 42.62 ▲ 40.52
8.04% 9.10%
STAY-AT-HOME STOCKS HIT
ZoomVideoCommunications
Netflix
Amazon.com
PelotonInteractive
Docusign
*Price as on Nasdaq. All data as of 01:36 pm EST
Blizzard Inc fell between 1.5 per
cent and 4.7 per cent.
Worldstockshitarecordhigh
earlier in the day and the dollar
remained weak as expectations
of better global trade ties and
more monetary stimulus under
President-elect Biden lifted de-
mand for risky assets.
Treasuryyieldshadfallenlast
weekonexpectationsthatBiden
would win the White House but
the Senate would be controlled
by Republicans, potentially sti-
fling a fiscal stimulus package
andputtingtheonusbackonthe
Federal Reserve.
The pan-European STOXX
600 jumped nearly 4 per cent
andclockeditsbestdaysincelate
March. The export-heavy FTSE
100 jumped 4.7 per cent, while
the British mid-cap index added
5.2percent.Germany’sDAXrose
toamorethantwo-weekhighaf-
ter September export data came
in above expectations.
Brent crude was up $3.17, or
8.04 per cent, to $42.62 a barrel
that undermined the security of
its users”.
Zoom will also have to obtain
“biennial assessments” of the
new security programme that it
implements by an independent
thirdparty,whichmustbeautho-
rised by the FTC. If any data is
breached at Zoom, the FTC must
be informed of the same by the
company,theorderbytheUSreg-
ulator said.
Accordingtothecomplaintby
FTC, Zoom lied about using a
higher ‘end-to-end 256-bit en-
cryption’ which could offer a se-
curecommunicationoptiontoits
users. The company, instead,
maintained the “cryptographic
blocks for commercial use, along
withaslewofmeasurestoattract
investorsaspartoftheAatmanir-
bhar Bharat campaign. Chhattis-
garh’sGarePalmaIV/7coalblock,
whichwasauctionedonMonday,
received the highest bid of 66.75
per cent revenue sharing from
Sarda Energy and Minerals Ltd.
“Iappealtostategovernments
tocooperatewiththebiddersup-
port them. Ultimately in the next
20-30years,wewillbeabletouse
coal,” said Joshi, noting that post
this period there may be a lot of
pressuretostopusingcoalasthere
wascurrentlyahugeopportunity
for economic growth in India
which needed a lot of growth in
power generation.
databreachesinIndia?
If one only goes by the infor-
mation from Cyble, there have
been six cyber breaches in India
inthelastonemonthalone.These
includeincidentsatsnacksmaker
HaldiramSnacksPvtLtd,wedding
planning website Wedmegood,
the Prime Minister’s personal
website narendramodi.in, online
matrimonial service Bharat
Matrimony and Indian Railways’
online ticketing portal IRCTC.
Full report on
www.indianexpress.com
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
OIL SILVER
$42.62 `65,699
International market data till 0020 IST
NASDAQ
▲ 11,978.70
83points
US GOLD
▼ $1,855
4.9%
$432.39 -13.54%
$482.88 -6.19%
$3,234.17 -2.33%
$106.07 -15.46%
$201.48 -13.04%
at 01:36 p.m. EST, whileUS West
Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude
was up $3.38, or 9.10 per cent,
at $40.49.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia
said an OPEC+ oil output deal
could be adjusted to balance the
market. If OPEC+ maintains the
current curbs on output, it
would tighten supply and lead
to higher prices.
Gold slumped nearly
5percentonMondayasnewsof
the first successful late-stage
Covidvaccinetrialspromptedin-
vestors to dump safe-haven bul-
lion and flock to riskier
assets.Spot gold was down 5.1
per cent at $1,852.82 per ounce
by 11:07 a.m. EDT (1607 GMT),
whileUSgoldfuturesslid4.9per
cent to $1,855.30.
Spot prices beat a sharp re-
treat from a near two-month
peak of $1,965.33 hit earlier in
the session amid a weaker dol-
lar and hopes for more stimulus
following Biden’s victory in the
US elections.
keys”, which could allow Zoom
the access to its users’ meetings.
“Zoom’s misleading claims
gave users a false sense of secu-
rity, according to the FTC’s com-
plaint, especially for those who
used the company’s platform to
discuss sensitive topics such as
healthandfinancialinformation,”
the FTC said in a release.
Thecompany,thetradecom-
mission said, also lied to its users
aboutstoringtherecordedmeet-
ings on a secured cloud storage,
when in reality some of the
recordedmeetingslayunsecured
on un-encrypted cloud storage
forasmanyas60daysbeforebe-
ing moved to a secure storage.
FinComm
submits report
to President
15th Finance Commission
Chairman NK Singh File
NewDelhi:The15thFinanceCom-
mission(FFC)onMondaysubmit-
teditsreport— whichdefinesthe
devolutionofCentraltaxrevenues
to states and other fiscal matters
— for the five year period from
2021-22 to 2025-26 to President
RamNathKovind.Titled‘Finance
Commission in Covid Times’, the
report was submitted by the
CommissionChairmanNKSingh
along with Members Ajay Nara-
yanJha,AshokLahiriandRamesh
Chand and Prof. Anoop Singh.
The report seeks to address a
whole range of issues including
transfer of funds to local bodies,
disaster management grant and
performance incentives to states,
issues of defence expenditure.
Itwillbemadepublicdomain
onceitistabledintheParliament
bytheCentrealongwithexplana-
tory memorandum/action taken
report on the recommendations
contained in the report. ENS
Ahmedabad
 15 SPORT/CALENDAR WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020

Delhi has decisions to make ‘Chhota dynamite’

In contrast to a settled MI, Capitals have several questions on composition and strategy ahead of IPL final
SRIRAM VEERA
MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 9
CHENNAI SUPER Kings fans used to boast
through memes that IPL was a competition
whereallotherteamsbattledtofindoutwho
would play the final against CSK. Mumbai
Indians own that meme now, and the ques-
tion ahead of IPL 2020 final is whether Delhi
Capitalshaveitinthemtohalttheseemingly
unstoppableMumbai machine. Delhi’s story
is known: a positive aura-building start was
puncturedmidwaythroughthetournament
and they were left unsure about their best
playing eleven. The problem largely centred
around their batting though a few niggles
have affected their bowling options also.
Will they open with Stoinis?
Prithvi Shaw’s failures forced Delhi to
change the top order. They parachuted
Ajinkya Rahane but he too wasn’t up to
scratch initially. They tried Shaw again but
withoutluck.Thistimearound,Shaw’sprob-
lems weren’t just temperamental as techni-
cal flaws too had crept in and he looked a
shadow of the player he was at the start of
the tournament. Rahane was out in the cold
for too long and by the time he was given a
chance, the batsman who thrives on confi-
dence was yet again waging a fight for sur-
vival.Luckily,forthem,trialanderrorworked
with Rahane finding some fluency at No. 3.
He still hasn’t regained his best form but
showed enough tightness in his game to be
relied upon as an anchor at that spot. He can
weather the storm if an early wicket falls or
if they are chasing a low(ish) total where he
can sew up one end. But as seen in Sunday’s
Qualifier, if the openers get off to a rollicking
start, he can go unused in the order.
Though they obviously know what de-
struction Marcus Stoinis can wreak as an
opener based on his exploits in the Big Bash
League, the management wasn’t too keen to
promote him as they don’t have another big
hitter down the order. They kept hoping that
Shawcantakecareof fireworksinthepower-
playsothatitleavesStoinistofloatasadestruc-
tor in the end or middle overs as per the de-
mands of the game, but Shaw’s and Rahane’s
failures left them with no option but to send
Stoinis to open against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
However, Hyderabad’s attack had
medium pacers; Mumbai will unleash
Powerplay kings Trent Boult and Jasprit
Bumrahathim.Theyhavepace,swing,seam,
bounceandif thatdoesn’twork,aqualityleg-
spinnerin Rahul Chahar. If one of themtakes
out Stoinis early, Delhi will be bereft of fire-
power at the top and bottom. It will come
down to how Ponting sees it: Will he see
Rahane opening as a defensive option and
brave out his luck with Stoinis. The danger is
Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting will hope Shreyas Iyer regains his touch for the final against Mumbai tonight. Delhi Capitals
Though they obviously know
what destruction Marcus
Stoinis can wreak as an opener...
the management wasn’t too
keen to promote him as they
don’t have another big hitter
down the order
how the 2015 World Cup final whimpered
out tamely after New Zealand’s explosive
opener Brendon McCullum fell in the first
over of the match. Or will Delhi recall Shaw
to try his luck against two new-ball bowlers
hehastheleastchanceof succeedingagainst
as Bumrah and Boult have all the arsenal
needed to hurt him.
Iyer and Pant in the middle
With Iyer’s form tapering off, Delhi’s mid-
dle-ordermuddlehasworsenedasseeninthe
lastgame.Iyerwasn’tabletofindhistouchand
his sluggish approach threatened to lose them
the momentum that Stoinis and Shikhar
Dhawanhadmanagedatthestart.His20-ball21
wasacrawlinthecontextof thatgameandhis
teamwouldhavesighedinreliefwhenhethrew
his wicket away. Rishabh Pant too has gone off
boil; the bowlers have stopped bowling at his
stumps,preferringtobowloutsideoff,outofhis
hittingrangeandmakinghimtrytoswipeun-
successfully.Theleft-handerhashadnoanswers
as yet. Even the spinners keep sliding it away
from him with great success. As a result, Delhi
keep pushing him down the order and even
AxarPatellooksabetterhittingoptionthanhim.
Delhi will hope that the big-match situation
bringsoutthebestinIyerandPant.
Ashwin’s shoulder hindering him?
R Ashwin got some treatment on his
shoulder from the physio before Delhi took
the field in the last game. By the time, he re-
turned for the end overs after bowling a soli-
tary over with the new ball, he dealt only in
carrom balls. Another off-spinner Graeme
Swann wondered in commentary whether
Ashwin’s injury was preventing him from
bowling regular off-breaks and affecting his
bowling. Barring a couple of games, Ashwin
hasbeenbowlinglikeadreaminthistourna-
ment, showing great game awareness with
skills to match. He was effective against hit-
ters like David Warner and Chris Gayle and
has troubled all top batsmen including Rohit
Sharma and Virat Kohli. Delhi will sweat on
his fitness, though.
His partner-in-crime Axar Patel, too, has
had a very good tournament thus far. In the
past, he could be accused of being one-di-
mensional but this IPL, he has been at his
best, punctuating his skidders with the oc-
casional slowed-up turners – a combination
that has kept batsmen second-guessing. It
also remains to be seen if Delhi will trust
rookie leg-spinner Praveen Dubey in a final
against Mumbai, who have three left-han-
ders in their line-up and whether they dare
to play three spinners.
What if Rabada has an off-day?
So much has revolved around their talis-
man bowler Rabada that Delhi can’t afford a
bad day. In the last game, it was his dismissal
of David Warner that allowed Delhi to seize
the day. He was bowling a few balls in the
warm-up, just before the chase began, and
found that the ball swung. It was then that
he decided that he would try a couple of full
deliveries to see if it swings in the match and
troubles Warner, who clearly wasn’t expect-
ing a fuller length. Rabada has the cricketing
intelligence and skill-set to trouble Mumbai
but he has also spoken about fatigue and be-
ing“mentallyandphysicallytired”attheend
of the last game. Delhi will hope that there
is enough gas in the tank for one last big per-
formancefromthemanwiththe PurpleCap.
Live on Star Sports Network, 7.30pm
delays his explosion
SANDIP G
NOVEMBER 9
WHEN ISHAN Kishan burst into the domes-
ticteamasafresh-facedteenagerreputedfor
his explosive batting, his senior teammates
spunanicknameforhim.Hewascalledchota
dynamite, as he was then short and scrawny
yet equipped with a range of powerful
strokes.Sincethen,hehasgrownafewinches
taller, his biceps are defined and forearms
toned beneath the inked head of a Roman
god,arippedconstitution,andhascultivated
a stubble to complement the earrings.
But the moniker chota dynamite has not
lost its resonance, rather it has never been
apter than this season. It was the season the
dynamite exploded in its full fury in the
Indian Premier League, leaving a trail of de-
struction on hapless bowlers, the best of
themstillliving totellthe story.He’sthejoint
highest run-getter for his franchise with
Quinton de Kock (483), but took him just
three inningsfewerandata betterstrikerate
and average than the South African, besides
from different positions in the batting order,
reflecting his adaptability to different roles.
Recount some of the situations he had
walked out into this season. At no 4 with his
sideteeteringon2/16inpursuitof 201.Here-
sponded with 99 off 58 deliveries. Then as an
opener against Chennai Super Kings after
RohitSharmawasinjured,heputQuintonde
Kocktoshadewithanunbeaten68off37balls.
He then wore the death-over destroyer role
with his 55 not out of 30 balls against Delhi
Capital in the first qualifier. Between, he has
been a middle-over knockout artist too. The
roles were different, but he blended imper-
ceptibly into the character the roles de-
manded,demonstratingthathehasfinallyde-
coded the hitherto elusive consistency code.
Toning down aggression has been the
marked difference of his game, observes
closefriendandJharkhandteammateIshank
Jaggi:“Earlierwhatusedtohappenisheused
to try and hit from the first ball. Many times,
the result didn't go in his favour. Now he
takes his time, takes 10-15 balls to settle. He
has understood that the more he spends
time at the crease the better he will do.” In
the process, he also stashed an array of
strokes like the ramp and the reverse sweep.
Two years, Dhoni had given him similar
advice during a domestic game. “He told me
thatsinceeveryoneknowsyouareanattack-
ing player, you can’t keep being in that mode
all the time. You need to know when to slow
down, and go back into your zone”,” he had
recollected in 2018.
Take for instance his half-century against
Delhi Capitals. At one stage, he was 10 off 13
deliveries, resisting his urge to go bonkers.
MumbaihadjustthenlostSuryakumarYadav
and Kieron Pollard, so he shelved the big
Ishan Kishan has now understood the
importance of taking his time before
hitting out. BCCI/IPL
strokes,whichherecommissionedatthedeath
overs. In the next 17, he scored 32. Against
Bangalore, in the tied game, he was 25 off 24
balls. The next 34 balls bargained 74 runs.
Inthat sense,he’sa moreawarebatsman,
who knowsthat he hasthe gameto makeup
for dot balls. It’s an aspect of the game he has
picked from watching Kieron Pollard and
Hardik Pandya. “I know how they plan the
game. It’s just not only about power, (but
also) how they take the game to last over or
how they put pressure on the bowlers also
at the same time how they rotate the strike,”
he had said in an interaction with the press.
Work on his game
He has worked on his game, as well.
Depending on the length, he could clear the
frontlegfortheslog-sweep,swivelforthepull,
or move across for the lashing cuts. He gets
quickly into position to play those strokes—
mostinstructivewashispulled-sixoff Kagiso
Rabadainthequalifier.Theballwasshortand
fast,buthejuststoodwherehewastoswivel-
pull it. Remarkable was his bat-speed, which
Jaggi reckons is fundamental to his success.
He strikes through the line with just a hint of
those rubbery wrists for added power.
He is not as compulsive a cover-driver as
most left-handed batsmen. Even when
cover-driving, he doesn’t lunge forth, just
hangs on the back-foot and punches on the
rise. Faster, bouncier surfaces would offer a
sterner examination of his technique. But on
flatsurfaces,the technique worksclockwork
and explains his leg-side predilection.
The 22-year-old is a leg-side bully—as
many as 21 off his 29 sixes were hit through
the onside. For the boundaries, he margin-
ally favours the off-side (18-15), but overall
67 percent of his 483 runs were off his legs.
Beyond all these qualities is a sense of fear-
lessness, which was not the case in the first
seasonwhenhestoodstarstruckinthedress-
ingroom.Now,Kishancouldclaimhimself to
be a star, at least one in the making. A chota
dynamite exploding in front of us.

OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis

CROSSWORD 4272 DAY TODAY BY PETER VIDAL
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20) LIBRA (Sept 24 - Oct 23)
The general Venus, the planet
planetary with special
configuration this responsibility for
week is rather laid your affections, is on
back, encouraging you to move your side. This is bound to cheer
along at a slower pace, perhaps you up and induce you to look
a relaxed amble rather than on the bright side. It is also
your typical gallop. Mind you, encouraging you to check out
the pressure will begin to rise practical details. You might
again by the very end of the even spot a way to close a
week. Get ready. financial loophole.
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21) SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 22)
The Moon's position The time is fast
today is not approaching when
considered a you must cheer the
classically domestic base or
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson advantageous one for Taureans, family home up a little. Venus
yet it could encourage you to and Mars are encouraging you
put more effort into a close to invite friends round and
relationship. It could also indulge in a spot of
enhance your delight in languid entertaining, much as part of
and harmonious conditions, the Scorpionic spirit resists such
especially at work. outgoing ventures.
ACROSS DOWN GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 - Dec 22)
1 What a witness does at trials 1 She takes a long time to grasp A crucial factor in The Moon is
(7) the point (5) your present affairs approaching a
4 Not the first man to go on 2 They reared up in classic race must be the powerful position in
board (5) (3,5) location of Mercury, your solar chart, but
7 Society is better off without it 3 Lie badly (6) your normally astute it’s not there yet. The only
(4) 4 Kind of loaf some prefer to planetary ruler, in a slightly reasonable conclusion is that
8 His crime is not coolly carried make toast? muddled region. This is you must pay much greater
out (8) (5,5) persuading you to ignore the attention to people at large, not
10 A blow that is sustained 5 A tune-up during the opera facts and follow your intuition. just close friends, and take
(6,4) (4) On the plus side, though, you pains to ensure the quality of
12 Release a subtle design 6 Cut the top off drawings of will soon have a chance to your presentation.
(6) boats (7) change your mind.
CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
13 First impressions are
convincing
9 But it keeps tongues busy
(4,6) MARVIN by Tom Armstrong CANCER (June 22 - July 23) Manners, as they say,
(6) 11 Command a slave to serve one Lunar alignments maketh Man, not to
15 One match should last him a first (8) focus your attention mention Woman. As
lifetime (10) 12 Meetings that raise the spirits on that most long as the Moon is
18 Pedestrian way of choosing (7) Cancerian of in its present position, I am
candidates (8) 14 Quiet cat trained to jump concerns, your home and afraid you have little choice but
19 Very keen to do a turn as a (6) family. This is one of those days to be scrupulous in your
singer (4) 16 Massenet opera; it has been when Jupiter, planet of behaviour and utterly
20 Backwaters vessel adapted (5) goodwill, is bound to lift your charming. You have a rare
(5) 17 Futile report on a person spirits and raise your morale. ability to work out what other
21 They transmit power in genes lacking energy? It could also show you how people are really thinking, and
perhaps (7) (2,2) to turn a mistake to that should help you avoid
your advantage. a disagreement.
SolutionsCrossword 4271:Across:1Manipulator,9Allhail,10Sauce,11Kids,12 LEO (July 24 - Aug 23) AQUARIUS (Jan 21 - Feb 19)
Bacteria,14Upbeat,16Nausea,18Bulletin,19Fast,22Rotor,23Bringto,24Free- Nothing can really Your mood this
and-easy.Down:2Ailed,3Iran,4Unload,5Alsatian,6Oeuvres,7Backnumbers,8 prevent you from evening may be
Legalaction,13Carefree,15Bolster,17Lisbon,20Aegis,21Wife. making your point quite sharply
with colour and differentiated from
passion. A frank exchange of the way you feel during the day.
views is called for and you That’s partly to do with the
JUMBLED WORDS DifficultyLevel5s
should not shirk the Sun’s daily cycle. Perhaps
SOLUTION SUDOKU 4288

responsibility to lay your cards something will happen around

Instructions on the table. You need to put late afternoon to annoy or
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto TosolveaSudokupuzzle, your material security first, just disturb you, or even to interest
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget everydigitfrom1to9 for a change. and stimulate you.
SUDOKU 4289

theanswerforthegivenquip. mustappearineachofthe
Weallhaveafewfailuresunderourbelt.It'swhatmakesus___forthe____-RandyK. VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sept 23) PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
nineverticalcolumns,in You have a well- You have been
Milholland(5,.,9)
eachoftheninehorizontal deserved reputation around for long
GSEEE ENCSSU rowsandineachofthe for being an honest enough to know that
nineboxes. and reliable there is a great deal
individual. However, over the to be said for keeping your own
coming days, it may be counsel. Yet you have probably
GARSS LOUCDY DifficultyLevel
partners who can teach thought deeply and long
you a thing or two about the enough about one particular
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; proper way to conduct subject to be ready to speak
3s=Medium;4s=Hard; yourself. Listen carefully, for your mind. Take a deep breath
successes - Randy K. Milholland 5s=VeryHard;6s= you will learn more than and make sure the words come
Answer:We all have a few failures under our belt. It's what makes us ready for the Genius you expected. out in the right order.
SOLUTION: GEESE, GRASS, CENSUS, CLOUDY

Ahmedabad

16 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2020
BRIEFLY
IbraturningMilan
intocontenders
Milan:ZlatanIbrahimovicsaidlastsea-
son that if he'd been at AC Milan from
the outset the Rossoneri would have
wonthetitle.Hecouldbeprovedright
this campaign. Many scoffed at
Ibrahimovic'sstatementinJuly,despite
itcomingmomentsafteranextraordi-
nary 4-2 victory over Juventus. Milan
had been in turmoil for several years,
changingownerstwiceandnotfinish-
inghigherthanfifthintheleaguesince
2013. The team was 12th when
Ibrahimovic returned to the club in
January,eightyearsafterhisdeparture
-andthatof others-sparkedaspiralof
decline. Milan is currently two points
clearatthetopoftheleagueandhasn't
lost in Serie A since March.
Leicestertakeleadin
PremierLeague
London:Therevolvingdooratthesum-
mit of the Premier League continued
spinning as first Tottenham Hotspur
and then Leicester City reached it be-
fore Liverpool stumbled in their bid to
reclaim it with a draw at Manchester
City. Southampton had begun the day
asunlikelyleadersbutHarryKane'slate
goal earned Tottenham a 1-0 win at
WestBromwichAlbion.ThatputSpur’s
intofirstplacewith17pointsfromeight
games but later Leicester's 1-0 win
against Wolves, sealed with a Jamie
Vardy penalty, hoisted them up to 18
points. Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with
ManchesterCitymeanttheyendedthe
dayinthirdspotbehindTottenhamon
goal difference while City, yet to really
get going, remain in 10th.
FormerIndia
defenderGhoshdies
Kolkata:FormerIndiadefenderSatyajit
Ghoshdiedofcardiacarrestathishome
town at Bandel in the early hours of
Monday,familysourcessaid.Hewas62
and is survived by his wife and daugh-
ter. "Ghosh suffered a massive cardiac
arrestathishouseinDebanandapurin
Bandel and died on the way to
Chinsurah Hospital," a family source
said. Ghosh represented India in the
1985 Nehru Cup in the team coached
by Yugoslovian Milovan Ciric. After
starting his career with Railway FC in
1980,GhoshswitchedtoMohunBagan
from the next season and formed the
core of their backline alongwith star
IndiandefenderSubrataBhattacharya.
AGENCIES
Vol. LIII No. 240 RNI No. 15048/1968. Printed and Published by Hareshkumar K Bhagdev on behalf of The Indian Express Private Limited. Published at : 3rd Floor, Sambhav House, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380 015.
Phone (Board) : 26872481- 82- 83, Fax No. 26873950. Printed at : Bhaskar Print Planet, Survey No. 148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad. Chairman of the Board : Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor : Raj Kamal Jha, Editor : Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor : (Gujarat) Leena Misra *
(*Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act) Copyright : The Indian Express Private Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. The Indian Express®
Kohli to return home after first Test in Aus
Captain will be on paternity leave, Rahane to lead in his absence as India grapple with unavailability issues for tour Down Under
SHAMIK CHAKRABARTY
KOLKATA, NOVEMBER 9
VIRAT KOHLI will return home after India’s
firstTestinAustralia,asBCCIhasgrantedhim
paternity leave upon request. A spate of in-
juries during the IPL means that in a high-in-
tensity Test series, India could also miss their
mostexperiencedfastbowlerIshantSharma
and first-choice wicketkeeper Wriddhiman
Saha. Medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar
is already ruled out and spin spearhead
Ravichandran Ashwin is nursing a sore
shoulder. And although, as the BCCI in-
formed, Rohit Sharma has been included in
the Test squad, he would be returning after a
month-and-a-half of inactivity.
India will have to deal with a mid-series
leadership change, for Ajinkya Rahane will
take over captaincy following Kohli’s depar-
ture, likely for the remaining three Tests. The
firstTestinAdelaide,aday-nightaffair,willbe
played from December 17.
“At the selection committee meeting
held on October 26th, 2020, Mr Virat Kohli
had informed the BCCI about his plans to re-
turn to India after the first Test in Adelaide.
The BCCI has granted paternity leave to the
Indian captain. He will return after the first
Test against Australia in Adelaide,” stated the
BCCI press release.
The BCCI didn’t mention if the India cap-
tain would return for the final Test, in
Brisbane from January 15. Kohli would cer-
tainly miss the second and third Tests – in
Melbourne and Sydney from December 26
andJanuary7respectively–andif heintends
to play the final Test, thelatest he might have
to return to Australia is by New Year.
The Australian government’s quarantine
rule for internationaltravellerssays:“To pre-
vent the spread of COVID-19, travellers ar-
riving in Australia by air or sea may need to
go into government-approved mandatory
quarantine for 14 days from arrival.”
Exceptions are granted to travellers coming
from “a green safe travel zone” (applicable
to ‘New South Wales or the Northern
Territory in Australia’ or those who are com-
ingfroma‘safetravelzonecountry’)orthose
who fall “in an exemption category” (as per
the discretion of the Australian Health
Protection Principal Committee). Kohli
would be coming out of a bio-bubble to re-
turn to India.
In 2018-19, during India’s first-ever Test
series win in Australia, Kohli scored 282 runs
in four matches, including a century and a
half-century. In 12 Tests Down Under, he has
six hundreds and an average above 55. Last
time, Australia had missed Steve Smith and
David Warner, who were serving bans. This
time, India have problems galore, unavail-
ability-wise.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
VALENCIA BEAT REAL MADRID 4-1
Real Madrid stumbled to a 4-1 defeat at Valencia on Sunday. Real conceded
three penalties for the first time in their history, all of which were scored by
Valencia's Carlos Soler, while Raphael Varane also scored an own goal, after
Karim Benzema had given the champions the lead. REUTERS
Rohit Sharma has been included
in the Test squad, he would be
returning to the fold after a
month-and-a-half of inactivity
Cricket Australia (CA) has already called
Kohli’s absence “massive news”. “Losing
Kohli for the bulk of the Border-Gavaskar se-
ries would be a huge blow to India’s hopes of
retaining the trophy,” CA posted on its offi-
cial website.
As a captain, inconsistencies in Kohli’s
team selection have drawn criticism. But
India under Kohli carries a different inten-
sity on the field, as was the case during the
triumphant tour two years ago. India
bounced back to win the third Test after con-
ceding the second and held on to a 2-1 lead.
Rahane’scaptaincystyleisnotovertlyag-
gressive as was evident during the only Test
in which he led the country. In 2017, how-
ever, he captained India to victory in the de-
ciding fourth Test against Australia in
Dharamsala,withKohliinjured.Thedecision
tohandKuldeepYadavhisTestdebutproved
to be a masterstroke.
A big question is who will bat at No. 4 in
Kohli’sabsence.RohitwillreturnfortheTests
but would be short of game time and, of late, While Virat Kohli will miss the last three matches of the Australia tour, Rohit Sharma will join the squad for the Test series. File
has been opening in Tests. KL Rahul is in the
squad but hasn’t played for India in the long
form since September 2019, when he was
droppedonform.Itneedstobeseenwhether
theteammanagementoptsforShubmanGill.
HeisintheTestsquadbydintof hisperform-
Curious case of Rohit Sharma: ‘Fit’ for
ance in first-class cricket (average 73-plus)
and could well be in the reckoning. Mumbai Indians, not ‘fully fit’ for India
Injuries galore
The BCCI press release stated that Ishant
would be included in the Test squad “once NIHAL KOSHIE The fitness update issued by the
Sharma had controversially returned to
captain the side in a dead rubber league
he fully recovers and gains sufficient match
fitness”.Heiscurrentlydoinghisrehabatthe
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 9
Board of Control for Cricket in
game and the Qualifer 1 though India coach
Ravi Shastri had warned him against rush-
National Cricket Academy after suffering a ROHIT SHARMA, the Mumbai Indians skip- India on Monday makes one ing back and BCCI president Sourav Ganguly
rib-cage injury during the IPL. Saha, nursing per, is set to play the high-intensity IPL final thing clear: Sharma has been asking him to look beyond short-term goals
a hamstring injury, is also uncertain for the against Delhi Capitals in Dubai on Tuesday to prevent aggravation of the injury.
Test series. Kumar is ruled out after a thigh but will be rested for the ODI and T20 playing for the Mumbai Indians What made it look like the selectors and
muscle injury, while Ashwin’s fitness is un- Internationals in Australia to 'regain full fit- though he is not 100 percent fit Sharma were not on the same page when it
der the scanner. ness'. The fitness update issued by the Board came to the extent of injury was the videos
Meanwhile, the BCCI informed that a of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on posted by Mumbai Indians of him practising
shoulder injury has ruled spinner Varun Monday makes one thing clear: Sharma has ited-over games. moments after they omitted him from the
Chakravarthy out of the T20I series in beenplayingfortheMumbaiIndiansthough The opener playing for the Mumbai squads picked for the tour of Australia.
Australia, while young fast bowler Kamlesh he is not 100 percent fit. Indians while his fitness was being moni- Sharma had sustained the injury during the
Nagarkoti, who was included in the touring As things stand, Sharma will play in the tored has been puzzling. "The BCCI Medical game against Kings XI Punjab on October 18.
party as a net bowler, wouldn’t be able to final on Tuesday night but will then need a Team has been monitoring Rohit Sharma's As he wasn't fit enough to be picked for the
travel, as “he is still working with the med- month to rest and regain 'full fitness'. He was fitness and has briefed the All-India Senior national squad for a series which began a
ical team on his bowling workload manage- added to the Test team on Monday after ini- SelectionCommitteeonthesame.Inconsul- monthlater,hewasexpectedtomisstherest
ment”. Left-arm seamer T Natarajan has tially not being picked for the squads for the tation with Mr Sharma, it has been decided of the IPL season.
been included as Chakravarthy’s replace- tour to Australia because of the injury to his toresthimfortheODIsandT20IsinAustralia On his return to action in the last league
ment and the selectors have added Sanju hamstring. The first Test is a day-night game toregainfullfitnessandhehasbeenincluded game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Sharma
Samson “as an additional wicketkeeper to at Adelaide and will be played from in India's Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar in his post-match comments had said 'the
India’s ODI squad.” December 17 after the conclusion of the lim- Trophy," the BCCI media advisory said. hamstring is absolutely fine'.
Ahmedabad