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NEWDELHI,LATECITY
DECEMBER13,2020
18PAGES,`6.00
(`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, ` 12 SRINAGAR)
DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA
FIRST SRINAGAR SNOW
Almost all parts of Kashmir Valley received snowfall Saturday, leaving Srinagar city under two-three inches of snow, and several roads blocked. Shuaib Masoodi
No question
of coercion
in control of
population:
Govt to SC
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
IN RESPONSE to a petition seek-
ing implementation of a two-
child norm to check the coun-
try’s population, the Centre has
told the Supreme Court that
India’s population policy is “un-
equivocally against coercion in
family planning”, which has
proved to be “counter-produc-
tive”,andthatthecountry’sTotal
Fertility Rate (TFR) is “witness-
ing a constant decline”.
In an affidavit filed in the top
court on a petition by advocate
Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the
Union Ministry for Health and
Family Welfare said, “... interna-
tionalexperienceshowsthatany
coercion to have a certain num-
ber of children is counter-pro-
ductive and leads to demo-
graphic distortions”. India’s TFR,
thegovernmenthaspointedout,
is already down “substantially”
to 2.2 as per the 2018 Sample
Registration System, which is
part of the Census exercise, from
3.2 in 2000, when the National
Population Policy was adopted.
“(The) Family Welfare
Programme... is voluntary in na-
ture, which enables couples to
decide the size of their family
and adopt the family planning
methods best suited to them,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
My ISOLATION
Aweeklywindowintolivesof
India’snewsmakersandthe
impactofpandemiconthem
PAGE 10
“Unless there is an
emergency, I don’t step
out of the house”
PARTHIV PATEL
WORLD
US NOD TO PFIZER ON
EMERGENCY USE;
FIRST SHOTS MAY
BEGIN IN DAYS
PAGE 11
Nadda row: MHA deputes 3 officers part
of his security to Centre, Bengal says no
DEEPTIMAN TIWARY AND
RAVIK BHATTACHARYA
NEW DELHI, KOLKATA,
DECEMBER 12
A NEW flashpoint has emerged
in the Centre’s tussle with West
Bengal, with the Home Ministry
calling toNewDelhithreeIPSof-
ficers who were responsible for
providing security to BJP na-
tional president J P Nadda — and
the state refusing.
Cars in Nadda’s motorcade
were stoned by alleged
Trinamool Congress workers on
the outskirts of Kolkata on
Thursday. On Friday, the state
government had declined to
comply with a Home Ministry
summons to the chief secretary
and director general of police to
In fray today, two Karnataka iPhone plant
candidates seeking to suspends work after pay
put PSA, jail behind row leads to violence
Shabir Lone (centre) was detained for 7 months. Shuaib Masoodi
NAVEED IQBAL
ROHAMA(BARAMULLA),
DECEMBER12
AT ONE of the entrances DECISION Declaration(PAGD)lead-
marking the Rohama 2020
constituency,thatvotesin J&K
DISTRICT,
the sixth phase of the LOCAL POLLS AhmadLoneandZahoor
District Development
Council (DDC) elections in whom were jailed under the
Kashmir on Sunday, posters an-
High tide by high tide, INS Viraat is pulled to the shore, to its end
PAGE 1
ANCHOR
AVINASH NAIR
AHMEDABAD, DECEMBER 12
AS SUNDAY brings another high
tide, INS Viraat will be winched
closer to the shore in Alang,
speeding up the breaking of the
iconic aircraft carrier.
For a week now, dismantling
of the carrier has been on at the
Alang ship-breaking yard in
Bhavnagar, with over 250 work-
ers starting work from the ‘ski
Federalprinciple
atstake, court
may be in play
TECHNICALLY, THE
Centre has the right to
call an officer on depu-
tation, and in case of a
disagreement, its deci-
sion prevails. However,
given the federal struc-
ture, the Centre does
not usually insist. This
matter could well end
up in court.
nounce the need to vote
for“unity,prosperityand
dignity”, with photo-
graphs of the People’s
Alliance for Gupkar
ership. Among the 13 in
the fray are Shabir
Ahmad Mir, both of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
jump’, or the curved ramp, side,
from where aircraft used to take
off from the ship. “About 5 per
centof the ship has already been
broken,” said Mukesh Patel,
Chairman of the Shree Ram
Group which bought INS Viraat
as scrap.
Patel added that they had
started the dismantling as the
weight of the 28,223 ton-carrier
has to be lessened before it can
be pulled closer. “The ship is
about 600 feet away from the
shore right now," he said.
While INS Viraat arrived at
Alangabouttwomonthsago,of-
ficials of the Gujarat Maritime
present themselves in Delhi on
Monday for a meeting on law
and order in West Bengal.
Sources said that in a com-
munication senttothechief sec-
retary and DGP on Friday, the
Home Ministry directed IG
(South Bengal Range) Rajiv
Mishra, DIG (Presidency Range)
Praveen Tripathi, and SP (North
24-Parganas)BholanathPandey,
toreportfordeputationwiththe
Government of India.
The letter, sources said, was
written after West Bengal Chief
Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay
wrote to Union Home Secretary
Ajay Bhalla asking to be excused
fromtheproposedmeetingonlaw
and order, since the state govern-
mentwasalready“addressingthe
issue with utmost seriousness”.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BENGALURU, DECEMBER 12
WORKERS WENT on a violent
rampage at a facility manufac-
turing Apple iPhones and other
products about 60 km from
BengaluruonSaturdaymorning,
causing extensive damage to the
premises.
Work has been suspended at
Wistron Infocomm
Manufacturing India Pvt Ltd's
43-acre plant in the Narasapura
areaof Kolardistrict.Overahun-
dred people have been arrested,
police said.
Violence broke out during a
change of shifts at the plant over
the non-payment of promised
wages, local officials said.
“The workers vandalised the
factory over a dispute in pay-
ment of salaries. It was an un-
called-for action. The whole re-
ception area was damaged.
Phones made at the plant were
taken away. A car was burnt and
Board gave permission to dis-
mantle it a month back, after a
final inspection of the vessel, in-
cludingbyofficialsof theGujarat
Pollution Control Board (GPCB).
Officialssaidthefueltanksof the
carrier have been cleared of any
residual fuel, old batteries have
been removed, and checks been
madeforpresenceof anyinflam-
mable gases to rule out chances
of fire or explosions when the
ship is cut using gas torches.
INS Viraat was beached on
September 28 at Alang at a for-
mal ceremony attended by
Union Minister of State,
Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Worker beaten
to death, BJP
blames TMC
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, DECEMBER 12
A BJP WORKER was beaten to
death during the party's Griha
Sampark Abhiyan in Halishahar
of North 24-Parganas district on
Saturday evening, police said.
The BJP accused the
Trinamool of murder, while the
TMC said the death was a result
of a fight between two groups of
BJP workers.
Saikat Bhawal, who was
beaten and attacked with sharp
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Several cars on the premises
were damaged. Express
two cars of the company were
damaged,” Kolar deputy com-
missioner C Satyabhama said.
The deputy commissioner
said the company had decided
to suspend operations for a few
days in light of Saturday's vio-
lence. “It seems the workers
were unhappy over wages not
being paid as promised. The is-
suewasneverbroughttotheno-
tice of the labour department or
district authorities. They have
brazenly attacked the plant.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Gas torches cutting through
the carrier at Alang. Express
‘POTENTIAL FOR AGRO-INDUSTRIES’
Invest more in farm
sector, not enough:
PM tells India Inc
‘Niti se aur niyat
se, Govt fully
committed to
farmer welfare’
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
CALLING FOR greater private
sector investment in agriculture
to boost farmer incomes and
employment opportunities,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
said Saturday that his govern-
ment is “fully committed to the
welfare of farmers, with its poli-
cies and intent”.
Addressingindustrycaptains
at FICCI’s 93rd Annual General
Meeting —amidgovernmentef-
forts to resolve grievances of
farmers who have been protest-
ing at the gates of Delhi against
newly enacted farm laws — the
Prime Minister said: “Today
whenIamamidstindustrylead-
ers,Iwanttosaythisopenly,that
the kind of investment that
should have been done by our
private sector in the agriculture
sector, was unfortunately not
done. This sector was never re-
ally explored much by the pri-
vate sector.”
“We have had cold storage
problems…withoutprivatesec-
tor support, the supply chain
could operate only till a limited
point. Shortage of fertilisers, you
have also seen. You also know
how much fertiliser India has to
import. The Centralgovernment
has been working regularly (to
resolve) many such problems in
theagriculturesector.Butthisre-
quires both your interest and in-
vestment. I believe that many
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
INSIDE
CROWDS SWELL ;
GOYAL REPEATS
MAOIST REMARKS
PAGES 3, 6
Ugrahan wears his politics on his
sleeve: ‘Called us Pak, now Naxals’
SOURAV ROY BARMAN &
ANJU AGNIHOTRI CHABA
BAHADURGARH, JALANDHAR,
DECEMBER 12
ALLEGING THAT the farmer
protests are being hijacked by
the hard Left and “Maoist” ele-
ments, Union Minister Piyush
Goyal,addressingtheFICCIAGM
Saturday, did not name anyone.
It was an apparent reference to
75-year-old-year-old Joginder
SinghUgrahanandhisBharatiya
Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan).
Atitstransitcamp,agaushala
abutting a temple 7 km from the
Tikri border, posters of jailed hu-
man rights activists arrested in
the Bhima Koregaon case lie
and Navy officers, after numer-
ous attempts to convert the car-
rier into a museum failed.
Commissioned in the British
Navyin1959asHMSHermes,INS
Viraat was inducted into the
Indian Navy in 1986-87.
In a last-ditch bid, a private
company, Envitech Marine
Consultants Pvt Ltd, offered to
buy INS Viraat from the Shree
Ram Group and convert it into a
museum. However, the com-
pany could not procure a no-ob-
jection certificate from the
Centre or reach a formal agree-
ment with the shipbreaker.
When first beached, INS
New Delhi
Farmers in tents at the Singhu border Saturday. Praveen Khanna
Govt says must meet,
farmers repeat: first
talk repeal, then else
HARIKISHAN SHARMA
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
AS UNION Agriculture Minister
NarendraSinghTomarheldtalks
onSaturdaywithministerialcol-
leagues, Haryana Deputy Chief
MinisterDushyantChautala,and
a group of farmer leaders who
support the new agricultural
laws, there appeared to be no
breakthrough in the standoff
with farmers.
While they stuck to their de-
mands, farmer leaders said they
werereadytoholdtalkswiththe
government provided they dis-
cussed repealing the three new
farm laws before anything else.
They also announced intensifi-
cation of protests.
Asked about the next round
of talks after his meeting with
Tomar, Union Minister of State
forCommerceandIndustrySom
Prakash, one of the three minis-
ters holding talks with farmer
leaders, said, “Ultimately we
have to hold a meeting. There is
no other way.”
Following his meeting with
Tomar, Chautala said, “I am
hopeful that in the next 28 to 40
At Bahadurgarh, 7 km from
Tikri protest site. Express
stacked near the entrance – on
December10,theHumanRights
Day, Ugrahan’s colleagues and
supporters had held posters of
Viraat was around 3,000 ft from
the shore. Since then, on high
tides, it has been dragged closer,
using diesel-powered winches.
The next high tide is on Sunday.
Being a Naval ship, INS Viraat
is more difficult to dismantle
than a normal vessel. The carrier
has a double hull made of steel
plateswhicharethicker,andalso
has multiple smaller compart-
ments. Patel said even winching
it is harder. “Usually merchant
vessels have a flat and saucer-
shaped bottom. INS Viraat has a
thin and aerodynamic design."
The Shree Ram Groupexpects to
take a year to completely dis-
eye
THE SUNDAY
EXPRESS MAGAZINE
TOY STORY
Play is serious
business. A peek into
the world of toy
start-ups in India
PAGES 13, 14, 15
SUNDAY
STORY
PAGE 9
Lay of their
land
From farmers at the
barricades, to families
back home, a shared
concern — over future
hours there will be another
round of talks and some conclu-
sivestatementcancome."Asked
whether the Centre would give
statutory recognition to its writ-
tenassurance tofarmersoncon-
tinuing the MSP system,
Chautala said, “Whatever they
(the farmers) demand.”
Addressingapressconference
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
those in jail and demanded their
release, drawing sharp reactions
from the ruling BJP and other
farmer leaders.
Ask him about the allega-
tions and Ugrahan, who formed
his outfit in 2002 after breaking
away from the BKU (Ekta), re-
mains unchanged and unflinch-
ing. He makes no bones that he
wears his protest politics on his
sleeve — he joined the Shaheen
Bagh protests last winter.
“First they called us
Khalistani, then they called us
Pakistani, now we are called
Naxals. The language keeps
changing, but there is no let-up
intheattacks.Andthesamepeo-
ple harp on the importance of
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
mantle the carrier.
In 2019, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had informed
Parliamentabout thedecision to
scrap INS Viraat, saying no “self
sustaining and financially com-
plete” proposal had been found
to preserve it. Maharashtra,
Andhra Pradesh and Goa gov-
ernments had then expressed
willingness to preserve the car-
rier and make it a museum.
INS Viraat is the second air-
craftcarrier to be brokeninIndia
in the last six years. In 2014, INS
Vikrant, which played a crucial
role in the 1971 Indo-Pak war,
was dismantled in Mumbai.
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
FROM PAGE ONE
Ugrahan wears
his politics on
his sleeve:
‘Called us Pak,
now Naxals’
dialogue,” Ugrahan told The
Sunday Express.
He took the surname from
his village in Punjab’s Sangrur
district and served in the Indian
Army before returning to his 5-
acre holding.
His colleagues in the BKU
(EktaUgrahan)appeartobeout-
liers, almost. Especially since
December 10. Other protesting
groups have become wary of
Ugrahan and are cautiously dis-
tancing themselves from him.
YetDecember10wasnotthe
first time that the Ugrahan
group, which is lending outside
support to the Samyukt Kisan
Morcha leading the protests,
took up the cause of these ac-
tivists.
Ekta Ugrahan launched
protests in 2018, soon after the
arrest of activist Gautam
NavlakhaintheBhimaKoregaon
case. Later, it worked on mass
mobilisation programmes
against the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, with
Ugrahan himself attending the
Shaheen Bagh sit-in.
Asked about his ideological
leanings, Ugrahan said it would
be wrong to call him a
Communist. “We follow Bhagat
Singh as well asBaba Nanak,” he
said. Union insiders say more
than its decision to demand the
release of the rights activists,
which also found mention in a
memorandumsubmitted to the
Centre by over a dozen farm
unions on October 14, its posi-
tion that a joint forum should
not necessarily operate as a sin-
gle organisation is behind its
outlier status.
“Ugrahan believes just be-
cause unions representing vari-
ous groups and ideologies come
together under the same um-
brella for a common cause, they
don't need to shelve their indi-
vidual projects and pro-
grammes," a functionary of the
union said.
Ugrahan, who took up the
farmer cause by joining a move-
mentin1982,pointsoutthatthe
union was not in favour of the
call for indefinite railroko,keep-
ing in mind the interest of the
people of Punjab. “Instead, we
suggested the gherao of corpo-
rate establishments and BJP
leaders, which the joint forum
finally adopted," he said.
The union led a dharna out-
side the residences of Punjab
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh
and the Badal family from
September 15 to 22, against the
suggestionof otherunionstore-
strict it to one day, Ugrahan said,
conceding that he has had dif-
ferences withother unionsfrom
the very beginning.
“Differences are bound to be
there.Thechallengeistodraftan
action plan and work towards a
common goal. But many of our
proposals have been rejected so
far,” he said.
Thediscomfitureof theother
unions with Ugrahan did not
come out in the open until the
December 10 event. Many
unions of the Samyukt Kisan
Morcha distanced themselves
fromtheevent,whilesometook
a more lenient view.
DarshanPalSingh,president,
KrantikariKisanUnion(Punjab),
told a press conference on
December 10, “I think the pro-
gramme at Tikri was showing
cases of human rights violation.
We are not politicising the mat-
ter. The programme was simply
highlighting problems of the
present and previous govern-
ments.”
Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor
Mahasangh president Shiv
Kumar Kakka said the event had
“nothing to do with the ongoing
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protests”.
Harpal Sangha of Azad Kisan
Committee (Doaba) said, “There
aredifferencesovermanyissues.
Butviewsof themajorityalways
prevail. But it seems the govern-
ment wants to create a rift
among us. We cannot afford to
make even one mistake."
Hannan Mollah, CPM leader
and general secretary of the All
India Kisan Sabha, said:
“Ugrahan is just one group
which observed Human Rights
Day. We told them not to mix
these things here, so that the
government does not get a
chance to target us. Now they
say the Left is hijacking the
movement. The fact is only
seven to eight organisations are
Left-oriented… This is another
falsehood to try and shift the
narrative. The kisan identity is a
secular identity. This is a new
contributionof farmerstoIndian
democracy."
Ugrahan, meanwhile, main-
tains it is important to stand up
for the rights of the jailed ac-
tivists “as they have raised their
voice and joined hands in fight-
ing against forcible land acquisi-
tion,forupholdingthedignityof
indigenous communities”.
“This is and will remain a
peaceful movement,” he said.
He has been the undisputed
president of the union for the
last 18 years. It has over one lakh
members across 10 districts of
Punjab, mostly in the Malwa re-
gion.
The organisation has a large
number of women activists.
Ugrahan’swifetoowasanactive
member of theunionbefore she
passed away in 2014.
In the past, the union has
been at the forefront of several
protests, including against the
Trident Group's landacquisition
in Barnala, a proposed power
plant in Mansa, decision on
power board privatisation, rape
of a woman in Faridkot, attack
on landless Dalit labourers in
Sangrur.
No question of
coercion in
control of
population:
Govt to SC
according to their choice, with-
out any compulsion," the gov-
ernment said.
In his Independence Day
speech last year, the first of his
second term in office, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi had
highlighted "the need to have
greater discussion and aware-
ness on population explosion".
He had also said those who
choose to have small families
contribute to the development
of the nation and that it was a
form of patriotism.
Giving figures on fall in fer-
tility rates, the government's af-
fidavit in the Supreme Court
said, “The wanted fertility in
India as per NFHS (National
Family Health Survey) IV is only
1.8 as against the actual fertility
of 2.2 prevailing at that time, in-
dicating thereby that couples
(on) an average do not want
more than 2 children." It adds
that 25 out of 36 states and
Union Territories had already
achieved the replacement level
fertility of 2.1 or less.
Census figures also show
that the 2001-2011 decade was
the first in 100 years where a
lesser population was added
comparedtothedecadepreced-
ing it, the government said. "(It)
also registered the sharpest de-
cline in decadal growth, from
21.54 % in 1991-2001 to 17.64 %
in 2001-2011.”
Noting that “the Programme
of Action of the International
Conference on Population and
Development, 1994, to which
India is a signatory, is unequivo-
cally against coercion in family
planning”, the Centre said vari-
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
WEB INTERVIEW
Invest more in farm sector: PM to India Inc
agro-based companies are do-
ing good work, but that is not
enough.”
Hesaidhigherinvestments
donetosupportfarmersgrow-
ingcrops,fruits andvegetables
would help increase their in-
comes and provide new job
opportunities. There is a lot of
potentialforagro-basedindus-
tries in rural areas, and current
government policies, he said,
are conducive for developing a
rural agro-based economy.
“Nitise,aurniyatse,sarkarpoori
tarah, kisano ka hit karne ke liye
pratibadhhai(Thegovernment
is fully committed to the wel-
fare of farmers with its policies
Chautala says talks soon; farmers: First discuss repeal
at Singhu on the Delhi-
Haryana border, Kanwalpreet
Singh Pannu, president of the
Kisan Sangharsh Committee,
Punjab, announced a Delhi
Chalo March on the Jaipur-
Delhi highway, starting from
Rajasthan's Shahjahanpur, on
Sundaymorning.Hesaidfarm-
ers were coming from other
states to join them, including
women once provisions had
been made for toilets, and also
announced a hunger strike on
December 14. "We will not re-
fuse a meeting with the gov-
ernment," Pannu said, "If the
government wants to have a
discussion, we are ready for
that. But our main demand is
that the three laws be
scrapped... Until these laws are
repealed, we will not go onto
thefourthorfifthdemand."He
reiterated that the laws were
not made for farmers but
traders.
Chautala, who also met
Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh and Railway Minister
Piyush Goyal, said a solution
could be found only through
dialogue. “Umeed par duniya
kayam hai (The world rests on
hope)," he said. The Haryana
leader added that the Centre's
efforts to engage farmers and
its 24-page reply to their de-
ous steps and schemes by it “to
stabilise the country’s popula-
tion” were "beginning to yield
dividends”.
“At present India is knocking
at the door of achieving replace-
mentlevelfertilityandhasmade
remarkable improvement in re-
ducing maternal and child mor-
tality. With commitment and
perseverance, India can achieve
the goal of population stabilisa-
tionandadvancing thedevelop-
ment goals of the country."
Upadhyay had earlier filed a
petition in the Delhi High Court.
After it was dismissed, he ap-
proached the Supreme Court.
In its submission to the
Court, the Centre has also said
that since 'public health' is a
state subject, state governments
must lead health sector reforms
in a "suitable and sustainable
manner", andthatits role canbe
"supportive and facilitative".
In fray today,
two candidates
seeking to put
PSA, jail behind
stringent Public Safety Act (PSA)
amidst the crackdown on politi-
cal leadership following the
scrapping of J&K's special status
last year.
Lone, 45, a National
Conference worker since 1999
who had been elected sarpanch
from Nadihal in 2018, was
picked up on August 14, 2019,
and taken to the nearest police
station.“Iwasnotsurewhatwas
going to happen or how long I
wouldbekeptindetention.They
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
RARE MALARIA TYPE, DETECTED IN JAWAN AFTER HIS RETURN FROM SUDAN,
CONTAINED IN KERALA
Thejawan,inhis40s,isbelievedtohavecontractedthePlasmodiumovale,atypeofmalariacausedbyabite
fromafemaleAnophelesmosquito,duringhistimeinSudanasitisendemictothatregion.
THE J.A. JAYANTH
INTERVIEW
Jayanth has a unique
sound that traverses
generic barriers
and intent),” he said.
The recent agriculture re-
forms, Modi said, have tried to
remove obstacles in the way of
newmarkets,freshopportuni-
ties and modern technology
for farmers.
“We have seen walls be-
tween the agriculture sector
andotherareasassociatedwith
it--beitagricultureinfrastruc-
ture, food processing, storage
or cold chain… Now all these
wallsarebeingremoved,allob-
stacles are being removed.
After these walls are removed,
after these reforms, farmers
will get new markets, they will
get new options and benefit
mands were signs that it
wanted a solution.
With the Congress plan-
ning a no-confidence motion
amidst reports of a division
among the JJP's 10 MLAs, who
are part of the BJP-led govern-
mentinHaryana,Chautalasaid
there was no instability in the
coalition, adding, "We stand
firm on the issue of the MSP.
TillI am in the government,we
will ensure MSP to each and
every farmer.”
After his meeting with
Chautala, Tomar held discus-
sions with a group of 29 farm
leaders from Haryana, led by
BKU (Mann) state leader Guni
Prakash, who said they back
the three laws, after the
amendments proposed by the
government to the farmers,
and gave Tomar a "samarthan
patra (a letter of support)" on
the same. "The ongoing
protests are led by vampanthis
(the Left) and those who do
tod-phod (violence). It is no
more a peasant movement, it
has taken on political colours,"
Prakash said.
He added that they would
protest if the government re-
pealedthelaws."Everyonehas
the right to protest... Farmers
will get real freedom through
the laws."
only told me that it was precau-
tionary,” he said. Lone would
spend the next six months in
Srinagar Central Jail.
Describing his decision to
contest the DDC polls, the first
political activity in J&K since
Article 370 was abrogated, as
"reaffirming my faith in democ-
racy", Lone Saturday did the
rounds of his constituency
meeting people, with cam-
paigning having got over. He
says he had to contest for his
people who were worried and
needed political representation.
However, the PAGD candi-
date adds, his fight is not just for
localissueslike roads,water and
electricity supply but also “for
the dignity of the people of J&K
and the restoration of our spe-
cial identity”.
Also contesting from
Rohama and making last-
minute rounds is the Apni
Party's Zahoor Ahmad Mir, 50.
The nephew of former J&K min-
ister Dilawar Mir, he had been
detainedonAugust7, 2019,days
after scrapping of J&K's special
status.
This isMir’sfirstelection and
he says his priority is “develop-
ment and prosperity of the peo-
ple of the area”. Earlier associ-
ated with the PDP, he is now
with the Apni Party, which is
seen as backed by the Centre.
As per the PSA dossier
against Lone, the “grounds for
detention” were his association
with the National Conference. It
added, "You have started prop-
agating anti-national feelings
among the masses against the
decision of the Central govern-
ment for abrogating Article 370
EXPRESS RESEARCH
more from technology.”
“The country’s cold storage
infrastructure will be mod-
ernised. With all these, there
will be a lot more investment
in the agriculture sector. And
this will result in maximum
benefitsformycountry’sfarm-
ers, it will benefit those farm-
ers who depend on marginal
landholdings for their liveli-
hood,” he said
In the last few years, he
said, work has been done
speedilytostrengthentheagri-
culture sector. He cited the
government’s policy on
ethanolblendingasoneexam-
ple that helped increase in-
Tomar said the "progres-
sive" farmers from Haryana
shared with him their experi-
ences regarding how the farm
laws were benefiting them.
Som Prakash was accom-
panied to his meeting with
Tomar by PunjabBJPpresident
Ashwani Kumar Sharma, BJP
organisation general secretary
(Chandigarh and Punjab)
Dinesh Kumar and other sen-
iorleaders,whoreportedlyap-
prised the government of the
situation on the ground.
As part of their protests on
Saturday, farmers in Haryana
forcedfreemovementthrough
toll plazas at several places,
meeting little resistance from
the authorities. A police officer
saidthetollcompanywouldbe
compensated adequately for
thelosses.HaryanaDGPManoj
Yadav said the protests were
peaceful.
The All India Kisan
Sangharsh Coordination
Committeethankedpeoplefor
making the “toll free call a
grand success”, saying the
symbolic move was meant to
"bring out the exploitative
character of corporate compa-
nies (running the tolls)".
Haryana tried to stop farm-
ers making their way from
Punjab to join the toll protest,
andareactivelyinvolvedincam-
paigningagainstthisdecisionby
provoking and mobilising the
masses.” The document said his
activities were “prejudicial” to
themaintenanceof publicorder.
Lone's detentionwas eventually
revoked by the J&K administra-
tion on March 10 this year.
Dilawar Mir, whose son was
also detained, says it had taken
them 15 days to locate Zahoor.
Picked up for his political ac-
tivities, Zahoor had been trans-
ferred to a jail in Lucknow. His
detention was revoked on
January 10 along with that of 25
other inmates in jails outside
J&K.
The sixth phase on Sunday
will see voting for 31 DDC con-
stituencies. A total of 124 candi-
dates are in the fray from
Kashmir and 121 from Jammu
division.WithKashmirseeingits
first snowfall of the season
Saturday, authorities were hop-
ingtheweatherwouldnotaffect
polling, which will be held be-
tween 7 am and 2 pm.
Nadda row:
MHA deputes 3
officers part of
his security to
Centre, West
Bengal says no
In response to the Centre's
letter about the three IPS offi-
cers, West Bengal is learnt to
have written back saying it
would not be able to spare the
officers – and that they would
NEW DELHI’S
ARCHITECTURE
The architecture was
meant to soften
nationalism
comesof canefarmers,opened
new job opportunities.
“Today, India’s agriculture
sector is far more vibrant than
before. Today, India’s farmers
can sell their crop in mandis as
well as outside. Today, in India,
evenasmandisarebeingmod-
ernised, farmers have also
been given the option to
buy/sell their crop on digital
platforms. All these efforts are
aimedatincreasingincomesof
farmers. The country’s farmer
should be prosperous. When
the country’s farmer is pros-
perous, only then will the
country be prosperous,” he
said.
blocking the Dabwali, Jind and
Fatehabad borders, and de-
ploying water cannons and
boulders on the roads.
However,farmersremovedthe
boulders with the help of trac-
tors, and made their way
through, with the police often
missing. The plan for a proces-
sion of combined harvester
machines to Delhi, however,
was abandoned.
Haryana Kisan Manch
leader Gurprem Singh
said,"Haryanawillcleartheway
for Punjab if its government
dares to seal the borders again.
Youngerbrother(Haryana)will
not let elder brother (Punjab)
suffer." Rajinder Singh, general
secretaryoftheKrantikariKisan
Union, said, "I really wonder
why Haryana is trying to stop
the entry of Punjab residents
again and again. We are not
from Pakistan."
Pannu accused the govern-
ment of trying to weaken the
agitation, but said the farmers
would ensure there was no vi-
olence.
DGP Yadav, however, said
the Haryana borders had not
been sealed, though they were
ready to do so if needed.
WITHINPUTSFROM
RAAKHIJAGGAINLUDHIANA,
SUKHBIRSIWACHINHISAR
not be sent to Delhi.
“We already have low num-
bers of IPS officers in the state.
So we wrote that it will not be
possible to adhere to their re-
quest and release the officers,” a
senior officer at the West Bengal
home department said.
Senior Trinamool Congress
MPKalyanBanerjeeaccusedthe
Centre of being vindictive. “Last
evening the MHA wrote a letter
to the state government asking
that the three IPS officers would
have to be attached (to the
Centre). The vindictiveness of
MHA and the central govern-
ment is clear. Law and order is a
statesubject.BJPnevertookper-
mission for the rally they con-
ducted that day in the name of a
convoy.Ihave alreadywrittento
MHA about this,” Banerjee said.
TMC Lok Sabha MP Prof
Sougata Ray said: “The Centre
may ask for names for central
deputation. But it is for the state
to decide whether or not to al-
low the IPS or IAS officers for
central deputation. There is no
other option. This happens
when there is a vacancy.”
Whileundernormalcircum-
stances, IPS officers are sent on
deputation to the Centre with
the state's consent, the Centre
does have the power to call any
IPS officer to the Centre.
Under Rule6of theIPSCadre
Rules, 1954, in case of disagree-
ment between Centre and state
overanofficer'sdeputationwith
the Government of India, the
will of the Centre prevails.
“A cadre officer may, with
the concurrence of the State
Government... and the Central
Government, be deputed for
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
Shashi Tharoor on the
gap between national-
ism and patriotism
NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY
In the latest episode of the Sandip Roy
Show, Tharoor talks about his latest book,
and what nationalism really means in the
Indian context.
service under the Central
Government or another State
Government or under a com-
pany... Provided that in case of
any disagreement, the matter
shall be decided by the Central
Government and the State
Government...shallgiveeffectto
the decision of the Central
Government.”
However, keeping in mind
the federal structure of the
country, the Centre rarely uses
this order. Normally, the Centre
writes to states every year ask-
ingfor a listof officersfor central
deputation. Based on the will-
ingness of officers (not binding
on the state), the state govern-
ments send an “Offer List” for
centraldeputation.TheGoIthen
decides which officer in the of-
ferlistwillbepostedwhere.This
year the Centre wrote to the
states on December 7 for the of-
fer list for 2021.
There have been instances of
tussles between state govern-
ments and the Centre over the
deputation of officers in the re-
cent past.
Tamil Nadu and the Centre
hadafewyearsagosparredover
the deputation of state cadre of-
ficer Archana Ramasundaram.
In 2014, the UPA government
had called Ramasundaram to
the Centre where she was ex-
pected to join the CBI as ADG.
When the state government did
notrelieve her for three months,
she reported to the Centre on
her own. The state government
suspended her for going to the
Centre without being relieved.
The matter went to the
Supreme Court and
Ramasundaram retained her
central deputation, but lost the
opportunity to serve in the CBI.
She was finally appointed
Director General of Sashastra
Seema Bal, becoming the first
woman to head a paramilitary
force.
Gujarat cadre IPS officer
Kuldeep Sharma had similarly
fought his way to the Centre in
2012.
In these cases, however, the
officers were willing to serve at
theCentreandhadfiguredinthe
offer list, which is not the case in
West Bengal now.
Sources said the matter
could reach the courts. “While
the Centre has the right to call
officers to GoI even without the
state's consent, the state can ar-
gueincourtthattheCentre'sde-
cision is mala fide or informed
by bias against the state,” a sen-
ior IPS officer said.
Worker beaten
to death, BJP
blames TMC
weapons, was declared dead at J
N Memorial Hospital in Kalyani
in Nadia district. A large police
force was deployed after a mas-
sive crowd gathered outside the
hospital, sources said.
According to preliminary in-
formation, the incident took
place around 6 pm during the
BJP's Griha Sampark Abhiyan in
ward numbers 6 and 7 of the
Halishahar municipal area.
Three people were injured after
two groups clashed, one of
whom was declared dead in
hospital,policesaid.Theaccused
fled after the clash, they said.
“Another day, another mur-
der! Saikat Bhawal, BJP worker
from Halisahar was brutally
murdered by TMC goons while
6othersarecriticallyinjuredand
fighting for their lives. He was
targeted during BJP’s door to
door outreach 'Aar Noi Annay',”
the Bengal BJP tweeted. “Pishi
can’t retain power like this!,” it
said, referring to Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee.
State BJP president and
Medinipur MP Dilip Ghosh
posted on Twitter: “The brutal
death of SaikatBhawal...is a sign
of how bloody the upcoming
Bengal Assembly elections are
goingtobe....TheBJPworkerwas
publicly beaten to deathby TMC
thugs. Eight others were seri-
ously injured.”
The TMC refuted the allega-
tions. Trinamool MLA Partha
Bhowmick said: “Any death is
unfortunate.Iwouldlikethepo-
lice to investigate and find the
culprits. Having said that, it is
also true that this murder is a
fallout of the BJP's infighting.
Their party has two lobbies in
the area, and these groups have
old disputes.”
Karnataka
iPhone plant
suspends work
after pay row
leads to violence
The company also never re-
ported any unrest,”
Satyabhama said.
Local officials said that fol-
lowing the Covid-19 lockdown,
salaries of workers – including
engineering graduates earning
between Rs 15,000 and Rs
21,000 per month – were cut
by Rs 7,000-9,000.
The Taiwan-headquartered
technical service provider
company opened the Kolar
plant last year with an initial
investment of Rs 680 crore. It
operates as a service centre and
manufacturing centre for prod-
ucts including iPhone, and em-
ploys around 3,000 workers.
The company is looking to in-
vest nearly Rs 3,000 crore more
to expand the facility, and aims
to provide employment to
9,467 local people when the
second phase of the plant is
complete.
“We had a meeting of com-
pany officials and senior gov-
ernment officials recently on
the Wistron proposal to expand
the plant. At the time no issues
about workers unrest were
brought up by officials,” the DC
said. “What has happened is
very, very unfortunate. It seems
some goons infiltrated the
premises,” she said.
Inspector General of Police,
central range, Seemanth Kumar
Singh, said: “Around 125 per-
sons have been arrested. There
is no union or union leader in
the firm. The workers are alleg-
ing that they are not getting
their salary on time and that
they are not being paid for over-
time. A case of arson, rioting,
robbery, and obstructing the
police has been registered.” A
team of policemen who first
went to the factory was also at-
tacked, the officer said.
Karnataka has witnessed
several incidents of labour un-
rest in recent weeks. Over
3,500 workers at the automo-
bile manufacturer Toyota
Kirloskar Motors have been on
strike since November 10. The
factory at Bidadi, around 40 km
from Bengaluru, has been
locked out, with the striking
workers – who are protesting
their bigger workload since
November 9 after the company
decided to step up manufactur-
ing to meet increased demand
– camping outside.
On Friday, nearly 1 lakh
workers of Karnataka State
Road Transport Corporation
went on a snap strike, bringing
20,000 buses to a halt and crip-
pling the state's inter-district
transport system.
KSRTC workers are de-
manding payments on par
with other government em-
ployees. Talks between the
government and workers
unions failed on Saturday. With
the strike looking set to con-
tinue, the government has pro-
posed introducing private
buses on Sunday.
The Toyota workers have
participated in the farm
protests, and one of the leaders
of the KSRTC workers strike is
the farmer leader Kodihalli
Chandrashekhar.

3 THE CITY
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
FARMERS’ PROTEST DAY 17: MORE VEHICLES FROM PUNJAB ROLL IN
‘For each person who goes back home, 10 arrive’
ASHNA BUTANI
& JIGNASA SINHA
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
AT SINGHU border on Saturday,
a new truck or trolley kept arriv-
ing every few minutes — hun-
dredsof vehicleshavebeenmak-
ingtheirwayfromseveralPunjab
districts, via different routes, so
theyarenotstoppedatstatebor-
ders.BySunday,over1,500vehi-
cles are expected to make their
way to the Delhi border.
A trolley ferrying 20 farmers
fromTajpur inLudhianareached
the protest site at 6 am on
Saturday. The vehicle left
Ludhiana at 9.30 pm and drove
all night through the rain.
Amandeep Singh (25), who
was among the farmers, said,
“Some people have gone back to
theirvillagetotendtotheirfarms.
So we collectively decided to
come to represent the village. If
we go back, a number of other
trucks will replace us. There are
manyothersfromourvillagewho
want to join. My father is taking
careofthefields;inafewdays,he
will join and I will head back.”
Amandeep, who grows rice
and makki, said they came via
Haryana and that there were
many others from the state us-
ing the same route.
Ranjeet Singh (34) from the
SikhSewaForcesaidthenumber
of farmersatthesitehasgoneup
tremendously overnight. But
there is no dearth of amenities
and food, he said, pointing to the
toiletries that he and other se-
wadars have been distributing:
“For every one person who goes
back to their village, another 10
come to replace them.”
Late Friday, a yellow college
bus carrying around 70 farmers
reached the border. Amarjeet
Singh (50), a farmer and the bus
driver,saiditwasa10-hourjour-
ney from Amritsar, passing
through Ludhiana, Karnal and
Shahabad.Theystoppedatagur-
dwarainLudhianatofreshenup.
“Justthreedaysago,Idropped
a few people to Amritsar. They
wenthomeassome of themhad
to tend to their farms, others had
weddingsinthefamily.ButIhave
come back with more people
thanIdropped,”hesaid.Thebus,
owned by the Kar Sewa, was
giventothefarmerssincecolleges
are not open.
At Tikri border, protesting
farmers made calls to their
friends and family as the Rohtak
toll became a free passageway
for trucks. Protesters had earlier
faced problems while travelling
because of heavy police deploy-
Security stepped
up in Haryana
Gurgaon: With farmers from
South Haryana and Rajasthan
planningtoheadtoDelhiSunday,
officialsinGurgaonandNuh,parts
of which fall along the Delhi-
Jaipur expressway, have made
arrangements to ensure law and
order is maintained and traffic is
not hit. With farmers having ini-
tially threatened to block the
Delhi-Jaipur highway Saturday,
Gurgaon Police had already
steppedupsecurityalongNH-48.
“We had deployed around 2,000
personnel to ensure there is no
law and order problem. The dis-
trict was peaceful Saturday.
Deployment will remain in place
through Sunday as well,” said
AsthaModi,DCP(Headquarters).
In Nuh, District Magistrate
Dhirendra Khadgata Saturday
imposed Section 144. Security
wasalsosteppedupinFaridabad
inlightof thethreatbyprotesters
to picket toll plazas. ENS
At Singhu border, Saturday. By Sunday, over 1,500 vehicles
are expected to make their way to the Delhi border; (above)
Police at the Delhi-Jaipur highway, Shahjahanpur
ment at pickets and steep toll
prices outside Punjab.
Nasib Singh (45), a farmer
from Rohtak, called his brother
andhisfamilytoTikriborder.“We
willcalleveryonehereunlessthe
governmentrepealsthelaws.My
wife and children are already
here. I also called my younger
brother to join us. Now, Punjab
andHaryanaofficialsarehelping
us—wedon’thavetopaythetoll
and our vehicles aren’t stopped,”
said Singh, who lives in a joint
family of 10. He and his family
boughtatentfromanearbyshop
in Jhajjar and set it up near their
truck. The family also donates
vegetables for the langar.
Other farmers, who make
several trips back home to col-
lect clothes or more ration, are
alsorelievedbythefreepassage-
way. Inderjeet Bagga, a farmer
from Bhatinda, goes back to
Punjab twice in a week to buy
vegetables, oil and flour. He
shareshistentwitheightothers.
They cook their own meals and
go back to their villages when
they run out of groceries.
Said Bagga, “Our wives and
children take care of the farm
while we are protesting here.
Groceriesavailablenearbyareex-
pensiveandwecan’taffordthem.
WehavetogotoPunjab.Weusu-
allyspendRs100-150ontoll...it’s
good they have waived that. We
are also planning to call more
farmershere.Theycancome,stay
for some time and go back.”
The Delhi Police said more
than10,000protestersareatTikri
border.AttheSinghuborder,po-
lice said around 17,000 protest-
ers had gathered as of Friday.
Meanwhile, farmers from
South Haryana and Rajasthan,
who intend to join protesters in
Delhi, will be gathering in
Rajasthan by Saturday evening
and moving towards the capital
Sunday morning.
ANAND VIHAR
Very Poor
398
AQI
PM: 2.5
0 500
0-50 Good
Stir going strong, transport Massive boiler is new
firms and factories from star at Singhu border
Tikri say business is down
ANANYATIWARI
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
FREIGHT CARRIER firms as well
as factory owners from Tikri-
Bahadurgarh say the ongoing
farmers’stirhashadasignificant
impact on business. Owing to
traffic jams, freight carriers or
trucks transporting goods via
Delhi-NCR to other states have
been taking alternative routes,
Praveen Khanna leading to delays.
Said Varun Sharma (31), di-
rector of Speed Wings Logistics
Pvt Ltd, “The NH-8, UP-Haryana
borders are closed too, so trucks
have had to re-route through
the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal
(KMP) or Western Peripheral
Expressway aroundDelhi. There
wasatruckthatwasstuckonthe
KMP for three days.”
Sandeep (32), a traffic opera-
tions manager at Caravan
Roadways Ltd, which transports
PVCfromtheKandlaandMundra
ports of Gujarat, said, “It is taking
Tashi Tobgyal
a long time for trucks to reach
their destination because of traf-
fic on the KMP expressway.”
Many transporters have
stopped operations in the area
altogether. Umesh Pandey (50),
Said Ramzan Chaudhary, general manager of Vijay
head of the Nuh unit of Jai Kisan Lakshmi Transolutions Pvt Ltd,
Andolan, “Protesters from said, “We have stopped opera-
Haryana and Alwar will congre- tionsinthePunjab-Haryanaside
gate at the Shahjahanpur border where routes are blocked, and
in Rajasthan by tonight. On aretransportingonlyemergency
Sunday,wewilljoinpeoplecom- goods (food and pharmaceuti-
ing from Kotputli at 10 am and cals), for which we take alterna-
marchwiththemtowardsDelhi.” tive routes.”
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SIRIFORT
Very Poor
368
AQI
PM: 2.5
0 500
51-100 Satisfactory 101-200 Moderate
Rampal Singh (42), manager
at the ATC Logistical Solutions
Pvt Ltd, said, “Our customers
from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh
and J&K are not coming at all,
and we are not sending any
trucks due to the uncertainty.”
However, Pradeep Singhal,
chairperson of the All-India
Transporters’WelfareAssociation,
said, “The supply chain has not
broken down and there is no
shortage Delhi is facing as many
trucks are taking detours due to
which some delay is inevitable.
Therehasbeennotmuchimpact.”
Industrialists in the Tikri-
Bahadurgarhregion,wherefarm-
ers are protesting on the Delhi-
Rohtak road, say they are facing
losses as neither raw material or
finished goods are getting trans-
ported in and out of the area.
Nikhil Lalit (38), who manu-
factures shoes, said, “Raw mate-
rial — cloth, rubber, packaging –
has stopped coming from Delhi
and is steadily getting over.”
Whilefinishedproductsnor-
mally leave the factory for the
capital daily, this has not been
possiblesincetheproteststarted.
“Delhi is the first stop and from
there our products go to various
areas. Business is down to half
andwemayneedtoclosethefac-
tory if the protest goes on for an-
other week,” he said.
Lalit said he supports the
farmers protesting peacefully. “I
have not read the farm bills so I
cannotcommentonit.However,
they have been protesting qui-
etly — no damage to property or
SHADIPUR
Poor
240
AQI
PM: 10
0 500
201-300 Poor 301-400 Very Poor
anything. I am not against that; I
am with the farmers.”
Amar Verma (59), owner of a
packagingfactory,said:“Weused
tosendfinishedproductstoDelhi
daily;nowweareonlysendingit
to local areas here. Raw material
is not arriving from UP.”
Verma said he is against such
a form of agitation: “This is not a
protest, it is blackmail. A protest
is not supposed to interfere with
someone else’s work.”
Subhash Jagga (65), general
secretary of the Bahadurgarh
Chamber of Commerce &
Industry, said, “This is the peak
seasonforfootwear,butrawma-
terialisnotcomingin,norarefin-
ished goods able to go out of the
area. Production has reduced by
around60%.Transportersarenot
sendingtrucksduetothefearand
uncertainty of a clear passage.”
He added that labourers are also
finding it difficult to arrive from
Mundka, and that many hailing
from UP and Bihar are leaving,
sensing the uncertainty. “I sup-
portthefarmersbutIwishtheis-
sue gets resolved soon,” he said.
ArvindKumar(18),workingas
a labourer at a shoe factory and
hailing from UP’s Shahjahanpur
district, was among those head-
ing home: “Since the protests,
workherehasreduced,that’swhy
I am going back.” Ram Kishore
(22),whoworksatafactoryinthe
areaandisfromUP’sFarrukhabad,
said:“Igothereafewdaysagoand
I am heading back again. There is
a hartal every time — what is the
point of staying back?”
New Delhi
DWARKA-SECTOR 8
Very Poor
362
AQI
0 PM: 2.5 500
401-500 Severe
The 15-foot-tall steam boiler at Singhu border. Praveen Khanna
JIGNASA SINHA
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
AT SINGHU border, amid dozens
of langars set up to feed the
farmers, an unusual sight has
come up: A 15-foot-tall steam
boiler that helps prepare meals
in no time. Donated by a gurd-
wara in Punjab, the boiler is kept
over burning wood and placed
on a trolley. Farmers say it helps
prepare food for more than
10,000 people every day.
Surjit Singh (50), who
brought the boiler two days ago
from Gurdaspur, said more than
30peopleworkatthislangarand
cook food in batches. “We felt it
was taking too long to cook rice,
dal and sabji. On Wednesday, we
took the boiler from the gurd-
wara and got it here,” he said.
The boiler has been in use
sinceThursdayand takesatleast
three people to look after it at a
time, including feeding wood to
keep it running. Pipes coming
outof theboilerarethenputinto
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
S K Y WA T C H
FORECAST: Dec 13
Mainlyclearsky.
Densetoverydense
forinthemorning
MAX: 23 MIN: 10
0.2°Cbelownormal 2.4°Cabovenormal
largevesselsfilledwithrawfood.
Singh said they put 40 kg of
dal and 100 litres of water in a
single vessel. The pipe is then
placedinsideandthevesselcov-
ered with a steel plate. The dal
takes around 25-30 minutes to
cook and can feed around 2,500
people, he said.
Forlunch,50kgofriceisputin
a vessel, which is then filled with
the same amount of water. The
rice takes 25 minutes to cook.
Prabhjot (24), a farmer from
Punjab, who helps serve the
food, said, “We get vegetables,
rice and dal from different farm-
ers. Hundreds of people donate.
More than 30,000 disposable
plates are used every day and
we serve food to farmers as well
as locals.”
Singh said they have enough
ration for four months — at the
moment,thelangarhas25quin-
tal rice, 20 quintal dal and 10
quintal salt, with more donated
every day. Cooks said they also
make aloo gobi or aloo matar
sabzi every day.

4 THE CITY
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
Cold chain points will span across primary and tertiary facilities, and medical facilities across the spectrum will be roped in for the vaccination drive. Praveen Khanna
How Delhi will vaccinate
From 609 cold chain points to 3,500 healthcare workers, the national capital
is firming up plans to roll out the Covid shot in the coming months
ASTHA SAXENA
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
AS THE country prepares a
roadmap torollouttheCovid-19
vaccine in the coming months,
the Delhi government has also
initiated the process for carrying
outtheambitiousimmunisation
programme. The Delhi govern-
ment, in coordination with the
Centre, has identified 609 cold
chain points in the national cap-
ital which will be used for im-
munisation of healthcare work-
ers, who will be the first to get
the vaccine when it arrives.
Cold chain points will span
across primary and tertiary fa-
cilities, and medical facilities
right from mohalla clinics and
urban public health centres to
district hospitals, maternity
homes and most tertiary-care
hospitals will be roped in for the
vaccination drive. There are ap-
proximately 60 cold chain
points in each district.
According to the World
Health Organisation, the pur-
pose of the vaccine cold chain is
tomaintainproductqualityfrom
the time of manufacture until
the point of administration by
ensuringthatvaccinesarestored
and transported within recom-
mended temperature ranges.
Aspertheinitialplanthathas
beenchalkedoutsofar,between
1.8lakhand2.25lakhhealthcare
workerswillbevaccinatedinthe
firstphase. At present,threevac-
Some glitches in second round of
open book examinations in DU
SUKRITA BARUAH
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
THE FIRST day of the new cycle
of Delhi University’s Open Book
Examination (OBE) kicked off
Saturday, with glitches for some
groups of students.
After DU conducted its first
fully online OBE for final year
students in August, with several
glitches along the way, the ex-
ams are being conducted this
time for students who have at-
tendedthissemestercompletely
online, with teaching-learning
havingcommencedintheonline
mode after August 10.
The last time the exam was
conducted, students had re-
ceived their question papers
both through email and on the
university’s exam portal. Even
for submissions, they were per-
mitted either to send their an-
swer sheets through email or
upload them to the exam portal.
This time students were to only
usetheuniversityportalinanat-
tempt to streamline the exam
process. However, this was dis-
COVID-19
609 60
cold chain coldchain
points pointsin
across city eachdistrict
700
medical officers to
monitor cold chain points
1.8 lakh-2.25 lakh
healthcare workers to be
vaccinated in the first
phase, as per initial plan
THE 3,500
ROADMAP healthcare workers to be
actively involved in
immunisation process –
600 workers from private
sector, 200 from hospitals
under railways,
cantonment
cine candidates — Bharat cold chain points, which will be
Biotech’s Covaxin, Serum utilised for immunisation.
Institute-Oxford’s Covishield Primarily, the centres will be
andthePfizerIndiavaccine—are mannedbymedicalofficerswho
inthefrayforemergencyuseau- will be coordinating the pro-
thorisation. gramme.” Garg is also a public
Dr Sunila Garg, director, pro- health expert for the Covid-19
fessorof thedepartmentof com- vaccination programme.
munity medicine at Maulana Delhi Health Minister
Azad Medical College (MAMC), Satyendar Jain had earlier said
told The Indian Express: “All top that healthcare workers and
hospitals in Delhi will be used as frontline staff will be adminis-
Freshattempt to
streamlineexam
process thistime
WHEN THE open book exams were conducted in August,
students had received their question papers both through
email and on the university’s exam portal. They submitted
theanswersheetsbyeitheruploadingthemtotheexampor-
tal or through email. To streamline the exam process this
time, students were to only use the university portal.
rupted when some students did minutes and received nothing.
not receive their questions on Then we directly called our col-
the portal Sunday. lege administration and they
A second-year student of BA sent us our question paper on
(Honours) Hindi Journalism and WhatsApp at 10.13 am. When it
Mass Communication at Bhim wastimeforustosubmitthepa-
Rao Ambedkar College said that per there was still no update on
he and his classmates did not re- theportal,sowecouldn’tsubmit
ceive their question papers on it there. We mailed our answer
the exam portal Saturday. sheets to the college in the end,”
“We had our radio produc- said the student.
tion paper scheduled for 9.30 Ashutosh Kumar, nodal offi-
am,andweloggedontothepor- cer for the exam at Centre for
tal to find the statement - “there Vocational Studies, said a set of
is no exam scheduled for this students in his college also faced
date” — on it. We waited for 30 a similar problem.
tered the vaccine first, followed
by the elderly, and then the rest.
InDelhi,thebiggestcoldstor-
agefacilityisbeingcreatedatthe
state-run Rajiv Gandhi Super
Speciality hospital and will be
spread over 5,000 square me-
tres. Officials said the vaccine
willbestoredhere,anddelivered
to several cold chain points for
carrying out the immunisation
programme.
The state also has an existing
cold storage facility at Civil Lines
that can store up to five million
doses at a temperature ranging
between2and8degreesCelsius.
The government has pre-
pared a list of around 3,500
healthcare workers who will be
actively involved in the process.
Among them are 600 workers
fromtheprivatesector,200from
hospitals under the railways,
cantonment, etc, and 700 med-
icalofficerstomonitorcoldchain
points.
“Training of officers at the
national level has already been
completed and the state-level
training for workers in Delhi
will begin from Monday. It is
cascade-level training in which
officers from various districts
and medical officers will be
trained in the first phase. These
officers will then guide other
team members. Responsible
communication will play a cru-
cial role as we need to remove
the myths and misconceptions
among the general public,”
added Dr Garg.
“Students from six different
vocational programmes had a
common paper today but stu-
dentsof onlyoneprogrammere-
ceivedthequestionpaper.Imust
have received around 200 calls
frompanickedstudentsandpar-
ents. Since time was passing by
and the portal was notbeing up-
dated, we arranged for students
who had received the common
question paper to share it with
the others on Whatsapp. Since
the submission option on the
portal also did not appear for
thosewhodidnotgettheirques-
tion paper, around 500 students
emailed their answer sheets to
us. Sorting through all of those is
going to be an administrative
challenge,” he said.
Dean Examinations D S
Rawat said the exam went
smoothly despite these issues.
“There were some issues
with a few papers because ex-
ams with old unique paper
codes and new unique paper
codes were happening together.
The issues were sorted out and
the students were given the req-
uisite extra time,” he said.
CORONAVIRUS
IN THE CAPITAL
Hospitals such as Lok Nayak,
Kasturba Gandhi, Baba Saheb
Ambedkar, AIIMS, RML and
Safdarjung are among 609
points from where vaccination
will be carried out. According to
officials, more facilities may be
added depending on the need
and demand.
There will be around two fa-
cilitators and inoculators at each
facility for injecting the vaccine
and facilitating the process, offi-
cials said.
Dr D K Sharma, medical su-
perintendent of AIIMS, told The
IndianExpress:“Wealreadyhave
adequate infrastructure since
the institute has been vaccinat-
ing for other diseases. We will
just need to plan a risk stratifica-
tion strategy on how many
healthcareworkerswillbevacci-
nated in the first stage. The insti-
tute has enough space for stor-
age of the vaccines. However,
there is only one kind of vaccine
that requires a special tempera-
ture of -70 degrees, so even if we
get that in the institute, we have
several deep freezers in the re-
search department where we
can maintain this kind of tem-
perature.”
DrSureshKumar,medicaldi-
rector of Lol Nayak, said, “We
have prepared a list of 3,900
healthcare workers from our
hospitalswhowillbevaccinated
in the first phase. The immuni-
sation will take place in our hos-
pital and we have the entire in-
frastructure ready for it.”
AAP seeks permission for parallel
dharna outside Shah, L-G homes
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
THEAAPSaturdaywrotetoDelhi
Police seeking permission to
stage dharnas outside the resi-
dences of Union Home Minister
Amit Shah and Lt-Governor Anil
Baijal over alleged misappropri-
ationof fundsbytheNorthDelhi
Municipal Corporation.
In separate letters to DCP
(North) and DCP (New Delhi),
AAP MLAs Atishi and Raghav
Chadha said they intend to hold
dharnas outside Baijal and
Shah’s residences respectively
from 11 am Sunday.
“We understand that a simi-
larprotesthasbeendulypermit-
ted and is being continued out-
sidethehouseof theHonourable
Chief Minister of Delhi. We un-
dertake and assure that we are
willing to comply with all the
conditions as are imposed upon
the protesters sitting on dharna
outsidetheresidenceof theCM,”
the MLAs wrote.
On Friday, Health Minister
Satyendar Jain had alleged in a
After protest, Jamia puts
proctored exams on hold
ARANYA SHANKAR
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
AMID CRITICISM over its deci-
siontoholdproctoredonlineex-
amsforundergraduateandpost-
graduate students, Jamia Millia
Islamia's Controller of
Examinations (COE) Saturday
said the Vice-Chancellor had de-
cided to put the exams on hold.
Theywerescheduledtobeginon
December 21.
Speaking to The Indian
Express, Jaima V-C Najma Akhtar
said: "The exams were being
held because of UGC directions.
If we evaluate students on the
basis of assignments, we don't
want any trouble later with re-
gard to the validity of their de-
grees. We will wait for UGC's re-
sponse before we move further;
we are in no hurry."
Students had demanded
they be evaluated based on as-
signments instead.
As part of the proctored ex-
ams, students would be invigi-
lated online through their web-
cams and microphones. The
guidelines also said students
would need to make their own
arrangements for laptops or
computers,andensure"uninter-
rupted power and good internet
connectivity" for the duration of
threehourswhiletheexamison,
and that they would be respon-
9 JNU profs write
to V-C asking for
Dean to be replaced
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
NINE PROFESSORS from the
School of Physical Sciences (SPS)
at Jawaharlal Nehru University
have written to the Vice-
Chancellor saying they had “lost
faith”intheDeanof theirSchool,
Kedar Singh, due to “repeated
breaches of trust” and his “non-
consultative” ways, and asked
that a new Dean be appointed.
A letter expressing the same
was also sent to Singh, asking
him to “relinquish” his adminis-
trative duties “with immediate
effect”. Rector II Satish Garkoti
was marked on both letters.
On November 23, eight SPS
professors had written to the
PresidentofIndiainhiscapacityas
Visitor against “gross violation of
ethics and procedures” in recent
faculty appointments for Physics
postsintheSchool.Theyhadasked
him to “intervene” and keep the
appointments in “abeyance” till
theyare“scrutinised”.
In their letter, they had cited
alleged violations in seven ap-
pointments.Theyallegedthatei-
ther “weak” candidates were se-
lected, or names of candidates
wereaddedtotheshortlistatthe
last minute and they ended up
being selected. In certain cases,
BJP MP Hans Raj Hans, mayor Jai Prakash and other party
members protest outside CM’s residence. Amit Mehra
press conference that the North
MCD had misappropriated
aroundRs2,400crorefundsgiven
by the South MCD — a claim that
the North MCD mayor had de-
nied. The Delhi government has
ordered a probe into the issue.
Atishisaid:“Wedemandthat
therebeaCBIinquiryforthisloss
to the public exchequer. There
must be stringent action against
the culprits, because it is with
this Rs 2,500 crore that doctors,
staff, nurses, teachers, our Covid
warriors could have been paid
New Delhi
TOTAL CASES HOSPITAL BEDS
6,05,470 VENTILATORS
Daily cases Recoveries
Dec 11
Dec 12
2,385
1,935
2,402
3,191
Total 17,373* 5,78,116
The students had demanded
that they be evaluated based
on assignments instead
siblefor"anylapses"onthisfront.
"In suppression of the Office
Notice...publishedontheuniver-
sity website on December 7,
2020, regarding the conduct of
oddsemester/yearendexamina-
tions through 'Online Proctored
Mode', the Vice-Chancellor has
very kindly put the odd semes-
ter/year end examination on
hold," COE Nazim Hussain Jafri
said in a notice Saturday.
"The university has received
several representations from
students regarding their prob-
lems/issues with 'online proc-
tored examination'. The univer-
sity has apprised the University
Grants Commission of the con-
cerns of students and the deci-
sion of the university regarding
despitehavingstrongcandidates
in the shortlist, no selections
were made, they had said.
OnDecember8,theninepro-
fessors — Sanjay Puri, Subhasis
Ghosh, Sankar Prasad Das, Subir
Kumar Sarkar, S S N Murthy,
BrijeshKumar,SatyabrataPatnaik,
Debashis Ghoshal and Riddhi
Shah — wrote to Singh.
Despite repeated attempts,
DeanKedarSingh,V-CMJagadesh
KumarandRectorIISatishGarkoti
did not respond to calls and texts
seeking a comment.
“Recent events demonstrate
your abject failure toprotectand
promotetheinterestsof ourjun-
ior colleagues in the School of
Physical Sciences. They also
strongly suggest that you have
activelyparticipatedinprocesses
prejudicial to the maintenance
of academic standards in our
School. We call upon you to re-
linquishalladministrativeduties
in the SPS with immediate ef-
fect,” the December 8 letter said.
Two days later, they wrote to
V-C M Jagadesh Kumar saying,
“Weregrettoinformyouthatwe
have lost confidence in our cur-
rent Dean Prof Kedar Singh. This
is a consequence of his repeated
breaches of trust and non-con-
sultative manner of functioning.
Werequestyoutoappointanew
Dean of SPS in his place.”
salaries.Wewillcontinuethesit-
in until a CBI inquiry is ordered
into the issue.”
DCP(NewDelhi)EishSinghal
said, “In view of the DDMA
guidelines, all public gatherings
are prohibited to prevent the
spread of Covid-19. Moreover,
section 144 of CrPC has been in
force in New Delhi district. We
have considered the (AAP) re-
quest but rejected it.”
Meanwhile, the mayors,
whosesit-inenteredthesixthday,
held a ‘thali bajao’ protest outside
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Total Vacant
18,814 14,287
1,525 602
*Total active cases
Deaths Tests
60
47
71,679
72,413
9,981 71,50,568
mode of conduct of examina-
tions. The directions/guidelines
from the UGC on the matter as
sought by the university are still
awaited. The university shall
take its decision regarding the
modeof conductof examination
in consonance with the direc-
tions/guidelines of UGC on the
matter," he stated.
The move had come under
criticism from former Jammu &
Kashmir Chief Minister
Mehbooba Mufti, who tweeted
Thursday that the mode of ex-
amswas"deeplyproblematicfor
students of J&K".
Earlier Saturday, Communist
Party of India MP Binoy Viswam
hadalsowrittentoAkhtarto"re-
consider" the exams. "Without
adequatefacilitiesandsupporton
behalf of the university that can
cater to the needs of all its stu-
dents,theconductoftheseexams
would be highly discriminatory
and apathetic," he had written.
AkhtartoldTheIndianExpress
that the decision to keep the ex-
ams on hold was taken keeping
students in mind: “I have not de-
cidedduetoanypoliticalpressure
from any leader. This was only
done as students were worried
andwearealwayswithstudents.”
Responding to the decision,
Mufti Saturday tweeted: “Thank
you for taking our concerns into
consideration. I'm sure the stu-
dents here will be relieved.”
BRIEFLY
Manarrested
forkidnapping
minorgirl
New Delhi: An 18-year-
oldmanwasarrestedfor
allegedly kidnapping a
minor girl from West
Delhi’s Rajouri Garden.
Police said the girl was
kidnapped in October
and was taken to UP and
Bihar. The accused later
abandoned her at
Badarpurborderafterhe
received information
that the police were
searching for him. Police
said theaccused, Shoyab
Khan, is a B.Pharma stu-
dent from Alwar, and he
metthegirlonFacebook,
promised to marry her
and kidnapped her on
October 22.
Densefog
untilDec16
New Delhi: Light rain
was recorded in parts of
the city Saturday morn-
ing, plunging air quality
into the ‘very poor’
range. Improvement
from ‘very poor’ air qual-
ity is not expected for
the next five days as very
dense to moderate fog is
forecast in the city until
December 16. ENS
CM Arvind Kejriwal’s residence
Saturday. They have been claim-
ing the Delhi government owes
Rs 13,000 crore to the MCDs, a
claimrejectedbythegovernment.
OtherBJPleadersledprotests
at assembly constituencies.
NorthMCDMayorJaiPrakash,
in a statement, said that despite
sittingoutsidetheCM’sresidence
for the past few days in protest,
theyhavenotreceivedananswer
and hope that they shall get his
attention by beating utensils.
South MCD mayor Anamika
Mithilesh Singh tweeted:
“Sanitationsoldiers,healthwork-
ers, teachers and all employees
of the corporation are working
hard day and night to clean up
Delhi, and because of you, they
are not getting their salary.”
Earlier in the day, Delhi BJP
president Adesh Gupta led a
protest in Burari and Patel Nagar,
Leader of Opposition in Delhi
Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri
led one in Badarpur, former Delhi
BJPpresidentManojTiwaristaged
aprotestatKhajuriChowk,andMP
Meenakshi Lekhi led one outside
theMLAofficeinKasturbaNagar.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
Pak opens
shelling along
LoC before
DDC 6th
phase polling
ARUN SHARMA
JAMMU, DECEMBER 12
AHEAD OF the sixth phase of the
District Development Council
elections in Jammu and Kashmir,
PakistanitroopsSaturdaycarried
out “intense” mortar shelling
along the Line of Control in
Poonch district’s Balakot.
Balakot is one of the 31 DDC
constituencies going to polls on
Sunday.
K K Sharma, the Election
Commissioner for the Union
Territory,saidofficialsweremon-
itoring the situation. “We always
make alternative arrangements
keeping in view the possibility of
such situations. We can shift
polling stations to safer places if
shelling continues," he said.
Army Public Relations Officer
Lt Col Devender Anand said the
"intense" mortar shelling and
small arms fire by Pakistani sol-
diers began at around 6 pm. The
Indian Army is retaliating, he
added.
The Balakot region near
Poonch town has often faced un-
provoked mortar shelling and
small arms fire by Pakistani
troops.ASarpanchwasamongsix
civilianskilledinshellingtherein
August 2015.
Meanwhile, nearly 7.48 lakh
voterswillSundaydecidethefate
of 245 candidates from 31 con-
stituencies in the sixth phase of
theDDCpolls.Ofthem,124candi-
datesarecontestingthepollsin14
constituenciesinKashmir.There-
maining 121 are in the fray from
17 constituencies in Jammu.
For smooth conduct of the
polls, the State Election
Commissioner said 2,071 polling
stations have been set up across
the Union Territory—1,208 are in
Kashmir and 863 are in Jammu.
Of these, Kashmir has only 11
normalpollingstationswith1,047
being classified as "hyper-sensi-
tive" and 150 as "sensitive",
Sharma said. Jammu has 83 “hy-
per-sensitive”and291“sensitive”
polling stations.
China talks may be long; will defend
territory at all costs: Army Vice Chief
LALMANI VERMA
DEHRADUN, DECEMBER 12
VICE CHIEF of Army Staff Lt Gen
SK Saini Saturday said India’s
talks with China over the LAC
standoff are likely to be pro-
tracted, but added that the
country would ensure its terri-
torial integrity "irrespective of
the cost". He said India is main-
taining its commitment to the
dialogue and hoped for the
restoration of the status quo as
of April.
Speaking to reporters after
attending the passing-out pa-
rade of Indian Military Academy
(IMA), Dehradun, as reviewing
officer,LtGen Sainisaid:“Weare
in touch with our Chinese coun-
terparts both at diplomatic as
wellasthemilitarylevel.Andwe
hope that a solution is found
through this dialogue and status
quo as of April this year is re-
stored.”
He added: "While we seek a
resolution through dialogue we
are also committed to ensuring
the territorial integrity and sov-
ereigntyof thecountry,irrespec-
tive of the cost involved."
56% polling in 48 Zilla
Parishad seats of Goa
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
PANAJI, DECEMBER 12
FORTY-EIGHT of the 50 Zilla
Panchayat constituencies in Goa
went to polls on Saturday with
203 candidates in the fray for
whatisexpectedtobeabarome-
ter of the public mood ahead of
the state elections in 2022.
Polling began at 8 and ended
at 5 pm. Till 10 pm, the state
recorded 56.82 per cent voting,
PTI reported, quoting State
Election Commission figures
TheBJPfielded43candidates,
Congress 38, and Aam Aadmi
Party and the Maharashtrawadi
Gomantak Party 17 each.
Sadanand Shet Tanavade, the
BJP state president, said he was
“confident” of a good show.
Cadets at the parade during the graduation ceremony at
Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, on Saturday. Lt Gen
Saini was the reviewing officer for the ceremony. PTI
Asked about the lack of a
breakthrough in the dialogue
with China, Lt Gen Saini said:
“We have to keep the engage-
ment on with China. And, these
are complex talks and therefore
it is likely to take time but I do
understand that these talks are
protracted.Butwearemaintain-
ing our commitment in this dia-
logueandhope thatan early res-
olution is achieved.”
On reports of China setting
up new villages near Doklam,
the Army Vice Chief said no new
Leader of Opposition Digambar
Kamatsaidtheprotestsagainstin-
frastructureprojectswouldwork
in Congress's favour. Chief
MinisterPramodSawantwasthe
first to vote, at Kothambi village.
This was also the first major
polling exercise in the state since
thelockdown,with7.91lakhpeo-
pleeligibletocasttheirballot.Over
1,000Covid-19patientsalsovoted
during the last hour. The state
HealthDepartmentprovidedPPE
kitsforthemandensuredprecau-
tions at booths.
OutgoingZillaPanchayatcan-
didateshaveoftenexpresseddis-
affection with lack of executive
powers.Theysaytheirroleislim-
ited to overseeing development
workintheirelectorate,provided
the Zilla Panchayat body releases
funds on time.
villages or structures have been
created inside Indian territory.
“Therefore, it is on the other side
of the border. And, as you are
aware that continued develop-
ment of infrastructure on the
other side of the Line of Actual
Controlhasbeenongoingforthe
last many decades, therefore, it
isnota matterof concernforus.”
Let Gen Saini also said that
ceasefire violations from across
the Line of Control have seen an
increase this year compared to
the last two years.
EC asks political
parties their stand
on revising poll
spending limit
New Delhi: The Election
Commission (EC) has sought
viewsof recognisednationaland
state political parties on revising
the expenditure limit for candi-
dates contesting state and par-
liamentary elections.
The limit was last revised in
2014. In a letter written on
December 7 this year, parties
have been requested to send
feedback. The letter was written
after the poll panel set up a com-
mittee to examinethe feasibility
of enhancing the expenditure
ceiling. The panel will take into
consideration the increase in
number of voters, Cost Inflation
Index and seek feedback from
political parties before making
its recommendation. ENS
Danger of Ladakh crisis is it will
dissipate goodwill: Jaishankar
KRISHN KAUSHIK
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
CALLING THE ongoing military
standoff with China in eastern
Ladakh a result of Beijing not fol-
lowing the existing agreements,
External Affairs Minister S
Jaishankar on Saturday said that
the“realdanger”isthatthe“good-
will,whichwassocarefullydevel-
oped, will dissipate” with this.
Hesaidhewouldnotventure
to predict a possible resolution,
but that India will rise to the oc-
casiontomeetthenationalsecu-
rity challenge.
Speaking at an event organ-
isedbybusinessassociationFICCI,
Jaishankarsaiditishardtotopre-
dictwhenitcomestonationalse-
curity issues, “so I won’t get into
the prediction zone, whether is
going to be easy or not and what
wouldbethetimelinesandsoon”.
But, he said, “the events this year
have raised some very basic con-
cerns. They have happened be-
causetheotherpartydidnotabide
by agreements that we have had
with them about respecting and
CLIMATE AMBITION SUMMIT 2020
PM Modi: India will not only achieve Paris
Agreement targets, but will exceed them
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
SAYING THAT the country had
alreadyreduceditscarbonemis-
sions intensity by 21 percent as
compared to 2005, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on
Saturday said India would ex-
ceed its Paris Agreement goals.
Speaking at the Climate
Ambition Summit 2020 on
Saturday,hefurthersaidthatthe
signatories should not lose sight
of the climate goals.
A total of 77 world leaders
addressed the summit — hosted
jointly by the UK COP26
EXPRESS NETWORK 5
External Affairs Minister
S Jaishankar speaks at the
FICCI event Saturday. ANI
observing the Line of Actual
Controlandnotbringingforcesto
the Line of Actual Control”.
He compared it to “dealing
withsomebodywhohasviolated
thetermsof acontract…andina
verysubstantialway”.Theminis-
ter said, “I also believe what has
happened is not actually in the
interest of China, because it has
significantly impacted public
sentiment.”
Jaishankar said that through
his career he has witnessed the
evolution of how China has been
viewed by Indians. “A lot of work
hadgoneintotherelationshipon
both sides. I don’t believe the
events of this year have helpedat
PM Modi at
the summit
Presidency along with the
United Nations (UN) and France,
in partnership with Italy and
Chile, to mark the 5th anniver-
sary of the Paris Agreement.
“This summit marks the fifth
anniversary of the Paris
Agreement – the most ambi-
tious step in our fight against
ClimateChange.Today,asweare
looking to set our sights even
higher, we must also not lose
New Delhi
all. I think the real danger is that
the goodwill which was so care-
fullydevelopedwilldissipate.But
I also would (say) that we are be-
ing tested. I have confidence that
we will rise to the occasion (and)
meet that national security chal-
lenge. But beyond that, at this
time, I would really, frankly keep
my own counsel.”
Talking about the US elec-
tions and what a Joe Biden ad-
ministration could mean for
India, Jaishankar said they are
“quite unique” because “what
happens in America has an im-
pact on all of us”.
He said there are debates in
theUSnowwhichwerenotthere
earlier,andoneofthe“interesting
debates is whether actually this
Americaatthistimeshouldactu-
ally have an industrial policy”, as
“the free enterprise system in
Americaisquiteallergictotheidea
of an industrial policy”.
“The other is technology,” he
said.“Theroleofbigtech–thereis
an international debate about it,
but there is a very vigorous
American debate, that how big
should big tech be allowed
sight of the past. We must not
only revise our ambitions, but
also review our achievements
againsttargetsalreadyset...”said
Prime Minister Modi.
“Our solar capacity has
grown from 2.63 GigaWatts
(GW) in 2014 to 36GW in 2020.
Our renewable energy capacity
is the fourth largest in the world.
Itwillreach175GWbefore2022.
And, we have an even more am-
bitious target now — 450 GW of
renewable energy capacity by
2030.Wehavealsosucceededin
expanding our forest cover and
safeguarding our biodiversity...
To all my fellow residents of this
planet, I make a solemn pledge
to become...”
On his takeaway from the
Biden administration coming to
office,Jaishankarsaid,“Iwouldsay
vis-à-vis the world, quite apart
fromthesecurityandpoliticalin-
fluence issues, one big question
for them is how do they keep
America competitive. The other
big question is how do they deal
with the climate change chal-
lenge, which many of them have
very passionate belief in.”
“Where we would stand vis-
à-vis America priorities”,
Jaishankarsaid,iswhatwillmake
the difference. “It would be natu-
ral for the US to look at the world
and evaluate countries… Where
does this country or these sets of
players fit into my game-plan?
And my sense is today, on key as-
pectsoftherelationship,certainly
whenitcomestosecurityandde-
fence,whenitcomestoeconomic
issuesespeciallycompetitiveness,
I think India can make a very big
difference....
He said, “Today, the relation-
ship is in a such a different level
that the only place for it to go, in
my view, is up.”
today. Centennial India will not
only meet its own targets, but
will also exceed your expecta-
tions,” he added.
UN Secretary General
Antonio Guterres said enough
was not being done to meet the-
climate change challenge.
Meanwhile host UK’s Prime
Minister Boris Johnson an-
nounced that last week, the UK
has decided to reduce its emis-
sions by at least 68 per cent by
2030.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
announced that China aims to
reach carbon neutrality by 2060.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com

6 GOVT & POLITICS
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
Pawar addresses NCP workers, at a digital rally, from the Y B
Chavan Centre in Mumbai on Saturday. Twitter/SharadPawar
As Pawar turns
80, colleague,
ally rue missed
PM chance
Would like him as UPA chief: Shinde
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, DECEMBER 12
ON A day Sharad Pawar turned
80,hispartycolleague,andsome
leaders of his new allies, includ-
ing former Union minister and
Congress leader Sushilkumar
Shinde, on Saturday spoke
highly of the Maratha strong-
man — the former ruing his
missed chances to become the
Prime Minister in the 1990s, and
the latter approving of the UPA
chairperson's post for the NCP
chief.
“After Rajiv Gandhi’s unfor-
tunate death during the Lok
Sabha elections in 1991, the
Congress was in a state of shock.
There was a demand to make
Pawar party president to handle
the situation. However, the dur-
bar coterie opposed the idea of a
strongleaderandhatchedaplan
to make P V Narasimha Rao as
thepartychief,”NCPgeneralsec-
retaryandRajyaSabhaMPPraful
Patel wrote in an article pub-
lished in Shiv Sena mouthpiece
Saamana on the occasion of
Pawar’s 80th birthday.
Patel said Rao’s recalcitrance
to make way for Pawar led to
him missing out on a shot at the
top post again in 1996. “In 1996,
the Congress won 145 seats. H D
Deve Gowda, Lalu Prasad Yadav
and Mulayam Singh Yadav as
wellasLeft leaders saidthey will
support the Congress if Pawar is
2 yrs after resignation, Raje
detractor returns to BJP
DEEP MUKHERJEE
JAIPUR, DECEMBER 12
SIX-TIME former MLA
Ghanshyam Tiwari returned to
theBJPonSaturday,twoyearsaf-
ter he left the party over differ-
enceswithformerChief Minister
Vasundhara Raje.
Tiwari, who had floated his
own outfit, the Bharat Vahini
Party, before the 2018 Assembly
elections, had moved towards
the Congress after losing his seat
in Sanganer constituency
“I didn’t join the Congress or
become a primary member,”
Tiwari told reporters at the BJP
headquarters in Jaipur on
Saturday.
Base shrinking, anxious to keep BJP happy, JDS walks a thin line
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
BENGALURU,DECEMBER12
ON DECEMBER 8, soon after the
BJP government passed The
Karnataka Land Reforms
(Amendment) Bill, 2020 – to
withdraw restrictions that al-
lowed farm land to be purchased
onlybyagriculturists–inthestate
Legislative Council with support
from the opposition Janata Dal
(Secular), JDS leader and former
ChiefMinisterHDKumaraswamy
was accused by some farmer
groupsofabandoningtheircause.
Farmersareacoreconstituencyof
the party in Karnataka.
One farmer leader called
Kumaraswamy a “deal master”,
and the CPI(M), an ally of the JDS,
said “the real face of the JDS has
been exposed” by its support for
made PM, but Rao did not budge
and the Congress was forced to
support Deve Gowda from out-
side,” he wrote.
"When Rao stepped down as
the Congress president, he
pushed the name of Sitaram
Kesri as his successor to ensure
that Pawar was not selected.”
In the article, Patel also said
that a "coterie" within the
Congress worked to undermine
strong leaders in the party.
Commenting on Patel's arti-
cle, Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay
Raut said that "less meritorious
people feared Pawar and en-
sured he did not rise to the top",
PTI reported. He reiterated that
Pawar should have become PM
long ago, but added that for him,
“age is no barrier”.
Amid speculation over the
NCP chief succeeding Congress
president SoniaGandhiaschair-
person of the UPA, Shinde,while
extending birthday wishes to
Pawar, told the media in
Mumbai: “He (Pawar) has seen
a lot of ups and downs during
thelast50years,andhasworked
closely with several people. He
has immense experience. If
Sharad Pawar becomes UPA
chairperson, I would like it."
Shinde is the first Congress
leader to support Pawar's name
for the role.
While the Sena is still not a
UPA constituent, it is an ally of
Congress and NCP in
Maharashtra.
Ghanshyam
Tiwari
Rohit Jain Paras
Tiwari had written a letter to
then BJP president Amit Shah
blaming Raje and the central
leadership. “I will now work
against undeclared emergency
in the country and state,” Tiwari
had said.
On Saturday, after he was
asked about the issues he had
raised during Raje’s tenure,
Tiwarisaid,“TheissuesthatIhad
raised are almost finished and
now it’s a new slate...”
an “anti-people law”.
Former Chief Minister and
leaderoftheCongressinthestate
legislatureSiddaramaiahaskedon
social media: “In the morning
theysupportthe farmers' protest
and in the evening they vote in
favour of anti-farmer laws. What
kind of politics is this H D
Kumaraswamy?Howcanpeople
who call themselves sons of the
soil and children of farmers stab
farmers in the back?”
Kumaraswamyhadexpressed
supportforthelandreformsBillin
September as well, saying he too
facedallegationsof illegalowner-
ship of agricultural land. But the
supporttotheBJP'samendments
to the Karnataka law at a time
when farmers are leading a mas-
siveprotestagainstthecentralgov-
ernment at the borders of Delhi,
haveopenedJDSuptocriticism.
Amit Shah trying to
DEPUTATION ROW AFTER MHA DEMAND FOR BENGAL IPS OFFICERS
Final word with Centre, but history impose emergency,
shows forcing will on state not easy intimidating top
officers: TMC MP
SHYAMLAL YADAV
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
ACCORDINGTOtheIndianPolice
Service (Cadre) Rules, the central
governmenthasthefinalwordin
a dispute with a state over the
deputation of a police officer to
the Centre.
However, the nature of
India’s federal system, and the
way the All-India Services work,
makes it difficult for the Centre
to force its will on a state that re-
fuses to back down.
The Centre has asked that
threeseniorIPSofficerswhowere
inchargeofsecuritywhenBJPna-
tionalpresidentJPNadda’smotor-
cadecameunderattackallegedly
by supporters of the Trinamool
Congress outside Kolkata on
Thursday, be sent on deputation
withtheGovernmentof India.
TheWestBengalgovernment
has refused, citing a shortage of
New MP law
used to get firm
to pay farmers
assured price,
say dist officers
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
BHOPAL,DECEMBER12
THEDISTRICTadministrationhas
stepped in to ensure that a group
of paddy farmers who had en-
tered into contract farming in
Madhya Pradesh’s Hosangabad
district were given the higher
amount,aspromisedbythecom-
panyintheiragreement,byinvok-
ingthenewlawoncontractfarm-
ing, according to officers.
The firm – Fortune Company
– had entered into an agreement
with paddy farmers to buy their
produce at Rs 50 higher than the
rate offered at the mandi.
However,aspricessoaredtoRs
2,950 per quintal, the company's
agents reportedly switched off
their phones after receiving calls
from farmers.
According to district collector
Dhananjay Singh, the group of
farmers approached the district
magistrateonDecember9.Twoof
them–PushprajPatelandBrijesh
Patel–submittedawrittenappli-
cationaboutthefirmnotrespond-
ing to their calls to buy their pro-
duce, as had been assured.
Sub Divisional Magistrate of
Pipaliya Nitin Tale told The Sunday
Express that farmers had entered
intothecontractandthecompany
purchasedthepaddyuntiltheprice
was hovering around Rs 2,500 up
toRs2,800perquintalbutstopped
responding when it touched Rs
2950perquintalinthemandi.
Basedonthefarmers'applica-
tion, a reconciliation board with
membersofmandiboard,district
administration and the company
wereformedundersection14,2A
of the new law, and the company
directorwasaskedforanexplana-
tion. “The director agreed that
there was a communication gap
andassuredtobuytheproduceat
Rs 3,000 per quintal, which was
about Rs 50 higher than the price
on the specific day at the mandi,”
Tale said.
Talesaidthecompanyhasalso
assuredallfarmerswhowerewill-
ing to sell according to the rate on
December 9 to the company that
theirproducewillbeprocuredac-
cordingly.
“Let farmer leaders who are
attacking the JDS conduct an in-
trospection. Let them ask them-
selvesifitispossiblefortheJDSto
takeananti-farmerstand?Iwant
to remind such people that it is
this Kumaraswamy who waived
theloansoffarmerstothetuneof
Rs 25,000 crore despite opposi-
tion.Noonepattedmybackthen,”
a visibly upset Kumaraswamy
said the next day.
Rapidly losing ground to the
BJPinareasthatwereonceitsbas-
tion in south Karnataka and with
verylittleholdonBJP-dominated
north Karnataka, the JDS, which
ruledthestateinalliancewiththe
Congressin2018-19,isnowfight-
ing for its political survival.
ThepartyandKumaraswamy
are walking a narrow line in at-
temptingtoretaintheircoresup-
portbasewhilebeinginthegood
IPS officers in the state.
Rule 6 (1) of the Indian Police
Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954, as
amendedinMay1969,statesthat
“Acadreofficermay,withthecon-
currenceoftheStateGovernment
or the State Governments con-
cerned and the Central
Government,bedeputedforserv-
iceundertheCentralGovernment
or another State Government...”
InJuly1985,aline was added
to this Rule, saying, “that in case
of any disagreement, the matter
shall be decided by the Central
Government and the State
Government or State
Governments concerned shall
give effect to the decision of the
Central Government.”
Sources in the government
told The Indian Express that the
Home Ministry’s letter to the
stategovernmentsayingthatthe
Centre requires the services of
the three IPS officers, has sought
the state’s concurrence by
Road dug up at the Rajasthan-Haryana border in Shahjahanpur, to stop protesting farmers
from reaching Delhi, on Saturday. Tashi Tobgyal
‘INDIA INC SHOULD EDUCATE FARMERS ON LAWS’ BENEFITS’
Protests infiltrated by
Leftists, Maoists: Goyal
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,DECEMBER12
THE ONGOING protests against
new agriculture laws have been
infiltratedby“LeftistsandMaoist
elements”,UnionministerPiyush
GoyalsaidonSaturdayandcalled
on India Inc. to explain the bene-
fits of the reforms to farmers in
their sphere of influence.
Inavirtualaddressatthe93rd
annualconventionofFICCI,Goyal
said,“...wenowrealisethattheso-
called farmer agitation hardly re-
mains a farmer agitation. It is al-
most infiltrated by Leftists and
Maoist elements, a flavour of
which we saw over the last two
days, when there were extrane-
ous demands to release people
who have been put behind bars
for anti-national activities.”
Goyal said the movement is
probably in the hands of certain
elementswhoarenotgoodforthe
country.
Statingthatthereformswould
benefit100millionfarmersacross
the country, the minister said: “I
would urge all of you to educate
Kumaraswamy has avoided
criticising BSY govt
booksoftheBJP,whichisinpower
bothinthestateandattheCentre.
Like in 2006, when
Kumaraswamychosetoallywith
the BJP against the wishes of his
father,formerPrimeMinisterand
JDS supremo H D Deve Gowda,
the JDS once again seems to be in
a dilemma over choosing be-
tweenitscoresecular,pro-farmer
credentials and cosying up to the
BJP. The fact that the BJP is in pos-
December 15. It has said that if
the state does not respond by
that date, the Centre would con-
sider concurrence as granted.
Thenormalpracticeisthatthe
central government asks every
year for an “offer list” of officers
willing to come on central depu-
tation,afterwhichtheCentrepicks
theofficersfromthatlist,consider-
ingseveralotherconditions.
Everystatecadreprovidesfora
centraldeputationquotaandutil-
isationof thatquotaisan“impor-
tant factor governing the scale at
whichofficersareborrowedfrom
the various State cadres of the
service,”theIPSdeputationpolicy
says. But for central deputation,
the concurrence of the state is a
very important factor.
In the case of Archana
Ramasundaram,aTamilNaduof-
ficer who was deputed to the CBI
in2014,thestategovernmenthad
refusedtoreleaseher,andhadsus-
pended her after she defied the
Union
minister
Piyush
Goyal
farmers in your sphere of influ-
ence...hold a “panchayat”; talk to
the local people, understand if
theyhaveanymisunderstandings
or concerns; address them.”
GoyalalsoaskedFICCItosend
a report on its efforts in this re-
gard.
The minister said the govern-
ment is working on an agenda to
boost manufacturing output
across 24 sectors by Rs 200 lakh
crore over 10 years. “We have
identified another 24 sectors, on
which work is going on at differ-
ent levels. The initiative is led by
industry...to come up with an ac-
tionable agenda to add nearly Rs
200 lakh crores worth of manu-
facturing in India In the next 10
years,” he said.
Healsosaidthisagendawould
addmillionsofjobsandworkop-
portunities.
session of an arsenal of cases
againstJDSleadershasnothelped.
There have been signs in re-
cent weeks of the JDS – particu-
larlyKumaraswamy–leaningto-
wards the BJP and Chief Minister
Yediyurappa. Several senior
membersamongthe33JDSMLAs
inthestatehaveweighedtheop-
tion of joining the BJP in order to
ensure their political survival.
Kumaraswamy has been as-
siduously avoiding criticising the
BJP and its leadership, and has in-
steadoftentargetedSiddaramaiah,
his arch rival from the time they
weretogetherintheJDS.
“Thegoodwillearnedin2006-
2007(whenhewasCMforthefirst
time) was lost by allying with the
Congress party. When I stepped
down as Chief Minister in 2006 I
waspopular.Afterallyingwiththe
Congress in 2018, Siddaramaiah
state’sorder.However,thesuspen-
siondidnotapplybecauseshehad
bythetimealreadyjoinedCBI.
EarlierinJuly2001,thecentral
governmentheadedbyAtalBihari
Vajpayee had asked the Tamil
Nadu government then headed
by J Jayalalithaa to send three IPS
officersoncentraldeputation,but
shehadrefused.Theofficerswere
involvedintheJune30,2001late-
night raid on then DMK chief M
Karunanidhi. Jayalalithaa had re-
fused to spare the officers, and
written to other chief ministers
aboutthe“disturbingtrend”inthe
management of state cadres of
the All India Services.
Prakash Singh, a former DGP
of Uttar Pradesh who has been
fightingabattleforreformsinthe
police, told The Indian Express on
Saturday:“TheCentrehastheright
tocallfortheservicesofanyIPSof-
ficertocentraldeputation,butthe
statecannotbecompelledtosend
anyofficer.”
Congress says
apologise, accede;
Soren calls it akin
to abusing farmers
NewDelhi: TheOppositionhitout
at Union minister Piyush Goyal’s
remarks,withtheCongressseek-
ing an apology and JMM leader
andJharkhandCM HemantSoren
saying the statement amounted
to abusing farmers.
“Modji,thereisnoplaceforau-
tocracy in a democracy. The pol-
icy that you and your ministers
follow is to declare every oppo-
nent a Maoist and an anti-na-
tional...Apologisetothefarmers...
and accede to their demands,”
Congresscommunicationdepart-
ment head Randeep Surjewala
said.
“When it comes to propa-
ganda, I think the BJP’s rating is
higherthanalltheagencies...Toin-
sult farmers like this, to ignore
them...insomewaysitislikeabus-
ingthefarmers,”Sorensaidatthe
IdeaExchangeprogrammeofThe
Indian Express. ENS
andhisgangdestroyedmyreputa-
tion. I walked into their trap and
agreed to the alliance because of
Deve Gowda,” Kumaraswamy
said earlier this month. “The
CongresscannotfighttheBJPsoit
keepstargetingtheJDS,whichisa
smallparty,”hesaid.
Some of the rivalry between
Kumaraswamy and
Siddaramaiahstemsfromtheiraf-
filiations to castes – Vokkaligas
and the OBC Kurubas – who are
consideredtobearchrivalsatthe
ground level in south Karnataka.
There is also the old perception
thattheDeveGowdafamilydoes
not promote any leaders from
outside of the family.
InSeptember,aschargesofcor-
ruption emerged against
Yediyurappa's family,
Kumaraswamyhadaclosed-door
meetingwiththeCM,whichgave
New Delhi
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
KOLKATA,DECEMBER12
OBJECTING TO the Union
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)
summons to the West Bengal
chief secretary and DGP after an
attackonBJPpresidentJPNadda’s
convoy,TMCMPKalyanBanerjee
on Friday said Union Home
Minister Amit Shah was “indi-
rectly trying to impose emer-
gencyinBengal”and“terrorising
IAS and IPS officers of the state”.
In a letter to Union Home
Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Banerjee
said the state government is ac-
countable to the Legislative
Assembly, “not to you or your
home minister”, and objected to
anMHAlettertoreleasethreeIPS
officerswhowerepartofNadda’s
security cover for “central depu-
tation”.
“Itisshamefulanddangerous
that all laws have been thrown in
the river by your action at the in-
sistence of Shri Amit Shah... You
are indirectly trying to impose
emergency in the state. You are
terrorising all IAS and IPS officers
of our state. Your every path suf-
fers from malafide exercise of
power.Nooneisabovetheruleof
law.NeitherHomeMinisterAmit
Shah nor you…” read the letter.
“Thewayyouwanttoproceed
inthematterundoubtedlyshows
Central probe
agencies can’t
‘graze on
Kerala’: Pinarayi
SHAJUPHILIP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,DEC12
EMPHASISING THAT central in-
vestigatingagencies“cannotgraze
onKerala”,ChiefMinisterPinarayi
VijayanonSaturdaysaidhewould
writetoPrimeMinisterNarendra
Modiaboutthe“unlawful’’actions
of these agencies.
Vijayan's
comments
came after the
Enforcement
Directorate
(ED) issued
summons for
his additional
private secre-
‘Will write tary, C M
to PM’ Raveendran.
While ED
hasservedhim
threenotices,Raveendranhasre-
mained elusive on health
grounds.
Earlier, Kerala Assembly
Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan had
saidheisreadytogivewhateverin-
formation investigating agencies
wanted from him about the gold
smuggling case. This was after the
OppositionallegedthattheSpeaker
had helped Swapna Suresh, ac-
cusedinthesmugglingcase.
Vijayan on Saturday told the
media: “The job of investigating
agenciesisnottohelpthepartyat
theCentreduringelections,butto
examine cases based on evi-
dence.” He said no agency can
work in a “wayward” manner.
“They should discharge only
legally binding responsibilities.
Instead, central agencies are try-
ing to weaken the state govern-
ment,” he said. “Central agencies
cannot graze on Kerala.”
risetospeculationthattheformer
allies were discussing alternative
alliance strategies. In November,
Kumaraswamy and Yediyurappa
heldanotherclosed-doormeeting.
“I have not met the Chief
Minister secretively. I met him in
his house during the day. I have
met him to discuss the develop-
ment work in the constituencies
ofmyMLAs,”Kumaraswamysaid.
“Opposition parties are not
theretomerelyoppose.Theyhave
toexecuteresponsibilitiesinacon-
structivemanner.JDShastreaded
aconstructivepathwithrespectto
the amendments to land reforms
act by protecting the interests of
farmers.TheJDSensuredthatthe
legislation became a balanced
one,”Kumaraswamysaidafterthe
landreformsBillwaspassed.
FULL REPORT ON
www.indianexpress.com
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Kalyan
Banerjee
that you are acting beyond the
provisions of the Constitution of
India. In respect of the law-and-
orderissue,thestategovernment
is accountable to the state
Legislative Assembly but not to
youortoyourHomeMinister.You
are proceeding with a political
vendetta and motive,” it read.
Banerjee, who is TMC’s whip
in the Lok Sabha, said the sum-
mons also impinged on the fed-
eral structure enshrined in the
Constitutionas“lawandorderisa
state subject”.
The TMC leader blamed
Nadda for the attack because his
convoy, which was on its way to
Diamond Harbour on Thursday,
included “50 motorcycles and 30
cars with BJP flags”.
“Inhisconvoy,he(Nadda)took
nearly 30 cars with BJP flags and
supporters, who were continu-
ously raising provocative slogans
against our party, breaking all
norms...Thequestioniswhethera
personwithZcategory(security)
is permitted to bring other cars
andmotorcycles,andhundredsof
BJP supporters… without police
permission,” read the letter.
NCW chief sets
15-day deadline
for Bengal
complaints
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, DECEMBER 12
IF THE West Bengal government
failstorespondtomorethan260
complaints from the state in the
next 15 days, the National
Commission for Women (NCW)
willsubmitdetailsof thosecases
to the Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA), the panel’s Chairperson
Rekha Sharma said on Saturday.
In Kolkata for two days,
Sharma met Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar and discussed issues
related to women safety and
empowerment. She expressed
her displeasure over alleged po-
lice inaction in the pending
cases,whichincludeinstancesof
child trafficking.
“Finished my 2 days tour to
West Bengal. Took up around 270
pending cases with police & dis-
cussed increasing nos…
Unfortunately, DGP and CS of the
statecannevercomeforthemeet-
ings in this state and officers they
sendareclueless,”tweetedSharma.
The commission, in a state-
ment, directed the DGP and the
nodal officer to submit action
taken reports within 15 days
fromthereceiptof thecomplaint
and file charge-sheets pending
for more than six months.
Sharma said neither the di-
rector general of police nor the
chief secretary has met her and
instead sends their junior offi-
cers for meetings.
“The commission has power
tolook into such complaints and
ensure women safety and em-
powerment under Section 10 of
the National Commission for
Women Act, 1990,” read the
NCW statement.
E
E X P L A I NE D
Closing
in, then
● going off
DURING THE recent win-
ter session of the state
legislature, the JDS's atti-
tude towards the BJP has
been mixed, especially in
the Legislative Council.
While it did help the BJP
pass the land reform
amendment, it sought
modifications to The
Karnataka Prevention of
Slaughter and
Preservation of Cattle
Bill, 2020, resulted in the
BJP dithering over tabling
the Bill in the Council on
Thursday

7 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
BRIEFLY
Bhattacharjee was
West Bengal CM from
2000 to 2011
WEST BENGAL
Buddhadeb’s
condition
improving:docs
Kolkata: Former West
Bengal chief minister
Buddhadeb Bhattachar-
jee’s health condition is
showing signs of im-
provement, doctors said
on Saturday. He is now
out of danger, doctors
said, adding he may be
dischargedbyTuesday.As
per hospital sources, he is
responding to treatment
faster than before. All
blood parameters, pulse
rate oxygen saturation
level are normal. His
Covid-19 test reports is
negative. His health dete-
riorated on Wednesday
evening and he was put
on mechanical ventilator
support.Hewasadmitted
to hospital after he com-
plainedof breathlessness.
ENS
MAHARASHTRA
SenaMP
bookedfor
harassment
Mumbai: The Mumbai
PoliceonFridayregistered
a case of sexual harass-
ment against Shiv Sena
MP Rajendra Gavit. The
police said that the 38-
year-oldcomplainantwas
employed with the gas
distribution agency
owned by Gavit. In her
statement to police, she
allegedthatsincethetime
she was hired, Gavit had
been demanding sexual
favours and also tried to
lure her by offering a flat.
However, when con-
tacted,theMPrefutedher
allegation.Gavithasbeen
booked under sections
354 (A) (sexual harass-
ment) and 506 (criminal
intimidation) of the
Indian Penal Code. ENS
UTTAR PRADESH
70-yr-oldgets
20-yearjailfor
rapingminor
Lucknow: A local court in
the UP's Bareilly district
has sentenced a 70-year-
oldshopkeeperto20-year
imprisonment for raping
a minor girl in 2018. The
accused has been lodged
in jail since his arrest in
July, 2018. According to
police, the accused raped
heraftertakingherinside
his shop on the pretext of
giving her biscuit while
she was returning from
school. ENS
J&K
BJPprotests
againstPanther
Partyleader
Jammu: BJP women ac-
tivists on Saturday
stormed the office of
Jammu and Kashmir
National Panthers Party
in protest against its J&K
president and former
MLA Balwant Singh
Mankotia for allegedly
using derogatory lan-
guage against Union
Minister Smriti Irani.
Mankotia had without
naming anybody, at a re-
cent rally in Udhampur
district’s Khoon area, ac-
cused BJP of bringing 'fe-
maledancers'fromDelhi.
Smriti Irani had been in
Udhampur to campaign
for BJP candidates con-
testingtheDDCelections.
When contacted,
Mankotia denied having
said anything derogatory
against Smriti Irani. ENS
Woman who married Dalit man killed,
buried on family farm by brothers: cops
ASAD REHMAN
& SOMYA LAKHANI
LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI, DEC 12
THE DELHI Police has arrested a
32-year-old man for allegedly
killing his 23-year-old sister and
burying the body in the family's
farm in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri
district after she married a Dalit
man despite the family's disap-
proval,thepolicesaidonSaturday.
Thevictimhasbeenidentified
as Chandni Kashyap. She lived in
Trilokpuri, East Delhi, with her
husband, Arjun Kumar, 25, who
works at a private firm in the na-
tional capital.
According to the police,
Chandni's brothers Sunil (32),
Sushil (28) and Sudhir (26) met
her in Delhi on November 17 and
took her back home to Mainpuri.
On November 20, she was shot
Police claim suicide,
UP man’s family calls
it custodial death
SUKRITA BARUAH
BULANDSHAHR, DECEMBER 12
The officer in-charge of a police
station in rural Bulandshahr has
beensuspendedfor“negligence”
after the family of a 28-year-old
manallegedcustodialdeath.The
police, however, stated that he
diedbysuicide“duetoanunsuc-
cessful relationship” after re-
turning to his family.
Anil, the elder brother of the
deceased, Somdutt, said his
brother had left Kanaini village
in Khurja tehsil with a woman
on December 5, two days before
her wedding. A week later, po-
lice brought his body to their
home on Saturday at around 5
am,healleged,addingthatitwas
the first time the family saw him
since he left home, before the
body was “forcefully cremated”
before a postmortem by the
family of the woman.
However, SSP Bulandshahr
SantoshKumarSinghreferredto
the case as “death by suicide due
to anunsuccessfulrelationship”.
“On December 6, he made a girl
from his village run away from
home. Both of them were found
on December 10. The girl’s state-
ment was taken by a magistrate
Mumbai builder stakes claim to
land of Ashoka-era Mahakali Caves
SANDEEP ASHAR
MUMBAI, DECEMBER 12
A MUMBAI-BASED construction
firmhasstakedownershipof the
land on which the ancient rock-
cut Mahakali Caves stand. The
caves, known to be in existence
since the Ashoka Empire, are
classified as a Grade-I protected
monument by the
Archaeological Survey of India.
Documents show that
Motion Pictures Pvt. Ltd (MPPL),
an associate of construction ma-
jor DB Realty, has approached
the Shiv Sena-controlled
Brihanmumbai Municipal
Corporation (BMC) with this
rather unusual claim.
While no development is
U A Khader, among finest Malayalam writers, dies at 85
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
DECEMBER 12
CELEBRATED MALAYALAM
writer U A Khader, who pub-
lished more than 70 novels,
short stories and travelogues
that are considered among the
finest works in the language,
died in Kozhikode on Saturday.
He was 85.
The writer was undergoing
treatment for cancer for some
time, PTI reported, quoting fam-
ily sources.
Khader was known for a pro-
gressive and secular outlook to
his life and his literature.
His most acclaimed work of
fiction, Thrikkottoor Peruma
(Thrikkottoor Lore), won him
the Kerala Sahitya Akademi
Chandni Kashyap and Arjun
Kumar
dead, allegedly by her brothers,
who then buried the body in the
farm, the police said.
On November 22, Arjun sub-
mittedacomplainttoDelhiPolice,
statingthathiswifehadbeenkid-
napped. Nearly three weeks on,
in which she expressed the wish
to return home with her rela-
tives and that no action be taken
against the man. In accordance
with this, she was returned to
her family. The man was also
handed over to his elder broth-
ers. The police said he commit-
ted suicide in his home that
nightandhisfinalriteswerecar-
ried out in presence of people
from the village,” the SSP said.
Police on Saturday booked
five relatives of the woman’s
family, including her father, for
abetmentof suicide,onthebasis
of a complaint signed with the
thumbprintof Somdutt’smother
Suresh.Thecomplaintstatesthat
Somdutt had returned home on
Friday night, after which the
woman’s relatives came to their
home and threatened him, and
that he committed suicide that
night as he was “hurt”.
However, Bhanu Prakash
Vimal, the lawyer of Somdutt’s
family, claimed the statement in
the complaint was written by
police. “In the Khurja police sta-
tion, we found that the CCTV
cameras were not working. If
these were working, the current
unpleasantcircumstances could
havebeenavoided,”theSSPsaid,
explaining the suspension.
Mahakali Caves. Deepak Joshi
permissible in and around the
200-metres periphery of the
protected site, the firm has
sought the BMC’s permission to
lift development rights for the
cave land in the form of transfer-
able development rights, which
can then be sold or loaded for
use on any property with the
Mumbai civic body’s limit.
Award in 1984. A string of 11 sto-
ries situated in the fictional
landscape of Thrikkottoor, the
work stood out for its depiction
of rural life in Kerala’s Malabar
region, well-defined characters,
and a folksy narrative style.
Khader also published a col-
lection of stories, Thrikkottoor
Kathakal (Thrikkottoor Stories),
that explored the multi-reli-
gious rural community of
Thrikkotoor and its mythologies.
Khader’s Thrikkottoor is a region
near Koilandi in Kozhikode,
where he spent a part of his
childhood.
Khader was born to
Ussangaantakathu Moithootti
Haji, a Malayali trader, and
Mamaid, from Burma (now
Myanmar), in Yangon in 1935.
He lost his mother three days af-
ter his birth and was brought up
thebodywasexhumedonFriday
night and sent for postmortem.
DCP (East Delhi) Jasmeet
SinghtoldTheSundayExpress,“A
case under IPC Section 365 (kid-
napping)wasregisteredatMayur
Vihar police station when the
complaintwasreceivedfromthe
victim's husband. A team was
sent to Mainpuri. During investi-
gation, it was found that she had
been killed. We have now added
IPC Section 302 (murder) to the
FIR.”
One accused – one of her
brothers–hasbeenarrested,DCP
Singhsaid.Effortsareontonabthe
othertwoaccused,anofficersaid.
The victim came from
Kashyapnagar village in Kisni,
Mainpuri district. Senior Sub-
Inspector Jacob Fernandez of
Kisni told The Sunday Express,
"Kashyap got married against
the wishes of her family in June.
Kerala CM
announces free
Covid vaccine
for all in state
SHAJU PHILIP
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
DECEMBER 12
KERALA CHIEFMinisterPinarayi
Vijayan Saturday announced
that his government would pro-
vide the Covid-19 vaccine to all
people in the state free of cost.
“It is not known how many
doses of vaccine would be avail-
able for distribution in the state.
But the state will distribute the
vaccine free of cost. No fee will
be levied,’’ he said.
Kerala is the latest to an-
nouncefreeof costCovid-19vac-
cine for its people. States includ-
ing Tamil Nadu and Madhya
Pradesh have already made a
similar announcement.
The Chief Minister said the
number of active cases is gradu-
ally coming down in the state.
“Thereisaslightincreaseindaily
covid-19 deaths. However, the
test positivity rate is down to 10
per cent. If the local body elec-
tions do not trigger a fresh wave
of infections, the present trend
of declinewillcontinue,”hesaid.
Kerala Saturday reported
5,949casesfrom56,690samples
tested in the last 24 hours. The
number of total active cases
stood at 60,029.
As per civic estimates, the
plot on which the ancient caves
stand measures around 69,966
square feet. As per the prevailing
TDR norms applicable in the
suburbs of Mumbai, the devel-
oper wants the BMC to issue a
development right certificate or
TDR equivalent to two times of
the plot area or 1,39,932 square
feet in all. In 2016, the same firm
had acquired the nearby
Kamalistan Studio, originally
founded by the film director
Kamal Amrohi. It has now rep-
resented to the civic body that
land on which the caves exist is
part of the same land parcel.
According to the documents,
the firm had first applied to the
BMC in this regard on May 24,
2019.
U.A. KHADER
1935-2020
under the care of her younger
sister. His father was forced to
flee Burma during World War II.
Khader was seven when his fa-
ther brought him to Kerala.
During his school days,
The family objected since they
belong to the OBC category,
while her husband Arjun is a
Dalit.WehelpedtheDelhiPolice
teamexhumethebodyonFriday
evening. We are awaiting the
postmortem report.”
A Delhi Police officer said, in
Mainpuri, “her family members
there couldn't give a proper re-
sponse. Villagers were also
asked. Some of them said she
was brought home, but that no
one had seen her for a few days.
When the family was interro-
gated, her brother confessed to
having killed her and then
buried the body in their field.”
Theofficersaidthatduringin-
terrogation,theaccusedsaidthey
hadtakenherbacktoMainpurion
the pretext of a casual visit to fix
the tense relationship.
Arjun Kumar, who on
Saturday night was on way back
TRACKING INDIA’S COVID CURVE
285 CASES:
DAYS SINCE
ACTIVE CASES: 3,59,819
98,26,775 DEATHS: 1,42,628
PANDEMIC
BEGAN TESTS: 15,26,97,399 | RECOVERIES: 93,24,328
CASES
DEC11 30,006
STATESWITHRISINGACTIVECASES
Uttarakhand
N/A
N/A
STATESWHEREACTIVECASESAREDECLINING
Maharashtra
Delhi
Rajasthan
STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMCASES
Kerala
Maharashtra
West Bengal
STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMDEATHS
Maharashtra
Delhi
West Bengal
DataasonDecember11,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,IndianCouncilofMedical
Researchandstategovernments.Often,thenumbersreleasedeverydaycontaindatafrompreviousdays
aswell.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareonlyindicativeandnotdefinitive
MP man who sold fake plasma
to Covid patient’s family held
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BHOPAL, DECEMBER 12
THE POLICE on Saturday ar-
rested a man who allegedly sold
diluted plasma to the family of a
Covid-19 patient in Gwalior ear-
lier this month. The patient, ad-
mittedtoaprivatehospitalinthe
city, died later.
The accused, known by his
nom de guerre Tyagi, was the
fourth person to be arrested in
connection with the alleged
plasma racket. Sources said he,
along with the other arrested
persons, had links with the sup-
ply departments of multiple
hospitals and was supplying
them medical equipment.
The family of the Covid-19
patient, Manoj Gupta, had used
Khader had a penchant for writ-
ing as well as painting. He was
encouraged by the prominent
Muslim League leader and for-
mer Kerala Chief Minister C H
Muhammed Koya.
After schooling in Kerala,
Khader joined the Fine Arts
College in Madras for a degree
in painting. It was during his
years in Madras that Khader dis-
covered the writer in him.
At Kerala Samajam in
Madras, he befriended several
intellectuals and writers from
Kerala, including K A
Kodungallor and T mother’s extended family as
Padmanabhan.
His early stories drew from
his experiences of growing up as
an orphan.
His distinctive Burmese fea-
tures and inability to speak
Malayalam had turned him into
to Delhi after performing his
wife's last rites in Mainpuri, said
her body bore gunshot wounds.
He said they had met eight
years ago: "She lived near my
house. We got married on June
12 in Pratapgarh, UP, where I
come from. Since I belong to a
lower caste, her family did not
accept our marriage. Her broth-
ers took her to Mainpuri on
November 17, saying she should
visit for a couple of days and that
they need to make some pay-
ments for construction work,
and that she should accompany
them to the village.”
“AftersheleftDelhi,Icouldnot
get in touch with her and had
calledhercousin,thefamilylied,”
he said. “The cousin told me she
committedsuicide.Anotherrela-
tivesaidshegotmarriedtosome-
oneelse,whileathirdrelativesaid
she had returned to Delhi.”
DEATHS RECOVERIES TESTS
442 33,494 10,65,176
ACTIVECASES RISEINLASTWEEK
6,883 1,094
- -
- -
ACTIVECASES DECLINEINLASTWEEK
73,315
18,676
10,544
9,576
17,721 6,597
ONDEC11
4,642
TOTAL
6,58,683
4,268 18,72,440
2,753 5,16,505
ONDEC11 TOTAL
89 49,152
60 9,934
50 8,966
Tyagi's services on December 8
on the suggestion of a guard of
the Apollo Hospital, where
Gupta was admitted.
Tyagi,whoidentifiedhimself
as an employee of 'JEH hospital's
blood bank', sold the plasma for
Rs 18,000 along with a receipt of
thebloodbank.Itwasonlywhen
Gupta's health deteriorated that
the family grew suspicious. It
reached out to the blood bank to
find out that there was no per-
son by the name of Tyagi there.
The receipt, too, was fake.
Police officials said Tyagi re-
vealed the name of another per-
son from whom he had pro-
cured the diluted plasma during
interrogation.Superintendentof
PoliceAmitSanghisaid:“Wewill
be soon registering an offence
and probing the case further.”
an outsider while growing up in
a Malabar village. He sought to
overcome that alienation by dig-
ging deep into local history and
discovering the magic of myth
and fiction in local lore.
Thrikkottoor Peruma remains
unsurpassed in Malayalam lit-
erature for its narration of subal-
tern life and continues to attract
readers.
Seventy years after he came
to Kerala, Khader visited the vil-
lage he was born in Burma, in
search of his relatives. But he
could not trace anyone from his
most of them had died during
the war years and the rest had
moved elsewhere following the
political turmoil in that country.
He wrote about the trip in
Ormakalude Pagoda (A Pagoda of
Memories).
New Delhi
Jagan govt names
son of Justice
Chelameswar as
Andhra Addl AG
SREENIVAS JANYALA
HYDERABAD, DECEMBER 12
THE ANDHRA Pradesh govern-
ment has appointed advocate
JastiNagaBhushanasAdditional
Advocate General of the state.
An order to this effect was is-
sued by the state law depart-
ment on December 9. Bhushan
is the son of former Supreme
Court judge Justice Jasti
Chelameswar.
The appointment comes at a
time when Chief Minister Y S
JaganMohanReddyandhisgov-
ernment have been at logger-
heads with the judiciary in the
state.
In October, Reddy wrote to
Chief Justice of India S A Bobde,
alleging that Supreme Court
judge Justice N V Ramana had
been “influencing the sittings of
the(AndhraPradesh)HighCourt
including the roster of few
Honourable Judges”.
Reddy’s letter, which also
pointed fingers at some of the
judges of the HighCourt, alleged
judicial impropriety on the part
of Justice Ramana and raised
questions on land transactions
inAmaravati,allegedlyinvolving
members of his family. He also
alleged that TDP leaders were
being shielded from probes his
government had ordered.
Days later, Justice Ramana,
who is next in line to be the CJI,
said, “it is an important quality
for a judge to withstand all pres-
sures and odds and to stand up
bravely against all obstacles”.
Two Maoist
operatives
shot dead in
MP’s Balaghat
IRAM SIDDIQUE
BHOPAL, DECEMBER 12
TWO MAOIST operatives were
gunned down over the course of
a night-long operation in
MadhyaPradesh’sborderdistrict
of Balaghat on Friday. Savitri, 24,
and Shobha, 30, were part of the
Darrekasa and the Malajkhand
Dalams, respectively. Both were
area committee members.
They were killed in the
Borevan forest region, 55 km
from the district headquarters.
According to police officials
from Balaghat, the two were a
part of a group of around 11
Maoistswhohadcometothevil-
lages surrounding Borevan to
carry out recruitment work.
Inspector-General of Police KP
VenkateshwarRaotoldTheIndian
Express: "The first Maoist was
shot around midnight while the
otheronewhohadgoneintohid-
inginthejunglewasshotthenext
morning around 6:30 am, after
around45minutesof firingfrom
both sides."
Balaghat district has been
seeing an increase in the move-
ment of Maoists over the past
few months. According to police
officials, the Left-wing ultras are
trying to reclaim the forest re-
gions abutting Maharashtra and
Chhattisgarh that were lost by
them owing to leadership dis-
putes in the past.
Khader, who worked in the
state health department, was
close to the Communist move-
ment in Kerala, and served as
the president of Purogamana
Kala Sahitya Sangham
(Progressive Writers
Movement).
Several of his novels and sto-
ries have been translated to
English, Hindi and other Indian
languages. His last novel,
Shathru (Enemy), was published
in 2011.
In his condolence message,
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
said Khader was an author who
brought regional history into fo-
cus through his stories. Vijayan
also recalled Khader’s associa-
tion with the communist move-
ment and the secular and pro-
gressive political values he
espoused in his life.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Andhra
CM Jagan
Mohan
Reddy
Last month, Attorney
General K K Venugopal declined
consent to initiate proceedings
against Reddy for criminal con-
tempt of the Supreme Court, but
noted that the “timing” of
Reddy’s letter to the CJI, com-
plaining against Justice Ramana,
and the state government’s
move to make it public “could
certainly be said to be suspect”
given that Justice Ramana had
ordered expeditious trial of
cases against legislators.
On November 25, the
Supreme Court, while hearing a
plea by the Reddy government,
stayed the Andhra Pradesh High
Court order restraining the me-
diafromreportingtheAmaravati
land deal FIR registered by the
state Anti-Corruption Bureau. It
directedthatthematterbelisted
forhearingagaininthelastweek
of January 2021.
Incidentally, in 2017, Jasti
Naga Bhushan’s father Justice
Chelameswar, had alleged “un-
warranted intimacy between
the executive and the judiciary’’
overtheappointmentof sixHigh
Courtjudgesfor AndhraPradesh
and Telangana. He claimed that
objections to the appointments
raised by then Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister N Chandrababu
Naidu and Justice Ramana were
similar.
‘Vikas Dubey
amar rahe’:
Gangster’s
FB fan pages
under lens
AVANEESH MISHRA
LUCKNOW, DECEMBER 12
VIKAS DUBEY may have been
dead for more than five months
now but the gangster’s “fan”
presence on social media
seems to have taken a life of its
own.
The police are probing mul-
tiple Facebook groups and fan
pages that have popped up in
Dubey’s name. The gangster
was responsible for several
killings, including that of eight
policemen in Kanpur in July. He
was later killed in a purported
encounter.
Some of the Facebook pages
glorify automatic weapons, eu-
logise the gangster and even
solicit contract killings. These
groups are also replete with
sensitive and objectionable
posts. One of them announces:
“Vikas Dubey amar rahe” (Long
live Vikas Dubey).
Concerned, the Kanpur
Police has asked its surveillance
team and cyber cell to collect
more details and take action
against creators of these pages.
A senior police officer said if
needed, Facebook’s help could
also be sought.
Kanpur (rural) SP Brijesh
Kumar Srivastava said: “These
pages caught our attention
when our surveillance team
found them active… An inquiry
is on. We have checked that the
content is highly sensitive.
Legal action will be taken. We
will also send a letter to
Facebook asking them to block
these pages, but first we have
to finish our own investiga-
tion,” he said.
On the social networking
site, there are at least 12 profiles
of Vikas Dubey and more than
half-a-dozen public groups.
‘Vikas Dubey Fan Club
(Official)’ in its bio section un-
derlines that the FB profile is
dedicated to “Honourable Vikas
Dubey ji”. The group has 9,700
members. Another public
group, ‘Vikas Dubey Genster
(sic)’, has 1,200 members and
has photos of people posing
with automatic arms and
openly asking for murder con-
tracts. Similarly, ‘Brahmin
Shiromani Pt Vikas Dubey’ has
2,500 members with 180 posts
in the last 28 days.
 8 EXPRESS NETWORK
Classifieds
PERSONAL
I, Najnin Khan W/O Mohd.
Khalid Khan,R/O-B-43, 3RD-
Floor, Gali No-7, Shaheem-
Bagh, Okhla,New Delhi-110025,
Changed my name to Nazneen
Khan. 0040557617-8
I Sukhwant Kaur W/o Harpal
Singh R/o HNo-105, Vill-
Kangna, Teh-Balachaur, Dist-
Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar,
Punjab-144521, have changed
my name to Paramjit Kaur
0070723840-1
I, AISHWARYA NATH DIXIT,S/O
VISHWANATH DIXIT,R/O-S-86A,
F.F,PARAM PURI,NEAR-SHUKAR
BAZAR, UTTAM-NAGAR,New
Delhi-110059,changed my
name to RUDRAAKSH DIXIT.
0040557631-1
I, AMIT KUMAR S/O TERAS RAM,
R/o Bhavchandpur, Madarpur,
Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh-
222105, declare that Name of
My Mother has been wrongly
written as Bela in my 10th
class certificate no-8314731
and in my 12th class
certificate no-8312274 and
Baela Devi in my Graduation
Certificate No-83093
respectively. The actual name
of My Mother is BEILA DEVI,
which may be amended
accordingly. 0070723836-1
I hitherto known as SANJAY
SINGH, S/O LATE RAJENDRA
PRASAD SINGH, R/O- 401,
Manhattan 1, Mahagun
Moderene, Sector-78, Noida-
201301, U.P., have changed my
name and shall hereafter be
known as SONNJAY R SINGH, in
future for all purposes.
0040557617-2
I, AMRIK SINGH,S/O MOHAR
SINGH R/O S-1/54,II-
FLOOR,OLD MAHAVIR
NAGAR,TILAK-NAGAR,DELHI-
110018. CHANGED MY NAME
TO AMREEK SINGH.
0040557617-7
I, ASHWINI LIMBAJI TAPASE,
W/o KSHITIJ CHOPRA, R/o,
10/4, JAIDEV PARK, Punjabi
Bagh, NEW DELHI 110026, have
changed my name to ASHWINI
CHOPRA 0070723859-1
It is notified that my original
qualifying examination
certificate of senior
secondary examination of
class 12th year 2010 and roll
no. 6238056 issued by CBSE has
been actually lost. Shivani
Khandelwal,E-16,third floor
South extension part-1 DELHI-
110049/9999513671.
0040557619-7
I,Phani Krishna Chiguluri D/O
Shiva Rama Krishna,R/o 8-8-
127,C/96,Green Park
Colony,Road No-16,
Kharmanghat, Rangareddi,
Andhra Pradesh-500035, have
changed the name of my
minor Daughter Lakshmi
Sukrithi Chiguluri aged about
8 Years and She shall hereafter
be known as Sukrithi Chiguluri
0070723850-1
I,M P Singh,S/o Charan Singh
R/o-B-47,New Ashok Nagar,
Trilokpuri, East,Delhi-
110091,have changed my
name to Mahender Singh.
0040557619-1
I, Uma Kant Sharma S/O Nand
Kishore Sharma, R/o 27.A
Brambh Nagar Chambell Road,
New Haidarganj Lacknow
Uttar Pradesh-226003, have
changed my name and shall
hereafter be Known as
Rishabh Sharma.
0070723855-1
I, Tela Raju S/O Tela Gattaiah,
R/o 1-13, Velair Mandal,
Mallikudurla, Warangal,
Telengana-506151, have
changed my name and shall
hereafter be Known as Tela
Sriraj 0070723852-1
I, TRILOK SINGH SAHOTA S/O
PIARA SINGH SAHOTA,R/O
446,LIG-FLATS,SANJAY-
ENCLAVE,IInd-LINE,
JAHANGIRPURI,DELHI-
110033.CHANGED MY NAME TO
TARLOK SINGH SAHOTA.
0040557617-3
I, Sachin Sharma S/O Late Shri S
C Sharma, R/o 199, Sector-46,
NHPC Colony,Faridabad,
Haryana-121010, have
changed my name and shall
hereafter be Known as
Sachinn Sharma.
0070723849-1
I, SANTOSH KUMARI,W/o
Sh.Manjit Singh,R/o-E-65,
B.K.Dutt-Colony,Karbala,
Lodhi-Road,New-Delhi-
110003,That SANTOSH KUMARI
and SIMRAN KAUR is the one
and the same lady who is
myself. 0040557617-9
I, Reeta Joshi,W/o Rajendra Dev
Bhatt,R/o Kurmanchal-Colony
Bhoor Maholiya Khatima
Udham Singh Nagar
Uttrakhand-262308,have
changed my name to Reeta
Bhatt. 0040557617-1
I, Ram Singh S/O Drig pal R/O-
20/29 Kalyan puri Delhi-
110091, have changed my
name Vijay Paul, for all Future
Purposes. 0040557617-10
I, Rajesh Kumar Goyal S/O Hem
Raj, R/o GA-64, Pul Pahlad Pur,
Badarpur, South Delhi-110044,
have changed my name and
shall hereafter be Known as
Rajesh Kumar 0070723857-1
I, Payal, W/O Shri. Hemant
Kumar, R/O R-1/19A, Budh
Vihar, Phase-1, Delhi-110086,
have changed my name to
Preety Oberoi.
0040557619-5
I, Narinder Jeet Singh S/o
Pritam Lal Bhola, H.No.M-55-B,
Ground Floor, Malviya Nagar,
Delhi-110017, have changed
my name is Narinderjeet Singh
Bhola for future purposes.
0040557614-1
I, Naivedye Kumar Sharma S/o
Ram Gopal Sharma R/o C-31,
Sector-61, Noida,UP have
changed my name to Naivedya
Sharma.`
0040557619-2
I, NISHA D/O ASHOK KUMAR,
R/O HNO.779/3, TAKIYA
TALAB,NEW HANUMAN
MANDIR, MUNDKA, DELHI-
110041. HAVE CHANGED MY
NAME TO NISHA SHARMA.
0040557617-4
I, NEHA MAHAJAN W/o VINEET
MAHAJAN R/o-C-278
SURAJMAL VIHAR, DELHI-
110092,HAVE CHANGED MY
NAME TO NEHA,FOR ALL
PURPOSSES.
0040557619-4
I, Kumar Abhishek S/O Ram
Kumar Singhal, R/o H.No.-148,
Sector-21C, NIT, Faridabad,
Haryana-121001, have
changed my name and shall
hereafter be Known as
Kummar Abhisshek.
0070723846-1
I, KAWAL JIT KAUR W/O AMREEK
SINGH R/O S-1/54,II-
FLOOR,OLD MAHAVIR-
NAGAR,TILAK NAGAR,DELHI-
110018. CHANGED MY NAME
TO KAWALJEET KAUR.
0040557617-6
I, Ishita Thakur D/o Sanjay
Thakur R/o A-6, H4/71,
Mahaveer Enclave, Palam
Village, Najafgarh,Delhi-
45,have changed my name to
Ishita Khare.
0040557620-1
I, DILJEET KAUR W/O MANJEET
SINGH R/O L-28, SECOND-
FLOOR,STREETNO.23,RADHA
SWAMI SATSANG-
GHAR,MAHENDRA
PARK,DELHI-110033.CHANGED
MY NAMETO DALJEET KAUR.
0040557619-6
I, CHANDRA SAIN S/O NATHU
SINGH R/O-G-64B,SHIV RAM
PARK,NANGLOI,DELHI-
110041.HAVE CHANGED MY
NAME TO CHANDER SAIN.
0040557617-5
I, BABITA alias KM BABITA alias
KM BABITA HARIJAN D/O
MUNNI LAL, W/O ANIL KUMAR.
R/o
Bhavchandpur,Madarpur,Jau
npur,Uttar Pradesh-222105,
have changed my name and
shall hereafter be Known as
BABITA DEVI.
0070723842-1
I, Aditya Kumar Mittal, S/o
Ashwani Mittal,R/o J-7/61
Rajouri Garden New Delhi have
changed my name to Aditya
Mittal.
0040557619-3
LOST & FOUND
I, VIRNDA Sharma,D/o Jagdeep
Kumar Sharma, R/o-Wz-
686E/1A Ekta Apartment Raj-
nagar part-1,palam-
colony,N.D-77,Have lost my
original Fail marksheet class-
10th,year-2019,Rollno-8264520
CBSE-DELHI.
0040557617-11
I, Jyoti Yadav D/o Sompal,R/o
WZ-29 Khyala village, Vishnu
GardenN.D-18 have lost my
original certificate class-12th
year-2013 Rollno-9156940
CBSE-DELHI.
0040557631-2
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WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
MATRIMONIAL Uttarakhand RTI activist death: 3 minors among 4 held
Dehradun: Haridwar police on
Saturdayarrestedonepersonand
detainedthreeminorsinconnec-
werebookedonchargesofculpa-
ble homicide not amounting to
murder. Based on a complaint by
302 (murder) and 34 (acts done
byseveralpersonsinfurtherance
ofcommonintention)againstone
who was also a governmentcon-
tractor, had died on the night of
December4byabulletinjuryata
Gold missing
from CBI custody:
Probe underway,
tionwiththedeathof46-year-old
RTIactivistPankajLamba. Allfour
Lamba’s wife, the police had
lodged an FIR under IPC sections
Kasim,anotherassociatewhoisa
minor and 2 minor girls. Lamba,
party he was invited to by Kasim
and the minor associate. ENS
says agency
NewDelhi:AdayaftertheMadras
High Court ordered Tamil Nadu
police to investigate the disap-
pearance of over 100 kg of seized
goldfromCBIcustody,theCentral
agencyonSaturdaysaiditwasal-
ready conducting an internal in-
quiry into the matter and that
strict action would be taken
againstanyofficerfoundinvolved
DOCTOR in the matter.
28/5.7” Tamil RC Nadar MS “As the discrepancy between
Ortho looking Doctors Bride the quantity mentioned in the
with same Community Contact search memo and as per the
9840773577 0050172245-1
weight came to notice, the CBI
promptly ordered an internal in-
quiry by a senior officer to look
OTHER into the role of its officials.... CBI’s
Suitable match for Narula internal inquiry continues and if
punjabi well settled Delhi any adverse role of any CBI offi-
based handsomeindustrialist cials surfaces, strict action will be
17/09/91/ 5” 8 ‘MBA Please J&K PROJECTS CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION LTD.
(A J&K State Govt. undertaking) takenagainstthem,”theagency's
contact-9999022848 with full
Particulars 0020414949-1 E-NIT No: 42 of 2020-21 Dt. 10.12.2020 spokesperson RK Gaur said.
On behalf of Managing Director, Jammu & Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation Ltd., the Deputy General Manager, Unit Electrical The agency said the gold was
JKPCC Ltd., Jammu invites e-tenders from approved and eligible electric contractors registered with J&K U.T Govt./CPWD/Railways and
other State/Central Govt. undertaking for the following work: notkeptintheCBI’smalkhanaaf-
S.
No
Name of Work Estimated Cost
(Rs. in Lacs)
Cost of
document
Earnest Money
(Rs. in Lacs)
Time of
completion
Class of
Contractor
ter inventory but was stored un-
der a seal on the premises of
1. Internal and external Electrification work of Inspection Rs. 86.00 Rs. 1,000/- Rs. 1.72 In tandem “A”
and certification centre at Vijaypur, Jammu. Lacs Lacs with civil works
Surana Corporation Ltd — the
Qualification criteria, scope of work, tender documents, BOQ and all other terms & conditions can be seen and downloaded from
www.jktenders.gov.in. companytheagencywasprobing.
Critical Dates: On Friday, the HC had dismissed
1. Period of downloading of NIT 11.12.2020 to 21.12.2020 up to 1400 Hrs. theagency’s contentionthat“the
2. Pre-Bid Meeting 15.12.2020 at 1230 Hrs. in Office of Dy. General Manager, Unit Elect JKPCC Ltd., Rail Head Complex, Jammu
prestige of the CBI would come
3. Bid submission dates along with proof of 11.12.2020 to 21.12.2020 up to 1400 Hrs..
cost of Tender Document and EMD down if investigation is done by
4. Date of opening of technical Bid 22.12.2020 at 1230 Hrs. in Office of Dy. General Manager, Unit Elect JKPCC Ltd., Rail Head Complex, Jammu the local police”. Asking the CB-
5 Hard Copies of Technical Bid will be invited from L1 only
CID to register an FIR, the court
Any other information regarding e-tendering process can be had from the office of undersigned or e-tendering Cell, Jammu.
Sd/- Deputy General Manager,
said: “It may be an agni pariksha
No : DGM/E/J/PS/178-82
Dated : 10-12-2020 DIP/J-3013-P/20 Unit-Electrical, JKPCC Ltd. Jammu. (trial by fire) for the CBI, but that
cannot be helped. If their hands
CHRISTIAN areclean,likeSita,theymaycome
Salvation Army Christian Girl 26 out brighter. If not, they will have
yr / 5” / MBBS / from to face the music.” ENS
Trivandrum, Kerala. Preference
to Missionary doctors
9747968993
samkuttytp1961@gmail.com.
0050172364-1
OTHER
Suitable match for agarwal girl
fair 5’6” (1996) central
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posted in Gujarat.
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0050172242-1
PUBLIC NOTICE
PUBLIC NOTICE
"it is a notice for General Public that I
Vaibhav Sethi S/O Pankaj Sethi R/o
V-38 2nd Floor, Rajouri Garden,
Tagore Garden, West Delhi-110027
declare that I have severed all of my
relationships with my father and
further declare that I shall not be
responsible or incur any liability for
the acts of my father. Anybody dealing
with him will be doing on his own peril.
Sd/-
Prevendra Kumar
Advocate
109 , Lawyer's Chambers, Patiala
House Courts, New Delhi - 01
Mobile: 9311873365/9555014865
PUBLIC NOTICE
FREEHOLD LIG FLAT NO. 96, THIRD
FLOOR POCKET GH-9, PASCHIM
VIHAR, NEW DELHI
Public at large is hereby informed that
the captioned property is subject matter
of Equitable/ Registered Mortgage with
State Bank of India, Delhi owned by the
present seller Shri Sandeep Walia by
virtue of Will, duly registered vide Regd.
No. 577, Book No. III, Vol. No. 7462,
pages 86-87, dated 21.03.2006. My
Client Shri Rakesh Kumar entered in
to an Agreement to Sell with the present
Seller i.e. Shri Sandeep Walia in respect
of the captioned property.
It is hereby notified that any person or
entity, firm/ company, Bank, beneficiary
of Will, financial institution having claim
any charge, interest or lien or claim on
the basis of documents mentioned
above or otherwise and/ or objection
thereof, he/she/they may lodge/ notify
the same to the undersigned with
documentary proof within 15 days from
the day of publication, failing which the
proposed Sale Deed to be executed in
favor of Shri Rakesh Kumar or his
nominees or in joint name shall be
deemed to be clear and marketable
without any defect, encumbrance, flaw
and impediment and my client is free to
create Equitable/ Registered Mortgage
in respect of the captioned property with
any financial Institution / Bank.
Sd/- Amit Chaudhary, (Advocate)
Chamber No. 561, 5th Floor, Saket
Courts, New Delhi
Mobile - 9910147876
PUBLIC NOTICE
General public is hereby
informed that my client Mr.
Ramesh Sachdeva and Mrs.
Sashi Sachdeva Resident of O-
4A Jangpura Extn. New Delhi- 14
have disowned their son Deepak
Sachdeva and his wife Sakshi
Arora from all our movable and
immovable property. They are
not responsible or answerable for
their actions.
SHIVANGI LAMBA
(Advocate)
14, Annexe-I Building, Tis
Hazari Court Delhi- 110054
s
''IMPORTANT''
Whilst care is taken prior to
acceptance of advertising
copy, it is not possible to verify
its contents. The Indian
Express (P) Limited cannot be
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 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

9 SUNDAY STORY
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020

With farmers rejecting the government’s offer and deciding to continue their protest against the farm laws, The Sunday Express meets some of the farmers
camping at Delhi’s borders, and visits their families and farms back home, to find a shared concern — a sense of despair over falling crop prices

HARISH DAMODARAN

M
ANY COUNTRIES experiencing rapid growth and rising
prosperity, which may even be over a few decades, have
at some point got stuck in a “middle-income trap”.
Punjab’s farm economy can be said to have been suffer-
ing this fate for quite some time.
The seeds of the granary state’s postcard rural affluence story from the
1960s were literally sown by high-yielding varieties of wheat and paddy.
Kalyan Sona andSonalikareleased in the mid-Sixties, followedbyHD-2285
and HD-2329 in the early Eighties, raised average wheat yields in Punjab
from 1.2 tonnes to over 3.7 tonnes per hectare between 1960-61 and 1990-
91. IR-8 (introduced in 1966) and PR-106 (1977), likewise, pushed up per-
hectare yields in paddy from 1.5 tonnes to 4.8 tonnes.
The breeding efforts of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and
PunjabAgriculturalUniversityscientistswereaccompaniedbyinvestments

‘Will lose land to corporates
because of the new laws’
JARVINDER SINGH, 35
PADLUVILLAGE,
KURUKSHETRA,HARYANA
TOTAL LAND:
13 acres; seven acres on lease
CROPS: Paddy, chilli, potato, sunflower
SUKRITA BARUAH
KURUKSHETRA
ONNOVEMBER25,Jarvinderlefthisvillageto
march towards Delhi along with other farm-
ersasthegroupfearedlosingitslandtobigcor-
porates because of the three new farm laws.
“Everyone in the village understands the
threat.Ibelievethateventuallybecauseof the
new laws we will lose our land to corporates
such as Ambani-Adani,” he says.
The 13 acres of farming land that the fam-
ily owns supports his parents, wife, 11-year-
oldson,hisbrotherwhohasbeenlargelybed-
ridden following an accident last year, his
sister-in-law and 20-year-old nephew. Since
November 25, apart from Jarvinder’s brother,
allmalemembersofthefamilyhavebeentak-
ing turns to join the protests at Delhi’s Singhu
border.WhenJarvinderreturnedonDecember
5totendtohiscrops,hisson,nephewand75-
year-old father took his place at the protest.
Padlu,thefamily’svillage,hasapopulation
of around 2,000. To supplement the income
from their own land, the family has also been
cultivatingonanadditionalsevenacresofland
on lease, that has an annual rent of Rs 45,000
peracre.“Ihaveonefull-timehelper.Ihiredaily
wage labourers for Rs 200 per day during the
harvest season. We may need about 50-60
workers per day when chillies are being har-
vested,” says the 35-year-old.
(Top) Jarvinder with his parents at his
farm in Padlu village; he has been
protesting at the Singhu border since
November 25. Abhinav Saha
The family owns a tractor which they
boughtforRs8lakhin2014,acultivator,apo-
tato planter, a harrow machine, a rotavator, a
land leveler, and a trolley.
Complaining about the poor sale of chill-
iesthisyear,Jarvindersays,“Iwasexpectingto
sellthemataroundRs40perkg,butinsteadit
sold at Rs 10-12 per kg. I incurred a loss of
more than Rs 10 lakh.”Incomparison,during
the same harvesting season, he made a profit
ofRs50-55,000fromhissunflowercrop.And,
frompotatoharvestinlastDecember,hemade
a profit of Rs 10-11 lakh.
The family of eight lives in a single-storey
home in their potato fields. Jarvinder began
work on the farm after completing Class 10,
but hopes for a “different path” for his son.
“I am sending him to a private school. It’s
my dream to see him become an IPS officer. If
thatdoesn’tworkout,Ihopehefindsajobwith
agoodsalaryataprivatecompany.Ifthatdoes
not happen either, there’s always the Army.
Farming is the last option,” he says.
in rural link roads, electrification, tube-well and canal irrigation, organised
farm credit —and, of course, APMC (Agricultural Produce Market
Committee) mandis. Metalled roads in 98% of Punjab’s 12,188 villages by
‘If corporates come, they
1980, APMC yards within bullock-cart distance and government procure-
ment at minimum support prices (MSP) ensured that the increased pro-
duction from the new semi-dwarf varieties, responsive to fertiliser and wa-
will treat us as employees’
ter application, also translated into higher incomes for farmers.
In the process, a new post-Green Revolution NARPINDER SINGH, 40 12,farmingisakeysourceof income. Narpin-
agrarian middle class — not “rich” or “kulak” JATANAVILLAGE,LUDHIANA der’s wife Sharanjit Kaur, 39, is a teacher at a
farmers, as armchair experts would believe — TOTAL LAND: Owns 13 acres government school in the village. His father
emerged in Punjab. This was a middle class that CROPS: Grows paddy, including basmati, passed away few years ago.
was confident and very sure of its future in agri- and wheat Besidesthehouseinthevillage,thefamily
culture. And like all middle classes, it was aspira- ownsatractor,aSwiftcar,andaHappySeeder
tionalandidentifieditsinterestswiththatof India ground leveller. Thanks to the electricity sub-
(Bharat, in this case). RAAKHI JAGGA & AMIL BHATNAGAR sidy for the agricultural sector in Punjab, they
That rural middle class is now waging war on LUDHIANA, NEW DELHI pay no power bills.
New Delhi — the same Establishment that once Besidesworkonthefields,Charanjithasto
propelled its rise. Its fight isn’t about upward mobility — agriculture can no SINCE NOVEMBER 26, Narpinder Singh and takecareoftwocows,threebuffaloesandthree
longer be a conduit for that — but defending past gains. histractortrolleyhavebeenonadifferentsort calves.Thefamilysellsaround35litresofmilk
The average monthly income of agricultural households, according to the ofafield—farfromhis13acresinJatanavillage adaytotheVerkacooperativesociety.“Weget
NABARD’sAll-IndiaRuralFinancialSurveyin2016-17,wasthehighestinPunjab. inLudhiana,andparkednexttoapolicebarri- Rs 22 a litre for cow milk and Rs 40 a litre for
At Rs 23,133, it was more than 2.5 times the national average of Rs 8,931 and cade at the Singhu border. buffalo milk,” says Charanjit.
aheadofHaryana(Rs18,496)andKerala(16,927),withUttarPradesh(Rs6,668) Accompanied by villagers, “I am a heart patient. So my
and Bihar (Rs 7,175) far behind. But this is still the familiar “middle-income Narpindersayshewon’tgoback granddaughtersandmysister-in-
trap”thatBrazil,Mexico,ArgentinaandotherlargeLatinAmericaneconomies till the farm laws are repealed. lawDaljithelpmetakecareofthe
hit in the 1960s — failing to transition and break into the rich league. “Thereisnothingforusinthe cattle,” she says.
Punjab’s failure on this count is mainly attributable to the plateauing of new laws. The laws have given “I can’t do much manual
yields.Since1990-91,itsaverageperhectareyieldshavefurthergoneupfrom corporate houses direct entry work but I go there once a day.
3.7to5.2tonnesforwheatandfrom4.8to6.5tonnesforpaddy.Therehavealso intoagriculture.Already,forcrops Narpinder had sown the wheat
been new blockbuster varieties such as PBW-343, HD-2987 and HD-3086 in withnoMSP,weareatthemercy beforegoingtoDelhiandluckily,
wheat,andPR-121andPR-126forpaddy.Butthegeneticyieldgainsfromthem of private players. Once these the first batch of water and urea
aren’t comparable to those from the early Green Revolution varieties. newlawscomein,thatwillhap- goesinonlyafteramonthofsow-
Yieldsapart,thePunjabfarmerisfacingpressuresfromrisinginputcosts pen in case of all crops. I am very InNarpinder’s ing. So there’s still a week left,”
— be it of labour, fertilisers, crop protection chemicals and diesel. Some of worried and insecure about my (above)absence,his says Charanjit.
these cost pressures have been absorbed by the government through sub- future,”saysNarpinder,whohas motherChandrikais “Everyone is taking care of
sidised urea and free electricity for irrigation, though they have exacted leased out eight of his 13 acres. supervisingworkat each other’s crops. Over 20 peo-
their own heavy price by way of soil degradation and groundwater deple- This year, Narpinder sold his thefarm. Raakhi Jagga plefromourvillagehavegoneto
tion. The government has also persisted with MSP hikes and procurement basmatiatRajpuramandi,75km Delhiandtheykeeptakingturns,
of grain from the state’s 154 primary APMC mandis and attached sub- away, for Rs 25,000 a quintal. He butNarpinderhasnotcomeback
yards/seasonal purchase centres. There was really no choice when India soldpaddyatamandi2kmfrom even once,” says Charanjit.
desperately needed Punjab’s grain. his village for the MSP rate of Rs 1,888. Sheisn’tcomplaining,though.“Whatmat-
Today, the government does not feel the need to buy much from Punjab. Over300kmaway,atJatana,inNarpinder’s tersisthatfarmersareattheDelhiborder,fight-
Economists, too, see it as an unnecessary fiscal burden. The feeling of being absence, neighbours and other villagers chip ing...,” she says.
unwanted and cavalier disregard for their concerns can be an affront to any in with offers of help on the fields, with Nar- AtSinghu,Narpindersaysthedismantling
proud middle class. pinder’s mother Charanjit Kaur, 65, taking on ofthesystemofarhatiyaswon’thelp.“Wehave
the supervisory role. an understanding with them. If corporates
ForNarpinder,whodroppedafterhisClass come,theywilltreatusasemployees,”hesays.

‘Hardly made money. Sold bottle gourd for Rs 2 per kg’
GURTEJ SINGH, 25
NANHERIVILLAGE,PATIALA
TOTAL LAND:
10 acres, of which he has leased out 5
CROPS: Grows wheat, paddy and garlic
on remaining 5 acres
RAAKHI JAGGA & AMIL BHATNAGAR
PATIALA, NEW DELHI
GURTEJSINGHfirstwenttoSinghuborderon
November 28. Since then, he has made one
other trip, and is now home on a “brief visit”.
A postgraduate in political science, Gurtej
workedinaprivatebankforayearin2017,be-
fore taking to his family occupation of farm-
ing.Hiswifetaughtinaprivateschoolbuthas
been without work since the lockdown.
Besidesthehouseinthevillage,thefamily
owns a tractor, plough and motorcycle.
Gurtej’s mother Paramjeet Kaur, 50, says
that since the stand-off began, Gurtej and his
threepaternaluncleshavebeentakingturnsto
gotoDelhi,andtoworkinthefields.“Wehave
many relatives in the village and we all take
Gurtej (right) went to the Singhu border on November 28; in his absence, his
mother, Paramjeet, has been managing the farm. Raakhi Jagga, Abhinav Saha
care of each other,” she says.
WhileGurtejwasawayinDelhi,Paramjeet
had to manage the garlic crop that they have
sownontwoacresandwhichwillbereadyfor
harvestingbyApril.Thefamilyhassownwheat
on 2.5 acres, and green fodder and vegetables
on the remaining land.
“Thesoilforthegarliccrophastobesoften-
ed by digging. Since Gurtej was away, I got
labourers to do it for Rs 35,000. I too worked
with them. There’s hardly any money to be
made. This season we grew bottle gourd but
only got Rs 2 a kg. The same for maize — we
had to sell at Rs 8 a kg. Who will grow other
crops if this is the rate,” says Paramjeet.
GurtejtakeshiswheatandpaddytoRajpu-
ra mandi, 20 kmaway, asthe nearby Mardan-
purmandi(lessthan2km)isalwayscrowded.
“This has not been a profitable year so far,
with an average decrease of about 10-15% on
returnsfrompaddy.Iamrunningdebtsofover
Rs 5 lakh,” says Gurtej.
‘Private players don’t offer good price for maize, moong’
SURJEET SINGH, 47
RANSIHKHURDVILLAGE,MOGA,PUNJAB
TOTAL LAND: 15 acres
CROPS: Grows wheat, maize and moong
RAAKHI JAGGA
MOGA
A MEMBER of the Bharat Kisan Union (Ugra-
han),SurjeethasbeenprotestingatDelhi’sTikri
border since November 28. A few days before
leaving, he completed sowing wheat on 10
acres of his land. On the remaining five acres
of his land, he had sown green moong and
maize, “but I did not get good rates for either
of the crops,” he says.
OnDecember9,Surjeetreturnedtothevil-
lagebrieflytosprayureainhisfields,andinthe
fieldsofsomeofhisfriendstoo.Afatheroftwo
whohasstudiedonlytillClass12,Surjeetsays
farming is all he knows.
“I joined the protests because I know that
the new laws will reduce my income further.
Even now when I approach private compa-
nies with my maize and moong crop, they
Karamjeet says her daughter is
interested in farming. Raakhi Jagga
don’t offer a good price. Only the cultivation
of wheat and paddy has kept us afloat,” says
Surjeet.
At Ransih Khurd village, Pradeep’s wife
KaramjeetKaur(43)hasbeenlookingafterthe
family’scattleinhisabsence.“Weusesomeof
the milk at home and give the rest to the vil-
lage’s milk society,” she says.
Reiterating the demands of the farmers of
the village, she says, “We want the black laws
to be scrapped, nothing else.”
Surjeet says he does most of the work on
hisfield,andhiresafewlabourerstotransport
paddy.“Ican’taffordanythingmore.Everyyear,
myinputcostsincreaseandInowhaveadebt
of Rs 6 lakh,” he says.
His children, a 15-year-old daughter and a
11-year-oldsonbothstudyinEnglish-medium
schools nearby. Karamjeet says her daughter
helps her with dairy work and has also devel-
oped an interest in farming.
“We want things to get better for our chil-
dren. Earlier, I too sat on a dharna at a petrol
pump in Moga, but now there’s a bigger mor-
chainDelhi.Onlythatwillforcethisdeaf gov-
ernment to listen to our demands,” she says.

New Delhi
 10 OPINION
Across
THEAISLE
PCHIDAMBARAM
Website:pchidambaram.in
Twitter @Pchidambaram_IN
One can conclude that the
most rampant crime in UP
is two young people falling
in love and marrying! Hence
it is engaging the attention
of the chief minister and the
entire police force, more
than the growing number of
cases of murder, rape,
assault or theft to which the
people are apparently
accustomed as ‘normal‘
in UP
My ISOLATION
A WEEKLY WINDOW INTO THE LIVES OF INDIA’S NEWSMAKERS
AND IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC ON THEM
‘Unless an emergency, I
don’t step out of house’
Whatprecautionsareyoutaking?
I always wear a mask, and sanitise my
hands frequently. Unless there is an emer-
gency, I don’t step out of my house.
Have you got yourself tested for
Covid-19?
Yes,Ihavegottested29timesinthelast
four months.As I was playing inthe Indian
PremierLeague(forRoyalChallengersBan-
galore),Igottestedregularly.Fortunately,it
wasnegativeeverytime.SincetheIPLtook
place in the UAE this year, the players had
togetthemselvestestedthriceinIndiaand
thenthreemoretimesafterreachingDubai.
Onceweenteredthebio-securebubble,we
underwent a Covid-19 test every five days.
Haveyougoneintoself-isolationinthe
pastmonths?
IhavenotbecauseIdidn’tcomeincon-
tact with anyone who was infected. How-
ever, I had to quarantine myself for seven
daysinaBangalorehotelbeforeleavingfor
theIPL.Therewasanotherseven-dayquar-
antine period after reaching Dubai.
Whatkindof glovesandmaskdoyou
use?
Iusedisposableglovesandathree-lay-
eredcottonmask.Iwashiteverydaybefore
using it again.
Whileinteractingwithpeople,howdo
youensureyoursafety?
I follow social distancing. One habit
which I have given up is shaking hands.
Instead, I go for the traditional namaste.
Howlonghaveyougonewithout
seeingyourfamily?
I did not see them for three months
when I was in Dubai playing in the IPL.
Howoftendoyoustepout?
During lockdown, I went out only once
todonatemasksandsanitiserstothepolice.
Now,Ionlystepoutif Ihavecommitments.
Howmuchtimedoyouspendinfront
of ascreen?
Alot,actually.Duringthelockdown,the
televisionandmytabletweretheonlysour-
ceofentertainment.Isawmanywebseries
On the
LOOSE
LEHERKALA
leherkala@gmail.com
AFTER LOSING his spectacles innumer-
able times, my father has taken to scotch-
taping his mobile number on to the case
to aid the Good Samaritan who may
stumble upon them. As life would have it,
he hasn’t lost them since, so there’s been
no opportunity to reaffirm our faith in the
inherent goodness of human beings. I be-
lieve I would do it, make that call and re-
turn a pair of glasses that are of no use to
me and the loss of which may be hugely
irritating to someone. However, in these
times of disillusion, people accept losses
faster and also lack the motivation for
niceties. It can be debated, definitely, the
extenttowhichouractionsareinfluenced
by the environment we live in. In this es-
peciallyfraughtyear,notseeingaconspir-
acy or danger in every situation is a chal-
The new normal is scary
CHANGE IS the law of nature. India, to-
day, is not the India of the 1200s or the
1600s, it is not the 17 per cent-literate
India when it attained Independence in
1947, it is not the India that swore by the
State ‘occupying the commanding
heights of the economy’.
Onechangecandramaticallyalterthe
courseofacountry.In1991,DrManmohan
Singh, as Finance Minister, did what until
thenwasunthinkable.Heabolishednearly
allrequirementsforlicencesandpermits.
As Commerce Minister, I announced the
newForeignTradePolicythatstartedwith
theunprecedented(forIndia)declaration
that ‘Imports and Exports shall be free’.
Along with the two-step devaluation,
the three policy announcements set
the country on a new and irreversible
economic direction.
Some changes happen over a period
of time and are noticed only when the
change gathers a critical mass. There are
manyexamples:cananyoneidentifythe
date when the ubiquitous STD/ISD/PCO
boards vanished? Or the date when
listeners stopped tuning into All India
Radio (or Aakashvani) to ‘listen to the
news’? Or the date when every college-
goinggirl,evenintheconservativeSouth,
abandonedthe half-sari and switched to
a pair of jeans or a salwar-kameez?
SURGE OF PRIDE
Everychangeushersinanewnormal.
Some new normals are uplifting. When
17 per cent of Board positions in listed
Illustration: Suvajit Dey
Former India wicket-keeper and
batsman PARTHIV PATEL, 35,
recently announced his
retirement from international
cricket, taking on the role of a
talent scout for IPL champions
Mumbai Indians. In his 18-year
career, Patel has played 25 Tests,
38 ODIs, and was part of the IPL
in UAE, where he played for the
Royal Challengers Bangalore
INTERVIEW BY DEVENDRA PANDEY
andmoviesonOTTplatforms...Atonepoint
I did feel that it’s not good for health. But I
did not have much else to do.
Howdoyoukeepyourmindoff the
pandemic?
Ididalotofyogaandcontinuedmytra-
ining to keep busy. I did my workouts at
home and went on a lot of walks. My
daughter’s online classes have started, but
Ihaveensuredshealsoworksoutwithme.
Whatisthefirstthingyouwanttodoin
aCovid-freeworld?
I want to see people happy, without
masks, be fearless again.
When this is over: Life in post-Covid world
lenge all of its own.
Trust is vital to our daily existence. If
everybodywaseyeingtheotherwarily,life
wouldbecomeevenmoreisolatingthanit
alreadyis.“Youmaybedeceivedifyoutrust
toomuchbutyouwillliveintormentifyou
do not trust enough,” opined American
thinkerandclergymanFrankCrane,inthe
late 19th century. By and large, the world
functions with great optimistic spirit, on
the assumption that humanity will act in
accordancewithcertainexpectations.We
know traffic will halt at red lights and col-
leagues will show up for meetings when
they say they will. Relationships, work,
sport, leisure, politics, everything is based
on this understanding.
One of the intangible fallouts of Covid
is a shattering of trust. The greatest of
countries have bungled pandemic re-
sponse,leadingtoaworldwidelossof faith
in governments. Worse, not only are bil-
lionspetrifiedof catchingthecoronavirus,
companies are occupied by women;
whenanIndia-issuedcreditcardpayable
in rupees is accepted in every foreign
country; when one can dial and speak to
any one in the world without going
through the agony of ‘booking a trunk
call’; when one can buy a car, truck or
two-wheeler on EMI; when one can or-
der food to medicines to clothes online
and have the goods delivered at one’s
door; when one can buy medical insur-
ance and recover most of one’s expenses
of hospitalisation or surgery; when
sportspersons from rural India fill many
places in the Indian cricket team; and
when Indian origin executives head
Google, Microsoft, IBM, Adobe, Nokia,
Cognizant, MasterCard, Xerox and
ReckittBenckiser,thereisasurgeof pride
in our hearts.
Some new normals make one un-
comfortable. For example, I am not yet
totally convinced that courts should be-
comevirtualcourtsandconductallhear-
ings through video.Routine applications
and minor cases may be heard in virtual
courts, but when major questions of law
or complex facts are required to be ar-
guedandanalysed,there is no substitute
for a physical hearing. Eye contact of the
lawyer with the judge is crucial. And if
the court is a multi-member bench, the
bodylanguageof thejudgesaffordsvalu-
able guidance to the counsel.
CHILLING FACTS
Some other new normals send a chill
Dalitality
SURAJYENGDE
Twitter@Surajyengde
THE RESPONSIBILITY of seeking an egal-
itarian world cannot be undermined by a
community that wants an order based on
equality, respect and compassion. The
burdenisheavieronitthanthosewhode-
rive their power from oppression. Thus,
evenasitorganisesagainstcaste,theDalit
community must also seek to target its
surrogates — gender, sexuality, religion,
region, and other forms of harm.
One of the charges held against the
community is its patriarchal tendencies
and treatment of its women. While the
charge is not invalid, it is not original ei-
ther.Wokepolitics,that draws on oppres-
sion paralympics, rests on finding identi-
ties more devastating as a precursor to
granting Dalitstheir legitimacy. The iden-
tity of gender is among the first of these
identities, followed by sexuality, then re-
gion, with class finding its way some-
where.Itisquiteinterestinghowandwhy
class gets the least, if not the last, atten-
tion in this caste-woke social media can-
cel-culture. This call of judging one’s hu-
manity based on their gender, sexuality
and religion has resonance especially
among Gen Z — one of my favourite de-
mographic groups.
Thisposition marks Dalit out as an ad-
jectivethatcan behyphenatedwithother
moral accountabilities, including patri-
archy. But the idea of gender and sex
needsclarification.Sexisabiologicaliden-
tity assigned at birth — male or female.
Gender is a personal choice, an apprecia-
tion of oneself in context of another man,
woman, non-gender, or non-binary.
Genderisasocialconstructlikerace,caste,
and other fictitious divisions.
But is Dalit male patriarchy Dalit pa-
triarchy? Portraying it as such makes a
conversationandapossiblereconciliation
difficult. One question to ask here is, is
Dalitmale behaviourDalit subjectivity, or
does it derive from privileges granted to
males in a patriarchal society?
The charge of Dalit patriarchy is now
being used to put down any assertion of
being Dalit. Both Dalit males and females
are reduced to defining their identities in
opposition to the other, rather than
through their own autonomous selves.
Are there any credible studies to au-
thenticateexistenceof aDalitmalebehav-
iour? The obsessive focus on Dalit mas-
culinity and male upbringing downplay
they’re insecure and mistrusting of each
other, and the vaccine as well. The dis-
tances Covid has created among human
beings is a weird kind of lethal, felt more
fiercely because of the end of friendly
pleasantries between masked strangers.
Gone are the hellos in lifts, the polite
exchangesingrocerystores,nobodyboth-
ers looking anyone in the eye anymore.
Let us take solace in the fact that the
metaphorical finish line, obscure though
it is, is somewhat visible. As 2020 winds
down and it seems so does Covid, there is
everyreasontohopethat2021willbefree
of these feelings of suffocating claustro-
phobia. The post-pandemic world! It’s al-
most here! To hell with six feet distances
and back to a world of hugs.
I have struggled since my greeting of
choice has always been an enthusiastic
throwing of arms and a kiss. Regrettably,
when I meet my friends, I can never re-
member to adhere to the new protocols.
— of anxiety or fear or desperation. The
newnormalinIndiaappearstobethat—
■ the Prime Minister will complete
two terms as head of the government
without addressing a single press
conference;
■ the right to speak in Parliament or
atanall-partymeetingwillbecontrolled
(and denied) by a finger on a button that
will ‘mute’ the microphone;
■ a senior bureaucrat will openly
speakof “too much democracy” and will
not be admonished;
■ the Special Marriage Act that
permits inter-faith marriages will be
repealedbystealthandreplacedbyalaw
that will punish the man among the
inter-faith couple;
■the government by the majority of
elected legislators will turn into majo-
ritarian rule;
■the media (or the bulk of it) will be
taken over or tamed into submission by
the ruling party;
■ the institutions created to act as
watchdogs will be hollowed out by
leaving vacancies unfilled or by appoint-
ment of loyal servitors;
■ some are more equal than others
under law and in the access to justice;
■election contributions will be con-
trolled and directed to the ruling party;
■ non-government and non-profit
organisations will be suppressed or
driven out of the country;
■ investigation agencies and anti-
sedition laws will be used to intimidate
and incarcerate political adversaries, so-
Dalits and the
oppressions within
theveryimportantroleof femaleeldersin
their upbringing — mothers, grandmoth-
ers, aunts, sisters, stepmothers. It is here
that we need to examine the conduits of
how forms of domination play out.
Several studies done by Dalit women
scholars, in particular writer-professor
Roja Singh, talk about the uber position
Dalit women occupy in rural areas of
Tamil Nadu. Dalit matriarchy is, in fact,
common among communities with a
close relationship to land.
Thepropositionof Dalitpatriarchyalso
derives its inspiration from the Western
canon of feminism as an act against the
domination of males. Are Dalit males in
as much of a position to dominate as oth-
ers, or is their domination derived from
caste-victimhood locked in vicious
Brahminicalpatriarchy?If thatisthecase,
why not have Brahmin patriarchy, Baniya
patriarchy, Kshatriya patriarchy, Shudra
With due respect to the moratoriums on
closeness, let us not forget physical
gestures have incalculable (dopamine)
value that allow us to silently convey and
feel emotion.
Is it premature to start making plans
sixmonthshence,apost-Covidbucketlist
of sorts? It is human nature to live life in
anticipation, a coping tool to make the
drearypresentbearable.Thereisapeculiar
kindof joyinspendinghoursmullingover
the endless future that stretches ahead.
(Happily, a ventilator no longer springs to
mind.)Travel,funnilyenough,isnolonger
a priority. It is a sobering thought that for
so many of us, our first port of calls will be
condolence meetings. Not being present
to grieve with loved ones is, somehow,
worse than not being able to attend cele-
brations.Somanyritesof passagewetook
forgranted,weddingsandgraduationpar-
ties were dismantled, forcing the young
into facing crushing disappointment too
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
cial activists, writers and poets; and
■ monopolisation of economic
power will be encouraged and actively
supported.
ARE YOU PROUD?
Readallof theaboveexamplesinone
go, discount some adjectives as biased,
place your hand on your heart, arouse
your conscience and ask yourself the
question:amIproudof the‘new’normal
to which my country is heading?
Take the UP ordinance against the
so-called love jihad that was
promulgated on November 28. Within
11 days, five cases were registered. In
one case, the girl’s family told the police
that the two families had resolved the
matter, the girl had married another boy
and the family had not filed a complaint.
Yet, an FIR was registered against the
boy. In another case, following an FIR
and a non-bailable warrant, the police
threatened to attach the property of the
boy’s family if he did not respond to the
police’s summons. One can conclude
that the most rampant crime in UP is
two young people falling in love and
marrying! Hence it is engaging the at-
tention of the Chief Minister and the en-
tire police force, more than the growing
number of cases of murder, rape, assault
or theft to which the people are appar-
ently accustomed as ‘normal‘ in UP.
The‘new’normalforUPmaybecome
the new normal for India. That
is scary.
Illustration: Suvajit Dey
patriarchyasacanonof investigation,and
notsingleoutDalitpatriarchyasatheory?
Dalit patriarchy, in fact, is a summation of
caste, class, and gendered beingness.
What can’t be forgotten either is that
an urban Dalit has access to Western vo-
cabularies to put across experiences, un-
like his or her first-generation rural-
dwelling counterpart who is not exposed
to similar sensitivities.
However, this is not meant to excuse
Dalitmalesof thechargeof patriarchy,but
to make them aware of the responsibility
of addressing this charge simultaneously
and not eventually. One cannot be blind
to the suppression of one’s own while
positing a universalist agenda. Anti-
women behaviour needs to be addressed
as a community project.
Suraj Yengde, author of Caste Matters,
curates the fortnightly ‘Dalitality’ column
early. As we return to normalcy, it’s diffi-
cult to foretell if the pandemic will funda-
mentallyalterthewaywelive.Micro-level
changes are easier to predict.
Pedestrians will steer clear of each
other.Peoplewillstaymaskedwhileusing
public conveyance. Waving, air kissing
and namaste will replace the handshake.
Maybe in retrospect, we’ll miss this
bizarre time that has provoked a univer-
sal bout of mass introspection.
Stuck in The Waiting Room before the
dental chair (as I think of Covid), the rea-
lisation has dawned on so many that so-
ciety’s definitions of success are com-
pletely immaterial. The learning —
howeverbrieflyitlastsbeforewedescend
back to old patterns — is to think of time
as an organising principle of life. It makes
it easier to free oneself from the extraor-
dinarily banal burdens we carry, in the
name of living.
The writer is director, Hutkay Films
New Delhi
Fifth
COLUMN
TAVLEENSINGH
Twitter@tavleen_singh
Surrealism
as reality
REALITY IN India sometimes seems sur-
real. We saw this happen last week. The
Prime Minister performed a religious
ceremony to invoke the blessings of the
gods for the inauguration of a new
Parliament building. It was as if we had
defeated the pandemic and the econ-
omy was doing so well that we had
money to spare for something that is not
exactly a priority. Surreal? The reality is
that the pandemic is still raging across
the country, overwhelming our shabby
health services and causing millions of
young Indians to lose jobs they desper-
ately need. The Economic Times reported
last week that 3.5 million Indians lost
their jobs in the month of November.
The reality also is that millions of
very poor people in rural India are being
driven back under the poverty line be-
cause of the economic damage the pan-
demic has caused. And, even in a city like
Mumbai I know very poor people who
rely now on the kindness of strangers to
get one meal a day. This is because the
small pavement restaurants on which
they depended have closed and they
cannot afford to buy rations to cook their
own meagre meals. In a time of such
deep economic distress, does it not seem
more than slightly surreal that we will
be spending thousands of crore rupees
on a new Parliament building?
Surreal reality continued when the
Prime Minister after the inaugural cere-
mony made a speech in which he said,
“The people of the country will build the
new Parliament together.” Has he no-
ticed that ‘the people’ have been
camped on the borders of Delhi for more
than two weeks? They are protesting
against farm laws that they believe will
cause more harm than good. If the Prime
Minister has noticed the farmers’ siege,
he gave no indication of this. In this same
speech, he said, “Speaking and listening
is at the heart of democracy.”
It reminded me of something he him-
self said just months before he first be-
came prime minister. There was an India
Today conclave in Delhi at which he was
the star speaker. The audience was made
up of exactly those people who are now
reviled by Modi’s supporters as ‘Lutyens
libtards’. They had come to listen to a
man they saw as an outsider and an up-
start but were willing to give him a
chance. Ten years of the Sonia-
Manmohan regime had created even in
these very privileged Indians a sense of
despondency and defeat. In his speech,
Modi painted a wondrous vision of what
he saw as India’s future, but made it clear
that change and development would
only come with the support of a people’s
movement. He reminded us that
Gandhiji had created such a ‘jan andolan’
to fight for freedom from colonial rule.
The real problem with his farm laws
is that there was no attempt at a ‘jan an-
dolan’. They were rammed through
Parliament without persuading farmers
that they were in their best interest. The
farmers are ready to spend cold winter
nights and days in the open to make
their voice heard because they believe
they have the right to be consulted be-
fore major changes are brought in the
ways in which they sell their produce.
They repeat over and over again to the
reporters who come to interview them
that they want the Prime Minister to
hear them. If the new laws were meant
to improve their lives, should their ben-
efits not have been communicated to
them first?
If democracy is about ‘speaking and
listening’, why are they not being heard
instead of maligned? While the Prime
Minister chose to quote Guru Nanak in
the speech he made at the ceremony last
week, did he notice that the BJP’s vast
and powerful propaganda machine had
started a campaign to depict protesting
Sikh farmers as Khalistanis? The same
tactic was used when another group of
Indian citizens began their protest in
Shaheen Bagh at about this time last
year against the Citizenship (Amend-
ment) Act. They were called jihadists
and Pakistanis.
If the Prime Minister truly believes
that democracy is about listening to ‘the
people’, then why are all those who try
to speak up for their rights depicted as
anti-nationals and terrorists? Why has
almost every law passed in this first year
of his second term been rammed
through Parliament? Has he noticed that
it is because of this attempt to impose
change by fiat that there is a sense of
things slipping out of control?
If thecapitalof Indiacanremain under
siegeformorethantwoweeks,itisimpos-
sible to believe that all is well. And, yet it
was while the siege continued that the
PrimeMinisterfoundtimetoperformare-
ligious ceremony that marks the first step
in the construction of a new Parliament
buildingthathewantsbuiltby2022.Inthe
first week of the siege he found time to go
to Varanasi and cruise down the Ganga to
witnessalasershowonDevDeepavali.Isit
notfairtoaskif heexistsinadifferentreal-
ity to the one the rest of us inhabit? Or is it
justthatsortofmomentwhenIndianreal-
ity becomes so surreal that it is hard to see
clearly what reality is any more. Through
the fog of surrealism what is clear is
that the voice of ‘the people’ is not being
heard.

11 THE WORLD
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
At a protest in Seoul
on Saturday. AP
SOUTH KOREA
Protestserupt
asnotorious
rapistwalksfree
SOUTH KOREA’S most in-
famousrapistwasreleased
on Saturday after serving
12 years in prison, spark-
ingangrydemonstrations
and anonymous death
threats that led to an in-
creased police presence
outside the predator’s
home.Protestersgathered
outside a prison in south-
ern Seoul on Saturday,
shouting “Send him to
hell!”and“Castratehim!,”
as Cho Doo-soon was re-
leased.Chowasarrestedin
2008 and later convicted
ofrapingan8-year-oldgirl,
andhisnamehassincebe-
come synonymous with
the soft-glove treatment
sexoffendersaresaidtore-
ceive in the country’s
courts. Cho, now 68, was
releasedonSaturday. NYT
USA
Unprecedented
seriesofexecutions
continue
THE TRUMP administration
continueditsunprecedented
seriesofpost-electionfederal
executionsFridayby putting
to death a Louisiana truck
driver who severely abused
his 2-year-old daughter for
weeks in 2002, then killed
herbyslammingherheadre-
peatedly against a truck’s
windows and dashboard.
AlfredBourgeois,56,waspro-
nounced dead at 8.21 pm
Eastern time at a federal
prison in Terre Haute,
Indiana. His lawyers had ar-
gued he had an IQ that put
him in the intellectually dis-
abled category, saying that
shouldhavemadehimineli-
gibleforthedeathpenalty. AP
AFGHANISTAN
Rocketattacksin
Kabulkillsone
AT LEAST one person was
killed and two were in-
jured on Saturday in
Afghanistan’s capital
Kabul as ten rockets hit
various parts on the city,
officials said. A Taliban
spokesman said that his
group was not behind the
attack as they continued
talks with the Afghan gov-
ernment’s representatives
to end nearly two decades
of war. Security officials
said it was not clear if
militants of Afghan
affiliate of Islamic State,
known as Islamic State
Khorasan, were involved
in the attack. REUTERS
ECONOMIC MELTDOWN HAD PUMMELED A FISHING VILLAGE, THEN JEWELRY STARTED SURFACING ON ITS BEACH
Treasure washes up on Venezuela’s shore, bringing hope to a village
ANATOLY KURMANAEV
& ISAYEN HERRERA
GUACA, DECEMBER 12
THE MOST extraordinary mo-
mentintheyoungfisherman’slife
beganinthemostmundaneway:
withamorningvisittothelatrine.
Walking back to his tin-
roofed hut on Venezuela’s
Caribbean coast, the fisherman,
Yolman Lares, saw something
glisten along the shore. Raking
his hand through the sand, he
pulled up a gold medallion with
an image of the Virgin Mary.
Thevillageof Guacawasonce
at the centre of Venezuela’s fish
processing industry but is now
reduced to penury by the lack of
gasoline and the closure of most
of its small fish-packing plants.
USclearsPfizervaccine,shotsto
startarrivinginstatesonMonday
Massive logistical operation to distribute the shots kicks off; 3 million doses to be shipped initially
LAURAN NEERGAARD,
MATTHEW PERRONE
& JONATHAN LEMIRE
WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 12
THEUNITEDSTATES’firstCovid-
19 vaccine will begin arriving in
states on Monday morning, US
officials said Saturday, after the
government gave the final go-
aheadtotheshotsneededtoend
an outbreak that has killed
nearly 300,000 Americans.
Trucks will roll out Sunday
morning as shipping companies
UPS and FedEx begin delivering
Pfizer’svaccinetonearly150loca-
tions,saidArmyGeneral Gustave
FPernaofOperationWarpSpeed,
the Trump administration’s vac-
cine development programme.
Another450siteswillgetthevac-
cine Tuesday and Wednesday.
The locations include hospi-
tals and other sites able to meet
the ultra-cold storage require-
ments for the vaccine. Within
three weeks, vaccines should be
delivered to local pharmacies
and other locations, Perna said
Iranian journalist
who encouraged 2017
protests executed
AMIR VAHDAT
TEHRAN, DECEMBER 12
IRAN ON Saturday executed a
once-exiledjournalistoverhison-
line work that helped inspire na-
tionwide economic protests in
2017,authoritiessaid,justmonths
afterhereturnedtoTehranunder
mysterious circumstances.
Iranian state television and
the state-run IRNA news agency
said that Ruhollah Zam, 47, was
hanged early Saturday morning.
The reports did not elaborate.
InJune,acourtsentencedZam
todeath,sayinghehadbeencon-
victed of “corruption on Earth”, a
vaguely defined charge that car-
ries the death penalty.
Zam’s website AmadNews
and a channel he created on the
popularmessagingappTelegram
had spread the timings of the
protests and embarrassing infor-
mationaboutofficialsthatdirectly
challenged Iran’s Shia theocracy.
Thosedemonstrations,which
began in 2017, represented the
biggestchallengetoIransincethe
2009 Green Movement protests
andsetthestageforsimilarmass
unrest in November of last year.
The initial spark for the 2017
protests was a sudden jump in
food prices. Many believe that
hard-line opponents of Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani insti-
gatedthefirstdemonstrationsin
theconservativecityof Mashhad
innortheasternIran,tryingtodi-
rectpublicangeratthepresident.
Butasprotestsspreadfromtown
to town, the backlash turned
against the entire ruling class.
Soon,criesdirectlychallenging
Rouhani and even Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
couldbeheardinvideossharedby
Zam. Zam’s channel also shared
Amid such misery, the valuable
find seemed like a miracle.
“Ibegantoshake,Icriedfrom
joy,” said Lares, 25. “It was the
first time something special has
happened to me.”
Athome,Larestoldhisfather-
in-law,alsoafisherman.Wordof
thediscoveryspreadswiftly,and
soon most of the village’s 2,000
residentshadjoinedinafrenzied
treasure hunt, combing every
inch of the waterfront, digging
arounddilapidatedfishingboats,
even sleeping on the beach to
protect their few square feet of
sand and the untold fortune the
plot could contain.
Since late September, their
search has turned up hundreds
of pieces of gold and silver jew-
elry, ornaments, and golden
nuggets that washed up on their
The Pfizer Global Supply Kalamazoo manufacturing plant in
Portage, Michigan, on Friday. Pfizer has said it will be able to
supply up to 25 million doses before the end of the year, and
100 million total vaccines by March. AP
at a news conference.
The vaccine was timed to ar-
rive Monday morning so that
health workers would be avail-
able to receive the shots and be-
gin giving them, Perna said.
Itwasunclearwhowouldre-
ceivethefirstdoseof thevaccine,
though health workers and
nursing home residents were
the priority. Perna said that de-
Thoughhe wasbasedinParis,
RuhollahZamreturnedto
Tehranundermysterious
circumstancesandwas
E
detainedbyintelofficials. AP
E X P L A I NE D
Vague
● charges
IRAN HAS used the charges of
‘corruption on Earth’ and
‘waging war against God’ to
imprison or execute political
critics, journalists and reli-
gious minorities, among oth-
ers. Both the charges are
vaguely defined, allowing au-
thorities to use them in order
to ensure harsh punishments
for people whose alleged
crimes may not otherwise
merit such measures.
timesanddetailsfortheprotests.
Telegram shut down the
channeloverIraniangovernment
complaintsitspreadinformation
about how to make gasoline
bombs.Zam,whohassaidhefled
Iranafterbeingfalselyaccusedof
workingwithforeignintelligence
services,deniedincitingviolence.
Thedetailsofhisarrestremain
unclear. Though he was based in
Paris, Zam somehow returned to
Iran and found himself detained
byintelligenceofficials. AP
A family looking for gold in the sand. NYT
shore,offeringthevillagersabaf-
fling and wondrous — if short-
lived — reprieve from
Venezuela’s seemingly endless
cision would be determined by
health authorities.
The announcement kicks off
amassivelogisticaloperationin-
volvingthefederalandstategov-
ernments, private companies
and health care workers to
quickly distribute limited vac-
cine supplies throughout the US
Initially,about3millionshots
are expected to shipped nation-
DRIVER RAMS INTO PROTESTERS IN NY
Atthesiteof theincidentinmidtownManhattanwhereseveralpeoplewereinjuredwhenacar
droveintoastreetprotestonFriday.Theprotestmarchwaspassingthroughanintersection
whenthecarwentthrough,said TomElla,whowastheredocumentingthedemonstration. “It
juststartshigh-speed,justplowingthroughpeople,”hesaid.The NewYorkFireDepartment
said sixpeopleweretakenbyambulancetolocalhospitals.Policesaidthedriver,awoman,was
takenintocustodyandwasbeing questioned.Aprotestersaid themarchwasaimedatdrawing
attentiontoanongoinghungerstrike byimmigrationdetaineesatajailinNewJersey. Reuters
Israel says it establishes UK Navy to protect fishing
diplomatic ties with Bhutan waters in case of no deal
REUTERS
TEL AVIV, DECEMBER 12
ISRAEL ESTABLISHED diplomatic
relationsonSaturdaywithBhutan,
theIsraeliforeignministrysaid.
Israel’s new relations with
the relatively-isolated
Himalayannationdidnotappear
to be related to its budding ties
under US-sponsored accords
withArab andMuslim countries
in the Middle East and Africa.
The agreement follows sev-
eral years of secret contacts be-
tween Israel and Bhutan with
the aim of establishing relations,
economic collapse.
Dozens of villagers said they
had found at least one precious
object, usually a gold ring, with
wide, according to officials with
OperationWarpSpeed.Asimilar
amount is to be held in reserve
forthoserecipients’seconddose.
Initialshipmentsareexpected
to leave Pfizer’s manufacturing
plantinKalamazoo,Michigan,via
truck and then be flown to re-
gional hubs around the country.
Adding to the distribution
challenge is that the Pfizer-
BioNTechvaccinemustbestored
and shipped at ultra-low tem-
peratures of about 94 degrees
below zero Fahrenheit.
Thegreenlighttobeginvacci-
nationscamelateFridayafterthe
FoodandDrugAdministrationau-
thorised emergency use of the
vaccine. The FDA found the vac-
cinehighlyprotectivewithnoma-
jor safety issues. US regulators
workedformonthstoemphasise
the rigour and independence of
their review, but the Trump ad-
ministrationpressuredtheagency
up until the final announcement.
A top White House official even
threatened to remove FDA chief
Stephen Hahn if a ruling did not
come before Saturday. AP
the foreign ministry said in a
statement.
“Israel’s circle of recognition
is growing and expanding. The
establishment of relations be-
tween us and the Kingdom of
Bhutan will serve as another
milestone in deepening Israel’s
ties in Asia,” Israeli Foreign
Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said.
Bhutan has full diplomatic
ties with only 53 countries,
Israel’s foreign ministry said.
A signing ceremony was
held between the Israeli and
Bhutanese ambassadors to
India on Saturday, the foreign
ministry said.
unconfirmed reports that some
had sold their discoveries for as
much as $1,500.
Tomanyhere,theunexpected
bounty was a message of hope.
“This is God, setting his
agenda,”saidCiroQuijada,alocal
fish plant worker who found a
gold ring.
Nooneknowswherethegold
came from and how it ended up
scattered along a few hundred
feetof Guaca’snarrow,workaday
beach. The mystery has merged
with folklore, and explanations
draw equally on legends of
Caribbean pirates, on Christian
traditionsandonthewidespread
mistrust of Venezuela’s authori-
tarian government.
The jagged coastline around
Guaca, on Venezuela’s Paria
peninsula, is punctuated with
Peru suspends
Sinopharm
vaccine trial after
‘adverse event’
REUTERS
LIMA, DECEMBER 12
PERU SUSPENDED trials for
China’s Sinopharm Covid-19
vaccineduetoa“seriousadverse
event” that occurred with one of
the volunteers for the study, the
Peruvian government said in a
statement on Saturday. The
health ministry said the event is
“underinvestigationtodetermine
if it is related to the vaccine or if
thereisanotherexplanation”.
Sinopharm Group Co Ltd,
which is conducting its trials in
Peru with some 12,000 volun-
teers, was about to complete the
first stage of the trials in the next
few days. Some 36,544 people
have died so far in Peru from the
coronaviruspandemic. REUTERS
KANISHKA SINGH
DECEMBER 12
FOUR ROYAL Navy patrol ships
willbereadyonJan.1tohelppro-
tectBritain’sfishingwatersinthe
eventtheBrexittransitionperiod
endswithoutadealonfutureties
with the European Union, the
Ministry of Defence (MOD) said.
Thereareconcernsaboutpos-
sible skirmishes between British
and foreign fishing vessels if no
trade deal is reached, with exist-
ing transitional rules that give EU
boats access to British waters set
to expire at the end of the year.
bays and islands that have long
given refuge to adventurers.
It was on this peninsula, in
1498, that Christopher
Columbus became the first
EuropeantosetfootontheSouth
American continent, thinking
he’d found the entrance to the
Garden of Eden.
Later, this sparsely defended
coastlinewasregularlyraidedby
Dutch and French buccaneers.
Today, it is a haven for drug and
fuel smugglers and modern-day
pirates who prey on fishermen.
Did a storm disturb a pirate
treasure chest or break open up
a sunken colonial frigate? Did
the bounty come from modern
smugglers heading to nearby
Trinidad? For weeks, Guaca was
rife with speculation.
Government opponents said
New Delhi
Trump supporters protest in front of Supreme Court
building, in Washington on Saturday. Reuters
Top court swiftly
ends Trump-backed
Texas bid to upend
US election results
LAWRENCE HURLEY
WASHINGTON, DECEMBER 12
THEUSSupremeCourtonFriday
rejected a long-shot lawsuit by
Texas and backed by President
Donald Trump seeking to throw
out voting results in four states,
dealing him a likely fatal blow in
his quest to undo his election
loss to President-elect Joe Biden.
The decision allows the US
Electoral College to press ahead
with a meeting on Monday,
where it is expected to formally
cast its votes and make Biden’s
victory official.
Biden, a Democrat, has
amassed 306 votes to Trump’s
232 in the state-by-state
Electoral College, which allots
votes to all 50 states and the
District of Columbia based on
population.
The four states in question —
Georgia,Michigan,Pennsylvania
and Wisconsin — contributed a
combined62votestoBiden’sto-
tal. To win the White House, 270
votes are needed.
In a brief order, the justices
said Texas did not have legal
standing to bring the case,
abruptlyendingwhatTrumphad
toutedthisweekashisbesthope
for overturning the election.
After midnight, Trump said
on Twitter, “The Supreme Court
really let us down. No Wisdom,
no Courage!”
Complaining that the court
had rejected the case “in a flash”
despite his winning more votes
than any other sitting president,
Trump wrote: “A Rigged
Election, fight on!”
While Biden has moved for-
ward with a wave of appoint-
mentsforhisincomingadminis-
tration ahead of assuming office
Frenchfishermen regularly
operateinUKwaters. Reuters
TobiasEllwood,aConservative
MP who chairs Parliament’s de-
fenceselectcommittee,wascriti-
calofthedevelopment.“We’rejust
facing the prospect of... our over-
stretchedRoyalNavysquaringup
to a close NATO ally over fishing
vesselrights,”hesaid. REUTERS
officials may have sprinkled the
gold on the beach to calm
protests by local residents
against the terrible living condi-
tions. Others fretted the govern-
ment would send soldiers to
confiscate their treasure.
Somevillagerscalledthegold
a blessing, others a curse that
woulddoomanyonetouching it.
Once the first photo of the
discovery was posted on
Facebook, the news spread
aroundVenezuela.Butthearea’s
remoteness, the widespread
shortage of gasoline and the
coronavirus quarantines pre-
vented a national gold rush.
A chemical test on a link of
goldchaindiscoveredonGuaca’s
beach indicated the piece was
likelymanufacturedinEuropein
recent decades. NYT
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
CALIFORNIAFILESTO
JOINU.S.ANTITRUST
CASEAGAINSTGOOGLE
Washington: California asked
to join the US Department of
Justice’s antitrust lawsuit
against Google on Friday,
making the state’s attorney
general the first Democrat to
openly support the litigation.
The department in October
accused the $1 trillion
California-based company of
illegally using its market
muscle to hobble rivals, and
was joined by 11 other states
when it was filed. “California
is not making substantive
changes to the complaint. In
particular, California is not
seeking to add any new facts
or claims,” Attorney General
Xavier Becerra said in the fil-
ing, adding it would not de-
lay the case. REUTERS
on Jan. 20, Trump and his legal
teamhavefiledaflurryof unsuc-
cessful lawsuits in several states
baselessly claiming voter fraud
and challenging the results.
Trump’sgoalhadlongbeenfor
acasetoreachtheSupremeCourt,
where he had placed three new
justicesinhisfirsttermandwhere
conservativesholda6-3majority.
ThelawsuitbroughtbyTexasand
supported by 17 other states and
morethan100Republicanmem-
bersofCongressgavehimthatop-
portunity. In the run-up the Nov.
3election,Trumphadpushedfor
the swift confirmation of Justice
AmyConeyBarrett,withthepub-
liclystatedhopethatshecouldbe
in a position to help rule on an
election challenge. REUTERS
Volunteer sleuths
crack ‘Zodiac’
serial killer’s
coded message
SHARON BERNSTEIN
SACRAMENTO, DECEMBER 12
ATEAMof volunteercodebreak-
ers has cracked a mysterious ci-
pher sent more than 50 years
ago to a newspaper by the San
Francisco serial killer who called
himself the Zodiac, the FBI said
on Friday.
The Zodiac Killer — who
was never caught — shot or
stabbed seven people in the
San Francisco Bay Area over the
course of about year in 1968
and 1969, killing all but two of
them. During his murderous
spree, he sent a series of terri-
fying letters to the San Francisco
Chronicle newspaper.
Some of the notes were in
code, including a particularly
complex missive with 340 char-
actersthatbecameknownasthe
340 cipher.
“I hope you are having lots of
fun trying to catch me,” said the
cipher, cracked last week by
codebreakers David Oranchak,
Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke,
according to a video posted on
YouTube by Oranchak. “I am not
afraid of the gas chamber be-
cause it will send me to
paradice (sic) all the sooner be-
cause I now have enough slaves
to work for me.”
Likethemurdersthemselves,
solving the Zodiac ciphers has
becomeaninternationalfixation
for true-crime followers.
Oranchak, whom the San
FranciscoChronicleidentifiedasa
46-year-old Web designer who
lives in Virginia,said in the video
he had hoped the cipher would
yield information about the
killer’s identity. REUTERS

12 ECONOMY
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA ASKS FOR RESOLUTION REQUESTS INSTEAD OF PLANS
Lenders to work out recast plan
jointly with borrowers, says RBI
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,DECEMBER12
THE RESERVE Bank of India (RBI)
has asked borrowers to make re-
quests for resolution rather than
working out resolution plans un-
der the KV Kamath committee’s
resolution framework to tackle
Covid-related stress. The resolu-
tionplanwillbeworkedoutjointly
bythelendersinconsultationwith
theborrowers.
As per the RBI, borrowers do
not require any resolution plan in
any form to be submitted to the
lending institutions at the time of
requestforinvocation.“Rather,for
invocation, the borrowers are re-
quiredtomerelysubmitarequest
tothelendinginstitutionsforbeing
considered under the resolution
framework,”theRBIsaid.
Thereafter,thelendinginstitu-
tions will take an in-principle de-
cision — as per their board ap-
proved policy — on invoking the
resolutionframework.“Aftersuch
invocation,thespecificcontoursof
BRIEFLY
CEA:V-shaped
recovery
continuesinOct
New Delhi: Chief Economic
AdviserKVSubramanianon
Saturday said V-shaped re-
covery of economic activity
continued in October and
bothfactoryoutputandcore
sector growth have inched
up to the pre-Covid level.
RBIappoints
threeexecutive
directors
New Delhi: The Reserve
Bankof Indiahasappointed
R Subramanian, RS Ratho
and Rohit Jain as
executive directors.
AIgetsreprieve
inUKcourtover
leasepayments
London: Air India has got
some reprieve from a UK
courtasitallowedthecarrier
time until early January to
make payments in a case of
unpaid dues of over
$17.6million.
SBIwillprefer
co-origination
models:Chairman
New Delhi: SBI will prefer
the co-origination model to
cater to the financing needs
ofMSMEs,chairmanDinesh
Kumar Khara said. PTI
‘FiatCEOManley
inpolepositionfor
Ferraritopjob’
Milan: Fiat Chrysler Chief
ExecutiveMikeManleyisin
pole position to take over
the top job at Ferrari, Il
Messaggero said. REUTERS
Nasdaq to remove 4 Chinese S
companies’ shares from indices AstraZeneca to buy Alexion for $39 billion
KANISHKASINGH
&ROSSKERBER
NEWYORK,DECEMBER12
NASDAQ SAID it will remove
shares of four Chinese construc-
tion and manufacturing compa-
nies from indexes it maintains in
response to a US order restricting
purchaseof theirshares.
The securities, which are not
traded on the Nasdaq exchange,
willberemovedfromtheindexes
on December 21. They include
China Communications Constru-
ction Co, China Railway
ConstructionCorp,CRRCCorpand
E
EXPLAINED
To ensure
restructuring
●
isdoneearly
THERBIclarificationensuresthatrecastisdoneearlywithout
compromisingontheinterestsof lenders.
TheRBIhadearlierbroadlyacceptedtheKVKamathcommit-
tee’srecommendationtotakeintoaccountfivespecificfinancial
ratios and sector-specific thresholds for each ratio in respect of
26sectorswhilefinalisingtheresolutionplans.
resolutionplantobeimplemented
maybedecidedbythelendingin-
stitutions,inconsultationwiththe
borrower,”itsaidinaclarification.
The RBI clarification ensures
that recast is done early without
compromising on the interests of
lenders.
TheRBIhadearlierbroadlyac-
cepted the KV Kamath commit-
tee’s recommendation to take
intoaccountfivespecificfinancial
ratiosandsector-specificthresh-
oldsforeachratioinrespectof 26
‘Housing prices appreciation:
India slips 7 spots to 54th place’ TRACKED IN TERMS
India’s rank slipped 7 places to 54th in terms of
appreciation in residential prices as rates fell 2.4 per cent
year-on-year during the July- September quarter,
according to property consultant Knight Frank
Forex reserves surge
to record $579.3 bn
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
THE COUNTRY’S foreign ex-
change reserves surged by
$4.525 billion to touch a record
high of $579.346 billion in the
weekendedDecember4,theRBI
data showed.
In the previous week ended
November 27, the reserves had
declined by $469 million to
$574.821 billion.
Inthereportingweek,thein-
creaseinreserveswasonaccount
of a rise in foreign currency as-
sets(FCA),amajorcomponentof
the overall reserves. FCA rose by
$3.932billionto$537.386billion,
the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI)
weekly data showed.
Expressedindollarterms,the
foreign currency assets include
the effect of appreciation or de-
preciation of non-US units like
the euro, pound and yen held in
the foreign exchange reserves.
The gold reserves increased
D C B B I D
Semiconductor Manufacturing
InternationalCorp,Nasdaqsaidin
astatement.
A White House executive or-
derlastmonthbarredUSinvestors
from buying securities of black-
listedfirms,startinginNovember
2021. The administration of
President Donald Trump alleged
the companies were linked to
China’smilitary.
China condemned the move,
saying the effort ran counter to
principlesofmarketcompetition.
“The US should stop abusing na-
tional power and national secu-
rity concepts to suppress foreign
companies,” Foreign Ministry
sectors while finalising the reso-
lution plans.
While for personal loans the
resolution plan is to be imple-
mented within 90 days from the
date of invocation, for all other
loansaperiodof180daysfromthe
date of invocation has been pre-
scribed, the RBI said in an FAQ on
resolution framework for Covid-
19relatedstress.
The central bank said the res-
olution framework may be in-
voked for resolution of all expo-
56
COUNTRIES & TERRITORIES
FCAs JUMP
■Foreigncurrency
assets,amajor
componentof the
overallreserves,roseby
$3.932billionto
$537.386billion,the
ReserveBank of India’s
weeklydatashowed.
■Thegoldreserves
increasedby$535
millioninthereporting
weekto$35.728 billion.
by $535 million in the reporting
week to $35.728 billion in the
week ended December 4, the
data showed.
The special drawing rights
(SDRs) with the International
MonetaryFund(IMF)roseby$12
million to $1.506 billion. The
country’s reserve position with
theIMFincreasedby$46million
to $4.725 billion.
spokeswoman Hua Chunying
said on December 4. A spokes-
woman for index provider MSCI
Inc said via e-mail on Friday the
firmhasspokenwithclientsabout
possible changes and will com-
municate “any necessary
changes” soon.
Index FTSE Russell said on
December4itwoulddeleteshares
ofeightChinesecompaniesinlight
of movesbytheWhiteHouse.
S&PDowJonesIndicessaidon
December 10 it would remove
mainland-listed A-shares, Hong
Kong-listed H-shares and
American Depositary Receipts
(ADRs)of10companies. REUTERS
sures of lending institutions to el-
igibleborrowers,includinginvest-
ment exposures. “However, the
resolution framework is without
prejudice to all applicable guide-
linesissuedbytherelevantfinan-
cial sector regulators and other
DepartmentsoftheRBIinrespect
ofanyparticularexposure,”itsaid.
The financial parameters pre-
scribedbytheKamathCommittee
and notified by the RBI on
September 7, 2020 are applicable
onlytoborrowershavingexposure
ofmorethanRs1,500croreforres-
olution plans to be undertaken in
termsofresolutionframework.“If
therearemultiplelendinginstitu-
tionswithexposuretoaborrower
whoseresolutionisundertakenin
terms of the resolution frame-
work,alllendinginstitutionshav-
ingexposuretosuchborrowerare
required to enter into ICA (Inter
CreditorAgreement),”theRBIsaid.
“Only such resolution plans
which receive a credit opinion of
RP4orbetterfortheresidualdebt
fromacreditratingagencywillbe
considered for implementation
OF RISE IN RESIDENTIAL
REAL ESTATE PRICES
COMPAREDTOJunequarter,
India’srankingremainedunchanged.
ATTHETOP
COUNTRY PRICE
APPRECIATION(%)
Turkey 27.3
NewZealand 15.4
Luxembourg 13.4
MOROCCOwastheweakest-
performingterritoryinQ32020,
withhomepricesfallento3.3per
centYoY
WHYISITIMPORTANT?
Inordertocombattheadverse
economicimplicationsofthe
FinMin okays `9,879 crore
capex proposal of 27 states
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
THE FINANCE Ministry on
Saturday said it has approved
Rs 9,879.61 crore worth capital
expenditure proposals of 27
states. Of this, Rs 4,939.81 crore
has been released as the first
instalment.
In a statement, the Ministry
saidallstates,exceptTamilNadu,
have availed benefits of the
newly announced scheme for
‘Special Assistance to States for
Capital Expenditure’, which was
announcedonOctober12aspart
ofAatmaNirbharBharatpackage.
TheMinistrysaidthescheme
is aimed at boosting capital ex-
penditure by the state govern-
mentswhoarefacingdifficultfi-
nancial environment this year
duetotheshortfallintaxrevenue
arising from the pandemic.
Thecapitalexpenditureproj-
ects have been approved in di-
verse sectors like, health, rural
development,watersupply,irri-
EEKING TO IVERSIFY AWAY FROM
LUDWIGBURGER
FRANKFURT,DECEMBER12
BRITAIN’S ASTRAZENECA has
agreed to buy US drugmaker
Alexion Pharmaceuticals for
$39 billion in its largest ever
deal, diversifying away from its
fast-growing cancer business in
a bet on rare-disease and im-
munology drugs.
Thedealcomesinaweekthat
AstraZeneca said it was conduct-
ing further research to confirm
whether its Covid vaccine could
be 90 per cent effective, poten-
under the resolution framework.
In case credit opinion is obtained
from more than one CRA, all such
credit opinions must be RP4 or
better,” it said. Debt facilities/in-
struments with this symbol are
considered to have moderate de-
gree of safety regarding timely
servicing of financial obligations.
Such debt facilities/instruments
carrymoderatecreditrisk.
TheKamathcommitteenoted
that corporate sector debt worth
Rs 15.52 lakh crore has come un-
der stress after Covid-19 hit India,
whileanotherRs22.20lakhcrore
was already under stress before
thepandemic.
ThiseffectivelymeansRs37.72
crore (72 per cent of the banking
sector debt to industry) remains
understress.Thisisalmost37 per
cent of the total non-food bank
credit.TheKamathpanelhassaid
companiesinsectorssuchasretail
trade, wholesale trade, roads and
textiles are facing stress. Sectors
that have been under stress pre-
CovidincludeNBFCs,power,steel,
realestateandconstruction.
47th
RANK IN Q3 2019, AS
AGAINST 54TH IN Q3 2020.
A DECLINE OF 2.4% YoY
IN HOME PRICES
pandemic,realestatedevelopers
startedinnovatingtheirmarketing
strategieswhichincludedfinancial
benefits,discount,andeasy
paymentoptionstoattractbuyers
OUTLOOK
Thoughtheeconomic
fundamentalscontinuetoremain
strong,economicrecoveryisfaster-
than-expected.Thehousingtrend
remainsstrongandisexpectedto
continueinthefirstquarterof2021
4.5%: Theaverageresidential
pricesgrowth(onannualbasis)
across56countriesandterritories
worldwide Source: Knight Frank/PTI
SECTORS THAT
WILL BENEFIT
■ The capital
expenditure projects
have been approved in
diverse sectors like,
health, rural
development, water
supply, irrigation,
power, transport,
education, urban
development.
gation, power, transport, educa-
tion, urban development.
As part of the AatmaNirbhar
Bharatpackage,thegovernment
had announced that the Centre
will offer Rs 12,000 crore special
interest-free 50-year loan to
states, exclusively for capital ex-
penditure.
“Capital Expenditure has a
highermultipliereffect,enhanc-
ing the future productive capac-
ity of the economy,” it added.
tially slowing its rollout, and as a
rival shot from Pfizer was
launchedinBritainandapproved
foruseintheUS.TheBritishcom-
pany said on Saturday that
Alexion shareholders would re-
ceive $60 in cash and about
$115 worth of equity per share —
eitherinAstraZeneca’sUK-traded
ordinary shares or in
dollar-denominated American
Depositary Shares.
Based on a reference average
ADR price of $54.14, that implies
a total price of $175 per share.
Alexion shares closed at around
$121 apiece on Friday.
Crude Watch
OIL PULLS BACK AMID NY COVID CURBS
New York: Oil prices settled lower on Friday, as demand worries due to
new coronavirus-related restrictions on business in New York
overshadowed progress toward vaccination programs. Brent futures
settled down 28 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $49.97 a barrel. REUTERS
93rd ANNUAL CONVENTION OF FICCI
Gadkari calls on India Inc to find
Swadeshi alternatives to imports
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 12
THE DOMESTIC industry needs
to find “Swadeshi” alternatives
to imports from countries like
China, said Minister of Road
Transport and Highways and
Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises Nitin Gadkari
on Saturday.
In order to make India “at-
manirbhar”, the share of the
manufacturing sector in the
country’s gross domestic prod-
uct (GDP) needs to be increased
to 30 per cent from 22-26 per
cent currently, he said at the
annual meeting of the
Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry
(Ficci). Agriculture, on the other
hand, needs to account for over
25 per cent of GDP as opposed
to 14-16 per cent currently,
he added.
Noting that India was im-
porting “a lot of things” in the
automobile sector from China,
Gadkari said, “I am not a busi-
nessman or a business expert
but I am seeing a huge poten-
tial for electric cars, e-bikes,
electric auto rickshaws and
even electric trucks.”
Kant: Need to focus
on sunrise sectors
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,DECEMBER12
NITI AAYOG CEO Amitabh Kant
said on Saturday the government
isworkingtobringdownthe cost
of logistics and cost of power for
Indian industry. He said it has
takenaseriesofmeasurestomake
India highly competitive in the
globaleconomy.
Kant added India needs to fo-
cusonboostingitsmanufacturing
capabilities in sunrise sectors. He
notedthattheProduction-Linked
Incentive(PLI)schemecouldspur
manufacturingandhelpIndiabe-
comealeaderinmanufacturingin
sectorsunderthescheme.
“The only two challenges that
wehaveinthemanufacturingsec-
tor are now bringing down the
cost of logistics on which we are
working, and discoms because I
feelthatthecostofpowerforman-
ufacturing, industrial consumers
is still high compared to other
countries, which needs to be
brought down,” said Kant while
2020s belong to India; focus on new
regulatory standards: Tata Sons chief
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU
MUMBAI, DECEMBER 12
TATA SONS Chairman
NChandrasekaransaidSaturday
the country should focus on tal-
ent, enable data and bandwidth
andbecomepartof thenewreg-
ulatory standards to achieve
higher growth. “I see tremen-
dous, limitless opportunities in
India.Wehaveoftenstruggledto
grow manufacturing as a per
centage of our GDP. We usually
highlightissueslikepower,logis-
tics,andlabour.Wehavepointed
out high-interest rates and have
alsounderstoodregulatoryover-
reach and interference,” he said.
“But in the future, if we put
thisbehindusandasanindustry
ANCER IZ IN A
Vials of AstraZeneca’s
Covishield vaccine at Serum
Institute of India, Pune. File
New Delhi
RoadTransportandHighways
andMSME MinisterNitin
Gadkari. via @ficci_india Twitter
The Minister urged the in-
dustry to look into products,
like magnets and lithium ion
batteries, that are being im-
ported and what is being pro-
duced domestically.
“Whatever the thing which
we are importing we have to
find out the Swadeshi alterna-
tive in the country without
compromising on the quality
and cost. That is exactly the
main mission of Atmanirbhar
Bharat,” he said.
“Hundreds of fields and sec-
tors are there where we can find
NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh
Kant. via @ficci_india Twitter
addressing the Ficci annual con-
ventionviavideoconferencing.
Kantalsosaidtherewasaneed
toshiftfocustoboostingmanufac-
turingcapacityinsunriseareas.
“What, quite often, we do in
India is to focus on sunset areas
of industries, and it’s then very
difficult to penetrate emerging
areas of growth, “ said Kant, not-
ing that 73-74 per cent of India’s
exports were in sectors that ac-
counted for only 30 per cent of
the global market.
Tata Sons Chairman
N Chandrasekaran. via
@ficci_india Twitter
startactingbyvisionaryscale,we
will become a pivot to the new
world order. We need a new fo-
cus on talent, enable data and
bandwidth and we need to be a
part of the new regulatory stan-
ET ON MMUNOLOGY
“It is a tremendous opportu-
nityforustoaccelerateourdevel-
opment in immunology, getting
into a new segment of disease, a
new segment of physicians, and
patients we haven’t been able to
cover so far,” AstraZeneca Chief
Executive Pascal Soriot said.
Alexion’s best-selling drug is
Soliris,usedagainstarangeofrare
immune-disorders including
paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglo-
binuria (PNH), which causes
anaemia and blood clots, and
whose revenue rose 3.6 per cent
in the first nine months to $3 bil-
lion.Astrahopesthatanimproved
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
out this requirement,” he said,
adding that there was a need to
reduce imports and increase ex-
ports in order to make the coun-
try’s economy stronger.
“We can increase our
growth rate and we can even in-
crease the manufacturing sec-
tor (share in GDP) from 22 to 30
per cent,” he said, adding that
there was a need to tap research
institutes for innovative tech-
nologies to help in this regard.
According to Gadkari, there
is also a need for liquidity in the
market.
“I know that there are some
problems. RBI (Reserve Bank of
India) has got Rs 9 lakh crore
deposited by the banks, getting
2 per cent interest. We are try-
ing. The Prime Minister is
telling them to use it for the
people — finance it to the peo-
ple,” he said.
“Without liquidity, we can-
not increase the growth rate
and without growth rate, we
cannot get capital investment
and we cannot increase the
employment potential. And
without employment poten-
tial, we cannot eradicate
poverty and, without that, we
cannot make Atmanirbhar
Bharat,” he said.
‘No pressure
on regulator to
make decision
on vaccine’
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
NEWDELHI,DECEMBER12
INDIAWILLonlygrantemergency
useapprovaltoaCovid-19vaccine
on the basis of factors like safety,
immunogenicityandefficacy,said
NitiAayogMember-HealthDrVK
PaulSaturday.
“Ourregulatorwill(make)the
right decision...indeed, safety, im-
munogenicity and efficacy will
drivethedecision,”saidPaul.
“These decisions will be sci-
ence-based, evidenced-based,
rules-based, norms based...We
haveabsolutelynopressureonthe
regulator to (make) the decision
one way or the other,” he said,
adding that the regulator’s deci-
sionmakingprocessisrespected.
The Drugs Controller General
of Indiaisalsointouchwithregu-
latory authorities in the UK and
working together with respect to
“aparticularvaccinewhichiscom-
montoboththenations,”saidPaul.
dards,” Chandrasekaran said.
He said the impact of Covid
on innovation has been all-per-
vasive and models of working
from home are making all com-
panies rethink the future
of work.
“Myrootsthatareembedded
in technology make me see the
pandemicanditsimpactonIndia
in a very positive frame of mind.
The 2020s belong to India,” he
said. He added self-evident
trends — advancement of digital
data by almost a decade during
the pandemic, decoupling of
ChinafromtheUnitedStatesthat
signifiesthatcountriesandcom-
panies will need to de-risk and
balance their supply chains on a
marketing basis for the future —
fortify this belief.
RUGS
version of Soliris called Ultomiris
has an even larger market poten-
tial. It expects more growth from
introducing the target’s rare-dis-
ease treatments to China and
other emerging markets.
TheBritishfirmsaidtheboards
of both companies had approved
thedealwhichisexpectedtoclose
inthethirdquarterof 2021.
AstraZenecawasonceseenas
leadingtheracetodevelopaCovid
vaccine, but has fallen behind
PfizeranditspartnerBioNTech,as
well as Moderna, whose shots
have shown greater efficacy in
late-stageclinicaltrials. REUTERS

THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE
POINT OF VIEW
Kitchen Diaries
How the regional and the global come together
in the Rashtrapati Bhavan kitchen
TOY
STORY
Play is serious business. A peek into
the world of toy start-ups in India
Paromita Chakrabarti
O
UTSIDE THE forest, a board
welcomes visitors into its
canopied universe. A single
slender loris peeks from a
branch. As the park gates
open, the four jeeps make
their way into the protected forest area from
different zones. The roads are sinuous and
every turn brings surprises. Sometimes, it’s a
birdcallthatalertsthevisitorstothepresence
ofwildlifeahead.Sometimes,ahalf-glimpsed
watering hole holds that promise. Like all
forests,thisone,too,demandscourtesy.Ifyou
speak loudly instead of letting the silence of
theforestdrawyouin,therearepenalties.But
forthosewhoplaybytherule,theforestgives
youbraggingrightsafterwards,rewardingyou
with sights that you’d always dreamed of. A
roll of the dice and you could catch sight of a
lionhuntinghisprey;anotherrollanditcould
even be the elusive cheetah with its cubs.
While the COVID-19 lockdown was in
place, it was this board game — African
Savannah by the brand Kaadoo — that had
kept Srimanti B occupied. The 11-year-old
wouldhavebeenonherfirsttriptoaforestin
Maythisyearbut,asalltravelplanscollapsed
undertheweightof thepandemic,itwasthis
boardgameshereceivedasagiftfromherun-
cle that came to the Hyderabad-based fifth
former’srescue.“Ijustlikedtheideaof travel-
lingwiththegamebecauseIcouldn’tevengo
outtomeetmyfriends.Ihadn’theardofsome
of the animals, so later, I would look them up
on Google. It was good fun,” she says.
It was the kind of immersive experience
that the makers of the game had hoped for
when they came up with the idea of creating
board games about five years ago. “Kaadoo is
a play on kaadu, which means forest and/or
jungle in south Indian languages such as
Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam. The objec-
tive was to expose people to the wonders of
thenaturalworldinafun,engagingandnon-
threateningmanner.Weknewthattable-top
games is an under-represented segment in
India and this gave us the hope that the busi-
ness,ifexecutedwell,standsagoodchanceto
succeed in the market,” says Ganesh
Subramaniam,acharteredaccountantandan
entrepreneur, who built the brand with
wildlifephotographerDiineshKumbleandvi-
sual communicator Raviraj Joshi. Since
Kaadoo’slaunchinOctober2015withtwosa-
fari-based board games, the brand has now
growntoofferabout50boardgames,puzzles,
strategyandcardgames.Markedbysleekde-
signs and attention to detail, their games
measure up to the standard set by evergreen
boardgamessuchasCluedo,ScotlandYardor
Settlers of Catan.
Even before the Prime Minister urged
Indian entrepreneurs to promote India’s cul-
tural heritage through home-grown toys in
hismonthlyradioaddressinAugustthisyear,
a start-up culture had slowly begun taking
shape in the segment over the last five years.
Hyderabad-based Pramod Ponnaluri and
his wife Rohini Deepthi Natti launched Kitki,
anexperientiallearningcompanyin2013,that
would partner with schools in the region to
organise curriculum-based workshops and
field visits. Soon, they realised that not much
hadchangedsincetheywereinschool—there
wasnotenoughfocusonmakinglearningfun.
In 2015, Kitki began designing educational
board games for 8+ years, with a focus on
mathematics, history and natural science. At
atimewhenboardgamesandtoysarejostling
with online games for attention, Ponnaluri
says, their games aim to be both entertaining
and cerebrally engaging. In Three Sticks, for
instance, a board game that focuses on con-
ceptsofgeometry,playerswinpointsbymak-
ingcomplexshapeswithalimitednumberof
sticks. In Fossil Wars, a card game, dinosaur
fossilshavetobeassembledasexhibits,based
on parameters of age, food habits, etc.
Eachgame,saysPonnaluri,takesbetween
fourandsixmonthstodesign.“Whichmeans
thatonceweidentifyatopicfrommathorsci-
ence or any other subject, we may quickly
ideateonthecoregameplaybutwespendalot
of time in refining it. In the end, the game has
to be as good as any game — not just good
enough for an educational game. Each game
typically goes through 10+ iterations, inter-
WAYS TO WONDERLAND
(From top) The best toys are those that make the child an active participant in play; Arvind
Gupta; Surabhi and Sudarshana Khanna at a workshop in Germany
spersed with internal and external play-test-
ing.Evenafterallthis,thereweretimeswhen
we chose to not launch a game because we
weren'tconvincinglyproudof thefinalprod-
uct,” says Ponnaluri.
If Kaadoo and Kitki cater to a pre-teen to
adult audience, there have been others who
havesteppedintofillthelacunaeintheIndian
toy market for younger children. In 2012,
DECEMBER 13, 2020 | WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM | PAGE 13
COURTESY:ARVINDGUPTA
COURTESY:SURABHIKHANNA
when Meeta Sharma Gupta, 43, returned to
India from the US and settled in Bengaluru,
she was struck by the lack of options in age-
appropriate toys for her two sons, then aged
three years and nine months, respectively.
Aversetogivingherchildrenthereadily-avail-
able “Made in China” toys, Gupta began
searching for niche manufacturers, who of-
fered high production values and innovative
designs.Overthenexttwoyears,asshecame
in contact with a community of like-minded
parents and small-scale producers and de-
signers, she realised that there was a ready
market for play and development toys for in-
fants and toddlers. The idea of Shumee was
born,anonlinetoystorecateringtoearly-year
play needs, that she formalised in 2014.
“Children learn a lot through play and I
found that like me, there were other
parents too, who knew what sort of
toystheywanted theirchildrentobe
introducedtoorwhatsafetystan-
dards they wanted manufac-
turers to adhere to,” she says.
Asachild,she’dgrownupwith
wooden toys and Gupta found
herself gravitating towards the
material, replacing plastic with
wood and other eco-friendly materi-
als in the toys and games her brand pro-
duces.Theseincludeeverythingfrompretend
wooden medical sets to toy utensils, stamp
sets and Ramayana memory games to even
games based on folk tales. Operating with a
lean team and having an online store to re-
duceoverheadshavehelpedmaintainthebal-
ance between price and quality. “In a price-
sensitivemarketlikeIndia,that'scrucial,”says
Gupta, who has a strong client base among
NRI parents in the US, the UK and the UAE.
■ ■ ■
If play is intrinsic to childhood, it is also
markedbydegreesof inequalityandinacces-
sibility. In the years after liberalisation, while
the easy availability of plastic factory-made
Chinese imports disadvantaged the various
toy hubs in the country — the wooden
Channapatna toy makers in Karnataka, the
clay-doll industry in West Bengal’s
Krishnanagar or the Kutchi toys of Gujarat, to
name a handful — it also raised the aspira-
tional appeal of visually-pleasing, steeply-
priced mass-produced toys such as
Barbie dolls. A new culture of play
emerged that prioritised consump-
tionoverinnovationandunder-
mined the painstaking work
thatwentintomud,clothorwooden
toys in favour of “fast” plastic toys.
For almost all his working life, Delhi-
based design educator Sudarshan Khanna,
credited with revolutionising toy design in
SPOTLIGHT
‘Politics is an extension
of my activism’
India-born urban planner Nithya Raman on
winning the Los Angeles city council member seat
ILLUSTRATION:SUVAJITDEY
the country, has worked towards the de-
mocratisation of play. Khanna’s pioneering
engagement with toys began 40 years ago,
when he taught at the National Institute of
Design (NID), Ahmedabad, and where he
was instrumental in starting its toy and
game design programme in 2001. “In India,
we never looked at toys from a design per-
spective. Our approach always was to
copy something that was being
sold in the West. To make a good
toy, one needs to understand the
principles of play. Unless a toy is
an act of discovery for a child,
what purpose does it serve?”
asks the septuagenarian.
Khanna,whowasconferred
the National Award in 1996 for
his contribution to design sci-
ence for children, believes that the
best toys are those that break down the ru-
ral-urban divide by being accessible to all and
by making the child an active participant in
play.Overtheyears,hehascollectedtoysfrom
around the country, understanding the prin-
ciples behind their actions and says some of
his best learnings have come from rural toy-
makers. In his hands, twigs and twine, dis-
carded bits of cardboard, paper, pencils and
shells and other expendables have come to-
gether to magically form spinners and
boomerangs, wind wheels and mango-seed
fans,givingchildrenaninsightintoeasyscien-
tific principles and encouraging the ability to
thinkforthemselves.“Peoplethinkexpensive
toysarealwaysbetter,butmyresponsetothat
is that it’s like well-presented junk food. It al-
wayslooksmoreappetisingthanhealthyfood.
New Delhi
A good toy is based on ideas rather than ma-
terials.Thebestlearningfromatoycomesfrom
breaking it and then remaking it,” he says.
It’s a philosophy that is endorsed by an-
other play pioneer in the country, Arvind
Gupta.Fordecades,Gupta,67,has introduced
children from all kinds of backgrounds to the
simplepleasureoffashioningtoysoutofwaste
materials,and,throughit,learnaboutbasicsci-
entificprinciples.“Someday,Idreamthatevery
housing society in the country will have an
apartment reserved for children for an activ-
itycentre,whereallkindsofjunk—plasticbot-
tles,usedpens,cartons,newspapersandsome
ordinarycrafttools—willfindaplace.Here,all
theneighbourhoodkidswillcomeandhavea
great time making toys. All for free,” he says.
Both Khanna and Gupta are hopeful that
the government’s push for indigenous toys
will give the industry a much-needed boost
and motivate manufacturers to invest in re-
search and development that keep in mind
the demographic variety they are meant to
cater to. And, in keeping with their vision of
inclusivity,theyhopethatthe small-timetoy
makersofIndia,whoworkwithminimalma-
chinery and little support, will not be over-
looked in the process; that the ease of busi-
ness that the government is pushing for will
embrace them, too.
In the years since Khanna set up the toy-
design course at NID, most design institutes
now offer a course in toy making. But Gupta
believes change can only happen when it is
initiated at the grassroots level. “A few years
ago,thePrimeMinistergavetheslogan‘Make
inIndia’.Perhaps,soonherealisedthatunless
children dirty their hands and start making
thingsinschool,rightfromkindergarten,there
will never be a ‘make in India’. The Atal
Tinkering Labs in schools (both private and
government)isasplendididea.Itisoneof the
best initiatives to unleash creativity of ordi-
narychildren.Theycanmakesimplemodels,
learnfromeachotherandenjoythefunofdo-
ing real science,” says Gupta.
SincethePrimeMinister’scall,variouspro-
posals are underway to promote India’s in-
digenous toy industry. These include the in-
clusion of toy making in the National
Education Policy 2020, the implementation
of a mandatory quality control standard for
imported toys and a similar safety certifica-
tionforhome-grownones,besidesa
plan to build the world’s largest toy
museum in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar.
While the wider implications of the
impetus and how its implementation pans
out — particularly for small-time toymakers
spread across India who have little knowl-
edge of bureaucratic processes — remain to
be seen, the start-ups are hopeful that the
pushwillhelptheindustry.“There’snodoubt
that we were finding it very difficult to com-
pete with the scale at which some of the for-
eign competitors were operating. We were
being undercut massively. With thisgovern-
mentinitiativetopromotedomesticproduc-
tion, we are hoping that the bleeding of do-
mestic brands will reduce and there will be
an incentive to be more innovative,” says
Subramaniam. While Gupta hopes that the
regulatory process and its bureaucratic red
tape would ease up to accommodate small
businesses like hers, Ponnaluri emphasises
the need for larger production facilities. “We
havealwaysproducedourgamesinIndia,ex-
ceptforafewtinycomponentssuchaspawns
and dice, which we import from China. We
have not found the right partners in India for
these wooden components and the duties
leviedontheimportshurtus.Wehopebigger
factories are set up in India, where such
wooden components would become avail-
able and economically viable for game de-
signers like us,” he says.
■ ■ ■
In a country like India, with a vibrant tra-
ditionofheritagetoys,playandplaythingsare
also tied up in memory. Khanna’s daughter
Surabhi, 34, faculty of industrial design at the
NID, Haryana, says that one of the things that
she always tries to pass on to her students is
the link between an individual’s memory of
play and how that can enhance one’s ap-
proach to a design that endures. “Play is not
just about creativity but also about continu-
ity. I always tell my students that the design
should bring out some of our own stories or
memories,” she says.
This element of familiarity is what lends
a continuum to our memories of play across
generations. Mumbai-based Pritha Roy
Gupta,38,grewupplayingranna-bati(cook-
ery games), playing teacher to her mother’s
plants or using her grandmother’s towel to
pitchatent.“AlthoughIhaddolls,
somehowIwasprettydestruc-
tive and broke them quite
badly,” she says. She has intro-
duced her four-year-old son
Anshuk to cooking sets and puz-
zles, Lego blocks and other
toys.Whilethefirstisahit,
thereissomethingelsethatises-
peciallyclosetohisheart—construction
vehicles — especially “monster trucks and
dumpertrucks”hetrills,echoinggenerations
of little boys before him.
 EYE, THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE

14 P O I N T O F V I E W DECEMBER 13, 2020

EYE SPY
EVERY FORTNIGHT, WE PICK, YOU WATCH

Papa Don’t
Preach

MEN WILL BE BOYS

Rashida Jones and Bill Murray

On The Rocks tackles fathers,

daughters and failing marriages
Shubhra Gupta

I
S THERE a couple, anywhere on the planet, which
doesn’t experience a sense of drift some years into
cohabiting? Being joint at the hip is automatic in the
initial rosy period, with partners bereft when apart
even for a few hours. But things change. Before you know
PHOTOSCOURTESYRASHTRAPATIBHAVAN
it, you’ve clocked a few anniversaries, added a member to

Kitchen Chronicles
the family and the little person is sucking up all your en-
ergy, not to mention your waking hours, and hey, ho, ro-
mance is out of the window.
Sofia Coppola doesn’t waste any time building pream-
bles in her latest, On The Rocks, streaming on Apple TV.
Could Laura’s husband Dean be involved with another
woman? He’s a textbook case of “men with other things
on their mind”: suddenly turning ultra-busy at the office,
being too touchy-feely with a stunning colleague, keeping
phone chats private, and, that most suspicious thing of all, The Rashtrapati Bhavan kitchen has a delicacieswillestablishIndiancuisineonthe
globalmapandbringMichelinstarstoIndian
work trips where said colleague comes along. Could the chefs. The journey, which started with
marriage, not to put too fine a point on it, be on the rocks?
Coppola’s got a fine cast working their way smoothly
culinary reach which celebrates the Mughlaiandtandooripreparations,hasnow
arrived at a stage where regional cuisine is
through this question. Rashida Jones and Marlon Wayans
feel like a real-life couple in how they dodge conversa-
regional yet has an impact on the global pie provingtobeaneffectivemodeof fooddiplo-
macy, even as we celebrate our ancient her-
tions which may not be easily rolled back from: rather itage on the dining table.
than confront the ever-busy Dean, Laura prefers to Achint Raj Caroli food. Mohd. Sirajuddin, a retired chief store- Today, menus are carefully drafted.
bounce her troubles off her father (Bill Murray), an ageing keeper, remembers how the cooks were SignaturedishessuchasdalRaisinahavecre-

man-about-town who doesn’t quite believe he’s getting
older. And wrinklier.
More than merely focussing on the problems of mod-
ern coupledom, exacerbated by the pressures of parent-
hood, in which one partner picks up much more of the
domestic slack, the film is interested in how women ne-
gotiate the bends that crop up on their path to self-actual-
isation. When it’s a man, the time that goes into building a
career at the cost of everything else is largely forgiven.
Dean is aware that Laura has been left, literally, holding
the baby and the bathwater while getting chores done
and trying to break a writing jinx, but that’s not going to
stop him from waltzing out through the door.
Boys will be boys, whether they are young hunks
shimmying up the corporate ladder or playboys on the
slope of old age. For a while, the film teeters on the brink
of sitcom territory (men and women cannot be friends!
they have to be hitting on each other!), but rescues itself
by introducing a degree of complexity. It’s interesting how
Felix, who roams insouciantly around the world, hopping
from one five-star hotel to another, is so willing to think
the worst of his son-in-law. There’s no giving Dean the
benefit of the doubt; look, look, there he goes, and there
she (the colleague) is, he tells Laura, peering through his
binoculars, as they go spying on the streets of New York.
As much as Felix loves moralising about other men
and infidelity, he himself is no innocent. All these years,
Laura has been vaguely aware of her dear papa’s proclivi-
ties, (her mother having made the best of her own mar-
riage) but it’s only when the scales fall off her eyes does
she really understand how shallow he is.
Murray, an old Coppola hand, is in cracking form. For a
man who has lived by his own dodgy rules, and who
thinks that no one is good enough for his darling daugh-
ter, he stands exposed. Daddy doesn’t always know best.
T
trained tocutup, marinate and bake a whole ated their own niche and attract media at-
HE DELICATE local flavours, vast fish before reassembling it on a serving plat- tention whenever incorporated in menus.
pan-Indian culinary repertoire ter to look as though the fish was still whole. Thepeculiarityof themenuscraftedherelies
and distinctively conceptualised Healsorecallstherigoroustrainingimparted in the fact that it reflects a perfect blend of
service patterns of the by French chefs to confectioners to teach Indian traditional dishes merged delicately
RashtrapatiBhavankitchenhave them to play with caramelised and spun with great food presentation. For instance,
anextremelyrichandinterestinghistory.The sugar for creating lip-smacking desserts for pre-plated tandoori crevetteserved on a bed
journeydatesbackto1931whentheViceroy formal banquets. of raw papaya salad, complemented with
House was the epicentre of British colonial During the 1950s and ’60s, as India mint and sweet ’n’ sour chilli sauce was
COOK TO
power and the palace-cum-home of Lord walkedontotheglobalstage,theRashtrapati doori chicken, nargisi kofta, chaman matar, widely appreciated when served during a
Irwin. It was run on the same lines as Bhavan was a window to showcase Indian CONNECT Raisina pulaoandnaan.Inthelate 1960s,the state banquet recently. At every banquet, the
Buckingham Palace, where household and food to the world. Initially, the food contin- The journey of the Rashtrapati Bhavan kitchens got a well-de- colour scheme of table linen, flower themes
hospitality operations were managed by a ued to be Anglicised-French in style, but Rashtrapati Bhavan served section of Indian sweets. By the late and on-table dottings of small eats and bev-
colossalteam of about500 gradually, pre-plated kitchen, which ’70s, Indian food was firmly established on erages are carefully chosen to match the
employees, comprising meals were replaced with the menu. Consommés were replaced with colours of the guest nation’s flag. On March
started with Mughlai
cooks, bakers, patissiers, traditional Indian thalis. shorbas, fried fish with kebabs, steaks with 25, the combination of red, white and blue
khansamas (traditional International customs and tandoori koftas and, last but not the least, soufflés and linen complemented the flower theme as an
cooks), butlers, utility such as raising the toast preparations, has custards with badam kheer and kulfis. honour to President Donald Trump.
workers,florists,sanitation were still followed but now arrived at a Shafiullah, the master cook, identified by Highlights of the meal for the US president
workers, laundry and so with a twist, as bubbling stage where regional President Rajendra Prasad during his visit to included Cajun-spiced tandoori salmon, a
on. The building had full- champagne made way for cuisine is proving to the Nizam of Hyderabad, introduced tradi- pre-plated dessert of hazelnut pie with salty
fledged culinary opera- colourful,thirst-quenching tional Awadhi dishes such as kachche gosht caramel sauce and malpua rabri roll — a per-
tions with kitchen, confec-
tionary,larderandscullery
Living History sherbets.
Till the mid ’60s,hardly
be an effective mode
of food diplomacy,
ki biryani and qormas to the Rashtrapati
Bhavan culinary repertoire. People credit
fect example of East-West symphony.
The Rashtrapati Bhavan staff frequently
sections. These were well An Indian Express any Indian food was even as we celebrate Shafiullah with introducing the Punjabi tan- undergo residential training at the premier
complemented with a collaboration with the cooked in the Rashtrapati our ancient heritage door, a novelty in those days. The tandoor culinary and hospitality institutes in India.
wine cellar, linen rooms, Bhavankitchensbutjustas on the dining table complementedtheMughlaicuisinewelland The executive chef here is a member of the
glass and china rooms.
Rashtrapati Bhavan the aroma of Indian spices made it a great combination to grace ban- Clubdes Chefs de Chefs (CCC),thatbringsto-
Back in those days, the cannot be restrained or re- quet menus through the 1970s and ’80s. getherchefs of the heads of state from across
menuswerepredominantlybasedonFrench sisted, the decision-makers could not hold During the 1990s, awareness about re- the world. CCC organises its annual general-
cuisine with delicacies such as turtle con- back on Indian delicacies for too long. They gional cuisines grew. It was president R assembly meet in a member nation and is
sommé, butter soft filetmignons and stuffed secured a place on banquet menus, when Venkataraman who made the south Indian received by the head of state. In 2016, for the
quails. The British rejected Indian food and heads of states visited. It all began in March idlis and utthapam a regular item on the first time, India hosted the event.
considered pre-plated meats with vegeta- 1963, when the meal served to Fazil Küçük, Rashtrapati Bhavan menu. Initially, it was
blesasaccompaniments,toppedwithdiffer- vicepresidentof Cyprus,beganwithalmond considered to be too humble to be served in AchintRajCaroli,additionalcomptrollerof
ent sauces, to be more elegant. Presentation soup and continental entrée, but the main banquets. Little did people know that some President’shousehold,isin-chargeofhospitality
was the most important feature of viceregal course was a veritable Indian feast of tan- day the popularity of these regional Indian attheRashtrapatiBhavan

The Joy of Giving

The Secret Santa tradition is a great opportunity to support local artists and
businesses in a particularly challenging year
breathing the madness that is holiday shop- try during the pandemic. Instead of waiting

SLICEOFLIFE ping.
So, it seems oddly wonderful to me that
this year I find myself thinking of the tradi-
tion of Secret Santa, not with my usual dis-
dain, but as a worthwhile indulgence, times
two.Worthwhilenotonlyfortheactof giving
itself,butalsoforthosewhosebusinesseswe
can support.
We don’t need to go too far beyond our
doorsteps to know who needs the good
gracesof aSecretSanta.Touchingeachof our
lives are women and men who are doing all
they can to keep together life as they knew it
in March. Many are being torn apart in ways
wecanneverunderstand,andfacinguglyre-
alities that have even uglier repercussions.
Joblessness, hunger, homelessness, suicide,
depression are rife. These challenging times
pose questions with no easy answers.
Inthesetimesof uncertaintyandendless
for his old job to come back to him, this New
Delhi-born 26-year-old chef resigned from
his furloughed job after five months of wait-
ingandstartedhisownbakeryfromthecom-
fort—andchallenge—of hishome.Beginning
withahandfulof items,henowtakesoncus-
tom orders and larger affairs. His Instagram
handle @Glazefactory is very popular with
the cognoscenti. This is a small business that
oughttobeyourgo-tobakeryinsteadof out-
fits that are part of larger corporations.
Supporting his small establishment brings
you bespoke treats and novel discoveries of
flavours, textures and tastes.
AAMIRRABBANI
For my birthday, I cut into Vardaan’s
tiramisu cake that was better than any BE VOCAL choose not to. Queer artists face even more theabilitytokeepcreatingbeautytoinspireus
tiramisu I have had anywhere. His chicken FOR LOCAL adversitiesinlifethantheirstraightcounter- and stay inspired himself.
quiche,mangocheesecake,chewychocolate parts.Aamir’sartsharesvisuallywhatmostof Vardaan,aculinaryartist,andAamir,avi-
cookies and savoury vegetarian turnovers
Instead of giving in to uscannotverbaliseoutof fearorsimplyalack sual artist, are two of several people I have
also give more than just the expected. mindless of vocabulary. Through colour, strokes and gone to as I seek local businesses to support.

SuvirSaran tragedy, we need Secret Santa. We need to

Suvir Saran is a chef, author, educator
and world traveller
HAVINGSPENTalmostaquarterof acentury
in the US, I have always been loath to join in
the horrid, all-consuming vulgarity that is
gifting at Christmas.
Cut-throat capitalism and mindless con-
sumerismaretheinertiathatleadsotherwise
sane and mindful people to start living and
givegiftstoothers,anonymously,generously,
andonanongoingbasis.Weneedtoencour-
age, surprise and delight each other as often
and as much as we are able to.
The pandemic has destroyed livelihoods
as well as lives. It has shuttered businesses
that were sustaining minds and bodies, giv-
ing employment and hope. It has brought
stress and uncertainty much closer home
than before.
MymenteeVardaanMarwahmadepeace
withtheuncertaintyof thehospitalityindus-
Before the pandemic hit, 28-year-old
Aamir Rabbani was the main visual artist for
one of India’s leading stationers. Whereas
consumption during
the gifting season, we
can spread joy by
Vardaanfoundhisjobfurloughed,Aamirde- supporting small,
cided to leave a steady income and familiar
struggling businesses
work environment to pursue his passions.
Aamir’sworkhasarefinedsensibilitythat
isatonceoldworldandyouthfullikehim.His
artistic creations run the gamut from land-
scapes and still life to paintings of moments
that haunt us in the here and now.
India is at that moment in history where
a person need not hide their identity if they
form, he gives shape to what we all see and
feel, what we think and want to say, but are
too afraid or just unable to put forth.
Aamir’swebsitegivesaverycursoryintro-
duction to his peerless strengths as an artist
and to his wide repertoire. True to his artistic
persona, selling his work is not his driving
force.Asavocationalartdirector,hestrivesto
keephislifeafloat,andwhenthisdayjobends,
hebringstherealAamiralive.Formymother’s
birthday,Ipurchasedoneofhisearlywatercol-
ors and it will now bring pleasure to her and
allwhovisither.ThatpurchasewillgiveAamir
I hope you will go to them and also find oth-
ers that you can encourage in their new ven-
tures during the holiday season.
If each of us can become a Secret Santa
and support local artists, home chefs, small
restaurantsandbusinesses,wecanhelpkeep
our neighbourhoods, communities, cities,
countries and our world both happier and
morecivilised,despitetheturmoilcausedby
the coronavirus.
Think,act,influence,giveandsupportlo-
cally by inspiring, engaging, giving and
connecting globally.

New Delhi

DECEMBER 13, 2020
Shiny Varghese
L
ASTMONTH,NithyaRamanmade
the unthinkable possible. She be-
camethefirstcitycouncilmember
to unseat an incumbent in Los
Angeles. But before her historic
win,Raman,39,trainedinurbanplanningand
governanceandhasbeenacommunityleader
both in India and the US.
BorninThrissur,RamanleftfortheUSwith
her family at the age of six. Later, she would
live in Chennai (her husband’s family hails
from Madurai and Tenkasi) and start the
Transparent Chennai initiative. It empowers
slumdwellers—byusingmapsanddata—to
access basic services like
clean toilets and drinking
water, and to find a voice in I was so frustrated
local governance.
In 2013, the Harvard with my elected
University and MIT gradu-
ate moved to LA, and representatives...I
worked with the City
AdministrativeOfficerofLos decided to run
Angeles. She found out that
much of the city spending myself. I’m in this
on homelessness, around
$100million,wasusedinar- role to implement
resting people than in serv-
ices, outreach or safe hous-
the changes I’ve
ing.In2017,sheco-founded
SELAH Neighborhood
been fighting for as a
Homeless Coalition, to pro-
videmeals,clothing,health-
community leader
care, housing and employ-
ment support to the homeless.
She had heard stories of people having to
moveoutof neighbourhoodsbecauseof high
rentals and saw how the protests over the
deathofGeorgeFloydinMaymarkedthefault
linesinpolicefundingandbrutality.Ithelped
her shift the conversation on homelessness
fromitbeingaproblemtoprovidingthetools
to help these people. As the former executive
directorofTime’sUpEntertainment,bornout
of the #MeToo movement, she also focused
onequityandsafetyforwomeninHollywood.
Her race to the primary and elections
meant knocking on 80,000 doors in the 4th
‘Astad was a genius who could never sit still’
Puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee recalls how the inimitable
Astad Deboo revolutionised the way the world saw Indian
contemporary dance and brought music to the deaf
I FIRST met Astad Deboo in 1981 when I was
at the Shri Ram Centre for Art and Culture in
Delhi,runningtheSutradharPuppetTheatre.
He had come with a group of friends who
weresupportinghimindoinguphissetsand
lighting. After that, we met off and on, when
he performed in Delhi or I in Mumbai, where
he was based.
Astad was a genius who could never sit
still. He travelled all over the world and had a
huge group of friends and people whom he
knewfromtheworldofartsandculturalinsti-
tutions. When he toured, everything was
planned ahead and minutely. Unlike many
dancers,whoareconfinedtotheirform,Astad
had many different interests across the arts,
frommusictofilms.Intheearlydays,weused
tospeakalotaboutmusicandInoticedthathe
usedalotof(Americancomposer)PhilipGlass
music.Recently,hehadmovedontohavinga
lot of his music composed by artiste Yukio
Tsuji, a Japanese composer and performer.
Intheearlydays,heusedtoalsocreatedif-
ferent solo pieces on subjects such as drugs. I
remember the remarkable piece from the
1980sMangaloreStreet,depictingscenesfrom
the streets of Mumbai, in which he used
movements to bring alive the characters he
hadseen.Itwasin the mid-to-late 1980s that
weworkedtogetheronourfirstpuppet-and-
dance collaboration, a 15-minute piece coin-
cidentallycalledFriends,whichhascomeinto
a lot of my performances since then.
S P O T L I G H T
District, pretty much the centre of LA, with
over2,000volunteersbyherside.Unlikeother
corporate-funded campaigns, Raman chose
togotothepeople.Shespeaksabouthowshe
grew into a community advocate, her cam-
paigninLA’sdiverseneighbourhoodandhow
the “outsider” tag helped her win. Excerpts:
How did issues of land rights and the
homeless become your areas of interest?
I was in Delhi before the Commonwealth
Games(2010)andhadreadabouttheYamuna
Pushta(embankment)evictions,wheremore
than100,000peoplelosttheirhomes.Ibegan
working with slum-based organisations,
fighting evictions and asking for basic serv-
ices. Seeing how the government decisions
negatively impacted the
lives and livelihoods of so
manymademerealisehow
important urban gover-
nancewas.Thatpushedme
to study urban planning.
COMMUNITY
What prompted the
urban planner to contest
(From top) Nithya
elections and what has
this journey meant?
I was so frustrated with
my elected representatives
andhowlittletheyweredo-
ing to address the city’s
biggest issues — especially
in a city like Los Angeles,
whereourlocalgovernment
has so much power and
control. Finally, I decided to
run myself. For me, stepping into politics was
an extension of my activism. I am in this role
because I want to be able to implement the
changesthatIhavebeenfightingforasacom-
munity leader. I had to learn to communicate
policyideaswhichcouldbeunderstoodbyvot-
ers,usetoolslikesocialmedia,videosandshort
public speeches. I even had to communicate
with people who did not always agree with
me and convince them to give me a chance.
Did being an ‘outsider’ in politics work to
your advantage?
In some ways, I was lucky to be ignorant
Itwasadancepiecefeaturingalargepup-
pet and Astad, and set to Ryuichi Sakamoto’s
music from the 1987 (Bernardo Bertolucci)
film The Last Emperor. It is about how in a
friendship, one dominates the other. This
causes tension between the human and the
puppet,untilthelatter,allofasudden,realises
itspowerandflingsthedancer,therebytaking
over the human. Thereafter, the two try to
come together but cannot. It turned out to be
averyrealisticpiece.Wetravelledwidelywith
it, including at Café de la Danse in Paris, with
a group comprising architect Ratan Batliboi
and artist Banoo Batliboi, among others.
We did another piece later, in the early
1990s, called Thanatomorphia or The Many
FacesofDeath,comprisinghisdancersandour
puppeteers such as Puran Bhatt (who would
win a Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar in
2003). It looked at death in myriad ways — as
amythicalstatewhereYamraj(theHindugod
of death) lurks even as Krishna and the gopis
play; asa liberator, where an oldman is wait-
ingfordeathandisnotscaredlikeothers.The
piece ends with a celebration of life. We trav-
elled through the US, the UK, Canada and
Singapore with Thanatomorphia.
I found a lot of dance inspiration for my
works and he used puppetry in many ways,
mostrecentlyinapieceonGoddessKalicalled
YourGrace(partofInterpretingTagore)in2012,
whichwaswiththeyoungerpuppeteersfrom
Delhi, among others. When I did The
EYE, THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE
‘Stepping into
politics was an
extension of
my activism’
India-born urban planner Nithya Raman, who
assumes office tomorrow, on winning the Los
Angeles city council member seat and why
accountability in local governance is important
PHOTOSCOURTESYNITHYARAMAN
of the way things are supposed to be done.
BUILDER Had I known more about what people say it
takestowinarace,Imaynothaverunagainst
an incumbent, nor would I have run against
Raman; at an someone so stunningly well-funded.
election rally
What were the unpredictable moments
of your campaign?
Thereweresomany!Afterhavingbuiltan
incredibly effective door-to-door campaign
operation in the primary, we’d to completely
transformourapproach,duringthepandemic,
forthegeneralelection.Forexample,tomake
upfornotbeingabletohaveone-on-onecon-
versations,wehadvolunteerswritepostcards
(around60,000)andhadpeopledropoffbags
of literature to their neighbours with hand-
written Post-it notes on them.
My favourite was when my then 4-year-
oldtwins,ateventsduringtheprimary,would
interrupt me during my speech to ask for
snacks, or run in circles around me as I was
speaking. I had to learn how to stay focused.
In the hugely polarised US election, where
were the intersections among voters?
In a city like LA, almost everyone is a
Democrat, so the differences between politi-
RITAMBANERJEE
GONE WITH THE WIND
The late Astad Deboo in Unbroken Unbowed (2019-20)
ciansdonotfallalongtraditionalpartylines.To
me, the differences between voters fell along
twomajoraxes—betweenrenters,whofaced
more housing insecurity and were very con-
cernedaboutrisingrentsandhousingsupply,
and homeowners, who had different con-
cerns.Buteveryonecareddeeplyabouthome-
lessness, traffic, and air quality, and wanted
more effective government.
Your fight with opponent David Ryu has
been called the ‘future of LA politics’.
This was the first election when the mu-
nicipalelectionsweremovedtobeheldatthe
same time as the federal elections. In our dis-
trict,becauseof ourextensivevoteroutreach,
voter turnout really exploded, far more than
other city council districts — from 24,000 in
the last general election for this seat to more
than130,000voters.Itshowsthatthebroader
electorateinLAisveryprogressive.Electedof-
ficials and future candidates will have to
reckon with this new, progressive electorate.
You defeated a sitting council member —
a first in LA. What helped people make
that choice?
Ontheissuesthatmatterthemosttopeo-
ple,thecityhasbeenmovinginthewrongdi-
rection.Asaresult,makingthecaseforchange
waseasierthanbefore.Iwasalsorunningata
timethatsawaprofoundinterestinlocalpol-
itics because of the protests against Floyd’s
murder.Also,LAhasaveryuniqueneighbour-
hood structure. It has sometimes been de-
scribed as a set of smaller cities and towns
ratherthanasonelargecity.Oneofthebiggest
challenges was to create a real sense of local
community and connection.
Manymorepeoplewerelookingtothelo-
cal government to push for change and were
receptive to a candidate who spoke more di-
rectly on these issues. I believe our campaign
wasabletochangeoraddtothewayinwhich
many residents interacted with the city.
What awaits as you take office?
WearefacinganotherCOVID-19surge.My
immediatefocuswillbeonensuringthatres-
idents and small businesses have the re-
sources they need to weather this surge.
TransposedHeads(2004),basedonanoldtale
of twomenandawomandeeplybonded,yet
divided, by love, Astad had suggested that I
workwithSudeshAdhana,whoisnowavery
famous dancer in Norway and a National
Award winner, and a few other performers.
In recent years, we did not see much of
each other.Ilastmethimat NCPAinMumbai
in March 2019 with his sister Gulshan at our
performance, When Land Becomes Water.
Abouttwoweeksago,Ifoundoutthathewas
not well. There is a lot to remember of him —
he did a lot of work with the Oral School for
Deaf Children in Kolkata, which was started
(in 1964) by a distant cousin of mine Dhun
Adenwalla,andherhusbandDorab.Therewas
hisworkwiththeGallaudetUniversityforthe
deaf performing arts programme in
Washington, DC, The Clarke School for the
Deaf in Chennai and with the street children
of SalaamBaalakTrustinDelhi.Isawsomeof
the performances, including a small piece
fromtheGallaudetUniversitythatwastravel-
ling and had come to India, and realised that
Astad had his own way of working with spe-
cial-needs children. He worked a lot with
young people, who are very indebted to him
as he gave them a lot of freedom in creativity.
There were also his great number of col-
laborations,includingwiththeManipuriclas-
sical dance Pung Cholom. He would create
something different out of traditional forms.
Andwhenonstage,Astadcouldcreatecertain
emotional states and take the audience with
him. The country has lost a great artiste.
DadiPudumjeeisfounderofIsharaPuppet
TheatreTrust,Delhi
AS TOLD TO DIPANITA NATH
New Delhi
15
DOWN IN
JUNGLELAND
RanjitLal
Ranjit Lal is an author,
environmentalist and
bird watcher
Sideways to
Heaven
Crack into a crab at fine-dinings,
but also learn its table manners
W
HERE DID it go, Bambi? Where did it go,
girl?” Poised on the beach, our bamboo-
zled Boxer would stare at the sand, her
brow furrowed in a worried frown. The
ghost (or sand) crab that had caught her eye would
skedaddle sideways and Bambi would pounce, but then,
poof! it was gone again. This time with a disdainful wrig-
gle as it lowered itself beneath the sand: now Bambi
would dig frantically, but to no avail. The crab was gone!
I loved watching her try and catch crabs on the beach
— and I admired these nondescript-looking crabs, exactly
the shade of the sand, for their sheer disdain and their
marvelously delicate table manners. Very fastidiously,
they would pick up a tidbit from the sand with their pin-
cers and put it in their mouths — like any well-bred so-
cialite dining with the hoity-toity.
Most crabs seem to have good table manners — in
spite of looking antediluvian (some have come down over
450 million years). Close to 7,000 species around the
world (some say 10,000) are found living in fresh and salt
water, on land, up in trees and in paddy fields. The tiny pea
crab is a few millimetres long, while the mighty Japanese
spider crab has a leg span of four metres. Brown, black,
scarlet, blue, green, etc., their most prominent feature is
their shell (or ‘shield’ as the biologists call it) and those
whopping front pincers. Not particularly friendly with
one another (especially dudes interested in the same girl),
those pincers help them fight each other.
They communicate by wafting pheromones (perfume
equivalent), waving pincers, sound, vibration and sight.
The famous fiddler crab has one massively enlarged
(sometimes gaudy) front claw, used exclusively to beckon
the girls. Some spider-crab species decorate their shells
with seaweed and sponges — effective cover and a won-
derful camouflage for ambush. Others use anemones for
protection, which live off the leftovers of the crabs’ meals.
When nothing suitable is in sight, they even use tin cans
and other fatally undesirable objects.
Not all crabs carry their homes on their backs: the her-
mit crabs occupy shells vacated by snails, often it’s a chal-
RANJITLAL
GET OFF MY BACK
Speckled swimming crabs
lenge to find one just the right size (and probably with all
mod-cons!) A hermit crab finds a prospective home, a lit-
tle too large for it, and waits by this empty shell for eight
hours, while other hermits trundle up to examine the
premises. Whoever fits into it, stays, vacating his old resi-
dence, which our friend-in-waiting will now take posses-
sion of. And, thus, the cycle continues as others move on
to the next best fit. But at other times, a boorish group will
gang up to forcibly evict a poor victim from its shell and
fight amongst each other for possession. Sounds familiar,
doesn’t it?
Many species of crabs are terrestrial and most have to
migrate long distances to the ocean to release their larvae.
Thousands die en route while crossing roads. Their larvae
— tiny transparent, legless creatures called zoea — are
taken by the currents and float with plankton. A tough
childhood, they have to moult several times — each mak-
ing them vulnerable to predation. Even as adults, they
moult several times. Hormones soften their shells and the
crabs crack them by ingesting a lot of water and swelling
up, and take advantage of the fissure line along their
backs. If they get stuck while getting out, they die. Smaller
than the males, with their abdominal flap broader and
rounded, females can only mate just after they’ve
moulted. But they can store sperm in their bodies for a
while (if the dude a girl made out with turns out to be a
good-for-nothing, she may dump his seeds!)
Crabs are omnivores, delicately picking off algae, mol-
lusks, crustaceans, worms and, sometimes, even fish.
They are themselves, buttery delectable, on the menu of
many — fish, bird, animal, and, of course, humans. Several
species have become endangered — in Sri Lanka, all ex-
cept one of its 50 freshwater crab species are endemic and
critically endangered. Horseshoe crabs are endangered in
the West (used by pharmaceutical and cosmetic compa-
nies for their famous “blue” blood), while in India, they are
discarded as “by-catch” in the nets.
Every classy restaurant will have crabs on its menu,
though there’s controversy over how they are killed and
cooked: usually they’re just dunked alive in boiling wa-
ter. While some scientists claim that they don’t feel pain,
others have counter-claimed that some do react to elec-
tric shocks.
It’s long been said that you can keep a bunch of crabs
in an open bucket and none will escape because the oth-
ers will pull it down, which is exactly why we’ve not ex-
celled as a people: the moment anyone tries to reach the
top, s/he is pulled down by the rest!
 16 CALENDAR
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020

BRIDGE If it’s your YOUR WEEK AHEAD

SUNDAY CROSSWORD 2299
Birthday
Dealer:East,Vulnerable:Both
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20) LIBRA (Sept 24 - Oct 23)
NORTH QUICK CLUES
Your ruling planet, Get talking but be
ACROSS
♠ QJ10 WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 1. Bathroom powder (6)
Mars, is being prepared to wait a
❤Q874 4. Airdrop (8) slightly indecisive, little longer before
I♣ 1❤ Sunday December13 mainly because you you see your plans
♦ 9832 1♠ 1❤ 4♠ 5❤
9. Manet or Monet (6)
find it very easy to be swept and ideas put into practice. By
10. The Lent period, for example ? You’reenteringapositivephase.Thepast
♣A Dbl Pass Pass Pass (4,4) away by small details and lose the end of the week you’ll be
fewweekshavecoincidedwithintensity sight of the big picture. You clear about what must be done
SOUTH 12. Representative samples (8)
13. Move emotionally (6) andcommitment.Therealreasonfor may therefore do best to make at home and will be able to
♠ 15. Importance (12) currentchangesisthateveryonewantsa it clear that your position compare notes with family
❤KJ10953 18. Lucknow locale (5,7) betterworld;theyjustgoaboutachievingit cannot be changed. members. If you really want to
♦ 976 21. Eat noisily ? indifferentways. get them to see things your way,
(6) TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21) you must set a fine example.
♣9764 22. Natural impulse (8)
Monday December14 It’s time for all you
When everyone has shape and a good fit, the bidding can get wild. West
24. Momentous (8) Taureans to exercise SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 22)
25. Release pent-up feelings Peoplewhocomeintoyourcirclenowwill due caution, so Even if you feel that
ledthejackofclubs,wonindummywiththesingletonace. Decideonyour
playbeforecontinuing. (3,3) helpyouachievepersonalaimsand think long and hard you have missed the
HowshouldSouthcontinue? 26. Careless (8) ambitions.If thestarsofferyouanyadvice before committing yourself to boat there is still
TheWestHand:S-K8653H-A2D-J105C-J102 27. Loud, rushing noise any financial ventures. time to catch up.
TheEastHand:S-A742H-6D-KQ4C-KQ853 overthecomingmonths,itistokeep
(6) Impulse buys should be off the Friends and relations will make
Oddly,5HXisprobablycoldatthispointifSouthdoestherightthing.
DOWN talking,evenif otherpeopleclamup.
OnequestionandIwillprovethisstatement. agenda unless you are willing allowances for you, especially if
1. Lie across or travel, in a way (8)
Howdothespadehonoursdivide? CanWesthavebothofthem? CanEast
havebothofthem? 2. Sluggishness (8) Tuesday December15 to part with a large amount of you’ve made any generous
cash for a minimal return. gestures lately. You must be fair
3. Naive (15) Yoursocialstarsarestrong,soteamwork
Thespadehonourscanbealmostanywherewithoneexception. Westdoes to friends and family, and all
not have both of them. If West had both the ace and king of spades, he
5. Far partner (4) andco-operationaremostimportant.You GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) largesse must be equally
6. Dentures (10,5) That energetic
wouldleadone,notthejackofclubs. Leadinganace-kingcombinationisone shouldmaintainahealthyself-respect,and distributed amongst all.
7. Done for (6) planet Mars is
ofthebestleadsaround. Seldomisitrighttoignoreanace-kingcombination othersmaythencometofeelthatyouare
onopeninglead. 8. Ms Zinta of Bollywood and IPL fame encouraging you to SAGITTARIUS (Nov 23 - Dec 22)
(6) worthmorefinancially. be impatient and You like to tell it as it
Now,giventhatEasthasoneorbothspadehonours,thesuccessfulplayis 11. One from Central America (7)
clear. Lead the queen of spades from dummy. East happens to play the 24. I date Tim, perhaps, that's how I 17. Putting away the remains in some Wednesday December16 reckless, so if you start is, which to some
14. Sleeping outdoors under tents (7)
ace. You ruff and go to dummy with a club ruff. Lead the jack of spades behave like a monkey ! (8) irritation (8) issuing any orders or people means being
andwaitforEast'splay. Eastplaysalowspadeandyoudiscardadiamond.
16. Mr DiCaprio of Hollywood (8)
25. Tax officials return very little in Italy
Youcertainlyhaveaneyefordetailandan ultimatums now, you may rather tactless.
17. Audacity (8) 19. Sunny continent, but called dark (6)
West takes it but now your spades in dummy are good. You can get to (6) abilitytocomeupwithpracticalsolutionsto land yourself in very hot water However, right now you are at
dummybyruffingaclub. OnlyifWesthastwoclubsandtheaceofhearts 19. Right of entry (6) 20. Retreat back with some of the buffs
will the defence be able to beat you. You will use dummy's good spade to 20. Archimedes' cry (6) 26. A salt mine may produce such problems.Butwillotherpeoplelistento indeed. My advice would be to your most charming and
illnesses (8) for final disposal (6) stick to your guns but tread persuasive, and straight
discardyourdiamondloserandnowyoucanarrangetoruffyourlastcluband 23. Bread rolls (4) you? If theydon’t,they’llbethelosers.
concedeatricktotheaceoftrumps. 27. Discomfort after travelling in a posh 23. It can burn wrongly applied tape (4) very cautiously, especially in talking may not be the best
"Ireally,really,reallywantedtodouble4S,"saysNorth. CRYPTIC CLUES car carrying beetles (not bees) Thursday December17 personal matters. approach. Also, within seven
"Onlydownone,"saysEast. "Youdidbetter."
ACROSS (3-3) Solutions to 2298 Yourstarsarelookingpassionate.The days you’ll hear news about a
1. Mrs. Hip in much reduced form CANCER (June 22 - July 23) financial plan.
"Sorry,"saysWest,afterthinkingaboutthehand. "IfIleadeitherredsuit
(6) DOWN QUICKCLUESAcross: 1 Temperamental, emphasisshouldbeonbusiness,althoughit It’s time to check
wesetthem." 10Locum,11Setsforth,12Boomerang,13
Westledthenineofhearts.ThisleadsurelymarksEastwiththeAJ10 4. See a quarter in the game and some 1. Does mime flop in apse? maybefuntospendonluxuries.Workout out your essential, CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
Yearn,14Thepits,16Trieste,18Octagon,
monstrous goings-on here (8)
20Sentoff,22Thief,24Supersede,26 interestingwaystoboostyourincome,even inner, nature. Life can be full of all
Dealer:North,Vulnerable:EastWest 2. The Frenchman has aged terribly Cancer is a water sorts of half-hidden
(4,4) Reinforce,27Nadir,28Light-fingered. if essentialcommitmentsseemtobe
9. Digging in, amid Chinese dynasty after deserting the cause (8) sign and, like all watery undercurrents.
Down:2Enclose,3Pampering,4Rasta,5 drainingyourresources.
NORTH SOUTH (YOU) (6) 3. Wearing display in which progress is Mitigates,6Nifty,7Arrears,8Globe individuals, you are deeply However, an
made (9,6)
♠ A1072 ♠ K8654 10. When father gets service there's
5. Love outlaw to finish Scottish seaport
trotters,9Changeofheart,15Sansserif,17 Friday December18 caring and compassionate. Yet unexplained mystery will be
something fish about the fuel Ignorance,19Tbilisi,21Overdue,23Fifth, events at work may leave you cleared up soon, possibly
❤ K72 ❤Q854 (8) (4) 25Paean. Thesearebusydaysandthemoretimeyou feeling slightly bemused. within the week. Until then,
♦ QJ74 ♦ 63 12. Constable depicted shadow on fruit 6. Be so good as to provide warmth after CRYPTICCLUES spendonallthoseessentialchores,the Colleagues and associates just you’ll be fascinated by all sorts
Across:1Staffshortage,10Runic,11
♣Q10 ♣ A7 (8) a bed experience (4,5,2,4)
7. Fluid outcome Chiseller,12Melanesia,13Sonic,14
betteroff you’llbewhenyourdreamscome don’t see things through of gossip, rumours and hidden
13. Looks around for boy in uniform (6) your eyes. knowledge. Midweek favours
Nastier,16Caribou,18Lip-sync,20 true.Inlove,youmayaimforthebest.
WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH 15. The lightest of annual occasions
(9,3)
(6)
8. Small country house is the most Samurai,22Later,24Adulation,26 domestic arrangements.
1♦ Pass 1♠ 18. Insistent about the N.C.O. being rational arrangement (6)
Subscript,27Icier,28Herpetologist. Saturday December19 LEO (July 24 - Aug 23)
Down:2Tangles,3Fecundity,4Socks,5 Lighten up and AQUARIUS (Jan 21 - Feb 19)
Pass 2♠ Pass Pass unreliable (12) 11. The climber's sole aid (7) Oligarchs,6Trees,7Goldnib,8Criminal
Financialinterestsmaybetopof yourmind enjoy yourself. None of us can exist
Pass 21. Long standing argument over 14. TV psychiatrist organises RAF rise class,9Precautionary,15Racialist,17 overthecomingyear.Therecouldbefew Venus, lady of love, entirely without
gangster having old fashioned (7) Rampaging,19Potable,21Raisins,23 activitiesthatyoutakemoreseriouslythan is soon to line up in human company
system (6) 16. Purpose of treatment for soldiers Recap,25Until.
West led the nine of hearts. This lead surely marks East with the AJ10(x).
22. Sell safe off Ö without cover (8) laid up (8)
thebusinessof earningmoney. a special formation which and you still need
How,ifatall,doyouusethisinformation? promises affection to all but partners’ or close companions’
total hermits. Your support and co-operation if you
associations with children are to tie up loose ends.
JUMBLED WORDS DifficultyLevel5s
should benefit and sons, However, people you meet next
SOLUTION SUDOKU 4320

daughters, nephews and week may be more positive and

Instructions nieces may be indulged to helpful than those you’ve
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto TosolveaSudokupuzzle, their hearts’ delight. known for a long time.
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget everydigitfrom1to9 VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sept 23) PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
SUDOKU 4321

theanswerforthegivenquip. mustappearineachofthe
___decisionsare____decisions.-Sophocles(5,..,6) It’s a mixed week, Youareeasily
nineverticalcolumns,in but a positive one. embarrassed,but
eachoftheninehorizontal Changes at home whattakesplaceover
TVAEI AETCFU rowsandineachofthe should be thenextsevendays
nineboxes. temporary and superficial. shouldboostyourprofessional
However, even if you suspect standingandsocialconfidence,
that all your good work enablingyouto overcomepast
PRNSU ASUWKQ DifficultyLevel
may eventually be undone, memories.Sortoutallfinancial
that is no excuse not to go matterssoonerratherthanlater,
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; ahead. Any worthwhile otherwiseyoumay findthat
3s=Medium;4s=Hard; activity equals a useful circumstanceshavemovedon,
5s=VeryHard;6s= experience even if the results andyouhavetogobackto
Answer: Quick decisions are unsafe decisions. - Sophocles Genius are not what you expect. squareone.
SOLUTION: VITAE, SPURN, FAUCET, SQUAWK

GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA
EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, PUBLIC WORKS DIVISION NO. 1 GADCHIROLI
“IMPORTANT”
Whilst care is taken prior to acceptance of
E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 03 OF 2020-21 advertising copy, it is not possible to verify its
Online e-tenders in B-1 forms for following works are invited by the Executive Engineer, Public Works contants. The Indian Express (P) Limited cannot
Division No.1 Gadchiroli from the eligible contractors. Tendrs document may be downloaded at Govt. be held responsible for such contents, nor for any
Website https://mahatenders.gov.in. Rights to accept or reject the tender without assigning any reason loss or damage incurred as a result of
reserve with Executive Engineer, Public Works Division No. 1 Gadchiroli. transactions with companies, associations or
Sr. Name of Works Estt. Cost Earnest Cost of E- Work Class of individuals adversing in its newspapers or
No. (Rs. in money Tender completion Contractor Publications. We therefore recommend that
Lakhs) (Rs. in documents period readers make necessary inquiries before sending
Lakhs) any monies or entering into any agreements with
1. Improvement to Ramgad Sonsari 222.00 1.50 2240.00 10 Months Registered advertisers or otherwise acting on an
OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER, Uradh Road MDR-6 Km 10.00 Unregistered advertisement in any manner whatsoever.
R.W.S.&S. DIVISION, NUAPADA to 18.00 in Ta. Kurkheda
Govt. of Odisha "e" Procurement Notice 2. B.T. Renewal to Shivani 222.00 1.50 2240.00 10 Months Registered
O-669 Chandagad Ghati Shirpur to MDR Unregistered JAL SHAKTI DEPARTMENT, JAMMU
Bid Identification No. RWS&S_10 /2020-21 - 1 Road MDR-35 Km. 8/00 to 15/00 OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER JAL SHAKTI (PHE), DIVISION REASI
The Executive Engineer, R.W.S & S Division, Nuapada on behalf of Fax: 01991-244323, E-mail: phereasi001@gmail.com
in Ta Kurkheda.
Governor of Odisha invites bids through e-procurement in double cover
3. Construction of Wadsa Nainpur 243.00 1.50 2240.00 10 Months Registered Notice inviting e-Tender
system in conformity with the terms & conditions of the detailed tender call e-NIT No.PHERSI/91of 2020-21 Date: - 07/12/2020
notice (DTCN) from the Contractor registered with the Odisha State Govt & Kokadi Vithalgaon Pimpalgaon Unregistered
For and on behalf of the Lt. Governor of UT of J&K e-tenders (Two cover System)Item Rate basisare invited from reputed and resourceful
Contractors of equivalent grade/class registered with Central Govt. / any Artondi Saitola Chikhali to Contractors/Firms/Companies/Joint Venture of repute, which should be uploaded on the e-Procurement web portal http://www.jktenders.gov.in
other State Govt. / MES / Railway & Reputed Engineering firms having District Border Road MDR-32 Km up to last bidding date:- 29-12-2020 up to 1630 hrs for the subject work referred below and as per the details mentioned in this e-tender noti-
fication and to whom all the terms and conditions of detailed NIT /Tender Documents/ PWD Form No:- 25 double are applicable. The detailed ten-
valid & up to date Contractors registration certificate, GST clearance 18/900 rs 33/600 in Ta Kurkheda der document and Specifications etc. can be downloaded on the e-procurement Portal http://www.jktenders.gov.in. The cost of tender docu-
Certificate & PAN Card and possessing compatible Digital Signature Note- ments (Non-refundable/ Non-Transferable) should bein the shape of e-challan/Treasury Receipt to be deposited in MH:0215-WSS (Revenue
Certificate as given in the DTCN to be eventually drawn up in the standard 1. Other terms & condition can be seen in the bidding documents. Head) or through RTGS in J&K Bank Branch REASI in CD Bank Account No. 0029010200000829, IFSC code JAKA0REASSI in favour of
Lump sum (G2 ) contract form. Executive Engineer,Jal Shakti (PHE), Division REASI and the proof of having made such payment shall have to be uploaded in Cover-I:-
2. The details tender notice can be viewed any downloaded online directly from the e-tendering portal S. Name of Work Adv. Cost Earnest Class of Cost of Period of MH of
Nature of Work: - Rural Piped Water Supply schemes in
different villages under Nuapada
https//:mahatenders.gov.in No of Work (s) Money Contract Document comple- Account
sd/- in Lacs In Rs. tion
district. 1. A).RETROFITTING AND AUGMENTATION OF WATER SUPPLY 374.21 748420/- “A” 6000/- 04months JJM
Executive Engineer SCHEME KOLSAR JERRIUNDER JAL JEEVAN MISSIONINCLUD-
No. of Tender: - 10 (Ten) nos.
Approx. Estimated Cost: - Rs.67.45 Lakhs to Rs.232.40 Lakhs
Public Workd Division No.1 Gadchiroli ING CIVIL, ELECTRICAL &ELETRO-MECHANICAL COMPO-
NENTS,CONDUCTING COMPLETE NECESSARY SURVEY, SOIL
TESTS & DESIGN AS REQUIRED AT SELECTED SITE, AS PER
Period of completion: - 06 (six) months THE PARAMETERS/ SPECIFICATIONS
Tender Cost: - Rs. 10000/- B) Operation & Maintenance of critical components as per SBD for a Inclusive ---- ---- ----
Class of Contractor: - Class B & A period of three years. in A)
i) 1st year 1st year
Date and Time of availability ii) 2nd year 2nd year
iii). 3rd year 3rd year
of bid document in the portal:- 14.12.2020 at 10.00 A.M. stressed assets recovery Branch (sarB) Patna
Last date /Time for receipt of 2nd Floor, SBI Main Branch Building, West Gandhi Maidan, Patna- 800 001 No:-PHER/8329-8377 Sd/- Executive Engineer
bids in the portal: - 23.12.2020 up to 5.00 P.M.
Demand Notice u/s 13(2) Dated: - 07-12-2020 DIP/J-8420/20
Jal Shakti Division, Reasi
Date of Opening of bid: - 24.12.2020 at 11.00 A.M.
A notice is hereby given that the following Borrower & Guarantor have defaulted in the repayment of principal
The bidders have to participate in online bidding only. Further details can
and interest of the loans facility obtained by them from the Bank and the loans have been classified as
be seen from the website http://tendersorissa.gov.in
Sd/- Non Performing Assets (NPA). The notices were issued to them under Section 13(2) of Securitization and
(Er G. C. Nayak) Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act 2002 on their last known addresses,
Executive Engineer, but they have been returned unserved and as such they are hereby informed by way of this public notice.
RWSS Division, Nuapada
OIPR-25050/11/0004/2021 Name of the Borrower Details of Properties/address of Secured Date of amount
assets to be Enforced Notice & outstanding
Date of NPa
M/s T r Enterprises, At & PO- Hypothecation of Movable Properties: 06.10.2020 `23,46,837.00
Mallehpur, Distt.-Jamui, Pin- Hypothecation of properties Viz. Current & (Rs. Twenty
811313 Assets and Hypothecated Movable Plant and 28.10.2014 three lac forty
Partner- 1. Sri Kanhaiya Singh Machinery etc. of the borrower mentioned in six thousand
(Guarantor) S/o Sri Rabindra the documents. eight hundred
Singh Equitable Mortgage of Immovable thirty seven
2. Smt. Sujata Singh (Guarantor) properies: All that part and parcel of the only) as on
W/o Sri Kanhaiya Singh property consisting of land, building & 30.09.2020
3. Sri Bhaskar Singh S/o Sri Tej structures as per details hereunder:
Narayan Singh 1. Equitable Mortgage of residential
4. Smt. Guddi Singh (Guarantor) landed property, Sale Deed No. 4363 dated
W/o of Sri Bhaskar Singh. 28.05.2010, Khata No.47, Khesra No.1592,
1593, Mauza-Kolhua, Thana No.11, Tauzi No.445, Area 8 decemal, PS-Barhat, PO-Mallehpur, Dist.-Jamui,
in the name of Sri Kanhaiya Singh S/o Sri Ravindra Singh. The boundaries of this property are: North-Guja
Yadav, South-Sridhar Singh, East-Parmeshwar Sah, West-Parti.
2. Equitable Mortgage of residential landed property, Sale Deed No. 7344 dated 05.07.2001, Khata No.84,
Khesra No.1681, Mauza-Malaypur, Thana No.12, Tauzi No.445, Area 7 decemal, PS-Barhat, Dist.-Jamui, in
the name of Smt. Sujata Singh W/o Sri Kanhaiya Singh. The boundaries of this property are: North-Jagarnath
Chaturwedi, South-Nij, East-Khariddar, West-Railway Line Cabin.
3. Equitable Mortgage of residential landed property, Sale Deed No. 4635 dated 12.06.2012, Khata No.92,
Khesra No.1635,1640, Mauza-Malaypur, Thana No.12, Tauzi No.445, Area 13 decemal, PS-Barhat, Dist.-
Jamui, in the name of Smt. Guddi Singh W/o of Sri Bhaskar Singh. The boundaries of the property Khasra
No.1635 are: North-Sheo Kumar Singh, South-Nij, East-Nirmal Singh, West-Rasta.
The boundaries of the property Khasra No.1640 are: North-Nirmal Singh, South-Raghu Singh, East-Birendra
Singh, West-Rasta.
The steps are being taken for substituted service of notice. The above Borrower and/or their Guarantor(s)
(whenever applicable) are hereby called upon to make payment of outstanding amount within 60 days from
the date of publication of this notice, failing which further steps will be taken after expiry of 60 days from the
date of this notice under sub-section (4) of Section 13 of Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets
and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002.
The borrower attention is invited to provisions of sub-section (8) of section 13 of the Act, in respect of
time available to redeem the secured assets.
Date : 11.12.2020 authorised Officer
Place : Patna State Bank of India, SarB, Patna

New Delhi

17 SPORT
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020
[ ISL WRAP: ROUND 5 ]
NorthEast attack
punching above
its weight
SHASHANKNAIR
NEWDELHI,DECEMBER12
IGOR ANGULO, Nerijus Valskis, Roy Krishna,
Adam le Fondre – teams in the Indian Super
League have taken a punt on some proven
strikingtalent,butattheendofthefifthround,
the surprise of this tournament has come in
theformof theNorthEastUnitedteamandits
egalitarian attack.
Intheopeninggameof theseason,NEUFC
had the unenviable task of facing a Mumbai
City team that was and is still considered the
favourite.Buttheunderdogscameawaywith
a 1-0 victory. Since that win, they have scored
sevenmoregoals,thejoint-mostintheleague,
andarecurrentlythirdintheleaguetableafter
alategoalbyLuisMachadohelpedthemclinch
a draw against Bengaluru FC.
Yet to lose a game and having already
equalled their miserly two wins in total from
last season, the unusual start for NorthEast is
down to the manner in which the youngest
managerintheISLhassethisteamup.Mostly
opting for a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3, Gerard Nus has
shown the kind of pragmatism a team like
NorthEasthastorelyon.Hisoffensivestrategy
has allowed both his strikers - Kwesi Appiah
andIdrissaSylla-tosnagacoupleofgoalseach.
Attacking midfielder Luis Machado has also
chipped in with three strikes. But the young
Spanish manager has never started his three
goalscorerstogetherandusuallybenchesone
of them.Withmatches flyinginthick andfast
and teams with a threadbare pre-season ex-
pected to play themselves to the ground,
NorthEast’s manager has juggled around his
best to keep his players fresh.
The only puzzle left to solve for Gus is the
defence.Aleague-higheightgoalshavecome
atthecostofhavingconcededfive.Astheteam
issetuptoplayonthecounter,NorthEastrely
heavily on niggling fouls to stop possession-
based teams from gaining any rhythm and
have made 162 tackles in five games, only be-
hind ATK Mohun Bagan in that regard.
Death, taxes and refereeing
complaints
It was only a
matter of time be-
foreyetanothersaga
of clubscomplaining
aboutrefereeingun-
folded. The league
has been facing this
problem for the past
couple of years. This
year, new entrants
SC East Bengal were the first to make a for-
mal complaint to the AIFF over the quality of
the refereeing.
IntheirlosstoNorthEast,EastBengalwere
denied two clear-as-daylight penalties that
could have changed the complexion of the
matchaswellastheirabysmalstarttothecam-
paign.Asifthatwasn’tenough,theirnextgame
sawEugensonLyngdohgettinghissecondyel-
low card in the 25th minute of the game
againstJamshedpurFCdespitereplaysclearly
showing that Lyngdoh got the ball first.
After the game, East Bengal coach Robbie
Fowlerexclaimedthatitfeltlikehisteamwere
going against 12 men. “I don’t think any deci-
sion was going our way. Everyone does seem
to be against us. We just had to go out there
anddefendlikethewaywecananddon’tcon-
cede and it was important for us to get the
point.Onthebackofthreelosses,itwasahuge
point for us,” said Fowler.
Jamieson fifer swings Kiwis
to the top in second Test
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
WELLINGTON, DECEMBER 12
KYLE JAMIESON bagged five wickets in a
masterclass of swing bowling as New
Zealand struck hard and fast to have the
West Indies on the ropes on day two of the
second Test in Wellington on Saturday.
The tourists ended the day on the brink
of another follow on as they struggled to
124/8, still 336 behind New Zealand’s 460.
Only Jermaine Blackwood provided any
serious resistance but he fell late in the day
for 69 as Jamieson and Tim Southee
wreaked havoc.
Jamieson, the rising star in the Black
Caps, got 5/34 for his second five-wicket
haul in only his fourth Test.
The Basin Reserve strip continued to
provide all the ingredients on a fast bowler’s
wish list – pace, bounce and movement –
and New Zealand exploited this perfectly.
“The way the ball’s moving we knew if
we got it in good enough areas then things
would happen,” said the 2.08 metre (6ft 8in)
Jamieson. “It was just a matter of doing it
for long enough and if you do that you tend
to get rewarded.”
After a demoralising innings defeat in
the first Test, West Indies coach Phil
Simmons found it difficult to see another
batting collapse.
Vol.XIX No.35 Regd.No. DL-21046/03-05 R.N.I. No. DELENG/2002/10884. Printed and Published by R.C. Malhotra on behalf of The Indian Express (P) Limited and Printed at The Indian Express (P) Limited Press, A-8, Sector-7, Noida - 201301 and Published at The Indian Express (P) Limited,
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Curator, chorister, GOAT
Lyon’spathtobecomingoneof thegreatestoff-spinnersof alltimeisaroadlesstravelled,butonethatrevealshisstrongcharacter
SANDIP G
DECEMBER 12
WHENNATHANLyonwas18,henearlylosthis
eyes. During an under-19 match against
Tasmania, a batsman drove the ball straight
back at him; so powerful was the stroke that
theleatherballcrashedontohisface,leavinga
redbruiseunderthelefteye.Lyonplungedinto
theturfholdinghisface,blooddrippingthrough
hispalms.Hewasrushedtothehospital,where
it was diagnosed that he had fractured his
cheekbone.
Theinjuryworriedhisfamily.Hewascon-
sidered fragile for his age. All curly, long locks
andpuffyclothes.Theycounselledhimtoquit
the game, rung one of his coaches, Andrew
Dawson, to persuade him out of the game.
Dawson reluctantly called him but was pleas-
antlyshockedwithhisresponse.“Thefirstthing
he told me was sorry, for dropping the catch.
He was counting the days before he could re-
turntothefield.Ittookhimawhiletogetback,
butthatwillingnesswasthere,”herecollects.
That evening, the coach realised the
strengthofLyon’smind.“Strongboy,Ithought,
youneedsuchcharacterandtoughnesstobe-
comeaTestcricketer.Someoftheotherplayers,
who are not as mentally strong as he, would
have quit after such an incident. It was a nasty
injury,Iwasrighttherewhenithappened,”rec-
ollectsDawson.
Towards the end of the conversation, Lyon
promised he would never drop a return catch
inhislife.Dawsonwasremindedof theoldin-
cident when Lyon snaffled a similar catch off
Pakistan batsman Fakhar Zaman, carved
straight into his face, but Lyon’s palms pre-
ventedtheballfromdisarranginghisface.The
most spectacular return catch though was
MoeenAli’sduringthe2017-18Ashes,wherein
heflungsidewaystopocketaleadingedge.
Thenextmorning,afewnewspaperspho-
toshopped a cape to his collar and called him:
“GOAT among Supermen.” Dawson was not
surprised,hehasseenafewLyonstunnershim-
self, and it was his athleticism that had im-
pressed him first. He was heading a coaching
programmefortheCometsU-17whenoneday
hisfriendBrendan,Lyon’selderbrother,intro-
duced his sibling to him. “He’s mad about
cricket and wants to have a crack here. Just
checkhimout,”hetoldthecoach.
“At the trials, I was startled by his athleti-
cism.Hewasquiteskinny,butelastic,quickand
had a really good arm. His batting was quite
okay,Ithought.Therewasafairdegreeoftalent
and we were keen to get him in the pro-
gramme,”Dawsonsays.
Lyon didn’t set the batting charts afire, but
his off-breaks were quite canny. “I thought
‘wow, he gets decent loop and spins the ball’. I
askedhimwhetherhewascoachedbysome-
one.Hesaidno,andIwasmoresurprised.Then
he must be a natural, I thought, and began to
encouragehisbowlingratherthanbatting,”he
recollects.SodidformerAustraliaspinnerMark
Higgs, who happened to be Australian Capital
Territory’s coach. After completing his 12th
grade, Lyon joined the horticulturists at the
Manuka Oval. And during an inter-club game
on a weekend, Higgs bumped into him. They
wereplayingforoppositeclubs,andtheelderly
Higgs began to wind up the rookie part-time
off-spinner. “I thought he was shy and I could
probably unsettle him. But I was wrong. He
startedgivingitbacktome.Iinstantlylikedhis
attitude and recognised that he could be a
much better bowler than what he then was,”
he remembers. In Lyon’s uncluttered, breezy
high-arm action, Higgs saw visions of a bright
future.“Iwaslike‘wow,whyaretheynotopen-
ing the bowling with him!’ I was sure that he
“It’s something that we brought on our-
selves,” he said, adding the problems
started in the field when Henry Nicholls
was dropped five times on his way to mak-
ing 174 for New Zealand.
“Then, we didn’t bat as well as we should
have been batting on a wicket that seems
good for batting. It was a hard day to watch,”
he said, blaming poor shot selection.
Hosts in control
Unlike the West Indies batsmen,
Nicholls and Neil Wagner were able to plun-
der runs when the New Zealand innings re-
sumed on Saturday morning.
Both scored personal bests, untroubled
whether the West Indies bowled full or
short, as Nicholls advanced from his
overnight 117 to 174 while Wagner finished
unbeaten on 66. The New Zealand pace
quartet – Southee, Trent Boult, Neil Wagner
and Jamieson – immediately extracted life
from the wicket.
They moved the ball in and away and it
took the tourists four overs to get their first
runs on the board, by which stage Southee
had already dismissed Kraigg Brathwaite
caught at first slip by Ross Taylor.
BRIEF SCORES: West Indies 124 for 8
(Blackwood 69, Jamieson 5-34, Southee 3-
29) trail New Zealand 460 (Nicholls 174,
Wagner 66*, Gabriel 3-93, Joseph 3-109) by
336 runs at stumps on Day 2
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®
NathanLyonisAustralia’smostprolificoff-spinnerwith390 Testwickets. Reuters
canbedevelopedintoagoodspinner.Itoldhim
‘mate,youareabetterbowlerthanabatsman’.
Hetookmyadviceseriously,”hesays.
Thereon, as soon as his Manuka Oval shift
ended, Lyon would run to the nets, where he
andHiggswouldspendhoursbowling.Intwo
years, he emerged as the finest spinner in
Canberra. “His mind was like a blotting paper.
Itabsorbedeverything.Heaskedalotof ques-
tions. He also had the determination and
courage,”saysHiggs.
■ ■ ■
Before the 2010-11 Ashes, Mike Hussey
wantedtomasterGraemeSwann.That’swhen
he heard about a groundsman at the Adelaide
Oval who could ‘flight the ball’. So during the
preparatory camp in Adelaide, he asked head
curator Damian Hough about the ‘guy who
could flight the ball’. Hough told Lyon: “They
want you to bowl like Swann. Show them
you’re better than him. It’s an order.” Lyon just
smiledandrushedtothenets.
LittledidHusseyknowthathewaspadding
upagainstafutureTestbowler,hisinheritorto
theteamanthemUndertheSouthernCross.“I
had little idea, but I remember a shy, reluctant
Lyon. He had to be dragged into the nets. But
youwatchhimbowlandIfacedhimalotinthe
nets,youalreadyknewyouhadsomeonespe-
cial there. But you never know if he was going
togoonandplayTestcricket,”recollectsHussey.
Buthedid.Afewmonthslater,Lyonwason
theflighttoSriLanka.SoonuponreachingGalle,
the venue for the first Test, then batting coach
Justin Langer allotted a “buddy” for Lyon.
Coincidentally, it was Hussey. The latter heard
a feeble thud on the door and saw a familiar
half-smiling face. “He was a little shy. He told
meitwasadreamcometrueandallthatstuff.
Ieasedhistensionsaying,‘Mate,we’llbegreat
friendsfromhere’,”hesays.
Hussey had barely interacted with him or
watched him, but had a hunch that he was
rooming with a special player. And soon
Mourinho finds his mojo at Tottenham
Facing no pressure to stick to footballing philosophies of giant clubs, star manager seems to be enjoying time on top of the Premier League with Spurs
Jose Mourinho’s second-season
syndrome is in full force at Tottenham
with the London club standing atop the
English Premier League table with 24
points in 11 games and a league-high
14-goal differential. When Spurs
chairman Daniel Levy fired Mauricio
Pochettino and hired Mourinho, it
seemed that there were two reasons
behind such a tectonic shift in the
philosophy of the club. One was
obviously the need for a box-office
figure in Mourinho, with Tottenham’s
new stadium and Amazon Prime
documentary needing some star power.
The other was that there was a
feeling that Pochettino’s Tottenham
had underperformed for the quality of
the squad at his disposal, and Mourinho
would be able to extract trophies from
the world-class players at the club –
even if it meant that his stint would be a
relatively short one, as has been the
case with Mourinho’s tenures in his
previous few clubs.
SON-KANE PARTNERSHIP BOOSTED
HarryKaneandSonHeung-Minhave
alwaysbeenworld-classplayers,butthis
seasonMourinho’swordshaveactedasa
boostershotof confidenceforthetwo
forwardswhohaveprovidedTottenham
with18goalsbetweenthem.Son,in
enough,Lyonhadtakenawicketoffhisfirstball
inTestcricket.Butitwasn’thistalentalonethat
left Hussey smitten, but the toughness of his
character,thatmostvaluedofAustraliantraits.
Nearly 18 months later, Hussey chose him as
theanthemsuccessor.
“My decision was based on character. I
knewhehadareallygoodcharacterandIknew
hehadagoodworkethicandgreatrespectfor
thegame,andheplayedthegamefortheright
reasonsaswell,”hesays.
InthenexthomeAshes,thecurator-turned-
chorister was belting out the anthem. And six
years later, he went on to become Australia’s
most prolific off-spinner. And sometime dur-
ing the seriesagainstIndia,he couldcomplete
400Testwickets.
■ ■ ■
Houghisalaid-back,chattyman.SoLyon’s
initialreticenceunnervedhim.“Soinitially,Ifelt
a little bored talking to him. I was doing all the
talking. I could clearly see his heart was else-
where.Hewasgoodatwhathewasdoing,but
somethingseemedtodisturbhim,”hesays.
Hough understood the reason for his de-
tachment when he watched Lyon in a club
game.
“I have seen a fair bit of international spin-
nershereandthoughthehadthepotentialtobe
one. So I asked him why he couldn’t devote
moretimetocricket.Hesaidhisbossdidn’tgive
himoffs.Wehadalaugh.”
The next day when Lyon came to the Oval,
Hough told him he could leave early if he was
tired.ButLyoninsistedoncompletinghisshift.
“Hewouldn’ttakeanyfavours.”
So when the first-class opportunity
knockedonLyon,Houghwasasmuchhappyas
worried.HappythatLyongotadeservedbreak,
but worried about finding a suitable replace-
ment. “Nathan was doing a terrific job and to
findsomeonenewinhisplacewasdifficult.But
then I can claim that the GOAT was my assis-
tant,”hechuckles.
JoseMourinhohasgalvanised TottenhamforwardsHarryKane and SonHeung-
Min(inpic),whohaveprovidedtheteamwith18goalsbetweenthem. Reuters
particular,hasscored10PremierLeague
goalswithonly13shotsontarget.
A RETURN TO THE OLD JOSE?
There’s almost a twinkle in Jose’s eyes
now that he is at Tottenham. There is no
longer the pressure of sticking to the
philosophies of footballing giants as has
always been the case at clubs like Real
HARRIS DRAFTED INTO INJURY-HIT AUS SQUAD
Opening batsman Marcus Harris has been called into Australia’s squad as the
hosts count the cost of a number of injuries ahead of the first Test against India in
Adelaide. David Warner had already been ruled out after a groin injury in the one-
day series, while Will Pucovski suffered a concussion after being hit on his helmet
while batting for Australia A against the tourists.
Aggression, caution and
tailor-made technique:
Can Gill open in Adelaide?
SHAMIKCHAKRABARTY
KOLKATA,DECEMBER12
WITH ROHIT Sharma unavailable for the first
two Tests in Australia, India needs to find an
openingpartnerforMayankAgarwal.Thefirst
TeststartsinAdelaideonDecember17,anddur-
ingtheongoingtourgameagainstAustraliaA,
Shubman Gill has shown he’s firmly in con-
tention.
Can Gill open the batting?
Gill opens for Punjab in the Ranji Trophy.
The majority of his 2,162 runs in 22 First-Class
matches (before the Australia A game) have
come as an opener. In the ongoing tour game
in Sydney, he batted at No. 3 because Prithvi
ShawpartneredAgarwalatthetop.Inbothin-
nings,Gillcametothecreaseprettyearly,nego-
tiated the pink Kookaburra with aplomb in
toughconditions,andcontributedwell.
Does he play too many shots for
an opener?
Gill’sgameisaculturedmixofcautionand
aggression.InthefirstinningsagainstAustralia
A,hescored43off58balls,whileinthesecond,
hemade65off78deliveries.Hisbattingagainst
theAustraliaAseamersonSaturdayfurtherat-
testedhisclass,especiallyhisabilitytopickthe
rightballstohitandfindthegaps.
The21-year-oldhastheabilitytopicklength
earlyandputawaythehittabledeliveries.This
is the reason he scores quickly without being
over-aggressive. Also, he has a good range of
shots.
Why hasn’t Gill played Tests yet?
GillmadehisODIdebutinNewZealandlast
year and was in contention for a Test opening
slot when India played a home series against
South Africa in October last year. But the team
management promoted Rohit up the order,
whichprovedtobeasuccess.
However, in the two Tests in New Zealand
earlier this year, when Rohit was unavailable,
E
Prithvi Shaw partnered Agarwal at the
top.Shaw’sfootworkinseamingcondi-
E X P L A I NE D
tionsdidn’tlookuptothemark.Also,the
Kiwi seamers exposed his weakness
againsttheshortballintothebody.Inthe
ongoing match against Australia A too,
Shaw’s footwork didn’t inspire confi-
dence.
Does Gill have the technique to
be successful in Australia?
Gill’s game is tailor-made for Australian
pitches.Asthispaperhasreported,Gillplayed
alotofcricketonconcreteduringhisformative
years,whichsolidifiedhisback-footgame.
Australianpitchesarehardandbouncy,and
usuallybereftofexaggeratedlateralmovement.
The conditions make a strong back-foot game
a pre-requisite for scoring consistently.
However, the first Test is at the Adelaide Oval,
wherethepitchisalittledifferentandcallsfor
afullerlengthfromfastbowlers.
Oneofthedownsidesofhavingapredom-
inantback-footgame,asKolkataKnightRiders
assistantcoachAbhishekNayartoldthispaper,
isthat“leaningintodrivesdoesn’tcomenatu-
Madrid or Manchester United. At
Tottenham, he can post what he wants
on his Instagram account or be the star
of the show in the club’s Amazon Prime
documentary – while continuing to
deliver the results he has been brought
in for in his second season, when
everything is expected to come together
on the pitch and off it.
New Delhi
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
REUTERS
ShubmanGillscoredbrisk43amd 65in
thesecondtourgame. File
Pant, Vihari hit
contrasting tons
Sydney: Rishabh Pant and Hanuma
Vihari put themselves in the reckon-
ingfornextweek'sfirstTestwithcon-
trastinghundredsasIndiathoroughly
dominatedAustraliaAinthe pinkball
warm-up match here on Saturday.
Needing 19 runs to reach his cen-
tury when Jack Wildermuth com-
menced the second evening's final
over, Pant clobbered him for 4, 4, 6, 4,
4, to remain unbeaten on 103 off 73
balls with nine fours and six sixes. At
theotherend,Viharilabouredhisway
to a 104-run knock off 194 balls.
At the close of play, India were
strongly placed at 386 for four for an
overall lead by 472 runs, having bun-
dled out the home team out for a pal-
try 108 in their first innings on Friday.
Intheirfirstinnings,Indiawereall
out for 194. PTI
BRIEF SCORES: Indians 194 and 386
for 4 (Vihari 104*, Pant 103*) lead
Australia A 108 by 472 runs
rally to Gill”. This could be an area of
concerninapink-ball,day-nightTest.
Pink-ball cricket requires a decent
grasscoveronthepitch.Sotherewill
belateralmovementandthepinkball
● willalsoswingalittlelongerbecause
oftheextracoatoflacquer.Itwillbea
challenge in Tests against the likes of
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell
Starc.
Who could be his competitors?
Shaw is a specialist opener in the side, and
KL Rahul is also an option. The latter lost his
place in the Test team after India’s tour of the
WestIndiesinAugust-September2019.Rahul’s
recent form in white-ball cricket has brought
himbacktothelong-formfold.Also,heisabats-
man with over 2,000 Test runs and five cen-
turies. The tour game in Sydney was the only
opportunityfortheIndianstogetintothepink-
ball groove ahead of the Test. Virat Kohli and
CheteshwarPujarasatout,butotherthanthat,
the team management picked the XI with an
eye on Adelaide. Rahul wasn’t included and is
shortonlong-formgametime.
For me it is not the manager of the
month, for me it is the team of the
month. I believe it is about us as a
team, it is about the results that
we had in November. If we don't
have three victories and one draw
at Stamford Bridge, for sure we
wouldn't have any chance to win
it, so it's about the team.”
JOSE MOURINHO, ON HIS FIRST MANAGER
OF THE MONTH AWARD SINCE MARCH, 2007
PANDEMIC SEASON WORKING?
Most teams didn’t enjoy an adequate
pre-season. On top of that, most top
teams are playing in multiple
competitions and regularly taking the
field for two matches a week.
Thiswarof attritioniswherea
managerlikeMourinhothrives.As
Liverpoolstruggleswithmultipleinjuries
andManchesterCitybecometheteam
thatpressestheleastintheleague(1,094
pressuresappliedin11gamesas
comparedto1,971byMarceloBielsa’s
LeedsUnited),Mourinho’sTottenham
playonthecounterandpickoff teams
thatareyettofullycomprehendthat
theirwayof playingisn’tsuitableover
suchajam-packedschedule. ENS
18 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE SUNDAY EXPRESS, DECEMBER 13, 2020

New Delhi