DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO.

● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57

JOURNALISM OF COURAGE
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES SINCE 1932 `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

RELIEF TO INTER-FAITH COUPLES: ‘INVITING OBJECTIONS CANNOT VIOLATE BASIC RIGHTS' CABINET COMMITTEE ON SECURITY
30-day notice period not mandatory
under Spl Marriage Act: Allahabad HC
Make-in-Indiamega
deal:83Tejasfighters
` 58 per kilo

` 86 per kilo ‘Cruel to force this generation to follow 150-yr-old customs’

E X P L A I NE D
Notice

` 103 per kilo
APURVA VISHWANATH
` 55 per Dozen NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13
In a judgment removing hin-
NCB arrests drances to inter-faith marriages,
and likely to have a bearing on
Special Marriage Act, 1954 can
choose not to publish the
mandatory 30-day notice of
their intention to marry.
Section 5 of the Special
Marriage Act, the legislation that
allowssolemnisationofmarriages
clearedforAirForce
In his order Tuesday, Justice violates
Vivek Chaudhary said: “The in- ● privacy
terpretation of Sections 6 and 7
read with Section 46 containing
the procedure of publication of THE RULING comes as a
notice and inviting objections to relief to inter-faith cou- Self-reliance gamechanger, LCA backbone of fleet: Rajnath
the intended marriage in Act of ples who are being in-

Nawab Malik’s the set of laws enacted by BJP-

ruled states including Uttar
irrespective of the religion of the
couple, requires parties to give a
1954 thus has to be such that
would uphold the fundamental
creasingly targeted by
vigilante groups. The KRISHN KAUSHIK
Tejas Mk-1A multirole light
fighterswillbemanufacturedby

son-in-law Pradesh that prohibit religious

MOHAMED THAVER
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
THE NARCOTICS Control Bureau
(NCB) on Wednesday arrested
Sameer Khan, son-in-law of
Maharashtra Cabinet Minister
and NCP leader Nawab Malik, in
connection to a drugs case.
He was summoned in con-
nectionwithacaseinwhichfour
persons, including a British na-
tional and the co-owner of
Muchchad Paanwala shop in
Mumbai, were earlier arrested
for possession for cannabis.
Sameer Wankhede, Zonal
Director of NCB, said, “The name
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
BUSINESS AS USUAL
BY UNNY
conversion for marriage, the
Allahabad High Court has ruled
that couples seeking to solem-
nise their marriage under the
Covid-19 vaccines arrive at Parel in Mumbai early
Wednesday. Maharashtra has received its first tranche of
9.83 lakh vaccine doses. Ganesh Shirsekar
MAHARASHTRA RURAL POLLS
Panchayat seats for sale, EC scraps 2 ‘auction elections’
PARTHA SARATHI
BISWAS
PUNE, JANUARY 13
INMANYpocketsofMaharashtra,
whereelectionstogrampanchay-
ats are scheduled to be held on
30-day public notice of their in-
tention to marry. The public no-
ticeisdisplayedattheofficeofthe
marriageofficer,invitingpotential
objections to the marriage.
PAGE4
January 15, democracy is up for
sale — to the highest bidder.
Complaints and videos of
auctions for panchayat seats
prompted the Election
Commission on Wednesday to
cancel elections to two gram
panchayats — in Umrane village
rights and not violate the same.
Incasethesameontheirsimplis-
tic reading are held mandatory,
as per the law declared today,
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
‘Being nice to everybody
isn’t foreign policy… have
to make strategic choices’
PAROMITA CHAKRABARTI
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13
WHEN IT comes to engaging
with India, United States is an
open door. “You (India) can push
on that door and theanswer will
be yes, most probably. But what
does India want? And in order
forIndia todecide whatitwants,
it needs to have a strategic
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
of Nashik and Kondamali of
Nandurbar, where the auctions
reportedlyfetchedRs2croreand
Rs 42 lakh respectively.
The Indian Express visited
three gram panchayats in Khed
taluka of Pune district — Moi,
Kuruli and Kude Budruk — and
court noted the impact
that similar provisions in
anti-conversion laws
could have.
Zakaria at the
Express Adda
found that all the panchayat
members had been elected un-
opposed.Agrampanchayatusu-
ally has nine to 18 members, de-
pending on the size and
population of the villages.
Also, in all three gram
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13
APPROVING THE largest indige-
nous defence procurement as
part of measures to strengthen
the armed forces amid a stand-
off with China on the Line of
ActualControlandtensionswith
Pakistan over its terror infra-
structure, the Cabinet
Committee on Security (CCS)
clearedWednesdayadealworth
nearlyRs48,000crorefortheac-
quisition of 83 Tejas Light
Combat Aircraft for the Indian
Air Force.
DesignedbytheAeronautical
Development Agency under the
Department of Defence
Research and Development, the
MAHARASHTRA
Among 484 medical facilities audited,
90% don’t have NOC from fire dept
TABASSUM
BARNAGARWALA
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
IN AN assessment carried out
across 484 government hospi-
tals and other medical facilities
in Maharashtra after a fire in
Bhandara district general hospi-
tal killed 10 newborns, officials
have found that except for a
small handful, none of these fa-
state-owned Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It
willbeanimprovementoverthe
Mk-1 version. The IAF acquired
40 of the earlier variant in two
deals — 20 were Initial
Operational Clearance standard
aircraft (16 fighters and four
trainers) while the next 20 were
Final Operational Clearance
standard aircraft.
The Tejas Mk-1A order,
cleared last March by the
Defence Acquisition Council,
was approved by the CCS at a
meeting chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
Defence Minister Rajnath
Singh,inTwitterposts,described
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
cilities possess a no objection
certificate (NOC) from the fire
department.
More than 80 per cent had
never been through a fire safety
audit and less than half had con-
ductedamockfiredrillinthepast.
In the last five years,
Maharashtrahasrecorded17fire
mishapsingovernmenthospitals
across 11 districts. This includes
thelatestincidentinthesicknew-
born care unit of the Bhandara
TEJAS LCA MK-1A
■ Will increase IAF
squadron strength;
improved version of
older Mk-1 variant
■ Active Electronically
Scanned Array radar;
Beyond Visual Range air-
to-air missiles
■ Advanced Electronic
Warfare suite; air-to-air
refuelling capability
hospital on January 9, when 10
newborns – the oldest just a
month old – died due to burn in-
juries and smoke inhalation.
The ongoing assessment,
from which data for 484 rural
hospitals,primaryhealthcentres
(PHCs), district and sub-district
hospitals from 34 of the 36 dis-
tricts is available at present, has
revealedabypassingof firesafety
norms by most and the absence
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
 2 THE SECOND PAGE
Haryana BJP
halts awareness
Fareed Zakaria
events to avoid conception of its place in the
confrontation world, its place in Asia, and it
doesn’t right now,” said Fareed
with farmers Zakaria, international affairs
columnist, CNN news host and
SUKHBIRSIWACH
CHANDIGARH,JANUARY13
FACINGINTENSEheatfromfarm-
ers, Haryana BJP on Wednesday
decided to put on indefinite hold
itsawarenessprogrammesonthe
controversial farm laws for the
time being citing a suggestion
fromHomeMinisterAmitShahto
avoidconfrontation.Thedecision
came a day after top BJP-JJP lead-
ers met Home Minister Amit
Shah. On Wednesday, Haryana
Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala
metthePMinDelhi.Accordingto
sources, different issues, includ-
ing farm laws and railway lines,
werediscussedinthemeetingbe-
tween the PM and Dushyant.
The BJP-JJP alliance govern-
ment and its functionaries have
been facing mounting pressure
from farmers in the state. CM
Manohar Lal Khattar has been in
thelineoffireoftheagitatorswith
the most recent incident being of
his scheduled “kisan mahapan-
chayat”inKaimlavillageofKarnal
being ransacked by protesters.
“AmitShahhassuggestedthat
suchtypeof programmesshould
not be planned for some time
whichmayleadtoaconfrontation
with agitator farmers,” a senior
leaderofthealliancesaid.Sources
said the Union Home Minister
also suggested the alliance lead-
ers to handle the things “pa-
tiently” and remain “cool”.
State Education Minister
Kanwar Pal Gujjar said: “We will
not hold public functions for the
time being (in Haryana). Amit
Shahjihasalsosuggestedthattill
thereisthisagitationandtalksare
goingon,themattershouldbere-
solved with talks and we will
avoidsuchtypesoffunctions.The
government doesn’t want con-
frontation.”
Court extends
Faruqui’s
remand by
two weeks
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BHOPAL, JANUARY 13
AFTER A Sessions Court rejected
hisbailplea,aJudicialMagistrate
First Class on Wednesday ex-
tended the judicial custody of
comedian Munawar Faruqui by
two weeks. Faruqui has now
been under arrest since January
1, and may stay behind bars till
January 27. An application for
bail is expected to come up for
hearing at the High Court Friday.
Faruqui, 28, was arrested
along with four others for al-
leged objectionable remarks
against Hindu deities and for
"hurtingreligioussentiments"at
a show in Indore, on a complaint
by Eklavya Gaud, the son of BJP
MLA Malini Gaud. The next day,
Sadakat Khan was held when he
came to meet Faruqui, a friend,
in court. There is no video evi-
dence of Faruqui having made
the alleged remarks at the show.
The bail applications have
beenrejectedseparatelyofallfive
-- apart from Khan and Faruqui,
theyincludeNalinYadav,Prakhar
Vyas and Pritam Vyas.
Faruqui's father-in-law
Yunus Badar Imani, 50, who met
him in jail on Wednesday, said
he had enquired if his daughter
could speak with him. "But I was
told that the provision is avail-
able only to people who are in
prison for three months," Imani,
whohasbeencampinginIndore
since coming to know of the ar-
rest on January 2, said. The eld-
est of Imani's three daughters is
married to Faruqui.
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FROM PAGE ONE
author,inresponsetoaquestion
on whether India has come to
enjoy bipartisan support in the
US as a strategic political ally.
“Prime Minister Modi says
his policy is multinational — I
can’tremembertheexactphrase
he used — but, you know, I am
going to be nice to everybody.
Butthatistheoppositeof having
aforeignpolicy.Foreignpolicyis
making choices. You have to
make strategic choices and ori-
ent yourself in a direction and
some people will be happy and
some people will be unhappy. I
thinkif Indiaweretodecidethat
it wants a strategic partnership
with the United States centred
aroundco-operationandshared
information and know-how on
technology, energy, education
anddefence,thatwillbeatrans-
forming relationship for India
andtheUnitedStates,”headded.
Zakaria was speaking at the
Express e-Adda, in conversation
with Anant Goenka, Executive
Director, The Indian Express
Group, and Vandita Mishra,
National Opinion Editor, The
Indian Express. A detailed tran-
script will be published next
week.
Making sense of an unstable
world and foreshadowing
changehavebeenZakaria’sforte,
and,inanengrossingsession,the
author, most recently of Ten
Lessons for a Post-Pandemic
World,coveredabroadsweepof
subjects: from the chaos on
Capitol Hill to the hardening di-
vides in his native Maharashtra;
the “clean” and “dirty” versions
of right-wing politics and how
trying to play both sides is get-
ting difficult for politicians.
“The lesson of the deteriora-
tion of democracy in America is
this…that institutions are hu-
man, they are fragile by defini-
tion,thatattheendof theday,an
institutionisonlysostrongasthe
peoplewhoarewillingtodefend
it, people who are willing to up-
hold it, and they can shift very
easily,” he said, speaking on the
riseof majoritarianismintheUS
and its fallout, in particular after
the violence in Washington on
January 6 by supporters of out-
going President Donald Trump,.
And yet, Zakaria underlined,
the good news was that democ-
racy triumphed in the US, all the
legal challenges to the election
were rebuffed and the attempt
to overthrow a democratically
elected government failed.
Zakaria grew up in Mumbai
before moving to the United
Statesinhisteens.Whilehecon-
tinues to visit the city, Zakaria
said his travels also take him
deep into the heartland of
Maharash-tra, where his father,
RafiqZakaria,apolitician,hadset
up many charities.
The India that he now finds
in these places, he said, is a lot
less syncretic. “It’s much more
communal. The level of tension,
antagonism, suspicion, the lack
of co-mingling is so much
greater.WhenIwasgrowingup,
we celebrated Holi, we cele-
brated Diwali. At our Eid parties,
half the people there would be
Hindus. We even celebrated
Christmas. This was all done in a
very conscious effort to build a
kind of national secular demo-
cratic character of the country,”
he said.
Speakingontheriseof China
andthepossibilityof itdominat-
ingtheworldorder,Zakariasaid,
“Icontinuetobesomethingof an
optimist. If democracies can get
their house in order, if we make
somewisechoicesoverthenext
10 or 15 years we will live in a
messy, chaotic but open and
somewhatliberalworldandthat
China will not dominate…If you
look at China externally, what is
striking to me is Xi Jinping’s for-
eign policy has basically been a
EXCLUSIVE
WEB
VIDEO OF THE DAY
failure.Imeanwhatisthegoalof
your foreign policy — to win
friends,toinfluencepeople…set
standards around the world…I
am looking around China and
thinking to myself what neigh-
bouringcountryhasitnotalien-
ated in the last five years?”
The Express Adda, held on-
line since the pandemic broke
lastyear,isaseriesof interactions
organisedbyTheIndianExpress
Group and features those at the
centre of change. Past guests in-
clude Union Finance Minister
Nirmala Sitharaman; the Dalai
Lama,economistsandNobellau-
reates Amartya Sen, Abhijit
BanerjeeandEstherDuflo;direc-
tor of All India Institute of
Medical Sciences Dr Randeep
Guleria; chief economic advisor
Krishnamurthy Subramanian;
actors Amitabh Bachchan, Shah
Rukh Khan, Pankaj Tripathi and
others.
Panchayat seats
panchayats, the villagers admit-
tedtoworkingtowards"consen-
sus candidates". This, in many
cases, is a proxy for subverting
the electoral process through
auctions.
In Moi village, for instance,
Kiran Gaware, one of the candi-
dates set to get ‘elected’ unop-
posed, claimed: “It was through
extensive public consultations
that we managed to get unop-
posedcandidates.Itwasdecided
that the money that would oth-
erwise get spent in the elections
would be contributed towards
the construction of a temple in
the village,” he said.
Whenaskedwhopaidforhis
candidature,hedeclinedtocom-
ment.
The Moi story has played out
elsewhere,too.District-wiselists
of candidatesshowhowthefield
is being kept open and the play-
ing field is anything but level.
Consider:
■Of the746grampanchayatsin
Punedistrict,asmanyas81have
onlyonecandidateinthefrayfor
every seat.
■ In Nandurbar, 22 of the 87
grampanchayatswillseealltheir
members getting elected unop-
posed.
■InBeeddistrict,thewinnersin
18 of the 129 gram panchayats
have been decided.
■ That number is 47 out of 433
gram panchayats in Kolhapur.
■ In Latur, winners in 25 out of
401 gram panchayats have been
decided.
There is widespread though
hushed talk of auction and
money being paid to buy seats.
On January 4, State Election
Commissioner U P S Madan had
taken cognisance of the videos
and media reports of these auc-
tions, including those published
in The Indian Express, and or-
dereddistrictcollectorstoinves-
tigate, calling these incidents
“completelycontrarytothespirit
of democracy”.
On Wednesday, in its order
cancelling elections to the two
gram panchayats, the Election
Commission said, “After going
throughthereports,andthevar-
iousaudioandvideorecordings,
the Commission has decided to
canceltheelectionstothesetwo
villages.Thedistrictcollectorsare
directed to take necessary legal
action against the people in-
volved in the auction.”
That's easier said than done.
For, in many cases, the actual
auctioncanbeoffcamera.Forex-
ample, the inquiry ordered by
Nadurbar District Collector
RajendraBharudfoundthatpeo-
plewhowereseenparticipating
in the auction never filed their
nominationsforgrampanchayat
seats.
Nanded District Collector Dr
Vipin Ithankar submitted a sim-
ilar finding to the EC.
"Ittranspiredthatthepeople
who made the winning bid had
not filed nominations. But we
havefiledcasesagainstviolation
of Model Code of Conduct
against them," said Nandurbar
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
YOUTUBE SUSPENDS TRUMP’S CHANNEL: A LOOK AT HOW FACEBOOK, TWITTER AND
OTHERS BANNED HIM
YouTubeisthelatestplatformtobanUSPresidentDonaldTrumpforviolatingpoliciesandincitingviolence,
joiningFacebook,InstagramandTwitter,whichhavetakenasimilarcourseofaction.
SUNIL GROVER TALKS
ABOUT ‘TANDAV’
‘Saif Ali Khan is a
dedicated, passionate
actor’
83 Tejas fighters cleared for Air Force
it as the “largest indigenous de-
fence procurement deal” and
said it “will be a game changer
forself-relianceintheIndiande-
fence manufacturing”.
He said “LCA-Tejas is going
to be the backbone of the IAF
fighter fleet in years to come”
and it “incorporates a large
number of new technologies,
many of which were never at-
tempted in India”. The indige-
nous content of the aircraft, he
said, is 50 per cent and will be
enhanced to 60 per cent.
In a statement, the Ministry
of Defence said the CCS ap-
proved procurement of 73 LCA
TejasMk-1Afighteraircraftand
10 LCA Tejas Mk-1 trainer air-
craft at a cost of Rs 45,696 crore
alongwithdesignanddevelop-
mentofinfrastructuresanctions
worth Rs 1,202 crore.
HAL has already set up sec-
ondlinemanufacturingfacilities
at its Nasik and Bengaluru divi-
sions, Singh said, adding that
“equippedwiththeaugmented
infrastructure,theHALwillsteer
LCA-Mk1A production for
timely deliveries to the IAF''.
Allahabad HC on Spl Marriage Act
they would invade in the fun-
damental rights of liberty and
privacy, including within its
sphere freedom to choose for
marriage without interference
from state and non-state ac-
tors, of the persons con-
cerned.”
He clarified that “in case
such individuals applying to
solemnize their marriage un-
der the Act of 1954 themselves
by their free choice desire that
they would like to have more
information about their coun-
terparts,theycandefinitelyopt
for publication of notice under
Section 6 and further proce-
dure with regard to objections
to be followed. Such publica-
tion of notice and further pro-
cedure would not be violative
of their fundamental rights as
they adopt the same of their
free will”.
As the Special Marriage Act
is a central legislation, couples
across the country seeking to
marry under the law would
benefit from the liberal read-
ing of the provisions by the
Allahabad High Court ruling.
Justice Chaudhary’s order
noted that in view of the
“changed socialcircumstances
andprogressinlawsnotedand
DM Bharud.
This, sources said, was be-
cause winners of the auction
usually do not contest the elec-
tions themselves but field their
family members or other prox-
ies,makingitdifficultforthead-
ministration to pin them down.
Also, most auctions do not
even involve a paper trail. “The
modusoperandiissimple.Afew
influential voices in the village
take a call on the candidates and
ask them to contribute money
for a common cause. It could be
for the construction of a temple,
or expansion of a school… usu-
allyexpenditurethatarenotcov-
ered under any government
schemes.Thehopefulsaretaken
intoconfidenceandtheonewho
commits the maximum money
for the cause is given the green
signal to contest. The others are
quietly managed,” said Prahlad
Ingole, a Shiv Sena leader from
Nanded, who says he wanted to
contestthegrampanchayatelec-
tions but couldn’t arrange the
money.
Though panchayats elec-
tions,thestakes arehigh.Alot of
budgetary provisions for Zilla
Parishad are now at the level of
villagepanchayats,makingthese
seats much coveted at the local
EXPLAINED
The decision, he said, will
“considerably expand the cur-
rentLCAecosystemandhelpin
creatingnewjobopportunities''.
“HAL follows a system inte-
gratormodelinLCAMk1Apro-
gramandactsasanumbrellaor-
ganisation, fostering
manufacturing & design capa-
bilitiesinpvt.industry,”hesaid.
ThankingthePrimeMinister
forthe“historicdecision”,Singh
saidthe“LCA-Tejasprogramme
wouldactasacatalystfortrans-
forming the Indian aerospace
manufacturing ecosystem into
avibrantAtmanirbhar-self-sus-
taining ecosystem”.
While the 20 IOC Mk-1 air-
craftformedthe45Squadronat
SulurinTamilNadu,thefirstFOC
aircraft was handed to the IAF
last May, part of the 18
Squadron, also at Sulur.
The 73 Mk-1A variant will
form four IAF squadrons, along
withreservesandadditionalair-
craft. The Ministry of Defence
saidtheMk-1Avariant“isanin-
digenouslydesigned,developed
andmanufacturedstate-of-the-
art modern 4+ generation
proposed by the Law
Commission” and judgments
of the Supreme Court, “it
would be cruel and unethical
to force the present generation
living with its current needs
and expectations to follow the
customs and traditions
adopted by a generation living
nearly150yearsbackforitsso-
cial needs and circumstances,
which violates fundamental
rightsrecognizedbythecourts
of theday…itisthedutyof this
court to revisit the interpreta-
tion of the procedure under
challenge as provided in the
Act of 1954”.
Hecitedlandmarkprogres-
sive rulings on the right to pri-
vacy by the Supreme Court, in-
cluding the 2017 Aadhaar case
which recognised the right to
privacyasafundamentalright,
the2018rulingwhichheldthat
the right to choose a partner is
afundamentalrightinthecase
involving Hadiya, a medical
student who converted to
Islam to marry a Muslim, and
the 2018 ruling in which the
court decriminalised homo-
sexuality.
The Uttar Pradesh
Prohibition of Unlawful
Conversion of Religion
level.
A village like Kuruli, in Khed
taluka of Pune, has an annual
budget of Rs 5 crore to be spent
on local developmental works.
“Since the 74th amendment,
thevillagepanchayathasgotac-
cess to funds which were previ-
ously controlled by the Zilla
Parishad or Panchayat Samitis.
It’s no wonder that panchayat
electionsnowgetsomuchatten-
tion,” said Bhim Raskar, who
runs Mahila Rajsatta Abhiyan, a
Mumbai-based organisation
thatworksongrassrootsdemoc-
racy. Raskar says he has person-
ally received at least 16 com-
plaints of open auctions for
panchayat seats.
Most villages in Pune district
where single candidates are in
thefrayarenearindustrialzones.
“The people who control these
bodies also gain a negotiating
muscle with the industries for
cornering labour and scrap con-
tracts,” said a local Shiv Sena
leader.
Fire NOC
of coordination between public
healthdepartment,publicworks
department (PWD), Nagar
Parishads and municipal corpo-
rations in ensuring that the
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
WHO ARE EGYPT’S
‘TIKTOK GIRLS?
They were sentenced to
two years in jail for
‘attacking values’
fighter aircraft” which is
equipped with critical compo-
nents like an Active
Electronically Scanned Array
(AESA) radar, Beyond Visual
Range(BVR)missiles,Electronic
Warfare (EW) suite and air-to-
air refuelling (AAR) capability.
The LCA, the Ministry said,
“would be a potent platform to
meet the operational require-
ments of Indian Air Force”.
The CCS, it said, “also ap-
proved infrastructure develop-
mentbyIAFundertheprojectto
enable them handle repairs or
servicing at their base depot so
thattheturnaroundtimewould
get reduced for mission critical
systems and would lead to in-
creasedavailabilityofaircraftfor
operational exploitation”.
RMadhavan,Chairmanand
Managing Director of HAL, in a
statement,saidthe“production
rate for this increased require-
mentbyIAFisbeingaugmented
by HAL from 8 to 16 aircraft per
year through the creation of
state-of-the-art new facility in
Bengaluru”. “Tejas would have
the highest level indigenisation
Ordinance, 2020, which de-
claresconversionof religionby
marriage to be unlawful, man-
dates a 60-day notice to the
DistrictMagistrateand alsore-
quires the Magistrate to con-
duct a police inquiry to ascer-
tain the real intention behind
the conversion.
In 2012, the Himachal
Pradesh High Court had struck
down similar provisions that
required notice of intention in
case of religious conversion in
the Himachal Pradesh
Freedom of Religion Act, 2006,
citing that it violates the fun-
damental right to privacy.
However, the state, repealing
the 2006 law, enacted a law in
2019 with the same provisions
that the court struck down.
The Special Marriage Act to
provide a framework for inter-
caste and inter-religious mar-
riages was originally enacted
in 1872. Despite changes and
versions,the1954lawretained
the Victorian-era protectionist
provisions.
Justice Chaudhary took up
the issue of notice under the
Special Marriage Act being vi-
olative of fundamental rights
when he recognised that this
provision is often an impedi-
norms are complied with.
Only 88 facilities had con-
ducted a fire safety audit, and
onlyabare45haveanNOCfrom
the fire department. A mock fire
drill has been carried out at 218
at least once.
N Ramaswamy, Director of
National Health Mission, said,
“Several hospitals are decades
oldandwerehandedoverbythe
PWD to us without obtaining
NOC for fire safety. Soon, we will
issue a circular to all districts to
ensurethatahospitalstartsfunc-
tioning only after required per-
missions are in place. A contract
will be drawn up with PWD, in
which we will clearly mention
who is responsible for fire audit,
NOC and other permissions.”
In Pune, of the 26 govern-
ment hospitals assessed, only
fourhaveconductedafiresafety
audit, and none have an NOC
from the fire department. In
Thane, of the 13 hospitals, seven
have carried out a fire audit and
two have an NOC. Data from
Mumbai is not available.
Some districts have shown a
very poor fire safety protocol for
all their government hospitals.
Nandurbar,Dhule,Satara,Jalgaon
andSindhudurghaveneithercar-
ried out a single fire audit nor do
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
What we don’t know
about the Serum and
Bharat Biotech vaccines
NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY
Today on the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we talk to
virologist Dr Shahid Jameel about how the
two vaccines compare with each other and
the concerns they raise.
in comparison to any pro-
gramme of this scale with pro-
gressive indigenisation of criti-
caltechnologies,therebymaking
India a technologically self-re-
liantnation,”hesaid.
The LCA will be critical to
maintain the fleet strength of
IAF fighters. Although the IAF
has an authorised squadron
strength of 42, it has only 30
squadronsatthemoment.With
theMiG-21aircrafttobephased
out by 2024, the IAF is building
its squadron strength.
Apartfromthe36Rafalebe-
ing flown from France in
batches,theIAFhasalsogotgov-
ernment clearance for the pur-
chaseofnewfighteraircraft,in-
cluding 21 MiG-29 and 12
Su-30MKI, and upgradation of
the existing 59 MIG-29 aircraft.
This was approved last July
by the Defence Acquisition
Council as part of a Rs 38,900-
crore package. It had cited “the
current situation” – a reference
to the standoff with China in
Ladakh -- and the “need to
strengthen” the armed forces
“forthedefenceofourborders”.
ment to inter-faith couples
wanting to marry under the
secular law.
The case was filed initially
as a writ petition by Safiya
Sultana who converted to be-
come a Hindu and took the
name Simran to marry
AbhishekKumarPandeyasper
Hindu rituals. Simran’s plea
was against her father who did
not approve of her marriage
and had illegally detained her.
Based on interactions with
Simran and her father, the
court found that the couple
had married as per their
wishes. However, during the
interaction, the court found
that the couple had in fact
wished to marry under the
Special Marriage Act, but the
30-daynoticecompelledthem
to take the route of religious
conversionsinceitwasquicker.
The court also noted that
despite the secular law for
marriage, a majority of mar-
riagesinthecountryhappenas
per religious customs. It said
that when marriages under
personal law do not require a
notice or invitation for objec-
tions,sucharequirementisob-
solete in secular law and can-
not be forced on a couple.
theypossessanNOCfromthefire
department for any of their hos-
pitals assessed till now.
In Nandurbar, assessment
was sought from 15 PHCs and
hospitals, nine hospitals in
Dhule, 24 each in Satara and
Jalgaon and 11 in Sindhudurg.
InNandurbar,DistrictHealth
Officer(DHO)DrNitinBorkesaid
while PHCs had fire extinguish-
ers, no training has been im-
parted to the staff on fire fight-
ing. “After the fire incident in
Bhandara, I issued a letter to all
PHCs to conduct fire audits,” he
added. The letter was issued on
January 11, two days after the
Bhandara hospital mishap.
In Chandrapur, DHO Dr Raj
Gehlotconductedamockdrillon
January 11 to look at prepared-
ness in PHCs. “We have also
asked for audit on requirement
for fire safety equipment. Soon,
a proposal will be submitted for
approval,” Gehlot said.
In Dhule, where none of the
ninehospitalshaveundergonea
fire audit and do not have fire
NOC, civil surgeon Manik
Sangale said, “We have now
started the process of audit and
to apply for NOC. These are all
veryoldbuildings,andwecould
only fit extinguishers.”
While data from 484 hospi-
talsshowedthat5,137fireextin-
guishers were procured, there
was no data on how many are
functional or how many hospi-
talsheldtrainingexercisesforits
staffers.
“We have no guidelines on
how regularly a fire audit must
beundertaken.Wearenowpro-
posingthatafireauditoratleast
mockdrillshouldbearegularex-
ercise,” a senior official from the
Directorate of Health Services
(DHS) said, adding that public
healthdepartmentneedsbetter
coordination with PWD in un-
dertaking repair and mainte-
nance works.
When contacted, Health
Minister Rajesh Tope said, “This
incident has made us realise we
need more coordination be-
tween various departments.
Letters have been issued to con-
ductfireauditsinallgovernment
hospitals. We now need to en-
sure its implementation.”
“Every department has to
rely on the PWD for repair and
maintenance work – be it infra-
structure or electrical wiring.
Fifteenpercentof constructions
carried out by PWD is for the
public health department. So,
appropriate budget must be al-
located to maintain buildings of
the health department,” he
added.
The minister said the health
department is also in need of a
biggerbudgetaryallocation.“We
need to spend 5 per cent of the
GDPonhealth.Rightnow,itis0.9
to 1 per cent of the GDP,” he
added.
FollowingtheBhandarahos-
pital fire, the DHS is planning to
begin a system of regular moni-
toring of its hospitals. Officials
will be appointed for inspection
and completion of repair works.
“No equipment will be allowed
to function if it has no mainte-
nance contract,” Ramaswamy
said.
Nawab Malik
of Sameer Khan, a resident of
Bandra, came up during our in-
vestigation.Hewascalledforex-
amination today. After detailed
examination,hehasbeenplaced
under arrest. Further follow up
action is underway.”
Repeatedcallsandmessages
to Malik, seeking his comment,
went unanswered.
Last November, Malik, the
minority development and skill
development minister in the
MahaVikasAghadigovernment,
had said in a media interview
that the NCB was trying to gain
publicitybyarrestingdrugusers
rather than peddlers.
Khan appeared before the
NCB office at Ballard Estate on
Wednesday around 10 am. As
per senior NCB officials, he was
summoned following the inter-
rogation of Karan Sajnani, the
British national arrested on
Saturday.
“We have found that money
was exchanged between Khan
and Sajnani through a payment
app. We questioned him to find
out what the payment was for,”
said an officer.
In the case registered by the
NCB on Saturday, 75 kg of mari-
juana, 125 kg of marijuana-re-
latedmaterialandmanycannabi
budsimportedfromtheUSwere
allegedlyrecoveredfromSajnani.
BasedonSajnani'sstatement,
the police had also arrested Ram
Kumar Tiwari, a co-owner of the
famous Muchchad Paanwala
shopinsouthMumbai.NCBoffi-
cialssaidtheyhaverecoveredhalf
a kg of cannabis from the shop's
warehouse. Tiwari had claimed
thathebelievedthestuffgivento
him was a herbal product.
Another person arrested in
the case is Rahila Furniturewala,
also a suspect in the probe into a
drugs case lodged by the NCB in
connection to actor Sushant
Singh Rajput's death. Rahila' sis-
ter Shaista Furniturewala had
also been arrested after being
foundinpossessionof ganja,the
agency had said.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

3 THE CITY
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

BMC NOTICE ON ILLEGAL CONSTRUCTIONS UNAUTHORISED STRUCTURES AGNELO VALDARIS CUSTODIAL DEATH

HC reserves order
on Sonu Sood’s plea
HC pulls up civic bodies, Plea in court seeks CBI chargesheet
on murder charges against cops
OMKAR GOKHALE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
Describing the actor and his
wife as “habitual offenders”, the
BMC had told court Tuesday that
the couple wants to “enjoy the
says ‘there is no will’ SADAF MODAK
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13

THE FATHER of 25-year old

THE BOMBAY HC Wednesday re-
served order on a plea filed by ac-
torSonuSood,challengingtherul-
ing of civil court that had dismis-
sedhisapplicationagainstanotice
issuedbyBMCforallegedlycarry-
ingoutstructuralchangestoares-
identialbuildingownedbyhimat
JuhuinMumbaiwithoutdueper-
missions. The HC had, on January
11, continued till January 13 the
stay on the civil court order. On
October 24, last year, BMC had is-
suedanoticeunderSection53(1)
of Maharashtra Regional and
TownPlanningActtoSoodandhis
wife Sonali, giving them a month
to restore the property as per its
original plan or get approval for
changes. The BMC pasted the no-
ticeonthepropertyonOctober27.
Theactorhadapproachedthe
citycivilcourtseekingastayonthe
BMC notice. He had moved HC
when the civil court ruling went
against him. Sood and his wife, in
theirpetition,hadclaimedtheydid
not carry out any “illegal or unau-
thorised” construction in the six-
storeyShaktiSagarbuilding.
commercial proceeds of their
unauthorisedwork”andhasstart-
edreconstructingthedemolished
partstorunitlikeahotel.
On Wednesday, advocate
Amogh Singh, appearing for the
actor, told the court that the BMC
notice was “vague” and didn’t
mention the nature of alleged al-
terations. He said the concerned
BMCofficialhadnotpasseda“spe-
akingorder”toactor'sreplytono-
ticeandtheSoodshadapproached
theHCapprehendingdemolition.
The actor said he could not
availclearancefromMCZMA,asit
wasdelayedduetothepandemic.
Senior counsel Anil Sakhare,
appearingforBMC,saidSoodhad
constructed hotel rooms on pre-
text of “beautification” and ap-
proached court with “unclean
hands”. Seeking that his plea be
dismissed,SakharesaidSoodcan’t
be permitted to continue with
commercial activity of running a
hotel. After conducting a three-
hourhearing,asingle-judgebench
of Justice Prithviraj K Chavan re-
serveditsorderontheplea.
OMKAR GOKHALE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
THE BOMBAY High Court, while
raising concerns about illegal
structures and building col-
lapses causing loss of lives, said
on Wednesday that if munici-
pal corporations are not in po-
sition to take action against
unauthorised structures, “the
situation will become quite dif-
ficult” in cities.
A division bench of Chief
Justice (CJ) Dipankar Datta and
Justice Girish S Kulkarni sought
ward-wise data from eight mu-
nicipal corporations in Mumbai
Metropolitan Region, including
BMC, pertaining to notices is-
sued against unauthorised
structures, steps taken against
them, number of cases in which
compensation was recovered
and cases related to illegal
structures under litigation.
It also asked the state gov-
ernment to consider if separate
tribunal can be formed to
expedite hearings on pending
litigations related to illegal
structures.
The bench was hearing a
suo motu public interest litiga-
tion it had initiated last
September after the collapse of
a building in Thane's Bhiwandi,
which claimed nearly 40 lives.
Senior counsel Sharan
Jagtiani, who was appointed by
the HC as amicus curiae to as-
sist it with the case, said that
several corporations, including
BMC, had not mentioned the
total number of unauthorised
structures and steps taken
against them in their replies.
“If corporations are not in a
position of implementing the
provisions of the statute, the
situation is going to become
quite difficult,” CJ Datta said.
The bench also observed that
most corporations do not seem
proactive in taking action
against illegal structures.
When CJ Datta inquired
with BMC’s counsel why data
about illegal structures was
missing in its affidavit, senior
counsel Anil Sakhare said that
40 per cent of the city’s land is
occupied by slums and exact
figures pertaining to buildings
that had unauthorised floors
may not be available.
Justice Kulkarni referred to
a Madras High Court order,
which had told authorities that
till the time a illegal structure
is demolished, the person put-
ting it up may pay extra tax. "So
many measures can be taken.
There is no will and what are
they (corporations) waiting
for? They do not know. We are
heading for what God knows...,”
he added.
“The pandemic has taught
us many things. Does every
person, including migrants,
who come to work in Mumbai
need to check if building/struc-
ture has permissions and is
safe? Human life cannot be
cheap,” Justice Kulkarni said.
The bench the posted for
further hearing in March first
week.
Agnelo Valdaris, who died in the
custody of the Wadala
Government Railway Police
(GRP) in 2014, along with two
others,filedaprotestpetitionbe-
fore the special court on
Wednesday seeking that the CBI
be directed to file a chargesheet
onchargesof murderagainstthe
accused police personnel.
Last November, the Supreme
Court had directed the special
court to examine all aspects of
thecaseanddecideunderwhich
sectionscantheaccusedbetried.
The Bombay High Court, in
2019, had said that Agnelo's
death was a prima facie case of
custodial death and directed the
special court to frame charges of
murder and destruction of evi-
denceagainsttheaccusedpolice
personnel.TheSCordercameon
an appeal filed by the police per-
sonnel against the HC order.
In April 2014, Agnelo, along
withthreeothers,includingami-
nor, was apprehended by the
Wadala GRP for a probe into a
theft case. The four were al-
legedly sexually abused and
physically tortured by the ac-
cused. On April 18, 2014, the po-
liceclaimedthatAgnelohaddied
after being run over by a train
while escaping from custody.
Agnelo's father, Leonard, had
movedtheHCstatingthatAgnelo
hadnotdiedinthetrainaccident
but was murdered. The HC, in its
orderinDecember2019,hadsaid
that the three others picked up
along with Agnelo had said in
theirstatementsthathewasinno
position to walk after being as-
saulted by the police personnel
andthattherewere“inconsisten-
cies” in the CBI probe.
The protest petition sought
that the court rejects the three
chargesheets filed by the CBI in
2015, 2016 and 2018 and the
central agency be directed to file
a supplementary chargesheet
under Section 302 (murder) of
the Indian Penal Code.
The petition added that evi-
dence shows that Angelo did not
dieinthetrainaccident,aswasbe-
ing portrayed and that there are
no station diary entries to show
whenhewastakenoutofcustody
before the alleged accident.
While the CBI had filed
chargesheets under the
Protection of Children from
Sexual Offences, as the police
personnel had been accused of
sexually abusing the minor, the
agency has maintained that
Angelohaddiedinthetrainacci-
dent.
The SC, in its order last
November, had said that the
findings of the HC will not be
treated as binding on the special
court and it should independ-
ently apply its mind. It had also
said that the victims were at lib-
erty to file protest petitions to be
dealt by the trial court in accor-
dance with law.
Thespecialcourtdirectedthe
accusedandtheCBItofileareply
to the protest petition on
Wednesdayandpostedthemat-
ter for further hearing next
month.

Call centre that posed as finance firms

& defrauded people busted, 11 arrested
SAGAR RAJPUT
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
THE MUMBAI Police on Monday
raided a fake call centre in
Ghatkopar and arrested 11 peo-
ple, including six women, for al-
legedlydupingseveralpeopleon
the pretext of settling their loans
for less than half the outstand-
ing amount.
The group took advantage of
the situation caused by the pan-
demicandafteracquiringthelist
of borrowers from different
banks and institutions, they ap-
proached the loanees by posing
as executives from these institu-
tions and defrauded them of
cash, police said.
According to the police, the
fake call centre, which is based
at Kailash Esplanade in
Ghatkopar, started operating in
April after the nationwide lock-
down was announced by the
government. The scam came to
light in December after a 61-
year-old man was duped of Rs
39,200, police said. The man
thenapproachedShivajiParkpo-
lice station and lodged a com-
plaint, police said.
The complainant told police
that he had taken a loan from
two finance institutions. The
complainant had been paying
monthly installments but due to
the lockdown, his earnings re-
duced and he requested a mora-
torium, which was granted him
till August. On November 17, he
received a call from a certain Raj,
who said he could settle his Rs
34,000 dues on a loan he had
Somnath Das is said to be
the mastermind of the
racket. Express
takenfromafinancialinstitution
for Rs 17,500. Since the com-
plainant was still struggling to
pay his installments, he agreed.
Raj then sent an aide to the
complainant'sapartmenttotake
the cash, police said. A day later,
the complainant called Raj and
asked for his help in settling an
outstanding loan of Rs 1.4 lakh
that he had taken from another
financial institution.
"Rajsaidhehasafriendwork-
ing there and the complainant's
loan could be settled for Rs
21,700," said a police officer. On
November 21, another aide vis-
itedthecomplainant,gavehima
settlement letter and took the
cash. But on December 2, when
anactualrepresentativefromthe
financial institution went to the
complainant'sapartmenttotake
the money, the complainant
showed him the settlement let-
ter,whoforwardedittohissupe-
rior.Afterscrutinisingfurther,the
institution'sofficialsrealisedthat
the payment had never reached
them.
The 61-year-old then
checked with the first financial
institution and even it hadn't re-
ceived any money, so he went to
the police station and lodged a
complaint. Shivaji Park police
station registered a case under
sections of cheating and cheat-
ing by impersonation.
Assistant Police Inspector
Pandari Kandhe of Shivaji Park
policestationstartedhuntingfor
the culprit by scrutinising the
call data records of the person
who had gone to the com-
plainant's apartment to collect
cash.
"WemanagedtolocateKetan
Mishra at Ghatkopar and
broughthiminforinterrogation.
We then learnt that Somnath
Das was the mastermind in the
case," said Kandhe.
The police then learned that
the suspects were running an il-
legal call centre in Ghatkopar.
On Monday afternoon, the
police raided their office in
Kailash Esplanade and arrested
10 people, including six women.
The police seized 132 SIM cards,
seven computers, four laptops
and seven mobiles from the call
centre. The accused, Neelam
Gholap, Kajal Singh, Sayali
Sonawane,VrushaliPol,Archana
Parte, Nandini Nikam, Vijay
Pasram, Syed Mehmood,
Krushna Jadhav and Das, have
been remanded to police cus-
tody till January 15.
"We suspect that people
from the finance companies are
also involved because the ac-
cused managed to get the con-
tact numbers of the loanees,"
said an investigator.

ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

School teachers start fundraiser to
help students get e-learning tools
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
TWO SCHOOL teachers at Ja’fari
School in Govandi started a
fundraiser earlier this week to
provide their economically dis-
advantagedstudentswithonline
education tools like smart-
phones, cover phone recharges
and other forms of support for
their families to ensure they do
not drop out of school.
Bhagyashree Nambiar and
Anisha Chamaria, both fifth
grade teachers at the private
school, started a fundraiser on
Ketto.org to raise Rs 2 lakh. They
took the initiative because most
of the parents of their students
are daily wage workers. The
school mostly caters to children
from the slums of Govandi.
The teachers, grappling
with an array of challenges to
make sure that none of their
students falls through the
cracks because of the collateral
damage of the Covid-19 pan-
demic, said that in their class of
66, only 35 students make it to
the online classroom. Even as
Ja’fari School in Govandi in 2019 and (right) online class held
on Zoom by the school now. Express
they enter the third term of vir-
tual teaching, the other stu-
dents struggle with limited ac-
cess to internet.
“The Covid-19 pandemic
has altered the entire education
ecosystem. Zoom classes and
online exams are the new nor-
mal. But unfortunately, not all
have the capacity or resources
to embrace this change.
Children from the low-income
community have been af-
fected...The money raised
through the Ketto fundraiser
will enable us to provide our
students with the study mate-
rials,” said Nambiar.
ODISHA ADARSHA VIDYALAYA SANGATHAN
N-1/9, Nayapalli, PO: Sainik School, Bhubaneswar -751005
N-30 Email: oavsbbsr.od@gov.in/ Phone No.0674-2302344,
Notice for Computer Based Test
Pursuant to the advertisement No. 01/2020 of OAVS, the Computer Based Test (CBT)
for recruitment of Principals and Teachers in OAVs shall be held on 25th & 29th to
30th January, 2021 in different centers in the state. The center list and schedule of
examination is available in the website. The SMS has also been sent in the registered
mobile no. of the candidates. The candidates are advised to download their e-admit
card in the link given in the website.
(1) Facilitation counters will be opened on 24.01.2021 from 10 AM to 2 PM in different
cities to attend the query of candidates with regard to e-admit card for CBT. The
list of facilitation counters is available in the website. In case of any difficulty, the
candidates are advised to visit the respective facilitation counter for assistance.
(2) The link for uploading the objections on the online questions in OAVS website
Chamaria said, “We are after CBT will be available for a specific period. The candidates are advised to visit
turning to people to extend website and submit their objection in the link opened during the specific period
support to us, to our children, only. No further objection will be entertained after closing of link.
their siblings and parents.”
(3) Similarly, a link will be available for a specific period after CBT to update the status
The fundraiser, which is
open for another 47 days, has of passing the qualifying Examination/ Test by the candidates who had appeared
so far raised Rs 57,019. the Exam./Test and result was not published within the closing date. The
With the money they raise, candidates who did not update the status of passing the qualifying Examination/
the teachers aim to sponsor Test within the specified period shall be treated as ineligible and their candidature
smartphones or learning de- will be cancelled and the result in CBT shall be finalized excluding those
vices for their students, basic candidates.
stationery needs, cover crucial
(4) The candidates are advised to visit the website regularly for detailed information
medical expenses and data
charges. They also plan to sup- and to know the up-dates.
port the students' families with Sd/-
fee payments for this year to State Project Director
ensure they don't drop out of OIPR-27029/11/0002/2021
school.

4 MAHARASHTRA
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
BJP wants Munde to
resign from Cabinet
over rape slur...
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
THE BJP has upped the ante
against Maharashtra Social
Justice Minister Dhananjay
Munde, seeking his resignation
from the state cabinet. Awoman
has accused Munde of rape. The
minister,however,deniedtheal-
legation and claimed that he is
being blackmailed by the com-
plainant and her sister with
whom he was in a relationship
and has two children.
"Dhananjay Munde, who is
heading the social justice min-
istry, should resign as he has no
moralrighttobeinthepostafter
accusationof sexualexploitation
beingleveled against him,"State
BJP President Chandrakant Patil
said. The party's women's wing
has also threatened to launch a
statewideagitationif Mundedid
not resign.
On January 11, the woman
had sent a written complaint to
the Mumbai Police commis-
sioner, stating that Munde had
repeatedly raped her in 2006.
The woman, in her complaint,
claimed that Munde is her
brother-in-law and had married
her sister in 1998. She claimed
that the minister had first raped
her in 2006 when she was alone
at her home and since then he
repeated the act multiple times
over the years. She added that
Munde had assured her that he
would marry her and help her
get work as a singer in
Bollywood.
Munde, who is married and
has a young daughter, issued a
statement on Tuesday where he
acknowledged that he was in a
relationship with the com-
plainant’s sister and has two
children with her. He added that
he had financially supported
...Shiv Sena & NCP
back him, but Cong CABINET DECISIONS
maintains silence Rejected a yr ago, dam projects Universities for skill
worth Rs 2,989 crore approved boost: Govt nod to
Final nod to PM’s solar guidelines, model bill
MANOJ MORE
PUNE, JANUARY 13
A DAY after Social Justice
Minister Dhananjay Munde was
accused by a Mumbai-based
woman of rape, the ruling Shiv
Sena and Sharad Pawar-led NCP
rallied around the beleaguered
minister and dismissed any idea
of him resigning from the cabi-
net. However, the Congress
maintained silence on the issue.
On Tuesday, Munde had put
out a social media post, denying
the allegation of rape by the
woman. The minister claimed
that he was being blackmailed
by the complainant and her sis-
ter with whom he was in a rela-
tionship and has two children.
State NCP chief Jayant Patil
said: “It takes lot of time and ef-
fort to make it big on a political
platform. If anyone has made an
allegation, it will be wrong to
come to a conclusion immedi-
ately without verifying the facts.
Mundehasalreadygivenhisside
of the story. The matter, a family
affair,isinthehighcourt.Munde
has clarified about it.”
Patil said there was a similar
allegation against another NCP
leader Mehboob Shaikh. “There
was no truth in it. Let us not
come to a conclusion when only
an allegation has been made.
There will be an investigation
and the truth will come out.”
Echoing the NCP, Shiv Sena
Minister Abdul Sattar said, “A
similar kind of allegation had
Money laundering case: Sarnaik ‘aide’ Chandole planned to bribe MMRDA officials
KHUSHBOO NARAYAN
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
A MONEY laundering probe into
the alleged cheating of the
Mumbai Metropolitan Region
Development Authority (MM-
RDA)of Rs175crorebyTopsgrup
Services and Solutions Limited
has found that Amit Chandole,
an alleged close associate of Shiv
Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, not
only coordinated the contract
with the authority for the secu-
rity firm but later also planned
tobribeMMRDAofficialstoclear
them and given the children his
name. He further said that his
familywasawareof therelation-
ship and had accepted it.
The minister, however, had
denied the charges of rape and
claimed that the accusation
were part of a conspiracy to
blackmail him. Munde said the
complainant’s messages can
prove his claim.
After Munde acknowledged
his relationship with the
woman, former BJP MP Kirit
Somaiya lodged a complaint
with the Chief Election
Commissioner against the min-
ister for concealing details about
his family and properties in his
electionaffidavit."Ihavesubmit-
ted a complaint against
Maharashtra Minister
Dhananjay Munde to the
ElectionCommissionof Indiafor
non-disclosure and conceal-
ment of facts about his wives,
children and properties,"
Somaiya said.
"In his affidavit for the
October 2017 Maharashtra
Assembly elections, he did not
disclose facts regarding his two
wives, all children and proper-
ties in their names. I request to
order an inquiry and take appro-
priate actions," Somaiya said in
the complaint to the EC.
Munde, meanwhile, spent
his day meeting the top NCP
brass, including party chief
Sharad Pawar, Deputy Chief
Minister Ajit Pawar and senior
cabinet minister Chaggan
Bhujbal. He also attended the
state cabinet meeting.
Munde, 45, though a first-
term MLA, is deemed to be one
of the important leaders of the
NCP that he had joined in 2012
afterbreakingrankswiththeBJP
and his uncle, Gopinath Munde,
ashechosehisdaughter,Pankaja
Munde, to be his heir.
surfaced concerninga BJP leader
years back. That time, SenaChief
Balasaheb Thackeray had said
that 'pyar kiya toh darna kya’. He
had stood by that leader.”
After Munde acknowledged
his relationship with the
woman, former BJP MP Kirit
Somaiya lodged a complaint
with the Chief Election
Commissioner against the min-
ister for concealing details about
his family and properties in his
election affidavit.
Reacting to Somaiya’s move,
NCP State spokesperson Umesh
Patil said, “If the BJP is demand-
ing the resignation of Munde on
the grounds of false affidavit,
then Prime Minister Narendra
Modi should also resign. In his
2014 affidavit, the Prime
Minister did not mention about
hiswifeandinthe2019affidavit,
he spoke about her.” Patil said
Munde just conceded that he
had a relationship through mu-
tual consent.
The State Congress,however,
refused to either support or op-
pose the demand for Munde’s
resignation. Reacting to a tweet
of the BJP Mahila Morcha, State
Congress spokesperson Sachin
Sawant said: “If the BJP Mahila
Morcha is demanding Munde’s
resignationforhehastwowives,
then all BJP leaders should face
similar fate.”
“The party is rallying around
Munde. These are mere allega-
tion and not a court verdict.
Therefore, the party is not seek-
ing his resignation," Patil added.
someof thepaymentsunder the
contract, as MMRDA had black-
listed Topsgrup due to non-pay-
ment of Goods and Services Tax
(GST).
Sources said the agency has
found phone recordings of
Chandole with M Sashidharan,
former MD of Topsgrup, speak-
ing of bribing MMRDA officials
for releasing some pending pay-
ments and removing Topsgrup
from the authority's blacklist.
Both Chandole and Sasidharan
have been arrested by the ED in
connection with the case.
The ED probe, sources said,
7.8lakhhealthworkerstogetshotsinamonth,
saysgovtasfirsttrancheofvaccinesarrive
TABASSUM
BARNAGARWALA
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
ON TUESDAY, when
Maharashtra received its first
tranche of 9.83 lakh vaccine
doses, State Health Minister
Rajesh Tope said it will take a
month to inoculate the state’s
7.86 lakh healthcare workers.
The state plans to vaccinate
35,000 healthcare workers on
January 16, the first day of the
rollout.
Tope said that Maharashtra
is ready to spend on procure-
ment of vaccines if the Centre
stops supply after offering the
initial batches. Refuting the
claims that he believes that the
initial supply is insufficient, as
being reported by a section of
media, the minister claimed:
“We have 7.86 lakh registered
healthcare workers. To give
them two doses 28 days apart,
we need 15.6 lakh doses. About
10 per cent doses are expected
to get wasted during the immu-
nisation. Considering that, we
need over 17.1 lakh doses for the
healthcare workers. We have re-
ceived 9.83 lakh doses, and we
expectmorestocktoarrivesoon.
Covaxin shots to be administered in 9 centres, Covishield in 358 venues
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
NINEVACCINATIONcentreshave
been selected to administer
Covaxin shots, manufactured by
Bharat Biotech, in Maharashtra.
The J J hospital in Mumbai, B
J Medical College in Pune as well
as government medical colleges
inSolapur,Ahmednagar,Nagpur,
Kolhapur and Dhule, along with
two district hospitals in Pune
SANDEEP ASHAR
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
THE UDDHAV Thackeray-led
Maha Vikas Aghadi government
on Wednesday cleared four irri-
gation proposals worth Rs 2,989
crore.
Questions are being raised
overthelatestapprovalsincethe
Thackeray government had last
year reversed approvals sanc-
tionedbythepreviousDevendra
Fadnavis government to these
very projects.
The Cabinet Wednesday
granted revised administrative
approval to the Upper Tapi dam
project, the Shelgaon Barrage
medium irrigation project and a
lift irrigation scheme – all in
Jalgaon district – totalling Rs
2,365 crore. It also granted the
state water resources depart-
mentpermissiontofloattenders
forthe secondandthirdphaseof
a project to rehabilitate the dam
affected.
On September 9, 2019, just
ahead of the Assembly polls in
the state, the Devendra Fadnavis
Cabinet had also cleared all the
four proposals. After taking over
the reins in the state last
November, the Thackeray gov-
ernment had reversed the pre-
vious government's decision.
Now, a year later, the same proj-
ects have been cleared.
This is the fourth revised ad-
ministrative approval granted to
the Tapi project, which has been
has also found WhatsApp ex-
changes between Rahul Nanda,
promoter of Topsgrup Services,
andhiscompanyofficials,direct-
ing them to withhold other cor-
porate payments in order to pay
Chandole. The payment to
Chandole, according to the ED
probe, was made on behalf of
Sarnaik, as the MLA had a “ver-
bal agreement based on trust”
withTopsgrupforsharing50per
cent of the profits arising out of
the MMRDA contract.
Nanda has also referred to
Chandole as “Pratap's main
man” in his WhatsApp texts to
Vaccine stock for Thane arrives on Wednesday. Deepak Joshi
We don’t know by when.” Of
9.83 lakh doses, 9.63 lakh are of
Covishield from Serum Institute
of India, while 20,000 are
Covaxin doses from Bharat
Biotech.
Maharashtra earlierfinalised
511 vaccination centres, but fol-
lowing direction from the
Centre, it has reduced the total
centresto358.“Thereweremul-
tiple reasons for reducing the
number of centres. Since this is
a new vaccine, we wanted ad-
and Amravati, will administer
the shots and monitor each
beneficiary.
The six medical colleges and
two district hospitals have been
chosen because they have an in-
house team of experts to handle
adverse affects, safety issues and
monitor patients closely.
State immunisation officials
said that since Covaxin is yet to
exhibitdataonefficacy,itsadmin-
istrationinmedicalcollegeswith
specialised doctors around will
pump scheme on hold
Mumbai:ThestateCabinetwit-
nessed heated scenes with
ministers from across party
lines opposing a new proposal
bythestateenergydepartment
under the Pradhan Mantri
Krishi Urja Suraksha Evem
Utthan Mahaabhiyaan (PM
KUSUM) scheme. Last week,
theCabinethadgivenitsnodto
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's flagship scheme for in-
stallation of 1 lakh solar-pow-
ered farm pumps.
On Wednesday, when the
proposal for the confirmation
of minutes came up, depart-
ment Minister Nitin Raut from
under works since 1963, as a Rs
12-croreproject.Owingtodelays
and increase in the scope of the
work, the project cost has now
risen 44 times to Rs 536 crore.
Similarly, the cost of the
Shelgaon Barrage has risen from
Rs130crorein1997-98toRs968
crore, whereastheBhusawal Lift
Irrigationscheme'scosthasgone
up from Rs 223 crore to Rs 861
crore. In the Cabinet meeting,
some ministers demanded a re-
view on the escalation of cost,
but Deputy Chief Minister Ajit
Pawar insisted on an urgent nod
to avoid further cost overruns.
company officials, said sources.
“...We have to handle Amit
(Chandole) properly... he is
Pratap's main man. We have to
pay Amit on Monday,” said one
of the WhatsApp messages of
Nanda to a Topsgrup official.
The WhatsApp chats also
show that Chandole has asked
Topsgrup to provide a compli-
mentary service of 100 guards,
25 bouncers and a mobile van in
May 2019 for the wedding of
Sarnaik's son Purvesh. Nanda
had approved this complimen-
taryservice, saidsources.TheED
case is based on an FIR, filed on
verse events to be managed at
the hospital level so that proper
monitoring can be done,” Tope
said. The state plans to complete
the first-dose vaccination of 7.86
lakh health workers in a month.
Teams from the United Nations
Development Programme will
be roped in to handle logistical
issuesatthevaccinationcentres.
Dr Archana Patil, director of
FamilyWelfareintheDirectorate
of Health Services, said they are
scaling up the immunisation
ensure all beneficiaries are well
looked after. The second vaccine,
Covishield,willbeavailablein358
vaccination centres.
DrDNPatil,thestateimmuni-
sation officer, said a choice will
not be offered to healthcare
workers to choose between the
two available vaccines.
“They will be auto selected
through the Co-WIN software
andassignedavaccinecentreand
date. Only at the time of vaccina-
tion,theywillbeinformedwhich
the Congress sought an addi-
tional Rs 180 crore nod for the
installation and GST compo-
nent of the solar pumps.
But ministers from his own
party, including Sunil Kedar,
Yashomati Thakur and Vijay
Wadettiwar, NCP's Ajit Pawar
and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Rathod
resistedtheproposal,question-
ing the scheme's effectiveness.
Afteraheateddiscussionon
the issue, Chief Minister
UddhavThackeraydeferredthe
approval to the new proposal
and also put the confirmation
of the minutes on hold.
ENS
WaterResourcesMinisterJayant
Patil was not present during
Wednesday's meeting.
Pawar also indicated that the
waterresourcesdepartmentwill
tablesomemoreproposals,sim-
ilarly reversed last year, for re-
approval in the upcoming
Cabinet meetings.
After a section of ministers
sought a policy for such ap-
provals on account of the cash
crisis faced by the government,
Pawar said that for the time be-
ing, revised approvals will only
be considered for last mile proj-
ects nearing completion.
October 28, last year,by aformer
employee of Topsgrup, Ramesh
Iyer, who has alleged that the
company cheated MMRDA of Rs
175crore.Thecontractpertained
to supply of over 350 security
and traffic marshals of foot over
bridges in Mumbai to MMRDA,
but it is alleged that Topsgrup
provided only 70 per cent of the
workforceandbilledtheauthor-
ity for the full amount.
The ED probe, sources said,
has found that in a particular
month, while Topsgrup paid
only Rs 13 lakh to 140 guards
posted at MMRDA, it raised in-
process to cover the entire pop-
ulation in phases. “We don’t
want to give vaccines to every-
one at one go. The stock of 9.83
lakh doses will be used for half
of the registered health workers
so that both doses of the same
vaccinearegiventoeachperson.
When the next stock comes, we
will rope in more beneficiaries,”
she said. “We also want to mon-
itor the vaccinated population.”
Tope said, on January 16, he
willcongratulatePrimeMinister
vaccineisbeinggiven,”headded.
Thestatehadreceived20,000
doses from Bharat Biotech on
Wednesday in its Pune-based
nodal storage facility. The doses
will reach all nine vaccination
points by Friday.
“Butwewillnotimmediately
begin vaccinating healthcare
workerswithCovaxin.Wearestill
waiting for the Union govern-
ment to issue guidelines on this
vaccine,” said Dr Archana Patil,
Director (Family Welfare),
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
THECABINETonWednesdayap-
proved the guidelines and a
modelbilltosetupself-financed
private universities for skill de-
velopment. The cabinet has de-
cided to increase the skills and
employabilityof thestateyouths
on the lines of the Centre’s Skill
India initiative.
Officials said that these self-
financedprivateskilluniversities
willconductdiplomaanddegree
courses with special focus on
CM refers to Osmanabad as Dharashiv
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
CHIEF MINISTER Uddhav
Thackeray, through his Twitter
handle, referred to Osmanabad
as Dharashiv while tweeting on
a cabinet decision taken on
Wednesday. However, the offi-
cial statement from the Chief
Minister’s Office did not refer to
Osmanabad as Dharashiv. The
tweet was about establishment
of the new government medical
collegewith100seatsanda430-
bedded hospital.
voices of Rs 43 lakh for 270
guards.
The agency has found that
MMRDA made payments to
Topsgrup for the contract on the
basis of forged inspection re-
ports submitted by its land sur-
veyors, who were in-charge of
the physical verification of the
sites where the guards of
Topsgrup were deployed.
Accordingtosources,theGoogle
location history of at least three
surveyors of MMRDA probed by
the ED has revealed that no sur-
veyor visited the sites allotted to
them for supervision before fil-
19.78 lakh
TOTALPOSITIVECASES
INMAHARASHTRA
Active Cases 52,365
New Cases 3,556
Total Deaths 50,221
New Deaths 70
Quarantined 2.26L
Tested 1.35 crore
3,00,474
TOTALPOSITIVE
CASESINMUMBAI
New Cases 675
Total Deaths 11,212
New Deaths 12
NarendraModiandinteractwith
him from the Jalna vaccination
centre where a two-way
communication system has
been set up between vaccine
beneficiaries and the Prime
Minister.
“During our video confer-
ence, the Prime Minister said
they will wait for 60 per cent of
vaccination (of health workers
and front line workers) to get
Directorate of Health Services.
TheUnionhealthministryhas
stated that Covaxin will be ad-
ministered under an “open label
trial”--meaningthebeneficiaryis
expected to sign a consent letter,
will be aware that he is being ad-
ministered Covaxin under a trial
andbecloselymonitoredjustlike
trialparticipants.Butitisstillun-
clear whether the person will be
eligibleforcompensationincase
of severe adverse effects.
CovaxinisundergoingaPhase
training in industry and service
sectors as well as ensure em-
ploymentandself-employment.
An official said that a com-
mittee, comprising former vice-
chancellors of universities and
principals of reputed colleges,
was set up in February last year
to decide on establishing public
and private skill universities.
The government has re-
ceived the report and draft
guidelines and the model bill
was prepared to set up the self-
financed universities after con-
sidering all existing provisions,
an official said.
This came a week after
Thackeray’s Twitter handle had
referred to Aurangabad as
Sambhaji Nagar, which was ob-
jectedbytheCongress,citingthe
coalition’s agenda.
However, Thackeray had re-
sponded to the Congress, saying
that the while the coalition’s
agenda adheres to secularism,
Mughal emperor Aurangzeb
“does not fit into it”.
The Shiv Sena has over the
pastfewdecadesbeenrootingto
change the name of Aurangabad
to Sambhajinagar, and referring
to Osmanabad as Dharashiv.
ing a positive report recom-
mendingpaymentstoTopsgrup.
Sources also said the ED has
found that between May 2017
and June 2020, Topsgrup paid
commissions of about Rs 2.36
crore to Sarnaik through
Chandole. The agency has also
alleged that Sarnaik got kick-
backs of Rs 7 crore from
Topsgrup since 2014.
The agency has questioned
Sarnaik, his sons Vihang and
Purveshandafewothers.Nanda
and his daughter Rasshi, too,
have been summoned multiple
times but they are yet to appear
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
over before further talks on vac-
cinesupplyaretakenup.Wewill
wait until then,” Tope said.
The Union health ministry
has assured all states that it will
provide the initial stock to im-
munise 30 crore priority popu-
lation comprising healthcare
and frontline workers.
Maharashtra has a list of 7.86
lakh health workers and about
20 lakh frontline workers, in-
cluding police, municipal staff,
defence, BEST drivers and con-
ductors.
A senior official from the
Maharashtra health ministry
said:“Wearenotplanningstate-
level procurement of vaccines
yet. The Centre has assured us to
providesomestocks,andwewill
wait for them to send.”
The health minister has indi-
cated that vaccines must be free
for thepoor.“Thosewhoarevul-
nerable can’t be left to their fate.
We have not prepared any
budget for procurement of vac-
cines yet but it can be prepared
through a contingency fund,” he
said.
The government has ex-
cluded pregnant women, those
prone to allergies and children
aged below 18 years from vacci-
nation.
III human trial with over 25,800
participantsin26hospitalsitesin
India. While its safety data is
ready,itsefficacydatafromPhase
III is yet to be submitted to the
Drug Controller General of India.
Patil said they are not aware
of the vaccine’s dosage require-
mentorifconsenthastobetaken
from each person who is admin-
isteredthevaccine.“Onceweget
all the guidelines, we will begin
training of vaccinators,” she
added.
After 5 months,
Mundhe gets
‘side posting’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
FIVE MONTHS after his transfer
from the Nagpur civic commis-
sioner’s post, Tukaram Mundhe
onWednesdaywasappointedas
a secretary with the
Maharashtra State Human
Rights Commission (MHRC).
The position is considered to
bea “side posting” in the admin-
istrativecircles.Sourcessaidthat
a majority of the ministers were
not keen on having the 2005-
batch officer posted in their de-
partment.
While Mundhe himself was
“eyeing the Mumbai additional
municipalcommissioner’spost”,
the Shiv Sena was reportedly
wary of him.
Institutionalbuildings:CM
seeksplanforfireaudits
Mumbai: In the backdrop of the
fire tragedy at the Bhandara dis-
trict hospital, Chief Minister
Uddhav Thackeray asked the
state departments to formulate
aplanthatwouldensureregular
inspection of fire safety appli-
ances in all institutional build-
ings. After a minister indicated
that manpower crunch would
make it impossible to carry out
such audits across Maharashtra,
Thackerayaskeddepartmentsto
formulateanalternateplan. ENS
before the agency.
Sarnaik, a three-time Sena
MLA from Thane, had initiated a
breach of privilege motion
against Republic TV editor-in-
chief Arnab Goswami for his re-
marks against Chief Minister
Uddhav Thackeray and other
state ministers.
He was also one of the first
politicians in the state to seek a
reinvestigation into the Anvay
Naik suicide case, for which
Goswami was subsequently ar-
rested by Raigad Police.
Despite repeated attempts,
Sarnaik could not be contacted.
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
Mumbai Mayor Kishori
Pednekar (second from left)
inspects refrigerators for
storage of Covishield
vaccines in Mumbai on
Wednesday. Ganesh Shirsekar
ELGAAR PARISHAD CASE
In bail plea, Teltumbde says he is critical
of Maoist ideology, allegation that he
is CPI (Maoist) member ‘wholly untrue’
SADAF MODAK
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
FORMER IIT professor and aca-
demic Anand Teltumbde, ar-
restedintheElgaarParishadcase,
has said in his bail application
filed before the court that he
himself is critical of the Maoist
ideology and being accused of
being a member of the banned
CPI (Maoist) is “wholly untrue”.
Denying that he was a con-
vener of the Elgaar Parishad
event held in Pune in 2017,
Teltumbdeaddedthathedidnot
participate in it due to the differ-
ences he had.
Teltumbde was arrested on
April14,lastyear,afterhesurren-
dered before the National
Investigation Agency (NIA) in
Mumbai as per orders of the
Supreme Court. The NIA filed a
supplementary chargesheet
againsthimandsevenotherslast
October alleging that he had
beenactingtofurthertheMaoist
agenda.
Teltumbde, in his bail plea
filedonTuesday,saidthathehas
written about 30 books and re-
ferredtooneof themmentioned
by a witness in the NIA
chargesheet – Anti-Imperialism
and Annihilation of Caste.
“This in the face of it is a cri-
tiqueof Maoistideologyandthis
evidenceindicatesthatthepres-
Consider
Varavara Rao’s
age, health
while arguing
on bail plea:
HC to NIA
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
THE BOMBAY HC Wednesday
askedtheNIAandthestateprison
authoritiestoconsidertheageand
healthof veteranTelugupoetand
Elgaar Parishad case accused
Varavara Rao, 80. The court asked
allpartiestomaintainhumaneap-
proach while arguing on his bail
pleaonhealthgrounds.
A division bench of Justice SS
Shinde and Justice Manish Pitale
made the remarks while hearing
a plea by Rao’s wife, Pendyala
Hemalatha, seeking his release
fromtheTalojaCentralJailinNavi
Mumbai. The plea raised griev-
ances that the prison authorities
have not been providing Rao ap-
propriate medical attention since
2018. The high court, on
November19,hadallowedRaoto
seek treatment in Mumbai’s
Nanavati Hospital for 15 days
which was extended by the court
tillfurtherhearing.Raowasshifted
tothe private hospital following a
courtorderonNovember18.
OnJanuary7,thecourthadalso
directedthehospitaltofileafresh
medicalreportonRaobythenext
hearing. On Wednesday,
Additional Solicitor General Anil
Singh, representing the NIA,
handedovertwofreshmedicalre-
ports from Nanavati Hospital on
Rao’shealth.AdvocateRSathyana-
rayanan, representing Rao, said
that he would make submissions
aftergoingthroughthereports.
Justice Shinde said, “The peti-
tioner is above 80. Keep in mind
hisageandhealth...Whilemaking
submissionsonbailplea,reflecton
hishealth.Weareallhumans,this
is an issue about his health.” The
courtdeclaredJanuary 19 at 2.30
pmasnexthearingtimeandasked
allpartiestoconsiderRao’sageand
healthwhilemakingarguments.
Court allows Sudha Bharadwaj
access to five books a month
Mumbai:ThespecialNIAcourt
on Tuesday allowed access to
fivebooksamonthtolawpro-
fessor Sudha Bharadwaj, who
is lodged in Byculla women's
jail in Mumbai in connection
to the Elgaar Parishad case.
Bharadwajhadfiledapleabe-
forethecourtlastmonth stat-
ing that prison authorities
werenotpermittingheraccess
to books sent by her family or
lawyers.
ent accused is critical of Maoist
ideology and in view of this, the
allegationof theprosecutionthat
the accused is a member of CPI
(Maoist) and has been acting to
further its agenda, is wholly un-
true,”thebailpleastated,adding
thatlinkingTeltumbdetotheide-
ology does not “stand to sense”.
The NIA in its chargesheet
had claimed that Teltumbde at-
tendedinternationalconferences
“under the guise of... academic
visits abroad” and brought back
Maoist literature and videos on
“ideology, tactics, weapons” for
CPI (Maoist) members.
Denying this, Teltumbde said
in his bail plea that the academic
“The superintendent shall
carefully examine the books
and if they contain objection-
ablematerial,whichpreaches
violence, vulgar, obscene,
pornographic or the material
propagating the banned or-
ganisation namely
Revolutionary Democratic
Front or CPI (Maoist), in that
casesheshallnotallowtheap-
plicant to accept such books,”
thecourtsaidinitsorder. ENS
tours he attended were spon-
sored by well-known academics
andorganisationsofinternational
reputeandtherewasnoevidence
to show any unlawful activity.
The plea further said that
Teltumbde belongs to a Dalit
family and despite hailing from
a poor family, he had worked
hard to reach such academic po-
sition in life. “However, the
casteistforcesinoursocietycan-
notdigestthisfactandhasimpli-
cated him in the case in an at-
tempt to belittle his own
achievements and to humiliate
the entire Dalit community,
which same humiliation was
heaped on no less than Dr
(Babasaheb) Ambedkar during
his lifetime,” the plea added.
The plea also denied allega-
tions that Teltumbde met his
younger brother, Milind – who
has been named in the
chargesheetasanabscondingac-
cused and top operative of CPI
(Maoist)–statingthathehasnot
been in contact with him for the
last 25 years. It further said that
there is no corroboration of the
letters claimed to have been
seizedfromtheco-accusedinthe
caseandthatTeltumbdewasbe-
ing implicated merely on the
ground that there is a reference
of thename'Anand'intheletters.
Thespecialcourthasdirected
the NIA to file a reply to the plea.
MAHARASHTRA 5
Bird toll increases to 2,359,
481 deaths recorded in a day
Avian influenza confirmed in Parbhani, Latur, Mumbai, Thane, Beed, Ratnagiri
centrated in one district,” said On Wednesday, 21 crows To control the disease’s
SANJANA BHALERAO Principal Secretary (Animal were found dead. Of this, four spread, poultry birds will be
MUMBAI; JANUARY 13 Husbandry) Anoop Kumar. died in Beed, one each in culled within 1km radius of the
Following the Union govern- Ratnagiri, Satara and farm where it is confirmed that
THE NUMBER of bird deaths in ment’s guidelines, nearly 11,092 Ahmednagar, four in Pune and birds have died due to avian in-
Maharashtra since January 8 has poultrybirdswereculledinLatur five each in Akola and Yavatmal. fluenza or bird flu. As per the
reached 2,359 with 481 deaths inthepasttwodayswiththedis- Remaining five were other birds. Centre’sguidelines,a10-kmsur-
recorded across the state on trictadministrationissuingapro- The samples have been sent veillancezonewillalsobecreated
Wednesday. hibitoryorderwhichstoppedthe to the National Institute of High- where selling and purchase of
Of the 481 cases, 455 were transportation of poultry prod- Security Animal Diseases in birds will not be allowed.
poultry birds. Of these, 294 birds ucts, birds, animal feed and ma- BhopalandDiseaseInvestigation Consumption of chicken and
diedinYavatmal,18inLatur,three nure. Vehicles have also been Section, Aundh in Pune, for test- eggshavedippedsincereportsof
eachinBeedandAhmednagar,13 banned from entering the bird- ing. It can take 48 to 72 hours to the disease emerged. In a meet-
each in Akola and Pune, 79 in flu-hit areas in the district. receive the results of the tests. ingonWednesday,ChiefMinister
Bhandara and nine each in After a delay, around 3,443 When asked about banning Uddhav Thackeray directed
SolapurandNandeddistricts.The poultry birds were culled in the import of poultry products, guardianministerstooverseethe
animal husbandry department Parbhani, on Wednesday. Of the the one similar in Delhi, Kumar public awareness drive and allay
didnotupdatethelocationof the 16 districts that have recorded assured that eggs, chicken and fears.Giventhespreadof birdflu,
remaining14poultrybirdsfound bird deaths in the state, six dis- otherpoultryproductsaresafefor thestategovernmentinvokedthe
dead in the state on Wednesday. trictshaveconfirmedcasesofbird consumption if they are cooked provisions of the Prevention and
Inthepasttwodays,Yavatmal
districtrecorded494poultrybird
deaths.Pune(13)andSolapur(9)
flu or avian influenza. Culling of
poultrybirdshasbeenorderedin
Latur and Parbhani districts.
properly. “We majorly import
poultryproductsfromTelangana
and Andhra Pradesh which are
Control of Infectious and
Contagious Diseases in Animals
Act, 2009, and delegated powers
recorded fresh poultry bird Avianinfluenzahasbeencon- not affected by bird flu. Besides, to the district and civic adminis-
deaths cases on Wednesday. firmed in Parbhani, Latur, from day one, when the bird flu tration to take decisions locally
“Other than in Yavatmal, where Mumbai, Thane, Beed and was confirmed in the state, pre- and step up measures to contain
200 poultry bird deaths were Ratnagiridistrictstillnow.Parrots ventive measures like culling of avian influenza. Under this Act,
recordedonTuesdayandanother and pigeon sample from Nagpur infectedpoultryandsaleandpur- reporting such a disease is oblig-
over 200 on Wednesday, other
cases are sporadic and not con-
tested negative for avian in-
fluenza.
chaseofpoultryfromtheinfected
zones were prohibited.”
atorytotakeappropriatepreven-
tive measures.
Janardhan Bhagat Shikshan Prasarak Sanstha’s
Changu Kana Thakur Arts, Commerce
and Science College, New Panvel
(Autonomous)
Plot No. 01, Sector-11, Khanda Colony,
New Panvel (W), Navi Mumbai - 410206
WALK IN INTERVIEWS
Full Time Assistant Professors for the academic year 2020-2021
On Purely Temporary and Ad-hoc Basis
for following subjects
Sr. Sr.
No. Name of the Subjects No. Name of the Subjects
1 Chemistry- Organic and 9 BMS- Marketing
Analytical Chemistry Specialization
2 Zoology 10 BMS- H.R. Specialization
3 Biotechnology 11 Accounting and Finance-
Maths and I.T.
4 Computer Science
5 Information Technology 12 Accounting and Finance-
6 Foundation Course Accounting, Finance and
Taxation
7 Political Science
13 Commerce
8 English
• Qualifications as per University norms.
• Date and Time of : Thursday, 21/01/2021
Interview : Sr. No - 01 to 05 from 11.00 a.m. onwards
Sr. No - 06 to 08 from 2.00 p.m. onwards
Sr. No - 09 to 13 from 3.00 p.m. onwards
• Place of Interview :- Skill Development Resource Center
Changu Kana Thakur Arts, Commerce and
Science College New Panvel (Autonomous)
Plot No.01, Sector 11, Khanda Colony,
New Panvel(W), Navi Mumbai 410206
• For Information : 9022600288
• Email : principal@ckthakurcollege.net
Hon. Shri. Ramsheth Thakur (Ex-M.P.)
Chairman, Janardan Bhagat Shikshan Prasarak Sanstha, Panvel
 6 MAHARASHTRA WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

TWO PARTY UNITS ANNOUNCE DIFFERENT DATES FOR FARMER PROTEST During lockdown, household
One protest, one venue, two dates: Cong’s cooking contributed to
CO levels in Mumbai: Study

communication gap comes to the fore again

Tuesday evening announcing Since the Mumbai Regional were discussed.
ANJALIMARAR
PUNE, JANUARY 13

DESPITE 90 per cent vehicles re-

SANDEEP ASHAR
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
IN ANOTHER indication of a
communication gap within the
Congress, the party ended up
announcing two dates for stag-
ing protests against the Union
government's farm laws in
Mumbai.
While Maharashtra
Pradesh Congress Committee
(MPCC), headed by Balasaheb
Thorat, issued a release on
plans to 'Gherao Raj Bhavan'
over the contentious farm laws
and price rise on January 16,
the party's Mumbai unit – led
by MLC Ashok (Bhai) Jagtap –
issued another release declar-
ing that the same protest will
be held on January 15.
The All India Congress
Committee (AICC) had earlier
issued instructions to all state
units, asking them to organise
simultaneous protests in this
regard on January 15.
Congress Committee (MRCC)
functions as an independent
unit, it had also received the
high command's directive.
With campaigning on for
Friday's gram panchayat polls,
Thorat, following a discussion
with senior leaders and minis-
ters on Tuesday afternoon, de-
cided not to hold the protest on
January 15.
In Maharashtra, the protest
– planned in Mumbai – was to
be staged a day later.
AICC Maharashtra (in
charge) H K Patil was present
at the meeting, so was the
newly appointed coordinator
for the Mumbai unit,
Chandrakant Handore.
The latter also attended a
MRCC meeting later in the day,
where preparations for hold-
ing the protests on January 15
Sources said that MRCC was
never informed about the
change of plan.
Unaware of the postpone-
ment, Jagtap even finalised
plans for the protest on Friday
with his team and party's block
presidents in Mumbai.
It was only after MPCC is-
sued the press release regard-
ing the protest plan that the
mistake came to the notice of
MRCC office-bearers.
Sources said that Jagtap
then held discussions with
both Thorat and Patil.
Eventually, it was decided
not to hold protests in Mumbai
at all.
Incidentally, Governor
Bhagat Singh Koshyari ended
up being the saving grace for
the two units. The party cited
the change in plan to Koshyari
Congress ‘warriors’ for
online war with BJP
■ The state Congress on
Wednesday released a list
of 428 “social media
warriors” who have been
tasked with promoting the
party online.
■ MPCC general secretary
Abhijeet Sakpal, who heads
the party's social media
unit in the state, said the
new team will counter
BJP's online propaganda.
being scheduled to be in
Nagpur on both the days. The
maining off the roads in India
during the summer months of
2020 due to the Covid-19 pan-
demic and the subsequent lock-
down, the expected 'near-zero'
pollution level was not achieved
in the megacities of Delhi and
■ The party has appointed Mumbai,onceagainhighlighting
one social media theneedforlong-termandeffec-
in-charge for 252 of the tive measures to curb pollution.
state's 277 Assembly A joint study, undertaken by
segments. scientists from the Pune-based
Indian Institute of Tropical
■ A 10-man core Meteorology (IITM) and Utkal
committee will oversee University, Bhubaneshwar, has
operations, while 48 concludedthatCarbonMonoxide
people have been (CO) levels during the lockdown
appointed to spearhead in these cities had dropped com-
the unit at the district pared to normal days. However,
level. thiscouldnottouchthelowestor
'near-zero' pollution level, due to
continuing contributions made
byCOfumesemittedfromhouse-
glossed over the communica- holdcooking.Expertssaythataf-
tion gap.
ter the transport sector, house-
holdcookingisthesecondmajor
contributor to CO gas in the at-
mosphere. In Delhi, the share of
CO emitted from household
cooking is 4 per cent (1.38
Gigagram/month), while it is 31
percent(13.67Gigagram/month)
in Mumbai, according to the
study published in the
Environmental Pollution journal
on Tuesday.
During the initial phases of
the lockdown (March to May
2020),COconcentrationfellby86
and 62 per cent in Delhi and
Mumbai, respectively, as per the
SAFARdatausedfortheresearch.
Even though the CO levels in
Mumbai were higher than Delhi
between March to May last year,
scientists found that its preva-
lenceintheatmosphereoverthe
commercial capital was for a
shorter duration. "The constant
seabreezeoverMumbaicoulddi-
lute the effects of CO, whereas
over Delhi, it prevailed for a long
time," highlighted the study.

3 yearly compensations
protest has now been shifted “The protest has been
to the Raj Bhavan in Nagpur on shifted to Nagpur as the
Government of India January 16. Governor was not available in
Department of Atomic Energy
Heavy Water plant Kota
Jagtap, when contacted, Mumbai,” he said.
for fishermen as state
Notice Inviting tenders
Online item rate tenders are invited by Chief General Manager for and
govt amends policy
on behalf of President of India from approved, eligible and experienced
contractors at Heavy Water Plant (Kota) Post Anushakti 323303, Via marine species and ensure the
Kota (Rajasthan) for the following works as detailed below. SANJANA BHALERAO fishing community’s participa-
Sr. Tender Name of work Estimated Tender selling date/Pre-
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13 tion in the process. The scheme
No. Notice No. cost/ Tender bid clarification date/ was based on the Gujarat model
Processing Date of closing of online THE MAHARASHTRA fisheries where the forest department
Fee. submission of tenders.
and forest department on compensates fishermen for res-
1 HWPK/MECH Supply & fabrication, ` 26,65,300/- 14.01.2021 to 24.01.2021/
/2020/267 welding, erection of
Monday amended the com- cuing whales.
25.01.2021 to 25.01.2021/
miscellaneous ` 1573/- pensationpolicyforfishermen Under the amended com-
structures at HWPK site. 27.01.2021 up to 14:30Hr. who release protected marine pensation scheme, if species like
POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL species back into the sea by Olive Ridley, Green Sea and
The above tender will be opened on 27.01.2021 at 15:00 hrs. Detailed
NIT is also available on website www.hwb.gov.in for view only. For
EDUCATION & RESEARCH CHANDIGARH cutting their fishing nets. Hawksbill turtles among others
further information, please contact on (01475)242201/242216/242225, Advertisement No. PGI/RC/019/2021/158 Dated: 13.01.2021 Opposed to the previous are released by cutting the net,
Fax: 01475-242203 on all working days. RECRUITMENT NOTICE compensation of Rs 25,000, fishermen will receive Rs 12,500
The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER),
(V . V .S.A Prasad) Chandigarh invites ONLINE applications from Indian Nationals for filling up of various the amount will now be fixed for the first time. For second and
OFFICE OF THE ROURKELA General Manager
For and Behalf of the President of India
posts of Group ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ on regular basis for All India Institute of Medical Sciences
(AIIMS), Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh. Important timelines will be as under:
based on the species every third such instances within a
time a turtle, shark, dolphin or year, the compensation amount
MUNICIPAL CORPORATION ITEM(S) TIMELINE(S)/
REMARKS any other protected marine will be Rs 10,000 and Rs 8,000
UDITNAGAR, ROURKELA, ODISHA-769012 SMT. G.R. DOSHI AND SMT. K.M. MEHTA OPENING DATE FOR ONLINE REGISTRATION FOR FILLING UP OF 15.01.2021 animal is caught during fish- respectively.
E-mail ID: rourkelamunicipality@gmail.com INSTITUTE OF KIDNEY DISEASES AND RESEARCH CENTRE AND ONLINE APPLICATION ON PGIMER’s WEBSITE
ing. Besides, fishermen can The compensation will re-
www.pgimer.edu.in (Recruitment link at Home Page)
RFP No. 470 Date. 13.01.2021 DR H.L. TRIVEDI INSTITUTE OF TRANSPLANTATION SCIENCES CLOSING DATE FOR ONLINE REGISTRATION & SUBMISSION OF 14.02.2021 now apply for compensation main Rs 25,000 for large marine
Medicity, Civil Hospital Campus, Asarwa, Ahmedabad - 380 016, Gujarat (India) ONLINE APPLICATIONS thrice a year. animals such as whales, dol-
RFP for Setting up of a Biomethanation cum Electric energy (Phone No. 0091-079-49017000/7027/7056/7044), APPLICATION FEE Under the Mangrove phins and Pondicherry sharks
generation Plant using segregated 5 TPD Municipal Waste E-mail ikdrcits@ikdrcits.in, website: www.ikdrcits.org
Persons with Bench-mark Disabilities (PwBD): Exempted from payment of fee.

SC/ST category: Rs. 800/- plus Transaction Charges as applicable. Foundation's conservation among others. For the second
under Rourkela Municipal Corporation on Turnkey basis. The Institute of Kidney Diseases & Research Centre which is established by Late For all others including General/ OBC/EWS: Rs.1500/- plus Transaction Charges as project, fishermen, who cut and third such instances within
Padma Shree Dr. H.L. Trivedi are rendering services to the patients suffering kidney, applicable.
Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) invites Request for The candidates can deposit the above application fee through online payment gate- their nets to free protected a year, the compensation will be
liver, pancreas, gynecological ailments which is expensive to the poor and middle
Proposal (RFP) from intending Agency/ Company/ Firm for Set- class patients of all over India at no or nominal charge. This institute is well known
way available at the ONLINE APPLICATION portal w.e.f. 15.01.2021 to 14.02.2021 marine mammals and fishes, to the tune of Rs 20,000 and Rs
using Debit/ Credit Card/ Net Banking.
ting up of a Biomethanation cum Electric energy generation Plant at National and International level for its state of art super speciality treatment. To IMPORTANT: The candidates willing to apply may visit the Institute’s website i.e. were entitled to a compensa- 15,000 respectively.
using segregated 5 TPD Municipal Waste under Rourkela Munici- cope-up these expenditure, we humbly request for donation which is 100% www.pgimer.edu.in (Recruitment link at Home page) for detailed guidelines/ informa- tion of up to Rs 25,000. The Onmanyoccasions,dolphins
tion, number of posts, eligibility criteria, etc. All applicants are required to visit the web-
pal Corporation on Turnkey basis. exempted under the clause of 35(i) (ii) of the Income Tax Act. site regularly since all subsequent Corrigendum/ Addendum/ updates will be uploaded scheme was launched in 2018 and turtles get stuck in fishing
The donation is subject to 100% exemption under section on the Institute’s website only.
0034/PGI D I R E CT O R to conserve the endangered nets. To release them, fishermen
The RFP is to be submitted in closed covers and addressed have to cut their nets. However,
35(I) (II) of Income Tax, (For Service Person 100%)
to the Commissioner, Rourkela Municipal Corporation, Uditnagar,
Rourkela, Dist.- Sundargarh (Odisha), PIN-769012 on or before Send your donation in the name of ''I.K.D.R.C. H.L.T. 77'' by Cheque or Demand SOUTHERN RAILWAY it becomes economically unvi-
Draft to Payable at Ahmedabad Kidney Hospital, Civil Hospital Campus, Asarwa, Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer, ableforthemtoreleasethecrea-
11.00 AM on 09.02.2021 through Speed Post/ Registered Ahmedabad - 380 016. (Contact us: 079-49017027, 49017056, 49017044) Southern Railway Palakkad - 678002 tures as cutting the nets would
Post/Courier or By Hand. Direct Payment : (Sr.DME/PGT) acting for and on behalf of permanently damage it.
President of India, invites E-Tenders through
The complete RFP document can download from the web- Account Name: I.K.D.R.C. H.L.T. 77, Under the amended policy, a
Union Bank of India, Civil Hospital Campus Branch, Ahmedabad E-tender portal www.ireps.gov.in Tender(s)
site of the Rourkela Municipal Corporation www.rmc.nic.in from intending to participate e-tender need to get
fisherman will have to give de-
15.01.2021 onwards. Account No. 353502010504825
enrolled in e-Tender portal www.ireps.gov.in tails of his boat and fishing li-
IFSC – UBIN0558486 (fifth word zero)
RMC reserves the right to reject any or all the RFP without Dr. Vineet V. Mishra Manual offers are not allowed against this cense, GPS location of the inci-
assigning any reason thereof. No. INF/ABD/1255/2021 Director, IKDRC-ITS tender, and any such manual offer received dent, photographs and details of
shall be ignored. the fish/marine mammals that
Sd/-
Commissioner Tender Notice Number and date: were caught.
02-Mech-PGT-2021 dated: 11/01/2021
Rourkela Municipal Corporation
NAME Of WORk: Cleaning and
watering of coaches during turn round
attention at kannur station for a period Governor to
attend event to
of 24 months.
Advertised value: ` 1,64,38.510/- (Rupees
One crore sixty four lakhs thirty eight
thousand five hundred and ten only)
Earnest Money: ` 2,32,200/- (Rupees launch donation
collection drive
two lakhs thirty two thousand two
hundred only)
Cost of Tender form: ` 5,900/- (Rupees
five thousand nine hundred only)
Completion period of work: 24 months for Ram temple
Tender Closing Date and Time:
05.02.2021 at 11.00 hrs. Nagpur: Maharashtra Governor
web address: http://www.ireps.gov.in Bhagat Singh Koshyari will re-
Further details can be obtained from the main present at the Shri
above website Ramjanmabhoomi Mandir
Divisional Environment & House
Nidhi Samarpan Abhiyan (do-
keeping Manager, Palakkad
nation collection drive) in
follow us on : twitter.com/GMSRailway Nagpur on January 15.
A press note issued by
Niranjan Risaldar, Prachar
Prasar Pramukh of the Abhiyan
in Nagpur, stated, "Governor
Bhagat Singh Koshyari will be
present at the launch of the
Abhiyan, along with Swami
Avdheshanand Giri Maharaj, at
the Poddareshwar Ram
Mandir." PTI

Promote drip
irrigation to
grow sugar
cane: Minister
Mumbai: Sugar mills in the state
should start a drive to promote
sugarcanecultivationthroughdrip
irrigation,AgricultureMinisterDa-
dasahebBhusesaidWednesday.
Inameetingwithrepresenta-
tives of agriculture universities,
sugarcanepromotersandexperts,
Bhuse said: “Experiments should
be encouraged to improve the
quality of sugarcane. We have to
find ways to enhance the quality,
aswellasahigheryield.”
He added that Maharashtra,
with over 200 sugar mills, can
bring about a major transforma-
tionbymakingfarmersgrowcane
using water conservation tech-
nologieslikedripirrigation. ENS
 E EXPLAINED
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

7
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
@ieExplained
#ExpressExplained
If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that you would like
explained, please write to explained@indianexpress.com

SIMPLY PUT QUESTION &ANSWER

CORONAVIRUS DASHBOARD

INDIA ACTIVE CASES

250,000
214,507 How MF risk-o-meter will work
243,953
Starting Jan 1, fund houses must disclose how risky a particular mutual fund scheme is, from ‘low’ to ‘very
high’ risk. How will the risk be calculated, and how will it help investors make more informed decisions?
214,507
a scheme is less than 1, its risklevel would be
225,000 SANDEEP SINGH low, and if it is more the 5, the risk will be
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13 MODERATE MODERATELY very high on the risk-o-meter.
HIGH
IN A move that will help investors to make a How will the risk value be calculated?
LAST 10 DAYS more informed investment decision, capital LOWTO HIGH For an equity portfolio, the risk value
Jan 3 Jan 12 markets regulator Securities and Exchange MODERATE would be a simple average of market capi-
200,000 Board of India (SEBI) has made it mandatory talisation value, volatility value, and impact
for mutual funds to assign a risk level to cost value.
Note: The Jan 12 figure in this graph is based on the government update on Jan 13 schemes, based on certain parameters. LOW VERYHIGH Whilemarketcapvalueof aportfoliowill
SEBI’s decision on the “risk-o-meter”, be based on the weighted average of the
which it announced on October 5, 2020, market capitalisation values of each security
INDIA TOTAL CASES WORLD TOTAL CASES cameintoeffectonJanuary1.Initscircularis- (5 for large cap, 7 for mid cap and 9 for small
10,495,147 91,838,572 sued on October 5, the regulator made it SEBI’S RISK-O-METER cap), the volatility risk value of the portfolio
mandatory for mutual fund houses to char- will be the weighted average of the volatil-
Source:MinistryofHealth&,Family Source:JohnsHopkinsUniversity, acterise the risk level of their schemes on a ity value of each security (5 for daily volatil-
Welfare,updatedat11pmonJan13 updatedat11pmonJan13 six-stage scale from “Low” to “Very High”. ASSIGNING RISK LEVEL RISK VALUE RISK LEVEL AS PER
RISK-O-METER
ity of up to 1, and 6 for greater than 1).
As for impact cost value,which is ameas-
How will the risk-o-meter work? The ‘risk-o-meter’ value <1 Low ure of liquidity, the value would be the
As per the October 5 circular, all mutual will be mapped to the risk >1 to < 2 Low to Moderate weighted average of impact cost values of

More effective ‘nanobodies’ funds shall,beginningJanuary1,assigna risk

level to their schemes at the time of launch,
level of schemes, based on
their portfolio of
>2 to < 3
>3 to < 4
Moderate
Moderately High
each security (5 in case of average monthly
impact cost of up to 1; 7 for that between 1

to fight novel coronavirus

based on the scheme’s characteristics.
The risk-o-meter must be evaluated on
a monthly basis. Fund houses are required
to disclose the risko-o-meter risk level along
with the portfolio disclosure for all their
schemes on their own websites as well as
the website of the Association of Mutual
Funds in India (AMFI) within 10 days of the
close of each month.
Any change in the risk-o-meter reading
with regard to a scheme shall be communi-
cated to the unit-holders of that scheme,
SEBI has said.
How is this different from the older
category risk level?
There has been a kind of risk-o-meter for
mutual funds since 2015; however, the
schemes simply showed the risk level of the
category that they belonged to. They did not
reflect the riskiness of individual schemes
and their respective portfolios.
US President Donald Trump removes his mask after returning to the Therefore, all large cap schemes — or any
White House at the end of his treatment for Covid-19 in October. The other category of schemes — across fund
‘nanobodies’ can be more useful than the classic antibodies that were houses, carried the same risk level (one of
used to treat Trump, the researchers say. The New York Times Archive five risks levels) that was assigned by SEBI to
investments. >4 to < 5
Source: SEBI >5
the category to which they belonged.
This has changed with effect from
January 1 this year. Fund houses must now
assign a risk level out of six available levels
— the “Very High” category is new — after
calculatingtheirriskvaluefromtheirrespec-
tive portfolios.
Since the risk value and risk levels would
be arrived at after takinginto accountcritical
parameters such as credit risk, interest rate
risk, and liquidity risk in case of a debt
scheme,andparameterssuchasmarketcap-
italisation, volatility, and impact cost in case
of an equity scheme, industry experts feel
that the risk-o-meter will now provide a
more objective assessment of the riskiness
of a particular scheme to potential investors.
Many feel that the earlier category risk-
o-meter was in a way misleading — the cat-
egory risk-o-meter had no connection with
High
Very High
the schemes, and two schemes of two dif-
ferent fund houses in the same category
would reflect the same risk level, even
though they had very different portfolios
and riskiness profiles.
Now, if inthe same category, one scheme
is generating a higher return than others, in-
vestorswill be able tofigureoutif it is, in fact,
taking a higher risk than others for generat-
ingthesesuperiorreturns.Ineffect,thisadds
another layer of information to make an in-
vestment decision.
How will the level of risk be assigned?
Whichoneof thesixrisklevels—low,low
to moderate, moderate, moderately high,
high, and very high — would apply, would
depend upon the risk value (less than 1 for
lowrisktomorethan5forveryhighrisk)cal-
culated for the scheme. So if the risk value of
and 2; and 9 for that above 2).
The risk value for the debt portfolio
would be a simple average of credit risk
value, interest rate risk value, and liquidity
risk value.However, if the liquidity riskvalue
ishigherthantheaverageof creditriskvalue,
liquidity risk value, and interest rate risk
value, then the value of liquidity risk shall be
considered asriskvalueof thedebtportfolio.
While the credit risk value of the portfo-
lio would be assigned 1 for AAA rated and 12
forinstrumentsbelowinvestmentgrade,the
interest rate risk will be valued using the
Macaulay Duration of the portfolio (1 for du-
ration below 0.5 years and 6 for those with
durationof over4years).(MacaulayDuration
is the weighted average time for which a
bond has to be held in order that the total
presentvalueof cashflowsreceivedmatches
the current market price paid for the bond.)
For measuring the liquidity risk of
schemes, listing status, credit rating, and
structure of debt instruments is considered
(1 for Gsec and AAA-rated PSUs, and 14 for
below investment grade and unrated debt
securities).

AN INTERNATIONAL research team However, producing antibodies is

ledbytheUniversityof Bonnhasiden- difficult and time-consuming; they
tifiedandfurtherdevelopednovelan- are, therefore, probably not suitable
tibody fragments against SARS-CoV- for widespread use.
What is Parler, now-muted right wing platform?
2, the virus that causes Covid-19. The researchers instead focussed Parler had refused.
These“nanobodies”aremuchsmaller on another group of molecules, the SHRUTI DHAPOLA In a statement, Google said, “We recog-
than classic antibodies (which were nanobodies. “Nanobodies are anti- CHANDIGARH, JANUARY 13 nise that there can be reasonable debate
used to treat United States President bodyfragmentsthataresosimplethat about content policies and that it can be dif-
Donald Trump, for example) — and they can be produced by bacteria or PARLER, A social network popular with con- ficult for apps to immediately remove all vi-
they, therefore, penetrate the tissue yeast, which is less expensive,” the servatives in the United States, has gone of- olative content, but...we do require that
better andcanbe producedmoreeas- university quoted study co-author Dr fline after it was booted out of Apple’s App apps implement robust moderation for
ily in larger quantities, the university Florian Schmidt as saying. Store and Google’s Play Store, and denied egregious content.”
said in a media release. “Wefirstinjecteda surfaceprotein hosting services by Amazon Web Services Apple said: “We have always supported
The researchers at University of the coronavirus into an alpaca and (AWS) following the violence at the US diverse points of view...on the App Store, but
Hospital Bonn have also allama,”DrSchmidtsaid. Capitol in Washington DC. there is no place on our platform for threats
combined the nanobod- “Their immune system What’s Parler’s link to the events of of violence and illegal activity. Parler has not
iesintopotentiallypartic- then produces mainly January 6, and why have the big tech com- takenadequatemeasurestoaddressthepro-
ularly effective mole- antibodies directed panies taken such strong action against this liferation of these threats to people’s safety.
cules, which attack against this virus. In ad- social network that is relatively unknown We have suspended Parler from the App
different parts of the ditiontocomplexnormal outside of the US? Store until they resolve these issues.”
virus simultaneously. antibodies,llamasandal-
The new approach PAPER pacasalsoproduceasim- An alternative to Twitter Kicked out by Amazon

CLIP
could prevent the patho- plerantibodyvariantthat Parlerisamicro-bloggingsocialnetwork, A Trump supporter holds a sign saying “Follow me on Parler” at a rally in support OnSunday,Amazon’scloudhostingserv-
gen from evading the ac- can serve as the basis for similar to Twitter. Users see all posts from of the President after he lost his re-election bid. Parler pitches itself as a “free ice AWS removed Parler, effectively render-
tive agent through muta- nanobodies.” everyone they follow in reverse chronologi- speech” alternative to Twitter and Facebook. The New York Times Archive ing it out of service. AWS said Parler had vi-
tions, the university said. NEW RESEARCH A few weeks later, the cal order. But unlike Twitter, Parler does not olated its terms of service by allowing
The results have been researchers took a blood recommend content to users. content that incited violence.
published in the journal samplefromtheanimals, Parler claims it does not collect user data Twitter,Facebook,andInstagram,Trumphad Mercer, whose link to Parler was first re- According to BuzzFeed News, which first
Science.(‘Structure-guidedmultivalent fromwhichtheyextractedthegenetic for privacy reasons. It does not allow cross- indicated he would move to a new platform, ported by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). reported this, an AWS Trust and Safety Team
nanobodies block SARS-CoV-2 infec- information of produced antibodies. posting to other platforms — so users can’t and Parler was seen as the likely candidate. Mercer is the daughter of the billionaire warned Parler about the repeated calls for
tion and suppress mutational escape’; This “library” still contained millions share their Parler post to Facebook or Parler pitches itself as “neutral”, and in hedge-fund investor Robert Mercer. The violence, again a violation of its policies. The
Paul-Albert Köenig et. al) of different construction plans. In a Twitter, although they do post screenshots favour of free speech as enshrined in the US Mercer family has contributed heavily to emailread,“Recently,we’veseenasteadyin-
Antibodies are an important complexprocess,theyextractedthose to other platforms. constitution,withnorestrictionsof anykind. Trump’s campaigns in the past. Matze told crease in this violent content on your web-
weapon in the immune system’s de- that recognise an important structure Parler is believed to have around 10 mil- After the Capitol Hill violence, many posts the WSJ that Mercer’s backing to Parler “was site, all of which violates our terms. It’s clear
fense against infections. They bind on the surface of the coronavirus, the lion users globally and 8 million in the US, called for mass executions of “left traitors” — dependent on the platform allowing users thatParlerdoesnothaveaneffectiveprocess
to the surface structures of bacteria spike protein. “Altogether we ob- according to data by Sensor Tower analytics. Parlerdidnotremovesuchcontent.Theplat- to control what they see”. to comply with the AWS terms of service.”
or viruses and prevent their replica- tained dozens of nanobodies, which form’s user base has jumped in recent Inresponse,ParlersuedAmazonforviola-
tion. One strategy in the fight against we then analyzed further,” the media Favoured by Trump’s base months, spiking especially in the run-up to Action by Apple and Google tion of contract, and called the ban politically
disease is therefore to produce effec- release quoted study co-author Dr Over the past couple of years, the plat- the November elections. On January 8, two days after the Capitol motivated. It is considering moving to Epik, a
tive antibodies in large quantities Paul-Albert Köenig as saying. formhasbecomeafavouriteof theAmerican Nevada-headquartered Parler launched violence, Apple and Google removed Parler domain registrar known for hosting far-right
and inject them into patients. Source: University of Bonn far right, supporters of President Donald in 2018, co-founded by John Matze Jr and from their app stores. Both companies had extremist content. A platform called Gab on
Trump,andthosewhobelieveinQAnoncon- Jared Thomson. It has another powerful asked it to step up moderation and remove Epik pitches itself as a “free speech” platform,
spiracy theories. After he was kicked out of backer: investor and co-founder Rebekah contentwhichhadglorifiedtheviolence.But but is packed with extremist content.

Why a razing in Jaffna recalls Sri Lanka’s unaddressed Tamil question

NIRUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
The demolition on Friday night of a memo-
rial on the Jaffna University campus in
northernSriLankatorememberTamilcivil-
ians killed during the LTTE’s last stand
against the Sri Lankan Army in 2009, has
brought attention to simmering, unad-
dressed issues of post-war ethnic reconcil-
iation, justice and accountability, as well as
a political resolution of the Tamil question.
The demolition triggered protests by Sri
Lanka’s Tamil community in the North and
East, and condemnation by Tamil diaspo-
ras and human rights groups, and politi-
ciansinelection-boundTamilNadu,includ-
ing Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami
and DMK chief M K Stalin.
Following outrage and a hunger strike
by students on campus, Vice-Chancellor S
SrisathkunarajahvisitedthesiteonMonday
and promised to rebuild the memorial.
The demolition took place a few hours
after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
left Colombo after a three-day visit, during
whichheimpresseduponhishoststheneed
togetonwithethnicreconciliationandapo-
litical settlement to the Tamil question.
Memorial(s) on campus
Thedemolishedmemorial,builtin2019,
wasasculptureof severalhandsrisingoutof
water(right),representingpeoplewhowere
killed in Mullivaikkal village in Mullaithivu
district on Sri Lanka’s north-east coast in
May 2009. Tens of thousands had gathered
onthenarrowstripof landbetweenthesea
and a lagoon after the Sri Lankan Army de-
clared it a ‘No Fire Zone’ — however, as the
last battles were fought, thousands rushed
intothewatertoescapefallingshells.Some
40,000 were killed, the UN estimated.
For many years, Sri Lanka resisted at-
tempts by the Tamil community for group
remembrance.In2018,theJaffnaUniversity
Students Union began a campaign to erect
a memorial on campus in memory of the
civilians killed in the 2009 battles. They
wanted the memorial next to an existing
memorial to the mahaveerar or martyrs —
which the university opposed.
In May 2019, the memorial came up
overnight, next to the Mahaveerar memo-
rial.Ithadbeensculptedbythestudents.The
Mahaveerar memorial itself has existed on
campus for nearly 25 years. Although there
is no specific reference to the Tigers on it,
Mahaveerar recalls the LTTE because the
militantshadmadeitapracticetocelebrate
Mahaveerar Day every year on November
27, the day they first lost a cadre in 1982.
A third memorial on campus dates to
2002,when,duringaceasefirebetweenthe
LTTEandthegovernment,theTigersorgan-
ised mass Tamil rallies, at which partici-
pants swore allegiance tothe goal of Eelam.
For 17 years there was only a plaque; a per-
manent memorial came up in 2019.
University during conflict
Jaffna University was founded in 1974.
RajanHoole,professorofmathematicsthere
formanyyears,haswrittenthatseveralofits
faculty had Marxist leanings, until the LTTE
began silencing all dissent from 1986 on-
ward. The Tigers also occupied parts of the
campus as their operational headquarters.
Jaffna University was the site of the
IPKF’s parahelidrop on thenightof October
11, 1987, an operation that went horribly
wrong — 29 soldiers were killed and one
was taken hostage — and gave the LTTE its
first big win over the Indian Army.
In the post-2009 phase, the university’s
student body has been at the forefront of
the Tamil demand for the remembrance of
those killed in the brutal take-no-prisoners
ending to the war.
Memory vs Erasure
In Sri Lanka, through the war and after-
ward, who gets to remember and who may
not, have been contentious and divisive is-
sues. After last week’s incident in Jaffna, it
was pointed out that the Janatha Vimukthi
Peramuna(JVP),whichledtwomajorinsur-
rections in southern Sri Lanka and whose
cadres were drawn from the Sinhalese ma-
jority, was allowed to mourn its dead
through memorials, but not the Tamils.
After the war, the Sri Lankan army built
several war memorials in Mullaithivu dis-
trict,whichtheTamilpeoplesawasanother
kind of assault on them. Since 2015, Tamils
have gathered every year on May 18 at the
beach strip in Mullivaikkal. There are two
memorials there: a pair of hands rising to-
wards the sky from a plinth; and a man car-
rying a wounded or dead woman, with a
child next to him. Civilians attending the
May 18 gatherings have been called in for
questioning, the Sri Lankan citizen journal-
ism website Groundviews has reported.
The Sri Lankan government has persist-
ently refused to address the events of 2009.
The government of President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Mahinda
Rajapaksa has informed the UN Human
RightsCouncilthatitwillnolongerbeparty
to the commitments made by the previous
government to address these issues under
resolution 40/1. Its commitments as a co-
sponsor of the resolution end this year.
Read a longer version of this explainer on
www.indianexpress.com
 8 EXPRESS NETWORK WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

Doval goes to Afghanistan, focus on terror

build peace”.
SHUBHAJITROY This is the first visit by a senior
NEWDELHI,JANUARY13 Indian official after the Afghan politi-
calstakeholdersandtheTalibanstarted
INAtripthatwaskeptunderwrapsbe- their reconciliation process last year.
foreitgotunderway,NationalSecurity India attended the US-brokered
Advisor Ajit Doval on Wednesday vis- peacepactsigninginDoha inFebruary
ited Afghanistan for talks on strategic last year. An Indian delegation also at-
issueswiththeleadershipinKabul.The tendedtheinauguralceremonyof the
Afghan government said the conver- intra-Afghan negotiations in
sationswereabout“synchronisingef- September last year, while External
forts to combat terrorism and AffairsMinisterSJaishankaraddressed
the gathering via video-conference.
The Afghan National Security
CouncilsaidDovalandhiscounterpart,
Hamdullah Mohib. held “extensive
conversations on issues of strategic
mutualinterest,includingonsynchro-
nisingeffortstocombatterrorismand
build peace”.
Doval, who is on a two-day visit,
also met Afghan President Ashraf
Ghani and “discussed cooperation in
TAMILNADU CIVIL SUPPLIES CORPORATION counteringterrorismandstrengthen-
HEAD OFFICE : 12, THAMBUSAMY ROAD, kILPAUk, CHENNAI-10 ingaregionalconsensusontheAfghan
peace process”, Afghan chargé d’af-
NOTICE INVITING e - TENDERS faires in Delhi, Tahir Qadiry said on
E tenders are invited from the eligible contractors for Assembly Announcement Twitter.
works for the year 2015-16,2018-19 and 2019-20. "Bothsidesdiscussedcounter-ter-
e-Tender Notice No : - CED5/042443/2019, dt.13.01.2021. rorism cooperation and efforts for
Last date and time for Online Submission:- 16.02.2021 upto 2.00 P.M. building regional consensus on sup-
Downloading by Free of Cost:- From 27.01.2021 to 16.02.2021 porting peace in Afghanistan," said a
upto 2.00 P.M. brief statement issued by the Arg, the
Last Date for receiving Physical document:- 16.02.2021 upto 2.00 P.M.
Presidential Palace.
Duringthemeeting,Ghanisaidthe
Afghan security forces are the right-
eous pillars of Afghanistan’s stability
and are fighting in the front lines
against regional and global terrorism.
"AfghanistanandIndia,injointefforts
with NATO and the United States, will
be able to succeed in the fight against
terrorism,"Ghaniwasquotedastelling
Doval.
Doval said that India is willing to
continue its cooperation with
Afghanistan and is ready to continue
talks on common interests, the state-
ment said. There was no official word
from the Indian government, but
sources said this was part of Delhi’s
quiet engagement with stakeholders
in Afghanistan. Zalmay Khalilzad, the
USenvoyontheAfghanpeaceprocess,
visited India twice during the pan-
demic.
DovalalsometAbdullahAbdullah,
head of the High Council of National
Reconciliation. Abdullah visited India
inOctoberlastyearandheldtalkswith
Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
and Doval.
Influential Afghan leader Marshal
AbdulRashidDostumhadalsovisited
India in September last year.

Citing bird flu, Delhi civic

Date of Opening of Online tender:- 17.02.2021 at 2.30 P.M.
For further details please visit website:- www.tntenders.gov.in
MANAGING DIRECTOR

bodies ban sale of chicken

DIPR/256/Tender/2021

ABHINAVRAJPUT
NEWDELHI,JANUARY13

EVEN AS both the Centre and Delhi government have said that it is safe to consume
“properlycookedpoultryproducts”and“AvianInfluenzaisnottransmittedthrough
cookedfood”,allthreemunicipalcorporationsofDelhionWednesdayorderedaban
on the sale and storage of “poultry, processed or packaged chicken meat”.
Whilethewrittenordersdidnotspecifyifsaleofeggswasalsobanned,seniorof-
ficials in the North and South
MCDs said eggs were also pro-
hibited. In addition, the North
and South civic bodies also or-
dered restaurants not to serve
GOVERNMENT OF MEGHALAYA “poultry meat, poultry product
and egg-based dishes”. The East
POWER DEPARTMENT, ADDITIONAL SECRETARIAT BUILDING SHILLONG
Delhi Municipal Corporation,
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST however, refrained from issuing
No.POWER-113/2020/49 Dated Shillong, the 11th January, 2021. any orders to restaurants. Asked
Extension of Time against Expression of Interest about this, a senior official of the
East MCD said: “The virus gets
The Expression of Interest (E.O.I) invited by the Power Department Vide No. POWER-113 /2020/24 dated
02-11-2020 for empanelment of reputed Firms for Design, Engineering, Installation, Maintenance and killed at high temperature.”
Operations upto 40(Forty) years for Hydro/Solar/Wind /Biomass Power Projects on “All meat and poultry shops
BOOT/DBOT/BOOM/PPA Model having past experience is hereby extended as follows. Empanelment will be and meat processing units in ar-
for new and existing incomplete power projects on "as-is-where-is" basis. eas under the NDMC/ SDMC/
SI. No. Description Date EDMCareprohibitedtosell,store
1 Last date of acceptance of queries/comments from bidders 10/02/2021
KARNATAKA NEERAVARI NIGAM LIMITED poultryorprocessedorpackaged
2 Issue of Response to bidder 's queries 15/02/2021 ( A Government of Karnataka Enterprises) chickenmeatwithimmediateef-
3 Last date of Submission of EOI 25/02/2021 Office of the Executive Engineer, KNNL, fect, till further orders,” said the
No:4, BRLBC Division, Bhadravathi orders issued by the veterinary
The interest bidders/companies can download the EOI document from website
No.EE/KNNL/BDN-4/PB-1/4701-NHP/Tender Notification servicesdepartmentsofthecivic
www.meghalayatenders.gov.in free of cost.
No.22/2020-21 Date: 07.01.2021 bodiesandwarnedthatanyvio-
(1) EOI shall be submitted through E- Procurement Portal on or before the 12.00 Noon of the
25/2/2021.The bids will be opened at the 14.00 hours of the 25-02-2021. Bids may be submitted into SHORT TERM TENDER NOTIFICATION lation would lead to revocation
parts viz (i) Techno Commercial Bid to be submitted on electronic mode as well as Manual bid (ii) Price of the shop’s licence. “All restau-
(THROUGH E-PROCUREMENT PORTAL ONLY)
Bid to be submitted on electronic mode only. rantownersarebeinginstructed
Percentage Tenders by e-Procurement portal in the nottoservepoultrymeat,poultry
(2) Format of Price Bid is attached as per annexure A, B and C. The documents should be addressed to
prescribed form is invited by the undersigned on behalf of product and egg-based dishes,
the Chief Technical Adviser Generation, Power Department, Government of Meghalaya, Room No. 512,
Additional Secretariat Building, Shillong-793001 in sealed envelop cover. Managing Director, KNNL, Benglauru from the eligible else there will be action against
Contractor under the Head of Account NHP. The of work is them,” added the orders issued
(3) Power Department reserves the rights to accept/reject any EOI without assigning any reason thereof.
01. The approximate cost of amount put to tender is by the North and South MCDs.
Other terms and conditions remains the same as earlier.
Sd/- Rs.317.18 Lakhs. They can access and submission of Whencontacted,NorthMCD
P.S.R. KHARKONGOR completed e-tendering documents from 13.01.2021 MayorJaiPrakashsaidthatsince
Chief Technical Adviser (Generation) to 15.02.2021 up to 15:00 hrs. in the website theGhazipurchickenmandiand
MIPR NO 1628 dt. 13/01/2021 Power Department, Government of Meghalaya, Shillong. http://eproc.karnataka.gov.in Tender quarries with in other wholesale markets were
20.01.2021. Pre-Bid meeting will be held on 21.01.2021 at closed, there shouldn't be any
11:30 hrs. at O/o Chief Engineer, UTP, Shivamogga. Technical supply to Delhi anyway. He said
bid will be opened on 16.02.2021 at 16: 00 hrs. After peoplecouldfallillif thechicken
obtaining approval of technical bid from competent authority, was not cooked properly, and
the financial bid will be opened Stipulated period for addedthatsomegym-goersalso
completion of work 12 Months. eatraweggs.“Wewillensurethe
For more conditions and details visit website guidelines are strictly imple-
http://eproc.karnataka.gov.in or at undersigned in all mentedandalsorequestthepeo-
working days during office hours on telephone No: ple to call on the helpline num-
08282-271063 ber if they spot any dead bird,”
Sd/- Executive Engineer, KNNL, saidEastMCDMayorNirmalJain.
No.4 BRLBC Division Bhadravathi
DIPR/No.62/01/Shivamogga/MC&A/20-21

SOUTHERN RAILWAY
TENDER NOTICE No -
SRHQENGG Track 01 2021
Dt 12.01.2021
e-tender are invited for the following
work by Principal Chief Engineer,
Southern Railway.
Sl.No: 1
NAME OF WORk: USFD Testing of Rails/
Welds using RDSO approved equipment
for a length of 7536 TKM in Chennai,
Salem, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram
and Madurai Divisions of Southern
Railway for a period of 2 years
App. value in Crores ` 6.91
EMD: ` 495800.00
Date of closing of tender : 04.02.2021
at 11.00 hrs.
Period of Completion: 24 Months
(Items 01 only)
Further details are available in detail on
website https://www.ireps.gov.in the
tenderer(s)/Contractor(s) to apply for
e-tender for works in Southern Railway,
need to get enrolled in the e-tender portal
www.ireps.gov.in and only online tenders
will be accepted. It is the responsibility of
the tenderer to check if any Corrigendum
is issued for any correction or modification
uploaded subsequently in the website
and the same shall be taken into account
while submitting the Tender.
Dy.CE/TMS/HQ
(For and on behalf of President of India)
Follow us on : twitter.com/GMSRailway
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

9 GOVT & POLITICS

THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

Memo: India key to US plan in ED arrests former PARTY DISTANCES SELF

DELHI CONFIDENTIAL
Indo-Pacific, counter to China TMC MP in money
laundering case
The paper on “US Strategic Pacific developed by his National Nuclear Suppliers Group, and
SHUBHAJITROY Framework for the Indo-Pacific,” Security Council (NSC) through work “with India toward domes-
NEWDELHI,JANUARY13 defines the goal as ensuring that the course of 2017. tic economic reform and an in-
India remains “pre-eminent in This coincided with the creasedleadershiproleintheEast EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
A NEWLY declassified internal South Asia and takes the leading Doklam border dispute between Asia Summit (EAS) and ADMM+ NEWDELHI,KOLKATA, Singh has
documentoftheoutgoingTrump role in maintaining Indian Ocean IndiaandChinabetweenJuneand (Asean Defence Ministers JANUARY13 been sent to
administration — rare for an in- security, increases engagement August in 2017. The declassified Meeting”. ED custody
cumbenttodeclassifyatleasttwo withSoutheastAsia,andexpands memo reveals that the Trump The memo underlines the THE ENFORCEMENT Directorate till Jan 16,
decades before its time — high- its economic, defence, and diplo- Administration was pushing for need to "align our (US) Indo- arrestedformerTMCMPKanwar officials said
lights how India figures as a key matic cooperation with other US strongertieswithIndia,intheface Pacific strategy with those of DeepSinghonWednesdayunder
playerintheUSstrategyonIndo- allies and partners in the region”. of Chinese belligerence. Australia, India and Japan", of sections of the Prevention of
Pacific. As per the paper, the US will The memo says that the US deepening trilateral cooperation Money Laundering Act (PMLA). in 2018 on the basis of FIRs regis-
The paper outlines a strategy take action on several fronts, in- will “solidify an enduring strate- with Japan and Australia, and a He was produced before a tered by Kolkata Police against
BIHARI, VIHARI based on the assumption that a
“strongIndia,incooperationwith
cluding diplomatic, military and
intelligence,to“accelerateIndia’s
gicpartnershipwithIndiaunder-
pinnedbyastrongIndianmilitary
quadrilateralsecurityrelationship
with India.
court which sent him to ED cus-
todytillJanuary16,PTIquotedof-
Singh, his son Karandeep Singh,
M/S Alchemist Township India
AMONG UNION minister Babul Supriyo's 17 tweets on like-mindedcountries,wouldact rise and capacity to serve as a net abletoeffectivelycollaboratewith Among the “desired end ficial sources as saying. Limited, M/S Alchemist Holdings
Monday, was one angry outburst against one Hanuma Bihari, asacounterbalancetoChina”,and provider of security and Major theUnitedStatesandourpartners states” or goals of the strategy is The agency had carried out Limited and various other group
whohechargedwith“murdering”cricket.Aroundthetimehis that New Delhi’s “preferred part- Defence Partner” and to address intheregiontoaddresssharedin- India-UScooperationto“preserve searchesonthepremisesofSingh companies and their directors for
post went public, a cricketer with a similar sounding name, ner on security issues” is challengesemanatingfromChina, terests”. maritime security and counter and his associates in September allegedly cheating thousands of
Hanuma Vihari, was fighting to save a Test in Australia. This Washington. including the border dispute. According to the document, Chinese influence in South and 2019. Singh has previously been customersandinvestors.“Kanwar
wasaclue thatSupriyo was tuned to Sydney, he meantVihari, While much of it is publicly Among the steps the US pro- theUSwillbuilda“strongerfoun- Southeast Asia and other regions thechairmanof Alchemistgroup Deep Singh through companies...
and was angry. “Playing 109 balls to score 7 !That is atrocious known,thememogivesaninsight posedtoundertakeinclude:offer- dation for defence cooperation of mutual concern”, and India and the ED is probing him as part raisedhugeamountofmoneyfrom
to say the least Hanuma Bihari has not only killed any Chance into the Trump administration’s ing “support to India – through and interoperability; expand our maintaining “the capacity to of two money laundering cases. thousandsofcustomersinthegarb
for India to achieve a historic win but has also murdered thinkingandsetsthestageforco- diplomatic, military, and intelli- defencetradeandabilitytotrans- counter border provocations by While Singh has been Rajya of investments by luring them of
Cricket.. not keeping win an option, even if remotely, is crim- operation with the Joe Biden ad- gence channels – to help address ferdefencetechnologytoenhance China”. Sabha MP from TMC in the past, high returns and also against
inal.” He ended his punditry with a confession. “PS: I know ministration scheduled to take continentalchallengessuchasthe India’s status as a Major Defence "The declassification of the party members said “was no sale/bookingof plotsandflatsetc...
that I know nothing abt cricket.” On a day when the game's charge January 20. borderdisputewithChinaandac- Partner;increaseourcooperation Framework today demonstrates, longer involved” in its affairs. thesefunds...werenotusedforthe
leading lights – from Sachin Tendulkar downwards – were Classified as “secret” and “not cess to water, including the on shared regional security con- with transparency, America's The agency has claimed to intended purpose and were di-
celebratingthe greatest-ever draw and the remarkableresist- for foreign nationals” by Deputy Brahmaputraandotherriversfac- cerns and encourage India’s en- strategic commitments to the haverecoveredRs35lakhincash, verted/siphoned off to various
ance strung together by Vihari and R Ashwin, Supriyo wasn't National Security Advisor Matt ing diversion by China”. gagement beyond the Indian Indo-Pacific and to our allies and 10,000USD,“propertypapersand groupcompanies,”theEDhadsaid.
the lone voice of dissent on this Indian cricket's big day. Pottinger,thepaperwasdeclassi- Significantly,inearly2018,US Ocean Region”. partners in the region," wrote documents pertaining to cir- Singh’s arrest triggered a ver-
Congressman and BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla too was- fied by NSA Robert C O’Brien on President Donald Trump en- The US will also support NationalSecurityAdvisorO'Brien cuitous financial transactions bal duel in poll-bound Bengal.
n't impressed. “Actually the middle order could have per- January 5. dorsed a strategy for the Indo- India’sbidformembershipof the in his memo. from his official residence in TMC MP Sougata Roy said, “I
formed little better and we would have won the match.” Now Delhi”. “During searches, a num- don’twanttocomment.KDSingh
Bihari, oops Vihari, has reacted to Supriyo's tweet. There was ber of documents reflecting the is neither with the TMC nor an
no lengthy retort, no laboured taunt. The modest-to-a-fault
Andhra youngster's two-word putdown to Supriyo's Bihari
SC stays 2 FIRs circular nature of transactions,
digital evidences and property
MP.” TMC spokesperson Kunal
Ghosh said Singh should have
tweet was: * Hanuma Vihari. against Bengal documents are seized at the offi-
cialresidenceofKDSinghinDelhi
been arrested earlier. He said BJP
vice-president and former TMC
BJP leader over cash of Rs 32 lakhs along with leaderMukulRoywasthereason
CLEARING THE AIR scuffle with
Foreign Exchange worth 10,000
USDwasfoundandseized,”anED
whySinghwasallowedentryinto
the TMC. The allegation has been
FOR THE second time in nearly a month the government has statement had said. denied by Roy.
come out and assured that no All India Radio stations are be-
ing closed or even downgraded in any state across the coun-
TMC workers Thesearchesin2019werecar-
riedoutatsevenlocationsinNew
State BJP president Dilip
Ghoshsaid,“Everydayeithertheir
try. A month ago, in mid-December, I&B Minister Prakash Delhi and Chandigarh, including (TMC) leaders are being arrested
Javadekar hadsaidthatnone of theAIRstations will be closed, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA registeredofficesof14groupcom- orareleavingtheparty.TheBJPis
downgraded or converted into relay centres, and had stated NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13 paniesofAlchemistGroup,official continuously growing in Bengal.
that there is a deliberate attempt by somebody to spread ru- residenceofSinghatTughlaqlane Weareplayingpracticematchbe-
mors and fake news. On Wednesday, the I&B Ministry issued THE SUPREME COURT on in New Delhi, his residence at forethefinal.Whowillbearrested
astatementreiteratingthesamething.Itsaidthat“takingase- Wednesday stayed proceedings Chandigarhandthehomesoftwo is CBI’s and ED's call."
rious note of the false reporting and fake news claiming clo- on two FIRs lodged against West directors in different companies, Left Front Legislature Party
sure of AIR stations by various media outlets across India, Bengal BJP leader Kabir Shankar the statement had said. leader Sujan Chakraborty said,
PrasarBharatihas madeitclearthat thesereportsarebaseless BoseafterperusingtheCISF'sspe- The ED had initiated its probe “He should have been arrested a
and factually incorrect”. cialincidentreportonthescuffle intotheaffairsof AlchemistGroup long time ago.”
between his security staff and

DATA PACT
Trinamool Congress workers.
The top court also sought re-
sponse from the West Bengal Support Mamata against
THE UNION Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod for the sign-
ing of an MoU between the Earth Sciences Ministry and the
National Centre for Meteorology in Saudi Arabia for sharing of C P Yogeshwar with Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa and Governor Vajubhai Vala,
government and the state police
on the plea filed by Bose, seek-
ing probe by an independent
BJP’s divisive tactics: TMC
data, knowledge and operational products for meteorological,
seismological and oceanic services. The MoU is the latest in a
at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru, on Wednesday. PTI agency.
A bench of Justices S K Kaul, urges Cong, Left parties
longlistof collaborativeeffortsthattheIndiangovernmenthas Dinesh Maheshwari and

7 new ministers in BSY

with other countries in the area of science and technology. Hrishikesh Roy issued notice to EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE
the state government. During KOLKATA,JANUARY13
the hearing, senior advocates
MaheshJethmalani,AnupamLal THETRINAMOOLCongress(TMC) Mamata
After VRS, Gujarat IAS
Cabinet, strength now 33
Das and advocate Sameer on Wednesday appealed to the Banerjee
Kumar, appearing for Bose, said CongressandtheLeftFronttosup-

officer to join BJP today, Shankar, C P Yogeshwar and S inNovemberfromRRNagarcon-

may contest MLC polls
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
LUCKNOW, JANUARY 13
A K Sharma, a former IAS officer
of the Gujarat cadre who re-
centlytookvoluntaryretirement
as the secretary of the Union
Ministry of Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSME), is
set to join the BJP in Lucknow on
Thursday and likely to contest
one of the 12 MLC seats sched-
uled to go to polls on January 28.
Sharma opted for voluntary
retirement ahead of his sched-
uled superannuation next year.
In Gujarat, he had worked
with Narendra Modi when the
latter was the Chief Minister.
“He(AKSharma)willjointhe
A K Sharma
party tomorrow (Thursday) at
thestatepartyofficeinLucknow.
The time of the joining and who
will be present at the event are
not yet confirmed,” BJP
spokesperson Chandramohan
told The Indian Express.
The12outgoingMLCsinclude
DeputyCMDineshSharma,state
BJP president Swatantra Dev
SinghandstateBJPvice-president
Laxman Prasad Acharya.
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BENGALURU, JANUARY 13
KARNATAKA CHIEF Minister B S
Yediyurappa expanded his cab-
inet Wednesday, inducting
seven new ministers and drop-
ping one minister to take the
strength of the cabinet to 33 —
one short of full capacity.
The cabinet expansion in the
BJP government, which came to
powerin2019after17MLAsfrom
the previous Congress-JDS gov-
ernment defected to the BJP, had
been long pending on account of
Yediyurappa’sintenttoinductall
the Congress-JDS rebels.
“We have sent the names of
seven legislators to Raj Bhavan to
be inducted into the cabinet.
UmeshKatti,ArvindLimbavalli,M
T B Nagaraj, Murugesh Nirani, R
Angara will take oath,”
Yediyurappa announced before
theswearing-in.“Wearekeeping
onepostvacant.Otherissues(like
portfolios)willbediscussedwith
party general secretary (Arun
Singh) and finalised,” he added.
The cabinet expansion
promptedstrongremarksbyBJP
MLAswhodidnotgettheberths.
Of the seven legislators in-
ductedintothecabinet,twoeach
are from the Lingayat, OBC
KurubaandSCcommunitiesand
one from Vokkaliga community.
Among those who were
widelytippedtobeinductedinto
the cabinet but did not find a
place is film producer-turned-
politician Munirathna Naidu,
who was among 14 Congress
rebels who defected to the BJP.
MunirathnawaselectedBJPMLA
stituency after Yediyurappa
promisedtomakehimaminister
if voters helped him win the by-
poll. Another rebel MLA, H
Nagesh, was dropped as Excise
Ministerbutappointedheadof B
R Ambedkar Development
Corporation later in the day.
Former JDS MLA H
Vishwanath, who joined the BJP
in 2019, also did not find a berth.
Among the seven legislators in-
ducted into the cabinet, M T B
Nagaraj and R Shankar were
elected to the council -- they
were part of the group of 17
MLAs disqualified in 2019 by the
Speaker for defecting to the BJP.
Yediyurappa has accommo-
dated 12 of the 17 Congress and
JDS rebels in the cabinet.
FULL REPORT ON
www.indianexpress.com
that as directed by the court in
its last hearing, the CISF has filed
its report in a sealed cover de-
scribing the incident of
December 6 last year. Additional
Solicitor General Vikramjit
Banerjee, appearing for the
Centre, also confirmed that the
CISF report has been filed as di-
rected by the top court.
On January 5, the top court
had asked the Centre to place on
record the special incident re-
port filed by CISF on an alleged
scuffle between the TMC work-
ers and security staff of Bose. It
had also sought in sealed cover
the movement logbook of the
leader pertaining to the day of
incident.
A Special Incident Report is a
formal report filed with the re-
gionalcentrewheneveraperson
served by the regional centre is
involved in an unusual event,
such as a crime or injury.
port Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee in West Bengal against
the “communal and divisive tac-
tics of the BJP” in the upcoming
Assembly elections.
With the Assembly election
just months away, several front-
linepartyleadersandministersre-
signed from TMC and joined the
BJP. It is in this scenario that the
TMC has reached out to the Left
partiesandtheCongress–thatare
forgingaseparatecoalitionagainst
TMC and BJP – to support the rul-
ingpartytodefeatthe“communal
anddivisiveforce,BJP.”
Saugata Roy said that TMC
chief Mamata Banerjee was the
“real face of secular politics”. Roy
alsoclaimedthattheBJP-ledgov-
ernment at the Centre had not
been able to work on any project
successfully.
“If the Left Front and the
Congress are genuinely anti-BJP,
they should support Mamata
Banerjee in her fight against the
communalanddivisivepoliticsof
the saffron party,” he said.
However, both the CPM and
the Congress rejected the TMC's
appeal.Atajointpress conference
addressed by CPM leader Sujan
ChakrabortyandCongressleader
AbdulMannan,Chakrabortysaid,
“The TMC has no spine to fight
againstacommunalforcelikethe
BJP.TheTMCneverwantstofight
againstBJPandtheBJPalsonever
wanted to fight against TMC.
Today’s appeal only proved that,
in this state, Congress and Left
Frontcoalitionistheonlyalterna-
tive to the TMC and BJP.”
“Only a few days ago, TMC
leaders were saying that Left and
Congress have become sign-
boards. Now, they are asking for
support.Thatmeanstheyhavere-
alised that their politics became
irrelevant,” Mannan said.

Before House panel, RSS affiliate flags Ahead of Kerala polls, UDF promises
Nyay scheme, no-bill hospitals
‘distortions’ in NCERT school textbooks
E
“moregovernment,moreinvest-
SHAJUPHILIP ment, more employment and
sports on Tuesday to depose be- tendedtoSSUNandBSM. groups were decided on the ba- THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, more compassion’’.
E X P L A I NE D

RITIKACHOPRA fore members on textbook re-
NEWDELHI,JANUARY13 forms and “removing references
to un-historical facts and distor-
DEPOSING BEFORE a tions about our national heroes
Parliamentary Standing from textbooks”.
Committee on Tuesday, the RSS- Rajya Sabha member Vinay
affiliatedShikshaSanskritiUtthan Sahasrabuddhe heads the panel.
Nyas(SSUN)flagged“distortions” Themeetingwasattendedbyrep-
in NCERT’s school textbooks, resentativesofthedepartmentof
which included a chapter on late school education, NCERT and
artist MF Husain in the Class 11 CBSE. Former NCERT director J S
Hindi textbook and references to Rajput,ShankarSharanofNCERT,
Mughal rulers giving grants to SSUN and RSS-affiliate Bharatiya
supportthebuildingandmainte- ShikshanMandal(BSM)deposed
nance of places of worship in a beforethecommitteeonTuesday.
Class 12 History textbook. The committee is expected to
The Nyas, which is headed by meet again in a week to hear fur-
DinaNathBatra,aformerheadof therdepositions.“Thecommittee
VidyaBharati,theeducationwing had sought feedback on the topic
of the RSS, was invited to the onsocialmedia.Itwasthroughthis
meeting of the parliamentary exercise that some organizations
standing committee on educa- requested to be heard in person,”
tion,women,children,youthand saida source on theinvitationex-
In its submission to the panel,
SSUN objected to a chapter on
painter M F Husain in the Class 11
HindiTextbook“Antral”.TheNyas
feltitwasinappropriateforstudents
tostudythelifeofapersonwhowas
accused of promoting obscenity
andoutragingreligioussentiments.
TheSupremeCourthadrefusedto
allow Husain’s prosecution on the
chargesofobscenity.
SSUN protested references to
Mughalrulersadoptingaflexible
policytowardstheirnon-Muslim
subjects and giving grants to re-
pairtemplesdamagedduringwar
intheClass12Historytextbookti-
tled “Themes in Indian History -
II”. SSUN stated that these sen-
tencesamounttotheglorification
of foreign invaders.
TheRSSaffiliatealsoobjected
to the section on “Varnas” in the
sis of birth”. The Nyas asked
whether it was appropriate to
The promote hostility towards one
● backdrop sectioninClass6students’minds.
Initssuggestionstotheparlia-
THE PARLIAMENTARY mentarypanel,BSMsaidthathis-
panel has taken up the is- toryshouldbetaughtasacontin-
sueof textbookreformata uumandthatdividinghistoryinto
time that the government ancient, medieval and modern
has already started the creates confusion. It also stated
groundworkforthedevel- that teaching of History should
opment of a new National promote national unity, inspire
Curriculum Framework national renaissance and incul-
(NCF). All NCERT text- catehighself-esteeminstudents.
books will be revised Thedepartmentof schooled-
based on the new NCF. ucation in its submission to the
parliamentary committee in-
formedmembersthattheNCERT
Chapter 5 of the Class 6 History is in the process of setting up a
textbook that states that the paneltoanalyseandaddresscom-
“priests divided people into four plaintswithregardto“un-histor-
groups, called varna” and that ical facts and distortions” about
“the priests also said that these national heroes and events.
JANUARY13
THE CONGRESS-LED UDF on
Wednesdaybroughtoutthedraft
manifestofortheKeralaAssembly
electionsdueinApril-May.Ama-
jor highlight is that the UDF, if
voted to power, has promised to
implementtheminimumincome
scheme Nyuntam Aay Yojana
(Nyay), which Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi had mooted in the
party’s manifesto ahead of the
2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The UDF released the draft
aheadoftheLDFgovernmentpre-
sentingthebudgetonFriday.The
state government is expected to
fatten the existing money-trans-
ferwelfareschemesorbringnew
measures to woo voters.
Releasingthedraftmanifesto,
Leader of Opposition in the
Ramesh Chennithala
Assembly Ramesh Chennithala
said,“TheUDFwouldimplement
Nyay, which party leader Rahul
Gandhi had promised to imple-
ment.Wewouldbethefirststate
to implement it. As per the
scheme, the poor would get a
monthly income of Rs 6,000 in
theirbankaccounts,whichwould
work out to Rs 72,000 in a year.
This would go a long way in wip-
ing out poverty from the state.’’
He said the manifesto would
be based on four principles --
Chennithala said all sections
of people require the govern-
ment’ssupportasthe2018floods
andCovid-19hadhadadevastat-
ingimpactonthestate’seconomy.
“Hence, the UDF promises ‘more
government’, which would en-
sure more supportive measures
for the people,” he said.
Amongtheotherpromisesare
settingup“no-billhospitals”forfree
treatmentandhikeintheamounts
of student scholarship, wages and
welfarepensionschemes.Theman-
ifestohaspromisedtoincreaseun-
employment allowance and pen-
sionfortheelderly.
The final manifesto would be
prepared after taking opinions
from the public. The committee
for preparing the manifesto
would meet in various districts
starting from January 17.
 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

10
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

THE EDITORIAL PAGE

WORDLY WISE
Inflation is taxation without legislation.
— MILTON FRIEDMAN

FOUNDED BY
Care and caution
§

§
RAMNATH GOENKA
People’sconfidenceisamustforasuccessful rolloutof
BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL
theCovid-19vaccine

PRICE SIGNALS K Sujatha Rao

RetailinflationfallsinDecemberfollowingdeclinein A GOOD POLICY must fulfil four criteria — it diseases. In other words, the guidelines are a covering all at one time in an area, instead of
must have clarity in objectives, strategic de- reference manual for what is to be done, by sequencingthemintodifferentgroups.Thear-
foodprices.Butpressuresremain sign, financing and outcomes, all in sync. For whom,whenandhow. eas could be ranked on the basis of a vulnera-

W
example, the objective of the national roll out
ITH HEADLINE RETAIL inflation having stayed above the upper can be to stop infections, check current trans-
limit of the monetary policy committee’s (MPC) inflation target- mission and/or reduce if not eliminate mor-
ing framework for most of last year, the sharper-than-expected tality,dependingupontheefficacyof thevac-
fall in inflation in December comes as a relief. Retail inflation, as cine.Thepoliovaccine,forinstance,achievesall
measured by the consumer price index moderated to 4.6 per cent in December, down three for life while the flu shot can protect
against infection only for a year. Such charac-
from 6.93 per cent in November. Inflation in December was, in fact, the lowest in the
teristics then determine the strategies, fund-
last 14 months. As a consequence, retail inflation has averaged 6.4 per cent in the third ingandwaystomeasureoutcomes.So,when
quarter of the current financial year, lower than the RBI’s forecast of 6.8 per cent. With eradication became an objective, the polio
trends in prices so far indicating continuing moderation in inflation in January as well, strategy was redesigned.
the RBI’s forecast for inflation in the fourth quarter, currently at 5.8 per cent, is also In the COVID vaccine roll out, there is no
likely to be revised downwards. This will provide much comfort to the MPC members, clear data for either of the two vaccines pro-
posed for use in the programme. We do not
allowing them to continue with their accommodative stance till there is greater clar-
know if they provide protection for life, for a
ity over the durability of the economic recovery. yearorsixmonths,itsefficacyamongtheeld-
Much of the decline in headline inflation in December stemmed from a fall in food erly or the very sick or in stopping new infec-
prices. As per the data from the National Statistical Office, consumer food price infla- tions.Gettingsuchdatarequiresatleastthree
tion eased greatly to 3.41 per cent in December, down from 9.5 per cent the month be- yearsandcannotbeobtainedinafewmonths.
fore, led largely by easing of vegetables prices. Vegetable prices inflation declined by Indiaalsodoesnothaveanyadvancepurchase
agreementsforvaccinesthathavesomeofthis
10.41 per cent in December, after rising by 15.6 per cent in the previous month. Food
data due to the completion of Phase 3 trials.
inflation also benefited from relatively muted price pressures in cereals and the pro- The two vaccines to be used in India, have not
tein basket (egg, fish and meat). And with current mandi prices also indicating a con- completedthePhase3thatconfirmsafetyand
tinuation of the trend in vegetable prices in January, overall inflation is likely to remain efficacy when tried out on a large sample.
soft next month as well. However, price pressures do appear to be building up in other Given these limitations, the government
food categories. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation’s Food Price Index also has drawn up strategic guidelines for imple-
mentinganambitiousvaccineprogrammecov-
suggests the same. The index, which reflects international prices of a basket of com-
ering30crorepeoplebyJuly.Withmeticulous
modities, averaged 107.5 points in December — the highest since November 2014.
attention to detail, the guidelines draw upon
Additionally, the spread of bird flu could lead to demand-supply mismatches, inject- theknowledgeofrunningnationalcampaigns
ing a degree of volatility in meat and egg prices. acquired over three decades of implementing
Core inflation (inflation excluding food and fuel) eased marginally in December. the Universal Immunisation Programme that
However, it continues to remain sticky, and is unlikely to moderate greatly. It is pos- resultedineradicatingpolioandprotecting75
sible that as household demand recovers to pre-COVID levels — a smooth rollout of the percentchildrenagainst14vaccinepreventa-
ble diseases. These guidelines detail the skills,
COVID vaccine will provide a fillip to demand, especially for high-contact services —
roles and responsibilities of the required hu-
inflation in services might see an uptick in the coming months. Add to that rising manresources,logisticsfordeliveringvaccines
input costs, and a return of pricing power, core inflation may well remain high in the at point of use, physical infrastructure, moni-
coming months. toring systems based on digital platforms and
feedbacksystemsforreportingadverseevents.
Theapproachinvolves19departments,donor
PRESSURE POINTS
organisations and NGOs at the national, state,
district and block level. The guidelines also
mentiontheprioritycriteria—caregivers,front
lineworkersof thedepartmentsof health,de-
Recognition of bad loans must not be delayed. Upcoming fence, municipalities and transportation; per-
budget needs to lay out a vision for public sector banks sons above the age of 50 and those below 50
havingdiabetes,hypertension,cancersandlung
Of the 28,932 cold chain
points, half are in the five
southern states,
Maharashtra and Gujarat.
The eight states in the North
and Odisha that account for
over 40 per cent of the
country’s population have
only 28 per cent of the cold
chain points. Combined
with poor human resources
— doctors, nurses,
pharmacists — a weak
private sector, poor safety
and hygiene standards,
frequent power outages,
poor infrastructure in terms
of physical space, the
capacity to implement with
the expected speed, quality
and accuracy is daunting.
The guidelines are ideal but do not reflect
the real world of the health system that is full
offlaws,defects,inconsistenciesandcracks.Of
the28,932coldchainpoints,halfareinthefive
southernstates,MaharashtraandGujarat.The
eight states in the North and Odisha that ac-
countforover40percentofthecountry’spop-
ulationhaveonly28percentof thecoldchain
points.Combinedwithpoorhumanresources
— doctors, nurses, pharmacists — a weak pri-
vatesector,poorsafetyandhygienestandards,
frequent power outages, poor infrastructure
in terms of physical space, the capacity to im-
plementwiththeexpectedspeed,qualityand
accuracy is daunting. The immunisation can
disrupt routine health service delivery — an-
tenatal care, national programmes like those
pertainingtoTBorotherimmunisationdrives
and exhaust workers, particularly if we have
yetanotherwaveoftheinfectionorotherout-
breakslikethebirdfluthatisbeingwitnessed
in some states now.
While data for the above-50-year-olds is
availableintheelectoralrolls(thoughthereare
complaintsofexclusionsmakingtheCensusa
betteroption),linelistingoftheunder50swith
comorbiditiescanbechallenging.Diseasebur-
denofNCDs’ismuchhigherinsouthernstates
that also have a higher proportion of the eld-
erly. Not only are urban-rural variations sub-
stantial, but urban areas have weak public
health infrastructure and a multiple number
of private providers, mostly unregistered,
thanks to the poor implementation of the
ClinicalEstablishmentAct,2010.Patienttrack-
ingcanbeproblematicasmanymaynothave
been diagnosed, go to multiple providers, or
have multiple addresses as in the case of mi-
grants.Fudging,falsecertificationandsiphon-
ingoffvaccinestoprivatefacilitiesintheevent
of vast price differentials cannot be ruled out.
Thenon-availabilityof efficacydatacould
also impact the procurement and supply of
vaccines, result in huge wastage, and can in-
troduce scope for errors and duplication.
Insteadofrollingouttheprogrammethrough-
out the country in one go and given the com-
plexity of the line listing of priority groups, it
maybeusefultoconsiderotheroptionssuchas
bilityindexbuiltbytriangulatingdatasetsfrom
disease burden, caseload of COVID infections,
demographic profile, health-seeking behav-
iourandavailabilityofinfrastructureetc,block,
districtandstatewise.Suchanapproachcould
enablehavingdifferentialstrategiestosuitthe
health system capacities to organise, deliver
and monitor.
Butcentraltothesuccessoftherolloutwill
betheconfidenceofthepeopleinthevaccines.
Non transparency of data, needless haste and
opacity with which the licenses were given,
worsened by caveats and conditions, strident
defencebytherulingpartyinitsattempttosti-
flehealthyconversationthatcouldresultinal-
laying doubts and fears, clumsy attempts to
politicise the discourse by media channels
haveonlydeepenedsuspicions.Theworstout-
comeisthedentingofourinternationalrepu-
tation and respect built over years of adher-
ence to scientific rigour. Coming out of this
messysituationisnecessaryandoneoption—
as adopted for the polio eradication pro-
gramme—istoestablishanindependentteam
of experts under the aegis of the WHO to en-
sureadherencetorecruitmentstandards,con-
sentconditions,adverseeventrecordmanage-
ment, compensation standards,
conditionalitiesrequiredinemergencyautho-
risation and trial conditions. This will create
confidence in the community and interna-
tional authorities as well.
Finally, it is important to understand that
vaccination is an incomplete solution to end-
ing the epidemic, since the virus is mutating.
Adopting safe behaviour is. Launching a nu-
ancedcommunicationstrategywillbefunda-
mental. The government can use its experi-
ence of controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Science, evidence and data analytics need to
be the bedrock of the roll out policy, not poli-
tics and scoring brownie points for electoral
advantages. The need of the hour is winning
this battle that has drained us economically,
sociallyandpsychologically.Thatsaid,thede-
cisiontorolloutthevaccineisagoodstart.Let’s
keep our fingers crossed.
The writer is a former Unionhealth secretary

E
VEN THOUGH THE Reserve Bank of India (RBI) expects economic activity to re-
cover to last year’s levels in the second half of the current financial year, and
growth to pick up in the first half of next year, its latest financial stability report
laysoutinnouncertaintermstheformidablechallengesfacingthebankingsys-
tem as it deals with the fallout of the pandemic. Even though gross non-performing assets
(GNPAs) have been on a decline, and banks had built relatively sound capital buffers, the
problem,inpart,isthatthetrueextentof thebadloansinthesystemisunknownduetothe
MASTER OF THE INTIMATE CANVAS
regulatory forbearance provided to cushion the blow of the pandemic. But with the with-
drawal of these regulatory relief measures, the underlying stress in the system will surface. For Ved Mehta, the personal was a way to illuminate the universal
AndasRBIgovernorShaktikantaDasnotes,banksarelikelytowitness“balancesheetimpair-
ments” and “capital shortfalls”. This is a grim prognosis.
The RBI has carried out a series of tests to gauge the extent of stress in banks’ balance Jai Arjun Singh
sheets under various economic situations. In its baseline scenario, banks’ bad loans could
I HAVE TWO distinct memories from a 2009 tions made some readers uncomfortable. ily history and personal development can
rise to 13.5 per cent by September 2021, up from 7.5 per cent at the end of September 2020. meeting with Ved Mehta, who passed away Over a long and prolific career, Mehta was easily be dismissed as navel-gazing, and
Incasetheeconomicsituationworsens,badloanscouldriseevenfurtherto14.8percent.One earlier this week. The first is of Mehta speak- boththesepeopleandmanyothers.Afterwrit- Mehta was often seen as an unfashionable
indicationofthebuildupinstressisalreadyevident:LargeborrowersintheSMA-0category ing about why he always tried to be precise inghisfirstbookFacetoFace—anautobiogra- writer, out of touch with shifting currents in
(loans which are overdue for 1-30 days) have grown by a staggering 245.6 per cent over and lucid in his writing — no literary round- phy in his early twenties, an act of hubris, you the literary world. Youngsters working on
March 2020, signalling possible slippages in the coming quarters. abouts or convolutions. might think, until you actually read this gen- the literature beat in the early 2000s were
There may be a desire to kick the can down the road — to relax the NPA recognition “Because I left India when I was very tle, searching work — he began a long stint at tutored in thecanon of majorIndian-English
young,inthe1950s,”hesaid,“Iwasverycon- TheNewYorkerwiththeencouragementofthe writers — Rushdie, Roy, Seth, Ghosh, and
normsandmaskthetrueextentof thebadloans.Thatwouldbeamistake.Addressingthe
sciousof theexplainingI hadto dotopeople, celebrated editor William Shawn. In the fromanearliergeneration,NaipaulandAnita
balance sheet stress in the economy requires focusing on what the Economic Survey has aboutwhoIwasandwhereIcamefrom.That decadesthatfollowed,hewrotemanyfeatures Desai — but Mehta was rarely mentioned
calledthe4Rs—recognitionof badloans,recapitalisationof banks,resolutionforstressed initial impulse may have made the writing and books on contemporary India, Mahatma (exceptperhapsinthecontextof anamusing
firms and reforms to alter the incentive structures. However, considering that trillions clearer.” When scientists aren’t precise, he Gandhi, philosophy and theology. He also run-in with the cantankerous Naipaul at a
spent on bank recapitalisation have not yielded justifiable returns, and the opportunity pointedout,thewholeedificecollapses:“But wrote, with characteristic clear-sightedness, 2002 Neemrana gathering). I knew almost
costs of such large allocations, especially for a cash strapped government, there are legit- wewhodonon-scientificwork,weoftenget about his blindness: The journey to America nothing about him until Ichancedto read his
away with murder.” His defining work remains as a teenager for the education that wasn’t plaintive2004bookTheRedLetters,abouthis
imate questions to be asked over the recapitalisation of public sector banks by the gov-
ernment. Questions must also be asked about whether outright privatisation is even pos-
ThesecondmemoryisofMehta—wholost the autobiographical available to an unsighted adolescent in India; father’s adulterous relationship with a mar-
his sight at age three — discussing his use of howlonelinessmadewayforself-reliance;his ried woman in the 1930s.
sibleorisshiftingtoastructureliketheBankInvestmentCompanymoreappropriate.The ‘Continents of Exile’ series,
conjecture. Once, writing about someone he use of “facial vision” (the ability to sense ob- Inthatbook,asinmuchof hisotherwork,
government needs to think through the various alternatives, and clearly articulate its vi- had interviewed, he described the person — which began with the desire jects by the feel of the air and differences in Mehtadidjusticetohisconvictionthatif you
sion for the banking sector in the upcoming budget. accurately,itturnedout—assmokinghiscig- to record the stories of his sound) to navigate the world around him. tell a very specific story and tell it well, it will
arette from the side of his mouth, so that it parents and the worlds they However, his defining work remains the have a wide resonance. His flair for attentive
seemedlikethecigarettewasstucktohislower autobiographical“Continentsof Exile”series, characterportraitsandforsettinganindivid-
had inhabited. Though the

WE, ROBOT
lip.“IreinterpretedwhatIwashearingandput
it in visual terms. I could have said his voice
soundedmuffled,whichledmetorealisethis,
andsoon—butIdon’twanttorepeatedlydraw
One hundred years after Karel Capek wrote about humanoid attention to my blindness by explaining my
impressions. It would be cumbersome.”
machines, it turns out, dystopia is a software issue So here was a writer-journalist who tried
series wasn’t planned
beforehand, the books grew
to tell a vast cross-cultural
tale involving India, England
and America. Shawn even
whichbeganwiththedesiretorecordthesto-
ries of his parents. Though the series wasn’t
planned beforehand,the books grewtotella
vast cross-cultural tale involving India,
England and America. Shawn even created a
“Personal History” section to accommodate
the earliest versions of these pieces. (“How
ual tale against a larger background is visible
inotherworkslikeSound-ShadowsoftheNew
World and Up at Oxford too. Above all, they
have a quiet elegance that makes them very
easy to slip into. Though Mehta practised a
great deal of journalism and wrote about
“big” subjects — in books such as Portrait of

I
N JANUARY 1921, a machine uprising that displaces humanity as we know it to be as direct as possible in his prose, simply created a ‘Personal History’ absurd it was,” Mehta said, smiling, “for a India — he was eventually a master of the in-
setting things down rather than being a styl- section in ‘The New Yorker’ leading American magazine to publish a timate canvas, always using the personal to
was, at best, an allegory. Czech playwright Karel Capek's RUR: Rossum’s Universal
ist; but here, too, was a man who practised a multi-part profile of my mother right in the illuminate the universal.
Robots introduced the term “robot” — derived from roboti, the Czech word for serf versionofimaginativewritingeveninhisnon- to accommodate the earliest middle of the Vietnam War!”)
— and the audience lapped it up. Since then, robots have seen many avatars, fiction — to the degree that his visual descrip- versions of these pieces. Writing several books about one’s fam- The writer is a Delhi-basedcritic and author
moving from science fiction to reality, from a frightening symbolism about the hor-
rors of automatisation to the promise of a tech-enabled future. Now, though, when the
dystopia is upon us, it turns out that Capek’s robots aren’t what’s bringing civilisation
down.
Capek’s robots — mechanised slaves that displace their masters — found echoes JANUARY 14, 1981, FORTY YEARS AGO
throughout the golden age of science fiction. Humanoid machines were to become
Frankenstein’s monster, and our downfall would come, as in a Greek tragedy, from a ANDHRA RESIGNATIONS ister over reconstituting his cabinet NUCLEAR RESEARCH
combination of arrogance and ignorance. But things changed. In the aftermath of World ALLMEMBERSOFtheAndhraPradeshCouncil CALANDRIA,THEFIRSTfullyindigenouslyde-
War II and the rise of American optimism, technology became the road to Utopia, and of Ministers barring those who are away SHIMLA FIRE signednuclearreactorvesselhasbeenhanded
handed over their resignations to the Chief THEHISTORICRAJBhawaninShimlawasre- overtotheR-5(research)projectattheBhabha
robots too evolved — there were robot dogs out of Japan, C-3PO and R2-D2 in Star Wars,
Minister T Anjaiah to enable him to reconsti- duced to ashes in a devastating blaze which AtomicResearchCentre,Trombay,accordingto
alongside The Terminator. tutetheministry.Thedramaticmovefollows raged over six hours. The Governor anofficialbulletinoftheDepartmentofAtomic
Today, as AI-fuelled algorithms and automatisation threaten democracy and labour a“feeling”expressedbytheCongress(1)High Aminuddin Ahmed Khan, Begum Khan and Energy.TheR-5reactor,athermalresearchre-
rights, there might be some lessons in the 1921 play that first articulated the fear of Command that the one-sided Andhra min- his two brothers who are on a visit from actor, is in an advanced stage of construction.
the machine. Capek was not anti-machine, or even against the robots he created. As istryshouldbeprunedattheearliest.Themin- Pakistan ran out. Half a dozen fire engines
long as they were tools they were welcome. The problem is greed, over-production istry had 61 members. The letters of resigna- fought the flames in sub zero temperatures MESSAGE TO STARS
and the willingness to give up thought and human interaction for the convenience of tionweresubmittedtotheChiefMinisteratan before bringing the fire under control. At SOVIET ASTRONAUTS PLAN to beam radio
informal meeting of the Council of Ministers noon,smokewasstillrisingoutof thesmoul- messagesto21solar-likestarsinsearchforex-
being a digital cyborg. It is not the robots, the hardware, that are the main problem. It
at the state secretariat. CM Anjaiah said that dering wreck of the 95-year building. All the traterrestrial civilisation. The messages to be
is now the willingness to give up objectivity for “likes”, rationality for “shares” and out- theresignationswerevoluntaryand“Ididnot personal belongings of the occupants, in- transmitted in the next two to three months
sourcing our minds to servers full of ones and zeros. Humanity, it turns out, has a bug askforthem”.Anjaiahisplanningtoleavefor cluding the passports of the two brothers willbe“spacelandscapes”withthesunagainst
in its software. Delhitohavediscussionswiththeprimemin- were destroyed. the background of the stars surrounding it.

11
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
THE IDEAS PAGE
A budget for our times
The Union budget should focus on enhancing credit flows to the small and
marginal farmers, increase investment in health and education
Soumya Kanti Ghosh
and Tapas Parida
THEFIRSTADVANCEestimatesofGDPfor2020-
21aremuchbetterthantheearliermarketcon-
sensusandshowstheinherentstrengthsofthe
Indian economy. The economy is expected to
contract by 7.7 per cent implying a COVID-19
induced loss of Rs 9.61 lakh crore in real terms
for the year. Nominal GDP is expected to con-
tract by 4.2 per cent. The figures continue to
haveaconsiderablebandofuncertaintyasdata
challenges remain.
Thedemandside,however,continuestobe
in a soft spot with private consumption falling
by 9.5 per cent and its share in the overall GDP
reducingbyfull100basispoints.Percapitapri-
vate consumption has contracted by 10.4 per
cent,whilecapitalformationhascontractedby
14.5 per cent, with imports and exports also
contracting.Onlygovernmentconsumptionre-
mains in positive territory.
Thedeepcontractioninmanufacturing(9.3
percent),construction(12.6percent)andtrade,
hotels (21.4 per cent) are the main pain spots.
The estimated losses in these three sectors ac-
count for 93.5 per cent of the total loss for the
whole year. With high employment intensity,
the task of rehabilitating displaced business in
these sectors will be a long-drawn battle. The
financial sector has somehow weathered the
storm and the value added by the sector has
registered a nominal growth of 1.4 per cent.
With these mechanics in play, it is impera-
tive that the budget pays careful attention to
how numbers will play out. The budgeted
growth in nominal GDP will be crucial for the
budgetingexercise,andneedstobetheprimary
focus. The fiscal situation will not stabilise in
2020-21 unless consumption improves.
What should be the growth in nominal
GDPfor2021-22?Intermsofspecificnumbers,
the average growth in nominal GDP for the
decadeendingin2013-14was15percent,but
theaverageGDPdeflatorat7.6percentfarout-
paced average real GDP at 6.8 per cent. Now
contrastthiswiththepost2013-14period:For
thesixyearperiodendingin2019-20,average
nominal GDP growth was 10.4 per cent, with
real GDP growth of 6.8 per cent far outpacing
the GDP deflator at 3.6 per cent. We can thus
safely assume a 15 per cent nominal GDP
growth in the 2021-22 budget as it should be
drivenmorebyrealGDPgrowthandnotinfla-
tion—ourperennialbugbearpre2014.Itisthus
extremely important that we ensure that the
current inflation trajectory that is showing
signsof stubbornnessintermsof serviceinfla-
tioniskeptundercontrolthroughpolicyinter-
ventions like rationalisation of fuel taxes that
are currently at record highs.
Comingtothespecificnumbers,if welook
at receipts post the 2008 crisis, they grew by
morethan20percentandweexpectrevenue
receiptstogrowinexcessof 20percentinthe
2021-22 budget too, with non-tax revenue
posting a likely 50 per cent growth. A simple
back-of-the-envelope estimate suggests that
the budgeted fiscal deficit (below which it
Abhishek Singhvi and Jaiveer Shergill
WHILE DEPRECATING THE separation of “a
place from its history”, novelist Alan Moore
rightly said: “A place is much more than the
bricksandmortarthatgointoitsconstruction.
I think it’s more than the accidental topogra-
phyof thegrounditstandson.”Withtheapex
court giving its stamp of approval to the Rs
2,000 crore CentralVista project — it includes
aglitteringnewParliamenttobebuiltatacost
of Rs 971 crore — an analysis of the Narendra
Modi government’s track record on respect-
ing Parliament’s soul and substance is rele-
vant. Has the BJP and the Modi government
imbibed the true spirit of our temple of
democracy or have they treated it as a neces-
saryevil,tobeformallyboweddowntowhile
increasingly marginalising it?
During last year’s budget session,
Parliament was allowed to work despite the
COVID-19outbreakbecausetheMPAssembly
hadtobesummonedfortheformationofaBJP
government against the popular mandate. A
full-fledged monsoon session was convened
whentheviruswasatitspeakinDelhibecause
anti-farmer ordinances had to be ratified.
Almost all states had their Assembly sessions
during the pandemic, exposing the COVID-19
excuse for curtailing Parliament as the fig leaf
itwas.Butwhenfarmers,notallowingthewin-
ter to dampen their resolve, sit on roads de-
mandingrestorationof MSPfortheirproduce,
thewintersessionof Parliamentbecomesdis-
pensable. If Parliament is not allowed to be-
come the appropriate forum for the consider-
ationofdemandsthataffectnearlytwo-thirds
should not be set) could be ideally at 5.5 per
cent in the budget.
Regardingspecificpolicyinterventions,we
are tempted to announce specific recommen-
dationsfortheagriculturesectorthatcouldsee
significantly enhanced credit deliveries to the
small and marginal farmers in the budget.
First, out of the outstanding bank credit of
aboutRs12lakhcroretotheagricultureandal-
lied activities sector, Rs 7 lakh crore is for Kisan
Credit Cards (60 per cent of the total). The KCC
portfolio of banks has come under increasing
stress over the years due to a variety of factors
like crop losses, unremunerated prices, debt
waivers and the rigidity of the KCC product.
Currently, the renewal of KCC loans with pay-
mentof bothprincipalandinterestensuresin-
terestsubvention.Itisproposedthatforrenewal
ofKCCloansofsmallandmarginalfarmersand
for loans of other categories of farmers for
amountsuptoRs3lakh,thepaymentof inter-
est must be a sufficient condition for renewal
aswithotherloans.Theabovemeasurehasthe
potentialtoreducethecreditcostforbankscon-
siderably on KCCs as NPAs can be prevented
more easily and the interest rate on KCC loans
can be further reduced.
Second, there are 11.5 crore farmers who
are PM-KISAN beneficiaries — 6.5 crore farm-
ers have KCC. Thus, the remaining 4-5 crore
couldbelandowningcultivatorsandatleast3-
4 crore of such could be tenants/lessees/land-
less.Currently,suchtenantfarmersarenotfor-
malised into the credit deliveries of scheduled
commercial banks. As of now, it requires state
interventions for tenancy certificates which is
only available in Andhra Pradesh. We propose
the formation of a SHG model under the Deen
DayalAntodoyaYojana.TheformationofSHGs
will formalise tenancy even without formal
documentationoftenancyandthiswillenable
formallendingtotakeplacetothreecroreland-
less farmers. The government could offer a
sweetener for the formation of these types of
SHGs that might require only a very nominal
fiscal outlay. For example, even a Rs 1,000 out-
lay for three lakh SHGs could mean only Rs 30
crore fiscal support.
Third,thegovernmentmustusethisoppor-
tunitytoincreaseinvestmentinhealthanded-
ucation. For health, it could introduce a med-
ical savings account with a defined scheme to
deduct interest from the savings account and
paytowardsaMediclaimpolicy.Fortherecord,
the size of the health insurance is Rs 32,000
Running away from House
ThegovernmentandBJPhaveconsistentlyunderminedParliament
of thecountry’spopulation,itcanhardlyqual-
ify as democracy’s heartbeat, one that was
Nehru’spriority,thesubjectof formerPMAtal
BihariVajpayee’sundyingrespectand,indeed,
PM Modi’s floor-kissing obeisance, when he
first entered its hallowed portal.
Perhaps, BJP’s social and political agendas
take precedence over such democratic pillars.
In 2017, the winter session was delayed be-
causeof theGujaratAssemblyelections.Since
thegovernmentiscurrentlyinvestingallitsen-
ergy in election management in West Bengal,
Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry, it has no
timeforParliament.Politicalprioritiesseemto
have replaced constitutional propriety. The
government is fully aware that people across
thecountryareagitated.Therefore,despitethe
pendency of many important pieces of legis-
lations — the Personal Data Protection Bill,
2019, Dam Safety Bill, 2019, Medical
Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill,
2020, Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019,
Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and
Senior Citizens Bill, 2019 — the winter session
has been guillotined.
The BJP’s undermining of Parliament has
a long legacy in its relatively short life as a rul-
ing party. Its policies and actions have fre-
quently been antithetical to Parliamentary
democracy. In Opposition, its disruption of
parliamentary proceedings and blockage of
legislations was elevated to a fine art — re-
member the vigorous defence of disruption
as a legitimate democratic tool by the late
Arun Jaitley. During the 2013 budget session,
Given the significant
increase in financial savings
of households, it is now
perhaps the right time to
allow banks and
infrastructure financing
companies be allowed to
raise tax free bonds
(preferred tenor 15-20 years),
and/or tax paid bonds to tap
funding from retail
investors, wherein the tax on
the interest income of such
bonds could be paid by the
bond issuer — a 10 per cent
tax deducted at source
under section 193 of
the income tax act.
of the163hoursavailable,146hourswerelost
due to disruptions by the BJP.
Since 2014, there have been more subtle
stratagems to undermine Parliament.
Ordinance,asthepreferredlegislativeroute,is
being misused as a constitutional tool and
Parliamentisincreasinglyceasingtobeaplace
for debates. Important bills are moved and
passed on the same day or rushed through,
thus depriving members of their parliamen-
taryrightstocontributeeffectively.Duringthe
2018-19 budget, 100 per cent of the demands
forgrantswerepassedwithoutdiscussion.The
FarmBills’passagewastheapogeeofallbrazen
violations and subterfuges.
Parliamenthasaneffectivecommitteesys-
tem and new bills introduced in the House are
generallyreferredtodepartment-relatedstand-
ing committees for detailed scrutiny. Having
beenprivilegedtochairsuchacommittee,one
of us (Singhvi) can testify to their sterling non-
partisancontributions.Inviteddomainexperts
alsoscrutinisethebills.Inthe14thand15thLok
Sabhas,60percentand71percentbills,respec-
tively, were referred to such committees,
whereasinthe16thLokSabha,only25percent
billswerereferred.Notasinglebillhasbeenre-
ferred to committees in 2020.
Accountabilityandscrutinyhaveunfortu-
nately been perceived as irritants by the Modi
government. Subversion of the constitutional
spirit was evident when the Aadhaar Bill was
certified as a Money Bill. Having nothing to do
with the imposition, abolition or alteration of
taxesnorwithfinancialobligationsof thegov-
C R Sasikumar
crore and the savings bank interest is Rs 1.15
lakh crore. The government should also con-
siderexemptingallretailandhealthinsurance
products from GST.
Fourth,thegovernmentcantweakthesav-
ingsschemeforseniorcitizensbyofferingthem
taxconcessions,thefiscalimpactofwhichcould
benegligible.Thiswillbefairandequitableina
declining interest rate regime.
Given the significant increase in financial
savings of households, it is now perhaps the
righttimetoallowbanksandinfrastructurefi-
nancingcompaniestoraisetaxfreebonds(pre-
ferredtenor15-20years),and/ortaxpaidbonds
totapfundingfromretailinvestors,whereinthe
taxontheinterestincomeof suchbondscould
be paid by the bond issuer — a 10 per cent tax
deductedatsourceundersection193ofthein-
come tax act. Such a structure while being at-
tractive to retail investors will also ensure that
thegovernmentisnotlosingonitstaxrevenue.
The scale of the humanitarian crisis after
COVID-19issuchthatindividualphilanthropy
must pitch in to supplement the role of gov-
ernment. There must be genuine redistribu-
tion of resources. Hence, can we not think of
echoingtheconceptof JanBhagidaritopublic
goods to propose a scheme called “Adopt-a-
Family”. Under this scheme, which is purely
voluntary, a taxpayer (probably with an an-
nual income of Rs 10 lakh or more) can be in-
centivised through tax deductions to adopt a
BPL family for a year that could potentially
benefit at least 2.8 million people.
Three suggestions on the fiscal situation
(borrowingfrommygoodfriends):First,with-
drawalltaxappeals,second,acceptalldomes-
ticarbitrationdecisionsagainstgovernmentde-
partments/agencies and third, clear all
outstanding dues to all parastatal agencies
withinastipulatedtime.Thiswillbeamilestone
structuraladministrativechangethatcouldbe
eventhoughtofasaone-timebalancesheeten-
try recognising liabilities and paying them off.
Asaconsequence,wecouldjumpmultiplepo-
sitionsontheEaseof DoingBusinessrankings.
And it could also serve as a fiscal lubricant.
Lastly, could we not also use this opportu-
nitytounleashthepowerofpublicsectorbanks
by deciding to reduce the government's stake
in them to 51 per cent, just to begin with?
Ghoshisgroupchiefeconomicadvisorand
Parida iseconomist,StateBankof India.
Views arepersonal
ernment, it was so certified simply to avoid
Rajya Sabha scrutiny. That issue is now pend-
ing before a larger apex court bench, but judi-
cial delays are inevitably used to bypass
Parliament. During the last monsoon session,
theQuestionHourwassuspendedtoavoidleg-
islative scrutiny. If every other business could
betransactedinboththeHouses,therewasno
plausible reason to suspend the Question
Hour— except avoiding processes designed to
hold the government to account.
The Modi government’sdecision to freeze
theentireMPLADfundsschemewaslessabout
economics or welfare and much more about
politics. The impact was disproportionately
larger on Opposition MPs who, being out of
power, will have no say in any development
workinhis/herarea.Despitemarginalaberra-
tions and abuses, the MPLAD scheme, to the
co-author’s (Singhvi) knowledge as a three
termMP,hassurpassedallexpectationsatthe
grassroots.Meanwhile,thereistheunaudited
PMCareFundtotakecareoftherulingdispen-
sation. Hopefully, the new Central Vista will
signify a more meaningful realisation of the
trueethosandpulsatingspiritofParliamentary
democracy and not merely creation of brick,
mortar and concrete structures.
Singhvi is a three-term sitting MP, former
chairman, Parliamentary Standing
Committee and senior national spokesperson,
Congress; Shergill is a Supreme Court lawyer
and national spokesperson, INC.
Views are personal
WHAT THE OTHERS SAY
“But even if legal process were to deliver Mr Trump his just deserts, the crisis of
America’s growing polarisation — of which the president is a symptom as well
as a cause — would remain.”
Getting the
vaccine right
There are various challenges in the massive Covid-
19 vaccination drive, but these are not intractable
Bibek Debroy and
Aditya Sinha
THEFIGHTAGAINSTCOVID-19ispossiblyen-
teringitsfinalstages,withthePrimeMinister
announcing the kick-off of the vaccination
drive from January 16. This announcement
precedes a herculean task ahead, in which
300millionIndianswillbevaccinatedinthe
firstphaseof thedrive.Thefirstphasecaters
primarilytohealthcareandfrontlineworkers,
the elderly, and those with comorbidities.
However, there will be initial hiccups in
carrying out this task. The problems in car-
rying out vaccination on this massive scale
are apparent, but not intractable.
One, states should be prepared for ad-
verseeventsfollowingimmunisation(AEFI).
Although unlikely, in some cases, untoward
medicaloccurrencescanfollowvaccination.
For instance, in the US, several people have
experienced severe allergic reactions — also
known as anaphylaxis — after getting a dif-
ferent COVID-19 vaccine. States should im-
mediately address this issue, otherwise this
willunderminepublicconfidenceinthevac-
cine. Therefore, a team of specialist doctors
should be placed at every vaccination site to
dealwithAEFI.Also,therecanbelegalissues
of culpability arising out of severe adverse
events. These issues yet remain to be ad-
dressed, aggravated by the timeline of trials
having been compressed.
Two, initially, states should also priori-
tise vaccinating people with comorbidities
and elderly residing in clusters affected
most by COVID-19. This can be a more tar-
geted approach in the first phase, especially
when the availability of the vaccine will be
scarce. Will it make sense to vaccinate indi-
viduals in towns and villages where posi-
tivity rate is low? Shouldn’t states focus on
clusters and localities where the case fatal-
ity rate is high or localities with high pop-
ulation densities? A young person in
Mumbai, without comorbidities, might be
a more eligible beneficiary than someone
from the army in Arunachal Pradesh.
Three, those who have been vaccinated
can potentially carry the SARS-CoV-2 virus
andunwittinglyspreadthediseasetoothers,
especially to their family members who are
caregivers. The government might consider
vaccinating caregivers and family members
residing with frontline workers and the eld-
erlywhowillbevaccinated.Thisisalongthe
samelinesasthepointmadeabove.Atatime
ofshortage,theremustbesomemechanism
for allocation beyond frontline workers —
that identification is presently based on age
andcomorbidities,regardlessofplaceof res-
idence.Universalcoverage,inidentifiedgeo-
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
THIS REFERS TO the article, ‘A
shapeshifting justice’, (IE, January
13).The writer has claimed the follow-
ing points: "The court has not really
heard the farmers" and "The media-
tors must be appointed in consulta-
tion with all parties involved".
However, the writer fails to empha-
sise the opportunity missed by the
farmers to get themselves heard in the
judicial proceedings that led up to the
constitution of the committee in
question. The farmers' counsel was
not present on the said day, who, if
they had been present, could have
bargained for a committee with more
acceptable members. Their absence
in the proceedings may deteriorate
the court's benevolence for the pro-
testers further.
Kuldeep Kawar, Yavatmal
COURT'S HYPOCRISY
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, 'Out of
court' (IE, January 13). The critical
analysis of the Supreme Court (SC) or-
der staying three farm laws and also
the composition of the mediation
committee with members who had
already justified the laws have ex-
posed the gross jurisprudential infir-
mities and breach of separation of
powers envisaged in the Constitution
of India. The alacrity to intervene in a
political process has also revealed the
court's double standard with regard
to a delay in hearing constitutional va-
lidity of laws with nationwide ramifi-
cations such as electoral bonds, the
Citizenship Amendment Act. By wad-
ing into core public policy questions
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
— THE GUARDIAN
graphicalareas,mightbeabetterwaytopro-
ceed and allocate a vaccine in short supply.
Four, as things stand, we do not know
whetheravaccinewillhaveuniformefficacy
rates and are not yet aware of the efficacy of
thesevaccinesindifferentpopulationssuchas
immune-immature infants, children, preg-
nantwomen,andimmunocompromisedin-
dividualsandimmunosenescentindividuals
aged greater than or equal to 65 years. Most
likely,thesamevaccinewillhavedifferentef-
ficacy rates in diverse populations. Hence,
based on the relevant data, our vaccination
strategy will also have to change/evolve. As
the efficacy data of phase 3 trials of various
vaccinesarereleased,theyshouldbeincluded
inthepublicvaccinationprogrammeforthose
whocannotaffordthevaccines.Theinclusion
ofmultiplevaccinesfromdifferentmanufac-
turers would enable the government to bet-
ter negotiate prices with the manufacturers.
Five,thereisalsoaneedforinvolvingthe
privatesectorinvaccinedeliveryandadmin-
istration. This would reduce the burden on
publichealthcarefacilities.Doctorsinthepri-
vate healthcare system can be a great asset
in carrying out a vaccine program at such a
largescale.Theirservicescanalsobeusedto
deal with AEFI.
Six,atthesametime,whoevercanafford
thesevaccinesshouldbeallowedtobuyfrom
the open market. For example, Pfizer has
sought permission to import the vaccine for
saleanddistributioninthecountry.Fiscaland
logistical constraints may not allow India to
include Pfizer and Moderna type vaccines in
publicvaccinationprogrammesimmediately.
But the private health infrastructure should
notbeinhibitedfromcreatingitsdistribution.
Thisalsohasabearingonthecostsofvaccina-
tion. There are no grounds for vaccination to
beuniversallyfree,subsidisedbygovernment.
Seven, private sector organisations and
PSUs can be allowed to hold vaccination
drives for their own employees, relieving
someburdenfrompublichealthauthorities.
This is being done in the UAE.
Eight,theUnitedNationshasproclaimed
December 27 as the International Day of
Epidemic Preparedness. India should also
prepare itself for fighting with pandemics
akin to COVID-19. The nationwide vaccina-
tion drive is mostly a decentralised process,
where state governments are preparing the
list of elderly, people with comorbidities,
healthcare and frontline workers. Having a
national health ID could have made the task
of identifying people with comorbidities
mucheasier.Thisisprobablytherighttimeto
push for a national health ID, so that we are
better prepared in the future. Nevertheless,
dataprivacyconcernsofvariousstakeholders
should be addressed. The personal data
should be anonymised before being made
available to government agencies. The pa-
tient’sconsentshould be soughtatevery in-
stance, even when her data is shared with
health departments for public health inter-
ventions such as vaccination.
Debroy and Sinha are, respectively,
chairman and assistant consultant at the
Economic Advisory Council to the
Prime Minister
IDEAS
ONLINE
ONLY IN THE EXPRESS
● STEPSTO POLLUTION-
PROOF DOORSTEP
DELIVERY:TRUPTI
DESHPANDEANDANANTHA
LAKSHMIPALADUGULA
● BUILDINGA $5-TRILLION
ECONOMY:KETANREDDY
ANDSUBASHS
www.indianexpress.com
and political controversies, courts
seem to compete with democracy
with a “juristocracy”. The farmer
unions have already rejected SC over-
tures, making its' position rather awk-
ward and leading to a loss of its moral
authority.
L R Murmu, Delhi
THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Out of
court’ (IE, January 13). When the
Supreme Court stays implementation
of an Act, it is confirming “the three
farm laws are bad”. Its job is to pro-
nounce judgment, not mediate.
Inviting agitating farmers to further
talks is testing farmers’ tolerance to
negotiate from tractors and tents un-
der the wintry nights with ministers
and bureaucrats — literally sleeping
over the issue — from AC comfort.
Varin Dhir, Ahmedabad

12 EXPRESS NETWORK
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
‘MAY CAUSE
INSTABILITY’ WITHIN
FORCES
MoD wants
exemption on
SC order
decriminalising
adultery
ANANTHAKRISHNANG
NEWDELHI,JANUARY13
THE DEFENCE Ministry has
sought a clarification on the
SupremeCourt'sSeptember2018
judgment decriminalising adul-
tery, saying "promiscuous" or
"adulterous"actsbyarmedforces
personnel amount to an action-
able offence in the Forces and
should be allowed to
remain so.
A Bench headed by Justice R F
Nariman issued a notice on the
plea saying that since it relates to
a judgment by a five-judge
Constitution bench, it may be
placed before the Chief Justice of
India to be referred to a Bench of
similar strength.
The application by the
Department of Military Affairs,
representing the Army, Navy
and Air Force, raises the “pecu-
liar conditions” in which its per-
sonnel work, away from fami-
lies for long, and adds, “... in view
of the... judgment, there will al-
ways be a concern in the minds
of the Army personnel... about
the family indulging in unto-
ward activity”, and that this
"may cause instability within
the Applicants Services".
In September 2018, a
Constitution Bench of the
SupremeCourtheadedbythenCJI
DipakMisrahadheldSection497
of the IPC which made adultery a
punishable offence only for men
as arbitrary, saying it treated the
wife as chattel and deprived
women of sexual autonomy and
dignity. Adultery, the court said,
will however continue to be a
groundforanycivilwrong,includ-
ing a ground for divorce.
The Ministry's plea says that
“discipline is the bedrock of the
work culture in Defence Services
and an essential ingredient for
combat operations. Accordingly,
the framers of the Constitution
had authorised Parliament to re-
strict or abrogate certain funda-
mental rights in their application
to Armed Forces”. The plea goes
on to refer to Section 45 of the
Army and Air Force Acts and
Section 54 (2) of the Navy Act
which define “unbecoming con-
duct”,andSection63oftheArmy
Act,Section65oftheAirForceAct
and Section 74 of the Navy Act,
which deal with offences against
“good order and... discipline”.
Theseprovisions“coverawide
variety of conduct", the Ministry
says, adding that following the
SupremeCourtorder,itmightfind
it hard to proceed against "cases
of adultery", "even if there is a
charge against the accused in ei-
theroftheSectionsforunbecom-
ing conduct or violation of good
order and military discipline".
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
Mehul Choksi
Choksipleatopre-
screenNetflixseries
isacademic:HC
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court
saidonWednesdaythatwiththe
release of Netflix docuseries Bad
BoyBillionaires,thepleabyMehul
Choksi, an accused in the Rs
13,500-crore PNB fraud case, for
itspre-screeningremained“anac-
ademic exercise” as everything
was“practicallyover”.Abenchof
Chief JusticeD NPatel and Justice
Jyoti Singh further observed that
therewasnourgencyinthemat-
ter, the view firmly supported by
Netflix. Senior advocate Neeraj
KishanKaul,appearingforNetflix,
saidtherewasonlyatwo-minute
reference to Choksi, as the uncle
of Nirav Modi, in the entire series
andnocaseofviolationofthefun-
damental right to a fair trial was
made out. Advocate Vijay
Aggarwal, appearing for Choksi,
howeveropposedthecontentions
of Netflix. The court, thereafter,
listed the matter for hearing on
February 12. PTI
Covaxin delivery starts, ‘full
initial procurement allotted’
PRABHA RAGHAVAN &
PRANAV MUKUL
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13
THE first batch of Covaxin vac-
cine against Covid-19 was dis-
patched from Hyderabad by
manufacturer Bharat Biotech
Wednesday, flown to 11 cities
across the country. Along with
the Serum Institute of India's
Covishield, which was shipped
outTuesday,Covaxinwillbepart
of the government's mass vacci-
nation programme against
Covid-19 starting Friday.
The first batch of Covaxin
vials, each containing 20 doses,
was sent by air "in the early
hours of Wednesday" to
Gannavaram (Andhra Pradesh),
Guwahati, Patna, Delhi,
Kurukshetra (Haryana),
Bengaluru, Pune, Bhubaneswar,
Jaipur, Chennai and Lucknow.
There was no official word on
the total doses of Covaxin dis-
patched and received, though
sources told The Indian Express
the number was around 2.4 lakh
doses.TheSII,whichcontinuedto
ship out Covishield on
Wednesday, was said to have ful-
filled“over95percent”ofitstotal
orderasonWednesdaymorning.
The government had an-
nounced a purchase agreement
for 55 lakh doses of Covaxin and
110 lakh doses of Covishield.
The government has so far
not made public the break-up of
the two vaccines to be sent to
each state. However, the
Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare tweeted Wednesday
evening that the full initial pro-
curement of 1.65 crore doses of
Jalaun BJP leader held
for sexually assaulting
minor boys, say cops
MANISH SAHU
LUCKNOW, JANUARY 13
POLICE ON Wednesday arrested
a BJP leader for allegedly
sodomising two minor boys for
the last several months in Jalaun
district. BJP district-level office-
bearer Ram Bihari, 63, was pro-
duced before a local court in
Jalaun and was sent to judicial
custody.Followinghisarrest,the
BJP has expelled Bihari. Before
joining BJP, Bihari used to work
as a revenue officer and had re-
tired in 2017.
The accused was arrested af-
ter the police had found that the
accused used to record the sex-
ual assaults through CCTV cam-
eras installed in his room. A case
hasbeenfiledinthisconnection.
Policesaidthevictimshadal-
leged that Bihari also used to
sexually assault five other chil-
dren of the area and recorded
their videos. Police have seized
Bihari's laptop, hard disk and
also DVD player.
Theparentsof thevictimsare
daily labourers.
First rice, now wheat: India rides
on global grain trade bandwagon
HARISH DAMODARAN
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13
AFTER RICE, India is set to turn a
major exporter of wheat as well
–thankstosurginginternational
prices from Chinese stockpiling
and ultra-low interest rate
money increasingly finding its
way into agri-commodity mar-
kets.
The US Department of
Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday
upped its forecast of Indian
wheatexportsfor2020-21(July-
June) to 1.8 million tonnes (mt),
as against its earlier estimate of
one mt. That would be the high-
est ever in the last six years (see
chart).
The trebling of shipments
this year is mainly on the back of
rising global prices. Wheat fu-
turecontractsforMarchdelivery
attheChicagoBoardof Tradeex-
change are currently at $244.35
per tonne, 18.3% higher than the
$206.59 a year ago. This opens
Health workers carry boxes containing Covid-19 vaccines at
a hospital cold storage facility in Srinagar. Shuaib Masoodi
Covishield and Covaxin "have
been allocated to all States/UTs
inproportionof (the)healthcare
workers database."
The first consignment of
Covaxin from Bharat Biotech's
Hyderabad headquarters left for
Delhi on an Air-India flight, in
three boxes, followed by four
boxes weighing 90.5 kg flown by
Vistara to the national capital.
Delhi International Airport Ltd
said the boxes on the Air-India
flight were for Kurukshetra, and
Vistara's for Delhi. IndiGo trans-
ported “sample shipments” to
Pune, Vijayawada, Guwahati,
Patna and Bhubaneswar, while
SpiceJet’sfreighterflightdeparted
for Bengaluru with three boxes
weighing90kg.Threemoreboxes
willarriveinDelhionThursdayfor
further transit to Lucknow.
Covishield was transported
from Pune and Mumbai
Wednesday, including a GoAir
flight carrying 6.96 lakh doses
from Mumbai to Goa, Lucknow,
Kochi and Chandigarh. IndiGo
transported3,000kgofCovishield
BJP'sJalaun districtpresident
Ramendra Singh said they have
decided to conduct an inquiry
against the senior office bearer,
On the basis of a complaint filed
by one of the two victims, Jalaun
police lodged an FIR against
BihariunderIPCsection377(un-
natural offences). Police also in-
voked Protection of Children
from Sexual Offences (POCSO)
andInformationTechnologyAct,
saidalocalStationHouseOfficer,
Imran Khan.
Jalaun SP Yesh Veer Singh,
said over a week ago Bihari had
lodged an FIR stating that his
Digital Video Recorder of his
CCTV cameras was stolen. The
police caught two persons with
the DVR and when they checked
the DVR, they found recordings
of the sexual assaults.
The two persons, who had
stolentheDVRarerelativesofthe
victims, said police. “The two
youthstoldusthattheyweresus-
pectingthatBihariusedtorecord
the act, so they had stolen the
DVR to gather evidence against
him,” said SHO Khan. The police
then contacted the victims.
up possibilities for Indian ex-
ports to nearby markets, espe-
cially Bangladesh that buys
mostly from Russia.
With the Russia government
levyinga25euros-per-tonneex-
port tax on wheat effective from
February15–inresponsetohigh
domesticprices–Bangladesh“is
beginning to shift its purchases
towards India”, the USDA has
noted in its latest world grain
trade report. Bangladesh’s total
wheat imports are placed at 6.6
mt in 2020-21.
Traders, however, believe
that Indian wheat is still not
competitiveatthegovernment’s
minimum support price (MSP)
of Rs 19,750 per tonne. The ex-
port price of wheat bought in
Gujaratatthatrate–afteradding
roughly Rs 1,200 towards cost of
cleaning, bagging, loading and
transport to Kandla or Mundra
port – would be Rs 20,950 per
tonne. That works out to $286
per tonne or $290-plus, after
adding exporter margins.
boxes from Mumbai to Raipur,
Bhopal, Thiruvananthapuram,
Indore, Imphal, Agartala and
Udaipur; and SpiceJet two boxes
to Bagdogra, 10 to Dehradun,
seven to Srinagar, six each to
Jammu and Kanpur, nine to
Gorakhpur, 13 to Jabalpur, 14 to
Ranchi and seven to Rajkot.
From Pune, SpiceJet carried
34 boxes of Covishield to Delhi,
while Vistara flew 16 boxes
weighing 512 kg of the vaccine
fromMumbaitoVaranasi.Of the
boxes sent to Delhi, 12 were for
Bareilly, 12 for Meerut and nine
for Agra..
As per the purchase agree-
ment, the government will pro-
cure55 lakh doses of Covaxin, of
them 16.5 lakh for free. The re-
maining 38.5 lakh doses will be
priced at Rs 295 a dose, exclud-
ing taxes. In case of Covishield,
alsoatwo-dosevaccine,thegov-
ernment has signed a deal for
110 lakh doses at Rs 200 a dose,
excluding taxes.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
CATCHING THE FESTIVE SPIRIT
Residents of Assam’s Panbari village in Kamrup district take part in community fishing on the eve of Bhogali Bihu, Wednesday.
In Bihar’s Madhubani, three held for raping
disabled girl, trying to blind her: police
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
PATNA, JANUARY 13
THREEPEOPLEhavebeenarrested
forallegedlyassaultingandraping
a 16-year-old hearing and speech
impaired girl in Madhubani dis-
trict.Twooftheaccusedallegedly
damaged her eyeswitha pointed
The above price is higher
than the $275-280 that major
exporters such as Australia,
France, US, Russia and Canada
are quoting for March-April
shipments. Indian grain, more-
over, fetches a $10-15/tonne dis-
count relative to Australian pre-
mium white and Russian wheat
having more protein content
(12.5% versus11.5%)andlessfor-
eign matter/impurities.
“In all, given our MSP, we are
$25 or so per tonne costlier to-
day,” said Amit Takkar, manag-
ing director, Conifer
Commodities Pvt. Ltd.
That disadvantage can, of
course, be overcome if wheat is
sourced at below MSP from
UttarPradesh,Bihar,Gujaratand
Maharashtra, where not much
government procurement hap-
pens. The new crop arriving in
these markets from March on-
wards would be available at Rs
17,000-18,000/tonne. This
wheat can be exported by rail
rakes to Bangladesh or shipped
NIV scientists
did something
phenomenal:
Former top
ICMR official
ANURADHA
MASCARENHAS
PUNE, JANUARY 13
WITH THE rollout of the coun-
try's first indigenous vaccine,
Covaxin, scientists at the Indian
Council of Medical Research
headquarters and Pune-based
National Institute of Virology
said that despite the hardships,
the experience has made for a
“once-in-a-lifetime moment”.
Dr RR Gangakhedkar, who
led the effort as the then chief of
the ICMR’S epidemiology divi-
sion, told The Indian Express that
the vaccine rollout has been the
result of translational research
performed by ICMR scientists.
“Given that it is a pandemic, our
scientists responded to the na-
tional need and really did some-
thing phenomenal,” said Dr
Gangakhedkar.
When asked whether the
vaccine would be effective
against mutated strains, he said
that there is currently no robust
data on the vaccine’s efficacy
against the variants. “However,
if Pfizer claims that their vaccine
continues to work against these
new variants, there is no reason
that ours won't,” he said.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
wooden stick, causing serious in-
juriesinoneeye,policesaid.
The incident took place on
TuesdayafternoonwhentheClass
10student,thedaughterofadaily
wager, went to the riverside near
her village to fetch leaves for her
goats, police said. One of the ac-
cused,fromthesamevillageasthe
girl,allegedlyassaultedandraped
to the Middle East (UAE, Oman
and Bahrain) and Southeast Asia
(Indonesia, Vietnam and
Malaysia).
The USDA report, mean-
while, has also estimated India’s
rice imports to have hit a record
14.4 mt in 2020,upfrom9.79mt
and 11.791 mt of the preceding
two years. The country’s closest
competitors – Thailand and
Vietnam – have seen their ex-
ports during this periodfallfrom
11.056 mt to7.562 mt and 5.5 mt
and from 6.59 mt to 6.581 mt
and 6.1 mt, respectively. Both
have had drought-reduced
crops, with Vietnam recently
even contracting 70,000 tonnes
of Indian rice for the first time,
following China in December.
USDA has projected India’s
rice imports in 2021 at 14 mt.
Bangladesh,whichimportedjust
80,000 tonnes in 2020, is ex-
pectedtobuyonemtthisyear.The
beneficiaryofitwillagainbeIndia.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Centre to decide share of
Serum, Biotech to states
KAUNAIN SHERIFF M
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 13 TRACKING INDIA’S COVID CURVE
THE CENTRE will communicate
317 CASES: ACTIVE CASES: 2,14,507
to the states the proportion in
which it will provide the Serum
1,04,95,147
DAYS SINCE
PANDEMIC
DEATHS: 1,51,529
Instituteof India’sCovishieldand
Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin vac-
BEGAN TESTS: 18,34,89,114 | RECOVERIES: 1,01,29,111
cines to them for their priority JAN12
CASES
15,968
DEATHS
202
RECOVERIES
17,817
TESTS
8,36,227
groups, but the final decision on
howtodistributethesameatthe
district level will be made by the
states.
Topgovernmentsourcestold
The Indian Express that four
video-conference sessions have
takenplacewiththestatesinthe
last four days to discuss the dis- STATESWITHRISINGACTIVECASES
tribution of the two vaccines -- ACTIVECASES RISEINLASTWEEK
one of the key questions posed Maharashtra 51,982 2,915
bythestatesastherolloutbegins.
Kerala 64,712 766
“Thejobof theUniongovern-
ment is to provide the vaccine Manipur 481 39
doses, which are 1.1 crore doses STATESWHEREACTIVECASESAREDECLINING
of the Serum Institute and 55 ACTIVECASES DECLINEINLASTWEEK
lakhdosesof BharatBiotechasof West Bengal 7,392 1,901
now,” a source said, underlining
Uttar Pradesh 10,560 1,726
that the states will decide which
district gets what vaccine. “We Rajasthan 6,200 1,630
have also told the states that STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMCASES
whatever is the proportion... ONJAN12 TOTAL
that would be the proportion in Kerala 5,507 819,766
the booths which will adminis-
Maharashtra 2,936 19,74,488
ter the vaccine. Because there
cannot be mixing of doses,” Karnataka 751 9,28,806
sources said. STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMDEATHS
So once a state government ONJAN12 TOTAL
decides that a specific session Kerala 25 3,395
site will administer, say, Bharat
Biotech, then that site will re- West Bengal 18 9,975
main a Bharat Biotech session Delhi 16 10,707
site. “That cannot change. DataasonJanuary12,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,IndianCouncilofMedical
Because whoever is inoculated Researchandstategovernments.Often,thenumbersreleasedeverydaycontaindatafrompreviousdays
aswell.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareonlyindicativeandnotdefinitive
at that site on January 16, which
is Day 0, will come there again
on Day 28 to get a second dose." cines in a certain proportion to Centre will convey to the states
said. Punjab. If Punjab is operating what is the proportion that will
An official added, "Suppose 100 session sites a particular apply.”
the Centre has given the day, that X and Y proportion will FULLREPORTON
Covishield and Covaxin vac- apply to those 100 sites. The www.indianexpress.com
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
‘To ensure
safety, new
PTI
system will
register MP
youth stepping
out for work’
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
BHOPAL, JANUARY 13
her,accordingtothevictim’scom- shewasraped. THE MADHYA Pradesh govern-
plaint.The accused was joined by The local PHC in-charge said, ment Wednesday said it was
his two friends, who also tried to “The girl has suffered serious in- working on setting up a system
allegedlyrapethegirl,whofought jury in one eye. Her second eye is for the safety and security of
back,policesaid. also affected. She needs to get men and women going outside
AccordingtotheFIRfiledatthe treatedbyaneyespecialist.” the state for livelihood pur-
local police station, the girl’s The girl was brought to a hos- poses.
brotherallegedthathissisterwas pitalinPatnafromamedicalinsti- The system would be put in
attacked by two of the accused tute in Darbhanga for treatment place by the home department
withapointedwoodenstickafter onTuesdaynight. in consultation with other de-
partments, it said.
“The state will have all in-
formation about the medium
through which our sons and
daughters go outside, and the
nature of work for which they
are being taken. The youth, in
turn, will also have informa-
tion on whom they can get in
touch with first if they are in
distress,” said a statement by
the Chief Minister’s Office.
Under the new system, the
USDA has upped forecast for 2020-21 to 1.8 mt. File state government would start
a registration facility. “In case
if someone is insecure or is
100 missing, the administration
86.51
INDIA’S WHEAT EXPORTS will be able to take immediate
action and ensure safety,” the
80
( IN LAKH TONNES) CMO said.
The Indian Express had re-
ported Tuesday that under the
proposed system any woman
moving out of her house for
60 5.95 work will register herself at the
53.54 local police station, and she
will be tracked for her safety.
40 The state government clar-
4.3 ified Wednesday that the in-
4.94 tention of the proposed system
9.02
was not to track or put restric-
20 18 tions on those leaving the state
18.17 5.17 for work. “The one and only ob-
jective is to ensure security of
our youth and the system will
0 be for the benefit of both men
2012-13 2020-21* and women,” it said.
FULLREPORTON
www.indianexpress.com

13 THE WORLD
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
TOPOFTHE
WORLD
Lisa Montgomery
USA
Federalgovt
executesfirst
womaninnearly
sevendecades
THE US government exe-
cuted convicted murderer
LisaMontgomery,theonly
woman on federal death
row, on Wednesday, after
theSupremeCourtcleared
thelasthurdlebyoverturn-
ing a stay. Montgomery,
who was administered a
lethal injection, was the
first female prisoner to be
executedinbytheUSgov-
ernment since 1953.
Challenges were fought
across multiple federal
courtsonwhethertoallow
the execution of
Montgomery, 52. She was
convicted in 2007 of kid-
napping and strangling
Bobbie Jo Stinnett, then
eight months pregnant.
MontgomerycutStinnett’s
fetus from the womb. The
childsurvived. REUTERS
SRI LANKA
Courtacquits
lawmakerin
Tamilleader
murdercase
A FORMER LTTE child sol-
dier-turned-politicianwas
acquitted by a court in Sri
Lanka on Wednesday in
the 2005 murder case of a
senior ethnic Tamil law-
maker at the height of the
country’sbloodycivilwar.
Sivanesathurai Chandra-
kanthan, 45, was accused
of killing Tamil National
Alliance (TNA) lawmaker
Joseph Pararajasingham.
Batticaloa High Court
Judge S Susaidasan or-
dered the dismissal of the
case filed against
Chandrakanthan alias
Pillayan who had earlier
beenreleasedonbail,me-
dia reported. PTI
UGANDA
Socialmedia
bannedahead
ofelection
UGANDA BANNED social
media and beefed up se-
curity in the capital on
Tuesday, two days ahead
of a presidential election
pitting Yoweri Museveni,
one of Africa’s longest-
serving leaders, against
opposition frontrunner
Bobi Wine, a popular
singer. Campaigning
ahead of the vote has
been marred by brutal
crackdowns on opposi-
tion rallies that have left
scores dead and the re-
peated intimidation and
arrestof someopposition
candidatesandcampaign
staff. REUTERS
NORTH KOREA’S RULING WORKERS’ PARTY CONGRESS ENDS
Demoted? Pushed aside? Fate of Kim Jong Un’s sister unclear
HYUNG-JIN KIM
SEOUL, JANUARY 13
WHAT HAS happened to Kim Yo
Jong, the North Korean leader’s
influential sister?
That is a question many who
watch the cloistered, nuclear-
armedcountryarewonderingaf-
tershefailedtoappearinabsolute
leader Kim Jong Un’s newly re-
leased lineup for the country’s
powerfulPolitburoinrecentdays.
Some say Kim Jong Un may
have demoted his sister over
general policy failures. Others,
however, believe he could be
worried about her rapid rise and
increasingly high profile as he
TOP REPUBLICAN LEADERS IN CONGRESS DRIFT FURTHER AWAY FROM PRESIDENT
Trump on verge of second impeachment
House votes to formally call on V-P to
remove President, Pence rejects idea
NICHOLAS FANDOS
& CHRIS CAMERON
JANUARY 13
THEUSHouseofRepresentatives
set itself on a course to impeach
President Donald Trump on
Wednesday for a historic second
time, planning to vote to charge
himjustoneweekafterheincited
a mob of loyalists to storm the
CapitolandstopCongressfromaf-
firmingPresident-electJoeBiden’s
victoryintheNovemberelection.
Returning to a heavily forti-
fied Capitol, protected by thou-
sands of National Guard troops,
lawmakers began what was ex-
pectedtobea daylongdebateon
an article of impeachment that
accuses the President of “incit-
ing an insurrection” that led to
the rampage by his supporters.
The final vote after the debate
is expected to pass, with a small
but significant number of
RepublicansjoiningDemocratsto
impeach Trump, making him the
first President to be impeached
twice.Thechamberhaddispensed
withtwoearlier,proceduralvotes
just after noon and planned two
additionalhoursof debate.
TheHousehadvotedTuesday
night to formally call on Vice
President Mike Pence to use the
25th Amendment to strip Trump
of his powers. Wednesday’s im-
peachmentproceedingscomeaf-
ter Pence told Speaker Nancy
Pelosithathewouldnotinvokethe
25thAmendment.
Afteryearsofstandingmono-
lithically beside Trump,
Republicanswerefracturingover
the vote. Senator Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky, the
Republican leader, has embraced
the effort as a means to purge
Trump from the party, according
to people who have spoken to
him, and at least five House
Republicans, including the No. 3
Ireland says sorry
for ‘profound
failure’ at Mother
and Baby homes
REUTERS
DUBLIN, JANUARY 13
IRISH PRIME Minister Micheál
Martin formally apologised on
Wednesday for the state’s “pro-
found failure” in its treatment of
unmarried mothers and their
babies in a network of Catholic
Church-run homes from the
1920s to the 1990s.
Agovernment-commissioned
report published on Tuesday
found an “appalling” mortality
rate of around 15% among chil-
drenbornatthehomes,reflecting
brutal living conditions. Around
9,000 children died in all.
“On behalf of the govern-
ment, the state and its citizens, I
apologise for the profound gen-
erational wrong visited upon
Irish mothers and their children
who ended up in a Mother and
Baby Home or a County Home,”
Martin told Parliament.
“I apologise for the shame
and stigma which they were
subjected to and which, for
some, remains a burden to this
day,” Martin said.
tries to bolster his domestic au-
thority in the face of growing
economic challenges.
Rumours that Kim Yo Jong is
herbrother’sheirapparentcould
be dangerous because they
“raise the issue of Kim’s hold on
power and health inside North
Korea,” said Oh Gyeong-seob, an
analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute
for National Unification. This, he
said, is why Kim Jong Un is slow-
ing down her rise in power.
The development is a sur-
prise because Kim Yo Jong, who
became an alternate member of
the Politburo last year, was
widely expected to receive a full
bureau membership during a
ruling Workers’ Party congress
Lawmakers accuse Trump
of “inciting an insurrection”
LAWMAKERS SPAR
OVER IMPEACHMENT
Foryearswehavebeen
askedtoturnablindeye
tothecriminality,
corruptionandblatant
disregardtotheruleof
lawbythetyrant
presidentwehavein
theWhiteHouse.Weas
anationcannolonger
lookaway.”
— ILHAN OMAR
DEMOCRAT FROM MINNESOTA
Athisrally,President
Trumpurgedattendees
to,‘peacefullyand
patrioticallymakeyour
voicesheard.’There
wasnomentionof
violence,letalonecalls
toaction.”
— GUY RESCHENTHALER
REPUBLICAN FROM
PENNSYLVANIA
House Republican Liz Cheney,
planned to vote to impeach.
RepresentativeKevinMcCarthyof
California, the top Republican in
the House, said he would not
lobbymembersofthepartytoop-
posetheimpeachmenteffort. NYT
Pak court sentences
Hafiz Saeed’s 2 aides
to over 15 yrs in jail
M ZULQERNAIN
LAHORE, JANUARY 13
AN ANTI-TERRORISM court in
Pakistan has handed down jail
termsof morethan15yearseach
to two close aides of Mumbai
terror attack mastermind and
Jamat-ud Dawah (JuD) chief
Hafiz Saeed, including the out-
fit’s media face Yahya Mujahid,
in a terror financing case.
The anti-terrorism court in
Lahore on Tuesday also sen-
tenced Saeed’s brother-in-law
Abdul Rehman Makki to six
months in jail.
“JudgeArshadHussainBhutta
awarded15-and-half-yearimpris-
onment each to Yahya Mujahid
and Zafar Iqbal, and six-month
termtoProfAbdulRehmanMakki
inacaseregisteredbytheCounter
Terrorism Department of Punjab
Police,” a court official told PTI on
Wednesday.
Earlier, the court had handed
down a 47-year jail term to
Mujahid in three terror financ-
ing cases.
Kim Yo Jong
that ended Tuesday. A Politburo
membershipisviewedascrucial
for high-level officials hoping to
thrive in Kim Jong Un’s govern-
SpeakerNancyPelosiwalksthrougha newmetal detectoroutsidetheHousechamber,which
wasinstalledafteramobof Trumpsupportersstormedthebuildinglastweek. Reuters
FBI says it warned of prospect
of violence ahead of Capitol riot
MICHAEL BALSAMO
& ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON, JANUARY 13
THEFBIwarnedlawenforcement
agencies ahead of last week’s
breachoftheUSCapitolaboutthe
potentialforextremist-drivenvi-
olence, US officials said, contra-
dicting earlier statements that
theywerecaughtoffguardbythe
assault by supporters of US
President Donald Trump.
Nearly a week after the riot,
officials said they were combing
through mountains of evidence
and vowed to aggressively seek
out those who perpetrated the
brazen attack on the US Capitol.
Though most of the charges
brought so far have been misde-
meanors, acting US Attorney
Michael Sherwin said Tuesday
theJusticeDepartmentwascon-
sidering bringing sedition
charges against some of the riot-
The anti-terrorism
court also sentenced
Saeed’s brother-in-law
Abdul Rehman Makki
to six months in jail
Similarly, Iqbal was sen-
tenced 26 years imprisonment
in three such cases.
Both Mujahid and Iqbal will
be kept in jail for about 15 years
as their sentences will run con-
currently.
The official said the three
convicts were present in the
court when the judge an-
nounced the verdict. Strict secu-
ritymeasuresweretakenduring
the appearance of the JuD lead-
ers in the court.
Last week, Mumbai attack
mastermindandLashkar-e-Taiba
operation commander Zakiur
RehmanLakhviwassentencedto
5 years in jail in a terror financing
case, amidst mounting interna-
tional pressure on Islamabad to
act against terrorists. PTI
ment because he’s made keyde-
cisions at bureau meetings, in-
cluding the 2013 move to exe-
cute his powerful uncle Jang
E
E X P L A I NE D
Raisingmore
● questions
SOONAFTERtheJan6storm-
ingof theCapitol,variousse-
curityagenciesdeniedhaving
anyinformationaboutpoten-
tialviolence.However,inthe
pastfewdays,multipleoffi-
cialshavesuggestedthatsuch
intelligencedidexist,raising
questionsaboutwhyaction
wasnottakentopreventthe
attackonthebuildingthat
housestheUSCongress.
Angrylawmakersarelikelyto
takeupthisissuesoonafter
theimpeachmentandinau-
guration,if notevensooner.
ers, effectively accusing them of
attempting to overthrow or de-
feat the government.
Alexei Navalny
Navalny to fly to
Russia on Sunday
despite risks
Moscow: Kremlin critic Alexei
Navalny said on Wednesday he
would fly back to Russia on
January 17 from Germany where
hehasbeenrecoveringafterbeing
poisoned, shrugging off potential
legalrisksthatcouldseehimjailed.
Navalny, one of President
Vladimir Putin’s leading critics,
was airlifted to Germany for
treatment in August after col-
lapsing on a plane in what
GermanyandotherWesternna-
tionssaywasanattempttomur-
der him with a Novichok nerve
agent. Russian authorities deny
any involvement in the incident.
“It was never a question of
whether to return or not. Simply
becauseIneverleft.Iendedupin
Germany after arriving in an in-
tensive care box for one reason:
they tried to kill me,” Navalny
wrote on Instagram. REUTERS
SongTaek,andthe2012purgeof
military chief Ri Yong Ho.
When the eight-day con-
gress, the first of its kind since
2016, opened last week, Kim Yo
Jong, who is thought to be about
32, sat on the leadership
podium, standing out amid the
often elderly, overwhelmingly
male party cadres. But when the
congressonMondayannounced
a list of 30 alternate and full
members of the Politburo, in-
cludingthe37-year-oldKimJong
Un, her name wasn’t there.
Kim Yo Jong hasn’t been
purgedorforcedtoquitpolitics,a
fate that some officials have met
under Kim Jong Un, and she still
retains her membership in the
Intheimmediateaftermathof
the riot, some law enforcement
officials,includingtheCapitolpo-
licechief,saidtheywereunaware
of serious concerns leading up to
Jan.6andhadpreparedonlyfora
free-speech protest.
But on Tuesday, The
Washington Post reported on the
existenceofaJan5reportfromthe
FBI’s field office in Norfolk,
Virginia,thatforecast,indetail,the
chances that extremists could
commit“war”inWashingtonthe
followingday.StevenD’Antuono,
the assistant director in charge of
the FBI’s Washington field office,
saidthatoncehereceivedtheJan
5 warning, the information was
quicklysharedwithotherlawen-
forcement agencies through the
joint terrorism task force.
In a statement Tuesday night,
the FBI said the report’s author
hadwarnedthatthe“FBImightbe
encroachingonfreespeechrights”
in pursuing further action. AP
Disappointing Chinese vaccine
results a setback for many nations
Brazil says CoronaVac has an efficacy rate just over 50%
SUI-LEE WEE &
ERNESTO LONDOÑO
JANUARY 13
SCIENTISTSINBrazilhavedown-
graded the efficacy of a Chinese
coronavirus vaccine that they
hailed as a major triumph last
week, diminishing hopes for a
shot that could be quickly pro-
duced and easily distributed to
help the developing world.
Officials at the Butantan
InstituteinSãoPaulosaidTuesday
that a trial conducted in Brazil
showed the CoronaVac vaccine,
manufactured by the Beijing-
basedcompanySinovac,hadanef-
ficacy rate just over 50 per cent.
Thatrate,slightlyabovethebench-
mark the WHO has said would
make a vaccine effective for gen-
eral use, was far below the 78 per
centlevelannouncedlastweek.
The implications could be
significant for a vaccine that is
crucial to China’s global health
diplomacy. At least 10 countries
have ordered more than 380
million doses of the Sinovac in-
oculation, CoronaVac.
party’s Central Committee, also a
high-levelbody.Butwhenshere-
leased a statement criticising
SouthKoreaonWednesday,state
mediaidentifiedherasa“vicede-
partment director” of the party, a
lowerrankthanherprevioustitle
of“firstvicedepartmentdirector”.
Kim Jong Un is urging his 25
million people to rally behind his
leadership to overcome what he
has called his nation’s “worst-
ever”difficulties.NorthKoreahas
faced coronavirus-related eco-
nomic shocks, a spate of natural
disasterslastsummerandpersist-
ent sanctions over its pursuit of
nuclearweapons.Duringthecon-
gress, Kim vowed to expand his
nuclear arsenal. AP
TOP MILITARY LEADERS
CONDEMN CAPITOL RIOT
Washington: The US military’s
JointChiefsofStaff,theuniformed
leaders of the military branches,
onTuesdayputoutararemessage
toservicememberssayingthevi-
olent riots last week were an as-
sault on America’s constitutional
process and against the law. “The
rights of freedom of speech and
assembly do not give anyone the
righttoresorttoviolence,sedition
and insurrection,” the the seven
generals and one admiral said in
aninternalmemototroops.They
affirmedthatJoeBidenwillbein-
augurated on Jan 20. REUTERS
YOUTUBE SUSPENDS
PRESIDENT’S CHANNEL
Oakland:YouTubesaidonTuesday
that it had suspended President
Trump’s channel over concern
about “ongoing potential for vio-
lence,”inthelatestmovebyoneof
the large tech companies to limit
thePresidentonline.Inatweeton
YouTube’s official account, the
Google-owned video site said it
had suspended Trump’s account
after one of his recent videos vio-
lated its policy banning content
that spreads misinformation
aboutelectionfraud. NYT
LUXEMBOURG, EU SNUB
POMPEO: DIPLOMATS
Brussels:USSecretaryofStateMike
PompeocancelledhisEuropetrip
at the last minute on Tuesday af-
terLuxembourg’sforeignminister
and top European Union officials
declinedtomeetwithhim,diplo-
matsfamiliarwiththemattersaid.
The snub of the top US diplomat
came days after Trump support-
ers stormed the US Capitol.
Pompeo,acloseallyofTrump,had
sought to meet a Luxembourg
minister before meeting EU lead-
ers and the bloc’s top diplomat in
Brussels,officialssaid. REUTERS
BANGLADESHFIRMTOBUYFROMSERUMINSTITUTE
BANGLADESH’S BEXIMCO
Pharmaceuticalswillbuyupto3
milliondosesoftheAstraZeneca
vaccinefromSerumInstituteof
Indiaatabout$8eachforsaleon
the private market, Beximco’s
chief operating officer told
Reuters. The COO,Rabbur Reza,
said that was about twice the
priceofaround$4thatBeximco
Indonesia,forexample,hasor-
dered 125.5 million CoronaVac
doses. The country has reported
nearly850,000coronaviruscases
and nearly 25,000 deaths, the
Judges seek recusal as major
Italian mafia trial kicks off
YARA NARDI &
GABRIELE PILERI
LAMEZIA TERME, JANUARY 13
ONEOFItaly’slargest-evermafia
trials kicked off on Wednesday
with more than 330 suspected
mobsters and their associates
facing an array of charges, in-
cluding extortion, drug traffick-
ing and theft.
The case targets the
‘Ndranghetaclan,whichisbased
in Calabria,the toeof Italy’s boot,
andisconsideredbyprosecutors
to be the most powerful mafia
group in the country, easily
eclipsing the more famous Cosa
Nostra gang in Sicily.
The trial is being held in a
converted call-centre in the
Calabrian city of Lamezia Terme,
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Distracted by
political crisis, US
sets daily record
for virus deaths
MIKE IVES
JANUARY 13
AS AMERICA slogs through this
grimmest of winters, there is no
relief in the daily tabulations of
Covid-19deaths:Morethan4,400
were reported across the United
States on Tuesday, according to a
New York Times database, a num-
ber once unimaginable.
Yetevenasthediseasetouches
thousandsoffamilies,thenationis
distracted by the political crisis
gripping Washington in the last
daysoftheTrumpadministration.
Tuesday’s death count,
which set another daily record,
represented at least 1,597 more
people than those killed in the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The US death toll, already the
world’shighestbyawidemargin,
is now about 20,000 shy of
400,000. NYT
US top court:
Women must
obtain abortion
pill in person
MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON, JANUARY 13
THE US Supreme Court ordered
Tuesdaythatwomenmustvisita
doctor’soffice,hospitalorclinicin
person to obtain an abortion pill
during the Covid-19 pandemic,
though similar rules for other
drugs have been suspended dur-
ing the public health emergency.
The justices granted a Trump
administrationappealtobeableto
enforcealongstandingruleonget-
tingtheabortionpill,mifepristone.
The court split 6-3, with the
liberal justices in dissent.
Afederaljudgehadsuspended
the rule since July because of the
coronavirus, in responsetoa law-
suitfromtheAmericanCollegeof
Obstetricians and Gynecologists
andothergroups. AP
Indonesian
President Joko
Widodo
received a
shot of the
CoronaVac
vaccine on
Wednesday. AP
hadagreedforseparatesupplies
of5milliondosesamonth,over
the first half of the year, for the
Bangladeshigovernment’ssub-
sidised mass-vaccination pro-
gramme. Serum Institute will
begindeliveriesoftheshotlater
this month, both those for state
and private use, Reza told
ReutersonTuesday. REUTERS
highest numbers in Southeast
Asia.OnWednesday,itsPresident,
Joko Widodo, was injected with
CoronaVac, kicking off a national
vaccination programme. NYT
withmetalcagesinstalledforthe
defendantsandrowsof desksset
up for the hundreds of lawyers,
prosecutors and spectators ex-
pected to attend.
But the initial hearing hit an
immediate snag after the three
judges assigned to the case
asked to be recused, saying they
had been involved in earlier as-
pects of the investigation.
Their request will be re-
viewed by a separate court,
whichwill delayproceedingsfor
several days, lawyers said.
Many of the accused are
white-collar workers, including
lawyers, accountants, business
people, local politicians and po-
licemen, who chief prosecutor
Nicola Gratteri says willingly
aided the ‘Ndrangheta in build-
ing its crime empire. REUTERS
 14 CALENDAR WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021

OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry & T Lewis

CROSSWORD 4327 DAY TODAY BY PETER VIDAL
ARIES (Mar 21 - Apr 20) LIBRA (Sep 24 - Oct 23)
Relaxation is all very The Moon’s sway
well, but do over a sector of your
maintain your guard. horoscope ruling
There is still a great work and self-
deal that can go wrong, even if sacrifice indicates that this is
some areas of life seem to be not the time to abandon your
picking up. This is a time of responsibilities or renege on
extremes, and there is little commitments. Your deeply
room for moderation. It may be complex planetary patterns
up to you to find a middle way advise you to stick to
and persuade everyone your guns.
to compromise.
SCORPIO (Oct 24 - Nov 23)
TAURUS (Apr 21 - May 21) I don’t want to keep
It is almost harking on about
impossible to say the same old things,
whether today’s but you’re still
CALVIN & HOBBES by Bill Watterson lunar alignments passing through an emotional
will soothe your troubled brow minefield which could
or further obscure your view of set off fireworks in almost
reality. So much depends on any area, personal or
your skill in handling difficult professional. Being a Scorpio,
people. You may be about to though, you are well
impress with your success in fitted to cope with life’s
ACROSS DOWN soothing a hot-tempered little mysteries.
1 Colourful views may be 2 Hardest part of the garden to colleague.
represented in great rally cultivate (7) SAGITTARIUS (Nov 24 - Dec 22)
(3,7) 3 Initial forms of harmful micro- GEMINI (May 22 - June 21) It will be worth your
8 Film studios care about this organisms (5) The truth of the while to offer an
award (5) 4 What is wrong in a record matter, whether olive branch to
9 Solidly built huts can fall into being beaten? professional or partners and
disrepair (7) (6) personal, will be associates. Remember those
10 Thomas’s initial motive for 5 Former liberal creates a obvious next week, so just hold wise sayings about forgiving
betrayal (7) precedent (7) on a little while longer. In the seven times seven and turning
11 Difficult question for a model 6 Tugs from North America? meantime, there’s probably no the other cheek: your concern
(5) (5) respite from hard work. Don’t for others should win out over
12 Lobbies for yes, perhaps 7 Boy not getting up for a dance exhaust yourself, though. You’ll self-interest. Plus, a younger
(6) (10) be no use to anyone if you’re fed relation may provide good
14 Decide to stay
(6)
8 Unfit so not in the first three
(3,2,5)
MARVIN by Tom Armstrong up and flat on your back. advice.
CANCER (June 22 - July 23) CAPRICORN (Dec 23 - Jan 20)
17 Pound sign (5) 13 A matter-of-fact doctrine is
Emotional Venus and Jupiter
19 To succeed it must follow her in dividing the kingdom
difficulties brought are offering you
first (7) (7)
about by the generous help via
21 Shock-absorbing device with a 15 Ran round in the commotion
challenging and close partners, but
comfortable advantage caused by the storm (7)
change-inducing alignments of you may have to ask first. This
(7) 16 Bird having caught fifty fish (6)
Venus, Mercury and Pluto, are is no time for reticence, so
22 A win not for the first time 18 He is a pound out on reflection
surely enough to try the push yourself to the front of
(5) (5)
patience of a saint. But there is the queue. The Capricorn who
23 A number copy a restriction 20 Centre of the earth
no reason why you shouldn’t thrives will be he, or she, who
(10) (5)
give up and walk away from abandons normal reserve
responsibilities which are no and shows a bit of bare-
SolutionsCrossword4326:Across:1Abroad,4Impair,9Soprani,10Deals,11 longer worthwhile. faced cheek.
Seedy,12Tellers,13Abstractart,18Minaret,20Title,22Trail,23Onlyone,24
Cheers,25Myopia.Down:1Assisi,2Rupee,3Analyst,5Model,6Amateur,7Resist, LEO (July 24 - Aug 23) AQUARIUS (Jan 21- Feb 19)
8Distraction,14Bandage,15Totally,16Emetic,17Peseta,19Ruler,21Troop. You may still be Although certain
feeling a little individuals are
surprised by recent quite pleasant to
announcements and your face, you know
you might have to be fast on that you might not have been
JUMBLED WORDS DifficultyLevel1s
your feet if you are to regain the told the entire, unadulterated
SOLUTION SUDOKU 4351

initiative. Pay more attention to truth. On the other hand,

Instructions financial affairs under today’s relationships at work are
Givenbelowarefourjumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto TosolveaSudokupuzzle, mildly confusing lunar really quite profitable, and you
therespectivesquaresbelow.Selectthelettersintheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget everydigitfrom1to9 alignments. But don’t take final may gain emotionally as much
SUDOKU 4352

theanswerforthegivenquip. mustappearineachofthe decisions unless you are one as financially.

Weliveina___of___.- PaulCezanne (7,.,5) hundred and one percent sure.
nineverticalcolumns,in PISCES (Feb 20 - Mar 20)
eachoftheninehorizontal VIRGO (Aug 24 - Sep 23) Others may have
DFAAR CELCHN rowsandineachofthe Your ideas are fine, used emotional ties
nineboxes. but it may take to try and force you
someone else to into a particular
stiffen your resolve situation. However, lunar
NNIOO EOSTBW DifficultyLevel
and make you commit yourself alignments indicate that you
to a particular course of action. have the advantage and that
1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy; The Sun may make information Piscean wit, subtlety and
3s=Medium;4s=Hard; difficult to come by, though. sensitivity will win out.
5s=VeryHard;6s= But, then, perhaps there really is And that has to be the best
Answer: We live in a rainbow of chaos. - Paul Cezanne Genius nothing at all to find out. news going.
SOLUTION: FARAD, ONION, CLENCH, BESTOW

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Applications are invited for the following CHANGE OF NAME 4 Proposed CC apron at Elathur siding for Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
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THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
BIGGEST SHORTFALL IN DISINVESTMENT RECEIPTS EXPECTED THIS FISCAL
Lowerdivestment,spectrumauction
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SUNNYVERMA,
AASHISHARYAN&
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theprojectedreceiptsfromdisin-
vestmentandstrategicstakesales
are unlikely to materialise, while
collectionsfromothercommuni-
cationservicesareexpectedtobe
below targets.
Of the Rs 2.1 lakh crore of tar-
geted disinvestment receipts for
2020-21, the government has, so
far, raised only 6.6 per cent of the
targeted amount or Rs 13,844.49
crore, as per the latest data avail-
able with the Department of
Investment and Public Asset
Management(DIPAM).
NearlyRs9,400crorehasbeen
raisedthroughofferforsale(OFS)
of HAL and IRCTC, while the re-
maining amount has been
through other OFS and buybacks
bystate-ownedcompanies.While
the crash in stock markets in
March and a lockdown to deal
Sebi bans TV anchor
for fraudulent trading
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,JANUARY13
THE SECURITIES and Exchange
Board of India (Sebi) on Wednes-
day banned CNBC Awaaz show
hostHemantGhai,hiswifeandhis
motherfromthecapitalmarketfor
alleged fraudulent trading prac-
tices.ItalsodirectedGhaitocease
and desist from undertaking any
activity related to giving invest-
ment advice, publishing of re-
searchreportsrelatedtothesecu-
ritiesmarket,tillfurtherdirections.
Themarketsregulatorhasalso
directedhimtoimpoundthepro-
ceeds of Rs 2.95 crore generated
byfraudulenttrades.Inaninterim
orderissuedWednesday,Sebisaid
Ghai had advance information
about the recommendation to be
made on the show ‘Stock 20-20’,
co-hosted by him, and that he di-
rectlyorindirectlyusedittohisad-
vantage. The show features reco-
mmendationsoncertainstocks.
The Network18 group, which
runs CNBC Awaaz, in a statement
said it has terminated Ghai with
immediate effect. The regulator
found that Ghai, along with his
wife Jaya Hemant Ghai and
mother Shyam Mohini Ghai, em-
ployedaschemetoconductfraud-
ulent or unfair trading based on
CHENNAI AIRPORT TO GET A MAKEOVER
Atacostof Rs2,467crore,theAirportsAuthorityof India(AAI)ismodernisingtheChennai
airport.Inthefirststage,theexistingdomesticterminalwillbedismantledandanewfacilitywill
beconstructed,scheduledforcommissioningbyJune.Thesecondstagewillseedemolishingof
theinternationalterminalandconstructionof anewonebyDecember2022. Credit:AAI
BRIEFLY
FY21:CoalIndia
revisescapex
NewDelhi:CoalIndiahassc-
aled up capital expenditure
(capex) budget for FY21 by
anadditionalRs3,000crore,
revisingittoRs13,000crore.
Irdaiadvisoryon
Covidtreatment
New Delhi: Irdai advised ge-
neral and health insurers to
have agreements with hea-
lth providers on rates for tr-
eatment of Covid-19 on the
lines of other diseases. PTI
SENSEX: 49,492.32 ▼ 24.79 NIFTY: 14,564.85 ▲ 1.40 NIKKEI: 28,456.59 ▲ 292.25 HANG SENG: 28,235.60 ▼ 41.15 FTSE: 6,748.34 ▼ 5.77 DAX: 13,910.68 ▼ 14.38
with Covid affected the govern-
ment’s stake sale plans, subse-
quentrecoveryinmarketshasnot
yielded much on the disinvest-
mentfrontasyet.
Plans for strategic stake sales
of Air India, BPCL, Container
Corporation of India, Shipping
Corporation of India will stretch
intonextyear,aswilltheplanned
initialpublicofferingof country’s
largest insurer Life Insurance
Corporation (LIC), government
officialshaveindicated.Inthelast
sevenyears,thegovernmenthas
misseddisinvestmentcollection
targets in four years and thrice
exceeded it.
The biggest shortfall in disin-
vestmentreceiptsisexpectedthis
year. Anticipating some big ticket
strategicsalesandLICIPO,thegov-
ernmenthadsteeplyraisedthees-
timates to Rs 2.1 lakh crore in the
currentyear,fromRs65,000crore
inthepreviousyear.Forthreeyears
between2016-17and2018-19,the
governmentexceededtheBEtar-
getsfordisinvestment.In2015-16,
the government collected
Rs23,997crorethroughdisinvest-
ment as against BE of Rs 25,313
crore.Theshortfallin2014-15was
around Rs 2,000 crore from BE of
Theregulatorfoundthat
HemantGhai,hiswife
andmother,conducted
unfairtradingfrom
informationpertaining
torecommendationsto
bemadeonhisshow
Stock20-20
theadvanceinformationpertain-
ing to recommendations to be
madeonStock20-20.
During analysis of the trading
accountofGhai’swifeandmother
betweenJanuary1,2019,andMay
31, 2020, high correlation of their
trades was seen with the stocks
recommendedintheshow,which
generatedRs2.95crore.
Sebi found that shares were
consistently purchased in the ac-
count one day prior to the day of
recommendationontheshow.To
capture significant benefits from
thepricemovementcausedbythe
recommendations,theythensold
theirsharesassoonasthemarket
opened on the day of the recom-
mendation and consequently,
earned profits and perpetrated a
frauduponthemarket,Sebisaid.
Full report on
www.indianexpress.com
HC seeks Future Retail
stand on Amazon plea
PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA
NEWDELHI,JANUARY13
THE DELHI High Court
Wednesday sought response of
Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail
Ltd (FRL) on Amazon’s plea chal-
lenging the prima facie observa-
tionsbyasinglejudgethattheUS
e-commerce giant’s attempt to
controltheIndianentitywasviola-
tiveof FEMAandFDIrules.
A bench of Chief Justice D N
PatelandJusticeJyotiSinghissued
notice to FRL, Future Coupons Pvt
Ltd,RelianceRetailandtheBiyanis
seekingtheirstandonthepleaby
SHORTFALLCONCERNS
■Withashortfall,the
concernisof excess
relianceonoff-balance
sheetborrowing
throughtheinternaland
extra-Budgetary
resources,whichis
deployedbythecentral
publicsectorenterprises
anddepartmental
undertakings.
Rs26,353crore.
As regards the telecom sector,
thegovernmenthaspeggednon-
tax revenue of Rs 1.33 lakh crore
fromothercommutationservices
in2020-21BudgetEstimates(BE),
which is 126 percent higherthan
Rs 58,989 crore in the 2019-20
RevisedEstimates(RE).According
to government definition, other
communication services “mainly
relate to the licence fees from fel-
low operators and receipts of the
Wireless Planning and
CoordinationOrganisation.”
Fortheauctionsthataresched-
uled to start on March 1, the gov-
ernmentaimstosell 2,251.25MHz
‘Vaccine distribution delay may
clip FY22 GDP growth at 6%’
Delaying the Covid-19 vaccine distribution to the second
half of 2021-22 (October-March) could limit the GDP
growth for FY22 at just 6%, BofA Securities said
Multiple factors to drive growth: Growth will be driven by a demographic dividend which will be
driving investment, rising financial maturity and emergence of mass markets
What are new rules for flying to the US?
PRANAVMUKUL
NEWDELHI,JANUARY13
THEUSCentersforDiseaseControl
and Prevention (CDC) has ex-
pandedtherequirementforaneg-
ative Covid test to all passengers
flying into the country’s borders.
Thisfollowsasimilarmovebythe
UKgovernmentrequiringallinter-
national arrivals to England, in-
cluding UK nationals, required to
presentanegativetest,takenupto
72hourspriortodeparture.
WhatarethenewUSnorms?
Effective January 26, flyers are
Amazonagainsttheobservations
made by the single judge in a
December21,2020interimorder.
The US firm, represented by
senior advocate Gopal
Subramanium, has contended
thattheobservationsareinconsis-
tent with the findings in the SIAC
emergency arbitral order of
October 25. Senior advocate
Harish Salve, appearing for FRL,
told the court, “We have serious
objections to the appeal. It is mis-
conceived.Wewillfileourreplyas
a lot of things have been said (in
the appeal) to which we have to
respond.”Thecourtthenlistedthe
matterforhearingonFebruary12.
of spectrum across seven fre-
quencybandsatareservepriceof
Rs 3.92 lakh crore. Industry ex-
perts, however, estimate that like
the 2016 auctions, the actual re-
ceipts from the spectrum auction
couldbeonlyabout10percentof
thereserveprice.Of thethreepri-
vate telcos, most research houses
suchasMorganStanleyhaveinre-
ports over the last week said that
theydonotexpect“aggressivebid-
ding”intheseauctions.
“Inourview,spectrumauction
in India has turned into a buyer’s
market.Weexpectminimalcom-
petitionwithoperatorspickingup
spectrumthatprovidesbestvalue
for money instead of focusing on
renewing all their expiring spec-
trum,” Kunal Vora, analyst with
BNP Paribas’ equities research
team,saidinanotelastweek.
In 2016, the government of-
fered 2,354.55 MHz at a reserve
price of Rs 5.60 lakh crore. It had
managed to sell only 965 MHz —
or about 40 per cent of the spec-
trum that was put up for sale —
andthetotalvalueofbidsreceived
was just Rs 65,789 crore, which
was roughly 10 per cent of the to-
talaskof thegovernment.
The government would meet
9% ExpectedGDPgrowthin
FY22,ifCovid-19vaccine
distributionisdoneinthefirsthalfof
thenewfiscal
50basispoints: Expectedcutin
keypolicyratesbyRBIbyJune,with
inflationcoolingdownto4.59%
required to get a test done within
thethreedaysbeforetheirflightto
the US departs, and provide writ-
ten documentation of their labo-
ratory test result (paper or elec-
tronic copy) to the
airline. Airlines have
been asked to confirm
the negative test result
forallflyers.Ifapassen-
ger does not provide
the necessary docu-
mentation, or chooses
not to take a test, the airline must
denyboardingtothepassenger.
Whatareexemptionsfor
providinganegativeCovidtest
thisshortfallinrevenuesviahigher
marketborrowingsthatwerean-
nouncedearlierthisyear.Non-tax
receipts form a crucial portion of
revenues for the expenditure re-
quirementsofthecentralgovern-
ment.Withashortfall,theconcern
isofexcessrelianceonoff-balance
sheetborrowingthroughinternal
and extra-Budgetary resources
(IEBR), which is deployed by cen-
tral public sector enterprises and
departmentalundertakings.
In the last few years, the IEBR
route has been increasingly used
by the central government in or-
der to finance even revenue ex-
penditures such as the bills for
FoodCorporationofIndia(FCI)for
procurement purposes. While
earlier the amount of capital
spendingthroughIEBRusedtobe
lesser than the gross budgetary
support,since2014-15,thistrend
has reversed, with capital spend-
ing by CPSUs exceeding the
amountsbudgetedforcapitalex-
penditure.For2019-20,IEBRwas
estimatedatRs7.1lakhcrore,16.9
per cent higher than Rs 6.07 lakh
croreraisedin2018-19.For2020-
21,thegovernmenthasestimated
ittocomedownby5.3percentto
Rs 6.72 lakh crore.
5% Expectedfiscaldeficit,in
termsofpercentageof
GDP,forFY22
6.7% ContractioninGDP
expectedforFY21,
againstthegovernment’sestimate
of7.7percentcontraction
Thirdbiggesteconomyin
nextdecade: Fromagrowth
perspective,accordingtotheBankof
AmericaSecurities,Indiawillbethe
thirdbiggesteconomyintheworldin
thenextdecade
Source: BofA Securities/PTI
certificatewhentravellingto
theUS?
IfapassengerhadtestedCovid
positive in the past 3 months and
canproducealetterfromadoctor
clearingthemfortravel,
it can serve as a “docu-
mentationof recovery”.
In case someone can
produce a documenta-
tionofrecovery,theydo
not need to produce a
negative certificate.
However, in case neither of the
documentsareproduced,theair-
linecandenyboarding.
Full report on
www.indianexpress.com
GOLD
`48,877
Note: Gold, silver rates at Delhi spot market; gold per 10 g, silver per 1 kg; Brent crude as of 2300 IST
Amazon makes entry, Byju’s
eyes expansion: Ed-tech cos
see boom amid pandemic
PRANAVMUKUL
NEWDELHI,JANUARY13
INTERNET GIANT Amazon bec-
ame the latest entrant on
Wednesday to India’s booming
educationtechnology,ored-tech,
segment with the formal launch
ofAmazonAcademy,aservicefor
students to prepare for competi-
tive entrance examinations. The
development comes the same
day Blackstone-backed Aakash
EducationalServicesconfirmedit
was in talks with Byju’s in an ac-
quisitionoftheformerforreport-
edly worth $1 billion.
As a result of growth wit-
nessed due to the Covid pan-
demic,India’seducationsegment
sawarecordinflowofover$2bil-
lionduring2020fromprivateeq-
uity and venture capital (PE/VC)
firms,withmajoritybeingcorne-
redbystartupslikeByju’s,Unaca-
demy, Vedantu, and Toppr.
Analysts said interest in ed-tech
firms has been mainly due to the
pandemic, which forced schools
andcollegestoshutdownandpr-
ompted people to upgrade skills.
In a statement, Amazon India
saiditsonlinepreparationoffering
willequipstudentswithin-depth
knowledge and practice routines
required for the JEE, through cu-
rated learning material, live lec-
tures and comprehensive assess-
ments in math, physics and
chemistry.Thee-commercegiant
hadalreadymarkedanentrytoIIT-
JEE coaching space with a limited
launch of JEE Ready app in 2019,
which allowed candidates to test
theirpreparednessforJEEMains.
Globally,in2013,Amazonhad
acquired TenMarks Education —
a California-based provider of
web-basedsolutionsforteachers
andparentstodelivermathemat-
RBI allows UCBs to refund
share capital to members
ENSECONOMICBUREAU
MUMBAI,JANUARY13
THE RBI has decided to allow ur-
ban co-operative banks (UCBs) to
refundthevalueof theshare cap-
italtotheirmembers.
“It has been decided in the in-
terimtopermitUCBswhichmain-
tainCRARof9percentoraboveto
refundthevalueofsharecapitalto
their members or nominees or
heirsofdeceasedmembersonde-
mand,”theRBIsaidinacircularto
UCBs.TheBankingRegulationAct
prohibitswithdrawalorreduction
insharecapitalbyUCBsunlessthe
RBI specifies the extent up to
which and the conditions subject
to which such withdrawal or re-
RUPEE
`73.15
$2 BILLION INFLOW
DURING 2020
■ As a result of the
growth witnessed due
to the pandemic,
India’s education
segment saw a record
inflow of over
$2 billion during 2020
icscurriculumtostudents.Itlater
shut down TenMarks and ab-
sorbed some of its employees in
variousrolesacrossthecompany.
“Amazon Academy will offer
students a range of JEE prepara-
tory resources at launch, includ-
ingspeciallycraftedmocktestsby
industry experts, over 15,000
handpicked questions with hints
anddetailedstepbystepsolutions
for practice. The mock tests in-
cludechaptertests,parttests,and
fullteststhatsimulatetheJEEpat-
tern, helping students manage
exam preparedness at their own
pace,” Amazon said. As per infor-
mation on Amazon Academy’s
website,allcontentisavailablefor
free, “for the next few months”.
Other large internet firms in-
cluding Google have placed bets
on India’s education sector. Last
July, Google said it has partnered
withtheCentralBoardofSecond-
ary Education (CBSE) to deliver a
“blended learning experience”
across 22,000 schools. It also,
through its VC fund Capital G, in-
vested in Bengaluru-based ed-
tech firm Cuemath last month.
Inthesamemonth,Facebook,
too,tiedupwithCBSEtolauncha
certified curriculum on digital
safety and online well-being.
EarlierinFebruary,Facebookhad
participated in the series E fund-
“Ithasbeendecidedinthe
interimtopermitUCBs
whichmaintainCRARof9
percentorabovetorefund
thevalueofsharecapitalto
theirmembersornominees
orheirsofdeceased
membersondemand”
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA
ductionmaytakeplace,RBIsaid.
Union Road Transport &
Highways and MSME Minister
Nitin Gadkari had said there will
benoforcedprivatisationofco-op-
erative banks in order to bolster
theco-operativesector.
AddressingtheLoksattaUrban
Co-operative Banking e-conclave
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
OIL SILVER
$56.01 `65,351
International market data till 1900 IST
ing round of Unacademy.
For startups like Unacademy
andByju’s,acquisitionsofsmaller
firms has been a key strategy to
expandtheirpresence.Inthetest-
prep segment itself, Unacademy
made six acquisitions last year,
withthelastonebeingNeoStencil,
a test prep startup. In July 2020, it
also acquired PrepLadder, a post-
graduatemedicalentranceexam
preparation platform.
Meanwhile, Byju’s is looking
at acquiring Aakash Educational
Services (AESL), which operates
morethan200tutoringcentresin
the country — indicating the po-
tentialforahybridmodelcombin-
ing digital and physical presence.
Byju’s did not respond to a mail
seeking comments on the deal.
In a statement, AESL said it is
“Aakash Educational Services
Limited is in talks with Byju’s for
buildingastrongpartnership.The
Chaudhry family and Founders,
Mr JC Chaudhry & Mr Aakash
Chaudhryremaincommittedand
will continue to run Aakash
Educational Services along with
its management team with the
samepassionandcommitment”.
“Puttingthesespeculationsto
rest, we would like to state that
AESL is on a mission to build
India’s largest digitally-enabled,
omni-channel education com-
pany.Wewillaccelerateourdigi-
tal transformation and deliver
phenomenal value to our stu-
dents.Wewillrapidlyexpandour
omni channel & digital offerings,
as we embark on the next trajec-
tory of quality education &
growth,” it added.
With this acquisition, Byju’s
wouldsurpassitselfinmakingthe
biggestdealintheed-techsegm-
ent,leavingbehinditsacquisition
of online coding platform Whi-
teHat Jr for$300million lastyear.
onJanuary7,Gadkarisaidasarep-
resentative of the Centre and also
as a representative of the people,
he would act as a bridge between
the co-operative banks in
Maharashtra and the Finance
Ministry, RBI, NABARD and the
stategovernment.Gadkarihadsaid
co-operativebanksmustcompete
withprivatebankstomakeanim-
pression on lawmakers in Delhi.
Gadkariaddedwhileprivatisation
ofco-operativebankshasbeendis-
cussedsince1996,neitherthecen-
tral government nor the RBI has
ever forcefully imposed it on the
banks.Parliamentpassedamend-
ments to the Banking Regulation
Act in September 2020, bringing
co-operativebanksundertheRBI’s
supervision.

16 SPORT
THE INDIAN EXPRESS, THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2021
BRIEFLY
Azharuddeenhits
54-ball137toblow
awayMumbai
Mumbai: InaGroupEgameoftheSyed
Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Kerala rode on
opener Mohammed
Azharuddeen's
whirlwindunbeaten
137 off 54 balls to
beat Mumbai by 8
wicketsastheycom-
fortablychasedastiff
target of 197 in just
15.5 overs. Azharuddeen hammered
nine fours and eleven sixes, and com-
pletedhis100in37balls.Hetoreapart
an experienced Mumbai attack at the
Wankhede stadium and got able sup-
portfromRobinUthappa(33)andone-
downSanjuSamson(22).Meanwhile,
Delhi recorded their second straight
win in the tournament after beating
Andhra Pradesh by six wickets in an
EliteGroupEgame,onWednesday.Put
into bat at the Wankhede Stadium,
Andhra were restricted to 124/9 in
their 20 overs, as Delhi bowlers led by
left-arm pacer Pradeep Sangwan
(3/33), put up an impressive show.
BREIF SCORES: Mumbai 196/7
(Aditya Tare 42, Yashasvi Jaiswal 40;
K M Asif 3/25) lost to Kerala 201/2
(Mohammed Azharuddeen 137 not
out;ShamsMulani1/41)by8wickets.
BREIF SCORES:Andhra Pradesh
124/9(AshwinHebbar32;PSangwan
3/33, Ishant Sharma 2/17, Simarjeet
Singh 2/21) lost to Delhi 128/4 (Anuj
Rawat 33; Himmat Singh 32 not out;
Reddy2/40)bysixwickets.
ManUtdbeatBurnley
togoatopEPLtable
London: Paul Pogba sent Manchester
UnitedtothetopofthePremierLeague
by scoring with a deflected volley in a
1-0 win at Burnley. United came into
the match at Turf Moor knowing at
leastapointwouldmovetheteaminto
firstplaceforthefirsttimeatthisstage
of the season since Alex Ferguson was
inchargeof thetitle-winning2012-13
side. Pogba met a cross from Marcus
Rashford with a first-time effort from
the edge of the box that deflected off
Burnley defender Matt Lowton and
through the legs of goalkeeper Nick
Pope in the 71st.
LangerblamesIPL
schedulingforinjuries
Sydney: Australia coach Justin Langer
questionedthetimingofthelastyear's
edition, which he believes could have
beenacontributingfactorintheinjury
setbacks that both his and the Indian
team have endured in the ongoing se-
ries. "It is really interesting how many
injuries (it) has been throughout this
summer.Ican'thelpandthinkthatthe
IPLthisyear(2020)wasinreally,prob-
ablywasn'tidealtimingforanyone,cer-
tainly for such a big series like this,"
Langersaidatavirtualpressconference.
... “the timing of it...because of what
happenedwithCOVID...probablywas-
n't ideal.” AGENCIES
Swab sticks, 10 seconds of hell & surveillance
SHIVANI NAIK
MUMBAI, JANUARY 13
WHILE KIDAMBI Srikanth suffered bleeding
from a swab test gone awfully wrong, where
fragilityof his capillaries,irritationcausedby
three previous tests and even his "tense na-
ture" were attributed by the BWF, he was
hardly the first athlete in Bangkok to wince
atthesightof theswabstickbeing sentcurv-
ing up his nostrils.
TV 2 Sport of Denmark has been chroni-
cling quarantine and isolation woes of
Danish shuttlers. Russian doubles veteran
Ivan Sozhonov was recorded by partner
Vladimir Ivanov, literally shuddering while
the testing official poked the swab stick fish-
ing for a sample. It was a particularly forbid-
ding 10 slow seconds of writhing reaction,
as he sent the cotton flying from the tester's
hand, like a drowning man gasps for air.
The video would find resonance with the
Danes. While Mia Blichfeldt told TV 2 Sport,
"You want to crack the chair together and
get that stick out of your nose. It's really, re-
ally uncomfortable" adding she invariably
left the room with unintended tears of in-
stant pain, doubles player Sara Thygsen
called the test "completely grotesque" and
"10 seconds in hell."
To be fair, the tester didn't look particu-
larlycomfortableeither,tryingtocalmdown
the tall Russian, a formidably built All
England champ from five years back while
extracting past gook. But it was no surprise
that repeated proddings likethese would in-
evitably rupture a vessel at the slightestjerk-
ing movement.
Hans-KristianVittinghuswoulddescribe
theunavoidabletestingas"stinginginplaces
Vol. LXV No. 12 Printed for the proprietors, The Indian Express (P) Ltd by Ms Vaidehi Thakar at The Indian Express Press, Plot No. EL-208, TTC Industrial Area, Mahape, Navi Mumbai - 400710 and published from Mafatlal Centre, 7th floor, Ramnath Goenka Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021. Editorial &
Administrative Offices: Mafatlal Centre, 7th floor, Ramnath Goenka Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai 400021. Phone: 22022627/67440000. Fax: 022-22835726. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor: Raj Kamal Jha, Editor: Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor (Mumbai): Nirupama Subramanian.* (*Responsible for selec-
tion of News under the PRB Act) Additional air surcharge of `1 .00 - Goa. Copyright: The Indian Express (P) Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. The Indian Express ®
Wanted to get my daughters involved too
in the moment. They went, ‘Did we win?’
Prithi Narayanan
Sydney Test hero Ravichandran
Ashwin’s wife shares the experience
of watching the final day’s play
from her hotel room, along with
their two daughters
AADHYA, MY four-and-a-half-year-old
daughter, was particularly nosy that morn-
ing. She had seen Ashwin writhing in pain
and piped up “Put leave, appa!”
‘Why go to the office in pain, when you
can chill at home?!’ was her thought and
that brought some smiles. Even I started to
tease Ash. “Ask for a snack break in two
hours and come back – like kids do at
school” and Ash went, “Overaaa Oturrey!
(You are pulling my leg a bit too much!).
Until then, it had been a tense morning.
Over the years, I have seen him handle pain
and know he has a high threshold for it, but
I had never seen him like this. He was crawl-
ing on the floor. He couldn’t get up or bend
down. I couldn’t imagine how he was going
to play and the snack-break comment was
said only in half-jest. As he was about to
leave, he said, “I have to play. I have to get
this done.”
The first signs of trouble had come the
earlier evening, at the end of the fourth
day’s play. I had seen him on television in
some sort of pain a couple of times. When
he walks into the room, he usually has just
a few minutes before he rushes to the
physio or masseur table and then meetings.
if any, and comes back late. “Are you fine,
physically?” I asked him and he shot back,
“Didn’t you see me bowl?!” and said he felt
he had a tweak in the back that was begin-
ning to hurt. He felt during warm-ups that
morning that he stepped awkwardly and
did something to his back.
It had slowly begun to act up as the day
progressed. He went to the physio. Ashwin
was wracking in pain, and I knew other
players too were injured. The match was
still alive, and I was wondering how these
guys were going to do it. As family mem-
bers, our emotions are wired differently –
we see them at close quarters, pain and
emotion and the abnormal desire to com-
pete and win is something I have tried to
get used to, but I don’t think I will ever be
able to understand it completely.
Paralysing pain
On match nights, because of the hyper-
active kids – Akhira five-and-a-half, and
Aadhya – I tend to sleep in a separate room
with them so that he can get some rest. By
the time I woke up in the morning, his pain
was really bad. “I had to crawl to the physio
room,” he said. Luckily, that was the next
room. He couldn’t bend, straighten, or get
up after sitting. I was shocked. I had not seen
Srikanthwashardlytensewhen
hedispatchedVermainstraight
setstobetheonlymen'ssingles
playertoheadintoRound2,with
Antonsen becomingthebiggest
casualtyafteranupsetloss.
not very nice", while Anders Antonsen
would tell TV 2 Sport that though he'd
cracked the code and not burst any capillar-
ies, "There are some who take it harder than
others. It's not funny. There is also a differ-
enceinhowdeeptheygowhentheytestus."
Srikanth was hardly tense when he dis-
patched Sourabh Vermain straight sets tobe
the only men's singles player to head into
Round 2, with Antonsen becoming the
biggest casualty after an upset loss.
The deceptive Positive
Antonsen himself had been on tenter-
hooks after half expecting to test positive on
thePCR-hetoowasrecoveringfromanearly
December infection. Prepared to be asked to
stepaway,hewouldlatersoundrelievedthat
the Indians had opened the doors for those
like him who had sufficient antibodies and
were non-threatening or infectious to oth-
ers, but perennially at the risk of throwing
up a positive.
Japan's Olympic organising committee
and Olympic Countermeasures Conference
in the host city this gone December has in
fact considered the likelihood of ruling out
post-symptom and recovery "positives"
with an immediate IgG retest, something
that Thailand employed in case of the
him like this before. ‘What are you going to
do? How can you bat?’ I asked. “I don’t
know. I will figure out. Just let me get to the
ground,” he replied. That’s when Aadhya
cracked her ‘put leave, appa’ comment. If
only. Even after he left us, to be frank, I was
half-expecting a call in a couple of hours
from someone in the team that he had been
taken to hospital for scans.
I didn’t go to the ground that day as it’s
not easy in these bio-bubble times. Unlike
fans, because we are with the players, our
bubble works differently. I would have to
walk inside the arena, beside the boundary
line,togettomyseat.IhadgoneonDay3but
didn't want to go in the middle of the final
day’s play. I was in the room and for the first
time, gave unrestricted screen-time access
Saina Nehwal comfortably beat
Malaysia’s Kisona Selvaduray 21-15,
21-15 on Wednesday. Badminton Photo
Indians prompted by BAI.
Malaysia's displeasure
Malaysians weren't too happy about
their young shuttler Kisona Selvaduray be-
ing asked to play Saina Nehwal after her
withdrawal was overturned. This their of-
ficial social media account would note
while officially recording their "displeas-
ure" at how the Badminton World
Federation handled the opening day disar-
ray post a spate of positives.
"Whilewearepleasedthatsomeof these
playershavere-testednegative,itishowever
unjust to any player to be asked to partici-
pate in the first round again, especially after
a decision to give a walkover was published
in the official website," the tweets read.
BothSaina(whocomfortablybeatKisona
21-15,21-15onWednesday)andHSPrannoy
(who lost in 3 to Lee Jii Jia), were due to play
Malaysians, and while there was no attempt
whatsoever to officially protest, their stated
reluctance to play the Indians despite the
LEBRON WARY OF RETURNING TO BUBBLE LIFE
LeBron James guided the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA Championship inside a bio-
secure environment in Orlando last year but says just the thought of being stuck inside
a bubble again gives him the shakes.“I haven’t thought about the bubble much after I
left. You continue to give me PTSD every time you ask me about the bubble. I started
shaking thinking about 96 straight nights in that place.”
to the kids. Told them to go into the other
room and watch whatever they want.
Sometimes,becauseof thekids,Itendtotune
outof thematch,myattentiondriftinginand
out, but I was clear that I wanted to watch
this day’s play without any interruptions.
I could see Ashwin standing in the dress-
ing room corridor or pacing up and down
on television. I knew it must be because he
feared if he sat down, he couldn’t get up.
That racked up my worries a bit. ‘So, he is-
n’t better. Haven’t the painkillers kicked in
yet? Why can’t they be more effective?’ –
such thoughts flitted through my head. In
between, the kids’ food had to be arranged,
to check if they weren’t squabbling. For the
most part, though, I was plonked in front of
the television the whole day.
BWF go-ahead had been registered. While
the matches went ahead Wednesday, even
while two more tests of support staff of
Europeans threw up positives, the tourna-
mentstayedontheedge."Wewillnotprotest
the decision but it is unfair to Kisona, who
was already prepared to face Busanan
(Ongbamrungphan) of Thailand in the sec-
ond round. We have expressed our displeas-
ure and we hope BWF will not repeat this
again," Malaysian association's Kenny Goh
was reported as saying in Straits Times.
Kisona though would tell the BWF after
her loss that she had grown up idolising
Saina after her CWG gold. Playing Saina was
'a dream come true' Kisona said post-match.
The Indian, exhausted after she was packed
off in an ambulance with someone who she
couldn't communicate with in English,
would admit she slept from 9 pm Tuesday to
1 pm next day to recover from her exertions
following Covid-19 related chaos.
Privacy concerns
The Danish shuttlers were also the first
to raise an alarm about surveillance used to
keep an eye on the players in the hotels. TV
2 Sport highlighted through a photograph
how a "command centre" not too far from
the hotel watched the hotel lobbies and cor-
ridors for every unannounced stepping out.
Once when the public system chided a
couple of players who were lunching and
talking to each other with room doors open,
the Danes were completely spooked.
Much of their shock is down to Denmark
having hosted a tournament in October
which didn't need these extreme measures.
While there is general acceptance that Covid
threat needs every last caution, being
watched so acutely did rattle the Europeans.
Ravichandran Ashwin batted for 42.2
overs along with Hanuma Vihari to eke
out a draw in Sydney.
I would never forget the surreal
moment when Ashwin walked
into the room that evening. We
laughed, we cried, we laughed.
We didn’t know how to react.
And we howled. It wasn’t an
euphoric cry – that was after the
Melbourne win in the second
Test. That had a different feel.
When Ashwin was walking out to bat in
pain, I was thinking ‘How these guys do
what they do, only they know’.
After a scientific trial-and-error method
over the years, I have worked out a senti-
ment that I think works when Ashwin is
batting! I don’t watch him until he has
reached 23-25 runs. I tend to check scores
online. If I am at the ground, I can’t help it,
of course, but away from it, this is my rou-
tine. His father puts on a favourite shirt and
has other sentiments; I tend not to have too
much. Because I am mostly travelling with
him and don’t want the absence of a
favourite clothing or any such thing to cast
negative thoughts in us.
Uncertainties galore
I had no idea what to expect when I saw
him batting. The close-ups caught his face;
something in me told me that he had gone
to that place they call a ‘zone’. He had that
look that I have seen in him before. Of
course, all this is in my own head. Out there,
he is taking knocks on the chest and shoul-
ders from bouncers. I winced when one hit
him on the ribs. Another knocked his hands
and the physio ran out. I winced again.
Coming to Australia, I knew of course that
all this was par for the course on these
pitches. And I know he is more than capable
of handling it. But because of the back pain,
I was worried that these blows could make
the situation worse.
The phone rang. It was my mother.
“Amma, this is a once-in-a-hundred-years
type of match going on, I can’t speak to you
Olympic gold medallist
was part of Capitol mob
KAREN CROUSE & VICTOR MATHER
JANUARY 13
KLETE KELLER, a champion swimmer who
won two Olympic gold medals as a relay
teammate of Michael Phelps, was identi-
fied by former teammates and coaches as a
member of the crowd that surged into the
U.S. Capitol during violent protests
on Wednesday.
A video posted by a reporter from a con-
servativeoutlet,Townhall,appearedtoshow
the6-foot-6Kellertoweringoveracrowdthat
waspushingandshovingwithpoliceofficers
whoweretryingtocleartheCapitolRotunda.
Several former teammates and coaches
said they recognized Keller in the video be-
causeof hissizeandbecausehewaswearing
a U.S. Olympic team jacket that had “USA”
printedacrossthebackanddownthesleeves.
A green face covering, which might have ob-
scured his identity, hung loosely around his
neck, leaving his bearded face clearly visible.
A swimming news site, SwimSwam, first re-
portedKeller’spresenceattheCapitolrioton
Monday. The video had been circulating in
the swimming community since last week,
andseveralpeoplewhosawitaresaidtohave
reported Keller to the authorities.
Efforts to reach Keller were unsuccessful.
On Tuesday night, the Colorado real estate
firmthathademployedhimforthepastthree
years,Hoff &Leigh,announcedthatKellerhad
resigned “effective immediately.”
“Hoff & Leigh supports the right of free
speechandlawfulprotestbutwecannotcon-
done actions that violate the rule of law,” the
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
REUTERS
now” and I put the phone down. So, I guess
I knew I was watching history. The enor-
mity of the situation was unmissable. In
these times, watching alone in a hotel room,
Twitter is my comfort move. I don’t even
speak to friends or family if it gets tense.
Somehow, Twitter is easier and a good out-
let for my emotions as I don’t have to en-
gage. It’s my choice. I know when it’s best
to ignore trolls.
Not that I have always been this serene.
I remember a few years back, during a
game against Pakistan, he was hit for runs
in the last over and I was trolled and had
got worked up. I have been wiser after that.
Sort of!
Try as I did, I couldn’t relax as the overs
ticked by. Ashwin seemed more relaxed
than me. The usual Ashwin mannerisms
had begun to come through. He was help-
ing his partner. When one can do that in
that situation, thinking beyond oneself, it
means they were in control of their emo-
tions. I heard him tell Hanuma, “Pathu Pathu
ball, adulaaam” (We will play 10 balls each).
It felt good to hear his voice.
The same stump microphone would
later bring up other voices, which weren’t
that good! When Tim Paine started talking,
my worry wasn’t what he was saying but
that Ashwin was talking back. Something
he hadn’t done until then. ‘Was he losing fo-
cus or is the back pain irritating him that he
is reacting? What if something happens
now? Don’t do it, Ash. Don’t talk back,’ I
thought. I tweeted something on those lines
too. That emotion was out of my body. Back
to watching Ashwin.
He seemed to get back in control. He too
was fighting it out. Both were talking in
Tamil, more chats started to come through.
I smiled as I thought I heard Ash say, “Aadu
mama, aadu mama! (Play on man, Play on!).
Suddenly he started to play a few shots in
the end. ‘Why Ash, why? What’s happen-
ing?’ Perhaps, he was relaxing. I certainly
wasn’t. The things that go through in the
head, I tell you.
With five overs to go, I was puzzled. Why
aren’t they shaking hands and calling it off?
I began to count down every ball and when
it was finally over, I started jumping around
in the room. Shouting too. I wanted to get
my daughters involved too in this moment.
They went, “Did we win?” Ha ha ha.
Perhaps, the only Indian watching who
wasn’t too pleased with a ‘draw’ was our
own daughter. Cute, I thought. I didn’t tell
her, we didn’t win. It felt like one, after all.
I would never forget the surreal moment
when Ashwin walked into the room that
evening. We laughed, we cried, we laughed.
We didn’t know how to react. And we
howled. It wasn’t an euphoric cry – that was
after the Melbourne win in the second Test.
That had a different feel. I had rarely seen
him that light, that bouncy, that delirious.
This was something different. We were
howling. It was utter relief – a draining out
of emotions from our system. We just had
two minutes together; he had to get back to
the physio and medical scans. He came back
at 11 that night. Next morning, the daugh-
ters were surprised when we said it’s time
to go to a new city. “Why, aren’t you going to
play today, match over?” Akhira asks. “Did
we win, appa?’ the nosy one asked again.
Klete Keller swam the anchor leg when
the US won the 4x200-metre relay gold
at the 2004 Athens Games Reuters
company said in a brief statement.
Few of the people who recognized Keller
in the video expressed surprise at his pres-
ence in Washington. His deleted social me-
dia accounts, several of them said, had in
recent years included a stream of pro-
Trump messaging.
No video has emerged of Keller partici-
pating in any violent acts in the Capitol, but
his mere presence in the building, if con-
firmed by the authorities, may have placed
himinlegaljeopardy.Numerouspeoplewho
entered the building now face federal
charges that include unlawful entry and dis-
orderly conduct. More serious charges in-
clude theft of government property and
firearms violations. Keller,38,wasamember
of three U.S. Olympic teams, and he won
medals at three Olympics, including golds at
the Athens Games in 2004 and at the Beijing
Games in 2008 as a member of the 4x200-
meter relay team. He won silver in the event
at the 2000 Sydney Games. NYT