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Pages 12 | `5|LC

KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR

INTIMATE SELECTIONS TRUMP ACQUITTAL MYANMAR MEDVEDEV

EXPECTED IN PROTESTS ENTER ADVANCES
SENATE VOTE SECOND WEEK

P6 P10 P11 P12

WEATHER
‘Statehood for J-K FM: Rahul becoming
doomsday man for India
Partly cloudy sky. Dense to very dense

at appropriate time’
fog in the morning. The maximum and
minimum temperatures would be around
27 and 12 degrees Celsius respectively.
RAINFALL: Nil PRESS TRUST OF INDIA Finance minister gress for inconsistency in
RELATIVE HUMIDITY Home minister says development in the Union territory top priority NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
Nirmala Sitharaman
their approach in the two
houses of Parliament.
Max: 100% Min: 49% said the former
SNS & PTI Finance Minister Nirmala “The same party in Rajya
TEMPERATURE
Max: 26.6°C (+4) Min:10.8°C (0)
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
This legislation, The First phase of Sitharaman on Saturday Congress chief was Sabha takes part in Budget
hit out at Congress leader creating fake narra- discussion and asks ques-

U
SUN RISES SUN SETS nion Home Min- Jammu and Kashmir Budget session Rahul Gandhi saying he is tives but does not tions and listens answers...
Reorganisation (Amend-
07:00 hrs
MOON RISES
18:11 hrs
MOON SETS
ister Amit Shah
ment) Bill, 2021, has noth- concludes becoming a “doomsday
have patience to
why that does not happen
asserted in Lok man” for India by con- in Lok Sabha... why take dif-
9:15 hrs 20:37 hrs Sabha on Satur- ing to do with state- NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY stantly insulting constitu- listen to replies on ferent positions in Rajya
day that the government has hood, and Jammu tional functionaries and allegations levelled Sabha and Lok Sabha...
done more for Jammu and and Kashmir will be Lok Sabha was creating fake narratives on against the GoI what is this,” she won-
Kashmir since Article 370 was accorded the sta- adjourned on Satur- various issues. dered. Responding to Rahul
THUMBNAILS scrapped in August 2019 tus at an appro- day, ending the first Replying to the general keep accusing others,” she Gandhi’s speech on Thurs-
than those who ruled it for priate time phase of the Budget discussion on Budget in said. ‘Hum Do Hamare Do’- day, during which he talked
generations, even as he AMIT SHAH session which report- Lok Sabha, she said the expression was used by about farm laws but
assured that the Centre will HOME MINISTER ed close to 100 per cent former Congress chief was Gandhi in his speech on declined to speak on the
grant full statehood to the productivity and wit- creating fake narratives but Thursday, during the gen- Budget, she said, “he is
union territory at an appro- nessed 13 privilege does not have patience to eral debate on the Budget, probably becoming a
priate time. it. Jammu and Kashmir has he said, attacking dynastic notices filed by MPs. listen to replies on allega- referring to the fact that only doomsday man for India.”
Replying to a discussion been a top priority for the parties in the region. The House will tions levelled against the four persons are ruling this The minister further
on the Jammu and Kashmir current government since Even our rivals could reconvene on March 8 government. country including two busi- said that Gandhi laid the
Reorganisation (Amend- it took power in 2014, he not allege any wrongdoing after recess. The first “We need to recognise ness houses. Retorting to “foundation” but did not
ment) Bill, he also slammed said.Responding to Con- in these polls which were phase of the Budget these two tendencies of this, the Finance Minister speak about the Budget
some Opposition members gress leader Adhir Ranjan conducted fairly and peace- session started on Jan- the Congress party. One is said this expression fits on during the discussion on it.
for their claim that the pro- Chowdhury, Shah said fully, he said. Work on two uary 29 with President’s creating fake narratives the Gandhi family. Sitharaman said she
posed law negates the hopes Opposition parties were AIIMS in the region has address to joint sitting and second, lack of belief With regard to the sec- wanted Gandhi to speak on
of the region getting back its free to visit the region. begun, and the Kashmir of both houses of Par- in a democratically elect- ond tendency of Congress, 10 issues, but was disap-
A health worker being vaccinated against erstwhile statehood. Chowdhury had claimed Valley will be connected to liament which was boy- ed Parliamentary system. she said, “We will put alle- pointed as the Congress le-
Covid-19 as the second phase of vaccination, The Bill to merge the that foreign delegations the railways by 2022, the cotted by over 20 Oppo- “In banks, you did phone gations, use abusive lan- ader made no mention of
Corona Vaccination 2.0, was launched across Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) were being taken to the Union Home Minsiter said. sition parties in support banking and left huge NPAs. guage, but when under Par- them.“I wanted to know from
the country. At Max Hospital, Patparganj, in cadre of all-India services offi- region, no all-party delega- Attacking the Opposi- of the demand of the This is one tendency, cre- liamentary procedure they the Congress why it took a
the Capital on Saturday. SNS (P 2) cers with the Arunachal tion was sent. tion, he said while they were protesting farmers for ate institutions and use have to respond to... they U-turn on the farm laws
Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram The home minister also seeking a report card from the repeal of the three them for ‘Hum Do Hamare only shout and walk out.” but no reply came,” she said.
Mahua urges security withdrawal from home: Union Territory (AGMUT) gave the assurance to the the government about the farm laws. PTI Do’ and at the end of the day She criticised the Con- See page 8
Trinamul Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Satur- cadre was later passed by Lok people of Jammu and Kash- development of Jammu and
day took strong exception to the stationing of Sabha by a voice vote. mir that“no one will lose their Kashmir since the abroga- mental projects, he said by
three armed security personnel at her home in
the national capital, wondering whether she
The Jammu and Kashmir
Reorganisation (Amend-
land”.
The government has suf-
tion of Article 370 in August
2019, “have you brought a
2022 we will be providing rail
connectivity to Kashmir No immediate threat SC: Right to
was under “some sort of surveillance” and asked
the Delhi Police chief to withdraw them. “The
ment) Bill, 2021 has already
been passed by Rajya Sabha.
ficient land for develop-
ment works, Shah said.
report card of what you
have done in the last 70
valley.
Since the imposition of from temporary lake; protest cannot
conduct of these armed officers indicate that It replaces an ordinance Decentralisation and years”. President’s rule in Jammu
be anytime &
they are making notes of movements to and
from my residence,” she stated in a letter.
issued last month. This leg-
islation has nothing to do
devolution of power have
taken place in the union ter-
ritory following the revo-
Shah said the govern-
ment expects that around
25,000 government jobs will
and Kashmir, the govern-
ment has almost complet-
ed the work of giving elec-
rescue efforts continue everywhere
with statehood, and Jammu
and Kashmir will be accord- cation of Article 370, Shah be created in Jammu and tricity to every house. STATESMAN NEWS
Five elephants die within 13 days in Odisha: Five ed the status at an appro- said, noting that panchay- Kashmir by 2022. Shah said the govern- SERVICE NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
elephants have died within a gap of 13 days priate time, Shah said. at elections saw over 51 per Replying to AIMIM pres- ment has changed the land DEHRADUN, 13 FEBRUARY
inside Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary in Kalahandi He took a swipe at the cent voting. Panchayats ident Asaduddin Owaisi, laws to facilitate setting up The right to protest cannot
district of Odisha, officials said. All the carcass- Congress and other parties have been given adminis- he said 4G services are of industry.“We are providing The lake which has formed be anytime and everywhere,
es were found near water bodies, they said. ~ which had backed Article trative and financial pow- resumed not under pressure Rs 13,000 per month cash in the upstream of Rishi- the Supreme Court said as it
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Sashi 370 of the Constitution that ers for local development, of any foreign government. assistance to those 44,000 ganaga in the flash-flood dismissed a plea seeking
Pal said, the elephant deaths were due to some gave special status to Jammu something they lacked ear- “This is Modi’s government displaced Kashmiri families hit area in district Chamoli, review of its verdict passed
bacterial infection. “The water bodies in the and Kashmir ~ saying this lier, he added. and in this, the country’s gov- who have Rahat Cards,” he is maintaining smooth last year in which it had held
sanctuary may have been infected,” he said. was a temporary provision Now people chosen by ernment and Parliament said adding they were dis- discharge and there is no that the occupation of pub-
Divisional Forest Officer, Kalahandi (South), but they continued with it the masses will rule Jammu takes decision for its people,” placed beca-use Congress immediate threat from lic ways during the anti-Cit-
Ashok Kumar said water samples have been for over 70 years before the and Kashmir, not those he added. had failed to provide them the water body. izenship Amendment Act
collected from different spots for testing. Modi government annulled born to “kings and queens”, Citing certain develop- security. A team of the State protests at Shaheen Bagh
Disaster Relief Force and the flood-ravaged Tapo- here was not acceptable.
National Disaster Relief van-Vishnugad hydel proj- The top court said there
Farmers seek
judicial enquiry
No new Covid deaths in 17 states, UTs Force reached the lake
site on Saturday and pro-
vided a ground report to
ect in an attempt to reach
the around 35 people
believed trapped inside for
may be some spontaneous
protests but in case of pro-
longed dissent or protest,
the state government. nearly a week. there cannot be continued
into R-Day clash SNS & PTI
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
have reported between 1-5 new
deaths due to Covid. India’s
ka and Punjab reported 8 deaths
each.
Navneet Bhullar,
Commandant of the SDRF,
The Silt Flushing Tun-
nel (SFT) was punctured
occupation of public place
affecting the rights of others.
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY total Covid active caseload cur- A total of 1,06,00,625 people said, “The discharge of on Friday night by drilling A bench of Justices San-
The distribution of daily deaths rently stands at 1.36 lakh com- have recovered so far with 11,395 the water is smooth. Debris a 75 mm-diameter hole jay Kishan Kaul, Aniruddha
Protesting farmer unions on Sat-
urday demanded a high-level
among states and Union terri-
tories in a span of 24 hours
prising just 1.25 per cent of the
total infections.
patients getting discharged in
the previous 24 hours. Kerala has
1,08,92,746 has created a field of about
500-700 metres on the
into it but now it is being
widened to 300 mm so that
Bose and Kirshna Murari
said, “We have perused the
judicial inquiry into the violence reflects a significant decline, A total of 12,143 daily new reported the maximum num- front part of the lake. The a camera and a water review petition and record of
that took place during the trac-
tor rally in Delhi on 26 January
with 17 of them not reporting
any new Covid-19 fatality, the
cases were registered in a span
of 24 hours, it said, adding that
ber of single-day recoveries,
with 5,332 newly-recovered 1,36,571 ground, formed by ice,
debris and boulder, is
flushing pipe could be
inserted into the tunnel
the civil appeal and are con-
vinced that the order of
and the alleged “false” cases Union Health Ministry said on 86.01 per cent of the new cases cases. smooth. The water flow- where the trapped are which review has been
slapped on the farmers.
Addressing a press confer-
Saturday.
The states and Union terri-
are from six states. Kerala con-
tinues to report the highest Delhilogs 126 cases & no death: 12,143 ing downstream is clear,
not muddy.”
possibly located, general
manager of the NTPC
sought, does not suffer from
any error apparent war-
ence at the Singhu border, tories that have not reported any daily new cases at 5,397, followed Delhi today recorded 126 fresh The SDRF/NDRF team project, R P Ahirwal, said. ranting its reconsideration.”
Samyukta Kisan Morcha leaders new deaths in the last 24 hours by Maharashtra with 3,670, coronavirus cases and no Covid- found the lake over 200 Rescuers said they were The bench, which has
asked farmers who are getting
police notices not to appear
areTelangana,Odisha,Jharkhand,
Puducherry, Chandigarh, Naga-
while Tamil Nadu reported 483
new cases.
linked death, while the positiv-
ity rate stood at 0.21 per cent,
11,395 metres long and 50 metres
wide. The team has start-
still hopeful of finding
survivors, notwithstand-
passed the order recently, said
it has considered the earli-
before the force directly and, land, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim, Further, 103 deaths were according to the latest health bul- ed work to set up a tem- ing the challenges like er judicial pronouncements
instead, approach the legal cell Meghalaya, Ladakh, Mizoram, recorded in a span of 24 hours. letin issued by the Delhi gov- porary helipad near the the muck and the water and recorded its opinion
constituted by the unions for
any assistance. According to SKM
Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Tripura, Lakshadweep, Arunachal
Six states account for 80.58 per
cent of the new deaths. Maha-
ernment's health department.
This was the second time this
1,55,550 artificial lake site.
Meanwhile, rescue
from Dhauli Ganga con-
stantly flowing into the tun-
that the Constitutional
scheme comes with a right
leaders, 16 farmers who had par- Pradesh and Daman and Diu and rashtra saw the maximum of 36 month when the single-day UNION HEALTH MINISTRY teams on Saturday began nels. 38 people have been to protest and express dis-
FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M.
ticipated in the tractor parade are Dadra and Nagar Haveli. casualties. Kerala follows with Covid fatality count was stated SATURDAY 13 FBERUARY 2021 boring a wider and deep- dead and 166 missing sent but with an obligation
still untraceable. PTI Altogether 13 states and UTs 18 daily deaths, while Karnata- to be zero. (SEE P 2) er hole into the tunnel at since the mishap. to have certain duties. PTI

Indian-origin employee Radio remains a powerful broadcaster in Covid age

aims for top job at UN
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
UNITED NATIONS, 13 FEBRUARY
An Indian-origin employee at
the UN has announced her
candidacy to be its next Secre-
tary-General, the first person
to throw her hat in the ring
against incumbent Antonio
Guterres, who is seeking a sec-
ond five-year term beginning
January 2022 as chief of the world
organisation.
Arora Akanksha, 34, work-
ing as an audit coordinator for
the United Nations Develop-
ment Programme (UNDP), said
she will run for the post of the
world’s top diplomat and
launched her campaign #Aro-
raForSG this month.
People in my position aren’t
supposed to stand up to the ones
in charge. We are supposed to
wait our turn, hop on the ham-
ster wheel, go to work, keep our
heads down and accept that the
world is the way it is, Akanksha
said in a two and half minute
campaign video posted online.
The video shows Akanksha
walking inside the sprawling UN
headquarters, as her voiceover
says that people who have
come before her have failed to
hold the UN accountable.
For 75 years, the UN has not
fulfilled its promise to the world
~ refugees haven’t been pro-
tected, humanitarian aid has
been minimal, and technolo-
gy and innovation has been on
the back-burner. We deserve a
UN that leads progress,” she said.
ASHA RAMACHANDRAN
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
Celebrating the 10th year of
World Radio Day on 13 Feb-
ruary and over 110 years of
this medium, radios around
the globe are connecting with
their communities in various
ways.
Proclaimed in 2011 by the
member states of UNESCO
and adopted by the United
Nations General Assembly
in 2012 as an International
Day, 13 February became
World Radio Day (WRD).
On this occasion, UNESCO
also called on radio stations
to observe this day through
three themes ~ evolution,
innovation and connection.
Despite inroads made by
the electronic media, includ-
ing TV, Internet and social
media, radio continues to
hold its own and remains, even
today, the most powerful
medium of communication.
In its message, UNESCO
said, “Radio is a powerful
medium for celebrating
humanity in all its diversity
and constitutes a platform for
democratic discourse. At the
global level, radio remains the
most widely consumed medi-
um. This unique ability to
reach out the widest audience
means radio can shape a
society’s experience of diver-
sity, stand as an arena for all
voices to speak out, be rep-
resented and heard.
Radio stations should serve
diverse communities, offer-
ing a wide variety of pro-
grams, viewpoints and con-
tent, and reflect the diversi-
ty of audiences in their organ-
isations and operations.”
In India, radio has evolved
over the years to adapt and
innovate according to the
ever-changing world.
It has proved to be invalu-
able during natural disas-
ters, epidemics and emer-
When the entire world stood challenged by
the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, the local
community
radio stations
continued their
broadcasts to
keep people
informed and
connect local
authorities
with the com-
munity
gency situations, emerging as
a resilient and sustainable
form of communication.
In this context, commu-
nity radios (CRs) have played
an important role in provid-
ing the last mile link for peo-
ple, who either live in media-
dark areas, remote villages,
or are affected by disasters.
More recently, when the
entire world stood challenged
by the Covid-19 pandemic in
early 2020, the local com-
munity radio stations con-
tinued their broadcasts to
keep people informed and
connect local authorities with
the community.
The community radios
also became the bridge
between medical depart-
ments and the local people.
“Since community radio
caters to a small geographic
area, the new media such as
live-streaming and mobile
apps have helped to provide
programme content access to
and from anywhere in the
world,” said Pooja O Mura-
da, Principal Lead, Outreach
for Development, S M Seh-
gal Foundation, which has ini-
tiated a community radio
Alfaz-e-Mewat in Nuh district
of Haryana.
“Another communication
tool, podcasting, is promis-
ing as it can entertain, inform
and expand the coverage
without too much screen
engagement. During Covid
times, we also launched our
podcast channel called SMSF
Connect, which is a go-to
place for information about
rural development themes
and select radio campaigns
on health and hygiene.”
Situated in the foothills of
the Aravali mountain range
in village Ghaghas of Nuh dis-
trict, Alfaz-e-Mewat FM 107.8
broadcasted nonstop since the
outbreak of the pandemic.
Covid response at the
radio station began as early
as February 2020 and con-
tinued to focus on awareness
generation about the virus and
prevention. The very first
broadcasts at the station were
done with the district mag-
istrate, the chief medical offi-
cer and senior medical offi-
cer of the nearest hospital.
The Covid programming
ensured that listeners receive
timely updates on the pan-
demic, clear information
from credible sources and on
the do’s and don’ts to safeguard
themselves from Covid-19,
together with sharing on pos-
itivity and mental well-being
through psychologists. Rural
schoolchildren have tuned in
to radio for education amidst
the pandemic. Alfaz-e-
Mewat’s Radio School pro-
gramme reached out to chil-
dren across a number of vil-
lages in the Haryana district.

SD Telugu news papers

 SD Telugu news papers

02
It never fails to amaze me how most of the J&K administration, both civil
& police, grovels in front of BJP functionaries. The state president pins
badges & ranks in a police passing out parade having no position of
authority in J&K whatsoever. Shame on this government.
OMAR ABDULLAH
NEW DELHI, 14 FEBRUARY 2021 FORMER J&K CHIEF MINISTER

Covid vaccination: 1,856 1.66L students 'missing' from Delhi

schools post lockdown: Anil Kumar
get second dose in Delhi
The administering of second Covid-19 shots get underway for healthcare workers who had received
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY

Delhi Pradesh Congress

Committee (DPCC) president
Anil Kumar today charged
The DPCC president
said it was a question
of empowering these
poor children through
education, and the
poration, 58,000 students
from the Centre's New Delhi
Municipal Council (NDMC),
and 33,600 students from the
East Delhi Municipal Cor-
poration, have gone “miss-
that the Covid-19 pandem- Delhi government and ing” from their school ros-
their first jabs 28 days ago; city logs 126 new coronavirus cases and no fresh death ic lockdown has inflicted a the MCDs should take ters.
SNS & PTI official at the facility said, bulletin issued by the Delhi gov- severe blow on children He said it was a matter of
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY adding that a total of 137 per- ernment's health department. from poor families in con-
the help of all the "serious concern", espe-
sons were vaccinated there on This was the second time tinuing their schooling in the agencies to bring cially considering that these

T
he vaccination drive
against Covid-19
picked up further
momentum in Delhi
as 1,856 healthcare workers,
who had received their first
shots on day one of the exer-
cise four weeks ago, turned up
to get their second dose today.
However, the turnout for the
second dose was about 43
per cent only.
Under the nationwide mega
Covid vaccination drive
launched on 16 January, a
total of 4,319 health workers
(53 per cent of the then tar-
geted figure of 8,117) were
administered the shots at 81
centres across the city on day
one.
The second dose is to given
to a beneficiary after a gap of
28 days.
Today, altogether 13,768
beneficiaries received the
Covid jabs, even as the admin-
istering of the second dose
began for healthcare workers
who had received the first jab
28 days ago, a senior official
said. “Out of the total number
of healthcare workers, 1,856
received second dose today
and 3,530 got the first jab. Also,
8,382 frontline workers also got
their first shots today,” he
said.
The number of centres
REPRESENTATIONAL IMAGE
where vaccination was carried
out yesterday stood at 257
with a turnout of about 57 per
cent, as over 14,800 people
received the Covid shots in the
national caital during the
fourth week of the inoculation
drive.
The second dose delivery
began at LNJP Hospital as
well and 25 people received
the second shots, a senior
Saturday. Thirty-two health-
care workers were vaccinat-
ed on 16 January at LNJP Hos-
pital, from where Delhi chief
minister Arvind Kejriwal had
officially started the drive.
A senior doctor at Centre
for Chest and Respiratory Ill-
ness, and other healthcare
workers at the BLK Super Spe-
ciality Hospital also received
second shots today, a
spokesperson of the hospital
said.
A senior doctor at Rajiv
Gandhi Super Speciality Hos-
pital said, “110 people got
vaccinated in total, out of
whom five beneficiaries were
those who got their second
shots today”.
Meanwhile, Delhi today
recorded 126 fresh coron-
avirus cases and no Covid-
linked death, while the posi-
tivity rate stood at 0.21 per cent,
according to the latest health
this month when the single-
day Covid fatality count was
stated to be zero.
On 9 February, no fatality
from coronavirus was regis-
tered in the national capital
after a gap of nearly nine
months.
Today's fresh Covid cases
were detected out of 60,876
tests conducted the previous
day, which included 38,921 RT-
PCR tests and 21,955 rapid anti-
gen tests, the health bulletin
said.
These cases pushed the
city's coronavirus infection tally
to 6,36,796 while its Covid
death toll stood at 10,889.
The national capital's active
cases tally dropped to 1,041
from yesterday's 1,053, the bul-
letin stated.
Delhi had yesterday record-
ed 141 Covid cases and 3
deaths, while its positivity
rate was 0.22 per cent.
national capital.
He said nearly 1.66 lakh
students of the schools run
by the AAP-ruled Delhi gov-
ernment as well as the BJP-
ruled Municipal Corpora-
tions of Delhi (MCDs) have
been "missing" from their
classroom rosters follow-
ing the Covid lockdown in
the city.
The Delhi Congress chief
charged that the Delhi gov-
ernment and the MCDs were
"clueless" about the where-
abouts of these students.
"It is shocking that Man-
ish Sisodia (Delhi deputy
chief minister) went to Uttar
Pradesh and Gujarat, when
Delhi was seized of the coro-
na pandemic and the farm-
ers’ protests, to tom-tom
about the 'achievements'
of government schools in
Delhi, though his bluff has
been called by the missing
them back so that
they could resume
their "broken educa-
tion".
students’ data," Kumar
alleged.
He said that under the
Rights to Education (RTE)
Act, 2009, passed by the
previous Congress-led UPA
government, it is the respon-
sibility of the State to bring
out-of-school children to
our educational system, but
despite lakhs of students
remaining "untraced", the
Arvind Kejriwal government
and the MCDs have "not
bothered to make any sin-
cere effort to find them".
Kumar said that nearly
31,000 students from the
Delhi government schools,
44,000 students from the
South Delhi Municipal Cor-
children hailing mostly from
economically weaker sec-
tions of migrant labourers
~ who suffered the worst
impact of the Covid pan-
demic lockdown ~ might
have been forced to return
to their respective native
villages and might have been
engaged in child labour.
He wondered that if their
educational institutions had
not done anything to trace
these children, what steps
the Delhi government and
MCDs have taken to trace
them.
The DPCC president said
it was a question of empow-
ering these poor children
through education, and the
Delhi government and the
MCDs should take the help
of all the agencies to bring
them back so that they could
resume their "broken edu-
cation".

Delhi Police chief reviews security at border points

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
Delhi Police commissioner S
N Shrivastava today reviewed
the law and order situation and
arrangements at various bor-
ders points of the national cap-
ital in view of the continuing
agitation by farmers protest-
ing the Centre's controversial
agriculture laws.
During his review meeting
with senior officers, the city
police chief also took stock of
action taken against criminals
involved in burglary and other
cases related to Narcotic Drugs
and Psychotropic Substances
Act (NDPS), Excise Act and
gambling, according to a state-
ment issued by Delhi Police.
To reduce such crimes,
Shrivastava stressed on the
need to take effective and
sustained steps, it said.
He insisted on carrying
out regular checking of listed
criminals, including those in
jail or
bail/parole released, tem-
poral and special analysis of
crime incidents as well as
optimal use of available human
resources and technology, the
police statement said.
The police commissioner
said that the performance of
anti-snatching teams and use
of crime teams be regularly
assessed.
During the meeting, spe-
cial commissioner of police
(operation) also briefed Shri-
vastava about the progress
in the ongoing Covid vacci- The police commis-
nation of Delhi Police per-
sonnel, said Anil Mittal, Addi-
sioner said that the
tional PRO, Delhi Police. performance of anti-
Shrivastava also rewarded snatching teams and
the police team involved in use of crime teams be
cracking the "Reliance jewellery regularly assessed.
showroom dacoity" case that
took place under the Maurya technical and local intelli-
Enclave police station in Jan- gence.
uary. Eight people who were The police team had also
found involved in the crime recovered 6.5 kg of robbed jew-
and six receivers (who bought ellery articles besides two
the stolen articles from the cars from the accused, the
accused) were arrested through statement added.

JOBS & CLASSIFIEDS
Non-teaching: Graduate,
Salary negotiable. Apply with
biodata within 07 days from
the date of publication
through Speed Post. All appli-
cations must be addressed to
The Principal, Barrackpore
Rastraguru Surendranath
College, 85, Middle Road,
Barrackpore, Kolkata-
700120.
al Nagar Road, New Delhi-
110094, have change his
name Atul Kumar to Atul
Maratha for all purpose.
Reenu Sharma
Advocate
Chamber No. 366
Saket Courts Complex
New Delhi-110020
Mob. 9310607299
I, PINTU, S/o. Hreedaya
Ram, R/o. 4, Diamond
Harbour Road, Watganj,
Kolkata-700027, do hereby
declare that ‘Pintu’ and
‘Pintu Arya’ is same and
QUEST
AN AMBULANCE and a
Hearse Van are ready for
sale. Intending buyers please
contact on any
working day (Monday to
Friday) between 2.30 p.m.
and 4.30 p.m. Contact No.:
9874773722.
BESIDE Phool Bagan
Mangolpuri murder probe transferred to crime branch
PTI
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
A day after the fifth accused
was arrested in connection with
the killing of a 25-year-old man
allegedly by a group of men
in outer Delhi's Mangolapuri
area, police on Saturday said
the case has been transferred
to the crime branch.
The deceased, Rinku Shar-
ma, worked as a lab techni-
cian, and since the incident
police personnel have been
deployed in the locality to
avoid any untoward incident.
Additional Public Rela-
tions Officer (Delhi Police)
Anil Mittal said that the case
has now been transferred to
the crime branch for further
investigation.
According to police, on
Wednesday night, when both
the victim and the accused men
were attending a birthday
party, an argument broke out
between them over their food
joints in Rohini.
They also allegedly slapped
and threatened each other at
the party, following which
they left. The two parties had
similar tussles over the same
issue sometime back as well,
police said.
Later, the four men went
to Sharma's house where the
victim along with his elder
brother were already stand-
ing outside with sticks. A scuf-
fle broke out between the two
sides again during which the
accused stabbed Sharma and
fled from the spot, a senior
police officer had said on
Thursday.
Sharma's brother Mannu
(19), however, alleged that
Rinku Sharma was killed as he
was actively participating in
the donation drive for the
Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
However, the Delhi Police
denied any communal angle
to the murder and said the fight
at the birthday party took
place over a business rivalry.
So far, Tazuddin, Zahid,
Mehtab, Danish and Islam
have been arrested in con-
nection with the incident,
police said.

Partly cloudy sky, dense

Metro Station 7 katthas
MY client Atul Kumar,
s/o Sh. Harish Chander
identical person, vide affi-
davit sworn before Ld. 1st (more or less) land with G+III- Editors Guild's
Singh, H. No. 451, Gali No.
8, Moonga Nagar, Karaw-
Class Judicial Magistrate,
Alipore dated: 27.01.2021.
storied sanction plan –
9830160469. webinar disrupted
fog likely in city today PTI
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY

The Editors Guild of India on

COURT NOTICE
(U/O 5 Rule 20 CPC)
IN THE COURT OF
MS. SONIA SHEOKAND
Civil Judge
(Junior Division),
Gurugram
Adarsh Vir Singh
Versus
General Public.
CNR No. HRGR02-000502-
2021
Notice to :
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In above titled case, the
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ordered that
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2021 at 10-00 a.m.
For details logon to
https://highcourtchd.gov.in/?t
rs=district_notice&dis-
trict=gurugram.
Dated, this day of 10-02-
2021.
Civil Judge
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Seal of the Court
Saturday said its virtual webi-
KOLKATA Tel: 0177-2815000 nar on reporting challenges
Statesman House, Email: from Naxal areas was subject-
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8697711293, +91 Siliguri-734015 LUCKNOW Calling it a blatant attack on
Dense fog during morning in the Capital on Saturday. SNS
9674765317. Tel: 2568615, 2568063 and 2568787. Fax: 2/2, Butler Palace (Near Jopling Road), the freedom of speech, the
Guild demanded that the Cyber
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BARRACKPORE Email:
RASTRAGURU
siliguri@thestatesmangroup.com NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY The MeT department has according to the Ministry of lation.“The Guild is shocked and
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City Office: 3rd Floor, Rina Bhawan,
lucknow@thestatesmangroup.com predicted a partly cloud sky Earth Sciences' air quality disturbed by this unprece-
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Opp. HDFC Bank, Panitanki More, A thick blanket of fog with “dense to very dense and weather forecasting sys- dented attack by those who clear-
Wanted one Trainer and RANCHI
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one Non-teaching staff for Ph.: 0353-2524077 11/C, Road#1, Ashoknagar, Ranchi - 834
002
day morning, with the visibility “The maximum and min- SAFAR has predicted the es to be heard. Naxal infested
the Department of CEL of 6, imum temperatures will be AQI to be around 343 on Sun- areas have been subjected to
SHIMLA Fax: (0651) 2247054 dropping to 50 metres at Saf-
Riverside Road campus of darjung and 250 metres at around 28 and 12 degrees day. some of the most horrifying and
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Near Jodha Niwas delhistatesman@gmail.com
Trainer – Master Degree with The Mall Shimla-171001, H.P. ranchi@thestatesmangroup.com cials said. cial said. 300 is considered 'poor', 301- excesses. The webinar speak-
at least 65% Marks, The city recorded a mini- The air quality in the 400 'very poor' and 401-500 ers have been at the forefront
Certificate in Students
AIR-SURCHARGE; Kathmandu - Rs. 2, Eastern Region - Re. 1 mum temperature of 10.8 national capital was record- 'severe', while the AQI above of chronicling the conflict and
Counselling preferable. For All other stations in India - Re. 1 degrees Celsius and a maxi- ed in the “very poor” catego- 500 falls in the severe plus cat- the human rights abuses over
mum temperature of 26.6 ry. The air quality index (AQI) egory. the last few decades,” it noted.

SD Telugu news papers


Cops take Sidhu to Red
Fort to recreate scene
Delhi Police Crime Branch takes Deep Sidhu and another accused Iqbal Singh to the historic monu-
ment to recreate the scene of violence that unfolded there on 26 Jan during farmer's tractor parade
PTI
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
T
he Delhi Police's
Crime Branch on Sat-
urday took actor-
activist Deep Sidhu
and another accused Iqbal
Singh to Red Fort to recre-
ate the scene of events that
unfolded at the historic mon-
ument on Republic Day dur-
ing the farmer's tractor
parade, a police officer said.
Sidhu, according to police,
was a “prominent player”
behind the January 26 vio-
lence and vandalism at the
Red Fort. He was arrested
from Kar nal bypass in
Haryana on Monday night by
a team of Delhi Police's Spe-
cial Cell.
On Tuesday, Sidhu was
sent to seven-day police cus-
tody by a city court here.
A senior police officer
said Sidhu and another
accused arrested in the case
Iqbal Singh were taken to the
Red Fort by a crime branch
team to recreate the scene
of events that unfolded on
Republic Day at the monu-
CRAVING NORMALITY
A large number of tourists throng the Ridge in Shimla on Saturday.
Farmers’ stir: Some people protesting for protest's sake, claims Khattar
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
CHANDIGARH, 13 FEBRUARY
Expressing hope for an end to
the ongoing farmers’ agitation
against new farm laws, Haryana
Chief Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar on Saturday claimed
that some people were protest-
ing just for the sake of protest
and it also showed their "vest-
ed political intent".
Speaking to reporters after
a pre-budget meeting with
the Members of Parliament
(MPs) of Haryana, the CM
said the Central government
is clearly of the view that the
three agricultural laws are for
the benefit of the farmers and
Himachal Governor takes a ride on
Shimla-Kalka world heritage rail line
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
SHIMLA, 13 FEBRUARY
Himachal Pradesh Governor
Bandaru Dattatraya on Sat-
urday took a ride in a rail car
from Shimla to Kalka on the
world heritage railway line.
During the journey, he
stayed for a short period at
Barog and visited the railway
station and received infor-
mation about this historical
station.
The Governor and Lady
Governor Vasantha Bandaru
were welcomed at Barog by
Station Superintendent
Dharam Dutt Upadhyay.
The Governor visited the
office building and tunnel and
with keen interest attained
knowledge regarding the
same. This office building
was built in 1902.
Upadhyay informed the
Governor about the histor-
ical background of Barog
station and also about Colonel
Barog and British officer Har-
rington.
The Governor also
enquired of the Nails Token
Instrument system, with the
help of which the train runs.
ment.
The team probing the
case will inspect the spot to
ascertain and corroborate the
route taken by them, their
activities at the Red Fort
and how things unfolded at
will certainly boost the eco-
nomic prosperity of the agri-
cultural sector.
“Some people are protest-
ing just for the sake of protest
HP Governor Bandaru Dattatraya in a rail car on the
Shimla-Kalka heritage railway line on Saturday.
The Governor said that
when he was the Minister of
State for Railways, he worked
towards the promotion of
heritage railway track.
“Shimla-Kalka railway
track is an international her-
itage and is truly a center of
attraction,” he added.
He expressed satisfaction
over the cleanliness and
We then went before the people with a manifesto on what we will
do. We brought out a progress report every year and now looking
back on what we did, we have been able to do all what we
promised
the monument on Republic
Day when the violence broke
out, the officer added.
Iqbal Singh, who was car-
rying a reward of Rs 50,000
on his arrest, was nabbed
from Hoshiarpur in Punjab
LALIT KUMAR
and it also shows their vested
political intent. However, if
through positive dialogue,
any amendment in these laws
is required, then the Central
SNS
maintenance of Barog rail-
way station.
He said that this station
should be further developed
and additional facilities
should be provided so that
more and more tourists could
visit this place and which
would also give a further
boost to the tourism activi-
ties in the state.
SD Telugu news papers
on Tuesday night by the
northern range of Delhi
Police's Special Cell.
The Delhi police had
announced a cash reward of
Rs 1 lakh for information that
can lead to the arrest of
Septuagenarian Punjab
farmer dies at Singhu
PTI
CHANDIGARH, 13 FEBRUARY
A 72-year-old Punjab farmer
who was participating in
farmers' agitation at Delhi's
Singhu border has died of
cardiac arrest, police said on
Saturday.
Hansa Singh was a resi-
dent of Moga district, a
police official posted at
Kundli police station in
Haryana's Sonipat said.
Singh died of heart attack
Thursday night, police said,
adding his post-mortem
was conducted on Friday.
Thousands of farmers
Government is and will always
be ready for making the
required amendments. I am
hopeful that soon the issue
would be resolved,” said the
CM.
Earlier, Khattar said the
state's budget for 2021-22
would focus on education,
health security, employment
and self-reliance. The budget,
to be presented in the state
Assembly when the session
starts next month, will take care
of all sections of the society,
Khattar, who also holds the
finance portfolio said.
The CM said like last year,
this year too the state budget
2021-22 would be prepared and
SD Telugu news papers
PINARAYI VIJAYAN
actor Sidhu, Jugraj Singh,
Gurjot Singh and Gurjant
Singh who hoisted flags at the
Red Fort or were involved in
the act.
A cash reward of Rs 50,000
each was also announced for
Buta Singh, Sukhdev Singh,
Jajbir Singh and Iqbal Singh
for allegedly instigating pro-
testers.
Of them, Sidhu, Iqbal
Singh and Sukhdev Singh
have been arrested. Police
said raids are being con-
ducted to nab the other
accused.
Thousands of farmers
protesting the Centre's new
agriculture laws had clashed
with the police during their
tractor parade on January 26.
Many of the protesters,
driving tractors, reached the
Red Fort and entered the
monument. Some protesters
even hoisted religious flags
on its domes and a flagstaff
at the ramparts, where the
national flag is unfurled on
Independence Day.
Over 500 police person-
nel were injured and one
protestor died on that day.
Hansa Singh was a
resident of Moga dis-
trict, a police official
posted at Kundli
police station in
Haryana's Sonipat
said.
have been protesting since
late November at Delhi bor-
ders with Haryana and Uttar
Pradesh, demanding a roll-
back of the Farmers' Produce
Trade and Commerce (Pro-
motion and Facilitation)
Act, 2020, the Far mers
(Empowerment and Pro-
tection) Agreement on Price
presented after holding dis-
cussions and seeking sugges-
tions from MPs of the state.
After the meeting with the
MPs of Haryana, Khattar said
during the pre-Budget meet-
ing, various discussions were
held with the MPs regarding
their requirements and expec-
tations for the development of
their respective Constituencies.
The valuable suggestions
given by the MPs would def-
initely be incorporated in the
upcoming State Budget.
Besides this, discussions were
also held with MPs regarding
increasing Haryana's partic-
ipation in the Union Budget,
informed the CM.
KERALA CHIEF MINISTER
Rohtak killings: Police announce
reward for info on prime accused
PTI
CHANDIGARH, 13 FEBRUARY
The Haryana Police has
announced a reward of Rs
one lakh for sharing infor-
mation about a wrestling
coach, a prime accused in
the killing of five people in
Rohtak last evening, police
said on Saturday.
Five people were killed
and two others injured in a
firing incident at a wrestling
venue adjacent to a pri-
vate college in Rohtak on Fri-
day evening.
Among those killed were
college employee Manoj
Malik, his wife Sakshi Malik,
posted with the Railways, a
wrestling coach, Satish, and
a woman player. Among
the injured was a four-year-
old son of Manoj and Sak-
shi, who is undergoing treat-
ment at the PGI in Rohtak,
said police, adding that his
condition is critical.
Another injured was
admitted to a hospital in
Gurgaon.
Superintendent of Police
Rahul Sharma told reporters
that the main accused,
Sukhvinder, had been work-
ing as a wrestling coach at
the college's gymnasium.
After receiving some com-
plaints, Manoj Malik had ter-
minated his services, said
Sharma.
Assurance and Farm Services
Act, 2020 and the Essential
Commodities (Amendment)
Act, 2020.
The protesting farmers
have expressed apprehen-
sion that these laws would
pave the way for the dis-
mantling of the minimum
support price (MSP) sys-
tem, leaving them at the
“mercy” of big corpora-
tions.
However, the Centre has
maintained that the new
laws will bring better oppor-
tunities to farmers and intro-
duce new technologies in
agriculture.
NEW DELHI,14 FEBRUARY 2021
Five people were
killed and two oth-
ers injured in a firing
incident at a
wrestling venue
adjacent to a private
college in Rohtak on
Friday evening.
Prima facie, because of
this grudge, he (Sukhvinder)
committed the crime, said
Sharma.
The SP said the Haryana
Director General of Police
has announced a reward
of Rs one lakh for sharing
any information about
Sukhvinder, who is on the
run.
The identity of the per-
son who shares any infor-
mation about Sukhvinder
will be kept secret, said
Sharma, stressing that the
Haryana DGP is monitoring
the probe.
The SP said they are also
coordinating with police
of neighbouring states to
arrest the accused.
A Special Investigation
Team (SIT) comprising two
deputy superintendents of
police have also been
formed to investigate the
matter, he said.
The SP said as per avail-
able information as of now,
there was only one accused
Min temp above normal
in Punjab, Haryana
PTI
CHANDIGARH, 13 FEBRUARY
The minimum temperature
stayed above normal levels in
several parts of Punjab and
Haryana, the meteorological
department said on Saturday.
In Punjab, Amritsar, Lud-
hiana and Patiala registered
their respective lows at 10.8,
9.8 and 10 degrees Celsius, up
to five degrees above normal.
Pathankot, Adampur, Hal-
wara, Bathinda, Faridkot and
Gurdaspur recorded their
minimum temperatures at
13.4, 12, 8.6, 9, 10 and 8.8
degrees Celsius respectively.
Chandigarh, the joint cap-
03
but he also did not rule out
the possibility of the involve-
ment of some other people.
Police are collecting evi-
dence from the crime scene
and the CCTV footage is
also being collected, Shar-
ma said.
However, the SP said he
is not in a position to tell the
motive of the crime. It is a
matter of investigation, he
said, adding that no eye-
witness has come forward
as of now.
As per the feedback we
got, there should be more
eyewitnesses there, he said.
On the number of bullets
fired, Sharma said, The
post-mortem of the dead is
going on. Anything can be
said about the number of
bullet injuries only after
the post-mortem. Before
this, it will be very difficult
to say how many shots were
fired.
Sharma said, Sukhvinder,
a resident of Gohana, did not
have any licensed weapon.
It is being investigated from
the college authorities
whether Sukhvinder was
given appointment in writ-
ten or on contract.
We are collecting docu-
ments. Whether he was con-
veyed in written about his
termination of services or
was communicated ver-
bally, the SP said.
ital of the two states, record-
ed a low of 11.1 degrees Cel-
sius, three degrees above nor-
mal.
In Haryana, the minimum
temperature of Ambala, Hisar
and Karnal settled at 10.5,
10.4 and 10.8 degrees Celsius
respectively, up to two degrees
above normal.
Narnaul, Rohtak, Bhiwani
and Sirsa registered their
respective lows at 6.4, 12.6, 11.5
and 10.3, the MeT office said.
Fog enveloped several
places including Chandigarh,
Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala,
Ambala, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak
and Bhiwani on Saturday
morning.
 SD Telugu news papers

04
Now people chosen by the masses will rule Jammu and
Kashmir, not those born to kings and queens
HOME MINISTER AMIT SHAH
NEW DELHI, 14 FEBRUARY 2021 ATTACKING POLITICAL PARTIES IN KASHMIR

THUMBNAILS
Virudhunagar factory Sri Lanka says it scrapped port
blast: 19 dead, police
arrest one contractor deal as Indian firm rejected terms
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Sri Lankan govt has decided to run ECT as a fully-owned operation of the state-run ports authority
CHENNAI, 13TH FEBRUARY
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA beneficial proposition,” he a memorandum of coopera-
The death toll in the Virud- COLOMBO, FEB 13 said. tion in May 2019 with India and
hunagar fire work factory Srivastava said the Indian Japan to develop the ECT dur-

Carnival parade inaugura-
tion in Panaji by Goa
tourism minister Manohar
Ajgaonkar on Saturday. IANS
UP to withdraw lockdown
violation cases: The Uttar
Pradesh government has
decided to withdraw cases
registered against people
for violation of the coron-
avirus lockdown guide-
lines, provided the com-
plaints are not of “serious”
nature. Uttar Pradesh has
also become the first
state in the country to
take back cases that were
registered for breaking
Covid protocol. Cases were
registered against over 2.5
lakh people. PTI
blaze rose to 19 as on Satur-
day morning and the police
on today arrested Ponpaan-
di, one of the contractors of
the firework unit, where a fire
accident took place on Friday.
As many as 35 persons
have been admitted to the hos-
pital due to injuries. Several
of them have serious injuries.
The police have registered
an FIR against five persons in
relation to the case and are in
search of four other persons.
Sree Mariyammal firework
unit in Achankulam village near
Sattur is reportedly leased to
one Sakthivel, who subleased
it to Ponpaandi and a few
other contractors.
The blaze started in the unit
around 1 pm on Friday and
rapidly spread to the other parts
of the unit.
Over 40 firefighters from
three stations around the vil-
lage were deployed to fight the
fire and rescue those who
were trapped inside the prem-
ises.
It took the rescue person-
nel over three hours to bring
the fire under control and
bring out the people trapped
inside. Nine bodies were recov-
ered on the spot on Friday.
The postmortem on the
deceased is underway at the
district government hospital
and a few bodies are yet to be
identified. As per reports,
around 70 persons were in the
premises on Friday when the
fire started.
S
ri Lanka has said it
scrapped the trilateral
deal with India and
Japan to develop the
Colombo Port’s Eastern Con-
tainer Terminal (ECT) as the
Indian firm involved in the proj-
ect refused to agree to its new
terms.
Prime Minister Mahinda
Rajapaksa’s office on 1 February
said that his government has
decided to run the Colombo
Port’s Eastern Container Ter-
minal (ECT) as a fully-owned
operation of the state-run
ports authority.
Answering the Opposi-
tion's query in Parliament on
Thursday on the deal, ports
minister Rohitha Abeygu-
nawardena said a Cabinet
sub-committee appointed to
examine the deal had proposed
new terms.
“We entered talks from a
favourable position to us,
then that company refused to
go ahead with our condi-
tions,” Abeygunawardena told
Parliament, adding that the
Indian company's refusal
forced Sri Lanka to scrap the
deal.
India, Japan and Sri Lanka
had inked an agreement in 2019
on development of the terminal
project.
“The governments of India,
Sri Lanka and Japan had signed
a memorandum of coopera-
tion in May 2019 to develop
and operate the East Con-
tainer Terminal of Colombo
Port in a trilateral framework,”
Ministry of External Affairs
spokesperson Anurag Srivas-
tava said at a media briefing
in New Delhi on February 4,
three days after Colombo can-
celled the deal.
“We sincerely believe that
the development of infra-
structure in Sri Lanka, in areas
such as ports and energy, with
foreign investment from India
and Japan will be a mutually
High Commissioner in Colom-
bo was in talks with the Lankan
government on the issue.
On Friday, India said its
interest to participate in the
Colombo port project is a
long standing one as most of
the goods handled at the facil-
ity are from and to India.
“We had, in principle, agree-
ment from the Sri Lankan
government in this regard,” Sri-
vastava said in New Delhi,
evading a reply to a question
whether Sri Lanka offered
India a project to develop the
western container terminal
project in Colombo port
instead of the ECT.
Srivastava further said:
“Current government has,
however, expressed a prefer-
ence in engaging investors
directly. I understand discus-
sions are still underway.”
The state-owned Sri Lanka
Ports Authority (SLPA) signed
ing the previous Sirisena gov-
ernment.
The Colombo port trade
unions opposed the propos-
al of investors from India and
Japan buying 49 per cent stake
in the ETC. They demanded
the ECT to remain 100 per cent
owned by the SLPA as opposed
to the 51 per cent.
They claimed that the pro-
posed deal with India's Adani
Group was a sell-out of the ECT.
President Gotabaya
Rajapaksa had declared that
he wanted the India-Japan
deal on the ECT to go ahead.
However, after a week of
protest, Prime Minister Mahin-
da Rajapaksa agreed to scrap
the deal, prompting India to
demand Sri Lanka to abide by
its commitment to the trilat-
eral deal with it and Japan.
Japan has also conveyed its
unhappiness with the Sri
Lankan government.

TETE-E-TETE
Gold smuggling case: Two Shah-led committee approves `3,113
booked for attempting to crore for five states as disaster relief
attack Customs official
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
13 FEBRUARY
Two people were taken into cus-
tody for allegedly attacking
Customs Commissioner Sumit
Kumar, who is probing into the
Kerala gold smuggling case.
The incident happened on
Thursday when the official was
on his way to Karipur from
Kalpetta in Wayanad district.
Following a complaint filed
by Sumit Kumar, the Kondot-
ty police have taken Mukam-
Jaseem and Thanseem into
custody.
In his complaint to the
police, Customs (Preventive)
Commissioner Sumit Kumar
had stated that some people trav-
elling in a car and some in
motorcycles followed his vehi-
cle with intent to harm him,
while he was travelling from
Kalpetta in Wayanad district to
Karipur airport on Thursday.
Parrot and a Crow taking a drink water from a water container in Amritsar on Saturday. IANS Kondotty police registered
a case under IPC sessions 283
(danger or obstruction in pub-
lic way or line of navigation) and
279 (rash driving) and 120B of
Kerala Police Act in connection
with the incident The Customs
Commissioner even revealed
that this is not the first time he
was targeted.
He and his staff had on
multiple occasions faced attacks.
“Such gangs tried to assault me
three or 4 instances earlier too.
The investigations into these
instances haven’t reached any-
place,” said Kumar.
Sumit took to Facebook to
reveal that the alleged attack-
ers tried to make it look like an
accident.
“The Syndicate tried to
attack me on road and show it
as an accident on my return back
from Kalpetta, an FIR has been
registered and CCP (Customs
Commissionerate [Preven-
tive])units are also looking for
the attackers, "Sumit Kumar
wrote.
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
A high-level committee head-
ed by Union Home Minister
Amit Shah on Saturday
approved around Rs 3,113
crore to five states that faced
natural disasters and pest
attacks in 2020.
The states and union ter-
ritory that will get the additional
central assistancefrom the
National Disaster Risk Man-
agement Fund (NDRMF) are
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil
Nadu, Puducherry and Mad-
hya Pradesh, a home min-
istry statement said.
The committee, underthe
chairmanship of the home
minister, has approved the
additional central assistance
to the five states and UT,
which were affected by floods,
cyclones (Nivar and Burevi) and
pest attack during 2020.
Andhra Pradesh will get
Rs 280.78 crore and Bihar Rs
1,255.27 crore for floods dur-
ing the South-West monsoon.
Tamil Nadu will get Rs
63.14 crore for cyclone ‘Nivar’
and Rs 223.77 crore for cyclone
‘Burevi’ ~a total Rs 286.91
crore.
The Union Territory of
Puducherry will get Rs 9.91
crore for cyclone ‘Nivar’. Mad-
hya Pradesh will get Rs 1,280.18
crore for the pest attack dur-
ing the Kharif season, the
statement said.
The central government
had deputed Inter-Minister-
ial Central Teams (IMCTs)
immediately after the calami-
ties without waiting for the
receipts of memorandum
from the affected state gov-
ernments.
While approving the addi-
tional central assistance, the
home minister said the union
government under the lead-
ership of Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi has resolved to help
the people of Andhra Pradesh,
Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Puducher-
ry and Madhya Pradesh who
braved these natural disasters.
In addition, during the
financial year 2020-21, till
date the central government
has released Rs 19,036.43 crore
to 28 states from the State Dis-
aster Risk Management Fund
(SDRMF) and Rs 4,409.71
crore to 11 states from NDRMF,
the statement said

Tainted CPM leader may join BJP
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
KOLKATA, 13 FEBRUARY
There was a flutter in political
circles on Saturday before the
Assembly elections following the
announcement of BJP state
vice-president and MP Arjun
Singh that the CPI-M leader of
North 24 Parganas and elected
panchayat member, Jakir Bal-
luk, who was accused in Amdan-
ga shootout case, will join the
saffron party.
CPI-M-led panchayat sami-
ty member Jakir was one of the
key accused in the shootout case
in which three Trinamul Con-
gress leaders and a CPI-M party
worker were killed.
TENDER
Party sources said he was
maintaining a very close rela-
tionship with Singh for the past
few weeks.
Jakir was a prime organiser
of the CPI-M in this
area.
Singh on Saturday
announced that this CPI-M
leader expressed his willing-
ness to join the BJP and
the party will induct him in its
fold. Jakir, an influential leader
of the CPI-M, was accused in a
shootout case at Obdei village
during the formation ofTaraberia
gram panchayat in 2018.
Several rounds of fire were
exchanged and bombs were
thrown following the clash of the
CPI-M and TMC supporters
on that day.
Jakir's name was registered
in an FIR as an accused in this
case. He fled from Amdanga.
Later police arrested him from
Ajmer. He was released from jail
a few days back.
Sources said since his release
he used to maintain very close
relationship with Arjun Singh.
A CPI-M leader however said that
for the past few days
Jakir was avoiding rallies
and party meetings of the
CPI-M.
Jakir refused to comment. A
TMC leader said that the BJP is
now sheltering persons who
are involved in the shootout case.
‘BJP bid to oust country's only woman CM’
SOMA MOOKHERJEE
KOLKATA, 13 FEBRUARY
Trinamul Youth Congress
president Abhishek Baner-
jee on Saturday said that
Mamata Banerjee is the only
woman chief minister in the
whole country and the BJP is
bringing its leaders from
Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya
Praedesh and Gujarat to
oust the only woman chief
minister.
While addressing nearly
lakhs of Trinamul Congress
supporters and workers at
Kulpi in South 24 Parganas,
he said: “Your main aim should
be to drive these outsiders out
of Bengal and restore Mama-
ta Banerjee’s government for
the third time.”
He added there is no doubt
that Mamata will come to
power with more than 250
seats and her government
will last for at least 50 more
years.
Abhishek challenged the
BJP to bloom lotus in of the
booths of South 24 Parganas
and said: “I challenge the BJP
that the Trinamul Congress will
gain all 31 seats of South 24
Parganas.”
People from three Assem-
bly segments — Kulpi, Mandir
Bazar and Raidighi attended
the meeting at Kulpi.
Abhishek said: “The BJP
leaders are claiming to build
Sonar Bangla but they should
start with BJP-run states like
Sonar UP, Sonar MP, Sonar
Uttarakhand and Sonar
Haryana before dreaming of
Sonar Bangla.”
He added: “The Trinamul
Congress is a grassroot party
and its main strength is its
workers and supporters. The
BJP may help some MPs and
MLAs to defect from the Tri-
namul, but it hardly matters.
We have seen that the party
has become more unified
after the defectors left the
TMC.”
Without naming Dinesh
Trivedi who resigned as Rajya
Sabha MP on Friday, Abhishek
said: “Some feel suffocated in
our party. Don't worry, peo-
ple will suffocate you in the
coming polls.”
He urged the people to
fight unitedly to give a befit-
ting reply to the Mir Zafar and
his gang of betrayers.
He dared Union home
minister Amit Shah to name
him in his allegations.
“But Mr Shah is afraid of
naming me and I'm enjoying
that,” he said. After the rally
at Kulpi Abhishek took part in
a massive road show from
Kamalgachi to Sonarpur.
Thousands of party work-
ers and supporters thronged
the road to greet him.
The workers were carrying
flags and balloons with colours
of their party flag as Abhishek
passed through the crowd in
an open van.
Claiming that it would
take 10 years to complete the
Covid-19 vaccination process
in the country, Banerjee fur-
ther accused Amit Shah of mis-
leading members of the Matua
community on providing cit-
izenship to them.
(with PTI inputs)
More students to
attend school in
Guj from 18 Feb
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, 13 FEBRUARY
As part of further relaxation of
Covid-19 restrictions,
classroom teaching for class 6
to 8 would resume for all schools
in Gujarat from 18 February.
The Gujarat government has
Classroom teachings
for class 10 and 12
were resumed from 11
January while
students of 9 and 11
started attending
their classes from 1
February
taken this decision as there is no
significant rise in daily Covid-19
cases in the state even after
schools reopened in phased
manner for students of class 9
and 12.
Classroom teachings for class
10 and 12 were resumed from
11 January while
students of 9 and 11 started
attending their classes from 1 Feb-
ruary. Only students of primary
classes would continue to attend
online classes, started about
two months after the lockdown
was declared in March last year.
However, online classes will
also continue for those still
unwilling to attend school.

AIMPLB moves SC opposing plea seeking

‘uniform grounds of divorce’ for all citizens
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
The All India Muslim Personal Law
Board (AIMPLB) has moved the
Supreme Court against a plea seek-
ing “uniform grounds of divorce” for
all citizens of the country,keeping with
the spirit of the Constitution and inter-
national conventions.
The AIMPLB has opposed the
plea filed by advocate and BJP leader
Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking uni-
form grounds of divorce on the basis
thatpersonal laws cannot be tested
on the anvil of Articles 14, 15, 21 and
44 of the Constitution.
The applicant would like to sub-
mit that the expression and ‘Custom
and Usage’ in Article 13 of the Con-
stitution does not include faith of a
religious denomination embedded
in personal laws,” the plea said while
seeking impleadment in the petition.
The Constituent Assembly was
aware of the distinction between
‘personal law’ and the ‘custom and
usage’ and chose advisedly to exclude
personal law and include custom and
usage in Article 13 of the Constitu-
tion, it said. The Board in its plea sub-
mitted that the laws relating to mar-
riage and divorce amongst the Hin-
dus themselves are not uniform and
thus the customs and practices have
been protected by the statute itself.
The top court on 16 December last
year had issued notice to the Centre
on the plea filed by Upadhyay.

SD Telugu news papers


THUMBNAILS
A roadside vendor
arranges rose flowers on
the eve of Valentine's Day,
in Bengaluru on Saturday.
IANS
Maoists killed in MP: Two
Maoists, including a wom-
an, were shot dead in an
encounter with a joint
team of the Madhya Pra-
desh Police and the sta-
te’s anti-naxal ‘Hawk For-
ce’on Friday in the
forests of Lalpur area in
Mandla district. According
to sources, the killed Mao-
ists had a reward of Rs 14
lakh on their heads. SNS
NIA charges ex-J&K cop:
The NIA on Saturday filed
a supplementary charg-
esheet against a former
Jammu and Kashmir polic-
eman, who deserted the
force and joined the Pak-
istan-based terrorist gro-
up Hizbul Mujahideen, for
his alleged involvement in
attacking a CRPF convoy
in 2019, an official said. PTI
‘PM wants to hand over
entire agri biz to his pals’
Rahul Gandhi alleges that PM giving options of hunger, unemployment& suicide
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
JAIPUR, 13 FEBRUARY
C
ontinuing scathing
attack against PM
Narendra Modi over
the farm laws on the
second day of his visit to
Rajasthan, Congress leader
Rahul Gandhi on Saturday
alleged that the prime min-
ister wants to “hand over” the
entire agriculture business to
his “two friends”.
Gandhi addressed two
farmers' rallies at Rupan-
garh in Ajmer and Nagaur's
Makrana. He had addressed
farmers' rallies in Hanu-
mangarh's Pilibanga and Sri
Ganganagar's Padampur on
the first day of his two-day
Rajasthan trip on Friday. At
the Rupangarh rally, Gandhi
said 40 per cent people of the
country are stakeholders in
the farming business.
“It is the business of 40 per
Radio has a worldwide reach and this powerful and very cheap medium of
communication is suitable for residents of rural and remote areas
cent people, which includes
farmers, small and medium
businessmen, traders and
labourers. Narendra Modi
wants to give this entire busi-
ness to his two friends. This
is the objective of the farm
laws,” he claimed but did
not name anyone.
“Narendra Modi said he is
giving options but the options
are: hunger, unemployment
and suicide,” he alleged.
Gandhi, wearing a
Rajasthani safa or turban,
reached the rally venue driv-
ing a tractor with Chief Min-
ister Ashok Gehlot and state
Congress chief Govind Singh
Dotasra sitting with him.
The former Congress chief
spoke while standing on a plat-
form made of two tractor-trail-
ers while the farmers sat or
stood on tractor-trailers
around the platform.
Later in another rally at
Nagaur's Makrana, Gandhi
said the backbone of the
country is being broken, which
started with demonetisation.
Future is being snatched
from the youth. In front of your
eyes, the backbone of the
country is being broken. It
began with demonetisation,
after which the GSTGabbar
Singh Tax was brought and
small businesses were hit,
Gandhi said in the farmers'
rally. Farmers, labourers,
Case against comedian: Two
co-accused released from jail
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
INDORE, 13 FEBRUARY
Following the Madhya Pradesh
High Court's order, the two
men accused of organising a
comedy show of stand-up
comedian Munawar Faruqui
were released from jail on
Saturday evening.
The Indore bench of the
High Court had on Friday
granted interim bail to Prakhar
Vyas (23) and Adwin Antho-
ny (25), who were accused of
organising a comedy show in
SD Telugu news papers
HAILING RADIO AS EFFECTIVE MEDIUM TO REACH OUT TO MASSES
traders are being sidelined and
the path is being cleared for
two-three businessmen. Dur-
ing the coronavirus lock-
down, labourers requested
the prime minister to give them
tickets to go home but he did
not yield to it and waived
loans of Rs 1.5 lakh crore of
the rich, he alleged.
Gandhi said it was his
responsibility to tell the truth
and it is for the people to lis-
ten or not to listen.
In February last year, I had
said 10-15 times that Bharat
Mata is going to suffer dras-
tic losses due to coronavirus.
Farmers, labourers and the
poor are going to be badly hit
but 'press wale' (media) said
he is not a farmer, he is anti-
national, he said.Gandhi said
he kept silence in Parliament
as a mark of respect to 200
farmers who died during the
agitation against the farm
laws but not a single BJP MP
stood for it.
The Speaker said I should
give in writing. Now, I will give
in writing to the Speaker that
all members in the Rajya
Sabha and the Lok Sabha
should observe a two-minute
silence, he said while express-
ing confidence that the Speak-
er will allow this.
About the farm laws he
said, The first law is about fin-
ishing the mandi system, the
As per the High Court's
order, the district court
on Saturday ordered
the release of Vyas and
Anthony on a bail of Rs
50,000 and a surety of
the same amount.
Indore, during which Faruqui
allegedly insulted Hindu deities.
As per the High Court's
order, the district court on Sat-
urday ordered the release of
Vyas and Anthony on a bail of
Rs 50,000 and a surety of the
SD Telugu news papers
RAJASTHAN CHIEF MINISTER ASHOK GEHLOT
Mahatma's grand daughter
visits Ghazipur site: Mahat-
ma Gandhi's granddaugh-
ter Tara Gandhi Bhat-
tacharjee on Saturday vis-
ited Ghazipur on the Delhi-
Uttar Pradesh border to
extend support to the farm-
ers' movement against the
Centre's contentious farm
laws, according to a BKU
statement.
The 84-year-old, who is
also the chairperson of
National Gandhi Museum,
exhorted farmers to remain
peaceful in their protest
and urged the government
to take care of the farming
community.
She was joined by Gand-
hi Smarak Nidhi chairman
Ramchandra Rahi, All-India
Sarv Seva Sangha managing
trustee Ashok Saran, Gand-
hi Smarak Nidhi director
Sanjay Singha and Nation-
al Gandhi Museum director
A Annamalai. PTI
second is about allowing
unlimited hoarding and the
third is about snatching the
rights of farmers to go to
courts.”AICC general secre-
tary Ajay Maken, chief min-
ister Ashok Gehlot, state Con-
gress president Govind Singh
Dotasra and former deputy
CM Sachin Pilot also
addressed farmers.
same amount.
The central jail adminis-
tration released the duo, who
refused to say anything to the
media on the allegations in the
FIR lodged against
them.Faruqui, who was arrest-
ed on January 1, was set free
on bail last week.
Faruqui and five others,
including a minor, involved in
organising the show were
arrested following a com-
plaint by Eklavya Singh Gaud,
son of local BJP MLA Malini
Laxman Singh Gaud.
‘Under house arrest,not allowed to meet Wani’s kin’
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
JAMMU, 13 FEBRUARY
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) president Mehbooba
Mufti on Saturday claimed
she was not allowed to visit Pul-
wama to meet the father of
J&K police
parade row
JAMMU, 13 FEBRUARY
A controversy broke out on Sat-
urday after the J&K BJP
tweeted some pictures of its
party chief Ravinder Raina
pinning rank badges on the
shoulder of some police offi-
cers at a passing out parade in
the Udhampur based police
academy.
Former CM Omar Abdullah
react on the issue by tweeting;
“It never fails to amaze me how
most of the J&K administration
grovels in front of BJP func-
tionaries. The state president
pins badges & ranks in a police
passing out parade having no
position of authority. Shame on
this government”. SNS
India accounts for 10 % of global road crash victims: WB
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
WASHINGTON, 13 FEBRUARY
India, which has one per cent
of the world's vehicles,
accounts for 10 per cent of all
road crash victims, the latest
World Bank report on road
safety said on Saturday.
Hartwig Schafer, World
Bank's Vice President for
South Asia, said the Indian gov-
ernment in recent years has
taken significant steps to
address the issues related to
road safety.
For India, it's one per cent
of the world's vehicles and 10
per cent of the crash victims.
This is something where, in
Parliamentary panel on defence to
visit Galwan, Pangong: Sources
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
The parliamentary standing
committee on defence intends
to visit the Galwan Valley and
the Pangong lake in the east-
ern Ladakh region which has
been witness to a violent
stand-off between the troops
of India and China, sources
said.However, it may seek the
permission of the govern-
ment before visiting the strate-
gically-located areas, they
said.
The 30-member commit-
tee, chaired by senior BJP
leader and former Union Min-
ister Jual Oram and of which
Congress leader Rahul Gand-
hi is a member, intends to visit
the eastern Ladakh region in
the last week of May or June,
the sources said on Friday.
The decision to visit these
areas was taken in the panel's
latest meeting, they said.
Gandhi did not attend it.
The panel's visit to the
LAC depends on the approval
from the government, the
sources added.After a nine-
month standoff, militaries of
Indian and China reached an
agreement on disengagement
Gangster Act invoked against
SP MLA Hasan, mother in UP
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
MEERUT, 13 FEBRUARY
In a major action of police
Gangster Act has been
imposed on Samajwadi party
MLA, Nahid Hasan from
Kairana, Shamli district and
his mother Tabassum Hasan
former MP on Friday.
Samajwadi Party howev-
er has condemned the police
action and demanded that the
Gangster Act be immediate-
ly withdrawn.
Additional Director Gen-
eral of Police(ADG), Meerut
zone Rajeev Sabharwal said
that after the approval of
District Magistrate of Sham-
li this act has been imposed
on Hasan and his mother.
Tabassum Hasan is the
widow of Munawar Hasan ,
former SP leader and MP.
She was elected MP from
Athar Wani, who was killed in
an encounter at Lawaypora in
Srinagar. A PDP spokesman
said Mehbooba had sought
permission from the police to
visit Mushtaq Ahmad Wani in
Bellow area.
“However, a police vehicle was
Govt introduces Bill to abolish 5 tribunals
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
A Bill to abolish some tribunals
where public at large is not
litigant was introduced in
the Lok Sabha by minister of
state for finance Anurag Singh
Thakur on Wednesday.
The government propos-
es to wind up five tribunals,
including Airport Appellate
Tribunal, Authority for
Advance Rulings and Intel-
lectual Property Appellate
Board.
Besides, Appellate Tri-
bunal under the Cinemato-
graph Act and Plant Varieties
Protection Appellate Tribunal
will be abolished.
The proposed Bill seeks to
particular in India, we have
to pay attention, Schafer told
PTI in an interview on the occa-
sion of the release of the
report on road safety in New
Delhi on Saturday.
While the attention in the
last year has shifted due to
COVID-19, there is an inter-
esting link between road safe-
ty and pandemic right now, he
noted. Unfortunately, the road
crashes have not been going
down and any time 10 per
cent of the capacity in hospi-
tals is being used for the treat-
ment crash victims, he said.
Schafer said road crashes
actually hit the poorest and the
most vulnerable segments of
NEW DELHI, 14 FEBRUARY 2020
in the north and south banks
of Pangong lake that mandates
both sides to cease forward
deployment of troops in a
“phased, coordinated and ver-
ifiable” manner.
On Thursday, defence min-
ister Rajnath Singh made a
detailed statement in Parlia-
ment on the disengagement
pact.According to the agree-
ment, China has to pull back
its troops to east of Finger 8
areas in the northern bank
while the Indian personnel will
be based at their permanent
base at Dhan Singh Thapa
Post near Finger 3 in the
region.
Similar action will take
place on the south bank of the
lake as well, Singh said.
India has not “conceded”
any territory to China by firm-
ing up an agreement on the
disengagement process in
Pangong Tso in eastern Ladakh,
and other outstanding “prob-
lems” including in Depsang,
Hot Springs ad Gogra will be
taken up at the upcoming
talks between military com-
manders of the two coun-
tries, the defence ministry
said on Friday.The statement
by the ministry came hours
Kairana seat in a by- election
after her husband's death
on the ticket of Rashtriya
Lok Dal but in 2019 Lok
Sabha election she lost to BJP
candidate Pradeep Singh.
Her son Nahid Hasan is SP
MLA from Kairana.
In past some time Nahid
Hasan has been booked in
about a dozen cases . In the
police record MLA Hasan has
been called as a leader of a
gang of criminals which has
created havoc in the society
for financial benefits.
parked to block the gate of her
house and the main road is also
blocked by the security forces,”
a party spokesman said.
Taking to Twitter, Mehboo-
ba wrote, “Placed under house
arrest as usual for trying to visit
the family of Athar Mushtaq
amend the Cinematograph
Act, 1952, the Customs Act,
1962, the Airports Authority
of India Act, 1994, the Trade
Marks Act, 1999 and the Pro-
tection of Plant Varieties and
Farmers' Rights Act, 2001
and certain other Acts.
“With a view to streamline
tribunals, the Tribunals
Reforms (Rationalisation and
Conditions of Service) Bill,
2021 is proposed to be enact-
ed to abolish certain tribunals
and authorities and to pro-
vide a mechanism for filing
appeal directly to the com-
mercial court or the High
Court, as the case may be,”
the statement of objects and
reason said.
Observing that these tri-
the populations.
“The financial impact of the
crash is much more on poor-
er households than on better-
off households. It is much
higher on women who have to
take care of the burden of
caregiving. It is much higher
on those who rely on foot and
also in the informal sector,” he
said.
However, according to
Schafer, the good thing is that
India was doing quite a bit on
road safety. Last year, India
amended its Motor Vehicle
(Amendment) Act, which is
bringing a lot of innovation in
terms of financing, protection
and enforcement to the fore,
05
after Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi alleged that the gov-
ernment has “ceded” Indian
territory to China and raised
questions over the agreement
on the disengagement process.
The ministry also dubbed
as “categorically false” the
assertion that Indian territo-
ry is up to Finger 4 in the Pan-
gong Tso area, adding the
permanent posts of both sides
in the area are “longstanding
and well-established”.
“India has not conceded any
territory as a result of this
agreement. On the contrary,
it has enforced observance and
respect for LAC and prevent-
ed any unilateral change in the
status quo,” the ministry.
Meanwhile, Union minis-
ter Anurag Thakur o asserted
that under the leadership of
Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
India has strengthened its
defence sector and even
“forced” China to buckle down.
Addressing women entre-
preneurs at a Delhi BJP Mahi-
la Morcha event,the Union
Minister of State for Finance
also claimed that the Congress
did not do much for the
defence sector during its 10-
year rule.
Samajwadi party has crit-
icised the government for its
act of imposing gangster act
on Nahid. Calling it an act of
the murder of democracy
,party has demanded its
immediate withdrawal, wrote
on its Twitter account. Ashok
Choudhary, district President
of Samajwadi Party in Sham-
li , criticised this action . All
those who dare to raise their
voice against the state gov-
ernment had to face action.
“State government cannot
tolerate voices of dissent ,”,
he said adding that Samajwadi
party would definetly oppose
such anti democratic actions
of the government.
Local leaders are waiting
for the directions from the
central leadership of the
party after which further
course of action would be
taken up.
killed allegedly in a fake
encounter.
His father was booked
under UAPA for demanding his
dead body. This the normal-
cy the GOI wants to showcase
to the EU delegation visiting
Kashmir.”
bunals only add to another
additional layer of litigation,
it said having separate tribunal
requires administrative action
in terms of filling up of posts
and such other matters, and
any delay in such action fur-
ther delays disposal of cases.
”Reducing the number of
tribunals shall not only be ben-
eficial for the public at large,
reduce the burden on pub-
lic exchequer, but also address
the issue of shortage of sup-
porting staff of tribunals and
infrastructure,” it said.
The Bill proposes the trans-
fer of all cases pending before
such tribunals or authori-
ties to the Commercial Court
or the High Court on the
appointed date.
he said. Responding to a ques-
tion, Schafer said that Tamil
Nadu is one of the states which
has reduced the number of crash
fatalities by 25 per cent.
For us in the bank, this is a
major part of our engage-
ment in the transport sector
-- rural transport, urban trans-
port -- the focus on new
mobility post-Covid is some-
thing that we are doing, he said.
In South Asia, he said, the
World Bank is helping in road
safety standards and institu-
tional aspects of it as well.
Building a safe infrastruc-
ture is one of the key aspects
of addressing this major chal-
lenge, he said.

06 NEW DELHI, 14 FEBRUARY 2021
With which is incorporated
The Englishman ~ Founded 1821
Coastal concern
E ven as Indian and Chinese troops disengage
along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in east-
ern Ladakh, there’s growing concern about
China’s militarisation of its maritime authority in
the South China Sea which will have an impact on
the geopolitics of the larger Indo-Pacific region. On 1
February, new China Coast Guard (CCG) laws came
into effect which provide a regulatory framework
for China’s law enforcement operations in areas
under its maritime jurisdiction. Till 2018, China’s
coast guard operated under a civilian agency but
then the Central Military Commission took over.
The message was clear: Coordination between the
PLA Navy, CCG and the People’s Armed Forces Mar-
itime Militia to advance Chinese claims especially in
the South China Sea (SCS) would be the name of
the game. As a recent report by leading think-tank
Gateway House points out, China not only has the
largest navy in the world in terms of numbers of
ships, but also the largest Coast Guard. “Unsurpris-
ingly, global anxieties have risen with the opera-
tionalising of the new laws,” says the report. India’s
worry is, if anything, even more pressing.
For there is wide consensus among strategic
experts that the new CCG laws have left the term
“jurisdiction” geographically undefined, creating
ambiguity over its applicability in disputed mar-
itime zones. This is precisely the playbook adopted
by Beijing along the LAC, so a feeling of déjà vu in
South Block would not be misplaced. According to
the Gateway House report, the move “gives the CCG
greater latitude for grey zone activities like attacking
third-country fishing vessels, and creates uncer-
tainty for smaller nations in the region… The ambi-
guity in the CCG’s jurisdictional limits, and China’s
appetite for grey zone operations, has increased the
likelihood of a confrontation between CCG and war-
ships of other nations within the SCS.” Vietnam,
Philippines, and Japan are among the nations in the
region which have been victims of China flexing its
maritime might. Vietnam has in the past urged India
to stand its ground on the exploration of two oil
blocks it has inked an agreement with ONGC Videsh
for ~ in the face of China claiming the blocks for
itself. The Philippines has been the worst sufferer
but the regime in Manila has pivoted away from
Washington and towards Beijing lured by economic
benefits while Japan has been actively raising the
issue of aggressive Chinese maritime claims in the
Quad. If New Delhi wants a second front in what is
likely to be a long-running battle of attrition with
China, reclaiming its historical role of being the “net
security provider in the Indo-Pacific” is certainly a
way to do it. A possible Quad+France architecture
would have the heft, if structured sensibly, to enable
a rules-based Indo-Pacific region including in the
South China Sea. But such a strategy must adhere to
a cardinal principle if it is to succeed: Smaller
nations in the region whose economies are depen-
dent on China should not be pressurised to take a
tough stand against Beijing; the heavy lifting has to
be done by the biggies.
Home discomfiture
I t perhaps is just as well for the cricketers in Chen-
nai’s bio-secure bubble that the second Test
against England was fixed for a Saturday start
after the Tuesday conclusion of fhe first, which India
lost to be left somewhat unexpectedly playing catch-
up. When the series shifts to Ahmedabad for two
more Tests, the combatants will be obliged to famil-
iarise themselves with another set of Covid-19
restrictions ~ mild or severe ~ but the fact that India,
in Australia, and England, in Sri Lanka, were also
made to endure life in isolation would appear con-
siderably to have ratcheted up the psychological
pressure on them. So “the-faster-the-better” could
well be a functional principle, in hopes of a quick
getaway. And India confront a new reality in that, as
the global reaction to England’s victory in the first
Test drove home, they are the team to have a go at in
the wake of the stunning series triumph they pulled
off down under. The current contests had initially
been previewed in terms of their centrality to the
World Test Championship table equations ~ they
are important enough still ~ but India’s defeat in the
first Test bunged in sub-plots aplenty. Kevin
Pietersen’s I-told-you-so tweet in Hindi rubbed it in
quite unmistakably, serving to ensure greater popu-
lar curiosity for the second Test than might have
been possible otherwise. But there is also a raw hick-
town feel to the Pietersen natter, especially his warn-
ing against excessive celebrations after the triumph
in Australia, which provokes questions about his
self-proclaimed prescience. Did he know in advance
how Chepauk’s wicket would be? Did he anticipate
Joe Root’s correct call at the toss? Was he sure that
the quality of the balls would leave the hosts
bristling? Did he really know that England would
simply bat India out of the match in the first innings
itself? Pietersen alone can come up with the answers
but hollow attention-seeking is a new social media
aspect of normality which, quite ironically, reduced
an impressive array of erstwhile superstars to clown-
ish levels during the Australia series. Of much
greater importance is how India propose to deal
with themselves now. The wicket, the ball and, of
course, the toss are beyond their control.
Having vowed a fightback, though, they have to
make sure that they do not flop with the bat again.
Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane will be counted
on to salvage their reputations after, euphemistical-
ly speaking, failing to make themselves useful in the
first match. While Ravichandran Ashwin will con-
tinue to be the lead spinner, Kuldeep Yadav need
not be cold-storaged with an inflexible insistence
on a putative need for theoretical variety, even if
both bring the ball in to the right-hander. If India set
themselves the right side up in Australia after taking
the nasty toss in Adelaide, they should be all buck
and ginger at home too.
Intimate Selections
Gluck’s poems centre on relationships, they centre on responses to the non-human world;
the empirical and the epistemic are fused seamlessly in her poems, so protagonists from
the Greek classics blend in with the contemporary American landscape and soulscape,
braided with a sense of universal humanism and deep empathy for sentient life-forms
O
n 21 January 2021, Joe
Biden was sworn in as
the 46th President of
the United States. The
Inauguration ceremony includ-
ed the reading of the poem, “The
Hill We Climb” by the American
National Youth Poet Laureate, 22-
year-old Amanda Gorman, who
instantly grabbed the attention
of netizens worldwide. Gorman,
an African American poet born
in California, read her poem with
confidence and youthful fervour.
Recently Michelle Obama inter-
viewed Gorman and compli-
mented her for succeeding in
making poetry seem “cool”.
The following few lines from
Gorman’s poem that has gone
viral reveal not just her passion-
ate commitment to a cause, but
prove how poetry can resonate
with clarity and lyricism and
instantly touch the hearts and
minds of the people Here is a
brief excerpt from the poem she
read at the inauguration:
“… We’ve seen a force that would
shatter our nation
rather than share it
Would destroy our country if it
meant delaying democracy
And this effort very nearly
succeeded
But while democracy can be
periodically delayed
it can never be permanently
defeated
In this truth
in this faith we trust…”
However, I was a bit sur-
prised that Louise Gluck, the first
American woman poet, to have
won the Nobel Prize in literature
in 2020, was not invited to read a
poem at the same inaugural
event. Perhaps, Gluck’s nuanced
interiorized poetic style, a style
diametrically opposite to Gor-
man’s, would have been difficult
for a diverse audience to respond
to so readily. If Gorman’s poetry
was “cool” Gluck’s poems could
well be considered “uncool”. One
can well wonder whether Gluck’s
lines in her poem, “Snowdrops”
included in The Wild Iris for
which she won the Pulitzer Prize
in 1992, would have created the
same impact with the audience
as Gorman’s had done. Gluck
had written:
“… I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn’t
expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remem-
bering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring ~
afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy
in the raw wind of the new
world”
Born in 1943, Louise Glück
has published twelve collections
of poetry and some volumes of
essays on poetry. All are charac-
terized by deep subjectivity.
Childhood and family life, the
close relationship with parents
and siblings are iterated often in
her poetry. Gluck’s poems centre
on relationships, they centre on
responses to the non-human
world; the empirical and the
epistemic are fused seamlessly in
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Un precedented police action
SIR, I refer to the news read-
ing as, ‘Left-Cong supporters
clash with police’ (12 Feb 21)
and would like to say that the
atrocities resorted to by the
police to disperse the peace-
ful agitation of the DYFI and
SFI activists was un-prece-
dented and reminiscent of
the tyrannical attacks unleas-
hed by the police of the Bri-
tish rulers upon the freedom
fighters of our country and
the state’s police force who
were responsible for the bru-
tal attacks upon the peaceful
gatherings might not have
had the foresight to realize
that yesterday’s conduct of
the police will have far reach-
ing impact having its reflec-
tions in more than one things
in the days not too far.
It was absolutely in con-
formity with democratic prin-
ciples intending to hand over
a memorandum to the Chief
Minister of the state drawing
her attention to vital issues
like un-employment, educa-
tion and jobs for the thou-
sands of un-employed youths
but the police did not allow
SD Telugu news papers
Vol. CXXXXX 7 (S)
A MEMBER
OF THE
ASIAN VOICES
Intergenerational
viral disease
L
ockdowns were conceived to pro-
tect families from getting infected
This assertion of her exclu- with Covid-19, the viral disease
sivity and exceptionalism, some- that has assumed pandemic propor-
times can be attributed to nar- tions. While adults were allowed to
cissistic elitism. Gluck’s conclud- leave home to work or meet the fami-
ing remarks in her short Nobel ly’s basic necessities, seniors and chil-
Prize acceptance speech on 10 dren were prohibited from leaving
December 2020 seem remark- home unless armed with a health
clearance and on an urgent matter. Su-
able.
She stated with proud con- ch an extreme form of “social distanc-
viction, “In art of the kind to ing” for those seen as most vulnerable
which I was drawn, the voice or to the virus is believed to have kept the
judgment of the collective is dan- number of Covid-19 cases in the coun-
gerous. The precariousness of try to a manageable level. But it has
intimate speech adds to its also spawned a “disease” that, while
power and the power of the read- not new, is now proliferating wildly
er, through whose agency the and mutating into various forms.
voice is encouraged in its urgent That disease is violence against
plea or confidence. What hap- women and children, and its most
alarming form is the sexual abuse of
pens to a poet of this type when
the collective, instead of appar- minors, which has found its most effi-
ently exiling or ignoring him or cient and dangerous expression in
her, applauds and elevates? I what is known as OSEC, or online sex-
would say such a poet would feel ual exploitation of children. Quaran-
threatened, outmaneuvered.” tined at home, with plenty of idle time
Gluck added, “Those of us save for an hour or two of online class-
who write books presumably es, and with a plethora of devices at
wish to reach many. But some hand ~ from cell phones to tablets, to
poets do not see reaching many laptops and desktops ~ Filipino childr-
en are increasingly vulnerable to sexu-
in spatial terms, as in the filled
auditorium. I believe that in al predators on the internet. Most sho-
awarding me this prize, the ckingly and dismayingly, in many cas-
Swedish Academy is choosing to es, the children’s exploitation is being
honour the intimate, private carried out by the people who are sup-
voice, which public utterance posed to protect them and nurture
can sometimes augment or them: their parents. Lotta Sylwander,
her poems, so protagonists 9/11 attack, though its con- extend, but never replace.” speaking for Unicef, says that the
from the Greek classics blend in tent is not like say Auden’s Spain It is therefore small wonder “main perpetrators” are family mem-
with the contemporary Ameri- or Amiri Baraka’s “Somebody that she would speak unre- bers, with many citing the element of
can landscape and soulscape, Blew Up America”. servedly when asked how she felt “nonphysical contact” as an excuse
braided with a sense of universal In The Poetry of Louise when she was informed that she since the abusers don’t touch their
humanism and deep empathy Glück: A Thematic Introduction, had won the Nobel Prize for liter-
for sentient life-forms. literary critic Daniel Morris had ature. So, Gluck’s response to the
Stating that Gluck’s poetry observed, “Glück’s poetry is also reporter of the New York
resembles the poems of Emily notable for what it avoids.” Mor- Times highlights both race child, making it a “safe” transaction.
Dickinson, the Swedish Academy ris argued that “Glück’s writing and colour as remarkable issues, According to the Philippine Internet
evaluated her poetic contribu- most often evades ethnic identi- but significantly, not gender, Crimes Against Children Center
tion by stating, “But even if Glück fication, religious classification, “Completely flabbergasted that (PICACC), since February 2019, 320
would never deny the signifi- or gendered affiliation. In fact, they would choose a white children have been rescued from oper-
cance of the au- her poetry often American lyric poet. It doesn’t ators engaged in OSEC, with 77 susp-
tobiographical ba- negates critical ects or facilitators charged and four
make sense.
ckground, she is not assessments that Now my street is covered offenders convicted. But since the
to be regarded as a affirm identity pol- with journalists. People keep lockdowns were imposed last year, the
confessional poet. itics as criteria for telling me how humble I am. I’m US-based National Center for Missing
Glück seeks the uni- literary evaluation. not humble.But I thought, I and Exploited Children has reported a
versal, and in this She resists canon- come from a country that is not 209-percent (or more than double)
she takes inspiration ization as a hyphe- thought fondly of now, and I’m increase in cyber-tip reports for the
from myths and nated poet (that is, white, and we’ve had all the Philippines relating to OSEC. Econom-
classical motifs, pre- as a “Jewish-Ameri- prizes. So it seemed to be ex- ic hardships arising from the quaran-
sent in most of her can” poet, or a “fe- tremely unlikely that I would tine have also led to an upsurge in
works. The voices of minist” poet, or a ever have this particular event to OSEC, with the Anti-Money Launder-
Dido, Persephone “nature” poet), pre- deal with in my life.” ing Council reporting a 156-percent
SANJUKTA
and Eurydice ~ the DASGUPTA ferring instead to Distancing herself from sta- increase in suspicious transactions
abandoned, the retain an aura of dium poets and perhaps indi- linked to OSEC valued at P113 million.
punished, the betra- The writer is former Dean
of Arts, Calcutta University iconoclasm, or in- rectly pointing towards the Today, says Unicef, the country is
yed ~ are masks for and Convenor, English betweenness”. committed lyric poems and considered to be “the epicenter” of the
Advisory Board, Sahitya
a self in transforma- So Gluck’s po- songs of Bob Dylan, who won livestream sexual abuse trade and the
Akademi, New Delhi
tion, as personal as etry projects a per- the Nobel Prize for literature in “number one global source of child
it is universally sonal and philo- 2016, among many others, Gluck pornography.” Per a Channel News
valid.” sophic paradigm. She is not stated: “I was drawn, then as Asia report, the justice department
In the 1960s Gluck did not interested in intersectionality, now, to the solitary human voice, receives more than 3,000 reports from
attend regular college due to ill principally race, class and colour, raised in lament or longing. overseas of possible cybersex traffick-
health. Her first book of poems but interventions of gender con- And the poets I returned to as I ing cases every month. In response,
was published in 1968. Interest- cerns are present in some of her grew older were the poets in the government has linked arms with
ingly, mainstream politics and poems, but Gluck is not a femi- whose work I played, as the private groups and international bod-
social changes were not overtly nist poet. elected listener, a crucial role. ies to address OSEC in the country.
represented in her poetry writ- Elaborating on this rather Intimate, seductive, often furtive Recently, the National Telecommuni-
ten during this period. insular essence that inspired her or clandestine. Not stadium cations Commission issued show-
She does not refer to the tur- to write poetry, Gluck herself poets…” So, in her intimate, cause orders to 47 internet service
bulence in contemporary politics observed: “The poems to which I deeply subjective and philosoph- providers (ISPs) over alleged violations
and society such as the Vietnam have, all my life, been most ic response to life and its experi- of the Anti-Child Pornography Act of
war, the assassination of Martin ardently drawn are poems of the ences, Gluck, the thoughtful lyric 2009. The law mandates ISPs to inform
Luther King and John F Kennedy, kind I have described, poems of poet writes in her so far last pub- civilian law enforcement agencies
the explosive second women’s intimate selection or collusion, upon discovery of any child porn
lished volume of poems Faithful
liberation movement, and there- poems to which the listener or and Virtuous Night ~ materials running through their
after the Gulf War, Iraq war and reader makes an essential con- “I think here I will leave you. It servers, while ensuring that their com-
the confrontations with Syria, tribution, as recipient of a confi- has come to seem pany’s hardware and software are
North Korea and Afghanistan, dence or an outcry, sometimes there is no perfect ending. updated with the technology needed
among others. as co-conspirator. ‘I’m nobody!’ Indeed, there are infinite end- to block web pages that promote or
The only poem that de- Dickinson says.’Are you nobody, ings. Or perhaps, once one show images of children naked or
bunks this observation is Octo- too? Then there’s a pair of us ~ begins, posed provocatively, if not engaged in
ber, written in response to the don’t tell!’ ” there are only endings.” actual sex acts.
editor@thestatesman.com
SKIN CONTACT
own internal democracy at
any cost, on the other, it has
SIR, Apropos your sensational report ‘Skin to skin
contact: SC stays Bombay HC order’ (January 28) I
them to do so rather resorted are the testimony as to how helped erect many autocratic would like to comment that the Bombay High Court
to brutal lathi charge causing police dealt with the demon- regimes elsewhere to keep its was probably erred in holding that the offence
serious injuries to the young strators. global supremacy intact. No committed by the accused cannot be termed as sex-
demonstrators including the Yours, AK Deb Biswas, doubt, Trump and his sup- ual assault, but it did constitute the offence of out-
young girls who participated Hooghly, 12 February. porters have tarred the image raging the modesty of a woman punishable under
in the agitation. of democratic America. Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code. But in the
I feel that the intellectu- AMERICA & DEMOCRACY If America, which is per- instsnt case, the victim is a minor girl and since the
als of Bengal who con- SIR, This refers to Naresh ceived as the nerve centre of section speaks all about the modesty of ‘Women’
demned the police attack Koirala’s article ‘America is no global democracy, gets car- and the difference between a young girl and woman
upon the farmers at Singhu longer a beacon for demo- ried away by its top leader in is known to us, the Section 354 will not be applica-
Border should also express cracy’(10 Feb) What Trump such a chaotic and autocratic ble here. The investigating officer concerned in the
their sympathy for the young provoked his supporters to way, who do the other demo- case had in my opinion, rightly booked the accused
boys and girls who were sub- indulge in, never had hap- cratic regimes look at if they under the provisions of the Protection of Children
jected to brutual attacks by pened in American history. fall victims of such distur- from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
the police for holding a Actually America in the name bances that occurred in the The Bombay High Court was also erred in
peaceful demonstrations.One of democracy displays a dou- Capitol? holding that mere groping the victim’s breast with-
or two photographs pub- ble standard. On the one Yours, etc., Aranya Sanyal, out removing her clothes will not fall under the def-
lished in today’s Statesman hand it wants to retain its Siliguri, 12 February. inition of sexual assault. The intention of the
accused should have been the primary concern of
the court. Nowhere in the POCSO Act, has there
been any mention about the the skin to skin contact
to constitute the offence of sexual assault or har-
assment.
I do not however, agree with the Attorney Gen-
eral KK Venugopal when he submitted before the
bench that the judgement under reference was like-
ly to set a dangerous precedent. We cannot expect
the court to act in a mechanical manner only to
avoid facing social outcry. The lady judge of the
Bombay High Court had at least applied her judicial
mind and handed-down the judgement.
Yours, etc., Arun Gupta, Kolkata, 10 February.
SD Telugu news papers
 SD Telugu news papers

NEW DELHI, 14 FEBRUARY 2021 07

Lessons from Uttarakhand tragedy NOW AND AGAIN

Thorns in
BHARAT DOGRA
a rose
T
he recent disaster in Uttarak-
hand has once again demon- BUDDHADEV NANDI
strated that we need to be very

cautious in causing any fur-
ther aggravation of increasing stress-
es and threats in the Himalayan region.
In fact, the earlier and greater tragedy
in the state in 2013, as well as other
disasters in other parts of the Himalayan
region have conveyed a similar mes-
sage. But unfortunately, the authori-
ties and decision-makers have gen-
erally chosen to ignore these warnings.
Basically, these recent tragedies
underscore the exceptionally intense
and somewhat untimely trends in
these times of climate change. In the
latest disaster, for example, such fury
was not anticipated in the first week
of February, and even took some
experts by surprise. But such events
can no longer to be treated as unex-
pected in these times of climate
change, and this is one clear lesson
we must learn.
The second important lesson,
delivered on an even more massive
scale in the 2013 disaster than in the
present one, is that nature’s fury can
be aggravated with very serious and
tragic results if disruptive activities
are carried out on a vast scale in the
ecologically sensitive and geologi-
cally fragile Himalayan region. In
2013 and in 2021, we have seen such
aggravations by indiscriminate and
very large-scale proliferation of
hydel projects, that came up ignor-
ing warnings.
The projects affected this time
are relatively smaller ones. God for-
bid that any serious disaster impli-
cating the colossal Tehri Dam Pro-
ject should ever take place. Not leav-
ing everything to God, if we take a
rational and scientific approach to
the safety of people, then we cannot
ignore the well-documented reality
that some prominent experts,
including those represented in offi-
cially appointed committees, and in
fact even official committees them-
selves, have repeatedly referred to
the extremely high hazard potential
of this dam.
In fact, this project was rejected
by the officially constituted Environ-
ment Appraisal Committee (EAC) on
grounds of safety (as well as other
adverse impacts) but was pushed
nevertheless by powerful interests
POLITICAL DIARY | KALYANI SHANKAR
and finally cleared on the basis of
manipulated evidence.
Although the EAC Report exam-
ined all important aspects of the
Tehri Dam project (TDP), it gave its
opinion that safety factors alone are
important enough to stop the clear-
ance of this project. It said: “Taking
note of the unacceptable risk
involved, extremely poor status of
readiness to deal with the hazards
and unprecedented damage in case
of a breach or overtopping, the
Committee reiterates its considered
view that it would be irresponsible
to clear the Tehri dam as currently
proposed.”
More specifically, the commit-
tee said: “Therefore, considering the
almost total certainty that a strong
earthquake of magnitude greater
than 8.0 on Richter scale will occur
in the region during the life of the
dam, and considering that the dam
design does not provide for such an
earthquake, the Committee has no
option but to conclude that con-
struction of Tehri dam, as proposed,
involves totally unjustified risks. The
magnitude of the disaster that would
follow, if the dam collapsed,
strengthens the Committee’s opin-
ion that approval to the construction
of this dam, as proposed, and at the
present site, would be irresponsible.”
Now, there should be very high
level of safety precautions taken up
constantly in the case of the Tehri
Dam project as well as other haz-
ardous projects. However, in times
of climate change we do not know
the extent to which a flood or related
disaster may shape up. In addition,
we must contend with the disturb-
ing fact that the Tehri Dam Project
may not be able to withstand the
highest level of earthquake which is
a possibility in the region.
Keeping in view these possibil-
ities, should not the decommis-
sioning of this highly hazardous
project be considered as a real
option? After this project was
cleared and constructed in an arbi-
trary fashion, climate change has
become a much more pressing
reality. Disasters involving much
smaller projects in the Himalayan
region have led to several thousand
deaths, not to speak of enormous
other damage.
A question that we cannot
ignore in view of what has been
already stated by officially constitut-
ed independent committees is what
would happen in case of failure of a
the Tehri dam. We should always
pray for the best, but not ignoring
scientific reason and factual evi-
dence, we should be prepared for the
worst. Dams have been decommis-
sioned for much less severe reasons
in several countries (at the rate of
about 50 per year in the USA) in
recent times. So why not here, when
this is potentially a question of sav-
ing several hundred thousand lives,
as indicated by the government’s
own expert committees.
We already have past experience
of dam failures that proved very
expensive, for example of Henan
region of China where in 1975 fail-
ure of the Banquio and Shimantan
dams led to an estimated 171,000
deaths and nearly 11 million people
losing their homes.
What about ongoing and pro-
posed constructions of many other
mega dams and other high-risk pro-
jects in the Himalayan region?
Learning from recent disasters,
clearly a re-evaluation of these pro-
jects based on safety and environ-
mental concerns should be on the
agenda.
This is important not just for
India but for all countries of the
Himalayan region. These countries
should cooperate with each other to
avoid high-risk projects in the
Himalayan region.
Another lesson is to take special
care of the safety of migrant and
other workers employed in con-
struction projects in the Himalayan
region as they have become victims
in several disasters, both because of
working and living in very risky con-
ditions and also because of their lack
of familiarity with Himalayan disas-
ter situations.
The writer is a journalist and author. His
recent books include Planet in Peril and
Protecting Earth For Children.
A
couple of years ago I was baffled by
an embarrassing incident. I am
quite sure the day was 16 February.
While going to the market in the
morning, I saw a young girl alight from a car
and kick a handsome young man of about her
age hard in the rump. His initial fury melted
when he turned around to see who had
kicked him, and he stepped away without
protest.
A few people gathered at the spot and
surrounded the car which the girl had
already entered. We demanded to know
the reason for the young girl kicking the
young man so hard in public. But the vic-
tim seemed reticent and stood by placidly
as the girl began to abuse him in fluent
English.
An old man from the crowd
approached and charged the girl with inso-
lence. Though I perceived from the young
man’s reticence that he must have done
something wrong, I came forward and tried
to convince the girl that she could just as
easily have slapped him, rather than kicking
him so impertinently.
The girl turned to me and said that she
had already slapped him the previous day
which was “Slap Day”, but he was so incor-
rigible that at night he had again proposed
to her with a text message. But I felt dizzy
when the girl claimed she had not crossed
the limit of impudence as this was “Kick
Day”. We bystanders were bewildered.
While I knew that almost every day of the
year marks something or the other for the
betterment of life, I was puzzled that such
days of humiliation were on the calendar.
Just then, a young man from the crowd
approached us to clarify the matter. He said
that 15 February and 16 February were “Slap
Day” and “Kick Day”, the first two days of
the Anti-Valentine Week. The girl had every
right to kick the young man who failed to
woo her on Valentine’s Day on 14 February.
Seeing us devour his lecture on Anti-Valen-
tine’s Week, the jubilant young chap unfold-
ed the repository of his knowledge.
He informed us that there were five
more days to complete the Anti-Valentine’s
Week that ended with “Breakup Day” recog-
nising separation in love. When we looked at
the chap kicked by the girl, he also nodded.
The girl drove away triumphantly. A few
days after the incident, I was pleased to see
the victim of 16 February driving a motorcy-
cle. His oppressor rode the pillion. I heaved
a sigh of relief that at least this relationship
had not ended on “Breakup Day”.
100 YEARS AGO

Trump and the Hastings trial Burke effectively damaged the rep-
utation of Hastings. The case ended
with a dismissal of all charges
LEAVE ON AVERAGE SALARY
To The Editor Of The Statesman
SIR, - It has puzzled officers, under Indi-
against Hastings. He received a pen- an leave rules, to know why the concession of

W
hat is common between
former U.S. President
Donald Trump and the
first British Governor-
General to India, Warren Hastings? The
simple answer is their impeachment
after they left office.
The U.S. prosecutors invoked
the trial of Hastings in their argu-
ments against Trump this week. Cit-
ing the example of Hasting’s case in
the eighteenth century, the lead
prosecutor Representative Jamie
Raskin argued in the U.S. Senate
that, “The first point comes from
English history. And it would have
been immediately obvious to any-
one familiar with that history that
former officials could be held
accountable for their abuses while
in office”.
Who was Warren Hastings, and
why is his case used as a precedent
in the Trump impeachment two and
a half centuries later? Hastings was
an Englishman who rose from hum-
ble beginnings and, at the age of 17,
joined the East India Company as a
clerk in India. Impressed with his
hard work, Robert Clive recom-
mended him as the British Resident
in Murshidabad. He then rose to
become the first Governor-General
of Bengal and had a big role in con-
solidating British hold in India.
But soon, wary of criticism at
home about his style of functioning,
Hastings resigned and went back to
England in 1785. His most signifi-
cant detractor, statesman Edmund
Burke, who was a Member of Parlia-
ment, was keen on Hastings’
impeachment. So he was impeached
after he quit office. While the House
of Commons held him guilty the
House of Lords acquitted him after a
seven-year trial.
Referring to this, Jamie Raskin
said, “It was the impeachment of
Warren Hastings, the former gover-
nor-general of the British colony of
Bengal, and a corrupt guy. The
framers (of the Constitution) knew
all about it, and they strongly sup-
ported the impeachment. The Hast-
ings case was invoked by name at
the convention.” He asserted that
Hastings’ case played a crucial role
in the framing of the American Con-
stitution.
There is a background to the
impeachment. Hastings had taken
specific experimental measures like
revenue settlement with the highest
bidders, the appointment of a Board
of Revenue, and substitution of
supervisors by Collectors. His
reforms mainly consisted of four
areas. They were to deal with the rev-
enue administration, reform of the
judicature, settlement of land rev-
enue, and commercial reforms. His
judicial reforms had laid the foun-
dations of the Indian judicial system.
His timely help to the Madras and
Bombay Government consolidated
the British interests in Madras and
Bombay. He became fluent in Ben-
gali and had an excellent working
knowledge of Urdu and Persian. He
liked Sanskrit. “I love India a little
more than my own country”. he is
reported to have said.
Hastings was held guilty on 22
counts, including misconduct dur-
ing his time in Calcutta. Edmund
Burke took two full days to read the
charges against Hastings in the
House of Commons. The others were
personal corruption, misuse of
authority, and improper execution of
Indians. At the end of his arguments,
Burke told the House of Commons, “I
therefore conclude, what you all con-
clude, that this body (the East India
company), being totally perverted
from the purposes of its institution, is
utterly incorrigible...”
Burke knew that the House of
Lords would never convict Hastings,
for the King, the government, and
several Lords supported him. But
sion from the Company and lived till
1818. After his impeachment trial, the
disheartened Hastings was reported
to have rued, “I gave you all and you
have rewarded me with confiscation,
disgrace and a life of impeachment.”
Why did the British Parliament
try Hastings when he had already left
his job? Historians say that it was per-
haps for preventing him from holding
any office in the future and setting an
example for a severe breach of public
trust. History judged Hastings better,
and in later years, he regained his
stature.
Eventually, the lessons of the
Hastings and Trump trials show that
impeachment is an inherently politi-
cal tool. Trump, even after stepping
down from office has his core sup-
porters despite all the charges
against him. He was charged with
instigating his supporters to create
violence and attack the Capitol
where confirmation of the Biden
election was taking place. Right now
the U.S. Senate hears his impeach-
ment.
Historically only three U.S. pres-
idents have been formally
impeached by Congress— Andrew
Johnson, Bill Clinton, and Donald
Trump. Richard Nixon resigned
before he could be impeached.
Trump has the distinction of being
impeached twice during his single
term. Importantly, no president has
been dethroned from office. Trump
faces two actual charges. They are of
abusing his office and obstructing
Congress. This weekend may decide
his fate.
furlough on average salary has not been
extended to them, surely, if ever there was a
concession which would cost Government
nothing it is this. In fact, it is an advantage
both to Government and the officer. If a man
is due eight months' leave, on half pay, and
commutes to four months on full pay; Gov-
ernment pays him just the same amount, but
has his services back to work four months
sooner. The officer scores, because if he gets
four months on full pay he can afford to take
leave, otherwise he goes on working and
crocks up. This is no exaggeration. There are
thousands of officers who have never taken
furlough, because they cannot afford it. Gov-
ernment cannot get the best out of men with
such drudgery; especially when they are
labouring under a strong sense of injustice.
ANTI HUMBUG.
THE BURRA BAZAR “GOONDAS”
To The Editor Of The Statesman
SIR, - It is to be noted with satisfaction
that the police officers have been active in
dealing with alleged goondas. Recent events
during the past few months had filled the
public mind with a feeling of insecurity and
helplessness. But thanks to the efforts of the
police officers of the Northern Section of
the town, the arrests of a number of alleged
goondas effected recently have brought
considerable relief to the residents of these
parts. It is to be hoped that the police will
continue their activities with heart and
vigour till the town is completely cleared of
these bad elements. There doubtless remain
a number of gambling-dens still to be dealt
with. The police ought to have no rest until
they have broken up the goonda-manufac-
turing factories.
BURRA BAZAR RESIDENTS.
Calcutta.

CROSSWORD EUROPEAN ASSISTANTS & THE TEA

SOLUTION FOR 07 FEBRUARY
ACROSS
1 Rich cake found back in
imperial Ceylon (6)
5 Knowing quality, island
invested in SA currency (8)
9 Knock back drink in old
church and head for
bishop's office (10)
10 Value reflected in
welcoming a wronged
brother (4)
11 Gadget used in steamship
to make furniture (6)
12 Spray with greater
frequency to cover
rumpled suit (8)
NOTE: Figures in parentheses denote the number of letters in the words required. (By arrangement with The Independent, London)
13 In seed case find large
bluebottle (4)
14 Oily substance from tree
put in ground with
nitrogen (10)
16 Thrown together, German
joins the Italian in bar (5-5)
19/5D Dreadful mistake: error
banning old Labour leader
(4,7)
21 Gutter spout from glory
age renovated (8)
23 Give aid to guitar player
having missed intro (6)
24 Black marketeer dignitaries
turned around (4)
25 Radical junior in charge too
high to catch? (10)
26 Itching to see Indian city
with unlimited
enchantments (8)
27 Archipelago or island
around north (6)
DOWN
2/4 Endless trash with politico
orchestrating unrest Stateside
(7,5)
3 Sailors trick the German
one doing runner (9)
4 See 2
5 See 19 Across
6/7 Perhaps let in respected
person coming to office (9-5)
NO 28825
8 Smile after tea shows
anything but delight (7)
14 Toy-boy with gun
splattered right-wing
commentator (4,5)
15 Develops liking for Calvin
Klein? Assess situation (4,5)
17 Test regularly applied for
instance (7)
18 Sloth and one near it on
the move (7)
20 Saint removed from evil
church feature in fire (7)
22 Supplied Liberal with
hammer (5)
23 Recalling battlefield doctor
for mission? (5)
CRISIS
To The Editor Of The Statesman
SIR, - At the present time one reads and
hears a lot about provision being made for
tea garden coolies who are likely to be
thrown out of work by the closing down of
estates that are unable to carry on. Govern-
ment is going to employ them on various
useful works, and will no doubt pay them
liberally for what they do. But, so far, I have
heard no mention of any corresponding
scheme for the unfortunate Europeans who,
through no fault of their own, will be out of a
job. They will include men who in many
cases have put in years of good work, and
who have invested their little all in the
Province, and others who have not been
long enough out to save anything worth
speaking of. What to be the immediate
future of these men and their families -
whether out here or at Home?
SYMPATHETIC.

SD Telugu news papers


08
NEW DELHI, 14 FEBRUARY 2021
THUMBNAILS
Growth forecast: Expecta-
tions that the country's
GDP would record growth
in the third and fourth
quarters of financial year
2020-21 are getting
stronger on account of
various reforms undertak-
en by the government in
the last ten months, PHDC-
CI said on Saturday. It said
out of the 10 indicators of
QET (quick economic
trends) of economic and
business activity tracked
by PHDCCI, nine have per-
formed positively. The Indi-
an economy shrunk by a
record 23.9 per cent in
June quarter and saw a
contraction of 7.5 per
cent in the second quar-
ter. PTI
Forex reserves fall: The
country's foreign
exchange reserves
declined by a massive
$6.24 billion to reach
$583.945 billion in the
week ended 5 February,
RBI data showed. In the
previous week, the
reserves had touched a
record high of $590.185
billion after rising by
$4.852 billion. In the
reporting week ended 5
February, the decline in
the forex kitty was mainly
on account of a fall in for-
eign currency assets
(FCAs), a major component
of the overall reserves.
FCAs decreased by $4.88
billion to $542.338 billion,
weekly data from the RBI
showed. PTI
Morepen Labs profit: Drug
maker Morepen Labs has
reported a 120 per cent
growth in net profit for
the quarter ended 31
December 2020 at Rs
23.79 crore on account of
better margin realisation
during the quarter. Net
revenue during the quar-
ter stood at Rs 310.26
crore as against Rs 234.66
crore in the corresponding
quarter of the previous fis-
cal, registering a rise of 32
per cent, the company
said in a Press release. SNS
Silverglades investment:
Realty firm Silverglades
will invest around Rs 500
crore to develop a mixed-
use project in Gurugram as
part of expansion plan.
Gurugram-based Silver-
glades will develop 260 lux-
ury apartments and 3 lakh
sq ft of commercial retail
space in this mixed-use
project Hightown. “We are
developing a new luxury
housing project. There is
very limited availability of
luxury housing units in the
heart of the city. We are
targeting to cater to this
need,” Silverglades Group
CEO Anubhav Jain said. PTI
CEAT brand ambassador:
Tyre maker CEAT has
roped in actor Rana Daggu-
bati as its brand ambassa-
dor for promoting the
"Puncture Safe" range of
bike tyres. As part of an
integrated marketing cam-
paign across all five south-
ern states, Daggubati will
feature in the new com-
mercial for these tyres to
be aired across TV and digi-
tal platforms, CEAT said in
a release. The company
has launched the tyres for
motorcycles in Andhra
Pradesh, Telangana, Kar-
nataka, Tamil Nadu and
Kerala, it said in the Press
release. PTI
Record 100 million smartphones shipped in H2 of 2020
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
India market registered record
shipment of 100 million smart-
phones in the second half of
2020, mainly on account of the
pent-up demand, according
to a Cybermedia Research
report released on Friday.
Samsung was the leader in
the overall mobile market
with a 19 per cent share in 2020,
it added.
Chinese mobile phone
company Xiaomi, however, led
the market in the October-
December quarter with 27
per cent market share.
“The significant decline
in smartphone shipments in
the first half of 2020 encour-
aged the brands to come back
strongly in the second half of
‘Reform steps to help India
become $5-trillion economy’
Economy is expected to grow at 15.5 per cent in nominal terms in financial year 2021-22: CEA
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
R
eform measures
announced in the
Budget 2021-22 will
play a big role in India
becoming a $5-trillion econ-
omy and beyond, chief eco-
nomic adviser K V Subra-
manian has said.
He also said the country's
economy is expected to grow
at 15.5 per cent in nominal
terms in financial year 2021-
22 and contract 1-2 per cent
depending on what the infla-
tion actually might be for the
year ending March 2021.
“The Budget 2021-22 has
laid the foundation for the $5-
trillion economy... It (reform
measures announced in the
Budget) will play a big role in
India achieving the $5-tril-
lion economy target and
beyond,” he said at a virtual
event.
In 2019, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi envisioned
making India a $5-trillion
economy and a global eco-
nomic powerhouse by 2024-
25.
Volvo Cars elevates
Jyoti Malhotra as MD
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
Volvo Cars India today said it
has appointed Jyoti Malhotra
as its new managing director
with effect from 1 March 2021.
Malhotra, who currently
serves as the director sales and
marketing, would be the first
Indian to head the company
in India.
He joined the company in
August 2016.
Malhotra succeeds Charles
Frump who has been at the
helm since October 2017.
“Frump has completed a
successful tenure in India
and is moving over to anoth-
er global assignment. Jyoti
takes over from Charles on 1
March 2021,” the Swedish
automaker said in a state-
ment.
Under Frump, the company
started its local production in
India, introduced new gen-
eration models and expand-
ed Volvo's footprint in India.
“India is one of the most
Merger & acquisition deal jumps by 33% Petrol nears `95 in Mumbai as
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
MUMBAI, 13 FEBRUARY
Deals cut by Mukesh Ambani-
led Reliance Industries helped
overall merger and acquisition
(M&A) activity grow by 33
per cent in 2020 to $36.9 bil-
lion, a report has said.
The number of deals came
down to 357 from the 443 in
2019, indicating a surge in aver-
age ticket sizes, the report by
advisory firm Grant Thornton
said. It pointed to the com-
bined $10.1 billion stake buy
in Reliance Jio by Facebook
and Google as an illustrative
case.
The year also saw nine
other deals value over $1 bil-
lion each, it said, adding that
the top deals accounted for
nearly two-thirds of the over-
all activity.
There were 35 deals of
over $100 million but under
2020. The economy gradual-
ly opened up and consumer
demand spiked. All of this
fuelled the smartphone indus-
try growth, with smartphone
shipments exceeding 100 mil-
lion for the first time in the sec-
ond half of 2020,” CMR mobile
handset review report for the
fourth quarter said.
CMR projects that the
smartphone market this year
is expected to grow by 10 per
cent and shipments of 5G-
enabled smartphones will
grow by 10 folds to 30 million.
“In 2020, 5G shipments
continued to gain strength
and we anticipate this momen-
tum to continue in 2021. One-
Plus was the highest contrib-
utor in the 5G smartphone
segment capturing 58 per
cent market share followed by
FOCUS ON GROWTH MUST CONTINUE
Noting that India's poten-
tial rate of growth is 6.5-7.5 per
cent, Subramanian said the
country must continue to
focus on growth.
The CEA said the IMF has
projected the country's eco-
nomic growth even higher
than the Economic Survey's
growth projection at 11.5 per
cent and this is all on real
terms.
“So, if we include about 4
per cent inflation, then 15.5 per
cent GDP growth can be
expected in the nominal term
for the coming year (2021-22).
“This year, I think it (GDP
growth) might be around (-)
dynamic automobile mar-
kets in the world and it has been
an honour to be a part of the
same for over three years
now...
“At present, we are at a
critical juncture in the Indi-
an market where the indus-
try is moving towards a sig-
nificant transformation to
electric mobility and I am
confident Jyoti will lead the
company through this phase
in an extremely seamless
manner,” Frump said.
Malhotra has over 24 years
of automotive experience in
the sales and marketing
domain.
rate hiked for 5th day in a row
$1 billion, down from 47 in the
year ago period, it said.
Cross-border deal volumes
fell by 19 per cent compared
with the previous year but the
deal values jumped two times
over 2019 to $21 billion, it said.
Indian companies with
strong balance sheets have
shaken off the shock from
the coronavirus pandemic to
chase overseas acquisitions,
coming back strong after
recording the lowest quar-
terly deal volumes in the sec-
ond quarter of 2020 since
2011, it said.
In 2021 and beyond, as
India's nascent digital economy
takes off, the smartphone indus-
try would gain strength, driven by
feature phone users transiting to
entry-level smartphones, and new,
powerful offerings across price
tiers, including 5G-capable smart-
phone offerings at mid to lower
price tiers, including in the below
Rs 20,000 price band
ANAND PRIYA SINGH
CMR ANALYST-INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE GROUP
Apple at 20 per cent,” the
report said.
CMR said that Apple con-
tinued its growth story and was
placed sixth on the top ten
SD Telugu news papers
With air travel emerging as a preferred mode of travel due to safety,
efficiency & time saving, we are almost touching pre-Covid numbers
� “The Budget 2021-22 has
laid the foundation for the
$5-trillion economy...
It (reform measures
announced in the Bud-
get) will play a big role
in India achieving the $5-
trillion economy tar-
get and beyond,” he
said at a virtual event.
1 to 2 per cent depending on
what the inflation actually
might be for the year ending
March of this year,” he said.
Subramanian pointed out
that every country in the world
is facing lower economic
growth because of the Covid-
19 pandemic.
“But from India's per-
spective, in the coming year,
whatever growth momentum
we have lost, we would recoup
that momentum,” he assert-
ed.
Replying to a question, the
CEA said one public sector
insurance company is going
to be divested and this com-
Vodafone Idea
narrows loss
to `4,532 crore
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
Debt-ridden Vodafone Idea
today reported narrowing of
its consolidated loss to Rs
4,532.1 crore in the third quar-
ter ended on 31 December
2020. The company had post-
ed a loss of Rs 6,438.8 crore in
the same quarter a year ago.
“In the third quarter of
financial year 2021, we
improved subscriber reten-
tion and operating perform-
ance, supported by Vi GIGAnet.
We remain focused on exe-
cuting our strategy, and our cost
optimisation plan remains on
track to deliver the targeted sav-
ings,” Vodafone Idea MD and
CEO Ravinder Takkar said.
Revenue from operations
declined by 1.7 per cent to Rs
10,894 crore during the report-
ed quarter from Rs 11,089.4 crore
in the same quarter a year ago.
“The board has approved fund-
raising to support our strate-
gic intent and we are in active
discussions with potential
investors,” Takkar said. PTI
Cross-border transactions
between India and the US
dominated in both the
inbound and outbound seg-
ments. They together totalled
31 per cent of cross-border
transaction aggregating to
$15 billion, and was followed
by Japan and UK which dom-
inated the inbound and out-
bound volumes, respective-
ly. Overseas acquisitions from
India were spread over 29
countries; of which, 29 trans-
actions aggregating to $2.4 bil-
lion were executed in the US,
majorly in the information
smartphone leaderboard.
“Apple led the smartphone
market accounting for 90 per
cent of all the eSIM-enabled
smartphones in the calendar
SD Telugu news papers
� In 2019, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi envisioned
making India a $5-trillion
economy and a global eco-
nomic powerhouse by 2024-
25.
� Noting that India's poten-
tial rate of growth is 6.5-7.5
per cent, Subramanian said
the country must continue
to focus on growth.
pany will compete with private
sector insurance companies.
He also expressed confi-
dence that the government will
achieve next financial year's
fiscal deficit target of 6.8 per
cent.
According to Subramanian,
India has faced three crises after
1991 ~ the Asian crisis (1997),
the global financial crisis
(2007-08) and the Covid-19
pandemic (2020).
During the global financial
crisis, the then Manmohan
Singh government increased
revenue expenditure and
decreased capital expendi-
ture which gave a push to the
Budget has set pace for country
to become self-reliant: Nirmala
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
Union finance minister Nir-
mala Sitharaman today said
that the government, unde-
terred by the Covid-19 pan-
demic, has been pursuing
reforms for achieving sus-
tained long-term growth in
a bid to make India one of the
top economies of the world
in the coming decades.
Replying to debate on
Budget 2021-22 in the Lok
Sabha, she said, the Prime
Minister did not lose any
opportunity to continue with
the reforms and this Budget
has set the pace for India to
become self-reliant or Aat-
manirbhar.
Earlier this month, the
finance minister presented
a Rs 34.5 lakh crore Budget
for 2021-22, in the backdrop
of the pandemic.
The Budget has laid
emphasis on increasing cap-
technology sector, it said.
Private equity investment
values stood at $40.2 billion
in 2020, marking the highest
yearly values witnessed in
any given year since 2011, it
said. The report attributed it
to $9.8 billion funding raised
by Reliance's Jio platforms and
$6.4 billion investment raised
by Reliance Retail Ventures.
There were 26 fundraises
via qualified institutional
placement (QIP) at $10.4 bil-
lion, again the highest since
2011, it said, pointing to trans-
actions like Bharti Airtel, ICICI
Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak
Bank.
Eighteen companies raised
$6.5 billion via initial public
offering (IPO), a 2.5 times
increase in issue size over
2019, with top three public
offerings being Yes Bank, SBI
Cards and Payment Services
and Gland Pharma.
year 2020. Apple's remark-
able growth in 2020 will con-
tinue in the year ahead, on the
back of its online store, offline
retail forays, and aggressive
HARDEEP SINGH PURI
UNION CIVIL AVIATION MINISTER
demand side only and not
the supply side, which result-
ed in high inflation, he said.
Subramanian said Prime
Minister Narendra Modi's
statement in the Lok Sabha is
a seminal moment in India's
economic history as the PM
talked about wealth creation
and the salutary role of the pri-
vate sector.
Modi on Wednesday
emphasised on the private
sector's vital role in the econ-
omy and asserted that the
culture of “abusing” it for
votes is no longer acceptable.
Replying to a question, the
CEA said one state-owned
insurance company is going
to be divested, and this com-
pany will compete with private
sector insurance companies.
“India's insurance sector is
still quite under-penetrated.
Therefore, this is an area we
need to focus,” he said.
Subramanian said India
managed its fiscal space bet-
ter than other emerging
economies.
He asserted that the Bud-
get 2021-22 focuses on
employment generation.
ital expenditure, raising allo-
cation for healthcare capac-
ity building and develop-
ment of agriculture infra-
structure, among others,
which are expected to have
a multiplier effect on the
economy.
She said her Budget for
2021-22, has provided the
highest capex growth of 34.4
per cent by providing more
money to railways, roads
and defence.
Referring to a series of
measures taken to stimu-
late the economy hit by the
pandemic, she said, Covid-
19 did not deter the govern-
ment from taking up reforms,
which are going to be nec-
essary for sustaining long-
term goals for this country.
Emphasising that sus-
tained commitment to reform
is blended in the Budget,
she said: “Reforms are going
to lay a path for India to be
one of the top economies of
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
Petrol price in Mumbai neared
record Rs 95 per litre mark
today as its rate as well as diesel
prices were hiked for the fifth
day in a row.
Petrol price was increased
by 30 paise per litre and diesel
by 36 paise a litre, according
to a price notification of state-
owned fuel retailers.
This took petrol price to an
all-time high of Rs 88.414 a litre
in Delhi while diesel rate
climbed to Rs 78.74.
In Mumbai, petrol price
soared to Rs 94.93 per litre and
diesel price jumped to record
Rs 85.70 a litre.
In five days this week,
price has gone up by Rs 1.51
per litre for petrol while diesel
marketing launches,” the
report noted.
According to the report,
Samsung followed Xiaomi
with 20 per cent market share
in the fourth quarter of 2020
and recorded a 35 per cent
increase in year-on-year ship-
ments.
Market share of Vivo,
Realme and Oppo stood at 14,
11 and 10 per cent, respectively.
Shipment of Vivo smart-
phones declined by 25 per cent,
while Realme and Oppo ship-
ment increased by 50 per cent
and 14 per cent, respectively.
“For the Indian smart-
phone industry, the year 2020
was a remarkable story marked
by response, recovery and
resilience in the face of the per-
sistent pandemic.
“As a consequence of the
ONGC profit falls 67%
to `1,378 crore on
drop in oil, gas prices
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, 13 FEBRUARY
State-owned Oil and Natural
Gas Corporation (ONGC)
today reported over 67 per
cent fall in the December
quarter net profit on the
back of a drop in oil and gas
prices.
Standalone net profit in
October-December quarter
at Rs 1,378 crore was 67.4 per
cent lower than Rs 4,226
crore net profit in the same
quarter of the previous year,
the company said in a state-
ment here.
The company realised
$43.9 on every barrel of
crude oil it produced and sold
in the third quarter of the cur-
rent fiscal, down from $58.24
a barrel it had realised in the
same period a year back.
Government-mandated
gas price dropped to $1.79
per million British thermal
unit from $3.23 per mmBtu
rate it got in October-Decem-
ber 2019.
Turnover was down 28 per
cent at Rs 17,024 crore.
The company board, at
its meeting today, approved
interim dividend of 35 per
the world in the coming
decades.”
On handling of Covid-19
pandemic, the finance min-
ister said: “The death rates are
the lowest in the world, active
cases have come down... we
have actually managed to
bend the curve. And as a
result, the revival of the econ-
omy looks a lot more sus-
tainable and this Budget
gives necessary impetus.”
Responding to the charge
of crony capitalism, the min-
ister said, the government
under Narendra Modi works
for common people and not
for cronies.
rate has risen by Rs 1.56 a litre.
The relentless hike in prices
has been criticised by the
opposition parties, includ-
ing Congress that has demand-
ed an immediate cut in taxes
to ease the burden on the com-
mon man.
However, oil minister Dhar-
mendra Pradhan on Wednes-
day had told Parliament that
the government is not con-
sidering a reduction in excise
duty to cool rates from their
record highs.
Rates have risen as inter-
supply chain and geopolitical
challenges, the year saw a
gradual realignment of smart-
phone supply chains. Enter-
prises seeking to de-risk them-
selves from China looked at
emerging alternatives, includ-
ing India,” CMR analyst-indus-
try intelligence group Anand
Priya Singh said in the report.
Itel mobile led feature
phone segment with a 20 per
cent market share in the quar-
ter ended December 2020,
despite a 2 per cent decline in
shipment volume on a year-
on-year basis.
Samsung, Lava, Nokia and
Karbonn feature phone mar-
ket share stood at 19 per cent,
17 per cent, 13 per cent and
5 per cent, respectively.
“Micromax re-entered the
smartphone market. It grew
cent ~ Rs 1.75 on each equi-
ty share of Rs 5.
“The total payout on this
account will be Rs 2,201.55
crore,” the statement said.
Also, the board approved
formation of a new wholly-
owned subsidiary company
for focusing on gas and LNG
business value chain subject
to necessary approvals.
“The company is being
formed with the objective of
sourcing, marketing and
trading of natural gas, LNG
business, hydrogen enriched
CNG (HCNG), gas to power
business, bio-energy/ bio-
gas/ bio methane/ other
biofuels business, etc,” the
statement said.
ONGC said its board has
also approved acquisition of
5 per cent equity in Indian
Gas Exchange Ltd (IGX) as
strategic investment.
IGX is a subsidiary of IEX,
India's first and leading
power exchange.
IGX Ltd is presently India's
first and only authorised
gas exchange, which provides
an automated platform for
trading of natural gas, cov-
ering a wide range of prod-
ucts.
Reeling out statistics to
show the government's pro-
poor policies, she said, meas-
ures of providing toilets,
houses and Mudra Yojana,
rural roads were not meant
for cronies.
“We don't do work for
any cronies, we work for the
common citizen who believes
in the Prime Minister,” she
said.
She also took on Con-
gress for accusing that the gov-
ernment is favouring cer-
tain industrialists and asked
the Opposition party to
explain how a particular proj-
ect in Kerala was awarded on
invitation basis to one of the
industrialists.
Adani Ports and Special
Economic Zone Ltd, India's
largest port developer and part
of the Adani Group, in Decem-
ber 2015 formally began
development of the inter-
national transshipment proj-
ect in Vizhinjam in Kerala.
national oil prices touched $61
per barrel for the first time in
more than a year on improv-
ing demand outlook amid
the global rollout of Covid-19
vaccines, he had said.
Central and state taxes
make up for over 61 per cent
of the retail selling price of
petrol and about 56 per cent
of diesel.
The Union government
levies Rs 32.9 per litre of excise
duty on petrol and Rs31.80 a
litre on diesel.
Retail petrol rates have
risen by Rs 18.87 per litre
since mid-March 2020 after
the government raised taxes
by a record margin to mop up
gains arising from fall in inter-
national oil prices. Diesel
rates have gone up by Rs
16.45.
by 75 per cent year-on-year and
is expected to increase its
market share along with Lava
in the smartphone market in
2021,” according to the report.
Transsion Group brands
(Itel, Infinix and Tecno) com-
bined feature phone and
smartphone shipments grew
by 32 per cent on a year-on-
year basis.
“In 2021 and beyond, as
India's nascent digital econ-
omy takes off, the smart-
phone industry would gain
strength, driven by feature
phone users transiting to
entry-level smartphones, and
new, powerful offerings across
price tiers, including 5G-capa-
ble smartphone offerings at
mid to lower price tiers, includ-
ing in the below Rs 20,000 price
band,” Singh said.
 SD Telugu news papers

TET, a milestone in the education history of the Hills

BINOY TAMANG, LEADER, GORKHA JAN MUKTI MORCHA
ON THE FIRST TEACHERS’ RECRUITMENT TEST IN THE GTA AREA THAT WILL BE CONDUCTED ON 14 FEB NEW DELHI,14 FEBRUARY 2021 09
Andhra Pradesh holds GP 110 accident-prone
rail tracks BJP farmer’s protest in Western Odisha
identified in
polls in ‘Odisha villages’ Odisha
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 13 FEBRUARY

STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Supreme Court has been pute related to Kotia group of BHUBANESWAR,13FEBRUARY The Odisha unit of the BJP
BHUBANESWAR, 13 FEBRUARY pleased to issue notice to the villages. organised a three hour farm-
State of Andhra Pradesh and The apex court on Friday The East Coast Railway has ers protest in western Odisha

T
he Andhra Pradesh
government on Sat-
urday successfully held
three-tier gram pan-
chayat polls in Kotia gram
panchayat of Koraput district
with the Odisha government
failing in its last -ditch effort
to stop the polls.
As per reports received
here, elections conducted in
the disputed villages of Mad-
kar, Daliamba, Barnapadu,
Patusineri and Konadara in
Potangi villages in Pottangi
block of Koraput district. The
poll was peaceful and incident-
free with no report in untoward
occurrences.
The Odisha government
officers like the Tehsildar and
Block Development Officer
from block reportedly tried to
call upon the voters not to cast
their franchise. It however
failed to yield the desired
results.
A day before the polls, the
district collector Abdaal Akhtar
had however requested his
Vizianagaram (in Andhra
Pradesh) counterpart Dr M Hari
Jawaharlal, making an offi-
cial appeal not to conduct the
gram panchayat election in
Kotia, saying that the disput-
ed area is currently sub-judice
in the Supreme Court.
"I am to bring to your atten-
tion that in Contempt Petition
No. 172/2021 arising out of Orig-
inal Suit No. 10/1968 (The
State of Odisha Vs. M.Hari
Jawaharlal and Others), the
BJD MPs demand withdrawal of NMA bylaw
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 13 FEBRUARY
As per the directions of CM
Naveen Patnaik, a delega-
tion of BJD MPs met Union
Minister Pralhad Joshi at Delhi
today and demanded with-
drawal of the draft bylaws
framed by the National Mon-
uments Authority (NMA) for
Ananta Basudev and
Brahmeswar temples in Ekam-
ra Kshetra, Bhubaneswar.
The NMA in its draft her-
itage bylaws for Jagannath
temple, Ananta Basudeva and
post the case to Friday, the 19th
February, 2021. In its oral
observations, the Court has also
observed that should the State
of Andhra Pradesh go ahead
with its plans as regards the sub-
ject mentioned above, neces-
sary consequences will follow.
The same was pronounced in
the presence of counsel for the
State of Andhra Pradesh. A copy
of the associated case docu-
ments have been handed over
to the counsel for the State of
Andhra Pradesh," Koraput
Collector Akhtar wrote in the
letter.
"I am to therefore, request
you that considering the Sub-
Judice nature of the matter and
the Supreme Court of India's
oral observations, you may
kindly desist from going ahead
with any plan to allegedly
conduct elections inside Kotia
GP of Pottangi Block in the Dis-
trict of Koraput, Odisha," the
official stated.
The Odisha government,
in its petition filed before the
Apex Court, submitted that
Andhra Pradesh had alleged-
ly willfully and deliberately vio-
lated the Supreme Court order
of December 2, 1968, and the
judgement of March 30, 2006,
by transgressing into Odisha's
territory.
The Apex court had in its
verdict in 1968 and 2006 had
asked both the states -- Odisha
and Andhra Pradesh -- to
maintain a status quo with
regard to the boundary dis-
Brahmeswar temples, has
demarcated restricted zones
where construction and other
such activity would require prior
approval.
The draft for the Jagan-
nath Temple, Puri had been
withdrawn following protests
but the one for the temples in
Bhubaneswar were retained
prompting the CM to demand
its rollback.The BJD is of the
view that the NMA guidelines
will hamper the ongoing devel-
opment projects in Ekamra
Kshetra.
An interesting aspect of
hearing the petition had
sought replies from the Andhra
Pradesh government for hold-
ing the elections in three vil-
lages of Kotia panchayat .
The three villages- Tala-
ganjeipadar, Patusineri and
Phagunseneri in Kotia gram
panchayat- have been report-
ed to have been changed to
new names Ganjeibadara,
Pattuchennuru and
Pagluchennuru by Andhra
Pradesh. These villages have
also been conferred separate
panchayat status by Andhra
Pradesh with a list of 1,025 vot-
ers, said a senior official of Rev-
enue and Disaster Manage-
ment Department of Odisha
government.
Both the neighbouring
States are at loggerheads for
the past several decades as
both claimed their jurisdic-
tion over Kotia Gram Pan-
chayat. Of the total 28 villages
under the panchayat, AP
claims 21 of them and provides
various benefits to over 5,000
residents in the region. Andhra
Pradesh has also provided
Aadhar cards to the people of
the region.
Side by side , reports are
trickling in that the AP gov-
ernment held GP polls in
some of the border villages in
Ganjam and Gajapati dis-
tricts. The revenue and disaster
management department has
asked the Collectors of both
the districts to furnish a report
in this regard.
the protests is the silence of
Bhubaneswar BJP MP Ms
Aparajita Sarangi.Today, the BJD
MP Anubhav Mohanty said
they had personally request-
ed Ms Sarangi to join the del-
egation but she refused.
Mohanty regretted the non-
cooperation on the part of
the Bhubaneswar MP in what
he described was a purely
non-political issue.
Ms Sarangi, on her part,
responded saying “ nothing is
done without a reason. I will
speak at the appropriate time,
please wait and watch”.
identified 110 vulnerable acci-
dent-prone spots.
It has been decided to dig
wide trenches parallel to track
It has been decided to dig
wide trenches parallel to
track to stop trespassing
of animals, pedestrians and
bikers
to stop trespassing of ani-
mals, pedestrians and bik-
ers. It has also been planned
to construct boundary walls
and erect fencing on the vul-
nerable accident-prone loca-
tions. To prevent unauthorised
trespassing, Limited Height
Sub-ways will be construct-
ed at some of the places and
consent has been received
from State Government in
this regard, ECoR officials
said. SNS
Property list of govt servants
& people’s representatives to
be made public
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 13 FEBRUARY
The Odisha government has
directed all government
employees and people’s rep-
resentatives to make an online
submission of annual property
list in the public domain for the
access of the general public.
CM Naveen Patnaik had
announced this a month ago
and stated that from the entry
level to the chief secretary,
from the PRI level to MLA’s
everybody is to furnish their
property statements annual-
ly and it will be made public.
He had also stated that these
will be forwarded to the
Lokayukta.
Yesterday the general
administration department
issued a notification in this
regard.
“The State Government is
committed to ensure a trans-
parent and corruption free
administration. As a step fur-
ther in the above pursuit, Govt.
has decided to make submis-
districts today protesting
against the alleged ‘chaos’ in
paddy procurement process
that had left farmers in dis-
tress.
The agitation was largely
focussed Sambalpur, Bar-
garh, Balangir, Kalahandi and
Sundargarh districts.
Senior BJP leaders of west-
ern Odisha districts claimed
that the three hour rasta roko
( Chakka Jam) agitation was
a success as farmers were
disgusted with the state BJD
government.
No amount of KALIA fund
assistance disbursed yester-
day by CM Naveen Patnaik
worked as the farmers have
seen through the gimmick,
remarked veteran BJP leader
Jayanarayan Mishra.
BJP MP Suresh Pujari
remarked that nowhere in the
sion of annual property state-
ments by Government ser-
vants of all group & ranks and
public representatives manda-
tory and to place the same in
the public domain for access
of everybody”, the General
Administration and Public
Grievance Department in a noti-
fication dated 12 February
stated.
Employees will be unable
to submit their PAR online in
the Human Resources Man-
agement System (HRMS) unless
the property return is sub-
mitted. Besides, up-to-date
filing of property return will be
a prerequisite for promotions.
All the public representa-
tives shall submit their prop-
erty return (both movable and
immovable) annually online.
The concerned departments
will develop an online system
to enable public representatives
to upload property statements
and allow access to the pub-
lic as well as Lokayukta on the
respective websites of their
department.
country is the ‘token’ system of all the paddy that is stocked is so very sincere what stops
implemented for procure- by farmers, removal of the ceil- them from asking FCI to pro-
ment. Here in Odisha the cen- ing of 13 quintals and 19 cure the paddy from farmers,
tralised token system has been quintal 9 for non-irrigated retorted veteran Congress
introduced and farmers asked and irrigated land respec- leader Narasingha Mishra.
to register and avail a token enti- tively) and an end to the arbi- The BJD said the BJP is try-
tling them to sell their paddy trary deductions during the ing to somehow deflect atten-
at the market yard. weighing process on flimsy tion from the happenings in
There are umpteen grounds of FAQ. Delhi as far as the farmers are
instances of tokens not being Reacting sharply , the Con- concerned.
issued, dates of the token gress said the BJP has no Food Minister Ranendra
have lapsed and the farmer’s moral right to even talk about Pratap Swain noted that pro-
paddy stock left without being farmers given the kind of agi- curement has far exceeded the
purchased, said Pujari. tation that is taking place for target and it has been suc-
The BJP demands abolition months in northern India. cessful in western parts of the
of the token system, purchase If the Odisha unit of the BJP state.
Fifty nine fresh Covid cases in
Odisha, 3.9 lakh vaccinated
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE The case fatality rate cur- districts reported the high-
BHUBANESWAR, 13 FEBRUARY rently stands at 0.56% in est number of new cases at
Odisha in comparison to nine each.Currently the
Odisha on Saturday report- national average of 1.43% Nabarangpur and Nayagarh
ed 59 fresh COVID-19 cases CFR. districts in the State have
since the past 24 hours, Half of the state's 30 dis- become COVID-free with
according to the State’s tricts did not report any no active case under med-
COVID dashboard data fresh cases while the health ication.The State’s recovery
updated at 12.11 pm today. authorities have vaccinated rate has shot up to 99.18 per
Since the past five days, 3.9 lakh health workers and cent.
no fresh Covid death has frontline personnel so far. Odisha currently has 787
been reported in the state. Bargarh and Sundargarh active cases.
Odisha’s drink
from tap
mission awarded
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHUBANESWAR, 13 FEBRUARY
Odisha Government's ‘Drink
from Tap Mission’ under won
the "Award of Excellence" at
18th CSI SIG eGovernance
Award 2020 for Smart Water
Management in Puri City
amongst 178 nominations
received from across India.
Managing Director of
WATCO Er. Pradipta Kumar
Radio Day exhibition at Bhanja Kala Mandap in Bhubaneswar. SNS Swain has received the award
on behalf of the State Gov-

National tribal dance & music fest inaugurated
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
BHAWANIPATNA, 13 FEBRUARY
The three days long Nation-
al Tribal Folk Dance and Folk
Music Festival organized by
Odisha Sangeet Natak Acad-
emy in collaboration with
Eastern Zonal cultural centre
kick started at Junagarh in
Kalahandi district last night.
The festival was inaugu-
rated by Minister Dibya
Shankar Mishra in the pres-
ence of Prabodh Rath, secre-
tary of the Odisha Sangeet
Natak Academy .
Minister Mishra said that
the objective is to take the trib-
al culture and heritage to
new heights and particularly
that of Kalahandi which is rich
in different dance and musi-
cal forms already acclaimed
in national and internation-
al level.
Prabodh Rath stressed on
the need for documentation
of different tribal dance forms
and to revive the ones which
are on verge of extinction.
Bhartal dance of Assam,
Sikar dance from Kharsuan,
Raibenshe dance from West
Bengal, Durua dance from
Malkangiri and Mogal
Tamasha of Bhadrak were
staged .
Over the next two days
dance and music troupes
from Assam, Jharkhand, West
Bengal, Bihar and Odisha
troupes from Bhadrak, Kala-
handi, Malkangiri, Raigada,
Koraput , Bolangir districts will
perform.
After a long lull of over 10
months due to the pandem-
ic, the festival did come as a
welcome entertainment to the
people .
Sundargarh BJD hopes big ticket
announcements by CM
STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE
ROURKELA, 13 FEBRUARY
Rourkela will get a bonanza of
projects worth Rs 5000 crore
and CM Naveen Patnaik will
make the announcements
when he visits on 16 February
claimed ruling BJD leaders
here.
The BJD held a preparato-
ry meeting in the presence of
MLA Pritiranjan Ghadei, Sara-
da P Nayak and others.
“We as a team will have to
make this visit of the CM a huge
success”, said Ghadei.
Sarada P Nayak exhorted
party workers to work hard.
The BJD has plans to mobi-
lize youth and women in large
The BJD held a Ring Road, the super special-
ty hospital at Kuanrmunda
preparatory meeting and Balughat, setting up the
in the presence of Hockey Nursery at Panposh and
MLA Pritiranjan the proposed sports hostel. If
Ghadei, Sarada P I mention every project it will
Nayak and others. be a very long list of false
promises” he charged.
numbers for the CM’s meeting. Some other projects he
On the other hand, the spoke about were the XIMB, the
Congress held a press confer- agricultural research farm at
ence, which was addressed by Kuanrmunda, the proposed
DCC chief George Tirky who enhancement of RGH from
listed out projects for which 124 beds to 400.
foundation stones had been laid The BJP has also raised the
in the district without being same points.The BJP led by MLA
completed for years. Sankar Oram had staged a
Mentioning some of the demonstration at the Kuanr-
major projects, which never saw munda site where the foun-
the daylight Tirky said,“the Koel dation stone for the medical
Barrage, the Deogaon to Jhirpani college had been laid.
ernment from CM of Uttar
Pradesh Yogi Adityanath at an
award ceremony held in Luc-
know yesterday organised by
the Computer Society of India
(CSI).
‘Drink from Tap Mission’
called ‘Sujal’ was launched
on 13th October 2020 by the
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
to provide assured quality
drinking water fit for direct
consumption from the Tap to
all households in urban areas.
After completion of pilot
projects in 12 zones in
Bhubaneswar and Puri cities
& after becoming the first State
in the country to provide
drink from the tap water to
people, WATCO is to cover
entire city of Bhubaneswar
and Puri & other cities name-
ly Cuttack, Puri, Khurda Jatni,
Berhampur which will be
extended to other cities in the
state in a phased manner.

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RED EYE/Bill Yates & Mel Casson SUDOKU

ACROSS DOWN
1 Understand (3) 1 Singer (7)
3 More just (6) 2 Weird (5)
7 High blood pressure (12) 3 Carnival (6)
9 Exchange (5) 4 Immediate (7)
10 Windpipe (7) 5 Era (5)
11 Limp (6) 6 Symbol of surrender
13 Thickset (6) (5,4)
8 Maze (9)
16 Guaranteed (7) 12 Ferocious fish (7)
18 Russian pancakes (5)
19 Tuxedo (6,6)
14 Domestic fowl (7)
15 Loved intensely (6)
DADDY DAZE/John Kovaleski
20 Filament (6) 17 Move (5)
21 Transgression (3) 18 Pulses (5)
SOLUTIONS TO YESTERDAY’S CROSSWORD irections Make a 2 to
7 letter word from the
ACROSS 13 Clean- DOWN 12 Careless, letters in each row.
shaven, 14 Edifice, Add points of each
1 Rowed, 1 Revolt, word, using scoring
4 Weigh 17 Platelet, 2 Wastrel, 15 Spiral, directions at right, 7-
19 Like, 16 Fetter, letter words get 50- Sudoku is a number-placing
(Roadway), 3 Drip, point bonus. "Blanks"
puzzle based on a 9x9 grid with
8 Vestige, 21 Rogue, 4 Wheatear, 18 Anger, used as any letter
22 Chemist, 20 Less. have no point value. several given numbers. The
9 Erupt, 5 Inure, All Judd’s words are
object is to place the numbers 1
10 Lard, 23 Lords, 6 Hatred, in The Official
Scrabble Players to 9 in the empty squares so
11 As it were, 24 Swear. 7 Persistence, Dictionary(Merriam-
that no row, no column and no
Webster) and OSW
Official Scrabble answer to 3x3 box contains the same
By arrangement with The Independent rabble and Scrabble Tiles are registered trademarks. All Words(Chambers).
number. The difficulty level
Figures in parentheses denote
rights in the game are owned in the U.S.A by Hasbro Inc., Judd’s solution previous
in Canada by Hasbro Canada Inc., and elsewhere by J.W. increases through the week.
the number of letters in the words required Spear & Sons Limited, a subsidiary of Mattel, Inc.
tomorrow.
10-25-12
puzzle

SD Telugu news papers

 SD Telugu news papers

10
We should all be encouraged, but complacency
is as dangerous as the virus itself
WHO CHIEF TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS
NEW DELHI, 14 FEBRUARY 2021 CAUTIONING AGAINST RELAXING RESTRICTIONS AS VIRUS CASES DROP

WEATHER
CITY MAX(°C) MIN(°C)
Acquittal expected as Senate poised to vote
SINGAPORE
HONG KONG
32
22
25 H
16 CL Many Republicans doubt whether Trump was fully responsible for the riot or if impeachment is the appropriate response
TOKYO 18 7 CL
LONDON 0 -6 H ASSOCIATED PRESS ment is nothing but a “witch Democrats of waging a cam- was telling his supporters to
paign of “hatred” against the fight on after every state had
DUBAI 24 17 H WASHINGTON, 13 FEBRUARY hunt” designed to prevent
him from serving in office former president as they verified its results, after the Elec- McConnell

A
SAN FRANCISCO 13 9 H
NEW YORK -2 -6 H cquittal is expected in
the evenly-divided
MOSCOW -12
S= sunny, CL= clear,
-15 H
Senate. That verdict
H=hazy, R= rainy... could heavily influ-
ence not only Trump’s polit-
THUMBNAILS ical future but that of the sen-
ators sworn to deliver impar-
tial justice as jurors.
House prosecutors have
argued that Trump’s rallying
cry to go to the Capitol and
“fight like hell” for his presi-
dency just as Congress was con-
vening January 6 to certify Joe
Biden’s election victory, was
part of an orchestrated pattern
of violent rhetoric and false
claims that unleashed the
mob. Five people died, includ-
ing a rioter who was shot and
Britain's Prime Minister a police officer.
Boris Johnson visits a Trump’s lawyers countered
pharmaceutical manufac- in a short three hours on Fri-
turing facility, in Stockton- day that Trump’s words were
on-Tees, England, on not intended to incite the
Saturday. AGENCIES violence and that impeach-
again.
Only by watching the graph-
ic videos, rioters calling out
menacingly for House Speak-
er Nancy Pelosi and Vice Pres-
ident Mike Pence, who was pre-
siding over the vote tally, did
senators say they began to
understand just how per-
ilously close the country came
to chaos. Hundreds of rioters
stormed into the building,
taking over the Senate. Some
engaged in hand-to-hand,
bloody combat with police.
While it is unlikely the Sen-
ate would be able to mount
the two-thirds vote needed to
convict, several senators appear
to be still weighing their vote.
Many Republicans repre-
senting states where the for-
mer president remains pop-
ular doubt whether Trump
was fully responsible or if
impeachment is the appro-
priate response. Democrats
appear all but united toward
conviction.
Trump is the only president
to be twice impeached and the
first to face trial charges after
leaving office.
Unlike last year’s impeach-
ment trial of Trump in the
Ukraine affair, a complicated
charge of corruption and
obstruction over his attempts
to have the foreign ally dig up
dirt on then-campaign rival
Biden, this one brought an
emotional punch over the
unexpected vulnerability of the
U.S. tradition of peaceful elec-
tions. The charge is singular,
incitement of insurrection.
On Friday, Trump’s
impeachment lawyers accused
wrapped up their defense.
His lawyers vigorously
denied that Trump had incit-
ed the riot and they played out-
of-context video clips show-
ing Democrats, some of them
senators now serving as jurors,
also telling supporters to
“fight,” aiming to establish a
parallel with Trump’s over-
heated rhetoric.
“This is ordinarily political
rhetoric,” said Trump lawyer
Michael van der Veen. “Count-
less politicians have spoken
of fighting for our principles.”
But the presentation blurred
the difference between the gen-
eral encouragement that politi-
cians make to battle for health
care or other causes and
Trump’s fight against officially
accepted national election
results, and minimized Trump’s
efforts to undermine those
results. The defeated president
toral College had affirmed
them and after nearly every
election lawsuit filed by Trump
and his allies had been reject-
ed in court.
Democratic senators shook
their heads at what many
called a false equivalency to
their own fiery words. “We
weren’t asking them ‘fight like
hell’ to overthrow an elec-
tion,” said Senator Richard
Blumenthal, D-Conn.
Democrats say that Trump
was the “inciter in chief”
whose monthslong campaign
against the election results was
rooted in a “big lie” and laid
the groundwork for the riot,
a violent domestic attack on
the Capitol unparalleled in his-
tory. “Get real,” said the lead
prosecutor, Rep. Jamie Raskin,
D-Md., at one point. “We
know that this is what hap-
pened.”
will vote to
acquit Trump
WASHINGTON, 13 FEBRUARY
Senate Republican leader
Mitch McConnell will vote
to acquit Donald Trump in
the former president’s
impeachment trial.
That’s according to a
source familiar with
McConnell’s thinking who
was not authorised to pub-
licly discuss the decision
and spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The Republican leader’s
views are closely watched
and carry sway among
GOP senators, and his deci-
sion on Trump is likely to
influence others weighing
their votes. AP

Pak approves fourth

vaccine: Pakistan has CLOSE WATCH SEIZE THE MOMENT EU calls on
approved the emergency
use of a second Chinese China to
Covid-19 vaccine, making reverse ban on
BBC World
it the fourth drug to be
cleared by the regulatory
authority to tackle the
deadly virus, which has News channel
claimed over 12,000 lives
in the country. PTI BEIJING, 13 FEBRUARY

The European Union on Sat-

Elderly urged to get Covid
jabs: People eligible for a
Covid-19 vaccine among
the over-70 most at-risk
groups are being urged by
the National Health Ser-
vice to come forward this
weekend in a renewed
drive as the UK govern-
ment nears its target of
vaccinating the top priori-
ty groups by Monday. PTI
Khalsa TV fined: The UK's
media watchdog has
imposed a total fine of
50,000 pounds on Khalsa
Television Ltd in Britain
for broadcasting a music
video and a discussion pro-
gramme that was an indi-
rect call for British Sikh to
commit violence. PTI
Biden to undo
Medicaid
work
requirements
WASHINGTON, 13 FEBRUARY
The Biden administration is
moving to roll back Medic-
aid work requirements in its
latest effort to undo a
controversial Trump-era
policy.
Federal health officials
planned Friday to inform 10
states that they would revoke
permissions granted by the
Trump administration to
impose such requirements,
according to a Biden official
who spoke on condition of
anonymity to discuss inter-
nal plans. Officials were
also set to withdraw the
past administration's invi-
tation for states to apply for
approval for work require-
ments.
The move, which was
first reported by the Wall
urday called on China to
reverse its ban on the BBC
Democrats would need a minimum of 17 World News television chan-
Republicans to vote with them to convict nel imposed in apparent
Trump of incitement of insurrection. A look at retaliation for Britain's pulling
the Republicans whom Democrats are eyeing of the licence of state-owned
as they make final arguments in the case Chinese broadcaster CGTN.
The EU said in a statement
that Beijing's move further
THE FREQUENT TRUMP CRITICS: Republican Senators restricted freedom of expres-
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Mitt sion and access to informa-
Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine have been
clear that they believe Trump incited the riot. While none tion inside its borders,” and
of them is a lock to vote for conviction, they have joined violated both the Chinese
with Democrats twice to vote against GOP efforts to dis- constitution and the Uni-
miss the trial. versal Declaration of Human
Rights.
The statement also said
that Hong Kong's announce-
Skaters took to the frozen surface of Amsterdam's historic Prinsengracht canal on Saturday as the deep freeze gripping Europe ment that its public broad-
briefly made it possible to skate on a small section of the canal for the first time since 2018. AGENCIES caster would also stop car-
rying BBC broadcasts added
to the erosion of the rights and
HEADED OUT: Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey,
who is retiring in 2022, has also voted twice
with Democrats to move forward with the
trial. Like Murkowski, he called for Trump's
Oxford University launches vaccine study on kids freedoms that is ongoing” in
the semi-autonomous Chi-
nese territory since the impo-
resignation after the riots, saying that would PRESS TRUST OF INDIA shown to be safe in children sition last year of a sweeping
be the best way ‘to get this person in the
rearview mirror for us’. Toomey had also aggres-
LONDON, 13 FEBRUARY but is expected to produce sim-
ilar reactions, such as a sore
new national security law.
The EU remains strongly
sively pushed back on Trump's false asser-
tions that he had won Pennsylvania and
The University of Oxford has
launched the first study to
arm. After the launch of the
trial funded by the National
committed to safeguarding
media freedom and plural-
other states in the election.
assess the safety and immune
responses in children and
Institute for Health Research
(NIHR) and AstraZeneca this
ism, as well as protecting
the right to freedom of expres-
CASSIDY AS WILD CARD: Louisiana Sen-
ator Bill Cassidy, who won reelection by young adults of its coron-
avirus vaccine.
week, the first vaccinations are
expected during the course
sion online and offline, includ-
ing freedom to hold opinions
a large margin in 2020, voted two weeks
ago for a GOP effort to dismiss the trial. The university said that pre- of this month. and to receive and impart
But he switched his vote this past week, vious trials of its ChAdOx1 This study will help to information without inter-
saying Trump's lawyers had done a ter- nCoV-19 jabs, which are being protect children in the future. ference of any kind,” the
rible job making the case that the trial produced by AstraZeneca While most children are rel- Oxford vaccine trial. We've already seen that the statement said.
was unconstitutional. and also have a tie-up with the atively unaffected by coron- These new trials will extend vaccine is safe and effective China's National Radio
Serum Institute of India, have avirus and are unlikely to our understanding of control in adults, and our under- and Television Administration
JOHN THUNE: South Dakota Senator John Thune, the shown that it is safe, pro- become unwell with the infec- of SARS-CoV2 to younger age standing of how children are said BBC World News cover-
Number 2 Republican leader, dismissed Trump's duces strong immune system tion, it is important to estab- groups, he said. affected by the coronavirus age of the country violated
attempts to challenge the certification of Biden's
presidential election victory. Thune pre- responses and has high effi- lish the safety and immune This new trial, a single- continues to evolve, said requirements that news
dicted the effort would go down like a ‘shot cacy in all adults. response to the vaccine in chil- blind, randomised Phase II Grace Li, Paediatric Clinical reporting be true and impar-
dog’ in the Senate. That comment drew a furi- From Friday, it would be dren and young people as trial, will enrol 300 volun- Research Fellow, Oxford Vac- tial, reflecting complaints
ous response from Trump. Still, Thune has extending its trials to assess some children may benefit teers, with up to 240 of these cine Group. The university said over reports about China's ini-
voted twice to dismiss the case. He said Fri- if children and young adults from vaccination, said Andrew volunteers receiving the ChA- it has teamed up with three tial response to the virus
day that he was keeping an open mind aged 6-17 years also show a Pollard, Professor of Paediatric dOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine and the partner sites in London, outbreak in China, allegations
and indicated he could be open to a cen- good immune response to Infection and Immunity, and remainder a control menin- Southampton and Bristol for of forced labor and abuse in
sure resolution if Trump is acquitted.
coronavirus from it. Chief Investigator on the gitis vaccine, which has been this extended vaccine trial. Xinjiang among others. AP
China refused to provide WHO team with raw data on early Covid cases
AGENCIES ministry did not immediate-
SHANGHAI, 13 FEBRUARY

China refused to give raw

Street Journal, follows an
executive order Biden signed
last month that directed
officials to review and remove
barriers to Medicaid cover-
age.
Medicaid is a USD 600 bil-
lion federal-state program
that covers about 70 million
people, from pregnant
women and newborns to dis-
abled people and elderly
nursing home residents.
Under the Obama-era
Affordable Care Act, states
gained the option of expand-
ing the program to many
low-income adults previ-
ously ineligible. More than
12 million people have
gained coverage as a result.
The Trump administra-
tion allowed states to require
able-bodied adults drawing
Medicaid benefits to work,
volunteer or study.
Before the pandemic,
nearly 20 states had tried to
implement requirements
after the administration
invited them in 2018 to sub-
mit such proposals. A fed-
eral judge blocked the
requirements in Arkansas
and New Hampshire, as
well as in Kentucky, before
the state's Democratic gov-
ernor reversed course and
dropped its requirements.AP
data on early Covid-19 cases
to a World Health Organisa-
tion-led team probing the
origins of the pandemic, one
of the team’s investigators
said, potentially complicating
efforts to understand how the
outbreak began.
The team had requested
raw patient data on the 174
cases of Covid-19 that China
had identified from the early
phase of the outbreak in the
Chinese city of Wuhan in
December 2019, as well as
other cases, but were only
provided with a summary,
said Dominic Dwyer, an Aus-
tralian infectious diseases
expert who is a member of the
team.
Such raw data is known as
“line listings”, he said, and
would typically be anonymised
but contain details such as what
questions were asked of indi-
vidual patients, their respons-
es and how their responses
were analysed. “That’s stan-
dard practice for an outbreak
investigation,” he told Reuters
on Saturday.
He said that gaining access
to the raw data was especial-
ly important since only half of
the 174 cases had exposure to
the Huanan market, the now-
shuttered wholesale seafood
centre in Wuhan where the
Some Europeans get choosy
about which vaccines they want
virus was initially detected.
“That’s why we’ve persist-
ed to ask for that,” he said. “Why
that doesn’t happen, I could-
n’t comment. Whether it’s
political or time or it’s difficult
... But whether there are any
other reasons why the data isn’t
available, I don’t know. One
would only speculate.”
While the Chinese author-
ities provided a lot of mater-
ial, he said the issue of access
to the raw patient data would
be mentioned in the team’s final
report. “The WHO people cer-
tainly felt that they had received
much much more data than
they had ever received in the
previous year. So that in itself
is an advance.”
A summary of the team’s
findings could be released as
early as next week, the WHO
said on Friday.
The WHO-led probe had
been plagued by delay, con-
cern over access and bicker-
ing between Beijing and Wash-
ington, which accused China
of hiding the extent of the ini-
tial outbreak and criticised the
terms of the visit, under which
Chinese experts conducted the
first phase of research.
The team, which arrived in
China in January and spent four
weeks looking into the origins
of the Covid-19 outbreak, was
limited to visits organised by
their Chinese hosts and pre-
vented from contact with
community members, due to
health restrictions. The first two
weeks were spent in hotel
quarantine.
China’s refusal to hand
over raw data on the early
Covid-19 cases was reported
earlier by the Wall Street Jour-
nal on Friday.
The WHO did not reply to
a request from Reuters for
comment. The Chinese foreign
ly reply to a request for com-
ment but Beijing has previously
defended its transparency in
handling the outbreak and
its cooperation with the WHO
mission.
WHO chief warns of
complacency: The head of
the World Health Organisation
has said that the drop in con-
firmed Covid-19 infections
around the world was encour-
aging, but cautioned against
relaxing restrictions that have
helped curb the spread of the
coronavirus.
Tedros Adhanom Ghe-
breyesus on Friday said the
number of reported infec-
tions globally has declined
for the fourth week in a row,
and the number of deaths
also fell for the second con-
secutive week.
While the figures reported
by countries to the WHO
for the week ending February
8 are still incomplete,
the global body said so far
about 1.9 million newly con-
firmed cases were registered
worldwide, down from more
than 3.2 million the previous
week.
Tedros said members of a
WHO expert mission who
recently visited China to inves-
tigate the possible source of
the outbreak would publish a
summary of their findings
next week.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WARSAW, 13 FEBRUARY
Many Europeans are des-
perate for a coronavirus vac-
cine. But not just any vaccine.
As AstraZeneca shots are
rolling out to European Union
nations this month, joining
the Pfizer and Moderna doses
already available, some peo-
ple are balking at being
offered a vaccine that they
perceive fairly or not as sec-
ond-best.
Poland began vaccinating
teachers Friday with the
AstraZeneca vaccine, and
some had misgivings about
being put in line for a vac-
cine they believe is less effec-
tive than the others.
Ewelina Jankowska, the
director of a primary and high
school in Warsaw's southern
Wilanow district, said nobody
in her school was enthusi-
astic about getting the
AstraZeneca shot, although
many signed up, eager for any
protection against a virus that
has upended their lives and
their students' schooling.
I still fear the illness more
than the AstraZeneca vaccine,
said Jankowska, who was
infected with Covid-19 in
November and had a very
slow recovery.
AstraZeneca, an Anglo-
Swedish company, devel-
oped its vaccine with the Uni-
versity of Oxford. While reg-
ulators in more than 50
countries, including the EU's
drug watchdog, have autho-
rized its widespread use, it
has attracted more criticism
than others due to concerns
about its human trials.
Several European nations
have recommended the drug
only for people under 65, and
other countries have rec-
ommended it for those under
55, because AstraZeneca's tri-
als included a relatively small
number of older people.
AstraZeneca CEO Pascal
Soriot acknowledged the
criticism but said regula-
tors had reviewed the data
and deemed the vaccine
safe and effective. Covid-19
vaccines are in short supply,
he said, and the AstraZeneca
shot offers high levels of
protection against severe
disease, which is the most
important benchmark in
fighting a virus that has killed
more than 2.3 million peo-
ple worldwide.
“Is it perfect? No, it's not
perfect, but it's great”, Sori-
ot said Thursday. “We're
going to save thousands of
lives and that's why we come
to work every day”.
The World Health Organ-
isation says the AstraZeneca
vaccine is about 63 per cent
effective at preventing symp-
tomatic Covid-19 after two
doses. That's less than the 95
per cent effectiveness report-
ed by Pfizer and Moderna,
but experts caution against
such comparisons as the
studies were done at differ-
ent times and under differ-
ent conditions. Furthermore,
all have proven extremely
effective at preventing seri-
ous illness and death.

SD Telugu news papers


Tensions high as Myanmar stir enters 2nd week
Authorities have stepped up the arrests of politicians and activists, and in areas outside Yangon have become more aggressive in trying to break up protests
ASSOCIATED PRESS
YANGON, 13 FEBRUARY
M
ass street demon-
strations in Myan-
mar entered their
second week Sat-
urday with neither protesters
nor the military government
they seek to unseat showing
any signs of backing off from
confrontations.
Protesters in Yangon, the
country's biggest city, again
congregated at Hleden inter-
section, a key crossroads from
which groups fanned out to
other points, including the
embassies of the United States
and China. They marched
despite an order banning
gatherings of five or more
people.
The US, especially after
the announcement by Presi-
dent Joe Biden of sanctions
against the military regime, is
regarded as an ally in the pro-
Massive fire at Afghan-Iran border after blast
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HERAT (AFGHANISTAN),
13 FEBRUARY
A fuel tanker exploded Sat-
urday at the Islam Qala cross-
ing in Afghanistan's western
Herat province on the Iran-
ian border, injuring at least
seven people and causing a
massive fire that consumed
more than 500 trucks carry-
ing natural gas and fuel,
according to Afghan officials
and Iranian state media.
It wasn't immediately clear
what caused the blast. Wahid
Qatali, Herat's provincial gov-
ernor, said Afghan first respon-
ders did not have the means
to put out the fire and had
requested support from Iran
in the form of fire fighting air-
craft.
For the time being, we
can't even talk about the
casualties, Qatali told The
Associated Press.
The intensity of the flames
meant ambulances were hav-
ing trouble reaching the
wounded or getting close to
the site of the blast, said
Mohammad Rafiq Shirzy,
Beijing smog
casts gloom over
China’s Lunar
New Year
holiday
BEIJING, 13 FEBRUARY
Visibility across Beijing was
severely limited by the smog
on the second day of Lunar
New Year, with the tops of the
city’s Beijing’s tallest group of
buildings in the east of the city
almost completely covered by
the haze.
The PM 2.5 level - which
measures pollution - in the
city’s urban areas reached
239 micrograms per cubic
meter according to state news
agency Xinhua.
Local authorities had
issued a yellow alert for heavy
air pollution on Thursday.
China has a colour-coded,
four-tier warning system for
air pollution, with red the most
serious, followed by orange,
yellow and blue.
“The air is horrible,” said
cosmetics sector worker Katie
Li, 35, as she made her way
to the gym.”
“Starting the Lunar New
Year with this kind of weath-
er is a bit depressing,” she
added.
Staff at the Mutianyu sec-
tion of the Great Wall of China
in the north of Beijing said that
they had received around
5,000 visitors on Saturday, a
far cry from their usual daily
capacity of 20,000 although
they have capped numbers
to around half of that due to
Covid-19 restrictions.
Some visitors complained
about the haze affecting the
views. But others, such as 32-
year-old banking sector work-
er Brandon Chen, were
unfazed by the conditions.
“Even though the air
isn’t great, for Chinese peo-
ple walking up to a high point
in the new year carries a lot
of importance,” Chen
said. AGENCIES
testers' struggle against the Feb.
1 coup. China is detested as
an ally of the ruling generals,
whose support is crucial to
them keeping their grip on
power.
Demonstrations also
resumed in the second biggest
city, Mandalay, with lawyers
making up one large contin-
gent.
The military ousted the
country's leader, Aung San
Suu Kyi, and her government
and prevented recently elect-
ed lawmakers from opening
a new session of Parliament.
Suu Kyi and other senior mem-
bers of her government and
party remain in detention.
The junta led by Senior
Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said it
was forced to act because Suu
Kyi's government failed to
properly investigate allegations
of fraud in last year's election,
which her National League for
Democracy party won in a
spokesman for the Herat
regional hospital.
Seven people injured by the
fire have been admitted to the
hospital in Herat so far, he said.
The fire has forced
Afghanistan to shut down its
electrical supply from Iran,
leaving Herat in the dark,
said Wahidullah Tawhidi,
spokesman for the Ministry
of Power Supply.
Iran's state-run IRNA news
agency reported that follow-
ing the request from Herat's
governor, Iranian rescue forces
AFTERMATH
In this photo provided by Russian Emergency Ministry Press
Service, Emergency Ministry employees work at the scene of
a powerful explosion in Vladikavkaz, Russia.
Gender identity Bill divides Spain’s feminists, left-wing
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MADRID, 13 FEBRUARY
Victòria Martínez continues
to sign official documents
with the name that she, her
partner and their two daugh-
ters ditched four years ago. Bar-
ring any surprises, she expects
the Spanish government to rec-
ognize her as Victòria by May,
closing a patience-wearing
chapter familiar to transgen-
der people around the world.
Changing her legal iden-
tity at a civil registry office in
Barcelona will allow Martínez
to update her passport and dri-
ver’s license and to carry a
health card that correctly
states she is a woman. But the
process, which the pandem-
ic prolonged, has been, in
her words, “humiliating”,
requiring a psychiatric diag-
nosis, reports from three doc-
tors and a court’s approval.
“Did I want to be stigma-
tized by being labeled as
crazy? Did I want to voluntarily
apply for a shrink’s report
that says so, to have a judge
decide whether I can be what
We hope that (removing designation of Houthi rebels as a terrorist group)
helps build momentum for a political solution to the conflict in Yemen
landslide. The election com-
mission said there is no evi-
dence to support the military's
claims.
Saturday's protests coin-
cided with the birthday of
General Aung San, the coun-
try's independence leader
and father of Suu Kyi. His
name and image have
appeared on signs carried by
some demonstrators.
Authorities have stepped
up the arrests of politicians and
activists, and in areas out-
side Yangon have become
more aggressive in trying to
break up protests.
According to the inde-
pendent Assistance Associa-
tion for Political Prisoners, at
least 326 people have been
detained since the coup, of
which 303 remain in custody.
There have been many
reports over the past three
nights of raids during a cur-
few in which security per-
and fire fighters are underway
to extinguish the fire inside
Afghanistan,” according to
Mohsen Nejat, director-gen-
eral of crisis management in
Iran's Khorasan Razavi
province.
Iran's semi-official ISNA
news agency quoted truck
drivers as saying more than
500 trucks carrying natural gas
and fuel have been burnt so
far. The fire spread to the
Dogharoon customs facili-
ties on the Iranian side and
first responders, including
AGENCIES
I already am?” Martínez, 44,
recalls asking herself. “The
whole thing has been emo-
tionally exhausting.”
A new law proposed by the
far-left party in Spain’s coali-
tion government would make
it easier for residents to change
genders for official purposes.
A bill sponsored by Equality
Minister Irene Montero aims
to make gender self-deter-
mination ~ no diagnosis, med-
ical treatment or judge required
~ the norm, with eligibility
starting at age 16. Nearly 20
countries, eight of them in the
European Union, already have
similar laws.
Factions of the Catholic
Church and the far-right have
focused their opposition to the
bill on the fact that it also would
allow children under 16 to
bypass parental objections
and seek a judge’s assistance
in accessing treatment for
gender dysphoria, the med-
ical term for the psychologi-
cal distress that results from
a conflict between an indi-
vidual’s identity and birth-
assigned sex.
SD Telugu news papers
WELCOMING US REVOCATION OF YEMEN'S HOUTHIS AS TERRORISTS
Protesters dressed in traditional attire hold posters with images of deposed Myanmar leader
Aung San Suu Kyi during a rally in Yangon, Myanmar on Saturday.
sonnel have tried to seize
people from their homes.
In several cases, neigh-
bors and others people have
the fire department, the Iran-
ian army and border forces
were assisting in extinguish-
ing the blaze, according to Iran-
ian state television. Trucks
carrying natural gas and fuel
were directed to leave the
scene.
The Islam Qala border
crossing is around 120 kilo-
metres (75 miles) west of the
city of Herat. It is a major tran-
sit route between Afghanistan
and Iran.
The United States allows
Afghanistan to import fuel and
oil from Iran as part of a spe-
cial concession that exempts
Kabul from sanctions against
Iran.
As the fire burned into the
night, Afghan security serv-
ices set up checkpoints and
were assisting ambulances
and emergency vehicles trav-
elling to and from the border
crossing to the city.
The road between Herat
and Islam Qala is a danger-
ous stretch of highway that
Afghans rarely travel at night
for fear of attacks by criminal
gangs. The Taliban also trav-
el freely in the area.
Religion and death penalty collide at US court
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, 12 FEBRUARY
The Supreme Court is send-
ing a message to states that
want to continue to carry
out the death penalty: Inmates
must be allowed to have a spir-
itual adviser by their side as
they are executed.
The high court around
midnight Thursday declined
to let Alabama proceed with
the lethal injection of Willie
B. Smith III.
Smith had objected to
Alabama's policy that his
pastor would have had to
observe his execution from an
adjacent room rather than the
death chamber itself.
The order from the high
court follows two years in
which inmates saw some rare
success in bringing chal-
lenges based on the issue of
chaplains in the death cham-
ber. This time, liberal and
conservative members of the
Less expected has been
the fierce resistance from
some feminists and from
within Spain’s Socialist-led
government.
“I’m fundamentally wor-
ried by the idea that if gender
can be chosen with no more
than one’s will or desire, that
could put at risk the identity
criteria for 47 million
Spaniards,” Deputy Prime
Minister Carmen Calvo, a vet-
eran Socialist and women’s
rights advocate, said last week.
Opponents argue that
allowing people to choose
their gender eventually would
lead to “erasing” women from
the public sphere: if more
Spaniards registered male at
birth switch to female, they say,
it would skew national statistics
and create more competi-
tion among women for every-
thing from jobs to sports tro-
phies.
The divide in Spain mirrors
a debate between a branch of
feminist theorists and LGBTQ
rights movements around the
globe. At one end, activists
often derogatorily referred to
SD Telugu news papers
UN SPOKESMAN STEPHANE DUJARRIC
rushed to the scene in such
numbers that security forces
have abandoned their attempts
to haul in their targets. Videos
DESTRUCTION
A member of the security forces walks past wreckage at the scene of a bombing in
Mogadishu, Somalia on Saturday. A suicide bomber died and seven civilians were wounded in
the blast.
court normally in disagree-
ment over death penalty
issues found common ground
not on the death penalty itself
but on the issue of religious
freedom and how the death
penalty is carried out.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh,
one of three justices who said
they would have let Smith's
execution go forward, said
Alabama's policy applies
equally to all inmates and
serves a state interest in ensur-
ing safety and security.
as TERFs (trans-exclusion-
ary radical feminists) posit that
the advancement of trans-
gender rights could undercut
efforts to root out sexism and
misogyny by negating the
existence of biological sexes.
The State Federation of
Lesbian, Gay, Transgender
and Bisexual people says that
if passed in its current form,
the law would help end dis-
crimination against trans-
gender people and leapfrog
Spain to the European van-
guard of protecting LGBTQ
rights.
Montero’s bill nonethe-
less has provoked unusual
fury on online platforms,
where critics express alarm over
provisions that would assign
public toilets and prisons
according to “registered gen-
der.” Confluencia Feminista,
an alliance of dozens of
women’s rights organizations,
also has come out against
any changes to Spain’s exist-
ing law.
The concern of Alexandra
Paniagua, one of the new
platform’s activists, pivots
AGENCIES
of such raids have been wide-
ly posted on social media.
The prisoners' association
also said that riot police fired
But he said it was appar-
ent that his colleagues who
disagreed were providing a
path for states to follow.
States that want to avoid
months or years of litigation
over the presence of spiritu-
al advisers should figure out
a way to allow spiritual advi-
sors into the execution room,
as other States and the Fed-
eral Government have done,”
he wrote in a dissent joined
by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Justice Clarence Thomas
also would have allowed the
execution of Smith, who was
sentenced to die for the 1991
murder of 22-year-old Shar-
ma Ruth Johnson in Birm-
ingham.
Alabama had up until 2019
allowed a Christian prison
chaplain employed by the
state to be physically present
in the execution chamber if
requested by the inmate, but
the state changed its policy
in response to two earlier
around the idea that by elim-
inating the opinions of doc-
tors and judges, state-subsi-
dized hormones and gender
reassignment surgery would
become more available, ulti-
mately “promoting” more
dysphoria among young peo-
ple.
“More people will see eas-
ier access to the invasive treat-
ment, especially girls who
have been told that their bod-
ies are less worthy in our soci-
ety,” she said.
But Trans Platform Feder-
ation President Mar Cam-
brollé argues that some of
the fears cited as reasons to
keep existing hurdles in place
are based on outdated ideas
that reduce boys and girls, men
and women to a handful of
socially prescribed charac-
teristics and roles.
“Transphobic attitudes
piss me off,” Cambrollé said.
“As a woman, I’ve been dis-
criminated against for being
a woman in a world made by
men for men, but also by
cis(gender) people who build
it with other cis people in
NEW DELHI, 14 FEBRUARY 2021
rubber bullets, injuring five stu-
dents, and took away anoth-
er nine in a protest Friday in
the southern city of
Mawlamyine.
Family members are left
with no knowledge of the
charges, location or condition
of their loved ones, it said in
a statement. These are not iso-
lated incidents and night-
time raids are targeting dis-
senting voices. It is happen-
ing across the country.”
Detainees have included
political leaders, government
officials, civil servants, activists
and student leaders. Medical
personnel have been singled
out because their communi-
ty initiated the civil disobe-
dience campaign against the
military takeover and remains
in its vanguard.
The military ruled direct-
ly for five decades after a 1962
coup, and used lethal force to
quash a massive 1988 upris-
AGENCIES
Supreme Court cases.
Robert Dunham, the exec-
utive director of the Death
Penalty Information Center,
says the court's order will
most clearly affect states in
the Deep South that have
active execution chambers.
Dunham said most state
execution protocols, which set
who is present in the death
chamber, do not mention
spiritual advisers. For most of
the modern history of the
US death penalty since the
1970s, spiritual advisers have
not been present in execution
chambers, he said.
The federal government,
which under President Don-
ald Trump resumed federal
executions following a 17-
year hiatus and carried out 13
executions, allowed a spiri-
tual adviser to be present in
the death chamber. The Biden
administration is still weigh-
ing how it will proceed in
death penalty cases.
mind.”
Finding a compromise any
time soon looks like an insur-
mountable task judging by the
virulence of the debate online.
Cambrollé has sued 85-year-
old Lidia Falcón, the founder
of Spain’s Feminist Party, for
repeatedly saying that trans-
gender and gay people pro-
mote pedophilia; prosecu-
tors are investigating Falcón’s
statements as a possible hate
crime.
Ángela Rodríguez, an advi-
sor to Montero on LGBTQ
issues, said the bill’s timing has
added to the tension, with
International Women’s Day
coming up on March 8.
“There is a dispute for the
hegemony of the message in
the feminist movement,”
Rodríguez said during a recent
panel discussion.
What for many is a theo-
retical debate is painfully real
to Martínez, who has closed
most of her social media
accounts. She says the con-
stant chatter feels both too
“personal” and “perverse,
generalizing about what a
11
ing and a 2007 revolt led by
Buddhist monks.
The U.N.'s top human
rights body on Friday passed
a consensus resolution urging
the military to immediately
release Suu Kyi and other
civilian government leaders
while watering down a draft
text amid pressure led by
China and Russia.
In a special session at the
Human Rights Council in
Geneva, the original resolu-
tion presented by Britain and
the European Union was
revised to remove calls to bol-
ster the ability of a U.N. rights
expert to scrutinize Myan-
mar and for restraint from the
country's military. After the
updated resolution passed
with no opposition, Chinese
Ambassador Chen Xu thanked
the sponsors for adopting our
recommendations but said
China still was distancing
itself from the measure.
UN hails US
revocation of
Houthi rebels’
terrorist tag
UNITED NATIONS,
13 FEBRUARY
The United States announced
Friday it is revoking the des-
ignation of Yemen's Houthi
rebels as a terrorist group
effective February 16, a rever-
sal by the Biden administra-
tion welcomed by the Unit-
ed Nations and humanitar-
ian groups who feared former
president Donald Trump's
actions would impede aid
deliveries to the conflict-
torn country facing the world's
worst humanitarian crisis.
US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken called Pres-
ident Joe Biden's decision to
rescind the designation a
recognition of the dire human-
itarian situation in Yemen.
He said the new US admin-
istration listened to warnings
from the United Nations,
humanitarian groups, bipar-
tisan members of Congress
and others that the designa-
tions could have a devastat-
ing impact on Yemenis' access
to basic commodities like
food and fuel.
Yemen imports 90 per
cent of its food, nearly all pur-
chased through commercial
channels, and UN humani-
tarian chief Mark Lowcock
warned last month that US
designation of the Houthis
already had companies
pulling back from dealing
with the Yemenis and would
likely lead to a large-scale
famine.
Blinken's announcement
followed a phone conversa-
tion Thursday with UN Sec-
retary-General Antonio Guter-
res, where Yemen was one of
the issues they discussed.
UN spokesman Stephane
Dujarric on Friday called the
US action extremely positive.
In 2014, the rebel Houthis
overran the capital, Sanaa, and
much of Yemen's north, driv-
ing the government into exile.
The conflict has been disas-
trous for Yemen, the Arab
world's poorest country,
killing more than 112,000
people. AP
trans person is.”
“Unfortunately, to this day,
it’s still easier for people who
stare at you when you are
walking down the street and
they can reconcile a certain
type of face with a pair of tits,”
said Martínez, who wears
round-edged glasses and her
hair in a bob to soften her sharp
facial contours.
To come out as transgen-
der, first to herself and then
to her partner, required
Martínez to grow a kind of con-
fidence that wasn’t part of
growing up as a boy in 1980s
Spain. There were suicide
attempts before she started liv-
ing as Victòria, and she does-
n’t consider herself brave.
“For me,” she said, “there
just wasn’t any other choice.”
Yet Martínez hesitated over
taking hormones and updat-
ing her civil registry record. She
fought hard to be proud of the
woman she is, with a deep
voice and a way of carrying her-
self that stands out. “I lived 40
years in hiding,” she said.
“Now I protect myself, but I
don’t hide.”
 SD Telugu news papers

'VERY IMPORTANT PERSON'

A popular demand for Mohammad Hafeez (photo, left)
NEW DELHI
14 FEBRUARY 2021
12
to be restored to the Pakistan team on his own terms
has resulted in Karachi's Dawn newspaper alleging a peren-
nial "double standard." We don't quite know how Wasim
Akram came unscathed out of a match-fixing probe
but Ataur Rehman did not; Mohammad Amir
rebuilt his career but Mohammad Asif could not,
the newspaper said.

For more updates www.thestatesman.com Posted at RMS, Delhi, Postal Reg. No. DL (ND)-11/6089/2018-19-20

THUMBNAILS
Tokyo Olympics: Three Indian
race-walkers qualified for the
Tokyo Olympics during the
national championships here
at Ranchi on Saturday, with
Sandeep Kumar and Priyanka
Goswami setting records in
the men's and women's 20km
events, respectively. Rahul
made it too, finishing in 1. 20
: 16. Two others qualified ear-
lier.
Gymnasts abused: Gymnasts
are being urged to continue
to speak out about alleged
abuse in their sport despite
the impending closure of a
helpline dedicated to sup-
porting those wishing to
report cases of perceived
improper practice. Allega-
tions have been a pathetic
commonplace in recent
years, with many of these
being voiced in the USA.
Alonso surgery: Former For-
mula One champion Fernando
Alonso has undergone sur-
gery on a jaw fracture after
he was involved in a road
accident while cycling in
Switzerland, his team Alpine
announced on Friday. Alonso
was hit by a car near his
home in Lugano in Switzer-
land, near the Italian border,
according to reports in the
European media.
Europa League: Arsenal and
Tottenham Hotspur had
Europa League last-32 games
moved to different venues
on Friday after Covid-19 regu-
lations made travelling to and
from their opponents' coun-
tries impossible to manage.
Both legs of Arsenal's tie
against Benfica have been
Rohit sweeps on Chepauk turner
as India score 300/6 on day one
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
CHENNAI, 13 FEBRUARY
Rohit Sharma (inphoto) oozed
class with an aesthetically
pleasing 161 on a challenging
track, helping India seize the
initiative with a solid opening
day score of 300 for 6 against
England in the second crick-
et Test here on Saturday.
Ajinkya Rahane looked
equally attractive during his
knock of 67 off 149 balls and
the two Mumbaikars added 162
runs for the fourth wicket,
making it worth the effort for
the 12,000 who flocked the
Chepauk as Indian cricket
welcomed its fans back in the
stadium amid the COVID-19
pandemic.
“The key was to use good
footwork. We had the strate-
gy (on the sweep shot), we did
discuss the game plan on this,
and wanted to make them
bowl to our strengths, good that
the plans came off,” Rahane said
at the end of day's play.
A score of 350 plus in the
first innings will be equivalent
to 550 plus on any other track
and Rishabh Pant's (33 batting)
dangerous presence could
also take India well beyond the
magic figure on this track. At
stumps, he had debutant Axar
Patel (5) for company.
Rohit had scored six Test
hundreds prior to this knock
but he will be the first to admit
that in terms of conditions on
offer and the quality of attack
he faced, the seventh one
would be at the top of the list.
On a hot Saturday, Rohit did
two things at one go.
Firstly, he put India in a com-
manding position on a track
which was way more difficult
for batting than he made it look
with 18 fours and two sixes in
his 231-ball knock.
Secondly, he put all the
naysayers in their place by
scoring runs when it mattered
the most. The team is aiming
for a comeback after a crush-
ing 227-run loss in the first Test.
Joe Root was marvellous
with his sweep shot during the
first Test but Rohit was simply
magnificent with his execution
on a doubly difficult track on
which he gave England spin-
ner Moeen Ali (26-3-112-3) a
lesson in controlled aggression.
The way Rohit put a big
front-foot stride outside the off-
stump to sweep deliveries off
both Moeen and Jack Leach (26-
2-78-2) will not be forgotten by
all who were fortunate to wit-
ness the innings.
Rohit's defence was spec-
tacularly solid and offence as
assured as a safe house.
Knowing fully well that the
track would start crumbling with
the passage of play, Rohit
attacked at the first go, pick-
ing 80 runs in the first session,
something that will perhaps play
the biggest role in the final con-
text of the game.
It started with a cover drive
off Stuart Broad and then there
was a pulled six over mid-
wicket off Ben Stokes.
While skipperVirat Kohli (0)
was done in by a classical off-
spinner's delivery from Moeen
-- flighted outside the off-
stump and enticing him to go
for a cover drive only to find
his defence breached.
If Rohit played those sweeps
in a regal manner, Rahane
was no less classy in his drives
-- the front and back-foot
punches off the pacers and
those lovely cut shots off the
spinners were delightful to
watch.
Call it irony, Rahane chose
a wrong delivery from Moeen
for playing the sweep and was
bowled in the process.
He hit nine boundaries in
a half-century that came after
a barren run of seven innings.
This was after he survived an
umpiring howler from Anil
Chaudhary.
But then, he was destined
to be in Rohit's shadow on a
day when determination
became his primary capital.
“It is a difficult track where
you don't know whether to
come forward or remain on the
back-foot,” Sunil Gavaskar,
who knows more than a thing
SCOREBOARD
INDIA 1ST INNINGS
Rohit Sharma c Ali b Leach 161
Shubman Gill lbw b Stone
C Pujara c Stokes b Leach 21
Virat Kohli b Ali
A Rahane b Ali
Rishabh Pant not out
R Ashwin c Pope b Root
Axar Patel not out
TOTAL: (88 Ov, RR: 3.40) 300/6
or two about batting on turn-
ers, said on air.
Leach was introduced in the
ninth over and Rohit perhaps
remembered his second innings
dismissal in the opening Test.
He knew that Leach's main
weapon was extra bounce with
a slight turn. He met Leach's
deliveries by putting the front
leg across the off-stump.
This negated any chance of
his off-stump getting exposed
and he also couldn't be
adjudged leg before.
Root had got Moeen for this
match in place of Dom Bess,
primarily because of the prodi-
gious turn that is expected to
be on offer.
However, the senior-most
spinner made a cardinal mis-
take that happens out of excite-
ment for all tweakers when they
see cracks.
They try to go for extra turn DRS is bit like VAR, still
rather than hitting one spot and
letting the pitch do the rest. controversial: Leach after
It only helped a player like
Rohit dispatch him with the
turn.
third umpire's error
CHENNAI, 13 FEBRUARY saying no, no.We wanted to check
the other one. I got the impres-
England spinner Jack Leach, who sion that they hadn't checked
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (S Gill, 1.3 ov), found himself at the receiving it.There is nothing I can do about
2-85 (C Pujara, 20.2 ov), 3-86 (V end of a third umpiring error on it, at that time I was angry but
0 Kohli, 21.2 ov), 4-248 (R Sharma,
72.6 ov), 5-249 (A Rahane, 75.2 the opening day of the second to get Rahane's wicket in the next
0 ov), 6-284 (R Ashwin, 82.3 ov) Test against India, compared the over made things little easier.”
67 BOWLING: S Broad 11,2,37,0 DRS to football's Video Assis- The incident took place in
33 O Stone 15,5,42,1 J Leach tant Referee (VAR), saying it is the 75th over of the day when
13 26,2,78,2 B Stokes 2,0,16,0
5 M Ali 26,3,112,2 J Root 8,2,15,1 “still controversial”. a Leach delivery kissed Rahane's
England were on Saturday gloves on the way to the forward
left frustrated and their captain short-leg fielder Ollie Pope.
Joe Root miffed after a blunder As England appealed for a
by Anil Chaudhary denied them catch off the gloves, it was

Slumping Liverpool collapses in 3-1 loss at Leicester in EPL

moved to neutral venues due
to travel restrictions in the
UK.
Bale contradicted: Totten-
ham manager Jose Mourinho
said on Friday that Gareth
Bale's midweek Instagram
post was a "contradiction"
with reality, insisting that the
Wales international had
reported fitness concerns.
Bale, on loan from Real
Madrid, missed Wednesday's
5-4 FA Cup defeat at Everton
after being absent from
training.
Bielsa testifies: Leeds manag-
er Marcelo Bielsa testified
before a French court on Fri-
day to make his case for mil-
lions of euros in damages
over his firing from Lille more
AGENCIES
LEICESTER, 13 FEBRUARY
Slumping champion Liverpool fell to
a third straight loss in the Premier
League after a dramatic late col-
lapse against Leicester, conceding
three goals in seven minutes in a 3-
1 defeat at King Power Stadium on
Saturday.
Leading 1-0 through Mohamed
Salah's league-high 17th goal of the
season, Liverpool was pegged back
in the 78th when James Maddison's
low free kick crept in and then went
behind after another blunder by
goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
A week after gifting Manchester
City crucial goals in a 4-1 loss, the
Brazil international collided with
debutant center back Ozan Kabak as
they attempted to cut out a long pass
and the ball fell kindly for Jamie
Vardy to run through and tap into an
empty net.
Harvey Barnes capped Leices-
ter's stunning fightback, running
through unchallenged after Liverpool
conceded possession pushing for
the equalizer and slotting his finish
past Alisson in the 85th.
Fourth-place Liverpool dropped
six points behind Leicester, which
climbed above Manchester United
into second place, in the race for
Champions League qualification.
The champions are in danger of
losing their place in the top four, with
Chelsea and West Ham only one
point further back, and any hopes of
retaining the title seemingly are over
now.
the wicket of India vice-captain
Ajinkya Rahane after a DRS
review.
“We were trying to get the
third umpire to roll it through,
they were checking the LBW, we
knew that would have been
not out. We were just trying to
get them looking at what hap-
pened after the ball hit the pad.
“It is a bit like theVAR today,
still controversial, (but) it is
what it is,” Leach told reporters
at the end of the day's play here.
The Decision Review System
(DRS) referral, which they had
lost after Rahane was adjudged
not out by the third umpire, was
later restored to England as per
ICC playing conditions.
Leach added, “They said
they were checking it, then the
LBW picture came up, we were
turned down by the on-field
umpire before Chaudhary also
rejected the review thinking
that the ball had landed outside
the leg-stump and that the vis-
itors had appealed for an LBW.
However, the visitors
appeared to clarify that they were
appealing for a catch off the glove
and not the bat. Seeing the
replays on the big screen, Root
was left unimpressed and the
skipper also raised the matter
with the on-field umpires.
Chaudhary turned down that
too.
Rahane was, however, dis-
missed by Moeen Ali before he
could capitalise on the lifeline.
On the stumping decision
against Rohit Sharma, which also
did not go in their favour, Leach
said it was touch and go. PTI

Medvedev advances to fourth round

than three years ago. Bielsa
lasted just six months at Lille
before the French club fired
him for "serious misconduct"
in December 2017 following
some very poor results.
Leipzig win: Leipzig warmed
up for Liverpool in the Cham-
pions League with a hard-
fought 2-1 win over visiting
Augsburg in the Bundesliga.
Coach Julian Nagelsmann
would be relieved to see his
team consolidate second
place without any major
injury worries ahead of Tues-
day's Champions League
round-of-16 first-leg game in
Budapest.
Formula One: Formula One
champions Mercedes said on
Friday they were dealing with
engine issues ahead of the
new season but expected
everything to be fixed by the
first race. The comment, in
an interview with engine
head Hywel Thomas, drew
wry comments on social
media from those who
recalled them saying some-
thing similar last year.
Summit spot up for grabs as
ATKMB face Jamshedpur
AGENCIES
MARGAO, 13 FEBRUARY
High on confidence after reg-
istering three wins on the trot,
ATK Mohun Bagan will be eye-
ing the top spot when they face
Jamshedpur FC in the Indian
Super League here on Sunday.
After trailing Mumbai City
FC for most part of the season,
ATK Mohun Bagan finally have
the chance to go clear at the
top. All Antonio Habas' team
has to do is secure three points
when they take on Jamshed-
pur FC at the Fatorda Stadium.
The odds are certainly in
their favour while
ATKMB has been the best
team defensively, Jamshed-
pur have struggled for goals all
season, scoring just four in their
last seven games.
“The team is good, the
team is confident. We are in the
best way. Now we have to
focus on the last four match-
es in case there is the oppor-
tunity to win the regular league.
Every game, we focus on the
next opponent,” Habas said.
When the two teams met
earlier in the season, it was
Jamshedpur who came out
on top. But Habas isn't con-
cerned about what happened
in the past.
“I don't want to talk about
the past. All matches are dif-
ferent. All matches are difficult.
Now we have to play this
match like it's the last,” he said.
Habas will once again be
counting on the likes of Roy
Krishna and Marcelinho to
make the difference. The lat-
ter, in particular, has been in
spectacular form since joining
from Odisha in January.
On the other hand, a win
for Jamshedpur FC will go a long
way in helping them secure a
top-four slot while a loss will
make it extremely difficult for
them.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MELBOURNE, 13 FEBRUARY
Daniil Medvedev (in photo)
finally worked out how to a win
a five-setter. All by himself.
The fourth-seeded Daniil
Medvedev was 0-6 in five-set-
ters, and his match against No
28-seeded Filip Krajinovic
looked like it was going all the
way in the third round of the
Australian Open.
After some angry outbursts
from an increasingly animat-
ed and chatty Medvedev direct-
ed at his box in an otherwise
empty Rod Laver Arena, his
coach, Gilles Cervara got up and
left.
"He said just before leaving
that he's sure I'm going to win
the match. He's going to leave
me alone to be more calm,"
Medvedev explained in his
post-match, on-court TV inter-
view after Saturday's 6-3 6-3 4-
6 3-6 6-0 win.
"It was a good thing to do.
Luckily I won." Medvedev had
been bothered by a problem
with his upper left leg and left
the court with a trainer for a
medical timeout late in the
fourth set.While he was falling
behind in that set, Medvedev
yelled after dropping a point:
"Unbelievable! This is unbe-
lievable!" When he fell behind
5-2 in the fourth, Medvedev
shouted, "I never saw something
like this!"
He returned to better much
play in the deciding set, smack-
ing an inside-out forehand
winner to a corner to close an
18-stroke exchange and break
to go up 2-0.
He didn't drop another
game as he seized the momen-
tum back from Krajinovic, who
was previously 4-1 in match-
es that went the full five sets.
"In contrary with previous
matches where I could get
tight ... here I was really calm
to finish the match," Medvedev
said. "Really happy I got the five-
set win."
The win stretched
Medvedev's winning streak to
17 matches, including his suc-
cessful run to the title at the 2020
season-ending ATP Finals.
Medvedev, the US Open final-
ist last year, will next play
Mackenzie McDonald, the
unseeded American who beat
Lloyd Harris in straight sets to
equal his best Grand Slam
result by reaching the round of
16 at the Australian Open.
The No. 61-ranked Jessica
Pegula reached the fourth
round by drubbing Kristina
Mladenovic 6-2 6-1.
Even Pegula seemed sur-
prised by her best career show-
ing at a major tournament,
which started with a first-
round win over two-time Aus-
tralian champion Victoria
Azarenka.
"I don't really expect to be
playing this good next match,"
Pegula, the daughter of Terry
and Kim Pegula, owners of the
NFL Bills and NHL Sabres,
said of her fourth-rounder
against No. 5-seeded Elina Svi-
tolina.
Svitolina, a tour veteran
from Ukraine who has won 66
Grand Slam matches, needs one
more win to match her best
showing at Melbourne Park. She
was a semifinalist at bothWim-
bledon and the US Open in 2019.
There were no fans in the
stands due to the start of a five-
day lockdown imposed by the
Victoria state government in
response to a Covid-19 outbreak
at a quarantine hotel. Up to
30,000 spectators daily - 50%
of capacity - had been admit-
ted on previous days.
No 25-seeded Karolina
Muchova staged an astound-
ing second-set comeback from
a 5-0 deficit in near silence, which
only made the turnaround
seem more bizarre as she beat
No 6 Karolina Pliskova 7-5 7-
5. Muchova played in an empty
Rod Laver Arena. "It's a big dif-
ference," she said.

Akhtar Ali, a simple man with a gentle soul

PULAKESH MUKHOPADHYAY and belief, no one spoke ill Bengal, one made a bet with morning tune-up session eemuddin said matter-of- his learning lightly.
'Tie-up terms a secret'
of him. him that Mohun Bagan would and the conversation that factly. The next time one ran Not for once did he sound KOLKATA, 13 FEBRUARY uncomfortable questions

T
wo of one's favourite
stories about Akhtar
Ali very prominently
feature Syed Nay-
eemuddin, who introduced
one to the simple, soft - spo-
ken tennis personality in the
South Club where football
reporters once flocked to
tune into the Maidan
grapevine. One had request-
ed the linking as, working at
the desk, one had always felt
amazed that virtually anyone
who was anyone in Indian ten-
nis in those days had at some
time been coached by Ali. To
the best of one's knowledge
Players gave him very high
marks for his tips and game-
reading. As the convivial
afternoon stretched into the
evening and Ali spoke anec-
dotally of how some of the
brightest Indians had stepped
forth into the limelight - tak-
ing no credit himself but lav-
ishing generous praise on
the boys - tennis seemed an
easy game to play and under-
stand. Not that one had ever
visualised a centre court per-
sonal byline from a Wimble-
don summit showdown.
A few years later, with
Nayeemuddin coaching East
win a weekend derby. With a
lunch at stake, one ended up
on the wrong side of the
result. The sole Arjuna and
Dronacharya of Indian foot-
ball was happy enough to
have won but taking him to
SHORT POINT
a Mullick Bazar restaurant -
it doesn't exist anymore -
whose biriyani was famous-
ly scrumptious was incum-
bent on yours truly. The food
would have pleased Nay-
eemuddin after his club's
punctuated the meal came
eventually to be joined in by
Ali, a regular presence at the
place from all accounts. He
ate all right but was in a hurry
to go somewhere. The foot-
ball exchanges continued
without the bill being brought
across to our table. Asked
why, the liveried waiter, slight-
ly tetchy, said that Ali had
picked up the tab before leav-
ing.
"It's typical of him," Nay-
into Ali away from the South
Club was in Nayeemuddin's
home, for a lavish Id dinner.
"Yeh jannat ka patthar hai,"
said Ali, by way of explana-
tion, having found one's eyes
fixed on a majestic, awe-
inspiring photo of Mecca.
And for the best part of the
next hour, he told one what
Islam was all about. Going by
the look on the faces of those
in the room, a good many of
whom were Muslims, it was
quite clear that they too were
getting to know those precious
details of history for the first
time in their lives. But Ali wore
like someone who had read
Herodotus in the original
Greek. That was part of his spe-
ciality as a human. Nor did
he try for an effect: it was what
it was. Like air or water or a
baby's smile. Late into the
night, while leaving, thank-
ing Nayeemuddin and boudi
for the sumptuous repast
was in order. The great defend-
er of yesteryear would not let
that one past himself though.
"Let's thank Akhtar bhai
for those words of his," said
Nayeemuddin, adding: "He
made it worth everyone's
while."
Some Mohun Bagan Athlet-
ic Club members alleged
after today's annual gener-
al meeting that the terms on
the basis of which the so-
called merger with ATK had
been effected could not be
ascertained.
"The agenda referred to
the merger but, as questions
arose about the details laced
into the arrangements, it
was also said that ATK were
only a sponsor," said a source
insisting on anonymity,
adding: "The meeting was
gone through hurriedly with
being allowed to be asked but
moved on from very prompt-
ly. It seemed the high-ups did
not want to divulge the nitty-
gritty of the deal." Fans out-
side the ground held a
demonstration demanding
that the merger be nullified
but officials made it clear that
nothing like it was on the
cards.
East Bengal too have seri-
ous reservations about cer-
tain conditions their investors
have proposed, which has
resulted in the formalisati-
ion of their relationship being
stalled. SNS

Printed and published by VINOD KUMAR GUPTA for THE STATESMAN LTD, Statesman House, 148 Barakhamba Road, New Delhi ��Editor: RAVINDRA KUMAR ��Executive Editor: ARYA RUDRA ��Printed at Vibha Publication Pvt Ltd, D-160 B, Sector 7, NOIDA 201301 (UP). ��The Statesman Ltd. RNB REG. No. M-8905,RNI No. 59445, Vol No.26 Issue . 55

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