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session of Parliament won’t contest polls till against Ukraine invasion begin Ashes battle
over farmers’ issues Article 370 is restored in virtual summit from today
page 5 page 8 page 11 page 13

P r i n t e d at . Ch enna i . Co imbatore . Ben galu ru . Hy derabad . M a d urai . Noida . V is ak hapat nam . Thiruvanant hapuram . Kochi . V ij ayawa da . M a n g a lu ru . T i ru c h i r a pa l l i . Ko l k ata . Hu bba l l i . M o h a l i . M a l a p p u r a m . M u m ba i . Ti ru pat i . lu c k n ow . c u t tac k . pat n a

IN BRIEF
Nagaland seeks AFSPA repeal, Farmer unions to take call
scraps ongoing Hornbill Festival on ending protests today Withdrawal of cases, MSP panel issue key to ending stir
Sena, NCP differ on role
Shutdown observed in Mon district; two injured in Army firing still critical
Priscilla Jebaraj
of Cong. in anti-BJP front RAHUL KARMAKAR and to express solidarity Anuj Kumar
NEW DELHI NEW DELHI
GUWAHATI with the bereaved families.
The Shiv Sena and the NCP
Mon district in Nagaland ob- The 10-day annual marquee Responding to a proposal
appeared to differ on the
served a shutdown on Tues- festival that attracts tourists from the Ministry of Home
prominence of their common
ally, Congress. While the Sena
day in protest against the from all over began on De- Affairs on Tuesday morning,
emphasised the Congress’s killing of 14 civilians by the cember 1, marking the day which urged the protesting
inevitability in any Opposition security forces, while the Nagaland attained statehood farmers to call off their agita-
unity effort, the NCP noted State Government called off in 1963. The Tourism Depart- tion as most of their pending
that the strength of MPs a major ongoing festival as a ment has been asked to wind demands had been resolved,
outside the UPA exceeded mark of respect to the de- up the festival — barring the the Samyukt Kisan Morcha
that of the Congress. ceased. entrepreneurial activities — (SKM) sought clarifications
NEWS " PAGE 9 The State Cabinet also de- Mark of protest: A deserted area in Mon district during the with a short, solemn closing on several points, including Charting a path: SKM leaders and members at a meeting at
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD cided to write to the Union Nagaland bandh on Tuesday. PTI * ceremony. the withdrawal of “fake” cas- the Singhu border in Delhi on Tuesday. PTI
*

Government to immediately Mr. Kronu said two per- es against protesters.

repeal the Armed Forces operation by the Army in Ot- write to the Government of sons injured in the firing After a discussion at the Apart from the political ific mandate to discuss an
(Special Powers) Act, 1958, ing village of Mon district on India for repealing the AF- were still in a critical condi- Singhu border, the farmers’ compulsions to keep the MSP law. Another sticking
now in force in the State. December 4. “The Cabinet SPA immediately from the tion in a hospital in Dibru- unions decided to recon- struggle alive in the run-up point, especially among
Government spokesper- decided that the special in- State,” he told reporters. garh and six others were un- vene at 2 p.m. on Wednes- to the Assembly election in Punjab leaders, remains the
son and State Planning Mi- vestigation team headed by Mr. Kronu added that the der treatment in Dimapur. day to announce a final deci- Uttar Pradesh, the pending Government’s conditional
nister Neiba Kronu said the an IGP should complete its Cabinet had decided to can- Twenty-two persons had sion on ending their protest. demand of a legal guarantee offer to withdraw the cases
Cabinet, at an emergency probe into the Mon incident cel the ongoing Hornbill Fes- been discharged, he added. On the MHA proposal, the for MSP remains a major is- filed against protesters over
meeting in Kohima on Tues- and submit its report within tival in view of the mourning unions sought “clarifica- sue for Mr. Tikait’s suppor- the past year, including dur-
OPPORTUNITIES " PAGE 3 day, discussed the botched a month. It also decided to announced for the deceased CONTINUED ON " PAGE 8 tions” on several points ters and in other parts of the ing a chaotic Republic Day
from the Union Govern- country where the existing tractor rally in Delhi.
ment, especially with regard MSP regime is not as strong The proposal said that

Supreme Court paves the way 2 U.P. school directors held to the “fake cases” filed
against protesters and the
composition and mandate of
for molesting 17 minor girls a committee to discuss mini-
as in Punjab and Haryana.
The Home Ministry pro-
posal only said that the SKM
once the agitation was with-
drawn, the cases would also
be withdrawn by the Go-
leaders would be included in vernment of Uttar Pradesh

for Sudha Bharadwaj’s release Special Correspondent took place on November 18,
mum support prices (MSP).

Tikait for talks

the proposed committee to
discuss MSP, among other is-
sues.
and the Government of Ha-
ryana, as well by the Union
Government which has pol-
Legal Correspondent A Bench of Justices U.U. her detention under Section Ghaziabad but the local police regis- While some farmers say they “This leaves open the pos- ice jurisdiction over the na-
New Delhi Lalit, S. Ravindra Bhat and 43D(2) of the Unlawful Activ- The police have arrested the tered the first information are ready to go home if the sibility that other so-called tional capital. “The protest
The Supreme Court on Tues- Bela M. Trivedi declined the ities Prevention Act (UAPA), directors of two private report (FIR) only on Sunday Government adapts the lan- farmers groups, who sup- can only end when the cases
day refused to interfere with arguments made by the Na- had no jurisdiction in the schools in Muzaffarnagar (December 5) after an MLA guage of its proposal to ac- ported the farm laws and the are withdrawn. This cannot
a Bombay High Court order tional Investigation Agency case. district of Uttar Pradesh for intervened on behalf of the cede to their demands, Ra- WTO [World Trade Organi- come with any conditions,”
granting default bail to advo- (NIA) that the High Court on The Sessions Court was allegedly molesting 17 minor parents. The station house kesh Tikait of the Bharatiya zation] regime against MSP, said Balbir Singh Rajewal,
cate Sudha Bharadwaj in the December 1 erred in con- not notified as a Special girl students who were officer of the Purkazi police Kisan Union said the Go- will also be part of the com- who heads his own faction
Bhima Koregaon case, pav- cluding that the Pune Ses- Court under the NIA Act, the asked to stay overnight on a station has been suspended vernment must still sit mittee,” warned All India Ki- of the Bharatiya Kisan Union
ing the way for her release sions Court, which took cog- High Court had noted. school premises on the pre- for negligence of duty. across the table with farmer san Sabha leader Ashok Dha- in Punjab.
from jail after a span of three nisance of its chargesheet text of a practical exam. leaders and hold talks with wale, adding that the
years. and extended the period of CONTINUED ON " PAGE 8 The incident allegedly CONTINUED ON " PAGE 8 the SKM. committee must have a spec- CONTINUED ON " PAGE 8

TMC is fulcrum
Don’t allow BSF personnel
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Steady stream of Opposition,

says Abhishek in habitations, says Mamata
Sobhana K. Nair
New Delhi
She asks State police not to let the force in without permit
The Trinamool Congress Shiv Sahay Singh they are going wherever that law and order is a State
will expand its footprint Kolkata they want. You all have seen subject, Ms. Banerjee said
across the country whether Referring to the violence in what has happened in Naga- that in case of such com-
“one party” likes it or not, Nagaland where 14 civilians land... I don’t want any con- plaints, local Block Develop-
party national general se- were killed, West Bengal frontation,” Ms. Banerjee ment Officers, along with
cretary Abhishek Banerjee Chief Minister Mamata Ba- said, while participating in the inspector in charge of
told The Hindu on Tuesday. nerjee on Tuesday directed an administrative meeting in the local police station,
Mr. Banerjee said in a police officials of certain north Bengal. should “tell them that this is
democracy, the voter is the border districts not to allow not your jurisdiction”.
final arbiter. The Trina- personnel of the Border Se- State subject Her remarks assume sig-
mool has skipped all Oppo- curity Force in habitations She said that in Murshida- nificance because of the re-
sition meeting in the ongo- without permission. bad, Malda, Uttar Dinajpur cent notification of the Un-
ing winter session of “The BSF is allowed for 15 and Dakshin Dinajpur dis- ion Home Ministry
Parliament, not willing to km, that too with the per- tricts, the BSF was entering increasing jurisdiction of the
participate in a meeting mission of the police, but habitations. Emphasising BSF from 15 km to 50 km.
chaired by the Congress.
However, Mr. Banerjee in-
sisted that the Trinamool
was not aloof, saying: “We
have been the fulcrum of
Opposition whether one
likes it or not.”
The reins of the Opposi-
tion can no longer be left to
Gushing out: Water being released from the Cheruthoni dam in Idukki district of Kerala on Tuesday after the water level rose in the Congress, he said.
the heavy rain in the catchment areas and the opening of shutters of the upstream Mullaperiyar dam. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT *

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC INTERVIEW ON " PAGE 9

Omicron wave may be milder, report suggests

S. African study points to fewer deaths, lower oxygen support requirement than during previous waves
Jacob Koshy those infected reportedly peak is yet to come — but the
New Delhi have mild symptoms. death rate per million is little
Two weeks since the emer- The SAMRC researchers over zero or even less than
gence of the Omicron variant compared case rates and the Alpha wave.
of the novel coronavirus in corresponding death rates Tshwane district, in Gau-
Gauteng province of South over the four waves of CO- teng, has been the global ep-
Africa, it appears that the VID-19. When the case rates icentre of the Omicron out-
variant is linked to a smaller at the peak of the first Alpha break, with the weekly
proportion of deaths com- wave ( July 2020) touched 18 number of cases reaching
pared with the previous per 1,00,000 population, 8,569 between November 21
waves of COVID-19. the death rates approached and November 27, and jump-
A much smaller fraction of two per million. ing to 41,921 by December 3.
those admitted to hospital During the Beta wave ( Ja- The scientists analysed
required supplemental oxyg- nuary 2021), the case rates 166 new admissions between
enation than during the ear- hit 15 per 1,00,000, with a November 14 and 29, 2021 at
lier three waves, according Pre-emptive measure: Hospital staff inspecting the isolation death rate peak of a little ov- the Steve Biko Academic and
to an analysis of patient re- ward for Omicron patients in Ahmedabad. VIJAY SONEJI * er two per million. The Delta Tshwane District Hospitals
cords by researchers at the wave ( July 2021) saw the complex, which makes up
South African Medical Re- ed: “The main observation feature” on the official highest peak of 35 cases per 45% of all Tshwane district
search Council (SAMRC). that we have made over the SAMRC website. 1,00,000 population, and a admissions in the public sec-
Though yet early, and last two weeks is that the death rate of around four per tor, and 26% of all admis-
with a caveat that the situa- majority of patients in the 23 cases so far million. sions in both the public and
tion may change “signifi- COVID wards have not been India has so far reported 23 In the ongoing fourth or private sectors for the same
cantly in the next two oxygen dependent.” The re- Omicron cases, most of them Omicron wave, the case rate period.
weeks”, Fareed Abdullah, port is not a peer-reviewed passengers with a history of has crossed 30 per 1,00,000
author of the analysis, not- medical study but a “news travel to Africa. Nearly all of population — though the CONTINUED ON " PAGE 8
CM A ND-NDE
YK
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2 CITY
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1984 riots: former MP
charged with murder
Sajjan Kumar is in jail in a murder case
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
A Delhi court has framed
charges of murder against
former Congress MP Sajjan
Kumar in connection with
the death of a father-son duo
during the 1984 anti-Sikh
riots.
The order was passed by
Special Judge M.K. Nagpal,
who framed charges against
Kumar under provisions for
murder, attempt to culpable
homicide, and rioting,
among others. The deceased
were identified as Jaswant
Singh and Tarun Deep
Singh. The court, however,
dropped the charges under
attempt to murder and des-
truction of evidence.
According to the family of
the deceased, a mob led by
Kumar burnt the two men
alive, and also set their
house on fire, on November
1, 1984. Kumar is already
Vagabond found dead
Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI
A vagabond was found dead
in outer north Delhi’s Narela,
the police said on Tuesday.
The police said that a PCR
call was received around 9
a.m. stating that a 40-year-
old man was found dead.
“He was identified as Hari
Narayan Yadav of Darbhan-
ga. There was no visible inju-
ry marks on his body. His
Aadhaar card and mobile
CM
YK
Sajjan Kumar * plainant’s house, the fact
lodged in jail after he was
convicted in another mur-
der case pertaining to the
1984 riots.
The judge noted that
there was sufficient evi-
dence to show that Kumar
was not only a participant in
the mob, but was also lead-
ing it. The court said that its
view regarding Kumar’s par-
ticipation in the mob was
much stronger and the alle-
gations, along with the mate-
rial, gave rise to “grave sus-
picion”.
phone were found in his pos-
session,” a senior police of-
ficer said.
Those known to him and
living close by on the road-
side said that he had not
been feeling well for the last
few days. “His body has been
sent for post-mortem at Ba-
bu Jagjivan Ram Memorial
Hospital. We don’t know
whether he died of cold or
he was suffering from a dis-
ease,” the officer said.
‘Riot accused shared common
object of unlawful assembly’
First convict in communal violence case was involved in Bhagirathi Vihar attack
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
In the first conviction in the
2020 Delhi riots cases, a lo-
cal court has noted that even
though the evidence did not
point to the accused enter-
ing and vandalising the com-
that he, armed with a woo-
den rod, was present in the
mob which resorted to vio-
lence against Muslims, “indi-
cates that he shared the com-
mon object of the unlawful
assembly”.
The order convicting Di-
nesh Yadav alias Michael,
which was delivered by Ad-
ditional Sessions Judge Vi-
render Bhat on Monday, was
made available on Tuesday.
Seven public witnesses
(PWs) deposed before the
court.
In its order, the court not-
ed that the statements of two
public witnesses clearly indi-
cated that the accused was
part of an unlawful assembly
of 200-300 rioters on Febru-
Case against
advocate
for forgery
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
An advocate forged a bail
order issued by a Delhi
court, the police said on
Tuesday, adding that a case
had been registered.
Deputy Commissioner
of Police (South) Benita
Mary Jaiker said that Magis-
trate Vivek Kumar Aggar-
wal informed Saket police
station on December 2 that
a forged bail order had
been produced.
In the order, the court
had said that bail bonds
had been furnished on be-
half of accused Karan Raj
along with a photocopy of
an order dated November
26 passed by the court. On
perusal, it was found that
manipulation had been
made in the order.
Shattered dreams: A view of burnt houses at Bhagirathi Vihar
in riot-hit north-east Delhi. FILE PHOTO: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
*
ary 25, which indulged in
large-scale riots in the E-
Block of Chaman Park in
Bhagirathi Vihar.
Four witnesses
The court also stated that
four public witnesses had
deposed that the rioters
comprising an unlawful as-
sembly, belonged to the Hin-
du community, whereas the
victims who were beaten
and whose houses and shops
were vandalised, looted and
burnt belonged to the mem-
Private school finds novel
way to beat air pollution
Filtered air is pumped into central atrium
Jaideep Deo Bhanj
NEW DELHI
Frequent closure of schools
in the Capital due to bad air
quality and the risk it poses
to children has made
schools come up with ways
to ensure that children con-
tinue to learn in a healthy
environment by rethinking
the architecture.
The Ardee School in New
Friends Colony has created
a micro-environment where
filtered ambient air is
pumped into the central
atrium that makes its way to
the corridors and class-
rooms to provide a pollu-
tion-free oxygen-rich envi-
ronment.
Partnering with Nirvana
Being, a company that pro-
vides solutions for clean air
technology, the school has a
system in which filtered air
is pumped into the school
through vents, ensuring that
the air quality is maintained
bers of the Muslim
community.
Further noting that the ac-
cused was part of the mob
and shared the common ob-
ject of unlawful assembly,
the court said: “The mere
fact that he was not seen en-
tering the complainant’s
house or vandalising or loot-
ing or putting it on fire, does
not mean that he was a mere
bystander”.
ASJ Bhat stated that there
was nothing on record to
show that the accused had
at steady levels irrespective
of the air quality outside.
Health, safety
The school said that there
was a need to reimagine and
re-engineer educational in-
stitutions to drive health
and safety.
Shefali Varma, chairper-
son of The Ardee Schools,
says: “School designs of yes-
teryear’s don’t work in to-
day’s environment. Large
sprawling campuses with
open corridors are hazar-
dous to our children’s
health. Like everything
must keep changing accord-
ing to the environment, the
way school buildings are de-
signed, will have to be re-
imagined if we want to miti-
gate infections.”
The school administra-
tion says that it has written
to the Delhi Government re-
questing permission to
open the school.
disassociated himself from
the unlawful assembly and
he did not share the com-
mon object of the assembly.
Held guilty
Hence, the court noted that
even though the evidence on
record does not indicate that
the accused had directly
committed the offences in-
volved in this case, yet he is
to be held guilty of all those
offences which have been
committed by the members
of the unlawful assembly
“for the reason that he
shared the common object
of other members of the as-
sembly and knew that these
offences are likely to be com-
mitted in prosecution of the
common object of the
assembly”.
The accused was convict-
ed for the offences, includ-
ing IPC sections pertaining
to rioting, vandalism and un-
lawful assembly. The argu-
ments on sentencing will
take place on December 22.
Man kills three-month-old
boy after quarrel with wife
Couple, both labourers, used to fight over keeping the child
Staff Reporter
NEW DELHI
A three-month-old boy was
murdered by his father in
outer north Delhi’s Bhalswa
Dairy, the police said on
Tuesday, adding that the ac-
cused has been arrested.
Deputy Commissioner of
Police (Outer North) Brijen-
dra Yadav said a PCR call
was received on December 3
at 10.30 p.m. when the caller
said a man had killed his
child. When the police
reached the spot on Mangal
Bazar Road, they found the
accused, Ravi, 26, in an in-
ebriated state.
The child was found un-
conscious and injured in the
house. He was taken to Babu
Jagjivan Ram Memorial Hos-
pital, where he was declared
brought dead.
“According to the medico
legal certificate, the child’s
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
‘BJP-ruled civic body is
trying to seal temples’
EDMC is forcing them to pay tax: AAP
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
The Aam Aadmi Party on
Tuesday alleged that the
BJP-governed East Delhi
Municipal Corporation
(EDMC) is trying to seal tem-
ples in Delhi and forcing
them to pay property tax.
“It is the first time since
the rule of Aurangzeb that
someone has dared to seek
taxes from temples. The
BJP’s lust for money knows
no bounds and after looting
every citizen of Delhi, the
BJP-ruled civic body is try-
ing to extort from the pan-
dit’s dakshina thaali too,”
AAP leader Atishi said.
The AAP leader said that
till now, the BJP was preying
on the money of the com-
mon man, but now it seems
its “hunger has not been
satisfied”.
Notices issued
“The East Delhi Municipal
Corporation has sent notic-
es to several temples saying
that you must pay house
tax. Otherwise these tem-
ples will be sealed. In my
<
> The
woman came
out shouting that
her child had been
killed by her
husband
Neighbour
skull was found broken,” Mr.
Yadav said.
‘Drinking problem’
Neighbours said that the
couple had been living on
rent for the last one month
and they were both labour-
ers. They used to fight regu-
larly and both of them had a
“drinking problem”, a Azadpur and Ravi was un-
neighbour said. “Because of
the constant drinking and
fighting, the owner of the
house had also asked them
to leave, after which they
had apologised and conti-
nued to stay,” she said.
On December 3, neigh-
Three arms suppliers held
in separate operations
27 semi-automatic pistols seized
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
The Delhi Police Special Cell
on Tuesday said that it has
arrested three arms smug-
glers, including a profes-
sional DJ and a wrestler, in
two separate operations and
has seized 27 sophisticated
semi-automatic pistols from
them.
The police said they re-
ceived information on De-
cember 3 that arms traffick-
er Nilesh would come to
Sarai Kale Khan to deliver
arms and ammunition to
some criminals in the city. A
Resident doctors boycott
work for second day
Safdarjung Hospital reduces timings
Staff Reporter
New Delhi
About 3,000 resident doc-
tors of Central Government-
run Safdarjung Hospital,
RML Hospital, and Lady
Hardinge Medical College
(LHMC) boycotted work on
Tuesday, including COVID-19
duty, as a protest against de-
lay in PG NEET counselling,
said the Federation of Resi-
dent Doctors’ Association
(FORDA).
The doctors started boy-
cotting work on Monday.
“We will continue the protest
on Wednesday. We request
the authorities to take action
as soon as possible to start
the counselling of PG NEET,”
said Kulsaurabh, general se-
DELHI THE HINDU
Atishi *
opinion, this is the first time
since the rule of Aurangzeb
that somebody has dared to
send such a notice to a tem-
ple. This is the real face of
the BJP. What kind of a Go-
vernment asks temples to
pay property tax?” Ms. At-
ishi asked.
She said that AAP has
been constantly exposing
the ‘rampant corruption’ in
the BJP-governed corpora-
tions and claimed that ev-
ery resident of Delhi is wit-
ness to the fact that BJP
leaders care only about do-
ing extortion and corrup-
tion.
bours said they heard the
couple fighting after which
one of them knocked on the
door asking them to stop.
“The woman then came out
shouting that her child had
been killed by her husband.
When we peeped inside, the
child was lying uncon-
scious,” the neighbour said.
A senior police officer
said that during interroga-
tion, it was revealed that
both were under the in-
fluence of alcohol. They
used to often fight over
keeping the child because
the wife was working in
employed. Therefore, he
had to take care of the child,
which frustrated him. On
the night of the incident, Ra-
vi threw the child on the
floor, the officer said.
The police have regis-
tered a case.
team was formed and a trap
was laid, following which he
was nabbed. The police
seized a bag containing 12
pistols of .32 bore from him.
He allegedly disclosed that
he worked as a professional
DJ.
In the second operation,
information was received on
December 6 that two arms
suppliers would be coming
from Uttar Pradesh with a
large consignment. Follow-
ing this, a trap was laid and
both Pankaj Kumar and Ji-
tender were arrested near
Rohini, the police said.
cretary of FORDA.
Safdarjung Hospital has re-
duced timings of different
services due to the strike and
special clinics in the after-
noon have been suspended.
“The OPD registration tim-
ings has been revised from
8.30 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. After-
noon nephrology OPD will be
held only on Mondays,” a
document from Safdarjung
Hospital said.
The RDA of AIIMS said that
they will work wearing black
ribbons, protesting the delay
in counselling.
Meanwhile, the Federation
of All India Medical Associa-
tion has called for an emer-
gency meeting to take a call
on further protests.
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
DELHI

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CITY 3
Timings
DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 08
After SC rap, efforts stepped up CAQM orders
closure of
BJP talks tough on liquor
vends in residential areas
industries
to control air pollution in Delhi
RISE 07:02 SET 17:25
RISE 11:03 SET 21:47
THURSDAY, DEC. 09 ‘Civic bodies to shut those in violation’
RISE 07:03 SET 17:25 Staff Reporter
RISE 11:47 SET 22:52 New Delhi Special Correspondent operating in violation of
FRIDAY, DEC. 10 Daily inspections by Transport Dept. to check polluting vehicles jump by 248.1% The Commission for Air New Delhi
these laws, it would be
RISE 07:03 SET 17:26 Quality Management in The BJP on Tuesday warned sealed within three days,”
RISE 12:24 SET 23:53 Nikhil M Babu On November 17, hearing to the length of road covered NCR and Adjoining Areas the Delhi Government he said.
New Delhi
a case of air pollution, Chief by mechanical road sweep- has issued directions for against opening new liquor
Since the Supreme Court Justice N.V. Ramana said, “In ers and the length of road on “immediate closure” of all shops in residential areas ‘Liquor city’
started coming down heavily the entire country, what I which water sprinkling has industries in areas where and demanded closing Addressing a protest against
on the Delhi and the Central have observed as a judge, been done. PNG infrastructure and down of the existing ones, new liquor shops in residen-
Governments over air pollu- and earlier as Advocate Gen- Between November 17-25 supply are available, but failing which the BJP-led tial areas under the new ex-
tion in the city in the first eral, is that the bureaucracy and November 26-December they have still not switched municipal corporations cise policy at Patel Nagar,
half of November, there has has developed an inertia, an 6, the number of km of roads over to PNG. would take strict action. Mr. Gupta said while Chief
been a jump in actions in apathy... They wait for the cleaned by mechanised road “As per the directions of Delhi BJP president Minister Arvind Kejriwal
this regard, especially in the An anti-smog gun being court to pass an order even sweeping machines daily the Commission, these vio- Adesh Gupta said that in talks of prohibition in Pun-
checks on polluting vehicles, used against dust pollution on things like how to stop a jumped by 23.9%. Also, the lating industries/industrial view of the reports on open- jab, back here he is hell-bent
data accessed by The Hindu at Civil Lines in Delhi on car or a fire by using a bucket number of km of roads on units will not be permitted ing of liquor shops in resi- on making Delhi a liquor
shows. Tuesday. SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
*
or a mop.” which water sprinkling was to schedule their opera- dential areas or near city.
The average number of in- The court on December 2 done went up by 34.8%, as tions till December 12, and schools or religious places, He also thanked the mar-
spections carried out by the From November 1 to 15, a gave the Government 24 per the data. the position will be re- all three corporations have ket association of Patel Na-
Delhi Transport Department total of 1,97,973 such inspec- hours to find a way or make The jump is mainly due to viewed for further deci- already been instructed to gar for having two such liqu-
every day to check visibly- tions were done, while bet- way for the Supreme Court increased monitoring and sions,” an official state- ensure that not a single liqu- or shops closed down and
polluting vehicles and ones ween November 26 and De- to act on air pollution. daily reports on actions ta- ment said. or unit is allowed to operate said Mr. Kejriwal was doing
without a Pollution Under cember 6, i.e. 11 days, There is also an increase ken by departments, which Delhi’s air quality was in in violation of MPD 2021 gui- what he was for the party
Control Certificate has in- 5,05,468 inspections were in actions ranging from are sent to the Chief Secre- the “poor” category on delines. funding as well as his own
creased by 248.1%. carried out. checks at construction sites tary, officials said. Tuesday. “If a shop is found to be self.

Muslim Council rejects clerics’ namaz deal

‘The community will continue to offer prayers at all the 37 sites agreed upon in 2018’
Special Correspondent randum, said the Muslims who were part of the agree- Gurgaon Muslim Council to
GURUGRAM
would continue to offer Jum- ment yesterday [on Monday] the office of Deputy Commis-
A day after the Gurugram ma Namaz at all the 37 sites were just a handful of people sioner that “Muslims in gen-
Imam Sangathan in a meet- agreed upon in 2018, and de- and not true representatives eral do not trust Muslim
ing with right-wing groups manded that the district ad- of the community,” said Gur- Rashtriya Manch or a hand-
and the administration ministration ensure law and gaon Muslim Council mem- ful of maulvis, and they are
agreed not to hold namaz at order was maintained. ber Altaf Ahmed. Mr. Khan not the voice of genuine and
20 designated places, the The delegation comprised said those present in the reasonable Muslim citizens
Gurgaon Muslim Council members of the Gurgaon meeting on Monday were not of Gurugram, has once again
submitted a memorandum Muslim Council and several even residents of Gurugram. been ignored”.
to the office of Deputy Com- imams, including Mufti Mo- The memorandum said The council, through the
missioner on Tuesday, reject- hammad Saleem Qasmi, pre- the meeting between the memorandum, demanded
ing the proposal as “fraudu- sident, Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind, imams and Sanyukt Hindu that the Chief Minister con-
lent”. It also demanded Gurugram, and Muslim Ekta Sangharsh Samiti leaders stitute a truly representative
setting up of a committee for Manch chairman Hazi Shah- was “absolutely fraudulent committee on the matter. Mr.
an amicable solution to the zad Khan. and illegal”, which was held Ahmed said Deputy Commis-
controversy over offering of “We have come in large “secretly and in a suspicious sioner Yash Garg assured
namaz in the open. numbers along with the manner”. The document them to look into their de-
The council, in the memo- imams to show that those said the submission of the mands.

BJP questions AAP claim

on 1.5 lakh membership
This is really a miracle, says Bidhuri
Special Correspondent “This is really a miracle.
New Delhi There is a total of 86,400
Leader of Opposition in the seconds in 24 hours even if
Delhi Assembly Ramvir it is to be assumed that the
Singh Bidhuri on Tuesday people of Delhi were en-
challenged the Aam Aadmi gaged in becoming a mem-
Party’s claim that the party ber for 24 hours continu-
had enrolled 1.5 lakh mem- ously,” Mr. Bidhuri said.
bers in a single day. “It would have taken at
Calling it “a white lie”, least three to four seconds
Mr. Bidhuri questioned to give a missed call. Ac-
how a membership drive cordingly, not more than
based on giving missed 20,000-25,000 missed calls
calls on a phone number can be received even after
could lead to 1.5 lakh new calling 24 hours a day, but
members on the very first AAP has made a fictitious
day. claim of 1.5 lakh,” he added.

HC allows officer to seek

instructions on CIC order
Staff Reporter han, has sought time to
New Delhi obtain instructions. The
The Delhi High Court on case has been listed on De-
Monday allowed the Central cember 27.
Public Information Officer The plea was filed by Pra-
(CPIO) to seek instructions senjit Bose, represented by
with regard to a petition advocate Prasanna, who
challenging a Chief Informa- filed an RTI plea with the
tion Commissioner order PMO on September 12 seek-
which had upheld a decision ing information on the list of
by the Prime Minister’s Of- high-profile bank fraud cas-
fice over a list of high-profile es submitted by former RBI
bank fraud cases. Governor Raghuram Rajan.
A Single-Judge Bench of However, as per the petition-
Justice Rekha Palli noted in er, the CPIO and the PMO
the order that the counsel withheld information on the
for the respondent, repre- list of frauds citing Section
sented by Additional Solici- 45E of the RBI Act and Sec-
tor General Chetan Chau- tion 8(1)(h) of the RTI Act.

City sees 51 new

COVID-19 cases
Staff Reporter
New Delhi

The Capital reported 51

new COVID-19 infections
and no deaths in 24 hours
and the total number of
deaths stood at 25,099, as
per a bulletin released by
the Delhi Government on
Tuesday.
The Government did not
release the daily bulletin
on Monday. It was later re-
leased on Tuesday and no
reason was given. One CO-
VID-19 death was reported
as per the bulletin dated
Monday.

Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).
Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ISSN 0971 - 751X Vol. 11 No. 289
● ● ● ●

CM A ND-NDE
YK
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4 STATES
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‘No Central forces for Kolkata civic body polls’
Shiv Sahay Singh
Kolkata
There will be no deployment
of Central forces for elec-
tions to the Kolkata Munici-
pal Corporation. The West
Bengal State Election Com-
mission (WBSEC) has in-
formed Raj Bhawan that they
are holding polls with de-
SITUATION VACANT
GENERAL
CM
YK
ployment of personnel of the
State police and the Commis-
sion is not in favour of requi-
sitioning Central Amed Pol-
ice Forces (CAPF).
Governor Jagdeep Dhank-
har had sought details from
the WBSEC about deploy-
ment of forces for the civic
polls.
CORPORATE GIFTS
PUBLIC NOTICE
PERSONAL
LOST & FOUND
LOST MY property documents of
Prop. no M5−M7, Samrat Bhavan, a−7−
8−9,Ranjit Nagar Commercial Com-
plex, New Delhi − 110008. LR no.
1022395/2021 is filled with Delhi
Police on 7.12.2021 . Finder may
send to : Kapil Sachdev, S/O Shri
O.P. Sachdev at R −7/13 Raj Nagar,
Ghaziabad − 201002 or Call at
9810317138
The WBSEC officials had
earlier held discussion with
the Kolkata Police and the
State Home Department offi-
cials on deployment of per-
sonnel of State police for the
civic polls. Polling for the 144
ward of the KMC is sche-
duled for December 19. Ac-
cording to sources, the
0 the chief ministerial face for
DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested to verify and make appropriate enquiries to satisfy them-
selves about the veracity of an advertisement before responding to any published in this news-
paper. THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., the Publisher & Owner of this newspaper, does not vouch for
the authenticity of any advertisement or advertiser or for any of the advertiser’s products and/or
services. In no event can the Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Director/s, Employees of this
newspaper/company be held responsible/liable in any manner whatsoever for any claims and/or
damages for advertisements in this newspaper.
WBSEC is likely to deploy
23,000 personnel for the
polling.
of Central forces for local bo-
dy elections. “We seek your
confirmation that the Com-
Meanwhile, the West Ben- mission is taking steps to de-
gal unit of the BJP wrote to ploy CAPF,” a letter by the
the WBSEC, recalling the sit- BJP leaders addressed to the
uation in 2013 when the WBSEC Commissionersaid.
State Election Commission The BJP has also ap-
had approached the Su- proached the Supreme
preme Court for deployment Court over the issue.
OBITUARY & REMEMBRANCE
DEATH
DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
Infighting in Rajasthan BJP
continues despite Shah’s visit
Home Minister had tried to present a collective leadership
Mohammed Iqbal
JAIPUR
Union Home Minister Amit
Shah’s emphasis on collec-
tive leadership and his reluc-
tance to project anyone as
the 2023 Assembly election
during his recent visit to Ra-
jasthan is unlikely to end in-
fighting in the Bharatiya Ja-
nata Party’s State unit. The
power tussle among the rival
factions is set to continue
despite the attempts to reu-
nite them.
Mr. Shah visited Jaipur for
a day on Sunday to address a
‘Jan Pratinidhi Sankalp Sam-
melan’ and a closed-door
BJP working committee
meeting after attending a
function associated with the
Border Security Force in Jai-
salmer. This was his first visit
to the State after the BJP was
voted out of power in 2018.
Two-third majority
Amid the deepening divide
between the supporters of
former Chief Minister Va-
sundhara Raje and those op-
posing a bigger role for her
within the party, Mr. Shah
exuded confidence that the
BJP would win the 2023 elec-
tion with two-third majority.
He declared that the party
would contest the Assembly
poll under the leadership of
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi. The faction led by BJP
State president Satish Poo-
nia, expecting Mr. Shah to
pass some remarks on Ms.
Raje’s recent tour to south-
ern Rajasthan apparently to
assert her dominance in the
party, was left disappointed.
On the contrary, Mr. Shah
described Ms. Raje as a
‘yashaswi’ (illustrious) form-
er Chief Minister in one of
his speeches.
The BJP workers in the
State are a demoralised lot
BIRTH CENTENARY
DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
A united front: Union Home Minister Amit Shah with other
party leaders from Rajasthan in Jaipur. FILE PHOTO
after the rout faced by the
party in the recent Assembly
by-elections at Udaipur divi-
sion’s Dhariawad and Val-
labhnagar seats. Ms. Raje,
who did not join the election
campaign despite being
named as one of the star
campaigners, later went on
a yatra to the same region to
pay obeisance at some pro-
minent temples and meet
the families of the departed
party leaders.
Dismisses accusations
Mr. Shah dismissed accusa-
tions that the BJP had tried
to topple the Congress Go-
vernment in the State last
year and dared the ruling
party to hold early elections
to confirm if it enjoyed peo-
ple’s support. He also en-
sured the presence of all se-
nior leaders with him on the
dais in an attempt to depict
unity in the party.
Union Jal Shakti Minister
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat,
who represents the Jodhpur
constituency in the Lok Sab-
ha, accompanying Mr. Shah
in both Jaisalmer and Jaipur,
was also seen as the latter’s
attempt to send across a pol-
itical message. Ms. Raje had
effectively stalled Mr. Shek-
hawat from being appointed
DEATH
DELHI THE HINDU
*
the State party chief in 2018
despite him having Mr.
Shah’s backing. Mr. Shah la-
ter appointed Madan Lal Sai-
ni as a compromise
candidate.
Cong. ridicules attempts
Pradesh Congress Commit-
tee president Govind Singh
Dotasra ridiculed the BJP’s
attempts to show unity
when it was clear that each
of the senior leaders had
“high ambitions”. Mr. Dotas-
ra said the way the Home Mi-
nister has accorded impor-
tance to Mr. Shekhawat and
ignored others had indicat-
ed that he would be the face
for the Chief Minister in the
run-up to the election.
Chief Minister Ashok Geh-
lot also took exception to
some of Mr. Shah’s remarks
about the handling of the
COVID-19 pandemic in the
State. He said Mr. Shah’s
charge that the State Go-
vernment had not provided
sufficient relief to the people
was wrong, as special pack-
ages had been released and
financial assistance provid-
ed to different sections in ad-
dition to making “outstand-
ing arrangements” for
treatment of infected per-
sons.
Fake entries
were technical
errors: Minister
Special Correspondent
Chennai
Health Minister Ma. Subra-
manian on Tuesday denied
that fake entries had been
made in Tamil Nadu’s CO-
VID-19 vaccination data.
The Minister said the
State’s vaccination cover-
age stood close to 7.5 crore,
and it was common for one
or two “technical errors”
to creep in. “In Kancheep-
uram, we came across two
to three such issues, and
we found that they were
due to technical errors
made by the temporary
staff. There is no need to
register an unvaccinated
person as vaccinated. We
have asked for an inquiry
into these incidents,” he
said. An officer has been
appointed in each district
through the Directorate of
Public Health and Preven-
tive Medicine to rectify er-
rors in vaccination certifi-
cates, he said. If anyone
deliberately makes wrong
entries, action will be ta-
ken against them, he said,
adding that, however,
there was no chance such
things would happen.
The Hindu reported that
several fake entries had
crept into the COVID-19
vaccination data, as health-
care workers had “unreal-
istic vaccination targets”.
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
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TRS to boycott winter session
over Govt.’s ‘anti-farmer attitude’
It says Centre has failed to resolve deadlock over paddy procurement from State
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
Accusing the Narendra Modi
Government of being anti-
farmer, the Telangana Rash-
tra Samithi on Tuesday said
it was boycotting the remain-
ing part of the winter session
of Parliament. It said despite
waiting patiently, the Go-
vernment has failed to re-
solve the deadlock over pad-
dy procurement from the
State.
TRS Parliamentary Party
leader K. Keshav Rao told re-
porters that no elected re-
presentative likes to boycott
Parliament but the TRS is be-
ing forced to do so. The par-
ty’s nine Lok Sabha MPs and
seven Rajya Sabha MPs will
not attend the rest of the ses-
sion. “This is an anti-farmer
Government, insensitive to
the demands of the farmers.
IN BRIEF
More mass death of
ducks in Alappuzha
ALAPPUZHA
More duck deaths have been
reported from Kuttanad in
Alappuzha creating a sense of
apprehension among
farmers. It is the second
reporting of mass death of
ducks in the recent weeks.
3 from Punjab washed
away in NSP canal
KHAMMAM
A paddy-harvester operator
from Punjab drowned and his
two co-workers were washed
away in the Nagarjunasagar
Project (NSP) irrigation canal
in Telangana on Monday night
when they had gone out to
attend nature’s call.
Fighter wing prototype
built in Hyderabad
Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD
U.S. aerospace and defence
major Lockheed Martin has
formally recognised Tata-
Lockheed Martin Aerostruc-
tures Ltd (TLMAL) as a po-
tential future co-producer
of fighter wings.
Paving the way for manu-
facture of the fighter aircraft
wings, the move follows
TLMAL, a joint venture bet-
ween Tata Advanced Sys-
tems Ltd and Lockheed Mar-
tin Aeronautics, building
the first prototype here.
Lockheed Martin and
TLMAL had in 2018 entered
into an agreement to deve-
lop a fighter wing
prototype.
“Through this prototype
project, TLMAL demon-
strated the capability to per-
form detailed part manufac-
turing and delivery of a fully
compliant representative
fighter aircraft wing ship-
‘Punjab Govt.
patronising
sand mafia’
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
CHANDIGARH
Aam Aadmi Party conven-
er and Delhi Chief Minis-
ter Arvind Kejriwal on
Tuesday hit out at the
Congress Government in
Punjab, accusing it of pa-
tronising the “sand mafia”
in the State.
Mr. Kejriwal, who was
on a one-day visit to the
State, in Amritsar said
there are allegations of di-
rect involvement of the
Congress MLAs, Ministers
and close associates.
“When the allegations
of the involvement of Con-
gress MLAs and Ministers,
including the Chief Minis-
ter, in the sand mafia and
many other illegal activi-
ties are being levelled,
then who will protect the
interests of the general pu-
blic?” said Mr. Kejriwal.
CM
YK
Loud and clear: TRS MPs protesting outside Parliament on
Tuesday over the deadlock in paddy procurement. PTI
Today piles of grains are rot-
ting on the roads in Telanga-
na for the simple reason that
the FCI is not lifting the pro-
duce,” he said.
He also accused the BJP
leaders and Ministers of
making contradictory state-
ments. Minister of Tourism
Kishen Reddy gave the assu-
rance that every single grain
A.P. reserves 5% land for
Govt. projects in layouts
Earmarks it for YSR housing scheme
Staff Reporter
Vijayawada
The Andhra Pradesh Go-
vernment has issued orders
making it mandatory for
real estate developers to
earmark 5% of the deve-
loped layout area for the
State Government.
In a notification issued on
Monday, the State Govern-
ment said layout owners
and developers have to
hand over 5% of the land to
the District Collectors
concerned.
The Government would
utilise this additional land
reserved for YSR Jagananna
Housing Projects for the
poor.
set,” Lockheed Martin said
in a release on an event
marking the first fighter
wing prototype built at the
JV facility here.
Telangana Industries and
IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao,
senior leadership of Lock-
heed Martin, Tata Advanced
Systems and TLMAL partici-
pated in the event.
Vice-president (Strategy
and Business Development)
of Lockheed Martin Inte-
grated Fighter Group Aimee
Burnett said Lockheed Mar-
tin has partnered with
TLMAL to build one of the
most technologically com-
plex aerostructures — a fuel-
carrying 9G, 12,000 hour,
interchangeable/ replacea-
ble fighter wing.
The prototype develop-
ment further strengthens
Lockheed Martin’s partner-
ship with India and sup-
ports its F-21 offering exclu-
sively for India and the IAF.
‘Hydrogen sulphide suppresses HIV’
Finding could lead to more comprehensive antiretroviral therapy against disease
Staff Reporter
Bengaluru
Researchers at the Indian In-
stitute of Science (IISc.) and
their collaborators have
identified a key role played
by hydrogen sulphide (H2S)
gas in suppressing the Hu-
man Immunodeficiency Vi-
rus (HIV).
Increased H2S was found
to have a direct effect on re-
ducing the rate at which the
virus multiplies in HIV-in-
fected human immune cells.
The finding paves the way
for developing a more com-
prehensive antiretroviral
therapy against HIV.
The team included re-
searchers from the Depart-
ment of Microbiology and
Cell Biology (MCB) and the
Centre for Infectious Disease
Research (CIDR) at IISc.,
along with collaborators
from the Bangalore Medical
College and Research Insti-
*
will be procured while Food
Supplies Minister Piyush
Goyal says parboiled rice will
not be picked up, he said.
“We got contradictory
and ambiguous replies from
the Government on the pad-
dy procurement policy. For a
week and a half we waited
for a comprehensive res-
ponse. But there is no point
The notification gave
three options to layout deve-
lopers or owners.
Compensatory land
The layout developers have
to hand over 5% land within
the layout, or 5% land with-
in 3 km range from the origi-
nal layout or pay the basic
value of such 5% land to the
Urban Local Body (ULB)
concerned.
Under the new rules, de-
velopers have to leave
47.50% space for utilities
and open space, including
5% for Jagananna housing, if
the layouts are less than five
acres or 49% if the layouts
are more than five acres.
SC adjourns Rajiv Gandhi
case convict’s petition
Court to hear early release plea in Jan.
Legal Correspondent
NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court on Tues-
day scheduled for January a
hearing on a plea for early re-
lease by Rajiv Gandhi assassi-
nation case convict A.G.
Perarivalan.
Perarivalan has already
spent three decades in jail.
The cardinal question
raised in court was about the
Governor’s decision to re-
frain from taking an indepen-
dent decision on Perariva-
lan’s release. The Governor
had referred the convict’s
case for release to the
President.
This was despite the fact
that the Council of Ministers
of the Tamil Nadu Govern-
ment recommended his re-
lease way back on September
9, 2018. “After sleeping over
for five years in the Article 161
[pardon] petition and sitting
Team effort: Researchers from the multiple departments at
the IISc in Bengaluru collaborated in the study. FILE PHOTO
tute. The results are pu-
blished in the journal eLife.
According to an IISc. re-
lease, current state-of-the-
art combined antiretroviral
therapy (cART) is not a cure
for HIV. It can only suppress
the virus by causing it to be-
come latent.
“Unfortunately, in some
cases, cART is known to fail
talking to a wall. So we are
boycotting the entire
session.”
Party’s Lok Sabha floor
leader Nama Nageshwar Rao
said for nine days straight
the TRS gave notice each day
in both Houses to flag the is-
sue but was denied the
opportunity.
“On November 24, we had
a meeting with Mr. Goyal.
We told him that the Centre
had procured 94 lakh tonnes
last year from the State and
this time because we have
had a bumper crop, they
should increase it to 100 lakh
tonnes. He said the Centre
can procure only 85 lakh
tonnes. During our second
round of meeting on Novem-
ber 26, Mr. Goyal took a so-
mersault and said the Centre
can procure only 40 lakh
tonnes,” Mr. Rao said.
Kerala Govt. back-pedals on
PSC Waqf Board recruitment
CM holds talks with Jamiyathul Ulema; IUML not invited
Special Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram
The Kerala Government has
back-pedalled on leaving
Waqf Board appointments to
the Public Service Commis-
sion (PSC). On Tuesday,
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vi-
jayan conferred with Samas-
tha Kerala Jamiyathul Ulema
(SKJU) and assured them
that any future decision
would hinge on a consensus
among the stakeholders.
Notably, the Government
appeared to keep the Indian
Union Muslim League
(IUML) out of the loop, pos-
sibly forestalling any Opposi-
over the recommendation of
the State Cabinet to release
the petitioner for more than
a good two-and-a-half years,
the Union of India, on Febru-
ary 4, has filed an affidavit [in
the Supreme Court] stating
that the Governor has sent
the petition to the President,
whereas the law is clear that
the Governor does not have
independent discretion,” Pe-
rarivalan, represented by se-
nior advocate Gopal Sanka-
ranarayanan and advocates
Prabu Ramasubramanian
and K. Paari Vendhan, had
contended in the Supreme
Court recently.
Perarivalan had argued
that the “stalemate” over his
release from prison was
“completely political”. The
court on Wednesday said it
could not, on the grounds of
immunity, ask the Governor
not to pass any order.
*
even when patients fully fol-
low their drug regimen. Cer-
tain negative effects are also
associated with cART, such
as the build-up of toxic mole-
cules leading to ‘oxidative
stress’ and loss of function in
the mitochondria, the cell’s
powerhouse. These effects
can contribute to inflamma-
tion and organ damage.
EC warns two officers for JJP looking to expand
violation of election code base beyond its bastion
Honorarium raised amid Council poll
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
The Election Commission
on Tuesday said it had cau-
tioned the Telangana Chief
Secretary to be careful dur-
ing the ongoing Legislative
Council polls and issue for-
mal warnings to two officers
for violating the Model Code
of Conduct.
“The Election Commis-
sion of India has cautioned
the Chief Secretary, Govern-
ment of Telangana, to exer-
cise due care in the conduct
of ongoing biennial elec-
tions to the Telangana Legis-
lative Council as expected
from the officer of his sta-
ture,” an EC statement said.
The EC also directed the
Chief Secretary to issue for-
mal warnings and “displea-
sure of the Commission” to
Municipal Administration
and Urban Development Se-
cretary C. Sudarshan Reddy
and Special Chief Secretary
Pinarayi Vijayan
tion move to claim a political
victory from the outcome of
the talks.
The IUML had cam-
paigned hard against the
Kerala to move SC against T.N.’s water release
Opposition slams
Govt. silence on
lakhs affected by
sudden flooding
Special Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram
The Kerala Government will
file an interlocutory applica-
tion (IA) in the Supreme
Court to prevent Tamil Nadu
from releasing vast quanti-
ties of water from the Mulla-
periyar dam at night, pur-
portedly without warning.
Irrigation Minister Roshy
Augustine tweeted: “All pos-
sible attention with alacrity
is being given to conduct of
Mullaperiyar SC case. Re-
garding recent unilateral ac-
tions of TN in repeatedly re-
leasing huge quantity of
water at night, new and
specific IA will be filed to-
morrow (Wednesday) before
SC seeking its urgent inter-
vention.”
Earlier, Leader of the Op-
position V.D. Satheesan ac-
Stopping cART is also not an
option because the virus can
reactivate – emerge from its
latent state – in the absence
of therapy,” according to the
release.
Amit Singh, Associate Pro-
fessor in MCB/CIDR and cor-
responding author of the
study, said, scientists have
recently begun exploring the
beneficial effects of the pre-
sence of H2S in HIV-infected
cells on both oxidative stress
and mitochondrial
dysfunction.
As the role of H2S in HIV
has not been explored be-
fore, the authors had to set
up experiments from
scratch. “Studying the ef-
fects of a gaseous molecule
on HIV required us to build
and validate new model sys-
tems,” said Virender Kumar
Pal, a PhD. student in MCB
and the first author of the
study.
for MA&UD Aravind Kumar
“for clear violation of MCC”.
“The said officers had is-
sued a Government of Te-
langana order dated Novem-
ber 18 for enhancement of
honorarium, including con-
veyance allowance, to
mayors, chairpersons, de-
puty mayors, vice-chairper-
sons, corporators, ward
members, co-option mem-
bers of urban local bodies in
Telangana, who are precise-
ly the electoral college for
elections to the Telangana
Legislative Council. The
Commission took cogni-
sance of the violations in ob-
serving Model Code of Con-
duct,” the EC said.
The elections from nine
Local Authorities consti-
tuencies for 12 seats were
announced by the EC on No-
vember 9. “The Model Code
of Conduct had come into
force with immediate effect
on November 9 itself.”
PSC’s intervention in Waqf
recruitments and caused a
stir by allegedly threatening
to take its protest to mos-
ques and Friday prayers.
Mr. Vijayan told the SKJU
leaders the Government had
not initiated the measure.
The Kerala State Waqf Board
had decided to leave ap-
pointments to the PSC.
The Centre’s Waqf
(Amendment) Act, 2013 go-
verned regional Waqf
Boards.
Mr. Vijayan also dispelled
“the propaganda” to ap-
point non-Muslims in Waqf
institutions.
Demanding action: Congress MPs staging a protest on the
Mullaperiyar dam issue in Parliament on Tuesday. PTI
cused the Left Democratic
Front (LDF) Government of
striking a strangely slothful
approach in the inter-State
dispute.
Tamil Nadu has routinely
opened the sluice gates at
will without informing Kera-
la, Mr. Satheesan said. Peo-
ple downstream of the Mul-
laperiyar woke up regularly
to midnight flooding and
Maharashtra EC stays polls
for OBC seats in local bodies
54% community not getting representation is injustice: Bhujbal
Staff Reporter
Mumbai
A day after the Supreme
Court scrapped the Maha-
rashtra Government ordi-
nance giving 27% reservation
to OBCs in the local body
polls, the State Election
Commission on Tuesday
stayed the election process
on seats reserved for OBCs in
the local civic bodies that are
going to polls on December
21.
A total of 106 municipal
panchayats, Bhandara and
Gondiya zilla parishad and 15
panchayat samitis under
these ZP are going for polls
on December 21. In addition,
bypolls for four municipal
corporation seats and 7,130
vacants posts in grampan-
chayats are also going for
polls.
STATES 5
Jhajjar venue for foundation day event
Ashok Kumar
GURUGRAM
Three years after the Jan-
nayak Janta Party ( JJP) came
into existence, breaking
away from the Indian Na-
tional Lok Dal (INLD), the
party is gearing up to com-
memorate its third founda-
tion day on December 9 by
holding a rally. In fact, it is
for the first time that the par-
ty is celebrating its founda-
tion day on a large scale,
with the first two occasions
marred by different reasons.
But it is the choice of the
venue for the foundation
day celebration by the party
— with a majority of its sup-
port base among the Jats
across the rural belt of Jind-
Hisar-Kaithal — that has a
political message for its op-
ponents with a hint to ex-
pand its base beyond its
bastion.
The rally’s venue, Jhajjar,
a south Haryana district, is
considered a stronghold of
the Hoodas and also shares
border with Gurugram-Re-
wari-Mahendragarh-Ahirwal
belt that swears by BJP Lok
Sabha MP and Minister of
State for Statistics and Pro-
gramme Implementation
Rao Inderjit Singh, the scion
of Rao Tula Ram.
‘Message for Hoodas’
“The rally has a message for
the Hoodas about the grow-
ing popularity of Deputy
Chief Minister Dushyant
Chautala among the youth
in the State. Also, the JJP
senses an opportunity in
south Haryana with Mr.
Singh, aged 70, being at the
fag end of his political career
and the youth in the region
at political crossroads look-
ing for a new young dynamic
leadership,” said Yashesh Ya-
dav, party’s Gurugram
spokesperson.
Meo Muslims-dominated
Nuh, another south Haryana
district with three Assembly
*
sudden inundation of hous-
es. Thousands were at their
wit’s end. Yet, Chief Minister
Pinarayi Vijayan has not con-
vened the Supreme Court-
appointed supervisory over-
sight committee despite en-
treaties from the Opposition,
he added.
Mr. Satheesan said the Go-
vernment appeared steeped
in fear. It was afraid to take
Senior NCP leader and State
Minister Chhagan Bhujbal
State Election Commis-
sioner U.P.S. Madan said that
elections on seats reserved
for OBCs have been stayed as
per the Supreme Court or-
der. “However elections on
general seats and those re-
served for Scheduled Caste
and Scheduled Tribe will
continue as per the sche-
dule,” he said.
Elections on 23 seats in
Bhandara and Gondiya ZP,
45 seats in panchayat sami-
tis, 344 seats in municipal
JJP chief Dushyant Chautala
constituencies, has been a
traditional bastion of the
INLD since Chaudhary Devi
Lal days and Mr. Chautala
has been active in the dis-
trict for more than a year
now holding rallies and
meeting workers.
Hooda criticised
Responding to former Minis-
ter and Congress leader Gee-
ta Bhukkal’s comment on
the JJP’s choice of venue,
Digvijay Chautala, general-
secretary, JJP, had retorted
saying that entire Haryana
was the home-turf of the
party unlike former Chief
Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda who resorted to the
politics of regionalism dur-
ing the Congress rule.
According to the party
leaders, the JJP wants to
shake-off its image of being a
party of a particular com-
munity and region, and ex-
pand to the urban areas,
aiming at the educated
youth and the women. .
The expansion plans for
the party have also been ne-
cessitated by the erosion of
its traditional support base
among farmers and Jats.
Having voted for the JJP
against the BJP, a section of
Jat voters was already alie-
nated from the party after it
extended support to the saf-
fron party for government
formation, and the party suf-
fered further loss of face for
failing to take a firm stand
against the farm laws during
the farmers agitation.
Shutter of Cheruthoni
dam opened
IDUKKI
After the water crossed the
blue alert level, a shutter of
the Cheruthoni dam of the
Idukki reservoir was opened at
6 a.m. on Tuesday. Shutter 3
was initially raised by 40 cm
and later to 60 cm when the
water level reached 2,401.58
ft. Within a 24-hour period
from Monday morning, the
water level rose nearly one
foot following the release of
water from the Mullaperiyar
dam and heavy rainfall in the
catchment area of Idukki.
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
decisive action to protect the
life and security of 40 lakh
people who live in the sha-
dow of the 126-year-old bar-
rier that has outlasted its life
span by at least 80 years.
Moreover, the Govern-
ment appeared to have sa-
crificed the State’s interests
in the Mullaperiyar dispute
on the altar of political expe-
diency.
panchayats and one seat in
municipal corporation have
been stayed.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra
Minister and senior OBC
leader from Nationalist Con-
gress Party (NCP), Chhagan
Bhujbal, on Tuesday said
that 54% community not get-
ting electoral representation
is nothing but injustice.
‘Battle will continue’
“The State Government has
formed the backward class
commission. At a time when
census is not being conduct-
ed due to the pandemic, col-
lecting empirical data is an
herculean task. However the
State Government will conti-
nue the court battle and we
are in constant touch with
senior lawyers regarding
this,” he said.
A ND-NDE
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6 EDITORIAL WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021

DELHI THE HINDU
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A monumental mistake fomented by impunity

The anguish over the Nagaland killings is inadequate, especially as there is no gesture to recommend the end of AFSPA
east with a history of violent insur- pinch the giver; not just about buy- Shillong Accord. A group calling it-
gencies will understand — is the ing truce at affordable prices. Ac- self the National Socialist Council

A robust friendship combat tactics of an inferior force

against a far superior one; for this
cording to a report from Kohima,
the central government has agreed
of Nagaland (NSCN), broke away in
protest, in 1980. But the NSCN also
India and Russia have to navigate a complex reason it is also often summarised to pay ₹11 lakh as ex gratia to each split into two, violently, in 1988,
as hit-and-run warfare. family of those killed. The State go- with S.S. Khaplang, a Myanmar
geopolitical landscape while deepening ties Pradip Phanjoubam vernment is to pay ₹5 lakh each. Naga, leading one faction and the

R
ussian President Vladimir Putin has concluded a Options that were missed Though commendable, this ges- other led by Thuingaleng Muivah
The important question is, even if ture would hardly make for a true and Isak Chishi Swu. While the lat-

GETTY IMAGES
short summit meeting with Prime Minister Na-

T
rendra Modi in New Delhi, highlighting the “all- here are no words to express there was intelligence available language of repentance. If for in- ter remains more or less cohesive,
the outrage and grief over about the movement of insur- stance the gesture was for ₹11 crore the Khaplang faction splintered a
weather” partnership between the two countries des-
the killing of 14 civilians (the gents, why was this tactic resorted each, that would have been closer number of times.
pite trying global circumstances. Not only does the Pre- toll so far) in Mon district of Naga- to? Why was no attempt made to to saying sorry. It would also have
sident’s visit come as the world faces the grim prospect land, home of the Konyak Nagas. have the targeted men who were followed. The intuitive under- sent out the message to those like- Road to peace
of the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 pandemic, but They lost their lives in firing by pa- in a single pickup truck, surrender standing of those tasked with ly to commit them again that such The pattern of these splits is also
it also follows years of growing proximity between New ra commandos of the Indian Army to be captured alive, even if these counterinsurgency duty has come mistakes come at immense costs. interesting. In all cases, the sepa-
Delhi and Washington, a potential irritant to Moscow. based in Jorhat. According to infor- men were insurgents and armed? to be that action towards this Saying sorry could have also been rations were broadly between the
Simultaneously, the China factor has been steadily pull- mation available, this was intend- From a superior pre-mediated po- cause will have little or no legal accompanied with a gesture such Indian and the Myanmar Nagas;
ed as an ambush on what Army in- sition, and force strength precal- consequence. What happened at as declaring AFSPA, which has the Indian Naga factions end up
ing the India-Russia bilateral tango in all the wrong di-
telligence had indicated was a culated to overwhelm, there Mon is new evidence of this. It too come to be seen as a symbol of op- entering the ongoing ceasefire
rections. While Russia relies on cordial ties with China group of insurgents moving in the should not have been much diffi- reeked of the attitude that in these pression across the region, making observers suspect the in-
to stabilise its interests in an unstable Afghanistan post area. This intelligence, or the fact culty to block off the truck making wild lawless territories, mistakes, abrogated. fluence of the Indian intelligence
the U.S.’s exit, New Delhi and Beijing have scarcely seen that the Army commandos would its way along a winding narrow hill even if they spell immense losses to be behind these splits. This is
eye-to-eye on border tensions and geo-political rivalry be responding to it, was not com- road, put the men in it in a hope- to civilian life, are part of the The ceasefire structure understandable too, for India
across the Asia region. Notwithstanding these reasons municated to either the local pol- less position and force them to sur- game. What is also intriguing is the na- could not have entered into any
for possible strategic dissonance, India and Russia reaf- ice or the Assam Rifles based in render. ture of the intelligence which led truce with Myanmar nationals.
the area. It was in this sense, a con- The intent obviously was to des- There must be ownership to the ambush. Almost all insur- The last of these splits, in 2018, fol-
firmed the strength of their abiding deep, multi-decade
tinuance of the culture of ‘surgical troy and eliminate as would be In an invisible way, this mindset gent factions that matter in Naga- lowed this pattern. After Kha-
ties, building further confidence in each other through strikes’ hyped up after the Pulwa- done to hated enemies. But, as it seems to have pervaded among a land are in ‘ceasefire agreement’ plang’s death in 2017, the leader-
substantive defence agreements. Moscow has agreed ma incident in Jammu and Kash- turned out tragically, the victims larger section of the population with the Government of India and ship mantle of the NSCN-K passed
on a 10-year military-technical plan that includes tech- mir, and in the context of the were all innocent unarmed villag- nationwide, other than just the engaged in peace talks. If there on to Khango Konyak, an Indian
nology transfer to India. And trade received a fillip North-east, the ambush by a com- ers; six of them were killed on the combatants directly engaged in were still perfidies committed by Naga. Then, in a bloodless coup in
through an agreement for India to produce more than bined group of militants led by the spot. More casualties resulted af- counterinsurgency duty. Hence, these groups, such as extortion 2018, Khango Konyak was im-
600,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. For India’s part, National Socialist Council of Naga- ter outraged Konyak villagers at- there have been a flood of expres- and intimidation, they should peached and Yung Aung took over
land-Khaplang (NSCN-K) in Chan- tacked the ambushers first and sions of anguish. These include have amounted to breaches of cea- leadership. The former returned
despite resistance from Washington through its Coun-
del district of Manipur in 2015. then an Assam Rifles post later. messages from Parliament, the sefire ground rules; not challenges to India and entered the ongoing
tering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, The NSCN-K then was not as frag- One army trooper was also killed Prime Minister, the Home Minister to the Indian state. Obviously ceasefire.
New Delhi will proceed with purchasing the S-400 mis- mented into factions as it is now. in the violence. and more. But many have also then, the Naga underground fac- The question now is whether
sile defence system from Moscow. While the earlier ‘surgical The truth is that long decades of brushed off the tragedy as collater- tion noted in this report must have the tragic development would
The challenges facing Mr. Modi and Mr. Putin in strikes’ are understandable — violent insurrections and draco- al damage — an inevitable part of been one which had still to enter have any lasting impact on the on-
terms of maintaining this momentum in bilateral ex- though their success has been dis- nian counterinsurgency laws, in any conflict scenario. Obviously, it into the ceasefire agreement. Re- going peace talks now presumed
changes are multidimensional. First, and most immi- puted — the Mon ambush is com- particular the Armed Forces (Spe- was a mistake, but an unpardona- ports indicate this is the faction to be in its final stage. Considering
nently, the pandemic has periodically crippled the pletely beyond comprehension. cial Powers) Act (AFSPA) 1958, ble one that culminated out of the led by Yung Aung, the nephew of the combat fatigue of the Nagas,
First, unlike the earlier strikes, have ensured a climate of impuni- uniquely oppressive climate of im- NSCN-K founder, the late S.S. Kha- maybe not. But this would also de-
growth of both economies and the threats to public
which were in response to grave ty among those fighting insurgen- punity which has been allowed to plang. But Yung Aung’s support pend greatly on the Indian state’s
health remain despite considerable progress with vacci- provocations, and the targets were cy. normalise. base is in Myanmar. So could he ability to say sorry from the heart
nations. Second, Russia-U.S. ties are showing signs of outside Indian territory, the scena- In neighbouring Manipur, this What is called for then is so- still have been seen as a threat to and not just bargain for just anoth-
fraying yet again, this time over U.S. President Joe Bi- rio was markedly different in the became evident even in a pocket mething beyond the expression of India’s integrity? er quid pro quo truce in the pre-
den’s intention, reportedly, to warn Mr. Putin that Rus- present. The ambush was unpro- where AFSPA had been removed anguish or condemnation. It must In a nutshell, when insurrection sent tragedy.
sia will face “economy-jarring sanctions” if it seeks to voked, and the target was well after public agitation following instead be about repentance and began in Nagaland, there was only
occupy Ukraine, a fear that has grown in the U.S. as Rus- within India. This would have another atrocious rape and mur- ownership of responsibility for the one group — A.Z. Phizo’s Naga Na- Pradip Phanjoubam is Editor: Imphal
meant assault resources were der of a woman insurgent suspect tragedy. Therefore, it is about tional Council. This group entered Review of Arts and Politics and the author
sian troops massed near the Ukraine border. India has
much more in abundance. Again, in 2004. Fake encounter killings sharing the tragedy, represented into a peace agreement with the of ‘The Northeast Question: Conflicts and
so far held firm to its mantra of ‘strategic autonomy’ in an ambush — as those in the North- soared in the area in the years that by deeds and sacrifices that also Government of India in 1975 as the Frontiers’
a multipolar world, but South Block will have to work
hard to manage the tightrope act between Moscow and
Washington. Third, India and China have forged an un-
easy truce across their Himalayan border in the after-
math of the Galwan valley exchange in 2020, yet there
Health account numbers that require closer scrutiny
are numerous potential flashpoints that could send ties The reduction of out-of-pocket expenditure that the NHA highlights is essentially due to a decline in utilisation of care
into a spiral again, including China’s historically provo- of National Sample Survey Organi- poses to leave out capital expendi- Since it is very unlikely that peo-
cative actions in the South China Sea and its thinly
GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

sation. Public spending on health ture from health accounts esti- ples’ need for health care has de-
veiled insecurity about India joining the Quad for Indo- by various departments of the Un- mates, instead focus on current clined, and current government
Pacific security. Moscow has adroitly managed to re- ion and State governments, major health expenditure. However, in health expenditure has not in-
main friends with both its mega-neighbours, but it will urban local bodies, and social se- NHA estimates in India, in order to creased much, a decline in out-of-
require a robust focus on confidence-boosting coopera- curity schemes are captured from show higher public investment, pocket expenditure could be due
Budgets. Various sources are also capital expenditure is included; to lower utilisation of care — a sign
tive initiatives if India and Russia are to safely navigate Indranil
used to capture insurance premi- thus, Indian estimates become in- of distress rather than a cause of
the complex geopolitical landscape that they occupy. ums, expenditure estimates from comparable to other countries. celebration.

L
ow public spending on firms, non-governmental organi- ₹10,485 in 2016-17, it increased to If we take out the capital expen- Actually, the NSSO survey hap-

At home health in India has meant

that people depend heavily
India won the cricket bouts against New on their own means to access
health care. It causes rich-poor,
Zealand, but the challenge overseas is different rural-urban, gender and caste-
sations and foreign entities.
Various sources are also used to
₹32,118 crore. During this period,
expenditure on the National
diture, current health expenditure
comes down to only 0.97% of GDP.
pened just after six months of de-
monetisation and almost at the
capture insurance premiums, ex- Health Mission increased only by This is only a marginal increase same time when the Goods and
penditure estimates from firms, 16% to ₹25,465 crore. Though the from 0.93% in the previous year. Services Tax was introduced. The
non-governmental organisations increasing spending for the health disastrous consequences of the

I
ndia’s domineering cricketing aura, especially in its based divides in access to health
backyard, was further reiterated at the conclusion of care, pushes people to poverty,
the Test series involving New Zealand at Mumbai’s and forces them to incur debt or
sell assets. As a result, our health
Wankhede Stadium on Monday. The emphatic 372-run
outcomes are worse than in many
triumph in the second Test helped Virat Kohli’s men neighbouring countries.
clinch the series at 1-0. This climax emerged after New In this context, the National
Zealand mounted a stirring resistance in the opening Health Accounts (NHA) report for
drawn fixture at Kanpur when Ajinkya Rahane led India 2017-18 is being celebrated widely
in Kohli’s absence. The Indian template at home — runs as it shows that total public spend-
on the board and wily spinners on the mark — was in ing on health as a percentage of
GDP has increased to a historic
vogue and there was nothing much the Black Caps
high of 1.35% of GDP, finally break-
could do, especially after regular skipper Kane William- ing through the 1%-1.2% mark of
son missed the final Test with an injury. The latest victo- GDP. Out-of-pocket expenditure as
rious outing in the longest format was India’s 14th con- a share of total health expenditure
secutive Test series win at home since 2012 December has come down to less than 50%.
when the visiting England squad ambushed the host An increase in public spending
riding on Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann and Monty and decline in out-of-pocket ex-
penditure, if actually realised, are
Panesar. Since that stumble, India at home has been in-
welcome steps forward to achieve
vincible. Batters obviously feeling at home, seamers greater financial protection. Ho-
adept at swing — both conventional and reverse — and wever, the NHA numbers need to
spinners headlined by a remarkable R. Ashwin, have all be carefully scrutinised before
contributed in nursing India’s blinding halo in a familiar jumping to conclusions.
environment. Perhaps it was prescient of former Aus- The NHA capture spending on
tralian skipper Steve Waugh to refer to India as the Final health by various sources, and
track the schemes through which
Frontier two decades ago. And as the last fortnight re-
these funds are channelised to va-
vealed, the fortress remains intact. rious providers in a given time pe-
The sparkling performance at Mumbai and the ear- riod for a given geography. Multi-
lier 3-0 sweep in the Twenty20 Internationals against ple data sources are combined to
the same rival, also helped new coach Rahul Dravid produce the estimates. Out-of-
step in on a winning note. But as Dravid pointed out, pocket expenditure, the biggest
New Zealand competed hard at varying points, espe- part of NHA estimates is captured
using "Household Social Con-
cially in Kanpur. Even if the unit got overwhelmed in
sumption in India: Health" survey
the subsequent clash, left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel’s Per-
fect Ten in the first innings, following in the footsteps of
Jim Laker and Anil Kumble, was a splendid feat. The LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Mumbai-born New Zealand-immigrant’s excellence re-
flected the Indian diaspora’s increasing sporting clout North-east strategy
and foreign entities.
Spending is one of the lowest
India’s total public spending on
health as a percentage of GDP or in
per capita terms has been one of
the lowest in the world. There has
been a policy consensus for more
than a decade now that public
spending has to increase to at least
2.5% of GDP. However, there has
not been any significant increase
so far. Despite several pronounce-
ments, it has continued to hover
around 1%-1.2% of GDP.
The Union government tradi-
tionally spends around a third of
the total government spending
whereas the majority is borne by
the States. The increase shown in
NHA 2017-18 is largely due to in-
crease in Union government ex-
penditure. For 2017-18, the
Centre’s share in total public
spending on health has jumped to
40.8%. However, if we study the
spending pattern of the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare and the
Ministry of AYUSH, we see that ex-
penditure increased to 0.32% of
GDP from 0.27% in 2016-17 — insuf-
ficient to explain the overall jump.
Much of this increase has ac-
tually happened on account of a
tripling of expenditure of the De-
fence Medical Services (DMS).
Compared to an expenditure of
Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
Ties upgraded
of defence personnel is a good
thing, such spending does not be-
nefit the general population.
Clearly, the health of women in
the reproductive age-group and
children below five years, who
constitute a third of our popula-
tion, have been accorded lesser
priority compared to the around
64 lakh families covered under the
DMS. The other thing to note is
that the share of current health ex-
penditure has gone down to 88%
of THE compared to 92.8% in
2016-17. Within government ex-
penditure, the share of current
health expenditure has come
down to 71.9% compared to 77.9%
a year ago. This essentially means,
capital expenditure has increased,
and specifically in defence.
Capital expenditure
There is a problem in accounting
capital expenditure within the
NHA framework. Equipment
brought or a hospital that is built
serves people for many years, so
the expenditure incurred is used
for the lifetime of the capital creat-
ed and use does not get limited to
that particular year in which ex-
penditure is incurred. Counting
the capital expenditure for a spec-
ific year leads to severe over-
counting. Considering this, the
World Health Organization pro-
■ There is no doubt that to “achieve” the allotted
More a sign of distress
The NHA estimate also shows that
out-of-pocket expenditure as a
share of GDP has reduced to less
than half of the total health expen-
diture. Over the last few years, the
share of out-of-pocket expenditure
has been declining. For the year
2017-18, out-of-pocket expenditure
has declined not only as a share of
total health expenditure but also
in nominal and real terms. Is it a
welcome development? Does it
mean improved financial protec-
tion? Has it declined because pu-
blic spending has increased?
NSSO 2017-18 data suggest that
during this time period, utilisation
of hospitalisation care has de-
clined compared to 2014 NSSO es-
timates for almost all States and
for various sections of society. The
decline in out-of-pocket expendi-
ture is essentially due to a decline
in utilisation of care rather than
greater financial protection.
The experience of various deve-
loping countries suggests that as
public spending on health increas-
es, utilisation of care increases be-
cause there is always a lot of latent
demand for health care which was
hitherto unrealised as people
could not afford health care. With
increased public investment as
health care becomes cheaper, pe-
ople tend to access care more.
pressure on the system, with
dual blow of demonetisation and
GST on the purchasing power of
people are quite well document-
ed. As purchasing power declined,
health care would have become
more unaffordable, forcing people
to forgo care. Though more people
have moved towards subsidised
public services to some extent,
this has not been enough to offset
the decline in utilisation.
Another plausible explanation
is linked to limitations in NSSO es-
timates. The NSSO fails to capture
the spending pattern of the richest
5% of the population (who incur a
large part of the health expendi-
ture). Thus, out-of-pocket expen-
diture measured from the NSSO
could be an under-estimate as it
fails to take into account the ex-
penditure of the richest sections.
To sum up, one may argue that
much of the increased public
spending is not going to benefit
the common people as it is mostly
a one-time investment for defence
personnel. The reduction of out-
of-pocket expenditure is a sign of
distress and a result of methodo-
logical limitations of the NSSO,
rather than a sign of increased fi-
nancial protection.
Indranil is a Health Economist and
Associate Professor with O.P. Jindal Global
University, Sonipat, Haryana
To read more letters
online, scan the QR code

across shores. This was the return of the prodigal, but The government of the day
with a twist. And as the pandemic throws up variants might have made inroads in
the North-east, politically,
while India looks ahead at the imminent tour of South
but in handling issues, it
Africa, it is not essentially a perfect slate. A series may seems to have failed to
have been won despite the absence of Rohit Sharma understand the real
and Jasprit Bumrah, and the excellence of Ashwin, problems of the people and
Shreyas Iyer, Mayank Agarwal and Axar Patel to name a their sensitivities. Handling
few, augurs well. Yet, the poor yields from Rahane, Che- insurgency without
teshwar Pujara and even Kohli by his exalted standards, empathy can cause
problems in the long run. It
are a cause for worry. Having won his bouts against
is such mishandling that is
poor form during a storied career, Dravid understands exploited by insurgent
the challenges that his core group of batters are grap- groups to precipitate
pling with. A turnaround is needed as a crucial overseas trouble.
tour beckons. N. Nagarajan,
Secunderabad
It is heartening that old
friends, India and Russia,
have come closer again and
reset their mutual relations
after some drift over
developments on the
international stage. The fact
that this is Mr. Putin’s
second visit abroad since
the pandemic is a reflection
of the importance Russia
gives to its ties. As Russia is
a dependable friend, India
should ensure that relations
are not strained.
Dr. D.V.G. Sankararao,
Nellimarla, Andhra Pradesh
Russia and India are natural targets of vaccinations (Page
partner-nations. Beginning 1, “Fake entries mar T.N.
with the Cold War era to the data” and “PM, Amitabh on
present-day world, Russia Bihar list”, both December
has proved to be an 7). This shows the lack of
all-weather friend of India, understanding by
especially in times of need. health-care workers of the
The extensive agreements importance and the
signed in Delhi will only seriousness of the
boost ties. vaccination programme. The
Anil Yadav, question that begs an answer
Etawah, Uttar Pradesh is about what happened to
the stocks of vaccine vials
Cooked up relating to these fake
It is appalling that fake vaccination entries. Have
vaccination entries are being they been discarded in the
made by health-care workers bin? Mounting unnecessary
the aim to achieve
ego-boosting world records,
has the potential to derail
the vaccination programme
itself.
With Omicron threatening to
trigger a “third wave”, it is
all the more important that
the people are fully and
“really” vaccinated. As
vaccine hesitancy appears to
be a big problem, better
awareness and even free
vaccination should be
considered.
Kosaraju Chandramouli,
Hyderabad
Sarada Menon
The passing of Dr. Sarada
Menon is not only a great
loss for the Schizophrenia
Research Foundation
(SCARF), Chennai but also
students and scholars in the
field of psychiatry. The real
tribute to the Padma
Bhushan awardee is for the
team trained by her to
continue their service to
society with renewed
commitment and dedication.
M. Subbiah,
Chennai

CM A ND-NDE
YK
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
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Mediation Bill: Not getting the Act together Being free of old waste
While it contains many pluses, the Bill needs improvement in some crucial places
Sriram Panchu
Over the last 15 years, the dispute re-
solution landscape in India has un-
dergone significant change with the
advent of mediation. To house this
GETTY IMAGES/ ISTOCK PHOTO
consensual creature in the same sta-
bles as thoroughbreds of adversarial
litigation and arbitration was a chal-
lenge, and even more to ensure that
they got on reasonably well, working
in tandem in inventive ways like arbi-
tration-cum-mediation and vice
versa.
It seems to be the way of the world
that when something becomes pro-
minent, there must be a law to regu-
late it. And so with mediation. While
scattered mention was made of its
use in several statutes, including
commercial and consumer disputes,
there was no comprehensive statute
providing for all dimensions of the
mediation process and its practice.
Such a need was articulated in sever-
al quarters, notwithstanding doub-
ters and dissenters who insist that
regulation will kill the free spirit that
mediation embodies. A group of se-
nior mediators was set up by the Su-
preme Court Committee in charge of
court-annexed mediation process,
and over a period of several months,
a draft Bill emerged which then start-
ed to make its way through the laby-
rinthine processes of governmental
and legislative mandarins. The resul-
tant Bill titled the Draft Mediation Bill
2021, slated for presentation now to
Parliament, bears no resemblance to
the original in some crucial places. It
reminds the mediation community
of an old Clint Eastwood film — the
Good, the Bad, and the Sad
(tweaked).
The good
The Bill recognises that mediation
has come of age and needs to be
treated as a profession, which is a
huge improvement over the part-
time honorarium basis it has in the
court-annexed mediation schemes.
The Bill acknowledges the impor-
tance of institutes to train mediators,
and service providers to provide
structured mediation under their
STATE OF PLAY
Surveillance as governance
While upkeep of law and order is paramount, right to
privacy and informed consent cannot be compromised
Syed Mohammed
In many public places in Hyderabad,
there are signboards that read: ‘Big
boss is watching you’. It is unclear
what this implies: whether it is a
warning from the state that people
must abide by the law or an assu-
rance that the citizenry is safe under
the watch of the state or an ominous
message that the movements of citi-
zens are constantly being monitored.
While there have been protests in
Hyderabad against surveillance
and in support of the right to pri-
vacy, it was only after Amnes-
ty International raised con-
cerns that “extensive
surveillance of Hyderabad
is putting human rights at
risk” that surveillance was
brought to the fore.
Surveillance in Hydera-
bad largely follows a three-
pronged approach: there is
a wide web of CCTV cameras, facial
recognition technology, and cordon
and search operations. Amnesty, the
Internet Freedom Foundation and
Article 19 mapped the CCTV coverage
in Kala Pathar and Kishan Bagh,
neighbourhoods of the Old City, and
found that as much as 53.7% of Kala
Pathar and 62.7% of Kishan Bagh was
covered by private and government-
maintained CCTV cameras. It is perti-
nent to point out that Telangana’s Ne-
nu Saitham project aims to transform
the Hyderabad City Police into a Glo-
bal City Police. To help achieve this
aim, the public has been encouraged
to install CCTV cameras and share
footage when required. Outcomes of
this project include preventing crime
and monitoring ‘high-risk areas’.
Further, the construction of a
Command and Control Centre, Am-
nesty International says, has the cap-
ability to support the processing of 6
lakh CCTV cameras from the tri-com-
missionerates. Amnesty says facial
recognition technologies can bring
under a cloud the right to peaceful
assembly as they can act as a tool of
mass surveillance and pose a risk to
disadvantaged communities.
Two cases of the alleged violation
of privacy by the police were report-
ed recently. S.Q. Masood, an activist,
CM
YK
rules. It provides for pre-litigation
mediation. This is quite a remarkable
step, but is designed to be easy to im-
plement. Parties are required to have
at least one substantive session with
the mediator where the process is ex-
plained to them. Thereafter they are
free to continue or terminate the me-
diation and follow the litigation path
if they so decide. Further, if any ur-
gent interim order is needed, they
can bypass mediation at the first
stage and return to it after resolving
the interim relief issue.
Another plus is that the Bill does
away with the confusion emanating
from using both expressions “media-
tion” and “conciliation” in different
statutes by opting for the former in
accordance with international prac-
tice, and defining it widely to include
the latter. It recognises online dis-
pute resolution, a process that is go-
ing to move mediation from the
wings to centre stage in a world that
COVID-19 has changed. It provides
for enforcement of commercial set-
tlements reached in international
mediation viz between parties from
different countries as per the Singa-
pore Convention on Mediation to
which India was a notable signatory.
The Convention assures disputants
that their mediation settlements will
be enforced without much difficulty
across the world, unlike the fresh
headaches that the litigative decree
or arbitration award present at the
time of enforcement.
The bad
Leading in from the last point, it is
expected that this Bill would make
said the police stopped him during
the lockdown, instructed him to re-
move his mask and clicked photos of
him. Similarly, during a crackdown
against ganja, the Telangana Prohibi-
tion and Excise Department teams
checked the phones of people to ver-
ify if the word ‘ganja’ was used in
their chats. Following these inci-
dents, Srinivas Kodali, another city-
based activist, sent a legal notice to
the Hyderabad City Police Commis-
sioner seeking an immediate end to
surveillance activities. These inci-
dents underscore crucial is-
sues: the need for a data pro-
tection law and the
concept of informed
consent.
Cordon and
search operations
have been gaining
momentum in Telanga-
na. A fact-finding team from
Hyderabad which probed cordon
and search operations in some areas
recently underscored the vulnerabili-
ty of residents. The team stated that
cordon and search operations pro-
ject such areas as “criminal areas”,
target “lower rungs of society, and
are an infringement of privacy”.
Another lesser-known facet of pol-
icing and surveillance is Operation
Chabutra. Chabutra is a raised sur-
face outside houses where people
gather for social interactions. The
police say they have stopped and
“counseled” youths who were whil-
ing away the hours. They have done
this even when no prohibitory orders
were in force. The police maintain
that they are well within the provi-
sions of the law to embark on such
operations. In some cases, they say,
they act on specific inputs and com-
plaints of nuisance from locals.
While upkeep of law and order is
paramount, the right to privacy and
informed consent cannot be compro-
mised; they need to be protected by a
law that defines the limits of use of ci-
tizen’s data by the state. The unequal
power dynamic between security
agencies and the common man who
has no choice but to comply cannot
be ignored.
syed.mohammed@thehindu.co.in
OPED 7
The Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0 guidelines have an
important dimension focused on solid waste management
where a profession is being regulated
without a single professional on the providing financial assistance to set up fresh
regulator. Try doing that to lawyers, waste processing facilities and bioremedia-
doctors and accountants. And one tion projects across all the ULBs. Financial
more lapse — this is the field of dis- assistance to to set up construction and de-
pute resolution, the judiciary’s do- molition waste processing facilities is limited
main, so how come the Chief Justice to a chosen 154 large cities such as Bengalu-
of India is not in the picture for mak- Pushkara S.V. ru, Mysore, Davanagere, Hubli, and Kalabu-
ing appointments? ragi which have a population of over 5 lakh.
Then there is a long list of disputes The financial assistance committed by the
which should not be mediated. Some The recently released Swachh Bharat Mis- mission varies by State. The commitments
of them look understandable at first sion (SBM) 2.0 guidelines continue to take made by the Government of India (GoI) for
sight but unnecessary at second. forward the aims of the SBM launched in solid waste management projects are as fol-
Fraud, for example. It is standard 2014, but add an important dimension fo- lows: 90% for ULBs in the Northeastern and
practice in litigation to make as many cused on solid waste management. This goes Himalayan States; 100% for ULBs in Union
and as serious charges as possible; beyond the efficient collection and transpor- Territories without legislature; 80% for ULBs
that doesn’t prevent parties from set- tation of waste and brings focus on process- in Union Territories with legislature; 25% for
tling, and these accusations are dis- ing all types of waste like plastic, construc- other ULBs with more than 10 lakh popula-
posed of by retraction or apology or tion and demolition waste, as well as tion; 33% for other ULBs with more than 1
simply ignored. In cases involving providing budgetary support for remediat- lakh but less than 10 lakh population; 50%
minors or persons of unsound mind, ing old waste disposed in all dumpsites for other ULBs with less than 1 lakh popula-
India a hub for international media- the law provides for the court to pass across 4,372 cities in India before March tion. The remaining project cost will be paid
tion in the commercial disputes field, orders to protect them. All that is ne- 2023. Its components include source segre- from the 15th Finance Commission grants.
and indeed institutions are being cessary is to provide that any settle- gation; door-to-door collection of waste; sep- SBM was providing 35% funding from the
opened for this purpose. Exactly the ment of disputes involving them arate transportation of different types of GoI irrespective of the population size of ci-
reverse may happen. This is because needs the court’s approval, not to de- wastes; processing of wet waste, dry waste, ties. About 23.3% of the project cost was
the Bill unwisely treats international ny the possibility of a beneficial me- and construction and demolition waste. funded by the State governments and the re-
mediation when conducted in India diated settlement. Patents and copy- Urban local bodies (ULBs) in several States maining 41.6% was to be funded by the ULBs.
as a domestic mediation. The settle- right cases settle on commercial had prepared detailed project reports The funding was provided to buy efficient
ment under the latter is given the sta- terms leaving untouched the validity (DPRs) for setting up waste processing sys- vehicles for door-to-door collection and
tus of a judgment or decree of a of the grant, so why deny this possi- tems for wet and dry waste as part of SBM transportation of waste, provide bins for se-
court. Now, that is excellent for cases bility and consign the parties to liti- which were approved, but the process of set- gregation of waste at source, and set up
between Indian parties, but disas- gative longevity? In the case of tele- ting up these facilities was delayed due to waste processing facilities. SBM 2.0 allocates
trous when one party is foreign. The com, why can’t manufacturers and lack of funding and techno process know- funding only to set up waste processing facil-
reason is that the Singapore Conven- service providers and consumers be ledge, and delayed DPR approvals. This re- ities; requests for buying vehicles for collec-
tion does not apply to settlements allowed to talk and resolve issues? sulted in unprocessed waste being dumped tion of waste, issuing bins for source segrega-
which already have the status of a in several sites, which needs to be processed tion or modernising the collection and
judgment or decree. Ergo, if you con- The sad through bioremediation before space can be transportation system are not in its scope.
duct your cross-border mediation in Why can’t we get our act together to created for new waste processing plants.
India, you lose out on the tremen- get the Mediation Bill in good shape? Bioremediation of old waste is the process Achieving the target
dous benefits of worldwide enforcea- Why can’t all the stakeholders get of dismantling old waste heaps, sieving the Lack of funds was one of the main reasons
bility. In sum, go to Singapore or Sri this Bill together? Mediators, la- material to recover bio earth (enriched soil) for the partial success of SBM in solid waste
Lanka or anywhere else other than wyers, judges have applied their and refuse-derived fuel which can be used as management. Now, since SBM 2.0 is commit-
India to conduct your mediation. If minds to a considerable degree. To heating material in cement kilns. As per the ting to paying a significant portion of the pro-
this drafting mismatch is not reme- be fair to the government, it did call SBM 2.0 guidelines, the total quantity of ject cost, the ULBs are likely to take up pro-
died, dreams of our robust hubs and for comments on the draft Bill. What waste generated by urban areas in India is jects by matching the shortfall with their
ease of doing business in India are is missing is the element of focused about 1.32 lakh tonnes daily. This adds up to reserved funds, thereby hoping to achieve
neatly nipped in the bud. and engaged discussion after com- 4.8 crore tonnes per annum. Of this only the GoI target of waste disposal sites being
Then comes the governing me- ments are sent. It is as though a wall about 25% is being processed; the rest is dis- free from old waste by March 2023. Also, the
chanism, the Council. It has three has been erected and no one knows posed of in landfills every year. Given that transformation of waste disposal sites to pro-
members: a retired senior judge, a what is going to emerge. We all have the waste dumpsites have been operational cessing sites is likely to produce 72 lakh
person with experience of Alterna- a common purpose: to place media- since the early 2000s, more than 72 crore tonnes of organic compost per annum from
tive Dispute Resolution (ADR) law tion strongly in our legal landscape, tonnes of waste need to be processed. In Kar- 4.8 crore tonnes of waste generated across
and an academic who has taught and place India prominently in the nataka, all the 200-plus municipalities had all ULBs in the country. Organic compost re-
ADR. This is an all-powerful body world’s mediation landscape. Even if planned to take up bioremediation over the covered from the wet waste, which is 60% of
which regulates, certifies, accredits, it takes more discussion and consid- last two years, but the projects did not kick the total waste, can be used to enrich the soil
plans, governs, etc., and it doesn’t eration amongst all stakeholders, let off due to lack of funds. This is where SBM quality and can meet about 10-12% of the
have a single mediator. Judging from that be done. It is for Parliament now 2.0 could be an important intervention. country’s fertilizer demand. That will reduce
the fact that these are full-time mem- to do the needful. We should not set- the amount of chemical fertilizer imported
bers, it is clear that none of them will tle for less. Funding from SBM 2.0 and save about ₹2,600 crore of subsidy paid
be active practitioners. Most likely The total funding dedicated for implementa- by the government.
we are looking at sinecures for the Sriram Panchu is Senior Advocate and tion of SBM 2.0 is ₹1.41 lakh crore of which
bureaucratic and academic world. President, Mediators India. Email: about ₹39,837 crore is set aside for solid Pushkara S.V. is with the Indian Institute for Human
Certainly this Bill will be unique srirampanchu@gmail.com waste management. This mission commits to Settlements
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DATA POINT
FROM THE ARCHIVES
FIFTY YEARS AGO DECEMBER 8, 1971
U.N. Assembly debates Indo-Pak issue
United Nations, Dec. 7: Somalia and seven
other countries laid before the General As-
sembly to-day a resolution calling for an im-
mediate ceasefire in the India-Pakistan war.
The move came moments after the 131-na-
tion Assembly took over the problem from
the deadlocked Security Council. The Coun-
cil decided by a 11-0 vote just before mid-
night last night to put the problem before
the veto-free Assembly in the hope that it
would produce an overwhelming appeal to
the warring nations. The United States and
China joined nine other countries in the ac-
tion. The Soviet Union, Britain, France and
Poland abstained. The resolution also urged
a withdrawal of all troops to their own side
of the India-Pakistan borders. Tunisian Am-
bassador Rachis Driss said that “it is a crime
to speak while war is threatening mankind.
We should remain here until we reach a de-
cision.” The Assembly scheduled additional
meetings in the afternoon and evening. And,
in an effort to speed up action, Assembly
President Adam Malik placed a 10-minute ti-
melimit on all speeches except those of India
and Pakistan.
A HUNDRED YEARS AGO DECEMBER 8, 1921
Mr. Sastri on Swaraj
It is to be noticed that the ‘Daily Mail’ thinks
there is a possibility of the Right Hon’ble Mr.
Sastri succeeding Lord Sinha as the Gover-
nor of Behar. Most people would think that it
is more than a possibility. Mr. Sastri’s star
has been rapidly in the ascendant in the pol-
itical firmament. The more he has gone
down in the scale of popular opinion the lof-
tier has become his position in the official es-
timation. Flattery from official quarters and
a sense of security from popular resentment
has emboldened him to adopt a strident lan-
guage of scorn towards the greatest national
movement of the day. Mr. Sastri concludes
his article on India’s status in the “Times”
with the following significant utterance. He
writes: “When the harvest is nearly ripe and
the gatherers are getting ready who is this as-
cetic who is proclaiming himself an enemy
of Western civilization and promises the pe-
ople his own Swaraj in a few weeks? What is
the new Swaraj? Does he himself know? Re-
solution is a huge gamble in human fortunes
and a peaceful revolution is as events have
recently shown the wildest of chimeras. The
apostle of non-violence as the one thing to
save humanity is now reconciled to rivers of
blood and tribes of slain.”
A ND-NDE
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8 NEWS
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FROM PAGE ONE
Nagaland seeks AFSPA
repeal; scraps festival
“Further, we have decided
to support the demands that
the Konyak Union has put
forward to the President of
India,” he said. The Konyak
Union, apex body of the do-
minant Naga tribe in Mon,
had imposed the district
bandh on Tuesday. . It also
declared seven-day mourn-
ing across the district from
Wednesday and asked the
armed forces to abstain from
patrolling in the Konyak re-
gion during this period.
Farm unions to take a call
on ending protests today
Haryana leader Gurnam
Singh Chaduni, who heads
another BKU faction, said a
time limit was needed on
withdrawal of cases, adding
that with regard to compen-
sation to the kin of those
who died during the prot-
est, all States must agree to
follow the Punjab model of
₹5 lakh.
The statement said that
Haryana and U.P. Govern-
ments have given in-princi-
SC paves way for Sudha
Bharadwaj’s release
The default bail order of Ms.
Bharadwaj comes into effect
from December 8.
She has to appear before
the Special Court on Wed-
nesday for a hearing on the
conditions of her bail.
“We find no reason to in-
terfere,” Justice Lalit said in
the order. During the hear-
ing, Justice Lalit said the
moot question was whether
the court that extended the
detention was competent or
not.“Within 90 days, you
have to complete the inves-
tigation, unless you can
U.P. school directors held
for molesting 17 minors
In their complaint, the pa-
rents said that on the morn-
ing of November 18, the di-
rector of a school in Bhopa
took the 17 girls for a practi-
cal examination to another
school in Purkazi. The dis-
tance between the two
towns is around 25 km.
After the examination,
the girls were told to stay
back in the school so that
they could appear for the
next day’s exam.
“At night, the girls were
given food laced with seda-
tives and were molested.
The next morning, they
were told not to share the in-
cident at home or else their
family members would be
killed and their academic
Omicron wave may be
milder, report suggests
“This is a picture that has
not been seen in previous
waves. In the beginning of
all three previous waves and
throughout the course of
these waves, there has al-
ways only been a sprinkling
of patients on room air in
the COVID ward...The CO-
VID ward was recognisable
by the majority of patients
being on some form of oxy-
gen supplementation with
the incessant sound of high-
flow nasal oxygen machines
or beeping ventilator
alarms,” said Dr. Abdullah,
Director of the Office of
AIDS and TB Research at the
SAMRC and a part-time HIV
clinician at the Steve Biko
CM
YK
In a letter to President
Ram Nath Kovind, it de-
manded the identification
and booking of all Army per-
sonnel involved in the inci-
dent.“The action taken
against the erring soldiers
should be put in the public
domain within a month,” it
said.Declaring non-coopera-
tion against the armed forc-
es, it said all units of the 27
Assam Rifles must vacate
the Mon district for failing to
provide security tocitizens.
ple consent for
compensation.
With regard to the Elec-
tricity Bill, the Centre’s pro-
posal simply said the views
of all stakeholders will be ta-
ken before it is introduced
in Parliament, while SKM
leaders pointed out that Un-
ion Ministers had already
promised that the draft Bill
would be withdrawn during
negotiations earlier in the
year.
show reasons not to have
completed,” Justice Lalit
said.
The High Court had, in its
order, upheld Ms. Bharad-
waj’s indefeasible right to
personal liberty.
It had said the guarantee
of personal liberty under
Article 21 (right to life) of the
Constitution cannot be
thwarted on technical
grounds that her plea for de-
fault bail was premature.
That would be a “too techni-
cal and formalistic view of
the matter”.
career spoilt,” the com-
plaint, registered on Decem-
ber 4, said.
Senior SP Abhishek Ya-
dav said the directors of the
two schools had been
booked under Sections 328,
356, and 504 of the Indian
Penal Code and relevant
Sections of the POCSO Act.
“We have suspended the
SHO of Purkazi police sta-
tion and the statements of
the students are being re-
corded,” he said.
Krishna Kumar Bishnoi,
circle officer, told The Hin-
du that one director was ar-
rested on Monday night and
the second accused was
nabbed on Tuesday even-
ing.
Academic Hospital.
Of 38 adults in the CO-
VID-19 wards on December
2, 2021, six were vaccinated,
24 were unvaccinated, and
the vaccination status of
eight patients was not
known.
Of nine patients with CO-
VID-19 pneumonia, eight
are unvaccinated.
“A detailed analysis com-
paring the current picture
with previous waves is still
being conducted. This may
very well be related to the
early upswing of the fourth
wave, with the more classi-
cal pattern becoming evi-
dent over the next two
weeks,” Dr. Abdullah noted.
Beware of ‘red caps’: PM in U.P.
In the run-up to Assembly election, Modi attacks Samajwadi Party in Gorakhpur
Omar Rashid
LUCKNOW
Targeting the Samajwadi
Party, Prime Minister Naren-
dra Modi on Tuesday said
the party wanted to form a
Government in Uttar Pra-
desh to show leniency to
“terrorists” and free them
from jail.
He was launching several
projects in Gorakhpur in the
eastern region of the State
and the home turf of Chief
Minister Adityanath, ahead
of the Assembly election in
2022.
“The one with lal topis
[red caps, worn by SP mem-
bers] are a red alert for U.P …
they are a danger bell,” Mr.
Modi said.
Mr. Modi’s reference to
“terrorists” being freed from
jail was a reference to deci-
sions taken by the previous
SP Government led by Akhi-
lesh Yadav to withdraw cases
against persons jailed under
terror charges.
In its 2012 election manif-
esto, the SP promised to re-
lease innocent Muslim youth
lodged in jail on terror charg-
es, and after coming to pow-
er, the party initiated steps
to withdraw the cases. Ho-
wever, the Allahabad High
Court then ruled that the
State Government could not
withdraw the cases without
the permission of the
Article 370: Mehbooba vows not to contest polls
‘Of course, party will fight elections, we are not going to cede any space to them,’ PDP president says
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) president Mehbooba
Mufti said on Tuesday she
will not contest elections till
Article 370 is restored in
Jammu and Kashmir.
The former Chief Minister
of Jammu and Kashmir said
the revocation of the Armed
Forces (Special Powers) Act
(AFSPA) was part of the
agenda when the PDP
formed the Government in
the erstwhile State in al-
liance with the BJP in 2015.
Ms. Mufti claimed that the
BJP had assured her while
forming the Government
that it would not touch Arti-
cle 370 till they were in
power.
Ms. Mufti said, “The pre-
‘Judicial inaction favours those in power’
LS debate flags huge case backlog, collegium system for judicial appointments
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
High pendency of cases,
large number of vacancies
and the collegium system of
appointment were among
the key issues raised by Lok
Sabha members on Tuesday
while debating a Bill that
seeks to bring clarity on
when Supreme Court and
High Court judges will get
enhanced pension on attain-
ing a certain age.
Opening the debate on
the High Court and Supreme
Court Judges (Salaries and
Conditions of Service)
Amendment Bill, 2021, Con-
gress leader Shashi Tharoor
Government,
farmers seek
adjournment
Legal Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Citing “changed circum-
stances”, the Centre and
the farmers’ side came to-
gether in the Supreme
Court on Tuesday to post-
pone the hearing of a plea
to remove farmers “block-
ing” the highways to the
national capital.
“On the lighter side, it is
good to see Solicitor-Gen-
eral Tushar Mehta [for the
Centre] and advocate
Prashant Bhushan [for
farmers] on the same side,”
Justice S.K. Kaul said grant-
ing the adjournment.
The court deferred the
hearing to January.
Poll run-up: Supporters cheering as they wait for the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
to inaugurate multiple projects in Gorakhpur. AP
Centre. Following the 2014
Lok Sabha election, the SP
backed off from the issue.
The party later lost power in
2017 and since then Mr. Ya-
dav has strategically tried to
distance himself from Mus-
lim symbolism.
‘Bereft of principles’
Attacking the SP, which
stands as the chief challen-
ger to the BJP in 2022, Mr.
Modi said the party had long
abandoned the “principles
and discipline” of its socialist
ideologues Jayaprakash Na-
rayan and Ram Manohar Lo-
hia.
“Today, whole U.P. knows
Disempowered: Former Jammu & Kashmir CM Mehbooba
Mufti addressing a press conference. SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
sent Government is running
the country with a colonial
mindset. Unfortunately, J&K
has become a laboratory for
their experiments... Gand-
hi’s India has become Gods-
e’s India. The pillars of de-
mocracy — the judiciary and
the media— are watching
Shashi Tharoor
made some critical observa-
tions about “the judiciary
failing to stem the tide of
majoritarianism”.
Judiciary's “inaction” al-
ways favours those in power,
Mr. Tharoor said as he cited
Give voice samples, Gehlot
tells Union Jal Shakti Minister
ACB is probing case of bid to topple Rajasthan Govt. last year
Special Correspondent
JAIPUR
Rajasthan Chief Minister
Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday
demanded that Union Jal
Shakti Minister Gajendra
Singh Shekhawat give his
voice samples in a case being
investigated by the Anti-Cor-
ruption Bureau (ACB) for the
alleged attempts to topple
the Congress government in
July 2020. The case is based
on leaked audio clips of cer-
tain conversations.
The case was registered
on the complaint of Con-
gress leader Mahesh Joshi in
*
well that the people with lal
topi are only interested in lal
batti (red sirens on vehicles).
They have nothing to do
with your pain and suffer-
ing,” Mr. Modi said, adding
that the SP wanted power so
it could carry out scams, fill
its coffers, grab land and give
a free hand to mafias.
Mr. Modi lavished praises
on Chief Minister Yogi Adi-
tyanath and said he had pro-
vided electricity to all villag-
es. In comparison, Mr. Modi
alleged, under the previous
SP Government when it
came to electricity distribu-
tion, some districts were
treated as VIP ones.
*
silently.”
“The middle ground is
obliterated, statehood is not
our demand. When the
Prime Minister met us [in
June], media treated us as
separatists. Article 35A and
370 were removed unconsti-
tutionally, only J&K Consti-
a number of examples such
the judicial challenge to the
abrogation of Article 370 and
Citizenship (Amendment)
Act. Mr. Tharoor also flagged
the “insensitivity” shown by
higher judiciary while deal-
ing with the plight of migrant
workers during the CO-
VID-19 lockdown.
Kalyan Banerjee of the
Trinamool Congress raised
the issue of transfer of Chief
Justice Sanjib Banerjee from
the Madras High Court to the
Meghalaya High Court by the
SC Collegium, and said that
the decision was tantamount
to “wasting a property of the
nation”. Congress MP Adhir
connection with the audio
clips in which some persons
are heard discussing the
steps to pull down the State
Government by horse trad-
ing of MLAs. While Mr. Joshi
had claimed that one of the
voices in the audio tapes was
that of Mr. Shekhawat, the
Union Minister had rejected
the allegation and said the
tapes were fake.
Mr. Gehlot told reporters
here that though Mr. Shekha-
wat’s voice was audible in
the audio clips, he had
lodged a case with the Delhi
Police against the CM’s Offic-
“Yogiji has made every
district a VIP,” Mr. Modi said.
“Today, the mafia are in jail.
And investors are investing
in U.P. with their full heart.
This is the double develop-
ment of double engine,” Mr.
Modi said.
Mr. Modi launched pro-
jects worth ₹9,600 crore.
This included dedicating to
the nation the Gorakhpur
Fertilizer Plant, which was
revived and built at a cost of
₹8,600 crore after lying shut
for more than three decades.
Mr. Modi also inaugurated
the fully functional complex
of the AIIMS built at a cost of
₹1,000 crore.
tuent Assembly is allowed to
do that. It was a black day.
They could do this because
of brute majority,” she said.
She said the delimitation
exercise was part of the Go-
vernment’s divisive agenda.
“When in rest of the country,
delimitation cannot happen
till 2026, why are they doing
so in J&K? It is part of their
divisive agenda,” she said.
“Of course we [the party]
will fight elections, we are
not going to cede any space
to them,” she added.
“People think we are
agents of New Delhi, they
have a negative feeling ... see
what India has done to us,
we have been disrobed and
disempowered. In Haryana,
they have localised jobs, in
Himachal, non-locals cannot
Ranjan Chowdhury called
for a mechanism to ensure
accountability for corrup-
tion in the judiciary.
Several members also
stressed the need to increase
the retirement age of High
Court judges and bring it on
a par with the retirement age
of SC judges. As of now, HC
judges retire at 62 and SC
judges at 65.
Dayanidhi Maran (DMK
called for a cooling-off pe-
riod for judges, saying two
former Chief Justices of India
were “demoted” — one was
appointed a Governor and
the other became a Rajya
Sabha member.
er on Special Duty in connec-
tion with phone tapping.
“The Minister is trying to
find ways to escape. He
should give his voice samples
which will make the things
clear,” he said.
OSD Lokesh Sharma was
interrogated by the Crime
Branch of the Delhi Police on
Monday in the case regis-
tered in March on Mr. Shek-
hawat’s complaint alleging
unlawful interception of tele-
phonic conversation. The
Delhi HC has granted interim
relief from arrest to Mr. Shar-
ma till January 13, 2022.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
BJP’s sun is bound
to set, says Akhilesh
SP president, RLD chief address rally
Anuj Kumar
Ghaziabad
In a massive show of
strength in western Uttar
Pradesh, the Samajwadi Par-
ty (SP) and the Rashtriya
Lok Dal (RLD) on Tuesday
pitched their alliance as the
foremost contender to the
ruling BJP in the 2022 As-
sembly election.
Addressing a massive
crowd of over a lakh, SP pre-
sident Akhilesh Yadav and
RLD chief Jayant Singh said
their alliance would provide
the “true double engine Go-
vernment” in U.P. In the
wake of growing anxiety on
the delay in announcing the
alliance, the RLD chief
turned a scheduled RLD pu-
blic meeting at Dabatwa vil-
lage in Meerut into the first
joint Parivartan Sandesh
(message of change) rally of
both parties.
Mr. Yadav said the mas-
sive turnout was proof that
the “BJP’s sun is bound to
set in West U.P.”
“In East U.P., the BJP is al-
ready facing a khadera (ev-
iction).” During the BJP’s
rule, farmers were humiliat-
ed and the farmers’ agita-
tion will ensure that baees
(2022) will see badlaav
(change),” he said. Riding on
buy property,” she said,
when asked about the disen-
chantment among the
Kashmiris.
Asked if she was in favour
of talks with Pakistan follow-
ing the recent killings of a
Kashmiri Pandit, a Sikh
school principal and non-lo-
cals in Srinagar, Ms. Mufti
said, “The State Government
and the agencies had infor-
mation about their killings.
Had it been any other part of
the country, the godi media
would have questioned them
and held them accountable-
…Vajpayee visited Pakistan
twice. When you [Govern-
ment] can speak to China
that has occupied our terri-
tory, then why get irritated
when it comes to talks with
Pakistan?”
Faruqui dropped
from Gurugram show
BJP lodges complaint against him
Special Correspondent
GURUGRAM
Controversial stand-up co-
median Munawar Faruqui
has been dropped from an
upcoming three-day come-
dy show later this month
here in the wake of a com-
plaint filed against him by
the BJP Haryana unit’s IT de-
partment head.
In his complaint to the
Gurugram police, Arun Ya-
dav, IT department head,
Haryana BJP, said that Mr.
Faruqui had insulted Hindu
deities divine to his faith
and the stand-up comedian
was continuously doing so
on open platforms such as
live performances and
shows.
“His activities have of-
fended my Hindu faith. This
is intentionally done to in-
cite communal disharmo-
ny,” said the complaint by
Mr. Yadav, with reference to
some of the videos of the
stand-up comedian alleged-
ly mocking Hindu deities.
DELHI THE HINDU
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav with
RLD leader Jayant Singh
at a rally.
the farmers’ agitation, the
two parties seek to consoli-
date the Jat, Yadav, and Mus-
lim vote bank and make a
dent in the Dalit support of
the Bahujan Samaj Party
and the BJP.
Babasaheb Ambedkar’s
contribution has been re-
peatedly invoked, apart
from socialist stalwarts
Chaudhary Charan Singh
and Ram Manohar Lohia.
The leaders underlined
the importance of brother-
hood in the region which
provided rich dividends to
the BJP in the 2017 election
when the party won 86 of
the 110 seats in western U.P.
Mr. Yadav described the BJP
as creating divides in society
— “Jo paida kare khayi, wohi
Bhajpayi (one who spawns a
rift, he is a BJP member).”
Complaint
against BJP’s
Ashish Shelar
Staff Reporter
Mumbai
Ashish Shelar, BJP MLA in
Maharashtra, landed in a
controversy on Tuesday af-
ter the Shiv Sena com-
plained against him for his
“objectionable comment”
against the Mayor of Mum-
bai, Kishori Pednekar.
“I am filing a police com-
plaint against Ashish She-
lar. His statement about me
has not only disrespected
me but the entire women
community,” she said. Mr.
Shelar denied all the allega-
tions, saying his statement
had been taken out of
context.
The BJP’s women corpo-
rators approached the
Mumbai Police in support
of Mr. Shelar.
Munawar Faruqui
He also put out the copy of
the complaint on his Twitter
handle.
Mr. Faruqui was to per-
form at Gurgaon Comedy
Festival from December 17
to 19. His name has also
been removed by the organ-
isers, The Entertainment
Factory, from the promo-
tional posters.
Mr. Faruqui in a tweet on
November 28 hinted that he
may not do any more
shows, a day after his sche-
duled event in Bengaluru
was cancelled.
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
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INTERVIEW | ABHISHEK BANERJEE
‘We will expand our presence, whether one party likes it or not’
Trinamool Congress’s national general secretary denies differences among the Opposition in Parliament while insisting that his party has fire in the belly to fight BJP
Sobhana K. Nair
Sitting at the Gandhi statue in the Parliament complex along
with other Opposition lawmakers protesting against the sus-
pension of 12 Rajya Sabha members, Abhishek Banerjee,
national general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, speaks
of his party’s growing vote share, saying it ‘attracts’ leaders
from other parties rather than ‘poach’ them. Excerpts:
The Trinamool has been
aloof from the rest of the
Opposition in this
Parliament session. Why is
that?
■ Trinamool is not aloof at
all! We have been the ful-
crum of the Opposition
whether one likes it or not.
Let the people decide what
will happen and when. We
are expanding our party’s
presence across the country;
we have gone into Tripura,
Goa, Meghalaya and Harya-
na.
Our party will keep on ex-
panding its footprint, wheth-
er one party likes it or not. In
a healthy democracy, it is the
people who decide.
IN BRIEF
Time to repeal AFSPA,
says Agatha Sangma
NEW DELHI
Agatha Sangma, MP of the
National People’s Party, a BJP
ally, said in the Lok Sabha on
Tuesday that it was time to
repeal the Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Act, which
had failed to curb insurgency
in Northeast India. During
Zero Hour, the Meghalaya MP
said the killing of 14 civilians
by security forces in
Nagaland on December 4 and
5 was not the first time that
such an incident had
occurred, “where innocent
civilians have to bear the
brunt of a draconian law like
AFSPA”.
Kharge takes a dig
at Home Ministry
NEW DELHI
The Union Home Ministry
informed the Lok Sabha on
Tuesday that in the past three
years, there had been “nil”
cases of infiltration from the
China and Bhutan borders.
Taking a dig, Mallikarjun
Kharge, Leader of the
Opposition in Rajya Sabha,
tweeted that the reply by the
Ministry suggested that no
soldiers were killed in Galwan
in Ladakh. The tweet also
asked if the Chinese village in
Arunachal was built by the
‘Beijing Janata Party’ under
the ‘PM Awas Yojana’.
In June 2020, 20 soldiers
were killed in violent clashes
with the Chinese Army in
Ladakh’s Galwan Valley.
BJP MP raises concern
over drug abuse in Delhi
NEW DELHI
BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh
on Tuesday alleged that the
Delhi Government was not
acting against drug abuse by
minors, while asking a
question in the Lok Sabha
about the Centre’s anti-drug
campaign. The West Delhi MP
said “whether it is the
children of Bollywood stars”
or the “children of beggars on
the streets”, the trend of
using party drugs among
children was increasing while
the Government was blowing
its own trumpet by saying it
had improved the quality of
schools.He said they were at
risk of catching HIV and
Hepatitis by injecting drugs.
Amarinder flays Cong.
over panel appointment
CHANDIGARH
Former Punjab Chief Minister
Amarinder Singh on Tuesday
hit out at the Congress “high
command” for appointing
Ajay Maken as the screening
committee chairman for
shortlisting candidates for the
upcoming Assembly election
in Punjab. Capt. Amarinder
said Mr. Maken was the
nephew of the late Lalit
Maken, who was one of the
accused of the 1984 anti-Sikh
riots in Delhi. “The Congress
could not have nominated a
worst person than Mr. Maken
and thus is rubbing salt into
Punjabis’ wounds,” the former
Congress leader said in a
statement.
CM
YK
So far, it looks like you are
out to cannibalise the
Congress rather than
building space for yourself.
Your comments?
■ The Congress did an al-
liance with a radical organi-
sation in West Bengal in ca-
hoots with the Left to oust
Mamata Banerjee’s Govern-
ment. Doesn’t that amount
to breaking Opposition un-
ity?
When the Congress
poaches the AAP MLAs in
Punjab, isn’t it hurting the
Opposition unity? And Trina-
mool does not poach. We at-
tract. There is a difference.
Now take Tripura for ex-
ample, what is the Congress
All Opposition MPs to boycott Shiv Sena, NCP differ on role
Upper House, join protest today of Cong. in an anti-BJP front
Rajya Sabha did not see any business as it was adjourned many times
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
Stepping up the protest
against the suspension of 12
Rajya Sabha members for
“misconduct” in the pre-
vious monsoon session of
Parliament, all Opposition
MPs in the Rajya Sabha have
decided to boycott the ses-
sion on Wednesday and join
their suspended colleagues
at the Gandhi statue outside
Parliament.
Opposition MPs from the
Lok Sabha will join them on
another day.
According to sources, the
Congress made several at-
tempts at reaching out to
other Opposition leaders to
wrap up the protest. The
party argued that it was es-
sential to run the House to
ask questions of the Govern-
ment and hold it accounta-
ble.
Sources said senior Con-
Narendra Modi being felicitated at the BJP Parliamentary
Party meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI
Be regular in House,
PM tells BJP MPs
He seeks a ‘change within themselves’
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Tuesday exhorted
BJP MPs to be more regular
in Parliament and to “bring
a change within them-
selves”, warning that if that
was not done, then “change
is something that happens
anyway”.
He was addressing the
BJP Parliamentary Party
meeting at the Ambedkar
International Centre, a first
for the party’s parliamen-
tary group as the customary
venue for it, the Balayogi
Auditorium in the Parlia-
ment House complex, was
unavailable due to construc-
tion issues.
“Try and bring a change
in yourselves; otherwise, as
you know, change is so-
mething that happens any-
way,” said Mr. Modi, not for
the first time urging BJP MPs
to be regular in attendance
and participation in debates
in Parliament.
His admonishment is not
new, and during the recent-
standing there? It does not
command even 5% vote
share.
In fact, in the last munici-
pal polls, they are down to
1%.
Three months back, we
started out from scratch and
today, we are the primary
opposition party, with 24%
cumulative aggregate vote
share.
When the Trinamool steps
into other States, we are told
that we are pulverising the
Congress; but when the Con-
gress does the same thing,
no such charge is levelled
against them.
There can’t be different
standards for different peo-
ple. My advice to them is to
please practise what they
preach.
Sonia Gandhi and Mamata
Banerjee have shared a very
warm relationship for years,
but the Trinamool’s efforts
to displace Congress as the
lead Opposition party has
Levelling up: Senior Opposition leaders addressing the media
at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on Tuesday. PTI
gress leaders met the sus-
pended MPs proposing that
Leader of the Opposition in
the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun
Kharge could express regret
on behalf of all those sus-
pended to resolve the issue.
But this offer was rejected.
Sessions adjourned
At a meeting, the majority of
the Opposition leaders said
that the protests could not
* during the year-long agita-
ly concluded national exec-
utive of the BJP in New Del-
hi, he urged party members
to act like a “bridge” to the
people, a pointer on the
need for party workers to be
seen among the people and
engaged with public works.
Briefing presspersons af-
ter the meeting, Parliamen-
tary Affairs Minister Prahlad
Joshi said the Prime Minister
expressed his intention of
calling district and mandal
presidents of the party for a
meeting in Varanasi on De-
cember 14.
Mr. Joshi said the Govern-
ment’s floor managers told
the BJP MPs the sequence of
events leading to the sus-
pension of 12 Rajya Sabha
members. “The country has
witnessed whatever took
place. It is on record. If they
apologise even today, we are
ready to withdraw the sus-
pension,” he said.
BJP president J.P. Nadda
said a kisan sammelan
should be held to showcase
the work of farmers who
used innovative techniques.
NEWS 9
presence. If the Congress ly be contesting seats in U.P. ■ Narendra Modi was also am sure that the Trinamool
can do it, so can we. during the 2024 Lok Sabha just the Gujarat Chief Minis- will try and offer to people to
election. Trinamool right ter before he won the 2014 convince them that we are
Why now? now is working in three Lok Sabha election. Ulti- the party that ultimately de-
States — Tripura, Goa and mately, when you are fight- livers on its commitments.
■ Trinamool has attempted Meghalaya. ing for a bigger cause, these
to go national in the past as In the next three or four things don’t matter. Slowly, Mamata Banerjee came
well, we did work in Tripura, months, we should have and gradually, people will from the Congress, the
Meghalaya and Arunachal working units in five or six understand that there is one Trinamool was born out of
Pradesh. Like I said when I other States including Harya- lady who can take on the BJP, the Congress. Are you trying
became the national general na, U.P., Himachal Pradesh she is Mamata Banerjee. We to replace the Congress?
<
> We can’t be the one
to sit in the comfort
secretary of the party, our at-
tempt this time to go nation-
and Assam. have already shown that in
Bengal and we will show it in ■ It is too early to predict
of our homes and be al, will be very different from On what basis is the party other places too. To people, that now, it is ultimately for
a Twitter warrior what was attempted in the deciding which States to it won’t matter whether we the people to decide as they
past. We want to be a plat- enter? Is the choice based on are from Kashmir, Kanyaku- deem fit. We will surely take
created bitterness. Your form of choice for the peo- the relative health or ill mari or the Hindi heartland. on the BJP’s might, come
comments. ple. health of the Congress in what may. We can’t be the
these States? Why do you think you will one to sit in the comfort of
■ There is no bitterness. We In 2022, five States are going do any better than many our homes and be a Twitter
have been sitting quietly for to the polls. How many of ■ It is the people who are other parties who have warrior. We have the fire in
the last seven years, without these will the Trinamool be reaching out to us. We are made similar attempts? The our belly and we will fight
stepping out of Bengal. But contesting? Will you field seen as a party that will not AAP has been in Goa for the them out on the ground.
the fact is, we cannot de- your candidates in the Uttar sell its soul to the BJP and will past 10 years now and its
pend on a force which Pradesh Assembly election have the spine to stand record has been dismal. How many of the G-23
doesn’t act. too? against them no matter Why would your fate be any and other disgruntled
Of course, Soniaji and Di- what. different? Congress leaders are in
di [Mamata Banerjee] share a ■ Mamataji has made it very touch with you?
warm relationship, but that clear, we will not be partici- How do you scale the ■ I don’t want to get into the ■ Let’s wait for the right
does not and should not rob pating in the U.P. Assembly barrier of being a Bengali intricacies of why the AAP time. I would like to leave the
us of the right to expand our election. But we will definite- party? failed or their ambitions. I speculation alive.
The face of the Opposition front is yet to be decided
Special Correspondent ing from the meeting, he
New Delhi
Bill, 2020 was moved, but said, “An Opposition front is
the debate could not carry The Shiv Sena and the Na- not possible without the
on. Nagaland MP K.G. Kenye tionalist Congress Party, Congress. The face of the
tried to raise the issue of Ar- partners of the ruling al- Opposition front may be a
my killings in the State, but liance in Maharashtra, ap- matter of discussion. Rahul
Deputy Chairman Harivansh pear to differ on the promi- Gandhi will soon visit Mum-
disallowed him and the nence that their common bai. There should be only
House was adjourned soon. ally, the Congress, should one front.”
have in any non-BJP political While the Shiv Sena is sig-
Protest to continue formation. nalling the pre-eminence of
Addressing a press confe- The Sena on Tuesday em- the Congress, the NCP spoke
<
> An
Opposition
rence, Mr. Kharge said the phasised the Congress’s in- of unity of all anti-BJP forces,
protest would continue till evitability in any Opposition front is not with the Congress being one
the suspension was revoked. unity effort, while the NCP possible without of the equals. Ms. Banerjee
*
“We wanted to raise sever- noted that the strength of the Congress recently met Mr. Pawar in
be suspended selectively for al issues, like inflation and MPs outside the United Pro- Sanjay Raut Mumbai. It was after this
Shiv Sena leader
any particular debates or le- the Nagaland killings. But 12 gressive Alliance exceeded meeting that she proclaimed
gislative business. of our colleagues remain sus- that of the Congress. BJP, and she is in discussions that “there is no UPA”.
The Rajya Sabha failed to pended and are not able to It insisted that the anti- with NCP leader Sharad Pa- The NCP working com-
function on Tuesday. Within participate in the debate,” he BJP front could not exclude war on restructuring the Op- mittee met in Delhi. Briefing
five minutes of convening, said. anyone, even if they were position space. Ms. Banerjee presspersons after the meet-
the House was adjourned to Mr. Kharge said the Go- beyond the UPA umbrella. has particularly questioned ing, NCP leader Nawab Malik
2 p.m. It was adjourned for vernment ignored any de- former Congress president said an anti-BJP front should
an hour at 2 p.m. because mand and kept adjourning Mamata’s plan Rahul Gandhi’s leadership have the Congress, but at the
protests erupted again. the session multiple times. Trinamool Congress presi- skills. same time, other non-UPA
When the House met at 3 “This clearly shows that the dent Mamata Banerjee is try- Shiv Sena leader Sanjay parties should not be ex-
p.m., the Assisted Reproduc- Government is not willing to ing to displace the Congress Raut had an hour-long meet- cluded, and that all should
tive Technology (Regulation) run the House,” he said. as the lead opponent of the ing with Mr. Gandhi. Emerg- have equal prominence.
Rahul seeks
relief for kin of
dead farmers
Special Correspondent
New Delhi
Former Congress president
Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday
asked the Union Govern-
ment to provide compen-
sation and jobs for the next
of kin of farmers who died
tion against the three farm
laws on the borders of the
national capital.
In the Lok Sabha, Mr.
Gandhi, who had unsuc-
cessfully moved an ad-
journment motion on the
farmers’ issue, tabled a list
of dead farmers whose fa-
milies were given compen-
sation and employment by
the Punjab Government.
Demanding a statement
from the Government on
the issue, Congress mem-
bers, along with DMK and
NCP colleagues, walked
out of the House raising
slogans against the
Government.
“Around 700 farmers
died in farmers’ agitation.
The Prime Minister apolo-
gised to the farmers and ac-
cepted his mistake. On No-
vember 30, Agriculture
Minister was asked a ques-
tion — ‘how many farmers
died in the agitation?’ Agri-
culture Minister said he
had no data. We found out
that Punjab Government
has paid compensation of
₹5 lakh each to more than
400 farmers. Of these 400
farmers, 152 have also been
given jobs. I have one more
list of 70 farmers from Ha-
ryana,” Mr. Gandhi said.
“The Prime Minister has
apologised. Now, farmers
should get compensation
and jobs,” he said.
A ND-NDE
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10 NEWS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021

DELHI

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THE HINDU

Vaccine coverage of people with SII to slash

disabilities is low, figures show
Only 4,018 of them have received both doses till Nov. 28, Parliament told
Bindu Shajan Perappadan
New Delhi
Only 4,018 people with dis-
abilities have received both
doses of the COVID-19 vac-
cine till November 28, as per
figures released by the
Health Ministry during the
ongoing session of Parlia-
ment. It added that as per
the CoWIN portal, 8,390 pe-
ople with disabilities re-
ceived the first dose.
As per Census 2011, the
differently abled population
in India stands at 26.8
million.
“As per Census 2011, there
are 14.9 million men with
disabilities, as compared to
“None of the official Go-
vernment circulars men-
tioned disabled people as
vulnerable communities;
and our multiple demands to
provide at-home vaccination
to people with disabilities
with high support needs
were denied by the Centre,
leaving disabled people be-
hind,” Dr. Singh said.
“Until and unless vaccine
equity plans involve people
with disabilities and re-
Activists have called for far more assistance from the Union searchers with disabilities,
Government in reaching out to vulnerable groups. FILE PHOTO *
we won’t be able to flatten
the curve,” he added.
areas and just 8.1 million en- Satendra Singh is a physi- According to figures re-
umerated in the urban set- cian with disability and is in- leased by the Health Minis-
tings,” notes a government volved in a project on under- try on Tuesday, India’s CO-
Covishield
production
Press Trust of India
New Delhi
With not enough orders for
Covishield from the Union
Government, Serum Insti-
tute of India (SII) CEO Adar
Poonawalla on Tuesday
said the company was look-
ing at slashing monthly
production of vaccines by
at least 50%.
The SII has written to
the Government to seek
clarity on its requirement,
if any, for regular doses
and also on booster doses.
“I am actually in a dilem-
ma that I never imagined...
we are producing 250 mil-
lion doses a month but the
good news is that India has
covered a large part of its
population and we would
have completed all our or-
Scindia tells airports to ensure
seamless floor management
More RT-PCR test services and forex counters planned
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
Civil Aviation Minister Jyoti-
raditya Scindia on Tuesday
held a meeting on the need
for better crowd manage-
ment at airports after photos
on social media of an over-
crowded Delhi airport went
viral raising concerns about
COVID-19 protocols being
defied.
“Took stock of the prepa-
redness, testing capacities,
and the situation on the
ground with regard to crowd
management at both private
and @AAI_Official airports.
Have put an action plan with
8 compliances,” Minister Fresh norms: Protocols were tightened across airports this
Scindia posted on Twitter. month due to fears of the Omicron variant. PTI *

11.9 million women in the
country. The total number of
differently abled people is
over 18 million in the rural
IN BRIEF
document “Persons with standing inequities in VID-19 vaccination coverage ders to the Ministry of He added that airports had
Disabilities (Divyangjan) in
India — A Statistical Profile:
vaccine access and uptake
among transgender and dis-
has exceeded 128.76 crore,
(1,28,76,10,590) according to
Health in a week’s time,”
Mr. Poonawalla said in an
interview to a TV channel.
been asked to expand RT-
PCR services, ramp up help India adds Ghana, Tanzania
2021”. abled communities in India. provisional reports till 7 a.m. desks and forex counters
and ensure seamless floor
management.
to list of ‘at risk’ countries
Court awards death for Four arrested in M.P. Delhi airport CEO Videh
Kumar Jaipuriar and Chair-
man of Airports Authority of
Press Trust of India
New Delhi
Countries in Europe,
including the U.K., and

Allow jabs for those 15
and over, urges Aaditya
MUMBAI
Maharashtra Minister and
Shiv Sena leader Aaditya
Thackeray on Tuesday wrote
to Union Health Minister
Mansukh Mandaviya asking
the Central Government to
consider reducing the age of
eligibility for COVID-19
vaccination to 15. “In my
conversation with various
doctors, it seems that it may
be okay to reduce the
minimum age of vaccination
to 15. This will enable us to
cover secondary school and
junior colleges with vaccine
protection,” said the letter.
toddler’s rape, murder
Trial completed in two weeks
Special Correspondent
AHMEDABAD
A local POCSO court in Su-
rat, Gujarat, on Tuesday
sentenced a 35-year-old mi-
grant worker to death for
the rape and murder of a
two-and-half-year-old girl in
November this year.
The court held that the
case was “rarest of rare”
and sentenced the accused
after finding him guilty of
the heinous crime of first
raping and subsequently
murdering the toddler. The
court wrapped the trial in
two weeks after the police
submitted chargesheet in a
week following arrest of the
accused, a migrant labourer
from Bihar. The victim was
the daughter of fellow mi-
grant workers and her body
was recovered from bushes.
During the fast-track trial
proceedings, the court had
recorded statements of 43
witnesses. On Tuesday, Spe-
cial POCSO Court Judge P.S.
Kala observed that the case
was the “rarest of rare”, and
awarded capital punish-
ment to the accused. The
court also asked the State
Government to pay ₹20 lakh
as compensation to the vic-
tim’s family.
school vandalism case
Claims on conversion also under probe
Anup Dutta
Bhopal
The Madhya Pradesh Police
have arrested four persons
of a right-wing outfit and
lodged cases against over 50
people for vandalising a
missionary school in Vid-
isha district on Monday,
even as they began investi-
gation into allegations of re-
ligious conversion of eight
students at the institution in
October.
Those arrested for the
vandalism at the St. Joseph
School in Ganjbasoda, some
105 km from Bhopal, were
identified on the basis of
CCTV footage, said S. Desai,
station in-charge, Kotwali
Police Station. “Investiga-
tions into allegations of reli-
gious conversion are under-
way,” he told The Hindu.
The school administra-
tion, however, has denied
the allegations. “A video of
Catholic students being
taught religious rituals was
circulated on social media
as a conversion ceremony,”
said Brother Antony, the
school’s principal.
On Monday, members of
an as yet unidentified outfit
had entered the school pre-
mises while classes were on.
India Sanjeev Kumar were
present at the meeting.
Last week, the Govern-
ment announced stricter
protocols for passengers ar-
riving from “at-risk” coun-
tries which require manda-
tory testing on arrival in
India. Passengers have to
wait for their test results,
which can take up to six
hours, before they exit the
airport or take a connecting
flight, leading to chaotic
scenes at airports.
Several airports have an-
nounced additional mea-
sures to reduce waiting time
for passengers. The Bengalu-
ru airport said late on Mon-
day that it had added 50 new
testing machines to scale up
its testing capacity and had
dedicated counters for se-
India on Monday added
Ghana and Tanzania to the
South Africa, Brazil,
Botswana, China, Ghana,
list of “at risk” countries, Mauritius, New Zealand,
passengers from where have Zimbabwe, Hong Kong,
to follow additional Singapore, Tanzania and
COVID-19 testing and Israel have been placed in
quarantine measures. The the “at risk” category, the
Aviation Ministry said on Aviation Ministry noted.
Tuesday that the list of “at Delhi had reported its first
risk” countries was updated case of the Omicron variant
on Monday. on Sunday.
CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC
nior citizens, passengers thening its Air Suvidha por-
with reduced mobility and tal, where all international
mothers with infants. passengers are required to
The Delhi airport said that fill a self-declaration form
it had installed 120 rapid before undertaking travel to
PCR test machines and pro- India, to ensure a smooth ex-
vided 20 dedicated counters perience for all.
for passengers who had pre- It said that the portal al-
booked their tests online. lows for segregation of pas-
Meanwhile, the Govern- sengers from “at-risk” coun-
ment said that it was streng- tries.

Key posts in dept. on

disability matters vacant
NEW DELHI
AK-203 rifles to roll out of Triservice training held in Kashmir
U.P. facility in a few months Helicopter exercise conducted at over 9,000 feet to simulate enemy territory
The Social Justice and
Empowerment Ministry on
Tuesday admitted in the Lok
Sabha that key posts in the
Department of Empowerment
of Persons with Disabilities Deal inked to make 6 lakh rifles at the plant in Amethi
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR DGP reviews
were lying vacant, including
the posts of chairpersons of Dinakar Peri factured by the joint ven-
The Army’s Srinagar-based
15 Corps conducted a triser- security in
the Rehabilitation Council of
India and the National Trust,
New Delhi

Russia is ready to ensure full-

and Chief Commissioner for
PwD. Six posts of directors of
national institutes are also
lying vacant.
Sunil Arora joins advisory
board of global body
NEW DELHI
The Election Commission said
on Tuesday that former Chief
Election Commissioner (CEC)
Sunil Arora had joined the
board of advisers for the
International Institute for
Democracy and Electoral
Assistance, a
Stockholm-based
inter-governmental
organisation of 34 member
countries. He had served as
CEC from December 2, 2018
to April 12, 2021.
scale production of the
AK-203 assault rifles in India
within two-three years, said
Alexander Mikheev, Director
General of the Russian state
agency, JSC Rosoboronex-
port (RoE). The manufactur-
ing of the rifles at the plant
in Uttar Pradesh is likely to
begin within a few months,
officials said.
“The first 70,000 AK-203
rifles will be produced in In-
dia with a phased increase in
the extent of localisation
from 5% to 70%. The rest of
the rifles will be produced
with 100% localisation,” Mr.
Mikheev stated.
Since 2019, Russian and
Indian specialists have com-
The AK-203 rifle.
pleted a huge amount of
preparatory work to opti-
mise the price and tech pa-
rameters of the contract, Ka-
lashnikov spokesperson
Maria Vorobyeva said. “To-
day, the long-awaited con-
tract for the production of
more than 6,00,000 assault
rifles in India has been
signed. We are ready to start
producing the AK-203 as-
sault rifles in India in the up-
coming months,” she added.
Over 6.1 lakh AK-203 as-
sault rifles costing over
₹5,000 crore will be manu-
ture, Indo-Russian Rifles
Private Ltd (IRRPL), at Kor-
wa in Amethi. The IRRPL
was set up jointly between
the erstwhile OFB [now Ad-
vanced Weapons and Equip-
ment India Limited (AWEIL)
and Munitions India Limited
(MIL)] of India, and RoE and
the Kalashnikov concern of
Russia.
Mr. Mikheev said, to date,
a modern production line
has been established at Kor-
wa, and a small arms range
has been set up, where both
the factory and acceptance
tests of the assault rifles will
be carried out. “Rosoboro-
nexport and Kalashnikov
specialists take an active
part in all production setup
stages,” he said.
vice helicopter-borne train-
ing and validation exercise in
the snow-clad higher reach-
es of the Kashmir Valley on
Monday.
“The exercise was
planned to validate the joint
capability to insert the task
force tactically behind ene-
my lines in an intense air de-
fence and electronic warfare
operating environment,” the
Army said in a statement.
“The heli dropped task force
operated in snow clad region
at heights over 9,000 feet. It
included troops from Infan-
try, the Special Forces and
the MARCOS from Navy.”
The heli-drop exercise in-
cluded full transportation
and armed helicopters from
Army and Air Force includ-
Man and machine: A joint exercise was conducted in
Baramulla district of Kashmir on Tuesday. PTI
ing Apache attack helicop-
ters, the Army said adding
that aspects related to elec-
tronic warfare were also
validated.
A Srinagar-based defence
spokesman said the exercise
showcased the capability of
J&K stations
Special Correspondent
Srinagar
Dilbag Singh, Director Gen-
eral of Police, Jammu and
Kashmir, has called upon
the police force manning
the railway stations in the
Union Territory (UT) to
make the best use of
technology.
*
At a meeting in Jammu
on Tuesday, DGP Singh re-
the Chinar Corps and the In- viewed the security audit
dian Army “to carry out suc- of vital installation, experi-
cessful operations in high al- mental running of glass top
titude areas incorporating all rail bogies and availability
facets of contemporary and of X-ray baggage scanners.
modern battle field in syner- Officials said 235 CCTV
gy with Indian Air Force and cameras were installed at
Indian Navy”. 12 railway stations in J&K.

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Wordplay is a FUNdamental right.

SCAN TO PLAY SUDOKU FAITH

(set by Dr. X)
+ 13422 Have your fill on our interactive site!
@ https://qrgo.page.link/jjpTn Narasimha avatar
16 Raze old building finally in Indian city (7)
17 Fellows crushed by revolutionary assault right away in The uniqueness of Narasimha avatara has been glowingly
seconds (7) depicted in the Bhagavata Purana. The exchanges between
19 Checks the fit of dress in store (5,2) Prahlada and Hiranyakasipu just before the Lord manifests
21 Fiend’s advance repulsed by soldiers (4) from the pillar contain high philosophical and spiritual
22 Pose elaborate queries about qualifications (10) truths, pointed out Sri R. Krishnamurthy Sastrigal in a
25 Won in Perth? Extremely unexpected, I’m excited (9) discourse.
26 Held ring to get married around noon (5) Hiranyakasipu laughs in derision at Prahlada’s implicit
27 Theme song by genius about protecting environment at faith and devotion since the child keeps asserting that the
end of concert (9,4) Lord is present everywhere. Hiranyakasipu asks him, if, as
■ DOWN he claims, such a person exists everywhere, why is He not
2 A command to surrender with rebellious invasion over seen in the pillar? I see the Lord everywhere, says Prahlada.
(5,2) He not only sees the Lord in the pillar but as the indweller in
3 Chick left creep involved in affair (10) all beings, including his father.
4 Prenatal test briefly conducted by pro in maternity Interpreters show that this is proof that the Lord is easily
reviewed (5) available to those who are devoted to Him and are able to ex-
5 Most difficult ordeal, tackling angry rhino (9) perience His presence everywhere and in all objects.
6 Slippery characters in picture about to abduct student (4) But He remains distant and unseen to the non-believers.
7 Impress primarily gorgeous Aishwarya in bar (7) So the demon keeps asking, “Where is He?” He then
8 Little consolation that’s provided by ice pack? (4,7) Solution to puzzle 13421 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku strikes a pillar and instantly the Lord manifests from the pil-
10 Conceited nob desperately needs ecstasy after drinking
lar, proving the Sukta Vakya, ‘Narayana pervades both in-
booze heartily (6-5)
■ ACROSS side and outside of everything’.
13 Wet blanket left under pillow, primarily covered by stains
1 Be impatient in sting to nab a fellow with heroin in The Lord’s pervasiveness is such that there is not a minis-
(10)
backward region of Asia (5,2,3,3) 15 Revolting crime! Lock soldiers killing maiden inside cule of space not occupied by Him. In this avatara, even the
8 Short story penned by Balzac on television (5) military shelter (6,3) common and the unlettered can experience the Lord’s om-
9 Hot girl online wanting love — perhaps it will brighten 18 Alcoholic drink in market, popular one (7) nipresence, omnipotence and omniscience which the sas-
things up (4,5) 20 Union sent out crafty unionist to attend as a spectator tras themselves struggle to express adequately.
11 Fall behind with legs shaking over old cycle (4,6) (3,2,2) It is no wonder the Bhagavata Purana extols this avatara
12 Unsophisticated enthusiast turned noisy (4) 23 One making milk shake spills a little juice (5) as ‘Ati Atbhutam’ — the most extraordinary — and it goes on
14 Fish head and duck sent back (7) 24 FBI agent and spymaster involved in setting up bug (1-3) to unfold its many salient features.

CM A ND-NDE
YK
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
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Biden holds talks with Putin, ‘U.S. will pay the price for
warns against Ukraine invasion Olympics diplomatic boycott’
U.S. vows sanctions against Moscow, increased military support for Eastern Europe
Agence France-Presse
Washington
Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin
held a two-hour video sum-
mit Tuesday in which the
U.S. president said he would
warn of painful sanctions
and increased military sup-
port for Eastern Europe if
Russia invades Ukraine.
“Greetings, Mr. Presi-
dent,” Mr. Putin said in a
brief video clip released by
the Kremlin. Mr. Biden said it
was “good to see” his Rus-
sian counterpart, adding
that he hoped their next ses-
sion would be in person.
Despite the friendly open-
ing scene, the summit, last-
ing just over two hours, was
steeped in tension.
Russia denies planning to
invade Ukraine, but with sa-
tellite pictures showing mas-
sive troop concentrations on
Scholz condemns threat to
Ukraine, calls it unacceptable
Pipeline to transport gas from Russia yet to get approval
Reuters
Berlin
Germany’s Chancellor-in-
waiting Olaf Scholz ex-
pressed concern on Tuesday
about Russian troop move-
ments on the Ukrainian bor-
der and said any attempts to
cross the frontier would be
unacceptable.
“It is very, very important
that no one rolls through the
history books to draw new
borders,” Mr. Scholz said at a
news conference after sign-
ing a three-party coalition
agreement.
“It must be quite, quite
clear that it would be an un-
Saudi Arabia, Oman sign
deals worth $30 billion
RIYADH
Saudi Arabia signed deals
with Oman valued at $30
billion, as Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman began
a tour of Gulf countries,
including former rival Qatar.
Saudi and Omani companies
“signed 13 memoranda of
understanding”, the official
Saudi Press Agency reported.
The MoUs range from
cooperation in the energy and
tourism to finance and
technology. AFP
CM
YK
New course: Joe Biden, right, speaking with Vladimir Putin, on
screen, from the White House on December 7. AFP *
the border, fears are growing intends to tell Mr. Biden he
of war in Europe. sees Ukraine’s growing al-
The United States says it liance with Western nations
doesn’t know for sure what as a threat to Russian
Russia intends to do in Uk- security.
raine, but is alarmed at the Even though Ukraine is
deployment of some nowhere near being able to
1,00,000 battle-ready Rus- join the U.S.-led military al-
sian troops to the border. liance, Mr. Putin wants a “le-
Moscow calls invasion talk gal” guarantee this will nev-
“hysteria.” Instead, Mr. Putin er happen.
mocrat, is due to take office
on coming Wednesday after
being elected by the Bundes-
tag lower house of
parliament.
Incoming Vice-Chancellor
Robert Habeck, who is co-
leader of the Greens, said
the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,
which is to transport gas
from Russia to Europe, by-
Olaf Scholz passing Ukraine, had not yet
received approval and politi-
acceptable situation if there cal discussions had to
were a threat to Ukraine,” continue.
Mr. Scholz said, while stress- The Greens have tradi-
ing that borders could not be tionally taken a tougher line
violated. with Russia, as well as with
Olaf Scholz, a Social De- China.
Billionaires thrived during pandemic
Agence France-Presse “This increase was exa-
Paris cerbated during the COVID
The share of global wealth pandemic. In fact, 2020
of the world’s richest people marked the steepest in-
soared at a record pace dur- crease in global billionaires’
ing the Covid pandemic, a share of wealth on record,”
report on inequality showed the document said.
on Tuesday. The club of the richest 1%
Since 1995, the slice held has taken more than a third
by billionaires has risen of all additional wealth ac-
from 1% to 3%, according to cumulated since 1995, while
the World Inequality the bottom 50% captured
Report. just 2%.
“Russia has never
planned to attack anyone,”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov said on Tuesday.
“But we have our own red
lines.”
‘Real cost’
The White House says Mr. Bi-
den will instead lay out a
range of economic sanctions
that will impose “real cost.”
Ahead of the summit, the Bi-
den administration has also
stressed that its posture has
been worked out in unison
with European partners.
Mr. Putin was also plan-
ning to reach out to Uk-
raine’s President Volodymyr
Zelensky after his virtual
summit.
The United States says it
has options short of military
confrontation to pressure
Mr. Putin.
UAE moves to 4.5-day week,
Saturday-Sunday weekend
Government employees would work a half-day on Friday
Associated Press
Dubai
The United Arab Emirates
said on Tuesday its official
workweek will move to Mon-
day to Friday, a significant
change that brings the Islam-
ic nation home to major fi-
nancial institutions in line
with Western schedules.
The decision, which is to
take effect next month,
makes the Gulf Arab federa-
tion one of the few countries
in West Asia to operate on
Western hours instead of on
a Sunday through Thursday
week.
Lebanon and Turkey also
“After more than 18
months of COVID-19, the
world is even more polar-
ised,” Lucas Chancel, co-di-
rector of the World Inequal-
ity Lab at the Paris School of
Economics, said.
“While the wealth of bil-
lionaires rose by more than
$4 trillion, 100 million more
people joined the ranks of
extreme poverty,” Mr. Chan-
cel said.
The move is born out of ideological prejudice, says China
Agence France-Presse
Beijing
China warned on Tuesday
the United States would
“pay the price” for a diplo-
matic boycott of the Beijing
Winter Olympics over hu-
man rights concerns.
The move drew fiery op-
position from Beijing, which
threatened unspecified
counter-measures, warning
the U.S. would “pay the
price for its wrongdoing”.
“Stay tuned,” Chinese Fo-
reign Ministry spokesman
Zhao Lijian told reporters at
a daily press briefing.
“The U.S. attempt to inter-
fere with the Beijing Winter
Olympics out of ideological
prejudice, based on lies and
rumours, will only expose
(its) sinister intentions,” Mr.
Zhao said.
“The Winter Olympics are
not a stage for political
follow a Monday-Friday
workweek. The long-ru-
mored shift comes as the
UAE, home to the coastal
emirates of Dubai and Abu
Dhabi, seeks to bolster its
business and tourist appeal
while emerging from crisis
of the coronavirus pandemic
and facing stiffer regional
competition, particularly
with Saudi Arabia.
Closer alignment
Skyscraper-studded Dubai
has attracted a variety of
Western multinational firms
over the years.
“The new working week
Tit for tat: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian
said Winter Olympics is not a stage for political shows AP
shows and political manipu-
lation,” he added, accusing
the U.S. of “actions that in-
terfere in and undermine
the Beijing Winter
Olympics.”
Reactions evoked
But Washington’s move was
broadly welcomed by rights
groups and politicians in the
U.S..
The International Olym-
will also bring the UAE’s fi-
nancial sector into closer
alignment with global real-
time trading and communi-
cations-based transactions,”
the government statement
said, adding that the new
schedule aims to “boost not
only trading opportunities
but also add to the flexible,
secure and enjoyable lifes-
tyle the Emirates offers its ci-
tizens and residents.”
Government employees
would work a half-day on
Friday, the traditional Mus-
lim holy day, and then take
Saturday and Sunday off, the
announcement said.
WORLD 11
*
pic Committee called it a
“purely political decision for
each government, which the
IOC in its political neutrality
fully respects.”
“Our position is that the
Olympic Games should be
free of politics,” Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov
told reporters, but said it
was positive that partici-
pants were not impacted by
the decision.
Israel strike targets Iran
weapons in Syria port
Syrian Minister was on visit to Tehran
Agence France-Presse
Beirut
An Israeli air strike hit a
shipment of Iranian wea-
pons in the Syrian port of
Latakia on Tuesday, in the
first such attack on the key
facility, a war monitor said.
The Israeli raid “directly
targeted an Iranian wea-
pons shipment in the con-
tainer yard,” the Syrian Ob-
servatory for Human Rights
said.
The Observatory, a U.K.-
based organisation with a
wide network of sources on
the ground across Syria,
said the raid triggered a se-
ries of explosions.
It reported “huge mate-
Khashoggi
murder
suspect held
Agence France-Presse
Paris
The French police on Tues-
day arrested a suspected
member of the hit squad
that murdered Saudi jour-
nalist Jamal Khashoggi in
2018 at the kingdom’s con-
sulate in Istanbul and who
is wanted by Turkey to face
justice over the killing.
Khalid Alotaibi, 33, was
detained by border police
on the basis of an arrest
warrant issued by Turkey
as he was about to board a
flight to Riyadh from Pa-
ris’s Charles de Gaulle air-
port, judicial and airport
sources said.
He is due to appear be-
fore prosecutors on
Wednesday.
He is one of 26 Saudis
charged in absentia by Tur-
key over the killing in a
trial that got underway in
October 2020. If convicted,
he could face life
imprisonment.
rial losses” but added there
were no immediate reports
of casualties.
Photos and footage pu-
blished by SANA showed a
fire in the yard but state tele-
vision said later that fire-
fighters had brought the
blaze under control.
Israel rarely comments
on the air strikes it carries
out in Syria but has said re-
peatedly it will not allow its
archfoe Iran to extend its
footprint in Syria.
Tuesday’s strike came as
Syrian Foreign Minister Fai-
sal Mekdad wrapped up a vi-
sit to Tehran, where he met
with top officials to discuss
deepening ties.
A ND-NDE
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12 BUSINESS WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021

DELHI THE HINDU
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market watch
07-12-2021
Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 57,634 ddddddddddddddd1.56
US Dollar dddddddddddddddddddd 75.44 ddddddddddddddd0.01
% CHANGE
China’s export growth slows, RIL, Ta’ziz JV
to set up $2 bn
Hyundai plans 6 EVs by
2028, to invest ₹4,000 cr.
petchem unit
imports quicken on demand
Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 47,039 ddddddddddddddd0.13
Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 75.35 ddddddddddddddd5.41

NIFTY 50 Special Correspondent

‘Govt. help will spur EV supplier base’
PRICE CHANGE Mumbai Yuthika Bhargava
Adani Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 744.70. . . . . . . 21.25
Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3030.35. . . . . . . . -7.95 Nov. exports rose 21.4% to $325.5 bn while imports surged 31.7% to $253.8 bn Abu Dhabi Chemicals De- NEW DELHI
Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 687.00. . . . . . . 23.90 rivatives Company RSC Hyundai Motor India plans
Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3286.45. . . . . . . 36.70
Bajaj Finserv. . . . . . . . . . .. 17109.00. . . . . 215.55
Associated Press manufacturers showed activ- Ltd. (Ta’ziz) and Reliance to invest about ₹4,000 crore
Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7103.15. . . . . 151.40 Beijing ity rebounded in November Industries Ltd. (RIL), have for research and develop-
Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 698.85. . . . . . . . . 1.25 China’s exports rose 21.4% to as power supplies returned agreed to set up ‘Ta’ziz ment over the next seven
BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 387.80. . . . . . . . . 4.35
Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3474.20. . . . . . -22.00
$325.5 billion in November to normal. EDC & PVC’, a chemical years as it looks to roll out
Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 889.25. . . . . . . . -5.70 but growth slowed, while im- “Exports and imports production joint venture six new electric vehicles in
Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 150.65. . . . . . . . . 2.10 ports accelerated in a sign of beat expectations last month ( JV) at the TA’ZIZ Industrial India by 2028.
Divis Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 4624.80. . . . . . -22.00
Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 4520.70. . . . . . . 22.00
stronger domestic demand. thanks to stronger demand Chemicals Zone in Ruwais. “We will be investing
Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. . . . 2471.80. . . . . . . 27.70 Export growth decelerat- and easing semiconductor The JV would construct ₹4,000 crore for R&D to-
Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1685.55. . . . . . . 24.80 ed from October’s 27.1% shortages,” said Julian Evans- and operate a chloralkali, wards expansion of our Bat-
HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1149.65. . . . . . . 13.10
HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2817.50. . . . . . . 48.70
pace, customs data showed Pritchard of Capital Econom- ethylene dichloride (EDC) tery Electric Vehicle line-up S.S. Kim
HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1525.70. . . . . . . 21.90 Tuesday. Imports surged ics in a report. and polyvinyl chloride to six vehicles for the Indian
HDFC Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 694.40. . . . . . . 10.20 31.7% to $253.8 billion, faster “In the near-term, the (PVC) production facility, Market by 2028,” S.S. Kim, we might need to import
Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 2461.80. . . . . . . 41.80
Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 442.50. . . . . . . 21.15 than the previous month’s Near-term fillip: Omicron’s emergence is likely to support emergence of the Omicron with an investment of MD and CEO, Hyundai Mo- some parts and compo-
Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2321.60. . . . . . . 15.10 20.6% rate. demand for China’s exports, says Evans-Pritchard. REUTERS
* variant is likely to support more than $2 billion, the tor India Ltd., told The Hin- nents… but we are working
ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 734.65. . . . . . . 25.10 China’s exports have been demand for China’s ex- firms said in a statement. du, hinting that the first veh- on localisation for those
IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 926.65. . . . . . . 11.00
Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1711.65. . . . . . . 16.35 boosted by foreign demand dip brought on by a govern- Factory activity also was ports,” said Mr. Evans-Pritch- “India’s need for PVC to icle may be introduced as parts and components… we
Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 120.60. . . . . . . . -0.35 at a time when other global ment crackdown on debt in hampered by power shortag- ard. “But its impact further propel growth, and the va- early as next year. are also currently finding a
ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 220.65. . . . . . . . . 2.75 competitors are hampered the real estate industry. Eco- es that started in September ahead is still uncertain.” lue from the abundantly competitive partner in some
JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 660.65. . . . . . . 17.80
Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1937.15. . . . . . . 51.95 by anti-coronavirus controls. nomic growth sank to an un- and the global shortage of China’s global trade sur- available feedstock in UAE, ‘Preference for SUVs’ areas such as batteries,” Mr.
L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1798.10. . . . . . . 15.45 Stronger imports suggest expectedly low 4.9% over a semiconductors used in pro- plus fell 4.9% to $71.7 billion. provides a win-win part- Asked about the segment in Kim said.
M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 825.95. . . . . . . . . 3.80
consumer and other de- year earlier in the three ducts from cars to smart- Exports to the U.S. rose nership,” said RIL CMD which the first EV product He pointed out that while
Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7186.60. . . . . 143.75
Nestle India Ltd. . . . .. 19344.25. . . . . 327.75 mand is rebounding after a months ended in September. phones. An earlier survey of 5.3% over a year earlier. Mukesh Ambani. would be unveiled, Mr. Kim the company would try to
NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 125.35. . . . . . . . . 1.00 said market trends clearly narrow the price gap bet-
ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 145.90. . . . . . . . . 2.55
PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 205.80. . . . . . . . . 3.80
indicated customers’ prefe- ween ICE vehicles and EVs,
Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2381.85. . . . . . . 19.25
SBI Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1159.15. . . . . . . 10.65
State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 476.70. . . . . . . 11.40
SEBI recasts delisting ‘Domestic air passenger traffic rence for SUVs in both elec-
tric vehicles and ICE vehi-
cles, so “we are very
government support in the
form of subsidies and tax re-
lief to private car buyers

rules to make M&A easier

Shree Cement . . . . . . . .. 25746.55. . . . . 134.20
seriously considering this would spur demand for EVs.

crossed 10-mn mark in Nov.’

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 743.70. . . . . . . . . 6.55
Tata Consumer for our product plan and “There will be some price
Products Ltd. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 760.70. . . . . . . 13.10
Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 481.80. . . . . . . 14.60
preparations”. However, he gap between the normal ICE
Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1148.80. . . . . . . 40.00 Premium over open offer price is must added that the six products vehicle and EV; in many
TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3584.50. . . . . . . 48.10 would also include sedans countries customers pay a
Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . 1576.65. . . . . . . 24.90
Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2380.55. . . . . . . 55.25
Press Trust of India Omicron variant has potential to derail the recovery: ICRA and crossover utility vehi- small premium for the EV,
UltraTech Cement . .. . . . 7299.40. . . . . . . 84.80 New Delhi cles, and would cater to but net ownership and
UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 726.95. . . . . . . 10.40 SEBI has amended rules Press Trust of India riod, a robust 64% growth, mass market as well as mass maintenance cost for such
Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 632.40. . . . . . . . . 7.90
pertaining to delisting of Mumbai ICRA said in a statement. premium segments in India. vehicles is low,” he said.
shares of a company follow- Continuing a recovery, dom- The month-on-month Of the six products, three He added that India could
EXCHANGE RATES ing an open offer as part of estic air passenger traffic growth, however, stood at would be ‘unique’ products become a global production
Indicative direct rates in rupees a unit
except yen at 4 p.m. on December 07 efforts to make mergers and crossed the 10-million mark 15-16% in November over for India, while three would hub for EVs but there was a
CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL acquisitions for listed firms in November for the first about 8.98 million passen- be global products that need to develop a strong lo-
US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 75.24. . . . . . . 75.56 more convenient. time since the pandemic hit gers in October, ICRA said. would be tweaked for the cal supplier base for that.
Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 84.82. . . . . . . 85.18
Under the new frame- the aviation industry in “Though the recovery India market. “Our export business is
British Pound . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 99.80. . . . 100.23
Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 66.20. . . . . . . 66.48 work, the acquirers need to March 2020, but the new continued in November, de- “Hyundai will also intro- based on very strong sup-
Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 11.82. . . . . . . 11.87 disclose their intention to Omicron variant has the po- mand continues to be sub- duce its dedicated BEV Plat- port from our tier 1 and tier
Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 81.45. . . . . . . 81.80
Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 55.07. . . . . . . 55.31
delist the firm via an initial above 75% or even 90%. tential to disrupt, according dued from the corporate tra- form — E-GMP in India as 2 suppliers…for us to have a
Canadian Dollar . . . . . . . . .. . 59.25. . . . . . . 59.51 public announcement, ac- However, to ensure com- to rating agency ICRA. veller segment as reflected well as modified platforms global production hub for
Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 17.77. . . . . . . 17.86 cording to a notification. pliance with the Securities After recording 1.23 crore wave hit the country, result- by the passenger traffic be- for battery electric vehicles EV in India, we should have
Australian Dollar . . . . . . .. . 53.37. . . . . . . 53.60
If the acquirer wishes to Contract (Regulation) Rules, domestic passengers in Fe- ing in domestic travel de- ing lower by around 19% in in India,” Mr Kim said, ad- some strong supplier.
Source:Indian Bank
delist the target company, the acquirer would need to bruary 2020, domestic air mand nosediving to 21.15 November compared to pre- ding that all the products “I think that task can be
the acquirer must propose a first bring his/her stake travel demand dipped to lakh passengers in May 2021. COVID-19 levels,” said ICRA would be produced locally achieved if we have strong
IN BRIEF higher price with suitable down to 75% as the norms 19.84 lakh passengers in the In the second phase of the Vice-President and Sector in India. However, the ex- support from the govern-
premium over the open off- would not let the acquirer first month ( June 2020) of recovery, domestic travel de- Head Suprio Banerjee. “The tent to which the products ment, because you know
er price. In the existing fra- even to attempt delisting un- the resumption of flight ser- mand rose to 10.04-10.05 new variant... has the poten- can be localised will depend the supplier base cannot be
mework, if an open offer is less the holding is lowered. vices on local routes. million (1.004 crore-1.005 tial to derail the domestic re- on the volumes. made overnight. There
triggered, compliance with Such contradictory tran- The recovery in domestic crore) in November as covery too, if it becomes a “In India, the EV market needs to be investments in
takeover norms could take sactions pose complexity in traffic continued till March against 63.54 lakh passen- source of a fresh round of is not very mature right R&D and training,” the Hy-
the acquirer’s holding to the takeover of listed firms. this year when the second gers in the year-earlier pe- restrictions,” he added. now…for a few initial years undai India chief added.

IL&FS arm, Axis Trustee

enter share transfer pact Citroen SUV BlackRock, Aramco sign Nestlé sets up ‘New premium income CUB unveils
MUMBAI
to get pricier India-based IT payment
IL&FS Transportation
Networks, a part of the IL&FS
Group, said it had entered by up to 3% $15.5-bn gas pipeline deal services arm of life insurers rises 42%’ ‘keychain’
into a share purchase Crude price rebound spurs move LIC saw 32% spike in Nov.: IRDAI data
agreement with Axis Trustee Special Correspondent Special Correspondent Special Correspondent
Services to transfer 85.50% CHENNAI Reuters NEW DELHI Press Trust of India CHENNAI
of the paid-up capital of its
Citroen India has an- Dubai Swiss firm Nestlé S.A. on New Delhi Private sector lender City
subsidiary Moradabad
nounced a price increase Saudi Aramco said on Mon- Tuesday announced it had The new premium income Union Bank (CUB), in col-
Bareilly Expressway Ltd. for
of up to 3% for the C5 Air- day it had signed a $15.5 bil- set up Nestle Global Servic- of life insurance companies laboration with the Nation-
an initial consideration of
₹373.58 crore.
cross SUV from January 1, lion lease-and-leaseback es India (NGSI) in Bengalu- jumped by almost 42% to al Payments Corporation of
2022, due to rising com- deal for its gas pipeline net- ru to provide IT services to ₹27,177.26 crore in Novem- India (NPCI) and manufac-
modity and international work with a consortium led its entities in more than 45 ber, data from regulator IR- turing partner Seshaasai,
MedPlus IPO to open ocean freight costs. by BlackRockReal Assets countries across Asia, DAI showed on Tuesday. has unveiled ‘On-the-Go’
on December 13 The price increase will and state-backed Hassana Oceania and Africa and to The insurance behemoth contactless wearable key-
HYDERABAD
be on the existing ex-show- Investment Co. complement its network of LIC — the only state-owned chains for debit cards.
MedPlus Health Services Ltd.
room prices of the Feel and Gulf oil producers are IT hubs across the globe. life insurer in the country — The device would ena-
said on Tuesday its IPO will
Shine variants, the compa- looking at sales of stakes in NGSI will enable Nestlé’s witnessed a more than 32% ble customers to make fast
open on December 13 at a
price band of ₹780-796 per
ny said in a statement. energy assets and raising pipelines network and lease growth by facilitating di- rise in the first-year business LIC held the largest share payments up to ₹5,000 in
equity share (face value of ₹2 Citroen is offering the cash through long-term leas- them back to Aramco for a rect access to technology premium in November at Rs at 63.4%. all RuPay enabled point-of-
each). The IPO consists of a SUV with benefits such as es, capitalising on a re- 20-year period, it said. skills in business solutions, 15,967.51 crore. Among private players, sale devices without enter-
fresh issue of shares up to insurance at just ₹1, com- bound in crude prices. In return, Aramco Gas digital, data analytics and The remaining players SBI Life had the highest ing a PIN, the lender said in
₹600 crore and an offer for plimentary smart care As part of the transac- will receive a tariff payable artificial intelligence, the belonging to the private sec- share at 8.77%, followed by a statement.
sale by selling shareholders package, and EMIs starting tion, a newly formed subsi- by Aramco for the gas pro- company said, adding that tor registered a spike of HDFC Life at 7.86%; ICICI For payments above
aggregating up to ₹798.29 from ₹33,333 a month, diary, Aramco Gas Pipelines ducts that will flow via the it would also support the 58.6% in their collective Prudential Life 4.91%; Max ₹5,000, customers would
crore. The issue will remain along with a 30-minute Co., will lease usage rights in network, backed by com- implementation and oper- first-year premium income Life 2.36% and Bajaj Allianz need to tap and then enter
open till December 15. guaranteed trade-in. the state energy firm’s gas mitments on throughput. ations of IT solutions. at ₹11,209.75 crore. Life at 2.62%. the PIN, CUB added.

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SPORT
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Six (SD & HD), 1.30 a.m.
In his charming book 10 for 10, Hedley Ver- his tenth had Russell Arnold not dropped county Surrey? When a reporter asked him if DHAKA

(Thursday). ity and the Story of Cricket’s Greatest Bowling Travis Friend first ball at short leg the next his partner, the left arm spinner Tony Lock Off-spinner Sajid Khan

IN BRIEF
BETWEEN WICKETS Feat, Chris Waters suggests that part of the
explanation was that Verity was helped by a
suresh menon drying surface after torrential rain (this was
in 1932, wickets were uncovered).
day. Next over Chaminda Vaas, who like the
others had been bowling carefully to avoid
eased up to let him get to his ten in the Man-
chester Test, Laker replied, “Lockie? No way!
claimed a career-best six
for 35 as Pakistan reduced
taking a wicket, found Henry Olonga in the He was appealing for lbw when he hit the bat- Bangladesh to 76 for seven
mood to take a swipe at him and edging the smen in the chest!” and produced a glimmer of

C ricket statistics can be tantalisingly imper-

fect. Perhaps this is in keeping with the
nature of sport itself: the essence is in the
striving for perfection, not necessarily per-
fection itself (which is why there was some
disappointment when the Romanian gym-
nast Nadia Comaneci scored a perfect 10 at
Djokovic named in the 1976 Olympics. Perfection can be a
Serbian team dampener).
SYDNEY
Bradman’s Test average of 99.94 has the
Novak Djokovic has been
power and romance that a round 100 might
named in the Serbian team
not. For long the First Class batting record
for January’s ATP Cup, an
indication that he could play
was Hanif Mohammad’s 499 for Karachi
in the Australian Open a week against Bahawalpur, a score at which he was
later despite controversy run out. Admiration and poignancy were
over his vaccination status. thus wrapped in a single package.
Organisers said on Tuesday Ajaz Patel’s 10 for 119 in the Mumbai Test is
that 18 of the world’s top 20 a reminder that perfection is possible — he is
players will take part in the the 84th bowler in First Class cricket (11-a-
16-country tournament in side) to achieve the feat. Another left arm
Sydney from Jan. 1-9. AP spinner, Hedley Verity, whose 10 for 10 for
CM
YK
When they batted again, Percy Holmes
and Herbert Sutcliffe added 139 to give York-
shire a ten-wicket win. “The wicket was never
the vexatious proposition the Notts’ batsmen
made it out to be,” reported the Nottingham
Evening News.
Verity, who dismissed Bradman eight
times, more than any other bowler, later said,
“Do not praise me when I have taken eight for
20 on a sticky wicket, but when I have got
two for 100 on a perfect wicket.” Waters
thinks that the 10 for 10 might not have meant
more to Verity than some of his less remarka-
ble analyses.
But Verity’s record, as almost every record
in the game can be broken. The uber-perfect
(although perfection does not admit of de-
grees) is 10 for zero. That is a record impossi-
ble to beat. The best by an Indian is Premang-
su Chatterjee’s 10 for 20 (Bengal v Assam).
Before Patel, the man who came closest to
ball. Wicket keeper Kumara Sangakkara took
the snick, there was a muted appeal and
Olonga had to go, leaving Murali with nine for
Down to destiny
So many things have to fall in line for a bowler
hope of forcing a result in
the second and final Test
here on Tuesday.
51. to take ten that you can understand why the Pakistan resumed the
The previous evening Murali had nearly sa- lone Indian to do it in a Test, Anil Kumble (10 fourth day from 188 for two
botaged his own chances when he dived to for 74 against Pakistan in New Delhi) put it and declared at 300 for
catch Olonga off Samaraweera at square leg, down to “destiny.” four after lunch.
and dislocated his finger in the process. Amazingly, when he tweeted welcoming Then spinners Sajid and
Cricketers play on instinct and deliberately Ajaz Patel into the exclusive club of three,
Nauman Ali got to work un-
going against the grain is well nigh impossible Kumble was trolled by some fans suggesting til stumps was called an
as both Muralitharan and Sangakkara in effect that he didn’t deserve to be in the hour early because of bad
showed. club himself! And that’s putting it politely. light.
He is in good company, though. When Ver- Bangladesh trails by 224
Self sabotage ity picked up his ten for ten, a letter writer in runs and still needs 25 runs
A bowler who did succeed in sabotaging his a newspaper calling himself ‘Disgusted’, to avoid the follow-on.
own chances was Richard Hadlee who, after wrote: “Verity may be a competent bowler, The scores:
claiming the first eight wickets against Aus- but he is not in the same class (as his prede- Pakistan 300/4 decl. in
tralia in Brisbane, then ran backwards to cessors in Yorkshire). The Notts ‘batsmen’ 98.3 overs (Babar Azam 76,
catch Geoff Lawson to give the off spinner simply gave themselves to him.” Azhar Ali 56) vs Bangladesh
Vaughan Brown his only Test wicket. Hadlee But like those who trolled Kumble, “Dis- 76/7 in 26 overs (Najmul Hos-
returned to take the tenth wicket (caught by gusted” was in a minority. sain 30, Sajid Khan 6/35).
A ND-NDE
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THE HINDU DELHI
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
India has a lot to ponder before the Boxing Day Test in SA
With Mayank and Shreyas proving themselves, it remains to be seen whether the team decides to move on from either Rahane or Pujara, if not both
NZ IN INDIA
Amol Karhadkar
MUMBAI
New Zealand’s omission of
Mitchell Santner and Neil
Wagner was no doubt baf-
fling, but when it came to In-
dia, the last fortnight proved
to be a mixture of comebacks
and question marks with an
eye on the future.
The fact that the list of
memorable comebacks was
much longer than expected
underlined India’s success in
Rahul Dravid’s maiden as-
signment as the head coach
for a Test series.
Days before the start of the
opener in Kanpur, Mayank
Agarwal and Shubman Gill
would not have thought
about opening the innings in
both the Tests and Shreyas
Iyer would have been far
from being assured of a
much-awaited Test cap.
Had K.L. Rahul not been
injured, Mayank would have
continued to be on the bench
and Gill likely to have re-
placed Kohli in the middle-
order.
Grabbing the chance
Rahul’s injury meant the trio
got a chance in their pre-
ferred roles and all of them
grabbed the opportunity.
Series may revolve around contest between Cummins, Root
Anderson rested, Stokes to play
ASHES
Associated Press
Brisbane
One particular contest bet-
ween bat and ball could
shape this Ashes series.
Pat Cummins is set to lead
the home team, putting a fast
bowler’s perspective on Aus-
tralia’s Test captaincy for the
first time since the 1950s. Joe
Root is primed to lead En-
gland with the bat again in a
series he thinks may define
his career.
“A bowling captain for
Australia and a batting cap-
tain for England — two cap-
tains going toe to toe will be
great,” England wicketkeep-
er Jos Buttler said on the eve
of the first Test.
Feeling the pressure
Root was already feeling
some pressure before it was
confirmed that Jimmy An-
derson will miss the first Test
starting on Wednesday at the
Gabba. Anderson was not
risked after reportedly suf-
fering a minor calf problem,
although England did not
give any reason for his
omission.
Buttler said the senior
players in the team were rea-
dy to step up to support
Root, and the return of inspi-
rational all-rounder Ben
Stokes would also help.
“We know he’s our best
player, we want to support
him, help him, share that
load,” Buttler said of Root.
Everton trumps Arsenal
Late strike from Gray seals the deal
Stunner: Demarai Gray’s thunderbolt handed Everton a
much-needed win. AP * found the lead in the 14th mi-
EURO LEAGUES
Agencies
Liverpool
Everton eased some of the
pressure on manager Rafa
Benitez as it ground out a
comeback 2-1 home win ov-
er Arsenal in the Premier
League on Monday, with
Demarai Gray netting a
stunning stoppage-time
winner after setting up the
equaliser.
Brazilian forward Richar-
lison, who had two goals
scrapped for marginal off-
sides after VAR checks, had
CM
YK
Mayank and Shreyas re-
mained the talking points of
the series, thanks to their
scintillating performances.
In the bowling depart-
ment, the spin trio of R. Ash-
win, Axar Patel and Jayant
Yadav underlined their utili-
ty. Ashwin emerged the
Player of the Series with va-
luable contributions with
both the ball and willow.
Axar and Jayant ensured
India didn’t miss Ravindra Ja-
deja in the second Test while
Mohammed Siraj virtually
sealed his place over Ishant
Sharma for the South Africa
tour with a fiery spell in
Mumbai.
Question marks
Despite all these gains, the
team management and the
selectors will have more than
a few question marks head-
ing into the Boxing Day Test.
Whether to persist with
Ajinkya Rahane and Chetesh-
war Pujara in the playing XI
is the biggest conundrum.
Since the start of 2020, Ra-
hane, Pujara and captain Vi-
rat Kohli have averaged a
meagre 24.39, 26.04 and
27.38, respectively.
With the likes of Mayank,
Gill and Shreyas having made
a strong case for themselves,
it will be interesting whether
Root heads into this series
as the leading Test batter in
the world, having scored
1,455 runs in 12 matches in
2021 at an average of 66.
But England has lost nine
of the 10 Tests it has played
in Australia since its drought-
breaking series win in 2010-
11, mostly by big margins.
Root has been on the last two
tours, and was captain dur-
ing the 0-4 loss in 2017-18.
And then there’s En-
gland’s record at the Gabba,
where it hasn’t won a Test
since 1986 and has recorded
only two victories since
1946.
England released a 12-man
squad later on Tuesday, leav-
ing most speculation over
the formation of the bowling
attack. Stuart Broad, Chris
Woakes, Mark Wood and Ol-
lie Robinson were included
as specialist pace bowlers,
and left-arm spinner Jack
Leach was also in the mix.
The teams:
Australia: Pat Cummins (Capt.),
Marcus Harris, David Warner,
Marnus Labuschagne, Steve
Smith, Travis Head, Cameron
Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell
Starc, Nathan Lyon, and Josh
Hazlewood.
England (from): Joe Root
(Capt.), Stuart Broad, Rory
Burns, Jos Buttler, Haseeb Ha-
meed, Jack Leach, Dawid Ma-
lan, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson,
Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, and
Mark Wood.
Match starts at 5.30 a.m.
Live on Sony Six (SD & HD).
levelled in the 79th minute
after Gray hit the crossbar,
cancelling out Martin Ode-
gaard’s first-half opener for
the visitors.
Arsenal is now seventh
on 23 points from 15 games,
while Everton, which an-
nounced on Sunday that di-
rector of football Marcel
Brands had left his position,
climbed to 12th on 18 points.
The results: Premier League:
Everton 2 (Richarlison 79, Gray
90+2) bt Arsenal 1 (Odegaard
45+2).
La Liga: Getafe 0 drew with
Atheltic Bilbao 0.
India decides to move on
from either Rahane or Puja-
ra, if not both, in South Afri-
ca.
Mysterious injury
Rahane’s mysterious injury
that was cited as the cause of
his exclusion for the second
Test may just be a start. But
Dravid definitely hasn’t given
up on the senior batter.
Before India’s departure
to South Africa, Dravid is set
to work with Rahane and Ro-
hit Sharma for three sessions
over the next five days. Will
that help Rahane regain his
mojo?
The questions will persist
for the next fortnight.
FC Goa edges SCEB
in seven-goal thriller
ISL 2021
Sports Bureau
F C Goa registered its mai-
den win in ISL Season 8,
defeating SC East Bengal 4-3
in a match of fluctuating for-
tunes at the Tilak Maidan
Stadium, Vasco.
Goa had the better of the
exchanges initially and
nute off a rasping pile-driver
from Alberto Noguera. It
could have doubled the lead
in the 17th, but Jorge Ortiz
sent his shot wide with just
an open goal staring at him.
East Bengal clawed back
into the contest through An-
tonio Perosevic, whose left-
footed strike found the tar-
get in the 26th minute. The
Croatian’s free kick had re-
bounded to him off the Goan
wall and he made no mis-
take the second time.
East Bengal goalkeeper
Suvam Sen pulled off a good
save off Devendra Murgaon-
kar’s attempt in the 28th mi-
Photo that went viral
Special Correspondent
MUMBAI
Ajaz Patel has revealed the
story behind the
photograph that has gone
viral on social media.
“The beauty of that
photo is that it came
through a few wise heads
— our media guys back
home and here, and also
myself and a few of the
Indian guys. A lot of us
thought on the same page
and thought it would be a
pretty cool photo,” Ajaz
said.
nute. However, with his col-
league Sourav Das
committing a rash foul in-
side the box, Goa was award-
ed a penalty in the 32nd mi-
nute. Ortiz made amends,
scoring from the spot.
Goa’s joy was shortlived
as East Bengal midfielder
Amir Dervisevic curled a
free-kick from the edge of
the box to outsmart custo-
dian Dheeraj Singh in the
37th minute.
Goa continued to press
and went ahead again in the
44th minute when Perosevic
miscued a clearance into his
own goal.
In the second session, Pe-
rosevic made it 3-3 off a fine
counter-attack. But Goa had
the last laugh when Noguera
rounded off the scoring with
a 79th-minute strike.
The result: East Bengal 3 (Pe-
rosevic 26, 59, Dervisevic 37)
lost to FC Goa 4 (Noguera 14,
79, Ortiz 32-pen, Perosevic
44-og)
Today’s match: HFC vs BFC,
7.30 p.m.
“That photo speaks a
lot about the sporting
world and what sports can
do. Sport has the ability to
bring people together, not
only here but around the
world. So it was quite
special to be able to take a
photo like that.”
Nepo slips, Carlsen punishes him again
An error on the 27th move allows the Norwegian to take a 6-3 lead
Rakesh Rao
A fter a day’s rest, a new
look and a new opening
choice did not alter Ian Ne-
pomniachtchi’s fortunes.
His reputation of being
prone to committing blun-
ders in the least expected
stage of a game came true as
he suffered another confi-
dence-crushing loss in 39
moves.
Playing white, a desperate
Nepo blundered on the 27th
move with a pawn-push on
the queen’s side and even-
tually lost a bishop to hand
over champion Magnus Carl-
sen a third win in four games
for a 6-3 lead in their World
chess championship match
in Dubai on Tuesday.
With five games to go in
this best-of-14-game title-
match, Carlsen needs just 1.5
points to keep the title.
Asked about his view on
what possibly caused this
game-deciding blunder in a
World championship game,
Carlsen said, “I think it’s the
Hope it inspires children from the
Asian community, says Ajaz
AMOL KARHADKAR
MUMBAI
Ajaz Patel, who performed
the rarest of rare feats with a
Perfect-10 in the Wankhede
Test against India, hoped his
heroics would inspire the
Asian community in New
Zealand to take up the sport
and aspire to become spin
bowlers.
“Every time you go out
there, you’re hoping to be a
role model for the new gen-
eration. For me, being a
spinner is one of the most
difficult jobs while playing
cricket in New Zealand...
hopefully, after my achieve-
ment, there are going to be
more kids in New Zealand
who would pick up the ball
and want to become great
spinners,” said Ajaz at a vide-
oconference with the Indian
media on Tuesday.
“I hope it inspires chil-
dren from the Asian com-
munity. I hope it inspires pa-
rents from the Asian
communities to say ‘yes
there’s a pathway here’. If
they work hard, really com-
mit to it and have that drive,
Different day, same result: A break did nothing to help Nepo
who suffered yet another reverse against Carlsen. AFP
tension for sure. Ian is proba-
bly a bit more prone to blun-
dering than some other op-
ponents. It happened to
Vishy (Viswanathan Anand)
as well (in the 2013 world tit-
le match). He also made
some uncharacteristic errors
at the end. Pressure gets to
everybody.”
Nepo turned up for the
game having gotten rid of the
man bun. He opted for the
English opening, where he
looked very well prepared
and did have Carlsen think-
ing a bit longer in the initial
SPORT 13
Role model: Ajaz wants more kids back home in New Zealand
to take up the sport and become spinners. AFP
it’s really possible. There’s
nothing stopping them. I
guess my story is an exam-
ple.
“It’s really about hard
work and dedication. To do
that you need the support,
your family first and fore-
most and you need good pe-
ople around you, which I’ve
been fortunate to have had.”
Being a regular to India as
his paternal family is based
in Mumbai, Ajaz loves chick-
en lollipop and schezwan
India-D rides on Pooja,
takes on India-A in final
Sports Bureau
VIJAYAWADA
Captain Pooja Vastrakar
missed a well-deserved cen-
tury (96, 96b, 6x4, 4x6) but
helped India-D score a 22-
run win over India-A in the
final round to remain un-
beaten in three games and
make it to the final of the
BCCI Senior Women’s Chal-
lenger Trophy one-day
championship at the Mula-
padu Cricket Complex on
Tuesday.
India-A also made it to the
QUICK SINGLES
Two new faces in SA
squad for India series
JOHANNESBURG
Pacer Sisanda Magala and
wicketkeeper-batsman Ryan
Rickelton were the new faces
in South Africa’s 21-member
squad for the three-Test series
against India from Dec. 26.
The squad: Dean Elgar (Capt.),
Temba Bavuma (Vice-capt.),
Quinton de Kock (wk), Kagiso
Rabada, Sarel Erwee, Beuran
Hendricks, George Linde,
Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi,
Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder,
Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen,
Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle
Verreynne, Marco Jansen,
Glenton Stuurman, Prenelan
Subrayen, Sisanda Magala, Ryan
Rickelton, Duanne Olivier.
Williamson may be out of action for two months
WELLINGTON
New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson is likely to be out of action
for at least two months with an elbow tendon injury, Black Caps
coach Gary Stead has hinted. PTI
*
phase.
In an equal position, at a
point where even a possible
draw was not being contem-
plated, Nepo allowed Carlsen
to trap his bishop with a gen-
tle pawn-push and capture it
on the 31st move to take a
firm grip on the game. Eight
moves later, Nepo gave up.
On whether the match
was almost decided now,
Carlsen said, “ It’s not 100%
accurate. But it’s obviously
looking great now.”
As Nepo put it, “Two one-
move blunders in a row is a
*
sauce. “I love chicken lolli-
pop and feel schezwan
sauce is India’s No. 1 food
item. But on this tour, I have
been conscious about my
eating habits as I have been
looking after my body with
an eye on giving my best on
the field. When I come down
for a vacation next time, I
will make up for it.
“You have to be serious
nowadays to ensure you are
eating right to suit your per-
formance and recovery.”
title clash, scheduled for De-
cember 9, despite tying with
four points with the other
two teams — India-C and In-
dia-B — by virtue of better
net run-rate.
The scores: India-D 219/7 in 50
overs (Ayushi Soni 47, Pooja
Vastrakar 96, Renuka Singh 3/
47) bt India-A 197/7 in 50 overs
(Disha Kasat 51).
India-C 212 in 48.2 overs
(Priya Punia 60, Anushka Shar-
ma 63, Chandu V. Ram 5/40) bt
India-B 187/8 in 50 overs (Har-
leen Deol 46, Tarannum Path-
an 4/39).
Good knocks by
Kishan and Vihari
BLOEMFONTEIN
Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan
Kishan and skipper Hanuma
Vihari hit a fifty each to take
India-A to 229 for six in reply
to South Africa-A's 268 all out
at stumps on the second day
of the third ‘Test’ here on
Tuesday. Kishan was batting
on 86 off 141 balls, while
Vihari made 63 off 170 balls.
The scores: South Africa-A
268 in 94.5 overs (Sarel Erwee
75, Tony de Zorzi 58, Khaya
Zondo 56, Deepak Chahar
4/45, Navdeep Saini 3/51) vs
India-A 229/6 in 76.5 overs
(Hanuma Vihari 63, Ishan
Kishan 86 batting, Lutho
Sipamla 3/63). PTI
bit too much... a lack of con-
centration combined with
not the best luck.”
The moves: Game 9: White: Ne-
po; Black: Carlsen
1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 d4 4.
Nf3 Nc6 5. O-O Bc5 6. d3 Nf6 7.
Nbd2 a5 8. Nb3 Be7 9. e3 dxe3
10. Bxe3 Ng4 11. Bc5 O-O 12. d4
a4 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nc5 a3 15.
bxa3 Rd8 16. Nb3 Nf6 17. Re1
Qxa3 18. Qe2 h6 19. h4 Bd7 20.
Ne5 Be8 21. Qe3 Qb4 22. Reb1
Nxe5 23. dxe5 Ng4 24. Qe1
Qxe1+ 25. Rxe1 h5 26. Bxb7 Ra4
27. c5
c6 28. f3 Nh6 29. Re4 Ra7 30.
Rb4 Rb8 31. a4 Raxb7 32. Rb6
Rxb6 33. cxb6 Rxb6 34. Nc5 Nf5
35. a5 Rb8 36. a6 Nxg3 37. Na4
c5 38. a7 Rd8 39. Nxc5 Ra8. Ne-
po resigns.
A ND-NDE
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14 SPORT
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IN BRIEF
Hawks set team 3-point
record in sinking Wolves
MINNEAPOLIS
Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
made seven of Atlanta’s
franchise-record 25
3-pointers and scored a
season-high 23 points to help
the Hawks to a 121-110 win
over the Minnesota
Timberwolves here on
Monday.
The results: Hawks 121 bt
Timberwolves 110; 76ers 127
bt Hornets 124 (OT); Clippers
102 bt Trail Blazers 90;
Warriors 126 bt Magic 95;
Pacers 116 bt Wizards 110;
Bucks 112 bt Cavaliers 104;
Thunder 114 bt Pistons 103;
Grizzlies 105 bt Heat 90;
Bulls 109 bt Nuggets 97;
Suns 108 bt Spurs 104.
Reuters
Andreescu to take a
break to recover
WASHINGTON
Bianca Andreescu, the 2019
US Open champion, will take
a break from tennis and sit
out the start of next season,
including the Australian
Open, saying she wants to
“reset, recover, and grow”
after a challenging two years
that included getting
COVID-19. AP
Tottenham hit by
COVID-19 outbreak
LONDON
Tottenham’s plans for a busy
period of games have been
hurt by a coronavirus
outbreak at the club. A
number of first-team players
and two members of the
coaching staff have tested
positive ahead of further PCR
tests on Tuesday. AP
Bellingham fined
€40,000
DORTMUND
Borussia Dortmund midfielder
Jude Bellingham has been
fined €40,000 by the
German football federation
for comments about a referee
following his team’s
Bundesliga defeat to Bayern
Munich on Saturday. After
Bayern’s 3-2 win, Bellingham
told Norwegian broadcaster
Viaplay: “You give a referee
that’s, you know, match-fixed
before, the biggest game in
Germany, what do you
expect?” The federation’s
sports court fined the
18-year-old Bellingham for
“unsporting behavior”. AP
Forget to step down as
director of French Open,
Paris Masters
PARIS
Guy Forget is leaving his post
as director of the French
Open and Paris Masters tennis
tournaments as his contract
expires at the end of the year,
the French Tennis Federation
(FFT) said on Tuesday. “His
succession for the Paris Grand
Slam will be announced in the
coming days,” the FFT said in
a statement. REUTERS
Aman wins in
South Africa
Press Trust of India
Johannesburg
Indian shuttler Aman Fa-
rogh Sanjay claimed a se-
cond successive men’s sin-
gles title with a hard-fought
win over second seed Rob-
ert Summers in the finals of
the South Africa Interna-
tional Future Series here.
Aman, ranked 300, tri-
umphed 15-21, 21-16, 21-12.
The 21-year-old, who is
the reigning Khelo India
Youth Games champion,
had claimed the Botswana
International Future Series
title last week.
CM
YK
Delhi has the firepower to progress
Meets Jharkhand in the opening match on Wednesday; Hyderabad will look to do well too
HAZARE TROPHY
Shayan Acharya
Chandigarh
Shikhar Dhawan, Yuzvendra
Chahal, Harshal Patel and
Jaydev Unadkat are some of
the top names featuring in
Group C of the Vijay Hazare
Trophy beginning here on
Wednesday.
Led by the seasoned Pra-
deep Sangwan, Delhi has a
formidable line-up and Dha-
wan’s presence will bolster
the batting department that
already has Nitish Rana,
Dhruv Shorey and Anuj Ra-
wat.
Delhi begins against Jhark-
hand at the I.S. Bindra Crick-
et Stadium in Mohali.
With Ishank Jaggi and Sau-
rabh Tiwary spearheading
the batting unit, Jharkhand
has the firepower to stun fan-
cied sides.
The bowling department
looks promising, too, with
Varun Aaron and Anukul Roy
around.
Haryana has three India
It’s Manipur vs Railways again in the final
Both come off best in their last-four shoot-outs against Odisha and Mizoram
FOOTBALL
P.K. Ajith Kumar
KOZHIKODE
The women from Manipur
maintained their enviable re-
cord intact on Tuesday, but
only just.
They made it to the final
of the National senior wo-
men’s championship for the
24th time in 25 editions.
They needed a penalty
shoot-out to get past a reso-
lute Odisha at the Corpora-
tion Stadium, though; the
teams were tied 1-1 at the end
of extra time in the second
semifinal.
Earlier, the first semifinal
in which Railways beat Mizo-
ram, was also decided in the
shoot-out after the 1-1 draw.
That match went even furth-
er — to sudden death.
After a goalless opening
half, Railways took the lead
Do-or-die for Barca
All four teams in Group G still in
with a chance to advance
Potent opponent: Barcelona faces the onerous task of taking
on an in-form Bayern Munich led by Lewandowski, left. AFP
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Associated Press
London
Barcelona’s first Champions
League campaign without
Lionel Messi in nearly two
decades may come to an
end in the group stage if it
doesn’t find a way to beat
Bayern Munich on
Wednesday.
It would be the first time
since the 2003-04 season
that the Catalan club didn’t
play in the knockout stage of
the competition.
Barcelona is second to
Bayern in Group E, and two
points ahead of third-place
Benfica.
But a draw or a loss in
Germany would allow Benfi-
ca to advance with a home
win against already elimi-
nated Dynamo Kyiv.
Villarreal can advance in
Group F on Wednesday if it
avoids defeat at Atalanta,
which will move on with a
win.
Swiss team Young Boys
only has a slim chance of fin-
ishing third, needing a win
at group winner Manchester
United on Wednesday and
hoping for a favour from
Villarreal.
Big boost: Dhawan’s return will strengthen Delhi’s batting
department. FILE PHOTO *
internationals — Chahal, Har-
shal and Mohit Sharma — in
its ranks. Both Harshal and
Chahal come into the tourna-
ment after a successful stint
with the Indian team in the
T20I series against New Zea-
land.
Action packed: Manipur and Odisha players vie for the ball.
K. RAGESH
*
in the 70th minute through
Mamta. She finished off a
lovely move down the left
flank, orchestrated by Tara
Khatoon and herself.
Mizoram equalised in in-
jury time through an error
from the Railways goalkeep-
er Swarnamayee Samal, who
failed to gather the ball after
a cross from Elizabeth Van-
*
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
Wednesday’s matches
B Zenit vs Chelsea, Juventus
vs Malmo (11.15 p.m)
B Barcelona vs Bayern,
Benfica vs Dynamo Kyiv,
Atalanta vs Villarreal,
Manchester United vs
Young Boys, Wolfsburg vs
Lille, Salzburg vs Sevilla
(1.30 a.m. Wednesday)
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
In Group G, Lille, Salz-
burg, Sevilla and Wolfsburg
can still advance, with Lille
and Salzburg needing
draws.
Lille is at Wolfsburg and
Salzburg plays Sevilla.
Titleholder Chelsea will
be looking to clinch first
place in Group H, which is
more likely to secure an ea-
sier match in the last 16.
Chelsea is tied on points
with Juventus and is ahead
courtesy of a superior head-
to-head record, so a win at
Zenit St. Petersburg on Wed-
nesday will guarantee top
spot for the defending
champion.
Juventus finishes group
play at home to Malmo,
which won the Swedish
league on Saturday to retain
its title.
Haryana has a perfect
blend of experience and
youth with the likes of Chai-
tanya Bishnoi, Himanshu Ra-
na and Nitin Saini in the
team. However, with the
group stage promising to be
tough, Haryana needs to
lalmawii into the box. Lal-
nunsiami drove the ball
calmly into the empty cor-
ner.
Superb save
Swarnamayee, however, re-
deemed herself by bringing
off a superb save off the first
kick in the shoot-out, taken
by Grace Lalrampari Hauh-
KSLTA to host two
ATP Challengers
TENNIS
Sports Reporter
BENGALURU
The Karnataka State Lawn
Tennis Association (KSLTA)
will host two back-to-back
ATP Challenger 80 events,
starting February 7, 2022,
here.
The events will come as a
welcome relief for Indian
players who last played in a
Challenger at home back in
February 2020, just before
the COVID-19 pandemic, the
$162,480 ATP Bengaluru
Open.
The tournaments will fol-
low the ATP 250 Tata Open
Maharashtra in Pune ( Jan.
Madhurima
overcomes
Vaishnavi
SPORTS BUREAU
PUNE
Madhurima Sawant played
well at the crunch to beat
Vaishnavi Adkar 4-6, 6-3,
7-5 in the girls’ first round
of the Aryan Pumps ITF
Asian junior tennis cham-
pionship at the Deccan
Gymkhana on Tuesday.
In the pre-quarterfinals,
Madhurima will face fifth
seed Sandugesh Kezhi-
bayeva of Kazakhstan who
beat Lakshmi Prabha.
The results:
Boys (first round): Woobin
Shin (Kor) bt Shivam Kadam
6-4, 6-2; Aman Dahiya bt So
Ogiri (Jpn) 7-6(5), 6-1; Vi-
neeth Mutyala bt Dhananjay
Athreya 6-4, 6-2; Nishant Da-
bas bt Wyatt Obrien 6-2, 6-2.
Girls (first round): Aruzhan
Sagandikova (Kaz) bt Veda
Rajju Prapurna 6-0, 6-0;
Madhurima Sawant bt Vaish-
navi Adkar 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; San-
jana Sirimalla bt Asmi Adkar
6-3, 6-2.
WEDNESDAY’S FIXTURES
Elite A: At Mumbai: Andhra vs
Odisha, Gujarat vs J & K; At
Thane: Vidarbha vs Himachal.
Elite B (Thiruvananthapuram):
Tamil Nadu vs Mumbai, Baroda
vs Bengal, Karnataka vs
Pondicherry.
Elite C: At Mohali: Jharkhand vs
Delhi, Hyderabad vs Haryana;
At Chandigarh: UP vs
Saurashtra.
play aggressive cricket to
make the knockouts.
Led by Tanmay Agarwal,
Hyderabad comes with the
largest squad — 25 — to the
tournament. After falling in
the semifinal to Tamil Nadu
in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Tro-
phy recently, Hyderabad will
be keen to do better. Lack of
experience could, however,
hurt the side.
Lot to play for
After failing to progress past
the group stage in the Mush-
taq Ali Trophy, the Unadkat-
led Saurashtra has a lot to
nar. That would prove cru-
cial.
In the second semifinal,
the defending champion was
rattled early on by an own
goal by Yumlembam Pakpi
Devi — the Manipur defence
panicked following an Od-
isha counter-attack — but her
teammate Yangoijam Kiran-
bala Chanu put one into the
right goalpost with a brilliant
corner-kick that beat the
goalkeeper and everybody
else, in first half injury time.
In the shoot-out, Odisha
failed to score even once.
The final — a repeat of the
tournament’s last edition —
will be played on Thursday.
The results (semifinals): Mani-
pur (Yangoijam Kiranbala Chanu
45+3) 1 (3) bt Odisha (Yumlem-
bam Pakpi Devi 11-og) 1 (0).
Railways (Mamta 70) 1 (6) bt
Mizoram (Lalnunsiami 90+4) 1
(5).
31 to Feb. 6) and provide In-
dian players a three-tourna-
ment swing to garner much-
needed ATP ranking points,
in familiar conditions.
Each tournament will
guarantee a minimum of 80
points for the singles winner
and will have a total prize
purse of around $53,000.
“Our initial idea was to
host one tournament like al-
ways,” said KSLTA joint-se-
cretary Sunil Yajaman.
“But the ATP motivated
us and assured assistance if
we hosted two. So we
agreed. We will soon be ap-
proaching the government
and corporate organisations
for support.”
Meharin headlines Kerala gymnastics
Youngster sets sights on Khelo India Games next year
M.R. Praveen Chandran
Thiruvananthapuram
A few years ago a petite
nine-year-old girl walked in
nervously with her mother
at the D.J. Sports Club
where her younger brother
Mihraj was doing gymnas-
tics training.
It became a daily routine
for Meharin S. Saj and over a
period of time she was fasci-
nated by the acrobatics and
tricks performed by her
brother and other gym-
nasts.
Sensing talent
Coach D. Jayakumar sensed
Meharin had talent and
managed to convince her
orthodox parents to send
their daughter for training.
Six years later, Meharin
became the first gymnast
from Kerala to win a gold
medal in junior nationals.
Meharin won two gold
medals — allaround and
vault — and a bronze in floor
Elite D (Rajkot): MP vs Maha-
rashtra, Chhattisgarh vs Ut-
tarakhand, Kerala vs
Chandigarh.
Elite E (Ranchi): Punjab vs Ra-
jasthan, Goa vs Assam, Railways
vs Services.
Plate (Jaipur): Bihar vs
Mizoram, Tripura vs Arunachal
Pradesh, Meghalaya vs Sikkim,
Nagaland vs Manipur.
play for.
The skipper, along with
the promising Chetan Sakari-
ya, will lead the bowling de-
partment. There is depth in
batting, thanks to the pre-
sence of Sheldon Jackson,
Arpit Vasavda, and Harvik
Desai.
Saurashtra will start
against Uttar Pradesh.
Coached by former India
player Vijay Dahiya, Uttar
Pradesh has promising
players like Rinku Singh,
Akshdeep Nath and Priyam
Garg, but needs a spirited
show to progress.
Warner
nominated for
ICC award
David Warner. AFP
*
PRESS TRust of India
DUBAI
Australian opener David
Warner, Pakistan batter
Abid Ali and New Zealand
fast bowler Tim Southee
were on Tuesday shortlist-
ed for the ICC men’s
player-of-the-month award
for November.
Left-arm spinners Anam
Amin of Pakistan and Nahi-
da Akter of Bangladesh are
in the running to scoop the
women’s award, alongside
West Indies all-rounder Ha-
ley Matthews.
The nominations for the
month of November were
announced based on per-
formances across formats
and including matches
from the ICC Men’s T20
World Cup in the United
Arab Emirates and Oman.
An independent ICC
Voting Academy and fans
around the world can vote
to decide the winners,
which will be announced
next week. Fans are invited
to cast their votes until
Sunday.
Warner, who was player-
of-the-tournament at the
T20 World Cup, had stan-
dout performances of 49 in
the semifinal against Pakis-
tan and 53 in the final
against New Zealand.
Great potential: Meharin
won two golds and a bronze.
* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
exercise in the 56th Junior
National Artistic Gymnastics
held in Jammu and Kashmir
recently.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021
Neeraj Chopra lands
in US for training
ATHLETICS
Stan Rayan
KOCHI
Olympic champion Neeraj
Chopra landed at the Chula
Vista Elite Athlete Training
Centre in California on Mon-
day for a three-month train-
ing period ahead of next
year’s Commonwealth
Games, Asian Games and
World
Championships.
Athletics
“It is one of the top train-
ing centres in the US, he will
be there for 90 days and it’s
only for general prepara-
tion,” Radhakrishnan Nair,
the chief National athletics
coach, told The Hindu on
Tuesday.
“He will return to India in
the first week of March and
will take part in domestic
competitions.”
His coach Klaus Barto-
nietz and physio Ishaan
Sabari crowned WBC
India champion
J. Sabari strikes a pose.
BOXING
Sports Bureau
Chennai
J. Sabari from Chennai was
crowned as the first-ever
World Boxing Council India
champion at the Hell’s Bay
Pro Boxing Fight Night at
Gachibowli Stadium, Hyde-
rabad on Sunday.
Hailing from Tamil Nadu,
Sabari was pitted against
Akashdeep Singh from Pa-
<
> Iand
saw a spark in her
her keen
interest in the sports
convinced me to talk
to her parents
Jayakumar
Meharin’s coach
“I came to the nationals
hoping for a medal in vault
which is my strongest event.
I had entered the finals of
vault and floor exercises in
the previous nationals. I
never expected to win the
allaround gold and it cer-
tainly came as a surprise,”
said the 15-year-old, who is a
big fan of Russian gymnast
Aliya Mustafina.
Persistence pays
“I saw a spark in her and her
keen interest in the sport
convinced me to talk to her
parents. But it was not easy
to get their consent. Howev-
er, I persisted and they final-
ly agreed to send Meharin
for training.
DELHI THE HINDU
Neeraj Chopra.
Marwaha have also accom-
panied the javelin thrower
to the US.
Neeraj was sent to the US,
with the Sports Authority of
India clearing the Athletics
Federation of India’s propo-
sal in a matter of hours, af-
ter the earlier plan to send
him to South Africa was can-
celled owing to fears over
the Omicron variant of the
coronavirus.
*
SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
tiala for the first-ever WBC
India Title fight in the Wel-
terweight division in an
eight-round contest.
It was an extremely close
fight with the bout decided
on points scored by the
three judges. The final
scores were 76 -76, 73-79, 73-
79. The first judge scored
the fight as a draw while the
second and third judges
scored the fight in favour of
Sabari.
“She is hard working and
what she achieved is a
bench mark for Kerala gym-
nastics. She trained with li-
mited facilities at the club
and got the opportunity to
use modern equipment at
the Jimmy George indoor
stadium only for two days
and that put her in good
stead in the nationals.
Can improve
“She can definitely improve
and can win medals for In-
dia if she is given a chance to
train regularly with modern
equipments,’’ said Jayaku-
mar, a former national
medallist.
The 10th standard stu-
dent of Government Cotton
Hill High School has set her
eyes on the Khelo India
games next year.
“My aim is to repeat this
performance in Khelo India
games and to win medals
for India. I am working hard
for that,’’ she said.
A ND-NDE
 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2021 follow us:

thehindu.com
facebook.com/thehindu
twitter.com/the_hindu
instagram.com/the_hindu

Damages for fake news Urban development COVID Insurance claims COVID support Fastest five-fers
In $billion, the amount in In ₹cr, the amount The number of In million, the number The number of innings that Axar

150 damages sought by the

Rohingya refugees from
Facebook (via its parent
Meta) through a class
action suit filed in the U.S. Lawyers
filing the suit have said that Facebook
did not do enough to prevent
2,074 of two loan
agreements that
the Government
has inked with the
Asian Development Bank for an
affordable housing project in Tamil
Nadu and a water sanitation
1,509 families of health
workers who died
due to COVID-19
and were found
eligible to receive ₹50 lakh each under
the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan
Package scheme for COVID-19 warriors.
72.3 of COVID-19 vaccine
doses India has
supplied to 94
countries and two UN
entities since the start of Vaccine Maitri
this year. India has also supplied
COVID-19-related medical and other
7 Patel bowled to pick up his
five-wicket hauls which is the
second lowest for any Test
bowler. Australia's Rodney Hogg
achieved the milestone in just 6 innings
in 1978, while Axar shares the honour
with Charlie Turner of Australia
incitement of violence against the programme in Uttarakhand. In Tamil The insurance scheme was launched on assistance to over 150 countries since (1887-1888) and Tom Richardson of
Rohingya in Myanmar. Facebook has Nadu, housing units will be March 30, 2020, to provide the beginning of the pandemic. During England (1893-95) for having picked
responded that it was “too slow to constructed in nine locations and comprehensive personal accident cover the second wave, India received the hauls in only 7 innings. However,
prevent misinformation” but was not 6,000 households vulnerable to to healthcare providers including support (COVID-19-related equipment duing the Test against New Zealand at
liable for the effects of it on its natural hazards will be relocated to community and private health workers and medicines) from more than 50 the Wankhade stadium, Axar had to be
platform. The Myanmar military killed safer locations. In Uttarakhand, 136 km who may have been in direct contact countries, which included supplies satisfied with only 3 wickets as fellow
thousands of Rohingya in a violent of water pipe system will be with COVID-19 patients and may be at from private companies and Indian spinners R .Ashwin and Jayant Yadav
series of incidents in August 2017. constructed in South Dehradun. PTI risk of being impacted. PTI associations abroad. PTI did most of the damage. ESPNCRICINFO
compiled by the hindu data team
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

EXPLAINER

The India-Russia military alliance

What is the status of the defence sales between Russia and India? Apart from sales, what other forms of military
co-operation have the two countries agreed to?

THE GIST
DINAKER PERI

The story so far: At the 20th meeting of

B At the 20th meeting of
the India-Russia
Inter-Governmental
Commission on Military &
Military Technical
Cooperation, the two sides
concluded four agreements,
contracts and protocols
which includes manufacture
of over six lakh (AK)-203
assault rifles in India and
the renewal of the military
cooperation agreement till
2031.
B The defence trade
between India and Russia
since 2018 has crossed $15
billion. Both sides are now
looking to move from
licence manufacture to joint
research and
co-development of defence
equipment.
B Beyond defence sales, a
Reciprocal Exchange of
Logistics Agreement
(RELOS), as well as a Navy
to Navy cooperation MoU
are at advanced stages of
the India-Russia Inter-Governmental
Commission on Military & Military Technical
Cooperation on Monday, the two sides
concluded four agreements, contracts and a
protocol. While three documents were
signed by the officials of the two sides, the
protocol was signed by the two Defence
Ministers. This includes an agreement for
manufacture of over 6 lakh AK-203 assault
rifles in India and the renewal of the
agreement on military cooperation till 2031.
The two sides have reaffirmed their
long-standing and deep-rooted defence and
strategic cooperation through the visit.
What is the status of the defence trade
between the two countries?
Russia continues to be among India’s biggest
defence suppliers and the two sides are now
looking to move from licence manufacture to
joint research and co-development of
defence equipment. Monday’s agreement
will see the manufacture of 6,01,427 AK-203
7.63X39mm assault rifles by a Joint Venture,
Indo-Russian Rifles Private Ltd, at Korwa,
Amethi, in U.P. This is among a series of
defence agreements signed between the two discarding sabot (APFSDS) rounds for the pandemic. The two sides are now looking at Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in Military asset: T-90S tanks
sides in the last few years. Russia has started T-90S tanks as also additional T-90S tanks. expanding format of exercises to make them 2019. This is in the process of being on display during the
deliveries of the S-400 Triumf long-range air Some of the largest deliveries by Russia to more complex, more sophisticated for implemented. With increased competition Republic Day parade at
defence systems to India. The first division India since 2000, include supply and exchange of experiences with regard to real from the U.S., France, Israel and others who Rajpath in New Delhi in
will be delivered by the end of 2021, Dmitry licensed production of T-90S tanks, aircraft time combat situations, including have bagged major deals in recent years, 2011. PTI*

conclusion. The two sides

Shugaev, Director of Federal Service for
are now looking at
expanding format of
Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC),
exercises to make them said recently. With the $5.43 billion S-400 as
more complex as well at well as other big ticket deals, the defence
ideas for expanding trade between India and Russia since 2018
India-Russia cooperation in has crossed $15 billion. Mr. Shugaev added
Central Asia. that Russia’s sales with India is about 25% of
the total arms exports.
There are several other big-ticket deals
currently under negotiation and expected to
be concluded in the near future. These
include procurement of 21 Mig-29s and 12
Su-30MKI fighters, Igla-S short-range air
defence systems and the long-delayed deal
for manufacture of 200 K-226T utility
helicopters in India for which officials say
the issues surrounding the indigenisation
plan are yet to be resolved.
In addition to the S-400, other major
contracts currently under implementation
are construction of additional stealth frigates
in Russia and India, licensed production of
the Mango Armour-piercing (fin-stabilized)
carrier INS Vikramaditya, Krivak class
stealth frigates, licence production of
Su-30MKI fighter aircraft, Smerch multiple
rocket launchers and Mi-17V-5 helicopters
among others.
What are the other avenues of
cooperation other than defence sales?
On a broader military cooperation, a
bilateral logistics support agreement,
Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement
(RELOS), as well as a Navy to Navy
cooperation MoU are at advanced stages of
conclusion. The RELOS, which has seen
several delays, gives India access to Russian
facilities in the Arctic region which is seeing
increased global activity as new shipping
routes open up and in the backdrop, India’s
own investments in the Russian Far East.
Underscoring the deep military to military
partnership, the two countries have held a
series of exercises both bilateral and
multilateral, even during the COVID
mobilisation of forces and their
transportation across long distances, instant
exercises, the impact of cyber, and the huge
impact of drone technology on modern
warfare, officials said.
In addition, the two countries are also
looking at ideas for expanding India-Russia
cooperation in Central Asia and “possibility
of supplementing bilateral exercises with
trilateral and multilateral ones – we are in
discussion with the Russian side”, the
outgoing Indian Envoy in Russia D.B.
Venkatesh Varma, told The Hindu in August.
What is the future trajectory of the
defence cooperation?
Timely supply of spares and support to the
large inventory of Russian hardware in
service with Indian military has been a
major issue from India. To address this,
Russia has made legislative changes allowing
its companies to set up joint ventures in
India to address it following an
Russia is also focusing on timely deliveries
and lifetime support.
Russia will remain a key defence partner
for India for decades to come, Mr. Varma
had said. In line with India’s quest for self
sufficiency, the partnership is reorienting
presently to joint research and development,
co-development and joint production of
advanced defence technology and systems,
the joint statement issued at the end of the
visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin
said.
In line with this, the two countries have
been discussing how they can cooperate in
using India as a production base for
exporting to third countries Russian-origin
equipment and services. “Today we are
conducting joint research work on more
than 100 promising topics, laying the huge
groundwork for the development of
high-tech industry in both countries in the
future,” said Alexander Mikheev, Director
General of Rosoboronexport on Monday.

EXPLAINER

Trump’s social media venture gets a funding boost

What is Trump doing to overcome the social media bans imposed on him? What is TRUTH Social and how has it raised capital?
Ishan Patra

The story so far: On December 4,

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp.
(TMTG), founded by former U.S.
President Donald Trump, and Digital
World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC)
announced that the latter has raised $1
billion promised investment from “a
diverse group of institutional investors”.
DWAC, which has signed a merger
agreement with TMTG, plans to use the
funds to support the former president’s
new social media venture.
Why was TMTG founded?
Mr. Trump, who was active on social
media platforms like Twitter, Facebook
and Instagram with millions of followers,
was permanently banned from these
platforms after the January 6 attack on
the U.S. Capitol Hill. His accounts also
blatantly spread misinformation about
the election results in the U.S. among
other subjects with some of them flagging
messages regularly. Mr Trump and his
in particular. Mr Trump has tried to
overcome this ban by creating his own
network.
TMTG was founded in February 2021
“to create a rival to the liberal media
consortium and fight back against the
‘Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley”.
Eight months later, the social media and
technology company announced its
merger with DWAC and unveiled its plan
investment and the former President
understands that. “Since it is both hard
and expensive to build a new platform
totally independent of Big Tech’s
infrastructure, it would have to be an
The Financial Industry Regulatory
Authority requested a review of trading
in DWAC’s stock that preceded the
announcement of the merger agreement.
DWAC also received a request from the
THE GIST
B Former U.S. President
extremely well-funded, multi-year Securities and Exchange Commission Donald Trump, who was
undertaking,” Mr. Trump had said in a which sought documents relating to active on social media
release. meetings of DWAC’s Board of Directors, platforms like Twitter and
The agreement with DWAC not only the identities of certain investors, and Facebook was permanently
brings investment to the former certain documents and communications banned, for spreading
President’s firm but also helps transition between DWAC and TMTG, it noted in the misinformation, from these
platforms after the January
the private company to a publicly traded filing.
6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
one. Hill.
DWAC, a special purpose acquisition What impact will TMTG have on
company (SPAC), went public in other platforms?
B To overcome this ban and
September, raising about $293 million. In addition to TRUTH Social, TMTG plans
increase his social media
huge presence on Twitter, yet your SPACs are created to raise investments to launch a subscription prescence, the TMTG
favourite American President has been through an initial public offering to video-on-demand service, TMTG+, which founded by Mr. Trump and
silenced,” Mr. Trump had said in a acquire an existing operating company. will feature entertainment programming, the DWAC announced that
release. The social network, which is After the $1 billion investment, DWAC news, and podcasts. The launch of the latter has raised $1
expected to roll out in the first quarter of has approximately $1.25 billion that it TMTG+ may further intensify competition billion promised investment
2022. TRUTH Social intends to take on intends to use to fund the operations of in the video streaming space, where to start a new social
the aforementioned platforms and at the the new combined business entity. established players like Netflix and network called the TRUTH
Social.
same time provide Mr. Trump an avenue “As our balance sheet expands, TMTG Disney+ are already exploring new
to reach his followers. He had 89 million will be in a stronger position to fight back grounds.
followers on Twitter and 57 million against the tyranny of Big Tech,” Mr. Mr. Trump’s social media venture B The agreement with

associates' repeated lying, especially on to launch a social network named followers on the Meta platforms before Trump said in a statement. potentially aims to get a portion of “Big DWAC brings investment to
the elections, has successfully created an ‘TRUTH Social’. the ban. DWAC said in a recent regulatory filing Tech’s” global audience. As of Q3 2021, the former President’s firm
and will help it to transition
alternate reality among Republican “I created TRUTH Social and TMTG to that it has received certain preliminary, Netflix has 214 million paid members,
to a publicly-traded
supporters. Several associates are facing stand up to the tyranny of Big Tech. We How did TMTG use the DWAC? fact-finding inquiries from regulatory and Twitter has 211 million average company.
defamation suits for lying on the elections live in a world where the Taliban has a Creating a social network requires authorities. monetisable daily active users.
CM S ND-NDE
YK
wednesday, december 8, 2021
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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books on
Empire
A discussion on five books
which analyse various
colonial histories
Sudipta Datta

Against impunity: Students of Jawaharlal Navodaya Vidyalaya, Khumbong, burn down their textbooks in support of the popular demand to repeal AFSPA in Manipur, Imphal, in 2004 * PTI Barbados was one of England’s first slave co-
lonies which became a sugar plantation eco-
nomy. It shed its colonial yoke in 1966 after
FROM THE ARCHIVES independence, but it took till November 2021
to cut off ties with the Queen (Elizabeth II)

AFSPA: Who rules India? and the Commonwealth. In his speech on

Barbados becoming the newest republic,
Prince Charles mentioned the “appalling
atrocity of slavery” which “forever stains our
history.”
In her 2002 book, Captives: Britain, Em-
The problems in troubled areas such as Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the Northeast should be pire and the World, 1600-1850, Linda Colley
writes that “certain Native American peoples,
solved through a political process and not through a law that violates people's right to life and dignity like certain Pacific peoples, were wiped out
by the germs English, Welsh, Scottish and Ir-
impunity in the name of national security? For the honour of the army is involved and national ish intruders carried with them, or subse-

THE GIST
Walter Fernandes
whose security was the law enacted, for that of security requires the law. In what way does lack of quently hunted to death by land-hungry set-
Following the botched Army operation in the country or of the criminals in uniform? action against rape protect the honour of the tlers; while Africans transported as slaves
Nagaland that resulted in the tragic death of 14 Whenever some change is suggested in the Act the army? across the Atlantic experienced an atrocity
civilians, demands for the repeal of the Armed army seems to oppose it and the civilian that was not peculiar to the British empire,
B The Government cannot Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) have gained government buckles under its pressure. For Proliferation of militant groups but was certainly fostered by it.”
make the Armed Forces momentum. In this piece dated February 12, 2013, example, when the Jeevan Commission appointed One can question AFSPA even from the security Sathnam Sanghera narrates the legacy and
Special Powers Act (AFSPA) Walter Fernandes argues that AFSPA has not only to inquire into the alleged rape and murder of point of view. It was enacted in 1958 on an impact of imperial policies on social, eco-
more human because the provided blanket impunity to the armed forces in 30-year old Manorama Devi of Imphal in Manipur experimental basis for six months as a measure nomic and political spheres of both the colo-
army does not want it
disturbed areas but also failed from the security arrested by the Assam Rifles suggested that the against “terrorist” groups in the North East. It was niser and the colonised. In Empireland: How
diluted, leave alone
repealed. point of view, with militant groups continuing to law should be repealed and the clauses that are applied first in Nagaland, in 1980 in Manipur, later Imperialism has Shaped Modern Britain,
grow. He argues that the problems in troubled required should be integrated with other All India in Jammu and Kashmir and over the decades in Sanghera points out that the African World
areas such as Jammu and Kashmir and parts of laws the Government did not even publish the more areas of the North East. What was enacted Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commis-
B Many committees have
the Northeast should be solved through a political report. The Hindu procured it “illegally” and for six months has remained for more than five sion had suggested in August 1999 the sum of
been set up to review the
AFSPA. In 2005 the Jeevan
process and not through a law that violates uploaded it on its website. decades. In 1958 there was one “terrorist” group $777 trillion “as a suitable sum for reparations
Reddy Commission said that people's right to life and dignity. Edited excerpts: in the North East. Manipur had two groups when paid as compensation for lives lost during the
AFSPA should be repealed Finally a senior Union Minister has made Impunity under AFSPA the State was brought under the Act. Today, African slave trade and the gold, diamonds
and the clauses that are official what many knew already. The Government After the Verma Commission Report said that Manipur has more than twenty such groups, and other resources stolen from the conti-
required should be included cannot even make the Armed Forces Special security persons who rape women should be tried Assam has not less than fifteen, Meghalaya has nent during colonisation.” British institutions
in other Acts. Similiarly, the Powers Act (AFSPA) more human because the under the civilian law, the Union Law Minister five of them and other States have more groups. including top banks (Barclays, Lloyds), rail-
Justice Verma Commission army does not want it diluted, leave alone said in an interview on NDTV that there are How does the army explain this proliferation of ways and even newspapers are tainted by
also said that security repealed. In his K. Subramanyam Memorial problems in implementing these suggestions. militant groups in spite of the Act? Has it served slavery money, says Sanghera, and that the
persons who rape women
Lecture on February 6, 2013 at the Institute of its purpose? British museum houses “a load of imperial
should be judged under the CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

same act that applies to Defence Studies Mr P. Chidambaram said “We One is also told that the armed forces will not loot”. He writes how the popularity of South
civilians. can’t move forward because there is no For whose security was the law enacted, be able to remain in the North East or Jammu and Asian textiles was boosted by the British royal
consensus. The present and former Army Chiefs for that of the country or of the criminals Kashmir if the law is repealed. That is a lie. The family, with Queen Victoria accepting a shawl
B One can question AFSPA
have taken a strong position that the Act should in uniform? army is deployed all over India without such a from the Maharaja of Kashmir each year.
even from the security point
not be amended (and) do not want the law. When the Kashmir Valley was annexed to the
of view. It was enacted in government notification … to be taken back. How During a TV discussion another Union minister Those who demand its repeal do not ask the empire in 1846, the “treaty stated that the lo-
1958 on an experimental does the government … make the AFSPA a more said that because of its slow legal process the army to leave any region. They only want the cal maharaja was to pay a yearly tribute of
basis for six months against humanitarian law?” ( The Hindu, February 7, public does not know the punishment meted out armed forces to serve the country under the ‘one horse, 12 shawl goats… and three pairs of
“terrorist” groups in 2013). by the army. They did not specify the constraints Constitution without a law that allows abuses with Kashmir shawls’.” For the Revenue Commit-
Nagaland. Now, the law has or the legal action taken. A search of the records impunity. There is no reason why a rapist or tee room of East India House, the East India
been deployed in more than Whose country is it? shows very few cases of trial leave alone of murderer should have a separate law only Company commissioned a painting by Spiri-
three states over five
The first question it raises is: “Who rules India: punishment. For example, no action has been because he belongs to the armed forces. Take for dione Roma. Titled The East Offering its Rich-
decades and “terrorist”
groups have increased.
The elected representatives or the army?” The taken in the Manorama Devi case. On December granted for a moment that all the women whom es to Britannia, it shows “a dark-skinned cha-
second is “Why does the army oppose even 23, 2005 a group of university students entered a they rape are terrorists. Why should they be racter representing India willingly offering a
dilution of the Act to make it more human?” The railway compartment at Kokrajhar in Assam, not raped? Why can they not be dealt with under the pale Britannia all her jewellery and treasures,
Justice Verma Commission has said in knowing that armed security persons from law of the land? These actions do not add to the turning violent looting into an act of peaceful
unequivocal terms that security persons who rape Haryana were travelling in it. The jawans closed honour of the armed forces or to the security of benevolence.”
women should be judged under the same act that the doors of the compartment and tried to molest India. They only violate people’s right to a life In The Tears of the Rajas, Ferdinand
applies to the civilians. A similar stand has been the students. Alerted by their shouts the Bodo with dignity and cannot be justified in a Mount admits that Britain has been energetic
taken by others. In 2005 the Jeevan Reddy student union stopped the train and tried to take democratic country. in writing about the misdeeds and misfor-
Commission said that AFSPA should be repealed action on the jawans. The police opened fire on Civilians have been elected to rule the country. tunes of other peoples, “but we have kept
and the clauses that are required should be them and four students died. No action has been They have a duty to ensure that the security rather quiet about our own,” and that not un-
included in other Acts. Mr R. N. Ravi, former head taken till today. forces work under the Constitution. The problems til the publication of Paul Scott’s Raj quartet
of the Intelligence Bureau for the North East is on One can give many more such instances that in the North East and in Kashmir should be solved (The Jewel in the Crown series) in the late
record that AFSPA is the biggest obstacle to peace have gone unreported or have been hushed up. In through a political process and not through a law 1960s did they consider discussing the sub-
in the region. Former Home Secretary Mr G. K. a recent case in Assam the local people caught the that violates people’s right to life and dignity with ject of two centuries of British rule in India.
Pillai has come out openly against the Act. These jawan so the army promised action against him. impunity. Mount recounts the history of the British in
statements are not emotional outbursts. They He was jailed for three months. People in Jammu They need confidence building measures (CBM) India through the eyes of a Scottish family,
come from persons who have worked in the and Kashmir speak of a large number of women in order to move towards peace with justice. What the Lows of Clatto, who “lived through the
system and know the dynamics of the Act and of who have been violated but the armed forces have better CBM can one suggest than repealing the most appalling atrocities and retaliated with
running the Government. gone unpunished. So the women live with a sense AFSPA? some of their own.”
But the army is opposing even this change. of shame. Some of them testified before the The author, is former director and at present In his classic study, The Break-Up of Bri-
What is their rationale for thinking that security Verma Commission and its recommendation Senior Fellow at North Eastern Social Research tain: Crisis and Neo-Nationalism, Tom Nairn
persons who rape innocent women should enjoy stems from their testimony. One is also told that Centre, Guwahati. argues that the old British order is “a compo-
site of archaism, incorrigible economic fai-
lure, backward-looking complacency, indu-
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rate social conservatism, and blind will to
survive in the same historic form.” In the in-
THE DAILY QUIZ troduction, Anthony Barnett says Nairn’s mo-
tivation to continually reassess Britain’s past,
Today marks, officially, the second anniversary of the first recorded COVID-19 case (with onset of symptoms in present and future is to work out how to res-
the first patient) in the world - in Wuhan, China. Here's a quiz related to the dreaded pandemic that has pond and move forward in a profoundly
changing world, not a desire to prove that
upended the world one was right or confess where one was
wrong.
Priyamvada Gopal dismisses the argument
1 A Nobel prize winner in chemistry, the
American scientist Kary Mullis played a
major role in the invention of a technique in
3 This woman biochemist and the winner of
the prestigious Lasker-DeBakey Clinical
Medical Research Award holds the patent
! This visual shows an image of a prototype from a
patent titled, "Method and Apparatus for the electrostatic
charging of a web film". What did this method and
that the Empire alone spread ideas of free-
dom and democracy and shows how Britain’s
1985 and which is now universally used and jointly with another scientist for a technology apparatus achieve and what has it been used to colonies were “active agents in their own lib-
recognised in the world during the pandemic. that was licensed by Pfizer BioNTech and manufacture extensively during the pandemic? Name the eration, shaping British ideas of freedom and
Name the technique and its application. Moderna to develop their COVID-19 vaccines. lead inventor. * emancipation.” In Resurgent Empire, she de-
Name the biochemist. monstrates how the colonised people were
2 This ophthalmologist at a Wuhan hospital
was one of eight doctors who first
identified SARS like symptoms in patients in 4 A sanitation worker from Najafgarh,
Delhi, what distinction does Manish
more than “victims of imperialism, they were
insurgents whose legacies shaped and bene-
Wuhan and linked it to a market, believing it to Kumar hold according to the Indian fited the nation that once oppressed them.”
be the source of the virus. Later it was found to government? (An exact answer, please) Please send in your answers to the
be a novel coronavirus, but the doctor and dailyquiz@thehindu.co.in
others were reprimanded by the Wuhan police
for spreading "false information". The doctor
died of COVID-19 in February 2020 and was
5 Of all the vaccines approved for use by the
WHO, which is the one that is approved in
most countries? Answers to the previous day’s daily quiz: 1. 2019, 2.
later awarded the May 4 Medal by the Chinese Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), Kerala, 3. John
Government after widespread public sympathy F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, 4. Aer Lingus of For feedback and suggestions for
for his actions. Name him. Ireland, 5. An elephant calf, which Air India later presented Text & Context, please write to
to him, 6. Australia's Qantas, 7. Uganda Airlines letters@thehindu.co.in with the
subject ‘Text & Context’
Early Birds: Upendra Bapat| Vishakha Jain| Mohammad
Compiled by: Srinivasan Ramani Kiron Karim| Misam Mahmood| Pooja Khyalia
CM S ND-NDE
YK