02 NEW DELHI

TUESDAY
DECEMBER 21, 2021

Page One Plus

{ MY INDIA } AFSPA { MY INDIA } UNNAO { SPORT } OMICRON THREAT { MY INDIA } MAHARASHTRA { BUSINESS } DISINVESTMENT

Nagaland adopts Sengar discharged India-SA cricket series to be Minister apologises CCI nod to Tata’s Air
repeal resolution in 2019 accident case held behind closed doors for remark on actor India acquisition

The Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) on
Monday unanimously adopted a five-point
resolution demanding the repeal of the Armed Forces
(Special Powers) Act, 1958, (Afspa) from Nagaland and
the northeast region. The House strongly denounced
the killings of civilians in the Oting area of Mon
district on December 4 by security forces in a
botched military operation. The controversial Act
empowers security forces operating in “disturbed
areas” to maintain and control public order. “The
Nagaland Legislative Assembly unanimously resolves
to demand that the Government of India repeal the
AFSPA 1958 from the North East and specifically from
Nagaland so as to strengthen the ongoing efforts to
find a peaceful political settlement to the Naga
political issue,” the resolution stated. The state
Assembly had previously adopted resolutions for
Afspa withdrawal in 1971 and 2015. →P8
A Delhi court on Monday discharged expelled
Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and rape accused
Kuldeep Singh Sengar and five others in the 2019
accident case of Unnao rape survivor, saying that
there was no evidence of criminal conspiracy or to
extend threat to kill the rape survivor or her family
for their refusal to settle the pending court cases.
Sengar would continue to remain in jail as he is
serving life imprisonment following his conviction in
the rape case. The accident took place in 2019 when
the rape victim was on her way with her two aunts
and lawyer to Rae Bareli. While her aunts died, her
lawyer was injured. Later, the lawyer succumbed to
the injuries. The victims’ relatives alleged that the
accident was a ploy by Sengar, and a murder and an
attempt to murder case was filed against Sengar. HTC
Amid the threat of Omicron variant of coronavirus looming large,
the upcoming cricket series between India and South Africa beginning
Sunday will be will be played without spectators due to a wave of
Covid-19 infections, Cricket South Africa (CSA) said on Monday. The CSA
said in a statement that the decision to play behind closed doors had
been taken jointly with the Indian cricket board. “This decision was
taken in order to avoid any breaches that could compromise the tour
from a COVID-risk perspective and to also maintain a hazard-free
bubble environment,” the statement read. It said that the decision was
made in the best interest of the game as well as the health and safety of
players and staff. South Africa host India in a three-test series beginning
on Sunday in Centurion. The teams are also scheduled to play three one-
day internationals starting from January 19. The new coronavirus variant
was first detected in southern Africa. →P19
Maharashtra minister and senior Shiv Sena
leader Gulabrao Patil apologised on Sunday for his
day-old remark in which he compared roads in his
constituency to Bollywood actor Hema Malini’s
cheeks, hours after the state women’s commission
took strong objection to the remark and demanded a
public apology from the leader. “I didn’t mean to hurt
anybody. I apologise for the comments. I belong to
the Shiv Sena...Party founder Balasaheb Thackeray
has taught us to respect women,” Patil said. A video
of his remarks, made on Saturday while addressing
an election meeting for the nagar panchayat polls,
went viral on social media. “Those who have been
MLAs for 30 years should come to my constituency
and see the roads. If they are not like Hema Malini’s
cheeks, then I will resign,” Patil had said. PTI
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on
Monday approved the acquisition of shareholding in
Air India Limited, Air India Express Limited (AIXL) and
Air India SATS Airport Services Private Ltd (AISATS) by
Talace Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Tata Sons. As per an official statement from CCI, the
proposed combination envisages acquisition of 100%
equity share capital of Air India Limited (Air India) and
AIXL, and 50% equity share capital of AISATS by
Talace Pvt Ltd. Talace, is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Tata Sons. Tata Sons is an investment holding
company, which is registered as a core investment
company with the Reserve Bank of India and
classified as a “Systemically Important Non-Deposit
Taking Core Investment Company”. Air India and AIXL
provide domestic and international air passenger and
cargo transport services, while ISATS provides ground
and cargo handling services. AGENCIES

{ VARIANT WATCH } B.1.1.529 { SPACE RESEARCH }

What we know IN SEARCH OF THE UNKNOWN

about Omicron The James Webb telescope, the world’s most powerful telescope, is all set to look farther into space, find the oldest stars and
uncover new mysteries. If all goes well, that is By: Rachel Lopez
reduction in severity compared to
Binayak Dasgupta 21 X 14 M
binayak.dasgupta@htlive.com
Delta, very high numbers of infec-
tions would still lead to significant DEC 24 LAUNCH MISSION GOALS WEBB FACTFILE Primary

NEW DELHI: Is the Omicron vari-
ant indeed milder?
Experts based in South Africa,
where the variant was first
detected in the Gauteng province,
have said that they think so. Their
assessment is largely based on
comparisons of how fewer hospi-
tal beds have filled up at the
beginning of the Omicron wave,
compared with the trajectory of
the Delta-triggered wave.
At present, the South African
experts stress, this is not enough
to make a sound conclusion of
Omicron being milder. Experts in
the UK, which has the second-
largest Omicron outbreak, agree
data is inadequate for such a con-
clusion. In fact, UK experts say
preliminary signs indicate there
may be no difference in severity at
all. This assessment was part of
discussions in the latest meeting
of UK’s top medical experts body,
the Scientific Advisory Group for
Emergencies (SAGE).
“Although a preliminary analy-
sis from South Africa suggests
that this wave may be less severe
than previous waves, a compari-
son of SGTF (mainly Omicron)
and SGTP (non-Omicron) cases
within this wave suggests less dif-
ference between variants,” said
the situation update discussed at
the meeting, according to min-
utes published on Saturday.
It is too early to reliably assess
the severity of disease caused by
Omicron, the experts said, and
“some severity estimates should
start to become available in about
a week as hospital data accumu-
late”. Crucially, the update added,
“even if there were to be a modest
pressure on hospitals”.
Over the weekend, one of
South Africa’s top experts, Tulio
de Oliveira, urged caution on
interpreting the situation in Gaut-
eng province. “Gauteng gets quite
empty and 100,000s of migrant
workers and holiday makers
leave,” he said in response to
reports seeing signs that the out-
break there may have peaked.
Even if Omicron’s inherent vir-
ulence is the same as other vari-
ants, it is likely to manifest in
milder disease in populations
with high past exposure or vacci-
nation rates.
Research identifies new
Omicron strength
Researchers from Ohio State Uni-
versity released findings that cor-
roborate some of the latest lab
research work: Omicron is highly
resistant but does not bind to tar-
get cells as efficiently as Delta, and
it does not cause cell-to-cell
fusion, which has been linked to
more severe symptoms.
But their study suggests Omi-
cron may be more capable in
“cell-to-cell transmission”, with
several implications. “Enhanced
cell-to-cell transmission may help
compensate for other observed
defects in the Omicron S protein,
such as reduced ACE2 binding
and fusogenicity...,” they said.
When the virus transmits prima-
rily between cells, the researchers
said, the method is resistant to
neutralizing antibodies that bind
to viral particles prior to their
entry into cells, therefore “impli-
cating another potential mecha-
nism of immune evasion”.
$10 bn
mirror
The European Space Agency’s facility in
Kourou, French Guiana, will launch a rocket 1 2 3 6,200 KG WEIGHT diameter:
6.5 m
carrying the James Webb Telescope,
developed by NASA, the ESA and the
Measure
planetary
Observe the
formation
Search for
the first 10 YEARS TO DESIGN 18 segments
Secondary
Canadian Space Agency, at 5.50pm on
December 24. The initial launch of the
systems and
investigate for
potential life
of stars and
evolution of
galaxies
galaxies in
early
universe
TOTAL COST 20 YEARS TO BUILD mirror:
0.74 m
telescope was planned in 2007
Named after James E Webb, a Nasa
astrophycist who played a key role in
the Apollo Moon landings
Instruments: cameras
and spectrographs
HUBBLE’S SUCCESSOR must be kept very cold to detect
The James Webb telescope will succeed extremely faint heat signals in
the 32-year-old Hubble telescope and the universe
detect primarily infrared light outside the
visible range to show otherwise hidden WHERE WILL IT BE PLACED?
regions of space Webb’s
orbit
Arriving 1.5 million kms from
TRACKING THE PAST Earth one month after launch
Earth
The telescope is built to peer at stars and
Moon
solar systems that emerged 13.7 billion
years ago, right after the Big Bang, and
which have likely burned away since. SUN
Not to scale
THE MECHANICS HOW WILL IT WORK?
When launched into space, it will unfold to Astrophysicists will move the segments to get the
reveal a 6.5-metre-wide mirror made from mirror to stare at a sliver of sky for days, and record
18 lightweight beryllium segments, coated infra-red light. Despite this exposure, light registers
with gold for flawless reflectivity and only as little red specks. Aligning those mirrors will
working at -230 degrees C, so as to not give a magnified look at each speck, offering the
disturb the infra-red instrumentation and clearest view yet of a single pioneering star.
five-layer umbrella to shield it from light
and heat. On board, are the main
Near-Infrared Camera and a clutch of
machines to detect and capture galactic
COMPLICATIONS PERSIST
More than 300 things could go wrong as the Webb
bodies and exoplanets deploys in space. If the mirror isn’t flawlessly
smooth, it will produce blurry images, the way the
The flight mirrors for the James Webb Hubble telescope mirror initially did when it was
Space Telescope undergo cryogenic
testing at NASA Marshall. NASA
placed in orbit in 1990.

Aadhaar and Voter ID link: Joining the strands of the debate

Utkarsh Anand
letters@hindustantimes.com
NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on
Monday cleared a bill on electoral
reforms seeking to use Aadhaar
cards for identification and verifi-
cation of voters, with the Union
government maintaining that the
process would weed out duplicate
and fake voter IDs.
The Election Laws (Amend-
ment) Bill 2021, piloted by Union
law minister Kiren Rijiju, was
passed by a voice vote after a brief
discussion during which some
opposition members demanded
that it be referred to a parliamen-
tary panel.
Opposition members ques-
tioned the haste shown by the
government in passing the bill,
besides attempting to highlight
the ambiguity of objective behind
the move.
The primary concerns of the
Opposition pertained to undue
weightage being given to a proof
of identity and residence such as
Aadhaar in creation of electoral
rolls, and a possible compromise
of privacy of individuals if the vot-
ers’ lists are seeded into the Aad-
haar’s ecosystem during the proc-
ess.
While the bill that seeks to
amend the Representation of the
People Act (RPA), 1950, is yet to
receive an approval of Rajya
Sabha, there are some pertinent
legal nuances that surround the
issue even as the Centre and the
Election Commission of India
(ECI) have been on the same page
on using Aadhaar ecosystem for
verifying electoral rolls.
Changes proposed under
the amendments
The 2021 Amendment Bill envisa-
ges major changes in Section 23 of
RPA which contains provisions
for inclusion of names in electoral
rolls and is directly related to its
Sections 15, 17 and 18.
Section 15 of RPA lays down
that for every constituency there
shall be an electoral roll, which
shall be prepared in accordance
with the provisions of this Act
under the superintendence, direc-
tion and control of the election
commission. Section 16 states
that a person shall be disqualified
for registration in an electoral roll
if he is not a citizen of India. Sec-
tions 17 holds that no person shall
be entitled to be registered in the
electoral roll for more than one
constituency while Section 18 cat-
egorically provides that no person
shall be entitled to be registered in
the electoral roll more than once.
Section 19 provides that every
person who is not less than 18
years of age on the qualifying date
and is ordinarily resident in a con-
stituency, shall be entitled to be
registered in the electoral roll .
In Section 23, the amendment
seeks to include new clauses
authorising electoral registration
officers to seek the Aadhaar num-
bers of people who want to regis-
ter as voters “for the purpose of
establishing identity”.
It adds that the officer may also
require the Aadhaar number
from people already included in
the electoral roll “for the purposes
of authentication of entries in
electoral roll and to identify regis-
tration of name of the same per-
son in the electoral roll of more
than one constituency or more
than once in same constituency”
-- in order to ensure compliance
with Sections 17 and 18 of the RPA.
The Amendment Bill clarifies
that no application for inclusion
of name in the electoral roll shall
be denied and no entries in the
electoral roll shall be deleted for
inability of an individual to fur-
nish or intimate Aadhaar number
“due to such sufficient cause as
may be prescribed” and the elect-
oral registration officers may
allow other documents.
The amendment proposed in
Section 28 of RPA further makes it
clear that the form and manner of
intimation of Aadhaar number as
well as the sufficient cause and
furnishing of alternate docu-
ments to be provided in place of
Aadhaar will become known
when the central government
makes rules in this regard and
notifies the amendments.
The opposition, legal
and political
During the introduction of the
Amendment Bill, law minister
Rijiju emphasised that the
attempt of the government was to
remove the lacunae in the exist-
ing law since there is a need to
weed out bogus voters from elect-
oral rolls. He further said that the
provision for linkage of Aadhaar
card with Voter ID “would not be
compulsory but only voluntary”.
But some opposition MPs coun-
tered the Bill on the grounds of
legislative competence and viola-
tion of fundamental and statutory
rights of people.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor
pointed out that Aadhaar was
only meant to be a proof of resi-
dence and not of citizenship. Fur-
ther, he asked, when only citizens
are allowed to vote then how link-
age of Aadhaar and electoral rolls
would serve the purpose of weed-
ing our bogus voters.
Congress MP Manish Tewari
also opposed the proposed
amendments, arguing that the
Supreme Court’s judgments in
Puttaswamy (right to privacy) and
Aadhaar do not allow the linkage
of Aadhaar with voter IDs. “Vot-
ing is a legal right. Therefore, this
Bill is beyond the legislative com-
petence of Aadhaar Act,” he said.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin
Owaisi said the Bill will allow the
government to profile and disen-
franchise voters and end up vio-
lating principles of secret ballot
and universal adult franchise in
breach of Supreme Court rulings.
YSR Congress MP Lavu Devar-
ayalu underscored that a similar
seeding exercise carried out in
Andhra Pradesh resulted in the
disenfranchisement of 3 million
voters. He further pointed out
that it may become a tool in the
hands of the government to look
into the voting habits of citizens.
Other members demanded
that Bill be referred to a standing
committee and that the haste
shown by the government was
suspect. Congress MP Adhir Ran-
jan Chowdhury said: “The Bill is
being introduced today, taken up
for consideration and passing
today. What is the hurry? We
have requested that it be referred
to Standing Committee.”
THE CHIEF LEGAL
OBJECTION TO
THE PROPOSED
AMENDMENT IS
RELATED TO A
POSSIBLE BREACH
OF THE SUPREME
COURT RULING OF
AUGUST 2017
The Union law minister coun-
tered the objection by bringing to
the House’s notice that a parlia-
mentary standing committee had
“unanimously” recommended
these provisions and that linking
Aadhaar with electoral rolls
would reduce electoral malpracti-
ces. On the issue of possible
breach of Supreme Court judg-
ments, Rijiju held that all the con-
ditions prescribed by the top
court in the right to privacy judg-
ment, including legitimate state
interests and test of proportional-
ity, are satisfied by the Bill.
What constitutional
courts have held
The chief legal objection to the
government’s proposed amend-
ment is related to a possible
breach of the Supreme Court rul-
ing in Puttaswamy’s case. In
August 2017, a nine-judge bench
of the Supreme Court passed a
historic judgment affirming the
constitutional right to privacy.
The Constitution bench, how-
ever, clarified that like most other
fundamental rights, the right to
privacy is not an absolute right
and that subject to the satisfac-
tion of certain tests and bench-
marks, a person’s privacy inter-
ests can be overridden by compet-
ing state and individual interests.
The judgment laid down certain
elements of the judicial review
standard to test validity of a law
or an executive action on the anvil
of the right to privacy.
The judgment held there
should be existence of a law,
which should seek to achieve a
legitimate state aim in a demo-
cratic society. It added there
should be a rational nexus
between the objects and the
means adopted to achieve them,
besides ensuring the extent of
interference must be proportion-
ate to its need while having proce-
dural guarantees to check against
the abuse of State interference.
The Election Commission
started linking Aadhaar with
Voter IDs in 2015 and completed
the process for around 300 mil-
lion people when the Supreme
Court set about to examine the
constitutionality of Aadhaar
while clarifying that Aadhaar
would be optional for availing of
welfare schemes.
In 2018, a five-judge bench of
the Supreme Court affirmed the
constitutionality of the Aadhaar
Act. It held that Aadhaar could be
made mandatory to access any
subsidy, benefit or service that
were paid for by the consolidated
fund of India. It also held that the
mandatory linking of Aadhaar to
the Permanent Account Number
(PAN) used for income tax is legal
since it neither violates right to
privacy nor is discriminatory.
But the same judgment prohib-
ited mandatory linking of a bank
account to Aadhaar, holding “it
does not meet the test of propor-
tionality and is also violative of
right to privacy of a person which
extends to banking details”.
The Constitution bench also
declared the government’s March
2017 circular unconstitutional as
it sought to provide for compul-
sory linking of mobile number
with Aadhaar, finding it “dispro-
portionate and [an] unreasonable
state compulsion”.
The Supreme Court, however,
did not explicitly rule on whether
Aadhaar could be linked to voter
data because there was no such
policy or law in force at that time.
Meanwhile, advocate and BJP
leader Ashwini Upadhyay filed a
public interest litigation in the
Supreme Court in February 2018,
seeking direction for linking of
Aadhaar number with Voter IDs
to curtail bogus votes and with
property documents to crack-
down on black money generation.
When his petition came up for
hearing on February 20 that year,
the top court asked Upadhyay to
wait till pronouncement of the
verdict on pleas challenging the
constitutional validity of Aadhaar
scheme in terms of principles laid
down in the right to privacy rul-
ing of 2017.
In March 2019, the Supreme
Court declined to entertain the
PIL “at this stage”, asking Upad-
hyay to move ECI. The court also
gave Upadhyay the liberty to
come back to the top court after
the Commission decides.
As his representation to ECI
remained pending, Upadhyay
moved the Delhi high court in
July 2019 for putting in place an
Aadhaar-based voting system
while suggesting that e-voting
system should use fingerprints
and face biometrics. On July 16,
2019, the Delhi high court dis-
posed of this petition while asking
ECI to decide on the possibility of
linking voter IDs with Aadhaar
numbers in accordance with law.
Therefore, a direct ruling or
observation by a constitutional
court on linking of Aadhaar with
Voter IDs is yet to come even as
constitution bench rulings in the
right to privacy and Aadhaar case
have laid down the ground rules
for scrutinising a legal challenge
of this nature. However, these
judgments have cited two previ-
ous rulings of the top court which
may guide any determination.
In Peoples Union for Civil Lib-
erties (PUCL) & Another Vs
Union of India, 2003, the
Supreme Court declared that
when there is a competition
between the right to privacy of an
individual and the right to infor-
mation of the citizens, the former
right has to be subordinated to
the latter. In Lal Babu Hussein Vs
Electoral Registration Officer and
Others, 1995, the Supreme Court
struck down the order of the
electoral officer asking the resi-
dents of Mumbai and Delhi en
masse to prove their identity as
unconstitutional. It ruled that
electoral officers must conform to
the principles of natural justice
where the name is to be entered
on the rolls for the first time and
also where the name already
entered requires to be deleted.