DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, AUGUST 9, 2021, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 12 PAGES SINCE 1932 `5.00/EX-KOLKATA `6.00(`12INNORTH EAST STATES&ANDAMAN)WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM OBC BILL COMING UP, CONG SAYS WON’T OPPOSE WORLD LastweekofHousesession,nosignof thaw,OppwantstobeheardonPegasus TALIBAN SEIZE KUNDUZ, AKEY AFGHANCITY Tharoor says time forno-trustmotion; 72 seconds out of 45 min: Lok Sabha TV PAGE 10 TMC putsout video of Opp in House coverage of Opp in House last sitting Shashi Tharoor said the BUSINESSASUSUAL MANOJCG Opposition should nowmove a farm laws that triggered the NEWDELHI,AUGUST8 no-confidence motion against LIZMATHEW& farmer agitation, says itsprotests BY UNNY the Government. “Rather than HARIKISHANSHARMA areonlyshown on screens inside AS THIS Monsoon sessionof justcontinuing disruptions, we NEWDELHI,AUGUST8 the House, and notbeamed Parliament enters itsfinal week, should probablyseriouslycon- across the country. there is little possibilityofboth siderother parliamentary ma- SCHEDULED TO end August13, On Friday, when Lok Sabha the Houses functioning smoothly noeuvres…including avoteof Parliament’s monsoonsession lastmet,LSTVshowed as Opposition parties Sunday no-confidence, because Ithink hasbeen disruptedbythe row Opposition protestsfor all of 72 made it clear they willcontinue thereisgenuinelynoconfidence over allegedsurveillancethrough seconds –House proceedings to insistonadiscussion on the among the bulk of the the use of the Pegasus spyware. lastedatotal of 45 minutes over Pegasus spywareissue—ade- Opposition parties in this Accusing Lok Sabha TV of twosittings that day. Despite red flags, Rly mand that the Government is Government,” Tharoor told The shutting it out, the Opposition, Friday, 11.07am. Oppn MPs OppositionMPs, however, unlikelytoaccede to. Indian Express. whichhas been seeking adiscus- in thewell of the House were notintheir seats, except universitygave contract Senior Congress leader CONTINUEDONPAGE2 sion on the Pegasus issue and CONTINUEDONPAGE2 to firm of Board member All contracts areasper due process, Tokyo brings curtain down on Games After CJI rebuke, CBI says NTRIActing Vice-Chancellor says 5held for comments held in the time of Covid: ‘We did it’ AVISHEKGDASTIDAR Conflict of NEWDELHI,AUGUST8 interest againstAndhra judges cloud over DESPITE RED flags raisedbyof- Pramath Raj ficialsofpotential conflict of in- Sinha EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE ED SChad terest and propriety, contracts EXPRESSAT NEWDELHI,AUGUST8 said:Not worth Rs 6crore were givento OLYMPICS PLAIN E firms promotedbyeducationist 2021, according to records re- ● helping TWODAYSafter the Supreme EX Pramath RajSinha by the viewedbyThe IndianExpress. Courtcriticisedthe CBI and IB for “Railway University”evenas This happeneddespite MIHIRVASAVDA “nothelping the judiciaryatall” THE CBI statement Sinhaisamember of theBoard Railways officials flagging the TOKYO,AUGUST8 in matters relating to security of comes days afterthe SC of Managementofthe same uni- potential conflict of interestin judges, the CBI said on Sunday criticiseditfor “doing versity run by Indian Railways. written deliberations and point- THE OLYMPICS bubble didn’t that it had arrested five persons nothing” and “nothelp- Sinha’s company, 9dot9, of ing towardspossible circumven- burst. And the Games did happen. forallegedly postingderogatory ing the judiciary” in mat- whichheisfounderand manag- tion of provisions of the General The strangestOlympic remarks againstthe judiciaryin ters related to security of ing director,has been awardeda Financial Rules (GFR)ofthe gov- Games endedthe same waythey AndhraPradesh. judges. The SC had also consultancy contract forthe ernmentwhich, specifically, deal began: in front of emptystands, The agency said twopersons flagged the “newtrend” National Rail and Transportation with conflict of interestincon- in astate of emergency,and with were arrested on Saturday, while to “malign” the judiciary Institute(NRTI), adeemeduni- sultancy contracts. hundredsfilling the streets, three were held lastmonth. when adverse orders are versityof thegovernment,worth Sinha, the founding Dean of imagining what it mustfeellike Sources said YSRCongress MP passed. Rs 65 lakhper month plusGST for Indian School of Business, is to be inside the giant cauldron CONTINUEDONPAGE2 nine months ending December CONTINUEDONPAGE2 thatTokyo’sNational Stadium is. Therewas one slight differ- ence, though. Compared to the sombre, downcast opening,the closing Asupportstaff of thewomen’s hockeyteam (taking selfie) withathletesduring the closing ceremonywas peppier,with alot ceremonyatthe Olympic Stadium in TokyoonSunday. From left, wrestlers Deepak Punia, morerazzmatazz, reaching a Ravi Dahiyaand Bajrang Punia, andhockeyplayerLalremsiami (middle). AP REPORTSP11,12 crescendo thatisusuallyassoci- ated with Olympics ceremonies. But then, the organisers had startofJuly, with the positivity Committee (IOC) president ever,did call it the “mostchal- reasonstofeel good. The Covid rate within the bio-bubble where Thomas Bach, when he said: lenging”. Games, afterall,didn’tturnout 624,000 screening testswere “Wedid it”. It wasn’t justthe pandemic. to beasuperspreader event –not conducted,at0.02 percent. Thereweren’tany grand re- The athleteshad to deal with the yet. Therewereonly430 cases re- The relief waspalpable in the marks of these being the “most brutal summer heat,sidestep the lated to the Olympics since the voice of International Olympic successful” Games.Bach, how- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Better immune response from mixing Covaxin, Covishield: ICMR whichisyet to be peer reviewed. KAUNAINSHERIFFM INSIDE “Immunogenicity profile &ANURADHA againstAlpha, Beta and Delta MASCARENHAS ADHIRASKSCENTRE variantsinthe heterologous NEWDELHI,PUNE,AUGUST8 TORAISEBENGAL’S group wassuperior;IgG anti- VACCINEQUOTA body and neutralising antibody AGROUP of 18 people, whohad PAGE 3 response of the participantswas “inadvertentlyreceived Covi- also significantlyhigher com- shield as the firstjab and Covaxin pared to that in the homologous MIRABAI CHANU, as the second”, showedbetter their reaction to 40 recipientsof groups,” it said. OLYMPICS SILVER MEDALLIST; immunogenicity—the ability to twodoses of Covishield and 40 re- “Overall, this study demon- COACH VIJAY SHARMA generateanimmune response — cipientsoftwo doses of Covaxin. stratesthat immunisation with PAGE 8 than those who receivedtwo “Wecompared the safety aheterologous combination of dosesofthe samevaccine, ac- and immunogenicity profile of an adenovirus vector platform- cording to anew study by the them (the group of 18)against basedvaccine followedbyanin- THE EDITORIAL PAGE Indian Council of Medical that of individuals receiving ei- activatedwhole virus vaccine is Research (ICMR). ther Covishield or Covaxin. safeand elicitsbetterimmuno- In May, 18 villagers in Lowerand similar adverse genicity than twodoses of ho- MENDINGFENCES Siddarthnagar,Uttar Pradesh, had eventsfollowing immunisation mologousvaccination, using the BY SANJOY HAZARIKA receivedCovaxin as thesecond in all three groups underlined same vaccines,” it said. PAGE 6 dose, six weeksafter theygot the safetyofthe combination While Covishield is built on a Covishield. The study compared vaccine-regime,” said the study CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Houseboatstohotels, Kerala tourism feels the pinch aftermonths of curbs PAGE 1 costs. ANCHOR Down south near the coast, Devassia Varghese, who wasa driveronahouseboat till last year,isnow desperately looking SHAJUPHILIP forworkasafarm hand. The 56- THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, year-old with afamilyoffivein AUGUST8 Chambakkulam villageof Kuttanad has been withoutajob LAST YEAR, the Covid slump “for the last14months”. pushedTVinod out of his job as “Manyofmycolleagues in Operations Manager at aresort An employee of ahotel, nowshut, at Kovalam beach. thehouseboat sector arenow in Munnar,the popular hill sta- going forinland fishing or other tion in Kerala. The 38-year-old, DIPINTOURISTS dailywagework,’’ says Varghese. hailingfromthe upper reaches “Lastweek,Isignedupfor work of Idukki, triedhis hand at sev- YEAR FOREIGNTOURISTS DOMESTIC TOURISTS under the rural jobs scheme eral small jobs to feed his family 2019 11.88lakh 1.83 crore (MNREGS),” says Vinod. of three -- from working in the From the hill stations of 2020 3.40 lakh 49.88 lakh construction sector to selling Munnar and Wayanad to the cloth masks--and shiftedhis 2021* 14,489 2.2 lakh backwaters of Alappuzha, the sonfromaprivate school to a *January-March pandemic has shattered Kerala’s government institution to cut CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Kolkata WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 2 THE SECOND PAGE THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,AUGUST9,2021 DOWNLOADAPP WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM ■ VISUAL STORIES ■ DAILY BRIEFING ■ PODCASTS EXPLAINED:HOWAPPLEWILLSCANFORCHILDEXPLOITATIONIMAGESONDEVICES, ■ CUSTOMIZABLE ANDWHYIT’SRAISINGEYEBROWS Neeraj Chopra’s NEWS EXPERIENCE ExpectedtogoliveintheUnitedStatesinitially,thefeaturesincludeuseofnewtechnologytolimitthespread WEB historic Olympic gold Indian Express EXCLUSIVE ofCSAMonline,especiallyviaAppleplatform. ★★★★★■4.6 NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY TECH HOLLYWOODREWIND In today’s episode of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, REVIEW: ASUS ‘GIRL WITH APEARL we discuss javelin throwerNeeraj Chopra’s CHROMEBOOK C223 EARRING’ career trajectory, his winning throw,and what the gold medal means forthe future An excellent budget Scarlett Johansson of athletics in India SCANTHISQRCODETO notebook,with long stuns in this coming-of- DOWNLOADTHEAPP batterylife