DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD,CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA,LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018-20RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57

JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SATURDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES SINCE 1932 `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM RELEASES PM-KISAN TRANCHE TO OVER 9CRORE FARMERS Himachal’s‘love ProtestsanOppositionploy,saysPM, jihad’ law has intent ` 82 per kilo clause,whichHC ` 110 per kilo signalsnoyieldondemandforrepeal ` 135 per kilo had struckdown ` 72 per Dozen TargetsMamatafor denying PM-Kisan, Experiment GAGAN Himachal askswhy no stir forAPMC in Kerala &APURVAVISHWANATH Pradesh with laws SHIMLA,NEWDELHI, Chief BARC audit DECEMBER25 MinisterJai HARIKISHANSHARMA ED Noblink for ayear or RamThakur report confirms &RAVISHTIWARI likeon WHILE THE BJP governmentin NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 PLAIN E Himachal Pradesh brought into ● landlaws ex-executives EX two, change forcealaw lastweek requiringa Section 7ofthe Himachal Act AMONTH intothe farmers' person to give prior notice to au- requires an individual to submit spiked TRPs: protests at the capital’s borders, UNLIKE CLIMBDOWNon thorities forconverting to an- a“declaration” of intention to PrimeMinister Narendra Modi the land ordinance, PM if needed: other religion and outlawing convert freelyand without coer- Mumbai police effectively drew aline on Friday has put his foot down on conversions solelyfor marriage, cion from one religion to the re-affirming his endorsement of the farm laws.This even Rajnath in 2012,the state High Courthad other,tothe DistrictMagistrate. the three laws andblaming his as talksare on with struckdownsimilar provisions The provision also requires the EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE politicalopponents forwhat he unionsonthe new in an older version brought by priestorreligious figurepresid- MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 said wastheir bid to “mislead” labour codes. By target- DIPANKARGHOSE the then Congress government ing over the conversion to give a farmers. ing the Opposition, the NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 as unconstitutional and violative month’s notice to theDM. THE MUMBAI Crime Branch, in- His remarks mark his PM has also dared them of fundamental rights. On August30, 2012,atwo- vestigating the alleged Television strongestpublic assertion to wage apoliticalbattle BACKINGTHE Prime Minister’s Severalprovisions in the judgeBenchofthe High Court Rating Point (TRP) scam, on againstthe demand that the againsttheselaws. messagetofarmersonthe new Himachal Pradesh Freedom of had struckdownthe Himachal Fridaysaid it receivedanaudit laws be repealed. By framing it farm laws,Defence Minister Religion Act, 2019,havebeen Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, reportofBARClastweek that as an event attendedbyvirtually RajnathSinghstruckaconciliatory emulated almostwordtoword 2006,passedduring the then confirmsthat TRPs of channels the entireCouncil of Ministers, Slamming the Opposition for PM NarendraModi with Leader of OppositionGhulam Nabi tone Fridaywhen he asked farm- by Uttar Pradesh in the anti-con- Congress regime, thathad con- were manipulated under the the Prime Ministerindicated his what he calledits “dogali”(dou- Azad at afunction to markformer PM ABVajpayee’s birth ersto“experiment”withthenew version lawthat it passedlast tainedthe exact same provision, previous BARC management. resolve to use his political capi- blespeak) policy over the new anniversary, in the Central HallofParliament on Friday. PTI laws for“one-two years” before month, and whichisbeing holding it “ultra viresthe BARC or BroadcastAudience taltopushthese laws. CONTINUEDONPAGE2 seekingany looked upon as an example by Constitution of India”. Neither Research Council is responsible change, while other BJP-ruledstates. CONTINUEDONPAGE10 formeasuring TRPs of channels. HomeMinister Itsformer CEO Partho Dasgupta AmitShahsaid wasarrestedonThursdaybased Farmers respond: It’sclear Govt will not back the govern- on this report.Earlier this month, ment had an Metro car shed’s latest the Mumbai police arrested “openmind” Republic COORamil Ramgarhia, down, we are prepared for the longhaul on anyclause option: Eco-sensitive who had resignedfromBARCin that farmers Julyafter the audit reportsub- Coordination Committee ‘Painful to felt wasnot in mitted to BARC by athirdparty RAAKHIJAGGA (AIKSCC), said the Prime see farmers their interest. sprawl in Goregaon allegedlyshowedhis involve- CHANDIGARH,DECEMBER25 Minister's speech showedthat protesting’ Singh said ment in fixing TRPs. the government wasnot going he spoketo partofa500-acreprivately- Jointcommissionerofpolice RESPONDINGTOthe Prime to repeal the laws. Prime Minister SANDEEPASHAR ownedlandsprawlinPahadi (crime) Milind Bharambesaid Minister’s speech Friday, farmer “But we will notleave (the NarendraModi twodays ago, MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 Goregaon. that theyreceivedthe audit re- unions,protesting againstthe borders of Delhi) till these arere- and he had emphasisedthe need But to accede to MMRDA's portfromBARCaweek ago. The newfarmlaws, warnedofa pealed. Our fightisagainstthe to continue talkswithfarmers. IN THE wake of the Bombay request, the department will forensic audit wascommis- “longstruggle”, saying it wasev- undemocratic ways…first, they He said it was“painful” to see High Court's (HC) stay on the have to reclassify the land use sionedafter anew management ident that the government makelawswithout consultation, farmersprotesting. Mumbai Metrocar shedat plan.When Mumbai's newDP took over at BARC in Januarythis seemedtobeinnomood to back later theysay these arefor our Addressing arallyinDwarka, Kanjurmarg,the Maharashtra wasfirst placedbeforecitizens, year and receivedwhistleblower down on the laws. good… then makeamendments CONTINUEDONPAGE2 government is examining the abulk of this land wasclassified complaints,police said. JagmohanSingh, general sec- and saythe laws cannotbetaken option of relocating the project as ecologicallysensitive,and was "BARChad receivedthe re- retary of BKU (Dakaunda) and back.But whydid youmakesuch on aland parcel in Goregaon, tagged as "natural area (NA)". portinJulythis year.The report working committeemember of laws in the firstplace?” he said. MORE REPORTS whichhas been classifiedasa The DP classifies mangroves, said from aperiod of May2017- AAP MPs protestinthe Central HallofParliament, Friday. PTI the All India Kisan Sangharsh CONTINUEDONPAGE2 PAGES 5 'natural area' and a'no-develop- mudflats, ecologicallyvital salt November 2019 TRPsofEnglish ment zone' in Mumbai's devel- pans and hills, etcasNA, where and Telugu news channelshad opment plan (DP). construction activity is barred. been fudged.Itshowedthat Whilesome other alternative Barringa25-metre-wide coastal TRPs of channels likeTimesNow locations arealsobeing looked road, no construction wasenvis- had been reducedsothat AS ROLLOUT OF COVID-19 VACCINE NEARS THE EDITORIAL PAGE at, asenior stateofficial con- aged on thepatch. The remain- Republic would appear to be no. firmedtoThe Indian Express der of the land wasalso tagged 1byanalysingselectively," that the MumbaiMetropolitan as ano-development zone Bharambesaid. Dry run planned in AAI seeks 2.5 acres THEMEANING Region DevelopmentAuthority (NDZ) and shown affected by the The Mumbai police said they OFMERIT (MMRDA) has approachedthe coastalregulation zone. were unaware of thisauditre- BY PRATAP BHANU MEHTA state's Urban Development (UD) Additionally, in 2017,the portuntil lastweek.A four states: focus on in Pune; airports and PAGE 8 department forsanctioning the Brihanmumbai Municipal chargesheetinthe casenames reservationfor acar shedona CONTINUEDONPAGE2 six channels including Republic forfixing TRPs, and the policebe- delivery, cold chain, airlines prepare to be lieve that the report will provide crucial evidence againstthe al- legedly errant channels. adverseevent watch hubs for distribution The officer addedthat ac- cording to the report, in some India is the world's second worst cases "rating appeared to be pre- KAUNAINSHERIFFM affected country, even though PRANAVMUKUL decided" and that therewas NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 dailycase numbers have been NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 "cartelisation" of some former falling consistentlyoverthe past CONTINUEDONPAGE2 FORTWO days at the beginning three months. THE AIRPORTS Authority of India of next week,Indiawill hold a The dryrun will proceed (AAI) is close to finalising an dryrun forthe largest andmost through four keysteps, which arrangement withthe Indian Air ambitious mass immunisation will be monitoredcloselybythe Forcetoreceive 2.5 acresofland B USINESSASUSUAL programme in itshistory. central government: adjacent to Puneairport, to be Thedummy vaccinationexer- ■ Eachdistrictwill receive utilisedfor the transportofvac- BY UNNY cise will becarriedout in twodis- the dummyvaccine for100ben- cines from thefacilities of vac- The Serum InstituteofIndia trictseachoffourstatesatthefour eficiaries from thenearestdepot; cine manufacturer Serum in Pune. Express file corners of the nation —Andhra ■ Temperaturewill be InstituteofIndia nearby. Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, and trackedthrough the vaccine's “The transfer of the land, Assam—onDecember28and29. journeyfromthe depottothe whichiscurrentlyowned by the stand the requirements, because With severalcountries vaccinationsite; IAF,toPuneairport has been a asignificant amount of freight is aroundthe worldhaving already ■ An SMS willbesent in ad- longstanding demand of the AAI. expected to go out from Pune,” begun vaccinationagainst the vance to the beneficiaries with Theyhaveasked foraland ex- the official said. novelcoronavirus, India could be the name of the vaccinator,and change, and AAI has finalisedthe Pune-basedSerum, the just days away from granting the time of the vaccination; plan forthis,” asenior govern- world's largest maker of vaccines regulatoryapproval forthe shot. ■ Eachbeneficiary will be ment official said. by number of doses, has been li- The inoculation exercise is ex- made to sitfor 30 minutes after “The airportmanagement is censedbyOxford-AstraZeneca to pected to begin soon after. With being administeredthe shot; also constantlyindiscussions test,manufacture, and distribute over 10 million total infections, CONTINUEDONPAGE2 with Serum Institutetounder- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 With CPMsince Class5,21-year-old is set to be Thiruvananthapuram mayor

PAGE 1 "Ours is aparty family,"says fa- cal bodies arereserved for ment.“Butall my teachersand ANCHOR ther KMRajendran, explaining women, while topelected posts friends arereallyhelpful. Iwill Arya's interestinpolitics. arekeptaside forwomen foral- figureout away to continue my Rajendran, wifeSreelatha,anLIC ternateterms. The lastmayor be- studies as well,” she says. agent, and son Aravind,who did ing popular leader VKPrasanth, The family, that livesina ARUNJANARDHANAN automobileengineering and it wasthe turn of awoman to small house in CHENNAI,DECEMBER25 worksinthe Middle Eastnow, hold the post. The twowomen Thiruvananthapuram paying a areCPM members too. leaders the CPMhad projected rent of Rs 6,000 permonth, ARYA RAJENDRAN, 21 and asec- The 21-year-old firstbecame as mayorcandidates both lost neverdiscouraged her participa- ond year B.Sc Maths student, associated with the party when the election. tion in politics, including exten- could be the country's youngest she joinedits children's collec- Despitebeing active in poli- sive travel across Kerala. “I have mayorever. The daughter of an tive Baalasanghamasearly as tics foryears, Arya had to keep visited almostall the districtsin electrician, whose entirefamily Class 5. "Later,Ibecame the dis- Arya Rajendran. Facebook her academic lifeapart. Both her the state. But my onlytravelout- aresupportersof theCPM,Arya is trict president, and have been collegeand the school she stud- side Kerala has been to Mumbai, to be namedbythe party as head statechiefofthe Baalasangham iedin, Carmel Girls' Higher arranged by my mother's office. of the ThiruvananthapuramCity forthe pasttwo years. Due to my tributing the CPM's decision to SecondarySchool, areChurch- Idon't remember muchasIwas Corporation,aftertheLDF won51 active role in the Baalasangham, choose her as mayor—aformal run institutions that don't look in Class 6then,” Arya says.Itwas of its100wardsintherecentpolls. Iwas takenintothe Students' announcement is expected on favourablyoncampus politics. due to the family's financial pres- Arya,who studies at the all- Federation of India (CPM stu- Saturday—tothis close, old Arya expectsshe won't be able sures that her elder brother mi- women All SaintsCollege, won dents' wing)and Iampartofits association. to attend classes regularly once grated forwork, she adds. from Mudavanmukal ward. statecommittee,” Arya says,at- Half of the seatsinKerala's lo- shetakes up her newassign- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 2 THE SECOND PAGE THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

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WEB resultsmean for Indian Express EXCLUSIVE hurricanes,andbecamewellknownasthesecondhottestyeareverrecordedyet. ★★★★★■4.6 the people of J&K EXPRESSTECH INPHOTOS NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY APPLE MACBOOK AIR THE LONG WALK OF Decoding what the DDC poll results, what M1 REVIEW MIGRANT WORKERS theymean forthe people in the region, and Powerdoesn’t We look at the migrant what theysignal about the futureof SCANTHISQRCODETO come exodus triggered by the politics in J&K. DOWNLOADTHEAPP at aprice sudden lockdown FROMPAGEONE BARC audit be ready to do them all.”) cargo terminals with special cargo is minimised,with the Inthemultipleroundsof talks cooling chambers. The airport freighter parkingstands located senior BARC officialstoassist sofar, thegovernment,hesaid,has has the capacitytohandle 54 just50metresawayfromthe particular channels. been ready to makeany amend- Protests an Opp ploy, saysPM, signals no repeal lakh vials of the vaccine aday terminal. While BARC receivedthe re- ment that the farmerswant. He with twocomplete rotations. Airlines —bothglobal and portinJuly, it wasonlyafter the urgedfarmersto cometothetable farm laws,Modi said the gov- of farmers,” Modi said. cape. Theyhavethe right to do have trustthatyour landissafe, “The temperature-con- Indian —are also gearing up to Mumbai police wrotetothem formoretalkswith the govern- ernmentisreadyto holdtalksin Over 23 lakh farmers of politicsindemocracy.Donot but some people arespreading trolledcargo facilitieshavethe transportthe vaccines. SpiceJet specificallyseeking all docu- ment,andsaidtheycanbringagri- theinterestoffarmers,butitwill West Bengal, he said, applied play with the livesofinnocent misconceptions that if youen- capacity to handle over 1.5lakh has tiedupwithHyderabad air- mentsrelating to thealleged TRP culture experts if theysowish. be on “issues, logicand facts”. online to take advantageofthis farmers, do notplaywith their terintoanagreement of your tonnes of cargo perannum. portand logistics companies scamthatitsentthe report to “It wasfirstsaid that the “…I humblysay to even scheme, but the stategovern- futureand do notmislead produce, then youwill lose Thesefacilities have state-of- Om Logistics and Snowman the police lastweek,nearly two farmerwillbedestroyed,so those peoplewho areopposing ment stoppedthe verification them,” he said. your land too.” This wasarefer- the-arttemperature-controlled Logistics, forend-to-end trans- months afterthe FIR wasregis- some amendmentsshould be us fiercely, Isay withhumility, process. Urging farmers “nottobe ence to Opposition allegations zones with separatecool cham- portation of vaccines. Globally, tered. made. Sevenrounds of talkshave our government is ready to talk Referring to theOpposition misled” and “notacceptthe lies againstthe Farmers bers ranging from 25 degrees C cargo unitsofairlines including Bharambeaddedthat in ad- happened. Whatever the farm- to them in the interestoffarm- charge that APMC mandis of anyone”, he askedthemto (Empowerment and to minus20degrees C,” aDelhi SingaporeAirlines and Emirates dition to theBARCreport, they ers said, thoseamendmentstoo ers,but the talkswill be on is- would be weakenedwith the think onlyonthe basis of “logic Protection) Agreement on airportspokesperson said. have alreadybegun transport- have also secured email trails of ourgovernment is ready to sues, logic and facts,” Modisaid implementation of the and facts”. He listedthe Price Assurance and Farm At the airport’s cargo termi- ing Covid-19vaccines. On former employees from BARC make. Whatwetoo sayisthat afterreleasing the scheduledRs Farmers' ProduceTrade and schemes initiated by his gov- Services Act. nals, dedicated gateshavebeen December 20, SingaporeAirlines servers that substantiates what the solution to the problemcan 18,000-croretranche to over 9 Commerce (Promotion and ernment forthe welfareof Clearly,the PM’smessage assignedfor fast movement of deliveredthe firstshipment of wasfoundinthe third-party au- be through talks… Iwas talking crorefarmersunder the Facilitation) Act, he said, “You farmers. Fridaystandsincontrast to the vehicles intoand out of the air- the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to dit report. to the Prime Ministertwo days Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman musthaveheard, theyare talk- At the programme, organ- Centre’s climbdown on the port. The airporthas also put in Singaporeonboardone of its Bharamberead out excerpts ago, and he said that at no point Nidhi(PM-KISAN) scheme. ing about mandis and APMCs. isedonthe occasion of the land acquisition ordinance in place atruckslotmanagement Boeing747-400freighters. of the contentsofsome of the should dialoguebestoppedwith TMC leader and West Kerala has no APMC, no birth anniversaryofAtalBihari 2015 in the face of milder system at itscargo terminals, and mails he said theyretrieved farmers. The sequence of talks Bengal Chief MinisterMamata mandi… theyorganise pro- Vajpayee, Modi also interacted protests. cargo operators can pre-book the 21-yr-oldmayor whichstated, "Please find below should continuewithour farmer Banerjee –Assemblyelections grammes to seek attention, so with six farmers from six states The signalthat the arrivaloftrucks at the terminal. On topofthe listofArya'srole numbers on Englishnews. As re- brothers,”hesaid. in the stateare due next year – theyshould startAPMCs in and asked them to sharetheir Government will notyield on On the air side, the airport modelsisKerala Health Minister quired Times Nownumbers Shah attackedthe foundparticularmention for Kerala by organising agitations experiencesofcontract farm- the repeal demand comes has been equippedwith “cool KKShailaja, “for the amazing were changed while Republic is Opposition forspreading“mis- criticism in his speech. there. Youhavetime to mislead ing, government schemes and againstthe backdrop of ongo- dollies”, whichare container work she has done” during the kept thesame." conceptions”onthe farm laws. He asked whythose oppos- the farmers of Punjab, but if other issues. ing negotiations with trade systems usedinair cargo for Covidpandemic. She alsocounts Another excerptthat He said the NDAgovernment ing farm laws do notspeak this system is good, then why When Gagan Pering, a unions on draftrules under the temperature-sensitive goods. Sugathakumari,aveteran Bharamberead out was, had done morefor farmers dur- about the interestoffarmers in is it notthereinKerala?” farmer from LowerDibang four labour codes recently Theyare primarilyusedtotrans- Malayalampoetandactivistwho "...Times Now, CNNNews 18 will ing itstenure. West Bengal, astate that has “Whydoyou adoptadogali Valleydistrict in Arunachal brought by thegovernment. portgoods from the aircraftto diedthis week,and prominent be changed ...impressions of “Rahul Gandhi, who talksof notimplemented the PM- (doublespeak) policy? What Pradesh, said he had formeda Justashedid with the CAA, the cargo terminal. Malayalam writer KRMeeraas Times Nowhavebeen decreased farmerwelfare,whenitwasyour KISAN. kind of politics aretheydoing farmer produce organisation the Prime Ministermockedthe PreparationsatIndian air- inspirations.Arya says shedoesn't drasticallyacross the universe.. government… when youwere “Today,the political parties, in which thereisnologic,no forthe production of ginger, Opposition over itselectoral ports areinline with thosethat holdarigidstandagainstreligion, the impressions of Republic TV Agriculture Minister, Sharad whichhavebeen voted out by facts? Makefalse accusations and had entered intoanagree- debacle accusing it of instigat- have been made at global air herpartyideologynotwithstand- remainedunchanged.." Pawar, in2013-14,howmuchwas the people, aredoing events and spread rumours to scare ment with aprivate company, ing the protests to push their transport hubs such as theair- ing, occasionallyaccompanying Bharambe read out another the budget forfarmers? There and event management so that ourfarmers. Sometimes, naive the Prime Ministerasked him, political agenda. ports at Singapore, Dubai, Doha, her mother to temples and visit- mail whichhesaid showedhow wasaCongress government of someone can take aselfie, get farmers getmisledbyyou,” the “Does the companythat buy This playbook,that tries to and Shenzhen, some of which ing church."Ibelieve in positive numbers were selectively Sonia-Manmohan,then the photosprinted,and appear on Prime Ministersaid. ginger from you, procureonly delegitimise protests and at- have already startedreceiving energy,whichiswhat God is for analysed.The email that farmer budget was21,900crore. TV so that their politics can “These people arenot will- ginger or it takesawayyour tributetothem an agenda, is- vaccine shipments. me, but Istand againstsupersti- Bharambesaid discussedTRPs Only21,900crore.Inthe last continue. These have been ex- ing to acceptany scale and pa- land?” To this, Pering said, “The n’t newfor this Government. Turkish ground handling tious beliefs," she says. read,"Don't think we should edit budget,Modijitookitfrom21,900 posedinfront of the country. rameters of democracy.They agreement is only forpurchase Thatthe BJP letits longtime companyÇelebi, whichoperates TopCPM Thiruvanan- the statements..wecan manage croreto134,399 crore. And they Whydotheynot speak of in- onlysee theirbenefits,their of produce, notfor land. The ally,the AkaliDal, walk away acargo terminal at Delhi airport, thapuram leader and aminis- by changing the logic.." areasking forour account? Ulta terestsoffarmers of West selfishness. Those who are land is ownedbyus, and it will from the NDAoverthis and ap- has created aseparatelane for ter, KadakampallySurendran, The officer said that thereare chorkotwalkodaante?”Shahsaid. Bengal? Theyare engaged here playing the game by taking remain ours.” pears unfazedoverthe pres- movement of vaccine ship- says he has been seeing Arya three methods in whichdatacan He said “MSP wasthere, is to harass the citizens of Delhi their flags in the name of farm- Modi told him: “You aresit- sureonits state government in mentsatthe export-import since she wasachild.“The be analysed andthese methods thereand will be thereforever”, and areruining the country's ers, will nowhavetolistento ting in aremote area of Haryana reinforces itspolitical warehouse,and dedicateddeliv- youth and newgeneration, they were tweakedtofavour partic- and thatthe UPAhad no right to economy. That toointhe name the truth… theycannotes- Arunachal Pradeshand you resolve on the farm laws. eryand acceptance gatesfor im- arethe futureofthis country. ular channels. The police arein- talk about it. mediatehandling.“Customers, Theyhaveclarity about the vestigating the gains receivedby “For years, farmerswanted both airlines and freight for- needfor transparent political the accused forfavouring partic- that the MSP levelshould be Metro car shed’s latest option: Goregaon sprawl warders, arebeing sensitisedto systems, theyhavebigger ular channels. one-and-a-halftimes the ex- send us their pre-alerts and dreams and avision. Arya has Responding to the arrest of penditureoncrop. Please tell me Corporationevenwithdrew reserved.The DP further allows planning, to enable us to plan experience, she is very good. itsformer CEO and COO, aBARC if thatwas ademand or not? For the coastalroad reservation. additional incentive buildable and expeditemovementsac- Her ageisnot acause forworry India spokespersonsaid, "The 70 years, nobody fulfilledthis Documentsalso showthat space in lieu of the buildable cordingly,” Murali Rama- as we have plentyofexamples development related to the two demand. NarendraModi,be- the previous Devendra portion utilisedfor developing chandran, CEO-India, Çelebi of young civil service officers ex-employees of BARC India is a tween 2014 and 2019,made the Fadnavis-led regime had first the reservation. The land hold- Aviation, told TheIndian Express. delivering amazing work as dis- partofanongoing investigation MSP one-and-a-half times the initiated theproposal formod- ers had previouslyobjected to Airportand cargo operators trict collectors,” he says. forwhichBARCmanagement costofthe crop, and gave the ifyingthe land user.On the "NA" classification. Backin arealso making preparations for LegendaryMalayalam writer continues to extend itssupport farmers big relief.” September 1, 2018,the previ- 1995, theyhad proposedthe ad hoc freight arrivals. MTVasudevanNairalso wel- and cooperation to the lawen- ous government, whilesanc- development of agolfcourse, “Çelebi is working closely comes the CPM decision. “It is forcement agencies.Itwould Vaccination run tioning the newDP, had sepa- aclub house, and bungalows with existing airline operators to notabout aparty but Ifeelhappy consequentlybeinappropriate if an adverse event occurs, its rately notifiedits intention to on the land. While the BMC understand their specificrequire- forher,” he says. forBARCtocomment anyfur- management willbetracked introduceover2,000substan- had even giventhem initial ments, and attracting alarge Waiting forSaturday's for- ther at this stage." The statement through the central server. tial changes to land use and FSI permission, this waslater number of non-scheduledoper- mal call, Arya says it is onlyafter further reads, "Everyemployee “A total 2,360 participants in the DP,for whichpublic sug- withdrawnafter the Union ators to bring in ad hoc freighters this that she will plan her prior- of BARC India is expected to con- have been put throughthe na- gestions and objections were EnvironmentMinistrysus- with Covid-19vaccine in the near ities forThiruvananthapuram. form to aCode of Conduct & tional-leveltraining of trainers, reinvited.One of them in- pendedthe environment future,” Ramachandran said. However, topofher agenda is Ethicsand anyinfringement in- whichincludes cold chain and volveddeclassification of the The land at Pahadi, Goregaon. File clearance to the development, Aspokesperson for waste-handling. “The last vitessuitable disciplinaryaction. immunisation officers.Since Goregaon landasNA, and re- following objections raisedby Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji regime had donealot and we We willcontinue to ensurethat people have already been reservation of bulk of this land green activists. Maharaj International Airport have to do more." 'WHATINDIA WATCHES' is re- trained, we want to knowbefore forMetro rail car shed, even accusedthe Fadnavis gov- alsoadmittedthat "thereis In October this year,Chief said the airportwill offerflexi- portedaccuratelyand with ut- the actual rollout [of the vacci- National LawUniversity and ernment of "passing undue densemangrovevegetation on MinisterUddhavThackeray ble slotmanagement foradhoc Farmers respond mostintegrity.It's aresponsibil- nation programme] howeffec- Other Courts (Human Rights benefitstothe landownerto either side of the land where had scrappedthe contentious charteroperations.Mumbai is Gurnam SinghChaduni, ity we oweall our stakeholders." tive this training has been. We Courts, FamilyCourts,Motor the tune of Rs 80,000crore" by the construction is to take Aareycar shedproject of the the country’s largest airport president of BKU (Haryana), have chosen one stateeachfrom Vehicle Tribunal, etc),and an wayofthe modification, acon- place." So long as the Goregaon Colaba-Bandra-Seepz (Metro gatewayfor pharmaceutical ex- echoedJagmohan Singh: “Time Rajnath Singh the north, south, eastand west, 18-metre-wideroad. tention that Fadnavis had con- land is classifiedasNA, bulk of 3) line,whichFadnavis had ini- port-importmovement. and again, theyasked us forour Singh said there wasmarked and the states will decide the Eyeing the Pahadi land as a tested.The Congress, at that the landremains unbuildable. tiated.OnOctober 1, his gov- “The existing infrastructure proposals. But theyare yetto improvement in MSP-based twodistricts.The dryrun will be possible alternativefor the car time, had even sought aprobe But if the modificationissanc- ernment had instead allotted at CSMIA enables the airportto give us anyconcreteproposal. procurement under the NDAas monitored by the Centre,” asen- shedifthe Kanjurmarg land re- in this regard.Inthe modified tioned, the land holders can the 102-acre Kanjurmargland offeracontinuous temperature Had their intentions been good, againstthe UPAtenure. ior government officialwho is mainsunavailable, the MM- plan, documentsshowthat optfor development of the at no costtothe MMRDAfor controlledmovement and pro- theywould nothavemade “But even then, we arebeing partofthe team that will moni- RDAnow wantsthe UD de- about 98 hectarehas been re- reservations under the accom- buildinganintegrated car shed cessing of pharma goods these laws.Now what is the doubted.Misconceptions are torthe dryrun, told The Indian partment to sanction this servedfor theuniversity and modation reservation (AR) formultiple Metrolines. But on through the airport—anele- point of talkingofamend- being raised. Iwanttotellmy Express. pending modification. other courts andanother 221 principle, whichwill entitle December 16,anHCorder that ment that would be vitalfor the ments. We will notbudgeuntil brothers and sisters, sitting on The dryrun is intendedto Ironicallywhenthe Fadnavis hectarefor the car shed, with them to moreFSI (full floor stayed theconstruction at storageand transportation of we win.” dharnafor along time, that it test the country's flagship vac- regime proposedthe modifi- reservations proposedevenon space index) than permissible Kanjurmargbasedonpetitions the Covid-19vaccine,” the PKrishna Prasad, working causes us pain. Theymay be sit- cine delivery IT platform, Co- cation, therewas stiffopposi- the "NA" portion. on anysimilar unreserved plot. filedbythe Centreand private spokesperson said. committee member of AIKSCC ting on dharna, but theyare Win, at everystage,sources said. tion to it. Alleging that the land Asenior official, mean- Under the AR principle, a parties againstthe state's allot- Cold chain infrastructureis and aformerKerala MLA, said: farmers. Theyhavebeen born “Afterstatesidentify their in question was"mangrove while, said that the land holder private land owner in Mumbai ment, put aspanner in the beingupgradedatsmallerair- “PM stands isolated from his al- from afarmer mother’s womb. twodistricts, the firststepwill land",the then Leader of had also submitted areport by can avail the entiredevelop- plans. Following the court's ports too. “If the vaccines are lies who areinsupportoffarm- In our minds, we have alot of re- be forthem to schedule five vac- Opposition (Assembly) the government's mangrove ment potential of areserved stay,the government has been coming from abroad, they’ll ers.Our struggle is forapolicy, spect forthem. As the son of a cination sessions in five differ- RadhakrishnaVikhe-Patil, who cell stating that the land is land upon developing the said scouting foralternative loca- mainlycome to international air- notfor anyfund. So we are farmer, Iwant to say, we will not ent locations. The locationswill has since joined the BJP,had "clear of mangroves." But he amenity forwhichthe land is tions to shiftthe car shed. ports from wheretheywill bere- ready forthe long haul.” do anything that harms the be primaryhealth centres, com- distributed to other smaller Jhanda Singh Jethuke, sen- rightsoffarmers,” he said. munity healthcentres, or adis- places, state capitals, etc. What- ior vice president of BKU “Ek baar iss Actkolaagu toh trict hospital” the senior official vaccines will be temperature whichlocation the vaccine has cine administration and adverse to rolling out itsCovid-19vacci- ever cold chain infrastructureis (Ugrahan),said the Prime honedijiye.Saal-dosaal,aapexper- said. sensitive —and once the vacci- to be received, whereitisbeing event reporting,the sources nation programme, airports and there, we areupgradingit,” AAI Ministerwas “contradicting” iment karke tohdekhiyeiss Actke “Next, they(the states) will nation programme is rolledout, taken, and details of the cold said: “The vaccinators will do the logistics players areworkingto chairman Arvind Singh said. his Agriculture Minister. “On anusar.Yadi aapko lage ki yeh createasession using the Co- the country's cold chain system chain temperatureuptothe vac- dummyrun with 100persons. ensureithappens seamlessly — Hyderabadairportwillbekey December 5, Agriculture kisanonkeliyelabhkaariActnahin Windigital platform, and in- of 85,634 pieces of equipment at cinationsite.” Eachperson will wait for30 by expanding cold chain facilities forthe distribution of the Russian MinisterNarendraSingh Tomar hai, tohmein daave ke saathkeh clude 100people in that session. 28,947 cold chain pointswill be The sources, however, minutes aftergetting vaccinated. and setting up computerised Sputnik Vvaccine,whichisbeing congratulated us forholding saktahoon, jaisa mein Pradhan Afive-member vaccination usedtostore the vaccine. pointed outthatwhile every They(the vaccinators) will see trucking slots formoreefficient producedinIndia by Hyderabad- the protestinapeaceful man- Mantrijikiniyatkojaantahoon,be- team will be constituted.” “A team will be dispatched statewillhaveaconsigneepoint wherethe glitches are, if any. redistribution from airports. basedDrReddy’sLaboratories. ner,and fornot being under the henon bhaiyon, ismei jo bhi san- In the thirdstep, “100people to thevaccination centre. The in next week'sdry run, when the Theywill also recordadverse Officials said they believedvac- This airporttoo processes alarge influence of anypolitical party. shodhanavashyakhoga,saarasan- will receive an SMS generatedby cold chain will be operational si- actual vaccine administration events, if any, afterthe vaccina- cination could begin next month. volume of India’s pharmaceuti- Nowthe PM is saying that shodhan karne ke liyehum poori the IT platformthatwillconvey multaneously. Thedistrict will programme is rolledout, some tion. Since Adverse Event While Pune will be one of the cal cargo givenits proximity to farmers arebeing misguidedby tarahsetaiyyar rahenge,” he said. that vaccinator Xwill be vacci- inform whether it will getits states will receive their consign- Following Immunization (AEFI) hubsfor the distribution of do- severalmanufacturingfacilities. political parties who aredoing (“LetthisActbeimplemented nating youon[say] December 29 vaccine from the neareststate mentsfromothers. is acritical aspect, the manage- mestically-manufactured vac- The airporthas adedicated event managementherein once. Forone-twoyears, experi- at [a certain] sub-centrebetween depotorthe Government “Not allstateshaveastatecon- ment of the adverseevent will cines, the bulk of the vaccine Pharma Zonewithtemperature- their name. So who do we mentaccordingto thisActandsee. Yand Ztime,”the official said. Medical StoreDepot(GMSD). signee point. Forexample, be tracked,” the sources said. consignment willbeimported controlledfacilities forcargo that trust? It seems we areinfor a If youthink this is notaprofitable The next step during the dry Thereare four GMSDs run by the Nagaland, whichdoesnot have a through majorinternationalair- requires temperatures from mi- longstruggle. We areready for Actforfarmers,Icansaywithcer- run will be related to the main- Union government, and 27 state stateconsignee pointfor receiv- AAI seeks land ports including Delhi, Mumbai, nus 20 degrees Celsius to 25 de- it.” tainty,knowing the Prime Mini- tenance and tracking of the cold consignee points,” sources said. ingthevaccine,willgetitfromthe itsvaccine againstthe novel and Hyderabad.Delhi, the coun- grees Celsius. ster’s intentions, whateveram- chain using the IT platform, According to the sources, neareststate,” the sources said. coronavirus in India. try's largest aiport, has launched The airporthas also ensured FULLREPORTSON endmentsare necessary, we will sources said. SeveralCovid-19 “Thedistrict will inform from On the critical aspect of vac- As the countrymoves closer “Project Sanjivani” to equip that ramp exposuretime of the www.indianexpress.com WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 3 THE CITY

Woman found Sexratioatbirthworsensin8 dead at Aksa beach identified; municipalwardsinlast5years father-in-law detained Datashows stating their sexratio had instead BMCFIGURESFORSEXRATIOATBIRTH improved by 11 points in the marginal suburbs and fallen "slightly"by EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE twopointsinthe city. MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 WARDS WHERE IT WORSENED improvement in Explaining the vast discrep- Name of the ward 2015 to 2019 ancy between NFHS and BMC, ADAY afterpolicediscoveredthe Mumbai’s overall Bward946 to 887 experts have said it is possible body of awoman stuffedina sexratio at birth FSouth 942to939 the BMC has notcaptured all gunnybag at Malad's Aksa FNorth 934to927 births in the city and missedout beach, the victim has been iden- on severalhome deliveries. tifiedwiththe help of herclothes from 929in2015 GSouth 991to978 Dr Mangala Gomare, BMC and atattoo on her leftarm. to 937in2019 PSouth 941to930 executive healthofficer,how- Police have also detainedthe PNorth 945to943 ever,said Mumbai recorded woman's father-in-lawinthis RSouth 928 to 895 close to 500home deliveries in connection. TABASSUM Sward920 to 911 ayear."Andeventhat eventually ON CHRISTMAS DAY Nandini Rai, a22-year-old BARNAGARWALA comes in ourrecord," shesaid. housewifewho went missing on MUMBAI,DECEMBER24 WARDS WHERE IT IMPROVED "The civic body has worked to At St Johnthe BaptistChurch in Thane. DeepakJoshi December 8, livedwith her hus- A ward 892 to 921 improvethe sexratioasisevi- band Pankajand father-in-lawat EIGHT MUNICIPAL wardsin dent from overall figures of the Poisar area in Kandivali East. Cward837 to 920 Mumbai have recordedworsen- city," she added. Pankaj had gone to Biharlast ing sexratio at birth over the past Dward899 to 923 While the sexratio has wors- month to attend aChhath Pooja five years, shows datafromthe MEast909 to 939 enedineight wards, it has im- For first time, no new case and the woman had been stay- BMC. But overall, the civic body Nward896 to 925 proved in 16 others. The im- ing with onlyher father-in-law said Mumbai's sexratio im- provement in five wardsis since, police said. proved marginally from 929in Tward919 to 960 significant. In MarineLines and "Thewoman's father-in-law 2015 to 937girls born per 1,000 Chandanwadi area, the sexratio in Dharavisince April 1 also leftfor Biharinthe second boys in 2019. jumpedfrom837 in 2015 to 920 week of December," said an of- Bward(Dongri), FSouth termination test. indicates the practice to check in 2019.InMulund (T ward), the been alot of communityengage- ficer. (Parel), FNorth (Matunga), G He said the drop could be due sexoffoetus and to kill female sexratio improved to 960 from SANJANABHALERAO ment and cooperation in When she wasnowhereto South (Worli), PSouth to changeinbirth registration foetuses mayhaveincreasedin 919. Other areas wherethe birth MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 19.13lakh Dharavi," said Kiran Dighavkar, be found foracouple of days,a (Goregaon), PNorth (Malad), R procedurein2016. "Since 2016, the state," of the girl child has increasedare TOTALPOSITIVECASES Assistant Municipal missing complaint waslodged at South (Kandivali) and SWard births areregisteredasper ad- she said. Ghatkopar (N ward), Award AFTER HAVINGemergedasa INMAHARASHTRA Commissioner,GNorth ward. SamtaNagar police station on (Bhandup) have all recordeda dress of hospital instead of par- The BMC datashows from (Colaba), Dward(Malabar Hill), Covid-19hotspotinMumbai by In the beginning of May, December 11 by her father, decline in sexratio between ents'. Severalpeople from this 929 in 2015,Mumbai's sexratio and MEast(Mankhurd, mid-April, Dharavi, has not Active Cases 56,823 therewere43cases dailyonan Sudhir Thakur. 2015 and 2019,shows BMC data. ward go to hospitals in nearby at birthinchedup, noticeably, to Chembur). recordedany newcase on Friday New Cases 3,431 averageinDharavi. As of June 8, On Thursdayafternoon, Umerkhadiand DongriinBward wardsfor delivery.The ward- 937in2016. Since then, the trend In Nward, Assistant since the firstwas reportedon TotalDeaths 49,129 the averagenumber of cases in SamtaNagar police were in- have recordedthe worstdrop- wise sexratio at birth maynot has moreorless remainedstag- Commissioner Ajitkumar Ambi April 1. Dharavihas come down to 27.By formedabout awoman whose from 946girls born per 1,000 give atrue pictureofwardsince nant. Sexratio improved to 938 said, "This ward is different from According to the BMC data, New Deaths71 August, cases came down to sin- body wasfoundinagunnybag boys in 2015 to 887in2019, fol- all births arenot registeredhere in 2017,to939 in 2018 but other wardsbecause of itscor- since the pandemic brokeout, Quarantined4.8 lakh gle digitaday.OnApril 1, Dharavi at Aksa beacharound9.30 am lowedbyKandivali wheresex ra- even if residential address be- dippedbackto937 porator and medical officers' Dharavihas reported3,788 Tested 1.24 crore reportedits firstcaseand also the same morning. tio worsenedfrom928 to 895. longs to Bward," he added. by 2019. composition. About 80 per cent cases. It, however, has only 12 ac- the firstdeath due to theviral in- "The descriptionofthe miss- Explaining that Bwardis Advocateand social activist In contrast,findings of the doctors in this ward arefemale. tive cases nowwith eight in fection, albeit in amulti-storey ing woman matchedwiththe onlyone squarekilometreinra- Varsha Deshpande said the trend fifthphase of the National Family Maximum corporators arefe- home quarantine and four in 2,89,800 residential complexinBaliga one whose body wasfound on dius with four small hospitals of declining sexratio wasvisible HealthSurvey (NFHS-5) findings male. Out of 11,seven arefemale Covid care centres.The BMCwas TOTALPOSITIVE Nagarwith good sanitisation fa- the beach. Her parentswerein- and 12 sonographycentres, all across Maharashtraand notjust indicateasteep fall in sexratio counsellors. Their gender sensi- runningninequarantine facili- CASESINMUMBAI cilityand scope fordistancing. formedand an officer took them strictly monitored formedical limited to onearea. "The convic- from 932 to 703insuburbs and tivity mayhaveplayedarole." ties in schools, sports complexes, New Cases 596 But alarm bells rang four days to Malwani police station," said termination, BMC Medical tion rate foracouple who un- from 1,033to1,019 in the city. In the city,the sexratio fell hostels and community halls to later, whenthe virus foundits an officer."The names of the Officer Dr Sandeep Gaikwad said dergo sexdetermination or for The NFHS-5, however, useda from 934 to 932infiveyears, accommodatepeople. Forpro- TotalDeaths 11,056 wayintoone of the largest and woman and her husband were the drop in sexratio did notin- labs who do these illegal tests samplepopulation. The BMC has while in suburbs it went up from vidingcritical care, the BMC took New Deaths11 mostdense slum clusters in inked on her arm whichhelped dicateillegal abortion or sexde- has gone down since 2014.This questionedthe NFHS figures 927to938. over five private hospitals in the Mukund Nagar. her parentsinidentifyingher." area. Until June, morethan 8,500 Shortlyafter,the BMC Malwani police have regis- people were quarantined in such body."We have been able to swung intoactionand launched teredacase of murder and de- facilities. So far, 312people have achieve no case in aday because amass screening exercise fora struction of evidence, while the Stubborn attitude of tenants led to several diedofCovid-19inDharavi, as of our simple trace, track, test populationof8.5 lakh spread victim's father-in-lawhas been building collapsesinMumbai,state: HC per datareleasedbythe civic and treat formula. Therehas across the slum. detained.

perts,eveninnocent passers-by commodationagreement with inginthelossofpreciouslivesand OMKARGOKHALE maylosetheirlivesintheeventof them. damagetoproperty.Suchtenants MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 suchbuilding collapses and the Inlightof thesubmissionsand as well as their advocates should same cannotbecompensated. the material on record, the bench realisethatif thedemolitionisde- IN Arecent ruling, the Bombay Maintaining the same, the HC re- said thatpetitioners and their layed,notonlywillthelivesofthe HighCourt(HC) hasstatedthat jected an urgent application filed lawyers arewellaware that they tenantsandtheirfamilymembers due to the "stubborn attitude" of by tenantsofadilapidated build- cannotbeallowedtocontinue be at risk,but in the event of such tenantsresiding in dilapidated ing in Ghatkopar (West) seeking their stay insidethe dilapidated buildings collapsing, even inno- buildings whichneededurgent astayonits demolition. building and areatliberty to the cent passers-bymay losetheir demolition, severalstructures in Adivision benchofJustice SJ reliefsrelatedtotransit rent and lives, losswhichcan neverbead- Mumbai and the state have col- Kathawalla and Justice RI Chagla executionof alternateaccommo- equatelycompensated." lapsed,resultinginthelossof pre- made these observations on dationagreementasperlaw, sep- Refusingthepleaseekingstay cious livesand damagetoprop- December 22 while hearing the arately. on the demolition, the HC noted, erty. pleaof tenantsofAvichalBuilding The benchled by Justice "The tenantsresiding in such The HC said that suchtenants numbertwoatSanghaniEstate in Kathawallaobserved,"Itisinview buildings, as well as their advo- and their lawyers should realise GhatkoparWest,filedthroughad- of suchstubborn attitudes of ten- cates,shouldrefrainfrommaking that if demolition processes are vocateVivek Shukla,seeking to antsresidingindilapidatedbuild- suchapplicationsbefore thecourt, delayeddue to petitions to pre- stay eviction unless the owner ingswhichneededurgentdemo- to repeatedly delay the demoli- ventthecivicbodyfromdoingso, pays thetransit rent and enters lition,thatseveralbuildingsinthe tion of suchdilapidated build- despiteclearancesby technicalex- intoapermanent alternateac- city/ statehavecollapsed, result- ings." IMD forecasts risein Mumbai’s temperature over weekend

SANJANABHALERAO MUMBAI,DECEMBER25

AFTER Abrief cold spell in Mumbai, minimumand maxi- mum temperatures in the city sawarise on Friday. TheIndia Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecastanincrease in the temperatureoverthe week- end as north-easterly coldwinds will be replacedbywarm south- easterly winds. The minimum temperature onFridaywas18.8degreesCelsius and 21.2 degrees Celsius at SantacruzandColabaweatherob- servatories,respectively,upfrom 16.2 degreesCelsius and 20.2 de- greesCelsius,respectively,onthe previous day. OnWednesday, theminimum temperatureinthe city had dipped to 15.8 degreesCelsius, whichwas theseason's coldest day. As perthe 48-hourforecast by theIMD on Friday, the mini- mum temperaturewill hover around20degreesCelsiusandthe maximum temperaturewill be around 33-34 degrees Celsius. Maximum temperature recordedonFridaywasalsoabove normal. At the IMD's Santacruz observatory, themaximum tem- peraturerecordedwas 34.7 de- greesCelsius,whiletheColabaob- servatoryrecorded it at 31.8 degrees Celsius. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 4 MAHARASHTRA Sena attacks ActiveCovidcasesacrossstatehave Prepared to face ED Haryana, probe,nothing to Centre for booking dippedbynearly36percentinDec fear, says Khadse Assemblyelections. EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE “I am amusedwith the series protesting EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 of investigations againstme. Ial- MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 ways thought ED intervenes in farmers SENIOR LEADER EknathKhadse matters of Rs 100crore and more. AFTER Abrief spikein on Fridaysaid he had been But what Ilearnt if it is Pune land Maharashtra’s coronavirus active alertedthatthe Enforcement case,theentiredealwaslessthan EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE casesinthelastweekof November Directorate(ED) wouldsend him Rs 4crore.Moreover, the land in MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 following Diwali celebrations, the anoticeonthe Bhosari land deal question wasbeingbought by my total active cases in the statehave case in Pune. wifeand son in law. Everything DAYS AFTER the Haryana police dippedbynearly 36percentsince “I have notofficiallyreceived wastransparent,” Khadse said. booked13protesting farmerson the beginning of December, from anynotice,"Khadsetold The “The Anti Corruption Bureau chargesofattempt to murder 89,098casesto56,823cases,inthe IndianExpress,respondingtome- whichprobed thedeal earlier and rioting, the ShivSena on 25 days of the month. dia reports that theEDhad sent has already givenmeaclean chit Fridaysaidthatthe governments Statehealthofficials believe him one. "But Ihaveheardfrom in the matter.Ihaveall these in Haryana and Centre should that in view of anightcurfewand multiplesourcesthatsomenotice documentsinwriting. Moreover keep in mindthat the farmers’ theenforcementof stringentclos- on itsway.And whatIhavegath- nothing came out of the retired agitation cannotbestoppedby ingtimings forrestaurantsand ered is the notice is regardingthe judgecommission whichlooked filing false cases. bars forthe upcoming 10 days, same Bhosariland in Pune”. intothe case,” he said. An editorial in party mouth- subduedChristmasandNewYear Sounding unfazed, Khadse “However, Iamusedtosuch piece Saamana said that the gov- celebrationsmay notleadto asig- said: “It is likelythat thenotice has ordeals.Iwillface it. Ihaverepeat- ernment made everyeffortto nificantspikeincasesinamanner notreached, todaybeing a edly raisedthe same land deal in discredit the farmers’ agitation that Diwali festivities had. Since Christmasholiday. Irrespective of stateassembly and publicforums by terming them Khalistani and March,Maharashtrahasrecorded anynotice by anyagency,Iamall since 2016.Ihad explainedmy allegingChina and Pakistan hand twosignificant spikes, both fol- Ahealthcareworkercollectsswabsamples forCovid testingatabus stand in Thane, Friday. Deepak Joshi preparedtofaceit asIknowIhave side. Isought simple answers in the protests.“While the World lowingfestivals-GanpatiVisarjan notdone anywrong. Thereisno from those at helm to specify Farmers’ Daywas being cele- celebrations in September and reason to fear anyinvestigation". what wasmycrime in the case. brated on Wednesday,the BJP Diwali in November. while Thane’scaseload has come Afteranassociation of 40 Till datethereare no clear an- government in Haryana de- Post Diwali, the state's active down from 15,776 cases to Beaches, riverfronts in Raigad years, Khadse quit the BJP two swers, he lamented,” he added. clared thefarmers as murderers. caseload rose from 84,082 to 10,246. Onlyafew districtshave months agotojointhe NCP, and An NCPsource said the spec- The governmentsinHaryana 90,557within afortnight as of shown arise in active cases. while quitting held former CM ulation about ED action against and Centreshould keep in mind November 30. Despitethe risein However, Sindhudurg, Sangli, to observe night curfew; DevendraFadnavis responsible Khadse could be aimedat that the farmers’ agitation can be cases, the severity of infection has Kolhapur,Nashik,Dhule, forsidelininghim by framing thwarting him from becoming a stoppedbyfiling false cases,” remainedlow,according to state Buldhana, and Nagpur have false cases againsthim. Khadse member in statecouncil. "Such said the editorial. epidemiologistDrPradeepAwate. shown aspikeintheir respective wasforcedtostepdownasmin- adverse notice would under- On Tuesday,the Haryana po- “Afterthe initialrise in cases active caseloads this month. Janjira fort also shut till Jan 2 isterinJune, 2016 following the mine his image. And it couldim- licebooked 13 farmers, who had during Diwali, we arenoticing a The spikeinNashik and allegations in the Pune land pact his candidatureasgover- wavedblack flagsatHaryanaChief gradual decline in active cases Nagpur has lefthealth officials 11 pm to 6amwill be imposed January1,the district adminis- scam. The BJP did notgivehim a nor’snominee in statelegislative Minister ManoharLal Khattar’s across the state. We arecautious worried. Dr NarendraBahirwar, EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE in public areas, including tration said. tickettocontestthe last council,”the NCPsource said. convoy in Ambalawhile protest- aboutthenewvariantofCovid-19 medical officer at the Nagpur MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 beaches and riverfronts. In an order issuedon ingagainstthefarmlaws Tuesday, strainintheUK.If thestraincomes Municipal Corporation, saidall Giventhe coastaldistrict's Thursday, Raigad Collector on various chargesincluding at- here, we mayhavetostrengthen passengers whohavereturned PEOPLE REDRAWINGNew proximity to Mumbai, Thane Nidhi Choudhari stated that Activists raise red flag over tempttomurder and rioting. surveillance and quarantine all from the UK and Middle East Year's plans afterthe state and Pune, beaches in Raigad, since Janjira, the fort located in “Arethe farmersmurderers, contactstolimit itsspread. over the pastmonth arebeing government imposedanight mainlyAlibaug, Murud and the Arabian Sea, is apopular naxalites and terrorists in Indiain Screening of passengers has al- closely monitoredsoastodetect curfew till January 5will also Shrivardhan, areexpected to tourist attraction,the number MERC’s new supply code, an agricultural country? Is it a ready begun,” Awateadded. anew mutation in the virus have to strikeout beaches in see anumber of touristarrivals of visitors is expected to surge crimetoprotestwiththedemand Maharashtra has touched calledB.1.1.7 lineage. Alibaug and MandwaorJanjira forChristmas and New Year during Christmas-New Year seek govt’s intervention of repealing the three oppressive 19.13lakh Covid-19 cases tilldate. TheNagpurcivicbodyhadsent Fort in Raigad district from celebrations. celebrations as tourists cometo agriculture laws brought by the As it continues to reportbetween samples of a28-year-old man, their options. Raigad districtadministra- popular sites likeAlibaug, and objections till December 29. Union government,” askedSena. 3,000 and5,000 newcases on a whohadreturnedfromtheUKon The district collector of tion will also setupnine check- Shrivardhan and Murud. EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE However, accusing the MERC The editorialfurthersaidthat dailybasis, the caseload is setto November 29 and tested positive Raigad on Thursdayissuedan pointswherehealth workers It further stated that to pre- MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 of using itsdiscretionary power farmers in this countrycannot crossthe 20 lakh mark soon. The forCovid-19,forgenomesequenc- order closing the fort,apopu- will conduct preliminary vent the spread of Covid-19,it unfairly,PratapHogade,the fo- be murderers and rioters. “They stateisalsoinching closer to a ing.“Buthislatestswabtestedneg- lar touristdraw, forvisitors health checks on arriving wasimportant to keep the fort ACTIVISTS HAVE raisedthe red rum’sconvenor,said that the areour food providers. The farm- deathtollof 50,000;49,129deaths ative forthe virus, so genome se- from FridaytoJanuary2with a tourists forCovid-19screening. closedfor visitors from flag againstthe newelectric sup- draftcodehas providedfor the ers have been struggling with have been recordeddue to the vi- quencingcouldnotbedone.Now, viewtoprevent crowding at The checkpointswill be setup December 25 to January2.The plycode formulated by the appointmentofretired senior natural calamities suchas ralinfection so far. hisfamilymemberhastestedpos- the siteaspeople gather there at Mandwa, Revas, Kharpada, order also stated that the MaharashtraElectricity government officials on the droughts andunseasonal rains In Mumbai, the active case- itive and we have senttheir sam- forNew Year's celebrations on Vadavlitoll naka, Matheran, Superintendent of Police, RegulatoryCommission’s Consumer Grievance Redressal over the years. Despitethe load has dippedfrom15,078 pleforsequencing,”Bahirwarsaid. December 31.While therewill Vakan Phata, Tamhani Ghat, Raigad, alsosuggestedthatthis (MERC) newsupply code. Forum and the Electricity calamities,the farmers commit- cases to 8,218cases. Pune, too, The samples will be sent to the be no restrictions on celebra- Varandh Ghat and Shivaji would help in preventing the Allegingthat the draftnew Ombudsman,defeating the very tedsuicidebut neverthought of has shown adecline from over National InstituteofVirology for tions at hotels and resorts in Maharaj Chowk in Poladpur infection as well as anylaw and code has diluted severalprovi- purpose fortheir setting up. takinguparms,”itadded. 20,000 cases to 14,145 cases, genome breakup. Raigad, the night curfew from taluka from December 28 to order issues. sions in consumer interest, the Hogade alleged that the new state-levelcoordinationcommit- code has cappedthe penalties teeofthe Veej Grahakand leviable on discoms over failure An editorial in the party MEDICAL COLLEGE ASSISTANT DEAN ARRESTED AudyogikSangathan,anumbrella to adheretosupplynorms, while mouthpieceSaamana HC directs state govt to pay organisation of statepower con- proposing to pass on spend on said that the govt made sumeroutfitsinthestate,hasnow damagedmetrerepairs and pole 2more women say approachedtheMaharashtragov- lines to the consumers. He also everyefforttodiscredit Rs 50,000each to two men ernment, seeking urgent inter- questionedwhy no penalties are the farmers’ agitation ventioninthe case. proposedinthe newcode fordis- they were also duped On December 9, the MERC coms who fail to bill consumers had publishedthe draftofthe as per actual consumption and for illegal detention, arrest Alisha Sheikh, who originally MaharashtraElectricity resorttoaverage bills fortwo EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE hails from Madhya Pradesh, RegulatoryCommission consecutive months or more. ‘Khalistani withherfamilyonthegroundthat The petitioners alleged MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 wanted admission in (Electricity SupplyCode and Theassociationhascautioned OMKARGOKHALE her familydid notallow them to ‘malafide’ in actiontaken by po- Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Standards of Performance of that the newcode will have ad- operative’ MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 usebullocksandcartsforfetching liceand executive magistrate and TWOMORE women have come Medical Collegefor whichshe Distribution Licenseesincluding verse implications forthe power waterand had assaulted her. submittedthattheywereillegally forwardand lodged acom- metthe assistant dean in PowerQuality) Regulations, sectorinthelongtermandsought THE BOMBAY High Court’s On January30, petitioners detainedinjail fornearly sixdays. plaintagainst Rakesh Verma, August. “Verma instead de- 2020, inviting public suggestions the government’sintervention. sent to NIA Aurangabad benchrecentlydi- were arrestedby policeand were Afterhearingsubmissions, the assistant dean of Lokmanya manded Rs 50 lakhfromthe rected the stategovernment to producedbeforeJudicial the benchobserved,“Order of Tilak Municipal Medical complainant,” said an investi- custody payascompensation Rs 50,000 MagistrateFirstClass (JMFC) on Executive Magistrateaskingthe College, who wasarrestedon gator, adding that theyhave Policeman accused of eachtotwo petitioners from Beed the same day. The JMFC granted present petitioners to execute Wednesdayfor allegedly dup- learnt that the complainant has district, including an ex-military bail to both of them andthey interim bond of suchnatureis ing an MBBS studentofRs50 transferredRs21.10 lakh to EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE person, forillegallydetaining were releasedafter furnishing illegal and involved onerous lakh by promising her aseat in Verma’s account from her fa- accessing bank details of MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 them forsix days in jail in 2013. personal bond and surety. condition. Therewas malafide apostgraduatecourse. ther’s account. Adivision benchofJustice It wascontendedthat when and intention of police to see The police said that the But as he failedtofacilitate another cop denied bail THREE DAYS afterthe arrest of Tanaji VNalawade and Justice they came outofcourtcampus, that the petitionersare arrested statementsofthe twofemale her aseat in MD course, the GurjeetSingh Nijjar, an alleged Mukund GSewlikar passed the the same police arrested them and theyare kept behind bars aspiring studentswere complainant approachedSion arenot made in the case. The Khalistani operative in Delhi by judgment earlier thismonthon a immediately andtheyweretaken forafew days and the Executive recordedonFriday who have police station and lodged a EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE prosecution opposedthe plea theNationalInvestigationAgency plea filedbyArunTagad (33) and before executive magistrate,who Magistrateacted as per such said that theyweredupedto complaint. Acase wasregis- MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 stating that therewas misuse of (NIA), aspecial courtinMumbai ShailendraTagad (34) from Beed passedanorder againstpetition- desireofpolice and did notap- the tune of Rs 44 lakh and Rs 20 teredand subsequentlyateam hispositionas apolicepersonnel. senthim to the agency’s custody seeking compensation of Rs 5 ers and directed them to give in- plyhis mind.” lakh respectively under the wassentonWednesday andhe ASESSIONScourtrejectedthean- It wassubmittedbeforethe tillDecember 31. lakh eachonthe groundthatthey terim bond with twosureties of Directing the stategovern- pretextoffacilitatingapost- wasbrought to the police sta- ticipatorybail applicationofa50- courtthat thereisanold dispute NijjarwasarrestedattheDelhi were illegallyarrestedand de- Rs 25, 000each. ment to payRs50,000 compen- graduateseat in medicine. tion forinquiryfromhis house year-oldpolicemanbookedforal- between the accusedand the in- airport on Tuesdayinconnection tainedincustody at the instance On the same day, the petition- sation eachtopetitioners, the Deputy Commissioner of at Doctors’ quarters at Nair hos- legedly accessingbank details of formant. It wassubmitted that withacasefiledin2019wherehe of Beedpolice and executive ers movedaplea before theexe- court observed, “Thereisaclear Police VijayPatil confirmedthe pital in Mumbai Central. anothercopby visitingthebankin the accused cop had lodged a wasnamedasawanted accused magistrate. cutemagistrateand requested possibility that to the Executive development and said, “Other “During the courseofinquiry, uniformandclaimingitwasforan complaint againstthe informant facing allegations that he wasat- AdvocateNRThorat forpeti- him to permit them to give cash Magistratethere wasnoproper twovictims approacheduson we ascertainedthat he had taken official investigation. in 2018,following which an in- tempting to “reviveSikhmili- tionerssubmittedthatonJanuary security instead of suretybond as training. The powers available as Thursday,aday afterVerma’s Rs 50 lakh from the complainant An FIR wasfiledatAzad quirywas initiated.This com- tancy” through their activity on 28, 2013,FIR waslodged by Beed issuanceofsolvency certificate per Criminal ProcedureCode arrest.Wecalledthem to the followingwhichthe assistant Maidan police station on charges, plaint also had details of the in- social media platforms. RuralPolice againstpetitioners would take some time.The EM (CrPC) areinvestedeither in the police stationaccordinglyand dean wasarrested,” read the including cheating, againstthe formant's bank statement. Achargesheet filedagainst underoffencessuchasvoluntarily rejected the plea and adjourned police officer of higher rank or their statementswere press note issuedbythe Mumbai cop. The accused, while seeking "The applicant (accused) re- him as an absconding accusedin causing hurtwith dangerous the matter to the next date. After some revenue officer and as they recorded. We have been told policeonWednesday. pre-arrest bail,claimed that his questedthe bank manager to May2019had claimedthat he weapons and criminal intimida- afresh written requestonJanuary have no training,when thesupe- that even theywerelooking for BMC had ordered an internal going to abankinuniformand provide bank statementsofthe wasbasedinCyprus and had tion on acomplaint made by a 31,the EMgrantedthemtime and rior police officer issues some in- admission forMDcourse and inquirymuchbeforehis arrest seekingabankstatementwas not accountofthe informant forpro- helpedprocureinternationalSIM woman from their village. She passedarelease order,however, structions likedone in the pres- theywereduped.” and suspectsthat he has taken an offence. It wassubmitted that tecting the interests of the pub- cards and providedfinance to a had complainedthat the accused the duo waskeptbehind bars till ent matter and orders of the The policehad earlier said moneyfromseveral other aspir- therewas no misuse of the state- lic but he useditfor personal co-accused. persons hadpickedupaquarrel February5,2013. aforesaid natureare passed.” that awoman identifiedas ing medical students. ment and thechargesofcheating purposes," the courtsaid. Fourmenwere namedaspart of the alleged conspiracy -- MoinuddinSiddiqui, Harpal ‘RT1’ WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEDEATH OF 8PERSONS IN CHANDRAPUR Singh, retired DelhiPolice ACP Woman killed in tiger Sundarlal Parashar and Nijjar.It wasclaimedthatSiddiquiwasin- Tiger to travel over 800 km from Nagpur zoo to SGNP attack at Gadchiroli fluencedbySingh and Nijjar throughsocialmediaposts related According to them, the SGNP ranges in Chandrapur district, is20-year-oldBasanti,whomoth- ering ajourney of almost900km. town waskilledinatiger attack. to militant group, Babbar Khalsa SANJANABHALERAO team leftGorewada zoo in wascaptured on October 28. The ered four cubs -- Yash, Anand, Sultan wascaptured from EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE As reportedearlier by The International. MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 Nagpurfor Mumbai along with tigers arenamedasper the forest Laxmi and Puja -- of whom only Brahmapuriforest inChandrapur NAGPUR,DECEMBER25 Indian Express,Gadchiroli is fast TheNIAFridaysoughtcustody the tiger on Fridaymorning. "The division.The tiger wasat Laxmi (10) is alive. districtin2018after it reportedly emerging as aman-tiger conflict of Nijjarclaimingthatitwantedto TRAVELLINGAdistance of over tigertravels in acageinside ares- Gorewada zooinNagpur,run by In August2019, twinRoyal killedtwo persons. Sultan, who is AWOMAN waskilledinyet hotspotafter Chandrapur,with probehis role in detail basedon 800km, RT1orthe tiger named cue van. The cageisdesignedso Forest Development Bengal tigresses were brought to five andthe lone male tiger,was another attackbyatiger in the spill-overtiger population evidence that has come forward Rajura, who is being brought in it has openings onlyfor oxygen Corporation of Maharashtra SGNPfromPenchTigerReservein brought to SGNPfromGorewada Gadchiroli on Friday, taking from the latter moving intothe from co-accusedand other from Gorewadazoo in Nagpur, supply. It is notacontinuous (FDCM), since October. Nagpur,after the forest depart- onDecember27 last yearto boost theannualtallyofhumanvictims former. In less than five years,the sources. The NIA submitted that will become the seventh tiger in journeyand the tiger is fedat The transfer of the tiger was ment'sattempt to releasethemin the captivetiger population. The of tigerattacksinthedistrictto six. district has witnessedthe tiger Nijjar,anAmritsar resident, had captivity at Sanjay Gandhi regular intervals. The tiger is not approved by the chief wildlife thewildfailed.Theywererescued threetigresses,however, aredom- "Awomanwaskilledbyatiger population increasing from zero fledthe countryin2017and a National Park (SGNP) in Borivali. tranquilisedfor the transporta- warden, state forest department, as orphan cubs from Chandrapur inant and steer clearofSultan. in the Porlarange of Wadsa divi- to about 22. lookout circularwas issued RajuraislikelytoreachSGNP tion," SGNP Conservator of and CentralZoo Authority, this district. The felines were chris- The SGNPauthorities have sion, when shewent into the for- WithFriday'sincident, theto- againsthim in 2020. He was on Saturday morning. Officials Forest GMallikarjun told The month. tenedBijleeand Mastani. also sentaproposal to chief esttocollect firewood," said talnumber of tiger attackvictims claimedtohavebeen arrested said the tiger wasbrought to the Indian Express. The SGNP is,atpresent, home Lastmonth, an 11-month-old wildlifewardenofMaharashtra Assistant Conservator of Forest in the state—all of them in from IndiraGandhi international parktoboostthe captivetiger RT1, responsible forthe death to six RoyalBengaltigers,includ- tigresswasbroughtto thenational requesting twopairs of lions for Bhaskar Kamble. Lastweek,an- Vidarbha —has nowgoneupto airportinDelhi. population. of eight persons in Rajuru-Virur ingfive females.Theoldest tigress parkfromChandrapur aftercov- captive breeding. other woman from Gadchiroli 38,the highestfor anyyear. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 GOVT &POLITICS 5

PUNJAB: POWER TO JIO TOWERS SNAPPED AfterPMaccusation,Oppnhitsback Telecom disruptionwill hurt at‘lies’,attemptto‘mislead’people economy, CM says in appeal At leasttwo farmer bodies, EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE Chief Fridaysaid disconnecting power the farmers. The middlemen in Modigovernment’s assur- Kerala.Kerala is one statewhich CHANDIGARH,DECEMBER25 Minister to mobile towers wasnever on EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE still exist.” ances fordiscussions with farm- is giving MSP morethan whatis Amarinder theiragenda and that theyhad NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 West Bengal Chief Minister ers since these bills were passed fixedbythe Union government. AMIDREPORTSthatfarmerswere Singh onlygivencallsto boycottReliance MamataBanerjee accusedthe without anypriordiscussion He is accusing the Opposition of disconnectingpowersupply to Jio stores and products. HOURS AFTER Prime Minister Prime Ministeroftrying to mis- and by preventing avote in the indulging in pettypolitics. It is mobile towers in Punjab, Chief "Our decisionistoboycott Jio NarendraModi accusedthe lead the state’s farmers by ac- House.” the Prime Ministerwho is doing MinisterAmarinder Singh Friday structure and nottodisconnect the power Opposition parties of spreading cusing the stategovernment of “The Prime Ministerclaimed politics by referring to the out- appealedtothemtonot incon- providers. supplytoany tower. However, if lies over thefarm laws forfur- MamataBanerjee and depriving themofcashbenefits todaythatsome monies had come of recent elections...” venience the general public with The TIPArequest came after anyone is doing it in villages, it is theringtheir political agenda, SukhbirBadal under the PM Kisan Samman been released. But this is partof Stop defaming suchactions. farmers at variousplaces includ- notadecision of BKU (Ugrahan)," the Opposition hit back, saying Nidhi. “Letmeset therecord apre-poll ongoing scheme! PM Pointingoutthattelecomcon- ingMansa,Barnala,Ferozepurand said Jhanda Singh Jethuke,senior he wasindulging in misleading straight –wehavealways been asking whynoprotestsin farmers: Sukhbir nectivity had become even more Moga, disconnected thepower vice-presidentof thelargest farm- tactics and rhetoric to deceive Congresscommunicationde- ready to cooperateinthe inter- Kerala! But thereare big protests Sukhbir Singh Badal, chief of criticalforpeopleamidtheCovid- supplytoRelianceJiomobiletow- ers' body in Punjab, while ad- the people. partment head Randeep estofthe farmers.Ipersonally in Kerala. The stategovern- the BJP’s estranged ally 19 pandemic,Amarindersaidthe ersaspartoftheirprotestsover dressing farmers at Delhi's Tikri The Congress said the gov- Surjewala said. have writtentwo lettersand ment’s decision to call aspecial Shiromani Akali Dal, said the farmers should showthe same pastseveral days. border. ernment is trying to “tireout the Leader of the Congress in Lok have even spoken to the con- session of the assemblytoreject Centre should stop defaming discipline and sense of responsi- “...(this) is notonlyadversely BKU (Dakaunda) president farmers”, hopingtheywillgo SabhaAdhirRanjan Chowdhury cernedMinistertwo days ago thesebillsisnot being permit- farmers and hold talkswith bility whichtheyhad been exer- affecting the studies and future ButaSingh Burjgill said their call back, but the strategy willnot said, “You do nothavethe guts but theyare refusing to cooper- tedbythe governor.This is bla- them on ways to repeal the cisingduring their protestatthe prospectsofstudents,whoarede- was“onlytoboycottJioSIMsorget work.“ThePrime Ministeris to talk to the farmers face-to- ateand areinstead indulging in tantlyunconstitutional,” he laws. Delhi border, which completed pendent entirelyononline edu- those numbers ported” to other busy giving clarifications on TV face and find out asolution. malicious propaganda forpolit- added. In astatement, the SAD one month, and also earlier dur- cation,but alsohampering the networks. and his ministers arehiding be- Sitting faraway, youdistribute ical gains,” Banerjee said in a CPI general secretaryDRaja president said the Centrehas ing their agitationinthe state. daily lifeofpeople workingfrom The clarification comes two hind the smoke-screen of let- Rs 18,000 crorefromthe gov- statement. said the Prime Ministerthinks adopteda“callous and insensi- Amarinder's appealcamein home,” Amarindersaid."Further, days afterRelianceJio Infocomm ters. Theyare leastinterestedin ernment treasuryand saythat The Lefttoo slammedthe that he can hoodwink the peo- tive attitude” towardsthe suf- the wake of arequestfromthe thedisruptionof telecomservices Limited wrotetoPunjab Director the welfareoffarmers.The gov- this is your government’s favour Prime Minister. CPM general ple.“Whatever he said today fering of farmers who are Towerand Infrastructure would also seriouslyaffectthe General of Police complainingof ernment shall have to withdraw forthe farmers. This money secretarySitaram Yechury wasnothing but lies. Forin- camping in severe cold at Delhi Providers Association (TAIPA), a state’s already disturbed econ- "incidentsofsabotage andvandal- these three blacklaws,” doesn’t go intothe accountsof tweeted, “Thereisnoconfidence stance, he wasreferring to borders. registered bodyoftelecom infra- omy.” ism at Jiosites...”

HARYANA: PROTESTS AGAINST GOVT INTENSIFY Farmers halt toll collection at most highways in state

On Friday, accordingto nearthe venue carrying black on December 27. collectedasusualonFridaymorn- SUKHBIRSIWACH sources,angryprotestersshowed flags. Ishwar Singh wasnot avail- Meanwhile, the farmers on ing at Kherki Daula toll plazain CHANDIGARH,DECEMBER25 blackflagstostate Women and ablefor comment. Fridayensuredfreemovementof Gurgaon. ChildDevelopment Minister At SiwanitowninBhiwanidis- vehicles at toll plazas situated on According to officials, toll col- HARYANA FARMERS on Friday Kamlesh Dhanda at her con- trict, farmers staged aprotest the highwaysincluding on lection washaltedeitherpost halted toll collection on most stituency Kalayatwhereshe had aheadofthe visit of state Rohtak-Panipathighway,Rohtak- midnightorfromearly Friday highwaysacross the statewhile gone to address afew public Agricultureand Farmers Welfare Delhi highway,Rohtak-Jhajjar morning at severaltoll pointsin AAP MPs Sushil Gupta, Prime MinisterNarendraModi addresses thefarmers also intensifying their protests meetings. MinisterJPDalal, who had gone highway,Rohtak-Hisar highway, the state. While at many places, Sanjay Singh and Bhagwant virtuallyonFriday. @narendramodi againstruling BJP-JJP MLAs’ and At GuhlaCheeka(Kaithal),the theretoaddressapublicmeeting. Jind-Patialahighway,Hisar- farmerstook over toll plazas not Mann at Parliament House ministers. protesters gheored local JJP MLA The protesters claimedthatthe Chandigarhhighway,Rohtak- allowingauthoritiesto collectfees on Friday. PTI Theagitatorshave announced Ishwar Singh when he had gone ministerwasforcedtochangehis Hisar highway,Hisar-Sirsa high- from commuters, at other places thatvehicleswillpassthroughthe to addressafunctionheldatacol- routeleading to themeeting wayand CharkhiDadri-Bhiwani tollemployeesthemselveshalted The farmers PM toll plazas without paying any legeonthe occasion of Good venue. Dalal told The Indian highway.Toll,however, wasbeing the processinviewofthe protest. AAPMPs chargesonSaturdayand Sunday GovernanceDay. Assoonasfarm- Express the meeting has been spoketo: Their gains tooinresponseto thecallgivenby ers came to knowabouthis func- postponed keeping inviewthe confront PM farm outfits. tion, theyimmediatelygathered upcoming civic bodyelections with slogans, from govt schemes, 7USCongress placardsin members ask and their plans Pompeo to raise Parliament MANOJ PATIDAAR, 42 paid apremium of Rs 2,580 per Dhar,Madhya Pradesh acreforhissoyabeancrop,andre- farm protests ARESIDENT of Chikliyavillagein ceivedcompensation worthRs SOURAVROYBARMAN MadhyaPradesh’s Dhar district, 54,315 peracreashis crop wasall with Jaishankar NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 Patidaar feels the farm laws have but destroyed in heavyrain. openedupalternatives,butensur- “Iamasimplefarmerandstay THE ONGOINGfarmer protests ing mandis areupand running asfaraspossiblefrompolitics,”he EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE echoedinthe Central Hallof with assured MSPare of utmost says. NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 the Parliament Fridaywith AAP importance. Patidaar who culti- Bhosale supports the new MPs SanjaySingh and vateswheat,gram,garlic,peasand laws andbelievestheywouldhelp AGROUPof sevenUSlawmakers, Bhagwant Mann raisingslo- onionduringtheRabiseasonand growers likehim increase their includingIndian-American gans againstthe three agricul- soyabeanandmaizeduringkharif earnings. “Traders willcome to CongresswomanPramilaJayapal, tural laws in the presenceof on his four hectares, says thegov- ourvillagetobuydirectly fromus. has writtentoUSSecretaryof Prime MinisterNarendraModi ernment needs to ensurethat Through contract farming, small StateMikePompeo,urginghimto during an event to commemo- theydon't justdeclareMSP but holderscanpoolintheirholdings raise the issue of the farmers’ rate thebirth anniversaryof purchase on it too. He says he has and grow forcorporatebuyers,” protestwith his India’s External former Prime MinisterAtal benefited from the PM Kisan hesays.Thediscontent,hesays,is Affairs MinisterSJaishankar. Bihari Vajpayee. SammanNidhi scheme and has due to some “misconceptions”. In additiontoJayapal, the letter "Kisanvirodhikaala kanoon receivedRs10,000 in five instal- has been signedbyUSCongress wapas lo, MSPkiguarantee do, ments. RAM GULAB, 53 members Donald Norcross, PradhanMantri ji annadatamar “I forgot to askthe PM if the Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh BrendanFBoyle,BrianFitzpatrick, raha hai sir (repealthe ant- governmentwilljustdeclareMSP HAILINGFROMMaharajganj dis- MaryGay Scanlon,DebbieDingell farmer blacklaws, provide MSP or also procure on it. Thereare trict, he owns 1.5acres of land. and David Trone. Charity Commissioner Office, guarantee…farmers aredy- people in my villagewho culti- Alongwithfourotherfarmers,he Thefarmers’protestisanissue 3rd Floor,83, Dr.Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai- 400 018, ing)," the twoleaders shouted vatedmaizeafterthegovernment recentlybrought together 300 of particular concern to Sikh Date -24/12/2020 as Modi wasabout to leave the declaredMSPataroundRs1,700- small farmers under the farmer Americans linked to Punjab, al- Public Notice venue afterreleasing abook on Rs 1,800but areforcedtosellat producer group,Maharajganj thoughitalsoheavilyimpactsthe Maharashtra Public Trust Act 1950, U/s 36(1)(b) the former PM. 1,200asthe government has not Producer CompanyLtd, and en- Indian Americans belonging to Application No. 20/2020 Name of the Trust :- “India First Foundation ” "Despitenot havingnum- initiated procurement.” Patidar teredintoacontract withacom- other Indian states, the lawmak- P.T.R. No. :- E- 22704 (Mumbai) bers in the RajyaSabha, theygot says whenhefinds the prices at panytogrowaspecific varietyof ers said in their letter to Pompeo Sealed tenders are invited for the lease of immovable property of the the farm bills cleared through mandito belower, hesellshispro- sweetpotato. datedDecember23.“ManyIndian Trust, I.e. “India First Foundation”, having trust registration No.E-22704 (Mumbai), in the application No.20/2020, U/s 36 (1) (b) of Maharashtra voicevote. We had protested duceto thesoyachoupalsetupby Having studied till Class VIII, Americansaredirectlyaffectedas Public Trust Act 1950 by the order of the Hon'ble Joint Charity even then.Our point is why ITCoutside the mandi. Gulab has said he has benefited theyhavefamilymembers and Commissioner-2, Maharashtra State, Mumbai. Dharmadaya Ayukta Bhavan, 3rd floor,83, Dr.Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai- 400018. showsuchurgency to getlaws Thesecondgenerationfarmer from severalgovernment ancestral land in Punjab and are The Scaled Tenders Shall be Submitted within 30 days from the date of clearedduring alockdown? has afamily of six. He denies any schemes, from Swachh Bharat concernedfor the well-being of publication of this notice. The received sealed tenders will be opened in Theyare justtrying to favour political affiliation. MissiontoKisancreditcardtoPM their families in India. In viewof the open court hall on 04/02/2021 at 01.00 p.m. at the office address mentioned above in the office of Ld. Joint Charity Commissioner-2, their friendlycorporates. You Kisan Samman Nidhi. thisserioussituation,weurgeyou Maharashtra State, Mumbai. The Offerer shall not mention any terms have notspokentothe farmers HARISINGH BISHNOI,51 “Wewould have to give 10 to contactyourIndiancounterpart and conditions in the offer.Ifsuch tenders found, they will not be considered. All bidders, who have submitted the tender forms Shall in over 25 days,instead (you Fatehabad, Haryana tonnesby February-endorMarch to reinforce the US’commitment remain present in the office on the above mentioned address on are) using forceonthem, at- BISHNOI, Aresident of Nadhori and over 200tonnes by next sea- to thefreedom of political speech 04/02/2021 at 01.00 p.m. Enhancement to their offer amount will be allowed at the time of bidding. The tender of the highest bid amount tempting to stop them.You turn village inFatehabaddistrict,owns son.Inayear,wecangettwo crops abroad,” the letter says. will be accepted. The offerer should submit the Pay Order of 20% of everything intoanevent. So we 10 acresofland.Heand his three and as per the agreement, the the offer amount as per the terms &conditions of form. The decision of took this step. And we protested brothersandtheirfamilieslive to- companywill pickour produce the Ld. Joint Charity Commissioner-2, Maharashtra State, Mumbai in respect to grant sanction or to reject sanction will be final and same onlyafter paying tributes to the getherandjointlyown40acresin from the field at Rs 25 per kg, is binding to all. The Ld. Joint Charity Commissioner-2, Maharashtra formerPMaswell as Madan the village. whichotherwise sold at Rs 10-15 State, Mumbai reserves all rights to accept or reject the tenders. Mohan Malviya,"Singh told The He said,“Three days ago, Igot per kg in the market,” he said. He The offers are invited not below than the amount of Rs.1,60,91,958 /- (Rupees One Crore Sixty Lac Ninty One Thousand Indian Express. acallfromSDO (Agriculture). He saidtheyestimateexpenditureof Nine Hundred Fifty EightOnly) as the highest offer is given by the While Singh is aRajya Sabha told me that Ihavebeen short- Rs 35,000-Rs40,000to grow the one offerer.Therefore do not fill the tender/offer amount less than Rs. 1,60,91,958/- only.Tender Form will be availableinIndia First member,Mann represents listedfor having aconversation crop per acreand expect profit of Foundation, 608-611, Marathon Max, Mulund Goregaon Link Road, Punjab's Sangrur constituency with the PM. Iwas also told that Rs 1lakhper acre. Mulund (West), Mumbai- 400 080. in the Lok Sabha. Theyalso held twoofmybrothershavereceived SCHEDULE OF PROPERTY up posters againstthe laws moneyunder the PM Kisan GAGANPERYING The trust property under Lease permission the immovable property being “All that Piece and parcel of non-agricultural land bearing Survey while raising the slogans. SammanNidhi scheme.” LowerDibang Valley, No.5/1/P admeasuring 16 gunthas, Survey No.5/1/S admeasuring 14 Congress Lok Sabha leader “Ihave beendoingfarmingfor Arunachal Pradesh gunthas, Survey No.5/1/X admeasuring 8gunthas, Survey No.5/1/R Adhir Ranjan Chowdhuryand the last15years. Earlier,Igrew AN ORGANIC ginger cultivator admeasuring 19 gunthas, Survey No.5/1/T admeasuring 31 gunthas, SurveyNo.6/10 admeasuring 26.8 gunthas, Survey No.6/5 Leader of Opposition in the paddy,but nowIhave started fromLowerDibangValleydistrict, admeasuring 6gunthas, Survey No.8/1 admeasuring 25 gunthas, RajyaSabha Ghulam Nabi Azad growingfruitsandvegetables.We Peryingismanagingdirectorof Survey No.8/2 admeasuring 24 gunthas, Survey No.9/2/A admeasuring 50 gunthas, Survey No.9/6 admeasuring 6gunthas, Survey No. 9/2/D were interacting with Modi sell our crop in localmandisand the farmer producer’s company admeasuring 12 gunthas, Survey No.9/2/F admeasuring 41 gunthas, around that time. markets.” LowerDibang ValleyOrganic Survey No. 9/2/I admeasuring 56 gunthas, Survey No. 9/2/J admeasuring 42 gunthas, Servey No. 9/2/. admeasuring 23 gunthas, At apress conference later, On the farmers’ agitation, he Ginger Producer CompanyLtd. Survey No. 9/2/M admeasuring 76 gunthas, Survey No. 5/1/N Mann said, "The PM does not said he wasneither in favour nor PeryingsaidthePMaskedhim admeasuring 25 gunthas, Survey No. 9/2/C admeasuring 12 gunthas, address press conferences, againstthelaws.“If thelegislation aboutthePMKisanscheme.“Itold Survey No. 9/2/E admeasuring 29 gunthas, Survey No. 9/2/EE admeasuring 30 gunthas, Survey No. 5/-1/O admeasuring 57 gunthas Parliament sessions arenot have been framedand certain him about getting Rs 2,000 after situated at village vadavali and Survey No.38/5/K admeasuring held, thereisonlyone-way shortcomings arepointed out, everyfour months.Heasked me 25 gunthas and Survey No.38/6 admeasuring 35 gunthas situated at Village Markewadi, Taluka Karjat and District Raigad, within the area communication, via radio or thoseshortcomings shall be re- about what Iwas doing with the of the Sub-Registrar of Karjat together with six structures standing over the internet. There is no moved. But, to saythe entirecon- moneyIreceivedasapartofthe thereon namely the hostel building admeasuring 37,337 square feet, sports canteen admeasuring 14,000 square feet, global villege waytomeethim. He even ceptiswrong is notcorrect.” scheme.ItoldhimthatIwasbuy- admeasuring 28,000 square feet,1 RK admeasuring 5,859 square feet, meets farmers of his own ingorganicfertilisersandotheror- 1BHK house admeasuring 10,617 square feet, guest cumulatively choice in Gujarat while people GANESH BHOSALE,38 ganicchemicals,”hesaid.Perying admeasuring 1,01,191 square feet constructed area” (hereinafter referred to as Property A) protestbarely20kilometres Latur,Maharashtra said the companyhas also signed And away from his residence.” DURINGHIS interaction with the an agreement with aSiliguri- “All that piece and parcel of non-agricultural land bearing Survey No. 5/1/U admeasuring 20 gunthas, Survey No.9/2/B admeasuring 42 Delhi Chief MinisterArvind PM, Bhosale, from Matola village basedcompanytosellfinishedor- gunthas, Survey No.9/1 admeasuring 42 gunthas and Survey No.5/1/N Kejriwal tweeted: "BJP claims inLaturdistrict,spokeofhisexpe- ganicginger products. admeasuring 20 gunthas situated at village Vadavali, Taluka Karjat and these laws will notharm the rience with the Pradhan Mantri The Prime Ministeralso spoke District Raigad, within the area of the Sub-Registrar of Karjat (Said Land) together with two structures standing thereon namely the farmers but whereare the ben- Fasal Bima Yojana. to MSubramani from Tamil Nadu Principal's bungalow and academic /school building (said structures) efits? Theysay farmers will Bhosalegrows soyabean,tur, and Naveen Thakur from Odisha cumulatively admeasuring 50,506 square feet constructed area” nowbeable to sell their pro- wheat,chana over his 7.5acres of REPORTING: IRAM SIDDIQUE (hereinafter referred to as Property B) This Notice Given under my Signature and seal of Charity duce outside mandis. But sales land. “I optedfor the insurance INBHOPAL,VARINDERBHATIAIN Commissioner,Maharashtra State, Mumbai dated On 24/12/2020. outside mandis do notyield scheme as it actsasa cushion in CHANDIGARH,PARTHASARATHI Sd/- even half the price as compared case my crop fails due to adverse BISWAS IN PUNE, MAULSHREE Superintendent (J) Seal Charity Commissioner Office, to mandis. Howisthis a climateconditions,”hesays.For SETHINLUCKNOW AND Maharashtra State, Mumbai. benefit?” the lastkharif season,Bhosale ABHISHEKSAHAINGUWAHATI WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 6 EXPRESS NETWORK THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

‘USHERED IN THE TRENDOFMODERNISM IN URDU’ Writer-poet Faruqi dies BJPdoesn’tgivetickettoMuslims, of Covid complications usesthemtotopplegovts:Gehlot used to produce ahouse maga- SURBHIGUPTA zine named‘Gulistan’ with his with ‘four other leaders from approving them,maybe because NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 sister. At the ageof15, wrotehis EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE Rajasthan’ of effortstodesta- the Government of Indiadoesn’t firstnovel, Daldal se Bahar.His JAIPUR,DECEMBER25 bilise his government. want. This is achallengemade INFLUENTIAL CONTEMPORARY libraryofoverathousand He addedthat his govern- by them to democracy.Rahul Urdu writer-poetShamsur booksathis Allahabad home RAJASTHAN CHIEF Minister ment will remain strong during Gandhi ji has correctlysaid that Rahman Faruqi died at hisresi- includes the 46 volumes of the AshokGehlotsaidonFridaythat itsremaining three years. nowthereisnodemocracy in dence in Allahabad on Fridaydue Urdu oral romance, the Dastan- the BJP doesn’tgivetickets to During the political crisis,the the country, onlyashowof to complicationsfromCovid-19. eAmir Hamza,printed by Muslimsduringelectionsbutuses Congress had accusedUnion democracy,” said Gehlot. He was85. Munshi NawalKishore, who them to topple governments. ministerGajendra Singh The CM said his government “Thetallestfigure in the SHAMSUR RAHMAN had sat down the dastangos, Gehlotmade this point while Shekhawatand had claimedthat has waived offfarm loans of worldofUrdu, his death leavesa FARUQI writersand calligraphers, and mentioning BJP RajyaSabha MP his voice washeardinanaudio farmers. He addeditwaivedfarm void that cannotbefilled,” said printed volumes between 1883 Syed Zafar Islam of being in- in whichsome persons were al- loans from cooperative banks Anis Azmi, theatreperson and 1935-2020 and 1905. Faruqi wrotefour volved in alleged horse-trading legedly heard plotting to topple and landdevelopment banksbut former general secretaryofthe volumes analysing thedastan during the revolt in Julybya the Rajasthan government. since nationalised, commercial Urdu AcademyofDelhi. and gave wingstogenerations of called Saheri, Shahi, Sahibqirani, group of Congress MLAs ledby Shekhawathad stronglyrefuted and regional rural bankscome Faruqi wasnot onlyacele- writers and poets under it,” says afeat of scholarship whichbe- former deputy CM Sachin Pilot. the allegations backthen. under the administrative control brated writer and poet, but also Ahmad Mahfooz, Faruqi’s pro- came the base forthe revivalof “When we held ameeting Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot(right)and Rajasthan Congress Gehlotsaid that four CMs of of the Union Finance Ministry, acritic who formulated amod- tege and professor of Urdu at Dastangoi form of storytelling. herewithour MLAs during the in-charge AjayMaken in Jaipur on Friday. Rohit JainParas the Congress party wanted to the stategovernment has senta ernistframework forevaluating Jamia Millia Islamia. Mahfooz “His path-breaking scholarship time of the crisis, our friends were meetthe President but the proposal of aone-time settle- Urdu literature. Arecipient of nu- wrotethe firstbookonthe life providedthe seedfor Dastangoi raidedbythe ED and income tax. meeting couldn’t happen. ment to the Centre. merous awards, he washon- and worksofthe Urdu giant in and his supervision and men- See the levelofplanningthat they ing Bharatpur to paytributesto Muslims fortoppling govern- Speaking on the farm laws Gehlotaddedthat forthis he ouredwiththe prestigious 1994. toring sawitintofruitionasa did to topple the government. former ruler MaharajaSuraj Mal ments,” Gehlotadded. passedbythe Congress govern- has alsowritten letters to the Saraswati Samman for She‘r-e “He wasaman full of imagi- revitalisedperformance form. Theymusthavemade amap, onhisdeathanniversary.Someof GehlotreferredtoPrime ment in Rajasthan to counter the Prime Ministerand Union Shor-Angez,afour-volume study nation and gentle wryhumour. He wasnot justamentor but done arecce, briefed officials, his loyalistMLAswho had sided MinisterNarendraModi’sspeech three farm billspassed by the Finance Ministerand has also of the 18th-centurypoetMir Taqi He had akeen sense of history the greatestresourceperson for madebookings,youcanimagine. with him during the political cri- to agathering at the Aligarh Centre, Gehlotsaid that the proposedthat the costbeshared Mir.His 1982 book Tanqidi Afqar and wasveryappreciative of all things we do with language, Theyusedall weapons... sis were also present with him. Muslim Universityearlier this Governor is notforwarding between theRajasthan govern- that reflectedon modern literary other people’s work and that is literature, history,poetryand DharmendraPradhan and Zafar “A newZafar Islam has been weekandpraiseditbeforeadding, them further. ment andthe Centreinaration and criticaltheories of poetry what made him agreat writer... Indo-Persian history...” said Islam,” he said during at apress born in this country. TheBJP does- “One ticket, at leastgivejustfor “Our honoraryGovernor is of 50:50. wonhim the SahityaAkademi Faruqi sahab has leftaindelible Anusha Rizvi, producer and de- conferenceheld in Jaipurto mark n’t give tickets to Muslims. In UP show. But notthattoo...Where notsending these bills further. Responding to aquestion awardin1986. His 2006novel Kai markofrefinement through his signer at Dastangoi Collective. the twoyears of the Congress thereare around 400ticketsdis- have they brought democracy?” Whyishenot forwarding them? about the rebellion of Pilot, Chand theSar-e Aasman,set in indepthknowledge...” saidfilm- Adecade ago, responding to government in the state. tributed,inBihar,it’saround250. Gehlotalso accusedUnion Ihad made laws againstHonour Gehlotsaid thatall he has to say 19th centuryDelhi, setnew stan- makerMuzaffarAli. areporter, he had said: “I came While Gehlotaddressedthe The BJP doesn’t give asingle ticket ministers Amit Shah and Killing and Mob Lynching six on the entireepisode is 'forget dards forthe Urdu novel. Born in Azamgarhand raised to theconclusion thatFaruqi press conference, Pilotwas visit- to Muslims. And (theyare)using DharmendraPradhan, along months ago, the President is not and forgive'. In 1966,hefounded in Gorakhpur,Faruqiwas achief until age35was created by ‘Shabkhoon’,amagazinethat he postmaster-general and mem- manyWestern poets andnov- edited forfour decades. It gave berofthe Postal Services Board elists and dramatists... and BOOKED UNDER UP’S ANTI-CONVERSION LAW spacetowriters who did not in NewDelhi until 1994.Partof Western theorists of literature, TRACKING INDIA’S COVID CURVE agree withthe mainstream the firstbatchofthe BA pro- and Ghalib. Faruqi after35and Before arrest, youthwas ProgressiveWriters’ Movement, gramme at Maharana Pratap until age40was created and CASES: ACTIVECASES:2,81,919 and ledtoFaruqi being dubbed CollegeinGorakhpur,hepur- nurtured by asustainedinter- 298 “an agent of the CIAand suedaMaster’s degree in English locution with Ghalib, closely DAYSSINCE 1,01,46,845 DEATHS:1,47,092 thrashed;2held for assault:Police PANDEMIC American-minded, and aperson from Allahabad University in followedbyIqbal and western BEGAN TESTS: 16,63,05,762 | RECOVERIES: 97,17,834 with borrowedideas”.But the 1955. Although he toppedthe writers. Faruqi after40was magazine also gave space to pro- university,hedid notreceive a generated almostentirelyby CASES DEATHS RECOVERIES TESTS gressive writers, including Ali first-class, whichhethought was Mir,followedbyIqbal,Sabk-e EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE Acomplaint wasallegedly registeredbythe girl’s DEC24 23,067 33624,661 9,97,396 Sardar Jafri, IsmatChughtai, and probablybecause “he asked too HindiFarsi poets,18th century NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 father againstthe youth, stating that he “induced Rajinder Singh Bedi. manyquestions, or did notdress Urdu poets,and Ghalib. Now, “Faruqi sahab put Urdu lan- in three-piece suits”. Faruqi is nearly 75 and doesn’t AYOUTH booked underUttar the girltoelope with him” with the “intention to guage, literatureand criticism on In his interviews,Faruqi re- want to go anywhereelse.” Pradesh’s newanti-conversion marry and convert her”. The youth, who was the worldmap. He ushered in calledhow he firstdecidedto FULL REPORT ON lawwas allegedly assaulted by subsequentlybooked under the anti-conversion the trend of modernism in Urdu become apoetatseven and www.indianexpress.com local residents before his arrest, police said. lawand chargesofabduction and under sections of According to police, an FIR SC/STAct,and POCSO Act, is nowinajail in Bijnor has been filedafter avideo, in STATESWITHRISINGACTIVECASES whichsome people can be ACTIVECASES RISEINLASTWEEK purportedlyseen assaulting chargesofassault and criminal that theybelonged to different Kerala 63,220 5,017 the youth in Bijnor area, intimidation againstunknown religions, theywereallegedly Bihar 5,19995 emergedonsocial media. persons. Local residentsShakir whiskedawaytoalocal police Odisha 2,667 -9 “It wasbrought to ourno- and Shehzad have been ar- station. The FIR, registered al- tice that the man accusedof rested in connection with the legedlyonacomplaint by the STATESWHEREACTIVECASESAREDECLINING conversion wasassaulted by assault case. Around 10.30 pm girl’s father,statedthat the ac- ACTIVECASES DECLINEINLASTWEEK local residents. An enquiry on December 14,the girl, a cused“inducedthe girltoelope Maharashtra54,8916,014 has been setupunderSP(ru- Dalit,and her former classmate, with him” with the “intention West Bengal 15,193 4,404 ral) and twopersons have aMuslim,werewalking back to marry and convert her”. Delhi 7,9094,289 been arrested.Morepeople home afterafriend’s birthday The youth, who wassubse- will be identifiedand action party,when theywereal- quentlybooked under theanti- STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMCASES will be takenagainstthem,” legedly chasedbyagroup of conversion lawand chargesof ONDEC24 TOTAL said Bijnor SP Dharm Veer men, beaten with sticks and abduction and under sections Kerala 5,1767,26,687 Singh. According to police,an questioned. of SC/STAct, and POCSO Act, is Maharashtra3,580 19,09,951 FIR has been filedunder When it became apparent nowinajail in Bijnor. West Bengal 1,590 5,43,214 “Those men beat him up with sticks.Hewas limping the STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMDEATHS lasttime Isaw him.They ONDEC24 TOTAL brandedusthieves firstand Maharashtra9150,189 I, SmtSabitawidowof then beat us both. They made Delhi 37 10,384 The Indian EXPRESS RECRUITMENT no 27847070, rank — videos of us and circulated it West Bengal 32 9,505 HAV, Late Gaikwad among the public and made it Kantaram Shankar SITUATION acase of love jihad. We were DataasonDecember24,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,IndianCouncilofMedical VACANT declarethat, my name Researchandstategovernments.Often,thenumbersreleasedeverydaycontaindatafrompreviousdays is changed From SABITA justreturningfromabirthday aswell.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareonlyindicativeandnotdefinitive to SAVITA KANTARAM party,” the girlsaid. 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THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 @ieExplained #ExpressExplained 7 If thereare questions of current or contemporaryrelevancethat youwould like E EXPLAINED explained, please [email protected] ‘Biden will be more effective on China, has said he will bring allies for common approach’

What can India expect in itsrelationship with the US under the Biden Administration? Former Indian Ambassador to Washington DC Arun Singh, who interacted with manyObama-Biden team members who arenow in the Biden-Harris team, discussedkey issues with anationwideaudience

acertain positiononissues that theyarticulateas humanrights, basedonhow itplays outfor them and their voters. Youwould have seenthe kind of commentsthat came from Bernie Sanders at one stage, commentsthat came from Kamala Harris, On the BidenAdministration and China from Pramila Jayapal. But at the same time, peo- Alot of people in India, the US and elsewhere ple in the Biden camphavesaidthat anydiffer- have been trying to figureout howthe Biden enceswith Indiaon issuesrelatedto humanrights Administration would respondto theChinachal- would be basedonadiscussion among friends. lenge. Theyhavebeen partlyconcernedbecause My ownsense is that India takesits decisions of some vacillationsthat were seen during the basedonits owninterests;wedon’t have to be Obama Administration… unnecessarilyinsecureoronthe defensive related President Trumphimself,inthe beginning, to decisionsthatwe take.The US has itsown chal- gave mixedsignals... Subsequentlythe Trump lenges, systemic racism...all societies face chal- Administration clearly definedChina as amajor lenges. Therefore, anyIndia-US discussion or di- global rival, astrategic competitor... alogue related to human rightsshould be as a Now, whenyou lookatwhat Biden has said dialogueamongfriendswhoaretryingto under- and what people around him have said... they ArunSingh (left) in aZoom conversation stand eachother,who want to advance their re- have saidthesituationtoday is verydifferentfrom withShubhajit Roy, Associate Editor & lationship and arecognition that everysociety the situation in 2016,China follows unfair trade Chief Diplomatic Correspondent has challenges that it is dealing with. practices, Chinaisamajortechnological rivalto the US… So Iwould believe therewill be some On Biden’s cabinetappointments nuancing because theywill want to showthat Congressmen,Senatorsto tryand restrictthat.So When Ilook at the appointmentsmade so far, theyare different from the TrumpAdministration AUDIENCE QUESTIONS Ithink the BidenAdministration would alsohave itisaclearsignalthatPresident-electBideniscom- —and some have said that Trumpwas very ag- to work itsway through these. fortablewithpeoplewhoworkedwithhimclosely gressive on China by the end —but Biden would On Biden Administration’s ties with On the possibility of China offering a —TonyBlinken washis national securityadvisor; be moreeffectiveonChina,because Biden has Beijingand Islamabad trade dealwith the US On the US and India-Russia JakeSullivanwashisnationalsecurityadviserun- said that he will bring allies and partners to have In the early phase, theywill find Pakistan If the Chinese aresmart—and everybody This is clearly goingtobeanimportant issue. til 2014.Ihad the occasion to interactwith many acommonapproachtowards China.Although the anecessarypartner in the context of what says theyare —theywould probablywantto ForIndia, our relationship earlier with the Soviet of them —Sullivanwho usedtobethe Director of US under Trumphad takenaveryaggressive ap- theywant to do in Afghanistan... And if offertothe incoming administration some- Union and nowRussia is very important. The Policy Planning in the StateDepartment when I proachtowards China,the Europeans didn't fol- Pakistanplays itscards well, the US would not thing positive,something on trade... Biden SovietUnion gave us militarysupport, military wasthere, Blinken in his various capacities, Avril lowitbecause he had decriedalliances. But if the put pressureonPakistan. But if theyassess has himself said the phase 1trade deal that supplies, political support, at atime when it was Haines wasdeputyNSA. US wantsaneffective policy on China, it needs to that Pakistanisnot being ahelpful partner,the President Trumphas done,hewill notre- notavailablefromtheWest,beittheUSorothers. Sotheclearsense thatIgot wasthatall of them bring itsallies in Europe and Asia on acommon US approachwould change and we have to move that from thetable immediately. More Andeventoday, almost60%of ourdefenceinven- areveryaware and very committed to the India- platform to respond to the China challenge. watchthat. (OnChina) whiletheremay be than that, the statementscoming out from toryisof Russianoriginandthereare certainareas US relationship. During the time of the Obama some nuancing,the substance of thepolicy the transition team,theywanttoput empha- whereweget technologies from Russia at com- Administration, thereweremanyfirsts.In2009, On the futureofQuad willremain andtheywillalsotry and reach sis on getting the US economybackontrack. petitive prices that arenot available elsewhere… Prime MinisterManmohan Singh wasinvited as Clearly theQuad made muchmoreprogress out to Europeans, other countries in Asia to Forthat theywill needcertain Bills to pass on [Under] CAATSA (CounteringAmerican the firststate visitorofthe Obama Administration. under the TrumpAdministration… Quad of see if theycomewith acommon approach, abipartisan basis. The one factor that will en- Adversaries through Sanctions Act), purchase of In the US, statevisitsare averyclear signal... and course had startedearlier,after thatitslippeda andthatis goingto betheoverall defining pri- able bipartisanshiptoemergewould be the majordefencesystemsfromRussiacouldbecome President Obama wantedto signalthat therewas little becauseAustralia lostinterestinthe process ority in the Biden Administration in the com- projection of achallengefromChina. So, sanctioned, and the S-400isacase in point… going to becontinuity from the time of President because of itsown relationship with China... But ing years. Moving from there, theysee the whentheyproject thatthereisamajor chal- India’scaseisdifferentandfromthevariouscom- Bush, from the time of the civil nuclear coopera- nowasall countries, be it Australia, Japan, India, India relationship as averyimportant rela- lenge from China, that is what will bring the mentsandwritingsthathave comeoutinthepub- tion agreement... And then theyalso declared US, arefacing similar challenges in manyways tionship, partlybecauseof thestrength in the Democrats andRepublicans together on the lic domain, it has been made clear that the US Indiaamajor defence partner —noothercountry from China, tThereisarecognition of some har- bilateral dimension of the relationship. economic and technological issue. wouldbemakingamistake if itsanctionsIndiafor in the worldhasthis status, anditwas donedelib- monisation of work in the Indo-Pacific region… the S-400... If the US then goes ahead and sanc- eratelybecause India is notanallyand yetthey If yousee the conversations that Biden has had tionsIndiaforsomething,itwillaffectitsownim- wantedto give India the same leveloftechnology with the Prime MinisterofJapan, Prime Minister Afghanistan. And because of that, the sharpness sues as the TrumpAdministration has been. The ageasareliablepartnerandwillimpactnegatively access as their closestallies and partners. of Australia, President of South Korea, and the of theirrhetoricandactionrelatedto Pakistanhas Biden Administration has signalledthat they on the evolution of the US-India relationship. The Vice-President Biden had come to India in statement that has been put out by the US side, comedown.Theonlythingtheyhavedoneis,they recognisethat the high-skilledimmigrant US needs to keep that in mind.Ithink it wasbe- 2013 and, speaking at the Mumbai Stock thereisareference to theIndo-Pacific and there- have maintainedPakistaninthe grey listoftheir worker,includingthe high-skilledIndian immi- causeofthis that when the US Congress passed Exchange, he said that he’d liketoreiteratewhat fore,itisarecognition that in some areas, they Financial Action Task Force, as apressurepoint. grant worker,contributes to theUSremaining in the CAATSA Bill originally, therewas no provision President Obama had said, that the India-US re- will recognise andbuild on the positive work that Nowthe US has traditionallystruggledwith the lead in technology globally... forwaiver—theUSadministrationhadnocapac- lationship would be the defining relationship of has been done by the TrumpAdministration. apolicy on Pakistan, whether to incentivise Butthisisachallenge that Ihavealsointhe ityto give waiverfromthesanctions—butthethen the 21st century. And he spoke aboutwhathehad PakistanorpressurePakistan… Iwould believe time of the Obama Administration.Eventhen, administrationlobbiedinCongress to give the said in 2006,that by 2020, he wantsthe US-India On the approachtowards Pakistan that aBiden Administrationwouldbeclear-eyed therewas aphase when the visa fees forH1B President waiver provisions. So Iwould hope and relationshipto bethe closest. And we arein2020 The US willdefine itsapproachtowards aboutthe nature of thePakistani state,itsinvolve- workers of certain categoriesofcompanies, which expectthatifthesituationreachesacertainpoint, now. So Iwould saythat giventhe fact that many Pakistanbasedonhow it perceivesits owninter- mentwithterroristgroups. So they willrecognise impacted Indiancompanies very much,were whoeveristhe US Presidentwouldexercise that in the Obama-Biden team aregoing to continue ests beingserved,andfromIndia’sperspective,we that but theywill have acertain needfor cooper- raisedtothree times. So this is the pressurethe waiver and notimpose sanctions on India. in the Biden-Harris team, Iamveryconfident have to see whereisthe convergence and diver- ation from Pakistaninthe contextofAfghanistan US system faces —theywant to getmoreskilled basedonmyinteractions when Iwas therethat gence… Today, theUSwantstoget outof and that will limit the extent of pressure... workers because it helps the US, but at the same On the Biden Administration’s likely the India-US relationship will continue to Afghanistan, and theybelievethat theyneedco- time, manyUSworkers who areunemployed, approachonKashmir,CAA/NRC strengthen over the next four years. operation from Pakistanfor adialogue with the On Biden’s likelypolicy on immigration who lose jobs,start generatingacampaignthat We have to recognisethat USleaderswillbase TRANSCRIBEDBYMEHRGILL Talibanif somekindof reconciliationcanprogress The Biden campaign had made it clear that theyare losing jobs because of the H1B immigrant their politics basedontheir compulsions,their (Edited excerpts) between the Taliban and the governmentin theywould notbeasharsh on immigration is- worker. And that generates pressureon constituent interests and, therefore, theywill take VIDEO:youtu.be/sYVRgmAcHTU

SIMPLY PUT CORONAVIRUS DASHBOARD INDIA ACTIVE CASES 281,919 Reading the newUSpolicyonTibet: 350,000 snubs to China on Dalai Lama, rivers

332,002 281,919 oppose attemptsbyBeijing to install itsown frameworks…tofacilitate cooperative agree- 300,000 NIRUPAMASUBRAMANIAN Dalai Lama “in amanner inconsistent with mentsamong all ripariannations that would MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 TibetanBuddhism in whichthe succession promote…arrangementsonimpoundingand or identificationofTibetan Buddhistlamas, diversion of waters that originateonthe THE TIBET Policy and SupportAct, passedby includingthe Dalai Lama,should occur with- TibetanPlateau”. While the 2002 Actsaid the LAST 10 DAYS the US Senateearlier this week,bookends a out interference...” US shouldestablish a“branchoffice”inLhasa, Dec 15 Dec 24 turbulent year in US-China relations. The The legislation makes reference to the the TSPAups the antebychanging that to a 250,000 House of Representativeshad passedthe leg- Chinese government's‘Measures on the “consulate”. It recognises the Central Tibetan islation in January. It will become lawafter the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Administration, whose Prime Minister Note: The Dec 24 figure in this graph is based on thegovernment updateonDec 25 US President signs offonit. Buddhas’in 2007,and aMarch 2019 statement Lobsang Sangay takescredit forensuringthat by the Chinese Foreign Ministryspokesper- the Senatetookupthe legislation forvote. The earlier version son that the “reincarnation of living Buddhas In astatement, Sangay said, “By passing INDIA TOTAL CASES WORLD TOTAL CASES The TSPAisanamendedversion of the includingthe Dalai Lama mustcomplywith the TPSA, Congress has sent itsmessageloud 10,146,845 79,627,975 TibetPolicy Actof2002, whichcame intoex- Chinese laws andregulations and followreli- and clear that Tibetremains apriority forthe istence during the Bush Administration. But gious ritualsandhistorical conventions”. Italso United States and that it will continue its Source:MinistryofHealth&Family Source:JohnsHopkinsUniversity, in an indication of justhow important he con- refers to China's installation of a6-year-old steadfastsupportfor His Holiness theDalai Welfare,updatedat11pmonDec25 updatedat11pmonDec25 sideredrelations withChina,PresidentGeorge Paramilitaryofficers in front of Potala boyin1995 as the 11th Panchen Lama, and to Lama and theCTA.Itisamomentous land- WBush distancedhimself from this Palace in Lhasa. Reuters statementsbythe presentDalai Lama explain- markfor the Tibetanpeople.” Congressional action, and wrotestrong words ing the traditions to be followedinthe selec- againstitinhis signing statement, in which tion of aDalai Lama, and that the authority to What China says assertedthe administration's right nottoim- Earlier this month, the Holding Foreign recognise the reincarnation of aDalai Lama China had earlier said the TPSA“severely Granted emergency approval plement parts of theact. He wrote: CompaniesAccountingAct,targeting Chinese lies with him and his officials. breachedinternational lawand basic norms “Regrettably, the Act[H.R. 1646] contains a investmentsinthe US,was signedintolaw. The Actalsomakesit USpolicyto holdsen- governing international relations, interfered in US, antibody fails in trials number of provisions that impermissiblyin- Earlier in theyear,PresidentDonald Trump ior Chinese officials “responsible for, complicit in China's internal affairs, and sent awrong terferewiththe constitutional functions of the signedintolaw theHong Kong AutonomyAct. in,orhavedirectlyorindirectlyengagedin the messageto‘Tibetindependence’forces”.After IN NOVEMBER, the US Food and Drug England Journal of Medicine. presidency in foreign affairs, including provi- President Trumpisnot expectedtotakea identification or installation of acandidate the passageofthe Bill through the Senate, Administration (FDA) granted emer- The trial is partofthe Accelerating sions that purporttoestablish foreign policy Bush-likeviewontheTSPA,whichintroduces chosenby Chinaasthefuture15th DalaiLama China said it “resolutelyopposes” the “adop- gency use approval to an antibody, Covid-19TherapeuticInterventionsand that areofsignificant concern.” stronger provisions on Tibet, plus teethinthe of TibetanBuddhism” to have committed “a tion of Bills containing suchill contentson LYCoV555, forcertain pa- Vaccines (ACTIV) pro- He also said his approval to the Actdid not form of athreat of sanctions, including travel gross violation of internationallyrecognized China.Issuesrelatedto Tibet,TaiwanandHong tientsofCovid-19—non- gramme. constitutehis adoption of the various state- bans on Chinese officials.How the Biden humanrights”,attractingsanctionsunderthe Kong… areChina’s internal affairs that allow hospitalizedadolescents LY-CoV555, amono- mentsofpolicyin theActasUSforeignpolicy, Administration, expected to frame itsown Global Magnitsky Human Rights no foreigninterference”. AForeign Ministry and adultswith mildto clonal antibody,was dis- and said these would be takenas“advisory” Chinapolicy,views TPSA remains to be seen. Accountability Act. The Act, namedafter a spokesmanurgedtheUS“tostopmeddlingin moderatesymptoms who coveredbyAbCellera statementsonly, “giving them thedue weight Still, mostUSadministrations, the Trump Russian taxlaywerwho diedafter being im- our domestic affairs under thosepretexts, re- areatelevatedrisk of pro- Biologics, basedin that comity between the legislative andexec- Administrationincluded,have broadlymain- prisonedwhile investigating Russian taxoffi- frain from signing thebills or implementing gressing to severe Covi-19 Vancouver,incollabora- utive branchesshould require, to the extent tainedadiplomatic balance between relations cialsfor fraud, authorisesUSofficialstoim- the negative contentsand itemsinthem that disease. This week,the US PAPER tion with NIAID’s consistent with US foreign policy”. with China, and supportfor Tibetand theDalai pose travel bans globally. target China and undercut China's interests”. National Institutes of Vaccine Research Center. Lama. The StateDepartment hasaseparate If India is pleasedatthis latestUSbarb to Health (NIH) published CLIP Subsequently, it wasde- US and China, today section on Tibetinits annual reports on hu- Other provisions China,ithas notsaid so openly.India has preliminaryfindings of a velopedand manufac- US-China relations have become much manrightsand religious freedom. But there TheTPSAhasintroducedprovisionsaimed mostlyrefrainedfromplaying the Tibetcard phase3trial —in hospi- NEWRESEARCH tured by Indianapolis- moredifficult over the lasttwo decades, par- has been no real push fortalkswith the Dalai at protecting the environment of the Tibetan againstChina, and like the US, hasaoneChina talisedCovid-19patients, basedLillyResearch ticularly worsening in the Trump Lama or on the release of political prisoners. plateau,callingforgreaterinternationalcoop- policy.Itwas onlythis year,inthe ongoing LY-CoV555 did notprovide clinical Laboratories, Eli Lillyand Company, in Administration, and moresoin2020 over erationand greaterinvolvementbyTibetans. Ladakh standoff, that it usedspecial forces benefit compared to placebo.The re- partnership with AbCellera. matters ranging from the pandemic to trade The Dalai Lama AllegingthatChinaisdivertingwaterresources made up almostentirelyofTibetan exiles to sultswerepublishedinthe New Source: National Institutes of Health, US tariffs,and itscross-world coalition-building Among the mostsignificant amend- from Tibet, the TPSAalso calls for“aregional occupystrategic heightsinPangong Tso's againstChinese superpowerambitions. mentsisthat the TSPAmakes it US policy to framework on watersecurity,oruse existing south bank. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 WORDLY WISE Non-violent protests aresigns of ahealthy 8 democracy, notanailing one. — THE EDITORIAL PAGE CHRISTOPHER A. WRAY The meaning of merit

§ FOUNDED BY § RAMNATH GOENKA Supreme Courtverdictexposesfallacy of using general BECAUSE THE TRUTH INVOLVES US ALL categoryasreservation forupper castes

SOWING TRUST PratapBhanuMehta

That’s the challengefor the Government as it drawsthe line on THE SUPREMECOURThas, in asignificant re- marks have to be computed to four decimal UnionofIndiaforexample,theCourthadtried cent judgment, SauravYadavversus Stateof placesorhighertodetermine ones fate.Italso to be moreradicaland deconstructthe entire reform; mocking those who have anxieties doesn’t help Uttar Pradesh, once againartfully negotiated showshow,ineffect,somestategovernments logic of merit. It had argued rightlythat inclu- the thicket of issues arising out of reservation. aretryingtouse the open categoryseatsasa sion mustnot be seen as the antithesisofeffi- LMOSTAMONTH since their laying siegetothe national capital, the farmer ThereisnoquestionthatIndianeedsacredible quotafor general categorycandidates. ciencyandmerit;infactinclusionandsubstan- protests againstthe Centre’s threeagricultural reform laws show no signs and effective affirmativeaction, thoughitcan Other jurisdictions have involved similar tive equalityaretheaimsof government.There of ebbing. On Friday, Prime MinisterNarendraModi said that his govern- bedebatedoverwhetherthecurrentsystemis cases. The High Courts had been giving con- is agooddeal to be said in favour of this argu- A ment wasready to engagewith the protesters —including those “with the best wayofgoingabout it.The matter be- trarydirections: Uttar Pradesh and Madhya ment.Thereisalsoalargercritiqueto bemade political agenda” and “ideologicallyagainstus” —but this could onlybebased on “facts fore theCourtarose in the contextofcompli- Pradesh excludedreserved categorywomen of the ideology of meritocracy,acritiqueto cationsthatarisefromtryingto specifythere- forconsideration in the general category. whichIfullysubscribe.But,asSaurav Yadavre- and logic”. In short, therewas no questionofrepealingoreven, as suggestedbythe lationship between vertical and horizontal Rajasthan and Gujarat, amongstothers, in- mindsus:Inclusionalsotakesplaceinthecon- Supreme Court, withholdingthe implementation of the three laws.The farm unions, reservations. Articles 15(4) and 16(4) enable cludedthem. The Supreme Court, in athree text of acriteria of selection. In the current on the other hand, have expressedawillingness to return to thenegotiation table, pro- verticalreservationbasedonslottingthepop- judgebench,ruledagainsttheUPgovernment framework,arecourseto alimitedlanguageof videdthe discussions relatetoproviding“legal guarantee” forminimum supportprices ulation in terms of SC,ST, OBC and General and clarifiedthe relationshipbetween hori- merit is inescapablefor onesimple reason. (MSP) of crops beyond simplythe government’s “written assurance”. As forthe three Category. But thereisalso aclassofreserva- zontaland vertical reservations. This wasthe When the Courtisusing the term merit, it is laws,theywould settle fornothing shortofoutright repeal. tionswhichcutsacrossallthesecategoriesand correct decision. notdoingsoinanyexaltedphilosophicalsense. arereferredtoashorizontalreservation.These The judgmentsauthored by Justice Uday It is simplypointing out that certain selection This is astandoff nobody had bargainedfor.Certainlynot the Modi government,while can include reservation forwomen (in this ULalitandaconcurringjudgmentby Ravindra criteria arebeing used.Suchselectioncriteria steamrolling the legislation firstvia the ordinancerouteand then through Parliament. The case, a20per cent reservation forwomen in Bhatare clear and concise. Theyreiteratethe arealsowithinparticularreservedcategories: amendmentsitisproposing now—particularly to the mostcontestedFarmers’ Produce posts forpolice constables), differently-abled principlethat groups eligible forhorizontal Whysome OBC candidates arepickedover TradeandCommerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act—couldwellhave been inserteddur- persons,freedom fighters,armyveterans and Thejudgments authored by reservationcannotbeexcludedfromtheopen others is also afunction of selectioncriteria, in ingthecourseofinformeddebateinbothHousesandaftersolicitinggenuinestakeholderfeed- other categoriestowhom we maychoose to Justice Uday ULalit and a categoryseatsbecausetheyare fromotherver- this case marks.Fromthis point of view, even back. Notonlydid it fail to reachout to the naysayers then, the same dismissive approach provide reservation. concurring judgment by ticallyreservedcategorycommunities,likeSC those who advocatereservation do notfully The problemarises in specifying the rela- or OBC. Women from all categoriesare eligi- give uponthemeritocraticcriteriaof selection wasadoptedwhen the protests beganinitiallyinPunjab and then at Delhi’s doorsteps. The RavindraBhat are clear and tionship betweenthe twocategories of reser- ble to be consideredfor the open category. As —theyjustapplyitdifferentially. What the demonstratorswere variouslycalledanti-national,ultra-LeftandKhalistansympathisers-led. vation. In cases like Anil Kumar Gupta v/s State concise. They reiterate the JusticeBhat put it, the open categoryseatsare Courtwasconcernedwithisfairnessintheap- Even in his outreachaddress, the PrimeMinister blamedthe partiesthathad “ruledKerala of Uttar Pradesh, the Courthad madeitclear principle that groups eligible notmeant to be aquota forthe non-reserved plication of the selectioncriteriawithin the and West Bengal” for“misguiding the farmers of Punjab”. Suchtalkingdownisleasthelpful thathorizontalreservationoughtto begener- forhorizontal reservation categories.Theconsequenceof theUPgovern- overall framework of reservation. in asituation that calls fordialogue and moredialogue. allyunderstoodincompartmentalisedterms, cannot be excluded from the ment’spolicywasineffectto declaretheopen Saurav Yadavisconceptuallyinterestingfor as anod to recognition of inequalities within categoryaquotafor upper castes.The Court thisreason.Defendersof radicalinclusionthink The coreproblem todayisabreakdown of trust—between the governmentand farm- open categoryseats because ers from the granaryofIndia. These aremen and women who cannotbeeasilymisled. They eachvertical category. In this particular case has ended this nonsense. Second, in terms of that social justicecan be achieved by displac- the problemwas different, but it is illustrative they are from other vertically framing,ithas also got one issueright. The ingmeritwithinclusion.Butthishastheunin- knowthat the regime of open-endedMSP procurement and paddy-wheat monocultureis of some of the interpretiveabsurdities of our reserved category Courthas often, very unhelpfully, contrasted tendedconsequenceof leavingintacttheidea bothfiscally andenvironmentallyunsustainable.Andtheyaren’twhollyunjustifiedinassum- system. Therewere3,295 constable posts in merit with reservation. And in popular parl- that those includedcomethrough by casting ing that the newfarm laws maywell be adisruptivegame-changer;hencethe demand for the GeneralCategoryofwhich188 went to communities, likeSCor ancemerit is construedtobeadeviation from aside merit. In some ways,itactuallyshares “legalising MSP”. Having staked so much political capital on the reforms,whoseintrinsic women. In filling up these vacancies, OBC OBC. Wo men from all reservation. But this has always been amis- common groundwithcritics of reservation merit cannotbedoubted, the onus is entirelyonthe Modigovernmenttoengagewith the women were notconsidered.But hereisthe categories are eligible to be takenviewofthe relationshipbetween merit who shareexactlythis premise. What the farm unions. The usual tactics of divide, defame and divert clearly haven’t worked;ifany- absurdity.Thelastfemalecandidateselectedin considered forthe open and reservation. In principle, reservation is an Courtistryingto do,inaninterestingway, isto GeneralCategorysecured274.8298marks.But instrument foridentifying merit in individu- argue thatfor itspurposes, the opposition be- thing,theyhavebeen counterproductive andaddedtothe already elevateddistrust. This is- 21 applicantsinthe OBC female category category. As Justice Bhat put als from historicallymarginalisedcommuni- tweenmerit and reservation needs to be de- n’taboutfarmersbeingmisledbyelection-loserswhowantselfies,thisisaboutmuch-needed scored morethan these marks,includingthe it,the open categoryseats are ties. The Courtissayingthat by excluding the constructed —not because thereisnosuch reform that needs political management with tools smarterthan asledgehammer. Theear- plaintiffwho scored 276.5949 marks!But not meant to be aquota for adjustment of OBC women whohad scored thing as merit(as defenders of reservation lierthe government realises this,the easier it willbefor it to breakthe deadlock. thesecandidateswerenot consideredagainst the non-reserved categories. higher againstgeneral categoryseats, the UP claim), or because thereshould notbereser- the available General Categoryseats because governmentwas ironicallyusing the General vation (as critics of reservation claim). It is try- theywereOBC.Inshorttheywereexcluded Theconsequence of the UP Categorytoexclude meritorious candidates. ing to saysomething moreinteresting: from competing from the General Category government’s policywas in Some scholars, likethe brilliant Gautam Membersofthe reservedcategorymustbe positionseventhough theyhas scoredmore, effecttodeclare the open Bhatiain“Horizontal Reservations and the fullyconsidered as falling underthe rubric of ABHAYA simplybecause theywereOBC.The Court categoryaquotafor upper Persistenceofthe Myth of Merit", (https://in- being potentiallymeritorious. rightlythoughtthis wasabsurd. dconlawphil.wordpress.com/) worrythat the castes. TheCourt has ended Through the 28 years since her murder,afewgoodindividuals Thiscaseisaninterestingminiaturesociol- Court’s judgmentdoes notgofar enough. It is The writer is contributing editor, ogy.One cannothelpremark on the fact that this nonsense. stillconcernedwithmerit.InBKPavitraversus The Indian Express kept their faith in due process and movedthe wheels of justice

HE WHEELSOFjustice turn slowly,moresowhenthe accused areonthe side of powerand the powerful. In the caseofAbhaya,ittook 28 years forthe inves- tigative agencies to establishthat the 21-year-old nun, founddead in aconvent T in Kerala in 1992, wasmurdered.OnWednesday, aCBI special court judgeheld anun,Sephy, andapriest, Thomas Kottoor,guilty of Abhaya’s murder andsentencedthem LIBERALISM IN CRISIS to life.Aclosureinthecaseafterthesemanyyears—Abhaya’sparentsdiedasthecaselaboured in the courts —hardlycalls forcelebration but it does evokeasense of trustindue processes. In Pakistan, themisfortunes of fundamentalism were foreshadowed The verdict is avictoryfor afew good individuals who selflessly, andatgreat personal risk,foughtoffattemptsbypowerfulintereststo denyjusticeto SisterAbhaya.Acrimebranch probehad concluded that she sufferedfromdepression and committed suicide by jumping Khaled Ahmed intoawell in the convent. ACBI probereachedasimilar conclusion and sought to close the case. It wasalittle-known social activist, Jomon Puthenpurackal, from the same congrega- THE WORLD is saying goodbye to liberalism. rights by those who operatedagainstthe writ February3,2001: “The ‘liberals’ arebusy tionasthe victimand the accused, who pursued thecaseinthe courts.Judgesinthe lower Right-wing politicians win elections by de- of the stateinthe Tribal Areas. But oddly, Khan demonising the Taliban and predicting courts refusedto accept theinvestigating agencies’closure reportsand proddedthem to dig nouncing “liberals” and preside over self- neverstoppedbeing the favouriteofthe very Talibanisation of Pakistan. On the other deeper.Finally, the testimonyofaneye witness, Raju,who had intruded intothe compound centred states wearing the badgeofaggres- liberals he berated. He wasanicon whose hand, Islamic movementshaveawayofbe- sion against“liberal fascists”. The US under achievement as asocial worker theyrecog- coming moderateafter reaching acertain at night, sealedthe case. Apoorlabourer,Rajurefusedtochangehis statement through the Donald Trump, India under NarendraModi, nised to strengthen their ownargument. levelofintensity,asithappenedinIranand trial,despitereportedlyreceiving physical threatsand financial inducements. His explana- the UK under Boris Johnson, Turkey under Wheredoes extremism spring from? If is bound to happen in Afghanistan”. tionwas simple: As the fatherofthree girls,hehad to fight forAbhaya. Recep Tayyip Erdogan —and mostEast youtakeliberal “uncertainty” and “doubt” Accordingtothe above columnist, The moral courageand perseveranceshown by Jomon,Rajuand othersintheirpursuit European states who maltreat “refugees” and as your norm, then one can sayextremism Pakistani society wasaltogetherofa“dif- to ensurejustice forawoman with no social or political capital,and who theydid noteven shun foreigners —foreshadowthe misfor- springs from certitude. In doubt, thereis ferent sort” and would notsuccumb to know, isinsharpcontrasttotheattitudeof the(Knanaya)Church andasectionof lawenforcers, tunes of tomorrow. Pakistanisnoexception. freedom to makeconcessions to those who Talibanisation“afterthe Talibanhavecom- In March 2009, addressing alawyers’ think differently. Doubthereincludes self- pleted their conquestofAfghanistan”. In who,infact,wereduty-bound to protect her.Inher case, the Church,whichismorallyand gathering at the Rawalpindi Bar,lmran Khan doubt to allow forameasure of altruism.It fact, Pakistanwas a“cosmopolitan” society theologicallycommittedto standwiththeweakandthetruth,chosetoglossoverthecrime. belaboured acertain section of society as is also from doubt that moderationem- and would remain “cosmopolitan” and Morerecently, nuns in Kerala, across denominations, have comeout againstinstitutional “liberals” who fly“in the face of national anates: The instinct of standing in the mid- would neverallow the religiousfanatics to corruption, particularly sexual crimes. Some in the clergy have rubbishedthese allegations, emotion” and hurtthe stateofPakistan. He dle wheneveryone is taking sidesand is get- take over even if the latter became stronger attemptedtotarnishtheirreputation.Thisisinsharpcontrasttothestandof eminencessuch particularly condemnedtheir interpretation ting ready to clash. than at present. asPopeFranciswhohave acknowledgedthehistoryof maledominationandabuseof women of the phenomenon of the Talibanand their The conservative is surer of histhinking In his next column (February9,2001), obedient following of dictation from the US because it is connected to the known past; the same columnistrebutted the “liberalex- and children.The Abhaya verdictshould be amomentfor renewaland reflection —atboth in this regard.(Five years later in 2014 Taliban Theconservative is surer of the liberal is less sure-footedbecause he aggeration” that, afterthe jihadi outfitsare levels,individual and institutional. gunmen stormedthe ArmyPublic School in his thinking because it is wantstoquestion the entrenchedattitudes done with Kashmir,theywill turn upon the northern cityofPeshawar. Morethan 150 connected to the known of the past. It is certitude that inclines us to Pakistan. He even quoted aQuranic versein people were killed, 132ofthem children.) He past; the liberal is lesssure- punish those who don’t agree with us. The SuraAlKafirun and itsmessage of tolerance hadalsoblamedthe “liberals” forcausing the liberal will appeal to us to consider his ar- as proof of Islam being a“liberal” religion. massacreofLal Masjid in 2007 by pressur- footed because he wants to gument but will notthreaten us if we re- Eight years down the road, the marginal CONVERSATIONS WITH TIME ing the Musharrafregime intotaking brutal question the entrenched ject him. The misappliedterm “liberal fas- “liberal” wasprovedright. But judging from action againstits “innocent” seminarians. attitudes of the past. It is cist” implies powerthatthe liberal does not the waythe critique of Talibanisation has ShamsurRahmanFaruqi spent alifetime in conversationwith He calledthose who setgreat storebyhu- wish to possess because he knows that his spread around the country, one has to con- certitude that inclines us to Urdu poets and poetry, and reclaiming itsmodernist spirit man rights “liberal fascists”, alabel that res- thinkingistoo individualistic forthe for- cede that liberalism is notapoliticalcreed onatedwithmostUrducolumnists in apre- punish those who don’t mulation of agroup capable of wielding the but abent of personality that maybefound HAMSUR RAHMAN FARUQI rejected, likethe character from his majestic novel, dominantly“religious” or “ideological” agree with us. Theliberal will powertopunish. in elementsinbothright-wing and left-wing Pakistan. Since Pakistanwas neverdomi- The liberal voice as the gnawing con- parties, and even amongreligious leaders. KaiChand théSar-e Aasman (2006), “the notion that the pastisaforeigncountry appeal to us to consider his nated by “liberal fascists”itisquitepossible science of the nation has bothered others and strangers who visit therecannotcomprehend itslanguage”. His lifetime’s thathewas attackingthem in order to allow argument but will not too. Pakistan’s topUrducolumnistpub- The writer is consulting editor S work,asapoet, critic, translatorand theoristofUrduliterature, wasspent in con- himself to ignorethe violation of human threaten us if we rejecthim. lishedaplaint against the liberalson NewsweekPakistan versationwiththisrichterrain,especiallythecultureofpoetrythatflourishedin18thand19th centuryDelhi,andto recallandreincarnatealostage of eloquenceforacontemporaryIndian audience.Inhis deathonFriday, the worldloses one of thelastgreat writers of Urdu, alan- guage birthed in the mash-up and synthesis of subcontinental cultures. FaruqitooktheUrduliteraryestablishmentbystorminthelate1960swithaliteraryjour- DECEMBER 26, 1980, FORTY YEARS AGO nal, Shabkhoon,that wasasuncompromisingly high-brow as it wasirreverent.Hesought to wean away literarycriticism from ideas of social purpose and themes to atough-minded M ARCHERSARRESTED had gone to ahostel. Chandrajit Yadav, Shishir Kumar,inhis reportfor 1978-1979. modernistconsideration of form and structure, muchlikeTSEliotdid in his expositions on NAGPUR CITYHAS virtuallyturnedintoapo- Karpuri Thakur and Devi Lal arealso ex- Elizabethanpoetry. Nearly aquarterofacentury’swork wentintoafour-volumeexegesison lice campwith policemen in uniform and pected to reachNagpur. X-MAS DAY plain clothes all over the place locating CHRISTMAS DAYBROKE the tediumofthe US thelifeand worksofMir,freeinghis worksfromlimiting, moral analysis. But if he wasacon- “Dindi”marchers.Morethan 2,000persons ATROCITIES ON SCS,STS hostagesinIran, brought arampageofvio- noisseur of literaryexcellence,hewas also atranslatorofpulp detective novels of Ibn-e-Safi, have been arrested since lastnight. THE COMMISSIONER FORScheduledCastes lence in Beirut and pointed up the year’s andalateconvertto theadventuresof themedievaloralromanceDastan-eAmirHamza,on According to SharadPawar,former and ScheduledTribesisofthe opinion that changes in Poland, the onlycountrywhere whichheendedupwriting amulti-volume analysis. MaharashtraChief Minister, at least10,000 Central intervention to deal with atrocities Communism co-existswithmass devotionto Faruqicame to fiction late —firstthrough acollection of stories on Urdu poets,and, then, persons have been arrested in eightdistricts on ScheduledCaste communities and trib- Christianity.The Polish Pope, John Paul, throughhismagnumopus, KaiChand,which hetranslatedintoEnglishin2013 asTheMirror of Vidarbha and all hotels, rest houses, offices als in states and even use of forcebyCentral wishedthe word,HappyChristmas in 41 lan- of Beauty.The novelplucks the storyofWazir Khanum, an unconventional 19th century of leftdemocratic parties checkedfor any forces does notconstituteinfringement of guages. In Iran,aVatican envoy sawhalf of the marchers camping there. Madhu Dandavate constitutional norms. Nordoes suchaction hostages—their firstoutside visitor in eight woman, from the footnotesofhistoryto createaheroine of erotic power. It is, also, acelebra- wasarrestedatButibori, about 23 km from go beyond the scope or ambit of the execu- months—and reportedthat theywereingood tion of apoetrythatisinseparable from the businessofdaily life, and aDelhi that is a baitul- Nagpur,while attemptingtomarch to the tive powers of the Central government. The spirits. In Bethlehem, the city’s Arab Mayor, mamur,ateeminghouse of beauty and bawdy,loveand betrayal.Itisaplenitude that is also city.Pramila Dandavate and Mrinal Gore view has been communicated to the presi- Elias Freij, blamedthe fall in the number of the legacy of Faruqi. were arrested in the afternoon when they dent NSanjeeva Reddybythe Commissioner, tourists this year to the rise of terrorism. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 WHATTHE OTHERSSAY “The prime minister does not want this deal to be examined. What canalreadybe said with some certaintyisthat it prescribes an immediatedowngrade forthe UK 9 THE IDEAS PAGE economy. ” —THE GUARDIAN Ideology trumps analysis All the world’s

Contrarytosome recent observations,the newlyreleased NFHSdatareveals large improvements in without astage welfarefor Indian children, women,and households. Then whythe deepangst? The arts sustainedmanythrough Covid,but it WELFAREINDICATORSANDINDIAPERFORMANCE leavesbehindformidable challenges forthe artists INACOMPARATIVEPERSPECTIVE:2000-2019 ible and the rest.The transition of arttoon- WorldBankDevelopment NFHSData line spaces has been amixed bag.Amit Indicators ■ Number Mutreja, leadvocalist of Azaadi The Band,ar- WelfareIndicator 2000 2005 2010 2015 2015/16 2019/20 ■ Average guesthattheinternethasprovedto beamore Stunting-Heightforweight(<5years) Gain%pts democratic space, yethis band turneddown requeststo performonline,asengagingavir- India53.3 48.7 43.3 37.9 35.9 35.5 28(4%) Surjit SBhalla tual audience waschallenging. The liberty to DevelopingWorld 30.2 28.4 26.3 26 CHILDWELFARE express online is alsoaffectedby negative re- Underweight(weightforage,<5years) INDICATORS actionsandtrollingofascalenotseenintheof- ATYPO HERE, atypo there, and soon it can be- India45.9 43.9 36.4 36.3 34.2 34 7(3.9%) Padmapriya flinespace. gin to adduptoa“story”, apointofview. All of DevelopingWorld 15.7 14.3 13.6 13.8 Going online also requires special skills. us have made dataerrors in print —the editors YOUNGWOMEN Janakiraman and ShyamAravindakshan of Creative Dignity,a allowa“correction” post-publication, and do Wasting(weightforheight,<5years) INDICATORS movementaimingto providerelief andreju- so easilyonthe webpages.Ihavehad occasion India17.5 19.6 17.6 20.8 21.5 21.5 Maansi Verma venationto artisans,recallsthetechnicalcon- to correct my owndata, and everyone should. DevelopingWorld 7.4 7.1 6.6 5.8 15(4.1%) straintsingetting artisansonline to sell their We have been in the eraofdata-basedpolicy Teenagepregnancies HOUSEHOLD crafts.Fromcataloguingto professionalpho- forsometimenow, notjustinIndiabutaround India19.9 16.7 12.8 8.7 10.5 9.3 ANDADULT DURING THEPANDEMIC, artbecame an ex- tographsto quality checksbefore shipments the world. Thereare several“fact-check” web- INDICATORS pression of resilience forsociety.Frompeo- to online payments, theartisans,having sites around the world. This article should be DevelopingWorld 18 17.9 18.2 17.9 plesingingtogetherintheirbalconiesto PPE- largely producedforlocalmarkets,struggled. seen primarily in thatlight. Source:WorldBank, World Development Indicators; NFHS surveys2015/16 and 2019/20, Note:World bank claddoctorsdancing to uplift their patients Theartscommunityhasneverhaditeasy Butthereismore,muchmore,to therecent indicators are %ofrelevant population, NFHS is %ofpopulation to graffiti expressing gratitude forhealth but the worryisaboutlifepost-COVID-19. datarelease of the preliminaryresultsofthe workers, people rediscoveredthe powerof From museums to dance, the digital is here NationalFamilyHealthSurvey (NFHS)for2019- arttohealinthese sordid times. But how to stay.Apartfromlearningnewskills,artists 20. These preliminaryresults have been re- resilientisthe artist? “Thereare seventribes will have to address howtoreduce piracy, CRSasikumar leasedfor2019-20alongwithcomparabledata of street performers in India —streetmagi- while revisiting settlednotions of copyright, forthe2015-16survey.Dataare presentedfor21 tries to putinterpretation, and data, intoboth population-weighted basis, rather than on an cian, snakecharmer, animaltrainer,juggler, whichotherwise getlostinaclosedZoom states (12“big” and nine small),with apopula- an absolute(forexample, what happenedin elevatoreconomicsbasisaspresentedinmany acrobat,streetsingerand behrupiya,” says roomperformance.Butaudiencesforstaged tion coverage of approximately700 million. India) and aworldwide perspective (what hap- dataanalysesonthesubject,forexample,forX, Ishamuddin Khan, aformer resident of the performances will notdisappear.Digital fa- Tabular datafor 131variables have been re- penedelsewhereincomparableeconomies). Ystatesshowedanimprovement and Zstates now-demolishedKathputli Colonyslum in tigueand the charm of the live performance, leasedfor2019-20,alongwithcomparabledata The WorldBank provides these comparable showedadecline. Delhi, himself a madari magician who has whichhighlightsthe symbiotic relationship for2015-16.Thedatashowthat therehasbeen dataonanannual basis and the dataare easily Child Mortality:Dataonthree indicators toured the worldwith his Indianropetrick. between artistand audience, should reflect considerable improvementinmanyofthese available to allwho areinterested. Trends in (neo-natal, infant and under-five) showan “But thereare no official figures on the num- in deeper engagement by the audience.For 131indicatorsof socialwelfare;andthatinvery hunger,nutrition, inequality,and growth improvement between 3and 4ppt. berofstreetperformersinIndia.Theyare not sustainedincomeavenues, the sectorhas to few(youcan count such instancesonthe fin- among others can be judiciouslyassessedina Immunizations:This is one big storyofim- acknowledged as artists.” innovate by finding stronger connections gers of one hand) therehas been stagnation comparative perspective. provement;for example,the hepatitisBvac- What is artand who is an artist? Within acrossrelatedareaslike educationandhealth. rather than adecline. Letuslookatsome of the typos,falsehoods, cine percentage(forchildren 12-23 months) the expansive spec- The pandemic has But that is notthe firstimpression one ob- misinterpretation of the data. Dreze states that increasedfrom64.8per cent in 2015 to 83.6 trum of the creative ANEXPRESS IDEASERIES brought to thedisor- tains from the writings of distinguished schol- the Bangladesh underweight percentagein per cent in 2019. Breast-feeding and dietof sector,manyare ganisedartistcommu- ars likeJean Dreze (‘Give children weight’, IE, 2015 was22per cent;World Bank (WB) data children6-23 months:Average gain of 4ppt jostlingforrecognition nity some improve- December 19)and Abhishek Anand, Vikas states it to be30.1per cent—some4.7 percent- forfour indicators. of theircraftinalargely ments—collaboration Dimbleand Arvind Subramanian(‘New wel- agepoint (ppt) lowerthan India, but not12.8 Negative trend in 26 children indicators: unorganisedandill-de- to create newworks, farismof India’sRight’,IE,December22),aswell pptlower as impliedbyDreze. WB figures for Only two showaworsening. Children with finedindustry. Already higheronlinevisibility, as editorials like'Hunger Alarm' (IE, December all developingcountrieswithdataonstunting fever takentoahealth facility (71.3per cent havingsurvivedonun- and the ability to reach 15), and pronouncementsonworsening (63 countries, population 2.5 billion): In 2000, in 2019,ascompared with 72.6 percent in certain incomes, the COVID audiences and con- teenagepregnancy. the stunting averageexcluding India was29.3 2015); and children under five years who are pandemic aggravated sumersdifferently. The Dreze starts his essaywith the conclusion per cent;in201023.8 per cent;and in 2015, severely wasted —increase to 8.6 per cent the vulnerable condi- SHADOW, Indiancreative sectoris that “leaving aside twoorthree countries like 28.7per cent. In other words, alot of zig-zag, from 7.6per cent in 2015. tions of artistsacross NEWYEAR seeing togetherness. Niger and Yemen, India has the highestpro- reversals, and no netimprovement over 20 Negative trend in sevenyoung women the board. ABritish But whetherthe com- portion of underweight children in the years. In contrast, the stunting averageinIndia indicators: Zero.Modern birth control meth- Council,FICCIandArtX LIGHT munity standsfor sus- world…”, and adds foreffect that this propor- was46per cent in 2000,10ppt lowerin2015, ods, ageatmarriage, teenagepregnancies, Companystudy on the tainedadvocacy with tion ismuchhigher thanin neighbouringcoun- and still lowerin2019. and sexual violenceall showimprovement. impactof COVID-19 onIndia’screative econ- thegovernmentandprivate sectorforrecog- tries like“Bangladesh (22 per cent) and Nepal Teenagepregnancies on the rise? Really? The averageimprovement in these sevenin- omyrevealsthatself-employedprofessionals nition and supportremains to be seen. (27per cent)”.Subramanian and co-authors, In 2005,teenagepregnanciesin Indiawere 19.9 dicators —3.9 percentagepoints. and MSMEsmakeup88per centofthe in- Governmentsare increasinglyinterested writethat “aftershowing aslowbut steady de- per cent;in2015, 8.7 per cent, and 1ppt lower Notone of the authors Negative trendin15adult indicators: Zero. dustry, 70 per centofthe respondentsfaced in regulating the expression of artonline. But cline,especiallybetween2005 and 2015,there in 2019.Net improvement —about 12 pptin looked at the dataonwasting Averagegain4.1percentagepoints.Someof the temporarybusiness disruptions and 33 per whattheyneedtofocusonisreducingtheal- has been adisappointing reversal thereafter”. 15 years.Contrastthis with aconstant 10 ppt (weight forheight). A indicators showanincrease of 9percentage cent lostuptohalf of their annualincome. readydeep divideinthe artworld between The 'Hunger Alarm' editorial notesthat “there higher levelinthe developing worldoverthe pointsand above:Households with electricity Theanticipatedlowerlevelsoftourism,drop the privileged andunderprivileged.While have been severalindicators of the slowing same period. The decline in teenagepregnan- curious but revealing (9.2 ppt), improvedsanitation facilities (17.3 in purchasingpower and reductionoffund- some artforms will go digital, street/festival down of economic growth and employment cies in India is agenuinesuccess story. India omission. Thewasting ppt),cleanfuelforcooking(18ppt)andwomen ing forartscould amplify this further.Yet,in performancesaredifficultto showcaseonline. distress, whichare bound to have an effect on had the 10th lowest levelin2015, with Nepal percentage in India was17.5 havingabankaccountthattheyuse(29.8pptin- the government’s manyfinancial assistance So,shouldtheybelost?Governmentsshould hunger and nutrition”(emphasis added). The nine positions lower(16.7 per cent) and per cent in 2000, and 3.3ppt crease to alevel of 77.2 per cent in 2019). packages, artists found no mention. makeatransparentdirectoryofartistssothat Hindu’s(December 15)verdictonworsening Bangladesh (30.8 per cent in 2014)with the Whysuchalarge divergence betweenper- Intheabsenceof institutionalsupport,the grantsandotherschemesreachtherightben- in India wasreflected in the title “Rise in ninth highest magnitudeofteen pregnancies higher in 2015,and did not ception and reality? If thereisimprovementin creative community came together to help eficiaries. Apartfromfirming up anti-cyber- teenagepregnancy,higher anaemia rate in (women 15-19years of age). deteriorate further in 2019. close to a100 indicators and stagnation (not theirown.Amongmanyotherorganisations, bullyinglaws,theneedofthehouristo recog- women: NFHS-5 phase data”. Wasting: Notone of the authors looked at In contrast,inthe same time- worsening) in very,very, few(less than five) the Cine &TVArtists Association(CINTAA) nisegigworkersinthissectorandstrengthen The collective interpretationone obtains the dataonwasting (weight forheight). Acu- then whyare thereeditorials, specialshows on stepped in to provide rations,funds, emo- policiesthatsupportcultural assets. from reading theseand manyother articles on riousbut revealingomission.The wasting per- period,wastage in the TV,and scholarly (but motivated) conjectures tionaland medicalsupporttostruggling Noteveryformof artiseconomicallyself- the subject is that afteryears of progress on centageinIndia was17.5per cent in 2000,and developing world improved about the larger“reality”that maybecausinga artists andtheir families. sustainable. Thedownsizing of the creative health,nutrition,andchildwelfare,thingshave 3.3 ppthigher in 2015,and did notdeteriorate by 1.6ppt. None of the data non-existent worsening? The intelligentsia, But financialdistresswasn’tthe onlyfall- sectorwillhave anegative impactonjobsand reallyworsenedinthelastfouryears—2015/16 further in 2019.Incontrast, in the same time- presented above shows both domestic and international, gotthe Modi out of the pandemic—it closedavenues for revenues, levels of innovation, citizen well- to 2019/20.Someauthorsareexplicit,othersin- period, wastageinthe developing worldim- election,andhisre-election,horriblywrong.As artists’self-expression. Kathak dancer Aditi being and the vibrancy and diversity of com- dulgeinnudge-nudge,wink-wink—thesefour provedby1.6 ppt. India’sperformance to have Ihavearguedearlier(TheNewWealthofNations Mangaldas respondedbyuploading videos munities.Philanthropyfortheartshasto grow. yearswere alsothefirstfouryearsof thechang- None of thedatapresented above shows worsened post-2015.Inother and Citizen Raj) one consistent explanation for of impromptu, unrehearsedperformances. Theappreciationforart’scontributioninpro- ing political order in India —the beginning of India’sperformance to have worsenedpost- words, the pessimistic this mis-reading is that the old elitehas not However, acknowledging herown privilege, viding society with asemblanceofnormalcy NarendraModi as PrimeMinister. 2015.Inotherwords, the pessimistic conclu- conclusion of ‘many’ (or come to grips with the reality that thereisa Mangaldaspointedout howher company’s duringtheseisolatedtimesmustbecultivated Ihaveoften stated in my articles (starting sion of “many” (or some) of adeterioration is changeinleadershiponissuesrelating to poli- dancers struggledtofind equipment and intorespect and valuefor an artist’s labour. from 'India, the Incomparable', TheEconomic false.Further,accordingto averylarge number some) of adeterioration is tics, economics, culture,and society. even space in their homes to perform and Else, as acountry, we will be collectively re- Times, March3,1989) that Indians sufferfrom of NFHS indicators, welfareimproved“big- false. Further,according to a recordtheir work.Dancer Dr Swarnamalya sponsible forthe loss of our cultural lineage. aspecial disease —wethink we areunique. To time”between2015 and2019.Asummaryver- verylarge number of NFHS Bhalla is executivedirector IMF representing Ganesh created ‘I Am aDancer under help negatethis falsehood, it is important to sionof thesedataisasfollows (comparabledata indicators, welfare improved India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Views #Lockdown’, in whichshe herself handled Janakiraman is aNational Award-winning compareIndia with the rest of thedeveloping forothercountries is notasyet available). expressedare those of theauthorand do not thecamera,editingandpost-production.But film actress, dancer and public policy world, about180 countries and apopulation Alldataare forchange(difference in per- ‘big-time’ between 2015 and necessarilyrepresent theviews of theIMF,its shefearsthatthepandemichasincreasedthe researcher.Vermaisaconsulting of 6.5 billion. Thus, datapresented in the table centages)as revealedbyNFHS on an aggregate 2019. ExecutiveBoard,orIMF management schismbetweenthosewhowillbemore vis- researcher with Sahapedia Anew idea for Goa LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR BJP’SHYPOCRISY THIS REFERS TO the editorial, 'Burythe IDEAS The60thanniversaryyearisachanceto startreflecting legacy’ (IE, December 25). The govern- ment's move to file an appeal at the ONLINE Singaporeseatof thepermanentcourtof Rahul Tripathi arbitration challenging itsjudgment in ONLYINTHE EXPRESS theVodafoneretrospective taxationcase ONDECEMBER20,PresidentRamNathKovind over land,environment and water, in contrast, across much stronglythan itssize. The result could become the mainstream, unsettling the is preposterous and legallyuntenable. ● CHRIST,THE flagged offthe celebrations forGoa’s 60th year theyhaveoften been seenassuccumbingto wasthatwithall itsinnerturmoil, Goahad the harmonythat has been evident forcenturies. The fact that the appeal wasfiledinthe PHILOSOPHER: of liberationonthebanksofMandoviatthehis- big capital and adifferent vision of develop- optimismthatitspromiseduniquenesswould Goa’s ideal economic model is linked to its aftermathofPermanent Courtof JYOTHIS toric Bandodkar GroundsinPanjim.It’s an oc- mentthat has flowedfromDelhiand Mumbai remain an article of faith.Thisfaith is gradually fragile ecology,whichoften militates against Arbitration(PCA)atThe Haguepassinga casionforthestatetoreflectonitsaccomplish- in the lasttwo decades. getting erodedifGoa’s trajectoryinthe recent big ticket capital that is graduallyengulfing it. judgmentagainstIndiaholdingtheretro- ● FEEDING mentsaswellasfailingsaspartofitsintegration What kept thestate’s hopes alive wasthe years is anyindication. To quote aprominent While mining, the backbone of the economy, spectivedemand of taxation wasin THEHOSPITALS: intothe IndianUnion. ability of the political class and the people to Goan academic, while Goa is becoming partof sawahiatusowing to aSupreme Courtjudg- breachoffairtreatmentenvisagedunder SUDHANSHPANT As one of the smalleststatesinthe Indian have avoicemuchbiggerthantheiractualscale theIndian mainstream(andthatwas natural), ment, the impact of the pandemic has left the UK-India bilateralinvestment treaty Union,withexcellentsocialandeconomicindi- and intensity,given itsnational and interna- the natureofmainstreamingthat has been go- tourismreeling.Meanwhile,theCentrewishes willdenttheimageofthecountrytodis- www.indianexpress.com catorsandaqualityof lifenot enjoyedbymany tional profile. That, perhaps,alsounited Goa’s ingonover theyears—political, economic and to makeGoa partofits big infrastructurepush suade investors. in otherstates, Goa is indeed aclass apart. civilsocietyandpoliticalsociety.Forexample,in ideational —hasraisedapprehensions. Thereis whichsuperimposes megaplans over astate Ravi Mathur, Noida Perhaps no other land of suchascale has so itsearly years,JawaharlalNehru,despitehisini- asense of loss and this loss, it is feared,will be wheremicroplanning should actuallyhave muchhistoryandmadeasmuchofacontribu- tialdisappointmentwith Goa on notnaturally difficult to recover. The onus lies on the rest of beenanorm.Thestatealsofightsanuphillbat- EDUCATION IGNORED THIS REFERS TO theeditorial, ‘My tion to religion, art, music,cosmopolitanism giving the Congressthe chance and opting for India to makesurethat the mainstreaming tlewithbigneighbourKarnatakaovertheshar- school vs.your school; (IE, December and nationalism as Goa has. At the same time, regional parties, wasclearinhis 1963 message emergesout of the diverse ideas that Goa has ing of riverMhadei (as Mandovi is known in THIS REFERSTOthe editorial, ‘My 25). UP government’s claim about the in no other place, perhaps, has the battle for to Goans that the statewill alwaysremain spe- stood forrather than subsuming them intoa Karnataka), itslifeline. The despair on the school vs.your school’ (IE, December superiority of itsschools is reckless identity,language, andecology been as strong cial in the Indian mosaic and itsidentity shall paradigm of monolithic nationalism. groundstemsfromtheperceptionthatthebig- 25). If education does notfind reso- imagination. No other state in India as hasbeenwitnessedinGoa during thelast be protected.Prime MinisterNarendraModi, Politically, Goa appears to be heading to- gerstate hasagreater sayinthe corridors of nance among the political class, it is has misusededucation policy as a severaldecades.Theothersideof thestoryisof whohasalways hadaspecialplaceforGoainhis wardstowardssinglepartydomination,follow- powerinDelhi. the people, the voters, whoare to be weapon in politics as UP.During people’sstrugglefor things that arecritical for illustriouspoliticalcareer,inoneof hisspeeches ingmoreorlessthe pattern of the rulingparty But the biggestbattle perhaps is ideational. blamed. Instead of letting politicians MulayamSingh Yadav’s chief minis- their very existence —water,air and land. marvelledatthe then demandbypeople for poaching on the Opposition and fragmenting Can therebeanew ideaforGoa, away fromthe focus on religion and caste,weshould tership, teachinginEnglish wasmade The stateand the political class in Goa have special status, notbasedonmaterialbenefits, it.Butto saythatGoawillbecomeasingleparty popular ideas whichhavealways harpedon makethem accountablefor issues optional followedbyallowing copy- been at aninteresting intersection of these two but forpreserving their identity. dominant statewould be prematuregiven its Goa’s uniqueness, but have notdone muchto whichcan makeadifference in our ing in examinations as asortofright. oftendivergent trends, oftenasmediators, but Seeminglytall leaders likeformer Chief historyof defections.Whatismoreworryingis protect it?The onus lies as much on the rest of lives. While development is nowbe- But the stategovernment’s focus manyatime as complicitforcesinthese bat- MinisterPratapSinghRaneandformerDefence that thereisoften adisconnectbetween grass India to protect it, even as contemporaryGoa ing courtedbythe leaders and jobs seems dividedbetween correcting the tles. On questions of identity and language, as MinisterManohar Parrikar,alongwithvarious rootslevel democracy as profferedbyGoa’s vi- debates that idea. The 60th anniversaryper- find mention in the political lexicon, it system and rewriting the history witnessedinthe 1967 opinionpoll and the luminariesinacademia, literature, defence,art brant gram sabhas and the ruling establish- haps givesusachance to begin reflecting. is education whichisthe foundation. booksfor students. movementfor statehood culminatingin1987, andculture,remainedprominentambassadors ment. Besides, thankstothe majoritarian po- Kamna Chhabra, Gurgaon YGChouksey, Pune the political class and the statewent along of Goa,whowouldalwaysexudeoptimismand litical impulse creeping in the rest of the The writer teaches political science at Goa withthe people’s wishes. In recent struggles hope that Goa wouldbeabletoput itsviews country, thereisafeeling in Goa that the fringe University. Viewsare personal WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 10 EXPRESS NETWORK THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 FROMPAGEONE Tripura scheme to provide jobs MPGovtdebatesitsversionof Himachal law onlyonthe discretion of amagis- vidual wishes to marry. trateand notasamatter of right, Under Section 12 of the 2019 to next of kin the BJP Himachal government in andthat the police can search or Himachallaw, theburdenof prov- 2012 nor the private parties who arrest anindividualandlaunchan ing whether areligious conver- of victims of intervenedinthe proceedings investigationontheirown with- sion had been done through mis- lawtoday,includesalimony had challenged the decision of out awarrant from court. representation, force, coercion, political violence the High Court. Likethe Uttar Pradesh undue influence, inducement or “Whyshould ahuman being ProhibitionofUnlawfulReligious anyotherfraudulentmeansor“by DEBRAJDEB ing up to lifeimprisonment, in purviewofcourts. beaskedtodisclosewhatishisre- Conversion Ordinance passedlast marriage”,liesonthepersoncon- AGARTALA,DECEMBER25 IRAMSIDDIQUE Madhya casethe person converted is a Under the newMPBill, a ligion?""Whyshouldahuman month, the 2019 Himachal law verting or those facilitating. BHOPAL,DECEMBER25 Pradesh CM minor or from aScheduledCaste familycourtinthe state will be being be askedtoinform the au- specificallyprohibitsconversion TheUPlawalsoprescribesen- IN AN effort to provide relief to Shivraj or Scheduled Tribe, and three empoweredtodeclaremar- thorities thatheischanginghis formarriage, even if an individual quirybyamagistratetogivesanc- victims of political violence per- ENSURINGALIMONY or main- Singh years otherwise, with amini- riages conductedfor the purpose belief?” —the Benchcomprising testifies to have donesowillingly, tion foraconversionwhereas the petrated till March,2018—when tenance forwomen forced into Chouhan mum penalty of Rs 50,000. of religious conversion null and then ChiefJusticeofthe High exceptwhenprior sanction has Himachal lawonlyrequires sub- the incumbent BJP-IPFT as- marriage forthe purpose of reli- However, unlikethe Uttar void. The alimonyinsuchcases CourtDeepak Gupta andJustice been obtained. Section5ofthe mitting anotice. sumedpower in Tripura—the gious conversion and aprovision PradeshProhibition of Unlawful would be granted as per Section RajivSharma had said. Himachal lawand Section3ofthe The newHimachal Pradesh stategovernment announced to declaresuchmarriages null law. The BJP Religious ConversionOrdinance, 125ofthe CrPC. In his interac- The courthad also cited the Uttar Pradesh lawwhichdeclare anti-conversion lawwas prom- Fridaythat it will provide agov- and void aresome of the clauses government argues that the under the MP law, aperson con- tions with mediapersons, Home fundamental right to privacy of that “marriages forthe sole ulgated in Augustlastyear,re- ernment job to one member of that will be partofthe Madhya 1968 lawisoutdated and is be- verting of his ownfreewill does MinisterNarottamMishrahad an individual to strikedownpro- purpose of conversion” will be pealing the 2006 Act. Under their families, providedthey Pradesh FreedomtoReligion Bill, ing reworkedinlight of the ex- nothavetoreportittothe dis- said theywerealso exploring the visions requiring prior notice to null and void arewordedexactly Section 2(J), it refers to conver- meetthe eligibility criteria. 2020, whichisall settobedis- perience of the past 50 years in trict magistrate.Incaseaperson possibility of attaching the prop- the authorities forconversion, the same. sion as “purification sanskar (pu- StateLaw MinisterRatan Lal cussedinaspecial Cabinetses- the stateregarding forced con- approaches apriestfor sucha erty of the accused. even as it acknowledgedthat The 2006 Himachal lawhad rification ritual)", and defines a Nath said. “Wereceivedaslewof sion on Saturday, ahead of being versions, with improved defini- conversion though,the priest The draftwas scheduledto severalrulings in the Supreme been limited to forced religious religious priestfor the purposes applications forgovernment put up in the upcoming three- tions and higher penalties to concernedhas to inform the dis- come up fordiscussion at a Courthad upheldthe validity of conversions and did nottouch of the lawasaperson perform- jobs from suchfamilies across daywinter session that will start prohibit suchcrimes, particu- trict administration. Cabinetmeeting on December anti-conversion laws as the upon conversions formarriage. ing the conversion. The Actwas Tripura afterformingthe gov- on December 28. larly forced religious conversions Medical EducationMinister 22 but wasdeferredtill aspecial Constitution provides for“pub- Whileborrowing provisions notifiedonlylastweek. ernmentin2018. Keeping these Once passedbythe on the pretextofmarriage. Vishwas Sarang had demanded session on December 26 after lic order” as ground forrestrict- suchas“marriagefor the sole The2006law had been chal- people in mind, we have re- Assembly, thenew lawwill re- Under the newBill, forced that frequentoffenders in such Chief MinisterShivraj Singh ing freedom of religion. purposeofconversion”, the UP lenged by the Evangelical solvedtoscrutinise these appli- place the existing MP Dharma conversions would draw amin- cases be givenhigher penalty, Chouhan said afew suggestions Aviolationof theabove provi- lawgoesfurther than the Fellowship of Indiaand ANHAD, cations and provide themjobs.” SwatantryaAdhiniyam, 1968, imum jail term of five years, go- but officials said this could be the were awaited. sionunderthenewHimachallaw Himachal Actbyshifting the bur- anon-profit run by activist Application forms forthe can result in ajail term of three den of proof regarding the con- Shabnam Hashmi. The Sanatan benefit would be available at monthstooneyearfortheperson version from theconverted to Dharam Sabha, Mahant Ram SDM offices across the stateand undergoing conversionand from his/her partner;prescribing dif- Mohan Das of the Brahmin applicants wouldneedtosubmit Apni Party scuttles PAGD chance six months to twoyears forthe ferent jail termsdependingon Sabha, Shimla, and BJP leader proof of birth, permanentresi- priest, respectively.The offence is gender;and legitimisingthe in- Subramanian Swamyhad inter- dence, educational qualification, non-bailableaswellascognizable, trusion of the Stateand thirdpar- venedinthe proceedings, de- caste anddeath certificates of whichmeans bailcan be granted ties in the choice of who an indi- fending the law. relativeslostinpolitical violence. to claimDDC in Shopian

With this, the JK Apni Party’s course when itswinning candi- Conference ticket. NAVEEDIQBAL tallyintheShopianDDCwillreach dates shiftallegiance. Reacting sharplytothe Apni Regd. Off.: PSEB H.O., The Mall, Patiala -147001 SRINAGAR,DECEMBER25 five,but it will still be some dis- By taking NC andPDP candi- Party’s move,former Chief CIN: U40109PB2010SGC033813, Website: www.pspcl.in tance from crossing the majority dates, Apni Partyhas scuttled Ministerand NC Vice-President SHORTTERM OVER THE LAST twodays,the markinthe 14-member strong PAGD’s chances of taking control Omar Abdullahsaid in atweet, Open (Press) Tender Enquiry. No. 304/P-II/EMP-W 11766 dated: 11.12.2020 Altaf Bukhari-ledJKApni Party council.Originally, ApniPartycan- of theShopianDDC.If theremain- “This explains whyour leaders Scope of Work: Annual Maintenance Contract formaintenance of Computer hasclaimedthatthreecandidates didates had wonfromonlytwo ingthreemoreIndependentcan- in Shopiandistrict arebeing put Systems,Printers,Scanners &UPS installed at GGSSTP offices. —oneIndependentandoneeach constituenciesinShopiandistrict didates also join the Apni Party, under ‘preventive arrest’bythe Time Period: As per NIT fromtheNationalConferenceand —Kanjiullar and Keller II. Bukhari would be able to stake police. J&K police &the admin- EMD: @2% of tendered value rounded off to amultiple of Rs.10/- the People’s DemocraticParty — The People’s Alliance for claimtothe Shopian DDC. istration arefacilitating horse on the higher side,subject to minimum of Rs.5000/- and who wonthe District GupkarDeclaration (PAGD) can- While the Apni Partyhas trading &defections. The maximum of Rs.10.00 lac. Last Date &Time forSale of :01.01.2021 &5.00 P.M. Development Council elections didates wonseven seats takenwinning candidates in woman shown herejoining the Tender Document from constituencies in Shopian, (NationalConference -3and Shopian from other parties, the BJP’s B-team contested&won Date and Time forapplyfor :28.12.2020 &5.00 P.M. have joinedits ranks. PDP -4). With the supportofthe National Conferencehas said its elections on aNCmandate.” Registration lone winning ownShopian district president Omar Abdullah also took on Date &Time upto whichTender :07.01.2021 &11.00 A.M. candidate has been detainedsince the re- the administration for“playing shall be Received from Congress, sults were declared.“District partisan politics”. These parties Date &Time of Opening of Tender :07.01.2021 &11.30 A.M. Nigeena President ShopianShowkat couldn’t win seats and so “now Aset of tender documents containing detailed technical specifications, Regd. Off.: PSEB H.O., The Mall, Patiala-147001, CIN: U40109PB2010SGC033813; Website: www.pspcl.in General instructions and terms &conditions can be obtained from SE./HQ OFFICE OF CHIEF ENGINEER /PP&R Akhter from AhmedGenaie is under deten- theyare usingmoney/ muscle/ V&P.O.Ghanauli, GGSSTP,Ropar-140113 on payment of Rs.1000+GST D-3, SHAKTI VIHAR, PSPCL, PATIALA-147001, TEL. NO. 0175-2970894, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Chitragam, it tion forthree days now; the threats&governmentcoercionto @18% by Cash or Demand Draft drawninfavour of Accounts Officer/O&M, NOTICE INVITING TENDER FOR SHORT TERM SALE OF ENERGY TENDER SPECIFICATION NO. PPR 10/2020 GGSSTP,Rupnagar payableatRupnagar (Ropar) Punjab. could have grounds of detention have not makeupthe numbers. So much e-tendering page:http://eproc.punjab.gov.in NOTE:The prospectivebidders are requested to visit the PSPCL's website: takenthe been made known by the ad- for‘democracyhaswon’!”hesaid. PSPCL invites tenders under twopartbid system forsale of powertoUtilities,Distribution Licensees,Bulk consumers,Traders www.pspcl.in periodically even after purchasing the tender documents (having valid Inter State Trading License issued by CERC forinterstate trading of energy), as per table given below: council. But ministration as yet,” the party Aday before,the Apni Party to checkfor corrigendum issued, if any. No corrigendum shall be pub- lished in newspaper. Period Duration (HRS) Quantum (MW) Min Bid Qty.(MW) since the anti- said in astatement, demanding had said that twovictorious can- Sd/- 00.00 to 24.00 500 20 defection laws his immediaterelease. didates Fazal-Din Deedad and RTP-59/2020 SE./HQ, 01.01.2021 to 31.03.2021 07.00 to 10.00 250 20 do notapplyto On Friday, Apni Partyissueda Abdul Rashid Lonewho also won GGSSTP,Roopnagar. 55/Pb 17.30 to 20.30 250 20 the winning statement claiming that the Shopian DDC had joinedthe 1. Last Date and Time of downloading of tender document from the website http://eproc.punjab.gov.in 31.12.2020 upto 11.00 AM candidatesof Yasmeena Jan, aDDC member party.Deedad wasanindepend- 2. Last Date and Time of submission/uploading of tender document 31.12.2020 at 11.00 AM the DDCs,the from Imam Sahib-I seat in ent candidatewho contested the GOVERNMENT OF MAHARASHTRA 3. Date and Time of opening of Part A&B of the tender document 31.12.2020 at 12.00 Noon PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT PAGD does not Shopian, has joinedthe JKAP.Jan Keller 1seat in Shopian, and Lone Detailed NIT and Tender specification can be downloaded fromt he website of PSPCL i.e.http://eproc.punjab.gov.in PRESIDENCY DIVISION, MUMBAI NOTE: It is informed that in case tender processis not completed due to anyreason no corrigendum will be published in Newspapers.Details have anyre- had wonthe seat on aNational had wononaPDP ticket. Email :[email protected] regarding corrigendum maybeseen on official, PSPCL website i.e.http://eproc.punjab.gov.in Sd/- Dy.CE/PR, E-TENDER NOTICE NO A/1 FOR 2020-2021 PSPCL, Patiala C-384/2020 107/Pb ONLINE E-offers for the following works are invited by the Executive Engineer, SAYS NO REASONTOCROSS ILLEGALLYINTO INDIA Presidency Division, PWD,2nd floor,Bandhakam Bhavan, 25 Murzban Road, Fort, PUNJAB STATESPORTS COUNCIL Mumbai-400 001 (Tel.No.-22016975/22016977)from the agencies empanelled in structural audit list of Chief Engineer,Mumbai P. W. Region Mumbai of the Public Works Department. (Punjab Govt. Undertaking) Right to reject/ accept of all or one offer is reserved by the undersigned. Conditional offers SCO NO.116-117, SECTOR 34-A, CHANDIGARH. Border Guards Bangladesh will not accepted. TELEPHONE NO.0172-2606400, 2668794, E-mail ID: [email protected] [email protected] No. 423 Dated: 24.12.2020 Sr.No. Name of Work Amt Rs. lacs NOTICE INVITING TENDER 1 Structural Audit for Govt. Sagar &Tushar Bldg., 'B' Road 2,88,607/- Secure Online Submission of Tenders chief: NRC is Indian issue Churchgate,Mumbai. Online tenders on item rate basis as per the DNIT are invited on twobid system (Technical bid &Financial 2 Structural Audit for Govt. Boys Hostel, Telang Ladies Hostel Bldg., 11,42,417/- Bid) forthe following work: 'C' Road &Sydenhann College, 'B' Road, at Churchgate, Mumbai. Sr.Name of the Work Last Date of Opening of Bidding Documents 3 Strucural Audit of Elphinstone College NCC Bldg., Old Secretariat 18,22,547/- No. Online Submission ABHISHEKSAHA Main and Annex, City Civil Court Building,Mumbai. of Bid Technical Bid Financial Bid GUWAHATI,DECEMBER25 4 Carrying out Structural Audit of RTOTardev Mumbai (I.G.H. Block) 1,18,000/- 1. Providing &Laying of FIH approvedGlobal 15.01.2021 15.01.2021 To be Intimated 5 Carrying out Structural Audit of Govt. SahayadriState Guest 5,40,987/- CategoryHockey Turf (unfiled) with cast in situ at 11.00 A.M. at 04.00 P. M. on the Website House at Malbar Hill at Mumbai. 15mm shockpad along with allied Civil worksat THE PREPARATION of National Registerof Shaheed Bhagat Singh Stadium, Ferozepur 6 Carrying out Structural Audit of Govt. Malbar Hill Police Station at 79,955/- (Punjab). Citizen(NRC) is an “Indian issue” and there Malbar Hill at Mumbai. E-TENDER NOTICE NO.06, DATED 24.12.2020. has been no illegal influx from Bangladesh 7 Carrying Out Structural Audit of D. B. Marg Police line A, B, CBlock, 5,49,236/- 2. Providing &Laying of FIH approvedGlobal 15.01.2021 15.01.2021 To be Intimated intoIndia, the Director GeneralofBorder Khetwadi Staff qurts., V. P. Road Police officers qurts., V. P. Road CategoryHockey Turf (unfiled) with cast in situ at 11.00 A.M. at 04.00 P. M. on the Website Guards Bangladesh (BGB),Shafeenul Staff qurts., Forzet Manzil, Gamdevi Police office staff qrts. at Press 15mm shockpad along with allied Civil worksat Section, Mumbai. (Residential Buildings) Village Marar,Distt. Gurdaspur (Punjab). Islam, said in Guwahati on Friday. E-TENDER NOTICE NO.07, DATED 24.12.2020. 8 Carrying Out Structural Audit of D. B. Marg Police Station & 19,99,990/- However, BSF DG Rakesh Asthana Officers Qrts., V. P. Marg Police Station ,Gamdevi Police Station, 3. Providing&Relaying of FIH approvedGlobal 15.01.2021 15.01.2021 To be Intimated said that as of December 15,the BSF this TaraporewalaAquarium,Savitridevi Mahila Hostel, New Govt. CategoryHockey Turf (unfiled) with cast in situ at 11.00 A.M. at 04.00 P. M. on the Website Press, Old Govt. Press, DGPS Canteen, Bal Bhavan, Javahar Bal 15mm shockpad along with allied Civil worksat year has nabbed 3,204individuals trying Surjit Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park,Jalandhar Bhavan, Girgaon Court, State Excise Building at Press Section, (Punjab). to illegallyenter India along the entire BSF DG Rakesh Asthana with BGB Mumbai. (Non-Residential Buildings) E-TENDER NOTICE NO.08, DATED 24.12.2020. India-Bangladesh border.Asthana added chief Shafeenul Islam. PTI 9 Carrying out Structural Audit of G. B. Varsha, Torna, Nandanvan, 5,26,525/- 4. Providing &Laying of FIH approvedGlobal 15.01.2021 15.01.2021 To be Intimated the caveat that the figurewas notjustof Agrdoot, Shivneri, Dyaneshwari, Chitrakut, Royalstone,Parnakuty, CategoryHockey Turf (unfiled) with cast in situ at 11.00 A.M. at 04.00 P. M. on the Website Satpuda, Jetwan and Muktagiri at Malbar Hill at Mumbai. 15mm shockpad along with allied Civil worksat Bangladeshi nationals but the overall 10 Carrying Out Structural Audit of Deogiri, Ramtek, Sevasadan, 5,63,002 Dhudike, Distt. Moga (Punjab). number of people nabbed while trying uprising track... Thereisnoreason for Shivgiri, Ajantha, Meghdoot, Sagar Bandmans Qtr.staff Qtr. E-TENDER NOTICE NO.09, DATED 24.12.2020. to crossoverillegally,including criminals Bangladeshis to cross the border be it for Bandman at N. D. Road. Fordetail of works, other terms &conditions &tender documents,the bidders can log in to https://eproc.pun- and smugglers. jobs or forother reason. 11 Carrying out structural audit of commercial Art workshop at JJ 21,363/- jab.gov.in School of Art, Compound, Mumbai. Forparticipating in the above e-tendering process,the Bidders shall have to get themselves registered with The BSF and BGB chiefswereaddress- “Yes,peopledocometoIndiawithvalid 12 Carrying out Structural Audit in Mantralaya Annex Building. 17,08,000/- https://eproc.punjab.gov.in and get user ID,Password. Class-3 Digital Signature is mandatorytoparticipate in ing apress conference afterthe successful documentsandpassportsfortourismpur- the e-tendering process.Detailed Notice Inviting Tender and other tems &conditions are available on website: 13 Carrying out Structural Audit of Garage and staff quarters Mumbai. 90,675/- culmination of the Director General-level pose but forwork, thereisnosuch https://eproc.punjab.gov.in.inall payments regarding purchase of bid document i.e., Tender form fee, process- talksbetween the twoforces. case…Thereisnoinfiltration from 14 Carrying out Structural Audit of main bldg. JJOld &New 11,55,326/- ing fee&earnest moneyshall be strictly through Online mode (e-payment only). Bidders are advised to open Architecture Bldg., Old Applied Art Bldg. &Rey Art Workshop at J Bank Account with Core Banking Solution Branches (with NEFT/RTGS facility). Islam said, “I think youneedtore- BangladeshtoIndia,”hesaid. JSchool of Art Compound and Annex Bldg. &New Polytechnic Sd/- visitthe perception that alarge number The BGB chief ruledout that afterthe Bldg. at ElephinstoneTechnical Institute of Applied Art High School Dr.SanjayMahajan, Compound Mumbai. Executive Engineer (C), of Bangla-deshis arecrossing into publication of the NRCinAssam in 15 Carrying out Structural Audit of ABldg &4European Qtrs. at MRP 2,11,764/- 162/Pb Punjab State Sports Council, Chandigarh. Assam. If yousee the GDP growth rate August2019and consequent political Police Station Compound &20Staff Quarters &Director &Deputy of talksofanationalNRC,there has been Director Qrts. at JJSchool of Art Compound Mumbai. Bangla- anyunauthorisedmigration into 16 Carrying out Structural Audit of Suruchi Suniti Building Mumbai. 4,63,000/- desh, Bangladesh from India. 17 Structural Audit of Akashwani Mla's hostel Mumbai. 5,59,902/- youwill Both Asthana andIslamstressedon 18 Carrying out structural Audit of MaharastraRajya Police 6,24,757/- find howimportant the issue of cattle smug- Mukhyalaya Building, Vistarit Amdar Niwas Sachivalay Gymkhana, Mumbai. that we gling -- and smuggling of other kinds -- 19 Carrying out Structural audit of YashodhanMandar Kedar Colaba 10,31,333/- areona and killings on the border were pressing Police line sub-inspector quarters and Colaba police line Colaba. steady concerns fortheir respectivecountries. 20 Carrying out structural Audit for Colaba Police Station &Line Sub 1,13,683/- Inspector Quarter and Cuffe Parade Police Station. 21 SDR to Structural Audit of ABlock police line C.P.office premises, 13,20,322/- AMID SPECULATIONOFGOLAGHAT L. T. Marg, BBlock, police line, CBlock officers qtrs. at B.T.Marg, Stone Bldg. Piket Road, Mumbai. MLAJOININGBJP 22 SDR to Structural Audit of Commissioner of police at L.T.Marg 17,92,981/- Annex I, Annex II (SB Iand SBI II) Baddruddin TayyabjiMarg, New CID Lock-up Compound, Mumbai. Assam Cong expels 23 SDR to Structural Audit of Chief Magistrate Court Bldg. Mahapalika 2,73,990/- Marg, Mumbai. sitting legislator 24 SDR to Structural Audit of Old CustomHouse Bldg. at Shahid 3,82,000/- Bhagat Singh Marg, Mumbai. 25 SDR to Structural Audit of Store and Commando bldg office qtrs. and 5,83,106/- yellow gate police main buillding at P. D'Mello Marg and Town Hall ABHISHEKSAHA Building at Shahid Bhagat Singh Road Manekji Technical Center ladies hostel staff qrts. and Watch Tower at homeguard compound GUWAHATI,DECEMBER25 Dhobi Talav,Mumbai. 26 Structural Audit of Old Maharashtra Sadan, New Delhi. 2,70,334/- THE CONGRESS on Fridayexpelledasitting MLAamid Issued Date :29.12.2020 to 12.01.2021 speculation that she will join the BJP. Opening Date :13.01.2021 The party has, meanwhile, startedmeetings at the All the changes pertain to notice will not published in newspapers ground levelled by leaders visiting from Delhi and a that will published in online E-notice process. survey to gauge public mood regarding probable al- All the detail Information is available on following web sites liances forthe Assemblypolls next year. 1) www.mahapwd.com 2) www.mahatenders.gov.in “Ajanta Neog is herebyexpelledfromthe primary membership of Indian National Congress forher anti- No.PD/TC/8761 Office of the Executive Engineer, party activity with immediateeffect.This has the ap- Presidency Division, P. W.D., 2nd floor, proval of the Honourable Congress President,” an or- Bandhakam Bhavan, 25, Murzban Road, Sd/- der by Ranjan Bora, general secretary(organisation) Presidency Division, Mumbai. (C. T. Naik) of stateCongress said. Fort, Mumbai 400 001 Executive Engineer Date :23.12.2020 Presidency Division Mumbai. NeogisMLAfromGolaghatandaformerministerin DGIPR-2020-21/1613 the erstwhile Tarun Gogoicabinet. FULL REPORT ON www.indianexpress.com WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 MEANWHILE NEVERLAND RANCH SOLD TO BILLIONAIRE Michael Jackson’s NeverlandRanchinCalifornia has found anew ownerinbillionairebusi- nessman RonBurkle. TheWallStreet Journalreports the propertywas soldfor $22 million 11 THE WORLD to Burkle,anassociate of the late pop star and co-founder of theinvestmentfirmYucaipa Companies.The asking price of the propertywas as highas$100 million in 2016.

TOPOFTHE WORLD Britainseesrecordrise incases;UStellsUK travellerstogettested

LyubovSobol UK sends moretroops to Dovertohelpcleartruck queues

RUSSIA PTI&REUTERS Criminalcase LONDON,WASHINGTON,DEC25 openedagainst ARECORD number of people have tested positive forCovid-19 allyofNavalny in England as millions spend RUSSIAN LAWenforce- Christmas Dayawayfrom ment agencies openeda friends and familydue to acon- criminal case against tinuing spikeincoronavirusin- LyubovSobol, an ally of fections on Friday. Kremlin critic Alexei Figures from the National Navalny, andtook her in Health Service’s (NHS) Test and forquestioning early on Trace networkshowedthat be- Fridayafter raiding her tween December 10 and16, home, Navalnyand his 173,875peoplereceivedapositive supporters said. There result —the highest weeklytotal Awomanlooks through thewindow at hermotheropening a wasnoimmediatecom- of positive casesanda58percent present on Christmas DayinLondon. Millions in Britainwere mentfromthe police. Aman dressedupasSantaClaus waves to children from inside aplastic ball as aprotectivemeasureagainstthe spread of increase on the previous week. spendingChristmas away from their familiesasauthorities Supporters of Navalny Covid-19, in Ferrol, in the northwestern Spanish region of Galicia. Reuters Separately, according to the tightenedrestrictions amidrising Covid-19cases. Reuters said the police action ap- the Office forNational Statistics pearedto bearesponse to (ONS), positive cases of coron- Sobol visiting the home of avirus areincreasing sharply in around afterthe Trumpadmin- queues of lorriesfollowing the an alleged FSB security Celebrating Christmas in apandemic: parts of theUK, witharound one istration told US airlines on resumption of cross-channel service agent in Moscow. in 60 people nowtesting positive Tuesdayitwas notplanning to travel fordrivers who test nega- Navalnyhad earlier said inWalesandonein85inEngland. requireany testing forarriving tive forCovid-19. the mantook partina Churches shut, borders complicated Experts believe thenew mu- UK passengers. Ferryservices between Dover botchedplottopoison tations of the deadlyvirusare In Britain, Prime Minister and the French portofCalais him in August. Sobol was driving cases up across the coun- Boris Johnson has warnedthat restartedonThursday, endingsev- brieflydetainedon Ibeg everyone... to Covid-19 vaccines shines “lights Christmas Dayinalast-minute tryastheyare morecontagious. tougher restrictions could be eraldays of ablockadeimposedby FRANCESD'EMILIO It has resultedin mostparts of the neededtokeep the mutant coro- France following the discovery of Mondayafter visitingthe promote cooperationand of hope” on the world. In apas- move,after China’s capital was alleged agent’s flat and ROME,DECEMBER25 sionateappeal to leaders, busi- put on high alert following the UK to be placedinsome form of navirus strain “runningout of thenew virus variant in England. ringing the doorbell. She not competition, to find a nesses and international organi- confirmation of twoconfirmed stringent lockdown measures. control” in the newyear. Soldiers were checking vehi- wasnot letintothe man’s CURFEWS, QUARANTINES and solution for everyone — sations, he said theymustensure Covid-19cases lastweek. It has also resulted in many “Webelieve that we’regoing cles and drivers’ documents at apartment. REUTERS even border closingscomplicated vaccines for all — that the mostvulnerableand Border crossing closures kept countries putting restrictionson to have to getthrough this tough the entrance to theportand Christmas celebrations Fridayfor especially for the most needy in the pandemic be firstin thousandsofmigrantsfromeco- travellers from Britain. The US period nowwith, as Ihavesaid Frenchofficials, in Dovertohelp countless people around the vulnerableand needyin line to receive thevaccines. nomically devastated Venezuela said on Thursdaythat it would manytimes, very tough restric- clear the backlog, were seenad- globe, but ingenuity,determina- Bells rang out around who live in other parts of South requireall airline passengers ar- tions,withtoughtiering,”hesaidat ministering nasal swab teststo WESTASIA tionandimaginationhelpedkeep all areas of the plane.” Bethlehem on Fridayasthe tradi- America from going home for riving from the UK to test nega- apress conference Thursday. drivers. An additional 800 Israelijetsfly the dayspecial formany. POPE FRANCIS tional birthplace of Jesus cele- the holidays.Others successfully tive forCovid-19within 72 hours Britain deployedadditional British troops have nowbeen Pope Francis deliveredhis IN HIS CHRISTMAS MESSAGE bratedChristmasDay.Buttheclo- crossedborders elsewhereonly of departurestarting Monday. militarypersonnel to the portof deployed to the port, on topof overBeirut; Christmasblessingfrominsidethe sureofIsrael’sinternationalairport to find themselvesinquarantine. The decision wasaturn- DoveronFridaytohelp clearthe the 300sent initially. Vatican, breaking with his tradi- to foreign tourists,alongwith Celebrationsweremuted in blastsinSyria tional speechfromthe balconyof tions forthe holidays foiledany Palestinianrestrictionsbanningin- Africa,too,asovernightchurch vig- ISRAELI JETS flewvery St.Peter’s Basilica to tens of thou- plans by locals to flocktothe tercity travel in the areas theyad- ilscouldnot beheldinmanyparts Another new lowoverparts of Lebanon sands in St.Peter’s Square. But square. ministerinthe Israeli-occupied becauseof acurfew.Fewerpeople US Covidrelief Bill early Friday, terrifying tourism in Italyhas virtuallyvan- Citing acause foroptimism West Bank,keptvisitors away. also reportedlyheadedhome to coronavirus residentsonChristmas ishedinthe pandemic and the amid the pandemic’s bleakness, In Beijing,official churches seefamilies,whichcouldhelplimit Eve, some of whom re- government’scoronavirusrestric- Francis said the invention of abruptlycancelledMass on the spread of the virus. AP hangs in balance as variant found portedseeing missiles in the skies over Beirut. in Nigeria, says Minutes later,Syria’s offi- Trump goes golfing cial news agency re- portedexplosions in the Africa CDC central Syrian town of Masyaf. Other Syrianme- TIMREID& ED dia said air defencesre- RICHARDCOWAN Threatofa REUTERS sponded to an Israeliat- DECEMBER25 PLAIN E NAIROBI,DECEMBER25 ● pocketveto tack near the town in the EX Hama province.There The US has expressed‘deep USPRESIDENTDonaldTrumpwill ANOTHER NEWvariant of the wasnoimmediateword concern’ over the release of spend Christmas Dayathis Palm IT IS notyet clear whether novelcoronavirus seems to on the target or whether al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Beachresortasmillions of Trumpactually intends to have emergedinNigeria, therewereany casualties. Omar SaeedSheikh Americans face the risk of losing veto theCovid relief Bill. The the head of Africa’s disease con- Israeli jets regularly vio- jobless benefitsonSaturdayand Bill waspassedafter months trol body said on Thursday, lateLebanese airspace apartial government shutdown of negotiations between both cautioning moreinvestigation and have oftenstruckin- Men convicted looms next week,following his parties in Congress, and it is wasneeded. side Syria. AP threatto veto a$2.3trillioncoron- possible that lawmakers “It’s aseparate lineagefrom in DanielPearl avirusaid and spending package. couldvote to overridethe the UK and the South African USA The fight over the spending veto if Trumpdoesuse that lineages,” John Nkengasong, di- murder set to be and aid packagecomes as option.However, Trump rector of the Africa Centres for Covidpatient Americansfaceanunprecedented coulduse what is known as a Disease Control and Prevention bludgeonedto released today holiday season, amid apandemic pocket veto in order to killthe (CDC)told an onlinenews con- that is killing people in record Bill.The Presidentcan holdon ference from Addis Ababa. deathinhospital At the scene of an explosion in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday. AP numbers. Nearly 320,000 to legislation for10daysbe- The news comes as cases are AN 82-YEAR-OLD man PRESSTRUSTOFINDIA Americans have died of Covid-19 fore he has to makeacall on it, surging in both Nigeriaand who wasbeing treated KARACHI,DECEMBER25 this year and the dailydeath toll is and if Trumpdoes that, the South Africa. In the pastweek, forCovid-19atahospital Large explosion shakes Nashville; repeatedlywell over 3,000, the Bill will effectivelydie be- Nigeria reporteda52% increase north of Los Angeleswas BRITISH-BORN AL-QAEDA highestsincethepandemicbegan. cause the current Congress’ in cases and South Africaa40% bludgeonedtodeath leaderAhmedOmar Saeed On Christmas Eve, Trump term expires next week. increase, Nkengasongsaid. with an oxygen tank last Sheikhand his three aides, playedgolf at hiscourseinWest He said therewas no evi- police say it was an intentional act whose releaseinthe abduction Palm Beach, Florida,and tweeted dence the newvariantwas con- week by his roommate, the authorities said. The and murder case of US journal- aseries of grievances repeating gotiate. The Bill provides $892 bil- tributing to increasedtrans- men were sharing atwo- Aaronsaid police respondedto investigators from the Bureauof istDaniel Pearlwas orderedby his baseless claims about the lion in coronavirus relief, and $1.4 mission in Nigeria, but personroom at Antelope KIMBERLEEKRUESI acall of shots firedjustbefore6 Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and acourthere, will walk out of the election result, including one trillioninregular governmentap- cautionedthe countrydoes less ValleyHospital in &THALIABEATY am, but were notable to imme- Explosiveswerealsoonthe prison on Saturday, police and aimedatSenateRepublicans, propriations. Trump, who was genomic surveillance than Lancaster, California, NASHVILLE,DECEMBER25 diatelylocatesigns of ashooting, scene. The FBI is the primarylaw alawyersaid on Friday. whomheaccuses of abandoning represented in the negotiations Britain. when the assault hap- although officers noticedasus- enforcement agency responsible Atwo-judgebenchofthe him because manynow publicly by TreasurySecretarySteven The NigeriaCDC and the penedonDec 17,author- AN EXPLOSION shook the streets picious vehicle and calledfor a forinvestigating federal crimes, Sindh High CourtonThursdaydi- recognise Biden as the winner. Mnuchin andhad notobjectedto African CentreofExcellence for ities said. Theysaid the at- of downtownNashville early hazardous unit. While they suchasexplosives violations and rected security agencies notto Trumpstunnedmembers of the terms prior to theHouse and GenomicsofInfectiousDiseases tack had occurredwhen Christmas morning, shattering waited,the vehicle exploded. actsofterrorism. keep Sheikh and other accused both parties when he unexpect- Senatevotes,complainedthatthe in Nigeria will study moresam- the victim begantopray, windows,damaging buildings Aaronsaid three people were At noon,police dogs contin- under “anysortofdetention” and edly announcedthis week his dis- packagewas toofull of moneyfor ples, Nkengasongsaid. angering the roommate, and wounding three people. takentoareahospitals fortreat- uedtosearch cars and buildings declared allnotificationsofthe likeofthe $2.3 trillion spending specialinterests and foreign aid, “Give us some time ... it’s still who wasidentifiedas Authorities said theybelieved ment. He said some people were in the nearbyarea. Sindhgovernmentrelatedto their Bill, apackagethat had takenthe and said the $600indirect pay- veryearly”, he said,inresponse to Jesse Martinez, 37.The the blastwas intentional. The FBI takentothe department’s cen- APhiladelphia man staying detention “null and void”. The House and Senatemonths to ne- mentswas notenough. REUTERS questions about the variant. victim, who wasnot iden- is leading the investigation. tral precinct forquestioning but in anearbyhotelsaid that when courtobserved that the four tified, waspronounced No deaths have been re- declinedtogivemoredetails. he heardthe blast, he wasknew men’s detention was“illegal”. AFTER DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT dead next morning. NYT ported. The FBI will be taking the it wasn’t aharmless noise. “It According to the legal coun- MetroNashville Police lead in the investigation, said wasavery loud explosion,” said sel forthe four men, theywill be Department spokesman Don spokesman Joel Siskovic. Federal Joseph Fafara. releasedonSaturdayasFridayis apublic holiday in the country. Nepal’s SupremeCourtissues Meanwhile, the US on Friday expressed“deep concern” over Russian history professor who murdered, thecourtorderto releasethemen. showcause notice to Oli govt “Weare deeplyconcerned by the reports... We have been assured dismembered student gets over 12 yrs in jail thattheaccusedhavenot beenre- YUBARAJGHIMIRE At amarch to leasedatthis time,” the US State KATHMANDU,DECEMBER25 protestagainst twosevered arms inside. broad attentioninRussia. Departmentsaid in atweet. the dissolution ASSOCIATEDPRESS The limbs were identified as Afluent Frenchspeaker, Ruth and Judea Pearl—the ACONSTITUTIONAL benchof of Parliament, ST.PETERSBURG,DEC25 Yeshchenko’s, and investigators Sokolovwas aleading member parentsofDaniel Pearl—con- Nepal’s Supreme Courtissueda in Kathmandu found other body parts in the of militaryreenactment move- demnedthedecisionmadeby the showcause noticeFriday to the Friday. Reuters ACOURTinSt. Petersburgon riverand in Sokolov’s apartment mentssince the early 1990s and Sindh High courtand expressed KPSharma Oli government, ask- Fridayconvictedaprominent in the historic partofSt. represented Napoleon in nu- full confidence in the Supreme ingitto furnishreasonsforthedis- history professor on chargesof Petersburg, less than amile from merous representations of his- CourtofPakistantoprovide jus- solution of the House of Amidthe feud between rival sternmeasuresif hewasinstigated murdering and dismembering a the HermitageMuseum. toric battles and other events. tice fortheir son, the Express Representatives, along with the factions of the NCP, China’s am- further,drawing speculation that femalestudent and sentenced During the trial, Sokolovtes- Sokolov’s flamboyant style Tribune reported. originalletterof recommendation bassador Hou Yanqi metthe he could move to dismiss all the him to 12 1/2 years in prison. tifiedthat he and Yeshchenko and fierydelivery made him In April, atwo-judgeSindh fordissolution and the response party’s dissident leaders fora sevenprovincial governments, or The court found 64-year-old OlegSokolov had aromantic relationshipand popular among students, and High Courtbenchcommutedthe fromthePresident’soffice,by Jan3. thirdday in arow.She metsenior at least some of them, and put Oleg Sokolov, who taught at St. that he shother during aquarrel. he spokeabout his passion for deathsentenceof Sheikhto seven Afaction of the ruling Nepal NCPleader MadhavNepal and them under the Centre’s rule. PetersburgState University, Sokolovwas known forhis the Napoleonic erainTVinter- years imprisonment. The court CommunistParty,ledby Pushpa former Speaker Krishna Bahadur Protests have eruptedin parts guilty of shooting and killing 24- Sokolovwas detainedafter booksabout the Napoleonic era views.Napoleon washis idol alsoacquittedhisthreeaideswho Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, has ac- Maharaseparately, aday afterher of Nepalagainstthedissolutionof year-old doctoral student being pulledfromthe Moika and his enthusiastic participa- and fellowhistory buffs would were servinglifetermsinthecase cusedPrime MinisterOli of dis- meeting with Prachanda. the House, with some protesters Anastasia Yeshchenkoathis Riveroutside his St.Petersburg tion in reenactmentsofhistoric address him ‘Sire’, the em- —almosttwo decades afterthey solving the House in abid to re- Meanwhile,OlisaidinaTVin- burning effigies of Oli and apartment in November 2019. apartment with abackpackwith battles, and his case attracted peror’s title. were found guilty and jailed. tain power. terviewthat he would take more PresidentBidhya Devi Bhandari. WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 12 ECONOMY GOLD RUPEE OIL SILVER `49,624 `73.55 $51.29 `66,954

Note:Gold, silverrates at Delhispotmarket;gold per 10 g, silverper 1kg; Brent crudeasof2330IST SENSEX: 46,973.54 ▲ 529.36 NIFTY: 13,749.25 ▲ 148.15 NIKKEI: 26,656.61 ▼ 11.74 HANGSENG: 26,386.56 ▲ 43.46 FTSE: 6,502.11 ▲ 6.36 DAX: 13,587.23 ▲ 169.12

Domestic equity,currency andbullion marketsand international stockmarketswereclosedonFridayonaccountofChristmas FINAL DECISION LIKELY TO BE TAKEN AFTER SPECTRUMAUCTION IN MARCH INTERVIEW WITHCEO, GENNOVABIOPHARMACEUTICALS Consumerinfocus:DoT&Traimay ‘Vaccine pricetobeoutcome of scale;have output capacity dashtelcos’hopesoffixedfloorprice of 30 mn doses per month’

discussions, however, retired in giventhe financial health of the THE MRNACovid-19vaccine by whatthe correlates of protection AASHISHARYAN ED Long-term September thisyear,without telecom players. Gennova Biopharmaceuticalswill are. During our phase1and 2tri- NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 having achievedthe finality on “Giventhe financialpres- hopefullynot onlyachieve asim- als, we will have to seewhether

AIN productivity this issue. sureonthe sector and the fact ilar efficacy to the candidates de- we aregettingasimilarkindof re- THE DEPARTMENT of It is nowlikely, officials said, that ARPU (average revenue per velopedbyPfizerand Moderna, sponse. We willalso lookataddi- Telecommunications (DoT) is PL is key that the newchairperson PD user) and tariffs of the Indian butwill alsobemoreaffordably tionalcorrelatesof protection,but notinfavour of allowing or fix- Vaghelamay either startafresh telecom sector arethe lowest in priced foracountrylikeIndia, ac- these arethe mostimportant.

EX E● ing afloor price forvoice or data consultation processordropthe the world, floor pricing is im- cordingto CEODrSANJAY SINGH. services offeredbytelcos as DEMAND FORfloorpricing fordataand voice services has matter altogether basedonhis perative to ensurethatthe sec- In an interviewtoPRABHA Pfizerand Moderna’svaccines therehas been substantial hike been unanimouslysupportedbytelecom operators, and in- meetings with DoTofficials. torissustainable,” COAI had RAGHAVAN, Singh details how seem to be expensive for in tariffs by the operators in re- dustryrepresentativestoo have asked expeditionofthe The issue of floorpricing for said in itsletter. thePunefirm’svaccineworksand developingcountries. How cent months without anycorre- process. However, authorities have pointed out thatdatacon- dataaswell as voice services has Of the three, both Bharti delvesintoplans to test and scale do youexpect your vaccine sponding drop in user numbers, sumptionhas been quitehighand telcoshaveraisedtariffs in been unanimouslysupported by Airteland Vi areunder pressure up production foravastpopula- to be priced? senior government officials told recentmonths. the three big private telcos, following the Supreme Court’s tion. Edited excerpts: The price of the vaccine is di- TheIndian Express. Whilethe industryhas pressedfor the needfor afloor Reliance Jio Infocomm, Bharti October 2019 ruling on ad- rectlycorrelated with itsmass Afinal decision on the issue price, doingsomay notbeasproductive untilitisfor the long Airtel and Vi (VodafoneIdea). justedgross revenue (AGR). Howdoes your mRNAvaccine, production.Ithasto beaffordable is likelytobetaken afterthe run, policyexperts said. Industrybody Cellular Operators The courthad ruledthat whichuses aself-amplifying and competitive,but right now spectrum auction in March.The Association of India (COAI), Bharti Airteland Vi must pay model, comparewith Pfizer Dr SanjaySingh the priority is safetyand efficacy. DoT, however, does notwant to whichrepresentsthe three tel- long-pending AGRdues, and Moderna’scandidates? Ourvaccine’spricingwillcertainly be seen taking an anti-consumer cos,has alsoinrecent months the penalty fornon-payment Ourvaccinewillwork inasim- be in the affordable range—we stance and thereforemay avoid raisedtariffs also in recent consultationsonthe issue of writtentothe Trai to expedite over the pastyears, and ilar fashion to Pfizer’s and global testing of this vaccine? arecommittedtothat—butitwill the floor pricingaltogether,offi- months,” an official said. floor pricing in December last the process of fixing afloor price the interestonpenalty for Moderna’scandidates.Regardless Forphase 1, we have gottwo alsodepend on howmanydoses cials said. Apartfromthe DoT, the year,anationwide lockdown in forbothdataand call services, non-payment. of thefactthatthisisbasedonthe siteswherewewillbestartingen- we areaskedto manufacture.The “Wehaveaforbearance Telecom Regulatory Authority of Marchthis year,put in place to but without anysuccess. Bharti AirtelowesDoT more self-amplifying mRNAplatform, rolment soon.Theseare KEM price will be an outcome of scale. model. In the pastfew months, India(Trai)isalso learnt to have prevent the spread of Covid-19, In itslettertothe DoT, the than Rs 43,000crore, of whichit it allowsyou to give the message Hospital in Pune and agovern- the data consumption forall supportedthe idea of notfixing brought these open-house de- industrybody had said that the has paid closetoRs18,000crore to the cells, whichconvertsitinto ment hospital in Kolhapur.The Howare youovercoming players has been very afloor price forthe services, batestoahalt. demand forafloor price on until now, while Vi owesmore theantigen,generatinganeutral- firstphasewillinclude120partic- potential supplychain issues high...pattern is likelytocon- sources said. Former Trai ChairpersonRS both dataand voice services than Rs 58,000crore, of whichit ising immuneresponseagainst ipants.We arelookingatenrolling with your vaccine? What tinue now. They(telcos)have Though Trai had started Sharma, who had kick-started wasa“legitimate” demand has paidnearly Rs 6,900crore. the Covid-19virus. Unlikeours, 500participantsforphase2trials capacity areyou aiming for? Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccines and this will go intomanysites. I We already have installeda use non-replicating mRNA. hope it will be 6-10sites. productioncapacityof30million BRIEFLY Aself-amplifying typemRNA We hopeto startphase1soon. doses per month,but we can AMID COVID is muchmorebeneficial in sucha We will present ourphase 1data ramp it up fairly quicklywith our Paymentnotice pandemic situation, wherethe to the DCGI (Drug Controller parentgroup,Emcure.Intermsof 33,77,436: vaccinedeploymentisnotinmil- General of India), before starting rawmaterials, we arealready do- toDishTV ‘Stronger growth likelyfor auto 2,11,81,390: lions, but billions. Forthe coun- thesecondphase,andsothetime- ingbackwardintegrationto make PVUNITSSOLDIN2018-19,UP TWO-WHEELERS SOLD IN try’s population, this will be the line forthe trials to be completed sureweare self-sufficientinthis NewDelhi: Direct-to-home sector in FY22, EVs to benefit’ 2.7%FROM32,88,581UNITS 2018-19, UP 4.86% AS mostappropriatevaccine candi- will depend on these factors. I crucial partofthe supplychain. If operatorDishTVsaidFriday IN2017-18,ASPERSOCIETY COMPAREDWITH date. The advantageisthatyou hopethiswilltakearoundtwoand we have to producebillions of ithasreceivedademandno- Afterrecovering from the Covid impact, autoindustry is likely OFINDIANAUTOMOBILE 2,02,00,117UNITSIN can give maybealower dose of ahalf months, but this can vary. doses, the rawmaterial will cer- ticefromthe government to see stronger growth in 2021-22, withEVsales, especially MANUFACTURERS(SIAM) 2017-18 the vaccine. We areaiming to startphase tainlycropupasanissue. But, for forpayment of Rs 4,164.05 two-wheleers, also likely to be positive, aNomurareport said Moderna’svaccineisreported 1trials in the US also with our the levelweare at,currently, we crore,whichincludeslicence to work at100microgramsintwo partners. The NIH has fundedus have sourcedtherawmaterialsin feeand interest. In aregula- PVrecoverytotaketime: BoostforEVcomponents: doses, while Pfizer’s worksat30 —around$8.2million —and we suchafashionthat we can pro- tory filing, the Essel group Inthepersonalvehicle(PV) OntheEVcomponentsside,cell microgramsintwo doses. We are will expand this globally. duceafew hundredmilliondoses companysaidthattheMini- segment,thelevelsreachedin levelmanufacturingcouldstart targeting5,10 and25micrograms At present, we areindiscus- annuallyinavery shorttime. stryof InformationandBro- 2018-19wouldbereachedonly offwithtechnological andwe hopethatanyoneof these sions with the US FDA, but we Once we complete phase 2, adcasting, via aletterdated in2022-23,whereasfortwo- collaborationsfocusingonnew doses will provetobeefficacious. expect somewhereinthe mid- we willbeinamuch better posi- December24,askeditto pay wheelers,itwillbeachieved techlikeLTO(lithiumtitanium In aself-amplifying module, dle of Februarytobeable to start tiontounderstand what kindof thesaidsumtowardslicence maybeayearafterthat oxide)batteries one mRNAmolecule enters the phase 1trials. The number of production capacity we’regoing feefromtheperiodfromthe cellandproducesmultiplecopies, participants(in the US) will be to aimfor. dateofissuance of DTHli- PositiveoutlookforEVs: Highercompetition: whichwill thenmakehigher decidedbythe FDAthere, the cence till FY19. Electricvehicles(EVs)would Widerparticipationbylocal quantitiesof proteinantigencom- waythe participantsinIndia Realistically, when do you alsoseepositivemovementsin playersaswellasentryofsome paredto asimilardoseofthenon- have been decided by the CDSCO expect aCovid-19vaccine FY22,especiallyintwo-wheeler newplayerscouldbeseenin replicating mRNA.Therefore, the (Central Drugs StandardControl becoming available in India? Dutyoncarbon EVsegment,withnewplayers termsofEVcomponentssuch effective dose can be quiteless, Organisation). Ifeelwe canhave somebright blackimports likeOlaElectriccomingin asmotorsandcontrollers providingasimilarprotection to Thereisapossibility that we prospectsclose to March to April. disease.Another advantageof mightgo inforlargerglobaltrials, This meansavaccineinvisibility NewDelhi: TheCommerce mRNAingeneral is that it never andIpresumethetarget countries withestablishedsafetyand effi- Ministryhasrecommended Export opportunities: Further, export opportunities Why is it important: Afterrecovering from the enters the nucleus and, thereby, forthesetrials will include Brazil cacy data. extension of anti-dumping for EV components as well as batteriescould emerge pandemic, the auto industry would see stronger growth Source: thereisnopossibility of integra- and SouthAfrica. dutyforfiveyearsoncarbon for domesticplayers as the worldstruggles to find next fiscal, with some pricehikes—expectedwith Nomura/PTI tioninthe organism’s genome, Howhas financing and blackfromChinaandRussia, alternative sources for supply chain resilience introductionofnew regulations—beingakey factor where theDNA resides. It does its What correlates of protection support from CEPI and BIRAC saidaDirectorateGeneralof work in the cytoplasm, and be- (correlates of protection are help in the development of TradeRemediesnotification. cause of this chemical structure, signs that the vaccine is able to your vaccine? it is anaturallyself-degrading develop the immuneresponse Other than the initial seed RIL to buy out molecule —itgoes away within a required)will youbelooking fundingandsupportfromDBT,the ‘IKEAIndialoss Manufacturing cos see recovery limited time. at to ensurethat your vaccine mostimportant thing that came widensinFY20’ IMG Worldwide We did extensive preclinical is efficacious? to usisthatwe have gonethrough animal testing, starting some- We will be looking at corre- amulti-layer reviewprocess, and NewDelhi:IKEAIndiasawits with softer Q2 sales contraction from sports whereinMarch fornine months. latessimilar to what Pfizer has these expert comments were an netloss widen to Rs 720.1 Thisisimportantbecauseitwillre- studied in itstrials, and some ad- addedadvantagefor us. crorein2019-20, as per reg- Datadrawn from resultsoflistedNGNF cos by ReserveBank management JV duce our risk,improve safetyand ditional correlates. Forinstance, Everysecond month, we are ulatorydocuments. help us understand the possible (wewould be looking at) the hu- presenting to the committee, ond quarterstood at Rs 80,842 efficaciousdoses of our vaccine. moral response in terms of anti- and theyare evaluating our data. Sebifineorder: ENSECONOMICBUREAU NOMINALSALES croreand Rs 1,01,353 crore, re- ENSECONOMICBUREAU body and neutralisation titers. So, Gennova has aunique advan- NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 SHRINK4.3% spectively.“Operating profitsof NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 What timelines areyou Anothercorrelateishow goodthe tage of having such an expert NDTVtoappeal manufacturingcompanies in- looking at forthe testing of cellular (T-cell) response is. If a group available fortheir vaccine DEMAND CONDITIONS in the creasedonthe back of savings in RELIANCE INDUSTRIES Ltd (RIL) your vaccine candidatein vaccinewhichhasbeenapproved development apartfromjust ■ Manufacturing NewDelhi: NDTVpromot- manufacturingsectorreturnedto expenditure; operating profitsof has agreedtobuy out IMG India? What is the scope for usesthesameplatform,we know seedfunding. companies posteda ers, Prannoyand Radhika the recovery mode, with asofter services(bothITandnon-IT)com- Worldwide LLCfromtheir sports 4.3%year-on-year Roy, andpromotergroup year-on-year (y-o-y) contraction paniesalsoincreasedinQ2:2020- management joint venturefor contraction in Q2FY21, companyRRPR HoldingPvt of 4.3percentinthesecondquar- 21,” the RBI saidinastatement. Rs 52.08 crore. in termsofnominal Ltd will appeal againstthe terofthisfinancialyear,intermsof On expenditure,itsaid input The company, in astock ex- 3.97 cr ITRs filed for FY20 till Dec 24 sales,after shrinking Sebiorder that imposed a nominalsalesaftershrinking41.1 costpressurefromraw materials changefiling,said it will buy IMG 41.1%inthe preceding fine of Rs 27 croreonthem per cent in the previous quarter remainedsubduedfor manufac- Worldwide’s 50 per cent stakein same fortaxpayers whose ac- quarter, as per RBI data forallegednon-disclosureof thatwashitby countrywidelock- turing sector in the July- IMG-Reliance Ltd (IMG-R) forno ENSECONOMICBUREAU The deadline to file I-T countsrequiretobeaudited is certain loan agreements, as downsdueto Covid-19,according September quarterofthe fiscal. morethan Rs 52.08 croreincash. NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 returns by individual January31, 2021. perafilingto exchanges. PTI to RBIdata. Meanwhile, staffcostgrowth RIL will rebrand the company The due datehas been ex- The recovery wasled by iron listednon-government non-fi- (y-o-y)deceleratedforITcompa- afterthe closureofthe deal. AS MANY as 3.97crore taxpayers taxpayers forthe tendedfromJuly31and October ‘Chinacosdelay, and steel, food products, cement, nancial (NGNF) companies, the nies in the second quarter, RIL had formedanequal joint have alreadyfiledtheirincometax 2019-20 fiscal ends on 31,2020,respectively inviewofthe automobileandpharmaceuticals ReserveBank of India (RBI) said. whereas it remainedincontrac- venturewith IMG Worldwide, an returns forassessmentyear (AY) December 31,20 COVID pandemic. cancelbonds’ companies, showedthe dataon Nominalsales of non-IT serv- tion zonefor the manufacturing international sports marketing 2020-21(fiscal year 2019-20) till At the close of deadline forfil- the performance of the private ices sectortoo postedlowercon- and non-ITservices sectors. and management company, in December24, the Income Tax ingITRwithoutpaymentof latefee Shanghai: Chinese compa- corporate sector during thesec- tractionof14.5 per cent (y-o-y), As per the data, with rise in 2010 to develop, market and Department said on Friday. This includes 2.27crore tax- forFY2018-19 (AY2019-20), over nieshavecancelled or de- ondquarterof2020-21. ledbyexpansioninsalesof teleco- profits, interestcoverageratio managesportsand entertain- “Over 3.97crore Income Tax payers filing ITR-1,85.20 lakh fil- 5.65 crorereturns were filedby layedissuanceof nearly 200 Manufacturingcompaniesre- mmunication and real estate co- (ICR) of manufacturing compa- ment in India. Returnshave alreadybeenfiledtill ingITR-4, 46.78 lakh ITR-3and taxpayers.The deadline last year bonds worth145.7 billion portedsales of Rs 5,99,479 crore mpanies.Salesgrowthof ITsector niesimprovedto4.6inthesecond IMG is aglobal leader in 24thof December,2020.Have you 28.74lakh filing ITR-2. wasextendedtill August31, 2019. yuan ($22.31billion) since in Q2, as againstRs3,97,233crore companiesremainedsteadyat3.6 quarterof2020-21from2.4inthe sports, fashion,eventsand me- filedyours as yet? If not, please do The deadline to file I-Treturns The I-Tdepartment said 3.92 early November,state media inApril-Juneof FY21. Thedatahas per cent (y-o-y) in Q2 FY21. previousthree-monthperiod.The dia, operating in morethan 30 it TODAY! File your Return of by individual taxpayers forthe croreITRswere filedtillAugust24, reported. REUTERS been drawnfromabridged quar- Asperthedata,salesof non-IT ICR of non-IT services companies countries, and is apartofthe Income Tax&....Relax!,” the de- 2019-20 fiscal (AY2020-21) ends 2019,comparedto 3.97 crorefiled terly financial resultsof2,637 firms and IT firms during the sec- remainedbelowone. Endeavornetwork. partment tweeted. on December 31,2020, while the tillDecember 24,2020. EU nations start assessing post-Brexit trade deal with UK

essential,sinceatransitionperiod REUTERS duringwhichBritaincontinuedto ‘India should seek FTAs with EU, UK’ BRUSSELS,DECEMBER25 trade by EU rules despiteits January 31 departurefromthe NewDelhi: With EuropeanUnion chitecture,research anddevelop- “Now we shouldpushtheFTA EUROPEANUNIONambassadors bloc runs out on NewYear’s Day. andtheUKclinchingapost-Brexit mentandengineeringinboththe negotiationswithboththeEUand were conveningonChristmasDay TheUKparliamentisexpected trade pact, India should nowag- marketsasthe EU-UK pact does the UK. Indian competitors like to startassessingthemassive free- to approve thedealinthecoming gressively pursuefreetradeagree- notcover services, theyadded. Vietnamhavegreaterdutyadvan- trade deal the bloc struckwith days,buttheagreementwillhave ments (FTAs)separatelywithboth “Thereisnot muchgainfor tage in sectors likeapparel and Britain that should kickoff next to be appliedprovisionally, since the regions, according to experts. Indiangoods, butwecan gain in marine goods,”Sahai said. week when the acrimonious the EU’s legislaturecan onlygive Althoughitispremature to as- servicessectorinboththeUKand Sharingsimilarviews,Biswajit Brexit divorceprocessfinally itsnod next month at the earliest. sess the gains forIndia from the EU markets. We will gain morein Dhar,aprofessor of economicsat comes to an end. Afterthe deal There, too, approval is expected. agreement between European the UK marketasweare an Jawaharlal Nehru University,said wasannounced on Thursday, EU The strong showofunity is Union (EU) and the United English speaking country,” India had alot of contentious is- nations already showedsupport testament to EU chief negotiator Kingdom,Indiangoodswouldnot FederationofIndian Export sues while negotiating FTAwith forthe outcome and it wasex- MichelBarnier,who has worked getmuchbenefit from this pact, Organisations(FIEO)directorgen- the EU.However,after Brexit,the pected that theywould unani- relentlesslytokeepallEUnations theysaid. eral Ajay Sahai said. UK could have different stand on mouslybackthe agreement, a EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier at ameeting of theCommittee of thePermanent andgroupswithin the EU parlia- However, India can explore He saidthereare no specific those issues and now“India prerequisitefor itslegal approval. Representativesofthe Governmentsofthe Member States to theEuropean Union, in Brussels. AP mentintheloopof developments opportunities in service sectors customsdutybenefitsfordomes- should pursue FTAtalks again Speedily approvingthedealis throughout the negotiations. likeinformation technology,ar- ticgoods from this agreement. with both the regions”. PTI WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 13 SPORT/CALENDAR THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 SERIE A BRIEFLY WhyJadejaforKohliis Resurgent Milan challenge Centresanctions Vinesh’strainingcamp Juventus’ dominance inHungary aradicalselectionshift NewDelhi: The central government has sanctioneda40-daytraining campfor ASSOCIATEDPRESS champion wrestler VineshPhogatalong MILAN,DECEMBER25 withherpersonalcoachWollerAkos,spar- All-rounder’s returngives thisteam the option of fielding five genuine bowlers ringpartner Priyanka Phogat and physio- LIKE 2020 in general, it's been astrange year therapistPoornima RamanNgomdir fora forSerie A.Forthe firsttime since 2009, both total costofRs15.51lakh.The camp was TUSHARBHADURI Milan clubs areatthe topofthe Italian league sanctionedunderthegovernment'sTarget NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25 standings heading intothe winter break. Olympic PodiumScheme (TOPS). The Inter Milan went on to winthe title that campwilltakeplacefromDecember28to FOUR CHANGES in aTestmatchside will season, withcity rivalACMilan claiming it January24atthe Vasas SportsClubin normallybeconsidered drastic,but the the following campaign. Neither of them has Budapest,HungaryandfromJanuary24to playing XI pickedbyTeam India’sthink wonitsince, in anine-year domination of February5atthe OlympicTrainingCentre tank forthe Boxing DayTestmatchisun- Serie AbyJuventus,but Milan ends the year inSzczrykinPoland.Thetotalcostincludes derstandable in the backdrop of the one point ahead of second-place Inter. airfare,localtransportation,boarding and Adelaide debacle. Juventus uncharacteristicallyfindsitself lodging chargesand out of pocket al- Shubman Gill forPrithvi Shaw, in sixth, trailing Milan by 10 points—albeit lowance.Vineshisapartofthe Target MohammedSiraj forMohammedShami having playedamatchless. Milan can’t quite Olympic Podium Scheme and is amedal and Rishabh Pant forWriddhiman Saha can claim the symbolic title of “Winter prospectattheTokyoGames.The training be termedlike-for-likereplacements, but Champion,”however, as that goes to the camphas been planned by Vinesh's per- the one that seems abit radical is Ravindra team topofSerieAatthe halfway stage. With sonal coachAkos, giving her the opportu- Jadejacoming in forregular skipper Virat the season having startedlater than usual — Zlatan Ibrahomovic has scored 10 goals nitytosparwithmanyEuropeanwrestlers Kohli. It changes the whole dynamic and becauseofthe effectsofthe coronavirus pan- in Serie Asofar this season. Reuters in her weight category andimproving on balance of the side. India seems to be taking demic on the lastcampaign —only14ofthe her technicaland tactical aspects. the aggressive options forthe Melbourne 19 rounds making up the firsthalfofthe sea- Test starting on Saturday. son have been played. The Serie Aseason will thought of going to his native Sweden when resume on 3January. he wasinjured. ‘Amirincidentwillhave Can an all-rounderreplace Batsman Ibrahimovic has also instilledanever- negativeimpactonteam’ No.1? Mesmerising Milan give-up mentality in his teammates and that The left-arm spinner’s batting has im- What adifference ayear makes. Milan wasclearly evident on Wednesdaywhen Lahore: FormerPakistancaptainandchief proved considerablyinrecent times, but he has collected 34 points from itsfirst 14 league Theo Hernández scored in stoppagetime to selectorInzamam-ul-Haqbelievesthatthe will notbeexpected to contributetoKohli’s matches, exactlydouble the number it had at securea3-2 win over Lazio andensureMilan recentMuhammadAmirretirementcon- quantum of runs. What he brings to the the same stagelastyear.Itisalso the onlyun- headedintothe winter break above Inter. troversy will have anegative impact on table is afifth bowling option, probablythe beaten team across Europe’s topfiveleagues, While ending the year topofthe table country's cricket.Amir recentlyretired best in the worldright now. He will notbe with 10 wins and four drawsand is within might onlybesymbolic, itsimportance to frominternationalcricketduetohisdiffer- considered aspecialistbatsman, but he has touching distance of arecord. the players wasclearly shown by their wild ences with team management compris- shown in the pastthat he can come to the Milan is onlythe second side in those five celebrations. It matters as muchtotheirfans ingchief coachMisbahulHaqandbowling party when the chips aredown. And if the RavindraJadejaislikelytobat at No 7. PTI leagues to have scoredatleasttwo goals in as around 500ofthem welcomedthe team coachWaqar Younis. "It is notabout what MCG pitchisslowand flat as it has been in more than 15 successive matches reaching bus to the stadium, letting offflares and impact Amir's decision will have on our recent times, the extraspin op- backtolastseason. The Rossoneri have done chanting their support, with spectators still bowlingresourcesorstrengthbecauselife tion will be handy,bothasa has scoredvital runs in the have been preferredifthe pitchwas ex- so in 16 and areclosinginonBarcelona’s bannedfromstadiumsinItaly because of the moveson. But whatbothers me moreis wicket-taking and containment past, but Pant has the ability to pected to be quicker. recordof18, setin1948. The keydifference pandemic. the negativeimpact suchincidentshave option. change agame with the bat in between this year and lastisthat Milan now on our cricketand itsimage," Inzamam ashortperiod of time. With Finally, what about KL Rahul? has forwardZlatanIbrahimovic. The team was Flailing Juve toldthemediainLahoreonThursday. The Gill forShawwas expected. Kohli absent, the team man- Rahul’s pedigree with the bat is notin 12th whenIbrahimovic returnedtothe clubin Thingsare notgoing to plan at Juventus batting great felt that the Amir incident Shaw’s technical deficiencies agement mayhavebeen look- doubt. He is on his thirdTesttourof January, eight years afterhis departure—and fornew coachAndrea Pirlo. Pirlo wastasked didn't reflect well on Pakistancricket. on pitches that do alittle bit were ing forsomeone to take theag- Australiaand even has ahundred there. He that of others —sparkedaspiral of decline. with turning Juventus intoamoreattractive laidbareinAdelaide. Gill is a gressive optionand put also givesthe team management options – Ibrahimovic has helpedtransform the side and ending the club’s quarter-century muchmoresolid and technically-proficient pressurebackonthe Australianbowlers. he can keep wickets, bat in the middle order, club notonlywith his goals on the field but wait forChampions League success, despite Lampard seeks batsman, andhis game is well suited to the And Pant is likelytobereliablebehindthe or even open the batting. also his leadership qualities offit. The 39- it being his very firstcoaching position. improvementatChelsea Aussie conditions with the extrabounce. He stumps againstseamers.Theywill keep But Rahul has been awicketkeeper only year-old Ibrahimovic has playedless than But the Bianconeri arefaltering in Serie has scored mostofhis First-Class runs as an theirfingers crossedthat he doesn’t make in white-ballgames so far, andgiving him half his team’s matches this season as he has A, whichithas dominated forthe previous London:ChelseabossFrankLampardsaid openerfor Punjab, and aTestdebut has anymistakeswhile ’keeping to spinners. the big gloves would have been abig risk. been sidelinedwith the coronavirus and in- nine seasons. Under the 41-year-old Pirlo, he is pleasedwith the progress made by been considered long overdue. He could As farasopening goes, he has struggledin juries. He has nevertheless managed to score Juventus is having one of itsworststartssince his team in the Premier League so farthis protect the middle order,already missing Siraj preferredoverSaini. overseas conditions when the ball moves 10 goals in his six league matches. 2010 and is11pointsworse offthan it was season,buthascalledforfurtherimprove- Kohli, from the newball. The dressing room This is aforcedchange. Shamibowls a offthe straight, and Gill wasconsidered the Ibrahimovic has also helped coachStefano after13matches lastseason under predeces- mentintheirquesttobecomegenuineti- willbeacalmerplace. heavy ball and can run through abatting or- moresolid playeratthis stage. And as Rahul Pioli bring out the best in Milan’syoungplay- sor Maurizio Sarri. Juventus' problem is tlecontenders. “I’mhappy butwe always der if he is in themood. Siraj is moreaswing doesn’t bowl,hewas pippedbyJadeja who ers. So youthful is Milan’s squad that this sea- drawing matches it would have previously want moreasmanagers,” Lampardtold Is Pant forSaha agamble? bowler who can be effective if there’s assis- could give agenuinewicket-taking option son it has fieldedthe twoyoungeststarting won. Pirlo’s side has already drawnsix of its Sky Sports on Thursday. “The reality is at Thereishardlyany doubt that Saha is tance available. He also has abetterFirst- if conditions arefavourable. lineups in Serie Asince at least2004-05 matches—morethan it has in anyofthe last the startof the season, we had some new the most accomplishedgloveman in India, Class and A-team recordthan Navdeep As Rahul didn’t feature in either of the when statisticssupplierOptastarted collect- eightseasons apartfrom2014-15. players while others were missing, and but there’s aline of thinking that hisskills Saini, who wasthe other option forthis warm-up games before the firstTest, it’s ing that data. “Pioli told me that there Juventus also appears to have become too we lacked apre-season.Looking at our arerequiredmoreinsub-continentalcon- spot. Siraj and Umesh Yadavcan be ahandy evident that he isn’t quiteinthe think (Sweden) Ihavetwo children but hereIhave dependent on Cristiano Ronaldo and strug- early results,wesaw somegoodandsome ditions while standing up to spinners. The new-ball pairing, keeping the threat of tank’s scheme of things as farasTests are 25 and theyneedme,” Ibrahimovic said in a gles when itsstarforward has an unusually not-so-good performances.” AGENCIES Bengal playerisastubborn batsman who Jasprit Bumrah as firstchange.Saini would concerned. recent interview, when asked if he had sub-par performance.

OVER THE HEDGE by Michael Fry &TLewis CROSSWORD 4312 DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

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OW OLL ,H NT PLI ,S OW ARR E, PEEV SOLUTION: WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 TIM PAINE CALLS FOR SYDNEY SACRIFICE Australian skipper TimPaine on Fridayinvited broadcast and events stafftomakea "small sacrifice" of joining them in abio-secure bubble and ensure the third Test goes 14 SPORT ahead as planned despite aspikeinCOVID-19cases in Sydney. PTI BOXING‘IfKohliDAY TEST isangryAmitabh,RahaneisAmolPalekar’

In Kohli’s absence, India is meetings,butwheneverhesaidsomething,his droppedfromthe Indian ODI team. views were spotonand hence, respected by Samant, who wasthe Mumbaicoachdur- expectedto see adrastic everyone. He will also be good forthe young- ing the phaseRahanewas captain, disagrees. sterslikeMohammedSiraj;theywillknowthat “Thereisamisconceptionthathedoesn'ttakea changeinleadership he will be patient with them and listenthem stand. Some showitinpublicaboutthe stand out. My gut feel is that he is abowler’s captain; theytookandthereare somewhodoitsilently. style. However, it is hewouldrespectthebowlers’individuality,ask Rahane is among the latter.” Former India feedback, and then makehis owncall.” opener Wasim Jafferdismisses talksabout the Rahane who actually Rahane startedtotrust his owninstinctsas perceivedlackofaggression. “Without it, he reflectsthe true captainwhenheledMumbaiintheU-19Cooch couldn’t have playedfor India forsolong. He is Behar Trophy.Itwas afour-daygameagainst like(Rahul) Dravid; he will notshowitbut character of this team Odisha,whoneeded10runsforthefirst-innings knows howtochannelise his aggression to the lead, with afew wickets in hand. In the past, he benefit of his game. Aggression doesn’t mean hastalkedabouthowhewasconfusedwhether usingbadwordsordoingcertainthingsovertly; DEVENDRAPANDEY& to go withaspinner or afastbowler, everyone is different. Thereare lotof SRIRAMVEERA as therewas turn and lowbounce. quietbutveryaggressiveindividuals. MUMBAI,DECEMBER25 He backed his instinct and went Rahane is one of them.” withafastbowler,whoexploitedthe Jafferisn’tgettingcarriedaway, ei- “IFKOHLIistheangryAmitabhBachchan,then lowbounce to claim all wickets and ther.“He hasthe temperament of a Rahaneisthe Amol Palekar of Indian cricket,” Mumbai took the lead.One of the captain, has good judgement but it’s former Mumbai playerand coachVinayak chief lessons he learnt from the only stilltooearly to judgehimasaleader. Samant, Rahane’s roommateinthe domestic Test he has captainedinbefore LIVE ON He has done it in IPL, but thereare team, nails the persona forus. (againstAustraliainDharamsalain SONY otherfactorsinvolvedinIPL.We shall Palekarisamanof substanceandatalented 2017),hesays,wasaboutbackinghis NETWORK: nowknow, over the course of three actor who made his name with gentle, modest owninstincts.In2015,heledIndiaon 5.00 AM Tests,howgoodheis.Itwillbeatough characterswithadiscerniblemiddle-classness; atourofZimbabwefor three ODIs situation;noVirat,noShami,noRohit aapla normal mulga (ournormal boy), as they AjinkyaRahane has captainedIndia twice in Tests, winning both the games. AP and twoT20Is, whichalso had a either. Howhemotivateshisteamre- sayinMarathi, wordsthat would perfectlyde- learning moment forhim. In the firstODI, mainsto beseen.Everythingisagainsthim,sit- scribeRahane. With the pressureofexpecta- Bhuvneshwar Kumar defended10runs in the uationisadverse.”Kaif feelsthattheadversesit- tions diluted in the absence of Kohli and berhimbeingloud.Evenifupset,hewon’tshow Heisnotthetypewhowilltalkloudly this IPL and he might have felt disappointed lastoverofthe chase, conceding justfive. That uationwill actuallyhavealiberating effect on MohammedShami,Rahane’searthylotstanda itinhisreaction.That’shisnature,”Samantsays. within, but nevershowedit. He wasthe most taught himthe needtoback,trust,andsupport Rahane and Co. “Look,noone is expecting mir- pretty decent chance in the second Test,inpar- Thereisapopular storyinthe Indian dress- ormouthcurses.Hewilltalksensibly eager at training, fielding likeafresh young- his teammates, he has said in the past. “I feel he aclesfromhim,especiallyafterthewaythefirst ticular because of the conditions in Melbourne ing room, shared by Rohit Sharma in the show evenincrunchpressuresituations. ster,encouraging the rest.Inthe games, he woulduseRAshwinreallywell,”saysKaif.“Igot Test waslost. But giventhe conditions in MCG, (the MCG pitchisexpected to be abit dry, and BreakfastwithChampions.Once,inAustralia,the Hedoesn’tgethyper.Heisthesilent would willingly go in as substituteand give it the feeling from the IPL that he knows and re- if itdoesplayoutslowanddoesn’thavethatten- notoffer steep bounce or excessive pace). senior players had convincedRahane thathe manlikePalekar.Ineverremember his all, and increasedthe energy levels of the spectsAshwin’s skills alot,and on this pitchin nis-ballspongybounceseeninAdelaide,Ithink It’sRahane’simagethatthisteamof charac- needs to sledgebackthe Australians who were himbeingloud.Evenifupset,he team.He has oftenrun in to give drinksaswell, MCG,IexpecthimtoturntoAshwinprettyearly Indiahave selectedagoodteam,withRavindra ters actuallyreflects.Theymight dream about needlinghim.“Twoorthreeplayersweresledg- won’tshowitinhisreaction.That’s and even then would shout out some words in the game.” Jadejain. Notmanywill believe me, but Ithink being Amitabhs and Kohlis, but parse through ing him, saying “f*** you, playshots andsuch, of encouragement. AdityaTare,Mumbai’scaptain,muchjunior Rahane has agreat chance of leading this team the line-up, from toptobottom, andone does- Ajju went towardsthem and did” –Sharma hisnature.” “Totalteamspirit;playersnoticeallthisand to Rahane, also spokeabouthis strengths and to awin in these conditions.” n’t getthe imageofany outlandish herowad- mimickedRahane, sticking his tongue out and VINAYAK SAMANT, take inspiration. An India vice-captain not innatesenseofdecency. “Helikes to talk to Bollywoodmighthavelonggivenuponthe ingthroughburningdecks.Theyseemmorelike showingitto theplayer, andSharmaconvulses FORMER MUMBAI TEAM-MATE throwing tantrums, but eagerly doing every- bowlers. He had maintainedsuchadecorum BasuChatterjee-typemoviesbutintheworldof acommonmanwaitingforthebusorlocaltrain, with laughter in the retelling. Rahanedoesn’t thing. In fact, it wasIwho felt compelledtotell that he will notmess with the captain leading webseries, we have seen aquiet return. Afew ready to take adeep breath and thrustthem- mouth cuss wordsorreachout formiddle fin- Mohammad Kaif, the assistant coachat him that his name wasdiscussedinevery se- that time. Ialwaysnoticedhewill keep on giv- days back,movie siteIMDB rolledout itstop 10 selvesintotheseeminglyinsurmountableodds gers; he sticks his tongue out. Rahane’s IPL franchise Delhi Capitals. lection meeting and we aretrying to find away ing ideasto bowlers, will befielding nearthem. webseriesof theyear.Secondonthelist,behind of everydaylife. LikeRahane. Rahane, the earnestsinceresomewhat shy “I wasreallyimpressed. He is honestand togethiminetc.Heneveronceaskedmeinour He will playhis role silently,”Taresays. theseriesonHarshadMehta,wasPanchayat,an “He is notthe type who will talk loudlyor person —who is alwayspunctual —isknown trustworthy, twoqualitiesthat allplayers look numerousbreakfastchatsoranytimeelseabout ThereisaperceptionthatRahanewon’ttake idyllic showset in rural India, AMalgudi days mouth curses. He will talk sensibly even in butitdoesn’ttellanythingabouthowhewould forwardtoinacaptain. He is ateam man,and whyhehasn’t been picked,” Kaif says. astandonissues,preferringto avoidconflicts,a meets Wagle ki Duniya-type series. Perhaps, crunchpressuresituations.Hedoesn’tgethyper. captain. Someone who observed him at close that’s justnot an emptypraise. He wasn’t able Kaif wasalsoimpressedbythecricketingin- viewprobably attributed to himbecause he the time is ripe for Aapla Mulga Rahane, on the HeisthesilentmanlikePalekar. Ineverremem- quarters fortwo months, justrecently, is to crackintothe playing XI in the initial games telligence. “He doesn’t talk toomuchinteam hardlyspokeupforevenhimself,whenhewas sporting field.

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