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DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2021, PUNE, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES SINCE 1932 `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM To spur growth & NOTICES, SUMMONS ISSUED jobs,booster for CentreusingNIA construction and toscarefarmers, low-cost housing itwon’twork, On table: morefunds forPMAwas; easing of FDI rulesinconstructiondevelopment sayCong,Akalis SUNNYVERMA &SANDEEPSINGH BUDGET ’21 Many who got notices decide not NEWDELHI,JANUARY17 to appearbeforeCentralagency THE UPCOMINGBudget is ex- 8NEW TRAINS TO STATUE OF UNITY pected to give aspecialfocus to notice...(there's an) income tax construction developmentand The Ahmedabad-Kevadia Jan Shatabdi Express, one of thetrains flagged offbyPMNarendra EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE raid on arhatiya…What does the affordable housing as increased Modi on Sunday, hasaVistadomecoachwithglass rooftop. Nirmal Harindran REPORT,PAGE7 LUDHIANA,AMRITSAR, Modi government think? That activity in these areas provide a CHANDIGARH,NEWDELHI, by using these agencies to scare higher boosttooverall demand COUNTDOWN JANUARY17 and threaten farmers… theywill in the economybecause of their bowdown. Nobody has been ‘Of course DDCpolls forwardand backwardlinkages. IN&OUTOFCOVIDSHADOW BOTH THE Congress and NDA’s able to subjugatethe farmers,” have kickstarted a Sources said the government Johnson invites PM to G7 in June, erstwhile ally, theShiromani Congress communication de- political process plans further liberalisation of Akali Dal (SAD), Sundaycon- partment head Randeep from deep freeze... foreign direct investment (FDI) the pandemic wastheir lackof demnedthe summons and no- Surjewala told reporters in Delhi. They will create a regulations forthe construction access to safe,affordable hous- says will visit India before summit tices by theNational The NIA has issuednotices new leadership’ development sector while a ing in urban clusters. Investigation Agency (NIA) to and summons to severalpersons higher allocation is expected to- Significantly, as partofthe farm leaders, journalistsand an including Baldev SinghSirsa, OMAR ABDULLAH wardsacredit-linked subsidy pandemicslowdown stimulus, SHUBHAJITROY ED NGOprotestingagainst the three PresidentofLok Bhalai Insaf VICE-PRESIDENT, NC scheme foraffordablehousing. severalstate governmentspro- NEWDELHI,JANUARY17 Boris Coalitionof farm laws alleging that the WelfareSociety, and amember PAGE 13 One factor behind the exodus videdvarious concessions in Johnson: PLAIN E Centrewas using the agency to of the delegation in talkswith ● of migrantsfromcities during CONTINUEDONPAGE2 ALMOSTAfortnight afterBritish absent for EX democracies intimidatethose opposedtoit. the government on farm laws; Prime Minister Boris Johnson R-Day “Will younow send notices Punjabi actorDeep Singh Sidhu, calledupPrime Minister G7 PLUS India, Australia to the farmers of this country who is supporting the protests; THE EDITORIAL PAGE NarendraModi and expressed and South Koreaisseen from an agency whichprobes three businessmen who started In latest fightback “regret”thathewould notbe Johnson, who had extended as agathering of D-10— terrorists?The farmers of this abus service from Ludhiana to able to visit India as Chief Guest an invitation to Modi during a 10 leaders who represent countryare calledterrorists, Delhitotransportfarmers; three U.S.:INCITEMENT forthe RepublicDay celebrations phone call lastyear,also reiter- over 60% of people living Naxalites,agent of China, agent journalists vocal on protests; for India, Chennai TORACISM in viewofthe pandemic, he has ated his plan to visit India ahead in democracies around of Pakistan… Journalists aresent Khalsa Aid, an NGO, and some BY SANJIB BARUAH invited theIndian Prime of the G7 summit. the world. This is also NIAnotices, farmers aresent NIA CONTINUEDONPAGE2 PAGE 8 Minister to the UK forthe G7 The proposed summit will be seen as asignal to China. flair and Palghar grit summit in June this year. CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Vaccination drive to resume Vaccines off to smooth start, cross BUSINESSASUSUAL tomorrow in Maharashtra, 2-lakh mark; dip in active cases BY UNNY with or without Co-WIN verse eventsfollowing immuni- The statehad decidedtokeep KAUNAINSHERIFFM EXPERT sation (AEFI), the Union Health TABASSUM the drive,whichbegan on NEWDELHI,JANUARY17 Ministrysaid on Sunday.Ofthe BARNAGARWALA Saturday, inabeyanceforacouple EXPLAINS 447, onlythree required hospi- MUMBAI,JANUARY17 of days following widespread OF THE 2,24,301beneficiaries Praveen Pardeshi talisation, with twoofthembe- complaintsabout theCo-WIN from the priority group who re- FromTheIndianExpresspanel ing discharged. THE MAHARASHTRA govern- (Covid Vaccine Intelligence ceivedtheir doses by theend of ofspecialists,exclusiveinsight On Sunday, only 553 sessions ment is settorestart the Covid- Network) app, asoftwarede- twodays of thenationwide vac- were conductedacross the coun- 19 vaccination drive in the state signedforreal-timeregistrationof cination programme against EXPLAINED PAGE 10 try, with 17,072 beneficiaries Shardul Thakur and Washington Sundar duringthe India- from Tuesday. CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Covid-19, only447 reportedad- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Australia Test in Brisbane, Sunday. AP ish their firstinnings at 336. At the SANDIPG heartoftheir latestfeat wasthe NEWDELHI,JANUARY17 unflusteredseventh-wicket stand of 123runsbetween Washington THE FURTHER these Indian Sundar,a21-year-old debutant, cricketers arepushedtothe andShardulThakur,a29-year-old ropes, the stronger theybounce one-Test tailender,that limited back. Australia’s lead to 33. On Day3ofthe fourth Test, At stumps, the home team the series levelat1-1,India were 21 fornolossandagamethat slippedand staggered to 186for seemedtobeswaying towards six but ralliedspectacularly to fin- CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Surgeindating apps in Tier-II cities, but skew against women PAGE 1 ANCHOR KARISHMAMEHROTRA NEWDELHI,JANUARY17 WHEN NIHARIKA Singh first useddating app Bumble in her 31 millionIndian dating app hometown of Lucknowin2018, users in 2020,67% men she found that afterafew swipes, therewerenomorepo- tential partners. But aftershe got were toopsychologicallydesper- stuckathome following the atetomeet—that wasnot the lockdown lastyear,the 24-year- case in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore. old found awhole newcropof The experience difference be- men on suchapps, manyofthem tween agirland aguy is huge, es- backathome likeher. peciallyhere. Iamsuffering from “Theywould send me non- aproblem of abundance.” stop offers,” she said, afterdelet- Across India, dating app ingtheappsin December. “Idon’t executiveshavenotedanunex- think I’ll use the apps in Lucknow pected Covid effect:the growth ever again. Ifound that here, men CONTINUEDONPAGE2 Pune WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM 2 THE SECOND PAGE THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY,JANUARY18,2021 DOWNLOADAPP WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM ■ VISUALSTORIES ■ DAILY BRIEFING ■ PODCASTS WHYFAISALKHAN,HELDFOROFFERINGNAMAZINATEMPLE,ISCONVINCEDHATE ■ CUSTOMIZABLE WILLNEVERWINININDIA Reckoning with racism NEWS EXPERIENCE Khan,theconvenerofKhudaiKhidmatgar,hasreadthesacredtextsofallreligions,apartfromKabirand WEB in cricket,and setbacks Indian Express EXCLUSIVE Gandhi.Whathelearnt,hesays,isthatthebestwayofservingGodislovingyourfellowbeings. ★★★★★■4.6 at Thailand Open TECH EXPLAINED NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY INTEL ON APPLE’S WHAT RUSSIA’S EXIT Whether the SydneyTestincident will lead CHANCES IN MEANS FOR THE OPEN to lasting changes in cricket;and whywe ENTERPRISE MARKET SKIES TREATY shouldn’t worryabout India’s poor SCANTHISQRCODETO ‘Largerenterprises will In November,the US performance at the Thailand Open. DOWNLOADTHEAPP always favour Intel’ leftthe OSTfirst ‘Bogus bills’ after loot: FROMPAGEONE Boosterfor cratic countries, the G7 has long help farmers protesting peace- Police file FIR been the catalystfor decisive in- fully. construction ternational action to tackle the Meanwhile, some of those against match greatestchallenges we face.From Vaccines off to smoothstart, hit 2-lakh mark who receivedthe NIA summons stampduty and other chargesto cancellingdevelopingworlddebt decidednot to appear. fixingaccused kickstart transaction activity in to ouruniversal condemnation of being vaccinated,the ministry process and that “protocols are the ministry, the country’s ac- asteady decline: in the last23 “Deep Singh Sidhu (who was the construction and real estate Russia’s annexation of Crimea, said. alsoinplace forsystematic in- tive case load stood at 2,08,826, days,India has reportedless to appear before theNIA on sector.The Centre, too, setupa the worldhas lookedto the G7 to SpellingoutdetailsoftheAEFI vestigation”. whichis1.98per centofthe to- than 300dailyCovid deaths. Sunday) did notappear before MAHENDERSINGH fund to provide last-mile funding applyour shared values and cases reported afterthe firsttwo “Majority of the AEFI aremi- talcases. The Health Ministrysaid