DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

Suresh Raina among34 arrested in raidon Mumbai clubEXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

HOURS AFTER MaharashtraChief Minister UddhavThackerayannouncednightcur-few in all cities to prevent gath-erings,theMumbaiPoliceraidedtheDragonfly club near the air-port earlyTuesdayandarrested34 people, including cricketerSuresh Raina and singer GuruRandhawa, for not followingsafetynormstoavoidthespreadof Covid-19. All were later re-leasedonbail.A police officer said that

SuzzaneKhan,interiorandfash-ion designer, too, was bookedbutwas allowed to go after shewas issued a notice to join theprobe later.SeniorInspectorofSaharpo-

licestation,SMane,said, “Araidwas conducted around2.30 amat the Dragonfly club nearMumbai airport.We found thatthe guests and those operatingthe club were not followingmeasureslikewearingmasksorobserving social distancing.Following this, we arrested 34people, including seven staffmembers.”The officer said Raina and

Randhawawerearrestedundersections188(disobediencetoor-derdutypromulgatedbypublic

servant) and 269 (acts in awaythat could spread an infection)of the IPC among others. Sincethe sectionswere bailable, theywere released immediately.“There were some womencelebritiesaswellbutwedidnotarrest them. Theywere servednoticeandallowedtogo,”Maneadded.DCP Rajiv Jain, who led the

raid,said,“Theclubwasopenbe-yond11.30pm.Wereceivedatipoff andconducted theraid.”On reports of a singer pres-

entattheclubescapingfromthebackdoor, Jain said, “Wewill bechecking CCTV camera footagetoverify that.”A statement released onbe-

halfofRainasaid,“SureshwasinMumbai for a shoot, which ex-tended (till) latehours, andwasinvited by a friend for a quickdinner post the same, prior tohim taking his flight back toDelhi. Hewas not aware of thelocaltimingsandprotocols.Oncepointed out, he immediatelycompliedwith the procedureslaidoutbytheauthoritiesandre-grets theunfortunateand

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SureshRaina

AdesertedroadinNaviMumbaionTuesdaynightafter thenightcurfewcameinto force.NarendraVaskar

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,DECEMBER22

AWATER bottle that had fallendownnear the fridge inside thekitchenwithwaterdrippingout,a veil found under the doorlocked from outside, an axe, abasket,twoslippersfoundatdif-ferent places in the room-- andcrucial testimony fromathief.All of this added up to the

case presented by the CBI thatledTuesday to theconvictionofthe two accused in themurderof19-year-oldSisterAbhaya--a

crime that has been a part ofKerala's news cycle ever sincethe Catholic nun's body wasfound inside awell at a conventinKottayamonMarch27,1992.Twenty-eightyearsandnine

months later, aCBIspecial courtinThiruvananthapuramfoundapriest and a nun guilty of themurder.Thequantumofpunish-mentforFatherThomasKottoor,63, andSisterSephy,57, the firstand third accused, will be pro-nouncedWednesday.Hours after the order was

passed, the two accused,charged under IPC sections 302(murder) and 201 (destructionof evidence) and on bail since2009,weresentback to jail.The CBI had named another

priest,FatherJosePuthrikkayl,as

thesecondaccusedbutthecourtallowed his discharge petitionbeforethetrial,whichbeganlastyear, citing lackof evidence.“I had beenwaiting for this

day. Truthhas the final victory. Ihavebeenprayingforthesoulofmy sister to get justice,’’ saidAbhaya’s brother Biju Thomas,who is employed in theMiddleEast. Abhaya's parents, ThomasAikkarakunnel and Leelamma,died in2016.According to theCBI,Abhaya,

apre-degreecollegestudent,waskilled after she found the twopriests and Sephy in a compro-misingpositioninsidethekitchenof thePiusXConventhostel.Fearing that she would ex-

pose them, the agency told thecourt, Kottoor strangulated her

while Sephy beat her with theaxe. Together, theydumpedherbodyinthewell, theCBItoldthecourtwhile building its case oncircumstantial evidence.The“Abhayacase”wasamong

thelongestandmosthigh-profilereal-life murder mysteries inKerala,withmultiple twists andturns.Theaccusedwerearrested

by the CBI in November 2008,morethan16yearsafterthenun'sdeath.Andduringthetrial,eightofthe 49 prosecutionwitnesses,

mostofthemclosetotheChurch,turnedhostile.Among the key witnesses,

whose testimony is believed tohave been crucial, was AdakkaRaju, who said that he saw twopersonsgoingdownthestairsofthe hostel in the early hours ofMarch 27, 1992. Raju, who hadbeenjailedinconnectionwithatheft case, was known to stealcoppercables frombuildings.“I had been offered a huge

amountofmoneytochangemystatement. But I consideredAbhaya as my daughter andstoodforjustice,’’saidRaju,whoisnowadailywageworker.Kottoortoldreportersthathe

is innocent. “God ismy protec-tor. I will proceed according totheplansof God. I haven’t com-

mittedanycrime,’’hesaid.Sephybrokedowninthecourtroomaf-terhearing theverdict.“This is the victory of the ju-

diciary. For the last threedecades, IhavebeenfightingforAbhaya.Thisverdicthasthesig-nature of God,’’ said rights ac-tivist Jomon Puthenpurackal,whohadbeenpartofagroupde-manding justice forAbhaya.Thecasewasinitiallyprobed

by local police as an unnaturaldeath before the Crime Branchtook over. A year after themur-der,itwashandedovertotheCBIafterapetitionwassubmittedbya group of nuns from variouscongregations to the then ChiefMinister,thelateKKarunakaran.In a closure report submitted

in1996, theCBI said that it could

notconcludewhetheritwasacaseof suicide or homicide. But thechief judicialmagistrate inKochirejected the report anddirectedtheagencytocontinuetheprobe.In 1997, the CBImoved a re-

quest to accept the closure re-port as the culprits couldnotbeidentified. In2007, thecourtor-dered the agency to subject thethreesuspectstonarco-analysistests. Even after the tests, theagency said it was looking formore evidence. Finally, inSeptember 2008, the KeralaHigh Court ordered the CBI tohand over the probe to theagency'sKochiunitheadedthenbyDySPNandakumaranNair.ItwasateamledbyNairthat

arrested the three accused onNovember19,2008.

PAGE1ANCHOR

28 yrs after murder of 19-year-old in Kerala, court finds priest, nun guilty

Bodywasfoundinawell inconventonMarch27,1992

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR,DECEMBER22

THE PEOPLE’s Alliance forGupkar Declaration haswon orisleadingin100-plusseatsofthetotal 280 in the DistrictDevelopmentCouncils(DDCs)inthe first-ever elections held inthe Union Territory of Jammuand Kashmir after the abroga-tionof theerstwhilestate’s spe-cial status inAugust2019.Even as votes are still being

counted,itisclearthattheBharatiyaJanata Party isemerging as thesingle largestparty with winsand leads in 75DDC seats. It issweeping theHindu-domi-

nated districts — Jammu,Udhampur, Kathua and Samba— in the JammuDivision, lead-ing in49out56DDCseats.The poll results mean that

theBJPhassecuredcontrolof atleast six District DevelopmentCouncils (DDCs) in Jammu andnone in Kashmir. The People’sAlliance has amajority in nineDDCs, all in theValley.As there

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DISTRICTDEVELOPMENTCOUNCILPOLLS

J&K votessplit: Valleygoes toGupkarAlliance, JammutoBJPBJPwinsatleast6DDCsinJammu,noneinKashmir;PAGDwins9councils,all inValley

PM at AMU event: InIndia’s progress, nonecan be left behindbecause of religion‘Ideologicaldifferencesnatural,butcan’t comeinwayofnationalgoals’

ASADREHMANLUCKNOW,DECEMBER22

UNDERLINING THAT “a lot oftimewaswasted last century inthenameof differences”, PrimeMinister NarendraModi told agathering of Aligarh MuslimUniversity Tuesday that “thecountryisprogressingonapathwhere none can be left behindbecauseofreligion,whereallgetequal opportunity to moveahead, and fulfil theirdreams”.DescribingtheAMUcampus,

its history of education as a“pricelessheritage”of thecoun-tryandpraisingitsalumniacrosstheworldas “representativesofIndia’s culture”, the PrimeMinister, addressing the cente-nary celebrations of theuniver-sityviaavideo link, said: “Thereare ideological differences in asociety, it isnatural. Butwhen itcomestoattainmentofnationalgoals, then these differencesshouldbekeptaside.”“Whenyouyoungfriendsde-

cide to move ahead with thisthinking,thenthere’snogoalthatwecannotachievetogether.Beiteducation, economic progress,better living, opportunities,women’srights,security,nation-alism,theseareeverycitizen’sre-quirements. These are some is-sues on which we cannotdisagreebecauseofourpolitical,ideologicalcompulsions,”hesaid.

“Wemust understand thatpoliticsisanintegralpartofsoci-ety, but there are issues otherthan politics in society. A coun-try’s society is much larger, farmore pervasive than the think-ing of politics and power. Evenbeyondpolitics, there isenoughspace to take the society for-ward.Itisveryimportanttokeepexploring this space. A campuslikeAMUcandothiswork,allofyoucan.”He said the development of

a country or society should notbeviewed through theprismofpolitics. “When we come to-gether fora largerobjective, it ispossiblethatsomeelementsgettroubled. Such elements can befound in every society of theworld. These are people withvested interests. To suit theirown interest, theywill employevery ploy, and spread negativ-ity.ButifbuildingIndiaisupper-most in our hearts and mind,

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ManzoorAhmad,acandidateof thePeople’sAlliance forGupkarDeclaration,celebrateshiswinfromaDDCconstituency inSrinagaronTuesday. ShuaibMasoodi

DECISION2020J&K

DISTRICT,LOCAL POLLS

PrimeMinisterModiduringtheAMUevent.ANI

PVAIDYANATHANIYERNEWDELHI,DECEMBER23

THEHECTICPOLITICKINGaheadof elections to the DistrictDevelopmentCouncils(DDCs)–the ‘Gupkar Gang’ jibe of AmitShah, selective leak of now an-nulled Roshni Act beneficiariesand arrest of PDP’s youthwingPresident Waheed Para — did

notdenttheprocess,theresults underlinedTuesday. As expected,BJP bagged six of the 10DDCsinJammuDivisionbut it was the GupkarAlliance's win in nine out of 10DDCs in the Kashmir Divisionthat's thekey takeaway.More than this outcome, it’s

the space that this democraticexercise has opened up in the

UnionTerritory,andpar-ticularly in the Valley,which assumes signifi-cance. It has kickstartedpolitics, dormant andlocked down since

August5lastyearwhenthestatewas split and downgraded andits special status abrogated. TheAlliancemembers' decision tocontest has been vindicated by

CONTINUEDONPAGE2MOREREPORTSPAGE8

E●EXPLAINED

First time since August 5 downgrade,crucial political space opens in J&K

THECOUNTTOTALDDCSEATS:20(10 in Jammu,10 inKashmir)

PARTY JAMMU KASHMIRBJP 6 #PAGD * 9

*In4DDCs in JammuDivision,NC isthe single largestparty in3,andCongress in1

#In1DDCinKashmirDivision,ApniParty is the single largestpartywith leads/wins in3seats

LIZMATHEW&HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI, DECEMBER22

WHILE STICKING to its stand ofnotrepealingthenewfarmlaws,theCentreisopentoanysugges-tions that will help break thedeadlock with the protestingfarmers, includingtweakingthelaws or even setting up a com-mittee as suggested by theSupremeCourt.With protesters camped at

Delhi's borders for nearly amonth, official sources said, theGovernment has an openmindonideasif thefarmgroupsshowsigns of a reconciliatory ap-proach. TheGovernment is alsoformulating a response on theSupreme Court's suggestionwhethertheimplementationof

the laws can be put on holdpending talks.Consciousof the sentiments

evokedbytheprotestsinPunjab,senior UnionMinisters, includ-ing Agriculture MinisterNarendraSinghTomar,DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh andHomeMinister Amit Shah, andtop officials are also engaged inbackroomchanneltalkswithso-cio-political groups and Sikhcommunity leaders to find a“middle path” and “bring theprotesting farmers to the tablefordiscussionsagain”.OnTuesday,Tomarurgedthe

farmers to decide on a date fortalkstwodaysafterhisMinistryinvitedfarmunionsformoredis-cussion.“Butanyconcessionfromthe

Governmentcancomeonly ifCONTINUEDONPAGE2

VANDITAMISHRACHANDIGARH,LUDHIANA,AMRITSAR,DECEMBER22

THEREMUST have been amo-ment,apoint intheongoingag-itation led by Punjab farmers,whena linewascrossed.Whenmen andwomen be-

gan talking less about the threeCentral farm laws that sparkedsmall dharnas at petrol pumpsand toll plazas across the stateand more about those whostarted travelling to Delhi’sdoorstep to huddle together inthecold.That moment, when the

protests became a character intheir own right, wasmissed bythe BJP-led government at theCentre.That'swhereitwillneedtogobackto,tofindaresolution.What ismore, as The Indian

Express found in a week-longjourney through villages andcities across Punjab’s three re-gions of Malwa, Doaba andMajha,talkingtoscoresof farm-ersandtheir families, the imageof the un-seeing Centre is com-pounded by the spate of name-calling.Theprotestsare“misguided”,

itwassaid,drivenbya“lobby”ofLeftistModi-baiters,professionalmalcontents.Orhijackedby the“Khalistanis”, who are alwaysseen — and imagined — in thenooks and shadows of a statethat fought and defeated ex-tremism in the 1990s and lived

to tell the tales.But tomanyhere, especially

Jat Sikh farmers, at thecentreofthe economy, politics and cul-ture of the statewhich has his-toricallynurturedananti-Centrestreak, the Centre is again talk-ingdowntoPunjab.Andforcingitsway.“Nobody is a leader in these

protests,everyonehasminus-edthemselves and the farmer hastaken centrestage”, says BalkarSingh, who retired as professorin Punjabi University, Patiala.“Look at them, sitting there inthecold.Thepersonwhoisleav-ing behind his children and thecomfort of home is not doing itat anyone’s bidding”, says BaljitSingh inMalwa’sKotraLehal

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Tomarwithfarmerswhosupportnewlaws.Anil Sharma

Govt wants farmersback at table, sayshas an open mind

TOMORROW: FROMJIOANDBSNL TOMSP:WHAT THE FARMERFEARSANDWHY

FROMTHE

PUNJABFIELDS

AN EXPRESSSERIES PARTONE

Chorus on ground:DDhhaakkkkaa from Delhiwon’t work, protestnow has life of its own

New strain not in India, says govt,issues SOPs for visitors from UKKAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

A DAY after it announced thesuspensionof flightsfromandtothe United Kingdom untilDecember 31, the Centre onTuesdayassuredthatthereisnoreasonforpanic,notingthat thenew strain of the novel coron-

avirushasnotbeenseeninIndia.TheUnionMinistryofHealth

andFamilyWelfarealsoreleaseddetailedstandardoperatingpro-cedures(SOPs)forstatesregard-ing travellers from the UKwhoarrived in India over the pastmonth,whichincludescarryingout genome sequencing in caseof positive samples.“The Indian government is

watching closely.We are fortu-natethatourcountryhasrobustlaboratories. From the start ofthe pandemic itself, we are iso-latingthevirus;wehavesystem-aticallystudiedthegenomicbe-haviourofmorethan1,000virussamples.Wehavecloselyexam-ined the mutations. So far, wehavenotfoundanysignal(of the

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Delhi mayscrap nurseryadmissionsfor 2021-22

MALLICAJOSHINEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

THEDELHI government is con-sidering scrapping nursery ad-missions for the 2021-22 aca-demic session. Sources saidseniorgovernmentofficialshavediscussedtheoption,whichwillnow be proposed to privateschools. According to the pro-posal, schools will admit twobatchesin2022-23instead–onein nursery, and the other inkindergarten.Meanwhile,DelhiEducation

MinisterManishSisodiatoldTheIndian Express that there wasvery little possibility of schoolsreopening before July. “Even ifwe start vaccinating people byFebruary, we will be able to

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Whatyouneedtoknowabout thenewcoronavirusvariantNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

In today’sepisodeof the3Thingspodcast,wetalktovirologistDrShahid Jameelabout thenewvariantof SARS-COV-2,andwhetherweshouldreallyworryabout it

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PM at AMU eventthenthespaceforsuchpeoplewillshrinkonitsown,”hesaid,addingthat“politicscanwait,notsociety,notthedevelopmentofthecoun-try,notthepoor”.“Ahundredyearsago,in1920,

the youth of the country got achancetodedicatethemselvestothe country, struggle andmakesacrifices.Thatgeneration’ssacri-ficesgave India independence in1947.Today’sgenerationhasmanyopportunities to reach the goalAtmanirbharBharat,New India.Thatwas1920, this is 2020. Thenext27yearsarevery importantforyou.In2047,whenIndiacom-pletes100yearsofindependence,youwillwitnessthehistoricmo-ment,andyouwillalsobepartofthemakingofmodernIndia.Youmust thinkof the country’swel-fare,”Modisaid.“Today, the entire world is

lookingatIndia…Thereiscurios-ityaboutthisbeingIndia’scentury.Wemust have a single goal tomakethecountryAtmanirbhar.Itshouldnotmatterwhich familyonewasbornin,inwhichreligiononewasraised…,”hesaid.“AMUhasgivenseveralfreedomfightersand Iwould like to say that theycamefromdifferentbackgrounds,butworkedtogetherfortheinde-pendence of the country.Whatwasdone for the freedomof thiscountry,youhavetodothesamefor thecountry.Wehavetoworkforacommonground.NewIndiamustbeself-reliant,andtheben-efitswill reacheveryoneequally.Theyouthcandoit.”InDecember2019,AMUwas

one of the centres of protestagainst theCAA, and clashes onthecampushadleftover70peo-pleinjured.Policearrested26peo-ple,includingAMUstudents.The PrimeMinister also re-

leasedapostagestampdedicatedtoAMU.AMUChancellorSyednaMufaddal Saifuddin, Vice-Chancellor TariqMansoor andUnionEducationMinisterRameshPokhriyalNishankalso tookpartinthevirtualevent.

Delhi schoolsvaccinate a sizeable chunkonlybyJuly.There isnopossibilityofreopening schools before that.Wealsohave to lookathowex-aminations will be conductedwithout putting teachers andstudentsat risk,”hesaid.Explaining the proposal to

scrapnurseryadmissionsfortheupcomingsession,asenioroffi-cialsaid:“Schoolscanadmitstu-dents in both nursery andkindergartenforthe2022-23ac-ademic session, as therewill bevacancies in both grades.Considering the unpredictablenature of the Covid virus, theyoungestchildrenwillbethelastto go to school in any case. Insuchasituation,tohaveanothersetofyoungchildrenwhoseen-tireacademicyearwillbeonlineis a little unfair to them aswellas to theirparents.”School in Delhi have been

shut since March. “There is awhole batch of students whostartednurseryinAprilthisyear,buteverythingwasonline.Theyhave not interactedwith theirteachersorclassmates,andhaveonlyseenthemonthescreen.Informative classes such as nurs-

ery and kindergarten, childrenlearntointeractwitheachotherand theworld so that they areprepared for what lies ahead.Theyhavenotgot thisopportu-nity, despite starting school,”said theofficial.NurseryadmissionsinDelhi

are a highly regulated process,with theDelhi government de-ciding the admission scheduleand criteria. The guidelines areusually released by November.Thisyear,however, schools saidtherehasbeennodiscussionontheprocess so far.

Govt-farmersthe discussions are continued,”sourcessaid.According to sources, the

Governmentisreadyforthe“longhaul”andis“confidentthatthere-form initiatives it has takenwillbenefitfarmers”.Butitisalsocon-scious that “both theoptics andtheunrelentingprotests”woulddentitsimage,theysaid.“Evenif it is farmersfromjust

one state, imagesof themsittinginprotestdonotlookgoodforanygovernment.Butwefeel that theGovernmenthasheldenoughdis-cussions anddeliberations overtheselaws. Infact,discussionsonthese have been on since 2001(when theNDAgovernmentun-derABVajpayeewas inpower),”saidsources.“Asof now,wehavenoalter-

nateplanstoendthis.Nosolutiontothiscanbefoundunlessthedis-cussions continue. The situationmaychange, theremaybesomemiddlepath,but thereshouldbediscussions.Without talks, it cangoonforalongtime,”sourcessaid.OnTuesday,duringaninterac-

tionwithmembersoftheForeignCorrespondents’Club,Tomarsaid:“TheGovernmentisreadytodis-cuss every suggestion.We areready to discuss with an openmind and find a solution to anyprovisionof lawthatgoesagainstthe farmer...By discussing againandagain,we reacha solution...Ithinkwewillfindawaysoonandwillmovetowardsasolution.”TheAgricultureMinister said

the focusof the laws is tobenefitfarmersby“freeingthemfromtheshackles”of the (APMC)mandis.“These reformshavebeenmadeintheinterestof farmersandwillbring about a newera in Indianagriculture,”hesaid.Stating that theGovernment

is committed to reforms, Tomarsaid:“Whentheprocessofreformbegins, first people will makejokes, thentherewillbeprotests,and thenacceptance.Wearego-ingthroughthisprocess.”

Chorus on groundvillage. “The government has apoint”, says Amritpal Singh, afarmerwhoalsorunsashopinvil-lage Dhesian, Hoshiarpur, inMajha region, fromwhere thelargestnumbersmigrate abroadandwhichislessroiledbytheag-itationthanMalwa.“Buthowcanit not listen to thosewhoare sit-tingoutintheopen?”AndinAmritsar,GinniBhatia,

presidentof a textiles traders as-sociation,marvels“Itnajazba,itnithand(suchemotion, in such in-tense cold)”, andasks: “Whydidyounotaskthebeneficiaryiftheywantthereforminthefirstplace?”Togetasenseof thisagitation

that is assuminga life of its ownwitheveryday thatpasseswith-outa resolution, youcouldbeginwithtwomenandawoman.Meet Sardara Singh Johl in

Ludhiana,BibiJagirKaurinvillageBegowal, andNarendraModi in-the-Punjab-fray.There's nopoint arguing the

meritsof thefarmlawsnow,says92-year-old Johl, the grand oldmanof agricultureeconomics inthe state. “I have supported theBills,Icananswerallthequestions,but if Idoitnow, itwillbeDrJohlversusRestofPunjab”.Overastoried60-yearcareer,

thePadmaBhushanawardeehashadoneof the longest andmostinfluentialengagementswiththeissue of agriculture reform inPunjab— as vice chancellor ofPunjab Agricultural University,memberof thePrimeMinister’sEconomicAdvisoryCouncil.Hisreportoncropdiversifica-

tionin1986made“diversification”apartofpolicylexicon.“Iwaslook-ingahead50years…governmentdidnoteventurnthepage(ofthereport)”,hesays.Johl speakswith regretabout

opportunities lost, being ap-pointed toboardswhichdidnotmeet, leading discussions thatreachednowhere.“Myplanwas that 1million

hectares of 2.6millionhectaresunder rice could be diverted toother crops to restore thewatertable…Rs 1,600 crore could begiven to farmers to compensatefor the shift (to oilseeds, amongothercrops,whichwouldeventu-ally cut down theoil andpulsesimport bill of up to Rs 14,000crore)…Therewasalackofinter-est inthepoliticalbossesandbu-reaucrats…Itriedagainbutnoth-inghappened”.Today, “the question is not

whether laws are good or bad.They(agitators)aresaying‘yesor

no’. Theold systemtheywant togobackto is theonethatpushedsomany farmers to suicide. Butnow, government shouldwith-draw the bills, begin again bybringing the farmers’ concernsintoParliament.”A “trust deficit” stands in the

way, says Johl. “Theseare seriouslaws, theyaffect the livesof peo-ple.Whatwas the hurry? Theyshould have put the bills in thepublic domain, through SelectCommittee…Intheinterestoftheeconomyandof peace, the gov-ernmentmust take themback”,he says. At the sprawling SantPrem SinghMuraleWale DerathatsheheadsinBegowalvillageof district Kapurthala, Akali DalleaderBibiJagirKaursays:“Weareallkisans(farmers),thosewhoaresittingthereareours.Thegovern-ment is looking nirdayi (hardhearted). Thingsshouldnothavereached this point, we need aquicksolution”.In November, Kaur made a

comeback as chief of theShiromaniGurdwaraParbandhakCommittee, the firstwoman toholdthatposition.TheSGPC,centraltotheman-

agementof Sikh religious affairsintricately entwinedwith Sikhpolitics,iscontributingwith“sewa(service)” at theprotest sites, shesays.“SGPChassetupcontinuousgurukalangar,putupwaterprooftents,providedmedicinesand250mobiletoilets…Fourambulancesareworking, ourdoctorsare tak-ingturns.WearegivingRs1lakhto the family of thosewhohavediedduringtheprotest,andRs20-25,000 to those injured in acci-dentsontheway.”WhatBibiJagirKaurwon’tsay

isthatboththeSGPCandherpartyareplayingcatch-up.Butyoucanreadbetweenher

lines: “Iwant togo there, but thefirst lineof SAD leadership isnot

goingtotheprotestsites,becausewedon'twant todopolitics. Therest,fromMLAtosarpanch,arego-ing.TheStreeAkaliDalwenttoo…oassihaan(wearethem,thepro-testers)”.TheSAD,whichwalkedoutof theNDAon the farmbills’issue, tried and failed to be the“bridge”betweenthefarmersandtheCentre,shesays.“Nowthegov-ernment should take the lawsback,atleasttobeginwith,sothatpeople can come back to theirhomes.” “Dhakka nahi karnachahidahai…dukhlagdahai,nuk-sannaho jaye (theremustbenoforce,we are apprehensive thatthings may not worsen)”, theSGPCchiefsays.The term “dhakka” is com-

monly used in Punjab, and youhearitagainandagaininthecon-textofthisagitation—theCentre,manysay, is trying toget itsway,“dhakke naal(with force)”. Butmoreandmore,the“Centre”isre-placedby“Modi”. Inthecourseofthesefarmers’protests,PMModiisonthegroundandinthefrayinPunjab in amanner inwhichhehasnot been seen tobe inotherstates,evenduringanelection.Oneof thestand-out features

of the Modi phenomenon hasbeen his ability to establish hisdominance by lifting himselfabovethefray—andthereforein-sulatedfromthetugandpullofac-countabilityforfailuresandissuesevenwheretheBJPistheincum-bent. In Rajasthan, this took theshapeofaslogan,“Moditujhsebairnahi, Vasundhara teri khair nahi(Wehavenothing againstModibut we will not spareVasundhara)”, intheelectionlostby the BJP and won by theCongress.Mostrecently,inBihar,itwas visible in the final tally thatsaw the BJP become the largerpartner in theBJP-JD(U) alliancethatwasvotedbacktopower.In Punjab, however,most of

thosewhospeakoftheCentretry-ingtoimposethefarmlawsonthestate — “dhakke naal” — takeModi’sname.TheBJPisasmallerplayer in Punjab and the stateneverwhole-heartedly partici-patedintheModiwavethatsweptotherstatesin2014andthenagainin 2019. Yet, in the battle of“anakh" (self-respect, honour,pride),theJatfarmer’s“zid”orin-sistence ispitteddirectly againstModi’s. Theviral videoof a song,“Ferdekhange(thenwe’llsee)”, inwhichaModi-likeanimated fig-urecladinwhiteandsaffronissur-roundedbyyouthontractorsandeventuallyforcedtothrowuphishands,speaksof largerthings.

New SOPspresenceof theUKvariant),”saidDrVKPaul,Member,NITIAayog.“Also,untilnow,accordingtosci-entists, themostimportantthingisthatdespitethismutation,thereis no negative impact on all thevaccinesthatarebeingdevelopedinIndia,”hesaid.Paulsaid“allthesamples”col-

lected “recently” in the laborato-riesthatconductgeneticsequenc-inghavebeen “prioritised” sinceMonday. “This is beingdone inamuchmore extensivemannerand at a faster pace. CSIR, ICMRandDBTareworkingtogether,”hesaid. “Asofnow,basedonourdis-cussionswithscientistsintheUKanddeepunderstanding of thedataavailable,thereisnocauseforconcernorpanic. Is it a cause forustobemorevigilant?Ofcourse,yes... alsowith thenewvariant,there is no change in our treat-mentguidelines,”Paulsaid.UnionHealthSecretaryRajesh

Bhushan said the country’s pre-mier labs would carry out thegenomesequencingof the sam-ples picked up fromairports aswell as Covid-positive patientswith recent travel history to the

UK. “Wehave been testing pas-sengersoriginating fromtheUK.Thousandsof genomesequenc-ing during the pandemic havebeenestablishedby laboratoriesof ICMR, CSIR and NCDC. AndgiventhisnewchallengeposedbytheUKvariantof thevirus, theselabs will be working with re-newed vigour to establishgenomesequencingof the sam-ples,”hesaid.Bhushan said the state-wise

passengermanifestofflightsfromthe UK from November 25 toDecember23willbeconveyedbytheBureauof Immigrationtothestate governments. “PassengerswhohavearrivedfromtheUKre-centlywill be contacted;wewillexamineiftheyhaveexperiencedanyclinical issues.Wewillascer-tainhowmanyofthemhavebeeninfected andexamine if there isanythingusual. If the infection isactive,wewill collect the speci-menandgenomicsequencingwillbeconducted,”Paulsaid.According to the newSOPs,

thosewhoarrivedfromtheUKbe-tween November 25 andDecember8willbecontactedbythedistrict surveillance officersandadvisedtoself-monitortheirhealth.Forthosewhoarrivedbe-tween December 9 andDecember23,thesurveillanceof-ficerswillcarryoutadailyfollow-up till 14days after their arrival,andthetravellerswillhavetoself-monitorfor28days.Iftestedpos-itive,genomesequencingoftheirsampleswillbeconducted. If thegenomesequencingindicatesthepresenceofanewvariant,thepa-tientwillremaininaseparateiso-lationunit.

Political spacetheoutcome.Kashmiriswillhaverepresen-

tativespeoplecangotowiththeirday-to-daygrievancesand insti-tutions whose doors they canknockon. Logonki sunwai hogi(peoplewillbeheard),andfundswillreachtheseCouncilsbasedonthesizeoftheirpopulation.That apart, thepoliticalmes-

sageisclear.The JammuDivisionand the

KashmirDivision still donot seeeye to eye, though Lt GovernorManojSinhareferstothemasthe"twoeyes"oftheUnionTerritory.Jammuhasvotedbasedonthere-ligious compositionof its voters.Predominantly Hindu regionshave votedoverwhelmingly forthesaffronparty;inPoonchDDC,itdrewablank,andthreeeachinRajouri,RambanandKishtwar.The moderate voice of the

National Conference seems tohave appealed to voters beyondtheValley.Ithasemergedthesin-gle-largestpartyinthreeDDCsinthe JammuDivision – Rajouri,RambanandKishtwar.IfCongressenters into a post-poll alliancewithNC, the twocangain ama-jority in all these three. And inPoonch,theNC,PDPandCongressadd up to make the half-waymark. If at all, the five-party al-liance of regional parties in theUnion Territory has opened upnewpossibilities too, and pre-sentedtheBJPwithauniquechal-lenge – that of a unitedOpposition. Of the 20 DDCs, aunitedOppositioncanhaveitssayin asmany as 13. Thismay giveideas tonational parties fighting

theBJP’s rise in states aswell astheCentre.The flipside of this bonsai

democracy is also how a largenumber of independent candi-datescaninfluencetheoutcome.In Srinagar, the summer capitalof Jammu&Kashmir, of the 14seats,independentshavewonasmany as nine.With the Centre-backed J&KApni Partywinningthree, and the BJP one, techni-cally,ApniParty-BJPalliancecanclaim the DDC with supportfromindependents.The DDC elections have for

thefirsttimealsogiventheBJPatoehold in the Valley. For theparty towin a seat in Pulwama(southKashmir),whichsawper-centage voter turnout in singledigits, itisseenasremarkable.Infact, BJPhaswona seat innorthKashmir(Bandipore)andCentralKashmir (Srinagar) too. Thisbrings the party in proximity tothe Valley’s people, whichmayhave a rub-off effect on its poli-ticsaswell.Explainingthesignif-icanceof theDDCelections, L-GSinhahad called it a key vehicleforbringingthepoliticsofrepre-sentation back in Jammu andKashmir.Tuesday'sresultsmarka tentative and important steptowards that -- howwill the es-tablishmentmanagethenewex-pectations is thenextchallenge.

Suresh Rainaunintentional incident.”Astate-ment releasedonbehalf ofGuruRandhawa read, “GuruRandhawa,whohadsteppedoutfor dinnerwith close friendsbe-fore returning back toDelhi thesamemorning,deeplyregretstheunintentional incident that oc-curred last night.Unfortunately,hewasnotawareoflocalauthor-ities'decisionofnightcurfewbutinstantly conformed to all ruleslaid out by thegovernment offi-cials.Hepromisestocomplywithgovernmentguidelinesandpro-tocolsbytakingallprecautionarymeasures inthefuture.Byfar,hehasbeenalawabidingcitizenandwillcontinuetodosointhefutureaswell.”Earlier this month, the

Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC), takingnoteof night clubs operating till latenightbyviolating theEpidemicAct and not following Covid-19guidelines, had raided severalsuch establishments with thehelpof theMumbaiPolice.Subsequently, BMC

Commissioner Iqbal SinghChahal hadwritten to the stategovernment to impose nightcurfew in the city but the pro-posalwas thenshotdown.The BMC has so far raided

foursuchestablishments.Whiletwo FIRswere filed, over 1,500patrons found inside the clubswere fined for not wearingmasks and adhering to socialdistancingguidelines.In the backdrop of a new

strain of Covid-19 emerging inthe United Kingdom, theMaharashtra government onMondayhaddecided to imposeanightcurfewinallmunicipalar-eas of the state starting Tuesdaynight.Thecurfewwillbeinplacefrom11pmto6 amandwill re-maininforcetill January5.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONEisnoclear-cutmajorityinthefivecouncils, the independent can-didatesarelikelytoplaytheroleofkingmakers.BoththeBJPandthePeople’s

Alliancehavetermedthepollre-sultsas theirsuccess.WhiletheBJPhastermedtheoutcomeandthevoterturnoutacontradictiontothe“ideaofGupkarAlliance”,the People’s Alliance has saidthatthepeoplehaverejectedthe“unconstitutionaldecisiontoab-rogateArticle370”.“Theoverwhelmingpartici-

pationofthepeopleisaclearsignthat theybelieve indemocraticprocedureratherthanbulletandgrenade,” BJP’s election-in-charge for the Valley, SyedShahnawazHussain said. “Thepeaceful, free and fair electionwithrecordvotingturnoutcon-tradicts the ideaof theGupkarAlliance,”hesaid.FormerChiefMinister and

Vice President of the People’sAllianceMehboobaMufticalledit a “hard earned victory”.“Today’sDDCresultshavemadeitclear thatpeopleof J&Kvotedenmasse for@JKPAGDthus re-jectingtheunconstitutionalde-cision to abrogate Article 370.Theyhaveoverwhelminglysup-ported@JKPAGDwhich standsfor restorationof J&K’s specialstatus,”Muftitweeted.“Ourwin

isdedicatedtoPAGDcadrewhoworked tirelessly toensureoursuccess. GOI left no stone un-turned to createhurdles forus.Beginningwith@parawahid'sarrestadayafterhefiledhisDDCnominations, restricting ourmovement&notallowingustocampaign,”shesaidinhertweet.Omar Abdullah, Vice

President, of J&K NationalConference,whichisleading68seats,said,“ThetrendsthathaveemergedintheDDCpollsinJ&Kare very encouraging for the@JKPAGD.TheBJPhadmadethiselection aprestige issue aboutArt370&J&K’sspecialstatus.Thepeoplehavenowspoken& it’sforthosewhobelieveindemoc-racytopayheedtothesevoices.”The BJP is turning up as a

dominantforceinMuslim-dom-inatedChenabandPirPanjalre-gionsofJammuDivisionaswell.Significantly, it also opened itsaccount in theValley securingthreewins, one each in South(Kakapora inPulwama),North(TulailinGurez,Bandipore)andCentral Kashmir (Khonmoh inSrinagar).Independent candidates

were leading inabout50 seats,whichpolitical sources attrib-

uted togoodbooth-levelman-agement by the BJP. TheCongress partyhas once againfailedtomakeamarkintheDDCpolls.Itisaheadonlyinnineseatsin the Valley and 17 seats inJammu. The final tally is ex-pectedaftermidnight.In a polarised Jammu and

Kashmir, FarooqAbdullah-ledNational Conference hasemerged as the only politicalpartytosecureconsiderablesup-port in both the Kashmir andJammudivisions of theUnionTerritory. The results are, how-ever,abigsetbacktotheCentre-backed Jammu and KashmirApniParty ledbyAltaf Bukhari.Thepartyhasonlywon10seats.The official figures reveal

that the People’s Alliance,formedbymainstreampoliticalparties to seek restoration ofJammuandKashmir’s specialstatus, haswonor is leading in112 seats. Of these, NationalConference candidates havewonorareaheadof their rivalsin68seats. Candidatesbelong-ing to Mehbooba Mufti-ledPeople’sDemocraticParty can-didatesareaheadin28seats.TheKashmirDivision,how-

ever,hasstoodfirmlybehindthe

People’sAlliancegivingitleadinat least 85DDCseats.Of these,the National Conference haswonorisleadingin42seats,andPDP in 27 seats. Sajad Lone’sPeople’sConference isahead ineightseatsandCPI(M)infive.Overall, the National

Conferenceisleadingin68seats– 42 in Kashmir and 26 inJammu. It has emerged as theonlypartytohaveachievedcon-siderablepollsuccessinboththeregionsoftheUnionTerritory.Infact, it hasgivena tougher fightto theBJP than theCongress inJammu’sHinduheartland.Theindependentcandidates

have shone in thepolls leadingin around 50 seats – 32 inKashmir and 17 in Jammu.Surprisingly, a large numberwere in the fray in theKashmirValley,which sources in PAGDsaid, served to divide the voteshareofthealliancepartners.By Tuesday evening, the

ElectionCommissiondeclaredthefinalresultsforthe241outofthe280seats.OfthesetheBJPse-cured 68 seats, NationalConference55,PDP26,Congress21andApniParty10.The inde-pendent candidateswere de-claredwinnersin43DDCseats.

(WITHINPUTSFROMARUNSHARMAINJAMMU)

J&K DDC polls

Called terrorist, beaten again in jail: Former Cong councillor to courtANANDMOHANJNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

FORMERCONGRESScouncillorIshratJahan, facing trial in anUAPA case inconnectionwith theNortheast Delhiriots, Tuesday told a Delhi court thatshewasassaultedandcalledaterror-istby inmatesatMandoli jail.This is the second time Jahan has

toldacourtthatshewasassaultedin-sidethejail.Shehadtoldthecourtshewas facing harassment in prison for

the past four months and had re-quested to be shifted to Tihar, but itwas refuseddue to thepandemic.Jahantoldthecourt,“Thisisthesec-

ond incident inamonth. In themorn-ing today at 6.30, they (inmates) beatmebadlyandabusedmeverbally.OneoftheinmatesevenslitherhandsoI’mpunished on a false complaint.Fortunately, jail officials didnot listento them. I have given awritten com-plaint.Theykeepcallingmeaterrorist.Theyalsodemandedmoney frommeinthecanteen.”

Observing that Jahan was in a“state of utter fear”, AdditionalSessions Judge Amitabh Rawat di-rected jail authorities to take imme-diatestepstoensurehersecurityandthat shewasnotharassed further forbringing her complaints before thecourt. It alsodirectedprisonauthori-tiestosubmitareportWednesdayondetailedsteps taken.When ASJ Rawat asked the

AssistantSuperintendentofMandolijail if such an incident has occurred,sheconfirmedthesameandsaidnec-

essary steps have been taken. Thematterwill beheardnexton January5.ASJRawatsaid,“She(Jahan)seems

tobe inastateof utter fear. Please talktoherimmediatelyandunderstandthesituation. File a detailed report aboutsteps taken to allayher apprehensionand fear. Takeall necessary steps, takeimmediate steps. I don'twant tohearthat theaccusedwasfurtherharassedbyherinmatesoranybodyelsebecauseshecomplained. I donotwant tohearthat thepresent accused isharmed in

anyway.”AdvocatePradeepTeotia,appear-

ing for Jahan, apprised the court ofpreviousincidentsofassaultfacedbyJahan. He said, “One of the inmatesbeatherupbadlypreviously. A com-plaint was filed before the DeputySuperintendentandthat inmatewasshifted to another jail. There are twoladies inherprisoncellwhobeatherup today.While shewasofferinghermorning prayers, they objected to itandstartedabusingandbeatingher.”Jahan further said shewas suffer-

ingfromamedicalconditionforwhichshewas not taken to a hospital norwereanytestsdone.Advocate Rizwan, appearing for

co-accusedandsuspendedAAPcoun-cillorTahirHussain,claimedthatmostof the riot accusedwere facing dis-crimination in prison, either by in-mates or jail authorities. “Almost alltheaccusedarefacingdiscriminationinjail.Theyhavebeendeclaredterror-ists before conclusion of the trial. Jailauthorities behave adversely withthem.Propermonitoringbythecourt

isimportantinthecases,especiallytheconspiracycase inwhichtheaccusedhave been booked under the UAPA,”hesaid.ASJ Rawat said, “An accused is an

accused,notaconvict.”JamiastudentAsifIqbalTanha,who

isalsofacingtrialinariotscase,toldthecourt hehas repeatedly been called a“terrorist” in jail. Co-accused AtharKhanalsoasked thecourt to shift himfromthegeneralward since other in-mates“behavestrangely”withhimaf-terhearingheisariotaccused.

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SANJANABHALERAOMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

A DAY after the state govern-ment put in new rules for trav-ellerscominginfromtheUnitedKingdom, Europe and theMiddle East, 591 passengersfrom theUK landed atMumbaiInternational Airport betweenMondayandTuesdayafternoonand none were found to besymptomatic."Institutional quarantine is

mandatory for all passengers.Only symptomatic passengerswillbeshiftedtothehospital.Nosuch case has come forward to-day," said AdditionalMunicipalCommissionerPVelrasu.According to guidelines is-

suedbytheBMConMonday,in-steadofundergoingatestat theairport, asymptomatic passen-gerswillhavetoundergoRT-PCRtest between the fifth and sev-enthdayof institutionalquaran-tineatthehotelattheirowncost.Passengerswith a negative testreportwill be discharged to ob-servemandatoryhomequaran-tineforsevendays.Symptomaticpassengers will be moved toSevenHillshospital inAndheri.Officials said three flights

fromtheUKarrived till 4pmonTuesday.Outof 591passengers,299weremovedtocityhotelsasthey were asymptomatic andaround 236 passengers were

fromoutofthestate,theyadded."Passengers from outside

Maharashtra with connectingflights and those planning totravelbyroadtotheirhomesoutofthestatewereallowedtogototheirdestinations.Informationissenttotheirstaterepresentativeabout their travel," read a state-mentbytheBMC.Outof591fly-ers, 187were city residents, thestatementadded.The state government has

made institutional quarantinemandatory for travellers fromUK, European and MiddleEastern countries. "Peoplewhoreside out of the state and havea negative RT-PCR report,which is not more than 72hours' old, were allowed totravel to their respective cities.Andwearealsosendingemailsto respective state representa-tivesthatthesepassengershavetravelledfromtheUK,"Velrasu

said.OnMonday, Indiasuspended

all flights fromand to theUK tillDecember31amidconcernsof anewvariantofSARS-CoV-2thatis"spreadingandgrowing rapidly"over there. "Yesterday,Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajInternationalAirport(CSMIA)hadfourflights,onefromAmsterdamand three fromLondon, carryingover 690 passengers. Today,December22,noflight isoperat-ing to and from London. Fiveflights are arriving andeight de-partingtoDubaiandonedepart-ing forDoha," the airport opera-torstatedinapressrelease.

The BMC, in a circular onMonday, said it had decided toconductinstitutionalquarantinefor all passengers from all overEurope and theMiddle East forseven days after landing at theairport,aswellashomequaran-tine for passengers from othercountries.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

IN ITS attempt to enforce nightcurfew from Tuesday in fullforce, the Mumbai Police willman the streets at night andseizevehicles,asitusedtointhefirst few months of the lock-down.Thepolicewillalsoensurethatnoshopsorestablishmentsfunction beyond the stipulatedtimelimitsassignedbythegov-ernment.Mumbai Police spokesper-

sonDCPSChaitanyasaid,“Therewill be strict enforcement ofnight curfew orders... soon or-dersunderSection144(ofCrPC)will be issued. In addition, per-sonnelfromlocalpolicestationswill beouton the roadsatnightin full strength from Tuesday.ZonalDCPshavealsoaskedtobeonthestreets intheirrespectivezonesatnight.”The Maharashtra govern-

ment had on Monday an-nounced a night curfew from

Tuesday till January 5 to ensurethere is no spike in Covid-19casesduringChristmasandNewYear's Eve, whenmany peoplecelebrateonthe roads.A senior officer said, “There

are going to be increased naka-bandis on the roads. Unlesssomeone has an essential serv-icepass, ifpeoplearespottedontheroadspost11pmandbefore6 am, their vehicles will beseized.We do notwant peoplecrowding roads at night and re-quest them to celebrate athome.”Anotherfactorthathasledto

the night curfew has been thespikeinthenumberofCovid-19cases in countries like the UKdue to a new strain of coron-avirus.An IPS officer said, “While

therewillbenounnecessaryuseofforce,wewillbefirminimple-mentingtheseorders.Itisessen-tial that people realise thatmeasures arebeingput inplacekeeping in mind their ownsafety.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

A DAY after the state govern-ment announced night curfewbetween 11 pm to 6 am tillJanuary5,hotelsandrestaurantsinMumbaionTuesdaysaidtheywouldusher in theNewYearanhour-and-a-half early.The Hotel and Restaurant

Association of Western India(HRAWI)hasaskeditsmemberstonotletthedecisiondisrupttheindustrybyringingintheyearby10.30 pm. The association saidthat the celebrations will bealignedwith Thailand virtuallyto ring in theyearearly.After the government's an-

nouncement onMonday,manyfrom the hospitality sector hadsaidthatthedecisionwouldim-pact the industry,which has al-ready suffered financial lossesdue to theCovid-19pandemic.“Mumbai will continue to

celebrate albeit a little earlier...we will ensure that all normsandsafetymeasuresareadheredto and thosewhowant to cele-brate theNewYear,will get thatexperienceaswell,” said SherryBhatia,presidentof theassocia-tion.Pre-pandemic, hotels and

restaurantsinthecityusuallyor-ganised events on New Year'sEveandwereallowedtoremainopen till the wee hours of themorning.Before the curfewwas im-

posed,hotelswereallowedtobekeptopentill 11.30pm.

SANJANABHALERAOMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THEMINIMUM temperature inthe city dipped to 16 degreesCelsiusonTuesdaymorning, thelowest this season. According toa 48-hour forecast by the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD), minimum temperaturewill remain between 16 and 18degreesCelsiusoverthenexttwodays.WhiletheSantacruzobserva-

toryrecordedminimumtemper-aturetwodegreesbelownormal,Colaba recorded a minimumtemperature of 20 degreesCelsius, only 0.4 degree belownormal.Before Tuesday, the lowest

minimumtemperaturewas17.4degrees Celsius onDecember 7.The lowestminimum tempera-ture inDecember 2019was16.4degrees Celsius, and itwas 14.4degrees Celsius in 2018. The all-timelowestminimumtempera-ture recorded inDecemberwasonDecember20,1949,at10.6de-greesCelsius.According to data from the

IMD, themeanminimum tem-

peratureforDecemberis18.5de-grees Celsius. Coldwinds swepttheinteriorpartsofMaharashtra,asthenighttemperaturedroppedacrossthestate.Parbhaniwasthecoldestat7.6degreesCelsius,fol-lowed by Pune andNashik at 8degreesCelsius.KSHosalikar,deputydirector-

general of thewestern region,IMD, said, "Mumbai todayrecordedthisyear's lowestmini-mumtemperaturesofar.Thoughit's sunny, there is a cool breezewithachill.Winterisshowinginseveralotherpartsof thestateaswell withminimum tempera-turesdippingtosingledigits."Themaximum temperature

recorded at Santacruz observa-tory was 32.3 degrees Celsius,while Colaba recorded 30.2 de-grees Celsius, one degree belownormal.As temperatures dipped, the

air pollution in the city rose onTuesday.Mumbairecordedanairqualityindex(AQI)of183,accord-ing to System of Air QualityWeather Forecasting AndResearch (SAFAR), as opposed to156onMonday.AnAQIbetween101and200

isconsideredmoderate.

QUARANTINEFORUK, EUROPE,MIDDLEEASTPASSENGERS

AtMumbaiairportonTuesday.Express

Night curfew: Police toseize vehicles, patrol roads

As curfew begins from11 pm, hotels to ring inNew Year at 10.30 pm

Beforethenightcurfewwas imposed,hotelswereallowedtostayopentill11.30pminthecity

Night temperature dips tolowest this season: IMD

19.02 lakhTOTALPOSITIVECASESINMAHARASHTRAActiveCases 58,376NewCases 3,106TotalDeaths 48,876NewDeaths 75Quarantined4.97lakhTested 1.22crore

2,87,816TOTALPOSITIVECASESINMUMBAINewCases 503TotalDeaths 11,019NewDeaths 11

591 flyers arrive fromBritain,none symptomatic, saysBMC

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

MAHARASHTRAWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, DECEMBER22

THE SWABHIMANI ShetkariSanghatana,supportedbydiffer-ent farmer organisations onTuesday, staged a day-longdemonstration at the BandraKurlaComplex(BKC)inMumbai,demanding that the three newfarmlawsbescrapped, andsaidthe laws served "big, corporatehouses at the expense of poorfarmers".Amidst chanting of

‘Corporatehatao, kisanbachao’,activists assembled at thesprawlingBKC,havingmarchedfromMumbai suburban collec-tor’s office to theAmbaniEstatein amid heavy police force thatstoppedthemfromproceeding.Apart from Swabhimani

Shetkari Sanghatana,Communist Party of India (CPI),Lok Sangharsh, Prahar, All IndiaStudentsFederationparticipatedin theprotest to showsolidaritywith farmers agitation in Delhiand display their anger againstcentresprocorporateagriculturepolicies.Swabhimani Shetkari

Sanghatana president RajuShettisaid,“Ourdecisiontoholdthe protest at the BKC is to con-veyastrongmessagetothegov-ernment to stop favouringAmbani and Adani. Since thecorporate headquarters are inBKC, we held the protest inMumbai."He also said they had noth-

ing personal against these cor-porate giants, but the “blatantmisuse of power” by theNarendraModi-ledgovernmentat the Centre to promote twocorporate houses by handingover the entire agriculture sec-tor couldnotbe tolerated.If thegovernmentdidnotre-

peal its farm laws, a clarion callwill be issued to boycott allgoods by Ambani and Adani inthemarket, Shetti said. “This is

notamerethreat.Wewilltakeittoa logical end,”headded.Inthenameofagriculturere-

forms, the Centrewas empow-ering select corporate housesand was pushing “the alreadyvulnerablefarmersatthemercyof privateplayers”, Shetti said.“Ourdemandisthatthegov-

ernment should bring a lawmakingminimumsupportpricecompulsory.Andifanybodyvio-latesit, theyshouldbesubjectedto punishment under criminallaw,”hesaid, adding, “suchpro-visions of fair remunerationpricehasbeenenforcedforsugarcaneprocurement.Theviolationof FRP invites punishment, sowhycan't theCentreextendthesame lawforothercrops too?”Shettialsosaidtheprotestat

the BKCwas deliberately “keptnon-political”, and therefore, itwas confined to organisationsclosely associatedwith farmerunions.Notsurprisingly,mainstream

political parties such asCongress, NCP and Shiv Sena,which is inprincipleopposedtothenewfarmlaws,stayedoutoftheprotest.The common refrain voiced

by protesters was the Centre’s“insensitivity” towards farmers.ManyaskedwhytheCentrewasturningadeafeartofarmersag-itatinginthecoldforthepast27daysclosetothenation’scapital.Prakash Reddy from the CPI

said, "When the governmenttalksofreforms,itscommitmentshould be towards the largerwellbeingof farmers.Whathasemergedhereistheblatantmis-use of power by theModi gov-ernment to promote its chosencorporate houses. They are justnot bothered about small andmarginal farmers already reel-ing fromsevere financial crisis."The protest was to express

solidaritywith farmers andwillbe a prolonged battle, he said."MSPcannotbecompromised,"headded.

Amidchantsof ‘Corporatehatao,kisanbachao’, SwabhimaniShetkariSanghatana joinedbyCPI, LokSangharsh,Prahar,AISF

Various farmerorganisationsprotest toshowsolidaritywithfarmersprotestingat theDelhiborder, inMumbaionTuesday. AmitChakravarty

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, DECEMBER22

A CONTINGENT of farmers,which is travelling fromNashiktoDelhiunder thebannerofAllIndia Kisan Sabha to joinprotestingfarmersinDelhi,issettocrossoverintotheneighbour-ing stateofMadhyaPradeshonWednesday.Whilethecontingentofover

500farmersin70-oddvehicles,which started off fromNashikonMonday evening, has had asmooth journey in the state sofar, it isyettobeseenwhetheritwill be allowed entry intoMadhya Pradesh. ShrinivasVarma, Inspector General (Lawand Order) from MadhyaPradesh Police, said, "We havealerted the superintendent ofpolice of respective districtsabout farmers coming fromMaharashtra and toensure lawandorder."On Tuesday afternoon, the

farmers' cavalcade reachedMalegaon, where they werejoinedbya fewmore farmers.Addressing a meeting in

Malegaon this afternoon, sev-eral leaders, includingAIKSna-tional president Dr AshokDhawale and state AIKS secre-tary Ajit Nawale, said that thepeaceful march is to demandthecompleterepealof thethreefarm laws introduced by theUnion government, whichwould "destroy the farmingcommunity and benefit corpo-ratehouses".At a public meeting in

Chandwad, the farmers paidhomage to the 33 farmerswhohave been "martyred" to thecause in the last threeweeks.The farmers, alsoprotesting

against the Electricity(Amendment) Bill, 2020,claimedthatitwasmeanttopri-vatise the sector, whichwouldresult in higher power bills forconsumers.

VIVEKDESHPANDENAGPUR,DECEMBER22

THERE WAS high drama atNagpur where Bachhu Kadu,Minister of State for WaterResources,wasvirtuallydetainedforaboutthreehoursonTuesdaymorning at the IrrigationDepartment's guest house. ThiswasjustbeforeKaduwastotakeaflighttoMumbaiat9.11amtopar-ticipate in the farmers' agitationinfrontofRelianceoffice.Butashepreparedtoproceed

to the airport, he found a largeposse of policemen led by twoDCPsblockinghisexit.Thepolice toldhim that they

havedirectives tonot let himgo.After about three hours they lethim go followingwhat he saidwas his discussion withMaharashtraHomeMinisterAnilDeshmukh.Kadu, however, missed the

nextMumbai flight and had totake a subsequent flight toPune,fromwherehe reachedMumbaibyroadonlytomisstheagitation.Kadu told The Indian Express,

"Theyhadsomemisunderstand-ing." He added: "I spoke to AnilDeshmukh,who said itwill notlook good if I participated in theagitationandthatitwouldbebet-terif Idon'tgothere(Mumbai)."Kadu added, "I am going to

meet Chief Minister Uddhav

Thackeray tomorrow(Wednesday)inthisregard."Asked about Deshmukh's

view, Kadu said, "Farmers havebeen agitating for nearly twomonths now. Prime MinisterNarendraModiandAmitShaharedoing nothing to end the stale-mate... I hadwalked1,200kmtoDelhi earlier. That couldn't havebeenwithoutmy governmentbackingme."Kaduadded: "TheCentrehas

enacted the three farm laws tobenefit Adani andAmbani. So, IthoughtAmbanineededtobetoldthat youhavehad enough.Nowletfarmershavesomething.Itwastobeasymbolicprotest."

WITHMUMBAIINPUTS

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

CHIEF MINISTER UddhavThackerayonTuesdayaskedthestateCovid-19taskforcetostudythe treatment method for thenew fast-spreading variant ofthe virus found in the UnitedKingdom.Thackeray held a meeting

with all district collectors a dayafterheannouncednightcurfewand 14-daymandatory institu-tionalquarantineforpassengerscomingfromEuropeandMiddleEast. Inthebackdropof thenewfast-spreadingvariantof Covid-19foundintheUK,Thackerayin-structed all district collectors tobevigilant, increasethenumberof Covid-19 tests being con-ducted and make the use ofmasks mandatory for peopleandfinethosewhofloutnorms."The task forceshouldstudy

the treatment method for thenew variant," said Thackeray,addingthatthetaskforceshould

alsostudywhetherthereareanygenetic changes in the virus attheground level in thestate.The CM further instructed

district collectors to maintainadequatesupplyofoxygen,ven-tilators,medicinesandisolationfacilities. "The treatment andtestingcapacityshouldbemain-tainedasperthespeedatwhichthe new variant spreads. Penalaction should be taken againstpeoplewhodonotwearmasks,"saidThackeray.On night curfew being im-

posed in municipal areas be-tween 11 pm and 6 am fromTuesday, Thackeray urged peo-ple to avoid unnecessary travelduring theperiod.Healso reviewed theprepa-

rations for vaccination, includ-ingthemechanism,datacollec-tionof healthworkerswhowillbe vaccinated in the first phaseand arrangement of cold stor-ages among others. The districttaskforceshouldalsoholdmeet-ings regarding the vaccinationprocess, saidThackeray.

Uddhav asks DCsto study treatmentmethod for newCovid variant

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

ThecontroversysurroundingtheKanjurmargMetrocarshedlandturnedmurkieronTuesday,withthe Congress releasing officialdocuments to question the pre-viousBJP-ledgovernment'srole.The documents, released by

state Congress leader SachinSawant, indicated that the pre-vious Devendra Fadnavis gov-ernmenthad takenupaprivatedeveloper'sproposaltobuildaf-fordable houses under PradhanMantriAwasYojana'spublicpri-vate partnership model afterearmarking the Kanjurmargland for construction of the carshed for the ongoing Metro 6corridor.Accordingtothedocuments,

the state revenue department -then headed by BJP's currentMaharashtra unit presidentChandrakantPatil -hadon June11, 2019, formed a committeeheaded by Additional ChiefSecretary (Finance) ManojSaunik to study the private de-veloper's proposal of building 1lakhhousesonthe land.Thedeveloper,aconstruction

major,hadapproachedthegov-ernment claiming that it pos-sessedtheleaseholdrightof theland, which according to it wasoriginally leased out by theCentre's salt department to aperson named NanabhoyBhiwandiwala for 99 years, in1917. A government resolutionin this regard, a copy of whichhasbeenaccessedbyTheIndianExpress, showsthat thegovern-ment had also recommended

thecommitteetosuggesthowtorenew or revalidate the lease-hold right of the developer. Theoriginal leaseexpired in2016.Butsevenmonthsbeforethis

development,documentsshowthatPatil, acting inaquasi-judi-cialmatter inhiscapacityas therevenueminister,haddismissedthe salt department's plea thatthe erstwhile salt pan land be-longed to it. In an order passedonNovember 1, 2018, Patil hadruled that the land in questionwas vested absolutely in thestategovernment.The Uddhav Thackeray gov-

ernment has cited Patil's 2018order while allotting the 102-acre land to the MumbaiMetropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority (MM-RDA) for building an integratedcar shed for the underground

MumbaiMetro3and6linesandtwootherproposedcorridors.On October 1, Mumbai

(Suburban) Collector MilindBorikarhadtransferredthelandto theMMRDA, afterwhich thechief minister had announcedtherelocationof theMetro3carshed from Aarey to theKanjurmarg land.Earlier this month, the

Bombay High Court had put aspanner in these plans by stay-ing the implementation of thecollector'sorders,andadmittingthe Centre's plea that the landbelongedto it.Sawant also contended that

thestateurbandevelopmentde-partment, during the Fadnavisregime, had reserved theKanjurmarg land for theMetro6 car shed and had even indi-cated this in the corridor's de-

tailedproject report.While Fadnavis has argued

that the Kanjurmarg land wasalso considered by his govern-mentforLine3andthatcostim-plicationsand legalhurdleshadforcedittodroptheidea,Sawantproduced an official undertak-ingbyMMRDACommissionerRARajeev-datedMarch28,2019- showing that the planningbody, then led by Fadnavis, hadcommittedtopay"marketvalueto the Centre's Department ofIndustrialPolicyandPromotionfor these lands".The Congress leader further

questionedthepreviousgovern-ment'smoveof considering theprivate developer's request oflanddevelopment.Questioningthe BJP's opposition to buildingthe Line 3 car shed atKanjurmarg,Sawantallegedthat

the"Oppositionwasdrivenbyfi-nancial and business intereststhatwere detrimental to largerpublicgood".State BJP spokesperson

Keshav Upadhye, meanwhile,accusedSawantofspreadingliesand misleading people. "Themootquestionisthatthelandinquestionisstuckinlitigationandprivate parties have claimedpossessionof it. TheCongress istrying to mislead people," hesaid. "Thepreviousgovernmenthadalwaysmaintainedthat theerstwhile salt pan lands vestedinthestate.Ademandofthisna-turewasalsomadeinthemeet-ing of the Centre's WesternCouncil. Thecommittee(forde-velopment of salt pans) wasformed on the basis of discus-sions held during themeeting,"headded.

METROCARSHED

After claiming ownership, Fadnavis govt considered‘leaseholder’ proposal for building homes on Kanjurmarg land

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THENAGPURbenchof BombayHigh Court recently held thatmere possession of a dead ani-mal's skinwouldnot amount toanoffenceundertheMaharashtraAnimal PreservationAct,whichprohibitsslaughtering,importing,exportingandpossessingbeef.The bench of Justices V M

DeshpandeandAnilSKilornotedthatthereisnoprohibitionforthepossessionofskinofdeadanimalsunder theAct and further notedthat even if anycircular/notifica-tion/order is issued by the stategovernment,prohibitingposses-sionofskin,suchcircularwillnotprevailover theprovisionsof thestatute.Thecourtpassedthejudg-mentonDecember14afterhear-

ingapleabyoneShafiqullahaKha,driverof avanallegedlycarrying187cowskinsinJuly2018.While quashing the FIR

against the applicant, the courtheld, "Moreover, in absence ofany statutory provision, whichprohibits possession of skin of adeadanimal, even if anycircularornotificationororderhasbeenissuedby the state government,prohibiting possession of skin,such circular, notification or or-derwhichhasnostatutory forcewill not prevail over the provi-sionsofthestatuteandtothatex-tent,itwouldbeincontraventionwiththestatute.Thus,thecontra-vention of any suchnotificationorcircularororderasregardspos-session of skinwill not attractSection 188 (contempt of lawfulauthorityofpublicservant)oftheIndianPenalCode."

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THE AURANGABAD bench oftheBombayHighCourthas re-cently held that the AmendedRules-2020 implemented bythe Maharashtra governmenton September 7, which didaway with regional reserva-tions for admissions to under-graduate courses in medicalstudies, is valid.Thecourtobserved that the

concept of regional reserva-tions is against the NationalEligibility cum Entrance Test(NEET), which is based on theconcept of 'One Nation OneExamination" and aims at pro-viding admissions to studentson merit only, and hence, thestate's decision is valid.The bench also noted that

while regional reservationswere the need of the hour as

peraSupremeCourt judgmentof 1986,withdevelopmentandadvancement, regional quotaswould be counter-productiveand hence, there was nothingwrong in the state doing awaywith it.Adivisionbenchof JusticeS

V Gangapurwala and JusticeShrikant D Kulkarni onDecember18passedarulingonaclutchofpetitions filedbystu-dents and parents challengingtheMaharashtragovernment'sSeptember 7 decision of 'OneMaharashtra,OneMerit', abol-ishing regional reservation foradmissions tomedical courses.The70:30systemof admis-

sions was a long standing pol-icyof providing regional reser-vation of seats in medicalcolleges. For the purposes, thestatewasdivided into three re-gions -Marathwada,Vidarbha,and the Rest ofMaharashtra.As per the 70:30 policy for-

mula, 70per centof seatswerereserved for local residents(from that region), and 30 percent were available for candi-dates belonging to other partsof the state, which were filledon the basis of the NEETmerit list.However, as per the

amended rules, all seats shallbe made available for candi-dates from the state and shallbe filled on the basis of theNEET merit list, thereby abol-ishing regional reservation of70 per cent of the seats.The petitioner, who chal-

lenged the amendment, toldthecourt that ruleswere intro-duced 10 months after an ad-missionprocesshadbeganandtherefore, cannot be appliedretrospectively and the admis-sion process for the academicyear 2020-21 should not beimpacted.After hearing the submis-

sions, thebenchobserved, "Thecontention of the petitionersthat Amendment Rules-2020are made operative retrospec-tively do not appear to beproper. Before the conduct ofthe NEET examination, therules are amended. Moreover,amendedrulesdonotaffect theprospects of the students inwhatsoevermanner."The bench led by Justice

Gangapurwalaadded, "Theba-sis of admission to themedicalcourse is the merit aloneachieved by the students inNEETexamination.No studentcan claim the right to possessregional reservation.Themarksobtained in the HSC examina-tion carry no weightage formedical admission. In light oftheabove, theargumentsof thepetitioners that the amend-ment Rules-2020 applied ret-rospectively would not holdwater."

HC upholds scrapping of 70:30 system of regionalreservation for medical admissions in Maharashtra

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

FORMER MEDIA executiveIndraniMukerjeahasapproachedthe special court stating that sheis beingmade towear the con-vict'suniformeventhoughsheisstill anundertrial causingan im-pactonher"mentalwell-being".Mukerjea,who is facing trial onchargesofmurderingherdaugh-ter SheenaBora, hadduring thelasthearingthroughavideo-con-ference link from theprison, in-

formedthecourtthatshewasbe-ingmadetoweartheuniform.In Maharashtra prisons,

womenconvictsaredressed inagreen sareewhile undertrials,whoareconsideredinnocentun-tilprovenguiltyasperlaw,areal-lowedtowearcivilclothes.The court has directed the

Bycullawomen'sjailsuperinten-dentandtheCBItofileareplyonthe application. Mukerjea hasbeenbehindbars since 2015oncharges including murder, at-tempt tomurder, destruction ofevidence.

Made to wear convict’suniform: Indrani to court

Possession of skin ofdead cows, bullocks notan offence: Bombay HC

Farmers fromNashik onway to Delhi toreach MP today

LedbyRajuShetti, farmersholdday-longprotestatBKC

Deshmukh asked me not to go: Kadu

THECITY 5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

VAISHNAVI ORGANIC FARM PRODUCTS is the Proprietary firm founded by Mr. V.G.Ghag, in1991. He is Qualified Post Graduate Agriculturist (Horticulturist), Naturopath and well

known senior organic consultant for the cultivation of Organic fruits ,vegetables and herbson hundreds of acres of land around Mumbai, Maharashtra (India).He completed hismasters in marketing management through Welingkar Institute of Management,

Matunga.He has worked as an associate consultant for two World Bank projects- first beingas a research-associate through Voltas Internaational Ltd.in the year 1988-89 and secondbeing with High Value Horticulture PLC.UK, for Government of Uttar Pradesh, India in

1995.He has visited Israel in 1999 and 2012, for the upliftment of Agricultural technology inIndia.He is Ex-Principal of Agricultural School, Kharavate, Ratnagiri.He is currently workingas an organic and traditional consultant for commercial farming. Some of his big projectsinclude 350 acres in Bundi, Rajasthan and 240 acres in Balda, Pardi, Gujrat.VAISHNAVIORGANIC FARM PRODUCTS is cultivating wheatgrass since 1991.We have food and drug

license since 2004. Vaishnavi Organic Farm has an organic certification from TUV previouslyand currently with Intertek.Company also cultivates vital greens, since it is a well knownfact that the processing and preservation of fresh spoils 90 percent of nutrients.Vitogreen

Powder and Fresh Vitogreen (Wheat Grass) is cultivated and packed at – VAISHNAVIORGANIC FARM PRODUCT, Village –Ganegaon, Post-Kadav, Tal – Karjat, Dist –Raigad,

(Maharashtra, India), 80Kms, away from Mumbai.Through his articles in “Loksatta”, LeadingMarathi Daily News paper, and “Mumbai Samachar”, Leading Gujarati News papers, he hastrained thousands of families in Mumbai for the cultivation of wheatgrass.He has been

interviewed thrice on Television shows- Firstly by Sahyadri's 'Amchi Mati, Amchi Manse', forbringing the very new concept of 'Fresh greens' by organic cultivation. Secondly by

Sahyadri’s ‘Krushi Darshan’, for “Sheti Vyavasahyatil Navin Vata”.Recently interviewed by'Suvarna Konkan', well known Television show for coming up with new avenues in OrganicCultivation.COMPANY’S MISSIONCompany’s mission is to increase awareness of OrganicWheatgrass and Sprouts, as most health promoting breakfast, in major cities and towns,presently affected by diseases and stress. It is well known fact that morning breakfastshould be rich and health promoting. Our company also provides fresh greens like freshBramhi leaves, fresh Alfa leaves, fresh Aloe vera leaves, Fresh Barley grass leaves, fresh

mooring leaves, and fresh Papaya leaves, fresh Tulsi leaves at door step.Company wants tomake available these greens Juices on all juice bars in Mumbai.

Protesting farmers believe dismantling the APMC mandis will encourage abolishing thepurchase of their crops at the minimum support price. They are therefore demanding theminimum support prices to be guaranteed by the government.

Among the demands is the removal of punishments and fines for stubble burning as well asrelease of farmers arrested for burning paddy stubble in PunjabAs of 21 December 2020, the farmers' demands include:

Convene a special Parliament session to repeal the farm lawsMake minimum support price (MSP) and state procurement of crops a legal rightAssurances that conventional procurement system will remainImplement Swaminathan Panel Report and peg MSP at least 50% more than weighted averagecost of productionCut diesel prices for agricultural use by 50%Repeal of Commission on Air Quality Management in NCR and the adjoining Ordinance 2020and removal of punishment and fine for stubble burningRelease of farmers arrested for burning paddy stubble in PunjabAbolishing the Electricity Ordinance 2020Centre should not interfere in state subjects, decentralization in practiceWithdrawal of all cases against and release of farmer leaders

Above information is for people to understand Farmer's demands, We are not against Govt orany political influence

No Farmer No Food

The discovery of agriculture was the first big step toward a civilized life. We Wish Everyone Happy Farmer's day

ADVERTORIAL

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THE BOMBAY High Court on Tuesdayasked the state government to provewhether the alleged offensive tweet ofNaviMumbairesidentSunainaHoley(38)on April 14was aimed at creating com-munalenmity.ThegovernmentsubmittedthatHoley

andher followershadtriedtousetheso-cialmediaplatformtomaligna segmentof the society by attributingmalicious

content towards them during the lock-down.Adivision benchof Justice S S Shinde

and Justice M S Karnik was hearingHoley’spleawhichsoughtquashingoftheFIR against her in connection with hercommentsongatheringofpeopleoutsidetheBandrastationduring the lockdown.HoleywasbookedbytheMumbaiand

Palghar police for allegedly makingoffensiveremarksonsocialmediaagainstthe Maharashtra government, ChiefMinister Uddhav Thackeray and his sonAaditya.

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THECONGRESSmay be planning a solofight in the 2022 BMC elections, but inneighbouringNaviMumbai,where civicpollsaredue,thesituationappearstobeal-togetherdifferent.Seen as aweak player in the satellite

town,theCongressisinfavourofapre-pollpactwithitsalliesShivSenaandNCP,whohavebeen thedominant forces in the re-gionoverthepastdecade.On Tuesday, during an internal party

meeting,mostCongressleadersfromNaviMumbai backed an alliance. FisheriesMinisterandNaviMumbaiCongress’sam-parkmantri, AslamShaikh, too, spoke infavour of the alliance. “TheMaha VikasAghadi hasdone a lot ofwork in thepastoneyear.Takeittothepeople,”Shaikhtoldpartyworkersatthemeeting.“Asthegov-ernment in power and theparty,wewillgiveyoutherequiredsupport,”headded.The Navi Mumbai Municipal

Corporation elections were originallyscheduled for April, butwere postponeddue to the lockdown.While the ElectionCommission is yet to declare new polldates,partieshavebegunpreparinginfull

swingfortheelections.Inthe2015civicpolls,theCongresshad

wonjust10ofthe111seats,whileNCPhadbagged52andShivSena38.However,theNCPcorporatorsswitchedovertoBJPaheadof theAssemblypolls in2019, alongwithformerminister and the region’s heavy-weightGaneshNaik. TheBJPnowhas54seats,whiletheCongress’tallyhassincein-creasedto13.TheShivSenahas42seats.WiththeNaviMumbaicivicelections

preceding the BMC polls, the Congressalso wants to see whether an allianceleads to transfer of some of Sena’s loyalvotebank.“Theparty isn’t really a contender for

thetopslotinNaviMumbai.Byforginganalliancewith Shiv Sena andNCP,we cankeep BJP, which has been bolstered byNaik’spresence,atbay.Moreimportantly,wewill also know if Sena voters vote forCongress and vice versa,” said a seniorCongress leader.Whilemost CongresscorporatorsinMumbaiwantthepartytogo italone,a leadersaidthat thedecisionon whether to joinhands with Sena andNCP in Mumbai maywell hinge on how thealliance fares in NaviMumbai.

GOVT. OF BIHAR

BIHAR COMBINED ENTRANCE COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION BOARDI.A.S. Association Building, Near Patna Airport, Patna-14.

UNDER GRADUATE MEDICAL ADMISSION COUNSELLING(UGMAC)-2020 for MBBS / BDS / B.V.Sc. & A.H. in Govt. Medical / Dental / Bihar

Veterinaty Colleges and Private Medical / Dental Colleges of BiharAdv. No.- BCECEB(UGMAC)-2020/11 Dated 22.12.2020

Important Notice for MOP-UP Round CounsellingFresh Online Registration and submission of Application form are invited from such qualified,

eligible & interested NEET(UG)-2020 candidates for appearing in the MOP-UP round Offline Counsellingof Under Graduate Medical Admission Counselling (UGMAC)-2020, who are not admitted in anyMedical/ Dental Colleges of India, on the vacant seats of Government / Private Medical / Dental Collegesof Bihar / Bihar Veterinary College after admission on the basis of UGMAC-2020 Online 2nd roundcounselling from 23.12.2020 to 24.12.2020.2. Eligibility criteria and instructions and other details are available in the prospectus of UGMAC-2020 which can be downloaded from the Board's website bceceboard.bihar.gov.in.3. Those candidate who are admitted in any Govt./ Pvt. Medical / Dental College of India are noteligible for MOP-UP round counselling.4. Those candidates who have already duly submitted the online application form earlier for UGMAC-2020 and are not admitted in any Govt. / Pvt. Medical / Dental Colleges of India and are interested totake admission in Medical / Dental Colleges and Bihar Veterinary College on the basis of MOP-UPround counselling of UGMAC-2020 are also required to do fresh Registration and duly submit theapplication form with requisite fee.5. Seat Matrix of vacancies after completion of 2nd Round Counselling will be available on Board'swebsite from 25.12.2020. If any further vacancies arise, the Seat matrix of updated vacancies shall beuploaded on the Board's website on 27.12.2020 (10:00 A.M.) before starting of MOP-UP Counselling.The details of programme / process / fee etc. has been uploaded on the Board's website :bceceboard.bihar.gov.in vide adv. No. BCECEB(UGMAC)-2020/10 Dated 22.12.2020.6. The concerned candidates are requested to download the details and go through it and complete theprocess accordingly as per the details of above advertisement for attending the MOP-UP counselling.

Controller of Examination

For Navi Mumbai civic polls,Congress wants to fight inalliance with MVA partners

Prove how Holey’s tweet aimedto create enmity: HC asks govt

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

MORE THAN 12 years afterSureshBhagat,theheadofasyn-dicateof“matka”gambling,wasmurdered and his wife JayaChedda conspired about it, theMumbai Police last week ar-rested Suresh's brother Vinod(69), alongwith four others, forallegedly conspiring to kill Jaya(57)andher sisterAshaBhatt.The police are trying to find

if there is a financial reason be-hindtheRs60-lakhsuparigivento contract killers or if it wasVinod plotting revenge for hisbrother’smurder.Jaya,whoalongwithfiveoth-

ers, includinghersonHiteshandloverSuhasRege,wasconvictedof Suresh'smurder in 2013, hasbeen out on bail since the pastyear. Sureshwas killed on June13,2008,ashiscarwasrammedbyatruckontheAlibag-Penroadwhen he was returning homefromacourthearing.JointCommissionerofPolice

(Crime)Milind Bharambe saidthatVinodhadcontactedhisfor-mercellmateatArthurRoadjail,BasheerSuleimanaliasMama–currently based atManchesterin UK – to arrange for contractkillers. Suleiman had contactedRamveer Sharma alias Pandit(39),aresidentofBijnor inUttarPradesh, for thesame.Incidentally,Vinod,Suleiman

and Sharma had been arrestedinAhmedabadin2012foraplanto kill another person linked tothematka business. Vinod hadmet Suleiman in 2007 whentheywerebothlodgedatArthurRoad jail.Sharma roped in

Mohammad Shabbir Darji (31)andMaqsoodQureshi(35),bothfrom Bijnor, and MohammadAnsari (41), a Dharavi resident,for themurder.AnamountofRs60lakhhad

been agreed upon to carry outthekillingof thetwosisterswhowere staying at a flat inGhatkopar, saidpolice.DCPAkbarPathansaidthere

aretwopossiblemotivesthepo-

liceareworkingon.Theprimaryone is that once Jaya was re-leased fromprison, she tried tocontrol thematka business andmay have hurt the interests ofVinod. When she was behindbars, her sisterAsha, alongwitha brother, was running thematka business and Vinod toohadhisownnetwork.“We suspect that after Jaya

cameoutof jail, shewouldhavetaken over Vinod’s network,prompting him to plan theirmurders,”Pathanadded.The secondmotive behind

thekillingcouldbeVinodtryingtotakerevengeforSuresh’smur-der that was plotted by Jaya.“EversinceSuresh’smurder,Jayahad beenmainly behind bars.This was the only time shewasout for long,” anofficer said.Pathan said that as per their

probesofar,thehitjobwastobecarried out in February as partpaymentsforthesupariamounthad been paid. “However, wesuspect due to the lockdown,theyhadtodelaytheirplan.Theaccused in the last fewweekshadcometotheGhatkoparsev-eraltimestoconductarecce.Wesuspecttheywouldhavecarriedout themurders in thenext fewdays,” theofficer said.Aroundfourdaysago,ateam

led by Inspector NandkumarGopaleofCrimeBranch(unitIX),receivedatipoff thatsomemenhadcometo thecitywithan in-tentiontokillthesisters.Thepo-licewentontoarrestDarji fromKhar on Friday and found twocountry revolvers, two cell-phonesandsix livecartridges inaddition to the photograph of awoman.Based on his interrogation,

the others were arrested.Suleiman has been named as awantedaccused in the case andthepolice are set towrite to theUK authorities to begin theprocessof gettinghis custody.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

AMETROPOLITANmagistrate’scourt on Tuesday accepted theclosure report filed by theMumbaipoliceinacheatingcasefiled against Jet Airways and itsfounder Naresh Goyal and hiswife Anita. Thiswas a day aftertheBombayHighCourt rejectedthe Enforcement Directorate’splea seeking to intervene in theproceedings to oppose the clo-surereport filedbythepolice.The casewas related to the

complaint filedbyAkbarTravelsof India Private Limited oncharges including cheating andcriminalbreachof trustclaimingthat the company was owedmoney to the tune of Rs 46.05crorebyJetAirways.TheFIRwasfiled atMRAMargpolice stationin February. InMarch, thepolicefiled a closure report before thecourt stating that no evidencewasfoundofthecomplainantbe-ingcheated.TheED,whichfiledaseparate

complaint inthecaseonchargesofmoney-laundering,filedanin-tervention application opposingthe closure report. The court re-jectedtheapplicationstatingthatthe central agency had no locustointerveneintheproceedingsofanotherinvestigatingagency.TheED’sappealintheHighCourtwasalsorejectedonMondaywiththecourt stating that the ED cannotbeallowedtocontesttheclosurereport filed by the state. The EDhadfileditscasebasedontheba-sis of the FIR filed by theMRAMargpolice.Themetropolitanmagistrate’s

courtalsorejectedaprotestpeti-tionfiledbyAkbarTravelsoppos-ing the closure report. Its legalrepresentativesaidthatadecisionon filing an appealwill be takenafter going through the detailedorder.JetAirwayshadshutteredop-

erations due to a cash crunchfromApril 2019. Since then, theairlinecameunderthescannerofmultiple investigativeagencies.

Cheating caseagainst Jet:Court acceptspolice’sclosure report

Assassins hired to killkey figure in gamblingsyndicate arrested

VinodBhagat

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THE STATE government onTuesdaysignedmemorandumofunderstandings(MoUs)worthRs61,000crorewith25Indiancom-panies inmore than 15 sectorsunderits'MagneticMaharashtra'initiative. TheMoUssignedareexpected to create 2.53 lakhjobsacross thestate.The MoUs were signed in

thepresenceofChiefMinisterUddhav Thackeray andIndustries Minister SubhashDesai.Theproposed investments

are from IT, pharmaceuticals,healthcare, biotechnology,

foodprocessing, steel, automo-biles, engineering and oil andgas sectors amongothers.Assuring the government

support to the investors,Thackeray said, "It is importantthat entrepreneurs invest inMaharashtra even in times ofcrisis. The investment of Rs1,12,000croreinjustsixmonthsduringtheCovid-19crisis iscer-tainly a great example ofMaharashtra for the entirecountry."He added that the concept

of 'Udyog Mitra' is great, as itwill resolvetheproblemsof en-trepreneursonpriority, leadingto an increase in the speed ofwork.Someof theMoUssignedin-

clude the JSW Steel (Rs 20,000crore), Indian Corporation (Rs11049 crore) andRs7500 croreeach by K Raheja, KirtikumarSteel Udyog and Inspire InfraProjects.Subhash Desai said that of

the 29MoUs signed earlier, 21entrepreneurshavebeengivenland for their projects."Efforts are being made to

bringdirect investmentandin-creaseemployment.Arelation-ship manager has been ap-pointed for each industry toincreaseinvestment,"headded.Earlier thisyear, thegovern-

menthad launchedkey invest-mentpromotion initiativesun-der 'MagneticMaharashtra2.0',such as Plug & PlayInfrastructure,MahaJobs,MahaParwana, Investor FirstProgram, CapacityAugmentation of MIDC landbanks and Dedicated CountryDesks.In June, MoUs with an in-

vestment of Rs 17,000 crorewere signed under 'MagneticMaharashtra 2.0' while agree-ments of investment worth Rs35,000 crore were signed lastmonth.Industry officials said that

the state has attracted invest-ments of aboutRs14,000 crorethrough organic investmentsthrough its advanced singlewindowsystem in2020.

MAHARASHTRA6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

ROURKELA SMART CITY LIMITED,Rourkela

Udit Nagar, Rourkela-769012,Email: rourkelascl@gmail.com

BID ID: - RCL/2251/2020 Date. 21.12.2020‘NIT’ National Competitive Bidding

The Chief Executive Officer, RSCL Invites bids from eligiblecontractors for the project “Construction of Food Court NearBasanti Over Bridge on Percentage Rate basis in Rourkela” forRs. 47.91 Lakhs (Estimated cost).The Complete Bid documents can be viewed /downloaded fromofficial portal of Rourkela Municipal Corporation(https://www.rmc.nic.in or e-procurement portal of Odishahttps://tendersodisha.gov.in from 21.12.2020 to 04.01.2021 up to5:00 PM. Bids must be submitted online only at[https:/tendersodisha.gov.in] on or before 04.01.2021 up to 17:00Hrs IST. Bid through any other mode shall not be entertained.However, Bid Security document fee & Power of Attorney and otherdocuments as per DTCN shall be submitted physically by the Bidderon or before 07.01.2021 by 4:00 PM. The RSCL reserves the rightsto accept or reject all or any of the BIDs without assigning any reasonwhatsoever. For queries, intending bidder my contract GM(E&T)(8249833105) and Email id : Rourkela Smart City Ltd.

Sd/-Chief Executive Officer

Rourkela Smart City LtdOIPR-13080/11/0012/2021

C-256

GOVERNMENT OF TAMILNADU

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENTBUILDINGS (C & M) CIRCLE, MEDICAL WORKS, TRICHYTENDER EXTENSION NOTICE, DATED: 22.12.2020

The date of tender for the work in the Tender Notice No.14/2020-2021/ BCM/MW/TRY/Dated:23.11.2020 published inNewspaper isextended due to Administrative reason and the date of receivingtender is fixed upto 3.00 PM on 12.01.2021 and will be opened on12.01.2021 at 3.30 PM. The tender schedule can be downloadedupto 11.01.2021, 5.45PM.All other Detailsmay be downloaded fromthe fol lowing websi tes : www.tenders.tn.gov.in(or)www.tntenders.gov.in

Other conditions remain unaltered.Superintending Engineer, P.W.D.,

Buildings (C & M) Circle, Medical Works, TrichyDIPR / 4823 / TENDER / 2020

GREATER CHENNAI CORPORATIONMechanical Engineering Department

DIPR/4873/Tender/2020

Short Re E-Tender is invited for the following work bySuperintending Engineer (Mech), (Head Quarters) as per tendercondi�on

Ref No. Name of Work Tender Value EMD

M1/1773A/2020

Supply, Installa�on andCommissioning of 11Nos. of Fully Automa�cHorizontal Baling Machinewith conveyor a�achment

Rs.546 Lakhs Rs.5,46,000/-

Last date and �me for submission of Tender: 07.01.2021,3.00 p.m.Tender Opening date and �me: 08.01.2021, 3.15 p.m.

Superintending Engineer (Mechanical)

M.E.D.C.No.M1/1773A/2020Short Re E- Tender No�ce

Tender details can be downloaded from: h�p://tntenders.gov.in

DELHI JAL BOARD : GOVT OF NCT OF DELHIPUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE (W)

ROOM NO. 306, VARUNALAYA PHASE-II, KAROL BAGH, NEW DELHIEMAIL ID: proyap32018@gmail.com PHONE NO.- 011 2355 0843

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

Sl.No.

Name of Work EstimatedCost For each

group (Rs.)

Bid securitydeposit For each

group (Rs.)

Period ofCompletion

Last dt./timeof receipt of

Bids

1. Selection of Partner Public Relations (PR) Agency to carry outMedia Tracking and Analysis, and to assist DJB in handling,managing and improving the perceptions of the organization,publicizing its activities, policies and programs to the public at largeunder the YAP-III PR component, at both macro and micro levels.

Lump Sum INR 3,96,000.00(Rupees ThreeLakh Ninety-SixThousand Only)

36 months 03/02/2021up-to 15:00

Hours

Further details in this regard can be seen at DJB website i.e. www.delhijalboard.nic.in under “Expression ofInterest” link.

ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER)Advt. No. J.S.V. 274/2020-21

“STOP CORONA: WEAR MASK, FOLLOW PHYSICALDISTANCING, MAINTAIN HAND HYGIENE”

Sd/-Dy. Director (PR)

Delhi Jal Board

(Government of Karnataka undertaking)

No. SEE(P)/ MESCOM /2020-21/11612 Date: 15.12.2020

MESCOM

ªÉÄ Á̧ÌA

ndCorporate Of ce, 2 Floor MESCOM Bhavana, Kavoor Cross Road,Bejai, Mangaluru-575 004 Phone: 0824-2885795 E-mail: sepmescom@rediffmail.com

MESCOM invites tender forManufacture&Supply of followingmaterial:

TENDER NOTIFICATION (E-Procurement Portal Only)

For Power Related Complaints and Assistant Call Toll Free Number 1912

Sd/- Superintending Engineer (Ele.)(Proc), MESCOM, Mangalore

Tender No Name of the Material proposed for Procurement

MESCOM/2020-21/IND738

Quantity

No. 8 Guy Strain Insulators 1,40,000 Nos

The interested eligible bidders may log on towww.eproc.karnataka.gov.in on or after 24.12.2020.

MANGALORE ELECTRICITY SUPPLY COMPANY LIMITED

Tree Auction NoticeIT is hereby notified to the general public that auction for grant

of right for cutting/removal of 09 trees at Chief Engineer OfficeColaba Mumbai will be held in this office premises on 04.01.2021 at1100 hrs. Interested bidder can see the Trees on 01.01.2021 at 1100hrs. Earnest money for Rs. 10,000/- is to be deposited in this officeup to 01.01.2021 at 1100 hrs. Terms and conditions and details oftrees can be seen during office hours in this office.

Sd/-No. GEN/New/64/Project/V dt. 22.12.2020 (Rahul Anand Sharma)Near Aditi Ahlya Apartment, Pilot Bunder, Defence Estates OfficerColaba, Mumbai-400 005. Mumbai Circle

SANJANABHALERAOMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

MAHARASHTRA AT 1,690 hasthe third largest population ofleopards inthecountry,accord-ing to the 'Status of leopards inIndia, 2018' report, releasedonMonday. Madhya Pradesh hasthehighestnumberof leopards-3,421, followedbyKarnataka-1,783.The Union environment

ministry has said there hasbeen an over 60 per cent in-crease in the population ofleopards in India since 2014.Therewereat least12,852leop-

ards in the country in 2018comparedto7,910 leopardses-timated in 2014.However, forestofficialsand

expertssaid that thenumberofleopardswillbemuchhigher inthe state than the current esti-mation. The study has beenconducted only in tiger-popu-lated forests areas underProject Tiger, and leopardpop-ulations in other agriculturalareas have not been consid-ered.Unlike tigers, leopards are

widespread and adaptable bigcats. Leopardsalso thrive inur-ban landscapes in sugarcanefields and other agricultural

fields preying on wild boars,dogsandcattle,whichwerenotpart of the survey.While leopardscoexistwell

with tigers, they have a muchwider distribution than tigers."The current estimate is basedon sampling that was carriedout in tiger-bearing areas likeVidarbha, Shayadri reserves inthestate.Thismeans thatasig-nificant portion of leopardhabitat such as the SanjayGandhi National Park,Ahmednagar, Nashik, Beed,Solapurarenot sampled in thisexercise," saidSunilLimaye,ad-ditional principal conservatorof forests (wildlife).

The estimation exercisehasn't considered other leop-ardoccupiedareassuchasnon-forested habitats (coffee andtea plantations), higher eleva-tions in the Himalayas, aridlandscapes and themajority ofthe northeastern landscape."The population estimationshould be considered as theminimumnumber of leopardsin each of the landscapes," thereport cautions.The study was conducted

through capturing 5,240 leop-ards on camera apart fromsatellite imagingandfieldworkbyteamsof forestofficersalongwith teams of the Wildlife

Institute of India and NationalTiger Conservation Authority(NTCA).But while the estimated

number of leopards has in-creased, the report alerts thatthe leopard habitat area hasbeenshrinkingalarminglyoverthe past 100-125 years."While genetic data and

population data suggest thatleopard populations across iscontinuous, there isan increas-ing need for corridor connec-tivity, and improvement ofhabitat, to reduce interfacewith humans and thereby re-ducing the chance of conflict,"the report has concluded.

1,690 leopards instate, third largest in India

MAYURAJANWALKARMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THE RETURN of 38-year-oldDeepti Soni, whowas reportedmissingfromShirdi,hasbeenasshrouded inmysteryasherdis-appearance inAugust, 2017.On Monday, even as the

Aurangabad bench of theBombay High Court sent herhome to Indore with her hus-bandManojSoni, it felt that thepolice should question Deepti,as her answers could perhapsprovide leads to other disap-pearances reported from thetemple town inAhmednagar.Deepti, who underwent a

medical examination, wasfoundbothmentallyandphysi-cally fit by six doctors fromAurangabad. But ever since shereturned to her family a weekago,shehasbeensayingthatsheremembers nothing of the lastthreeyears.Lawyer Sushant Dixit, who

represented Manoj Soni incourt,said,"Shehasbeengivingevasiveanswers toallourques-tions. She says she doesn't re-memberanythingandifyouaskher anything else, she says shehas a headache or was tiredfrom all the traveling fromIndore toAurangabad. She isn'tsaying anything about whereshewas for threeyears."While itmayhavebeenonly

aweeksinceshereturnedtoher

sister's house in Indore, threeyears after her family last sawher outside the Saibaba templein Shirdi, Deepti may have tobreakher silence soon.TheHChad said in its order,

"Wemakeitclearthatthepoliceof thisstatewillhavetogototherootof thematterwithregardtothepersonsgoingmissingfromapilgrimagetownlikeShirdi,asweseriouslyapprehendhumantrafficking or an organ traffick-ing racket. In this investigationprocess,wepermitthepolicetointerrogate Smt. Deepti w/oManojkumar Soni by resortingto all legally permissiblemeth-ods of interrogation, includingNARCO Analysis Test, since sheisnowfound/tracedout,andshecould be an important link tounravel any racket."The court, however, noted

that medical examinationshowedthatnoneofDeepti'sor-gansweremissing,therewasnosign of a surgery and physicaltorture or sexual assault. Shealso showed no signs of"demonstrable clinical psy-chopathology of a nature im-pairingherreasoningandjudg-ment at the time ofassessment", itnoted.Thecourt,however, said "a larger issueneeds tobeaddressed"."Considering that115males

andmorethan100womenhadgone missing since 2017 till27.10.2020, outofwhom,about100 males and about 100 fe-

males were traced and the 11persons traced in themonth ofDecember 2020. Yet, about ap-proximately 60 persons (maleand female together) are to betraced...," Justice Ravindra VGhuge and Justice B UDebadwarobservedwhilecon-vertingManojSoni'shabeascor-pus petition into a suo motucriminal PIL.Thecourtappreciatedtheef-

fortsof theMaharashtradirectorgeneral of police (DGP) afterwhose intervention, 11missingpeoplewere traced thismonth.Even after Deepti had been

found, the judgeswrote in theirorder,"...werequesttheDirectorGeneral of Police, Maharashtrastate, to continue with his en-deavour and to issue necessaryinstructions to the policeforce/units formed for tracingout themissingpeople."Noting that in all, 11 cases of

missingpersonshadbeensolvedafter the intervention of DGPSubodh Jaiswal, the court saidthiswasan"admirableachieve-ment".Amongthosetracedthismonth, including Deepti, werefivemoremissingwomen.Theyincludedan18yearold,whowasreportedmissing in2014.The court said that the peti-

tion, now a suomotu criminalPIL, will be heard on everyfourth Monday of the monthwhen the police will appraisethe court of the progressmadein tracing those stillmissing.

SHIRDIMISSINGWOMANRETURNS

Found after 3 years, HC sayswoman could be ‘importantlink’ to unravel racket

Govt signs agreements worthRs 61,000 cr with 25 companies

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THE STATE government onTuesdayannouncedaslewofini-tiatives to boost start-ups inMaharashtra,includingprovidingfinancial assistance to those thatwishtofileforpatents."The start-ups offering inno-

vativesolutionsoftenincursignif-icant expensewhile applying forpatents. Manymiss out due tohighexpensesinvolved.Thegov-ernment has decided to lend ahand," said Skill DevelopmentMinisterNawabMalik.Tosurviveinahighlycompet-

itive start-up ecosystem, youngentrepreneurs often race to filepatentstoguardtheirIntellectualPropertyRights.Maliksaidthattheinitialplan

istoprovideassistanceuptoRs10lakhtoabout125to150start-ups,subjecttoamaximum80percentcontribution by the state-runMaharashtra State InnovationSociety.Those filing fordomesticpatentswill be entitled to assis-tanceworthRs2lakh,whilethosevying for international ones canavailuptoRs10lakh.Theministeraddedthattheschemewillbeap-plicable to all utility patents, in-dustrydesignpatents,copyrights(limitedtocomputercoding)andtrademarkapplication.

New assistancescheme forstart-upsannounced

PARTHASARATHIBISWASPUNE,DECEMBER22

CONCERNEDABOUTtheconstantfluctuationinthewholesalepricesof tur, theNational AgriculturalCooperative MarketingFederation (NAFED)hasdecidedtobeginthegovernmentprocure-ment of the pulse soon.Maharashtrahasbeengivenatar-get of 2.89 lakh tonne (lt) of turprocurement, whichwould beundertakenby the variousmar-keting agencies of the state gov-ernment and theMaha FarmersProduce Company (FPC) - theapexbodyofFPCsinthestate.Considerablybeforetheactual

arrivalof tur,ex-millpricesof thecommodity in thegrowinghubsof LaturandAkolahavegonebe-low the government-notifiedMinimumSupportPrice(MSP)ofRs6,000perquintal.Forthepres-entseason,Indiahasseenturcul-tivationonover47.10lakhhectare(lh) of land,whileMaharashtrahasreportedturbeingcultivatedon12.36lhof land.

Initial estimates had talkedaboutabumpercrop,butwiltat-tacks have been reported since,whichtakeatollonperacreyields.Traders at Latur'swholesale

markethadprimarilyattributedthe slide inwholesale prices tothe NAFED's decision to liqui-dateitsstockaswell theCentralgovernment extending the ar-rivaldateof importedturtill theend of December. Both thesemeasures, theysaid,hadplayeda negative role in the price dis-coveryof tur,withthepulseex-pected to trade below theMSPoncethearrivalsstart.Manyfelt

that the decision of NAFED tostart procurement would helpin correcting theprice slide.SourcesintheMahaFPCsaid

that they have decided to pro-cure one lt of tur in more than300procurementcentersrunbytheir member FPCs. Farmerswhowish to sell their produceat the centers have to registeronline, whichmay be done bysubmittingtheiraadharcardde-tails, 7/12 land extracts, etc.Once the registration is com-plete, farmers will get an SMSannouncingthedatewhentheyare expected tobring their pro-duce for sale.Farmer registration is ex-

pected to start fromDecember28,whilethedateforthebegin-ningofprocurementwillbean-nounced later.Meanwhile, crop loss has

beenreportedfromthedistrictsof Latur, Osmanbad, Nanded,Hingoli and Latur due to rainandwiltattacksonthestandingcrop. In some areas, instead ofthe 6-7 quintal per acre yield,farmershavereportedfar loweryieldsof 4-4.5quintal.

Ahead of tur harvest, govtannounces procurement scheme

Considerablybeforeactualarrivalof tur,ex-millpricesof thecommodity inthegrowinghubsof LaturandAkolahavegonebelowthegovernment-notifiedMSPofRs6,000perquintal

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPUNE,DECEMBER22

ORGANS FROM a 39-year-oldlabourer, who was declaredbraindeadafterhe fell fromthesecond floor of a constructionsite,wereable tosave four livesafter his family membersagreedtodonatehisheart, liverand both kidneys. His corneaswere also donated.Mayuri Barge, transplant

coordinatoratDYPatilMedicalCollege and Hospital, said theman was admitted to the hos-pital onDecember 18.Hewasdeclaredbraindead

on December 21 and after hiswife consented to donate hisorgans, the heart was sent onTuesday morning to JaslokHospital for a transplant.While one kidney was

transplanted at D Y PatilMedical College, the otherwassent to RubyHall Clinic.

Organs frombrain deadlabourer helpsave 4 lives

RAAKHIJAGGA&ABHINAVRAJPUTLUDHIANA,NEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

THE BJP in Punjab Tuesday re-movedapostonMSPpurchaseofcrops fromsocialmediahandlesafter the 36-year-old modelwhosepictureswereusedaspartof themessagesaidhewasattheSinghu border protestingwithfarmers. Hoshiarpur-basedHarpreetSingh,popularas ‘HarpFarmer’ on Twitter, claimedhispicturewasusedwithouthisper-mission.JanardanSharma,mediainchargeofPunjabBJP,said,“Iam

not aware as to how thepicturewasusedandwhousedit.Ithinkithasbeentakenoffnow."SpeakingtoTheIndianExpress,

the36-year-old,aphotographerwho also makes short musicvideos,said:“Myfriendcalledtosaymyphotowasbeingusedinan advertisement campaign insupportofthefarmbill.Ifiguredithadbeenliftedfrommysocialmediaprofile.”The photo, from five years

ago,showsHarpreetinafarmer’sattire and says that during thiskharif season, the purchase ofcropsatMSPiscontinuing.

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

JUST TWOweeks after the ex-pertcommitteescrutinisingap-plicationsforemergencyuseau-thorisation(EUA)ofPune-basedSerumInstituteof India’sCovid-19 vaccine sought additionallate-stage safety and efficacydata, the firm has submittedfresh data to the regulator, gov-ernment sources said.“Serum Institute India has

submitted additional data. Theregulator’soffice, internally,willreview these documents. Onlythen they will request theSubjectExpertCommittee(SEC)tomeet,”sourcestoldTheIndianExpress.Significantly, themedia has

reportedthattheUKregulatorisset to “clear” the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, “possiblyonDecember28andDecember29”. In India, SII which soughtEUA from the Drugs ControllerGeneral of India (DGCI) onDecember10wasasked to sub-mitsafetydataonPhase2/3clin-ical trials in India of its vaccinecandidatenamedCovishield,de-velopedbyOxford-AstraZeneca.During theweekly briefing,

Dr V K Paul, who co-chairs thehigh-levelcommitteeonvaccine

administration,withoutnamingthe Pune-based firm, Tuesdaysaid the process of examiningadditional data has begun. “Aseveryoneknows,therearethreeapplications before the DGCI;they include Pfizer, SerumInstitute and Bharat Biotech.Pfizer has not yet submitteddata. The other two companieshad presented the data and theregulatorsoughtadditionaldata.This is a normal process,”Paul said.Paul further reiterated that

the decision for granting ap-proval for EUAwill be based onestablishedscientificnorms.TheSEC,which consists of a

panelofexperts,hadearliersaidthatSIIhaspresentedtheirpro-posal along “with the interimsafetydatafromPhaseII/IIIclin-icaltrialcarriedoutinthecoun-try and the interim safety andefficacyresultsofPhaseII/IIIandPhase III clinical trials carriedout intheUK,othercountries&Indiabefore the committee”.

EXPRESSNETWORK 7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

NOTICENOTICE is hereby given to the public that I am required to

investigate the right, the title and interest of MRS. ANKITA NIKHIL SHAHto the premises more particularly described in the Schedule hereunder.

All persons having any claim against or in respect of the saidpremises or any part thereof by way of sale, exchange, easement, right,interest, share, mortgage, lease, license, tenancy, charge, gift, trust,bequest, inheritance, maintenance, possession, lien or otherwisehowsoever are hereby requested to give notice thereof in writing, alongwith documentary evidence, to the undersigned within 10 (TEN) daysfrom the date hereof at G-5, Ground Floor, Mukut, B Wing, 20-B, S.V.Road, Bandra (West), Mumbai-400 050, failing which, the claim orclaims, if any, of such person or persons will be considered to have beenwaived and/or abandoned.

THE SCHEDULE ABOVE REFERRED TO :ALL THAT FLAT bearing No. 701 on the 7th floor admeasuring 1050

square feet carpet area along with the attached terrace admeasuring 270square feet or thereabouts of the building of the said Society known asSATELLITE lying being and situate at Final Plot No. 58, Tagore Road,Santacruz West, Mumbai-400 054 and constructed on the propertybearing C.T.S. No. G/131 of Village Bandra, Town Planning SchemeIISantacruz in the Registration District and Sub-District of Mumbai Cityand Suburban TOGETHER the 5 fully paid up shares of Rs. 50/- each ofthe Satellite Co-operative Housing Society Limited comprised in theShare Certificate No. 13 dated 1st day of December, 1990 and bearingdistinctive Nos. 61 to 65 (both inclusive).

Dated this 22nd day of December, 2020.Sd/-((SShhaabbbbiirr SS.. KKaappaaddiiaa))AAddvvooccaattee && SSoolliicciittoorr

(An Institute of National Importance established by an act of Parliament, under Ministry of Education, Govt. of India)Dumna Airport Road, PO : Khamaria, Jabalpur-482005 (MP) INDIA

Sub :- Advertisement for Faculty PositionsRef.– Advertisement No 03/2020 Dated 18/12/2020With reference to above advertisement for faculty positions was published in various disciplines. Incontinuation to it applications are also invited in the disciplines of Mechanical Engineering and English forthe posts of Assistant Professor Grade-I, Pay level-12; Assistant Professor Grade-II, Pay level-11 (oncontract) and Assistant Professor Grade-II, Pay level-10 (on contract). For further details andapplication form please visit Institute website www.iiitdmj.ac.in

Addendum

Director

PDPM Indian Institute of Information Technology,Design & Manufacturing, Jabalpur

Dated 22/12/2020

Note :- Last date for receiving hard copy of completed application form isalso extended till 25-01-2021 (by 05:00 PM)

For Tata Steel LimitedSd/-

December 23, 2020Mumbai

Parvatheesam KanchinadhamCompany Secretary &

Chief Legal Officer (Corporate & Compliance)

SN Folio No.

1

2

3

4

Registered Office: Bombay House, 24, Homi Mody Street,Fort, Mumbai - 400 001, India

Tel.: +91 22 6665 8282Email: cosec@tatasteel.com Website: www.tatasteel.com

CIN: L27100MH1907PLC000260

No. of equityshares

of `10 eachDistinctivenumbers

Name of theTransferee(s)

S1U0018209 387901900 – 387901924 Sanjay Bansal

S1G0021515 373891536 – 373891536 Indra KumarBagri

S1S0132205 336522992 – 336522992612205789 – 612205789

Indra KumarBagri

S1M0066566 187306841 – 187306890 Kalu RamJoshi

S1Y0007739 105196821 – 105196870316786407 – 316786427334542600 – 334542617388865128 – 388865171

YogendraSurana

S1L0014945 184378631 – 184378680265979734 – 265979754332583598 – 332583614377101714 – 377101757610843620 – 610843648796652232 – 796652253

Vimal PrakashJain

S1S0136423 98775021 – 9877547098775771 – 9877592098776021 – 9877607098776221 – 9877632098776371 – 98776380200998171 – 200998190384260386 – 384260775612215981 – 612216140

Raiomond KIrani

S1M0118463 328150496 – 328150505328150506 – 328150510797541486 – 797541488

5

6

7

8

Name of theTransferor(s)

Urmila Devi Bansal

Gita Devi

Sharda Bhalotia

Manikalal HansarajShaha

Lalit Prakash Jain

Yogendra KumarSurana

Sherenaz MahiyarMazda

Mydur Anand Harish KumarChunilal

25

1

2

50

133

183

1330

18

Notice is hereby given pursuant to circular no. SEBI/HO/MIRSD/DOS3/CIR/P/2018/139 datedNovember 6, 2018 (“theCircular”), issued by theSecurities andExchangeBoard of India, that theCompany has received the following requests to transfer the equity shares from the name(s) ofthe shareholder(s) (“Transferor”) to the name(s) of the proposed transferee(s) (“Transferee”).

The details of the proposed transfers are:

MahipalMohanlal Shaha

Gambhirmal Surana

Poonam HChhabria

Shashikala AnandAnkush Anand

9 S1M0113212 Mydur Anand 797540396 – 79754041015 Harish KumarChunilalPoonam HChhabria

10 S1M0118462 Mydur Anand 3 797541483 – 797541485 Harish KumarChunilal

11 S1M0113213 Mydur Anand 36 321510847 – 321510866321510867 – 321510876321510877 – 321510882

Harish KumarChunilal

Sanjay Bansal

Shashikala AnandAnirudh Anand

Poonam HChhabria

Shashikala AnandAnirudh Anand

Pushpa Dhruva

Rakesh H LakhaniChandanbala HLakhani

Rajendra Vidhavan

Rishi Vidhavan

Devang A Shah

12 #S1M0076637 Mukesh Dhruva 187806721 – 187806770268364265 – 268364285335648068 – 335648084378065417 – 378065460

132 Rajendra RMehta

13 S1N0070851 Nilesh Vasa 64 379453554 – 379453583611317081 – 611317099797613840 – 797613854

Kalu RamJoshi

14 S1N0064196 Nilesh Vasa 95 379413536 – 379413579611309303 – 611309331797611800 – 797611821

Kalu RamJoshi

15 S1N0064197 Nilesh Vasa 95 379413580 – 379413623611309332 – 611309360797611822 – 797611843

Kalu RamJoshi

16 S1A0079165 Amritlal M Shah 36 232723671 – 232723691331335059 – 331335073

Bhavna JShah

#The shares held against this folio number have been transferred to demat account of InvestorEducation and Protection Fund Authority ('IEPFA') pursuant to IEPFA Rules, 2016. In terms of theCircular and IEPFA Rules, the said transfer request would be processed and completed.

Any personwho has any objection in respect of the proposed transfer of equity shares referred to above,shall intimate in writing to the Company Secretary at the Registered Office of Company and/or to theRegistrar & TransferAgent, TSRDarashawConsultants Private Limited, within 30 days from the date ofpublication of this notice and if no objection is received by theCompanywithin the stipulated period thenthe Company shall proceed with the transfer of the said equity shares/issue of Letter of Entitlement infavour of the above-mentioned transferee(s), without any further intimation. The information is alsobeingmadeavailable on thewebsite of theCompany atwww.tatasteel.com.

Shashikala AnandAnkush Anand Poonam H

Chhabria

NOTICE

Serum Institutesubmits fresh datafor Covishieldemergency approval

CBI arrestsKashmir man for‘running childsex racket in US’

Lions preyon 10 cowsat gaushala inRajkot village

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

THE CBI has arrested aman inKashmir for allegedly running achildsexabuseracketalongwithhisUS-basedwife. The accused,identified as Niyaz AhmedMir(35),was Tuesdayproducedbe-fore a special court in Srinagar,which remanded him in CBIcustody.Mir’s wife, identified as

TamaraStanley(34), isaresidentof Washington.Shewasarrestedon June 25 this year and was“chargedwithproductionofchildpornography”, according to aUSJusticeDepartmentstatement.CBI said the couple allegedly

targetedminors in the US and“uploadedpornographic videosandimagesoverthedarkwebforfinancialgains”andwere“alsoin-volved indirect communicationwithmanyminorsinUSA.”The agency on Tuesday also

conductedsearchesatMir’s resi-denceandrecovered“incriminat-ingdigital evidences including3laptops, 5mobiles, pen drives,handwrittennotesetc”.CBI spokesperson RK Gaur,

said: “Accusedwasallegedlyop-eratingthroughhiswife,whohadagreedtobeinvolvedina‘master-slave relationship’. She allegedlyexploited multiple minors,recorded these abuses andelec-tronicallysentthemtohim.Itwasalsoallegedthatwhenvictimsre-fused to follow his dictate, heshared these videos and imageswith their families.” TheUS au-thorities unearthed the racketthroughStanley’semails.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAJKOT,DECEMBER22

A PRIDE of 10 lions entered agaushala andpreyedon10cowsinArabTimbadi villageof Rajkotdistrict early onTuesday.A teamof forest department that wastracking the pride, however,reached the spot and saved 25othercattleheadsinthegaushala.This is thethird instanceof li-

onsbeingspottedinRajkotdistrictin a month. Seven lions werefoundcampinginThanagalolvil-lage,10kmnorthofArabTimbadilastmonth,andthree lionskilled14 cattle earlier this month inJasdantaluka.“The pride of 10 lionsman-

aged to enter the gaushala ataround3 amTuesday andwenton the rampage, killing 10 cows.However,ateamofforestdepart-ment reached the spot soonandsaved 25 other cows,” NishantKugasiya,talukadevelopmentof-ficer (TDO) of Jetpur, told TheIndianExpress.

BJP’s MSP post features farmer protesting at Singhu

Theposthasbeenremoved(left);SinghatSinghu

GOVT&POLITICS8 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

Public NoticeAnnouncement of Award for acquisition of land for construction

of Mumbai-Vadodara National Highway for Land owners/ personsinterested therein and payment of Compensation Amount

KIND attention of all landowners/ interested persons is invited to theNotification No. KA 3576(A) dated 19.07.2018 issued under Section 3 A of theNH Act, 1956 for acquisition of land for the building/ construction of a NationalHighway and the Notification No. K.A. 2545(A) dated 16.07.2019 issued underSection 3 D of the NH Act, 1956 and published in the following newspapers :

It is informed that the undersigned has announced the Award in respect of theland village namely Shirwali, Wangani Tarfe Taloje, Ambe Tarfe Taloje andMorbe of Panvel Taluka, Dist. Raigad under Section 3 G of the NH Act, 1956vide order dated 05.08.2020, 26.08.2020 and 28.08.2020.The land acquiring agency (MoRTH/NHAI/NHIDCL) has placed the requisiteamount of compensation at the disposal of the undersigned. Notices have alsobeen issued to the concerned landowners/ interested persons as requiredunder Section 3 E of the NH Act, 1956.Accordingly, all the concerned landowners/ interested persons are herebyinformed/ notified through this additional Public Notice that the Compensationamount is hereby offered to all the landowners. Further, it may be noted that :

The compensation amount in respect of all such landowners, who havealready submitted their Bank Account details, is being credited to theirrespective Bank Accounts through RTGS;The landowners, who have not submitted their Bank Account details, maydo so immediately in the office of the undersigned and the amount shall becredited to their accounts within one week of the receipt of such BankAccount Details;All other claimants entitled to receive the compensation amount maycollect their amount of compensation from the office of the undersigned onany working day between 10.00 am and 06.00 pm within a period of 60days.

It may further be noted that since the amount of Compensation has beendetermined and tendered to the concerned landowners/ persons interestedtherein through this additional public notice, any failure to collect thecompensation amount would be to their account and the amount shall bedeemed to have been paid on expiry of this period of sixty days from the dateof publication of this notice.The landowners/ persons intersted therein are further called upon to surrenderor deliver the possession of the subject land to the undersigned, failing whichthe possession of subject land will be taken with police assistance on expiry ofthe period of 60 days.Place : PanvelDate : 23.12.2020 Competent Authority for Land Acquisition, and

Sub Divisional Officer Panvel

Sr.No.

Notification Name of Newspapers in whichPublished

Date ofNewspaper

1 Section 3 A 1. Sakal2. The Indian Express

11.09.2018

2 Section 3 D 1. Lokmat2. The Free Press

07.09.2019

295DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:10,075,116TESTS: 163,117,557 | RECOVERIES: 9,636,487

ACTIVE CASES:292,518DEATHS: 146,111

DEC21CASES DEATHS RECOVERIES TESTS19,556 301 30,376 1,019,228

STATESWITHRISINGACTIVECASESACTIVECASES RISEINLASTWEEK

Goa 50,143 49,113Puducherry 37,762 37,455Tripura 33,172 32,819

STATESWHEREACTIVECASESAREDECLININGACTIVECASES DECLINEINLASTWEEK

Maharashtra 59,469 12,914Delhi 9,255 5,992WestBengal 16,903 4,481

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMCASESONDEC21 TOTAL

Kerala 3,422 709,292Maharashtra 2,834 1,899,352WestBengal 1,515 538,343

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMDEATHSONDEC21 TOTAL

Maharashtra 55 49,925WestBengal 41 9,401Kerala 27 10,304DataasonDecember21,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare, IndianCouncilofMedicalResearchandstategovernments.Oftenthenumbersreleasedeverydaycontaindatafrompreviousdays

aswell.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareonlyindicativeandnotdefinitive

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

THE CENTRAL InformationCommission(CIC),theleadbodyfor implementing the Right toInformation Act, has now ruledthat thedisclosureof identityofelectoral bond scheme donorswill not serve any larger publicinterest andwill violate provi-sionsof theAct itself.In an order issued on

December21thatwasuploadedon Tuesday, InformationCommissioner Suresh Chandra,while dismissing an appeal by aMaharashtra-basedactivistViharDurve –who had sought infor-mation of the scheme donors –remarkedthat“thereappears tobenolargerpublicinterestover-riding the right of privacy of thedonorsanddoneesconcerned”.Upholding thecontentionof

the Central Public InformationOfficer (CPIO) of the State Bankof India (SBI), the commissionfurther observed that the “dis-closure of names of donors andthedoneesmaybeincontraven-tion of provisions contained insection8(1)(e)( j)of theRTIActitself,whichexemptapublicau-thoritytogiveacitizeninforma-tion available to a person in hisfiduciaryrelationship,unlessthecompetentauthority issatisfiedthat the larger public interestwarrant the disclosure of suchinformation”.

The electoral bond scheme,whichwasnotifiedbytheCentrein2018, allows citizens and cor-porates tobuymonetary instru-ments from the SBI and donatethemtoapoliticalparty,whichisthenfreetoredeemitformoney.The sameCIC, in anorder is-

sued this January, had directedthe Centre to reveal the namesofelectoralbondschemedonorswhowanted their identities toremainconfidential.Citizengroupshavebeenar-

guing that the information ofdonorsmustbedisclosed in theinterest of transparency. Durve,too, said that “the SBI ought todisclose the information in theinterestofaccountabilityandef-ficient functioningof central in-vestigatingagencies.”Durvehadfirstsoughtthein-

formation in this regard fromSBI’s CPIO on June 16, 2018.Dissatisfied by the CPIO’s reply,he had appealed to the FirstAppellate Authority (FAA)withthebank,whoalsoruledthatthe“informationrelatedtoelectoralbonds issued topolitical partieswas held by the SBI in fiduciarycapacity” and that thenamesofthe donors could not be dis-closedasthesefell inthebracketof thirdparty information.While sharing informationof

thetotalnumberofbonds issuedinthe2018-20period,theFAAalsohadsimilarobservationstomakeoverhisrefusaltoshareparty-wisedetailsofbeneficiaries.

Electoral bonds: CICsays revealing namesof donors not in publicinterest, violates RTI

SUKHBIRSIWACHCHANDIGARH,DECEMBER22

A GROUP of farmers Tuesdayshowed black flags to HaryanaChief Minister Manohar LalKhattarinAmbalawhileanotherheld a protest against stateAgricultureandFarmersWelfareMinister JPDalal during his visittoBhiwani'sBahaltown.Khattar had gone toAmbala

to address public meetings insupport of BJP'smayoral candi-date Vandna Sharma and otherward candidates for theupcom-ing civic bodies polls. A largenumberoffarmershadgatheredinAmbalaaheadofhisvisit.As soon as Khattar reached

Agrasen Chowk in Ambala'sManmohanNagar to address apublic meeting, the farmersgheraoed his convoy, waivedblack flags and raised slogansagainst the government. Theysaidtheywillcontinuetoprotesttillthefarmlawsarenotrepealed.Alargenumberofpoliceper-

sonneldeployedneartheChowkandmanagedtosecureasafepas-sageforCM'sconvoy.Thefarmerslaterstartedgath-

eringat theAnajMandi andalsotried to block theAmbala-Hisarhighway.Meanwhile, in Bahal town,

farmers staged a protest whenstateministerDalalwenttoavil-lagetoaddressapublicmeeting.Thefarmershadplannedtoshowblackflagstotheminister,butthepolicestoppedtheagitatorsawayfrom the route leading to thevenue of the public meeting.Sources in the farmunions saidtheywill showblack flags to theCMwhenhewillgotothevillageonDecember27.Speaking to The Indian

Express, Dalal claimed itwas thehandiworkoftheoppositionpar-tieswho are “not accepting themandate asModi ji and BJP are

winning one after another elec-tion”. “They(opposition)arenotabletowinintheelectoralbattle.Insteadofpeacefulprotests,theyindulgeintheaggressiveactions.It’sunfortunateanditshouldnothappen. By this way, 200-400workers of the opposition, canshow flags or attack any leader.There are attempts to create theatmosphere of West Bengal intheentirecountry,”Dalaladded,in an apparent reference to al-leged recent attacks on the con-voys of BJP leaders in the TMC-ruledstate.However, a farmer leader,

Suresh Koth, claimed that theanger among the people is in-creasing because of “drama be-ing played by the BJP leaders todivert the attention” from thefarmers' agitation. “BJP leadersare now talking about the com-pletionofSYLcanal.WhywasBJPnot been able to get the canalcompleted evenwhile being inthe power at Centre and inHaryana for the past six years?Now, they want to break theunity of farmers of Punjab andHaryana fighting against thethree laws,”saidKoth.

Farmersshowblackflagsas theyblockHaryanaCMMLKhattar’s convoy inAmbalaonTuesday.AAggarwal

Farmers gheraoHaryana CM’sconvoy, showhimblack flags

ABHINAVRAJPUT&ANJUAGNIHOTRICHABANEWDELHI, JALANDHARDECEMBER22

FARM LEADERS said Tuesdaythat they have asked British-Punjabi leaders to appeal to UKPrimeMinisterBoris Johnsontonot come to India as the chiefguest for next year’s RepublicDayevent till theCentrerepealsits “black laws”.The leaders also said they

have deferred theirmeeting byadaytoWednesday,todecideonaresponse to theGovernment'sletter asking them to fix a datefor the next round of talks.Besides,theyissuedanappealto“boycott all stores run byAmbaniandAdani”.In Punjab, farm leaders hit

out at Union AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar's fresh appeal for talksandsaidthatinsteadofrespond-ingtotheirdemandtoscrapthethree laws, the Government isengagedin“propaganda”topro-mote them.Speaking to reporters at the

Singhu border, Harender SinghLakhowal, state convener, BKU(Lakhowal),said:“Wearerequest-ing theBritish PrimeMinister tonot come to India as long as thedemands of the farmers are notmet.Wehavemade the appealthroughleadersfromPunjabwhoare now in Englandpolitics andhavewonelectionsthere.”Last week, visiting British

ForeignSecretaryDominicRaabannounced that Johnsonwouldbe chief guest at the RepublicDaycelebrations in January.

Farm leaders to callon British PM to skipRepublic Day event

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,DECEMBER22

KERALA GOVERNOR ArifMohammad Khan Tuesdayturned down a Cabinet recom-mendation to summonameet-ingoftheAssemblytodebatetheCentral farmlaws.Chief Minister Pinarayi

Vijayan said it was regrettablethatarecommendationfroman

elected government enjoyingclearmajority, for discussing anemergent issue of national im-portance, has not been accededto by the Governor, especiallywhen thepower to summonanAssembly session clearly fallsoutsidethediscretionarypowerof theGovernor.OnDecember21, theCabinet

hadmadea recommendation totheGovernortosummonameet-ingoftheAssemblyonDecember23. TheGovernor turned down

the recommendation after rais-ing queries as to the purpose ofsummoningtheLegislature.In a letter to the Governor,

VijayansaidwhentheCouncilofMinistersmakes a recommen-dationtosummonthesessionofthe Legislature, the Governorcannot exercise discretionarypower and turn down the rec-ommendation.Opposition leader Ramesh

ChennithalasaidtheGovernor’sdecisionwasunfortunate.

Kerala Governor denies nod for sessionon farm laws, CM says ‘outside powers’

IndependentcandidateBilalAhmadinSrinagar.PTI

DDC: ‘Free ofpolitical baggage’,Independentsscore big in pollsNAVEEDIQBALSRINAGAR,DECEMBER22

BESIDES THE BJP and theNationalConferencewinningbigon their own, the single largestgroup of winning candidates inthe DDC elections are theIndependents.Barringfiveof20districts, Independentswontheday inall otherdistricts.Asperlatestavailablefigures,

44of241seats forwhichresultswere available till late Tuesdayevening,werewonbyindepend-ents. Twenty-eight of these arefromKashmir region, therest inJammu.For the two cousins of

Srinagar and Poonch,Independents will cast the de-ciding vote. Of 2,178 candidatesin 280 territorial constituenciesdivided equally betweenKashmir and Jammu, over athousand candidates wereIndependent. In a hyper-localelection, theymade thepitchofbeing“freeof politicalbaggage”in their campaign.Although PDP had just 63

candidates contesting on partyticket, the number ofIndependents is higher than itstally of 26, as per last availablefigure.In terms of votes, the 44 in-

dependent candidates togetherpolled over 1.24 lakh votes, sig-nificantly higher than PDP’s45,000.TheBJP,owingtohighervoter turnout in Jammu, polledmorevotesthananyothersingleparty – over 4.42 lakh. TheNational Conference polledabout 2.16 lakh out of total 30lakh ballots cast in these elec-tions.AsofTuesdaynight,onlyBJP

and PDP have claimed supportof approximately a dozenIndependent candidates. As thefull list of candidates is an-nounced, likely byWednesdaymorning, a clear picture willemerge on who theIndependentwinnerschoosetosupport. There are sevenIndependent winners inSrinagar and six in Poonch, fourin Shopian, three each inBandipora, Baramulla andPulwama,amongothers.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

WHILE THE biggest challengefacingsciencerightnowisdevel-opmentofavaccineforCovid-19,thebiggest long-termchallengeremainsattractingandretainingyouthinscience,PrimeMinisterNarendraModisaidonTuesday.Inaugurating the sixth India

International Science Festival(IISF), Modi also stressed theneed for increased cooperationbetween science and industry,andappealedtheglobalcommu-nitytoinvestinIndiantalentandinnovate inthecountry.The science festival, which

concludesonDecember25,willbe the country's largest virtualsciencefestivaltilldate,withtheconcluding session to be ad-dressed by Vice PresidentVenkaiahNaidu.Stating that India has a rich

legacyinscience,technologyandinnovation,Modi said in his ad-dress: “Our scientists havedonepath-breakingresearch;ourtechindustry is at the forefront ofsolving global problems. ButIndiawantstodomore.Welook

at the pastwith pride butwantanevenbetter future. All our ef-forts are aimed atmaking Indiathemost trustworthy centre forscientific learning.“At the same time,wewant

our scientific community toshare and growwith the best ofglobal talent. One of the stepstaken to achieve this is hostingandparticipating inhackathonsto provide exposure andoppor-tunity to Indianscientists.”Modi said that the new

National Education Policy willhelp build a scientific temperfromanearlyage,withthefocusof education shifting fromout-lays to outcome, and from text-books to research and applica-tion. “The (National Education)Policywillencouragecreationofa pool of top quality teachers.Thisapproachwillhelpbuddingscientists. This is being supple-mented by the Atal InnovationMission andAtal Tinkering labsbeing developed in schoolsacross thecountry, inwhichsci-ence infrastructure is being up-graded.”He said Atal Incubation

Centresarealsobeingcreatedforhighereducationfacilities.

Challenge is toretain youth inscience: PM

Nepal crisis: what’s at stakeSIMPLYPUT

TheLowerHouseofParliamenthasbeendissolvedattherecommendationofPrimeMinisterOli,whoisfightingalosingbattle inhisparty.A lookatthequestions it raisesovertheConstitutionandleftunity

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MEHRGILLNEWDELHI, DECEMBER22

FORTHElastseveraldays,skywatchershavebeen captivated by the Great ConjunctionbetweenJupiterandSaturn.Theclosestpassbetween theplacetook place onMonday,December21,butthespectacleitselfbegandays earlier — andwill last until at leastChristmasDay.

What’sagreatconjunction?Apairingbetweenanypairofplanets is

a conjunction. Jupiter and Saturn are thetwolargestplanetsvisibletothenakedeye,hence the expression ‘Great Conjunction’.These two align roughly every 20 years,which is relatively rare compared to thealignmentsofplanetsclosertotheSun(andwhichconsequentlyhaveshorterorbits).Jupiter orbits the Sun once in 12 years,

and Saturn once in 30. High school arith-metictellsusthatin60moreyears(theLCM

of 12 and 30), i.e. in 2080, the two planetswill alignat roughly thesameplacewherestargazerswatchedthemonDecember21,2020.Inthese60years, Jupiterwillhaveor-bited the Sun five times,while Saturnwillhavedoneso twice.But theywillhavemet twicemoredur-

ingthisperiod,thoughatdifferentplacesinthesky. In12yearsmore, Jupiterwillreturntoitscurrentplace;inthenext8years,itwillcomplete 2/3rds of another 12-year cyclearoundtheSun.Inthesame20years,Saturnwillhavecompleted2/3rdsofits30-yearcy-cle.Inotherwords,thetwoplanetswillmeetagain in2040.Andyetagain in2060.

So,whyis thisconjunctionspecial?It’s thealignment.Wemeasure thepo-

sition of a planet in terms of the angle itmakes on the Earth’s orbital plane, with agivenreferencedirection.Whenwesaytwoplanetshavealignedinaconjunction,itsug-gests they are casting the sameanglewiththat referencedirection.

In fact, this is almost never the case.Planetsinaconjunctionaretypicallyaboveorbeloweachother,becausetheirorbitsareslightly tiltedwith respect toeachother.Thistime,JupiterandSaturnareatenth

of adegreeapart viewed fromEarth. Fromsome views, thatmight give them the ap-pearanceofconvergingintoone,butview-

ers aound theworldhave found themdis-tinctenoughto tell themapart.Also, theposition of Earthmatters. Not

everyalignmentprovidesaclearviewing.

Andhowrare is thisconjunction?ThelastGreatConjunctionhappenedin

1623. For context, Galileo had discovered

fourof Jupiter’smoonswithhistelescopeafewyearspreviously—butscientiststodaybelieveGalileowouldnothavefounditeasytoseetheconjunction,becausetheplanetswere aligned too close to the Sun fromEarth’sperspective.FromanIndiancontext,Jahangir was ruling theMughal empire atthe time, and the Maratha warrior kingChhatrapati Shivajiwasyet tobeborn.Thelasttimethetwoplanetswereclose

enough to be viewed in the night skywasin 1226. This was just a year before thedeathof theMongol rulerGenghisKhan.

Howlongwill thespectaclecontinue?JupiterhasbeencatchingupwithSaturn

sincethebeginningofDecemberasthetwoplanets move along their orbital pathsaround the Sun. The date theworld cele-brated,thenightofDecember21,waswhenJupiter“overtook”Saturn(fromEarth’sper-spective). But even after December 21, theplanetswillstillappearveryclosetogetherfor the next fewdays. BetweenDecember

16 and 25, the distance between the twoplanets in the skywill appear to a viewerfromEarthtobelessthanthediameterofafullmoon.This doesnotmean, of course, they are

really that close— they are currently over700millionkilometresapart.Yettheirsep-aration during the current conjunction issmaller than they usually ever get duringmostotherconjunctions.

What if somewatchersmiss it?For the very young, there is still an op-

portunity.Thenexttwoconjunctionsarein2040 and 2060, although theywill not beaseasytovieworasprominentasthisone.It’s the big one after that to look out for —onMarch 15, 2080. Thatwill have almostexactly the same separation as this onedoes,andwillbemucheasiertosee,accord-ing toRiceUniversity. That’s 60years fromtoday,somethingforyoungerskywatcherstobeoptimisticabout.

Inputs fromENS inNewDelhi

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINED

THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

FROM A llama named Cormac, re-searchersat theUSNational Institutesof Health (NIH) have isolated a set oftiny antibodies, or “nanobodies”, thatholdpromiseagainstthenovelcoron-avirusSARS-CoV-2.Atleastoneofthesenanobodies could prevent infectionsanddetect virusparticles bygrabbingholdofSARS-CoV-2spikeproteins,theresearchers suggest in the journalScientificReports.Thisnanobody,calledNIH-CoVnb-112, appeared toworkequallywell ineither liquidoraerosolform,which suggests it could remaineffectiveafterinhalation.Ananobodyisaspecialtypeofan-

tibodynaturally producedby the im-munesystemsof camelids,agroupofanimals that includes camels, llamas,andalpacas.Theyarecallednanobod-iesbecausetheyaretiny,aboutatenththeweightofmosthumanantibodies.Becausenanobodiesaremoresta-

ble, less expensive to produce, andeasier to engineer than typical anti-bodies, researchershavebeen using them formedical research. Sincethepandemicbroke,sev-eral researchers haveproduced llamananobodies against theSARS-CoV-2 spike pro-teinthatmaybeeffectiveatpreventing infections.In the current study, theresearchers used aslightlydifferentstrategythan others to find nanobodies thatmayworkespeciallywell,NIHsaidinastatement.The spike protein acts like a key

during coronavirus infection. It “un-locks” the door to infectionswhen itbindstoahumanproteincalledACE2receptor on the cell surface. TheNIHscientists developed amethod thatwould isolate nanobodies that block

infections by covering part of thespikeproteinthatbindtoandunlock

theACE2receptor.To do this, the re-

searchers immunisedCormac five times over28 days with a purifiedversionoftheSARS-CoV-2spikeprotein.Aftertest-ing hundreds ofnanobodies, they foundthatCormacproduced13nanobodies that mightbestrongcandidates.Initial experiments

suggestedthatNIH-CoVnb-112couldwork very well. Test tube studiesshowedthatthisnanobodyboundtothe ACE2 receptor 2 to 10 timesstronger than nanobodies producedbyotherlabs.Otherexperimentssug-gested that the NIH nanobody stuckdirectlytotheACE2receptorbindingportionof thespikeprotein,NIHsaid.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICE

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

YUBARAJGHIMIREKATHMANDU,DECEMBER22

ON SUNDAY, Nepal PrimeMinister K P Olirecommended dissolution of the House ofRepresentatives, the lower of Parliament, amove promptly approved by PresidentBidhyaDeviBhandari.This effectively ended the unity forced

amongtheleft forcesthathadledtothecre-ationof thesingle, grandNepalCommunistPartythreeyearsago.Itplungednationalpol-itics into turmoil and the five-year-oldConstitution into uncertainty, and raisedquestions about the haste withwhich thePresidentapprovedOli’s recommendation.Oli took thestepwhenherealised thata

factional feudwithin thepartyhad reachedthepointof no returnandhe facedpossibleexpulsion both as party chief and as PrimeMinister. Since then, adozenpetitionshavebeenfiledintheSupremeCourtchallengingthe dissolution with two years left of thepresentHouse’stenure.EachfactionhasalsoapproachedtheElectionCommissionclaim-ing it is the realparty.

Oli’s battlesOli is fightinga losingbattle in theparty.

He has declared that the next electionwillbe held on April 30 andMay 10 next yearwith him leading a caretaker government,but his fate will be decided by agitatingcrowdsandtheSupremeCourt.There'salsoa movement for restoration of Nepal as aHindukingdom.Hismovehascreatedbitternessbetween

thebreakawaycommunistgroupheleadsandotherparties.OnMondayevening,Oligothisfollowers to padlock the party office, effec-tivelybringing itunderhiscontrol,butgoingby thenumbers in thedissolvedParliament,the Central Secretariat, the StandingCommitteeandtheCentralCommittee,Oliisin aminority. Butwith Parliament dissolvedandwithaPresidentseenasfavourabletohim,Oliwillhavethepowertorulewithoutbeingaccountabletonone.The dissolution came hours before a

Standing Committeemeeting thatwas ex-pected to order a probe into corruptioncharges levelled against him by party co-chairmanPushpaKamalDahalPrachanda.

The unification& its endPrachandaledtheMaoist insurgencyfor

a decade (1996-2006) before joiningmain-streampolitics. Oli was a fierce critic of the

politics of violence that causedmore than17,000 deaths. But Oli approached theMaoists in 2017 for amerger between theirparties,pre-emptingthepossibilityofanal-liance between theMaoists and the NepaliCongress thatmayhave come in thewayofOli’sprimeministerial ambitions.Oliwas leading the Communist Party of

Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, andPrachanda represented the NepalCommunist Party (Maoist). Following themerger, the two leaders agreed that theywouldleadthegovernmentbyturn,aprom-ise that Oli did not honour at the end of histwo-and-a-halfyears,thussowingtheseedsof separation. Now, as a split appears in-evitable, Oli is hoping to continue in powerwith those followinghim.

Questions over ConstitutionWhathashappenedhasleftaquestionmark

over theConstitutionof 2015, and itskey fea-tures like federalism,secularismandrepublic.Therearealreadypopularprotestsonthestreets.Thesplitinapartywithatwo-thirdsmajor-

ityhasraisedconcernsthatitmayleadtoasys-temic collapse. “Wewill go for adecisivena-tionwidemovementtohavethisConstitutiondumped,”saidBalakrishnaNeupane,convenerofanongoingcitizens’movement.

Constitution& dissolutionDissolution of the House is not new in

Nepal,butthis isthefirstsuchinstanceafterthe new Constitution of 2015 that placessafeguards against dissolution. “The newconstitution does not envisage such a stepwithout exploring formation of an alterna-tive government,” said Dr BhimarjunAcharya, a leadingconstitutional lawyer.The1991Constitution,scrappedin2006,

hadprovisionsfordissolutionofParliamentat the PrimeMinister’s prerogative. Duringthe time itwas in force, Parliamentwasdis-solvedthrice.ThefirstParliamentelectedin1991wasdissolvedontherecommendationof PrimeMinisterGPKoirala after he failedtohaveavoteonthanksmotionbytheKingpassedintheHouse.TheSupremeCourtup-held thatdissolution.But in1995, theSupremeCourt rejected

the dissolution by Prime MinisterManmohanAdhikary after a no-trustmo-tion had been tabled but before the loss ofmajority was proved. The court held thatthe executive did not have the right tosnatch an issue under consideration of thelegislature.The third time, Prime Minister Sher

BahadurDeubadissolvedParliamentin2002and the Supreme Court upheld it. KingGyanendrarevivedParliamentinApril2006.

Opposition stakesTheoppositionNepali Congress and the

Madhes-basedJanataSamajbadiPartyhave

reasons to hope than an early pollwill earnthemabiggerspaceinParliament.Butitfearsthatthelikelystreetprotestandviolence,be-sides theonsetof rain in lateApril andearlyMay, could be used as an excuse to furtherdefer theelection.“Idoubtelectionswillbeheldonthepre-

scribed dates,” said Shekhar Koirala,mem-ber of theNepali Congress central commit-tee. The Nepali Congress or the JanataSamajbadi Party have, however, not beenvery proactive in Parliament in counteringthegovernment.

The ArmyTheNepalArmyhasmade it clear that it

will remain neutral in the ongoing politicaldevelopments.ThisimpliesthatifOlitriestorulewiththehelpofsecurityforcestomain-tain lawandorderandcontainprotests, it isuncertainhowfar theArmywillplayalong.

The China factorChinahasbeenabig factor inNepal’s in-

ternal politics since 2006. It is seen as hav-ing lobbied, visible or secret, to prevent thesplit.Chinahasalsoinvestedincrucialsectorslike trade and Investment, energy, tourismandpost-earthquake reconstruction, and isNepal’s biggest FDI contributor. It has in-creased its presence in Nepal because of aperceptionthat Indiaplayedacrucialrole inthe2006political change.

DemonstratorsinKathamnduburnaneffigyofNepalPrimeMinisterOli(above) followingthedissolutionofParliament.Reuters

KHUSHBOONARAYANMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

IN THE last one month, the DirectorateGeneral of Goods and Services TaxIntelligence(DGGSTI)acrossthecountryhasarrested over 100people andbooked3,479entities in1,161cases for illegallyavailingorpassingoninputtaxcredit(ITC)byusingfakeGSTinvoices,andcausinglosstotheexcheq-uer.Taxofficialssaidtheuseof fakeinvoicestowrongfullyavail ITCcredithasbeengrad-ually increasing and has become a concernfor the government, especially at a timewhenrevenuecollection isdepressed.

Howdidfraudsterscheat thegovernment?Inanumberofcasesbookedbythetaxau-

thority, fraudsters have been found to havefloatedmultipledummyfirms,obtainedGSTregistrations,issuedfakeGSTinvoicesofgoodsandserviceswithoutactualsupplyofservices,andpassedonineligibleITCaccruedfromthebogus invoices to clients for a commission,who subsequently used it tomakeGSTpay-

ments,causinglossestothegovernment.Forinstance, onDecember 9, the Vadodara taxunitarrestedan individual foroperating206dummycompanies in 10 states that illegallypassedon ITCof Rs154crore toclientsby is-suingfakeinvoicesofRs1,101crore.In someother cases, the tax department

has found that promoters of certain compa-nies have routed fake invoices through a se-riesof shellcompaniesandtransferredinputtaxcreditfromonecompanytoanotherincir-culartransactionstoincreasetheturnoverofthecompany.ThishelpedthemnotonlyevadeGSTbutalsoavailhigherbankloansandcreditfacilities due to increased turnover. A case inpoint is a trading company inMumbai thathas been booked for an ITC fraud of Rs 220crore. The probe agency has found that thefirmdidcirculartransactionswith22relatedcompaniestoinflate itsturnover.

Whatmotivates fraudsters tousefakeinvoices?Fake invoicesareusedbecause itnotonly

helpsevadeGSTontaxableoutputsuppliesbyavailingundue ITCandconvertingexcess ITCinto cashbut alsohelps in inflating turnover

using these invoices, booking fakepurchasesto evade income tax, diversion of funds andmoneylaundering.Accordingtoofficialdata,in2018-19,thecentralGSTauthoritiesregistered1,602casesoffakeITCinvolvinganamountofRs 11,251 crore and arrested 154 people.BetweenApril andNovember 2019, the au-thoritiesbookedover6,000suchcases.

What is thereasonforasurge insuchcases?According to tax officials one of the pri-

mary reasons for an increase in companiesavailing ITC fraudulently is the lack of duediligence during the GST registration. Theprocess of registrationwasmade easy andhassle free by the government so that busi-nessescouldbeeasilyon-boardedtothesys-tem.However, thismeant that a number ofdummy companies too obtained the GSTregistration in the absence of scrutiny orphysicalverificationoftheregisteredaddressof the companies. Apart from this, officialssaid, lack of data exchange among the en-forcementagenciesandbankshavealso ledto increase in fraudcases. “TheexistingGSTsystem needs to bemore robust to detect

such frauds,” saidanofficer.

Will thetaxdepartmentbeabletorecoverthemoneyfromthefraudsters?Taxofficialswhospokeonthecondition

ofanonymitysaid inthesecasesrecoveryofmoney isunlikelyas themoneyhasalreadybeensiphonedandthecompanies involvedin the fraud are only onpaperwith very lit-tleornoassets.

Howisthegovernmentplanningtocurbsuchcases?The government is planning to tighten

theGSTregistrationprocessandlegalmeas-ures to dealwith the rising cases of fake in-voicing. Lastmonth the legal committee oftheGSTCouncilmet to discuss the tighten-ingof theGSTregistrationprocessandworkout other legal measures including neces-sary law amendments required in the GSTAct.Apartfromthis, theDirectorateGeneralofAnalyticsandRiskManagement, thedatawingofGST,hasidentifiedandissuedalistof9,757 companies that have either issued oravailedfakeITCacrossthecountrybetweenJuly2017andMarch2020.

How fraudsmake use of fake GST invoices

From Cormac the llama,tiny antibodies that showpromise against coronavirus

INDIAACTIVECASES 292,518

WORLDTOTALCASES77,667,963

Source:JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonDec22

INDIATOTALCASES10,075,116

Source:MinistryofHealth&FamilyWelfare,updatedat11pmonDec22

Note: TheDec21 figure in this graph isbasedon thegovernmentupdateonDec22

Dec12 Dec21LAST 10 DAYS

292,518

356,546

360,000

310,000

260,000

Cormac, the llama. Triple J Farms,Washington;photoprovidedbyNIH

TheGreatConjunctionofJupiterandSaturn,viewedfromNewDelhi

Jupiter andSaturnwillmeet again—but current spectacle is still on

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SCIENCE IS KEYCovidvariantmustbetakenseriouslybutayear intopandemic, scienceshouldguidepolicy,notalarmbells

T HEIDENTIFICATIONOFanewstrainof thenovelcoronavirushassetoff alarmbells in several parts of theworld. OnMonday, India joined a growing list ofcountriesthathavesuspendedairlinkswiththeUK,wherethestrainisreportedtohavebecome thedominantpathogen— it also seems tohave appeared in

SouthAfrica,Italy,Denmark,NetherlandsandAustralia.Stockmarketshaveplungedinsev-eral countries, including India. In aworld reelingunder the ravages of thebattlewith thenovelcoronavirus,suchreactionisunderstandable.And,thereisnodoubtthatthenewstrainneedstobetakenseriously.Butscientistshavelearnedmuchaboutthenovelcoronavirusinthepastoneyear.It’sthisworkinlaboratories,researchinstitutes,hospitalsanddatacentresthatshouldobviatepessimism,evenasthecontagiondonsanewavatar.Virusesmutate.Thoughthenovelcoronavirushasmutatedatafarslowerpacethanmost

other fluviruses, thenewstrain—referredtoasVUI (variantunder investigation)orB.1.1.7lineage—isnotthefirstmutantof thecontagion.Earliermutationsdonotseemtohavein-creasedthehealthrisksposedbythenovelcoronavirus.PublicHealthEngland—theexec-utivewingof theUK’shealthcaredepartment—doesreckonthatVUI“transmitsmoreeas-ilythanotherstrains”.Buttheagencyhasalsopointedoutthatthereisnoevidence“thatthevariantismorelethalthanotherstrains”ofthecontagion.Sofar,accordingtotheUKgovern-ment’sNewandEmergingRespiratoryVirusThreatsAdvisoryGroup,fourdeathsinaround1,000caseshavebeenidentified.Ithasalsosaidthatfurtherwork“isneededtocomparethisfatalityratewithdatasets”.ThoughtheUK’shealthsecretaryhaswarnedthattheVUI“isoutof control”, theWorldHealthOrganisationhasdisputedthisnegativeprognosis. “Wehavehadamuchhighercontaminationrateatdifferentpoints inthispandemicandwe’vegot itundercontrol,” theheadof theglobalhealthagency’semergencyunit,MichaelRyan, is re-portedtohavesaid.Willthenewstrainbypassthevaccinesthatareinthefinalstageofdevelopmentindiffer-

entpartsoftheworld?It’stooearlyforaconclusiveanswer.However,oneoftheprotocolsofvaccinedevelopmentistolookatavirusasamovingtarget.So,safeguardsagainstnewstrainsarebuilt intomostvaccines.TheUK’sPHE,forinstance, isconfidentthatthePfizer-BioNTechvaccinecurrentlybeingdeployedinthecountrycantakeonVUI.Giventhattheanti-COVID-19vaccines are first generationpreventives, some tweaks cannot, of course, be ruledout.Researchers,inanycase,haveconsistentlybeenunderliningthatthevaccineshavetobefine-tuned.It’sthisstateofpreparednessandtheconfidenceamongstthescientificcommunitythatshouldguideresponsestothenewvariantofthecontagion—there’snocauseforpanic.

CONSUMER IS KINGNewelectricityrulesaimtomakediscomsaccountabletousers.Competition,notjustregulation, isnecessarytoachievethis

O NMONDAY, THE central government notified The Electricity (Rights ofConsumers)Rules,2020thatareaimedatmakingpowerdistributioncom-paniesmoreaccountable totheendconsumer.Theunderlyingrationale forthenewsetofrulesisstraightforward.Powerdistributioncompanies,whether

publicorprivateentities,areessentiallygeographicalmonopolies.This leavestheendcon-sumerwithnoalternativetoshiftevenif theyareunhappywiththeservicesbeingofferedto them—unlike the telecomsectorwhere consumers caneasilymigrate toother serviceproviders.Thus,intheabsenceofrealcompetition,consumershavelittleornopowertoholddiscomsaccountableforthequalityofelectricitysuppliedortheserviceprovided.Thenewrulesattempttoaddressthisissuebyputtinginplaceastructuretomakediscomsmoreac-countabletotheendconsumer,placinghimatthecentreof theregulations.Therulescover11keyareas, encompassing theobligationof thedistribution licencees,

meteringarrangements,releaseofnewconnections,andagrievanceredressalandcompen-sationmechanism,amongothers.Discomswillnowhavetocompensateconsumersforlongpowercuts,delaysingrantingelectricityconnections,andothersuchlapsesinservice.Forin-stance,asperthenewrules,newconnectionsshouldbeprovidedbydiscomswithinsevendaysof receivingtherequest inmetros,15daysinothermunicipalareas,and30daysinru-ral areas— failure to complywith these timelineswill result inpenalties. Currently, somestateelectricityregulatorycommissions(SERCs)dohaveprovisionsforcompensationifthestatedperformancebenchmarksarenotmet.However,notallstatesadheretothem,orhaveuserfriendlyproceduresforreceivingthecompensation.Thenewrulesattempttofixthisbypaving theway for anautomatic compensationmechanism.However, there is somecon-cern that these rules violate thedomainof the SERCs. Someexpertshavealso argued thattheymaybeinconsistentwiththeperformancebenchmarksthathavealreadybeenspeci-fiedbySERCs.But,therealchallengewill lieintheireffectiveimplementation.Whilethesearewelcomesteps,thelargerissueofusheringincompetitioninthepower

distributionsegment—theweakestlinkinthepowerchain—remains.Thegovernmenthadearlierhopedtointroducethemodelofseparationofcarriageandcontent.Doingsowouldhaveallowedconsumersthefreedomtochoosetheirelectricitysupplier.Thiswouldhaveush-ered incompetition, forcingdiscomsto improvetheirperformancestandards,andadoptamoreconsumercentricapproach.

NOT JUST A JOBApoliticiandecided toswitch jobs, leavingherhusband’sparty.

Noonewouldcare if theywere investmentbankers

THERE’SAREASON for that old adage, “Don’t discusspolitics or religion at thedinnertable”.Butthen, there’sacounter-cliche:“Communicationisthekeytoa successful relationship.” OnMonday, SujataMondal Khan,wife of BJPMPSaumitraKhan,joinedtheTrinamoolCongress.Shehasbeenalong-timemem-

ber of theBJP andher chagrin at her now-formerparty stems fromthe fact that “corruptleadersfromotherparties”werebeinggivenpositionsintheBJPattheexpenseofpartyloy-alists.SaumitraKhanbrokedownatapressconferenceheldshortlyafterhiswife’sdepartureandsaidhewouldsendhera“divorcenotice”.Defectionsandcounter-defectionsarehardlyanewphenomenoninIndianpolitics.But

infamilies,particularlyinideologicallyandpoliticallypolarisedBengal,switchingpartiesisclearlymorethanjustswitching jobs.Remember, this isa timewhenfamily feudserupt inWhatsAppgroupsovereverythingfromtheCAAtofarmerprotests.Thatimpulsemaywellbecompoundedinfamilieswherebothpartnersarepoliticians.Perhaps,politicsshouldstopatthewater’sedge,andbeyondthethreshold,moremundanedomesticityshouldruletheroost.Butthat’seasiersaidthandone—likebusinessandBollywood,apoliticalcareerisof-tenafamilyconcern.Childrentakeoverpoliticalpartiesfromtheirparents,spousesbecomestand-inchiefministers.Infact,whenSaumitrawasbannedbyacourtfromenteringBankuraduringthe2019LokSabhaelections,Sujatabecamethechiefcampaignerforherhusband.Inanidealworld,wherethepoliticallineswouldnotbesosharplydrawn,aspouseswitch-

ingpartieswouldn’tbeasupsettingasitseemstobe.Politicalcouplescouldaskeachother,“howwasyourday”withoutworryingaboutdefections,optics,electionsandtheburdensofideology.Afterall,wheninvestmentbankercouplesswitchjobs, therearenopressconfer-encesexpressinganguish.

His trader’s voice

RajivMehrishi

RajmohanGandhi

It isastonishingthatfarmersarespeakinguptoprotecttraders’ interests

CITIZEN AMERICANUSpollshaveshown‘ordinary’citizenhastheabilityanddutytocalloutawrong

THE APMC ACT of the 1950s freed theIndianfarmerfromthemonopolyof the lo-cal trader (a laKanhaiyalalofMother India),undoubtedly with substantial benefits.Equallytruly,whatgotcreatedwereoligop-olies. In practice, each trader in themandihas built relationships with a set of farm-ers: The traders provide credit, the farmerthen sells his produce only through thattrader, to have the credit/advance againstsuch sales adjusted. More often than not,the mandi trader is also a conduit for thesale of foodgrain at MSP (direct sale byfarmerstoMSPcentres isvirtually impossi-ble), reducingthenetreceivedbythefarmerto belowMSP (the traders’ “commission”for such transactions is obviously off thebooks).Thesymbioticrelationshipbetweenparticular tradersand farmers,whichhavebeen created within these oligopolies, ispossibly less exploitative only in compari-son to theKanhaiyalals of yore.Thattakingthenextstep,ofallowing/in-

troducingmore buyers for farm produce,would further reduce exploitation of farm-ers has been thewisdom-by-consensus ofalmost all experts, expert committees andconferencesatleastsincethelate1980s.Thelogic is simple: If the farmer has a singlebuyer for her produce, she ismost vulnera-ble; if thereareafewbuyers,sheislessopentoexploitation;andif thereareanunlimitednumberofbuyers,sheisthebestoff,becauseshecansell towhoeveroffersthebestprice.Fewcanargueagainst this simple logic.Infact,themuch-advocatedreformofthe

APMC laws has not happened so far due tothe opposition frommandi traders, by nowan influential lobby. InRajasthan, for exam-ple, in 2004, a similar Cabinet-approvedamendmenttotheAPMCActhadtobewith-drawn because traders went on strike.Opposition to changes from traders to theway, and towhom, farm produce is sold isperfectlyunderstandable.Butfromthefarm-ers?Why should farmers opposemore av-

enuesforthesaleoftheirproduce,otherthanmandis,especially ifnoelementof coercionis involved?What changeshave the three farm laws

wrought? The Farmers Produce Trade andCommerce(PromotionandFacilitation)Act,2020gives farmers the freedomtosell out-side themandi; and to the buyer to buy at“farm gate”, without the necessity of amandi licence. The farmer’s choice to sellwithin the mandi, if she so wishes, is nottakenaway.Reportedly, farmersbelievethatthis reformisaprecursor to theabolitionofmandisandMSP. It ishard to imaginewhatmighthavemadethemjumptothisconclu-sion:Anypoliticalpartywouldhavetohaveanextremeandunprecedentedcaseofmy-opia todoawaywitheithermandisorMSP,as itwouldbepoliticallysuicidal.Besides, itseems the government is prepared to givewhatever assurance the farmers want ontheircontinuation,andalsotomakechangesinthelawsuchasmandifeeapplyingtopri-vate “mandis” aswell.The Farmers (Empowerment and

Protection) Agreement of Price Assuranceand Farm Services Act, 2020, basically pro-vides for yet anothermuch-recommendedagriculture marketing reform— contractfarming. This helps the farmer to transit tocommercial crops, such as vegetables andfruits,which give higher returns than food-grain sold atMSP, by assuringher the “con-tracted”priceevenif thereisexcessproduc-tion,andprices inthemarket fall.Of course,thefarmerisalsocommittedtosellingatthe“contracted”price,evenifmarketpricesarehigher,thoughthelawdoesprovideameansof sharingthiswindfall.Thepoint,however,isthatthereisnoelementofcompulsion.Thefarmer is free tocontinuesowingcrops thatsellatMSP,ortotakeherchancesinthemar-ket, if shesowsnon-MSPcrops,withouten-tering intoanycontract.Howcantherebeaprotest about an additional option? If thefarmersdonot likethesafetyfeaturesof the

law, such as appeals, they can seek thosechanges.Why they should seek a repeal ofthe lawaltogether is trulybaffling.The Essential Commodities

(Amendment)Act,2020providesthatstor-age, etc of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edibleoils, onions and potatoes can be regulatedonly in extraordinary circumstances suchaswar, famine,naturalcalamity,orextraor-dinary price rise. The EC Act, as it stood,servedthe interestsof theconsumer,espe-ciallytheratherspoilturbanmiddleclasses,bytryingtogetfarmproducetothematlowprices. It is not difficult to see that if retailprices are low, farm gate priceswill be de-pressed too. The EC Act has also beenagainst the interests of the farmer by dis-couraginginvestments incoldchains,ware-houses,etc.Bettersupply/marketingchainshave the potential of getting higherprices/returns for the farmer. If anything,the farmers should have agitated, fromdecadesago, for theamendmentsthat theyarenowreportedly opposing!In the 2004 strike in Rajasthan, the

traders’ demandswere uncannily similar.This iswhat is astonishing: The concerns ofthetraders—additionalsaleoptionsforfarmproduceotherthanthemandis,andcontractfarming—arebeingmouthedbythefarmers.What is equally astonishing is the silenceofall those “intellectuals” and “experts”, bar-ringafewexceptions,whohadpassionatelyarguedforyearsforthesereforms.Letusnotlet our reform imperative be informed bywhichparty is inpower.There isobviouslymore to this agitation

thanmeetstheeye.Tothinkthatthefarmershavebeen“misled”aspartofa“politicalcon-spiracy” is perhaps naïve. Perhaps, the keyliesinthewaytheMSPschemeworksincer-tain states, and theway “big” farmer-traderrelationshipshaveworkedoutinsuchstates.

Thewriterhasbeen theCAGof India, and isaformercivil servant

ASAhardyearclosesout in theUS, andtheelectoral college voting seals Joe Biden’swin, the oft-ignored power that individu-als possess in a democracy has oncemorebeenhighlighted.In America’s quaint system, the choice

of astate’svoters for thenation’spresidentis formalised by “electors” named by thewinningparty,whovoteonebyone incer-emonies separately conducted, on thesameday, ineachstateor federal territory.This year, the rituals were performed onDecember 14.But ritualsmaybeamisleadingphrase.

These “electors” could have cheated andvoted against their party, that is, againsttheir state’s verdict.However, everyoneofthe 306 Democratic “electors” voted forBiden, andeachof the232Republicans forDonald Trump.This time, with Trump continuing to

deny his defeat (and to rouse his support-ers to somehow transform it into a win),the “electors” became targets of intimida-tion. Preventionof votingandevenabduc-tionwasfeared,butpublicservantssawtheexercise through.In some places, ingenuitywas needed.

At the last minute in traditionallyRepublican Arizona, which had chosenBiden over Trump, the state’s officers —loyal Republican Party members —switchedtheritual’svenuetoasaferplace,freeing the “electors” to vote for Biden.In this and other ways, officers and

“electors” across the US overcame pres-sures and did their duty. In so doing, pub-lic servants in states like Georgia and

Arizona probably destroyed their politicalfutures, at least for theshort term.But theysaved their country’s prestige.In India, too,doingourduty in the teeth

ofpressuresandinducements isnotasmallmatter,whetherwearepublic servants, ormembers elected to a local, state or na-tional council, or just citizens.Yielding to pressure from Trump and

his base, many Republican members ofCongressshamelesslyendorsedaSupremeCourt plea, initiated by Texas’s attorneygeneral, to invalidate the popular vote inPennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia andWisconsin. In a decision that showed thatthe Supreme Court, too, knew its duty, allits nine justices, including the three nom-inated by Trump, decided against enter-taining thebrazenplea. ThoughTrumpre-acted by tweeting that the court lacked“wisdom” and “courage”, the justices hadshownprecisely those virtues.Biden’s dislodging of Trump is, there-

fore,not the former’spersonal feat. It is theoutcomeof duty done by a greatmany.Equally crucial to the outcomewas the

outspokenandbroad rejectionof the con-tinual Trumpist hint, obvious to everyoneand appealing to many, that America be-longedprimarily to itsWhites. Twinnedtothis insinuation was a call against “pam-pering Blacks”. In refutation, Americanssaidonsocialmedia, innewspapers,onTV,in daily conversation, and in marches onthe street that their country belonged toall, and that the real problemwas theneg-lect of Black needs. Confronting theTrumpist line was thus not left to an

Obama, a Biden or a Kamala Harris. It be-came anAmerican duty.The parallels for India are plain. While

Adivasis, Dalits and Muslims make up“India’sBlacks”,amongtheseworse-off sec-tions Muslims are assigned the role thatTrumpismreservesforBlacks.This iswhereIndia’snational lifehasbeenfoundwanting.Eventhougheveryindexof income,wealth,housing,health,educationorsecurity findsthe Muslim at the bottom, a Junaid or aJamila, a Yasmin or a Yusuf, will rarely getsupport, even if attackedbyamob.Unless Trump tells his American ador-

ers (which hewon’t) that he has been de-feated, they will not accept that truth.Unless a Narendra Modi, an Amit Shah oranAdityanath says toHindunationalism’sfervent adherents — what seems so hardfor the three tosay—thataMuslim’s life isas valuable as aHindu’s, themasses of ad-herentswill not accept that truth.That still leaves crores of other Hindus

andother Indianswhowouldwelcomere-mindersof theequalvalueof everyhumanlife, and of the tolerance which Indians intheir vastmajorityhave always cherished.For any of us towait for some great leaderto provide these reminders, or to keepsilent until a unified opposition emerges,is to acquiesce in daily deeds of injustice.To Indians and others, America 2020

has shown that the “ordinary” citizen hasboth theability to call out awrongand theduty to do so.

Thewriter teaches at theUniversity ofIllinois at Urbana-Champaign

The EC Act has also beenagainst the interests of thefarmer by discouraginginvestments in cold chains,warehouses, etc. Bettersupply/marketing chainshave the potential of gettinghigher prices/returns for thefarmer. If anything, thefarmers should haveagitated, from decades ago,for the amendments thatthey are now reportedlyopposing! What is equallyastonishing is the silence ofall those ‘intellectuals’ and‘experts’, barring a fewexceptions, who hadpassionately argued for yearsfor these reforms. Let us notlet our reform imperative beinformed by which party isin power.

Unless Trump tells hisAmerican adorers (which hewon’t) that he has beendefeated, they will not acceptthat truth. Unless aNarendra Modi, an AmitShah or an Adityanath saysto Hindu nationalism’sfervent adherents — whatseems so hard for the threeto say — that a Muslim’s lifeis as valuable as a Hindu’s,the masses of adherents willnot accept that truth.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020 WORDLYWISETheuniquenatureaboutthe influenzavirus isits great potential forchanges, formutation.

— MARGARET CHANTHEEDITORIALPAGE

ASSAM ON THE BOILAT LEAST SIX persons have already diedand several more were injured when thepoliceopened fire todispersedemonstra-tors who attacked the police with brick-bats in several parts of Gauhati on the fifthdayof the13-daymass satyagraha. An in-definite curfew was imposed by the au-thorities inMirza township and the armystaged a flag march as tension prevailedduringpolice firing.Despite thepolice ac-tion, the satyagrahis did not disperse andawaited action in different parts of thecity. They dispersed only after themagis-trate ondutydeclared “their formal arrestand release”.

CRITICISING PROTESTORSPRIMEMINISTERINDIRAGandhihaswarnedagitatorsinAssamandotherpartsofthenorth-east that divisive elementswouldnot be tol-eratedandanyresorttoviolencewillbesternlydealtwith.MrsGandhisaidthattheagitationhasnothelped the causeof national integra-tion. She said that Indian culturewasknownfor its traditionof hospitality and itswilling-ness to assimilatewhat is good in other cul-tures.Unfortunately,theagitatorshadnotun-derstoodthisvitalelementofourculture.

RUCKUS OVER BOTTLEMANIRAMBAGRI, JANATA-Smember fromHissar createda flutter inLokSabhawhenhe

tabledacountryliquorbottleintheHouse.Thebottle, as per him, had been bought fromNarwanawhere22peoplehaddiedinahoochtragedy.MinisterofhealthShankaranandandCongress-Imembers alleged that Bagri hadbroughtdisrespecttothehouse.

RADIO IN HEADMIAMIMEDICALSTUDENTStephenLiggettwassurprisedwhenapsychiatrypatientre-ported hearingmusic in his head. Hewasmore surprised to learn that themusicwascoming from a radio station. The patient, aVietnamwar veteranwith shrapnel in hisskull,couldbethefirstwalkingradioreceiver—theshrapnelbeing thereceiver.

DECEMBER 23, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

11THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“If the new virus’s effect on the rate of transmission is as bad as governmentadvisers’ fear then we will need a national shutdown of the kind imposed inMarch ” —THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

India's instinctive preferencehas been for a multipolarorder as the best assurance ofits security and as mostconducive to its own socialand economic development.It now has the opportunityto make this its foreignpolicy priority as this alignswith the interests of a largemajority of middle andemerging powers. This willbe an important componentof a strategy to meet theChina challenge. Thetechniques of mobilisationthat were deployedsuccessfully in leading theNon-Aligned Movement inan earlier time and in adifferent geopolitical contextare relevant.

Ablind eyeto justice

Giventhefarmers’protests, theSupremeCourtshouldhavesuspendedimplementationof farmlawstill itheardthematter

FARMERSFROMMANYstatesareoutinthecold sitting on dharna at Delhi’s bordersagainstthethreenewlyenactedfarmlaws,which they believewill rob them of theirlivelihood, and, eventually, their lands too.Amongst their many fears, real or imagi-nary, is that the new laws will open theagrarian sector to corporates in a bigway,andthatintheabsenceofastatutoryguar-antee of Minimum Support Price (MSP),theywillbe forcedtosell theirproduce fora song — as they do not have thewhere-withaltocarrythesametofar-flungplacesinpursuitof abetterprice.Thefarmersarenot willing to settle at anything less thanthe withdrawal of the three contentiousActs, and have resolved to stay put at theborders, whether it takes them days ormonths tomake thegovernment relent.The government, on the other hand, is

equallyadamant, and isnotwilling tocedeanygroundtothe farmers. Initially, insteadof soothing their frayed nerves, attemptsweremade to discredit the protesters bycallingthemKhalistanis.Whenthatdidnotstick,theywerecalledanti-nationals.Inthelatestsalvo, theUnionagricultureminister,inanopenlettertothefarmers,allegedthatthose stopping trains at the borderswhenthesituationinLadakhischallengingcannotbe farmers. Perhaps, theminister needs toknow thatmost of the soldiers he is refer-ring tomaywell turn out to be the sons orrelativesof these farmers.However,despite thename-callingand

innuendoes,thegovernmentdidholdafewrounds of talkswith the representatives ofthese very farmers. But both are standingtheirground.Thegovernmentbelieves thethree laws are in the best interest of thefarmers, and that they are beingmisled bytheOpposition.Meanwhile,atleast29pro-testorshavereportedlydied.In the above scenario, thematter has

reached the Supreme Court. While theBhartiya Kisan Union has challenged theconstitutional validity of the three Acts, alawstudentinaseparatepetitionhassoughttheremovalofprotestingfarmers fromthesite to a designated place citing inconven-ience to the public, besides the threat ofCOVID-19.Itisopenlybeingallegedthatthepetition seeking removal of the farmers isatthebehestofthegovernmenttoderailtheagitation. Itmayormaynotbeso.In the course of hearing, the Supreme

Court recognisedtheconstitutional rightofthefarmerstoprotestsolongastheirdissentis non-violent. Observing that the farmers’issuewill soon become a national issue, itproposedsettingupacommitteecomprising

representatives of farmers’ unions acrossIndia,thegovernmentandotherstakehold-erstoresolvetheissuesagitatingthefarmers.ItalsoaskedtheAttorneyGeneralifhecouldassurethecourtthattillitdecidestheissues,thegovernmentwouldputonholdthe im-plementation of the contentious laws.ThoughtheAGsaidthathewouldgetbacktothecourt,theSolicitorGeneralreportedlyre-jectedthesuggestionoutofhand.GiventhefactthattheSupremeCourtit-

self felt thefarmersissuewillsoonbecomeanational issue,andgivenalsothefactthatitwasslippingintowintervacationforafort-night, and that the farmerswould have tosuffertheharshwinterundertheopensky,should the court not have exercised itspower,andsuspendedtheimplementationof the laws till it finally heard thematter?TheSupremeCourthasalsoreportedlysaidthatitwillnotdecidethevalidityofthelawsasofnow.With the greatest of respect to the

SupremeCourt, it istimeittakesthebullbythehorns. Ithas, for far too long,putonthebackburner issueswhich concern the na-tionmost.We have known of a SupremeCourtwhich, in the past, heard thematterof a terrorist atmidnight, sat late into thenight,andgrantedbailtotwoindustrialists,suspended the execution of a convictwhobeheadedhisfivedaughters,againatamid-nightsitting.Whythentheissueoffarmers,whoareoneofusandwhohavebeenfeed-ingus,cannotbetakenuponanurgentba-sis, even if it calls for setting up a specialbench in vacation to prevent thematterfrom snowballing into a national issue?EdmundBurkehasfamouslysaid:“Theonlythingnecessaryforthetriumphofevilisforgoodmentodonothing.”And thosewhowant the farmers to be

removed from the present site to a desig-natedplace,onthegroundofinconvenienceto the public and the pandemic, need toknowthat itwas theHaryanagovernmentthat tried to push the farmers to the brinkwhentheywerepeacefullymovingtowardsDelhibyusingwatercannons,erectingbar-ricades anddigging roads to prevent themfromproceeding ahead. Ironically, all thishappenedonConstitutionDay.Thesepeo-ple also need to know that the authoritieshad declined permission to farmerswhowanted to peacefully protest at JantarMantar, wheremany protests have beenheld in the past. Where were they to gothen? As for the threat of COVID-19, if as-semblyelectionscouldbeheldinBiharandhuge election rallies organised inWestBengal during a pandemic, why not allowfarmers’protests?Letme endwith a quote fromMartin

Luther King Jr, who was jailed inBirmingham, Alabama, after he defied acourt’s injunctionand ledamarchof Blackprotestorswithoutapermit. Inresponsetohis criticswho objected to his holding theprotestsatBirmingham,hewrotealetterinwhich he said: “Injustice anywhere is athreat to justiceeverywhere”.

Thewriter isa former judgeof theDelhiHighCourt

THEYEARENDSwithasighof reliefandan-ticipated redemption. Scientists theworldover have delivered with unprecedentedspeed a set of vaccines whichmay deliverus, in time, from the scourge of COVID-19.This news comes appropriately on the eveof Christmasandthe turnof theyear, tradi-tionally an occasion of renewal, and rekin-dled hopes for a better year ahead. Thesesentiments will be more intense, moredeeply felt than in recent years with liveshavingbeenrudelydisrupted,relationshipsmadedistantandtingedwithyearninganda pall of uncertainty and sense of futuredread sweepingacross theworld.Butwhile the gloommaybe slowly lift-

ing, the world will repair only slowly andthere are worrying intimations of othercrises looming round the corner.We are atan inflexion point,marking awatershed inhuman experience. But there are severalpathsahead,severalchoicesthatbeckon,ex-ceptthatthereisnopathtoretraceourstepsbacktowherewewerebeforethepandemicstruck — because that world no longer ex-ists. Geopolitics has been transformed andpowerequationsarebeingaltered.Therearea new set of winners and losers in the eco-nomicsweepstakes.Technologicaladvance-mentwillmagnify thesechangesand Indiawill need to make difficult judgementsabouttheworldthatistakingshapeandfindits place in a more complex and shiftinggeopolitical landscape.Sometrendswerealreadysalientbefore

thepandemicstruck.Theyarebeingaccel-erated and intensified thanks to the forcesunleashed by this crisis. There are alsonewertrendsatplay,whichdemandatten-tionandefficientmanagement.Asthepan-demic recedes, the world could draw theright lessonsandproceedonamorehope-ful trajectory. Itmay equally lurch into an-otherevenmoreseriousanddamagingcri-sis or even multiple crises because thelessonsremainunlearnt.Thelatterhasbeenmoreoftenthecaseinhistorybuttheimpli-cations aremoredire now.Thesuccessofscientistsindeliveringvac-

cines in record timehasmaskedanugly re-ality.COVID-19hasbeenaglobalemergency,recognising no national or regional bound-aries but it has been dealt with almost en-tirelywithinnationalconfines. Internationalcooperationineitherdevelopinganeffectivevaccine or responding to its health impactshasbeenminimal.Thepre-existingtrendto-wardsnationalisturgings, theweakeningofinternational institutions andmultilateralprocesses has been reinforced. Even in thedistributionofvaccines,wearewitnessingacorneringofsuppliesbyahandfulofrichna-tions. Help for the poorer nations of theworld isa lowpriority.Most challenges the world faces are

global, likethepandemic.Theyare inherentin globalisation driven by rapid technologi-calchange.Theseincludeclimatechange,cy-bersecurity,spacesecurity,whicharenewerdomains.Butevenextantchallengessuchas

terrorism,drug trafficking,money launder-ingandoceanandterrestrialpollutionhavetaken on a globalised dimension. They arenotamenabletonationalsolutions.Theyde-mand collaborative, not competitive solu-tions. This glaring disconnect between therisingsalienceofglobalandcross-cuttingis-sues and the resistance tomultilateral andcollaborative approaches is likely to inten-sifyinthepost-pandemicworld,unlessthereissomedisplayofstatesman-likeleadershiptomobilise actiononaglobal scale. Thena-tion-state will endure but its conduct willneed to be tempered by a spirit of interna-tionalismandasenseofcommonhumanity.How likely is it that there will emerge

leadership that is able to orient the worldin the right direction? The pre-pandemicshift in the centre of gravity of the globaleconomyandpoliticalpowerandinfluence,fromthetrans-Atlantic to thetrans-Pacific,hasbeenreinforcedundertheimpactof thecrisis. East Asian and South-East Asiancountrieshavemanagedthecrisismoreef-fectively and their economies are the firstto register the green shoots of recovery.Ironically, China being the country wherethe COVID-19 first erupted early this year,hasbeenthefirst largeeconomytowitnessa significant rebound in its growth rate.While trade and investment flows in therest of the world have declined, they haveregisteredgrowth in this part of theworld.TheregionalsupplychainscentredonChinahavebeenreinforcedratherthandisrupted.China will emerge in pole position in thegeopolitical sweepstakes commencing in2021.Thepowergapwith itsmainrival, theUS,will shrink further.ThepowergapwithIndia, its largest rival in Asia, will expandeven more. India is already confronting amore aggressive and arrogant China on itsborders. This threat will intensify and de-mandasymmetrical coping strategies.DespiteChinaemergingarelativegainer

from the disruptions triggered by the pan-demic, I believe that the trend towardsmulti-polarityisheretostay.NeithertheUSin its relatively diminished state nor Chinawith its enhanced power can singly or as aduopolymanageamuchmorediffuseddis-tributionofeconomicandmilitarycapabil-itiesacrosstheglobe.Asalreadynoted,mostof the challenges we confront demandglobal and collaborative responses. Even apowerful country cannot coerce other na-

tions to collaborate. This is only possiblethroughmultilateralapproachesandadher-ence to the principle of equitable burden-sharing. Wemay see the emergence of alooselystructuredglobalorderwithclustersof regional powers, inter-linked and inter-actingwitheachother. But suchamultipo-lar order can only be stable and keep thepeacewitha consensus set of norms,man-agedthroughempoweredinstitutionsof in-ternational governance and multilateralprocesses. India's instinctivepreferencehasbeen for amultipolar order as the best as-surance of its security and as most con-ducive to its own social and economic de-velopment. It now has the opportunity tomake this its foreign policy priority as thisalignswith the interests of a largemajorityof middle and emerging powers. This willbeanimportantcomponentofastrategytomeettheChinachallenge.Thetechniquesofmobilisation that were deployed success-fully inleadingtheNon-AlignedMovementinanearliertimeandinadifferentgeopolit-ical context are relevant.Despite a degree of pessimism about

India's economic prospects,wemaybe lo-catedata favourablegeopoliticalmoment.This may appear counterintuitive. Thanksto concerns about China's aggressive pos-ture across the board and its unilateral as-sertions of power, there is a significantpush-backevenfromsmallercountries, forexample, in South-East Asia and Africa.China’s blatant "weaponisation of eco-nomic interdependence" suchaswesee inits punitive commercial action againstAustralia, hasmade its economic partnersincreasinglywary. India is seen as apoten-tial and credible countervailing power toresist Chinese ambitions. TheworldwantsIndia to succeedbecause it is regardedas abenign power wedded to a rule-based or-der. India can leverage this propitiousmo-menttoencourageasignificant flowofcap-ital, technology and knowledge toaccelerate its ownmodernisation. But forthis tohappen, Indianeedstopositionitselfas themostopenandcompetitivedestina-tionfor tradeandinvestmentofferingbothscale andpolitical stability.The choice is clear and the opportunity

for leadershipbeckons.

Thewriter isa former foreignsecretaryandcurrently senior fellow,CPR

CRISIS IN NEPALTHISREFERSTO the editorial, 'Crisis inKathmandu'(IE,December22).NepalPMKPOli’s suddenmove to dissolve theHouseofRepresentativesisbeingseenasavindictivemanifestationofhisauthori-tarianstreak.Themoveappears tostemlargely fromthefeudintherulingNepalCommunistParty.Oliissteeringhiscoun-try into an inflexion point for thefledgelingdemocracythatitwasattempt-ingtoestablishafterdecadesofinstability.

SSPaul,Nadia

GREATER CULPABILITYTHIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘In thedock’(IE, December 22). It's not just UPChief Minister Yogi Adityanath— hissupportersandpatronsintheBJPshouldbeinthedockfollowingtheCBI’sindict-mentoftheUPpoliceintheheinouscaseofrapeandmurderofa19-year-oldDalitgirl.Theyhadtriedtheirbesttoderailtheinvestigation throughdiversionaryanddelaying tactics. Even PM NarendraModi,who is not tired of claiming em-powermentofMuslimwomen,hadkeptquiet.ThankGodthatinthiscase,theCBIseems to have investigated it under nopressure and as a result, couldchargesheet the four upper-caste ac-cusedinastipulatedtime.

TarsemSingh,Mahilpur

VIRTUAL BONHOMIETHISREFERSTOthearticle, 'Notes fromanewworld' (IE, December 22).Whilemusicianshaveadaptedwelltoperformin "voncerts", the rasikas too have

evolvedtoappreciatethem.Ihavebeentuning in to theDecember season con-certs and the bonhomie buzzing aboutin the chatbox has been infectious.Sharing tidbits and trivia about theraagams, composition and composerhave immenselyenhancedthemusicalexperience.

KSahasranaman,Mumbai

HOLLOW WELFARETHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘Newwel-farismofIndia’sRight’(IE,December22).It isworth noting that the governmentis focusing on tangible essentials in itsschemes. But intangible essentials, likemedicalfacilitiesandeducation,areim-portanttoo.Despiteitsfocusontangiblewelfare,thedataonchildstuntingisnotimpressive.NewWelfarismwithoutin-tangibleessentials ishollow.

LoveKumarLalwani,Mehsana

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

THEDICTIONARYMEANINGofblunderbussistwo-fold. Themore archaicmeaning standsforagunwithashort, largebarrel, tobefiredonlyatcloserange.Thesecondmeaningrefersto an action lacking subtlety and precision.Eitherway,whattheBJPisplanninginBengalisatextbookcaseofblunderbuss. Ithasgoneto the state —which goes to the poll in theearly half of 2021—with all guns blazing. Ithas parked there, the head of its IT Cell. ABengal-specific division of the raucousRepublicTVhasbeenbankrolled.To organisationally unsettle Bengal BJP’s

insouciance,thehomeministerrecentlypara-trooped to induct one chieftain and severallocal turncoats,mostly from the TrinamoolCongressbutalso fromtheCongressandtheCPI(M). If this is the barrel for shooting, theotherpartoftheblunderbuss,onecanbet,willalso lack any subtlety. It would be the samestoryof courtingdodgydefectorswithplumpositions; creating a narrative of a long-suf-fering Bengal underMarxists and autocrats;unearthing imaginary traumas of Partition;canvassing the fiction of rampagingBangladeshiinfiltration;holdinghigh-octanerallieswith one-penny actors and a prevari-cating primeminister; instigating localisedcommunitarian violence; and hop-in andhop-off flirtationswith Bengal’s long list oftalismans—Tagoreforbreakfast,Vivekanandafor lunch, Subhas Bose for dinner. Somuch

andso forth. Thequestionhence isnotwhatBJPwilldoinBengal.Thequestionis,knowingthenarrative,what theotherpartieswould.Nothing binds the Trinamool’s foot sol-

diersmore than their genuflecting loyalty toa firebrand shibboleth. Notwithstanding 10years in power and a handful of penetrativewelfare policies,Mamata Banerjee remainsan impenitentautocratof a shambolicparty,whichisotherwisemadeof localmafiosiek-ingoutpolitical fortunes fromthecrumbsofagigeconomy.Tothatend,onlyaprospectofawin in thenextpolls cankeepherminionstogether.Atthesametime,Mamataisapop-ular leader,hasextensiveacceptability,com-mandswidespreadloyaltyandhasnotyetlosther street-fighting genes. So, in spite of herparty,Mamata is still a substantive politicalforce.At least till today.ThestateoftheLeftisaconcoctionofdelu-

sionanddenial. It isdeludingitself if,accord-ingtoseveralreports,itisconsideringbackingtheBJPfurtivelytorootouttheTMC,sothatitcanmake a triumphant return in 2026. Thisis like thesquirrel temptingthewolf to tamethe cat. Even if the cat survives thewolf, thesquirrel won’t. Also, unless it has lost all itsmarbles, the Left will dowell to rememberthat theRSS reserves its sincerestdisgust forit.So,bothpoliticallyorideologically,provid-inganygrease to theBJP’s juggernautwouldbe hara-kiri, now and in the foreseeable fu-

ture.This ismoreso,becausetheLeftcontin-ues to have a significant voter base amongthose sorewithMamata’s vulgar populism.As for the Congress, very little can be saidaboutitsprospectsinBengalmorethanitcanbe said elsewhere, though it has a small butloyal faction of voters, especially in partswheretheCongresscontinuestohaveactivepresenceandkey local leadership.TMC, BJP and a CPM-Congress combine

havehinted that theywill fighteachother inthepolls.Butfactsandthepoliticalwindsarechiming one simple arithmetic: That therecannotbea three-wayelection in2021. Thatwouldmean an advantage for BJP, as it willcannibaliseonthefactionalismintheformerandon the irrelevanceof the latter. If theBJPis to be defeated, the TMC and the Left-Congress combinemust come together toformastrategic alliance. There is immediateand successful precedence inMaharashtra,while thegrandalliance inBihar, even inde-feat,hascreatedthepromiseofanon-BJPfu-ture.History iswitness thatafteramillenniaof fightingeachother, FranceandBritaindidcome together against Germany in both theworld wars. Why is it such an impossibleprospect inBengal?An alliance is going to ensure—mathe-

matically speaking— an unassailable politi-cal behemoth; andwill be electorally insur-mountableevenif theBJPunleashesitsmost

diabolic campaign. An alliancewill also cutdownoncost,disincentivisedefectionandal-legationsofdynasticisminTMC.Itwouldalsominimise the political violence that Bengalroutinelywitnesses before polls. These arequantifiablegains.So,what isatstake?First, if theLeft iswillingtocourtBJPand

sit out till 2026 (hypothetically countingtheir return to glory), why not do the sameinstead for TMC? For after Mamata, therewouldbenoTMCtospeakofanyway,givingarealchancetoCPI(M)’sso-farunrealhopes.Second, Bengal’s history for decades sincethe 1960s is full of the bloody rivalry be-tweenlocalCongressandCPI(M). If thatcanbe conveniently forgotten to forge an al-liance, why not the same for TMC? Third, acoalition in power will keep Mamata’smonocracy in check, end CPM’s long isola-tion from governance; and create a pool ofpolitical progeny for the future. As for TMC,it isanywayapartywithoutabelief, sohowwill itmatter if it sideswith theLeft?Most importantly, such a strategic and

timely alliancewould successfully turn thetables on BJP’s spin doctors, while ensuringthat Bengal does not suffer the ignominy ofhaving fallen to the ultra-right.What can bebetter forBengal?

Thewriter teachesatAmbedkarUniversityDelhi.Viewsarepersonal

ThereisnoalternativeforTMC,LeftandCongressbuttostitchtogetheranalliance

Game on in BengalSayandeb Chowdhury

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

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www.indianexpress.com

Rekha Sharma

Shyam Saran

CR Sasikumar

For India,despitearisingChina, this isa favourablegeopoliticalmoment,which itmustseize toassure itsplace ina looselystructuredmultipolarglobalorder

The new league of nations

AN EXPRESS IDEA SERIES

COVIDSHADOW,NEWYEAR

LIGHT

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

AFGHANISTAN

RoadsidebombkillsprisondoctorsinKabulKabul: A roadside bombkilled at least five prisondoctors and healthwork-ers in the Afghan capitalon Tuesday while theywere on their way to thecountry’s largest jail, offi-cialssaid.TheTalibansaidtheywerenot involved intheattackasthefivewereontheirwaytothesprawl-ing Pul-i-Charkhi prisonhousinghundredsofpris-oners, including scores ofTaliban insurgents. Threedoctors, two of themwomen,working to con-trolthespreadofthecoro-navirus in the jail wereamong the dead, saidMasoomaJafari,aspokes-woman for the healthministry. REUTERS

Securitypersonnelatthesiteof theattack inKabul. AP

TOPOFTHEWORLD

NORWAY

GreenpeacelosescourtcaseoverArcticoildrillingOslo:Norway’s supremecourt approved the gov-ernment’splans forArcticoilexplorationonTuesday,dismissing a lawsuit bycampaignerswhoclaimedthe schemeviolatedpeo-ple’s right toahealthyen-vironment.Theverdictup-held rulingsmadeby twolowercourts, rejectingar-guments byGreenpeaceandtheNatureandYouthgroupthata2015-16oilli-censing round givingawards to Equinor andothersbreachedNorway’sconstitution. While thecasewasspecificallyaboutten exploration licensesawarded four years ago,the environmental cam-paigners had hoped thattheir appealwould set aprecedent limiting theoilindustry’s Arctic expan-sion. REUTERS

ARGENTINA

SenatetovoteonexpandingrighttoabortionBuenos Aires:Argentina’sSenate will decide nextweekwhether to give fi-nal approval to a govern-ment-backed bill thatwould expand the avail-abilityof legalabortion,aproposalthathasdivideda societywith strong tiesto the Roman Catholicchurch.Asimilarbillwasdefeated by Argentina’sCongressin2018.Currentlaw allows for abortiononlywhenthere isaseri-ous risk to themother’shealth or in the event ofrape. REUTERS

BRAZIL

Riomayorarrestedover‘briberyscheme’Rio de Janeiro: Rio deJaneiro Mayor MarceloCrivellawas arrested onTuesday, ninedaysbeforetheendof his term, for al-legedinvolvementinacor-ruptionschemeatcityhall,police and prosecutorssaid.Crivella,whowasar-rested at home on thewesternsideofRio,deniedanywrongdoingand saidhewasthetargetofpoliti-cal persecution. Themayor’sarrestcomesafterawaveofcorruptioninves-tigations thathave landedfiveformerRiostategover-norstojail..“Iaminnocentand I don’t knowwhat isgoingon.This isapoliticalpersecution,”Crivella saidafterhisarrest. REUTERS

ADAMGOLDMAN&KATIEBENNERWASHINGTON,DECEMBER22

USATTORNEYGeneralWilliamP Barr onMonday announcedcriminalchargesagainstaformerLibyanintelligenceoperativeac-cused of building the explosivedevicethatwasusedinthe1988bombing of Pan Am Flight 103,one of the deadliest terrorist at-tacks in United States history,stemmingpartly toaconfessionthathegavenearlyadecadeagowhile imprisonedinLibya.The announcement book-

endsMr.Barr’stwotoursofdutyas attorney general, first underPresidentGeorgeBushandnowunder President Trump. At hisfirstnewsconferenceastheact-ing attorney general underMr.Bush in 1991, he announced

charges against two suspects intheexplosionof thejetlineroverLockerbie,Scotland.OnMonday,the 32nd anniversary of the at-tack, Mr. Barr revealed chargesagainst a third person, a shad-owy bomb expert named AbuAgilaMohammadMas’ud.The Justice Department

charged Mr. Mas’ud with twocriminal counts, including de-structionof anaircraft resultingindeath,accordingtocourtdoc-umentsunsealedonMonday.Heis halfway through a 10-yearsentence in a Libyan prison forunrelatedcrimes.“Lettherebenomistake,”Mr.

Barrsaid.“Noamountof timeordistance will stop the UnitedStates, and its partners inScotland, frompursuing justicein this case.”Mr.Mas’ud’s name had sur-

faced during the investigation

into the bombing of the flight,whichkilled270passengers, in-cluding190Americans.However, officials examin-

ing what happened failed to

confirm his identity or locatehim after the attack, Mr. Barrsaid. Mr. Mas’ud appeared tohavehadarole intheexplosion,but his exact involvement re-

mainedmurky.But thedepart-ment said that Col. Muammarel-Qaddafi, Libya’s leaderat thetime, personally thanked Mr.Mas’ud for carrying out thedeadlyoperationandcalled itatotal success.After Colonel el-Qaddafi’s

government collapsed, Mr.Mas’ud confessed to the bomb-ing in 2012 while being inter-viewedbyaLibyanlawenforce-ment official. Investigatorseventuallylearnedabouthisde-tentionandconfession,Mr.Barrsaid, calling the development a“breakthrough.”The attorney general, who

stepsdownonWednesday,saidhewashopeful that theLibyanswould extraditeMr. Mas’ud totheUnited States and called theprospects “verygood.”“Mas’ud is in the custody of

thecurrentgovernmentofLibya,

andwehave no reason to thinkthat that government is inter-ested in associating itself withthis heinous act of terrorism,”Mr.Barrsaid.“Weareoptimistictheywill turn him over to facejustice.”Extraditionwould allowMr.

Mas’udtostandtrial,butdefenselawyers raised doubts aboutwhether a confession obtainedin prison in war-torn Libyawould be admissible as evi-dence.Mr.Mas’udwasthethirdsus-

pect charged in thePanAm103case.Theothertwo,AbdelBassetAli al-Megrahi and Al-AminKhalifa Fhimah, were initiallycharged in 1991, but Americanefforts to bring them to justicewere stymied when Libya re-fusedtoextraditethemtoeitherthe United States or Britain fortrial. NYT

32 years on, suspect charged in 1988 Lockerbie bombing

RemainsofPanAmFlight103ata field inLockerbie,Scotland.TheDecember1988attackkilled270people.APFile

THENEWYORKTIMESLONDON,DECEMBER22

AS GOVERNMENTS around theworldracedtosealtheirborderstotravelersfromBritaininanat-tempt to contain a new variantof the coronavirus, officials inLondonwarned that the lock-downmeasures in effect in thecapital and southern Englandmightneedtobeexpanded.The government’s chief sci-

entific adviser, Patrick Vallance,saidMondaynightthatthenewstrain was now “everywhere”across England and that caseswereonlyexpectedtogrowoverthe holiday period. “I think it’slikely therefore that measureswill need to be increased insome places in due course, notreduced,”Mr.Vallancesaid.Withnearlyeverycountryin

Europe now banning travel toand from Britain, EuropeanUnion officials struggled to es-tablish guidelines for membernations that could bring a sem-blance of order to the chaoticcascade of border closures an-nouncedoverthepast48hours.The EU’s executive arm, said

on Tuesday thatmember statesshouldmove swiftly to reversetravelbansimposedoverthepastfewdays in an effort to stop thespreadofnewvariantofthecoro-navirus that has emerged inBritain. It recommended testingor quarantining as needed, andstressedthatnonessentialtravelshould be discouraged. The rec-ommendationsarenonbinding.The World Health

Organization sought to temperthegrowingsenseof alarmover

the newvariant and the dangerit poses. “There is zero evidenceat thispoint that there is any in-crease in the severity associatedwiththisdisease,”MikeRyan,theWHOemergency director, said.“Clearlythereisworkongoingtolook at transmission and the in-creasedratesoftransmissionandhowmuchof that isattributabletothisparticularvariant.”While scientists around the

worldworked to better under-standthedangersof thevariant,themeasuresbeingput inplacetotryandcontainitwerealreadybeingfeltacrossBritain.Millionsofpeopleforcedtoabruptlycan-celChristmasplansarenowalsofacing the prospect of a disrup-tiontobasicservicesunlikeany-thing experienced so far in thepandemic.

Peoplequeueoutsideasupermarket inLondon'sBalhamonTuesday.Reuters

ASSOCIATEDPRESSBERLIN,DECEMBER22

GERMAN PHARMACEUTICALcompanyBioNTech is confidentthat its coronavirus vaccineworks against the newUKvari-ant, but further studies areneededtobecompletelysure,itschief executivesaidTuesday.Thevariant,detectedmainly

in London and southeastEngland in recent weeks, hassparkedconcernworldwidebe-causeofsignsthatitmayspreadmoreeasily.Whilethereisnoin-dication it causesmore seriousillness, numerous countries inEurope and beyond have re-stricted travel from the UK as aresult.“We don't know at themo-

mentifourvaccineisalsoabletoprovide protection against thisnew variant," CEO Ugur Sahintoldanewsconference.“Butsci-entifically, it is highly likely thatthe immune response by thisvaccine also can deal with thenewvirusvariants.”Sahinsaidtheproteinsonthe

UK variant are 99 per cent thesameasontheprevailingstrains,andthereforeBioNTechhas"sci-entific confidence" that its vac-cine will be effective. “But wewill know it only if the experi-ment is done andwewill needabout twoweeks from now togetthedata,”hesaid.“Thelikeli-hoodthatourvaccineworks... isrelativelyhigh.”

LALITKJHAWASHINGTON,DECEMBER22

USPresident-elect Joe Biden onMonday received the Covid-19vaccine and said he wanted todemonstratethatpeopleshouldbe ready to take the vaccinewhen it is available.Biden received the first

course of the Pfizer-BioNTechvaccine. “I am doing this todemonstratethatpeopleshouldbe preparedwhen it's availabletotakethevaccine.There'snoth-ing toworryabout,”hesaid.“Today, I received theCovid-

19vaccine. To the scientists andresearchers who worked tire-lessly to make this possible --thank you.We owe you an aw-ful lot,"Bidensaid ina tweet.

JoeBidenreceiveshis firstdoseof thevaccine.AP/PTI

WE DIDN’T START THE FIREAplumerisesnearactive fissures inthecraterofHawaii’sKilaueavolcano.TheeruptionbeganlateSundaywithinthevolcano’scaldera, theUSGeologicalSurveysaid.Becauseof thelocationof theerupting lava, therewas little risk to thepublic.AP/PTI

ASSOCIATEDPRESSJERUSALEM,DECEMBER22

THE ISRAELI Supreme Court onTuesday was hearing a caseagainst a contentious law thatdefines the country as the na-tion-state of the Jewish people,markingthebeginningofaland-mark challenge against legisla-tionthatopponentssaydiscrim-inatesagainstminorities.The15petitionsfiledbyArab

rights groupsandother civil so-cietyorganisations seek tohavethe country's Supreme Courtstrikedownthe law.The petitions pose a major

challengetothe2018lawandarebeingheardbyapanelof11jus-tices,thecourt's largestpossibleconfiguration.“ThisisthefirsttimeinIsraeli

legal history that the SupremeCourt has to dealwith the legalstatusofthePalestinianminorityin Israel,” said Hassan Jabareen,founder of Adalah, an Arabmi-nority rights group petitioningthecourt, aheadof thehearing.Thenation-statelawwasap-

proved by the Knesset in July2018. ItdefinesIsraelasthe“na-tion-state of the Jewishpeople”andaddsthat“fulfillingtherighttonationalself-determinationinthestateof IsraelisuniquetotheJewishpeople.”It also downgraded Arabic

fromanofficialstatelanguagetoonewith“special status”.The law'spassageprompted

vocaloppositionbythecountry'sArab minority, particularlyamongDruzeIsraelis,whoservein themilitary and saw them-

selves demoted to second classcitizens.As the judges heard argu-

ments against the law frompe-titioners, Israeli PrimeMinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said thecourt “is not an absolute ruler”andcalledforlegislationtolimitjudicial authority.

Israel on cusp of 4thelection in 2 yearsJerusalem: Israel’s governmentteeteredonthebrinkofcollapseonTuesday,abuildingcrisisthatlooks likely to push the countryintoyetanotherearlyelection—the fourth in twoyears.TheParliamentwasexpected

todissolveatTuesdaymidnight.Anewvotehas tentativelybeenscheduled forMarch23. NYT

Biden gets his shot, saysnothing to worry about

REUTERSBRUSSELS,DECEMBER22

THEEUROPEANUnion is givinga “final push” in a bid to strike aBrexittradedealwithBritain,thebloc’s chief negotiator saidTuesday.Britain is set to complete its

departure from the EUwhen itleaves the bloc’s singlemarketandcustomsuniononDecember31,meaningitscurrentfreetrade

arrangementsexpire.The two sides have for

monthsbeenstrugglingtosealanew framework for their rela-tions, going beyond trade totransport to energy. But themuch-postponed final stagesnow coincide with a cross-Channel crisis as EU and othercountriessuspendmosttraveltoand fromBritain.“Wearereallyinacrucialmo-

ment. We are giving it a finalpush,”saidthenegotiator,Michel

Barnier.He told the closed-doorgatheringthatfisheriesremaineda stumbling block and that theUK’s latest offer on sharing outthecatchfrom2021was“totallyunacceptable”, according to anEUdiplomatwhospokeoncon-ditionof anonymity.Earlier in the day, EU diplo-

matsandofficialssaidanagree-mentwasgettingcloserbutalsowarned it might not come to-getherintimetocomeintoforceon January1.

EU vows ‘final push’ in UK trade talks

BenjaminNetanyahuhascalled the2018 legis-lation“adefiningmo-ment in thehistoryof thestate”.Proponentsof the law

haveargued that the leg-islationmerelyenshrinesIsrael's Jewishcharacterinto law.Butcriticshavearguedthat the lawcon-travenes thebasisofIsrael's legal system,aswell as itsDeclarationofIndependence, andsolidifies inequalityamong its citizens.

Whythe lawhassparkedcontroversyE●EX

PLAINED

Israeli top courthears challenge toJewish nation law

BioNTech CEOconfidentvaccine willwork on variant

YUBARAJGHIMIREKATHMANDU,DECEMBER22

THE NEPAL Communist Party(NCP) onTuesdaymoveda steptowards a formal split, with thePushpaKamalDahal‘Prachanda’-led faction removing PrimeMinisterKPSharmaOlifromthepostofchairmananddecidingtotake disciplinary action againsthim.The Central Committee

unanimouslynominatedseniorleaderMadhav KumarNepal asthe party's second chairman inplaceofOli.Prachandaisthefirstchairmanof theparty.“NowDahal and Nepal will

chair the meetings in turn asstated in the party statue,” saidRekha Sharma, a central com-mitteemember.Earlierintheday,Oli--oneof

the two chairmen of the rulingNCP -- organised a separatemeeting of the CentralCommittee leaders close tohimat Baluwatar, the primeminis-ter'sofficial residence.Themeetingwas held three

days after Oli got the PresidenttodissolveParliament,acontro-versialmoveamidstaprolongedtussle for power between himandPrachandawithintherulingdispensation.At themeeting held by the

Prachanda faction, it was de-

cided that the dissolution ofParliamentwasanactthatwentagainst the spirit of theConstitution and values ofdemocracy.Hence,thegroupde-cidedtoexpelOliaspartychair-man. “The government standsdissolvedbutthePartyisintact,”Prachandasaid.Inacounter-move,thefaction

led byOli removedNCP centralsecretariatmemberNaryanKajiShresthafromthepositionof thespokesperson. Oli announced anew1,199-membercommitteetoorganise theparty's general con-vention onNovember 18-23 inKathmandunextyear.Earliertheparty'sconventionwasscheduledfromApril7to12,2021.Meanwhile,fourmembersof

the dissolved House -- all be-longing to the Prachanda camp-- filed a petition before theSupreme Court, pleading thatthedissolutionofParliamentbedeclarednull andvoid.

--WITHPTI

KPOliand(right)PushpaKamalDahal ‘Prachanda’

Nepal ruling partyheads for split asPrachanda expelsOli from top post

EUurgesmembercountries to liftblanket travelbans forBritain

Englandmullswider lockdown tocurb spread of newCovid variant

REUTERSWASHINGTON,DECEMBER22

PRESIDENTDONALD TrumponTuesdaysignedastopgapmeas-ure to fund US agencies for an-other week while Congresspassed amassive Covid-19 aidand government funding pack-age overnight aimed at bolster-ing the nation’s pandemic re-sponse and its batteredeconomy.The package includes $892

billionforcoronavirusreliefplusfederal government funding toalso avert a government shut-down - together worth about$2.3 trillion in spending for therest of the fiscal year that endsnext September 30 -- and isawaitingTrump’sapprovaltobe-come law.In the meantime, US law-

makers moved to fund federalagencies throughDecember 28topreventalapseingovernmentoperations. Trump signed thestopgap fundingbill into lawonTuesday, theWhiteHousesaid.TheCovid-19provisionsaim

tothrowalifelinetotheUSecon-omyaftermonthsof inactionasthe novel coronavirus outbreakcontinues to swell nationwide,withmore than214,000peopleinfected every day. So far, more

than 319,000 Americans havedied.The wide-ranging bill in-

cludes $600payments tomostAmericans and additionalmoney to the millions of peo-ple thrown out of work duringtheCovid-19pandemic, just asearlier benefits expire onSaturday.Still,variousadvocacygroups

and others said that while thenew round of aid was wel-comed, it was far from enoughto help Americans who havebeenstruggling formonths andcomes too late for many. Theycalled on President-elect JoeBiden to domore once he takesofficeon January20.Treasury Secretary Steven

Mnuchin has said $600 directpaymentcheckscouldbesenttopeopleas soonasnextweek.

DonaldTrump

Trump signs stopgapfunding bill; Cong awaitsnod of $892 bn Covid aid

Russian law toallow formerpresidents besenators for lifeMoscow: President VladimirPutin signed legislation onTuesdaythatallowsformerpres-identstobecomelawmakersforlife in Russia’s upper house ofparliament once they leave theKremlin, a governmentwebsiteshowed.The legislation follows

sweepingchangestotheRussianpolitical system initiated byPutinthisyearthat,amongotherthings, allowhimto run for twomore six-year terms in theKremlin if he chooses. He hadbeendue tostepdownin2024.Thereformsarebeingclosely

parsedforcluesastowhatPutinmaydoat theendof his currentpresidential term. REUTERS

13SENSEX: 46,006.69 ▲ 452.73 NIFTY: 13,466.30 ▲ 137.90 NIKKEI: 26,436.39 ▼ 278.03 HANG SENG: 26,119.25 ▼ 187.43 FTSE: 6,428.76 ▲ 12.44 DAX: 13,379.07 ▲ 132.77

THEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`49,653

RUPEE`73.84

OIL$50.29

SILVER`67,177

Note:Gold, silverratesatDelhi spotmarket;goldper10g, silverper1kg;Brentcrudeasof0030IST

Internationalmarketdatatill0000IST

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

FOLLOWINGSEVERALmonthsofwrangling, theUSCongressclea-reda$900-billioncoronavirusaidpackageMondaynight,withboththeHouseofRepresentativesandtheSenateclearingtheaidbill.Ou-tgoingPresidentDonaldTrumpisnowexpectedtosignit intolaw.

Whatdoesthisbillentail?The cleared aid package en-

tails direct jobless benefits forAmericansbelowathreshold in-comelevel,alongsidesupportforbusinesses andunemploymentprogrammes.AnumberofCovid-19reliefprogrammesweresettoexpireattheendofthemonthandabout12millionAmericanswereatriskof losingaccesstobenefits,if the legislation had not gonethrough.Atover5,500pages, thelegislationwasdescribedby theAssociatedPressas“thelongestbillinmemory andprobably ever”.

Thedeal,whichhasbeenhangingfire formonths,was announcedon Sunday by SenateMajorityLeaderMitchMcConnell.

Whatarethekeybenefitsinthepackage?The stimulus in-

cludes $600 pay-ments to mostAmericans, andwillsupplement unem-ploymentpaymentsby$300perweek. Italso containsmorethan $300billion insupportforcompanies,alongsidefundsforvaccinedistributionandrentalaid.The payment is half the

amountthattheUSCongressap-proved for direct payments dur-ingthefirstroundofpandemicre-liefearlierthisyear.

WhyisthisimportantfortheUS,andevenmarketssuchasIndia?Delaysinclearingthepackage

hadledtoconcernsoverwhethertheUS governmentwould shutdownwithout a spending bill.Washingtonhas beenoperatingon temporary funding sinceOctober, the commencement oftheUS federal government’s fi-

nancial year. This isimportantas the$2.4trillion economic re-lief packagehasbeencreditedwith cush-ioning the US econ-omy fromthe impactof thepandemic.The impact of the

legislative action could resonatebeyondtheUS,intermsofassuag-ingmarketsentimentsacrossge-ographies, especially coming adayaftermarkets tankedfollow-ingreportsofthenewcoronavirusstraininBritainandSouthAfrica.The Sensex,which fell 1,407

points onMonday, gained 453points,or0.99percent,tocloseat46,006.69andtheNSENiftyIndexsoared138points,or1.03percent,to13,466.30onbuyingsupport.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

BHARATBIOTECHhasdecidedtodevelopCovaxin for theUSmar-ket in collaborationwithAmeri-can biopharmaceutical firmOcugen.Thetwocompanieshavesigned a binding letter of intent(LoI),BharatBiotechsaidTuesday.According to the LoI, Ocugen

willhavetheUSrightstothevac-cine candidate and, in collabora-tionwithBharat Biotech,will beresponsible for “clinicaldevelop-ment, registration,andcommer-cialisation” of the candidate forthatmarket.“The companies have begun

collaboratingandwillfinalizede-tails of thedefinitive agreementin the next fewweeks. This col-laboration leverages Ocugen’s

vaccine expertise, and its R&DandregulatorycapabilitiesintheUS,” said Bharat Biotech initsstatement.In preparation for the devel-

opment of Covaxin in the US,Ocugenhasassembleda‘VaccineScientificAdvisoryBoard’toeval-uate the clinical and regulatorypathtoapprovalintheUSmarket.

“VaccinessuchasCovaxinthatcanpotentially elicit a broad im-muneresponseandmaylimitfu-ture Covid-19 severity could beimportanttohaveinourarsenal,”saidDavid Fajgenbaum, amem-berofOcugen’sVaccineScientificAdvisoryBoard.“Thedevelopment and clini-

calevaluationofCovaxinmarksasignificantmilestoneforvaccinol-ogyinIndia.Covaxinhasgarneredinterest from several countriesworldwideforsuppliesandintro-ductionandweareexcitedtocol-laboratewithOcugen to bring ittotheUSmarket,”saidDrKrishnaElla,CMD,BharatBiotech.The vaccine has been evalu-

atedinapproximately1,000sub-jectsinphase1andphase2clini-cal trials in India,and iscurrentlypart of a phase3 clinical trial in-volving26,000volunteers.

$900-billion US Covid aid:How relief package couldimpact global sentiment

‘Securitisationvolumes likelytobounceback in FY22’After contracting sharply so far this fiscal year, domesticsecuritisation volumes of retail pools originated byNBFCsandHFCs are likely to bounce back firmly in FY22, Icra said

STATUSOFPASS-THROUGH

CERTIFICATES (PTCS)INFY21SOFAR

Why is it important: Appetite for securitisation of unsecuredloans still remains relatively weak and would only improve ifcollection efficiency for such asset classes continues toincrease sustainably

Source: IcraRatings/PTI

Lockdown, moratorium impact: Securitisationvolumes contracted sharply in Q1FY21,following the nationwide lockdown and themoratorium provided to borrowers

FACTORSTHATWOULDDRIVERISE INVOLUMESFORTHEREMAINDEROFFY21ANDFY22:■ Growing investorconfidence in asset quality dueto improving collections

■ Higher funding requirementof originators on account ofincreasing disbursements

■ Improving businessactivities post the end oflockdownandmoratoriumperiod

45Originatorswhowentthrough securitisation in

Q2FY2021, comparedto 18 inQ1 FY2021

Financing requirements likelyto rise:The financingrequirements for non-bankingfinancial companies (NBFC)and housing financecompanies (HFC) areexpected to increase infinancial year 2021-22asdisbursementswould becloser to the pre-Covid levels

10downgrades

31upgrades

NNBBFFCCss

`̀

Wipro inks $700-mn IT takeover deal with Metro AGENSECONOMICBUREAUBENGALURU,DECEMBER22

WIPRO SAID on Tuesday itwilltakeovertheinformationtechnol-ogyunits ofMetroAG—Metro-NOM GMBH in Germany andMetro Systems Romania SRL—underwhichover1,300employ-eesacrossGermany,RomaniaandIndiawilltransfertoWipro.Metro is a leading interna-

tionalwholesale company,withfoodandnon-foodassortments,

specialising in serving needs ofhotels,restaurantsandcaterersaswellasindependenttraders.The estimateddeal value for

thedurationof thefirst fiveyearsis$700million.Withtheintentionto extend up to four additionalyears, it canbeapotential spendofupto$1billion,Wiprosaid.TheITmajorwilldeliveraco-

mplete technology, engineeringandsolutionstransformationpro-grammeforMetroas itpositionsitself as awholesale 360-degreeprovider in thehotel, restaurant

andcateringfoodindustryfuelledbyquality, focusandflexibility.“PartneringwithWiproallows

ustosimplifyandstreamlineourIT landscape, and critically givesus access to innovation and thebest digital practices,” TimoSalzsieder,CIO,MetroAGsaid.Thierry Delaporte, CEO and

managing director,Wipro said,“Likeus,MetroAG is focusedonleveragingdigitaltransformationfor competitive advantage.Wip-ro’s role is tomake that transfor-mationefficientandeffective.” FE

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

THENATION’Scrudeoilproduc-tionfell4.9percentinNovemberto2,486thousandmetrictonnes(TMT) from 2,680 TMT a yearago,whilenaturalgasproductionfell 9.1 per cent from lastNovember.LowerdemandduetoCovid-

19andplantshutdownsplannedto coincidewith lower demandwere key reasons for lower out-put,agovernmentreleasesaid.Meanwhile, crude oil pro-

cessing in themonth fell 5.1 percent to 20.8 million tonnes asagainst21.9milliontonnesintheyear ago period, but rose 13 percentfromthe18.9milliontonnesprocessed inOctober, accordingto government data releasedonTuesday.Cumulativecrudeoilproduc-

tion in April-November was20,427 TMT, down 6 per centfrom21,725TMTinthesamepe-riod last year. This is also5.3percent lower than the target of

21,566TMTsetforthisperiod,ac-cordingtotheofficial release.Significantly lower produc-

tionfromCairnIndia’sRajasthanfields—whereoutputfell9.6percent to 477 TMT compared to527.5 TMT in the correspondingperiod last year — comprised akey portion of the shortfall incrudeoiloutput.ONGC’s crude oil output fell

1.5per cent inNovemberdue tolowerthanexpectedproductionlevelsatnewerfields, theopera-tions of which were impacteddue to Covid implications, thegovernmentreleasesaid.OutputbyOil India(OIL)was

down6.53percentinNovemberover last year due to lower thanexpectedproduction fromolderwells and the impactof protestsand blockades at OIL units aftertheBaghjanwellblowoutinMay.Natural gas output in the

countryfelllargelyduetoclosureofONGCgaswellsinthewesternoffshoreduetoaplantshutdownin Hazira aswell as lower thanexpectedproductionfromwellsintheEasternoffshoreregion.

BRIEFLYBidsinvitedforShippingCorpNewDelhi:ThegovernmentTuesdayinvitedexpressionsof interest for strategic dis-investment of its 63.75percent stake inShippingCorpofIndiaalongwiththetrans-ferofmanagementcontrol.

IBCsuspensionnotificationNewDelhi:Thegovernmenthasagainextendedthesus-pension of fresh proceed-ings under the insolvencylawby threemoremonthstillMarch24nextyearamidthe disruptions caused bythe coronavirus pandemic.A notification for a three-monthextensionofthesus-pension,whichwas to endonDecember24,wasissuedbythecorporateaffairsmin-istryonTuesday.Thethree-month period would befromDecember25.

BHELtobacklocalsuppliersNewDelhi:EngineeringPSUBHELsaidTuesdayitisinter-ested in indigenisation ofover 300 items across ninecategories,with a focus oncontributingtotheAatman-irbharBharatmission. PTI

US,UKreviseGDPfiguresWashington/London: TheUnitedStatesDepartmentofCommerce, in its third esti-mate, revised the gross do-mestic product (GDP) gro-wthfor the July-Septemberquarter to33.4per centan-nualised rate, from33.1percent reported lastmonth.Similarly, theUnitedKing-domreviseditsGDPgrowthfigureforthethirdquarterto16 per cent, from15.5 percentearlier. REUTERS

2startupsraisefundsfromGoogleNew Delhi: VerSeInnovation, which runsDailyhunt and short videoapp Josh,onTuesdaysaid ithascompletedanover$100million(aboutRs739crore)fund raising round fromAlphaWave, Google andMicrosoft.Existinginvestors,Sofina Group and LupaSystemsalsoparticipatedinthisround,astatementsaid.With this new infusion ofcapital,thecompanyisnowvalued at over $1 billion, itadded. Meanwhile, lockscreenplatformGlancesaidTuesday it has raised $145million in funding fromGoogleandexistinginvestorMithrilCapital.AnofInMobiGroup,Glance—whichalsoowns short video appRoposo—saiditwillusethefundstoexpandinkeymar-kets. FE&PTI

Crude productionslips 4.9% amid lowdemand, shutdowns NewDelhi:Wipro said Tues-

day its up to Rs 9,500-croreshare buyback programmewillstartonDecember29andcloseonJanuary11,2021.Lastmonth, shareholders

hadclearedWipro’sbuybackplan tobuyup to23.75 croreequity shares at Rs 400 pershare,aggregatingtoanamo-untofuptoRs9,500crore.

“...the company receivedfinal comments from theSecurities and ExchangeBoard of India onDecember21, 2020,with respect to theDraft Letter of Offer filed bythe company for the cap-tionedbuyback...thecompanywill dispatch the Letter ofOffertoeligibleshareholders,”Wiprosaidinafiling. PTI

Buyback offer to open on Dec 29

■Covaxinhasbeenevaluatedinnearly1,000subjects inphase1andphase2clinicaltrials in India,andiscurrentlypartof aphase3clinical trial

CURRENTLY INPHASE3 TRIALS

Bharat Biotech & Ocugen teamup to develop Covaxin for US

Govt, World Bank in $500 millionpact to develop highway corridors

‘SDL issuance falls in Decpost expansion in Apr-Nov’ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

NINESTATESonTuesday raisedRs12,000crorethroughstatede-velopmentloans(SDLs)intheauc-tion,nearly25percentlowerthantheamountthatwasinitiallyindi-catedfortheweek.However, Tuesday’s SDL is-

suancewas18.3per centhigherthan theyear-ago level. After thehigh 48.4 per cent expansionrecordedinApril-November2020,

the SDL issuance in December2020hasdisplayedamixedtrend,witha5-24percentyear-on-yeardeclineinthefirst twoweeksfol-lowedby8-19percentgrowthinthe subsequent twoauctions.Asper Icra, overall, thegrossSDL is-suancebetweenDecember1andDecember22,2020hasrecordedamildY-o-Ycontractionof2.5percent. So far, in Q3FY21 (tillDecember 22, Rs 1,83,400 crorehavebeenraisedviaSDLs,whichis90.7percentof theRs202,200croreindicatedforQ3FY21).

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

THE GOVERNMENT and theWorld Bank Tuesday signed a$500millionproject tobuildna-tional highway corridors in thestates of Rajasthan, HimachalPradesh, Uttar Pradesh andAndhraPradesh.The$500millionloan fromthe InternationalBankfor Reconstruction andDevelopment (IBRD), an armof

theWorldBank,hasamaturityof18.5 years including a five-yeargraceperiod.Theprojectwill alsoenhance

the capacity of theMinistry ofRoad Transport and Highways(MoRTH)inmainstreamingsafetyand green technologies, the fi-nanceministrysaidinastatement.The Green National HighwaysCorridors Project will supportMoRTHconstruct783kmofhigh-waysinvariousgeographiesbyin-tegratingsafeandgreen technol-

ogydesignssuchaslocalandmar-ginalmaterials,industrialbyprod-ucts,andotherbioengineeringso-lutions,itsaid.“Connectivity for economic

growthandconnectivity for sus-tainabledevelopmentaretwoim-portantaspectsofacountry’sde-velopment trajectory. Thisoperationbringsthesetwoprior-itiestogetherinsupportof India’sgrowth strategy,” said JunaidAhmad,WorldBank countrydi-rectorinIndia.

IT, PHARMALEADGAINS;RUPEEFALLS5PAISETO73.84

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,DECEMBER22

AFTERMONDAY’S sell-off, do-mestic markets on Tuesdaymade a partial recovery on theback of firm global advices. Ledby IT and pharma stocks, theSensex,whichfell1,407pointsonMonday, gained 453 points, or0.99per cent, to close above the46,000levelat46,006.69andtheNSENifty50 soared 138 points,or 1.03per cent, to 13,466.30onbuyingsupport.The rally was led by IT and

pharmastocks,withothersectorsalso supporting the firm trend.“Volatilityisexpectedtostayhighinthenear-termduetostrictlock-downimpactingeconomicrecov-ery. However, themarket is ex-pected to remain bullish in themediumto longterm,backedbyprogress in economic activity in2021,”saidVinodNair,headofre-

search,GeojitFinancialservices.With FPIs resuming pur-

chases,markets openedwith anuptick amid encouraging globalcuesandhoveredinarangeinthefirst half. However, healthybuy-ing in the IT andpharmamajorscombinedwithsomerecoveryinthe other sectors helped thebenchmarktopareintradaylossesand settle around theday’s highaswell. Consequently, theNiftyendedaround13,466levels,upby1per cent. Thebroadermarkets,too,witnessedrecoveryandboththemidcap and smallcap indexposteddecentgains.Analystssaidmarketstookan

unexpectedpositivemomentumintheafternoon,duringasee-sawtradingday,followingthepositiveopeningoftheEuropeanmarkets,which recovered fromMonday’ssell-off.“Weexpectvolatilitytore-main high in the following ses-sions too. Traders should proac-tivelymanagetheirpositionsand

avoidunnecessaryovernightrisk,”said Ajit Mishra, VP-research,ReligareBroking.Therupeefurthereditslosses

byanother5paisetocloseat73.84against theUSdollar onTuesdayin linewithweaker Asian peersamidconcernsoveranewcoron-avirus strain. At the interbankforexmarket, the domestic cur-rencyopenedat73.95againstthe

USdollarandwitnessedanintra-day high of 73.82 and a low of73.95, as per aPTI report. The lo-cal unit finally closed at 73.84against the American currency,registeringafallof5paiseoveritspreviousclose.On Monday, the rupee

plunged23paisetoendatatwo-week low of 73.79 against theUSdollar.Asian shares (except India

and Thailand) retreated onTuesday, extending losses ongrowingworriesoveranew,po-tentiallymoreinfectiousstrainofthecoronavirus.Meanwhile, European stocks

steadiedonTuesday, after heavylosses a day earlier sparked byfearsoverahighlyinfectiousnewstrainofCovid,asWashingtonap-provedan$892billionpandemicrelief package. The broad EuroSTOXX600gained1.2percent,oncourse for its biggest one-dayjumpinoverfiveweeks.German

andFrenchindicesbothadded1.3percent,asperaReutersreport.IntheUS,thebenchmarkS&P

500stockindexdippedinchoppytrade, despite theUSCongress’spassageof an$892billioncoron-avirusaidpackage.OnWallStreet,theDowJones

Industrial Average fell 96.58points, or 0.32 per cent, to30,119.87, the S&P 500 lost 2.43points, or 0.07 per cent, to3,692.49 and the NasdaqCompositeadded39.71points,or0.31 per cent, to 12,782.22.USTreasury yields also fell as in-vestorsweighedthelikelihoodofincreasedlockdownsinresponsetothenewCovid-19variant.Oil dropped towards $50 a

barrelonTuesday,addingtolossesfromtheprevious session. Brentcrudewasdown62cents,or1.22percent,at$50.29abarrelby0150pm GMT, while West TexasIntermediate (WTI) crude fell 78cents,or1.63percent,to$47.19.

Sensexat46,006points. File

MarketsrecouplossespartiallyasFPIsreturn;Sensexbackabove46K

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

THEGOVERNMENTonMondaynotified theElectricity (Rights ofConsumers) Rules, 2020. Theserules serve to “empower” con-sumerswithrightsthatwouldal-low them to access continuoussupplyofquality,reliableelectric-ity. This isbecause theprovisionsmake distribution companiesmoreaccountabletoconsumers.Therulescover11keyareasof

powersupplytoconsumersinthecountry, includingobligationsofdistribution licensees,meteringarrangements,releaseofnewcon-

nectionsandmodificationsofex-istingconnectionsandgrievanceredressal and compensationmechanisms.However, therearecertainexceptions to these rules,

especiallywhereuse for agricul-turalpurposesisconcerned.

EffectonconsumersNow, as per law, states will

havetoimplementtheserulesanddiscomswill be heldmore ac-countable for issues likedelays inprovidingandrenewingconnec-tions of electricity. They are alsoobligated toprovide round-the-clockelectricity to consumers, aspertheMinistryofPower.Toensurecompliance,thegov-

ernmentwillapplypenaltiesthatwillbecreditedtotheconsumer’saccount. The followingareas arecoveredundertherules:Rightsof consumers andObli-

gations of Distributionlicensees;release of new connection

andmodification inexistingcon-nection;meteringarrangement;billingandpayment;disconnection and reco-

nnection;reliabilityofsupply;consumeras‘prosumer’;standardsof performanceof li-censee;compensationmechanism;call centre for consumerservices;grievanceredressalmechanism.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

ELECTRICITY (RIGHTSOFCONSUMERS)RULES, 2020

Norms bring in compensation mechanism

Therulescover11keyareasofpowersupplytoconsumers.

REUTERSBEIJING/DETROIT,DEC22

APPLEINCismovingforwardwithself-drivingcar technologyandistargeting2024 toproduceapas-sengervehicle that could includeits own breakthrough batterytechnology, people familiarwiththemattertoldReuters.The iPhonemaker’s automo-

tiveefforts,knownasProjectTitan,have proceededunevenly since2014whenitfirststartedtodesignits ownvehicle fromscratch. Atonepoint,Appledrewbacktheef-fort to focuson software and re-assessed its goals.DougField, anAppleveteranwhohadworkedat

Tesla Inc, returned tooversee theproject in 2018 and laid off 190peoplefromtheteamin2019.Since then, Apple has pro-

gressedenough that itnowaimstobuild avehicle for consumers,twopeoplefamiliarwiththeeffortsaid,askingnottobenamed.

AppleCEO TimCook. File

‘Apple self-driving car by 2024’

Bengaluru: Shares of AppleIncjumpednearly5percentonTuesday, afterReuters re-portedthattheiPhonemakeris aiming toproduce apas-senger vehicle by 2024.Apple’s shareswere last up3.9 per cent at $133.27, ontracktoaddnearly$86billiontoitsmarketvaluation.TheNasdaqwaspropped

upbyApple as theS&P500wasintheredoverweakeco-nomicdata.REUTERS

Shares rallynearly 5%

14 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDENESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020

CROSSWORD4309

ACROSS1 Putprisonhelper’sposition injeopardy(2,7)

8 Victor loseshishead in thebullring (5)

9 Misfortune for theotherside(7)

10 Firsdomakeattractivefeatures inNorway(6)

11 Shemaygetup late(6)

12 Stop in frontof ahumblebuilding (8)

15 Onepointona fork isunpleasantlysharp(8)

18 It’soldperhapsandnoteasilymoved(6)

20 I’dseemupsetbyadeath(6)

21 Jewish father(7)

22 Notqualified tospeak(5)

23 Trace idea that iswrongandroot itout(9)

DOWN2 It’spleasantembracinganEasternrelative (5)

3 Able tohelpuswithprocessedfuel (6)

4 Fairdescriptionof allbut thefastest runners?(8)

5 It’sexhaustingbut followitupwithatelephonecall(6)

6 Anygirl somistreatedmightreact thus (7)

7 Expressionof annoyance foryour immediateoccupation(9)

11 Accepted inerrorandfainted(6,3)

13 Fairdescriptionof areformedcharacter (3,2,3)

14 I’mintogossip likeabishop(7)

16 Wishtoreside instyle (6)17 Artisticpiecework(6)19 Unsuitablecamouflagepaint(5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Today's sensitiveMoon lands in anextraordinarilyfavourable region of

your chart andbringsyouno endof potential forboth fun and self-improvement. Family affairsshould put the spotlight onchildren and their interests. Infact, the young-at-heart standto dowell.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Restlessness rises,andyoucouldevenbetemptedtomovehome.Onewayor

another thereseemstobeagreatneedto improveyourdomesticexistence,perhaps tointroduceasplashof colour.Atwork,anypersonal frictioncanbeovercomewithawillingnesstosay ‘sorry’.

GEMINI (May22- June21)TheMoonisnowboundtotriggersomeof the livelieraspectsof your

personality. If youwere tospendthewholedaychatteringawayandgenerallyexpressingyour latestopinions, thiswouldbeperfect.Mindyou,you'dprobablybewise tokeepat leasthalf aneyeonpractical responsibilities!

CANCER(June22- July23)Youreallydohaveachancetomakeafreshstart infinancialaffairs.On

one level it'sagoodday forpickingupbargains,but lookaroundandyou'lldiscoverwaysinwhichyoucanboostyourlong-termprosperity.Perhapsasocial liaisonoffers thesecurityyou're looking for.

LEO(July24-Aug23)TheMoonplaysacuriousrole inyourchart, suggestingasimultaneousrise in

confidenceand increase insensitivity.This isan ideal timeto launchyourself intoabravenewexistence,althoughthereisnopressingneedtoact today.Anyventures initiatedover thenext threedayswillbevery important.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sept23)Secrecycomesnaturally toyou.Thisisnotbecauseyouwishtodeceive

anybody, justyourbelief thatcertain thingsareprivateandnot forotherpeople'seyesorears.You're inan imaginativemoodandmystical truthsmakemoresense toyouthantheso-called facts.

LIBRA(Sept24-Oct23)Socially,your life islookingup.Althoughtherehavedoubtlessbeensome

disappointments,youhavetoseethatwhat is trulynecessarynowisawillingness tovoluntarily letgoof certainemotional ties.Youneverknow- lovedonesmight like thenewyou.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov22)Professionallyyouarestillontoawinner.Inallareasthereseemstobeagreatdealto

gainfromseekingoutfreshresponsibilitiesandpursuingnewambitions.If thereshouldbeanysetbacksthen,strangetosay,thewayisbeingopenedforevengreatersuccess.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov23-Dec22)Sometimes it'snotwhatpeopledothat's important,butwhat theythink. In

otherwords,philosophicalconsiderationsshouldbetakenseriously.Youmaythinkthey'reirrelevant,butyoushouldrealise thatwhatyoubelieveshapesyouractionsandcontrolsyour future.Oh,andwelcomeanynewlong-distancecontacts.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Businessprospectshaveseldombeenstronger, even ifthere's some

informationwhichcannotbetrusted,not tomentionpeoplewhoareunreliable.There ismuchtogain fromlaunchingintosomenewventureas longasyoukeepyouroptionswideopen.Domestic improvementscouldbehighontheagenda,withbargains tobehad.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Thiscouldbearemarkable timeforpersonalrelationships,with

thechanceof ahighlysignificantmeetingrisingbythehour. Indeed,your lifecouldbechangedbythepeoplewhoaresoontowalk into it.Couldthatbeagoodthing?Well, yes,if youhandle it right.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)There seems tobemuch todoon thework front at themoment, and if you

canpossibly get aheadofyourself, somuch thebetter.It's also aperfectmoment toputotherpeople first,encouraging themtodo theirbest andoffering themyourfull support.

SUDOKU4331

DifficultyLevel5sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4330

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Thediscoveryofanew___doesmoreforhumanhappinessthanthediscoveryofanew___(4,..,4)

SOLUTION:FRAME,BASIC,HONEST,UNSHODAnswer:Thediscoveryofanewdishdoesmoreforhumanhappinessthanthediscoveryofanewstar

EFMAR EHNOST

ABCIS HOUNDS

SolutionsCrossword4308:Across:1Coconut,4Mango,7Mate,8Marginal,10Cartoonist,12Ranges,13Ground,15Call itaday,18Alphabet,19Edam,20Trout,21Shotgun.Down:1Comic,2Catering,3Trains,4Magistrate,5Nuns,6Obliged,9Polesapart,11Guidedog,12Rampant,14Alters,16Yemen,17Upto.

JUMBLEDWORDS

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Grapplingstyle, socialmediaposts& justhisnamehavemadehimoneof themostpopularcompetitors

Bajrang, India’s internationalwrestlerGAURAVBHATTNEWDELHI,DECEMBER22

“BHAISAHAB, I have no ideawhypeople areattractedtome.Therearesomanytimesthatinsteadofsupportingtheirowncountry,theyroot forBajrang.”Germany, Kazakhstan, Russia, USA.

Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia has madecrowds fall in love with him around theworld. The reason, though, isbeyondhim.“It’s perhaps the craze for wrestling in

thesecountries.Youdon’tgetthismuchloveinIndia,becausenotalotofpeopletrulyfol-low wrestling,” Bajrang tells The IndianExpress fromhistrainingbase inAnnArbor,Michigan.“Inallthesecountries,atanytour-namentorevent,thestadiumsarefullofpeo-plewith love forwrestling.”Butwhy is somuchof it directed towards

Bajrang?The26-year-oldphenomisa three-timemedallistatWorldsbutyettostrikegold.Hehasn’tmadehisOlympicbow.TherehavebeenIndianwrestlers,nay,combatsportcham-pionsfromIndiawithbiggerachievements.ButnobodymakesfansaseasilyasBajrang.BeforehisstintintheGermanleaguelast

February, the country’s wrestling forumswentintooverdrive.Commenterswonderedwhetherhewouldliveuptothehypeafteratough ProWrestling League season backhome. Others reposted speculation of thedebutantbeingundertheweather.CuttotheIndiancuttingdownopponentstosize,tothechorus ‘Bajrang,Bajrang’.Bajrang rememberswaking up to back

pages bathedwith his photos. “Inder Tiger,Inder Joker. One who changed the game.Photosineverynewspaperandchannels,”re-callsBajrang.“Myclub(VfK07Schifferstadt)hadn’twonthe leaguetitle in14years.”Twomonths later,hewasattheAliAliev

Invitational inDagestan; thewrestling cap-italof Russia. In the final,hedefeateda localguyas thecrowdfavourite.“Youwatch thosewrestlingvideos from

Dagestan, theyareexactly liketheGermanyone. The crowd is behindmeeven though Iam beating the local guy,” Bajrang says.“Russia is lovelyandwhenever I stepon themat, theystart thechants.”Russia’s love for Bajrang rubbed off on

their neighbours. Kazakhstan hosted theWorld Championships last year, and even-tual bronzemedallist Bajrang landed a daybeforehisbout. Indiahadacampthere, andseveral local kids kept asking them “whereisBajrang?Whenwillhecome?”“WhenIreached,ImadesureImetevery

single one of them. I got a lot of love inKazakhstan.”Quizzed for reasons for somuch fan fol-

lowing, Bajrang respondswith a sheepishmixof humilityandcuriosity. “Idon’t knowwhy.Youwouldhave toask themthat.”

■ ■ ■

Blaine Henry, a 30-year-old fromLouisiana, runs a combat sports websitecalled the ‘The Fight Library’. He is also theleader of a group of Bajrang fanatics, effi-cientlynamed ‘BajrangBoys’.“Itstartedwithafantasywrestlinggroup.

A few in the group,myself included, reallyenjoy Bajrang,” says Henry. “Not onlywrestlingbutwhathedoesonsocialmedia,thephotosandhiswords.”Lastmonth,Henry scampered to secure

the Bajrang Boys Twitter handle after thegroupwas adjudged the best social mediainnovatorsbywrestlingenthusiasts.Thefanclub, however, truly became formal when

their idol agreed toan interview.“I sent him an email and he got back to

usacoupledays later. I learnta lotabouthislife,wherehecomesfrom,”saysHenry.“Wehave been told that Bajrang is completelyaware of us. Having him know and followeverything is like a joke that seems to havegone too far.”

■ ■ ■

The question though remains: WhyBajrang? It’s in the name, to begin with.“Mainly because the name sounds cool,”Henry laughs.Baj-Rang. The two syllables, drawn out

inthickaccentsaroundtheworld,makethename extremely chantable. The process isfurther facilitated by the repeated firstnamephenomenonseveral Indianathletesare used to.

“My name in the passport is Bajrang,without a surname. Soatwrestling compe-titions,often itbecomesBajrangBajrang.Yeaisehi trendchaladetehain fir,”he laughs.On themat iswhere the virtuoso capti-

vatestheaudiencewithhisbreakneckstyle.Sean Bormet, coach at the Cliff KeenWrestling Clubwhere Bajrang is currentlytraining, believes Americans love him be-causeof a familiarwrestlingstyle.“It’s similar inhowhardwewrestle, cre-

atinga lotofpressureonouropponentsandusing our hands,” says Bormet. “I thinkAmerican fans appreciate wrestlers whocompete the way Bajrang competes. I dothinkAmericanwrestlingfanshavetakenno-ticeof himmore sobecauseof hiswrestlingstyle.Andwhatagreatcompetitorhe is.”Bajrangagreeswith theassessment.“My style is very close to the style of

American wrestlers. The way we use ourpowerandstamina.Maybe, that’swhytheylike it a lot more. Plus, I’ve faced a lot ofAmericans, atWorlds and other events. So,theyknowaboutme.”The three hosts of FloWrestling Radio

showrecentlydiscussedtheBajrangphenom-enonatlength.AndwhiletheyagreedthattheIndian’ssocialmediaswaggerandselfiesfromthegymorclad in fineattireplaya role,howhewrestles,andhowoften, is therealkey.“It’sbecausehewrestleslikeanAmerican

andwe’re not used to seeing that from for-eigners,” opinedKyleBratke. “TheRussians,they don’t wrestle like us. But this guy, hegoes out and hewrestles hard in your facefor sixminutes. And he’s just competing allthe time. Andwe don’t see that out of theRussiansoranyoneelsethatisoneof thetopguys in theworld.He is atMatteoPellicone,he’s in NewYork and Beat the Streets. He’snotafraidofanybody.Ithinkpeoplelikethatattitude. They likewhat they seewhenhe’son themat, too.”BenAskren, 2008Olympian and former

UFC fighter, called Bajrang his favourite in-ternationalwrestler.“It’s almost impossible to be a fan of

someonewhen they show up twice a yearand you don’t knowwhen andwhere. If Ican’twatch a guy3-4-5 times a year, it’s re-allyhard formetobecomea fan.”AndChristianPyles summedupthedis-

course: “Another thing with Bajrang is inmany of hismatches, he’ll be down and hestormsback.EverymatchislikeaminiRockytypeof thingwherethisguy’stheunderdog,butkeepsgoing.”Bajrangaccepts thecomplimentsbut is-

n’t compelled towonderwhy.“Wherever wrestling is popular, I feel

happy,” says Bajrang. “All the credit goes towrestling.AndBajrangBali.”

DuringastintinGermanylastyear,BajrangPuniaearnedalegionoffansafterhelpinghisclubVfk07wintheleaguetitleafter14years.(Below)TheIndianhasbecomeacultfigureinwrestlingfandomduetohisswagandsocialmediapresence.

SHASHANKNAIRNEWDELHI, DECEMBER22

FOOTBALL REFUSES to quit on ZlatanIbrahomovic as the Swedish striker leadsACMilantothetopofSerieA—aleaguethathas Cristiano Ronaldo and his Juventus aswell as Inter Milan, who are managed byAntonioConte.Intohis40thyear, Ibrahimovic is the top

scorer of the league’s top team - still unde-feated - and hasmade amiraculous recov-ery from a knee injury suffered atManchesterUnited toplayaswell ashehasinItalyafteratwo-seasonstintatLAGalaxy.

HowisthisACMilanteamanewenvironmentfor Ibrahimovic?ACMilan have one of the younger sides

in the league, with an average age of under25.Addingsomeonewith theexperienceofIbrahimovic changes thementality of thedressing room. Thewell-travelled star hasassumed a leadership responsibility at theclub and once bought a PlayStation 5 foreveryplayer in thesquad.In an interview to BBC Sport, the Swede

talked about how his earlier stint atMilan(2010-12) involved fighting consistently for

titles, but this second stint is builtmore to-wardsbringingtheItalianclubbacktoitsfor-merglorydays.

HasagechangedZlatan’sapproachtothegame?Through his stellar career, Ibrahimovic

hasturnedout forawho’swhoofEuropeanclubroyalty–thetwoMilanclubs, Juventus,Barcelona,Manchester United, Paris Saint-GermainandAjax.Theairof arrogance thatoneassociateswithhimcontinuestobepro-jected through his socialmediaaccountsbutoccasionallythingsget real. and theSwedish strikeropensupabouthis limitations.“I’m honest in saying that

I’m not running like I ran be-fore; I’m running more intelli-gentnow.TheItalian league, thereason I say that it’s the mostdifficult toplay in fora striker isbecause, it’s very technical and thephilos-ophy of Italy is to not to concede a goalrather than score a goal,” Zlatan told BBCSport.

Whatdothenumberssay?Itdoesn’tmatterwhichphaseofZlatan’s

career isporedover- titlesandtrophiesare

a given. The ability to understand that hecan’t run like he used to, but still adaptinghis game to score 10 goals in the ongoingSerie A season, makes the 39-year-old aforcetoreckonwith,especiallyconsideringhowMilan are upsetting the status quo ofJuventus - who have won the last nineleague titles in a row and have Ronaldo ontheir roster.Milanarecurrentlyon31pointsafter13

SerieAgames-onepointaheadofcityrivalsInterand fouraheadof Juventus.While talk

of a domestic title – potentiallyMilan’s 19th and the first since2010-11 –will be premature atthis stage, the Zlatan effect isthere forall to see.

HowdidZlatancomeoutof acareer-threateninginjury?In his second season at

Manchester United (2017-18),Ibrahimovicsufferedananteriorcruciatelig-amenttearwhichessentiallyisanine-monthlayoff for a footballer - a recovery he com-pleted insevenmonths.Forhimtobeat theagehewasandtonotonlynotretire,butre-turntoplyhistradeinatopEuropeanleaguea couple of years later, proves his resolve tomakean incrediblecomeback.

Tax exemption for T20WC, new IPL teamson BCCI agendaSHAMIKCHAKRABARTYKOLKATA,DECEMBER22

THE INTERNATIONAL Cricket Council (ICC)wants tax exemptions for next year's T20WorldCuptobehostedinIndiaorthemoneypaid by theworld bodywould bedeductedfromthe Indiancricketboard's shareof rev-enue. The other option, before the ICC, is tomove the tournament to the United ArabEmirates,whichhostedthelastseasonoftheIndianPremierLeague.The tax issue ishighon the agenda of the Board of Control forCricketinIndia's(BCCI)89thAnnualGeneralBodyMeeting.Cricket'spossibleinclusioninthe 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which isbackedby the ICC,will alsobediscussed.TheICChassettheDecember31deadline

for the Indianboard to confirma full tax ex-emption. “AsperClause10.20of host agree-mentforthisevent,theBCCIisobligatedtode-livertoICCafull taxexemptionforall incomearisingoutofthiseventinfavourofICC,itssub-sidiaries and associates and itsMembers atleast18monthpriortothestartof theevent,”theBCCIhasmentionedintheagendapapersforits89thAnnualGeneralMeetingtobeheldinAhmedabadonThursday.Withoutafulltaxexemption,theICC’ssur-

plus payout to itsMemberswill be reducedand inMay this year, the game’s global bodyhadagreedtoextendthedeadlinefortheBCCItillDecember31todotheneedful.IftheIndianboardfails,then:“a.ICCmovesthe2021eventfromIndia toUAEor“b.BCCIprovidesanun-dertakingthat if theBCCI isunabletoachievethe requisite tax solution then any resultingtax liabilities by ICC/IBC/itsMemberswill besetoff againstmoniesowedto theBCCI fromICC (including ICCdistributions) and that theBCCIwillbeliableforanyshortfallaftersetoff.”The BCCI has already distributed the

agendapapers among itsmembers and theissue is going to be deliberated upon atlength at the AGM. The BCCI-ICC tax tusslehas been an ongoing saga. The global bodyhadearlierwantedtorecoverthetaxburdenof the 2016World T20 in India and threat-ened the BCCI to deduct a part of its annualrevenueshare incaseof non-exemption.

Cricket in OlympicsTheICCdocument,inpossessionwithThe

Indian Express, describes cricket and theOlympic Games “a winning partnership”.According to the game’s governing body:“CricketcanprovidetheOlympicmovementwith an unrivalled opportunity to drive fanengagementacrosstheAsianSub-Continent.”Asforcricket’sbenefits,thedocumentsays:

“TheOlympicscanprovidecricketwithanun-rivalled opportunity to super-charge globalgrowthbeyonditstraditionalheartlands,par-ticularlyintheUSA,EuropeandChina.”TheICCistargetingthe2028LosAngeles

Olympics and a survey among its AssociateMembersshowedthatanadditional$13mil-lion funding could be triggered just for theAssociatesthroughcricket’s inclusioninthequadrennial showpieceevent.The ICC has also chalked out a tentative

cricket programme for the 2028Olympics:“Onemen’s and onewomen’s event (eachspanning9days);Twenty20format;8teams,and 16matches per event; 11 players perteam / 15players per squad; 2 venues / turfor hybrid pitches.” The ICCwants all its 104memberstobeunited“toprogressabid”andlists“unifyingallMembersbehindthecam-paign forcricket’s inclusion”asachallenge.So far the BCCI has shown reluctance to

cricket’sinclusionintheOlympics.There’sanapprehensionthatcricketinT20formatintheOlympics can negatively affect the revenuestreamfrombilateralandglobalT20events.

The ICC,on theotherhand,believes thatcricket’s inclusion in the Olympicswill en-sure“diversificationof fundingforMembers,reducing relianceon ICC funding”.It is learntthattheBCCIunderitspresent

dispensationisopentoconsidercricket’s in-clusionintheLosAngelesOlympics,whichisareasontheitemhasbeenlistedontheAGMagenda. Only lastmonth, former India cap-tain and current National Cricket Academydirector Rahul Dravid threwhisweight be-hindacricket-Olympicspartnership.

New IPL teamsThememberswilldeliberateonincorpo-

ratingtwonewteamsintotheIndianPremierLeague(IPL).AccordingtoaBCCIofficial, themajority of themembers are in favour of anexpansion, as they feel it would create a“larger talent pool, given the abundance oftalentinIndiancricket”. ItneedstobeseeniftheBCCIbringsononenewteamtostartwithor two, and fromthenextyearor2022. “Wewilltakeadecisionafterthematterisplacedbefore themembers; onenewteamor two,from 2021 or 2022; wewant to go aheadbasedonconsensus,” theBCCIofficial said.According to sources,Ahmedabad,which

is said tohave theworld’s largest cricket sta-dium atMoterawith a seating capacity of110,000,isallbutcertaintohaveanewIPLteam.

T20World Cup venuesThe BCCI has picked Ahmedabad,

Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Mohali,Dharamsala,KolkataandMumbaitohosttheT20World Cupmatches. Somemembers,though, prefer a wider distribution. “It’s amatterofprideforeverycentretohostWorldCupmatches.We have high class stadiumsandtopfacilitiesandwewanttheBCCItocon-siderourcaseaswell.WeareOKwiththebig-gercentreshostingIndiamatches.Butatleastgive us some games.Wewill raise the issueat theAGM,” president of aWest Zone stateassociationsaid.

Star-studdedteamforAsianLeMansSeriesNewDelhi:Astar-studdedline-upofdriv-ers, includingNarainKarthikeyan, ArjunMaini andNaveen Rao, will spearheadRacingTeamIndia'scampaigninthe2021AsianLeMansSerieswithaneyeoncom-peting in the prestigious 24Hours of LeManslaterintheyear. TheAsianLeMansSeries, tobeheldat theYasMarinaCircuitinAbuDhabionFebruary5-6andFebruary19-20,comprisesoffourracesspreadoverthetworaceweekends,witheachracelast-ingfourhours,amediareleasestated.

ThreeIndiansinfinalsofworldyouthchessChennai: Three Indians, includingGrandmasterNihalSarin, reachedthefi-nal of the FIDEOnlineWorld Youth andCadet Rapid Championships in their re-spective categories on Tuesday. WhileSarin beat Francesco Sonis 1.5-0.5 in theOpen under-18 section, GM D GukeshandWIMRakshitta Ravi alsomade it tothe finals of the boys under-14 and girlsunder-16categories respectively.

OdishaholdNorthEasttoadrawinISLBambolim: Odisha FC and NorthEastUnitedplayedouta2-2drawinanIndianSuper League (ISL) match at the GMCStadiumhereonTuesday.OdishatooktheleadthroughDiegoMauricio(26')beforeBenjamin Lambot (45+1') drew parity.Kwesi Appiah (65') then converted apenaltytoputtheHighlandersaheadbutsoon sawhis goal cancelled out by ColeAlexander (67'). On Wednesday,Jamshedpurwillhopetoextendtheirun-beatenrunwhentheytakeonGoa.

WernerunderscrutinydespiteChelseawinLondon: Chelsea's new signing TimoWernerwill start firing on all cylinderswhen he ends his goal drought, man-agerFrankLampardsaidafterseeinghisside beatWest HamUnited 3-0 thanksto a Tammy Abraham double and aThiago Silva header. forward Wernerhas failed to find the back of the net inhis last eight starts.

PTI&AP

BRIEFLYHow has Zlatan made a difference at AC Milan

ONTHEAGENDA

■Updateonthe2021ICCT20WorldCup.■Approvaloninclusionof twonewteamsinthe IPL.■DiscussionontheBCCI’s standonthe inclusionof cricket inthe2028LosAngelesOlympics.■UpdateonIndia’sFutureTourPrograms.■Appointmentof theCricketCommitteesandStandingCommittees.■Appointmentof theBCCI’srepresentativeorrepresentativesat the ICC.■Electionof thevice-president.■Electionof tworepresentativesofthegeneralbody inthe IPLGoverningCouncil.

Ahmedabad,which is saidtohavetheworld’s largestcricketstadiumatMotera, isallbutcertaintohaveanewIPLteam.

AFTERPEPTALK,KOHLILEAVESAUSTRALIAFORINDIAIndiancaptainViratKohli leftAustralianshoresonTuesdayafterapeptalkwithhisbeleagueredteammates,handingoverthemantleof leadingthesidetoAjinkyaRahaneintheremainingthreeTests.Kohli iscomingbacktoIndiaforthebirthofhisfirstchildinJanuary.Beforeboardinghisflightbackhome,thestarbatsmanmethisteammatesandencouragedthemtogivetheirall intheremainderof theseries.WhileKohlihasdepartedforIndia,hiswhite-balldeputyRohitSharmaisquarantininginSydney.

MARKWAUGHSEES"NOHOPE"OFINDIABOUNCINGBACKTheIndiancricket teamhas"nohope"ofmakingacomebackafter thehumiliation inAdelaideandwill suffera4-0whitewashinthefour-matchTest

seriesagainstAustralia, feels formerbatsmanMarkWaugh.Asked if Indiacouldbouncebackafter losingthefirst

Test,Waughsaid:"Nohope,nohope. IthoughtAdelaidewastheTest that theycouldwinonpaperandwithViratKohli

here for just theoneTest. I thoughttheconditionswouldsuit them.I justcan'tseehowtheycanbounceback(after)Australiawhitewashedthemonthethirdday.So 'no' is theanswer- four-niltoAustralia,"hesaidonFoxCricket.

SMITHNOTCERTAINTOBEREAPPOINTEDASCAPTAIN

SteveSmith'sreappointmentasAustr-alia'sTestcaptainisfarfromcertainasthesport'sgoverningbodyinthecountryfeelstherearesome"greatyoungleaders"comingthroughthesystem.CAchairmanEarlEddingstoldESPNcricinfo:"Firstofallwe'vegotthreegreatcaptainsinMeg,AaronandTim.We'vegotsomegreatyoungleaderscomingthrough.Soit'snotjustaboutshouldStevetakeover,it'saboutwhat'sbestoverall.”

PTI

AUSTRALIANWIRES

AustralianbattingstarSteveSmithhasnotimetothinkabouthowIndiamightplot revenge inthesecondTestherethisweekendbuthedoeshaveawordof advice for thevisitors joltedbythefirstgame'sbattering—“Let itgoandmoveon”. "Look, theotherdaywejustsawsomepretty incredible fast

bowling. It isprobably thebest I'veseenourbowlersbowlcollectively foraboutfiveyears I think,"Smithsaid. "The lengths theywerehittingwere justimpeccable.Sometimesthathappens,yougeta

goodballandyounick it...Yougot tolet itgoandmoveonandtryandkeepyourself inapositivemindset.”

Let it go andmove on: Smith to India

News and views around India’s tourDownUnder

Zlatan Ibrahimovichasscored10goalsinSerieA sofar this season. File

Nobodydid the fantasywrestling,we just kind of hungout and talkedto eachother in a chat room.Wemade friends anda few in thegroup really enjoyBajrang.Notonlywrestlingbutwhat hedoes onsocialmedia, thephotos andhiswords.We just enjoy eachother'scompanyand talk aboutBajrang.”

BLAINEHENRYLEADEROFFANGROUP ‘BAJRANGBOYS’

advertorial

A FArmer’s Just A FriendYou do not Know

today, the 23rd of december is all about showing solidarity with theindian farmer who bends his back to put the food on your table…

From the age-old days of aqueducts,India has come a long way. Howexactly has water pump technologyrevolutionised lives?Water is life, and pump technology hasbrought this water flowing into ourhomes and fields. In the erstwhile days,farmers were exclusively dependent onthe rain for the cropping, which reducedthe turnaround they could achieve ontheir crops. Now, with the availabilityof pump technology, the farmer is ableto crop more than once a year, which hashelped increase the overall productivityof the land, and made the efforts moreeconomically viable.

Similarly, in homes, people are nolonger dependent on small storagetanks of water. Running water inbathrooms and kitchens has improvedthe overall hygiene in homes, and theefficiency of homemakers – allowingthem to pursue other avenues beyondthe house, if they wish to.

In over half a century, yourcompany has grown into one of themost reliable pump manufacturersin the country…In 1967, our founder, theLate Z.A. Bandukwala started off as amanufacturer of motors. Back then, allof India’s textile mills were powered byour motors. Today, there is more than a50% chance, that every time we fuel upa vehicle, the pump is powered by ourspecial flameproof motors.

The heart is to the body whatthe motor is to the pump. We havea good understanding of how thisheart should be designed to ensuremaximum efficiency, reliability, andperformance.

When we started manufacturingpumps for water application, wevisited India’s hinterland and brokebread with the farmers in order tounderstand their difficulties. Oneof the major issues was the lack ofavailability of consistent power – aproblem that persists even today. Thatis when we decided to manufacturea pump, whose motor could workconsistently across the entire spectrumof three-phase connections – that isfrom 250 V to 450 V. To date, we remainthe only company in India to offer sucha wide voltage in the market.

Anyone who buys our pump isn’tbuying it just to get a better flow ofwater. Their objective is to farm better,cook better, and wash better. Ourpumps are designed to run seamlesslyand with minimum maintenance. Weuse the best-in-class components, andtest all our products to ensure thatthe customer gets the maximum valuefrom each product.

What kinds of water pumps areavailable today?From an agricultural perspective themain pumps available are centrifugalpumps – be it monobloc pumpsets,openwell pumspets, and deepwellpumspets.

Monobloc pumpsets are ideal topump water from a well, or a tankthrough pipelines to the field. Theyhave a long life, but are fading inapplication, as they typically need tobe well covered in the monsoon, andpeople have found a better alternativewith openwell pumps.

Openwell pumps are both horizontaland vertical type. Both pumps areimmersed directly in the water tank,river, or well, and pump out the waterfrom there. Horizontal pumps havea ‘lower’ head or distance to whichthey can pump the water, but theywork better in shallow water sources.Vertical pumps, on the other hand,have a ‘higher’ head or distance towhich they can pump the water as theyare multistage pumps, but they requiredeeper water sources.

Deepwell pumps are installedseveral meters below the ground, toaccess the groundwater in that area.The soil conditions in many areassoak up the rainwater and build a goodnatural water table below the ground.

From a domestic user’s perspective,all of the above pumps are also usable –the size or Horse Power is determined

by the quantum of water required.However, self-priming pumps are alsovery popular inside homes – either topump water from the central pipelineinto the house or to provide pressurisedwater within the house.

India is unique in the sense thatthere can be floods in one regionand drought in the other. Howimportant is the role of waterpumps in a scenario such as this?Again, pumps ensure that whenthe floods recede, or when there isa drought, the pumps are able toaccess the water stored in a well orbelow the ground – to feed the crops.Having said that, we cannot denythat the efficient use of water is moreimperative today than ever before.The use of good irrigation measuresversus flood irrigation methods isa must across our country for allcrops, to ensure that whilst yield isnot compromised, the water tableis also conserved. Good irrigationmeasures, including sprinkler anddrip irrigation, greenhouse systems,the new ‘hydroponic’ cultivation,which is catching up in the market– all require pumps to work. A goodpump can make these systems evenbetter – by ensuring the optimum andcontinuous supply of water that thesemeasures require.

A farmer’s dependence on watercan never be understated, especiallyin a country like India, can it?I would like to say that our dependenceon the farmer can never be overstated.Our existence depends on thefarmer, who toils under the opensun, and wonders and worries aboutthe temperature, sun, rain, clouds,pestilence, and fertility of the groundevery single day. And very often, hefinds out the sale price only after thecrop is ready.

India is a country blessed withgood rains, and we are surroundedby water on all sides. We must investin solutions that provide the farmerwith good water throughout the year.Countries in the desert, such as Israel,have made good use of technology toovercome drought. In India, we havean abundance of sun. Hence, we mustwork on making access to solar poweruniversal, as agriculture is the biggestconsumer of solar power – and, ingeneral, one of the highest consumersof power in our country.

Furthermore, we must educateour farmers and provide themwith solutions that minimise theirdependability of the rains, along withbetter water management systems.

DID yOu kNOW THATALMOST40%of theEarth’sland is used for agriculturalpurposes? Farming is oneof the oldest practices that

mankind knows about, and whichis still in practice today. It datesback to over 10,000 years! Farmingand agriculture have a long andvaried history in every culture.Despite the differences in what isgrown, how farming is done, andwhat materials are used, one thingremains common to all agriculturalsocieties – the farmer. Farmers arethe lifeline of agriculture – theytend to the agricultural productfrom the time of sowing to the timeit reaches the market. It is becauseof hardworking farmers aroundthe world, that most of us have foodon our tables every day.

Indian, being an agrarianeconomy, farmers and farmingin India inevitably need to beaccorded with priority status. Thatis why the late Choudhary CharanSingh (1902–1987) who served asIndia’s 5th Prime Minister ofIndia between 28 July 1979 and 14January 1980 introduced manypolicies to improve the lives of theIndian farmers. Historians andpeople alike frequently refer tohim as the ‘Champion of India’sPeasants’. These perceptionsenforce the notion that he was ofa higher category of leaders inthe areas of intellect, personalintegrity, and coherence of hiseconomic and social thought. His

association with causes dear tofarming communities in Indiacaused his memorial in New Delhito be named ‘Kisan Ghat’.

That is also how ‘Kisan Diwas’(Indian Farmers’ Day) came to becelebrated every year in India on23rd December, which happensto be Charan Singh’s birthday.The day is celebrated to promoteawareness among the people ofthe country to understand theimportance of the contributionsof the Indian farmers to societyand overall economic and socialdevelopment of the country.

In India, the day is celebratedby organising various programsacross the country, holding debates,seminars, quiz competitions,discussions, workshops,exhibitions, essays writingcompetitions and functions.

While the exact origins of theholiday are difficult to pinpoint,the tradition is believed to havebeen followed since the early1800s. National Farmers’ Day, asit is called in many countries, iscelebrated by many as a throwbackto sustainable and farm-to-tablefarming practices of the old days.Observing National Farmers’Day is not only about celebratingtheir contribution to the economy(and mankind), but also a timelyreminder to us to not underminethem. Farmers, after all, deservegratitude from all of us and muchmore, given the kind of work theyare doing, and for the meagre

amount they are doing that work.Agriculture and farming today

is largely mechanised and veryscientific. During the industrialage, one of the first essentialmachines was invented – the waterpumping system. Since then, itcontinues to evolve with differentsizes, types, and applications.Pumps are used extensively inagriculture to move water fromthe water source, which couldbe a river, dam, or bore, throughpipes to either a point of usage ora storage facility, such as a watertank or an irrigation system.

Sprinklers and garden irrigationdevices use water pumps to ensurethat water reaches your garden atthe right pressure and in the rightquantities. If you’re passionateabout gardening, you’ve probablyused a water pump at some pointwithout realising it.

But today, the 23rd of Decemberis all about the Indian farmer. Itdoesn’t matter if you aren’t one.That shouldn’t stop you fromcelebrating this fun holiday. Visityour local farmer’s market andpatronise your local farms. Buyonly locally grown food and locallyraised meat. Get involved in yourlocal farm-to-table movement. On‘Kisan Diwas’, it would mean theworld to the farmers of India, ifevery countryman took a solemnpledge to stand alongside thefarming community. Say a silentprayer of thanksgiving, for theirselfless contribution to society.

Kisan DiwasCelebrating national Farmers’ Day in inDia

Keeping The Lifeline FlowingFor more than 50 years, ansons electro Mechnical Works & anco Motors

have been manufacturing high-quality water pumps that are designed to runseamlessly and with minimum maintenance.

53

For Enquiries : adminoffice@ansonsancopumps.com 9892950520

Seated (L-R) is M.Z. Bandukwala,along with the Late Z.A. Bandukwala.Standing behind is S.Z. Bandukwala

16 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER23,2020