Farmers get invite for talks again - Tenhard India

CMYK

A ND-NDE

tuesday, december 29, 2020 Delhi

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inauguratedthe country’s fi��rst driverlesstrain on the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line.

Stating that unlike previous regimes, his government has taken steps towardsurbanisation, Mr. Modi saidthat by 2025 metro serviceswill expand to 25 cities acrossIndia from the current 18.

“In Delhi, discussions around the metro rail servicewent on for a long time but itbecame operational only dur

ing former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure. In 2014, only248 km of metro lines wereoperational. Today, at 700km, it is almost three times ofwhat it was earlier. We areworking to expand it to 1,700km by 2025,” said Mr. Modi.

‘Ease of living’The Prime Minister said thatthe expanding metro network was an indication of“ease of living” among the citizens. “In cities where passenger numbers are less,work is being done on theMetroLite version. Similarly,

MetroNeo is being planned incities where the ridership isless. It would be built at 25%cost of the normal metro. Also, for cities where there arelarge waterbodies, a systemof Water Metro is beingworked upon,” he said.

The National Common Mobility Card was also introduced by Mr. Modi for use onthe Airport Express Line.“The NCMC will give access toall modes of transport andwill help do away with longqueues for tokens,” he said.

Metro services will expand to 25 cities by 2025, says Modi

Shinjini Ghosh

NEW DELHI

PM fl��ags off�� India’s fi��rst driverless train

‘SMOOTH RUN’ A PAGE 3

After it came to light that thegrave of Naushera ka Sher

Brigadier Mohammad Usman, the seniormost offi��cerkilled in the fi��rst IndiaPakistan war of 194748, was damaged, an Army source said itwas looking into the issueand the grave will be restored soon. The grave is located on the Jamia Millia Islamia ( JMI) campus.

‘Proactive action’“It is not our responsibility,and this is inside the university campus. However, having come to know of the incident, we took proactiveaction,” the source said onMonday. “It has been dis

cussed and will be restoredsoon,” he added.

The responsibility forgraves of martyrs is not thatof the Army and is usually taken care of by the families,the source said. However, he

added that every year, awreath is laid at Brig. Usman’s grave during which itis cleaned up.

Brig. Usman was one ofonly 18 Brigadiers in the Army at the time of Indepen

dence and was posthumously awarded the Maha VirChakra for his gallant actionduring the 194748 war.

Turf warWhen contacted, JMI offi��cials said while the graveyard belonged to the university, maintenance of thegraves was not under its purview. An offi��cial, on condition of anonymity, said theresponsibility of maintainingthe graves lay with the families and the University’s horticulture department tookcare of only the grounds andboundary walls.

Professor Iqtidar Mohd.Khan of the Department ofIslamic Studies added,“While the land belongs toJamia, the graves don’t and

hence maintenance and repairs of the graves is not theuniversity’s responsibility.One would need a budget formaintenance of all thegraves, which the universitydoes not have. The gravesare taken care of by the families and in this case by theDefence (Ministry).”

Mr. Khan also said thosewho were responsible formaintenance of the graveswere required to approachthe Registrar for permissionto carry out the repairs.

According to the portal“heritagetimes.in”, whichwrote about the damage tothe grave, Brig. Usman’s funeral was done with full statehonours and the prayer wasled by Maulana Abul KalamAzad.

Army to restore grave of Naushera ka SherBrig. Mohammad Usman was the most senior offi��cer killed in the 194748 war with Pakistan

Resting place: The Jamia Milia Islamia in New Delhi. * FILE PHOTO

Shinjini Ghosh

Dinakar Peri

NEW DELHI

JD(U) leader slams conversion ordinancePATNA

Slamming the recent

conversion ordinance, JD(U)

leader K.C. Tyagi said, “Our

Constitution says any two

consenting adults can choose

to be life partners irrespective

of one’s religion or caste but

an atmosphere of hatred and

mistrust is being created in

the name of love jihad.”

NEWS A PAGE 9DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

NEARBY

Delhi records lowestCOVID cases in 7 months NEW DELHI

Delhi witnessed 564 new

COVID-19 cases in the last 24

hours — the lowest in over

seven months — taking the

total number of cases to

6,23,415. This is the lowest

since May 26, when 412 new

cases were reported in a day.

A total of 57,463 tests were

done in the past 24 hours.

CITY A PAGE 3DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Panel asks CPWD tosubmit demolition plansNEW DELHI

An expert committee of the

Ministry of Environment and

Forest has asked the Central

Public Works Department to

submit detailed plans for the

demolition of government

buildings for its proposed

redevelopment of the Central

Vista, with a focus on “instant

demolition” techniques.

NEWS A PAGE 10DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Work on Pakistan

corridor progressing,

says Zhao Lijian

page 11

Maintaining infl��ation

target at 4% is

appropriate: RBI paper

page 12

India in a strong position

to push for victory in the

second Test

page 13

Virat Kohli named the

‘best male cricketer’

of the decade

page 13

The dry run to test preparedness for the nationwiderollout of a COVID19 vaccine kicked off�� in four States— Assam, Andhra Pradesh,Gujarat and Punjab — onMonday.

The twoday, endtoenddry run was carried out inKrishna district of AndhraPradesh; Rajkot and Gandhinagar in Gujarat; Ludhianaand Shaheed Bhagat SinghNagar (Nawanshahr) in Punjab; and Sonitpur and Nalbari districts of Assam.

Intended benefi��ciaries ofeach State, who had registered on the CoWIN app,the Union government’s digital platform for vaccine delivery, were on Monday senttext messages informingthem about the time andplace of their “COVID19 vaccination” under a mock drillto administer the shots at designated centres.

Ministry checklistA detailed checklist was prepared by the Union HealthMinistry and shared with thefour States for the dry run,the Ministry said.

In Gujarat, the fi��eld visitswill begin on Tuesday, Stateimmunisation offi��cer NayanJani said. The dry run beganin Rajkot district and cityand Gandhinagar districtand city, Mr. Jani told press

persons. “The actual [potential] vaccine shots will not beadministered to people during the dry run,” he said.

The Punjab government

completed the exercise at 12sites in two districts.

Four States begin dry runfor rollout of vaccine Twoday exercise begins in seven districts with volunteers

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Getting ready: Health workers carrying out a COVID-19vaccination mock drill in Gandhinagar on Monday. * VIJAY SONEJI

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 8

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Heave-ho: Fishermen hauling in their catch close to the shores of Visakhapatnam on Monday. * K.R. DEEPAK

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Net result

The Centre on Monday invited protesting farmer unionsto resume negotiations witha ministerial delegation onDecember 30.

Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal sent the invitation to 40 farmers’ organisations in the evening, sayingthe Centre was committed toa “logical solution”.

Farmer groups indicatedthat they were likely to accept the invitation, thoughthey complained that the letter did not specifi��cally reference their key demand forthe repeal of the three agricultural market reform laws.

“The government hasused vague and unspecifi��clanguage, indicating its unwillingness to discuss the fullagenda items proposed byfarmers… [The letter] is woefully short of any attempt toresolve issues,” said a statement from the All India Kisan Sangharsh CoordinationCommittee (AIKSCC), one ofthe protesting farmers’ platforms.

The wider Samyukt KisanMorcha held an internal consultation to discuss its response to the invitation.

In his letter, Mr. Agarwalnoted that the farmer groupshad communicated their willingness to hold discussionswith an open mind. “The Government of India is alsocommitted to fi��nding a logical solution to the relevantissues with an open mind

and honest intentions,” theletter said.

Show of strengthFarmers are planning a showof strength on December 30,with a tractor rally from theSinghu border point to theprotest sites at Tikri on theHaryana border and Shahja

hanpur on the Rajasthanborder. Rallies are also expected in Thanjavur, Patna,Hyderabad and Imphal overthe next two days.

Tens of thousands offarmers have been protesting on the borders of Delhifor 33 straight days. Fiverounds of talks have already

been held between the Central Ministers and farmerleaders. Negotiations brokedown on December 9 whenfarmers rejected the government’s proposal to amendthe three contentious laws,insisting on full repeal.

Farmers get invite for talks againUnions may return to the table tomorrow, but say language of govt. letter is vague


NEW DELHI

No let up: The farmers’ stir entered the 33rd day on Monday. A view of the protest at theSinghu border. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA (MORE REPORTS ON PAGE 2)

Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh hasdirected the police to takestrict action against thosevandalising mobile towersin the State. The ordercame as the total number oftowers targeted in the Statewent up to 1,561. A page 9

Maintain peace,says Amarinder


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The Union Home Ministryissued an order on Mondayextending the COVID19“guidelines for surveillance”till January 31.

“While there has been acontinuous decline in theactive and new cases, thereis need to maintainsurveillance, containmentand caution, keeping inview the surge in casesglobally, and the emergenceof a new variant of the virusin the United Kingdom,” theMinistry said.

In a letter, Union HomeSecretary Ajay Bhalla askedthe States and the UnionTerritories to support theUnion Health Ministry in the“identifi��cation, preparationof database, vaccinedelivery, storage, security,shipment and vaccination ofbenefi��ciaries”.

“Strict vigil is also neededto be maintained to preventany fresh surge in the wakeof the New Yearcelebrations and ongoingwinter season.”

Be vigilant, says CentreSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi


‘WAIT TO END SOON’ A PAGE 10

The Postal Department inKanpur on Monday beganan inquiry after postagestamps bearing photographs of jailed underworld don Chhota Rajanand gangster Munna Bajrangi, who was shot dead ina Baghpat jail in 2018, wereprinted and released by it.

The stamps were issuedunder the ‘My Stamp’scheme run by India Postfor personalised sheets ofpostage stamps. A dozenstamps each of Rajan andBajrangi were printed,creating an embarrassingsituation for the postal department.

Under the scheme, anyperson may submit soft orhard copies of their photographs or any other imageto get them printed onstamps at a cost of ₹��300 perstamp sheet.

Inquiry intoChhota Rajan,Bajrangi stamps

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

DETAILS ON A PAGE 10

Former Haryana CMBhupinder Singh Hoodareached the sitin site atMakdouli toll on Monday tosupport the agitatingfarmers. He said he had notseen such a democratic anddisciplined movement inhis political life. A Page 4

Hooda says heis with farmers

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday fl��agged off��the 100th “Kisan Rail”service from Sangola inMaharashtra to Shalimar inWest Bengal. Mr. Modi saidthe government was tryingto expand the market forsmaller farmers. A page 9

PM: working toexpand markets

CMYK

A ND-NDE

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DELHI THE HINDU

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 20202EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CITY

Farmers head towards Bahadurgarh from Haryana; protesters in large numbers at the DelhiMeerut Expressway on Monday morning. * V V KRISHNAN, R.V. MOORTHY

After the success of ‘KisanMall’ at the Tikri border, international NGO Khalsa Aidopened its second one at theSinghu border on Sunday.

The ‘mall’ opened rightbehind the Khalsa Aid counter at the protest site sawfarmers queuing up for theirturn through a small entrance after showing their token on Monday.

Volunteer Kulvir Singhsaid the mall at the Tikri border was essentially a dry runto open the one at Singhu.“There is more crowd hereand we needed to understand the hurdles we wouldface and the overall responsefor it. The reaction to themall was absolutely unexpected and we opened this,”

he said.Mr. Singh explained that

at Tikri they faced chaos because of initial mismanagement and long queues. Therefore, they changed theplan here. “At Tikri, we werehanding out the tokens right

outside the mall but here, wegave out tokens a night before,” he said.

Every night, Khalsa Aidvolunteers visit trolleys andgive tokens to the farmers toensure that only they wouldbenefi��t from this initiative.

On Saturday night, about350 tokens were handed outand on Sunday night, thenumber doubled to 700.“The problem with open system was that those who werenot even in need took things.Also, this is a dignifi��ed way ofgetting essentials,” he said.

According to Mr. Singh,the farmers are “so nice”that they are only takingwhat they need and nothoarding.

Credential checkAt the entrance, the farmersneed to give their tokens after which they’re given a slipto fi��ll their name, mobilenumber, Aadhaar numberand tick mark the things theyneed from the listed items.They’re allowed entry onlyafter this process.

Inside the ‘mall’, items including toothbrush, paste,bath soap, washing soap,slippers, oil, shampoo, thermals, vests, under garments,heating pads and garbagebox among other thing arestacked.

Talking about their experience, Bhuta Singh fromGurdaspur said he doesn’tmind standing in the queuebecause only farmers standto benefi��t from this. “Theproblem with open ones isthat they work on fi��rst comefi��rst serve basis, without anycheck,” he said.

Another protester whoidentifi��ed himself as Gursevak Singh said that not all ofthem were given tokens. People at the rear end of theprotest haven’t been givenyet, he said.

Khalsa Aid opens ‘Kisan Mall’ at Singhu Unlike the one at the Tikri border, it has introduced token system so that only protesters benefi��t

Hemani Bhandari

NEW DELHI

Protesting farmers at the newly opened ‘Kisan Mall’ at theSinghu border on Monday. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

The crowd at DelhiHaryana’s Singhu border on Monday morning sat mesmerised in front of the stage. Forthe past two days, spiritualsermons replaced speechesand announcements for donations.

Protesting farmers onSunday and Monday commemorated the martyrdomof Guru Gobind Singh’s family and continued with kir-tan, vichar and katha.

Over 20 groups from Amritsar’s Golden Temple anda popular one from Chandigarh had come to performkirtan at the site. “We havecome here voluntarily andin support of the farmers.We stand by them,” said Hazoori Ragi Shi Darbad SahibBhai Devinder Singh.

Chandigarh’s KawisherJatha’s Bhai Mehal Singh,who had come with hissons, has performed acrossthe country and abroad.“The most important aspectof this protest is that it ispeaceful...They are notcausing any inconvenienceto anyone. In fact, are feeding people and taking care

of their needs,” said Mr. Mehal’s son Gurlal Singh (28).

“This event doesn’t meanit’s a religious protest. It’s inthe honour of a Sikh Guru.No one from any other Statehas told us that they have aproblem with it,” said afarmer leader, who didn’twish to be named. Theevent attracted scores of locals.

Two women and theirchildren from Tilak Nagar —who came to the site onMonday — said they hadcome for the kirtan and alsowanted to mark their presence at the protest.

“We believe in Guru Gobind Singhji and when wegot to know about the kir-tan, we wanted to pay a vi

sit,” said an attendee, Amarjeet Kaur (65). A farmerfrom Haryana, Sahab Singh,said he and his fellow farmers don’t understand thelanguage but support theevent. “We all know onlyone language — farming,” hesaid. At the protest site onMonday, farmers and visitors were in for a surprisewith green coloured jalebis(sweet).

Another highlight wasdudh ka theka — an initiativeby a Ludhianabased organisation. “Punjab was becoming infamous for drugs andalcohol, so we started putting up doodh ka langar outside wine shops and namedit dudh ka theka,” said Gurpreet Singh, a volunteer.

Groups from Amritsar, Chandigarh came to site to perform

Hemani Bhandari

NEW DELHI

Farmers protest at the Singhu border in Delhi on Monday.* SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

At Singhu border, kirtansreplace protest speeches

A group of youth from a dsitrict in Punjab, NawanShahr, has initiated an attempt to put a stop to thoseplaying loud music whiledriving at the protest site.

Harpinder Singh (30) saidhe and his friends arrived atthe Singhu border a weekago. They said they havebeen seeing people drive towards the protest stage ontheir trucks and trolleyswhile playing loud and festive music.

‘This is a fi��ght’“It was quite amusing because nearly 40 farmershave lost their lives duringthe protest. This is a fi��ght.There is nothing festiveabout it,” he said. He thenmade a placard in Punjabisaying: “Kisan Shaheed ho

rahe hain, humain samajhnahi aa raha ki gaane kiskhushi main chalaye jaarahe hain [Farmers are dying, we are unable to understand why is music beingplayed].”

Jaskaran Singh, a memberof the group, said they justhold the placard and standin front of those who playloud music. “There are somewho read the placard andeither reduce the volume orstop the music. But there aremany who completely ignore and drive away,” hesaid. On Sunday morning, anadvocate from Jalalabad,who had been protesting atDelhi’s Tikri border, endedhis life. In a note left behindaddressed to PM NarendraModi, he reprimanded theblack laws and blamed himfor favouring “Ambanis andAdanis”.

‘Stop playing loud andfestive music at stir site’ Staff reporter

NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on Monday expressed “deep shock andconcern” over the “illegaland brazen” exercise of power by the Delhi Police in raiding the residence of advocateMehmood Pracha, who is representing many northeastDelhi riots accused.

SCBA president and senioradvocate Dushyant A. Davesaid, “I strongly condemn thelodging of FIR against Mr.Mehmood Pracha and theraid carried out at his place.While acknowledging thatDelhi Police is a fi��ne professional organisation, I mustsay that their investigationsinto Delhi riot cases are sadlybiased and perhapsmotivated”.

He further said, “Far fromcatching the real culprits whoinstigated the riots and whohappen to be powerful politicians, innocent people belonging to a certain sectionare being targeted. Likes ofMr. Pracha are helping thevulnerable section of societywho are being targeted unnecessarily and so they fi��ndthemselves being targeted bythe government”.

The SCBA, in a statement.condemned the “brutal assault” of a lawyer in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh bypolice.

The Association said thesearch and seizure by the police on the premises of an advocate in a proceeding notpertaining to or relating to amember of the Bar was a malicious act that defeated therights of an advocate to practise his profession withoutfear or favour.

“It’s intimidatory”It said that the search and seizure at Mr. Pracha’s premiseswere “intimidatory and designed to abuse the due process by coercing an advocateto succumb to police threatsand methods unheard of inlegal annals”.

“Such a search/seizure isin the teeth of the specifi��cprovisions of law which recognise the client lawyer relationship and protects all correspondence between theadvocate and his client,” theSCBA said.

“The seizures of confi��den

tial information which is protected by lawyerclient privilege, in a search conductedby the very police authoritieswho are prosecuting the lawyer’s clients, will prejudicially aff��ect the rights andguarantees of the accused,” itstated.

The Association contended that “the grant of a warrant by the Magistracy tosearch a lawyer’s offi��ce in aroutine mechanical manner,particularly in respect of a lawyer’s communication andcorrespondences, was antithetical to rule of law and constitutes a disturbing violationof this privilege directly affecting the administration ofjustice”.

Call to policeThe SCBA called upon thepolice to “immediately forbear, cease and desist fromusing the information available on the devices so seized”.

On the lawyer assault inEtah, the Association said itwas “atrocious and unacceptable”. It expressed “seriousconcern on the reprehensibleconduct of the police in boththese cases and calls upon allconcerned authorities to takeserious punitive actionagainst all concerned fortheir atrocious conductwhich denigrates and violatesthe mandate of the Rule oflaw”.

Assault of lawyer in U.P. ‘atrocious and unacceptable’, it says

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

SC Bar Association condemnsraid on Delhi lawyer’s residence

<> Far from catching

the real culprits

who instigated the

riots and who

happen to be

powerful

politicians,

innocent people

belonging to a

certain section are

being targeted

SCBA president

Dushyant A. Dave

A 19yearold man has beenarrested for allegedly killinghis 73yearold grandmotherafter she refused to give himmoney for New Year’s partyin Shahdara on Sundaynight, the police said onMonday.

Money to partyKaran, who is pursuing BBAfrom a college in Meerut, wasinto bad company and underdebt, they said. He neededmoney to repay the loans hetook from his friends and also for the party.

The police on Sundaymorning said they had received a PCR call stating thatan old woman died after shewas hit on the head in Rohtash Nagar. A team reachedthe spot. The woman, SatishKumari, was hit multipletimes on the head with ahammer.

“The body was lying on achair. A hammer was also lying next to the body. The woman used to live on theground fl��oor while other family members were on thesecond fl��oor. Two tenantslive on the fi��rst fl��oor,” said anoffi��cer. Kumari is survived bytwo sons — the elder one liveson the second fl��oor of thesame building and the younger one in nearby area.

The crime came to thefore on Sunday morningwhen her son found her

room locked from outside.He called his brother and enquired about her and foundthat his mother was not at hisplace as well. Later, his younger brother reached the spotand they broke open thelock. On entering, they foundher lying dead and immediately, called the police.

A case under Section 302(murder) of the IPC was thenregistered, an offi��cer said.During probe, one of the tenants told the police that thelandlord’s grandson hadcome to him last night, asking for a hammer as he had tofi��x a nail. “Karan was notfound in the house. Later, thefamily members contactedhim and called him home. Hethen confessed to the crime,”the offi��cer added.

The incident took place onSaturday at 8 p.m. when theaccused asked for moneyfrom his grandmother. Whenshe refused, he committedthe crime and fl��ed the spotwith ₹��18,000. The money hasbeen recovered, they added.

Youth kills grandmotherfor refusing him money He was arrested after fl��eeing the scene

STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI

Satish Kumari was hit with ahammer.

* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Delhi airport’s Terminal 3has installed a new passenger tracking system thatwould help manage thefl��ow of people, reduce waiting time and ensure socialdistancing.

“The Xovis passengertracking system (PTS), aqueue management system, displays live waitingtime, taken at various processes like checkin, security check etc., on screensput up at various places,”said a press release by Delhiairport’s operator DIAL.

Since fl��ight operationsare currently less than preCOVID levels, only Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 of theDelhi airport are handlingaircraft movement.

In this PTS, passengersare counted and trackedanonymously using the ceilingmounted sensors. ThePTS receives data streamsfrom the sensors and provides the airport operatorwith valuable key performance indicators (KPIs)such as waiting times, process times and passengerthroughput.

“The KPIs are visualisedon an intuitive dashboard,enabling airports to quicklyidentify crowded areas andbottlenecks,” the Delhi International Airport Limitedsaid. PTS display screensare placed at checkin hall,arrival pier junction, etc.

New passengertracking systemat IGI airport

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

Food miles: A woman carries a bag of caulifl��owers to a local market at Najafgarh in Delhi. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR



Flower power

A 50yearold man waskilled and another injuredafter a speeding car hitthem when they werecrossing road here on Saturday, the police said onMonday.

The incident took placeon BP Marg, they said. Thevictims were rushed to AIIMS where one of them succumbed to injuries. The injured has been identifi��ed as75yearold Kanhiya Lal. Acase under relevant sections has been registered.

“The accused driver, Rahul Shrivastav [54] fromGKI, has been arrested. Heis an advocate and was allegedly under the infl��uenceof alcohol at that time,”said DCP (South) Atul Kumar Thakur.

Man killed byspeeding car

STAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

The mean travel speed onsome Delhi stretches dippedfrom 46 kmph during thelockdown period to 29 kmphafter it as the reopening of theeconomy led to a rebound incongestion, the Centre forScience and Environment(CSE) said in a report onMonday.

The report is signifi��cant asthe level of congestion onroads has a strong bearing onvehicular pollution.

“The rebound of congestion postlockdown indicatesDelhi is not prepared fortransformational changes tocut down the volume of traffi��c,” the CSE said.

It tracked this change withthe help of data from theGoogle Mobility Report ondiff��erent categories of visitsclassifi��ed as retail and recreation, groceries and pharmacies, parks, transit stations,workplaces, and residential.

It also analysed traffi��cspeed data from Google as aproxy to understand the levelof congestion that has astrong bearing on vehicularpollution, which is signifi��cantin Delhi. The selected 12 major roads included the MGRoad, NH44, Sardar PatelMarg, Outer Ring Road, Dr KBHegdewar Marg, Sri Aurobindo Marg, NH 9, MehrauliBadarpur Road, GT Karnal Rd,Lal Bahadur Sha, Dwarka

Marg and Najafgarh Marg.The CSE’s travel speed da

ta analysis shows that themean travel speed on the selected stretches increasedfrom 24 kmph prelockdownto 46 kmph during lockdown— a 90% increase — when fewer vehicles came on the roadsas only essential travels wereallowed.

But the mean speed reduced again to 29 kmph postlockdown, it shows.

During peak hours, the travel speed on the selectedstretches increased from 23kmph prelockdown to 44kmph during lockdown. Butthis again reduced to 27 kmper hour postlockdown, itsays.

Average speed on roads in Capitaldropped after rollback of lockdown

Report says congestion forced speeds to drop by 17 kmph


New Delhi

A group of youths from Punjab with placards at the Singhuborder on Monday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2020 3EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

CITY

Published by N. Ravi at Kasturi Buildings, 859 & 860, Anna Salai, Chennai-600002 and Printed by S. Ramanujam at HT Media Ltd. Plot No. 8, Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida Distt. Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. 201306, on behalf of THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD., Chennai-600002. Editor: Suresh Nambath (Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act).

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 10 ● No. 310

BJP leaders abused ourcouncillors, says AAP NEW DELHI

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

on Monday alleged that the

BJP leaders of the East Delhi

Municipal Corporation

misbehaved and abused its

councillors during the House

proceeding. “AAP raised the

demand of a CBI inquiry into

the ₹��2,500crore scam and

then the BJP leaders attacked

us,” said AAP leader Durgesh

Pathak.

IN BRIEF

Timings

DELHI

TUESDAY, DEC. 29

RISE 07:14 SET 17:34

RISE 16:53 SET 06:23

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30

RISE 07:14 SET 17:35

RISE 17:46 SET 07:19

THURSDAY, DEC. 31

RISE 07:14 SET 17:36

RISE 18:43 SET 08:12

Driverless train operationson the Delhi Metro’s 37 kmlong Magenta Line began onMonday after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi fl��agged off��the fi��rst train, via videoconferencing, from the Jasola ViharShaheen Bagh metrostation.

According to the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC),currently, fi��ve such driverlesstrains will be operational andby June 2021, the fully automated driverless trains willbe extended to the Pink Line(Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar) aswell.

Offi��cials said that duringthe initial few months, aDMRC operator will be stationed inside the driver’s cabin to overcome teething issues, if any.

Faster system“In Driverless Train Operations [DTO], initially, thetrain operator will be presentin the train to instil a sense ofconfi��dence and assistance.Earlier, drivers had to spendalmost an hour prior to operations to manually check allthe features in the trains. However, the new system willhelp reduce this time manifold. The “wakeup” timeand “going to sleep” time oftrains have been fed into thesystem already,” a DMRC offi��cial said.

The public transporter added that the new system alsofacilitates regulating thenumber of trains in servicebased on demand dynamically without dependence onthe availability of crew.

However, the driverlesstrains can only be introduced in Phase 3 and the upcoming PhaseIV networksbecause of the communicationbased train control (signalling) system, offi��cials said.

Despite announcementsinside the metro coaches,most commuters taking thefi��rst automated train werecaught unawares of the factwith some expressing concerns when informed.

Rajesh Meena, a centralgovernment employee travelling from Janakpuri Westto Palam metro station said,“It looks like a good experience so far and the controlsystem looks great. I am not aregular commuter but usethe metro whenever I am inthe city.”

‘Not much diff��erence’Travelling from Dashratpurito Jasola ViharShaheen Baghmetro station, S.Z. Nairanother commuter said,“There’s not much diff��erencethat I can feel. It still feels likeprevious rides as it is runningquite smoothly and stoppingat stations and starting the

journey seamlessly.”Kamlesh Kaur, another

commuter added, “When Iboarded the train I had noidea that it was driverless.However, now that I havebeen informed, I am feelingslightly nervous as I havenever been on such a trainbefore. So far, I could notmake any diff��erence andhopefully it will be a goodexperience.”

Commuters will also beable to use the National Common Mobility Card on the 23kmlong Airport ExpressLine. The DMRC plans to upgrade the entire network by2022 to facilitate travel by theNCMC.

‘It feels like previous rides astrain is running quite smoothly’ Fully automated driverless trains to be extended to the Pink Line by June 2021

Shinjini Ghosh

NEW DELHI

The fi��rst automated driverless metro train on the Magenta Line during the inaugural run fromJasola ViharShaheen Bagh to Janakpuri West, in Delhi on Monday. * SANDEEP SAXENA

The Capital witnessed 564new COVID19 cases in thelast 24 hours — lowest in over seven months — takingthe total number of cases to6,23,415, according to ahealth bulletin released bythe Delhi government onMonday.

This is the lowest newcases since May 26, when412 new cases were reported in a day. A total of 57,463tests were done in the past24 hours, which is less, as itis the number of tests doneon Sunday. Lesser numberof tests are done on mostSundays.

Also, 21 more deaths havebeen reported in the past 24hours, taking the total number of deaths to 10,474 . Ofthe total cases, 6,06,644 people have recovered andthere are 6,297 active cases.

The positivity of COVID19 cases was 0.98% on

Monday, very less than theaverage daily positivity inNovember, which was11.65%. On Friday, the positivity was 0.88%. The overall positivity till now was7.41%, as per the bulletin.

Out of the total 18,774beds available for COVID19treatment in the city, 86.6%were vacant, as per the bulletin. About 2,499 peoplewere admitted in hospitalsand 3,153 patients were under home isolation. As perthe bulletin, the death ratein the past 10 days was2.95%. There were 4,563containment zones in the city as of Monday.

Meanwhile, 23 people,who travelled from the U.K.since November 25 andtheir contacts, have testedpositive till now. This is,apart from the 11 peoplefrom four fl��ights from theU.K. last week, who testedpositive for the virus, a Delhi government offi��cial said

564 infections reported in 24 hours

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

City records lowestcases in 7 months

An RTPCR test being conducted at Sant Ravidas Nagar innorth Delhi. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

The air quality of Delhi, Noida and Gurugram improvedto the “poor” category onMonday, as per the CentralPollution Control Board(CPCB). The air quality ofthe national capital is expected to improve slightlyon Tuesday.

However, it is expected todeteriorate on Wednesdayand Thursday.

“The AQI is likely to improve to the lower end of the‘very poor’ to ‘poor category’ for December 29. TheAQI is likely to deterioratethereafter, to the middleend of the ‘very poor’ category by December 30. Dueto the low ventilated condition, the air quality is likelyto touch the higher end of‘very poor’ category on December 31 and may touchthe severe category for ashorter period on NewYear’s Eve,” said a statementby the governmentrunmonitoring agency SAFAR(System of Air Quality andWeather Forecasting and Research).

The minimum temperature on Monday was 5.6 degrees Celsius, which is lowerthan the season’s average by

one degree and the maximum was 20.9 degrees Celsius, which is normal for thistime of the year, accordingto the IMD. The minimumtemperature on Tuesday ispredicted to be around 4°Cand maximum about 20 °C.

Stubble burningThe eff��ect of stubble burningon the city’s air quality remained low on Monday.

But apart from pollutants,two meteorological factorsstrongly impact the air quality.

The “mixing layerheight”, which is the heightfrom the ground level up towhich pollutants can be dispersed, increased to “moderate” from “low”. This led

to lesser accumulation ofpollutants near the surface.

But the speed of surfacelevel winds remained “low”on Monday, which aided theaccumulation of pollutants.Faster surface winds help inthe dispersion of pollutants.The speed was predicted topick up speed.

“Under the infl��uence ofapproaching western disturbance isolated rainfall andbetter ventilation conditionis likely for the next 48hours,” SAFAR said.

The AQI of Delhi was 253on Monday, as per CPCB’s 4p.m. bulletin, which is an average of the past 24 hours.The values for Gurugramand Noida were 226 and 225respectively.

AQI may turn ‘severe’ on New Year’s EveMinimum temp. settles at 5.6°C, lower than season’s average

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

A homeless person wraps himself in a blanket on a coldMonday morning at Tilak Nagar. * SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

The AAP government has informed the Delhi High Courton Monday that the decisionto reduce to 60% the number of ICU beds reserved forCOVID19 patients in 33 private hospitals here was takenbased on recommendationby a deescalationcommittee.

Justice Subramonium Prasad was informed by the government that the decisionwas taken on December 27

after a twomember panel,comprising the AIIMS director and a NITI Aayog member, endorsed the recommendations of thedeescalation committee toreduce from 80% to 60% theICU beds reserved in thehospitals.

Justice Prasad listed thecase for further hearing onJanuary 8 after AdditionalSolicitor General (ASG) Sanjay Jai, representing the Delhi government, said that thereservation would be revisit

ed on January 5.The deescalation com

mittee (COVID19) was constituted to assess the currentposition of hospital admis

quash the Delhi government’s September 12 orderto reserve 80% ICU beds forCOVID19 patients in 33 private hospitals here.

On November 12, the HighCourt had allowed the citygovernment to reserve 80%ICU beds for COVID19 patients in 33 private hospitalsin view of the spike in number of cases.

The High Court had thenvacated a single judge’s interim order staying the city government decision.

sions and discharges and recommend reduction in thenumber of beds dedicatedfor COVID19 patients.

Graded mannerIt had recommended that“deescalation may be carried out in a graded manner,preferably, in Delhi government and private sector hospitals”, but not in Central government hospitals.

The court was hearing aplea by the Association ofHealthcare Providers to

‘Have decided to reduce reserved COVID-19 ICU beds’AAP govt. informs HC after panel’s suggestion to reduce beds from 80% to 60% in private hospitals

Staff Reporter

New Delhi

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fl��agging off�� of the fi��rstdriverless Delhi Metro RailCorporation (DMRC) trainhere, on Monday congratulated the people of Delhitriggering allegations of attempting to seek credit forwork accomplished by theCentre.

The BJP was quick toreact and accused Mr. Kejriwal of being habituated todoing so. “CongratulationsDelhiites! From today onwards, automaticdrivenmetro trains started in Delhi Metro without a driver.Today your ‘Delhi Metrohas been included in selected cities of the world. OurDelhi is developing rapidly” Mr. Kejriwal tweeted.

In response soon after,the BJP went after Mr. Kejriwal stating that it was infactMr. Modi who was committed to the development ofthe Capital.

“Taking credit for theworks of the Modi government is an old habit ofChief Minister Kejriwal.The reason due to which itbecame possible, due towhich Delhi got this gift, isthe PM of this country, Vikas Purush Shri @narendramodi Please thank him,Mr. Chief Minister! The Modi government is committed to the development ofDelhi [sic],” the Delhi BJPtweeted in response

CM trying totake credit formetro feat: BJP


New Delhi

Uttarakhand Chief MinisterTrivendra Singh Rawat, whotested positive for COVID19recently, was admitted toDelhi’s All India Institute ofMedical Sciences (AIIMS) onMonday with an infection inhis lungs.

Lung infectionHe was taken to Delhi in ahelicopter in the morningon the advice of doctors after a slight infection wasfound in his lungs, an offi��cial said here. Mr. Rawat hasundergone some importanttests at the AIIMS, he added.

Mr. Rawat’s physicianN.S. Bisht is also with him,the offi��cial said.

The Chief Minister, whowas in home isolation sinceDecember 18 after testing

positive for the infectiousdisease, was shifted to theGovernment Doon MedicalCollege here after he developed fever on Sundayevening.

Dr. Bisht said the ChiefMinister is alright, addingthat his fever has also gonedown since Sunday nightbut there is a slight infectionin his lungs.

Uttarakhand CM Rawatadmitted to AIIMS He tested COVID-19 positive in Dec.


New Delhi/Dehradun

Trivendra Singh Rawat

Tributes paid to Jaitleyon birth anniversaryNEW DELHI

On the birth anniversary of

former Union Finance

Minister Arun Jaitley, Delhi

BJP president Adesh Gupta

and State Organisation

General Secretary

Siddharthan paid floral

tributes to his portrait at the

party’s State office here on

Monday. Leader of the

Opposition in the Delhi

Assembly Ramvir Singh

Bidhuri also distributed

blankets, fruits and masks

among the elders at an

oldage home in Gautam

Puri in south Delhi on the

occasion.

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NORTH & EAST

0DISCLAIMER: Readers are requested toverify and make appropriate enquiries tosatisfy themselves about the veracity ofan advertisement before responding toany published in this newspaper. THGPUBLISHING PVT LTD., the Publisher &Owner of this newspaper, does not vouchfor the authenticity of any advertisementor advertiser or for any of the advertiser’sproducts and/or services. In no event canthe Owner, Publisher, Printer, Editor, Dir-ector/s, Employees of this newspaper/company be held responsible/liable inany manner whatsoever for any claimsand/or damages for advertisements inthis newspaper.

Former Chief Minister andLeader of the OppositionBhupinder Singh Hoodareached the sitin site at Makdouli toll on Monday to support the agitating farmers.Mr. Hooda said he had notseen such a democratic,peaceful and disciplinedmovement in his politicallife.

‘Demands justifi��ed’Addressing the farmers, Mr.Hooda said he had been supporting the farmers’ agitation as their demands werejustifi��ed and they were fi��ghting for their rights.

“I am with the farmers

from the very fi��rst day whenthey started protesting soonafter the ordinances were issued. It is the duty of everyperson who eats the foodgrown by our farmers to riseabove caste, religion, region,

language and political beliefsto support this movement,”he said.

Mr. Hooda lauded thefarmers for running a democratic, peaceful and disciplined movement on theborders of the national capital for more than a month. “Ihave never seen such a disciplined movement in my life.For this, I salute the passionand commitment of everyfarmer. I demand that thegovernment abandon itsadamant attitude and acceptthe demands of the farmersas such stubbornness has noplace in a democracy,” hesaid.

Mr. Hooda said this was amovement not only for the

farmers, but also for everyworker and consumer as thethree agricultural lawswould also have a major impact on their lives. “If theselaws are implemented, thenthe labourers and the poorsections will stop getting getsubsidised foodgrains over aperiod of time,” he warned.

Mr. Hooda said the pricesof pulses, vegetables andgrains would rise as the limits on hoarding were beingremoved. He said the government should repealthese three laws which adversely aff��ect every citizenand provide a law that guarantees minimum supportprice (MSP) for the welfare ofthe farmers.

I am with farmers, says Hooda He lauds them for running a democratic, peaceful and disciplined movement


GURUGRAM

Bhupinder Singh Hooda.* FILE PHOTO

The much awaited formationof the Food Commission inRajasthan, with the appointment of government offi��cersas its exoffi��cio chairpersonand members, has left thesocial activists disappointed.Activists said this would result in the offi��cers sitting injudgment on their own actsagainst which the complaints will be made to theCommission.

The State government hasappointed Naveen Jain, Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Department, as theCommission’s chairpersonand the directors of fi��ve departments as its members.These departments are responsible for implementationof the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, in theState.

Write to GehlotSocial activists Aruna Royand Harsh Mander have shotoff�� a letter to Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot, pointing outthat the Food Commissionhad been constituted in“gross violation” of the principles of natural justice,which dictated that no one

should be a judge in theirown cause. The complaintswould be redirected to thevery departments whosework was to be evaluated,said the activists.

“The intention behind establishing the Commissionwas that if the governmentdoes not implement or inadequately implementsNFSA, depriving the exploited and vulnerable groups ofits benefi��ts, then thereshould be an independentbody with the powers tohold the government accountable for the defi��ciencies,” the letter stated.

While the Commissioncould help eliminate hungerfrom the State, the exoffi��cio

appointments were contraryto the spirit of laws, said thetwo activists. They said theCommission’s formation wasignored for the last sevenyears and it was eventuallyconstituted “with a confl��ictof interest”.

Though the State government had followed the letterof the law in terms of qualifi��cations and conditions of appointment of chairpersonand members, the Commission in its present formcould not monitor and evaluate the implementation ofNFSA or investigate complaints. “Our question relates to whether an executing department will evaluateits own works and advise it

self,” Ms. Roy and Mr. Mander said.

Hunger and pandemicThe letter reminded theChief Minister of a recentsurvey of the Centre forEquity Studies and Rozi RotiAdhikar Abhiyan, which hadrevealed that the scope ofhunger had increased duringthe last nine months of COVID19 pandemic and theconsumption of edible itemshad decreased compared tothe prelockdown period.The Food Commission’s rolehad assumed signifi��cancewhen the people were oftenforced to sleep on an emptystomach.

While asking what was thecompulsion to appoint sucha Commission, the activistsdemanded that an “activeand independent” FoodCommission be constitutedin the State with the appointment of persons of eminence in public life who hadthe knowledge and experience in agriculture, humanrights, food policy, healthand social service. This willensure proper implementation of the food security lawand monitor the system.

Activists upset with new Food CommissionGovt. offi��cers would sit in judgment on their own acts, say Roy, Mander

Workers downloading rice bags before they are supplied tofair price shops. * FILE PHOTO

Mohammed Iqbal

JAIPUR

From public contributionsfor the cause to politicalsupport, several parallelsexist between the ongoingprotests by farmers at Delhi’s borders and the peasantmovements of the fi��rst halfof the 20th Century in Punjab, said historian MridulaMukherjee.

Delivering the ProfessorS.C. Mishra Memorial Lecture organised by the IndianHistory Congress, Prof.Mukherjee spoke on the “legacy of heroic nonviolentresistance” in Punjab’sfarmer protests.

From ‘Pagri Sambhal Jatta’ movement in 1907, peasant struggles in Punjabwere always linked with political parties. However, today, the farmers protestingagainst the recently passedagriculture laws have triedto distance themselves frompolitical parties, Prof. Mukherjee said in the onlineaddress.

She said: “Success of amovement, whether or notit is a movement of peasants, heavily depends onwhat kind of support youcan garner from other sections of society, from broader political forces, from political parties. Which is whytoday the government is sokeen to say political partiesshould not be seen in this,as if there is somethingwrong about movements

being connected to politicalparties or political partiescoming to play a role. Somehow even the peasant movements themselves are waryof this because they fearthat this will be used againstthem.” But, she added, thehistory of peasant strugglesshowed that political partieswere involved.

In another parallel, theongoing protests have seenindividuals and groups donating everything fromblankets to food to massagechairs.

Prof. Mukherjee, a retiredJNU professor, said the traditional pattern from preIndependence of politicalworkers going housetohouse to collect grains andother things for langars hascontinued.

“This is the pattern youare seeing today on a biggerscale. We are so unfamiliarthat it seems odd. It is partof the living tradition,” Prof.Mukherjee told The Hindu.

‘Political parties have been

part of farmer movements’ Historian compares kisan movements

Damini Nath

NEW DELHI

Prof. Mridula Mukherjee.* FILE PHOTO

Terminated governmentschoolteachers announcedthat their sitin demonstration here would continue foran indefi��nite period till theState government announces their direct employment.The agitation, which beganoutside the City Centre onDecember 7, entered the22nd day on Monday.

The forums representingterminated teachers calledthe protest amid cold weather to press their demand fordirect employment in the

State government departments.

Altogether 10,323 teachers lost their jobs under anorder of the Supreme Courtin a case that originated at asession’s court in Tripura over fl��awed recruitment procedures followed by the previous government.

Children, spouses and parents of the teachers have also joined the protest.

Former teachers announced that on January 1they will report to theschools they served foryears as a mark of protest.

Schoolteachers continuedharna over terminationThey are demanding direct employment

Syed Sajjad Ali

Agartala

Chief of Defence Staff�� (CDS)of India General Bipin Rawaton Monday commended theOdisha police by applaudingthe force’s eff��orts in successfully tackling the challengesof the LeftWing Extremists(LWE) with the help of Central paramilitary forces. Delivering the keynote addressin virtual mode at the ongoing 62nd Senior Odisha Police Offi��cers’ Conferencehere, General Rawat also extolled the Odisha police inmaintaining high standardsof law and order in the State.

“The Odisha police haveearned very high standardsof law and order in the Stateand have succeeded in tackling the challenges of LWEwith good results,” the CDSsaid adding that the Statepolice have managed toachieve this in close coordination with all other CentralArmed Police Forces operating in the region.

Asserting that the police,being the most visible representatives of the government and fi��rst respondersduring any crisis, GeneralRawat termed the policeforce the “pioneers ofsecurity”.

Hoping that the Conference would help the policeleaders to look to the futureas guardians of internal security to face the challengesahead, the CDS said the Odisha police will continue tobe the pillar of strength, security and confi��dence for allthe people of Odisha.

On national security, General Rawat said the fallout ofevents such as climatechange, deglobalisation, regionalisation, popular protests, trade wars have raisedthe risks of destabilisationand disruptions. “Also,asymmetric warfare hasbrought in greater challenges,” he said and pointed outthat in this background, therole of police in ensuring internal stability is “critical”.

CDS lauds Odisha police for

tackling LWE challenges Force is pioneer of security: Gen. Rawat

Correspondent

CUTTACK

General Bipin Rawat.* FILE PHOTO

EDUCATIONAL

EDUCATIONAL PUBLIC NOTICE

PUBLIC NOTICE

OBITUARY &

REMEMBRANCE

DEATH

DEATH ANNIVERSARIES

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

Temperature Data: IMD, Pollution Data: CPCB, Map: INSAT/IMD (Taken at 18.30 Hrs)

Forecast for Tuesday: Cold wave to severe cold wave conditionsvery likely in some pockets over Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana,Chandigarh, Delhi, north Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and north Madhya Pradesh

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala................—....25.0....10.4 Kozhikode....................—....33.7....23.0

Ahmedabad...........—....24.1......8.3 Kurnool .......................—....31.7....17.6

Aizawl...................—....22.0......6.1 Lucknow......................—....22.4....10.0

Allahabad..............—....26.0....10.5 Madurai .......................—....31.4....22.3

Bengaluru .............—....29.8....16.4 Mangaluru ...................—....35.3....19.8

Bhopal ..................—....29.0....10.5 Mumbai .......................—....27.6....18.8

Bhubaneswar.........—....29.3....13.2 Mysuru ........................—....30.0....15.2

Chandigarh ........ 2.2....18.0......6.5 New Delhi ...................—....20.9......5.6

Chennai ................—....29.9....21.0 Patna ..........................—....24.4......5.8

Coimbatore ...........—....28.8....20.8 Port Blair.................. 0.2....30.5....25.8

Dehradun ..............—....18.8......9.6 Puducherry ..................—....29.4....20.0

Gangtok................—....13.6......6.3 Pune............................—....31.3....14.8

Goa.......................—....32.0....20.4 Raipur .........................—....29.0....10.2

Guwahati ..............—....25.8....11.8 Ranchi .........................—....24.8......8.3

Hubballi ................—....30.0....17.0 Shillong.......................—....16.1......5.5

Hyderabad ............—....29.5....13.5 Shimla......................... 9......7.7.... -1.1

Imphal ..................—....22.0......2.8 Srinagar.......................—......8.7......0.8

Jaipur ...................—....21.0......5.7 Thiruvananthapuram.........—....32.8....24.4

Kochi ....................—....31.2....23.6 Tiruchi.........................—....30.3....21.2

Kohima .................—....16.8......5.5 Vijayawada ..................—....29.8....19.4

Kolkata .................—....25.5....11.6 Visakhapatnam .............—....28.4....20.0

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at 4.00p.m., Kanpur, Uttar Pradeshrecorded an overall airquality index (AQI) score of360 indicating an unhealthylevel of pollution. Incontrast, Aizawl, Mizoramrecorded a healthy AQI scoreof 11

Ahmedabad..... 16 .67 43 ....78 .171 ....*

Bengaluru ....... ..4 .34 38 ..187 .113 ....*

Chennai .......... 11 .12 85 ..162 .129 ....*

Delhi .............. ..8 114 49 ..289 .296 ....*

Hyderabad ...... 20 .85 36 ..271 .....— ....*

Kolkata........... 25 .31 76 ..373 .288 ....*

Lucknow ......... ..8 .86 77 ..435 .362 ....*

Mumbai .......... ..5 .60 23 ..314 .....— ....*

Pune............... ..— ...— .— ..175 .126 ....*

Visakhapatnam 13 .18 37 ..298 .232 ....*

Air Quality Code: * Poor * Moderate * Good (Readings indicate average AQI)

SO2: Sulphur Dioxide. Short-term exposure can harm the respiratory system,

making breathing difficult. It can affect visibility by reacting with other air

particles to form haze and stain culturally important objects such as statues

and monuments.

NO2: Nitrogen Dioxide. Aggravates respiratory illness, causes haze to form by

reacting with other air particles, causes acid rain, pollutes coastal waters.

CO: Carbon monoxide. High concentration in air reduces oxygen supply to

critical organs like the heart and brain. At very high levels, it can cause

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

PM2.5 & PM10: Particulate matter pollution can cause irritation of the eyes,

nose and throat, coughing, chest tightness and shortness of breath, reduced

lung function, irregular heartbeat, asthma attacks, heart attacks and premature

death in people with heart or lung disease

Mumbai’s most popularsexpert Dr. Mahinder Watsadied here on Monday at 96,his family said.

Through his Ask the Sexp-ert column published inMumbai Mirror for the last15 years, Watsa educatedand entertained his readerswith witty replies.

“Dad was a man of manydimensions. He lived a glorious life and on his terms,”read a statement by hischildren.

In a country where discussing sex openly is still a ta

boo for many, Watsa, son of amilitary doctor, had a sort offan following. Be it erectiledysfunction or middleagedpregnancy, no query was off��the limits for this sexpert.

Watsa’s unabashed responses to the closeted sex

ual dysfunctions of our populace were refreshing andupfront. He was literallywhat the doctor ordered togive some much neededlightheartedness.

“The #Sexpert has gone.Mumbai institution Dr Mahinder Watsa is dead. Hewrote for @MumbaiMirrorfrom the day it started in2005 until the last editionnine days ago without a single days break,” tweetedMumbai Mirror Editor Meenal Baghel.

For the fi��rst 40 years ofhis career, Watsa practisedas a gynaecologist and obste

trician. As a consultant forthe Family Planning Association of India, he pushed for asexual counselling and education programme.

In 1974, the organisationlaunched a sex education,counselling and therapycentre, the fi��rst in India.Watsa left his practice forcounselling and educationin the early 1980s. “Theworld was divided into people who wrote to MahinderWatsa and people who readMahinder Watsa,” tweetedan admirer, praising his witty responses to those whowrote to him seeking advice.


Mumbai

Dr. Mahinder Watsa * FILE PHOTO

Mumbai’s sexpert Dr. Mahinder Watsa dead

Social activist Anna Hazare has threatened to goon a hunger strike if hisdemands on issues concerning farmers are notmet by the Union government by the end of January next year, and hassaid that it would be his“last protest”.

Speaking to reporters inhis Ralegaon Siddhi village inAhmednagar district of Maharashtra on Sunday, Mr. Hazare said he had been holding protests for cultivatorsfor the last three years, butthe government had donenothing to resolve the issues.

“The government is justgiving empty promises dueto which I do not have anytrust left (in the government)... Let’s see, what action the Centre takes on mydemands. It has sought timefor a month, so I have givenit time till Januaryend. Ifmy demands are not met, Iwill resume my huger strikeprotest. This would be mylast protest,” the 83yearold said.

On December 14, Mr. Hazare wrote a letter to UnionAgriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar warning ofa hunger strike if his demands like the implementation of the M.S. Swaminathan Committee’srecommendations andgranting autonomy to theCommission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP),were not accepted.

Senior BJP leader andformer Maharashtra Assembly Speaker HaribhauBagade recently met Mr. Hazare to explain to him thedetails of the three farm

laws introduced by the Central government.

Mr. Hazare observed afast on December 8 in support of the Bharat Bandhcalled by farmer organisations demanding a repeal ofthe agriculture laws.

Farmers have been protesting at borders of Delhi forover a month against theFarmers (Empowermentand Protection) Agreementof Price Assurance and FarmServices Act, 2020, theFarmers Produce Trade andCommerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act, 2020, andthe Essential Commodities(Amendment) Act, 2020.

The three farm laws,enacted in September, havebeen projected by the government as major reformsin the agriculture sector thatwill remove middlemen andallow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

However, the protestingtillers have expressed apprehension that the newlaws would pave the way foreliminating the safety cushion of the minimum supportprice and do away with themandis, leaving them at themercy of big corporates.The Centre has repeatedlyasserted that these mechanisms will remain.

Anna Hazare threatensto commence his ‘lastprotest’ for farmersHe says despiteagitating forcultivators forthree years, govt.has done nothingto resolve issues


Pune

Anna Hazare * FILE PHOTO

<> The government is

just giving empty

promises due to

which I do not

have any trust left

(in the

government)

Anna Hazare

Smile please: Tennis star Leander Paes taking a selfi��e at the 100 tennis rackets art installation by artist Krishna Kedar at Bandrain Mumbai on Monday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT



Star fascination

While cases outweighed recoveries in the last few days,Maharashtra reboundedonce more on Monday withthe State reporting 4,501 patient discharges as opposedto 2,498 new COVID19 cases.

As per the State HealthDepartment fi��gures, the active cases have dipped to57,159 while the total casetally stands at 19,22,048.

As many as 50 fatalitiessaw the death toll climb to49,305. Again, the low surgemust be witnessed in thecontext of a mere 41,000samples being tested in thelast 24 hours.

The cumulative recoveriesnow stand at 18,14,449 whilethe State’s recovery rate is94.4%. “Of a total 1,25,43,772laboratory samples testedthus far, 19,22,048 (with thecase positivity rate dippingto 15.32%) have returnedpositive with over 41,000samples being tested in thelast 24 hours,” State Surveillance Offi��cer Dr. PradeepAwate said, adding that thecase fatality stood at 2.57%.

Pune district reported over 300 new cases to take itstotal case tally to 3,70,962and just one death (as perthe State Health Departmentfi��gures), taking its toll to7,726. As per the district administration fi��gures, the active cases have droppedfurther to 7,161 while its re

covery rate stands at 95.61%. Mumbai city reported 557

new cases to take its total tally to 2,91,471 of whom only8,862 are active. As many as12 fatalities saw the city’sdeath toll reach 11,088.

Nagpur district in Vidarbha recorded more than 350new cases, pushing the district’s total cases to 1,24,278of whom 4,491 are active. Nodeaths saw the toll remainconstant at 3,194.

In western Maharashtra,Satara registered a singledeath to take its toll to 1,751while just 38 fresh cases sawthe total case tally rise to54,343 of whom 955 are active. Neighbouring Sangli added only 11 cases and nodeaths as the district’s reported cases touched50,066 of whom only 352 areactive. Its fatality count re

mains at 1,765. Kolhapur reported a mere

eight cases and not a singlefatality as its total cases wentup to 49,098 of whom just495 are active. The death tollremains constant at 1,658.

In north Maharashtra,Nashik district logged 132cases and three deaths as itstotal case tally reached1,14,416 of whom 2,375 areactive. Its fatality tollclimbed to 1,836.

Jalgaon recorded just 18new cases and two deaths asits total cases touched55,956 of whom only 540 areactive, while its death tollrose to 1,439.

Dr. Awate said that currently, 4,52,535 peopleacross the State were inhome quarantine and 3,138were in institutional quarantine facilities.

Maharashtra reports morerecoveries than fresh casesActive cases drop to 57,159; virus claims 50 more lives; Mumbai adds 557 new cases

Shoumojit Banerjee

Pune

Unmindful of risk: Amid the COVID19 pandemic, peoplewhile not adhering to social distancing norms visit JuhuChowpatty in Mumbai on Sunday. * PTI

Navi Mumbai on Mondayreported a mere 49 newCOVID19 cases, its lowestdaily surge since July 1when it was 265.

The total cases recordedunder the Navi MumbaiMunicipal Corporation(NMMC) since March are50,791, of whom 1,046have died and 48,822 haverecovered. Currently, thereare 923 active patients.

Till date, 4.27 lakh people have undergone a COVID19 test — RTPCR testwas run on 1.65 lakh and arapid antigen test was conducted on 2.62 lakh.

While the recovery ratein Navi Mumbai has goneup to 96%, the death ratehas come down to 2%. Ofthe 13 COVID19 centresrun by the NMMC, 12 havebeen shut due to lack of patients. On August 20, the city registered its highestnumber of cases at 477.The fresh cases had fi��rstcrossed 100 on May 30.The second lowest casesurge was recorded on December 15, with 52 cases.

Navi Mumbaisees its lowestdaily case surgesince July 1

Raina Assainar

Navi Mumbai

Three siblings in the agegroup of 30 to 42 years wererescued from a room inwhich they had allegedlylocked themselves up fornearly a decade in Rajkot onSunday by a local NGO withthe help of their father.

Members of Saathi SevaGroup, the NGO that worksfor homeless people, brokeopen the doors to see themlying like skeletons.

“The siblings. Amrish,Bhavesh and Meghna, hadlocked themselves up in theroom for nearly a decadesince the death of theirmother,” Jalpa Patel of theNGO said.

“It was appalling to seethem in that condition. Theroom was stinking with human faeces, stale food andscattered papers. They werelying in the room as if theywere skeletons,” she said.

Both Amrish and Bhavesh did not have their haircut. Their beards had grownalmost up to their waist. After bringing them out of thehouse, the volunteersbrought a barber to shavetheir beards and hair, andthey were bathed and givennew clothes.

None had any clothes except some towels wrappedaround them.

Their father, Navin Mehta, is a retired government

employee. He said he usedto get food parcels and leavethem outside the door.

According to him, hischildren are well educated.“My eldest son, Amrish, 42,was a practising lawyer withBA, LLB degrees, whileMeghna (39) is an MA in Psychology. My youngest son isBA in Economics and was also a promising cricketplayer,” he said.

“My wife started keepingill and she died fi��vesix yearslater, which aff��ected mychildren deeply, followingwhich they locked themselves up,” he said.

He added that neighbours and some relativeshad told him that his children were victims of someblack magic performed onthem by relatives.

3 siblings locked up in room for a decaderescued in Rajkot My wife startedkeeping ill andshe died fi��vesixyears later,following whichthey lockedthemselves up,says father

Mahesh Langa

AHMEDABAD

Siblings Amrish and Bhaveshdid not have their hair cut.Their beards had grownalmost up to their waist.


The Vashi Government Railway Police (GRP) on Sundayarrested a teenager fromMankhurd who allegedlymolested a 45yearold woman in the ladies compart

ment of a moving localtrain.

The woman, a resident ofGhansoli, works at Parel.She alighted at Vashi railway station via a train onthe Trans Harbour Line andwas waiting for a CSMTbound train to go to workaround 8.30 a.m. on Friday.When she boarded thetrain, the accused, AyanAzim Beg (19) from Mankhurd, who was also at thestation, got into the ladies

compartment at the sametime.

On fi��nding the womanalone, the accused startedmolesting her. The lady resisted him, and after thetrain reached Mankhurd,Beg alighted from the trainand fl��ed. The woman wentto her place of work and later on Saturday, she lodgeda complaint at Vashi railwaypolice station.

The GRP fi��led a case ofmolestation against the ac

cused and traced himthrough CCTV footage. “Wesuspected that he might tryto do the same crime againand hence laid a trap atVashi and Mankhurd railway stations. On Sunday,we found him loitering atVashi station and nabbedhim. We found that he was ahabitual mobile phonesnatcher too. He is in ourcustody till Tuesday,” seniorpolice inspector Vishnu Kesarkar from Vashi GRP said.

Teenager held for molesting woman on train

Raina Assainar

Navi Mumbai

19yearold is ahabitual mobilephone snatchertoo, say Vashi GRP

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


WEST

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


EDITORIAL

Farm Acts The government may havegood intentions inintroducing the Farm Acts,but in a democracy, thepeople’s voice should beheard with an open mind,even if unpleasant. Thefarmers’ agitation has beenon for more than a month.It would be prudent if thegovernment keeps the Actsin abeyance and initiates adialogue with farmersafresh to arrive at anoptimal solution. TheIndian economy is showingsigns of bouncing back, butthe continued impasse onthe farmers’ front would

put the clock back by years.We also need to be onguard as Punjab is a crucialborder State.V. Subramanian,

Chennai

■ The truth is that the wheatpaddy cycle is unsustainablein the long run. The currentcrop pattern has aff��ected soilhealth and the water table.In the current scenario ofoverfl��owing buff��er stocks ofgrains, PunjabHaryana needto shift from overproductionof cereals to highvalue cropsand dairy. However, thecurrent farm laws are awrong prescription. Without

the APMCs, corporates willbecome dominant and afarmer will have no fallbackoptions. In the fairy tale bythe government, the laws areto bring competition amongagribusinesses resulting inbetter prices for farmers. Butexperience shows otherwise.The crash in kinnow andpotato prices recently areglaring examples that leadfarmers to make distresssales. Remunerative prices orMSP procurement at greaterscale for horticulture, maize,pulses and oilseeds is theway out. An innovativeapproach of cash incentivescan coax farmers to

switchover from paddy todiversifi��cation intovegetables, pulses andoilseeds. Punjab andHaryana need a nuancedintervention rather than “bigticket reforms”. A fi��scalpackage for diversifi��cationfor these original GreenRevolution pioneers is theneed of the hour.Harmanjeet Singh Sidhu,

Taruana, Haryana

A dropIt is a matter of relief that thevirus spread could be undercontrol in India. But I amastonished that this ispossible despite the density

infamous fordisproportionately enlargingthe Global North at theexpense of countries closerto the Equator. Except for itsuse in navigation, it feedsdirectly into colonialcartography, quiteunbecoming of the 21stcentury which demands anequal if not greater focus onAsia, Africa and SouthAmerica. May I suggestadopting the GallPetersprojection instead, whichmaintains spatial integrity.Manchala Ashoka Vardhan,

Kothagudem, Telangana

of our population and thegeneral state of cleanlinesseven as the rest of the world,especially the U.S., is stillstruggling. One possibleexplanation could be therelatively young age of theaverage Indian. It could alsobe because of immunity dueto the presence of variousfevers, but only an expertcan clarify this. Nevertheless,we should stay vigilant. T. Anand Raj,

Chennai

Map projection‘Data Point’ is a great feature.However its maps still usethe Mercator projection,

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters emailed to [email protected] must carry the full postal address and the full name or the name with initials.

To read more lettersonline, scan the QR code

Ramesh Chand

The major objections andfears relating to the newFarmers’ Produce Trade and

Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)Agreement on Price Assuranceand Farm Services Act ((https://bit.ly/3mPmCBD andhttps://bit.ly/34Ov7H6) are thatthe Agricultural Produce MarketCommittees (APMC) will be eventually closed, the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) will be stopped,corporates will take over agriculture trade, and farmers’ land willbe taken over by powerful corporates.

The sides to the debateSome experts and farmer leadersfeel that these apprehensions andfears are imaginary, unrealisticand a part of deliberate narrativecreated to stop reforms in agriculture and prevent India from modernising agriculture and becoming a global power in agriculture.Those who oppose these Acts havefocused mainly on threats and adverse eff��ects and refrained fromtalking about the potential benefi��ts of the new Acts; they are alsoignoring the reasons for changingthe regulatory system of agricul

ture. Another set of reputed experts such as Kaushik Basu havereiterated their support for changing archaic laws in agriculture butopposed the new Acts.

Basis for reformsThere are quite a few major reasons for undertaking the reformsin agriculture (https://bit.ly/3nYjqVN). The gap betweenthe agriincome of a farmer andthat of a nonagriculture workerincreased from ₹��25,398 in 1993–94to ₹��1.42 lakh in 201112. There is widespread feeling of agrarian distress. Aggregate food demand hasfallen short of domestic production necessitating the export of alarge quantity to prevent domesticprices from falling very low. Weare already sitting on excess stockof 60 lakh tons of sugar and nearly72 million tons of extra buff��erstock of wheat and rice which iscausing a huge drain on fi��scal resources.

India’s agriexports are gettingdiffi��cult to push, imports are turning attractive as domestic pricesare turning much higher than international prices. Rural youth including farmers’ children are looking for jobs outside agricultureand there is a serious problem ofunemployment in the countryside. There are numerous instances of market failure to the detriment of producers andconsumers. This is turning farmers to look at the government forremunerative prices through MSPfor most agricultural products.

Indian agriculture production

and the market are not moving tothe next stage of development.The growth rate in agriculture isdriven by heavy support throughvarious kinds of subsidies and output price support. Net revenue receipt of the Central government isbelow 9% of GDP. If farmers are tobe ensured remunerative pricesfor their produce through procurement at MSP, as per the demand put up by the protestingfarmers, these costs and lossesand subsidies will take away mostof the tax revenue of the centralgovernment. Such facts need to beshared with the farmers’ leaders. Ido not think they will ask for something which will lead to a collapse of the fi��scal system of thegovernment.

The way forward then for ensuring remunerative prices tofarmers is through increased competition for sale of their produce,development of modern valuechains, value addition, export,and processing as a part of ruraleconomic revitalisation.

There is also a need to understand that the APMC has nothingto do with payment of the MSP.Crops other than paddy, wheatand cotton are selling at prices be

low the MSP in the APMC mandisof Punjab on an almost regular basis. The necessary and suffi��cientconditions for the MSP are procurement by the government,with or without the APMC.

Experience shows that even after fruits and vegetables were denotifi��ed from the APMC, they continued to arrive at APMC mandis inlarge quantities while farmers gotadditional options. The threat tothe APMC comes from the actionof States to use these mandis forextra revenue generation. Theprotesting farmer leaders haveraised a genuine concern to keepthe levelplaying fi��eld for theAPMC and private players, and theAgriculture Minister has shownagreement to address this fully.

Some of the criteriaAnother provision of the NewTrading Act under attack is thesimple requirement of a PAN cardfor a trader. Protesting farmers favour stringent criteria and registration for traders in a trade area.As in the existing provisions, afterhaving a PAN card, even a farmercan go for trading, his son can doagribusiness and other ruralyouth can undertake purchases offarm commodities for direct saleto a consumer or other agribusiness fi��rms. If a stringent criteriasuch as bank guarantee, etc. areincluded in the registration oftraders then agriculture trade willremain in the hands of the tradingclass and the spirit of the new lawto facilitate farmers and ruralyouth to become agribusiness en

trepreneurs will be lost.

On contract farmingThe experiences of contract farming which is already going on in various pockets in India show thecritics and protesting farmers aremixing contract farming with corporate farming. The new Act intends to insulate interested farmers (especially small farmers),against market and price risks sothey can go in for the cultivation ofhighvalue crops without worryingabout the market and low prices inthe harvest season. The Act is voluntary and either party is free toleave it after the expiry of agreement. It prohibits the farmingagreement to include the transfer,sale, lease, mortgage of the land orpremises of the farmer. The Actwill promote diversifi��cation, quality production for premium price,export and direct sale of produce,with desired attributes to interested consumers. It will also bringnew capital and knowledge intoagriculture and pave the way forfarmers’ participation in the valuechain.

The policy reforms undertakenby the central governmentthrough these Acts are in keepingwith the changing times and requirements of farmers and farming. If they are implemented in theright spirit, they will take Indianagriculture to new heights andusher in the transformation of therural economy.

Ramesh Chand is Member, NITI Aayog.

The views expressed are personal

Reforms with the future and farming needs in mind If the Farm Acts are implemented in the right spirit, they will usher in the transformation of the rural economy

PT

I

Till recently, any mention of atwofront war evoked twocontrasting opinions. India’s

military was fi��rmly of the view thata collusive ChinaPakistan militarythreat was a real possibility, andwe must develop capabilities tocounter this challenge. On the other hand, the political class in general and the mainstay of the country’s strategic community felt thata twofront threat was being overhyped by the military to press foradditional resources and funds.They argued that historically, China has never intervened militarilyin any IndiaPakistan confl��ict andthat the economic, diplomatic,and political ties between Indiaand China rule out any armed confl��ict between the two countries. Asa result, Indian strategic thinkingwas overwhelmingly focused onPakistan and the security considerations emanating from there.

Intrusions change thingsIn the Indian military’s thinking,while China was the more powerful — and therefore strategic — foe,the chance of a conventional confl��ict breaking out was low. The reverse was true of Pakistan, with agreater likelihood of confl��ict alongthe western border possibly triggered by a major terror attackemanating from Pakistan. The Chinese intrusions in Ladakh in Maythis year, the violence that resulted from clashes between the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army, and the deadlock innegotiations have now made theChinese military threat more apparent and real. The direct resultof this, then, is the arrival of a worrisome twofront situation for NewDelhi.

Even if the current IndiaChinacrisis on the border is resolved

peacefully, China’s military challenge will occupy greater attentionof Indian military planners in themonths and years to come. Thiscomes at a time when the situationalong the Line of Control (LoC)with Pakistan has been steadily deteriorating. Between 2017 and2019, there has been a fourfold increase in ceasefi��re violations.Some media reports had indicatedthat Pakistan had moved 20,000troops into GilgitBaltistan, matching the Chinese deployments inEastern Ladakh.

China-Pakistan military linksFor sure, the SinoPakistan relationship is nothing new, but it hasfar serious implications today thanperhaps ever before. China has always looked at Pakistan as a counter to India’s infl��uence in SouthAsia.

Over the years, the ties betweenthe two countries have strengthened and there is a great deal ofalignment in their strategic thinking. Military cooperation is growing, with China accounting for 73%of the total arms imports of Pakistan between 20152019 (https://bit.ly/37V6FWq). In his remarkson the (recently concluded) Shaheen IX PakistanChina joint exercise between the Pakistan AirForce and People’s Liberation Army Air Force, the Pakistan Chief ofArmy Staff�� said, “The joint exercise will improve combat capacityof both air forces substantially andalso enhance interoperability between them with greater strengthand harmony.”

It would, therefore, be prudentfor India to be ready for a twofront threat. In preparing for this,the Indian military needs to realistically analyse how this threatcould manifest itself and the typeof capabilities that should be builtup to counter it.

In a twofront scenario, the larger challenge for India’s militarywould come if the hostilities breakout along the northern borderwith China. In such a contingency,there is a likelihood that Pakistanwould attempt to take advantageof India’s military preoccupation

by limited military actions in Jammu and Kashmir ( J&K), and attempt to raise the level of militancy in Kashmir.

It is unlikely that Pakistanwould initiate a largescale confl��ictto capture signifi��cant chunks ofterritory as that would lead to afullblown war between three nuclear armed states. In such a contingency, the damage to Pakistan’seconomy and military far outweighs the advantages of capturing some pieces of ground. Pakistan would prefer the lowriskoption of pursuing a hybrid confl��ict that remains below the threshold of war.

Dilemmas for IndiaA twofront confl��ict presents theIndian military with two dilemmas— of resources and strategy. AshleyJ. Tellis, in his 2016 article, “Troubles, They Come in Battalions: TheManifold Travails of the IAF”(https://bit.ly/3hoZ3i7) estimatesthat about 60 combat squadronsare needed to deal with a serioustwofront threat. This is doublethe number of squadrons currently with the Indian Air Force (IAF).Obviously, it is neither practicalnor feasible to build a level of capability that enables independentwar fi��ghting on both fronts.

A major decision will be thequantum of resources to be allocated for the primary front. If amajority of the assets of the IndianArmy and the Indian Air Force aresent towards the northern border,it will require the military to rethink its strategy for the western border. This is the second dilemma.Even though Pakistan may only be

pursuing a hybrid war, should theIndian military remain entirely defensive? If it does so, it may encourage Pakistan to continue withits actions in J&K with a level of impunity and even raise the level ofits involvement on the westernfront. Adopting a more off��ensivestrategy against Pakistan coulddraw limited resources into a wider confl��ict.

It is impossible to defi��ne withany certainty the contours of atwofront confl��ict and how itwould actually play out. However,what is certain is that the threatcannot be ignored and thereforewe need to develop both the doctrine and the capability to dealwith this contingency. Developinga doctrine will require close interaction with the political leadership. Any doctrine that is preparedwithout a political aim and guidance will not stand the test whenit is actually to be executed.

Capability building also requires a serious debate, particularly in view of the fact that the country’s economic situation will notpermit any signifi��cant increase inthe defence Budget for the foreseeable future. There is too muchfocus on major platforms such asaircraft, ships, and tanks, and notenough on future technologiessuch as robotics, artifi��cial intelligence, cyber, electronic warfare,etc. The right balance will have tobe struck based on a detailed assessment of China and Pakistan’swarfi��ghting strategies.

Diplomacy is crucialDiplomacy has a crucial role toplay in meeting the twofront challenge.

To begin with, New Delhi woulddo well to improve relations withits neighbours so as not to becaught in an unfriendly neighbourhood given how Beijing andIslamabad will attempt to containand constrain India in the region.The government’s current engagement of the key powers in WestAsia, including Iran, should befurther strengthened in order toensure energy security, increasemaritime cooperation and en

hance goodwill in the extendedneighbourhood. New Delhi mustalso ensure that its relationshipwith Moscow is not sacrifi��ced in favour of IndiaUnited States relations given that Russia could play akey role in defusing the severity ofa regional gang up against India.Even as the Quad, or the quadrilateral security dialogue (India, Australia, Japan and the U.S) and theIndoPacifi��c seem to form themainstay of India’s new grand strategy, there is only so much that amaritime strategy can help easethe SinoPakistan pressure in thecontinental sphere.

Outreach to KashmirPolitically, the stark military reality of a twofront challenge, onethat is likely to grow stronger overthe years, must serve as a wakeupcall for the political leadership inNew Delhi, and encourage it tolook for ways to ease the pressurefrom either front. Easing pressureon the western front requires political will more than anything else.From a longview perspective, therefore, a wellchoreographed political outreach to Kashmir aimedat pacifying the aggrieved citizensthere would go a long way towardsthat end.

This could also lead to a potential rapprochement with Pakistanprovided, of course, Rawalpindican be persuaded to put an end toterrorist infi��ltration into Kashmir.It is important to remember thatChina, a rising and aggressive, superpower next door, is the biggerstrategic threat for India, with Pakistan being a secondorder accessory to Beijing’s ‘contain Indiastrategy’. New Delhi would, therefore, do well to do what it can politically to reduce the eff��ect of a collusive SinoPakistan containmentstrategy aimed at India.

Lt. Gen. Deependra Singh Hooda (retd.), a

former northern army commander, and

Happymon Jacob, an associate professor

at Jawaharlal Nehru University, recently

co-founded the ‘Council for Strategic and

Defense Research’, a New Delhi-based

think tank. The views expressed are

personal

Dealing with India’s two-front challenge A politically-guided doctrine and comprehensive military capability are needed to deal with the China-Pakistan threat

Deependra Singh Hooda &

Happymon Jacob

GE

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AG

ES/I

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KP

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With the Afghan government and the Taliban

preparing to resume talks in Doha next week,

one of the pressing problems Afghanistan is

facing remains unaddressed — the surging violence.

The year 2020 was one of the bloodiest in Afghanistan’s

19yearlong confl��ict. It saw a U.S.Taliban agreement in

February where the Americans promised to withdraw

troops in return for the insurgents’ assurance that they

would not allow terrorist groups such as alQaeda to op

erate from Afghan soil. In September, the Afghan go

vernment and the Taliban began peace talks for the fi��rst

time in Doha. But despite these diplomatic openings,

both sides have continued their attacks. In the quarter

that ended on September 30, violence surged by 50%,

according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Af

ghanistan Reconstruction. Afghanistan also saw in

creased targeted killings, especially of media profes

sionals. On December 10, Malala Maiwand, a TV host,

was shot dead along with her driver. In less than two

weeks, Rahmatullah Nikzad, a freelance photographer,

was killed in Ghazni. The Taliban have denied any role,

but government offi��cials say the insurgents, who

banned TV and turned print and radio into propaganda

platforms when in power in the late 1990s, were behind

the attacks as they seek to silence critical voices.

The peace talks are a complicated process. The U.S.

fi��rst cut a deal with the Taliban and then armtwisted

the government to join the talks. Abdullah Abdullah,

who challenged the 2019 election results and formed a

shortlived parallel government questioning the legiti

macy and authority of President Ashraf Ghani, is head

ing the government delegation in the talks. Mr. Ghani’s

VicePresident, Amrullah Saleh, the former intelligence

chief, is known for his strong antiTaliban views. Des

pite the divisions within, the government had demand

ed a ceasefi��re, but the Taliban resisted such demands

and emphasised other talking points such as prisoner

swaps and the future governance system. As a result,

violence continued even as both sides negotiated ways

to end the war. Earlier in December, after three months

of talks, the Taliban and the government delegation

agreed on a set of “rules and procedures” for the talks.

But a ceasefi��re is still elusive. The Trump administra

tion, in its quest to get out of the war, failed to extract

any major compromise from the Taliban when it rolled

out the peace process. The insurgents, who control

most of the countryside, are already upbeat. The next

American administration should carry out an honest

review of the entire peace process and push the Taliban

to make concessions. The talks are vital to fi��nding a last

ing solution to the confl��ict. But it should not be on the

Taliban’s terms, which could erase whatever little pro

gress Afghanistan has made since the fall of the Taliban.

War and wordsTalks on Taliban’s terms will halt Afghanistan’s

slow progress toward peace and stability

As 2020 draws to a close, Indians will look forward

to the new year with wariness and hope after suf

fering one of the worst years in history, health

wise (nearly 1,48,000 registered deaths due to CO

VID19) and economically (loss of livelihoods). The pan

demic continues to rage — daily infections and deaths

are scaling fresh peaks in Europe, the U.S. is closing in

on 20 million confi��rmed cases and 3.4 lakh deaths and

in some countries in Latin America, cases have re

mained high and are rising. In contrast, while India still

registers the highest number of daily infections and

deaths in Asia, the daily rate has come down signifi��cant

ly to a seven day rolling average of less than 24,000 cas

es and 250 deaths between December 2026, from the

peak of close to a lakh and more than a 1,000 deaths a

day in midSeptember. These are much lower numbers

compared to the U.S. and comparably fewer than those

registered in the larger countries in Europe and Latin

America. India still tests a middling number: 732 tests

and 15.8 confi��rmed cases per million people, compared

to the rest of the world. The testing numbers have fallen

slightly in the past month, but the signifi��cant drop in re

corded deaths suggests that, rather than experiencing a

new peak in daily infections and deaths, India still re

mains in the “down phase” since the September peak.

That the case and death curves are headed further

south is a good sign for the health infrastructure.

While no other country barring the U.S. has reached

or crossed the per day peak of nearly one lakh cases

that India registered in September, the lower number of

cases registered recently even as the country eased its

physical distancing measures and travel restrictions

and went through a festive season might come as a sur

prise. But as virologists Jacob John and M.S. Seshadri

have argued, the peaking in September denoted the

pandemic’s widespread nature in urban and semiur

ban areas and was refl��ected even more apparently in

the ICMR’s serosurveys. These serosurveys revealed a

much higher number of undetected infections, many of

them asymptomatic, before the September peak. As the

virus ravaged the urban centres and spread to rural

areas, the virologists estimated that nearly a third of the

population had already been exposed, indicating that

half of the “herd immunity” level required to end the

spread had already been reached by midSeptember.

This explains why daily case and fatality rates stay low

and also suggests that after India begins its vaccination

drive, the epidemic should ease further and could be

come endemic. This does not lessen the dangers of lo

cal outbreaks and the complications of the spread of

new variants from abroad. The standard safety mea

sures — mask wearing, hand hygiene, absence of crowd

ing and renewed testing and tracing — must remain.

Easing off��India’s COVID-19 case and fatality rates have

fallen from the peaks reached in September

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


OPED

The attendance at the Student’s Conferencebecame meagre on the last day and after hotdiscussion in the Subjects Committee theopen conference was resumed last night at 7.Lajpat Rai was President. He opened theproceedings by making a short speech contradicting certain rumours set afl��oat abouthis Presidential Address. He said he hadheard it remarked that in his written speechhe was strongly against NonCooperationclauses relating to school and and collegesbut that in his verbal address he changed hisattitude completely. He explained that sucha statement was a baseless lie. He had notwritten an address but had only writtendown a few pages dealing with the generalprevailing opinion about the value of modern civilisation and the value of authority. Itwas only a part of the address, which hewanted to complete by discussion on NonCooperation at Nagpur, but which he nevercompleted for want of time and lack of information as to the aims and objects of the conference and the resolutions drafted by theReception Committee.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO DEC. 29, 1920

Student’s conference

Of the fi��ve States where Assemblyelections are scheduled in 2021, thepolitical battle in West Bengal is likely to become the most fi��erce, giventhe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s aggressive bid for power in the State forthe fi��rst time in history. Till 2014, BJPhad remained a marginal player inBengal politics contesting the LokSabha polls as a junior ally of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 1998,1999 and 2004. However, for Assembly elections, such as in 2001 and2006, TMC chief Mamata Banerjeepreferred the Congress over the BJPas the party’s ally. In the 2011 Assembly polls too, when the TMC fi��nally unseated the Communist Partyof India (Marxist)led Left Front in analliance with the Congress, the BJPploughed a lonely furrow, securingonly 4.1% of the vote share.

The decline of the Left FrontIt was the ‘Modi wave’ of 2014 thatenabled the BJP to achieve a breakthrough of getting 17% of the popularvote in West Bengal and winning twoseats without any alliance. With thevote shares of the TMC and the Congress remaining largely unchangedbetween 2011 and 2014, it was clearthat disgruntled Left voters had started shifting their allegiance towardsthe BJP. While this development rungalarm bells among many, the CPI(M)leadership both in Kolkata and Delhiremained complacent and unwillingto undertake any corrective action.

In the 2016 Assembly election,while the TMC contested alone, theCPI(M)led Left Front forged a Statelevel alliance with the Congress forthe fi��rst time in West Bengal. This alliance received a combined voteshare of 39% against TMC’s 45%, fi��nishing a distant second. What wasmore disastrous for the CPI(M)ledLeft Front, however, was that it wasrelegated to the third position in theAssembly with 32 seats behind theCongress’s 44. Paradoxically, this dismal result was interpreted by the CPI(M) leadership as a “success” because the BJP’s vote share had de

clined from 17% in 2014 to around10% in 2016. What was missed entirely was that the Left Front’s vote sharehad further eroded by 3% between2014 and 2016 despite the alliancewith the Congress, which meant thatthe votes lost to the BJP in 2014 didnot return to the Left Front in 2016.

Having lost the principal Opposition status within the Assembly tothe organisationally weaker and politically subdued Congress in 2016,the CPI(M)led Left Front recededfurther while the BJP started asserting its presence as an aggressive opposition to the TMC. A string of communal riots was engineered acrossdistricts in 2016 and 2017, whichsharpened communal polarisation.These were planned and orchestrated by the Sangh Parivar outfi��ts on theone hand and aided and abetted byTMC’s nonsecular, inept governanceon the other.

A massive vote shift With every byelection in West Bengal since 2016, the BJP has gained invote share at the cost of the LeftFront. This vote shift from the Left tothe BJP peaked in the 2019 Lok Sabhaelection, with the BJP winning 18 ofthe 42 seats in the State. The BJP’svote share shot up from about 10% in2016 to over 40% in 2019, with theLeft Front’s vote share collapsingfrom 27% to 7.5%, the Congress’s voteshare declining by nearly 7%, and theTMC’s by about 2%. An informallycoined grassroots slogan “agey Ramporey Bam (First Ram, then Left)”gripped the masses — in absolutenumbers, over 1 crore voters seem tohave shifted from the Left Front tothe BJP between 2016 and 2019.

The 2019 election was a watershedin two ways. First, the TMC’s aura of

invincibility fell apart and discontentagainst Ms. Banerjee’s rule becameapparent. Second, the BJP emergedas the preferred alternative to theTMC rather than the CPI(M)led LeftFront or the Congress. Despite aplethora of populist schemes, thedaytoday repression practised bythe TMC partystate in the rural areashave alienated large sections of therural populace. Over onethird of theseats in the 2018 Panchayat electionswere won by the TMC without anycontest, refl��ecting the extent of thebattered opposition. In the aftermathof Cyclone Amphan, there was largescale misappropriation of relieffunds through the elected representatives of the TMC, compelling Ms.Banerjee to order her party functionaries to return the illgotten money.The Calcutta High Court has orderedthe Comptroller and AuditorGeneralof India to conduct fi��nancial and performance audits of Amphan reliefdisbursement in response to severalPILs alleging wrongdoings.

Ms. Banerjee is trying hard to beatantiincumbency by doling out morebenefi��ts through her populistschemes, but the BJP already seemsto have gained much traction by engineering defections from the TMC.Former Minister Suvendu Adhikari’srecent switchover to the BJP alongwith nine more MLAs (six from theTMC and one each from the CPI(M),the CPI and Congress) and one sittingTMC MP is the latest instance. Whilethe TMC continues to put up a braveface, with its campaign managerPrashant Kishor recently characterising the BJP surge as “hype amplifi��edby a section of supportive media”and stating that the BJP will not crossdouble digits, the ground beneaththe TMC’s feet has become visibly

shaky with the Modi government deploying its entire might to dislodgethe TMC government, and the Governor almost running a parallel government from Raj Bhavan.

No credible alternativeThe recently announced Left FrontCongress alliance, which failed at thehustings in 2016, does not off��er acredible alternative to the TMC. Withno common alternative programmeor organisational cohesion behind it,the only basis of the Left FrontCongress alliance is their leaders’ emptyrage against Ms. Banerjee and a subjective desire to unseat her frompower. Such a platform is more likelyto facilitate the BJP’s project of capturing power in West Bengal thanhelp the TMC by cutting into theBJP’s share of antiincumbencyvotes, which had already crossed the40% threshold in 2019. The anticipated entry of Muslim parties into thefray, especially the All India MajliseIttehadulMuslimeen which hasbeen emboldened by the Bihar election results, will further muddy thewaters for the TMC.

In this backdrop, the TMC may bebetter placed to take on the BJP’schallenge by forging a broader secular alliance, especially with the Congress. Given Ms. Banerjee’s own experiences at coalition building, it isinexplicable why the TMC has notmade serious attempts yet in that direction. Hubris or excessive relianceon outsourced strategic thinking mayinfl��ict heavy costs on it.

West Bengal is a border State witha nearly 10 crore population of which27% belong to the Muslim minority. Itis also home to millions of postPartition refugees, a signifi��cant section ofwhom belong to Scheduled Castecommunities like Rajbangshi and Namasudra. If the BJP comes to power,armed with the citizenship matrix ofthe National Register of CitizensNational Population Register and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019,and determined to weed out “1 croreBangladeshi infi��ltrators” as imaginedby its State President Dilip Ghosh,what lies ahead for the State’s socialfabric is anybody’s guess. Unfortunately, so far none of the secular political forces appear to have a coherent strategy and appropriate tacticsto prevent such a predicament.

Prasenjit Bose is an economist and activist

Trinamool Congress may be better placed to take on the BJP by forging a broader secular alliance

The BJP is at the gates in West Bengal

Prasenjit Bose

Suvendu Adhikari campaigns in Purba Medinipur district. * PTI

Discussions on bail reform usually arisewhen exceptional cases capture public attention. However, bail reform must begin byaddressing two key facets of the criminal justice system: judicial discretion and monetarysurety bonds.

Judicial discretionThe power to grant bail is a discretionarypower vested in judges and it is meant to beexercised liberally. The Supreme Court hasconsistently reiterated that “bail is the rule,jail is an exception”. The primary purpose ofbail is to ensure the accused person’s compliance with investigation, and subsequentpresence at the trial if they are released afterarrest. The refusal to grant bail deprives individuals of liberty by confi��ning them in jailswithout trial and conviction.

At present, the power to grant bail is exercised sparingly. Subordinate courts evenroutinely reject bail for specifi��c off��ences likeminor excise off��ences. It is pertinent to notethat a majority of those policed under exciselaws belong to marginalised communities.Without grant of bail by the lower courts, theaccused persons are required to approachthe High Court or the Supreme Court. Consequently, most accused persons remain incarcerated as undertrials for extended periodsof time. Twothirds of India’s prison population comprise undertrials from Dalit, Adivasiand Other Backward Classes communities,often accused of minor off��ences.

The pendency of bail applications has particularly increased during the pandemic —both due to the shutting down of courts andthe exacerbation of arrests for minor off��ences by the police. Despite the SupremeCourt’s orders to decongest prisons, arrestsfor minor off��ences continued unabated, according to a study of pandemic policing inMadhya Pradesh by the Criminal Justice andPolice Accountability Project (CPAProject).

The system of bail typically requires sureties to furnish a bond for some property valued at the amount determined by the concerned judge. The bail amount insubordinate courts, even for petty off��encespunishable by less than three years, is a minimum of ₹��10,000. In cases of bail before theHigh Courts and the Supreme Court, thisamount usually exceeds ₹��30,000. However,even this amount is a rare mercy. For in

stance, a 14yearold minor’s surety for fourcases of theft and house breaking was set at₹��2 lakh by the sessions court in Bhopal. Thisis a form of injustice when a majority of citizens are landless with meagre incomes. A report by Azim Premji University highlightsthat even among regular wage workers, 57%Indians earn less than ₹��10,000 per month.Offi��cial data from the SocioEconomic CasteCensus pegs rural landlessness at 57%, andthis is higher if you are Dalit or Adivasi. Therefore, those without assets, even whengranted bail, end up languishing in jails or incur debt by paying others to stand as fake sureties to secure their freedom. A bogey ofmiddlemen has also emerged due to thesehigh bail amounts. This economy of exploitation receives scant attention in discussions ofreform. The grant of bail on a personal bondwithout sureties i.e., release on one’s ownguarantee without any monetary amounts,although permissible in law, is rare.

In the 1978 Supreme Court case of MotiRam v. State of Madhya Pradesh, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer identifi��ed the issue of unreasonably high sureties as a human rights problem. The court then suggested that suretyamounts be determined by considering relevant variables such as the socioeconomic location of the accused person.

Preposterous bail conditionsDuring the lockdown, the Gwalior Bench ofthe M.P. High Court deemed it fi��t to imposepeculiar conditions while granting bail tocertain applicants. These included installinga nonChinese LED TV at the District Hospital, registration as a “voluntary COVID19warrior” and donating money for COVID19relief. This continued despite the PrincipalBench of the High Court stating that bail orders requiring the deposit of cash amountsare “unjust, irregular and improper”.

Bail indiscretions by judges of lowercourts and High Courts have passed by withlittle accountability or oversight by the apexcourt. Even when not ridiculous, bail conditions can transgress personal liberty and areoften paternalistic. Courts introspect littleabout standards of liberty, reasonablenessand proportionality when deciding bail matters. A report by the Centre for Law and Policy Research recommends the creation ofchecklists to address individual discretionwhile deciding bail applications. Yet, the refl��ection of our society’s inherent caste andclass biases in judicial decisions is likely topersist even with checklists. The legacy ofMoti Ram has been honoured more inbreach than in its spirit.

Nikita Sonavane and Srujana Bej are with the

CPAProject. Ameya Bokil contributed to the article

Granting bail is the rule The refusal to grant bail deprives individuals of liberty byconfi��ning them in jails without trial and conviction

Nikita Sonavane & Srujana Bej

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DATA POINT

All indicators demonstrate that theCongress is suff��ering from a terminaldisease. What is not so evident is thatthe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is beginning to suff��er from the same malaise. There are three major ingredients that determine the health of apolitical party in a democracy:shared ideology, dedicated cadres,and inner party democracy. All ofthem have been absent in the Congress for decades.

Charisma can be fi��ckleInner party democracy was never amajor characteristic of the BJP as itwas the top brass of the RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that decided who would lead its political arm.This tradition continues with one major diff��erence. Earlier, even the tallestleaders of the party including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani couldnot create a cult of personalityaround them thanks in part to theRSS’s control. This has changed drastically under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The fortunes of the partyhave become inextricably tied to thedurability of Mr. Modi’s charisma.Echoes of “Indira is India” can beheard in the slogan “Modi hai tomumkin hai (if Modi is there, it ispossible)”. But as Indira Gandhi’s resounding defeat in 1977 demonstrated, charisma can be very fi��ckle. If Mr.Modi’s charisma loses its shine, sowould the standing of the party.

Thanks to its parent organisation,the RSS, ideological commitmentand dedicated cadres have been theBJP’s strongest attributes. However,now the BJP appears to be followingin the Congress’s footsteps by diminishing its esprit de corps and organisational cohesion and thus dilutingits ideology. The latter is compromised once esprit de corps declinesas a result of a vast array of peoplewith diverse or no political persuasions joining the party in search ofpower and its attendant perks.

Switching sidesOne can already see this happeningat the State level where in many instances there is fi��erce competitionwithin the BJP for the benefi��ts of offi��ce. The danger of this virus becom

ing more virulent is becoming evident as the BJP uses all sorts ofenticements to attract politiciansfrom other parties to switch loyaltiesin order to bring down nonBJP governments. It did so successfully inKarnataka where more than a dozenMLAs from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) joined the BJP withalmost all of them rewarded with ministerial berths thus creating heartburn among existing contenders foroffi��ce.

It won an even greater prize inMadhya Pradesh by inducing a leading light of the Congress, JyotiradityaScindia, to switch sides, along withseveral of his followers, thus bringingdown the Kamal Nath government.

It almost succeeded in doing thesame in Rajasthan but failed becauseSachin Pilot lost his nerve at the lastmoment. This drama is being reenacted in West Bengal with Trinamool Congress members, includingsome very important fi��gures, beinglured into switching to the BJP withattractive off��ers.

The rotHowever, in the long run, this strategy is likely to be counterproductivebecause the “aya rams” of today caneasily become the “gaya rams” of tomorrow as they do not have the sameideological commitment or the espritde corps as do the members whohave been socialised into the party’sculture by their association with theRSS. Such temporary successes hidethe rot gnawing away at the party’score. The BJP is slowly but surelyturning it into a mirror image of theCongress. Just as the glue that heldthe Congress together for several decades was the allurement of power,increasingly the adhesive holding theBJP together is the appeal of offi��ceand the privileges that go with it. Butthis attraction can dissipate and bereplaced by disillusionment leadingto defections at the slightest indication of a reversal in the BJP’s fortunesor its inability to accommodate defectors in high offi��ces. Given presenttrends, it is possible that the BJP willrepeat the Congress’s trajectory.

Mohammed Ayoob is University Distinguished

Professor Emeritus of International Relations,

Michigan State University

Is BJP going the Congress way?Given present trends, it is possible that BJP willrepeat the Congress’s trajectory

Mohammed Ayoob

The Chief Election Commissioner, Mr. S.P.Sen Verma said here today [New Delhi, Dec.28] that polling for the midterm elections tothe Lok Sabha should begin on February 28or March 1, 1971. The Election Commissionertold newsmen he would recommend to thePresident that the notifi��cation calling for theelections should be issued on January 27. Mr.Sen Verma said he had received no formalintimation from the Government on holdingthe midterm elections to the West BengalAssembly. He indicated that the Lok Sabhapoll would be spread over three or four daysin some States such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar — the two largest States in the country.Mr. Sen Verma said that all arrangements forconducting the general election to the LokSabha were ready and complete. “Therefore, I can make my recommendation to thePresident requesting him to issue the writnotifi��cations calling the general electioneven within two days. But I have someweighty considerations, for not doing so,” hesaid. The important consideration was thatvarious political parties in the countryshould be given suffi��cient time for selectingtheir candidates to contest from various parliamentary constituencies. The total number of parliamentary constituencies is 520.

FIFTY YEARS AGO DECEMBER 29, 1970

LS poll likely on Feb. 28 or March 1

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FROM THE ARCHIVES

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CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

regard to MSPs.“This is wordplay being

engaged in by the government. We will want to clarify that our proposed agenda has been clearlyunderstood,” AIKSCC general secretary Avik Sahasaid. “We will go for thetalks on Wednesday. Atleast, the government is nottalking about amendmentsas the agenda any more.But neither have they mentioned repeal,” said Abhimanyu Kohar, spokesperson for the Rashtriya KisanMahasangh.

Tomar meets farmersEarlier, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar,who has been leading theCentral delegation in thetalks, addressed a conference organised by thefarmer groups supportingthe contentious new laws.

He reiterated the government’s determination toimplement the reforms,saying that they were longoverdue and would enablefarmers to benefi��t equallyfrom domestic and foreignmarkets.

Last week, Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary VivekAggarwal wrote to the farmer groups, urging them toresume negotiations, suggesting that they set thedate and the issues of theirchoosing to be discussed.

Fourpoint agendaOn Saturday, the SamyuktKisan Morcha responded,proposing a meeting at 11a.m. on December 29, demanding a fourpoint agenda, beginning with the modalities to be adopted forthe revocation of the threelaws and a mechanism of legal guarantee for minimumsupport price (MSP).

The other demands arethat farmers be exemptedfrom the penal provisionsof the Commission for AirQuality, and changes to bemade to the Electricity Bill,2020.

Mr. Agarwal’s letter mentioned the same four issuesto be discussed at the December 30 meeting, but leftout the specifi��c reference tothe “modalities for repeal”of the three laws, as well asthe “legal guarantee” with

Farmers get invite for talks again

More power: Women farmers from Haryana protesting onthe Singhu border in New Delhi. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

S, director of the NationalHealth Mission, Assam.

Andhra Pradesh’s twoday exercise will be conducted at fi��ve session sites,including public and privatemedical institutions, with25 dummy benefi��ciaries(healthcare workers) ateach site for two hours..The sites selected are Government General Hospital,Vijayawada; Public HealthCentre (PHC), Uppuluru;Purna Heart Institute, Vijayawada; PHC,Penamaluru; and Urban PHC, PrakashNagar, Vijayawada.

‘Identifying fl��aws’District Collector A. Md. Imtiaz, who inspected the arrangements at Prakash Nagar UPHC, said each sessionsite had fi��ve vaccine offi��cersand three rooms. “The entire process of registration,vaccination and observation was enacted to identifyany fl��aws in the system,” hesaid.

(With inputs from Ahme-dabad, Chandigarh, Guwa-hati and Vijayawada)

Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said theUNDP and the WHO, theState’s immunisation partners, supported the Mondayexercise. In Ludhiana, seven centres have been setup at various hospitals.Health offi��cials in Ludhianaand Nawanshahr said foreach centre, 25 personsfrom those registered online were selected for thedry run.

Focus on software

Assam health offi��cialssaid they focussed on software effi��cacy and will carryout the physical part of thedrill involving 300 peoplein two districts.

“Today’s dry run wasmostly related to the CoWIN software and encountered some bottlenecks during the software arrangement for selection ofvaccine sites, vaccinatorsand the benefi��ciaries, generating messages for each ofthem for informing them tocome on a particular dateand time when the vaccinearrives,” said Lakshmanan

Four States begin dry runfor rollout of vaccine

ber 31. “Accordingly, containment zones continue tobe demarcated carefully;prescribed containmentmeasures strictly followedwithin these zones; COVIDappropriate behaviour promoted and strictly enforced;and the Standard OperatingProcedures (SOPs) prescribed in respect of variouspermitted activities followed scrupulously,” theMHA said.

“Therefore, the focusedapproach on surveillance,containment and strict observance of the guidelines/SOPs issued by MHA and Ministry of Health & FamilyWelfare as envisaged in theGuidelines issued on25.11.2020; need to be enforced strictly by States andUT,” the order said.

The letter said the government had started makingpreparations for the administration and the rollout ofvaccine for COVID19, prioritising healthcare and frontline workers and thoseaged above 50.

The Home Ministry added that the State governments could impose localrestrictions such as nightcurfews.

The letter also askedStates to follow the December 18 order by SupremeCourt directing strict compliance of COVID19 guidelines and regulation of gatherings, among other things.

The earlier guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, that wereissued on November 25were applicable till Decem

Remain vigilant, says Centre

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Mondayaccorded sanction to the government to convene the Assembly on December 31 for aoneday emergency sessionto discuss the nationallevelfarmers’ agitation and its implications for the State’s foodsecurity.

Mr. Khan had triggered apolitical impasse when hesought more clarifi��cation onthe need for an urgent session, thereby thwarting thegovernment’s initial attemptto hold the sitting on December 21.

Mr. Khan disagreed withthe government’s positionthat the Governor wasbound by the Cabinet’s recommendation to summonthe Assembly and that hehad no choice in the matter.

The Raj Bhavan insistedthat the Governor was wellwithin his powers to seek the

reason for an impromptusession of the Assemblywithout serving advance notice (minimum 15 days) to thelegislators.

The confl��icting positionsearned Mr. Khan severe criticism from the ruling frontand the Congressled Opposition.

Mr. Khan refrained frommaking any public statement. However, he upped

the ante by insisting that thegovernment had failed toconvey, with clarity of purpose, the urgency to convene the Assembly at shortnotice.

The report that the emergency sitting was a cover forthe government to pass a resolution against the agriculture reform laws hademerged as the underlyingsore point between the ad

ministration and the RajBhavan.

Mr. Khan felt the legislature lacked the “jurisdictionto off��er a solution” to thefarmers’ strike prompted bythe Central laws. In the past,Mr. Khan had expressedscepticism whether the Assembly could discuss or hazard a judgment on the constitutional validity of lawsenacted by Parliament. Hehad aired a similar sentimentwhen the Assembly passed aresolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) in December 2019.

The Raj Bhavan found thegovernment’s explanationpartial and imprecise initially. Soon, Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan, Law MinisterA.K. Balan and AgricultureMinister V.S. Sunil Kumarmet Mr. Khan and stated thegovernment’s case. Mr. Khanreportedly said he had notrefused assent but onlysought more clarifi��cation.

Kerala Governor gives nod toconvene Assembly on Dec. 31 Political impasse ends over oneday session to discuss the farmers’ agitation


Thiruvananthapuram

Bone of contention: Earlier, the Kerala Governor said theAssembly could not discuss the validity of Central laws.

The Karnataka Cabinet onMonday decided to promulgate an ordinance for implementing the anticowslaughter Bill.

The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020,passed in the Assembly during the winter session, wasnot cleared by the Legislative Council.

Law and ParliamentaryAff��airs Minister J.C. Madhuswamy said the new lawwould prohibit the slaughter of cows, but would notstop the slaughter of buff��aloes aged 13 years andabove.

‘Beef can be consumed’Slaughterhouses would continue to operate and beefconsumption would not beprohibited, he added.

Stating that there was nosubstance in the Congress’allegations about the implementation of the new law

and its adverse impact onfarmers, he said the anticow slaughter law was anold law enacted in 1964.

While the old law imposed a ban on slaughter ofcows until the age of 13, thenew law would totally banthe slaughter of cows.

“The government has justextended the scope of thelaw so that aged cows arenot abandoned and slaughtered. Since the prohibitiondoes not extend to buff��aloes, there is no ban on beefsale and consumption,” theMinister said.

Furthermore, he said thatin the 1964 law, there wasscope for litigation on deciding the age of the cow. Thenew law put an end to suchconfusion and imposed ablanket ban.

To reduce the burden offeeding aged cows, the government had decided toopen more goshalas andrope in voluntary organisations for feeding them, hesaid.

Cabinet will promulgate ordinance


Bengaluru

Karnataka set toban cow slaughter

Schools and PU colleges willreopen on January 1 for students of classes 10 and 12 asscheduled, the Departmentof Primary and SecondaryEducation has said. Schoolswill open after a span ofnineandahalf months.

Though the governmenthad announced the date earlier this month, because ofthe emergence of a newstrain of the coronavirus inthe U.K., department offi��cials were in a dilemma onwhether the reopeningshould be as per schedule.

The State government hadthen stepped up its monitoring mechanism and wasscreening all passengers arriving from the U.K.

Primary and SecondaryEducation Minister S. SureshKumar, on Monday, wrote todistrict incharge Ministersand MLAs and requestedthem to oversee the preparations made by the districtauthorities.

In the letter, the Ministersaid it was important thatschools are reopened so thatchildren are engaged in continuous learning. “We needyour support in the functioning of schools throughoutthe year; reopening ofschools is not an activity restricted to a day or a month,and it is a yearlong process.”

The reopening of schoolson January 1 will be amidstseveral precautionary measures.

Students who attend theclasses will have to submitconsent letters from their pa

rents if they wish to attendclasses.

Some hold off�� Many private schools have,however, decided against reopening schools and havedecided to continue with theonline classes. While someschool managements wantto avoid the risk of spreadingCOVID19 on their campuses, others say they cannot afford the cost of all the standard operating procedureslaid out by the State.

The Vidyagama programme for students ofclasses 6 to 9 will also beconducted from January 1.Under this programme, students of all school managements can attend classesheld on the school campus.

Schools will reopen in Karnataka on Jan. 1 Classes 10, PU toresume despitemutant virus

Some schools prefer toremain shut, citing the highcost of disinfection andprecautionary measures.

Staff Reporter

Bengaluru

M. Sivasankar, former Principal Secretary to the KeralaChief Minister, was in theknow of all the illegal activities undertaken by the offi��cials of the UAE consulate,but never intimated the government agencies aboutthem, the Customs Department has said. The agencytold this to the Economic Offences Court, Ernakulam,while opposing the formerbureaucrat’s bailapplication.

Sivasankar misused hisprivileged position and proximity to the Chief Minister tosupport smuggling activities. Despite knowing the seriousness of the activities, hedid not do anything to curbthem. Instead, he encouraged it, the agency alleged.

The agency submittedthat Swapna Suresh, anotheraccused in the gold smuggling case, had disclosed theactive role of Sivasankar inthe smuggling activities. Many witnesses had indicatedthe same, it said.

The agency said Sivasankar was involved in smuggling of gold, which harmedthe economy. The petitionerwas a very infl��uential person

and could intimidate witnesses. Sivasankar was notcooperating with the investigation. If released on bail, hewould infl��uence witnesses,destroy evidence, and hamper investigation. His releasecould also be a potentialthreat to the life of the Swapna and Sarith, another accused, in view of their disclosures to the CustomsDepartment, it submitted.

It opposes formerbureaucrat’sbail application


KOCHI

The Customs Department alleged that M. Sivasankar, formerPrincipal Secretary to the Kerala CM, misused his position.

Sivasankar encouragedsmuggling, claims Customs

The Bengaluru police onMonday arrested three persons, allegedly part of a loanapp racket run by Chinesecompanies.

The Central CrimeBranch team raided thefi��rms in Koramangala andseized equipment, including 35 laptops and 200 mobile phones used by the accused.

The accused, identifi��ed asSyed Ahmed, 33, from Shamanna Garden; Syed Irfan,26, from BTM 2nd Stage;and Aditya Senapathy, 25,from Ramagondanahalli;were appointed directors ofthe companies owned byChinese nationals. The accused ran the business using Chinese mobile apps.They were off��ering instantloans and charging exorbitant interest, the police said.

Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police, said two

Chinese nationals were involved. “They will be arrested soon,” he said.

The police said the accused had hired a few BPOcompanies to manage theloan disbursement and repayment process. The accused would threaten andblackmail customers if theyfailed to pay the EMI.

They did not have the required permission from thecompetent authority to runfi��nancial activities, the police said.

Based on a complaint bythree customers, the CCBfi��led separate cases andraided Ace Pearl ServicePrivate Limited in Koramangala and arrested the accused. They also raided Higeki Service Private Limited,Exceed Will Service PrivateLimited, Mascot Star ServicePrivate Limited and AquaSteller Private Limited,which were operating mobile loan app services.

Bengaluru police nab3 for loan app racket Firms run by Chinese nationals raided


Bengaluru

A monthlong covert onlinesurveillance operation inKerala, codenamed PHunt_20.2, ended in the arrest of 41 persons fromacross the State on thecharge of ‘seeking, collecting, browsing and downloading’ child pornography, according to the police.

The police shut down several groups on Telegram andWhatsApp that were peddling child sex abuse material. The groups had a minimum of 400 persons asmembers from diff��erentStates.

The police also found vastcaches of videos and pictures of minors stored in themobile phones, pen drives,hard discs, tablets and laptop computers seizedfrom the suspects.

392 devices seizedThe raids resulted inthe seizure of 392 devices.

Additional DirectorGeneral of Police andhead of the Countering ChildSexual Exploitation TeamManoj Abraham said theconfi��scated content includedvideos and images capturedfurtively, mostly on mobile

phones, in domestic environs during the COVID19 period in Kerala.

“The distressing part isthat many of the videos/pic

tures appear to be of local children in the 615age group,” he said.

The police alsofound child sexualabuse material sourcedfrom security camerasat homes and fl��ats and

images and videos of children harvested from webcams. Mr. Abraham said thefl��ood of such new content indicated a rise in child abusein the State.

Offi��cials said child abuse

could go unreported thesedays since children had littlecontact with their classmatesor teachers due to the restriction on inperson schooling. The material was possibly from households hit bydomestic violence, parentalalcohol or drug addiction, orimpaired adult supervision.

Surge in queriesInvestigators said there was aworrying surge in Internetsearch engine queries related to child pornography. Investigators at the Kerala Police Cyberdome trackedpersons who obsessivelydownloaded, disseminated

or traded child sexual abusematerial over various socialmedia platforms.

They used a mix of surveillance software, social engineering techniques and deceptive social mediaidentities to insinuate themselves into clandestine childporn sharing circles. The‘darknet’ was the platform ofchoice for posting, harvesting and disseminating suchmaterial.

This is the third round ofthe operation this year. A total of 88 people were arrested in the State after two similar raids in June and October.

(With PTI inputs)

41 arrested for peddling child porn material Police shut down several groups, which had a minimum of 400 members from diff��erent States


Thiruvananthapuram

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday held discussions with representatives of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church inDelhi in an attempt to mediate in the raging disputebetween the Orthodox andJacobite factions of the Malankara Church.

According to an offi��cialspokesperson of theChurch, the meeting thatlasted nearly an hour, wasalso attended by MizoramGovernor P.S. SreedharanPillai. The Orthodox faction was represented byYouhanon Mar Demetrios,Metropolitan of the DelhiDiocese; Thomas Mar Athanasius, Metropolitan ofthe Kandanad East diocese; and Youhanon MarDiascoros, synod secretaryof the Church.

“The meeting was cordial and the Prime Ministerallowed us enough time toexplain our stance. He alsoacknowledged the need torespect the court order,”the spokesperson said.

According to him, thefaction laid stress on settling the issue within theframework of the SupremeCourt order.

“We explained the circumstances leading to thecase in the Supreme Courtand how the Jacobite faction is now seeking a settlement outside the court,”the spokesperson added.

Mr. Modi will meet representatives of the Jacobite faction on Tuesday.

Modi’s meetwith Orthodoxfaction cordial

STAFF REPORTER

KOTTAYAM

Jagan launches housingscheme for the poor CHITTOOR

A.P. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan

Mohan Reddy on Monday

blamed TDP chief N.

Chandrababu Naidu and

his aides for stalling the

distribution of house sites by

obtaining court stay. He was

speaking at Uranduru village

in Srikalahasti at the launch

of ‘Pedalandiriki Illu’ (housing

for the poor) scheme.

IN BRIEF

Telangana farmers getaid of ₹��5,000 per acreHYDERABAD

About 16.04 lakh pattadar

farmers who own up to one

acre got the input investment

support under the Telangana

government’s Rythu Bandhu

scheme for the current rabi

season at the rate of ₹��5,000

per acre on Monday. The

amount was transferred

directly to their bank

accounts by the Treasury

department in 32 districts.

Prohibitory orders to beimposed in Bengaluru BENGALURU

Prohibitory orders will be

imposed in Bengaluru from 6

p.m. on December 31 to 6

a.m. on January 1 in view of

the fresh COVID19 threat.

Gathering of five or more

people is prohibited, City

Police Commissioner Kamal

Pant said. Apartments and

clubs are allowed to celebrate

on their premises, but music

bands are prohibited. Hotels

and restaurants can function.

APMC market user cesscut after backlashBENGALURU

The Karnataka Cabinet on

Monday decided to reduce

the market user cess charged

by the Agricultural Produce

Market Committee (APMC)

from 1% to 0.6% of the

transaction value. This is

expected to benefit traders.

The decision follows a

recent bandh in APMC yards

across the State against

the government move.

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


NEWS

After its twoday nationalcouncil meet, Bihar’s rulingparty, the Janata Dal (United), slammed ‘love jihad’laws and said there was anattempt to create an “atmosphere of hatred and mistrust over love jihad in thecountry”.

“Our Constitution saysany two consenting adultscan choose to be life partners irrespective of one’s religion or caste but an atmosphere of hatred andmistrust is being created insociety in the name of love jihad,” senior JD(U) leaderK.C. Tyagi said while addressing mediapersons onSunday.

Socialists had upheld theright of adults to marry irrespective of caste and creedsince the days of socialistleader Dr. Ram Manohar Lo

hia, added Mr. Tyagi.

Arunachal moveHe said that the party wasunhappy and anguished over the recent political developments in Arunachal Pradesh where six of the sevenJD(U) MLAs had switched over to the ruling BJP.

“It was an unfriendlymove by an alliance partnerand against the spirit of coalition dharma”, said the JD(U) leader.

“In the national councilmeeting, the party passed aresolution on the government’s effi��cient handling ofthe COVID19 pandemic inBihar and also to contestcoming Assembly electionsin other States, includingWest Bengal,” Mr. Tyagiadded.

“The party will also identify those who damaged theJD(U)’s prospects in the recently held Assembly poll inBihar,” he said.

‘Atmosphere of mistrust, hatred being created in society’

special correspondent

Patna

JD(U) leader K.C. Tyagislams ‘love jihad’ laws

Union Minister Smriti Iranion Monday said the victoriesposted by the BJP recently inbypolls in 11 States, the BiharAssembly election and thelocal body polls in eightStates and Union Territoriesshow that the Narendra Modi government enjoyed theconfi��dence of people acrossthe country and the Opposition’s eff��orts to state the opposite, in light of farmersgroups protesting outsideDelhi’s borders, was a lie.

“The Congress’s comments that the BJP has noreach in the rural areas,have been responded to bythe people in elections in Rajasthan, Kashmir, ArunachalPradesh and Hyderabad lo

cal bodies. This proves theconfi��dence of the public inthe leadership of Prime Minister Modi and the beliefthat only his governmentcan eff��ectively deal with thesituations created by theworldwide COVID19 pandemic as well as bring inmeaningful reform,” shesaid. Addressing a press conference, she said the Indiangovernment was the only

one which not only dealtwith the pandemic but alsoushered in reforms in agriculture and other sectors ofthe economy.

“Ever since the agricultural reform Bills have beencleared by Parliament, theOpposition has been spreading the lie that the Modi government has lost its support in rural areas ... Thefi��gures, however, demonstrate that farmers, villagers,housewives and the common man have, in the bypolls in 11 States, local bodypolls in eight States and Union Territories and the BiharAssembly polls have shownthat they continue to reposefaith in the leadership ofPrime Minister Modi,” shestated.

‘Opposition claim of loss of support in rural areas is a lie’


NEW DELHI

Smriti Irani

Poll wins point to people’sconfi��dence in Modi: Irani

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday directed the police to takestrict action against thosevandalising mobile phonetowers and disrupting telecom services in the State.

The Chief Minister’s warning came as the total numberof mobile phone towers targeted in the State went up to1,561, of which 25 had beenphysically damaged, allegedly by some farmers and theirsupporters, in violation ofthe directions given by farmers’ unions to keep protestsagainst the Central governments’s new farm lawspeaceful.

The Chief Minister saidthat he would not let Punjabplunge into anarchy and nobody could be allowed totake the law into their hands.

Pointing out that his government had not objected to orstopped peaceful protests inthe State against the farmlaws for the past severalmonths, he said damage to

property and inconvenienceto citizens could not, however, be endured.

Calling upon farmers andtheir supporters to put animmediate stop to such des

tructive activities, whichwere being disowned byfarmers’ leaders themselves,the Chief Minister said disruption of telecom servicescould lead to a communications blackout in the State,causing serious consequences for people, especially students and workingprofessionals.

Disruption of supplyOf the 1,561 towers aff��ectedover the past few days, 146have been damaged sinceMonday morning due to disruption of power supply to32 towers, which led to disconnection of services forthe remaining 114.

So far, 433 towers havebeen repaired, according toan offi��cial spokesperson.The State has a total of21,306 mobile towers spreadacross 22 districts.

Keep the peace, says Punjab CMAmarinder directs police to take action against those vandalising phone towers

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHANDIGARH

Raising their voice: Farmers protesting on the outskirts ofAmritsar on Sunday. * AFP

Amid continuing protests byfarmers near the Delhi border over the new farm laws,Prime Minister NarendraModi on Monday fl��agged off��the 100th “Kisan Rail” service from Sangola in Solapurdistrict of Maharashtra toShalimar in West Bengal viavideoconferencing. He saidthe Centre’s policies thataimed at providing access tonewer and bigger marketsfor smaller farmers were“clear” and its “intentionsare transparent”.

Mr. Modi said the servicewould transform the economics of Indian agriculturewhile strengthening thecountry’s cold supply chain.

“In August, the fi��rst ‘KisanRail’ train dedicated to agriculture and farmers was begun to connect farmers andmarkets across the country.Despite the daunting challenge posed by the COVID19pandemic, the ‘Kisan Rail’network has only expandedin the past four months, andtoday, we fl��agged off�� the100th Kisan Rail. This experiment will prove especiallybenefi��cent for the country’s80% small and marginalfarmers, who constitute thebackbone of the agrarianeconomy,” he said.

Union Ministers NarendraSingh Tomar and PiyushGoyal were present.

Observing that lack ofcold storage facilities had of

ten resulted in losses forfarmers, Mr. Modi said theBJP government at theCentre had invested croresof rupees in modernising thecountry’s supply chain, ofwhich the “Kisan Rail” service was a new experiment.“Even before Independence, India had a massiverail network. Though weeven had technologies related to cold storage earlier, itis only now we are makingeff��ective use of them via the‘Kisan Rail’ service,” he said.

Farm amendmentsIn a veiled rebuke at the ongoing protests against thefarm laws, Mr. Modi said announcements regarding modernising agriculture had already been made in theBudget which had envisagedthe “Kisan Rail” service andthe “Krishi Udaan” scheme.

“We are transforming ourclaims into reality when wesay that India’s farmers can

now transport their produceto farfl��ung places within thecountry as well as gain access to international markets… Earlier, the ‘Kisan Rail’was being run only once aweek. But now, such is its demand that we are running itthree times a week … It is also proof that farmers areopen to new possibilities inagriculture. The farmers inthe north are already benefiting from ‘Krishi Udaan’scheme. It is only after thissolid preparation that wehad moved towards the newfarm amendments,” he said.

Stating that the ‘KisanRail’ service and the amended farm laws would helpprotect farmers against thefl��uctuations in demand andsupply, the Prime Ministerunderscored that farmers inIndia had an option today tosend their produce to anypart of the country wherethere was a demand for aparticular crop.

Centre trying to expand

markets for farmers: PM He says crores invested in modernising supply chain


PUNE

Connectivity push: A ‘Kisan Rail’ being fl��agged off�� by farmersat Anantapur in September. * R.V.S. PRASAD

Former Congress president RahulGandhi’s absence from an event ofthe party’s 136th Foundation Day onMonday became a talking point inpolitical circles. As party presidentSonia Gandhi was also absent, senior leader A.K. Antony unfurledthe party fl��ag at its headquarters inNew Delhi.

As the BJP questioned Mr. Gandhi’s “seriousness” as a political leader, the Congress came to his defence, stating that he had gone tomeet an ailing relative and his maternal grandmother in Italy.

Ms. Gandhi has been avoiding public appearances because of concerns over the COVID19 pandemicas well as Delhi’s smog andpollution.

The timing of Mr. Gandhi’s foreign visit raised eyebrows as it wasnot only just a day before the party’sFoundation Day, but also barely 10days after the muchpublicisedmeeting of Ms. Gandhi and keymembers of the group of 23 dissenters (G23). Among several key demands to revamp the Congress, having a “fulltime and visible”leadership was prominently mentioned by the G23 in their letter toMs. Gandhi in August.

While party chief spokespersonRandeep Surjewala had claimed

that 99.9 % of the workers want Mr.Gandhi back as their chief, he didnot clear his stand on the issue.

“He has not gone on a vacation,”Mr. Surjewala said. “Can’t a persongo to meet a relative who is severelyunwell? He will also be meeting hismaternal grandmother at the end ofthe year.”

Other senior leaders, includingparty general secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra, were present at thebrief event. Though Ms. Vadraspoke to reporters, she sidesteppedthe question about Mr. Gandhi’s absence, and focused only on the issueof the ongoing farmers’ agitation.

Party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal later went toJantar Mantar, where party MPsfrom Punjab are protesting over thefarm laws, to express solidarity withthe agitating farmers.

Rahul’s absence from Cong.event raises eyebrowsParty says he has gone to visit an ailing relative


New Delhi

Rahul Gandhi

The BJP on Monday allegedthat the Punjab police werehand in glove with disruptive forces targeting the party’s offi��ces and its workersin the past few days.

A party delegation led byformer Punjab Cabinet Minister Madan Mohan Mittalmet Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta here andexpressed concern over thedeteriorating law and ordersituation in the State.

A statement issued by theparty later said that despiteinformation, the policefailed to prevent the attackon BJP workers during thebirth anniversary of formerPrime Minister Atal BihariVajpayee in Bathinda lastweek. The delegation asserted that in the garb of farmers, divisive and disruptiveforces were at play and theState police must act againstthem, said the statement.

Punjab Cabinet Ministers,

meanwhile, asked State BJPchief Ashwani Sharma tonot cross lines of proprietyand decency in political discourse. In a statement, senior Cabinet Ministers, including Brahm Mohindra,Bharat Bhushan Ashu, VijayInder Singla, O.P. Soni andSunder Sham Arora said Mr.Sharma was levelling unfounded allegations againstthe State’s top police offi��cer.

‘Irresponsible remarks’The Ministers said Mr. Sharma was trying to vitiate thepeaceful atmosphere ofPunjab by irresponsiblestatements.

The BJP was trying to divert attention from issues thenation faced by indulging inirresponsible and dangerous politicking, but the Punjab government would never allow the Centre tosucceed in its plans to destroy agriculture at the behest of crony capitalists, saidthe Ministers.

Punjab police in cahootswith disruptive forces: BJPParty raises attacks on its workers


CHANDIGARH

The Congress on Mondaysaid Union Minister SmritiIrani should step down anda “judicial inquiry” shouldbe ordered over bribery allegations by internationalshooter Vartika Singh.

Ms. Singh alleged thatthe two “close aides” ofMs. Irani, who handles theMinistry of Women andChild Development, demanded a bribe of ₹��1 croreto make her a member of awomen commission.“Smriti ji, why don’t youcome forward for an impartial inquiry after tendering your resignation.Why doesn’t the Prime Minister ... order an independent judicial inquiry,” saidCongress spokespersonRandeep Surjewala.

(With inputs from PTI)

Cong. calls forSmriti Irani’sresignation


New Delhi

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

India should be able to makeavailable a COVID19 vaccinein a matter of weeks now toits population, Union HealthMinister Harsh Vardhan saidon Monday.

“Everybody is desperately waiting for a vaccine, butthe wait is likely to endsoon,’’ he said launching apneumococcal cojugate vaccine, Pneumonsil, developed by the Serum Instituteof India.

The SII is testing and manufacturing the OxfordAstraZeneca COVID19 vaccinecandidate, which hasemerged as the front runnerin the race for getting anemergency use approval inthe country. It is awaiting approval in the U.K.

SII CEO Adar Poonawallasaid that while positive newsshould be expected soon,“we cannot compromise onthe safety of the vaccine andso must allow the regulatoryauthorities to do their workwithout any pressure.’’

The company had 4050million doses of the vaccine,COVISHIELD, stockpiled.“Once we get regulatory approvals in a few days, it’ll bedown to the government todecide how much they cantake and how fast. We will beproducing around 300 million doses by July 2021.’’ hesaid.

Mr. Poonawalla, however,noted that the fi��rst sixmonths of 2021 would see avaccine shortage globally.

“Nobody can help that.But we will see easing off�� byAugustSeptember 2021 asother vaccine manufacturesalso start supply. India is apart of COVAX — a global initiative working towards global equitable access to COVID19 vaccines. We will besharing 50% of our manufactured vaccine between Indiaand COVAX at the sametime. Initially, India will getmore doses of the vaccinesince global clearances willtake an additional month ormore to come through. AlsoIndia has such a large population so we will probablyend up giving the majority ofthose 50 million doses to India fi��rst,’’ he said.

Vaccine for pneumonia Giving details of the SII’spneumococcal conjugatevaccine, the company said ithad been tailormade forcases of pneumonia reported in India. Mr. Poonawalasaid this would be the mostaff��ordable vaccine for pneumonia in the whole world.

Wait for vaccine to endsoon: Harsh Vardhan SII CEO says 4050 million doses of Oxford vaccine stocked


NEW DELHI

<> Everybody is

desperately

waiting for a

vaccine...

Harsh Vardhan

Union Health Minister

Continuing a string of visitsto several countries aimedat strengthening militarytomilitary cooperation, Armychief Gen Manoj Naravanearrived in South Korea onMonday on a visit from December 28 to 30.

This is the fi��rst ever visitof an Army chief to SouthKorea.

During the visit, Gen. Naravane will be meeting thesenior military and civilianleadership of the Republicof Korea, the Army said in astatement. On reaching Seoul, Gen. Naravane laid a

wreath at the national cemetery and war memorial.

The Army chief is scheduled to call on the SouthKorean Defence Minister,Army chief, Chairman ofJoint Chiefs of Staff��, and Minister of Defence Acquisition Planning Administration.

He is also scheduled to visit the Korea Combat Training Centre and Agency forDefence Development.

In recent years, the twocountries have signifi��cantlyexpanded their defencecooperation which also sawa number of highlevel visits.

Latest in a series of outreach eff��orts


NEW DELHI

Army chief beginsvisit to South Korea

A total of 277 elected DistrictDevelopment Council (DDC)representatives were administered oath of offi��ce in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday.However, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate WaheedurRehman Parra, whois in National InvestigationAgency (NIA) custody andhad sought a court order foronline oath, could not do so“due to procedural issues”.

An offi��cial said that out of280 members, 137 in theKashmir division and 140 inthe Jammu division “wereadministered oath in theirrespective districts”.

After an oath ceremony in

Srinagar, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, P.K. Polesaid the completion of threetier Panchayati Raj Systemhad realised the dream ofMahatma Gandhi’s ‘Gram

Swaraj’.“People, now onwards,

need not approach districtadministrations for the purpose of basic amenities, andcan apprise their constituen

cy members. The membersshall facilitate them. Also,the annual budget of districts from next fi��nancialyear will be prepared anddecided by the DDC members,” he added.

Parra family’s chargeIn south Kashmir's Pulwama, the family of winningPDP candidate Parra allegedthat the authorities “did notfacilitate his oath online despite a court order”.

“One candidate [Mr. Parra] is under judicial custody.I received an email or a faxfrom the court of law to facilitate his oath through virtualmode. However, the courtorder was not served in ori

ginal or through a properchannel. I have accordinglyforwarded it to the electionauthorities, who will seek legal opinion and issue us thenecessary instructions to dothe needful,” Deputy Commissioner, Pulwama, Dr.Raghav Langer, told TheHindu.

The NIA arrested Mr. Parra days after he fi��led hisnomination for the polls in acase related to the arrest oftwo militants earlier thisyear.

The oath ceremonieswere held amidst the allegations by the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party that theirleaders remained detained.

277 elected DDC members take oath in J&KOnline oath ‘not allowed’ for PDP leader WaheedurRehman Parra; many NC, PDP leaders detained

New representatives: Newly elected DDC candidates after theoath taking ceremony in Srinagar on Monday. * NISSAR AHMAD


Srinagar

My FASTag app now hasbalancecheck featureNEW DELHI

The National Highways

Authority of India (NHAI) has

updated its mobile

application “My FASTag” with

a new feature to check

balance status by simply

entering the vehicle number.

FASTag will be mandatory on

toll plazas from January 1.

“This new feature will help

both highway user and toll

operator,” said NHAI.

IN BRIEF

President posts video ofhim jogging at Diu beach DELHI

President Ram Nath Kovind

on Monday shared a video in

which he is seen jogging on

the Ghoghla beach in Diu.

“Jogged on the pristine

Ghoghla beach this morning.

As we enter 2021, after a

difficult year that has tested

us all, let us rise together and

endeavour to remain fit and

healthy. May the coming year

bring good health and

prosperity in our lives,” the

President said.

Shah meets civil societyorganisations in ManipurIMPHAL

During a oneday visit of

Union Home Minister Amit

Shah to Manipur on Sunday,

some civil society

organisations (CSOs) met him

with some demands after a

public speech. Important

among them were the

Coordinating Committee on

Manipur Integrity (COCOMI),

the United Naga Council

(UNC), the Kuki Impi Manipur

and the Zeliangrong Boudi.

CBI books Faridabad firmfor ₹��236 cr. bank fraudNEW DELHI

The CBI has booked

Faridabadbased Richa

Industries Ltd. and 11 others

for allegedly cheating the

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB)

and the erstwhile Corporation

Bank of ₹��236.74 crore.

Several bank officials are also

under the scanner. The

company was initially into

textile products and later

diversified into other sectors.

It took credit facilities under

multilender arrangement

over a period of time.

The Postal Department inKanpur on Monday beganan inquiry after postagestamps bearing photographsof jailed underworld donChhota Rajan and gangsterMunna Bajrangi, who wasshot dead in a Baghpat jailin 2018, were printed andreleased by it.

The stamps were issuedunder the ‘My Stamp’scheme run by India Postfor personalised sheets ofpostage stamps. A dozenstamps each of Rajan andBajrangi were printed,creating an embarrassingsituation for the postaldepartment.

Under the scheme, anyperson may submit soft or

hard copies of theirphotographs or of that oftheir relatives or friends orany other image includinglogo, symbols, heritageplaces or wildlife to getthem printed and publishedon stamps. Each stampsheet would cost theapplicant ₹��300.

For the personalisation,the postal department

prints a thumbnail of thecustomer’s photograph andlogos of institutions, orimages of artwork, heritagebuildings, famous touristplaces, historic cities,wildlife and other items on aselected template sheethaving postage stamps. Theapplicant would also have toproduce an identity cardissued by a government

authority.V.K. Verma, Postmaster

General, Kanpur, said hewas investigating how thestamps got issued. “We aretrying to fi��x theresponsibility where themistake was made. Andensure that the mistake isnot repeated,” he toldpresspersons.

The Kanpur police said

the stamps were issued afteran application was receivedby the postal department.The applicant and thedepartment staff�� who issuedthem would be identifi��ed. Iffound guilty, legal actionwould be taken, the policesaid.

The police added thatneither was there any kindof “unethical gains” made inissuing the postage stampsnor can the applicant gainsimilarly from the issuedstamps.

While the police and thepostal department have notidentifi��ed the applicant, aHindi daily said in its reportthat its reporter hadsubmitted the application toexpose the shortcomings inthe scheme.

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Chhota Rajan, Bajrangi stamps embarrass India Post

special correspondent

LUCKNOW

They were issued under ‘My Stamp’ scheme run by it for personalised sheets of postage stamps

Caught in controversy: The postal stamps of Chhota Rajan, left, and Munna Bajrangi, whichwere launched under the ‘My Stamp’ scheme in Kanpur on Monday. * ANI

Nobel laureate Amartya Senhas written to West BengalChief Minister Mamata Banerjee thanking her for thesupport on the recent controversy over VisvaBharatiallegedly including him inthe list of people who haveillegally occupied land.

“I am very happy to getyour wonderfully supportive letter. I am not onlymost touched but also veryreassured that despite thebusy life you have to lead,you can fi��nd time reassuringpeople under attack,” Professor Sen wrote in a letterto the Chief Minister. He expressed his deep apprecia

tion of Ms. Banerjee’s letterto him.

“Your strong voice, alongwith your full understanding of what is going on, is,for me, a tremendoussource of strength,” hewrote in the letter dated December 27. The letter wasmade public by the Chief Minister’s Offi��ce on Monday.

‘Political matter’On December 26, he brokehis silence on the issue anddescribed the developmentas a “political matter”, adding that if the ViceChancellor felt happy to take partin such political matters,then there was nothing to bedone.

Amartya Sen thanksMamata for her support Bengal CM stood by him in house row


Kolkata

The Assam government onMonday introduced a Bill inthe 126member Assemblyto convert the Staterun madrasas into general educational institutes from thenext fi��scal.

The Assam Repealing Bill,2020 seeks to repeal the Assam Madrassa Education(Provincialisation) Act, 1995and the Assam MadrassaEducation (Provincialisationof Services of Employeesand ReOrganisation of Madrassa Educational Institutions) Act, 2018.

Following a protest fromOpposition parties after theBill’s introduction in the

House, Finance and Education Minister Himanta BiswaSarma said the governmentwas not taking any steps toclose down or regulate theprivate madrasas.

“The teachers and thenonteaching staff�� of the ma

drasas, provincialised underthe two Acts, will not faceany diffi��culties. There is aclause that says that despiterepeal of the Acts, any actiontaken under the Acts so repealed before the date ofcommencement of the Repealing Act shall be deemedto have been validly done ortaken under the Repeal Act,”Dr. Sarma said.

The Bill proposed to convert the madrasas into upperprimary, high and higher secondary schools with nochange of status and pay, allowances and service conditions of the teaching and thenonteaching staff��.

Assam has more than 600Staterun madrasas.

Assam tables Bill to makemadrasas regular schools The State has more than 600 Staterun religious schools


GUWAHATI

Himanta Biswa Sarma

The Centre has lifted theban on exports of all varieties of onions with eff��ectfrom January 1. The Directorate General of ForeignTrade issued a notifi��cationlifting the prohibition onMonday.

The permission to export the kitchen stapleagain, after a threeandahalf month ban, would “increase farmers’ income”,tweeted Commerce andFood Minister PiyushGoyal. The move comesagainst the backdrop oflongdrawn farmers’protests.

Onion farmers and traders have been demandingthe lifting of the ban, asfresh arrivals from the kharif crop fl��ood the market,pushing prices lower.

The ban was imposed onSeptember 14 when seasonal shortages were exacerbated by excess rainfalland fl��ooding causing damages in key producerStates. Prices have now fallen to ₹��37 a kg, as the freshkharif harvest arrives inthe wholesale market.

Onion exportsto resumefrom January 1


NEW DELHI

An expert committee of theUnion Ministry of Environment and Forest has askedthe Central Public Works Department (CPWD) to submitdetailed plans for the demolition of government buildings for its proposed redevelopment of the Central Vista,with a focus on “instant demolition” techniques to reduce pollution.

At a meeting on December 17, the Expert AppraisalCommittee agreed to grantthe terms of reference (ToR)for the project, as part of theprocess of environment impact assessment and environment clearance.

The minutes noted thatthe CPWD “committed” onDecember 18, a day after themeeting, that it would include the proposed newPrime Minister’s Offi��ce inthe EIA report they submit“for holistic coverage of overall impacts”. An earlierversion of the proposal hadincluded the PMO, but theCPWD had left it out when it

submitted the proposal forthe December 17 meeting.

According to the minutes,the proposed builtup areawould be 17,21,500 squaremetres and the area to be demolished would be 4,58,820square metres, at a total costof ₹��13,450 crore. The existing buildings that would bedemolished are the IndiraGandhi National Centre forthe Arts, Shastri Bhavan,Krishi Bhavan, Vigyan Bhavan, VP Residency, NationalMuseum, Jawahar Bhavan,Nirman Bhavan, Udyog Bhavan, Raksha Bhavan and INSHutments, according to the

minutes of the meeting.“Since the building is sit

uated in a very sensitivearea, adequate care and precaution will be taken to reduce noise and dust whileensuring appropriate safety... Before commencing demolition, the nature andcondition of concrete, condition and position of thereinforcement and the possibility of discontinuity ofreinforcement shall be ascertained,” the minutes said.

The project would need542 kilolitres per day of water and produce 7.2 tonnesper day of solid waste.

Area to be razed for Central Vista is 4,58,820 square metres

Damini Nath

NEW DELHI

Future plans: A model of the proposed Parliament building atCentral Vista in New Delhi. * FILE PHOTO

Expert panel asks CPWDto submit demolition plans

Eleven diff��erently abled andunderprivileged couples,who tied the nuptial knot ata mass wedding ceremonyin Udaipur, took a pledge towear face masks and generate awareness until they getthe COVID19 vaccine. Theceremony was attended only by the relatives of the couples on Sunday with adherence to guidelines forcontaining the epidemic.

Narayan Seva Sansthan(NSS), a philanthropic institution, organised the ceremony for the persons withdisability, many of whomhad earlier received its assistance through correctivesurgery. Donors gifted household items to the newly

married couples, while theNSS members wished thema happy conjugal life.

The marriage was a celebration like any other wedding, which included theprocession, photography,music and the wedding rituals, though on a lowkey

scale with social distancing.NSS president PrashantAgarwal said the institutionhad so far organised 35 massweddings in which over2,000 diff��erently abled couples had got married.

“Our no dowry campaignis a fl��agship drive which has

been organised for the last18 years. This platform hashelped the people who fi��ndit diffi��cult to marry becauseof fi��nancial constraints andphysical diffi��culties,” Mr.Agarwal said, adding thatthe life partners could support each other in theirstruggle.

Couples from Rajasthan,Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujaratand several other States hasapproached NSS with the request for assistance to support their weddings. Mr.Agarwal said the mass weddings ensured social inclusion and accountability ofevery diff��erently abled person, in addition to helpingthem out to lead a normallife and become a part ofmainstream society.

Diff��erently abled couples tie knot at mass wedding

They took a pledge to wear masks, generate awareness until they get the vaccine

Diff��erently abled couples holding placards with messages onface masks in Udaipur. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.


JAIPUR

Describing the State government’s outreach programme Duare Sarkar (government at the doorstep)as a “huge success” WestBengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Mondayannounced a new grievance redressal mechanism called Paray Samad-han (redressal in theneighbourhood).

Ms. Banerjee, who heldan administrative meetingdistrict in Birbhum district, announced that thenew initiative will beginfrom January 2 and continue till February 15. “It willbe a New Year'’s gift to thepeople,” Ms. Banerjee said.

New redressalmechanism inWest Bengal

Special correspondent

Kolkata

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Mondayaccused top police offi��cialsin the State of being vigorously engaged in translating politically motivatedpolice actions. The remarks were targeted atState Security Adviser Surajit Kar Purakayastha.

“Concerned at Field police work of DGP postings &transfer, investigationusurped by De facto bossPurakayastha,” he tweeted.

The Trinamool Congressleadership came out with astrong rebuttal. MP and national spokesperson DerekO’ Brien said the Governorhad crossed the line.

W.B. Governortargets seniorpolice offi��cers

Special correspondent

Kolkata

The happy AI

National Institutes of Health-fundedresearchers have used advanced geneticengineering techniques to transform abacterial protein into a new research tool thatmay help monitor serotonin transmission withgreater fidelity than current methods.

The researchers used Machine Learningalgorithms to help a computer ‘think up’2,50,000 new designs. After three rounds oftesting, the scientists settled on one. Finally,experiments showed that the sensor couldhelp scientists study serotonin neuro-transmission under more natural conditions.The researchers plan to make the sensorreadily available to other scientists, to helpgain a better understanding of the critical roleserotonin plays in our daily lives and in manypsychiatric conditions.

TECH-A-BYTE

Google ‘working fromhome’ and you will beinundated by stylish

images of beaming people athome with standing desks, thelatest technology, a bright airy window in front of them andnot a single wire or power outlet in sight.But 2020’s housebound scenes reveal a diff��erent reality. Many households have actively established aseparate workspace within thehome, be it a desk by a window or afullon home offi��ce. There are somegadget groups that helped thisalong.

Laptops, smartphones and tablets aside, we look back on the‘underdog workspace heroes’ thathave boosted productivity andmorale while mimicking ourmuchmissed offi��ce spaces.

We look back on theworkspace addons that

made our workfromhomea little easier and stressfree

Laptop and keyboard stands

Posture was a majorbuzzword for 2020workspaces. While investing

in the latest ergonomicdesk chairs is not

in everyone’sbudgets, farmore aff��ordablelaptop andkeyboard stands

became anecessity to

remind workersto align their spines just

right. Luckily, these stands areadjustable depending on theuser’s height and comfort, sothere is no need to buy toomany for the home; thedurable ones are not tooexpensive either.

Selfi��e lights

Not everyone has the desire to invest inthe posh and spaceoccupying ringlights. If you have the budget and theneed for these, go for them. However,the runnerup for good lighting duringthat latenight video call has been theportable selfi��e ring light. Costing around₹�� 300, these rechargeable portablelights are easy to use. They also havedecent padding on the clips so that thedevices upon which they are clipped arenot scuff��ed.

Be sure to avoid the ones that requirebatteries – if you are keen to avoid ewaste at home – and if you manage tofi��nd ones with warranties, even better!

Blue light fi��lter

It seems working from homesaw blue light (also knownas highenergy visible light,or HEV light) becoming thenew gluten. And the WFHand SFH (studyfromhome)gangs did not just buy bluelight glasses; this year sawmany householdsunearthing older laptopsand PCs for everyone to use.However, these models donot have blue light fi��lters.Ecommerce sitesanticipated this demand andracked them up to meetbuyers’ demands. Sure, these are not exactlypretty but many do comewith a host of benefi��ts: amicrolouver technology that‘blacks out’ side views forprivacy, and preventsdisruption to users’circadian rhythm.

Rechargeable batteries

In 2019, India became the third largest electronic waste generator inthe world after China and the United States, at 3.2 million tonnes.This year, with the increased discussion around beingenvironmentally friendly and households wanting to reduce theirwaste output, people started investing in rechargeable batteries toavoid fi��lling up their bins with the singleuse varieties that would,never be recycled. Since rechargeable batteries can be charged many times after theinitial purchase, it is reasonable that rechargeable batteries comewith a much higher price tag than the disposable nonrechargeablebatteries. However, in the long run, the batteries that you canrecharge are signifi��cantly more cost eff��ective, often providing youwith hundreds or more hours of use than their disposablecounterparts. So whether you are a fi��rsttime gamer with a controller using manyhours or even a bingewatching enthusiast wanting topower up your remotes, these are a great andeconomical buy.

Power docks

This year didn’t justsee fi��ghts in the familyat home over desk space,but also fi��ghts over poweroutlets to charge phones,tablets, and laptops. Power docks are not new but they haveproven to be a peacemaking asset, allowing users to plug in theirdevices without a sound. Power docks come in all formats: some off��er USBA to USBCports, while some have diff��erent socket types. But the most usefulhave been the type that helps laptop users switch up their wholedesk setup with a single wiring system: these docks power up akeyboard, mouse, speakers, Ethernet, display, external storagedrives, and microphone in one system while not eating up thebattery of your laptop.

Lap desks

Sports medicine doctors and physiotherapists have activelywarned us against working while reclining on the couch or

– gasp – in bed. Enter lap desks. These cushionbottomedaddons are cute to look at and quite inexpensive while

pricey ones have slideout drawers, slots for yourstationery and even mousepads – but the simple ones are

equally eff��ective. This year also saw DIY Facebook profi��les such as ‘5

Minute Crafts’ teaching people how to make their own in afew simple steps with minimum materials. Ultimately, lap

desks have been one of the biggest preventers of laptopburn – the redness and irritation to the tops of your thighs

from sometimes overheated laptops. However, we recommend that you continue to opt for a

table to work at, instead of your lap – for the sake of yourneck and back.

The WFHgame-changers

Ethical ads?

As Telegram ‘approaches’ 500 million users,the IM app plans to generate revenue startingnext year to keep the business afloat, itsfounder Pavel Durov stated.

Durov said he has personally bankrolled theseven-year-old business so far, but as thestart-up scales up, he is looking for ways tomonetize the instant messaging service. “Aproject of our size needs at least a fewhundred million dollars per year to keepgoing,” he said. It will introduce its own adplatform for public one-to-many channels,“one that is user-friendly, respects privacy andallows us to cover the costs of server andtraffic... if we monetise large public one-to-many channels via the Ad Platform, theowners of these channels will receive freetraffic in proportion to their size,” he wrote onhis Telegram channel.

In Christopher Nolan’s Inter-stellar, children in schoolsare taught that the Apollomoon landing was staged tobankrupt the Soviets. This isto prevent children from pursuing space science, which isconsidered excess in the movie’s posttruth, blightravaged world. Bethany Downeris the antithesis of the schoolteachers in Interstellar. Asthe European Space Agency’s(ESA) public information offi��cer, she simplifi��es spacescience and technology tothe general public.

Bethany did not have abrainwave that steered herinterests in space. She sayswas always fascinated by it.Her parents’ engineering andscience backgrounds musthave been an infl��uence. Interaction with the famous Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfi��eld also encouraged herpursuit.

After a master of sciencedegree in space studies fromthe International Space University in Strasbourg, Bethany was selected as a scientistastronaut to attend the train

ing with Project PoSSUM, asuborbital research program,in Florida.

“Hopefully I can [be an astronaut] one day!” says Bethany via email. “I’m workinghard to lay the groundworkto undertake a suborbitalcommercial spacefl��ight sometime in the next severalyears.”

In her role as a public information offi��cer for the Hubble Space Telescope for theEuropean Space Agency, shemanages public outreach andpress for the Telescope on itsEuropean page, spacetele

scope.org. She works closelywith NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute tohighlight European contributions to the Hubble mission.

It has been 30 years sincethe Hubble telescope was

launched. The BBC fi��lm, Hub-ble: The Wonders Of SpaceRevealed, tells the story ofhow it revealed the awe andwonder of our universe.“Hubble has contributed signifi��cantly to science and astronomy,” says Bethany, “Thetelescope itself is also a feat ofengineering that has allowedfor applications on subsequent astronomy projects.Because of this mission, wenow have a much deeper understanding of the universewe live in.”

The COVID19 pandemicimpacted astronomy like it

did most other fi��elds. Thelaunch of NASA’s successor toHubble, the James WebbSpace Telescope, faces sevenmore months of delay. ButHubble continued its operations throughout the pandemic, says Bethany.

Space and astronomy havebeen topics of public interestsince the days of the SpaceRace. Space tourism andMars missions are the latestbuzzwords. Of the former,she says, “I dream that in thefuture, anyone who wants togo to space can do so. I thinkspace tourism is an important step of opening the doorto space travel to more peo

Meet European Space Agency’spublic information offi��cer BethanyDowner, who attempts to simplifyspace science

Space jam (Fromtop to bottom)Hubble SpaceTelescope; TheWhirlpool Galaxyand its companiongalaxy; andBethany Downer

* SPECIAL

ARRANGEMENT

<> I think space

tourism is an

important step of

opening the door to

space travel to more

people, but it will

take a few more

years for this to be a

regular activity.

It’s justROCKETSCIENCE

ple, but it will take a few moreyears for this to be a regularactivity.”

For now, however, Bethany’s focused on her mission —to simplify and spark interestin space science. “Space technology is an essential component of our daily lives, andspace science teaches us ofour universe. I want to inspireyoung women and girls to pursue various STEM careers andopportunities and to sharepersonal experiences of myjourney thus far.”

It is not surprising that oneof her favourite space fi��lms isTheodore Melfi��’s Hidden Fi-gures. “It has spread awareness of the pioneering work ofwomen at NASA many yearsago. This fi��lm has inspired many young girls around theworld to pursue careers in aerospace.” She also likes fi��ctional ones. “I loved The Martianfor its storytelling, soundtrack, and humour. I thinkspace movies like this or StarWars are a fun way to dreamand wonder about what the future could hold.”

(Hubble: The Wonders ofSpace Revealed airs on January3, 10 pm on Sony BBC Earth)

CMYK

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THE HINDU DELHI


SHOWCASE

Divya Kala Bhavani

Re

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tati

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imag

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f a

wo

man

wo

rkin

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ho

me

*

Praveen Sudevan

CMYK

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DELHI THE HINDU


SHOWCASE

Life in the local

When the lockdown was imposed to contain thespread of coronavirus and people crowded thesupermarkets to fi��ll up their stocks, vegetablesand grains fl��ew off�� shelves sooner. Helpless aftervisits to several barely stocked supermarkets,Rosette Daddapuri stepped into her local kiranastore. What started then due to helplessness hasnow become a way of life for the 26yearoldresident of Dharwad. “I preferred supermarketsbecause they served several options under oneroof, but it was only during the pandemic that Irealised the kind of variety that even kiranastores serve. These stores helped us sail throughthe lockdown,” she says.

Now, the Daddapuri household relies onlocally procured goods for their daytodaysurvival — be it bread bought from the nextdoorbaker, vegetables that come in from vendors bythe road or daily essentials like shampoos andhouse cleaners from a local kirana store.“Initially, I started just with groceries and dailyessentials but now I’m also for clothes andcosmetics from the local stores. At times buyinglocally can be diffi��cult — whether in price,availability or convenience, but eventually yourealise that the benefi��ts are more. I no longer seea point ecommerce, buying a cable wire or alipstick coming all the way from Delhi orBengaluru, when all you have to do is walk into alocal store. Also, you don’t have to feel guiltyabout all the extra packaging and the carbonfootprint,” she adds.

Hand-me-down that habit

As a kid, Shivani Mirajkar hated handmedowns. “It was the mentality that anythingsecondhand is not nice and I hated it when I was given my cousins’ clothes that theyhad grown out of. But now I have a wardrobe fi��lled with handmedowns and borrowedclothes. All thanks to the realisation of the damage that fast fashion causes,” she says.

The 25yearold classical singer hasn’t bought any clothes since March and does notintend to buy in the future until and unless it is utmost necessary. Her love for handmedowns began during the pandemic when she had to borrow clothes from hermother as she had not brought along enough to last her for several months. “I had beenthinking of trying not to buy clothes and rely on borrowed and rented ones, but mybusy schedule never allowed me to do it. It was only during the lockdown that Idecided not to buy any more clothes. I reused my brother’s tshirts and mom’s kurtas.For a few family functions, I borrowed whatever I needed from my cousins; the old mewould have jumped at this opportunity to buy something new,” she says.

Shivani is now preaching the disadvantages of fast fashion to her friends andrelatives. “ There is no harm in wearing the same dress to the party. Social media andfast fashion companies are teaching us otherwise,” she adds.

Good for the

planet’s health

Adopting a healthier lifestyle iswhat 26yearold Gaurav Malviyadid this year. “Healthier not justfor me but even for the planet,”says Bengalurubased Gauravwho decided to make a consciousswitch to a sustainable and ecofriendly lifestyle. From smallerthings like choosing bambootoothbrushes and metal straws tobigger choices like shopping forplasticfree packaging products,this civil engineer is taking onestep at a time to make his lifestyleecofriendly.

“The free time during thepandemic gave me the space toreevaluate my choices. I startedmarking the habits due to whichplastic was accumulating in myhouse and worked on replacingthem with products that areecofriendly. So along with usingcloth bags and carrying a metalstraw, I started purchasingshampoo bars that come incardboard boxes and orderingfrom restaurants that deliverfood in ecofriendly packaging,”he adds. Currently, Gaurav is on alookout to replace his plasticgarbage bags.

In this series, we look back at the

various challenges and victories of

life in 2020.

Salad from my backyard

Be it salads, soups or curries, there are just ahandful of vegetables that the Davalbhakta

household brings from outside. All thanks tothe eff��orts of 22yearold Gautami who, alongwith her mother, nurtures almost 100 plants

in their yard. The garden in their Belgaumhome is fi��lled with a variety of microgreens

like fenugreek, radish and wheatgrass andseveral types of gourds bottle, bitter and

ridge gourd. They also grow tomatoes, fl��atbeans, peas, watermelon, mint and

coriander.“Until last year, we had a lot of fl��owering

plants and a few vegetables in our garden.But after the pandemic, we wanted to reduce

our market visits as much as possible, so wedecided to grow our own food. You do not

need a big garden for this, but a few planterswill do. Rather than buying any new planters,we have been upcycling takeaway containers

and PET bottles to grow our microgreens.One can also use old tubs and buckets for it,”

says Gautami who started gardening duringthe pandemic to give herself a break from

being around the screens.

The

BIG swit

ch

As the world battled thecoronavirus sitting at home formost of this year, millennials usedthe extra time to make majorlifestyle changes that wouldotherwise have taken a backseat

Aishwarya Upadhye Tamil Nadu was battered with ferocity byCyclone Nivar in November. The brute forceof a storm, and fl��ooding thereafter, oftenputs in perspective the importance of managing water, as a resource. The Care EarthTrust, in conjunction with the US ConsulateGeneral in Chennai launched ‘Museum in aBox’ as a starting point, for teachers andeducators looking to introduce children tothe basic principles of hydrology.

‘Museum in a Box’ is part of the multiyear initiative, ‘Water Matters’, that focusses on public exhibitions on science and sustainable water management innovation, installations, information kiosks,and interactive educational experiments, in collaboration withthe Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES),Care Earth Trust, and ScienceGallery Bengaluru.

“It was originally meant to be atangible box with 3D models andfact sheets, that would travel toschools across Chennai. (Duringthe lockdown) the team had to pivot and take the project online,so the information fl��ows seamlessly overdigital media,” explains Seetha Gopalakrishnan, Project Manager at Water Matters.

The digital box on the Care Earth Trustwebsite, is available, for free, in English andTamil, and designed for middle and highschool students. The virtual module incorporates three and twodimensional animated fi��lms, explanatory tutorial videos, illustrated primers, posters, fact sheets,downloadable fl��ash cards, interactivegames and puzzles, and DIY projects.

Groundwater and aquifers, rainwaterharvesting, biodiversity on wetlands andwatershed, are explored through colourfulmaps, illustrations and animations by ateam of local freelance artists, NirupamaViswanath, Ram Keshav and Sriram G. Ishaan M, a fi��fth grade student at KC High International School, in Chennai, explains

what part of the Museum in a Box really appealed to him. “I have studied water resource management in my social studiesclass this year. The 3D rendering of a Watershed, in this box, is very interesting. Byusing a model it explains how the topography of an area lets the water drain to a common point, much like a funnel.”

All information in the module has beentailored to the Indian milieu. With a focuson Chennai’s adequate rainfall, yet its waterscarcity during the summer, the fact sheetCatch Where it Falls off��ers a glimpse intonative wisdom used in the area to storerainwater in tanks, called eris or ooranis. Amap of India shows chhapris in Jammu,

kunds in Barmer, virdas inGujarat, and surangams inKerala, all designed to maximise water harvesting suited to the biogeography ofthe state. Know Your Coastfocuses on the ecology ofIndia’s coastline, livelihoods, mangroves, climatechange,and mitigation strategies. G Thangaraj, coordinator of the NationalGreen Corps (NGC) Eco

club in Chennai fi��nds the module useful aseducators to navigate the changing landscape of digital learning, “Having all the relevant material in one place is very effi��cient, as it saves time and energy that wouldbe spent otherwise in browsing on multiplesites. Parents have appreciated the bilingual content and the use of local landscapes for illustration.”

Anne Seshadri, Public Aff��airs Offi��cer atThe U.S. Consulate General Chennai, believes water matters, as countries strive tomeet sustainablity goals. “We invite the public, especially the youth and secondaryschool educators, to explore challenges andsolutions related to sustainable water management through this digital curriculum onwater.”

Register online at the following:careearthtrust.org/museum-in-a-box

Sustainable India Theinformation is exploredthrough colourfulmaps, illustrations andanimations by a team offreelance artists


What’s in

the box?Newlylaunched virtual module ‘Museum in a Box’introduces children to sustainable water managementthat is specifi��c to Indian topography

......................................................................................

The virtual

module

incorporates

animated fi��lms,

illustrated

primers, posters,

fact sheets and

fl��ash cards

Anisha Menezes

POOCH CAFE

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

TIGER

PEANUTS

CALVIN AND HOBBES

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

CMYK

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WORLDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

THE HINDU DELHI


Four days after sealing a freetrade agreement with theEuropean Union, the Britishgovernment warned businesses to get ready for disruptions and “bumpy moments” when the new rulestake eff��ect on Thursdaynight.

Businesses were scrambling on Monday to digestthe details and implicationsof the deal sealed by the EUand the U.K..

EU Ambassadors, meanwhile, gave their unanimousapproval on Monday to theBrexit trade deal with theU.K. Germany, which holdsthe EU presidency, said thedecision came during ameeting to assess the Christmas Eve agreement.

“Green light,” said Germany’s spokesman SebastianFischer.

The approval had been expected ever since all EU leaders warmly welcomed it. Itstill needs approval from theEU’s legislature. The U.K’sHouse of Commons is expected to approve it onWednesday.

The U.K. left the EU almost a year ago, but remained within the bloc'seconomic embrace during a

transition period that endson December 31.

The deal will ensure Britain and the 27nation bloccan continue to trade ingoods without tariff��s or quotas. That should help protectthe £660 billion in annualtrade between the two sides,and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it.

But the end to Britain’s

membership in the EU’s vastsingle market and customsunion will still bring inconvenience and new expenses forboth individuals and businesses — from the need fortourists to have travel insurance to the millions of newcustoms declarations thatfi��rms will have to fi��ll out.

“Businesses will need tomake sure that they’re readyfor new customs proceduresand we as individuals willneed to make sure that ourpassports are up to date because they need to have atleast six months before expiry on them in order to beable to travel abroad,” saidMichael Gove, the British Cabinet Minister in charge ofBrexit preparations.

“I’m sure there will bebumpy moments but we arethere in order to try to doeverything we can to smooththe path,” he told the BBC.

U.K. warns of ‘bumpy’ transitionEU Ambassadors give unanimous approval to the postBrexit trade deal

Long road: Freight lorries in queue to enter the port of Doveron the south coast of England, in this fi��le photo. * AFP

Associated Press

LONDON

Hezbollah has doubledits guided missilesBEIRUT

The leader of Lebanon’s

Hezbollah said on Sunday his

group now has twice as many

precisionguided missiles as it

had a year ago, saying Israel’s

efforts to prevent it from

acquiring them have failed.

Hassan Nasrallah said his

group has the capability to

strike anywhere in Israel. AP

ELSEWHERE

17 fishermen feared deadafter boat sinks in RussiaMOSCOW

Seventeen fishermen were

missing and feared dead on

Monday after a Russian boat

capsized during a storm and

sank in the freezing waters of

the Barents Sea. Officials said

that two of the 19 people

aboard the trawler had been

rescued during a searchand

rescue operation. AFP

China on Monday said reports suggesting it was seeking additional guaranteesfrom Pakistan before sanctioning a loan for a key project under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC), a fl��agship plan under President Xi Jinping’sBelt and Road Initiative(BRI), were “baseless”.

Beijing also defended theprogress of the CPEC plan,following reports in the Pakistani press last week thatconcerns over Pakistan’sability to pay back loans as itgrapples with the impact ofthe pandemic had emergedin recent negotiations.

The Express Tribune newspaper reported China hadsought additional guaranteesbefore sanctioning a $6 billion loan for Main Line1(ML1) project, which includes upgrading an 1,872km rail line from Peshawarto Karachi, due to the “weakening fi��nancial position ofPakistan” and had “proposed a mix of commercialand concessional loansagainst Islamabad’s desire tosecure the cheapest lending”. This was raised at the

third joint ML1 fi��nancingcommittee meeting held earlier this month, the reportsaid. The Chinese ForeignMinistry denied that it hadsought the additional guarantees and said CPEC projects were on track despitethe pandemic.

Baseless reports “These reports are simplybaseless,” spokespersonZhao Lijian said. “As an important pilot project of theBRI, CPEC has maintainedpositive momentum of development since its inceptionin 2013. Amid the COVID19epidemic, there is no stop of

the construction, no job cutand no withdrawal of workforce of the CPEC projects,which eff��ectively supportsPakistan in fi��ghting the epidemic and stabilising theeconomy.”

He said at a meeting lastweek of the CPEC Joint Working Group held in Xinjiang inwestern China, both sides“reiterated their commitment to implementing theconsensus of leaders, givingpriority to industry, agriculture, science and technologyand livelihood and extendingto underdeveloped areas, ina bid to build CPEC into a demonstration project of quali

ty BRI cooperation.”“I want to stress that Chi

na’s input in the BRI, including CPEC, has increased despite global economicrecession,” he added. “In thefi��rst three quarters this year,China’s direct investment innonfi��nancial sectors in BRIpartner countries grew byaround 30% year on year.”

The progress of CPEC,China’s most ambitious BRIproject that aims to build anetwork of roads, railwaylines and power projectsthroughout Pakistan with anestimated value of more than$60 billion, has been underscrutiny this year. India hasvoiced concerns about theCPEC plan, one main reasonwhy it has stayed out of theBRI, as it includes projects inPakistanoccupied Kashmir(PoK) as part of a corridorconnecting Xinjiang withPakistan.

Earlier this year, China’sEmbassy in Pakistan released a statement, sayingCPEC projects were on trackin response to questionsabout delays, and that 32projects had “achieved earlyharvests” over the past fi��veyears. “This has signifi��cantlyimproved local transporta

tion infrastructure and power supply, created over75,000 jobs directly and contributed one to two percentof the GDP growth in Pakistan,” the statement said.

Debt issue The statement also hit out atcriticism from the U.S. thatsaid Chinese projects wereleaving huge debt burdens.“Regarding the socalleddebt issue, according to statistics from the State Bank ofPakistan, the total foreigndebt of Pakistan is $110 billion,” the statement said.

Loans from CPEC wereabout $5.8 billion, accounting for 5.3% of Pakistan’s total foreign debt, with a repayment period of 2025years and an interest rate ofapproximately 2%, according to the Embassy, with repayments to start in 2021 ofaround $300 millionannually.

However, the ML1 projectloan, currently being discussed, will likely be far larger than previous deals, according to reports inPakistan, with as much as $6billion being negotiated forthe estimated $6.8 billionproject.

China defends progress of Pak. corridor It rejects reports of seeking additional guarantees from Islamabad before sanctioning a loan for CPEC

Ananth Krishnan

Growing debt: A fi��le photo of the Gwadar Port, which is part ofthe ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). * REUTERS

A court in China on Mondayjailed a citizen journalist forfour years for her nonsanctioned reporting from Wuhan as the COVID19 outbreak unfolded earlier thisyear, accusing her of “provoking trouble”.

Zhang Zhan (37) is a former lawyer who, like severalother Chinese citizen journalists, travelled to Wuhan inlate January and early February, motivated to tell the sto

ry of what was unfolding inthe city, which had beenlocked down on January 23.At the time, informationcoming out of Wuhan wassparse, with authorities onlyon January 20 confi��rmingthe new virus, circulating inthe city since early December, could spread betweenpeople.

Ms. Zhang’s live video reports showed a city in fulllockdown and the situationin hospitals, and she was often critical of the govern

ment’s belated response during the early stages of theoutbreak.

Her case was heard onMonday by a Shanghai courtafter seven months spent indetention, in a country

where the courts are controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

The sentence accused herof “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, and said shehad spread “fake information” to foreign media outlets such as the U.S. governmentfunded Radio FreeAsia.

Ms. Zhang’s lawyers hadexpressed concerns over herhealth, as she has been on ahunger strike while in detention since this summer. Shehad been forcefed throughfeeding tubes and her handshad been restrained so shecould not stop the feeding,

lawyers said.Ms. Zhang, who had tra

velled from Shanghai to Wuhan in early February, wasn’tthe only citizen journalistwho ventured to the site ofthe coronavirus outbreak.

The accounts of other “citizen journalists” such asChen Qiushi and Li Zehuaprovided a stark contrast toState media reports describing a situation that had beencompletely under control.

Mr. Chen’s video reportsfrom hospitals reported atthe time of shortages of testing kits and personal protective equipment (PPE), whenWuhan’s hospitals were be

ing fl��ooded. City hospitalshad since late December reported a surge in pneumoniapatients, but local authorities until midJanuary offi��cially reported no major uptick in cases and did notconfi��rm that humantohuman transmission waspossible.

Wuhan was locked downon January 23, and stringentmeasures across China, coupled with mass testing andtracing, subsequently allowed authorities to bringthe virus under control bythe summer, with much ofChina now returning tonormalcy.

Chinese citizen journalist jailed over Wuhan reportsZhang Zhan was critical of the govt.’sbelated response to the outbreak

Ananth Krishnan

Zhang Zhan

A Saudi court on Mondayhanded prominent activistLoujain alHathloul a prisonterm of fi��ve years and eightmonths for terrorismrelated crimes but a suspendedsentence will allow her release within months, her family said.

Ms. Hathloul, 31, was arrested in May 2018 withabout a dozen other womenactivists just weeks beforethe historic lifting of a decadeslong ban on femaledrivers, a reform they hadlong campaigned for, sparking a torrent of internationalcriticism.

Her potential release nextyear could help stave off�� anearly confrontation with theincoming U.S. administration of Joe Biden, who haspledged a tough stance onthe Kingdom over humanrights after it largely got afree pass under PresidentDonald Trump.

The women’s rights activist was convicted of “various activities prohibited bythe antiterrorism law”, the

progovernment online outlet Sabq and other media allowed to attend her trial cited the court as saying.

The court handed down aprison term of fi��ve years andeight months, but suspended two years and 10 monthsof the sentence “if she doesnot commit any crime” within the next three years, theyadded.

“A suspension of 2 yearsand 10 months in addition tothe time already served(since May 2018) would seeher (released) in approximately two months,” Lina alHathloul, the activist’s sister,

wrote on Twitter.Another source close to

her family and the Londonbased campaign groupALQST said she would be released by March next year.

The court also banned theactivist from leaving theKingdom for fi��ve years, hersister and the source said.

This verdict was a “facesaving exit strategy” for theSaudi government aftercoming under severe international pressure for her release, the source told AFP.

A motion to appeal can befi��led within a month, localmedia reported.

‘Deeply troubling’The Genevabased UN Human Rights offi��ce describedthe activist’s conviction andsentence after she was “arbitrarily” detained since 2018as “deeply troubling”. “Weunderstand early release ispossible, and strongly encourage it as matter of urgency,” it said on Twitter.

Saudi Arabia, an absolutemonarchy, has faced growing international criticismfor its human rights record.

Suspended sentence paves way

for early release of Saudi activistExpect Hathloul to be released in 2 months, says her sister

Agence France-Presse

Riyadh

Loujain alHathloul

Bangladesh on Mondaystarted moving a secondgroup of Rohingya refugeesto a controversial fl��oodprone island in the Bay ofBengal despite oppositionfrom rights activists.

More than 1,600 of theMuslim minority fromMyanmar were taken toBhashan Char earlier thismonth, and Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen saidjust under 1,000 were inthe latest batch heading forwhat he called a “beautifulresort”.

Buses took the Rohingyafrom camps in Cox’s Bazar,where nearly one millionrefugees are packed, toChittagong port wherethey will be taken to thebarren island. “They aregoing voluntarily,” Mr. Momen said.

Dhaka movesrefugees tobarren island


Cox’s Bazar

Division in the ruling NepalCommunist Party will sendout a wrong message to other communist parties andmovements in Asia, a visiting Chinese delegation reminded the leadership inNepal. The delegation, ledby viceMinister of the International Department of theCommunist Party of ChinaGuo Yezhou, met with Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, Prime Minister K.P.Sharma Oli and head of theforeign aff��airs departmentof NCP Madhav Kumar Nepal on Monday and held detailed discussions about therecent developments in theparty.

“They indicated that witha thumping majority in theParliament, Nepal Communist Party has a historic opportunity and this opportunity should not be lostbecause of internal diffi��culties,” said Ram Karki, deputy chief of the foreign aff��airsdepartment of the NepalCommunist Party, which isnearly divided because ofdiff��erences between Mr.Prachanda and Prime Minister Oli.

The Chinese delegationpraised the communistmovement in Nepal, whichhas come to power throughparliamentary methods andremains popular among thepeople. “In other countrieslike Cuba, China and elsewhere, the communistrule came through armedstruggle but in Nepal it hasbeen elected through parliamentary process and theyreminded us of the gains wehave made,” said Mr. Karki.

Even as the Chinese delegation continued discussions in Kathmandu, spokesperson of the Ministry ofForeign Aff��airs of China,Zhao Lijian said China had“noted” the situation inKathmandu after Prime Minister Oli dissolved theHouse of Representatives onDecember 20.

“We sincerely hope thatall sides in Nepal will bear inmind the national interestand the overall picture andproperly handle internaldispute and strive to achievepolitical stability and national development,” saidMr. Zhao.

The delegation also metwith former Prime MinisterBaburam Bhattarai.

‘Division will send out wrong signal’Kallol Bhattacherjee

NEW DELHI

Chinese delegationmeets NCP leaders

The trial in China of a groupof Hong Kong prodemocracy activists who tried to escape the city by speedboatfor sanctuary in Taiwanopened on Monday, as theU.S. urged the immediate release of dissidents it says“fl��ed tyranny”.

Ten of the socalled“Hong Kong 12” were incourt in the southern city ofShenzhen facing chargeslinked to an illegal bordercrossing.

Chinese authorities tookthem into custody aftertheir boat was interceptedon August 23.

Court offi��cials stayed

tightlipped about the caseand the trial — like many inChina’s opaque legal system— was not open to foreign reporters or diplomats.

At least two of the groupface around seven years injail for organising the attempted escape from a citywhere democracy activistslast year led massive protests against Beijing’s rule.

“Their socalled ‘crime’was to fl��ee tyranny,” a U.S.Embassy spokespersonsaid.

Urging their “immediaterelease”, the spokespersonsaid: “Communist Chinawill stop at nothing to prevent its people from seekingfreedom elsewhere.”

Trial of 10 of the ‘HongKong 12’ begins in ChinaActivists had tried to escape to Taiwan

Agence France-Press

Shenzhen Shelving his objections, President Donald Trump hassigned a $2 trillionplus COVID19 and annual federalspending package providingrelief for millions of Americans, even as Congress returns to confront the WhiteHouse on remaining priorities in a rare endofsessionshowdown.

Mr. Trump appears tohave accomplished little, ifanything, from the days ofdrama over his refusal to accept the sweeping bipartisandeal. While the President’sdemands for larger $2,000pandemic relief checks seemdestined to fail, his pushserved up a political oppor

tunity for Democrats, whosupport the larger stipendsand are forcing Trump’s Republican allies into a toughspot.

On Monday, the Democraticled House is set to voteto boost the $600 paymentsto $2,000, sending a new billto the Senate. There, Republicans have the majority butreject more spending andare likely to defeat the eff��ort.

The showdown off��ersmore symbol than substance, and it’s not expectedto alter the package that Mr.Trump signed into law lateon Sunday after golfi��ng at hisFlorida club. The $900 billion in COVID19 aid and $1.4trillion to fund governmentagencies will deliver cash to

businesses and individualsand avert a federal government shutdown that otherwise would have started onTuesday.

Defence BillTogether with votes on Monday and Tuesday to overrideMr. Trump’s veto of a sweep

ing Defence Bill, the action isperhaps the last standoff�� ofthe President’s fi��nal days inoffi��ce as he imposes fresh demands and disputes the results of the presidential election. The new Congress is setto be sworn in Sunday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DCalifornia, seized onthe divide between the President and his party, urgingMr. Trump to put pressureon his Senate GOP allies topass the Bill.

“The President must callon Congressional Republicans to end their obstructionand to join him and Democrats in support of our legislation to increase direct payment checks to $2,000,” Ms.Pelosi said in a tweet.

Trump signs COVID19 aid, sparks GOP fi��ghtHouse will vote to boost relief from $600 to $2,000, sending a new Bill to Senate

Donald Trump

Associated Press

WEST PALM BEACH

The head of the WorldHealth Organization said onMonday that it’s importantto step up genomic sequencing worldwide to ensurethat new variants of the coronavirus are detected asthe pandemic enters its second year.

New variants detected inBritain and South Africathat appear to be more infectious have caused concern and triggered new travel restrictions this month.

WHO DirectorGeneralTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday fromGeneva that “there will besetbacks and new challenges in the year ahead — for example new variants of COVID19 and helping peoplewho are tired of the pandemic to continue to combat it.”

He said that the WHO isworking closely with scientists across the world to“better understand any andall changes to the virus” andtheir impact.

WHO calls for expandedmeasures to fi��nd variantsAssociated Press

BERLIN

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


BUSINESS

NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 483.55. . . . . . . . . 5.00

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2683.90. . . . . . . 35.65

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 617.65. . . . . . . . . 7.45

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3414.70. . . . . . . 39.95

Bajaj Finserv. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 8995.05. . . . . . . . . 2.50

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 5204.10. . . . . . . 19.20

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 521.60. . . . . . . . . 4.30

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 382.75. . . . . . . . . 5.20

Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3603.55. . . . . . -14.70

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 830.15. . . . . . . . -3.05

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 137.65. . . . . . . . . 1.40

Divis Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3766.00. . . . . . . 16.40

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 5201.80. . . . . . . . . 0.00

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. . . . 2451.35. . . . . . . 14.60

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 122.65. . . . . . . . . 2.50

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 906.65. . . . . . . . . 9.50

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 921.80. . . . . . . . . 2.45

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2476.45. . . . . . . 21.30

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1412.85. . . . . . . 15.75

HDFC Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 678.70. . . . . . . 21.45

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3082.60. . . . . . . . . 9.50

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 239.90. . . . . . . . . 2.95

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2388.90. . . . . . -13.35

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 520.10. . . . . . . . . 6.55

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 866.95. . . . . . . 14.15

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1240.30. . . . . . . . . 4.25

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 91.70. . . . . . . . . 1.45

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 209.50. . . . . . . . . 0.90

JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 386.60. . . . . . . 20.35

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1988.90. . . . . . . 28.30

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1289.40. . . . . . . 27.20

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 710.95. . . . . . . . . 0.05

Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7483.00. . . . . . . 36.95

Nestle India Ltd. . . . .. 18597.35. . . . . . . 31.00

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 100.45. . . . . . . . . 0.50

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 93.80. . . . . . . . . 0.65

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 191.55. . . . . . . . . 1.55

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2003.30. . . . . . . . . 9.15

SBI Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 901.65. . . . . . . 27.75

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 275.20. . . . . . . . . 8.35

Shree Cement . . . . . . . .. 23715.55. . . -111.20

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 586.95. . . . . . . . -3.50

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 186.35. . . . . . . 10.40

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 632.65. . . . . . . 10.35

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2929.40. . . . . . . 20.05

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 947.10. . . . . . . . -0.15

Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1543.55. . . . . . . 47.65

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 5142.15. . . . . . . 97.40

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 453.40. . . . . . . . . 4.00

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 382.90. . . . . . . . . 0.70

EXCHANGE RATESIndicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on December 28

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 73.31. . . . . . . 73.63

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 89.56. . . . . . . 89.96

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 99.02. . . . . . . 99.46

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 70.79. . . . . . . 71.11

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 11.21. . . . . . . 11.26

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 82.33. . . . . . . 82.71

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 55.16. . . . . . . 55.41

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 57.11. . . . . . . 57.37

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 18.09. . . . . . . 18.19

Australian Dollar . . . . . . .. . 55.67. . . . . . . 55.92

Source:Indian Bank

market watch

28-12-2020 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 47,354 ddddddddddddddd0.81

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 73.49 ddddddddddddddd0.08

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 49,757 ddddddddddddddd0.27

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 51.32 ddddddddddddddd0.81

IN BRIEF

BoB unveils digital loanplatform for retail clientsMUMBAI

Bank of Baroda (BoB) hasunveiled a digital lendingplatform to enableprospective retail clients toget loans digitally through apaperless process. “The bankenvisages outpacing thebanking industry growth by1.5 times at CAGR of 16%over the next fi��ve years byadopting digitalfi��rst lendingapproach,” said VikramadityaSingh Khichi, executivedirector, Bank of Baroda.

Adani Port JV raises$300 mn via U.S. bonds MUMBAI

Adani InternationalContainer Terminal Pvt. Ltd.,a joint venture of Adani Portsand Special Economic Zone(APSEZ), said it has raised$300 million throughissuance of U.S. dollarbonds. “The issue saw largeparticipation from marqueeinvestors with interestscoming from around 220accounts, leading to almost10 times oversubscription,” itsaid in a statement.

The year 2020 saw a 15%rise in demand for telecomtechnology talent, according to TeamLease.

This surge in hiring wasdriven largely by telecom infrastructure companies,mobileenabled servicesand telecom OEMs, observed the staffi��ng fi��rm.

“In fact, with greater aswell as widespread adoption of the Internet, demandfor better telecom networks, and rollout of 5Gtechnology, the need for talent in the space is expectedto grow even further in2021,” it said.

“The sector is expectedto see an 1820% increase indemand for talent in 2021,''said Gautam Vohra, VP andbusiness head, telecom andengineering staffi��ng, Team

Lease Digital. According toTeamLease, the government’s thrust on encouraging equipment manufacturing by off��ering sops such asthe productionlinked incentive scheme would alsoboost hiring. This wouldhelp provide job opportunities in areas of transmissionequipment, wireless equipment, consumer premiseequipment, IoT device andenterprise equipment manufacturing hubs.

‘Hiring surge in telecomtechnology to continue’Infra, OEMs top recruiters: Teamlease


Bengaluru

India could benefi��t from thelikely shift in global supplychains from China to othereconomies in the aftermathof the COVID19 pandemic,according to a survey.

The FICCIDhruva Advisors Survey conducted thismonth covered more than150 companies in India. ��

“[A] major outcome ofCOVID19 is the likely shift inglobal supply chains awayfrom China to other economies. Nearly 70% of the survey participants have saidIndia could benefi��t from thismove and they expect a fairshare of manufacturing toshift from China to India inthe near future,” said FICCI.

Moreover, the prospect ofintroduction of a vaccineagainst COVID19 early nextyear has improved the confi��dence level of businesses,

with almost 74% of the participants foreseeing a signifi��cant positive impact ontheir business once the vaccine is made available. ��

However, to capitalise onthe opportunities, there is aneed to strengthen thecountry’s manufacturingecosystem. “The results ofthe survey are encouraging.This momentum needs tobe built upon and now, alleyes are on the upcomingBudget,” FICCI presidentUday Shankar said. ��

‘Supply chain shift fromChina may benefi��t India’‘Confi��dence high on vaccine promise’

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI

Improved asset quality andconsequently lower creditprovisions could drive better profi��tability next fi��scalfor banks, ICRA Ratings saidin a report. It added that thiswould provide an impetusto lenders as well as rejuvenate their lending decisions.

Low interest rates, improved business volumes,better job prospects and income levels could also stimulate credit demand nextyear, it added.

“This, coupled with better competitive positioningof banks visavis other lenders driven by steep declinein cost of deposits could improve bank credit growth to67% in FY2022 from an estimated 3.95.2% in FY21 and6.1% in FY20.” ICRA said.

“As the moratorium onloan repayments is over and... we await the SupremeCourt directive on asset classifi��cation, the Gross NPAsand Net NPAs for banks arelikely to rise in near term to10.110.6% and 3.13.2% respectively by March 2021,from 7.9% and 2.2% respectively as of September 2020and the resultant elevatedcredit provisions during H2FY2021 as well,” it said.

However Net NPAs andcredit provisions would subsequently trend lower inFY2022 as banks have reported strong collections ontheir loan portfolio withmost banks reporting collections of over 90%, it said.

“The loan restructuringrequests [which are] muchlower than previously estimated have been supportedby sharperthanexpected

improvement in economicactivities as well liquiditysupport through the emergency credit line guaranteescheme. Accordingly, ICRArevised its loan restructuring estimates downward to2.54.5% of advances asagainst 58% estimated earlier,” it said.

Anil Gupta, sector head,Financial Sector Ratings,ICRA Ratings, said, “Withexpectations of sustainedcollections and lower restructuring, the asset qualityis expected to improvefurther with net NPAs declining to 2.42.6% by March2022. This will lead to lowercredit provisions and betterprofi��tability in FY2022.”

ICRA expects credit provisions to decline to 1.82.4%of advances in FY22 from anestimate of 2.23.1% in FY21and 3.1% in FY20, leading toan improvement in banks’return on equity (RoE).

The RoE for private banksis estimated to improve to9.510.5% in FY22 (27.5% inFY21 and 6.5% for FY20).

Stating that the capitalposition for large privatebanks was strong, it saidthey could withstand thestresscase scenario for asset quality after they haveraised ₹��544 billion of capitalin the fi��rst 9 months of FY21.

NPAs may climb in near future: ICRA


MUMBAI

‘Bank profi��tabilitymay rise in FY22 onbetter asset quality’

Domestic commercial vehicle (CVs) sales could takelonger to recover than expected, despite the improving macroeconomic indicators such as the Index ofIndustrial Production, IndiaRatings and Research (IndRa) said in a report.

“This is primarily due tothe spare capacities createdin the system driven by thepeak sales achieved duringFY18FY19 and implementation of revised axle loadnorms coupled with reduced fl�eet utilisation,” according to the report.

It said while medium andheavy commercial vehicle(MHCV) sales are unlikely to

recover before Q4 FY22,sales of light commercialvehicles have started to recover as they provide thelastmile connectivity andbecause of increased ecommerce activities.

The agency also said inadequate freight rate increases would dent the profitability of fl�eet operators.

CV sales may take moretime to recover: IndRa Surplus capacity among reasons cited


MUMBAI

The devastating pandemicfailed to dampen the primary and secondary capitalmarket issuances with theyear closing with the highestever fund raising fromthe equity markets, growing 116% to ₹��1.78 lakh crorein IPOs and other issuances, as per a report.

Despite the entire 2020having been overshadowedby the pandemic, an alltime high fund raisingthrough public equity markets at ₹��1,77,468 crore wasrecorded. This was 116%higher than the ₹��82,241crore raised in 2019, according to Pranav Haldea,MD, Prime Database. Theprevious highest amountraised in a year was₹��1,60,032 crore, in 2017.

Equity fundraising surgesto ₹��1.8 lakh cr.


MUMBAI

SEBI plans to rope inagency to trace entitiesNEW DELHI

Markets regulator SEBI islooking to rope in anindependent agency to traceaccused entities againstwhom notices have beenissued by the authorities,and serve summons to them.The work is expected to becarried out throughcompetent manpower suchas exservicemen. The scopeof the work includes tracingthe entity based on recordsand addresses provided bythe regulator. PTI

Telecom service providersexpect the government totake immediate steps to resolve the issues of the sectorwhich has played the role ofan enabler for other key industry verticals and supported 3035% of GDP during the COVID19 crisis,industry body COAI said.

COAI director general S.P.Kochhar told PTI that the telecom sector needs to makehuge investment in infrastructure and needs regulatory support, review of theadjusted gross revenue(AGR) defi��nition, GST exemption on AGR dues etc.

“Telecom is not a verticalindustry in itself; rather, it is

an enabler of horizontalgrowth across industries.Thus, the concerns aff��ectingtelecom become the concerns of these industries,and so, the issues of telecomneed to be addressed as anissue aff��ecting the overalleconomy of the country.They should be given priority,” Mr. Kochhar said.

Resolve telecom issuesquickly: COAI to Centre‘Need regulatory support, AGR review’


NEW DELHINet offi��ce space leasing fell44% yearonyear during2020 to 25.82 million sq. ftacross seven major cities ascorporates deferred expansion plans and adopted‘workfrom home’ (WFH)policies for employees because of the COVID19 pandemic, as per JLL India.

Net leasing of offi��cespace stood at 46.5 millionsq. ft in 2019 across sevencities — DelhiNCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Pune and Bengaluru. JLL India, however,noted that offi��ce space demand rose 52% during OctoberDecember to 8.27million sq. ft over the previous quarter.

‘Offi��ce spaceleasing drops44% on WFH’

Press trust of india

New delhi

The use of crowdfundingwebsites create additionalrisk and the year 2021 willsee a lot of regulatory eff��ortchannelled towards virtualassets, a senior SBI offi��cialsaid on Monday.

Addressing a virtual‘AML/CFT Conference2020,’ Sujit Kumar Varma,SBI’s DMD (Corporate Accounts Group), said tradebased money launderingremains a signifi��cant risk.

“The use of crowdfunding websites, although notentirely new, create an additional risk as these can bemisused for terror fi��nancing,” he added.

“2021 will see a lot ofregulatory eff��ort channelled towards virtual assets and also likely witnessthe introduction of moreregulations for virtual assets service providers.”

‘More normslikely forvirtual assets’

Press trust of india

new delhi

Maintaining the infl�ation target at 4% is appropriate forIndia, according to a working paper titled “MeasuringTrend Infl�ation in India”.

“The paper seeks to estimate trend infl�ation in Indiato fi��nd the answer to a question that goes to the root offl�exible infl�ation targeting(FIT) – is the choice of thetarget for infl�ation consistentwith its trend?,” according toauthors Harendra KumarBehera, Director and Michael Debabrata Patra, Deputy Governor.

The 4% target for infl�ation— with an upper tolerance limit of 6% and a lower limit of

2% — was set by the Centre inconsultation with the RBI in2016 and its validity expireson March 31, 2021.

“The paper fi��nds a steadydecline in trend infl�ation to4.1 4.3% since 2014.”

“A target set too [signifi��cantly] below the trend imparts a defl�ationary bias tomonetary policy because itwill go into overkill relativeto what the economy can intrinsically bear in order to

achieve the target,” the paper said. “Analogously, a target that is fi��xed above thetrend renders monetary policy too expansionary andprone to infl�ationary shocksand unanchored expectations. Hence, maintainingthe infl�ation target at 4% isappropriate for India,” it added. The RBI placed the paper on its website under theReserve Bank of India Working Paper Series.

Central to the design andconduct of monetary policyis the concept of trend infl�ation, the level to which actual infl�ation outcomes areexpected to converge aftershortrun fl�uctuations dieout, the authors said.

Maintaining infl��ation target at4% is appropriate: RBI paperTarget was set in 2016, with validity expiring on March 31 next year


MUMBAI

Trend infl��ation is the level at which infl��ation outcomes mayconverge after shortrun fl��uctuations die out. * REUTERS

Technology services fi��rm 3iInfotech has decided to sellits global software products business through a‘slump sale’ to Mumbaibased Azentio Software, awhollyowned subsidiaryof private equity fi��rm ApaxPartners, for ₹��1,000 crore,as per a regulatory fi��ling.

3i Infotech’s product division posted a revenue of₹��442.98 crore for the yearending March 31, accounting for 38.8% of its consolidated turnover of ₹��1,141crore. The company’s software product business hasintellectual property andemployees in India, theU.S., the U.K., Kenya, UAE,Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.

The sale of the divisionis expected to be completed by March 31, 2021.

3i Info to sellproduct unitfor ₹��1,000 cr.


Bengaluru

LIC sells 2% stake inprivate lender ICICI BankNEW DELHI

India’s largest insurer LifeInsurance Corporation (LIC)has sold 2% stake in ICICIBank through open markettransactions. It sold 13.8crore shares, representing2.002% stake of ICICI Bank,over a period of November 27to December 24, the banksaid. Following the sale, LIC'sholding in the bank hasreduced to 6.74% from8.74% earlier, it said. PTI

CMYK

A ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 13130 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

When we think of the war between the Kauravas and thePandavas, what leaves an indelible impression is the advicewhich Lord Krishna gave to Arjuna on the battlefi��eld. TheBhagavad Gita shows us the path to moksha, and tells us thatwe must perform our duties, and yet be indiff��erent to the results. But while the Lord’s advice is recalled by us often, howoften do we think of Arjuna’s chariot and meditate on thechariot? We must meditate on Arjuna’s chariot, said V.S. Karunakarachariar, in a discourse, and explained why. Vedanta Desika shows that Arjuna’s chariot represents the pranavamantra. Those who have understood the meaning of thepranava mantra will think of Arjuna’s chariot, every timethey chant the pranava.

The fi��st akshara in pranava is ‘a,’ the middle akshara is ‘u’.and the last akshara is ‘m.’ Now visualise the chariot. Who isin the front portion of the chariot? It is Krishna, for He is Arjuna’s charioteer. And the letter ‘a,’ which is the fi��rst letter ofthe pranava, indicates Lord Narayana. So, Krishna, the Onewho is referred to by the very fi��rst letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, is in front. Arjuna is behind Him, inside the chariot,and the letter ‘m’ of the pranava, indicates Arjuna. In otherwords, ‘m’ represents the jivatma. So in the chariot, we seethe Paramatma in front, with the jivatma behind Him. Theletter ‘m’ is the twentyfi��fth letter in the Sanskrit alphabet,and this too reinforces the jivatma concept. There are 24tattvas, which are acetanas. The 25th tattva is the jivatma,which is a cetana (sentient being). The akshara ‘m’ indicatesthe jivatma. So, the Lord in the driver’s seat, with Arjuna thejivatma behind Him, is a representation of the pranava mantra. So, Arjuna’s chariot must be visualised, when the pranava is chanted.

FAITH

Arjuna’s chariot + 13131(set by Vulcan)

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■ ACROSS

1 It’s an editor’s rambling essay (12)

10 For instance, fi��rst row in an examination (7)

11 Our ball thrown round (7)

12 Great article, it’s free and you don’t have to pay for it (6)

13 Upset sweets got over (8)

15 Cashier’s right — a very boring tourist (9)

16 Stop located on the right side — not something unknown (5)

17 Chief editor backing Arsenal (5)

19 Heartless articles about Asian leader’s talk (414)

22 Barcodes used for expensive fabrics (8)

24 Arrive at a hotel in an impoverished area (6)

26 Disinclination to move it back through in time (7)

27 Place to keep a vessel — space on the counter, one that’s no good (7)

28 Socialist men upset with partisanship (12)

■ DOWN

2 State in North American country basically (7)

3 Idea of living without money primarily (9)

4 Record boom (4)

5 Everyone to repeat and use words that begin identically (10)

6 Setter’s left — left unhappy with fi��ll (5)

7 Sell fake stone rings — there’s nothing in it (4,3)

8 Procured and produced right off (6)

9 One who deals in revolutionary communist paintings (6)

14 One term brought up to describe youngsters — famous ones (10)

16 Stiff number (5,4)

17 Capital friend raises with zero returns (6)

18 In favour of tax growth (7)

20 Nurse attempts to make notes (7)

21 Sufficient and adequate, in the end, nothing incomplete (6)

23 It’s foolish, great show missed (5)

25 Country Italian runs off to (4)

SCAN TO PLAY

A depleted Indian attackripped through Australia'stoporder to leave the WorldNo. 1 team just two runsahead and in deep troubleon Monday after day three ofthe second Test.

At stumps, Australia was133 for six with CameronGreen on 17 and Pat Cummins on 15 in its secondinnings.

SetbackIndia’s attack was weakenedafter Umesh Yadav pulled upin his fourth over with a calfproblem and limped off�� thefi��eld. a setback for India, already missing injured regulars Mohammed Shami andIshant Sharma.

But the remaining bowlers, led by Ravindra Jadeja(2/25) and Jasprit Bumrah (1/34), admirably picked up theslack.

India was all out for 326 inits fi��rst innings on the strokeof lunch, adding just 49 tothe overnight 277 for fi��ve in

reply to Australia's 195. Thatbrought a 131run lead courtesy Rahane's magnifi��cent 112and Jadeja's 57.

Opener Matthew Wadedid well with a fi��ghting 40 off��137 balls before beingtrapped leg before by Jadeja.But, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne and Joe Burns allfailed.

Burns lasted just 10 balls,caught by Rishabh Pant off��Umesh for four to follow hisfi��rstinnings duck. Labuschagne fell to Ashwin for 28,caught by Rahane.

Smith again went cheaply,bowled by Bumrah for eight.After Wade departed, TravisHead became a victim ofdebutant paceman Mohammed Siraj, slashing toMayank Agarwal.

Captain Tim Paine fell toJadeja for one, leaving Greenand Cummins to knuckledown in a 34run partnership and take the Test into afourth day.

India started the day at achilly MCG in front of 24,995sociallydistanced fans withan 82run advantage. ButAustralia quickly made in

roads. Jadeja, back in theteam after missing the fi��rstTest injured, dabbed NathanLyon to point and set off�� for asingle as he looked to bring

up his 50. Rahane responded, but wasn't quick enoughwith Paine whipping off�� thebails after Labuschagne'sthrow.

India takes a fi��rm grip on the proceedingsBowlers rip through Australian toporder even as Umesh limps off�� the fi��eld with injury


Melbourne

Crucial strike: Jasprit Bumrah removes the dangerous Steve Smith. * AP

INDIA IN AUS

AUSTRALIA — 1ST INNINGS:195

INDIA — 1ST INNINGSMayank Agarwal lbw b Starc 0(6b), Shubhman Gill c Paine bCummins 45 (65b, 8x4),Cheteshwar Pujara c Paine cCummins 17 (70b, 1x4), AjinkyaRahane run out 112 (223b,

12x4), Hanuma Vihari c Smith bLyon 21 (66b, 2x4), RishabhPant c Paine b Starc 29 (40b,

3x4), Ravindra Jadeja c Cummins b Starc 57 (159b, 3x4), R.Ashwin c Lyon b Hazlewood 14(42b), Umesh Yadav c Smith bLyon 9 (19b, 1x4), Jasprit Bumrah c Head b Lyon 0 (1b), Mohd.Siraj (not out) 0 (2b); Extras(b12, lb6, w2, nb2): 22; Total(in 115.1 overs): 326.

FALL OF WICKETS10 (Mayank, 0.6 overs), 261(Gill, 21.6), 364 (Pujara, 23.4),4116 (Vihari, 44.4), 5173(Pant, 59.1), 6294 (Rahane,99.5), 7306 (Jadeja, 106.5), 8325 (Umesh, 113.6), 9325 (Ashwin, 114.4).

AUSTRALIA BOWLING

Starc 265783, Cummins279802, Hazlewood 236471, Lyon 27.14723, Green121310.

AUSTRALIA — 2ND INNINGSMatthew Wade lbw b Jadeja 40(137b, 3x4), Joe Burns c Pant bUmesh 4 (10b), MarnusLabuschagne c Rahane b Ashwin 28 (49b, 1x4), Steve Smith bBumrah 8 (30b), Travis Head cMayank b Siraj 17 (46b),Cameron Green (batting) 17(65b, 2x4), Tim Paine c Pant bJadeja 1 (9b), Pat Cummins(batting) 15 (53b, 1x4); Extras(nb3): 3; Total (for six wkts. in66 overs): 133.

FALL OF WICKETS14 (Burns, 3.1), 242(Labuschagne, 17.5), 371(Smith, 32.2), 498 (Wade,43.6), 598 (Head, 46.1), 699(Paine, 47.4).

INDIA BOWLINGBumrah 174341, Umesh 3.3051, Siraj 12.31231, Ashwin234461, Jadeja 103252.

SCOREBOARD

India pacer Mohammed Siraj said the work he put

during the lockdown and IndiaA tours helped him to beready for his Test debut inMelbourne. The pacer haspicked up three wickets sofar in the match.

“The performance indomestic cricket and IndiaAtour helped me focus on thebasics consistently. Duringthe lockdown, I worked onmy fi��tness and also my bowling. I did well in the IPL andthat gave me the confi��dencethat I can do well for Indiaalso,” said Siraj after thethird day’s play on Monday.

Patience is the keyThe Hyderabad pacer, whopicked up a wicket on thethird day as the Indian bowlers reduced the host to 133for six after taking a 131runlead, said there was notmuch help for the bowlersand that patience would bethe key to bowling out Australia soon on the fourthday.

“The wicket has becomeslow and, there is not much

swing either. So we have tobe patient and bowl in onearea,” said the 26yearold.

Siraj said the team focussed on squeezing theruns after Umesh Yadavlimped off�� the fi��eld. “AfterUmesh Bhai left, we tried tofocus on bowling maiden overs and build the pressure.”

The pacer also creditedthe role of bowling coachBharat Arun in his career asthe latter had worked withSiraj when he was coach ofthe Hyderabad team a fewyears ago.

“He used to tell I couldtake the wicket of any batsman and always encouraged me.”

Past performances havehelped me: SirajS. Dipak Ragav

Sendoff��: Siraj celebratesthe exit of Travis Head. * AFP

Unhappy with skipper TimPaine’s dismissal in the second innings of the ongoingBoxing Day Test against India here on Monday, Australia’s makeshift opener Matthew Wade has called forconsistent implementationof the Decision Review System (DRS).

Wade made the statementafter Paine was given out,caught behind off�� RavindraJadeja on the third day. Thewicketkeeperbatsman wasruled out after the onfi��eld

call by Paul Reiff��el was overturned by third umpire PaulWilson.

ComparisonPaine didn’t hide his disappointment over the decisionwhile leaving the fi��eld,prompting Wade to compareit with Australia’s review ofCheteshwar Pujara on the second day’s play on Sunday.

“From what I’ve seen itlooked pretty similar to thefi��rst ball of yesterday, theone we actually referred, Ithink it was off�� Pujara.

“So from all reports and

what I’ve seen, Snickoshowed a very similar thing,one was given out and onewas not out. That’s the waythe cookie crumbles sometimes, but that’s what itlooked like from wherewe’ve been sitting andwatching,” Wade said.

“I heard a noise on thePujara one, I was at fi��rst slipat the time, and his bat wasthe only thing out there, andthen we saw what you guyssaw on the ground, whichwas a small spike. Either wayif it was out or not out, consistency is all you want.”

Wade unhappy with Paine’s dismissalPress Trust of India

Melbourne

Got to go! Jadeja and Rahane exult at the fall of Matthew Wade’s wicket. * AFP

The legendary Sachin Tendulkar on Monday urged theICC to thoroughly revisit theconcept of ‘Umpire’s Call’ inthe Decision Review System(DRS) after India ended upon the wrong side of the ruleon the third day of the second Test against Australiain Melbourne.

The ‘Umpire’s Call’ primarily comes into the picture if a review has beensought for LBW. In a situation where the umpire hasruled not out, even if the ball

is shown to be hitting thestumps on review, the TVumpire has no powers tochange the decision.

The only consolation for

the bowling team is that itsreview remains intact.

“The reason players optfor a review is becausethey’re unhappy with thedecision taken by the onfi��eld umpire. The DRS system needs to be thoroughlylooked into by the @ICC, especially for the ‘UmpiresCall’,” Tendulkar tweeted.

This was after Australianbatsmen Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne were luckyto survive LBW appeals despite replays showing that theball would have gone on toclip the bails.

Revisit ‘umpire’s call’: TendulkarPress Trust of India

Mumbai

Sachin Tendulkar.* FILE PHOTO: PTI

Faf du Plessis made a careerbest 199 as South Africaprospered in the fi��rst Testagainst Sri Lanka with amassive fi��rstinnings scoreof 621 and a lead of 160 onday three on Monday.

Sri Lanka closed on 65 for

two in its second innings.du Plessis fell short of a

major milestone with a poorselection of shot as he attempted to lift legspinnerWanindu Hasaranga (fourfor 171) over midon, but instead off��ered a simple catchto Karunaratne. He faced276 balls and hit 24 fours.

Masterly 199 by du Plessis Reuters

PRETORIA

India captain Virat Kohli onMonday headlined the ICCtop honours for the decade,winning the Sir Garfi��eld Sobers award for the best malecricketer of the past 10years. Kohli was also pickedfor the ODI CricketeroftheDecade award.

Former India skipper M.S.Dhoni won the ICC SpiritofCricket award, chosen byfans for his gesture of callingback England batsman IanBell after a bizarre run out inthe Nottingham Test in 2011.

The International CricketCouncil (ICC) made the announcements via Twitter,bestowing the top honourson Kohli, who scored 66 ofhis 70 international hundreds, in the ICC Awards pe

riod. During this time, hewas also the batsman withmost fi��fties (94), most runs(20,396) besides having thebest average (56.97) amongplayers with 70 plus innings.Kohli was also part of theWorld Cupwinning Indiasquad in 2011.

Australia’s Ellyse Perryswept the women's awards,securing the Female CricketeroftheDecade along withODI and T20 Cricketerof

theDecade awards.

The winners: Virat Kohli: SirGarfi��eld Sobers Award for MaleCricketeroftheDecade andmen's ODI cricketer; Ellyse Perry: Rachael HeyhoeFlint Awardfor Female CricketeroftheDecade, women's ODI cricketer andwomen's T20I cricketer; SteveSmith: Men’s Test cricketer;Rashid Khan: T20I cricketer;Kyle Coetzer: Men's Associatecricketer; Kathryn Bryce: Women's Associate cricketer; M.S.Dhoni: Spirit of Cricket award.

Last decade belongs to KohliSpiritofCricket award for Dhoni; Perry sweeps honours


Dubai

Ellyse Perry. * GETTY IMAGES Virat Kohli. * AFP

ICC AWARDS

Liverpool off��ered the chasing pack in the PremierLeague title race a lateChristmas gift by throwingaway two points at home tostruggling West Brom in a 11draw on Sunday, as Tottenham was also held 11 atWolves.

The defending championedged three points clear atthe top of the table, butdropped points in the leagueat Anfi��eld for just the secondtime in 34 games after failingto make the most of a dominant fi��rsthalf performance.

Sadio Mane opened thescoring with a classy fi��nishon 12 minutes while SemiAjayi late header stopped Liverpool’s winning run.

Meanwhile, Manchester

City’s visit to Everton onMonday was postponed after multiple new positivetests for coronavirus weredetected at City, the clubconfi��rmed.

“Based on strong medicaladvice the Premier League,in consultation with bothclubs, have decided to postpone the fi��xture,” City said

in a statement.

The results: Crystal Palace 1(Zaha 58) drew with Leicester 1(Barnes 83).

Sunday: West Ham 2 (Johnson60, Soucek 82) drew withBrighton 2 (Maupay 44, Dunk70); Liverpool 1 (Mane 12) drewwith West Brom 1 (Ajayi 82);Wolves 1 () drew with Tottenham 1 (Ndomble 1).

West Brom holds Liverpool EvertonCity game postponed due to COVID cases


London

PREMIER LEAGUE

Heading it in: West Brom’s Semi Ajayi rises above theLiverpool defence to score the equaliser. * AFP

Sri Lanka — 1st innings: 396.South Africa — 1st innings: D.Elgar c & b Shanaka 95, A.Markram c Shanaka b Fernando68, H. van der Dussen c Dickwella b Kumara 15, F. duPlessis c Karunaratne b Hasaranga 199, Q. de Kock c sub bHasaranga 18, T. Bavuma cDickwella b Shanaka 71, W.Mulder c Dickwella b Hasaranga 36, K. Maharaj c bFernando 73, A. Nortje c Dickwella b Fernando 0, L. Sipamlalbw b Hasaranga 0, L. Ngidi(not out) 2; Extras (b9, lb18,nb7, w10): 44; Total (in 142.1overs): 621.Fall of wickets: 1141, 2200,

3200, 4220, 5399, 6476,7609, 8610, 9611.Sri Lanka bowling: Fernando31.121293, Rajitha 2.10160, Shanaka 28.52982,Hasaranga 4551714, Kumara21.101031, Karunaratne 6.50360, Mendis 70410.Sri Lanka — 2nd innings: D.Karunaratne b Ngidi 6, K. Perera (batting) 33, K. Mendis cvan der Dussen b Ngidi 0, D.Chandimal (batting) 21; Extras(b4, nb1): 5; Total (for twowkts. in 12 overs): 65.Fall of wickets: 110, 222.South Africa bowling: Ngidi 60282, Nortje 30230,Mulder 30100.

SCOREBOARD

CMYK

A ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SPORT

Australia vs India: Sony Ten1, 3 & Sony Six (SD & HD), 5a.m.South Africa vs New Zeal-and: Star Sports 1 (SD & HD),1.30 p.m. ISL: Star Sports 2 & 3 (SD &HD), 7.30 p.m. Premier League: Star Sports3, SS Select 1 & 2 (SD & HD),11.30 p.m.; SS Select 1 (SD &HD), 1.30 a.m.

TV PICKS

New Zealand — 1st innings:431.Pakistan — 1st innings: S.Masood c Watling b Jamieson10, Abid Ali b Jamieson 25, M.Abbas c Taylor b Boult 5, AzharAli c Watling b Southee 5, H.Sohail c Nicholls b Southee 3, F.Alam c Watling b Wagner 9, M.Rizwan run out 71, F. Ashraf cWatling b Jamieson 91, YasirShah b Boult 4, S. Afridi c

Latham b Wagner 6, NaseemShah (not out) 0; Extras (b3,lb4, w2, nb1): 10; Total (in102.2 overs): 239.

Fall of wickets: 128, 239, 343, 451, 552, 680, 7187, 8196, 9235.

New Zealand bowling: Southee267692, Boult 264712,Jamieson 23.213353, Wagner215502, Santner 6270.

SCOREBOARD

Union Home Minister AmitShah unveiled a lifesize statue of former union ministerand president of the Delhiand District Cricket Association (DDCA), the late ArunJaitley, at the premises of Ferozeshah Kotla ground hereon Monday.

Made by noted sculptorRam Sutar — the 96yearoldman behind the “Statue ofUnity” depicting Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat —the statue is the fi��rst for anypoliticiancumsports administrator at a sporting facilityin recent times.

The event was to markArun Jaitley’s 68th birthanniversary.

BCCI president SouravGanguly, DDCA presidentand Arun Jaitley’s son Ro

han, and cricketerturnedMember of Parliament Gautam Gambhir were among

those who attended thefunction.

The move to install thestatue faced sharp criticismby former Test captain Bishan Singh Bedi, who demanded the removal of his namefrom one of the stands.

Reaching to Bedi’s remarks, Rohan Jaitley said,“Bedi ji is the “Bhishm Pitamah” of Delhi cricket. If hehas reservations, there arebetter ways of discussingthem.

“I’m a youngster and expect to be guided by the elders in the fraternity. Hisname on the stands is his legacy, an honour bestowedupon him. The DDCA will request Bedi ji to withdraw hisdemand.”

Arun Jaitley’s statue unveiled at the KotlaDDCA president appeals to Bishan Singh Bedi to withdraw his demand

Recognising an administrator: DDCA president Rohan Jaitleypresenting a memento to Union Home Minister Amit Shahafter the unveiling of a statue of Arun Jaitley on Monday. * PTI

Rakesh Rao

NEW DELHI

P. Harikrishna came up witha fl��awless defensive plan tothwart Levon Aronian’s designs for an eighth drawfrom nine rounds in the$200,000 Airthings Mastersonline rapid chess tournament on Monday.

Having drawn with Alexander Grischuk, leader Hikaru Nakamura and Nepomniachtchi in the previous

three rounds, Harikrishna isplaced 10th with four points. The results:

Round nine: Levon Aronian(Arm, 5) drew with P. Harikrishna (4); Alexander Grischuk(Rus, 4.5) drew with MagnusCarlsen (Nor, 5); Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 5.5) bt David AntonGuijar (Esp, 3); Wesley So (USA,5) drew with Teimour Radjabov(Aze, 5); Ian Nepomniachtchi(Rus, 5) bt Daniil Dubov (Rus,4.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 4) bt Maxime VachierLagrave (Fra, 3.5).

Round eight: Harikrishna drewwith Nepomniachtchi; Carlsen

drew with Giri; Dubov drewwith Nakamura; Radjabov drewwith Aronian; Radjabov drewwith Aronian; Vachier drewwith So.

Round seven: Nakamura drewwith Harikrishna; Carlsen drewwith Vachier; Aronian drewwith So; Nepomniachtchi drewwith Radjabov; Grischuk drewwith Dubov; Giri drew with Anton. Round six: Harikrishnadrew with Grischuk; Antondrew with Carlsen; Dubov btGiri; Vachier drew with Aronian;So drew with Nepomniachtchi;Radjabov drew with Nakamura.

Harikrishna holds AronianHis eighth draw from nine rounds

AIRTHINGS MASTERS

RAKESH RAO

NEW DELHI

Not even a broken toe couldstop New Zealand’s pace attack dominating day three ofthe fi��rst Test against Pakistanhere on Monday, but eff��ortsto quickly wrap up the innings were slowed by Mohammad Rizwan and Faheem Ashraf ’s late centurystand.

InterruptionAs intermittent showers andan unseasonal hailstorm disrupted proceedings, theBlack Caps’ pace foursometook fi��ve for 50 in the fi��rsttwo sessions before Pakistanrallied to be all out for 239 atstumps, still 192 in arrears.

Rizwan and Ashraf provided a facesaving partnership for Pakistan with 107 forthe seventh wicket beforeRizwan was run out for 71 byMitchell Santner’s smart underarm throw fromsquareleg.

Ashraf soldiered on to acareerbest 91 before he became the last to fall.

Ignoring painKyle Jamieson returned thebest fi��gures for New Zealandwith three for 35, while NeilWagner ignored the painfrom a broken toe to chargein for 21 overs and take twofor 50.

He hobbled off�� at stumps

describing it as one of thetoughest days of his careerand revealed he neededpainkillers to keep going.

“After the fi��rst rain break Ijust went ‘dammit I can’tbear the pain’ and I got a jaband that took the pain awaya little bit... but it startedwearing off�� pretty quickly,”said Wagner, who broke atoe on his right foot whenbatting on day two.

“Injuries happen and it’sunlucky but I can still dothings and run and it’s notgoing to stop me. It’s sore

and it’s bloody uncomfortable but its just one of thosethings you’ve got to deal

with and I still felt that Ididn’t want to let my teammates down.”

Kiwis have Pakistan in a bindPacers do the trick even as the visitors manage to just avoid followon

PAKISTAN IN NZ

Warhorse: Despite bowling with a broken toe, Neil Wagner bagged two wickets, including thisone of Fawad Alam. * AFP


Mount Maunganui

Johnny Mullagh, who playedon the 1868 Aboriginal teamthat was Australia’s fi��rst totour England, became thefi��rst indigenous inductee into the country’s cricket Hallof Fame on Monday.

Mullagh took 245 wicketsat an average of 10.00 andscored 1,698 runs at 23.65 in45 matches during the 47match tour. Hall of Famechairman Peter King said theselection panel had modifi��ed its criteria to allow Mullagh to be inducted given henever represented Australiain Tests.

Born ‘Unaarrimin’, Mullagh played in the third

cricket match ever staged atthe MCG on Boxing Day in1866 for the Aboriginal andT.W. Wills XI against the Melbourne Cricket Club.

This history had contri

buted to the introduction ofthe Mullagh Medal this yearfor the PlayeroftheMatchin the traditional Boxing DayTest in Melbourne, CricketAustralia said.

The inaugural MullaghMedal will be awarded at theend of the ongoing secondTest against India.

Mullagh, who lived in theWimmera region of southern Victoria state, died at theage of 50 in 1891. He will beone of three inductees announced in February.

Australian cricket has belatedly made eff��orts to recognise Indigenous playersbut only former pace bowlerJason Gillespie has played inTests in the men’s game.

Johnny Mullagh is fi��rst aborigine in Australian Hall of Fame

The Mullagh Medal.* GETTY IMAGES

Reuters

MELBOURNE

Twentytime Grand Slamchampion Roger Federerwill miss the AustralianOpen for the fi��rst time inhis career as he continueshis recovery from tworounds of knee surgery, organisers said on Monday.

The 39yearold Swisshas been out of actionsince February but recently resumed training andwas on the entry list for theyear's opening GrandSlam, which will make adelayed start on February8.

Meanwhile, formerWorld No. 1 Andy Murray, afi��vetime Australian Openfi��nalist, was given a wildcard entry. Tiley welcomedthe 33yearold back to thetournament, two years after his fi��rstround exitprompted fears his careerwas at an end.

Oz Open:Federer out,wild-card forMurray


Melbourne

Lionel Messi remained coyon his future at Barcelona ina long interview broadcaston Sunday in which hecalled the Catalan giants“my life”.

Speaking to Spanish TVchannel La Sexta, Messi insisted that he was “excited”to play under coach RonaldKoeman this season despitetrying to leave the clubwhere he has played his entire senior career lastsummer.

He said that at the time hefelt like he “needed achange”, but his attemptedexit was blocked amid a spatwith former Barca presidentJosep Maria Bartomeu.

Free to negotiateMessi’s contract expires atthe end of the season andfrom next month he will befree to negotiate a moveaway from Catalonia.

“Barca is my life, I’m inlove with the club. And thecity, my children were bornhere,” Messi said in an interview conducted earlier thismonth.

“It’s true I had a bad timein the summer. It came fromeverything that happenedbefore the summer, how theseason ended, the burofax(how Messi communicatedhis desire to leave), all ofthat. I carried that into thestart of the season a littlebit.”

Bartomeu stepped downin October and a new Barce

lona president will be elected on January 24, afterwhich 33yearold Messi isexpected to begin talks overwhether to extend his careerlong stay.

Messi said he is under noillusions over the positionBarca fi��nds itself in, with thefi��nancial problems exacerbated by the coronaviruspandemic likely to hamperplayer recruitment.

“I know the club is goingthrough a diffi��cult period

and that makes everythingsurrounding Barcelona diffi��cult, but I am motivated,” hesaid.

Neymar not possibleHe described Barca’s situation as “really bad” andpoured scorn on the ideathat Neymar could make ashock return to Catalonia.

“To do that you need money, and there is no money.Neymar would cost a lot,”Messi said.

Messi coy about Barca futureSays the fi��nancial situation at the club is really bad

Messitalk: Lionel Messi has once again affi��rmed his love forBarcelona and says he is excited to work under RonaldKoeman. * REUTERS

LALIGA


Madrid

A headed goal from Stephen Eze, 11 minutes from

time, earned Jamshedpur FCa 10 win over Bengaluru FC(BFC) at the Fatorda Stadium,Margao here on Monday.

The Nigerian’s third strikeof the season helped his sideleapfrog BFC into third position (13 points) and left coachCarles Cuadrat to digest backtoback defeats for the fi��rsttime in the ISL since FebruaryMarch 2019.

With just over 10 minutesleft, midfi��elder Alex Lima, avibrant presence all throughthe evening, released AniketJadhav on the right. The 20

yearold whipped in a fi��necross which Eze attackedbravely ahead of BFC’s burlydefender Juanan and was dulyrewarded.

Rahul Bheke could havesalvaged a point for BFC, buthis header from pointblankrange in the 85th minute wasfi��sted away by T.P. Rehenesh.

BFC paid for its profl��igacyin the fi��rst half. Just after thehalfhour mark, Suresh Wangjam started a move from midfi��eld, and after exchangingpasses with Sunil Chhetri andKristian Opseth found himselfwith just Rehenesh to beat. The result: Jamshedpur FC 1(Eze 79) bt Bengaluru FC 0.

Tuesday’s match: ChennaiyinFC vs ATK Mohun Bagan, 7.30p.m.

Stephen Eze getsJamshedpur full points

ISL 2020

Sport Bureau

With tennis, like so muchof the world, shut

down because of the coronavirus pandemic, Naomi Osaka found herself with time toread and think.

And while she won theU.S. Open for her thirdGrand Slam title, she alsostood out for speaking outabout racial injustice andpolice brutality.

Female Athlete of the YearAs noteworthy in 2020 forher activism away from thetennis court as her successon it, Osaka was selected byThe Associated Press as the

Female Athlete of the Year inresults revealed on Sundayafter a vote by AP membersports editors and AP beat

writers. Osaka collected 18 of 35

fi��rstplace votes and a totalof 71 points.

Osaka — the champion that ‘gotpeople talking about the real issues’

GENERAL

Standing up and standing out: While Naomi Osaka won herthird Grand Slam title, she also stood out for speaking outabout racial injustice and police brutality. * REUTERS

The Associated Press

Lionel Messi will missBarcelona’s last match ofthe calendar year after theCatalan giant announcedon Sunday that ankletreatment will keep himout of its midweek LaLigamatch with Eibar.

In a statement, Barcasaid Messi “is completingthe treatment for his rightankle, and is expected toreturn to training after theFC Barcelona v SD Eibarmatch”.

Messi has alreadymissed two matches forBarca in December.

To miss last match of 2020Agence France-Presse

Madrid

Dallas Mavericks poweredto an NBArecord 50pointhalftime lead on the way toa 12473 demolition of theshorthanded Los AngelesClippers on Sunday.

The Mavs took full advantage of the absence of injured Clippers star KawhiLeonard. The results: Indiana Pacers108 bt Boston Celtics 107; Cle

veland Cavaliers 118 bt Philadelphia 76ers 94. New YorkKnicks 130 bt Milwaukee Bucks110; LA Lakers 127 bt Minnesota Timberwolves 91.

Chicago Bulls 128 lost toGolden State Warriors 129;Charlotte Hornets 106 btBrooklyn Nets 104.

Washington Wizards 113 lostto Orlando Magic 120; Sacramento Kings 100 lost to Phoenix Suns 116.

New Orleans Pelicans 98 btSan Antonio Spurs 95; LA Clippers 73 lost to Dallas Mavericks 124.

Big win for MavericksNBA


Los Angeles

On a roll: Luka Doncic, left, was the man mainly responsiblefor Mavericks’ NBA record halftime lead. * AFP

Ishaan Madesh and RishonRajeev won a double each,while the Maini brothers —Arjun and Kush — split victories in the Senior Max categories in the opening tworounds of the Meco FMSCINKC Rotax Max Karting

Championship here.The results (winners): Round 1: Micro Max: IshaanMadesh (Peregrine RacingIntl.) 12:55.661s; Junior Max:Rishon Rajeev (Birel Art)14:11.259s.Senior Max: Kush Maini (NKRacing) 18:10.725sRound 2: Micro Max: Ishaan13:37.211s; Junior Max: Rishon14:24.473s; Senior Max: ArjunMaini (NK Racing) 16:56.551s.

Ishaan, Rishon sizzleMOTORSPORTS

Sports Reporter

BENGALURU

The return of skipper Shikhar Dhawan and a fi��tagainIshant Sharma gives Delhi aformidable look in the upcoming Syed Mushtaq AliT20 (SMAT) tournament.

The 20member team willtravel to Mumbai on January2 and following the mandatory quarantine period,takes on the host in its campaignopener on January 11.In the league phase, Delhi isplaced in Elite ‘E’ with Mumbai, Andhra, Kerala, Haryana, and Puducherry.

The squad includes all theregular members, includingNitish Rana, Himmat Singh,Jonty Sidhu, Lalit Yadav,Anuj Rawat, with PradeepSangwan making a returnfrom injury. The notableomission is former captain

Dhruv Shorey. The squad: Shikhar Dhawan(Capt.), Ishant Sharma, NitishRana, Himmat Singh, KshitizSharma, Jonty Sidhu, Hiten Dalal, Lalit Yadav, Shivank Vashisth, Manjot Kalra, SiddhantSharma, Anuj Rawat (wk), Pradeep Sangwan, SimarjeetSingh, Pawan Negi, Ayush Badoni, Vaibhav Kandpal, LakshayThareja (wk), Pawan Suyal andKaran Dagar.

Dhawan at the helm Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Shikhar Dhawan. * AFP

Easy for Aarush Sports

Aarush Sports defeated G.K.Academy by nine wickets ina lowscoring encounter ofthe fi��rst Tripathi PremierLeague.

The scores: G.K. Academy 44

in 21 overs lost to Aarush

Sports 48/1 in 11 overs.

Sangam, Piyush,

Hardik shine

Sangam Shahi’s deadly spellof 5/28 followed by halfcenturies from PiyushKumar (88) and HardikSharma (60) set up GoldenHawks Club’s sevenwicketwin over R.K.B. Academy inthe seventh S.N. Dubey(u16) tournament.

The scores: R.K.B. Academy

202 in 39.2 overs (Kartikey

Rana 74, Karan Kashyap 72,

Sangam Shahi 5/28, Shivraj

Kumar 3/36) lost to Golden

Hawks Club 203/3 in 38.4

overs (Piyush Kumar 88,

Hardik Sharma 60).

Aryan, Arihan, Mayank bat wellHalfcenturies from AryanGaur, Arihan Vatsayan andMayank Gosai helpedAshish Nehra Academy beatK.G. Colts by six wickets inthe Skillz Youth Cup (u19)tournament.The scores:

K.G. Colts 245/8 in 40 overs

(Rahul Kumar 60, Yogesh

Kandpal 59, Gaurav Kumar 58,

Saurav Yadav 34, Kshitij Negi

3/27) lost to Ashish Nehra

Academy 246/4 in 32.2 overs

(Aryan Gaur 90, Arihan

Vatsayan 57, Mayank Gosai 51,

Mehul Chaudhary 33).

Aarsh and Aryan

excels for Turf Academy

Aarsh Chadha (4/23) andAryan Dabas (56) helpedTurf Academy beatEndurance Academy byseven wickets in theEndurance (u15)tournament.

The scores:

Endurance Academy 119 in

34.4 overs (Netik Mathur 46,

Aarsh Chadha 4/23) lost to

Turf Academy 120/3 in 13.4

overs (Aryan Dabas 56, Shrey

Goel 35 not out).

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Farmers get invite for talks again - Tenhard India

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