journalism of courage - Bandhan Login

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 2021, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `4.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

Ending tradeban, Pak sayswill importcotton, sugarfrom India

SAJJADHUSSAINISLAMABAD,MARCH31

PAKISTANWILL buy sugar andcotton from India, newly ap-pointed Finance MinisterHammad Azhar announced onWednesday,liftingabanontheirimport from the neighbouringcountry imposed in thewakeofheightened tension overKashmir in2019.Thedecisionwastakenatthe

meeting of the EconomicCoordination Committee (ECC),whichwas chaired by FinanceMinister Azhar. Azhar said themeetingdiscussed21itemsontheagenda, including import of cot-tonandsugarfromIndia,whichitallowedafterdetaileddiscussion.Theresumptionof importof

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GUJARAT

Assembly passesamendments toCrPC Bill amidCong opposition

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEGANDHINAGAR,MARCH31

THECODEofCriminalProcedure(Gujarat)AmendmentBill,2021,whichwill facilitateregistrationofcriminalcasesbasedonthein-formation received frompoliceofficerswhenprohibitoryordersare in place, was passed in theGujarat Assembly onWednesday, even as theCongress opposed it stating theamendmentswill “stifle publicprotests” and “instil fear” of po-liceaction.A section in the existing law

till now allowed a court to takecognizance of only those casesbasedonawrittencomplaintbyapublicservantwhohadissuedtheorders.Tabling the Bill, Minister of

State for Home PradeepsinhJadejasaid:“TheCommissionersofPoliceanddistrictmagistratesare empowered to issue pro-hibitory orders under Section144 of the Criminal ProcedureCode, 1973. The police officersdeployed for enforcement of

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SUNNYVERMANEWDELHI,MARCH31

THE GOVERNMENT ONWednesdaycutinterestratesonvarious small savings schemessharply by 40-110 basis points.The revisedrateswill come intoeffectfromApril1andremainineffect till June30.Small savingratesare linked

toyieldsonbenchmarkgovern-ment bonds, which have fallenover the last one year as theReserveBankof Indiacutratestosupporttheeconomy.Theinter-est rate on savings deposits hasbeen reduced to 3.5 per cent

from4percentforthefirstquar-terof 2021-22.Among the most popular

fixed income products, PublicProvident Fund (PPF) will nowfetcharateof6.4percent,down

from7.1percentearlier.NationalSavings Certificate (NSC) willnow yield 5.9 per cent, downfrom 6.8 per cent earlier whilerates on the girl child savingsscheme Sukanya Samriddhi

Yojana will fall to 6.9 per centfrom7.6percentearlier.Rates on time deposits have

also been slashed significantly.One-year time deposit rateshaveseenthesteepestcutof110basispoints to4.4percent from5.5 per cent. The rates on two,threeandfiveyeartimedepositshavealsobeenreducedby40-90basispoints,asperthenewratesnotifiedbythefinanceministry.The reduction in small sav-

ingsratescomesamidstinflationinching up in recent months.Latest retail inflation data re-leased by the governmentshowed the headline number

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WHILELOWERratesonsmall savingschemeswillhelp thegovern-ment in reducing its in-terest costs, theywillhurt savers,particularlysenior citizensandthemiddle-class.Withbanks tooreducingrateson fixeddeposits, fixedincome investorshaveseenashrinkingof in-vestmentavenuesoverthe last coupleof years.

Bigblowtosmallsavers

Interest rates on small saving schemescut sharply: PPF to fetch 6.4%, NSC 5.9%

Instrument OldRate (%) NewRate (%)

SavingsDeposit 4.0 3.51-yeartimedeposit 5.5 4.42-yeartimedeposit 5.5 5.05-yeartimedeposit 6.7 5.8SeniorCitizenSavingsScheme 7.4 6.5PublicProvidentFundScheme 7.1 6.4KisanVikasPatra 6.9 6.2Source: FinanceMinistry

ONE-YEARDEPOSIT SEESDEEPEST CUT

AGE45&ABOVEELIGIBLEFORJAB

States told toidentify lowcoverage,keepvaccinewastageless than1%

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI,MARCH31

AMIDA surge in Covid-19 casesin several parts of the countrywhere the total active caseloadhasclimbedto5.52lakhcases,thethirdphaseofvaccinationwillberolled outWednesday,makingeverypersonabovetheageof45eligibleforavaccineshot.This round of vaccination,

twoandahalfmonths after thecountrybegan itsCovid-19vac-cination drive, will make thelargest age cohort eligible so farforphase-wiseadministrationofthevaccine.It will cover the population

which is at the highest risk: 90percentofCoviddeathsinIndiahave been in the category ofthoseabove theageof 45.Ofthetotalactivecaseloadof

5.52 lakh cases, five states --Maharashtra,Karnataka,Kerala,Punjab and Chhattisgarh -- cu-mulativelyaccountfor79.30percent of the cases. Maharashtraleadswithmorethan61percentof theactivecaseload.On Wednesday, Rajesh

Bhushan, Union HealthSecretary, and Dr R S Sharma,Chairperson,EmpoweredGroupon Covid Vaccination, chaired ahigh-level meeting with statehealth secretaries andmissiondirectors of theNationalHealthMissiononthepreparednessforthe third phase, directing thestates to identify low vaccinecoverage,particularlyindistrictswitnessing a Covid surge.

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AANCHALMAGAZINE&ANILSASINEWDELHI,MARCH31

THE LOCALISED IMPACT of thefresh wave of rising Covid-19cases couldpotentiallydent theuptickinbusinessactivity,espe-ciallyintheservicessector.Highfrequencyindicatorshavebegunto reflect somemoderationduetoadministrativeclampdownina bunch of districts includingMaharashtraandGujarat.Mobility indicators, such as

theApplemobilityindex,whichcapture the impact of risingcases at amore localised level,indicate that whilemovementhas normalised across allmajorcities through February andMarch 2021, there has been aslight blip in locations such asMumbaiandPune.

The Googlemobility index,whichtooreflectedasteadyim-provement over the last fewmonths, showsamoderation inthe retail and recreation sectorsthisMarch, partly tied to the in-crease in infections and the re-sultant administrative restric-tions, according to datacompiledbytheReserveBankofIndia.Transport indicators tracked

separately by the central banktoo reflect somemoderation ingrowth in February 2021, coin-ciding with the surge in freshCovid-19 cases in states likeMaharashtraandKerala.Pronab Sen, former Chief

Statistician of India and IGCcountrydirector,saidtheprojec-tionsforthenextfiscalwerepri-marilybasedontheassumptionthat the services sector will

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Abeneficiarygetshis shot, inDelhiWednesday. AmitMehra

Amid Covid surge, thirdvaccination round rollsout today for key group

Local lockdowns insecond wave set tohit services, denteconomic recovery

SETBACK FORCOVAXIN IN BRAZILPAGE10

ATRIMITRA&MANOJCGKOLKATA,NEWDELHIMAR31

ADAYaheadofthesecondphaseof elections in West Bengal,whichwillseeMamataBanerjeebattling itout inthehigh-stakesNandigram contest, the ChiefMinister wrote to Oppositionleaders, asking them to uniteagainst theBJP's “one-party au-thoritarian rule” and proposingthat they chart a plan of actionafter theongoingpolls.Thethree-pageletterwasad-

dressed to more than a dozen

non-BJP leaders, includingCongress president SoniaGandhi,NCPchiefSharadPawar,Shiv Sena chief UddhavThackeray, Aam Aadmi Partyconvenor and Delhi CMArvindKejriwal, RJD leader TejashwiYadav, Samajwadi Party chiefAkhilesh Yadav, DMKpresidentMKStalin,PDPchiefMehboobaMufti and NC president FarooqAbdullah.Thelettergotacoldresponse

from the Congress, which isfighting the Bengal elections aspart of the Left-led front -- the

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,MARCH31

A SPECIAL CBI Court inAhmedabad on Wednesdaydischargedthreepoliceofficersaccused in the 2004 killing ofIshrat Jahan and four othersstating therewas “no questionof any fake encounter” andtherewas“nothingonrecordtosuggest that the victimswerenot terrorists”.IPSofficerGLSinghal,retired

police officer Tarun Barot andassistant sub-inspector withStateReservePoliceForceAnajuChaudharywere the last threeaccusedfromtheGujaratpolicecadreagainstwhomchargesofabduction, murder and crimi-

nalconspiracyamongstothers,weredroppedalmost17yearsaf-ter the allegedencounter on theoutskirtsofAhmedabad.Singhal is currently an

InspectorGeneralofPolicewiththe Gujarat police and isposted at the Police TrainingAcademy.In its order, the court ob-

served,“Thereisnoquestionofany fake encounter on thepartofanysuchpoliceofficer...Theyare always dedicated to their

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Ishrat encounter: Three Gujaratcops discharged by CBI court

AtNandigramonWednesday.Adayaheadof thehigh-stakesMamataBanerjeevsSuvenduAdhikariclashhere, theElectionCommission imposedprohibitoryorders. ParthaPaul

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

Day ahead of Ph 2, Mamata writesto Opp leaders: unite against BJPCongcold;somepartiesagree;othersraise issueof timing

DECISION

2021

ASSAMPhase2

39 OF126SEATS

345candidates in fray;26women

WestBengalPhase2

30 OF294SEATS

171candidates in fray;19women

73.44lakh 5,315voters pollingbooths

75.95 lakh 10,620voters pollingbooths

Nothingtosuggestvictimsnotterrorists,sayscourt

THEWORLD

GORDON LIDDY,WATERGATEMASTERMIND, DIES

GET TOUGHWITHCHINAONTRADE, UKTELLSG7ALLIESPAGE14

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,MARCH31

WITHGROWINGevidencelink-ingarrestedMumbaipoliceoffi-cer SachinWaze to the allegedmurder of businessmanMansukh Hiran, the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) --probing the Mukesh Ambanibombscarecase-- isveeringto-wardstheconclusionthatHirancould have been killed afterWaze"panicked"thattheprobewasbeingtakenawayfromhim

andcouldbegiventotheCentralagency, sources said.Though theNIA is yet to get

the report of the final forensicanalysisdoneonHiran’sbody,theagencybelievesthatthecardecorshopownerwassmothered,andnotstrangled,sourcessaid.Hiranwas allegedly in pos-

sessionof theMahindraScorpiowhich was found outsideAmbani’s house inMumbai onFebruary 25with gelatin sticksand a threat note. According totheNIA,Wazehadtakenthecarfrom Hiran before allegedlyplanting the explosives andparking the car outside the in-dustrialist’shouse.“Hiran’s viscera report is yet

to come. However, based onprima facie evidence, it appearsHiranwas smothered.His post-mortemreporthasnotspecifiedthe causeof death. There arenoligaturemarks so strangulationdoes not appear to be the causeof death. When his body was

fished out of Kalwa creek inThane (on March 5), multiplehandkerchiefsweretakenoutofhismouth,”anofficerprivytoin-vestigationdetails said.Investigations have so far

pointed tohow, days before thebomb scare incident, Hiran hadallegedly handed over the keysof thecartoWazeandlatergoneontofileavehicletheftcasewiththepolice.WhileWazehascontinuedto

denyhis involvement inHiran’smurder, sources said, there ismountingevidenceagainsthim.“Thereisenoughevidencein

the formof call data records, lo-cationofthepeopleinvolvedandother electronic footprints that

linkWaze and his associates tothe crime.We are also trying toretrievedatafromtheelectronicdevices recovered from thebedofMithiRiver,” theofficer said.Sources said the agency has

found that after thebombscareincident,Wazewas pressuringHiran to own up to the crime.“The Opposition had begunmounting pressure on the gov-ernment to transfer the case toNIA. Therewere alsomurmursaboutthecasegoingtoMumbai

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PAGE1ANCHOR

Waze(left) hasso fardeniedhis role inHiran’smurder

For NIA, Waze’s motive behind Hiran’s murder:‘panic’ over losing Ambani bomb scare probe

WHYNOFIR AGAINSTDESHMUKH: HC TOPARAMBIR SINGHP10

Ahmedabad

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,APRIL 1, 2021

Interest ratesrising to a three-month high of5.03per cent in February froma16-monthlowof4.06percentinJanuary.In light of this, some of the

small savings productsmaynotyieldmuchintermsofrealinter-est rates,which a saver receivesafteradjustingforinflation.Senior Citizen Savings

Schemesinterestrateshavebeenreduced to6.5 per cent from7.4per cent, while rates on KisanVikas Patra has been reduced to6.2percentfrom6.9percentear-lier.Interestratesonsmallsavings

schemesare reset onaquarterlybasis, inlinewiththemovementinbenchmarkgovernmentbondsofsimilarmaturity.Theyieldon10-year govern-

ment security, for instance, hasdroppedfromaround6.8percentin April 2020 to around 6.1 percent now. For the past one year,rates have ranged between 5.7percentand6percent.Therateson five-year recurring depositshave been slashed by 50 basispointsto5.3percent.The fall in small savings rate

comes inthebackdropof asimi-lar reduction in overall depositrates by commercial banks.During March 2020 throughFebruary2021,theMedium-TermDeposit Rates fell by 144 basispoints,asperthelatestdatafromtheReserveBankof India.Similarly, theweightedaver-

age lending rate on fresh rupeeloans sanctioned by scheduledcommercial banks have wit-nessedadropof112basispointssinceMarch2020.Theindepositrates have, however, been fasterwhen comparedwith lendingrates.For theApril-Junequarter in

2020,thefinanceministryhadcutinterest rates on small savingsschemesbyupto140basispoints.They have been kept steady forthelastthreequarters.Small savings have emerged

as a key source of financing thegovernmentdeficit,especiallyaf-tertheCovid-19pandemicledtoa ballooning of the governmentdeficit,necessitatinghigherneedfor borrowings. In the 2020-21Revised Estimates, the govern-mentestimateditwouldraiseRs4.8lakhcrorethroughsmallsav-ings,againstthebudgetestimatesof Rs 2.4 lakh crore. In 2021-22,borrowings through small sav-ingshavebeenpeggedatRs3.91lakhcrore.

Ending trade banrevivalofbilateraltraderelations,whichwere suspendedafter theAugust5,2019decisionofIndiatorevoke the special status ofJammuandKashmir.The private sector was al-

lowedtoimport5 lakhtonnesofwhitesugarfromIndia,hesaid.He said that thegovernment

hadallowedsugartobeimportedfromother countries. However,the price of the commodity inothercountrieswasalsohigh.“However, in ourneighbour-

ing country India, the price ofsugar is quite cheap,” he said.“Hence,wehave decided to re-sume sugar tradewith India.”Azhar also said that Pakistan

will import cotton from Indiastarting June this year.ENS adds fromNewDelhi:

There was no immediate re-sponse from New Delhi onIslamabad’s decision. But onMarch 24, Hardeep Singh Puri,Minister of State for Commerceand Industry, responding to aquestion on bilateral trade be-tweenIndiaandPakistan,toldLokSabha: “Indiadesiresnormal re-lationsincludingontradewithallcountries, including Pakistan.Pakistanunilaterally suspendedbilateral trade with India inAugust 2019. It is for Pakistan toreviewitsunilateralmeasuresontrade.”)AdvisertothePrimeMinister

of Pakistan for Commerce andInvestment,DawoodwelcomedthedecisionstakenbytheECC.

“All steps be taken throughcross-border imports of cottonyarn including by land. A sum-marywillbepresentedatthenextECC to ensure availability of cot-ton and yarn in the comingmonths,”Dawoodtweeted.FinanceMinister Azhar told

themediathatdemandforcottoninPakistanwas increasingbut ithadnotproducedquality cottonlast year.Hence, it hadgiven thegreensignalfortheproducttobeimportedfromothercountries.“The import of cotton from

Indiawasbannedand thishadadirecteffectonourSMEs,”hesaid.“However, at the recommenda-tionoftheMinistryofCommerce,wehave alsodecided to resumethetradeofcottonwithIndia,”headded.Azhar was appointed as

FinanceMinister onMondaybyPrimeMinister ImranKhanwhoremovedDrAbdulHafeezShaikhfrom the Finance portfolio afterhis embarrassing defeat in theSenateelections.AzharisthethirdFinanceMinistertobeappointedsince Khan came to power in2018.Earlier, inMay2020,Pakistan

liftedthebanonimportofmedi-cines and rawmaterial of essen-tial drugs from India amid theCovid-19pandemic.TheMinistry of Textile had

soughtpermission fromtheECCtoliftthebanonimportofcottonandcottonyarnfromIndiainabidtobridgetherawmaterialshort-fallforthevalue-addedtextilesec-tor.TheMinistry of Commerce

separately asked for permissionto allow import of white sugarfrom India through the TradingCorporationofPakistanandcom-mercial importers.Officialsourcesheresaidthat

PrimeMinisterKhan,asMinister-in-Charge of Commerce andTextile,hadalreadyapprovedthereportsplacedbeforetheECCforallowing import of cotton andsugarfromIndia.“Itshowsthatthereisnotech-

nical or legal hindrance for im-portingtheseitemsfromIndia,”asourcesaid.Tensionhas comedownbe-

tween the twonations after therestoration of a ceasefire on theLineofControl lastmonth. Itwasfollowedwithanexchangeoflet-tersbythePrimeMinistersofthetwocountries. –PTI

Mamatapartydidnotofficiallyrespondtothe letter. The letter doesn't ad-dresstheCPIandtheCPMeither.Whilemany of the regional

parties agreed with Banerjee,someraisedquestionsabout thetimingof theletter.Inherletter,Banerjeecitedthe

example of the recently passedGovernment of National CapitalTerritoryofDelhi(GNCTD)Bill toaccuse theBJP and theCentre of“attackingdemocracyandconsti-tutionalfederalisminIndia”.“Withthislaw,theLieutenant

GovernorofDelhihasbeenmadetheundeclaredViceroyof Delhi,acting as a proxy for the homeministerandtheprimeminister.The government has snatchedawaypracticallyallthepowersofthe democratically elected gov-ernmentofDelhi,”shewrote."TheBJPwantstomakeitim-

possiblefornon-BJPpartiestoex-ercise their constitutional rightsand freedoms. Itwants to dilutethe powers of the state govern-ments anddowngrade them tomeremunicipalities. In short, itwantstoestablishaone-partyau-thoritarian rule in India," shewrote.The West Bengal CM con-

cludedbycallingfora"unitedandeffectivestruggleagainsttheBJP"."...Ishallworkwholeheartedly

with you and all other like-minded political parties in thisbattle.Wecanwinthisbattleonlywithunity of hearts andminds,andbypresenting a credible al-ternative to the people of India.After conclusion of the ongoingAssemblyElections,Isuggestthatwedeliberateontheseissuesand

chartaplanofaction."Congress'sWest Bengal unit

chief Adhir RanjanChowdhury,whoisalsotheleaderofthepartyin Lok Sabha, laughed offBanerjee's letter, saying, “I thinkshe is in desperation to countertheBJP.Butwhyso late?ThefactisthatinBengal,thethirdfrontledby the Congress and Left havebeenmarching forwardtowrestpower from the clutches ofBanerjee.Thatisoursingle-pointagenda.”Many regional party leaders

agreedwithBanerjeebutpointedout that “ego issues” betweenpartiescouldcomeinthewayofaunitedfront.“Thisletterisverypertinentin

viewofthesabotageweseeofin-stitutionsanddemocraticnorms.Sooncetheelectionsareover...allpolitical parties opposed to theBJP’s kindof politicsmust cometogether, jettison their personalegos...,” senior RJD leader andRajyaSabhaMPManojKumarJhatoldTheIndianExpress.SeniorShivSenaleaderSanjay

Rautsaid,“OnlyafterBengalelec-tions... everybody can come to-getheranddiscuss.Pawarsaabisthere, Congress is there.Everybody should sittogether...UPAshouldbestrength-ened.”AskedabouttheCongressbe-

ingpartof suchaneffort,hesaid,“Definitely.Congressisthelargestparty, so should lead it. If ego is-suescomeup, then therewill benounity.”Aseniornon-Congressoppo-

sitionleader,whodidnotwanttobe identified, said it is not easybringing opposition parties to-gether. “There are somany im-probables.WillAkhileshYadavdobusinesswith the Congress? Somany other parties won't. IfCongresssaysIwanttolead...thenitwillneverhappen... thetimeofeverybody accepting theunilat-eral leadershipof theCongressisover.”Anotherleaderalsowondered

about the timingof the letter. “Itseems shewanted to convey amessagetothepeoplethatdon’t

vote forCongress and theLeft orothers. If you vote for anybody(else),BJPwillwin...ThatsheistheonlypersonwhoistakingontheBJP,”hesaid.Senior DMK leader Tiruchi

Sivasaid, “Wehavealreadybeenraising our voices on the samelines, inParliamentandoutside."Expressing solidarity with

Banerjee, PDP presidentMehboobaMuftitweeted,“Agreewith@MamataOfficial di that inordertoprotectourdemocracy&its cherishedvalues it is impera-tive for theoppositionparties tounite.”

Ishratduties. Looking at thematerialfoundfromtheIndicacar, it ises-tablished that the informationwascorrect,soundandtherewasasubstantialforceintheinforma-tion.Therefore,thesefourpersons(who were killed in the en-counter)wererequiredtobepre-ventedfromalltheseaforesaidac-tivities...Asamatteroffact,aspertheprovisions of law, all thepo-lice officers are considered tobeondutyforall24hours...Thereisnothingonrecordevenprimafa-cie to suggest that the victimswere not terrorists, the I.B.(IntelligenceBureau)inputswerenotgenuine.”IshratJahan,JavedShaikhalias

PraneshPillai, and twoothers—Amjad Ali Rana and ZeeshanJohar, who were said to bePakistaninationals—werekillednear Kotarpurwaterworks onAhmedabadoutskirtsonJune15,2004, by the Ahmedabad CityDetectionofCrimeBranch(DCB),thenledbyDGVanzara.TheDCBhadthenclaimedthe

four personswere operatives oftheLashkar-e-Toiba,aterroristor-ganisation, out to kill the thenGujarat ChiefMinisterNarendraModi.Inthemaincharge-sheet,filed

by theCBI in2013, theprosecut-ingagencyhadnamedsevenpo-lice officers — P P Pandey, D GVanzara, N KAmin, J G Parmar,Singhal,Barot, andChaudhary—fromtheGujaratcadreasaccused

andcharged themwithmurder,abduction,anddestructionofev-idenceamongothers.Pandey, who was the Joint

Commissionerof Police (Crime),AhmedabadCity, at the time oftheencounter,wasdischargedin2018.By2014,theCBIfiledasupple-

mentary charge-sheet, addingfour intelligence officials as ac-cused. The charge-sheet statedthe “fake encounterwas a resultof the joint operation of theGujaratPoliceandSIB(SubsidiaryIntelligence Bureau),Ahmedabad”. TheCBI investiga-tionalsofoundthatweaponshadbeen sourced from the office oftheSIB.“On 14.06.2004, Shri GL

Singhal hadgone to theoffice oftheSIBasperinstructionsofShriDG Vanzara and had collectedweaponsinabagfromSIBoffice,Ahmedabad.Hehadsentthisbagthrough Shri NizamuddinBurhanmiyan to Shri Tarun ABarot,whowasatKhodiyarfarm,”thecharge-sheethadsaid.TheSIBwas then headed by RajinderKumar.InMay2019, the Special CBI

Court discharged Vanzara andAmin in the case,while ParmarwasabatedfollowinghisdeathinSeptember2020.Noneof theor-derstodropproceedingsagainstPandey,VanzaraandAminwerechallengedbytheCBI,amovethatonly strengthened thedischargeplea filed by Singhal, Barot andChaudharyonMarch20seekingthat the proceedings againstthembedroppedbythecourt.Thedischargeapplicationalso

stated that theGujarat govern-ment, throughAdditional ChiefSecretary of HomedepartmentPankaj Kumar, had declined tograntsanctiontotheCBItopros-ecutethepolicemen.The CBI had sought permis-

sion from the state governmentto prosecute Singhal, Barot andChaudhary on the direction ofspecialCBIJudgeVRRaval.UnderSection 197 of the Code ofCriminalProcedure,asanctionisrequiredforprosecutinggovern-

mentservantsforoffencesallegedinthedischargeofofficialduty.The CBI, through its special

public prosecutor RC Kodekar,hadopposedthedischargeappli-cations of the three policemenprimarilyonthegroundthat it isonlyafterthetrialbeginsthatonecandecidewhether the allegedoffenceswere indischargeof anofficial duty or not and that thestate government’s refusal togrant sanctionwas “without ap-plicationofmind”.Thecourt,however,noted:“In

short, a refusal of sanctionorderisadetailedoneandbasedonthebasisofentirematerialbelongingto the case. The order is passedwiththeapplicationofmindandthegovernmenthasalsocometothe conclusion that theoffencescommittedbythepresentappli-cants are suchwhichhavebeencommittedwhile dischargingtheirofficialdutiesaspoliceoffi-cers, and also the investigationagainsttheaccusedisnotproperand there is noevidence againsttheaccused.”JudgeRavalalso took intoac-

countthecourt’sobservationsinanOctober 2020 order that theencounterwas a part of the po-licemen’sofficialduty,andneitherthe CBI nor Ishrat’s motherShamimaKauser,challengedtheorderbeforeahighercourt, indi-cating“theobservationsmadebythiscourthavebeenacceptedbytheCBI aswell as themother ofthevictim”.IntheOctober23,2020,order,

Judge Raval had also given cre-dencetotheGujaratpolice’sver-sion of the encounter, pinningJahanand the threeothers,whowere killed, as being “not com-mon,simpleandordinaryoffend-ers,buttheywereallegedterror-istsandhavingcriminalhistory”.Ithadalsonotedthatsincetheal-legationsofterrorismagainstthefourkilledwerebasedon“certaininformation” received by theGujaratpolice, itmusthave thenbeenbasedon “sound, solid andcorrectinformation”.UnlesstheCBIappealsagainst

thedischargeofSinghal,Barotand

Chaudhary, the trial in the2004casemaypractically come to anend.At the time of discharging

AminandVanzara,thespecialCBIcourt had also broadly relied onthefactthatthestategovernmenthad refused to grant sanction toprosecute the twoofficers and ithad not been opposed or chal-lengedbytheCBI.Ishrat’s mother, Shamima

Kauser,however,hadopposedthedischarge pleas of Vanzara andAmin.ButsoonafterVanzaraandAminwere given the clean chit,Shamima through her counsel,SupremeCourt advocateVrindaGrover,hadissuedastatementinOctober2019, statingshewillbewithdrawingfromthecaseanditwas nowup to the prosecutingagency to see to it that theguiltyarepunished.Thestatementwasalso taken in the court’s recordsby the then special CBI judgeRKChudawala.

Waze’s motiveATS.WithHirannot agreeing toownup,Wazepanicked.Wearenowtrying to establishwhetherWazewashimselfpresentat thescene of the crimewhenHiranwasmurdered,”theofficersaid.Meanwhile,theNIAisgetting

a forensic examination done oftheMitsubishiOutlanderitrecov-ered from Navi Mumbai onTuesday. The car is registered inWaze’sname.The NIA has already seized

five vehicles in connectionwiththe case andarrested threepeo-ple, includingWaze.

CrPC Billorders comeacross incidents ofviolationsandneedtotakeappro-priate legal action against viola-tionsunderSection188ofIndianPenal Code, 1860. However,Section195of theCrPCmakes itmandatory forpublic servant is-suing such orders to be com-plainantagainstviolators,therebycreating an impediment for tak-ingcognizanceofviolations(sub-mitted)bypoliceofficers."Theproposedamendmentsto

theprovisionsunderCrPCsection195is“necessarytofacilitatereg-istrationof criminal cases basedoninformationreceivedfrompo-lice officers regarding commis-sionofcognizableoffencesunderSection 174 A and 188 of IPC,1860”,theministersaid.Thepro-posed amendment, Jadeja said,willfixa“loophole”andmakethelawbecomesharper.“Withtheseamendments,the

courtcanacceptthechargesheetfiledbythepolice,whichwasnotthe case earlier. In otherwords,the court can take cognizanceofthecrime,”theministersaid.Thestatementof objectsand

reasonsoftheBillstates:“Section174-A was inserted in IndianPenalCode,1860,bytheCriminalProcedure Code (Amendment)Act,2005,andnon-appearanceinresponsetoaproclamationunderSection 82 of CrPC, 1973, wasmade punishable. The saidamendment also inserted sub-sections (4)and(5) inSection82of the CrPC. The offence underSection 174-A is cognizable.However, Section195 (1) (a) (iii)oftheCrPC,1973,prohibitstheju-risdictional courts from takingcognizanceoftheoffencesexcepton complaint inwriting of thepublicservantconcerned.”Jadejasaidthegovernmentis-

suesprohibitoryorderstostopri-ots or tensions. "We know thatthere is Covid pandemic. If aCovid-affectedpatientrunsfroma hospital and the infectionspreadsor if there are violationswithregardtonotificationsissuedfor Covid lockdownand curfew,thenthepolicepersonnelondutycantakelegalstepsagainstthevi-olators,"headded.Theminister said suchviola-

torsusedtodetainedearlier, too,but the courts used to take cog-nizance only if officialswho is-suedtheordersorahigherofficergaveawrittencomplaint.Congresslegislator, including

Leader of theOppositionParesh

Dhanani, however, opposed theamendments saying thesewillfurther stifleprotests against thegovernmentanditspolicies."Onanaverage,Section188of

IPCisimposed300daysinayear.What impact does it have in therightsofcommonpeople?Duetothissection,peoplefinditdifficulttogotogethertomakearepresen-tation to the government. Theycan'tdodharnas(agitations).Theycan'ttakeoutrallies.Peoplehavearighttohighlighttheshortcom-ings of the government and toprotest in peace. These amend-mentswill chain the people... Iflawbecomes aweapon,wewilloppose,"Dhananisaid.CongressMLAVirjiThummar,

too, said the proposed amend-mentswillcreateanenvironmentoffearamongthosewhowanttoprotest against the government."I will narrate an incident thathappened recently here inGandhinagar. Employees con-nected with mid-day mealschemewereprotestingfortheirrightsandtheywereroundedupunderSection188.Ifthelawisfur-ther strengthened, no protestswillhappen,"hesaid.Despite the objections from

the opposition benches, the Billwas passed by amajority voicevote.CrPCbeingintheconcurrentlist,boththestateandtheCentrehavepowerstoamendit.

Covid surgeThedirectioncameadayaf-

ter Bhushan communicated toall Chief Secretaries to achieve100per cent vaccinationcover-ageof thoseabove theageof 45in thenext twoweeks.“All districtswithhighcase-

load and fast growth of casesmust ensure 100 per cent satu-ration vaccination of the prior-ity age group of 45 years andabove,inthecomingtwoweeks.Any complacency at this stage,at any level, will have heavycosts,”Bhushantold thestates.At themeetingWednesday,

it was underlined that stateshave to maintain vaccinewastage at less than 1 per cent,as against the present nationalaverageof 6percent.The senior officials, specifi-

cally,gavethreedirectionstothestatesonvaccinestocks:ensureno sedimentation of vaccinestocksatanylevelofstorage;en-sure distribution based on con-sumptionwith theaimtoavoidoverstocking and under-stock-ing at Cold Chain Points andCVCs;andundertakeregularre-viewsofvaccinestocksandcon-sumption to identify gap areasandaddress thesame.On Tuesday, the Health

Ministry highlighted that only16.53percentof thedoseshavebeenadministeredintheprivatesector,andurgedthestatestoin-crease private sector participa-tion in thevaccinationdrive.OnWednesday, three spe-

cificdirectionsweregiventothestates relating to the involve-ment of Covid-19 vaccinationcentres in the private sector:conduct regular reviewsof vac-cinationatprivateCVCswithre-spect to their capacity utilisa-tion; undertake GeographicInformationSystem(GIS)analy-sis of CVCs to identify the needfor additional CVCs withinstates; and address apprehen-sions of private CVCs regardingvaccinesupplyproactively.India began the Covid-19

vaccinationdriveonJanuary16.In the first 75 days of vaccina-tion,6,43,58,765dosesweread-ministered. These included82,47,288Health CareWorkerswho took the first dose and52,38,705 HCWswho took thesecond dose; 91,34,627 FrontLine Workers (first dose),39,23,172 FLWs (second dose);300,39,599 first-dose benefici-aries and 86,869 second-dosebeneficiariesmorethan60yearsold; and 76,74,934 first-dosebeneficiariesand13,571second-dose beneficiaries aged 45 andabovewith specific comorbidi-ties.

FROMPAGEONE

Local lockdowns in second waverebound to2019-20 levels, butthat looksuncertainnow. “Thereally big issue is aboutwhathappenstoservicesbecausealltheestimatesthatwereproject-ing 12-13 per cent growth forFY22,allofthemassumedserv-iceswouldgetprettymuch re-stored to2019-20 levels. That'sin jeopardynow,” Sen toldTheIndianExpress.Theimpact,hesaid,willnot

bemuchforthemanufacturingsector. The services sectorwillbe affected farmore, catchingthe end result of lower con-sumption because incomeswouldbeaffected.“Thegovern-ment can't do much exceptrecognisethatitislikelytohap-penandthatdemandstimulushastocontinuesothatthemul-tiplier effect of slowdown inservices sector doesn't impactothersectors,”Sensaid.Six states—Maharashtra,

Punjab, Karnataka, MadhyaPradesh, Tamil Nadu andGujarat—continue to report asurgeindailycases,accountingfor 78.56 per cent of the newcases.Maharashtra, theworst-hit,hasindicatedlockdown-likerestrictions but has refrainedfrom announcing a completelockdown.Ithasinsteadchosento impose localisedrestrictionsforpublicplaceslikerestaurants,gardens, parks, malls andbeachesandstricterrulesareex-pected fromApril 1. States likeChhattisgarh andGujarat haveimposednight curfews,whileUttarakhandandGujarat havemadeCovidtestingmandatoryfor those entering the regionsfromoutside.Thesurge incasescomesat

a timewhenoptimismhad re-

turned on the possibility of aservicesectorrebound.Buoyedby a sharp increase in newor-ders, theservicesPMIrecordedthefastestpaceofexpansioninayear,risingto55.3inFebruary2021— the pace of expansionbeinghigherthanJanuary’s52.8,anditbeingabovethe longrunaverageof53.3.Theroll-outofCovid-19vac-

cinesgeneratedoptimismoverfuture growth prospects andbusinessconfidenceimproved,asmirrored in thebusinessex-pectations index. TheNomuraIndia Business ResumptionIndexeasedto95.1fortheweekofMarch 21 as against 95.4 inthepreviousweek and98.5 asonFebruary28.Activity isnow4.9 percentage points short ofpre-Covid-19levels.“Theknock-oneffect of the

secondwave onmobility sug-gests a likely sequential dip incontact-based services and anear-termdelay of normalisa-tion. However, we expect theimpact to bemore transitoryandmuted(thaninQ22020),asfactoryoperationsremainunin-terrupted and consumers andbusinesseshaveadaptedtothenewnormal; the latter over-hauling their supply and saleschainstobecomemoreresilientto the secondwave,” Nomurasaidinitsreport.In itsrecentreport,Barclays

Indiasaidthat if thecurrentre-strictions remain in place fortwomonths, this could shave0.17percentagepointsfromthenominal GDP growth. “Thegrowth rate in active cases islikelytobesoundingalarmbells.The current seven-daymovingaverageofactivecasegrowthis

around6.2percent,thehighestsince early May 2020, whenIndiawasatthebeginningofitslong firstwave…Maharashtrawasresponsibleforaround13.5per cent of India’s GDP pre-Covid, and is economically thelargeststateinthecountry,bothfromconsumptionandproduc-tion standpoints. Still,with theseverity of restrictions beingfairlybenignrelativetothelock-downsinMarch-June2020,webelieve the economic falloutfromthenewlockdownwillbesmall.Weestimatethataweekofthecurrentrestrictionsmightcost theeconomy$0.28billion,hence over a period of twomonths,thelossofactivitycouldamounttoaround$2.5billion,oraround0.08percentagepointsofnominalGDP,”Barclayssaid.Four states — Gujarat,

Punjab, Karnataka, andMaharashtra—generatearound32percentofthecountry'sGDP.“Iftheseotherstatesimplementthe same level of lockdownasMaharashtra for twomonths,weestimate thiswould triggeratotallossofaround$5.2billion,orabout0.17percentagepointsofnominalGDP,”itsaid.Aseniorgovernmentofficial

said though the surge inCovidcases is amatter of concern, itwill be foughtwith vaccines.“This year we aren't going toworkonlockdowns.Itisamatterofworrybutwewill fight itoutwith vaccines. The pandemicshouldbehandledfarbetter,soitwon’t takeus that long. In spiteoftherisingcases,GSTnumbersare showinggoodrise, a signofresilience,”theofficialsaid.Initslatestreport,StateBank

ofIndia'seconomicresearchdi-

visionsaidthatthebusinessac-tivity Index based onhigh fre-quency indicatorshasdeclinedintheweekendingMarch22at101.7, the lowest inonemonth,from104.6inthepreviousweek.“Localised lockdowns/restric-tionshavenot resulted in con-trolling the spreadof infection.This is visible in case ofmanystates includingMaharashtraand Punjab… increasing thespeedofvaccinationistheonlyway towin the battle againstCovid-19pandemic,” itsaid.The rise in cases in someof

these stateshasnow impactedmobilityandposesanear-termlocalisedrisk.AspertheservicesPMIrelease,whiletransportandstoragewerethebestperform-ing segments, informationandcommunicationwasasub-sec-tor that posted contraction insales and business activity inFebruary.The13theditionoftheRetail

BusinessSurveybytheRetailersAssociationofIndiaindicatedre-tailsaleswere93percentofpre-Covid-19 levels in February2021, driven by consumerdurables and quick servicerestaurants.TheconcernhereisthatthesurgeinCovid-19casescouldpotentiallyimpairnascentrevival.Addedtothatisthecon-cern over rising input costs,whichsurgedamidstreportsofhigher freight, fuel and retailprices.Initssecondadvancees-timates, India's GDPwas esti-matedtohavecontracted8percentin2020-21,deeperthan7.7per cent contractionestimatedearlier.Most global economicagencieshaveprojectedadou-bledigitgrowthrateforIndiaforthenextfiscal.

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Ahmedabad

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA,MARCH31

THE LOCAL administration inHalol talukaof PanchmahalsonWednesday demolished five ofthe 400 commercial-cum-resi-dentialstructureslocatedonthePavagadhhill,closetotheKalikaMatatemple,whichisundergo-ing renovation and facelift as apart of the Gujarat PavitraYatradhamVikasBoardprojects.OnMarch 26, the adminis-

tration had served an evictionnoticeaskingthefivefamiliestovacate the structures they haveoccupied for over five decadeswithin five days without anycompensation in theoffer.Theevictionnoticewasorig-

inally served in 2015 to all 400families thatmake up a settle-menton thehills of Pavagadh, apopular tourist spot due to thepresence of the goddess Kalitemple.Thefamiliesmakelivingselling temple offerings, imita-tion jewellery, food andprovision items.The five families that saw

their structures being razedWednesday, sell coconuts andotherofferingstodevoteesvisit-ing the KalikaMata temple andhave been living at the placeforover50years.“The act of the administra-

tionisinhumanespeciallyinthetime of such a pandemicwhenthe cases are rising again. Thenoticewas served to 400 fami-liesoriginally.Weareallfamilies,

who settledhere close to 50-60years ago and the documenta-tionforthesamewasdonewiththepanchayatsof thattime.Thedistrict administration came in

later and they tell us now thatour agreements are invalid andthis is government land,”Deepak, son of late Jagdish GiriGoswamiwhoseshop-cum-res-

idence was among the struc-tures thatweredemolished.Deepaksaidnoneofthefam-

ilies were well-to-do and nowhave been left without a roof

over their heads. “We live hereandearnourlivelihoodthroughdevotees who visit the temple.They have not even offered usanycompensationorrehabilita-tion.We are not opposed to thedemolitionbutthewaywehavebeen rendered homeless. Theyjust came and told us that weneedtovacatewithintwo-threedays because the ongoing con-structionneedsthisareatocon-structaspacewhereyagnaswillbe performed in the new com-plex.We are happy to give ourlands for it but they cannotthrow us out like this. Carryinggoodsdownfromthehill isnotamean task that can be donewithin a fewdays.We tried ourbest to meet local leaders andhavethedemolitionpostponed,but no one came to our aid,” hesaid. When contacted, ANKatara,MamlatdarofHalol said

thefamilieswerenotentitledtocompensation because theirstructureswere“encroachment”ongovernmentland.“Thefami-lies have not even asked us forany compensation or hold suchtalks with the administration.The notice was served in 2015and they had enough time tomove out. As of now, we haveonly demolished the five struc-tures because space is neededfortheconstructionworktotakeplace smoothly and for easymovement of visitors and con-structionmaterials.Thedecisionon demolition of the otherstructures will be taken later,”Katara said.The Mamlatdar added the

families would have to “maketheir own alternate arrange-ments” as the “administrationhadnoprovisionforrehabilitat-ing them”.

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,APRIL 1, 2021

GUJARAT


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PUBLIC NOTICENOTICE is hereby given to public at large that the under named Advocate have issued Titleclearance Report on dated 17/03/2021 regarding the property mentioned hereunder on thename of Jitendrabhai Khapabhai Tandel, who intended to sell subject property to Anan DagaPanpatil and others and was presented deed of agreement to sale before me for Title clearanceReport as they applied for loan on the mortgage of subject property from my client Bank, afterthat during the mortgage process said owner (Vendor) reported that original Regd. Sale DeedNo.3709/1987 dated 05/12/1987 & original registered sale deed No.97/1996 dated09/01/1996 along with original R.R. registered at the of ce of Sub-Registrar Navsari are lost ormisplaced and not found.All persons having or claiming any right, title claim, demand or estate interest in respect of thesaid property or to any part thereof by way of sale, exchange, mortgage, let, lease, lien, charge,maintenance, license, gift, inheritance, share, possession, easement, trust bequest possessionassignment or encumbrance of whatsoever nature or otherwise are hereby requested to intimateme in writing at the addressmentioned below of any such claim accompaniedwith all necessaryand supporting documents within 7 (Seven) days from the date of publication hereof, failingwhich it shall be presumed that there are no claims and that claims, if any, have been waived offand the undersigned shall proceed to issue Title Certi cate in respect of the same.

SCHEDULE OF PROPERTY

Revenue Survey No.118 paiki Plot No.83, New Block No.5295, Khata No.3005 bearingMunicipal HouseNo.1091/0 situated at RamNagar-1, Vijalpore, Tal. Navsari (City), Dist.Navsari.

RITEN G. RANAAdvocate

Date : 01/04/2021Place : Navsari

202, 2nd Floor, Sachi Arcade,Next to Canara Bank, Near Prajapati Ashram,Kumbharwad, Navsari. Mobile : 9824724178


A DAYafter seven juvenile boyslodgedatanobservationhomeinMehsana cut their wrists withglassallegedly ina “mass suicidebid”, theboys returned to the fa-cility onWednesday after treat-ment at ahospital andwouldbecounselled, officials said onWednesday.On Tuesday, the seven juve-

niles, aged between 14 and 17years, allegedly cut theirwristswithglasspiecesatazonalobser-vationhomeatRadhapur cross-roads inMehsana. According tothepolice, the boysmanaged tobreaksomeglasswindowsatthefacility and used broken glasspiecesinanallegedbidtocommit“mass suicide” afterwhich theyweretakentothecivilhospital inMehsana.Thejuvenileswereear-lierinvolvedinaheatedexchangeof wordswith the observationhomesuperintendent,policesaid.Of the seven juveniles, some

are lodged in the facility for theftcaseswhile a few are there formurderandsexual assault cases,sourcessaid.Officials have linked the act

committedbythe juvenileswith“mentalhealthissues”.Mukesh Patel, chief welfare

committeemember of GujaratStateChildProtectionSociety,said,“Theboyshaveclaimed thatduetothelockdowninthepandemicyear(2020),manyofthemaresuf-feringfromdepressionastheyarenot able tomeet their familymembers often or get foodfrom their homes. They alsowanted to put pressure on theobservationhomesuperinten-dent togive intotheirdemands,suchasfoodfromhome.Wehavebeen counselling the juvenilesfromtimetotimeandtheywillbecounselledagainsothattheycancopewith any possiblementalhealth issues.Wehave also de-cidedtoinstallwoodenwindowsatthefacility.”Nooffencehasbeenregistered

inthematter,policesaid.

DAYAFTER ‘MASSSUICIDEBID’

Back at observation home,7 juveniles to be counselled


THEVADODARAunitof theBJP,whichwon69of the76seats inthe Vadodara MunicipalCorporation (VMC) in the pollsconducted on February 21, hasdecided to deny the post of theOpposition leader to theCongress thatwon seven seats.In a first since the inception

of the VMC, a ruling party hasvotedagainstallowinganoppo-sition leader taking a cue fromPrime Minister NarendraModi’s decision tonot allowanOpposition leader in theLok Sabha.The Congress, meanwhile,

said the BJP’smove shows thatthe party is “afraid” of the op-position despite winning witha clearmajority.In a statement, BJP city unit

chief Dr Vijay Shah said onWednesday, “The people ofVadodara have given a clearmandate to the BJP in the civicbody elections. Until today, theCongress has been getting thepost of the Opposition Leaderbut it isextremely important tohavetheacceptanceof thepeo-ple to get this post. This time,the Congress party has lost thetrust of the people and there-foreithasevenfailedinitsbidtoclaim the post of OppositionLeader,astheCongresshaswononly seven seats and does notevenhave thenumbers toelectits own leader. Therefore, in ameeting of the BJP, it has beendecided that the ruling partywill not concede a post of theOpposition leader to theCongress.”Shah added that although

the post of the Oppositionleader plays an important role

in the functioning of thedemocracy, Congress has beeninvolved in “corrupt practicesthat have come to light in therecent years in theVMC”.Shah said, “The Congress

first pretends to participate inthe protests by people over is-sues. Later, it joins the peoplewho they were opposing. LikePrimeMinister NarendraModihasrespectedtheprovisionof apartyhavingat least10percentof the membership of thehouse, the BJP inVadodarawillalso follow the same principleandnot allowCongress tohavethe post of the OppositionLeader.”Vadodara City Congress

President Prashant Patel saidthe BJP’s decision shows thatthe party is “afraid” despitewinning with a clearmajority.Patel said, “Even after gain-

ingpowerandthepeople’sma-jority vote, the BJP is afraid ofthe opposition. If it is their de-cisionnottogivethepostofop-position leader, then theyshouldalsonotextendfacilitiessuch as vehicles and perks toanyotherelectedmembersex-cept theMayor of the city. TheDeputyMayoror the chairmanof the Standing Committee aretheservantsof thepeopleasperthe provisions and do not re-quire special treatment.”Patel questioned the BJP’s

transparent governance policyand said, “Also, if they are pur-suing a policy of transparentgovernance,whyaren’t theyop-posing the post of theOpposition leader in the city?What is that fear? Thisdecisionof thepartyatthestatelevelhasexposedtheirconspir-acy about trying to eliminatetheopposition.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESURAT,MARCH31

A DISTRICT court Wednesdaygrantedanapplicationmovedbythe Surat police to arrest AtulVekariya,ownerofapopularcity-basedAtul Bakerywho is facingchargesinanallegedhit-and-runcase, undermore stringent sec-tions of culpable homicide notamounting to murder anddrunkendriving.Vekariya allegedly had

knocked down UrvashiChaudhary(29)withhisSUVnearJHAmbani School inUmra areaonMarch 26night. Thewoman

wasdeclareddeadonarrivalbyalocalhospital.Vekariya,whotriedto escape from the spot, wascaughtbylocalpeople.Whilethepolice had registered anoffenceunder IPC sections279, 337, 338,304(a) against the accused, amedicalexaminationlaterfoundVekariyawasinebriated.Umrapolicesubmittedanap-

plicationwithSuratdistrictcourtto add IPC section304 (culpablehomicidenotamountingtomur-der)andMotorVehicleActsection185(drivingbyadrunkenperson)in the earlier complaint. Afterhearing, the court on Tuesdaygranted addingupboth the sec-tionsintheformercomplaint.

HIT-AND-RUNCASE

Court allows Surat police to arrestbakery owner for culpable homicide

CIVICPOLLS

In a first, nooppn leader inVMCasBJP‘snubs’ Cong

PAVITRAYATRADHAMVIKASBOARDPROJECTS

Families near Pavagadh temple left in lurch as fivehouses, shops demolished during renovation work

Atthesite inHalol talukaofPanchmahalsonWednesday. Express

AZADI KA AMRUT MAHOTSAV

NAIDUTOBECHIEFGUESTATCONCLUSIONOFDANDIMARCH

VicePresidentMVenkaiah Naiduwill be thechief guestat the function tomark theconclusionof the25-day longDandi

yatra inGujaratonApril 6, anofficial releasesaidonWednesday.Earlier, itwasannouncedthatPresidentRamNathKovind

will be thechief guestat the function,butashe ishospitaliseddue to ill health, thevicepresidentwill replacehim.

Ahmedabad

GUJARAT4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM



WITH THE Gujarat Secondaryand Higher SecondaryEducation Amendment Bill2021 passed in the LegislativeAssembly onWednesday, thestategovernmentnowmakes itmandatory for minority insti-tutes toappointonlyprincipalsand teacherswhohave clearedTAT (teachers' aptitude test) atsecondary andhighersecond-aryschoolsrunbyit.Withthis,minority insti-tutions havebeen coveredunder the sameselectionprocessbeing followedforgovernmentandgrant in aided schools.Citing judgments of the

SupremeCourtandtheGujaratHighCourt, EducationMinisterBhupendrasinh Chudasamasaid in the House that thisamendment was required tobring in quality educationwhichwillbeabrighteroppor-tunity to tap the power ofstudents.The Education Minister

Bhupendrasinh ChudasamaduringthediscussionofGujaratSecondary and HigherSecondary EducationAmendment Bill in theLegislative Assembly made itclear that from now on the ap-propriate qualification along

with TAT examination for ap-pointment of principals andteachers will be implementedin minority educationinstitutions in the state.Giving more details,

Chudasama said the process ofselection of candidates in gov-ernment and grant in aid sec-ondary and higher secondaryschools is being implementedin the state through acentralised system.“But sucha selectionproce-

dure is carriedout withoutconsideringthe marks ofthe TAT exam-ination pre-scribed by theminority institu-tions tomeet the

qualification for selection as ateacher,” he added.Citing the Supreme Court's

judgment in this regard, theminister said the court hasmade it clear that no compro-mise should be done in thequality of education in the na-tional interest, irrespective ofwhether the education institu-tion is runbyaminorityorelse.He said the government's

decision to set up a regulatorybody for the appointment ofteachers does not interfere inthe administration of minorityinstitutes.Theministeraddedthat the

Gujarat High Court has also is-suedajudgment in2017direct-ing tomake necessary amend-

ments in Section 30 (a) of theGujarat Secondary and HigherSecondary EducationAct-19.Accordingly, earlier in mi-

nority schools, the Board ofGovernors conducted the re-cruitmentprocesswithoutcon-sidering the education qualifi-cations of the candidates andtaking into account theTATex-aminationmarks.Now, as a result of the pass-

ingof thisAmendmentBill, thesame centralised selectionprocess for teachersandprinci-pals being followed in govern-ment andaided secondary andhighersecondaryschools inthestatewillnowbeimplementedinminority institutionsaswell.Regardinganotherprovision

of the Gujarat Secondary andHigher Secondary EducationAmendmentBill, theEducationMinistersaidthatthedefinitionof currentlyrecognizedschoolsincludes only the secondary orpostbasicschoolsrecognisedbythe Director of Education,Gujarat, or the officer autho-risedbyhim for this purpose.According to the

Amendment bill, such a schoolwill now be considered as arecognised school, namely the“DepartmentofEducationor,asthe casemay be, any other de-partmentof thegovernmentofGujaratorarecognisedsecond-ary school or an official autho-rised by such department' hasbeensubstituted inplaceof 'di-rector of education, Gujarat, oranofficer authorisedbyhim.”

GUJARAT

ASSEMBLY

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABADMARCH31

AMIDPROTESTS fromtheoppo-sition,theGujaratgovernmentonWednesday approvedproposalsforsevennewprivateuniversitiesin the state.With this, the totalnumberofuniversitiesinthestateissettoincreasefromonlyninein2001to91.These sevenuniversitieswill

be in Surat, Vadodara, Bharuch,Ahmedabad, Rajkot andSurendranagar. These includeSarvajanik University in Surat,Vanita Vishram Women'sUniversity in Surat, Kiran andPallavi PatelGlobalUniversity inVadodara, SurendranagarUniversityinSurendranagar,UPLUniversity of SustainableTechnology inBharuch,DarshanUniversity inRajkot andMonarkUniversityinAhmedabaddistrict.Education Minister

Bhupendrasinh Chudasama,speakinginsupportofthesenewprivateuniversitiesthatwereap-provedwith the passing of theGujarat Private Universities(amendment)Bill2021intheleg-islative Assembly, said thesewouldhelp in achieving the tar-getofgrossenrollmentratiofrom22.5 to 50. "Thenational educa-tion policy that stresses on in-creasing theGER, theseuniversi-ties will help in achieving thetarget of 50 GER from existing22.5,"theministerstated.Opposingthemoveofapprov-

ing 7 new private universities,

Danilimda Congress MLAShaileshParmar alleged that thestategovernmentwas“givingap-provals to private universitieseveryyearforpoliticalgains”."If you look at the admission

data of government andprivatecolleges, number of vacant seatsin the latter is more than 50%everyyear.thestatehasmanycol-leges and Universities but thequality has declined over theyears. it is still not clearwhy thegovernment is runningafter pri-vate universities in such a hugenumber. I can claim that privateuniversitiesareapprovedonlyforpoliticalgains,"Parmaralleged.Expressing similar concerns,

congressMLA Kiritkunar Pateladded that thequality of educa-tion had only deterioratedwiththeopeningofprivateuniversitiesinsuchahugenumber.While Parmar demanded a

surveyonperformanceandinfra-structure of private universitiesbefore approving them, Patelraised concerns regarding theirmonitoring. Replying ,Chudasama said the general no-tionofoppositionagainstaprivateuniversitywasnotcorrect.


GUJARAT ASSEMBLY SpeakerRajendraTrivedireprimandedthegovernment departments onWednesday for failing to sharecopies of three governmentBillswiththeOppositionMLAswithintheprescribedtimelimit.Congress legislator Shailesh

Parmarhadbrought it to theno-tice of the Speaker that copies ofTheGujarat Appropriation Bill,2021, The Code or CriminalProcedure(GujaratAmendment)Bill,2021,andTheGujaratClinicalEstablishments(RegistrationandRegulation)Bill,2021,whichwerescheduled to be tabled in theHouse onMarch 31 andApril 1,werenotsharedwithoppositionmembersuntilTuesdayevening.“WereceivedtheseBillsinour

pigeonboxes only thismorning.As per the Gujarat AssemblyRules,we shouldhave got theseBills fourdays inadvanceandso,

wedemandthattheseBillsarenotdiscussed in theHouse,” ParmartoldtheSpeaker.Inresponse,PradipsinhJadeja,

Minister of State for LegislativeandParliamentaryAffairssaidtheEnglish copies of The Code orCriminal Procedure (GujaratAmendment)Bill,2021,wassenttwodaysago.“The Gujarati translations

have taken time. Secondly, TheGujaratAppropriationBill, 2021,doesnothaveanynewsectionorchanges forwhichdiscussions isneeded. It is true thatmembersshould getmore time study aBill. But the finance bills donothaveanythingnew,” theminis-ter said.After hearing both the

Opposition and Treasurybenches, the Speaker said,“Consideringall thesituations, Ibelieve that theunderRule130of the Gujarat Assembly, thecopiesofBillswhicharesupposedto comeup for discussion in theHouse, should be given to all

members in advance of at leastfourworkingdays.Inthiscase,therulehasbeenbrokenandso,itcanbebelievedthatthemembersdidnotgetenoughtimetostudytheBills.”The Speaker said itwas nor-

malforfinancebillstobetabledatashortnoticeandtheBillonCodeof Criminal Procedures also hasonly a small change. TheGujaratClinical Establishments(RegistrationandRegulation)Bill,2021,isscheduledtobetabledfordiscussiononThursday.“So,Ifeel,theideatopostpone

the discussions on the Bills, forwhichcopieswerenotreceived,isnot correct. TheBill,which is ex-pectedtobetabledtomorrow,hasalreadybeengiven to themem-bers. I amcensuring thedepart-mentsconnectedwiththegovern-ment fornot giving copiesof theBillsfourdaysinadvanceaspertherules.Infuture,theconcernedde-partmentsshouldbecarefulandIampermittingdiscussionon theBills,”Trivediadded.


GUJARATCHARGESprofessionaltax ranging between Rs 80 andRs 200 for those earningmonthlysalariesofRs6,000andabove, finance minister andDeputy CMNitin Patel said onWednesday.Patelwasspeakingon Gujarat State Tax onProfessions,Trades,CallingsandEmployments(Amendment)Bill2021 in thestateAssembly.“InGujarat, this lawwasear-

lier part of VAT (Value AddedTax). After GST came into forcefrom 2017, Maharashtra,Karnataka,MadhyaPradeshandother states made changes intheir respective state laws tohelp charge professional taxfromfirmsandentitieswhomi-gratedintoGSTregime.SoweinGujarat, are bringing similaramendments that will help uscharge professional tax fromfirms under GST,” said Patelwhile tabling theBill.The minister said no addi-

tional burdenwill be imposedon any entity because of theamendments. “For those withmonthly salaries of less thanRs6,000,noprofessionaltaxwillbeimposed.Thosehavingmonthlysalaries between Rs 6,000-9,000, professional tax of Rs 80will bechargedpermonth.”

AMENDMENTBILLPASSED

Minority schools tohire faculty throughcentralised process

‘Professional taxof Rs 80 on thoseearning Rs 6,000to 9,000 a month’

Govt nod to 7 newpvt varsities in state

Speaker reprimands govt depts fornot sharing copies of Bills with Oppn


DEPUTY CHIEF Minister NitinPatel onWednesday defendedthe state government’s DholeraSpecial Investment Region(DSIR) saying under the long-term project a special region,biggerthanDelhiandSingapore,will be developed. He was re-sponding to the OppositionCongresswhichallegedthattheinvestors’ money seemed tohave sunk as only gando baval(proposes julifora) were visibleat theproposedsite.The issuecroppedupduring

theQuestionHourwhenaques-tionbyCongressMLAShivabhaiBhuriya from Deodar con-

stituency related to DSIR wastakenup fordiscussion.In a written reply, Chief

MinisterVijayRupani informedthe House that work on 66 KVpower sub-station by TorrentPowerLimitedatDSIRhasbeencompleted.Theresponseaddedthat work on a 400 KV powersub-stationwas likely to be fin-ished by the year end. The CMalso informed that work for aunit wherein Tata ChemicalsLimitedisgoingtomanufacturebatteries for electronic vehicleswas in the initial stage.In reply to a supplementary

question raised by BJP MLAJAgdishPanchal,NitinPatelsaid,“We are going to do industrialdevelopmentatDholera,whichwillbeunprecedentedintheen-

tire country…Dholera SIR re-gionisbiggerthanDelhicityandSingaporecountry. Itwillbebig-ger than Singapore, andwill bedeveloped in a phasedmanner.Everything cannot be doneovernight. It isa long-termproj-ect which does not exist any-where in theworld, country orAsia.” Patel said DSIR is spreadover 920 square kilometre and22 villages have been includedin it and 422 square kilometreareawill bedeveloped.Tothis, LeaderofOpposition

PareshDhananisaidhehasbeenhearingaboutDholeraSIRsince2007, but can only see (gando)baval (proposes julifora) therewhenthestategovernmentwastalking about developing it likeSingapore.Dhananisaidafter15

years, Gujarat has a right toknow if howmuch investmenthas come to DSIR. He also de-manded the figures of invest-ment realised at DSIR of theMoUs signed during VibrantGujarat InvestmentSummits.

TheDeputyCMreplied,“Youwill get to see Singapore there.But it will take time…This is aproject of next decades. Wewant everything overnight. Itdoes not happen that way…Development of every individ-ual, institution happens in aphased manner. Similarly,Dholera’s developmentwill bedone inaphasedmanner.”Patel said works worth Rs

9,000 crore are in progress atDSIR.


WITH THE passing ofProfessional MedicalEducational Colleges orInstitutions (Regulation ofAdmissionandFixationof Fees(Amendment) Bill 2021, a to-tal of 889 seats inAyurveda, Homeopathy andNaturopathy at unaided col-legeswill be filledonthebasisof merit list prepared by theCentre.Following directions from

the Centre that Ayurveda, ho-meopathy and naturopathycolleges should be regulatedfor centralisedcounselling foradmissions of undergraduateandpostgraduatecourses, theAmendmentBillwaspassedinthe legislative houseWednesday.Minister of health Nitin

Patel stated in the house thatas per the directions of thegovernmentof India, thestategovernmenthasdecidedto fill15 per cent seats in these un-aided colleges on merit basisunder thenationalquota, sim-ilar to what is being followedbymedical colleges.

TheAmendmentBill states'...it is considered necessarythat 15 per cent governmentseats of the unaided collegesor institutions in the disci-plines of Ayurveda homeopa-thy and Naturopathy shouldbe filled on the basis of meritlist prepared by the authorityas may be designated by thegovernment of India'.This would mean that out

of a total 2,340 seats in 30Ayurveda colleges includinggovernment, grant in aid andprivate,351seats (15percent)would be filled under thenational quota.Similarly, 538 seeds in 35

homeopathy colleges wouldbe filledunder the15per centquota.At present there are total

3,589 homeopathy seats inthe state.Thus, outof a totalof 5,929

seats in Ayurveda and ho-moeopathycolleges,889seatswould be filled under this allIndia quota.The healthminister added

that on the lines of MBBS col-leges, fee of these ayurvedic,homeopathyandnaturopathycollegeswouldbe fixedby feeregulation committees.

Gandhinagar: In the last fouryears,asmanyas147caseshavebeen registered under theGujaratProtectionof InterestofDepositors (In FinancialEstablishments) Act, 2003, inwhich over 1.10 lakh peoplewerecheatedofatotalRs768.90crore by chit funds in differentparts of the state, Minister ofState for Home PradeepsinhJadejasaidWednesdaywhilere-plying to a starredquestion onanallegedchitfundcompanyin

DahodandVadodaradistricts.In her question, Congress

MLAfromGarbadaconstituencyChandrikabenBaria had askedhowmanycriminal caseshavebeen registered against HVNRealty and Enterprises IndiaLimited,achitfundcompany,inthetwodistricts.Sofar,onecasehasbeen registeredagainst thecompanyandproceedingshavebeen initiated against 13 ac-cused,Jadejasaid.

ENS

Afamilymemberof aCovid-19victimperformsthe last riteswearingPPEkitatKhaswadicrematoriuminVadodaraonWednesday.BhupendraRana

ADITIRAJAVADODARA,MARCH31

WITH A surge in Covid casesacross the state, the Catholicchurchof Gujarat hasdecided tokeepcelebrationslow-keyduringtheweek leadingup toEasteronSunday (April 4). After the stategovernment prohibited large-scaleDhuleticelebrationsandalsogatherings for Shab-e-barat re-cently,theGujaratcatholicchurchwillobserveEasterwithcaution.InAhmedabad, theBishopof

the Catholic church has askedchurches to omit the ritual of the"washingof the feet" onMaundyThursdayaswell as the“kissingofthecross”onGoodFriday.Meanwhile, Vadodara's

Karjan-based Hazrat Syed PirFiyazuddinaliasGandebawaandHazrat Pir Faizursul Kalla Sharifhasdecided topostpone its 77thUrsMubarak thatwas tobeheldon Sunday. Several dargahs inVadodara have also called offtheir annual Urs celebrationsthisyear.

Churches and

dargahs set to

keep celebrations

low-key this year

UNAIDEDCOLLEGES

Centre’s merit list keyto fill 15% homoeopathy,Ayurveda seats: Minister

‘It will be bigger than Singapore’: Deputy CMbats for Dholera Special Investment Region

‘147 cases under GPID Act in 4 yrs’Gandhinagar:Speakinginrefer-ence to an alleged scamat theHemchandracharya NorthGujarat University (HNGU)whereinmarksofmedical stu-dentswerechangedinreassess-mentprocessandpassingthosewho had failed, EducationMinister BhupendrasinhChudasamasaidonWednesdaysaid that the state governmenthadappointedAdditionalChiefSecretary(Home)PankajKumarto probe thematter and that it

(govt) “does not want toshieldanybody”.The issue was raised by

CongressMLA fromPatan con-stituencyKirit Patel as amatterofurgentpublicattention.AsperPatel,somemedicalstudentsoffirstyearweredeclaredpassaf-terchangingtheiranswersheetsin the reassessment process.This, Patel said, has resulted inresentmentnotonlyamongstu-dentsof theuniversity, butalsoamongcommonpeople. ENS

Official to probe marks scam: Govt


WITH 391 Covid-19 casesrecorded on Wednesday,Vadodaracitysurpasseditshigh-est single-day count recorded aday ago. The city hospitals haverecorded thehighest occupancyof5,191,evenasthetotalinfectioncounttouched28,389.According to officials, more

working-class peoplehavebeeninfected by the virus,withmostcases reported in age group be-tween21and50years.Afterseveralrailwayemploy-

eestestedpositiveforCovid-19onWednesday,itemergedthathun-dredsof employees inthe indus-trialbeltofNandesariGIDC,work-ing with reputed private andpublic sector firms, have alsotestedpositive.Thehealthdepart-ment has advised companies tohomequarantine those positiveandtheirclosecontacts.TheNandesaribranchofana-

tionalisedbank,meanwhile, hadshutdownTuesdayafter severalof its staffers, including thebankmanager,testedpositive.The Maharaja Sayajirao

UniversityofBaroda,meanwhile,hasdecidedtosetupaquarantinefacility on its campus, after threestudents, all foreign nationals,showedCovid-19-likesymptoms,MSU registrarDrKrishnakumarChudasmasaid.Vadodara also recorded one

moreCovid-19fatalityontheday,taking the toll sinceMarch lastyear to 250. A local Congressworker, Ashwin Solanki, diedwhile undergoing treatment forCovid-19onWednesday.Meanwhile,crematoriumand

burialgroundstaffsaidtheywereworkingovertimeforthelasttwoweeks. TheKhaswadi cremato-rium,which isamongtheCovid-19designatedcremationgrounds,iswitnessingasmanyas25funer-als eachdayof positive and sus-pectedcases.Accordingtocivicofficials,of

the 1,777 active cases in thecity,177patientsareonoxygensupply and 106 on BiPAP and

ventilator support.Of the8,106available beds, 5,191 were oc-cupied, officials added. Ofthese,972 ICUbeds(of thetotal1,355)and1985oxygen-supplybeds (out of 2,877)were occu-pied.While Gujarat Medical

Education andResearchSociety(GMERS)-runGotri hospital has

407positive Covid-19 cases, thecivic-run SSG hospital has 344positivepatients.Asmany as 413 patients are

admittedatprivatehospitalsand396areinhomeisolation,thecivicbody said. The total hospitalisa-tionalsoincludessuspectedcasesandadmissionsfromoutsidetheVadodaradistrict.

Vadodara sees highestsingle-day spike incoronavirus cases at 391

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAJKOT,MARCH31

TWOMENwere detained afteroneof themallegedly slappedawoman assistant sub-inspector(ASI) as the latter stopped theirtwo-wheeleruponspottingthatthepillionriderwasnotwearinga face mask in Porbandar onTuesday. However, a local courtreleasedthetwomenonbailonWednesday after police did notseek their remand.The alleged incident took

placewhen thewoman, an ASIwiththePorbandardistrict traf-fic police, was on a routine pa-trolling drive in Bangadi Bazararea of Porbandar town. Policesaid that while the ASI and herteam were stationed nearDreamland talkies, she askedtwomenridingascootertostopasthepillionriderwasnotwear-ing a facemask. Police said theman who was driving thescooteridentifiedhimselfasRaviDaki and the pillion rider asNilesh Daki, both residents of

Bhad village in Porbandar. TheASItoldthepillionriderthatnotwearing amaskwas a violationof norms issued by PorbandardistrictmagistrateinviewoftheCovid-19 pandemic and askedhimtopaya fineof Rs1,000.“However,thescooterdriver

and the pillion rider started ar-guing with me. I explained tothem thatwearing a facemaskwas necessary for their safetyandoursandalso tocontain thespread of Covid-19. But thescooter driver got agitated andtoldmethattheywouldnotpayfine and that I was free to dowhatever I can. I and people ofthe traffic brigade who werewithmetriedtopersuadethembut the scooter driver becameaggressive and slappedme onmyleftcheekevenasthepillionrideryelledloudly,sayingtheen-tire world is roaming withoutface-masks and why wewerenot stopping them…” the ASIsaid inhercomplaint.The twomenweredetained

andhandedover toKirtimandirpolicestationinPorbandartown.

Stopped for not wearingmask, man ‘slaps’ womantraffic cop in Porbandar

Newcases:2,360

Cumulativedeaths:

4,532

Cumulativedischarge:

2,90,569

Totalcases:3,06,952

Ahmedabad

Amreli

Anand

Aravalli

Banaskantha

Bharuch

Bhavnagar

Botad

ChhotaUdepur

Dahod

Dang

DevbhoomiDwarka

Gandhinagar

GirSomnath

Jamnagar

Junagadh

Kheda

Kutch

Mahisagar

Mehsana

Morbi

Narmada

Navsari

Panchmahal

Patan

Porbandar

Rajkot

Sabarkantha

Surat

Surendranagar

Tapi

Vadodara

Valsad

Otherstates

70,554 2,356 620

4,308 34 18

3,067 17 18

1,300 26 3

4,881 39 2

4,621 19 14

7,000 71 49

1,083 13 4

1,101 4 6

3,700 7 9

213 1 1

9,990 5 6

9,552 109 47

2,741 24 2

11,374 36 61

5,736 33 16

3,838 20 20

4,928 33 18

2,401 19 14

7,486 38 22

3,616 19 19

2,496 1 19

1,797 8 6

4,774 24 16

4,577 53 26

1,125 4

27,548 213 208

3,441 13 9

65,227 1,015 744

3,692 15 9

1,184 7 4

34,204 248 341

1,561 9 9

148 3

CASE TRACKERPlaces Confirmed Deaths Newcases

CongressMLAalleged

the governmentwas

“givingapprovals to

privateuniversities

everyyear for

politicalgains”

Ahmedabad

UTTAR GUJARAT VIJ COMPANY LIMITED

CIN – U40102GJ2003SGC042906

www.ugvcl.com www.guj-epd.gov.in

Circle Office : Palanpur

Tenders are invited, Fabrication work on annual rate contract of various

items under Palanpur DO-1. Hiring vehicle for various Sdn and Supply of

CC Block under Palanpur DO-2. Labour & erection work of HT LT TC in var-

ious scheme for various Sdn and Labour work of CI Plate / Coil type earth-

ing & earth terminal at consumer end at various Sdn Part1-2, Replacement

of failed transformer for various Sdn, Labour & Erection work of HT LT TC

in various scheme for various Sdn under Sidhpur DO. Supply of CC Block

and Hiring vehicle for various Sdn under Deesa DO-1. Fabricaion work,

Laying of 11kv 185 mm2 XLPE electric power cable under Railway track

using horizontal auger boring machine along with liaising work with the

respective DRM Railway authority in the area of Radhapur do. Supply of CC

Block and Hiring vehicle for Deodar TMS under Radhanpur DO.

The details of the tender can be viewed on www.ugvcl.com &

http://ugvcl.nprocure.comAddl. C. E. , UGVCL, CO, PALANPUR

** UGVCL Customer Care 24x7 Toll Free No. 1800 233 155 335 OR 19121 **

''REGISTER YOUR MOBILE NUMBER TO GET THE INFORMATION OF BILL ISSUED & PAYMENT MADE"

TENDER NOTICE No. PLN-1 DO-13,

PLN-2 DO-08, 09, SIDH DO-06, 07,

DEESA-1 DO-11, RDN DO-09/2020-21

On Line Tender Notice No.16 of 2020-21 (Re-invite)

The DPIU & Executive Engineer, Panchayat {R & B} Division, Gandhinagar, Dist. Gandhinagar Phone

No. 079-232-56968 on behalf of Governor of Gujarat invites the Percentage Rate/item rate online bids

for Construction/ Upgradation and Maintenance of Rural Roads under P.M.G.S.Y.-III in Gandhinagar

District (Year 2020-2021) from the eligible and approved Contractors registered in Class ''A'' &

Special Category: ll & above as per on line E-Tendering The Details Notice of which could be seen &

Download from Dt.31.03.2021 on website https://pmgsytendersguj.gov.in/nicgep/app. For Further

particulars contact above stated office during office hours.

Tender Document Downloaded from 31.03.2021

Last Date & Time of Online Submission of Tender 15.04.2021

Submission of Tender Fee, E.M.D. and other Documents 22.04.2021

Date, Time & Place of Pre Bid Conference 06.04.2021

Online Opening of Technical Bid 16.04.2021

Sr. Package No. Name of Work Est. Cost Tender Fee

No. (Rs. in Lacs)

1 GJ 0905P3 Fatepur-Solaiya-Samau-harnahoda-MDR-12 476.09 6000.00

The tender document for these work are available only in website

https://pmgsytendersguj.gov.in/nicgep/app Other Details can be seen on Notice board of R & B (p.)

Division Office Gandhinagr D.P.I.U. & Execuitive Engineer

Panchayat R & B Division

INF/2250/20-21 Gandhinagar

Superintending Engineer, Southern Irrigation Circle-I, Berhampur.e-Procurement Notice No. SE SIC-12/2020-21

e-mail id: [email protected]

1. Type of Work :- Drainage Improvement work.

2. Total No of Works :- 01 (One) No.

3. Amount put to tender :- Rs 351.93 lakh

4. Period of completion :- 11 (Eleven) calendar months

Date of opening of the Technical Bid:- 23.04.2020 at 11.30 A.M.

Further detail can be seen from the Govt. website www.tendersodisha.gov.in

Sd/-

Superintending Engineer,

Southern Irrigation Circle-I, Berhampur.

OIPR-32061/11/0011/2021

A-724

Procurement officer Bid Identification

No.

Bid Amount

(Rs. in lakh)

Availability & Submission of Bid

On-line

Superintending Engineer, Southern Irrigation Circle-I,

BAM

SE, SIC, (BNID)-

25/2020-21

351.93 From 07.04.2021, 10.00 A.M. to

22.04.2021, 5.00 P.M.

Tender Notice No. 38 of 2020-2021(Second Time)

The on-line tenders are invited by Executive Engineer, Ahmedabad (R&B)Division, Block-C, 2nd Floor, Multistoried Building, Drive-in Road, Vastrapur,Ahmedabad - 380 052 from the Registered contractors (R&B) Department.Tender shall have to be submitting online through E-Tendering for Estimate CostRs..4.93 Lakh for 1 (One) Building Work respectively. Bid can be available& downloading receiving on web site www.nprocure.com on Dated 01/04/2021to 12/04/2021 for 18:00 Hrs. More details of work & tender can be available onInformation Department website www.statetenders.gujarat.gov.in & NoticeBoard of this office. Please any amendment in future by the department see online.

No. INF/ABD/1578/2021

PERSONAL

Classifieds

CHANGE

OF NAMEI DEVAYAN MANDAL

S/o. PRABIR KUMAR

MANDAL Previously

known as PRATEEK

MANDAL, From Now I

Will Be Known As

DEVAYAN MANDAL.

Residence : 192,

Bageshree Township

5, L.S.474,

Varsamedi, Anjar.

Whilst care is taken prior to acceptance ofadvertising copy, it is not possible to verify itscontents. The Indian Express (P) Limited cannotbe held responsible for such contents, nor forany loss or damage incurred as a result oftransactions with companies, associations orindividuals advertising in its newspapers orPublications. We therefore recommend thatreaders make necessary inquiries before sendingany monies or entering into any agreementswith advertisers or otherwise acting on anadvertisement in any manner whatsoever.

‘‘ IMPORTANT ’’

On the occasion of the 57th Raising Day of The 7th Battalion,The Bihar Regiment, we salute the Veer Biharis, who have madethe supreme sacrifice for the Mother Land.

OP BLACK THUNDER

(Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, Ashok Chakra) (27 November2008, Hotel Taj, Mumbai)

INDO PAK WAR, 1965

Sub Jagdish Singh, Sep Kailash Singh, Nk Ganga Saran, Sep JaiGovind Prasad Yadav, Sep Mahendra Singh, Sep Lalan Singh,

OP PAWAN,1989

Nb Sub Shambhu Nath Singh, Hav Krishna Nandan Singh, HavLajrus Minj, LHav Dhup Nath Singh, Nk Ramchandra Podar, NkJoakim Minz, LNk(SW) P Ilangovan, Sep J K Sharma, Sep RamLayak Singh, Sep Awdhesh Kumar Singh, Sep Anil Prasad, SepRam Ayodhiya Singh, Sep Shiv Balak Singh, Sep LotemKerketta, Sep Jhaiya Oraon, Sep Uday Kumar, Sep/MW PMohna Sundaram.

OP RAKSHAK (PUNJAB), 1991

Nk Jidan Bage, LNk Bhadur Prasad Singh

OP RAKSHAK (J&K),

Nb Sub Clk KKM Reddy, Nb Sub W P Tirkey,Hav(WM) Jagdish, Hav Birender Sharma,Hav (Dresser) SD Thakur, Hav Shyam Jha,LHav John Augutius Ekka, Nk S C Jena, NkGumdi Singh Kuntia, Nk Ram Niwas Singh,Nk/Clk Satnam Singh, Nk/Chef Pravendra,LNk Rajesh Kumar , LNk B K Mehta, LNkSunil Kumar Singh, LNk Alok Kumar Singh,Sep D M Raju, Sep P N S Najibhai, Sep

Rajeshwar Singh, Sep Mithilesh Kumar Singh, Sep Manoj KumarSingh, Sep Arun Kumar Sharma, Sep Niranjan Karsel, SepDharmendra Kumar, Sep Dharmendra Kumar, Sep JohnsonHoro, Sep Ram Lakhan Oraon.

Your gallantry will always serve as an inspiration forus. We, the fraternity of The Veer Biharis, salute you.

THE BIHAR REGIMENT ASSOCIATION

SUB MAJSHANTI TIRKEY

GUJARAT WATER SUPPLY & SEWERAGE BOARD

E-Tender Tender Notice No. 31 & 32, of 2020-2021Executive Engineer Public Health Works Division, G.W.S.S.B., OldCollector Office Building, 1st Floor, Near Old Civil Court, Circuit HouseCompound, Anand, Phone No. 02692-250453 invites online tenderthrough e-tendering.

GWSSB has reserve right to reject any or all tender without assigning anyreason. For further details of tender notice, scope of work, tender fee, EMDand specification etc. please visit website https://www.gwssb.nprocure.comor www.gwssb.gujarat.gov.in. GWSSB Helpline No. 1916.

(INF/ANAND/653/20-21)

Sr.No.

Description of Works EstimateCost inLakh

Eligibilityof

Contractor

TenderI.D. No.

Last Dateof

Submission

1 Construction for RCC,ESR, Distributing &Connecting Pipeline underRejuvination ProgrammeAt Near Village, TalukaPetlad, Dist. Anand.

45.82 ''E1''Class &Above

455262 15.04.2021

2 Comprehensive Maintenance forCivil and Electrical & MechanicalPart for 2 year (24 months) ofNew and Old all civil structure,Rising and Distribution pipelineNetwork, Pumping machinarywith all associate componentsetc. Complete of Ras RWSS,Taluka-Borsad, Dist. Anand.

41.87 ''E1''Class &Above

455261 15.04.2021


THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,APRIL 1, 2021 5

Ahmedabad

CALENDAR6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM


CROSSWORD4392

ACROSS1 Drill teaminvolved inboringroutine (9)

8 Left inaunitentirelywithoutsupport? (5)

9 Somehavocadolescentscausewith fruit (7)

10 He’snot theonlyonetosucceed(2-4)

11 Screenoff inchurch(6)

12 Novarieties in thenumberscrawling(3,5)

15 Writer isabout toapproveacolour (3,5)

18 Hada leantime?(6)

20 One-eyedkindof craft?(6)

21 Keeptrackof awarship(7)

22 Sevendifferent levels(5)

23 Newsflashescausing furrowedbrows?(9)

DOWN2 Showregretabouteveningbeingcutshort (5)

3 Confrontwithasmallaccountcharge (6)

4 Mildwaytorebuke(8)

5 Temporarilystopworking(3,3)

6 Conceal that thecostofinsurancehasrisen?(5,2)

7 Blueperiodicals inaction(9)

11 Aplaneworker (9)13 Letterprovidingyouwithaccommodation(8)

14 Earlyhunterswholivedhollowlives? (7)

16 Enjoygoodtaste(6)

17 Asignof twins(6)

19 It’sall right togo in thedaybefore tocallup(5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Aprofessionalorbusinessconcern iscertain togothroughadecisive

period, largely thanks to thedisciplining influenceofSaturn.Youmayhavetocopewitha lossof confidencebutthiswillbeshort-lived.At thevery least, youwillbecontemplatingabreakthroughatwork.

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CANCER(June22- July23)Today’splanetarypictureshouldhaveacalmingeffectonyourambitions,

particularly if you’vebeenplanningto travelorarecopingwithany legalproblems.Butyoumaybetoo impatient totakerationaldecisions.Perhapsyoucanwaituntil yourheadhascleared.

LEO(July24-Aug23)TheproudLeo lionmaybe feelingalittlebruisedandbatteredafter recent

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is if someonecomes forwardwithanapology forapastmisdemeanour,orabright ideaas tohowyoucan improveconditions foryourself.Be innodoubt thatyouare incommandof thesituation.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Yourmainconcernmustbetogetpartners togiveyouan ideaas towhy

they feel sostronglyaboutissues that, as farasyouareconcerned,areofnoimportancewhatsoever.Attempt tosee theothersideofthecoin forachange,andviewtheworld throughapartner’seyes.

PISCES(Feb.20-Mar20)Trynot tobeundulyconcernedaboutwhatothersmaybescheming. In the

finalanalysis, there is little thatanyonecandotopushyouoffcourseorshakeyourconfidence inyourowndestiny.Deepdownyou’remuchtougher thanothersgiveyoucredit for.

SUDOKU4428

DifficultyLevel5s

Instructions

TosolveaSudokupuzzle,

everydigitfrom1to9

mustappear ineachofthe

nineverticalcolumns, in

eachoftheninehorizontal

rowsandineachofthe

nineboxes.

DifficultyLevel

1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;

3s=Medium;4s=Hard;

5s=VeryHard;6s=

Genius SOLUTIONSUDOKU4427

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto

therespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget

theanswerforthegivenquip.

Allpathsleadnowhere,___thepathwith__.- CarlosCastaneda(6,.,5)

SOLUTION:AWARE,ROBOT,HULLER,LAWFULAnswer:Allpathsleadnowhere,followthepathwithheart.-CarlosCastaneda

AWAER ERUHLL

BROOT ALLUFW

SolutionsCrossword4391: 1Traffic,4Uncut,7Alps,8Tolerate,10Snowandice,12Specie,13Treaty,15Phrasebook,18Deadline,19Thea,20Ladle,21Parasol.Down:1Tears,2Approved,3Clouds,4Unescorted,5Crab,6Therapy,9Danishblue,11Galoshes,12Scandal,14Catnip,16Kraal,17Band.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

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DELHI JAL BOARD : DELHI SARKAR

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (SOUTH)-II

JAL SADAN : LAJPAT NAGAR : NEW DELHI-110024

NIT NO. 56/S-II/2020-21

Press Tender

S.No.

Name of Work ReservePrice

Date of release oftender in e-

procurementsolution

Last date and timefor download & RTGS

through eprocurement solution

1 Replacement of existing old/damaged/ badly silted up sewer line fromRavidas Road to Budha Chowk Gali No. 7 Govind Puri under EE(S) II(AC-51 Kalkaji)

49,01,399/- 2021_DJB_202379_330.3.2021

17.04.2021 upto2:00 PM

2 Shifting of sewer line coming in the alignment of underpass at AshramChowk (Left side) under EE(S) II (AC-41 Jangpura)

Item rate 2021_DJB_202379_430.3.2021

17.04.2021 upto2:00 PM

3 Replacement of old and damaged/ badly silted up sewer lines in leftoutportions in Gali No. 6 Govind Puri under EE(S) II (AC-51 Kalkaji)

48,43,672/- 2021_DJB_202379_530.3.2021

17.04.2021 upto2:00 PM

4 Replacement of old/damaged water lines at Gali No.7 Govind Purifrom Ravidas Road to Budha Chowk under EE(S) II (AC-51 Kalkaji)

49,10,988/- 2021_DJB_202379_630.3.2021

17.04.2021 upto2:00 PM

5 P/L sewer line from W.H.O. and Vikas Minar to Azad Bhawan SPS atITO under EE(S) II (AC-41 Jangpura)

1,57,64,626/- 2021_DJB_202379_730.3.2021

17.04.2021 upto2:00 PM

Further details in this regard can be seen at govtprocurement delhi gov.in

ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER) Sd/- (S. Ghuam Sajjad)Advt. No. J.S.V. 573/2020-21 EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (SOUTH) II

STOP CORONA : “Wear Mask, Follow Physical Distancing, Maintain Hand Hygiene”

BRUHAT BENGALURU MAHANAGARA PALIKEOice of the Executive Engineer, BBMP,

K.R. Pura Division, Old Madras Road,

K.R. Pura, Bengaluru-560036

No.: EE/KRP/TND/35/2020-21 Date: 30.03.2021

INVITATION FOR TWO COVER TENDER (IFT)

The Executive Engineer (K.R. Pura) invites Item Rate

tenders from eligible tenderers for the works details in the

table given below. The Tenderers may submit tenders for

any or all of the works given in the table in appropriate

class registered in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike /

CPWD / KPWD / Railways / any State or Central Govt.

Organization.

(Short Term Tender Notiication)(Through GOK e-Procurement Portal Only)

Sl.

No.Name of the Work

Approx.

Value of work

(Rs. in Lakh)

1Improvements to Kalyani Development

Works. (Call-2)150.00

2

Comprehensive Developments to Roads

and Drains in Shanthi Layout, Muniswamy

Reddy Layout, Punyabhoomi Layout,

Manjunatha Nagara, Akshaya Nagara

and surrounding areas in R M Nagara

Ward No. 26.

100.00

3

Improvements to Roads, Footpaths and

Drains at Diesel Shed Road and Tent

Road surrounding areas in Ward No. 55,

Devasandra.

100.00

4Providing Concrete Roads in Saibaba

Layout inWard No. 81, Vignana Nagara.53.00

EMD: EMD Declaration

Calendar of events: (1) Tender documents may be

downloaded from Government of Karnataka e-Procurement

website https://eproc.karnataka.gov.in (2) Availability of

RFP documents: 05.04.2021 onwards. (3) Pre bid meeting

will be held on 08.04.2021 at 11:30 a.m. in the Chief

Engineer Oice, K R Pura. (4) Last Date for submission of

tender documents on or before 15.04.2021 at 4:00 p.m.

(5) Technical Bids will be opened on the website: https://eproc.

karnataka.gov.in in the oice of the Executive Engineer, K.R.

Pura Division on 17.04.2021 at 4:00 p.m. Further details may

be obtained from the above oice during oice hours or website

https://eproc.karnataka.gov.inSd/- Executive Engineer, K.R. Pura Division, BBMP

DELHI JAL BOARD: DELHI SARKAR

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (SOUTH) IVO.H.T O.l.A Ph-ll: OPPOSITE GOVIND PURI: NEW DELHI-20.

e-mail: [email protected]/Tel. 011-26388976

Press N.l.T. NO: 49 S-lV (2020-21)

Further details in this regard may be seen at (https://govtprocurement.delhi.gov.in)

ISSUED BY P.R.O. (WATER) Sd/- (Rajeev Kumar Gupta)

Advt. No. J.S.V. 576 (2020-21) EXECUTIVE ENGINEER (SOUTH) IV

S.

No

Name of work Estimated

Cost

(in Rs.)

Date of release of

tender in

e-procurement solution

Last date/time of

receipt of tender through

e-procurement solution

1. Replacement of 450 mm dia 600 mm dia and 700 mm dia old damaged

sluice valve at EE(South)IV office complex Okhla Ph-II, UGR at Tughlkabad

Constituency AC-52 under EE(South)IV

32,23,103/- 2021_DJB_202420_1

30.03.2021

12.04.2021

up to 3.00 pm

"STOP CORONA; Wear Mask, Follow Physical Distancing, Maintain Hand Hygiene"

Ahmedabad

7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,APRIL 1, 2021

GUJARAT STATE ELECTRICITY CORP. LTD.WANAKBORI THERMAL POWER STATION

TAL.: GALTESHWAR, DIST.: KHEDA PIN–388 239TEL.: 02699-235522 FAX.: 02699-235607

WEBSITE: www.gsecl.in E&P Dept-GoG: http://guj-epd.gov.in

Tender Notice(WTPS/S/WebT/02/2021, WTPS/S/ET/02/2021 & WTPS/W/WebT/02/2021,WTPS/W/ET/02/2021) for supply of various materials or works tender isput up on GSECL web site www.gsecl.in as well as notice board ofpower station. All interested supplier or contractor may take the detailsfrom the above web site. Corrigendum of the tender notice, if any, willbe published on above sites. For Tenders with ECV of Rs. 5 Lacs andabove (WTPS/S/WebT/02/2021, WTPS/S/ET/02/2021 & WTPS/W/WebT/02/2021,WTPS/W/ET/02/2021), Please visit our Website: https://gsecl.nprocure.comfor e-tendering.

Sd/-CHIEF ENGINEER (C&O)

GSECL, WTPS

Save Energy for Benefit of Self and Nation

UTTAR GUJARAT VIJ COMPANY LIMITEDCIN - U40102GJ2003SGC042906

(A subsidiary of Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam LImited)Regd. office: - Visnagar Road, Mehsana–384001

www.guj-epd.gov.inE-Tender Notice

Tender is invited for the civil work of Kadi Division Extension room,Store RCC Road, CTPT PF, Cable Drum PF, New Visitor Toilet, Colourwork of Kadi City sdn, MT lab, rising of Compound wall, New SepticTank, Soak well at Kadi, Details of tender can be viewed onwww.ugvcl.com & can be viewed, Downloaded & submitted online on https://ugvcl.nprocure.com.Note: Be in Touch with our web site till opening of Tender

C.E.(OP), UGVCL, R&C OFFICE, MEHSANAUGVCL's Toll free Customer No. 1800 233 155 335 OR 19121

Gujarat Water Supply & Sewerage BoardTender Notice No. 06 of 2021-22

Executive Engineer, Public Health Mechanical Division, Shankar Nivas, Opp.Kachh Kadava Patel Samaj Vadi, Shamlaji Road, Modasa,- Pin Code-383315Mo. 9978444022 invites tenders by E-tendering DTH drilling contractorwith GWSSB or valid registration or valid registration as a civil contractor"A" class OR above Drilling 165/200 mm dia DTH bore with Hand Pumpinstallation, as per Unicef design platform construction work. And SinglePhase Submarsible Pump Installation. Esti Cost Rs.399,56,437.00, Tenderfee Rs.6000.00, E.M.D. Rs.3,99,570.00 & Tender ID. No. 455041 Last Dateof on-line submission Dt.16/04/2021 at 18.00 hour. However for the pur-pose of realization of instruments of tender fee and EMD, bidder shall sendthe same in Original. On the next day from the last day of upolding of Bid.That is up to date Dt. 17/04/2021 Till 15.00 hours. The detailed tendernotice & tender documents are available on website www.nprocure.comand Amendments if any now Afterward will be Disbursed on same website.Sanctioning authority reserves the right to reject any or all tenders withoutassigning any reason. For any Complain regarding water supply Problem,the Toll free No is 1916.

INF/HMT/566/2021

GOVERNMENT OF GUJARATRoads & Buildings Department Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar,

No. GMP/Toll-Notification/B-N ROAD/2020Date : 31/03/2021

Order :1. Gujarat State Road Development Corporation Limited., Gandinagar (hirein after referred to as

GSRDC) has developed by Widening & Strengthening of Km. 5/200 to 50/00 of Bhuj-NakhatranaRoad, Section of SH-42 in the State of Gujarat, India on BOT basis through the ConcessionaireM.S.Khurana Infrastructure and Toll Road Pvt. Ltd. and the Project is now vested with GSRDC.

2. Now, the Government of Gujarat hereby confirms, declares and orders that a charge shall bedetermined, levied, collected, retained and appropriated by the GSRDC ot ITS authorizedagent/servants on motor vehicles of the classes and trailers drawn by such vehicles specified incolumn no.2 at the rate specified against each of them in column no.3 of the Schedule of User Feehereunder :

Schedule of User FeeSr. Vehicle Fee (Effect from 01/04/2021) The toll fee of Car/Jeep/Van /TwoNo. Category (Rs. Per trip) Wheeler/Three Wheeler & Gujarat

Bhuj Deshalpar Bhuj State Road Transport CorporationDeshalpar Nakhatrana Nakhatrana Buses exempted from dated

Section Section Section 15/08/2016 vide Government1 2 3 of Gujarat. Roads & Building

1 Cars 11 11 22 Department Government of Gujarat,2 LCV 20 22 42 Roads & Building Department3 Bus/Trucks 33 55 88 letter No.

(Standard Axle) û¼Æ.û¼.¬¼./10/2016/h¼Ì.û¼Æ./KÌù¼Â‡¼Ìh/19/4 2 Axle truck 55 77 132 Q¼¼.K.dated 12/08/2016.

(Tandem Axle)5 MVA 77 99 176

The fee shaII be levied on vehicales using the roads (as defined in the Concession Agreement) andentering toll plaza and passing over the project highway with effect from 6.00 AM on 01/04/2021 tillfurther notice.3. The following types of vehicles are exempted from paying the fee specified in the following schedule.

Vehicales having VIP symbols which offically belong to the President of lndia, the Vice Presidentof India. the Prime Minister of India. Governor of States. Lt. Governors of Union Territories, ChiefMinisters, Central and State Ministers, Presiding Officers of Central and State legislatures avingjurisdiction, judges of the supreme Court of India and of the High Courts having jurisdiction,Foregign Dignitaries on state visit to India, Heads of Foreign Missions stationed in India using carswith CD symbol. Members of Parliament, Members of Legislative Assembly, Central and StateGovernment Vehicles. Officers of GSRDC. persons required to use the Project Highway for dis-charging their statutory obligations in relation to the Site, Independent Consultant Central andState forces in unform including armed forces, para military forces and Defense vehicles, Policevehicles, winners of the Gallantry Awards namely, Param Vir Chakra. Ashok Chakra, Maha VirChakra, Kirti Chakra, Vir Chakra and Shaurya competent authority, Members of District Panchayat& Taluka Panchayat, Emergency Vehicles such as Fire fighting vehicles, Ambulances and vehiclesused during reseue operation in emergency.

4. The GSRDC or its authorized agent is entitled to regulated or prohibit the use of Road by the userunless fees, as notified are dule paid by the user for the use of the Road.

5. When a vehicle has to use the Project Highway more than once in a day, the user at his option beentitled to do on the payment of one and half times the Fee for one way trip in the first trip itself. Avehicle owner shall also be entitled to a monthly pass on payment of Fee equal to thirty times theFee for one-way and entitled to use the Project Highway for unlimited time during the tenure ofmonthly pass.

6. Local Commercial Traffic * and Local Personal Traffic ** as described in the agreement shall payusers fee of 50% of the applicable fees.

7. The Agency (Tolling Contractor) appointed by GSRDC or its agents, servants are authorized tocollect the fee and issue a receipt thereof.* '' Local Commercial Traffic'' means any commercial vehicle including buses, trucks, light motorvehicles or taxes engaged in carrying goods and passengers and required to use the project high-way frequently and owner of vehicle resides within distance of 2 Km. of toll plaza and registeredwith the Concessionaire and as may be certified by officer nominated by the GSRDC.* '' Local Personal Traffic'' means and includes a peersonal vehicle whice is registered with theAgency of GSRDC by any person who normally resides or works at a place that can normally beapproached only by using a part of the Project Highway and such person is, therefore, required touse such vehicle for commuting daily on a part of the Project Highway, and as may be certified byany officer nominated by the GSRDC.

By order and in the name of Governor of GujaratSD/-

(A. N. Mistry)Officer on Special Duty

INF/2246/20-21 Roads & Buildings Department

Ref No: Geo/Minor/Block/OSD&GRV/SBK/72/2020-21/003 Date: 31st March 2021

In excrcise of the powers conferred by Section 15 of the Mines and Minerals(Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 and in accordance with the GujaratMinor Mineral Concession Rules, 2017 notified thereunder, the Government ofGujarat has identified 10 (Ten) Ordinary Sand & Gravel Mineral Blocks foreIectronic auction and hereby invites bids for the purpose of grant of quarry leases.

Eligibility conditions, date and time, terms and conditions for participating inthe electronic auction are provided in the Tender Document. Detailed TenderDocuments along with timelines, notifications, updates and other details forthe e-auction process for the mineral blocks are available in electronic formonly and can be downloaded from the website of (n)Code Solutions - A divi-sion of GNFC Limited (http://cgm-eauction.nprocure.com).

Interested bidders can register themselves on the above e-auction portal.On successful registration, eligible bidder will obtain login lD and passwordnecessary for participation in the e-auction process.

Sale of Tender Documents will commence, on website of e-auction portalprovider, from 30th April, 2021 which may be obtained after payment of` 5,000/- as tender document fee against each of the Ordinary Sand &Gravel Mineral Block. Model Tender Document & Mineral Block Summarywill be available free of cost on the above e-auction protal.

Notice Inviting Tender" Invitation of bids for grant of Quarry Lease for

Ordinary Sand & Gravel Mineral "

Commissioner of Geology and Mining,Industries & Mines DepartmentGovernment of GujaratEmail: [email protected]

S.No.

Mineral BlockName

Location(Village,Taluka,District)

Area(in HA.)

Type ofLand

(Govt./Private)

EstimatedMineral

Resources(in MetricTonnes)

1 Chandap OrdinarySand & GravelBlock - 1

Chandap, Idar,Sabarkantha

2.5000 Govt 1,14,750



2.5000 Govt 1,14,750



3.3000 Govt 1,31,670



3.3000 Govt 1,31,670



3.3000 Govt 1,31,670



3.3000 Govt 1,31,670



3.3000 Govt 1,33,650



3.3000 Govt 1,33,650



3.3000 Govt 1,32,660



3.4000 Govt 1,36,680

INF/HMT/567/2021 – District Collector, Sabarkantha

GUJARAT

Ahmedabad:Tenyearsaftertwoworkersdiedafterbeingelectro-cuted in a water tank at a con-struction site in Gandhinagar. acourt in Gandhinagar held thelabour contractor guilty ofcausingdeathbynegligenceandawarded him imprisonmentforoneyear.On September 12, 2011, two

persons, VishwajitMahato (24)

and Satish Sardar (26), wereelectrocutedtodeathwhiletheyweretakingbathinawatertankkept at an under constructionsite at Divya Jeevan infrastruc-ture company in Kudasan areaofGandhinagar.PolicehadfiledanFIRagainst

labour contractor Girish KumarunderIPCsection304Aforcaus-ing death by negligence after

electricalwireswerefoundnearthewater tank.On Tuesday, an additional

sessions judge at theGandhinagarcourtheldParmarguilty and awarded him one-year imprisonment.A fine of Rs 4 lakhwas also

imposed, of which Rs 3.9 lakhwillgotothekinof thedeceasedworkers.ENS


A DESIGNATED court onTuesdayconvicteda22-year-oldman and sentenced him to 10years of imprisonment for rap-ing a 13-year-old girl in Rajkotdistrict in2019. Thecourtof ad-ditionaldistrictjudgeVKPathakfound the accused guilty under376(rape),452(house-trespass)and506(criminal intimidation)and under Section 3 of theProtection of Children fromSexual Offences (POCSO) Actthatdealswithpenetrative sex-ual assault.“The victim testified against

theaccusedduring the trial and(this) supported the case of theprosecution. Documentary evi-dence, including medical re-ports, alsoweighed in favour oftheprosecution.Thedefencear-gued that the accused and thevictimwereinarelationship.Butthe court rejected that argu-ment, underlining that the vic-tim had not attained the age ofconsent as provided in thePOCSOActandconvictedtheac-cused,” GhanshyamDobariya,additional public prosecutor inthecase, said.Thevictimwas a school stu-

dent at the time while the ac-cused, who used to live in thesameneighbourhoodasthevic-tim,wasacasual labourer.According to prosecution’s

case,theoffencewascommittedin July, 2019.

Two years on,man gets 10-yrjail term forraping minor

Decade after 2 workers electrocuted todeath, contractor sentenced to 1-yr in jail

Ahmedabad

8


NANDIGRAM CRUCIBLE

ProtestsherepavedMamataBanerjee's roadtopower.This

time,heropponent ismoreofherownmaking

INMARCH2007, less than a year after the Left Front swept to power in theWest

Bengalassemblyelections,therulingCPMregimelostmoralauthoritywiththevi-

olenceunleashedby thepolice inNandigram. Themovement against the SEZby

local farmers—led innosmallpartbyMamataBanerjee—becamethesiegethat

ledtothefallof theredbastion. Intheaftermathof theviolenceinNandigram,aswellas

protestsovertheTataNanofactoryatSingur,BanerjeeandherTrinamoolCongress(TMC)

hadcoinedtheslogan“Ma,Maati,Maanush”andbegunthejourneytoWriter'sBuilding.

TheLeftFront lostaseriesofby-elections,culminating in itsdefeat inthe2011assembly

polls. As the constituencyvotes today, however, it is Banerjeewho isbeing tested in the

Nandigramcrucible this timeandheropponent is aone-time loyalist. ForBanerjeeand

TMC,whilethe2007-08agitationresultedinanelectoralvictory,thefundamentalques-

tions around thepolitical economyof Bengal it threwuphavenot beenaddressedover

twoterms inpower.

Thedriving forcebehindtheSingurandNandigramprojects—flawed,undemocratic

andhigh-handedastheymighthavebeenintheirimplementation—wastheneedtocre-

ateemploymentandfacilitatethereturnof industrytoWestBengal.Anempoweredand

politicisedpeasantrymadethattaskharderherethanelsewhere,andtheviolentsuppres-

sion of protestsmade everythingworse. Banerjee's oppositionwas articulated in terms

of landandidentity—apoliticalplankthat rodeonafearof change,TMCslogansofpori-

bortonnotwithstanding.Inoffice,shewasperhapstrappedbyherownformulations.While

welfare in termsof educationsubsidiesand foodgrainsdidher first termcredit, theorig-

inal problem—of revitalising industry— remained unresolved. The other promise that

the TMCheld outwas of a newkind of centre-left politics, one inwhich “the party” did

notaimtocontrolall aspectsof socialandpolitical life.Ontheground,however, theTMC

kept theCPMstructures intactandthe local strongmensimplychangedsides.

Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, until recently a TMC loyalist, takes on Banerjee in this

election. In Singur, too, Rabindranath Bhattacharya has defected to the BJP. The saffron

partyhas, ina sense,donepre-electionwhat theTMCdidafter its first victory in2011—

co-optedthelocalleaderswhocontrolpoliticalorganisationontheground.Banerjee’sde-

cisiontocontestfromNandigram10yearsaftershefirstwonthestateisobviouslymeant

toevoketheconstituency'srecenthistory,remindingthepeopleofBengalthatthisisnot

the first timeshe is takingonanideologicalbehemothskilled intheartofwinningelec-

tions. Yet, asmuchas theBJP, inNandigramandbeyond, she is also fighting the failures

andcreationsofherownpartyandgovernment—thelackof industry,apoliticsofstrong-

men,andof identity.

SHINING A LIGHT

SCruling inTata-Mistrycasebringswelcomeclarity

onrightsofminorityshareholders

THESUPREMECOURTverdictintheTata-Mistrycaselastweekbroughtanend

totheuncertaintythathasbeenplaguingtheTatagroupforthepastfewyears.

In the process, while setting aside the National Company Law Appellate

Tribunal(NCLAT)order,theCourt,whichruledinfavourofTataSons,hasalso

clarifiedonthelarger issueof therightsofminorityshareholdersandboardrepresenta-

tion. The Court has held thatminority shareholders are not automatically entitled to a

seat on theboardof aprivate company, there is no statutoryobligation. Indoing so, the

verdicthasbroughtaboutmuch-neededclarityontherightsofminorityshareholdersin

privatecompanies.

The ruling has sought to distinguish between “small shareholders” and “minority

shareholders”.UndertheCompaniesAct,“smallshareholders”aredefinedasthosewith

sharesofanominalvalueofnotmorethanRs20,000oranyotherprescribedsum.Section

151 of the Companies Act 2013 recommends that listed companies have one director

electedbysmallshareholders,notminorityshareholders.TheMistrygroup,ontheother

hand,whichholds an18.4per cent stake inTata Sons, is not a “small shareholder” but a

“minority shareholder” according to the verdict. Thus, as the Court notes, “the right to

claimproportionaterepresentationisnotavailableeventoaminorityshareholderstatu-

torily,bothunderthe1956Actandunderthe2013Act. It isavailableonlytoasmallshare-

holder,whichS.P.Group is certainlynot.”

TheTataSons’ArticlesofAssociationhadallowedforthetwoTatatruststonominate

one-thirdof thedirectorson theTata Sonsboard. Thesenomineedirectorswerevested

withaffirmativevotingrightswhichareeffectivelyvetorightsonspecifiedmatters.The

Court also examined the issue of these affirmative voting rights onwhich theMistry

grouphadcastdoubts.However,uponexamination, itupheldthevalidityof theaffirma-

tivevoting rights.While this verdictbrings thecurtaindownonthisparticular case, the

larger ramifications of the ruling—whetherminority shareholders in private unlisted

companieswillnowhavetoventureintoagreementswithmajorityshareholdersorpro-

motersorwillnowhavetoexplicitlyget their rights incorporated in thearticlesof asso-

ciationof thecompany—willplayout in thedays tocome.

BITTER MEMORIES

Aquestiontobeaskedof France’smuseumfor terrorvictims:

Will ithealadividednation?

FRANCEHASDECIDEDtosetupamuseumin thememoryof 300-oddcitizens

killedinterrorattacksinthelastdecade. It isawaytoacknowledgenotjustthe

sufferingof Frenchcitizens, but also todrawa line—between the randomvi-

olenceof terroristorganisationsandthenationthatmustdefenditself against

it. Themuseum’s creators believe it is a form of cultural “resistance” and away for the

Frenchtoconfrontanongoingassault.Onlyafewmonthsago,aseriesofattacksinFrance

andthebeheadingofateacherhadnotonlyunderlinedFrance’sterrorthreats—butalso

itsstruggletorespondtoviolencewithoutotheringitsMuslimpopulation.Preciselybe-

causethereisnotenoughdistancebetweenthewoundsofthepastandthepresent,ques-

tions arebeingaskedof thisproject.Notonlyonwhether theportrayal of theperpetra-

torsmightborderonglorification,orwhetherthedisplaysmighttriggertrauma.Butalso:

Will thisbeastep towards findingawaytoheal France?

In its response to the killing of Samuel Paty and the attacks in Nice, the Emmanuel

Macrongovernment,itappears,haslostitsappetitetofindamiddleground.Themightof

theFrenchstateisnowrangedagainst“Islamicseparatism”andforaprogrammeofrein-

forcementofrepublicanvalues.AftertheCharlieHebdoattacks,Francehadwalkeddown

thispath,withabanonburqaandother Islamicveils. This time, ithas takentheshapeof

a proposed “anti-separatism” law thatwill introduce several restrictions on theMuslim

communityandmakelegalanintensifiedscrutinyof theiraffairs—thatis, theirprofiling.

Inthebackdropof thesecontestations, inthecrisisofFrance’s laicitetofindamoreac-

commodativelanguage,amuseumonterrorismisrifeforthestateappropriationofsuf-

feringtodividefellowcitizensintopermanent“enemies”and“victims”.Justwhatwillnot

helpdefeat terrorism.

Bengal’s star caste

Sekhar Bandyopadhyay

SubhashCNagpal

Issuesspecifically relatedtoSC-OBCcommunitiesarefeaturingagain inelectoralpolitics in thestate

SAFETY BY EXAMPLEZonesofExcellence inRoadSafetycanactasmodels, reduce fatalities

ITWASINtheearlycolonialperiodthatcastehad entered themodern arena of organisedpolitics inBengal. Thenewpolitical elite, thebhadralok —whomostly belonged to thethreeuppercastesofBrahmin,KayasthaandBaidya—demandeddemocraticreforms,butfiercelyguardedtheirownprivilegedpositionby denying themiddle and lower rankingcastestheirfairshareofpower.Thelatterfromthe early 20th century began to organisethemselves intoexclusivecasteassociations.Among themwere severalDalit castes, suchastheNamasudrasineasternBengalandtheRajbansis in the north. Thesemovementsworkedfortheirself-improvementandstayedaway fromCongresspolitics. In1937aDalit-Muslimallianceinthelegislativeassemblyef-fectively blocked the Congress fromassum-ingpower.Butthesituationchangedwiththeonsetof

Partition politics which divided the au-tonomousScheduledCastemovement.WhileasectionoftheDalitsundertheleadershipofNamasudra leader Jogendra NathMandaljoined Dr Ambedkar’s All India ScheduledCaste Federation andopposed Partition, an-otherlargesegmentundertheleadershipofPR Thakur, also aNamasudra, supported theHinduMahasabha-Congressinstigatedcam-paigntodivideBengalandcreateWestBengalasaHindumajoritystatewithinIndia.Partition did not help the Bengali

Scheduled Castes.While the Rajbansi terri-torywasdivideddownthemiddle,theentireNamasudrahabitatwenttoEastPakistan.Butthey did notmigrate immediately, as theylackedfinancialandsocialcapitaltodoso.Thesituation changed after the riots of 1950,whichtriggeredamassexodusofDalitpeas-antsfromEasttoWestBengal.Unfortunately,onarrivalinIndiatheseDalitrefugeesdidnotgetafairdealfromtheIndianstate.TheywerefirstputinrefugeecampsandthendispersedtoAndamanIslandandDandakaranyaforre-settlement. Thosewhodid not go to campssettled in the border districts of North 24-Parganas andNadia. In post-PartitionWestBengal,themainattentionofDalitleaderslikeMandal and Thakur therefore focusedmoreontherehabilitationissue;refugeeagitationsdisplaced caste movements from West

Bengal’spublicspace.But caste did not disappear, as Dalit em-

powermentremainedafarcry.PRThakurbe-camedisillusionedwiththeCongressandde-cidedtoreinvigoratetheMatuamovement.Itwasananti-Brahmanicalheterodoxreligioussect for theDalits, startedbyhisgreatgrand-father and grandfather — Harichand andGuruchand Thakur. By the 1990s theNamasudrasregroupedthemselvesunderitsbannerandwereinabetterpositiontonego-tiatewiththemainstreampoliticalparties.In the2011assembly election, theMatua

supportwent to Trinamool Congress (TMC),asMamataBanerjee, unlikeher communistadversaries, had no qualms in becoming amemberoftheMatuaMahasanghaandtouch-ing the feet of BoromaorBinapaniDebi, thewidowofPRThakurandthethenheadofthesect, inanopenpublicmeeting.Butalthoughshepromisedthemmanythings,beingprima-rilyastatepower, shecouldnotofferanyrealhelp toaddress theirmajorgrievanceagainstthe Citizenship Amendment Act of 2003,passedbythepreviousNDAgovernment,an-nouncingMarch1971asthecut-offdateofar-rivalforgrantingcitizenshiptotherefugees.Historically,Dalitsupportformainstream

political parties in Bengal had always beenstrategic, rather than unconditional. Since2009,theMatuashavebeenarticulatingtheirgrievancesagainstthecitizenshipact,asDalitrefugeesfacedcontinuousharassment,someof themeven facing prosecution.While theTMC-led state government could not offerthemanyreprieveinsuchmatters,BJPofferedthemCAA2019asafinalsolutionfortheircit-izenship-relatedwoes.Hence,fromthe2019parliamentaryelection,MatuasupportbegantoshifttotheBJP.Inthecurrentelection,also,thecitizenship issue isexpectedto influenceoutcomesinabout30seats.Duetomemoriesofpost-Partitionviolence,Dalit-Muslimrela-tionsarealreadyatalowpointintheseborderdistricts.But there is another issue. TheMatua

Mahasangha is actually anoppositional reli-giousmovement that is against Brahmindomination and Vedic Hinduism. So, onewouldsuspectthattheywouldfinditdifficultto support Hindutva ideology. But not all of

themposition themselves firmlywithin aMatua-Hindu binary in everyday life. AndModi’s symbolic gesture to visit Orakandi inBangladesh, the birthplace of GuruchandThakur,mayappealtotheemotionsofMatuapracharaksandgosainswithgrassroots levelnetworks, tiltingthebalanceforBJP.Butmycolleaguesonthefieldalsotellme

thattheMatuasarenolongeraunitedhouse.The Thakur familywhich leads thismove-ment is divided. There are now manyAmbedkarites in the community.Many ofthem know that the proposed CAA-NRCregime is unlikely to ease their problems. AradicalDalitliterarymovementhasemergedinrecentyearsanditcertainlyhasafollowingamongtheeducatedDalitrefugees.ButtheirvoteswillpossiblybesplitbetweenTMCandtheLeft-Congressalliance.TheotherissueistheextensionoftheOBC

list,ostensiblytoropeintheMahishyasandafewotherHinducastes.AsectionoftheChasiKaibarttaschosetocallthemselvesMahishyasandgot thatnomenclaturerecognised inthe1911 census. Itwas a heterogeneous group,consisting of landedmagnates and smallfarmersinMedinipuraswellasindustrialen-trepreneursandworkingclassesinHowrah.Apolitically powerful upwardlymobile elitewereopposedtobeinglabelledas“depressedclasses”becauseofthesocialstigmaattachedto it. Even today the group is divided on theOBC issue, although it is likely that the lowermiddle classes among them see the advan-tagesof reservation. SincebothTMCandBJPhave offered to include them in theOBC list,their entry is almost guaranteed, and there-fore it isunlikelytoaffect theirvotingbehav-iour.TheMahishyasoranyotherOBCinWestBengalhavenevervotedasaunitedvotebank,andtodaytheMahishyasareanevenmoredi-versegroup.It ishowever interesting tonotice that is-

sues specifically related to SC-OBC commu-nitiesare featuringagain inelectoralpolitics.Caste,politiciansrealise,hasnotdisappearedfromBengal. How is it going to impact elec-tionresults,onlytimewill tell.

Thewriter isemeritusprofessorofhistory,VictoriaUniversityofWellington

IN ‘MANNKI Baat’ this January-end, PrimeMinisterNarendraModimadeaspecial ref-erencetothegovernment’sconcernonroadcrashes and called upon the people to be-comeactivestakeholdersinroadsafetyactiv-ities.It ishorrifyingtolookatthedataofroaddeaths:More than415peopledieon Indianroadseveryday.Theharshpenaltiesunderthenewprovi-

sions of theMotor Vehicles Act have donemore thanhalf of the job, as “enforcement”of a road safety regimewould appear to bethefirstkeyinthisimpasse.However,totakethiscampaigntothenextlevelwemusttakea fresh look at the issue and explore certainsimple steps to bring about a quick impact.Tobeginwith,Unionandstategovernmentscan earmark smaller areas in some cities asZones of Excellence in Road Safety (ZoE).Preferencecanbegiventogeographicareaswithapoor roadsafety record.All roads in the ZoE should be properly

lane-marked,zebra-marked,andsignposted.Mostmarkingsandsignageshould, inaddi-tiontothepictorialimage,definetheinstruc-tions inwords for easy understanding, andas a source of regular education of the roadusers. A dedicated corridor for emergencyvehiclesmust bemarked. Corrective actiononthe“blackspots”shouldbecompletedontoppriority in aZoE. In themeantime, tem-porarymeasurescanbeput inplacetoslowdown, andguide the traffic. It is also impor-tanttograduallyprovideenablingconditionssuch as improved, handicap-friendly foot-

paths,asafelaneforcyclistsandpedestrians,more zebra paths with an inbuilt safetymechanism.Round-the-clock checks should be con-

ductedtoenforceadherencetotrafficnormsin the earmarkedZoE. All available techde-vices should be deployed, and private ITagencies of repute roped in. Best practicesfollowed by road-safe countries should besuitably adapted. Strict checks and finesshould be imposed, with the provision ofchargingadiscountedamountwheretheof-fenderiswillingtopayonthespot.Similarly,detaining offending vehicles for the entireday or longer hours, instead of imposingfines, shouldbeencouraged.Acrucialrequirementwillbethestation-

ingofadequatelyequippedambulancesandcranes at closer distances to swiftlymoveawayvictimsanddamagedvehicles.Asepa-rateemergencyhelplinefortheZoE/allZoEswithinastate,operatedbythetrainedstaff, isthe need of the hour. Details of the helplineshould be posted in a ZoE prominently, andatmultiplepublicplacesandsocialmedia.It is important that road users and peo-

ple, in general, are sensitised about thenormsandspiritof roadsafety.Regularroadsafety awareness and education pro-grammes should be conducted in residen-tialareas,overtheweekends,withtheactiveassistanceof theRWAs/localbodies/NGOs.Athree-tieradministrativestructurecan

beputinplacetorunaZoEinasmooth,war-zone like spirit. First, for day to day opera-

tions, therewill beamanaginggroup, com-prisingmiddle-level officials from the traf-fic police, highway regulatory authority, lo-calbodyofthearea,PWD,health,education,electricity and horticulture departments,headedby a senior administrative or policeofficerwithprovenperformancerecord.Thegroupwill resolve day to day issues of en-forcement andmanagement of safe roads.The second levelwouldhave anexclusivelyearmarked officer from the district head-quarterswhowill very closelymonitor thefunctioningofallZoEswithinthedistrict,andextendurgenthelpwheresuchinterventionis soughtbytheGroup.Acommitteeof sea-sonedpeoplecanalsobeco-optedtoassistinthemonitoringprocesses.Athirdtierwouldcomprise the Union/ state minister con-cerned. Indeed, a separateminister for roadsafety can be appointed both in the Unionandstatecabinets.The execution of the proposedmodel

restsonharnessingresourcesofgovernmentagencies,privatesector,NGOsandthecom-mon people asmeaningful stakeholders inthe road safety mission, in a competitivespirit. Themodel will help usher in a wel-come culture of traffic discipline, smoothaesthetic flowin lanes, andresponsibleciti-zenroad-behaviour.ThiscultureshouldsoontranscendbeyondthelimitedareaofaZonetocoverotherpartsof thesociety.

Thewriter isa formercivil servantandMember,NationalRoadSafetyCouncil

Historically, Dalit supportfor mainstream politicalparties in Bengal had alwaysbeen strategic, rather thanunconditional. Since 2009,the Matuas have beenarticulating their grievancesagainst the citizenship act, asDalit refugees facedcontinuous harassment,some of them even facingprosecution. While theTMC-led state governmentcould not offer them anyreprieve in such matters, BJPoffered them CAA 2019 as afinal solution for theircitizenship-related woes.Hence, from the 2019parliamentary election,Matua support began toshift to the BJP. In thecurrent election, also, thecitizenship issue is expectedto influence outcomes inabout 30 seats. Due tomemories of post-Partitionviolence, Dalit-Muslimrelations are already at a lowpoint in these borderdistricts.

All roads in the ZoE shouldbe properly lane-marked,zebra-marked, andsignposted. Most markingsand signage should, inaddition to the pictorialimage, define theinstructions in words foreasy understanding, and as asource of regular educationof the road users. Adedicated corridor foremergency vehicles mustbe marked.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

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

§ §


WORDLYWISE

Realmuseums are placeswhere Time is

transformed into Space.

— Orhan PamukTHEEDITORIALPAGE

REAGAN RECOVERINGUS PRESIDENT RONALDReagan shot in thechest during an assassination attemptbrushedhisteethandsignedalegislativebillinhishospitalbedashemadewhathisdoc-tors called, “a good recovery”. The 70-yearold president was hit by at least one of sixbullets fired by a lone gunman as he wasabout to enter his limousine after address-ing a trade union group. The bill he signedlockedscheduledincreases inpricesupportfor dairy farmers. It was the first part of hisprogrammeofsweepingtaxandbudgetcutsto go through Congress. The suspect in theshooting JohnWarnock Hinley Jr will gothrough psychiatric test on whether he is

competent to stand trial.

BARODA VIOLENCEONEPERSONWAS injuredwhen thepolicefiredeightroundsatthreeplacestoquelltheviolence in Baroda in the wake of the re-newedanti-reservationstir.Despitetheim-position of curfew in someparts of the city,mob violence and attacks on police patrolscontinued leading topolice firing in curfewboundWadi,LehripuraandGendigateareas.Thecurfewwillbe relaxed for twohoursonApril 1.

CONGRESS PROTESTTHEWESTBENGALCongress (I) has givena

call for abandhonApril 3 toprotest againstthepolice firingonpeacefuldemonstrators.Thepartyhasalsodecidedtolaunchaprotestmovement throughout West Bengal.Congress (I) workers will hold protestdemonstrations in front of each BDO, SDOandDMoffice in thestate.

SUPPORT FOR AFRICAINDIAHAS REITERATED its continued sup-port to theAfricanpeoples’war against op-pressionandapartheid.Duringhertalkswiththe visiting Tanzanian president JuliusNyerere,PrimeMinisterIndiraGandhimadea particular reference to the situation inNamibia.

APRIL 1, 1981, FORTYYEARSAGO

Ahmedabad


WHATTHEOTHERSSAY

“The US has been doing the worst job in the global pandemic fight. It not only hasbeen jealous of and attacked China's excellent response to the pandemic, but it hasalso exerted pressure on WHO. Washington is rude.’’ —GLOBALTIMES,CHINATHE IDEASPAGE


What does all of this meanfor India? Unlike in theantiquated rational-actorparadigm where there areimagined trade-offs acrossissues, in the new frameworkthe US engages withcountries on parallel lines.Countries are no longerdesignated as adversaries orallies. Instead, theengagement is multifacetedacross trade, intellectualproperty rights, climatechange, security, terrorism,and, importantly, humanrights, with limited trade-offacross them. Whethercooperation, competition, orconfrontation dominate thenature of the engagementwill depend on the specificsnot whether India is a friendor a foe.

Beyond with US or against US Against herchoice

ONMARCH16, theRajyaSabhapassed theMedical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP)AmendmentBill2020despitemuchopposi-tion and calls to send the Bill to a SelectCommittee.TheLokSabhahadpassedthebilllast year. Some relevant objections in theUpperHouse included the lackof consulta-tionwithstakeholders,raisedbyAmeeYajnikoftheCongress,lackofinclusionoftransgen-derpeoplewithintheMTPframework,raisedbyFauziaKhanof theNationalist CongressParty, the lack of emphasis on centringwomen’sautonomy,raisedbyBinoyViswamoftheCPI.Thefactthatmedicalboardswouldconstituteviolationsofprivacy,andcausein-ordinatedelaysinabortionaccessduetolackofspecialists,andlackoftimelimitsfordeci-sion-making, ambiguous representationofwomen, and theextensiveproceduralhur-dles,were raisedbyYajnik, Khan, PriyankaChaturvediof theShivSenaandPWilsonoftheDMK.Unfortunately,thegovernmentdidnotpayheedtotheseobjections.UnionMinister of Health and Family

WelfareHarshVardhaninsistedthatthegov-ernmenthad “held extensive consultationprocesswithexpertsrepresentingarangeofstakeholdersfromcentralministriesandde-partments, state governments, NGOs, aca-demic institutions, professional bodies andassociationsliketheFederationofObstetricandGynaecologicalSocietiesofIndia,thatis,FOGSI, IndianMedical Association, IndianNursingCouncil,and,ofcourse,thelegalpro-fessionalsalso.”HealsosaidthattheBillwasclearedbyanEthicsCommitteeanda“GroupofMinistersheadedbyShriNitinGadkariji,andtherewereveryseniorministersinthis,including Smriti Iraniji andmanyother fe-maleministersalso”.Wealsohadconsulta-tionswith the Lawand JusticeMinistry, hesaid.Theministeremphasisedthatthereareseveralmodelsof abortionregulationglob-ally, one ofwhich includes abortion on re-quest. However, abortion under theMTPAmendmentBillwill not be allowedat therequest of a pregnant person, but is condi-tional on authorisation by thedoctor. Thisgoes against the SupremeCourt’s jurispru-denceonreproductiveautonomyandbodilyintegrity.Further,theBillwillallowforabor-tionswithoutanyuppergestationlimitonlyfor foetuseswith “abnormalities”, therebyfosteringtheableistrationaleoftheState.TheBill is also overwhelmingly cis-heteronor-mative,with only cisgenderwomenbeingcontemplated in it, and not personswithothergenderidentities.TheBill calls for themandatory setting

up of Medical Boards in every state andUnionTerritorywhich rely on inconsistentcriteriaforapprovalofabortions.Thiscould

causeseveredelaysintheabortionprocess;people living in rural areas in largeparts ofthecountrycouldfindtheseBoardsinacces-sible.Overthelastyear,concernshavebeenvoiced by the disability rightsmovement,healthrightsandfeministgroups,andothercivilsocietygroupsontheregressiveandim-practicalprovisionsoftheBill.Failuretocarryoutsubstantiveconsultationswithcommu-nities actually affected by the law gives atelling picture of how theCentral govern-ment has beendrafting andenacting lawsthatareharmfultothepeopletheyaffectthemost.One example of this is the Indian

AgricultureActsof2020(FarmBills),whoseenactment sparked one of the largestprotests in thecountry’s recenthistory.Thegovernmentclaimedthatitconsultedfarm-ers beforepassing the FarmBills,with LawMinisterRaviShankarPrasadclaiming that“extensive consultations, training andout-reachprogrammes(were)conductedontheAgricultureLawswithstakeholders”andthat92.42 lakh farmershadparticipated inwe-binarsconductedbythem.However,alltheseinteractionswithfarmers’groupstookplaceonlyafterpromulgationoftheOrdinancesinJune2020.Thismeant,first,thatnopre-draft-ing consultations took place, and, second,that any suggestions which may haveemergedduring subsequent consultationswerenotincorporatedintotheBills.Theprocessofdraftingandenactinglaws

inademocracymustnecessarilyinvolvecon-sultationsanddeliberationswithrepresen-tatives fromcivil society andgrassroots or-ganisations,allofwhomhaveastake intheimplementationof such lawsthroughtheirlived experiences. The equating of “stake-holders”withelitegroupsofhealthcarepro-fessionals, bureaucrats andpoliticians – asmentionedbythehealthminister–andtheexclusion of important civil society actorsandmarginalised groupswhose lives arelikelytobesubstantiallyaffectedbythelawraises questions over the consultativeprocess. Passing lawswithouta robustpre-legislative, consultative and deliberativeprocessoften leadstoaspersionsbeingcaston the legitimacy of these laws, renderingthem increasingly subject to constitutionalchallengesandjudicial interventions.InpassingtheMTPAmendmentBill,the

State continues to controlwomen’s repro-ductiveandsexualrightswhilewieldingtheargumentof“progress”.Thenarrowunder-standing ofwomen’s rights,whichunder-pinsthelegislation,servestoexplainmuchofthehetero-patriarchalregulatoryorientationofthelaw.Theco-optionof“women’srights”intherhetorictopromotetheBillisironic,asits provisions continue to criminalise abor-tion,andperpetuateharmfulstereotypesandstigmaaround reproduction, sexuality andmotherhood. The persistent notion thatwomenare“natural”mothers,asreiteratedintheRajyaSabhadebates, furthers thepa-ternalisticideathatwomenneedhandhold-inginmakingdecisionsrelatedtotheirsex-ualandreproductiverights.

Thewriter isprofessor, JindalGlobal LawSchool

MTPlawisbasedonthenotionthatwomenneedhand-holding indecisionsrelatedto their

reproductiverights

AS IS CUSTOMARY, a new face in theWhiteHousehasbroughtwith itadelugeof analy-ses on India-US relations. The overarchingconclusionhas been that the twodemocra-cieswillgetclosertoeachother,ifnotonprin-ciples thenbecauseof acommonadversary.Uncomfortable issues such ashuman rightsand the erosion of democratic institutionswill be side-stepped formutualnational se-curity interestsandeconomicbenefits.Theproblemwiththissingulartrajectory

of relationshipsandconvenient trade-offs isthat it has little to dowith the reality of thenow-alteredUSforeignpolicyframework.USforeignpolicyisnolongerbasedontheanti-quated friend-or-foe classification underwhichtransgressionsbya“friend”oran“ally”were overlooked if the countrywas helpfultoUSself-interests. Instead, andashasbeenthe case at least for the last decade, but ap-pears to have gone unnoticed in this part oftheworld,theUSforeignpolicyparadigmhasshiftedtoonewhereacountry’sstanceonanissue—trade,climatechange,security,orhu-manrights—isthecategorisingprincipleandnotthecountry. If others, includingIndia,donot adapt to this paradigm shift, then theywillfindengagementwiththeUSstarklydif-ferentandsurprisinglydifficult.Thisbringsustothequestionofwhyfor-

eignpolicyanalysesseemsocutoff fromthereality of how foreign policy decisions aremade intheUS. Iwill argue it isbecausecol-lectivelysuchanalysescontinuetobelargelybased on the belief thatmost foreign policyactionscanbemodelledonthepremisethata nation-state is a unifiedmonolith, wherethepowertomakedecisionsresidesinauni-tary actor, typically the head of state.Moreover,thisunitaryactorfollowsarationaldecision-making process in that the singleactor arrives at the final decision by coher-entlyweighingtheprosandconsofallpossi-blealternativesandpickingtheonethatben-efitsnationalinterest.Countrieswithsimilarself-interestsaretreatedasfriendsandothersas foes. The national interest of allies obvi-ously does not overlap completely, whichopens the space for trade-offs and negotia-tionsamongallies.Withfoes,theadversarialrelationshipispervasive.Thesimplicityofthisframework is seductive,making it popularamong analysts and themedia. However, itis embarrassing to note that a half-centuryago itself, it was clear that this frameworkcouldneitherexplainnorforecastforeignpol-icydecisions.Forexample,GrahamAllisonin1971 demonstrated the abject failure of therational-actormodel in explaining the1962Cubanmissilecrisis.Returningto2021,thenewUSSecretaryof

State,AntonyBlinken,unambiguouslyclari-fied this shift in the paradigmwhile talkingabouttheUS-Chinarelationship.Hecalledit“arguably themost important relationshipthatwehaveintheworld.Goingforwardit'sgoing to shape a lot of the future thatwe alllive and increasingly that relationship hassomeadversarialaspectstoit. Ithascompet-itive ones and it also still has cooperativeones.”Put differently, engagementwith coun-

trieswill be done on issueswith little or notrade-offamongthem.Competition,cooper-ation, andconfrontationcanall characterisetheUS’sbilateralengagementdependingonthespecific issue.Forexample, tradewill in-volvecompetitionwhileclimatechangeand

pandemicswill necessitate cooperation. Atthesametime,humanrightsandnationalse-curity issuescouldbeconfrontational.A key instrument of foreign policy will

be the nowwell-honed system of “smart”sanctions.Sanctionshavebeenusedexten-sively by the US in the past, even againstIndia (post the 1996 second nuclear test).However,theseweredirectedatthecountryasawhole.As theUS learntover time, suchsanctions were counterproductive and in-stead provided the sovereign a platform torally domestic political support andstrengthen anti-US sentiment. Whilechanges were made to this blanket-sanc-tions regime, theywere overhauledduringPresidentBarackObama’ssecondtermandused extensively by the Donald Trump ad-ministration.Furthermore,theywerekeenlyscrutinisedtosee if theyneededfurtherre-finement.TheMagnitskyAccountabilityActof2012,forexample,targetedthoseinvolvedin the death of Russian lawyer SergeiMagnitsky and others responsible for hu-manrightsabuses inRussia.Whenthiswasfound to be successful, an executive order,passed in 2017, extended the provisions intheMagnitskyAct, toallwhoarecorruptorviolatehumanrights in theworld.Initslatestversion,smartsanctionsdonot

target countries, but specific individuals,firms,andinstitutionsforavarietyofallegedtransgressions as assessedby thehegemon.USbusinessesand individuals cannot trans-actwithsanctionedentities.But here comes the kicker. US residents

also cannot transactwith third partieswhohave relationshipswith the sanctionedper-sons.Thisuseof secondarysanctionsmakes

itsubstantiallymorecostlyforthesanctionedentitiesasnotjustUSpartnersbutalsothoseinothercountriescannolongerdobusinesswith themwithout fearing potential loss ofaccess totheUS.Tobackthesystem,theUShasdeveloped

an extensive network of specialised entitieswithin the government to implement andmonitor these sanctions— theDepartmentof Treasury's Office of ForeignAsset Control(OFAC), the State Department’s Bureau ofDemocracy,HumanRightsandLaborandtheDepartment of Commerce’s Bureau ofIndustryandSecuritytonameafew.Nocoun-try builds such an intricate and resource-heavyweboftechnocracyif itdoesn’tplantouse it. As of last week, thewebsite of OFAClisted6,300namesofindividuals,groupsandentitiesunderSpeciallyDesignatedNationalsand 36 sanctions programmes in 30 coun-tries.What does all of this mean for India?

Unlikeintheantiquatedrational-actorpara-digmwhere there are imagined trade-offsacross issues, in the new framework theUSengages with countries on parallel lines.Countriesarenolongerdesignatedasadver-saries or allies. Instead, the engagement ismultifacetedacross trade, intellectual prop-erty rights, climate change, security, terror-ism, and, importantly, human rights, withlimited trade-off across them.Whether co-operation, competition, or confrontationdominatethenatureof theengagementwilldependonthespecificsnotwhether India isa friendora foe.

Thewriter isapolitical economist, formerlywith theWorldBank

Dipika Jain

Monali Chowdhurie

DREADED SILENCE

THIS REFERS TO the editorial,'Disturbing stillness’ (IE, March 31).When saner elements start groping inthe dark for ending the deadlock overthe farmers' protests, it is but naturalthat fringe elements will try to hijackthe situation and cause in pursuit oftheir nefarious designs.What ismore,thepeoplewhoselivelihooddirectlyorindirectlydependsonthefarmingsec-tor are also restless as they find them-selvescaughtinthecrossfirefornofaultof their own. For this seemingly in-tractable situation, the NDA govern-ment only has itself to blame becauseitsmajoritarian politics which brooksnodisagreementwith itspolicies.

TarsemSingh,Mahilpur

SCRUTINY NEEDED

THISREFERSTOthearticle, 'Endingam-biguityinDelhi'(IE,March31).Keepinginviewthe recurringconflict betweentheLieutenantGovernorandthepopu-lar governmentof Delhi, itwas imper-ative to have a clear definition of rolesanddirectionregardingthegovernanceof the capital. But equally imperativewas the need for proper research andanalysisofsuchacrucialbillbyastand-ing committee. Otherwise, the Billaimedat synchronisationof theUnionandDelhigovernmentswill leadtotheconflationof the two.

PriktaSrivastava,Prayagraj

MEMORABLE SERIES

THIS REFERS TO the editorial, 'A new

high' (IE, March 31). India’s thrill-a-minuteseven-runvictoryoverEnglandinthefinalODIinPuneonSundaycom-pleted a clean sweep for thehomena-tionacrossformats.It’sanachievementIndia should be proud of, and theEngland team also deserves praise forputtingupabrilliant fight,particularlySamCurran,whoplayed likeDhoni.

SSPaul,Nadia

PANDEMIC WINNING

THISREFERSTOtheeditorial, 'Thesec-ond fight' (IE, March 29). A sense ofcomplacency has set inwith regard tothepandemicandtheresultsaretherefor all to see. Thenumbers, infected aswellassuccumbingtothevirus,areontherise.Theongoingvaccinationdrivehasbeenslowanduneven.

KamnaChhabra,Gurgaon

LETTER TO THEEDITOR

WITHEACHrally,WestBengalChiefMinisterMamataBanerjee ispullingdownthepolit-ical discourse in the state. In her speeches,shehasbeenspendingconsiderabletimetar-geting theBharatiya JanataParty (BJP) lead-ershipwith inappropriate remarks and in-decent jibes. Banerjee is running an uglycampaign and consciously diverting atten-tion fromgovernanceandother issues.The election campaign inWest Bengal

reached a new low when CM MamataBanerjee referred to the PrimeMinister as“Khooni ka raja” (King ofmurderers). In hercampaign speeches, Didi has referred to BJPleaders as Dushasan, Duryodhan,Mir Jafar,andrakshas (demon).Theseare just someofthemanyindecentremarksthatshehasmadein the last fewweeks. Banerjee hasn’t evensparedtheElectionCommissionofIndia(ECI)andcentralarmedforces.Infact,theseinstitu-tionshavebeensubjectedtoendlessabuseformerelyperformingtheirdutiesandprevent-ingillegitimateactionsbyherpartycadre.There is a stark difference between the

electionspeechesoftheWestBengalCMand

PrimeMinister NarendraModi. The primeministermaintainsdignitywhilecampaign-ingandshowsrespectforhispoliticaloppo-nents.Whenever he criticises them, he en-sures that it is only about their conduct aspublic leadersoron issuesof governance.Whenincumbentscampaigninelections,

theyareexpectedtopresentareportcardoftheir performance. However, in this cam-paign,CMBanerjeehasbeensilentabouthergovernment’s work in the past 10 years.Banerjee rarely speaks about her govern-ment’s achievements or the promises ful-filledbyit inthe lastdecade. Instead,shere-sortstofrequentwhataboutery.Anyquestionabout her governance record or the state ofaffairs inWest Bengal provokes a counterquestion: “But,what aboutUttar Pradesh?”I am hopeful that mainstreammedia willeventually notice this and remind her thatelections in UP are scheduled for next year.But I do understand her reluctance. Withsuch dismal government performance, anysitting CMwould feel helpless and find ithard to listoutachievements.

ContrastthiswithPMModiandotherBJPleaderswhonever hesitate in talking abouttheCentre’sperformanceortheworkdoneinBJP-ruledstates.Thisisbecauseweareconfi-dentabouttheimpactoftheworkofourgov-ernments.Westronglybelievethatelectionsareanopportunityforvoterstocriticallyeval-uatetheirgovernment’sperformanceandde-cide whether to reaffirm their support.MamataBanerjee is not fulfillingher obliga-tiontowardsvotersbyrefrainingfromtalkingabouthergovernment’sperformance.WhyistheWestBengalCMmakingsuch

remarks and deliberately avoiding talkingaboutherperformance?Herbitter remarksindicatefrustrationassheisseeingthewrit-ing on the wall. A senior politician likeMamataBanerjeecan’tmissthevocalangeragainsthergovernmentandstrongdesireforchangeinWestBengal.Actually,Didiknowsthat she can’t competewith theBJPongov-ernance.Heralternatestrategyisconsciouslytryingtodiverttheelectionnarrativethroughoutrageousremarksanddeliberatelylower-ing the political discourse.We realise that

this is a last-ditch effort by a CMwho is onherwayoutofoffice.Ratherthanengaginginaverbalduelandcounteringherpersonalre-marks, our leadership remains committedandfocusedontakingourmessageof“AsholPoriborton” tovotersacross thestate.It is disappointing to see themedia’s si-

lence on the TMC’s ugly election campaign.Mostof themareyettocriticiseCMBanerjeeforloweringthestandardsoftheelectiondis-course and making deplorable remarksagainst the BJP leadership. As the electionprogressesanddefeatlooms,CMBanerjeeisunlikelytochangeherstrategyofname-call-ing andbitter personal remarks. In fact, shemightdoubledownonthisstrategyandfur-ther lower the political discourse.Irrespectiveofwhatotherpartiesdoorhowtheycampaign, theBJP remains committedto raising issues of public concern, askingpertinentquestions,andgivingvotersacam-paign thatkindleshope forabetter future.

Thewriter isBJPGeneral Secretaryand in-chargeWestBengal

WestBengalCM’sbarbsaboutBJPshowshehaslittletoshowongovernance

A coarse campaign

KailashVijayvargiya

IDEAS

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TIWARI, SHUBHMITTAL

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InnewAmerican foreignpolicy framework, countriesareno longerclassifiedas friendsor foes. If Indiadoesnotadapt to this shift, itwill findengagementwithUSstarklydifferentandsurprisinglydifficult

CR Sasikumar

Ahmedabad

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESURAT,MARCH31

IN A boost to the sea tourism inGujarat, Union MinisterMansukhMandaviya virtuallyflagged off cruise services fromEssar bulk terminal at Hazira inSurattoDiu,aunionterritoryonthe Saurashtra coast, onWednesday.The development of cruise

tourism, Mandaviya said, hasbeen the prime focus of theNarendraModi government attheCentre.“Weareworkinginthedirec-

tion to develop coastal connec-tivity between Mumbai andSurat and then Saurashtra, viaferry services, RoPax servicesandcruiseservices,sothatmanypeoplearebenefitted…Thede-velopmentofcruisetourismhasbeen the prime focus of centralgovernmentundertheguidanceof Prime Minister NarendraModi,”hesaid.Before 2014, the Minister

said,therewerearound1.07lakhcruise passengers per year inIndia.Thenumberofpassengerstravellingoncruise increasedto4.63 lakhs per year in 2019-20,hesaid.

“Indians visit England,Singapore, Bangkok and othercountriesandenjoycruisetravel.Why cannot we attract foreigntourists in terms of cruisetourism then,” theMinister ofState (Independent Charge) forPorts, Shipping andWaterwayssaid.The cruise service, Jai Sofia

MumbaiMaiden, hasbeenpro-vided through a non-profit ini-tiative by Mumbai’s SSRMarines.Jai Sofia ‘Mumbai Maiden’

ownerSanjivAgrawal said, “We

were running a cruise servicefromSurat toMumbai aroundayear back but due to the pan-demicithasbeenstopped.Oncethe situation is normal, wewillresume it again. The Hazira toDiu, cruiseserviceswill runtwodays a week, onMondays andWednesdays. The cruise willstartintheeveningandreachitsdestinationonthenextmorning,thus completing its journey inaround13-14hours.”Thecruisehasbeenupdated

with all amenities, plush interi-orsandcancarry300passengers

ata time.Highlighting that the cruise

servicewillprovidea“betteral-ternative” to people travellingfrom Surat to Saurashtra,Mandaviya said, “We want tomake Surat awater transporta-tionhub.Wearealso setting in-frastructureforRoPaxferryserv-ices in Mumbai. SuchinfrastructureisalreadythereinSurat,andwearealsoextendingit to Saurashtra. By interlinkingallthesecoastallines,wewantedto connect Mumbai, Surat andSaurashtraandgiveaboosttoin-dustrial development. We arealso promoting private sectorplayersandarereadytoprovideallnecessarysupport.”TheMinistersaidsixinterna-

tionalcruiseterminalswerebe-ing developed across the coun-try. “Thework on internationalcruiseterminalsinMumbaiandGoa is in progress. Onemonthago, our PM inaugurated an in-ternational cruise terminal inCochin.We are planning to de-velopinternationalcruisetermi-nals in theeasterncoastalareas,like Vishakhapatnam, Chennaiand Kolkata. Through the sea-ways, the distance gets re-duced… Earlier, if a personwanted to travel from Old

Mumbai toNewMumbai, he orshehastospendaround4hours,but if take the ferry services, itwill take around 20minutes,”Mandaviyaadded.He said that Gujarat has the

longest coastal line andSaurashtraishometoseveralin-dustries. “The cargo of these in-dustries reachesSouthern IndiaandMumbai and have to crossthe Gulf of Cambay. Today, 25lakh people from Saurashtrahave shifted to Surat for theirlivelihood.Daily5,000busesplybetween Saurashtra and Suratvia the Gulf of Cambay. Modiji,when hewas the Gujarat chiefminister, had the vision to re-duce the distance and thus theGhoghaDahejFerryservicewasflagged off by him. But due tosome technical reasons, it wasstopped. Around 21weeks ago,Modijivirtually flaggedoff ferryservices fromHazira toGhogha,whichisoperationalandtodateover1lakhpassengershavetrav-elled… This Ropex service hasreduced the distance betweenSaurashtraandSurat.”Mandaviya also requested

SSRMarines owner to roll outferry services from Surat toGhoghaasthereisalsogoodpo-tential for passengers. “In the

comingtime,weareplanningtoconnect Surat with Pipavav,Dwarka, and Somnath, and thiswillhelp lakhsof peoplehailingfromGirSomnathandJunagadh,etc, staying inSurat city, as theirtravel time will be reducedthrough a sea-route journey,”Mandaviyaadded.Under theMaritime Vision

2030,thegovernmentwasaim-ingtohavemorethan350cruiseshipsandover3,000cruisecallsperyearandatleastthreecruisetrainingacademiesandfivemil-lioncruisepassengers.“Thepassenger ferry service

hasseenagiantleapwiththede-velopment of Hazira as a cruisetourismhub. Thiswillalsoopenupmany opportunities for thetourism sector of Gujarat aswell,”headded.Prashant Ruia, director of

EssarCapitalsaidsinceitsincep-tion, Essar has been involved inthe development of the IndianMaritimesectoranditcontinuedtodoso. “Wearedelightedwiththis launch as the project isaligned to the Maritime IndiaVision2030ofMinistryofPorts,Shipping andWaterways andpaves way for acceleratedgrowth of India’s MaritimeSector,”Ruia said.


AROUND TWO-AND-A-HALFmonthsafterhewasdischargedfromanArmsActcase,NCPMLAKandhal Jadejahasbeenacquit-tedinthe2018caseforthreaten-ing and abusing a hotelier ofPorbandar, forwantof evidenceafter keywitnesses turnedhos-tile.AlongwiththeMLA,sixoth-ers who faced trial in the casehavealsobeenacquitted.The court of MR Zala, the

chief judicial magistrate ofPorbandar, acquitted Jadeja, thesitting NCPMLA fromKutiyanaAssemblyseat,andsixothersonMarch 15. The orderwasmadeavailable recently.“The prosecution fails to

provebeyondreasonabledoubtits case that on the given date,timeandplace, theaccusedhadformed illegal assemblywith acommon intent to abuse thecomplainant, that they had en-gaged in an act which had pro-vokedbreachofthepublicpeaceandcauseinconveniencetooth-ers, that theyhad threatened tomurderthecomplainantbyact-inginaleague…”themagistratenoted inhis judgmentwhileac-quittingtheMLAandsixothers.Theotherswhohavebeenlet

off by thecourtareRamKhunti,Nurmohammed Makva,Nagabhai Parmar, KunteshOdedra, RameshKhunti, SanjayaliasPyari Joshi.This is the third relief to the

NCP MLA in around as manymonths. In December last year,theGujarat High Court had dis-chargedJadejafroma1998ArmsAct case. Aweek after that, thedistrict and sessions court ofPorbandar had discharged himina1995ArmsActcase.The MLA’s discharge from

the 1995 Arms Act case hadcome around a year after theSupreme Court had ruled thatTADA(TerrorismandDisruptiveActivities Act) was not applica-ble inthematter. Jadeja is facingaround a dozen other criminalcases.

According to the prosecu-tion’s case, Jadeja had allegedlyabused and threatened to killLilesh alias Lilabhai Odedra, theowner of Hotel KaveryInternationalnearZaveribunga-low onMG Road in Porbandar,whileOdedrawassittingoutsidethe hotel with his son-in-lawMayank Sisodiya onNovember7,2018.The complainant had stated

that Jadeja and six others cameincarsandpulled in frontof thehotel where he and Sisodiyaweresitting.TheMLA,accordingto the prosecution’s case, askedOdedra to go near him and toldthe complainant that he was“roaming too much inMemanvadaof lateandexhibit-ing toomuchof anattitude.Youare also acting at the behest ofAbha Arjan”, and abused andthreatenedtokillhim.On the basis of Odedra’s

complaint, Kamlabaug policehad booked Jadeja and the sixothers under IPC Sections 143(unlawfulassembly),294(b)(ut-tering obscenewords in publicplace), 504 (intentional insultwithintenttoprovokebreachofthepeace),and506(2)(criminalintimidation).Followingthecomplaint,the

MLA and his six aides were ar-restedinthecaseregisteredjusta few months after the NCPleader was elected fromKutiyanaseatonemore time.However, during the trial of

the case, the complainant him-self tuned hostile. “The com-plainant’s son-in-law alsoturned hostile and so did othereyewitnesses. The investigatingofficerhadnot sentCDcontain-ingvideorecordingof thestate-ments of the complainant andSisodiyatothepolice,hencethecourt did not admit it as a pieceof evidence.Wearguedthat thecasecannotrestmerelyontesti-monies of police officers andsought acquittal of the accused.The court agreedwith our sub-mission and acquitted theMLAand others,” MG Singrakhiya,Jadeja’sadvocatetoldTheIndianExpressonWednesday.

HAZIRATODIUCRUISESERVICELAUNCHED

Working to develop coastal connectivity betweenMumbai, Surat and Saurashtra, saysMandaviya

JaiSofiaMumbaiMaidenwasvirtually flaggedoff byUnionMinisterMansukhMandaviya.HanifMalek

NCP MLA Jadejaacquitted in 2018case for ‘threatening’Porbandar hotelier

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MARCH31

THE RECENT laws in JharkhandandHaryanathatreserveprivatesector jobs for locals are “na-tivist” and should be struckdown, panelists said Tuesday atthe second edition of the eight-part webinar series, ThincMigration, by The IndianExpress.“Given that Jharkhand is a

huge supply state of migrantworkers to the rest of the coun-try,howcanitpossiblyhavethelegislation,who'sgoing toworkin Jharkhand today? It's peoplewith skills you'dwant to comeinto thestateandcreate jobs lo-cally. If you havemore peoplethan employment, you'd wantthem towork somewhere else,earnmoney and send it back,”said Naushad Forbes, co-chair-man, Forbes Marshall, FormerPresident, CII, and Chairman ofCentre for TechnologyInnovation and Economic

Research and Ananta AspenCentre.Moderated by Udit Misra,

Deputy Associate Editor at TheIndianExpress,thepanelalsoin-cluded Satyajeet Rajan,Additional Chief Secretary(LabourandSkills),GovernmentofKerala;YaminiAiyar,Presidentand Chief Executive, Centre forPolicy Research; Chinmay

Tumbe, Professor, IndianInstitute of Management,Ahmedabad, and PriyaDeshingkar,Professor,UniversityofSussex.PresentedbyOmidyarNetworkIndia,thediscussionex-aminedwhether states are abletotakecareofthosewhomigratewithintheirownborders.It aimed tohavea solutions-

oriented discussion between

someofthebrightestmindsandthought leaders across acade-mia, industry, civil society andthegovernment.As for Haryana, Forbes said

that it is a destination state be-causeGurugramisasatellitecityofDelhiandpartof theNCR.“It’sa destination city as opposed toa destination state. Someonewas sayingwewill reserve jobsforlocals... it’swrongandit’sthekindof lawthatshouldbestruckdownby theSupremeCourt.AsanIndian,anyofushastherightto go and live andwork in anypart of the country and betreatedonparwithanyonewho

hasgrownupinpartofthecoun-try,” he said, adding that devel-opment for us, in the long run,wouldbewhenpeoplemove tocities permanently, with theirfamilies,andbecomeurbancityresidentswithpoliticalandvot-ing rights.On this, Rajan added that it

doesn’t let amigrant become apart of the state. “The Bihariworkers will be laughed at inHaryana and Punjab, they willnever become a part of thestates. There are similar prob-lems in Kerala. There is a varia-tioninthewagespaidtothena-tive workers and migrantworkers. However, when thelabour department comes toknow, it immediately launchesaninvestigationandsetitright...Nativismwill disappear whenIndiacomestotermwiththefactthat it isonenation,”hesaid.Rajan said the destination

state’s readiness and capabilitydoesnotdependon its financialcapability. “When a statewantsto put its money on anything,

they have the money.Unfortunately,migrantworkersdo not have a political voice…we should encourage and trainthem to become voters in thenewstate,”hesaid.Buildingon thatpoint, Aiyer

said budgets are closely linkedwith thepolitical voice, “specif-icallythevoicethattheIndiandi-aspora has on what it thinksabout thenation”.“Thiswasadiseasethatcame

inthroughtheinternationalbor-ders and when we decided toshutthem,wegavepeoplethreetofourdaystomovearoundandreturn. Even during the peak ofthelockdown,theVandeBharatflights were moving up anddown… however, the govern-ment didn’t do that for internalmigrantworkers. That’s funda-mentally an issue of politicalvoice,” shesaid.OntheCovid-19lockdownin

India,Tumbesaid thatwhile in-ternalmigration happens in allcountries, India was probablythe only country that faced a

massivemigrationcrisis.“Sothefirst question iswhy didwe getourselves in this crazy situationlast yearwhenwe hadmillionsofpeopletryingtogobackhome.Theansweris,ofcourse,thatthelockdownwas badly planned.They'remore than 100millionscircularmigrantworkers,manyof themaredailywageworkersleadingveryprecariouslives,”hesaid.Migrantsheadinghome ina pandemic is not unprece-dented,pointedoutTumbe, cit-ing the example of migrantswalking home in China whenthe authorities shut down therailways for them during thepneumonic plague in 1911."Secondly, when the plaguestruckBombayinthe1890s, theBritishactuallyhad tomake thesame choice of shutting downtherailway. Soanypolicymakerhas to take two things into ac-count -- one is how do we getmigrantworkers back home asquickly as possible and howdowe ensure social security for atleasta fewmonths,"hesaid.

Scrap private job reservation laws: Thinc Migration panel

(Clockwise)SatyajeetRajan,YaminiAiyar,MaushadForbes,PriyaDeshingkar,UditMisraandChinmayTumbeduringthediscussion.

394DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

CASES:1,21,49,335TESTS: 24,36,72,940 | RECOVERIES: 1,14,34,301

ACTIVE CASES:5,52,566DEATHS: 1,62,468

MARCH30CASES DEATHS RECOVERIES TESTS

53,480 354 41,280 10,22,915

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMCASESCASES(MARCH30) TOTAL

Maharashtra 27,918 27,73,436

Chhattisgarh 3,108 3,44,624

Karnataka 2,975 9,92,779

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMDEATHSDEATHS(MARCH30) TOTAL

Maharashtra 140 55,767

Punjab 64 6,813

Chhattisgarh 35 4,131

DataasonMarch30,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,IndianCouncilofMedicalResearchandstategovernments.

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

NUMBER OFDOSES(MARCH 31)

13,04,412Totalsofar:6,43,58,765

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,MARCH31

HEARINGApetitionfiledbyfor-mer Mumbai PoliceCommissionerParamBirSingh,seeking a CBI probe againstMaharashtra Home MinisterAnilDeshmukhforallegedmal-practices, the Bombay HighCourtonWednesdaysaidprimafacie there can be no investiga-tion without an FIR. It askedSingh why he had not filed acomplaintonhisallegationsandifhedidnothavefaithinhisownpolice force.Afterasix-hourhearing,adi-

vision bench of Chief Justice

Dipankar Datta and JusticeGirishSKulkarnireservedorderson the preliminary objectionsraised by the state governmenttothePILfiledbySinghandoth-ers alongwith the interimreliefsoughtbythepetitioners. Singhhas also sought direction to thestate government to ensuretransfers and postings of policeofficialsarenotdoneinexchangefor pecuniary benefits to anypolitician.Chief Justice CJ Datta asked

Singh, “Where is FIR? You haveto approach the police/agencywithFIR.Ourprimafacieobser-vation [with respect to prayerseeking CBI probe] is that therecannotbeinvestigationwithout

FIR,”thebenchsaid,questioningthemaintainabilityof thePIL.“The petitioner [Singh] is no

lay person. He is a senior policeofficer. If he has no faith in thepolice, what about the generalpublic? He knows the registra-tion of complaints is not justrecording of facts by the police.Without an FIR, seeking CBIprobe seems to be harsh. Your[Singh] dutywas to file FIR, andnot simplywrite a letter to theChief Minister.We can say youremained silent despite therebeinganoffence.”The court said that only in

rareandunusualcases it candi-rectinvestigationintheabsenceof an FIR. “Do not convert the

first court (CJ court) of HC intomagistratecourt.IfyouwantFIR,go to themagistrate to registerthesame.Lawisonlyforthegen-eral public and police officersand ministers are above law?Even if theHomeMinister is in-volved, you cannot keep asideCriminalProcedureCode.Letusassume, but if in future, anyPrimeMinister is involved,whois to investigate? Some super-power will come and probe?Who is CBI under?... You re-mained silent when you foundout that your boss [HomeMinister] was indulging in acrime. You failed your duty as apolice officer if you did notregisterFIR.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHENNAI,MARCH31

THE MADRAS High CourtWednesday ordered theChennai civic body to exhumethe body of a doctor—who hadto be buried in a cemetary of adifferentfaithafterhisdeathdueto Covid-19—and reinterr it at aburial ground of his family’schoice.The order cameon aplea by

Anandhi Simon, the wife of DrSimon Hercules who died ofCovid-19 inApril 2020.Statingthatthedignityof the

deceasedshouldbemaintainedthroughout the process, JusticeAbdul Quddhose observed that

the aftermath of the doctor’sdeathwas“shocking”.The incident hadgiven ago-

by to all human values asHercules’ corpse was shuntedfrom one burial ground to an-other due to the objectionsraised by heartless human be-ings forallowingtheburialofthebody of a Covid-19 victim, thejudgment stated. Noting thathewasburiedinaplacebelongingtoanother faith, thecourtobservedthat till suchtimea legislationonexhumation comes intoplace inIndia,safeguardsshallbefollowedwhileexhumingthebody.DrHerculeswas aneurosur-

geonandthemanagingdirectorofNew Hope Medical Centre inKilpauk.

Why didn’t you file FIR: HC pulls up Param Bir

HC orders reburial ofdoctor who died of Covid

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHANDIGARH,MARCH31

FOLLOWING CHIEF MinisterAmarinder Singh’s announce-mentinrecentVidhanSabhases-siontoallowfree-of-costtravelforwomeninallgovernmentbuses,theCabinet onWednesdaygaveitsformalapprovalonthescheme.The Chief Minister had an-

nouncedthefreetravelschemeintheVidhanSabhaonMarch5, aspartofhisgovernment’seffortstoempowerwomenandgirlsinthestate, a government statementsaid. Asimilar stepwas takenbyDelhi Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal aheadof lastDelhi elec-tions.Punjabwillalsobegoingtothepollsearlynextyear.The schemewill benefit over

1.31crorewomen/girlsacrossthestate.AsperCensus2011,Punjabhas a population of 2.77 crores(males 1,46,39,465 and female1,31,03,873).

ALLEGATIONSONDESHMUKH

Punjab: Free bustravel for womenfrom today

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPUNE,MARCH31

SUMMER SEASON this year islikely to be warmer overRajasthan, Punjab, Delhi,Haryana and Uttar Pradesh inthe north, along with Odishaand Chhattisgarh. This wasstated in the latest ‘SeasonalOutlook forTemperaturesoverIndia - April to June’ report re-leased by the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD) onWednesday.Hot conditions are particu-

larly forecast during this sea-sonoverwestRajasthan,Delhi,Odisha and western UttarPradesh,where themaximumtemperature anomaly couldrange anywhere between0.30to 0.62 degrees above normalthroughout the season.The Met department has

said normal day temperatureswould prevail over other re-gions along central, east andsouth peninsular India duringApril to June.

With the weakening LaNina conditions — though it isexpected to last till June— theatmospheric conditionsarebe-coming favourable for heatwave conditions. La Nina is anocean phenomenon related tothe Pacific Ocean, duringwhich the sea surface temper-ature recordedalong theequa-torial Pacific remains coolerthannormal. LaNina is knownto influence global tempera-tures.Since the start of thisweek,

many places in north andnorthwest India includingMumbai, Odisha, coastalAndhraPradeshandRajasthanreported amaximum temper-ature of over 40 degreesCelsius. On Wednesday,Bhubaneshwar remained thehottest city in India, with amaximumtemperatureof 44.2degree Celsius. This year, nor-mal heat waves are forecastover the Core Heat wave Zonecovering Delhi, Rajasthan,Punjab, Haryana andTelangana, among others.

North and northwest Indiabrace for warmer summer: IMD

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,MARCH31

BRAZIL’SHEALTH regulator hasrejected an application to giveBharatBiotech’sCovaxinacertifi-cate of Good ManufacturingPracticesfollowinganinspectionof the company’s site inHyderabadearlierthismonth.Themove, which does not affectBharat Biotech’s application foremergencyuse authorisation ofthevaccineinBrazil,couldpoten-tially still delay its ability to sup-plydosesof theCovid-19vaccineto the country until the issue isresolved.An inspection by Agencia

Nacional de Vigilancia Sanitari(ANVISA) from March 1-5 re-vealed issues related to theHyderabad-headquartered vac-cine maker’s manufacturingprocesses.Accordingtotheregu-lator, these issues could poten-tially risk the quality of the vac-

cine, and the action plan itsentwasnotsufficienttomitigatetherisks.“The requirements pointed

outduringinspectionwillbeful-filled,thetimelinesforfulfillmentisunderdiscussionwiththeBrazilNRAandwill be resolved soon,”statedBharatBiotechinresponsetothe issue.Thecompanyhasanagreement to supply 20million

doses of Covaxin to theBraziliangovernment through PrecisaMedicamentos, its partner inthecountry.“The 20million dose order

fromtheBrazilianGovt isstillac-tive. TheagreementwithPrecisaMedicamentosisbasedonalongtermpartnership andwill con-tinue,”statedBharatBiotech.According toANVISA’s state-

ment on its decision, differentnon-conformitieswere foundatBharat Biotech’smanufacturingsite that denote a significant riskto themanufacture andproductquality assurance. This, in turn,implies a health risk for users ofthevaccineinBrazil,accordingtotheregulator.Major issues flagged include

safety-related observations thatthe company had not validatedthemethod of analysis to provecompleteinactivationofthevirus(to prove that it was killed).AccordingtoANVISA,consideringthatCovaxinisaninactivatedvac-

cine, the companyneeds to en-surethattheviruswascompletelyinactivated,otherwise liveSARS-CoV-2virusesmaybepresent inthevaccine.Theregulatoralsofeltthatthe

companywas not taking all thenecessaryprecautionstoguaran-tee the product’s sterility and alackofadequatecontrolstrategiestoguaranteethevaccine’spurity.Otherobservationswerethat

thecompanydoesnotuseaspe-cific controlmethod to quantifytheantigencontent andpotencyof the vaccine. The vaccinemayhavevariationsinantigencontentandconsequentlycompromiseitseffectiveness, according to theregulator.PrecisaMedicamentos pre-

sentedanactionplanonMarch17to resolve these issues, but themeasures effectively adopted sofarhavenotbeensufficienttomit-igatetherisksassociatedwiththenon conformities indicated, ac-cordingtoANVISA.

Brazil regulator flags safety issues inCovaxin production, denies certificate

BharatBiotechhasanagreementtosupply20milliondosesofCovaxintotheBraziliangovernment

Ahmedabad

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,MARCH31

PAKISTANONWednesdaydecided to lift itsnearlytwo-yearbanonimportsofcottonandsugar fromIndia.

India-Pak trade before banGiven their tumultuous relationship,

trade between the neighbours has alwaysbeen linked topolitics. So, India’s exports toPakistan fell around16percent to$1.82bil-lionin2016-17from$2.17billionin2015-16afterrelationsdeterioratedintheaftermathoftheUriterrorattackandtheIndianArmy’ssurgical strikes onmilitant launchpads inPakistan-occupiedKashmir in2016.Despite continuing tensions, trade be-

tweenthetwocountriesgrewmarginallyinsubsequentyears;Indianexportsrosenearly6 per cent to $1.92 billion in 2017-18, andthenbyaround7percent to$2.07billion in2018-19. Imports from Pakistan, thoughmuch less in volume, also increased by 7.5per cent to$488.56million in2017-18 from$454.49million in2016-17.Growthof importsfromPakistanslowed

to around $494.87million in 2018-19— anincreaseofaround1percent—beforepolit-ical relationsenteredadeep freeze in2019.

Major products of tradeOvertheyears, Indiahashadatradesur-

pluswith Pakistan,withmuch less importsthanexports.PakistanwasamongIndia’stop50tradepartnersin2018-19,butwaspushedout of the list in 2019-20. It had been ex-pected that a trade ban between the coun-trieswouldaffectPakistanmore, since it re-liedheavilyonIndiaforkeyrawmaterialsforits textilesandpharmaceuticals industries.In2018-19,cotton($550.33million)and

organic chemicals ($457.75 million) ac-countedforaroundhalfofPakistan’simportsfrom India. Othermajor Pakistani importsfromIndiathatyearincludedplastic($131.19million), tanning/dyeing extracts ($114.48million), and nuclear reactors, boilers, ma-chinery, and me-chanical appliances($94.88million).Aftertheban,im-

ports of these fiveproducts fell drasti-callyto$1millionto$2millionbetweenApril2020andJanuary2021,whilecottonimportsstopped altogether. The only increase hasbeeninpharmaceuticalproducts—Pakistanhas so far imported around $67.26millionworth of drug products, and over $115mil-lionworth of organic chemicals to ensuresufficient supplies of medicines during theCovid-19pandemic.India’s major imports from Pakistan in

2018-19weremineralfuelsandoils($131.29million),ediblefruitsandnuts($103.27mil-lion), salt, sulphur, stoneandplasteringma-terials ($92.84million), ores, slag and ash($17.18million) and raw hides and leather($16.27million).However, the country imported these

products in substantially higher volumesfromothercountries—$25.51billionworthofmineral fuels andoils fromSaudiArabia;$840.80millioninediblefruitsandnutsfromtheUnitedStates;$566.52millioninsalt,sul-phur and plastering materials from theUnited Arab Emirates; $862.00million inores,slagandashfromChile;and$83.36mil-

lioninrawhides,skinandleatherfromItaly.

Trade ban imposed by PakistanPakistan’s decision to suspendbilateral

tradewith India in August 2019was a fall-outof theconstitutionalchanges in JammuandKashmir,whichPakistan saidwere “il-legal”. However, an underlying reason forsuspendingtradewasthe200percent tar-iff imposed byNewDelhi on Pakistani im-

ports earlier thatyear after India re-voked Pakistan’sMost FavouredNation(MFN)statusin the aftermath of

the Pulwama terrorist attack.Trade between the two countries suf-

fered greatly — India’s exports to Pakistandroppednearly60.5percentto$816.62mil-lion,anditsimportsplummeting97percentto$13.97million in2019-20.

Whythe change inpositionnowThe Pakistani decision to lift the ban on

cotton imports comes in the backdrop of ashortageof rawmaterials forPakistan’s tex-tilesector,whichhasreportedlysuffereddueto low domestic yields of cotton. Also, im-ports from countries like the US and Brazilarecostlier and take longer toarrive.“A meeting was held with the Prime

Minister @ImranKhanPTI escalating pricesofcottonyarnwerediscussed,”AbdulRazakDawood,commerceandinvestmentadviserto the Pakistani PrimeMinister, tweetedonMarch29.The decision on sugar was dictated by

high domestic prices. Pakistani sugar im-ports in the period July 2020-February2021 zoomed to 278,733 metric tonnes

from 4,358metric tonnes in the same pe-riod in2019-20. The increase in importsofthecommoditywasameasure“tostabilizethemarketprices”,Dawoodsaid ina tweetonMarch 2.Following themeeting of the country’s

Economic Coordination Committee (ECC)onWednesday,Pakistan’sFinanceMinisterHammad Azhar said sugar imports wouldbe allowed from India, as the price of thecommodity was lower in India than inPakistan.“There has been sugar dependence be-

tween the two countries forever. Typically,what happens is, (because) they (Pakistan)produce sugar andwe (India) also producesugar, whenever they have a shortage, wehave supplied their requirement and viceversa,” said Prof Nisha Taneja of the IndianCouncil for Research on InternationalEconomic Relations (ICRIER), an expert onIndia’s regional trade.“Evenwhenwehadaverysmallpositive

list (of goods for tradewith Pakistan), agri-cultural commoditieswere always there inthe list,” shesaid.

What happens nowSeveralexpertsexpectWednesday’sde-

cisionstore-openthedoorfortradebetweenIndiaandPakistan.ThismightbeagoodtimeforIndiatoexploreareductioninits200percent import duties on products that its in-dustries canbenefit from,Prof Taneja said.“We have not reduced duties on any-

thing...at 200 per cent duty, everything be-comesunviable,” shesaid.“I thinkthe(Indian) industrywouldplay

a very important role in this. It is for the in-dustrytosaythisiswhatweneedandthisiswhereduties canbebroughtdown.”

NIRUPAMASUBRAMANIANMUMBAI,MARCH31

THEREOPENINGof tradeatWagahforcot-tonandsugarexportsfromIndiatoPakistanafter twoyears is among the first substan-tive relaxations in bilateral ties followingtheFebruary25restorationof theceasefireat theLineof Control.PakistanhadstoppedalltradewithIndia

in protest against the August 5, 2019changesinJammuandKashmir. Ithadalsosaid it would not be sending a HighCommissionertoNewDelhi; inretaliation,India had withdrawn its HighCommissioner in Islamabad.In recentdays, Pakistanhad signalleda

softeningof its stand that itwouldnot talktoIndiabeforeafullrollbackof thechangesin J&K. Although both India and Pakistanwere cautious not to link their reaffirma-tionof theceasefire toanywider improve-ments in ties, it had been apparent that abackchannelprocesshadbeenatwork,andthattheceasefirewaslikelythefirststepto-wardsothermoves tonormalise ties.There have been indications that trade

tieswouldbetheeasiesttonormalise.Overthe last fewmonths, there has been pres-sure fromthePakistan textile lobby for re-suming import of Indian cotton yarn. OnWednesday, cotton prices in Pakistantouched a 11-year-high of Rs 11,700 permaund,Dawn reported. Prices have beenrising due to a steep fall in cotton yields inPakistan.Pakistanhasalsoallowedprivatetraders to import up to 0.5million tonnesofwhite sugar fromIndia.

Generals’ different strategyThePakistanmilitaryestablishment,the

power behind Imran Khan’s civilian gov-ernment, iscertainlysignallinga“rational”shiftinthewayitviewsrelationswithIndia,and the rest of the region and the world.ArmychiefGeneralQamarJavedBajwasaidrecentlythatPakistanhadrethoughtitsna-tional securityparadigmfrompurelymili-tarydefence toeconomicsecurity.Underpinningthisreviewofnationalse-

curity, said Bajwa in a landmark speech inIslamabad, was “our desire to change the

narrativeof geo-political contestation intogeo-economic integration”.Therethinkcoincideswithfreshtroubles

for Pakistan’s financial assistance-depend-enteconomy.ThesweepingchangesinWestAsia,especiallyaftertheAbrahamicaccords,haveleftPakistanisolatedamongcountriesthatitsawas“brothers”whowouldhelpoutnowand thenwith amoratoriumonpay-ments for oil, or a loan on easy terms. ButSaudi Arabia and UAE have been talkingtoughwithPakistaninrecentmonths.Chinahasrescueditacoupleoftimes,butPakistanis as wary of borrowing too much fromBeijingasothers intheregion.An IMF loanwith tough conditionshas

helped the country stay afloat but has notmadethegovernmentpopular.Earlier thisweek, Pakistan received atrancheof$500millionof the$6 billion loan, which hadbeen on hold since February2020pendingdecisionsthatithas now taken, such as in-creases in electricity tariff,freeing the central bank fromgovernment control, andwithdrawalof incometaxex-emptions.Pakistan has always viewed itself as a

“special” countrybecauseof its locationatanimportantcrossroadsbetweenAsiaandEurasia. It has believed this could helpachieveitsstrategicobjectivesintheregionandbeyond.But the realisation that location could

beusedtoPakistan’seconomicbenefitwasclearlynotactionableuntil themilitaryes-tablishmentgotonboard the idea.DuringGenPervezMusharraf’sdecade-

long rule, therewas some experimentingwith connectivity; the Iran-Pakistan-Indiaoilpipelinewasperhaps theearliesteffort.NewDelhiwas a hesitant participant, andthreatenedtopulloutovertransit feesthatPakistan was negotiating. The projectturnedanon-starterafterthe2008Mumbaiattacks. By then, India had signed the nu-cleardealwiththeUS.Pakistanallegedthatthe Indian pulloutwas underUSpressure.Efforts to get a bilateral Iran-Pakistanpipelinegoingareyet tobear fruit.All through this time, Pakistan has de-

nied India transit rights overland for tradewith Aghanistan due to security and eco-nomic concerns,while granting Afghanis-tanlimitedtransit rights forexportofdriedfruit to India. This Afghan-India trade hascontinuedeventhroughthe last twoyears.Theanswer towhether thedecisionby

the government in Islamabad to setKashmir asideandstart tradewith India isastrategicshift liesinhowreadyPakistan’sgeneralsaretoputtheirmoneywheretheirmouth is on connectivity and “geo-eco-nomics”,andgrant IndiaoverlandrightstotradewithAfghanistan.New Delhi has for years pushed the

India-Chinamodel of bilateral relations,wheretradehastakenthefrontseatandthecontestedboundary is the subject of long-

drawnnegotiations.IfPakistanis beginning to see it thiswaytoo, that would indeed be ahugechange.

Untapped potentialTrade between India and

Pakistan has always beenhostage to their hostile rela-tionship. For years, Pakistan

tradedwith Indiaon thebasis of apositivelist,changingtoanegativelistonlyin2009.Other efforts to ease trade have been un-successful, including a 2011 push byPakistantoreciprocateIndia’sgrantofMFN.It came a cropper on a campaign byHafizSaeed, head of the LeT/JuD to portray thatthis was a huge concession to India. Histranslation of MFN into Urdu — sabsepasandeedamulk—rattled Islamabad.IndiawithdrewMFNstatus toPakistan

after the Pulwamaattack. It has to be seenwhether the twocountrieswill grant eachotherthisstatus,whichisaWTOobligation.In the first fewyearsof the lastdecade, themovetorelaxthevisaregimeforbusiness-mendidnotgo far.While the total value of bilateral trade

has hovered around $2 billion, unofficialtradethroughthirdcountriessuchasUAEisvaluedat farmore.Tradenumbershavebeennext tonon-

existent since August 2019. The beneficialimpact of even limited trade resumptionwill be feltonbothsides.

11WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

PRANAVMUKUL&ANILSASINEWDELHI,MARCH31

GOOGLEMAPS plans to start highlightingjourneysanddirectingdriverstoroutesthatit calibrates to be themost “eco-friendly”basedonarangeof factors. Thecalculationof the default route that potentially gener-ates the lowest carbon footprintwould bedonebyassessingfactorssuchastrafficdata,congestionhistory, andevenroad inclines.Thisisoneoftheseveralnewfeaturesan-

nounced forGoogleMaps including indoornavigation,curb-sidegrocerypickupsandde-liveries,andmoreinformationaboutweatherandairqualityonnavigational routes.At theheartoftheseupdates,Googlesays,isthead-vancement in artificial intelligence that thecompanyhasmadefortheMapsproduct.

US launch, no India date yetGooglesaidinablogpostthatthefeature

wouldbelaunchedfirst intheUnitedStatessometime later this year, “with a global ex-pansion on theway”. Once launched, the“eco-friendly”routewillshowupasthede-fault routeontheapp,anduserswishingtotakeanalternativeroutewillhavetooptout.When alternative routes “are signifi-

cantlyfaster”,theappwillofferoptionsandlet users compare estimated emissions onthedefaultandalternativeroutes.Thenewfeature, Google said, is part of its commit-

ment to fight climate change. While thecompany hasmentioned plans for “globalexpansion”, it hasnotoffered launch time-lines inspecificgeographies suchas India.Google is also reported to bemaking

“newmaplayersforweatherandairquality”that are set to roll out in comingmonthsonbothAndroidandiOS.Googleplanstolaunchtheweatherlayergloballyandreleasetheairquality layer first inAustralia, India, and theUS,accordingtoareport inTheVerge.

Green option, no big tradeoffFor its new route plan, Google said it

usedemissionsdatabasedontestingacrossdifferent types of vehicles and roads in theUS,andconcludedthatforabout50percentof theanalysedroutes, itwasable tooffera‘greener’ alternativeswithout any signifi-cant tradeoffs.“Whatwe are seeing is for around half

ofroutes,weareabletofindanoptionmoreeco-friendlywithminimal orno time-costtrade-off,”RussellDicker,adirectorofprod-uctatGooglesaid.ItsaidithadextrapolatedinsightsfromtheUSgovernment’sNationalRenewable Energy Lab, and incorporateddetails such as slopes and inclines from itsownStreetViewcarsfeaturealongsideaer-ial andsatellite imagery.

Live view inmalls and airportsForindoornavigation,GoogleMapshas

added augmented reality (AR) to its app,

which gives real-time information andphysicaldirectionsinsidebuildings.Thisup-dateusesAItorummagethroughtensofbil-lions of photos taken by Google’s StreetView programme, and provide directionsindoors for buildings such asmalls or air-ports. ‘LiveView’,whichuses a technologycalled‘globallocalisation’,willhelpuserstofind the nearest elevator, escalator, depar-ture gate, platform, baggage claim, check-incounter, ticketoffice,restroom,ATM,etc.Google’s ‘globallocalisation’,whichwas

announcedinFebruary2019,combinesvi-sual inputs from the smartphone camera,theexistingStreetViewdatabase, andma-chine learning, tomore accurately identifyposition and orientation. According to aGoogle blog post, Indoor Live View is nowlive in a number of malls in Chicago, LongIsland, LosAngeles,Newark, SanFrancisco,San Jose, and Seattle in the US. It will berolling out in the comingmonths in someairports,malls,andtransitstationsinTokyoandZurich,withmorecitieson theway.

Some other smart featuresFromJune2021,Googlewillstartwarn-

ing drivers about travelling through lowemissions zoneswhere some vehicles arerestricted,asisthecaseincountriessuchasGermany, France, and the Netherlands. Inanothernewfeatureslated for launch laterthis year, Maps users will be able to com-pare travel options — car, cycling, public

transportetc—inoneplace insteadofhav-ingtoswitchbackandforthbetweendiffer-ent modes. The scope of these featurescould beprogressivelywidened to includeAsiancities suchas Jakarta, it indicated.

Themarket and other playersOver the last twoyears, Googlehasbro-

ughtseveralofitsprojectsundertheMapsseg-ment, including street imagery, contributedcontent,machinelearningandartificialintel-ligencetodevelopthesetechnologiesand,sub-sequently,user-focussedproducts.Between77%and85%ofthoseusingnav-

igation apps are said to depend onGoogleMaps for daily navigation needs. Severalother free services operate in specificmar-kets,includingMicrosoft’sBingMaps,AppleMaps, US-basedMapQuest,MapmyIndia,OpenStreetMap, etc. These services havetriedtoservetheAPImarket,whereappsus-ing location services need a layer ofmap—forexample,cabserviceslikeUberandOla,orfood-deliveryappslikeZomatoandSwiggy.In addition, a number of institutional

playersprovidenavigation services for spe-cific use cases such as inbuiltmaps for cars.MapmyIndia isoneof thebiggestplayers inthis segment in the country. Dutch naviga-tion company Here, whichwas formerlyNokiaMaps,wassoldtoaconsortiumofAudi,Daimler and BMW in 2015 for $3 billion.AutomotivesuppliersBoschandContinentalboughtstakeinthecompanysubsequently.

Why Pak is lifting ban on Indian importsWhydidPakistanstoptheimportofcottonandsugarfromIndia,andwhyhasitreverseditsdecision?Whatkindoftraderelationshavethetwocountrieshad?

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to [email protected] EXPLAINED


INDIAACTIVECASES 552,566

Mar21 Mar30LAST 10 DAYS

INDIATOTALCASES12,149,335

Source:Ministry of Health& FamilyWelfare, updated at 11 pmonMarch 31

WORLDTOTALCASES128,490,863

Source: JohnsHopkins University,updated at 11 pmonMar 31

600000

500000

400000

300000

552,566334,646

Note: TheMarch30 figure in this graph isbasedon thegovernmentupdateonMarch31

IN FACT

Year Exports Imports TradeBalance

2018-19 2.07billion 494.87million 1.57billion

2019-20 816.62million 13.97million 802.65million

2020-21* 240.99million 2.15million 238.84million

*April to January, Source:MinistryofCommerceand Industry

India’sTopExports toPakistan 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21*

Cotton 550.33mn 64.25mn 0

Organicchemicals 457.75mn 273.97mn 115.92mn

Plasticandarticles thereof 131.19mn 42.62mn 1.43mn

Tanningordyeingextracts, etc. 114.48mn 39.47mn 0.92mn

Nuclearreactors,boilers, 94.88mn 42.42mn 1.28mnmachinery,etc

India’sTopImports fromPakistan 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21*

Mineral fuelsandoilsand 131.29mn 0.01mn N/Aproductsof theirdistillation,etc

Edible fruitandnuts,peelor 103.27mn 0.92mn 0.85mncitrus fruitormelons

Salt, sulphur,earthsandstone, 92.84mn 1.31mn 0.20mnplasteringmaterials,limeandcement

Ores, slagandash 17.18mn 0.03mn N/A

Rawhidesandskin 16.27mn N/A N/A(other thanfurskins)andleather

*April to January, Source:MinistryofCommerceand Industry

MAJORPRODUCTS TRADEDBETWEEN INDIA ANDPAKISTAN (IN $)

INDIA’S TRADEWITHPAKISTAN (IN $)

WhyGoogleMaps plans to nudge you towardsthe greenest route to your destination

SIMPLYPUT

A step in Pak’s ‘rational shift’,result of multiple pressures

TradebetweenIndiaandPakistanhavetraditionallybeenhostagetopolitics. ShuaibMasoodi/ExpressArchive

With an eye on the future, Russiaclears coronavirus shot for animalsRUSSIA’S STATE veterinary servicesaid onWednesday that it had be-come the first regulator in theworldto approve a coronavirus vaccine foranimals,intendedforuseonfurfarmsor forpet catsanddogs.TheFederalServiceforVeterinary

andPhytosanitarySupervisionsaidithad developed the vaccine for ani-

mals in part as a public health tool,lest thevirus spread fromanimals tohumansor—inaworst-casescenario—mutateinanimalsandthenspreadback to humans in amore virulentform. It couldalso revive fur farmingafterinfectionsonminkfarmsdevas-tated thebusiness lastyear, it said.

THENEWYORKTIMES

Ahmedabad

●PROFILE

ASSAM’SROYFAMILY:3INRACE, INCLUDINGEX-CONGBILLIONAIREONABJPTICKET

FORMORELOGONTOINDIANEXPRESS.COM/ELECTIONS

ART244(A), ITSRELEVANCEFORASSAMHILLTRIBES,ANDTHEPOLITICS


12 DECISION 2021W E S T B E N G A L ● K E R A L A ● T A M I L N A D U ● A S S A M ● P U D U C H E R R Y


ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI,MARCH31

WHETHER THE BJP or theCongress,AIUDFchiefBadruddinAjmal has been at the centre ofcampaignsbothsidesthiselection.Little of that attention, if any, hasreflectedontohisyoungerbrotherSirajuddin,63,aformerMPintherace fromthe family pocketbor-oughJamnamukh,whichvotesonApril1.ButthenSirajuddinisusedto

livinginAjmal’sshadow.Heisas-sociatedwith the family’s per-

fumebusiness ledbyAjmal, thatis spread over 50 countries, par-ticularly in theMiddle East andSouthEastAsia,andplaysanim-portant role in the AjmalFoundation,overseeingthefam-ily’sphilanthropicactivities.AtRs111 crore declared assets,Sirajuddin is one of the richestcandidatesintheAssampollfray.Sirajuddin returns to

Jamunamukh inHojaidistrict af-terhavingtwicewoninearlier, in2006 and2011.With theAIUDFlookingat thepossibilityof beinginpowerforthefirsttime—aspartoftheCongress-ledMahajot—this

is a calculatedmove by Ajmal,sourcessay.Givenhisexperience,Sirajuddinissuretobepartof thenewCabinet if theMahajotwins,evenasAjmalcontinuestorepre-senttheAIUDFattheCentre.AfterhisstintintheAssembly,

Sirajuddinhadmoved to theLok

Sabha in 2014, winning fromBarpeta.Hedidn’tcontestin2019duetohealthissues.TheAIUDFrepresentsAssam’s

largeBengali-originMuslimcom-munity,thathasbeenatthereceiv-ing endof theBJP’s poll rhetoric.Thepartyhas constantly stoked

fearsofillegalimmigrationbysay-ingtherewouldbeunstoppedin-flux should the AIUDF come topower.IntheoutgoingAssembly, the

AIUDFholds14seats.Itiscontest-ing19thistime,includingfiveseatswhere it is in ‘friendly’ contests

withMahajotallies.Jamunamukh, with a large

Muslimpopulation, is oneof theAIUDF’s safest seats, with theAjmal family hailing fromHojaidistrict.ThesittingMLAisAjmal’ssonAbdurRahimAjmal,35,whohasgivenwaytouncleSirajuddinthistime.Ajmal too had contested his

firstelectionforMLAfromherein2006, apart from another con-stituency, SouthSalmara.Hehadthen vacated Jamunamukh forSirajuddin. On Tuesday, theMahajotheldamassiverallyintheconstituency.Among thosewhoaddressed the gathering wereAjmal and Rajya SabhaMPAjitKumar Bhuyan,who heads theAnchalik Gana Morcha, a newpartythatispartofthealliance.Ajmal thanked Janmamukh

voters on socialmedia, saying.“Theyhaveagainproventhat theassociationof JamunamukhandAjmalfamilyistobecontinuedformanymoreyears.”

LIZMATHEWKOCHI,MARCH31

IN THE 2016 Assembly polls, ofthe 49 constituencies that lie inKerala’s coastal area, spreadacross eight districts, the CPM-ledLDFhadwon34,outof itsto-tal tallyof 91.Butnow,cloudsofuncertaintyareloomingovertheruling front in these seats as thefishermen community — thebackbone of the Left’s supportbaseinsomeof thesedistricts—areangrywiththestategovern-ment for “betraying” them bysigningadealwithanAmericanfirmoverfishingwhich,theysay,will cost themtheir livelihood.Theprotestswereinitiatedby

the Congress, with Leader ofOppositionRameshChennithalafirst revealing the existence ofsuch a deal, andwere joined bytheinfluentialLatincommunity.TheLDFgovernmentfirstdeniedsuchadeal,thoughitsPRdepart-ment had earlier called it anachievement, but later, appre-hensive of apoll blowback, can-celledtheMoUithadsignedwithUS-basedEMCCInternational.The Kerala Industrial

Development Corporation(KIDC) signed an MoU withEMCCfor“Fisheriesresearchanddevelopment for the up-grada-tion and promotion of deep seafishinginKerala”inFebruary28,2020.Theprojectinvolvedbuild-ing 400 deep-sea fishingtrawlersasperdesignproposedby EMCC, five mother vesselswithmoderntechnology,upgra-dation of 14 fishing harbours asper EU standards, and 50 seafoodprocessingplants,hospitalsand air ambulances for fisher-men. The proposal also saidEMCCwould train and deploy1.60lakhfishermenindeep-seafishing,upgrading their skills.In February this year, Kerala

Shippingand InlandNavigation(KSINC), under Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan, signed a newagreementwithEMCC.Jackson Pollayil, state presi-

dent of the Kerala SwatantraMatsyaThozhilaliFederation,anorganisationof fishermeninthestate, says theyare suspiciousofthegovernment’sintentions.“Noonefromthefishermencommu-nity thinks the deal is dead. Thegovernmentwas forced to take

such a step because of electionsandtheprotests.”Thefactthatthegovernment

kepttheagreementunderwrapsand kept denying it till theCongress released the detailshave added to the apprehen-sions. Meanwhile, Congressleader Rahul Gandhi’s interac-tionswith fishermen, includinggoing fishingwith them to the

sea,haskept the issuealive.Last week, the Latin Church

lent its weight to the protests,withKollamBishopPaulAntonyMullasery issuinga letterwarn-ing the faithful against “the at-temptstodestroythefishingsec-tor and sell it to corporates” bythe state and Centre. The letterwas readout inchurches.TheLatinChurchhastremen-

dous influence among its faith-ful, constitutingmore than 30%of theelectorate incoastalareas.CPM leader and Alappuzha

MPAMAriff calls the protests a“ploytomislead”thefishingcom-munity.“TheLDFisagainstallow-ingforeigntrawlers fordeep-seafishing.What the governmentwantedistrainthecommunitytousemodern trawlers and buildtrawlers for themas traditionalmethodsarenolongerprofitable.Thegovernmenthopedtodothisstepbystep,”hesays.

Hibi Eden, the CongressErnakulamMPwho raised thematter in the Lok Sabha, coun-ters that what is actually hap-pening is clearingof thegroundstep by step for foreign firms toexploitmarinewealth.“Thegov-ernment first amended its pol-icy to allow foreign trawlers fordeep-sea fishing. Then it issuedanordinancecancellinglicencesofoldironsteelandfibrevessels,followedbytheagreementwiththe US firm. One has to read allthese together,”Edensays.Speaking for the fishermen

community is Joseph XavierKalappurackal, president of theKerala Boat Operators’Association and a CPM leader.Xavier,whohas invitedtheireofhispartyforbeingattheforefrontoftheprotests,says,“Thegovern-mentthatshouldhaveprotectedthe people is destroying them.Thefishingcommunityisalreadyinacrisisduetoglobalwarming,which depletesmarinewealth,andtherisingpricesofdiesel.”Thedealwoulddirectlyaffect

around1.5 lakh fishermen fami-lies in Kannur, Kozhikode,Thrissur,Malappuram, Ernaku-lam,Alappuzha,KollamandThi-ruvananthapuram,Xaviersays.Simon Alex, a Congress

leaderinKollam,pointsoutthatthe fishing community hasbarely recovered from Covidcurbs, which included restric-tionsonsaleof catch.

‘BJP wants 6-7 seats,CPM power... theyare together for this’

MANOJCGMADURAI,MARCH31

ACROSS DISTRICTS in southernand central Tamil Nadu, theEdappadi Palaniswami govern-mentdoesnotseemtobefacingsignificant anti-incumbency.However, what appears set tocost the CM is his perceived“subservience” before the“Modi-Shah”duoof theBJP.In the AIADMK-led alliance,

theBJPhasbeengiven20seats.Inthe2016Assemblypolls, theBJPhad got 2.84% of the votes con-testingon188seats,forfeitingde-posits in180andwinningnone.The BJP’s spectre also hangs

heavybecause,whileEPSisseenasefficientandpraisedforhold-ing theAIADMKtogether after JJayalalithaa’sdeath, theredoes-n’tseemtobemuchrecallvalueabouthisgovernment’sachieve-ments. Lacking both thecharismaof JayalalithaaandtheoratoryofMKarunanidhi,EPSisfailing toput thisacross.Theminorities — Christians

at 6.12% of the population, andMuslimsat5.86%arethelargestgroups—arealsoupsetovertheAIADMK’salliancewith theBJP.Rajeshwari,who runs a shop

inMelurnearMadurai,andhailsfromneighbouringSivagangadis-trict,says,“MyfamilyhasalwayssupportedAmma (Jayalalithaa),butthistime, let’ssee.”A woman at the next shop

whodoesn’twanttobeidentifiedsays, “The AIADMK should nothave tiedupwith theBJP...WhathasModidoneforTamilNadu?”At Valayapatti village in

Virudhunagar,Eshwari saysshewill vote for Two Leaves (theAIADMK symbol), as for her itwill alwaysbeAmma’sparty.Barringafewconstituencies,

the third players — be it theMakkalNeedhiMaiamofKamalHaasan or T T V Dinakaran’sAMMK--don’tseemtobeinthefight.However,theAMMKcouldcutintoAIADMKvotesatplaces.In Thirumangalam near

Madurai,Vijay, a lorrydriver,be-

lievesEPShas“prostrated”beforePrimeMinister NarendraModi.(Incidentally,onedefiningimageof EPS ishimpayinghis respectsto Jayalalithaa’s confidanteSasikala in this manner.)Belonging to Deputy ChiefMinisterO Panneerselvam’s vil-lage, hehas alwaysvoted for theAIADMK,Vijaysays,butnotnow.“I drivemy lorry tomany states.NonehassurrenderedbeforetheCentrelikeourgovernment.”A few days ago, in a curious

clarification,theAIADMKsaiditsalliance with the BJP was only“electoral”, that there was no“mingling of ideologies”. SaysShaktivel, a localAIADMKfunc-tionary in Tirunelveli, “The BJPhasbeengivenonly20seats.TheBJP issuewill not come up out-side these20seats.”But in Tenkasi, Aziz Kani, an

electrician, says the AIADMKshould not think its associationwiththeBJPisnotbeingnoticedelsewhere. He says that this is“the only reason” theMuslimswill vote for theDMKthis time.AzizaddsthatforMuslims,it

is not even a factor that theAMMKhasputupaMuslimcan-didate inTenkasi.“This time the vote is to de-

feat the AIADMK because it iswiththeBJP.Thereisnocommu-nitydecisionassuch... everyoneknows all these things,” Aziz’sfriendShahulHameedsays.Senior DMK leader Tiruchi

Siva says there is huge disen-chantment with the AIADMK.“Peoplearedisgusted.”Unsure of theminority vote,

theAIADMKiswatchingcloselythe women voters, for longJayalalithaa’s mainstay. Theparty has promised freewash-ingmachinesandtravelconces-sions towomen.Meanwhile, there is another

rumour building up about thegovernmentasvotingday,April1,nears.Voterstalkaboutdistri-butionofmoney, and that therecouldbealockdownpost-votingtodo some“golmaal (irregular-ities)” since counting day is amonthaway.

LIZMATHEWTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,MARCH31

ChiefMinisterPinarayiVijayanappears tobeverypopular, for foodkitsduringthe lockdown, thepensionschemesofhisgovernment.But a larger sectiondoesnot

wantVijayantoreturntopowerbecauseof hisauthoritarianna-ture... As therearenot toomanyachievements,theykeeptalkingabout free food kits. Tell mewhichCommunist governmenthas done this (freebie politics)?Jayalalithaa did it... Does theCommunist ideol-ogy support suchpolitics?...Themeasures

weretakenwithaneye on the elec-tions... People arestillsuffering.Whatkindoffinancialaidwas given? Keralahad the highestnumberofcasesfora long time... TheyspentonPRtoclaimthat this govern-mentisgreat.

UnliketheLDF,theUDFappearstobestillconfusedaboutwhowouldheadagovernment if itwins.TheCongressdidnotproject

a leader before the polls inMadhya Pradesh, Rajasthan orChhattisgarh...Thereiscollectiveleadership, The high commandcandecideafter theelections...Webelieve in democracy, in

collective leadership... There isno internal democracy in theCPM... Both PM Modi andVijayanhave thesameattitude.

TheCongress isaccusedofpractisingsoftHindutva.It’s the CPM that practises

soft Hindutva... One ministersaysthepartystand(backingtheSupreme Court order allowingentry of women of all ages intothe shrine)waswrong, anotherministercorrectsit.EventheCMisambiguous.TheCongresspur-suesapuresecularapproach,wedon’t dilute. Former OrganisereditorRBalashankarhasallegedadealbetweentheCPMandBJPin Kerala. The BJP wants six-seven seats and the CPMneedspower.Theyaretogetherforthis.

If theBJPiswooingChristians,theCongressappearstobeeyeingHinduvotes,especiallyonSabarimala.

The CM is tryingtodocommunalpo-larisation... It (theSabarimala issue) isabout faith.

RahulGandhicontestingfromWayanadinthe2019LokSabhapollshadhelpedtheUDF.Areyoubankingonhim?The campaign

programmesofbothRahul and PriyankaGandhi are helpingthepartya lot.

Is theCongressrunninga largelynegative

campaign?Ourmanifestosayswhatwe

are planning to do for the state,it talks of NYAY (minimum in-comeguarantee) and apensionscheme... It’s ourduty toexposethedefectsof thegovernment.

WouldtheCongresssurviveanotherdefeat inKerala?Thequestiondoesnotarise.

TheBJPhaspromiseda lawagainst ‘love jihad’.It’s not even an issue in

Kerala.

CMPalaniswami,PMModiatarally inTiruppurdistrict. PTI

RahulGandhi inKottayam.His interactionswithfishermenhavekept the issuealive. PTI

The other AjmalAscoalition looks to formgovt,AIUDFchief’syoungerbrotherSirajuddinreturns tocontest fromfamilybastion

Anger at BJP singesgoodwill for EPS incentral, south TN

VOTING

WITH THEIR

FEETOfficialscarrypollingmaterial tobooths inDimaHasaodistrict inAssamWednesday. Meanwhile,theAssamCEOsaidthestatehadbrokenallpreviousrecords intermsofpollseizures,with itemsworthRs110crconfiscatedalready. In2016Assemblypolls, total seizureswerebelowRs20cr.ANI

In its Kerala coastal harbour, LDFruns aground over US firm deal

Pinarayi cancelspactondeep-sea trawlers,butasCong,Church joinprotests, fishingcommunitysayshave lost trust

SIRAJUDDINAJMAL,AIUDF contestant, JamunamukhAssembly seat

Movableassets `30.02crore

Cash inhand `16,143

Bankdeposits `1.77crore

Motorvehicles `1.52crore

Immovableassets `42.10crore

Land `13.9crore

Liabilities `5.17crore

Criminalcases 1FIR

2014LokSabhapolls

I Hereby Declare

SirajuddinAjmalatarallyatDobokainHojai.PTI

WITH

RAMESH

CHENNITHALA

LEADEROFOPPOSITION,

KERALA

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEW

CPMleaderKalappurackalisleadingtheprotests.LizMathew

ASSAM

345candidatesinfray

319men

26women

PROMINENTCANDIDATES

BJPministersParimalSuklabaidya(Dholai),PijushHazarika

(Jagiroad),BhabeshKalita(Rangiya);SpeakerAminulHaque

Laskar(BJP,Sonai);AIUDF’sSirajuddinAjmal(Jamunamukh);

BPFministerRihonDaimary(Udalguri)

PhaseI(March27):47seats,79.97%voting

NDAALLIANCEBJP34seats,AGP6(3

friendlycontestswithBJP),

UPPL3(2friendlycontests)

MAHAJOTCong28seats,

AIUDF7,

BPF4

ASSAMJATIYAPARISHAD19seats

73.44lakheligiblevoters

5,315pollingbooths

PHASE2

VOTINGTODAY

39of126Assemblyseats

Thiruvananthapuram

Kollam

Alappuzha

Ernakulam

Malappuram

Thrissur

Kannur

Kozhikode

COASTAL VOTE

8districts,49seats

2016ASSEMBLYPOLLS

LDF 34

UDF 15

2011ASSEMBLYPOLLS

LDF 36

UDF 13

TOTALASSETS `39.5CRORE

PHASE2

10,620pollingbooths

75.95lakhvoters

Trinamool:30seats BJP:30

SanyuktaMorcha: CPI2,CPM15,

Cong9,AIFB1,RSP1

VOTINGTODAY

30of294Assemblyseats

WESTBENGAL

19women

171candidatesinfray

PROMINENTCANDIDATES

CMMamataBanerjee(TMC)vsSuvenduAdhikari(BJP),

Nandigram;formerIPSBharatiGhosh(BJP)vsex-IPSHumayun

Kabir(TMC),Debra;formercricketerAshokDinda(BJP),Moyna;

MPManasBhunia(TMC),Sabang

PhaseI(March27):30seats,84.13%polling

Ahmedabad


GOVT&POLITICS


DELHICONFIDENTIAL

NO NOISEUNLIKEMANYpoliticians,topleadersoftheCongresspartywhogottheCovidvaccinehavedoneit ratherquietly.Mostof themhavenot sharedphotographsof themgetting the jabon theirsocialmediaaccounts.CongresspresidentSoniaGandhi,partyleaders say, got the vaccine earlier thismonth andhad beentelling leaderswhospoke toher toget themselves inoculated.FormerPrimeMinisterManmohanSinghandseniorleaderslikeGhulamNabiAzadwereamongthefirsttogetthevaccine.

THE PUSHBACKPIYUSHGOYAL indulged in someplainspeakat a retirementfunctioninRailwaysonWednesday.Takingadigatseniorof-ficers,theRailwayMinistersaidtheoldsystemofofficersgiv-inggovernment jobs topeople asBungalowPeonsneededarethink,whichhasnowbeendone.Healsohadawordortwoto offer against departmentalism. In an attackingmode, healso said that senior officers need to introspect onwhetherwhat theydo is alignedwith theobjectiveofwhat isbest forthe country.Officials saidGoyal probably got irkedbya cou-pleofseniorretireeofficers'speechesandwantedtogivethemafitting reply.

THE OUTSIDERABSFIG'sratherdeepattachmenttohissonis fastbecominga cause for discomfort in the border guarding force. The IPSofficer is said to be taking his son on all field visits and eventakes him to the borderwhen he briefs his subordinates onsecurityissues.Inarecentinstance,thesonsatthroughapres-entation on border infrastructure by the field commandantandevengavehis inputs.Once thepresentationwasoverheaskedhis father torewardthecommandingofficerashehadquite liked thepresentation.

RAVIKBHATTACHARYA&AMITAVACHAKRABORTYNANDIGRAM,MARCH31

AT 6.15 pm on Wednesday,MamataBanerjee’selectionagentinNandigram,SheikhSupian,61,took final stock of the party’spreparations forThursday'spollsalongwith TMCworkers at hishome near Nandigrambypass.Suddenly, his cellphone screenflashes “MamataDidi”. After an-

swering thecall, Supian re-turned to hisseat and saidwith a grin, “Iam her elec-tionagenthere.Shewill obvi-ouslycallme.”Hours be-

foreNandigram,

the most talked-about con-stituency inWestBengal, goes tothe polls, the tension in bothcamps was palpable, coupledwithhectic last-minuteprepara-tionsandphonecallsatpartyof-fices of both the ruling TMCandmain opposition BJP. Both sidesaccused theother of planning toengageinviolenceonThursday.InNandigram, Section144 is

inforceand22companiesofcen-tral forces areposted for the255pollingbooths.OnWednesday, The Indian

Express visited several BJP andTMC offices across the con-stituency.Returning to Nandigram

around4pmafteraddressingsev-

eral rallies in other parts of thestate, Banerjee held apress con-ferenceandallegedthatoutsidersand goons have already enteredNandigram.ShealsoaccusedtheElectionCommissionofsupport-ingtheBJP.ShesaidshewillstayinNandigramuntilThursdaynight.HerBJPopponent–one-time

confidant Suvendu Adhikari –planstocasthisvoteearly.Wearing a green lungi and a

sky-blue T-shirt, Supian said, “Iwill be in the area from earlyThursday.She(Banerjee)wascon-cernedaboutmysecurity. I haveY-category security – letme seewho attacksme. There is a con-spiracyagainstMamataBanerjee,butthepeoplearewithher.”About 16 km from Supian’s

home is Birulia Bazar, whereBanerjeereceivedaninjurytoherleg on March 10. Located atNandigram-2block,BiruliaBazarisaBJPstrongholdandalsohasthe

party’soldestoffice,setupin2011.Atnoon,BJPdistrict leaderPralayPal (42) reviewed the final pollpreparationswith other partyleadersandworkers.Pal,aformerTMCworkerwho

hadreceivedaphonecallfromtheCMonMarch26seekinghissup-port in her campaign, told localparty leader Arup Jana and agroup of workers: “No need tosleeptonight.Calltheboysat4am(Thursday). Tell them to reachtheir respective booths early; tostay alert andwatchout formis-creants. Tonight in very impor-tant.”He said, “SinceourCMcalled

meand soughtmyhelp, andmypartyhighlightedtheaudioclip, Ihave got three security guardsnow.(HomeMinister)AmitShahcame toReyapara yesterdayandmetme–he gavemehis bless-ings. For the last fewdays I leavehomeat6amandreturnaround2.30am–tonightIwillnotsleep.”AllegingthattheTMCistrying

tospreadterrorinthevillages,Paladded,“Howeverthereisnoques-tion that Suvendu-dawill winwithahugemargin.”DipakDas,31,in-chargeoffour

booths inUttarGolpukhuria vil-lageandaBJPmembersince2019,said:“Ourjobiscutoutfortomor-row. We have to ensure thatagents sit in booths. Nomatterwhathappens,theywillnotleavetheir seats.Wewill also have toensure that villagers can comeand vote peacefully. If there istroublefromTMC,wewillinformtheauthorities.Ifthatfailspeoplewillresist.” FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAKOLKATA,MARCH31

THE BJP has registered a com-plaint with the ElectionCommission accusing WestBengal Chief MinisterMamataBanerjee of threatening its sup-porterswith unspecified actiononce paramilitary forces leavethestateaftertheAssemblypolls.In its letter to thepollpanel,

BJP alleged, despite “pro-ac-

tive” role of the commission,“large-scaleviolence”hasbeenreported during past severaldays due to suchutterances bythe Trinamool Congress (TMC)chief.To back up its claim, the let-

ter written on Tuesday men-tionedawidelycirculatedvideoof a meeting addressed byBanerjee at Nandigram onMarch 29. “In themeeting shesaid the central paramilitaryforces will go one day, but she

will stay in Bengal. Who willthen save her rivals,” the letterquotedBanerjeeas saying.The letter signedbyBJP lead-

ers Shishir Bajoria, Arjun SinghandPratap Banerjee said, “Suchstatements are threat to free, fairandpeacefulelections.”The saffron party also de-

scribedthespeechasaviolationof the model code of conductthat urges political parties toavoidoffencessuchasintimida-tionof voters.

Thiruvananthapuram: KeralaOpposition leader RameshChennithala Wednesday re-leaseda list of 4.34 lakh“bogus”voters. This came on the sameday the Kerala High Court dis-posed of his petition seeking torestrain fake andmultiple entryvoters fromparticipating in theAssemblypolls.Chennithala released the

list through awebsite—opera-tiontwins.com—adayafter theElection Commission told theHigh Court that it had identi-fied only 38,000 bogus voters.Thesite carries a list of voters

whosenameshavebeen “dupli-cated”withthesamephotographin the same constituency andthosewhose names have beenduplicatedinmorethanonecon-stituency—all140constituencieshavebeenincluded. ENS&PTI

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIATHRISSUR(KERALA),MARCH31

CONGRESS LEADER PriyankaGandhi onWednesday took onPrimeMinister NarendraModi

for “quoting”from theBibleat a poll rallyand nothingfor the nunsharassed by“goons” be-longing to hisparty during atrain journeythrough BJP-

ruledUttarPradeshrecently.“I suppose thiswas because

theelectionsinKeralaarearound

the corner. Because I didn’t heara single word about the sisterswhowere harassed in Jhansi,”she said, a day after Modi tar-getedtherulingLDFoverthegoldsmugglingscaminapoll rally inPalakkad, saying the CPI(M)-ledgovernment “betrayed the peo-ple,justasJudasdidtoJesusforafewpiecesof silver”.Addressing an election rally

here, Gandhi said there wasnothingmorehollowthanquot-ingfromtheBible“tosowseedsof division and hatred in thecountry”.“Thereisnothingmorefarcical thanquotingthelinesofJesusonapoliticalstageandun-leashing persecution on thosewhoselivesarespentonservingthepoor,”Gandhi said.

TORAAGARWALAGUWAHATI,MARCH31

CONTINUINGHISscathingattacksontheCongress’salliancewiththeAIUDF and Badaruddin Ajmal,UnionHomeMinisterandsenior

BJPleaderAmitShahWednesdayasked thepeo-pleofAssamtochoose be-tweenan“aat-manirbhar(self-reliant)Assam” or‘Maulana-nirb-

har(dependentonAjmal)”state.“The BJPwants to create an

aatmanirbhar Assam — onewhereyouthsdonothavetogotootherpartsofthecountryseekingjobs,”hesaid,addressingarallyinAssam’sDispur. “ButRahul-baba(Congress leader RahulGandhi)wants tomake aMaulana-nirb-harAssam.Nowwhich onewillyouchoose?”Campaigningforthethirdand

finalphaseofelectionsinAssam—slatedforApril6—Shahaddressedtwo other rallies — at Hajo inKamrupdistrictandBijniinChirang

district—apartfromDispur.Shah said the BJP isworking

towardsmaking Guwahati the"start-up capital of South EastAsia” aswell as a sport hub by2038.“Wehaveall thisandmorein ourmanifesto,” he said, “ButwhatdoestheCongressmanifestohave?To carryBadruddinAjmalon their shoulders andopen theborder and increase infiltration,”heasserted.Hesaid,“TheBJPhaspromised

tomakeAssaminfiltration-free—Assam’sculture,language,music,literature cannot be protected ifthereisinfiltration.Butcanagov-ernmentwithAjmal prevent in-filtration?”RahulGandhiwas also cam-

paigning in the state onWednesday,althoughatdifferentvenues.ShahmockedRahul,say-ing theCongress leaderwasona"tourism” trip. AtHajo, Shah al-legedthatitwasintheCongress'sculturetocreatedivisionsamongpeople — whether betweenAssameseandBengalis, hills andplains,orHindusandMuslims.At Bijni, in Chirang district,

which comes under BodolandTerritorial Region, Shah said allclausesoftheBodoAccordwouldbefulfilledby2022.

NewDelhi/Chennai/Kolkata: TheElectionCommission(EC)hasor-dered transferof threepoliceof-ficials, including two IG-rankedofficers, inTamilNadu following"adverse inputs”, and removedthree officials, including the re-turning officer of BallygunjAssemblyconstituencyinKolkataonWednesdayandlateTuesday.In TamilNadu, thepoll panel

directed the transfer of IG(Central)HMJayaram,IG(West)Dhinakaran, and SP (Rural;Coimbatore) Arul Arasu. The ECdirected the transfers “based onadverse inputs,” it said, and alsonamedtheirreplacements.InWestBengal,thetwoother

officials transferred are HaldiaSDPO Barun Baidya and CircleInspector of Mahishadal, PurbaMedinipurdistrict,BichitraBikasRoy. PTI

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,MARCH31

IN A fresh setback to ChiefMinister B S Yediyurappa, theKarnataka High Court onWednesdayvacated a two-year-old stay onpolice investigationsinto a 2019 corruption case inwhichheandthreeothersareac-cusedof offeringbribes to lure aJD(S)MLAtojointheBJP.AsinglejudgeoftheHighCourt

sittingintheKalaburagibenchor-deredtheremovaloftheFebruary22, 2019stayorderon investiga-tionsinthecorruptioncaseagainstYediyurappaonthebasisofanin-terimapplication for vacationofthe stay filed by SharanagoudaPatil,aJD(S)leaderandtheoriginalcomplainantinthecase.JusticeJohnMichaelCunhaor-

deredvacationofthestaycitingil-legalities inthemanner inwhichthe casewas put in cold storagewithoutthecomplainantbeingis-suednoticesandthependencyofthe case not being informed tohigherauthoritiestofacilitatereg-ularhearingsasmandatedbytheSupremeCourt.ThecaseagainstYediyurappa,

BJPMLAs PreethamGowdaandShivanagoudaNaik,andaformerjournalistwhowasYediyurappa'saide, pertains to an alleged at-temptmade in February2019 tolureNaganagoudaKandakur, theJD(S)MLA fromGurmitkal con-stituency,tojointheBJPtotopplethe then JD(S)-Congress govern-mentinthestate.Sharanagouda, the sonof the

JD(S)MLA, secretly recordedhisconversationswithYediyurappa,whowasthentheleaderoftheop-positionandothers—aRs10croreofferwasmade to theMLA's sontogethisfathertodefecttotheBJP.The audio recordings of the

conversationsthatallegedlytookplacebetween12.30amand1.30

amonFebruary8, 2019were re-leasedtothemediabythenchiefminister HDKumaraswamy oftheJD(S)onthesameday.Sharanagouda filed a police

complaintwiththeDevadurgapo-lice on February13, 2019.He al-legedthatYediyurappaandotherstriedtoforcehimtogethis fathertoresignasaJD(S)MLAandtojointheBJPwiththepromiseof fundstofightelectionsasaBJPcandidate,includingaRs10croreadvanceforquittingasalegislator.Yediyurappaobtainedinterim

bail in the case on February 17,2019. Five days later, theKalaburagi bench of the HighCourt stayed the investigationsfollowing petitions filed byYediyurappa andothers seekingquashingof thecase.Thecasehadbeenincoldstor-

age sinceYediyurappamanagedtotoppletheCongress-JD(S)gov-ernmentinJuly2019bygetting17CongressandJD(S)MLAstodefecttotheBJPandgetre-electedasBJPMLAstobepartofthecurrentBJPgovernment.This is the fifth case against

Yediyurappa that has returnedfrom thepast to haunthimdur-inghiscurrenttenureasCM.

TORAAGARWALAGUWAHATI,MARCH31

IN ASSAM to campaign for thethird phase of elections,Congress leader Rahul GandhiWednesdayclaimedthathewasnot a liar like NarendraModi. “Ihaven’t come here to lie. MynameisnotNarendraModi,”theWayanadMP said, addressing arally in Chaygaon constituencyinAssam’sKamrupdistrict.This election, the Congress’s

manifestoincludesfivepromises:a law to nullify the Citizenship(Amendment)Act, five lakhgov-ernment jobs, raising the dailywageof teagardenworkerstoRs365,providefreeelectricityupto200units per household andRs2,000inmonthlyincomesupportto homemakers. “For the resi-dents of Chaygaon, Boko andSouthKamrup,wewilladdasixthpromiseandfulfilyourlongstand-ingdemandofaseparatedistrict,”he said, adding that thesewerenot“hollowpromises”.Gandhi cited theexampleof

Chattisgarh. “Before elections, Imadepromisestowaiveoff farmloans inarally likethis,”hesaid.“Andwithinsixhoursofassum-ingpower,wedelivered.”Attacking the BJP, Gandhi

said that if Congress is elected,then “Assamwill run Assam—notfromNagpur(RSSheadquar-ters)orDelhi.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,MARCH31

INDIAHASfallen28places intheWorldEconomic Forum’sGlobalGenderGapReport 2021, and isnowoneoftheworstperformersin South Asia, trailing behindneighbours Bangladesh, Nepal,Bhutan,SriLankaandMyanmar-— it is now ranked 140 among156countries.SouthAsia incidentally isone

of theworst performing regions,followedonlybytheMiddleEastandnorthernAfrica,accordingtothe report released onWednesday by the WorldEconomicForum.The report points out that

manycountrieshavefaredworsein this year’s rankings comparedto last year’s, on account of eco-nomicperformance.“Globally,theaverage distance completed to

parityisat68percent,astepbackcomparedto2020(-0.6percent-age points). These figures aremainlydrivenbyadecline in theperformance of large countries.On its current trajectory, it willnowtake135.6years toclosethegendergapworldwide,” itstates.The gender gap in political

empowerment remains thelargest:women represent only26.1percentofsome35,500par-liament seats and just 22.6 percent of over 3,400 ministersworldwide, according to the re-port. In 81 countries, there hasnever been a woman head ofstate,asof January15,2021.While India has declined on

thepoliticalempowermentindexaswellby13.5percentagepoints,and a decline in the number ofwomenministers, from23.1percentin2019to9.1percentin2021,it has still performed relativelywellcomparedtoothercountries,

rankingat51inwomen’spartici-pation in politics. Bangladesh is“the only countrywheremorewomenhaveheldhead-of-statepositionsthanmeninthepast50years,”saysthereport.In the index of education at-

tainment, Indiahasbeen rankedat114.But the two indices where

India has fared the worst are“Health andSurvival”,which in-cludesthesexratio,andeconomicparticipationofwomen.Thesecond-largestgendergap

among the four components ofthe index is for the EconomicParticipation andOpportunitysubindex. “Only 58.3 per cent ofthis gap has been closed so far(globally),” itstates.Thecountrieswiththelargest

gendergaps ineconomicpartici-pation include Iran, India,Pakistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, andAfghanistan.

Thereportnotesthattheeco-nomic participation gender gapactuallywidenedinIndiaby3per-centthisyear.Theshareofwomeninprofessionalandtechnicalrolesdeclined further to29.2percent.Theshareofwomeninseniorandmanagerialpositionsalsoisat14.6per cent and only 8.9 per centfirms in the countryhave top fe-malemanagers.Theestimatedearnedincome

ofwomeninIndiaisonlyone-fifthofmen's,whichputsthecountryamongthebottom10globallyonthisindicator, itsaid.But it is in the Health and

SurvivalindexthatIndiahasfaredtheworst, ranking at 155 -- theonlycountrytohavefaredworseis China. The report points to askewedsexratioasamajorfactor.Thereportestimatesthatitwill

takeSouthAsia195.4yearstoclosethe gender gap,whileWesternEuropewilltake52.1years.

Mumbai:Nationalist CongressParty (NCP) chief Sharad Pawarunderwentanendoscopyforthe

removal of astone fromhisgall bladderlate Tuesdaynight.Pawar isexpected toundergo an-other surgeryfor the re-moval of hisgall bladderwithineightto

tendays.Doctorssaidhemaybedischargedafter five tosixdays.“He is stable now and recu-

perating,” said MaharashtraHealthMinisterRajeshTope.Senior Consultant

Gastroenterologist Dr AmitMaydeo,partof theteamthatop-eratedonPawar, said, “Hishealthconditionhas improvedgreatly...the ache fromhis back and ab-domenhasalmostvanished.”ENS

Not here to lie,my name’s notNarendra Modi:Rahul in Assam

Sharad Pawarundergoesendoscopy

Priyanka takes on PM: Heis quoting Bible, silent onnuns harassed by his party

HC disposes ofplea, Chennithalareleases ‘bogus’voter list

TN, Bengal: EC

orders transfers

of police,

admin officers

PriyankaGandhiVadra atarally inThrissurdistrict. PTI

RahulGandhiatarally inKamrupdistrict.

‘CanagovtwithBadruddinAjmalprevent infiltration?’

DECISION2021ASSAM

DECISION2021KERALA

On poll eve, both sidesawait Thursday thriller

DECISION2021WESTBENGAL

Yediyurappaallegedlyofferedbribes to lure JD(S)MLAtoBJP in2019

‘Bribe’ tapes: HC vacatesstay on probe against BSY

VVPATmachines tobeused inThursday’selections inNandigramsecured inastrongroominHaldia, inPurbaMedinipurdistrict,onWednesday.ParthaPaul

Pawar inhospital. PTI

WHILERANKINGIndiaat155—aspotaheadofChina—onthehealthandsurvival index, thereportpointstoaskewedsexra-tioasthemajorfactor. Itsaystheratiocanbeat-tributedtonormsof sonpreferenceandgender-bi-asedprenatalsex-selec-tivepractices.ChinaandIndiatogetheraccountforabout90to95percentoftheestimated1.2to1.5millionmissingfemalebirthsannuallyworld-wideduetogender-bi-asedprenatalsexselec-tivepractices, itstates.

SexratioamajorconcernE●E

XPLAIN

ED

Ranked 140 of 156 countries, India slips28 spots in WEF’s global gender gap report

TMCoffice inNandigram.ParthaPaul

BJP accuses Mamata of threateningsupporters, files EC complaint

Shah: Choose betweenaatmanirbhar Assam ormaulana-nirbhar state

NANDIGRAM:RULINGTMC,MAINCHALLENGERBJPTAKESTOCK

Ahmedabad


THEWORLD


INDONESIA

CockpitrecorderunitfromcrashrecoveredBangkok: Nearly threemonthsafterSriwijayaAirFlight182crashedintotheJava Sea, Indonesian offi-cials announced onWednesdaythattheyhadrecovered the memorymodule of the aircraft’scockpit voice recorder bypumping up mud andsand from the seafloor.Officials said they be-lieved the module wasstill functional and that itwouldtakethreedaystoaweek to download andread its data. The aircraftcrashedminutesaftertak-ing off from Soekarno-Hatta InternationalAirport near Jakarta, theIndonesiancapital,killingall 62 people aboard, in-cluding six active crewmembers. NYT

OfficialscarryasafetyboxcontainingtheCockpitVoiceRecorderof SriwijayaAirFlight182. Reuters

TOPOFTHEWORLD

UNITEDKINGDOM

Meghandidn’thavesecretroyalwedding:ChurchLondon: Archbishop ofCanterbury JustinWelbyhas contradicted BritishroyalMeghan’sclaimthatshe married Britain’sPrinceHarry several daysbefore the official lavishceremony at WindsorCastle in 2018.Meghan,theDuchessofSussex,toldOprahWinfreyinaninter-view earlier this monththat she wed QueenElizabeth’s grandson in asecretceremonyofficiatedover by theArchbishop afew days before theWindsorevent. “The legalmarriage took place onthatSaturday,”Welbywasquoted as saying by DieWelt. “Iwouldhave com-mitted a crime if I hadsignedsomethingthatwasnottrue.” REUTERS

CHINA

BBCjournalistrelocates,citesthreatsBeijing: The BBC said onWednesday one of itsjournalists in China relo-cated to Taiwan. JohnSudworth told BBC radiohemovedwithhis familybecauseithadbecomein-creasingly difficult to re-main in the country. Hehad been under surveil-lance, faced threats of le-galaction,obstructionandintimidation,hesaid.“Wenever threatened him,” aforeignministry spokes-womansaid. REUTERS

ROBERTDMCFADDENNEWYORK,MARCH31

GGORDON Liddy, a cloak-and-dagger lawyer who master-mindeddirtytricksfortheWhiteHouse and concocted the bun-gled burglary that led to theWatergate scandal and the res-ignationofPresidentRichardM.Nixon in 1974, died on TuesdayinMount Vernon, Virginia. Hewas90.Hisdeath, at thehomeofhis

daughter Alexandra LiddyBourne, was confirmed by hisson Thomas P. Liddy, who saidthat his father had Parkinson’sdisease andhad been in declin-inghealth.DecadesafterWatergateen-

tered the lexicon,Mr. Liddywasstill an enigma in the cast ofcharacters who fell from grace

with the 37th president — tosomeapatriotwhowentsilentlyto prison refusing to betray hiscomrades,toothersazealotwhocashed in on bogus celebrity tobecome an author and syndi-cated talk showhost.Asa leaderof aWhiteHouse

“plumbers”unitsetuptoplugin-formation leaks, and then as astrategist for the president’s re-election campaign, Mr. Liddyhelped devise plots to discreditNixon “enemies” and to disruptthe 1972 Democratic NationalConvention. Most were far-fetched— bizarre kidnappings,actsofsabotage,trapsusingpros-titutes, even an assassination—andwerenevercarriedout.But Mr. Liddy, a former FBI

agent,andE.HowardHunt,afor-mer CIA agent, engineered twobreak-ins at the DemocraticNational Committee offices in

the Watergate complex inWashington. OnMay 28, 1972,asMr. LiddyandMr.Huntstoodby, six Cuban expatriates andJames W. McCord Jr., a Nixoncampaignsecurityofficial,wentin, planted bugs, photographed

documentsandgotawaycleanly.Afewweekslater,onJune17,

four Cubans and Mr. McCord,wearingsurgicalglovesandcar-ryingwalkie-talkies,returnedtothe scene and were caught bythe police. Mr. Liddy and Mr.

Hunt, running the operationfrom aWatergate hotel room,fledbutwere soonarrestedandindicted on charges of burglary,wiretappingandconspiracy.In the context of 1972, with

Mr. Nixon’s triumphal visit toChina anda steam-rollingpres-idential campaign, theWatergatecase lookedinconse-quentialatfirst.Mr.Nixon’spresssecretary,RonZiegler,dismissedit asa “third-rateburglary.”But it deepened a White

House cover-up that hadbegunin1971,whenMr.LiddyandMr.Huntbroke intotheofficeof thepsychiatrist of Daniel Ellsberg,wholeakedthePentagonPapersto The New York Times, lookingfor damaging information onhim.Overthenexttwoyears,thecover-upunraveledunderpres-sure of investigations, trials,hearings andheadlines into the

worstpoliticalscandal—andthefirstresignationbyasittingpres-ident—in thenation’shistory.Unlike the otherWatergate

defendants,Mr.LiddyrefusedtotestifyabouthisactivitiesfortheWhiteHouse or the Committeeto Re-elect the President, anddrew the longest term amongthose who went to prison.President Jimmy Carter com-mutedhis termin1977.“I have lived as I believed I

oughttohavelived,”Mr.Liddy,asmall dappermanwith a bald-ishpateandabrushymustache,told reporters after his release.He said he had no regrets andwould do it again. “When theprince approaches his lieu-tenant, the proper response ofthe lieutenant to the prince is,‘Fiat voluntas tua,’” he said, us-ingtheLatinof theLord’sPrayerfor “Thywill bedone.” NYT

GGordonLiddywithhisCorvette in1997.AP file

G Gordon Liddy, mastermind behind Watergate burglary, dies

REUTERSYANGON,MARCH31

MYANMAR’S DEPOSED leaderAung San Suu Kyi appeared ingood health in a videomeetingon Wednesday, one of herlawyerssaid,astheUnitedStatesordered its non-essential em-bassystafftoleaveafterweeksofviolenceoveraFebruary1coup.ThedetainedNobel laureate,

who has been held in custodysince themilitary seizedpower,hadwanted tomeet lawyers inpersonanddidnotagreetoawidediscussion by video in the pres-ence of police, lawyerMinMinSoetoldReutersbytelephone.“Amay looks healthy, her

complexion is good,” MinMinSoe said, using an affectionatetermmeaning“mother”torefertoSuuKyi.Only the legal cases against

herfiledsincethecoupweredis-cussedduring thevideoconfer-ence, the lawyersaid.SuuKyi,75,wasarrestedthe

same day the military seizedpowerandfaceschargesthatin-clude illegally importing sixhandheld radios and breachingcoronavirusprotocols.Themilitaryhasalsoaccused

her of bribery in two recentnewsconferences.Her lawyers say the charges

weretrumpedupanddismissedtheaccusationofbriberyasajoke.The next hearing in her case

isonThursday.The military seized power

saying thatNovemberelectionswon by Suu Kyi’s party werefraudulent. The election com-missionsaid thevotewas fair.The reimpositionofmilitary

rule after a decade of tentativesteps towards democracyhas triggered unrelentingopposition.At least 521 civilians have

been killed in protests, 141 ofthemonSaturday, thebloodiestday of the unrest, according tothe Assistance Association forPolitical Prisoners (AAPP).Fighting has also flared be-

tween the army and ethnicmi-nority insurgents in frontier re-gions. Refugees fleeing the

turmoil are seeking safety inneighbouringcountries.Thousands of protesters

wereoutagainonWednesdayindifferentpartsof thecountry.TheMizzimanewsportalre-

portedagunbattlebetweense-curity forces and civilians nearthe northwestern town of Kale.TherewasnowordoncasualtiesandReuterscouldnotverify thereport.Police and a spokesman for

theMyanmar junta did not an-swercalls seekingcomment.TheUnitedStatesonTuesday

ordered the departure of non-emergencyU.S.governmentem-ployees and their familymem-bers due to concerns over civilunrest.

People takepart inamotorcycleparadeduringaprotestagainst themilitarycoupinLaunglon,Myanmar.Reuters

In Yangon, potsring out for CNNcrew escortedby Army

US orders staff, families out ofMyanmar as violence spiralsDetainedAungSanSuuKyi lookshealthy,saysher lawyer

REUTERSYANGON,MARCH31

PEOPLEINMyanmar’smaincity,Yangon, banged pots and pansonWednesday in a showof de-fiance against the ruling juntaduring a visit to Yangon by anews crew fromCNN travellinginaheavilyarmedconvoy.Opponents of the army’s

February 1 coup voiced con-cern that the journalistswouldnot be shown a full picture ofthe situation in Myanmar,where security forces havekilled more than 500 civiliansin attempts to suppress anti-junta protests.One Twitter user, identified

asSanSan,wrotethatpeoplebe-lieved the CNN correspondentswould be shown false evidenceby the junta and given the im-pression that the situationwasundercontrol.“We are banging pots and

pans simultaneously at 1PM toshowher peacefully thatwe allareagainstmilitarycoupandweareactuallynotOK!”theTwitteruserwrote.A junta spokesman did not

answer a call to requestcomment.

ASSOCIATEDPRESSWASHINGTON,MARCH31

PFIZER ANNOUNCEDWednesdaythatitsCovid-19vac-cine is safe and strongly protec-tive inkidsasyoungas12, a steptowardpossiblybeginningshotsinthisagegroupbeforetheyheadbacktoschool inthefall.Most Covid-19 vaccines be-

ingrolledoutworldwideare foradults, who are at higher riskfrom the coronavirus. Pfizer'svaccineisauthorisedforages16and older. But vaccinating chil-drenof all ageswillbecritical tostopping the pandemic -- andhelping schools, at least theup-per grades, start to look a littlemore normal after months ofdisruption.Inastudyof2,260USvolun-

teers ages 12 to 15, preliminarydatashowedtherewerenocasesof COVID-19 among fully vacci-nated adolescents compared to18 among those given dummyshots, Pfizer reported.Pfizer and its German part-

ner BioNTech in the comingweeks plan to ask the US Foodand Drug Administration andEuropean regulators to allowemergencyuseoftheshotsstart-ingatage12.“Wesharetheurgencytoex-

pand the use of our vaccine,”PfizerCEOAlbertBourlasaid.Heexpressed “the hope of startingto vaccinate this age group be-fore the start of the next schoolyear” in theUnitedStates.Resultsalsoareexpectedsoon

from a US study of Moderna'svaccinein12-to17-year-olds.

AworkerataBioNTechlabinMarburg,Germany.BioNTechexpectsMarburgplantcouldturnout1billiondosesofitsCovid-19vaccine,madeinassociationwithPfizer,inayear.AP/PTI

JIMTANKERSLEYWASHINGTON,MARCH31

USPRESIDENTJoeBidenwillun-veil an infrastructure plan onWednesday whose $2 trillionprice tag would translate into20,000milesofrebuiltroads,re-pairstothe10mosteconomicallyimportantbridgesinthecountry,theeliminationofleadpipesandservice lines from the nation’swater supplies and a long list ofotherprojectsintendedtocreatemillions of jobs in the short runand strengthenAmerican com-petitiveness inthe longrun.Bidenadministrationofficials

saidtheproposal,whichtheyde-tailedina25-pagebriefingpaperandwhichMr.Bidenwilldiscussin an afternoon speech inPittsburgh,wouldalsoacceleratethe fight against climate changeby hastening the shift to new,cleaner energy sources, andwouldhelppromoteracialequityintheeconomy.The spending in the plan

would take place over eightyears, officials said.The proposal is the first half

ofwhatwillbeatwo-stepreleaseof the president’s ambitiousagendatooverhaultheeconomyand remake American capital-ism, which could carry a totalcostofasmuchas$4trillionoverthe course of a decade. Mr.Biden’s administration hasnamed it the “American JobsPlan,” echoing the $1.9 trillionpandemic relief bill that Mr.Bidensignedintolawthismonth,

the“AmericanRescuePlan.”“The American Jobs Plan,”

White House officials wrote inthe document detailing it, “willinvest in America in a way wehavenot investedsincewebuilttheinterstatehighwaysandwontheSpaceRace.”Officialssaidthetaxincreases

in the plan — including an in-crease in the corporate tax rateand a variety ofmeasures to taxmultinationals onmoney theyearnandbookoverseas—wouldtake 15 years to fully offset thecostof thespendingprograms.Mr. Biden’s pledge to tackle

climate change is embeddedthroughout the plan. Roads,bridges and airports would bemademore resilient to the ef-fects of more extreme storms,floods and fires wrought by awarmingplanet. NYT

WHILESPENDINGonroads,bridgesandotherphysical improvementsto thenation’seconomicfoundationshasalwayshadbipartisanappeal,Mr.Biden’splan is sure todrawintenseRepublicanopposition,both for itssheer sizeand for its re-lianceoncorporate taxincreases topay for it.

LikelytobeopposedbyRepublicansE●E

XPLAIN

ED

Biden details $2tnplan to rebuild infra,reshape economy

WILLIAMJAMESLONDON,MARCH31

BRITAINWILL onWednesdaypush G7 allies to get tough onChina over “pernicious prac-tices”thatunderminetheinter-national trading system, callingfor anoverhaul of outdated andineffective World TradeOrganizationrules.Trademinister Liz Trusswill

hostherG7counterpartsandthenew head of the WTO, usingBritain’s platform as currentpresident of the group of richcountriestopromotepost-BrexitBritainasaleadingfreetradead-vocate.“This is the time to get tough

onChina and their behaviour intheglobaltradingsystem,butalsomodernise theWTO. Inmanyways it’s stuck in the1990s,” shetoldtheFinancialTimes.Since leaving the European

Unionandpinningitseconomicfutureonglobaltrade,Britainhasstepped up criticism of China’stradepractices.“Peoplecannotbelieveinfree

tradeif it isnotfair,”Trusssaidinastatementbeforethemeeting.“Public trust has been cor-

roded by pernicious practices,fromtheuseofforcedlabourtoen-vironmentaldegradationandthestealingof intellectualproperty.”China,aWTOmembersince

2001, denies that it steals intel-lectual property, unfairly hurts

the environment or improperlytrades goodsmadewith forcedlabour.Wider relations between

London andBeijing have souredinrecentmonths,withtit-for-tatsanctions over China’s humanrightsrecordandabitterrowover

reformstothegovernanceoffor-merBritishcolonyHongKong.Britain and other WTO

membersarguethatChinaben-efitsfromexceptionstotheruleswhichweremade decades agoandnolongerreflectitsstatusasaneconomicsuperpower.“TheWTOwas established

whenChinawas 10% the size oftheU.S.economy,”TrusstoldtheFT. “It is ludicrous that it is stillself-designatingasadevelopingcountry—and those rulesneedtochange.”Echoing the fear of many

Western nations that theywilllose their grip on control of thepost WorldWar Two interna-tional order to China, Truss saidthat unless WTO can be re-

formed,countrieswillfindotherframeworks to tradewithin.A strategic review of British

foreign policy this month fo-cused on the need to gainmoreinfluence in the Indo-Pacific tobalance against China, describ-ing its authoritarian leadershipand economic might as thebiggest state-based threat toBritain’s economicsecurity.Theministerswill be joined

on the call by recently-electedWTOchiefNgoziOkonjo-Iweala,who inherited an organisationthathasstruggledtoenforceandmodernise its rulebook.China has expressed confi-

denceinherleadershipandsaysitwants reformsandamoreeffec-tivetradingsystem. REUTERS

UKTradeMinisterLizTruss

Time to get tough with China on global trade: UK to G7

PARESHDAVESANFRANCISCO,MARCH31

ALPHABET INC’S Google hasreached licensing deals withover 600 news outlets aroundtheworld and is seeing a “hugeincrease” in users requestingmorecontentfromspecificpub-lications as part of a new pro-gram, it saidonWednesday.The update comes as big in-

ternet service providers includ-ing Facebook Inc have beenlockedinbitterdisputesoverfaircompensation topublishers.Googleiscontinuingtonego-

tiatewith additional publishersto spend $1 billion for what it

callsNewsShowcase.Theprogramthrough2023is

Google’sbiggestefforttoinvestinan industry that blames tech gi-antsforsiphoningitsadvertisingrevenue. Combined, FacebookandGoogle control over half ofthedigitaladvertisingmarket.Google is exercising little

oversightoverpublishers’useofthemoney.“The intention of our pay-

ment is tohelpmakeiteasier forpublishers to be able to partici-pate in the program,” BradBender,avicepresidentatGoogleoverseeingNewsShowcase, toldReuters. “But ultimately it’s inserviceofcreatingthismoresus-tainablefuturefornews.”

Not up to us to dictatehow news corps spendtheir $1 bn, says Google

ASSOCIATEDPRESSWASHINGTON,MARCH31

THEPENTAGONonWednesdaywillsweepawayTrump-erapoli-cies that largely banned trans-gender people from serving inthemilitary, issuing new rulesthat offer themwider access tomedicalcareandassistancewithgender transition, defense offi-cials toldTheAssociatedPress.Thenewdepartmentregula-

tions allow transgender peoplewhomeetmilitary standards toenlist and serve openly in theirself-identified gender, and theywillbeabletogetmedicallynec-essarytransition-relatedcareau-thorisedbylaw,saidtheofficials,who spoke on condition ofanonymitytodiscussinternalde-

cisionsnotyetmadepublic.The changes come after a

two-month Pentagon reviewaimed at developing guidelinesforthenewpolicy,whichwasan-nounced by President Joe Bidenjust days after he took office inJanuary.Biden'sexecutiveorderover-

turnedtheTrumppolicyandim-mediatelyprohibitedanyservicemember frombeing forced outof the military on the basis ofgender identity.Defense Secretary Lloyd

Austin then gave the Pentagontwomonthsto finalise themoredetailedregulationsthatthemil-itaryserviceswill follow.As of 2019, an estimated

14,700 troopsonactivedutyandin the reserves identify as trans-gender,butnotallseektreatment.

ASSOCIATEDPRESSDONNA,MARCH31

THE BIDEN administration forthe first time Tuesday allowedjournalistsinsideitsmainborderdetention facility for migrantchildren, revealing a severelyovercrowded tent structurewheremore than 4,000 people,including children and families,were crammed into a space in-tendedfor250andtheyoungestwerekeptinalargeplaypenwithmatsonthefloor forsleeping.Morethan4,100peoplewere

being housed on the propertyTuesday. Most were unaccom-panied children processed intentsbeforebeingtakentofacil-ities run by the Department ofHealthandHumanServicesand

thenplacedwithafamilymem-ber, relativeor sponsor.The children were being

housed in eight “pods”, eachabout 3,200 square feet in size.Manyofthepodshadmorethan500children in them.

Bidenhasbeensharplycriti-cizedbyRepublicans seeking todefend Trump’s immigrationrecord,whichincludesthesepa-ration of thousands of immi-grant familiesundera “zero tol-erance”policy.

Youngmigrants inapodataTexasdetentioncentre.Reuters

4,100 migrants, many children,crowded into facility in Texas

PROTESTING LACK OF MEDICAL TREATMENT

NAVALNYANNOUNCESPRISONHUNGERSTRIKE

JAILED RUSSIAN opposition leader Alexei Navalny has said that he has started aprison hunger strike to protest officials’ failure to provide proper treatment for his backand leg pains. He also protested the hourly checks a guard makes on him at night, sayingthey amount to sleep deprivation torture.

Reversing Trump, Pentagonto release transgender policy

No evidence to restrict useof AstraZeneca vaccine: EU

Pfizer says its Covid vaccineprotects kids as young as 12

ASSOCIATEDPRESSBERLIN,MARCH31

THE HEAD of the EuropeanMedicines Agency saidWednesdaythat there is “noev-idence” thatwould support re-stricting use of AstraZeneca'scoronavirusvaccineinanypopu-lation,asGermanyhasnowdoneamid concerns over rare bloodclots inpeoplewhogot theshot.But EMA Executive Director

Emer Cooke said herAmsterdam-based agency con-tinues to study reports of newcases as they come in andwillprovide a further assessmentnextweek.OnTuesday, an independent

vaccineexpertpanelinGermanysaid AstraZeneca shots shouldnot routinely be given topeopleunder 60because of a rise in re-ported cases of unusual bloodclotsinthedaysaftervaccination.Themove put the spotlight

backontheEuropeanMedicinesAgency, which authorised theAstraZeneca vaccine in Januaryand said earlier thismonth - af-ter some European countriessuspendeditsuseoverbloodclotfears-thatthevaccine'sbenefitsoutweigh the risks.“Accordingtothecurrentsci-

entificknowledge,thereisnoev-idence that would support re-stricting the use of this vaccinein any population,” Cooke toldreporters.

Ahmedabad

15SENSEX: 49,509.15 ▼ 627.43 (-1.25%) NIFTY: 14,690.70 ▼ 154.40 (-1.04%) NIKKEI: 29,178.80 ▼ 253.90 HANG SENG: 28,378.35 ▼ 199.15 FTSE: 6,760.72 ▼ 11.40 DAX: 14,999.46 ▼ 9.15


ECONOMY


Internationalmarketdata till1900IST

GOLD

`43,925

RUPEE

`73.12

OIL

$63.78

SILVER

`62,441Note:Gold,silverratesatDelhispotmarket;goldper10g,silverper1kg;Crudeoil (Indianbasket)asonMar30,2021

Rajasthan State Road Development And Construction Corporation Ltd., JAIPURNo. NIT/2020-21/25353-62 Date: 30.03.2021

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Bhawan, Navi Mumbai Phase-II. UBN No. RRC2021WSOB00630

122.00

Lakh

PRABHARAGHAVAN&KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI,MARCH31

THEUNIONCabinetonWednes-day approved aRs 10,900-croreproduction-linkedincentive(PLI)scheme to create “global foodmanufacturing champions” byboosting Indian brands of foodproductsininternationalmarkets.Thescheme,whichcoversready-to-cookandeat foods,processedfruits and vegetables, marineproductsandmozzarella cheese,targets Rs 33,494 croreworth ofprocessed foodoutput andwithemployment to nearly 2.5 lakhpersonsby2026-27.“Innovative”andorganicpro-

ductsofsmallandmediumenter-prises (SMEs), including free-rangeeggs,poultrymeatandeggproductswill also be eligible forthescheme.Thedecisionisa“fit-ting tribute” to farmerswhohel-pedgrowagricultural output by3-3.5percentinFY21despitethepandemic,MinisterforConsumerAffairs, Food andPublicDistrib-utionPiyushGoyaltoldreportersaftertheCabinetmeeting.Accordingtohim,thescheme

willhelpraisetheprocessedfoodsector’s share in India’s total ex-portsbasket.Thegovernmentex-pects applications frombothdo-mesticandforeignplayers.“Today,

India has agri-based exports ofaboutRs3lakhcroreandthegov-ernmenthasdecided it needs tobeincreasedtoRs6lakhcrore.“Today’s decision should di-

rectly increase the exports byRs30,000-35,000crorebut,person-ally,Ibelievesuch(a)schemekick-starts aprocesswhich flowsandaccelerates,andthatIndiacanex-portRs1 lakhcroreof processedfoodsalone,”Goyaladded.Likewith the other PLI sche-

mes,theincentivesforcompaniesmanufacturingtheeligibleprod-uctswillbesubjecttoastipulatedminimum investment in plantandmachinery aswell as incre-mentalsalesof theproducts.Theincentiveswillbepaidforsixyearsendingin2026-27.

“Thesubsidywillbegivenonincremental sales.Wewill issueanEoIbyendofApril,whereindu-stries can respond,” said FoodProcessing Industries SecretaryPushpaSubrahmanyam.“There-quirementfortheindustryisthattheymustcommittoaminimumincreaseinsalesandcommittoaminimum level investment ineach segment. If they achieveboth, then, for the incrementalsales,apercentageofthatamountwillbegiven,”sheadded.However, this particular PLI

schemehasasecondcomponentrelating to support for brandingandmarketing to “incentiviseemergence of strong Indianbrands”abroad.Towardsthisend,it envisages a grant to applicantentitiesforin-storebranding,shelfspace renting and marketingabroad, according to a releasebytheCabinetonthedecision.ThisPLIis“fund-limited”—the

costwill be restricted to the ap-provedamount. “Themaximumincentivepayabletoeachbenefi-ciary shall be fixed in advance atthetimeofapprovalofthatbene-ficiary,”statedtherelease.Theschemewillbemonitored

bytheEmpoweredGroupofSecr-etarieschairedbytheCabinetSec-retary,whiletheFoodProcessingIndustriesMinistrywould ap-prove applicants for the schemeaswellassanctionandreleaseof

incentives. Itwillberolledoutonan all-India basis and impleme-nted via a projectmanagementagency responsible for appraisalofapplicationsandproposals,ver-ificationof eligibility for support,andscrutinyof incentiveclaims.TheMinistry is expected to

prepare an “AnnualActionPlan”coveringvariousactivitiesforim-plementation of the scheme. Athird party evaluation andmid-term reviewmechanismwouldbebuilt intheprogramme.Goyal noted that when the

new farm lawswerepassed, thekeyissueintheCentre’smindwasto raise farmer incomesandcre-ate more paths for farmers toboost their incomes.He said thegovernmentwas continuouslyconsidering how it could givefarmersnewoptionsto“raise in-comes,increaseemploymentop-portunities, increase investmentin that agriculture sector and toprocessagriculturalproductsandboostdemandforsuchproducts”without impacting currentsourcesof incomeforfarmers.The government should en-

sure that the scheme is tailor-made tobenefit themicro, smallandmediumenterprises acrossthecountry,saidPiruzKhambatta,CMDforRasna.Unlikethemobilephone sector, which only has afew players, food processing isspreadacrossIndia,headded.

TOCREATE ‘GLOBALFOODMANUFACTURINGCHAMPIONS’

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,MARCH31

THEGOVERNMENTonWednes-day asked the Reserve Bank tomaintain retail inflation at 4 percentwith amargin of 2per centoneithersideforanotherfive-yearperiodendingMarch2026.To control the price rise, the

Centrein2016gaveamandatetotheRBItokeeptheretailinflationat4percentwithamarginof2percentoneither side fora five-yearperiod endingMarch 31, 2021.“TheinflationtargetfortheperiodApril1,2021toMarch31,2026un-dertheReserveBankof IndiaAct1934has been kept at the samelevelaswasforprevious5years,”

saidTarunBajaj,Secretary,Depart-mentofEconomicAffairs(DEA).As a result of inflation target-

tingmandate, the RBI has beenabletokeepconsumerpriceindexaveraging 3.9 per cent duringOctober2016-March2020.Thesix-memberMPC,which

had its firstmeeting inOctober2016,was given themandate tomaintainannualinflationat4percentuntilMarch31,2021.TheRBIlastmonthsaidtheex-

istingregimeiseffectiveandrec-ommended that thebandbe re-tained.Itsuggestedsomeaspectsoftheframeworkbereviewed,in-cluding the timehorizon for thebank tomeet the target and theprocessofadmittingmemberstotheMonetaryPolicyCommittee.

Inflation target retained at 4% withmargin of +/-2% till March 2026

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MARCH31

THERESERVEBankof India(RBI)has decided to extend the time-line for banks andother institu-tionstomigratetotheframeworkfor processingof e-mandates onrecurring online transactions bysixmonthstoSeptember30.Theearlierdeadlinetomigrate

totheAdditionalFactorofAuthen-tication(AFA)endedonMarch31.“Any further delay in ensuringcompleteadherencetotheframe-workbeyondtheextendedtime-linewillattractstringentsupervi-sory action,” the RBI said. It haswarned that non-compliance isnotedwith serious concern andwillbedealtwithseparately.InAugust2019,theRBIhadis-

suedaframeworkforprocessingofe-mandatesonrecurringonlinetransactions.Initiallyapplicabletocardsandwallets,theframeworkwasextendedin January2020tocoverUnifiedPaymentsInterface(UPI) transactions aswell. Basedon a request from IndianBanks’Association(IBA)foranextensionof time to enable the banks tocomplete themigration, theRBIhad advised the stakeholders inDecember2020tomigratetotheframework byMarch 31, 2021.Thus,adequatetimewasgiventothe stakeholders to complywiththeframework,theRBIsaid.The central bank said the

frameworkhasnotbeenfullyim-plemented even after the ex-tendedtimeline.“Thisnon-complianceisnoted

with seriousconcernandwill bedealtwithseparately.Thedelayinimplementationby some stake-holders has given rise to a situa-tion of possible large-scale cus-tomer inconvenience anddefault,” itsaid.


THEFOUR labour codeswill notcome into effect fromApril 1 asthestatesareyettofinalisetherel-evantrules.Thismeansthattherewill be no change in the takehomepayofemployeesandprov-ident fund liability of companiesasofnow.Once thewages code comes

intoforce,therewillbesignificantchangesinthewaybasicpayandprovident fundof employeesarecalculated.

With states yetto finalise rules,govt defersimplementationof labour codes


THEGOVERNMENThasmoppedup Rs 32,835 crore from CPSEsharesaleandbuybacks,thusex-ceedingthedisinvestmenttargetset in the revised estimates (RE)for current fiscal. The realisationis,however,lowerthantherecordRs2.10 lakhcroreoriginallybud-geted. In the RE, the targetwasscaleddowntoRs32,000croreasCOVID-19 pandemic delayedplannedbigticketdisinvestments.In a tweet, Department of

Investment and Public AssetManagement Secretary TuhinKanta Pandey said the total DI-PAMreceiptsin2020-21standatRs71,857crore,whichincludedis-investment receipts of Rs32,835croreanddividend receiptsof Rs39,022crore.

Govt mops up`32,835 crorefrom CPSEdisinvestment

BRIEFLY

MPCscheduleNewDelhi:ThefirstmeetingoftheMonetaryPolicyCom-mittee (MPC)will be heldfromApril5to7,theRBIsaid.

HSNcodeNewDelhi:Businesseswithturnover of over Rs 5 crorewillhavetoshowtheHSNortariffcodeoninvoicesissuedforsuppliesoftaxablegoodsandservicesfromApril1.

VedantaplantNew Delhi: Vedanta Ltdplanstosetupacoastalcop-persmelterplantinIndiaforRs 10,000 crore. It comesthreeyears after itsplant inTamilNaduwasshut.PTI

VWnameprankWashington:Volkswagen’ssaidaplantorenameitsUSunit‘VoltswagenofAmerica’wasaprank.REUTERS

NewDelhi: The Centrewillborrow Rs 7.24 lakh crorefrom themarket in the firsthalf of FY22, or just over 60percentofthebudgetedfull-yeartarget,EconomicAffairsSecretaryTarunBajajsaidonWednesday.He exuded confidence

thattheRBIwill takeappro-priate measures to keepyields at reasonable levels,amid concerns of suppliesoutstrippingdemand. FE

Borrowing forH1FY22 peggedat `7.24 lakh cr

GEORGEMATHEWMUMBAI,MARCH31

ITWASayear of recovery forthestockmarkets.Thebench-mark index— the Sensex—jumpedby68percent in thefiscalyear2020-21whichwasrocked by the Covid-19 pan-demic and the consequentcontractionintheeconomy.Therecoverywasaidedby

surplus liquidityprovidedbythe Reserve Bank of India(RBI)andrecordinvestmentsby foreignportfolio investors(FPIs).ThebenchmarkSensexballooned by 20,041 pointsfrom29,468.49onMarch31,2020 to49,509.15during thefiscal.OnWednesday,however,

the Sensex—which crossedthe 50,000 level earlier thisfiscal—fell627pointstocloseFY21 at 49,509.15, and theNSE Nifty Index lost 154pointsto14,690.70inthesell-ing spree. FPIs invested arecordamountofRs2,74,503crore in 2020-21, the biggestFPI flow in a fiscal year eversince the markets werethrown open to foreign in-vestmentin1993.ThepreviousrecordFPIin-

flowwasRs1,40,033crore in2012-13.Analysts andbrokers said

themeasures announced bythe government and the RBIto put the economyback ontherailsaidedthebullsonthestockmarket.Themarketrallywas sustained even after theGDP contracted by 23.9 percent intheJunequarter.“AsFY21,whichwasapai-

nfuldisasterforhumanitybut,paradoxically, beneficial forglobal stockmarkets -comesto a close, there is hope andoptimism in the air. EventhoughCovidcasesarerisinginmany areas, it is clear thatin the race between the vac-cine and the pandemic, thevaccinewouldwin,” saidVKVijayakumar, chief invest-ment strategist at GeojitFinancialServices.Economies are expected

toreboundsmartlyinFY22inthewakeofvaccinationdriveandmegainfrastructureplanbytheUS.Whilemanysectors

haveshowedarecoveryfromthelowsofAprilandMay,theRBI has already projected a10.5 per cent growth inGDPin2021-22.“Butmarketshavealready discounted this andvaluationsarehigh.Butthisisunlikely to deter the bulls intheshortrun,”saidananalyst.With the economy on a

firm footing and corporateperformance expected to re-main strong, themarkets areexpectedtoremainstableun-less new risks emerge in thecoming months, said BSEdealerPawanDharnidharka.Investorswould now fo-

cusonupcomingquarterlyre-sultswhichwould kick startfrommid-April and the RBImonetary policy schedulednextweek.Domestically,con-cerns over the fast spreadingsecondwaveofCovidinIndiacontinue to remain and thefear of possible lockdown inseveralstatesprevail.“Overallmarketsarelikely

to remain in a consolidativemodeforsometimeawaitingfreshpositive triggers.Henceinvestors would dowell bygraduallyaccumulatinggoodqualitycompaniesonanyde-clines in the market, saidSiddharthaKhemka, head ofretail research,MotilalOswalFinancialServices.Buyers,especiallymutual

funds,whodidn’tmisstheop-portunity to accumulatestocks at low levels in AprilandMayhavemadewindfallgainsduringthefiscal.

MARKETWATCH

FINANCIALYEAR 2021

INTHEnearterm,investorsareexpectedtofocusonup-comingquarterlyresultsinmid-AprilandtheRBImone-tarypolicyschedulednextweek.Domestically,con-cernsoverthefastspreadingsecondwaveofCovidinIndiaandpossiblelockdowninseveralstatesprevail.

Focusnowonquarterlyearnings

Sensex rallies68% on liquidity,record FPI flowFPIs invest`2,74,503croreinFY21;biggest inflowinayearsince1993


THEPRODUCTIONinthenation’seight infrastructure sectors con-tractedby4.6percentinFebruary,with all the core segments— in-cludingcoal,crudeoil,naturalgas,refineryproductsandfertilisers—witnessingadecline,accordingtoofficialdatareleasedWednesday.Thegrowthrateoftheeightinfra-structuresectors—coal,crudeoil,naturalgas,refineryproducts,fer-tilisers,steel,cementandelectric-ity—hadbeenrecordedat6.4percentinFebruary2020.Accordingtodatareleasedby

the Commerce and IndustryMinistry, coal, crude oil, naturalgas, refineryproducts, fertilisers,steel, cementandelectricitypro-ductionrecordednegativegrowthof4.4percent,3.2percent,1percent,10.9percent,3.7percent,1.8percent,5.5percent,and0.2percent,respectivelyinFebruary,re-

spectively.Thedata furthershowedthat

duringtheApril-Februaryperiodoffiscal2020-21,thegrowthintheeight sectorshaddeclinedby8.3percentascomparedto(+)1.3percent inthecorrespondingperiodof 2019-20. Last time in August2020, the eight sectors hadrecordedanegativegrowthof6.9per cent. In January this year, thesegmentshaveregisteredaposi-tivegrowthof0.9percent.

Core sector outputcontracts 4.6% in Feb

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,MARCH31

THECURRENT account balancerecorded a deficit of $1.7 billion(0.2 per cent of gross domesticproduct) in the third quarter of2020-21 after a surplus of $15.1billion(2.4percentofGDP)inthesecond quarter of 2020-21 and$19.0billion(3.7percentofGDP)inthefirstquarterof2020-21.As per data released by the

ReserveBankofIndia(RBI),acur-rentaccountdeficitof$2.6billion(0.4percentofGDP)wasrecordedayearago—Q3of FY20.Underl-yingthecurrentaccountdeficitinQ3wasarise inthemerchandisetradedeficit to$34.5billion from$14.8 billion in the precedingquarter,andanincreaseinnetin-vestmentincomepayments.The RBI said net services re-

ceiptsincreased,bothsequentiallyandonayear-on-yearbasis.

“Private transfer receipts,mainlyrepresentingremittancesbyIndiansemployedoverseas,de-clinedmarginallyonay-o-ybasisbut improvedsequentiallyby1.5per cent to $20.7 billion inQ3of2020-21,”thecentralbanksaid.

■Addressingreportersafter theCabinetmeeting,Minister forConsumerAffairs,FoodandPublicDistributionPiyushGoyal said thisPLIschemewillhelpraisetheprocessed foodsector’s share in India’stotalexportsbasket

TORAISE SECTOR’SSHARE IN EXPORTS

Cabinetclears`10,900-crPLIschemefor foodprocessing

MAJORFACTORSTHAT

CAUSEDSLOWDOWN:

■Declineinprivateconsumptiongrowth■Shockstofinancialsector,ledbycollapseofalargeNBFC■Pre-existingweaknessesininvestment

FACTORSONWHICHFY22

REALGROSSDOMESTIC

PRODUCT(GDP)GROWTH

OF7.5-12%DEPEND:

■Ongoingvaccinationcampaign■Necessityofnewrestrictionsto

mobility■Howquicklyworldeconomyrecovers

>10%Expectedgeneralgovernment

deficitaspercentageofGDPuntilFY22,amidlong-lastinginflexioninIndia’sfiscaltrajectoryduetoCovidshock

~90%Expectedpeakofpublicdebtin

FY21intermsofpercentageofGDP,beforedeclininggraduallythereafter

Why is it important: In its latest South Asia Economic Focusreport, theWorld Bank noted that India’s economywas alreadyslowingwhen the pandemic unfolded Source:World Bank /PTI

‘Indian economy bouncedback, but not out of woods’

7.5-12%India’srealGDPgrowthpredicted

forFY22

India’s economy bounced back amazingly from thepandemic and lockdown over the last year, but it is not outof the woods yet, theWorld Bank said


THEGOVERNMENTonWednes-day said itwill infuse Rs 14,500croreofequityinCentralBankofIndia, Indian Overseas Bank,Bank of India andUCOBank byissuing non-interest bearing,non-transferablebonds to thesestate-owned lenders. Equity in-jection is expected tohelp threeof these banks come out of theReserve Bank of India’s (RBI)Prompt Corrective Action (PCA)framework. Indian OverseasBank, Central Bank of India andUCO Bank are currently underthe PCA framework that putsseveral restrictions on them, in-cludingonlending,managementcompensationanddirectors’fees.Of the total capital infusion,

Rs11,500crorehasgonetothesethreebankswhiletheremainingRs 3,000 crore has been infusedintoBankof India.Accordingtoagovernment notification, Rs4,800crorehasbeenprovidedtoCentral Bank of India, Rs 4,100croretoIndianOverseasBank,Rs2,600croretoUCOBankThe fund infusion has been

donethroughnon-interestbear-ingbondsissuedatparwithma-turityvaryingbetweenMarch31,2031andMarch31,2036.Forthecurrent financial year, the gov-ernmenthadallocatedRs20,000croreforcapitalinfusionintothe

public sector banks formeetingregulatoryrequirements.The government has earlier

usedsimilarsecuritiestorecapi-talise Punjab& Sind Bank by is-suing the lender Rs 5,500-croreworth of non-interest bearingbonds valued at par. These are avariation of zero coupon bondsissued byprivate sector compa-nies. Unlike the previoustranches of recapitalisationbondswhichcarriedinterestandwere sold to different banks,these“non-interestbearing,non-transferable special GOI securi-ties” are issued to specifiedbanks.Zerocouponbondsbyprivate

companies are normally issuedatdiscount, but since these spe-cialbondsarenottradablethesecanbe issued at par. Since thesebonds are not tradable, thelenders can keep them in theHTM (held tomaturity) bucket,notrequiringittobookanymark-to-market gains or losses fromthesebonds.

Govt set to infuse`14,500 cr capital in4 state-run banks

CentralBankof India,

IndianOverseasBank,

Bankof Indiaand

UCOBankwillbe

fundedbyissuing

non-interestbearing,

non-transferablebonds

AADHAAR-PANThegovernmentextendedthedeadlinefor linkingPANwithbiometricAadhaarbythreemonthsto June30.

FTPEXTENSIONTheexistingforeigntradepolicy (FTP)hasbeenextendedbysixmoremonthsuptoSeptember30.

ECLGSTILL JUNETheRs3-lakh-croreEmergencyCreditLineGuaranteeScheme(ECLGS)hasbeenextendedbyanotherthreemonthstill June30andalsowideneditsscopetonewsectors. PTI

NEWDEADLINES

Auto recurring debit:E-mandate deadlineextended by 6 months

NewDelhi:TheCentre’sfiscaldeficitattheendofFebruaryworkedouttobe76percentof therevisedestimate(RE),indicating it is likely to bewithintheprojectionsmadebyFinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharamanlastmonth.Theministerhadrevised

FY21fiscaldeficitprojectionstoRs18.48 lakh croreor 9.5percentof theGDP. PTI

Fiscal deficit at76% of RE inApr-Feb: CGA

INFEB2020,EXPANDEDBY

■ Thegrowthrateoftheeightinfrastructuresectors—namely,coal,crudeoil,naturalgas,refineryproducts,fertilisers,steel,cementandelectricity—hadbeenrecordedat6.4%inFebruary2020

6.4%

India records currentaccount deficit of 0.2%

60,000

50,000

40,000

30,000

20,000

10,000

0April 2020 March31,2021

49,509.15

28,265.31

SENSEX IN FY21

THIRDQUARTEROFFY21

Ahmedabad

Ahmedabad

Vol. LIV No. 50 RNI No. 15048/1968. Printed and Published by Hareshkumar K Bhagdev on behalf of The Indian Express Private Limited. Published at : 3rd Floor, Sambhav House, Bodakdev, Ahmedabad 380 015. Phone (Board) : 26872481- 82- 83, Fax No. 26873950. Printed at : Bhaskar Print Planet, Survey No. 148P, Changodar-Bavla Highway, Tal. Sanand, Dist. Ahmedabad. Chairman of the Board : Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor : Raj Kamal Jha, Editor : Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor : (Gujarat) Leena Misra *

(*Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act) Copyright : The Indian Express Private Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner, electronic or otherwise, in whole or in part, without prior written permission is prohibited. The Indian Express®

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