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DELHI THE HINDU

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The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an Andhra Pradesh High Court order intending to embark on ajudicial inquiry into whetherthere is a constitutionalbreakdown in the State machinery under the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, requiring a declaration ofPresident’s rule.

“Has anybody seen an order like this before... As theapex court, we fi��nd this disturbing. We are staying thisorder... We will take up thiscase immediately after thevacations,” Chief Justice ofIndia Sharad A. Bobde,heading a threejudgeBench, observed.

Solicitor General TusharMehta asked why the HighCourt “should go intowhether there is a constitutional breakdown in theState”. The government, represented by advocate Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki, said it wasnot up to the High Court toenquire and recommendPresident’s rule in a State.

“It is Article 356 that deals

with failure of constitutionalmachinery in a State... Thispower [to impose President’s rule] exclusively vestsin the Executive. The powerin this regard, like sending areport either to the Hon’blePresident or to the Hon’bleGovernor or to record a fi��nding in that regard, cannot beexercised by the judiciary,”

the petition fi��led by the government said.

The “unprecedented” order of the High Court, on October 1, came while decidinghabeas corpus petitions fi��ledby relatives of persons remanded in judicial custodyor out on bail.

SC fi��nds HC order onA.P. govt. ‘disturbing’Attempt to look into ‘constitutional breakdown’ stayed

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

CONTINUED ON A PAGE 8

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Friday made astrong pitch to farmers, advocating the benefi��ts of theagricultural reforms initiatedby his government and criticised the Opposition partiesfor “shooting from the shoulders of farmers” in fi��rstpushing the reforms in theirpoll manifestos and now opposing them for the sake ofopposition.

He was addressing farm

ers at a function organisedby the Madhya Pradesh government to release compensation to those who hadincurred losses due to hailstorms.

Signifi��cantly, Mr. Modi

said his government wasmore than ready to continuethe dialogue with farmergroups on any doubts theymay have about the laws.

PM makes a strong pitch to farmersReady to continuedialogue, MSP willnot stop, he says

Gearing up: Farmers protesting against the farm laws at theTikri border in Delhi on Friday. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Nistula Hebbar

NEW DELHI


The Allahabad High Courton Friday provided relieffrom arrest to a Muslim labourer, Nadeem, who wasbooked in Muzaff��arnagar,along with his brother, forallegedly using coercion andallurement to convert thewife of a Hindu contractorafter developing an illicit relationship with her.

The court stayed the arrest of Mr. Nadeem, who wasbooked under the new Uttar

Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020. Nocoercive action be takenagainst the petitioner till thenext date of hearing on January 7, the court said. “Present is a case where all theallegations are prima faciebased on suspicion. Matterrequires consideration,” observed a Division Bench ofJustices Pankaj Naqvi and Vivek Agarwal.

HC relief for man bookedunder U.P. conversion lawCourt stays arrest of labourer, brother

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

EQUAL RIGHT TO PRACTISE

RELIGION A PAGE 10

Protesting farmer groupsaccused Prime MinisterNarendra Modi of“attacking” them in hisspeech on Friday, addingthat his claims onminimum support prices(MSP) were nothing but“lies”. With regard to theongoing case in theSupreme Court, the farmleaders have not yet madeany fi��rm decision onwhether to impleadthemselves as proposed bythe top court. A page 9

Nothing butlies: farmers

India and China on Fridayagreed to hold another roundof talks between senior military commanders to take forward the slowmoving process of disengagement on theLine of Actual Control (LAC).

This was agreed to at the20th meeting of the WorkingMechanism for Consultationand Coordination on India

China Border Aff��airs, held viavideo link. The WMCC, ordinarily convened twice a yearsince its launch in 2012, hasmet six times since June thisyear, after the unprecedented crisis in Ladakh erupted inearly May.

At Friday’s talks, led by Naveen Srivastava, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Ministry of External Aff��airs (MEA),and Hong Liang, DirectorGeneral of the Department ofBoundary and Oceanic Affairs of China’s Foreign Ministry, both sides “reviewed the

developments along theLAC”, the MEA said in a statement. The statement saidboth sides had “agreed thatbased on the guidance provided by senior leaders andthe agreements reached between the two Foreign Ministers and Special Representatives, they would continue towork towards ensuring complete disengagement in allfriction points along the LACin the Western Sector at theearliest”.

Disengagementprocess set tocontinueAnanth Krishnan

India, China agree to holdanother round of LAC talks


CMYK

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saturday, december 19, 2020 Delhi

City Edition

18 pages O ₹��10.00

Printed at . Chennai . Coimbatore . Bengaluru . Hyderabad . Madurai . Noida . Visakhapatnam . Thiruvananthapuram . Kochi . Vijayawada . Mangaluru . Tiruchirapalli . Kolkata . Hubballi . Mohali . Malappuram . Mumbai . Tirupati . lucknow . cuttack . patna

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Assembly seeks CBI probeinto ‘scam’ in civic bodiesNEW DELHI

The Delhi Assembly on Friday

passed a resolution

demanding a CBI inquiry into

an alleged ₹��2,500crore

scam in the BJPruled

municipal corporations.

Addressing a special session,

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

said the scam was bigger than

the Commonwealth Games

scam. He said the amount

could have been used to pay

the salaries of employees and

build infrastructure.

CITY A PAGE 3

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday fi��led achargesheet against the fourpersons accused of the gangrape and murder of a 19yearold Dalit woman in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras in September.

The victim was allegedlyraped and assaulted by Sandeep, Luvkush, Ravi and Ramu on September 14 in Hath

ras, the agency said. She wasadmitted to a hospital in Aligarh, from where she wasshifted to Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. She died on September 29.

The CBI has invoked Sections 302 (punishment formurder), 376 (punishmentfor rape), 376A (punishmentfor infl��icting injury whilecommitting rape, resulting inthe death of the woman) and376D (gangrape) of the IPC,besides the relevant provisions of the SC/ST Act.

The four accused are currently in judicial custody.

On October 1, U.P.’s Additional DGP (Law & Order)Prashant Kumar said the forensic report from the government laboratory in Agraconfi��rmed that the victimwas not raped. He also citedthe autopsy report to corroborate his point. “The lab report clearly says that nosperm was found in the sample,” he said. However, he added that the victim fi��rst mentioned about rape on

September 22 and that thesamples were sent to the laboratory on September 25.

Stating that the truth hadprevailed once again, AllIndia Congress Committee general secretary PriyankaGandhi Vadra said the fi��lingof a chargesheet raised serious questions on the Adityanath government, the police, ADG (Law and Order),the District Magistrate ofHathras and the senior functionaries of the State administration.

Hathras victim was gangraped, murdered: CBIIt fi��les chargesheetagainst 4 accused Special Correspondent

New Delhi

Centre seeks bettersecurity coordinationNEW DELHI

The Union Home Ministry on

Friday asked the top offi��cers

of the West Bengal

government to ensure

coordination with Central

agencies for better security

arrangements of individuals

with Central security cover.

The State Chief Secretary and

DirectorGeneral of Police

were asked to appear before

Union Home Secretary Ajay

Bhalla on Friday days after an

attack on the convoy of the

BJP president in West

Bengal.

NEWS A PAGE 9

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

NEARBY

The Union government toldthe Supreme Court on Friday that discussions wereon for granting anotherchance to aspirants of the civil services examination, especially those whose last attempt at cracking thepreliminary exam expiredin October.

“The Centre as well as theUPSC [Union Public ServiceCommission] are taking decisions on a proposal to giveone more opportunity tothe aff��ected students due tothe pandemic,” a Bench ledby Justice A.M. Khanwilkarsaid.

The court was hearing apetition fi��led by 59 aspirants, represented by senioradvocate Mukul Rohatgi andadvocate Anushree PrashitKapadia. They were eitherunable to take the Octoberpreliminary exam or handicapped in their preparations due to the pandemicand the ensuing lockdowns.

They argued for a secondopportunity and corresponding age relaxation.They said their preparationswere crippled by lockdowns

and restrictions. Coachingcentres were closed and study material was scarce. Many could not even take theexam.

Last-chance candidates

On October 26, the Department of Personnel andTraining informed the courtthat the government wasconsidering giving lastchance candidates anothershot at the exam.

On Friday, SolicitorGeneral Tushar Mehta said theissue was not adversarialand a decision would be taken on giving another opportunity in the next threeor four weeks.

Talks on to give anotherchance to IAS aspirantsDecision in three to four weeks: govt.

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

Candidates in Hyderabadafter appearing for the UPSC prelims in October.


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DELHI THE HINDU

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CITY

Far from being consumed bymonotony as their agitationenters its fourth week, thousands of farmers occupyingseveral kilometres betweenthe Tikri border in Delhi andHaryana’s Bahadurgarh continue to fortify their ranks inmore ways than one.

Rejoicing in Punjab andHaryana’s newfound cultural unity (personifi��ed by thepervasive infl��uence of revolutionary Bhagat Singharound them) since comingtogether against the contro

versial farm laws, a secondstage for performance of Ha-ryanvi raginis dedicated tothe freedom fi��ghter has beenset upto keep morale up.

The protest site, locatedon the Capital’s westernfl��ank, serves as a nodal offi��ceof sorts from where emissaries are being dispatched tovillages in adjacent rural beltto urge more farmers to jointhe growing agitation.

It is also the coordinationpoint between numerous village panchayats — engaged ingathering resources such asboilers to provide hot bathing water and blankets — andprotesting farmers.

“Panchayats are beingconducted in nearby villages, especially those locatedin Bahadurgarh where farmers are relatively well off��, to

mobilise more people for theagitation. Farmer leadersfrom here take part in manysuch meetings every day,”said Sumit, a student leaderfrom Rohtak who is part of afarmers’ union.

“Back home, panchayatsare held every day to arrange

resources for people here.We will be getting boilers forhot bathing water and, ofcourse, blankets and quilts,from hundreds of villages inHaryana soon,” he said.

Phool Singh from Jind,who was one of the fi��rst toset up camp at Tikri border a

venue rang out with repetitions of the slogan ‘Tino ka-noon chaknachur, aes tokhat nahin manzoor (Allthree laws must be destroyed, nothing less is acceptable)’, Maninder Chinnafrom Punjab’s Sangrur sat ata khaat panchayat around ahukka but minus the khaat(straw bed).

‘The way forward’“This is the way forward,” hesaid pointing towards a poster of Bhagat Singh whenasked how long the protestwas likely to go on.

“The only time Punjaband Haryana came togetherlike this was under him whenwe were all one. Soon, therewill be one stage here solelyto sing his praises all daylong,” he said.

day after clashes between security personnel and agitating farmers seeking to marchon New Delhi on November26, said their actual planwasn’t to blockade the city’sborders at all.

“After two months ofchalking the way forwardamong ourselves and withour colleagues in Punjab, theplan was to actually protestpeacefully at the RamlilaGrounds in central Delhi.That was actually where wewere headed,” he said.

“But, when they [securitypersonnel] asked us to stopwhere we were, that’s whatwe did. Everyone dug intheir heels where they wereand we will not move an inchback till the laws are repealed,” he added.

As the main stage at the

Farmers erect stage to honour Bhagat SinghProtesters at Tikriborder celebrate PunjabHaryanacultural unity

Jatin Anand

New Delhi

Haryanvi raginis dedicated to the freedom fi��ghter being performed at the Tikri border in Delhi on Friday. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

Haryana Congress chief Kumari Selja on Friday said over 20 farmers have sacrificed their lives in thefarmers’ movement so fardue to the “dictatorial attitude” of the Centre andState governments.

Farmers have beenforced to protest on the borders of the national capitalin the cold for the last threeweeks for their legitimatedemands, but the government is not ready to listenas it is under pressure fromthe capitalists, she added.

Ms. Selja was speaking after a tribute meet at the

Congress offi��ce in memoryof Sant Baba Ram Singh andother farmers who havedied during the movement.

Instead of accepting theirdemands, the Central government is suppressingthe voice of the farmers, theformer Union Minister said,adding that Bharatiya JanataParty leaders were makinghumiliating commentsabout the protesters.

The government did nothold discussions with anyfarmers’ organisation before enacting the three lawsnor did they talk to the Opposition. This governmenthas no faith in democracy,she added.

Centre under pressurefrom capitalists: Selja ‘Many farmers have sacrifi��ced their lives’

Special Correspondent

GURUGRAM

Tent city: Hundreds of tractors and trolleys belonging to protesting farmers parked at theTikri border in Delhi on Friday. * SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA

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Not going anywhere

A 52yearold Kathak teacher has been arrested for allegedly harassing and molesting his student duringher dance training session,the police said on Friday.

The 23yearold victim,studying at the Kathak Kendra, accused her teacherPandit Ravi Shankar Upadhyay of harassment.

The complainant said theaccused touched her inappropriately and sent her ob

scene messages onWhatsApp.

The matter came to lighton December 14 when thestudent registered a complaint against her teacher atthe Chanakyapuri policestation. In her complaint,the victim stated that Ravihad been harassing her during training for a long time.

Around 3 p.m. on December 14, he again molestedher and tried to kiss her.

Deputy Commissioner ofPolice (New Delhi) Eish

Singhal said a case waslodged on the basis of thecomplaint under IPC sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage hermodesty), 354 A (Sexual harassment and punishmentfor sexual harassment) and509 (Word, gesture or actintended to insult the modesty of a woman).

The accused is in judicialcustody and statements ofother students are being recorded, said the police.

Kathak teacher held for molestingstudent, sending obscene messages Police say statements of other students are being recorded

STAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

A 31yearold man has beenarrested for allegedly misappropriating funds to thetune of ₹��300 crore — availedas loans and credit facilitiesfrom various banks and fi��nancial institutions, the police said on Friday.

Vaibhav Sharma, ChiefFinance Offi��cer of a Gurugrambased car dealership,was arrested on Thursdayin connection with a 2018case registered against himand other directors of thefi��rm for misappropriationof bank money.

Action was taken by theEconomic Off��ences Wing ofthe Delhi Police after anauthorised representativeof one of the banks allegedthat the directors of thefi��rm: Rashpal Singh Toddand Mandhir Singh Todd,and its CFO, duped theirbank of ₹��102 crore.

In view of suffi��cient incriminating evidence on record, Rashpal and Mandhirwere arrested andchargesheeted.

According to the complainant bank, the accused

had approached theirbranch at Bahadurshah Zafar Marg for fi��nancial assistance in 2007.

Trade advancesThe fi��rm had been availingcash credit facility, trade advances etc. for demo carsfrom the bank since 2007.

It had also availed termloan, cash credit facility andbank guarantee since 2013onwards.

As per the terms and conditions executed betweenthe bank and the fi��rm, theaccused had to furnish details pertaining to the utilisation of the funds alongwith details of the stock,which were hypothecatedwith the bank. The trade advances availed by the alleged company had to be returned within 90 days.

Till March 2018, the company had been performingas per the terms and conditions, but defaulted later. InJune 2018, during an inspection of the showroom of thefi��rm, only 29 cars werefound against 200 cars, saidJoint Commissioner of Police (EOW) O.P. Mishra.

Man held for dupingbanks of ₹��300 crore Third person to be arrested in case

STAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

Delhi Police has ordered allits Station House Offi��cers(SHOs) to doublecheck before arresting any personwho is found in possessionof stolen property, a seniorpolice offi��cer said on Friday.

An order signed by a JointCommissioner of Police andsent to all DCPs noted thatmany persons arrested under IPC Section 411 (Dishonestly receiving stolen property) are innocent buyers,who have been duped intobuying stolen phones.

“Implicating them in acriminal case is not appropriate. Many people losechance to receive government facilities or even priv

ate job owing to this involvement. All the SHOs aredirected not to arrest suchpersons under IPC Section411, just to increase fi��gure ofreceivers arrested. Instead,focus should be on nabbingreal receivers of stolen property, who actually buythem as a commercial interest. The SHOs should alsodischarge any person heldunder IPC section 411 in therecent past.”

“We request people notto but any electronic goodsor other articles from random people. Before makingany deal, verify the authenticity of the seller and demand bills and other relevant papers related to thearticle,” said a police offi��cer.

SHOs told not to misuselaw on stolen property STAFF REPORTER

NEW DELHI

Two minor boys died on Friday after a fi��re broke out in astoreroom of a rented housein southwest Delhi's Sagarpur. The deceased havebeen identifi��ed as brothersAayush (5) and Shriansh (6).

Police suspect a short circut to be the cause of theblaze. A call about the fi��rewas received at 2.44 p.m. after which three fi��re tenderswere rushed to the spot, afi��re offi��cial said.

According to the DelhiFire Service (DFS), the children suff��ered burn injuries.They were rushed to a nearby hospital where they were

declared brought dead, saidDFS director Atul Garg. Thefi��re was doused by 4 p.m.

The police said that thefather of the children makesrubberpolymer slippersand had shifted to the houseon December 1. The material for making the slipperswere being kept at thehouse, which caught fi��re.

The ground fl��oor of thebuilding caught fi��re. Residents of the other fl��oorswere rescued by the policewith the help of locals.

Doctors said the brothersdied due to smoke inhalation. The bodies will behanded over to the family after postmortem.

Two minors die in fi��reSTAFF REPORTER

New Delhi

DU admissions under 2ndspecial list from Dec. 21NEW DELHI

Admissions to meritbased

undergraduate courses in

Delhi University under the

second special cutoff list

will take place from

December 2122. Only those

candidates who could not or

did not apply under the other

lists are eligible to apply

under this list, which will be

available on DU’s website on

Monday. While colleges are

required to approve

applications by December 24,

the last date for payment

will be December 26.

IN BRIEF


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THE HINDU DELHI

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CITY

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

Regd. DL(ND)-11/6110/2006-07-08 ● RNI No. UPENG/2012/49940 ● ISSN 0971 - 751X ● Vol. 10 ● No. 302

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Timings

DELHI

SATURDAY, DEC. 19

RISE 07:09 SET 17:29

RISE 11:09 SET 22:15

SUNDAY, DEC. 20

RISE 07:10 SET 17:29

RISE 11:45 SET 23:12

MONDAY, DEC. 21

RISE 07:10 SET 17:30

RISE 12:17 SET 00:00

The Delhi Assembly on Friday passed a resolution byvoice vote demanding a CBIinquiry into an alleged₹��2,500crore scam in thethree BJPruled municipalcorporations.

Addressing a special session of the Assembly, ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal saidthe civic bodies’ scam wasbigger than the Commonwealth Games scam.

He said the ₹��2,500 crorecould have been used to paythe salaries of sanitationworkers, doctors and otheremployees as well as buildinfrastructure such as hospital or Mohalla Clinics.

Mr. Kejriwal said: “Peoplesaid the municipal corporations are corrupt and that nobuilding is constructed without paying a bribe. The samepeople when asked about

the Delhi government, said itis honest.”

He added that the municipal corporation electionswere due in one year andDelhiites will decide if theywant an AAP model of governance or a BJP model, whichhas been on display for 15years at the civic bodies.

Addressing the allegationthat the Delhi governmentwas not releasing funds tothe municipal corporations

due to which they were unable to pay salaries, Mr. Kejriwal said the civic bodieshave moved the courts overthe release of funds and thecourts have said all dueshave been paid.

The Assembly proceedingbegan with AAP MLAsmarching into the well of theHouse and shouting slogansand holding placards andbanners. The House had tobe adjourned for 15 minutesafter which the detailed discussion began.

AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj said the BJP had itself admitted that its councillorswere corrupt as in 2017.Ahead of the municipalpolls, the BJP changed all itssitting councillors as peoplewere unhappy with them, hesaid. “The new councilors,however, created even morescams than their predecessors,” Mr. Bhardwaj added.

Giving an example, theMLA said: “The building department of the corporations is known for corruption and demanding bribes.A BJP councillor was caughtredhanded by the CBI fortaking ₹��10 lakh for construction of a building.”

‘Why opposing motion?’Mr. Bhardwaj said the factthat the BJP MLAs opposedthe motion for a CBI inquiryinto the alleged scam in thecivic bodies, exposes theirlies. “If there is no corruption, then why are they opposing the investigation?Earlier they were claimingthat a CBI investigationshould take place but nowwhen the Assembly movedthe motion, they are opposing it. The BJP is scared thatthe people of Delhi will get toknow the truth about thescam,” he added.

Assembly seeks CBI probe into₹��2,500cr. ‘scam’ in civic bodiesHouse passes resolution during special session; municipal polls due in a year


NEW DELHI

CM Arvind Kejriwal.

Leader of the Opposition inthe Delhi Legislative Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri on Friday said hewould step down from hispost if a ₹��2,500crore scamin the civic bodies was proven. He has termed the allegations baseless and devoid of facts

Plea by Bidhuri Mr. Bidhuri also sought tourge Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal to “rise above allpolitical diff��erences” in theinterest of Delhi and talk tothe Mayors of the threeBJPled municipal corporations who have been sittingon an indefi��nite hungerstrike outside his house.He said the AAP government should release duesof ₹��13,000 crore “with immediate eff��ect”.

“Till date, no government in Delhi has stoppedthe money due to the Mun

icipal Corporations. Whenthere was no fi��nancial transaction [between the Delhigovernment and the civicbodies], then where is thescandal? Is the Delhi government making allegations against its own decision to withhold funds tothe civic bodies?” he demanded.

Will step down from postif scam proven, says LoP‘Allegations baseless, devoid of facts’


New Delhi The national capital recorded 1,418 new COVID19 cases in a 24hourperiod, taking the total to6,14,775, according to ahealth bulletin released bythe government on Friday.

In the same period, 37people died due to the virus and 2,160 recovered.

The total number ofdeaths due to the virusnow stands at 10,219 andthe total number of recoveries at 5,93,137.

The number of activecases stands at 11,419.

The bulletin said88,400 tests were conducted with a positivityrate of 1.6%. Out of the total tests, 48,180 were RTPCR tests and 40,220 wererapid antigen tests.

This is the fourth consecutive day when the positivity rate has remainedbelow 2%. The city at present has 6,276 containment zones.

Over 1,400new COVID19cases in city


NEW DELHI

Instead of accepting a challenge for a debate betweenthe Delhi government’seducation model and thatof the Uttar Pradesh government, U.P. MinisterSidharth Nath Singh shared

edited images to “give a badname to our schools”, Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia said on Friday.

He said the U.P. government had nothing to showfor development done inthe education fi��eld andhence tweeted “fake posts

debate on the Yogi Model ofEducation vs. Kejriwal Model on December 22 inLucknow. This debate willbe very healthy and meaningful for our democracy.It will also benefi��t crores ofchildren of Uttar Pradeshand the country.”

“When AAP announcedit will be contesting the U.P.elections, the BJP Ministergot hassled. But when hecould not fi��nd any negativenews about our schools, hestarted sharing fake news,”Mr. Sisodia said, adding:“There should be an open

that showed four old andedited news clips of Delhigovernment schools”.

Mr. Sisodia, in a pressconference, showed each ofthe images tweeted by Mr.Singh who alleged that theDelhi government schoolswere in a “poor state”.

Sisodia pulls up U.P. Minister for sharing ‘fake’ images of Delhi govt. schoolsSpecial Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The High Court on Fridaysaid if the Delhi DisasterManagement Authority(DDMA) has prohibited political and other gatherings inthe city till December 31 dueto COVID19, then the protesters outside Chief MinisterArvind Kejriwal’s residenceought to be evicted.

Justice Sanjeev Sachdevasaid that the court expectsthe police to take appropriate steps to implementthe direction of the DelhiDisaster Management Authority (DDMA) and also theprovisions of Section 144 IPCwhich has been imposed in

the area where the Chief Minister’s residence is located.

The court said that if noaction is taken for violationof the DDMA direction, thenit will send out an “incorrectsignal”.

“The issue is if the DDMAorder prohibits such gathering, then you have to shiftthem. Rather you have to evict them. Else incorrect signal will go. The District Magistrates have to ensurecompliance of the DDMA directions. Compliance withDDMA orders can be ensured only by issuing appropriate directions. Issue directions and if they do notcomply, then take action,”

the court said to the policeduring the hearing.

The DDMA’s November 28order prohibits till December 31 all social, academic,sports, entertainment, cultural, religious, politicalfunctions, or other gatherings throughout the nationalcapital to prevent the spreadof COVID19.

The court was hearing aplea by the Civil Lines Residents Association, represented by advocate RohitBhagat, against the ongoingprotest outside the CM’s residence there on groundsthat it was blocking the roadand causing inconvenienceto residents there.

‘If DDMA prohibits gatherings, evictprotesters from outside CM’s house’ HC tells police that DMs need to ensure orders followed

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

Two persons have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping an eightyearold boyfrom Ullahawas here anddemanding ₹��50 lakh ransom, the police said on Friday. The boy has been rescued from Palwal.

Three on the runThree more people, wantedin connection with the case,

are said to be absconding.ACP Preet Pal Sangwan saidthe accused stayed on rentposing as autorickshaw drivers near the boy’s house fora fortnight before they kidnapped him.

The boy was playing outside his house in the afternoon on December 16 whenthe accused kidnapped him.“The boy was kept hostagein Palwal,” Mr. Sangwansaid.

Two held for kidnapping8-yr-old boy in GurugramSpecial Correspondent

GURUGRAM

The Delhi High Court onFriday sought responsesfrom the government andthe police on AAP MLAs —Raghav Chadha and Atishi’s — pleas challenging thedenial of their request forpermission to hold protests outside the residencesof Home Minister AmitShah and LG Anil Baijal.

Justice Navin Chawla issued notices to the Delhi

government and the police, and sought their standon the petitions by the twoAAP leaders by January 14.

The Delhi Police, represented by AdditionalStanding Counsel GautamNarayan, told the courtthat permissions were denied to the two AAP MLAson the basis of orderspassed by the DDMA,which prohibited largegatherings in view of theprevailing pandemic.

HC seeks replies on pleasto protest at Shah’s housePress Trust of India

New Delhi

DMRC announces

restricted services

NEW DELHI

The Delhi Metro Rail

Corporation (DMRC) on

Friday said services will be

restricted between Rajiv

Chowk and Vishwavidyalaya

metro stations from 11 p.m.

on Saturday to 9 a.m. on

Sunday. “To undertake

planned track maintenance

work on the section, trains

will run on a single line after

11 p.m. till the end of revenue

services on December 19 and

from the start of revenue

services till 9 a.m. on

December 20,” it said.

IN BRIEF


+

CMYK

M ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NORTH & EAST

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday saidboth the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) were a bunch ofhypocrites whose doublestandards on the farm lawshad exposed their lack ofcommitment to the farmers.

“AAP and SAD MLAs neversay what they mean, and viceversa,” said the Chief Ministerin an informal interactionwith journalists after thelaunch of second phase ofPunjab Smart ConnectScheme in Mohali.

The Chief Minister pointedout that while SAD was partyto the introduction of thefarm ordinances in the fi��rstplace, the AAP government in

Delhi had been quick to implement one of the farm laws.

Hitting out at Delhi ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal,Capt. Amarinder said theAAP leader had given approval to the black farm laws bynotifying one of them in thenational capital last monthand was now indulging in pet

ty politics over the matter bytearing copies of the centrallaws.

“This shows Kejriwal andAAP have a diff��erent face forthe people, with totally opposite intentions hidden inside,” said the Chief Minister,slamming the party over its

antifarmer doublefacedactions.

Briquetting plant Separately, Capt. Amarindervirtually inaugurated paddystrawbased briquetting plantof 100 tonnes per day capacity in Patiala.

Calling it an overdue initiative, the Chief Minister saidthe new technology will notonly help check environmental pollution through gainfulutilisation of paddy straw inthe State, but will also enablefarmers, especially smallfarmers, earn extra incomefrom the sale of paddystubble.

Expressing confi��dencethat more such plants wouldcome up in the future to easePunjab’s stubble burning is

sue, he said the low calorifi��cvalue of 3,500 for briquettes(as compared with 7,000 forcoal) is amply balanced outeconomically since coal costs₹��10,000 per ton as against₹��4,500 per ton for briquette.Also, with oil becoming expensive, this is a more viablesource of energy, he added.

The plant has been set upat village Kulburchan in Patiala district, at a capital cost of₹��5.50 crore, by Punjab StateCouncil for Science and Technology in collaboration withPrivate Partner M/s. PunjabRenewable Energy SystemsPvt. Ltd., with the support ofMinistry of Environment,Forest & Climate Change,Govt. of India, under the Climate Change Action Programme.

Amarinder hits out at SAD, AAP on farm lawsTheir double standards have exposed their lack of commitment to farmers, says Punjab Chief Minister

Vikas Vasudeva

CHANDIGARH <> AAP and SAD MLAs

never say what

they mean, and

vice versa...

[Arvind] Kejriwal

and AAP have a

diff��erent face for

the people with

totally opposite

intentions hidden

inside

Amarinder Singh

Punjab Chief Minister

The Congress in Assam, saidto be rudderless after thedeath of former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, could lose afew of its MLAs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon.

There are reports that atleast three Congress legislators, one of them expelledfor six years for “antipartyactivities”, are likely to donsaff��ron when Union HomeMinister Amit Shah visits theState towards the end ofDecember.

The speculations weretriggered by one of the troikaof MLAs, former ministerAjanta Neog’s meeting withChief Minister SarbanandaSonowal on Thursday.Another MLA, Roselina Tirkey, was seen at a BJP func

tion in eastern Assam’s Golaghat district a few days ago.

Ms. Neog represents theGolaghat Assembly constituency while Ms. Tirkey waselected from Sarupathar. Thethird MLA, Rajdeep Goala,represents southern Assam’sLakhipur Assembly constituency and was expelled bythe Congress in October.

“Such theories are fl��yingaround. But this implies the

BJP has no trust in its ownleaders and try to poachfrom other parties to be inpower,” Congress spokesperson Bobbeeta Sarma said.

The name of a fourth legislator, Sushanta Borgohain,has been doing the roundstoo. However, the ThowrahMLA released a video sayinghe would not be leaving theCongress.

Soon after the 2016 Assembly elections, the Congress had lost its Baithalangso MLA Mansing Rongpi. Hequit the Congress and wonthe seat again on a BJP ticket.

The Congress MLAs in discussion are from the teagrowing belts of Assam. TheBJP is believed to haveweaned the plantation workers, a major vote bank, fromthe Congress.

Formal switchover likely during Amit Shah’s visit to the State

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

GUWAHATI

Some Assam Cong. MLAs eyeing BJP

<> Such theories are

fl��ying around. But

this implies the

BJP has no trust in

its own leaders and

try to poach from

other parties to be

in power

Bobbeeta Sarma

Congress spokesperson

Pressure groups in Meghalaya demanding the implementation of innerline permit (ILP) in the State havethreatened to set up entryexit points for weeding out “unwanted people” on their ownif the Conrad Sangmaled alliance government cannot doso, on December 21.

The Meghalaya ResidentsSafety and Security Act(MRSSA), which prescribes a

set of documents similar tothe ILP, warrants such entryexit points ostensibly tocheck infl��ux and establish theidentity of those who wish tovisit the State.

The ILP is a documentmandated by the BritisheraBengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873 essentially torestrict travel to certain partsof the Northeast. ILP is currently applicable for Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland.

tional from that day itself,”KKJGP president WellbirthRani said.

His KSU counterpart, Lambokstarwell Marngar, said theimplementation of ILP was apeople’s demand and couldprevent the spread of the“Delhi virus”, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Meghalaya’s Deputy ChiefMinister Prestone Tynsongassured there would be nofurther delay in opening theentryexit gate.

The Meghalaya government was scheduled to openan entryexit point in theState’s RiBhoi district on December 16, but the event wasdeferred to December 21. Thedelay irritated the infl��uentialtribal groups, such as KhasiStudents’ Union (KSU) andFederation of Khasi Jaintiaand Garo People (FKJGP).

“If the government doesnot open the entryexit pointon December 21, we will doso ourselves to make it func

Meghalaya groups issue warning on entry-exit pointsThe State’s residents’ safety Act warrants such points to check infl��ux of outsiders


GUWAHATI

EDUCATIONAL

EDUCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL

TENDERS

PUBLIC NOTICE

OBITUARY &

REMEMBRANCE

DEATH


+

Weather WatchRainfall, temperature & air quality in select metros yesterday

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

Forecast for Saturday: Thunderstorm accompanied with light-ning likely at isolated places over Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Keralaand Lakshadweep. Cold/severe cold wave conditions likely atmany/few/isolated places over Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Hary-ana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh

city rain max min city rain max min

Agartala................—....24.0....12.3 Kozhikode....................—....34.1....24.6

Ahmedabad...........—....25.6....13.6 Kurnool .......................—....31.8....19.7

Aizawl...................—....20.9......8.3 Lucknow......................—....19.5......5.5

Allahabad..............—....18.9......7.0 Madurai .................. 10.7....27.6....22.2

Bengaluru .............—....28.0....18.4 Mangaluru ...................—....36.0....23.2

Bhopal ..................—....21.7......7.4 Mumbai .......................—....32.9....21.2

Bhubaneswar.........—....28.3....17.6 Mysuru ........................—....30.0....19.8

Chandigarh ...........—....18.8......4.7 New Delhi ...................—....19.8......4.4

Chennai ................—....30.0....25.2 Patna ..........................—....19.6......8.4

Coimbatore ........ 0.7....28.0....21.8 Port Blair.................. 0.2....30.8....25.2

Dehradun ..............—....21.4......3.6 Puducherry ............. 33.2....26.7....22.5

Gangtok................—....11.0......6.8 Pune............................—....30.5....15.8

Goa.......................—....34.5....23.0 Raipur .........................—....28.0....17.2

Guwahati ..............—....24.8....11.2 Ranchi .........................—....22.2......8.6

Hubballi ................—....29.0....19.0 Shillong.......................—....17.0......5.3

Hyderabad ............—....30.2....17.6 Shimla.........................—....16.6......3.6

Imphal ..................—....22.2......5.3 Srinagar.......................—......8.0.... -6.0

Jaipur ...................—....22.3......6.2 Thiruvananthapuram...... 6.5....31.2....24.1

Kochi ....................—....30.2....25.0 Tiruchi...................... 5.1....26.1....23.0

Kohima .................—....18.3......6.2 Vijayawada ..................—....30.6....22.0

Kolkata .................—....24.0....16.4 Visakhapatnam .............—....29.3....23.4

(Rainfall data in mm; temperature in Celsius)

Pollutants in the air you are breathing Yesterday

CITIES SO2 NO2 CO PM2.5 PM10 CODE

In observation made at 4.00p.m., Moradabad, UttarPradesh recorded an overallair quality index (AQI) scoreof 319 indicating anunhealthy level of pollution.In contrast, Eloor, Keralarecorded a healthy AQI scoreof 37

Ahmedabad..... 28 .67 47 ..123 .131 ....*

Bengaluru ....... 12 .64 40 ....87 ...98 ....*

Chennai .......... ..8 ...8 50 ..101 .....— ....*

Delhi .............. ..9 .82 58 ..362 .265 ....*

Hyderabad ...... ..5 .98 15 ..151 .139 ....*

Kolkata........... 29 .28 39 ..299 .220 ....*

Lucknow ......... ..7 104 62 ..304 .188 ....*

Mumbai .......... 28 .23 41 ..268 .185 ....*

Pune............... ..— .92 65 ..124 .121 ....*

Visakhapatnam 12 .10 63 ..187 .125 ....*

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

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

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

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

and monuments.

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

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

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

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

dizziness, confusion, unconsciousness and even death.

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

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

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

death in people with heart or lung disease

Six years after a 28yearoldman was convicted for sexually assaulting and raping asixyearold girl, the BombayHigh Court recently acquittedhim, and said, “It will be unsafe to rely on her sole testimony as the possibility of tutoring cannot be ruled out.”

A Division Bench of Justices S.S. Shinde and M.S. Karnik was hearing a criminalappeal fi��led by Ali Mohammed Shaikh, who islodged at Amravati CentralPrison. He was convicted bythe special Protection ofChildren from Sexual Off��ences (POCSO) Act court in 2014.

At 11 p.m. on August 20,2014, the victim along withher family was sleeping on aplatform at Kandivali (West).At 6 a.m. the next day, themother realised that the girlwas not in her bed, and laterfound her lying down in anearby lane with marks onher body of being brutallyphysically and sexually assaulted. According to thevictim’s mother, one personby name of Anand was eyeing the child. The police, however, nabbed Mr. Shaikh.After the call detail recordand clothes of the accusedwere taken into custody, Mr.Shaikh was arrested.

A medical examinationrevealed that the minor suffered forceful penetrativesexual assault, and the medical evidence on record disclosed the brutality of the assault.

The trial court had relied

upon the testimony given bythe victim, and said, “Thetestimony revealed that thechild knew the appellant(Mr. Shaikh) well as he usedto meet her father and shefurther knew him as a friendof her father.”

The HC Bench also tookinto consideration the forensic report of the semen detected on the frock of thevictim, which said that it didnot match with the male haplotypes of blood samples ofthe appellant.

Acquitting Mr. Shaikh, theHC said, “We fi��nd it unsafe toconvict the accused only onthe basis of the testimony ofthe victim without there being a further corroborationto her testimony showingthe complicity of the accused. It is therefore notpossible for us to uphold theconviction of the appellantrendered by the trial court.”

6 years after being convicted forrape, 28-year-old man acquittedHC says it will beunsafe to rely onsix-year-old girl’ssole testimony


Mumbai

Alleging that investigatingagencies have become puppets at the hands of the BJP,the Maharashtra Congresson Friday asked why Bollywood fi��lmmaker Karan Joharwas not probed in 2019 overa party hosted by him when

the BJPled government wasin power and Chief MinisterDevendra Fadnavis washolding the portfolio ofHome Department.

“The viral video based onwhich Mr. Johar had beensummoned was from 2019when the Fadnavis government was in power. Why

didn’t the State governmentor the NCB act then? Theagency which had summoned someone based onan old video did not dare tosummon actor Kangana Ranaut who openly admittedconsuming drugs,” StateCongress general secretarySachin Sawant said.

Staff Reporter

Mumbai

Why was Karan Johar not probedin 2019, Congress asks BJP

Cranking up pressure on theCentre to repeal the contentious farm laws, the Leftaffi��liated AllIndia Kisan Sabha(AIKS) — one of the outfi��tsspearheading the agitationin Maharashtra — on Fridaysaid that thousands of farmers across the State would betravelling to Delhi to join theongoing farmers’ protest.

“Thousands of farmersfrom over 20 districts ofMaharashtra will gather atNashik on December 21 andstart a ‘vehicle march’ to hitDelhi to strengthen thestruggle and to show solidarity to lakhs of farmers camping around the national national for the last threeweeks,” AIKS’s national president Ashok Dhawale said.

He said that the farmerswould be traversing a distance of 1,266 km to jointheir comrades at the RajasthanHaryana border atShahjahanpur around December 24.

“The vehicle rally willcommence with a publicmeeting at Nashik on the afternoon of December 21.There will be a demonstration near the Relianceowned petrol pump in Nashik,” AIKS’s State general secretary Ajit Nawale said,adding that the ‘protest convoy’ would then make itsway to Madhya Pradesh.

Mr. Nawale said the AIKShad three main demands:

scrapping of the three ‘antifarmer’ and ‘procorporate’farm Acts; withdrawal of theElectricity Amendment Bill;and ensuring that the Centreprovides the minimum support price (MSP) at oneandahalf times the cost of production besides the guarantee of procurement at fi��xedMSP rates.

“Like farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh,Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and the surrounding States of Delhi, thefarmers from Maharashtraare prepared to dig in theirtrenches indefi��nitely till theCentre accedes to our demands,” he said.

Mr. Nawale further saidthat while the agitation hadreceived overwhelming nationwide support till now, itwas only farmers from Statesaround Delhi who had beenable to physically agitate. “Inspite of nationwide protests

on December 3 and the Bharat Bandh on December 8,farmers from farfl��ung Stateshave not yet been able to godirectly to Delhi and participate in the agitation in largenumbers. The reason beingrailway transport was shut.Maharashtra’s farmers will bethe fi��rst ones to overcome theobstacles hurled by theCentre to reach Delhi,” Mr.Nawale said, while hopingthat this ‘militant action’ onpart of Maharashtra’s farmerswould spur farmers from other southern States to join in.

Mr. Dhawale said that alllikeminded organisations inMaharashtra would be supporting this ‘Chalo Delhi’campaign. “When the convoy reaches Dhule on December 22 in the afternoon,a support meeting will beheld there on behalf of otherfarm outfi��ts, workers and labour unions across theState,” he said.

Maharashtra farmers callfor ‘Chalo Delhi’ on Dec. 21 They will join anti-farm laws protest at Rajasthan-Haryana border

Shoumojit Banerjee

Pune

Plan of action: AIKS leaders addressing a press conference inNashik on Friday. * SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Three sisters, aged three tonine years, died due to suspected food poisoning inKarad tehsil of Maharashtra’s Satara district, thepolice said on Friday.

The minor siblings, whohad started vomiting afterhaving dinner with parentsat home on Sunday, died ina local hospital over thepast three days.

Their parents, who werealso hospitalised, are out ofdanger now. “On Sundaynight, the members of thefamily that lives in Saidapur village in Karad tehsil,had a meal of eggplant curry and basundi (sweetthickened milk). They hadbought basundi from ashop. But after going tosleep, all of them startedvomiting,” B.R. Patil, senior inspector of Karad City police station, said.

In the morning, they approached a local doctor.But as the three sisters fellill, they were admitted tothe hospital on Tuesday.“While one of the sistersdied on Tuesday night, twoothers died on Wednesdayand Thursday,” he said.

Three minorsisters die dueto suspectedfood poisoning Press Trust of India

Satara

A couple from Neral in Karjat were arrested on Thursday for allegedly murderingand dumping the choppedbody of a 33yearold manfrom Worli. The accusedhave been identifi��ed asCharles Nadar (41) and hiswife Salomi (31).

“On Wednesday, we received a call about someonefi��nding a piece of human body near railway tracks inNeral. When our teamreached the spot, we foundtwo suitcases of choppedhuman body,” Anil Gherdikar, Deputy Superintendentof Police, Karjat, said.

The police later obtainedCCTV footage and found asuspect who dumped thesuitcases. “We traced theaddress of Mr. Nadar to Rajbag in Neral and arrestedhim. On interrogation, herevealed the details,” Mr.Gherdikar said.

The deceased was identifi��ed as Sushil Kumar Sarnaik, a senior relationshipmanager at a private bank.He and the Nadar familywere friends for 10 years. Onsome Saturdays, Sarnaikused to visit the couple forpartying at their home.

On December 12, he hadgone again for the party andduring the course, he spokeill about Ms. Salomi’s character which irked Mr. Nadar. He attacked Sarnaikwith a sickle on his neck.

“After he was dead, theaccused couple kept the body in the hall of their houseand over the next two dayschopped the body into 11pieces using a stone cutter.They then wrapped thepieces with plastic and paper, and stored in two suitcases. Then they dumped thesuitcases near Neral railwaytracks behind the car shedon Tuesday,” Mr. Gherdikarsaid.

Neral couple arrested for killing friend, dumping body Raina Assainar

Navi Mumbai

CMYK

M ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


NORTH & WEST

Shiromani Akali Dal president and Lok Sabha MP Sukhbir Singh Badal on Fridaysought President Ram NathKovind’s intervention for immediately convening the winter session of Parliament.

‘Fake excuse’

In a letter to the President,the SAD chief said the government resorting to the COVID19 argument to justify thecancellation of winter sessionsimply does not wash. “Howdo you convince the peoplethat Parliament could meet topass the three controversialBills at a time when the pandemic was at its peak, whichrequired the Prime Ministerto start the nation’s fi��ghtagainst it with a long, coun

trywide lockdown? Now, bythe government’s own admission, the intensity of the pandemic no longer requires alockdown. Then, how doesone justify the cancellation ofthe winter session? What wasright then cannot be wrongnow,” the Akali chief wrote.

Mr. Badal said that it is “absurd and ironical” that theruling party sees no danger topublic health during gatherings of thousands of people inits election rallies in Biharand now in West Bengal butwants the countrymen to believe that even a limited meeting of MPs embers of Parliament under strict SOPswould result in a pandemicfl��areup. “There is no lockdown on BJP rallies but thereis lockdown on Parliamentcomprising just a few

hundred members and thattoo under controlled circumstances. The COVID excuse ispatently fake and even ridiculous,” he stated.

In his letter, copies ofwhich have been marked tothe Lok Sabha Speaker andthe Vice President in his capacity as the Chairman of theRajya Sabha, the Akali leadersaid Parliament must meetimmediately as “a nationalpriority” because the ongoing farmers’ movement affects nearly 100 crore peopledirectly. “It would be insensitivity of the most shockingnature if the government justlooks the other way whilenearly two dozen innocentand patriotic annadatas

(food producers) have already sacrifi��ced their lives,” hewrote.

‘No lockdown on BJP rallies but lockdown on Parliament’


CHANDIGARH

SAD chief seeks President’sintervention on winter session


+

CMYK

M ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


EDITORIAL

Tensions in BengalPolitical violence is a way oflife in West Bengal rightfrom the days theCommunists were at thehelm of aff��airs. But suchissues are to be sorted outat the local level only withthe help of the police andthe judiciary. If the Centreattempts to interfere andresort to taking unilateralactions such as calling backoffi��cers on deputation, itwould prove to be the deathknell of the federalstructure enshrined in theConstitution. The Centrehastened an action justbecause one of its topleaders was at the receivingend. While no one cancondone the incidents ofviolence, the BJP’sprovocative statements,often to make its political

presence felt, would haveescalated the situation tothis level. The BJP shouldaspire to rule by adheringto democratic principlesand not by means of musclefl��exing and gross misuse ofpowers at its disposal (Page1, “Mamata refuses to allow3 IPS offi��cers to go toCentre”, December 18). V. Subramanian,

Chennai

■ It is saddening that politicaltension in West Bengal isreaching fl��ashpoint ahead ofnext year’s Assemblyelections. It has a lot to dowith the BJP’s desperateattempt to expand itsfootprint in new territoryand come to power not bythe legitimate means oftaking up the breadandbutter issues of politics, but

by adopting aggressivecommunal postures. The restof India watches with keeninterest to see which wayWest Bengal reacts. It isworrying that the BJP iscreating tension anddisturbing the peace.Polarising voters is the nameof the game.G. David Milton,

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

■ Some friction is only to beexpected when diff��erentparties are in power at theCentre and States. Howeverthe current and uglyconfrontation in West Bengaldoes little credit to either theCentre or the State. The BJPseems to be transformingitself into a battering ram,determined to demolish theestablished forts of otherparties. The changing

loyalties of some TMCleaders has only added fuelto the fi��re. Democracy inIndia is entering a defi��nitephase which could decideIndia’s future course.Anthony Henriques,

Mumbai

■ Mamata Banerjee swept topower in 2011 promisinggood governance. But theattack on a BJP leader’sconvoy indicates that notmuch has changed in thepolitical culture of WestBengal. With the Congressand the CPI (M) on themargins, the TMC now seesthe BJP as a potentialchallenger especially afterthe Bihar and Telanganaelection results. If the use ofviolence to retain power inelections is gaining traction,the Bengal election faces

respect can break thedeadlock. Our leaders seemto have forgotten the ageoldsaying, “stoop to conquer”.Both sides need to providesome “slack” and this shouldstart from the government.The government should off��erthe necessary assistance andsupport to farmers duringtheir eff��ort to switch over todiversifi��ed crops. I do hope the powers that bewill step back for a momentand realise that the presentconfrontation is changed toreconciliation and dialogue.A mutually acceptablesolution will not leave eitherparty to accept a sense ofdefeat and with a bitter tastein the mouth.R. Gopal,

Chennai

grave danger. S.S. Paul,

Chakdaha, Nadia, West Bengal

A resolutionI write this as a war veteran,aged 83. When in the earlyyears of India’sIndependence we were astarved nation, India’sleaders sought and got helpin the form of the PL480. Inthe mid1960s, we evenraised the slogan “Jai Jawan,Jai Kisan”. Was this only anempty slogan or were theleaders and all Indiansgenuine in their appreciationof the jawan and the kisan?If India is a grain surplusnation, with excess stock ofwheat and rice, farmers’contributions need to berecognised. At this stage,only reconciliation andinitiating talks with mutual

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

To read more lettersonline, scan the QR code

Ruchi Gupta

Indian democracy is at an infl��exion point. Not only has the Indian state been captured by a

ruling party which is creating a religious hierarchy of citizenship butIndian democracy is also beingsystematically deinstitutionalisedto dismantle the very constraintson state power which make it possible to contest it. The only way tostop this assault on the institutional edifi��ce of our democracy is bycapturing state power at theCentre.

Still a force to reckon withThe importance of the Indian National Congress Party at this pointcannot be overstated. Even at itsnadir, the Congress commands20% of the electoral vote and is theonly Opposition party with a national footprint. It is thus the onlyparty which can provide a coherent national framework for a viable Opposition formation. Unfortunately, the Congress party isfailing to do justice to this moment, and to its own deeply inspiring legacy.

There is no dearth of advice forthe Congress; however, much of itis motherhood generalities — “youmust be among the people” —which does little to clarify the wayforward. Critiques of the tacticalchoices which any political partymust make in the electoral arena

also have limited value. The policies which constitute the party’spolitical platform are contingenton the moment. What is importantfor the enduring revival of theCongress Party is its larger perception in the minds of the Indian people and how it builds organisation.

Nationbuilding identityFor this, three things need to bedone. Give members a positivesense of identity: with the politicisation of every day life and consequent polarisation, political affi��liation is increasingly a part of one’sidentity. Association with the Congress Party must allow people tofeel good about themselves andgive them a sense of pride and virtue if not opportunity and power.

Earlier being a Congresspersonimbued an identity strongly corelated to our national identity. Withthe range of activities such as spinning the wheel, an ordinary person could feel like s/he was part ofthe nationbuilding eff��ort. Thisidentity has been lost. Consequently, we lack political programmes to give supporters an accessible and respectful sense ofbelonging.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)on the other hand does give itssupporters an identity outside ofpartisan affi��liation — of being aproud Hindu and/or ascendantsubaltern who can dismiss the“corrupt elite” (the Congress andits affi��liates in this narrative). TheBJP’s supporters have ways of exercising this identity without necessarily having to engage with theBJP organisation. Merely exercising one’s Hindu identity through

festivals is becoming enough to bea BJP supporter, whereas an instinctively liberal person on thestreet is a Congress voter, often bydefault in opposition to the BJP.

With the politicisation of ournational identity and its increasingassociation with the BJP, the Congress Party cannot come up with acounter through ad hoc economicpromises alone, especially because citizens are sceptical of thestate’s intent and capacity to deliver outsized new economic benefi��ts. Instead, the Congress Partymust articulate its own vision of India’s national identity, design political programmes which will allow members/supporters toexercise this identity, and fi��nd leadership at all levels and constituencies (students, the youth,farmers, Dalits, women, etc) toembody this identity.

Politics of organisationSecond, meld the organisationwith the political process: masscommunication and mass outreach are at the heart of electoralpolitics. A political party mustthus have ‘organisation’ across thespread of its electoral footprint.While the Congress has alwaysbeen a massbased party, the needfor organisation is especially acute

right now to bypass media subservient to the ruling party and to tailor messages for diff��erent constituencies. In the absence oforganisation, the Congress Party istoo dependent on the media to getits message across and is constrained by blunt messaging instead of tailoring content by interest/constituency. While there isrecognition in the Party on theneed for organisation, there is anattempt to build organisationthrough procedure instead of politics. This approach can populatethe organisation and help with data collection, but only a politicalprocess can create a chain of committed leadership, infl��uence andaccountability.

At the grassroot levelThe Party may have data for somenotional worker in a booth, butwho will inspire, coax and cajolethe worker into actually going outto canvas? This is an assiduouslypolitical process where ideologyand commitment of leadership ateach level cannot be supplantedby technology or surveillance.Part of the impetus for a technocratic approach is the somewhatunrealistic manner in which wedefi��ne our immediate organisational task, such as identifying 10workers for 10 lakh booths acrossthe country wherein it is near impossible to deploy personaliseddiscretion inherent in a politicalprocess.

The Party may be better servedif instead it were to focus fi��rst onestablishing a committed blocklevel organisation across the country, giving importance and statureto the roughly 6,500 block presi

dents and 700 district presidentsin the process.

Issue of the leaderThird, establish strong topdownleadership: None of the above canbe done without a strong and interventionist Congress President.Political parties — the Congress inparticular — are defi��ned as muchby internal confl��icts as external.Politics is dynamic with constantlyopening and closing pathways topower. Without a strong leader atthe top to take and enforce decisions, the Party will continue to bepulled in diff��erent directions.

Moreover, only the active facilitation of the Congress Presidentcan create space for substantivedeliberation required right now —both as a political process to draweveryone together and to form apolitical platform expansiveenough to accommodate the Congress’s historical big tent positioning. At present, this leadership canonly be provided by Rahul Gandhi.This is not a sycophantic statement — if any other leader had toemerge in the Party, he wouldhave done so over the last year. Instead, diff��erent factions prefer sta-tus quo rather than allowing onegroup to ascend and upset the balance of power for everyone. Organisational power thus continuesto reside in Mr Gandhi. The waythen to revive the Congress andconsolidate this power is one andthe same — its full and frontal exercise.

Ruchi Gupta is All India Joint Secretary

in-charge of the Congress’s student wing;

twitter.com/guptar. The views expressed

are personal

Chalking out the Congress’s enduring revivalEven at its nadir, the party is still politically relevant and its revival is linked to how the organisation is rebuilt

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According to one defi��nition, afactoid is “an item of unreliable information that is re

ported and repeated so often thatit becomes accepted as fact”. Afterthe passage of the three controversial farm laws, the Minimum Support Price (MSP) — not mentionedin the laws — has gained a lot of attention. The predominance of factoids about MSP and procurementhas meant that the debate hasyielded more chaff�� than grain.

The MSP is meant to set a fl��oorbelow which prices do not fall,and is announced by the government for 23 commodities (https://bit.ly/2IZLCIC). It is the price atwhich the government ‘promises’to buy from farmers if market prices fall below it. In fact, however,government procurement is heavily concentrated on wheat and rice,with other crops barely beingprocured.

Over the years, factoids aboutthe MSP and government procurement have gained so much traction that the retired gentleman inthe local park cites them as facts.These pertain to how many havebenefi��ted from the MSP and whohas benefi��ted from it. According tothese popular beliefs, few (6%)farmers benefi��t, only large farmersbenefi��t, and only farmers of Punjab and Haryana (to some extent,western Uttar Pradesh) benefi��t.

More States under MSPIn a forthcoming paper, we use data on Statewise procurementfrom the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and agricultural household data for 201213 from the National Sample Survey (NSS), afterwhich these data are not available,

to set the record straight on thesethree factoids.

One, the 6% fi��gure from the NSSdata 201213 relates to paddy andwheat alone. Even here, however,among those who sold any paddy/wheat, the numbers are higher —14% and 16%.

Two, the Government of Indiahas made a systematic eff��ort to expand the reach of MSP to moreStates, via the Decentralized Procurement (DCP) Scheme. Introduced in 199798, it was not verypopular in the initial years and began to be adopted by States in earnest only around 2005. Under theDCP scheme, the responsibility ofprocurement devolved to the Stategovernments which were reimbursed preapproved costs. FCIdata suggest that by July 2015, asmany as 15 States had taken up thisprogramme, though not all wereimplementing it with equal enthusiasm. Largely on account of it,procurement began moving out of‘traditional’ States (such as Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh). Until 2000, barely 10% ofwheat and rice was procured outside the traditional States. By 201213, the share of the DCP States roseto 2535%.

In the case of paddy, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have been thestar performers. These States today contribute about 10% each tothe total paddy procurement inthe country. For wheat, decentralised procurement has taken off�� inMadhya Pradesh in a big way, accounting for approximately 20% ofwheat procurement. In 202021,wheat procurement from MadhyaPradesh surpassed that from evenPunjab. Among agricultural households which sell paddy underthe procurement system, while 9%and 7% come from Punjab and Ha

ryana, 11% are in Odisha and 33%are in Chhattisgarh. An overwhelming majority of agriculturalhouseholds selling wheat to theprocurement agencies come fromMadhya Pradesh (33%) comparedto 22% from Punjab and 18% fromHaryana. That only Punjab andHaryana farmers have benefi��tedfrom the MSP is now truly a thingof the past.

Which farmer benefi��ts Three, as per the factoid, onlylarge farmers have benefi��ted. Infact, procurement has benefi��tedthe small and marginal farmers inmuch bigger numbers than medium and large farmers. At the allIndia level, among those who soldpaddy to the government, 1% werelarge farmers, owning over 10 hectares of land. Small and marginalfarmers, with less than 2 hectaresaccounted for 70%. The rest (29%)were medium farmers (210hectares).

In the case of wheat, 3% of allwheatselling farmers were largefarmers. More than half (56%)were small and marginal farmers.

In Punjab and Haryana, theshare of small and marginal farmers is not insignifi��cant (38% and58%, respectively, among paddysellers). In the nontraditionalStates that adopted the DCPscheme, the overwhelming major

ity of farmers who sell to State procurement agencies are small andmarginal. In Chhattisgarh and Odisha, for example, small and marginal farmers comprise 7080% ofall sellers to government agencies.Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh,nearly half (45%) of those who sellwheat to government agencies aresmall or marginal farmers.

To recap, the facts are as follows: one, the proportion of farmers who benefi��t from (even fl��awed)government procurement policiesis not insignifi��cant. Two, the geography of procurement haschanged in the past 15 years. It isless concentrated in traditionalStates such as Punjab, Haryanaand western Uttar Pradesh, as DCPStates such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha havestarted participating more vigorously. Three, perhaps most importantly — it is predominantly thesmall and marginal farmers whohave benefi��ted from the MSP andprocurement, even if the size ofthe benefi��ts may be larger for larger farmers. This is true not just inthe DCP States, but also in the traditional States.

The true pictureGetting the facts right is an important fi��rst step in resolving the issues facing the agricultural sectorand farmers’ issues. We havepicked three factoids of many asan illustration of how little weknow about how the MSP works.The range of claims made regarding, for example, the consequences of the MSP on diversifi��cationneed to be examined as well.Among Punjabis who cultivatedany crop, 2137% did not grow paddy and wheat. Among all agricultural households including thosewhich did not cultivate a crop (in

dicating more diversifi��ed sourcesof agricultural income), a largerproportion (58 and 48%, respectively) stayed away from paddyand wheat, suggesting that procurement in Punjab may not haveprevented diversifi��cation to the extent we imagine.

Similarly, confusion reignsabout other areas of interest fromthe point of view of the new farmlaws. It is widely believed that forthe fi��rst time, the new laws allowfarmers to sell outside the Agricultural Produce Market Committee(APMC). Even for commodities forwhich MSP is announced, the proportion of sales via the mandirange is only between 1064%; thedemand for the MSP originates because the prices paid outside themandi tend to be much lower.Countrywide, sales to mandi or government procurement agenciesfetched on average 13.3% higherprices for paddy and 5.8% forwheat.

We are not unsympathetic tothose who question the heavy concentration of wheat and rice in government procurement (milletsare better suited to agroclimaticconditions prevailing in large partsof the country, more nutritiousand also grown by small and marginal farmers), to the fl��aws in thecurrent mandi system, or how theMSP is implemented. Yet, the debate — popular, academic or political — on these issues must take into account the changed geographyof procurement and the profi��le ofthe seller.

Prankur Gupta is at the University of

Texas, Austin; Reetika Khera is at the

Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and

Sudha Narayanan is at the International

Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI),

Delhi

MSP — the factoids versus the factsThe debate on agricultural issues must take into account the changed geography of procurement and the seller’s profi��le

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Prankur Gupta, Reetika Khera

& Sudha Narayanan

The virtual summit between Prime Minister Naren

dra Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh

Hasina, where they discussed issues ranging

from the violent border incidents to the COVID19 fi��ght,

demonstrates their desire to reboot IndiaBangladesh

ties that have faced challenges in recent months. Mr.

Modi called Bangladesh a “major pillar” in India’s

neighbourhood fi��rst policy, while Ms. Hasina invited

him to visit Bangladesh in March for the celebrations of

the 50th anniversary of its independence. It is a key op

portunity for India, which had played a major role in

Bangladesh’s liberation in 1971, to revive the bonhomie

and address the issues adversely aff��ecting the partner

ship. Despite the friendship remaining solid, the border

has been sensitive — at least 25 Bangladeshis were killed

in the fi��rst six months of this year along the border by

Indian forces, according to a rights watchdog. The Tees

ta water dispute remains unresolved. The Citizenship

(Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register

of Citizens, which Ms. Hasina called “unnecessary”,

have created a negative impression about India. Above

all, China is making deep inroads into Bangladesh by

ramping up infrastructure investments and expanding

economic cooperation. So, it is imperative for India to

bolster ties with this allweather friend, and there may

not be a better time to do so than when Bangladesh is to

celebrate the golden jubilee of its independence.

Ms. Hasina has done relatively well in steering Ban

gladesh through crises. Under the Awami League go

vernment, Bangladesh, India’s largest trading partner

in South Asia, has expanded its economy and improved

social welfare. Despite the Awami League’s tight grip

over the administration, Ms. Hasina has continued to

face challenges from Islamist factions. War crimes and

corruption trials have weakened the traditional opposi

tion — the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its ally, the

proPakistan JamaateIslami. But another Islamist

group, HifazateIslam, made headlines recently when

it organised mass protests against French President

Emmanuel Macron and opposed the Hasina govern

ment’s plan to build a statue of the country’s founding

father, Bangabandhu Mujibur Rahman, in Dhaka’s sub

urbs. The Hifazat has claimed that installing statues is

prohibited in Islam and that they would be pulled

down, but the government seems determined to go

ahead with its plan. In a speech marking Victory Day

(December 16), Ms. Hasina said she would not allow the

country to be divided on religious lines, in an indirect

reference to Hifazat. India should support her fi��ght

against the radical elements. India should also not al

low the ideological inclinations of the ruling party to

spoil the historic relationship between the two coun

tries. New Delhi should take a broader view of the

changing scenario and growing competition in South

Asia, and reach out to Dhaka with an open mind.

Friend and neighbourIndia must strengthen ties with Bangladesh

and appreciate Sheikh Hasina’s challenges

The appointment of three IPS offi��cers of the West

Bengal cadre to various posts by the Union Home

Ministry on Thursday has escalated the confron

tation between the State and the Centre. Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee has termed the deputation order des

pite the State’s objection “a colourable exercise of pow

er and blatant misuse of emergency provision of IPS

Cadre Rule 1954”. The constant hostility between the

State and Central governments is now taking a turn for

the worse ahead of the 2021 Assembly election. The tug

of war began after a convoy of BJP President J.P. Nadda

came under stone pelting in the State on December 10.

The BJP apparently holds the IPS offi��cers accountable

for the incident. After an initial move to recall these offi��

cials was resisted by the State, the Centre has invoked

Section 6(1) of the Indian Police Service (Cadre) Rules,

which says that “in case of any disagreement, the mat

ter shall be decided by the Central Government....” The

tussle mirrors the high stakes political contest between

the BJP and the ruling Trinamool Congress. The CM’s

style of managing the police force has gained attention

for the wrong reasons in the past. Senior offi��cials are

seen as allied with the TMC and the BJP’s determined

drive to capture power in the State is multipronged.

On Friday, the Supreme Court restrained West Ben

gal from taking any “coercive action” against several

BJP leaders in criminal cases registered against them by

the State Police. The BJP will continue to knock on the

doors of the Court and the Election Commission of In

dia to bring pressure on the State government. By en

forcing its writ on IPS offi��cers, the Centre is sending a

signal to all offi��cers that their conduct will now be un

der scrutiny. The script is familiar. Ahead of the 2019

Lok Sabha election, the CBI issued notice to Kolkata

Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar and wanted to take

him in custody, provoking Ms. Banerjee to sit on a dhar

na. During the polls, the ECI transferred senior police

offi��cers including Mr. Kumar. After the elections, the

CM restored all offi��cials to their previous posts. The

central schemes, Ayushman Bharat and PM Kisan Sam

man Nidhi, are also a bone of contention. The TMC go

vernment has refused to implement them, demanding

that the funds be routed through the State. The CM has

also complained of insuffi��cient central assistance to

manage the COVID19 pandemic and cyclone Amphan.

The Centre’s earlier demand that the Chief Secretary

and DGP attend a meeting in New Delhi on the State’s

lawandorder situation increased tensions. All told, the

partisan use of the personnel and instruments of the

state by parties in power as is happening in this tussle is

a disturbing signal for democracy and federalism.

Battle for Bengal Police personnel should not be made

instruments of a political battle


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CMYK

M ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


GROUND ZERO

It has been 11 days since she suddenlycollapsed and had a seizure, but Bantu Mallika’s woes are not over. The

thirtytwoyearold homemaker fromTemple Street in Eluru still gets shivers,headaches and dizziness.

It was on December 6 that Mallika felta piercing headache and giddiness athome. Feeling disoriented, she calledthe village health assistant, Durga, forhelp. It was a timely call, for minutes later she lost consciousness and had a seizure. She was rushed to the medicalcentre at the end of the street.

“I don’t know what happened to me,”Mallika said. “When I opened my eyes, Ifound myself on a hospital bed in theGovernment General Hospital (GGH). Ihad followed my usual routine that day.I did the household chores and hadmore or less the same food and waterthat I have been having for years. Andnone of my family members had anyproblem.” Mallika was discharged onthe same day after treatment.

Health assistant Durga too was surprised by the sudden attack. “Mallikahad a fi��veminute seizure and complained of nausea after she gained consciousness. For the past couple of days,we have been monitoring her alongwith four others on the street who experienced similar symptoms. They stillfeel weak and complain of a vomitingsensation,” she said.

“Mallika and four others” quicklyturned to scores of people and scores tohundreds. Confusion prevailed as thereseemed to be no identifi��able cause ofthis illness. For the people of Eluru, inWest Godavari district, already living infear of COVID19, this was a bolt fromthe blue. Between December 5 and December 13, over 600 people had fallenill and no one knew why. Only theoriesfl��oated around. On December 10, theAndhra Pradesh government constituted a 21member high level multidisciplinary committee to investigate the disease that was aff��ecting the people ofEluru, a city with a population of overfour lakh and a hub of agriculture, commerce, aquaculture and export.

The initial daysDoctors at the GGH said the illness hadin fact started impacting several peoplein midNovember. All the patients hadthe same symptoms: after experiencinggiddiness, back pain, fi��ts, vomiting, anxiety, loss of memory, and headache,they all collapsed. The patients were immediately tested for COVID19, their reports showed ‘negative’. While the recovery rate was extremely high, peoplewere shocked when one man died. Thesudden outbreak grabbed global attention in the fi��rst week of December, withoffi��cials of the World Health Organization (WHO), the State and Central governments, and research organisationsscrambling to fi��nd out the cause.

According to government records, amajority of the cases have been tracedto JP Road, Vangayagudem, DakshinaVeedhi, Turpu Veedhi, Arundhatipeta,Kothapeta, Kobbarithota and Sanivarapupeta in Eluru. The fi��rst cases were reported from JP Road and Vangayagudem, according to hospital authorities.

On December 9, GGH was buzzingwith activity. It was the second consecu

tive day that a decline in cases was reported, yet the hospital was still admitting patients with similar ailments — atleast more than two every passing hour.GGH Superintendent A.V.R. Mohan wasbusy attending calls from State and Central offi��cials, journalists and staff�� members. Speaking to The Hindu, he saidthat there was no pattern in the answersof patients when they were asked whatthey imagined was the reason for the illness. Some said the episode struck afterthey drove, some said it happened afterthey ate, others, after they drank. Theauthorities were at sea.

Mohan said the illness broke out before December. Sporadic incidents werereported by some rural medical practitioners from the middle of November,he said, but no one suspected anything.Then the numbers began climbing fromDecember 4, the hospitals began fi��llingup with patients, and a 45yearold mandied on December 9. “However, thatdeath cannot be directly attributed tothe disease,” Mohan said. “The personfell in the bathroom and the cause ofdeath was reported as a head injury. Butof course, postCOVID19, any such development is a matter of concern.”Some people even experienced seizuresmore than once, but they were treatedand sent home, said Mohan.

The responseTo handle the rapidly emerging crisis inEluru, 150 additional people werebrought from hospitals across the State,including doctors, paramedics andnurses. Expert teams from premier research and medical institutions in Delhi, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad andother parts of Andhra Pradesh were alsobrought in.

Speaking to The Hindu at GGH,Jamshed Nair, Associate Professor at theDepartment of Emergency Medicine,AIIMS, New Delhi, said their team hascollected inputs from the patients atGGH and visited the discharged patientsand their kin in the aff��ected colonies inEluru. “We have collected blood samples from them. Samples of water andmilk have been collected from Eluruand neighbouring villages for testing,”he said.

On its part, the government roped inadministrative staff��, police and medicalpersonnel, and research institutions tohandle the situation. Sixtytwo villagesecretariats have been activated, andfi��rst aid centres have been set up in eachlocality. Each centre has a doctor andtwo paramedics and basic medicationto help patients till the ambulance arrives. The Centre has maintained a log

book of referred cases with details suchas the name of the patient, ward, gender, symptoms noticed, the date of admission, the reference hospital, presentcondition, the mobile number of the patient, date of discharge and remarks.Such microlevel data has helped immensely in handling the situation, saidthe GGH Superintendent.

According to the data on TempleStreet, where the fi��rst incident was reported, there were 17 cases recordedfrom December 5 to 9. While 13 of thesepatients had fi��ts, the remaining complained of dizziness, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea. The patients were referred to GGH, Swaruparani Hospitaland Vijaya Diagnostics.

The government has established aroundtheclock control room and a callcentre at the municipal offi��ce. According to offi��cials, it initiated housetohouse surveys within municipal limits.So far, 42,012 households out of 43,897have been scanned. To check the possible scarcity of beds, a speciality hospitalwas kept on standby in Vijayawada.Twenty ambulances were pressed intooperation, and 300 beds and 150 doctors and nurses were kept ready for patients in GGH Eluru and Asram hospital.Food, milk and drinking water weresupplied to all the patients. Specialistdoctors from AIIMS were fl��own in toconduct a detailed investigation. Experts from the National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Institute of ChemicalTechnology, and Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology were roped in to fi��gure out the cause of the disease.

Possible causeBy December 10, potable water, cerebral spinal fl��uid, blood, and milk in theareas were tested and the CT scans of 42patients were taken. Traces of heavymetals such as lead and nickel werefound in the blood samples of patients,the AIIMS report said, but where theyoriginated remains unclear. The Centrefor Cellular and Molecular Biology hasconcluded that the locals consumed aneurotoxic contaminant that hascaused the outbreak. The Director ofthe Centre for Cellular and MolecularBiology, Rakesh Mishra, said, “TheCouncil of Scientifi��c and Industrial Research and the Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology carried out extensiveanalysis using the next generation sequencingbased approach to explore

the microbiomes of samples collectedfrom aff��ected individuals. The samplesincluded blood, faeces and vomitus.Our analysis showed no link betweenany infectious organism and this mysterious disease. The microbiomes were ofhealthy individuals. It is, therefore, likely that this disease was caused by a onetime event in a localised context and isnot linked to any infectious organism.Considering the information available,it looks like a pointsource outbreakwhere a neurotoxic contaminant hasbeen consumed by the local people.”

Pesticide residueThe government constituted a multidisciplinary highpower committee to investigate the source of the disease. Thepanel was also expected to suggest remedial measures to prevent any suchevent in the future. Headed by the ChiefSecretary of Andhra Pradesh, the committee included doctors, scientists andsenior offi��cials from the Andhra Pradesh government.

The Chief Minister, Y.S. Jagan MohanReddy, announced on December 16 thefi��ndings of the expert panel through avideo conference call and wanted further investigation into the issue. According to the details shared by the government, the probability that pesticideresidues triggered the illness is high. AIIMS and the Indian Institute of ChemicalTechnology also agreed that this probability was high, but wanted further investigation on how the pesticides entered human bodies. The two instituteshave been entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out further investigation. The Chief Minister also instructedthe offi��cials concerned to set up publiclabs in each district and continue thetests on food, water and soil so that theEluru incident is not repeated. He wanted the agriculture department to focuson natural farming without using pesticides and help farmers with inputsthrough the Rythu Bharosa Kendras(RBKs). Over 10,000 RBKs were set upin Andhra Pradesh with the objective ofhelping farmers to enhance productivity while ensuring better incomes.

Various fi��ndingsCommenting on its fi��ndings, AIIMS,New Delhi stated that the blood samplesof patients contained lead and nickel.All the milk samples that were collectedalso contained nickel. Based on the ob

servations of patients, it said the reasonfor the illness could be the presence oforganochloride which might have entered bodies through pesticides in thefood cycle. Lead was also found in theblood samples of the relatives of the patients. AIIMS suggested that the foodsamples, food and vegetables be testedfor a few months to help determine theexact reason for the illness. It also suggested geotagging of the samples.

The Indian Institute of ChemicalTechnology collected 21 water samplesfrom diff��erent parts of Eluru along withblood samples from humans and animals. It found no traces of lead, arsenicor any other heavy metals and pesticides in the water samples. However,the blood samples contained endosulfan and dichlorodiphenyltrichloethane(DDT), which are hazardous. Bloodsamples also contained lead and therewere no organophosphates present.

The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Hyderabad,which collected air, soil and ground water samples from the aff��ected areas, saidthat the air quality is within acceptablelimits. Except for mercury, all other metals and substances in surface andground water are well within the limits.There were no traces of organochlorineor organophosphates in the samples.Compared to surface water, the groundwater contained higher levels of mercury. The phenomenon was attributed toburning of solid waste in the region. Thetests on soil are still underway.

The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, did not fi��nd anysubstances beyond the permissible limits in the serum and urine samples.There were also no traces of bacteria orvirus, according to their report. The National Institute of Virology, Pune, saidthere was no evidence to prove any kindof viral infection. The National Instituteof Nutrition, Hyderabad, found pesticide residues in the tomato and brinjalsamples. These pesticides could havecaused the mysterious illness, according to its report.

AIIMS, Mangalagiri, suggested a detailed examination and study of samples in other regions of the State againstthe backdrop of the Eluru incident.While investigating the presence of pesticide residues in humans, it wanted theright inputs to be given to farmers onthe use of pesticides and natural farming. It has also suggested a detailedmedical protocol to be used in the eventof such an occurrence in the future.

The WHO representative wanted theexpert panel to focus on how the pesticide residues entered human bodies.

Poor hygieneMeanwhile, the public in Eluru feel thatthere should be a streamlining of pesticide and chemical usage and dischargeof the same from agri and aqua processing sectors in and around the city.Though there were no formal complaints about the high and intensive usage of chemicals and pesticides, theyexpressed concern as Eluru is a majorhub of aqua and agri exports. There areabout 30 major aqua units which store,package, weigh and export aqua products such as shrimp and fi��sh. Thesefi��rms process, pack and export about

10,000 to 12,000 tonnes of processedproduct to diff��erent countries.

In December, the general hygieneconditions and management of garbagein Eluru are alarming. Almost all the canals are fi��lled with garbage, still water,and plastic materials, which are a potential threat to general health. Elurugenerates approximately 82 metrictonnes of garbage per day.

Several sources in and around Eluruleave effl��uents in irrigation and othercanals which eventually seep intogroundwater. The public spoke aboutindustrial solid and liquid waste fromaqua processing industries, effl��uentsand pesticides mixing with water fromaquaponds and agricultural patches.Elurubased school teacher SambasivaRao said all the aqua industry certifi��cations are upto the mark but there areviolations. “The Marine Products Export Development Authority frequentlyconducts camps for aqua farmers onthe excessive use of nonorganic fertilisers, pesticides, insecticides and antibiotics. We know about the intensiveuse of pesticides in agriculture. All theseare obviously sinking into soil andgroundwater. It’s an open secret,” hesaid. Senior citizen and resident of Eluru, M. Satyanarayana, said, “Dumpinggarbage in open places and canals andwater stagnation have become normal.There seems to be no tab on the use ofpesticides and chemicals and dischargeof diff��erent effl��uents here. This needs tochange. The government should defi��nitely focus on this aspect with commitment,” he said.

Meanwhile, with this illness causingfear among the people, eating out hasbecome uncommon and public movement has reduced in Eluru, people said.

Residents also said people from otherregions are now sceptical about visitingEluru. B. Subbarao, a resident of Powerpet, said he noticed people being extracareful. “People are carrying their ownwater and eating out less. Fewer peopleare travelling to Eluru now. People havebecome suspicious of every small ailment. I had a headache a few days ago,and I was worried. But it turned out tobe a normal headache. But the anxietythat something may happen to me isthere all the time. I feel uneasy for noreason,” Subbarao said.

Doctors at GGH said that such mildparanoia is natural. “It’s common forthe general public to take smaller illnesses more seriously and become anxious. We have had many cases at theGGH over the past few days where people who came for a checkup displayedhigh anxiety levels. It could be addressed in a matter of hours,” said GGHSuperintendent Mohan.

The Andhra Pradesh State Health Minister Alla Kali Krishna Srinivas announced on December 13 that therewere no new cases reported and all the600 odd patients admitted in hospitalswith symptoms of the illness were successfully treated and discharged. Butthe mysterious disease with no namehas taken hold of people’s lives in Eluru.As trains near the Eluru railway station,passengers down the shutters. The saleof water bottles has reportedly seen adip on platforms. It is as if the very air ofEluru has turned toxic.

(Clockwise from top left): The public gather at the enquiry counter of Eluru Government General Hospital; a patient is brought into the hospital after having a seizure; and the Tangellamudi canal is fi��lled with garbage in Eluru town. * GIRI KVS

The mystery disease of EluruWith over 600 people being hospitalised after contracting a sudden, unknown illness and one dead, confusion and fear have prevailed in Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, thismonth. Appaji Reddem reports on the outbreak, the response and the possible causes


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CMYK

M ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

FROM PAGE ONE

doctrine of theConstitution.

“Under the constitutionalframework, it is not for thecourts to decide as towhether there is a constitutional breakdown in a State.The said power has beenspecifi��cally conferred upona diff��erent constitutionalauthority – and rightly so. Itis needless to mention thatthe constitutional courts donot have any judicially discoverable and manageablestandards to determine ifthere has been a constitutional breakdown,” the petition contended.

The High Court had suo mo-tu summoned the Statecounsel to assist it in deciding “whether in circumstances prevailing in theState of Andhra Pradesh,the court can record a fi��nding that there is constitutional breakdown in theState or not”.

The State said an application to recall the October 1order was not taken up bythe High Court, compellingthe government to move thetop court.

The government said theHigh Court’s observationviolated the Basic Structure

SC fi��nds HC order onA.P. govt. ‘disturbing’

shortage faced by farmers.Also, new fertilizer plantswill be coming up in Gorakhpur, Barauni, Sidri,Talcher and Ramagundam,which will make urea abundantly available and theseplants will also give employment to thousands,” he said.

“MSP has remained, andwill remain. It is a myth being spread that MSP will bediscontinued,” he said. “Thethree farm laws have beenin place for the last sixmonths and not only hasMSP been paid but procurement has also been done atrecord levels,” he claimed,citing fi��gures for the same.

Mr. Modi asserted thatthere was no move to dismantle the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees(APMC) or ‘mandis’ underthe new laws. “Not a singlemandi has been shut downin the past six months thatthe laws have been inplace,” he said.

“My government is ready,with bowed heads and folded hands, to answer anydoubt on these importantreforms,” he said.

Mr. Modi proceeded togive a pointbypoint rebuttal of all the objectionsraised by the agitating farmers groups and the Opposition parties. “These are reforms that have beenthought about by many governments in the past, discussed across a wide sectionof people, and fi��nally implemented by our government,” he said.

‘Urea shortage tackled’He accused the Oppositionparties of opposing thethree farm laws just becauseit was the Modiled government that had initiatedthem. Mr. Modi said, “Ourgovernment not only implemented the SwaminathanCommittee report but alsoresolved the chronic urea

PM makes a strong pitchto protesting farmers

the strategic heights it occupied in late August south ofPangong Lake in responseto China’s transgressions.

Tensions have remainedhigh south of the lake,where shots were also fi��redin warning, marking the fi��rstsuch instance of fi��ring since1975.

Offi��cials told The Hindu,following the last round,that proposals were underdiscussion and would be taken up at the ninth round,and “once agreed upon, itwill be done in multiplephases with on the groundverifi��cation after each step”.

North of the lake, Chinahas moved troops up to Finger 4 since May and has prevented India from reachingFinger 8, up to where Indiahas patrolled previously.

Under the fi��rst phase ofdisengagement, both sideshad moved back in the Galwan Valley and in the GograHot Springs area. The situation at Pangong Lake remains unresolved, as also inthe Depsang plains in the farnorth where India has beenprevented from reachingpatrolling points in the area.

They also agreed to hold theninth round of Corps Commanderlevel talks “at anearly date” so that “bothsides can work towards early and complete disengagement of troops along theLAC in accordance with theexisting bilateral agreements and protocols, andfully restore peace and tranquillity”, the statement said.

A statement from China’sForeign Ministry said bothsides agreed to “focus onthe disengagement of frontline troops and take concrete measures to deal withthe issues on the ground tofurther deescalate the border situation” and to holdthe ninth round of commanderlevel talks “as soon aspossible to properly resolveremaining issues on theground and jointly maintainpeace in the border area”.

At the last round of talksbetween Corps Commanders on November 6, bothsides continued discussingmodalities to fi��nalise a planfor phased disengagement.

One of the sticking pointsis China’s insistence on India fi��rst withdrawing from

India, China agree to holdnext round of LAC talks

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Karnataka HighCourt judgment of December 4, which directed theState Election Commissionto conduct elections in only198 wards of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) within six weeks.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobdeissued notice to the ElectionCommission and original petitioners in the High Court —M. Shivaraju and Abdul Wajid — on an appeal fi��led bythe Karnataka government.

The government said theHigh Court judgment nullifi��ed the unanimous will ofthe State legislature, comprising the representativesof the people, which amended the Karnataka MunicipalCorporations Act, 1976, to increase the number of wards

in Bengaluru to 243. The1976 Act governs the BBMP.

The High Court, on December 4, ordered the BBMPelections to be held for 198wards under the delimitation of wards published onJune 23.

The State government, represented by advocate Subhranshu Padhi, said the HighCourt had severely handicapped eff��orts to “improve

urban governance in one ofthe largest and most cosmopolitan cities in India”.

“The increase in the number of wards was necessitated by fact that the population and demographics ofthe city have undergone avast change since 2009(when the number of wardswere increased to 198) thereby necessitating an increasein the number of wards and

their redrawing into smallerand more administrable sizes,” the State argued.

The petition said the HCerroneously read down theprovisions to “mean that theamended provisions wouldnot apply to elections ofthose corporations whereelections became due priorto coming into force of theamended provisions”.

The State governmentcontended that the HC directed the State to conductelections in a manner whichwas contrary to “a validlyand unanimously enactedpiece of legislation by theLegislature”.

It said Article 243ZA(2) ofthe Constitution has conferred the power on theState Legislature to, by law,make provision with respectto “all matters relating to orin connection with electionsto municipalities”.

SC stays High Court order tohold Bengaluru civic body pollsState had opposed move to conduct elections in only 198 of the 243 BBMP wards

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

People’s voice: File photo of a BBMP meeting. Karnataka saysmore wards were needed to match the rise in population.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday conducted searches againstHyderabadbased Transstroy (India) Limited, former Telugu Desam Party(TDP) MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao and others in connection with a bank fraudcase involving ₹��7,926 crore.

Among those named asaccused in the case are thecompany’s chairmancummanaging director Cherukuri Sridhar; Mr. Rao, its additional director; and anotheradditional director, Akkineni Satish. The FIR has beenfi��led on a complaint fromCanara Bank, leader of aconsortium of lenders.

‘Statements fudged’The company had taken credit facilities on multiplebanking arrangements. According to the bank, the accused persons fabricated

the books of accounts,fudged stock statements,tampered with balancesheets and indulged inround tripping and diversion of funds.

“Searches were conducted on the premises of private company/other accusedin Hyderabad and Guntur,”said a CBI offi��cial.

On Friday, the agencycarried out searches inanother case against AgniteEducation Limited, its chairman K. Balasubramaniam,and director K. Padmanabhan. They are accused ofcheating the State Bank ofIndia of about ₹��313.79 crore.

In yet another case, theagency has booked VariaEngineering Works PrivateLimited, Himanshu Prafulchandra Varia, Sejal H. Varia, Krish Techcon PrivateLimited for allegedly cheating a consortium of sevenbanks to the tune of ₹��452.62crore.

Former TDP MP among accused

special correspondent

NEW DELHI

CBI conducts searchesin bank fraud case

The State committee of theLeft Democratic Front (LDF)on Friday moved to securean earlybird advantage inthe Kerala Assembly election scheduled for mid2021.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will spearhead thecampaign with a tour of theState on December 22 toconsolidate the advantagegained from the victory inlocal body elections. Mr Vijayan will camp at districtheadquarters and interactwith opinion leaders.

The LDF will use inputsfrom these meetings togauge the development andsocial welfare aspirations ofpeople.

The LDF felt that social security benefi��ts distributedduring the pandemic hadhelped it tide over the “calumnious and recriminatorycampaign” unleashed by theOpposition.

It said the voters had rewarded the LDF for its development work including themodernisation of primaryhealth centres, taluk anddistrict hospitals and government medical colleges.

Pinarayi plans to interact with diverse groups to map mood


Thiruvananthapuram

Big boost: The Left camp in Kerala is upbeat after thethumping victory in the local body elections. * K.K.NAJEEB

Kerala CM to kickstartelection tour next week

Over 2,200 kg ganjaseized in VisakhapatnamVISAKHAPATNAM

The district police arrested

two persons while they were

allegedly transporting about

2,200 kg of dry ganja near

Makavarapalem in

Visakhapatnam district on

Thursday night. They were

allegedly trying to shift the

ganja from Visakhapatnam to

Maharashtra via Hyderabad.

Though the seized ganja is

said to worth ₹��1.2 crore in the

Agency areas of Visakhapat

nam, its market value in

Maharashtra or Hyderabad is

expected to be close to ₹��2.5

crore. The ganja packed in 55

bags were kept under bags of

paddy, the police said.

This is said to be the highest

quantity of ganja seized in

the last couple of months.

The Andhra Pradesh Cabineton Friday cleared the newtourism policy and the proposal facilitating payment ofinput subsidy within onemonth of crop damage. Ithas also given its nod toamend the State Survey andBoundary Act.

Addressing the media onFriday, I&PR Minister PerniVenkataramaiah said that incentives would be providedfor tourism projects in theState. Tourism projects envi

saging an investment ofmore than ₹��400 crore wouldbe called ‘mega tourism projects’.

The incentives for suchprojects include 100% subsidy in SGST, 100% reimbursement of stamp duty, provision of electricity at ₹��2 perunit and 100% waiver of landuse conversion charges.

The Cabinet also approved the proposal to increase the land lease periodfrom 33 years to 99 years formega projects.

Power charges waiverThe Cabinet decided towaive the fi��xed electricitydeposit for cinema theatresin the State for three months.

The charges for April, Mayand June would not be collected. For the remaining sixmonths, a moratorium onpayment would be extend

ed. The government wouldalso provide working capitalloan to 1,100 theatres as partof the ‘restart package’.

A loan of ₹��10 lakh wouldbe given to the theatres located in ‘A’ and ‘B’ centres. Aloan of ₹��5 lakh would be provided to the theatres locatedin ‘C’ Centres, the Ministersaid.

New packageAs part of the restart package, the government decidedto extend loans to hotels,function halls, service providers and restaurants. Theloan would range between₹��50,000 and ₹��15 lakh. Thepackage would benefi��t 3,910units. A sum of ₹��198.5 crore

would be earmarked for thepurpose, the Minister said.

More medical collegesThe Cabinet also cleared theproposal to issue an ordinance to establish the Andhra Pradesh Medical Education, Research Corporation(APMERC).

The corporation wouldtake up construction of hospitals and establish newmedical colleges, apart fromstrengthening the existinghospitals and nursingcolleges.

The Cabinet also clearedthe decks for the appointment of Jasti Nagabhushanam as AdvocateGeneral ofthe State, the Minister said.

Major push for tourism, fi��lm industries in A.P.Cabinet clearsslew of incentivesfor mega projects

The government will grantworking capital loans to 1,100 theatres. * K.V.S. GIRI

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA

A preprint published recently in Medrxiv has advancedthe case to use indomethacin, a drug conventionallyused in the treatment ofrheumatoid arthritis, for faster symptomatic relief andpreventing progression ofpneumonia in COVID19patients.

A total of 104 patients whohad tested COVID19 positive

received the drug, along withstandard care in two centres— Narayana Medical College,Nellore, Andhra Pradesh,and Datta Meghe Institute ofMedical Sciences, Wardha,Maharashtra. The study wasconceived by Rajan Ravichandran, senior nephrologist, MIOT Hospital, here,and executed along with R.Krishnakumar of the Department of Engineering Designat the Indian Institute ofTechnologyMadras, besidesresearchers from the participating hospitals. The authorshave called for indomethacin to replace paracetamol if

would have been ideal, wefelt that ethically it would beunfair to deny patients indomethacin, given that we hadseen such good results in ourpilot study,” Dr. Ravichandran said. “We did not refuseanyone the drug, but patients could opt out of the indomethacin arm,” he added.

The study was done in twogroups. One, involving 82mild and moderate patients,used the Propensity ScoreMatch technique to compareindomethacin and paracetamolbased treatments. In thesecond group, severe patients (22) were treated with

indomethacin in addition toremdesivir.

The authors wrote thatthose treated with indomethacin had a reduction in thenumber of days to becomefeverfree, and reduction incough and muscle pain byhalf compared to the paracetamol set. Only one patientof 82 in the indomethacinarm of the fi��rst group required supplementary oxygen, while 28 of 109 patientson paracetamol requiredsupplementary oxygen. Noone in the second group deteriorated enough to requiremechanical ventilation.

matching study for the effi��cacy and safety of indomethacin. “Though a double armrandomised clinical trial

there is no contraindicationfor its use.

It was an openlabelled,singlearm, propensity score

Research fi��nds indomethacin benefi��cial in COVID19 care Paracetamol maybe replaced withindomethacin


Chennai

Battle continues: Testing under way at Vijayawada. * K.V.S. GIRI

A 29yearold techie wasfound dead at his residencein Rajendranagar here onWednesday.

However, the incidentcame to light only on Thursday after his wife lodged acomplaint with the police alleging that her husband, P.Sunil, took the extreme stepdue to harassment and humiliation by appbased fi��nance companies.

Sunil, who lost his jobduring the COVID19 lockdown, took loans in smallamounts through variousapps to meet his monthlyexpenses and to clear existing loans and credit cardbills, the police said.

Third such caseThis is the third such deathin Telangana in the pastweek due to harassment ofappbased fi��nance companies. Earlier this week, Eddu Srawan Yadav, 23, fromNarsapur, Medak, and KirniMounika, 28, from Nangunur, Siddipet, allegedlycommitted suicide over harassment and humiliationby these companies.

“Sunil was being threa

tened and blackmailed byrepresentatives of instantloan mobile app companies,who also phoned and messaged his friends and familymembers over social mediaplatforms and informedthem of the loan default,”the police said.

His father and wife toogot calls from the app companies declaring him a defaulter. Sunil had been upsetafter he learnt about thesecalls.

According to the investigators, Sunil availed nearly₹��2 lakh from 35 loan apps,including In Cash, Cash era,Cash lion, Mastermelon,Lucky wallet, Coco cash,Rupee Pus, Indian Loan andCredit fi��nch.

Based on the complaintlodged by his wife, a caseunder Sections 420, 306,504 and 506 of the IndianPenal Code and Section 67of the IT Act was registeredagainst some fi��nanciers.

“The genuineness ofthese apps and the transactions made by him are beingprobed,” the police said.

Those in distress maycontact Hyderabad-based

suicide intervention centreRoshni at +914066202000.

Kin cite pressure from appbased fi��rms

Staff Reporter

Hyderabad

Hyderabad techie indebt trap ends life

A protracted meeting of thePolitical Aff��airs Committee(PAC) of the Kerala PradeshCongress Committee(KPCC) on Thursday reportedly blamed lack of dynamic leadership, inadequateelection preparedness, scarcity of funds and illinformed selection of candidates for the debacle in thelocal body elections.

The Congress largelyfailed to actively enrol voters in advance. A largenumber of women Congresscandidates, most of themnew to electoral politics, feltunsupported by the party.

The party was also largelyunsuccessful in ironing outfactional diff��erences.

The PAC also reportedlyfelt the selection of candidates did not always refl��ectthe winnability factor.

Congress zeroes in onreasons for debacleSpecial Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram

Kerala HC issues noticeon compensation appealKOCHI

The Kerala High Court on

Thursday issued notice to the

Centre and the National

Aviation Company of India on

a petition filed by kin of the

the victims of the Karipur air

crash of August 7 this year,

seeking compensation under

the Montreal Convention.

The petition was filed by

Ameena Sherin, wife of

Sharafudeen who was killed

in the crash. As per Article 21

of the Montreal Convention,

in case of death of

passengers, the airline was

liable to pay up to ₹��1 crore as

Special Drawing Rights per

passenger, the petition said.

IN BRIEF

2 injured as AIMIM leaderopens fire in AdilabadHYDERABAD

Two people were injured after

AIMIM's Adilabad district

president opened fire from

his licensed revolver and

attacked another person

with a knife in the town in

Telangana on Friday. The

police said Mohammed

Farooq Ahmed had interve

ned in a quarrel between two

groups of children playing

cricket in Tatiguda. “Soon,

their parents picked up an

argument, and when he saw

some people from another

party at the spot, he opened

fire,” the police said.

A highlevel delegation ofthe Election Commission(EC) will be visiting Chennaifor two days early nextweek to assess the preparedness for the upcomingAssembly election in theState.

The team will be led byUmesh Sinha, SecretaryGeneral, EC, and will comprise Deputy Election Commissioners Sudeep Jain andAshish Kundra; H.R. Srinivasa, Chief Electoral Offi��cer,Bihar; Pankaj Srivatsava, Director, and Malay Mallick,Secretary, EC.

The team will hold meet

ings on December 21 withrepresentatives of recognised political parties, nodal offi��cers of the IncomeTax Department and virtualmeetings with the DistrictElection Offi��cers and policeoffi��cials.

On December 22, theteam will hold meetingswith various enforcementagencies, the Tamil NaduChief Secretary, the Director General of Police andother State government Secretaries.

Following this, the delegation will leave for Puducherry to assess the electionpreparedness in the UnionTerritory.

Election Commissionteam to visit U.T., T.N.Delegation to assess poll preparedness


CHENNAI


+

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M ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


NEWS

The National InvestigationAgency (NIA) fi��led a chargesheet against 10 personsfor allegedly carrying out“propaganda activities”both online and on groundin support of the bannedgroup Sikhs For Justice (SFJ)and Referendum2020.

This is the second suchchargesheet fi��led against theSFJ in the past 10 days.

“The case relates to a series of acts of violence including acts of arson in Pun

jab during the year 201718,carrying out of propagandaactivities, both online andon ground campaigns, insupport of SFJ and Referendum 2020. These acts werecommitted by a gang of radicalised Sikh youth under thedirection and fi��nancial assistance from SFJ handlers located abroad as part of anorganised conspiracy by theaccused for launching a concerted secessionist campaign for creation of Khalistan,” a statement by NIAsaid. The chargesheet has

been fi��led against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, resident of New York, PargatSingh, Sukhraj Singh, Bikramjit Singh, Manjeet Singh,Jatinder Singh, GurwinderSingh, Harpreet Singh, Kuldeep Singh (all residents ofPunjab) and Harmeet Singh,a resident of Delhi.

The case was initially registered by the Punjab policeat Sultanwind Police Station,Amritsar (City) in the year2018 and was subsequentlyreregistered by the NIA onApril 5 this year.

NIA fi��les chargesheet against SFJSpecial Correspondent

New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Friday restrained the WestBengal government fromtaking any “coercive action” against several BJPleaders in criminal casesregistered against them bypolice.

A Bench led by JusticeSanjay Kishan Kaul issuednotice to the TrinamoolCongress government onseparate petitions fi��led byBJP leaders, including Mukul Roy, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Arjun Singh, againstthe multiple FIRs containing “vague” and even “improbable” criminal allegations against them.

“No stone has been leftunturned to make use ofthe State machinery andthe State Police to harassthe petitioners,” one of thepetitioners said. The pleassaid the government hadinitiated “false and frivolous cases against politicalleaders whose political allegiance and ideologies arediff��erent”.

The BJP leaders soughtan investigation by an independent agency.

SC notice toBengal on pleaby BJP leaders

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The Union Home Ministryon Friday asked the top offi��cers of the West Bengal government to ensure coordination with Central agenciesfor better security arrangements of individuals withCentral security cover.

Chief Secretary AlapanBandyopadhyay and DirectorGeneral of Police Virendra were asked to appearbefore Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla on Fridaydays after an attack on theconvoy of BJP president J.PNadda in the Diamond Harbour area of West Bengal.

No Delhi visit

After the two offi��cers expressed their inability to travel to Delhi because of thepandemic, a video conference was held. The Ministry on Thursday wrote for asecond time to the offi��cialsto appear before the UnionHome Secretary in Delhi todiscuss the law and ordersituation.

In the virtual meeting,the two offi��cers are said to

have asserted the State’s inability to relieve three IPSoffi��cers for Central deputation.

The Ministry had earlierordered three senior IPS offi��cers responsible for Mr.Nadda’s security to reportfor Central deputation. WestBengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said onThursday that the orderswere a “blatant misuse ofemergency provision of IPSCadre Rule 1954” and thatWest Bengal was “not goingto cow down in front of expansionist and undemocratic force”.

However, the Home Ministry is the cadre controlling authority of IPS offi��cers.

Home Secy. talks to Bengal offi��cials


New Delhi

Centre seeks bettersecurity coordination

Ajay Bhalla

A day ahead of Union HomeMinister Amit Shah’s rally inMidnapore on Saturday,there was frenetic activityamong the rank and fi��le ofthe Trinamool Congress,with many resigning andgiving ample hints that theywould join the BJP.

Mr. Shah, meanwhile, arrived in Kolkata late on Friday evening.

Speculation is rife thatseveral Trinamool leaders,including party heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari,will join the BJP at the rally.The latest addition to the listof dissident Trinamool leaders were Barrackpore MLASilbhadra Datta and KanthiUttar MLA Banshri Maity,

both of whom sent in theirresignations to party chiefand Chief Minister MamataBanerjee. Speaking to presspersons later, Mr. Datta saidhe had resigned from theparty but would remain anMLA.

Thursday had a steadystream of resignations.

On Friday, the list of disgruntled leaders crossed adozen, including a numberof district and block leaderswho resigned, expressingtheir support to Mr. Adhikari.

Posters of Mr. Adhikarihave come up in severalplaces in Kolkata and otherparts of the State. The former Minister was provided security by the Union HomeMinistry.

2 MLAs, other leaders resign on Friday

Special correspondent

Kolkata

Ahead of Shah’s rally,many quit Trinamool

Protesting farmer groups accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “attacking”them in his speech on Friday, adding that his claimson minimum support prices(MSP) were “lies”. With regard to the ongoing SupremeCourt case, farm leadershave not yet made any fi��rmdecision on whether to implead themselves as proposed by the court.

“The Prime Minister haslaunched an open party attack on the farmers of Indiaby claiming that they arelinked to Opposition parties,” said a statement fromthe All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), responding toMr. Modi’s address to Madhya Pradesh farmers. “Inplace of addressing the issueof repeal of the three farmActs which erode farmers’hold on land and farmingand establish the MNCs andbig business to grow in agriculture, he has reduced him

self to a party leader undermining his role as aresponsible executive headof the country, expected tosolve problems.”

The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Tikait) dismissed theCentre’s claims of helpingfarmers by increasing theMSPs. It pointed out that theMSPs of major crops had anaverage yearly increase of 812% in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) era, incomparison to only 15% under the National DemocraticAlliance (NDA). “These areModiji’s lies about MSP,” said

the group’s leader Rakesh Tikait, adding that most pulseswere not being bought atMSP prices. Even with regards to paddy, a farmer inBihar is still forced to sell hiscrop at half the rate of MSPbecause government procurement has not reachedhim, he said.

Mr. Tikait also termed theCentre’s claims of implementing the SwaminathanCommission’s recommendations as a “lie”, pointing outthat the Bharatiya Janata Party’s formula for calculatingMSP does not follow the

Commission, and has resulted in “suppressing the rightsof farmers”.

The PM’s claim that thenew laws would promote investment in farm storage infrastructure would only helpcorporates, said Mr. Tikait.“This means that Modiji ispromoting agri business, notfarmers. Privatisation is being promoted in farming. After the Navratna companieswere privatised, Modi is noweyeing the privatisation ofagriculture,” he said.

All India Kisan Sabha(AIKS) general secretaryHannan Mollah questionedMr. Modi’s claim that thefarm reforms were not a sudden move but the result oftwo decades of consultationand planning.

“Without discussing withfarmers, what is the use ofsaying we have been talkingfor 20 years in bureaucraticrooms? No farmers’ groupwas consulted before theselaws were brought, no farmer has asked for these laws,”he said.

PM ‘lied’ on MSP: farmer unions AIKSCC says he launched an open attack by linking them to the Opposition

Holding on: Farmers at a sit-in on the Delhi-Ghazipur borderon Friday. * SANDEEP SAXENA


New Delhi

The Congress on Fridaysaid Prime Minister Narendra Modi should stop deceiving farmers and not‘pretend’ to talk to thefarmers in Madya Pradeshthrough video conference,while refusing to meetthose who are agitatingagainst the farm laws.

Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewalasaid Mr. Modi and his Ministers should apologise tothe farmers for brandingthem as ‘Khalistanis’ andpart of ‘tukde tukde’ gang.He held the Modi government responsible for thedeath of 24 farmers duringthe protests.

Mr. Surjewala said thatas Gujarat Chief Ministerand head of a workinggroup of CMs on agriculture years ago, Mr. Modihad suggested that minimum support price (MSP)should be given statutoryprovision and legalguarantee.

Modi mustapologise tofarmers: Cong.


NEW DELHI

Ahead of a crucial meetingof Congress president SoniaGandhi with senior leadersincluding some from thegroup of 23 (G23) dissenters, the Congress on Fridaydownplayed internal dissentby asserting that “all issuesstood resolved” with the announcement of election ofthe next party president.

At a press conference, theparty’s chief spokesperson,Randeep Surjewala, said Rahul Gandhi was the “rightperson to lead the Congressand take on the NarendraModi government”.

However, several G23members were upset thatthe Congress offi��cially downplayed the importance of Saturday’s meeting, with manyasking what was the need fora meeting if “all issues wereresolved”.

Sources told The Hinduthat Mr. Surjewala’s press

conference prompted a latenight meeting of some of thedissenters.

Referring to Saturday’smeeting, Mr. Surjewala said,“This is not a meet of anyspecial group of leaders.This is not a meet of any dissenters or rebels. Becausewe consider each leader andeach worker as part of thefamily.”

“All the issues stood resolved with the announcement of the next election ofthe Congress President. So,there are no internal issues

of dissensions that are pending in the party of any nature,” he added.

Leader of the Oppositionin the Rajya Sabha GhulamNabi Azad, Deputy LeaderAnand Sharma, formerChief Ministers BhupinderHooda and Prithviraj Chavan, former Union MinistersShashi Tharoor and ManishTewari are among the G23leaders who have been invited, sources said. There hasbeen no offi��cial confi��rmation from the party aboutthose attending the Saturdaymeeting.

Talking about leadership,Mr. Surjewala said, “Congress workers and the electoral college including theAICC members of the partywill choose a person bestsuited for the post. It is mybelief and the belief of overwhelming majority of 99.9%leaders and workers that Rahul Gandhi is the right person to lead the party.”

Ahead of key meeting, Cong. downplays dissent in ranksUpset leaders, however, question need for the discussions


New Delhi

Randeep Surjewala


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M ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


NEWS

The Union Health Ministryon Friday listed out the documents that can be used forregistering to get vaccinatedagainst COVID19. Benefi��ciaries can produce driving licence, health insurancesmart card issued under thescheme of the Labour Ministry, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) jobcard, offi��cial identity cardsissued to MPs, MLAs andMLCs, PAN card, bank orpost offi��ce passbook, passport, pension document,service identity card issuedto employees by the Unionor the State government orpublic limited companiesand voter ID cards.

After online registration, abenefi��ciary will receive anSMS on the registered mobile number on the due date,place and time of vaccination. After all the doses ofvaccine are administered, aQRcodebased certifi��catewill be sent to the registeredmobile number, the Ministrysaid.

A photo ID is a must forboth registration and verifi��

cation at the session site. “Protective levels of anti

bodies are generally developed two weeks after receiving the second dose of aCOVID19 vaccine and itmust be ensured that the entire schedule of vaccinationis completed by only onetype of vaccine, as diff��erentvaccines are not interchangeable,” the Health Ministrystated.

It is also advisable to receive a complete schedule ofvaccine, irrespective of past

history of infection with COVID19. This will help in developing a strong immuneresponse against the disease,it noted.

‘Defer vaccination’“Persons with confi��rmed orsuspected COVID19 infection may increase the risk ofspreading the same to othersat vaccination sites. For thisreason, infected individualsshould defer vaccination for14 days after symptoms resolution,” it added.

The vaccine will be introduced only when the safetyis proven.

“As is true for other vaccines, the common side effects in some individualscould be mild fever, pain,etc. at the site of injection.The States have been askedto start making arrangements to deal with any vaccinerelated side eff��ects asone of the measures towardssafe vaccine delivery amongmasses,” the Health Ministrysaid.

Govt. lists papers for vaccine registration It advised eventhose infectedearlier to get a jab

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI

A national database of migrant workers should be collated at the earliest to ensurethat if ever there is a repeatof a COVID19like pandemic, the relief measuresshould reach the intendedbenefi��ciaries, the StandingCommittee on Home Aff��airshas noted in its report. Thecommittee also recommended an urgent review of the123yearold Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

The committee, headedby senior Congress leaderAnand Sharma, unanimously adopted the report “Management of COVID19 pandemic and related issues” ata meeting on Friday. It notedthat during the extendedlockdown, the task of identifying the location and disbursing relief measures tothe migrant workers becamediffi��cult as the Central government did not have anydata of the migrant workers.

“In the absence of a comprehensive national database, it is diffi��cult to extendthe relief measures by thegovernment to the intendedbenefi��ciaries,” the committee report said. The data

base, as per the committee,should have details of thesource State, the destinationState, skill set of the workerand other contact details.

Many members at Friday’s meeting noted that thispandemic might not be thelast one to hit the countryand the government shouldnot depend on internationaltrends to tackle it. The Disaster Management Act, 2005,and the Epidemic DiseasesAct, 1897 — the two guidinglaws during the pandemic —are insuffi��cient, the committee has said.

The Home Ministry is already reviewing the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Thecommittee has recommend

ed that a similar eff��ort needsto be made for the EpidemicDiseases Act, 1897.

Ancient provisions“The Committee observesthat the provisions of theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897,have helped in managingCOVID19 but this Act is outdated as it was framed in thecolonial era, which was evenwell before the Spanish fl��u of1918. Therefore, the committee recommends that theEpidemic Diseases Act, 1897,should be revisited updatedand amended so that it is fully equipped to respond tothe challenges posed by thean anticipated onset of thepandemic in the future,” thereport noted.

The committee said thatthe incoming internationalpassengers who enteredthroughout March 2020were screened only for hightemperature. “Thus, asymptomatic patients as alsothose who travel after takingmedicines for controllingtemperature could not bediagnosed at the time whenthey could practically be theonly source of infections ofCOVID19 in the country,”the report said.

It wants overhaul of archaic Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897

Sobhana K. Nair

New Delhi

Migrants on their way totheir home States, in A.P.earlier this year. * V. RAJU

Parliamentary panel calls formigrant workers’ database

The Supreme Court on Friday said it was the government’s duty to ensure aff��ordable medical treatment forCOVID19 patients. It saidmedical care during the pandemic had become so costlythat ordinary people couldnot aff��ord it at all.

The court also said a successful “World War” on thevirus depended on “governmentpublic partnership”.For this, the governmentshould be transparent aboutthe facts and fi��gures regarding COVID19 infectionspread.

A threejudge Bench ledby Justice Ashok Bhushanaddressed the issue of thedeteriorating health of fatigued doctors, nurses andmedical workers.

It said the governmentneeded to work out a mechanism to give them “intermittent rest”.

In a 17page order, thecourt said right to health is afundamental right guaran

teed under Article 21 of theConstitution.

“Right to health includesaff��ordable treatment. Forwhatever reasons, the treatment has become costlierand costlier and it is not affordable to the common people at all… Even if one survives from COVID19, manytimes fi��nancially and economically he is fi��nished,” thecourt said.

Fee capThe Bench said the State andlocal authorities should either make more provisions foraff��ordable treatment in theirhospitals or there shall becap on the fees charged bythe private hospitals in exercise of the powers under theDisaster Management Act.

“Corporate or private hospitals should strictly comply

with directions issued underthe Disaster ManagementAct to keep 50% or any otherpercentage of free beds.There shall be free helplinenumbers to redress the grievances of common man,when there is noncompliance of the directions bythe private hospitals/corporate hospitals,” the courtordered.

It said local authoritiesshould, as far as possible,decline permission for celebrations/gatherings evenduring the day hours. Thecourt said States should consider curfew onweekends/nights.

It said any decision to impose curfew and/or lockdown must be announcedlong in advance.

The court issued a seriesof directions on fi��re safety inCOVID19 hospitals, including steps to be taken by theStates to constitute committees to conduct monthly fi��reaudits and the appointmentof nodal offi��cers in these institutions.

Ordinary people cannotaff��ord COVID19 care: SCCourt asks government to ensure treatment for all patients

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI <> Even if one

survives from

COVID19,

fi��nancially and

economically he is

fi��nished

ICMR Director-Generaltests positive for virusNEW DELHI

Balram Bhargava, the

Director-General of the Indian

Council of Medical Research

(ICMR), has tested positive

for COVID-19 and has been

admitted to the COVID-19

centre at the All India

Institute of Medical Sciences

(AIIMS). “Dr. Bhargava was

admitted here three days ago.

He has mild symptoms of

COVID-19 and is doing well,”

said an official. Meanwhile,

according to the data

released by the Health

Ministry on Friday, India

reported 338 fatalities in the

past 24 hours, with 10 States/

UTs accounting for 75.15% of

the new deaths.

‘Vaccine has goodresponse with two doses’LONDON

Oxford’s COVID-19 vaccine

candidate stimulates broad

antibody and T cell responses

and has the best immune

response when a two full-

dose regime is used, the

University said. The vaccine

“stimulates broad antibody

and T cell functions,” it said

after publishing data from the

Phase I/II clinical trials.

“The booster doses of the

vaccine are both shown to

induce stronger antibody

responses than a single dose,

the standard dose/standard

dose inducing the best

response.” REUTERS

The Army on Friday rejected Pakistan’s claims thatIndian troops targeted aUN vehicle while it was enroute to Polas in the Chirikot sector of Pakistanoccupied Kashmir. “Reportsof targeting UN vehicle arenot true,” the Army said.

An offi��cial source saidthe reports from Pakistanwere false. “There was nofi��ring from the Indian sidein this sector today. Sincemovement of UN vehiclesare known in advance, thequestion does not arise,”the source said.

Army rejectsPak. claim onUN vehicle


NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Friday initiated contempt proceedings against standupcomedian Kunal Kamraand cartoonist Rachita Taneja for scandalising thecourt and the highest judiciary with their tweets.

A threejudge Bench ofJustices Ashok Bhushan, R.Subhash Reddy and M.R.Shah issued notice askingMr. Kamra and Ms. Tanejato show cause why theyshould not be punished forcontempt of court.

Both Ms. Taneja and Mr.Kamra have been exempted from personal appearance in court. Usually,persons facing contemptaction have to be presentduring the hearing. Thenotice to them is returnable in six weeks.

SC initiatesaction againstKamra, Taneja

Legal Correspondent

New Delhi

An injured HizbulMujahideen militant, who was arrested after a gunfi��ght insouth Kashmir’s Anantnagon Thursday, died of his injuries in Shri Maharaja HariSingh Hospital here onFriday.

According to police offi��cials, Zaheer Abbas Lonewas arrested during an encounter that started in theintervening night of December 1617 at a checkpoint at SangamNainaroad near Gund Baba Khaleel, Anantnag.

Injured Hizbmilitant diesin hospital

special correspondent

Srinagar

Cautioning that the COVID19 pandemic is far fromover though the world nowseems to be closer to gettinga vaccine, Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at theWorld Health Organization(WHO), on Friday said,“Though there is light at theend of the tunnel, the roadahead is still dark and long.”

Participating in a paneldiscussion “The people needto know: the challenges ofdeveloping a COVID19 vaccine”, Dr. Swaminathan said,“The next few months aregoing to be critical and toughfor many countries and wehave to keep ourselves safewhile waiting for a vaccine.Luckily so far, we have seen afew vaccines that have metthe benchmark of 50% effi��cacy in the interim results.That is very good news.”

She said the WHO wasworking towards continuously providing accessibleand reliable informationduring this pandemic.

“We have been workingvery closely with social media and tech companies because we recognise that

along with the pandemic,there has been somethingthat we are calling the infodemic. It is important thatwe communicate with people and also listen and address their concerns. Majority of the people are keen onthe vaccine and want tocome out of this ongoingpandemic,” she said at thefi��fth Global Technology Summit organised by the External Aff��airs Ministry the thinktank Carnegie India.

Legal challengesSpeaking about the need toprotect vaccine manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits,Dr. Swaminathan said, “It’sonly right that vaccine ma

nufacturers are indemnifi��edfor a certain period of time.”

“And for advance marketcommitment [AMC] countries, we are also creating acompensation fund, so thatindividual countries don’thave to get into legal negotiation with every individual,”she said.

Also seeking governmentprotection against “frivolouslawsuits” during the pandemic, Adar Poonawalla,CEO of the Serum Institute ofIndia (SII), who participatedin the discussion, noted that“these lawsuits would bankrupt manufacturers”.

“We need the governmentto step in and protect us asthe U.S. government has

done during this ongoingphase of pandemic,” he said.

Explaining how the SIIopted to work towards a COVID19 vaccine early on inthe pandemic, Mr. Poonawalla said: “If we rewind tothe beginning of the pandemic, I had two choices —either we sit on the sidelinesand wait for vaccines toprove itself in Phase 3 trials,or we commit heavily inpartnerships, tech transfersand rejigging of facilities tomake COVID19 vaccines. Itwas a big gamble when wechose to produce millions ofdoses in advance. We chosethe technology carefullywith the criteria of aff��ordable pricing.”

Equal accessStating that his company believed in equal access of vaccine to all, Mr. Poonawallasaid people now needed tobe cautious for the next fewyears till the country wasable to vaccinate majority ofits population or attain herdimmunity against the virus.

“Along with vaccines weneed to keep COVIDsafetymeasure in mind,” Mr. Poonawalla said.

Pandemic far from over, says SoumyaAdar Poonawalla calls for caution till a majority of the population is vaccinated


NEW DELHI

The Railways have so far incurred an 87% loss in passenger revenue, down from₹��53,000 crore last year to₹��4,600 crore, owing to COVID19. However, an increase in freight loading revenue is expected,compensated by the enhanced transportation ofnontraditional commodities such as grains andfertilizers.

At a press conference onFriday, Railway Board Chairman and Chief Executive Offi��cer Vinod Kumar Yadavsaid the Railways were working towards the objective ofmeeting the operational expenditure from their own revenue earnings. A projectedincrease in loading revenuewas an indicator of an improving economy and industrial growth, he stated.

The Railways’ yearly cumulative loading was currentlyabout 97%, with a defi��cit of10% in revenue, which wasexpected to cross last year’scorresponding fi��gures.

The Railways would circu

late the fi��nal draft of the National Rail Plan to all the stakeholders. The plan wasexpected to be fi��nalised byJanuary. A subset of the planwas business and infrastructure development in orderto attain the objective of2,024 milliontonne freightloading capacity by 2024. Vision2024 would be implemented with a capital expenditure of ₹��2.90 lakhcrore.

Mr. Yadav said the Railways currently accountedfor about 27% of the overall

transportation of goods inthe country and the planwas to increase it to 45% by2030. The National Rail Planaimed to reduce the transittime and cost, rationalisefreight tariff�� and also bringdown the operating cost, besides achieving netzerogreenhouse gas emissions by2030. The average speed offreight movement had to betaken to 50 km per hour.

Under the Vision2024project, the Railwaysplanned multitracking of16,373 km.

87% loss in passenger revenuedue to COVID19: Railways ‘However, increase in freight loading revenue is expected’

Devesh K. Pandey

NEW DELHI

The Allahabad High Courton Friday said no coerciveaction should be takenagainst a Muslim labourerNadeem, who had fi��led a petition seeking the quashingof an FIR against him underthe new Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance,2020.

Article 25 provides thatall persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice andpropagate religion, the judges said. “Present is a casewhere all the allegations areprima facie based on suspicion,” observed a DivisionBench of Justices PankajNaqvi and Vivek Agarwal.“There is no material beforeus that any force or coerciveprocess is being adopted bythe petitioner to convert thewife of the informant,” thecourt said.

Mr. Nadeem and hisbrother were booked on November 29 for allegedly trying to force a married Hinduwoman to marry the formerfor converting her to Islam.

In his complaint, AkshayKumar Tyagi, who works asa labour contractor in Haridwar where he has beenliving with his wife Paruland two children, allegedthat one Nadeem had“trapped” his wife in a “netof love” with the aim of converting her. Mr. Nadeem, 32,a resident of Bhagwanpur inHaridwar, is a labourer, andused to frequent their houseleading to his friendshipwith Ms. Parul, said Mr. Tyagi. Mr. Nadeem wanted tomarry Ms. Parul for conversion, alleged Mr. Tyagi.

In his petition, Mr. Nadeem submitted that he hadno connection with Mr. Tyagi or his wife and allegedthat the latter had lodged acase to avoid paying ₹��9,000,which he owed him.

The court issued notice toMr. Tyagi and asked the respondents to fi��le their counter affi��davits within twoweeks. Ordering that nocoercive action be takenagainst the petitioner till thenext date of the hearing onJanuary 7, the court clubbedthe case with a PIL that haschallenged the constitutional validity of the ordinance.

All have equal right topractise religion: HC Court stays arrest of Muslim labourer

Omar Rashid

LUCKNOW

The Allahabad High Courton Friday issued a notice tothe U.P. government on aPIL petition challenging theUttar Pradesh Prohibition ofUnlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020.

Petitioner Saurabh Kumarof Prayagraj prayed for declaring the ordinance ultravires, saying it was “bothmorally and constitutionallyrepugnant”. A DivisionBench heard the petitionerand the Additional AdvocateGeneral representingthe government.

The court allowed the government time to fi��le a counter affi��davit on or before January 4. A rejoinderaffi��davit, if any, may be fi��ledby the petitioner on or before January 6, 2021, thecourt said. The matter hasbeen listed for January 7, onwhich date the writ petitionwould be heard for fi��naldisposal.

The PIL plea also prayedfor an interim direction tothe government not to takeany coercive action in casesof conversion by marriage orfor the purpose thereof. The

provisions gave the state policing powers over a citizen’schoice of life partner or religion militate against the fundamental rights to individual autonomy, privacy,human dignity and personalliberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution,the petitioner submitted.

The ordinance led to anunreasonable intrusion intothe domain of personal autonomy, the petitioner said,referring to the advance notice of 60 days required to begiven to the District Magistrate before an intendedconversion, which was to befollowed by a police inquiryinto the circumstances ofconversion.

“The very concept of forcing an individual to explainand justify a decision, whichis closely personal to him orher, before an offi��cer of theState is contrary to constitutionalism,” the petitioner argued.

The Constitution imposedlimitations on State powerand burdened the State toexplain and justify the decisions taken by it.The ordinance inversed this equation, the petition stated.

High Court notice to Uttar

Pradesh on conversion lawOrdinance is repugnant, says petition

Special correspondent

LUCKNOW


+

Amidst the old peepals and theyoung silk cotton trees in the fi��veacre char bagh of Mah Banu andher husband Abdur Rahim Khan IKhanan’s tomb, sits a couple eatinglunch. They come here regularly,says the team who has worked forfi��ve years on the conservation ofthe burial site in Delhi’sNizamuddin.

Dating back to 1598, during therule of Akbar, Rahim was one ofthe navratnas in the court, winning wars with his military trainingand hearts with his dohas andtranslated texts — a man who survived despite his father BairamKhan’s assassination when he wasjust four. Meant to be a dedicationof a husband to his wife, the tombended up housing his own remainstoo when he died in 1627.

A tomb with a view

“When we start any project, weask ourselves what the signifi��canceof the site is. Here, the signifi��canceis that it’s a tomb. The historicaland cultural signifi��cance is morethan the archaeological and architectural signifi��cance, so restoringthe dignity of the burial place hasbeen very important,” says RatishNanda, CEO, Aga Khan Trust forCulture (AKTC) that was responsible for the initiative. The marbleand red sandstone clad tomb,along with that of Humayun’s, astone’s throw away, were inspiration for the Taj Mahal, an insight byBritish historian and archaeologistPercy Brown.

The AKTC has planned a largerNizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative, involving the conservationand cultural revival of the approximately 60 structures in the area.While the building is owned by theASI, the funding was provided bythe InterGlobe Foundation.

“Without this work this buildingwould not have continued tostand,” says Nanda, adding that ithad been quarried of its marbleand sandstone over the centuries.There were cracks that ran fromthe crypt to the dome. “The workhas included emergency conserva

tion. We had to strengthen thefoundations all across the buildingto give it structural stability, but also to put back things that had beenvandalised or taken away.” Similarly, the corner pillars and 17 archeson each side were also restored, asthey too give structural support.

The conservation of the building itself stands at the crossroadsof heritage protection and revivalof buildings, crafts and local livelihoods, and the need for openairgreen urban spaces that provide

context to the city, so it doesn’tlook like just about any parkanywhere in the world.

At any given time, there wouldbe about 100 people on site froman interdisciplinary team of conservation architects, engineers,landscape architects, and craftspeople. There were about 3,0004,000 craftspeople involved with1,75,000 days of work undertaken.

Delhi views

“We put some of the marble back

on the dome, to stabilise the baseand to indicate what the originalmight have looked like,” says Nanda. A large part of this doubledome (an inner and outer structure) is still left uncovered, a reminder of the plunder that we subject our monuments to, over thecenturies. This decision, and manyothers, were put through upto 60independent peer reviews, with arguments on both sides. “Thatmakes conservation fun,” saysNanda, adding that it’s importantno single individual takes a decision on a conservation plan.

If you look at the building closely, the redder sandstone (due tothe oxidation) and the duller whitemarble are from the original.There are many spaces, wherethere was no evidence of whatwas, hence left unclad exposingthe Delhi quartzite beneath. In theinner vaulted chamber, about 8085% of the work entailed cleaningthe structure of grime, paint buildup and cement plaster ‘fortifi��cation’ in the 20th century. The fl��ooring needed to be put back too.

Rahim’s last resting place is signifi��cant, because it is symbolic ofhis many parts: his family life, hispluralistic nature, his interest inscience and the arts. His birthdaywas commemorated with thetomb’s opening to the public onDecember 17.

This is the tombthat Rahim built

The poetwarrior’s fi��nal resting place that heoriginally built for his wife, has been restored

and is now open to the public

Sunalini Mathew

Rahim’s tomb (Left) Beingrestored, incised plaster

* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT, SUNALINI MATHEW

During the fi��rst pandemic lockdown in March,Zomato employee Jalish Ansari lost his job.While many fellow migrants had returned totheir native villages, he decided to stay in Delhi and look for other employment. Goingback to his village in Bareli, Uttar Pradesh,was not an option — it would have meant compromising his daughters’ education. Heena,who studies in DPS, Gurugram, and Sana inSummer Fields School, Kailash Colony (bothin standard six), were anxious too, as schoolswere closed and online classes had just begun. Amidst this, they had one escape: TheCommunity Library Project (TCLP), which offered them access to free books, includingHeena’s favourite Chacha Chaudhary comicsand Munshi Premchand’s stories.

Books for allLaunched by author Mridula Koshy in 2014,TCLP has reached over 4,000 children fromunderprivileged backgrounds through its fourfree libraries in Delhi and Gurugram. PostCo

vid, in April, they went online with ‘DuniyaSabki’, a remote library with story and picturebooks.

With Christmas around the corner, TCLP istapping into the season of giving by hosting aFree Library Festival. Sign up for workshopsby Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan, Michael Creighton and Yogesh Maitreya. A concert segment features Varun Grover, RahulRam and The Ska Vengers. And a charity auction includes a tussar silk sari from Vidya Balan and a set of signed books by Gulzar. Proceeds will go towards building online andoffl��ine infrastructure to expand theiroperations.

Read like a proThe rich collection of books, mostly in Hindiand Urdu, are donated by both individualsand organisations. This has helped TCLP conduct their Hindi Reading Fluency programme, an initiative started in 2016 to helpstudents learn how to read independentlyand fl��uently. They can practice with books oftheir choice and guidance from a readingspecialist.

During the pandemic, they added 50 newreaders to the fold. And their next project?“Start an English Fluency Programme,” concludes Koshy.

Details of the Free Library Festival, whichtakes place on December 19 and 20, are on the-communitylibraryproject.org.

In the season of giving, aDelhibased project is raisingsupport for a communitylibrary that goes beyondbooks

Debasree Purkayasta

Spread the good word

InstapickLast big feast?: With most festivities this year being wiped

out thanks to the pandemic, it feels like everyone is going

overboard for Christmas. From edibles to table settings,

green, red and gold are all over our timelines. Check out

these ‘charcutewreaths’, with local cheeses, and paired

with mulled wine. Follow @modern_brie, largely credited

to have started the trend.

Talking pointGlobal Citizen Prize: What does Black Lives Matter, Sesame

Workshop, and Warren Buffett have in common? They are

winners of the Global Citizen Prizes for Activism, Culture &

Education, and Philanthropy respectively. The annual event

will be hosted by singer John Legend, with performances

by Common and Gwen Stefani, among others. On

December 20 at 6.30 am IST on Jio Play app.

Winter shopping

Tired of virtual events? Stock

up on art, craft and food at the

ongoing Dastkar Winter Mela in

New Delhi. Over 60 craft

groups from Himachal Pradesh

to Karnataka and Kashmir to

Kutch present their goods,

aided by the Artisan Support

Fund. Choose from tussar and

mashru weaves, Banarasi

brocades, recycled home

decor, patchwork quilts and

more. Till December 28 at

Nature Bazaar.

Pickof theweekConcerts, stand-up and

other year-end events you

just can't miss.

Odds in the ring

British WBA world super

middleweight title holder,

Callum Smith, goes head to

head this weekend with his

“dream opponent”, Saul 'Canelo'

Alvarez. The Mexican has

remained undefeated for more

than seven years, making the

stakes high for both men. At

9.30 am IST on Sunday,

December 20. Live streaming

available on the Dazn platform

(subscriptions begin from ₹��69

per month).

Modern masters

A rare masterpiece by Amrita

SherGil — portraying her

Hungarian husband — goes

under the hammer at

AstaGuru’s Modern Indian Art

Online Auction this weekend.

The Portrait of Victor Egan will

make its first auction

appearance, with an estimate of

₹��10 to ₹��15 crore. Other lots

include SH Raza's Sanshari,

Nicholas Roerich’s Himalayas,

and Krishen Khanna’s Jesus at

Emmaus. On astaguru.com.

Writing characters

Author Varsha Seshan organises

a workshop for young, aspiring

writers with Sophie Gaden, a

novelist, teacher and translator.

Gaden will talk about creating

characters that come alive and

how they react to their

environment and problems. She

will also share techniques and

activities that will help you

build better characters. For

ages nine to 13. Today from 4

pm. At ₹��400 on varsha

seshan.com. ♣9890798756

Virtual whodunit

#Gargikand is an online

interactive murder mystery

staged by the Mumbaibased

Rangaai Theatre Company. It is

spread across two evenings,

and founder Tushar Tukaram

Dalvi describes it as “an inspired

blend of escape rooms, role

playing games and treasure

hunts”. The audience are not

just spectators, but become

detectives. Today, at 6 pm and

8 pm. Tickets from ₹��299 on

in.bookmyshow.com.

Bottled warmth

Wine producer and exporter

Grover Zampa Vineyards has

launched One Tree Hill Mulled

Wine Kadha, bottled mulled

wine for the cold weather. They

say it is a concoction of

European and Indian spices,

infused with black peppers,

cinnamon, cloves, ginger, tulsi,

cardamom, and lemon topped

with star anise, parsley, fennel,

cumin seeds, orange peel, and

kapok buds. Available in Delhi,

Mumbai, Bengaluru; ₹��650

Anamika’s gift box

Designer Anamika Khanna has

curated a festive hamper in

association with online gifting

portal, The Gift Studio. The

Vegan Goodie Box holds

chocolates, artisanal vegan

cheeses, spreads, sauces,

organic teas and more (₹��7,499).

There’s also the Luxurry Tea

Trove, packed with handpicked

teas from across the world

(₹��10,899). On thegift

studio.com, currently delivering

in Mumbai and Kolkata.

Rudolph’s red nose paled next tomine. Christmas brought on sneezing bouts of hay fever, till we realised it was exactly that. My dadcarted home hay and goodwillfrom the local gaushala forour crib, and from the pong itthrew up, probably cowdung. It had me sneezing andguests hurling accusatoryglares at each other.

Growing up in Jamshedpur,we boasted neither fi��replacenor stockings to hang over it.Our school socks, hung up inhope, were ignored by Santa. Instead, he often let out a howl,more suited to werewolf than reindeer, when punctured by a staplerwhile swiftgiftwrapping in the pitchdark. A growly parent sported a bandaged thumb the next morning,blamed on the cat, baby or saucepan.

We kids ranked each house our family visited by how sugary the kul-

kuls were, how crackly the mur-rukkus or how deep the hostess’frown when we poked grimy fi��ngersthrough the rose cookies. We ran to

the fi��rst house, waddled to the fi��fth,often fell asleep at the sixth.

We prayed and sang for peace onEarth and hoped a few white lieswould pass under the heavenly radar. Like hanging out last year’sChristmas cards on a string acrossthe drawing room, because the postman, disgruntled with his tip, hadn’tdelivered enough this year. We stucktinsel and Santa’s lobbedoff�� headacross the walls, loaded gaudilywrapped shoeboxes by the tree, till ittoppled on to the nearest guest andhis fi��fth glass of ginger wine. Homemade wine and cake recipes, ofcourse, were secrets that not eventhe Secret Service could pry from theaunties who made them.

When I was three,I debuted in

a nativity skit, as a shepherd childsquished into the choir, clutching animposter lamb — my teddy beartaped over with cotton — that I keptchewing on in stage fright. One of thethree kings had to carry me off��, midsong, with an acute tummy achefrom eating all that cotton.

Later, travelling and living acrossIndia off��ered many other memorableYuletides. Bombay, where thegrounds outside the church fi��lled uphours earlier, chairs handcuff��ed bytightlytied kerchiefs, provoking snarky murmurs of ‘How many chairs willyour aunty sit on?’ Calcutta’s cathedral, where people crammed in, 14 toa pewofeight, irrespective of caste,creed or Kothai-boshbo – as unavoidably Calcuttan as Liquorcha afterwards. In Tamil Nadu, gamely singing about white Christmases whilefanning away the stifl��ing heat withhymnals, where I witnessed an unholy fi��stfi��ght over whose kanjeevaramsari the Mother Mary statue shouldwear that night. Goan masses, wheresermons weren’t long enough orsuccessful enough unless someonefell asleep and snored loudly. Bangalore, where a street dog curledup near baby Jesus in the mangerand no one chased it away. Andthen in a small town on a worktrip, sitting through an entiremidnight mass in a language Ididn’t speak, where peoplekneeled through three hours, and

I ended up praying that they’d getwhatever they were praying for.

Here’s raising a fi��lter kaapi to a very merry desi Christmas to you andthose you love.

Where Jane De Suza, author of Flyaway Boy,pokes her nose into our perfect lives.

Dreaming of a

desi ChristmasWhere we trade in snowy nights and sleigh bells for tropical

humidity and crackling murrukus

* SREEJITH R KUMAR

yarn it!

Jane De Suza

CMYK

M ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


SHOWCASE


+

Friends came home the other evening, carrying homecooked mutton biryani. Iwas a bit unhappy with theiroff��ering — not because Ididn’t like the biryani, butbecause I missed their ma-tra — a simple dish of whitepeas that is their speciality. Imade do with the biryani(and it was delicious), butthe next day I went on to surfthe Net for matra. Not justany matra — that of Fatehkachoriwallah.

A foodie columnreaderhad told me a while ago thatFateh ki Kachori — knownacross the city — now had abranch in east Delhi. To myjoy, I discovered that the ka-chori was being home delivered, with matra-kulcha.

Fateh is an old favourite ofmine. Decades ago, the oldman — now, alas, no more —would stand next to his cycleoutside St Xavier’s School inCivil Lines. On the cyclewere his homecooked ka-choris that he’d top withboiled matra after sprinkling some masalas over it.This would be garnishedwith onions and green chillies, topped with chutneyand then adorned with thin

slivers ofginger andfresh corianderleaves. Weused to line upfor the crispsnack.

Fateh ki Kachorinow has a branch in KrishnaNagar (Shop no 20, SouthAnarkali, Som BazaarChowk, open from 8.30 amto 5 pm, phone numbers:8766261945 and8505918204). Run by his nephew Rahul, this is a smallshop which serves the oldstyled kachori and has started delivering through various food apps.

Apart from the matra-ka-choris (₹��30), he serves kul-cha and matra (₹��30), too.The menu includes aloo kul-chey (₹��30) and tawa friedmattar-kulcha (₹��50). Theycharge ₹��30 for a dona of extra matra and ₹��10 for a pat ofAmul butter. I asked forsome kachoris and threeplates of tawa friedmattar-kulcha.

I had feared that the ka-choris would be soggy by thetime they arrived at mydoorstep. It goes withoutsaying that eating a kachoriat the spot where it is beingassembled cannot comeclose to eating it later athome. Surprisingly, theywere deliciously crunchy,even though it was toppedwith a mash of matra. Asweetandtart sauce camewith it, and I added a dollopon top. Bliss!

The kulchas were soft andspongy, and the matra washot — the green chillies inthe dish looked innocuousbut were not — and delicious. Some of the peas hadbeen mashed to bind thematra together, lending it amix of soft and fi��rm textures.The matra had been spicedwell, but did not overwhelmthe tastebuds.

Fateh’s counter is still inCivil Lines — and may it blossom — but I am happy thatthere is a representative inour part of town, too.

For many Delhiites, Fateh was an institution. Iknow some students of StXavier’s who spent moretime by the cycle than intheir classrooms. I last wentto Fateh’s some years ago,and found that the food wasas good as ever.

I am happy to concludethat if the friends come withmutton biryani again, I haveno reason to mope: Fateh’smatra-kachori is just aphone call away.

The writer is a seasoned food critic

The east Delhi branch ofFateh ki Kachori iskeeping the family fl��agfl��ying, with the originalin Civil Lines being asgood as it was in the 70s

Rahul Verma

Throwback time Matrakulcha from Fateh ki Kachori

* SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

The yearning formatrakulcha – satisfi��ed

CMYK

M ND-NDE


DELHI THE HINDU


SHOWCASE

Theconscious

gift box Homegrown brands across the

country get creative for the holiday season

Green collab @ Grey Matters Creative, ChennaiAmruta Varshini Ashokan’s decor brand, known for allthings concrete, has collaborated with fi��ve other localwomenled brands for their 2020 Christmas hamper.It includes their concreteglass vase and keychain, atote bag from Everwards India, a notebook andplantable pens from conscious stationery brand,Paper Dolphin, a personalised bamboo toothbrushand a jar of bamboo cotton buds from PlasticfreeMadras, and a slice of plum cake from ChokawaBakehouse. ₹��849 + shipping. @greymatters.creativeon Instagram

Coasters and jars @ Varnam, BengaluruThe craft brand’s popular Bumbledore Bee takes onthe form of a functional table accessory. The fourcoaster set (₹��1,450), crafted in beechwood andwrightia tinctoria, a medicinal plant, has beenhandcrafted by artisans from Channapatna. If you’relooking to store festive goodies, the Wigglestorage jars (₹��900 a piece), designed in nontoxicvegetable colours, are a great option.Varnamstore.in

Wreaths from Vagamon, Kerala‘Don’t hate, create’ is the motto ofRekha Thomas, the brain behindLittle Flower Farms, a bed andbreakfast, fl��oral biodiversityconservation initiative at the hillstation. A few weeks ago, she landedin Kochi with a suitcase fi��lled withVagamonforaged pine cones and hasbeen crafting wreaths with thecones, silver oak leaves and scraps ofKalamkari block printed fabrics. Allproceeds from the sales will gotowards the Maria Sadanam old agehome in Pala, Kerala. ₹��800 each.@littlefl��owerfarms on Instagram

Handmade ornaments @ ShopChaupal, GurgaonThe artisancentric online store launchedduring lockdown features everythingfrom handwoven palm leaf baskets tominiature paintings. We pick the Persianpapiermâché baubles — designed by GMDehqani & Sons in Srinagar — for thefestive season. With motifs of birds,fl��owers, Kashmiri symbols like almondsand the fi��vepointed chinar, eachornament has been crafted by hand.Starts at ₹��450 for a set of three.shopchaupal.store

Designed to read @ TaraBooks, ChennaiThis one is for readers. A signaturecollection of the publicationhouse’s titles come in a handmade,screenprinted gift bag. A‘lockdown whimsy’ to pair thesesquareshaped books is what ledthem to put together this bag thathas something for everyone.Featured books include Beasts of

India, I Like Cats, The Circle of Fate,among others. ₹��4,600 ontarabooks.com

Embroidered jute bag @ Padukas, MumbaiThis tribal womencentric platformhas a range of hand embroideredshoulder bags with vibrantdepictions of goddesses. Crafted injute with glass and ceramic beadembellishments, each bag usesexcess scrap fabrics from the textileindustry. These are segregated andthen hand stitched. ₹��3,000 onbaromarket.in

Crewel coats @ House ofWandering Silk, New Delhi

The textile house’s latest off��ering is their capsulecollection of Kashmiri Crewel Duster Coats. Craftedas heirloom pieces, the onesize, relaxed fi��t designsare hand embroidered with wool crewel stitch on abase of linen. This particular coat, Lyodur (Kashmirifor yellow), is designed in warm hues of brown and

orange with teal and golden zari highlights. Allorders come packed in recycled silk bags and include

free, worldwide express shipping. ₹��41,131 onwanderingsilk.org

Empty cocoons asneckpieces @ Aeshaane,ChennaiWhen founder Neesha Amrish’s10yearold daughter paintedempty silkworm cocoons andturned them into a necklaceearlier this month, she borrowedthe idea for her Christmascollection. Amrish reached outto weavers at her apparel brandwho sent her a bagful ofcocoons. Once dyed in vibrantshades of fuchsia, red andaubergine, they went on to beused in her upcycled silk cocoonjewellery line. Starts at ₹��2,681for a necklace with 1520cocoons. 9884034516

Wine bags @ Studio Beej, MumbaiCork leather gets an arty makeover with thebrand’s Izna Wine bag. Lightweight yetsturdy, the multicolour design comes inoptions that have a mix of blue,mustard and beige. The handlesmake for easy carrying. Thecontainers come packed in anorganic jute bag placedwithin a repurposable box.All products are madetoorder. ₹��2,800 onstudiobeej.com

Reconstructed kempjewellery @ Raji Anand,

ChennaiThe jewellery designer known for her

kemp jewellery has launched a newbohogypsy inspired collection. The

structure of the pieces retain hersignature style: quirky with intricate

metal embellishments. Ideal fordaywear or a night out, each piece is

custommade. ₹��5,000 onward.@rajianand on Instagram.

Doll up @ Genes LecoanetHemant; AnavilaThe Parisian fashion house has teamed upwith NGO Silai Wali for its latest off��ering— limited edition dolls. Off��cuts from pastseasons have been used to craft thesehandsewn playmates: Marcel in Purple, Fifi��in Pink, among others. ₹��1,999 each ongeneslecoanethemant.com. Anavila Misra’s newline of toys — Busa and Friends — has adorable linen mice dollsdressed in dainty dresses, a Busa Doll in an Indigo sari, stuff��edcats, elephants, pigs and more. ₹��2,800 onwards on anavila.com

Nidhi Adlakha

The death clock of 2020 has struckonce again as Ustad Iqbal AhmedKhan (25 November, 1956 to 17 December, 2020), the living repositoryof classical Indian Sufi�� music andthe Khalifa (leader) of the Dilli Gharana passed away on Thursdaymorning. During the fi��rst morningprayers, sum or the fi��rst and the lastbeat of the rhythmic cycle of musicand time, brought an end to the lifeof the musician, whose antecedentsdate back to the court of Bahadurshah Zafar, according to Mirza Arif,Urdu poet and inventor, and a direct descendent of the Mughalfamily.

A scene from yesteryears: TheKhawaja hall at the back of the Sufi��Shrine of Hazrat Nizamuddin reverberated with poetry written by the13th century Sufi�� Hazrat Amir Khusrau. Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan ledthe music rendered by a host of singers wearing pointed yellow hats.

Living in Shahjahanabad, IqbalSahab possessed an old tanpurafrom the Mughal days. Decoratedwith decorative ivory inlay, he satduring the monsoon in a room facing a small courtyard beckoning theclouds with his music. “My grandfather Ustad Chand Khan of DilliGharana wrote a treatise ‘Iqsami raga’ (variations of the Raga) wherehe described 45 variations of Malhar, but I remember only 35,” heonce said to a group who’d droppedin, as he began to sing small versescreating an audio collage amidst thepattering raindrops.

The music of his family, including contributions by his grandfather Ustad Chand Khan and olderbrother Nazir Khan, captured thesame spirit as the Sufi�� Mughalprince Dara Shikoh’s syncretic journey into literature.

Renowned Kathak danseuse Rani Khanam recalls, “Some yearsago I approached Khan Sahabfor music for my productionon Dara Shikoh based onM.S. Sathyu’s play. Theengagement was signifi��cant. Ustad Iqbal Sahabunravelled the treasures of his family.”

The Dill Gharana familypossessesthe rare heritage ofAmir Khusrauthat combinesArabic, Persian, and Hin

dustani musical nuances. In onecomposition, the raga (musicalscale), like many others Khan Sahab

sang, evoked the subtlety ofwhirling and swaying in spir

itual ecstasy. Iqbal Sahabsaid Ushak (a raga insti

tuted by Amir Khusrau)combined Raga Sarang, Basant, and Nava. And Raga Kufi�� inte

grated the Arabicmusical scale Zilah, Hus

saini and Sarang.Once at a seminar on Sufi��sm

at the Indira Gandhi Centre for theArts in the 1990s, Iqbal Sahab sat

wearing his yellow Sufi�� cap. At thestart of his recital, before an august audience with scholarsfrom the Deccan, Kashmir, Iran,among others, he said, “This yel

low cap denotes the essence ofspring.”

He then described Delhi and Hindustan’s inherent essence combining HinduMuslim threads in theweave of Sufi��sm. For Iqbal Sahab, itwas never merely about composition, but the sociocultural environment of the piece. “When I sing Raga Basant, my mind wanders torecreate the Sufi�� landscape of Hazrat Nizamuddin. I imagine my capturning as it did with Amir Khusrau,who once pronounced his guru hisqibla.”

A Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee, Iqbal Sahab remained living inthe quaint musical neighbourhoodSuiwalan in Old Delhi. Among several initiatives to conserve his family’s syncretic musical culture, hebegan to evolve the yearly UstadChand Khan Music Festival about 25years ago, under the Sursagar Society of Delhi Gharana. He encouraged his talented daughter Vusatand his soninlaw Imran to innovate in introducing Amir Khusrau tonew audiences, with new interpretations and technology.

For instance, ‘RudaadeShireen’was a musical storytelling production that interpreted Khusrau’s poetry to break the shackles of patriarchy. Vusat says, “For theproduction, together with my father, we selected compositionsaligned to the events in the life of ordinary women. In many of our productions, my father insisted onyoung women at the centre.”

Many years ago, Iqbal Sahab readout excerpts from an entry in the diary of his grandfather Ustad ChandKhan, describing the musical gatherings to celebrate the coronationof George V at the Red Fort. Later,he read out passages about the dilemmas and suff��ering of artists during the days of Partition.

The spirit of Ustad Iqbal Ahmedwill echo on the YaareChabutra(the platform of friendship) at theshrine of Nizamuddin, “Sakal bunphool rahi Sarson…” (The yellowmustard is blooming in every fi��eld).These Sufi�� lines recall Shelley’swords of hope: “The trumpet of aprophecy! O Wind, If Wintercomes, can spring be far behind.”

The writer is a Kathak exponent andcultural critic

Navina Jafa

Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan of theDilli Gharana * SHIV KUMAR

PUSHPAKAR, MONICA TIWARIThe last qual Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan of the DilliGharana, who passed away lastThursday, was living heritage of theconfl��uence that Delhi is

FOOD SPOT


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THE HINDU DELHI


More than 300 Nigerianschoolboys who were seizedin a mass abduction claimedby Boko Haram experiencedtheir fi��rst full day of freedomon Friday after a sixdayordeal.

Looking wornout and distraught, and most of themwithout shoes, the boys werebrought to the Governor’s offi��ce in Katsina, the capital ofKatsina State in northwestern Nigeria, after being released late on Thursday.

The assault last Friday ona rural school in Kankarawas initially blamed on criminal gangs who have terrorised the region for years. Buton Tuesday, Boko Haram,the brutal jihadist group behind the abduction of 276schoolgirls in Chibok in

2014, claimed responsibilityfor the raid.

Local offi��cials said late onThursday that the boys hadbeen released and wouldspend the night in the protection of security agents.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had been left in

the forest after negotiationsbetween the authorities andthe abductors, but gave nofurther details.

State Governor AminuBello Masari said “344 arenow with the security agencies” and were being takento Katsina. They would be given medical care before be

ing reunited with their families, he said. “This is a hugerelief to the entire country &international community,”President Muhammadu Buhari said on Twitter.

It remained unclear, however, if all the abductedschoolboys had been released, amid ongoing uncertainty over the number taken in the fi��rst place. In aninterview with state channelNTA, the governor added: “Ithink we have recoveredmost of the boys, it’s not allof them.”

In a video released by Boko Haram on Thursday, a distressed teenager said he wasamong the 520 students kidnapped. The security sourcesaid late on Thursday thatthe exact number would beknown only after a headcount in Katsina.

344 abducted Nigerian boys freedBoko Haram had claimed the kidnappings; not all students have been released

Agence France-Presse

Katsina

Back home: A group of schoolboys being escorted by theNigerian military after their release, in Katsina on Friday. * AP

China said its economy is yetto fully bounce back fromthe COVID19 pandemic andpledged fi��nancial supportfor recovery eff��orts, at theend of a key annual policymeeting on Friday.

China suff��ered its fi��rstcontraction in decades thisyear in the wake of COVID19that prompted drastic lockdowns in Wuhan — the central industrial city where thevirus fi��rst emerged last year— and sent factory activityinto a nosedive. Its economyhas since improved afterauthorities managed to largely contain the infection,and China may be the only

major world power to recordpositive growth this year.

But offi��cials at this week’sCentral Economic WorkConference, presided overby President Xi Jinping, saidthe global recovery would be“unstable and uneven”, andsignalled a fi��scal policy fo

cused on maintaining economic stability. “We must beclearly aware that there aremany uncertainties in theevolution of the pandemicand external environment,and the foundation for ourcountry’s economic recovery is not yet solid,” said astatement from the threeday summit published bystate broadcaster CCTV.

Beijing will boost fi��nancialsupport to technological innovation, small business andgreen projects to keep theeconomy on an even keel,the meeting said. Offi��cials also said they would prevent“the disorderly expansion ofcapital”, strengthening anew antimonopoly push.

Country pledges fi��nancial support for revival eff��orts


Beijing

Xi Jinping

Economic recovery is ‘not yet solid’, says China

China plans to start opening its vaccination programme to members of thepublic in southwestern Sichuan province early nextyear, health offi��cials said.

At least one million people have already received ajab in China after vaccinecandidates were approvedfor “emergency use”, butso far they have been limited to priority groups suchas state employees and international students. Chinahas fi��ve vaccines in the fi��nal stages of development,but none has received offi��cial approval so far.

An offi��cial said vaccineswill be provided to the general public in Sichuan afterthe Lunar New year holidays in February.

China may rollout vaccine forpublic soon


Beijing

U.S. President DonaldTrump said on Friday thatthe United States has authorised a second COVID19 vaccine, jumping the gun onregulators who are yet togive it the formal green light.

“Moderna vaccine overwhelmingly approved. Distribution to start immediately,” Mr. Trump wrote onTwitter.

This follows a recommendation by an expert panel onThursday to grant emergency use approval for Moderna’s COVID19 vaccine in theUnited States.

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to issue a formal approval on Friday. This would makeModerna’s vaccine the second to be approved in aWestern country, followingthe one developed by

Pfi��zerBioNTech.Mr. Trump’s announce

ment came as U.S. VicePresident Mike Pence, his wifeKaren, and the lead publichealth offi��cial in the country,Surgeon General JeromeAdams, received the COVID19 vaccine live on television, in a public display designed to boost nationalconfi��dence in the measure.

Signalling the importance

given to the event, top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci and Centers for Disease Control and Preventiondirector Robert Redfi��eldwere also in the room.

“Building confi��dence inthe vaccine is what brings ushere this morning,” Mr.Pence said after being injected at the White House, quipping: “I didn’t feel a thing.”

Mr. Pence indicated that

formal approval for Moderna would be a matter ofhours. “We have one, perhaps within hours two, safeand eff��ective coronavirusvaccines,” he said.

The death toll from COVID19 has crossed 310,000in the U.S., with the countryalso at the top with the mostnumber of cases. The U.S.this week began vaccinatinghealthcare workers andlongterm care residentswith the Pfi��zer vaccine.

Both the frontrunner vaccines are based on cuttingedge mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid) technology,which had never been approved prior to the COVID19pandemic, and both are twodose regimens.

The U.S., which recordedmore than 17 million cases ofthe virus, will probably become the fi��rst country to approve the Moderna vaccine.

His comment comes even as regulators are yet to give fi��nal clearance


Washington

Big boost: Mike Pence, seated right, speaks before receivingthe Pfi��zer vaccine shot on live television on Friday. * AP

Trump says Moderna vaccine ‘approved’

U.S. Presidentelect Joe Biden has expressed full confi��dence in his son Hunter, afrequent target of Republican attacks, after it was revealed last week that he wasunder a federal taxinvestigation.

During his unsuccessfulreelection campaign, President Donald Trumplaunched repeated accusations against Mr. Hunter andsaid the Bidens were a “corrupt” family and a “criminalenterprise”.

“We have great confi��dence in our son,” Mr. Bidensaid, sitting next to his wifeJill, in an interview on TheLate Show with Stephen Col-bert, which aired on Thurs

day on CBS. “I am not concerned about anyaccusations that have beenmade against him. It used toget to me. I think it’s kind offoul play but... as long ashe’s good, we’re good,” Mr.Biden said in his fi��rst full remarks on the issue since the

tax investigation became public.

Mr. Trump and his allieshave regularly assailed Mr.Hunter for his business dealings in Ukraine and China.From 2014 to 2019, while hisfather was VicePresident,Mr. Hunter, a lawyer andlobbyist, served on theboard of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company.

Mr. Trump has accusedMr. Biden of seeking the removal of Ukraine’s top prosecutor to protect Burisma,and his son, from a corruption investigation.

Mr. Hunter, 50, now an artist based in Los Angeles, hasadmitted to displaying “poorjudgment” in some of his business dealings, but deniedany wrongdoing.

I have full confi��dence in him, says the U.S. Presidentelect


Washington

Joe Biden

Amid federal tax probe,Biden backs son Hunter

Iran has begun constructionon a site at its undergroundnuclear facility at Fordowamid tensions with the U.S.over its atomic programme,satellite photos obtained onFriday by the AssociatedPress show.

Iran has not publicly acknowledged any new construction at Fordow, whosediscovery by the West in2009 came in an earlierround of brinkmanship before world powers struckthe 2015 nuclear deal withTehran.

While the purpose of thebuilding remains unclear,any work at Fordow willlikely trigger new concernin the waning days of theTrump administration before the inauguration of U.S.Presidentelect Joe Biden.Already, Iran is building atits Natanz nuclear facility after a mysterious explosionin July there that Tehran described as a sabotage attack.

Iran’s mission to the UN

and the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose inspectors are in Iran as partof the nuclear deal, did notcomment. The IAEA has notpublicly disclosed if Iran informed it of any construction at Fordow.

Construction on the Fordow site began in late September. Satellite images obtained from MaxarTechnologies by AP showthe construction takingplace at a northwest cornerof the site, near the holy Shiite city of Qom, some 90 kmsouthwest of Tehran.

Construction seen at Fordow facility

Associated Press

Dubai

A satellite photo onDecember 11 shows theconstruction at Fordow. * AP

Iran starts nuclear facilitywork amid U.S. tensions

British and EU negotiatorsplunged into the fi��nal hoursof their scramble for a postBrexit deal on Friday, divided on the highlycharged issue of fi��shing rights.

The U.K. will leave the EUsingle market in less thantwo weeks and time has allbut run out for any agreement to be approved in timeto head off�� a severe economic shock. The European Parliament has demanded thatit see the text of any accordby Sunday at the latest, andthe U.K. government says itwill not allow talks to gobeyond December 31.

EU member states do notrecognise Parliament’s deadline, but Brussels’s chiefBrexit negotiator, MichelBarnier, told the MEPs before heading to talks withhis U.K. counterpart DavidFrost that Friday marked a“moment of truth”. “Wehave very little time remaining, just a few hours to work

through these negotiations...” he said.

U.K. Prime Minister BorisJohnson, visiting Bolton innorthern England, said:“Our door is open. We willkeep talking but I have tosay that things are lookingdiffi��cult...”

No breakthroughOn Thursday, Mr. Johnsonand EU chief Ursula von derLeyen held talks that failedto break the logjam in theeightmonthold negotiation. After the call, a Downing Street spokesperson saidthe negotiations “were nowin a serious situation” andthat an “agreement wouldnot be reached unless theEU position changed substantially”.

Unlike previous talks,which resulted in a joint EUU.K. statement, Ms. von derLeyen gave her own accountof the call. “Big diff��erencesremain to be bridged, inparticular on fi��sheries,” shesaid.

Brexit negotiationsenter fi��nal hoursThings are looking diffi��cult: Johnson


Brussels

A devastating cyberattack onU.S. government agencieshas also hit targets worldwide, with the list of victimsstill growing, according to researchers, heightening fearsover computer security andespionage.

Microsoft said on Thursday it had notifi��ed over 40customers hit by the malware, which experts saycame from hackers linked tothe Russian government andwhich could allow attackersunfettered network access.

“While roughly 80% ofthese customers are located

in the United States, thiswork so far has also identifi��ed victims in seven additional countries,” Microsoftpresident Brad Smith said ina blog post. He said the victims were also in Belgium,Britain, Canada, Israel, Mexico, Spain and the UnitedArab Emirates.

“It’s certain that the number and location of victimswill keep growing,” Mr.Smith said, echoing concerns voiced by U.S. offi��cialson the serious threat fromthe attack. “This is not ‘espionage as usual’, even inthe digital age,” he added.“Instead, it represents an act

of recklessness that createda serious technological vulnerability for the UnitedStates and the world.”

John Dickson of the security fi��rm Denim Group saidmany private sector fi��rmsthat could be vulnerable arescrambling to shore up security and considering rebuilding their servers andother equipment. “Everyoneis in damage assessmentnow because it’s so big,” Mr.Dickson said.

The National SecurityAgency called for increasedvigilance to prevent unauthorised access to key militaryand civilian systems.

U.S. cyberattack is widening: MicrosoftThe company says it has identifi��ed victims in seven more countries


Washington <> It’s certain that the

number and location

of victims will keep

growing ... This is not

‘espionage as usual’,

even in the digital

age

Brad Smith

Microsoft president

Alibaba ‘dismayed' byfacial-recognition techSHANGHAI

Tech giant Alibaba said in a

statement it was “dismayed”

that Alibaba Cloud had

developed software that

could recognise Uighurs. “We

do not and will not permit

our technology to be used to

target or identify specific

ethnic groups,” it said. AFP

IN BRIEF

At least 15 children killedin Afghanistan blast GHAZNI

A motorbike loaded with

explosives blew up at a

religious gathering in Gilan

district of Ghazni province in

Afghanistan on Friday, killing

at least 15 children and

wounding 20 other people.

Ahmad Khan Seerat,

spokesman for the provincial

police force, said it was a

Taliban attack. AFP


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DELHI THE HINDU


NIFTY 50

PRICE CHANGE

Adani Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 463.30. . . . . . . . -4.45

Asian Paints. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2601.50. . . . . . . 26.45

Axis Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 609.50. . . . . . . . . 4.10

Bajaj Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3347.55. . . . . . . 77.10

Bajaj Finserv. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 9215.60. . . . . . -78.50

Bajaj Finance . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 5252.50. . . . . . -34.20

Bharti Airtel . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 510.65. . . . . . . . -4.45

BPCL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 393.85. . . . . . . . -1.55

Britannia Ind . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3720.50. . . . . . . . -9.25

Cipla . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 793.45. . . . . . . 10.25

Coal India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 141.70. . . . . . . . -1.75

Divis Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 3832.90. . . . . . . . . 8.20

Dr Reddys Lab . . . . . . . .. . . . 5228.75. . . . . 155.90

Eicher Motors. . . . . . . . .. . . . 2480.95. . . . . . . 14.35

GAIL (India). . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 125.05. . . . . . . . . 1.15

Grasim Ind . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 909.65. . . . . . . . -3.05

HCL Tech. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 890.65. . . . . . . 11.30

HDFC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2479.40. . . . . . -15.20

HDFC Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1411.35. . . . . . -30.45

HDFC Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 654.10. . . . . . . . -0.45

Hero MotoCorp . . . . . .. . . . 3135.30. . . . . . . 22.65

Hindalco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 249.90. . . . . . . . . 4.05

Hind Unilever . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2333.45. . . . . . . 18.15

ICICI Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 517.15. . . . . . . . . 6.75

IndusInd Bank . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 905.20. . . . . . -30.60

Infosys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1189.80. . . . . . . 30.60

Indian OilCorp . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 93.95. . . . . . . . -1.45

ITC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 214.50. . . . . . . . . 1.45

JSW Steel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 364.20. . . . . . . . -2.00

Kotak Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1949.35. . . . . . -16.10

L&T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1281.55. . . . . . . . . 2.75

M&M . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 733.60. . . . . . . . . 2.95

Maruti Suzuki . . . . . . . . .. . . . 7559.75. . . -134.25

Nestle India Ltd. . . . .. 18362.75. . . . . . . 57.40

NTPC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 103.75. . . . . . . . -0.70

ONGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . 99.00. . . . . . . . -2.50

PowerGrid Corp . . . . .. . . . . . 193.90. . . . . . . . . 0.60

Reliance Ind . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1991.55. . . . . . . . . 5.95

SBI Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 857.15. . . . . . . . . 0.80

State Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 271.45. . . . . . . . . 3.75

Shree Cement . . . . . . . .. 24574.40. . . . . . . 64.00

Sun Pharma . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 575.00. . . . . . . . . 3.65

Tata Motors . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 180.55. . . . . . . . -1.15

Tata Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 631.25. . . . . . . . -4.05

TCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 2861.00. . . . . . . 22.80

Tech Mahindra . . . . . . .. . . . . . 933.80. . . . . . . . . 3.70

Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . 1519.35. . . . . . . 17.40

UltraTech Cement. .. . . . 5152.50. . . . . . -19.30

UPL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 460.30. . . . . . . . . 4.90

Wipro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . 363.55. . . . . . . . . 6.65

EXCHANGE RATES

Indicative direct rates in rupees a unitexcept yen at 4 p.m. on December 18

CURRENCY TT BUY TT SELL

US Dollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 73.36. . . . . . . 73.68

Euro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 89.89. . . . . . . 90.30

British Pound. . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 99.13. . . . . . . 99.58

Japanese Yen (100) . .. . 70.87. . . . . . . 71.19

Chinese Yuan . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 11.22. . . . . . . 11.27

Swiss Franc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 82.98. . . . . . . 83.35

Singapore Dollar . . . . . . .. . 55.23. . . . . . . 55.48

Canadian Dollar. . . . . . . . .. . 57.50. . . . . . . 57.75

Malaysian Ringitt . . . . . .. . 18.14. . . . . . . 18.25

Australian Dollar . . . . . . .. . 55.77. . . . . . . 56.02

Source:Indian Bank

market watch

18-12-2020 % CHANGE

Sensex dddddddddddddddddddddd 46,961 ddddddddddddddd0.15

US Dollardddddddddddddddddddd 73.56 ddddddddddddddd0.04

Gold ddddddddddddddddddddddddddd 49,644 ddddddddddddddd0.38

Brent oil ddddddddddddddddddddd 51.70 ddddddddddddddd0.27

The Heavy Industries Ministry is engaged in close coordination with stakeholderson the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme whichalso covers the automobilesector, and hopefully it willbe rolled out very soon, a topoffi��cial said on Friday.

“Government has comeout with a huge outlay forproduction linked incentivesin the manufacturing sector,a big factor of which is auto.So the size is going to be approximately ₹��1.5 lakh crore,”Secretary in the Heavy Industries Ministry Arun Goelsaid at a CII event. “We arenow in close coordinationwith the stakeholders to

work out the details andhopefully it will be seeingthe light of day in the fi��nalshape very soon.”

The Department of HeavyIndustries frames and implements policies for the auto

sector. The Union Cabinetlast month approved a Production Linked Incentivescheme worth ₹��1.46 lakhcrore for 10 sectors to boostdomestic manufacturing,create jobs and reduce the

dependence on imports. The scheme will be of

fered to white goods manufacturing, pharma, auto, telecom, textile, foodproducts, solar photovoltaicand cell battery, among others, with a total outlay of₹��1,45,980 crore spread overfi��ve years.

‘Largest outlay for auto’The largest share — ₹��57,042crore — goes to auto and autocomponents.

This is followed by advance chemistry cell battery(₹��18,100 crore), drug makers(₹��15,000 crore), telecomproducts (₹��12,195 crore),food products (₹��10,900crore) and textile manufacturers (₹��10,683 crore).

Govt. to spell out productionlinked plan for autos soon: GoelHeavy Industries Secretary says Ministry fi��nalising details with stakeholders

Press Trust of India

New Delhi

Changing gear: The scheme will be off��ered to 10 sectors withan outlay of ₹��1,45,980 crore spread over 5 years. * A.M. FARUQUI

An article titled “SIAM dataaffi��rms Nov.’s increase inPV wholesales” (Dec. 12,2020) gave the percentageincrease in wholesale salesof passenger vehicles inNovember as 12.7% and thevolume sold as 2,85,367units. It should have been4.6% and 2,64,898 units.

Correction

IN BRIEF

Renault to raise prices byup to ₹��28,000 from Jan.NEW DELHI

Automaker Renault India on

Friday said it will increase

prices of its entire model

range by up to ₹��28,000 from

next month. The company,

which sells models like Kwid

and Triber, said the price hike

from January would vary

across variants and products.

“The price increase is a result

of increasing input costs

across the spectrum and

other affi��liated cost increases

during the pandemic,”

Renault India said. PTI

Birla parent Pilani maysoon issue bonus sharesMUMBAI

Pilani Investment &

Industries Corporation Ltd., a

nonbanking fi��nancial

company (NBFC) and parent

of the Birla Group, is likely to

announce the results of the

evoting by shareholders for

increasing the authorised

share capital of the company

and issuance of bonus

shares, on December 21, as

per a regulatory fi��ling. On

November 10, the board had

announced the bonus issue in

the ratio of 2:5.

Reliance Industries Ltd.(RIL) and BP plc have announced the start of production from RCluster, the ultradeepwater gas fi��eld inthe KG basin’s D6 block.

The two partners are developing three deepwatergas projects in KGD6 — RCluster, Satellites Clusterand MJ — which together areexpected to meet 15% of India’s gas demand by 2023,RIL said in a statement.

“These projects will utilise the existing hub infrastructure in KGD6 block,”the company added. RIL isthe operator of KGD6 with a

66.67% participating interest and BP holds the rest.

RCluster is the fi��rst of thethree projects to come onstream. The fi��eld is locatedabout 60 km from the existing KGD6 Control & RiserPlatform (CRP) off�� the Kakinada coast and comprises asubsea production system

tied back to CRP via a subseapipeline, the company said.

‘Deepest in Asia’“Located at a water depth ofgreater than 2,000 m, it isthe deepest off��shore gasfi��eld in Asia. The fi��eld is expected to reach plateau gasproduction of about 12.9 million standard cubic metersper day (mmscmd) in 2021,”RIL said.

The next project, the Satellites Cluster, is expectedto come on stream in 2021,followed by the MJ project in2022, it added.

“Peak gas productionfrom the fi��elds is expected tobe around 30 mmscmd.”

Field is fi��rst of 3 being developed in KGD6, to go on stream


MUMBAI

RIL, BP start gas output fromultradeepwater RCluster

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed criminal proceedings initiated by a Karnataka court against formerchairman and managing director of Wipro, Azim H.Premji, his wife and chartered accountant G.V. Raoon the basis of a “mischievous” private complaint alleging breach of trust andcorruption in the merger ofthree companies with aPremji group fi��rm.

A Bench led by JusticeSanjay Kishan Kaul stayedthe trial court’s January order taking cognisance of thecomplaint and summoningMr. Premji and the others after the Karnataka High Courtrefused in May to quash thelower court’s order.

In separate petitions Mr.Premji, represented by senior advocates A.M. Singhviand Mukul Rohatgi, and Mr.Rao, represented by senioradvocate S. Ganesh and advocate Vipin Nair, said thecomplaint was “mischievous” in nature.

Mr. Premji, in his petitionfi��led through advocate Ma

hesh Agarwal, said the threecompanies — Napean, Regaland Vidya — were privatecompanies and had beenpromoted, owned and controlled by the Azim PremjiGroup from their inceptionin 1974. It submitted thatHasham, the company withwhich the three were amalgamated in 2015, was alsopart of the group.

The “malafi��de” criminalcomplaint fi��led by IndiaAwake for Transparency in2017 claimed the three companies “belonged to nobodyand therefore belonged tothe government”. Mr. Rohatgi and Mr. Singhvi submittedthat this accusation wasplain mischievous.

The court set next hearingfor February 5, and issuednotice to respondents.

SC stays criminal proceedingsagainst Wipro’s Premji, wifeBench puts Karnataka court’s ruling on a plaint in abeyance

Krishnadas Rajagopal

NEW DELHI

Azim Premji

The U.K., Ireland, theNetherlands, the U.S. andSouth Africa are among thetop countries attractingand retaining highlyskilledIndian workers in the contracting marketplace, according to a survey.

The fi��ndings of the survey — titled ‘Global Demand for Indian IT Contractors’ and conducted bycontractor hiring platformTechfynder — are based onresponses of 52,000 contractors between Januaryand December. Due to thepandemic, many businesses were going online to off��er their products and services, which has furtherraised demand for software engineers, Java developers, cybersecurity engineers, data scientists, webdevelopers and UI/UX designers, it noted.

U.K., U.S. in top5 hirers of ITcontract staff��Press Trust of India

Mumbai

With the revival of the Indian economy being theprimary focus, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanon Friday hinted that theUnion Budget for 202122would assign top billing tohealth sector concerns,while addressing the implications of the postpandemic world for industry and theworkforce.

Stressing that Indiawould play a signifi��cant rolein reviving the global economy and was ready to manufacture vaccines for theworld, she said, “we owe itto humanity to put ourheads together and come upwith a Budget that can playits role in reviving India”.

Seeking ideas from industry leaders at the CII Partnership Summit, Ms. Sitharaman said: “Feel free tosend me your inputs so thatwe can see a Budget likenever before. In 100 years ofIndia, we haven’t seen aBudget being made postpandemic like this. And thatis not going to be possibleunless I get each one of yourinputs and wish list. Without that, it is impossible forme to draft up somethingwhich is going to be thatBudget like never before.

“Considering the size ofour population, and the potential India holds for goodgrowthrelated building ofour economy, I wouldn’thesitate to say that we shallbe the engine of globalgrowth, along with a fewother countries, of course,”she added.

Health as priorityEmphasising that the government was taking all inputs received from healthsector experts for the Budget seriously, the Minister

said: “Health and investment in health takes topnotch priority, not just tokeep us safer, but also tomake health and healthrelated expenditure morepredictable; for people notto do it outofpocket, somekind of provisions to bemade for that.”

The Budget will also try toleverage India’s strengths inareas such as vaccine production to encourage investments in research and development in biotech andpharmaceuticals, she said.

“At a time [when] manyeconomies are wonderingwhere to procure their vaccines from, after they areformulated and certifi��ed…we in India are actually veryfortunate to have such capacities that are now racingahead of time… and we havethe capacity to... produce asmuch as we need,” shepointed out. To a query as towhere she sees India oneyear from now, the Ministersaid: “One thing’s for sure…India would have moved alot more on digitisation...have its signature on anything to do with fi��ntech, fi��nancial transactions and digitalpayments globally.

“You will also fi��nd that India will show signs of beinga leader in infrastructurebuilding. Therefore, coresector revival will be speedier than anything else.”

Core sector revival will be speedy: FM


NEW DELHI

Nirmala Sitharaman

Budget to prioritisehealth investments

The Reserve Bank of Indiahas extended the currentcurbs on the Punjab andMaharashtra CooperativeBank Ltd. till March 31,2021, after the cashstrapped lender receivedfour proposals from potential investors.

“PMC Bank had invitedexpression of interest (EoI)from eligible investors forinvestment/ equity participation for its reconstruction. The last date for submission of EoI wasDecember 15,” the RBI said.

PMC Bank had soughttime to examine the fourproposals it had receivedfor “their viability and feasibility taking into accountthe best interest of the depositors”, the RBI said, explaining its decision.

RBI extendscurbs as PMCdraws 4 EoIs


MUMBAI

The government on Fridayproposed the adoption ofE20 fuel — a blend of 20% ofethanol and gasoline — as anautomobile fuel in order toreduce vehicular emissionsas well as the country’s oilimport bill.

The Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways haspublished a draft notifi��cation and invited commentsfrom the public for adoptionof the fuel. The current permissible level of blending is10% of ethanol though Indiareached only 5.6% of blending in 2019.

“The notifi��cation facilitates the development ofE20compliant vehicles,” ac

cording to a statement. “Itwill also help in reducingemissions of carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, etc. Itwill help reduce the oil import bill, thereby saving foreign exchange and boosting energy security.”

Vehicle compatibilityIt added the compatibility ofvehicles with the percentage of ethanol in the blendwould be defi��ned by thevehicle manufacturer,which would have to be displayed on the vehicle with asticker.

Ethanol is a biofuel and acommon byproduct of biomass left by agriculturalfeedstock such as corn, sugarcane, hemp, potato, etc.

India mulls E20 fuel tocut vehicular emissions Move will also help reduce oil imports


NEW DELHI

Bank credit grew 5.7%,deposits 11.3%: RBIMUMBAI

Bank credit grew by 5.7% to

₹��105 lakh crore while

deposits increased by 11.3%

to ₹��145.9 lakh crore in the

fortnight ended December 4,

RBI data showed. In the

fortnight ended December 6,

2019, bank credit had stood

at ₹��99.3 lakh crore and

deposits at ₹��131.1 lakh crore.

In the previous fortnight

ended November 20, credit

grew 5.82% to ₹��104.3 lakh

crore and deposits 10.9% to

₹��143.7 lakh crore. PTI

The government is exploring all options, includingsetting up of a bad bank, toimprove the health of thecountry’s banking sector,Economic Aff��airs SecretaryTarun Bajaj said on Friday.

He also said the government has recapitalised public sector banks and continues to pump in capital asper requirements.

“We are looking at various options, including theoption you mentioned (ofbad bank), and it is still inthe works. The RBI has beenasking us, and we ourselvesalso feel that we need to recapitalise. We have recapitalised to a large extent andthis year too, we have keptsome money for recapitalisation, so that commitmentis there,” he said.

Mr. Bajaj was responding

to a query on whether thegovernment would considersetting up of a bad bank forreducing the burden of nonperforming assets (NPAs) ofthe public sector banks.

There have been diff��erences of opinion on settingup of a bad bank. In June,Chief Economic Adviser K.V. Subramanian said settingup of a bad bank may not bea potent option to addressthe NPA woes in the sector.

Govt. mulls bad bank toboost banking sectorCommitted to recapitalisation: Bajaj

Press trust of india

new delhi

Tarun Bajaj


+

CMYK

M ND-NDE


THE HINDU DELHI


SPORT

SUDOKU

Solution to puzzle 13122 Solution to yesterday’s Sudoku

DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

When it was decided that a messenger should be sent by thePandavas to Duryodhana as a last attempt to avert war, LordKrishna volunteered to go, said V.S. Karunakarachariar, in adiscourse. Yudhishthira at once brought a chariot for Krishna, but the Lord said with rishis following Him on foot, itwould be improper and disrespectful for Him to ride in achariot. So He decided to walk. Ilango Adigal, in his Silappadikaram, describes the scene — Krishna walked to the soundof Vedic recitation, as a messenger of the Pandavas. IlangoAdigal asks of what use a tongue is if it does not sing thepraises of such a One.

When news reached Hastinapura that Krishna was on Hisway to meet the Kauravas, discussions began on how to welcome the Lord. Duryodhana, however, was fi��rm that Krishna should not be welcomed. In fact, Duryodhana wanted toinsult Krishna. And he said that none should rise as Krishnaentered. Bhishma had to go along with adamant Duryodhana, and Bhishma said that he would do whatever Duryodhana did. But when Krishna entered the court, Duryodhanawas the fi��rst to rise from his seat to welcome Him. The others in the court followed suit. Later Duryodhana picked upan argument with Bhishma and others, and said they wentagainst his wishes by honouring Krishna. Bhishma pointedout that they only followed Duryodhana.

But why did Duryodhana get up from his seat? Because,the Lord who was inside him directed him to, and that iswhy one of the names of the Lord in the Vishnu Sahasranama is Vasat. It means He is the controller of everything. Allthings go according to His will. If an enemy confronts us,and we chant the name Vasat, then the Lord who is insideour opponent will make him friendly towards us

FAITH

He controls and directs + 13123(set by Gridman)

Never go off�� the grid.

We are digital now. Come solve online.

@ https://qrgo.page.link/jjpTn

■ ACROSS

7 Writer Virginia, receiving mantra, is to come back (6)

8 City dweller at Brunei collapses (8)

9 Respected hotel let (8)

10 Quarrelsome carpenter (6)

11 Visual about disembowelled raja is prophetic (8)

13 Serenely all knights took it fi��rst as manifestation of woman power (5)

14 Computer professionals with methodical and critical skills (7,8)

17 Devilish, he’s gone stomping out and angry (5)

19 Run to fi��rstclass, primarily luxurious vehicle after fi��nallyexpired

travel permit (8)

21 Bedevil soft convict with every other rule (6)

22 A quiet bird due to change disposition (8)

24 American gets meaner about what is needed to log in (8)

25 Men are summoned to change handle (6)

■ DOWN

1 A small hearty meal in the main (4)

2 Absolute rascal staying within legal limits (8)

3 I, for one, heard the affirmation (6)

4 The point of developing brassicas without using a bit of readymix

(8)

5 Carefully analyse one French tool (6)

6 Priestess relaxes after admitting principally tender relative (10)

8 Part of aircraft that is in transportation, apparently (13)

12 Sequence of cards makes two boys turn red (5,5)

15 I have changed, taking the award all round — it is antique (8)

16 Youth longing to get time for aquatic activity (8)

18 Unexpected change in VijayawadaGulbarga end to end line (6)

20 Doctor — and how patients see her one after another reportedly (6)

23 Struck thus, one can’t speak (4)

SCAN TO PLAY

R. Ashwin bagged four wickets as a dominant India helda 62run lead at stumps onday two of the daynight Testat the Adelaide Oval afterAustralian captain Tim Paineran out of batting partners.

Paine was left stranded on73 when the Australian innings ended at 191 to trail India by 53 runs.

Ashwin had four for 55while Umesh Yadav tookthree for 40.

Shaw fl��ops againAt stumps, India in its second innings was one downfor nine after Prithvi Shawagain failed to get going.

Fifteen wickets fell on theday which started when PatCummins and Mitchell Starctook just 25 deliveries to remove fi��nal four batsmen.

Australia in turn struggledto make headway as JaspritBumrah, Ashwin and Yadavworked their way throughthe batting order.

Even with India spillingfi��ve chances, it never allowed Australia to settleapart from a determinedPaine who plugged on to hiseighth half century, aided inpart by being dropped byMayank on 26. It was Paine’sonly misstep and he broughtup his 50 off�� 68 deliveries.

Bumrah strikesAfter Australia took 28 ballsto get its fi��rst runs on theboard, Bumrah stepped upto remove openers Matthew

Wade and Joe Burns for eighteach before dinner.

Ashwin captured the wickets of Steve Smith, TravisHead and Cameron Greenbetween dinner and tea withSmith, the world’s premierbatsman, facing 29 deliveriesfor his sole run.

In the fi��nal session Yadavtook Marnus Labuschagneand Cummins to expose thetail and joined Ashwin totake the fi��nal two wickets ofNathan Lyon and JoshHazlewood.

Lucky Labuschagne Labuschagne survived longenough in the middle to beAustralia’s secondhighestscorer with 47, but his wicketwas always under threat.

He was dropped threetimes before his luck ran outafter tea when he wastrapped in front.

The India inningswrapped up quickly on thesecond morning with the lastfour wickets adding just 11runs in 25 deliveries.

Ashwin turns it on to restrict Australia Visiting bowlers strike in bursts to break up potential partnerships; Paine stands fi��rm to limit damage


ADELAIDE

Eliminating a threat: Fourwicket hero R. Ashwin, second from left, takes off�� in joy after havingSteve Smith snared by Ajinkya Rahane, second from right. * AFP

INDIA IN AUS Seldom has R. Ashwinsmiled of late during In

dia’s postmatch press interactions. Friday was expectedly an exception. Not onlydid the off��spinner return hispersonal best Down Underbut also played a key role inIndia gaining an upper handon the second day of the fi��rstTest of the BorderGavaskarTrophy.

After setting Steve Smithup in his fi��rst over, Ashwinwent on a celebratory lap thatis usually synonymous withImran Tahir. Ashwin wasthrilled to play Test cricketagain after a prolonged breakenforced by the pandemic.

“First things fi��rst, I’m sohappy that we are playingTest cricket again and it hasbeen a long time. Since I amextremely mad about thesport and doing other thingseven during the lockdown, it

felt refreshing to go out andbowl again. I meant the feeling was great, bowling withthe pink ball and I hadn’t taken wickets with that... it justfelt amazing to go out andplay again. I felt like makingmy debut again. I really enjoyed bowling,” Ashwin said.

Context of the game

“With regards to SteveSmith’s wicket, obviously it isa big wicket. With Steve, youknow how much time heloves to bat and his appetitefor runs is huge. So in termsof the context of the gameand where it was placed, I feltit was an important wicketand I enjoyed it.”

Ashwin stressed that despite getting bowled out for244, India’s dressing room —based on the Test in Adelaidein 2018 — felt “we were rightin the game”. “I think lasttime we made 250, here wewere fi��ve to six runs shorter

this time, so we knew wewere in the contest. I thoughtwe had a bowling performance that was one notchbetter than the last time,” hesaid.

Having bowled a long spellwith the pinkball for the fi��rsttime in a match — he bowledjust fi��ve overs during India’smaiden pinkball Test lastyear — Ashwin felt it was toomuch to experiment with thenew ball in day Tests, as suggested by Shane Warne.

“The pink ball is at a nascent stage of where Test cricket should head forward. It isexciting for a lot of peoplewatching the game.

“Personally, the one wherewe played in Kolkata was different because this is Kookaburra and that was playedwith SG balls,” he said.

“To try too many things,pushing players to a certainbrim, I’m not sure. But thereis space for pinkball Tests.”

Ashwin chuff��ed to be back bowling after long pandemic breakAmol Karhadkar

‘Smith’s wicket an important one’

Upbeat: R. Ashwin stressed that the feeling inside the dressing room was one of positivitydespite posting a soso total. * AP

INDIA — 1ST INNINGSPrithvi Shaw b Starc 0 (2b),Mayank Agarwal b Cummins 17(40b, 2x4), Cheteshwar Pujara cLabuschagne b Lyon 43 (160b,

2x4), Virat Kohli run out 74(180b, 8x4), Ajinkya Rahane lbwb Starc 42 (92b, 3x4, 1x6),Hanuma Vihari lbw b Hazlewood16 (25b, 2x4), Wriddhiman Sahac Paine b Starc 9 (26b, 1x4), R.Ashwin c Paine b Cummins 15(20b, 1x4), Umesh Yadav c Wadeb Starc 6 (13b, 1x4), J. Bumrah(not out) 4 (7b, 1x4), M. Shami cHead b Cummings 0 (1b); Extras(b2, lb8, nb7, w1): 18; Total(in 93.1 overs): 244.

FALL OF WICKETS10 (Shaw, 0.2 overs), 232(Mayank, 18.1), 3100 (Pujara,49.4), 4188 (Kohli, 76.6), 5196(Rahane, 80.4), 6206 (Vihari,83.2), 7233 (Ashwin, 89.3), 8235 (Wriddhiman Saha, 90.3),9240 (Umesh Yadav, 92.2).

AUSTRALIA BOWLINGStarc 215534, Hazlewood 206471, Cummins 21.17483,Lyon 212681, Green 92150,Labuschagne 1030.

AUSTRALIA — 1ST INNINGSMatthew Wade lbw b Bumrah 8(51b, 1x4), Joe Burns lbw bBumrah 8 (41b), MarnusLabuschange lbw b Umesh 47

(Labuschagne, 53.3), 7111(Cummins, 53.6), 8139 (Starc,60.1), 9167 (Lyon, 66.5).

INDIA BOWLINGUmesh 16.15403, Bumrah 217522, Shami 174410, Ashwin 183554.

INDIA — 2ND INNINGSPrithvi Shaw b Cummins 4 (4b),Mayank Agarwal (batting) 5(21b), Jasprit Bumrah (batting)0 (11b); Total (for one wkt. in sixovers): 9.

FALL OF WICKET17 (Shaw, 3.1 overs).

AUSTRALIA BOWLINGStarc 3130, Cummins 3261.

(119, 7x4), Steve Smith c Rahaneb Ashwin 1 (29b), Travis Head c& b Ashwin 7 (20b), CameronGreen c Kohli b Ashwin 11 (24b,

1x4), T. Paine (not out) 73 (99b,

10x4), Pat Cummins c Rahane bUmesh 0 (3b), Mitchell Starc runout 15 (16b, 1x4), Nathan Lyon cKohli b Ashwin 10 (21b, 1x4),Josh Hazlewood c Pujara bUmesh 8 (10b, 2x4); Extras(lb3): 3; Total (in 72.1 overs):191.

FALL OF WICKETS116 (Wade, 14.1 overs), 229(Burns, 16.6), 345 (Smith,26.6), 465 (Head, 34.4), 579(Green, 40.3), 6111

SCOREBOARD

New Zealand cruised to afi��vewicket win over Pakistan in the fi��rst Twenty20International at Eden Parkhere on Friday.

The Black Caps endedon 156 for fi��ve with sevenballs to spare after losingthe toss and being set a target of 154. Tim Seifert topscored with 57, while debutant paceman Jacob Duff��ytook four for 33.The scores: Pakistan 153/9 in20 overs (Shadab Khan 42,Faheem Ashraf 31; Jacob Duffy 4/33, Scott Kuggeleijn 3/27) lost to New Zealand 156/5in 18.5 overs (Tim Siefert 57,Mark Chapman 34; ShaheenAfridi 2/27, Haris Rauf 3/29).

Kiwis drawfi��rst bloodAGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Auckland

Jacob Duff��y. * AFP

Khejrolia takes

Shastri Club to fi��nal

Delhi’s Ranji Trophy team’sduo of leftarm mediumpacer Kulwant Khejroliya(4/35) and Nitish Rana (2/32), along with Yash Garg(30, 2/32) scripted LalBahadur Shastri Club’sdramatic 10run win overShraddhanand College inthe semifi��nals of the 30thallIndia Om Nath Soodmemorial crickettournament here on Friday.

Chasing 197, ShraddhanandCollege was 71 without lossafter 11 overs but thereafter,ManoftheMatch Khejrolialed Shastri Club’s rally andhelped the team enter thefi��nal after fi��ve years.

The scores: L.B. Shastri Club

196/9 in 40 overs (Priyansh

Arya 44, Tejas Dahiya 31, Yash

Garg 30, Hiten Dalal 27) bt

Swami Shraddhanand College

186/9 in 40 overs (Lakshay

Thareja 39, Sumit Mathur 39,

Ankush Bains 29, Kulwant

Khejroliya 4/35).

Krish hits unbeaten

halfcentury

Krish Aggarwal (51 not out)guided Lal Bahadur ShastriClub to a sevenwicket winover Ravindra Academy on

way to the fi��nal of the fi��rstBhola Singh memorial(under17) crickettournament at the ChattarSingh ground.

The scores: Ravindra Academy

160 in 38.5 overs (Sidharth

Joon 56, Ankit Kumar 52,

Sampoorn Tripathi 4/29) lost

to Lal Bahadur Shastri Club

161/3 in 33.1 overs (Krish

Aggarwal 51 n.o., Dipesh

Balyan 37).

Paliwal stars for

Haryana Academy

A 74 from Services’ Ranjiplayer Rajat Paliwal provedcrucial in HaryanaAcademy’s ninerun winover Triaksh Academy in thefi��rst Tripathi PremierLeague at the Tripathi Ovalhere.

The scores: Haryana Academy

226/7 in 40 overs (Rajat

Paliwal 74, Gourav Kochad 37,

Alok Singh 4/32) bt Triaksh

Academy 217/7 in 40 overs

(Binay Rawat 84, Tushar

Prashar 74 n.o.).

Abhiman strikes

Abhiman Gupta (4/27) andhalfcenturions AryanGhelot and Aniket Kumarhelped Achiever Academybeat D.C. Raghav Academyby eight wickets in the fi��rst

Airliner Winter crickettournament at the BhartiCollege ground.

The scores: D.C. Raghav


(Vansh Rithalia 35, Ayushman

Adhikari 33, Abhiman Gupta

4/27) lost to Achiever Academy

164/2 in 29 overs (Aryan

Gehlot 53, Aniket Kumar 52).

Yash Bhatia hits ton

Delhi under16 player YashBhatia (118) and YashBharadwaj (55) were themain contributors to MataBhatee Devi Club’s 71runwin over Airliner Academyin the fi��rst Roshan Lal Sethimemorial (under19) crickettournament at the MandirMarg ground.

The scores: Mata Bhatee Devi

261/6 in 35 overs (Yash Bhatia

118, Yash Bhardwaj 55,

Shubham Arora 3/27) bt

Airliner Academy 190/9 in 35

overs (Shubham Saini 95).

Saksham, Aryan shine

Saksham Mateer (78) andAryan Dogra (3/37) enabledTelefunken Club beat RannStar Club by 60 runs andenter the fi��nal of the TurfYouth Club (under19)cricket tournament at theGuru Gobind Singh Collegeground.

The scores: Telefunken Club

238/9 in 40 overs (Saksham

Mateer 78, Yugal Saini 36,

Swyam Kaushik 30, Rahul

Chaudhary 3/48) bt Rann Star

178 in 34.1 overs (Sombir

Sheokand 56, Siddarth Singh

Beniwal 40, Aryan Dogra 3/37).

Dweep shows the way

Dweep Gehlot (53 not out)was the hero of M10Academy’s sevenwicketvictory over HarbhajanInstitute of Cricket in thesemifi��nals of the HariBallabh Sharma memorial(under14) tournament.

The scores: Harbhajan

Institute of Cricket 143 in 37.4

overs (Aakash Kumar 80,

Shubham Saini 4/27) lost to

M10 Academy 146/3 in 25

overs (Dweep Gehlot 53 n.o.,

Lakshaya Sangwan 33).

Deepanshu, Suraj excel

Deepanshu Kumar (68) andSuraj Kumar (3/24) helpedS.N. Dubey Academy beatRKB Academy by 85 runs inthe seventh S.N. Dubeymemorial crickettournament at the PioneerSports Club ground.

The scores: S.N. Dubey


(Deepanshu Kumar 68, Akshay

Dubey 33, Yash Chandila 34

n.o.) R.K.B. Academy 170/7 in

40 overs (Karan Kashyap 55,

Trinav Kumar 49, Yash Vardhan

Oberoi 32, Suraj Kumar 3/24).

Allround show by Poonish

Haryana’s Ranji playerPoonish Mehta (5/26 and 47)helped Darling FrontlineClub beat Ravi Brothers Clubby four wickets in the fi��rstRikhi Ram memorial crickettournament at the MadeEasy School ground.

The scores: Ravi Brothers Club

189 in 37.1 overs (Shivam

Tripathi 49, Saqlain Haider 37,

Poonish Mehta 5/26) lost to

Darling Frontline Club 192/6 in

37.1 overs (Ankit Chillar 71,

Poonish Mehta 47, Shivam

Tripathi 4/52).

Ankit, Nizam perform well

Ankit Kumar (110) andNizam Malik (4/14) joinedhands as Sahgal Clubcrushed City Academy by127 runs in the B.R. Sharmamemorial crickettournament at the CKPlayStation ground.

The scores: Sahgal Club 304 in

37.5 overs (Ankit Kumar 110,

Anmol Sharma 55, Tarun Bisht

46, Sachin Mishra 5/43) bt City

Academy 177 in 28 overs

(Mongia Khan 46, Vaibhav

Sharma 36, Nizam Malik 4/14).

CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

\ DELHI CRICKET ROUND-UP \

K.Y. Ahamed started hiscampaign in the second andfi��nal round of the MRFMMSC FMSCI Indian National Motorcycle Racing Championship 2020 with two brilliant performances as he ledhis team, TVS Racing, to 12fi��nishes in both the Pro

Stock categories (301400ccand 165cc) at the MMRT,here on Friday.

Also notching up victories in the National championship were the 23yearold from Bengaluru, Seshadri Suresh (Sparks Racing),in the Novice (Stock 165cc)and Ann Jennifer (SparksRacing), who completed ahattrick of wins in the girls’(Stock 165cc) category.

Double onetwo fi��nish for TVS Racing

MOTORSPORTS

Sports Reporter

Chennai

NorthEast United FC(NEUFC) experienced

the bitter taste of defeat forthe fi��rst time this IndianSuper League season as itlost 10 to Jamshedpur FC( JFC) at the Tilak MaidanStadium in Vasco on Friday.

Aniket Jadhav’s 53rd minute strike took JFC to thefi��fth spot with 10 pointsfrom seven games. NEUFCremains fourth.

NEUFC looked the betterside initially and Kwesi Appiah had halfachance inthe 18th minute when Idrissa Sylla chested down Ashutosh Mehta’s long throwin.

Appiah did well to takeon a couple of defendersand had a crack at goal buthis shot whizzed wide. TheGhanaian had anotherchance in the 24th minutebut hit the sidenetting.The result: NEUFC 0 lost toJFC 1 (Aniket Jadhav 53).

Saturday’s match: FC Goa vChennaiyin FC, 7.30 p.m.

Aniket stars for JFCISL 2020-21

Sports Bureau


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CMYK

M ND-NDE

SPORTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

DELHI THE HINDU


BENGALURU: Golden Oaks, who isin fine nick, may score an encorein the Bangalore 2000 Guineas(1,600m), the chief event of theraces to be held here on Saturday(Dec. 19). There will be no falserails.

1 DAVANGERE PLATE (1,200m),rated 00 to 20, 5yo & over, 2

00 p.m.: 1. Lady Nectar (14) Md.Aliyar 60, 2. Nerva (4) M.Prabhakaran 60, 3. Arrogance (11)Yash 59.5, 4. Anakin (6) Srinath58.5, 5. Aerospeed (12) S. Imran58, 6. Fierce Fighter (8) A. Imran58, 7. Annalease (2) S. Mubarak57.5, 8. Santorini Secret (5) Rayan57, 9. Savisa (1) S. Shareef 57, 10.Eco Bonita (9) N.B. Kuldeep 55.5,11. Kruger Park (7) Arvind K 55.5,12. Shaktiman (10) Arshad 55.5, 13.Prime Star (3) P. Surya 55 and 14.Phoenix Reached (13) Akshay K53.5.1. ANAKIN, 2. PHOENIX REACHED,

3. ARROGANCE

2 ATMANIRBHAR BHARATPLATE (1,200m), maiden 3yo

only, (Terms), 230: 1. Encounter(4) Arshad 57, 2. Ocean Dunes (1)S. John 57, 3. Perfect Perfecto (8)Anjar Alam 57, 4. Priceless Gold(9) Suraj 57, 5. Compliance (7) M.Naveen 55.5, 6. Glenary (6) Yash55.5, 7. Ironic Humour (3) R. Marshall 55.5, 8. Paradise Beckons (5)R. Shelar 55.5, 9. Top News (2)Rayan 55.5 and 10. War Song (10)Akshay K 55.5.

1. PERFECT PERFECTO,

2. PRICELESS GOLD, 3. WAR SONG

3 JOG FALLS PLATE (DIV. II),(1,200m), rated 15 to 35, 4yo

& over, 300: 1. Dragon Mountain(14) J.H. Arul 60, 2. Augustina (7)C. Umesh 57, 3. Revan Star (12) R.Pradeep 56, 4. Ultimate Striker (9)Darshan 56, 5. Eco Friendly (8) M.Naveen 55.5, 6. Celestial Highway(10) Nazerul 55, 7. Light Of Love(4) P.P. Dhebe 55, 8. Pastiche (3)Ashok K 55, 9. Perfectgoldenera(1) Irvan 55, 10. Nawabzaadi (11)Arshad 54.5, 11. Florencia (13) S.Imran 54, 12. She's Superb (6)Rayan 53.5, 13. Azeemki Princess(5) S. Shareef 52.5 and 14. Unifier(2) R. Manish 52.1. AUGUSTINA,

2. PERFECTGOLDENERA,

3. PASTICHE

4 BOLD MAJESTY PLATE(1,400m), rated 30 to 50, 330:

1. Lagopus (12) A. Imran 60, 2.Whizzo (13) Ashhad Asbar 60, 3.Treasure Striker (14) Rayan 58.5,4. Sainthood (2) Chetan K 56, 5.Johnny Bravo (7) Srinath 55.5, 6.Agnar (3) J.H. Arul 54.5, 7. JackRyan (11) Trevor 54.5, 8. JainSahab (5) S. Shareef 54.5, 9. Ombudsman (10) Darshan 54.5, 10.Rivers Of Babylon (8) N.B.Kuldeep 54, 11. Anna Boleyn (6) Irvan 53.5, 12. Papparazi (9) Antony53.5, 13. Stroke Of Genius (1) P.P.Dhebe 53.5 and 14. Realia (4) Akshay K 53.

Naveen K 60, 3. Musterion (13)Darshan 59.5, 4. Bold Move (9)Vaibhav 59, 5. The Response (10)M. Naveen 59, 6. Morrane Gabriella (2) R. Pradeep 57.5, 7. Propine(3) Arshad 57, 8. Gypsy (8) S. Imran 56, 9. Asgardia (11) IndrajeetSingh 55.5, 10. Jersey Legend (5)Md. Aliyar 55.5, 11. The Preacher(7) Chetan K 55.5, 12. Cosmic Feeling (14) P.P. Dhebe 55, 13. Harmonia (6) J.H. Arul 55 and 14. TheCorporal (4) Srinath 55.1. THE CORPORAL,2. ALEXANDRE DUMAS, 3. THE RESPONSE

8 JOG FALLS PLATE (DIV. I),(1,200m), rated 15 to 35, 4yo

& over, 530: 1. Caesars Palace (9)S. Mubarak 60, 2. Mr Humble (7)Kiran Rai 59.5, 3. Green Channel(8) J.H. Arul 59, 4. Armin (13) M.Naveen 58.5, 5. Chantelle (2)Shreyas Singh 58, 6. Dontbreaktherules (4) Naveen K 57.5, 7. Estella (5) Arvind K 56.5, 8. SunSplash (6) S. Shareef 56.5, 9. Ultimate Power (1) Jagadeesh 56.5, 10.Ekalavya (3) Md. Aliyar 56, 11. Another Rainbow (12) Irvan 55.5, 12.George Burling (11) R. Marshall 55,13. King Creole (10) IndrajeetSingh 54.5 and 14. Naayaab (14)Rayan 54.1. GREEN CHANNEL, 2. SUN SPLASH, 3. MR HUMBLEDay's best: GOLDEN OAKSDouble: REALIA — THE CORPORALJkt: 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8; Tr (i): 3, 4 & 5,(ii): 6, 7 & 8.

1. REALIA, 2. JACK RYAN, 3. OMBUDSMAN

5 HAMPI PLATE (DIV. II),(1,200m), rated 30 to 50, 4yo

& over, 400: 1. Queen Regnant (1)Sandesh 60, 2. Schafenberg (5) Indrajeet Singh 59.5, 3. Port OfBeauty (9) Trevor 59, 4. Reczai (3)N.B. Kuldeep 59, 5. Yerwazan (11)Kiran Rai 59, 6. Aceros (8) R. Marshall 58.5, 7. Crimson Heart (13)M. Naveen 58.5, 8. On The Trot (4)S. John 58.5, 9. Palm Reader (12)Anjar Alam 58.5, 10. Sea Of Cortez(7) Srinath 58.5, 11. She's Innocent(6) Chetan K 58, 12. Black Whizz(10) Irvan 57 and 13. StrikingMemory (2) Darshan 56.1. PORT OF BEAUTY,2. QUEEN REGNANT,3. SEA OF CORTEZ

6 BANGALORE 2000 GUINEAS(1,600m), 3yo only, (Terms),

430: 1. Air Blast (3) S. John 58, 2.Ansaldo (10) Antony 58, 3. Bellator (6) Zervan 58, 4. Cavallini (7)C. Umesh 58, 5. Christopher Wren(4) Srinath 58, 6. Golden Oaks (1)Trevor 58, 7. Handsome (9) Yash58, 8. Lagarde (5) Suraj 58, 9.Manifest (11) Sandesh 58, 10. Nisus(2) Akshay K 58 and 11. Redoubtable (8) A. Imran 58.1. GOLDEN OAKS, 2. NISUS, 3. BELLATOR

7 HAMPI PLATE (DIV. I),(1,200m), rated 30 to 50, 4yo

& over, 500: 1. Alexandre Dumas(12) Trevor 60, 2. Donna Bella (1)

Golden Oaks primed for a repeat in 2000 Guineas

Manchester United mountedyet another rescue missionon Thursday, beating Sheffi��eld United 32 to win itssixth consecutive PremierLeague away match of theseason.

The Blades took a shocklead through David McGoldrick after a horrendous error by returning goalkeeperDean Henderson but twogoals from Marcus Rashfordand a Anthony Martial striketurned the tables.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s JekyllandHyde team has wonjust a single match at OldTraff��ord this season but hastaken all 18 points on theroad to climb to sixth in thetable.

But that is only half thestory for United, which hasbeen forced to come frombehind in all six of thoseaway games.

Aston Villa squanderedmultiple chances as it washeld to a frustrating 00draw by battling Burnley onThursday. Villa is in 11thplace while the point liftedSean Dyche’s men out of the

bottom three.

Anwar El Ghazi and Kortney Hause hit the woodworkwhile Matt Lowton cleared adefl��ected strike from AhmedElmohamady off�� the line.

Burnley’s threat was limited but Sean Dyche’s side isnow unbeaten in threegames.

The results:

Premier League: Aston Villa 0drew with Burnley 0; Sheffi��eldUnited 2 (McGoldrick 5, 87)lost to Manchester United 3(Rashford 26, 51, Martial 33).

Serie A: AS Roma 3 (Mkhitaryan27, Veretout 43pen, Pellegrini68) bt Torino 1 (Belotti 73).

United maintainsperfect away record Aston Villa frustrated by a dogged Burnley

Comeback begins: Marcus Rashford, centre, sets Manchester United on the road to recoveryafter falling behind to Sheffi��eld United. * AFP

EURO LEAGUES

Agence France-PresseLondon

Australia vs India: Sony Ten1, 2 & Sony Six (SD & HD),9.30 a.m.Premier League: SS Select 1(SD & HD), 6 p.m., 8.30 p.m.,11 p.m. & 1.30 a.m. (Sunday)Serie A: Sony Ten 2 (SD &HD), 7.30 p.m., 10.30 p.m. &1.15 a.m. (Sunday)ISL: Star Sports 2 & 3 (SD &HD), 7.30 p.m.

TV PICKS

Sergio Perez to replaceAlbon at Red Bull PARIS

Mexican driver Sergio Perez

will replace Alexander Albon

at Red Bull next season, the

Formula One outfit

announced on Friday. Perez,

who was out of contract with

Racing Point, will race

alongside Max Verstappen in

2021. AFP

IN BRIEF

CSA puts domesticmatches on hold JOHANNESBURG

Domestic cricket in South

Africa was put on hold on

Thursday until next month

after as many as 10 of the

16man squad for the first

Test against Sri Lanka were

exposed to the coronavirus

during First Class matches

this week. AFP

Thompson takes the leadat Tour Championship MIAMI

American Lexi Thompson

fired a sevenunder 65 on

Thursday to lead the LPGA

Tour Championship by one

stroke. Denmark's Nanna

Koerstz Madsen, lying

second, put herself in the mix

for a first LPGA title.

Defending champion Kim

Seiyoung, Caroline Masson

and American Megan Khang

shared third on 67. AFP

Lewandowski wins FIFA‘The Best’ awardZURICH

Robert Lewandowski was

named men’s Playerofthe

Year at FIFA’s ‘The Best’

awards here on Thursday. FIFA’s ‘The Best’ awardswinners: Player-of-the-year:Men: Robert Lewandowski

(Bayern); Women: Lucy Bronze(Lyon).

Goalkeeper: Men: ManuelNeuer (Bayern); Women: SarahBouhaddi (Lyon).

Coach: Men: Jurgen Klopp(Liverpool); Women: SarinaWiegman (Netherlands).

Puskas Award (best goal): SonHeungmin (Tottenham).

SHORT TAKES

Whatmore appointedNepal head coach KATHMANDU

Dav Whatmore, who guided Sri

Lanka to the 50overs World

Cup glory in 1996, has been

named head coach of Nepal’s

national team. The first task

for him would be to help Nepal

reach the 2022 T20 World Cup

in Australia. REUTERS

World championship bronzemedallistSimranjeet Kaur (60kg) beat Ukraine’sMarianna Basanets to storm into the fi��nalof boxing’s Cologne World Cup onFriday.

Earlier, twotime World medallist Sonia Lather (57kg) set up a clash againstcompatriot Manisha in the semifi��nals bybeating Ukraine’s Snizhana Kholodkova32. Manisha had got a bye.

Asian Games bronzewinner SatishKumar (+91kg) kicked off�� his campaignwith an impressive 50 win over Moldova’s Zavantin Alexel to make the lastfourstage and be assured of at least a bronze.

In the 57kg class, Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) defeated Germany’sUmar Bajwa 50 to enter the semifi��nals,Commonwealth Games champion Gaurav Solanki got the better of another localhope in Murat Yildirim 32 and KavinderSingh Bisht defeated France’s SamuelKistohurry.

However, Asian silverwinner AshishKumar (75kg) lost 31 to the Netherlands’Max Van der Pas to bow out in the quarterfi��nals.

Simranjeet in fi��nal

Press Trust of IndiaNEW DELHI

BOXING WC

Chirag Dhun to take onFardeer Qamar in final SONEPAT

Top seed Chirag Duhan beat

Amit Dahiya 63, 62 to set up

a title clash against Fardeen

Qamar in the ₹��100,000 AITA

men’s ranking tennis

tournament at the Shantima

Tennis Academy on Friday.

Fardeen beat Sandesh Dattray

61, 61 in his semifinal.


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