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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

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ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI, DECEMBER25

ARYARAJENDRAN,21andasec-ond year B.Sc Maths student,could be the country's youngestmayor ever. The daughter of anelectrician,whose entire familyaresupportersoftheCPM,Aryaistobenamedbythepartyasheadof theThiruvananthapuramCityCorporation,aftertheLDFwon51ofits100wardsintherecentpolls.Arya, who studies at the all-

women All Saints College, wonfrom Mudavanmukal ward.

"Ours is a party family," says fa-ther KMRajendran, explainingArya's interest in politics.Rajendran,wifeSreelatha,anLICagent,andsonAravind,whodidautomobile engineering andworks in theMiddle East now,areCPMmembers too.The21-year-oldfirstbecame

associatedwith thepartywhenshe joined its children's collec-tive Baalasangham as early asClass5. "Later, I becamethedis-trict president, and have beenstate chief of theBaalasanghamforthepasttwoyears.DuetomyactiveroleintheBaalasangham,I was taken into the Students'Federation of India (CPM stu-dents'wing) and I ampart of itsstate committee,” Arya says, at-

tributing the CPM's decision tochooseher asmayor—a formalannouncement is expected onSaturday — to this close, oldassociation.HalfoftheseatsinKerala'slo-

cal bodies are reserved forwomen,while topelectedpostsarekeptaside forwomenforal-ternateterms.Thelastmayorbe-ingpopular leaderVKPrasanth,it was the turn of a woman tohold the post. The twowomenleaders the CPMhad projectedas mayor candidates both losttheelection.Despite being active in poli-

tics for years, Arya had to keepheracademiclifeapart.Bothhercollegeandtheschool shestud-ied in, Carmel Girls' HigherSecondary School, are Church-run institutions that don't lookfavourably on campus politics.Arya expects shewon't be ableto attend classes regularly onceshe takes up her new assign-

ment. “But all my teachers andfriends are really helpful. I willfigureoutaway tocontinuemystudiesaswell,” shesays.The family, that lives in a

small house inThiruvananthapuram paying arent of Rs 6,000 per month,neverdiscouragedherparticipa-tion inpolitics, includingexten-sive travel across Kerala. “I havevisitedalmostall thedistricts inthestate.Butmyonlytravelout-sideKeralahasbeentoMumbai,arrangedbymymother'soffice.Idon't remembermuchas IwasinClass6then,”Aryasays. Itwasduetothefamily'sfinancialpres-sures that her elder brothermi-grated forwork, sheadds.

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PAGE1ANCHOR

AryaRajendran. Facebook

With CPM since Class 5, 21-year-old isset to be Thiruvananthapuram mayor

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

RELEASESPM-KISANTRANCHETOOVER9CROREFARMERS

TargetsMamatafordenyingPM-Kisan,askswhynostirforAPMCinKerala

Experimentwith lawsfor a year ortwo, changeif needed:RajnathDIPANKARGHOSENEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

BACKINGTHE PrimeMinister’smessage to farmers on the newfarm laws, Defence MinisterRajnathSinghstruckaconciliatorytoneFridaywhenheaskedfarm-ersto“experiment”withthenewlaws for “one-twoyears” before

seeking anychange, whileHomeMinisterAmitShahsaidthe govern-ment had an“open mind”on any clausethat farmersfeltwas not intheir interest.Singh said

he spoke toPrimeMinister

Narendra Modi two days ago,andhehademphasisedtheneedto continue talkswith farmers.He said it was “painful” to seefarmersprotesting.AddressingarallyinDwarka,

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Dry run planned infour states: focus ondelivery, cold chain,adverse event watchKAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

FORTWOdaysat thebeginningof next week, India will hold adry run for the largest andmostambitiousmass immunisationprogrammein itshistory.Thedummyvaccinationexer-

cisewillbecarriedoutintwodis-trictseachoffourstatesatthefourcorners of the nation—AndhraPradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, andAssam—onDecember28and29.With several countries

aroundtheworldhavingalreadybegun vaccination against thenovelcoronavirus,Indiacouldbejust days away from grantingregulatoryapprovalfortheshot.The inoculation exercise is ex-pectedtobeginsoonafter.Withover 10million total infections,

Indiaistheworld'ssecondworstaffected country, even thoughdaily case numbers have beenfallingconsistentlyoverthepastthreemonths.The dry run will proceed

through four key steps, whichwillbemonitoredcloselybythecentral government:

■ Each district will receivethedummyvaccinefor100ben-eficiariesfromthenearestdepot;

■ Temperature will betracked through the vaccine'sjourney from the depot to thevaccinationsite;

■AnSMSwill be sent in ad-vance to the beneficiaries withthe nameof the vaccinator, andthe timeof thevaccination;

■ Each beneficiary will bemade to sit for 30minutes afterbeing administered the shot;

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Himachal’s ‘lovejihad’ law has intentclause, which HChad struck downGAGAN&APURVAVISHWANATHSHIMLA,NEWDELHI,DECEMBER25

WHILE THE BJP government inHimachal Pradesh brought intoforcea lawlastweekrequiringapersontogivepriornoticetoau-thorities for converting to an-other religion and outlawingconversionssolely formarriage,in2012,thestateHighCourthadstruck down similar provisionsin an older version brought bythe then Congress governmentasunconstitutionalandviolativeof fundamental rights.Several provisions in the

Himachal Pradesh Freedom ofReligion Act, 2019, have beenemulated almostword towordbyUttarPradeshintheanti-con-version law that it passed lastmonth, and which is beinglooked upon as an example byotherBJP-ruledstates.

Section7oftheHimachalActrequiresanindividualtosubmita “declaration” of intention toconvertfreelyandwithoutcoer-cion from one religion to theother, to theDistrictMagistrate.The provision also requires thepriest or religious figurepresid-ingovertheconversiontogiveamonth’snotice to theDM.On August 30, 2012, a two-

judge Bench of the High Courthad struck down the HimachalPradeshFreedomofReligionAct,2006, passed during the thenCongress regime, that had con-tainedtheexactsameprovision,holding it “ultra vires theConstitution of India”. Neither

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HARIKISHANSHARMA&RAVISHTIWARINEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

A MONTH into the farmers'protests at the capital’s borders,PrimeMinister NarendraModieffectivelydrewa lineonFridayre-affirminghisendorsementofthe three laws and blaming hispolitical opponents forwhat hesaidwas their bid to “mislead”farmers.His remarks mark his

strongest public assertionagainst the demand that thelaws be repealed. By framing itasaneventattendedbyvirtuallythe entire Council of Ministers,thePrimeMinisterindicatedhisresolve to use his political capi-tal topush these laws.

SlammingtheOppositionforwhathecalled its “dogali” (dou-blespeak) policy over the new

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RAAKHIJAGGACHANDIGARH,DECEMBER25

RESPONDING TO the PrimeMinister’sspeechFriday, farmerunions, protesting against thenew farm laws, warned of a“longstruggle”,sayingitwasev-ident that the governmentseemedtobeinnomoodtobackdownonthe laws.JagmohanSingh,generalsec-

retary of BKU (Dakaunda) andworkingcommitteememberofthe All India Kisan Sangharsh

Coordination Committee(AIKSCC), said the PrimeMinister's speech showed thatthe governmentwas not goingto repeal the laws.“But wewill not leave (the

bordersofDelhi)tillthesearere-pealed. Our fight is against theundemocraticways…first, theymakelawswithoutconsultation,later they say these are for ourgood…thenmakeamendmentsandsaythelawscannotbetakenback.Butwhydidyoumakesuchlawsinthefirstplace?”hesaid.

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PMNarendraModiwithLeaderofOppositionGhulamNabiAzadata functiontomarkformerPMABVajpayee’sbirthanniversary, in theCentralHallof ParliamentonFriday. PTI

Farmers respond: It’s clear Govt will not backdown, we are prepared for the long haul

AAPMPsprotest in theCentralHallof Parliament,Friday.PTI

Apni Partyscuttles PAGDchance toclaim DDCin ShopianNAVEEDIQBALSRINAGAR,DECEMBER25

OVER THE LAST two days, theAltaf Bukhari-led JK Apni Partyhas claimed that three candi-dates — one Independent andone each from the NationalConference and the People’sDemocratic Party —whowonthe District DevelopmentCouncil elections from con-stituencies in Shopian, havejoined its ranks.With this, the JKApni Party’s

tallyintheShopianDDCwillreachfive, but itwill still be somedis-tance fromcrossing themajoritymark in the 14-member strongcouncil.Originally,ApniPartycan-didates hadwon fromonly twoconstituenciesinShopiandistrict—KanjiullarandKellerII.The People’s Alliance for

GupkarDeclaration(PAGD)can-didates won seven seats(National Conference - 3 andPDP-4).Withthesupportof thelone winning candidate fromCongress, Nigeena Akhter fromChitragam, it could have takenthe council. But since the anti-defection laws do not apply tothe winning candidates of theDDCs, the PAGD does not haveany recoursewhen its winningcandidates shift allegiance.BytakingNCandPDPcandi-

dates, Apni Party has scuttledPAGD’schancesoftakingcontrolof the Shopian DDC. If the re-maining three moreIndependent candidates alsojoin the Apni Party, Bukhariwould be able to stake claim totheShopianDDC.While the Apni Party has

taken winning candidates inShopian fromother parties, theNationalConferencehassaid itsown Shopian district president

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ProtestsanOppositionploy, saysPM,signalsnoyieldondemand for repeal

UNLIKECLIMBDOWNonthe landordinance, PMhasputhis footdownonthe farmlaws.Thisevenas talksareonwithunionsonthenewlabourcodes.By target-ing theOpposition, thePMhasalsodared themtowageapoliticalbattleagainst these laws.

NoblinklikeonlandlawsE●EX

PLAINED

MP Govt debates itsversion of law today,includes alimonyIRAMSIDDIQUEBHOPAL,DECEMBER25

ENSURINGALIMONYormainte-nance for women forced intomarriageforthepurposeof reli-giousconversionandaprovisionto declare suchmarriages nullandvoidaresomeof theclausesthatwill be part of theMadhyaPradeshFreedomtoReligionBill,2020, which is all set to be dis-cussed in a special Cabinet ses-siononSaturday,aheadofbeingput up in the upcoming three-daywintersessionthatwillstartonDecember28.OncepassedbytheAssembly,

thenewlawwill replace theex-istingMP Dharma SwatantryaAdhiniyam, 1968, law. The BJPgovernmentarguesthatthe1968law is outdated and is being re-

workedinlightoftheexperienceof the past 50 years in the stateregarding forced conversions,with improved definitions andhigherpenaltiestoprohibitsuchcrimes, particularly forced reli-giousconversionsonthepretextofmarriage.Under the new Bill, forced

conversionswoulddrawamin-imumjail termof fiveyears, go-ing up to life imprisonment, incase the person converted is aminororfromaScheduledCasteor Scheduled Tribe, and three

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THEEDITORIAL PAGE

THEMEANINGOFMERITBYPRATAPBHANUMEHTAPAGE10

WORLD

PEARLKILLING:OMARSHEIKH LIKELYTOBE FREED TODAYONE IN85 TESTPOSITIVE FORCOVIDIN ENGLANDASCASESSPIKEPAGE15

PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

THEAIRPORTSAuthorityofIndia(AAI) is close to finalising anarrangementwiththeIndianAirForcetoreceive2.5acresof landadjacent to Pune airport, to beutilised for the transportof vac-cines from the facilities of vac-cine manufacturer SerumInstituteof Indianearby.“The transfer of the land,

whichiscurrentlyownedbytheIAF, to Pune airport has been alongstandingdemandoftheAAI.They have asked for a land ex-change,andAAIhasfinalisedtheplan for this,” a senior govern-mentofficial said.“The airportmanagement is

also constantly in discussionswith Serum Institute to under-

standtherequirements,becauseasignificantamountof freightisexpected to go out from Pune,”theofficial said.Pune-based Serum, the

world'slargestmakerofvaccinesbynumberofdoses,hasbeenli-censedbyOxford-AstraZenecatotest,manufacture,anddistribute

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HimachalPradeshChiefMinister JaiRamThakur

MadhyaPradeshCMShivrajSinghChouhan

‘Painful tosee farmersprotesting’

TheSerumInstituteof IndiainPune. Express file

AAI seeks 2.5 acresin Pune; airports andairlines prepare to behubs for distribution

ASROLLOUTOFCOVID-19VACCINENEARS

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

DDC pollshas been detained since the re-sults were declared. “DistrictPresident Shopian ShowkatAhmedGenaie is under deten-tion for three days now; thegrounds of detention have notbeen made known by the ad-ministration as yet,” the partysaid ina statement, demandinghis immediate release.On Friday, Apni Party

claimed that Yasmeena Jan, aDDCmemberfromImamSahib-I seat inShopian, has joined theJKAP. Jan hadwon the seat on aNationalConference ticket.Reactingsharply to theApni

Party’s move, former ChiefMinisterandNCVice-PresidentOmar Abdullah said in a tweet,“This explainswhy our leadersinShopiandistrictarebeingputunder ‘preventive arrest’ by thepolice.J&Kpolice&theadminis-tration are facilitating horsetrading & defections. Thewomanshownhere joining theBJP’s B-team contested &wonelectionsonaNCmandate.”OmarAbdullah also took on

the administration for “playingpartisanpolitics”. Thesepartiescouldn’twin seats and so “nowthey are usingmoney/muscle/threats&governmentcoerciontomakeup thenumbers. Somuchfor‘democracyhaswon’!”hesaid.A day before, the Apni Party

hadsaidthattwovictoriouscan-didates Fazal-Din Deedad andAbdulRashidLonewhoalsowontheShopianDDChadjoinedtheparty.Deedadwasanindepend-entcandidatewhocontestedtheKeller1seatinShopian,andLonehadwononaPDPticket.

Rajnath SinghSingh said there was markedimprovement in MSP-basedprocurementunder theNDAasagainst the UPA tenure.“Buteventhen,wearebeing

doubted. Misconceptions arebeing raised. I want to tell mybrothers and sisters, sitting ondharna for a long time, that itcausesuspain.Theymaybesit-ting on dharna, but they arefarmers. They have been bornfrom a farmermother’s womb.Inourminds,wehavealotofre-spect for them. As the son of afarmer, Iwanttosay,wewillnotdo anything that harms therightsof farmers,”hesaid.“Ek baar iss Act ko laagu toh

honedijiye.Saal-dosaal,aapexper-iment karke tohdekhiye iss Act ke

anusar. Yadi aapko lage ki yehkisanonkeliyelabhkaariActnahinhai, tohmein daave ke saath kehsakta hoon, jaisamein PradhanMantrijikiniyatkojaantahoon,be-henon bhaiyon, ismei jo bhi san-shodhanavashyakhoga,saarasan-shodhan karne ke liye humpooritarahsetaiyyarrahenge,”hesaid.(“LetthisActbeimplemented

once. Forone-twoyears, experi-mentaccordingtothisActandsee.IfyouthinkthisisnotaprofitableActforfarmers,Icansaywithcer-tainty, knowing thePrimeMini-ster’s intentions,whatever am-endmentsarenecessary,wewillbereadytodothemall.”)Inthemultipleroundsoftalks

sofar,thegovernment,hesaid,hasbeen ready tomakeanyamend-ment that the farmerswant.Heurgedfarmerstocometothetableformore talkswith the govern-ment,andsaidtheycanbringagri-cultureexpertsif theysowish.“It was first said that the

farmer will be destroyed, sosome amendments should bemade.Sevenroundsoftalkshavehappened.Whatever the farm-ers said, thoseamendments tooour government is ready tomake.What we too say is thatthe solution to the problemcanbe through talks…Iwas talkingto the PrimeMinister two daysago, andhesaid that atnopointshoulddialoguebestoppedwithfarmers. The sequence of talksshouldcontinuewithourfarmerbrothers,”hesaid.Shah attacked the

Opposition for spreading “mis-conceptions” on the farm laws.He said the NDA governmenthaddonemoreforfarmersdur-ing its tenure.“RahulGandhi,who talks of

farmerwelfare,whenitwasyourgovernment…when youwereAgriculture Minister, SharadPawar,in2013-14,howmuchwasthe budget for farmers? Therewas a Congress government ofSonia-Manmohan, then thefarmerbudgetwas21,900 crore.Only 21,900 crore. In the lastbudget,Modijitookitfrom21,900crore to134,399 crore. And theyare asking for our account?Ultachorkotwalkodaante?”Shahsaid.He said “MSP was there, is

thereandwillbethereforever”,andthattheUPAhadnorighttotalkabout it.“For years, farmers wanted

that the MSP level should beone-and-a-half times the ex-penditureoncrop.Pleasetellmeif thatwasademandornot?For70 years, nobody fulfilled thisdemand. Narendra Modi, be-tween2014and2019,madetheMSP one-and-a-half times thecost of the crop, and gave thefarmersbig relief.”

Vaccination runif an adverse event occurs, itsmanagement will be trackedthroughthecentral server.“A total 2,360 participantshave been put through thenational-level training oftrainers,which includes coldchainandimmunisationoffi-cers. Since people have al-ready been trained,wewanttoknowbeforetheactualroll-out [of the vaccination pro-gramme] how effective thistraining has been. We havechosen one state each fromthe north, south, east andwest, and the states will de-cidethetwodistricts.Thedryrunwill bemonitoredby theCentre,”aseniorgovernmentofficialwhoispartoftheteamthatwillmonitorthedryrun,toldThe IndianExpress.Thedryrunis intendedto

test the country's flagshipvaccine delivery IT platform,Co-Win, at every stage,sources said.“Afterstatesidentifytheir

twodistricts,thefirststepwillbe for them to schedule fivevaccination sessions in fivedifferent locations. The loca-tions will be primary healthcentres, community healthcentres,oradistricthospital”

theseniorofficial said.“Next, they (the states) will

create a session using the Co-Win digital platform, and in-clude100peopleinthatsession.A five-member vaccinationteamwillbeconstituted.”Inthethirdstep,“100people

willreceiveanSMSgeneratedbythe IT platform thatwill conveythat vaccinator Xwill be vacci-natingyouon[say]December29at[acertain]sub-centrebetweenYandZtime,” theofficial said.Thenextstepduringthedry

runwill be related to themain-tenanceandtrackingof thecoldchain using the IT platform,sources said. Several Covid-19vaccines will be temperaturesensitive— and once the vacci-nationprogrammeisrolledout,thecountry's coldchainsystemof85,634piecesofequipmentat28,947coldchainpointswillbeused tostore thevaccine.“A teamwill be dispatched

to the vaccination centre. Thecoldchainwillbeoperationalsi-multaneously. The district willinformwhether it will get itsvaccine from the nearest statedepot or the GovernmentMedical Store Depot (GMSD).TherearefourGMSDsrunbytheUniongovernment,and27stateconsigneepoints,” sourcessaid.According to the sources,

“The district will inform fromwhich location the vaccine hastobe received,where it is beingtaken, and details of the coldchaintemperatureuptothevac-cinationsite.”The sources, however,

pointed out that while everystatewillhaveaconsigneepointinnextweek'sdryrun,whentheactual vaccine administrationprogramme is rolled out, somestateswillreceivetheirconsign-

ments fromothers.“Notallstateshaveastatecon-

signee point. For example,Nagaland,whichdoesnothaveastate consigneepoint for receiv-ingthevaccine,willgetitfromtheneareststate,”thesourcessaid.Onthecritical aspectof vac-

cineadministrationandadverseevent reporting, the sourcessaid:“Thevaccinatorswilldothedummy runwith 100 persons.Each person will wait for 30minutesaftergettingvaccinated.They (the vaccinators) will seewhere the glitches are, if any.They will also record adverseevents, if any, after the vaccina-tion. Since Adverse EventFollowingImmunization(AEFI)is a critical aspect, themanage-ment of the adverse event willbe tracked,” thesources said.

AAI seeks landits vaccine against the novelcoronavirus in India.As the countrymoves closer

to rollingout its Covid-19vacci-nationprogramme,airportsandlogistics players areworking toensure it happens seamlessly—byexpandingcoldchainfacilitiesand setting up computerisedtrucking slots formore efficientredistribution from airports.Officials said they believed vac-cinationcouldbeginnextmonth.WhilePunewillbeoneofthe

hubs for the distribution of do-mestically-manufactured vac-cines, the bulk of the vaccineconsignmentwill be importedthroughmajorinternationalair-ports includingDelhi,Mumbai,andHyderabad.Delhi,thecoun-try'slargestaiport,haslaunched“Project Sanjivani” to equipcargo terminals with specialcooling chambers. The airporthas the capacity to handle 54

lakh vials of the vaccine a daywith twocomplete rotations.“The temperature-con-

trolled cargo facilities have thecapacity tohandleover1.5 lakhtonnes of cargo per annum.These facilities have state-of-the-arttemperature-controlledzoneswithseparatecoolcham-bers ranging from25degrees Ctominus 20 degrees C,” a Delhiairport spokespersonsaid.At the airport’s cargo termi-

nals, dedicated gates have beenassigned for fastmovement ofvehicles into and out of the air-port. The airport has also put inplace a truck slotmanagementsystematitscargoterminals,andcargooperatorscanpre-bookthearrivalof trucksat theterminal.On the air side, the airport

has been equippedwith “cooldollies”, which are containersystems used in air cargo fortemperature-sensitive goods.Theyareprimarilyusedtotrans-port goods from the aircraft tothecargo terminal.Preparations at Indian air-

ports are in linewith those thathave been made at global airtransport hubs such as the air-portsatSingapore,Dubai,Doha,and Shenzhen, some of whichhave already started receivingvaccineshipments.Turkish ground handling

companyÇelebi,whichoperatesacargoterminalatDelhiairport,has created a separate lane formovement of vaccine ship-ments at the export-importwarehouse,anddedicateddeliv-eryandacceptancegatesforim-mediate handling. “Customers,both airlines and freight for-warders, arebeingsensitised tosend us their pre-alerts andplanning, to enable us to planand expedite movements ac-

cordingly,” Murali Rama-chandran, CEO-India, ÇelebiAviation,toldTheIndianExpress.Airport and cargo operators

arealsomakingpreparationsforadhoc freightarrivals.“Çelebi is working closely

withexistingairlineoperatorstounderstandtheirspecificrequire-ments, and attracting a largenumberofnon-scheduledoper-atorstobringinadhocfreighterswithCovid-19vaccineinthenearfuture,”Ramachandransaid.A spokesperson for

Mumbai’s Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharaj International Airportsaid the airport will offer flexi-ble slotmanagement foradhoccharter operations. Mumbai isthe country’s largest airportgatewayforpharmaceuticalex-port-importmovement.“The existing infrastructure

at CSMIA enables the airport tooffer a continuous temperaturecontrolledmovement and pro-cessing of pharma goodsthrough the airport — an ele-mentthatwouldbevital for thestorage and transportation ofthe Covid-19 vaccine,” thespokespersonsaid.Cold chain infrastructure is

being upgraded at smaller air-ports too. “If the vaccines arecoming from abroad, they’llmainlycometointernationalair-portsfromwheretheywillbere-distributed to other smallerplaces, state capitals, etc.What-ever cold chain infrastructure isthere,we are upgrading it,” AAIchairmanArvindSinghsaid.Hyderabadairportwillbekey

forthedistributionoftheRussianSputnikVvaccine,whichisbeingproducedinIndiabyHyderabad-basedDr Reddy’s Laboratories.Thisairporttooprocessesalargevolumeof India’s pharmaceuti-

cal cargo given its proximity toseveralmanufacturing facilities.The airport has a dedicatedPharmaZonewithtemperature-controlledfacilitiesforcargothatrequires temperatures frommi-nus20degreesCelsius to25de-greesCelsius.Theairporthasalsoensured

that rampexposure timeof thecargo is minimised, with thefreighterparkingstandslocatedjust 50 metres away from theterminal.Airlines — both global and

Indian— are also gearing up totransport the vaccines. SpiceJethastiedupwithHyderabadair-port and logistics companiesOm Logistics and SnowmanLogistics, for end-to-end trans-portation of vaccines. Globally,cargounits of airlines includingSingaporeAirlinesandEmirateshave already begun transport-ing Covid-19 vaccines. OnDecember20,SingaporeAirlinesdelivered the first shipment ofthe Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine toSingapore on board one of itsBoeing747-400 freighters.

Himachal lawtheBJPHimachalgovernmentin2012northeprivatepartieswhointervened in the proceedingshad challenged the decision oftheHighCourt.“Whyshouldahumanbeing

be asked to disclosewhat is hisreligion?""Whyshouldahumanbeingbeaskedtoinformtheau-thorities that he is changing hisbelief?”—theBenchcomprisingthen Chief Justice of the HighCourtDeepakGuptaand JusticeRajivSharmahadsaid.The court had also cited the

fundamental right to privacy ofanindividualtostrikedownpro-visions requiringpriornotice tothe authorities for conversion,even as it acknowledged thatseveral rulings in the SupremeCourthadupheldthevalidityofanti-conversion laws as theConstitutionprovides for “pub-lic order” asground for restrict-ing freedomof religion.Aviolationoftheaboveprovi-

sionunderthenewHimachallawcan result in a jail termof threemonthstooneyearforthepersonundergoingconversionandfromsixmonths to twoyears for thepriest,respectively.Theoffenceisnon-bailableaswellascognizable,whichmeansbailcanbegrantedonlyonthediscretionofamagis-trateandnotasamatterof right,and that thepolice cansearchorarrestanindividualandlaunchaninvestigationon their ownwith-outawarrantfromcourt.Like the Uttar Pradesh

ProhibitionofUnlawfulReligiousConversion Ordinance passedlastmonth, the 2019Himachallawspecificallyprohibitsconver-sionformarriage,evenifanindi-vidual testifies to have done sowillingly, except when priorsanction has been obtained.Section 5 of the Himachal lawandSection3oftheUttarPradeshlawwhich declare that “mar-riagesforthesolepurposeofcon-version”willbenullandvoidarewordedexactlythesame.The2006Himachal lawhad

been limited to forced religiousconversions and did not touchuponconversions formarriage.Whileborrowingprovisions

such as “marriage for the solepurpose of conversion”, the UPlaw goes further than theHimachal Act by shifting theburden of proof regarding theconversion from the convertedto his/her partner; prescribingdifferent jail terms dependingongender; and legitimising theintrusion of the State and thirdparties in the choice of who anindividualwishes tomarry.UnderSection12of the2019

Himachallaw,theburdenofprov-ingwhether a religious conver-sionhadbeendonethroughmis-representation, force, coercion,undue influence, inducementorany other fraudulentmeans or“bymarriage”, liesonthepersonconvertingorthosefacilitating.

The UP law also prescribesenquiry by amagistrate to givesanction for a conversionwhereastheHimachal lawonlyrequires submittinganotice.The newHimachal Pradesh

anti-conversion lawwasprom-ulgated in August last year, re-pealing the 2006 Act. UnderSection 2 (J), it refers to conver-sion as “purification sanskar(purificationritual)",anddefinesa religious priest for the pur-posesof thelawasapersonper-formingtheconversion.TheActwasnotifiedonly lastweek.The2006lawhadbeenchal-

lenged by the EvangelicalFellowshipof IndiaandANHAD,a non-profit run by activistShabnamHashmi. The SanatanDharam Sabha, Mahant RamMohan Das of the BrahminSabha, Shimla, and BJP leaderSubramanianSwamyhadinter-vened in the proceedings, de-fending the law.

MP Billyears otherwise, with a mini-mumpenaltyof Rs50,000.However, unlike the Uttar

PradeshProhibitionofUnlawfulReligiousConversionOrdinance,undertheMPlaw,apersoncon-vertingofhisownfreewilldoesnot have to report it to the dis-trictmagistrate. Incaseapersonapproaches a priest for such aconversion though, the priestconcernedhastoinformthedis-trict administration.UnderthenewMPBill,afam-

ily court in the statewill be em-powered to declaremarriagesconductedforthepurposeofre-ligiousconversionnullandvoid.ThealimonyinsuchcaseswouldbegrantedasperSection125oftheCrPC.Inhisinteractionswithmediapersons, HomeMinisterNarottamMishra had said theywerealsoexploringthepossibil-ity of attaching the property oftheaccused.The draft was scheduled to

come up for discussion at aCabinetmeeting on December22butwasdeferredtillaspecialsession on December 26 afterChief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhansaidafewsuggestionswereawaited.

21-yr-old mayorOntopofthelistofArya'srole

models isKeralaHealthMinisterK K Shailaja, “for the amazingwork she has done” during theCovidpandemic.ShealsocountsSugathakumari, a veteranMalayalampoetandactivistwhodied thisweek, and prominentMalayalamwriter KRMeera asinspirations.Aryasaysshedoesn'tholdarigidstandagainstreligion,herpartyideologynotwithstand-ing, occasionally accompanyinghermother to templesandvisit-ing church. "I believe in positiveenergy,which iswhatGod is forme, but I standagainst supersti-tiousbeliefs,"shesays.Top CPM Thiruvanan-

thapuram leader and a minis-ter, Kadakampally Surendran,says he has been seeing Aryasince she was a child. “Theyouthandnewgeneration, theyare the future of this country.They have clarity about theneed for transparent politicalsystems, they have biggerdreams and a vision. Arya hasexperience, she is very good.Herage isnotacause forworryaswe have plenty of examplesof young civil service officersdeliveringamazingworkasdis-trict collectors,” he says.LegendaryMalayalamwriter

M T Vasudevan Nair also wel-comes the CPM decision. “It isnotaboutapartybutIfeelhappyforher,”hesays.Waiting for Saturday's for-

malcall,Aryasaysit isonlyafterthis thatshewillplanherprior-ities for Thiruvananthapuram.However, top of her agenda iswaste-handling. “The lastregime had done a lot and wehave todomore."

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

Protests an Opp ploy, says PM, signals no repeal

Farmers respond: It’s clear Govt will not back down

farm laws,Modi said the gov-ernmentisreadytoholdtalksintheinterestoffarmers,butitwillbeon“issues, logicandfacts”.“…I humbly say to even

thosepeoplewhoareopposingus fiercely, I saywithhumility,ourgovernmentisreadytotalktothemintheinterestof farm-ers, but the talkswill be on is-sues,logicandfacts,”ModisaidafterreleasingthescheduledRs18,000-crore tranche toover9crore farmers under thePradhanMantriKisanSammanNidhi (PM-KISAN)scheme.TMC leader and West

BengalChiefMinisterMamataBanerjee–Assemblyelectionsinthestateareduenextyear–found particular mention forcriticisminhis speech.Heaskedwhythoseoppos-

ing farm laws do not speakabouttheinterestof farmersinWest Bengal, a state that hasnot implemented the PM-KISAN.“Today,thepoliticalparties,

whichhavebeenvotedoutbythe people, are doing eventsandeventmanagementsothatsomeone can take a selfie, getphotosprinted,andappearonTV so that their politics cancontinue.Thesehavebeenex-posed in front of the country.Why do they not speak of in-terests of farmers of WestBengal?Theyareengagedhereto harass the citizens of Delhiand are ruining the country'seconomy.Thattoointhename

of farmers,”Modi said.Over 23 lakh farmers of

West Bengal, he said, appliedonlinetotakeadvantageofthisscheme, but the state govern-ment stopped the verificationprocess.ReferringtotheOpposition

charge that APMC mandiswould beweakenedwith theimplementation of theFarmers' Produce Trade andCommerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act, he said, “Youmusthaveheard,theyaretalk-ingaboutmandis andAPMCs.Kerala has no APMC, nomandi… they organise pro-grammes to seekattention, sothey should start APMCs inKeralabyorganisingagitationsthere.Youhavetimetomisleadthe farmers of Punjab, but ifthis system is good, thenwhyis itnot there inKerala?”“Whydoyouadoptadogali

(doublespeak) policy?Whatkind of politics are they doingin which there is no logic, nofacts?Make false accusationsand spread rumours to scareourfarmers.Sometimes,naivefarmersgetmisledbyyou,”thePrimeMinister said.“Thesepeoplearenotwill-

ingtoacceptanyscaleandpa-rameters of democracy. Theyonly see their benefits, theirselfishness. Those who areplaying the game by takingtheirflagsinthenameoffarm-ers, will now have to listen tothe truth… they cannot es-

cape.Theyhavetherighttodopolitics in democracy. Do notplaywith the livesof innocentfarmers,donotplaywiththeirfuture and do not misleadthem,”hesaid.Urging farmers “not to be

misled”and“notaccepttheliesof anyone”, he asked them tothinkonlyonthebasisof“logicand facts”. He listed theschemes initiated by his gov-ernment for the welfare offarmers.At the programme, organ-

ised on the occasion of thebirthanniversaryofAtalBihariVajpayee,Modialsointeractedwithsixfarmersfromsixstatesand asked them to share theirexperiences of contract farm-ing,governmentschemesandother issues.When Gagan Pering, a

farmer from Lower DibangValley district in ArunachalPradesh, saidhehad formedafarmer produce organisationfor the production of ginger,andhadenteredintoanagree-mentwithaprivate company,thePrimeMinisteraskedhim,“Does the company that buyginger fromyou, procure onlyginger or it takes away yourland?”Tothis,Peringsaid,“Theagreementisonlyforpurchaseof produce, not for land. Thelandisownedbyus,anditwillremainours.”Moditoldhim:“Youaresit-

ting in a remote area ofArunachal Pradesh and you

havetrustthatyourlandissafe,butsomepeoplearespreadingmisconceptionsthatifyouen-ter into an agreement of yourproduce, then you will loseyourlandtoo.”Thiswasarefer-encetoOppositionallegationsagainst the Farmers(Empowerment andProtection) Agreement onPrice Assurance and FarmServicesAct.Clearly, the PM’smessage

FridaystandsincontrasttotheCentre’s climbdown on theland acquisition ordinance in2015 in the face of milderprotests.The signal that the

Governmentwill not yield onthe repeal demand comesagainst the backdropof ongo-ing negotiations with tradeunionsondraftrulesunderthefour labour codes recentlybroughtby thegovernment.JustashedidwiththeCAA,

thePrimeMinistermockedtheOpposition over its electoraldebacleaccusingitof instigat-ing the protests to push theirpolitical agenda.This playbook, that tries to

delegitimise protests and at-tribute to them an agenda, is-n’t new for this Government.That the BJP let its longtimeally, the Akali Dal, walk awayfromtheNDAoverthisandap-pears unfazed over the pres-sureonitsstategovernmentinHaryanareinforcesitspoliticalresolveonthe farmlaws.

Gurnam Singh Chaduni,president of BKU (Haryana),echoed Jagmohan Singh:“Time and again, they askedus for our proposals. But theyareyet togiveusanyconcreteproposal.Hadtheir intentionsbeen good, they would nothave made these laws. Nowwhat is thepoint of talking of

amendments. We will notbudgeuntilwewin.”PKrishnaPrasad,working

committee member ofAIKSCC and a former KeralaMLA, said: “PM stands iso-lated from his allies who arein support of farmers. Ourstruggle is for apolicy, not forany fund. Sowe are ready for

the longhaul.”JhandaSinghJethuke,sen-

ior vice president of BKU(Ugrahan), said the PrimeMinister was “contradicting”his Agriculture Minister. “OnDecember 5, AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar congratulated us forholdingtheprotest inapeace-

fulmanner, and for not beingundertheinfluenceofanypo-litical party. Now the PM issaying that farmers are beingmisguidedbypoliticalpartieswhoaredoingeventmanage-ment here in their name. Sowhodowetrust? It seemsweare in for a long struggle. Weare ready for it.”

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ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

TOP PRIVATE hospitals in Delhiwithmore than 100 healthcareworkerswillbeusedtocarryoutthe vaccination programme forCovid-19.Thegovernmenthasfi-nalised the list of 603coldchainpoints, includingmohallaclinicsand government hospitals, thatwillplayanimportantroleinvac-cinatingthetargetedpopulation.According to the World

Health Organisation, the pur-poseof thevaccinecoldchain istomaintainproductqualityfromthe time of manufacture untilthe point of administration byensuringthatvaccinesarestoredand transportedwithin recom-mendedtemperature ranges.“The immunisation pro-

grammeinprivatehospitalswill

be carried out in coordinationwith government officials.Underthesupervisionofgovern-

ment officials, the vaccinationprogramme in hospitals withmorethan100healthcarework-

erswillbecarriedout.Therewillbe three roomsat eachvaccina-tion booth—one each forwait-

ing, vaccination and observa-tion,”saidDrSuneelaGarg,pub-lic health expert and advisor tothe Indian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR). She has beenappointed in chargeof the stateCovid-19taskforcefortheDelhivaccinationprogramme.On Thursday, Chief Minister

ArvindKejriwalsaid51lakhpeo-pleinDelhiwillbeadministeredtheCovid-19vaccine in the firstphase.Hesaid1.2croredosesareneeded to cover priority cate-gories comprising healthcareworkers,police,civildefencevol-unteers, those aged above 50andpeople agedbelow50withassociatedcomorbiditiessuchasdiabetes,heartailments,amongothers.The state had earlier pre-

pared a list of 3,500 healthcareworkerswho had to be trainedfor the immunisation pro-

gramme;around300morestaffhave been enrolled. Amongthem,600workersare fromtheprivatesector,200arefromhos-pitals under railways, canton-ment,andthereare700medicalofficers for monitoring thesecoldchainpoints.Thetrainingprogrammewill

becompletedbyTuesday.“During the training pro-

gramme, the healthcare work-ers will be informed about thesafetyof thevaccine, useof dig-ital application Co-WIN,moni-toringandvaccinelogisticsman-agement,” addedDrGarg.On Friday, Delhi recorded

758Covid-19cases—thelowestin over four months — and 30new fatalities even as the posi-tivity rate dipped to 0.88 percent. The infection tally in thecity mounted to over 6,21,439anddeath toll rose to10,414.

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

603COLDCHAINPOINTS IDENTIFIED, STAFFTRAININGTOFINISHONTUESDAY

‘Halal’ meat againstHinduism, Sikhism,restaurants mustspecify: South body

HC backs ST candidatewho faced exam hassle

Delhi recorded758CovidcasesonFriday.AmitMehra

EXPRESSNEWSERVICENEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

WHILE ALLOWING the petitionofaScheduledTribes(ST)candi-datewho failed to submit a cer-tificate on time during theprocessofrecruitment,allegedlydue to the ongoing farmerprotests, the Delhi High Courthas said that reservations or re-laxationscannotbegivenbyonehandandtakenawaybyanotherby invoking technicalitieswhileforgettingthehardshipsanddif-ficultiesfacedbytheminaccom-plishing thesmallestof things.“The saidneedhas to be ful-

filled, not only by providingreservations/relaxationsbutalsoby providing relaxations in im-plementingthesaidreservationsand benefits conferred on theSTs,” the division bench ofJustices Rajiv Sahai Endlaw andAshaMenonsaid.Observingthatsuchreserva-

tion is an admission of the dis-advantageswhich the STs havesuffered for generations and

which have placed them in anunequalpositionascomparedtoother citizens, the court saidsuchdisadvantagesextendtoallparametersof day today life.Thecourtmadetheobserva-

tions in a case filed by LekhrajMeena,whoisacandidateforre-cruitmentbeingheldforsub-in-spector post in Delhi Police,CentralArmedPoliceForcesandassistant sub-inspector post inCISF by the Staff SelectionCommission. He scored 96 per-cent in thePaper I andqualifiedinPhysicalStandardTestbutwasrejected during the PhysicalEfficiency Test conducted inNoidaashehadnotfilleduptheformof certificate forheight re-laxation, even though he hadsubmitted thecastecertificate.When he was given 5 days

for submitting the form, thecourtwas told thathecouldnotreach his home district inRajasthan in time due to thefarmers' protests, andwhen hereached his district, there alsowas a delay in issuance of thecertificatebyauthorities.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,DECEMBER25

THESTANDINGcommitteeoftheBJP-led South DelhiMunicipalCorporation(SDMC)hasclearedaproposal that asks restaurantsand shops to "mandatorily" dis-playwhetherthemeatbeingsoldorservedisslaughteredusingthe'halal'or 'jhatka'method.Theproposalnowawaitsnod

intheSDMCHouse,whichiscon-trolled by the BJP, afterwhich itwouldbecomearule."According toHinduismand

Sikhism,eating'halal'meatisfor-bidden and against religion.Therefore, the committee re-solvesthatthisdirectionbegivento restaurants andmeat shopsthatitshouldbewrittenmanda-torily about themeat being soldandservedbythemthat'halal'or'jhatka'meat is available here,”the resolution passed by theSDMCpanelThursdaysaid.'Jhatka' method is one in

whichananimalisslaughteredinone go, while in the 'halal'method, an animal is allowed toslowly bleed out after cutting avein.Standing committee chief

Rajdutt Gehlot said, “Suppose apersonwants jhatkameat butgets halal, then hewill feel of-fended.Sotheideaisjusttomen-tionwhether it is jhatkaorhalal.

Secondly,if Ihavetakenlicenseofjhatka and I am serving halal orvice versa , then thiswill keep acheckon suchviolations as suchthingsarerecordedwhile takinglicence."Therearethousandsofrestau-

rants in 104wards of four zonesfallingunderSDMC.“Though meat is served in

about90percentoftheserestau-rants, often it is notmentionedwhether it is 'halal' or 'jhatka',"saidtheresolutionpassedbytheSDMCpanel.Meatshopsalsodonotmake

thedistinction, itsaid.Asimilarproposalwasearlier

passedby theEastMCDmeet in2018 stating that shop ownershavetoputupprominentboards,specifying if theyareservingha-lalor jhatkameat.EDMC’s then standing com-

mittee chairman Satyapal hadthen said that there are severalHindus who do not eat halalmeat. The decision had beentaken to ensure that their reli-gioussentimentsarenothurt.In 2017, the SDMC had pro-

posedthatmeatanditsproductswere not to be displayed in theopen, citing hygiene and "senti-ments of people affected by thesight" of meat asmain reasonsbehindthemove.The move was not imple-

mentedafterprotests fromshopowners.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

AMONTH after a 10-year-oldboy was kidnapped andmur-dered in South Delhi’s MaidanGarhi,policehavearresteda22-year-old man, who was hismother’s friend, for thecrime.The boywentmissing from

his home in Sanjay Colony onNovember 28 and his partiallyburntbodywasfoundThursday.Policesaidtheaccused,Bittu

Singh,wantedtomarrytheboy’smother. According to police,Singh, inspiredbyaTVshow,al-legedly planned to kidnap andkill the child. Police said he alsoallegedly tried toburn thebodytodestroyevidence.DCP (South) Atul Kumar

Thakur said they received amissingpersonsreportfromtheboy’smother on November 28.“Weweretoldthattheboywentto a store to buy food but didn’treturn. The boy’s parents wereseparated and there was a dis-puteoverthechild’scustody...AllCCTVs intheareawerescannedbutwedidn’tfindanything,”saidtheDCP.OnThursday,nearlyamonth

later, police found a “highly de-composed”and“partiallyburnt”

body near a pond in MaidanGarhi. The boy's parents lateridentified the body. “Whenquestioned, the mother thenspoke about a friend namedSinghwhooftengavegiftstoherson,” saidaseniorpoliceofficer.WhenSinghwasquestioned

on Thursday, he allegedly con-fessed thathekilled thechild.The accused told the police

that he has known the victim’smothersincechildhoodbuttheirparents were against themar-riage.Afterthewomanseparatedfromher husband, the accusedproposedmarriage but she saidshecan’tbecauseofherchild.Policesaidtheaccused,after

watching a crime show, al-legedlyplannedtokill thechild.“On November 28, he took thechildinanautoonthepretextofbuying him berries. TheywenttoaforestwhereSinghstrangledthe child with a scarf. He thendumped the body in a pond,”saidDCPThakur.A day later, hewent back to

thespotandhidthebodyunderrocks.“Hetriedtoburnthebodywithfuelbuthefailedbecauseitwas wet. The accused then re-moved clothes from the body,put it in a plastic bag anddumped it in the river,” said thepolice.

Inspired by crimeshow, man kidnaps& kills 10-yr-old, held

Total VacantHOSPITAL BEDS 18,774 16,111VENTILATORS 1,523 917

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsDec24 1,063 1,120 37 89,920Dec25 758 1,370 30 85,749Total 7,267* 6,03,758 10,414 82,08,723

CORONAVIRUSIN THECAPITAL *T

otalactivecases

TOTAL CASES

6,21,439

The603coldchainpointsinthecapitalincludemo-halla clinics and govern-ment hospitals.According toWHO, vac-cine cold chain is impor-tant tomaintain productquality from the time ofmanufacturetothepointof administration. Thevaccines need to bestored and transportedwithin recommendedtemperature ranges.

Keepingit cold

Pvt hospitalswith over 100health staff to beinvolved inCovid vaccination drive in capital

New Delhi


THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SHAHJAHANPURPROTESTSITEGROWS

SOMYALAKHANISHAHJAHANPUR,DEC25

WITHRs100inhispocket,apairof extra pants and a bedsheet,55-year-oldkhetmazdoorShivajiVinayak Rao Bhairav began his1,080-km journey fromMaharashtra's Chandwad onMonday and reachedShahjahanpurneartheRajasthanandHaryanaborderonFriday."I'mtheonlybreadwinnerin

myfamilyof fivepeople,andbe-fore leaving from home I toldthem that I'll only returnwhenthe three farm laws are with-drawn. If the farm owner isn'tpaidthesumhedeserves,Iwon'tget themoney I deserve either.This is aboutmy livelihood too,"said Bhairav, one of the 1,000-plus farmers, including farmlabourers, who have travelledfromMaharashtratoparticipatein the ongoing protest atShahjahanpur, 130 km awayfromDelhi.For twoweeks, thousands of

farmers from Rajasthan andHaryanahavebeenprotestingattheNH8aftertheywerestoppedbytheHaryanagovernmentfromproceedingtoDelhi'sSinghuandTikriborders.Thecavalcadeof50vehicles from Maharashtrareached the Shahjahanpurprotestsitearound12.45pm.FromMaharashtra's Akola,

Dagdu Ekhande (40) and KaluKathore (35) have reachedShahjahanpurinatempo,with15others."WeearnRs100adayforaday'swork.BybeinghereI losemylivelihoodeverydaybutthisisimportant.We slept in schoolsandingurdwarasontheway.WewillgotoDelhitoo,"hesaid.Scenes similar to Singhuand

Tikri borders inDelhiplayedout

atShahjahanpurtoo—astagesetfor speeches, posters and flags,tractors and trolleys as far as theeye can see, at least five big lan-gars,andtents inarow.From Miran village in

Haryana's Bhiwandi is farmerDilbaghSiwach(50).HereachedShahjahanpur,180kmawayfrom

hisvillage,inhistractorninedaysago. "I packed three hookahs,blankets, mattresses and rawfood. I have come prepared toprotest in Delhi but the policewon'tletusproceed.Mywifeandchildren are taking care of thefields and toldme to stay put attheprotest foras longas Iwant,"

saidSiwach.Everythreedays,hesaid,500litresofmilkreachestheprotestsite fromhisvillage.Around1pm,HaryanaPolice

closed both carriageways of theDelhi-Jaipur Expressway. "WehadtoclosebothcarriagewaysoftheDelhi-Jaipurexpresswaydueto the farmers’ protests. Therewasnokindofconfrontation.Wearespeakingtofarmerstoatleastleaveonelaneof theservicelaneopen for emergency vehicles,”saidRajeshKumar,DSP(Bawal).Amongthoseprotestingatthe

site are Ram Niwas (81) fromNeemrana, 14 km away, andRatiramVashisht (70) fromavil-

lageinAlwardistrict,20kmaway."Ihaveabadkneeandcanbarelywalk,but Iamhereeverydayforthe futureofmychildren. If theyallowustogotoDelhi,I'llgotheretoo,"saidNiwas.Vashisht said, "The farmers

aren'ttheonesblockingtheroads,it’s the police.Wewant to leavefromhere."As the last raysof the sun fell

on themustard fields on eitherside of theprotest site on Friday,preparation for langar beganagain. "Wehadsetupa langaratTikriborderforseveralweeksbutwefoundoutitwasneededmorehere.Sowesetupakitchenwithgeysers, vegetables, flour, rusk,milk.Wehaveenoughsuppliestolast us till 2024or however longit takes theModi government totake back the laws," said farmerBilawal Singh (32) fromRajasthan's Sri Ganganagar. Thelangar feeds 1,000 people a day,saidSingh.Apart fromSingh, sewadaars

from a gurdwara in Punjab'sPatiala too have set up a langarhere. As Sajjan Kaur (45)maderotiwithsixotherelderlywomen,shesaid,"Thereareplentyoftrou-bles here. It's cold, there aren’tenoughbathrooms,thetoiletsaredirty...butwearehere for the fu-tureofourchildren. It'sallworthit.Wewakeupat4amandbegincooking and can'twait to do thesameinDelhi... HunnDillizyaadadurrnihaiga(Delhiisn’tfarnow)."In the evening, after farmer

union leaders fromMaharashtra, Haryana andRajasthan finished theirspeeches, the task of setting uptentsforthe1,000-plusprotest-ers fromMaharashtrabegan."Itwill bea longnight, a long jour-ney," said 75-year-old BaldevSingh fromSriGanganagar.

After 1,000 km journey, Delhi inreach forMaharashtra farmers

(Top)Farmersprotestingagainst thenewfarmlawsatShahjahanpurnear theRajasthan-Haryanaborder;langarpreparation inprogressonFriday


FOLLOWINGPOLICEsearchesathis office, advocateMehmoodPracha moved a Delhi courtseeking a clarification on thesearchwarrant order issued bythe Special Cell, alleginghewasdirectedbythepersonneltopro-vide incriminating materialagainst himself during thesearch. The search warrant is-sued on December 22 underSection 93 of the CrPC stated,“This is toauthoriseandrequireinvestigating officer of this casetosearchforthesaidincriminat-ingdocumentsandmetadataofoutbox of email ID... wherevertheymay be foundwhether in

computeror intheoffice/prem-ises…includingoutboxofemailIDaswellasotheroffices/prem-iseswherepresenceof suchev-idence are detected during thesearch/investigation, and, iffound, to produce the sameforthwithbefore this court.”At the court, the IOwas not

present nor did he submit a re-ply.Thecourtalsodidnotreceivein time the application submit-ted by the lawyers associatedwith Pracha to the chief metro-politanmagistrate (CMM).He told The Indian Express,

“Not only have we helped bailout Muslim people who havebeenaccusedintheriots,butwehave...alsogot22RSSofficebear-ersarrestedandhaveproofof in-volvementof BJP leaders.”

SOFIAHSANNEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

ADAY after Delhi Police carriedoutsearchesattheofficesof twolawyers,whichmany in the fra-ternity described as an attackagainst theattorney-clientprivi-lege and on the fundamentalrighttolegalrepresentation,pro-fessionalbodiesrepresentingBarmemberslargelyappearedreluc-tanttotakeastandontheissue.Senior advocate and

Chairman, Bar Council of Delhi,RameshGuptasaidthestatutorybodycannotdomuchatpresentas the court vacations have be-gun. “Maybe, theHighCourtBarAssociationisdoingsomething,”Gupta told The Indian Express.Askedwhether the Bar Councilwas going to take any stand onthis issue, he said, “Apni level pekya karegi, takkar maregi kahinjaake? (what will we do at ourlevel,hitsomeone?)”Gupta also said a complaint

wasreceivedfromadvocateJavedAli,oneofthetwolawyerswhoseofficeswere searched by police,and the samewas forwarded toDelhi High Court RegistrarGeneral“forappropriateaction”.TheDelhi Police Special Cell

had also searched theNizamuddinEastofficeoflawyerMehmood Pracha, whose firmLegal Axis is defending severalpersonsaccused incases relatedto theDelhi riots. In August, po-lice had told a Delhi court thatPracha had forged documentsand instigated aman to deposefalsely in a case related to the ri-ots. Additional Sessions JudgeVinodYadavhadsaid“itwouldbeappropriateifthematterisinves-tigatedbyanindependentagencylikeCrimeBranchorSpecialCell”.AnFIRwasfiledinthematter.Delhi High Court Bar

AssociationHonorary SecretaryAbhijat Friday said the lawyers’bodywasintheprocessofascer-taining the facts. “While on theone hand it is deplorable thatlawyers’ offices are being raidedin this manner and privilegedcommunication is being lookedinto, but on the other handweshouldnotactinamannerthein-vestigation in a crime is also in-terferedwith.”He added that the lawyers’

bodywill take a stand after con-ferringwithintheexecutivecom-mittee. “Wedonot knowall thefacts.Thedeliberationshavetobeinformed.Wecannotpassareso-lution for the sake of resolution.Wearecollectingtheinformationandfacts thathowmuchthepo-lice have interfered, whetherPracha is an accused in any FIRand therefore is being investi-gatedor is it that he is being tar-geted because he is a lawyer fortheriotaccused.”InatweetonThursday,Pracha

had said, “Bar is the last bastion.Wemust all rise to the occasionand save attacks on our profes-sion and ultimately theConstitutionof India.”Followingthe searches at his office, Prachaalsoallegedheandhisassociateswere assaulted during the raidandhewasthreatened“withthenameof (UnionHomeMinister)Amit Shah Sahab”. Delhi Police,however, inastatementaccusedPrachaofbeing“verballyaggres-sive”and“creatingaruckus”.The Special Cell in the state-

mentsaid, “The investigationof-

ficer and his team, showing ut-most professional restraint, de-cidedtorecordthehappeningsaswerefullyvideo-recordedintheirreporttobefiledbeforetheCourtforfurthernecessaryinstructionsand returned postmidnight. Acomplaintregardingtheconductof Sh.Mehmood Pracha andhisassociates has been given to thelocal Police Station for appropri-ateaction”.Meanwhile,manyseniorsen-

ior lawyers continued to criticisethe police action against thelawyers.Thisincluded Delhigov-ernment’s Senior StandingCounsel (Criminal)RahulMehra,whotweeted:“Imayhaveprofes-sional differences with MrMehmoodPrachaandmayagreetodisagreewithhimmostof thetimebut for anoffice of a lawyertoberaidedlikethisishighlycon-demnable.Expectinggoodsensetoprevailsoonerratherthanlater.”Congress leaderManish Tewari,who is also a lawyer, saidhewas“deeplydisturbed”by thesearchconductedatPracha’sofficesandaskedBarCouncilto“takeupthisarbitraryharassment”.Special Cell, in a statement,

saidthesearcheswereconductedin connectionwithan investiga-tionintotheallegeduseofdocu-ments “containing false/fabri-cated evidence” and “a forgednotary stamp before a Hon’bleCourt”duringabailproceeding.

Pracha moves courtover search warrant

Day after searchesat Pracha office,Bar memberscautiously silent

MehmoodPracha

Police obstacles slow down some marchesSUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI,DECEMBER25

FARMERS FROM villages inWesternUttarPradeshandthoseattheGhazipurprotestsiteclaimpolice have been dissuadingthemfromjoiningthesit-in,withmany being stopped briefly astheyheadtotheborder.OnThursday, local Bharatiya

Kisan Union leaders and gurd-wara functionaries fromBandablock in Shahjahanpur districtweresummonedtoBandapolicestation.Kuldeep Singh, district gen-

eral secretary of BKU from aJodhpur village, claimed: “Lastevening, a sub-inspector calledand asked formy vehicle regis-tration number and driving li-

cencedetails.HecalledagainonThursdayandsaid Ihadtocomefor ameetingwith seniorpoliceofficers.Atthestation,therewerefarmerunionfunctionariesfromvariousvillages inourblockandpeople from the Sikh commu-nity.Weweretoldweshouldco-operate with local police, andwerediscouragedfromgoingto-wards Delhi.When some of uswere insistent, police said weshould go in small cars and nottractors.” The previous day, po-lice had summoned farmerunionfunctionariesfromnearbyvillages to Khutar police stationinthesamedistrict.Confirmingthatthemeetings

were held, SP, Shahjahanpur, SAnand,said:“Wewanttoeducatefarmers that the agitation is notrequired as the government is

willing to speak to everyone onthis issue. The ideawas tomoti-vatethemtonotindulgeinthingsthat aggravate problems and tomovetowardsasolutioninstead.”According to farmer unions,

earlier thisweek,multiple trac-

tor-trolleysfromthevicinityhadbeen stopped several times be-foretheycouldreachGhazipur.“OnDecember21, farmersin

15tractor-trolleysandcars fromBareillymandalleftforGhazipurborder. This included farmersfromShahjahanpur and Pilibhitdistricts.Therewereattemptstostop us at multiple places inShahjahanpur and Bareilly... wewere stopped overnight inRampur. Many local farmerscametoouraid,andwewereal-lowed to go ahead at 11 am onDecember22.WewerestoppedagainthateveninginMoradabadfor several hours. We finallyreached Delhi onWednesdaymorning,” said Ajeet Singh,Bareillymandalpresident.Now,farmersfromtheregion

have planned to congregate at

NawabganjgurdwarainRampurdistrict and head towards Delhitogether.“Theplanisforfarmersfromthatareaaswellasfromvil-lages in Uttarakhand such asBajpur, Kashipur, Gadarpur andUdhamSinghNagar to leave to-gether in themorning. Thiswillmakeitdifficultforpolicetostopthem," said Gurpreet Atwal, afarmer from Rampur district,whoisat theprotestsite.Delhi Sikh Gurdwara

Management Committee presi-dentManjinder Singh Sirsa alsoleftfortheNawabganjgurdwaraon Thursday. He said: “Somefarmershadcontactedmewhenthey were stopped at Rampurearlier this week; I had gonethere to intervene. I amnowgo-ingtoNawabganjasfarmersfeartheywillbestoppedagain.”

FarmersprotestingatGhazipurborder.AmitMehra

NewDelhi: Some clients ofadvocate MehmoodPracha, who are fightingcases related to theNortheast Delhi riots,Friday claimed at a pressconference that the DelhiPolicehadpressured theminthepasttodropPrachaastheir lawyerandwithdrawtheir complaints.MohammadNasir Khan, abusinessmanwho lives inGonda, said he lost his lefteye to a bullet wound onFebruary 24 and his com-plaint was filed only afterPracha’s intervention. Heclaimed he had been toldbypolice to dropPracha ashis lawyer. Sahil Parvez,who also lives in Gonda,saidPrachahadhelpedhimfile an FIR in connectionwithhisfather’smurder.Heclaimed he too faced simi-larpressure frompolice.When contacted, AnilMittal, spokesperson forthe Delhi Police, said, “Allsuch allegations are falseandbaseless. Investigationinto cases is being donesolelyonmerits.”ENS

Pracha clientsallege policepressure

ANANYATIWARINEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

THE DESIGN for the chambersfor Members of Parliament,whichwill come upwhere theShram Shakti Bhawan andTransportBhawanarecurrentlylocatedonRafiMargandSansadMarg respectively, is at the con-ceptstageandwillhaveapprox-imately800orsoofficesforMPs,officials of the HCP Design,Planning andManagement PvtLtd have said. The newParliament shall have six com-mittee rooms for conductingbusiness, they further said.The foundationstonefor the

New Parliament was laid byPrimeMinister NarendraModionDecember10.Thenewbuild-ingwillhave888seatsformem-bers of the Lok Sabha, 384 forthose of the Rajya Sabha. Forjoint meetings, the Lok SabhaHallonthegroundfloorshallbeable tohouse1,272members.Earlier, the planwas for the

chambers or offices for theMPstocomeupineithertheNorthorSouth block, said officials fromtheHCP. “Since on-ground sur-veysaremoreeffective,thisplan

was changed and now thechambers shall comeupwherethe Transport Bhawan and theShram Shakti Bhawan are lo-cated. The plan is constantlyevolving,” an official told TheIndianExpress.“The two buildings will be

demolished,andmorethanonebuildingwillcomeupinallprob-ability. Even if two buildingscome up, they shall be con-nected in someway,” said offi-cials fromtheHCP.Theofficesshallberudimen-

tary, considering thatMPs havetheir own offices across thecountry and do not necessarilyneedtospendtoomuchtime inDelhi,anddesignforthesameisattheinitialstages,saidofficials.

In order forMPs to conductbusiness inside the Parliament,the interiors of the newParliament shall have six com-mittee roomswithmodernisedfeatures, said theHCP.These committee rooms

shall feature various audio-vi-sualfacilitiessuchassimultane-ouslanguageinterpretationsys-tem, sound reinforcementsystem, voice lift application,videowall forvideocontenten-largement and enhancement,in-room video conferencing,wiredandwirelesspresentationsystem, active speaker viewingwith PTZ cameras, POTS/VOIPbased audio-conferencing, andAVoIP transmissions, officialssaid.

Anartist’s impressionof thenewParliament

New Parliament: Locationfor MPs’ chambers shiftedafter on-ground survey


ASTRIKEbyDelhiJalBoard(DJB)contractors,whotook100watertankersoff the road thismonth,caused only aminor disruptionin water supply in parts of thecity,DJBofficials said.The strike started around

December 1 and ended largelyon Thursday through the inter-ventionof theDelhiHighCourt.Around20 tankerswere still offthe road as on Friday andwerebeing persuaded to return toworkby theDJB,officials said.OnThursday,BJP leaders, in-

cluding Delhi unit chief AdeshGupta and nearly a hundredpeople, protested outside theDJB headquarters atJhandewalan against a “tankerscam”. Later, theDJB headquar-terswasvandalised,allegedlybythesamegroup,followingwhichBJP andAAPblamedeachotherfor theviolence.OnThursday,Guptahadraised

theissueonTwitter,claimingthatwatersupplythroughtankershadstopped for the past 24days, af-fectingpeopleinpartsof thecity.DJBofficialsdeniedthecharge.

“Wehaveabout1,100to1,200wa-ter tankers out ofwhich around100 private contractual tankerswent on strike.Weplugged thisgapbyre-routingtankersfromar-easwith lowrequirementofwa-tertoareasofhighrequirement,”aseniorofficialsaid.“We also deployed tankers

thatwekeep for emergencyuse.However, thereweredisruptionsandsomepocketswhereatankerwould go once every two dayswere gettingwater once everythreedays.Similarly,placeswherea tanker goes once every threedayswere getting it once everyfour days. It is incorrect to statethatfor20-24dayswaterhasnot

beensupplied,”theofficialadded.The strike, officials said, also

coincided with the farmers’protest at Delhi’s borders. TheDelhi government is providingwatertankerstotheprotestsitesas well. However, DJB officialsdenied that this further im-pacted their water supply. “Wealso engaged more privatetankers during the time of thestrike,”anotherDJBofficial said.The contractors had called

the strike as theywanted an in-creaseinpayment.Accordingtoofficials, the Delhi High Court,while hearing the matter onWednesday,askedanarbitratorto settle thedispute.Meanwhile, DJB vice-chair-

man and AAP leader RaghavChadhaFriday filedacomplaintat theDeshBandhuGuptaRoadpolice station, seeking actionagainst Gupta and partymem-bers Yogendra Chandoliya, RaviTanwar,VikasTanwarand“otherunidentifiedBJPworkers”.“A case has been registered

underIPCsection188(disobedi-ence toorderdulypromulgatedby public servant) and sectionsof Prevention of Damage toPublic Property Act,” a DelhiPolice spokespersonsaid.

RaghavChadhatakingstockof thedamagesatDJBoffice

Tanker strike affected watersupply but gap was plugged:DJB after office vandalism

0-50 Good

ANANDVIHARVeryPoor

0 500

387AQIPM:2.5

PUNJABIBAGHVeryPoor

0 500

SHADIPURVery Poor

0 500 500

51-100 Satisfactory 101-200 Moderate 201-300 Poor 301-400 VeryPoor 401-500 Severe

DWARKA- SECTOR8Very Poor

0

385AQIPM:2.5

334AQIPM:10

363AQIPM:2.5

FORECAST: Dec26Partlycloudysky.Shallowtomoderatefog inthemorning

S K Y WA T C H

MAX:210.4°Cbelownormal

MIN:43.9°Cbelownormal

PWDplantodecongeststretchgetsapprovalNew Delhi: The UnifiedTrafficandTransportationInfrastructure (Planningand Engineering) CentreThursdayapprovedapro-posalof thePublicWorksDepartment(PWD)tode-congest a 3.5-km stretchoftheRingRoadbetweenRaja Garden flyover andPunjabiBaghflyover.Thiswould be done by con-structing two flyoversparalleltotheexistingsin-gle flyovers at Club Roadcrossing andMoti Nagarcrossing.

NoidaPolicetosetuphelpdesksonNewYear’sEveNoida:NoidaPolice isgo-ing tosetupwomenhelpdesks at places hostingNew Year’s eve celebra-tions across the district.According to police, thepersonnel will assistwomenwith on the spotsolutionsincaseofanyis-sue. A female and amalepersonneleachwillbede-ployed at the concernedhelpdesks.Besides, therewill alsobe increasedpa-trolling. Noida Police hasalsolaunchedadedicatedhelpline to assist queriesbywomen.

ManarrestedforRs9crore‘fraud’New Delhi: TheEconomicOffencesWingof Delhi Police has ar-restedamanforallegedlymisappropriating Rs 9croreduringdemonetisa-tion. Police said the ac-cused, Gaurav Singhal,had opened seven bankaccounts using forgeddocuments andmisap-propriatedthemoneyus-ing cash deposits. Policesaidataxofficerhadfileda complaint against theaccused twoyearsago.

‘Feastweek’atDelhiZooNewDelhi: A feastweekfor animals at the DelhiZoo began Friday, inwhich animals will begiven a specialmeal thatisdifferentfromtheirreg-ular diet for the next fivedays,zoodirectorRameshPandeysaid.ENS

BRIEFLY

SomyaLakhani

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New Delhi

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ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI, DECEMBER25

THE PREPARATION of NationalRegister of Citizen (NRC) is an“Indianissue”andtherehasbeennoillegalinfluxfromBangladeshintoIndia,theDirectorGeneralofBorder Guards Bangladesh(BGB), Shafeenul Islam, said inGuwahationFriday.However, BSF DG Rakesh

AsthanasaidthatasofDecember15, the BSF this year has nabbed3,204 individuals trying to ille-gallyenter Indiaalong theentireIndia-Bangladesh border.AsthanaaddedthecaveatthatthefigurewasnotjustofBangladeshinationalsbuttheoverallnumberofpeoplenabbedwhiletryingtocross over illegally, includingcriminalsandsmugglers.TheBSFandBGBchiefswere

addressingapressconferenceaf-terthesuccessfulculminationofthe Director General-level talksbetweenthe twoforces.Islamsaid, “I think youneed

to revisit the perception that a

large number of Bangladeshisare crossing into Assam. If yousee the GDP growth rate ofBangladesh, you will find thatwe are on a steady uprisingtrack... There is no reason forBangladeshistocrosstheborderbe it for jobsor forother reason.“Yes,peopledocometo India

with valid documents andpass-portsfortourismpurposebutforwork, there is no suchcase…ThereisnoinfiltrationfromBangladeshtoIndia,”hesaid.

TheBGBchief ruledout thatafter thepublicationof theNRCin Assam in August 2019 andconsequent political talks of anationalNRC,therehasbeenanyunauthorised migration intoBangladesh fromIndia.Both Asthana and Islam

stressed on how important theissue of cattle smuggling -- andsmugglingof other kinds -- andkillings on the border werepressing concerns for their re-spectivecountries.

ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI, DECEMBER25

THE CONGRESS on Friday ex-pelled a sittingMLAamid spec-ulationthatshewill jointheBJP.The party has, meanwhile,

startedmeetings at the groundlevelledbyleadersvisitingfromDelhiandasurveytogaugepub-licmood regardingprobable al-liances for the Assembly pollsnextyear.“Ajanta Neog is hereby ex-

pelled from the primarymem-bership of Indian NationalCongress for her anti-party ac-tivitywithimmediateeffect.Thishas the approval of theHonourable CongressPresident,” an order by RanjanBora, general secretary (organi-sation)of stateCongress said.Neog isMLA fromGolaghat

andaformerministerintheerst-whileTarunGogoi cabinet.There was speculation that

Neogmight join the BJP duringthe visit of HomeMinister AmitShah. However, AssamministerHimantaBiswaSarmasaidFridaythat therehavebeennopoliticaltalks between Neog and theparty.Sarmasaiditwouldnotbesurprising if Neog expressed awishtojointheBJPfollowingherexpulsionfromCongress.During his visit, begining

Shah will distribute financialgrantstoNamghars--traditionalAssameseprayerhalls--andlayfoundationstonesforseveralde-velopment and infrastructureprojects, includingmedical andlaw colleges. He would holdmeetings with the Assam BJPunitandrepresentativesofallies.HewillvisitImphalbeforeflyingback toDelhionDecember27.

Sarma said thatwith Shah’svisit and his meeting with thestatepartyunit,theBJP’s“formaljourney” towards theAssemblypollswill begin.Meanwhile, four Congress

secretariesfromDelhi—AnirudhSingh,VikasUpadhyay,PrithvirajPrabhakar Sathe and AdityaSharma—areinAssam.Theywillbemeetingofficebearersof dis-trictCongresscommittees,MLAs,andformerMLAsandMPsoftheparty,amongothers.They have held meetings

with state leaders, sources said.“Severalissueswerebeingtakenup, including administration oftheAssamunitof theCongress,”a stateparty leader said.The state Congress unit has

initiated a survey to gaugepub-lic mood regarding its leadersand probable alliances, includ-ing thatwith theAIUDF.

THEVISITbyfourCongresssecretariescomesatatimewhenthepartyisbattlingaleader-shipprobleminAssam,withseveral leadershav-ingcomplainedagainststateunitchiefRipunBora. It is learntthatsomeleadersof regionalpartiestheCongressplanstoallywitharealsokeenforachangeinthestate lead-ership.Thesedevelop-mentshavecomesoonaf-tertheparty lost inthetworecentlyheldlocalcouncilpolls.

BidtofixissuesE●EX

PLAINED

AMIDSPECULATIONOFGOLAGHATMLAJOININGBJP

Assam Congress expels sitting legislator

BSFDGRakeshAsthanawithBGBchief Shafeenul Islam. PTI

SAYSNOREASONTOCROSS ILLEGALLY INTO INDIA

Border Guards Bangladeshchief: NRC is Indian issue

DEBRAJDEBAGARTALA,DECEMBER25

IN AN effort to provide relief tovictimsofpoliticalviolenceper-petratedtillMarch,2018—whenthe incumbent BJP-IPFT as-sumed power in Tripura — thestate government announcedFriday that itwill provideagov-ernment job to onemember oftheir families, provided theymeet theeligibility criteria.State LawMinisterRatan Lal

Nathsaid.“Wereceivedaslewofapplications for governmentjobs from such families acrossTripura after forming the gov-ernment in2018.Keeping thesepeople in mind, we have re-solved to scrutinise theseappli-cationsandprovide themjobs.”Application forms for the

benefit would be available atSDMofficesacrossthestateandapplicantswouldneedtosubmitproof of birth, permanent resi-dence,educationalqualification,caste and death certificates ofrelativeslostinpoliticalviolence.

Tripura schemeto provide jobsto next of kin ofvictims ofpolitical violence

New Delhi


GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

THE BIG QUESTIONITHASbeenamonthsinceAhmedPatel,oneof thetoweringleaders of the Congress, passed away but the party is yet toofficially hold a condolencemeeting in hismemory. Manyparty leaders, and some from other opposition parties, arewonderingwhat is stopping theCongress fromorganising aremembrancemeetingforPatel, aboutwhomtheCWCitselfhad said that the interest of theCongresswashis only inter-est and the advancement of the Congress’s agendawas hisagenda. Apart from Patel, the Congress lost veteran leaderslikeTarunGogoiandMotilalVora in the lastonemonth.AndinAugust PranabMukherjeepassedaway.Mukherjeewas afrontline leader of the Congress before he became thePresident. But the party has not organised any condolencemeetingmuchtothesurpriseofmany leaders.AlthoughtheCWCheldameetingtocondole thedeathofPatelandGogoi,thepartyhassofarnotorganisedaremembrancemeetwhereleaders fromthepartyandoppositioncanattend.

KEEPING IT SHORTEVENASseniorCabinetministers fannedout topublicise thefarmBillsindifferentkisansammelansonFriday,justaheadofPrimeMinister NarendraModi's speech at noon, therewasclearlyapremiumbeingon time.WhilebothHomeMinisterAmitShahandDefenceMinisterRajnathSingh'sspeecheswereexactly15minutes,bothexplicitlysaidtheywouldkeeptheirspeechesshortsopeoplecould listentothePrimeMinister.

GRAND WELCOMEEARLYTHISweek,anofficerof theCentral IndustrialSecurityForce (CISF) ended up embarrassing his IGwhen he drapedthesideofabuildingwithabannerwelcomingtheseniorof-ficer. The banner carrying a huge picture of IPS officer DayalGangwarwalking in fatigueswas put up by the CO of CISF'sDMRCunitinGhaziabad.Thebuzzistheofficermaybeaskedtoexplainwhytaxpayers'moneywasspentongivinganIGawelcomegenerally reserved forpoliticians.


HOURS AFTER PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi accused theOppositionparties of spreadinglies over the farm laws for fur-thering their political agenda,the Opposition hit back, sayinghewas indulging inmisleadingtactics and rhetoric to deceivethepeople.The Congress said the gov-

ernmentistryingto“tireoutthefarmers”, hoping they will goback, but the strategy will notwork. “The Prime Minister isbusy giving clarifications on TVandhisministers arehidingbe-hindthesmoke-screenof letters.They are least interested in thewelfare of farmers. The govern-ment shall have to withdraw

thesethreeblacklaws,”Congresscommunication departmentheadRandeepSurjewala said.Leaderof theCongressinLok

SabhaAdhirRanjanChowdhurysaid,“Youdonothavethegutstotalk to the farmers face-to-faceandfindoutasolution.Sittingfaraway, you distribute Rs 18,000crore from the governmenttreasuryandsaythatthisisyourgovernment’s favour for thefarmers. Thismoney doesn’t gointotheaccountsof thefarmers.Themiddlemenstill exist.”West Bengal Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee accused thePrimeMinisterof trying tomis-leadthestate’sfarmersbyaccus-ing the state government of de-priving them of cash benefitsunder the PM Kisan SammanNidhi. “Let me set the recordstraight –we have always been

ready to cooperate in the inter-est of the farmers. I personallyhave written two letters andhave even spoken to the con-cernedMinister two days agobut they are refusing to cooper-ate and are instead indulging inmaliciouspropaganda forpolit-ical gains,” Banerjee said in astatement.The Left too slammed the

PrimeMinister.CPM general secretary

SitaramYechurytweeted,“ThereisnoconfidenceinModigovern-ment’s assurances for discus-sions with farmers since thesebills were passed without anypriordiscussionandbyprevent-ingavote in theHouse.”“ThePrimeMinisterclaimed

today that some monies hadbeen released.But this ispartofa pre-poll ongoing scheme!PMasking why no protests inKerala!ButtherearebigprotestsinKerala.Thestategovernment’sdecision to call a special sessionof the assembly to reject thesebills is not being permitted bythe governor. This is blatantlyunconstitutional,”headded.CPI general secretary D Raja

said the PrimeMinister thinksthat he can hoodwink the peo-ple.“Whateverhesaidtodaywasnothingbutlies.Forinstance,he

wasreferringtoKerala.Kerala isone state which is giving MSPmore thanwhat is fixed by theUniongovernment.He isaccus-ing the Opposition of indulgingin petty politics. It is the PrimeMinisterwhoisdoingpoliticsbyreferring to the outcome of re-centelections...”

Stop defamingfarmers: SukhbirSukhbirSinghBadal, chief of

the BJP’s estranged allyShiromani Akali Dal, said theCentre should stop defamingfarmers and hold talks withthemonwaystorepealthelaws.Inastatement,theSADpres-

ident said the Centre hasadopted a “callous and insensi-tiveattitude”towardsthesuffer-ingof farmerswhoarecampinginseverecoldatDelhiborders.

FARMERS BREAK UP BJP PROGRAMMEDuringPMNarendraModi’saddressonFriday afternoon, farmers inPunjabdisruptedtheprogrammebeingwatched livebyBJPunits inBathinda,KotkapuraandFazilkadistricts. InBathinda(above),protestersenteredthevenueandbrokethechairswhereBJPworkersweretosit. Theeventwoundupwithin15minutesof its start.GurmeetSingh

SUKHBIRSIWACHCHANDIGARH,DECEMBER25

HARYANA FARMERS on Fridayhalted toll collection onmosthighwaysacross thestatewhilealso intensifying their protestsagainst rulingBJP-JJPMLAs’andministers.The agitators have an-

nounced that vehicleswill passthrough the toll plazaswithoutpayinganychargesonSaturdayand Sunday too in response tothecall givenby farmoutfits.On Friday, according to

sources, angry protestersshowed black flags to stateWomenandChildDevelopmentMinisterKamleshDhandaatherconstituencyKalayatwhereshehadgonetoaddressafewpublicmeetings.At Guhla Cheeka (Kaithal),

the protesters gheored local JJPMLAIshwarSinghwhenhehadgone to address a function heldat a college on the occasion ofGood Governance Day. As soonas farmers came to knowabouthis function, they immediatelygathered near the venue carry-ingblackflags. IshwarSinghwasnotavailable for comment.At Siwani town in Bhiwani

district, farmersstagedaprotestahead of the visit of state

AgricultureandFarmersWelfareMinister JPDalal,whohadgonethere to address a publicmeet-ing. Theprotesters claimed thatthe minister was forced tochange his route leading to themeeting venue. Dalal told TheIndian Express themeeting hasbeenpostponedkeepinginviewthe upcoming civic body elec-tionsonDecember27.Meanwhile, the farmers on

Friday ensured freemovementofvehiclesattollplazassituatedon the highways including onRohtak-Panipat highway,Rohtak-Delhi highway, Rohtak-Jhajjar highway, Rohtak-Hisarhighway, Jind-Patiala highway,Hisar-Chandigarh highway,Rohtak-Hisar highway, Hisar-Sirsa highway and CharkhiDadri-Bhiwani highway. Toll,however,wasbeingcollectedasusual on Friday morning atKherki Daula toll plaza inGurgaon.Accordingtoofficials,tollcol-

lection was halted either postmidnight or from early Fridaymorningat several tollpoints inthe state.While atmanyplaces,farmerstookovertollplazasnotallowing authorities to collectfees from commuters, at otherplaces toll employees them-selveshaltedtheprocessinviewof theprotest.

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

THEONGOING farmer protestsechoedintheCentralHallof theParliamentFridaywithAAPMPsSanjay Singh and BhagwantMannraisingslogansagainstthethree agricultural laws in thepresence of Prime MinisterNarendraModiduring aneventto commemorate the birth an-niversary of former PrimeMinisterAtalBihariVajpayee."Kisan virodhi kaala kanoon

wapas lo, MSP ki guarantee do,PradhanMantri ji annadatamarrahahaisir(repealtheant-farmerblack laws,provideMSPguaran-tee…farmersaredying),"thetwoleaders shouted as Modi wasabouttoleavethevenueafterre-leasingabookontheformerPM."Despitenothavingnumbers

in the Rajya Sabha, they got thefarmbills cleared throughvoicevote. We had protested eventhen. Our point is why showsuchurgencytogetlawsclearedduring a lockdown? They arejusttryingtofavourtheirfriendlycorporates.Youhavenotspokentothefarmersinover25days,in-stead (you are) using force onthem, attempting to stop them.You turn everything into anevent. Sowe took this step. Andwe protested only after payingtributestotheformerPMaswellas Madan Mohan Malviya,"Singh toldThe IndianExpress.WhileSingh isaRajyaSabha

member, Mann representsPunjab'sSangrurconstituencyintheLokSabha.Theyalsoheldupposters against the lawswhileraising theslogans.Congress Lok Sabha leader

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury andLeaderofOppositionintheRajyaSabha GhulamNabi Azadwereinteracting with Modi aroundthat time.At a press conference later,

Mannsaid,"ThePMdoesnotad-dress press conferences,Parliamentsessionsarenotheld,there is only one-way commu-nication,viaradiooroverthein-ternet. There is noway tomeethim. He evenmeets farmers ofhis ownchoice inGujaratwhilepeopleprotestbarely20kilome-tresaway fromhis residence.”Delhi Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwal tweeted: "BJP claimsthese laws will not harm thefarmersbutwherearethebene-fits? They say farmerswill nowbeabletoselltheirproduceout-sidemandis. But sales outsidemandisdonotyieldevenhalftheprice as compared to mandis.Howis thisabenefit?”


AGROUP of seven US lawmak-ers, including Indian-AmericanCongresswoman PramilaJayapal, has written to USSecretaryofStateMikePompeo,urging him to raise the issue ofthe farmers’ protest with hisIndia’s External AffairsMinisterS Jaishankar.InadditiontoJayapal,thelet-

ter has been signed by USCongress members DonaldNorcross,BrendanFBoyle,BrianFitzpatrick, Mary Gay Scanlon,DebbieDingellandDavidTrone.The farmers’ protest is an is-

sueofparticularconcerntoSikhAmericans linked to Punjab, al-though it also heavily impactstheIndianAmericansbelongingto other Indian states, the law-makers said in their letter toPompeodatedDecember23.“Many IndianAmericans are

directlyaffectedastheyhavefam-

ilymembersandancestrallandinPunjabandareconcernedforthewell-being of their families inIndia. Inviewof thisserioussitu-ation,weurgeyoutocontactyourIndian counterpart to reinforcetheUnitedStates’commitmenttothe freedomof political speechabroad,”thelettersays.The lawmakers have said

thattheUS,asanationthatisfa-miliarwithpoliticalprotests,canoffer counsel to India duringtheircurrentperiodofsocialdis-turbance.Over the past few weeks,

more than a dozen USCongressmen have expressedtheir concernsontheprotests.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHANDIGARH,DECEMBER25

AMID REPORTS that farmerswere disconnecting power sup-plytoJiomobiletowersinPunjab,ChiefMinister Amarinder SinghFridayappealedtothemtonotin-convenience the general publicwithsuchactions.Pointing out that telecom

connectivity had become evenmorecriticalforpeopleamidtheCovid-19pandemic, Amarindersaid the farmers should showthesamedisciplineandsenseofresponsibility which they hadbeen exercising during theirprotest at the Delhi border,which completed onemonth,and also earlier during their ag-itation in thestate.Amarinder's appeal came in

thewake of a request from theTower and InfrastructureProvidersAssociation (TAIPA), a

registeredbodyoftelecominfra-structureproviders.The TIPA request came after

farmersatvariousplacesinclud-ingMansa, Barnala, Ferozepurand Moga, disconnected thepowersupplytoRelianceJiomo-bile towers as part of theirprotestsoverpast severaldays.“...(this) isnotonlyadversely

affecting the studies and futureprospects of students, who aredependententirelyononlineed-ucation,butalsohamperingthedailylifeofpeopleworkingfromhome,”Amarindersaid."Further,the disruption of telecom serv-iceswould also seriously affectthe state’s already disturbedeconomy.”

At least two farmer bodies,Fridaysaiddisconnectingpowertomobile towerswas never ontheir agenda and that they hadonly given calls to boycottReliancestoresandproducts."OurdecisionistoboycottJio

andnottodisconnectthepowersupplytoanytower.However, ifanyoneisdoingit invillages, it isnot a decision of BKU(Ugrahan)," said Jhanda SinghJethuke,seniorvice-presidentofthe largest farmers' body inPunjab, while addressing farm-ersatDelhi'sTikriborder.BKU (Dakaunda) president

ButaSinghBurjgillsaidtheircallwas “only to boycott Jio SIMs orget those numbers ported” toothernetworks.The clarification comes two

daysafterRelianceJioInfocommLimitedwrotetoPunjabDirectorGeneralofPolicecomplainingof"incidents of sabotage and van-dalismat Jio sites...”

MANOJPATIDAAR,42Dhar,MadhyaPradeshARESIDENTofChikliyavillageinMadhyaPradesh’sDhardistrict,Patidaarfeelsthefarmlawshaveopened up alternatives, but en-suringmandis are up and run-ningwithassuredMSPareofut-most importance. Patidaarwhocultivates wheat, gram, garlic,peas and onion during the Rabiseasonandsoyabeanandmaizeduring kharif on his fourhectares, says the governmentneeds to ensure that they don'tjustdeclareMSPbutpurchaseonit too. He says he has benefitedfrom the PM Kisan SammanNidhi scheme and has receivedRs10,000 in five instalments.“I forgot to ask the PM if the

governmentwilljustdeclareMSPor also procure on it. There arepeople inmy villagewho culti-vatedmaizeafterthegovernmentdeclaredMSPataroundRs1,700-Rs 1,800 but are forced to sell at

1,200as thegovernmenthasnotinitiated procurement.” Patidarsayswhenhe finds theprices atmanditobelower,hesellshispro-ducetothesoyachoupalsetupbyITCoutsidethemandi.The second generation

farmerhasafamilyofsix.Hede-niesanypolitical affiliation.

HARISINGHBISHNOI,51Fatehabad,HaryanaBISHNOI, A resident of Nadhorivillage in Fatehabad district,owns10acresof land.Heandhisthreebrothersandtheirfamilieslive togetherand jointlyown40acres in thevillage.Hesaid,“Threedaysago,Igot

acallfromSDO(Agriculture).Hetoldme that I have been short-listed for having a conversationwith thePM. Iwasalso told thattwo of my brothers have re-ceived money under the PMKisanSammanNidhi scheme.”“I have been doing farming

for the last 15 years. Earlier, Igrew paddy, but now I havestarted growing fruits and veg-etables.Wesellourcrop in localmandisandmarkets.”Onthe farmers’ agitation,he

saidhewasneitherinfavournoragainst the laws. “If the legisla-tion have been framed and cer-tain shortcomings are pointedout,thoseshortcomingsshallberemoved. But, to say the entire

concept iswrongisnotcorrect.”

GANESHBHOSALE,38Latur,MaharashtraDURINGHISinteractionwiththePM,Bhosale,fromMatolavillageinLaturdistrict, spokeof his ex-perience with the PradhanMantri FasalBimaYojana.Bhosalegrowssoyabean,tur,

wheat, chana over his 7.5 acresof land.“Ioptedfortheinsurance

schemeas itactsasa cushionincasemycropfailsduetoadverseclimateconditions,”hesays.Forthe last kharif season, Bhosalepaid a premiumof Rs 2,580 peracre for his soyabean crop, andreceivedcompensationworthRs54,315 per acre as his cropwasall butdestroyed inheavyrain.“I am a simple farmer and

stayas far aspossible frompoli-tics,”hesays.

Bhosale supports the newlaws and believes they wouldhelp growers like him increasetheir earnings. “Traders willcome to our village to buy di-rectlyfromus.Throughcontractfarming, small holders canpoolin their holdings and grow forcorporate buyers,” he says. Thediscontent, he says, is due tosome“misconceptions”.

RAMGULAB,53Maharajganj,UttarPradeshHAILINGFROMMaharajganjdis-trict, he owns 1.5 acres of land.Alongwith four other farmers,he recently brought together300 small farmers under thefarmer producer group,MaharajganjProducerCompanyLtd, and entered into a contractwith a company to grow a spe-cificvarietyof sweetpotato.Having studied till ClassVIII,

Gulabhas saidhehas benefitedfrom several government

schemes, from Swachh BharatMission to Kisan credit card toPMKisanSammanNidhi.He said they are growing a

specialised variety of sweet po-tato thathashigherprotein andvitaminscontent.“Wewould have to give 10

tonnesbyFebruary-endorMarchandover200tonnesbynextsea-son. In a year, we can get twocrops and as per the agreement,the companywill pick our pro-duce from the field at Rs 25 perkg,whichotherwisesoldatRs10-15perkg inthemarket,”hesaid.He said they estimate expendi-ture of Rs 35,000- Rs 40,000 togrowthecropperacreandexpectprofitofRs1lakhperacre.

GAGANPERYINGLowerDibangValley,ArunachalPradeshANORGANIC ginger cultivatorfrom Lower Dibang Valley dis-trict,Peryingismanagingdirec-

tor of the farmer producer’scompany Lower Dibang ValleyOrganic Ginger ProducerCompanyLtd.Perying said the PM asked

himaboutthePMKisanscheme.“I told him about getting Rs2,000 after every fourmonths.He askedme about what I wasdoingwiththemoneyIreceivedasapartofthescheme.ItoldhimthatIwasbuyingorganicfertilis-ersandotherorganicchemicals,”he said. Perying said the com-pany has also signed an agree-mentwithaSiliguri-basedcom-pany to sell finished organicgingerproducts.ThePrimeMinisteralso spoke

toMSubramani fromTamilNaduandNaveenThakur fromOdisha

REPORTING:IRAMSIDDIQUEINBHOPAL,VARINDERBHATIAINCHANDIGARH,PARTHASARATHIBISWASINPUNE,MAULSHREESETH IN LUCKNOW ANDABHISHEKSAHAINGUWAHATI

INLDleaderAbhaySinghChautala (secondfromleft)duringasit-inprotestwithfarmersagainst thenewfarmlawsatGharaundaTollPlaza inKarnaldistrictonFriday.PTI

Farmers halt tollcollection at mosthighways in state

PUNJAB:POWERTOJIOTOWERSSNAPPED

HARYANA:PROTESTSAGAINSTGOVT INTENSIFY

7 US Congress membersask Pompeo to raise farmprotests with Jaishankar

The farmers PM spoke to: Their gains from govt schemes, and their plans

AAPMPsSushilGupta,SanjaySinghandBhagwantMannatParliamentHouseonFriday.PTI

AAP MPsconfront PMwith slogans,placards inParliament

PrimeMinisterNarendraModiaddresses thefarmersvirtuallyonFriday. @narendramodi

MikePompeoandSJaishankar

MamataBanerjeeandSukhbirBadal

After PMaccusation, Oppn hits backat ‘lies’, attempt to ‘mislead’ people

ChiefMinisterAmarinderSingh

Telecom disruption will hurteconomy, CM says in appeal

New Delhi

7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

New Delhi


EXPRESSNETWORKRELOCATIONOFMUMBAIMETROCARSHED

‘USHERED IN THE TREND OF MODERNISM IN URDU’

SANDEEPASHARMUMBAI,DECEMBER25

IN THE wake of the BombayHigh Court’s (HC) stay on theMumbai Metro car shed atKanjurmarg, the Maharashtragovernment is examining theoption of relocating the projecton a land parcel in Goregaon,which has been classified as a‘naturalarea’anda‘no-develop-ment zone’ inMumbai’s devel-opmentplan (DP).While other alternate loca-

tions are also being looked at, aseniorstateofficialconfirmedtoThe Indian Express that theMumbai Metropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority (MM-RDA)hasapproachedthestate’sUrban Development (UD) de-partment for sanctioning thereservation for a car shed on apart of a 500-acre privately-owned landsprawl inPahadi.But to accede to MMRDA’s

request, the department willhave to reclassify the land useplan.WhenMumbai’s newDPwas first placed before citizens,abulkof this landwasclassifiedasecologicallysensitive,andwastagged as “natural area (NA)”.The DP classifies mangroves,mudflats, ecologically vital saltpans andhills, etc asNA,whereconstruction activity is barred.Barringa25-metre-widecoastalroad,noconstructionwasenvis-aged on the patch. The remain-

der of the landwas also taggedas a no-development zone(NDZ)andshownaffectedbythecoastal regulation zone.Additionally, in 2017, theBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporationevenwithdrewthecoastal roadreservation.Documents also show that

the Devendra Fadnavis-ledregime had first initiated theproposal formodifying the landuser. On September 1, 2018, theprevious government, whilesanctioningthenewDP,hadsep-arately notified its intention tointroduceover2,000substantialchanges to land use and FSI intheDP, forwhichpublicsugges-tions and objectionswere rein-vited.Oneof them involvedde-classification of the GoregaonlandasNA,andre-reservationofbulkofthislandforMetrorailcarshed, National Law University

andOtherCourts(HumanRightsCourts, Family Courts, MotorVehicleTribunal,etc),andan18-metre-wideroad.IronicallywhentheFadnavis

regime proposed themodifica-tion,therewasstiffoppositiontoit.Allegingthatthelandinques-tionwas “mangrove land”, thethen Leader of Opposition(Assembly) RadhakrishnaVikhe-Patil,whohassincejoinedthe BJP, had even accused theFadnavis government of “pass-ing undue benefits to the landowner to the tune of Rs 80,000crore” byway of themodifica-tion, a contention that Fadnavishadcontested.Aseniorofficial,meanwhile,

saidthelandholderhadalsosub-mitted a report by the govern-ment’s mangrove cell statingthat the land is “clear of man-groves.”

Maharashtra looksat500-acre ‘natural area’

ThestretchatPahadiwasalso taggedasa ‘no-developmentzone’ inMumbai'sdraftdevelopmentplan.Express file

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAJKOT,DECEMBER25

OVER Aweek after he was ar-rested in a case related to an al-legeddinnerpartybyaccomplicesof gangsterNikhil Donga insidetheGondal sub-jail inRajkotdis-trict, suspended jailerDhirubhaiParmarwasarrestedbyRajkotru-ral police under the GujaratControl of Terrorism andOrganised Crime (GCTOC) Act,2015 on Thursday for allegedlyaidingDonga’scrimesyndicate.Parmar is the first servingof-

ficerofthestategovernmenttobearrestedundertheGCTOCAct.Hewasarrested onDecember

16inconnectionwithacasereg-isteredagainsthimandfiveotherguards of Gondal sub-jail for al-legedlyallowinga“dinnerparty”inside the jail premises by six‘guests’ofDongawhowaslodgedin that jail onOctober 1. Parmarwas lodged inRajkot Central Jailafterwardunderjudicialcustody.A team ledbySagarBagmar,

AssistantSuperintendentofPolice(ASP)ofRajkotarrestedParmaronThursday from the jail and pre-sented him in a designatedGC-TOC Act court in Rajkot city onFriday. The court sent the sus-

pendedjailertopoliceremandtillJanuary 1. Balram Meena,Superintendent of Rajkot Ruralpolice said Parmarwas activelyhelpingDongaandhissyndicate.“Hewas actively helping the

criminalsyndicaterunbyDonga.Hadthejailerdonehisdutywell,Dongawouldnothavebeenabletorunhisgang.Therefore,Parmarhasbeenarrested,”Meenasaid.Dongaand11membersofhis

allegedgangwerebookedunderGCTOCAct lastmonth and10ofthem, including Donga arepresently in judicial custody.Parmar becomes the eleventhpersonaccused tobe arrested inconnectionwiththecase. Sourcessaid that inhis statement,DongahadreferredtoParmar’snameinoperationsofhisgangfrominsidethejail.Parmarhadabscondedaf-ter being bookedby theGondaltownpolicefollowingaraidbythevigilancesquadoftheprisonsde-partmentonOctober1.Dayslater,he and five guardsof theGondalsub-jail were suspended fromserviceaftertheirnamescroppedintheinvestigation. ThejailerhadsurrenderedbeforeGondaltownpolice on December 16 afterGujaratHighCourtrefusedtoad-mit his plea seeking protectionagainstarrest.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,DECEMBER25

THEMUMBAICrimeBranch, in-vestigatingtheallegedTelevisionRating Point (TRP) scam, onFriday said it received an auditreport of BARC last week thatconfirms that TRPs of channelswere manipulated under thepreviousBARCmanagement.BARCorBroadcastAudience

Research Council is responsibleformeasuringTRPsof channels.Its formerCEOParthoDasguptawasarrestedonThursdaybasedonthisreport.Earlierthismonth,the Mumbai police arrestedRepublicCOORamilRamgarhia,whohadresigned fromBARCinJuly after the audit report sub-mitted to BARC by a third partyallegedly showed his involve-ment in fixingTRPs.Jointcommissionerofpolice

(crime) Milind Bharambe saidthey received the audit reportfrom BARC a week ago. Theforensic audit was commis-sionedafteranewmanagementtookoveratBARCinJanuarythisyear,police said.“BARC had received the re-

port in July this year. The reportsaid fromaperiodofMay2017-November2019TRPsof Englishand Telugu news channels hadbeen fudged. It showed thatTRPsof channels likeTimesNow

had been reduced so thatRepublicwouldappear tobeno.1 by analysing selectively,”Bharambesaid.TheMumbaipolicesaidthey

were unaware of this audit re-port until last week. Achargesheet in the case namessix channels including RepublicTV for fixingTRPs.The officer added that ac-

cording to the report, in somecases“ratingappearedtobepre-decided” and that there was“cartelisation” of some formersenior BARC officials to assistparticular channels.WhileBARC received the re-

port in July, itwasonly after theMumbai police wrote to themthat it sent the report to thepo-lice last week, nearly twomonths after the FIRwas regis-tered. Bharambe added that inadditiontotheBARCreport,theyhavealso securedemail trails offormer employees from BARCservers that substantiateswhatwasfoundinthethird-partyau-dit report.Responding to the arrest of

its formerCEOandCOO,aBARCIndia spokesperson said, “Thedevelopment related to the twoex-employeesof BARC India isapartof anongoing investigationfor which BARCmanagementcontinues to extend its supportand cooperation to the law en-forcementagencies...”

BARC report saysformer executivesspiked TRPs: Police

SURBHIGUPTANEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

INFLUENTIALCONTEMPORARYUrdu writer-poet ShamsurRahman Faruqi died at his resi-denceinAllahabadonFridayduetocomplicationsfromCovid-19.Hewas85.“Thetallestfigureintheworld

of Urdu, his death leaves a voidthat cannot be filled,” said AnisAzmi, theatrepersonand formergeneral secretary of the UrduAcademyofDelhi.Faruqi was not only a cele-

bratedwriterandpoet,butalsoacritic who formulated a mod-ernist framework for evaluatingUrduliterature.Arecipientofnu-merousawards,hewashonouredwith the prestigious SaraswatiSammanforShe‘r-eShor-Angez,afour-volume study of the 18th-

century poetMir TaqiMir. His1982book Tanqidi Afqar that re-flected onmodern literary andcriticaltheoriesofpoetrywonhimthe Sahitya Akademi award in1986. His 2006novelKai ChandtheSar-eAasman, set in19thcen-turyDelhi, setnewstandards fortheUrdunovel.In 1966, he founded

‘Shabkhoon’, amagazine that heedited for four decades. It gavespacetowriterswhodidnotagreewiththemainstreamProgressiveWriters’Movement, and led toFaruqibeingdubbed“anagentofthe CIA andAmerican-minded,and a person with borrowedideas”.Butthemagazinealsogavespace to progressivewriters, in-cluding Ali Sardar Jafri, IsmatChughtai,andRajinderSinghBedi.“Faruqi sahab put Urdu lan-

guage, literatureandcriticismontheworldmap.Heusheredinthe

trendofmodernisminUrduandgavewingstogenerationsofwrit-ers and poets under it,” saysAhmadMahfooz,Faruqi’sprotegeand professor of Urdu at JamiaMilliaIslamia.MahfoozwrotethefirstbookonthelifeandworksoftheUrdugiant in1994.“Hewas aman full of imagi-

nation and gentlewry humour.

Hehadakeensenseofhistoryandwas very appreciative of otherpeople’swork and that iswhatmadehimagreatwriter... Faruqisahabhas lefta indeliblemarkofrefinement throughhis indepthknowledge...” said filmmakerMuzaffarAli.Born inAzamgarhandraised

inGorakhpur, Faruqiwas a chiefpostmaster-generalandmemberof the Postal Services Board inNewDelhiuntil 1994. Partof thefirst batchof theBAprogrammeatMaharana Pratap College inGorakhpur,hepursuedaMaster’sdegreeinEnglishfromAllahabadUniversity in 1955. Althoughhetopped theuniversity, hedidnotreceive a first-class, which hethoughtwas probably because“heaskedtoomanyquestions,ordidnotdressinthree-piecesuits”.In his interviews, Faruqi re-

calledhowhefirstdecidedtobe-

comeapoetatsevenandusedtoproduce a house magazinenamed ‘Gulistan’withhis sister.At the age of 15, wrote his firstnovel,DaldalseBahar. Hislibraryof over a thousand books at hisAllahabadhome includes the46volumes of the Urdu oral ro-mance,theDastan-eAmirHamza,printedbyMunshiNawalKishore,whohadsatdownthedastangos,writers and calligraphers, andprinted volumes between1883and1905. Faruqiwrote four vol-umesanalysingthedastancalledSaheri, Shahi,Sahibqirani, a featofscholarshipwhich became thebase for the revival of Dastangoiformof storytelling. “His path-breakingscholarshipprovidedtheseedforDastangoiandhissuper-vision andmentoring saw it intofruitionas a revitalisedperform-anceform.Hewasnotjustamen-torbutthegreatestresourceper-

sonforall thingswedowith lan-guage, literature, history, poetryand Indo-Persian history...” saidAnushaRizvi, producer andde-signeratDastangoiCollective.Adecadeago,respondingto a

reporter, he had said: “I came tothe conclusion that Faruqi untilage 35 was created by manyWesternpoets andnovelists anddramatists... andWestern theo-rists of literature, and Ghalib.Faruqi after 35 and until age 40was created and nurtured by asustained interlocution withGhalib, closely followedby Iqbalandwesternwriters. Faruqi after40wasgeneratedalmostentirelybyMir, followedbyIqbal, Sabk-eHindi Farsi poets, 18th centuryUrdu poets, and Ghalib. Now,Faruqi is nearly 75 and doesn’twanttogoanywhereelse.”

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

SHAMSUR RAHMANFARUQI

1935-2020

Writer-poet Faruqi dies of Covid complications


FORMER PRIMEMinister AtalBihariVajpayeewasabletofore-seewhatmany others couldn'tand anticipated the “potentialdangers posed by a rising andunchecked China”, US IndiaBusiness Council chief NishaDesaiBiswal saidFriday.

Speaking atthe firstmemo-rial lecture onVajpayee’s birthanniversary or-ganised by theMinistry ofExternalAffairs,Biswal—whohas served astheUSAssistantSecretary ofState (equiva-

lent to Joint Secretary in theIndian government)—saidVajpayee“sawtheimportanceofaUS-India partnership, built onthe foundation of our demo-craticvalues, toadvancearules-basedorderthatwouldenableamore peaceful, prosperous andpluralisticAsia”.She said the Trump presi-

dency has brought a “realisticand sharp focus” on the exigentpriorities and rapidly changinggeopoliticsofAsia.“The last several years have

seen amore aggressive and as-sertive China that sought toleverage its growing economicclouttoadvanceitsstrategicam-bitions, often at the expense ofitsneighbours,”Biswal said.She said Prime Minister

Vajpayee foreshadowed thechallenges thatarenowplayingoutacross the Indo-Pacific.And in the face of these

“destabilising actions”, she saidthattheUSandIndiahaveforgeda closer partnership andcooperation.“With the incoming Biden-

HarrisAdministration,therewillbearenewedfocusonrestoringour global alliances andstrengtheningourglobalinstitu-tions,” shesaid.ExternalAffairsS Jaishankar,

who presided over the address,said Vajpayee had an intuitiveunderstanding that the post-ColdWarworldrequiredIndiatodrastically rework its relation-shipsandthisvisionledtoanewbeginning in tieswith theUS.Paying tribute on his 96th

birth anniversary, JaishankarsaidIndia'sprincipledapproachofengagingChinaonthebasisofmutualrespectandmutualsen-sitivity also reflects Vajpayee'sthinking.

NishaDesaiBiswal

RajiniadmittedtohospitalwithBPfluctuationsHyderabad: ActorRajinikanthwasFridayad-mitted toApolloHospitalinHyderabadwithsevereblood pressure fluctua-tions. The actor hadbeenshooting for the filmAnnaattheinthecityover-the last 10 days but iso-lated himself after twopeopleonset testedposi-tive for Covid-19.Rajinikanth,who turned70 on December 12, hastested negative. A state-ment from ApolloHospitals stated that al-though the actor had noCovidsymptom,hisbloodpressure showed severefluctuations. “Hewill beinvestigated andmoni-toredcloselyinthehospi-tal till his blood pressuresettlesdownbeforebeingdischarged...” thestatementsaid. ENS

Rajinikanth

BRIEFLY

BIHAR

RSPrasad’smotherdiesinPatnaPatna: Union ministerRavi Shankar Prasad'smother Bimala Prasaddiedafteraprolongedill-ness, the BJP leader saidFriday. Prasad, the localMP, shared the news onhis Twitter handle. “MymotherBimalaPrasadleftfor her heavenly abodelast night. Shewas ailingfor some time. Mymotherwas a deeply pi-ous ladyandawomanofgreatconviction.Shehadbeen supporting theparty right from the be-ginning.Sheactivelypar-ticipated in the JPmove-mentof Biharaswomanvolunteer", said theUnionminister. PTI

MAHARASHTRA

TigerkillswomaninGadchiroliNagpur: A woman waskilled in a tiger attack inGadchirolionFriday, tak-ingtheannualtallyofhu-man victims in the dis-tricttosix.“ShewaskilledinWadsa divisionwhenshewentintotheforesttocollect firewood,” saidAssistant Conservator ofForests Bhaskar Kamble.Last week, anotherwoman fromGadchirolitownwaskilled ina tigerattack. Gadchiroli is fastbecoming a man-tigerconflict zone afterChandrapur, with thespill-over tiger popula-tion fromthe lattermov-ingintotheformer.Inlessthan five years, the dis-trict’s tiger populationhas increased from zeroto22. ENS

GUJARAT

TeendiesafterleopardattackinBhavnagarRajkot: A 17-year-old girldiedafter beingattackedby a leopard at a cottonfieldinBhavnagardistricton Thursday. Forest offi-cers said the leopardpounced on ArtiMakwana,anagriculturallabourer, while she waswashingclotheswithtwoothergirlsinKasanvillageof Mahuva taluka. “Thegirl waswashing clotheson the farm of oneJivanbhaiPatelwhenshewas attacked by a leop-ard,” said DushyantVasavada,chiefconserva-torof forestsof Junagadhwildlife circle. ENS

298DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:1,01,46,845TESTS: 16,63,05,762 | RECOVERIES: 97,17,834

ACTIVE CASES:2,81,919DEATHS: 1,47,092

DEC24CASES DEATHS RECOVERIES TESTS23,067 336 24,661 9,97,396

STATESWITHRISINGACTIVECASESACTIVECASES RISEINLASTWEEK

Kerala 63,220 5,017Bihar 5,199 95Odisha 2,667 -9

STATESWHEREACTIVECASESAREDECLININGACTIVECASES DECLINEINLASTWEEK

Maharashtra 54,891 6,014WestBengal 15,193 4,404Delhi 7,909 4,289

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMCASESONDEC24 TOTAL

Kerala 5,176 7,26,687Maharashtra 3,580 19,09,951WestBengal 1,590 5,43,214

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMDEATHSONDEC24 TOTAL

Maharashtra 91 50,189Delhi 37 10,384WestBengal 32 9,505DataasonDecember24,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,IndianCouncilofMedicalResearchandstategovernments.Often,thenumbersreleasedeverydaycontaindatafrompreviousdays

aswell.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareonlyindicativeandnotdefinitive

First in Gujarat: Jailerheld under anti-terrorlaw for aiding gangster

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIESPeoplegatheratParkStreet inKolkatatocelebrateChristmasonFriday.Celebrationsremainedmutedduringthedayacrossmostpartsof thestatebecauseof theCovid-19pandemic,butrampedupduringtheevening. Express

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBHOPAL,DECEMBER25

INANaggressivewarning to the‘landmafia’operatinginthestate,Madhya Pradesh Chief MinisterShivrajSinghChouhanonFridayasked them leave the state ortheywouldbe“buried10-feetinthegroundandnoonewouldgettoknow.”Chouhan, speakingat a func-

tion in Babai town of

Hoshangabaddistrict on theoc-casionof ‘SushasanDiwas’ (goodgovernanceday)addedthatthoseusing clout to encroach landwouldnotbepardoned.His comments come amid a

drive by the government to de-molish illegal structures in thestate. Warning those indulging

inlandirregularitiestoleavethestate, Chouhan said while ad-dressing the crowd: “Aaj-kalapankhatarnaakmoodmeinhai.Gadbadkarnewalokochhodengenahimama.Ektarafmafiakekhi-laaf abhiyaan chal raha hai.Muscle power, rasook kaa is-temaal karke, kahi avaid kabza,kahidrugmafia;Sunlore.MadhyaPradesh chhod dena nahi toh za-meen mein gaad dunga 10 feetneeche,patanahichalegakahibhi.(Thesedays I aminadangerous

mood.Thosewhocreatetroublewill notbe let off easily. There isadrivebeingcarriedoutagainstthismafia. Thosewhousemus-clepower,clouttoencroachlandand drug mafia should leaveMadhya Pradesh or I’ll burythem10 feet in the ground andnoonewill know.)”Meanwhile, at least twelve

Congress leaders were kept inpreventive detention before hisarrival.Theywerereleasedaftertheevenconcluded.

Will bury you 10 feet under... no one willcome to know: Chouhan warns land mafia

ShivrajSinghChouhan

Vajpayeeforesaw dangerof China’sunchecked rise:USIBC chief

New Delhi

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SOWING TRUSTThat’s thechallenge for theGovernmentas itdrawsthe lineonreform;mockingthosewhohaveanxietiesdoesn’thelp

A LMOSTAMONTHsincetheirlayingsiegetothenationalcapital, thefarmerprotestsagainsttheCentre’sthreeagriculturalreformlawsshownosignsof ebbing.OnFriday,PrimeMinisterNarendraModisaidthathisgovern-ment was ready to engagewith the protesters — including those “with

politicalagenda”and“ideologicallyagainstus”—but thiscouldonlybebasedon“factsand logic”. In short, there was no question of repealing or even, as suggested by theSupreme Court, withholding the implementation of the three laws. The farm unions,on theotherhand,haveexpressedawillingness to return to thenegotiation table,pro-videdthediscussionsrelatetoproviding“legalguarantee”forminimumsupportprices(MSP) of crops beyond simply the government’s “written assurance”. As for the threelaws, theywould settle fornothing short of outright repeal.This is a standoff nobodyhadbargained for. Certainlynot theModigovernment,while

steamrolling the legislation firstvia theordinancerouteandthenthroughParliament. Theamendments it is proposingnow—particularly to themost contested Farmers’ ProduceTradeandCommerce(PromotionandFacilitation)Act—couldwellhavebeeninserteddur-ingthecourseofinformeddebateinbothHousesandaftersolicitinggenuinestakeholderfeed-back.Not onlydid it fail to reachout to thenaysayers then, the samedismissive approachwasadoptedwhentheprotestsbeganinitially inPunjabandthenatDelhi’sdoorsteps.Thedemonstratorswerevariouslycalledanti-national,ultra-LeftandKhalistansympathisers-led.Even inhisoutreachaddress, thePrimeMinisterblamedtheparties thathad“ruledKeralaandWestBengal”for“misguidingthefarmersofPunjab”.Suchtalkingdownisleasthelpfulinasituationthatcallsfordialogueandmoredialogue.Thecoreproblemtoday isabreakdownof trust—betweenthegovernmentand farm-

ersfromthegranaryofIndia.Thesearemenandwomenwhocannotbeeasilymisled.Theyknowthattheregimeofopen-endedMSPprocurementandpaddy-wheatmonoculture isbothfiscallyandenvironmentallyunsustainable.Andtheyaren’twhollyunjustifiedinassum-ingthat thenewfarmlawsmaywellbeadisruptivegame-changer;hencethedemandfor“legalisingMSP”.Having staked somuchpolitical capital on the reforms,whose intrinsicmerit cannotbedoubted, theonus isentirelyontheModigovernment toengagewith thefarmunions. Theusual tactics of divide, defameanddivert clearlyhaven’tworked; if any-thing,theyhavebeencounterproductiveandaddedtothealreadyelevateddistrust.Thisis-n’taboutfarmersbeingmisledbyelection-loserswhowantselfies,thisisaboutmuch-neededreformthatneedspoliticalmanagementwithtoolssmarterthanasledgehammer.Theear-lierthegovernmentrealisesthis, theeasieritwillbeforittobreakthedeadlock.

ABHAYAThroughthe28yearssincehermurder,afewgoodindividualskepttheirfaithindueprocessandmovedthewheelsof justice

T HEWHEELSOF justice turnslowly,moresowhentheaccusedareonthesideofpowerandthepowerful. InthecaseofAbhaya,ittook28yearsfortheinves-tigativeagenciestoestablishthatthe21-year-oldnun,founddeadinaconventinKeralain1992,wasmurdered.OnWednesday,aCBIspecialcourtjudgeheld

anun,Sephy,andapriest,ThomasKottoor,guiltyofAbhaya’smurderandsentencedthemtolife.Aclosureinthecaseafterthesemanyyears—Abhaya’sparentsdiedasthecaselabouredinthecourts—hardlycallsforcelebrationbutitdoesevokeasenseoftrustindueprocesses.Theverdict is a victory for a fewgood individualswho selflessly, andat great personal

risk,foughtoffattemptsbypowerfulintereststodenyjusticetoSisterAbhaya.Acrimebranchprobehadconcludedthatshesufferedfromdepressionandcommittedsuicidebyjumpingintoawell intheconvent.ACBIprobereachedasimilarconclusionandsoughttoclosethecase. Itwasa little-knownsocial activist, JomonPuthenpurackal, fromthesamecongrega-tionas thevictimandtheaccused,whopursuedthecase in thecourts. Judges inthe lowercourtsrefusedtoaccepttheinvestigatingagencies’closurereportsandproddedthemtodigdeeper.Finally,thetestimonyofaneyewitness,Raju,whohadintrudedintothecompoundatnight, sealedthecase.Apoor labourer,Rajurefusedtochangehisstatementthroughthetrial,despitereportedlyreceivingphysical threatsandfinancial inducements.Hisexplana-tionwassimple:Asthefatherof threegirls,hehadtofightforAbhaya.ThemoralcourageandperseveranceshownbyJomon,Rajuandothers in theirpursuit

toensure justice forawomanwithnosocialorpolitical capital, andwhotheydidnotevenknow,isinsharpcontrasttotheattitudeofthe(Knanaya)Churchandasectionoflawenforcers,who, in fact,wereduty-boundtoprotecther. Inhercase, theChurch,which ismorallyandtheologicallycommittedtostandwiththeweakandthetruth,chosetoglossoverthecrime.More recently, nuns inKerala, across denominations, have comeout against institutionalcorruption,particularlysexualcrimes.Someintheclergyhaverubbishedtheseallegations,attemptedtotarnishtheirreputation.ThisisinsharpcontrasttothestandofeminencessuchasPopeFranciswhohaveacknowledgedthehistoryofmaledominationandabuseofwomenandchildren.TheAbhayaverdictshouldbeamomentforrenewalandreflection—atbothlevels, individualandinstitutional.

CONVERSATIONS WITH TIMEShamsurRahmanFaruqi spenta lifetime inconversationwithUrdupoetsandpoetry, andreclaiming itsmodernist spirit

S HAMSURRAHMANFARUQIrejected, likethecharacter fromhismajesticnovel,KaiChandthéSar-eAasman (2006),“thenotionthatthepast isaforeigncountryand strangerswhovisit there cannot comprehend its language”.His lifetime’swork,asapoet,critic,translatorandtheoristofUrduliterature,wasspentincon-

versationwiththisrichterrain,especiallythecultureofpoetrythatflourishedin18thand19thcenturyDelhi,andtorecallandreincarnatealostageofeloquenceforacontemporaryIndianaudience. InhisdeathonFriday, theworld losesoneof the lastgreatwritersofUrdu,a lan-guagebirthedinthemash-upandsynthesisofsubcontinentalcultures.FaruqitooktheUrduliteraryestablishmentbystorminthelate1960swithaliteraryjour-

nal,Shabkhoon, thatwasasuncompromisinglyhigh-browasitwasirreverent.Hesoughttoweanaway literary criticism from ideasof social purpose and themes to a tough-mindedmodernistconsiderationof formandstructure,muchlikeTSEliotdidinhisexpositionsonElizabethanpoetry.Nearlyaquarterofacentury’sworkwentintoafour-volumeexegesisonthelifeandworksofMir,freeinghisworksfromlimiting,moralanalysis.Butifhewasacon-noisseurof literaryexcellence,hewasalsoatranslatorofpulpdetectivenovelsofIbn-e-Safi,andalateconverttotheadventuresofthemedievaloralromanceDastan-eAmirHamza,onwhichheendedupwritingamulti-volumeanalysis.Faruqicametofictionlate—firstthroughacollectionofstoriesonUrdupoets,and,then,

throughhismagnumopus,KaiChand,whichhetranslatedintoEnglishin2013asTheMirrorof Beauty. Thenovel plucks the story ofWazir Khanum, anunconventional 19th centurywoman,fromthefootnotesofhistorytocreateaheroineoferoticpower.Itis,also,acelebra-tionofapoetrythatis inseparablefromthebusinessofdailylife,andaDelhithatisabaitul-mamur,ateeminghouseofbeautyandbawdy,loveandbetrayal.ItisaplenitudethatisalsothelegacyofFaruqi.

The meaning of merit

Pratap BhanuMehta

KhaledAhmed

SupremeCourtverdictexposesfallacyofusinggeneralcategoryasreservationforuppercastes

LIBERALISM IN CRISISInPakistan, themisfortunesof fundamentalismwereforeshadowed

THESUPREMECOURThas, inasignificantre-cent judgment, Saurav Yadav versus State ofUttar Pradesh,once again artfully negotiatedthethicketof issuesarisingoutofreservation.ThereisnoquestionthatIndianeedsacredibleandeffectiveaffirmativeaction, thoughitcanbedebatedoverwhetherthecurrentsystemisthebestwayofgoingaboutit.Thematterbe-fore theCourtarose in thecontextof compli-cationsthatarisefromtryingtospecifythere-lationship between vertical and horizontalreservations. Articles 15(4) and16(4) enableverticalreservationbasedonslottingthepop-ulation in terms of SC, ST, OBC andGeneralCategory. But there is also a class of reserva-tionswhichcutsacrossallthesecategoriesandarereferredtoashorizontalreservation.Thesecan include reservation forwomen (in thiscase, a 20per cent reservation forwomen inposts forpoliceconstables), differently-abledpersons,freedomfighters,armyveteransandother categories towhomwemaychoose toprovidereservation.Theproblemarises in specifying the rela-

tionshipbetweenthetwocategoriesofreser-vation. IncaseslikeAnilKumarGuptav/sStateof Uttar Pradesh, theCourt hadmade it clearthathorizontalreservationoughttobegener-allyunderstoodincompartmentalisedterms,as anod to recognitionof inequalitieswithineachvertical category. In this particular casetheproblemwasdifferent,butitisillustrativeof someof the interpretiveabsurditiesof oursystem. Therewere3,295 constable posts intheGeneral Category of which 188went towomen. In filling up these vacancies, OBCwomenwerenot considered. Buthere is theabsurdity.ThelastfemalecandidateselectedinGeneralCategorysecured274.8298marks.But21 applicants in the OBC female categoryscoredmore than thesemarks, including theplaintiff who scored 276.5949marks! Butthesecandidateswerenotconsideredagainstthe availableGeneral Category seats becausetheywereOBC. In short theywere excludedfromcompeting from theGeneral Categorypositionseventhoughtheyhas scoredmore,simply because theywere OBC. The Courtrightlythoughtthiswasabsurd.Thiscaseisaninterestingminiaturesociol-

ogy.One cannothelp remarkon the fact that

marks have to be computed to four decimalplacesorhighertodetermineonesfate.Italsoshowshow,ineffect,somestategovernmentsare trying touse theopencategory seats as aquotaforgeneralcategorycandidates.Other jurisdictionshave involved similar

cases. TheHighCourts hadbeengiving con-trary directions:Uttar Pradesh andMadhyaPradeshexcluded reserved categorywomenfor consideration in the general category.Rajasthan andGujarat, amongst others, in-cluded them. The SupremeCourt, in a threejudgebench,ruledagainsttheUPgovernmentand clarified the relationship betweenhori-zontal andvertical reservations. Thiswas thecorrectdecision.The judgments authoredby JusticeUday

ULalitandaconcurringjudgmentbyRavindraBhat are clear andconcise. They reiterate theprinciple that groups eligible for horizontalreservationcannotbeexcludedfromtheopencategoryseatsbecausetheyarefromotherver-ticallyreservedcategorycommunities,likeSCorOBC.Women fromall categories are eligi-bletobeconsideredfortheopencategory.AsJusticeBhatputit,theopencategoryseatsarenotmeant tobeaquota for thenon-reservedcategories.TheconsequenceoftheUPgovern-ment’spolicywasineffecttodeclaretheopencategory aquota for upper castes. TheCourthasended thisnonsense. Second, in termsofframing, it has also got one issue right. TheCourt has often, veryunhelpfully, contrastedmeritwith reservation. And inpopular parl-ancemeritisconstruedtobeadeviationfromreservation. But this has always been amis-takenviewoftherelationshipbetweenmeritandreservation.Inprinciple,reservationisaninstrument for identifyingmerit in individu-als fromhistoricallymarginalised communi-ties.TheCourt is sayingthatbyexcludingtheadjustment of OBCwomenwhohad scoredhigher against general category seats, theUPgovernmentwas ironicallyusingtheGeneralCategorytoexcludemeritoriouscandidates.Some scholars, like the brilliantGautam

Bhatia in “Horizontal Reservations and thePersistenceof theMythofMerit", (https://in-dconlawphil.wordpress.com/)worrythattheCourt’s judgmentdoesnotgofarenough. It isstillconcernedwithmerit.InBKPavitraversus

UnionofIndiaforexample,theCourthadtriedtobemoreradicalanddeconstruct theentirelogicofmerit. Ithadarguedrightlythatinclu-sionmustnotbeseenastheantithesisofeffi-ciencyandmerit;infactinclusionandsubstan-tiveequalityaretheaimsofgovernment.Thereisagooddealtobesaidinfavourof thisargu-ment.Thereisalsoalargercritiquetobemadeof the ideology ofmeritocracy, a critique towhichIfullysubscribe.But,asSauravYadavre-mindsus:Inclusionalsotakesplaceinthecon-text of a criteria of selection. In the currentframework,arecoursetoalimitedlanguageofmerit is inescapable for one simple reason.When theCourt is using the termmerit, it isnotdoingsoinanyexaltedphilosophicalsense.It issimplypointingoutthatcertainselectioncriteriaarebeingused.Suchselectioncriteriaarealsowithinparticularreservedcategories:Why someOBC candidates are picked overothersisalsoafunctionofselectioncriteria,inthiscasemarks.Fromthispointofview,eventhosewhoadvocate reservationdonot fullygiveuponthemeritocraticcriteriaofselection— they just apply it differentially.What theCourtwasconcernedwithisfairnessintheap-plication of the selection criteriawithin theoverall frameworkofreservation.SauravYadavisconceptuallyinterestingfor

thisreason.Defendersofradicalinclusionthinkthatsocial justicecanbeachievedbydisplac-ingmeritwithinclusion.Butthishastheunin-tendedconsequenceofleavingintacttheideathat those includedcomethroughbycastingasidemerit. In someways, it actually sharescommongroundwith critics of reservationwho share exactly this premise.What theCourtistryingtodo,inaninterestingway,istoarguethatforitspurposes,theoppositionbe-tweenmerit and reservationneeds tobede-constructed—not because there is no suchthing asmerit (as defenders of reservationclaim), or because there shouldnotbe reser-vation(ascriticsofreservationclaim).Itistry-ing to say something more interesting:Members of the reserved categorymust befully consideredas fallingunder the rubricofbeingpotentiallymeritorious.

Thewriter is contributingeditor,The IndianExpress

THEWORLDissayinggoodbyetoliberalism.Right-wing politicianswin elections by de-nouncing “liberals” and preside over self-centredstateswearing thebadgeof aggres-sion against “liberal fascists”. The US underDonaldTrump, IndiaunderNarendraModi,the UK under Boris Johnson, Turkey underRecep Tayyip Erdogan — and most EastEuropeanstateswhomaltreat“refugees”andshun foreigners — foreshadow themisfor-tunesof tomorrow.Pakistanisnoexception.In March 2009, addressing a lawyers’

gatheringattheRawalpindiBar, lmranKhanbelaboured a certain section of society as“liberals” who fly “in the face of nationalemotion” andhurt the state of Pakistan. Heparticularlycondemnedtheirinterpretationof thephenomenonof theTalibanandtheirobedient followingof dictation fromtheUSinthisregard.(Fiveyearslaterin2014TalibangunmenstormedtheArmyPublicSchool inthenortherncityofPeshawar.Morethan150peoplewerekilled,132ofthemchildren.)Hehadalsoblamedthe“liberals”forcausingthemassacre of LalMasjid in 2007 by pressur-ing theMusharraf regime into takingbrutalactionagainst its “innocent” seminarians.Hecalledthosewhosetgreatstorebyhu-

man rights “liberal fascists”, a label that res-onatedwithmostUrducolumnists inapre-dominantly “religious” or “ideological”Pakistan. Since Pakistanwas never domi-nated by “liberal fascists” it is quite possiblethathewasattackingtheminordertoallowhimself to ignore the violation of human

rightsbythosewhooperatedagainstthewritofthestateintheTribalAreas.Butoddly,Khanneverstoppedbeingthefavouriteoftheveryliberals he berated. Hewas an iconwhoseachievement as a socialworker they recog-nisedtostrengthentheirownargument.Where does extremismspring from? If

you take liberal “uncertainty” and “doubt”as your norm, then one can say extremismsprings from certitude. In doubt, there isfreedomtomakeconcessionstothosewhothink differently. Doubt here includes self-doubt to allow for ameasure of altruism. Itis also from doubt that moderation em-anates: The instinct of standing in themid-dlewheneveryoneistakingsidesandisget-ting ready to clash.Theconservative issurerofhis thinking

because it is connected to theknownpast;the liberal is less sure-footed because hewants toquestiontheentrenchedattitudesof thepast. It is certitude that inclinesus topunish thosewhodon’t agreewithus. Theliberalwill appeal to us to consider his ar-gument but will not threaten us if we re-ject him. Themisapplied term“liberal fas-cist” impliespowerthat the liberaldoesnotwish topossessbecauseheknows thathisthinking is too individualistic for the for-mulationof agroupcapableofwieldingthepower to punish.The liberal voice as the gnawing con-

science of the nation has bothered otherstoo. Pakistan’s top Urdu columnist pub-lished a plaint against the liberals on

February 3, 2001: “The ‘liberals’ are busydemonising the Taliban and predictingTalibanisation of Pakistan. On the otherhand, Islamicmovementshaveawayofbe-comingmoderate after reaching a certainlevelof intensity,as ithappenedin Iranandis bound tohappen inAfghanistan”.According to the above columnist,

Pakistani society was altogether of a “dif-ferent sort” and would not succumb toTalibanisation“after theTalibanhavecom-pleted their conquest of Afghanistan”. Infact,Pakistanwasa“cosmopolitan”societyand would remain “cosmopolitan” andwouldnever allow the religious fanatics totakeoverevenif the latterbecamestrongerthan at present.In his next column (February 9, 2001),

thesamecolumnistrebuttedthe“liberalex-aggeration” that, after the jihadi outfits aredone with Kashmir, they will turn uponPakistan.HeevenquotedaQuranicverse inSuraAlKafirunanditsmessageof toleranceasproof of Islambeinga“liberal” religion.Eightyearsdowntheroad, themarginal

“liberal”wasprovedright.But judging fromthe way the critique of Talibanisation hasspread around the country, one has to con-cede that liberalism is not a political creedbut abentof personality thatmaybe foundinelementsinbothright-wingandleft-wingparties, andevenamongreligious leaders.

Thewriter is consultingeditorNewsweekPakistan

The judgments authored byJustice Uday U Lalit and aconcurring judgment byRavindra Bhat are clear andconcise. They reiterate theprinciple that groups eligiblefor horizontal reservationcannot be excluded from theopen category seats becausethey are from other verticallyreserved categorycommunities, like SC orOBC. Women from allcategories are eligible to beconsidered for the opencategory. As Justice Bhat putit, the open category seats arenot meant to be a quota forthe non-reserved categories.The consequence of the UPgovernment’s policy was ineffect to declare the opencategory a quota for uppercastes. The Court has endedthis nonsense.

The conservative is surer ofhis thinking because it isconnected to the knownpast; the liberal is less sure-footed because he wants toquestion the entrenchedattitudes of the past. It iscertitude that inclines us topunish those who don’tagree with us. The liberal willappeal to us to consider hisargument but will notthreaten us if we reject him.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

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

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020 WORDLYWISENon-violent protestsare signsofahealthy

democracy, notanailingone.—CHRISTOPHER A. WRAYTHEEDITORIALPAGE

MARCHERS ARRESTEDNAGPURCITYHASvirtuallyturnedintoapo-lice campwith policemen in uniform andplain clothes all over the place locating“Dindi”marchers.Morethan2,000personshave been arrested since last night.According to Sharad Pawar, formerMaharashtra Chief Minister, at least 10,000personshavebeenarrestedineightdistrictsofVidarbhaandallhotels,resthouses,officesof left democratic parties checked for anymarcherscampingthere.MadhuDandavatewas arrested at Butibori, about 23 km fromNagpur, while attempting tomarch to thecity. Pramila Dandavate andMrinal Gorewere arrested in the afternoonwhen they

had gone to a hostel. Chandrajit Yadav,Karpuri Thakur and Devi Lal are also ex-pected to reachNagpur.

ATROCITIES ON SCS, STSTHECOMMISSIONERFORScheduledCastesand Scheduled Tribes is of the opinion thatCentral intervention to deal with atrocitieson Scheduled Caste communities and trib-als instatesandevenuseof forcebyCentralforces does not constitute infringement ofconstitutional norms. Nor does such actiongobeyond the scope or ambit of the execu-tivepowersof theCentral government. Theview has been communicated to the presi-dentNSanjeevaReddybytheCommissioner,

ShishirKumar, inhis report for1978-1979.

X-MAS DAYCHRISTMASDAYBROKEthetediumoftheUShostages in Iran, brought a rampage of vio-lence in Beirut and pointed up the year’schanges in Poland, the only countrywhereCommunismco-existswithmassdevotiontoChristianity. The Polish Pope, John Paul,wishedtheword,HappyChristmasin41lan-guages.InIran,aVaticanenvoysawhalfofthehostages— their first outside visitor in eightmonths—andreportedthattheywereingoodspirits. In Bethlehem, the city’s ArabMayor,Elias Freij, blamed the fall in the number oftouriststhisyeartotheriseof terrorism.

DECEMBER 26, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

New Delhi


WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“The prime minister does not want this deal to be examined. What can already besaid with some certainty is that it prescribes an immediate downgrade for the UKeconomy. ” —THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Not one of the authorslooked at the data on wasting(weight for height). Acurious but revealingomission. The wastingpercentage in India was 17.5per cent in 2000, and 3.3 ppthigher in 2015, and did notdeteriorate further in 2019.In contrast, in the same time-period, wastage in thedeveloping world improvedby 1.6 ppt. None of the datapresented above showsIndia’s performance to haveworsened post-2015. In otherwords, the pessimisticconclusion of ‘many’ (orsome) of a deterioration isfalse. Further, according to avery large number of NFHSindicators, welfare improved‘big-time’ between 2015 and2019.

All theworld’swithout a stage

TheartssustainedmanythroughCovid,butitleavesbehindformidablechallengesfortheartists

DURINGTHEPANDEMIC,artbecameanex-pressionof resilience for society. Frompeo-plesingingtogetherintheirbalconiestoPPE-claddoctorsdancing touplift their patientsto graffiti expressing gratitude for healthworkers, people rediscovered thepowerofart to heal in these sordid times. But howresilientistheartist?“Thereareseventribesof street performers in India—streetmagi-cian, snake charmer, animal trainer, juggler,acrobat, street singer and behrupiya,” saysIshamuddinKhan, a former resident of thenow-demolishedKathputli Colony slum inDelhi, himself amadarimagicianwhohastoured theworldwithhis Indian rope trick.“Buttherearenoofficialfiguresonthenum-berofstreetperformersinIndia.Theyarenotacknowledgedasartists.”What isartandwho isanartist?Within

the expansive spec-trum of the creativesector, many arejostlingforrecognitionoftheircraftinalargelyunorganisedandill-de-finedindustry.Alreadyhavingsurvivedonun-certain incomes, thepandemic aggravatedthe vulnerable condi-tions of artists acrossthe board. A BritishCouncil,FICCIandArtXCompanystudyontheimpactofCOVID-19onIndia’screativeecon-omyrevealsthatself-employedprofessionalsandMSMEsmakeup88per cent of the in-dustry,70percentof therespondents facedtemporarybusiness disruptions and33percent lost up to half of their annual income.Theanticipatedlowerlevelsoftourism,dropinpurchasingpowerandreductionof fund-ing forartscouldamplify this further.Yet, inthegovernment’smanyfinancialassistancepackages,artistsfoundnomention.Intheabsenceofinstitutionalsupport,the

creative community came together tohelptheirown.Amongmanyotherorganisations,theCine&TVArtists Association (CINTAA)stepped in to provide rations, funds, emo-tional andmedical support to strugglingartistsandtheirfamilies.Butfinancialdistresswasn’ttheonlyfall-

outof thepandemic—it closedavenues forartists’ self-expression. KathakdancerAditiMangaldas respondedbyuploadingvideosof impromptu, unrehearsedperformances.However,acknowledgingherownprivilege,Mangaldaspointedouthowhercompany’sdancers struggled to find equipment andeven space in their homes to performandrecord theirwork.DancerDr SwarnamalyaGanesh created ‘I Am a Dancer under#Lockdown’, inwhich sheherself handledthecamera,editingandpost-production.Butshefearsthatthepandemichasincreasedtheschismbetweenthosewhowillbemorevis-

ible and the rest. The transitionof art toon-line spaces has been a mixed bag. AmitMutreja,leadvocalistofAzaadiTheBand,ar-guesthattheinternethasprovedtobeamoredemocraticspace,yethisbandturneddownrequeststoperformonline,asengagingavir-tualaudiencewaschallenging.Thelibertytoexpressonlineisalsoaffectedbynegativere-actionsandtrollingofascalenotseenintheof-flinespace.Goingonline also requires special skills.

ShyamAravindakshanofCreativeDignity,amovementaimingtoprovidereliefandreju-venationtoartisans,recallsthetechnicalcon-straintsingettingartisansonlinetoselltheircrafts.Fromcataloguingtoprofessionalpho-tographstoqualitychecksbeforeshipmentsto online payments, the artisans, havinglargelyproducedforlocalmarkets,struggled.Theartscommunityhasneverhaditeasy

but theworry is about life post-COVID-19.Frommuseums todance, thedigital is heretostay.Apartfromlearningnewskills,artistswill have to address how to reduce piracy,whilerevisitingsettlednotionsofcopyright,which otherwise get lost in a closed Zoomroomperformance.Butaudiencesforstagedperformanceswill not disappear.Digital fa-tigueandthecharmoftheliveperformance,whichhighlightsthesymbioticrelationshipbetweenartist andaudience, should reflectindeeper engagementby theaudience. Forsustainedincomeavenues, thesectorhastoinnovate by finding stronger connectionsacrossrelatedareaslikeeducationandhealth.

The pandemic hasbrought to the disor-ganisedartistcommu-nity some improve-ments—collaborationto create newworks,higheronlinevisibility,andtheabilitytoreachaudiences and con-sumersdifferently.TheIndiancreativesectorisseeing togetherness.Butwhether the com-munitystands for sus-tained advocacywith

thegovernmentandprivatesectorforrecog-nitionandsupportremainstobeseen.Governmentsareincreasinglyinterested

inregulatingtheexpressionofartonline.Butwhattheyneedtofocusonisreducingtheal-readydeepdivide in theartworldbetweentheprivileged andunderprivileged.Whilesomeart formswill godigital, street/festivalperformancesaredifficulttoshowcaseonline.So,shouldtheybelost?Governmentsshouldmakeatransparentdirectoryofartistssothatgrantsandotherschemesreachtherightben-eficiaries.Apart fromfirmingupanti-cyber-bullyinglaws,theneedofthehouristorecog-nisegigworkersinthissectorandstrengthenpoliciesthatsupportculturalassets.Noteveryformofartiseconomicallyself-

sustainable. Thedownsizingof the creativesectorwillhaveanegativeimpactonjobsandrevenues, levels of innovation, citizenwell-beingandthevibrancyanddiversityofcom-munities.Philanthropyfortheartshastogrow.Theappreciationforart’scontributioninpro-vidingsocietywithasemblanceofnormalcyduringtheseisolatedtimesmustbecultivatedinto respect andvalue for anartist’s labour.Else, as a country,wewill be collectively re-sponsibleforthelossofourculturallineage.

JanakiramanisaNationalAward-winningfilmactress,dancerandpublicpolicyresearcher.Vermaisaconsulting

researcherwithSahapedia

ATYPOHERE,atypothere,andsoonitcanbe-gintoadduptoa“story”,apointofview.Allofushavemadedataerrorsinprint—theeditorsallowa “correction” post-publication, anddosoeasilyonthewebpages.Ihavehadoccasiontocorrectmyowndata, andeveryoneshould.Wehavebeen in the era of data-basedpolicyforsometimenow,notjustinIndiabutaroundtheworld.Thereareseveral“fact-check”web-sites around theworld. This article shouldbeseenprimarilyinthatlight.Butthereismore,muchmore,totherecent

data release of the preliminary results of theNationalFamilyHealthSurvey(NFHS)for2019-20. These preliminary results have been re-leasedfor2019-20alongwithcomparabledataforthe2015-16survey.Dataarepresentedfor21states(12“big”andninesmall),withapopula-tion coverage of approximately 700million.Tabular data for 131 variables have been re-leasedfor2019-20,alongwithcomparabledatafor2015-16.Thedatashowthattherehasbeenconsiderable improvement inmanyof these131indicatorsofsocialwelfare;andthatinveryfew (you can count such instances on the fin-gers of one hand) there has been stagnationratherthanadecline.But that isnot the first impressiononeob-

tainsfromthewritingsofdistinguishedschol-ars like JeanDreze (‘Give childrenweight’, IE,December 19) and Abhishek Anand, VikasDimble andArvind Subramanian (‘Newwel-farismofIndia’sRight’,IE,December22),aswellaseditorialslike'HungerAlarm'(IE,December15), and pronouncements on worseningteenagepregnancy.Drezestartshisessaywith theconclusion

that “leavingaside twoor threecountries likeNiger andYemen, India has the highest pro-portion of underweight children in theworld…”,andaddsforeffectthatthispropor-tionismuchhigherthaninneighbouringcoun-tries like“Bangladesh(22percent)andNepal(27 per cent)”. Subramanian and co-authors,writethat“aftershowingaslowbutsteadyde-cline,especiallybetween2005and2015,therehasbeenadisappointingreversal thereafter”.The'HungerAlarm'editorialnotesthat“therehave been several indicators of the slowingdownof economic growth and employmentdistress,which are bound to have an effect onhunger and nutrition” (emphasis added). TheHindu’s (December 15) verdict onworseningin India was reflected in the title “Rise inteenage pregnancy, higher anaemia rate inwomen:NFHS-5phasedata”.The collective interpretation one obtains

fromreadingtheseandmanyotherarticlesonthe subject is that after years of progress onhealth,nutrition,andchildwelfare,thingshavereallyworsenedinthelastfouryears—2015/16to2019/20.Someauthorsareexplicit,othersin-dulgeinnudge-nudge,wink-wink—thesefouryearswerealsothefirstfouryearsofthechang-ingpolitical order in India— thebeginningofNarendraModiasPrimeMinister.I haveoften stated inmyarticles (starting

from 'India, the Incomparable', The EconomicTimes,March3,1989)thatIndianssufferfromaspecialdisease—wethinkweareunique.Tohelp negate this falsehood, it is important tocompareIndiawiththerestof thedevelopingworld, about 180 countries and a populationof6.5billion.Thus,datapresentedinthetable

tries toput interpretation, anddata, intobothan absolute (for example,what happened inIndia)andaworldwideperspective(whathap-pened elsewhere in comparable economies).TheWorld Bank provides these comparabledataonanannualbasisandthedataareeasilyavailable to allwho are interested. Trends inhunger, nutrition, inequality, and growthamongotherscanbejudiciouslyassessedinacomparativeperspective.Letuslookatsomeofthetypos,falsehoods,

misinterpretationofthedata.Drezestatesthatthe Bangladesh underweight percentage in2015was22per cent;WorldBank (WB)datastatesittobe30.1percent—some4.7percent-age point (ppt) lower than India, but not 12.8ppt loweras impliedbyDreze.WBfigures foralldevelopingcountrieswithdataonstunting(63countries,population2.5billion):In2000,thestuntingaverageexcludingIndiawas29.3per cent; in 2010 23.8 per cent; and in 2015,28.7 per cent. In otherwords, a lot of zig-zag,reversals, and no net improvement over 20years.Incontrast,thestuntingaverageinIndiawas46percent in2000,10ppt lowerin2015,andstill lowerin2019.Teenage pregnancies on the rise? Really?

In2005,teenagepregnanciesinIndiawere19.9percent;in2015,8.7percent,and1pptlowerin 2019. Net improvement—about 12 ppt in15 years. Contrast thiswith a constant 10ppthigher level in thedevelopingworld over thesameperiod.Thedeclineinteenagepregnan-cies in India is a genuine success story. Indiahad the 10th lowest level in 2015,withNepalnine positions lower (16.7 per cent) andBangladesh (30.8 per cent in 2014)with theninthhighestmagnitude of teenpregnancies(women15-19yearsofage).Wasting:Notoneof theauthors lookedat

thedataonwasting (weight forheight).Acu-riousbutrevealingomission.Thewastingper-centageinIndiawas17.5percentin2000,and3.3ppthigherin2015,anddidnotdeterioratefurther in2019. Incontrast, in thesametime-period,wastage in the developingworld im-provedby1.6ppt.None of the data presented above shows

India’s performance to haveworsenedpost-2015. In otherwords, thepessimistic conclu-sionof “many” (or some) of a deterioration isfalse.Further,accordingtoaverylargenumberof NFHS indicators, welfare improved “big-time”between2015and2019.Asummaryver-sionofthesedataisasfollows(comparabledataforothercountriesisnotasyetavailable).All data are for change (difference inper-

centages)asrevealedbyNFHSonanaggregate

population-weightedbasis, rather thanonanelevatoreconomicsbasisaspresentedinmanydataanalysesonthesubject,forexample,forX,YstatesshowedanimprovementandZstatesshowedadecline.ChildMortality: Data on three indicators

(neo-natal, infant and under-five) show animprovement between 3 and 4 ppt.Immunizations: This is one big story of im-provement; forexample, thehepatitisBvac-cinepercentage(forchildren12-23months)increased from64.8per cent in2015 to83.6per cent in 2019. Breast-feeding and diet ofchildren 6-23months: Average gain of 4 pptfor four indicators.Negative trend in26children indicators:

Only two show aworsening. Childrenwithfever taken to a health facility (71.3 per centin 2019, as comparedwith 72.6 per cent in2015);andchildrenunderfiveyearswhoareseverely wasted — increase to 8.6 per centfrom7.6per cent in2015.Negative trend in seven young women

indicators:Zero.Modernbirthcontrolmeth-ods, age at marriage, teenage pregnancies,and sexual violence all show improvement.Theaverageimprovementinthesesevenin-dicators—3.9percentagepoints.Negativetrendin15adult indicators:Zero.

Averagegain4.1percentagepoints.Someoftheindicators showan increase of 9 percentagepointsandabove:Householdswithelectricity(9.2 ppt), improved sanitation facilities (17.3ppt),cleanfuelforcooking(18ppt)andwomenhavingabankaccountthattheyuse(29.8pptin-creasetoalevelof77.2percentin2019).Whysuchalargedivergencebetweenper-

ceptionandreality?If thereisimprovementinclose to a 100 indicators and stagnation (notworsening) in very, very, few (less than five)thenwhyarethereeditorials,specialshowsonTV, and scholarly (butmotivated) conjecturesaboutthelarger“reality”thatmaybecausinganon-existentworsening? The intelligentsia,bothdomesticandinternational,gottheModielection,andhisre-election,horriblywrong.AsIhavearguedearlier(TheNewWealthofNationsandCitizenRaj)oneconsistentexplanationforthismis-reading is that the old elite has notcome to gripswith the reality that there is achangeinleadershiponissuesrelatingtopoli-tics,economics,culture,andsociety.

BhallaisexecutivedirectorIMFrepresentingIndia,SriLanka,BangladeshandBhutan.ViewsexpressedarethoseoftheauthoranddonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheIMF,its

ExecutiveBoard,orIMFmanagement

BJP’S HYPOCRISYTHISREFERSTO the editorial, 'Bury thelegacy’ (IE, December 25). The govern-ment's move to file an appeal at theSingaporeseatofthepermanentcourtofarbitration challenging its judgment intheVodafoneretrospectivetaxationcaseis preposterous and legally untenable.The fact that the appealwas filed in theaftermath of Permanent Court ofArbitration(PCA)atThe HaguepassingajudgmentagainstIndiaholdingtheretro-spective demand of taxation was inbreachoffairtreatmentenvisagedundertheUK-Indiabilateral investmenttreatywilldenttheimageofthecountrytodis-suadeinvestors.

RaviMathur,Noida

EDUCATION IGNOREDTHIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Myschool vs. your school’ (IE, December25). If education does not find reso-nance among the political class, it isthe people, the voters, who are to beblamed. Instead of letting politiciansfocusonreligionandcaste,weshouldmake them accountable for issueswhich can make a difference in ourlives. While development is now be-ing courted by the leaders and jobsfindmentioninthepolitical lexicon, itis educationwhich is the foundation.

KamnaChhabra,Gurgaon

THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ‘Myschool vs. your school; (IE, December25).UPgovernment’s claimabout thesuperiority of its schools is recklessimagination. No other state in Indiahas misused education policy as aweapon in politics as UP. DuringMulayam Singh Yadav’s chief minis-tership, teaching inEnglishwasmadeoptional followed by allowing copy-ing in examinations as a sort of right.But the state government’s focusseemsdividedbetweencorrectingthesystem and rewriting the historybooks for students.

YGChouksey,Pune

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

ONDECEMBER20,PresidentRamNathKovindflaggedoff thecelebrationsforGoa’s60thyearofliberationonthebanksofMandoviatthehis-toricBandodkarGrounds inPanjim. It’sanoc-casionforthestatetoreflectonitsaccomplish-mentsaswellasfailingsaspartofitsintegrationintotheIndianUnion.As oneof the smallest states in the Indian

Union,withexcellentsocialandeconomicindi-catorsandaqualityoflifenotenjoyedbymanyin other states, Goa is indeed a class apart.Perhaps no other land of such a scale has somuchhistoryandmadeasmuchofacontribu-tion to religion, art,music, cosmopolitanismandnationalismasGoahas.At thesametime,in no other place, perhaps, has the battle foridentity, language,andecologybeenasstrongas has beenwitnessed inGoaduring the lastseveraldecades.Theothersideofthestoryisofpeople’s struggle for things thatarecritical fortheirveryexistence—water,airandland.ThestateandthepoliticalclassinGoahave

beenataninterestingintersectionofthesetwooftendivergenttrends,oftenasmediators,butmanya timeas complicit forces in thesebat-tles.Onquestionsof identityandlanguage,aswitnessed in the 1967 opinion poll and themovementforstatehoodculminatingin1987,the political class and the state went alongwith the people’swishes. In recent struggles

overland,environmentandwater,incontrast,they have often been seen as succumbing tobig capital and a different vision of develop-mentthathasflowedfromDelhiandMumbaiinthe last twodecades.What kept the state’s hopes alivewas the

ability of the political class and thepeople tohaveavoicemuchbiggerthantheiractualscaleand intensity, given its national and interna-tional profile. That, perhaps, alsounitedGoa’scivilsocietyandpoliticalsociety.Forexample,initsearlyyears,JawaharlalNehru,despitehisini-tialdisappointmentwithGoaonnotnaturallygiving theCongress thechanceandopting forregionalparties,wasclearinhis1963messagetoGoansthatthestatewillalwaysremainspe-cial in the Indianmosaic and its identity shallbeprotected. PrimeMinisterNarendraModi,whohasalwayshadaspecialplaceforGoainhisillustriouspoliticalcareer,inoneofhisspeechesmarvelled at the thendemandbypeople forspecial status, not basedonmaterial benefits,butforpreservingtheir identity.Seemingly tall leaders like former Chief

MinisterPratapSinghRaneandformerDefenceMinisterManoharParrikar,alongwithvariousluminariesinacademia,literature,defence,artandculture,remainedprominentambassadorsofGoa,whowouldalwaysexudeoptimismandhope thatGoawouldbe able to put its views

acrossmuch strongly than its size. The resultwasthatwithall itsinnerturmoil,Goahadtheoptimismthatitspromiseduniquenesswouldremainanarticleoffaith.Thisfaithisgraduallygettingeroded ifGoa’s trajectory in therecentyears is any indication. To quote a prominentGoanacademic,whileGoaisbecomingpartoftheIndianmainstream(andthatwasnatural),thenatureofmainstreamingthathasbeengo-ingonovertheyears—political,economicandideational—hasraisedapprehensions.Thereisasenseof lossandthis loss, it is feared,willbedifficult torecover.TheonusliesontherestofIndia tomake sure that themainstreamingemergesoutof thediverse ideas thatGoahasstood for rather than subsuming them into aparadigmofmonolithicnationalism.Politically, Goa appears to beheading to-

wardstowardssinglepartydomination,follow-ingmoreorlessthepatternof therulingpartypoachingon theOpposition and fragmentingit.ButtosaythatGoawillbecomeasinglepartydominant statewouldbepremature given itshistoryofdefections.Whatismoreworryingisthat there isoftenadisconnectbetweengrassrootsleveldemocracyasprofferedbyGoa’svi-brant gram sabhas and the ruling establish-ment. Besides, thanks to themajoritarianpo-litical impulse creeping in the rest of thecountry,thereisafeelinginGoathatthefringe

couldbecomethemainstream,unsettling theharmonythathasbeenevidentforcenturies.Goa’s idealeconomicmodel is linkedto its

fragile ecology,which oftenmilitates againstbig ticket capital that is gradually engulfing it.Whilemining, thebackboneof the economy,sawahiatus owing to a SupremeCourt judg-ment, the impact of the pandemic has lefttourismreeling.Meanwhile,theCentrewishestomakeGoapartof itsbig infrastructurepushwhich superimposesmegaplans over a statewheremicro planning should actually havebeenanorm.Thestatealsofightsanuphillbat-tlewithbigneighbourKarnatakaovertheshar-ing of riverMhadei (asMandovi is known inKarnataka), its lifeline. The despair on thegroundstemsfromtheperceptionthatthebig-ger state has a greater say in the corridors ofpowerinDelhi.Butthebiggestbattleperhapsisideational.

CantherebeanewideaforGoa,awayfromthepopular ideaswhich have always harped onGoa’suniqueness, buthavenotdonemuch toprotect it?TheonusliesasmuchontherestofIndia toprotect it, evenas contemporaryGoadebates that idea. The 60th anniversary per-hapsgivesusachancetobeginreflecting.

ThewriterteachespoliticalscienceatGoaUniversity.Viewsarepersonal

The60thanniversaryyearisachancetostartreflecting

Anew idea for GoaRahul Tripathi

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●CHRIST,THEPHILOSOPHER:

JYOTHIS

●●FEEDINGTHEHOSPITALS:SUDHANSHPANT

www.indianexpress.com

CR Sasikumar

WELFARE INDICATORSAND INDIA PERFORMANCEIN ACOMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE : 2000-2019

WorldBankDevelopment NFHSDataIndicators

WelfareIndicator 2000 2005 2010 2015 2015/16 2019/20Stunting-Heightforweight(<5years)India 53.3 48.7 43.3 37.9 35.9 35.5DevelopingWorld 30.2 28.4 26.3 26Underweight(weightforage,<5years)India 45.9 43.9 36.4 36.3 34.2 34DevelopingWorld 15.7 14.3 13.6 13.8Wasting(weightforheight,<5years)India 17.5 19.6 17.6 20.8 21.5 21.5DevelopingWorld 7.4 7.1 6.6 5.8TeenagepregnanciesIndia 19.9 16.7 12.8 8.7 10.5 9.3DevelopingWorld 18 17.9 18.2 17.9

28(4%)CHILDWELFAREINDICATORS

7(3.9%)YOUNGWOMENINDICATORS

15(4.1%)HOUSEHOLDANDADULTINDICATORS

Source:WorldBank,WorldDevelopment Indicators;NFHSsurveys2015/16and2019/20,Note:Worldbankindicatorsare%of relevantpopulation,NFHSis%ofpopulation

■Number■AverageGain%pts

Ideology trumps analysis

AN EXPRESS IDEA SERIES

COVIDSHADOW,NEWYEAR

LIGHT

PadmapriyaJanakiraman andMaansi Verma

Surjit S Bhalla

Contrary tosomerecentobservations, thenewlyreleasedNFHSdatareveals large improvements inwelfare for Indianchildren,women,andhouseholds.Thenwhythedeepangst?

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For participating in the above e-tendering process, the Bidders shall have to get themselves registered withhttps://eproc.punjab.gov.in and get user ID, Password. Class-3 Digital Signature is mandatory to participate inthe e-tendering process. Detailed Notice Inviting Tender and other tems & conditions are available on website:https://eproc.punjab.gov.in. in all payments regarding purchase of bid document i.e., Tender form fee, process-ing fee & earnest money shall be strictly through Online mode (e-payment only). Bidders are advised to openBank Account with Core Banking Solution Branches (with NEFT/RTGS facility).

Sd/-Dr. Sanjay Mahajan,

Executive Engineer (C),Punjab State Sports Council, Chandigarh.

Sr. Name of the Work Last Date ofNo. Online Submission

of Bid Technical Bid Financial Bid

1. 15.01.2021 15.01.2021 To be Intimatedat 11.00 A.M. at 04.00 P.M. on the Website




Providing & Laying of FIH approved GlobalCategory Hockey Turf (unfiled) with cast in situ15mm shock pad along with allied Civil works atShaheed Bhagat Singh Stadium, Ferozepur(Punjab).E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 06, DATED 24.12.2020.

Providing & Laying of FIH approved GlobalCategory Hockey Turf (unfiled) with cast in situ15mm shock pad along with allied Civil works atVillage Marar, Distt. Gurdaspur (Punjab).E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 07, DATED 24.12.2020.

Providing & Relaying of FIH approved GlobalCategory Hockey Turf (unfiled) with cast in situ15mm shock pad along with allied Civil works atSurjit Hockey Stadium, Burlton Park, Jalandhar(Punjab).E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 08, DATED 24.12.2020.

Providing & Laying of FIH approved GlobalCategory Hockey Turf (unfiled) with cast in situ15mm shock pad along with allied Civil works atDhudike, Distt. Moga (Punjab).E-TENDER NOTICE NO. 09, DATED 24.12.2020.

Opening of Bidding Documents

162/Pb

corrigendumPlease refer to our Sale Noticepublished on 12.12.2020 in the indianexpress. Property area was not print bymistake for Property at Sr. No.14 (M/s JaiMata Dee enterprises), which will be asArea 1 Katha. Rest all the contents shallremain same.

ZonalOffice,BudhMarg,Patna-800001

Authorized Officer

PPEERRSSOONNAALL

ClassifiedsII,, NARENDRAKUMARS/ONETRAMSHARMAR/O9-D, 2nd-FLOOR, KAMLANAGAR, DELHI-110007. HAVECHANGEDMYNAMETONARENDERKUMAR.

0040558719-3

II,,MadanLal,S/o Late Shri.JamnaDasGupta,R/o-9559,GaliMillWali,Sadar-Bazar,Azad-Market,Delhi-110006,havechangedmynametoMadanLalGupta.

0040558719-5

II,,MAHABIRPARSADS/ODEEPCHAND JAINRESIDENT4/177,GALINO-9, SONIPAT,HARYANAHAVECHANGEDMYNAMETOMAHABIR JAIN. 0040558724-4

II,, KRITIW/oSANJAYKUMARSHARMA,H.NO-KC-5,3rd-FLOOR,GANESHNAGAR,SHAKARPUR-EXTENSION,DELHI-110092.havechangedmynametoKRITIKASHARMA. 0040558724-2

II,, JASMEETKAURKOHLIW/OMr.GURPREETSINGHKOHLI R/OG-605 RANJIT VIHAR II, PLOTNO-16, DWARKA SECTOR- 23,SOUTH WEST DELHI, DELHI-110075 INDIA. I HAVECHANGED MY NAME FROMJASMEET KAUR TO JASMEETKAUR KOHLI FOR ALLPURPOSES 0040558684-1

II,, GagandeepGujral aliasGagandeepW/o-Davinder JeetSingh, R/o-39, 3rd-floor,Pocket-11A,Sector-22,Rohini,Delhi,havechangedmynametoGagandeepKaur 0040558719-10

II,, BrajeshKumar S/o, Rati RamR/o, 22,VikasKunj, VikasNagarDelhi-110059, have changedmyname toBrijeshKumarPal.

0040558719-4

II,, BrahmSinghChoudhary S/oHarphool SinghR/oH.No.55-C,IIIrd Flr, StreetNo.6,MajlisPark, AdarshNagar, Azadpur,Delhi-110033havechangedmyname toBrahmSingh for allfuturepurposes. 0040558689-1

II,, ArchanaSD/oUnniSudhakaranR/oH.No.35-C,Pocket-A-1, LIG-Flat,MayurVihar Ph-3, Delhi-110096,havechangedmyname toArchanaSudhakaran. 0040558729-2

II,, AvneeshMathur, S/o-BhuvaneshNarainMathur,R/o-K-807,Prateek LaurelApartment,Sector-120,GautamBuddha-Nagar,Uttar-Pradesh-201301,declarethatname,ofminehas,beenwrongly-writtenasAvneeshNarainMathurin,myPassport.No.J6043866,andMathurAvneeshinmy,PAN-CARD-No.AaSPM0984D,andnameof,myFatherhasbeen,wrongly-writtenasBNMathurinmy,Aadharcard.Theactualname,ofmineandmy,fatherareAvneeshMathur,andBhuvaneshNarainMathur. 0040558724-8

II,, SARTHAKS/oSANJAYKUMARSHARMAH.NO-KC-5, 3rd-FLOOR,GANESH-NAGAR,SHAKARPUREXTENSION,DELHI-110092,have changedmyname toSARTHAKSHARMA. 0040558724-3

II,, SRISHTI D/O-RAKESHDAHIYAR/OHNO.62-P, SECTOR-15,PART-4, SONIPAT-131001. HAVECHANGEDMYNAMETOSRISHTIDAHIYA. FORFUTUREPURPOSES. 0040558719-1

II,, ArunRawat,S/oSh.SohanSinghRawat, R/o 338-C,GazipurDDA-Flats, Delhi-110096, declare that nameofmy father hasbeenwroñgly-writtenasSohahSinghRawatinmy10th-passCertificate.Theactual-nameofmy father is SohanSinghRawatwhichmaybeamendedaccordingly. 0040558724-5

NNoottiiccee is herebygiven that,We,SanjayGanjooandSunitaGanjoo, residingat FlatNo.1801,MantovaMahagunModerne, Sector-78, NearMahagunMart, Noida, Distt.GautamBudhNagar, UttarPradesh-201301have changedthenameof our son fromPoorvashGanjoo toPurvashGanjoo videaffidavit dated 21-12-2020 swornbeforenotarySanjeevKumar Sharma,GautamBudhNagar, for allpurpose 0040558709-1

NNoottiiccee is herebygiven that, I,SuneetaGanjoow/oMr.SanjayGanjoo residingat FlatNo. 1801,MantovaMahagunModerne, Sector-78, nearMahagunMart, Noida, Distt.GautamBudhNagar, UttarPradesh-201301have changedmyname toSunita Ganjoovideaffidavit dated 21-12-2020swornbeforenotary SanjeevKumar Sharma,GautamBudhNagar, for all purposes.

0040558710-1

II Sheetal d/oShri om R/oPlotNo-83 NandaEnclave,NajafgarhND-110043declarethat Sheetal andSheetalYadavare sameperson.

0040558703-1

II Shri omS/oCharanSingh R/oPlotNo-83, NandaEnclave,NajafgarhND-110043declarethat Shri omandShri omYadavare sameperson.

0040558703-2

II,, ANITADEVIW/O,NO.14649688PNK/AUTOAVEHDEVENDRASINGH, R/O-VILL-NAGLAKAREPOST-MANKENDA, TEHSIL+DIST-AGRA,U.P-283102 I,CHANGEDMY,NAME,FROMANITAKUMARI TOANITADEVIVIDE.AFFIDAVITDATE-23-12-2020, BEFOREMANDANLALGUPTA.(DELHI). 0040558724-6

II,, Amritha SD/oUnniSudhakaranR/o.H.No.35-C,Pocket-A-1, LIG-Flat,MayurVihar Ph-3, Delhi-110096, havechangedmyname toAmrithaSudhakaran. 0040558729-1

II,,RRaajjaann Tyagi,S/o-SubodhKumarTyagi,R/o-445,NitiKand-3, Indirapuram,Ghaziabad,U.P.-201014, informthat inmyall Educationalrecord,my father namehaswronglymentionedasSubodhTyagi insteadof SubodhKumarTyagi. 0040558719-7

II,,MMOOHHAANNSINGHS/OVASTIRAM,H.NO-2E/111,WARD.NO-11, N.H-2, FARIDABAD,HARYANA-121001, havechangedmyname toMOHANSINGHBHATIA. 0040558719-6

II,,AAsshhookkKumar,S/o Late.AnsuyaPrasadNautiyal,R/o.OMQ.No.484/1 officers-MessNorth-CampAir-Force-StationBamarauli Prayagraj,UP-211012, have changedmyname,fromAshokKumartoAshokKumarNautiyal,vide-Affidavit,dated-24-12-2020 atNew-Delhi. 0040558724-7

II,, AAAANNCCHHAALLD/OASHOKSHARMAR/OHNO.E-31,GURDWARAROAD, PRASHANTVIHAR, RAJAPURKALAN,DELHI-110085.CHANGEDMYNAMETOAANCHALSHARMA.

0040558719-2

II,, hitherto knownasRaj KumaraliasRaj Kumar Jain, S/oSh.ChanderBhan,R/o-286,FirstFloor,AGCREnclave, Delhl-110092,have changedmyname,and shall hereafter beknown,asRaj Kumar Jain.

0040558711-1

II,, VineyKumaraliasViney S/oShankar Lal Aggarwal R/o-C-164, PrashantVihar, Delhi-110085, have changedmyname toVinayKumar .

0040558719-9

II,, Udit KumarChoudhary S/oJile SinghR/o-105, PKT-2, Sec-23, Rohini, Delhi-110085havechangedmyname toUditKumarChaudhary.

0040558719-8

II,, Suneel Choudhary S/oBrahmSinghR/oH.No.55-C, IIIrd Flr,StreetNo.6,Majlis Park,AdarshNagar, Azadpur, Delhi-110033 have changedmynametoSunil Choudhary for allfuturepurposes. 0040558690-1

II,, SHIKHAVOHRAw/oRishabhChadha r/o 125, Kohat Enclave,PitamPura, Delhi-110034havechangedmyname toSHIKHACHADHA. 0040558695-1

II,, SANJAYs/oBRIJMOHANSHARMA,H.NO-KC-5, 3rd-FLOOR,GANESH-NAGAR,SHAKARPUREXTENSION,DELHI-110092,have changedmyname toSANJAYKUMARSHARMA. 0040558724-1

II,, Rajiv Kumar S/oO.P.Bhatnagar, R/ORZ-10/316, GaliNo.7, Gitanjali Park,WestSagarpur, NewDelhi-110046have changedmyname fromRajeevKumar toRajiv Kumarfor all futurepurposes. Bothnamebelongs to sameperson.

0040558708-1

II,, RitikaAhujaR/o-Pocket-A, 6BSiddhartha-Extension, NewDelhi-110014, have changed,myminorson’sname,fromRachitTalwartoRachitAhujapermanently. 0040558711-2

II,, Sarjeet Kumar s/oRadheyShyamH.No 3159Gali No.72MolarbandExtensionNewDelhi 110044 inform that in theSchool recordandBirthCertificate ofmyminor sonayushyadav my andmywifenamepriyankanamearewronglywrittenas SarjeetYadav andpriyankayadavwhichmaybecorrected

0040558712-1

PPUUBBLLIICCNNOOTTIICCEE

PUBLIC NOTICEGeneral Public is hereby informed thatmy client Shri Harish Sharma S/o LateShri Kewal Kishan Sharma and Smt.Chanderkanta Sharma is one of theco-owners of undivided propertybearing no. O/43, Double Story, NirmalPuri, Lajpat Nagar-IV, New Delhi. Nobody has any right, title or interest tosell, transfer, create third party interestin the said property. Any body dealingas regards to the said property in anymanner shall do the same at his/her /their risk, cost, consequence and peril.Anybody can contact the undersignedfor any clarification.

Sd/- DALIP SINGH (Advocate)184-A, Patiala House Courts,

New Delhi

''IMPORTANT''Whilst care is taken prior toacceptance of advertisingcopy, it isnotpossible toverifyits contents. The IndianExpress (P) Limited cannot beheld responsible for suchcontents, nor for any loss ordamage incurredasaresultoftransactions with companies,associations or individualsadvertising in its newspapersor Publications. We thereforerecommend that readersmake necessary inquiriesbefore sending any monies orentering into any agreementswith advertisers or otherwiseacting on an advertisement inany manner whatsoever.

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK 13WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

STATE ELECTION COMMISSION HARYANANirvachan Sadan, Plot No. 2, Sector-17, Panchkula

Telephone: 0172-2584810, Fax-0172-2585904Website: www.secharyana.gov.in

PUBLIC NOTICE

All the electors, to whom Elector's Photo Identity Card(EPIC) have been issued by the Election Commission of India,shall have to produce it to prove their identity to cast the votefor general elections of Municipal Corporation, Ambala,Panchkula, Sonepat, Municipal Council Rewari and MunicipalCommittee, Sampla, Dharuherha and Uklana to be held on27.12.2020.

However, the electors who have not obtained Elector'sPhoto Identity Card as yet shall have to produce any one ofthe following alternative documents for establishing their iden-tity at the polling station, in case their identity is challenged:(i) Passport,(ii) Driving License,(iii) Income Tax Identity (PAN) Card,(iv) Service Identity Card issued to employees by Central/

State Government Offices, Public Sector Undertakings,Local Bodies or other public Limited Company,

(v) Pass Book of accounts, having photograph, opened in ascheduled bank or post office,

(vi) Freedom Fighter Identity Card having photograph,(vii) SC/ST/OBC certificate having photograph, issued by

competent authority,(viii) Certificate of Physical Handicap having photograph

issued by the Competent Authority,(ix) Arms License having photograph,(x) Job Cards with photograph issued under the National

Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme,(xi) Property documents with photographs such as Pattas,

Registered Deeds etc,(xii) Pension Documents such as Ex-Servicemen Pension

Book/Pension Payment Order, Ex-Servicemen'sWidow/Dependent Certificate, Old Age Pension Order,Widow Pension Order, with photograph,

(xiii) Health Insurance Scheme Smart Cards with Photograph,(xiv) Ration Cards or any other similar documents establishing

the identity of the electors to the satisfaction of thePresiding Officer, having photograph.

(xv) The Aadhar Card issued by UIDAI.All the electors of above mentioned municipalities are

advised to carry with them the Elector's photo Identity Card orany of the above mentioned documents while going to casttheir vote.

PUBLIC COOPERATION IS SOLICITED TO ENSURE

FREE, FAIR AND PEACEFUL POLL.

PLEASE WEAR MASK BEFORE ENTERING THE

POLLING BOOTH & KEEP SOCIAL DISTANCE.

STATE ELECTION COMMISSION, HARYANA1089/7/HRY

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJAIPUR,DECEMBER25

RAJASTHAN CHIEF MinisterAshokGehlot saidonFriday thatthe BJP doesn’t give tickets toMuslimsduringelectionsbutusesthemtotopplegovernments.Gehlotmadethispointwhile

mentioningBJPRajyaSabhaMPSyed Zafar Islam of being in-volved in alleged horse-tradingduring the revolt in July by agroup of CongressMLAs led byformerdeputyCMSachinPilot.“When we held a meeting

herewith ourMLAs during thetimeofthecrisis,ourfriendswereraidedbytheEDandincometax.Seethelevelofplanningthattheydid to topple the government.They must have made a map,done a recce, briefed officials,madebookings,youcanimagine.They used all weapons...Dharmendra Pradhan andZafarIslam,” he said during at a pressconferenceheldinJaipurtomarkthe two years of the Congressgovernmentinthestate.While Gehlot addressed the

pressconference,Pilotwasvisit-

ing Bharatpur to pay tributes toformer rulerMaharaja SurajMalonhisdeathanniversary.Someofhis loyalistMLAswhohad sidedwithhimduringthepoliticalcri-siswerealsopresentwithhim.“AnewZafar Islamhas been

borninthiscountry.TheBJPdoes-n’t give tickets toMuslims. InUPtherearearound400ticketsdis-tributed,inBihar,it’saround250.TheBJPdoesn’tgiveasingletickettoMuslims.And(theyare)using

Muslims for toppling govern-ments,”Gehlotadded.Gehlot referred to Prime

MinisterNarendraModi’sspeechto a gathering at the AligarhMuslimUniversity earlier thisweekandpraiseditbeforeadding,“One ticket, at least give just forshow. But not that too...Wherehavetheybroughtdemocracy?”Gehlot also accused Union

ministers Amit Shah andDharmendra Pradhan, along

with ‘four other leaders fromRajasthan’ of efforts to desta-bilisehisgovernment.He added that his govern-

mentwill remain strongduringits remaining threeyears.Duringthepoliticalcrisis,the

Congress had accused Unionminister Gajendra SinghShekhawatandhadclaimedthathis voicewas heard in an audioinwhichsomepersonswereal-legedlyheardplotting to topplethe Rajasthan government.Shekhawathadstronglyrefutedtheallegationsback then.Gehlot said that four CMs of

the Congress party wanted tomeet the President but themeetingcouldn’thappen.Speaking on the farm laws

passedby theCongress govern-mentinRajasthantocounterthethree farm bills passed by theCentre, Gehlot said that theGovernor is not forwardingthemfurther.“Our honorary Governor is

not sending these bills further.Whyishenotforwardingthem?IhadmadelawsagainstHonourKilling and Mob Lynching sixmonthsago, thePresident isnot

approvingthem,maybebecausetheGovernmentof Indiadoesn’twant. This is a challengemadeby them to democracy. RahulGandhi ji has correctly said thatnow there is no democracy inthe country, only a show ofdemocracy,” saidGehlot.TheCMsaidhisgovernment

has waived off farm loans offarmers.Headdeditwaivedfarmloans from cooperative banksandlanddevelopmentbanksbutsince nationalised, commercialand regional rural banks comeundertheadministrativecontrolof the Union FinanceMinistry,the state governmenthas sent aproposal of a one-time settle-menttotheCentre.Gehlotaddedthat forthishe

has also written letters to thePrime Minister and UnionFinance Minister and has alsoproposedthatthecostbesharedbetween the Rajasthan govern-ment and the Centre in a rationof 50:50.Responding to a question

about the rebellion of Pilot,Gehlot said thatallhehas tosayon the entire episode is 'forgetand forgive'.

BJP doesn’t give ticket toMuslims,uses them to topple govts: Gehlot

RajasthanCMAshokGehlot (right)andRajasthanCongressin-chargeAjayMakenin JaipuronFriday.Rohit JainParas


ADDRESSING THE concludingsessionoftheIndiaInternationalScience Festival on Friday, VicePresidentMVenkaiahNaidusaiditisthehardworkofscientistsinthe country that has broughtIndia on the verge of releasingour own indigenous Covid-19vaccine.The Vice President said that

at the beginning of the pan-demic, India started off withbarely a few testing kits, butwithinmonths,scientistsdevel-oped cheaper indigenous rapidtestingkits,ventilatorsandPPEs.“Today,weareevenabletoex-

portPPEs.Itisinthiscontextthatpeoplehavetobemadeawareofscientific developments of thedayandtheworkofthededicatedscientists,’’he said, adding,“Scienceisnot justaboutnaturallawsandstateof theart technol-ogy.Scienceisalsoaboutthespiritof rationalinquirythatcanguideusinourlives.Thisisevenrecog-nisedbyourConstitution,whichidentifiesthedevelopmentofsci-entific temper as one of ourFundamentalDuties.”“Ifweimbibethistemper,we

can apply scientific methodol-ogy to every endeavour of lifeandmake informed decisions.Themethodology is simple:en-quire, investigate, reason, andwhensatisfied, accept,”hesaid.“Thepandemichasalsorein-

forced the importance of scien-

tifictemperinourlives.Oneofthemajor challenges in this pan-demichasbeentheprevalenceofthe‘infodemic’.Falseinformationon thenature of the virus,med-ication and the vaccine causedpanic and anxiety among thepeople.It isnotvaccinesordrugsthatcandefeattheinfodemic,butarationaloutlookamongpeople.Acitizenrythatcanthinkcriticallywillbeimmunetosuchmisinfor-mationorfakenews,’’Naidusaid.Pointingout India’s longtra-

ditionofsharingitsscientificad-vancementswith the restof theworld, he said that our decimalsystemwas borrowed by Arabtraders, which later spread tomedieval Europe. “It is in thesamespiritthatwehavenotonlybecomethepharmaceuticalhubof theworld, butwe have beenextensively sharing these life-savingdrugswiththerestof thedevelopingworld,’’ he said.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com


AN ASTROPHYSICIST, a PadmaShri awardee in science andtechnology,atopscientistatTataConsultancy Services, the firstwoman commercial pilot ofIndia and a BAFTA awardwin-ning actor were among thewomen achievers roped in bythe Council of Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR) tosharetheirexperiencesonavir-tual platform to encouragewomenintheircareerpaths,es-pecially inscience.OfficialsofNEERI,hostsofthe

Women Scientists’ andEntrepreneurs’ Conclave, saidthe aim of the conclave was topromote “awarenesson the im-portanceoftheroleofwomeninsustainablegrowthof thecoun-try,viascienceandtechnology”.Genderparityandincreasing

women’sparticipationinScience,Technology, Engineering,MathematicsandMedicinesub-jectsandhavingthemchooseca-reers in science is being pushedby theMinistry of Science andTechnology.Theconclaveisbeingheldinlightofthisgender-parityimpetus. “The programmewilladdressissuesthatcanaccelerate

gender equality by includingmorewomeninscience,technol-ogy and innovation, addressinggrass root application of scienceto society and empoweringwomenboth in theruralandur-bansectors,’’ saidanofficial.Addressing the conclave, Dr

Urmila Mitra Kraev, a plasmaphysicist at University ofCambridge, said that as ayoungmother shewasawareof the is-sues related to pursuing a sci-ence career. “But the rewardsofsciencediscoveryarefargreaterthan the difficulties and withplanning and determination,thingsdoworkout if oneiscon-fidentof one’sgoal,” shesaid.Indian physicist and Padma

Shri recipient Prof RohiniGodbole talked about her jour-ney from studying physics inPunetohercurrentpositionasaparticlephysicistbestknownforherwork at CERN. Herwork onhighenergyphotonscouldformthebasis for thenextgenerationofparticlecolliders,usedtostudythefabricandcompositionoftheuniverse.Shesaidshecamefromamiddle-class family that wassupportiveofherdecisiontopur-sueacareer inscience.

Harpreet Singh is the firstwoman to be selected by AirIndia as the first woman com-mercial pilot of India in 1988.However,duetohealthreasons,she had to quit her flying job.Since then, she has been activeinotherareasofaviation,includ-ingflightsafety.Shehasbeenap-pointedCEOofthestate-runair-line’s subsidiary Alliance Air,becomingthefirst-everwomantoheadan Indiancarrier.Dr. Sharmila Mande, Chief

Scientist and Head of BioSciencesR&DinTCS,saidsheisastrong supporter of women inscience,especially in leadershippositions.DrMande is one of the first

whoworked on computationalbiology.Shesuggestedtofollowone’s heart to take up any chal-lenges in life.Renowned actor Rohini

Hattangadi recounted her jour-ney. “One of themost difficultroles was playingmiddle agedKasturba Gandhi in Gandhi op-positeBenKingsleyattheageof27,” said the actor, who has re-ceivedseveralawards, includingthe prestigious BAFTA for therole.

In Arunachal, 6 JD(U)MLAs switch to BJP

BOOKEDUNDERUP’SANTI-CONVERSIONLAW

Before arrest, youthwas thrashed; 2 heldfor assault: PoliceWomen achievers in science

recount journey to success

CHANDANHAYGUNDEPUNE,DECEMBER25

THE BOMBAY High Court hasgranted permission to theMaharashtragovernmenttoen-ter upon the “disputed land”around the Jaystambh tomakearrangements for the January 1programme to mark the an-niversaryof theBattle of BhimaKoregaon.Justice V G Bisht passed the

orderinthisregardonDecember23,asperwhichthegovernmenthas been permitted to enterupon the “suit land” to makenecessaryarrangements for thepublic to visit the victory pillar(Jaystambh) fromDecember25toJanuary5,2021.“Oncethispe-riod expires on January 5, 2021,the state shall restore the statusof the suit land (as it was onDecember 25) by January 15,”theHCorder stated.Like last year, the govern-

ment throughPunedistrict col-lectormovedtheHCandsoughtpermission to enter on the dis-puted land to make arrange-ments for the January 1 pro-grammeat Jaystambh.

HC nod forUddhav govt tomake plans forBhima Koregaonprogramme

Science isalsoabout thespiritof rational inquiry thatcanguideus:V-PNaidu

ABHISHEKSAHA&SANTOSHSINGHGUWAHATI, PATNA,DECEMBER25

THE JD(U) suffered a jolt inArunachalPradeshonFridayaf-ter six of its seven legislatorsswitched over to the ruling BJP.A seventh MLA -- the lonePeople’s Party of Arunachal(PPA) representative in theAssembly – has also officiallyjoined thesaffronparty.The JD(U) -- BJP’s alliance

partner in Bihar -- has reactedsharply, calling themove “un-friendly”. The party is likely todiscussthematteratitsupcom-ing national executive onDecember27 inPatna.The development comes a

day after Bihar Deputy ChiefMinister Tarkishore Prasad -- aseniorBJPleader--hadhintedatacabinetexpansion.The Arunachal MLAs who

changed allegiance are TalemTabohfromRumgongAssemblyseat, HayengMangfi (ChayangTajo), Jikke Tako (Tali), DorjeeWangdi Kharma (Kalaktang),Dongru Siongju (Bomdila) andKanggong Taku (Mariyang-Geku).Senior Assam minister

Himanta Biswa Sarma,who is akey BJP leader in theNortheast,told reporters in Guwahati onFriday evening that the MLAswho defected had been part ofthe saffron party from before.“Due to some arrangementsthey had contested from theJD(U)…This is a kind of home-coming for them,”Sarmasaid.The BJP already enjoyed a

largemajorityintheHouse,hav-ing swept the 2019 Assemblypolls bywinning 41 seats in the60-memberHouse.SoonaftertheMLAsswitched

allegiance, JD(U) nationalspokesperson KC Tyagi told TheIndian Express, “We were afriendlyOppositioninArunachalPradesh.ThisactonpartofBJPisunfortunate,unfriendlyandun-warranted. This has caused usembarrassmentandalsogivenachance to our Bihar OppositionRJDtoattackus.”Meanwhile, the RJD has

claimed that the BJP may at-tempt the same in Bihar. Partyspokesperson MrityunjayTewarisaid,“It isaclearwarningfor the JD(U) that has 43MLAs(inBihar).BJPmight try todoanArunachal Pradeshwith NitishKumar in Bihar. This is howBJPhas started unfolding its planagainst JD(U).”

INDIA INTERNATIONALSCIENCEFESTIVAL

Citing scientists’ role in Covid-19 fight,Venkaiah asserts need for scientific temper

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA,DECEMBER25

A DAY after Visva-BharatiUniversity (VBU) wrote to theWestBengalgovernment,accus-ingeconomistAmartyaSenof il-legallyoccupying itsplots,ChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee onFriday said the accusation hadbeen levelled against the Nobellaureateashewas“notaffiliatedtoBJP's ideology”.TheVBUadministration has

allegeddozensoftheuniversity’splots had been incorrectlyrecordedandthelistofunautho-risedoccupants includedSen.Banerjee said, “Weall salute

AmartyaSen. Justbecauseheis-n’t inclined towards BJP's ideol-ogy, they’re levelling such alle-gationsagainsthim.”WritingtotheNobellaureate

on Friday, the CM said, “We allknow about your family's deepand organic bonds withSantiniketan....“Some new invaders in

Visva-Bharati have now startedraising surprising and com-pletely baseless allegationsagainst your family properties.This painsme and Iwant to ex-pressmy solidaritywith you inyour battles against the bigotryofthemajoritariansinthiscoun-try, battles that havemade youan enemy of these forces ofuntruth.”

Amartya Senbeing targeted ashe isn’t affiliatedto BJP ideology,says Mamata


A YOUTH booked under UttarPradesh’s new anti-conversionlawwas allegedly assaulted bylocal residents beforehis arrest,police said.According to police, an FIR

has been filed after a video, inwhich somepeople canbepur-portedly seen assaulting theyouthinBijnorarea,emergedonsocialmedia.“Itwasbroughttoournotice

thatthemanaccusedofconver-sionwasassaultedby local res-idents.Anenquiryhasbeensetup under SP (rural) and twopersons have been arrested.More people will be identifiedandactionwillbetakenagainstthem,” said Bijnor SP DharmVeer Singh.According to police, an FIR

has been filed under charges ofassault and criminal intimida-tion against unknown persons.Local residents Shakir andShehzad have been arrested inconnectionwiththeassaultcase.Around 10.30 pm on

December 14, the girl, a Dalit,

and her former classmate, aMuslim, were walking backhome after a friend’s birthdayparty,whentheywereallegedlychased by a group of men,beaten with sticks andquestioned.When it became apparent

that they belonged to differentreligions, they were allegedlywhisked away to a local policestation.The FIR, registered allegedly

on a complaint by the girl’s fa-ther,statedthattheaccused“in-ducedthegirltoelopewithhim”withthe“intentiontomarryandconverther”.The youth, whowas subse-

quently booked under the anti-conversion law and charges ofabductionandundersectionsofSC/STAct,andPOCSOAct,isnowina jail inBijnor.“Those men beat him up

with sticks. Hewas limping thelast time I saw him.Theybrandedusthievesfirstandthenbeat us both. Theymadevideosofusandcirculateditamongthepublicandmadeitacaseof lovejihad. We were just returningfrom a birthday party,” the girltoldThe IndianExpress.

New Delhi

14WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

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

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

‘Biden will be more effective on China, hassaid he will bring allies for common approach’

OntheBidenAdministrationandChinaAlotofpeopleinIndia,theUSandelsewhere

have been trying to figure out how the BidenAdministrationwouldrespondtotheChinachal-lenge.Theyhavebeenpartlyconcernedbecauseof some vacillations thatwere seen during theObamaAdministration…President Trumphimself, in the beginning,

gavemixed signals... Subsequently the TrumpAdministration clearlydefinedChinaas amajorglobalrival,astrategiccompetitor...Now,whenyou look atwhat Bidenhas said

andwhat people around himhave said... theyhavesaidthesituationtodayisverydifferentfromthe situation in 2016, China followsunfair tradepractices, China is amajor technological rival totheUS…So Iwould believe therewill be somenuancing because theywill want to show thattheyaredifferentfromtheTrumpAdministration—and somehave said that Trumpwas very ag-gressiveonChinabytheend—butBidenwouldbemore effective on China, because Biden hassaidthathewillbringalliesandpartnerstohaveacommonapproachtowardsChina.AlthoughtheUSunderTrumphadtakenaveryaggressiveap-proach towardsChina, theEuropeansdidn't fol-lowitbecausehehaddecriedalliances.Butif theUSwantsaneffectivepolicyonChina,itneedstobring its allies in Europe andAsia ona commonplatformtorespondtotheChinachallenge.

OnthefutureofQuadClearly theQuadmademuchmoreprogress

under the Trump Administration…Quad ofcourse had started earlier, after that it slipped alittlebecauseAustralialostinterestintheprocessbecauseof itsownrelationshipwithChina... Butnowasall countries, be itAustralia, Japan, India,US, are facing similar challenges inmanywaysfromChina, tThere is a recognitionof somehar-monisationofwork in the Indo-Pacific region…If you see the conversations that Bidenhas hadwiththePrimeMinisterof Japan,PrimeMinisterof Australia, President of South Korea, and thestatement that has beenput out by theUS side,thereisareferencetotheIndo-Pacificandthere-fore, it is a recognition that in some areas, theywillrecogniseandbuildonthepositiveworkthathasbeendonebytheTrumpAdministration.

OntheapproachtowardsPakistanThe US will define its approach towards

Pakistanbasedonhowitperceivesitsowninter-estsbeingserved,andfromIndia’sperspective,wehave to seewhere is the convergence anddiver-gence… Today, the US wants to get out ofAfghanistan, andtheybelieve that theyneedco-operation fromPakistan for a dialoguewith theTalibanifsomekindofreconciliationcanprogressbetween the Taliban and the government in

Afghanistan. Andbecauseof that, the sharpnessoftheirrhetoricandactionrelatedtoPakistanhascomedown.Theonlythingtheyhavedoneis,theyhavemaintainedPakistan in thegrey listof theirFinancialActionTaskForce,asapressurepoint.Now theUShas traditionally struggledwith

a policy on Pakistan, whether to incentivisePakistan or pressure Pakistan… Iwould believethataBidenAdministrationwouldbeclear-eyedaboutthenatureofthePakistanistate,itsinvolve-mentwithterroristgroups.Sotheywillrecognisethatbuttheywillhaveacertainneedforcooper-ationfromPakistaninthecontextofAfghanistanandthatwill limittheextentofpressure...

OnBiden’slikelypolicyonimmigrationThe Biden campaign hadmade it clear that

theywould not be as harsh on immigration is-

suesastheTrumpAdministrationhasbeen.TheBiden Administration has signalled that theyrecognise that the high-skilled immigrantworker, includingthehigh-skilledIndianimmi-grantworker,contributestotheUSremaininginthe lead intechnologyglobally...But this is a challenge that I have also in the

time of theObamaAdministration. Even then,therewas a phasewhen the visa fees for H1Bworkersofcertaincategoriesofcompanies,whichimpacted Indian companies verymuch, wereraised to three times. So this is the pressure theUSsystemfaces—theywant togetmoreskilledworkersbecause ithelpstheUS,butat thesametime,manyUSworkerswho are unemployed,who lose jobs, start generating a campaign thattheyarelosingjobsbecauseoftheH1Bimmigrantworker. And that generates pressure on

Congressmen,Senatorstotryandrestrictthat.SoIthinktheBidenAdministrationwouldalsohavetoworkitswaythroughthese.

OntheUSandIndia-RussiaThis is clearlygoing tobean important issue.

For India, our relationshipearlierwith theSovietUnion and nowRussia is very important. TheSovietUnion gave usmilitary support,militarysupplies, political support, at a timewhen itwasnotavailablefromtheWest,beittheUSorothers.Andeventoday,almost60%ofourdefenceinven-toryisofRussianoriginandtherearecertainareaswhereweget technologies fromRussia at com-petitivepricesthatarenotavailableelsewhere…[Under] CAATSA (Countering American

Adversaries throughSanctionsAct), purchaseofmajordefencesystemsfromRussiacouldbecomesanctioned, and the S-400 is a case in point…India’scaseisdifferentandfromthevariouscom-mentsandwritingsthathavecomeoutinthepub-lic domain, it has beenmade clear that theUSwouldbemakingamistakeifitsanctionsIndiaforthe S-400... If theUS thengoes ahead and sanc-tionsIndiaforsomething,itwillaffectitsownim-ageasareliablepartnerandwillimpactnegativelyontheevolutionoftheUS-Indiarelationship.TheUSneeds tokeep that inmind. I think itwasbe-causeof this thatwhen theUSCongress passedtheCAATSABilloriginally,therewasnoprovisionforwaiver—theUSadministrationhadnocapac-itytogivewaiverfromthesanctions—butthethenadministration lobbied in Congress to give thePresidentwaiverprovisions.SoIwouldhopeandexpectthatifthesituationreachesacertainpoint,whoever is theUSPresidentwouldexercise thatwaiverandnotimposesanctionsonIndia.

OntheBidenAdministration’slikelyapproachonKashmir,CAA/NRCWehavetorecognisethatUSleaderswillbase

their politics based on their compulsions, theirconstituentinterestsand,therefore,theywilltake

acertainpositiononissuesthattheyarticulateashumanrights,basedonhowitplaysoutforthemandtheirvoters.YouwouldhaveseenthekindofcommentsthatcamefromBernieSandersatonestage,commentsthatcamefromKamalaHarris,fromPramila Jayapal.Butat thesametime,peo-ple in theBiden camphave said that anydiffer-enceswithIndiaonissuesrelatedtohumanrightswould be based on adiscussion among friends.My own sense is that India takes its decisionsbased on its own interests;wedon’t have to beunnecessarilyinsecureoronthedefensiverelatedtodecisionsthatwetake.TheUShasitsownchal-lenges, systemic racism... all societies face chal-lenges.Therefore, any India-USdiscussionordi-alogue related to human rights should be as adialogueamongfriendswhoaretryingtounder-standeachother,whowant toadvance their re-lationship and a recognition that every societyhaschallengesthat it isdealingwith.

OnBiden’scabinetappointmentsWhenIlookattheappointmentsmadesofar,

itisaclearsignalthatPresident-electBideniscom-fortablewithpeoplewhoworkedwithhimclosely—TonyBlinkenwashisnationalsecurityadvisor;JakeSullivanwashisnationalsecurityadviserun-til2014. Ihadtheoccasionto interactwithmanyofthem—SullivanwhousedtobetheDirectorofPolicy Planning in the StateDepartmentwhen Iwas there, Blinken inhisvariouscapacities,AvrilHaineswasdeputyNSA.SotheclearsensethatIgotwasthatallofthem

areveryawareandverycommittedtotheIndia-US relationship. During the time of theObamaAdministration, thereweremanyfirsts. In2009,PrimeMinisterManmohanSinghwasinvitedasthefirststatevisitoroftheObamaAdministration.In theUS, statevisitsareaveryclearsignal... andPresidentObamawantedtosignalthattherewasgoingtobecontinuityfromthetimeofPresidentBush, fromthetimeof thecivilnuclearcoopera-tion agreement... And then they also declaredIndiaamajordefencepartner—noothercountryintheworldhasthisstatus,anditwasdonedelib-erately because India is not an ally and yet theywantedtogiveIndiathesameleveloftechnologyaccessastheirclosestalliesandpartners.Vice-President Biden had come to India in

2013 and, speaking at the Mumbai StockExchange,hesaidthathe’dliketoreiteratewhatPresidentObamahadsaid, that the India-US re-lationshipwouldbe thedefining relationshipofthe21stcentury.Andhespokeaboutwhathehadsaidin2006,thatby2020,hewantstheUS-Indiarelationshiptobetheclosest.Andwearein2020now.SoIwouldsaythatgiventhefactthatmanyin theObama-Biden teamaregoing tocontinuein the Biden-Harris team, I am very confidentbasedonmy interactionswhen Iwas there thatthe India-US relationship will continue tostrengthenoverthenextfouryears.

TRANSCRIBEDBYMEHRGILL(Editedexcerpts)

VIDEO:youtu.be/sYVRgmAcHTU

AUDIENCEQUESTIONS

OnBidenAdministration’s tieswithBeijingandIslamabadIn theearlyphase, theywill findPakistan

a necessary partner in the context of whatthey want to do in Afghanistan... And ifPakistanplaysitscardswell,theUSwouldnotput pressure on Pakistan. But if they assessthatPakistanisnotbeingahelpfulpartner,theUS approachwould change andwehave towatch that. (On China)while theremay besomenuancing, the substance of the policywill remain and theywill also try and reachout to Europeans, other countries in Asia tosee if they comewith a common approach,andthatisgoingtobetheoveralldefiningpri-orityintheBidenAdministrationinthecom-ing years.Moving from there, they see theIndia relationship as a very important rela-tionship,partlybecauseofthestrengthinthebilateraldimensionof therelationship.

OnthepossibilityofChinaofferingatradedealwiththeUSIf theChinesearesmart—andeverybody

saystheyare—theywouldprobablywanttooffer to the incoming administration some-thing positive, something on trade... Bidenhas himself said the phase 1 trade deal thatPresident Trump has done, hewill not re-movethatfromthetableimmediately.Morethan that, the statements coming out fromthetransitionteam,theywanttoputempha-sisongettingtheUSeconomybackontrack.ForthattheywillneedcertainBillstopassonabipartisanbasis.Theonefactorthatwillen-able bipartisanship to emergewouldbe theprojection of a challenge from China. So,whentheyprojectthatthereisamajorchal-lenge fromChina, that iswhatwillbring theDemocratsandRepublicans togetherontheeconomicandtechnological issue.

WhatcanIndiaexpectinitsrelationshipwiththeUSundertheBidenAdministration?FormerIndianAmbassadortoWashingtonDCArunSingh,whointeractedwithmanyObama-BidenteammemberswhoarenowintheBiden-Harristeam,discussedkeyissueswithanationwideaudience

ArunSingh(left) inaZoomconversationwithShubhajitRoy,AssociateEditor&ChiefDiplomaticCorrespondent

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

INNOVEMBER,theUSFoodandDrugAdministration (FDA) granted emer-gency use approval to an antibody,LYCoV555, forcertainpa-tients of Covid-19—non-hospitalized adolescentsand adults with mild tomoderatesymptomswhoareatelevatedriskofpro-gressingtosevereCovi-19disease.Thisweek,theUSNational Institutes ofHealth (NIH) publishedpreliminary findings of aphase 3 trial —in hospi-talisedCovid-19patients,LY-CoV555 did not provide clinicalbenefit compared toplacebo. The re-sults were published in the New

England Journal ofMedicine.The trial is part of theAccelerating

Covid-19TherapeuticInterventionsandVaccines (ACTIV) pro-gramme.LY-CoV555, amono-

clonalantibody,wasdis-covered by AbCelleraBiologics, based inVancouver, in collabora-tion with NIAID’sVaccineResearchCenter.Subsequently, itwasde-veloped andmanufac-tured by Indianapolis-based Lilly Research

Laboratories,EliLillyandCompany,inpartnershipwithAbCellera.Source:NationalInstitutesofHealth,US

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

Granted emergency approvalin US, antibody fails in trials

NIRUPAMASUBRAMANIANMUMBAI,DECEMBER25

THETIBETPolicyandSupportAct,passedbytheUS Senate earlier thisweek, bookends aturbulent year in US-China relations. TheHouseofRepresentativeshadpassedtheleg-islationinJanuary.ItwillbecomelawaftertheUSPresidentsignsoffonit.

The earlier versionThe TSPA is an amended version of the

TibetPolicyActof2002,whichcameintoex-istence during the BushAdministration. Butinanindicationofjusthowimportanthecon-sideredrelationswithChina,PresidentGeorgeW Bush distanced himself from thisCongressionalaction,andwrotestrongwordsagainst it in his signing statement, inwhichassertedtheadministration'srightnottoim-plement parts of the act. He wrote:“Regrettably, the Act [H.R. 1646] contains anumberofprovisionsthat impermissibly in-terferewiththeconstitutionalfunctionsofthepresidencyinforeignaffairs, includingprovi-sions thatpurport to establish foreignpolicythatareof significantconcern.”HealsosaidhisapprovaltotheActdidnot

constitute his adoption of the various state-mentsofpolicyintheActasUSforeignpolicy,and said thesewouldbe taken as “advisory”statementsonly,“givingthemthedueweightthatcomitybetweenthelegislativeandexec-utive branches should require, to the extentconsistentwithUSforeignpolicy”.

USandChina, todayUS-China relations have becomemuch

moredifficultoverthelast twodecades,par-ticularly worsening in the TrumpAdministration, andmore so in 2020 overmatters ranging fromthepandemic to tradetariffs, and itscross-worldcoalition-buildingagainst Chinese superpower ambitions.

Earlier this month, the Holding ForeignCompaniesAccountingAct,targetingChineseinvestments in theUS,was signed into law.Earlier in the year, PresidentDonald TrumpsignedintolawtheHongKongAutonomyAct.PresidentTrumpisnotexpectedto takea

Bush-likeviewontheTSPA,whichintroducesstrongerprovisionsonTibet,plusteethintheformof a threatof sanctions, including travelbans on Chinese officials. How the BidenAdministration, expected to frame its ownChinapolicy,viewsTPSAremainstobeseen.Still,mostUSadministrations, theTrump

Administrationincluded,havebroadlymain-tainedadiplomaticbalancebetweenrelationswithChina,andsupportforTibetandtheDalaiLama. The StateDepartment has a separatesection on Tibet in its annual reports onhu-man rights and religious freedom. But therehasbeennorealpushfortalkswiththeDalaiLamaoronthereleaseofpoliticalprisoners.

TheDalai LamaAmong the most significant amend-

ments is that theTSPAmakes itUSpolicy to

opposeattemptsbyBeijingtoinstall itsownDalai Lama “in amanner inconsistentwithTibetan Buddhism inwhich the successionor identificationof TibetanBuddhist lamas,includingtheDalaiLama,shouldoccurwith-out interference...”The legislationmakes reference to the

Chinese government's ‘Measures on theManagement of the Reincarnation of LivingBuddhas’in2007,andaMarch2019statementby the Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesper-sonthatthe“reincarnationof livingBuddhasincluding theDalai Lamamust complywithChineselawsandregulationsandfollowreli-giousritualsandhistoricalconventions”.Italsorefers to China's installation of a 6-year-oldboyin1995asthe11thPanchenLama,andtostatementsbythepresentDalaiLamaexplain-ingthetraditions tobe followedintheselec-tionofaDalaiLama,andthattheauthoritytorecognise the reincarnation of aDalai Lamalieswithhimandhisofficials.TheActalsomakesitUSpolicytoholdsen-

iorChineseofficials“responsiblefor,complicitin,orhavedirectlyorindirectlyengagedintheidentification or installation of a candidatechosenbyChinaasthefuture15thDalaiLamaof TibetanBuddhism” tohave committed “agross violationof internationally recognizedhumanrights”,attractingsanctionsundertheGlobal Magnitsky Human RightsAccountability Act. The Act, named after aRussian tax laywerwhodiedafterbeing im-prisonedwhileinvestigatingRussiantaxoffi-cials for fraud, authorisesUS officials to im-posetravelbansglobally.

Other provisionsTheTPSAhasintroducedprovisionsaimed

atprotecting theenvironmentof theTibetanplateau,callingforgreaterinternationalcoop-erationandgreater involvementbyTibetans.AllegingthatChinaisdivertingwaterresourcesfromTibet, the TPSAalso calls for “a regionalframeworkonwater security, or use existing

frameworks…tofacilitatecooperativeagree-mentsamongall ripariannations thatwouldpromote…arrangementsonimpoundinganddiversion of waters that originate on theTibetanPlateau”.Whilethe2002ActsaidtheUSshouldestablisha“branchoffice”inLhasa,the TSPAups the ante by changing that to a“consulate”. It recognises theCentral TibetanAdministration, whose Prime MinisterLobsangSangaytakescreditforensuringthattheSenatetookupthelegislationforvote.In a statement, Sangay said, “By passing

theTPSA,CongresshassentitsmessageloudandclearthatTibetremainsapriorityfortheUnited States and that it will continue itssteadfast support for HisHoliness theDalaiLama and the CTA. It is amomentous land-markfortheTibetanpeople.”

WhatChina saysChinahadearlier said theTPSA “severely

breached international lawandbasic normsgoverning international relations, interferedin China's internal affairs, and sent awrongmessageto‘Tibetindependence’forces”.Afterthe passage of the Bill through the Senate,China said it “resolutely opposes” the “adop-tion of Bills containing such ill contents onChina.IssuesrelatedtoTibet,TaiwanandHongKong…areChina’s internal affairs that allowno foreign interference”. A ForeignMinistryspokesmanurgedtheUS“tostopmeddlinginourdomesticaffairsunderthosepretexts, re-frain fromsigning thebills or implementingthenegativecontentsand items inthemthattargetChinaandundercutChina'sinterests”.If India is pleasedat this latestUSbarb to

China, it has not said so openly. India hasmostly refrained fromplaying theTibet cardagainstChina,andliketheUS,hasaoneChinapolicy. It was only this year, in the ongoingLadakh standoff, that it used special forcesmadeup almost entirely of Tibetan exiles tooccupy strategic heights in Pangong Tso'ssouthbank.

Reading the newUS policy on Tibet:snubs to China on Dalai Lama, rivers

SIMPLYPUT

Paramilitaryofficers in frontofPotalaPalace inLhasa.Reuters

INDIAACTIVECASES 281,919

WORLDTOTALCASES79,627,975

Source:JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonDec25

INDIATOTALCASES10,146,845

Source:MinistryofHealth&FamilyWelfare,updatedat11pmonDec25

Note: TheDec24 figure in this graph isbasedon thegovernmentupdateonDec25

Dec15 Dec24LAST 10 DAYS

281,919332,002

350,000

300,000

250,000

New Delhi


THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MEANWHILE

NEVERLANDRANCH SOLDTOBILLIONAIREMichaelJackson’sNeverlandRanchinCaliforniahasfoundanewownerinbillionairebusi-nessmanRonBurkle.TheWallStreetJournalreportsthepropertywassoldfor$22milliontoBurkle,anassociateofthelatepopstarandco-founderoftheinvestmentfirmYucaipaCompanies.Theaskingpriceofthepropertywasashighas$100millionin2016.

RUSSIA

CriminalcaseopenedagainstallyofNavalnyRUSSIAN LAW enforce-ment agencies opened acriminal case againstLyubov Sobol, an ally ofKremlin critic AlexeiNavalny, and took her infor questioning early onFriday after raiding herhome, Navalny and hissupporters said. Therewas no immediate com-ment from the police.Supporters of Navalnysaid the police action ap-pearedtobearesponsetoSobolvisitingthehomeofan alleged FSB securityservice agent inMoscow.Navalny had earlier saidthe man took part in abotched plot to poisonhim inAugust. Sobolwasbriefly detained onMondayaftervisiting thealleged agent’s flat andringing the doorbell. Shewasnotletintotheman’sapartment.REUTERS

LyubovSobol

TOPOFTHEWORLD

WESTASIA

Israeli jetsflyoverBeirut;blasts inSyriaISRAELI JETS flew verylowoverpartsofLebanonearly Friday, terrifyingresidents on ChristmasEve, some of whom re-ported seeingmissiles inthe skies over Beirut.Minuteslater,Syria’soffi-cial news agency re-ported explosions in thecentral Syrian town ofMasyaf.OtherSyrianme-dia said air defences re-sponded to an Israeli at-tacknear the town in theHama province. Therewas no immediatewordon the target orwhethertherewereanycasualties.Israeli jets regularly vio-late Lebanese airspaceandhaveoften struck in-sideSyria.AP

USA

CovidpatientbludgeonedtodeathinhospitalAN 82-YEAR-OLD manwho was being treatedforCovid-19at ahospitalnorthof LosAngeleswasbludgeoned to deathwith an oxygen tank lastweek by his roommate,the authorities said. Themenweresharingatwo-personroomatAntelopeValley Hospital inLancaster, California,when the assault hap-penedonDec17, author-itiessaid.Theysaidtheat-tack had occurredwhenthe victimbegan to pray,angering the roommate,who was identified asJesse Martinez, 37. Thevictim,whowasnotiden-tified, was pronounceddeadnextmorning.NYT

PTI&REUTERSLONDON,WASHINGTON,DEC25

A RECORD number of peoplehavetestedpositiveforCovid-19in England as millions spendChristmas Day away fromfriends and familydue toa con-tinuing spike in coronavirus in-fectionsonFriday.Figures from the National

Health Service’s (NHS) Test andTrace network showed that be-tween December 10 and 16,173,875peoplereceivedapositiveresult— thehighestweekly totalofpositivecasesanda58percentincreaseonthepreviousweek.Separately, according to the

theOffice forNational Statistics(ONS), positive cases of coron-avirus are increasing sharply inpartsof theUK,witharoundonein60peoplenowtestingpositiveinWalesandonein85inEngland.Expertsbelieve thenewmu-

tations of the deadly virus aredrivingcasesupacrossthecoun-try as they aremore contagious.IthasresultedinmostpartsoftheUK tobeplaced in some formofstringent lockdownmeasures.It has also resulted inmany

countriesputtingrestrictionsontravellers from Britain. The USsaid on Thursday that it wouldrequireallairlinepassengersar-riving from theUK to test nega-tiveforCovid-19within72hoursof departurestartingMonday.The decision was a turn-

aroundafter the Trumpadmin-istration told US airlines onTuesday it was not planning torequire any testing for arrivingUKpassengers.In Britain, Prime Minister

Boris Johnson haswarned thattougher restrictions could beneededtokeepthemutantcoro-navirus strain “running out ofcontrol” in thenewyear.“Webelieve thatwe’re going

tohave toget through this toughperiod nowwith, as I have saidmany times, very tough restric-tions,withtoughtiering,”hesaidatapressconferenceThursday.Britain deployed additional

militarypersonneltotheportofDoveronFridaytohelpclearthe

queues of lorries following theresumption of cross-channeltravel fordriverswhotestnega-tive forCovid-19.FerryservicesbetweenDover

and the French port of CalaisrestartedonThursday,endingsev-eraldaysofablockadeimposedbyFrance following thediscoveryofthenewvirusvariantinEngland.Soldierswerecheckingvehi-

cles and drivers’ documents atthe entrance to the port andFrenchofficials, inDovertohelpclearthebacklog,wereseenad-ministering nasal swab tests todrivers. An additional 800British troops have now beendeployed to the port, on top ofthe300sent initially.

TIMREID&RICHARDCOWANDECEMBER25

USPRESIDENTDonaldTrumpwillspendChristmasDayathisPalmBeach resort as millions ofAmericans face the risk of losingjobless benefits onSaturday andapartial government shutdownloomsnextweek, following histhreattovetoa$2.3trillioncoron-avirusaidandspendingpackage.The fight over the spending

and aid package comes asAmericansfaceanunprecedentedholidayseason,amidapandemicthat is killing people in recordnumbers. Nearly 320,000AmericanshavediedofCovid-19thisyearandthedailydeathtollisrepeatedlywell over 3,000, thehighestsincethepandemicbegan.On Christmas Eve, Trump

playedgolf athis course inWestPalmBeach,Florida,andtweeteda series of grievances repeatinghis baseless claims about theelection result, including oneaimed at Senate Republicans,whomheaccusesofabandoninghimbecausemanynowpubliclyrecogniseBidenasthewinner.Trump stunnedmembers of

bothpartieswhenheunexpect-edlyannouncedthisweekhisdis-like of the $2.3 trillion spendingBill,apackagethathadtakentheHouseandSenatemonthstone-

gotiate.TheBillprovides$892bil-lionincoronavirusrelief,and$1.4trillioninregulargovernmentap-propriations. Trump, whowasrepresented in the negotiationsby Treasury Secretary StevenMnuchinandhadnotobjectedtothetermspriortotheHouseandSenatevotes,complainedthatthepackagewastoofullofmoneyforspecial interests and foreign aid,and said the $600 in direct pay-mentswasnotenough.REUTERS

REUTERSNAIROBI, DECEMBER25

ANOTHER NEW variant of thenovel coronavirus seems tohave emerged in Nigeria,theheadofAfrica’sdiseasecon-trol body said on Thursday,cautioning more investigationwasneeded.“It’s a separate lineage from

the UK and the South Africanlineages,” JohnNkengasong,di-rector of the Africa Centres forDiseaseControlandPrevention(CDC) told anonlinenewscon-ference fromAddisAbaba.Thenewscomesascasesare

surging in both Nigeria andSouth Africa. In the past week,Nigeriareporteda52%increasein cases and SouthAfrica a 40%increase, Nkengasong said.He said there was no evi-

dencethenewvariantwascon-tributing to increased trans-mission in Nigeria, butcautionedthecountrydoes lessgenomic surveillance thanBritain.The Nigeria CDC and the

AfricanCentreofExcellence forGenomicsof InfectiousDiseasesinNigeriawill studymoresam-ples, Nkengasong said.“Giveus some time ... it’s still

veryearly”,hesaid,inresponsetoquestionsaboutthevariant.

AmandressedupasSantaClauswaves tochildrenfrominsideaplasticballasaprotectivemeasureagainst thespreadofCovid-19, inFerrol, in thenorthwesternSpanishregionofGalicia.Reuters

FRANCESD'EMILIOROME,DECEMBER25

CURFEWS, QUARANTINES andevenborderclosingscomplicatedChristmascelebrationsFridayforcountless people around theglobe,but ingenuity, determina-tionandimaginationhelpedkeepthedayspecial formany.Pope Francis delivered his

ChristmasblessingfrominsidetheVatican, breakingwithhis tradi-tionalspeechfromthebalconyofSt.Peter’sBasilica totensof thou-sands in St. Peter’s Square. Buttourismin Italyhasvirtuallyvan-ished in the pandemic and thegovernment’scoronavirusrestric-

tions for theholidays foiled anyplans by locals to flock to thesquare.Citing a cause for optimism

amid thepandemic’s bleakness,Francis said the invention of

Covid-19 vaccines shines “lightsof hope” on theworld. In a pas-sionate appeal to leaders, busi-nesses and international organi-sations,hesaidtheymustensurethat the most vulnerable andneedyinthepandemicbefirst inlinetoreceivethevaccines.Bells rang out around

BethlehemonFridayasthetradi-tional birthplace of Jesus cele-bratedChristmasDay.Buttheclo-sureofIsrael’sinternationalairportto foreign tourists, along withPalestinianrestrictionsbanningin-tercitytravel intheareastheyad-minister in the Israeli-occupiedWestBank,keptvisitorsaway.In Beijing, official churches

abruptly cancelled Mass on

Christmas Day in a last-minutemove, after China’s capital wasput on high alert following theconfirmation of two confirmedCovid-19cases lastweek.Bordercrossingclosureskept

thousandsofmigrantsfromeco-nomicallydevastatedVenezuelawho live in other parts of SouthAmerica from going home fortheholidays.Otherssuccessfullycrossedborderselsewhereonlytofindthemselvesinquarantine.Celebrationsweremuted in

Africa,too,asovernightchurchvig-ilscouldnotbeheldinmanypartsbecauseofacurfew.Fewerpeoplealso reportedlyheadedhome toseefamilies,whichcouldhelplimitthespreadofthevirus.AP

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAKARACHI,DECEMBER25

BRITISH-BORN AL-QAEDAleader Ahmed Omar SaeedSheikh and his three aides,whoserelease in theabductionandmurder caseofUS journal-ist Daniel Pearlwas ordered byacourthere,willwalkoutof theprison on Saturday, police anda lawyer said on Friday.A two-judge bench of the

SindhHighCourtonThursdaydi-rected security agencies not tokeep Sheikh and other accusedunder“anysortofdetention”anddeclared all notifications of theSindhgovernmentrelatedtotheirdetention “null and void”. Thecourt observed that the fourmen’sdetentionwas“illegal”.According to the legal coun-

sel forthefourmen,theywillbereleasedonSaturdayasFridayisapublicholiday in thecountry.Meanwhile, theUSonFriday

expressed “deep concern” overthecourtordertoreleasethemen.“Wearedeeplyconcernedbythereports...Wehave been assuredthattheaccusedhavenotbeenre-leased at this time,” theUSStateDepartmentsaidinatweet.Ruth and Judea Pearl — the

parents of Daniel Pearl — con-demnedthedecisionmadebytheSindhHigh court andexpressedfull confidence in the SupremeCourt of Pakistan toprovide jus-tice for their son, the ExpressTribunereported.In April, a two-judge Sindh

HighCourtbenchcommutedthedeathsentenceofSheikhtosevenyears imprisonment. The courtalsoacquittedhisthreeaideswhowereservinglifetermsinthecase—almost twodecades after theywerefoundguiltyandjailed.

ITISnotyetclearwhetherTrumpactuallyintendstovetotheCovidreliefBill.TheBillwaspassedaftermonthsofnegotiationsbetweenbothpartiesinCongress,andit ispossiblethatlawmakerscouldvotetooverridethevetoifTrumpdoesusethatoption.However,Trumpcouldusewhatisknownasapocketvetoinordertokill theBill.ThePresidentcanholdontolegislationfor10daysbe-forehehastomakeacallonit,andifTrumpdoesthat, theBillwilleffectivelydiebe-causethecurrentCongress’termexpiresnextweek.

ThreatofapocketvetoE●EX

PLAINED

Britain sees record risein cases; US tells UKtravellers to get testedUKsendsmoretroops toDover tohelpclear truckqueues

AwomanlooksthroughthewindowathermotheropeningapresentonChristmasDayinLondon.MillionsinBritainwerespendingChristmasawayfromtheirfamiliesasauthoritiestightenedrestrictionsamidrisingCovid-19cases.Reuters

US Covid relief Billhangs in balance asTrump goes golfing

Another newcoronavirusvariant foundin Nigeria, saysAfrica CDC

Celebrating Christmas in a pandemic:Churches shut, borders complicated

YUBARAJGHIMIREKATHMANDU,DECEMBER25

A CONSTITUTIONAL bench ofNepal’s SupremeCourt issued ashowcause notice Friday to theKPSharmaOli government, ask-ingittofurnishreasonsforthedis-solution of the House ofRepresentatives, alongwith theoriginalletterofrecommendationfordissolutionand the responsefromthePresident’soffice,byJan3.A faction of the rulingNepal

CommunistParty,ledbyPushpaKamalDahal‘Prachanda’,hasac-cused PrimeMinister Oli of dis-solving theHouse in a bid to re-tainpower.

Amid the feudbetween rivalfactions of theNCP, China’s am-bassador Hou Yanqi met theparty’s dissident leaders for athirddayinarow.ShemetseniorNCP leaderMadhav Nepal andformerSpeakerKrishnaBahadurMaharaseparately,adayafterhermeetingwithPrachanda.Meanwhile,OlisaidinaTVin-

terviewthathewould takemore

sternmeasuresifhewasinstigatedfurther, drawingspeculation thathe couldmove todismiss all thesevenprovincialgovernments,orat least some of them, and putthemundertheCentre’srule.Protestshaveeruptedinparts

ofNepalagainstthedissolutionoftheHouse,with someprotestersburning effigies of Oli andPresidentBidhyaDeviBhandari.

AFTERDISSOLUTIONOFPARLIAMENT

Men convictedin Daniel Pearlmurder set to bereleased today

Nepal’s Supreme Court issuesshowcause notice to Oli govt

AtamarchtoprotestagainstthedissolutionofParliament,inKathmanduFriday.Reuters

TheUShasexpressed ‘deepconcern’over thereleaseofal-Qaeda leaderAhmedOmarSaeedSheikh

ASSOCIATEDPRESSST.PETERSBURG,DEC25

A COURT in St. Petersburg onFriday convicted a prominenthistory professor on charges ofmurderinganddismemberingafemale student and sentencedhimto121/2years inprison.Thecourt found64-year-old

Oleg Sokolov, who taught at St.Petersburg State University,guiltyofshootingandkilling24-year-old doctoral studentAnastasia Yeshchenko at hisapartment inNovember2019.

Sokolov was detained afterbeing pulled from the MoikaRiver outside his St. Petersburgapartmentwithabackpackwith

twoseveredarms inside.The limbswere identifiedas

Yeshchenko’s, and investigatorsfound other body parts in theriverandinSokolov’sapartmentin the historic part of St.Petersburg,lessthanamilefromtheHermitageMuseum.Duringthetrial,Sokolovtes-

tified that he and Yeshchenkohadaromanticrelationshipandthatheshotherduringaquarrel.Sokolov was known for his

booksabout theNapoleoniceraand his enthusiastic participa-tion in reenactments of historicbattles, and his case attracted

broadattention inRussia.A fluent French speaker,

Sokolovwas a leadingmemberof military reenactmentmove-mentssincetheearly1990sandrepresented Napoleon in nu-merous representations of his-toric battles andother events.Sokolov’s flamboyant style

and fiery delivery made himpopular among students, andhe spoke about his passion fortheNapoleonic era inTV inter-views. Napoleon was his idoland fellowhistory buffswouldaddress him ‘Sire’, the em-peror’s title.

Russian history professor who murdered,dismembered student gets over 12 yrs in jail

OlegSokolov

At thesceneof anexplosion inNashville,Tennessee,onFriday.AP

Large explosion shakes Nashville;police say it was an intentional actKIMBERLEEKRUESI&THALIABEATYNASHVILLE,DECEMBER25

ANEXPLOSIONshookthestreetsof downtown Nashville earlyChristmasmorning, shatteringwindows, damaging buildingsand wounding three people.Authorities said they believedtheblastwasintentional.TheFBIis leading the investigation.No deaths have been re-

ported.Metro Nashville Police

Department spokesman Don

Aaron said police responded toa call of shots fired just before 6am,butwerenot able to imme-diatelylocatesignsofashooting,although officers noticed a sus-picious vehicle and called for ahazardous unit. While theywaited, thevehicleexploded.Aaronsaidthreepeoplewere

takentoareahospitals for treat-ment.Hesaidsomepeopleweretaken to the department’s cen-tralprecinct forquestioningbutdeclined togivemoredetails.The FBI will be taking the

lead in the investigation, saidspokesmanJoelSiskovic.Federal

investigatorsfromtheBureauofAlcohol, Tobacco, Firearms andExplosives were also on thescene.TheFBIistheprimarylawenforcementagencyresponsiblefor investigating federal crimes,suchasexplosivesviolationsandactsof terrorism.At noon, police dogs contin-

uedtosearchcarsandbuildingsin thenearbyarea.A Philadelphiaman staying

inanearbyhotelsaidthatwhenheheardtheblast,hewasknewit wasn’t a harmless noise. “Itwasavery loudexplosion,” saidJosephFafara.

I beg everyone... topromote cooperation andnot competition, to find asolution for everyone—vaccines for all—especially for themostvulnerable andneedy inall areas of theplane.”

POPEFRANCISIN HIS CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

New Delhi

16SENSEX: 46,973.54 ▲ 529.36 NIFTY: 13,749.25 ▲ 148.15 NIKKEI: 26,656.61 ▼ 11.74 HANG SENG: 26,386.56 ▲ 43.46 FTSE: 6,502.11 ▲ 6.36 DAX: 13,587.23 ▲ 169.12

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`49,624

RUPEE`73.55

OIL$51.29

SILVER`66,954

Note:Gold, silverratesatDelhi spotmarket;goldper10g, silverper1kg;Brentcrudeasof2330IST

Domesticequity, currencyandbullionmarketsandinternational stockmarketswereclosedonFridayonaccountofChristmas

FINALDECISIONLIKELYTOBETAKENAFTERSPECTRUMAUCTION INMARCH

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

THE DEPARTMENT ofTelecommunications (DoT) isnot in favour of allowing or fix-inga floorprice forvoiceordataservices offered by telcos asthere has been substantial hikein tariffs by the operators in re-centmonthswithoutanycorre-spondingdropinusernumbers,seniorgovernmentofficials toldThe IndianExpress.A final decision on the issue

is likely to be taken after thespectrumauction inMarch.TheDoT, however, does notwant tobeseentakingananti-consumerstance and thereforemay avoidthefloorpricingaltogether,offi-cials said.“We have a forbearance

model. In thepast fewmonths,the data consumption for allplayers has been veryhigh...pattern is likely to con-tinue now. They (telcos) have

raised tariffs also in recentmonths,” an official said.Apart from the DoT, the

TelecomRegulatoryAuthorityofIndia (Trai) is also learnt tohavesupported the ideaof not fixinga floor price for the services,sources said.Though Trai had started

consultations on the issue offloor pricing in December lastyear, anationwide lockdowninMarch this year, put in place toprevent thespreadofCovid-19,brought these open-house de-bates to ahalt.Former Trai Chairperson RS

Sharma, who had kick-started

discussions,however, retired inSeptember this year, withouthaving achieved the finality onthis issue.It is now likely, officials said,

that the new chairperson P DVaghelamayeither start a freshconsultationprocessordropthematter altogether based on hismeetingswithDoTofficials.The issue of floor pricing for

dataaswellasvoiceserviceshasbeenunanimouslysupportedbythe three big private telcos,Reliance Jio Infocomm, BhartiAirtel and Vi (Vodafone Idea).IndustrybodyCellularOperatorsAssociation of India (COAI),which represents the three tel-cos, has also in recent monthswritten to the Trai to expeditetheprocessof fixingafloorpricefor both data and call services,butwithoutanysuccess.In its letter to the DoT, the

industrybodyhadsaid that thedemand for a floor price onboth data and voice serviceswas a “legitimate” demand

giventhe financialhealthof thetelecomplayers.“Given the financial pres-

sure on the sector and the factthatARPU(averagerevenueperuser) and tariffs of the Indiantelecomsectorarethelowest inthe world, floor pricing is im-perative to ensure that the sec-tor is sustainable,” COAI hadsaid in its letter.Of the three, both Bharti

AirtelandViareunderpressurefollowing the SupremeCourt’sOctober 2019 ruling on ad-justed gross revenue (AGR).The court had ruled that

Bharti Airtel and Vi must paylong-pending AGR dues,the penalty for non-paymentover the past years, andthe interest on penalty fornon-payment.BhartiAirtel owesDoTmore

thanRs43,000crore,ofwhichithaspaidclosetoRs18,000croreuntil now, while Vi owesmorethanRs58,000crore,ofwhichithaspaidnearlyRs6,900crore.

3.97 cr ITRs filed for FY20 till Dec 24ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,DECEMBER25

ASMANYas3.97croretaxpayershavealreadyfiledtheirincometaxreturns for assessmentyear (AY)2020-21 (fiscal year2019-20) tillDecember 24, the Income TaxDepartmentsaidonFriday.“Over 3.97 crore IncomeTax

Returnshavealreadybeenfiledtill24thofDecember,2020.Haveyoufiledyoursasyet?Ifnot,pleasedoit TODAY! File your Return ofIncomeTax& ....Relax!,” thede-partmenttweeted.

This includes 2.27 crore tax-payers filing ITR-1, 85.20 lakh fil-ing ITR-4, 46.78 lakh ITR-3 and28.74lakhfilingITR-2.ThedeadlinetofileI-Treturns

by individual taxpayers for the2019-20fiscal (AY2020-21)endsonDecember31,2020,while the

same for taxpayers whose ac-counts require to be audited isJanuary31,2021.The due date has been ex-

tended fromJuly31andOctober31,2020,respectivelyinviewoftheCOVIDpandemic.Atthecloseofdeadlineforfil-

ingITRwithoutpaymentoflatefeeforFY2018-19(AY2019-20),over5.65 crore returnswere filed bytaxpayers. Thedeadline last yearwasextendedtillAugust31,2019.The I-Tdepartment said3.92

croreITRswerefiledtillAugust24,2019,comparedto3.97crorefiledtillDecember24,2020.

RIL to buy outIMG Worldwidefrom sportsmanagement JV

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,DECEMBER25

RELIANCE INDUSTRIES Ltd (RIL)has agreed to buy out IMGWorldwideLLC fromtheir sportsmanagement joint venture forRs52.08crore.The company, in a stock ex-

changefiling, said itwillbuyIMGWorldwide’s50per cent stake inIMG-RelianceLtd (IMG-R) fornomorethanRs52.08croreincash.RILwill rebrandthecompany

aftertheclosureofthedeal.RILhadformedanequaljoint

venturewithIMGWorldwide,aninternational sportsmarketingandmanagement company, in2010 to develop, market andmanage sports and entertain-ment in India.IMG is a global leader in

sports, fashion, events andme-dia, operating inmore than 30countries, and is a part of theEndeavornetwork.

INTERVIEWWITHCEO,GENNOVABIOPHARMACEUTICALS

THEMRNACovid-19 vaccine byGennovaBiopharmaceuticalswillhopefullynotonlyachieveasim-ilarefficacytothecandidatesde-velopedbyPfizer andModerna,butwill also bemore affordablypricedforacountrylikeIndia,ac-cordingtoCEODrSANJAYSINGH.In an interview to PRABHARAGHAVAN, Singh details howthePunefirm’svaccineworksanddelvesintoplanstotestandscaleupproduction for a vast popula-tion.Editedexcerpts:

HowdoesyourmRNAvaccine,whichusesaself-amplifyingmodel,comparewithPfizerandModerna’scandidates?Ourvaccinewillworkinasim-

ilar fashion to Pfizer’s andModerna’scandidates.Regardlessofthefactthatthisisbasedontheself-amplifyingmRNAplatform,itallowsyoutogive themessagetothecells,whichconvertsitintotheantigen,generatinganeutral-ising immune response againstthe Covid-19 virus. Unlike ours,Moderna’s and Pfizer’s vaccinesusenon-replicatingmRNA.Aself-amplifyingtypemRNA

ismuchmorebeneficialinsuchapandemic situation,where thevaccinedeploymentisnotinmil-lions, but billions. For the coun-try’s population, thiswill be themost appropriate vaccine candi-date. The advantage is that youcan givemaybe a lower dose ofthevaccine.Moderna’svaccineisreported

toworkat100microgramsintwodoses,while Pfizer’sworks at 30microgramsintwodoses.Wearetargeting5,10and25microgramsandwehopethatanyoneofthesedoseswillprovetobeefficacious.In a self-amplifyingmodule,

onemRNAmolecule enters thecellandproducesmultiplecopies,which will then make higherquantitiesofproteinantigencom-paredtoasimilardoseofthenon-replicatingmRNA.Therefore, theeffective dose can be quite less,providing a similar protection todisease. Another advantage ofmRNA in general is that it neverenters thenucleus and, thereby,there is nopossibility of integra-tion in the organism’s genome,wheretheDNAresides.Itdoesitswork in the cytoplasm, and be-cause of this chemical structure,it is a naturally self-degradingmolecule—itgoesawaywithinalimitedtime.Wedid extensive preclinical

animal testing, starting some-where inMarchforninemonths.Thisisimportantbecauseitwillre-duceourrisk, improvesafetyandhelpusunderstand thepossibleefficaciousdosesofourvaccine.

WhattimelinesareyoulookingatforthetestingofyourvaccinecandidateinIndia?Whatisthescopefor

globaltestingofthisvaccine?Forphase1,wehavegot two

siteswherewewillbestartingen-rolment soon. These are KEMHospital in Pune and a govern-ment hospital in Kolhapur. Thefirstphasewillinclude120partic-ipants.Wearelookingatenrolling500participantsforphase2trialsand thiswill go intomanysites. Ihopeitwillbe6-10sites.Wehopetostartphase1soon.

Wewillpresentourphase1datato the DCGI (Drug ControllerGeneral of India), before startingthesecondphase,andsothetime-line for thetrials tobecompletedwill depend on these factors. Ihopethiswilltakearoundtwoandahalfmonths,butthiscanvary.Weare aiming to start phase

1 trials in the US alsowith ourpartners. TheNIHhas fundedus—around$8.2million—andwewillexpandthisglobally.At present,weare indiscus-

sions with the US FDA, but weexpect somewhere in themid-dleofFebruarytobeabletostartphase 1 trials. The number ofparticipants (in the US) will bedecided by the FDA there, theway the participants in IndiahavebeendecidedbytheCDSCO(CentralDrugsStandardControlOrganisation).There is a possibility thatwe

mightgoinforlargerglobaltrials,andIpresumethetargetcountriesfor these trialswill includeBrazilandSouthAfrica.

Whatcorrelatesofprotection(correlatesofprotectionaresignsthatthevaccineisabletodeveloptheimmuneresponserequired)willyoubelookingattoensurethatyourvaccineisefficacious?Wewill be looking at corre-

lates similar towhat Pfizer hasstudiedinitstrials,andsomead-ditional correlates. For instance,(wewouldbelookingat) thehu-moral response in termsof anti-body and neutralisation titers.Anothercorrelateishowgoodthecellular (T-cell) response is. If avaccinewhichhasbeenapprovedusesthesameplatform,weknow

whatthecorrelatesofprotectionare.Duringourphase1and2tri-als,wewill have to seewhetherwearegettingasimilarkindofre-sponse.Wewillalsolookataddi-tionalcorrelatesofprotection,butthesearethemostimportant.

PfizerandModerna’svaccinesseemtobeexpensivefordevelopingcountries.Howdoyouexpectyourvaccinetobepriced?Thepriceof thevaccine isdi-

rectly correlatedwith itsmassproduction.Ithastobeaffordableand competitive, but right nowthepriority is safetyandefficacy.Ourvaccine’spricingwillcertainlybe in the affordable range—wearecommittedtothat—butitwillalsodependonhowmanydosesweareaskedtomanufacture.Thepricewillbeanoutcomeofscale.

Howareyouovercomingpotentialsupplychainissueswithyourvaccine?Whatcapacityareyouaimingfor?Wealready have installed a

productioncapacityof30milliondoses per month, but we canrampitupfairlyquicklywithourparentgroup,Emcure.Intermsofrawmaterials,wearealreadydo-ingbackwardintegrationtomakesureweare self-sufficient in thiscrucialpartof thesupplychain. Ifwe have to produce billions ofdoses, the rawmaterialwill cer-tainlycropupasanissue.But, forthe levelweare at, currently,wehavesourcedtherawmaterialsinsuch a fashion thatwe can pro-duceafewhundredmilliondosesannuallyinaveryshorttime.Oncewe complete phase 2,

wewillbe inamuchbetterposi-tion tounderstandwhat kindofproduction capacitywe’re goingtoaimfor.

Realistically,whendoyouexpectaCovid-19vaccinebecomingavailableinIndia?Ifeelwecanhavesomebright

prospectsclosetoMarchtoApril.Thismeansavaccine invisibilitywith established safety andeffi-cacydata.

HowhasfinancingandsupportfromCEPIandBIRAChelpinthedevelopmentofyourvaccine?Other than the initial seed

fundingandsupportfromDBT,themost important thing that cametousisthatwehavegonethroughamulti-layerreviewprocess,andtheseexpert commentswereanaddedadvantageforus.Everysecondmonth,weare

presenting to the committee,andtheyareevaluatingourdata.So,Gennovahasauniqueadvan-tage of having such an expertgroupavailablefortheirvaccinedevelopment apart from justseed funding.

‘Vaccine price to be outcomeof scale; have output capacityof 30 mn doses per month’

DrSanjaySingh

E●EXPLAINED

Long-termproductivityis key

DEMANDFORfloorpricingfordataandvoiceserviceshasbeenunanimouslysupportedbytelecomoperators,andin-dustryrepresentativestoohaveaskedexpeditionof theprocess.However,authoritieshavepointedoutthatdatacon-sumptionhasbeenquitehighandtelcoshaveraisedtariffs inrecentmonths.Whiletheindustryhaspressedfortheneedforafloor

price,doingsomaynotbeasproductiveuntil it isforthelongrun,policyexpertssaid.

Consumerinfocus:DoT&Traimaydashtelcos’hopesoffixedfloorprice

AMIDCOVID

‘Strongergrowth likely for autosector inFY22, EVs tobenefit’After recovering fromtheCovid impact, auto industry is likelyto see strongergrowth in2021-22,withEVsales, especiallytwo-wheleers, also likely tobepositive, aNomurareport said

Export opportunities: Further, export opportunitiesfor EV components as well as batteries could emergefor domestic players as the world struggles to findalternative sources for supply chain resilience

Why is it important: After recovering from thepandemic, the auto industry would see stronger growthnext fiscal, with some price hikes — expected withintroduction of new regulations — being a key factor

Source:Nomura/PTI

PVrecoverytotaketime:In thepersonalvehicle (PV)segment, the levels reached in2018-19wouldbereachedonlyin2022-23,whereasfor two-wheelers, itwillbeachievedmaybeayearafter that

PositiveoutlookforEVs:Electricvehicles(EVs)wouldalsoseepositivemovements inFY22,especially in two-wheelerEVsegment,withnewplayerslikeOlaElectriccoming in

BoostforEVcomponents:OntheEVcomponentsside,celllevelmanufacturingcouldstartoffwithtechnologicalcollaborationsfocusingonnewtech likeLTO(lithiumtitaniumoxide)batteries

Highercompetition:Widerparticipationby localplayersaswell asentryofsomenewplayerscouldbeseen intermsofEVcomponentssuchasmotorsandcontrollers

33,77,436:PVUNITSSOLDIN2018-19,UP2.7%FROM32,88,581UNITSIN2017-18,ASPERSOCIETYOFINDIANAUTOMOBILEMANUFACTURERS(SIAM)

2,11,81,390:TWO-WHEELERSSOLD IN2018-19,UP4.86%ASCOMPAREDWITH2,02,00,117UNITS IN2017-18

Thedeadlinetofile I-Treturnsby individualtaxpayers for the2019-20fiscalendsonDecember31,20

REUTERSBRUSSELS,DECEMBER25

EUROPEANUNIONambassadorswereconveningonChristmasDaytostartassessingthemassivefree-trade deal the bloc struckwithBritain that should kick off nextweek when the acrimoniousBrexit divorce process finallycomes to an end. After the dealwasannouncedonThursday,EUnations already showed supportfor the outcome and itwas ex-pected that theywould unani-mously back the agreement, aprerequisiteforitslegalapproval.Speedilyapprovingthedealis

essential,sinceatransitionperiodduringwhichBritaincontinuedtotrade by EU rules despite itsJanuary 31 departure from theblocrunsoutonNewYear’sDay.TheUKparliamentisexpected

toapprovethedealinthecomingdays,buttheagreementwillhavetobeappliedprovisionally, sincetheEU’s legislature canonlygiveitsnodnextmonthattheearliest.There,too,approvalisexpected.The strong show of unity is

testament toEUchief negotiatorMichel Barnier,whohasworkedrelentlesslytokeepallEUnationsandgroupswithin theEUparlia-mentintheloopofdevelopmentsthroughoutthenegotiations.

NewDelhi:WithEuropeanUnionandtheUKclinchingapost-Brexittradepact, India shouldnowag-gressivelypursuefreetradeagree-ments(FTAs)separatelywithboththeregions,accordingtoexperts.Althoughitisprematuretoas-

sess the gains for India from theagreement between EuropeanUnion (EU) and the UnitedKingdom,Indiangoodswouldnotgetmuchbenefit from this pact,theysaid.However, India can explore

opportunities in service sectorslike information technology, ar-

chitecture,researchanddevelop-mentandengineeringinboththemarkets as the EU-UKpact doesnotcoverservices,theyadded.“There is notmuch gain for

Indiangoods, butwe cangain inservicessectorinboththeUKandEUmarkets.Wewillgainmoreinthe UK market as we are anEnglish speaking country,”Federation of Indian ExportOrganisations(FIEO)directorgen-eralAjaySahaisaid.He said there are no specific

customsdutybenefitsfordomes-ticgoodsfromthisagreement.

“NowweshouldpushtheFTAnegotiationswithboththeEUandtheUK. Indian competitors likeVietnamhavegreaterdutyadvan-tage in sectors like apparel andmarinegoods,”Sahaisaid.Sharingsimilarviews,Biswajit

Dhar,aprofessorofeconomicsatJawaharlalNehruUniversity,saidIndia had a lot of contentious is-sueswhile negotiating FTAwiththeEU.However,afterBrexit, theUKcouldhavedifferentstandonthose issues and now “Indiashould pursue FTA talks againwithboththeregions”. PTI

‘India should seek FTAs with EU, UK’

Manufacturing cos see recoverywith softer Q2 sales contraction

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,DECEMBER25

DEMAND CONDITIONS in themanufacturingsectorreturnedtothe recoverymode,with a softeryear-on-year (y-o-y) contractionof4.3percentinthesecondquar-terofthisfinancialyear,intermsofnominalsalesaftershrinking41.1per cent in the previous quarterthatwashitbycountrywidelock-downsduetoCovid-19,accordingtoRBIdata.The recoverywas ledby iron

andsteel, foodproducts,cement,automobileandpharmaceuticalscompanies, showed thedata onthe performance of the privatecorporate sector during the sec-ondquarterof2020-21.Manufacturingcompaniesre-

ported sales of Rs 5,99,479 croreinQ2,asagainstRs3,97,233croreinApril-JuneofFY21.Thedatahasbeendrawnfromabridgedquar-terly financial results of 2,637

listed non-government non-fi-nancial (NGNF) companies, theReserveBankof India(RBI)said.Nominalsalesofnon-ITserv-

icessector tooposted lowercon-traction of 14.5 per cent (y-o-y),ledbyexpansioninsalesofteleco-mmunication and real estate co-mpanies.SalesgrowthofITsectorcompaniesremainedsteadyat3.6percent(y-o-y)inQ2FY21.Asperthedata,salesofnon-IT

firmsandITfirmsduringthesec-

ond quarter stood at Rs 80,842crore and Rs 1,01,353 crore, re-spectively. “Operating profits ofmanufacturing companies in-creasedon thebackof savings inexpenditure;operatingprofitsofservices(bothITandnon-IT)com-paniesalsoincreasedinQ2:2020-21,”theRBIsaidinastatement.Onexpenditure, it said input

costpressurefromrawmaterialsremainedsubdued formanufac-turing sector in the July-Septemberquarterof thefiscal.Meanwhile, staff cost growth

(y-o-y)deceleratedforITcompa-nies in the second quarter,whereas it remained in contrac-tion zone for themanufacturingandnon-ITservicessectors.As per the data, with rise in

profits, interest coverage ratio(ICR) ofmanufacturing compa-niesimprovedto4.6inthesecondquarterof2020-21from2.4inthepreviousthree-monthperiod.TheICRofnon-ITservicescompaniesremainedbelowone.

EU nations start assessing post-Brexit trade deal with UK

■Manufacturingcompaniesposteda4.3%year-on-yearcontractioninQ2FY21,intermsofnominalsales,aftershrinking41.1%intheprecedingquarter,asperRBIdata

NOMINAL SALESSHRINK4.3%

Datadrawnfromresultsof listedNGNFcosbyReserveBank

EU’schiefBrexitnegotiatorMichelBarnieratameetingoftheCommitteeofthePermanentRepresentativesoftheGovernmentsoftheMemberStatestotheEuropeanUnion,inBrussels. AP

BRIEFLYPaymentnoticetoDishTVNewDelhi:Direct-to-homeoperatorDishTVsaidFridayithasreceivedademandno-tice from the governmentfor payment of Rs 4,164.05crore,whichincludeslicencefeeandinterest. Inaregula-tory filing, the Essel groupcompanysaidthattheMini-stryofInformationandBro-adcasting, via a letter datedDecember24,askedittopaythesaidsumtowardslicencefeefromtheperiodfromthedate of issuance of DTH li-cencetillFY19.

DutyoncarbonblackimportsNewDelhi: TheCommerceMinistryhasrecommendedextensionof anti-dumpingdutyforfiveyearsoncarbonblackfromChinaandRussia,saidaDirectorateGeneralofTradeRemediesnotification.

‘IKEAIndialosswidensinFY20’NewDelhi:IKEAIndiasawitsnet losswiden to Rs 720.1crorein2019-20,asperreg-ulatorydocuments.

Sebifineorder:NDTVtoappealNewDelhi:NDTVpromot-ers, Prannoy and RadhikaRoy, and promoter groupcompanyRRPRHoldingPvtLtdwill appeal against theSebi order that imposed afine of Rs 27 crore on themforallegednon-disclosureofcertain loanagreements, asperafilingtoexchanges.PTI

‘Chinacosdelay,cancelbonds’Shanghai:Chinese compa-nies have cancelled or de-layedissuanceofnearly200bondsworth 145.7 billionyuan ($22.31 billion) sinceearlyNovember,statemediareported. REUTERS

New Delhi

SPORT/CALENDAR17 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,DECEMBER26,2020

CROSSWORD4312

ACROSS1 Foodput in themeadowsforthebirds (10)

6 Anindistinct impressionofspeed(4)

10 Timetakentomuse(5)11 Thoughtnewitemdated(9)12 Extremescepticism(8)13 Hetangleswithcop- thatwillmeantime(5)

15 Nauticalwayto the top(7)17 Fancymebeing found inabrokenchair (7)

19 Plunderpiledsohaphazardly(7)

21 Stays toencloseanumber insomearmour (7)

22 Kickingoneself forgettingruginbadcondition(5)

24 Tengirlsgoneastray,yet still ofexcellentcharacter(8)

27 Allagreedtodistributionof aunionsum(9)

28 Is involved inonedreadful row(5)

29 Almostdrainapitcher(4)

30 Ofuse towriters still,wehear(10)

DOWN1 Hurriedly leftwithouthavingeaten(4)

2 Wastes time;acase forimprovement (9)

3 Hob I’dbuilt for the Indianwasherman(5)

4 Cupboardthatwill givemoreair (7)

5 Deathtovariousmice found inthearea (7)

7 Gamemanytaketo (5)8 Uncivil and itmaybedrunk,but it’senjoyedbythe fit (4,6)

9 Let’shireoutaplace in Jersey(2,6)

14 Mainthoroughfareusedbymerchants (5,5)

16 Inflexibleholdonaclub?(4,4)18 An inelegantsortof plant (9)20 Endure theFrenchtypeof beer(4,3)

21 Thesecret’sout; it’s cometolight (7)

23 Not in thebestofmoods, Ireckon! (5)

25 Languageused intellingoneoff? (5)

26 Fedupyouthbegins toresist(4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)This is amoment toboast, believe inyourself andgenerally aim for

the top. If you imagine that it isbest to behumble, and to hideyour talents under a stone, youwillmiss out. The oneimportant condition is to avoidbad-temperedpeople,especially the oneswhodon'tbelieve in you.

TAURUS(Apr.21-May21)Youhave longagorealisedthat therearesituations inwhichthebestplan

is tostaystill andavoidbeingnoticed.Thismaybeyourmosteffectivestrategyunless, that is,youarepreparedto turnyourlifeupsidedown. It alldependsonhowmuchconfidenceyouhaveandcourage.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Youhavenodoubtdiscoveredwhatotherpeoplehavebeenupto,butdon't

imaginethatyouknowthewhole truth.This isaveryuseful timefor travel,partlybecausetheresultswill exceedyourexpectations. It'spossiblethatanunexpectedencountercould takeyour life inanewdirection.

CANCER(June22- July23)Thinkaboutwhatyoucandoforothers.Withinthefamily it seemstobe

childrenandyounger relativeswhoneedmaximumunconditional support.Yourbehaviourmaybe largelydominatedbyeventswhichtookplacea longtimeago,andmemorieswhichmaybeburieddeep inyourunconscious.

LEO(July24-Aug.23)Youareprobablyunawareof justhowmuchyoucaninfluenceother

people, and it's thereforeveryimportant indeedtobepositive,toencourage, cajoleandenthuse them,creatingasenseofhope.This is inspiteof thefact thatyoumaybea littlewobblyemotionally.

VIRGO(Aug.24-Sept.23)Youmaywellhavehiddenfearsandsuspicions,perhapsbecauseyou imagine

thatanagreement iscomingunstuck.Carefulandpracticalaction is theanswer.Also, raiseyourspiritswithpleasantday-dreams,andspenda littletimeplanningthosemuch-needed improvements.

LIBRA(Sept.24-Oct.23)Seen fromoneangleyourstarsarepositively riotous,althoughsocial costs

mayspiraloutof controlunlessyoutake firmaction.Oldfriendsmaybeonyourmind, soget in touch.Steerclearofconflict;even if thatdoesmeanpostponingaparticularappointment.

SCORPIO(Oct.24-Nov.22)Yourstarshaveseldomlookedmorecompetitive.Putasideanydoubts,

overcomeallqualms,andsetout tobenumberone in love,athomeandatwork.Onlyacceptthosesocial taboosandconstraintswhichsuityou.Anddon't leteveryoneelseknowyour intentions-unlessyouabsolutelyhaveto.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov.23-Dec.22)Life is in the balanceand could swingeitherway,whethertowards

confrontation or towards greatjoy. The choice is yours. Themain consideration, though, isalways to aim for themostadventurous options,broadening your horizons andcatching a glimpse of thelarger picture.

CAPRICORN(Dec.23- Jan.20)Youseemtobegoingthroughanextravagantphaseand, insomecases,

thatmaybeanunderstatement!Domesticandfamilycommitmentscouldaddto themonetaryburden,whilepersonal relationshipsareheading foran intenseperiod.Thenext fewweekscouldbringsurprises, soget ready.

AQUARIUS(Jan.21-Feb.19)Matrimonialandpartnershipaffairsbecomeevenmoreimportant, if sucha

thingwerepossible. It isnecessary toputyourowninterests toonesideeversobriefly,offeringyour fullemotional support topeopleyou love. Ihopethey'llappreciateyoursacrifice.

PISCES(Feb.20-Mar20)Theonethingwhichreallybothersyounowconcerns theextent towhichyou

havebeenexploited. It isneverpleasant tohaveyouremotionstakenforgranted,but that iswhatseemstohavehappened.Perhapsyoushouldpick therightmomentandexplainhowyoufeel.

SUDOKU4334

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

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

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4333

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Thegoldenruleisthat_______goldenrules-GBShaw(5,3,2)

SOLUTION:PEEVE,ARROW,SPLINT,HOLLOWAnswer:Thegoldenruleisthattherearenogoldenrules-GBShaw

PVEEE ILPSNT

OWARR LLOWHO

SolutionsCrossword4311:Across:1Ejected,5Amass,8Shipyards,9Sum,10Yaws,12Falsetto,14Pliant,15Relate,17Altering,18Asia,21Inn,22Practical,24Tepid,25Annexes.Down:1Essay,2Eli,3Toys,4Dorsal,5Assessed,6Alsatians,7Someone,11Writtenup,13Intrepid,14Pianist,16Ankara,19Atlas,20Stun,23Cox.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

WhyJadeja for Kohli isa radical selection shiftTUSHARBHADURINEWDELHI, DECEMBER25

FOUR CHANGES in a Test match side willnormally be considered drastic, but theplaying XI picked by Team India’s thinktank for the Boxing Day Test match is un-derstandable in the backdrop of theAdelaide debacle.Shubman Gill for Prithvi Shaw,

Mohammed Siraj for Mohammed ShamiandRishabhPant forWriddhimanSahacanbe termed like-for-like replacements, buttheone that seemsabit radical is RavindraJadeja coming in for regular skipper ViratKohli. It changes the whole dynamic andbalanceof theside. Indiaseemstobetakingthe aggressive options for the MelbourneTest starting onSaturday.

Can an all-rounder replace BatsmanNo.1?The left-arm spinner’s batting has im-

provedconsiderably inrecent times,buthewillnotbeexpectedtocontributetoKohli’squantum of runs. What he brings to thetable isa fifthbowlingoption,probably thebest in theworld right now.Hewill not beconsideredaspecialistbatsman,buthehasshown in the past that he can come to thepartywhen the chips are down. And if theMCGpitch is slowand flat as it hasbeen inrecent times, the extra spin op-tion will be handy, both as awicket-takingandcontainmentoption.

Gill for Shawwasexpected.Shaw’s technicaldeficiencies

onpitchesthatdoalittlebitwerelaid bare in Adelaide. Gill is amuchmoresolidandtechnically-proficientbatsman,andhisgame iswell suited to theAussieconditionswiththeextrabounce.HehasscoredmostofhisFirst-Classrunsasanopener for Punjab, and a Test debut hasbeen considered long overdue. He couldprotect the middle order, alreadymissingKohli, fromthenewball.Thedressingroomwill be a calmerplace.

Is Pant for Sahaagamble?There is hardly any doubt that Saha is

themost accomplishedgloveman in India,but there’s a line of thinking that his skillsare requiredmore in sub-continental con-ditionswhile standing up to spinners. TheBengal player is a stubborn batsmanwho

has scored vital runs in thepast,butPanthastheabilitytochangeagamewith thebat ina short period of time. WithKohli absent, the teamman-agementmayhavebeenlook-ingforsomeonetotaketheag-gressive option and put

pressure back on the Australian bowlers.And Pant is likely to be reliable behind thestumps against seamers. They will keeptheir fingers crossed that he doesn’t makeanymistakeswhile ’keeping to spinners.

Siraj preferredoverSaini.This is a forced change. Shami bowls a

heavyballandcanrunthroughabattingor-der ifheis inthemood.Siraj ismoreaswingbowlerwhocanbeeffective if there’sassis-tance available. He also has a better First-Class and A-team record than NavdeepSaini, who was the other option for thisspot.SirajandUmeshYadavcanbeahandynew-ball pairing, keeping the threat ofJaspritBumrahas first change. Sainiwould

have been preferred if the pitch was ex-pected tobequicker.

Finally,whataboutKLRahul?Rahul’s pedigree with the bat is not in

doubt. He is on his third Test tour ofAustraliaandevenhasahundredthere.Healsogives the teammanagementoptions–hecankeepwickets,bat inthemiddleorder,or evenopen thebatting.ButRahulhasbeenawicketkeeperonly

in white-ball games so far, and giving himthe big gloves would have been a big risk.As far as opening goes, he has struggled inoverseas conditions when the ball movesoff thestraight,andGillwasconsideredthemoresolidplayerat thisstage.AndasRahuldoesn’tbowl,hewaspippedby Jadejawhocould give a genuinewicket-taking optionif conditions are favourable.As Rahul didn’t feature in either of the

warm-up games before the first Test, it’sevident that he isn’t quite in the thinktank’s scheme of things as far as Tests areconcerned.

All-rounder’s returngivesthis teamtheoptionof fieldingfivegenuinebowlers

Ravindra Jadeja is likely tobatatNo7. PTI

Resurgent Milan challengeJuventus’ dominanceASSOCIATEDPRESSMILAN,DECEMBER25

LIKE2020ingeneral, it'sbeenastrangeyearforSerieA.Forthefirsttimesince2009,bothMilanclubsareatthetopoftheItalianleaguestandingsheading into thewinterbreak.InterMilanwent on towin the title that

season, with city rival ACMilan claiming itthefollowingcampaign.Neitherof themhaswon it since, in a nine-year domination ofSerieAbyJuventus,butMilanendstheyearonepointaheadof second-place Inter.Juventusuncharacteristically finds itself

in sixth, trailingMilanby10points—albeithavingplayedamatchless.Milancan’tquiteclaim the symbolic title of “WinterChampion,” however, as that goes to theteamtopofSerieAatthehalfwaystage.Withtheseasonhavingstartedlaterthanusual—becauseoftheeffectsofthecoronaviruspan-demiconthe lastcampaign—only14of the19roundsmakingupthefirsthalfof thesea-sonhavebeenplayed.TheSerieAseasonwillresumeon3 January.

MesmerisingMilanWhat a difference a yearmakes. Milan

hascollected34pointsfromitsfirst14leaguematches,exactlydoublethenumberithadatthesamestagelastyear. It isalsotheonlyun-beatenteamacrossEurope’stopfiveleagues,with 10wins and four draws and is withintouchingdistanceof a record.Milanisonlythesecondsideinthosefive

leagues to have scored at least two goals inmore than 15 successivematches reachingback to last season.TheRossonerihavedoneso in 16 and are closing in on Barcelona’srecord of 18, set in 1948. The key differencebetween this year and last is thatMilannowhasforwardZlatanIbrahimovic.Theteamwas12thwhenIbrahimovicreturnedtotheclubinJanuary,eightyearsafterhisdeparture—andthatofothers—sparkedaspiralofdecline.Ibrahimovic has helped transform the

clubnot onlywith his goals on the field butalso his leadership qualities off it. The 39-year-old Ibrahimovic has played less thanhalfhisteam’smatchesthisseasonashehasbeensidelinedwiththecoronavirusandin-juries.Hehasneverthelessmanagedtoscore10 goals in his six league matches.Ibrahimovic has also helped coach StefanoPiolibringoutthebestinMilan’syoungplay-ers.SoyouthfulisMilan’ssquadthatthissea-son it has fielded the twoyoungest startinglineups in Serie A since at least 2004-05whenstatisticssupplierOptastartedcollect-ing that data. “Pioli told me that there(Sweden)IhavetwochildrenbuthereIhave25andtheyneedme,” Ibrahimovicsaid inarecent interview, when asked if he had

thoughtofgoingtohisnativeSwedenwhenhewas injured.Ibrahimovic has also instilled a never-

give-upmentalityinhisteammatesandthatwas clearly evident onWednesday whenTheoHernándezscored instoppage timetosecurea3-2winoverLazioandensureMilanheaded into thewinterbreakabove Inter.While ending the year top of the table

might only be symbolic, its importance totheplayerswas clearly shownby theirwildcelebrations. Itmattersasmuchtotheirfansas around500of themwelcomed the teambus to the stadium, letting off flares andchanting their support,with spectators stillbannedfromstadiumsinItalybecauseofthepandemic.

Flailing JuveThings are not going to plan at Juventus

fornewcoachAndreaPirlo.PirlowastaskedwithturningJuventusintoamoreattractiveside and ending the club’s quarter-centurywait forChampionsLeaguesuccess,despiteitbeinghisvery first coachingposition.But the Bianconeri are faltering in Serie

A, which it has dominated for the previousnine seasons. Under the 41-year-old Pirlo,Juventusishavingoneof itsworststartssince2010 and is 11 pointsworse off than it wasafter13matcheslastseasonunderpredeces-sor Maurizio Sarri. Juventus' problem isdrawingmatches it would have previouslywon.Pirlo’s sidehasalreadydrawnsixof itsmatches—morethanithasinanyof thelasteight seasonsapart from2014-15.Juventusalsoappearstohavebecometoo

dependent onCristianoRonaldo and strug-gleswhen its star forwardhas anunusuallysub-parperformance.

SERIEA

Zlatan Ibrahomovichasscored10goalsinSerieAsofar this season. Reuters

CentresanctionsVinesh’strainingcampinHungaryNewDelhi:Thecentral governmenthassanctioneda40-day training camp forchampionwrestlerVineshPhogatalongwithherpersonalcoachWollerAkos,spar-ringpartnerPriyankaPhogatandphysio-therapistPoornimaRamanNgomdirforatotal costofRs15.51 lakh.Thecampwassanctionedunderthegovernment'sTargetOlympic PodiumScheme (TOPS). ThecampwilltakeplacefromDecember28toJanuary 24 at theVasas Sports Club inBudapest,HungaryandfromJanuary24toFebruary5attheOlympicTrainingCentreinSzczrykinPoland.Thetotalcostincludesairfare, localtransportation,boardingandlodging charges and out of pocket al-lowance. Vinesh is apart of theTargetOlympicPodiumSchemeandisamedalprospectattheTokyoGames.ThetrainingcamphasbeenplannedbyVinesh'sper-sonalcoachAkos,givinghertheopportu-nitytosparwithmanyEuropeanwrestlersinherweightcategoryandimprovingonhertechnicalandtacticalaspects.

‘Amirincidentwillhavenegativeimpactonteam’Lahore:FormerPakistancaptainandchiefselectorInzamam-ul-HaqbelievesthattherecentMuhammadAmirretirementcon-troversywill haveanegative impactoncountry's cricket. Amir recently retiredfrominternationalcricketduetohisdiffer-enceswith teammanagementcompris-ingchiefcoachMisbahulHaqandbowlingcoachWaqarYounis."ItisnotaboutwhatimpactAmir'sdecisionwill haveonourbowlingresourcesorstrengthbecauselifemoveson.Butwhatbothersmemore isthenegative impact such incidentshaveonour cricket and its image," InzamamtoldthemediainLahoreonThursday.Thebattinggreat felt that theAmir incidentdidn'treflectwellonPakistancricket.

LampardseeksimprovementatChelseaLondon:ChelseabossFrankLampardsaidhe ispleasedwith theprogressmadebyhisteaminthePremierLeaguesofarthisseason,buthascalledforfurtherimprove-mentintheirquesttobecomegenuineti-tlecontenders. “I’mhappybutwealwayswantmoreasmanagers,” Lampard toldSkySportsonThursday. “Thereality isatthestartoftheseason,wehadsomenewplayerswhile othersweremissing, andwe lackedapre-season. Looking at ourearlyresults,wesawsomegoodandsomenot-so-goodperformances.”AGENCIES

BRIEFLY

New Delhi


SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VolLXXXIXNo.40Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P)LimitedandPrintedatTheIndianExpress (P)LimitedPress,A-8,Sector-7,Noida-201301andPublishedatTheIndianExpress (P)Limited,MezzanineFloor,ExpressBuilding,9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002.Editorialoffice: The IndianExpress (P)Limited,MezzanineFloor,ExpressBuilding,9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002.Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P)Limited,B1/B,Sector-10,Noida-201301.Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha,Editor:UnniRajenShanker,Editor (Delhi):RakeshSinha** **Responsible forselectionofNewsunderthePRBAct.Copyright: The IndianExpress (P)Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner,electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,

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DEVENDRAPANDEY&SRIRAMVEERAMUMBAI,DECEMBER25

“IFKOHLIistheangryAmitabhBachchan,thenRahane is theAmolPalekarof Indiancricket,”formerMumbai player and coachVinayakSamant,Rahane’s roommate in thedomesticteam,nailsthepersonaforus.Palekarisamanofsubstanceandatalented

actorwhomadehisnamewithgentle,modestcharacterswithadiscerniblemiddle-classness;aaplanormalmulga (ournormalboy), as theysayinMarathi,wordsthatwouldperfectlyde-scribeRahane.With thepressureof expecta-tions diluted in the absence of Kohli andMohammedShami,Rahane’searthylotstandaprettydecentchanceinthesecondTest,inpar-ticularbecauseoftheconditionsinMelbourne(theMCGpitch isexpectedtobeabitdry,andnotoffersteepbounceorexcessivepace).It’sRahane’simagethatthisteamofcharac-

tersactually reflects.TheymightdreamaboutbeingAmitabhsandKohlis,butparsethroughtheline-up,fromtoptobottom,andonedoes-n’tget the imageof anyoutlandishherowad-ingthroughburningdecks.Theyseemmorelikeacommonmanwaitingforthebusorlocaltrain,ready to takeadeepbreathand thrust them-selvesintotheseeminglyinsurmountableoddsofeverydaylife.LikeRahane.“He isnot the typewhowill talk loudlyor

mouth curses.Hewill talk sensibly even incrunchpressuresituations.Hedoesn’tgethyper.HeisthesilentmanlikePalekar.Ineverremem-

berhimbeingloud.Evenifupset,hewon’tshowitinhisreaction.That’shisnature,”Samantsays.ThereisapopularstoryintheIndiandress-

ingroom,sharedbyRohitSharmaintheshowBreakfastwithChampions.Once,inAustralia,theseniorplayershadconvincedRahane thatheneedstosledgebacktheAustralianswhowereneedlinghim.“Twoorthreeplayersweresledg-inghim, saying“f***you,playshotsandsuch,Ajjuwent towards themanddid” – SharmamimickedRahane,stickinghistongueoutandshowingittotheplayer,andSharmaconvulseswith laughter in the retelling.Rahanedoesn’tmouthcusswordsorreachoutformiddlefin-gers;hestickshistongueout.Rahane,theearnestsinceresomewhatshy

person—whoisalwayspunctual—isknownbutitdoesn’ttellanythingabouthowhewouldcaptain. Someonewhoobservedhimatclosequarters for two months, just recently, is

Mohammad Kaif, the assistant coach atRahane’sIPLfranchiseDelhiCapitals.“Iwas really impressed.He ishonest and

trustworthy,twoqualitiesthatallplayerslookforwardtoinacaptain.Heisateamman,andthat’sjustnotanemptypraise.Hewasn’tabletocrackintotheplayingXIintheinitialgames

this IPL andhemight have felt disappointedwithin,butnevershowedit.Hewasthemosteager at training, fielding like a fresh young-ster, encouraging the rest. In the games, hewouldwillinglygoinassubstituteandgiveithisall, and increased theenergy levelsof theteam.Hehasoftenrunintogivedrinksaswell,andeven thenwould shoutout somewordsofencouragement.“Totalteamspirit;playersnoticeallthisand

take inspiration. An India vice-captain notthrowing tantrums,but eagerlydoingevery-thing. Infact, itwasIwhofeltcompelledtotellhimthathisnamewasdiscussed ineveryse-lectionmeetingandwearetryingtofindawaytogethiminetc.Heneveronceaskedmeinournumerousbreakfastchatsoranytimeelseaboutwhyhehasn’tbeenpicked,”Kaifsays.Kaifwasalsoimpressedbythecricketingin-

telligence. “Hedoesn’t talk toomuch in team

meetings,butwheneverhesaidsomething,hisviewswere spotonandhence, respectedbyeveryone.Hewill alsobegood for theyoung-sterslikeMohammedSiraj;theywillknowthathewill bepatientwith themand listen themout.Mygutfeelisthatheisabowler’scaptain;hewouldrespectthebowlers’individuality,askfeedback,andthenmakehisowncall.”Rahanestartedtotrusthisowninstinctsas

captainwhenheledMumbaiintheU-19CoochBeharTrophy. Itwasa four-daygameagainstOdisha,whoneeded10runsforthefirst-inningslead,withafewwicketsinhand.Inthepast,hehastalkedabouthowhewasconfusedwhethertogowithaspinnerorafastbowler,astherewasturnandlowbounce.Hebackedhis instinctandwent

withafastbowler,whoexploitedthelowbouncetoclaimallwicketsandMumbai took the lead.Oneof thechief lessonshelearntfromtheonlyTest he has captained in before(againstAustralia inDharamsala in2017),hesays,wasaboutbackinghisowninstincts.In2015,heledIndiaona tourof Zimbabwe for threeODIsand two T20Is, which also had alearningmoment for him. In the first ODI,BhuvneshwarKumardefended10runs inthelastoverof thechase, conceding just five.Thattaughthimtheneedtoback,trust,andsupporthisteammates,hehassaidinthepast.“IfeelhewoulduseRAshwinreallywell,”saysKaif.“Igotthe feeling fromthe IPL thatheknowsandre-spectsAshwin’sskillsalot,andonthispitchinMCG,IexpecthimtoturntoAshwinprettyearlyinthegame.”AdityaTare,Mumbai’scaptain,muchjunior

toRahane, alsospokeabouthis strengthsandinnate sense of decency. “He likes to talk tobowlers.Hehadmaintainedsuchadecorumthathewillnotmesswiththecaptain leadingthattime.Ialwaysnoticedhewillkeepongiv-ingideastobowlers,willbefieldingnearthem.Hewillplayhisrolesilently,”Taresays.ThereisaperceptionthatRahanewon’ttake

astandonissues,preferringtoavoidconflicts,aviewprobably attributed tohimbecausehehardlyspokeupforevenhimself,whenhewas

droppedfromtheIndianODIteam.Samant,whowastheMumbaicoachdur-

ing thephaseRahanewascaptain, disagrees.“Thereisamisconceptionthathedoesn'ttakeastand.Someshowit inpublicabout thestandtheytookandtherearesomewhodoitsilently.Rahane is among the latter.” Former IndiaopenerWasimJafferdismissestalksabouttheperceived lackof aggression. “Without it, hecouldn’thaveplayedforIndiaforsolong.Heislike (Rahul) Dravid; hewill not show it butknowshowtochannelisehisaggressiontothebenefitof hisgame.Aggressiondoesn’tmeanusingbadwordsordoingcertainthingsovertly;

everyoneisdifferent.Therearelotofquietbutveryaggressiveindividuals.Rahaneisoneofthem.”Jafferisn’tgettingcarriedaway,ei-

ther. “Hehas the temperamentof acaptain,hasgoodjudgementbutit’sstilltooearlytojudgehimasaleader.Hehasdone it in IPL, but there areotherfactorsinvolvedinIPL.Weshallnowknow,over thecourseof threeTests,howgoodheis.Itwillbeatoughsituation;noVirat,noShami,noRohiteither.Howhemotivateshisteamre-

mainstobeseen.Everythingisagainsthim,sit-uationisadverse.”Kaiffeelsthattheadversesit-uationwill actuallyhavea liberatingeffectonRahaneandCo.“Look,nooneisexpectingmir-aclesfromhim,especiallyafterthewaythefirstTestwaslost.ButgiventheconditionsinMCG,ifitdoesplayoutslowanddoesn’thavethatten-nis-ballspongybounceseeninAdelaide,IthinkIndiahaveselectedagoodteam,withRavindraJadejain.Notmanywillbelieveme,butIthinkRahanehasagreatchanceofleadingthisteamtoawinintheseconditions.”Bollywoodmighthavelonggivenuponthe

BasuChatterjee-typemoviesbutintheworldofwebseries,wehaveseenaquiet return.Afewdaysback,moviesiteIMDBrolledoutitstop10webseriesoftheyear.Secondonthelist,behindtheseriesonHarshadMehta,wasPanchayat,anidyllic showset in rural India,AMalgudidaysmeetsWaglekiDuniya -typeseries. Perhaps,thetimeisripeforAaplaMulgaRahane,onthesportingfield.

AjinkyaRahanehascaptainedIndia twice inTests,winningboththegames. AP

BOXINGDAYTEST

InKohli’sabsence,Indiaisexpectedtoseeadrasticchangeinleadershipstyle.However,itisRahanewhoactuallyreflectsthetruecharacterofthisteam

‘If Kohli is angry Amitabh, Rahane is Amol Palekar’

LIVEONSONY

NETWORK:5.00AM

Heisnotthetypewhowill talk loudlyormouthcurses.Hewill talksensiblyevenincrunchpressuresituations.Hedoesn’tgethyper.HeisthesilentmanlikePalekar. Ineverrememberhimbeingloud.Evenifupset,hewon’tshowit inhisreaction.That’shisnature.”

VINAYAKSAMANT,FORMERMUMBAI TEAM-MATE

TIMPAINECALLSFORSYDNEYSACRIFICEAustralian skipper Tim Paine on Friday invited broadcast and events staff to make a"small sacrifice" of joining them in a bio-secure bubble and ensure the third Test goesahead as planned despite a spike in COVID-19 cases in Sydney.PTI

New Delhi