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

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021, AHMEDABAD, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `4.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SOHINIGHOSHAHMEDABAD, JANUARY4

A SECOND study in Gujarat,based on surveillance of un-treated wastewater at foursewage treatment plants inGandhinagar, has revealed thelocaladministrationcanbefore-warned by a lead of up to twoweeksof an impendingspikeordecrease in Covid-19 cases bysuchperiodic surveillance.The study conducted by re-

searchersatIITGandhinagarandGujaratBiotechnologyResearchCentre (GBRC) with the aid ofGujarat PollutionControl Board

(GPCB) and funded by Kiran CPatel Centre for SustainableDevelopmentatIIT-Gn,exploredthe correlation between theSARS-CoV-2 genetic load inwastewater and the number ofcases at the district level to es-sentially establish if indeedwastewater surveillance can beaneffectiveearlywarning tool.It was the case of the re-

searchersthatthedetectedcon-centrations of SARS-CoV2 RNAinwastewaterwouldreflect thetrue prevalence of Covid-19 in-fection in the sewer catchment,whichwouldincludethoseclin-icallyundiagnosed,comparedtothenumberofclinicallyreported

cases,whichonly covers thedi-agnosedpatients.The researchers also said it

was the “need of the hour” thatthe “wastewater surveillancemust be included as an integralpartofCovid-19pandemicmon-itoringwhichmaynotonlyhelpthe authorities to identify thehotspots within a city but canprovideuptotwoweeksof timelead for better tuning theman-agement interventions”.Published as a preprint on

December28,whichremainstobe peer-reviewed, the lateststudy expands the scope of anearlier study conducted inMayat Ahmedabad’s Old Pirana

WasteWater Treatment Plant(WWTP), which was the first-ever successful effort in Indiawasmade to detect the geneticmaterialofSARS-CoV-2,thuses-tablishing wastewater-basedepidemiology (WBE)here.The Ahmedabad-based

studyhadexaminedwastewatersamples on two dates in May.Until then, wastewater surveil-lanceforCovid-19hadbeencon-ductedinselectfewcountriesofChina, USA, Netherlands, Spain,Israel, Turkey, Italy, France, andAustralia. Especially, in the caseof the Netherlands, Spain andItaly, wastewater surveillancehad detected SARS-CoV-2

genome even before the coun-tries recorded its first officialcases.Lead author of the latest

study, ProfManish Kumar,whoisfromthedisciplineofearthsci-ences at IIT Gandhinagar, toldThe Indian Express that WBE“RT-PCR (of the wastewatersamples) amplifies geneticma-terial by amillion times, tellinguswhether the virus is presentor not,” thus being amore pre-ciseandaccuratemethodofde-termining infectionprevalence.Kumar addedWBE can fur-

therhelpdeterminetheefficacyof vaccines. Giving an example,he says, “For example there is a

housing society with 100 flats.Takinganaverageofthreemem-bers per flat, this becomes acommunityof300people.Withperiodic sampling of waste-water, onewill knowthepreva-lenceof Covid-19.”Wastewater surveillance, he

said, has beenadopted as apol-icy inHyderabad at present. AnAhmedabad study funded byUNICEF, Gujarat, Kumar added,has been conducted to look atsamples across 15wastewatertreatment plant sites and is un-derreviewatpresent.Thisstudyhasseenalongerlag,withamin-imum of two weeks’ early

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PAGE1ANCHOR Wastewater survey can give ‘2-week prewarning of Covid outbreak scale’

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

THE NUMBER of samples de-tectedwith the the new,morecontagious strain of the novelcoronavirus — the UK “variantunder investigation” VUI-202012/01—isnow38,thegov-ernmentsaidonMonday.“All these persons (detected

with the UK strain of the virus)have been kept in single roomisolation in designated HealthCarefacilitiesbyrespectiveStateGovernments. Their close con-tacts have also been put underquarantine.Comprehensivecon-tacttracinghasbeeninitiatedforco-travellers,familycontactsandothers. Genome sequencing onotherspecimensisgoingon,”theUnionHealthMinistry said in astatement issued onMonday.This variant of SARS-CoV-2,

first detected in Kent, England,has now reached over 30 coun-tries around the world. TheMinistry said that six labs havesofardetectedtheUKstraindur-inggenomesequencing.It has been detected in 11

samples at the CSIR Institute ofGenomics and Integrative

Biology (IGIB), New Delhi; 10samplesattheNationalInstituteof Mental Health andNeurosciences (NIMHANS),Bengaluru;eight samplesat theNational Centre for DiseaseControl (NCDC),NewDelhi; fivesamplesattheNationalInstituteof Virology (NIV), Pune; threesamplesattheCentreforCellularandMolecular Biology (CCMB),Hyderabad; and one sample atthe National Institute ofBiomedical Genomics (NIBG),Kalyani.Significantly, NIV Pune has

now successfully isolated andculturedthevariant,withallsig-naturechangesfromtheclinicalspecimenscollectedfromtheUKreturnees; and the research in-stitutewillbetestingvaccinesonthe isolatedvirus strain.Indian Council of Medical

Research(ICMR)DGProfBalramBhargava had told The IndianExpress on Sunday that the po-tential of Bharat Biotech’s vac-cinecandidateCovaxintomountresistance against the newmu-tantstrainwasakeyfactorintheregulatorgrantingitemergencyapproval.“Thenewvirusstraincreating

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

38 UK variant casesnow; strain isolated,NIV to test vaccines

NEGOTIATIONSTORESUMEONJANUARY8

Tomarsayshopeful,2PunjabBJP leaders tomeetPMtoday

RAAKHIJAGGA&HARIKISHANSHARMALUDHIANA,NEWDELHI, JAN4

TALKS BETWEEN the Centreand farmer unions opposed tothe new agriculture laws re-mained inconclusive Mondayovertwokeydemands—repealof the newly enacted laws andprovision of legal guarantee ontheminimum support price —with the twosidesdrawing thehardlineontheirrespectivepo-sitions.The talks will resume on

January8whenthetwosidessitacross the table forwhatwill bethe eight round of negotiationsever since the protests thatbrought farmers from PunjabandHaryanatothegatesofDelhionNovember26.Meanwhile, two Punjab BJP

leaders,SurjeetKumarJyaniandHarjeetSinghGrewal,whohavebeen in mediation with thefarmers, will be meeting thePrimeMinisterTuesdayevening.Jyanisaid:“GrewalandIhad

soughttimefromthePM.Hehascalled us to his camp office at5.45pmTuesday.”Jyaniischair-manof an eight-member panelofBJPleaders, includingGrewal,coordinating with the farmerunions.InDelhisinceNovember28,theyreturnedtoPunjabafewdaysago.Emerging from themeeting

with theunionsMonday,UnionAgricultureMinister NarendraSinghTomartoldreporters,“Wewantedaclause-wisediscussionon the laws, so that we couldproceedonthewayforward.Thediscussionwasmainly centredon this.We discussed the issueofMSPbriefly, but couldnot ar-riveat adecision. Therefore, thegovernmentandtheunionsde-cidedtomeetagainonJanuary8

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SUKHBIRSIWACHCHANDIGARH, JANUARY4

ASFARMERSthreatena“tractorparade” toNewDelhiontheoc-casion of Republic Day if theirdemands against the new agri-cultural laws are notmet, join-ingthemwouldbewomenfromHaryanavillages.At several places across the

state,womenarereceivingtrain-ing to drive tractors, with onesuch session held for those be-longing to Jind district, atKhatkarTollPlazaonJind-PatialaNationalHighway,onMonday.Womenhavebeenpresentin

largenumbersattheprotestsbe-ingheldbyfarmersatDelhibor-ders, now into their secondmonth. By havingwomen rideinto the Capital on January 26now,whileridingtractors,astar-tling change for patriarchalHaryana, farmunionsdon't justhope toattract eyeballs but alsosend amessage that their fami-

liesstandbehindthemintheag-itation.At the Khatkar Toll Plaza --

the farmers havemade all suchtollsacrossHaryana“free”--thewomenaretrainedineverythingfrom how to start a tractor andswitch it off, before beinghandedthesteering.SikkimNain, fromSafaKheri

village, said around hundred ofthemfromthedistricthavebeenattending the training sessionsat the toll plaza, with similarpreparationsonacrossthestate.“This is just a trailer for thegov-ernment.Wewill take our trac-torstotheRedForttoparticipatein the tractorparade. Itwill beahistorical event,” saidNain,38.“Women power has joined

the battlefield now.We are notgoing to retreat, don’t take uslightly. This is the second battleof Independence. If we don’tfight today, whatwould be ourreplytofuturegenerations?”sheadded.

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AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

TARGETEDBY farmers opposedto the new agriculture laws,Mukesh Ambani-led RelianceIndustries Limited (RIL) saidMonday that the companywould always support the de-mandofthefarmersfor“fairandprofitablepriceonapredictablebasis”fortheirproduce,andthatthecompanyhadnoplanstoen-ter corporate or contract farm-

ing,nowor in the future.RIL also said it had, through

its subsidiary Reliance JioInfocomm,mentioned a peti-tion before the Punjab andHaryanaHighCourt, inwhich ithad sought urgent governmentintervention to stop vandalismof its towers.“Neither Reliance nor any of

our subsidiaries has purchasedanyagricultural land,directlyorindirectly, inPunjab/Haryanaoranywhere else in India, for the

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Talks inconclusive: Farmers insist onrepeal, Govt for clause-wisediscussion

Womenbeingtrainedtodrivetractors,onthe Jind-PatialanationalhighwayonMonday. Express

‘Daughters of farmers’ ontractors headed for Delhi

Agri-exportbody drops‘halal’ frommeat manual:no role for govt

LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

AMIDSTAsocialmediacampaignbyHinduright-winggroupsandSikh organisations against halalcertification for products in thecountry, the Agricultural andProcessed FoodProducts ExportDevelopmentAuthority(APEDA)has removed theword from its'RedMeatManual'.TheAPEDAalsoclarified that

there was no condition on thepartoftheIndiangovernmentre-gardinghalalmeat.“Itisarequire-mentbyamajorityoftheimport-ing countries/Importers. HalalCertificationagenciesareaccred-iteddirectlybyrespectiveimport-ing countries. No governmentagencyhasanyroleinthis,”itsaid.While the earlier RedMeat

Manual of the APEDA, whichhandles agri-exports under theMinistry of Commerce andIndustry, said “animals areslaughteredstrictlyaccordingtohalal method to meet the re-quirementof Islamiccountries”,it now says “the animals areslaughteredaccordingtothere-quirement of importing coun-try/importer”.Ithasalsodeletedtheselines:

“Theanimalsareslaughteredbyhalal system under strict vigi-lanceof(a)recognisedandregis-tered Islamic body as per thetenets of Islamic Shariyat. Thecertificate for halal is issued bythe representative of registeredIslamic body under whose su-pervision the slaughter is con-ducted in order tomeet the re-quirement of (the) importingcountry.”

CONTINUEDONPAGE2 KHUSHBOONARAYAN&AANCHALMAGAZINEMUMBAI,NEWDELHI,

JANUARY4

THE INCOME Tax (I-T)DepartmentMondayconductedsurveys at the offices of ZeeEntertainment Enterprises LtdandLarsen&Toubro(L&T)Ltdaspartofanongoingtaxinvestiga-tionagainstthetwofirmsbytheDirectorate General of GSTIntelligence(DGGI),saidsources.A DGGI probe has allegedly

found that both Zee and L&Thave availed bogus input taxcreditunderGST.TheDGGIisin-vestigating the records of thesefirms for the last five financialyears. “The information gath-eredbytheDGGIwassenttotheIncomeTaxDepartmentevenastheGSTprobeisstillonsothatit

could take timely action,”sources familiarwith thedevel-opmentsaid.Sources said starting 11 am

onMonday, the I-TDepartmentconductedsurveysatover15lo-cations in the Mumbai andChennaiofficesofthecompaniesunder Section 133A of theIncome Tax Act. Some surveyswerealsoconductedat theiras-sociate offices in a few othercities across the country, saidsources.“Officials from the tax de-

partment visited the offices ofthe company with certainqueries. The officials concernedof thecompanyareprovidingalltherequiredinformationandex-tendingcompletecooperation,”the official spokespersonof Zeesaid. L&T did not comment onthematter.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, JANUARY4

CEPT UNIVERSITY reopened itscampus to students and facultymembers on Monday to starton-campus teaching after al-most ninemonths of exclusiveonlinesessionsduetotheCovid-19pandemic.A survey conducted by the

university in October last yearshowedthatmanystudentspre-ferredattendingon-campusses-sions followingwhich prepara-tionswerestartedfor itsphasedreopeningof thecampus.Accordingly, faculty mem-

bers prepared studios (whichcomprise a large portion of thecurriculum)whichwere eitherfullon-campus,partialon-cam-pus or completely online. Allmandatoryandelectivecourseswere to be offered exclusivelyonline. All campus spaceswere

reorganisedtoallowforphysicaldistancing. Security and house-keepingstaff hasbeenadded.However,attendingon-cam-

pus sessions is voluntary. Onlystudentswhoprovideaparentalconsent formare allowed to en-ter thecampus. Facultyandstaffwill attend the university on al-ternatedayswhileworkingfrom

homeontheotherdays.Adigitalentry control systemchecks thedaysonwhichparticularstudentsareallowedtoenterthecampus.Only after verificationof the

e-mailapprovalfromtherespec-tive heads, the students wouldbeallowedentrytotheinstitute,oneofthefacultymemberssaid.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

GST tax credit probe:I-T conducts surveysat Zee and L&T offices

CEPT varsity reopens after 9months, attendance voluntary

ClassesresumedatCEPTUniversitycampusMonday. Express

ProfAndrewPollard,directorof theOxfordVaccineGroup,getstheAstraZenecavaccineinOxford,UK,Monday.Reuters

Thefarmers-governmentmeetingonMondaybeganwithatwo-minutesilence for theprotesterswhohavedied. PTI

After Adanis, RIL seeks toplacate farmers: ‘with you’

GANDHINAGARSTUDY

■%Changeingenomeconcentration

■%ChangeinConfirmedcasesofCOVID19

MonitoringDates

120

80

40

0

-40

-80

16

12

8

4

0

7.08

11.08

14.08

17.08

21.08

25.08

28.08

7.09

28.09

30.09

~1Weeks

~1Weeks

~2Weeks

~2Weeks

DataCourtesy:As simulatedby thestudy’s researchers fromIIT-GnandGBRC

Note:Monitoringdates range fromAugust7,2020, toSeptember30,2020.

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

THEHEADofBharatBiotechex-pressed confidence at a pressconference on Monday thatCovaxin, the vaccine candidatedevelopedbythecompany,willbeeffectiveonmutantstrainsofthenovelcoronavirus—amajorreason why the candidate hasbeen granted approval for re-stricteduse.The companywill be able to

establishthe“hypothesis”of thecandidate's ability to protectagainst mutations in a week,chairman andmanaging direc-torDrKrishnaElla said.“It’s only a hypothesis right

now...but just give me oneweek’stime(and)I’llgiveconfir-matory data,” Dr Ella said. Hewasrespondingtoaquestiononwhether there were data toshowCovaxiniseffectiveagainstthemutant strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that was first de-tected in the United Kingdom

and has since been found inmore than30othercountries.Evidence from vaccines for

otherviruseslikerabiessupportCONTINUEDONPAGE2

AMIDCONCERNSthatCovaxinhadbeengivenemergencyuseauthori-sationwithout fulldata,HealthMinisterDrHarshVardhanhasclarifiedthat thiswasa“strategicdecision”. “...Thisap-provalensures Indiahasanadditionalvaccineshield in itsarsenalespagainstpotentialmutantstrains inadynamicpan-demicsituation-Astrategicdecision forourvaccinesecurity,”hepostedonTwitter.

Extrashot

inarsenalE●EXPLAIN

ED

Covaxin to protectagainst mutants,data in a week:Bharat BiotechBUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

THEEDITORIAL PAGE

COMMUNICATINGTHEVACCINEBY RAJIBDASGUPTA

PAGE6

WORLD

IN TAPEDCALL,TRUMPPRESSURESGEORGIAOFFICIALTO ‘FIND’ VOTES

UK JUDGE REJECTSU.S. EXTRADITIONREQUEST FORASSANGEPAGE12

Ahmedabad

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ThequestionsraisedbyIndiaapprovingtwoCOVID-19vaccinesNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

In today’sepisode,we’re lookingatwhyIndiahasapprovedtwoCOVID-19vaccinesandthequestions it raises

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Agri-exportbodySourcessaidthechangewas

madeastheuseofwordhalal intheoldmanualgavetheimpres-sionthatthiswasmandatoryforallmeatexports.Islamic countries allow the

import of only halal-certifiedmeat, and India exports buffalomeat tomanyof these. In2019-20, IndiaexportedRs22,668.48crore worth of buffalo meat,with the chief buyers beingVietnam (Rs 7,569.01 crore),Malaysia (Rs 2,682.78 crore),Egypt (Rs 2,364.89 crore),Indonesia (Rs 1,651.97 crore),Saudi Arabia (Rs 873.56 crore),Hong Kong (Rs 857.26 crore),Myanmar(Rs669.20cr)andtheUAE (Rs 604.47 cr). Most of theexports to Vietnam and HongKonggetdiverted toChina.Right-wing groups, which

had cited theAPEDAmanual tosay the government seemed tobepromotinghalalmeat, calledthe change “the first step in theright direction”. However, saidHarinderSikka,oneof the lead-ing campaigners against halalcertification, “This is just onestep.Wewillcontinueourcam-paign.Halalmeat isharam (un-lawful) forusSikhs.”Sikhorganisationshavealso

approachedUnionCivilAviationMinister Hardeep Puri to stopserving halalmeat on Air Indiaflights.TheVHP’sVinodBansalsaid,

“Halalonomics should bestopped in the country. It hascaptured the entire economy...Halal certification shouldbe re-movedfromeverything... If thereis halal certification, thereshouldbea jhatkacertificate.”

Bharat Biotech

the hypothesis, Dr Ella said —because of the platform it uses,Covaxinwould be highly effec-tiveagainstsuchmutations.Thevaccineusesaninactivatedplat-form – it was developed by us-ing killed strains of the SARS-CoV-2virus.Bharat Biotech, which has

sent around 5million doses ofits candidate for quality checksand clearances at the CentralDrugs Laboratory in Kasauli,hopes to be able to roll out thevaccine foruseamong thepub-lic as soon as possible. It hasstockpiled around 10 milliondoses,andwillbereadywithan-other10millionbyFebruary,DrEllasaid.“Wewillbereadywith150 million doses by July-August,”headded.The firm is also preparing a

protocoltoexpandthetestingofitsvaccinetochildrenaged2-15years, whichwill be submittedto an expert committee of thecountry’s drug regulatory bodysoon,hesaid.However, no procurement

deal has been finalised as yet.Thecompanyhasnotsaidwhatthecostforthetwo-dosevaccinemaybe.“Rightnow,thegovernment

istalkingtous,”DrEllasaid.“Thecost is (basedon) thesizeof thevolume/scale. In the beginning,thecostmaybealittlehigher inthe vaccine field, but as thescale-up of production in-creases,whenmarketcompeti-tionbuildsup, theprice is auto-matically controlled by themarket,”hesaid.BharatBiotechhasbeencrit-

icised for seeking approval for

Covaxinwithoutprovidingdataon thevaccine’s efficacy, that is,its ability to bring down thenumberof symptomaticCovid-19cases.While Drug Controller

General of India (DCGI) Dr V GSomani on Sunday granted re-stricteduseapproval“inclinicaltrialmode”toCovaxin“inpublicinterest”, the regulator did notclarifywhethertheapprovalhadbeengrantedon thebasis of ef-ficacydata.Thefirmhassubmit-tedpre-clinicaltestingdata,andphase 1 and 2 safety and im-munogenicitydata.Dr Ella said the approval

means that the firm will nolongerrequiretohaveaplacebo

groupinitsongoingclinicaltrial,andwill vaccinate people in anopen-labelformat.“Theirsafetyand efficacy, we’ll monitorthem,”hesaid.He added that the firmwas

still trying to figure out variousmodalities of vaccinations andtheclinicaltrialsforCovaxinfol-lowing the approval, includingwhetheranewclinicaltrialpro-tocolwould have to be submit-ted,andwhethertheywouldberesponsible for serious adverseevents that develop during thisphaseof vaccination.AIIMS Director Dr Randeep

Guleria,memberof thenationalCovid-19 task force, told TheIndian Express on Sunday that

the approval for Covaxin was“likeaback-up”.“If we find that cases don’t

rise, then we stick to the SII(which has manufactured theIndian variant of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) till theBharatBiotechdatacomesearlynextmonth... They (the regula-tors) have given, I would say, agreen signal to start stockpilingin case we need it,” Dr Guleriahadsaid.Responding to a question

from The Indian Express at thevirtual media briefing onMonday, Dr Ella said: “Wehavenot submitted any interim effi-cacy data at all. What we havedoneis,wehaveproduced(data

on the) highest antibody re-sponse, long-term immuno-genicityandhowneutralisationprotection is there.”The efficacy from late-stage

trials of Covaxin on nearly26,000participantswillbecomeclearer between March andOctober 2021,which is the effi-cacyreadouttimelinesetforthevaccine as per the design of thetrial.

UK variant cases

havocintheUKisnowpresentin34 countries. Some of the vac-cinesare just targeting thespikeprotein of the virus, and thesemay not be effective. From that

perspective,wearelookingatthewhole virus vaccine (Covaxin),whichpotentiallymayhaveben-efitsandthiswillbeinourarma-mentarium,” Prof Bhargava hadsaid.The Health Ministry on

Monday said the situationwithregard to theUK variant is “un-der careful watch”, and that“regularadviceisbeingprovidedto the States for enhanced sur-veillance, containment, testing& dispatch of samples to IN-SACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2GenomicConsortium) labs”.

GST tax creditprobeIn the last one month, the

DGGIhasarrestedover141peo-ple across the country andbooked 3,479 entities in 1,161cases for illegally availing orpassingoninputtaxcredit,caus-ing loss to the exchequer of Rs13,447.95crore .At the end of trading on

Monday, shares of Zee Enter-tainment had fallen 2.58 percenttocloseatRs219.15apiece,while L&T shares had gained1.43 per cent to Rs 13,15.55 apiece.ThebenchmarkSensexatBSEclosed307.82pointsor0.64percentupat48,176.80.

‘Daughters offarmers’Introducing herself as

“Khatkargaonhai,Rajpalkighar-walihun,Sarojnaamhai(Myvil-lage is Khatkar, my husband isRajpal, and I am Saroj”, a 35-year-oldsaid, “Iamthedaughterofafarmer.Thegovernmenthasalreadycommittedalotofatroc-ities on farmers but we won’ttolerate thisanymore.”Vijender Sindhu, a farmer,

said women were coming fortraining from Khatkar, SafaKheri, Barsola and Pokri Kherivillages, among others. An eld-erlyfarmer,SatbirPehlwan,ad-mitted that letting thewomentake this step was a huge leapfor them,but anatural one.“Oursonsare fightingat the

internationalborderswhileourmenhavegheraoedthenationalcapital,” said Pehlwal, addingthat they were determined tointensify their stir if their de-mandswerenotmet.Khap leader Azad Singh

Palwan also drew themilitaryparallel, saying the tractor pa-rade by their women andmen“willbeliketheonetakenoutbyjawans (onRepublicDay)”.

CEPT varsityRegistrarAnitaHiranandani

was quoted as saying in a re-lease, “ We are committed tokeepingtheuniversityenviron-mentsafeforallwhowishtoat-tendsessionsoncampus.Wearealso quite hopeful that the roll-out of vaccinationswill help uscomebacktofullstrengthinthecomingmonths.”Over 1,800 students have

registeredthissemesterandtheuniversityexpectsupto400stu-dentstoattendsessionsoncam-puseveryday.Detailed guidelines have

been circulated to all students,facultyandstaff toensurecom-pliancewiththeCovid-19guide-lines. “CEPT Covid Team” willmonitor compliance with theguidelinesandpenalizeindivid-uals in caseswhere violation isobserved.

FULLREPORTSON

www.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

Farmers insist on repeal, Govtfor clause-wise discussion

After Adanis, RIL seeks to placate farmers

totakethediscussionsforward.”“Themeetingwas cordial

but could not find away for-ward as they (farmer leaders)wereadamantonthedemandforrepealoftheActs.ButIhopetheway the discussions tookplace today,meaningfuldelib-erationswillagaintakeplaceatthenextmeetingand,possibly,wewillfindasolution,”hesaid.“Swabhavik roop se raasta

nikalne ke liye toh taaliyaandononhihaathsebajaatehainna(Naturally,wehavetomeethalf-waytofindawayforward)…Thelegalaspectoftheprob-lem and the entire countryneedstobekeptinmind.Thereare crores of farmers in thecountry and they have theirown views. Their interests arelinkedtotheadvantagesordis-advantages of the laws. Thegovernment is committed tofarmers across the country.Therefore, when the govern-menthastodecide,itwillkeepinmindtheentirecountry,”hesaid inresponsetoquestions.Farmer union leaders said

theymade it very clear to thegovernment that the talkswillhavetobeontheirdemandforrepealof thenewlaws.BKU (Ugrahan) president

Joginder Singh Ugrahan said:“Today,we became very strictwhen wewere told again todiscussthebenefitsofthefarmlaws.Wetoldthemwehadsaidearlieraswellthatourtalkswillonly be on the repeal of theActs,nothingelse.Theytoldusthat farmers in the rest of thecountry are happy. At this, weaskedthemwhattheythinkofpeoplewho have been sittingon roads since September.Nearly 500 farmer unions ofIndiaareprotesting,don’ttheyrecognise any of them?”. “Thenextmeeting is on January 8.TalkswillonlybeontherepealandguaranteeonMSP.Wetoldthemthat if theydon'twanttodiscuss this issue, they shouldnot call us. But after a detaileddiscussion, they asked us tocome again on January 8.Weeven told them to make themaindecision-makingauthor-ity sit at themeeting, onewhocandecidethematter.Theydidnot respond to this,” he said.Kirti KisanUnion general sec-retary Rajinder SinghDeepsinghwala said: “Today,the UnionMinisters observeda two-minute silencewith usinmemoryof 70 farmerswhohaveleftus(died)duringmor-

chas since September.We callthemmartyrs… The govern-mentwantstodiscussthelawswith us clause-wise, but wehaveone line for them:noap-peal,nodaleel,onlyrepeal.Thegovernment said they havewalked ten steps forward andwetooshouldmovealittle,butwerejected itcategorically.”Punjab Kisan Union presi-

dent Ruldu SinghMansa said:“Although themeeting todaydidnotyieldaresult,wecouldjudgethatthegovernment'sat-titudewas soft.We told themtodiscussonlytherepealoftheActs at the nextmeeting.Wearehopefultheywillwalkonlyinthatdirection.”BKU(Dakaunda)president

Buta Singh Burjgill said: “TheAgriculture Minister told usthatmajorityfarmerunionsarehappywith the farm laws.Wetoldthemtoarrangeourmeet-ing with them. They gave noanswer.We call these unionspartof thekisancellsof theBJPandallianceparties.”All IndianKisanSabhagen-

eral secretaryHannanMollahsaid:“Wetoldthegovernmentthattherewillbenotalkexcepton the repeal (of farmlaws)…Wewilldiscusstherepealfirst.

The issueofMSPwill be takenupthereafter."At the meeting, Tomar

alongwithtwoministerialcol-leagues—FoodMinisterPiyushGoyal andMinisterof State forCommerce and Industry SomPrakash—ledthegovernmentsidewhile farmer unions had41representatives.At their last meeting on

December 30, the Centreagreedto“decriminalise”stub-bleburningbyexcludingfarm-ers from the ambit of the‘CommissionfortheAirQualityManagement in NationalCapital Region and AdjoiningAreas Ordinance 2020’, anddrop those provisions of thedraft Electricity AmendmentBill, 2020, which intend tochange the existingmode ofsubsidy payment to con-sumers. The Samyukt KisanMorcha, the umbrella body offarmer unions camping at thegatesofDelhitopresstheirde-mands, told the press lastSaturdaythat if theirdemandsare not met by January 26 —British PrimeMinister BorisJohnson is to be chief guest atthe Republic Day celebrationsthis year— farmerswill lead atractorparade intoDelhi.

purpose of ‘corporate’ or ‘con-tract’ farming. We have ab-solutely noplans todo so,” RILsaidinastatement.RIL and theGautamAdani-

ledAdaniGrouphavebeensin-gledout by farmers protestingthefarmlaws.Farmunionshavecalled foraboycottof thecom-panies,allegingtheyarelikelytobenefitfromthenewlaws.Last month, the Adani

Grouphad also issued a state-ment,sayingthecompanywasonlyinvolvedinthebusinessofstorageof grainsanddidnot inanywayinvolveitself inpricingofgrains.“Thecompanyhasnorolein

decidingthevolumeofstorageaswell aspricingof grainsas itis only a service/infrastructureprovided for the FCI (FoodCorporationofIndia),whiletheFCI controls the procurementand movement of the foodgrains for the PublicDistributionSystem(PDS).Wedonotownanyfoodgrainpro-

cured from farmers, and are innoway connected to the pric-ingof grains," theAdaniGroupsaid.Claimingthatthenewrules

wouldgiveundueadvantagetobigcontractfarmingcompanies,farmerunionshaveallegedthatcompanies such as RIL andAdani Group have been pur-chasingvast tractsof farmlandin Punjab andHaryana,wheretheyplantoundertakecontractfarmingandsetupprivateman-dis, therebyundermining gov-ernment-runmandis.RIL sought to dispel this

claim, and said it had neitherpurchasedanyagriculturallandinthetwostates,norwouldthecompany ever enter into any“long-termprocurement con-tracts to gainunfair advantageoverfarmers”.“Reliance and its affiliates

fullyshareandsupporttheaspi-rationof Indianfarmerstogetafairandprofitablepriceonapre-dictablebasisforwhattheypro-

ducewithexemplaryhardwork,innovation and dedication...Indeed,we shall insist on oursupplierstostrictlyabidebytheMinimumSupportPricemech-anism,and/oranyothermecha-nismforremunerativeprice forfarmproduce,asmaybedeter-minedandimplementedbythegovernment,”thecompanysaid.In Punjab, many telecom

towers of the company havebeenvandalisedbyprotestersinthelastfortnight.As of last Tuesday, an esti-

mated 2,000 mobile phonetowers of the company hadbeendamaged in somewayorthe other,withmany farmerscuttingpowersuppliestotheselocations.Althoughthesituationisnowundercontrol, thecom-panywillhavetospendconsid-erable time repairing the tow-ers and optical fibre cablesconnectingthesetowers.OnMonday, the company

reiterateditsclaimthatvandal-ism had been instigated and

aidedby“vested interests” andRIL's“businessrivals”.RIL'ssub-sidiary Reliance Jio had alsowritten to theDepartment ofTelecommunications(DoT)thatrival companies had been en-gaging in a “malicious”misin-formationcampaignagainstJio.“Theseactsofviolencehave

endangered the lives of thou-sands of its employees andcauseddamageanddisruptiontothevitalcommunicationsin-frastructure, sales and serviceoutletsrunbyitssubsidiaries...,”thecompanysaid.Rivals Bharti Airtel and Vi

havedeniedtheallegation,call-ingit“baseless”.“Weare amused as to how

Jio can evenbelieve thatAirtelwould be so omnipotent as tomake customers forcibly portout of Jio. Ifwehad this power,wewouldhaveexerciseditoverthe last three years when Jioamassed amassivenumber ofcustomers,”BhartiAirtelsaidinitslettertoDoT.

VIVEKDESHPANDENAGPUR,JANUARY4

AGAINSTTHEbackdropofafarm-ers’ agitation against perceivedgovernment abdicationof its re-sponsibilityonMinimumSupportPrice(MSP)assurance,theCentrehas granted permission toMaharashtra to procure 25 percentofthetotalarharproduction.While arhar procurementby

thestateisanannualoccurrence,the permission for the processusually takes about threeweeks.“We got the permissionwithintwo days this time,” PrincipalSecretary (Marketing) AnoopKumartoldTheIndianExpress.Kumarsaid,“Wewillbestart-

ing procurement at 187 centresfrom January 20 at MSP of Rs6,000perquintal.”TheMSPof Rs 6,000 is by far

thehighest for arhar, up fromRs5,800in2019-20.“The procurement is done

every year under the PriceSupport Schemeof the PradhanMantriAnnadataAaySanraksHanAbhiyanforvariouscrops.Usually,the procurement starts inFebruaryeveryyearbutthisyear,weare startingearlydue toearlyharvest,”hesaid.Under the scheme, the

NationalAgriculturalCooperativeMarketingFederationprocures25

per cent of the total producethroughastateagency,inthiscasethe Maharashtra StateCooperative AgriculturalMarketingFederation.After that,theprocurement, if necessary, isdonebythestateagency,withthestategovernmentfootingthebill.“This year, the 25 per cent

threshold is expected to be28,90,500 quintals. So we arepreparingtoprocurethatinitially,”saidKumar.The government, however,

feels that itmaynothave topur-chasemajor quantities since theprice for arhar is currently aboutRs6,200 in themarkets of UdgirandLatur.“ThemarketarrivalsinVidarbhaareyettostartsubstan-tially. That iswheremost of theprocurement may have to bedone, provided themarket pricehoversbelowMSP,”Kumaradded.Arharprocurementwashigh-

est,61,29,092quintals,in2016-17,when prices had slumpedwellbelow the MSP of Rs 5,050. In2017-18, the government hadpurchased 26,22,507 quintalssince openmarket rates contin-uedtoremainbelowRs4,000perquintal. But in 2018-19, the pro-curementwasonly2,83,731quin-tals since the openmarket ratesrangedbetweenRs5,200andRs6,000againsttheMSPofRs5,675.In2019-20,theprocurementroseagainto10,83,452quintals.

Maharashtra gets nodto procure 25% oftotal arhar produced

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA, JANUARY4

THEWEST Bengal governmentis set to convene a specialAssemblysessiontopassareso-lutionagainsttheCentre’sthreefarm laws.Chief Minister Mamata

Banerjee onMonday said, “Wewill convene an Assembly ses-sion soon to pass a resolutionagainstthethreenewfarmlaws.“I’minfavourof farmersand

wantwithdrawalof thesethreebills for the sake of the countryand the farmers,” she said.Five state Assemblies so far

have passed resolution againstthe three farm laws. Earlier, theCongress and Left parties haddemandedanAssemblysession

in this regard.Banerjee also indicated that

her government is ready to im-plement thePM-Kisanscheme,sayig that she has asked theCentre to give details of theschemeaswellasall thosewhohave registered for it on theUniongovernment's portal.Banerjee said, “Ihad repeat-

edly asked the Centre to trans-ferfundsallottedunderthePM-Kisan scheme to the stategovernment... They (Centre)have sought verification of thisdata. I understood that theCentre was trying to politicisethe matter. We realised thatfarmers should not suffer be-cause of this... I have asked theCentre to pass on the data sothatwecanstarttheverificationprocess,” she said.

Bengal special session topass resolution againstCentre’s 3 farm laws

MANOJCG&SANDEEPASHARNEWDELHI,MUMBAI,JAN4

WITHTHECongress high com-manddecidingtogaugetheopin-ion of partyMLAs andMLCs inMaharashtra for a possible re-vamp of the state unit, stateCongress president BalasahebThorat on Monday rushed toDelhi and had ameeting withAICCgeneral secretary in chargeofOrganisationKCVenugopal.There is unease in theThorat

campover the style of function-ingofAICCin-chargeofthestateHKPatilanditislearntthatthestateCongresschiefhasofferedtostepdownifthesituationdoesnotim-prove.Venugopal,however,main-tained itwas a routinemeeting.Sources said thehigh commandhas set inmotion theprocess for

areshuffleinthestateunit.Aspartof theexercise,Patil is to travel toMumbai Tuesday tomeetMLAsandMLCsindividually.It is learnt thatThorat’soffice

was not involved in organisingthemeetings. Sources close toThoratsaidthatbypassinghiminthismanner diminishes his au-thority,apointheislearnttohaveraisedwith the party high com-mand. Thorat holds three posi-tions – PCC chief, CongressLegislature Party leader andRevenueminister in theUddhavThackeray-ledgovernment.It is learnt that there is pres-

sureonthehighcommandtofol-lowtheoneperson,onepostprin-cipleinthiscase.Also,hisnephewSatyajeet Tambe isMaharashtraYouthCongresspresidentandhisrivals in the party have com-plainedabout the concentrationofpowerinonefamily.

UNEASE INMAHARASHTRACONGRESS

State unit revamp oncards, PCC chief rushesto Delhi, offers to quit

SOFIAHSANNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

WEEKSAFTERshehadlefthomewith amale friend to his homestate ofWest Bengal, the DelhiHigh Court onMonday permit-ted a family to take thewomanhomeaftertheyconvincedhertoreturn, telling her, among otherthings, that the friend is a

“Bangladeshi”anddidnotbelongtotheir religion.Thewomanwas in contact

withthemansince2019.OnDecember22lastyear,the

court had directed the CrimeBranch to registeranFIRandor-dered them tomake “all-out ef-forts” to produce her before thecourt – the police had said shehas married her friend, SyedMustafa.

Her father had approachedthecourtlastmonthandallegedthathisdaughterwastakenawaybyMustafatoKolkatabytrain“inan organisedmanner”. BroughttoDelhibytheCrimeBranch,shewas produced before the courtonMonday through video-con-ferencing. Her family was alsopresentduringthehearing.Belying her parents' con-

tentions, the woman told the

courtthatshehadleftonherownwithMustafa. She said that aftercompletingB.Techshewantedtoprepareforcompetitiveexamina-tions but the “atmosphere athomewas not conducive, sincetherewerebickering in the fam-ily”. In her statement underSection 164 CrPC, she is said tohave exoneratedMustafa, andsaiditwasonherrepeatedinsis-tence that he had come to take

her. They laterwent to a lawyer,whowas paid Rs 10,000 to pre-pareanikahnamaafter callingaqazi. On November 7 last year,she was taken toWest Bengal,whereshestayedwithMustafa'saunt for around 20 days, thewoman stated. She stated thatshe subsequently went toMustafa'svillagebuthisparentsdidnotaccepther, and theyalsoscoldedhim.

HC allowswoman who leftwith friend, gotnikahnamaready, toreturn home

Ahmedabad

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

GUJARAT

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

WAS FORMER MADRAS HC ACTING CHIEF JUSTICE

GUJARATHIGHCOURT JUDGE SWORN IN

FormerMadrasHighCourtactingChiefJusticeVineetKothariwassworninasajudgeoftheGujaratHighCourtMondaybytheChiefJusticeofGujaratHCinthepresenceofLawMinisterBhupe-ndrasinhChudasama,HomeMinisterPradeepsinhJadejaandother judgesandjudicialofficers.

VAIBHAVJHA&AVINASHNAIRAHMEDABAD,JANUARY4

THE MEHSANA DistrictCooperative Milk Producers’UnionLimited,popularlyknownasDudhsagardairyinGujarat,willgo to the polls on Tuesday. Thecontest for the six-decade-olddairy,with a turnover of over Rs4,700 crore per annum is ex-pected to be largely between apanel supported by VipulChaudhary—aformerchairmanof thedairywhosepolitical alle-giancehasoscillatedbetweentheCongressandtheBJPinthepast—and theBJP-supportedpanel ledbyAshokChaudhary.In2015,thelatter hadwon three of the 16seatsthatwenttothepolls.Theelectionsarebeingheldat

a timewhenVipul Chaudhary, aformerchairmanofGCMMFwhoisinthefraythisyear,isinjudicialcustody for his alleged involve-ment in a bonus scam. The 55-year-old was arrested by theGujarat Crime InvestigationDepartment (CID), Crime andRailways, on December 12 lastyearforallegedlyhatchingacon-spiracytosiphonoffRs14.8crorewhichwasmeant to be distrib-uted as bonus among theDudhsagardairy’sunionworkers.Several of Vipul’s associates,

whoarepresentlyontheBoardofDirectors, arealso in judicial cus-tody.Thisincludesvice-chairmanMogajiChaudharyandmanagingdirectorNJBaxi.The incumbent chairman,

AshaThakor,isabscondinginthecase,policesaid.BothMogajiandAshaarenotcontestingthepolls,pollofficialssaid.TheDudhsagardairyelections

are important as it one of the 17milk cooperative unions underthe Gujarat Cooperative MilkMarketing Federation (GCMMF)and collectsmilk from 10 lakhfarmers across Gujarat,Rajasthan,andHaryana.Established in 1960, the

dairy has grown from its first-daymilk collection of amere3,300litres(from11milkcoop-erativesocieties)to28lakhlitresperday in2018-19.Of the totalmilkcollection,20.68lakhlitresper day of milk comes fromGujarat, while the rest fromRajasthanandHaryana.Apart frommilk andmilk

product processing plant thatproducesproductsofAmulandSagar brands in Mehsana,

Dudhsagar has similar plants atManesar and Dharuhera inHaryana which are calledDudhmansagar and Dudhmo-tisagardairies,respectively.

Electionon15 seatsThough there are 20 seats in

the Board of Directors, only 15seatswillgotothepollsthisyear.Fourarenominatedmembersofthe Boardwhich include repre-sentatives of the state govern-ment,NDDB,GCMMF,anddistrictcooperative bank. There is a stayon polls for the 16th seat of theBoard.“Outof the16seats forwhich

polls areusuallyheld, one seat isreserved for ‘ItarMangdi’ sector,whichmeans the sector of pro-ductionof goods, apart fromthemilk. Theperson eligible to votefor this seat shouldbeoneof themembers of the unionwhen itwasfoundedback in1960.How-ever, this time, since there is nofoundingmember alive to vote,there is a stay on this seat by theunion’scommittee,”CCPatel,theprant officer of Visnagar inMehsana district and the chiefelectionofficerofDudhsagardairypollssaid.OnTuesday, asmanyas1,129

voterswillcasttheirvotes.Atotalof41candidatesareinthefrayforthe15seats.“ForTuesday,wehavemade 11 polling stations in 11wardsofMehsanawherein totalof1,129voterswillcastvotesfrom9amto5pm.Countingwill then

beginby6.30pm.Apartfromam-plepolicesecurityatthestations,wehavealsoarranged formasksandsanitizers.Thereare11wardswithoneseatineachandamongthe 11, four wards -- Kheralu,Mansa, Vijapur, andVisnagar --havetwoseatseachforpollsmak-ingthecountto15positions.Therules of theunion state that fourwards that havemaximummilkoutputwill get one seat each,”Patelsaid.Accordingtoofficials,the1,129

voters are the representatives ofthevillage-levelmilkcommitteesin the union representing theirwards. The representativewhowillcasttheballotischosenbythevillage-levelmilkcommitteesandtheperson’snameisconveyedtothepollingofficer.Atotalof123personshadfiled

the nominations formofwhich103 formswere accepted. Later,64personshadtakentheirformsback and 39 were left. “TheGujaratHigh Court has allowedtwomoreapplicantstonominatethemselvesfortheelectionsmak-ingthecountto41,”Patelsaid.VipulChaudharywasamong

thosewhohavebeenallowedbytheHighCourt to file a nomina-tionfortheDudhsagardairypolls.AccordingtoGCMMFsources,

polls for theBoardofDirectors inthe dairy unions are held onceevery five years. These directorselectthechairmanandvice-chair-manonceevery2.5years.Referring to thebonus scam,

police sources said VipulChaudharywas under compul-siontopayRs9croreascompen-sationtoGCMMFbyanorderofatribunal court. Supporters ofChaudharyhave calledhis arresta“witch-hunt”bytheBJPtodeterhimfromcontestingagain.RajeshGoswami,theadvocate

forVipul, said, “The courthas setthenextdateforabailhearingonJanuary 13, so Chaudharywon’tbeinMehsanaonthepollingday.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAJKOT,JANUARY4

NEARLY TWOweeks after theGujarat High Court dischargedhiminacaseregisteredundertheArmsActin1998,thedistrictandsessions court of Porbandar dis-chargedKutiyanaMLAKandhalJadeja inasimilarcaseregisteredagainst himand a fewothers in1995 after three of themwerecaughtwithfirearmsandammu-nition.Kandhal’s discharge in the

1995 case comes after theSupremeCourtlastyearruledtheTerrorism and DisruptiveActivitiesAct(TADA)wasnotap-plicableinthiscaseasapprovalofthe thendistrict superintendentof police (DSP)wasnot recordedatthetimeofregisteringtheFIR.OnFriday,thecourtofNakhat

ParveenSyed,theprincipaldistrictand sessions judgeof Porbandar,hadallowedKandhal’spleatobedischarged from the case regis-teredatKutiyanapolicestationin1995.Acting on a tip-off, CJ Singh,

thenpoliceinspectorofKutiyana,had intercepted a car passingbyGarejvillageinPorbandaronApril10, 1995, and recovered a pistolandarevolverofforeignmake,livecartridges,andonecountry-madepistolanditscartridgesfromAbhaJadeja, BachuBhikha andKeshuChana—thethreemenwhowerein thecar.Theywerebookedun-derTADAandtheArmsActforal-legedlypossessingarms illegally,aswell asunder IPCsections120(b) and201 for criminal conspir-acyanddestructionofevidence.Police had recorded state-

ments of the accused underSection15of TADAandbasedonit arrestedanumberof other ac-cused. Kandhalwas arrested onApril 25, 1998, based on state-mentsofotheraccused.Thepros-ecutionhad stated thatKandhalwaspresentwhenfirearmswererecovered fromAbha, themainaccused in the case, and hencewasapartof theconspiracy.However, when thematter

camebeforethedesignatedTADAcourtofPorbandarin2009,Abhafiled an application contendingthat TADAwasnot applicable asthe thenKutiyanapolice inspec-tor (PI)hadnoapproval fromthethenDSPofJamnagarbeforereg-istering the FIRunderTADA. Thetrial court rejected that plea butAbhamoved theSupremeCourtin 2009 challenging theorder ofthelowercourt.

InOctober2019, theSC grantedthe plea ofthe ac-cused stat-ing TADAwasnotap-plicable inthismatter,

anddirected thedistrict andses-sionscourttotrytheaccusedun-derprovisionsofotherActs.As the district and sessions

courttookupthemattertoframechargesunderArmsAct and theIPC, Kandhal, the sittingNationalist CongressParty (NCP)MLA fromKutiyana, filed an ap-plicationseekingtobedischargedfromthematterwithhisadvocateGrishma Joshi arguing that therewasnocaseagainsttheMLAasnomaterialevidencewaspresentedagainst him and confessionalstatements recorded underSection15of TADAwerenot ad-missibleasevidence.Thecourtconcurredwiththe

submission of Kandhal’s lawyeranddischargedhim. “In the casebeforeme,theprosecutionreliedondocuments produced at Exh.178,whichincludesarrestpanch-nama.While it isundisputedbutchargecannotbeframedconsid-ering the arrest of the accused.Mark 178/3 is an order to filechargesheet against the accusedKandhal, Saran Jadeja, andJahangirMubjaban Patel.Mark178/4isletterfrominspectorgen-eral office, State of Gujarat,Ahmedabad, allowing to filechargesheet against the accusedKandhal, andmark178/5 isa let-terfromtheinspectorgeneral’sof-fice,StateofGujarat,Gandhinagar,allowing to file chargesheetagainst accused JahangirMunj-aban.Fromthesedocumentsalsochargesheetcannotbefiledasitisonlypermissiongrantedormeresanction to file chargesheet. Onrecord therenoevidenceagainstthe present applicant (Kandhal)to frame the charge,” JudgeSyedstatedintheorder.OnDecember21, theGujarat

HighCourthadgrantedKandhal’spleatobedischargedfromacaseregisteredunderArmsActagainsthim and others at UdyognagarPolicestationdistrictforallegedlypossessingfirearmsillegally. TheMLAisalsofacingaroundadozencases of gunrunning, possessingexplosives, extortionbid, amongothers.He is servinghis secondterm

astheKutiyanalegislator.

VipulChaudhary is injudicial custodyforallegedinvolvement inbonusscam

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,JANUARY4

ONEPERSONdiedandfiveotherswere injuredwhena luxurybusoverturnedwhilereturningfromMount Abu hill station inRajasthantoAnandinGujaratonSundaynight.According topolice, the inci-

dent occurred after 9 pmwhenthe luxury bus overturnednearVir Baba temple onMount AburoadofSirohidistrict.Atotalof25passengersweretravellinginthebusatthetimeoftheaccidentand12ofthemweretakentoanearbyprivatehospitalformedicalassis-tance.Onepersondiedduringthetreatmentwhile five others arecriticallyinjured,policesaid.Thedeceasedhasbeen iden-

tifiedasPankajParmar,aresidentof Anand. The bus had startedfromKhambat inAnandtoreachMount Abu for aweekend trip.The bus had started its journeyback from Mt Abu on Sundayevening.Inavideostatementreleased

onMondaymorning,BJPMPfromAnand Mitesh Patel said, "Wehave spoken to the superintend-ents of police in Anand andBanaskanthaandotherofficialstoensure that all injured are beinggivenmedicalcare."

Kandhal Jadeja

Contestbetweenpanels supportedbyVipulandAshok

Elections for control ofDudhsagar dairy today

1995 Arms Act case:NCP MLA KandhalJadeja discharged

DAYSAFTERHCDISCHARGEDHIM IN 1998CASE

1 killed, 5 injuredas luxury busfrom MountAbu overturns

Atotalof25passengers

weretravelling inthe

busand12weretaken

toanearbyhospital for

medicalassistance

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, JANUARY4

GUJARAT CHIEFMinister VijayRupaniMonday announced anexemption from the MotorVehicleTaxforvehiclesregisteredbeforeApril1,2017,inthenamesofschools,collegesandothered-ucationalinstitutions, fromApril1,2020toDecember31,2020.Thedecisionwas takenafter

education institutions submit-ted representations seeking taxexemptionforthesaidperiodasschools remained closed owingto theCovid-19pandemic.However, for buses regis-

tered in the names of ownersbefore April 1, 2017, the MotorVehicles Taxwill be charged atthe rate of Rs 200 per seat

annually.The state government clari-

fied that the exemptionwill beapplicableonlyafterverificationthat such buses have not beenused for commercial or anyotherpurposeduring theafore-saidperiod.After this relief was an-

nounced, the schools aswell astransportersquestionedtheba-sisofsuchanexemptionasmostof the buses are not owned bytheeducation institutes.“It isveryrarethatschoolsor

education institutes have theownership of these vehicles asmajority of them have out-sourcedtotransporters.Schoolsare still able to bear the costswith75percentofthetuitionfeethey are charging butwith zeroper cent revenue for trans-

porters, it is a tough for them tosurvive,” said Manan Choksi,president of Association ofProgressive Schools (AOPS) anddirector of Udgam School forChildren and Zebar School forChildren.Virbhadra Chauhan, who

runs Urban Transport, said,“Whoever has taken this deci-sion has not considered all theaspects. What about vehiclesregistered after April 2017 andwhyonlyforvehiclesregisteredunder the schools. It is aknownfact that inmost of these casesthese vehicles are operated bycontractual transporters. In away the state government hasoffered a relief to schools onlyand not the transporters. Itshould be given irrespective oftheownership.”

AvendorsetsuptoysmadeontheMake in Indiaconcept, inVadodaraMonday.BhupendraRana

MADE IN INDIA

Tax exemption announced for buses ofeducational institutes from April to Dec

FORTHOSEREGISTEREDBEFOREAPRIL2017

Atul LtdRegistered office:

Atul House, G I Patel Marg, Ahmedabad 380 014, Gujarat, India

E-mail: shareholders@atul.co.in | Website: www.atul.co.in

Telephone: (+91 79) 26461294 | 26463706

CIN: L99999GJ1975PLC002859

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NOTICE pursuant to Regulation 47 of the SEBI (Listing

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2015 is hereby given that, the unaudited financial results

of the Company for the period ended on December 31, 2020

will be placed before the Board of Directors at the meeting

to be held on Friday, January 29, 2021.

Notice is also available at: (1) www.atul.co.in

(2) www.bseindia.com

(3) www.nseindia.com

L P Patni

Company Secretary and

December 31, 2020 Chief Compliance Officer

Government of India

Ministry of Minority Affairs11th Floor, Pt. Deendayal Antyodaya Bhawan, CGO Complex,

Lodhi Raod, New Delhi-110003

Vacancy Notice

Applications are invited for filling up of the post of Secretary in Central

Waqf Council, New Delhi, a Statutory Body under the Ministry of Minority

Affairs. The post is to be filled up on deputation basis from amongst eligible

officers serving in Central Govt./State Govt./PSUs/Central or State

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2. Detailed advertisement, application format etc are available on the web

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minorityaffairs.gov.in and centralwagfcouncil.gov.in

3. The last date for submission of completed applications is 30 days from

the date of publication of this advertisement in Employment News.

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THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

GOPALKATESHIYARAJKOT, JANUARY4

WITH GROUNDNUT procure-mentbytheCentralgovernmentfrom farmers atminimumsup-portprice(MSP)headingtowardsa close, more than a quarter offarmerswhosoldtheirproducetothe governmentwere awaitingpaymentuntilMonday.According to the latest data

availablewith theGujarat StateCivilSuppliesCorporationLimited(GSCSCL), anundertaking of thestategovernmentwhichisactingasthestate-levelagency(SLA)forgroundnutprocurement,only74percentfarmershadbeenpaidbythe government after procuringtheir groundnut at MSP of Rs5,275perquintal.According to the data, the

Centre had procured 1.92 lakhmetrictonnesofgroundnutwor-th Rs 1,012 crore from total of1,04,171 farmers untilMondaymorning.However, 27,535 farm-ers, or around26per cent,werewaitingtogettheirpayment--Rs

173 crore -- against selling theirproduce to the Centre’s nodalagencyNationalAgriculturalCoo-perativeMarketingFederationofIndiaLimited(NAFED).The largest number of farm-

ers,waitingfortheirdue,arefromtheRajkot district. Of the22,055farmerswho sold groundnut tothe government inRajkot, 9,832(44%) are yet to get payment.Rajkot is followed by Junagadhwhere 3,630 (28%) farmers arewaiting for their dues to becleared.GirSomnath(2,848farm-ers, 31%), Devbhumi Dwarka(2,706 farmers, 33%), Amreli,(2,566 farmers, 32%), Aravalli(1,517farmers,14%),Morbi(1,489farmers, 37%) and Sabarkantha(1,369 farmers, 18%), too, havelargenumberof farmerswaitingtogettheirdue.Of the 17districts, in each of

which500ormorefarmershavesold their oilseeds at theMSP,fewerthan75percentfarmersinsix districts -- Rajkot, Junagadh,DevbhumiDwarka, Amreli, GirSomnath, andMorbi -- have re-ceivedpayment.Infiveotherdis-

tricts (Sabarkantha, Aravalli,Gandhinagar, Kheda, andSurendranagar),between80and89 per cent farmers have beenpaid while in four (Jamnagar,Banaskantha,Bhavnagar,Mehsa-na) districts, between90and99percent farmershavebeenpaid.PorbandarandBotadaretheonlydistricts where all the farmershave been paid after procuringgroundnutinsignificantquantity.Rajkotleadsthechartoffarm-

ers--22,055--whohaveavailedthebenefitofMSPprocurement,followed by Junagadh (12,951),Aravalli (9,805), Gir Somnath(9,279), Devbhumi Dwarka(8,186), Amreli (8,021), Sabarka-ntha (7,956), Surendranagar(4,960),Morbi(4,004),Bhavnagar(3,352)andBanaskantha(3,072).JayeshRadadiya, theMinister

for Food, Civil Supply andConsumerAffairs, said the gov-ernmentwill disburse the pay-ment at the earliest. “It could bedelayed due to holidays ofSaturdayandSunday,butwearetaking updates every day andmakingeffortssothatfarmersget

paidattheearliest.Buttheproce-dureofprocuringgroundnutfromfarmers,sendingittogodownandgettingapprovedbygraders,rais-ingbills,sendingthemtoNAFED,and then getting payment re-leased from theCentral govern-menttakessometime.Thereisnodearth fund as the state govern-ment alsohas a revolving fund,”RadadiyatoldTheIndianExpress.Theminister said the delay

was not to persuade farmers toselltheirproduceatlowerratesinthe openmarket rather. “This iscertainlynot the reason. Payme-ntsarereleasedassoonasthepro-cessingof bills is completed,” hesaid.Farmerssellingtheirproduce

in agricultural producemarketcommittees(APMCs)inthestateget payment on the spot aftertheir produce is sold throughopenauction.However,thisyear,prices of groundnut had re-mainedmarginallyhigherat thebeginning of themarketing sea-soninOctober-Novemberbeforecoming below the MSP fromDecember.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEGANDHINGAR, JANUARY4

BJP LEADER Alpesh Thakor al-legedMondaythat landparcelsworth crores of three farmersfrom Hanspura, Muthiya andVastralvillages inthevicinityofAhmedabadcityhavebeenille-gally grabbed by three realestate developers. Alpesh saidhe will help the farmers gettheir right and file a complaintbefore a committee headed bythe district collector under theprovisions of the recentlyenactedGujaratLandGrabbing(Prohibition)Act.AftertheActcameintoforce

on December 16, Alpesh hadsaid the maximum victims ofland grabbing in Gujarat werefrom Thakor community. TheBJP leader had also declaredthathewouldmakepublica listof “big heads” involved in landgrabbing.On Monday, Alpesh pro-

duced the three farmersbeforethemedia andsaidhewaspre-senting their caseasperhisan-

nouncement last month.Alpeshalsosaidhewouldpres-entmore such cases in future.Addressing media persons,

Alpeshsaidhugelandparcelsofthe farmers worth crores havebeendeceitfullygrabbedbythereal estate developers and thefarmers have been fighting le-gal battle without getting anyjustice till date.Oneof thefarmers,Amaratji

Thakor fromHanspura village,alleged a real estate developerfrom Ahmedabad has grabbedhis landworth Rs 250 crore onthebasisof a fakeancestrydoc-ument affirmed by eight per-sons.ThesecondfarmerRamajiThakor fromMuthhiya villagesaid he had decided to sell hislandtoarealestategroupsince

he was in need of money.However, Ramaji added, theowner of the group had givenhimmoneyanddeceitfullytookitbackthroughhissignedblankcheques. It is also alleged thattherealestategrouphasalreadystarted construction work onthe land.Mukesh Bharwad, a close

associate of Alpesh, said thattherearestrongevidenceof thelandgrabbingbytherealestatedevelopers andyet the farmerswereawaiting justice.Bharwadalleged that in one of the threecases,whenthefarmerwent topolice with his complaint, thepolice asked them to strike acompromise.Alpesh said he and his

group, Gujarat Thakor-KshatriyaSena,will starta legalprocedure to help the farmerssubmit theircomplaintsbeforeacommitteeheadedbythedis-trict collector under the provi-sions of the anti-land grabbinglaw.“If necessary, I will take the

farmers tomeet the chief min-ister aswell,” Alpesh said.

Land of three farmersgrabbed by realtors,willfile complaint: Alpesh

■TheChhotaUdepur forestdepartmentonMondayrescuedaneight-month-oldleopardcubthat fell intoawellatZabvillage inPaviJetpurtalukaof thedistrict.

■ The localsalertedtheforestdepartmentafterhearing itscries.Thecubwasfoundclingingtotheunevenstonewallof thewellbutwasdrenchedand

shivering inthecold,officials said.

■Theteamof forestofficersloweredacoircot intothewell topullout thecub. It

wastakentotheDungarvanRestHouseof theforestdepartment forprimarytreatmentbeforebeingreleased intothewild,officialsadded.

BJP leadertofilea

complaintunderthe

provisionsof the

GujaratLandGrabbing

(Prohibition)Act

LEOPARD CUB FALLS INTO WELL, RESCUED

The leopardcubwasfoundclingingtothewallsof awell inChhotaUdepur,onMonday. Express

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA, JANUARY4

THE PANCHMAHALS districtpoliceonMondayarrestedeightyouths fromVallabhpur villagein Sehra taluka for allegedlythreateningself-immolationaf-tertheirdemandto“withdraw”mining lease on land in theirvillagewasrejectedbythe localadministration.In a case registered at Sehra

police station, the eight youthshave been booked for attempt-ing “to commit cognisable of-fence” under Section 151 ofCriminalProcedureCode(CrPC).AccordingtoofficersofSehra

policestation,theaccused, iden-tified as Jashvantsinh Solanki,Gajendrasinh Solanki, MukeshNayak, Arvind, YuvrajsinhSolankiandthreeothers,arrivedat the office of the localMamlatdar alleging that theircomplaint regarding a “fabri-cated revenue record entry” inthe case of land in the villagehadbeen ignored.MR Nakkum, Police

Inspector, Sehra police stationsaid, “The youth claimed that agovernment land, which hasbeen handed over for mininglease to agencies has beenwronglyclassifiedasanon-pas-ture (gochar) land and leasedout for granite stone mining.But the officers of the districtadministration patiently pro-vided themwith the records toexplain that their contentionwas misplaced and the landwas indeed fit for a mininglease. Later, they stepped outand threatened to self-immo-late inthepremisesof theSehraTalukaoffice.”The police also recovered a

bottleofpetrolfromtheaccusedand arrested them to preventthem from going ahead withtheir act.TheTalukaofficewasclosed

to the public following thechaosthatensuedandstrictpo-lice security was deployed atthe site.Nakkumadded,“Noneof the

youths is theownerof the land.They are locals who have beenopposing themining lease.Weareprobing if theywere incitedtoprotestandtakelawintotheirhands.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, JANUARY4

FOUR PERSONS assaulted ajewellery store owner and de-camped with gold ornamentsand cashworth Rs 6.77 lakh inAhmedabad, police saidMonday. The criminals alsofired a round from a handgun,police added.Around7.30pmonSunday,

the fourmen, all covering theirface with handkerchiefs,barged intoViralGoldPalace, ajewellery store in Umiya com-plex, on Naroda Road in Nikolarea.Theaccusedassaultedthestore owner, Prakash Ghanchi(26),withthebuttof ahandgunand looted Rs 2.60 lakh cashand 80 grams gold ornamentsworth Rs 4.17 lakh, police said.The accused then fired oneroundfromthehandgunbeforefleeing.PolicehavereleasedaCCTV

footage of the incident andformedmultiple teamstocatchthe culprits.“Wehavebookedacaseun-

der Indian Penal Code sections394 for causing grievous hurtwhilecommittingrobbery,397for robberywith an attempt tocausedeathandsectionsof theArms Act against four uniden-tified persons. The accused at-tacked the store when one ofthe staffers had gone for a toi-

let break,” a policeofficer at Nikol police stationsaid.In another incident, an

unidentified man entered ajewellery store in Amrelitown Saturday and lootedgold valuables worth Rs 3.84lakh.Accordingtopolice, the inci-

dent occurred at M Vitthaldasjewellery storeat11.15am.Theaccused, so far unidentified,robbedninegold lockets.Policehave lodgedacaseof loot in thematterandhavestartedcheck-ing CCTV footages.In a third incident, two

unidentified men entered ajewellery store in Surat onSaturday evening and stabbedthestoreownermultiple timesbefore fleeing.Nilesh Soni, the owner of

Prasang Jewellers,wasstabbedfive times with a knife by twomaskedmenwhowere imper-sonating as customers, policesaid.The store is located at Parth

Complex in Katargam area ofSurat.The accused, police said,

fled from the spot leaving Sonibleeding.The injuredhasbeenadmit-

tedrushedtoaprivatehospitalfor medical assistance, whilepolice have lodged a caseof attempt to murder in thecase.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA,JANUARY4

TWODAYS after a 70-year-oldfarmer died by suicide on theBakor taluka panchayat officepremises inMahisagar, a letterpurportedlywrittenbythefarmerto the elected representatives oftheBJPfromthedistricthascometolight,policesaidMonday.BalwantCharanhangedhim-

self fromthestaircaseofthepan-chayatoffice Saturdayallegedlyafter his application for a houseunderthePradhanMantriAwasYojana (PMAY) had not beensanctionedforthepastfiveyears,

Inthepurportedletter,CharanhasaddressedLunawadaBJPMPRatansinhRathodandLunawadaMLAJigneshSevakstatinghisdis-appointmentatnotreceivingany“support” fromthepartydespite“pledginghissoul”tothepartyashe had nomoney to even com-pletetheconstructionofatoiletinhishouse.The letter, which the police

foundonCharan'sbody, ishand-writteninGujaratiandaddressedtoRathodandSevak.“MP Ratan Singh Rathod

Saheb andMLA Jignesh SevakSahab.Godhasgivenyoutheop-portunitytoservethepoorbyrais-ingyoutoahighstatusofpower.

Iamapoorperson,whohasgivenhis life to theBJP formanyyears.Sincebeingappointedasatalukaheadoftheparty,Ialwaysthoughtof the party asmy family. I wasdedicated to the party. The cir-cumstanceschangedandwhenIneededhelp, none came to sup-portme. Ihadnevermisusedmyposition in theparty andcontin-uedtoimploreleadersforhelpingme seek financial help throughthe government schemes. Buteventoday,Ihavenotbeenabletobenefit from any governmentschemedespitebeingpoor.Ihavenotevenbeenabletobuildthetoi-let as asked by (PrimeMinisterNarendra()Modji inmy house

(duetofinancialconstraints),”theletterread.Sub-inspectorMBVacchaniof

Bakor taluka police station said,“Wefoundthe letteronCharan'sbody. The letter is not a suicidenote as it does notmention thathewasplanningtotakehis life. Itdoes showthathehadbeen try-ingtoseekfinancialhelpwhichhedidnot get.Weare investigatingthecauseofhissuicidebycheck-ingwhichtableinthetalukapan-chayat did hemakehis applica-tion to,whether itwas rejectedandwhoweretheofficersnotre-sponding to him.Wewill see ifthere is any case to bemade forabetmenttosuicide.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, JANUARY4

THE GUJARAT Khedut Samaj(GKS),apubliccharitabletrustandfarmers’ organisation, has chal-lengedtheSuratcitypolicecom-missioneroffice’srefusaltograntpermission to hold a farmers’meeting,whichwasscheduledtobeheld on January 3, before theGujaratHighCourt.Thepolicehadconveyed their refusal to grantpermission for the event onJanuary1.While thepermissiontocon-

ductthemeetingwasrefusedpri-marily due to theCovid-19pan-demicanditsprotocols,theSuratcitypolice commissioner’s officealso cited that themeetingmayleadtoanextensionofsupporttothe ongoing farmers’ protest at

Delhiasanotherreason.GKS president Jayesh Patel,

throughadvocateAnandvardhanYagnik, has challenged thedeci-sionandcalled it “illegal andun-constitutional”.The petitioner has cited that

the refusal has been primarilychallenged on the ground thatfundamentalrighttogettogether,associate, holdmeetings andex-press opinions, as is guaranteedunderArticle19oftheIndianCon-stitution,“cannotbedeniedonas-sumptionandpresumption”and“expressionof support to anon-violent agitation anywhere inIndiabywordsandexpressionofoppositionontheissuesofthesta-teandcentralgovernmentsiswellwithin‘freedomofexpression’”.TheGKS has also submitted

thatanassurancewasgivenbytheorganiserthatthemeetingwillbe

held todiscuss issues of farmerswellwithinthestipulatedCovid-19guidelines.Itfurtherstated,theSupreme Court’s decision inDecember 2020 had permittedthe farmers to protest “withoutany impediment in accordancewithlaw”.As per existing provisions of

the law, the petition stated, thepermission toholdmeeting canberefusedonlyaftergivingoppor-tunityofhearingandbygivingef-fectiveopportunityofbeingheardon the issues onwhich the per-mission is likely to be denied.“Therefore, in absence of suchhearing,theimpugneddecisionisinviolationofsection33(1)(o)ofthe(BombayPolice)Act,readwiththerulesframedthereunderand,therefore, same is illegal andun-lawful,” thepetitionerhas statedintheirapplication.

Newcases:

698

Cumulativedeaths:

4,346

Cumulativedischarge:

2,34,558

Totalcases:

2,47,180

Places Confirmed Deaths Newcases

Ahmedabad 56,884 2,258 144

Amreli 3,878 33 3

Anand 2,318 17 9

Aravalli 1,167 26 3

Banaskantha 4,631 38 9

Bharuch 3,944 18 12

Bhavnagar 5,953 70 15

Botad 1,032 12 1

ChhotaUdepur 892 4 1

Dahod 3,073 7 26

Dang 152 1

DevbhoomiDwarka 9,797 5 1

Gandhinagar 8,173 104 24

GirSomnath 2,336 22 5

Jamnagar 10,199 35 7

Junagadh 4,984 32 17

Kheda 2,984 16 13

Kutch 4,048 33 23

Mahisagar 1,983 13 4

Mehsana 6,686 38 6

Morbi 3,108 20 12

Narmada 1,967 1 15

Navsari 1,591 8 3

Panchmahal 4,136 23 8

Patan 4,173 51

Porbandar 1,076 4

Rajkot 21,196 201 64

Sabarkantha 2,837 13 6

Surat 49,977 968 124

Surendranagar 3,449 13 7

Tapi 1,048 6 4

Vadodara 25,132 247 130

Valsad 1,372 8 1

Otherstates 148 3

CASE TRACKERJewellery storesattacked in 3 cities; 2shop owners assaulted

Eight youths‘threaten toimmolate self’over mininglease row, held

Farmers’ body moves HC afterpolice deny approval for meet

Letter addressed to BJP leadersrecovered: ‘No support from party’

FARMERDIESBYSUICIDE INMAHISAGAR

27,535 farmers await payment forgroundnut sold to govt at MSP

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA, JANUARY4

VADODARA REPORTED its firstcase of the new coronavirusstrain after one of the five pas-sengers who had arrived fromthe United Kingdom last weektestedpositive for thevirus.VadodaraMedicalOfficerfor

Health, Dr Devesh Patel, con-firmedthatoneof the fivesam-ples that had been sent to theNational InstituteofVirology inPunehadtestedpositive for thenewvirus strain.According to officials, the

patient is a 32-year-old manwho returned to India onDecember21.Officials said close contacts

of thepatientareasymptomaticand have tested negative forCovid-19.However, with his report

testingpositiveforthenewvirusstrain, the contacts have beenadvised strict home isolation.Thepatientisadmittedtoagov-ernment facility in the city.At least three close contacts

of the fourothersUKreturnees,who tested positive for Covid-19, have also been found posi-tive forcoronavirus,healthoffi-cials said.

32-year-old UKreturnee testspositive for newCovid variantin Vadodara

warningwith respect toCovid-19 case trend. Thismay also beconsidered in tandemwith theestablished incubation periodof the infectionalongwithviralsheddinguntiluptosevendayssince theonset of symptoms.Madhvi Joshi, scientist at

GBRCandaco-authorof thepa-per, said that we have encour-aging results which we areplanning to share with policymakers. The group is hopefulthatWBEwill be taken up for-mallybypublicbodies formon-itoringpandemic across state.The Gandhinagar-based

study included samples fromfourwastewaterplants, threeofwhich were from theGandhinagar city – Sargasan,Basan, and an academic insti-tute --andanother fromaruraldistrict Jaspur.Influent (what flows inside

the wastewater plant, the un-treatedpart)wascollectedfromeachplant -- twice in aweek atfirst, followedbyweeklycollec-tion for two months -- fromAugusttoSeptemberlastyear.Atotal of 43 influent wastewatersamples were thus collected intheperiod fromthe fourplants.Three target genes were

consideredandpresenceof twoor all target genes in a specificsample,wasconsideredas ‘pos-itive’ for Covid-19. Forty of the43sampleswere thusdetectedtobepositive.Theaveragepres-

ence of the three genes com-bined indicate the confirmedpresence of SARS-CoV-2.The researchers upon time-

based comparison of official,documented cases vis-a-vispercentage change in genomeconcentration in the samples,foundthat thetwofactorswerein conjunctionona time scale.The preprint paper noted,

“...The percentage change ingenomeconcentration levelona particular date was in con-junction with the confirmedcasesregistered1-2weekslateron a temporal scale by the reg-ulatoryauthoritybasedonclin-ical tests… The results unravel

the potential of WBE surveil-lance of Covid-19 as an earlywarning tool displayed by theadequate presence of SARS-CoV-2 genetic material inwastewater samples thoughlimitedcasesweredocumentedandbasedontheimmediatefu-ture trends.”Prof Prosun Bhattacharya

with KTH at Sweden said thework is a great proof of the ca-pability of wastewater surveil-lance of Covid-19 in India,whichneedstobeimmediatelyscaled up to the province, andcatchment scale for improve-ments in management inter-ventions.

FROMPAGEONE

WASTEWATER-BASED epi-demiology (WBE) is aprom-isingapproachtounderstandthe status of disease out-break inacertaincatchmentby monitoring viral load inthewastewater,as itcontainsexcrement fromboth symp-tomatic and asymptomaticindividuals. WBE data canhelpestimateactual infectedpopulation, which may beunderestimated by clinical

surveillance.Themethodhasprovento

be an effective tool during inpastoutbreaksofotherentericviruses, such as polio-virus,hepatitis A and norovirus.Several researchers have alsoexemplifiedthatitcanalsobeused as an earlywarning toolfor the disease outbreak in acommunity and used to in-formtheefficacyofthecurrentpublichealthinterventions.

Effectivetooltogaugeoutbreakofdiseases

Wastewater surveillance

Ahmedabad

5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

GREATER CHENNAI CORPORATIONStorm Water Drain Department

DIPR/17/Tender/2021

S.W.D.C.No.B1/0662-16/2020INVITATION OF BIDS

Superintending Engineer /SWDD

Re E-Tenders under single stage two envelope systems are invited for the following

works by Superintending Engineer SWD Department

S.W.D.C.No. B1/0662-16/2020Integrated Urban Flood Management for Chennai Kosasthalaiyar Basin Projectunder ADB Fund Construc�on of Integrated Storm Water Drain in KosasthalaiyarBasin in the extended areas of Greater Chennai Corpora�on (3 Nos. of Packages).(Package No. 39, 40 & 42)

Contract Period: 24 Months EMD Rs.40.00 Lakhs to Rs.43.00 Lakhs

Pre-Bid mee�ng on: 20.01.2021 at 3.00 pm at office of the Surperintending Engineer,Storm Water Drain Department, Greater Chennai Corpora�on, Amma Maaligai,Chennai- 600 003.Tender Last Date & Time of Submission: 05.02.2021 upto 3.00 PM

Bid documents are available website in www.tntenders.gov.in in the slot GreaterChennai Corpora�on - ADB Tenders

Technical Bid open date & �me: 05.02.2021 at 3.30 PM

Dakshin Gujarat Vij Co. Ltd.CIN U40102GJ2003SGC042909

Surat Rural Division Office

Opp. Urja Sadan, Nana Varachha Road, Kapodara, Surat-395 006 GUJARAT

DGVCL Toll Free No. 19123 (Or 1800 233 3003)

Install MCB/ ELCB/ RCCB & Prevent Electric Shocks/ Electrical Accidents

Tender Notice

Tenders (no. 116) for construction of plinths for RMUs as per specified drawing for sub-divisions

of Surat Rural Division.

Tenders (no. 117) for pole numbering work for Saroli sub-division.

Tenders (no. 118) for erection of new HT/LT lines & transformer centers, line maintenance and

ABC replacement and any other work as per instruction of the DE of Puna sub-division and any

other sub-divisions of Surat Rural Division.

Tenders (no. 119) for rectification, meter replacement, MMBs and new service connection

works for Kosad sub-division.

Tenders (no. 120) for ARC for cable fault finding work providing jointing kit as specified by

DGVCL, for Simada sub-division.

Tenders (nos. 121 and 122) for supply & installation of Transformer HT Terminal Protectors for

various Schemes for Saroli and Sayan sub-divisions.

Tenders (no. 123) for maintenance of LED scroll board and providing new banners on display

boards as required by Surat Rural Circle, year 2020-21.

Tenders (no. 124) for AMC for computers and printers with parts for all sub-divisions and Surat

Rural Division Offices.

Tenders (no. 125) for preparation of plinths for CSS of 22 kV capacity for any sub-divisions of

Surat Rural Division.

Tenders (nos. 126 and 127) for erection and maintenance of HT/LT lines, transformer centers,

ABC replacement work and other works for Yogichowk sub-division (Zone-B & Zone-A respec-

tively) and at any other sub-divisions under Surat Rural Division.

Tenders' documents may be downloaded from www.dgvcl.com.

EE (O&M), Surat Rural Division, DGVCL.

GUJARAT

Ahmedabad:Anationalmeetof various organi-sationsaffiliatedtotheRashtriyaSwayamsewakSangh (RSS) will be held in Gandhinagar inGujarat between January5and7,whichwill beattendedbyBJPpresidentJPNaddaandRSSchiefMohan Bhagwat, a Sangh office-bearer said onMonday.During the three-dayconvention, about150

delegates of 25-odd organisations affiliated totheSanghwillsharetheirexperiences,feedbackand information with each other, RSS AkhilBharatiyaPracharPramukhArunKumartoldre-porters. He said themeet will be held at theKarnavatiUniversitycampus inGandhinagar.Besides Bhagwat and Nadda, RSS

'Sarkaryavah' (general secretary) Suresh'Bhaiyyaji' Joshi,and top leaders of the All IndiaVanvasi Kalyan Ashram, ABVP, BharatiyaMazdoorSangh,RashtraSevikaSamiti,SwadeshiJagranManch, VishwaHindu Parishad etc.willparticipate inthe 'samanvay'meeting. PTI

Ahmedabad:Asmanyas150LokRakshakDal (LRD) aspirants were detained inGandhinagar onMonday after they as-sembled at the Central Vista garden tostage a protest demanding supernumer-aryposts in the recruitmentprocess.According to police, the agitators had

not obtained permission to gather at the

venue. “We took the protestors to differ-entpolicestationsinsector7,superinten-dent of police office and Dahegam PSwhere theywere kept till evening. Anof-fencewillbe lodgedatsector7PSagainstthem for violating social-distancingnorms,”saidapoliceofficeratsector7PS.

ENS

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEGANDHINAGAR, JANUARY4

BJPNATIONALpresident JPNadda,whoreached Gandhinagar onMonday, con-gratulated the state unit forwinning alleightAssemblyseatsintherecentlyheldby-elections. This is hismaiden visit tostate after being appointed as nationalpresidentof theparty.Nadda attended a meeting at the

state party headquarters, ShreeKamalam. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani,state party president C R Paatil andDeputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel werealsopresentat theevent.Duringhisaddress,Naddacongratu-

latedtheGujaratBJPunitforwinningonall eight Assembly seats in the by-elec-tions.Healsourgedall partyworkers toworkforasimilarlandslidevictoryintheupcoming elections to the local bodies,likely tobeheld inFebruary.NaddasaidhewasproudofBJPwork-

ersasduringthelockdown,allotherpar-ties also had gone into lockdown and itwas only BJPworkerswho stoodby thepeopleof thecountryandserve them.The BJP president praised the way

PrimeMinisterNarendraModihandledthe situation of the Covid-19 pandemic

inacountryof 130crorepopulation.He added that the people of India

have full faith in the BJP leadership andthat is the reasonwhy even during thispandemic, BJP is coming out victoriousinelections.Hesaid that itwasunfortu-nate that currentlywhile opposing PMNarendra Modi, some people havestartedopposingourcountry.Rupani said that theupcoming local

body elections are going to be very cru-cial and opposition Congress will bewiped out in such amanner that it willnot be visible even after searchingthroughabinocular.Paatil said that after becoming a

model of development for the entirecountry, Gujarat is on its way to be thebestmodelof organization in thecoun-try. He said that the party workers areworkingoncompletingthetaskof form-ing page committees by door-to-doorcontactof voters.

MAIDENVISITTOSTATEAFTERBECOMINGBJP CHIEF

Nadda asks BJP workersto work for landslide winin local body elections

Naddacongratulatedthe

GujaratBJPunit forwinning

onalleightAssembly

seats intheby-elections

170 LRD aspirants detained in Gandhinagar

RSS affiliated bodies tomeet in Gandhinagarfrom January 5 to 7

Ahmedabad

6

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THE MP LETDOWNAsChiefMinisterShivrajSinghChouhantakesashrill turn,he

mustknowhisownpolitical-administrativerecord isat stake

COMMUNALTENSIONSHAVEbeenstokedintheMalwaregionofMadhya

Pradesh in the last fewdaysamidrallies takenoutbyHindutvagroups to

raise awareness about the fund collection drive for the Ram temple in

Ayodhya.Therehasbeenstone-peltingonprocessionstakenoutinUjjain,

Indore,MandsaurandDhardistrictswithparticipantsreportedlyshouting

provocativeslogansastheygothroughMuslimmohallas.Theadministrationhasarrested

thealleged stone-pelters, and inonecase, razed thehouseof a labourer,who reportedly

hadnothing todowith the incident.However, ChiefMinisterShivraj SinghChouhanhas

condoned theheavy-handedadministration response.OnSunday, he announced that a

newlawwillbeformulatedonthelinesofthedraconianUttarPradeshRecoveryofDamage

toPublic andPrivatePropertyOrdinance,2020,withmorestringentprovisions. Existing

lawsaresufficienttodealwithstone-peltingoranyactionthatcausespublicdisturbance.

TheUPordinance, itself anexercise in legalandadministrativeexcess, isnomodel to fol-

low—theMPcabinethasalready followedUP’sbadexampleontheanti-conversionbill

againstinter-faithmarriage.Itcanalsobearguedthataprudentadministrationcouldhave

avertedtheflaringof communal tensions if ithadactedwithalacrity.

A four-time chiefminister, Chouhanhas earnedhimself a reputation for being a sea-

soned administrator. Onhiswatch,Madhya Pradesh has largelymaintained communal

peace.Yet,hehasbeenuncharacteristicallystridentinhispublicutterancesoflate.Speaking

ontheoccasionof thebirthanniversaryof formerprimeministerAtalBihariVajpayeelast

month, he said: “I am in a dangerousmoodnowadays. Iwill not spare thosewho are in-

volvedinillegalactivities.LeaveMadhyaPradesh,otherwise,Iwillburyyou10feetdeepand

noonewillknowaboutyourwhereabouts.”Theintolerancetocorruptionis laudable,but

the chief minister’s rhetorical intemperancewas not. Over the years, the self-effacing

Chouhan— referred to asmama ormaternal uncle—has been seen as a genial and fair-

mindedleaderwhoismoderateinwordanddeed.Heisseentobecast inthemouldofan

earliergenerationofBJPleaders,especiallyVajpayee,attheotherendofthespectrumfrom

hispartycolleagueandfellowchiefminister,YogiAdityanath,whohasmadehismarkwith

polarisingrhetoricandpolitics.HisamiablepersonahashelpedChouhantobothcarveout

adistinctiveniche in theBJP’s secondrungandprovideastableandeffectivegovernment

inMadhyaPradeshwhichhasemergedasanagriculturepowerhouseunderhim.

ForChouhan,thereismuchatstake,therefore,andapoliticalandadministrativerecord

tobuildon.Bypushing throughadraconian law,bybeing seenas imperviousor intoler-

ant to the anxieties of minorities in the state, hewould be taking a disquieting political

turnandlettingdownall thosewhohave lookedtohimforacalmerandsoberpolitics.

GAME ON

Aunifiedregulatory frameworkwithstrongchecksand

balances for theonline fantasysports sector isneeded

INDIA IS EMERGING as a hub for online fantasy sports. According to a report by

KPMG,thenumberofusersinthecountryparticipatinginonlinefantasygaming

platformshas grown fromamere2million in June2016 to a staggering90mil-

lion byDecember 2019, overtaking the US as the largest online fantasy sports

market. Thisexponential rise in theuserbasehas led toanear triplingof the in-

dustry’s revenues— fromRs 920 crore in 2018-19 to Rs 2,470 crore in 2019-20. Venture

capital fundinginthesectorhasalsoskyrocketed—from$25millionin2015to$337mil-

lionlastyear.However,notwithstandingthisstrikinggrowth,andbecauseof it,somecon-

tentious issuesneedtobeaddressed.

First, different courts and state governments are in themidst of debating its legality

butcareful regulation,notasweepingban, is therightanswer.At leastsixpetitionshave

beenfiledincourtsseekingabanononlinegamblingandfantasysportsandsomestates

prohibitanygamingactivityformoney.Attemptstocurbthegrowthof thissector,how-

ever,bymakingit illegalorclassifyingitasgamblingaremisdirected.Variouscourtjudg-

mentshave likenedonline fantasy sports platforms to gamesof “skill”, not gambling. A

draft paperbyNiti Aayogalso argues that, “skill, not chance, is apredominant factor” in

the online gaming ecosystem. Second, the absence of a unified regulatory regime has

meantthatdifferentstateshavedifferingregulationsregardingonlinegaming.Companies

thus have to engagewith each state differently, despite operating on a pan-India basis

through the online platform. This ends up increasing business uncertainty, and goes

againsttheprincipleofeaseofdoingbusiness.This,astheNitiAayogpaperalsonotes,leads

to consumers having “differential rights”, and can result in “forum/jurisdiction shop-

ping”. There is alsoagreaterpossibilityof conflict of interest. For instance, BCCIofficials

orplayerscouldendorse rivalplatforms, giving rise tosuchconcerns.

There is a need to put in place a unified regulatory architecture, bringing an end to

themultiplicity of regimes. Sucha framework,with strong checks andbalances,would

usher in greater accountability and transparency, improve the ease of doing business

whilealsokeepingerrantplayers incheck.

THEIR OWN BUBBLE

India’s cricketingstarsneedtounderstandthatwhen itcomes

toCOVID-19prevention, rulesarenon-negotiable

THEAPPARENTLYCASUALdisregardof acrucialCOVID-19protocolbyfive

IndianinternationalcricketersinMelbourneonNewYear’sDay, laysbare

thebubbleofcarelessnessthatIndia’ssuperstarshaveinhabited.Exposing

themselvestothechanceofaninfectionwhilediningindoors,whenthat

has specifically beenpencilled in as a “don’t” in a list of bio-bubble rules,

is not something tobeproudof. Beingunmindful of regulations that tophealthauthor-

itieshavebeenrepeatedlystressingon—chancesofcontractingthevirusindoorswhere

youcan’twearamaskwhile eatingarehigh—smacksof adisdainof rules laiddownto

safeguardmore than just the fivewhosauntered in forameal.Neither the fanwhocap-

tured thebunchon camera, nor theAustralian board that is investigating the breachor

the reviledmediaareat faulthere.

A sporting bio-bubble comes at a huge cost. The Australian one set up for the series

and their Big Bash sets them back by awhopping Rs 160 crore.When envisaged by

Bundesliga,sport’sbio-bubbleextractedpersonalcommitmenttodisciplinefromitshighly

paid players. Even one stray infection can blowup into a teambeing felled down in no

time.Therearenosmallorbigbreachesforamicroscopicvirus. Itdoesn’t judgeintentei-

ther.So, JofraArcherhadtoforsakeplaying inaTestearlier lastyear,becausehe“stopped

byathisgirlfriend’s”.England-SouthAfricahadtheirentireseriescancelledafterapairof

positives.Thestakesandrisksarebothhigh.

Thosewhoopted to inhabit this constrictive formof bio-bubble sincebefore the IPL

knewwhattheyweresigningupfor.Andcricketerssteppingaway,knowingtheymight

notbeuptowhatisindeedanexcruciatingdemandontheirmindsandbodiestostayiso-

lated,isn’tunheardof. IndiancricketersneedtounderstandthatwhenitcomestoCOVID-

19prevention, rulesarenon-negotiable.Theviruswill spareneithertheshooter,northe

messenger—thoughonlyoneof themisprivileged toplay international cricket.

Communicating the vaccine

Rajib Dasgupta

Aneffectivemessagingstrategywillneedbothacompellingstoryandacrediblestoryteller

FOLLOWINGTHEAPPROVALof twovaccinesbythedrugregulator, theprimeministerhasreiteratedthatIndiaisonthethresholdofthelargestvaccinationprogrammeintheworld.Inthatcontext,aneditorialinthisnewspaper(‘TurningPoint’, IE, January4)rightlypointedtotheneed“tofollowthescienceandforpub-liccommunicationmessagestobeframedac-cordingly”. Similar sentiments were ex-pressed by the PM and the Union healthminister recently. Contrarian views to bothvaccineapprovalandtheprogrammehavein-cludeddebatesaroundinstitutionalprocesses,purepolitics,anti-vaccinesentimentsand,ofcourse,conspiracytheories.Recently released data from a survey in

India of approximately 11,000 respondentsrevealedthat53percentwereunsureabouttaking the COVID-19 vaccine. A citizen-sur-veyplatforminDelhifoundthatabout69percent of respondents sawno urgent need toget immunised and noted that key reasonsfor hesitancy included limited informationabout side-effects, efficacy levels and per-ceivedhigh immunity levels. This resonateswith a global survey (in collaborationwiththeWorld Economic Forum) conducted inOctober 2020 of more than 18,000 adultsfrom15 countries that reported confidencebeingdownby4pointscomparedtothepre-vious round inAugust 2020.Vaccination in-tentdeclined in10of the15countries,mostof all in China, Australia, Spain and Brazil.Globally, 10 per cent reported they wereagainst vaccines ingeneral, including14percentinIndiaandSouthAfrica.Otherkeyrea-sons included perceptions that the vaccinewill not be effective (up to a sixth of the re-spondents in Germany) and that the risk oftheirgettingCOVID-19is low(uptoafifthofall respondents inChinaandAustralia).The WHO’s SAGE (Strategic Advisory

GroupofExpertsonImmunisation)WorkingGroup on Vaccine Hesitancy defines hesi-tancy as a behavioural phenomenon that isvaccine and context specific andmeasuredagainst anexpectationof reachingaspecificvaccinationcoveragegoal,giventhatimmu-nisation services are available. They alsorecognisethatdemandandhesitancyarenot

completely congruent, and that an individ-ual or a communitymay fully accept vacci-nationwithout hesitancy butmay not de-mandaspecificvaccine.TheWHOEUROVaccineCommunications

WorkingGroupproposed the 3Csmodel tounravel layered challenges: Complacency,confidence and convenience. Vaccine confi-denceencompassestrustintheeffectivenessandsafetyofthevaccine;thesystemthatde-livers, including the reliability and compe-tenceofthehealthservicesandprofessionalsandtheperceivedmotivationsofpolicy-mak-ers making decisions on the vaccine.Vaccination complacency existswhere per-ceivedrisksofthediseaseinquestionarelowand vaccination is not deemed a necessarypreventiveaction.Vaccinationconvenienceisasignificant factorthatentailsphysicalavail-ability, affordability andwillingness-to-pay(for thosewhowould not be eligible for, orwouldnotliketoavailof,thegovernmentpro-gramme).Communicationstrategiesarecriticalfor

tracking,negotiatingandshapingperceptionsaround the vaccines and the programme.Since it is a newdisease againstwhich sev-eral candidatevaccinesarebeingdevelopedand licensed ina fast-trackedmanner, com-municationstrategiesandresponsesneedtobeshapedaround fourkey themes:Productdevelopment, prioritisation strategies, pro-grammerolloutactivities,andAEFI(AdverseEffects Following Immunisation) and AESI(AdverseEffectsofSpecialInterest).Therearereasonablequestionsandconcernsinpopu-lar discourse and will shape perceptionsaround the vaccine, including demand andhesitancy.Theserequirenotjustclearproac-tivesharingof informationtobuildtrustandconfidence but also real-time responses asvaccinationprogresses.Withtheprogrammerolloutaroundthe

corner, both vaccine optimism and vaccinescepticismco-exist. Indeed,eachoneofusisa believer and a non-believer in parts, notquite unlike deciding onwhether or not tovote for a new party in a critical election.Communication challenges around theCOVID-19vaccineacceptanceandhesitancy

are unique and it would be of limited rele-vance to fall back on the conventional wis-domofanti-vaccinelobbiesandvaccinehes-itancywhere the point of reference iswithchildhood vaccines and eradication/elimi-nationcampaigns suchaspolioormeasles-rubella.Significantly,childhoodvaccinesare90 to99percenteffective inpreventing therespectivediseases,andamyriadefficacyfig-ures of candidate COVID-19 vaccines areshaping theperceptionsgame.A study of 149 countries during 2015-19

notedthatperceptionsaboutvaccinesingen-eralhadgrowntobemorevolatilethanearlierand that scepticismabout the safety of vac-cinestendedtogrowalongsidepoliticalinsta-bility and religious extremism. As is wellrecognised, onlinemisinformation is an in-creasingthreattopublictrustinvaccinesandvaccinationprogrammes.Anexample in theearlyphaseofthepandemic:Thepoultrysec-tor inIndiasufferedanestimatedlossof$1.5mperdayerroneouslylinkingconsumptionofchickenstothedisease.Longerandwiderviewsneedtobetaken

beyond demand generation for the COVID-19vaccinationprogramme.Thechallengeliesinbeingabletoframeandco-createcrediblecommunication and community engage-ment strategies,with blended content botharoundthevaccineaswell as sustainedem-phasisonkeypreventivebehavioursthatwillcontinue to be relevant — respiratory eti-quette, hand hygiene and physical distanc-ing.Theprogrammeleadershipshallneedtoact in congruence with communicationteams,backedbysocialandbehaviouralsci-ences research inputs. Effectivemessagingstrategy shall need both a compelling storyandastoryteller;crediblevoiceswillbecru-cial, going beyond celebrity status or politi-calpopularity.Foratasksuchasthis,belief ingood science is essential but not sufficient;the risk is in being confined to the profes-sional domainswhile not being adequatelyconnectedtotheground.

Thewriter ischairperson,CentreofSocialMedicine&CommunityHealth, Jawaharlal

NehruUniversity

A study of 149 countriesduring 2015-19 noted thatperceptions about vaccinesin general had grown to bemore volatile than earlierand that scepticism aboutthe safety of vaccines tendedto grow alongside politicalinstability and religiousextremism. As is wellrecognised, onlinemisinformation is anincreasing threat to publictrust in vaccines andvaccination programmes. Anexample in the early phase ofthe pandemic: The poultrysector in India suffered anestimated loss of $ 1.5 m perday erroneously linkingconsumption of chickens tothe disease.

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,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021WORDLYWISE

the harshest lesson from gambling is the

difference between having fun and being

smart — HUNTER S. THOMPSONTHEEDITORIALPAGE

ArunKumar

A WIDER CANVAS FOR INDIA-USWithBidenathelm,DelhiandWashingtoncanenhanceeconomic,commercial ties

WHENJOEBIDENtakestheoathofofficeastheUS’s46thpresidentlaterthismonth,hewouldbe taking charge of a nation embroiled in ahealthcrisis,economiccrisisandracecrisis.Thepriorities inducedby these criseswill dictatethat thenewadministration’s initial focusbeondomesticmatters.Foreignpolicywillhavetoplay second fiddle, and this could informtheBidenadministration’s stanceon India in theeconomicandcommercialdomain.Amajorgeopoliticalrealitythatwillshape

theBidenadministration’sapproachto Indiawill be its position towards China. There is abipartisanchangeintheUS’sattitudetoChina.The Biden administration’s tone of engage-mentmaybedifferentfromthatoftheTrumpregime,butonemustexpectcontinuityinma-jortradegoals—reducingthetradedeficit,en-suring a level-playing field, reducingmarketdistortionscreatedbythedominanceofstate-ownedenterprisesandkeepingakeeneyeontechnologyrivalry.One can thus see immediate parallels in

theconcernsof the twocountries—invigor-atingthedomesticeconomyanddealingwitharisingrival.Theseconcernscantranslateintoopportunities forbothcountries.Domestically in the US, and in India,

healthcareandjobcreationneedtobeprior-ities. Healthcare is clearly an area that Indiacanplayupinbilateralrelations,withitsvac-cineandpharmamanufacturingcapacity.TheCOVID-19pandemicofferssignificantoppor-tunities for the new administration tostrengthenglobalhealthleadership.Thetwo

countries can alsoworkwithmultilateralagencies across the spectrumof vaccine de-velopment, logisticsanddistribution.Indiaproduces around20per centof the

global requirement for generic drugsbyvol-ume and every third tablet of generics con-sumedintheUS.ThePresident-electhasindi-catedhiscommitmenttoprovidingbetterandaffordablehealthcare.Thiscouldbeanoppor-tunity for the Indianpharmasector toplay aroleinreducinghealthcostsof theAmericanconsumer. And, India can benefit from ad-vancementsinmedicaltechnologies,devices,newmedicinesandR&Dcapabilities,present-ingopportunitiesforAmericancompanies.Tradeandexportsarecriticalfortheexpan-

sionofjobcreation.BidenhassetanambitioustargetforUS-Indiatradeandthere’squiteadis-tancetogointhisrespect.Somesectorscouldbenaturalfocusareas.Businessesinbothcoun-triesarealsoalignedtodiversifytheirmanufac-turingsupplychains.Thisportendswellforthecreationofemploymentinmanufacturing.Anareawhere strategic considerations and im-perativesof job creation converge is defence,especially since India has beendesignated aMajorDefencePartnerof theUS.Infrastructurewill need tobecomean in-

creasedareaoffocusinbothcountries.FortheUS, this canmean opportunities in India intransportation,powerandotherurbanameni-ties.TheUS’srenewedfocusonclimatechangeshouldleadtogreatercooperationwithIndiain energy-related areas, frommore efficientenergydisseminationandmanagement(such

assmartgrids)torenewableenergytechnolo-gies.Thereispotentialtoenhancemutualop-portunities in the 5G tech sector. Increasedpartnershipbetweenthetwonationscanac-celeratethedevelopmentoftechnologysolu-tions,promotevendorsinthe5Gopenecosys-tem and drive economic growth. The twocountriesshouldengageinshapingtherulesofaneworderinthisspace.Thisalsohasanim-portantstrategicelementrelatedtoinfrastruc-ture andconnectivity,whenseen in the lightofdevelopmentsintheIndo-PacificaswellasChina’sBeltandRoadInitiative.We should expect a return tomultilater-

alismoncetheBidenadministrationassumesoffice.TheTrans-PacificPartnershipaimedtocreatearules-basedorderthatallpartiescouldsubscribeto.WiththeascendancyoftheIndo-PacificparadigmandtheQuadandQuadPlus,a successor to the TPP could include awidercanvas.ForIndia,thiscouldmeancooperationbeyonddefence and security, including eco-nomics, technology anddevelopments per-tainingtotheregionalorder.Finally, I would hope that the economic

andcommercialdimensionistreatedwithasmuchpriorityasthestrategicdimension.Bothgovernmentsshouldembracetheprosperity-creatingpotentialof suchanapproach.

Thewriter ischairman&CEOofKPMGinIndia.HewasformerlyAssistantSecretaryof

CommerceforGlobalMarkets intheadministrationofPresidentBarackObama.

Viewsarepersonal

Infrastructure will need tobecome an increased area offocus in both countries. Forthe US, this can meanopportunities in India intransportation, power andother urban amenities. TheUS’s renewed focus onclimate change should leadto greater cooperation withIndia in energy-related areas,from more efficient energydissemination andmanagement (such as smartgrids) to renewable energytechnologies.

PM TO BUSINESSPRIME MINISTER INDIRA Gandhi calledupontheprivatesector tobemoreactivelyinvolved in national planning and devel-opment. Speaking at a meeting of theBengal National Chamber of Commerceand Industry in Calcutta, Mrs Gandhi saidthe private sector had not risen to expec-tations. Although new investments weremade, they did not generate commensu-rate employment opportunities. She re-gretted that consumers in most cases didnot get the fruit of various fiscal benefitsthat hadbeenextended to theprivate sec-tor.MrsGandhi asked theprivate sector toplough back its profits into the develop-ment of the economy.

STUDENTS ARRESTEDINAPRE-DAWNswoop, thepolice roundedup35students, includingtwoemployeesofthe veterinary college at Khanapara, nearGauhati. Thiswas the third raid on studenthostels in the state sinceNovember. Earlier,policehadraidedtheCottonCollegehostelsand the Prince of Wales Engineering andTechnology Institute at Jorhat. Later, all thearrested students exceptonewere releasedon bail, police said. The AssamAgriculturalUniversityTeachers’Association(veterinaryfaculty)hascondemnedthearrests.

LDF VS NAXALSTHE KERALA GOVERNMENT will dealstronglywithNaxalitesinthestateaslongas

they preach violence, HomeMinister T KRamakrishnan said. He said operationsagainst Naxalites had been intensified inmany parts of the state. Ramakrishnan saidthe aim of the ruling Left Democratic FrontwastomeettheNaxalitethreatpolitically,butitcouldnottoleratethepreachingofviolence.

PURGE IN POLANDTHEPURGEOFPoland’sformerleaderscon-tinuedwithwordthattheformerpartyboss,Edward Gierek, former premiers, EdwardBabiuch and Piotr Jaroszewicz, ideologicalchief, JerzyLukasiewiczandformervicepre-mier, Jan Szydlak were removed from thepresidiumoftheAll-PolishCommitteeoftheNationalUnityFront.

JANUARY 5, 1981, FORTYYEARSAGO

Ahmedabad

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY

“Donald Trump will not let an opportunity pass to relitigate an election he lost.For the good of America, he must fail.” —THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

The UNSC offers room forsustained diplomaticinteraction between themajor powers, who couldminimise tensions and createnew opportunities forcooperation. Much like theUS and USSR thatcooperated on issues relatingto nuclear proliferation at theheight of the Cold War, theUS and China could explorepotential common groundeven amidst their broad-based confrontation. Allother powers, includingIndia, will, of course, want tobe sure that the US-Chinacooperation is not at theexpense of others.

What farmingdoesn’t need

Reformthatwouldensurejusticetoover85percentofsmallandmarginalfarmersneedstolookatmorethanmereefficiencyofagriculturemarkets

IN HIS speech on December 25, PrimeMinisterNarendraModisaidthatthethreecontroversial farm lawswill finally deliverjusticetothevastmajorityofsmallfarmerswhohavebeen ignoredby successivegov-ernments.AsfarmerscontinuetheirprotestinthechillingDelhiwinter,wecontendthatthe agriculturemarketing system in thecountryneedsaseriousoverhaul.Butanex-ercise that would ensure social and eco-nomic justice tomore than 85 per cent ofsmall andmarginal farmers in the countryhastobegroundedinanarrayof factorsre-lated to ecology, nutrition, equity, culture,economicsandpolitics,alongwiththecon-sideration of efficiency of agriculturemar-kets.Thethreefarmactshavedismallyfailedtolookattheseinterconnecteddimensions,becauseofwhich,anumberofquestionsre-mainunanswered.First, while it is essential to provide

competitive markets for farmers to sell,why did the Centre assume that bypass-ing the regulated mandis is the best so-lution? If the problem is the licence rajandoligopolistic structureof someman-dis, why not change licencing require-ments and havemore buyers (small andlarge traders, companies, start-ups, co-operatives, FCI, etc) participating in theauction in the samemandi? The originalpurposeof themandi systemwas topro-mote a regulated and competitive auc-tion system whereby multiple bidderswould publicly call out bids for farmers’produce.Theentryof corporates indirectcompetition with traders wouldstrengthenthiscompetitivepurchaseen-vironment. Improving the infrastructureanddeveloping the23,000periodic ruralhaats as well as smaller mandis wouldbring this institutional market closer tosmall andmarginal farmers.Under thenewAct, a fewprivateplay-

erswhoaregoingtodominateinthemar-ketwillbefreetoframetheirownrulesre-gardingtheirprocurementdecisionsfromindividual farmers. Farmers will have toacceptthoserulesorgoelsewhere.Unlikethe mandi, which is a regulated publicspace where farmers can hold privatetraders/corporatebuyersaccountable, theaccountability of private marketplacesflowstotheirrespectiveshareholdersandnot towards farmers. While proponentsinsist thattheregulatedmandiswill func-tionasearlier, farmershaveeffectivelyar-gued using the BSNL vs Jio example, thatinthemediumrun,mostof thesemandis,except the largest ones, are likely to be-comeobsolete.Second, themandi systemhas enabled

all qualities of commodities to be sold, butprivateplayershavehigherqualitystandardsthatexcludeproducersofpoorquality.Giventhenaturalvariationinqualityof farmpro-

duce,notallfarmerswouldbeabletoobtaina “good” quality crop as definedbyprivateplayers. Ineveryseason,therewillbefarm-ers left with poorer quality produce.Typically, small traderswith low financialcapacity have purchased such produce,cleanedor sorted it by grade, and sold it toothertradersinthemandisystem.Withthepush towards standardised quality by pri-vate sector players,what happens to suchfarmersandtheirproduce?The third point relates to the second.

Naturally grown products are variable incolour,textureandeventaste,andourfoodconsumptionpracticeshavethrivedonthisvariation (the tomatoes used for rasam,chutney and salad are very different).Across theworld, andespecially in theUS,the push for standardised and uniformquality of produce by agribusinesses hasled tomajor transformations in the farmsupply chain. In theprocess, farmershavebeen pushed towards growingmonocul-turesofafewcropsandvarieties,withtheirattendant toxicityandrisk, andconsumerpreferences have been transformed to-wardsselectultra-processedfoodscreatedfrom this narrow product base, that hasbeendetrimentalforhumanhealth.Dowewant to promote an agriculturalmarket-ing system that threatens to not only fur-therskewthealreadyskewedagroecolog-icaldiversity in India?Fourth, efficiency has also beenmeas-

ured by how easily agricultural producecan travel from one place to another. Butwouldthisnotcontributefurthertoclimatechangewithgreateremissionsfromtrans-portation across long national or globalsupplychains?Thefifthandthelastpointrelatestothe

notionoffreedomandequalityamongpar-ticipants inherent in the understanding offreemarkets. Post 1990s, the liberalisationof trade in agricultural producehasmeantthat Indian farmers have to competewithfarmers around theworld to sell their pro-duceintheglobalmarket.However,byma-nipulatingandselectivelyreadingtheWorldTradeOrganisationrules, countriessuchasthe US have been able to subsidise theirfarmers to an extent ($46 billion in federalsubsidiesthisyearaloneintheUS)incompa-rable inmagnitude to India. In such a dis-tortedmarket,does liberalisationof Indianagricultureevenmakesense?Also, it is important to recognise that it

is not agiven thatdemandandsupplywillmeetontheirowntocreateacommon,ac-ceptable (efficient,market-clearing) price.This is shapedby various actors in the sys-tem—themorepowerfultheactor,themoretheabilitytodeterminethepriceandothertermsofexchangebetweenthetwoentities.Underanunregulatedsituationoutsidethemandis, Indian farmers who aremostlymarginalandsmallwillfindithardtoover-come the grip of large agribusinesses.Consideringthecriticalimportanceofagri-cultureforlivelihoods,health,foodsecurity,andalsokeepinginmindthevulnerabilityofIndianfarmers, it isnecessarytogobeyondreductionistexpediencyinconsideringagri-culturalreforms.

Agrawal isaPhDstudent inthedepartmentofanthropology,UniversityofCalifornia,LosAngeles.RichaKumarisassociateprofessoratthedepartmentofhumanitiesandsocial

sciences, IIT,Delhi

AS IT ENTERS the United Nations SecurityCouncilforthethirdtimesincetheendoftheColdWar,Indiafindsaverydifferentdynamicthan the one it encountered during the ear-lier stints in1991-92and2011-12. India, too,has changedover the last decade. The rangeof Indian interests has expanded and sohasthecircleof India’s internationalpartners.Delhi’sattitudeshavealsoshiftedfromthe

reactivetotheproactive.That, inturn,shouldmakeIndia’snewstintattheUNSCmorepur-poseful and pragmatic. Purposefulness isabout tightly integrating its UNSC engage-mentwith India’s broader national goals.Pragmatism demands adapting to thechangedconditionsattheUNSCandavoidingoverlyambitiousgoals.During1991-92,Delhisawthecollapseof

theSovietUnion,theendoftheColdWarandthenewRussia’sturntotheUSandtheWest.The People’s Republic of Chinawas focusedongettingitshouseinorder,openingitsecon-omyandkeepingalowprofileintheunipolarmoment.India,too,hadgoodreasonstokeepitsheaddown.Delhihadtofixitsbrokenecon-omy, put out political bushfires across thecountry and rejig its foreign policy to copewiththepost-Sovietworld.TheWestcouldnotresistthetemptations

for geopolitical overreachat theUN. Liberalsacross the Atlantic sought to transform the“inter-national”forumintoa“supra-national”institutionthatwouldactivelyreshapethedo-mestic structures of different societies. ForIndia, itwas amoment tohunker downandresist external imposition of solutions to itsmanifold problems — especially on theKashmirquestionandthenuclear issue.Fast forward to2011-12.A revivedRussia

andarisingChinabegantodemuragainstthesweepingWestern agendaat theUN. India’sown relative position improved in the firstdecade of the 21st century, thanks to rapideconomicgrowth.Delhiwascertainlylessde-fensivethaninthe1990s,butstruggledtoturnitsnewstrengthsintopracticaloutcomes.Adecade later, Indiahaswalkedintoafar

morecontentiousUNSC.Differencesbetweenthe US, China and Russia have become in-tractable.Chinahasrisentobeagreatpowerandismakingexpansiveclaimsandtryingtoredeem them.Meanwhile,Washington andMoscowhave drifted apart and Russia hasmovedclosertoChina.This tension among the US, China and

Russiahasbeenreinforcedbysharpeningdis-agreements betweenWashington and itsEuropean allies, amidst President DonaldTrump’squestioningofAmerica’straditionalalliances.AlthoughPresident-elect JoeBidenwantstoworkcloselywithEuropeanalliesinthe global arena, not all wrinkles can besmoothedover.As India looks for a productive tenure at

theUNSC,fiveobjectivespresentthemselves.

One is aboutmaking the UNSC “effective”.Delhi, however, might be sensible to paredown that ambition. TheUNSC is becomingless effective today thanks to the deep divi-sionsamongthemajorpowers.TheUNSCsystemwasdesignedtofunc-

tion as a concert of five powers. Unanimityamong the five permanentmembers withveto powers was rare during the ColdWardecades. After a brief moment of greatpowercooperationinthe1990s,wearenowbackinaneraof contestation.Buttherewillbe enough room for India to carve out alarger role for itself amid renewed greatpower rivalry.TheUNSCoffersroomforsustaineddiplo-

maticinteractionbetweenthemajorpowers,whocouldminimisetensionsandcreatenewopportunities forcooperation.Much like theUSandUSSRthatcooperatedonissuesrelat-ingtonuclearproliferationattheheightoftheColdWar,theUSandChinacouldexplorepo-tential common ground even amidst theirbroad-basedconfrontation.Allotherpowers,includingIndia,will,ofcourse,wanttobesurethattheUS-Chinacooperationisnotattheex-penseofothers.Two,making theUNSCmore “represen-

tative”hasbeenoneofIndia’sdemandssincetheendoftheColdWar.PessimistswouldurgeDelhitocurbitsenthusiasm.Chinahasnoin-terest in letting two other Asian powers—India and Japan— join theUNSC as perma-nent members. Optimists would suggestDelhi’s campaign, inpartnershipwithBrazil,GermanyandJapan,toexpandtheUNSCmustcontinue.Forthecampaignisaboutanimpor-tantprincipleandrevealingthenatureofpo-liticalresistancetoit.Three,Delhihasnochoicebuttodealwith

China’s growinghostility to India.At theendof the ColdWar, India hadbet that coopera-tionwithChinaonthemultilateral frontwasvaluableinitsownright,andwouldalsohelpgenerate the conditions for resolving theboundarydisputeandexpandtheareasofbi-lateralcooperation.Delhi,whichwaseagertobuild amultipolarworldwith Beijing, nowfinds itself in a unipolar Asia that is centredaroundChina.Meanwhile,theboundarydis-putehasworsenedoverthelastdecade.Indianow joins theUNSCamida continuingmili-tary standoff between the twoarmies in thehighHimalayasfollowingtheChineseaggres-sionintheLadakhregion.

Senior Indian officials have promised to“work with” China with an open mind.Scepticswoulddiscountthatsentiment.Chinahas repeatedly tried toget theUNSCto focusonIndia’sconstitutionalchangesinKashmir.On the question of cross-border terrorism,Beijing protects Pakistan from the interna-tionalpressuresthat Indiahassoughttomo-bilise at various fora. On the nuclear front,ChinacontinuestoblockIndia’smembershipof theNuclearSuppliersGroup.Four, theengagementwithpeaceandse-

curity issues at theUNSCwill allow India tostrengthenitsnewcoalitionssuchastheQuad—whichbringstogetherAustralia,India,Japanand the US. India could also use the UNSCtenure to deepen collaboration with itsEuropeanpartnerslikeFranceandGermanyinthesecurityarena,andfindcommongroundwith“GlobalBritain”thatiscarvingoutanewinternational path for itself after breakingaway from the EuropeanUnion. Delhimustalso sustain an intensive dialogue withMoscowonall international issues,notwith-standingRussia’sworsening problemswiththeWestandclosertiestoChina.Fifth,Delhineeds to revitalise its engage-

ment with its traditional partners in the“globalsouth”byarticulatingtheirpeaceandsecurity concerns in the UNSC. Two sub-groups of the global south should be of spe-cialinterest.Thenumeroussmallislandstatesaround theworld face existential challengesfrom globalwarming and rising sea levels.They also struggle to exercise control overtheir largemaritime estates. Supporting thesovereignty and survivability of the islandstates isacrucialpolitical taskfor India.Africa is the other priority. Nearly half of

UNSCmeetings,60percentofitsdocuments,and 70 per cent of its resolutions are aboutpeaceandsecurityinAfrica.Thecontinenthasthree seats in the UNSC (Kenya, Niger andTunisia)andthereisregularconsultationbe-tween theUNSC and the Peace and SecurityCouncil (PSC) of theAfricanUnion (AU). TheUNSC tenure is a goodmoment forDelhi tointensifyIndia’sengagementonpeaceandse-curityissuesinAfricaatbilateral,regionalandglobal levels.

Thewriter isdirector, InstituteofSouthAsianStudies,NationalUniversityofSingaporeandcontributingeditoroninternationalaffairs for

TheIndianExpress

COME TOGETHERTHIS REFERS to the editorial, ‘Turningpoint’ (IE, December 4).With approvalto administer the indigenously devel-opedvaccines,therenowappearslightattheendofthetunnel.However,theeffi-cacy aswell as the side-effects of thesevaccines need to bemonitored closely.Thevaccinedriveisamind-bogglingex-ercisedemandingmeticulousplanning,effective execution and coordinationamongdifferentdepartmentsaswellastheCentreandstates.Foronce, letusallbeonthesamepage.

VijaiPant,Hempur

THIS REFERS to the editorial, ‘TurningPoint’(IE,January4).Theapprovalofthevaccines is the first sanguine news of2021. Itisamatterofpridethatoneofthevaccines is indigenously developed. Inlight of these events, it is shameful thatpoliticalpartiesarestillplayingpolitics.

YashSinha,Vadodara

FIGHT PREJUDICE

THIS REFERS to the article, ‘New India,New Dalit’( IE, January 4). The deepcasteandculturedividewhichused toexistinancientIndiaisevidentevento-day.Thegovernmentfromtimetotimehas introduced policies and pro-grammesfortheSCsandSTs.However,it is important that the benefits fromsuchpolicies reach theultimate bene-

ficiaries. Only a change inmindset canlead to social inclusion because eco-nomic upliftment alone cannot fighthistoricalprejudices.

SarachanaSisodia,Delhi

MORE DEMOCRACY

THIS REFERS to the editorial, ‘Startingfrom bottom’, (IE, January 4).The vic-toryofMGNREGAworkers in the localbodies elections inKeralawill usher ina newera in local politics— the stake-holdersinruraldevelopmentwillbringinmoresensitivity indecision-makingprocessat thegrassroots level.

SudipKumarDey,Kolkata

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

ON AN MGNREGA worksite in Kolar,Karnataka,amaleworkercameuptomeandsaid thatmen ought to be paidmore thanwomen. I askedhimwhy. “Adhu yaavaagaluhange,” he replied: Thatwas how it alwayswas.NotsoinMGNREGA, I toldhim.With equalwages forwomen andmen,

and direct payments toworkers’ bank ac-counts,MGNREGAhelpstoincreasewomen’sincomes. Anothermajor programmewhichcanimprovewomen’s livelihood,theirsocialempowermentandtheir livesistheNationalRural LivelihoodMission (NRLM). Increasedincomesgivewomenmorevoiceinfamilyde-cisions,andtheability tocarebetter for theirfamiliesandthemselves.Data fromthe fifth roundof theNational

FamilyHealthSurvey(NFHS-5)showsgainsinsomeimportantareas.Inmostofthe22statesandUnionterritoriessurveyed,infantmortal-ity rates andunder-fivemortality rates havefallen; and institutional births and child im-munisationrateshaveincreased.Accesstoim-proveddrinkingwaterandsanitationhasin-creasedinalmostallareassurveyed.Onchildmalnutrition,theNFHS’sfindings

areworrying.Beyondbehaviourchangecom-municationandregularmonitoring,directnu-trition interventions are key, especially dur-ingpregnancy,breastfeedingandintheearlyyearsofachild’slife.Pregnantwomen,lactat-ingmothers and young children need hotcookedmealswith adequate protein,milk,and green leafy vegetables. States likeKarnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telanganahavereplacedtake-homerationsformotherswithdailyhotcookedmeals.Whileprovidinghot cookedmeals front-

linehealthworkersalsohavetheopportunityto give pregnantwomen iron, folic acid andcalciumtablets.Theyarealsoengagedinearlychildhood stimulation activities andparent-ing sessions. Insteadof frontlineworkers go-ing to eachwoman’s house,womencomingtotheanganwadimakesiteasiertoprovideallwomenwithappropriate servicesandcoun-selling.Mothers’ lunchgroups at the angan-wadicanalsofunctionas informalsocialnet-works. A study by the Public HealthFoundation of India (PHFI) of Karnataka’sMathrupoorna programme for pregnantwomenandbreastfeedingmothers found areduction in anaemia, improvedgestationalweight gain, improvedbirthweight, and re-duceddepressionamongwomenparticipants.Beyond the “first thousanddays”, the in-

tergenerational cycle ofmalnutrition and itssocial determinants call for a life cycle ap-proach.Suchanapproachshouldaddressthecomplexsocialillofchildmarriage.Oneofthebestwaystopreventchildmarriageisbysup-portinggirlstostayinhighschool.Grassrootssocialempowermentprogrammesshouldfo-cusonincreasinggirls’enrolment,accessandretention insecondaryeducation.Thenutri-tional status of adolescent girls couldbe im-provedby extending themid-daymeal pro-gramme to secondary educationalinstitutions,assomestateshavedone.Malnutrition should also be understood

inthecontextofwomen’swork.Childcareen-ables women to earn a livelihood. Longerworkinghours for theanganwadi, suchas inKarnatakawhereitrunsfrom9.30amto4pm,will helpwomengoout todopaidwork, in-cluding onMGNREGAworksites. Mobile

creches for younger children at thesework-sitesandconstructionsiteswillhelpwomentoworkwithoutanxietyabouttheirchildren’ssafetyandwell-being.Theanganwadisystemneedsstrengthen-

ing.Anganwadisupervisorscanbesupportedwithinterest-freeloansandfuelallowancefortwo-wheelers,enablingthemtoprovidereg-ular guidance to their cluster. Their skillsshould beupgradedwith certificate coursesonnutritionandearlychildhoodstimulation.Onlinetrainingatscalehasbeenthediscoveryofthepandemicyear.Anganwadiworkersandsupervisorscanbesupportedforprofessionaldevelopmentthroughliveonlinesessionsonnutrition,growthmonitoringandearlychild-hoodeducation.Anganwadi infrastructure needs atten-

tion:Sturdybuildings,kitchens,stores,toilets,playareasandfencedcompounds,functionalwater connections and arrangements forhandwashingareurgentimperatives.Tocatertomultiplemeal requirements, anganwadikitchensneeddouble-burnerstoves,gascylin-ders, pressure cookers and sufficient steelcooking vessels. Kitchen gardens should beplantedwithdrought-resistantandhighlynu-tritiveplants likemoringa.Themost effective platform for commu-

nity action on the ground is the grampan-chayat.We often talk of the “lastmile” forcommunication services. The panchayatshouldbethefirstmileforsocialwelfareserv-ices. There are around 2,50,000 grampan-chayats in India, and nearly 14 lakh angan-wadis, the majority in rural areas. Theanganwadi committee, chaired by a stake-holdermother and including other parents,

grandparentsandthepanchayatwardmem-ber, should be a subcommittee of the grampanchayat. It shouldmeet everymonthonafixedday, and its discussions should bepre-sentedtothegrampanchayatforaction.Exclusionandconvergencearetwomajor

challengesinsocialwelfareprogrammes.Localgovernments are the best placed to addresstheproblemofexclusion.Theycanensurecov-erageof thepoorestwomenandchildren,es-peciallynomadicandsemi-nomadiccommu-nities, and seasonalmigrants such as brickworkersandsugarcaneharvesters.Panchayatsarealso thebest forumtoprevent childmar-riageandensurethatallgirlsstayinschool.Convergentactiononthegroundisoneof

thestrengthsofgrampanchayats.Anganwadiworkers,ASHAs,ANMsandanganwadisuper-visors canwork together with panchayatmemberstoensurethatallchildrenandmoth-ersarecoveredwithimmunisation,antenatalcare,maternitybenefitsandnutritionservices.Grampanchayats can use their funds, con-vergedwithMGNREGA,tostrengthenangan-wadis. They canengagewomen’s collectivesunderNRLMforanganwadiandschoolneeds,andprovidepanchayat services suchas end-to-endsolidwastemanagement,waterpumpoperations, surveys,bill collectionsandman-agementoffairpriceshops.Suchstepswillin-creasewomen’sindividualandgroupincomesin sustainableways. Theywill also lead togreatersocialandeconomicempowermentofwomen,theirparticipationinlocalgovernance,and,eventually,betternutritionforall.

Thewriter is intheIndianAdministrativeService,andbasedinBengaluru

Communityaction,withafocusonwomen’swell-being,canfightmalnutrition

About women, work and wages

UmaMahadevanDasgupta

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by CRajaMohan

Nikhit Kumar

Agrawal and

RichaKumar

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OFFICE OF ADDITIONAL CHIEF ENGINEERPHED, JAIPUR REGION-I, JAIPURJyoti Nagar, Sahakar Marg, Jaipur-302005

Phone: 0141-2740170 (o) ace1.jpr.phed@rajasthan.gov.in.com

No.: F()/ACE/PHED/Ar. Dausa/ NIT 25/2020-21/5832-52 Date: 24.12.2020

(e-NIT NO. 25/2020-21)Online tenders are, hereby, invited on behalf of the Governor of Rajasthan for thefollowing works from the bidder meeting eligibility as per criteria mentioned in thedetailed tender document which can be seen and downloaded from websitehttps://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in. Tenders are to be submitted online in electronicformat on website https://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in as per schedule given below:-

SAVE WATER - SAVE LIFESd/-

(R.C. Mishra)Addl. Chief Engineer

DIPR/C/10154/2020 PHED, Jaipur Region-I, Jaipur

NIT No. Name of Work EstimatedCost (Rs.in lacs)

Last date forsubmission of

tender

Due datefor

opening

25/2020-21

RWSS Hodyali Samel Div.Dausa Dist Dausa

258.10 11.01.2021(up to 6.00 PM)

12.01.2021(1.00 PM)

NIT No. NIB No. UBN No.

25/ 2020-21 PHE 2021A4295 PHE 2021WSOB08232.

REMEMBRANCE

9419246 LNK GOPAL LIMBU of 1/11 GorkhaRifles (BATALIK) left heavenly abode during anactive training exercise on 05 Jan 1996. Thesoldier will always be remembered for hisvaluable service to the Nation. To thisbraveheart we pledge that we shall always beguided by his immortal spirit and do his nameproud.

CO AND ALL RANKS, 1/11 GORKHA RIFLES

(BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE)

(BATALIK)

LNK GOPAL

LIMBU

Gujarat Water Supply and Sewerage BoardShort E-Tender Notice No. 23 of Year - 20-21

E-Tender ID No. 442119 & 442122Online Tender through E-Tendering are invited for the AboveE-Tender Id Kadana Part-1 & 2 RWSS Ta:Santrampur (Total 2Works) Operation and maintanence work for 24 Month byExecutive Engineer, P.H. Works Division, GWSSB, Lunawada,District - Mahisagar-389230. Mo No: 9978406620 (1)Eligibility: - As Per Tender Documents & Online Tender Notice.(2) Last Date of submission of Tender Document: 21/01/2021(upto 18:00 hrs). Further details can be available from web-site. http://gwssb.nprocure.com. For further more Tenderinformation contact to S.E., P.H.C., Godhra & E.E., P.H.W.Dn.,Lunawada.For any problem of rural area water supply please contact GWSSBhelp line No-1916. (INF/GODHRA/677/202)

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THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

CROSSWORD4319

ACROSS1 Tiesdownunrulyset incoolers(7)

4 Sporting tussle thatgivesall-roundcredit (5)

7 Runsoutof containers(4)

8 Spotonwhich filmsaremade(8)

10 Fittinganewmodel tiaraperhaps (6-4)

12 Wineonemaybemistakentobediffidentabout?(6)

13 Doctorstrives toobtain films(6)

15 Amazed,andso is theorganisation(10)

18 Left fatpig inside(8)

19 Spiritedmatch(4)20 Tookthepartof another(5)

21 Tractof grassland leftout(7)

DOWN1 Servicecallperhaps(5)

2 Heshouldalwaysbepreparedtoofferachallenge(8)

3 Fumescapableof causinga lotof damage(6)

4 Thosewhodopresumablywon’t takedefeat lyingdown(5,2,3)

5 Attack isexcellent inaway(4)

6 Threatscanseemridiculous(7)

9 Agreetokeep in touch(10)

11 Strongdrinkmay leadtoasmash(8)

12 Makesslowprogressbystreetcar (7)

14 Stocktypeofpen(6)

16 Lived inthepast(5)

17 Increasedthestrain(4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Today's livelyMoonwillmake it verymuch easier to takea valuable stepup

the slippery ladder of success.The fact is that othersmaybenefit from the fallout of yourveryworthwhile efforts.However, don't imagine thatthere's not a lot of hardwork ahead.

TAURUS(Apr.21-May21)You'dprobablydowell to take careoffinancial affairstoday, especially

joint arrangements. Inotherwords, it's theoptimummoment to settle debts andbalance thebooks. Thebestperiod forprofessionalinitiatives is just around thecorner, somakeyourplansnow.

GEMINI (May22- June21)If everyoudreamtoftheperfectmomenttoseekarise inyourincome,nowcould

be it. Themainadvice is to lookforanapproachwhich isslightlyoutof theordinary.Youwill, though,havetooffersomethingunusual inreturn.Butwhatmight itbe?Theanswercouldbecloser thanyouthink.

CANCER(June22- July23)Yourremarkableintuition, coupledwithyour innateCanceriancommon

sense, shouldbeadvisingyoutofollowthe lineof leastresistance.Assumingthatpartnersareonhandtotakecareof thepracticaldimension,go for themost romanticandunrealisticchoices.

LEO(July24-Aug.23)Even a long, drawn-outwrangle overfinances shouldsoonbe settled. The

bestway out of amessmayactually be towork throughthemuddle, and thenmake aquick getaway.Have your fall-backposition ready, and see toit that you're not trapped ina corner.

VIRGO(Aug.24-Sept.23)It's time for a spot oflateral thinking,making connectionswhich evade

ordinary people, andfinding answers in themostunusual places. You've got toforge the linkswhich canhelpyoubreak free froma currentdilemma. The solutionsmaybe just aroundthe corner.

LIBRA(Sept.24-Oct.23)Afewsmartmovescouldslashyourdomesticandroutinechores.

Labour-savinggadgetscouldhelp, aswilldelegationofdutiestoothers.However,yourmainchallengewillbe to face the factthatcertain long-heldopinionsmustnowbecast to thefourwinds.

SCORPIO(Oct.24-Nov.22)You'll certainlyhavea fewbrilliant ideas,butwhether they'llbeof anyuse isquite

anothermatter. It'sprobablybest toplayaboutwithallyourdifferentoptions inaspiritofpureexperimentation. Ifanything is finalisedtoday itmaybecancelledbytheendof theweek, sokeepanopenmind.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov.23-Dec.22)Thepoetry inyoursoul is stirring, so it'stimeforemotionaldreamsandchoices.

Theromanticsituation isbeginningto lookdecidedlymorecolourful foreveryone insearchof love.Thepoint is,though, thatyoumight formthemostunexpectedandsurprisingattachments.

CAPRICORN(Dec.23- Jan.20)Certain familymattersmaybesomewhatconfusing,but

there'snothingwrongwiththat.Andthere'sprobablynothingnewin iteither.Whatyouneed isasenseofhumour,plusarealisationthat if otherpeoplewant tomakemistakes,that is theirbusiness.

AQUARIUS(Jan.21-Feb.19)You'repluggingdirectly intodeepwellsof unconsciouswisdomat the

moment, so it'saperfectmoment forcomingupwithstrokesof genius.Thisdevelopment isdirectlyapplicable toyour financialsituation,andyoumayfollowahunch if youwant tomakeamint.

PISCES(Feb.20-Mar20)TheSun'sgentlepassagethroughyourchart shouldsteeryou intoanew

andmoreadvantageousposition.Comeupwithasmanysuggestionsasyouwant,butgiveyourself all the timeyouneedtomull thingsover.Andremember, if a job isworthdoing,you'llprobablyhavetodo ityourself.

SUDOKU4343

DifficultyLevel5s

Instructions

TosolveaSudokupuzzle,

everydigitfrom1to9

mustappear ineachofthe

nineverticalcolumns, in

eachoftheninehorizontal

rowsandineachofthe

nineboxes.

DifficultyLevel

1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;

3s=Medium;4s=Hard;

5s=VeryHard;6s=

Genius SOLUTIONSUDOKU4342

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemto

therespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtoget

theanswerforthegivenquip.

Thingsareonly____untilthey'renot(10)

SOLUTION:MOVIE,BASIS/BASSI,TRIMLY,BARHOPAnswer:Thingsareonlyimpossibleuntilthey'renot

MVEIO IRTYLM

ABISS AHORBP

SolutionsCrossword4318:Across:1Misanthrope,9Elation,10Pulse,11Unto,12Sculptor,14Combat,16Repent,18Together,19Agog,22Theme,23Explain,24Considerate.Down:2Inapt,3Avid,4Tunics,5Repelled,6Palette,7Resuscitate,8Secretagent,13Panthers,15Magneto,17Legend,20Grant,21Spar.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Ahmedabad

9THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

EXPRESSNETWORK

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Earning members among24 dead at crematorium inUP, families left destituteSUKRITABARUAHGHAZIABAD,JANUARY4

"HUMTOOT chuke hain (We aretotally broken)," criedMamataKhatri, 35, whose husbandPramodandanephewdiedintheroofcollapseatacrematoriuminMuradnagar, Ghaziabaddistrict,on Sunday, leaving the familywithoutanyearningmember.A day after, as the toll in the

roofcollapserosebyonemoreto24,therewereseveralfamilieslikeMamata's wondering whatwouldhappentothemnow.Pramod,36,andRobinSingh,

23,hadgonetothecrematoriumforthelastritesofPramod'suncleJaiRam,avegetableseller.Nowallthatareleft inherextendedfam-ily,Mamata said, are herself, hermother-in-law, her twochildrenandRobin'smother."Myhusbandwas a graphic

designer andhada studio. Robinhadjoinedajobataprivatecom-pany just twodaysback. Robin'sfather, my husband's elderbrother, died last year," she said,adding, "There isno respite fromdeath."Five families, including

Mamata's, satonMondayontheMeerut-Delhi highway,with thebodies of their loved ones, de-manding accountability. Resid-entsofneighbouringareasjoinedtheminsupport,andtheirprotestcontinuedevenasitrained.Four arrests havebeenmade

basedontheFIRfiledagainsttwomunicipal officers and the con-tractor involved in the construc-tionof the roof, finished just twomonths ago. Those arrested in-clude Nagar Palika ExecutiveOfficer Niharika Singh, JuniorEngineerChandraPal,contractorAjayTyagiandsupervisorAshish.OnMondayafternoon,theof-

fice complexof theMuradnagarNagarPalikaParishadwasempty,withallroomslocked.GhaziabadDMAjay Shankar Pandey couldnotbecontacted.Another woman protester,

also calledMamta (38), said herhusbandOmkar (41), whowasamongthedead,wasalsothesolebread-winner of the family. "Ihavetwochildren,16and18,bothofwhomstudy in a local privateschool, and we live with mymother-in-law.Myhusbandhadajobataprivatecompany,"shesaid.Jai Ramwas their neighbour

andOmkarhadgone for thecre-mationwhile she stayed back."Wegotacallthatanaccidenthadtakenplace at the crematorium,andwe rushed there.Whenwereached,we saw everyonewascrushed under rubble,"Mamtasaid. With husband SunilDhakolia, 44, among the dead,Pushplata is leftwith four chil-dren, aged18, 14, 10 and9. Siya,14, sat with hermother on theroad with Dhakolia's body onMonday."Weallgotoschool,"shesaid,addingthatthemonthlyrentalonefortheirhousewasRs3,000.

FULLREPORTON

www.indianexpress.com

Grievingrelatives inMuradnagaronMonday.AbhinavSaha

Road-widening leaveshomes demolishedin Indore village

DAYAFTERCLASHES

IRAMSIDDIQUEINDORE,JANUARY4

INWHAThasdeepenedanxietiesinthewakeofthecommunalten-sionduring rallies by right-wingorganisations in fewdistricts inMadhyaPradesh,thelocaladmin-istrationinIndorepartiallydemol-ished13houses in theminority-dominatedChandanKhedivillagelast Wednesday, stating thesewere illegal encroachments ongovernmentland.The demolition happened a

day after clasheswere reportedlast Tuesday during a AyodhyaRamMandir fund-raising rallywhichpassed through the streetwherethesehouseswerelocatedin Chandan Khedi. Therewerealso reports of stone-pelting bytheresidentswithseveralinjuredon both the sides.Whencontacted,Pratul Sinha,

Sub Divisional Magistrate ofDepalpur Tehsil, which coversChandanKhedi, told The IndianExpress, the initial planwasonlyforroadconstruction,notwiden-ing.“Aftertheclash,itwasrealisedthat the road was not wideenough for even a fire tender to

pass. Following the clashes, thevillagersweretoldtodemolishthehousessincethesewereillegalen-croachments on land ownedbythe government of MadhyaPradesh.”According to Sinha, villagers

were told that either the admin-istrationwill break the houses,whichmaycausegreaterdamage,ortheycanthemselvespulldowntherequiredportion.Hesaid, thedemolitionworkwascarriedoutwith oral consentwithout anydemolitionnotice.“We gave adequate time to

theresidentstoremovetheirbe-longingsandnoneofitwasdam-aged. The 30-foot-road throughthevillageisalmostready.Forthewidening work, about 4 feetspaceof 10houseseachwasde-molished and 7-8 feet of threeother houses were broken,”Sinhasaid.Thevillagersarecriticalofthe

move.Almost immediately aftertheDecember 29 clashes, 27 ofthemwerearrestedforpeltingtherallywith stones. Evenas the ar-rests continued, the bulldozersrolledin.

FULLREPORTON

www.indianexpress.com

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

THE SUPREME Court onMondaysaid thataprovision inthe 2017 rule notified by theCentre, allowing the confisca-tion of the animals of tradersand transporters during thependency of trials in cases un-derThePreventionofCrueltytoAnimalsAct,1960, iscontrarytothe latter’sprovisionswhichal-low such confiscation only incase of conviction. It asked thegovernment to either changethe rule or face a stay from thecourt.“Animals are a source of

livelihood. We are not talkingaboutpetdogsandcats. Peoplelive on the basis of their ani-mals.Youcan't confiscate themandkeep thembefore theman

isconvicted.Yourrulesarecon-trary.Youeitherchange itorwewill stay it,” Chief Justice S ABobde observedwhile hearinga plea by the Buffalo TradersWelfare Association challeng-ing the constitutional validityof the Prevention of Cruelty toAnimals (Care andMaintenance of Case PropertyAnimals) Rules, 2017 andPrevention of Cruelty toAnimals (Regulation ofLivestockMarkets)Rules, 2017.The2017 rules allowamag-

istrate to forfeit the cattle of anownerfacingtrialundertheActand send them to infirmaries,gaushalas etc.The bench, also comprising

JusticesSBalasubramanianandA S Bopanna, pointed out thatSection29of theAct says that aperson tried for an offence un-der the Act can be deprived of

the ownership of the animalonlyuponconviction.Section29,whichdealswith

the “power of court to depriveperson convicted of ownershipofanimal”, inclause(1)saysthat“if the owner of any animal isfound guilty of any offence un-der this Act, the court, uponhisconviction thereof, may, if itthinks fit, in addition to anyotherpunishment,makeanor-derthattheanimalwithrespectto which the offencewas com-mitted shall be forfeited toGovernment andmay, further,make such order as to the dis-posal of the animal as it thinksfit under the circumstances”.Appearing for the Centre,

Additional Solicitor GeneralJayantKSudinformedthecourtthatthe2017ruleshadbeenno-tifiedasithadcometolightthatatrocities were being commit-

tedonanimals.But the bench said, “We are

tryingtotellyouthatthesectionisveryclear—thatonlytheper-son who is convicted can losethe animal. You either amendthe rule or we will stay it. Wecannot have a situation wherethe rule is running contrary totheexpressprovisionof theAct.”The court gave the Centre

one week’s time to file a replyandposted thematter forhear-ingagainon January11.The petitioners contended

that the Rules were being usedto forcibly deprive even legiti-mateownersof their cattle andthat it had emboldened “anti-socialelements”totakemattersinto their own hands and lootcattle traders.Such incidents act as “trig-

gers forcommunalpolarisationof society”, theassociationsaid.

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,JANUARY4

OFFICIALS OF the Income TaxDepartmentonMondaywenttothe premises of Robert Vadra,son-in-lawofCongresspresidentSoniaGandhi,torecordhisstate-mentforsummonsissuedearlierin relation toalleged taxevasionin land deals covered under theBenami Transactions(Prohibition)Act.I-TDepartment officials said

that Vadra had been issued asummonsearlierbuthecouldnotrecord the statement due to theCovid-19pandemic, so the teamwent to his premises in Delhi'sSukhdevViharonMonday.Thedepartmentisinvestigat-

ing alleged tax evasion andpos-session of undisclosed assets byVadraintheUK.TheEnforcementDirectorate

is alsoprobingVadra in a case ofallegedmoney launderingalongwitharmsdealerSanjayBhandarifortheownershipofaBryanstonSquare property in London,which the agencyhad earlier al-legedwas acquired byBhandariforVadra.Meanwhile, the I-T

Department denied conductingany search or survey against

Punjabi singer and actor DiljitDosanjh, but officials did notcommentonthereportedprobeonfinancialtransfersbeingmadebyhim.Dosanjh,whohas been sup-

porting the farmers' protestsagainst the new farm laws atDelhi's border, had on SundaysharedhisplatinumI-Tcertificatefor assessment year 2019-20from the Ministry of Financeamidreportsofaprobebythede-partmentagainsthim.AseniorI-Tofficialdeniedany

searchesorsurveysbythedepart-

ment against him. Askedwhether thedepartment is con-ductingaprobeagainst financialtransfersmade by the actor, theofficial said theywill not com-mentonthematteryet."Thereisno search or survey against him(Dosanjh).Asfortheinvestigationfor his financial transfers, as ofnowwecannot commenton it,"theofficialtoldTheIndianExpress.One Sunday, Dosanjh had

statedinPunjabithatonedoesn'tbecomepatriotic by stating thaton Twitter but has towork to-wardsit.

Mumbai man,YouTubechannel barredfrom defamatoryposts againstAdani group firm

SOHINIGHOSHAHMEDABAD, JANUARY4

ACTINGONacivilsuitmovedbyAdani Agri Logistics (Panipat)Private Limited (AALL) againstMumbai resident Vinay Dubey,seeking damages to the tune ofRs 5 crore for allegedly circulat-ing a defamatory video againstthe company, an Ahmedabadcity civil court has restrainedDubeyandtheYouTubechannelconcerned from reporting andcirculating “any defamatorystory, article, video and tweets”concerning AALL-Panipat andAdaniGroup.Dubey's videowas run on a

YouTube channel namedLoktantraTV.Thead-interiminjunction,as

wassoughtbyAALL,asubsidiarycompany of Adani Group, wasgranted until the next date ofhearing – scheduled forJanuary5.InitsDecember28order,the

civil courtdirectedthat “thede-fendant (Dubey) as well as hisagents, representatives are re-quiredtoberestrainedfromstat-ing,publishing, issuingcirculat-ing, distributing, carrying outreportsorarticles...anydefama-tory story, article, video andtweets concerning the plaintiffcompanyandAdanigroup...”Chamber judge at

Ahmedabad city civil courtChirayu Adhyaru stated in theorder,“...ifweperusestatementsmade in the video...inmy opin-ion,itisdisrespectful,derogatoryor insulting remarks to theHon’ble PrimeMinister as wellas theplaintiff company…suchstatementsalsodonotappeartobe based on actual happeningsbutwith a view to achieve sen-sationalism and publication ofnewstheyhavebeenmade.”AALL-Panipat,throughitsau-

thorised signatory VipulPramodraiUchat,hadfiledacivilsuit in December last year “fordeclaration and permanent in-junction alongwith a decree inthe sum of Rs 5 crore towardsdamages...”LoktantraTVdidnotrespond

toThe IndianExpress’s email.InMumbai, Dubey, 36, said

there are 22 complaints againsthimacrossthecountry.Lastyear,hehadspent14daysbehindbarsonchargesof incitingacrowdofmigrantworkers to gather out-sidearailwaystationinMumbaiin April in a video. MumbaiPolice had said his video alsoplayedapart inhundredsofmi-grantworkerscrowdingoutsideBandra railway station last yearunder theassumption that spe-cial trains had been planned totake themhome.

WITHMOHAMEDTHAVER

INMUMBAI

BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR,JANUARY4

ONDECEMBER30 evening, in agrave far away fromhishome inPulwama, Mushtaq Ahmadburiedhis16-year-oldson.Hehaddugupanothergraveinhisnativevillage, but the government re-fused to hand over the body, aspartofitspolicyregardingallegedmilitants. OnMonday, a cryingMushtaqdemanded thatAthar’sbodybegiven tohim. “I have al-readydied... Givememychildorburymethere(withhim),"hesaid.Atharwas among the three

youths killed in an alleged en-counter in Srinagar in the inter-veningnightofDecember29and30,inanoperationbasedonArmyinputsandlaterjoinedbythepo-liceandCRPF.TheArmysaidtheywere responding to informationregarding a planned attack. Theforces said the threewere over-groundmilitantworkers,thoughtheydidn'tfigureinanyofficiallistof terrorists, and that theywererepeatedlygivenachancetosur-render, but kept firing. All thethreewereburiedtogether.However, the families have

claimedtheyouths,includingthesonof aHeadConstable and thebrotheroftwopoliceofficials,wereinnocent and killed in a stagedgunfight.Thepolicehaveassuredaprobeinthematter.WhileAtharandAjazAhmad,thesonofaHeadConstable, were both fromPulwamaandkneweachother, itis not known if they were ac-quainted with the third youthkilled,ZubairAhmad,belongingtoShopian.Ajaz’sfatherMohammad

Maqbool said, “We can’t trustthem(thesecurityforces).”OnMonday, theJ&KPolicere-

leased twovideos onTwitter, inwhich forcescanbeseenmakingannouncementsduring the “en-counter”, asking the threeyouthstosurrender.However,thereisnoresponse or any soundof firingfrom the other side. The policetweetsaid, “On29/12/20eveningafterthecordonatHokersar,troopsare repeatedly appealing thetrappedterroriststocomeoutandsurrenderwith assurances thatthey will not be harmed... AtHokersar on 30/12/2020 in themorninghours, troops are onceagainappealingthetrappedterror-iststocomeout...andsurrender.”In a statement after the en-

counter, General OfficerCommandingof theArmy'sKiloForce H S Shahi had said thatwhentold tosurrender, themili-tantshadopened fire. Thepolicedidnot respond toqueries aboutthevideo.AtaprotestheldinSrinagaron

Monday,byfamilies,relativesandneighboursoftheyouthswhode-mandedaprobeintothekillings,Mushtaq said, “I want justice. Idon’tneedmoney.Ionlywantthebodyofmyson.TowhomdoIex-press (my feelings)?Do thepeo-pleof Indianot listen? Iwantmyson.Hewasonly16.”AClass11student,Atharwas

the youngest of the three killed.All hadbeenathomehours ear-lier,afactthefamiliesrepeatedtocontest theclaimthat theyweremilitants.ConstableMohammadShafi

Lone, whose younger brotherZubair, 20, was killed in theshootout,said,“Zubairwashomethat day till 2 pm.Howcouldhehave become amilitantwithintwo hours?" Zubair was in theconstruction business and ran ashuttering company in partner-ship. Both Lone and anotherbrotherareConstables intheJ&KPolice'sArmedWing.

FULLREPORTON

www.indianexpress.com

Mumbai: The EnforcementDirectorate (ED) on MondayquestionedVarshaRaut,wife ofShiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, inconnectionwithaRs55lakhin-terest-free loan taken by herfrom Madhuri Raut, wife ofPravin Raut, an accused in thePunjab and MaharashtraCooperative (PMC) Bank fraudcase. Varsha, who was sum-monedby theEDthree times inconnection with the case, hadsoughttimefromtheagencytillJanuary 5. However she ap-peared before the agency onMondayafternoon.Sanjay Raut had earlier clar-

ified that Pravin Raut and hiswife Madhuri are close familyfriendsbutnot relations.The ED has alleged that

Pravin Raut, a director ofGuruashish Constructions PvtLtd — a subsidiary of HousingDevelopmentandInfrastructureLimited(HDIL)—siphonedRs95crore and allegedly transferredRs1.6croretohiswife,whothengaveRs55lakhtoVarshaRautasan interest free loan in2010-11.The ED has claimed that

thereisnodocumentinsupportof these payments made toPravin Raut. The ED has allegedthatthemoneygivenbyHDILtoPravinRaut is recordedas fundsforacquiringlandinthePalghararea inMumbai in itsbooks.According to the ED, the

moneysiphonedbyPravinwereloansavailedbyHDILfromPMCBank.HDILanditspromotersareaccusedofaRs6,200-crorefraudat thebank. ENS

ABHISHEKANGADRANCHI, JANUARY4

ADAYafterawoman’smutilatedbodywasfoundinanisolatedareainRanchidistrict,agroupofpeo-pleprotestingagainsttheincidentvandalisedapolicebarricadeandstoppedChiefMinisterHemantSoren’s convoynearKishoreganjChowkonMondayevening.RanchiSSPSurendraJhasaid,

“Since the bodywas found de-capitated,wearetryingtoestab-lishher identityandthe investi-gation is ongoing...a crowdwithout any permission toprotestcameinfrontof theCM’sconvoy and started vandalisingbarricades...though the CM’sconvoywasrerouted,onetrafficpolice personnel sustained in-juries.Itseemstheentireactwasaplannedconspiracy.”Thebodywasfoundwithout

clothesinOrmanjhiareabyalo-calfishermanonSunday.Resultsof thepostmortemare awaited,police said, adding that theyarenotrulingoutasexcrime.“Rightnow our concern is to find thehead of thewoman andwe aretrying to scan nearby areas,” anofficer said.

308DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:1,03,40,469TESTS: 17,56,35,761 | RECOVERIES: 99,46,867

ACTIVE CASES:2,43,953DEATHS: 1,49,649

JAN3CASES DEATHS RECOVERIES TESTS

16,504 214 19,557 7,35,978

STATESWITHRISINGACTIVECASESACTIVECASES RISEINLASTWEEK

Kerala 65,360 123

Jharkhand 1,601 16

Assam 3,123 -236

STATESWHEREACTIVECASESAREDECLININGACTIVECASES DECLINEINLASTWEEK

Maharashtra 54,317 4,897

Chhattisgarh 9,980 3,721

WestBengal 10,446 3,328

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMCASESONJAN3 TOTAL

Kerala 4,601 7,75,853

Maharashtra 3,282 19,42,136

WestBengal 896 5,54,975

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMDEATHSONJAN3 TOTAL

Maharashtra 38 50,820

WestBengal 26 9,792

Kerala 25 3,249

DataasonJanuary3,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,IndianCouncilofMedical

Researchandstategovernments.Often,thenumbersreleasedeverydaycontaindatafrompreviousdays

aswell.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareonlyindicativeandnotdefinitive

TAMILNADU

JusticeBanerjeesworninasCJofMadrasHC

Chennai: Justice SanjibBanerjee was sworn inas Chief Justice of theMadras High Court byGovernor BanwarilalPurohithereonMonday.Meanwhile, two otherjudges tookoathasChiefJustices of High Courts.In Odisha, Justice SMuralidhar took oath asthe 32nd Chief Justiceof Orissa High Court atthe Raj Bhavan inBhubaneswar. InJammu and Kashmir,Lieutenant GovernorManoj Sinhaadministered the oathof office to JusticePankaj Mithal as thenewChief Justice of thecommonHigh Court forJ&K and Ladakh at aswearing-in ceremonyin Jammu. PTI

JusticeSanjibBanerjee

BRIEFLY

MAHARASHTRA

Nepalex-PM’swifemaybehospitalised

Mumbai: Thewife of theformer PrimeMinister ofNepal, Pushpa KamalDahal ‘Prachanda’, is ex-pected to undergo treat-ment at NeuroGen BrainandSpineInstituteinNaviMumbai from Tuesday.Sita Dahal suffers fromprogressivebraindisorder— its symptomsare simi-lar toParkinson’sdisease .Dahal is slated to meetneurosurgeon Dr AlokSharma on Tuesday fol-lowingwhichadecisiontoadmit herwill be taken.Hospital sources said thatmembers of Prachanda’steaminspectedthefacilityonMonday.SitaDahalhasbeen unwell sinceNovember 2017 and hasearlierreceivedtreatmentin the United States andSingapore. ENS

WESTBENGAL

Twodeadinstampedeatmusicevent

Kolkata: Two womendied and several peoplewere injured in astampede at a musicprogramme in northBengal's Kalimpongdistrict late Sundayevening. The localpolicesaid the ticket counteratthe Mela ground wasovercrowdedaspopularNepali rapper AshishRana alias Lahure wasscheduled to performatthe venue, which canaccommodate 20,000people. When thevenue's doors wereopened, people tried torush inside, resulting inthe stampede. ENS

CHHATTISGARH

MaoistwithRs1lakhrewardheldinBijapur

Bijapur: A Maoistoperative wanted forattacks on police andkidnappingof civiliansaswell as other seriousoffences was arrestedfrom Bijapur district, anofficial said onMonday.PunemBinda (48) had areward of Rs 1 lakh onhis head and wasarrestedSundayfromhisnative Marudbakavillage, he said. Bindawas head of theDandakaranya AdivasiKisan MazdoorSangthan, a front outfitofMaoists, he said. PTI

Day afterwoman’s bodyfound, crowdstops JharkhandCM convoy

Income Tax officials visit Vadrapremises to record statement;say no search against Dosanjh

Change rules on confiscationof animals, SC tells Centre

PREVENTIONOFCRUELTYTOANIMALSACT

As families protest, J&K copsrelease video of ‘encounter’

I-Tofficialswent toRobertVadra’sofficeatSukhdevVihar inDelhionMonday. PremNathPandey

MushtaqAhmadwithrelativesandneighboursof thetwoyouths, inSrinagaronMonday.ShuaibMasoodi

ED questionsVarsha Rautin Rs 55 lakhloan case

Ahmedabad

EXPRESSNETWORK10 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

GUJARAT WATER SUPPLY & SEWERAGE BOARD(Govt. of Gujarat Undertaking)

TENDER NOTICE No. 13 OF 2020-21Executive Engineer, Public Health Works Division, Jal Bhavan, Nr. Circuit HouseBye Pass Highway, Himatnagar, Phone No. 02772-246426, Mob. 9978406819invites tender for below mentioned work by E-Tendering System.

Tender documents available on website: www.gwssb.org, http://www.gwssb.nprocure.com,for detailed information of tender & conditions, contact office mentioned above during officehours and is binding to all.Any amendment regarding this tender will be dhown publish on website only. Drinkingwater supply helpline for Rural Area: 1916, 18002333944.

INF/HMT/434/2021

Sr.No.

Name of Work Esti. Cost(Lakh)

Eligibility I.D. No. Last Date ofSubmission

1 Operation maintenance andrepairing of S.K.-1 RegionalWater Supply Scheme (FatepurSection) Tal. Talod/Pranti) Dist.Sabarkantha for 24 Months.

149.25 ''C'' ClassAbove

442365 18.01.2021

2 Operation maintenance andrepairing of S.K.-1 RegionalWater Supply Scheme (KaniyolSection). Tal. Himatnagar, Dist.Sabarkantha for 24 Months.

142.68 ''C'' ClassAbove

442368 18.01.2021

Dakshin Gujarat Vij Co. Ltd.CIN U40102GJ2003SGC042909

Ankleshwar Industrial Division OfficeOpp. ONGC Workshop, Ankleshwar 393 001 GUJARATDGVCL Toll Free No. 19123(or 1800 233 3003)

Install MCB/ ELCB/ RCCB &Prevent Electric Shocks/ Electrical AccidentsTender Notice

Tender Notice No. ANK/IND/EXP/20-21 Adv.No. 15& 16Tenders are invited for hiring of a diesel driven taxi passing A/ccar Indigo or equivalent vehicle model Dec-18 or thereafter for12 hr, for the EE - Industrial Division Office, for the period oftwo years; and, for supply of Transformer HT TerminalProtectors, labour charges for painting & pole numbering &installation andcommissioning of plate type earth electrode forearthing of transformers under jurisdiction of Ankleshwar Ind.Division.Details are available on www.gseb.com andhttp://dgvcl.nprocure.com.

EE (O&M), Ankleshwar Ind. Division, DGVCL.

ONLINE TENDERINGRoad & Building Department

TENDER NOTICE No. 19 OF 2020-21Executive Engineer, (R&B) Division, Jamnagar Dist. Jamnagar, PhoneNo.0288-2550362 has invites online tenders from contractors registeredin R&B Department, NWRWS & K Department for 3 works. The estimat-ed cost of the work is between Rs. 21.74 lakh to Rs. 25.63 lakh.Tender Documents are available for Works upto Dt. 15/01/2021 onhttps://rnb.nprocure.com. For more details visit on given website. Fordetailed Tender Notice visit www.statetenders.com

Mahiti/Jam/634/2021

NOTIFICATIONRevenue Department,

Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar.(The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land

Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act, 2013) (30 of 2013)District : SuratNo.AM-2020-761-M-LSU-2019-1736-GHWhereas it appears to th Govrenment of Gujarat that, the land specified inthe SCHEDULE annexed hereto is likely to be required for: Gujarat Housingboard, Surat (hereinafter referred to as “The Requiring Body”) for the publicpurpose for the purpose of construction of infrastructure project of“Affordable House” (hereinafter referred to as “The public purposeProject”).(1) Now whereas, the Government of Gujarat, Revenue Department has, in

exercise of the powers conferred, by section-10-A [inserted by section3 of The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in LandAcquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Gujarat Amedment) Act,2016 (Gjarat Act No. 12 of 2016)] of The Right to Fair compensation andResettlement Act. 2013 (30 of 2013) (hereinafter referred to as ''TheAct'') exempted, in public interest, by Notification No. AM-2019-437-M-LSU-2019-1736-GH, Date: 09/07/2019 published in the ExtraordinaryGazette of Gujarat Government Date: 09/07/2019 the below mentionedScheduled area of land, to be acquired for the infrastructure Project ofThe “Affordable House” from the application of the provisions ofChapter II and III of The Act, and

(2) Now whereas, in exercise of the powers, conferred by sub-section (1) ofsection 43 of The Act. The Government of Gujarat has appointed, byNotification No. AM-2019-533-M-LSU-2019-1736-GH, Date:14/08/2019 Special Land Acquisition Office Branch-1, Surat as theAdministrator of Rehabilitation and Resettlement in respect of thescheduled land to be acquired for construction of the captioned infra-structure project, and

(3) Now whereas, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) ofsection 11 of ''The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency inLand Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (30 of2013) (hereinafter referred to as the Act), the Government of Gujarat,has notified, vide their Notification No. AM-2019-533-M-LSU-2019-1736-GH, Date: 14/08/2019 that the saidScheduled land is required for the public purpose specified here above,

(4) And whereas, the Government of Gujarat is satisfied after consideringthe report made by The District Collector, Surat under sub-section (2) ofsection-15 of the Act, that the said land is needed to be acquired for''The public purpose project'' specified in the schedule hereto, and

(5) Now therefore, in exercise of the power conferred by sub-section (1) ofsection 19 of The Act the Government of Gujarat hereby declares thatthe said scheduled lands is required for the public purpose specified inthe schedule hereto.

(6) In exercise of the power conferred by clause-(g) of section-3 of The Act,the Goverment of Gujarat hereby appoints, Special Land AcquisitionOffice Branch-1, Surat to perform the functions of a Collector, for allproceeding hereinafter to be carried out under The Act, in respect of thesaid scheduled lands.

(7) The Plans of scheduled lands can be inspected at the Office of theSpecial Land Acquisition Office Branch-1, A/4, M. S. Building,Nanpura, Surat.

Annexure-ADISTRICT – SURAT TALUKO - PALSANA VILLAGE – VARELI

Sr. No. Survey No./Block No. Area of Land to be AcquiredHe.Are.Sq.Mtrs.

1 2 3

1 75 0-00-37

2 76 0-06-34

3 77 0-31-12

4 79 3-22-17

5 80 0-88-23

6 81 1-19-38

7 82 3-47-02

8 83 2-23-59

9 84 3-46-01

10 85 3-47-73

11 86 3-03-41

12 87 0-82-26

13 90 9-20-63

14 91 1-13-61

15 92 3-18-69

16 93 2-02-34

17 94 3-80-41

18 95 1-66-93

19 96 2-49-89

20 97 1-13-31

21 98 0-88-02

22 99 0-83-97

23 100 2-80-48

24 101 1-57-83

25 102 3-78-88

26 103 2-15-95

27 104 3-11-79

28 105 0-00-61

29 108 0-00-32

30 109 1-93-93

31 110 0-79-41

32 111 0-79-18

33 114 2-78-48

Total 68-32-29By Order and in the name of Governor of Gujarat.

Sd/-(I. D. Chaudhari)

No.INF-Surat/1119/2020 Deputy Secretary to Government

Tender Notice No. PGVCL/Civil/2020/14RE- INVITATION

CE (Project), PGVCL invites On-line tenders for Re-invitationfor the tender of the work of "Construction of Mandvi TownS/Dn office and Dismantling of Old Godown at PH CampusMandvi under Bhuj Circle". Interested parties may visit websitehttp://pgvcl.nprocure.com (for view, download & online sub-mission) & PGVCL website www. pgvcl.com (for view & down-load only). The amendment if any in this regard, will be pub-lished on our website only. Chief Engineer (Project)

PASCHIM GUJARAT VIJ COMPANY LIMITEDReg. & Corporate Office, RajkotCIN U40102GJ2003SGC042908

www.pgvcl.comConsumer Service Center Toll Free No. 1800 233 155333 & 19122

Dakshin Gujarat Vij Co. Ltd.CIN U40102GJ2003SGC042909Surat Urban Division Office

Opp. Batliboi Co., Udhna-Navsari Road,Pandesara, Surat 395023 GUJARAT

DGVCL Toll Free No. 19123(or 1800 233 3003)Install MCB/ ELCB/ RCCB &Prevent Electric Shocks/ Electrical Accidents

Tender NoticeTenders are invited for ARC work related to erection of HT/LTlines & transformer centers, DODP and HT/ LT ABC cables,etc. for Kharvasa and Devadh sub-divisions under allSchemes ; hiring of a ladder Jeep for Devadh sub-division anda Bolero type vehicle for Urban Lab of Surat Urban Division.Vendors may visit https://nprocure.com for view, download andonline submission and www.dgvcl.com for view of the tenders.

EE (O&M), Surat Urban Division, DGVCL.

ONLINE TENDER NOTICE NO : 29 for 2020-21Executive Engineer, (R&B) Division, Panwadi,Bhavnagar Phone No. 0278-2516899 invites onlinetenders for 3 works. Estimated cost Rs. 74.54 lacs.Tender Documents downloading end date is 15-01-2021 on web site: www.nprocure.com and also onInformation Department web site :www.statetenders.com DDI-BVN-703/20-21

Lands & Estate Cell (Advertisement Cell),Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai – 400 051.

Tel. 022-26594128/26592115, Fax : 91-022-26591264E-Mail: landscapeweh2@mailmmrda.maharashtra.gov.in

Website:- https://mmrda.maharashtra.gov.in

MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGIONDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY(A Government of Maharashtra Undertaking)

Date : 05/01/2021Place: MumbaiNo.:MMRDA/L&E/Landscaping/WEH-2/2020

Sd/-Metropolitan Commissioner,

MMRDA

1) Name of Work : Request for Proposal for Appointment of an Agencyfor Erection & Maintenance of Bus Queue Shelters, Street Furniture,Environment Friendly Toilets, Gantries & MUPIs and display of Advertisementon them & Landscaping, Beautification and Maintenance of Area aroundBus Queue Shelters, Beautification below Flyovers, Side walls from DahisarCheck Naka to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Statue along Western ExpressHighway for a period of 15 years on Design Built Maintain Operate &Transfer (DBMOT) basis.2) Cost of Blank Tender Form : Rs. 5,000/-3) Earnest Money Deposit : Rs. 2,00,00,000/-4) Bid documents download : 05/01/2021 (10.00 hrs.) To

04/02/2021 (17.00 hrs.)5) Last date of online submission : 04/02/2021 (17.00 hrs.)6) Contract Period : 15 YearsNote : The e-Tender can be downloaded from e-Tendering portalhttps://etendermmrda.maharashtra.gov.in. Any additional information,Corrigendum & help for uploading & downloading the e-tender, may beavailed by contacting MMRDA’s e-tendering service desk at the followingid: etendersupport@mailmmrda.maharashtra,gov.in or call us on022-26597445.

Fulrani

e-TENDER NOTIcE

(O/o CE/TS, B-1, Shakti Vihar, Patiala)Regd. Office.: PSEB Head Office, The Mall, Patiala-147001CIN: U40109PB2010SGC033813; Website: www.pspcl.in

NOTICE INVITING E-TENDERS

In case tender process is not completed due to any reason, no CORRIGEN-DUM will be published in newspapers. Details regarding corrigendum may beseen on PSPCL website www.pspcl.in and https://eproc.punjab.gov.in.

Sd/- Dy. CE/SS (Design),

PSPCL, Patiala.

Email ID: se-ss-design@pspcl.inC03/2176155/Pb

Tender Enquiry No.

Short Description/Quantity

EMD

Start date for Downloadingof Tender specification

Last date of downloadingof tender documents

Last date of Bid submission

Bid opening (Part-I & II)

Tender Documents

Contact No. of e-tenderingagency (M/s GePNIC)

211/SS-II (D)

Manufacture, Testing, Supply & Delivery of below mentioneditems:-

11 KV outdoor Auto-reclosers for incoming along withcommunication arrangement with pre-determined mobileno./nos. (in no.)

11 KV outdoor Auto-reclosers for outgoing along withcommunication arrangement with pre-determined mobileno./nos. (in no)

Only communication hardware (along with requisite no.of Modem/associated equipments) for communication ofalready existing 2 nos. 66 kV transformer panels, 2 nos.capacitor control VCBs having already existing 61850compliant relay & 2 nos. battery charger with pre-deter-mined mobile phone no./nos (in sets)

11 KV 800A Outdoor isolators with Earth Switch (in no.)

11 KV 400A Outdoor isolators with Earth Switch (in no.)

11 KV Outdoor CT of ratio 450-900/0 577-5A (in no.)

11 KV Outdoor CT of ratio 499/5A (in no.)

11 KV Outdoor PT (in no.)

11 KV Outdoor Capacitor switch (along wtih one com-mon controller & auxiliary equipments) (in no.)

02

08

02set

03

10

09

30

09

09

Rs. 1,61,230/- (Maximum),Rs. 40,310/- (Minimum)

11.01.2021

09.02.2021 upto 11.30 Hrs.

09.02.2021 upto 11.30 Hrs.

10.02.2021 at 11.30 Hrs.

Detailed Tender documents can only be downloaded fromwebsite https://eproc.punjab.gov.in

0172-2970263, 0172-2970284

ONLINE TENDERINGNarmada, Water Resources, Water

Supply & Kalpsar Department,Gandhinagar

TENDER NOTICE No. 13 OF 2020-21Executive Engineer, Jamnagar Irrigation Division, Jamnagar Dist.Jamnagar, Phone No. 0288-2670688 has invites online tendersfrom contractors registered in R&B Department, NWRWS & KDepartment works. The estimated cost of the work is Rs. 45.62Lakh. Tender Documents are available upto Dt. 21/01/2021 onwww.nwr.nprocure.com. For more details visit on givenwebsite. For detailed Tender Notice visit www.statetenders.com

Mahiti/Jam/631/2021

Knowledge Consortium of GujaratOpp. PRL, Nr. L. D. Engg.College, Navrangpura, Ahmedabad

Contractual Recruitment Advertisement-2020-21To implement Projects successfully, KCG is desirous to fill theConsultant Grade A (01 Post), Consultant Grade B (09 Post)Consultant Grade C (02 Post) and Consultant IT (01 Post) allposts are purly on eleven months contractual basis only. It maybe noted that all posts are project based, purely temporaryand on contractual basis. All post will be discontinued aftereleven months automatically or on completion of the projectwithout notice (Whichever is earlier). It is mandatory to fill anonline Google from provided on http://www.kcg.gujarat.gov.inbefore 13-01-2021, 17.00 hours. Considering the situation ofCovid-19, list of all the eligible candidates will be provided onthe website and shall be called for phase wise selectionprocess. Interested Candidates shall have to remain presenton prescribed date and time for the selection process at KCGoffice, Ahmedabad along with the application form, originaldocuments of educational qualification, experience certificatesand self-attested Xerox copies. Candidates have to visit KCGwebsite daily for further related updates.No.INF/ABD/1188/2021 CEO, KCG

DIPANKARGHOSENEWDELHI,JANUARY4

PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModionMonday said the new yearhadbroughta“bigachievement”withthedevelopmentofnotonebut “twomade-in-India” Covidvaccines.Speakingatthe75thju-bilee of the National PhysicalLaboratory under theCouncil ofScientificandIndustrialResearch,the Prime Minister said thatevery Indian was indebted toIndia’s “scientists and techni-cians”.“The new year has brought

withitanotherbigachievement.India’s scientists have success-fullydevelopednot justone,buttwomade-in-India Covid vac-cines.InIndia,theworld’slargestCovidvaccineprogrammeisalsoabouttobegin.Forthis,thecoun-tryisveryproudofthecontribu-tionsofitsscientists.Everycoun-tryperson is indebted to all ourscientistsandtechnicians,”Modisaid.The PMsaid that because of

the “sacrifice” of scientists, thecountryhadanewrespectforsci-

entific institutions. “Today is thedaytorememberthattimewhenour scientific organisations putnight and day together for thefight against corona, to developthe vaccine. Along with CSIR,other organisations came to-getherandfacedallchallengesto-gether, and found solutions tonew circumstances. Because ofyoursacrifice,thecountryanewfeelingofawarenessandrespectfor science institutionshasbeenborn,”hesaid.Modi said that in the past,

Indiahasbeendependentonfor-eign standards for quality andmeasurement,butthecountry’sstandards will decide thestrengthof thecountry, itsprod-ucts and its global standing. “In

thisdecade,Indiawillhavetogivenewheights to its standards. Inthis decade, India’s pace, India’sprogress, India’s growth, India’simage, India’s influence, our ca-pacitybuildingwillbesetbyourstandards. In our country, thereshouldbequalityinourservices,whetheritisthegovernmentsec-torortheprivatesector.Lettherebe quality in products,whetherthegovernmentmakesthem,orthe private sector. Our qualitystandardswilldecidehowmuchthestrengthofIndia,anditsprod-ucts, increase in theworld,” hesaid.Addressing the CSIRNPL, at

the National MetrologyConference, thePMsaidthatthe“the more trustworthy themethodologyof thecountry,thehigher its trustworthiness intheworld”. “In common language,metrologyisthescienceofmeas-urement and standards. For anyscientific achievement, thisworksasapillar.Noresearchcanmoveaheadwithout ‘maap’ and‘naap’.Tothepoint,thatevenourown achievements, have to bemeasured against some stan-dard. For this reason,metrology

isthestandardformodernity.Thebetter yourmethodology, thebetter yourmetrology. And themoretrustworthythemetrologyofacountry,thatcountry’strust-worthinesswill behigher in theworld,”hesaid.Modi said that the goalwas-

n’t to simply fill theworldmar-ketwith Indian products but towinthe“heartofeverycustomerwhobuysanIndianproduct”.“Todaywhen the country is

moving aheadwith the convic-tionof theAatmanirbharBharatAbhiyan, then we have to re-memberthat itsgoal isquantity,but along with that quality isequallyimportant.Meaningthatscaleshouldgrow,andstandardsshouldaswell.Wedon’thave tojust fill themarketwith Indianproducts. We have to win theheart of every customer whobuysanIndianproduct.Wehavetowin hearts in every corner oftheworld.Thereshouldnotonlybe a global demand forMake InIndia, but there should also beglobal acceptance. Thiswehavetodecide.WehavetomakebrandIndiamore secure on the pillarsofqualityandcredibility,”hesaid.

BJP leader, aide hackedto death in Cuttack, sonblames state ministerAISHWARYAMOHANTYBHUBANESWAR,JANUARY4

ODISHAPOLICEhas registered acaseagainst13personsafteraBJPleader and his associate werehackedtodeathinCuttackdistrict.KulamaniBaral(75),BJP’sSalipurin-charge and formerMahangablockchairman,andhisassociateDibyaSinghBaral(80)werekilledwhile theywere on theway totheir village Nrutang Saturdaynight,policesaid.WhileBaraldiedon the spot, his associate suc-cumbed to injuries onSundayatSCBMedicalCollegeandHospitalinCuttack.InthiscomplaintatMahanga

policestation,basedonwhichtheFIR has been filed, Baral’s sonRamakanta has alleged that hewaskilledbygoonsatthebehestofstateLawMinisterandBJDMLAfrom Mahanga, Pratap Jena.Ramakantahasallegedthathisfa-therwaskilled ashehad startedunearthing corruption in imple-mentationofthePradhanMantriAwasYojnaintheregion.TheFIRnamesthe13persons

of which six had allegedly at-tackedthevictims,whiletheresthave been accused to haveplannedtheattackalongwiththerest,policesaid.“Thepolicehavebeencalling

itacaseofpastenmity,butthis isacaseofpoliticalvendetta.Myfa-therwas killed because hewasawareofmalpracticesunderwayintheconstituencyandintendedto expose the corruption,”Ramakant told The IndianExpress. “Theminister is shield-ingtheaccused,”headded.Jena denied the allegations

and condemned the attack.“There is noplace for violence inpoliticsandtheincident ishighlycondemnable. Iwill ensure thatthosewhokilledtheBJPleaderarepunished.”HeaccusedtheBJPofpoliticising themurder. “TheBJPis giving the crime a politicalcolourwithoutanysubstantialev-idence. Thepoliceare investigat-ingandthoseinvolvedwillbear-restedaftertheprobeconcludes,”Jenasaid.The Opposition is staging

protestsindemandofJena’sresig-nationfromtheAssembly.Odisha BJP general secretary

PrithvirajHarichandansaid,“Iftheculpritsarenotarrestedwithin48hours, the governmentwill faceprotests in every corner of thestate.NoministersoreventheCMwill be allowed to attendpublicfunctions.”HefurthersaidtheBJPwillgheraopolicestationsacrossthe state and theDGP office onTuesday, accusing the rulingBJDof tryingtosupressthematter.

PMNarendraModi

Newyearbroughtachievementwithmade-in-India vaccines:PM

Allum (Shamli): Four constableswere booked for the death of alaboureratAlluminUP’sShamlidistrict after he suffered abeat-ingatthehandsofthepolicemen,leavinghis familytowonderthe

reason behind the assault.Omveer Singh Shakya’s familysaidthat Sunday,hewastalkingtohis relativewhen the consta-bles came and “started beatinghimwithclubs”.AMITSHARMA

Death of labourer in Shamli: 4 cops booked

Ahmedabad

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

INTHEUS,where theFoodandDrugAdministration (FDA) has grantedemergency use approvals to theCovid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, concernshave been raised over reports thatsomepeoplehavepossibleallergicre-actions toCovid-19 vaccines. A teamofexpertshasnowexaminedtherel-evant information and offered reas-surancethatthevaccinescanbegivensafely, even to people with food ormedication allergies. The review ispublishedinthe JournalofAllergyandClinical Immunology: InPractice.Thereviewnotesthat

allergic reactions tovac-cines in general are rare,with a rate of about 1.3per1millionpeople.The authors sum-

marisewhatiscurrentlyknownaboutallergicre-actions to vaccines likethe ones developedagainst Covid-19, andpropose detailed adviceso that individuals withdifferent allergy histories can safelyreceive their first Covid-19 vaccine.They also outline steps on safely re-ceiving the seconddose in individu-als who develop a reaction to theirfirst dose.“Asallergists,wewanttoencour-

age vaccination by reassuring thepublic that both FDA-approvedCovid-19vaccinesaresafe.Ourguide-lines are built upon the recommen-dationsofUSregulatoryagenciesandprovide clear steps to the medicalcommunityonhowtosafelyadmin-ister both doses of the vaccine in in-dividualswith allergic histories,” re-view author Aleena Banerji from

Massachusetts General Hospital(MGH) andHarvardMedical SchoolsaidinastatementreleasedbyMGH.The experts stress that Covid-19

vaccine clinicswill bemonitoring allpatientsfor15to30minutesandcanmanageanyallergicreactionsthatoc-cur. Banerji and her co-authors rec-ommendthat individualswithahis-tory of anaphylaxis to an injectabledrug or vaccine containing the com-pounds polyethylene glycol orpolysorbatespeakwiththeirallergistsbefore being vaccinated. They stressthat patientswith severe allergies to

foods,oraldrugs,latex,orvenomcansafelyreceivetheCovid-19vaccines.Thereviewnotesthat

in the UK, following ac-countsofpotentialaller-gic reactions in somepeople following vacci-nation, themedical au-thoritiesadvisedthatin-dividuals with a historyofanaphylaxistoamed-icine or food should

avoidCoid-19vaccination.IntheUS,afterareviewofthedata

related to allergic reactions, the FDArecommended that the vaccines bewithheld only from individualswithahistoryofsevereallergicreactionstoany component of the Covid-19 vac-cine. The Centers for Disease ControlandPrevention(CDC)advisedthatallpatients be observed for 15minutespost-vaccination by staff who canidentify andmanage such reactions.TheUS agencies do not recommendthat peoplewith food ormedicationallergiesavoidvaccination.

Source:MassachusettsGeneralHospital

INDIAACTIVECASES 243,953

WORLDTOTALCASES

85,327,849

Source:JohnsHopkinsUniversity,

updatedat11pmonJan4

INDIATOTALCASES

10,340,469

Source:MinistryofHealth&Family

Welfare,updatedat11onJan4

Note: The Jan3 figure in this graph isbasedon thegovernmentupdateon Jan4

Dec25 Jan3LAST 10 DAYS

300,000

250,000

200,000

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,JANUARY4

INDIA’S TOP drug regulator on Sunday ap-provedCovishieldandCovaxinasvaccinesforrestricted use against Covid-19 , paving thewayformassvaccinationagainstthevirusthathas so far infected over a crore people andkillednearly1.5lakh.Alookatthesevaccines,howtheywereapprovedandwhatthismeansforthepopulation:

HowdoCovishieldandCovaxinwork?Covishield is the Indian variant of

AZD1222, the vaccine developed byAstraZenecaandUniversityofOxford.Pune-basedSerumInstituteofIndia(SII)developedandmanufactured Covishield through a li-cencefromAstraZenecaandOxford.Itisa“non-replicatingviralvector”vaccine,

whichmeans itmakesuseof anotherweak-enedandgeneticallymodifiedvirus—inthiscase a commoncold chimpanzee virus— tohelp thebodydevelop immunity against thecoronavirus.Thevaccinecarries just thecodetomake the spike protein (the spike on thevirus’ssurface).Thebody’simmunesystemissupposedtorecognisethisproteinasathreat,andworkonbuildingantibodiesagainstit.Covaxin,developedbyHyderabad-based

Bharat Biotech in collaboration with theNationalInstituteofVirology,usesadifferentplatform.Itisan“inactivated”vaccine,whichmeans it uses the killed SARS-CoV-2 virus,which has no potential to infect or replicateonce injectedand just serves toboostan im-muneresponse.Covaxinisexpectedtotargetmorethanjustthespikeprotein—italsoaimstodevelopanimmuneresponsetothenucle-ocapsidprotein(theshellofthevirusthaten-closes itsgeneticmaterial).

Whattypeofapprovalhasbeengranted?Both vaccines have received what is

known as a “restricted use approval in anemergency situation” — similar to anEmergencyUseAuthorisationthatcountriesliketheUKandUShavebeengrantingtocom-panies likePfizer,ModernaandAstraZenecafortheirvaccines.Thismeans the vaccines have been ap-

provedforusedespitethecompaniesnothav-ing completed clinical trials. Given the pan-demic, the governmentwanted a vaccineready touseat theearliest.Anothergrowing

concern is themutation of the SARS-CoV-2virusthathasledtonewerstrainsincountrieslike the UKwhich are starting to spread tootherpartsof theworld, includingIndia.Covishield secured a restricted approval

with the help of data generated from over23,000 participants in AZD1222’s trials incountries like the UK and Brazil. An expertcommitteeof theregulator foundCovishieldcomparedwithAZD1222afterlookingatthisdataaswellasinterimdatafromthevaccine’sphase2/3trialson1,600participantsinIndia.InthecaseofCovaxin,theregulatorfelt it

needed to be approved because it felt theinactivated platformwould be able to pro-tectagainstmutations.Theregulatorlookedat animal testing data as well as data onsafety and immunogenicity (ability of thevaccine to prompt an immune response)fromphase1/2 trials.

Arethereanyconditionsfortheseapprovals?Severalconditionshavebeenimposedon

SII and Bharat Biotech, including that bothfirmshave tocontinuously submit safety, ef-ficacy and immunogenicity data from theirongoingtrialsuntil thesearecomplete.Theyalsohavetosubmitsafetydataevery

15daysforthecomingtwomonths,andafter

thatmonthlyforthedurationof theirtrials.On top of this, the restricted approval to

Covaxinhasbeengiven“inclinicaltrialmode”.BharatBiotechwillstillhavetocompletevac-cinating nearly 26,000 participants in itsphase-3trial,andthencollectandanalysedatafromthesepeople.BharatBiotechwasearliertestingitsvaccinebygivinghalfof itspartici-pantsaplacebo.Accordingtothefirm,every-oneitistestingnowwillbegivenCovaxinanddata on safety and efficacywill be analysedfromthemoverafixedtimeperiod.BharatBiotechwillhavetosubmitaproto-

colforthistrial,andariskmanagementplan.

Whatconcernshavebeenraised,andwhatisthegovernment’sresponse?Some scientists have expressed concern

about the basis for the approval to Covaxin,given that it does not seem to adhere to theregulator’s own requirements for clearing avaccineinthispandemic.HealthMinisterDrHarshVardhanhasde-

scribedtheapproval forCovaxinasa“strate-gic decision for our vaccine security”. TheMinister posted on Twitter on Sundayevening: “Let it be known that EUA forCOV-AXIN is differently conditional— in clinicaltrial mode... All COVAXIN recipients to betracked,monitoredasif they’reintrial...COV-

AXIN approval is ‘MonitoredApproval’withstrictfollow-up&rollingreview.ThisapprovalensuresIndiahasanadditionalvaccineshieldinitsarsenalesp[ecially]againstpotentialmu-tantstrains inadynamicpandemicsituation–Astrategicdecisionforourvaccinesecurity.”All India Institute of Medical Sciences

DirectorDr RandeepGuleria told The IndianExpress on Sunday: “This (approval forCovaxin)islikeaback-up.Ifwefindthatcasesdon’t rise, thenwe stick to the SII (SerumInstitute of India’s Covishield), till theBharatBiotechdata comesearlynextmonth.And ifthat data is found to be good enough, thentheywill get the same approval as the SII.Indirectly, looking at the safety profile, that(Covaxin)isasafevaccine,althoughwedon’tknowhowefficacious it is. They (the regula-tors)havegiven,Iwouldsay,agreensignaltostartstockpilingincaseweneedit.”Dr Vinod K Paul, NITI Aayogmember-

Health,andchairoftheNationalExpertGrouponVaccineAdministrationforCovid-19(NEG-VAC), said: “The thinking that has gone in isthatthisvaccineisnotonlycoveringtheSpro-tein,itisalsoagainstotherantigensbecauseitis targeting thewhole surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. So, this providesmuchmoreleverage for thevaccine toworkagainstmu-tations. It’s our guarantee against themuta-tionsthatmaybeappearing..

Whathappensnow?Whogetsitfirst?Now that two vaccines have been ap-

proved, the countrywill be able to begin itsmass vaccinationprogramme. A schedule isexpectedsoon,DrPaulsaid.SII and Bharat Biotech are being told to

keep“significant”dosesreadysothattheycanbetransportedtoover30vaccinationhubs,inplaceslikeLucknow,Panchkula,ChennaiandDelhi.Oncethecompaniessendthevaccinesthere,stategovernmentsareexpectedtomo-bilise the doses to the vaccination points. Inthe first tranche, the vaccination pointswillbehealthcare facilitieswherenearly 70 lakhpublicandprivatehealthprofessionalswillbevaccinatedoverthecourseof threemonths.The next to receive vaccines are likely to

befrontlineworkersandthenpeopleaged50yearsandabove.HealthMinisterDrHarshVardhanearlier

saidthegovernmentexpectedthefirstphaseof vaccination— targeting around 30 crorepeople on priority — to be completed byAugust2021.

11WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VISHWASWAGHMODEMUMBAI,JANUARY4

ALONGstanding demandof the Shiv Senafor renaming Aurangabad city inMaharashtra as Sambahji Nagar has resur-facedoverthelastfewdays.ThecontroversyhasledtoawarofwordsbetweentherulingMaharashtraVikasAghadi(MVA)alliesShivSenaandCongress,withtheBJPtryingtocor-nertheSenaontheissue.Whyissomuchatstake,andforwhom?

The city and its nameAurangabadwas built in 1610 byMalik

AmbaroftheNijamshahidynasty.Itwasre-named Aurangabad byMughal emperorAurangzeb when hemade it his capital.Aurangzeb,who lived inAurangabaduntilhis death, tortured and killed ChhatrapatiSambahjiMaharaj, sonof theMarathawar-riorkingChhatrapatiShivajiMaharaj.In the late1980s, theSenastarted toex-

pandbeyondtheMumbai-Thaneregionandcame to power in the local body in theAurganbad city. During the victory rally onMay 8, 1988, Shiv Sena chief the late

BalasahebThackerayannouncedthatthecitywould be renamed Sambhaji Nagar.“Balasahebhadjustifiedtherenamingsayingthat SambhajiMaharajwas kept captive byAurangzebwho tortured and killed him,”said Chandrakant Khaire, former SenaMPfromAurangabad.Since then, the Sena has been using

SambhajiNagarinsteadofAurangabadinpo-litical rhetoric and in the party newspaperSaamna. In1995,theAurangabadMunicipalCorporation(AMC)passedaresolutiontore-nameAurangabadasSambhajiNagar.The then Sena-led government in

MaharashtraheadedbyCMManohar Joshiissuedanotificationseekingpublic sugges-tions and objections on changing the city’sname. ThenCongress corporatorMushtaqAhmed challenged it in the High Court,whichdisposedofthematterstatingthatnodecisionhadbeentaken.“Then,IwenttotheSupremeCourtthatgrantedastayontheno-tificationandthestatusquowasmaintained.After the Congress-NCP came to power in1999, thegovernmentwithdrewthenotifi-cation,” saidAhmed,who isnowwithNCP.HesaidifMVAtakesadecisiononrenaming,hewillchallengethedecisionincourt.

Sincethen,therenaminghasbeenacon-tentiousissuethatresurfacesaheadofeveryelection. It has nowbecomeapoint of ten-sion between theMVA alliance partnersaheadoftheAMCelections,likelytobeheldinthefirstquarterof thisyear.

Why thenamemattersEager to corner Sena and challenge its

Hindutvacredentials, theBJPhasbeendar-ingitsformerallytoeffectthenamechange.TheBJP has repeatedly taunted Sena about

thedifficultyofkeepinganoldpromisewithitsnewsecularalliestheCongressandNCP.InMarch2020,theMaharashtracabinet

approved a proposal to rename theAurangabadairportasChhatrapatiSambhajiMaharaj Airport. However, this has not yetgot the go-ahead from the Centre. SourcessaidtheDivisionalCommissionerhassentareportontherenamingofAurangabadcitytothegovernment.Aurangabad city’s population of 11.75

lakh(Census2011)includes51%Hindusand

30.8%Muslims.TheLokSabhaseatisrepre-sented by Imtiaz Jaleel of AIMIM,whode-featedfour-timeSenaMPKhairein2019.So,adecisiontorenamethecitywillresonateinthecivicpolls,aswellasacrossthestate.

Parties and their stakesTheSena iskeenon the renaming toas-

sertitsHindutvaagenda,whiletheCongresshasopposedthemoveforfearofupsettingitsMuslim supporters in the city. If the Senashows caution for the sake of the coalition,the BJPwill project it as a dilution of theSena's saffron credentials. Failure by theCongress to take on the Sena, on the otherhand,willbeprojectedbytheAIMIMasabe-trayalof theformer’ssecularcredentials.TheBJPhopescorneringtheSenawould

forceittogoforbroke,possiblycausingasplitinMVA. Talkof theSenagoingforaCabinetresolutionon the renaminghaselicitedan-gryreactionsfromtheCongress,butthereisno definite indication that CM UddhavThackerayisabouttotakesuchastep.Otherthanitspotentialasacoalitiondi-

vider, the issue may also give the BJP aweapon tomobilise its cadres aheadof theelection.Itbadlyneedsavictoryafteritsfail-

uretoformthegovernmentlastyear,andset-backs in the Legislative Council and localbodyelections.But pushing this pedal hard could also

backfire on the BJP. Its ally the RepublicanParty of India, which draws its votes fromMuslimsandDalits inAurangabad,hassaiditwill oppose anymove to rename the city.Also, the BJPmay find itself sidelined if thewar of statements between Sena andCongressmakesthesetwopartiesthemainopponents. The BJP, for its part, hopes thattheRPI'soppositionwillkeepCongressfromoccupyingthatspacefully.AIMIMMP Jaleel said that every five

years, the Sena andBJP bring this issue outsothatnobodyraisesquestionsaboutwater,sanitation, roads, gardens, open spaces andjobs. "We have the greatest respect forSambhajiMaharaj but to use his name forcheappoliticalgainsishighlycondemnable,"Jaleel tweeted.TheNCPhassofarbeencarefulnottoget

caught inthewarofwordsbetweenits twoallies.DeputyCMAjitPawarhasonlysaidtheOpposition is tryingtocreateariftbetweentheMVAallies and adecision on renamingwouldbetakencollectively.

What next for vaccine rolloutSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

IndiahasapprovedtwoCovid-19vaccines forrestricteduse.Howdothesework,whenwill theybegiven,andtowhom?Whyhavesomescientistsexpressedconcern,andwhat is thegovernment’sexplanation?

RAHELPHILIPOSE&YASHEESINGHNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

IN AN hour-long phone call on Monday,UnitedStatesPresidentDonaldTrumppres-suredBradRaffensperger,Secretaryof Stateof the American state of Georgia, to “find”himenoughvotestooverturnPresidentelectJoe Biden's victory in theNovember 3 elec-tion.TrumptoldRaffenspergerthathehopedthis could bedone before the Senate runoffelection on Tuesday. Trumpwas scheduledto campaign in Georgia onMonday night(Tuesdaymorning in India).Despite Trump's continuing attempts to

stayon in theWhiteHouse, thepresidentialelectionhaslongbeendecided.Thestill-openraces in Georgia are, however, critical – theresultswilldeterminethebalanceofpowerintheSenate,andcouldendupdecidingthefateof a lotofBiden's legislativeagenda.

Georgia runoffsBoththeSenateseatsforwhichelections

willbeheldonTuesdayarecurrentlyheldbyRepublicans.UnderGeorgia'selectionlaw,ifno candidate in anelection is able to secureatleast50percentofvotes,thetoptwocan-didatesmust for a re-match to try andwinthemandatedminimumvoteshare.Forbothseats in the elections held on November 3,no candidate from either partywas able towinmore thanhalf thevotes.Thus, on January 5, Republican Senator

David Perduewill seek re-election againstDemocratic challenger JonOssoff,while in-cumbentRepublicanKellyLoefflerwilltrytodefend her seat against Democrat Rev.RaphaelWarnock.

Candidates and votesIn the November election, Perdue got

49.8%ofthevote,whileOssoffmanaged47%— the votes won by Shane Hazel of theLibertarianPartyensuredneitherPerduenorOssoff could establish a clearmajority. Thewinner of this seatwill serve a full six-yeartermin theSenate.Loeffler was appointed to the Senate in

2019. She was chosen by Georgia'sRepublicanGovernorBrianKemptoreplaceSenator Johnny Isakson,who retired due tohealth reasons. Thewinner of this seatwillonly serveonly twoyears, the remainder ofIsakson’ssix-yearterm.IntheNovember,theDemocrat Warnock received the biggestshareof votes (32.7%),withLoeffler comingsecondat26%.

Why the pollsmatterRepublicans hold 50 of the 100 seats in

theUSSenate,whiletheDemocratshave48,including two independents, AngusKingofMaineandBernieSandersofVermont,wholeanDemocratic.If theDemocratswinthesetwoseats,the

Senatewillseea50-50tie,wherethedecid-ing votewill be cast by the Vice President,theDemocratKamalaHarris.The Senate majority is crucial for Joe

Biden’sgovernment,whichcouldotherwisesee its key appointments, policy decisionsand attempts to fulfil campaign promiseshobbled by Republicans. The current

RepublicanSenateleader,MitchMcConnell,takes pride in calling himself the “GrimReaper”,andhadstrangledseveralpiecesoflegislationpushedbytheBarackObamaad-ministration.

Majority in SenateASenatemajoritymattersinthingsfrom

cabinetandjudiciaryappointmentstopass-inglawstocontrollingtheoutcomeofapres-idential impeachment.“MitchMcConnellwill forceJoeBidento

negotiate every single cabinet secretary,every single district court judge, every sin-gle US attorneywith him,” the DemocraticSenator Chris Murphy told Politico. “Myguess is we’ll have a constitutional crisispretty immediately.”Basic duties, such as allocating funds for

government projects andpaying debts,willbecomea struggle and theDemocrats’moreambitiousproposals—suchasamulti-trillion-dollar plan to curb carbon emissions and tocreatemorejobsinthecountry—wouldstandlittlechanceinaRepublican-majoritySenate.

Senate races fromGeorgia: why theymatter

@ieExplained

#ExpressExplained

If there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould like

explained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINEDTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

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PAPER

CLIPNEWRESEARCH

Moderna,Pfizervaccineshavegotemergencyapproval inUS.AP,Reuters

Paintings intheAjantacaves,amongseveraltourist spots inAurangabaddistrict.ExpressArchive

Amid concerns over allergicreactions to vaccines, USexperts offer reassurance

DryrunforvaccinationatCivilHospital inLudhiana lastweek. GurmeetSingh

Why stakes are high in renaming of Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar

Ahmedabad

12THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

THEWORLD

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

USA

TanyaRoberts,knownforAViewtoKillandThat‘70’sShow,diesACTOR TANYA Roberts,best known for playing aBondgirlinAViewtoaKilland Midge Pinciotti onThat ‘70s Show, has died.Shewas65.Arepresenta-tiveforRobertstoldTMZ,the actor took her dogsfor a walk on ChristmasEve and collapsed uponreturninghome.Shewasput on a ventilator afterbeing hospitalised, butnever recovered.Robertswas not ill in the daysleading up to her death,the publication furtherstated. Born as VictoriaLeigh Blum, Roberts hada career modelling andappearing in televisionadvertisements beforeturning to acting in 1975with the horror movieForcedEntry.PTI

TanyaRoberts

TOPOFTHEWORLD

USA

GunmankillspastoratTexaschurch,arrestedAGUNMANkilledapastoratanEastTexaschurchonSunday andwounded atleastoneotherpersonbe-fore fleeing the sceneandbeingarrestedbypoliceinanearby county, authori-ties said. Smith CountySheriffLarrySmithtoldre-porters the pastor of theStarrville MethodistChurchinWinonafoundaman hiding in a churchbathroomandconfrontedthemanwith a gun. Theman then grabbed thepastor’spistolandshotthetwovictimsbeforestealinga car from the church’sparkinglot,Smithsaid.Thenamesofneitherthegun-mannor the pastorweremadepublic.REUTERS

GREECE

Greekgovtnames1stopenlygayministerTHECENTRE-RIGHTgov-ernmentinGreecenamedthe country’s first openlygayminister in a cabinetreshuffle Monday.Nicholas Yatromanolakis,44,wasnamedasthenewdeputyministerofcultureafterbeingpromotedfromthepositionofgeneralsec-retaryattheministry.Thegovernment retained itsministersofhealthandfi-nanceandmostotherkeypositions in the reshuffle.Greece is reeling fromtheimpact of the pandemicthat caused a spike indeathsinthefall.AP

KATECONGEROAKLAND, JANUARY4

MORE THAN 225 Google engi-neers and other workers haveformed a union, the group re-vealedMonday,cappingyearsofgrowing activism at one of theworld’s largest companies andpresentinga rarebeachhead forlabour organisers in staunchlyanti-unionSiliconValley.Theunion’screationishighly

unusual for the tech industry,which has long resisted effortstoorganiseitslargelywhite-col-larworkforce. It followsincreas-ing demands by employees atGoogle for policy overhauls on

pay,harassmentandethics,andislikelytoescalatetensionswithtop leadership.The new union, called the

AlphabetWorkers Union afterGoogle’s parent company,Alphabet, was organised in se-cret for the better part of a yearand elected its leadership lastmonth. The group is affiliatedwith the CommunicationsWorkersofAmerica,aunionthatrepresentsworkers in telecom-munications andmedia in theUnitedStatesandCanada.But unlike a traditional

union, which demands that anemployer come to the bargain-ing table to agree on a contract,theAlphabetWorkersUnionisa

so-called minority union thatrepresentsafractionofthecom-pany’smore than 260,000 full-timeemployeesandcontractors.Workerssaiditwasprimarilyaneffort to give structure andlongevity to activism at Google,rather than to negotiate for acontract.ChewyShaw, an engineer at

Google in the San FranciscoBayArea and the vice chair of theunion’s leadership council, saidthe unionwas a necessary toolto sustain pressure onmanage-mentsothatworkerscouldforcechangesonworkplace issues.“Our goals go beyond the

workplace questions of, ‘Arepeople getting paid enough?’

Our issues are going muchbroader,” he said. “It is a timewhere a union is an answer to

theseproblems.”Inresponse,KaraSilverstein,

Google’s director of people op-

erations, said: “We’ve alwaysworkedhardtocreateasupport-iveandrewardingworkplaceforour workforce. Of course, ouremployees have protectedlabour rights that we support.But aswe’ve always done, we’llcontinueengagingdirectlywithall ouremployees.”Thenewunion is the clear-

est signof howthoroughlyem-ployee activism has sweptthroughSiliconValleyover thepast fewyears.While softwareengineers and other techworkers largely kept quiet inthe past on societal and politi-cal issues, employees atAmazon, Salesforce, Pinterestand others have becomemore

vocal onmatters likediversity,pay discrimination and sexualharassment.Nowhere have those voices

been louder than at Google. In2018,morethan20,000employ-ees staged awalkout to protesthowthecompanyhandled sex-ualharassment.Othershaveop-posed business decisions thatthey deemedunethical, such asdevelopingartificial intelligencefortheDefenceDepartmentandproviding technology to USCustomsandBorderProtection.Only a few small union

drives have succeeded in tech.Workers at the crowdfundingsite Kickstarter and at the appdevelopment platform Glitch

wonunioncampaigns lastyear,andasmallgroupofcontractorsat a Google office in Pittsburghunionised in 2019. Thousandsof employees at an Amazonwarehouse inAlabamaarealsoset to vote on a union in thecomingmonths.“Therearethosewhowould

wantyoutobelievethatorgan-ising in the tech industry iscompletely impossible,” SaraSteffens,CWA’ssecretary-treas-urer, said of the new Googleunion. “If youdon’thaveunionsin the tech industry,what doesthat mean for our country?That’s one reason, from CWA’spoint of view, that we see thisas a priority.”NYT

THE CREATION OF THE UNION, A RARITY IN SILICON VALLEY, FOLLOWS YEARS OF INCREASING OUTSPOKENNESS BY GOOGLE WORKERS

Hundreds of Google employees unionise, culminating years of activism

Googleemployeesstagedawalkout in2018toprotesthowthecompanyhandledsexualharassment.AP

MICHAELDSHEAR&STEPHANIESAULWASHINGTON, JANUARY4

US PRESIDENT Donald TrumppressuredGeorgia’s Republicansecretary of state to “find” himenough votes to overturn thepresidential election andvaguely threatenedhimwith“acriminal offence” during anhourlong telephone call onSaturday, according to an audiorecordingof theconversation.Trump,whohasspentalmost

nineweeksmakingfalseconspir-acy claims about his loss toPresident-electJoeBiden,toldBradRaffensperger,thestate’stopelec-tionsofficial,thatheshouldrecal-culate the vote count so Trump,notBiden,wouldendupwinningthestate’s16electoralvotes.“Ijustwanttofind11,780votes,

whichisonemorethanwehave,”Trumpsaidduring theconversa-tion,accordingtoarecordingfirstobtainedbyTheWashingtonPost,whichpublisheditonlineSunday.TheNewYorkTimesalsoacquiredarecordingofTrump’scall.ThePresident,whowillbein

chargeoftheJusticeDepartmentfor the17days left inhisadmin-istration, hinted thatRaffensperger and RyanGermany, the chief lawyer forthe secretary of state’s office,could be prosecuted criminallyif theydidnotdohisbidding.“Youknowwhattheydidand

you’re not reporting it,” the

Presidentsaidduringthecall.“Youknow, that’s a criminal—that’s acriminal offence. Andyouknow,youcan’tletthathappen.That’sabig risk to youand toRyan, yourlawyer.That’sabigrisk.”The effort to cajole andbully

electedofficials—whichsomele-gal experts said could beprose-cutedunderGeorgia law—wasaremarkableactbyadefeatedpres-ident to crash through legal andethical boundaries ashe seeks toremaininpower.

Onestatelawmakesitafelonyto“solicit,request,command,im-portuneorotherwise attempt tocauseanotherpersontoengageinelectionfraud.”Byurgingelectionofficials to “find” votes thatwerenot legally cast for him, Trumpcould be prosecuted under thatlaw,saidRyanCLocke,acriminaldefencelawyer.Raffensperger politely but

firmlyrejectedthePresident’sen-treaties, standingbytheelectionresultsinhisstateandrepeatedlyinsistingthatTrumpandhisallieshadbeengivenfalseinformationaboutvoter fraud.Vice President-elect Kamala

Harris — at a drive-in rally forGeorgia’s Democratic Senatecandidates inGardenCity— re-ferredonSundaytoTrump’scall,saying it was “the voice of des-peration—mostcertainly that”.Former Speaker Paul Ryan, a

Republicanwhohaslargelystayedsilent in recentweeks, urgedhisformer colleagues on Sunday toabandontheirchallengetothere-sults,callingitthemost“anti-dem-ocraticandanti-conservativeact”hecouldthinkof.The10livingformersecretaries

of defence, from both parties,echoedthatsentimentinanopin-ionarticleonSunday inThePost.Theysaidthemilitaryshouldnotbeused inanyway toalter theout-come of the election, saying:“Governorshavecertified there-sults.AndtheElectoralCollegehasvoted.Thetimeforquestioningtheresultshaspassed.”NYT

SUSANCORNWELLWASHINGTON, JANUARY4

NANCYPELOSIwasnarrowlyre-electedspeakerof theUSHouseofRepresentativesonSunday,asanewCongresstookofficeamidpoliticaluncertainty,withSenatecontrol undecided and aRepublican fight looming overpresidential election results.TheHouse voted216-209 to

reinstatePelosi, afterDemocratslost11seatsintheNovemberelec-tions to command a narrower222-212majority.FiveDemocratschose not to support her— twovoted forDemocratic lawmakerswho were not running, whilethreeothersvoted“present”.“Nowis a time forournation

toheal.Ourmosturgentprioritywill continue tobedefeating thecoronavirus,”Pelosisaid.REUTERS

MICHAELHOLDENLONDON, JANUARY4

A BRITISH judge ruled onMondaythatWikiLeaksfounderJulianAssangeshouldnotbeex-tradited to the United States toface criminal charges includingbreakingaspyinglaw,sayinghismental health problemsmeanthewouldbeat riskof suicide.The United States accuses

Australian-born Assange, 49, of18 offences relating to the re-leasebyWikiLeaksofvasttrovesof confidential US militaryrecords and diplomatic cableswhichitsaysput lives indanger.USprosecutors are set to ap-

peal Monday’s decision toLondon’s High Court, and ulti-matelythecasecouldgototheUKSupremeCourt.Assange’slawyerswill seek bail onWednesday fortheir client,whohas spentmostof thelastdecadeeitherinprisonorself-imposedconfinement.Hislegalteamhadarguedthe

entireprosecutionwaspoliticallymotivated, powered by USPresident Donald Trump’s ad-ministration,andthatAssange’sextraditionwouldpose a severethreat totheworkof journalists.WhileJudgeVanessaBaraitser

rejected submissions that extra-ditionshouldbebarredbecauseitwould breach press freedomorAssange’sfreedomofspeech,shesaidtherewasarealriskhewouldcommitsuicideifhewereheldin

aUSmaximumsecurity jail.Assange, she said, sufferedat

timesfromseveredepressionandhad been diagnosed withAsperger’ssyndromeandautism.HalfarazorbladewasfoundinhisLondonprison cell inMay2019,and he had told medical staffabout his suicidal thoughts andmadeplanstoendhis life.“I findthatMrAssange’s risk

of committing suicide, if an ex-traditionorderweretobemade,tobesubstantial,”Baraitsersaidinher ruling.Wearing a navy suit and a

mask, Assange showed littleemotion at the ruling. Outsidecourt, his partner Stella Moris,withwhomhehadtwochildrenwhile seeking asylum inLondon’s Ecuadorean Embassy,said the decisionwas a victorybutthethreatofextraditionwasstillhangingoverhim.REUTERS

UKPrimeMinisterBoris Johnsonwatchesasnurse JenniferDumasi is injectedwiththeOxford-AstraZenecaCovid-19vaccine inLondononMonday.AP

JONGAMBRELL&ISABELDEBREDUBAI, JANUARY4

IRANONMondaybeganenrich-inguraniumupto20%atanun-derground facility and seized aSouthKorean-flaggedoil tankerin the crucial Strait of Hormuz,furtherescalatingtensionsintheMiddleEastbetweenTehranandtheWest.Theannouncementofenrich-

mentatFordocameas fears rosethat Tehran had seized theMTHankukChemi.Iranlateracknowl-edged the seizure, alleging thevessel’s“oilpollution”sparkedthemove. However, hours earlier,TehransaidaSouthKoreandiplo-matwas expected to visit in thecomingdays tonegotiate the re-leaseofbillionsofdollarsinitsas-setsnowfrozeninSeoul.The dual incidents come

amid heightened tensions be-tweenIranandtheUnitedStatesin thewaning days of PresidentDonald Trump’s term in office.During Trump’s tenure, the USleader unilaterally withdrewfromTehran’snucleardealwithworldpowersin2018andsetoffmonths of tense episodes thatincreasingly strained relationsbetweenthecountries.Iran’s decision to begin en-

riching to 20% purity a decadeago nearly triggered an Israelistrike targeting itsnuclear facil-ities, tensions that only abatedwith the2015atomicdeal.A re-sumption of 20% enrichment

couldseethatbrinksmanshipre-turnasthatlevelofpurityisonlya technical step away fromweapons-grade levelsof 90%.FromIsrael,whichhasitsown

undeclarednuclearweaponspro-gramme, Prime MinisterBenjaminNetanyahu criticizedIran’senrichmentdecision,sayingit“cannotbeexplainedinanywayotherthanthecontinuationofre-alising its goal to develop amili-tarynuclearprogramme.”“Israel will not allow Iran to

manufactureanuclearweapon,”headded.AP

IRANWASalreadyfeelingthepinch,beforeCovid-19,duetocripplingUSsanctions.Now,thepandemichasmadethingsworseforitseconomy.Inthiscontext,expertsseethemovetoincreaseenrichmentasawayoframpingupthepressureonEuropeanpowersthathadvowedtofindawaytobypassUSsanctionsandengageineconomicactivitywithTehran.Italsoputspres-sureonUSPresident-electJoeBidentotakeactiononewayoranother.Iran’sseizingoftheSouthKoreantankerisalsoreportedlyconnectedwithitseffortstoaccessitsfundsthathavebeenfrozeninSeoul.

Iranramps

uppressureE●EXPLAIN

ED

Trumpissuedavaguethreatof ‘acriminaloffence’duringhiscallwithGeorgia’sSecretaryof StateBradRaffensperger

KEY TRUMPQUOTES FROMTHECALL

‘CRIMINALOFFENCE’“Theballotsarecorrupt...which is totally illegal, it ismore illegal foryouthanitis for thembecauseyouknowwhattheydidandyou’renotreporting it.That’sacriminal—that’sacriminaloffence.Andyoucan’t let thathappen.That’sabigrisktoyou...AllIwant todois this. I justwant to find11,780votes.”

‘GIVEMEABREAK’“Sowhatarewegoingtodohere, folks? Ionlyneed11,000votes.Fellas, Ineed

11,000votes.Givemeabreak.”

‘GOINGTOBECOSTLY’“Sotellme,Brad(Raffensperger),whatarewegoingtodo?Wewontheelectionandit’snotfairtotakeitawayfromuslikethis.Andit’sgoingtobeverycostlyinmanyways.AndIthinkyouhavetosaythatyou’regoingtore-examineitandyoucanre-examineit,butre-examineitwithpeoplethatwanttofindanswers,notpeoplethatdon’twanttofindanswers.”

Trump, in tapedcall, pressuresGeorgiaofficial to ‘find’ votes tooverturnelectionExpertssayPresidentcouldfaceprosecutionunderGeorgialawoverphonecall

NancyPelosiat the firstsessionof the117thUSCongress.Reuters

Nancy Pelosire-elected as USHouse Speaker

UK judge rejects USextradition requestfor Julian AssangeSaystheWikiLeaksfounder’smentalhealth issuesputhimatriskof suicide

USaccusesAssangeof18offencesrelatingtothereleaseof confidentialAmericanmilitaryrecordsanddiplomaticcables

Iran starts enrichinguranium up to 20%,seizes tanker in strait

ALISTAIRSMOUT&GUYFAULCONBRIDGELONDON, JANUARY4

BRITAIN BEGAN vaccinating itspopulation with OxfordUniversity and AstraZeneca’sCovid-19 shot onMonday in aworldfirst,racingtogiveprotec-tion to the elderly and vulnera-bleasanewsurgeofcasesthreat-enedtooverwhelmhospitals.Against a darkening back-

dropofrecorddailycases,Britaintouted a scientific “triumph” asdialysispatientBrianPinker,82,became the first person to getthe Oxford/AstraZeneca shotoutsideof a trial.TheAstraZenecarolloutcame

asPrimeMinister Boris Johnsonwarnedof“tough,toughweekstocome” and saidnewrestrictionsfor Englandwere forthcoming.The BBC reported that Johnsonwouldannouncea lockdown forEngland similar to the one im-posedwhenthepandemichitthecountry inMarch. Themeasureswouldincludeschoolclosuresformostpupilsandpeoplewouldbeasked towork fromhomeunlesstheyareunabletodotheirjobsre-motelyorarekeyworkers,theBBCsaid, adding themeasureswouldcomeintoeffectfromTuesday.Moving ahead of Johnson,

Scottish First Minister NicolaSturgeonimposedthemoststrin-gent lockdownsince last spring.“It isnoexaggerationtosaythat Iammoreconcernedaboutthesit-uation thatwe face now than Ihave been at any time sinceMarch,”shesaid.REUTERS

UK first to roll out AstraZeneca vaccineshots in race to stem coronavirus surge

KJMVARMABEIJING, JANUARY4

CHINAONMondayvehementlyrefuted the US charge that thenovel coronavirus was leakedfromabiolabinthecountryandassertedthat thepandemicwaslikely to have been caused byseparate outbreaks inmultipleplaces in theworld.Chinese Foreign Ministry

spokespersonHuaChunying'sre-markscameamidstreportsthataten-member teamof theWorldHealthOrganisation (WHO) sci-entists would visit China thismonth toprobe theoriginof thecoronavirus,which emerged inWuhaninDecember2019.Beijing is yet to confirm the

visit by theWHO team and re-mained silent about grantingpermission for it tovisitWuhancity incentralChina.“I have no detailed informa-

tion for you,” Hua told amediabriefingherewhenaskedaboutthe visit of theWHO team andwhether itsschedule includedavisit toWuhan.“China attacheshigh impor-

tance to cooperation with theWHO.We have been providingsupport and convenience forWHO'swork,”Huasaid.China has also been ques-

tioning the widely-held viewthat the deadly outbreak brokeout in a wetmarket inWuhanwhere the live animals are sold.Themarketremainedclosedandsealedsinceearly lastyear.PTI

China deniesvirus leaked fromWuhan lab, saysglobal outbreakscaused pandemic

Scientists debate holding back 2nd doseTHENEWYORKTIMESJANUARY4

ASGOVERNMENTS around theworldrushtovaccinatetheircit-izens, scientists are locked in aheated debate over a surprisingquestion:Isitwisesttoholdbackthe second doses everyonewillneed, or to give asmany peopleaspossibleaninoculationnow—andpushbacktheseconddoses?Since even the first shot ap-

pearstoprovidesomeprotection,some experts believe that the

shortest route to containing thevirus is todisseminate the initialinjectionsaswidelyaspossible.OfficialsinBritainhavealready

decided todelayseconddosesofvaccinesmade by the pharma-ceutical companiesAstraZenecaandPfizerasawayofmorewidelydistributingthepartialprotectionaffordedbyasingleshot.Healthofficials intheUShave

beenadamantly opposed to theidea. “Iwouldnotbe in favourofthat,” DrAnthony Fauci, the na-tion’stopinfectiousdiseaseexpert,toldCNNonFriday. “We’regoing

tokeepdoingwhatwe’redoing.”Thedebatereflectsfrustration

thatsofewAmericanshavegottenthe first doses. Thepublic rolloutremainedbumpyovertheweek-end.Seniorslinedupearlyforvac-cinations inoneTennessee town,butthedosesweregoneby10am.Thevaccinesauthorisedsofar

intheUSareproducedbyPfizer-BioNTech andModerna. Britainhasgreenlit thePfizer-BioNTechand Oxford-AstraZeneca vac-cines.Allofthemareintendedtobe delivered in two doses on astrict schedule.

Ahmedabad

13SENSEX: 48,176.80 ▲ 307.82 NIFTY: 14,132.90 ▲ 114.40 NIKKEI: 27,258.38 ▼ 185.79 HANG SENG: 27,472.81 ▲ 241.68 FTSE: 6,638.95 ▲ 178.43 DAX: 13,890.39 ▲ 171.61

THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

ECONOMY

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD

`50,619

RUPEE

`73.02

OIL

$51.20

SILVER

`69,454Note:Gold, silverratesatDelhi spotmarket;goldper10g, silverper1kg;Brentcrudeasof0000IST

InternationalmarketswereclosedonFridayonaccountofNewYear’sDay

OFFICE OF CHIEF ENGINEER/METERINGRegd. Office: PSEB H.O., The Mall, Patiala - 147001

C-3, SHAKTI VIHAR, PSPCL, PATIALA, PUNJAB-147001Tel. No. 0175-2218871, Fax: 0175-2200284, E-mail: semeteringpatiala@gmail.com

CIN: U40109PB2010SGC033813. Registration Number: 33813website: www.pspcl.in, E-tendering Page: https://eproc.punjab.gov.in

NOTICE INVITING TENDER

Tender Enquiry/Specification No.

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Last Date of Downloading/Bid Submission

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Procurement of push fit type tamperevident poly-carbonate security seals.

04.01.2021 at 11.00 Hrs.

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Detailed NIT and set of specification/tender documents can only be down-loaded from website https://eproc.punjab.gov.in. Tender ID is2020_POWER_58309_1.

NOTE: Corrigendum, if any after the publication of this tender enquiry shall onlybe uploaded on site and will not be published in newspapers.

Sd/-SE/HMC,

PSPCL, Patiala.365/Pb

C-01/2020

COVID-19 IMPACT

‘New supply of office spacedown 30-35% in 2020’Fresh supply of office space fell 30-35%year-on-year in 2020acrossmajor cities,mainly on lower demandamid thepandemic, property consultants JLL India and Savills said

CITIESANALYSED:

■ Delhi-NCR■Mumbai

■ Chennai■ Hyderabad

■ Pune■ Bengaluru

Source: JLL

India/Savills/PTI

45-50%:Fall in demand fornewoffice space, due to■ Corporates deferringexpansion plan■ Companies adoptingwork-from-homepolicy foremployees■ Lockdown that broughtconstruction activitiesto a standstill duringApril-May

Fall in leasing activities:Onthe demand side, a steep fallwas seen in office spaceleasing,with:■ 44%byJLL India:Fromrecord46.5million sq ft in2019 to25.82million sq ft in2020■ 50.8%bySavills:From55.7million sq ft in 2019 to27.4million sq ft in 2020

FALL INNEWSUPPLYREPORTED

30%byJLL India:From51.62million sq ft in 2019to36.34million sq ft in2020across sevenmajorcities

35.03%bySavills:From47.1million sq ft in 2019 to30.6million sq ft in 2020across six big cities

■ Kolkata (not includedbySavills)

LALITKJHAWASHINGTON,JANUARY4

UNDERTHETrumpadministra-tion, US-India tensions have in-creasedovereachside’stariffpoli-cies, a Congressional report hassaid,notingthatthetwosideshavealsoheld concertednegotiationstoaddressthesetradefrictions.ThebipartisanCongressional

ResearchService(CRS),initslatestreport,pointedoutthatIndia’sre-centtariffhikesoncellphonesandother telecommunicationgoodswentupfromzeropercentto15-20percentinthelastfewyears.“UndertheTrumpadministra-

tion, bilateral tensions increased

over each side’s tariff policies. Ingeneral, Indiahas relativelyhighaverage tariff rates, especially in

agriculture. Itcanraiseitsappliedrates toboundrateswithoutvio-latingitscommitmentsundertheWTO(WorldTradeOrganization),causing uncertainty for US ex-porters,”saidtheCRSreport.The US and several other

countrieshaverequestedtojoinvariousWTOdisputeconsulta-tionsagainst India, relatedto itstechnology tariffs, also ques-tioning its compliance withWTO Information TechnologyAgreement.AfterIndialostitseligibilityfor

theUSTradePreferenceProgram,Indiaimposedhighertariffsof10per cent to25per cent, affectingabout$1.32billionofUSexports,thereportstated.PTI

USCONGRESSIONALRESEARCHSERVICE’S LATESTREPORT

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JANUARY4

THESENSEXcrossedthe48,000-milestoneonMondayforthefirsttime,amidstrongstrongcuesfromoverseasmarkets and expecta-tionsofgoodquarterlyresults.The30-shareindexsoared308points,or 0.64 per cent, to close at48,176.80andtheNifty50gained114 points, or 0.82 per cent, to14,132.90 onbuying support byforeigninvestors.Foreign investors continued

their buying spree and boughtstocksworthRs1,843 crore. TheNiftyalsoclosedatanotherrecordhigh,withthemarketbreadthim-provingfurther.Everydip isbeingconsidered

bythetradersasanopportunitytobuy. “Theday’s volatilitywas fu-elledbytheearlyrolloutofthevac-cineinIndiaandpositiveopening

of the European market. Theleaderwas IT stocks, boostedbythehopeof a strongquarterly re-sult.Theearningsseasonwillstartsoon.Theglobalmarkethaskickedofftheyearonapositivenoteasin-vestors across theglobeareopti-mistic about economic recoveryon the report over vaccine ap-proval and fiscal support,” saidVinodNair, head of research at

GeojitFinancialservices.India’smanufacturing sector

remainedsteadyevenasemploy-mentfellforninestraightmonths.The IHS Markit IndiaManufacturing PurchasingManagers’ Index stoodat56.4 inDecember, compared to 56.3 inNovember.Chinesefactoryactivitycontinued to accelerate inDecember,thoughthePMImissed

forecastsat53.Japanesemanufac-turing stabilised for the first timein twoyears inDecember,whileTaiwan’spickedup.The rupee appreciated by 9

paise to close at a four-monthhighof 73.02against theUSdol-laronMonday,supportedbysus-tained foreign fund inflows andweakness of the American cur-rencyoverseas.

RUPEERISESBY9PAISETOCLOSEAT4-MONTHHIGHOF73.02

S&P 500, Dowease fromrecord highs

REUTERSNEWYORK,JANUARY4

THES&P500and theDoweasedfromrecordlevelsonthefirsttrad-ingdayof theyearonMondayasnervesovertheoutcomeofrunoffelectionsinGeorgiacounteredop-timismoveravaccine-driven re-coveryintheglobaleconomy.At 10:13 a.m. ET the Dow

Jones Industrial Average fell182.45points or0.60per cent to30,424.03,theS&P500lost15.82pointsor0.42percentto3,740.25and theNasdaq Composite lost34.18 points or 0.27 per cent to12,854.10.

SENSEX RUPEE

48,500

48,000

47,500

73.5

73

72.5

48,176.8

48,109.1772.925

73.0237

47,597.74

9:15 10:0015:30 15:30

THESURGEwasfuelledbyearlyrolloutof thevac-cineinIndiaandpositiveopeningof theEuropeanmarket. ITstocks ledtherally,boostedbyhopesofastrongquarterlyresult.

VaccinenodsashotinthearmE●E

XPLAIN

ED

FPI buying spree, positive globalcues pushSensex past48,000

■TheUSandothernationshaverequestedtojoinvariousWTOdisputeconsultationsagainstIndia,relatedtoitstechnologytariffs,alsoquestioningitscompliancewithWTOInformationTechnologyAgreement.

CONSULTATIONS

AGAINST INDIA

‘Tariff policies under Trumphit India-US trade relations’

‘Zomato FY20 losses up160.63% to `2,451.17 cr’

FCA, Peugeotget nod toform Stellantis

REUTERSPARIS/MILAN,JANUARY4

FIATCHRYSLER(FCA)andPSAsaidon Monday investors had ap-proveda$52billionmergertocre-ate theworld’s fourth largest au-tomaker, and shares in the newcompany,namedStellantis,wouldstarttradingintwoweeks.With annual production of

around8millionvehiclesworld-wideand revenuesofmore than$203billion, the newly-formedfirmisexpectedtoplayakeyroleintheautoindustry’sjumpintotheneweraofelectrification.Stellantiswillhave14brands.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JANUARY4

ZOMATO’SNET losses increasedbyasmuchas160.63per cent toRs 2,451.17 crore in the year toMarch 31, 2020, the company’sregulatory filings sourced frombusiness intelligence platformToflershowed.Revenuefromoperationsgrew

byalittleover100percenty-o-ytoRs2,336.34crore.Onlineordering,ZomatoGoldbusinessandadsalesdrive the lion’s shareof the com-pany’s revenues. Thecompany’stotalexpensesstoodatRs4,627.75crore nearly 40 per cent highercompared toRs3,383.56 crore it

spentinFY19.Zomato had earlier said the

firm’s grossmerchandise value(GMV)for thecore India foodde-liverybusinessroseto$1,496mil-lion inFY20 from$718million inFY19,anincreaseofnearly108percent. “Uniteconomicsinonlineor-deringimprovedsignificantlywithincreasedrevenue,lowerlogisticscosts and user discounts,” thecompanysaid.FE

Nissan to raise outputat Chennai plantENSECONOMICBUREAUCHENNAI,JANUARY4

BUOYEDBYtheoverwhelmingre-sponsetoitsnewlylaunchedcom-pact SUV Magnite in India,JapanesecarmajorNissanMotoronMonday said itwill introducethirdshiftatitsChennaiplantandhire1,000-plusworkforce at theplant to reducewaitingperiod totwotothreemonths.

The company in a bid toshortenthedeliveryperiodtotwotothreemonths,isplanningtoen-hancetheproductioncapacity. Inaddition,Nissanisgoingtoemploymorestaffatthedealershipstoat-tend the customer requests. Thecompany announced thatMagnitewillcontinuetobeavail-ableacrossallNissanIndiadealer-shipsandonitswebsiteatthespe-cialintroductorypricesonmostofthevariantstillfurthernotice.FE

Revenuefrom

operationsgrewbya

littleover100percent

y-o-yto`2,336.34crore

BRIEFLY

FinMinreleases`6KcrforstatesNewDelhi:TheFinanceMini-stryonMondayreleasedthe10th instalmentof Rs6,000crore to states tomeetGSTcompensationshortfall.

‘AmazongavenohelptoFuture’NewDelhi:Amazonfailedtoprovideanyhelptodebt-hitFuture Group as the retailmajorsufferedmassiveset-backduring lockdown,Fut-ureGroup’spromoters saidinalettertoAmazon. PTI

VivekSinghisOSDtoFMNewDelhi: TheAppointme-nts Committeeof theCabi-nethasclearedthenameofVivekSinghasOfficeronSp-ecialDutytoUnionFinanceandCorporateAffairsMinis-terNirmala Sitharaman. Inan order on Monday, theDoPTsaidtheappointmentof Singh, currently additio-nalPStoFM,willbeforfouryears fromdateof assump-tionof chargeor on co-ter-minusbasiswiththeminis-ter or till further orders,whicheverisearliest.ENS

GJCelectsPethechairmanMumbai:TheAll IndiaGemand Jewellery DomesticCouncil (GJC) has electedAshish Pethe as chairmanand SaiyamMehra as vicechairmanfortwoyears. PTI

`240crraisedviabonds:EFSLNewDelhi:EdelweissFinan-cial Services (EFSL) said itspublic issue of secured re-deemableNCDswas over-subscribed and raisedRs240.14crore.ENS

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JANUARY4

WITH JACKMa, co-founder ofAlibabaGroup,notturningupforthefinalepisodeofaTVshowonwhichhewastoappearasajudge,socialmediahasbecomerifewithspeculationsover theoutspokenbillionaire’swhereabouts--parti-cularlygiventhatheandhiscom-panies have been subjected to acrackdownfromChineseregula-torsoverthepastfewmonths.

AlibabaGroup has said thatMadidnotappearontheTVshow—Africa’sBusinessHeroes—be-causeofaschedulingconflict.SinceSeptember,theChinese

governmenthasreportedlylaunc-heda“coordinatedregulatorycra-ckdown”— themost significantone of whichwas the lastmo-menthaltingof the $34.5-billionpublicofferingofAlibabaGroup’sfinancial servicesarmAntGroupCoinNovember.This, inadditiontoanantitrustprobelaunchedbyChinaintoAlibabaGroup,ledtoa

$140-billiondecline inAlibaba’smarketvalue.Theantitrustprobe

intoAlibaba,thecountry’slargestcompany,resultedinChinesereg-ulators orderingAnt to separateits lendingbusiness from its on-linepaymentsdivision.AntisaninvestorinIndia’sdig-

ital payments firm Paytm andfooddeliveryplatformZomato.According to reports, Alibaba

Group—once the poster boy ofChina’sdigitalprowess—hasbeenunderscrutinysinceMadeliveredaspeechbackonOctober24,2020,criticisingthegovernment’sregu-lation system for stifling innova-

tion and likenedglobal bankingrulestoan“oldpeople’sclub”.Less than a fortnight later,

Ant’sIPOwassuspendedwiththeShanghaiStockExchangestatingthatthefirmhadreported“signif-icantissuessuchasthechangesinfinancial technology regulatoryenvironment”.Ma co-foundedAlibaba in1999asabusiness-to-businessmarketplacewith18fri-ends. In2003, he launched retailsite TaoBao and payments appAlipaytocompetewitheBayandPaypalinChina.WITHAGENCIES

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JANUARY4

DIESEL CONSUMPTION lastmonth remained below pre-Covidlevelsanddown3percentlower than the year-ago levels,while that of petrol grewby8.7percent,comparedtoDecember2019, according to the sales datafromstate-ownedoilmarketingcompanies (OMCs) Indian OilCorporation, Bharat PetroleumCorporation and HindustanPetroleumCorporation.A nationwide lockdown to

curb the spread of Covid-19 inMarch and restrictions on themovement of people andgoodsin subsequentmonths led to asharpdeclineintheconsumptionofpetroleumproductsacrossthecountry. Diesel consumption,whichaccountsforaround40percentof total fuel consumption inthecountry,isconsideredakeyin-dicatorofeconomicactivity.Dieselsalesforthethreestate-

ownedOMCs fell to 6,354 thou-sand metric tonnes (TMT) inDecember2020from6,557TMTayearago.Petrolsalesduringtheperiod rose to 2,435 TMT from2,240TMT inDecember2019. InNovember2020,dieselsalesweredownby7percentyear-on-year

andpetrolsaleshadgrown4.8percenty-o-y.Petrolsaleshavebeenabove pre-Covid levels sinceSeptember2020,withagrowingpreference for theuse of privatetransportboostingpetrolsales.Industry sources noted that

lower usage of public transportwas behind lower diesel con-sumptionand that industrialde-mandand thedemand fromthelogistics sector had reachedpre-Covidlevels.LPGsalesgrewby7.6percent

lastmonth,whilethesalesofavi-ationturbinefuelremained43percent below the year-ago levels,withairlinesoperatingatwellbe-lowmaximumcapacity anddo-mesticairpassengertrafficstillre-maining around 50 per centbelowpre-Covidlevels.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JANUARY4

THEMANUFACTURING sectorcontinuedtostrengtheninDece-mber,with the IHSMarkit IndiaManufacturingPurchasingMan-agers’Index(PMI)remainingfirmamideasingofCovid-19curbs.The seasonally adjusted IHS

MarkitManufacturing PMIwasat56.4inDecember,atickhigherthanNovember’sreadingof56.3andabovethecritical50.0thresh-oldforthefifthstraightmonth.Manufacturers stepped up

production and input buyingamid efforts to rebuild their in-ventories following businessclosures earlier in the year, theIHS Markit survey said. Whilefirms were able to lift inputstocks, and did so at the quick-estrateinnearlyadecade,hold-ingsof finishedgoodsdecreasedsharply due to ongoing in-creases innewwork.In April 2020, themanufac-

turingPMIhadplunged toa lowof27.4asagainst51.8inMarch—itsfirstcontractionin33months.Ithasrecoveredsincethen.

PollyannaDe Lima, econom-ics associate director at IHSMarkit, said, “The latest PMI re-sults for the Indianmanufactur-ing sector continued to point toan economy on themend, as asupportivedemandenvironmentandfirms’effortstorebuildsafetystocks underpinned anothersharp rise in production. It’s im-portant toemphasise thebroad-basednatureoftherecovery,withmarkedexpansionsinbothsalesand output noted across each ofthethreemonitoredsub-sectors.”“Thelatest figurewasconsis-

tentwithamarkedimprovementinbusinessconditionsacrossthe

sector,”thesurveysaid.However,one area that failed to improvewasemployment,withjobsshedonce again at the end of 2020.Meanwhile,rawmaterialscarcityat suppliers caused delivery de-lays and the fastest rise in inputcostsforovertwoyears,itadded.Reflecting the loosening of

Covid-19restrictions,strengthen-ingdemandand improvedmar-ketconditions, factoryorders in-creasedduringDecember,itsaid.“Inresponse,firmsliftedproduc-tion again. In both cases, rates ofexpansion remained sharp de-spiteeasingtofour-monthlows,”IHSMarkitsaid.

5.4

27.4

Nov 2019 Dec 2020

Nov

April 20200

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Manufacturing PMI

ServicesPMI

53.7

56.452.7

51.2

Note: Reading below 50 suggests contraction and above it indicates

expansion; source: IHSMarkit

‘Manufacturing PMI expandsfor 5th straight month in Dec’

Absent on TV show, questions on Jack Ma’s whereabouts

JackMaandhiscompanieshavebeenunderthescannerofChineseregulators. File

Diesel consumptionstill below pre-Covidlevels, petrol sales up

Dieselsales for the

threestate-owned

OMCsfell to6,354TMT

inDecember2020from

6,557TMTayearago;

petrolsalesduringthe

periodroseto2,435

TMTfrom2,240TMTin

December2019

Ahmedabad

14THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

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WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ALI TESTSPOSITIVEONARRIVAL INSL

Englandall-rounderMoeenAlihastestedpositive forCOVID-19uponthesquad'sarrival inSriLankaandwillnowisolate for10days,hiscoun-try'scricketboardannouncedonMonday.Fellowall-rounderChrisWoakeshasbeenidentifiedasapossibleclosecontact,andwillalsoserveaperiodofself-isolationandfurthertesting. PTI

WarnerhasbeenrushedtorejuvenateAustralia’sbattingthoughhe’llbeupagainstfamiliaradversary,Ashwin

Messiah returns, nemesis lurksSRIRAMVEERAMUMBAI, JANUARY4

HOWWILLDavidWarnergoagainstRAshwin?Hehasfallenninetimestotheoff-spinner,whoholds theworld recordof dismissals againstleft-handedbatsmen (192wickets), nudgingpastMuttiahMuralitharan (191 times) in theMelbourneTest.Thatmorethanhalfofhis375wicketshavebeensouthpawscapturethestoryof his supremacyover left-handers. Thus, it’sWarnerduelagainstAshwinonasupposedlyspin-friendlytrackinSydneythatcoulddeter-minehis success inhisMessiah-role, rushedoutofagroininjurytoredeemhiscountry.Byhisownadmission,hewon'tbefullyfit

bythetimeTeststartsonJanuary7.IfAustraliataketherisktoplayhim, itwouldsignalhowdire they think thesituation isandhowlittletrust they have on other contestants. ButWarnerwill have problems stretching and"lunging", he has said,which could furtherhamperhiminhisbidtoout-doAshwin.Eveniftheinjuryhealsupfully,hewillstill

have problems. Itwon't be a surprise to seeAshwintryingtoopenhimupfromoverthestumpsbeforehemovesaroundthestumpsto putmore pressure. Thiswas the strategythathelpedAshwinlast timein India.Warner is abatsmanwho loves the clas-

sicalside-on,besidethelineposition.Tobothseamandspin.Itmakeshimareallyattractivebatsmantowatchbutalsocageshimagainstqualityspinontracksthataidturn.Intheab-senceofrequisitefootwork,beingbesidethelineleaveshimchasingtheball.Heinvariablyends up following it with his hands, awayfromhisbody,andkeepsgettingintotrouble.

Past cluesPerhaps, considering theywill go against

eachotheratthespin-friendlytrackinSydney,theclueliesinwhathappenedin2017inIndiawhen the twomet last time.Warner didn’tchargeout.Hedidn’tcoverthelineandsweep.Hedidn’tattack;insteadalmostfroze.Theonlychangehedidwas tomovealmost to anoff-stump guard but he had no answerwhenAshwincountereditbygoingoverthestumpsandtargetedtheroughoutsidethelegstump.Itwas a timid approach, as if itwas the firsttimehehadcometothesubcontinent.Norealtactic, only a vague hope. Indian conditionscan’tbetamedwithsuchtimidity.WhenAshwingottheballtoturnfromout-

sidelegstump,Warner’sstrategywasbaffling.Hestartedtotakeatinystepoutsidelegstump,dragginghimselffromthelineofstumps,awayfromthebreak,awayfromtheball,anditwas-n’tasurprisewhenhecouldn’tusehispadtostoptheball fromhittingthestumps.Thenext timehewent tobat, he tried to

sweep a similar line of attack. But withoutconviction.Heendeduptopplingoverintheexecution and fell yet again to Ashwin. Ofcourse,Sydneywon’tthrowupBunsenturn-

ersbuthisgameontracksthatprovidesometurnhasn’tbeengreat.

Confusion, chaosSurprisingly,hedoesn’tquitetrusthisat-

tacking game against spin. The surprise in-

creases, as his defence isn’t good enoughagainstspin.Ifhedoesn’tusehisfeet,hecan’tquite reachthepitchof theball;his lackof abig forward stride and short stature hinderhisreach.Hence,hegetstamelycaughtatthecrease,proddingandpushing,eitheroutside

thelineoragainsttheturn.Heprobablyfeelshecanusehiswriststosavehimoutof trou-blebuthe isn’t thatwristyabatsman.Warner’scaginessagainsttheturningball

isn’t a surprise. Even his statements reflectthe inherent chaos. In2016, before the startof the series against Sri Lanka, he said: “Youhave got to be patient enough. They’re(boundary balls) the ones you got to reallywaiton.Youhave tobite thebullet.”But that patience didn’t last long. A

month later, after a few failures, he ob-served:“If youdefend,one’sgotyournameon it, one is going to straighten, you are asittingduckwhenyouare facingsixballs ina row. You got to think out of the box.”Similar confusion prevailed in the subse-quent series in India.Warner still remains extremely cagey

against the turning ball. You can seewhy.Forgetthetalkhedoes,thereseemstobeacon-fusion in hismind aboutwhat approachheshouldtake. Nowonder,withhisapproachesveeringfromonespectrumtotheother,hehasbeenaverageagainsttheturningball.It’ssomethingthathashappenedtohim

even in the past. Somuch so that hismen-tors have had to remindhimof his ownag-gressive talent. At the start of 2013-14 sea-son, after a fallow run where he failed toreachhundredin23innings,TrentWoodhill,the batting coach, tookWarner aside forsomestraighttalk.Thecruxof itwas–‘Attacktheballsthat’stheretobehitandthedefencewould lookafter itself’.When he stops fussing about defence –

whenhefocussesmoreonattack,helooksabetterbatsman. It’sbecausehehas theabil-itytogodownthetrackforloftedhits,thoughhe perhaps doesn’t have the confidence toleave the crease once the ball has been re-leased. Or in otherwords, more often thannot,hepre-determineshischarges.Nooneisgoingtomindhimseeingstumped,somuchbetterthandawdlingandpokingtentatively.ButhemusthaveseenMatthewWade’sdis-missal inthefirst inningsatAdelaide–fran-ticmiscue after failing to reach to the pitchoftheball–andthatcouldseedsomedoubts.Warner often talks the good talk about

sweeping but doesn’t often do it on thefield. Two of his nine dismissals againstAshwin have come from attempting thesweep. But considering Sydney isn’t quiteanIndian-typeturner,hemighthavetopullout more sweeps. Undoubtedly, Ashwinwould try to counter itwith over-spin andextra bounce, but doyou think thatwouldhavemadeMatthewHaydensecond-guessabout his sweeps?The comparison isn’t fair toWarner; he

doesn’t have Hayden’s spin-game. But it’stime thathe trustshis attackon tracks thathelp spinners. If he can get back toWoodhill’sadvice,goaggressiveandlet thedefence take care of itself, Australia mightyet find itsmessiah.

Aftermissingtheopeningtwoties,Warner is set toreturnfor thethirdTest.BCCI

MomotatestsCovidpositive,JapanoutofThailandeventsBangkok: Top-ranked KentoMomota'spositive test forCOVID-19at Narita Airport forced Japan towithdraw its players from upcom-ing internationalbadmintoneventsin Thailand. The two-time singlesworld champion was scheduled tocompete in two Thailand Open se-ries events from January 12-17 andJanuary 19-24 and the $1.5-millionWorld Tour Finals from January 27-31 inNonthaburi— events thatwillseeasizeable Indiancontingent.ButBadminton Association of ThailandPresident Khunying PatamaLeeswadtrakul said the26-year-oldMomota tested positive after prac-ticingwith his teammates in Tokyoon Saturday, prompting the entireteamtocancel their trip toBangkok.

WilliamsonhelpsNZcutPak’s leadChristchurch: Kane Williamsonpostedhis thirdcentury inconsecu-tive matches this summer andshared an unbroken 215-run part-nership with Henry Nicholls whichsteeredNewZealandclose toa first-inningsleadoverPakistanonthesec-ond day of the second cricket Test.Williamson followed his innings of251 in the first Test against theWestIndiesand129inthefirstTestagainstPakistan with an unbeaten 112 onMonday as New Zealand reached286-3 by stumps in reply toPakistan's 297.BRIEFSCORES:Pakistan297(Azhar93, Jamieson 5-69) vs New Zealand286 for 3 (Williamson 112*, Nicholls89*).NZ trail by11runs

SAfricaincontroldespiteSL fightbackJohannesburg: Sri Lanka put up astern fight on Day 2 of the secondTest against South Africa but thehosts remainedin firmcontrolof thetie onMonday. Sri Lanka picked upfour early wickets in the openingsession to dismiss South Africa for302 in the first inningsbut thehostsstill managed a sizeable lead.DimuthKarunaratne ledSri Lanka’sreply and they lead by five runs go-ing intoDay 3.BRIEF SCORES: Sri Lanka 157 and150/4 (Karunaratne 91*) lead SouthAfrica302(Elgar127,vanderDussen67, V Fernando 5/101) by five runs

HyderabadbeatChennaiyin4-1Bambolim:HyderabadFCoutclassedformer champions Chennaiyin FCwith a 4-1 win and snapped theirthree-match losing streak in theIndian Super League here onMonday. Joel Chianese (50th),HalicharanNarzary (53rd,79th)andJoaoVictor (74th)wereonthescore-sheet forHyderabadwhile AnirudhThapa(67th)scoredtheonlygoal forChennaiyin,whosufferedtheir first-everdefeatagainst theNizams.Withtheir third win, Hyderabad FCmoved up to sixth place with 12points while Chennaiyin slipped toeightplace following their thirdde-feat. On Tuesday, Mumbai City willface Bengaluru.

AGENCIES

BRIEFLY

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA, JANUARY4

SOURAVGANGULYislikelytobedischargedfrom the hospital on Wednesday,Woodlands Hospital MD & CEO Dr RupaliBasu told reportersonMonday.SheinformedthattheBCCIpresidentand

formerIndiacaptainiskeepingwellandthemedical board, in consultation withGanguly’sfamilymembers,decidedthatan-gioplastywould be done for two damagedcoronaryarteriesata laterdate.“Our nine-membermedical boardmet

todayat11.30amwithreputedspecialistsonzoomplatform.Theconsensusof theboardwas that deferring the angioplasty for nowis deemed to be a safer option since MrGangulyisstable,withoutanychestpainandisonoptimalmedicalmanagement,”DrBasusaidat thepress conference.“Thefamilymemberswerepresentdur-

ing the boardmeeting andwere explainedabout the disease process and further ther-apeuticplan,” sheadded.Angioplasty was done on Ganguly’s

right coronary artery after he suffered amildheartattackonSaturday.DrBasusaidthe other two damaged coronary arteries,too, need angioplasty but thatwouldn’t bedoneduringthecurrentadmission.Surgeryhas been ruledout.AskedwhenGanguly is likely to be dis-

charged, Dr Basu said: “Dr Devi Shetty iscoming tomorrow.Wewill have anotherround of discussion. He is likely to be dis-chargedonWednesday.”Meanwhile,MinisterofStateforFinance

and former BCCI president Anurag Thakurvisited Ganguly at the hospital and hopedthat the former India captainwould returnto “routine,normal life soon”.

DoctorstreatingSouravGangulysaidangioplastywouldbedonefortwodamagedcoronaryarteriesatalaterdate.

Ganguly likely tobe discharged onWednesday

RED-HOT FORM

How Curry turned around a poor start to drop a career-high 62 pointsSHASHANKNAIRJANUARY4

AFTERSUFFERINGaslowstart to theseasonandhordesof criticismonwhetherhecould

carry the Golden StateWarriors this season,Steph Curry explodedagainst the Portland TrailBlazers,droppingacareer-high 62 points in amere36minutesofplay.Hewas

18-31 from the field and 8-16 from three-pointrange.18ofhis62pointscamefromthefreethrowlinewherehewent18-19.Withhishistoricshootingnumbersdown

and theWarriors losing three of their firstfivegames, includinga loss to former team-mate Kevin Durant’s Brooklyn Nets, ques-tionswere asked about Curry andwhetherhewascapableofregaininghisspecialtouch.

HowdidCurry’s latest seasonbegin?Notwell by his standards. And this was

mainlydowntohisshootingnumbers.Curry,

inthefirstfivegamesof theseason,hadonlymade 18 of his 56 three pointers. A career40%+shooterfrombeyondthearc,hisnum-bers were down and it didn’t help thatWarriors new addition Kelly Oubre Jr wassufferingevenworsewithhis shooting.This coupled with the absence of

Draymond Green over the first few gamesmeant that the Warriors only beat theChicagoBullsandtheDetroitPistonsbutfelltotheNets,MilwaukeeBucksandpreviouslyto Portland before the repeat fixture sawCurry finally comegood.

Howwashisplaydifferent inthisgame?Deathbypickandrolls–If therewasone

key to a strong start by theWarriors andCurry, itwastheoneweaponthathasmadethem near impregnable over the years.PortlandoscillatesbetweenJusufNurkicandEnesKanteratcentre. TheDraymondGreen-Steph Curry pick-and-roll, especially in thepaint that puts a seven-foot centre in a footrace to the rim against one of the quickerpointguards inthe league,mademanydivi-dendsinthefirsthalf.That,andCurry’sinsis-

tence on finishing at the rimwith contactshowed just howmuch the two-timeMVPwantedtogetoutofhis rut.

WhywasDraymondGreen’sreturnkey?Draymond Green is the defensive ful-

crum of the Golden StateWarriors and hispick and roll with Curry has always been adevastatingweapon – something thatwasmissingasGreenmissedthestartof thesea-sonbecauseof coronavirus.WiththeclocktickingdownandCurryon

59points, lookingtoendthenightwitha60-pointstatline,Greendishedoutthelastofhiseightassistsforthenight,somethingthatCurryacknowledgedinhispost-gameinterview.“It made so much sense that it was

Draymond…Knowingexactlywhatthesit-uationwas andwhere I was. For a hot sec-ondIthoughthewasn’tevenlookingforme.ButIshouldhaveneverdoubtedit.Heknewexactlywhere Iwas,” saidCurry.

WhatrecordsdidCurrybreak?Onwaytohiscareernight,Currycreated

little nuggets of history along theway, be itmatchingafeatlastachievedbyKobeBryantorsolidifyinghismarkasoneof thegreatestshooters in the history of the NBA. Curryscored 31 points in each half, a rare occur-renceconsideringthe lastplayer toscore30in twohalveswasKobeBryant in the2005-06seasonagainst theDallasMavericks.His eight three-pointers for 24 points

madeonthenightwasthe425thtimethataplayerhasdone so in theNBA.According toNBA.com stats, this was the 49th time thatCurryhaddoneso.

WhatmakesCurryagoodshooter?In a chatwith the IndianExpress for the

‘WonderWhy’series,GoldenStateWarriorsassistantcoachBruceFraserdescribedsomeof the essentials for a good shooter in theNBAandhowStephCurrytickedallof thoseboxes,somethingthatwasondisplayforallto see on Sunday. “Tome, there are a fewcomponentsthatmakeashootergreat.One,isthemechanicsof theshot.Thesecondpartwhen it comes to being a great shooter, ispartly, genetics. How good is yourmusclememory?Howgoodisyourhand-eyecoor-dination? It’s not like someone has to becrazilygeneticallygifted,buttherehastobean element of it. The last part that reallymakes a good shooter is thework you putinto your craft. Steph Curry still putsmoretimeintohisshotthatanyotherplayerintheleague,” Fraser toldThe IndianExpress.He added, “Steph inmy opinion could

have been great at a lot of things. He couldhavebeenagreatgolfer–hecouldhavebeena great tennis player. He’s a gifted athletewith incredible hand-eye coordination andhechose toputhis talents intobasketball.”

GoldenStateWarriorsguardStephenCurrycelebratesafterscoring62points.AP

TOUGHERBIOSECURITYrestrictionsawaitTeamIndiaat theAustraliatour's final twostops inSydneyandBrisbane.Thevisitors—whoannouncedthat theteamanditssupportstaff havereturnednegativeinthe latestCOVID-19tests—reachedSydneyonMondayandwillbecontainedtotheirhotelwhennottrainingorplayingthethirdTest,whichstartsonThursday.Accordingtotheprotocols,bothsetsofplayerswillnotbeallowedto leavethehotelbookedfor thetwoteamsbyCricketAustralia (CA)unlessbeingferriedtotheSydneyCricketGround(SCG).AccordingtotheSydneyMorningHerald, theQueenslandgovernment, too,hasagreedto let theplayersmingle inthecommunalareas

of theirhotel rather thanbeing lockedintheir roomsinBrisbane—thevenuefor thefourthTestwhichbeginsonJanuary15."Theywillbeconfinedtothehotel.Wehaveworkedwiththemsotheycanhavebubbleswithinthathotel,"Queensland'schiefhealthofficerDrJeannetteYoungwasquotedbyYahooSportsonSunday. "Becausetheyaregoingtobegoingandplayingwithcolleagues inthematchessotheywillhaveexposurethere.So itdoesn'texposemeif theyhaveexposuretoeachother inthehotel."CAchief executiveNickHockley,meanwhile,dismissedreports thatthe Indianteamisreluctant toplaytheGabbaTestduetothestricterquarantinerules. ENS

Delhi nurse approached India player for IPL inside informationMAHENDERSINGHMANRAL&DEVENDRAPANDEYNEWDELHI/MUMBAI, JANUARY4

ACASEhasemergedofanallegedillegalap-proachtoanIndiacricketerduringthe2020Indian Premier League (IPL). A Delhi-basednursehasbeenaccusedof askingtheplayerconfidentialteaminformationonsocialme-dia, as shewanted tobeton IPLmatches.The approach is said to have beenmade

onSeptember30, in themiddleof the tour-nament, with the nurse posing as a doctorworkingataSouthDelhihospital.Thecrick-eter,whorepresentedIndiaacoupleofyears

back,reportedthemattertotheBCCI’sAnti-CorruptionUnit (ACU).Sources said the cricketer and the nurse

met online around three years ago. She al-legedlyclaimedtobeafan,andsaidshewasaDelhi-baseddoctorwithaprivatehospital.It is learnt that the cricketer had been intouchwithherrecently,andhadsoughtheradvice onprecautions to take against infec-tionby thenovel coronavirus.TheBCCI’sACUchiefAjitSinghconfirmed

the development, but said thematter wasnow“closed”.“Theplayerhadreportedtousduring the IPL.We investigated it, and thematter is closed now. The personwho ap-proachedtheplayerwasunprofessional(did

nothave connectionswithanybettingsyn-dicate),andtherewasnofurtherleadfound.We investigated thoroughly. The accusedknew theplayer.When theplayer reportedthematter,we took all thedetails. Later,wecalled her for questioning too, but nothing

was found fromher. Thematter is closed,”he toldThe IndianExpress.According to BCCI sources, the cricketer

issaidtohavetoldtheACUthathehadnevermet the woman, and had only interactedwithheronsocialmedia.“Hesaidhedidnotknowwhereshelived

orworked. During an online conversation,she told the player that shewanted to bet,and for that shewanted to know about thematchandplayingXI,” aBCCI sourcesaid.Thecricketerissaidtohaverespondedwith

anangryemojiandwarnedherthathewouldinform the police about her approach. Shemadesomecryingfacesmileysandthentoldhimthatshewoulddeleteallthemessagesand

assuredhimthat shewouldnot informany-oneabouttheirconversations,anofficialsaid.The incident has come to light about a

monthafteranotherIPLplayercontactedtheACU after he toowas approached on socialmediabyapersonknowntohim. Finding itsuspicious,theplayerhadinformedtheteammanagement.TheACUhadconductedonlineseminars

for players and officials before the tourna-ment, and had cautioned them about ap-proaches on socialmedia by people claim-ingtobefansandwell-wishers.The IPLwashit by a spot-fixing scandal in 2013, whichresultedintwo-yearsuspensionsforChennaiSuperKingsandRajasthanRoyals.

Theapproachissaidtohavebeen

madeonSeptember30,inthe

middleof thetournament,with

thenurseposingasadoctor

workingataSouthDelhihospital

Tougher restrictions for

teams in Sydney, Brisbane

E●EXPLAIN

ED

Ahmedabad

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