071021 ML 01

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2021, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

I,I, Smt. Dipawanti BaiBabaji More Widow ofEx.Sep. Babaji MoreVide No. 6614091 resid-ing at Room No. 6232,Bhoir Nagar, Ekta MitraMandal, ShivmandirRoad, Barkupada,Ambarnath ( E) Dist.Thane- 421 501 havechanged my namefrom Smt. Dipawanti BaiBabaji More toDeepavanti Babaji More& Date of Birth havechanged from14/08/1952 to09/10/1961 vide affi-davit dated 26/07/2021before district court,Mumbai.

0070756405-1

II have changed my namefrom DharamrajRamvilas Chauhan toDharmraj RamvilashChauhan As PerMaharashtra GazetteNo. (M-2178309)

0070756345-1

II have changed my namefrom RameshkumarPukhrajji Jain ToRamesh Pukhrajji Jainas per affidavit Dated5.10.2021.

0070756343-1

CHANGE OF NAME

PERSONAL

NEWNEW Dolly suggestedEgg Price Rs. 415/-.Good News for BakeryTich Eggs Rs. 250/-.Mobile: 09110526654,9542230818.

0070755634-1

S.K.S.K. Patel Small: 150/-,Big: 139/-. 8082040343/24460095/ 24459098. Tosubscribe to paper rate& purchase rate.9320460095/ 9930193010.

0070753733-1

VENCOBBVENCOBB Ex-FarmYesterday’s Price inPune Rs. 115/-.Suggested Retail Priceis Rs. 133/-.

0070753197-1

ZORABIANZORABIAN TOday’s Ex-Farm Live Broiler RateRs. 112/-. Retail MarketRate Rs. 140/-. Mobile:8879050887/ 9372663242Office: 022-26604937/38/ 39.

0070740732-2

MEAMEA Mumbai EggsAssociation SuggestedSelling Rate in MumbaiRs. 415/- per 100 Eggs.Mobile: 9820057700/9820351822/ 7303390009.

0070751976-1

FRESHFRESH Chicken TradingBig birds 127/- kg.,Small birds 138/- kg.,Turbhe Naka, NaviMumbai. Mobile:9769468897.

0070745632-1

AMIRAMIR Broiler, Small:Rs. 149/-, Big: Rs. 138/-.Contact: Phone:+91-8828895000/8080432388/ 022-25251901/ 022-23860517.

0070741513-1

N.E.C.C.N.E.C.C. suggested pricefor 100 eggs in Mumbaion 07/10/2021 Rs. 450/-(Four Hundred Fifty)only. NECC 22834107.

0070752373-1

POULTRY

BUSINESS

100%100% Passing guarantee.“Khardikar Classes”. VIIfail...? Direct X. XI fail...?Direct XII. Dombivli- BA,B.Com., B.Sc.-9820627580, 9820904646.

0070745276-2

EDUCATIONAL

EDUCATION

''IMPORTANT''Whilst care is taken prior to acceptanceof advertising copy, it is not possible toverify its contents. The Indian Express(P.) Limited cannot be held responsiblefor such contents, nor for any loss ordamage incurred as a result oftransactions with companies,associations or individuals advertisingin its newspapers or Publications. Wetherefore recommend that readersmake necessary inquiries beforesending any monies or entering intoany agreements with advertisers orotherwise acting on an advertisementin any manner whatsoever.

TThhee IInnddiiaann EXPRESS

´F³F½FZÕ ¸FWF³F¦FS´FFdÕI F°FF. ´F³F½FZÕ, dªF. SF¹F¦FO-urq sqw

E-mail ID : [email protected] QcS²½F³Fe Ii . : qss-sxuvyquq/ur/usdQ³FFaI : qu.rq.sqsr

d³Fd½FQF ÀFc¨F³FF

½FSeÕ BÊ-d³Fd½FQZ¶FF¶F°F¨Fe ¸FFdW°Fe ¾FFÀF³FF¨¹FF kkhttp://mahatenders.gov.inll ¹FF ÀFaIZ °FÀ±FTF½FSdQ. qx.rq.sqsr SûªFe ´FidÀFð I S¯¹FF°F ¹FZBÊÕ. ÀFa¶Fad²F°F d³Fd½FQFQFSFa³Fe ¹FF¨Fe ³FûÔQ §¹FF½Fe.

À½FFÃFSe/-(°FÈ´°Fe ÀFFaO·FûS)Ad°FdS¢°F AF¹Fb¢°F´F³F½FZÕ ¸FWF³F¦FS´FFdÕI F

A. Ii . d³Fd½FQF Ii . I F¸FF¨FZ ³FF½F AaQFªF´FÂFI e¹F S¢I ¸Fr) PMC/WS/14/2021-22 ´F³F½FZÕ ¸FWF³F¦FS´FFdÕI F ÃFZZÂFF°FeÕ ´FF¯Fe´FbS½FNF

d½F·FF¦FF°FeÕ d½FôFb°F ´Fa´FF¨Fe ÀFd½WÊdÀFa¦F ½F Qb÷ À°FeI S¯FZ. (½FFd¿FÊI d³Fd½FQF) (QbÀFSe ¸FF¦F¯Fe)

÷ . uq,zy,qyt/-

MMAAHHAARRAASSHHTTRRAA SSTTAATTEE BBUURREEAAUUOOFF TTEEXXTTBBOOOOKK PPRROODDUUCCTTIIOONNAANNDD CCUURRRRIICCUULLUUMM RREESSEEAARRCCHH

'BALBHARATI', Senapati Bapat Road, Pune-411 004.

PPhhoonnee NNoo.. :: 020/25716358 WWeebb :: http://mahatenders.gov.in

EE--TTEENNDDEERR NNOOTTIICCEEOONNLLIINNEE e-tenders, in B-2 (Item Rate) for Proposed InteriorDecoration Work of Balbharati Office Building, Kishor Section andPune Depot Office at Balbharati, S.B. Road, Pune-411 004 areinvited by the Director, M.S. Bureau of Textbook from theexperienced contractors those who are fulfilling the qualifyingcriteria mentioned in bid document, ffrroomm 0077..1100..22002211 ttoo2299..1100..22002211 uupp ttoo 0055..0000 PPMM..Bids document can be downloaded from web sitehttp://mahatenders.gov.in. Director, Maharashtra State Bureau ofTextbook, Pune reserves all rights to accept or reject bids.Conditional bid will not be accepted.AAddvvtt.. NNoo.. :: Pune/1022 DDiirreeccttoorr,,DDaattee :: 05.10.2021 M.S. Bureau of Textbook, Pune-4.

MMaarrttyyrr ooff CCIISSFF oonn 0077tthh00ccttoobbeerrSI/Fire M. K. BALA SINGHCISF UNIT VSP VIZAG 07-10-2000CISF proudly remembers the supreme sacrificeof this brave-heart. On this day, he laid down hislife while saving the lives of employees ofVishakapatnam Steel Plant during massive fireat Coal Chemical Plant. His courage and braverywould remain an abiding source of inspirationfor the force. The force will remain eternally

indebted to him for his noble deed.

7 OCTOBER, 2011

Sashastra Seema Bal fondly remembers andcherishes the valiant contribution of bravehearts Head Constable/GD DharmeshwarNath, Constable/GD Praveen P, Constable/GDDileesh Chathuroli and Constable/DriverVivek Kumar Yadav of 41Bn SSB who madethe supreme sacrifice in an I.E.D blast by antinational elements on this day in the year 2011at Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. Their gallantaction will continue to inspire us all.

We salute the sacrifice of our brave soldiers.

SASHASTRA SEEMA BAL

Head

Constable (GD)

Dharmeshwar

Nath

Constable

(DVR)

Vivek Kumar

Yadav

Constable(GD)

Dileesh

Chathuroli

Constable(GD)

Praveen P

Dr. Babasaheb AmbedkarTechnological University

(Established by Government of Maharashtra and Governed by Dr. BabasahebAmbedkar Technological University, Maharashtra Act No. XXIX of 2014)

www.dbatu.ac.in

e-Tender Notice - No. DBATU/StorePne/2021-22/02, Date : 07.10.2021

ONLINE e-Tenders for the supply of different kind of machinery,equipment's installation and services for Physics, Mech. Engg., Civil, Engg.dept. are invited by the Registrar. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar TechnologicalUniversity, Lonere from the OEM or authorised dealers.

All bidders have to enroll on portal http://www.mahatender.gov.in todownload the tender document. The e-Tender documents and otherinformation will be available on portal as well as University Web sitewww.dbatu.ac.in from 07.10.2021 to 21.10.2021 up to 1600 hours.Extension for tender, retender, corrigendum or change in schedule will bepublished only at http://www.mahatender.gov.in and university web site.Right to reject any or all Tenders without assigning any reason thereof isreserved by the University.

Sd/-Date : 01.10.2021 Registrar

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021

I arrive at a conclusionnot an assumption.Inform your opinionwithdetailed analysis.

indianexpress.com

The Indian Express.For the Indian Intelligent.

2

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2021, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

`̀ 115 per kilo

`̀ 143 per kilo

`̀ 178 per kilo

`̀ 64 per Dozen

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

DAYS AFTER eight persons, in-cluding Bollywood actor ShahRukh Khan's son Aryan Khan,werearrestedinMumbaibytheNarcotics Control Bureau (NCB)over an alleged drugs bust on acruiseship,Maharashtra'srulingallyNCP took aimat the centralagency, questioning the pres-enceof twopersons in the raid-ing party, one of whomwas amember of the BJP while an-otherwasaprivatedetective.“Soonafter the arrests, visu-

als were released showing thepeoplearrestedbeingtakenintothe NCB office. The man seenholdingAryanKhan'shandand

takinghiminsidetheNCBofficeis named K P Gosavi.Subsequently,therewasaphotoreleasedofhimwithKhaninside

CONTINUEDONPAGE4

SAGARRAJPUTMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

MANISHBHANUSHALI,themanseen in a video footage holdingArbaaz Merchant by the handand leading him into theNarcotics Control Bureau (NCB)office inMumbai on Sunday af-ter he and sevenothers, includ-ing Bollywood actor Shah RukhKhan'ssonAryan,weredetainedin a raid on a cruise ship by thecentral agency, acknowledged

CONTINUEDONPAGE4

THENCPhasraisedseveralquestionsthatrequirean-swersfromtheNCB.Thekeyisthis:Howdidaprivatecit-izenandaBJPfunctionaryperformtheroleof lawen-forcementofficers,holdingtheaccusedandtakingtheminsidetheNCBoffice?

SeriousquestionsE●EX

PLAINED

BhanushaliwithMerchant(top);GosaviwithAryan

SCTAKESSUOMOTUCOGNIZANCE

ANANTHAKRISHNANGNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

THESUPREMECourtWednesdaytooksuomotucognizanceof theevents in Lakhimpur Kheri inUttar Pradesh on October 3 inwhichaUnionMinister’s convoyranoverandkilledfourprotestingfarmerswhilefourmorewerere-porteddead in the violence thatfollowed.As per the supplementary

cause list of the apex court, thematterhasbeenregisteredas“InRe violence in LakhimpurKherileading to loss of life”, has been

Violence, deaths inLakhimpur Kheri:CJI-led bench steps in

PhototweetedbyCongleaderRandeepSurjewalaofRahul,PriyankaGandhiwiththefamilyof LovepreetSingh,oneofthe four farmerskilledafterbeinghitbyMoS’s son’sconvoy.

He,Gosavimadewitnessesas theywereon ‘sceneof crime’, saysagency

Bhanushali says informedNCB about passengerswith drugs on cruise ship

registered“bycourt’smotion”inthecategory“LatterPetitionandPIL Matters” andwill come upfor admission hearing before abench of Chief Justice N VRamanaandJusticesSuryaKantandHimaKohli Thursday.Sources told The Indian

Express that the court has taken

note of reports in the press aswell as a letter written to it onthe incident.On Tuesday, two UP-based

lawyersShivKumarTripathiandCSPandawrotetotheCJIseekingacourt-monitoredhigh-levelin-quiryintotheincident.Theletter

CONTINUEDONPAGE4

PANDORAPAPERS –PART4AN INVESTIGATION BYTHEINDIANEXPRESSWITH

INTERNATIONAL CONSORTIUM OF INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISTS

Suris took tax havenroute to hotel projects

in Dubai, London

MGF’s Gupta owned BVIfirm, Emaar JV got $2 mnSHYAMLALYADAVNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

IN2007,withintwoyearsof themerger of Dubai-based EmaarandShravanGupta-ownedMGF,aBritishVirginIslands(BVI)firminvested USD 2million in thejoint venture, according to thePandoraPapers.Gupta was the beneficial

owner of a company in BVI

whereitsFinanceMinistryissuedtwo notices after his name sur-facedintheHSBCBank(Geneva)listof Indianaccountholders.A resolution on Asiatrust

Limited, provided by AsiaCitiTrust, shows that in 2007, ZalaHoldings Limited (ZHL), BVI, in-vested 2million USD in EmaarMGFwith ANI Capital HoldingsIndia Limited, Cayman Islands.ZHL's100percentshareholding

CONTINUEDONPAGE4

Harish Salvebuys BVI firm toacquire Londonapartment

PVAIDYANATHANIYERNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

SUPREMECOURTlawyerHarishSalve,a formerSolicitorGeneralof India, acquired The MarsulCompany Limited in the BritishVirgin Islands in 2015 to own aproperty in London, Pandorarecords show.Salve was allotted 50,000

shares inMarsul on September15, 2015, according to the

CONTINUEDONPAGE4

RaidedlastyearbyCBDTforundisclosedforeignassets,Surisparked$6.1mninJerseytrustviaBVI firm

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

JAYMAZOOMDAARNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

LAYERED OWNERSHIPstructures, accessed aspartofPandoraPapersinvestigation, revealthe offshore foot-prints of the pro-moters of BharatHotels Group whichwas raided in connec-tionwith its “undisclosedforeign assets” by the CentralBoard of Direct Taxes (CBDT) inJanuary2020.

According to records ofTrident Trust (BVI), a corporateserviceprovider, investigatedbyTheIndianExpress,BharatHotelspromoter Jyotsna Suri’s in-terests inhotelprojectsDubai and Londonwereheldbyanoff-shore subsidiary ofDeeksha HoldingsLimited, the largestshareholder(40.41%)in Bharat Hotels

Limited.In 2017, Deeksha Holdings

washeld73%by JyotsnaSuri.CONTINUEDONPAGE4

NCB faces heat overrole of BJP worker, pvtdetective in Aryan raid

Matter listedtoday for3-judgebench;comesafter twoUPlawyerssentnote

ANURADHAMASCARENHASPUNE,OCTOBER6

THEWORLDHealthOrganizationonWednesday recommendedthe“widespread”useofthefirst-ever vaccine formalaria, one of

the oldest knowndiseases thatkillsover4 lakhpeopleannually,includingafewthousandinIndia,accordingtosomeestimates.The vaccine, RTS,S, or

Mosquirix, has been developedby British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKlineandhasalreadybeen

CONTINUEDONPAGE4

WHO calls for widespreaduse of malaria vaccine

THESECONDPAGE4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021

Harish SalveRegisterofMemberspreparedbythe company's agent, Aleman,Cordero,Galindo&LeeTrust(BVI)Ltd or Alcogal. A Register ofMembers is essentially a list of acompany'sshareholders.Salve is named as the com-

pany's beneficial owner,makingitclearthecompanyisownedbyhim.He is thedirector aswell asthe secretary ofMarsul. Hewasflagged as a high-risk PEP(Politically Exposed Person) bytheoffshore intermediarywhilelisting the risk profiles of all itsclients.Responding to queries from

The IndianExpress, Salve said: "IacquiredMarsul since itwas thecompanyowningaflatinLondoninParkTower.IwasanNRI,sodidnotrequireanypermissions."ToaquestioniftheIncomeTax

Departmentwasinformedaboutthis, he said it was "fully dis-closed"."Tothebestofmyrecollection,

itwasenquiredintobythetaxde-partment,andafterwhichtothebestofmyrecollectionitfeaturesinmytaxassessments-andinmytaxreturns,"hesaid.Salve said the propertywas

acquired out of a loan obtainedfromQIB(aQatar-headquarteredbank), and thatwas re-financedfrom a loan from Coutts Bankwhereheholdsbankaccounts."I did not set up Marsul, I

boughtthesharesofMarsul.Theholding of a property requirespaymentof taxcalledATED.Thistaxwas paid until the propertywasgivenonrent.Currently, it isrented."ATED or the Annual Tax on

EnvelopedDwellingsisanannualchargepayable onUKdwellingsby a Non-Natural Person i.e., acompany.Onwhether the RBIwas in-

formed,Salvesaid:"IdidnotneedanypermissionasIamanNRIandacquiredthepropertyofmyfundsintheUK."The Register ofMembers of

TheMarsulCompanystates thatthe entire issued share capitalownedbySalvehasbeensecuredor charged in favour of QIB (UK)plc pursuant to a "debenture"dated September 15, 2015. QIB(UK)plcisabank.ThechargewasregisteredonOctober28,2015.Adebentureisessentiallyase-

curityinstrumentthatallowsthebank to create a charge over thecompany'sassetsandproperty.Marsul gave the first legal

mortgage of a leasehold prop-erty, a flat on Brick Street,London, to QIB (UK) plc. TheIndianExpress accessed theUKlandregistryandindependentlyverifiedthatthispropertyisun-der leasehold, andMarsul wasadded as on August 18, 2011. Alegal mortgage is seen as themost secure form of interestsince it transfers ownership ofthe property to the bank, andpreventstheborrowerfromun-dertakinganyotherdealingwiththe property during themort-gage period. In less than two-and-a-half years, Marsulman-aged to get the charge released,i.e., the bank agreed to ab-solutely, irrevocablyanduncon-ditionally release the securitycreatedbythecompanyovertheproperty. This is evident froma‘CertificateofReleaseofCharge'issued by the Registrar ofCorporate Affairs in BVI onFebruary20,2018.TheMarsul Company Ltd is

another off-the-shelf companyregistered inBVI. Itwas incorpo-ratedmore than15years agoonFebruary 17, 2006, byAlcogal. Acompany limited by shares,Marsul's Memorandum ofAssociation of Articles ofAssociation was signed byAlcogal. TheMoA and the AoAwereamendedinnaturalcourseafter shareswere transferred toHarish Salve on September 15,2015.Thedebentureorthechargewasalsocreatedthesameday.Salve had also figured in the

PanamaPapers investigationby

The IndianExpress in collabora-tion with ICIJ in April 2016.Records of Panama-headquar-tered company incorporatorMossack Fonseca had revealedthat Salve andhis familymem-bers registered three offshorecompanies in the BVI --Crestbright Ltd, PyebushGroupLtd and Edenval Ltd -- throughLondon-based agent Rawi&CowithVasantViharinNewDelhiasthe India address. He had thensaidthatall companieswerevir-tually defunct. "TheBVI compa-nieshavenovalueinanyevent--do not represent an asset or in-vestmentabroad.Besides,allLRSremittances aredisclosedby theremittingbanktotheRBI,"hehadsaid.

Aryan raidtheNCBoffice.NCBofficials laterclaimed that Gosavi was not aNCBofficial. Ifhewasnotanoffi-cial,whatwashedoinginsidetheNCB office with Khan?” NCPspokesperson andMaharashtraMinisterNawabMaliksaid.AllegingthattheNCBwasbe-

ing“usedbytheBJPtoharasspo-liticalopponents”,Malikclaimedthat a "second person" holdingthe hand of another accused,ArbaazMerchant,insidetheNCBoffice is a BJP functionarywhowas seenwith theparty's seniorleaders inGujarat andDelhi lastmonth.“Thesecondpersonwhocan

beseenholdinghandsofArbaazMerchantandtakinghimintotheNCBofficeisManishBhanushali.Asperhisownsocialmediafeed,heholds theBJP vicepresident'spost.TherearenumerouspicturesofhimwithseniorBJPleaders,in-cludingPrimeMinisterNarendraModi as well as DevendraFadnavis.TheNCBwillhavetoex-plain why this man was withthemduringtheraid,”Maliksaid.Anotherrulingally,Congress,

demandeda“high-levelinquiry”bythestategovernmentinto“col-lusionbetweenNCBandBJP”.Respondingtotheallegations,

NCB Deputy DG GyaneshwarSinghsaid thetwopersonswere"among 10 independent wit-nesseswhowereusedaspanchasin the panchnamas" thatwerecarriedoutbytheNCB.Inacrim-inal investigation, a panchnamaisusedtosupportevidenceoftheinvestigation conducted at thecrime scene and seizure, if any,from the accused. The panch-namaproceedings are recordedbeforethepanchorwitness.Flanked by NCB's Mumbai

Zonal Unit Director SameerWankhede, who led the raid,Singh said the allegationswere“baseless”, “madewithmalice”and“prejudiced”inretaliationtoanearlier operationby theNCB.Hewas referring to a narcoticscase registered againstMalik'sson-in-lawwhowasbehindbarsfornearlysixmonths.“If they (NCP)want to go to

court, they can go and seek jus-tice.Wewillreplythere.Wehavedone everything as per law,”Singh said. The twoNCBofficersdidnot respond to further ques-tions about the political affilia-tionsofthetwopersons.TheNCBhas so far arrested 16 people inconnectionwiththedrugsraid.NCBofficialsalsosaidtheydid

not personally know of any ofthesepersonsbeforetheincident.Maharashtra BJP chief

spokespersonKeshavUpadhyesaid: “The question here iswhetherhe(Malik)wantstosup-portthefightagainstdrugsorop-pose it.Weneed to support theNCB's fight against drugs. IwanttoasktheNCPwhethertheyjustwanttosupportAryanKhanoristhere any othermotive? If NCBfeels that theymust prosecutethese two people named byMalik,theycan.’’NCP'sMalikhadearlierques-

tionedtheNCB'sdecisiontoallowthetwomen,whowerenotpartof the organisation, to handle“high-profile accused”. “ManishBhanushali isnotanNCBofficial,howwashehandlingthesehigh-

profile accused?Does theNCBhaveapolicyoftakingthehelpofprivate citizens for conductingsuchraids?"heasked.MalikallegedthatGosavihas

claimed tobeaprivatedetectivefromMalaysia, has police casesfiledagainsthim,andiscloselyas-sociatedwithNCBofficials.Malikalsoclaimedthatbefore

Gosavi lockedhis Facebookpro-file therewas a picture of himwiththeNCBZonalDirector."TheNCBzonal director should comeclearaboutwhat relationshipheshareswithGosavi,"hesaid.Malik further alleged that

Bhanushali was in Delhi andGujaratonSeptember21and22,whenhehadmetseniorBJPlead-ers.“TheNCBisbeingusedbytheBJP todefamepeople. It is beingusedtoconductraidsagainstpeo-plewhoareagainstthepartyandthis entireepisode is a scam,”hesaid.Malik claimed that proce-

dures for the seizure of drugs asprescribed in theNarcoticDrugsand Psychotropic Substances(NDPS)Actwasnot followedbytheNCB, and the seizures fromtheraid“wereconcoctedtoframe

theaccused”.He accused NCB officials of

leaking pictures of drugs andclaiming that theywere recov-ered from the accused. “Therewasnoseizureofdrugsmadeonthe cruise. All the photos thatwere released were clicked inthezonaldirector'soffice,"Maliksaid.Responding to these allega-

tions, another NCB official saidthatwhenAryanwasbrought tothe agency's office for question-ing,hehadnotbeenplacedunderarrest “so there is noquestionofthepersonbeing involvedinanyarrest formalities”. “The person(Gosavi)wasanindependentwit-nesswhowas presentwith theNCB from the beginning to theendoftheoperationandhencehecame to the office,” the officialsaid.“The official claimed that

whentheycametotheNCBoffice,therewereovera100mediaper-sonspresentandduetothepanic,Aryan, theNCBofficials and thewitnesswere seen running to-wardstheNCBbuildingentrance.“Thewitness was not holdingAryanbutavoidingthemediaand

runningin,”theofficialclaimed.On the witness being al-

legedly linked to the BJP andhavingapast record, theofficialclaimed that the NCB officialsdid not know the person andthat he was used as a panch(witness) in the operation afterhe was found at the "scene ofcrime". "We cannot stop anop-eration and check if the inde-pendent witness has a pastrecordor ifheisaffiliatedtoanyparty," theofficial said.On allegations byMalik that

nopanchnamawascarriedoutonthe ship, the official said theymade seizures from two roomsandthereception. "Iwishbeforemaking allegations the personwould have checked the CCTVfootagefromtheshipthatwouldhave clarified all doubts," theof-ficialsaid.Maharashtra Pradesh

Congress Committee’s chiefspokesperson Sachin Sawantsaid: “Howareprivatepersons apartofNCBraidsonacruiseship?WhydoweseeavicepresidentofBJPtakingcustodyoftheaccusedandwhy did their vehicle havepolicewrittenonit?HasNCBout-

sourced their job?Was it an at-tempttodivertattentionfromtheMundradrugsseizure?’’Sawantwasreferringtooneof

thesinglebiggesthaulsofheroinin the country -- amounting tonearly3,000kg,worthRs21,000crore -- atMundraport inKutchdistrictonSeptember16.

BhanushalionWednesday that he is a BJPworker andhadprovided infor-mation to theNCBabout certainpassengerscarryingdrugs.Anotherman,KPGosavi,was

seen similarly gripping AryanKhanand takinghimto theNCBoffice.Hours after theNCP alleged

that BJPmemberswere part ofthe NCB raid, Bhanushali ac-knowledgedthathewasamem-berof theBJP.A resident of Dombivaliwho

claimstohavefoughtelectionsona BJP ticket for the KalyanDombivliMunicipalCorporationpolls,Bhanushali saidhewasac-companying theNCBofficials, ashehadprovided them informa-tionabout theusageof drugsonthecruiseship.

“I had received informationregarding thedrugparty on thecruise from a friend throughWhatsApp on October 1. Thefriendhadoverheard someone'sconversationregardingtheparty.I went to inform the NCB onOctober 2,” Bhanushali told TheIndianExpress.Askedwhy hewas present

during the raid, he claimed thathewasaskedtostayonbyNCBof-ficials.“TheNCBalreadyknewabout

thedrugpartybut as I hadmoreinformation thanNCB officialsand was being updated con-stantly bymy friend, they askedme to accompany them,”Bhanushalisaid.Heclaimedthatfollowingthe

raid, everyonewhowasheld onthe cruise ship,was taken to theNCBoffice in Ballard Pier. “IwastoldtocomealongasIwasawit-ness and theyneededmysigna-tures on certain documents. Iwent and sat in the vehicle inwhich the accusedwere there,”hesaid.Asked why he held

Merchant’shandandledhimin-side the NCB office, Bhanushalisaidhejustheldthehandof thepersonwhowas next to himastheapproachpathwasnarrow.“I neither knew who was

walkingnext tomenorwas Ies-corting anyone.WhenwewerebeingtakentotheNCBoffice,thefootpathwas narrow and I in-stinctivelycaughtthehandofthepersonnexttomewhileenteringtheoffice,”Bhanushalisaid.Heacknowledgedthathewas

associatedwiththeBJP.“Iamnota vice-president but just ahum-bleworkerof theparty,” he said.Bhanushali’sFacebookprofile, inwhichhehadreferredtohimselfasaBJPvice-presidentandpostedpictureswithseveralseniorlead-ers, including Prime MinisterNarendraModi, has nowbeenlocked.Gosavi, the other person

againstwhomtheNCPhasraisedobjections, can be seenholdingAryanKhan’s hand and leadinghimintotheNCBoffice.Maintaining thathedoesnot

knowGosavi, Bhanushali saidthatpicturesofKhanandGosavitogetherthathavebeencirculatedbytheNCPweretakeninsidetheNCBoffice.Gosavi, as per his Facebook

profilewhichnowstandsdeleted,callshimselfadetectivestayinginKuala Lumpur.He is also said tobe theownerof a jobplacementfirm named KPG DreamzSolutions. In 2018, Gosavi hadbeenbookedby thePunePolicefor defrauding amanof Rs 3.09lakhafterpromising tohelphimgetajobinMalaysia.Gosaviwas not available for

comment.The NCB, meanwhile, de-

fended itsdecision touseGosaviandBhanushaliaspanchs.Onal-legations of onewitness beinglinkedtoBJPandanotherhavingapolicerecord,anofficialclaimedthat the NCB did not know thewitnesses.The twowereused aspanch

witnesses after theywere foundon the "sceneof crime", theoffi-cialclaimed.“Icannotstopanop-erationandgocheck if the inde-pendentwitnesshasapastrecordor if he is affiliated to anyparty,"theofficialsaid.

Malaria vaccineusedonmorethan8lakhchildreninGhana, Kenya, andMalawi aspart of an ongoing pilot pro-grammesince2019.The World Health

Organization (WHO) is recom-mending“widespreaduseof theRTS,S /AS01 (RTS,S)malaria vac-cine among children in sub-Saharan Africa and in other re-gionswithmoderate to high P.falciparummalariatransmission”,theWHOsaidinastatement.P.falciparumisthemostcom-

mon species of the femaleAnopheles mosquitoes thatcauses malaria. According toWHO, over 99 per cent of all

malariacasesinAfrica,andabout50percentinsouth-eastAsiaarecausedbythisspecies.In India,malaria cases have

comedown significantly in thelast fewyears. The official deathtoll due tomalaria is only in thehundreds, butWHOestimatessuggest that the actual numbercouldbeinafewthousands.Ruraland tribal areas of MadhyaPradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh,Jharkhand, Rajasthan, andMaharashtraareknowntobethemostpronetomalariaoutbreaks.Itwasnot immediately clear

when themalaria vaccine couldbe introduced in India. The gov-ernmentwouldhave toapproveitsuseontheIndianpopulation.Thirty years in themaking,

RTS,Sistheonlyvaccinetoreducemalaria in children. But it is nothighlyefficacious,accordingtoDrVSChauhanwhoisknownforhisroleindevelopmentofarecombi-nantvaccineformalaria.“Itsefficacyislowandimmu-

nitywanesoff after three to fouryears. Research is going on andthere arenewcandidates on thehorizon.Thereishope,”ChauhantoldTheIndianExpress.

SC Lakhimpururged the court to treat it as aPublicInterestLitigation(PIL)andordertheprobesothattheguiltycouldbe“broughttojustice”.Howeveritcouldnotbeascer-

tainedifthesuomotumatterwasregistered taking cognizance ofthisletter.Eightpeople,includingalocal

journalist,werekilledafterajeeprammed intoprotesting farmersinLakhimpurKherionOctober3.Whiletheprotestorshaveallegedthat one of the vehicles wasdriven by the son of UnionMinisterandBJPMPAjayKumarMishra,theMinisterhassaidthathissonwasnotevenatthesceneand that the incident occurredwhenthedriverlostcontrolafterprotestorsattackedthevehicle.Four protestors, a journalist,

twoBJPworkersandthedriverofthe jeepwere killed in the inci-dent.OnOctober 4, the SC,while

hearingapleabyafarmersorgan-isation ‘KisanMahapanchayat’seeking permission to holdprotestsatJantarMantar,hadre-ferredtotheLakhimpurKheriin-cidents. A bench, headed byJusticeAMKhanwilkar,hadsaidthat“nobodytakesresponsibilitywhensucheventshappen”.Justice Khanwilkar said this

when Attorney General K KVenugopal, appearing for theCentre,remarkedthat“anunfor-tunateincidenthappenedyester-dayatLakhimpur.”The court also quizzed the

farmers body as towhat itwasprotestingagainstwhenthethreefarm laws had already beenstayedbyitandwerenotinoper-ation. "There is noact inplace atthemoment...itisstayedbycourt.Government has assured theywillnotgiveeffecttoit.Theprotestis forwhat?...What’s thepointofprotestingatJantarMantar?...Youcannotdoboth–challengealawand then go on protest. EithercometocourtorgotoParliamentorgotoRoad...Oncematterissub-judice,howwillprotestgoononsameissue?”thecourthadaskedcounselfortheMahapanchayat.The bench said itwould ex-

aminewhether someonewhohas already approached aConstitutionalcourtseekingrem-edy for an issuehas an absoluterighttosimultaneouslyprotestonthestreetsonthesameissue.For over ayearnow, farmers’

groupshavebeenprotesting thepassage of three laws — TheFarmers Produce Trade andCommerce (Promotion andFacilitation) Act, 2020; TheEssential Commodities(Amendment) Act, 2020; andFarmers (Empowerment andProtection) Agreement onPriceAssuranceandFarmServicesAct,2020.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

MGF’s Gupta owned BVI firm

The balance was split be-tweenSuri'sPremiumExportsLimited (8%), her brotherJayantNanda’ssincedissolvedPanamanian companyRichmond Enterprises SA(15%), andsonKeshav (4%).DeekshaHoldings set up a

subsidiaryPremiumHoldingsLimited in the Isle of Man in1993.Thisentityowned33.3%in Cavern Hotel and ResortFZCO (Dubai), a JV betweenBharat Hotels andUAE-basedrealestatedeveloperNakheel,fordevelopingaDubaihotel.In addition, Bharat Hotels

Group held 16.67% in CavernHotelandResortFZCO(Dubai)through its Indian subsidiaryPrimaBuildwell PvtLtd.PremiumHoldings (IoM),

show records, also ownedGrandHotel and InvestmentsLimited,aBVIcompanyincor-porated in 2005, where Suriwasthe“principalbeneficiary”.This BVI entity was the soleshareholder of St Olave’sLimited, aUK company set upinMarch2016,beforetransfer-ring the ownership to herDubai-based brother JayantNanda inDecember2016.Under a 10-year contract

signed in 2017, shows a draftred herring prospectus filedwith SEBI in 2018, BharatHotels Limited granted StOlave’s Limited the rights touse the LaLit trademark for its

London hotel launched inNovember 2016 and took theresponsibility ofmanaging itsoperations foraconsiderationof 7% of the gross annual rev-enueof thehotel.Jyotsna Suri, Jayant Nanda

and senior officials of BharatHotelsLimiteddidnotrespondto queries from The IndianExpress.In July 2018, records show,

Trident Trust (BVI) furnishedinformation on Grand HotelandInvestmentsLimited(BVI)to the International TaxAuthority set up under thecountry’s financeministry.According to the financial

statements filed by St Olave’sLimited (UK), the company isreliant on financial supportfrom Premium HoldingsLimited (IoM). In 2019, Grand

HotelandInvestmentsLimited(BVI) availed a loan from YesBankwithStOlave’sLimitedasthe charger (mortgagor) of anunspecifiedchargedproperty.Subsequently, records

show, “the balance owed to aconnected company” (GrandHotel and InvestmentsLimited)wastransferredtothe“existing shareholder” (JayantNanda) of St Olave’s Limitedand converted into 4,772,413ordinary shares of £1 each. AsofMarch2020,Nandaheldall4,772,414 shares in St Olave’sLimited. As reported by TheIndian Express during thePanama Papers investigation,JayantNandathroughhis(nowdissolved) Panamanian com-panyRichmondEnterprisesSApartnered Indian-born Dutchbusinessman Kul RattanChadha’s J&W Inc (Bahamas)until 2006.Until2016whenitwasdis-

solved, records show, a BVIcompany, PerennialInvestments Limited, held as-sets worth US$ 6.1million instocksandcashforOasisTrust,whichwassetupin1992withJyotsna Suri as Protector andher late husband Lalit Suri asSettlor.Jyotsna,hersonKeshav,daughters Divya, Deekhsha,Shradha, brother-in-lawRameshandhiswifeRitu, andbrother Jayant Nanda werenamedasbeneficiaries.

wasownedbyChurchillTrust,CookIslands.AsiatrustLimited,alsobased intheCook Islands,was trustee of the ChurchillTrust.Gupta is facing cases in

India. His name, along withthat of his wife Shilpa, wasfoundintheHSBC(Geneva)listof Indian account holders re-leasedinearly2015.Therewasa total balance of 33.8millionintheiraccountsasof2006-07.Now,documentsof theBVI

chapterofthePanamanianlawfirmAlcogal(Aleman,Cordero,Galindo & Lee) show thatGuptawas the UBO (UltimateBeneficial Owner) of ItascaInternational Limited, BVI, in-corporatedon July1,2009.Shareholders in Itasca

International Limited, BVI, in-cluded The Amrita Trust,Switzerland. Alcogal was the"first registered agent" for thecompany.Itascawasdissolvedin2013.Gupta is the man behind

real estate development firmEmaar MGF. Dubai-basedEmaarPropertiesenteredIndiain2005and investedaboutRs8,500 crore in the real estatemarket through its joint ven-ture Emaar MGF. But Emaarand Gupta's MGF decided topart ways on April 11, 2016 --overayearafterGuptaandhiswife were found in the HSBC(Geneva) list.In fact,whenItascawasin-

corporated, Fernando A Gil, aPanamanian citizen, was itssole director. OnNovember 2,2009,Gil issuedasharecertifi-catefor50,000sharesof Itascaof USD1each in favour of TheAmrita Trust, Switzerland.AlcogalhadcategorisedGuptaas "PEP" (politically exposedperson)aswell.Within a year of the HSBC

list being made public, onFebruary 1, 2016, theInternational Tax Authority(ITA), under the Ministry ofFinance of the BVI, issued no-

tice to Alcogal to produce"Register of shareholders anddirectors of the company(Itasca)" and "details of bene-ficial owners of the companyalongwith customer due dili-gence documents." Anothernotice was sent on February29, 2016, to provide "descrip-tion of the business activitiesof thecompany".In response to the first no-

tice, Alcogal on February 15,2016, said: "The beneficialowner of the company is MrShravan Gupta." It also said:"Wehaverequestedcustomerdue diligence documents toour client. We will providethemoncereceived."To the second notice,

AlcogalinformedITAonMarch18,2016,that"basedonthein-formation provided to us byour intermediary client, thecompany (Itasca)was used toholdbankaccounts."Withinamonthof the last response,onApril11,2016,EmaarandMGF

decided topartways.OnDecember15,2018, the

EnforcementDirectorate (ED)seizedGupta'sassetsworthRs10.28croreinlieuofassetsheldabroad.TheEDsaidthatasperits investigation, Gupta heldUSD1.54millioninhisbankac-countmaintainedwithHSBC,Switzerland.On February 8 this year,

Gupta's former joint venturepartner Emaar filed an FIR inGurugram against him, hiswife and five associates for al-legedly cheating Emaar ofnearlyRs180crorethroughanillegal land deal. The FIR al-legedthatGupta,whowastheformerMDofthejointventureEmaarMGF, had also cheatedHaryana's Department ofTown and Country Planning(DTCP) with "unfair transfer"of land parcels using "forgeddocuments".Gupta andhiswife did not

respond to queries from TheIndianExpress.

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Unpackingthebustof3,000kgsofheroinNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

GopalBKateshiyatalksabout India’sbiggestheroinbust inwhichtheauthoritiesseizedmorethan3,000kgsof thehighlyaddictiveopioid

DOWNLOADAPP

ANGELAMERKEL: THEPRAGMATIC PHYSICISTWHOGAVEGERMANYTHESTABILITYMerkel leavesofficeasGermany’ssecondlongestservingpost-warChancellorhavingoverseenmanydefiningglobalandnationaleventsduringher16years inpower.Thistwo-partserieswilldigdeeptofindoutwhoMerkel is,boththepersonandthepolitician.

FASHION ENTERTAINMENT

INCOVERSATIONWITHGAURAVGUPTA

‘Post-pandemicfashionwillbemore inclusiveandaccessible’

WEB

EXCLUSIVE

SCANTHISQRCODETODOWNLOADTHEAPP

THEVERDICT: BIGRELEASESTHISMONTH

OurreportcardforSeptember’s releasesishere

■VISUAL STORIES

■ DAILY BRIEFING

■ PODCASTS

■ CUSTOMIZABLENEWS EXPERIENCE

IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

Suris took tax haven route

RecordshaveSurias thebeneficialownerofGrandHotelANDInvestmentsLimited inBVI

VALLABHOZARKARMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

THE LAST I-girder of MumbaiMetro Line 2AbetweenDahisarand DN Nagar was placed atAdarshNagarJunctioninAndherionWednesdaymorning.ThiswasthelastI-Girdertobe

erected on the viaduct ofMetroLine2Aandmarkscompletionofthetracksurfaceforthe18.5-km-longroute,officialssaid.TheMetroteamcannowini-

tiate the track-laying process onthis last stretch of Line 2A, theyadded.

According to MumbaiMetropolitan RegionDevelopment Authority (MM-RDA)officials,theI-girder,whichweighs42 tonnes and is 24-me-ters long,waserectedinitsplacewithin 30minuteswith the col-laborative effort ofMMRDAandDMRC (Delhi Metro RailCorporation)officials.Officials said that the girder

could not be erected earlier asthe rehabilitation of more than40 families and businesseswasstill pending on the AadarshNagarstretch,causingamissinglink of viaducts on the MetroLine2A.

“This(work)wascompletedin 10 days for the I-girderlaunch, and the link of AC-02project,which hadbeenmiss-ing for morethanfouryears,was cleared tosuccessfullycomplete thelast viaductgirder,” said anofficial.SVRSrinivas,

IAS officer andMMRDA chief,was presentat the launchofthegirder.

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

No. AIIMS/RBL/ADMIN/RC/CONTRACT/SR/2021-2022/4798 Date: 06.10.2021

NOTICE FOR WALK-IN-INTERVIEW FOR AIIMS, RAEBARELI (UP)

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Raebareli intends to fillup 10 (Ten) posts of Senior Residents (SRs) in different specialties oncontract basis in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), RaeBareli, Uttar Pradesh through walk-in-interview.The candidates willing to appear in the above said walk-in-interview mustbring their brief bio-data (in triplicate) in the pro-forma attached (Annexure‘A’) along with certificate of age, qualification, experience and castecomplete in all respects at the time of walk-in-interview. The documentverification will be done on 27.10.2021 from 10:00AM to 12:00 PM inMedical College, AIIMS, Raebareli (UP) followed by interview of eligiblecandidate on the same day from 3:00 PM to 5:00PM. For further detailslike total number of posts along with break-up, age, qualification,experience, caste and remuneration etc., the candidates may visit ourwebsite www.aiimsrbl.edu.in

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

AdJ»f ·ffSX°fe¹f Af¹fbd½fÊÄff³f ÀfaÀ±ff³f, SXf¹f¶fSmX»feAll India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raebareli(An Autonomous Institute under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India)

Munshiganj, Raebareli - 229405, Uttar Pradesh, Indiawww.aiimsrbl.edu.in

Name of Work : Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) hereby invitestender from eligible Bidders through MMRDA e-tendering Portal for “Appointment of Contractorfor Beautification & Development of Kalanagar Junction on Western Express Highway, Mumbai.

Note :- The e-Tender can be downloaded from e-Tendering Portal: https://etendermmrda.maharashtra.gov.in. Any additional information, Corrigendum & help for uploading & downloadingthe e-tender, may be availed by contacting MMRDA’s e-tendering service desk at the following id:[email protected] or call us on 022-26597445.For further information if required you may please contact Shri Siddharth Gondhale , Additional

Chief a/c, on Telephone number 022-26597515Date : 07/10/2021, Place : MumbaiNo:T&C/WEH-Kalanagar/2021

MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGION DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY(A Government of Maharashtra Undertaking)

e-TENDER NOTIcE

Transport & Communications Division, 7th Floor Old MMRDA Building Bandra (E)- 51,Tel. 26590001 /04/7512, Fax : 91-022-26591264 Website : https://mmrda.maharashtra.gov.in

E-Mail : [email protected]

Sd/-(Chief (a/c)

Transport and Communications Division Fulrani

Estimated Cost Tender DocumentFee

Earnest MoneyDeposit Contract Period

Rs. 3,16,68,789.00+ GST Rs. 3167/-

Submit of bidsecuring

declaration on perfinal at for - IX

6 Months Execution +(1 Year maintenanceIncluding DLP)

• Bid documents download Date: 07/10/2021 (18.00 hrs.) to 01/11/2021 (15.00 hrs.)• Last date of online submission: 01/11/2021 (15.00 hrs.)

NCB showed combined drug recovery todetain, harass us:Merchant in bail plea

Big achievementon part of ANCto seize 5 kg ofheroin, arresttwo: Nagrale

Monorail to get 10 more rakes,train likely every 6 minutes

Last I-girder of Dahisar-DN Nagar Metrocorridor placed, track-laying work next

SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

ARBAAZ MERCHANT, the 26-year-oldmanarrestedalongwithAryanKhan,thesonofBollywoodactor Shah RukhKhan, filed forbail onWednesday stating thatwhilethetwoofthemhadnocon-nectionwithothersboardingthecruiseshipwhereanallegeddrugracketwas busted last Saturday,the Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) has shown a combineddrug recovery to “detain andha-rass”them.Merchantalsofiledaseparate

application seeking that CCTVcamera footage of the interna-tional terminal beproducedbe-forethecourtfora“clearandgen-uine picture” of the case.Additional MetropolitanMagistrateRMNerlikardirectedtheNCBtofile its responsetothepleas.In the bail application filed

through lawyer Taraq Sayed,Merchantstatedthatacopyofthepanchnamapreparedonthedayof the incident at the terminalmentions that the NCB had re-ceivedspecificinformationthata

groupoftravellersontheCordeliacruise shipwere carrying partydrugsforsaleandconsumption.The plea added that the first

twopersonsatthedeparturegateof the ship – allegedlymatchingthe description received by theNCB–were co-accusedVikrantChhokarand IsmeetChaddaandtheywere apprehended around4.50pm.It added thatMerchant and

Khan reached the gate subse-quently.WhilenothingwasfoundonKhan,theNCBhasclaimedthat6 gm of charas was found inMerchant's shoe. The centralagencycontinuedtoscreenguestsand the panchnamawas com-pletedat8.10pm,thepleastated.“Thedepartment(NCB)ought

tohavecomeupwithcleanhands

before this court and prosecutetheaccusedpersons individuallyfor individual recoveries as eachoftheseaccusedpersons...allegedtobepassengersonacruiseship...were traveling individually andnotinagroup,”thepleastated.ItaddedthattheNCBseeking

custodyofKhanandMerchantongroundsthattheyhavetobecon-frontedwithother co-accused isbeingdonewith the “sole inten-tiontodetainandharass”them.Merchant also sought for

CCTV camera footage of the ter-minal from11.30 amto8.30pmonOctober2toconfirmtheverac-ityofthecase.Hesaidthatthein-ternationalterminalisarestrictedareawhereonlythosewithsecu-ritypassesorbonafidetraveldoc-umentscanenter.“TheentireareaisundertheprotectionofCISFandcompleteCCTVandvideosurveil-lance.Itisthecaseoftheprosecu-tionthatsearcheswereconductedatthedeparturegateandcontra-bandwasallegedlyrecovered.Itisthehumblesubmissionoftheac-cusedthatnocontrabandwasre-coveredattheinstanceof theap-plicant and a false case foistedupon them,” Merchant's pleastated.

SADAFMODAKMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

THENCBonWednesdayproduced fourpersons before the court alleging thattheywerean“integralpartoforganisingtheevent”onthecruiseshipwhereanal-legeddrugracketwasbustedonOctober2. Theywere sent to NCB custody tillOctober14.The agency has invoked stringent

Section27A (harbouring and illicit drugtrafficking) of the Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropicSubstancesActagainst thefour, alleging that they “gave shelter” tothose found inpossessionof thecontra-bandseizedfromtheship.Special Public Prosecutor Advait

Sethnatoldthecourtthatthefourmen–Samir Sehgal andManavSinghal, direc-torsofKinPlusPrivateLimited,andtheirtwoassociatesBhaskarAroraandGopalJeeAnand–played an active role in or-ganisingtheevent.Sethna added thatwith their help,

NCB had to probe how the accusedboardedtheshipandwhathappenedbe-fore andafter Saturday's raid.He added

that the central agencywanted to lookintothesaleofticketsanddistributionofpasses and also confront the fourwithotherco-accused.LawyersHarshGangurde and Sajal

Yadav said that the four accuseddidnotorganise theeventbutwerecontractorsandthatnodrugswerefoundonthem.The fouraccused,meanwhile, fileda

pleastatingthattheyweretakenintocus-todyaround7amonOctober4butwereonly shown as arrested on October 5around5.30pm.ThepleaallegedthatthefourbeingtakentocourtonWednesdaywas in violation of their fundamentalrightsandamountedtoillegalcustody.Itaddedthatwhiletheyhadrepeatedlyre-questedthattheybetakenforbloodtests,buttonoavail. hecourtsaidthatconsid-eringthetimingonthearrestmemo,thepleacannotbeconsidered.Meanwhile, Mumbai Police

CommissionerHemantNagralewasonWednesdayaskedaboutCovid-19guide-lines allegedly not being followed onboardtheship.HesaidthepolicewouldcheckCCTVcamera footageand if thereare anyviolations, necessary actionwillbetaken.


MUMBAIPOLICECommissionerHemantNagrale onWednesdaysaidtheAntiNarcoticsCell(ANC)hasmade a "big achievement"with the seizure of 5 kg heroin,worthRs15crore,andthearrestoftwo persons onOctober 4. Theduo,whohad come toMumbaifromRajasthan,arebelievedtobemajorheroinsupplierstothecity,Nagraletoldmediapersons.The police said that the duo

tookadvantageof legalisedculti-vation of poppy at the border ofMadhya Pradesh andRajasthanand started illegally cultivatingheroin,whichwasthensuppliedtoMumbai.Nagrale said that onOctober

4, theANC received informationabout two persons coming toDongriwithasizeableamountofheroin. The team laid a trap andfoundthetwopersons.Onsearch-ing, the police found 5 kg ofheroin.Joint Commissioner of Police

(Crime)Milind Bharambe saidthat during investigation, theyfound that the duo came fromPratapgrah in Rajasthan andwould cultivate poppy illegallyaroundthefieldswhereitwasal-lowedtobegrownlegallyforme-dicinalpurposes.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

VALLABHOZARKARMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

THE MUMBAI MetropolitanRegionDevelopment Authority(MMRDA) is all set toprocure10more rakes for itsmonorail proj-ect,whichisexpectedtoimprovethe frequencyof trains aswell astheridership,whichisthelowestinMumbai'spublictransportsys-tem. The first rake of the train islikely to comewithin a year. AlltherakeswillbemadeinIndia.TheMMRDAhasawardedthe

tender toMedha Servo DrivesPrivate Limited for procurementof new10monorail rakes as perthe decision taken in ameetinglastmonth,saidanofficial. Thees-timated tender cost is Rs 590crores. Thenewtrains arebeingboughtbyMedha in abid to runthemonorail efficiently and im-proveitsconnectivity.“Weare trying to revive the

monorailandimprovementofitsroute's connectivitywithmetrorail andrun itefficiently.Onceall

the newmonorail rakes,whichwillbecompletelyindigenous,be-comeoperational, itwill reducetheheadwayandtheridership isexpected to increase,” SVRSrinivas,MMRDAchieftoldIndianExpress.The19.54-km longMonorail

runs between Sant GadgeMaharaj Chowk-Wadala-Chembur Monorail and com-mencedfull-fledgedoperationsinMarch 2019. Though the prom-isedfrequencyoftrainswasevery4-5minutes, itwaseventually18minutes officially, and owing tofunctional issues thewait timecouldgouptoasmuchas30min-utes. Thereasonbehindless fre-quencyisnon-availabilityorlim-itednumber of rakes. As per theofficialrecord,thereareonlyseventrains right now on the 20-kmstretch. Theminimumridershipithadafterthelockdownwasjustover5,000aday.Anofficialsaidthatwithato-

talof17trains,itispossibletorunatraineverysixminutes.Accordingly, in July 2018, it

wasdecidedtobuy10newrakeswithfourcoacheseach. InMarch2019, the first tenderwas floatedfor thesameandduringwhich itwas observed that the Chinesecompaniesweredemandingsev-eral changes in termsandcondi-tionsandatthesametimeduetoCovid-induced lockdown, theCentral government had in-structed topromote theMake inIndia andAtmaNirbhar BharatAbhiyan. The old tenderswerecancelledandnewonesfloatedtoincrease the participation ofIndiancompaniesinAugust2020.Three Indian companies --

BHEL, Titagarh andMedha -hadshowninterestinthebidsandoutofwhichtheMMRDAshortlistedMedhaaslowestbidder.TheMMRDA is also seeking

foran‘appointmentofconsultantfor the procurement of rollingstock for Mumbai MonorailProject including Review ofDesign and Technical Supportduring the Lifecycle ofProcurement’andhasinvitedten-derforthesamerecently.

SaysheandAryanKhanhadnoconnectionwithothersboardingtheshipwhereadrugracketwasallegedlybusted

Inaseparateplea, the26-year-oldsoughtthatCCTVfootageof theinternational terminalbeproducedbeforethecourt fora ‘genuinepicture’of thecase

Four linked to organisingcruise sent to NCBcustody till October 14

Trafficmovementhasbegunontheadditional lanesof theKopriRailwayBridge inThane,which isexpectedtobe inauguratedsoon.Deepak Joshi

THECITY6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021

(MAHARASHTRA HOUSING AND AREA DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY)(Material Testing Laboratory/Vigilance & Quality Control Cell/Authority)

e-TENDER NOTICE (2nd CALL)DIGITALLY Signed & unconditional online Tender in form ''D'' (Item Rate) are invited by the Executive Engineer-I, Vigilance & Quality Control, Maharashtra Housing

& Area Development Authority, Ground Floor, Room No. 6, Griha Nirman Bhavan, Bandra (East), Mumbai-400 051.

1. The Complete bidding process will be online (e-tendering) in two bid system. All the notifications and detailed terms and conditions regarding this e-tender noticehereafter will be published online on web site http://mhada.gov.in, MHADA Web site : http://mhada.gov.in

2. Bidding documents can be loaded from the web site http://mhada.gov.in, from Date 09.10.2021 at 10.05 Hours to Date 17.10.2021 upto 17.35 Hours.3. The Payment for Tender Form Fees and Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) must be made online.4. Technical bids will be Opened on 20.10.2021, 11.00 am onwards & Price bids will be Opened on 25.10.2021, 11.00 am onwards at the office of the Executive Engineer-

I, Vigilance & Quality Control, Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority, Ground Floor, Room No. 6, Griha Nirman Bhavan, Bandra (East), Mumbai-400 051on web site http://mhada.gov.in.

5. Tenderer should submit original documents such as GST Register Certificate, Shop License & Establishment details (those were uploaded during bid preparation) forverification at the time of Technical Bid opening.

6. Tenderer should submit information and scanned copies in PDF format in Technical Envelope as well as Financial Envelope as mentioned in Technical Offer.7. Original Manufacturer and/or Dealers having experience of supplying equipments, materials required for testing Laboratory shall only quote their offer.8. Registration Certificate under GST is compulsory irrespective of Rs. 20 Lakhs threshold limit.9. The Bill has to be raised as per the formats provided by GST Invoice Rules.10. The rates quoted should be inclusive of all taxes including GST.11. TDS on GST will be deducted at the applicable rate from the date when it comes into effect.12. The offer without Earnest Money will not be opened.13. The Intending Bidder/ Supplier will have to pay Rs. 10,900/- (Rs. Ten Thousand Nine Hundred only) towards Earnest Money online.14. Tenders/Price Bid will be opened by the Ex. Engineer-I/VQC as far as possible on 25.10.2021 at 11.00 am onwards in his office at MTL/MHADA in the presence of

Supplier/ Contractors who desire to remain present.15. The Executive Engineer-I/VQC/MHADA, Bandra (East), Mumbai-400 051 reserve the right to accept or reject any or all tenders without assigning any reason.16. Guidelines to download the tender documents and online submission of bids can be downloaded from web site http://mhada.gov.in, Help support : 0120-4001002, 0120-

4001005, 0120-6277787; E-mail : support-eproc&@nic.inSd/-

Executive Engineer-IVigilance & Quality Controll Cell,

MHADA, MumbaiMHADA - Leading Housing Authority in the Nation CPRO/A/391

Seq. No. Stage/Desc. Schedule for submission of Tender1 Publishing Date 08.10.2021, 10.00 am2 Document sale start 08.10.2021, 10.05 am3 Document sale end 17.10.2021, 17.30 pm4 Bid submission start 09.10.2021, 10.05 am5 Bid submission end 17.10.2021, 17.35 pm6 Technical Bid Opening 20.10.2021, 11.00 am onwards7 Price Bid Opening 25.10.2021, 11.00 am onwards

Sr.No.

Name of Material Qty. Earnest MoneyDeposit Rs.

Security MoneyDeposit Rs.

Cost of Tender Fee(Including 12% GST)

Time limitof work

1. Supply of Standard Sand Grade-I for testing of cementconfirming to IS Code 650-1991.

350 bags weighing25 Kg. each

Rs. 10,900/- Total 5% of QuotedAmount (Initial 2.5% &

2.5% to be deductedfrom bills)

Rs. 560/- Per Copy One Year(Twelvemonths)

from date ofwork order

2. Supply of Standard Sand Grade-II for testing of cementconfirming to IS Code 650-1991.


3. Supply of Standard Sand Grade-III for testing ofcement confirming to IS Code 650-1991.


The Nashik District Central Co-op. Bank Ltd., NashikHead Office, Old Mumbai Agra Road, Near C.B.S. Nashik-422002

Nashik District Central Co-op. Bank Ltd., Nashik hereby invites Bids/Offers insealed envelopes for lease of the Nashik Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd.,Palse TalukaNashik, District Nashik as per the provisions of the SECURITIZATION &RECONSTRUCTION OF FINANCIAL ASSETS & ENFORCEMENT OF SECURITYINVESTMENT ACT, 2002(SARFAESI ACT 2002).

TENDER NOTICE FOR LEASE OF SSKMOVABLE & IMMOVABLE ASSETS

The Schedule of program are as follows. The detailed Terms & Conditions,Guidelines & further details are available on bank’s official website:www.nashikdccbank.in from 07/10/2021 onwards.

1

23

4

Buy / Download Tender Document

Inspection of the PropertySubmission of Tender

Bid Opening Date

Date : 07/10/2021Place : Nashik

07/10/2021 to 16/10/2021

On or Before 16/10/2021 By 5:30 pm

20/10/2021, 2:00 pmSd/-

S. N. PingaleAuthorised Officer &Chief Executive Officer

Details DateSr.No.

The Nashik District Central Co-op Bank Ltd., Nashik

11/10/2021 to 15/10/2021by 10:30 am-3:30 pm

Ph. No.- 0253 2504381, Email - [email protected], Website -www.nashikdccbank.inPh. No.- 0253 2504381, Email - [email protected], Website -www.nashikdccbank.in

Administration of U.T. of Dadra &Nagar Haveli, Dainan & Diu, Office of

the Directorate of Medical &PublicHealth Department

File No. DMHS/P&T/2021-21/340 SilvassaDate: 05/10/2021

Short e-Tender NoticeThe Director of Medical & Health Services, Dadra and NagarHaveli, Daman & Diu on behalf of President of India, invitesonline tender on https://dnhtenders.gov.in/nicgep/app from theReputed Manufaclures/Authorized Dealers/Suppliers for sup-ply of below mentioned items.

1) e-Tender ID No. 2021_UTDNH_5604_1):- Purchase of FirstAid Kits, Thermal Scanner and Disposable Plastic Gloves forforthcoming Bye-election of Parliamentary Constitution forDadra & Nagar Haveli for the Year 2021-22. Estimated Cost:Rs 14.25 Lacs. Last date of submission of Bid: 09.10.2021.

2) e-Tender ID No. 2021_UTDNH_5605_1):- Purchase ofDustbin without Lid for forthcoming Bye-election ofParliamentary Constitution for Dadra & Nagar Haveli for theYear 2021-22. Estimated Cost: Rs. 3.98 Lacs. Last date ofsubmission of Bid: 09.10.2021. Tender can be downloadedfrom www.dnh.nic.in and www.vbch.dnh.nic.in.

Sd/-Medical & Health Services

INF/DNH/ADVT/2021/257 U.T. of DNH & DDSilvassa “TeI.No.0260-2642940, 2640615”Date: 6/10/2021 e-mail Id: [email protected]

HC seeks NIAreply on Waze’sdemand forhouse custody

Redevelopment of municipalmarkets: Amendments on cards

Govt exemptsMbPT hospitalmakeover dealfrom stamp duty


THE BOMBAY High Court onWednesdaydirectedtheNationalInvestigationAgency(NIA)tofilean affidavit in reply to a plea bydismissedMumbaiPoliceofficerSachinWaze,whosoughtthathebe shifted to temporary housecustodyforpost-surgerycare.A division bench of Justice

NitinMJamdarandJusticeSarangVKotwalwashearingWaze'splea,whichwas filed after the specialNIA court rejectedhis prayer forhouse custody for threemonthsforpost-surgerycare.Waze,arrestedintheAmbani

terrorscarecase,wasadmittedtoaprivatehospitalinMumbaiafterhe underwent a bypass surgerylastmonth.TheNIAhadopposedWaze's plea before special courtstating that if he is sent tohousecustody,hemayabscond.Theagencyhadalso said the

hospitals attached to TalojaCentral Jail, where Waze waslodged before his surgery, are

competent totreathim.Thespe-cialcourt,whilerejectingWaze'splea, haddirected authorities tokeephiminthejail’shospitalwardfor nextmonth and shift him tostate-runJJHospital if required.Waze'spetitionstatedthatthe

incisionmade for the surgeryonhischestisstill freshandwetandassuchthepusandblood isooz-ingfromthesame.Thepetitioneradded that the conditions at thejailhospitalareverypoorandthatthere is high risk of contractingother infectionssuchas tubercu-losis and itwould jeopardizehishealth. The petitioner said theroomwhereheintendstostayathisresidenceintheeventHCper-mits him to be placed underhousearrest,hasaseparateaccessand as such complete seclusioncould bemaintained in order toenforce the rules as per PrisonManual.Wazereferredtotheaffidavit

filedbyVaravaraRao,anaccusedin Elgar Parishad case,whenhesoughtbailonmedicalgrounds.



AFTERAdelayofseveralyears,re-development ofmunicipalmar-kets is likely to becomeeasier asamendmentsinregulation33(21)of Development Control andPromotional Regulations (DCPR)2034aresettogetapproval fromthe Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC). As per theamendment,proposalsof allow-ingmarketredevelopmentbyde-velopersappointedfromlicenseesofmarketscanbeallowed.Theproposal of amendment

inDCPR33(21)willbetabledbe-foretheImprovementCommitteeforapprovalandsubsequently in

the corporationmeeting, afterwhichfinalnotificationwillcomeinto effect. The ImprovementCommitteemeeting is likely bynext week. As per the amend-ment,inregulation33(21),asub-section(C)hasbeenadded,underwhichdevelopersselectedbyas-sociationsof licenseesof variousmarketscanbeappointed for re-developmentprojects.“The BMC requested the

state's Urban DevelopmentDepartment for amendments in33(21)ofDCPR2034sinceseveralmarketredevelopmentswerenotmoving in the absenceof such aprovision.Manyofthesemarketsareindilapidatedcondition,”saidanofficial fromBMC.Themodification intheregu-

lationhas also set a limit againstthe extra area that vendors frommunicipalmarketsusedtoget.Asper theoldnorms, vendorsweregetting20%extraareaagainsttheoriginal after redevelopment.Now,vendorswillget theirorigi-nal area only evenafter redevel-opment. “Each existing licensedvendorshallberehabilitatedwithminimumexisting carpet areacertified bymarket departmentbuilt up area asper zonal (basic)floor space indexorbuiltuparearequired for accommodation/re-habilitation of existing licensedvendors, certified by themarketdepartmentofBMCwhicheverismore, shall be exclusively devel-oped formarket purpose,” readstheamendment.


THE STATE government onWednesday exempted theMumbai Port Trust hospitalmakeoverdealfromstampduty.The hospital is owned by

MumbaiPortTrust,andaspartofthemakeover, theyhave to pro-vide180bedsforpresentandfor-mer employees ofMumbai PortTrust. TheMbPT has appointedZodiacHelotronics to redevelopthe place. OnWednesday, thestate exempted them frompay-ingstampduty.A 600-bedded hospital will

comeuphereand75bedswillbereservedforstategovernmentof-ficers. In February, theMumbaiPortTrustawardedaRs693-croreprojecttoupgradeitsexisting241-bedhospital into a superspecial-ity hospital. As per theplan, twobuildings will be constructed,eachhaving300beds.

SANJANABHALERAOMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

ATTENDANCE ATBrihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) schools hasdropped after an encouragingturnout on Day 1 of reopeningonMonday, according to num-bers provided by the civic cor-poration.While on the first day of re-

opening on October 4, roughly30,250students– less thanhalfof the total strength -- across755BMC-run schools attendedclasses, thenumberdropped to23,162 thenextday.On Wednesday, owing to

Pitru Paksha, only Urdu- andEnglish-medium schools wereoperational in the city and just7,332studentsattendedin-per-sonclasses.BMCeducationofficialssaid

it would be too early to com-ment on the reason behind thedrop in theattendance.“Overall, nearly 60 per cent

of parents hadgiven consent tosendtheirkidstoschools for in-person classes. Of those, manymight still be adjusting (to theidea of) coming to schools.However, it has been just threedaystocometoanyconclusion,”saidadeputyeducationofficer.Out of the 781 municipal

schools, 26 have not resumedclasses,asvaccinationandquar-antine centres have not beenshiftedoutof theirpremisesyet.According to the data pro-

vided by the BMC, as many as1.78 lakh students showed upfor classesonDay1of re-open-ing in the 1,386 private schoolsin the city. Data from privateschoolswasnotavailableforthesecondand the thirdday.Principals at both civic and

private schools said thismonthhasseveralholidaysonaccountof thefestiveseason,addingtheattendancemightimproveafter

October.Due to the pandemic,

schools have begun a hybridmodel, with teachers continu-ing with online classes alongwith in-person classes. Mostschools inthecityhaveplannedto conduct regular in-personclasses for Class 9 and 10 stu-dents, and twice aweek for theremainingclasses.On September 29, the BMC

permittedcityschoolstoreopenforthefirsttimesincetheywereclosedinmid-Marchtopreventthespreadof theCovid-19pan-demic.As per the BMC, there are

67,361 students in Classes VIII-X in 781 civic-run schools. TheBMCsaidthatparentsofaround60 per cent of these studentshad given awritten consent tosendingtheirchildrentoschool.Meanwhile, as schools and

colleges reopened in theMumbai Metropolitan Region(MMR), the Central Railway onTuesday wrote to theMaharashtra government seek-ingguidelines for issuing ticketsand seasonal passes to studentswhowanttotravelinlocaltrains.

BMC officials confirmed thatmany teachers across schools inthe city have approached thecivicbodytoallowthemtotravelby local trains. The civic body’seducationdepartmenthasraisedrequests with the municipalcommissioner to issuepasses tostudentstravellingbylocaltrain.InBESTbuses,studentscancon-tinue to travel for free asper theearlierarrangement.

Conference on schoolreopening held

TheParliamentarians’GroupforChildren(PGC)withsupportfromUnitedNations Children’sFund (UNICEF) and SwanitiInitiative recently organised anonlineroundtableconferencetodiscussthereopeningofschoolsandvariousmeasures tobeun-dertaken towards child-centricpandemic recovery. AccordingtotheMaharashtraDepartmentof Education-UNICEF RapidAssessmentSurvey–November2020, 36 per cent of childrenhave not had any learningma-terial in the past 14 monthssince the schools’ closure.


THE KASTURBA Marg policeTuesdayarrestedtwojunioren-gineers with Mira BhayandarMunicipalCorporation(MBMC)who allegedly, owing to profes-sional enmity, hired two shoot-ers who fired at DeepakKhambit, 49, an executive engi-neer from MBMC in Borivali(east)onSeptember29. Fiveac-cused have been arrested and asixthaccusedhasbeentracedto

UttarPradesh.Hewillalsobear-restedsoon.Thearrestedjuniorengineers

are identified as ShrikrishnaMohite, 46, and YeshwantraoDeshmukh, 49. They have beenserving in the corporation sincetheearly2000s, thepolice said.“Since 2004, these two jun-

ior engineers were not gettingpromotionsandimportantpost-ings inMBMCand so theywereangrywithKhambit.Hence,theygave‘supari’ (contractkilling)tothe accused,” said HemantNagrale, Mumbai Police com-

missioner. The engineers havebeen remanded in police cus-tody tillOctober11.The police had earlier ar-

restedAmitSinha,PradipKumarPathak and Raju Vishwakarma.The sixth accused, Ajay Singh,has been traced to Ghazipur inUPand isbeingbroughtback.Vishwakarma,anRTIactivist

who runs an NGO, Fight forRight,was in touchwith theen-gineerswhogavehim theworkto hire shooters for the hit-job.Pathak was assistingVishwakarma,police said.

Mumbai: The state govern-mentonWednesdaydecidedto allow reopening of swim-ming pools in the state forcompetitive swimmerswhohavetotrainforstate,nationalandinternational-levelevents.Over the last fewweeks, sev-eral swimmers hadmade re-quests for reopening of thepoolsfortraining.AccordingtothecircularissuedbychiefsecretarySJKunte,theswimmersavailingofthefacil-itymustnot beunder the ageof 12andmust beengaged intraining for the purpose ofpreparingforparticipationinaswimming competition.Besides, it would be the re-sponsibility of the coaches toensurethatthetrainingiscar-

riedoutwiththeminimumre-quired staff only, the circularadded.All personal training equip-ment belonging to an athleteshall bedisinfectedwhile theathlete is inducted into thetrainingcentreandRT-PCRtestshallbeconductedfornew/re-turning athletes, the circularsaid.Athletesandcoacheswhobe-gintocoughorsneezeorhaveabove-normaltemperatureforany reason must separatethemselves fromothers untiltheir symptoms subside, ac-cording to the circular,whichalsogivesthelocaladministra-tion the authority to bring intheirownStandardOperatingProcedures(SOPs).ENS

Pools to reopen for swimmerspreparing for sporting events

Tooearly toreachtoaconclusion,sayscivicbody

Junior engineers ‘ordered’ hit-job onMBMC executive engineer, arrested

READY TO REOPENMarkertapebeingplacedtoensuresocialdistancingatJamaMasjidinMumbaionWednesday.Allreligiousplaceswillbeallowedtoreopenat50%capacityfromThursday.GaneshShirsekar

After promising turnoutonDay 1, attendance inBMC-run schools drops

MAHARASHTRA 7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021

PADMASHRI ANNSAHEB JADHAV BHARTIYA SAMAJ UNNATI MANDAL`S

B.N.N.Mahavidyalya Arts,Science and Commerce

BHIWANDI DIST. THANE 421 305

APPLICATIONS ARE INVITED FOR THE FOLLOWINGCLOCK HOUR BASIS POSTS FOR

THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2021-22Sr. Cadre Subject No. of PostNo. CHB Reserved

1 Asst. Prof. English SC-03

2 Asst. Prof. Philosophy ST-02

3

Posts for

Asst. Prof. Botany DT/NT-03

4 Asst. Prof. Zoology 26 OBC - 05

5 Asst. Prof. Commerce EWS - 03

6 Asst. Prof. Mathematics OPEN - 10

7 Asst. Prof. Foundation

Course

The posts for the reserved category candidates will be filled in bythe same category candidates (Domicile of State of Maharashtra)belonging to that particular category only.

Reservation for women will be as per University Circular No.BCC/16/74/1998 dated 10th March 1998. 4% reservation shall be forthe persons with disability as per University Circular No. Special Cell/ICC/2019-20/05 dated 05th July 2019.

Candidate having knowlege of Marathi will be preferred.“Qualification. Pay Scales and other requirement are as

prescribed by the UGC Notification dated 18th July, 2018,Gove rnmen t o f Maha rsh t ra Reso lu t i on No . M isc -2018/C.R.56/18/UNI-1 dated 8th March 2019 and University circularNo. TAAS/(CT)/ICD/2018-19/1241 dated 26th March 2019 andrevised from time to time” Remuneration of the above post will be asper University Circular No.TAAS/(CT)/01/2019-20, dated 02nd April,2019.

The Government Resolution & Circular are available on thewebsite mu.ac.in

Application with full details should reach the SECRETARY,Padmashri Annasaheb Jadhav Bharatiya Samaj Unnati MandalB.N.N. Mahavidyalaya Arts, Science and Commerce, Bhiwandi,Dist. - Thane 421 305 within 15 days from the date of publication onthis advertisement. This is University approved advertisement.

sd/-

SECRETARY


INAsetbacktotheBJP,itstallyfellfrom 31 to 22 seats in the ZillaParishadbypolls held in six ruraldistricts, though it still won themostnumberofseatsamongthefourmainparties. In the Panch-ayatSamitibypolls, theCongressemerged as the single largestpartywinning36seats, followedbytheBJPthatwon33seats.Terming the results as a vic-

toryofMahaVikasAghadi(MVA)government, Congress claimedthatBJPsufferedablowduetoitsdouble standards onMarathaandOBCreservation issues.Theelectionsto85seatsinsix

Zilla Parishads of Dhule,Nandurbar, Akola, Washim,Nagpur and Palghar as well as144 seats in the 37 PanchayatSamitis in thesesixdistrictswasheldonTuesday.The bypolls were necessi-

tated after the Supreme Courtstruck downOBC reservation inlocal bodies forwant of empiri-cal data. These seatswere con-vertedintogeneralcategoryseatsfor thebypolls.FollowingtheSupremeCourt

order, the BJP had to vacate 31seats, Congress 13, NCP 15 andShivSenanineseats.Theremain-ingseatsthathadgonetosmallerparties and independentswerealsovacated.In the bypolls, of the 85 Zilla

Parishad seats, BJP won 22,Congress 19, NCP 15 and ShivSena 12. The remaining seatswerewonbythesmallerpartiesandindependents.The Congress and Shiv Sena

appear to be themain benefici-ariesof thedecline inBJP’s tally.While BJP on Wednesday

claimed that it has emerged asthe single largest party, theCongresstermedtheoutcomeasavictoryoftheMVAgovernment.“Congress’13seatswerevacatedbutithaswon19seats.Thepartyhasbettered itsperformance.Atthe same time, 31 seats of BJPwerevacatedbutithasmanagedtowin only 22 seats. It is a hugesetback to theBJPasvotershaveexpressedtheirdispleasureover

itsdoublestandardsonMarathaandOBCreservationissues,”saidsenior CongressMinister AshokChavan.Despite losing nine of the 31

seatswhere it hadwon earlier,theBJPputonabrave face.“IfwetakeZillaParishadand

Panchayat Samiti results to-gether, 25 per cent of the seatswerewon by BJP. Independentsandsmallerpartieshavebagged25 per cent of the seats. The re-maining 50 per cent went tothree ruling parties – Congress,NCPandShivSena.Theoutcomeshows howShiv Sena's politicalstrength has declined," said for-mer chief minister DevendraFadnavis. He added despite its“isolation”, BJP has emerged

stronger inthebypolls.State BJP president

Chandrakant Patil said theMVAgovernmenthadmisusedthead-ministrationandpower toexer-cise influence inthebypolls.Of the 144 seats in the

PanchayatSamiti,Congresswon36seats,BJP33,ShivSena23andNCP 18. The remaining seatswenttosmallerpartiesandinde-pendents.IrrigationMinisterandNCP’s

state president Jayant Patil saidtheresultsshowthat thepeoplehave rejected the BJP. “TheMVAgovernmenthasprovedthatit iswiththepeoplewithitsdevelop-ment agenda. Even in the nextelections,thepeoplewillvoteforMVA,”headded.

Home deptofficial appearsbefore ED inDeshmukh case


KAILASGAIKWAD,adeputysec-retary in the homedepartment,appearedbeforetheEnforcementDirectorateonWednesdaymorn-ing for questioning in the AnilDeshmukh case. Hewas ques-tionedfornearlysevenhours.GaikwadisinchargeoftheIPS

establishmentinMantralayaandlooksaftertransfers,postingsandinquiries.Hehadbeenaskedtoappear

beforetheEDtwice.EDisinvesti-gatingthemoneylaunderingcaseunder the Prevention ofMoneyLaundering Act (PMLA) againstDeshmukhwhenhewas homeminister. It registered a caseagainst Deshmukh and othersbased on a corruption case filedagainsthimbytheCentralBureauof Investigation (CBI) after thenCommissionerofPoliceParambirSinghmadeallegations.Deshmukh is accused of al-

legedlymisusing his postwhileservingashomeminister.Itisalsoalleged that the leader throughAPISachinWazecollectedRs4.7crore from various bars andrestaurants in Mumbai. Themoneywas allegedly launderedto the Nagpur-based Shri SaiShikshan Sansthan, an educa-tional trust controlled byDeshmukh's family.The CBI filed its FIR against

DeshmukhonApril 21 this yearbased on a BombayHigh Courtruling on April 5. However,Deshmukh has repeatedly de-niedanymisconductand isnowmissing.The ED had arrested Anil

Deshmukh's private secretarySanjeevPalandeandpersonalas-sistant Shinde after raids inMumbai and Nagpur on themandDeshmukh. His son-in-lawwaspreviouslyquestionedbytheCBI regarding the leak of an in-quiryreport.


WITHLESS than sixmonths leftfor BMCpolls, the Shiv Senahasdecided to hold its annualDussehrarallyphysicallythisyearbyfollowingtheCovid-19norms.Sources said discussions are be-ingheld onhow the rally canbeorganisedbyfollowingtheCovidnorms andone of the options istoholditatShivajiParkbymain-tainingsocialdistancingwithlim-itedpartyworkers.Shiv Sena leader SanjayRaut

said the party's Dussehra rally,which is onOctober 15,will notbeanonlineevent.“TheDussehrarallywillhap-

pen and itwill not be an onlineevent. We feel that the rallyshouldbeheldproperly.Uddhavji alsohas thesameviewonthis.The discussion is going on howtherallycanbeorganizedbyfol-

lowing the Covid protocols andnorms. Whatever decisionUddhavjitakes,therallywillhap-pen as per that decision,” saidRaut while speaking tomediapersons.Amidpandemiclastyear,Shiv

SenachiefUddhavThackerayhadaddressed the annual Dussehrarally from a hall in SavarkarMemorial near Shivaji Park inDadarwhileShivSainikswatcheditvirtually.AlargenumberofShivSainiks gather in Shivaji Parkevery year onDussehra to heartheirpartychief.TheDussehrarallywillbeim-

portant for the Sena,which hasbeen ruling the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation formorethantwodecades,asitgoestothepollsearlynextyeartoretaincon-trol of the BMC. This year’sDussehrarallywouldbethesec-ondoneforThackeraytoaddressthe partyworkers after becom-ingthechiefminister.

Railway seeksguidelines forstudent passesin local trainsVALLABHOZARKARMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

ASSCHOOLSandcollegesopenedinMumbaiMetropolitanRegion(MMR)fromMonday,theCentralRailwayhaswrittentotheMahar-ashtragovernmenttoissueguide-lines for issuing tickets/seasonalpasses to studentswhoarewill-ingtotravel inlocaltrains.The letter was written on

October6byrailwayofficials,ad-dressed to Under Secretary,DisasterManagementAuthority,Maharashtra."Schoolsandcollegeshavere-

opened inMMRfromOctober4,2021. Students are approachingUTScounters overMumbaidivi-sion requesting for journey/sea-sontickets.Atpresenttherearenoguidelinesforissuingjourney/sea-sonticketstostudentstotravelinlocal train overMMR. In viewoftheabove,itisrequestedtokindlyissueguidelines for issuing jour-ney/ season tickets to studentswilling to travel by local trains inMMRregion,"theletterstated.

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI,OCTOBER5

THEAURANGABADbenchof theBombayHighCourt onMondaysaidthatthenewmanagingcom-mitteeof Shri Sai Baba SansthaninShirdi,whichwas recentlyap-pointedbytheMaharashtragov-ernment, would officially takechargeonOctober19.Thecourtsaidthat its interim

order passed on September 21,asking thenewcommittee tore-frainfromtakingpolicydecisions,will continue for another twoweeks.Meanwhile, itaskedtheprin-

cipal district judge (PDJ) ofAhmednagar,whoischairmanoftheadhoccommitteeappointedbyit in2012,toholdameetingofthe adhocpanel in coordinationwith the chief executive officer(CEO)of Shirdi SansthanTrust toensure smooth opening of thetempleonOctober7.A division bench of Justice

Ravindra Ghuge and JusticeSanjayGMeherewashearingcivilapplicationsinapublicinterestlit-igationfiledbyUttamraoShelke.

Shelke told the HC that thestategovernmenthadappointeda newmanaging committee forthe Sansthan, chairedNCPMLAAshutosh Kale, through aSeptember16order,andthatthecommittee took charge onSeptember17.Heclaimedthatthecommitteemembers should beplacedunder scanner for “graveillegalities in their selection andnomination”.Advocate Pradnya S Talekar,

representing Shelke, referred toan October 9, 2019 HC order,whichhadnotedthatthecourtin2012 had appointed an ad hoccommitteetosupervise,monitorandlookafterthefinancialaffairsof the Sansthan. The committeecomprised thePDJ,Ahmednagarcollector,SansthanCEOandadel-egatenotbelowtherankoftheas-sistant charity commissioner,Nashik.TheHChadthensaidthatthe adhoc committeewill func-tiontillthestateconstitutesanewpanel.Shelke argued that the new

committee couldnothave takencharge ex-parte, showing utterdisregardanddisrespecttotheHCorder of 2019, as the samecould

not be appointed without thecourt'sapproval.Senior advocateRNDhorde,

appearing forMaharashtra gov-ernment,saidthatasithassetupanewcommittee, the grievanceinthe2019PILhasbeenaddress-edandthesamebedisposed.Headded that challenge to the con-stitutionofthenewcommitteeisadifferentcauseofactionandthesamecanbedonethroughafreshpetition. Following this, HCper-mittedShelketofileanewplea.Dhordesaidthatthestatehas

announced the temples, shrinesandreligiousplaceswillopenfordevotees from October 7. Headded that the committeewillhave to take several decisions toensurethat footfallofdevotees ismonitoredtopreventany“unto-wardsituation”.TheHCsaidthatthenewlyap-

pointedmanaging committeewouldofficiallytakechargefromAhmednagar PDJ onOctober 19.The bench also disposed othercivilapplicationswithariderthatall issues raised in themmaybetakenupby thenewcommitteeafterOctober19, subject to therebeingnolegalimpediment.


THE STATE government has ex-changed landwith theMinistryofDefenceatKhadkitowidentheoldMumbai-Punehighway.Theissuewasdiscussedinthe

civil-militaryliaisonmeetingheldinMantralayaonSeptember21.As per the deal, the govern-

mentwill handover 10.49 acres

of land fromDefence and give itto PuneMunicipal CorporationandgivelandtoDefenceatYerw-ada.Ofthis,10.49acres,3.34acreshasbeengiventothePuneMetro.The decisionwas ratified in

thestatecabinetmeetingheldonWednesday.Anofficialofthestategovern-

ment said that users of the oldhighway would encounter aroadblock when they reachedPunefromMumbai.

Pune,Mumbai:TheMaharashtraIndustrialDevelopmentCorpora-tion(MIDC)hasrankedfirstinde-velopmentindices,asperthesec-ondeditionof theIndustrialParkRating System (IPRS) 2.0 report.ReleasedbySomParkash,UnionMinister of State for Commerceand Industry, the report showsthatalmosthalftheindustrialpark'leaders'arelocatedinthestate.Thereporthadassessed68as

'leaders', ofwhich27are locatedinMaharashtra.Launchedin2018, IPRSmeas-

uresindustrialinfrastructureandisaimedatenhancinginfrastruc-

ture competitiveness and sup-porting policy development forindustrialisationinthecountry.The Department for

Promotion of Industry andInternal Trade had introducedIPRS2.0asakeyenablerforiden-tifyingadditionalmeasurestoen-hanceindustrialcompetitiveness.As many as 399 industrial

parksand50SEZsfromacrossthecountry wereassessed.Mahara-shtra nominated 30 industrialparks for IPRS 2.0. Of these, 27were rated 'leaders' (parks regis-tering highest level of perform-anceatanaggregatelevel).ENS

SANJANABHALERAOMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

MUMBAIANDitssurroundingar-easrecordedrainsonWednesdaywith the IndiaMeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) issuing thun-derstormwarningsforseveralar-eas across the state, includingMumbai, Thane, SouthKonkan,centralMaharashtra, south-cen-tralMaharashtra, Vidarbha andparts of Marathwada forThursday.According to the IMD, thun-

derstorms with lightning andgustywindsatisolatedplacesareverylikelytilltheendofthisweek.“Windspeedswillbereaching30-40kilometresperhourindistrictsofMumbai,Palghar,Raigad,Pune,Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar,Kolhapur,Beed,Parbhani,Hingoli,Latur,NandedandOsmanabad,”anIMDofficialsaid.Lightning andheavy rainfall

accompaniedby thunderstormsare forecast for Raigad, Ratnagiriand Sindhudurg for Friday andSaturday.For the third consecutiveday

onWednesday,Mumbaicityandsuburbswitnessedthunderactiv-

ityandlightning,starting5.30pm.Meanwhile,thedaytempera-

ture continued to be abovenor-mal for the third day in a row.IMD’s Santacruz observatoryrecorded amaximumtempera-tureof35.1degreesCelsius,whichis three degrees above normal.Weatherbureauofficialssaidthatthe heat will remain trappedclosertothegroundandtherela-tivehumidity levelswill goup inthenextfewdays.OnWednesdaymorning,80percentrelativehu-miditylevelswererecordedatthe

Santacruzobservatory.Theweatherbureauhascau-

tionedcitizenstoavoidbeingout-doorsduringintensethunderandlightningactivity.Convectiverainisassociatedwithlocalinstability,they added. “During theday, thetemperature is high,which cancause the formation of cumu-lonimbus clouds, particularly intheafternoonandeveninghours.These clouds are thunder cloudsthat cause convective rain byevening in the city,” said an IMDofficial.

According to the seven-dayforecast, apartlycloudyskywithoneor twospellsof rainor thun-dershowerswill continue in thecitytillOctober12.With the commencement of

monsoonwithdrawalfromnorth-ern and central India and thenorthernpartsofthePeninsulabythefirsthalf ofOctober, thewindpattern rapidly changes fromsouthwesterlytonortheasterly.IMDofficials said that due to

the lackof rainfall since the startof thismonth, a rise in tempera-ture is beingwitnessed. “Windswere easterly and the abundantamountofmoisturealsoaddedtothe rise in temperatures,” saidIMDofficial.Currently, there is no strong

weather system in the state tobringrainfalltotheregion.IMDof-ficialssaidthatthewithdrawalofthemonsoonoverMumbai andtherestoftheKonkancoastisun-likelybeforeOctober15,andalsowarnedthattheintensityofrainsmayalsopickupbrieflybetweenOctober10and11.On Wednesday, the with-

drawal of the South-Westmon-soon commenced, against thenormaldateofSeptember17.

Govt-appointed panel for ShirdiSansthan to take charge on Oct 19: HC

BJP tally reduced in zilla parishadbypolls,MVA performance improves

Sena plans physicalDussehra rallyfollowing Covid norms

MIDC tops in developmentindices, says IPRS report

Govt seals land deal with DefenceMinistry to widen highway

Mumbai records rain, IMD warns ofthunderstorm in several parts of state

Rain inThaneonWednesday.Deepak Joshi

PAYING HOMAGEPeoplepayhomagetotheirancestorsontheoccasionofMahalaya,atPowai lakeonWednesday.AmitChakravarty

THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

8LAKHIMPURKHERIDEATHS

MAULSHREESETH,ASADREHMAN&KRISHNKAUSHIKLUCKNOW,NEWDELHI,LAKHIMPURKHERI,OCT6

WITH THE Uttar PradeshGovernmentgrantingpermissionto political parties to visitLakhimpur Kheri, where eightpeople, including four farmers,were killedonSunday, Congressleaders Rahul and PriyankaGandhi,accompaniedbytheChiefMinisters of Punjab andChhattisgarh and other partyleaders,onWednesdaymetsomeof thefamiliesof thevictims.LateWednesday night, the

Congressleadersvisitedthefam-ily of Lovepreet Singh, a 19-year-old farmer killed on Sunday, attheir home in Palia tehsil of the

districtandofferedcondolences.After spending about half an

hourthere,theCongressteamleftfor Nighasan tehsil tomeet thefamily of journalist RamanKashyap,whowasamongthevic-tims.Theirlaststopinthedistrictis expected to be the home ofNachatar Singh, a 55-year-oldfarmerfromDhaurahatehsilwhotoowaskilledonSunday.On Thursday, the Congress

leaders are expected to travel toBahraich tomeet the families ofGurvinderSingh,18,DiljeetSingh,35.Thefarmerswerekilledwhenthree vehicles, including oneownedbyUnionMinisterofStateAjayKumarMishra,ploughedintoa groupof protesting farmers onSunday.Besides Rahul and Priyanka,

Punjab ChiefMinister CharanjitSingh Channi, Chhattisgarh CM

BhupeshBaghel, Congress lead-ers Randeep Surjewala,DeependerSinghHoodaandKCVenugopal,andCongressUPunitchiefAjayKumarLalluwerepartof theCongress teamthatvisitedthefamily.Aftermeeting the Congress

delegation,Lovepreet'sfatherSat-namSingh, a small-time farmer,told The Indian Express, "Theyspoke tous and expressed theircondolences. Theypromisedusthat theywill helpusget justice.Justicewillonlyhappenifthemin-isterresignsandhissonisarrested.Several dayshavepassed, butnoarrests have beenmadedespitevideosshowingwhathappened."On Wednesday afternoon,

there was high drama at theLucknow airport, with theCongressleadersinsistingontrav-eling toLakhimpurKheri in their

private vehicleswhile securitypersonnel asked that they travelintheofficialgovernmentvehicle"toavoidtrafficontheway".“Are youdecidinghow Iwill

move?Justtellmetheruleinthiscountrywhereyoucantellaciti-zen that youhave to go throughthisroute,”RahulGandhitoldthepoliceofficers.“Theywantustogowiththem

in their vehicle. I ama citizen ofthiscountry, IhavecometoUttarPradesh. First they say I can go,thentheysaythatyouhavetogointhepolicevehicle.IjustwanttogotoLakhimpurKheri.Theythinkweareafraidof thembutwearenot,”Gandhitoldmediapersons.Afteroveranhourofbackand

forth, duringwhichGandhi andtheotherssatinprotestattheair-port,around3.30pm,theyfinallyleft for LakhimpurKheri in their

privatevehicles.Before leaving, both Channi

andBaghel announced separatecompensation of Rs 50 lakh foreach of the four farmer familiesandthenextofkinofthejournal-istwhowerekilledonSunday.TheCongress leadersmadea

midway stop at the PAC guest-houseinSitapurdistricttopickupAICCGeneral Secretary PriyankaGandhiVadra,whohadbeende-tainedsinceMonday,beforepro-ceedingtoLakhimpurKheri.Ontheliftingofrestrictionsfor

politicalpartiestovisitLakhimpurKheri, ADG Law and Order,PrashantKumar,saidthegovern-menthasno intention to restrictanyone’smovement but it wasbeingdonejusttoensurepeaceinthe region. Permission has nowbeengrantedunder Section144,whichallowsforonlyfivepersons

atatime,hesaid.ReactingtotheCongresslead-

ers'visittoLakhimpurKheri,UttarPradeshCabinetMinisterSidharthNath Singhaccused themof do-ing"nakaratmak(negative)"pol-itics."Thegovernmenthadtakencertainmeasureskeepinglawandorder inmind. There is noprob-lem if you visit the families, butyou can't spoil the atmospherethere,"hesaid.Earlier,addressingapresscon-

ference before leaving forLucknow, Gandhi, flanked byChanni andBaghel, accused thegovernmentofkeepingthemoutofLakhimpurKheri,andsaidtheyintendtoputpressure"sothatac-tion is taken against thosewhokilledthefarmers".InputsbyAVANEESHMISHRA


PAVNEETSINGHCHADHAGURGAON,OCTOBER6

SAMYUKTKISANMorcha (SKM)leader Tajinder SinghVirk,whowas seriously injured in theLakhimpur Kheri incident, saidWednesday that he “heard gun-shots” before losing conscious-ness,afterbeinghitbyoneof thethreevehiclesthatploughedintoa group of protesters Sunday,killingfourfarmers.VirksaidthatUnionMoSAjay

Mishra’sson,AshishMishra,wasdriving one of those vehicles—andthathewastargetedforlead-ingtheprotestthatdayagainsttheMinister’sremarksaboutfarmersthepreviousweek.Virk,who heads Terai Kisan

Sangathan, was admitted inMedantahospitalinGurgaonat4amMondayandunderwentsur-gery foraskull fracture.Thecon-ditionofthe47-year-old,whoalsosuffered injuries on the face andspine, isnowstable.UPPolicehaveregisteredtwo

FIRs:oneonmurderchargesaga-inst AshishMishra and anotheragainst unidentifiedmiscreantsfortheviolencefollowingtheinci-dentthatledtofourmoredeaths.“Iwaswalkingwithsomepro-

testers and talking to a person,whowas recordingmy remarksoncamera,whensuddenlyaTharhitmeathighspeedfrombehindanddraggedme for over 15 feet.AjayMishra’s son, Ashish, wasdrivingtheThar. Iwasthrownoffto the sideof the road inmuddywater.My turban cameoff and Iwas bleeding heavily from thehead,”hesaid.Virksaid thatat thispoint,he

“heardgunshots”andallegedthattheywere fireduponbymenac-companying AshishMishra. “Aminute later, I felt dazedand lostconsciousness. Their planwas toshootme. Theyhadconductedarecceoftheroadearlier.Iwasdis-tinguishable among the crowdsince Iwaswearingaredturban.Isuspectthatinthechaosafterthevehiclemoweddowntheprotest-ers, they could not identifymewhenIwaslyingontheroadside,”hesaid.

“I was targeted since I hadgiven the call for the protest in(AjayMishra’s) constituency.Hehadthreatenedthefarmerswithdireconsequencesandstatedthatif he displayed his true power,farmerswouldbeforcedto leavethe state. There was outrageamong farmers due to this re-mark. In this context, a peacefulprotest to showblack flags hadbeen organised against DeputyCMKeshavPrasadMaurya’svisittoBanveerpur(Mishra’svillage),”Virksaid.Explaining the sequence of

events that unfoldedonOctober3,Virksaidthatat9.45am,farm-ers carrying black flags had as-sembledatGuruNanakacademyinTikunia. “Wehad informationthat theDeputyCM’s helicopterwouldlandatahelipadonalocalground.So,weoccupiedtheheli-pad and sat there for theprotesttilltheafternoon.At2.45pm,fromthepoliceanddistrictmagistrate,we learnt that theDeputy CM’sroute hadbeendiverted. So,wedecided to end the protest andstartedtodisperse,”hesaid.Virk said some farmers had

startedtowalktowardstheirvehi-clesthatwereparkedatadistancetoreturntotheirvillageswhentheincident occurred. Referring to a29-secondvideoof the incident,Virksaidhehasseentheclipsev-eral timeson thephoneover thelasttwodays.“This[video]isclearevidence

thatthefarmers,whowerewalk-ingpeacefully,wereattackedandkilled. In the video, I canbe seeninaredturban,walkingalongsideanotherprotester,whoiscarryingablackflag,asthecamerapanstofootageoftheTharmowingdownprotesters frombehindus. If thevideo had not surfaced, the au-thoritieswouldhave succeededin changing the narrative andblamingthefarmers,whichisbe-ingdonetoanextent.Theprotest-ers didnot instigate anyone andneither did theypelt stones,” hesaid.Virk demanded that Union

MoSMishrabesackedandhissonarrestedattheearliest.


TwoCongress chiefministers announce relief;Rahul and Priyankameet families of victims

From hospital bed, farmleader says: I wastargeted, I heard shots

ASADREHMANLAKHIMPURKHERI,OCT6

POLICEAREyettogiveoutdetailsonhowjournalistRamanKashyapdied in theLakhimpurKherivio-lenceonSunday. The family saysnoFIRhasbeenfiled,despitetheircomplaint, neitherhave theygotacopyofhispost-mortemreport.However, goingby themarks

onKashyap'sbody,theybelievehewas among theoneswho cameunderthewheelswhenaconvoyof vehicles of UnionMinister ofState forHomeAjayMishra's sonAshish rammed into protestingfarmers in Tikunia. Police haveidentified fourof theeightkilledasfarmerswhowerecrushedun-der the convoy. Kashyap, 35, fig-uresamongtherest.Kashyap'sbrotherPawan,32,

saystheywereshockedthatsome“bikau(sold-out)"channelsweretryingto"distort"whathadhap-pened. “Thevideothat isviral (ofthe car running into theprotest-ers)showseverything.Mybrotherdiedafterhewas crushedby theSUVs. His body had car wheelmarks. Itcanbeseenclearlyhowit happened. There is no doubthowhe died. Itwas because hewas crushed by theminister’sson’scars,”hesays.“Our narrative has been the

samefromthebeginning,"Pawanadds."Somechannelseditedanddistortedourstatements."Their father Ram Dulare

Kashyap, a farmer, submitted awritten complaint to theNighasan Police Station onMonday,sayingKashyapdiedaf-ter a car linked to Ashish droveover him, and that hewas also"shot at". “As per eyewitnesses,thejournalistwasshotatwhilehewas covering the car. Gunshotscan be heard in the footage aswell,”readsthecomplaint.

Onwhy an FIR hadnot beenlodged, Nighasan SHO RamLakhan said the complaint hadbeen forwarded to the TikuniaPoliceStation.“Furtheractionandprobewillbedonethere."Ram Dulare, who has two

other children, says Kashyap'sbodyhadmarkswhichshowedhewasdraggedunder tyres. “Therewere some stones stuck on hisbody too."Headds that theyhadalways supported the farmers.“We have been supported byfarmers since thebeginningandwehavealsosupportedthembe-causewearealsofarmers.Mysonwasfirstafarmer,andthenajour-nalist.”Apart from his father and

younger siblings, Kashyap is sur-vivedbyhiswifeAradhna,32,andtwo children, 11 and 3. OnWednesdayevening,Aradhnare-fusedtomeetmediapersons,say-ingtheircamerasweretoomuchofareminderofherhusband.About what happened on

Sunday, Pawan says they knewKashyaphadgone to the spot tocover the farmerprotest, andgotworriedwhenhisphonewascon-stantly 'switchedoff' after thevi-olence. “Nextmorning, the localpolicecalledandsaidanuniden-tified bodyhadbeen found.WewentandfoundthatthebodywasofRaman."


Mysonwasalso farmer first:RamDulare.Vishal Srivastav

No doubt how hedied... he was crushedby minister son’s cars:Journalist family

ASADREHMANBAHRAICH,OCTOBER6

“Humkya karte (What couldwehave done)?” says the father ofGurvinderSingh,havingjustcre-matedthe18-year-old,afterasec-ondpost-mortemconcludedhehaddiedafter comingunder thewheels of one of the cars thatploughedintoprotestingfarmersin Lakhimpur Kheri. “Whateverthedoctorshavesaid,wehavetomakepeacewith it, becauseweare not doctors. But goli toh lagithi(hehaddefinitelybeenshot),”SukhvinderSinghadds.The 48-year-old, who owns

around 4 bighas of farm land inMohraniya Navipur village inBahraich,says:“Wesawthebodyanditwasclearhehadagunshotinjury.Hehadanexitwoundonthe back of his head and entrywound on the right side of hisforehead. But the second post-

mortemreport also sayshedid-n’t suffer a gunshot injury, anddeathwas accidental. How canwebelievethatwhenalltheeye-witnessesaresayinghewasshotbysomeonecalledMonu(UnionMinisterofStateBforHomeAjayMishra’s son Ashish)? Not one,butallof them.”While the families of the

three other protesting farmers

who died in the incident, in-volving one car owned by theUnion MoS, had carried outtheir lastrites,Gurvinder’s fam-ily had held out, demanding asecond autopsy. As a team offour senior doctors flown in toBahraich from Lucknow alsosaidtheyhadfoundnogunshotinjuries, Gurvinder’s body washanded over to the family at 6am and cremated at 9 amWednesday.Sukhvinder says they were

onlygiventheautopsyreportaf-ter thecremationwasover.Gurvinder, the youngest of

his three children, had accom-paniedothers intheareafortheSunday protest at Tikunia,called against a visit of UPDeputy Chief Keshav PrasadMaurya.“Thereareplentyofvil-lages with our people (Sikhs)aroundhere. Everyonewas go-ing, so my son said he will go.Hewasafarmer’sson,sohehad

to go.”Gurvinder’s brother Guru

Sevak,20,says:“Hisentirebodyhad injuries. Therewas no partwherebloodwasnotpresent.Hedied themostbrutaldeath.”Demanding justice, Guru

Sevakadds,“Gurvinderwasveryreligious.Hewanted tobecomea sadhu, and kept busy withpaath (reading religious scrip-tures).”Gurvinder was cremated

near the family’s farm, around300metres from the house. At1.45pmWednesday,theembersstill todie,hismaternalgrandfa-ther Shirinder sits silentlywatching, alongwith his uncleJaimalSingh (75).Shirinder,70,saysGurvinder

was “killed for no reason”.“Showingblack flags has been aformofpeacefulprotestsincebe-foreIndependence.Theministerandhissonconspiredtokillhim.”A senior police officer sta-

tioned at the village, whoclaimed no knowledge of thepost-mortem,saysthesituationhasbeenpeaceful.Thereisheavydeployment at the village en-trance toensure lawandorder.One of the three other de-

ceased farmers, Diljeet Singh,lived around 12 km fromGurvinder’s village, in BanjaranTada,alsofallinginBahraich.OnWednesday,thefamilyofthe35-year-oldwas at Tikunia, the siteof an important gurdwara, forimmersionof hisashes.Diljeet is survived by wife

Paramjit Kaur, 32, a daughterwho is 16anda son, 14. The sonhad accompaniedDiljeet to theprotest. His cousin Sher SinghsaysDiljeet’ssonalso“sustainedinjuriesbut isbetter”.SherSinghsaystheyarewor-

ried aboutwhowould supportDiljeet’s family. “They have noone... He was the only earningmember.”

‘We have to make peace with whatthe doctors said... but goli toh lagi thi’

Gurvinder’s fatherafterhiscremation.Vishal Srivastav

(Fromleft)AICCgeneral secretaryKCVenugopal,PunjabCMCharanjitSinghChanni,partyleaderRahulGandhiandChhattisgarhCMBhupeshBaghelatLucknowairport,Wednesday.

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

AMID CALLS for his resignationfrom Opposition parties andfarmleaders,withhissonfacingmurderchargesover thedeathsof four farmers in UP'sLakhimpurKheri,UnionMoSforHome Ajay Mishra met UnionHome Minister Amit Shah inDelhi Wednesday and “dis-cussed the situation”, sourcestoldThe IndianExpress.However,sourcesclosetothe

UnionMoS said later that therewas“no indication fromthepo-litical leadership that hemuststepdown”.“Thereisnowrong-doingonthepartoftheMinister.Hehasbeenaskedtoresumehisduties ina routinemanner,” thesources said.The FIR in the Lakhimpur

Kheriincidentisbasedonacom-plaint that alleges a “pre-planned conspiracy” by theUnionMoSandhissonAshishinthe killings -- and that his sonwas in the vehicle thatmoweddown the farmers, and “firedshotsandcrushedpeoplewhilemoving forward”.Sources saidMishra'smeet-

ingwithShahlastedforabout40minutes duringwhich theMoSalso“discussedstrategy”tohan-dle the situation. ThemeetingtookplaceafterMishraattendedofficeatNorthBlock for the firsttimeafterSunday's incident.Sources said the MoS

reachedhisofficearound11amand met Bureau of PoliceResearch and Development(BPR&D) chief Balaji Srivastavato confirmhis presence as chiefguest at an event organised bytheagencyThursday.Mishrawilladdress the 7th Conference ofHeads of Prisons of States andUnionTerritoriesat theevent.After spending about half-

an-hour in office, hemovedouttomeetShahbeforereturningtowrapuppendingwork,officialssaid,addingthattheMinisterleftat6.15pm.Mishra’s schedule for the

next few days is packed, theysaid. Apart from the BPR&Dfunction,hewillholdameetingon official languages at VigyanBhawan, inaugurate a “portahut” for CISF in Dwarka Fridayand attend department meet-ings.He isalsoslatedtovisit theNortheastover theweekend.Speaking to reporters after

hismeetingwith Shah, Mishrainsisted on his son's innocenceandmaintainedthathewasnotpresent at the spot of the inci-dent.

MoS Mishrameets Shah;told toresume hisroutine duties

AMITSHARMAMEERUT,OCTOBER6

RASHTRIYA LOKDal (RLD) chiefJayant ChaudharyWednesdaytargeted Uttar Pradesh ChiefMinisterYogiAdityanathovertheLakhimpurKheri farmerdeaths,accusinghimofgoingslowinthe

caseasitinvolvesthesonofUnionMinisterofStateAjayMishra.He asked why the Chief

Minister has gone back on hiswordthatpropertiesofabscond-ingcriminalswillbedemolishedbybulldozers,anddemandedthearrestoftheminister’sson,AshishMishra,againstwhomanFIRhasbeenlodgedoverthedeaths.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

INAscathingattackonCongressleader Rahul Gandhi for his re-marksovertheLakhimpurKherideaths, the BJPWednesday ac-cused the Gandhi family of try-ing to gain “political mileage”froma“tragic” incident.Addressing a press confer-

ence,BJPnationalspokespersonSambit Patra said, “The Gandhifamily and Rahul Gandhi sawthis as an opportunity. Seeingwhat happened at LakhimpurKheri as an opportunity, theythoughtthroughthistheycouldsavethereputationof theirfam-ily... trying to drive politicalmileage out of a tragic incident,tragic situation, is what theGandhi family is trying todo.”CriticisingRahul for his “sys-

tematicattackonthefarmers”re-marks before leaving for Uttar

Pradeshtomeetthefamiliesofthedeceased, Patra said, “TheUPAgovernment sat over theSwaminathanCommission rec-ommendationsforeightyearsanddidnotimplementitandyoutalkofsystematicattackonfarmers?”“Therehasbeenasystematic

upliftment of farmers. The gov-ernmenthasworkedforsystem-aticupliftmentof farmers,”Patrasaid,listingthevariousinitiativestaken by theModi governmentin the last sevenyears.“Irresponsibilityhasbecome

the second name of Mr RahulGandhi.” Patra said the BJP ismakinganeffortsothatviolenceshouldnotspreadinthecountryat any cost and peace bemain-tained but the Congress andRahul Gandhi have been tryingto spread violence in the coun-try. He criticised Rahul Gandhifor raising questions about thepostmortemof thosewho diedintheLakhimpurKheriviolence.

Trying to get politicalmileage from tragicincident: BJP on Rahul

SUKHBIRSIWACHCHANDIGARH,OCTOBER6

BJP LEADER and former Unionminister Chaudhary BirenderSingh Wednesday said theLakhimpur Kheri incident was“notspontaneous,andtherearefacts which hint at it being aplannedact”. Singhalso termedtheepisode“shameful”.“Ihavebeenstatingsincethe

beginning (of the farmers'protest) that anyuntoward inci-dentmaytakeplace if anyagita-tion continues for long. I see theLakhimpurincidentintwoways- one the politicians are in elec-tion mode there (in UttarPradesh) and second, there iscompetitionbetweeneach-othertotakebenefitof it.Thisincidentshould not be taken lightly be-causeitisnotspontaneous.Therearefactsinit(whichhints)theactwasdoneinaplannedmanner,"Singhsaid.

MANISHSAHULUCKNOW,OCTOBER6

THE NEPHEW of late formerCongress Rajya SabhamemberAkhilesh Daswas in one of thethree SUVswhich allegedly ranover protesting farmers inLakhimpurKherionSunday,ac-cording to claims made by aneyewitness in a new video thatemergedonWednesday.Four farmers were killed in

the incident.Policeareverifyingthevideo’s

authenticity. In the video, be-lievedtobeshotsoonafterthein-cident,apoliceofficerisseenask-ingquestionstoaninjuredman.Theman claims to be in the

same SUV as Ankit Das, a busi-nessman from Lucknow andnephewoftheformerMP,whoisallegedly close to the family ofUnionMinisterofStateforHomeAjayMishra.Following the farmers'

deaths and fourmore deaths intheviolencethatfollowed,anFIRwas lodged against the Unionminister's sonAshishMishra.In the video, theman, who

hadvisibleheadinjuries, claimsthathewas in thesecondSUV–a Fortuner – along with fourotherpeople, includingAnkit.Toa question from the police offi-cer, he gives the registration

numberoftheFortunerandsaysitbelongedtoAnkit.He claims he is from

Lucknow’s Charbagh area, andlookedafterAnkit'saccounts.Hesays he accompanied Ankit toLakhimpurKherionwork.Whenapolicemanaskshim

abouttheMahindraThar,whichwas moving in front of theFortunerandmanagedtoescapefrom the spot, theman deniesanyknowledge.“Woh aage Thar sab ke upar

chaddate hue ja rahe the, humpeechethe(TheTharinfrontwasrunning over everyone and ourvehiclewasbehind it),”hesays.Whenaskedwhowas in the

Thar, he says, “Bhaiyya ke saaththe, unko maloom (They werewith bhaiyya, he knows).” HewasallegedlyreferringtoAnkit.Ankitdidnotrespondtocalls

from The Indian Express for hisresponseon the claimsmade inthevideo.Additional Director General,

LawandOrder,PrashantKumarsaidallvideosrelatedtotheinci-dent would be examined andthen the investigating officerwould takeadecisiononthem.A committee under the

Additional Superintendent ofPolice has been formed to helpinthe investigationintothetwocaseslodgedinconnectionwiththeLakhimpurKheri incident.

Hints thatincident wasplanned: formerUnion minister

New video emerges:‘Ex-MP’s nephew wasin one of the SUVs’

Jayant targets Yogi: Why don’t youbulldoze MoS son’s house now?

UnionMinistersof StateAjayMishraandNityanandRaiat NorthBlock,NewDelhi.ANI

PTI


PANDORA PAPERS 2021


ANEXPRESSINVESTIGATION

SHYAMLALYADAVNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

MANOJ PRASAD, booked by the CBI foralleged extortion, owns two offshore com-panies intheBritishVirgin Islands(BVI), thePandoraPapers show.Sonofaformerofficerof

the Research and AnalysisWing (R&AW), PrasadwasbookedbytheCBIwhentheagency’sthenDirectorAlokVermaandSpecialDirectorRakesh Asthana wereengaged inanacrimoniouspublic faceoff.In Globex Advisors

Limited, one of his two BVIcompanies,Prasadisamongthreedirectorsandowns40per cent stakes. In the second company,Justforajob.com Limited set up in January2016,he is thesoledirector.A document from the BVI branch of

Panamanian law firm Alcogal shows that

Globex Advisors Limitedwas incorporatedinBVIonNovember25,2015.BesidesManojPrasad, the other directors areWalid ZayedandRamiHawi,bothLebanonpassporthold-ers. Of the 100 shares of Globex, of USD 1each,theywereallotted40,30and30sharesrespectively.

An FIR against Prasadwas registered onOctober 15, 2018. The CBI booked him on acomplaint from Sathish Babu Sana ofHyderabad under the Prevention ofCorruptionAct.Sanahimselfwasatthecen-

treof anallegedbriberycase.ArrestedonOctober17,2018,Prasadwas

grantedbail onDecember18,2018.Born in Deoria in Uttar Pradesh, Prasad

livedinanapartmentinBurjKhalifainDubaiwhen the two offshore firms wereincorporated.

In an interview to anewspaper,acopyofwhichis attached to the data,Prasad said: “I currentlyowntwoapartments intheiconic Burj Khalifa andwasone of the early birds tobenefit from the buy. I alsobought an apartment inDubaiMarinawhen it wasfirst launched. I earlier soldmy villa in Emirates Hills,gaining considerably fromthesale,andre-investedthe

proceeds in Palm Jumeirah. I sold that toowhenthedemandtouchedapeak.”The Indian Express emailed a question-

naire to Manoj Prasad but received noresponse.

Booked by CBI,Manoj Prasadowns2 offshore companies

DEORIA TO BURJKHALIFA: THE JOURNEY OF AFORMER R&AWOFFICER’SSON

Grantedbail twomonthsafterarrest in2018,ManojPrasadwasbookedbyCBIforallegedextortion

India-Pakistan duopassed proceedsfrom football dealsto Seychelles firmJAYMAZOOMDAARNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

A SELF-STYLED FOOTBALL investor fromIndiaandaformerFIFAdevelopmentofficerfromPakistanarepartnersinatleasttwooff-shorecompaniesinSeychelles—andatleastone of these firmswas fundedby fee for fa-cilitating“investmentsinaprofessionalfoot-ball club inDenmark fromIndia”, records inthe Pandora Papers investigated byThe IndianExpress reveal.Bengaluru-basedSatyajitSadanandanis

aformerFIFAgrassroots instructor“special-isinginsportsinvestmentsandtalentdevel-opment”. SyedMohsenGilani is a PakistanisettledinColomboandaformerFIFAdevel-opmentofficer.Together, they incorpo-

rated NewWorld ConsultingInternationalLtdinSeychellesin August 2008 with equalownership.Sadanandan and Gilani,

records show, incorporated a second com-pany in Seychelles inMarch 2011— FalconSolutionsGmbH.FalconSolutionsopenedaUSD account in Barclays Bank, Seychelles,withSadanandanandGilani, the twobene-ficial owners, as signatories.Theduo also featured in the2017 inves-

tigation of records in Paradise Papers byTheIndianExpress.Atthattime,recordsiden-tified the two as directors of NewWorldSports Limited, a company incorporated inMalta, inNovember2014.In March 2020, records show,

Sadanandan and Gilani transferred 2.5 percent stake each of NewWorld ConsultingInternational (Seychelles) to YenepoyaMohammed Farhaad and FathimathulZuhra.Farhaad and Zuhra, who belong to the

family that owns Mangalore-basedYenepoya Group, also became directors oftheSeychelles company.AbusinessplansignedbySadanandanin

March2016claimedthattheSeychellesfirmwas fundedbyproceeds received frompre-viousprojects.“We facilitated investments in a profes-

sional football club in Denmark from Indiaandalsoprovidedbothclientswithstrategicadvisoryservicesposttheinvestmentdeal,”hewrote.Sadanandan’splan,withaprojectedan-

nual turnover of $300,000, listed DempoGroup (India and Singapore) and FCMidtjyllandA/S (Denmark)asclients.In2011-12,Dempo,whichalsorunstheI-

LeagueclubDempoFC,investedEuro12mil-lion toacquirea34percentstake inDanishSuperliga sideFCMidtjylland.According tomedia reports at the time,

the deal was facilitated by New WorldConsulting, which was de-scribed as a sports manage-mentcompany.Thebusinessplan,records

show, was submitted foropening an account withLoyal Bank Limited of Saint

Vincent and the Grenadines. For this,Sadanandanalsogota reference letter fromtheBankofBahrainandKuwait inFebruary2016.Incidentally, Loyal Bankwas accused of

aidingmoney laundering activities in 2018andsubsequentlywent into liquidation.Apart from the Seychelles and Malta

firms, Sadanandan set up New WorldConsulting Pvt Ltd in Vadodara in October2008, holding 50 per cent stake alongwithhis father.Following his father’s death in March

2020, the shares were transferred to hismother.In June 2017, Sadanandan andGilani set

upNewWorldConsulting International Ltdin London. Threemonths later, they trans-ferred2.5percentstakeeachtoFarhaadandZuhraof theYenepoya family. TheUKcom-panywasdissolved in2020.Sadanandan, Farhaad andZuhra did not

respondtoemails andmessages.

InMarch2020,SadanandanandGilani transferred2.5percentstakeeachtoFarhaadandZuhra

RITUSARINNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

UNTILTWOyearsago,BavaguthuRaghuramShetty,whomigratedfromKarnatakatotheGulf in the 1970s to set up a worldwidehealthcareandhospitalityempire,wascon-sidered one of the richestIndians, ranked in theForbeslist of billionaires with a networthof $3.15billion.Today, he faces a travel

ban. Indicted by the Karnataka High Court,hehasbeentoldtocomecleanonhisassets.This, after a 2020 report from investmentfirmMuddyWaters, highlighted his highborrowingswhich are todaypegged at $6.6

billion.Hisassets intheUAEandhiscompa-nies in the London Stock Exchange frozen,Shetty is back in Bengaluru — only to facechargesofnon-repaymentofdebtstoaslewof Indianbanks.Loans,ofwhichhewastheguarantor,are

to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore towards Bankof Baroda andRs 800 crore towards Punjab

NationalBank.OnNovember14, 2020, Shetty was deniedpermission to fly back to theUAEfromBengaluru.Once famous for his fleet

ofRollsRoyces,privatejetsandyachts,Shettyisnowunder intensepressure fromlendersand banks to declare his full list of assets,holdingsandinvestments. InApril thisyear,theKarnatakaHighCourt said: “Prima facie

it appears that (Shetty) has declined to dis-close his other assets... the apprehension isthatthedefendantsmaydisposeof theiras-setssothatthesamewoulddisappearbythetime a judgment is delivered against themoragainsttheentities/companiescontrolledby them.”

But now the Pandora Papers show thatShetty set up a complex offshore companynetwork in Jersey and the British VirginIslands,mostlyin2013,andthesecompaniesholdsharesofbranchesofhis flagshipcom-pany,TravelexHoldingsLimited,headquar-tered in theUK.

A “corporate chart” in the secret data,updated until October 2017, shows thatTravelexhad81separatecompaniesinclud-inginSwitzerland,Panama,Brazil,ChinaandJapan,besides theUSandUK.TheTridentTrustpapersshowthataBVI

company,BraveCity InternationalHoldingsInc,wassetupinAugust2013with$50,000as its authorised capital and Shetty asDirector. Its shareholdingwas split amongShetty’sotherBVIcompanies.Amongsweepingauthorisationsgivento

ShettyasDirectorofBraveCityInternationalHoldings in 2013were powers to open andclose bank accounts; administer any busi-ness including the collection of all moneydue to whosoever; and to deal withGovernmentAuthorities/FreeZoneauthor-ities, includingsigningof alldocuments.TheTridentTrustdatashowsthatseveral

members of Shetty’s family are among theshareholdersintheseclutchofoffshorecom-

panies.Shetty’swifeChandrakumariRaghuram

Shettyholdshalf (25,000sharesof $1valueeach)of BRS Investmentsandhis son,BinayShetty, is listed as one of the Directors ofTravelex Holdings Limited. His brotherBavaguthu Sachinananda Shetty was alsonominated as Director of SFG Inc, anothercompany incorporated in the BVI in 2013,withanauthorisedcapitalof $50,000.Itwastoattendtohisbrother’sillnessthat

Shetty travelled to India last year.Sachinananda passed away inMarch 2020and soon after that, Indian banksmoved inwith recovery cases against Shetty. Due totheLookOutCircular issued inhisname,hehasnotbeenallowedtoflyoutofBengaluru.Responding to queries from The Indian

Express,ShishirShetty,Shetty’snephew,said:“Since thematter is sub judice inmany ju-risdictions, itmaynot be appropriate forDrShetty tocommentat themoment.”

Sincematter sub judice inmany jurisdictions,maynotbeappropriate tocomment, sayshisnephew

B R Shetty is a bankrupt billionaire — with a network of BVI firms

HasbeentoldbytheKarnatakaHighCourt tocomecleanonhisassets

Wockhardt founder, family holdshares worth $20m in Panama firm

SANDEEPSINGHNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

WOCKHARDTCHAIRMANHabilFakhruddinKhorakiwala incorporated an offshore firmin Panama in 2011— andwithin four yearsheld sharesworth $20million in the com-pany alongwith 11 other familymembers,according to records in the Pandora PapersinvestigatedbyThe IndianExpress.Family members of Khorakiwala with

shares in the Panama firm, BarrymilInvestments SA, include the top faces ofWockhardt,theMumbai-basedpharmaceu-ticalgiant:MurtazaKhorakiwala,managingdirector;HuzaifaKhorakiwala,executivedi-rector; and, ZahabiyaKhorakiwala, non-ex-ecutivedirector.Records show that at the

timeof incorporationin2011,the capital of BarrymilInvestmentsSAwas$10,000,divided into10,000sharesof $1each.In December 2015, the offshore firm’s

boardofdirectorspassedaresolutiontocan-celthecertificatefor10,000sharesissuedtothebeareronMay6,2011,and issue20mil-lionsharesatparvalueof $1to12membersof theKhorakiwala family.WhileHabil Khorakiwalawas issued 46

lakhshares,the11otherswereissued14lakhshareseach.The Panama firm’s three-director board

also authorised its president, identified asEdgardo E Diaz, to issue a general power ofattorneyinfavourofHabilKhorakiwala.Theothertwodirectorsof thefirmareidentifiedinrecordsasGinaAMartinezandFernando

AGil.Wockhardt Ltd, which

was founded by HabilKhorakiwala in 1967, has acurrentmarketcapitalisation

ofRs4,745crore. InthefinancialyearendedMarch 2021, its consolidated net profitamounted to Rs 688 crore, with revenue ofRs2,708crore.There is no mention of Barrymil

Investments SA in the annual reports ofWockhardt. But there are references to an-other company with a similar name:

Barrymil InvestmentsAG,whichwas regis-tered inSwitzerland inAugust2018.PublicrecordsfortheSwisscompanylist

thenameofWockhardtBioADmanagingdi-rectorAjaySahnion itsboard.Responding to queries from The Indian

ExpressonthePanamafirm,Wockhardtsaid:“Barrymill Investmentswasincorporatedin2011 and engaged in investing activities.Investments inBarrymill Investmentsweremadebyfamilymembersintheir individualcapacityandnotfromWockhardtLtd.Hence,the said investment does not appear inWockhardtannualaccountsasthesamewasnotrequired.”Itsaid:“Respectivesharehold-ershavemade regulatorydisclosuresof theinvestments made, as required, in accor-dance with the income-tax regulations.Investments inBarrymill Investmentsweremade under the Liberalised RemittanceScheme.”

DocumentshowsHabilFakhruddinKhorakiwalaasownerof sharesofBarrymilInvestmentsSA

KHUSHBOONARAYANMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

THE FORMER promoters of Alok IndustriesLtd, which has now been acquired byReliance Industries (RIL)-JM Financial ARCthroughinsolvencyproceedings, floatedoff-shore firms, thePandoraPapers show.Records show that be-

tween 2010 and 2014, broth-ers Ashok Jiwrajka, DilipJiwrajka, and SurenderJiwrajka set up four firms inthe British Virgin Islands: TriumphantVictory Holdings Limited; AlokWorldwideLtd; Alok International Ltd; and AlokOverseasLimited.TheJiwarjika-ledAlokIndustrieswasone

of 12 companies identified by the ReserveBankof Indiaasamongthecountry’sbiggest

loan defaulters. The companyowed Rs 29,000 crore to Indianbanks.In 2017, Alok Industries was

senttothebankruptcycourtandin 2018 the company was ac-quired by the RIL-JM FinancialARC combine for Rs 5,000 crore,resulting in an 83 per cent haircut for the

lenders.The official spokesperson

ofAlok Industries, inanemailresponsetoTheIndianExpress,saidSurendraJiwrajkahaddi-

rectedthequeriessenttohimbythenewspa-pertoAlokIndustries.Alok Industries said the Jiwrajka broth-

ers have “nothing to do with TriumphantVictoryHoldings”,ajointventureofthecom-panysincetheyarenolongerthepromotersof Alok. The company said these offshore

firmswere incorporated as special purposevehiclesintheBVItofacilitateinvestmentsinoverseasventuresofAlokGroup.“These companies do not have assets in

their names in and outside India except in-vestments made by them in the overseasventures, details of which have been de-clared in the annual reports of Alok fromtime to time and also reported to the con-cerned statutory authorities, wherever re-

quired. Further, Alok hasmadeinvestments in thesecompaniesthrough proper banking chan-nels and reported all the remit-tances by filing requisite FormODIs. Also, the Form APRs ofthese companies and disclosureof investmentsarebeingmadeto

RBIonaregularbasis,”theofficialspokesper-sonofAlok Industries said.According to the Pandora Papers, Alok

Worldwidewas incorporated in July 2013withthethreeJiwrajkabrothersasdirectorsandAlok IndustriesLtdas sole shareholder.Themainbusinessof thecompanywasto

make strategic long-term investments.Records reveal that in May 2014, AlokIndustries took a loan of $ 50million fromExport Import Bank of India inMumbai bypledgingitsstakeinAlokWorldwide.However,documents show that Alok Industries

defaultedontherepaymentof thisloan.The financial documents of Alok

Worldwideshowthatthecompanyhasbeenprimarily used for borrowing from groupcompaniesandinvestinginothergroupcom-panies.RecordsshowthatTriumphantVictoryHoldingswassetupinJanuary2010withDilipandSurendraJiwrajkaasitsdirectorsandAlokIndustries International Ltd, Alok IndustriesLtd, Alok Denims (India) Ltd and Alok KnitExportsPvtLtdasshareholders.Of this, Alok Industries International, a

wholly owned subsidiary of AlokInfrastructure Ltd, held 7.5 lakh preferenceshares at $1 each in Triumphant Victory. InJune 2016, Alok Industries International re-deemed its entire preference shares inTriumphant Victory at par. However, AlokIndustriesInternational,asperitsfinancialre-portof2021,owesRs875croretoTriumphantVictoryagainstloanstakenfromthecompany.

Alok Industries ex-owners, top defaulters, set up offshore network

TriumphantVictoryHoldings list

Son of formerBengalurupolice chiefopened firmin SeychellesPVAIDYANATHANIYERNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

THREEMONTHSbeforeJyothiPrakashMirjiwas appointed Commissioner of Police inBengaluruonMay2,2011,hissonChiranthanMirji setupanoffshoreentity inSeychelles.At that point of time, the Reserve Bank ofIndiadidnotallowresidentIndianstosetupcompanies abroad or invest money sentabroad under the Liberalised RemittanceScheme(LRS) tobuyshares.According to the Incorporation Order/

Instruction Sheet of Seychelles-headquar-tered corporate services firm Aabol (AllAboutOffshoreLimited),theoffshoreentity’snamewasMesh JyotGlobal Ltd.“…thecompanywillbeinvolvedininter-

national trading of different merchandiseandalsobetheintermediateagentforinter-nationalbuyersandsellers,whereinbuyersand sellerswill be parting the commissiontoour company fornegotiating, structuringand executing the business proposals,” itstated.ChiranthanMirji was Director and sole

shareholder inMesh JyotGlobal Ltd.Reached for comment, Chiranthan told

The Indian Express: “This companywas setup in2011 justaroundthetimeIcompletedmygraduation.Theideawastoimportfurni-ture fromChina and sell here. But the com-pany did not do any business. No bank ac-counts were opened or any amountdeposited in thisentity.”The incorporation order of Mesh Jyot

Global Limited, signed by ChiranthanMirjion February 12, 2011, states that the com-pany will be doing business in Dubai,Singapore and Hong Kong. In it, Mirji alsonotes that he has not registered offices inthese countries, and asks if it ismandatorytodoso.Chiranthan,whonowrunsaproprietor-

ship firmcalledChiruTrading inBengaluru,said hewill try to find the status of the off-shoreentityandthendowhat isrequiredtoshut itdown.“ChiruTradingdealswithsur-plus readymadeclothingand itsoperationsare restricted toBengaluru,”hesaid.

Shareholdershavemaderegulatorydisclosuresof investments:Company

PM distributes e-propertycards, praises MP govtEXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBHOPAL,OCTOBER6

PRIME MINISTER NarendraModi on Wednesday distrib-utede-propertycards tonearly1.70 lakh people in 3,000 vil-lages across 19 districts ofMadhya Pradesh under theCentre'sSvamitvaYojna.Healsointeractedwith three benefici-aries of the scheme in empow-ering villages.Addressing the event, held

in Harda district, throughvideo-conferencing,Modi saidthatasapilotproject, Svamitvawas rolled out in MP,Uttrakhand.Maharashtra,UttarPradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana,Punjab andKarnataka andwillnow be rolled out across the

country.Praising implementationof

social benefits schemes in thestate, he said, “MP is the prideof the country. Soon after ascheme is rolledout, a lotof ef-fort is taken to execute it onground."Modi interactedwithPawan

Kumar from Hadiya district,who had received e-propertycard four months ago, as alsoPremSinghandVinitaBai, fromDindoriandSehoredistricts re-spectively.Theysharedtheirex-perience and pointed out thatthe e-property cardhashelpedthemgetbank loans and setuptheir ownbusinesses.MP Chief Minister Shivraj

Singh Chouhan also addressedapublic gatheringon theocca-sion.

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

UNDERLININGTHATNewDelhiandWashingtonhave“onemindand one approach” onAfghanistan, the visiting USDeputySecretaryofState,WendySherman,saidonWednesdaythatIndia, US and a group of “like-minded countries” have a videoconferencecalleveryweekwheretheyshareideasandperspectivesonhowtoapproachtheTalibaninAfghanistan.Spellingoutthecommonred-

lines—aninclusivegovernment,rights ofminorities,womenandchildren,nosafehavenforterror-ists—Sherman,whoisknowntobe a toughnegotiator, said: "Webelieve theTalibanmust act, notjust speakwords.Noneof us areinarushforrecognition,letalone

some legitimacy.Wehave to seeactions,notjustwords.”Sherman,whomet External

Affairs Minister S Jaishankar,National Security Advisor AjitDoval and Foreign SecretaryHarsh Vardhan Shringla onWednesday,saidthatIndia’s“se-curity is first and foremost” inUS’s considerations andwill al-

ways be “front and centre”. TheIndia-UScounter-terrorismdia-logue will take place fromOctober26 to28.AskedabouttheS-400dealbe-

tweenIndiaandRussia,shesaidthat“it’sdangerous”and“not inany-body’ssecurity”.“Wehaveastrongpartnership”anddiscussionsarego-ingonbetweenIndiaandtheUSonthisissue,shesaid.OntheUS'sen-gagementwithChina,shesaidtheUSstrategyisto"compete,challengeandcooperate".After themeeting, Jaishankar

tweeted, "Glad to meet US@DeputySecState WendyShermantoday.Agoodconversa-tiononourrelationship,itssignif-icance and its growth.AppreciatedthesuccessfulvisitofPM@narendramoditotheUSandtheQuadLeaders’Summit.”


HarshVardhanShringlawithWendyShermaninDelhi.PTI

INDIAANDtheUShavelaidoutaroadmapforbi-lateralengagements inthenextfewweeks.Thedefencesecretaryandfi-nanceministerwill traveltotheUSsoon,andsecu-rityofficialswillalsomeet.Thiswill leaduptothe2+2ministerialmeet-ingbetweenthedefenceandforeignministers'frombothsides.FromAfghanistantotheIndo-Pacific,DelhiandWashingtonhaveabroadagendaahead.

Kabul,Indo-PacificonagendaE●EX

PLAINED

USDySecy of State: India,US have onemind, oneapproach on Afghanistan

Dehradun:DuringaneventatAI-IMS Rishikesh on Thursday,PrimeMinister NarendraModiis set to dedicate 35 pressureswing adsorption (PSA) oxygenplants established under PM-CARES to thecountry.

“Thisisvitalhealthcareinfra-structurefor largerpublicbene-fit,” thePMtweeted.The Uttarakhand Governor

and Chief Minister, along withthe Union HealthMinister, willbe present when the Prime

Minister addresses the gather-ingontheoccasion.Chief Minister Pushkar

Singh Dhami said the PM’svisitwillbebeneficialforthede-velopmentofUttarakhand.

ENS

In Uttarakhand, PM to launch O2 plants



10Maharashtracabinet nod toamendmentsto fishing ActEXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,OCTOBER6

THE STATE cabinet onWednesday cleared amend-ments to the MaharashtraMarine Fishing Regulation Act,1981 throughanordinance.TheAct--whoseobjective is

to protect the lives, rights andbusiness of local fishermen --will be amended for the firsttime in40years.The amendmentswill allow

the fisheries department to ap-point of an officer from the de-partment in place of the tehsil-dar to hold hearings andexpeditedecision-making.The amendments will also

allowmore stringent punish-ment for illegal fishing, whichmeans increase in penalty andseizure of the boat involved, agovernmentofficer said.Inapressrelease,thegovern-

mentsaidthattechnologicalad-vanceshaveensuredthatfishingcan be carried out on a largescale with little human effort.Fishermenhavebeencomplain-ingabout theuseof purse seinenets, fasttrawlersandLEDlightsthat need to be regulated.Severalunionshavemetsucces-sivegovernmentsandhencetheamendmentwasproposed.

VARINDERBHATIACHANDIGARH,OCTOBER6

SENIOR IAS officer AshokKhemka’s request for centralempanelment has been turneddown by the Department ofPersonnel and Training (DoPT)citinghislackofexperiencewiththe Union government, TheIndianExpresshas learnt.The1991-batchofficeriscur-

rently Principal Secretary ofHaryana’sArchives,Archaeology&Museumsdepartment.After filing repeated repre-

sentations seeking empanel-mentasAdditionalSecretary,theofficer moved the Punjab andHaryana High Court. The HighCourt,onAugust24,directedtheCentre to “pass a speaking or-der”onthefreshrepresentation.This representation, filed on

September 2, reads: “My in-tegrity has beenmy biggest sin

and I ampunished for commit-tingthissin.Throughthisrepre-sentation, I humbly requestyoufor a fair and timely considera-tion towardsmy empanelmentasAdditionalSecretary...”.The DoPT considered the

representation but replied thatsince Khemka had "nil" experi-ence of working in the centralgovernment, he cannot be con-sidered, The Indian Express haslearnt.Khemka, inhisrepresen-tation, had cited 40 cases inwhich the Centre had relaxedthisexperiencenorm.The Special Committee of

Secretaries, on September 21,had noted that one of the crite-riaforconsiderationforempan-

elment at Additional Secretarylevel is that the officer shouldhaveworkedoncentraldeputa-tion for a minimum period ofthreeyearsatthelevelofDeputySecretaryandabove.“Further, inApril, 2016, the CompetentAuthorityhadapprovedthattheofficerswhohavenotcompletedone year of central deputationbut are currently serving at theCentre may be considered forempanelment alongwith nextbatch. Accordingly, the officerswho have not completed oneyear of central deputation butareservingat theCentrearebe-ingconsideredforempanelmentwithnextbatchand those serv-ingattheCentreformorethanayear are being considered forempanelmentwith their batch.The Committee observed thatShriKhemkahas‘Nil’centralex-perienceashehasneverworkedoncentraldeputation,”thecom-mitteenoted.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICERAIPUR,OCTOBER6

A DAY after violence inChhattisgarh's Kabirdham dis-trict, allegedly over religiousflags of two communities, theOppositionBJPWednesdayhelda protest against the rulingCongress at the district head-quartersofKawardha town.On Tuesday, a protest by a

right-winggroupturnedviolentwhen, defying the administra-tion's curfew, a 3,000-strongmob armed with batons, andswords, damaged houses andvehicles.The incident culminated in

stone pelting, leaving severalpeople injured. The tension,however, had been simmeringbetween the two communitiessinceSunday.The Kabirdham police said

70peoplehavebeenarrested inthe past twodays andmore arebeing roundedup.Alleging that the protest,

which had the party's support,went out of control because ofpolice inaction, the BJP staged asit-in at the district headquar-ters. The delegation comprisedformer ministers BrijmohanAgarwal, Krishnamurti Bandhiand Leader of OppositionDharamlalKaushik.“The Congress government

doesn’t careabout thestateanditspeopleanymore.Theadmin-istration is responsible for thesituation in Kabirdhamdistrict.Theirbiashasupsetthelocalres-idents. Not allowing us tomeetthe victims is undemocratic,”Kaushik said. Agarwal, mean-while,accusedtheCongressgov-ernment of aggravating the sit-uation. “People of the state arenotgoingtoforgivetheCongressfor this,”hesaid.


ADAY after the Supreme Courtasked it fordata to show inade-quate representation ofScheduled Castes andScheduled Tribes in public em-ployment to justify providingreservation in promotions tothem,theCentreonWednesdayproduced figures which it saidwere enough to establish theirlownumbers.Additional Solicitor General

Balbir Singh told a three-judgebench headed by Justice LNageswaraRaothataccordingtothe data the total number inGroupA,BandCcategoriesin19ministries is 15.34% for SCs and6.18% forSTs.The bench, also comprising

Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B RGavai,washearingaclutchofpe-titions by the Centre and states

highlighting the issues in con-nectionwithimplementationoftwo Constitution bench judg-ments laying down the guide-linestobefollowedinprovidingreservation inpromotions.To a query from the court,

Singhsaidthefigureincludesre-servedcategorycandidateswhoareselectedonmerit.He said that “the data col-

lected... satisfies the test of ade-quacyof representation”.“The court should interfere

only if any arbitrariness is re-flectedintheCentre’sdecision...beyond that the courtmust notinterfere,”hesaid.Thebenchsaidif thegovern-

ment’s argument that this datais enough is accepted, therewould arise a problem. “In thedata that you have given, someclasseshavemorethanwhathasbeen prescribed. And, if this isyour argument, reservation forsomeclasseswillhavetobedis-

continued,” said JusticeRao.The court pointed out that

the data produced by the gov-ernmentshowedthatrepresen-tation in Group A is low, It saidthat it is as if the government isensuring adequate representa-tionbyadjustinginGroupBandC, “which isnot fair”.Attorney General K K

Venugopal, justifying the needfor reservation in promotions,said,“Itisafactof lifebecausewearenotbeingable,after75years,to bring the SCs and STs to thesame levelofmerit.”“Theyareadmittedatentry-

level,thereafterthereisnoreser-vation,” he said, adding that“time has come for your lord-ships to give concrete basis forthe SC, ST andOBC to fill up va-cancies”.The bench, however, made

clear that it is not dealingwiththeissueofOBCsbuttoreserva-tioninpromotiontoSCsandSTs.

AshokKhemka

Citing ‘nil’ experience, DoPT rejectsKhemka request for central posting

Chhattisgarhclash: BJPprotests Cong‘inaction’

SC, ST quota in promotions: Govt givesdata, says enough to show low numbers

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, OCTOBER6

THE DELHI High Court onWednesday said that the na-tional capital, on thecivic front,is falling by leaps and boundsevery day and it “cannot godown any further”. The courtsaid that it appears that thedutyof themunicipal corpora-tions isonly topaysalaries andpensions to theiremployees.“It is adismal stateof affairs

of the city. Hundreds of croresas salaries and pensions andwhat is happening to the city.Everywhere there is dengue,there isgarbage, cattle roamingin the streets, roads are in badshape.Where is thiscitygoing?For the last six months, thisbench is only catering to thesalariesof petitioners (munici-palemployees)...Weareaskingthem (corporations) to selltheirproperties, tellingGNCTDtogivemoneybutwhat ishap-pening?Where is the sense ofresponsibility of the petition-ersandmunicipality?” said thedivision bench of Justice VipinSanghi and Justice JasmeetSingh during the hearing of amatter related tosalariesof theemployeesofmunicipalbodies.The court said it has been

fighting for the rights of mu-nicipal employees and corpo-rationsbutonthegroundthereseems to be little happeningwhen it comes to discharge ofobligations.It also referred to the con-

ditions inSainikFarmsandsaidthat it continues to “beasdirtyas shabby” and cows there areroaming around and eatingplastic.

Dengue, garbageeverywhere innational Capital,can’t get worse:Delhi High Court

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, OCTOBER6

ADELHIjudgewhowashearingcases related to the NortheastDelhi riots was transferred bythe Delhi High Court to a CBIcourtWednesday.TheDelhiHighCourt issued

anordertransferring/posting11judicialofficers, includingsevenMetropolitan Magistrates andfourAdditionalSessionsJudges,includingVinodYadav,whowasposted at Karkardooma court.MetropolitanMagistrate FahadUddin, also hearing riots cases,has alsobeen transferred.ASJ Yadav has on multiple

occasions passed strong obser-

vationsagainst theDelhiPolice,calling its investigation"callousand indolent". Itwas followinghis strict observations that theDelhi Police constituted specialteams to review pending riotcases and ensure proper exam-inationof evidence.His court has so far received

179 riot cases for trial andchargeshavebeenframedin57.He will now be posted as aSpecial Judge (PC Act) (CBI) atRouse Avenue court, replacingSpecial Judge Virender Bhatt,whowill takeupYadav'sformerpostingatKarkardoomacourt.In an order recently, Yadav

observed that "in a large num-berofcasesof riots, thestandardof investigationisverypoor".He

also observed that "after filinghalf-baked chargesheets incourt, thepolicehardlybothersabouttakingtheinvestigationtoa logical end".Onthegeneralconductofof-

ficers at the forefrontof the riotcases, ASJ Yadavhad said that itwas"reallypainful tonote" thata large number of riots caseshave been pending considera-tion on charges and in amajor-ity of cases, the "IOs have notbeen appearing in court, eitherphysically or through video-conferencing,atthetimeofcon-siderationoncharge".Framingchargesagainsttwo

men accused of attacking the65th Battalion of the SashastraSeema Bal during the riots, he

had noted, "It is further painfultonotethat inalargenumberofcasesof riots, thestandardof in-vestigation is verypoor...”OnSeptember15,hepulled

up theprosecution fordelayingarguments on charges in a caseagainst former AAP councillorTahir Hussain, observing thatthe "truthwill eventually comeout". His court had dischargedHussain's brother and twooth-ers inacase, noting that "whenhistory will look back at theworstcommunalriotssincepar-tition in Delhi, the failure of in-vestigating agency to conductproper investigation by usinglatest scientific methods willsurely torment the sentinels ofdemocracy".

HC judge hearing Northeast Delhiriots cases transferred to CBI court

SUKRITABARUAHANDARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

THREEOF the ten programmesthat had their first cut-offpegged at 100% are likely toclose admission for the unre-served (or general) category af-ter admitting more studentsthan their sanctioned capacityunder the first list.B Sc (Honours) Computer

ScienceatHansrajCollegeandBA (Honours) Political Science atHindu College and RamjasCollegearenotlikelytoreleaseasecond list.Over95%of the206students admitted against theunreserved seats in these threeprogrammesarefromtheKeralaStateBoard, The IndianExpresshas learnt. Except for SRCC in2011,nocollegehasever closedadmissions for a programmewith 100% cut-off after the firstlist. Lastyear, all threeLadyShriRamCollege(LSR)programmes,

whichaskedfor100%marks,re-mained open for admission af-ter the first list. In fact, the B A(Honours) Economics pro-grammeremainedopen till thethirdlist,BA(Honours)PoliticalScience till the fifth list, andBA(Honours) Psychology till theseventh list.In other words, this is not

just the firstyearwhenarecordseven colleges asked for centpercent marks for a total of 10programmes, but it also boaststhe highest number of pro-grammestocloseadmissionsatsuch sky-highcut-offs.Wednesday'sfiguresareten-

tative since candidates with aprovisional offer of admission

have time till Thursday to paytheir fee. The second cut-off listwillbeannouncedonOctober9.By 6pmonWednesday, the

HinduCollegehadapprovedad-missionsof134studentsagainstits 20 unreserved seats for thepopular B A (Honours) PoliticalScience programme. Of these,onlyonestudentisfromaCBSE-affiliatedschool.TheremainingbelongtotheKeralastateboard.Ramjas College, which had

also set a 100% cut-off for thePolitical Science programme,had admitted 33 candidatesagainst 31unreserved seats. Allof them are from the Keralaboard.“Whileadmissionsforunre-

served seats in the course willprobably close, it will remainopenwithslightlylowercut-offsfor the various reserved cate-gories. I hope thatwe seemorediversityinthestudentswhogetadmittedtothose(seats),"saidateacher involved in the admis-sionsatRamjasCollege.

ARANYASHANKAR&SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

HINDUCOLLEGE is staring at anover-admission crisis acrosscourses,withpaymentcompletedfor around 900 applications byWednesdayevening.Another700applications have also been ap-provedbytheprincipalforwhichpayment is pending, meaningthatbyThursday,thecollegecouldpotentially admit around 1,600studentsforitstotal975seats.Wednesdaywas the last day

to apply for admission basedonthe first cut-off. However, appli-cants have time until 5 pmThursday to complete payment.Thesecondcut-off listwill be re-

leasedonOctober9.Overall by Wednesday

evening,DUhadreceived59,275applicationsforitsroughly70,000seats.Ofthese,paymenthadbeencompletedfor17,913applicationsandafurther12,774applicationshad been approved for admis-sions. ThismeansthatbytheendofThursday,DUcouldseearound30,000admissions.Courses apart fromPolitical

Science are also inhighdemandat Hindu. “We are have alreadyfilledmany courses beyond ca-pacity. Courses like Physics,Chemistry and BSc PhysicalSciencewithChemistrywillclosein the second cut-off list. For allthese courses, ifwecombine thenumberofpaidandapprovedap-plicationswearereachingfigures

between150and180,whichisal-mostdoublethenumberofseatswe have. Even courses likePhilosophyandEnglishare likelyto remain closed, at least for thegeneral category,” said HinduCollege Admission ConvenorManishKansal.Similar is thecaseatMiranda

House—manyofitspopularpro-grammesshouldbefilledorclosetobeingfilledinvariouscategoriesifpaymentsaremade.“Therehavebeenquite a lot of approvedad-missionsagainstunreservedseatsincoursessuchasPoliticalScience,Physics, Chemistry and Botany.B.A.Programmehasbeenslowersotheremightbeawindowofop-portunity there, as well as inPhilosophy,” said PrincipalBijayalaxmiNanda.

Delhi University: 3 courses demanding 100% set to close doors

ThesecondcutoffwillbeannouncedOctober9. PraveenKhanna

Housefull at Hindu Collegeas 1,600 apply for 975 seats

SOFIAHSANNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

GRANTING BAIL to an accusedwho has spent more than 12years as an undertrial in the2008Delhi serial blast case, theDelhi High Court Wednesdaysaidcourts "mustnotplaycoro-ner" and attend to the legal orconstitutional rights only afterthey are "dead". The court alsosaid that the incarceration ofmore than 12 years would cer-tainly qualify as a long enoughperiod "for the system to ac-knowledge that the appellant'srighttospeedytrialcontinuestobedefeated"."Insteadwemust play doc-

tor,andsavesuchrightsfromde-mise before they are extin-guished. Courts should proac-tively step in to protect suchrights from being stifled andburied," said thedivisionbenchof Justice SiddharthMridul andJusticeAnupJairamBhambhani,while granting bail to accusedMohdHakim."If equitycallsuponaffected

persons tobevigilant toprotecttheir rights, then surely thecourtsmustalsobevigilantand,to quote the Hon'ble SupremeCourt,actassentinelsonthequivive(alert)whenitcomestopro-tecting constitutional and legalrights," it said in thebail order.Hakim is accused of having

carriedcycleball-bearings from

LucknowtoDelhiwhich,accord-ing to the police, were subse-quentlyusedtomake IEDsusedin the blasts that occured inDelhi in 2008. Charges wereframedagainsthiminMay2011.Hakimwas represented by

senior advocate NityaRamakrishnan and advocateWarisha Farasat, who arguedthathisrighttospeedytrialisbe-ing violated and he deserves tobe released on bail during thependencyof the trial.Police had argued that

Hakimwas chargedwith graveandheinousoffencesinthecaseinwhich26peoplediedand135were injured.


2008 Delhi blasts accused grantedbail, HC says courts ‘must saveConstitutional rights from demise’


THESUPREMECourtWednesdaygave the go-ahead for a full-fledged criminal investigationintoallegationsofcollusionofcer-tainofficialsofTiharjailwithfor-mer promoters of Unitech LtdSanjayChandraandAjayChandrawhiletheywerelodgedinthejail,andordered immediatesuspen-sionofofficialsnamedinaprobereport submitted by the DelhiPoliceCommissioner.


‘Collusion’between Tiharofficials, Unitechpromoters, SCorders probe

DEVYANIONIALNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

JUNIOR ENVIRONMENTMinister AshwiniKumarChoubeyhasproposedtochangethenameofCorbettNationalPark toRamgangaNational Park. Howdid the park, and its as-sociationwith the legacy of themanwhosenameitbears, cometobe?

The nameJimCorbett has lent his name to not just

India’s oldest andmost celebrated nationalpark, but to the entire cottage industry thathas grownaround it— fromguesthouses tohairsalons,generalstorestogiftshops,helivesoninandaroundtheforestsofUttarakhand.Corbett’seffortsledtotheestablishmentof

the national park— the first in Asia—but itdidnotalwaysbearhisname.Whenitwassetupin1936,theparkwascalledHaileyNationalPark,afterSirMalcolmHailey,governoroftheUnitedProvinces.ShortlyafterIndependence,itwas renamedRamgangaNational Park af-tertheriverthatflowsthroughit,anditsnamewaschangedtoCorbettNationalParkin1956.“Usually, things named after the English

were renamed after Independence, but thiswastheotherwayaround,”saidStephenAlter,author of In the Jungles of the Night: A NovelAbout JimCorbett (2016). “Itwas at the insis-tenceofCorbett’sfriend,thefirstchiefminis-terofUttarPradesh,GovindBallabhPant,thatthe parkwas renamed after him, to honourhisconservationefforts,”Altersaid.

TheparkCorbett National Park is spread over 520

sqkmintheHimalayanfoothillsnearNainital.Alongwith the neighbouring 301-sq-kmSonanadiWildlifeSanctuary,theparkmakesupthe1,288-sq-kmCorbettTigerReserve.The hills, grasslands, and streamsmake

Corbett ideal tiger territory. Itwas here thatProject Tigerwas launched in 1973, and itstigerpopulationof 163today is the largest inasingleTigerReserve,withamongthehigh-est tiger densities in the country. The forestsarealsohometo600elephantsandover600speciesofbirds.

ThemanHunterandnaturalistEdwardJames‘Jim’

CorbettwasborninNainitalin1875,andlivedin India until Independence.He then left forKenya,wherehediedin1955.India’sbestknownbig-cathunter,Corbett

tracked downand killed a number of tigersandleopardsinGarhwalandKumaon,overadozen ofwhomare said to have beenman-eaters.Hewasequallywellknownasastory-tellerwith a gift for shikaar yarns and foresttales,andlater,asaconservationist.Thesonof apostmasterandoneofmany

siblings, Corbettwould comedownwithhisfamily from the hills everywinter to theirhome in Kaladhungi in the foothills, whichnowhousesamuseumdedicatedtohismem-ory.Thefoothillswouldbehistrainingground,where hewould learn—or as hewould say“absorb”—thewaysandloreoftheforest,andmuchmore. The skills he developedwouldhold him in good stead on his expeditions,captured vividly inMan-Eaters of Kumaon(1944), TheMan-Eating Leopard of Rudra-prayag(1948),TheTempleTigerandMoreMan-EatersofKumaon (1955),andotheraccounts.Corbett’sbookswereasmuchanaccount

of nature as theywere of people.My India(1952)isanintimateaccountofthepeoplehe

metinthehillsandintheplains,while JungleLore (1953)meanders through forests in sunandshadowtocapturethecallsofanimalsandbirds—andevenanoccasionalbanshee.Corbett,who volunteered in bothWorld

Wars andwas given the honorary rank ofColonel, spentmuchofhis lifewithhis sisterMaggie. In his later years, he all but gave uphunting,turninginsteadtowildlifephotogra-phyandconservation.Corbettwasoneofthefirstpersonstotakecine-filmsof tigersinthewild,writesAlter.

The legacy“Whentheparkwasmade, therewasno

dearthof forestnorof preybase, so thecon-tributionofJimCorbettwasthathesawmuchbeforeanyoneelsethatbecauseofthespreadofroads,motorcarsandlooseningofcontrolof arms, the tiger did not standmuch of achance,”saidRajivBhartari,whowasdirectorof Corbett TigerReserve from2005 to2008,and is now principal chief conservator offorests (headof forest force),Uttarakhand.“Soheusedall his skills, contacts, and re-

sourcestoworktowardstheestablishmentoftheAsianmainland’sfirstnationalpark.ItwasCorbett’s vision that the tigerneededprotec-tion. The park today represents over eight

decadesofconservation,”Bhartarisaid.Corbett’s great contribution lies in his

earlyunderstandingofthelinkbetweencon-servation and community. “The path be-tween protection and local welfare is verytough, and JimCorbett had a coherent phi-losophy.Hetriedtoworktowardstheprotec-tion of tigers butwas equally sensitive andcompassionate towards villagers,” saidBhartari, who has supervised research bothonCorbett'slegacyandthehistoryofCorbettNationalParkattheWildlifeInstituteofIndia.“WhenCorbettNationalParkwasformed,

theboundarywasvery carefullydeterminedsothatnorightsofvillagerswereaffected.Fromitsinception,it(thepark)hasenjoyedthegood-willofpeople,becauseofCorbett.Ithinkthat’shis legacy, theunique relationshipbetweenpeopleandconservation,”hesaid.Bhartari recalled Corbett spentmuch of

his latter life intryingtoimproveagriculturein Chhoti Haldwani—which he set up as amodelKumaonivillage—byspreadingbetterseeds, strengthening irrigation, andencour-agingvillagerstogrownotjustforconsump-tion, but for sale. “He let aworker run a teashopinhishousesotheworkercouldhaveasource of livelihood, andwhen he left forKenya,hegiftedallhislandtothevillagershehadsettledinChhotiHaldwani,”Bhartarisaid.Theproposed renaming, saidAlter, is in-

significant,“solongasCorbett’slegacyofcon-servationcontinues”.“You can call Connaught Place (in New

Delhi)RajivChowk,butitdoesn’tchangepeo-ple’smemories of the place.What’s impor-tantisnotthenamebutthatconservationef-fortsintheparkarestrengthened,”Altersaid.

AMITABHSINHAPUNE,OCTOBER6

“SIMPLEideasareoftenthemostdifficult toimagine,” the Nobel Prize committee saidwhile honouring Benjamin List and DavidMacMillanwiththisyear’sChemistryNobel.The simple idea that List andMacMillan

cameupwith,working independently,wastolookfornewcatalysts,thesubstancesusedtoacceleratechemicalreactions,whenmostbelieved theywere stuckwith an existing,somewhat inefficient, set.Thenewcatalysts,derivedfromnaturally-

occurringchemicals,weregreenerandcheap-er, and ensured that the end product of thechemical reactionwasof a specific variety—anddidnotneedtogothroughapurificationprocesstoyieldthedesiredtypeofcompound.“ThediscoverybeingawardedtheNobel

PrizeinChemistry2021hastakenmolecularconstruction to an entirely new level,” theNobel committee said. “Its uses include re-search intonewpharmaceuticals and it hasalsohelpedmakechemistrygreener.”

CatalystsWhen twoormore compounds react to

formnewcompounds, the process is oftenaidedbyother chemicals that donot changethemselves, but help speedup the reaction.Thesecatalystshavebeenknownatleastsincethemiddle of the19th century, andareusedinvirtuallyeverychemicalprocessthesedays.Tillaround2000,onlytwokindsofchem-

icalswereknowntoactaseffectivecatalysts:metals,mainlyheaviermetals;andenzymes,naturally-occurringheavymoleculesthatfacil-itatealllife-supportingbiochemicalprocesses.Boththesesetsofcatalystshadlimitations.Heaviermetals are expensive, difficult to

mine, and toxic to humans and the environ-ment. Despite the best processes, traces re-mained in theendproduct; thisposedprob-lemsinsituationswherecompoundsofveryhighpuritywererequired,likeinthemanufac-tureofmedicines.Also,metalsrequiredanen-vironment free of water and oxygen,whichwasdifficult toensureonanindustrialscale.Enzymes on the other hand,work best

whenwaterisusedasamediumforthechem-ical reaction. But that is not an environment

suitableforallkindsofchemicalreactions.

Organo-catalysisList andMacMillan, both 53, started ex-

perimenting with simple organic com-pounds.Organiccompoundsaremostlynat-urally-occurring substances, built around aframeworkofcarbonatomsandusuallycon-taininghydrogen,oxygen,nitrogen,sulphur,orphosphorus.Life-supportingchemicalslikeproteins,whicharelongchainsofaminoacids

(carboncompoundscontainingnitrogenandoxygen) are organic. Enzymes are also pro-teins,andtherefore,organiccompounds.List andMacMillanwere awareof earlier

research fromthe1970s, inwhich an aminoacidcalledprolinewasusedasacatalystinso-mespecificreactions.Butitsrolewasnotfullyexplored.Theystartedworkingwith individ-ualaminoacidsinenzymes—andstruckgold.

Asymmetric catalysis

Theindividualaminoacidshadanaddedadvantage:theyensuredonlyonevarietyoftheendproductwasyieldedinthereaction.Substances can have exactly the same

chemicalcompositionandmolecularformula;yet differwidely in their properties. Theyareknownas isomers. One type of isomers arethose that differ in theway individual atomsareorientedinthree-dimensionalspace.Twomolecules couldbe exactly the same, exceptthattheyaremirrorimagesofeachother, likeourhands.Forsimplicity,scientistsoftenreferto thesemolecules as left-handed or right-handed.Thissimpledifferencecansometimeshaveenormous consequences, because it al-lows themolecules to bind indifferent loca-tionswhentheyinteractwithothermolecules.Theendproductinachemicalreactionis

usually amixture of left-handed and right-handedmolecules.Thenormalchemicalre-actionscarriedoutinlaboratoriesarenotse-lective in this regard. But nature is. Becausethemirror images can have very differentproperties, natural processes are extremelyselective,andprecise.Theyproduceeitheraleft-handedora right-handedmolecule.

ListandMacMillandiscoveredthatbyus-ing a natural compound like an amino acidas a catalyst, theywere obtaining only onespecific mirror image of the end-product.Thiswas laternamedasymmetric catalysis.“ListandMacMillancameupwithanab-

solutegamechanger.Thefieldoforgano-cat-alysts, a name thatMacMillan later used todescribe thesenewsetsof catalysts, hasex-plodedinthelasttwodecades.Theydiscov-ered a simple, ingenious tool but its impacthasbeenhuge,mainlyinthepharmaceuticalindustry, but also in several other places,”said Prof R G Bhat of the Indian Institute ofScience Education and Research in Pune,whoworkswithorgano-catalystshimself.Dr S Chandrashekhar, director of

Hyderabad-basedIndianInstituteofChemicalTechnology, said the big significance of theworkwas that itmade the processesmuchsaferandmoresustainablethanearlier.“I amalso very happy tonote thatNobel

committee selected a breakthrough in pureChemistrythistime.Inthepast,theChemistryNobel hasoften recognisedwork that essen-tiallybelongedintherealmofbiology,”hesaid.

11WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

IN UPDATING its already strict air qualityguidelines(AQGs),theWHOlastmonthsentoutastarkmessage:thattheimpactofpoorairqualityonpublichealthisatleasttwiceasbadaspreviously estimated. Indiahas37oftheworld’s 50most polluted cities, despiteits air quality standardsbeingmore lax. Forinstance, its standards for PM2.5 andPM10are60and100µg/m3respectively (over24hours),while theWHO’snewstandardsare15and45µg/m3(over24hours).Not surprisingly, India’s air pollution-in-

fluencedmortalityratesareamongtheworst.TheGlobalBurdenofDiseaseestimatesthatIndialost1.67millionlivesin2019directlyasa resultof breathingpollutedair, orbecause

ofpre-existingconditionsexacerbatedbyairpollution. Uttar Pradesh had the biggestshareat3.4 lakh,Maharashtrahad1.3 lakh,andRajasthan1.1lakh.TheaveragelifeexpectancyinDelhiis6.4

yearslowerthanthenationalaverageof69.4,and the number is starting to fall for evencoastal cities likeMumbai and Chennai.Globally, it is estimated that exposure toPM2.5 kills 3.3million people every year,mostof theminAsia.

India’s predicamentTheproblemis,oureconomicgrowthis

builtonfossil fuels.Coal,oil,andnaturalgasaccountforroughly75%ofourpowergener-ation and >97%of road transport, but theycome at the cost of heavy CO, SO2, NO2,ozone,andparticulatematteremissions.Andhereinliesthepredicament:Indiapridesitselfonbeingthefastestgrowinglargeeconomy,and changing thewaywe generate powerandclampingdownonpetrolanddieselve-hiclesisseenasthrottlingeconomicprogress.Yetatthesametime,theever-growingneedforenergyandpersonalvehiclesisworseningthepublichealthcrisis. There isnowalmosta sense amongpeople that toxic air is just apartof lifeinthecity.

Thekiller threatIt isdifficult tooverstatetheseriousness

ofthesituation.ThehealthimpactsofPM2.5exposure now include lung cancer, cere-brovasculardisease,ischaemicheartdiseaseandacute lower respiratory illness, besidesexacerbating ailments like depression.Exposuretoozonehasbeenlinkedtochronicobstructive pulmonarydisease (COPD). Pro-longed exposure to airpollutants affects new-borns and babies still inthewomb.Whilemoth-ersmayhavetodealwiththe traumaof prematuredeliveries and stillbirths,foetuses face increasedrisk of being born withlungs that arenot yet de-velopedtofunctionprop-erly, and congenital de-fects that can impact the rest of their lives.Simplyput,airpollutionisathreattogener-ationsevenbeforetheyareborn.

Losses to economyA2019 study found that India’s horren-

dous air quality erased3%of itsGDP for theyearandcausedalossofnearlyRs7lakhcrore(~USD95billion).Mostofthelosswasduetoemployees failing to showup atwork, farfewerpeoplesteppingouttobuygoods,andforeign tourists staying away after health

warnings. Official figures indicate a loss of820,000jobsinthetourismindustryand64%ofbusinessessquarelyblameairpollution.Poorairqualitywasfoundtooffset67%of

thecostadvantageofusingsolarpanelsovergridpower,asground-levelsmogandthepar-

ticulatematter chokestheir power output.Also, several studieshavenoteda25%dropincropyieldforwheatandrice afterprolongedex-posuretoPMandozone.

Way forwardIt’s a crisis that af-

fects everyone. WhatIndianeeds todowith-outdelay is torevisit itsNational Ambient Air

Quality Standards, revise them down toWHOlevels, and implement themwithoutexception. Unfortunately, the newWHOguidelinesarenot legallybinding, soacriti-cal first step is to conduct nationwide epi-demiological studies and gather expansiverawhealthdataonairpollutionasariskfac-tor.WithoutthisitwouldbedifficulttogetapictureofjusthowmanyIndians,regardlessofage,genderandoccupation,aresufferingunder bad air, andwould render efforts totackletheproblemmeaningless.

Mostimportantly,theauthoritiesmustac-knowledgethatIndiansarenolesssusceptibleto air pollution—so to continuewith laxerstandardsforthesakeofindustryplacesalife-threateningburdenontheaverageresident.

TheChinaexampleChinawent through a similar phase. In

transforming itself as theworld’smanufac-turinghub,itscitiesweresubjectedtomanicairpollutionandBeijingwasnotoriousforitssmog. But it hashad success in tackling theissue,eventhoughafter10yearsit isstillnotWHO-compliant.Ithasprioritisedzero-emis-sionstransport,staggeredtheuseofinternalcombustionenginevehicles,andenforcedastrictclampdownonpointsourcesofpollu-tion that allows for fewexceptions, if at all.What’smostimpressiveisthatthecountryisnowthe largestmarket for electric vehiclesandcleanenergy,itspercapitaincomeshaveneverbeenhigher,anditsinfluenceasaneco-nomic powerhouse is still on the rise. It re-futesthemyththatclampingdownonairpol-lutionstymieseconomicgrowth.

Cleaner energyIndia’s National Clean Air Programme

(NCAP)attempts to incorporate suchsolu-tions, but e-mobility and clean energy inIndia arenotyetdominant in their respec-tive sectors. The good news is states like

Gujarat,Maharashtra, andTelanganahaveintroducedpolicies to speedup theirmar-ket shares, and EVs’ year-on-year sales areposting record figures.The share of renewable energyhas also

risendramaticallysince2015tocross100GWinAugust2021,which is almost aquarterofthe country’s installedpower capacity. Butthereisalongwaytogostill.

BettermonitoringAnother equally essential step is to ex-

pand the country’s air qualitymonitoringnetwork. The CPCB-controlled CAAQMSmonitors are expensive — each costs up-wardofRs20lakh—andthereareonly312of themspreadacross156cities.Thisleavesmany urban and rural pockets unmoni-toredtounderstandthefullextentof theirair pollution.Fortunately a number of new, low-cost

monitorshaveentered service, that capturereadings fornot onlyPM2.5 and10but alsogases likeNO2, SO2,methane, and second-ary volatile organic compounds. Still, theCentreandstategovernmentsmustboostthedensity of theCAAQMSnetwork to fully in-formthesciencebehindthecorrectivemeas-ures,andallofthisneedstohappenonprior-ity.Giventhescaleofourpublichealthcrisis,wastinganymoretimecouldverywell leadtoapublichealthemergency.

SIMPLYPUT

E EXPLAINEDTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021

2021LaureatesBenjaminList (left)andDavidMacmillan.NobelPrizewebsite

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

TOTALVACCINATED IN INDIA (at least one dose)

66,72,46,479

DOSESONOCTOBER562,99,579OCT4: 75,32,965 (1STDOSE: 39,92,260; 2ND: 35,40,705)

■Firstdose ■Seconddose

COVISHIELD88.3%

COVAXIN11.6%

TOTALDOSES92,17,65,405(SputnikV’s9,87,256dosesnot represented inpie)

Note:TheOctober5 figures in thesegraphsarebasedonthegovernmentupdatesonOctober6.Source:MinistryofHealth&FamilyWelfare,updatedat11pmonOctober6.

Sept26 Oct5

80,00000

40,00,000

0LAST 10 DAYS (daily)

16,92,283

34,39,091

28,60,488

23,85,201

THE EXPERTDRSACHCHIDANAND(SACHI)Tripathi isProfessor, IndianInstituteof Technology,Kanpur,andSteeringCommitteeMember,NationalCleanAirProgramme,MoEFCC

Sept25 Oct4LAST 10 DAYS

3,50,000

1,75,000

0

INDIAACTIVECOVIDCASES 2,52,902

Source:MoHFW

3,03,476 2,52,902

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

Simple idea that catalysed gamechanging reactions

EXPERT EXPLAINSSachchidaNandTripathiFromThe IndianExpresspanelof specialists, exclusive insight

WHO’sstarkmessageonair quality—andwhat Indiamustdo

Corbett’sbustathiswinterhomeinKaladhungi,whichhasnowbeenconvertedintoamuseumofhisbelongingsandmemories.(left) Express

NEXT : L I T ERATURE

NOBELPRIZE INCHEMISTRY

Jim Corbett, the man, the stories, andhis enduring legacy of conservation

12WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

OBJECTIONSub judicedoesn’tmeanagagorder; right toprotest inandonLakhimpurKherineedsSCprotection,nota legalquibble

WHENTHESUPREMECourtquestionsthecontinuingfarmers’protestsagainst theCentre’s farm lawsongrounds that thematter is sub ju-dice, when it asks if the right to protest is an absolute right, it letsdownthefarmers,thecitizenryand,also, itself. It istruethattheright

to protest is not a separate right in the Indian Constitution. And yet, it is there, shiningthrough,clearlyandunmistakably. It is implicit inArticle19(1)(a),whichguaranteesthefreedomof speechandexpression, and inArticle 19(1)(b), the right to assemblepeace-fully. It is integraltotherighttoprotectionof lifeandpersonallibertyenshrinedinArticle21.Surely, thecourt'sargumentcannotbethatonceadisputeenters itsdomain, there isa gag order on it. By that logic, the public spherewill fall silent and lifeless. The right toprotestisnotjustnecessaryinandof itself—itisalsoinalienablefromthearticulationandassertionof other rightsand freedoms.Of course, it is also true thatall rightsaresubjecttoreasonable restrictions.But for theapexcourt toquestion if theright toprotest is “ab-solute” in thecontextof the farmers'protest, evenas thestateputshurdles in itspathorseekstodelegitimiseit, is ill-judged.Comingintheimmediateaftermathof theincidentinLakhimpurKheriwhereaminister’sconvoyranoverprotestingfarmers,killingfourofthem, and setting off retaliatory violence that killed fourmore, the court’s interventionis insensitive—anddeeplydisturbing.For, it seemsnot just topass too lightlyoverArticles19and21, it appears toseethem

inconflictwithArticle32,therighttoconstitutionalremedy.Protest,dialogueanddebate,challenge before courts — these are not at odds ormutually exclusive. Taken together,theyhelptosecurethecitizenagainstanarbitraryor transgressingstate.Byframingthechoice as one between the court and the road, the SC bench of Justices AMKhanwilkarandCTRavikumar takes a very constricted viewof the rich and layered spaces that theConstitutionaffordstoeverycitizen.TheSCbenchalsogoesagainsttheapexcourt’sownexpansiveness in upholding and expanding citizens’ liberties in the past. In Ram LilaMaidan Incident vs Home Secretary, Union of India and Others, 2012, the court had said:“The people…have a right to raise their voice against the decisions and actions of thegovernment or even to express their resentment over the actions of the government…Thegovernmenthas to respectand in factencourageexerciseof suchrights.”In thematter of the farmers’ agitation, the court has stepped in before— in January,

itconstitutedacommittee,whilesuspendingimplementationofthefarmlaws.Thecom-mittee submitteda report, but theSChasyet to take cognisanceof it. Several other cru-cial issues—fromtheconstitutionalityofelectoralbondstotheabrogationofArticle370— are still waiting for their day in court. It cannot be the court’s argument, can it, thatplaintiffs anddefendants in courtroomsacross the country should giveup their consti-tutional right to speak out? The right to protest in andon LakhimpurKheri needs to beprotected, the legalquibblecancome later.

ON THE EDGEFornow, ISIS-Kattacks,whilechallengingTaliban,mayalsobe

imparting to it legitimacyofparty inpower

T HEBOMBATTACKon amosque inKabul on Sunday that killed at least fivepeopleisasignthattheAfghanchaosissettocontinue.Thebombing,claimedby the ISIS-K, targeted a large condolence gathering at amosque for themotherofZabiullahMujahid, theTalibanregime'sminister for information

andculture.ThiswasthesecondISIS-Kattack inKabulafter thedeadlysuicidebombingattheairport inAugust.Thedayafter, theTalibanregimeannouncedithaddestroyedanISIS-Kmodule inKabul. Theswift action,however,does little toassuageconcernsaboutthe evolving situation in the country. It appears that Afghanistan is nowpoised at theedgeofanotherabyss, inwhichinternecinewarfare,andthestrategicinterestsofvariousplayers in the regionwill keep thecountry in thegripof violence.Six years after it announced itself, there is little clarity about the ISIS-K, who com-

prises it, andwhat their objectives are. Fromwhat little is known, the ISIS-K comprisesAfghan Taliban fighters alienated from the group's leadership, similarly disgruntledPakistaniTaliban,andcadresofotherPakistan-basedgroupssuchasLaskhar-e-TaibaandJundullah,andUzbekandTajikmilitantgroupsamongothers.But theattacks theyhaveclaimed over the last two years, especially in Kabul, Jalalabad and other places inAfghanistan, speakofmoreexpertiseandsophisticationthantheir rag-tagcompositionsuggests.TheTaliban,whowereengagedinabloodyturfwarwithISIS-Ksince2018un-til about the endof last year, claim the group is aUSproxy toweaken theirmovement;India says it is aPakistanproxysetup tocreatedeniability forattacksagainst Indian tar-gets, and tokeeptheTaliban incheck;andPakistanclaims it is an Indianproxy, thatwillensure that theTalibannever find their feet inoffice.Fornowthough,ISIS-Kattacks,whilechallengingtheTaliban,arealsoimpartingtoitthe

legitimacyofthepartyinpower,onethathastofaceaterroristforcethatisseennowasdead-lierthanalQaeda.ItmayevenhelptheTalibanrallyinternationalsupport,includingfromtheUnitedStates,andhastentheprocessofinternationalrecognitionforthenewregimeinKabul.

PramodKumar

VasudhaKatju

OnshowatLakhimpurKheri,pursuitof powerthatmanipulates local faultlines

EVERY WOMAN’S MOVEMENTIndian feminismhasgrownbymakingroomfor intersectional concerns

IN LAKHIMPURKHERI, there are echoes ofSikh identity politics, the organic kinshipandalliancewithPunjab’s farmersand thepersecution of minorities in caste-riddenUttar Pradesh. The Lakhimpur Kheri inci-dent is less a clash between anti and pro-farmerprotesters andmoreabout theage-old issues of patchy governance and thereligious-casteoutrageofdominantHinduupper-castes. This was seen in the latter’sreaction to the Sikh farmer protesters andthedeathof eight people.LakhimpurKheri is home to the largest

Sikhpopulation inUP (6.43 lakh out of thedistrict’s totalpopulationof40.21lakh).Theregion is also knownas “mini Punjab”, andthefarmersof theseSikhfamilieshavesup-ported the farmerprotests fromthebegin-ning.Theanti-farmerprotesters(mainlytheHindu upper-caste community in the re-gion)havealreadylabelledtheseSikhfarm-ers as radicals.The Sikh farmers from the Terai region

represent a mix of moderate, radical andliberal strands of Sikh politics. At the timeofPartition,a largenumberof Sikhfamiliesmigrated from Pakistan and settled in theTerai region. The settlers purchased landfrom tribals in some areas and from localrulers in others. But, decades later, somepeoplefromtribalcommunitiesdemandedtheir land,and inthe1980s, theUPgovern-ment banned the sale of land by tribals tonon-tribals. It also passed orders that en-sured the land bought from tribals by thesettlerswouldnot be regularised.TheregionhassignificantScheduledCaste

andtribalpopulations,butthedominantma-jority is of Hindu upper-castes (mainlyBrahmins). The Sikh community not onlychallenges the idea of caste supremacy, butalso has a significant voice in this regionaroundsocio-politicalmatters.Theangeroverthe killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri issymptomatic of much deeper discontent,whichbecamegravewiththepromulgationofthethreefarmlaws.The threats issued by Union Minister

AjayMishra, triggeredtheblackflagsshownto him by the farmers in Lakhimpur KherionOctober3.Mishracanbeseen inavideo

saying: “If I got down to action then theywould not have even found a way to runaway... Iwanttosaytosuchpeopleto ‘mendyourways’,otherwiseIwillmakethemfacemeand set themright in twominutes.”Thesekindsofthreatshavetobeseenasa

display of upper-caste privilege and a re-minder to Sikhs andother farmers that theyareoutsiders,andmanyof themarecultivat-ingdisputedland.Thekisanagitationagainstthree lawswas anopportunity for the farm-ers intheregiontobeapartof the largeragi-tation,withitsrootsinPunjab.TheSikhfarm-ers have been fighting for rights to the landthey have been tilling for the last 70 years.Thesefarmershaveputinhardlabourtomakethelandcultivableandtransformedtheagri-cultural landscape of the region. Since thesefarmersarenotpoliticallysignificantinUPpol-itics,theforestandrevenuedepartments,andgram sabhas, are asking them to vacate thedisputedland.TheLakhimpurKheriincidentuncovered

thecontoursofadiscriminatory,casteistmodeof governance. Four farmers and four otherswerekilled. It isallegedthatthefarmersdiedwhenthevehicleof AshishMishra, themin-ister’sson,moweddowntheprotesters.Ithasbeen alleged byBJP leaders that three partyworkers were dragged out of the car andlynchedbytheprotesters.While many opposition parties have

protested, the more pronounced reactionhas come from Punjab’s political leaders.Former Chief Minister Captain AmarinderSingh said in a tweet: “Thorough probeneeded into theLakhimpurKheri incident.Justicemust be ensured for the victims ofviolence. Violence or provocation of vio-lence is no solution to anyproblem.”AkaliDal president Sukhbir Badal said that hisparty demands the immediate arrest ofAshishMishra.Thecrisishascatalysedcastepolarisation

intheLakhimpurKheriregion.ThesefissuresarealsoextendingtoPunjab,wheresomeur-banHindusandasectionofSCsaredistancingthemselves from the farmers’ protests. OnereasonforthisisthatPunjabandUParegoingto the polls soon. The logic of the pursuit ofpoweralways locates itself in local fault lines

— farmers become Jat, Kurmi, Kamboj, Ahirandthekhetmazdoor,Mazhabi,Valmiki,Adidharmietc.This is alsowhymost opposition parties

havewadedintothefarmers’issueatthecur-rentjuncture—manyareintheelectoralfrayin both election-bound states. CongressGeneralSecretaryPriyankaGandhiVadrawasarrestedonherwaytomeetthevictim’sfam-ilies,formerUPCMAkhileshYadavconducteda sit-in protest, BSP leader Satish ChandraMishrawasputunderhousearrest.Thechiefministers of Congress-ruled Punjab andChhattisgarhsoughtpermissiontolandtheirhelicoptersinLakhimpurKheri.Ontheotherside,theBJPhasallegedthatviolencewasper-petratedbysomeof theprotesters.After the incident, theUP state govern-

ment and farmer leader Rakesh Tikaitreached an agreement on October 4. Thisincludes Rs 45 lakh compensation and agovernment jobfor therelativesof the fourfarmerswho died. Thesemeasureswill befollowedby aprobeby a retiredhigh courtjudge. Later, Tikait said that the state gov-ernmentmustarrestAshishMishrawithinaweek.Tikait’s rolehasbeenquestionedbysomeleadersof theSamyuktKisanMorcha(SKM).TheSKMalsofearsthat if thisprotestis allowed to linger, the epicentre of thefarmermovementmay shift.The SKM is not in command. It has

ceased tobehomogeneousandmany faultlines have emerged in the farmers’ move-ment. It would be prudent to resolve theconflictsbetweenkisanunionsrather thanmultiplying caste, religious and ethniccleavages towin elections. The parties be-hind state and central governments willgarnermore votes if they are seen to be onthe side of justice. The people responsiblefortheruthlessrepressionmustbebroughttojustice.Thevictimsmustnotbecastasidefor the callous calculus of electoral arith-metic. The issues that led to the protestsshouldbe resolved as soonas possible.

Thewriter isdirector, InstituteforDevelopmentandCommunication(IDC),

Chandigarh

IT IS REMARKABLE howmany lives KamlaBhasin touched. Activists, friends, students,andcolleaguesreminisceaboutawomanwhodrewtheminwithherhumour,wit,ideas,andenergy. People recall reading her books andpoems, listening to and singing her songs.Theynotetheorganisationsandnetworksshehelpedfoundandbuild.Thesemayseemlikepersonalaccomplishments,buttheyarealsoimportant contributions to movements.Movements coalesce not just around issues,but also around the sense of community,sharedculture,solidarity,andhistorythatareshapedbyindividualsandinstitutions.Atatimewhenthewomen’smovement

ismissing a senseof shared spaces anddia-logue,it’s importanttorememberthatsomeofourexistingspacesexistbecauseoftheac-tionsofKamlaBhasinandotherslikeher.Yetthesespacesandthefeministmovementit-self are very different today than they havebeen in thepast.Somemonths ago, videos of Bhasin at a

workshop calledArtivismbegan circulatingon socialmedia. Amongst other things, shestated,“mydefinitionofgendermeanstheso-cioculturaldefinitionofagirlandboy,manandwoman,itdoesn’tmeancaste,itdoesn’tmeanrace.” Thesewords echoed the longstandingidea that sexhas todowithnature, andgen-derwith thesocial andculturalmeaningsat-tachedtobeingmaleor female.Likeall ideas,thesehavebeenopentoexamination,debate,andreformulation.Inparticular,theideaofsexaspurelybiologicalhasbeenrethought.The feministmovement has also had to

engagewithdiversityinverydifferentways.

Forthewomen’smovementofthe1970sand1980s, oneprioritywasmakingwomen thefocus of politics and demands for justice invariouscontexts.One importantgoalwas toshow thatwomenhad certain commonex-periencesduetopatriarchalsocialstructures.However, women of different social back-groundsexperiencetheworlddifferently,andthis has consequences for feminist thoughtandactivism.Ofthemanywaysinwhichfeministshave

engagedwith difference and diversity, per-haps themostpopular today is intersection-ality.Intersectionalitywasconceptualisedbythe critical race scholar Kimberlé Crenshawto denote howblackwomen’s experienceswere shaped by them being Black andwomen,andweredifferent fromtheexperi-ences of both Black men and non-Blackwomen. In India, the termhas come to de-scribeawayoflookingatpeople’sexperiencesasshapedbyvarioussocialgroupsand iden-tities towhich theybelong. Thishasbecomeaninfluentialwayoflookingathow,say,casteandgenderworktogethertoshapetheexpe-riences of savarna andDalitwomendiffer-ently.Thereforetounderstandgender,wealsohavetounderstandhowitisshapedbyothersocialstructures.Bhasin’sstatementthatgen-dermeans the sociocultural definitions ofmale and female, and that caste and raceshouldbeunderstoodseparately,reflectshowfeminists began thinking of gender, nature,andsociety.However, feminists’viewsabouttheworldhaveevolvedmuchfurther.Theseshiftshavereflectedinfeministac-

tivismaswell.Thelastfewdecadeshaveseen

feministsorganisingaroundparticularissuesandidentitiesratherthansimplyas“women”.Forexample,Dalit andMuslimwomenhaveformed their own organisations and net-works. One reasonwomenhave organisedseparately is the challenge they have facedwithinexistingfeministspaces,ofhavingtheirissues understood and acted upon. Dalitwomen, for example, respondeddifferentlytotheMaharashtragovernment’sbanonbardancing in 2005 thanmainstream feministgroups.Whilethelattersawbardancingasanissueofwomenworkers, theformerpointedto the perpetuation of caste-based forms ofwork throughbar-dancing. Over time, therehasbeenarealisationthatpeopleofallback-groundsandsocialgroupsneedanddeserveequalattentionfromthefeministmovement.ThissitsuneasilywithBhasin’scommentthatfeminismisaboutgettingridofpatriarchyandthattransgenderandecologicalissuesaresep-arate from it. Formany today, as in the past,patriarchy is intrinsically connectedwithothersocialstructures.AsIndianfeminismcontinuestodevelop,

itisrepeatedlyconfrontedwithcertainques-tions.Whatisgenderandhowdoesitimpactpeople?What dowewant to change?Howdowecreatespacesthatallowustoworkto-wards change? Kamla Bhasin and others ofhergenerationofferedanswerstotheseques-tions.Itisforustolearnfromthemaswecon-tinuetonurturethismovement.

Thewriter isasociologist.ShecurrentlyteachesattheCentreforWritingand

Pedagogy,KreaUniversity

The crisis has catalysed castepolarisation in theLakhimpur Kheri region.These fissures are alsoextending to Punjab, wheresome urban Hindus and asection of SCs are distancingthemselves from thefarmers’ protests. Onereason for this is that Punjaband UP are going to the pollssoon. The logic of the pursuitof power always locates itselfin local fault lines — farmersbecome Jat, Kurmi, Kamboj,Ahir and the khet mazdoor,Mazhabi, Balmiki, Adidharmi, etc.

One reason women haveorganised separately is thechallenge they have facedwithin existing feministspaces, of having their issuesunderstood and acted upon.Dalit women, for example,responded differently to theMaharashtra government’sban on bar dancing in 2005than mainstream feministgroups. While the latter sawbar dancing as an issue ofwomen workers, the formerpointed to the perpetuationof caste-based forms of workthrough bar-dancing.

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,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021WORDLYWISE

The robots are coming,whetherwe like it ornot, andwill change our economy indramaticways. —Kristen Soltis AndersonTHEEDITORIALPAGE

The politics of injustice

SADAT ASSASSINATEDPRESIDENT ANWAR SADAT of Egypt waskilledonTuesdaybyagroupofEgyptiansol-dierswhoattackedhisreviewingstandwithgrenadesandassault riflesduringamilitaryparadeinCairo.Anofficial inthePresident'sofficesaidhediedinhospitalaftertheshoot-ing. Sadat was 62. The official in the presi-dency said he had lived several hours afterbeinghit in the shooting. At least twootherpersonswere killed andmany others— in-cluding diplomats from Australia andBelgium—were injured. An official saidmany foreign ministry officials werewounded. Threemembers of a USmilitary

delegationwerewounded, the USDefenceDepartmentannouncedinWashington.TheEgyptiancabinetmetintheafternoonunderthe chairmanship of the Vice-President,HosniMubarak—who apparently sufferedonlyslight injuries in theattack.

TAKING RESPONSIBILITYAN EXILED EGYPTIAN opposition groupclaimedresponsibilityhereonTuesdayfortheassassination of President Sadat. An anony-moustelephonecaller, identifyinghimselfasthespokesmanforthe“RejectionFrontfortheLiberationofArabEgypt"toldtheleftistBeirutnewspaper Al Liwa its secret “free officers”

branchwithin the Egyptian armed forcesstagedtheattackonSadat.

INTERIM RULENATIONAL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER Soufi AbuTalebhas beennamed “acting President,” ofEgyptafter theassassinationofAnwarSadat.ThiswasannouncedbyVicePresidentHosniMubarak, in a radio-television address. Theparliament,meanwhile,istoconveneinaspe-cial session tomorrow to choose a candidateforthepresidency.Reutersadds:ThepolitburooftherulingNationalDemocraticParty(NDP)announced it had unanimously decided tonominateMubarakasSadat’ssuccessor.

OCTOBER 7, 1981, FORTYYEARSAGO

ROBOCOPSingaporehasdeployedrobotpoliceofficers todisciplinecitizens.Thedanger is thepolicemaninsidepeople'sheads

FORTHELOVERSofefficient,consumeristauthoritarianism,Singaporeisindeedaparadise. The streets are clean, the restaurants swanky and theworldly cos-mopolitanism is complementedbya “strong” state. There arenoprivacy lawsto speakof, so theobjectionsby somecitizens to the90,000police cameras—

set todoubleby2030—carry little bite. But cameras, jail timeandcrippling fines alonearenotenoughtoperfectawell-orderedcity-stateUtopia.Thereisadvancedfacialrecog-nitionsoftwareon lampposts inadditiontothecameras.Andtoperfect thepanopticon,Singaporenowhas itsveryownRobocop.Singaporehas initiatedapilotprogrammeinwhichrobotsonwheels,eachoutfitted

with seven cameras andmicrophones, animated by advanced software, are patrollingresidential areas and shopping complexes. The 'Xavier' robocops blast warnings atdenizens engaging in “socially undesirable behaviour”. The list of prohibited acts thatcan lead toa tongue-lashing froman inanimateobject includesmoking inpublic, flout-ingCovid-19normsandparkingyourbicyclesimproperly.Formany,thereisnothingdis-turbing about the imposition of discipline using robots— it usually takes a sci-fi fan tospot the impendingmachine-ledapocalypse.And, theacts theXavier robots are shout-ingatpeople forare similar to those that annoy theover-zealousofficebearersof hous-ingsocieties inurban Indiaaswell.The point of surveillance, however, isn't really to catch a criminal in the act. It is, in

fact, tomakesurethatpeoplealwaysactasif theyarebeingwatched.Therobots, likethecameras and facial recognition software, aren'tmeant tomake you afraid of the police.Theyaremeanttoplaceapolicemaninyourhead.And,perhaps,inwhatisasignofthingsto come, the Singapore government describes its surveillance ambitions as turning thecity-state intoa “smartnation”.

13THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY

“Underpinning this international tax avoidance infrastructure is the idea thatrich people and companies should be allowed to do what they want; thatgovernments’ claims on their money are in some sense unreasonable or unjust.”

< —THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

India became anindependent nation and theworld’s largest democracytwo years before thecommunists took control ofChina. But even today,millions of Indians continueto languish in abject poverty.In America, the world’swealthiest nation andsecond-largest democracy,some 34 million people livebelow the poverty line. Theserealities raise the question:What should be the newworld order in the 21stcentury — democracy ortotalitarian?

THENATIONALDefenceAcademyhasfinallyopened its gates towomencadets after therecent intervention of the SupremeCourt.However, the advent ofwomen inuniformattheNDAmaynotbeassmoothaswemightimagine. Theentryofwomenposes severalchallengestotheacademy,at least forsometime to come. Themale-centric institutionhastoreconfigureitsinfrastructuretoaccom-modatewomen.Newentrants at theNDAareknown toexperience a culture shockastheymove fromacivilian lifestyle to that ofthemilitary. In addition, female cadetswillalsofaceanintimidatingmasculineculture.TheNDA,thefirstinstitutionofitskindin

Asia to jointly train cadets for the army, thenavyandtheairforce,hasgrownintoIndia’spremiermilitary institution since its estab-lishmentin1954.Itwasconceptualiseddur-ingpre-independentIndia,afterrealisingtheneedtofostercoordinationamongthethreeforces. The aimwas to catch future officersearly and instil the spirit of camaraderie inthem.Over the years, the academyhas be-comeabrandname. TheNDAcadethas anedgeoverhisothercounterpartsintheIndianarmed forces. Several ex-NDAofficers havereceivedgallantryawards,andmorethan25havebecomechiefsofstaff.TheNDA’sstructure,whichisbasedon

sharp distinctions between ex-NDA anddirectentryofficers,permanentcommis-sion and short service commission andmen in uniform and civilians, now needsto redefine the way of life on campus toaccommodatewomen.Whiletheworldhasshiftedtowardsgen-

der inclusivity, thearmed forceshave takentheirownsweet timetoengage in inclusivepolitics.Womenentered the forces for thefirst timeduring the1950s asnurses, engi-neers,doctorsandinstructorsforshort-termcommissions. It was difficult for them tomakeittothecombatforces.In2008,womeninthearmy’slegalandeducationalwingsbe-came eligible for permanent commission.Now the last bastion at Khadakwasla hasbeenobligedtoacceptwomenforcadetshipandcamaraderie.WhatisatstakeattheNDAisnotjustthe

needforrebuildingtheinfrastructure—train-ingprogrammeandaccommodationfor fe-malecadets—butalsoaredesignofmindsetandattitudes towards acceptingwomenascadets.Thoughdeeplyrootedinthephysicaland cognitivemapof youngmen, the stan-dardsof endurancetestsandsquadronrou-tinewillberenegotiatedeasilyenough.Itwillbemoredifficulttochangethelanguageand

semioticsof theacademy.Firstofall,weneedtounderstandthena-

tureoftheNDAaswhatErvingGoffmancallsatotalinstitution.Itsveryfoundationisbuiltonmasculinevocabularyandepistemicfaith—participants,bothtrainersandtrained,havegotusedtocreating“men”outofboys.Overthe years, it has produced amasculine lan-guage—theNDAlingo.Andchangingthisid-iom is not as easy as changing thephysicalandcurricularsetup.Whatthestakeholdersneedtorealiseisthatitiscriticallyimportantandinevitabletochangethelanguageoftheacademy.Thiswillhelptochangeitsoutlookforthebenefitofbothsexes.Puttingasideforthemomenttheissuesof

sexualharassmentandglassceilings,whichallinstitutionsgloballyhavetoaddress,howwill themalecadetsgoaboutmakingspaceforwomen?Thisiscrucial.AssomeonewhotaughtattheNDAforfouryears, Iwitnessedmeninuniformrespectingwomenasladies,astheyaretruegentlemenofficerswithgoodoldBritishattitudes.Butitwouldbebetterifwomenare treated as their equal counter-parts. Itdoesnotmeanthatthemenaredis-posed to treatwomenofficers as their sub-ordinates.Theproblemdoesnotmanifestatindividuallevels,butarisesoutoftheinstitu-tionalmatrix;theveryhistoryandnatureoftheacademywouldmake it difficult for theparticipants,eveniftheybuytheprogressivearguments of gender theories, to acceptwomen,withoutsignificantacculturation.SharanSharma’smovieGunjanSaxena:

The Kargil Girl (2020), based on the careerof formerFlightLieutenantGunjanSaxena,maynotbeadocumentary, but the smokeit blows might not be without fire. Themovie, which became controversial forshowinggenderbiasintheIndianAirForce,revealshowdifficultitwasformaleofficerstoacceptawoman.I don’t think thatmaledominance is an

inherentflawinthesystem.RatherIamtry-ing to suggest that given themindset of theinstitutionanditsethos, itwouldtakealongtimeforthemenbeingtrainedandthemenwho train to readjust their outlook. Thead-ministrationandwomencadetswillneedtounderstandthebanalityof thisattitude.Theacademy,whichboastsofoneofthetoughestmilitarytraining intheworld,hastorebuilditstrainingprogramme.Thestressfulsched-ule,unlikeincollegesanduniversities,mightcreatefissuresinco-education.Finally,therootcauseofanyfutureprob-

lemsmightbetraceabletotheveryfactthatit is not the institution that has voluntarilyopened its door towomen. The DefenceMinistryhasbeenforcedtoaccepttheinter-vention of the SC order. Early batches ofwomencadetscannotexpectoutsideagen-ciestotakecareoftheirinterestsineverydaytraining.Theywillinevitablyhavetocombata historically-rootedmasculine outlook. Iwishthemallthebest.

Thewriter isprofessor, TumkurUniversity,Karnataka

OVERFOURDECADESago,DengXiaopingor-dered theopen-doorpolicy to rebootChina’seconomy.TheinitiativewascalledtheSecondRevolution.Thequestion,inlightofrecentde-velopments, iswhetherPresidentXiJinpingisleadingChinaintoitsThirdRevolution.TheSecondRevolutiondeliveredagreat

deal of good. Deng, a LongMarch compan-ionof thegreathelmsman,MaoZedong,hadwitnessed the trials and tribulations of thecommunist movement in China. The paththe Chinese Communist Party (CCP) trod inits first half-a-century was paved withpainful sacrifices. The LongMarch claimedsome 70,000 lives. The Great Leap Forwardled to asmany as 45million deaths due toforcedlabour,starvation,andexecution,andsome 20 million more perished in theCulturalRevolution.Recognisingalltheactionsthatledtothese

sacrifices and their failure to deliver on thepromisedwell-being for all—aswas also thecasewiththeSovietUnion—Dengchose,whenhebecametheparamountleaderin1978,tolet“somepeople get rich first”. By that, he dis-tanced himself from theMarxist approach,which,inturn,ledtoChinaenteringtheWorldTradeOrganisationandtradingwithotherna-tionsonequalterms,thusembarkingonanun-stoppablejourneytoriches.By the time Xi took over in 2013, China

had become a land of billionaires. By 2015,just37yearsafterDeng launchedtheopen-door policy, some 850million people hadrisenabovethe$1.90-a-daypovertyline,ac-cording to theWorldBank, and the remain-ing 98.99million did so by the endof 2020.Bythistime,Chinahadalsobecomethesec-ond richest nation, with 387 billionaires,eachcommandingwealthrangingbetween$1.55billionand$65.6billion. Inthefollow-ing 12months, an additional 239 citizensjoined thebillionaires’ league.ToXi’schagrin,theSecondRevolutionalso

produceda fewthingsabhorrent to thecom-munistobjective,likeawideningrich-poordi-vide in the country, undermining the goal ofcreatingaclasslesssociety.Xi assumed the leadershipwith certain

tenacious ideas. To realise them, he got theconstitution amended to remove the termlimit and let thepresident remain in powerfor life. No other leader sinceMao has hadthisprivilege.XiaimstosucceedwhereMaoandother communist leadershavenot, andmake theMiddle Kingdom the everlastingcapital of communism.TheSovietUnion,fromwhichcommunists

everywherehaddrawninspiration,collapsedinits74thyear,withallitsvassalstatesineast-ernEurope.Topreventthishistoryfromrepeat-ingandtoensurethat thecommunistsystemof governingwill become the global order isXi’sobjective,nowthatChinaisinits72ndyearofcommunistrule.So,lately,Xihastakenafewsteps.Thesein-

clude anorder toonline gamingplatforms toforbidchildrenfromplayingvideogamesmorethanonehouradaythreetimesaweek.

This may appear innocuous but is far-sighted.More than70per cent of China’s 1.4billionpopulationhasinternetaccess.ThisisamajorconcernfortheCCPasitsuspectsthatitscitizenswith access to the internetmight beproudoftheChinesenation,butnotnecessar-ilyoftheCommunistPartythatrulesthecoun-try.HongKong,aformerBritishcolonythatre-turned toChinese sovereignty in1997, grantsthis fear credence.HongKong residents gen-erally haveno ill-feeling towards theChinesenationandpeople.Butasignificantnumberofthemare against communist rule, and pro-democracy campaigners therehaveused theinternetingeniouslytomobilisepeopleagainsttheCCPanditslocalrulers.Meanwhile, despite the political agenda

hiddeninregulatingvideogames,manypar-entsinChinaandelsewhere,whofindprisingchildrenawayfromvideogamesaheadache,mightevenadmiresuchcontrol.Theymightwishforsimilarrestrictions inotherspheresof life. People bewildered by those protest-ing against Covid-19 vaccination in somedemocraticcountriesinthenameoffreedomofchoicecouldbewonderingwhatiswrongabout China curtailing freedom for thegreatergood.This is a thinkingprevalent even among

today’swealth-chasingyounggenerationinChina. They ask what’s wrong if humanrights and personal freedoms are set asideandthegovernmentallowedafree,evendic-tatorial,handaslongaspeoplecanenjoythewealth they create.Inotherwords, theywill acceptabenevo-

lent dictatorshipof anypolitical shade ratherthan free-wheeling democracy. Such argu-ments are abundant in EvanOsnos’s Age ofAmbition, Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith inNewChina.Denginspiredsuchsentimentandlogicas

his open-door initiative achievedmind-bog-glingresults,particularlycomparedtothesit-uationinIndiaandAmerica.India becamean independentnationand

theworld’s largest democracy twoyears be-forethecommuniststookcontrolofChina.Buteventoday,millionsofIndianscontinuetolan-guishinabjectpoverty.InAmerica,theworld’swealthiestnationandsecond-largestdemoc-racy, some34million people live below thepovertyline.Theserealitiesraisethequestion.What should thenewworldorder in the21stcenturybe—democracyortotalitarianism?

It is a question that Singapore has an-sweredwithwhatcouldbecalleda“guideddemocracy” or “regulated” dictatorship.South Korea and Taiwan have respondedwithadictatorshiptoattaineconomicpros-perity before granting people the right tovote andelect their government.Itisalsothequestionalargenumberofur-

banestudentsandyoungprofessionalsaskedauthorOsnos during his stay in China, from2005to2013,asastaffwriterofTheNewYorker.They asked him: Why should we choosedemocracyifwecanstillhaveagoodlifewith-outdemocracy?AnewchallengeliketheTiananmenupris-

ing,orthepro-democracymovementinHongKong—nowhelddownbya combinationofCovid-19 protocols and a Beijing-legislatedNationalSecurityLaw—gainingnewvigour,istheleastofXi’sworries.Instead,heismoreconcernedaboutthefew

in command of the growing abundance ofwealthandthepeople—particularlytheyoungwhowillfindnewwaystobreakprotectivefire-walls—havingunfetteredaccess to the inter-net,whichcouldleadtothespreadofanarchistideas through socialmedia andgamingplat-forms.Aboveall,theCCPisparanoidaboutfor-eignforceslurkingforanopportunitytothwartthe socialist systemof government that theMiddleKingdomnurtures as themodel for anewworldorder.Therearises thequestion:HasXi,withhis

agenda tobuild socialismwithChinese char-acteristicsforalltoemulate,decidedtobellthecatthatDengletroamaboutfreely?Couldthisbe the emergenceof a dictator trying todragthecountrybacktotheMarxistpathordecideonthesociety’soverallwelfare?Whateverbehisplan,theyoungergener-

ation of Chinese, who were recently in afrenzy to buy the newly released AppleiPhone-13,may not necessarily be too con-cerned about it. One of the young thinkersOsnos spoke with said: In the 1990s, itseemed the governmentwasnot good, anda good governmentwas needed to lead thenation. But the problem was, “we didn’tknowwhat a good government would be;so,welettheCommunistPartystayinplace.”

ViswaNathan,authorofHongKong—TheTurbulentTimes,was formerly, theeditor inchiefof theHongkongStandardandroving

editorof theManilaTimes

NSGundur

PViswaNathan

SteeringawayfromDengXiaoping’spath,Xi Jinpinghasinauguratedaneweraof thoughtcontrol inChina.YoungChineseareunlikelytobetooperturbed

Xi’s China & Third Revolution TheNDA’sinclusion test

Asitopensdoorstowomen,theacademywillneedtoredesignnotonlytrainingmodulesbutalsoitsmale-

centricmindset, languageandculture

CR Sasikumar

PLUG LOOPHOLES

THIS REFERS TO the editorial,‘Pandora’s box’, (IE, October 6).Developing countries like India areamongtheworstaffectedbytaxavoid-ance and evasion through offshorestructures,withbillionsofdollars slip-ping out. Moral repugnancy of taxavoidance doesn't bother the peopleinvolved, many of whom are wellknownpersonalities. It is time, there-fore, for the government to penalisethosewho have infringed laws in anyway. Further, many tax avoiders areNRIs, who take advantage of exemp-tions indeclarationofwealth,andthisloophole needs to be plugged to pre-ventthetaxsystemfrombeinggamed.

HemantContractor,Pune

THE RUSH FOR DUTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘It’sbro-ken, fix it’ (IE,October6). It’s irrationalthat one examination plays an im-mensely important role in the aca-demicprospectsof students.TheNewEducationPolicyhas talkedabout thejoyof learning. It’s timethatsuchhigh-strung ideals are incorporated in theexamination system.

KreetiDua,Gurugram

THIS REFERS TO the editorial ‘Its bro-ken, fix it’ (IE,October6).Thephenom-enonof high cut-offs is not just an ac-ademic-administrative problem. It isa subset of critical issues that ail theeducation system, and an outgrowthof the lack of democratisation of re-sources.TheCentreandstatesmust in-vest more in public education, boostacademic infrastructure across thecountry,maketheClass12evaluationprocessmoreholistic;andensurethat

all students, irrespectiveofwheretheyare studying, get a level-playing fieldwhen it comestoavailinggoodteach-ers and infrastructure. Only thenwillthe rush forDUwill end.

SanjayChopra,Mohali

TIME TO REFLECTTHIS REFERS TO the report, ‘PM saysOpp is in habit of attacking him,praises Yogi’ (IE, Oct 6). On Sunday, aspeedingvehicle, allegedlyownedbyMoSHomeAjayMishraanddrivenbysonAshishMishra,moweddownfourfarmers and the subsequent violencecost four more lives. On Tuesday, PMNarendraModiwas inLucknowprais-ing CM Yogi Adityanath for develop-ment inUPbuthegave amiss to con-dolences message for the dead andspeedy recovery of the injured. KisanUnionswhilepursuingthecase legallyand attacking the BJP politically alsohave to introspect and reflect overtheir reaction and response toprovo-cations, whether spontaneous orplanned.

RMurmu,Delhi

END OF INDEXTHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘The un-ease of ranking’ (IE, October 5). It isgood that the Ease of Doing BusinessIndex is dead and over. Though it hasbeen a much talked about index togauge an economy, the index’s directrelations with on-ground realities, asfar as India is concerned, has been inserious doubt. It is actually very diffi-cult tohaveuniversallyapplicablepa-rameters for all countries. They havedifferentecosystemswhichcannotbefactored intothesesurveysor indexes.

BalGovind,Noida

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

CITIES ARE drivers of economic growth. AsIndia urbanises, itmust ensure that its citiesoffer adecentquality of life and facilitate jobcreation.TheseimperativesarefundamentaltoIndia’s ambitions of becominga five trillion-dollareconomyby2025anda10trillion-dol-lareconomyby2030.Fromapopulationof 377million in2011,

Indian cities areprojected tohouse870mil-lionpeopleby2050,accordingtotheUN’spro-jections—byfarthehighestamongallnations.Delhiislikelytobecometheworld'smostpop-ulousurbanagglomerationby2030,surpass-ingTokyo.Clearly,amajordemographictrans-formationistakingplace.Notwithstanding their criticality, cities

faceseveralchallengestoday.Inadequateaf-fordablehousinghasmeantthatalmostone-sixthof theurbanpopulation lives inslums.Water supply is unreliable. Mountains ofsolid waste sit on the fringes of our cities.Poor drainage, congested roads and deteri-orating air quality are other challenges. Forour growth ambitions to succeed, not onlydo these gaps have to be filled, but evengreater needs, necessitated by the growingpopulation, have to be accommodated.Estimates by a high-powered expert com-mitteeandbytheMcKinseyGlobalInstituteindicated in 2011-12 that nearly Rs 39-60lakh crore are to be invested inurban infra-structure in the next 30 years. Theseamounts are outside the range of what thepublicbudget cansupport.Theneedisforawell-thought-outurban-

isationpolicytoguidetheplanningandman-

agement of cities towards accommodatingand enabling India’s growth ambitions andalsoassuringitsresidentsagoodqualityoflife,inasustainablemanner.Inthispiece,wehigh-lightsomeofthekeyissuesthatsuchapolicyshouldaddress.First,howlargeanddenseshouldourcities

be?Should theyhouse35-40millionpeopleorlimitthemselvesto2-3million?Largecitiesofferagglomerationeconomiesbutarecom-plextomanage.Densecitiesareharbingersofinfrastructure-relatedeconomiesbutarevul-nerable to the spread of disease, as evidentfromtheCovid-19pandemic.Aproperbalancebetweenagglomerationeconomiesandman-ageabilityaswellasdensityanddistancewillhold thekey indetermining the right size forourcities.Awayaroundthisisakindofdecen-tralisedurbanisationwheremultiplecitiesareclusteredintogrowthregions.Thesewouldfa-cilitate agglomerationeconomies andyet beof amanageable size. TheParis regionoffersanexcellentexample,withseveraltownshipswithin its ambit. Services likemetro rail areprovidedat the regional level but local roadsandprimary schools are the responsibility oflocalgovernments.The second issue concerns finances.

Resourcesotherthanthepublicbudgetneedtobe tapped.Capitalmarketsareanobviouschoicebutinvolvingthemwouldrequirepric-ing basic services in amanner that allows areasonablereturnoninvestments.Highpriceswillmake services unaffordable. Howdoesoneresolvethisconflict?Monetisinglandas-setsisanoption.Moreefficientservicedeliv-

ery through the private sector is another.Should cities continue to depend on grantsfrom the state or central governments orshould they raise a larger share of its needs,for example by improving property tax col-lections?Shouldcentralfinancessupportspe-cific typesof investmentsor should therebemoreflexiblesupportthatallowscitiestopri-oritisetheirneeds?Third,urbandwellersshouldbeabletolive,

work andplay safely andhappily. India hasboastedofwell-plannedcities fromtimeim-memorial.Mohenjo-DaroandHarappahavebeenrolemodelsfortherestoftheworld.Thecountrymust focusongoodurbanplanning,insteadofprioritisingconstruction.Decisionsonwhattobuildneedtoemergefromagoodplan, not in isolation. Planningmust be dy-namicenoughtoadjusttoacity’sgrowth.Fourth, should theplanningboundarybe

limitedtoacity’spoliticalandadministrativeboundary or should it encompass regionallinkages?Therearestrongeconomiclinkagesbetweencitiesandtheirruralhinterland.Thereare linkages betweenmultiple cities in a re-gionaswellasbetweencitiesandperi-urbanareas.Shouldtheseinterdependenciesnotbeleveraged?Shouldtheland-useplanforacitybedivorcedfromaregionaleconomicplanorbeguidedbyit?Fifth,wecannotaffordtolosesightofsus-

tainability. Despite having18per cent of theworldpopulation,Indiahasonly2.5percentoftheworld’s landmass and 4 per cent of theworld'sfreshwater.Hence,globalstandardsofland andwater usemaybe too generous for

us. Resource efficiency should be integral tourbanplanning.Sixth, the challenge of climate change is

upon us. A large share of our future carbonemissionswill be in cities. Fortunately, ourcitiesarestillgrowing,andwearewellplacedtoguidethemintoalow-carbongrowthpath.Energy-efficientbuildings, sustainablebuild-ingmaterials,cleanenergy,waterharvesting,segregationofwaste,electricmobility,publictransport,walkingandcyclingaresustainablepractices thatneed tobemainstreamed intourbanplanning.Buildingresiliencetomitigatethe negative impacts of climate changewillalsobecritical.Seventh,developmentsintechnologythat

makeiteasiertoworkremotelywilltestolderparadigmsofoffice-basedwork.Thisworkcul-turecouldchangetravelpatternsandtheneedfor transport infrastructure. Anurbanisationpolicyshouldtakecognisanceoffuturemobil-ity patterns. Increasingly, travel patterns aregettinglimitedtoshorterdistances,requiringmorenon-motorisedtransportinfrastructureratherthanhigh-speedsystemsbettersuitedtolongertrips.A sound urbanisation policy will guide

how the growing urban population lives,works, and plays in India’s cities of the fu-ture. Such a policy is the need of the hourand cannot bedelayed.

Mishra is secretary,MinistryofHousingandUrbanAffairs, andAgarwal isCEO,World

Resources Institute India. Theviewsexpressedarepersonal

Durga ShankerMishra andOPAgarwal

Designing the post-Covid cityPolicymustpushforcitiesthatdrivegrowthandareclimate-resilient



DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

THE NATIONAL InvestigationAgency(NIA)onWednesdaytookoverthecaserelatedtotheseizureof2,988.21kgofheroinatMundraPort,Gujarat,bytheDirectorateofRevenue Intelligence (DRI) onSeptember16.Theheroinwas found in two

containers,whichweredeclaredas containing “semi-processedtalc stones”, that landed atMundraPortfromAfghanistanviaIran’s Bandar Abbas Port, in thenameofAashiTradingCompanyofVijayawada,AndhraPradesh.TheNIAsaid ithadregistered

acase in thematter followinganorderfromtheMinistryofHomeAffairs.BesidessectionsoftheIPCand Narcotics Drugs andPsychotropic Substances (NDPS)Act, the NIA has also invokedSection17 (punishment for rais-ing funds for terrorist act) andSection18 (punishment for con-spiracy to commit terror acts) ofthe Unlawful Activities(Prevention)Act(UAPA).“Given that the drugs origi-

nated fromAfghanistan, wheretheTalibanarerulingnow,thereis an angle of narco-terrorismlinked to the whole affair. Thecasehas international ramifica-tionsandthat iswhyithasbeengiven toNIA,” said ahomemin-

istryofficial.The NIA FIR has named

MachavaramSudhakaran,DurgaPVGovindaraju andRajkumarPas accused among others.“Pursuant to registration of thecase, requisite actions asper lawfor expeditious investigation ofcasehavebeeninitiated,”NIAsaidinastatement.SudhakaranandGovindaraju,

aChennai-basedcouple,ownthecompanywhichwasshippingthecontraband. Govindaraju is theproprietor of the firmM/sAashiTrading Company, registered inAndhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada,thatwasimportingthetalcfromafirmcalledM/sHasanHusainLtd.Rajkumar, from Coimbatore,workedinIranandwasallegedly“coordinatingwith foreign sup-pliers”.Till date, nine people have

beenarrestedinthecase, includ-ingfourAfghansandanUzbekna-tional, according to a release is-sued by the Press InformationBureau (PIB). All the arrests havebeen made by the DRI. TheNarcoticsControlBureauandtheEnforcementDirectoratearealsoprobingthecase.Last month, a special court

for NDPS in Gujarat directedthe DRI to investigate if the"MundraAdaniPort,itsmanage-ment and its authority gainedanybenefits"fromtheimportoftheconsignment.

NIA takes overMundra drughaul probeBASHAARATMASOOD

SRINAGAR,OCTOBER6

THEREISrageonsocialmediaandthe separatists andmainstreampoliticalpartiesareunitedintheircondemnation. For the first timesince the abrogation of Jammuand Kashmir’s special status, acivilian killing has sparked suchrageintheValley.MakhanLalBindroo,whoran

one of theValley’smost trustedandpopular pharmacies, set upback in1947,was killed Tuesdayevening by suspectedmilitantswhile he was at his store inSrinagar.Therearenoleadsyetonthe killing, thoughanunverifiedstatement by The ResistanceFront,whichpolice say is a frontforLashkar-e-Toiba(LeT),claimedresponsibility and termedBindrooan“RSSideologue”.It’snotjusthisreputationasa

go-toman for anymedicine thatmade Bindroo, 68, a householdname inSrinagar.His familywasamong the fewhundred Panditfamilieswhodecided to stay onwhenmilitancyforcedtheothersout. As Bindroo’s pharmacygainedpopularity, he expandedhisbusiness.Lately,Bindroofocusedonhis

newenterprise,Bindroo’sHealthZone, as his wife ran BindrooChemist.His daughter Shraddha

Bindoo is an associate professor,and sonDr SiddarathBindroo, adiabetologist.OnWednesday,Shraddhare-

leasedanemotionalvideosayingher father had said he wouldneverdie. “Iamanassociatepro-fessor, I started fromzero.My fa-ther started fromhis bicycle.Mybrotherisafamousdiabetologist,mymother runs a shop... This iswhatMakhan Lal Bindoomadeus,” shesaid. “AKashmiri Pandit,hewill never die, You just killedthe body. I being Hindu, I have

readtheQuranandtheQuransaysthat only the bodydies, the soulremains intact. Makhan LalBindrooisaliveinspirit.”She dared the personswho

hadkilledhimtoshowtheirface.“Misterwhoshotmyfatherwhilehewasworking, if youhave theguts, comeanddebatewithus...Youcanonlypeltstonesandshootintheback.”Shraddha added: “He

(Bindroo)gaveuseducation, andtheir parents gave themstones,pellets and bullets... Kashmiri

Panditsgavetheirchildreneduca-tion, they are spreadall over theworld... Padhai likhai karo, tabhiuthoge(whenyoustudy,onlythencanyouprogress)...Nothingisgo-ing to comeoutof stone-pelting.MayAllahgiveyougoodthinking”.The statement releasedpur-

portedlybytheTRFattackedbothBindroo and Shraddha. “He(Bindroo)was(an)RSSideologueandhasbeenorganisingseminarsand secretmeetings involvingKashmiris,especiallyyouth,inthename of health activities... We

only target those involved in theanti-Kashmircause.Wedon'tusereligiouscardsincarryingoutouroperations against stooges andcollaborators.Wedon't target in-nocents...Wecarriedouthis op-erationafterproperinvestigationand surveillance... Those con-demningthisattackshouldintro-spectwhattheyarecondemning."Accusing Shraddhaof target-

ingKashmiris, theTRFsaid: "Thereal face of Bindroos has (been)exposed."However, its claim had few

takers. Criticising the killing, theHurriyat Conference led byMirwaizUmarFarooqcalledit"anactof violenceagainst fellowhu-mans and humanity". Its state-mentalsonotedthatBindroo"hadbeendedicatedlyservingthepeo-pleof theValleyforthelastmanydecades".ApartfromBindroo,twoother

civilianswere killed in SrinagarTuesday,addingtothespurtinvi-olenceintheValleyinrecentdays.FormerchiefministerMehboobaMufti said that after the killings,"theGoI's fake narrative of nor-malcyliesintatters".Inhertweet,sheslammed"theutterlydesen-sitised government that has de-valuedhuman lives andpushedJ&Kintofurtherperilandchaosbyits ruthless policies of collectivepunishment,all inthegarbof se-curity".

He lives on in spirit: Valley unitedin grief over Pandit businessman

ANURADHAMASCARENHASPUNE,OCTOBER6

THE WORLD HealthOrganization (WHO) is likely totake a decision on grantingEmergency Use Listing (EUL) toCovaxin, Bharat Biotech’s vac-cine against Covid-19, nextweek. When contacted, DrSoumyaSwaminathan,chiefsci-entist atWHO, told The IndianExpress, “wait till nextweek.”The country’s indigenous

Covid-19vaccinehasnotyet re-ceived emergency use approvalfromWHO.WHO and an inde-pendent group of experts arescheduledtomeetnextweektocarryouttherisk/benefitassess-mentandarriveatadecisionongrantingEULtoCovaxin.In a tweet, the organisation

said that it has been submittingdata,andhasalsosubmittedad-ditional information, onWHO’srequest,onSeptember27.“WHOexperts are currently reviewingthis information and if it ad-dresses all questions raised,WHO assessment will be fi-nalised next week.” the UNhealthagencysaid in its tweet.According to WHO, the

Emergency Use Listing process

— done by WHO and theTechnical AdvisoryGroupof in-dependent experts— is centredon determining if a manufac-tured product (in this case thevaccine) is quality-assured, safeandeffective.TheHyderabad-based com-

pany had applied forWHO ap-proval on April 19 by providinganExpressionofInterest.TheUNhealthagencyhad,however,de-layedemergencyuseauthorisa-tion for the vaccine as it hadmore technical queries that

BharatBiotechisrequiredtoan-swerbefore itgets theapproval.AStrategicAdvisoryGroupof

Experts, whichmet on Tuesdayand concluded onWednesday,also discussed the issue. At themeeting, Bharat Biotech gave apresentation on the vaccine'ssafety and efficacy data of clini-cal trials (phase 1-3 trial resultsand post-marketing), riskman-agementplansandotherimple-mentation considerations, ac-cording to Bharat Biotechofficials.Meanwhile, India’s cumula-

tive Covid-19 vaccine coveragecrossed92crorebeneficiariesre-cently. Covaxin, along withCovishield and Sputnik V, is be-ingusedinthenationwideinoc-ulation programme. BharatBiotech officials told The IndianExpress that till date,more than100 million doses have beensupplied to the Government ofIndiaandothercountries.In an earlier tweet, the firm

had said that Covaxin clinicaltrial data has been fully com-piledandmadeavailableinJunethisyear.“AlldatasubmittedforEULapplicationtoWHOinearlyJuly.We have responded to anyclarifications sought byWHOandawaiting further feedback,”BharatBiotech tweeted.

THEWHOmoveonCovaxin, if itcomesnextweek,willcomeasahugerelief tothousandsofpeo-plewhohavegotbothdosesofCovaxinbutarestill treatedasunvacci-natedbymanycountries,astheWHOisyettoap-provethevaccine.Asare-sult, thesepeopleareei-thernotallowedtoflyouttosomecountries,oraremadetoquarantine.

Relief forthosebarredfromtravelE●EX

PLAINED

WHO decision on emergency uselisting for Covaxin likely next week

Railways gives jobs to 2,800 next of kinof employees who fell to Coronavirus

Centre can’t deny PM CARES is a govt fund, Delhi HC toldSOFIAHSANNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

THEPMCARESFundmustfollowthe principle of transparency asrequiredbytheConstitutionandbedeclaredaStatefund,theDelhiHighCourtwastoldWednesday.The highest government au-

thorities had projected that thecharitable trust had been set upby the Centre, said SeniorAdvocate ShyamDivan, repre-senting the petitioner SamyakGangwal. Hewas opposing theCentre’s stand that PM-CARESwasnot a government fund andthat its amount does not go into

theConsolidatedFundof India.“Youcannotsay‘look,let’sde-

cide that the Constitution doesnot apply to us, thatwe are notStateandthatwefallsomewhereelse’,” he told thedivisionbenchof Chief Justice D N Patel andJusticeJyotiSingh.The courtWednesdaybegan

hearing arguments on the peti-tion that wants the PM CARESFundtobedeclaredas‘TheState’under Article 12 of theConstitution. Gangwal has con-tendedthatcitizensof thecoun-try are aggrieved that a fund setup by the Prime Minister andwith trustees like the PM andministers of Home,Defence and

Financehasbeendeclaredafundoverwhich there is no govern-mentcontrol.Divanargued:“Thereisdeep

and pervasive state control. It'sworkinginparallelwithgovern-mentmachinery.Themannerinwhichit'sbeingoperated,thefi-nancial supportandeverythingabout... What’s it in the PMCARES which is private? Cananyone say that it is not State.Apart from that self-certifica-tion,wearenot able to findanyfactor that it's not theState”.Itwasalsoarguedthattheau-

thorities projectedPMCARES asthe State and that the use of theStateemblemanda.gov.inportal

itself conveys official sanction“Emblem conveys official sanc-tion,publicconfidence,amessagethat it belongs to your govern-mentandwillbesubjecttoevery-thingintermsofthedisciplineofconstitutionandthelawsofIndiaanditisnotgoingtobeprivateaf-fairwhich nobody can look intowhere all donations are opaque,wherewe are not going to dis-closetoanybody,”arguedDivan.Divanalsosubmittedthatthe

Constitution “requires sunlight,transparency” and the structureof PMCARES itself is “so faultyand flawed”. “Weare not sayingthat its activities are badbutweareonlysubmittingthatthismust

comeunder thedisciplineof theConstitution. The correct ap-proach is that this is nothingbutState,”hecontended.The court was told that the

PMOthroughthePIBhadissuedapressnoteappealingfordona-tionsto thePMCARESfundandcreated a perception that it isnothingbut theGovernmentofIndia.TheVice President aswell as

a CabinetMinister and CabinetSecretarymade similar appealstomembers of Rajya Sabha andgovernment employees, respec-tively, and identified it as aGovernment of India charitablefund, thecourtwastold.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,OCTOBER6

EIGHTDAYSafter themutilatedbody of a 24-year-oldmanwasfound on a railway track inKarnataka's Belagavi, police areyet tomakeanyarrests.Arbaz Aftab Mullah's body

wasrecoveredonSeptember28andhismother,NajeemaShaikh,alleged that hewas killed overan interfaithrelationship. Inhercomplaint,Shaikhnamedthefa-ther of thewomanMullahwasreportedlyinarelationshipwith,

andtwopeopleassociatedwitha right-wing group. Mullah, aresident of Azam Nagar inBelagavi,wasacivilengineeringgraduate whoworked as a cardealer in Belagavi city. BelagavidistrictSPLaxmanNimbargire-fused to divulge any detailsabouttheinvestigationcitingthesensitivityof thecase.On Tuesday, Shaikh com-

plained that hermobile phonewentmissing fromherhouse.Meanwhile, the case has led

tocommunaltensioninBelagaviwithpolicedeployedinsensitiveareas.

SAURABHPARASHARCHANDIGARH,OCTOBER6

AWOMANdiplomat posted atthe British Deputy HighCommission in Chandigarhwasallegedly molested onWednesdaymorning,policesaid.An unidentifiedmotorcycle

riderhitthediplomat,anUKres-ident, on her back in an appro-priatemanner around 5.45am,theysaid.Thediplomatgavethebikeriderachasebutheescapedfromthespot.Thediplomatwasonway to theChandigarhLawnTennis Association (CLTA)Grounds in Sector 10 and wasnear the residential areawhenthe incident tookplace.Basedonher complaint, po-

lice lodgedanFIR .A British Deputy High

Commission staff alsomet SSP(UT)Kuldeep SinghChahalwhoassured strict action the case. Ateamofpolicepersonnelcompris-ingDSP (central)Charanjit SinghVirkandSHOPS3,InspectorSher

Singh, met the diplomat andrecordedherstatement.Policehavestartedscrutiniz-

ing the footage from the CCTVcamerasinstalledaroundthelo-cality where the offence tookplace.SP (City) Ketan Bansal said,

“Wehave lodgedanFIR.Weareworking onhuman intelligenceand technical surveillance toidentifythesuspect.Theaccusedwill bearrestedsoon”.A British Deputy High

Commissionspokespersonsaid,“Wecanconfirmthat anofficialcomplaint has been registeredandapolice investigation is un-derway.We are grateful for theassistance provided byChandigarhpolice.”A police officer, requesting

notbenamed, said twosuch in-cidents have been reported inthe the last fortnight.“Oneof theincidentswasre-

portedinSector26.Thereispos-sibility that thesamemanisbe-hindtheseincidents,”theofficersaid.

Out on walk, Britishdiplomat says molested

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

THE INDIANRailwayshasgivenjobstomorethan2,800people—the next of kin of railway em-ployeeswhodiedfromCovid-19while working during the pan-demic—on compassionategrounds.Thedeceasedpersons’minor children will get a jobwhentheyturn18, theMinistryof RailwayssaidWednesday.The Indian Railways lost

3,256officials of various ranks

and departments—who wereworking at stations, tracks andworkshops, among otherplaces—to Covid-19 sinceMarch2020. The familymem-bers of 87 per cent of thesepeople got railway jobswithinfour months. In most cases, itis the sonor thewifewhohavetaken up the job. In severalother cases, thewiveshave re-quested that their employ-ment be kept on hold till theycomplete their higher educa-tion in order to be eligible forhigher profiles. Most of the

jobs are in Group D category.Mumbai-based Central

Railway andWestern Railwaysaw the maximum deaths at743.The Railways is hoping to

complete the compassionateemployment drive by thismonth, sources said.Railwaysalsoannouncedthe

Performance Linked Bonusequivalent to 78 days’ pay to itsemployees, as per a decision ofthe Union Cabinet chaired byPrimeMinister NarendraModiWednesday.


THECENTREonWednesdaytoldthe SupremeCourt that the re-vised pattern for the NationalEligibility cumEntrance Test forSuperSpecialitymedicalcourses(NEET-SS)will be implementedonlyfromthenextacademicyear.Additional Solicitor General

Aishwarya Bhati told a a benchheaded by Justice D YChandrachud that the govern-ment, indeference to the court’sobservationsandinlargerstudentinterest, hasdecided that the re-visedNEET-SSexamwill beheldfrom 2022. This, she added,meansthattheexamforthecur-rentacademicyear (tobeheld inJanuary 2022)will be as per theoldpattern.The courtwashearing aplea

by somedoctorswho said theyhadbeenpreparingfortheexamsand that the “last-minutechanges”inthepatternputthematadisadvantage.Hearing theplea onTuesday,

the court had questioned the“haste”toimplementthechangesthis year itself and said that theycouldhavebeenintroducedfromnext year so that the candidateshave enough time to prepare.“Heavenswouldnothavefallenifyou would’ve introduced the

changes fromnext year,” JusticeChandrachudhadsaid.On Wednesday, ASG Bhati

agreed that it “shouldhavebeendonewithadequatenoticetothestudents”.Accepting thegovern-ment’s submission, the bench,also comprising JusticesVikramNath and B VNagarathna, dis-posedof thepetition.“Ms Aishwarya Bhati,

Additional Solicitor General ap-pearingonbehalfof theUnionofIndiaintheMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,statesthathavingregardtothe interestof thebodyof students..., adecisionhasbeentakenby theUniongovernmentinconsultationwiththeNationalMedical Commission and theNational Board of Examinationstotheeffectthatthemodifiedpat-tern shall be given effect to onlyfrom the academic year 2022-2023,”itsaid.“SincetheUniongovernment

andtheexpertbodieshavetakena decision to hold the ensuingNEET-SSexaminations for 2021-2022on thebasis of thepatternwhich held the field until aca-demic year 2020-2021, it is notnecessaryforthiscourttoadjudi-cateuponthevalidityofthemod-ifiedpatternproposed for 2022-2023.”The court, however, kept the

questionof validity of themodi-fiedpattern“open”.

GOVTTELLSSUPREMECOURT

‘Change in NEET-SSexam pattern from ’22-23’

Chennai: The NIA has filed achargesheet against Abdullahalias Saravana Kumar, a 31-year-old resident of Madurai,for his alleged involvement “inuploading incendiary posts onhisFacebookaccount, support-ingandfurthering the ideologyof ISIS”.The chargesheet filed at a

special court in Chennai wasbased on a case that was regis-tered in April 2021 at theTheppakulampolice station.The NIA statement said the

probeestablishedthatAbdullahwas a highly radicalisedmem-berofthebannedHizb-ut-Tahrir.An official statement from

NIA claimed their investigationrevealed that accusedAbdullahwas uploading posts on hisFacebook account to instigatepeople to establish Khilafat andthreaten the unity, security andsovereigntyof India.“He was also seeking coop-

eration fromother countries toset up an army to establish anIslamic State in Tamil Naduthrough Jihad,” said a state-ment. ENS

BRIEFLYUTTARAKHAND

MoSaskswhyparkrenamedafterJimCorbettDehradun:UnionMinisterof State for Environment,ForestandClimateChangeAshwiniKumarChoubey,who visited the JimCorbett National Park onOctober3,hassaidthatthewildlife sanctuary shouldberenamedasRamgangaNationalPark,accordingtoofficials. According toUttarakhandforestdepart-ment officials, MoSChoubey visited theparkinOctoberforaneventandaskedwhyitwasrenamedafter JimCorbettwhen italreadyhad a goodname–Ramganga.“Butnoexer-cisehasbeendone in thisdirection so far,” saidRahul,Director of CorbettTiger Reserve. ChiefWildlifeWarden (CWW)JSSuhagsaid, “There isnoproposal from CWW orthe state government inthis regard (regardingchangingthename).”ENS

DELHI

LPGpricehikedbyRs15percylinderNewDelhi: The LPGpriceonWednesdaywashikedbyRs15percylinderwhilepetrolanddieselratessawtheir steepest increase inrecent weeks, pushingprices to an all-timehighacrossthecountry.Ratesofboth subsidisedandnon-subsidised LPG werehiked, taking the total in-creaseinratessinceJulytoRs90per14.2-kgcylinder.CookinggasnowcostsRs899.50 per cylinder inDelhiandMumbai,andRs926 inKolkata, accordingto a price notification ofstate-ownedfuelretailers.Domestic householdkitchens,whoareentitledto 12 cylinders of 14.2-kgeachatsubsidisedratesinayear,andUjjwalabenefi-ciaries,whogot free con-nections, now pay themarketprice. PTI

TAMILNADU

NIAarrestsformerLTTEoperativeChennai: The NIA onWednesdayarresteda47-year-oldformerLTTEoper-ativeinconnectionwithitsprobe into the seizure of300kgheroin,fiveAK-47ri-flesand1,000liveroundsof9mmammunitionoff thecoast of Vizhinjam nearThiruvananthapuramlastMarch. The NIA saidSatkunamaliasSabesan,“aSri Lankannational andaformermemberof intelli-gencewingofLTTE”,wasar-restedfromValsaravakkamareaofChennai. ENS

NIA chargesheetagainst 31-yr-oldfor ‘pro-IS posts’

Karnataka man’s death: Eightdays on, no headway in case

Relativespaytheir last respects toMakhanLalBindroo, inSrinagar. ShuaibMasoodi

584DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

TRACKING THE SECOND SURGE

NEWCASES: 22,008ACTIVE CASES:2,44,534TOTAL VACCINATION:92,17,65,405

DAILY DEATHS316

TOTALDEATHS4,49,854

WEEKLY CFR0.83%

OVERALL CFR1.34%

TESTS TODAY: 15,47,791 | TOTAL TESTS: 57,83,51,658

WEEKLY POSITIVITY: 1.64% | OVERALL POSITIVITY: 5.86%

STATESREPORTINGMOSTCASES

STATE NEW ACTIVE WEEKLY TOTALCASES CASES POSITIVITY VACCINATION

■Kerala 12,616 1,22,917 13.06% 3,62,06,159

■Maharashtra 2,876 33,181 1.93% 8,46,48,303

■Mizoram 1,471 14,779 18.06% 11,53,450

■TamilNadu 1,432 16,637 1.02% 4,95,53,798

■AndhraPradesh 800 8,754 1.63% 4,28,22,588

STATESREPORTINGMOSTDEATHS

STATE TODAY’S TOTAL WEEKLY OVERALLDEATHS DEATHS CFR CFR

■Kerala 134 25,890 0.62% 0.57%

■Maharashtra 91 1,42,948 1.54% 2.19%

■TamilNadu 25 35,707 1.34% 1.35%

■WestBengal 15 18,863 1.88% 1.21%

■AndhraPradesh 9 14,228 0.75% 0.70%

Note:DataasonOct6;vaccinationnumbersasofOct5.Deathsincludethosefrompreviousdays.

15SENSEX: 59,189.73 ▼ 555.15 (-0.93%) NIFTY: 17,646.00 ▼ 176.30 (-0.99%) NIKKEI: 27,528.87 ▼ 293.25 HANG SENG: 24,104.15 ▼ 67.78 FTSE: 6,968.71 ▼ 108.39 DAX: 14,921.13 ▼ 273.36


ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`45,618

RUPEE`74.98

OIL$80.49

SILVER`59,341

Note:Gold,silverratesatDelhispotmarket,goldper10g,silverper1kg;Crudeoil (Indianbasket)asofOctober5

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

AIMINGTOmakethetextilessec-tormoreinternationallycompet-itive, theCabinet onWednesdayapprovedaRs4,445-croreschemeto set up sevenMega IntegratedTextile Region andApparel (MI-TRA)parks.TheMITRAparks,whichaim

tointegratetheentiretextilevaluechainfromspinning,weaving,pro-cessing/dyeing, printing to gar-mentmanufacturingatoneloca-tion,were first announced in theFY22Budget.Stateswillcompetetobeselectedunder thescheme,which isaimedatreducing logis-

tics cost and strengthening thevaluechainof thetextilesectortomakeitgloballycompetitive.“Todaythevaluechainisspread

acrossthecountry.CottonismadeinMaharashtra andGujarat. It isthenprocessedinTamilNadube-fore it is shipped toBengaluruorNoidaafterwhich it is sent to theport,”saidTextilesMinisterPiyushGoyal, adding thatmovingprod-uctssomanytimeshad,inthepast,made logistics cost “unviable.”HighlogisticscostsareconsideredakeyhurdletoIndia’sgoalofboost-ingtextileexports.Private institu-tionshaveestimatedlogisticscoststobe13-14percentofGDPandthegovernmentisaimingtobringthisdownto10percent.

“Therewill be competition ina very transparent mannerthrougha challenge routebasedonwhich state givesmore facili-ties, provides cheap land,makes

cheapwaterandpoweravailable...andhasa labour situationwhichisincontrolanddoesnotcreatetoomanyproblems,”Goyalsaid.TamilNadu, Punjab, Odisha,

Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat,Rajasthan, Assam, Karnataka,MadhyaPradesh&Telanganahavealreadyshowninterest inpartici-patinginthescheme,accordingtoagovernmentrelease.Under thescheme, thecentre

willprovidedevelopmentcapitalsupport for the development ofcommoninfrastructureofRs500crore for each greenfieldMITRAparkanduptoRs200croreforeachbrownfieldpark.AnadditionalRs300 crore will be provided asCompetitiveness Incentive

Support for the early establish-ment of textilesmanufacturingunits ineachof theseparks. EachMITRAparkisexpectedtodirectlygenerate1lakhjobsandindirectlygenerateafurther2lakhjobs.Goyal said the investorswho

setup“anchorplants”thatemployatleast100peoplewillbeeligiblefor incentivesof uptoRs10croreeveryyearforuptothreeyearsnot-ing that the incentivewould begivenona first come, first servedbasis. EachMITRAParkwill havean incubation centre, commonprocessinghouseandacommoneffluenttreatmentplantandothertextilerelatedfacilitiessuchasde-signcentresandtestingcentresac-cordingtoagovernmentrelease.

TOSETUP7MEGA INTEGRATEDTEXTILEREGIONANDAPPARELPARKS

KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

THE COUNTRY’S thermalpowerplants are facing a se-verecoalshortage,withstockshavingcomedowntoanaver-ageof fourdaysof fuel acrossanincreasingnumberofther-mal stations. Union PowerMinister R K Singhhas said while thesupply crunch hasnot yet led to anypower cuts in thecountry, the coalsupply situation islikely to be “uncomfortable”foruptosixmonths.

Whatistheextentofthecoalshortagethatthermalpowerplantsarefacing?The average level of coal

stocksatthecountry’sthermalpowerplantshavecomedownto4daysworthof stock,com-paredto thegovernment rec-ommendations of 14 daysworthofstock.OnOctober4, 16 thermal

plantswithapowergenerationcapacity of 17,475 MW(megawatts)hadzerodaysofcoal stock. An additional 45thermalpowerplantswithapowergenerationcapacityof59,790MWhadcoalstockonlysufficientforuptotwodays.

Whatisthereason?Asharpuptick in

powerdemandastheeconomy recoversfrom the pandemic,coupledwith supply

issues,have ledto thecurrentshortage. “We touched 200GigawattsduringtheCovidpe-riod,andthedemandhasbeenhoveringaround170-180GW.Iexpectittogoupagaintonearabout200GW,andstaythere,”SinghtoldTheIndianExpressinaninterview.

Whatmeasuresisthegovernmenttaking?An inter-ministerial team,

including representatives ofthe Power and RailwayMinistries, Coal India, theCentral Electricity AuthorityandPowerSystemOperationCorporation,ismonitoringcoalsupplytothermalplants.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

SECTORWATCHTHERMAL POWER PLANTS

VIAAUTOMATICROUTE


THE GOVERNMENT onWednesdayallowed100percentforeigndirect investment in thetelecomsectorthroughautomaticroute to promote ease of doingbusinessintheindustry.Earlier,100percentofFDIwas

allowed, ofwhich49per cent ofinvestment was permitted

throughautomaticroute.Accordingto theDPIIT’spress

note,100percentFDIispermittedacrossallkindsoftelecomservicesandinfrastructureproviders.Themovewillproviderelieffor

VodafoneIdea,asithasbeenlook-

ingtoraisefundsfromoverseastosupportitsbusiness.The Department of Teleco-

mmunications(DoT)slashedper-formanceandfinancialbankguar-antee requirements of telecomoperators by 80 per cent. Theamendment has beenmade inbothold telecom licences in theUASL (UnifiedAccess Services li-cences)categoryandnewlicencesthatwerestartedin2012-UnifiedLicence(UL)category.WITHPTI

New Delhi: The CoalMinistryonWednesdaysaid it is in theprocessoffinalising a robustmineclosure framework onthreemajoraspects.PTI

Mine closureframework

‘Uncomfortable’coal crunch: What iscausing the shortage

Globalpush:Cabinetgivesgoaheadto`4,445-croreschemefor textiles

Commerce, IndustryandTextilesMinisterPiyushGoyal inNewDelhi.PTI

PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,OCTOBER6

DESPITEBEINGaware that “RSSusers,groups,andpagespromotefear-mongering,anti-Muslimnar-ratives”, social media giantFacebookcouldnottakeactionorflagthiscontent,givenits“lackofHindiandBengaliclassifiers”,ac-cording toawhistleblowercom-plaint filedbefore theUS securi-tiesregulator.ThecomplaintthatFacebook’s

language capabilities are “inade-quate” and lead to “globalmisin-formationandethnicviolence” isone of the many flagged bywhistleblowerFrancesHaugen,aformerFacebookemployee,withthe Securities and ExchangeCommission (SEC) againstFacebook’spractices.Citing an undated internal

Facebook document titled“AdversarialHarmfulNetworks-IndiaCase study”, the complaintsenttoUSSECbynon-profit legalorganisationWhistleblowerAidonbehalfofHaugennotes,“Therewereanumberofdehumanizingposts (on)Muslims... Our lackofHindu and Bengali classifiersmeansmuch of this content isneverflaggedoractioned,andwehaveyettoputforthanominationfordesignationofthisgroup(RSS)givenpoliticalsensitivities.”Classifiers refer to Facebook’s

hate-speechdetectionalgorithms.According to Facebook, it addedhate speech classifiers inHindistartingearly2020andintroducedBengali later that year. Classifiersfor violence and incitement inHindi andBengali first cameon-lineinearly2021.Eight documents containing

scores of complaints byHaugenwereuploadedbyAmericannewsnetwork CBS News. Haugen re-vealed her identity for the firsttimeMondayinaninterviewwiththenewsnetwork.Inresponsetoadetailedques-

tionnaire sent by The IndianExpress,aFacebookspokespersonsaid:“Weprohibithatespeechandcontentthatincitesviolence.Overtheyears,we’ve invested signifi-cantly in technology that proac-tivelydetectshatespeech,evenbe-forepeoplereportittous.Wenowusethistechnologytoproactivelydetect violating content inHindiandBengali,alongsideover40lan-guagesglobally”.The company claimed that

fromMay15, 2021, toAugust 31,2021,ithas“proactivelyremoved”8.77 lakh pieces of hate speechcontent in India, andhas tripledthenumberofpeopleworkingonsafetyandsecurityissuestomorethan40,000,includingmorethan15,000dedicatedcontentreview-ers.“Asaresult,we’vereducedtheprevalenceofhatespeechglobally

—meaningtheamountofthecon-tent people actually see — onFacebookbyalmost50percentinthelastthreequartersandit’snowdownto0.05per centof all con-tentviewed.Inaddition,wehaveateamof contentreviewerscover-ing20 Indian languages. Ashatespeech against marginalizedgroups, includingMuslims, con-tinuestobeontheriseglobally,wecontinuetomakeprogressonen-forcementandare committed toupdating our policies as hatespeech evolves online,” thespokespersonadded.NotonlywasFacebookmade

awareaboutthenatureofcontentbeingpostedonitsplatform,butitalsodiscovered, throughanotherstudy, the impactof posts sharedbypoliticians. Intheinternaldoc-ument titled “Effectsof PoliticianSharedMisinformation”, itwasnotedthatexamplesof“high-riskmisinformation”sharedbypoliti-cians included India, and this ledto a “societal impact” of “out-of-context video stirring upanti-Pakistan and anti-Muslimsentiment”.An India-specific example of

howFacebook’s algorithms rec-ommendcontents and “groups”to individuals comes fromasur-veyconductedbythecompanyinWestBengal,where40percentofsampledtopusers,onthebasisofimpressions generated on theircivic posts, were found to be“fake/inauthentic”.Theuserwiththe highest View Port Views(VPVs), or impressions, to be as-sessedinauthentichadmorethan30million users accrued in theL28. The L28 is referred to byFacebookasabucketof users ac-tiveinagivenmonth.Anothercomplainthighlights

Facebook’s lack of regulation of“singleusermultipleaccounts”,or

SUMAs, or duplicate users, andcites internal documents toout-linetheuseof“SUMAsininterna-tional political discourse”. Thecomplaintsaid:“Aninternalpres-entationnotedapartyofficial forIndia’s BJP used SUMAs to pro-motepro-Hindimessaging”.QueriessenttotheRSSandthe

BJPwentunanswered.The complaints also specifi-

callyred-flaghow“deepreshares”lead tomisinformation andvio-lence.Resharedepthhasbeende-finedasthenumberofhopsfromtheoriginal Facebookpost in theresharechain.Indiaisrankedamongthetop-

most bucket of countries byFacebookintermsofitspolicypri-orities.AsofJanuary-March2020,India,alongwithBrazilandtheUS,is part of “Tier 0” countries, thecomplaintshows;“Tier1”includesGermany, Indonesia, Iran, IsraelandItaly.An internal document titled

“Civic Summit Q1 2020” notedthatmisinformation summary,withan“objective”to“remove,re-duce, inform/measuremisinfor-mationonFBapps”hadaglobalbudgetdistributioninfavouroftheUS. It said that 87per cent of thebudgetfortheseobjectiveswasal-locatedtotheUS,whileRestoftheWorld(India,FranceandItaly)wasallocated the remaining 13 percent. “This is despite theUSandCanadacomprisingonlyabout10per centof ‘dailyactiveusers’…,”thecomplaintadded.India is one of the biggest

marketsforFacebookintermsofuserswithauserbaseof410mil-lionforFacebook,530millionand210million forWhatsApp andInstagram, respectively, the twoservices itowns.OnTuesday,Haugenappeared

before a US Senate Committeewhere she testifiedon the lackofFacebook’s oversight for a com-panywith “frightening influenceoversomanypeople”.In a Facebookpost following

the senate hearing, CEOMarkZuckerbergsaid:“Theargumentthat we deliberately push con-tentthatmakespeopleangryforprofitisdeeplyillogical.Wemakemoneyfromads,andadvertisersconsistently tell us they don’twanttheiradsnexttoharmfulorangrycontent.AndIdon’tknowany tech company that sets outtobuildproductsthatmakepeo-ple angry or depressed. Themoral, business andproduct in-centivesallpoint intheoppositedirection”.

Phone : (0265) 2310582-86, Website : www.guvnl.comCIN U40109GJ2004SGC045195

GUJARAT URJA VIKAS NIGAM LIMITEDSardar Patel Vidyut Bhavan, Racecourse,

Vadodara - 390 007

GUVNLhas filed Petition No: 2004 of 2021 under Section 86 (1)(b) & (f) of Electricity Act 2003 before Hon'ble Gujarat ElectricityRegulatory Commission (GERC) for approval of amendmentsto the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) dated 26.02.2007signed with M/s Essar Power Gujarat Ltd. (EPGL) by way ofSupplemental PPA (SPPA) dated 12.08.2021 pursuant to theHon’ble GERC order dated 27.04.2020. In the matter, Hon'ble

thGERC through Daily Order dated 29 September, 2021 hasdirected GUVNL to issue a public notice invitingcomments/views from the stakeholders on the above petition.The petition along with relevant documents filed by GUVNL areuploaded on its website: www.guvnl.com in notice section. Thestakeholders may submit their written comments / objections /suggestions in the matter on affidavit in five copies to The

thSecretary, Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission, 6 Floor,GIFT ONE, Road 5C, Zone 5, Gift City, Gandhinagar- 382355with a copy to the petitioner within 15 days time from the date ofthis public notice.

PUBLIC NOTICE

General Manager (Commerce)Date: 07-10-2021

74.63

RUPEEIntra-day, invertedscale

74.50

74.70

74.90

75.10Open Close

74.98

Rupee dives54p as equityselloff spreads

Mumbai:The rupeeWednesdaysuffereditsbiggestsingle-daydropin six months, losing 54 paiseagainst thedollar toendat74.98as investors turned cautious inviewof selloffs indomestic equi-tiesandstrengtheninggreenback.Meanwhile,theSensexended

555.15 points or 0.93 per centlowerat59,189.73,whiletheNiftydeclined176.30pointsor0.99percentto17,646.00.ENSWITHPTI

TheDoThascutbankguaranteerequirementfor telcosby80%

Govt allows 100% telecom FDI

Moody’s raisesrating outlook tostable for 18corporates, banksNew Delhi:Moody’s InvestorsServiceonWednesdayraisedrat-ingoutlookfor18Indiancorpora-tesandbanks,includingRelianceIndustries, Infosys, SBI andAxisBank,to‘stable’ from‘negative’.The nine companieswhose

rating outlookhas been revisedupwards are RIL, TCS, Infosys,ONGC, Petronet LNGLtd,UltraT-echCement,Oil India, IndianOilCorporation and HindustanPetroleumCorporationLtd.Theninebankswhoseoutlook

hasbeenrevisedto‘stable’areSBI,AxisBank,BankofBaroda,CanaraBank,AxisBank,HDFCBank,ICICIBank,PNB,UnionBankandEXIMBank.ENSWITHPTI

‘Loan book of affordable housingfinance cos up 10% in June’The total loanbookof affordable housing finance companies(AHFCs) grew10% toRs 60,468 crore as of June 30,muchbelow the last 5-year average of 24%, a Icra report said

Collectionshit:With stricterlockdowns across variousstates inQ1FY22, collectionsfor theseAHFCswereimpacted and unlike themoratoriumand restrictionson bucketmovement,whichwere available inQ1FY21,therewere no suchdispensations this time

Lockdown impact:Thegrowthin the loanbookmoderated to10%year-on-year in FY21andQ1FY22due to lockdownsfollowingCOVIDwave2;whileportfolio remained flat as onJune30,2021, as againstMarch31, 2021

GrossNPA:TheAHFCindustry’s reportedgrossNPA/Stage3(excludingdataforoneplayer)stoodat2.1%asofJune30.It isexpectedtobe3.6-3.9%byendofMarch2022,comparedto3.3%asofMarch31,2021

Source: Icra/PTI

Mumbai: Zee EntertainmentEnterprises(ZEEL)onWednesdaymovedtheNationalCompanyLawAppellateTribunal(NCLAT)seek-ing “more time” to file its replywithregardtothepetitionfiledbyits shareholder InvescoDevelopingMarketFundsforcon-vening theextraordinarygeneralmeetingofthecompany(EGM).Thecompanyhasalsosought

stayofproceedingsattheNCLT,tilltheNCLATgivesitsfinalorder.Thepetition is likely to comeup forhearing before the NCLAT onThursday. Themove followsadi-rectionbytheNationalCompanyLawTribunal (NCLT)onTuesdayaskingZEELtofileitsreplywithintwodays,meaningbyOctober7.

Takeover attempt, saysSubhash ChandraZee Chairman Emeritus

SubhashChandraonWednesdayasked minority shareholderInvescotomakeanopenofferand

takeoverthecompanyif itwants.“Don’tbeadamantoncalling

EGM,” Chandra said in an inter-actionwithZeeNews. Terming itasan“illegal stepbeing takenbyInvesco”, he added: “This is in-sider trading, and a takeover.”“You are an 18 per cent share-holder but not the owner, youneed to follow the laws of thecountry.Makeanopenofferto75per cent shareholders and takeover the company if youwant,”heasserted.FEWITHPTI

BRIEFLY‘Appleantitrust’Brussels: Applewill be hitwithanEUantitrust chargeoveritsNFCchiptechnology,sourcessaid. REUTERS

NMDCdirectorNewYork:NMDCLimited,under theMinistryof Steel,hasappointedDKMohantyasDirector.HetookchargeonTuesday. ENS

CoinswitchNewDelhi:CoinswitchKuberraised$260million,risingto$1.9billioninvaluation.PTI

FIAvicepresident

NewDelhi:NitinDossa,pres-identofFederationofIndianAutomobile Associationsand executive chairmanofWesternIndiaAutomobilesAssociation,hasbeennam-ed vice president ofFédérationInternationaledel’Automobile(FIA). ENS

NitinDossa

ZEEL moves NCLAT,seeks time to reply


FINANCE MINISTER NirmalaSitharamanonWednesday saidIndia is“veryclose”toarrivingatthespecificsofthetwo-pillartax-ationpropositionattheG20.Ato-tal of 130 countries had in Julyagreed to a decision to forcemultinationals to pay taxeswhere they operate. The seconddecision in the agreement com-mits states toaglobalminimumcorporate tax rate of 15per centto avoid countries undercuttingeachother.SpeakingattheICRIER’sAnn-

ualInternationalG20Conference,Sitharamansaidthetwo-pillarso-lutionofinternationaltaxationis-

suewillreachanadvancedimple-mentationstagewhichIndiawillhavetopilot.“Atthisstage,weareveryclosetoarrivingatsomethingin terms of the specifics of thetwo-pillar proposition.Wealre-adyhad a conversation andagr-eedtoaframework...Weareinthelaststagesoffinalisingthedetails.So Iwon’t think it is timeappro-priateformetospellthedetailsofwhatweareagreeingonbuttheseare the thingsonwhich the con-versationisongoing,”shesaid,asperaPTIreport.Meanwhile, as per a Reuters

report, French FinanceMinisterBruno LeMaire told CNBC theworld is one millimetre awayfromadeal on global corporatetaxesandanagreementcouldbesignednextweek.

‘Very close’ to specificsof G20 tax proposal: FM

FB didn’t flag India hatecontent because it lackedtools: Whistleblower

FrancesHaugenafteraSenatehearingTuesday.AP

“You(Invesco)arean18%shareholderbutnottheowner, youneedtofollowthe lawsofthecountry.Makeanopenoffer to75%shareholdersandtakeover thecompany ifyouwant”

SUBHASHCHANDRAZEECHAIRMANEMERITUS


THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VATICANCITY

Popeexpresses‘shame’atscaleofclergyabuseinFranceVatican City: Pope Francisexpressed “shame” forhimself and the RomanCatholic Church onWednesday for the scaleof child sexual abusewithin the church inFranceandacknowledgedfailures in putting theneedsof victims first. Thepopespokeduringhisreg-ular audience at theVaticanabout a report re-leased Tuesday that esti-mated some 330,000French children wereabused by clergy andotherchurchauthorityfig-ures dating back to 1950.“There is, unfortunately, aconsiderable number. Iwould like to express tothe victims my sadnessand pain for the traumathattheysuffered,”Francissaid. “It is alsomy shame,ourshame,myshame,forthe incapacity of thechurch for too long to putthem at the center of itsconcerns.” AP

PopeFrancis

TOPOFTHEWORLD

CANADA

GovtworkerswhorefuseCovidjabtobesentonleaveOttawa:Canada's federalemployees who are notfully vaccinated againstCovid-19 and are not ex-empt from getting theshotswillbeputonadmin-istrativeleavewithoutpay,officials said onWednesday,whiledomes-ticair,trainandcruiseshiptravelersandworkerswillsoonhavetoshowproofofvaccination. Federal em-ployeeswillberequiredtoshowproof of vaccinationthroughanonlineportalbyOctober 29.Workers andtravelers on trains, planesandcruiseshipsoperatingdomesticallymust showtheyhavebeeninoculatedbyOctober30. REUTERS

PAKISTAN

ActorSabaQamarindictedovervideoatmosqueLahore:APakistani courtonWednesday indictedactorSabaQamarinacaseregisteredagainsther lastyear forshootinga ‘dancevideo’ at a mosque inLahore.QamarandsingerBilal Saeedwere presentin the court of judicialmagistrate Javeria Bhattiwhen theywere charge-sheetedintheallegeddes-ecration of Wazir KhanMasjid. Both pleadednotguilty. Themagistrate di-rected theprosecution topresent its witnesses onnexthearingonnexthear-ingonOctober14. PTI

NATO

8officersfromRussianmissionexpelledBrussels: NATO has ex-pelled eightmembers ofRussia'smission to theal-liancewhowere “unde-claredRussianintelligenceofficers”, a NATOofficialsaidonWednesday,thelat-estdeteriorationintiesthatare already at post-ColdWarlows.TheexpulsionoftheRussianswasreportedearlierbySkyNews,whichsaidMoscow’smission totheallianceheadquartersin Brussels would behalved“inresponsetosus-pectedmalignRussianac-tivities, including killingsandespionage".REUTERS

REUTERSWASHINGTON,TAIPEI,OCTOBER6

TAIWAN’S FOREIGNMinistrysaidonWednesdayWashingtonhad reassured them that its ap-proach to the island had notchanged,adayafterUSPresidentJoe Biden said that he andChinese President Xi Jinpingagreed to abide by the “Taiwanagreement.”The ForeignMinistry said it

hadsoughtclarificationfromtheUSaboutBiden'scommentsandwere reassured the commit-menttoTaiwanwas“rocksolid”and thatWashingtonwill con-tinuetohelpTaiwanmaintainitsdefenses.“Facing the Chinese govern-

ment'smilitary, diplomatic andeconomicthreats,TaiwanandtheUnitedStateshavealwaysmain-tainedcloseandsmoothcommu-nicationchannels,” itsaid.InhiscommentsonTuesday

evening,Bidenappearedtorefertoa90-minutecallheheldwithXionSeptember9andthelong-standing policy under whichWashingtonofficiallyrecognizesBeijingratherthanTaipei,aswellasTaiwanRelationsAct.“I've spoken with Xi about

Taiwan.We agree ... we'll abideby the Taiwan agreement,”Biden told reporters.The comments sent

Taiwanese officials in search ofexplanations for what signalBidenwas sending at a time ofhigh tensions between Taipeiand Beijing. Taiwan's defenseminister, Chiu Kuo-cheng, wasaskedbyreportersinparliament

ifhehadanyfurtherinformationabout the Biden remark and hesaidhe“didn'tknow”about it.In Paris, US Secretaryof State

Antony Blinken reiterated onWednesdaythattheUScommit-ment to Taiwan is rock solid andthey are concerned aboutwhattheydescribedasChina'sprovoca-tivemilitaryactivityintheregion.China claims Taiwan as its

own territory, which should betaken by force if necessary.Taiwansaysit isanindependentcountryandwilldefenditsfree-domsanddemocracy.Taiwan has reported 148

Chinese air force planes in thesouthernandsouthwesternpartof its air defense zone over afour-day period beginning onFriday, the same day Chinamarked itsNationalDay.The Taiwan Relations Act

makes clear that theUSdecisionto switch official diplomaticrecognitiontoBeijingfromTaiwanin1979restsupontheexpectationthat the future of Taiwanwill bedeterminedbypeacefulmeans.WhiletheactbindstheUStopro-videTaiwanwiththemeanstode-fenditself,Washingtonacknowl-edges China's stance that theislandbelongstoitandthatthereis“oneChina,”andtakesnoposi-tiononTaiwan'ssovereignty.

CHINAHASbeenshow-inganewintensityandmilitary sophisticationasit stepsup itsharassmentof Taiwan—which itclaimsas itsown—andasserts its territorial am-bitions in theregion.Themost recent

flightsdemonstrateagreater levelof technicalexpertiseandpoweronpartby theChinesemili-tary—amarkedcontrastfromafewdecadesago,whenChinese forcescouldn’t refuel in theair,or flyacross thewater.

ChinaflexingitsmusclesE●EX

PLAINED

Day after Biden remark, Taiwansays US commitment ‘rock solid’

HundredsofAfghans flockedtothepassportoffice inKabulonWednesday,adayafternewsbrokethat itwouldre-openthisweekto issuethedocuments.Talibanofficialshavesaidtheservicewill resumefromSaturday,afterbeingsuspendedsincetheir takeoverandthefallofthepreviousgovernment inAugust.Reuters

HUNDREDS THRONG KABUL PASSPORT OFFICE

BritishPMBoris JohnsonwithhiswifeCarrieafterdeliveringaspeechduringtheConservativePartyConference.Reuters

ASSOCIATEDPRESSMANCHESTER,OCTOBER6

THIS IS anautumnof inconven-ience in Britain, marked byemptygaspumps,workershort-agesandgapsonstoreshelves.None of that got amention

from Prime Minister BorisJohnson onWednesday, as hebrushed off the economicbumps and said the UKwouldemerge from Brexit and thecoronaviruspandemicasamoreproductiveanddynamicnation.Johnson told the

ConservativeParty'sannualcon-ference that he’d end “decadesof drift and dither” and tackle“long-term structural weak-nesses,” especially a relianceonlow-cost labour fromabroad.Relaxedandebullientinfront

of a friendlycrowd, Johnsondidnot note thatmuch of that driftand dither came underConservative governments. Thepartyhasbeeninpowerfortwo-thirdsof thepast fourdecades.Johnson extoled the “Brexit

freedoms” brought by Britain'sexit from the EU, even as short-ages of truck drivers and otherworkerscauseeconomichiccups.“We're embarking nowon a

changeofdirectionthathasbeenlong overdue in the UK econ-

omy,”Johnsonsaid,vowing"nottouseimmigrationasanexcusefor the failure to invest.”Delegates at the conference

inManchester, gave a standingovationtoaspeechthatwaslongon optimism but short on con-cretepolicies.

SAJJADHUSSAINISLAMABAD,OCTOBER6

INAsurprisemilitaryshake-up,the Pakistan Army onWednesdayannouncedthattheheadof thepowerfulspyagencyISI,LtGenFaizHameed,hasbeenappointed as Peshawar CorpsCommander—acrucialpositioninviewof theTaliban'stakeoverof neighbouringAfghanistan.Lt Gen NadeemAnjumwas

appointed as the new ISIDirector-General in place of LtGenHameed,areleasebythetheInter-Services Public Relations(ISPR)— themediawing of thePakistanArmy—said.Thepostof ISIchief isconsid-

ered one of themost importantin the PakistanArmy,whichhasruled the country formore than

half of its 73 plus years of exis-tence and has hithertowieldedconsiderable power in themat-tersofsecurityandforeignpolicy.The ISI chief is appointed by

theprimeministerbutaspartofa tradition he executes thispower in consultationwith thePakistanArmychief.Initially, the Army said in a

statement that Lt GenHameedwas posted out but his replace-ment on the key post of the ISI

chief was not immediately an-nounced.Lt Gen Anjum,who belongs

to the Punjab Regiment of thePakistan Army, has served asKarachi Corps Commander aswell as the commandant ofCommand and Staff CollegeQuetta.He is considered as a battle-

hardenedwhocommandedtheFrontierCorpsBalochistanas itsInspector General and oversawmanyanti-terroroperations.Media reports said that his

subordinates call him the “manwith glacier brain but sharp re-flexes”.He is stated tobeagoodlistener andgoodobserverwhospeaksconcisely.Hameedwas appointed the

ISIchiefonJune16,2019.HehadpreviouslyservedintheISIastheheadof internal security.

Considered close to Armychief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa,Hameed had overseen crucialchanges in Afghanistan as theTaliban took control of thewar-tornnation inmid-August.InSeptember,hevisitedKabul

andtoldthemediainabriefchatthat “everythingwill beokay” inAfghanistan, amidst rumours ofdifferencesamongTalibanranksdue to delay in the announce-mentof thegovernment.TheArmy,inanofficialstate-

ment,alsoannouncedtwomoresenior-levelpostings.Lt Gen Mohammad Amir

waspostedasGujranwalacorpscommander, a major offensiveformationof thePakistanArmy,while Lt Gen AsimMunir wasappointedastheQuarterMasterGeneral (QMG)of theArmy, thestatement said. PTI

LtGenFaizHameedhasbeenappointedasPeshawarCorpsCommander.He isreplacedas ISIchiefbyLtGenNadeemAnjum

Pak Army transfers ISI chiefin surprisemilitary shake-up

UK court says Dubai rulerordered phones of ex-wifeand lawyers to be hacked

REUTERSLONDON,OCTOBER6

DUBAI'S RULER SheikhMohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoumorderedthephonesofhisex-wifeandherlawyerstobehacked as part of a "sustainedcampaign of intimidation andthreat" during the custody bat-tleovertheirchildren,England'sHighCourthas ruled.Mohammed used the so-

phisticated Pegasus software,developedbyIsraelifirmNSOforstates to counter national secu-rity risks, to hack the phones ofPrincess Haya bint al-Hussein,half-sister of Jordan's KingAbdullah, and some of thosecloselyconnectedtoher,accord-ing to therulings.Thoseworking for him also

triedtobuyamansionnextdoortoHaya's estate near the Britishcapital, intimidatory action thecourt ruled that left her feelinghunted,unsafeandlikeshe“can-notbreatheanymore”.The latest rulings come 19

months after the court con-cludedthatMohammedhadab-ducted two of his daughters,mistreatedthemandheldthem

against theirwill.“Thefindingsrepresentato-

tal abuseof trust, and indeedanabuse of power to a significantextent,” Judge AndrewMcFarlanesaid inhis ruling.The sheikh rejected the

court's conclusions, saying theywere based on an incompletepicture. “I have always deniedtheallegationsmadeagainstmeandIcontinuetodoso,”hesaid.Mohammed,72,andHaya,47,

havebeeninvolvedinabitterandexpensivecustodybattlesinceshefledtoBritainwiththeirchildrenJalila,13,andZayed,9.Shesaidshefeared forher safety amid suspi-cions shehadhad an affairwithoneofherBritishbodyguards.

JULIANE.BARNES&ADAMGOLDMANWASHINGTON ,OCTOBER6

TOP AMERICAN counterintelli-genceofficialswarnedeveryCIAstation and base around theworldlastweekabouttroublingnumbersof informantsrecruitedfrom other countries to spy fortheUnitedStatesbeingcapturedor killed, people familiar withthematter said.Themessage, in an unusual

top-secret cable, said that theCIA’s counterintelligencemis-sioncenterhadlookedatdozensof cases in the last several yearsinvolving foreign informantswhohadbeenkilled,arrestedormost likely compromised.Althoughbrief,thecablelaidoutthespecificnumberofagentsex-

ecutedbyrivalintelligenceagen-cies — a closely held detail thatcounterintelligenceofficialstyp-icallydonotshareinsuchcables.The cable highlighted the

struggle the spy agency is hav-ing as it works to recruit spiesaroundtheworldindifficultop-eratingenvironments. In recentyears, adversarial intelligenceservices in countries such asRussia, China, Iran and Pakistanhave been hunting down theCIA’s sources and in somecasesturningthemintodoubleagents.Acknowledgingthatrecruit-

ing spies is ahigh-riskbusiness,thecableraisedissuesthathaveplagued the agency in recentyears, includingpoortradecraft,beingtootrustingofsources,un-derestimating foreign intelli-gence agencies andmoving tooquickly to recruit informants

whilenotpayingenoughatten-tion to potential counterintelli-gence risks—aproblem the ca-ble calledplacing “missionoversecurity.”

Thelargenumberofcompro-misedinformantsinrecentyearsalso demonstrated the growingprowess of other countries inemployinginnovationslikebio-

metric scans, facial recognition,artificial intelligence and hack-ingtoolstotrackthemovementsof CIA officers in order to dis-cover their sources.WhiletheCIAhasmanyways

tocollect intelligenceforitsana-lyststocraftintobriefingsforpol-icymakers, networks of trustedhuman informants around theworldremainthecenterpieceofitsefforts,thekindofintelligencethattheagencyissupposedtobethe best in theworld at collect-ingandanalyzing.The loss of informants, for-

mer officials said, is not a newproblem. But the cable demon-strated the issue ismoreurgentthan ispubliclyunderstood.The warning, according to

thosewhohaveread it,waspri-marily aimed at front-lineagency officers, the people in-

volvedmost directly in the re-cruiting and vetting of sources.ThecableremindedCIAcaseof-ficerstofocusnotjustonrecruit-ing sources but also on securityissuesincludingvettinginform-antsandevadingadversarial in-telligenceservices.Among the reasons for the

cable,accordingtopeoplefamil-iar with the document, was toprod CIA case officers to thinkabout steps they can take ontheir own do a better jobman-aging informants.“Nooneattheendof theday

is being held responsiblewhenthings go southwith an agent,”said Douglas London, a formeragency operative. “Sometimestherearethingsbeyondourcon-trol,buttherearealsooccasionsof sloppiness and neglect, andpeople in senior positions are

neverheld responsible.”Worldwidemessages to CIA

stationsandbasesthatnotetrou-blingtrendsorproblems,orevenwarnings about counterintelli-genceproblems,arenotunheard-of, according to former officials.Still,thememooutliningaspecificnumberofinformantsarrestedorkilledbyadversarialpowersisanunusual levelofdetail.Askedaboutthememo,aCIA

spokesperson declined tocomment.The memo sent last week

suggested that the agency un-derestimated its adversaries —the belief that its officers andtradecraftwerebetterthanotherintelligenceservices.But there-sults of the study showed thatcountries being targeted by theU.S. are also skilled at huntingdowninformants. NYT

France saysrow withUS oversubmarinesnot resolved

JOHNIRISHPARIS,OCTOBER6

A DISPUTE between Paris andWashingtonoverAustralia'sdeci-siontoditchasubmarineprocure-ment contract remains seriousandunresolved, French ForeignMinister Jean-Yves LeDrian saidonWednesday, despitewhat hesaidweresubstantivetalksinPariswiththetopUSdiplomat.The transatlantic row was

triggeredbytheUS’snegotiationin secret of a military pact,knownasAUKUS,withAustraliaandBritain tocounterChina.Under the pact, Australia

committed to buyUS-designedsubmarines,andpulledoutofanexistingsupplydealwithFrance.Parissaidthedealhadbeendonebehind its back, and in protestbrieflywithdrewitsambassadorfromWashington.SpeakingtoFrenchlawmak-

ers, Le Drian said he had heldfrankandsubstantivetalkswithUS Secretary of State AntonyBlinken,whoisonavisittoParisthisweek.“Thecrisisisserious,itis not resolved just becausewehave resumed dialogue and itwill last. To get out of it wewillneedactsratherthanwords,”LeDrian said, adding that the twosideswereworkingtogetresultsby theendofOctober.FrenchPresidentEmmanuel

Macron and US President JoeBiden will talk again in mid-October,hesaid.LeDriansaidnegotiationsfo-

cusedonthreepoints:thestrate-gic importance of French andEuropean engagement in theIndo-Pacific region, the impor-tanceofastrongerandmoreca-pable European defence, andhowtheUScanreinforceitssup-portforcounter-terrorismoper-ations in Africa's Sahel regionconductedbyEuropeanstates.

Membersof theTalibanat the formerCIAEagleBase inKabulonSeptember6.NYT file

Captured, killed or compromised: CIA admits to losing dozens of informants

SheikhMohammedbinRashidal-Maktoum

London: British PrimeMinister Boris Johnson onWednesday zeroed in onUK's focus on enhancing re-lationswith “friendly coun-tries” in the Indo-Pacific, ashe declared that the worldwas tilting on its economicaxis towards the region.At his speech at the

Conservative Party confer-ence, Johnsonpointed to therecently signedAUKUSsecu-rityagreement asasignofthisenhancedfocusontheregion.Hereiteratedhiscentralmes-sage of creating a globalBritain,withgreater freedomtodefine the country's post-Brexitforeignpolicy. PTI

Johnson brushes offUK’s woes, vowshigh-skill economy

JOHNSON:WORLDECONOMIC AXISTILTING TOWARDSINDO-PACIFIC

Facebook slowsdown newproduct rollouts:report

THENEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK,OCTOBER6

NEWCORONAVIRUScases,hos-pitalizations and deaths arefalling as the United States be-ginstorecoverfromapersistentsummersurgethatstrainedhos-pitals across the country andkilled over 100,000 Americansin just threeandahalfmonths.As of Tuesday night, virus

casesintheUnitedStateshadav-eragedmorethan101,000adayfor the past week, a 24 percentdecrease from twoweeks ago.Reported newdeaths are down12 percent, to 1,829 a day.Hospitalizationshavedecreased20percentandareaveragingbe-low 75,000 a day for the firsttimesinceearlyAugust,accord-ingtoaNewYorkTimesdatabase.Public health officials, how-

ever, said the pandemic re-mained a potent threat.Most ofthe Covid deaths in that spanwerepeoplewhowereunvacci-nated, and about 68million eli-gibleAmericanshaveyettobein-oculated.Thatleavesthecountryvulnerable tocontinuedsurges.“We'renotoutofdanger,”Ali

Mokdad, a University ofWashington epidemiologistwho is a former Centers forDisease Control and Preventionscientist,saidinaninterviewthisweek. "This virus is too oppor-tunistic and has taught us onelessonafteranother."He worries about people

droppingtheiruseofmasksandtravelingmore,astheyhaveafterearlier drops in new cases - ac-tionsthatcouldhelpfuela freshsurge inDecemberandJanuary.The number of new daily

cases in the United States hasfallen 35 percent sinceSeptember1,accordingtoaNewYork Times database. The dropwasespeciallystarkinSouthernstatesthathadthehighestinfec-tion rates during theDelta vari-ant surge that started in June."Thiswave is petering out,"

Edwin Michael, a professor ofepidemiology at the Universityof South Florida said. "If therewerewaningimmunity,thenweshouldbeatthebeginningofan-otherwavenow.”

REUTERSOCTOBER6

FACEBOOKINChassloweddowntherolloutofnewproductsinre-centdays, theWall Street Journalreported onWednesday, citingpeople familiar with thematter.Executives at the socialmedia company have also put aholdon somework on existingproducts, thereportsaid.Facebook did not immedi-

ately respond to a Reuters re-questfor comment.Last week,Facebook said it was putting ahold on the kids'version of itsphoto-sharing app Instagram,amid growingopposition fromUS lawmakers and advocacygroupscitingsafetyconcerns.Facebook has come under

fireinrecentweeksafterFrancesHaugen,whoworkedasaprod-uctmanager on the civicmisin-formationteamatFacebook,re-vealed that she was thewhistleblower who provideddocuments underpinning a re-centWall Street Journal investi-gation.Addingtothetroubles, italsoexperiencedasix-hourout-age onMonday due to a “faultyconfigurationchange”.

Covid cases,deaths declinein US butthreat stilllingers

SPORT/CALENDAR 17WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY,OCTOBER7,2021

ANDREWAMSANNEWDELHI, OCTOBER6

THE COUNTRY’S premier athletics venue,SportsAuthorityof India’s (SAI) JawaharlalNehruStadium,hasbeenwithoutaperma-nent pole vault apparatus for over sixmonths. Thishas forcedathletes to train inthe long jump pit, the makeshift arrange-ment responsible for several twisted an-kles and knees. A few of the Capital’s polevaulters are contemplating quitting thesport, others are dealing with a suddendrop in performance.Devraj, a 2019 Delhi state medallist,

couldn’t land a single legal jump at lastmonth’s Open Nationals in Warangal. “Icoulddo4.80mearlierbutnowIcan’tevenmakeaproper jump.Withgreatdifficulty,I havebeenable toprocurepolesbutwhatwill I do without a pit? I am consideringselling themoff,” saysDevraj.The SAI, in a statement to The Indian

Express, said that the pole vault disciplinewas “moved” to Bangalore in Decemberwhere the NCOE (National Centre ofExcellence)will function. “Polevaultequip-ment integral toPolevaultNCOE(NationalCentreof Excellence)havemovedtoanewlocation in Dec 2020 and all facilities wrtpole vault are available at Bangalore,” thestatement read.Stadiumauthoritieshave lockedupthe

existing “unfit” pits in the storeroom. Forthe recent under-23 NationalChampionships, the Indian Army came tothe rescue ensuring the pole vault eventwasn’t scrapped as was the case at theDelhi state meet organised a few weeksback at the same venue.“The Rajputana Rifles lent us the pole

vault pits. They brought it in their Armytrucksandtookitbackafter theevent,”saysan official.

SAI further stated that “the issue of newpits” for competitions isbeing “deliberated”.Thatmeansthattheordealofpolevaultersatthestadiumisunlikelytoendsoon.“Wedon’thaveapit foroversixmonths

now. Iamtiredof runningafterstadiumof-ficials. What hurts me more than the ab-sence of the pit is the condescending toneinwhich certain administrators talk to us.Do you want to know why India doesn’twin as many medals as it should? It’s be-cause of administrators like these,” a de-jectedDelhi statemedallist said.

Seeking updatesOnMonday, a group of frustrated pole

vaulters reached administrator SatyadevPrasad’s office seeking an update onthematter,only tobetold that “hecouldn’tdomuch.” Prasad refused to comment onthe issue.Athletes say thatmoving the facility to

Bangalorewouldn’t help them.“Ihave just started.Howcanyouexpect

meto leavemyhomeandgotoBangalore?I amnot even part of the NCOE.WhatwillDelhi’syoungvaultersdo?Youcan’texpecteveryone to move to a new city,” says 17-year-old Rahul (name changed).Rahul came to JLN with high hopes.

Back inhis school, using abamboo stick asa pole and haystacks as a pit, hemanagedto cross the 3mmark. He thought that atJLN hewould be able to try his hand at anactualpit for the first time,butwas leftde-jected. “I cannotbelieve that the country’sbest stadiumdoesnothaveapolevaultpit.I still can’t,” says Rahul.Thosewhoarepresently training in the

long jumppit fear injuries. “Ourkneeshurtand a fewdays backmy ankle got twisted.But what can we do? Our performanceshave gone down as well. If things don’tchange, I will have to quit,” says a youngvaulter on condition of anonymity.

NITINSHARMACHANDIGARH,OCTOBER6

ON WEDNESDAY evening when AnshuMalik became the first-ever Indianwomanwrestler to enter the final of a WorldWrestling Championshipwith an 11-0winover 2020 European silver medallistSolomiaaVynnykofUkraineinthe57Kgcat-egory, her father DharamveerMalik couldhardlycontrolhisemotions.Four Indianwomenwrestlers havewon

medalsattheWorlds,allofthembeingbronze.Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012),PoojaDhanda(2018)andVineshPhogat(2019)havemadethenationproudbutAnshuhasanopportunitytogoastepahead.Two-time Olympic champion Risako

Kawai is oneof thebignamesmissing fromthechampionships,butAnshuwon’thaveiteasyinthefinalagainstTokyoGamesbronzemedallistHelenMaroulisofAmerica.Therealisationofwhathisdaughtercould

pulloffhasdawnedonDharamveer,whowasa source of strengthwhenAnshu returnedwithout amedal fromtheOlympics. HavingrepresentedtheIndianjuniorwrestlingteaminthe1990’s,Dharamveerwasforcedtoretirefollowing aknee injury.Hehadexperiencedhowcrushing failure canbe. SoDharamveermade sure his daughter’s shoulders neverdrooped evenwhenthingsdidn’tgoherway.When Anshu got home from the Tokyo

Olympics in August, her first SummerGames, Dharamveer ensured his daughterwaswelcomed likeachampion.“WheneverIreturnedfrominternational

competitions without winning amedal, Iwouldalwaysfeeldejected.ButthathasnotbeenthecaseinAnshu’scareer.Ihavealwaystold her that a loss also teaches one some-thing.ShehasputthelossagainsttheRussianin the Olympics behind her. To see her be-come the only Indianwrestler to reach thefinal of world championshipsmakesme alittleemotional,”Dharamveer says.WhicheverthecolourofAnshu’smedalon

Thursday, itwill get aprideof place athome.“Hermedalwill adorn thewall of ourhouselikeherothermedals,”Dharamveer,whorep-resented India in the World CadetChampionships in 1995, adds. Hailing fromNidanivillageinJinddistrictinHaryana,aplacefamousforproducingwrestlersandboxers,ayoungAnshuwouldtaketowrestlingaftersee-ingher brother Shubham train at the CBSMSports School at the village in 2012. TheHaryanayoungsterwouldwinasilvermedalin theAsian JuniorChampionships inTaiwanin 2016 and a bronze in World CadetChampionshipsinGeorgiainthesameyear.Ayearlatershewouldwintheworldcadettitle.Seeing that his daughter had potential,

Dharamveer,whoownssixacresoffarmland,would also shuttle between Lucknow and

Sonepat, venues of national camps, to bebyAnshu’s side. “Whatever I could do, I did forAnshu’s loveforwrestling.Thereweresomehard times too but seeing her win wouldmakemeforgetall thosedays,”hesays.

Quick learnerThe youngsterwould train under coach

JagdeeshSheoranat theCBSMSportsSchool.Thecoachsaysshe isaquick learner. “Duringtraining,Anshuwouldmakemental notesofvariousmoveslikeBhandhajandKheechapartfromGatta Pakad andwould also tryminutevariationsintheseattacks,”Sheoranrecalls.She became the third Indian female

wrestlertosealtheTokyoOlympicsquotawitha 12-2win over ShokidaAkhmedova in theAsia Oceania Olympic qualifier at Almaty,Kazakhstan.Butshehadsufferedabackinjuryduring the ranking series inRome.At Tokyo,

Anshu lost to doubleworld championshipmedallist andeventual silvermedallist IrynaKurachkinaofBelarusinthefirstroundbeforelosingtoRioOlympicssilvermedallistValeriaKoblovaofROC1-5intherepechageround.The Russian eventually lost to Bulgaria’s

EvelinaNikolovainthebronzemedalmatch,awrestlerwhomAnshuhaddefeatedearlierinMattio Pellicone Ranking Series in Romethisyear. “AgainstKoblova,Anshuhadman-agedtodefendtillthelastminuteofthebout.In the last 40 seconds of the bout, lettingKoblovamake a leg attack cost Anshu. AftertheOlympics,whenAnshu camehome,weworkedonherlegattacksaswellasdefence,whichsheshowedinOslo,”Sheoransays.OnWednesday, Anshu first scored a 15-

5win over junior world champion NilufarRaimovaofKazakhstanbeforescoringa5-1winoverAsiansilvermedallistErkhembayarDavaachimegofMongoliatoenterthesemis.In the semis, Anshu kept the UkrainianSolomiaaVynnykatbaywithconstantneckholds, therebynot lettingherattack.Anshuwouldeventuallywinthebout11-

0ontechnicalsuperiority.“ThewayAnshuhasavoidedgetting caught in leg attacks againstthe likesofDaavachimegandVynnykmeansthatAnshu’sdefencehasimproved.Shemadegoodcountermovesafterdefendingthelegat-tacks anddidnot let counter attackshappenhere.AnshuhastheadvantageofhavingmorepowerascomparedtotheAmericaninthefi-nalandshewillaimtofightwithanattackingintent,”sharednationalcoachKuldeepMalik.Coach Sheoran too believes that the

Americanwrestler is a bit likeAnshuas shetoo relies on leg attacks. “The Americanworksontheupperbodyattacksbeforeshemakes a quick leg attack tounsettle the op-ponent,” Sheoran says, hoping hisward re-mains up to the task of taking onawrestlerwithOlympicmedalpedigree.

20-year-oldAnshu, thereigningAsianchampion,controlledthesemifinalagainstjuniorEuropeanchampionSolomiiaVynnykandwonbytechnical superiority. File

Missing pole vault apparatus atJLN forcing budding athletesto consider quitting sport

Polevaultersare forcedtoperformtheirdrillsat the long jumppit.AndrewAmsan

SAFFCup: IndiatakeonSriLankaMale: A 1-1 draw against 10-manBangladeshdentingtheirconfidence,Indiawillneedtoquicklygettheiracttogether as they take on Sri Lanka intheir second SAFF ChampionshipmatchhereonThursday.TheIndiansgo into Thursday's gameon the backof a disappointing stalemate withBangladesh, against whom theyshould have won considering thatthey dominatedmajority of the pro-ceedingsandeventooktheleadcour-tesy a Sunil Chhetri strike. However,thatwasnot tobeandIndiaare look-ing forward to the Sri Lanka game toregister their firstwin in the tourna-ment,which theyhavewona recordseventimes.

Brazil,ArgresumeWCqualificationSaoPaulo:BrazilandArgentinawillbehoping to avoid anymore interrup-tionswhenWorldCupqualifying re-sumes on Thursday across SouthAmerica. Thegamebetweenthe tworivalsinSaoPaulolastmonthwassus-pended shortly after kickoff after aBrazilian health official entered thepitch to remove fourArgentinaplay-ers he considered should be in quar-antine due to COVID-19 protocols.Similar scenes should be avoidedwhen Brazil, which tops the qualify-ing standings, visits last-placeVenezuela and second-placeArgentina travels toAsuncion to faceParaguay. Also on Thursday, third-place Uruguay will host Colombia.Ecuador, in fourth place, will playBoliviaandPeruhostsChile.

PauGasolretiresfrombasketballBarcelona:Wishinghis"olderbrother"KobeBryantcouldbetherebyhisside,PauGasol finallyput anend to abas-ketballcareerthatwent"waybeyondmydreams and expectations." Gasolannounced his retirement frombas-ketball onTuesdayafteracareer thatlasted more than two decades andearned him two NBA titles and aworld championship gold withSpain's national team. Gasol had al-readyannouncedhisfarewellfromin-ternationalbasketball inAugustafterSpain lost to the United States in thequarterfinals of the Tokyo Games,which marked his fifth Olympics.Gasol had been with Spanish clubBarcelonasinceFebruary.

PTI&AP

BRIEFLY

CROSSWORD4554

ACROSS1 Wherepeopledon’t likeplaying in thesand(4,6)

8 Incolour it isoneof thegreats(5)

9 Manyset free (7)10 HavingthecouragetoboastaboutFrenchwine(7)

11 Mainareaonceadisaster(5)

12 Carryonwithasummary(6)

14 Agitatedstateobtainspeacewith theUnitedNations(6)

17 Surroundedbycultivatedmango(5)

19 Goldtransactionsbringharrowingexperiences(7)

21 Listlessgnucapriciously laidout (7)

22 Triesarrangingceremonies(5)

23 Officially registeracomplaint(6,4)

DOWN2 They’renotathomewithregulations (7)

3 Plantsprovideamusement toasoldier (5)

4 Gonearchangingcolour(6)

5 Indisposedtobecriticised?(3,4)

6 Happentocomelater(5)

7 Theymaytakecontrolwhenpeople fall asleep(10)

8 Table inlaidwithnacredesignforaplaceofworship(10)

13 Hedoesnotcare forparties(7)

15 Acommodityextensivelyused(7)

16 Road incentreof SouthAfricanfrontier (6)

18 Hemayhavethe lotoraboutthreequarters(5)

20 It’splayedupordown(5)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Nomatterhowanxiousyoumaybetogetcertainenterprises

underway,there’snoneedtohurry.Recenthold-upshavemadeyouimpatient, butyouhaveuntiltheendoftheyeartomakeafreshstart.Pickyourowntimeanddon’tberushed.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Doyouimaginethatyouhavehadtoabandonanumberofprojectsbecauseofa

lackofunderstandingorsympathyfromotherpeople?Ifso,youarenotlookinghonestlyatyourpartinevents.But,then,whyshouldyou?Sometimesyoucanjustrelaxandstayasyouare.

GEMINI(May22-June21)Adverseorchallengingaspectsrecentlyhavemadeyoufeelthatthe

worldhasbeenouttogetyou.However, thebestwaytokeepyourspiritsupistorealisethatbeneathitall,peoplereallyareonyourside.Thereseemstobesomechanceofmechanicaldifficultiesaroundtoday,socheckforproblems.

CANCER(June22-July23)Saturnadvisescautionandrestraintforalittlewhilelonger,advicewhich

maynotsuityourimaginativeandambitiousplans.Still, ifyoualloweventstotaketheirowncourse,yourideaswillhavetimetomature.Youmayfeelasifyou’recarryingtheworldonyourshoulders.Butthatjustshowshowstrongyouare,doesn’tit?

LEO(July24-Aug23)Currentplanetarytransitsshouldleaveyoujumpingforjoy.Theplanetsare

rearrangingthemselvesinsuchawaythattensionandpressurewillberelievedwhilepleasureandenjoymentshouldbeenhanced.Achildmaybefeelingshaken,eventhoughtheymaynotbeshowingit,sobeconsiderate.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sept23)AstheSun,andthenMercury,alignthemselveswiththeangleofyour

horoscoperulingyourhome,domesticconsiderationswillbecomemoreandmoreofanissue.Someofyoumaybeconsideringamoveinthenearfuture,orasimilar improvementinyourhomeconditions.Thereissomewaytogoyet, though.

LIBRA(Sept24-Oct23)Sometimes theplanetshave tobefirm tobekind, andwhat theyare

planningnow is a changeoftack in joint financial affairs.Thedeadline loomsbutprobablynotuntil nextweekattheearliest, so you’veplentyof time to take thenecessary action.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov22)Yourbiggestweaknessatthemomentmaybecomplacency.Donot

relaxyourguardforonemoment,at leastnotuntilyouareabsolutelysurethatyouareoutofdanger.Partnersmaywronglyaccuseyouof lettingthemdown,butperhapstheyshouldhavedonemoreforthemselves.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov23-Dec22)Youmaywait untilafter tomorrow ifyouwant tobroachsensitive emotional

issues. Today, you shouldmakesure thatpartners arepreparedto listen towhat youareplanning to say.Aboveall, betolerant. After all, youmay justbe responsible for theproblemsyoucriticiseinothers.

CAPRICORN(Dec23-Jan20)Youmaystill feelratherisolated,neverapleasantsensation.However, ifyouare

separatedfromthoseyouloveandcarefor,whynotdosomethingaboutit?Youmaybesurprisedbythewelcomeresponseyoureceive. Itwillbepleasanttodiscoverhowpopularyouare.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Itmaybetimetoclearawaysomeofthedebristhatstillseemstobe

clutteringupyourlifeafterrecentemotionaltraumas.Focusonprofessionalandcareerrelationships,asthesearewhereyouwillgain.Remember, ifyourdreamsaretocometrue,you’llhavetopayforthem.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Overall, it’s apositivemoment.Therehaven’t beenmanyyearswhen

youcan rememberbeing soconcernedaboutpersonalmatters but, even thoughyouhave facedobstacles in thepast, it is finally beginning tolookas if yourpath is clear. Andthat just has tobe causefor rejoicing.

SUDOKU4617

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4616

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Onemanwith____isamajority.-ThomasJefferson(7)

SOLUTION:AFTER,COVER,UNCLOG,VIKINGAnswer:Onemanwithcourageisamajority.-ThomasJefferson

TREFA GLANOC

CEVOR IIKNKG

SolutionsCrossword4553:Across:1Stitch,4Faucet,9Eastern,10Again,11Knelt,12Elector,13Firstchoice,18Treason,20Jaffa,22Llama,23Acclaim,24Attest,25Usurer.Down:1Sheikh,2Issue,3Creates,5Agate,6Chaotic,7Tenure,8Undercanvas,14Inexact,15Objects,16Stella,17Warmer,19Spars,21Flair.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Anshubecomes first Indianwomanwrestler toenter finalofWorldC’ships

Making history on themat

Oslo: SaritaMor lost her semifinal af-tershockingworldchampioninquar-ters andwill fight for abronzemedal.Sarita shocked defending championLindaMorais 8-2 inheropeningboutand beat Germany's SandraParuszewski 3-1 in the quarterfinals.Up against the reigning Europeanchampion from Bulgaria BilyanaZhivkovaDuodova, Sarita fought herheart out but lost 0-3. Shewill nowfightforabronze.TheAsianchampionhada toughopeningbout against the2019World champion fromCanadabutcameouttrumpswithatactical8-2wininthepre-quarterfinals. PTI

Sarita Mor to fightfor bronze medal

Vol.LXVNo.236Printedfortheproprietors,TheIndianExpress(P)LtdbyMsVaidehiThakaratTheIndianExpressPress,PlotNo.EL-208,TTCIndustrialArea,Mahape,NaviMumbai-400710andpublishedfromMafatlalCentre,7thfloor,RamnathGoenkaMarg,NarimanPoint,Mumbai400021.Editorial&Administrativeoffices:MafatlalCentre,7thfloor,RamnathGoenkaMarg,NarimanPoint,Mumbai400021.Phone:22022627/67440000.Fax:022-22835726.ChairmanoftheBoard:ViveckGoenka,ChiefEditor:RajKamalJha,Editor:UnniRajenShanker,Editor(Mumbai):NirupamaSubramanian.*(*ResponsibleforselectionofNewsunderthePRBAct)Additionalairsurchargeof`1.00-Goa.Copyright:TheIndianExpress(P)Ltd.Allrightsreserved.Reproductioninanymanner,electronicorotherwise,inwholeorinpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermissionispro-

hibited.TheIndianExpress®



SPORT18PLAYINGTODAYIndian Premier LeagueCSK vs PBKS, 3:30 pm,KKR vs RR, 7:30pm,Live on Star Sports Network

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTYOCTOBER6

DEVDUTTPADIKKAL tappedaRashidKhandeliverytocoverandranwithout lookingathis partner. GlennMaxwell responded anditwasmisjudgementonbothbatsmen’spart.Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper KaneWilliamsonswoopedontheballandrantheAussieoutwithadirecthit.Run-scoringwas difficult on a slowAbu

Dhabi pitch, butMaxwell’s hitting prowesswasmaking thepitch factor redundant –hewasscoringatastrikerateof160.AndalthoughRoyalChallengersBangalorewerestillstaringatanaskingrateofclosetoninerunsperover,anotherfewdeliveriesfortheAustralianprob-ablywouldhavesealedthedealforhisteam.Intheend,hisdismissalprovedtobetheturningpoint. Itwasn’t easy foranewbatsman,evenforsomeoneofABdeVilliers’ calibre, to forcethepacestraightwayonthissurface.Padikkal,at theotherend,got intoarut,goingatasub-80 strike rate before a catch in the deep offKhanputhimoutofhismisery.Intheend,RCBfellshortbyfourruns,whicheffectivelyendedtheirhopesof finishinginthetoptwo.

SRH bowlers shineSunrisers’ season was long done and

dusted. Yet,Williamson inspired his troopsto play for pride. Their bowling also offereda big picture, ahead of the T20World Cup.BhuvneshwarKumar lookedinfinerhythmright through his four overs, conceding 25runsandtakingKohli’swicket.Yetagain,theRCBskipper’shead fell overabit, goingout-

sidethelineof theball,anissuehewillneedtoaddressbefore themega ICCevent.Kumar’sfinalover,whenhewasdefend-

ing13runsagainstdeVilliers,wasverygoodaswell, a sixnotwithstanding. JasonHolderhad bowled an excellent penultimate over,removing the dangerous-looking ShahbazAhmedandmaking things tougher forRCB.Butthebowlerwhofilledtheviewers’senseswas UmranMalik. On a sluggish deck, hetouched152kph,hurryingthebatsmenandsurprisingMaxwellwithawickedbouncer.The 21-year-old fast bowler from Jammu&KashmirhasafutureIndiaplayerwrittenalloverhimif hedoesn’t losehisway.

Maxwell’s formIn hindsight, given the slowness of the

surface,Kohli’sdecisiontobatsecondwasawrongone.SRH’stotal,141,waschallenging,for theballwasn’t comingon to thebat andthedegree of difficulty for batsmenwas in-creasingwitheverypassingover.Maxwell’sbrainandbrawn–40off 25balls–keptRCBinthechasetoa largeextent.However, irre-spectiveof thedefeat in this game,his formwill encourage the franchise, going into theknockouts.This is howMaxwell has been going of

late:56off37ballsagainstMumbaiIndians,50 not out off 30 balls against RajasthanRoyals, and 57 off 33 balls against PunjabKings. RCB’s upsurge in formhas coincidedwithMaxwell’s golden run. Threewins onthespinbeforethismatchhastakenthemtothePlayoffs.

WhenRCBropedinMaxwellforRs14.25croreat the2021 IPLauction, theAustralianwas going through a tough period, battlingmentalhealthissues.Later,hepubliclyspokeabout Kohli’s support for him. The 32-year-oldhasbeenrepaying thedebtever since.

Partnership battingA70-runpartnershipbetweenJasonRoy

andWilliamson proved to be pivotal. SRHpromotedAbhishek Sharma to pinch-hit atthe top. But after hitting a four and a six offGeorge Garton, the youngster got out.Williamson announced his arrival at thecreasewithadelightfuldriveoffMohammedSirajfollowedbyapulltothedeepsquarelegboundary.Roy gradually grew into the game and

SRHhadaverydecentPowerplay–50/1. ToKohli’scredit,hisproactivecaptaincyworkedto RCB’s advantage. After the first strategictime-out,whenYuzvendraChahalbowledapretty ordinary over, Kohli straightawaybrought back Harshal Patel. The latter cas-tledWilliamson and claimed threewicketsto takehis tournament tally to29.For RCB, help also arrived fromanunex-

pectedquarter,asDanChristianrolledbackthe

years.The38-year-oldisnotknownforgivingconsecutivebreakthroughs.His job is tokeepthingstightinthemiddleovers.ButChristianaccountedforPriyamGargwithashort-of-a-lengthdeliverythatcrampedthebatsmanforroombeforetakingablinderoffhisownbowl-ingtodismissRoyinthesameover.This resulted in SRH losingmomentum.

Duringaphase, theylost fourwickets infiveoversforjust31runs.Buttheirbowlersstooduptobecounted.

BRIEF SCORES: Sunrisers Hyderabad: 141for 7 in 20overs (Roy44off 38,Williamson31 off 29; Patel 3/33, Christian 2/14) beatRoyalChallengersBangalore:137for6 in20overs.(Padikkal41off52,Maxwell40off25;Malik1/21).

Setting sun singes Royal Challengers’ top-two hopes

SRHpacerUmranMalikdismissedRCB’sKS Bharat. iplt20.com

WhenMI catch a cold, Team India sneezesWithsixkeyplayers fromIPL franchise inT20WorldCupsquad, fortunesofMumbai Indiansandthenational sideareentwined

SANDIPGOCTOBER6

ROHITSHARMAstridesouttobatinablazingblue jerseywith theNo45 imprintedboldlyonitsback.Butforthesplashesofgold-colouronhisjersey,orathickergradientofblue,youcouldnotdistinguishwhetherheisturningupforhisclub,orthecountry,whetherheisinthemiddleof aWorldCuporanIPLgame.So it isfor five of his teammates—Jasprit Bumrah,Hardik Pandya, Ishan Kishan, SuryakumarYadavandRahulChahar.Sincenational teams tend topickmostof

theireggsfromoneparticularbasket,theirros-tersoftenconsistofplayersfromthedomesticleague’sbestteam.ItbrooksnoargumentthatMumbai Indianshavebeen themost prolificteamintheIPL,evenifthisseasonhaspannedout indifferently. Therefore, their imprint ontheIndianteamisunshakeablystrong—thein-fluencenot restricted to thenumbers, but totheir indispensability.All of themwield important portfolios,

and pertinently, the same one they handlefor club and country. So Bumrah opens thebowling,Sharmathebatting,thetempo-set-ters;YadavwalksinatNo4asthedestroyer-consolidator,PandyaatNo6,as the finisher.If Chahar gets a game, itwouldbeas the at-tackingwrist-spinner,notinadefensiverole;ifKishangetsagame,hewouldbeexpectedto tee off from the first ball. Their country-clubrolesblend imperceptibly.It’s not hyperbolic, hence, to state that

their fortunes are asmuch as entwined asthey are interlinked. Awell-tunedMumbaiIndians means an in-sync Team India.Contrarily, an out-of-tuneMumbai Indianscorrespond to a jarring Team India.WhenMumbai Indianscatchacold, Indiasneezes.It’s like the age-old electoral truism of thecountry—the national polls would swingwhereUttarPradeshsways to.So, like the local politics of India’smost

populous state, the fortunes of India willhinge,majorly,onhowMumbaiIndians’per-sonnel fare. Their strengths are India’s

strengths too—the red-hot formof Bumrahshould please the staunchestMI-critics (bytheway,whodoesnot loveBumrah?)—justastheirtravailsareIndia’stoo,theirconcernsare thoseof India’s aswell.

Club-country headacheFor instance, the plummeting form of

Yadav isnotonly aheadache forhis club, butalsoforhiscountry. In13inningsthisedition,hehasdoledoutonly235runsatanaverageof18andastrikerateof129.83.HisfiguresintheEmirates,thesamevenuefortheWorldCup,issorrier—his six outings yielding just 62 runs,scoredatanODI-parstrikerateof79.Lastyear,at this stage, he had tallied nearly twice asmanyruns(480)atasignificantlybetterstrike-

rateof145.Hisauditioningtothenationalteamwent smoothly—heprospered in the tour ofSri Lanka—buthis form in theprelude to theWorldCupwouldbeevaluatedontherunshehasmadeintheUAEinstalmentoftheleague.His shoddy formhasbeenoneof thepri-

mary reasonsMumbai Indians are clutchingat the straws to qualify for the playoff. Theyhave, often, plateaued in themiddle-overs,whereonceYadavusedtoturbochargethemwithhis classically aggressive stroke-play. Toa lesserextent, Sharma’s formin theUAEtoohasbeendisconcerting.Afterhismostproduc-tive Test series outsideAsia, hehasnot quitestrummedintohisusualgears,hislastoutingsbreeding111runs,whichissubstandardbyhishigh standards. But unlike Yadav, Sharma’s

form isnot a cause for alarm, becausehe is aprovenproblem-solver.As a consequence,MI have struggled for

momentuminthefirst10overs.Buttheresur-genceofKishan—whorollickeda25-ballhalf-centuryagainstRajasthanRoyals—isatimelyfillip. Kishanhas looked recklessmore thananything else, but rectified himself in themust-winRoyalsgame,whereheresistedhisimpulsetostrikeeveryballoutoftheground.Hesoakedthegoodballs(10dot),andtargetedboundaries onlywhen the bowlers erred,mostlyontheshorterside.Shouldhesustainhis form, bothMI and India will be betterservedaswellasrelieved,moreasIndia’sbat-ting backup appears thin onpaper. Take outthetopthree—Sharma,KLRahulandKohli—

therearefewestablishednames, fewprovenperformersininternationalcricket.Thenight-mares of the 2019 World Cup and 2017ChampionsTrophycouldrecur.

PandyadilemmaSimilarly, MI have vexed over Hardik

Pandya’s inability to bowl. True that he hasmadesporadicimpactwiththebat,like40notout in thenervy chase against PunjabKings,andhe couldbe anable finisher, his bowlingbringsanaltogetherdifferentdimensiontotheteam.Not only is he an excellentwhite-ballbowler, his assortment of cutters and seam-manipulationcouldmakehimdeadlyon thesluggishdecksoftheEmirates,butalsohegivestheteammanagementtheroomtomanoeu-vrewithcombinations.Heaffords theoptionto squeeze in anextra specialist, be it a bats-man,spinnerorseamer.But his persistent niggles, aches and

strains have hamstrung both the club andcountry.Hadhebeenbowling-fit inEngland,Indiacouldhaveincludedanextrabatsman,or playedwith two spinners. Likewise, MIneedn’t have played both JimmyNeeshamandNathanCoulter-Nile,whichmeanttheyhadtobenchQuintondeKock,asbothTrentBoult and Kieron Pollard are undroppableoverseas players. Balance-wise, he is themost valuable asset for Indians as well asIndia.LikePandya,Chahartoohaspolarisedopin-

ions. His plunge in formhas coincidedwithYuzvendraChahal’s revival, sparking intensedebates.Therefore, no other team’s fortune and

formwould have a bearing on the nationalteam’s performance as much as that ofMumbai Indians. Should SharmaandYadavreacquaintwith their elusive touch, shouldPandyastarttobowlandChaharretrievesthemasteryofcontrol,boththeIndiaandMumbaiIndianscouldhopetowrapuptheir immedi-ateassignmentsonahigh.Ahappyandwin-ningMumbai Indianscouldresult inahappyandwinningTeamIndia.Theirfateisasinter-linkedasitisentwined,asiftheyholdamirrortoeachother.

MIHIRVASAVDAOCTOBER6

AUSTRALIA’S KIERANGovers wondered ifthiswas ‘April Fools inOctober’. Belgium’sVictorWegnezcalled it a ‘joke’.Germany’scaptain at the Tokyo Olympics, TobiasHauke, labeled the selection process as‘ridiculous’. Britain’s ZachWallace said itwas ‘shameless’. Argentina’s GonzaloPeillat used the hashtag ‘skandal’ whilefourDutchplayersdidnothaveanywords;they just used ‘ROFL’ emojis.Belgium men and the Netherlands

women won the gold medal at the TokyoOlympics. But India swept all the awards.And the hockeyworld is up in arms unan-imously, criticizing the voting system de-ployed by the International HockeyFederation(FIH) todeterminethewinners.The sharp reactions have pushed the FIH

into a corner, and theworld body has saidtheywill review their process.TheFIH,onWednesday,announcedthat

India made a clean-sweep of its annualawards. It’s the first time that a country haswon inall eight categories.Gurjit Kaur was named as the best

woman player while Harmanpreet Singhwas the best male. Savita Punia and PRSreejeshwere chosen as thebest goalkeep-ers in the world while Sharmila Devi andVivek Sagar Prasadwere elected as thebestrisingstars.Savita was one of the heroes of India’s

unprecedented run at the Tokyo Games,making dozens of saves, especially in thequarterfinals against Australia. Sreejesh,too, stoodout for India incrunchsituationswhere hemadematch-winning intercep-tions, none more crucial than the save hemade in the bronze medal match againstGermanywith just 7 seconds remaining.

How theywere chosenTheFIHusesanonlinevotingsystemtode-

termine thewinners in all categories. As pertheworldbody,thevotesfromthenationalas-sociations,whoarerepresentedbytheircap-tains and coaches, counted for 50percent oftheoverallresult.Themediahada25percent

sharewhile the remaining 25 percentwassharedbetweenthefansandplayers.Outofits137memberassociations,79par-

ticipated in the voting process (11 out of 25fromAfrica, 29out of 33 fromAsia, 19out of42 fromEurope,3outof 8 fromOceania, and17outof30fromPanAmerica).TheFIHadded

thatarecord300,000fanscasttheirvotes.India’s players got themaximum vote

sharefromallthreesections.OnlyintheBestCoach category, Belgium’s ShaneMcLeodand the Netherlands’ Alyson Annan got alargershareofvotes fromthenationalasso-ciations but got beaten in the overall countafteraddingmediaand fanvotes.

Systemunder scannerThereweresomeotherdebatablepoints

aswell. For instance, Alexander Hendrickxscored 14 goals at the Tokyo Olympics, themost, including a hat-trick against India inthe semifinals and a penalty in the tie-breakeragainstAustralia in the final. EvadeGoede,regardedasthemostcompleteplayerofhergeneration,orchestratedNetherlands’march to the top of the podium; her thirdOlympic gold after 2008 and 2012, in addi-tiontoasilveratRio2016.Both,however,fin-ishedas runners-up in their categories.

Immediately after the announcement,Hockey Belgium said on social media thattheywere ‘verydisappointedwiththeout-comeof theawards’. “Agoldwinning teamwithmultiplenomineesinallcategoriesbutdoesn’t win a single award demonstratesfailure of the voting system.Wewill workwithFIHtoensurea fairersysteminthefu-ture,” the world and Olympic championssaid, adding in another tweet that thisshould insteadbe called ‘Public’s Choice oftheYear’.TheFIHdefendedtheprocesssayingthat

thewinnerswouldhavebeenthesameevenif ‘one or two of these voting groupswouldnothavebeeninvolved’.Buttheyaddedthatthey‘willconductareviewoftheFIHHockeyStarsAwards andmake adjustmentswher-everdeemednecessary.’TherewasnoreactionfromHockeyIndia,

the national team players or men’s coachReid.

Indians sweep world hockey awards; Olympic champs left empty-handed

WOMENPlayeroftheyear1.GurjitKaur(IND)2.EvadeGoede(NED)3.FrédériqueMatla(NED)

Goalkeeperoftheyear:Savita(IND);RisingStaroftheYear:SharmilaDevi(IND);CoachoftheYear:SjoerdMarijne(NED–TeamIND).

MENPlayeroftheyear1.HarmanpreetSingh(IND)2.AlexanderHendrickx(BEL)3.ArthurvanDoren(BEL)

Goalkeeperoftheyear:PRSreejesh(IND);RisingStaroftheYear:VivekPrasad(IND);CoachoftheYear:GrahamReid(AUS–TeamIND)

THEWINNERS

ROHITSHARMAInthelastthreegames,hehasonlyekedout37runs,buthasnotlookedoutoftouch,butratheroutofruns;STATS:113runsinfiveinnings;strikerateof116

ISHANKISHANThesouthpawwaspronetoself-destructing,butthebreezyfiftyagainstRajasthanshouldgethimgoing;STATS:84runsin4innings;strikerateof123.1

SURYAKUMARYADAVMI’sheroof2020showedglimpsesofformagainstDelhiCapitals.Hehaslookedvulnerableagainstthespinners;STATS:62runsin6innings;strikerateof79

HARDIKPANDYAThematch-winning40notoutvsPunjabaside,hisinfluencehasbeennegligible,apartfromhislivelyfielding.HehasnotbowledyetintheUAE;STATS:65off4innings(twonotouts);strikerateof90

RAHULCHAHARTheleggiehasoftenbowledfasterthanisrequiredonthesesluggishwickets,andmessedupwithhislengths;STATS:Twowicketsfor118runs,economyrateof7.9in4games

JASPRITBUMRAHThepacespearheadhascarriedonhisforminEnglandtoEmirates,producingbreakthroughsattheripestmoment;STATS:13wicketsfor179runs,economyrateof7.45

The MI6 reportTheUAEleghasnotbeenthemostproductiveformanyMIplayers,whowouldalsofeatureforIndiaintheT20WC.Aquicklookattheformbook

Toa lesserextent,Mumbai IndianscaptainRohitSharma’s formintheUAEtoohasbeendisconcerting.AfterhismostproductiveTest seriesoutsideAsia,hehasnotquitestrummedintohisusualgears. iplt20.com

SYNOPSIS: SRHbowlers shine despiteMaxwell’s form.Partnershipbatting setsthewinningbase.

POINTS TABLEM W L NRR Pts

DC 13 10 3 +0.526 20CSK 13 9 4 +0.739 18RCB 13 8 5 -0.159 16KKR 13 6 7 +0.294 12MI 13 6 7 -0.048 12PK 13 5 8 -0.241 10RR 13 5 8 -0.737 10SRH 13 3 10 -0.422 6

Need to win T20series at any cost:Harmanpreet

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAGOLDCOAST,OCTOBER6

BACK INTO the side aftermissing the ODIsandone-offTestmatchDownUnder, India'sT20I captain Harmanpreet Kaur onWednesday vowed to go all out againstAustralia in the three-match series, sayingtheyneedtowin it at all cost.Indialostthethree-matchODIseries1-2

beforedrawing thehistoricpinkball Test.But Harmanpreetmissed both the ODIs

and Test due to a thumb injury and havingrecoverednow,she isdesperate todrawthecurtains on the tour with a rare series winunderherbelt."It is unfortunate that Imissed theODIs

and Tests but if I hadmore days betweenODIsandtheTestmatch, Icouldhaverecov-ered and played. But it is past now,"Harmanpreetsaidontheeveof thefirstT20International here on Thursday. "We nowjustwant to go all out andwin the series atany cost. These threematches are very im-portant forus."Harmanpreetsaidgettinganopportunity

to play all three formats during a tour is agreat sign forwomen's cricketasawhole."EarlierweusedtoplaymostlyODIsand

T20sbutnowwearegettingtheopportunityto play all the three formatswhich is goodforus. I feel everybodyshouldget equal op-portunity," she said. "Before this series weplayedagainst SouthAfricaandEnglandaf-ter almost a year but I can say that we arenowingreat shape.”

LIVE:AustraliavsIndia1stT20Ifrom2:10pmonSonyNetwork

Melbourne:Australia batsmanDavidWarnermaybeoutof formandhasn'tplayedany internationalmatch in theshortest format for over ayearbuthisopener's slot in the upcoming T20WorldCupisnotunderanydoubt,lim-ited-over captainAaronFinch saidonWednesday.FinchbackedWarnertobehis openingpartner at the T20WorldCup to be played in Oman and UAEfromOctober19,despiteWarnerbeingdroppedbySunrisersHyderabadintheIPLthisyear."I'vegotnodoubtthathispreparation,whilehewouldlovetobeplayingforHyderabadnodoubt,Iknowthat he's still training away. He'll begood to go," Finch said on the eve ofAustralia's departure to theUAE, ac-cordingtoESPNCricinfo. PTI

Finch backs Warnerto open in T20 WC