TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI, JANUARY9

ARS1.52CROREproposal to in-stall a new fire safety systematthe Bhandara District GeneralHospital, where 10 babies diedin ablaze early Saturdaymorn-ing, has been pendingwith thestate government for sevenmonths. Meanwhile, set up in2015, the Sick Neonatal CareUnit (SNCU) where the babiesdiedhadhadonlyonemockfiredrill, back in 2016-17, as per adistrict official.Bhandaradistrictauthorities

were also yet to get a fire auditdone at the hospital, despite a

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ARUNSHARMAJAMMU,JANUARY9

NEARLY ONE-AND-A-HALFmonthafterhisarrestbytheNIAonchargesofallegedterrorlinks,PDPyouthwing leaderWaheedUr Rehman Para was Saturdaygranted bail by Special JudgeSunit Gupta, holding that “of-fences,particularlyfallingunderUnlawful Activities Act (UAPA),are not prima facie made outagainst theapplicant/accused”.Highlighting various loop-

holesintheNIAcaseagainstPara,the judge said neither the origi-nal nor the supplementarychargesheet has a “reference of

the present applicant”, and thathe is even referred to as “sus-pectedaccused in thesaidcase”.It also questioned the very basisof Para's arrest, on the“so-calleddisclosurestatement”ofmilitantSyedNaveedMushtaqShahaliasNaveedBaba, noting that its “le-gal value”was “seriously hit bySection 25 of the EvidenceAct”,whichsaysthatsuchconfessional

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

KANCHANVASDEV&ANANTHAKRISHNANGCHANDIGARH,NEWDELHI,JANUARY9

WITH TALKS between theCentre and farmer unions op-posed to the new agriculturelaws failing tomake any head-way, and the Supreme Courtscheduled to hear Monday aclutchofpetitionsrelatedtothematter, the Punjab governmentsaidSaturdayithadfinalisedpe-titions to challenge the newlyenacted laws.Also Saturday, the

Consortium of Indian FarmersAssociations (CIFA) approachedtheSupremeCourt,seekingtobeheard against the challenge tothe new laws. It said “farm re-formsarebeneficialtoenablein-creased income to farmers andgrowthof agriculture”.Punjab Chief Minister

Amarinder Singh said stateAdvocate General Atul Nandahad already prepared and fi-nalisedpetitionstochallengethethreecentralActs.“Since theseActs impact the

lives and future of our farmers,all decisionswill be taken care-fullyandjudiciouslyatanoppor-tune time,” the Chief Ministersaid inastatement.Hesaidalthoughmattersre-

lated to agriculture are men-

tioned inList II (StateList)of theConstitutionof Indiaandfallun-der the exclusive domain of thestate government, theGovernment of India had en-actedthethreefarmlawsunderprovisionsrelatedtoagriculturemarketingmentioned in List III(ConcurrentList).Being a central legislation,

the state government, he said,had limited options underArticle 254 (2) of theConstitutionandithadexercisedthat with the Punjab assemblypassing Bills to amend the cen-tral laws. As per the law of theland,anyBillpassedbythestateassembly,hesaid,aremandato-rily required to be sent to theGovernorwho,afterstudying it,

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

A HOTBOWL OFCOMFORT

In times such as these, whatmakes certain kinds of foodmore appealing than others?

PAGES 16, 17, 18

THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZ INE

eyeNEWDELHI,LATECITY

10JANUARY,202120PAGES,`6.00

(`8 BIHAR&RAIPUR, ` 12 SRINAGAR)

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMD A I L Y F R O M : A H M E D A B A D , C H A N D I G A R H , D E L H I , J A I P U R , K O L K A T A , L U C K N O W , M U M B A I , N A G P U R , P U N E , V A D O D A R A

SUKRITABARUAHGURGAON, JANUARY9

OVERTHREE years have passedsince bus conductor AshokKumar,accordingtotheCBI,wasfalsely implicated by theGurgaonpolice in a schoolboy’smurder, but the scars — bothphysicalandmental—areyettoheal.His familysaid thatbeaten

up in police custody, he can nolonger do any physical labourandhasbeenunabletofindajob.Recently, theCBI filedasup-

plementary chargesheetagainst fourGurgaonpolice of-ficers for allegedly framingKumar in the case.Thefamily--Kumar,hiswife,

twochildrenaged12and9, andhis elderly father — stay inGhamrojvillage inGurgaon.Hismother died just days ago, onJanuary1.Kumar's younger sister

Sunita said, “Hehasnotworked

since his arrest. Hewas beatensomuchthathecannolongerliftheavythingsordomanualwork.Itgetsespeciallybadinthewin-ter... Localshelpoutandwefoursisterssendacrosswhateverwecan fromtimeto time.”When The Sunday Express

visited,Kumarwasnotathome,and the family saidhehadgoneto Sohna to get painkiller injec-tions as he had difficultywalk-ing.“Disturbed”sincethearrest,hehardlyinteractswithanyout-sider, the family added.Following his arrest, his wife

Mamtaalsolosthercleaningjobatthevillageschool,andhasnotworkedsince.For a while, the family de-

pended on the earnings ofKumar'sfatherAmirchand,whoworked as a security guard at aschool earning Rs 6,000 permonth. However, Amirchandsaid, “That stopped when theschool closed due to the lock-down. I worry day and night —I’m sitting at home withoutwork,myonly sonhasbeen sit-tingwithoutwork...Hisjobattheprivate school was good — he

had worked there for eightmonths and was getting paidRs6,000permonth.”Even as the family has lost

jobsatvariousschools, thechil-dren ironically have not beenable to attend classes through-out the past year. They are en-rolled in the school whereAmirchandworked, andwhileit has been holding onlineclasses, they cannot afford thesame. “We don’t have mobilephones needed for the onlineclasses.Wehaven’tbeenabletopay fees since the lockdownei-

ther,” saidAmirchand.Kumarwasarrestedafter an

eight-year-old boy of a promi-nent private school in Gurgaonwas found with his throat slitnear the school toilet onSeptember 8, 2017. Kumarworkedasabusconductorattheschool,andthepoliceclaimedtohaverecoveredaknifefromhim,and said he had killed the childafter attempting to sodomisehim.Kumarwasparadedbeforethemedia, andconfessed to thecrime,apparentlyunderduress.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PAGE1ANCHOR

AshokKumarafterbail in theschoolmurdercase. Express file

Gurgaon Police crime: scarred victim, jobless family, kids out of school

PRABHARAGHAVAN,PRANAVMUKUL&ANILSASINEWDELHI, JANUARY9

ASMANYas20Ministries, fromPowertoRailways,DefenceandLabourtoCivilAviationandovertwo dozen state-level depart-ments,frompolicetoeducation:an unprecedented official ma-chinery is being cranked up forthe Centre’s Covid-19 vaccinedistributioneffort.As PrimeMinister Narendra

Modi meets Chief MinistersMonday to discuss the rollout,this pan-governmentmobilisa-tion is comparable to theprepa-rationaheadofageneralelection.The Union Power Ministry

hasbeeninstructedtocoordinatewithstatediscomstoensureun-interrupted electricity supply atvaccine storage points and ses-sionsites.TheRailways,whichis

to conduct vaccination sessionsat itshospitals,dispensariesandotherpremises,will do “vaccinebranding” on railway ticketswhile the LabourMinistrywillconduct vaccination sessions

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

IRAMSIDDIQUEBHOPAL, JANUARY9

A 45-YEAR-OLD daily-wageworker,whoparticipated in thePhase3 trial for Bharat Biotech-ICMR’sCovaxin inBhopal at thePeople’s Medical College andHospital,diedDecember21,ninedaysafterhegotthefirst jab,ac-cording tohospital records.The postmortem report of

Deepak Marawi, a father ofthree,suspected“poisoning”asacause.BharatBiotech, inastate-ment, said that the “serious ad-verse reaction” had been “thor-oughly investigated” and wasfound “not related to vaccine orplacebo”. A state governmentpanel,too,ruledoutany“lapses.”Bharat Biotech said it could-

n’t confirm if Marawi receivedthevaccineor theplacebosinceit was a double-blind study. Itadded that the volunteer, at the

timeofenrolment,“hadfulfilledall the inclusion and exclusioncriteria” andwas reported tobehealthy in all the “site followupcallspost sevendaysof dosing.”“Thereareseveralfactorsthat

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

VIVEKDESHPANDEBHANDARA(MAHARASHTRA),JANUARY9

ITWAS the first child for tribalcouple Geeta, 20, andVishwanath Behere, 22, ofBhojapur village adjacent toBhandaracitynearNagpur,borna year-and-a-half after theirmarriage.Weighingonly830gmat birth, on November 10, theirdaughternevermadeithome,orgot a name. Shewas among the10 infants, aged between threedaysandtwomonths,killedinafire at the Bhandra DistrictGeneralHospital'sSickNeonatalCare Unit (SNCU) around 1.30am on Saturday. The seven re-maining newborns in the unit,all girls,were rescued.Tears pouring, Geeta, who

last sawher daughter on Fridayevening,satamongrelativestoodazed to speak, or to respond toefforts to console her.Vishwanath, who had just oneglimpseofhisdaughter,atbirth,saw her for the second time ly-ingdeadinthehospital,onrush-ingthereat4amfollowingacall,with “twoburnmarks”.Breakingdown,Vishwanath,

who works as a labourer, saystheywere expecting her to re-turn home in around a week.“Shewasbornunderweightataprivate hospital, and had to berushed straight to the DistrictHospital. She had been gainingweight andwas1.3 kgnow. Shewas set for discharge on attain-ing1.5kg.”Vishwanathaddsthatthey had even arguedwith the

CONTINUEDONPAGE2Chinese soldier crossesLAC south of PangongTso, in Army custodyKRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, JANUARY9

A CHINESE soldier, who hadcrossed the Line of ActualControl southof PangongTso ineastern Ladakh, was appre-hended by the Indian Army intheearlyhoursof Friday.In a statement Saturday, the

Army said the “PLA soldier hadtransgressedacrosstheLACandwastakenintocustodybyIndiantroops”deployed in thearea.“Troops from either side are

deployed along the LAC sincefriction erupted last year due tounprecedentedmobilisationandforward concentration byChinese troops. The PLA soldieris being dealt with as per laiddown procedures, and the cir-cumstancesunderwhichhehadcrossedtheLACarebeinginves-

tigated. Further details areawaited,” theArmysaid.South Pangong Tso is one of

theareaswhereonlyafewhun-dredmetres separate troops ofthe twocountries.In August last year, Indian

troops surprised theChinesebyoccupying dominating heightson the south bank of PangongTso, and in the larger Chushulsub-sector.Indian troops positioned

themselves on Gurung Hill,MagarHill,Mukhpari,RechinLaand Rezang La. They now havedirect view of China’s MoldoGarrison, and the strategicSpanggur Gap, which can beused to launch offensives — astheChinesedid in1962.Indiantroopsalsoreadjusted

theirpositionsonthenorthbankof the Pangong lake, occupying

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

DATEDECIDEDAFTERPMMEETING

January 16 is Vaccination DayOne,3 crore health staff are first in lineThenover-50andunder-50withco-morbidities;namestobetakenfromvoterlists

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI, JANUARY9

THEUNIONHealthMinistryan-nounced Saturday that the na-tionwidevaccinationof prioritygroupswill begin January 16 tosecure them against Covid-19,which has so far infectedmorethan 1 crore people and killednearly1.5 lakh.Thisannouncementcameaf-

ter Prime Minister NarendraModi held ameeting to reviewthe status of preparedness forthe vaccination. “After the de-tailedreview,itwasdecidedthatinviewoftheforthcomingfesti-vals including Lohri, MakarSankranti, Pongal, Magh Bihu,the Covid-19 vaccination willstart fromJanuary16,2021,”theMinistry said.In the initial phase, priority

will be given to an estimated 3crore healthcare workers andfrontlineworkers.This rollout date comes less

thanaweekafterthedrugregu-lator granted accelerated ap-proval for two vaccines —Oxford-AstraZeneca’sCovishieldand Covaxin by Bharat Biotechand the ICMR, the lattervaccinein a controlled “clinical trialmode”giventhatitsefficacydataispending.Healthcare workers and

frontline workers will be fol-lowedbythoseabove50yearsofageandthoseunder-50withco-morbidities — these numberaround 27 crore, the HealthMinistry said.More than 79 lakh potential

vaccine recipients have alreadybeen registered on the flagshipCo-WIN IT platform,whichwillprovidereal-timeinformationofvaccine stocksandwill track in-dividual recipients.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Trucksenter theSerumInstituteof Indiapremises inPuneonSaturdaymorning. PavanKhengre

Marawi,45,was fatherofthreeandadailywager.IramSiddique

Relativeswiththeirnewbornsafter thefireatBhandaraDistrictGeneralHospital. PTI

Charredremainsof SNCUequipmentafter the fire.PTI

Mothers on floors above, 10babies killed in hospital fire7rescued;deadbetweentheagesof 3daysand2months

SUNDAYSTORYPAGE 13

Needle inthe haystack

AdharnaatRelianceMall inLudhiana.GurmeetSingh

SEVENSTATESNOWREPORTBIRDFLU;DELHISHUTSMARKETPAGES4, 7

INSIDE

SC hearing tomorrow: Punjabready to challenge farm laws

Power to Rail, Defenceto Education — all gearsmove for the rollout

Covaxin volunteer diesin Bhopal, firm says nolink to vaccine, placebo

THEBHANDARAhospitalfire is the latest inaseriesof such incidents, includ-ingatCovidcentres inGujarat.Aftereverysuchincident, thereareprom-isesof action.Familieswholost theirnewbornswillhopethat this time, itwillgopast lip-service.

LatesthospitalfireE●EX

PLAINED

WORLD

INDONESIA JETWITH62GOESMISSINGONDOMESTIC FLIGHTMUTED, ISOLATED,TRUMPFACESIMPEACHMENTPAGE12

Neonatal unit clearedwithout fire audit, appealfor equipment pending

Para gets bail, court saysUAPA case not made out,‘not a whisper on him’

DRIVERS, GUARDSPITCH IN FORRESCUEPAGE11

PDPyouthwing leaderwasarrestedonNov25

ANOTHER FARMERKILLSHIMSELFPAGE3

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHE SUNDAY EXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

AtoZof ghostsandmonstersof IndiaNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

In the latestepisodeof theSandipRoyShow,RakeshKhannatalksabouthisnewbookwhich isanencyclopediaof ghosts,monstersanddemonsof India.

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All gears moveacross its Employee's StateInsurance network of hospitalsandstaff.The Defence Ministry will

helpcoordinatesupplyininacces-sibleandsecurity-sensitiveareasand tap into its ex-servicemennetworkformobilisation.“The Civil AviationMinistry

hashadseveraldiscussionswithstakeholders including airlines,ground handling companies...Mainrequirementistemperatureregulation,”saidanofficial.TheMinistry of Information

andTechnologyhas been askedto use its village-level CommonServiceCentresforvaccineregis-trations and getmobile serviceproviderstosendmessages,callertunes on vaccination andmes-sageontelephonebills.In parallel, states are gearing

up. Several state governmentunits, including the PWD,Education and the police, havebeen assigned specific tasks.CommonSOPswhichincludein-dividual checklists havebeen is-sued,sourcessaid.State PWDswill support the

identificationofsessionsitesandensurelogisticsanddrinkingwa-ter;policedepartmentsarebeingroped in to provide security tovaccine consignments andhelpinsiteandcrowdmanagement.The Education departments

arebeingtappedfordeploymentat session sites, including forspreading awareness throughschoolteachersandshikshamitra,alongside educating parents onwhychildrenarenotbeingvacci-natedintheinitialphase.ThePanchayatiRajapparatus

willensureregistrationofhealthcareworkers, identification andplanning for thevaccination siteandinorganisingsessions.“Therehasbeenstockpilingby

companies (that have receivedemergency use approval), andtheyhave been in constant dia-loguewiththegovernment,”saidthe official. “Four-five days aremore than enough (for the vac-cinestobeshippedtostates).”

Hospital fireauthorities to let them take herhome.“Butanursesaidwewouldbedoingitatourownrisk.”Whilemediawasbarredfrom

entering the hospital, picturesemergingfrominsideshowedthesoot-coveredwalls and charredfurniture of the SNCU. HealthMinisterRajeshTope,whovisitedthehospital,saidthatashort-cir-cuitwastheprobablecauseofthe

fireandthatthreebabieshaddiedof burns and sevenof asphyxia-tion.Eightof thedeadweregirls.Theparents are all labourers

or farmers fromnearbyvillages.Oneofthedeceasedwasathree-day-oldboyfoundabandonedatLakhnitowninthedistrict.All thebabieswhodiedwere

in the “out-born” section,wherethebabiesbornatotherplacesbutreferredtothegovernmenthospi-tal are kept. The rescued babieswere all from the “in-born” sec-tionholdingthechildrenbornattheDistrictHospital.Aseniordoctoratthehospital

said that while two nurses, amedicalofficerandahelperwerein theward, theymaynot havenoticed the fire at first because“their view may have beenblockedbyglasspartitions”.The four-storey hospital has

482 beds, with over 300moreadded last year for Covid treat-ment.Whileitsbuildingwascon-structed in1981, theSNCUwasarelatively newconstruction, in-auguratedin2015.YogitaVikrshGhulseandhus-

bandVikesh, bothdailywagers,lost their son, bornon January6.While hewas 1.75 kg at birth, itwasn't his being underweightthathadledtothehospitalisation,said Yogita. “Hewas not able tobreastfeed.SothePrimaryHealthCentre askedus to bring him totheDistrictHospital. In less than24hours,hewasdead,”shecried.Yogita,stayingonthesecond-

floorwardofthefour-storeyhos-pital,cametoknowaboutthefireat the SNCU, on the first floor,around2am,when shenoticedthesmoke.“Butwecametoknowaboutthedeathofourchildonlyaround9am,”shesaid.Vandana Mohan Sidam's

daughter had been aweek old,brought to the SNCUbeingonly1.25 kg at birth. “They said I cantake her home after she attains1.75kg.”LikeYogita,Vandanawasstayingonthepremises,tobreast-feedherdaughter.She realised somethingwas

wrongwhenshenoticedasmellof burningwires alongwith thesmoke.Herforeheadtiredwithapieceofcloth,the28-year-old,un-well and admitted to a PHC, de-mandedthatthoseresponsiblebepunished.HerhusbandMohan,adailywageworkerinKalyan,isonhiswaybackhome.“The fire broke out around

1.30am.Atthat time, thereweretwo nurses and a helper in thechildren'sward. They immedi-ately raised analarm.Before thefirebrigadearrived, staffers tried

to rescue the children andman-aged to save seven,” BhandaraCollectorSandeepKadamtoldTheSunday Express, adding that res-cueeffortswerehamperedbyex-plosionsinsidetheward.DistrictCivilSurgeonPramod

Khandateclaimed the fireextin-guisherswere inplaceand func-tioning.“Thestaffusedthem,butthere was too much smoke.”Creditingfirepersonnelandstaffwith helping rescue the babies,Khandatesaidthesevenwhohadbeenrescued,apartfrompatientsintheICUward,dialysiswingandthe labour ward were shiftedsafelytootherwards.However,afull-scaleattempt

could bemade to rescue the in-fants till the fire brigade arrivedandbroke the glass on thewin-dowsofthefirst-floorunitbyput-tingaladderfromoutside.Bythetime,theyenteredtheunit,itwashalf-an-hourfromthestartofthefire.“Ourhospitalstaffersalsosuf-feredinhalation injuryandchestdiscomfort. Theentirewardwasengulfedinsmoke,”saidadoctorfromtheCivilSurgeon’soffice.Chief Minister Uddhav

Thackeraysaidtheywereprobingwhethera fireauditof theSNCUhadbeencarriedout. Calling thedeaths “heart-wrenching”, hesaidtheguiltyshallnotbespared.Healsoorderedafireauditofhos-pitals across the state and an-nouncedRs5 lakh to families ofthedeceasedinfants.The committee set up to

probethefireincludesofficialsofpower, health, engineering andmaintenance departments.Headed byDr Sadhana Tayade,Director of the Directorate ofHealth Services, it has been toldtosubmitareportinthreedays.MaharashtraHomeMinister

AnilDeshmukhsaidthecauseofthefirewouldbeinvestigatedbyexperts from the National FireService College and theVINT inNagpur.He said theywere look-ing atwhether therehadbeenashort-circuit or the air-condi-tionerhadmalfunctioned.Minister for Relief and

RehabilitationVijayWadettiwaradmitted that a proposal for firesafetyequipmentforthehospitalhadbeenpendingsinceMaylastyear and said theywill find outwhathappenedtoit.However,hepointedout, theSNCUwas inau-gurated in 2016by the thenBJPgovernmentwithoutrequisitefiresafetyclearance.FormerMaharashtra energy

minister ChandrashekarBawankule of the BJP said thefamiliesofthechildrenhadcom-plained to the authorities aboutthe fluctuation inelectric supplyintheunit“butnobodytookitse-riously”.Prime Minister Narendra

ModiandCongress leaderRahulGandhiwere among thosewhoofferedtheircondolences.

WITHINPUTSFROMTABAS-SUMBARNAGARWALA

Neonatal unitDecember 2020 order byMaharashtra National HealthMissionDirectorNRamaswamytoalldistrictstoconductsuchau-ditsingovernmenthospitals.Sourcesatthehospitalandin

the district administration toldTheSundayExpressthatitlackedacomprehensivefiresystem,andwhile theSNCUsectiondidhaveanextinguisher,notrainingonitsusehadbeengiven to staffers inthelasttwoyears.The NABH (National

AccreditationBoardforHospitals&HealthcareProviders)firesafetyguidelinesmandateahospital tohaveafireextinguisher,hosereel,wet riser, automatic ormanualfire alarm system if it hasmorethan two floors. The four-storeyBhandarahospital only hadonefireextinguisherperfloor,andnoalarmsystem, sprinkler or hosereel.However, the SNCUsectiondid have an exit door as per firenorms,andthisaidedinrescuingthebabiesonSaturday.InMay 2020, the Bhandara

district authorities had sent the

proposaltothestategovernmentfor a fire systemat the hospital,with extinguishers, sprinklers,hosereel,andfirealarm.Thepro-posalwas approved byDeputyDirector,Health,Nagpur,andfor-warded to Dr Sadhana Tayade,Director, Directorate of HealthServices(DHS).Tayadedidnotre-spond to calls or textmessagesover thedelay in approval of theproposal.Dr Nitin Ambadekar, in-

chargeof district hospitals, DHS,told The Sunday Express, “Aftertechnicalcorrections,itwillbeap-proved.Wehavesentitbackwithcertaincorrections."StateHealthMinister Rajesh

Tope said he didn't knowaboutthisproposal,butwouldgetitap-proved now. He also sought toblame theprevious BJP govern-ment, saying it had inauguratedthe SNCUwithout a fire audit.“The civil surgeonwrote to theNational Institute of Fire SafetyEngineering inNagpur twice fora fire audit. But the institute didnotconductit.Thepreviousgov-ernmentshouldnothavestartedthe SNCU without complyingwithfirenorms,”hesaid.A district-level official, re-

questinganonymity,saidthehos-pital'swiringsystemalsoneededrepairs, and theyhadwrittenre-garding this to thePublicWorksDepartment. “The request re-mainspending,”theofficialsaid.Beinganewconstruction,the

SNCU'swiringandfixtures,how-ever, were in good condition --one of the requirements ofNational Health Mission. DrArchana Patil, DHS Director ofFamily Planning, said this waswhy itwas unclear how the firehadspreadsoquicklyintheunit.Thelastmaintenanceauditof

the SNCU was conducted on

September 2, 2020, by a privatecompany called Faber SindooriManagementServices.Thisauditdoesnotcoverfiresafety.Patilsaidtheyhad asked for the audit re-port to assess if therewere anyproblemsinequipment.Againstthestategovernment

normsofthreenursesper16bedsinanSNCU, theBhandarahospi-tal had two nurses on dutySaturdaynightattendingtothe17childreninthe36-bedward.Thehospital has 35posts for nurses,ofwhich28positionsarefilled.OftheeightpostsforSNCUdoctors,fivearevacant.A senior district-level official

said the problem had becomemoreacute in theCovid-19pan-demic. "Weadded300 isolationbedstothehospitalbutcouldnotappointenoughstaff."Ramaswamysaid, “I havedi-

rected state officials to submit areport. I cannot comment onwhether therewas shortage ofnurses or lack of equipmentmaintenance.”

Chinese soldierfeaturestodominateChinesepo-sitionson the ridgeline connect-ing Finger 3 and Finger 4. Thisscrambleforheightsledtowarn-ing shots being fired by the twosides.This is the second time since

the start of themilitary standofflastMaythataChinesesoldierhasbeenapprehendedontheIndiansideoftheLACineasternLadakh.PLACorporalWangYa Long

was apprehended in theDemchoksectoronOctober19af-terhehadstrayedacrosstheLAC.TheArmy,which received a re-questfromthePLAonhiswhere-abouts, returned him twodayslater.The two countries have

around50,000troopseachinthearea,alongwithadditionalairde-fence assets, artillery and tanks.Withnoheadwayintalksondis-engagement, troops remainde-ployedoneitherside,battlingex-tremewinterconditions.

Punjab CMhastograntconsentforforward-ingthemtothePresident forap-proval.Amarinder Singh said the

state governmentwas followingthe laid down procedure andwouldtakeremedial legalactionafterexhaustingotheroptions.He slammed the AAP and

other Opposition leaders, andasked themtodesist from“lies”.“Unlike you, I don’t consider thepresentcrisesbeingfacedbyourfarmersanopportunitytofurtheranypolitical agenda. It concernsthe future and lives of our farm-ers and I am fully committed tosafeguardthem,”hesaid.He said his government’s

standon theCentre’s farm lawshad been consistentwhile theAAPandSADhadbeen“doingflipflops”overit.He said AAP’s “double face

and its collusionwith theBJP toweaken the farmers’ agitationhad been further exposedwithArvindKejriwalmeeklynotifyingone of the farm laws in DelhiratherthanfollowingPunjab’sex-ampleof bringing in legislationsintheassemblytonegatetheim-pactof theblackfarmlaws”.Meanwhile, theConsortium

of Indian Farmers Associations(CIFA approached the SupremeCourt, seeking tobeheard in thechallengetothefarmlaws.In a letter addressed toChief

Justice of India S A Bobde andJustices A S Bopanna and VRamasubramanian – this is the

bench hearing the challenge tothe laws and petitions againstprotests by farmers -- CIFA chiefadvisor PChengal Reddy soughtdirections to theGovernmentofIndia“toholdconsultationswithotherfarmerassociationsinotherpartsofthecountrybeforechang-inganyprovisionsof theActs”.Welcomingthenewlaws,the

CIFAsaideversinceliberalisation,service and industryhadgrownat10per centwhile the farmingsectorhadremainedstagnantat2percent.“Itisbecauseofdenialofaccess tomodern technologies,lackof investmentandrestrictedmarkets,” the CIFA said, addingthat late farmer leader SharadJoshi and the “NationalCommission on Farmers (M SSwaminathanCommitteereport)recommended for reforms in-cludingremovingrestrictionsonmovement, storage, processingexports”andto“alsomodifyten-ancy laws and allow contractfarming”.The CIFA said “farmers pro-

ducing321MillionTonsof fruitsand vegetables (2019), 26 MTpulses,33MToilseeds,9MTcot-tonmillets, 6.42MTspices” and282 lakhtonsugar“aresufferingdue to inability to get profitablereturns”.“Wehavenoprocurementfa-

cility.Major problems are hugewastage due to lack of storage,processing and exports. Qualityalsoislowduetolackofextensionservices.Productivity isvery lowdue (to) non-adoption of tech-nologies and rain-dependentfarming,”theCIFAsaid.

Para gets bailstatement canonly be recordedunder Section 164 CrPC by aMagistrate,andsaidthatnotevenone protected witness had

namedhim.The Special Judge ordered

Para's release on furnishing asurety andpersonal bail bondofRs1lakheach,withthedirectionthat he not leave Jammu andKashmirwithoutwrittenpermis-sion during his bail period andsurrenderhispassport. Parawasalso specifically told not to ap-proachanyprosecutionwitness.Considered instrumental in

revival of the PDP in SouthKashmir,ParawasarrestedbytheNIAonNovember25, threedaysafterhehadfilednominationpa-pers from Pulwama for themaiden District DevelopmentCouncil elections in J&K.Hehadwonwhile incustody.Sources intheNIA said theywill challengethebailorderintheHighCourt.JudgeGuptanoted,“Theorig-

inalchargesheetwasfiledonJuly6, 2020, wherein NaveedMushtaqandotherthreeaccusedwere chargesheeted, but therewasnotevenawhisperabouttheinvolvement of present appli-cant/accusedWaheedParainthecommissionof offences, despitethefactthatthestatementof theaccused Naveed Mushtaq al-legedly implicating the presentapplicant...wasalreadyavailablewiththeinvestigatingagency’’.NotingtheNIA's“deepslum-

ber” in arresting Para only inNovember,theorderadded,“Thiskindofinactiononthepartoftheinvestigatingagencyclearlypos-tulatesthefactthattheywerenotintendingtoarraythepresentap-plicantasaccused in thepresentcase...Iseriouslydoubt...whetherduringthecourseoffurtherinves-tigation,theinvestigatingagencycouldhavearrestedWaheedParaon the basis of the old evidencewhichwascollectedbythemdur-inginitial investigations.”Referringtotheallegedstate-

mentbyNaveedsayingParagavefinancial support to theHizbulMujahideen for terror activities,thejudgesaid,evenifhegavethemoney,“thepurchaseofAK-47ri-flesoutofRs10 lakhfinancedbyParawasnot thedecisionof thepresent applicant, but itwas thedecision of accused NaveedMushtaq... Therefore,we cannotlink the present applicantwiththecommissionofoffenceofsup-porting the terrorist organiza-tion.”The court alsonoted that the

NIAhadearlier not thought it fittoactagainstParadespiteclaim-ingtohavethecalldetail recordsofhisconversationswithformerDySPDavinder Singh,whohadbeenarrestedonJanuary11,2020,afterhewasfoundtravellingwithNaveed.Itisprobablybecausetheagency found the said evidenceinsufficient to implicatehim, thejudgeobserved.Parawasnotevennamedamongthoseaccusednotchargesheetedbutbeinginvesti-gated,hesaid.“Therefore,seriousdoubthas

arisenontheactiontakenbytheinvestigatingagencywithrespecttothepresentapplicant/accused,’’thejudgesaid,addingthat“noth-ing substantial has beenmadeout” against him“even fromthestatement of oneprotectedwit-ness”recordedafterhisarrest.Para was represented by

Senior Advocate PN Raina, ac-companiedbyAlokBambroo.

School murderItwaswhentheCBItookover

that theGurgaonpolice case fellapart. The agencyeventually ar-rested a senior student at theschool,whoallegedlymurderedthechildashewantedtodelayaparent-teachermeeting.In the supplementary

chargesheetfiledinaspecialcourtinPanchkula, the agencyhas ac-cusedthenSHOofBhondsipolicestationNarenderSinghKhatana,sub-inspector Shamsher Singh,ASI Subhash Chand and ACP(Sohna) BaremSingh of falselyimplicatingKumar.“Averdictagainsttheofficers

mightbesomejusticeforhimandthe family,” said Kumar’s uncleOmPrakashChopra.

FROMPAGEONE

Jan 16 is Vaccination Day One acrossnation, 3 crore health staff first in line

Covaxin volunteer dies in Bhopal

According to operationalguidelines given to the states,theprioritizationofgroupswilldepend on the “disease inci-dence and prevailing pan-demic situation.” Timing forthe rollout in these three pri-ority groupswill be guidedbyvaccine availability andwon’tbe“necessarilysequential,”theguidelines said.On geographic prioritiza-

tion, theCentrehas toldstatesthey can phase the roll-out inareas where Covid-19 “infec-tion prevalence is high”. SoKerala andMaharashtra willmostprobablygetlargerstocksascompared toothers.Every eligible person for

Covid vaccination needs to beregistered on Co-WIN and amechanism has been createdtomark out different prioritygroups. The Centre has saidthat the latest electoral rollswill be used to identify popu-lationaged50yearsormore.At themeeting, the Prime

Minister was apprised of thethreephasesofdryrunsacrossthecountry.ThePrimeMinisterhas re-

iteratedthattheCovid-19vac-cinationdrivewillbeexecutedon threekeyprinciples:utilis-ing experience of elections(booth strategy); the experi-ence from the UniversalImmunisation Program (UIP),

and,people’sparticipation(JanBhagidari).Adistrictwill be takenas a

basic unit — and the DistrictMagistrate will plan sessionsto cover all priority groups lo-catedwithin the district. TheDM, helped by the DistrictImmunizationOfficer,will linksessions sites, vaccinators, su-pervisorsandbeneficiariesanddecide the date and time forthevaccinationsession.“Selection of session site

will be at the discretion of theDC/DM, who would ensurethateachsessionisplannedfor100beneficiariesperday,” theCentrehas told thestates.Also, a multi-level gover-

nance mechanism has beenput in place for the back-end:theBlockTaskForcewillcheckall proposed sites and theDistrictTaskForcewillcheckasample of the sites to ensurethatrequiredspace,infrastruc-ture, includingsecurity.On logistics, according to

theguidelines,thevaccinewillbesenttoeverysessionsiteonthe day of the vaccinationalongwithoneadditionalvac-cine carrier with icepacks.Alongwith thevaccine, like inan election, each session sitewill be provided with threehard copies of the registeredbeneficiary list due for vacci-nationat that site.

can cause an adverse eventduringaclinicaltrial, includingthe patient’s underlying dis-ease,otherpre-existingcondi-tions or any other unrelatedoccurrence like an accident,”thestatement said.Last week, Covaxin re-

ceived emergency use ap-provalbytheregulators,alongwith Oxford’s Covishield, al-thoughinacontrolled“clinicaltrial”mode.EfficacydatafromitsPhase3 trial ispending.Marawi, one of the 1750

volunteers in Bhopal, was de-clared dead when he wasbrought to Gandhi MedicalCollege and Hospital(Hamidia) by his 24-year-oldson Suraj who said his fatherhadboutsof“incessantvomit-ingand frothing.”The post-mortem stated

that Marawi died of “cardiacrespiratoryfailureasaresultofsuspectedpoisoning.”Thevis-cera has been sent to the re-gional forensic laboratory fortests.

Speaking to The IndianExpress, Dean of People'sHospital AKDixit said that, asper trial rules,Marawi’s deathwas reported to theInstitutionalEthicsCommittee,Central Drug ControlsStandards Organisations andDataSafetyMonitoringBoard.The trials at the hospital

continue as therewas no linkfound between the death andtheproposedvaccine,hesaid.“Marawiwasgivenfollow-

up calls for seven days duringwhich he did not complain ofany complications after thefirstdosewasadministeredtohim. All procedureswere ap-propriately followed,” saidDixit.The report from the four-

member ethics committee,whichincludesaretiredjudge,is expectedwithin amonthofthe incident and another re-portwill take intoaccount thevisceraanalysis.Meanwhile, the state gov-

ernment’s six-member com-

mittee to look into any lapsesin the trials has also turned inanall-clear report.The committee, led by

ArunKumar Shrivastav, headofpharmacologydepartmentat Gandhi Medical College,said: “The protocols laiddown by Bharat Biotech andguidelinesof ICMRweredulyfollowed. The documents ofthe deceased volunteer(DeepakMarawi)were stud-ied and no lapses have cometo light.”Hospital authorities said

that all participants receivedcounselling and had giventheir consent. An audio-videoconsent of those above 60yearswas recorded.Marawi’srelativessaidthat

he had told only his youngestsonthathehadparticipatedina drug trial while the rest ofthemwere unaware and hiswifelearnedaboutitonlyafterhisdeath.“My father got to know of

the trial from his friends and

headed to the hospital withthemwithout informing us,”said his son Suraj. His familysaid that afterhis healthdete-riorated, theyurgedhim togoto thehospital but he refused.It was only on December 21when he became critical thathewas rushed to the hospitalwherehedied.On Saturday, when The

IndianExpressvisitedPeople'sHospital, over twodozenpeo-ple were being administeredthe second dose of Covaxin.Nonewas aware of Marawi’sdeath.One of the volunteerswas

PappuManishkar,55,aballoonseller, who said he was un-aware that the trial was for aCovidvaccine.“Weweretoldit is likevac-

cines given to children andsincemanywerecoming,evenI came in. We were given Rs750which is waymore thanthe Rs 200 Imake every day,”saidManishkar, a resident ofShankarNagar.

-+)&$"&S+QOED&CB++A@)?>=<,*Q@()E,'%#!@"@&TR(QD@"(

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New Delhi

ARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI, JANUARY9

KEEPING INmind the risingde-mand for better sleepingarrangements amid the cold,UK-based NGO Khalsa Aid hasconstructed an 800-bed semi-permanent shelter at the Tikriborder, with 60% beds formenand40% forwomen.Khalsa Aid India director

Amarpreet Singh said a similar600-bed shelter was first con-structed at the Singhu border,madeoftarpaulinandotherwa-terproofmaterial.“AtTikri,wehadearliermade

ashelterforwomenbutthespacewas not enough. The demandwas rising…At Singhu,we hadcreated a shelter bywaterproof-ingnormaltentsbutthatwasnotverysuccessful.Therewereissuesof leakagewhen it rained sowefelttheneedforsomethingmoredurable.Sowe’veusedClearspantents,”hesaid.The industrial tent technol-

ogy uses aluminium frames tosupport tentmaterial. The floorof the shelter has been coveredwithplywood.“Weconstructedthiskeeping

manythingsinmind.Peoplefromvillages who come to visit theprotest site, for example, hadnoplacetostay.Hotelsnearbycostalotsothat’snotanoptionforevery-one. There aremanyold peoplewhoarenotabletoclimbontotrol-leysbecauseof jointpain, so thatwasalsoaconcern,”saidSingh.Coveringanareaof300x100

feet,theshelterwillalsohave50washrooms for women and 50formen. “Therewill be a parti-tion between the area formenandwomen.Theseareasarecov-eredby20CCTVcamerastooforsafety.Wehavealsoarranged10washingmachines and 30 desigeysers for everyone’s conven-ience,”hesaid.The construction started

about four days ago, and theshelterwillbecomeoperationalbySunday.

“It has cost us around Rs 10lakh, whichwe spent from thedonationswe received.We hadgiven the contract for construc-tion toa localDelhi-basedcom-pany,whichtookcareofrawma-terialandlabourers,”saidSingh.Meanwhile, several artists

from thePunjabi andHindimu-sic and film industry includingsingers Harbhajan Mann andJazzyB,andactorsSwaraBhaskarand Aarya Babbar joined theprotestingfarmersattheTikribor-derSaturdaytolendtheirsupport.At the 'Artistswith Farmers'

event, theyexpressedtheirsoli-darity with songs, poems andspeeches and urged them tocontinuethestruggleuntil theirdemandsaremet.

Popular singer HarbhajanMannwasamongthosewhore-ceived the loudest cheers fromtheprotesters.“Todaytheprotesthas reached such a stage that ifsomeonedoesn’twritefourlinesabouttheprotestandmarktheirattendance here, they feel theyhave committed a big crime,”Mannsaid inPunjabi.Healsosaid, “It is therightof

everyartisttoraisetheirvoiceinsupportof the farmers”.

BRIEFLYPolicechiefreviewsR-daysecurityNew Delhi: Ahead ofRepublicDay,Delhi PoliceCommissioner SNShrivastava reviewed thelawandorder situation inand around the city. In ameeting, the police chiefdiscussed anti-terrorismmeasures, crimehotspotsand arrangements at theDelhi borders. Non-func-tionalCCTVsonthestreetsarebeingrepairedandinte-gratedcomplaintmonitor-ing system is being pro-motedatallpolicestationsto reduce paperwork andstreamlinemultiple com-plaintsonasingleplatform.

QCI’sopendefecationfreetagtoEastMCDNew Delhi: The QualityCouncil of India (QCI) hascertified East DelhiMunicipal Corporationwiththe‘OpenDefecationfree plus’ tag in its inspec-tion. QCI conducted sur-veys betweenDecember12to14at44differentsen-sitive spots in the area ofEast Delhi MunicipalCorporation, said a seniorofficial.MayorofEastDelhiNirmalJainsaidthecorpo-rationismakingall-outef-forts to improve cleanli-ness in its area,whichhasshownpositiveresults.

AAPtoholdmohallasabhas‘toexpose’BJPNew Delhi: The AamAadmi Party said it held267mohallasabhasacrossthe capital on Saturday to“expose BJP’s corruption”in themunicipal corpora-tions. The party plans tocontinue holding streetmeetingsuntilJanuary15."Thepeopleatthemohallasabhas were curious toknowhowpublic moneyisbeinglootedbytheBJP,"AAP leader DurgeshPathaksaid.

PolicereviewvaccinedriveinNoidaNoida:Policereviewedtheupcoming vaccinationdrive in ameetingheld inGautam Budh NagarSaturday.. Police said 75centres have been identi-fied for the vaccinationprogramme. Ateachcen-tre, one policeman and ahealth official will bepostedduringtheday.Thecentres will be guardedakintopollingcentresandentrywillbeallowedonlyafterdueverification.ENS

3THE SUNDAY EXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

COLLAPSEDNEARMAINSTAGEATSINGHU

0-50 Good

ANANDVIHARVeryPoor

0 500

356AQIPM:2.5

SIRIFORTVeryPoor

0 500

SHADIPURModerate

0 500 500

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

DWARKA- SECTOR8Very Poor

0

325AQIPM:2.5

196AQIPM:10

322AQIPM:2.5

FORECAST: Jan10Mainlyclearsky.Shallowfog inthemorning

S K Y WA T C H

MAX:181.4°Cbelownormal

MIN:102.9°Cabovenormal

AMILBHATNAGAR&RAAKHIJAGGANEWDELHI, LUDHIANA,JANUARY9

A39-YEAR-OLDfarmercommit-ted suicide at Singhu border onSaturday—the fourthpersontotake his own life at protestsagainst the new farm laws. Theman,Amrinder Singh, allegedlyconsumedpoisonat theprotestandwasrushedtoanearbyhos-pital,wherehediedduringtreat-ment. His bodywill be handedover to the family, which hailsfromMachrai Kalan in Punjab'sFatehgarhSahib."He consumed poison near

the main stage. It happenedwhen the stage was beingwrappedup for the day. He col-lapsed in front of other farmers.We immediately took him to ahospital,where hepassed away.The death occurred at 7.20 pm,"

saidBaljeetSingh,convenoroftheSanyuktKisanMorcha’s ITCell.Accordingtofarmers,theman

consumedsulphas tablets back-stage, around4.30pm.Amrinderthenwalked to the front of thestage and collapsed. Panic soonspread among protesters and amobile ambulance was sum-

moned.ProtestersclearedthewayandhewastakentoFrankInstituteofMedicalSciencesinSonipat.ProtesterssaidAmrinderhad

beenatSinghu fora fewdays.The village sarpanch, Jeet

Singh,said,“Hehadaboutanacreof landinthevillageandthattoonot very fertile. About 2-3 yearsago, hestartedlivinginthetownareaof FatehgarhSahib,whilehiswidowedmotherNachhtarKaurwaslivinginthevillagehome.Ashe hardly had any farm income,he startedworking as a conduc-torwith a private bus company.I’mnotawareofwhathewasdo-ingthesedays."Amrinder is survived by his

mother, wife and two teenagekids—aboyandagirl. Hisfatherwas intheArmyanddiedinthelate 80s in a road accident. Hisuncle Darbara Singhwill go toSonipatwiththesarpanchtocol-lectAmrinder’sbodyonSunday.Said Jeet Singh: "I have also

been to Singhu and even nowtwotrolleys fromourvillagearepermanentlyparkedthere.Ithasbecomeanemotionalmatter inPunjab."JagmohanSinghPatiala,gen-

eralsecretaryofBKUDakaunda,said, “We are shocked. We re-peatedly appeal to people tocontinue the struggle insteadofcommittingsuicide.”Thesuicidecomesinthewake

of three cases of suicide andoneattemptsincetheproteststarted.SantBabaRamSingh (65), a reli-gious leader from Haryana’sKarnal district, shothimself nearKundli; Amarjit Singh Rai (63)fromPunjab’sFazilkadistrictcon-sumed pesticide at the Tikriprotest site; andKashmir SinghDass, a septuagenarian, hangedhimself at theGhazipur protest.NiranjanSinghfromPunjab’sTarnTarandistrictattemptedsuicideattheSinghuborderbyconsumingpestcontroltablets.

Group from Haryana defacesAurangzeb lane signboardsFourth suicide at protest as

farmer consumes poison

AmrinderSinghhailedfromPunjab'sFatehgarhSahib

(Top)TheshelteratTikriborderwillbeoperational fromtoday; several singersandactors joinedthefarmersprotestingatTikrionSaturday.GajendraYadav

For farmers protesting atTikri, a makeshift shelterwith 800 beds, washrooms

3 who robbedjeweller heldin Gujarat

d½fÄff´f³f Àfa.: UoA/GF/01/2021

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·ffS°fe¹f ³ff¦fdSI ûÔa ÀfZ Rc O MZ¢³fû»ffªfe E½fa ¶fe.E.E»f.E»f ¶fe (Af³fÀfÊ) IZ 5 ½f¿feʹf ´ffNëIi ¸f WZ°fb ÀfZ»R R fB³fZaÀf Af²ffS ´fSkkAd°fd±f ´fi½f¢°ffll ´fQ WZ°fb Af½fZQ³f ´fiÂf Af¸fadÂf°f W`Ü d½fV½fd½fôf»f¹f I e Ad²fIÈ °f ½fZ¶fÀffBMÐÀf www.allduniv.ac.in´fS d½fÀ°fÈ°f d½fÄff´f³f E½fa Af½fZQ³f R f¸fÊ C´f»f¶²f W`Ü R f¸fÊ ªf¸ff I S³fZ I e Ad³°f¸f d°fd±f 25.01.2021 W`ÜApplications are invited for Engagement of Guest Faculty on Self finance mode in Centreof Food Technology and B.A.LLB (Hons) five year integrated course of the University.Applicants may visit official website: www.allduniv.ac.in for detailed advertisement andsubmitting application form. The last date of application is 25/01/2021.

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Registrar

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,JANUARY9

DELHI POLICE detained onSaturday11peoplewhoallegedlydefacedtwoAurangzeblanesign-boardswithstickers.Police said the incident took

placearound5.40amwhenlocalscalledthemandtoldthemthere’sagatheringatAurangzeblane.Deputy Commissioner of

Police (NewDelhi andPRO)EishSinghalsaid,“Ourstaffwentthereandfound11peopledefacingoneNew Delhi Municipal Councilsignboard of Aurangzeb lane.Theyhadalreadypastedaposteronanothersignboardinthesame

lane. Theposters hadGuruTeghBahadurlanewrittenonthem.”Police said they stopped the

group anddetained them. Theywere taken to TughlakRoadpo-lice station and released later intheafternoon.

The group had come fromKarnalinHaryanaandwereledbyan advocate named AnuradhaBahrgav(30). AnFIRhasbeenreg-istered under sections of DelhiPrevention of Defacement ofPropertyAct, 2007 andDamagetoPublicPropertyAct.A complaintwas filed by an

engineeroftheNDMC.“TheDelhipolicehasaskedNDMCforanas-sessment of the damage,whichtheysaidtheyshallimposeontheaccusedpeople,"saidasource.In 2019, Shiromani Akali Dal

leaderManjinderSinghSirsahadtriedtodefacetheAurangzeblanesignboard. In 2017 and 2018,some groups had vandalisedAkbarRoadsignboards.

AnFIRhasbeenregistered undersectionsofDelhiPreventionofDefacementofPropertyAct,2007andDamagetoPublicPropertyAct

NewDelhi:Delhi Police has ar-rested threemenwhoallegedlyrobbed gold jewellery worthRs2croreinCentralDelhi’sKarolBagh.TheaccusedwerearrestedfromAhmedabadonFriday.DCP (central) Jasmeet Singh

said, “We received a complaintfrom a jewellery shop ownerthat eightpeople robbed twoofhis employeeswhen theywerecarrying jewellery.”Police said they received in-

formation that a gang fromGujarat was operating in Delhi.They conducted raids inAhmedabad and detained thethree men. The accused aremembers of the Charra gang inAhmedabad.ENS

New Delhi

ASHNABUTANINEWDELHI, JANUARY9

ASTHE redevelopmentof a 1.3-km stretch in Chandni Chowknears completion, the secondphase of the project is beingplanned — which includesrestoringthefacadesofbuildingsin the heritage corridor and re-developingcertainarterialroads.The idea is to ensure that

buildings and nearby roadsmatchtheaestheticof themain

stretch. An official involved inthe planning of the secondphase said, “Since the entirestretch is being pedestrianised,thereweredemandstoimprovethe street, which includes thebuildings. Hence we decidedthat phase two would includefacade restoration of buildingson the street.”The Public Works

Department (PWD) has beenasked to come up with a pro-posalandanestimateforthefa-caderestoration.Anofficialfrom

thePWDsaid, “Weareawaitingmoreclarityonthis.However, itis clear that facade restorationwill be completed keeping theMughal aesthetic inmind. Thegoal is to ensure there is unifor-mityindesign,beitontheroadsorof thebuildings.”Another project is the

restoration of six arterial roadsincludingNai Sarak, BallimaranRoad, Gai Qasim Jaan, Rodgran,Farash Khana and Lal Kuan.Overhead wires will be takenunderground and the areawill

bebeautifiedon the lines of themainstretch.Earlier,anestimateofRs42.5

crore to restore the six arterialroads was sent to the govern-ment for approval. However,since the estimate was on thehigherside,thedepartmentwasaskedtorevisittheproposalanddraft anewone.

Theofficialsaid,“Wewillhirea consulting agency to preparethe estimates for the facades aswell as to revisit the arterialroadsplan.”Once the estimatesaremade and approved by thegovernment, work on the proj-ectswill begin.Along with these two pro-

posals, a few otherswere high-lighted by the ShahjahanabadRedevelopment Corporation(SRDC) during a boardmeetingheldonDecember29 lastyear.A proposal for redesigning

Netaji SubhashMarg as a her-itage road was made by theboard. Further, it was decidedthat a draft legislative bill thatrecognisesSRDCas‘SpecialAreaLocalPlanningandDevelopmentAuthorityforWallCity’wouldbesubmittedtothegovernment.In 2019, work on the main

projecthadbeenstalledduetoaconstruction ban over Delhi’spoor air quality. Last year, itwasdelayedby threemonthsdue tothe Covid lockdown and thelabourshortagethatensued.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY9

THE DELHI governmentSaturday imposed a ban on theimport of live birds in the cityand ordered closure of theGhazipurpoultrymarketforthenext10days,withthediscoveryof more dead crows and duckssettingoffalarmbellsofapossi-blebird fluoutbreak.Chief Minister Arvind

Kejriwal, inawebcast,saidsam-ples from 104 dead birds havebeensentfortestingandreportsare expected by January 11.However,therearenoconfirmedcasesofbird flu inthecityso far,he added. “As a precautionarymeasure,Delhi is taking severalsteps to control the spread ofbird flu. The import of live birdsisbeingcompletelybannedfromtoday. Second, the Ghazipurpoultrymarket in Delhiwill re-main shut for the next 10 days.Alongwiththis,adequatemeas-ureswill be taken based on theresults received from the lab onMonday,”Kejriwal said.Surveillance has been en-

hanced around water bodies,wildlife establishments like thezooandbirdmarkets,theCMsaid.

The Delhi DevelopmentAuthority(DDA)saiditfound10deadducksatEastDelhi’sSanjayJheel while 24 crows have diedattheDistrictParkinJasolaoverthe last fourdays.“The deaths have triggered

worryacross thecity. So far,104samples have been sent to aJalandhar lab. The governmentwill take all necessary action

based on the reports…Wewillalso follow all directions andguidelinesissuedbytheCentre,”Kejriwal said.The Centre has confirmed

bird flu insevenstates—Kerala,Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh,Himachal Pradesh, Haryana,Gujarat and UP. Samples fromDelhi are being sent to theJalandhar-based Northern

Regional Disease DiagnosticLaboratory and the NationalInstituteofHighSecurityAnimalDiseases inBhopal.Kejriwal said surveillance

teamsandrapidresponseteamsare working under all districtmagistrates,whileveterinaryof-ficershavebeendirectedtovisitbirdmarkets,wildlifeestablish-mentsandwaterbodies.

“Wearekeepingenhancedfo-cusontheGhazipurpoultrymar-ket,ShaktiSthallake,SanjayLake,Bhalswalake,DelhiZooandDDAparks in Hauz Khas, PaschimViharandDwarka,”hesaid.The government has also is-

sued a helpline number, 011-23890318, to register alerts andcomplaints regarding thedeathof birds.

On its part, theDDAsaid it is“monitoringthesituationcloselyand is in touchwith other gov-ernmentagencies.Precautionarymeasures like spraying of disin-fectant are being carried out intheDDAparks”.DDAaddedthatas a precautionary measure,parks atHauzKhas andDwarkaSector 9 and Sanjay lake havebeenclosed.

Workonthe1.3-kmstretchisnearingcompletion.TashiTobgyal

Total VacantHOSPITAL BEDS 12,150 10,714VENTILATORS 1,438 1,038

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsJan8 444 823 10 75,724Jan9 519 603 12 80,275Total 3,683* 6,15,452 10,666 93,14,754

CORONAVIRUSIN THECAPITAL *T

otalactivecases

TOTAL CASES

6,29,801

KEJRIWALRESPONDSTOBIRDFLUFEARS

Covid-19vaccinemust be freefor all: CMto Centre

4THE SUNDAY EXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Curbs on bird import, Ghazipur poultrymarket shut

(Left)Officials fromtheAnimalHusbandrydepartmentatapark inRohiniwherecrowswerefounddead,Saturday; (top)atGhazipurpoultrymarket. Photos:PraveenKhanna

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY9

EVERY INDIAN should be ad-ministeredtheCovid-19vaccinefor free, Chief Minister ArvindKejriwal appealed to theCentreon Saturday. “Corona is thebiggestpandemicofthecentury.It is important to protect ourpeople from it. I appeal to theCentretovaccinateeverycitizenfor free. The expenditure to-wardscarryingthisoutwillsavea lotof lives,”he tweeted.The Delhi government also

announcedthatteacherswillbeconsidered frontlineworkersaspart of the vaccination drive.Deputy Chief Minister ManishSisodia tweeted Saturday,“Delhi’s teachers have played avery significant role in support-ing the government in fightingthe pandemic. Quarantine cen-tre, containment zone, surveys,duty to check facemask adher-ence,onlineteaching-theyhavetaken the lead across sectors.Hence,thegovernmenthaskeptteachersinthecategoryof front-lineworkers.”Thegovernmenthadsaid51

lakh people — comprisinghealthcarestaff, frontlinework-ers, peoplewith co-morbiditiesand those aged above 50—willbe administered the vaccine inthe first phase. It had also an-nouncedthatthevaccinewillbefree forDelhi residents.The CM had said Delhi has

around3 lakhhealthcarework-ersand6lakhfrontlineworkers,which also include police per-sonnel, civil defence volunteersapart fromteachers.DailyCovid cases continued

toremainbelowthe1,000markin the capital, with 519 newcases being recorded onSaturday.While total cases stood at

6,29,801, thedeath toll touched10,666,with12deathsreportedin the last 24hours.

ASHNABUTANINEWDELHI, JANUARY9

A DAY after the Delhi govern-ment announced that passen-gers from the United Kingdomwouldbequarantinedforaweekeveniftheytestednegative,caus-ing chaos at Indira GandhiInternational Airport, anotherbatch of around275passengerslandedinDelhiviaaVistaraflightat10.30am.Officialssaidthesit-uation had been brought undercontrolasmostpassengerswereaware of the procedure by now.Theywere informed about theseven-day institutional quaran-tinebeforeboardingtheirflights.Friday’s decision had taken

256passengersinthemorningbysurpriseastheyweretestedattheairportandtakentotwohotelsinAerocityforinstitutionalquaran-tinewithoutprior intimation.On Saturday, even as the

processwassmoothened,somepassengers complained abouthavingtoshelloutmoneyattheairport. At arrival, passengershave topayRs3,400 for aCovidtest and for using the waitinglounge.TherateofaCovidtestisthecapitalissetatRs800atalabandRs1,200 forahomevisit.An official of the Delhi

International Airport Limited(DIAL), when asked about themoneybeingchargedfrompas-

sengers,saidthat“inthewaitinglounge, passengers are given alltheirmeals,juice,coffeeandwa-ter.TheyhaveaccesstoWiFiandotheramenities.”A Delhi government official

said if passengers test negative,they can choose between quar-antine at a hotel — either JWMarriottorAloft inAerocity—orattheRadhaSoamiSatsangBeasquarantinecentreinChhatarpur.Headdedthatthetarifffortheho-telstayissetatRs4,000pernight.Transitpassengers,whohad

notaccountedforthequarantinewhilebookingtheirflights,wor-ried about reaching their finaldestinations. Friday had seensomesuchpassengersnegotiatewithofficialssotheycouldtravelonward to theirdestinations.Manywere also concerned

aboutthemountingcostsofstay-ingatahotel.RakeshTrikha,apas-sengerwhowillbetravelingfromtheUK toAmritsar via Delhi onJanuary 11,was oneof them.Hesaid, “I amaware that theairportwill be chargingRs3,400 for theloungeandtest.”ButhisconcernwasthathemighthavetopayRs30,000ifhestayedinahotel.Kerala’s LeaderofOpposition

RameshChennithala,meanwhile,spoke to Aviation MinisterHardeepSinghPuri,whoassuredhimthattransitpassengerswouldnotbeaskedtostaybackinthena-tionalcapital.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY9

A“TYREBATH”ofallvehiclesen-tering thepremises, sprayingofa disinfectant every six hours,andabird-keepermonitoringlo-calandmigratorybirdsallday—these are someof themeasuresbeing taken at the NationalZoological Park in the wake offear of avian flu in the capital. Azoo official said, “No symptomshave been noticed in any of thebirds at the zoo so far. There arearound 200 local birds such asblack kites, barn owls and vul-tures that inhabit the zoo, andthere isa flockofpaintedstorks,whicharemigratorybirds,whoareat thezooasof now.”The official said in 2016, the

zoo was shut for 83 days afterthree-fourcasesofavianfluweredetected. “Since then, avian in-fluenzadrillsareregularlydone.Tyres of vehicles entering thezooarewashedwithachemical.

In thewake of this new threat,we’veincreasedthefrequencyofdisinfectant, Virkon, beingsprayed from two to four timesaday.Thebirdkeeper is lookingforsignssuchassuddencollapseof birdsordullness in feathers.”The zoo has been shut since

lastyearduetothepandemic,andis expected to reopen in April.“Staff is anyway equippedwithgloves and masks, we’ve alsogiventhemaspecialuniformduetoavianflufears,”saidtheofficial.

JIGNASASINHANEWDELHI, JANUARY9

A DAY after a 10-year-old boywentmissing fromhis home inKhajuri Khas, police found hisbody at a mosque and appre-hendedtwoofhis friends foral-legedly stranglinghim.Accordingtopolice, theboys

planned to kidnap the victim,Farhan, to get ransom from hisfamily.Farhan had gone toMadina

Masjid tostudy,policesaid. “Wereceived a complaint fromFarhan’s fatheronFriday, sayingthe boy had beenmissing sinceThursdayevening.Theboywentto themasjid but didn’t come

back home. We deployed sixteams fromdifferent police sta-tions to look for him,”DCP (Northeast) Ved PrakashSuryasaid.Farhan’s family said they

searchedforhimeverywhere.Hisuncle, Faisal (40), said, “Farhanwouldusuallybebackhomeat8-8.30pm...wespoketohisfriends,whotoldustheywenttoeatmo-mos and he later went home. Ichecked all CCTVs near themosque and found footage ofFarhanenteringthebuildingbutcouldn’tseehimleaving.”OnFriday,policeandFarhan’s

family searched the mosqueagain. Farhan’s uncle found hisbodyburiedunderdebrisonthesecondfloor,whereconstruction

wasgoingon.DCPSuryasaidthebodywas

found in a bag filledwith sand,whichwasunder thedebris.“WespoketotheImam...The

boywaslastseenwithtwoofhisfriendsaround7.30pm.Weques-

tioned the boys separately andfoundsomeirregularitiesintheirstatements.Wequestionedthemagain and they confessed to thecrime. The boyswanted to earnmoney and thought they couldgetsomefromFarhan’sparents,”saidaseniorpoliceofficer.Police said the boys had

plannedtokidnapthevictimonDecember 29 and allegedlylacedFarhan’sdrinkwithsleep-ing pills. However, he didn’t fallasleepandtheirplan failed.On Thursday, at 7 pm, the

boyswenttogetmomosfromaneatery and invited Farhan to eatwiththemonthefirstfloorofthemasjid.Theythentookhimtothesecondfloorandallegedlystran-gledhim.Policesaidtheboysthen

put the body in a sandbag andburied it under debris. TheyhadplannedtocallFarhan’sfamilyandextortmoneybutdidn’tdoso.Farhan’s family mother

Nafisa toldThe IndianExpress, “Ilast saw him on Thursday. Hewas changing clothes for hisevening classes at the masjidand asked me to give himmoneytoeatmomosandchaat.I scoldedhimashehadrecentlystarted eating a lot of junkfood...Hewasabrightstudent...his teachers would always calland tell us that hewaswell be-haved and smart.”Farhan was the youngest

among four siblings.His father,Shamim, runs a shoe shop inthe area.

Missing 10-yr-old ‘strangled’ by friends, policesay they wanted to kidnap him for ransom

ANANYATIWARINEWDELHI, JANUARY9

TEACHERS, SAFAI karamcharis,nursingstaff andotheremploy-ees of the threemunicipalitiesstaged protests at the Narela,Rohini and Civil Lines zonal of-fices Saturday demanding pay-mentof salariesandpension.The workers, led by the

ConfederationofMCDEmployeesUnion, havebeenon strike sinceThursday andhavebeen stagingprotests at various zonal officesacrossthecity. “Therearearound1.5 lakh employees across theMCDs,butsinceSouthMCDisnotasseverelyaffected,around1lakhemployeesareonstrike fromtheNorth and EastMCDs,” said A PKhan,convenorofunion.During the protests in

September last year,MCDmay-ors had promised payment byNovember-end in response tothehunger strike calledby resi-dent doctors of North MCD’sHinduRaohospital inOctober.During Saturday’s protest,

Satish Kumar (51), a mainte-

nanceworkerfortheNorthMCDand resident ofMundkavillage,whoearnsaroundRs35,000in-hand permonth, said, “My old-estson,whoworkedatafactoryearning around Rs 7,000 permonth, and my wife, whoworkedasadomestichelp,havebeenoutof jobs. Ihavenotbeenpaidsince lastSeptember. I can-not bear to seemychildren suf-fer.Ikeeptakingloanstofeedmyfamily.SometimesIwishIcouldkillmyself but I cannot.”Withmany loan payments

pending, he also risks losing hiselectricityconnectionandisstrug-glingtoafford internet forhis17-year-olddaughter’sonlineclasses.IndumatiJamwal(50),anurs-

ingofficeratHinduRaoHospitalanda residentof PaschimVihar,who earns Rs 1 lakh a month,said, “I haven’t been paid sinceSeptember last year. My hus-band, who freelances as a cus-toms agent, has also not beenearning regularly as the export-import business has been hitsinceMarch.Alloursavingshave

beenused... Wejustwantaper-manentsolutiontothis.”Both Deepak Sharma (47), a

resident of Adarsh Nagar and ateacher at an MCD school inNorth MCD’s Keshavpuramzone,andhiswifeAartiSharma,also anMCD teacher at the CitySPzone,havenotbeenpaidtheirsalaries, approximately Rs90,000 in-hand each, since lastAugust.Thecouplesaidtheyhadtodipintotheirsavingsreservedfor their children’s future.Sharma said, “My 17-year-

old son is pursuing a diplomafromtheUniversityofDelhi,andmy younger son is in Class XI.Since neither of us are beingpaid, we not only have had tobreakourFDandsavings,butaredefaultingonvarious loans.”Sharma, like others, also

wishes for apermanent solutiontothefinancialcrisis:“WhetheritistheMCDsthatareunderfundedandarenon-revenuegenerating,or if it is the Delhi governmentwhich isnotpaying their dues—wearetheones beingaffected.”On Thursday, the union

wrotetoL-GAnilBaijal request-

ingtheDelhigovernmenttoen-sure payment of salaries andpensions, and for reunificationof the threeMCDs.NorthMCDoppositionleader,

AAP’s Vikas Goel, claimed,“Sanitationworkerswrotetothemayor and commissioner onDecember 20 last year, statingthey would go on strike fromJanuary7.ButtheBJPdidnotpaythem.Whenworkers went onstrike, themayor released theirsalaryforonemonth.TheBJPhassufficient fundsbut is intention-allynotpayingworkers...”The mayors of the three

MCDs had led a protest outsideCMArvind Kejriwal’s residencelastyeardemandingpaymentofRs13,000crore.TheCMtermedthis claim “false” and said thegovernment had paid the duesfor thatquarter.On Saturday, Delhi BJP head

AdeshGuptasaidinastatement,“Everybody understands thatthe corporation is strugglingwith financial constraints be-cause the Kejriwal governmentis not releasing funds to paysalaries.”

After day of chaos,more passengersland from UK

OutsideAlofthotel inAerocity,designatedasaquarantinecentre forpassengers. PraveenKhanna

UNDER PHASE II OF REDEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Up next at Chandni Chowk: Buildings and arterial roads to get a facelift

OutsidetheNarelazonaloffice, Saturday. Express

Salaries, pension delayed again, over 1 lakhworkers across civic bodies go on strike

Disinfectant isbeingsprayedevery6hours. Express

Delhi zoo on alertfor signs of disease

Policehaveapprehendedhisfrirends.TheysaidtheyreceivedacomplaintfromFarhan’s fatheronFriday, sayingtheboyhadbeenmissingsinceThursdayevening

New Delhi

5THESUNDAYEXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,VADODARA,JANUARY9

THEGRANDoldmanof GujaratCongress and four-term chiefminister Madhavsinh Solanki,whowasalsotheUnionExternalAffairs minister in the P VNarasimha Rao government,diedonSaturdayinGandhinagar.Hewas93.Sources close to the family

said Solanki died in his sleep athis residence.Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay

Rupanideclaredaone-daystatemourning and cancelled all hisofficialevents, includingapublicmeeting inMahisagar district.Hislastriteswillbeheldwithfullstatehonours,Rupani said.Best known for forging the

Kshatriya-Harijan-Adivasi-

Muslim (KHAM) coalition inGujarat politics, Solanki led theCongress to landslidevictories in1980, when it won 141 of 182seats, and in 1985when itwon149seats,arecordthatisyettobebroken.The ‘KHAMtheory’ reor-ganisedcommunitiesotherthanthe upper castes and became awinningformulafortheCongress.Solankiwasamemberof the

Rajya Sabha from1988 to 1994,andagainfrom1994to2000,dur-ingwhichtimeheheldtheportfo-lios of Planning (1988-89) andExternalAffairs(1991).Hisstintasthe External Affairs Ministerended abruptlywhenhehad tostep down over a controversial“note”hehadhandedover tohisSwisscounterpart,ReneFelber,al-legedly seeking assistance in theinvestigationintheBoforscase,forwhichhefacedaCBIprobe.As per CBI's report, Solanki

had sought an appointmentwith Felber during a visit toDavos in Switzerland betweenJanuary and February 1992 forthe Annual World EconomicConferencetodiscusstheBoforscase. According to seniorCongressleaderHasmukhPatel,“He (Solanki) never spoke toanybodyaboutthatinteraction.”Solanki gave up his job as a

journalistwith leadingGujaratidailyGujaratSamachartolaunchhis political career in the 1950satthebehestofhisfather-in-law,late Ishwarsinh Chavda, whowas a Congress legislator inBombay state assembly until1955 andwent on to representAnand constituency four timesin Lok Sabha. Originally fromAmodtownofBharuch, Solankicontested all his elections fromAnand, where he first repre-sented Bhadran constituency

and laterBorsad.Later, Borsad was repre-

sented by his son, Bharatsinh,who alsowent on to become aUnion minister. IncumbentGujarat Pradesh CongressCommittee chairperson AmitChavda is the grandson of

Ishwarsinh.Solanki is known for having

introduced reservations for so-cially and economically back-ward sections in Gujarat basedontherecommendationsof theBakshiCommission,themiddaymealschemeingovernmentandmunicipal schools and sub-sidised education for women.“The reservation formula andthemiddaymealschemeswenton to be replicated nationally,”senior Congress leader and for-mer education ministerHasmukhPatel said.After launching his political

career as a legislator in theBombaystateassembly in1957,Solanki became a member ofGujaratAssemblyfrom1960-68.He became the Gujarat CM forthefirsttimein1976,andsubse-quently in1980,1985and1990,aturbulentperiodinGujaratthat

wasnotonlymarkedbyasplitintheCongressnationallybutalsosawtheanti-reservationriots inthe state after reservationwasannounced forOBCs in1981.Hewas subsequently forced

toresign,onlytoreturntopowerin 1985, with the Congress get-tinganeven largermandate.In a condolence letter to

Bharatsinh,PresidentRamNathKovind said, “MadhavsinhSolanki was not only a politicalstalwartinhisownrightbutalsoanexceptionaladministrator. Inhisdemisethenationhaslostanunmatched leader. He will belong remembered forhis role inshapingmodern Gujarat for itsinimitable warmth, charm andlove for literature.”Prime Minister Narendra

Modi tweeted: “MadhavsinhSolankiwasaformidableleader,playingakeyroleinGujaratpol-

itics for decades. Hewill be re-memberedforhisrichservicetosociety... Beyond politics,Madhavsinh Solanki enjoyedreading and was passionateabout culture. Whenever Iwouldmeethimorspeaktohim,wewoulddiscuss books andhewouldtellmeaboutanewbookhe recently read. I will alwayscherishtheinteractionswehad.”In a condolence letter to

Bharatsinh, Congress presidentSoniaGandhi said, “Gujarat haslosta towering leader,whosym-bolised a golden era in the state.MadhavsinhSolankiplayedakeyroleinGujarat’sprogressandde-velopment, and during his longtenureasChiefMinister,oneofhismanyachievementswastofostersocialharmonyandunitethedif-ferentcommunitiesofGujarat....”Solanki is survived by three

sonsandtwodaughters.

MADHAVSINHSOLANKI

1927-2021

Architect of KHAM coalition in Gujarat, 4-time CM dies at 93

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI,JANUARY9

IN AN unprecedented move,Twitter banned US PresidentDonaldTrumpfromtheplatformonFriday, stating that twoof histweetswere “highly likely to en-courage and inspire people toreplicate the criminal acts thattook place at theU.S. Capitol onJan.6,2021.”Twitter stated that Trump's

tweets--oneabouthisvotershav-ing a “giant voice” in the futureandanotherstatinghewillnotat-tendtheinauguration--“mustberead in the context of broaderevents in thecountry”, includingthe recent incident of a mobstorming the US Capitol onJanuary 6 as President-elect JoeBiden’selectionvictorywasbeingcertifiedbyCongress.Trumpattempted to circum-

vent the banby tweeting on the@POTUShandlethatTwitter“hasgone further and further in ban-ning free speech”, but the com-pany removed his posts almostimmediately.Thedecisionbroughtadiver-

genceofopinionsinIndia,wherepoliticalpartiesallegepartisande-cision-makingby the socialme-diagiant.AmitMalviya,BJPITcellhead,

tweeted:“DeplatformingDonaldTrump,asittingUSpresident,setsadangerousprecedent.Ithaslesstodowithhisviewsandmoretodowithintoleranceforadifferingpoint.Ironically,thosewhoclaimto champion free speechare cel-ebrating. Big tech firms are nowthenewoligarchs.”BJPMPfromKarnatakaTejasvi

Suryacalleditathreattodemoc-racy. Tagging the Ministry ofElectronics & IT's handle, Suryaposted,“Thismustbewakeupcallfor allwhodon’t yet understandthreat toourdemocraciesbyun-regulatedbig tech companies. Ifthey can do this to POTUS, theycandothistoanyone.SoonerIndiareviews intermediaries regula-tions, better forourdemocracy....Freedomof Expression (FoE) issacrosanct. It cannotbecurtailedwhimsicallybypvtbigtechcom-

panieswithoutaccountability...”Praveen Chakravarty, who

heads Congress’s data analytics,toldTheIndianExpress:“Thereisasaying‘nopointinlockingthesta-bleafterthehorseshavebolted.’ Ithinksocialmedia,broadlyspeak-ing, has allowed this to goon forfar too long. Iwelcome thedeci-sionnotsomuchforwhatitdoesto President Trumpbutwhat itdoes as a signal that you cannotabuseandputanentiresocietyatriskintheguiseof freespeech.”Askedhowsocialmediacom-

panies have acted in India,Chakravortysaid:‘Veryirrespon-sibly. But Twitter doesn’tmatterhere. What do you do aboutWhatsApp? It isbeingusedwiththe guise of free speech and theguiseofanonymity.It’sevenmoredangerousthanTwitterinIndia.’BJPMPand IT Parliamentary

committeemember NishikantDubeysaid:“Theymustthinkthatthe fight in societywill fix this.Theymusthavedone this think-ing that. But society cannot beseenbyonlyoneside.”AmanTaneja, a senior lawyer

focusedon intermediary liabilityat tech legal firm Ikegai, said thatTwitter has been the companymostwilling to take these posi-tions, demonstrating that plat-formsarebeginningtorealisethepowertheyhavetoamplifyvoices.“As far as itsmeaning for India,withthisdebatehereaboutwhatto do about platforms gainingmorepowerinIndia,thelessonisthat platformsneed to bemoreconsistent and transparentwithhowtheymakedecisions,”hesaid.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIACHENNAI, JANUARY9

THE AIADMK on Saturday en-dorsed Tamil Nadu ChiefMinisterKPalaniswamiasitsCMcandidate for this year’sAssemblypolls,where thepartywill take on arch rival DMK in atoughelectoralbattle.AIADMK’stopdecision-mak-

ing body also authorised OPanneerselvam andPalaniswami — the top leaders— to devise the party’s strategyfor the polls and endorsed theappointmentof asteeringcom-mittee, which is likely to play akeyrole in importantmatters.The Assembly elections in

TamilNadu are likely to beheldinApril-May.The party’s general council,

besides the Executive, met at amarriage hall here under theleadership of AIADMKCoordinatorPanneerselvamandjoint coordinatorPalaniswami.In one of the 16 resolutions

adopted at the meeting, thepartymembers authorised thetwoleaders todeviseAIADMK’selectoralstrategy,evenasiteyesa hat trick of victories, after se-curingbacktobackwinsin2011and 2016 under the late JJayalalithaa.“This general council autho-

rises O Panneerselvam andEdapadiKPalaniswamitodevisewinning strategies to ensure agrandwininthe2021polls,cre-ate an AIADMK-led victory al-liance and decide seat-sharingwithallianceparties,”themem-bers resolved.The party has earned the

public’s praise for “good gover-nance,” it added.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JANUARY9

WEST BENGAL GovernorJagdeep Dhankhar expressedconcernsaboutthesecuritysce-nario in the state in light of theupcoming Assembly electionsand raised questions over thestate administration's role inmaintaininglawandorderaftermeeting Union HomeMinisterAmitShahhereonSaturday.The governor's interaction

with Shah comes days after hismeetingwithWestBengalChiefMinisterMamataBanerjeeattheRajBhavan inKolkata.Dhankhar, who had been at

loggerheadswith the TMCgov-ernment since taking charge asthe Bengal governor, alleged onSaturday that the state has been“plaguedwithrampantviolence”.“Thelaw-and-ordersituation

andthesecurityenvironmentinWest Bengal is under threat...Thepositionof thedirectorgen-eralofpoliceinBengalisanopensecret. That'swhy I saywehave'political police'. Everyday I amhearing news of bombblasts orbombsbeingfound,”heclaimedinapressbriefingaftermeetingShah inDelhi.

Kochi:KeralaCongress(M)leaderJose K Mani has resigned as amember of Rajya Sabha, wonwith the support of OppositionUDF, amid strong indicationsthat hewould fight the comingAssemblypollsasacandidateoftheCPI(M)-ledLDF.

Mani saidon Saturdaythat he sub-mittedtheres-ignation toRajya SabhaChairman MVenkaiahNaidu onFriday.Talking to

reporters inPalakkad,

Mani,sonof lateKeralaCongressstalwart and formerminister KMMani,saidhequittheseat"forupholdingmorality in politicallife”. PTI

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY9

PRESIDENT RAMNath KovindSaturday invoked MahatmaGandhi's call for self-reliance asheemphasisedtheroleofthedi-aspora in fulfilling the aims ofAtmanirbharBharat.Delivering the valedictory

speech at the Pravasi BhartiyaDivas, he said itwas on this dayin 1915 thatMahatma Gandhi,“the greatest Pravasi Bhartiya”,returnedto thecountry."ThePravasiBhartiyaDivasis

also an occasion to recallGandhiji’s ideals for individualandcollectivelife.Gandhiji’sem-phasis on Indianness, non-vio-lence,ethics,simplicityandsus-tainable development, remainourguidingprinciples," saidthePresident.ThePresidentalsocongratu-

lated the Pravasi BhartiyaSammanawardees.

New Delhi: The Congress onSaturday decided to launch yetanother campaign against theBJPgovernmentdemanding re-pealof the three farmlaws.Theparty hasdecided to ob-

serve ‘Kisan Adhikar Diwas’(Farmers''RightsDay)onJanuary15, the day government and thefarmer unionswillmeet for thenextroundoftalks.TheCongresswilltakeoutprotestsandlaysiegetoRajBhawansinstatecapitals.Thedecisionwastakenatameet-

ing AICC general secretary K CVenugopalhadwithgeneralsecre-tariesandinchargesofstates.Congresscommunicationde-

partment head RandeepSurjewalasaid.“TheModigovern-mentisanswerabletothepeoplefor taking decisions andnot theSupremeCourt. The responsibil-ity ofmaking and repealing thelawswrestswithParliamentandnotthecourt.” ENS

Twitter’s Trumpban: BJP slams it,Congress sayswelcome signal

AIADMKcouncil backsPalaniswami asCM candidatefor TN polls

PalaniswamiandPanneerselvamafter theAIADMKmeeting inChennaionSaturday.PTI

Trumptriedtocircumventthebanbytweetingonthe@POTUShandle.Reuters/File

KeralaCongress(M)leader

Jose K Maniresigns asRS member

Kovind pointsto AtmanirbharBharat goal

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJAIPUR, JANUARY9

RAJASTHAN BJP MLA and theparty's state general secretaryMadanDilawar on Saturday hitoutagainstthefarmers'protestsagainst the three farmlawssay-ing“so-calledfarmers”wereen-joying dry fruits and chickenbiryani and other luxuries atprotest sites and that it was aconspiracy tospreadbird flu.Dilawar’s statement drew

sharp criticism from the rulingCongress, which termed hisstatementas “shameful”.Inavideostatementappeal-

ing to the government to clearout the protest sites, Dilawarsaid, “The so-called farmers arenot worried about the countryor its people... They are eatingchicken biryani there. They areeating dry cashews and al-monds... People are coming

there in various disguises. Theycouldbeterrorists,theycouldbethievesordacoits,whomaybeadanger to the farmers. Thesepeoplewanttoruinthecountry.Bymy understanding, they areeating chicken biryani in con-spiracy tospreadbird flu...,”State Congress president

Govind Singh Dotasra shared

Dilawar’s statement on Twittersaying, “The use of words suchasterroristsandlootersforfarm-ersbyBJPMLAMadanDilawarjiis shameful. The people whoprovidedyouwith food,youaretermingtheirmovementaspic-nic,holdingthemresponsibleforbirdflu?Thisstatementofyoursreflectsthementalityof theBJP.”

Biryani at farm protests conspiracyto spread bird flu, says BJP MLA

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,JANUARY9

UNDERLINING THE strength ofthecountry’sdiversityandtheim-portance of the Indian diasporaabroad,PrimeMinisterNarendraModi said Saturday said that “ifthere’s any place in the worldwheredemocracyismoststrong,vibrant and alive, it is India”.Across theworld, he said, there’sagrowingtrust inthe“socialandpoliticalleadership”ofIndian-ori-ginpeople.Modimade these remarks in

his inaugural address to the16thPravasi BharatiyaDivas conven-tion, threedays after amobsup-porting US President DonaldTrump’s repeated attempts tooverturn the outcomeof theUSelectionsstormedtheCapitol.USVice President-elect KamalaHarris is of Indian origin – hermotherwasfromIndiaandherfa-therfromJamaica.Hailingthesignificantcontri-

bution of the Indian diaspora,Modi praised SurinamePresident Chandrikapersad‘Chan’ Santokhi, the chief guestat the function, for his “warm

wordsandaffectionforIndia’’.HesaidSantokhiwasa“shiningex-ample” of the trust reposed inpeopleof Indian-origin.He said at a timewhen India

wasmovingtobecomeatmanirb-har(self-reliant), the Indiandias-pora had an important role instrengthening the identity ofBrandIndia.HeurgedthemtouseMake-in-Indiaproductsmoreandmore,sayingitwill increasetrustin theseproducts. “It canbeany-thing, fromtea to textile to ther-apy. I amhappy to see the atten-tion khadi is getting across the

world. Not onlywill you be in-creasingthevolumeofIndianex-ports, but youwill alsobe takingour rich diversity to theworld.Whatismostimportantisthat,aspart of the Atmanirbhar Bharatcampaign,youwillbeinstrumen-tal in reaching affordable andqualitysolutionstothepoorestoftheworld,”hesaid.OntheCovidvaccine,hesaid

Indiais“readytoprotecthuman-itywithnotonebut twocoronavaccinesmadeinIndia”.Hesaid,“As the pharmacy of theworld,India has delivered essentialmedicines to every needy per-son in theworld in thepast, andis still doing it. Today, theworldis not only waiting for India'svaccine, but it is also keeping awatch on how India runs theworld's largest vaccinationpro-gramme.”Inhisaddresstotheconven-

tion, External AffairsMinister SJaishankarcalledforgreaterpar-ticipation of the diaspora inbuildingaself-reliant India. Theexperience of the pandemic, hesaid, has driven home the needformore trusted, resilient, reli-able and redundant supplychains.

“Involvingthediasporainthatendeavourisnatural,” Jaishankarsaidasthey“havealwaysbeenen-thusiasticcontributorstonation-building”, “can bring to bear re-sources,technology,bestpracticesandinnovations”as“highachiev-ers”and“helpingivingthisambi-tious exercise a truly global foot-print”.Hesaida“boldschemeofpro-

duction-linked incentives in 13keysectorsoffersthepotentialoftransformingmanufacturing inthe country” and “itwouldhavedirectconsequences foremploy-mentandinclusiveness”.Engagementwiththeworldis

fundamental to our beliefs andtraditions, he said, adding thatduring the pandemic, “we notonlybrought backourownpeo-plehome,butthoseofneighboursaswell” and as “wenow look atthesupplyof vaccines” Indiawill“liveup fully” to its internationalresponsibilities.Speaking at the session,

Minister of State for ExternalAffairsVMuraleedharansaidthatwith its populationof 1.3 billion,andoneof thelargestdiasporaintheworld,Indiacanplayaneffec-tiveroleinthepost-Covidspace.

PMModiatinaugurationofPravasiBharatiyaDivas,viavideoconference, inDelhi.PTI

Trust in political, social leadershipof Indian-origin people growing: PM

Tractormarchbyfarmers inHaryana’s Jind.ManojDhaka

Cong to markfarmers’ rightsday on Jan 15

ATRIMITRAKATWA(EASTBURDWAN),JANUARY9

BJP PRESIDENT J P Nadda onSaturdaysaidthenewfarmlaws“would set the farmers of thecountry free” as theywould beable to decide their buyers andthepricesof theirproduce.Launching the BJP’s ‘Krishak

SurakshaAbhiyan’and‘EkMuthoChal’ campaigns at a village inEast Burdwan district, NaddamockedChiefMinisterMamataBanerjee for agreeing to imple-mentthePM-KISANscheme,say-ingitwas“toolate”.“Itisunfortunatethatthereare

peoplewho aremisleading thefarmers(onfarmlaws).Therefore,

wehavedecidedtolaunchweek-long‘KrishakBhoj’campaignfromJanuary24in40,000GramSabhasinWestBengaltomakethemun-

derstand the actual benefits offarmer’s policies and schemeslaunched by Prime MinisterNarendraModi... The farm laws

willmakefarmersfree.Theselawswillenablefarmerstosetthepriceoftheirproduceandchoosebuy-ers,”Naddasaid.Accusing Banerjee of “de-

priving”over70 lakh farmersofthestate thebenefitsof thePM-KISANscheme,Naddasaid,“TheMamata Banerjee governmentagreed to implement the PMKisan SammanNidhi after sucha long time as she has realisedthat the TMC is fast losinggroundinBengal.But, letmesayitclearlythatitisalreadytoolatefor theTMCgovernment.”HealsotargetedBanerjeeover

allegations of corruption inCycloneAmphan relief, allegingthat TMC leaders siphoned offmoneyandfoodgrainssentbytheCentreforthecyclone-hitpeople.

BJPpresident JPNaddaatavillage inWestBengal’sEastBurdwandistrictonSaturday. PTI

Farm laws will set farmers free, too late forBengal to implement PM-KISAN: Nadda

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY9

THE GOVERNMENT “has beentakinga seriesof reforms toun-leashthegrowthpotentialsinceonly a robust economic growthcan help inmeeting the aspira-tionsof thepeople” and legisla-tors“across thecountryhaveanimportantresponsibilityofseri-ouslyreflectinginrespectiveleg-islaturesonthechallengingsitu-ation that the country is facingandmounting a national effortto comeoutof it at theearliest,”Vice President M VenkaiahNaidusaidonSaturday.Speaking at the occasions of

Goa Legislators Day at Panaji,Naidu said that a “right-thinkinglegislator…will neverbeaparty

to thedistressing scenarioof dis-rupting the proceedings of theHouse”andwould“mostcertainlylike theHouse todiscuss, debateand decide every issue so thathe/shecanmakemeaningfulcon-tribution,beingequippedtodoso”.Naidu asserted that it was

“thedifferencethatable legisla-

torscanmaketothefunctioningof the legislatures, which is theneedof thehour”andany legis-lator “has the option of eithersupporting the government oropposing it”. He stated that infact,“informedoppositiontothegovernment’sproposals”doesa“certain good but opposing forthesakeof doing itdoesharm”.He mentioned that “law

makerscanmakeadifferencetoenhancethefunctioningof legis-latures, and there by their legit-imacy”throughthe6C’sof con-necting with people, conduct,character, commitment, capac-ityandcommunication.“Anylegislatureisasgoodasits

members,”hesaid,andaddedthat“legitimacyofbothofthemarein-ter-dependent as each of themdrawsustenancefromtheother”.

MVenkaiahNaiduat theGoaLegislatorsDayevent.

A right-thinking legislator will neverbe party to disrupting House: Venkaiah

Bengal Governormeets Shah,shares securityconcerns in stateahead of polls

JagdeepDhankhar

Techfirmsnewoligarchs:BJP ITcellhead

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHE SUNDAY EXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

PPEERRSSOONNAALL

OOBBIITTUUAARRYY

PPEERRSSOONNAALL

LLOOSSTT&&FFOOUUNNDD

EEDDUUCCAATTIIOONNAALL

ClassifiedsII Davinder SinghS/oSh. PritamSinghR/oH.No.3033, StreetNo.5, Ranjit Nagar, Patel Nagar,Delhi-110008 have changedmyname toDavinder SinghBabbar for all purposes.

0040559812-6

IItt is for general information thatI LaishramSophiaD/OSmt. R.K.SanayaimaDevi R/OA-Block/801,S.B. YouthApartment,Pocket-1 Sector-2,DwarkaNewDelhi-110075declare thatmynamehasbeenwronglywrittenas L Sophia inmy10thclass certificates.That theactual nameofmine isLaishramSophia.Whichmaybeamendedacordingly.

0040559846-3

II,,SSHHIIVVPRAKASH,S/O-DASHRAHTPRASADAGNIHOTRI,R/O-E-495,RATANPURCOLONY,PANKABAHADURNAGAR,KANPURNAGAR,UTTARPRADESH-208020,HAVECHANGEDNAMESHIVPRAKASHAGNIHOTRI.

0040559849-8

II,,RRaakkeesshh S/o-MahavirPrasad,H.No.310,Street.No.12,YadavNagar,Rewari (Haryana)-123401,have changedmynametoRakeshSharma.

0040559849-2

II,,RRAAMMAA,,WW//OO--SSHHIIVVPRAKASHAGNIHOTRI,R/O-E-495RATANPURCOLONY,PANKABAHADURNAGAR,KANPURNAGAR,UTTARPRADESH-208020, HAVECHANGEDNAMERMAAGNIHOTRI. 0040559849-9

II,,PPrroommiillllaaW/oDevi SinghR/o1973, VillageKarala, Delhi-110081havechangedmynametoParmila 0040559846-1

II,,MMuunniisshh S/o-FaeemR/o 519,M.K.Wali Gali, Near-MotherDairy,Tulsi Niketan, Bhopura,Sahibabad, Ghaziabad,UPhavechangedmyname toMonishKhan. 0040559845-7

II,,KKaavviittaa SinghW/o-Mr. RajendraPal SinghR/o-A-164,MIG Flats,Block-9,Brij Vihar, ChanderNagar,Ghaziabad,UttarPrakdesh-201011,havechangedmyname to jagwatifor all purpose. 0040559846-2

II,,FFaahhiimmKhanS/oShahMohammadR/o-M-10,GaliNo.23, Brhampuri, Seelampur,North-EastDelhi,Delhi havechangedmyname to Faeem.

0040559845-8

II,,DDaarrsshhaannKumarandDarshanKumarUppal S/o-Krishan LalR/oB-4 2nd Floor SaraswatiGardenDelhi-110015,havechangedmyname toDarshanUppal. 0040559845-2

II,, RamSagar S/OGuruParshadR/O333, Sri Nagar, ShakurBasti, NorthWest, Delhi-110034, have changedmynametoRamSagar Sharmavideaffidavit dated 25-June-2020.

0050173736-1

II,,CChhaannddeerr PrakashaliasChandraPrakashBhardwaj sonof Shri Sohan Lal,Bhardwaj,Resident ofHouseNo.-53,TagoreGaliWest,Babarpur, Shahdara,EastDelhi-110032have changedmyname fromChander Prakash toChandraPrakashBhardwaj forall purposes.

0040559845-1

II,,BBiirreennddrraa PratapSinghRathourS/o Late-KameshwarPrasadSinghR/o-VPO-Deohaliya, PS-Ramgarh, Kaimur(Bhabua),Bihar have changedmynameto BirendraPratapSingh.

0040559845-6

II,,BBAALLDDEEEEPP SINGHKHATRI R/OHNO.234/30,GALINO.5,MAYURVIHAR,SONIPAT-131001.HAVECHANGEDMYCHILDNAMEARPIT TOARPITKHATRI.

0040559849-1

II,,AAttuull Suri,S/O-LateC LSuri,R/O-135Venus-Apartments,Behind-Inder Enclave-RohtakRoad,NewDelhi-110087,declare thatmyminorsonNEIILNIRRBHAYSURI’SDOB is erroneously publishedas-10/08/2008 inmyServiceRecords.Myminor son’scorrect-DOB is 10/08/2009Vide-Affidavit BeforeNotaryPublic-Delhi on 08/01/2021.

0040559849-4

II,,AAnnnniiee JohnKochuparampil,W/o-RavinderKumarChaujar,R/o 1206,J.M. ParkSapphire,RamprasthaGreens,Sector-9,Vaishali,Ghaziabad,Pin-201010,havechangedmyname toAnuChaujar.Iwill be knownby thisname for all futurepurposes.

0040559849-10

II,,AAnnkkiitt S/ONareshKumarR/O.Plot.No-4, kh.No.766,2nd-Floor Lal DoraShri SidhiVinayakAppt Burari Delhi-110084,changedmynametoAnkit Gupta. 0040559849-3

II,,AAnnkkiitt Kumar S/oGayaPrasadRathoreR/oC-63,SuryaNagar,Ghaziabad,UPhave changedmyname toRanveerRathorefor all purposes.

0040559845-5

II,, RAUNAKKUMARAGNIHOTRI,S/O-SHIVPRAKASHAGNIHOTRI,R/O-405,GALI.NO-9,G-2,SAI ENCLAVE,MOHANGARDEN,UTTAMNAGARDELHI-110059HAVECHANGEDNAMERAUNAKAGNIHOTRI.

0040559849-7

II,, KaranGulati D/o-Shri OMPrakashGulati R/o-106/2,Second/Floor Shed.No.2,GovindPuri, Kalkaji, NewDelhi-110019,have changedmynametoCherryGulati for all futurepurposes 0040559833-1

PUBLIC NOTICEMy client Smt. Gulab Devi, wife of Shri Bindeshwari,resident of H-2/112A, Ground Floor, Bengali Colony,Mahavir Enclave, Near Sulabh International Shochalya,New Delhi-110045 has debarred and disowned her oneson Shri Anand Kumar son of Shri Bindeshwari anddaughter-in-law Mrs. Chandani wife of Shri AnandKumar both are resident of H-2/112A. First Floor,Bengali Colony, Mahavir Enclave, New Delhi-110045,from her all movable as well as immovable propertieswhatsoever present in any state/city. Their behaviortowards my client was unkind, harsh and insensitivedue to which the said step has been taken by my client.My client, thus, is not responsible for any action of hersons and daughter in law including their liability, loan orany kind of borrowings from any otherperson/company/ trust. If anybody deals with them,they will do so at their own risk, cost and consequencesand my client shall not be responsible for any act oftheir above named sons in any manner whatsoever.

Sd/-VIJAY KUMAR KAUSHIK

ADVOCATECHAMBER # 821, DWARKA COURTS COMPLEX,

SECTOR-10, NEW DELHI-110075

PUBLIC NOTICEPublic notice is given to the general publicthat my clients namely Azad Khan S/o LateShahzad Khan and Shamim Bano Khan W/oAzad Khan R/o Khasza No. 8 Gali No-6, NearAisha Masjid Sangam Vihar, Wazirabad,Delhi-110084, have severed their all relationswith their son namely Rehman Khan S/o AzadKhan and his wife namely Bushra Khan W/oRehman Khan D/o Sajjad Khan they havedisowned them from all their movable andimmovable properties and my clients shall notbe held responsible for any act of them.

Sd/-M. N. Khan

AdvocateChamber No. 618

Westrent WingTis Hazari Court Delhi-110054

Mob No. 9210804751

PUBLIC NOTICEUnder instructions of my clients namely:VIJAY KUMAR THAKUR, S/O LATEGULANAND, AND SMT. BABITA THAKUR,BOTH RESIDENTS OF RA-275, INDERENCLAVE, PHASE-II, KIRARI, SULEMANNAGAR, DELHI-110086, DO HEREBYSEVERE ALL THEIR RELATIONS WITHTHEIR DAUGHTER NAMELY MS. VARSHAAGED ABOUT 25 YEARS, ALSODISINHERIT HER FROM ALL THEIRESTATES, MOVABLE AND IMMOVABLEBECAUSE OF HER DISOBEDIENCE ANDANY PERSON WHOSOEVER DEALS WITHTHE AFORESAID MS. VARSHA, SHALL DOSO AT HIS/THEIR OWN COSTS ANDRISKS AND MY CLIENT SHALL NOT BELIABLE FOR HER ANY ACTS OR DEEDSETC.

Sd/- (SUMESH GANDHI)ADVOCATE

G-184 (Basement), Naraina Vihar,New Delhi-28

PUBLIC NOTICEBe informed that Ms. Navneeta Mital D/oLate Devinder Kumar Mital R/o 8/503,East End Aptts., Mayur Vihar Phase -1Extn., Delhi-110096 (Seller) has agreed tosell her Flat No. 8/503, East EndApartments CGHS Ltd. Mayur ViharPhase - 1(Extn.), Delhi-110096 to myclient Mrs. Roopam Gupta W/o of Sh.Jitendra Gupta R/o 11/101, East EndAptts., Mayur Vihar Phase-I Extn., Delhi(purchaser) vide agreement to sell dated07.12.2020.Said seller Ms. Navneeta Mitalunfortunately expired on 03.01.2021 andsaid sale transaction is binding on andenforceable against person(s) claiming/acting in the name/ on behalf of said sellerincluding her legal heir(s) representative(s) /agent(s)/ attorney(s)/ executor(s,)/beneficiary(s) etc. and such person(s) cannot deal with / alienate/sale/transfer /dispose/encumber/ create third party rightqua the said flat No. 8/503, East EndApartments, Mayur Vihar Phase -1 (Extn.),Delhi, wholly or any part thereof, to anyperson(s) other than the purchaser Mrs.Roopam Gupta.All public at large and the authoritiesconcerned are hereby cautioned and putto notice not to carry on or negotiate orenter into or deal with in any manner orexecute/ register any document/deed ofany nature in respect of theaforementioned property. If anyone dealsin any manner of the aforementionedproperty, with any such person claiming asrepresentative/ assignee etc. of Ms.Navneeta Mital then such transaction shallbe void and illegal and such person(s)shall be doing/acting so at his/her ownrisks / responsibility/ consequences/ costand expenses and my client shall , be atliberty to take all appropriate steps, legalrecourse to protect/safeguard her rightand interest qua the aforesaid propertyincluding specific performance of theAgreement to Sell dated 07.12.2020.

Sd/-Mukul K. Gupta, Advocate

523, Lawyers Chamber, District Court,Sec-10, Dwarka, New Delhi-75

Ph. no. 9810751430

PUBLIC NOTICEGeneral Public is hereby informed that myclient Sh. Madan Lal Gupta S/o Late Sh. RamChander Gupta and Smt. Phushpa Gupta W/oSh. Madan Lal Gupta both are R/o B1st, 384-385, Madangir, New Delhi-110062, havesevered all their relationship with their sonnamely Sh. Arun Gupta, (eldest son), Son ofSh. Madan Lal Gupta, Age about 34 yearsdue to his conduct. That my client has decidedto disown him with immediate effect from all oftheir movable and immovable propertiesbecause of his behavior/ misconduct towardsour client. Any one dealing with the son of myclient shall do so at his own risk and peril.That my client shall not be held liable in anysuch dealing done by any third party with theson of my client. That my client shall not beaccountable for any Act/Deed done by theirson namely Sh. Arun Gupta.

Sd/- BHARAT SAREEN ADVOCATECh. No. 718, Lawyer’s Chamber Block,

Saket District Court, New Delhi-17

PUBLIC NOTICEKNOW ALL MEN that clients Sh.Ashok Kumar Gupta S/o Late Sh.R.C. Gupta and Smt. SushmaAggarwal W/o Sh. Ashok KumarGupta both R/o House No.: 13/1, WardNo.1, Mehrauli, New Delhi-110 030have severed all their relations with theirson Sh. Siddharth Gupta and his wifeSmt. Vasudha Kotia D/o Late Sh.Sudhir Kumar Kotia because of theunwarrantable behavior of Smt.Vasudha Kotia and have debarred themboth from all their movable andimmovable properties. Any one dealingwith them in any way or mannerwhatsoever shall be doing at his ownrisks and consequences.

Sd/- (J.S. KALRA) ADVOCATEChamber No. 296, Western Wing,

Tis Hazari Court, Delhi-110054

PUBLIC NOTICENotice is hereby given that Sh. Kishan Chand,S/o Late Shri Chand, R/o 5B, HanumanEnclave, Lane number 3, Nangloi, Delhi-110041 is transferring the 50% of the propertybearing No. 5B/1, Hanuman Enclave, Lanenumber 3, Nangloi, Delhi-110041 in faviour ofhis son Mukesh Kumar, S/o Sh. KishanChand, R/o 5B, Hanuman Enclave, Lanenumber 3, Nangloi, Delhi-110041. All personclaiming an interest in the said property orany part of thereof by way of sale, gift, lease,possession, easement attachment orotherwise however, are hereby required tomake the same known to Seller at hisresidence within 15 days from the datehereof, failing which the said transfer ofproperty will be completed without anyreference to such claim and the same if anyshall be considered as waived.

Sd/-(Rohit Malik)

Advocate124-125, 1st Floor, District Center,

Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058

PUBLIC NOTICEMy clients Smt Krishna Kapoor Wife of LateShri Ramesh Chand Kapoor resident ofHouse No. USB-253, North Block, NearChander Vihar, Mandawali, Shakarpur, Delhi-110092 have debarred and disowned her sonnamely Chander Parkash Kapoor from her allmovable/immovable properties whatsoever,due to his behavior towards toy clients, myclient have also severed all her relations withthem. If anybody deals with him, he will do soat his own risk, cost and consequences. Myclients, their other family members andrelatives shall not be responsible/ liable forany act of above named persons

Sd/-PRAKASH KAPOOR

ADVOCATECHAMBER # 821, DWARKA COURTS

COMPLEX, SECTOR-10,NEW DELHI-110075

II,, PRIYAMVADAD/O JAWAHARPRASADSINGHR/OWARD#12,CHHOTICHAK,POST-JAMALPURGOGRI,KHAGARIA,BIHAR-851203have changedmyname toPRIYAMMVADASINGH for all Purposes videAffidavit#9dt 02.01.2021

0040559322-1

II,, NikitaGuptaD/oParmodGuptaW/oBasantGoyal R/o-D-25, BhagwanDasNagar,EastPunjabi Bagh,NewDelhi-110026,have changedmynametoNikitaGoyal. 0040559845-3

II,, NehaSinghD/oSh. RamSinghR/oH.No.488 Sector-17,Faridabad,Haryana, haveChangedmynameNehaRanito NehaSingh for all futurepurposes. 0040559816-1

II BanditaDashD/o LateAnamCharanDasW/oSushil KumarPadhyR/o FlatNo.F-1005,Stellar Jeevan, GH-03, Sector-1,GreaterNoidaWest, UttarPradesh-201306 is also knownasBanditaDasandBanditaPadhy. All namesareof oneand the sameperson.

0040559812-7

II VinodUpadhyayS/O,GajanandUpadhyayR/oE-62, RadhaKunj, Brij Vihar, LinkRoadGhaziabad-201011(up) havechangedmyname toVinodKumarUpadhyay for allpurposes. 0040559817-1

II AshutoshS/o Lalmani R/oD-2/150Hari Enclave, KirariSulemanNagar, NewDelhi-110086have changedmynametoAshutoshDiwvedi for allfuturepurposes.

0040559830-1

II,, SimmySahotaW/o JaswantSinghSahotaR/oVillage-Saifpur, Firojpur, Post-Behsuma,Meerut, havechangedmynameSimmiSahota. 0040559845-4

FFoouurr set of leasedeed in respectof Industrial Plot no.35,Pocket-C Sector-2,DSIIDC-BawanaIndustrial-Area,Delhi-110039,allottedunderRelocation Schemehasbeenactually lost.Whosoever findcontactMrs.VijayGuptaatMobile-No.9810586078.

0040559846-6

It is notified for the informationthatmyoriginal-QualifiyingExamination-passingCertificate ofmain -secondaryExamination(10TH) year-2010andRollno-1193806 issuedbyCBSEhasbeen lost.Nameofcandidate-NAMANSHRIVASTAVA,S/oAmarlokshrivastavaADDRESS*Rameshwaram,D-10, gayatri-nagar, near-jagnnathmandir,Raipur, Chhattisgarh-492001. 0040559849-5

I,AMANREHMAN,S/oREHMANR/o F-27, St.no-2NewSeemaPuri Shahdara, Delhi-95 havelostmyoriginal Certificateclass-10th year-2016Rollno-8158900CBSE-DELHI.

0040559849-6

TThheeNational BusinessEducationAccreditationCouncil invitingapplicationsfor startingofficialtraining/study centre for thebusinessstudies.Mob.7499647774

0090280260-1

E-TENDER NOTICESenior Divisional Signal & Telecommunication Engineer/Coordination/North Central Railway/Prayagraj, forand on behalf of the President of India, invite E-TENDER on prescribed form for the following works up to 12.00hrs. on 02.02.2021. The details of the Tender is as under :-

NORTH CENTRAL RAILWAY, PRAYAGRAJ

Earnest MoneyName of work

E-Tender No. PRYJ-Sig- 21-2020-21 Date: 08.01.2021

Tender No.

`48,03,944/-

`96,100/-

Approx Cost of work

PRYJ-Sig-021-2020-21

Replacement of Quarters, Type II-76 and Type III-24 units [Rajapur Colony and Traffic colony] atPrayagraj of N C Railway.

Cost of Tender Form : 0/-, Completion Period : 06 months, Date of Closing of tender : 02.02.2021.`

SN

1a

Availability oftender form

Time date &place of opening

of tender

Tender forms are available on www.ireps.gov.in 21 days prior to date of opening of thetender.Tender will be opened through E-tender at office of Divisional Railway Manager, Prayagrajon or after pre determined date at 12.30 hours. In case tender opening date happens to beholiday, Tenders will be opened on the next working day.

2

3

North central railways www.ncr.indianrailways.gov.in @CPRONCR36/21 (SP)

NNOORRTTHH CCEENNTTRRAALL RRAAIILLWWAAYY,, PPRRAAYYAAGGRRAAJJTender Notice No.: 230-Elect/TRD/PRYJ/E-Tender Notice/2021/456Date: 07.01.2021

Sr. Divl. Elect. Engineer(TR-D)North Central Railway, Prayagraj

wwwwww.ncr.ncr.ind.indianraianrailwaysilways.gov.gov.in.in @ CPRONCR@ CPRONCRNNoorrtthh cceennttrraall rraaiillwwaayy

31/21 (P)

Modification and electrification of 25 Kv OHE due toPOL siding inside BPCL terminal at Pankidham inPrayagraj Division.

Sr. Divisional Electrical Engineer/TRD/North Central Railway/Prayagraj, for and on behalf of the President ofIndia, invites the following E-Tender, the details of the tenders are as under:-

Description of work

E-TE-Tender Noticeender Notice

TenderNo.

AdvertisedValue

EarnestMoney

Bidding System: Single Packet Tender Closing Date & Time: 04.02.2021 & 14:00 hrs.information along with tender document of above E-Tenders shall be available on website www.ireps.gov.in 21days prior tothe date of opening of the tender. (2) Bids other than in the form of E-Bids shall not be accepted against above tenders. Forthis purpose, vendors are required to get themselves registered with IREPS website along with Digital Signature Certificate.(3) Incaseofany difficultyhelpdeskavailable on the websiteof IREPS may beapproached.

Note: (1) The complete

Rs.

69,69,987.30

Rs.

1,39,400/-

CompletionPeriod

06

Months

230-TRD-

WC-832-

2021

I, ShardaD/oRukhadia, P-136/7VRCDelhi Cantt. NewDelhiherebydeclare thatmyName isSharda inmyschool recordsbutaftermarrigemynamehaschanged fromSharda to ShardaMavi, for all futurepurposes.

0040559373-1

ENS&PTINAINITAL, JANUARY9

THEUTTARAKHANDHighCourthasputastayonthedenotifica-tion of the Shivalik ElephantReserve—thestate’sonly jumboreserve.Theorderbyadivisionbench

of the high court comprisingChief Justice R S Chauhan andJustice Lokpal Singh came on aPIL filed by environmental ac-tivist Reenu Phul on Friday.Earlieron January4, anotherdi-visionbenchof thecourthadis-sued notices to the Centre, thestate government and the statewildlife boardover thedecisiontodenotifytheelephantreserve.They were given four weeks'timeto reply.The stay order was granted

on the first working day of thenewly-appointedchief justiceoftheHighCourt.Previously,around80people

had written to acting ChiefJusticeRaviMalimath, pleadingto stop the denotification of theShivalikElephantReservebythegovernment.On Friday, a fresh Public

InterestLitigation(PIL)wasfiledstating that the asiatic elephantis at its westernmost habitat inUttarakhand and it would becruel todestroy it.TheShivalikElephantreserve

was notified in 2002 under

'Project Elephant', which waslaunched by the government ofIndia in1992.The statewildlife board had

in November 2020 decided todenotify the reserve, arguingthat themovewillpavethewayfordevelopmentworkinanareaspanning over 4,500 sq km, in-cludingexpansionofDehradun'sJollyGrantAirport.Sources said the board had

passed the proposal at ameet-ing chaired by Chief MinisterTrivendra SinghRawat as forestofficialsarguedthatthenotifica-tion for elephant reserve wascreatinghurdlesindevelopmentwork in thatarea.Theofficialssaidatthemeet-

ingthattheelephantreservehasno legal sanctity and there is noprovision for it in forest andwildlifeActs.Chief Wildlife Warden J S

Suhag had said that even afterthe notification is canceled, theareawill remainareserveforestand rules of the ForestConservationActwillremainap-plicable there.Another official said that an

elephantreserveisunlikeatigerreservewhere there are restric-tions and punishments for vio-lating them.“Certain formalities of ob-

taining clearances for develop-mentworkwill get reduced af-ter cancellation of thenotification,” theofficial said.

LALMANIVERMADEHRADUN,JANUARY9

ASIX-YEARoldtigerwastranslo-catedfromthebufferzoneof JimCorbett Tiger Reserve to RajajiTiger Reserve in UttarakhandSaturday. It was released in thewild thesameday.This is the second such

translocation of big cat in thestate—lastmonth, a tigress hadbeen similarly moved. Five bigcats from Jim Corbett are to bemovedtoRajaji,amoveaimedattigerpopulationmanagement.J S Suhag, chiefwildlifewar-

den, said the male tiger wastranquilised and radio-collaredFridayandrelocatedSaturday.

“The tigress relocated lastmonthislivingnormally.Wewillmonitor both for next couple ofmonths.When they breed andwe are sure they have adapted,onlythennexttranslocationwillbedone,”saidDKSingh,Director,RajajiTigerReserve.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU, JANUARY9

TWODAYSbeforehertransferasKarnatakahomesecretarytothepostofdirectorof theKarnatakaHandicrafts DevelopmentCorporation, senior IPS officerRoopaMoudgilraisedquestionsover delay in the suspension oftwoIPSofficersaccusedintheRs4,500croreIMAscamprobedbytheCBIevenasthreenon-IPSof-ficers accused in the caseweresuspended inOctober.Moudgil was transferred on

December 31 inwhatwas seenas a fallout of a spat withHemanthNimbalkar–anIPSof-ficer accused in the IMAscam–over her alleged unauthorisedinterferencelastyearinatenderforaRs620croreBengalurusafecity project. Nimbalkar, whoheaded the tendering commit-tee of the Bengaluru city policein his capacity as the additionalcommissionerofpolice(admin-istration), was also transferredonDecember 31 to the internalsecurity division of theKarnatakapolice.In a December 29, 2020 let-

ter toKarnatakaChief SecretaryTMVijay Bhaskar (who retired

on December 31), then HomeSecretaryMoudgilwrote,“DPAR(Services) has specificallywrit-ten to ACS to Government inHomeDepartment to draft andsubmitthedisciplinaryproceed-ings against Shri HemantNimbalkar, IPS and other policeofficersasperrecommendationof theCBI.However, formonths,theHomeDepartmenthasfailedtosubmitthemajordisciplinaryproceedings to the DPAR(Services).“While suspension and dis-

ciplinary action has been ap-provedandissuedforjuniorpo-lice officers, neither suspensionnordisciplinaryactionhasbeentaken by Home Department

againstShriHemantNimbalkar,IPS, andanother IPSofficer.”BothMoudgilandNimbalkar

are IG-rank officers of theKarnatakaPolice.Nimbalkar andDIG-rankof-

ficer Ajay Hilori have beennamed by the CBI along withthreejuniorofficers–deputysu-perintendentEBSridhar, policeinspectorMRameshandsubin-spectorPGowrishankar.InOctober2020,thegovern-

mentorderedthesuspensionofthe junior police officers but noactionhasbeentakenagainsttheIPS officers so far. The disparityhasbeenasubjectof concern inthepolice force.“The suspension of IPS offi-

cers is not in the hands of thehomedepartment but it iswiththeDPAR(Services)whohavetorecommend to the Central gov-ernment,” Additional ChiefSecretary(Home)RajneeshGoelsaid when asked aboutMoudgil’s letter accusing thehomedepartmentof inaction.“In the caseof suspensionof

IPSofficers,DPAR(Services)hastowrite to the centralMinistryof Home Affairs for suspensionon the basis of communicationfrom the state home depart-ment,”aformerDPAR(Services)official said.Nimbalkar has approached

the Karnataka High Court chal-lengingtheCBIcaseagainsthimon the grounds that his role inthe CID Economic OffencesWing,whichpreparedthereportontheschemesrunbyIMA,wasto send the report prepared byjunior officers to his seniors intheCID forapproval.Thecourthasrefusedtostay

theCBIinvestigationagainsttheIPS officer but has directed theKarnatakagovernment and thecentral probe agency not to re-sort to any coercive actionagainst theofficial.

DIPR/ 133 /TENDER/2021 GENERAL MANAGER (F), SIPCOT, Chennai-8.

STATE INDUSTRIES PROMOTION CORPORATION OF TAMILNADU LIMITEDTender Notice No.4/F/F&R/T.No.9,10,11/2020-21 Dated: 07.01.2021

SHORT TERM TENDER NOTICEFor and on behalf of State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited, sealed tendersare invited for the auction sale of the following units taken possession U/s.29 of State FinancialCorporations Act 1951, “AS IS WHERE IS” basis. Tenders will be received upto 3.00 p.m. on27.01.2021 and the same will be opened on the same day at 4.30 p.m.

No.19-A, RUKMANI LAKSHMIPATHY ROAD, EGMORE, CHENNAI - 600 008

Borrower(s)/Guarantor(s)

Amount due(Interest

charged upto31.12.2020)(Rs. in crores)

Description of the property Upset Price(Rs. in lakhs)

EMD(Rs. inlakhs)

MinimumIncre-mentalAmount(Rs.)

1. M/s. VijayCrates &ContainersPvt. Ltd.

219.56 Land (2.08 acres) & Building atR.S.No.138/3A & 138/3B, ChittoorRoad, Valakkanampudi Village, R.K.Pettai Taluk, Thiruvallur District.

Land –244.63Building-35.90

70.13 25,000/-

2.M/s.MedtechProducts Ltd.

213.36 Land (3.36 acres), Building &Machinery at S.No.132/2a, etc.,Mevalurkuppam Village Road,Kuthambakkam, Sriperambudur Taluk.

Land–604.80Building-386.92Machinery-0.30

248.00 25,000/-

3.M/s. VastraSilks Pvt. Ltd.

51.95 Machinery only at SIPCOT IndustrialComplex, Gummidipoondi, M.S.Rods(11510 kg)

Machinery-1.73 0.43 5,000/-

EMD in the form of DD in favour of SIPCOT Ltd., payable at Chennai (In the tenderer’s Name only)The tender Schedule can be Downloaded at free of cost from the following website

www.tenders.tn.gov.in and www.sipcot.in

HC stay onjumbo reservedenotification

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

IMASCAM

IPSofficerRoopaMoudgilwastransferredonDecember31.

@D_Roopa_IPS

UTTARAKHANDBIDTOUSEFORESTLANDFORAIRPORTEXPANSION

LALMANIVERMADEHRADUN, JANUARY9

TWOMONTHS after the UnionMinistry of Environment, Forestand Climate Change askedUttarakhandgovernmenttocon-sider avoiding sensitive areas ofthe Shivalik Elephant Reservewhileexploring landsuitable forexpansion of Dehradun’s JollyGrant Airport, the state govern-ment, in its response, has statedthatthereisnoviablealternativefortheproposedactivity.InaletterinOctober,themin-

istry had sought information,documents and justification on14 points regarding the projectfromthestateForestDepartment.Thestatehadsentaproposal

seekingtheCentre'sapprovalfornon-forestuseof87hectares(ha)offorestlandinDehradundistrictfortheairportexpansionproject.In response, Additional

Principal Chief Conservator ofForests and nodal officer,Uttarakhand,D J K Sharma's let-terjustifiestheproposedactivityby stating that Uttarakhandshares an international borderwith China andNepal, and thusthis airport is also of immensestrategic importance, especiallyinviewofitsproximitytotheLACand the current situation onnorthernborders.“The proposed alignment of

forest land is theonlyoption forcarrying out extension of therunway. There is no other alter-nateoptionwhich is technicallyfeasible,asthealignmentofrun-way cannot be changed,” readsthe letter.Whencontacted,Sharmasaid

replyhasbeensent toallqueriesfromtheUnionministry.OntheMoEF’squerythatthe

entire proposed forest area fordiversionfallswithintheShivalikElephant Reserve and elephantcorridorswithinits1-kmradius,the reply said, “While it is truethat the area forms part ofShivalik Elephant Reserve, it isnotanidentifiedelephantcorri-dor.Furtheritisnotincloseprox-imitytothecoreandcriticalele-phant habitat of Rajaji TigerReserve.TheKansaro-Barkotele-phantCorridor is also locatedatleast 4 to 5 km away from theproposed site. However, occa-sionallyelephantscrossoverthearea through the Jakhanriver…taking that into account,necessarywildlifemitigation isproposedforthediversionoftheforest land.”Intheletter,thestatergovern-

ment reiterated that the settingofagreenfieldairportatanyotherlocation is not feasible, as avail-ability of land is limited. It statesthat such an exercisewould po-tentiallyinflictgreaterlossofnat-ural resources such as standingtrees,wouldincurhugecostsandwouldrenderalargeinvestmentwhichisalreadyinplaceattheex-

istingfacilityas infructuous.“Assuch,thealternateoption

does not exist in this case,” thegovernmentstated.On the query about the area

beingaHighConservationValuearea,thestategovernmentstatedthatabout79percentof treesofvarious species that will be af-fected because of land transferproposal comprise pole crop. Sothenumberoftreestobefelledisnot a true indicator of losses tothat area on account of the pro-posed expansion. With moresuchexplanations,thestategov-ernment stated that proposedarea for the project is not a highvalueconservationarea.Theletterstatedthatthepro-

posed area includes about 30hectares of compensatory af-forestation plantation done in2017-18.

Thesix-year-oldmaletigerthatwasshifted.Express

The JollyGrantAirport inDehradun.

Second tiger translocated toRajaji reserve from Corbett

Dehradunairportplaysakeyrole in rescue, reliefandrehabilitationworksduringdisasters in thestateand largeaircraftneed tooperate fromthisairfieldduringsuchemergencies. Inviewofincreasingairpassengertraffic, theAirportsAuthorityof Indiahasprojectedanurgentneedtoupgrade therunwayandotherexistingamenities, thestatehadjustified toMoEF.

WhyrunwayneedstobeextendedE●EX

PLAINED

How state justified plan: Notidentified elephant corridor

Before transfer, IPS officer hadflagged disparity in suspensions

New Delhi

7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHE SUNDAY EXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021 EXPRESSNETWORK

Ahealthteamburiesculledbirdsatapoultry farminKherivillageofHaryana’sPanchkuladistrictonSaturday. Jaipal Singh

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JANUARY9

OVER1,200birdswereSaturdayfounddeadacrossthecountry,in-cluding 900 in a Maharashtrapoultry farm inMaharashtra, astheCentre flagged the spreadofthe avian influenza to UttarPradesh—theseventhstatetore-portcases.TheCentresaidconfirmation

of bird flu inDelhi, ChhattisgarhandMaharashtra, is awaited asthe samples have been sent fortesting, itsaid.Besides Uttar Pradesh, the

otherstateswherebirdfluiscon-firmed are Kerala, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh, HimachalPradesh,HaryanaandGujarat.In Delhi, three recreational

parks and the Sanjay Lakewereclosed after several birdswerefounddeadon their premises inthe last couple of days, officialssaid. Chief Minister ArvindKejriwalannouncedabanonim-port of live birds in the nationalcapital and closure of Ghazipur

poultrymarket,thebiggestinthecity, forthenext10days.As many as 900 hens have

died at a poultry farm inMurumbavillageinParbhanidis-trictofMaharashtra,asenioroffi-cialsaid.Theirsampleshavebeensent for investigation to identifythe exact cause of the death,ParbhanidistrictcollectorDeepakMulgikartoldPTI.Over350birdswerereported

dead in Rajasthan, taking thedeath count to 2,512, an officialsaid. Of the 356 birds reporteddead on Saturday, 257 werecrows,29werepigeons,16werepeacocks and 54 belonged tootherspecies.In Gujarat, four crowswere

found dead at a village in thestate'sJunagadhdistrict.Thestaterecorded its first casesonFriday."Theremainswillbesenttoalab-oratoryinBhopaltoascertainthecause of death," said AshokKumbhani, veterinary officer ofMangrolveterinarydispensaryinthedistrict.Sixcrowswerefounddeadin

Dakshina Kannada, bordering

Kerala, and samples have beensent for testing to ascertain thecauseofdeath.Five crowswere found dead

in adrain inUttarakhand's PauriGarhwal district. Samples of thedead birds have been sent to alaboratory in Bhopal for testing,VeterinaryOfficerBMGuptasaid.A drive to cull over 1.60 lakh

poultry birds at five poultryfarmscommencedinHaryana'sPanchkula district Saturday, of-ficials said. Themove comes af-tersamplesofsomebirdsintwofarms at Kheri and Ganauli vil-lages tested positive for H5N8strainof avian fluonFriday.In the first case of bird flu in

Uttar Pradesh, two junglefowlsfound dead at the Kanpur Zooearlierthisweekhavetestedpos-itive,saiddistrictChiefVeterinaryOfficerRPMishra.

ENSINPUTS

313DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:1,04,31,639TESTS: 18,02,53,315 | RECOVERIES: 1,00,56,651

ACTIVE CASES:2,24,190DEATHS: 1,50,798

JAN8CASES DEATHS RECOVERIES TESTS18,222 228 19,253 9,16,951

STATESWITHRISINGACTIVECASESACTIVECASES RISEINLASTWEEK

Meghalaya 155 6

STATESWHEREACTIVECASESAREDECLININGACTIVECASES DECLINEINLASTWEEK

WestBengal 8,245 3,371Chhattisgarh 9,045 2,299UttarPradesh 11,535 2,297

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMCASESONJAN8 TOTAL

Kerala 5,142 8,01,076Maharashtra 3,693 19,61,975Karnataka 970 9,25,868

STATESREPORTINGMAXIMUMDEATHSONDEC5 TOTAL

Maharashtra 76 51,138Delhi 23 3,305WestBengal 21 9,902DataasonDecember5,releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,IndianCouncilofMedicalResearchandstategovernments.Often,thenumbersreleasedeverydaycontaindatafrompreviousdays

aswell.Assuch,trendsbasedondailynumbersareonlyindicativeandnotdefinitive

GARGIVERMARAIPUR, JANUARY9

THE CHHATTISGARH healthminister on Saturday said thatthestatewillnotacceptCovaxinfor now, as the vaccine againstcoronavirusbeingdevelopedbyBharat Biotech, in collaborationwith the Indian Council ofMedical Research andNationalInstitute of Virology, has notcompleted its trialphases.State Health Minister T S

Singh Deo said thatwith PrimeMinisterNarendraModiholdingameetingwith chief ministerson Monday, it is possible thatvaccinesagainstcoronaviruswillbe rolledout soon.According to Singh Deo,

Covaxin has been approved bytheregulator-DCGA–for'emer-gencyuse'. "Onlyon thebasisoftwo phases of testing, withoutobserving indetails, theafteref-fects, the vaccine has beenlaunched.Thereisnodataaboutforhowlong inoculationeffectswill last.Myopinionistowaittouse it before results are clearlyout,"hesaid.SinghDeo,whowasperson-

allymonitoring the vaccine dryruninthestate,saidthatseveralsteps in the procedure are de-pendenton theactual availabil-ityof thevaccine.“Therearealotof questions that need answersas far as Covid-19vaccination isconcerned. However, we arekeeping our preparation to thehilt,"hesaid.Chhattisgarh hasmore than

7,000vaccinatorsandover2lakhfrontlinehealthworkersarereg-istered for the first phase in thestate.

Chhattisgarh towait on Covaxinas not enoughdetails in, sayshealth minister

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JANUARY9

THEALLAHABADHighCourthasobserved that arrest should bethe lastoption forpoliceandre-stricted to exceptional caseswhere apprehending the ac-cused is imperativeor custodialinterrogation is required.Thecourtmadetheobserva-

tionwhilegrantinganticipatorybail tooneSachinSainiwhohasbeenbookedonseveralcharges,includingcriminalintimidation,inacase lodgedatKhurjapolicestation in Bulandshahr districtlastyear.“Irrational and indiscrimi-

natearrestsaregrossviolationofhuman rights,” said Justice

Siddharth.Thecourtstatedthatthereis

no definite period fixed for thepolice to arrest an accusedagainst whom an FIR has beenlodged.AfteranFIRislodged,thearrestcanbemadebythepoliceatwill.“The courts have repeatedly

heldthatarrestshouldbethelastoption for the police and itshouldberestrictedtothoseex-ceptional caseswhere arrestingthe accused is imperative or hiscustodial interrogation is re-quired,” statedcourt in itsorderpassedonWednesday.“Personal liberty is a very

preciousfundamentalrightsanditshouldbecurtailedonlywhenit becomes imperative.According to the peculiar facts

and circumstances of the pecu-liarcasethearrestofanaccusedshould be made,” the courtadded.Referring toa case, the court

said, “In the case of JoginderKumar v. State of Uttar PradeshAIR1994SC1349theApexCourthas referred to the third reportof National Police Commissionwhereinit ismentionedthatar-restsbythepoliceinIndiaisoneof thechief sourceofcorruptionin thepolice,” theorder stated.“The report suggested that,

by and large, nearly 60 per centofthearrestswereeitherunnec-essary or unjustified and thatsuchunjustifiedpoliceactionac-counted for 43.2 per cent of ex-penditureof the jails,” theorderfurther stated.

Arrest should be last optionfor police: Allahabad HC

UP latest, bird flu nowconfirmed in 7 states

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI, JANUARY9

THE JAFFNAUniversity admin-istration’s decision to remove awarmemorialerectedin2019—in memory of victims of the2009Mullivaikkal massacre inthe last phase of the Sri Lankanwar—triggeredprotests outsidethe varsity and sharp reactionsfromleaders inTamilNadu.The Army and police were

deployedtodisperseprotesters,includingstudents,followingre-ports of a heavy vehicle beingusedtoremovethestructureonFridaynight.Political leaders including

Chief Minister Edappadi KPalaniswami of the AIADMKandDMKchiefMKStalin con-demned the incident. While

Palaniswami blamed the SriLankan government for demol-ishing the structure and said itwasa“hugeshock”,Stalinurgedthe Indian government to con-demn themove, tagging PrimeMinister Narendra Modi onTwitter.A student, requesting

anonymity, said theywere de-nied entry into the campuswhen they gathered to protest.“They used two heavy vehiclesto destroy thememorial. Theydidnotcompletethedemolitionduetoourprotest.Theyusedpo-lice to threaten us in the prem-ises,”hesaid.Jaffna University V-C S

SrisatkunarajahtoldTheSunday

Express that he ordered the re-moval of the structure as it wasillegal. “Therewasalreadyawarmemorialatthecampus.Butthisnew one was erected recentlyduring the 10th anniversary ofending the Sri Lankanwar... (itwas) installedwithout permis-sion fromauthorities,”hesaid.Srisatkunarajah said there

were orders from the govern-ment to remove all such unau-thorisedstructures.A senior police officer from

Jaffna said: “It was the univer-sity’s decisionandwedeployedourpersonnel topreventahugegatheringamidapandemic,”hesaid. Hedismissedtalkof thein-cidenthintingatLTTE’s revival.

Jaffna varsity decision to removewar memorial sparks TN protestsDelhi,Maharashtra,Chhattisgarhsamplessent for testing

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIABHUBANESWAR,JANUARY9

Asmanyas26teachersandtwostudentshavetestedpositiveforCovid-19 in Odisha's Gajapatidistrict after the reopening ofschools, prompting the admin-istration to send a senior officertothedistrictonSaturdaytotakestockof thesituation.Thoughthedevelopmenthas

sparked fears across the state,the administration has urgedeveryone not to panic as theirsampleswere tested before thereopeningof schoolsonFriday."There are 26 teachers and

twostudentsamongthe31per-sonswhohavetestedpositiveforCovid-19 in Gajapati district inthe last twodays,"ChiefDistrictMedicalOfficerPKPatra said.Aseniorofficialof theSchool

andDepartmentsaidthedetec-tion of cases among studentsand teachers has nothing to dowiththereopeningofschoolsforstudentsof classes10and12.“All these tests were con-

ducted before the reopening ofschoolson January8,”hesaid.

Schools reopen:26 teachers, twostudents positivein Odisha dist

New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi

E-Tenders are invited for & on behalf of the president of India for the supply of followingitems. Only E-offer will be accepted for which vendors must have class III DigitalSignature and registration on IREPS. The details of tenders are in the followingsequence S.No., Tender No.(Due Date), Description and Quantity. (1) 05205412(22.01.2021), Stako film cutting torch, 8 Nos. (2) 07200184(29/01/2021), 29170552Safety Flooring Sheet, 604 Litre. (3) 08201061A, Advertise Tender (01/02/2021),Dowel (Refer Dowel Chart DRG. No. 9335323 Alt., Ab & Part No. 16010073) As perDRG. No. 8283431 Alt-D as per specn. purchase specification No. MISC: 503 Rev -R1, 145 Nos. (P.L. No. 19280051). (4) 08201071A, Advertise Tender (01/02/2021),Steel Cap Piston (CR 11.75:1) Generally confirming to BLW DRG. No. SKE-1245(Except Gudgeen Pin Hieght and Crown profile) for use on 3100,3300,3600 HP BLWmake engine and specn. no. D 89195 & as per Drg. No. SKE-1245Alt-g as per specn:D 40715with 2 nos.retaining rings( each piston to BLWDRGNo.TPE-13-0031 part no.15345129 as per DRG., Qty- 7 Nos. (P.L. No. 10142733). (5) Reverse Auction06201754 (28/01/2021), Complete Panel -A, Panel -C (without drive display unit) andPanel -D alongwith all equipments, hardwares andwiring/cabling and compliancewithpush pull operation, as per spec. no. CLW/ES/3/0239/A, 0240, 0241 and 0453 andCLW letter no. C-D& D/T/47 dated 08.08.2019 to P.L. No. 29178204, 555 Numbers.Note: For Complete details of EMD and downloading of tender documents and HindiVersion also available at website www.blw.indianrailways.gov.in andwww.ireps.gov.in. Corrigendum Notice Date: 04.01.2021 Corrigendum in duedate details as following S. No. (1) Bid No. 62 Tender No.: 03202480, PL No.29420064,Description- Bull Gear 107 teethModified Due Date - 15.01.2021 (2) BidNo.E-65Tender No.: 03202482,Details of Corrigendum - 1. Tender (due to open on04.01.2021) has been postponed and due to open on 18.01.2021.P.R.O./BLW/S-77 PCMM

BANARAS LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, VARANASI-221004Bid No. E-70/2020-21 E-TENDERS Dated: 04.01.2021

“ Website:- www.blw.indianrailways.gov.in”/banaraslocowork

TENDER EXTENSION NOTICEDue to administrative reasons, date for tender submission and online

opening of Technical Bids in respect of PHQ J&K NIT Nos. 52 of 2020Dated 19.11.2020 floated for purchasing Anti Riot Gas Mask it resched-uled as per following details:

1. Last Date for Tender Submission = 11.01.20212. Date of Online Opening of Technical Bids = 13.01.2021Other terms and conditions of the tender shall remain un-changed.

Sd/-(Rayees Mohammad Bhat)- IPS

AIG of Police (Provision/Tpt)For Director General of Police, J&K, Jammu.9814/20

No. Prov-II/Sec-112/2019-20/1013-25Dated: 06.01.2021

JAMMU AND KASHMIR POLICE HEADQUARTERSPhone/Fax No.: 0194-2443031/2443032 (Sgr) Website: www.jkpolice.gov.in

: 0191-2459029/2459255 (Jmu) E-mail: phqjk@jkpolice.gov.in

GOVERNMENT OF JAMMU & KASHMIR

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE ENGINEERMECHANICAL HOSPITAL AND CENTRAL HEATING DIVISION SRINAGAR

(Telefax: 0194-2496089, E-mail ID: xenmhchdk@yahoo.in)GIST OF E-TENDER

(SHORT TERM)NIT No: MHCHD/TS /2020-21/240/e-Tendering Dated: 08.01.2021

For and on behalf of the Lt. Governor of Jammu and Kashmir UT, e-tenders, valid for 180days, are invited from the Registered , reputed & experienced firms as detailed in the NITfor below mentioned works:

1. Downloading of Bids: The NIT Consisting of qualifying information, eligibility criteria,specifications, Bill of quantities (B.O.Q), Set of terms and conditions of contract andother details can be seen from the departmental website www.jktenders.gov.in from08.01.2021(18.00 hrs) and can be downloaded from 08.01.2021 (18.00 hrs).

2. Uploading: The bidders shall deposit their bids in electronic format on the above website from 09.01.2021 (10.00 hrs) to 15.01.2021 (16:00 hrs) in two (02) covers.

3. Opening of Bids: The bids received upto due date and time shall be opened on16.01.2021at 14.00 hrs or any date convenient to the department in the office ofExecutive Engineer, MHCHD, Srinagar.

Sd/-Executive Engineer,

MHCHD, Srinagar

Name of Work Est. Cost. Cost of Earnest Time of Position(Rs. in Lacs) T/Doc. Money Completion of AAA/

(in Rupees) (Rs.) (in Days) Fund1 2 3 4 5 6

2.71 200 5500 07 Available(Non Plan

Works)

Complete Servicing of CPE 100,517 CFM air compressor A&B of800 LPM Oxygen Plant installed atGovt. Super Specialty Hospital,Srinagar.

No: MHCHD/TS/ 8425-30Date: 08.01.2021DIPK-11494/2

10 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHE SUNDAY EXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

New Delhi

THESUNDAYEXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

11

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUDHIANA, JANUARY9

POLICEARRESTEDaman for al-legedlytearingthepagesofholytext Gutka Sahib and dumpingthemoutside his home inMarrColonyof LudhianaSaturday.Police said that the man,

identified as Balwinder Singh(36),wasa‘drugaddict’andusedto‘quarrelwithhisfamilyoften’.Thetornpagesfoundoutside

his homewere handed over tothenearbygurdwaraandanFIRwasregisteredagainsthim.Inspector Pavittar Singh,

SHOofDabapolicestation, saidthat information was receivedaround 8 am on Saturday thatpages of the holy text werefoundtornoutside thehouseoftheaccused.“Duringinterrogation,here-

vealedthathewasunderthein-fluenceofdrugsandliquorwhen

hedidthisact.Hetorethepagesand threw them outside hishouse.Thoughhealsohadami-norspatwithhisparentsfollow-ingwhich his sister intervenedandtooktheparentswithher,hesays the fightwithparentswas-n’t any reason for provocation.Heusedtofightwithhisparentsand wife often. The reason forwhyhecommittedthisactisstillunclear,” theSHOsaid.The accused is a street ven-

dor and sells clothes on ahand-cart.TheSHOsaidthattheGutkaSahib was present inside thehomeof theaccusedandhedidnot steal it from any gurdwara.“He is a Sikh but not turbaned,”theSHOsaid.An FIR under Section 295A

(deliberate andmalicious acts,intended to outrage religiousfeelingsof anyclassby insultingitsreligionorreligiousbeliefs)ofthe IPCwas registered at Dabapolice station.

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI,JANUARY9

TWOSECURITYguards, a hospi-tal helper and two ambulancedrivers rushed in to rescue theseven newborns trapped in thefireattheBhandaraCivilHospitalintheearlyhoursofSaturday,af-ter Fire Brigade officials brokeglass windows of the SickNewbornCareUnit(SNCU).Onlysevenof the17babiessurvived.District Civil Surgeon Dr

PramodKhandatesaidtherescueofsevenchildrenwasajointeffortbyhospitalstaff andFireBrigade.“All seven babies are stable. Fornow,wehavekepttheminasep-arateward,”hesaid.Khandate added, “Someba-

bies in theoutborn sectionweretakenoutbythenursesbeforetheFireBrigadecame,buttheyallsuc-cumbedtoinjurieslater."Ambulance driver Rajkumar

Kishanji Dahekar (37) was athomewhen he received a callabout the fire. “I live close by. Ithought anambulancemightberequiredtotransportpatients, soIrushedthere,”saidDahekar.Whenhe reached thehospi-

tal,hesawpeople, includingsev-eral staffers, rushing out. Thickblack smokebillowedout of thefirst floor. “Therewasnowaywecould go inside theward at thatpoint.When the Fire Brigade ar-rived,theyputupaladdertill the

first floor and smashed thewin-dows.A fewof usvolunteered togoinside,”saidDahekar.Twohospital security guards

and two ambulance drivers, in-cludingDahekar, and a hospitalhelperwentuptheladderanden-tered theward through thewin-dows.Theyfoundsevenchildrenincotsinonesection,wheretherewaslesssmoke.“Ipickedthreebabiesfromthe

cotwithallmachinesbeeping,andhanded themto thenurseswho

werewaiting outside the door.They rusheddownwith theba-bies.Othersalsopickedbabiesandhandedthemover,”saidDahekar.HesaidFireBrigadeofficialsput

upaladdertillthefirstfloor,broketheglasswindow,andfewfireof-ficialsrushedtotheSNCUsection,wherethesmokewasthethickest,todouse the fireandcheck if anynewbornwas left behind.A fewpeopleaccompaniedthesecuritypersonnelandhelperintothesec-tionwheresevenbabieslayintheircots.Aseniordoctorfromthehos-pital saidstaffwereable todirecttheFireBrigadetowardswherethebabies’cotswerelocated.Dahekar later saw that some

babieshadsustainedburninjuriesin theother section. “Twobabiessuffered bad burn injuries. Buttherewas nothingwe could do,theyhaddiedbythen,”hesaid.SecurityguardGauravRepade

saidhewasnearthehospitalgatewhen he received the alert, ataround1.40 am. “Whenanother

guardIandwentup,Isawthefirein theward. I realised I can't goalone…soIrushedbacktocallforhelp.WhenIreturnedtotheward,the entirewardwas filledwithsmoke,”hesaid.Repade said the Fire Brigade

wasable toreachwithin15min-utes andbreak thewindowsonthefirstfloor.“Oncethewindowswerebroken,ithelpedthesmokecomeout,andvisibilityimprovedto some extent. So, we wentthroughthewindowandthenviaabackdoorintotheward,”hesays.“We tried hard to enter the

sectionwhere10babieswerekeptseparately. But itwas impossibleforus tobreathe.Mostof theba-bies...diedbecauseofsuffocation,”Repadesaid.While ambulance driver

Dahekar said therewasonlyonenurseandhelperintheward,dis-trict authorities have said therewere twonurses, a helper and adoctorpostedinSNCUatthetimeof theincident.

Amid BJP-TMC contest over Bengali icons, Centreforms panel to plan Netaji anniversary celebrationsDIVYAA&LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI,JANUARY9

THE CENTRE on Saturday an-nouncedahigh-levelcommittee,headed by Prime MinisterNarendraModi, to plan andde-cide on activities to commemo-rate the125thbirth anniversarycelebrations of Netaji SubhasChandraBose,startingJanuary23.The85-member committee,

whichhas asmanyas 10 centralministers, seven chiefministersandseveralparliamentarians,alsoincludes distinguished citizens,historians,authors,experts, fam-ily members of Netaji SubhasChandraBose,aswellaseminentpersons associated with AzadHind Fauj (INA), according to astatementissuedbytheMinistryof Culture. It also features actorsKajol andMithun Chakrabarty,

musicianARRahman, cricketerSourav Ganguly, andMedantachairman Ravi Kasliwal.Raghvendra Singh, Secretary(Culture), is the convenor of thepanel. Chief Ministers NaveenPatnaik (Odisha), Neiphui Rio(Nagaland), Biren Singh(Manipur), Zoramthanga (Mizoram), Biplab Kumar Deb(Tripura) and Conrad Sangma(Meghalaya)arealsoincluded.With the BJP preparing for a

tough battle in the upcomingAssembly elections in WestBengal, the committee assumespolitical significance too. It fea-tures several BJP leaders fromBengal, including those in theCentre,suchasBabulSupriyoandDebasree Choudhury, BJP statechiefDilipGhosh,andMPsRoopaGanguly,RajuBista,SunilMondol,JagannathSarkar, JayantaKumarRoy, Saumitra Khan, Khagen

Murmu and Jyotirmay SinghMahato.With anoverwhelmingpresenceofBJPleaders,italsohasRajya Sabhamembers SwapanDasgupta and RajeevChandrasekhar. SuvenduAdhikari, who resigned as TMCMLA to join the BJP, is also in-cluded.WhiletherulingTMCinBengal

is represented by SudipBandhyopadhyay,apartfromChiefMinister Mamata Banerjee ,Congress leaders GhulamNabiAzadandAdhirRanjanChowdhuryareincludedinthepanel.Ever since it startedefforts to

make inroads in West Bengal,where politicswas once domi-nated by the Left and Congress,and laterbytheTMC, theBJPhasbeen trying to appropriate Boseandhislegacy.ThepartycriticisestheCongress for sidelining lead-erslikeBoseandBRAmbedkarto

projecttheNehru-Gandhifamily.ItisnowinacontestwiththeTMCto appropriate the legacies ofBengali icons ahead of theAssemblypolls in the state,withtheBJP-ledCentre andTMC-ledWest Bengal government vyingwith eachother tomarkNetaji’sanniversaryinagrandway.Detailing the TMC govern-

ment’s plans,Mamata Banerjeehadannouncedsettingupofana-tional university inBose’s name,AzadHindmemorial, abody likethestateplanningcommissiontohonourNetaji and books on hislife.BanerjeealsosaidthatJanuary23willbecelebratedwithagrandparade in Kolkata and theIndependenceDayparade in thecitywillbededicatedtoNetaji.TheCM said she haswritten to theCentre, demanding that January23bedeclaredanationalholidayandall records relating toBose’s

disappearancebemadepublic.The Centre had announced

theconstitutionofthispanelmorethan two weeks ago, initiallyplanned to be headed byUnionHomeMinister Amit Shah. Butsourcessaythedelayinitsforma-tionhappenedas theBJP leader-ship has been busy tackling thefarmerprotestsandplanningtherolloutof theCovid-19vaccine.As per theMinistry’s state-

ment, the committeewill lendguidancetothecommemorationactivities in Delhi, Kolkata andother places associated withNetajiandAzadHindFauj,inIndiaand abroad. It is likely tomeetsoon.Keentonotmissthebusahead

of the Assembly elections, theMinistryofCultureisfinalisingitsownscheduleofactivities. UnionCultureMinister PrahladPatel—alsopartofthecentralpanel—told

TheSundayExpress,“TheMinistryofCulturehasplannedseveralac-tivities tomark thismomentousoccasion.EvenasKolkatawillbeastartingpoint on January23, theyear-longcelebrationswillspreadacrosstheentirecountry.”Patel has already chaired a

meetingwithseniorofficialsfromtheministry,besidesfamilymem-bersofBoseandasectionofhisto-rians andArmyveterans. As perthe deliberations, the Bosemu-seumatRedFort, inauguratedbyPMModionNetaji’s 122ndbirthanniversary,willbeexpandedandadedicatedmuseumwill comeupinKolkata.Acalendarofimpor-tantdates associatedwithNetajiwill bedrawnupandembassieswillbeinvolvedintakingthecom-memoration beyond Indianshores.OnJanuary23,agrandex-hibitiononNetajiwill beheld atVictoriaMemorial,Kolkata.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY9

TWOBADAUNpolicepersonnelhave been booked for allegedderelictionofduty inthecaseofa50-year-oldwoman'sgangrapeandmurder.Thewomanwasal-legedly gang raped by threemen, including a priest, in aBadaun temple, and later suc-cumbedtoher injuries.TheFIRwas filedagainst the

concerned police station’s SHOandpost in-charge for allegedlynotperformingdutiesfollowingthecrime.Theywereearliersus-pendedover theallegation.

“Duringourenquirywefoundthattherewereomissionsonpartofthepolicemen.TherewasdelayinfilingoftheFIR.Whenitcomestocrimesinvolvingwomen,therearecertaindutiesthatneedtobecarried... therewas timeelapsedbefore all the formalities couldtake place,” said Badaun (Rural)SPSiddharthaVerma.Thewoman’s family had al-

leged that therewas a delay ofnearly18hoursbeforetheFIRwasfiled.Accordingtopolice,initially,nowritten complaint had beengivenbythefamily.Thefamilyhadalsoallegedthatthetimelyinter-ventionofpolicecouldhavesavedthewoman’slife.

SANTOSHSINGHPATNA, JANUARY9

THEBIHARgovernmentwillsoonask53,000 teachers toprove theauthenticity of their educationdegrees againstwhich they se-cured contract jobs between2007and2015,accordingtogov-ernmentsources.The degrees of more than

1.10lakhteachershavebeenun-der scrutiny of the VigilanceInvestigationBureau(VIB)since2014 after a Patna High Courtdirection.

But with the High Court’sdeadline, January12, approach-ing, a VIB source said, “As therehas been little headway in get-ting degrees of all the teachersdespite combined efforts of thebureau and the EducationDepartment, we have now de-cided to put the onus on teach-ers toprove theirdegrees.”Earlier,districteducationof-

ficers had been asked to collectdegreefoldersof theteachers inquestion.Aneducationdepartmentof-

ficialsaidmorethan53,000teach-erswillsoonbeissuednotices.“It

will be their last chance toprovetheirdegreesorelsetheycanlosetheirjobs,”saidtheofficial.Tilllastmonth,theEducation

Departmenthadfailedtoprovidedetailsonthedegreesof1,10,410teachers of a total of 3,52,818teachers appointed on contractbasis in the first phase of teach-ers’appointmentafter2007.Senior Counsel Dinu Kumar

toldTheSundayExpress, “TheHCin its order on January 31 thisyear has quoted the figures ofpendency of teachers’ folders.Wewonderwhy the EducationDepartment is not able to pro-

vide details to the court. Eventhough education degrees ofover 1.10 lakh teachers are notscrutinised, they continue toserve and get their salaries. Letusseeif thesefolderscanbesub-mittedtotheHCbyJanuary12.”On August 26, 2019, a divi-

sion bench of Justices ShivajiPandey and Partha Sarthy hadsaid,“Letvigilancefileadetailedcounteraffidavit,bringonrecordwhat period it would take toconclude the investigation andidentify the teachers who arestill continuing on the basis offakecertificates.”

For 53,000 Bihar contract teachers,‘last chance’ to prove degrees real

‘FAKE’DEGREEPROBE INBIHAR

PMTOHEAD85-MEMBERCOMMITTEE

BHANDARAHOSPITALFIRE

Security guards, ambulance drivers,hospital staff helped rescue 7 babies

BRIEFLYANDHRAPRADESH

PanchayatpollstobeheldfromFebruary5Hyderabad: Panchayatpolls in Andhra Pradeshwillbeheldinfourphases—February5,9,13and17—thestateelectioncom-missionsaidonSaturdayamid objections of thestate government overthe conduct of the elec-tionsduetotheCovid-19pandemic. ChiefSecretaryAdityanathDashad already met stateelectioncommissionerNRamesh Kumar andasked the election au-thority to postpone theelections by 2-3months.However,Kumarrejectedthegovernment’sappeal.InMarchlastyear,Kumarhadpostponedlocalbodyelections in the state cit-ing Covid-19 protocolcausing a row with thestategovernment. ENS

UTTARPRADESH

Triplemurderonhighway,teamsformedtoprobeLucknow:Bodiesofatruckdriver,hishelperandonemorepersonwererecov-ered from the Lucknow-Gorakhpur highway un-der Chhawani policestation area of Basti dis-trict on Saturdaymorn-ing.Whilethebodyofthehelperwas found near aroadside eatery on thehighway, the other twobodieswere found insidea truck parked around 2kmfromthat spot, policesaid. Police suspect thatone of themwas stran-gled to death, while theother twowerekilledus-ing a sharp-edgedweapon. Several policeteams have been formedin thedistrict to solve thecase. “The reason behindthe killing is yet to beidentified as the accusedleft the truck,moneyandmobile phones,”Superintendent of Police(Basti) Hemraj Meenasaid. ENS

BSF HANDS OVER 6 PAK YOUTHSBSFpersonnelwithPakistanRangersbeforehandingoversixPakistaniyouths,whohad“inadvertentlycrossedover” tothe Indianside fromalongthe internationalborder inPunjab, inAttarionSaturday.Aprotestwas lodgedwiththePakistanRangersover theincident, theborderguardingforcesaid.Thesixyouths, in theagegroupof14-25yearsandresidentsofKhyberPakhtunkhwaprovince,werenabbedbyaBSFpatrol fromnear thePulMoranborderpost inAmritsararound5pmonFriday.PTI

Man held for ‘tearing’Gutka Sahib, dumpingpages outside home

Badaun rape-murdercase: two cops bookedfor dereliction of duty

GauravRepade,RajkumarKishanjiDahekar

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JANUARY9

A 17-YEAR-OLDmentally chal-lenged girl, who was seven-month pregnant after being al-legedly rapedbyherneighbour,died of septicemia at a hospitalinBareillydistrictonFriday.The post-mortem report

statedsepticemiatobethecauseof death.Her viscera has been pre-

servedforfurtherexaminations,saidapoliceofficer.The girl fell unconscious on

Thursday, followingwhich shewas taken to a nearby healthcentre.Doctorsthenreferredhertoahospital in thedistrict.“The girl was not in a good

condition andwasunconsciouswhen she was brought to thehospital. As her condition keptdeteriorating,wereferredhertothedistricthospital,”saidDrAlkaSharma, Chief MedicalSuperintendent, the districtwomenhospital.Additional director and

Superintendent-in-chief,

Bareillydistricthospital,SubodhSharma, said, “It was a case ofsepticemia. Her kidney, liver,lungsandotherpartsofthebodywere found to be affected.During treatment, the womanandherbabydied.”The police officer said the

girl’s pregnancywas a result of“sexual assault”.According to police, in

December lastyear, thegirl’s fa-thertookhertothehospitalaftershestartedvomitingfrequently.The doctors confirmed her

pregnancy.Thegirlthentoldherfatherthattheaccusedallegedlysexually abusedher in the field,they said, adding that hermother is also mentally chal-lenged.PolicesaidthatonDecember

4, the girl’s father got an FIRlodged against the accused oncharges of rape and underProtection of Children fromSexualOffencesAct.Theaccusedwasarrestedaf-

ter twodays.OnJanuary3,policefiledthe

chargesheetagainsttheaccusedwho is currently lodged in jail.

MANISHSAHULUCKNOW,JANUARY9

THE Juvenile Justice Board (JJB)of Aligarh has ordered the dis-chargeofaminorboybookedonrape charge last October lastyear, saying thathisagewasbe-lowsevenyears.The boywas booked for al-

legedlyrapingasix-year-oldgirl.“After the casewas lodged,

wemoved the JJ Boardandob-tained interim bail of the boy.We thenmovedanapplicationbefore theBoardpraying toac-quit theboyonthegroundthatis belowsevenyearsof age... Inthe application, sections 82and 83 of the IPC stating thatboyhas immatureunderstand-ing were referred. Since theboyhasnoeducational certifi-cate to prove his age and is il-literate, so we requested theboard to direct the ChiefMedical Officer (CMO) ofAligarh to determine his ageandsubmit its report,” said theboy’s lawyer.

The boy’s father works as alabourer.While IPC Section 82 states

thatnothingisanoffencewhichis done by a child under sevenyearsofage,andsection83dealswith the act of a child abovesevenandunder12of immatureunderstanding.“TheCMOinitsreportstated

that the boy's agewas six yearsand11months.Consideringtheage, the Board disposed of thecase,” the lawyer said, addingthat police had not filed achargesheet in thecase.According to the local SHO,

an FIR against the boy waslodged on October 12 by thegirl’s father. In his complaint,he had alleged that his daugh-ter was playing outside thehouse and when she enteredher neighbour’s house to re-trieve her ball, the boy caughther and sexually assaultedher.Theboywasbookedforrape

andunderProtectionofChildrenfrom Sexual Offences (POCSO)Actbasedonthecomplaint.

AMITSHARMAMEERUT, JANUARY9

WITH THE death of a 45-year-oldmanSaturday, the toll in theBulandshahr spurious liquorepisode has gone up to six. Thepolice,meanwhile,arrestedtwopeopleonSaturdaymorningandconducted large-scale raidsacross thedistrict totrackdownthe illicit liquor, branded ‘MissIndia’.Thepolicesaidthatofaround

adozenpeoplewhoweretakenill after consuming the liquor,fivearestated tobecritical.The deceased person,

Bhagwat, was a resident ofJeetgarhivillage.HewasreferredtotheMeerutmedicalcollegeonFriday evening after his condi-tion deteriorated. “He showedsigns of improvement FridaynightbutstartedvomitingagainsinceearlySaturdaymorning.Hedied later. The body has beenhanded over to a police teamfrom Bulandshahr,” saidAkhileshMohan,Meerut'sChiefMedicalOfficer.The main accused in this

case, Kuldeep, was arrested inDelhi on Friday night. “We ar-restedtenpersonssofar...Onin-terrogation, they revealed that16 sacks full of liquor poucheswere brought into the district.We have seized eight of thesebags so far...” SikandarabadDeputy SP Namrita SrivastavatoldTheSundayExpressoverthephone.The Bulandshahr police

SaturdayannouncedarewardofRs 5,000 for information onthesebags.

One more diesin Bulandshahrspurious liquorcase, toll six

Juvenile Board clears boyof rape charge, says hewas less than 7 years old

Pregnant, teenrape victim dies ofsepticemia: UP cops

GARGIVERMARAIPUR, JANUARY9

ONHIS first visit to NarayanpurdistrictastheChhattisgarhChiefMinister, Bhupesh Baghel onSaturday announced Rs 9 lakheachforconstructionanddevel-opment of devagudis — sacredgroves in tribal villages — in all104grampanchayats inthedis-trict,besidesinauguratingdevel-opment projects worth overRs84crore.Scheduled Tribes make up

formorethan70percentof thedistrict’s population. Baghel’svisit comes in the wake ofprotests by tribals in theMaoist-affected district overdemands to stopmining activ-ityandshutdownpolicecampsnearareaswheremining is tak-ing place.Addressing a gathering on

Saturday, Baghel said the gov-ernment is devoted to conserv-ing and promoting tribal cus-toms and traditions. “All 104grampanchayats in the districtwill have well developed de-vagudis.Work of Rs 9 lakh eachwouldbeginsoon,”hesaid.The Chief Minister also an-

nounced 100 ghotuls, or com-munity areas for young tribals,would be built in the district.“Peoplefromacrossthecountryand abroad come to visit theghotul sowewant tomake 100ofthematleast...Evenif thegho-tul structures are built differ-ently, they should be decoratedas per custom,” he said. He alsoannouncedwidening develop-mentalworkinthedistricthead-quarters.

Devagudis inall Narayanpurpanchayats:CM Baghel

New Delhi

12THESUNDAYEXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

UNITEDSTATES

Indian-AmericannamedDyPressSecretaryinWhiteHouseWashington: Indian-American Sabrina Singhwould serve as DeputyPressSecretary to theVicePresident in the WhiteHouse,accordingtoanan-nouncementmadeby theBiden-Harris Transition.SinghwasPress Secretaryto Vice President-electKamala Harris on theBiden-Harris campaign.Prior to her role on thecampaign, she served assenior spokesperson forMike Bloomberg's presi-dential campaign andNationalPressSecretaryforCoryBooker'spresidentialcampaign. Shepreviouslyservedasdeputycommu-nications director for theDemocratic NationalCommittee,spokespersonfor American Bridge'sTrump War Room andRegionalCommunicationsDirector on HillaryClinton's2016presidentialcampaign. PTI

SabrinaSingh

TOPOFTHEWORLD

PAKISTAN

SlaincoalminersburiedafterprotestQuetta:Pakistanimourn-ers buried on Saturdaythe bodies of 11 slaincoalminersthathadbeenput on a highway in thecityofQuetta forsixdaysin an anti-governmentprotest.Theminers, fromthe minority Shi’iteHazara sect, were killedlast Sunday by IslamicState militants in theirshared residential room,afterwhichmournersre-fusedtoburythemtode-mand better protectionfrom sectarianattacks. REUTERS

UNITEDKINGDOM

QueenandhusbandgetCovidvaccineLondon: The Queen andthe Duke of Edinburghhave received Covid-19vaccinations,BuckinghamPalacesaidonSaturday.Aroyal source said the vac-cinationswere adminis-tered on Saturday by ahousehold doctor atWindsor Castle. Thesource added the Queendecidedtoletitbeknownshehadthevaccinationtoprevent further specula-tion. The Queen, 94, andPrince Philip, 99, areamongaround1.5millionpeople in theUK to havehad at least onedose of aCovidvaccinesofar. PTI

THENEWYORKTIMESWASHINGTON, JANUARY9

AS SATURDAY dawned on aWhite House in turmoil, withPresidentDonaldTrumpunabletocommunicateonTwitterandotherplatforms,momentumforimpeaching him a second timewas rapidly growing amongrank-and-file Democrats andsomeRepublicans.House SpeakerNancyPelosi

onFridaythreatenedtoimpeachMr. Trump unless he resigned“immediately” for inciting themob attack on the Capitol thisweek, and Senator LisaMurkowski of Alaska becamethe first Republican senator tofollowher lead.“I want him out,” Ms.

Murkowski told The AnchorageDaily News. “He has causedenoughdamage.”TheHouse is next scheduled

to be in session on Monday,meaningthatarticlesofimpeach-mentcannotbeintroduceduntilthen.Thetimingforanimpeach-mentwouldbetightbecauseMr.Trumpwouldhavefewerthan10daysleft inhisterm.Yet the Constitution allows

House lawmakers to introducechargesandproceeddirectlytoadebateandfloorvoteinamatterof days, triggering a Senate trialthat could take place even afterMr. Trump leaves office. If hewereconvicted,theSenatecouldvotetobarhimfromholdingof-ficeagain.Already, Twitter’s move to

permanentlysuspendMr.Trump“duetotheriskof further incite-

mentforviolence”haseffectivelyscuttled his favoritemethod ofcommunicatingwiththepublic,even as he retains his authorityascommanderinchief.Facebookandotherdigitalplatformshavelimitedhisaccess.InoneofhislastTwitterposts

beforebeingbanned,Mr.Trumpsaidhewouldnotattendthe in-auguration.Hewouldbethefirstincumbent in 150 years to skiphis successor’s swearing-in.At a meeting of the

RepublicanNationalCommitteeinFloridaonFriday, thechaosofthepastweekwasamereafter-thought.While the R.N.C. chair,RonnaMcDaniel, condemnedtheattackontheCapitol,neithershe nor any other speaker pub-licly hinted atMr. Trump’s role

in inciting theviolence.Mr. Biden on Friday pressed

aheadwithhisagenda,promisinganacceleratedresponsetoanar-ray of challenges. On Friday, theeconomywas said to have lost140,000jobsinDecemberandof-ficialsacrosstheUSreportedmorethan 300,000 new coronaviruscasesinadayforthefirsttime.In a sharp break with the

Trumpadministration,Mr.Bidenintendstoreleasenearlyallavail-able doses of coronavirus vac-cinessoonafterheisinaugurated,ratherthanholdbackmillionsofvials to guarantee second doseswillbeavailable.Hehasvowedtoget “at least 100million CovidvaccineshotsintothearmsoftheAmericanpeople”duringhisfirst100daysinoffice.

DonaldTrumpatarally inWashingtononJanuary6.AP

Trump,muted and isolated, facesthreat of impeachment nextweek

Google suspendsParler app fromPlay Store;Apple gives24-hr warning

REUTERSLONDON, JANUARY9

ALPHABET INC’S Google onFriday suspended the Parler so-cial networking service from itsappstore,citingpostsincitingvi-olenceanddemanding“robust”content moderation from theappfavoredbymanysupportersofUSPresidentDonaldTrump.Apple Inc on Friday gave the

service24hours tosubmitade-tailedmoderationplan,pointingtoparticipantsusingtheservicetocoordinateWednesday’ssiegeof theUSCapitolbuilding.The actions by the two

Silicon Valley companiesmeanthatthenetworkseenasahavenforpeopleexpelledfromTwittercould become unavailable fornew downloads on theworld’smainmobile phone app storeswithin a day. It would still beavailable inmobilebrowsers.Right-leaning social media

users in the US have flocked toParler,messaging app Telegramandhands-offsocialsiteGab,cit-ing themoreaggressivepolicingof political comments onmain-streamplatformssuchasTwitterIncandFacebookInc.Twitterper-manently suspended PresidentTrump’saccountonFriday.

A week into full Brexit, the pain for UK businesses has arrived

STORM FILOMENA HITS SPAIN, 4 KILLEDHeavysnowfall inMadridonSaturday.Apersistentblizzardblanketed largepartsof Spainwith50-yearrecord levelsof snow,killingat least fourpeopleand leavingthousandstrappedincarsor intrainstationsandairports .Reuters

N Korea’s Kimcalls US ‘ourbiggest enemy’in challenge toJoe Biden

REUTERSJAKARTA, JANUARY9

A SRIWIJAYA Air plane crashedintotheseaonSaturdayminutesafter takingoff from Indonesia’scapital Jakarta on a domesticflightwith 62 people on board,andtheir fatewasnotknown.TheBoeing737-500,enroute

toPontianakinWestKalimantan,disappeared from radar screensaftertakingoffjustafter2.30p.m.(0730GMT) -- 30minutes afterthe scheduled time because ofheavyrain.Indonesian Transport

Minister BudiKarya told anewsconference that 62 people hadbeenaboardFlightSJ182,includ-ing12 crew. Thedetik.comweb-site quoted him as saying theplane crashed near Laki Island,some20kmfromtheairport.All those on board were

Indonesian,Indonesia’stransportsafetycommitteesaid.Indonesia’sNavypinpointed

thesiteofthemissingaircraftandshipshadbeensentthere,aNavyofficial said. Authorities did notsaywhethertheybelievedthereweresurvivors.SriwijayaAir’schiefexecutive,

Jefferson Irwin Jauwena, told anews conference that the planehad been in good condition be-foretheflight.The nearly 27-year-old

Boeing737-500wasmucholderthan Boeing’s problem-plagued737MAXmodel, one of whichcrashed off Jakarta in late 2018,

killingall 189peopleaboard theLionAir flight. ABoeingspokes-woman said, “We are aware ofmedia reports from Jakarta, andarecloselymonitoringthesitua-tion.We areworking to gathermore information”.Reliable tracking service

Flightradar24saidtheBoeingjettook off at 2:36 p.m. local time(0736GMT)andclimbedtoreach10,900feetwithinfourminutes.Itthenbeganasteepdescentandstopped transmitting data 21seconds later.Atransportministryspokes-

womansaidair trafficcontrolatSoekarno-Hatta International

Airporthadasked thepilotwhythe plane was heading north-west instead of on its expectedflightpathjustsecondsbefore itdisappeared.There were no immediate

clues onwhatmayhave causedthe sudden descent and safetyexpertsstressmostairaccidentsarecausedbyacocktailof factorsthatcantakemonthstoestablish.Indonesia’s KNKT safety

agencywasexpectedtolaunchanimmediateinvestigation.TheUSNational Safety TransportationBoardwill automatically bepartof theprobe,sincetheplanewasdesignedandbuilt intheUS.

KimJongUn

SEOULREUTERS, JANUARY9

NORTH KOREAN leader KimJong Un called for more ad-vanced nuclear weapons andsaid the United States is “ourbiggestenemy,”statemediasaidon Saturday, presenting a starkchallenge to President-elect JoeBiden just days before he takesoffice.Washington’shostilepolicies

would not change regardless ofwho occupies theWhite Housebut dropping those policieswouldbekeytoNorthKorea-USrelations,Kimsaid,accordingtostatenewsagencyKCNA.“Our foreign political activi-

ties shouldbe focusedandredi-rected on subduing the US, ourbiggest enemyandmain obsta-cle to our innovated develop-ment,” Kim said at a rare partycongress inPyongyang.“Nomatterwho is in power

in theUS, the true nature of theUSand its fundamental policiestowards North Korea neverchange,”Kimsaid,vowingtoex-pandtieswith“anti-imperialist,independent forces.”NorthKoreawouldnot“mis-

use” its nuclear weapons, Kimsaid but the country is expand-ingitsnucleararsenal, including“preemptive” and “retaliatory”strikecapabilitiesandwarheadsofvaryingsizes.Hecalledforde-veloping equipment includinghypersonicweapons, solid-fuelICBMs,spysatellites,anddrones.North Korea is preparing for

thetestandproductionofvariousnewweapons,includinga“multi-warheadrocket”and“supersonicgliding flightwarheads for newtype ballistic rockets,”while re-searchonanuclearsubmarineisnearlycomplete,hesaid.There was no immediate

comment from the US StateDepartment. A spokesman fortheBidencampaigndeclined tocomment.

MZULQERNAINLAHORE, JANUARY9

UNDESIGNATED global terror-ist Masood Azhar, chief of thebanned Jaish-e-Mohammad(JeM), should be arrested byJanuary18 in connectionwithaterrorfinancingcase,ananti-ter-rorism court in Pakistan hasasked the Punjab Police, a courtofficial saidonSaturday.The Anti-Terrorism Court

(ATC) Gujranwala issued an ar-restwarrantagainstAzharintheterror financing case institutedbytheCTDintheprevioushear-ingonThursday.“ATC Gujranwala judge

Natasha Naseem Supra duringthe case hearing on Friday di-rectedtheCTDtoarrestJeMchiefMasoodAzharbyJanuary18andpresenthiminthecourt. Incaseof failure (to arrest him), thecourtmaybeginproceedings todeclare him a proclaimed of-fender,” a courtofficial said.Azharisfacingchargesofter-

ror financing and selling jihadiliterature.FollowingthePalwamaterror

attackinFebruary2019,Pakistan'sPunjab police had launched acrackdownon terrorism financ-ing and arrested sixmilitants oftheJeMinGujranwala,some130kms fromLahore.Azhar is facingthetrial inthiscase.Followinginternationalpres-

sure after the Pulwama attack,the Pakistan government ar-restedover100membersof thebannedmilitant outfits includ-ingAzhar’s sonandbrother.The government also took

controloftheJeM,MumbaiterrorattackmastermindHafizSaeed'sJamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) andFalahai Insaniat Foundation (FIF)properties including seminariesandmosquesacrossthecountry.TheJeMhadclaimedrespon-

sibility for the Pulwama terrorattackinwhich40CRPFsoldierswerekilled.In May 2019, the United

Nations designated Azhar as a"global terrorist" after Chinalifted its hold on a proposal toblacklistthePakistan-basedJeMchief, a decade after NewDelhiapproached theworld body forthe first timeonthe issue.Azhar is a fugitive released

by India in exchange of passen-gers of the hijacked IndianAirlines plane IC-814 in 1999.After his release, Azhar formedthe JeM and scriptedmany ter-rorattacks in India.Paris-basedglobalterrorfinanc-

ingwatchdogFinancialActionTaskForce(FATF)isinstrumentalinpush-ingPakistantotakemeasuresagainstterroristsroamingfreelyinPakistanandusingitsterritorytocarryoutat-tacksinIndiaandelsewhere.The FATFplacedPakistanon

the Grey List in June 2018 andasked Islamabad to implementa plan of action to curbmoneylaundering and terror financingbytheendof2019butthedead-linewas extended later on duetoCovid-19pandemic. PTI

JeMchiefMasoodAzhar

Pak anti-terror courttells police to arrestAzhar by January 18

DEMOCRATSAGREEit’slogisticallypossibletovoteonarticlesof im-peachment,butareweighinghowtojustifybypassingtheusualdelib-erativeprocessof collect-ingdocuments,witnessesandthepresident’sde-fense.OthersworryTrump’sbasewouldrallymoreforcefullyaroundhimifDemocratspushforwardwithimpeachinghimagain.

SpinningtowardsachaoticendE●EX

PLAINED

ESHENELSONLONDON, JANUARY9

BRITAINSTARTED2021inanewrelationship with its biggesttradepartner,andithasimmedi-ately brought a litany ofheadachesand lostbusiness.Within aweek, implications

of theBrexit tradedealwith theEuropeanUnionarebeingfeltbybusinesses up and down thecountryasfooddeliveriesarede-layedfornothavingtherightcus-toms paperwork, logistics com-panies halt the shipment ofgoods,andretailersdiscovertheirsupplychainsmightbeobsolete.After decades inside the

European Union’s customsunion and single market,Britain’s businesses have un-earthed new challenges and

changes every day.For manybusinesses, this is what Brexithasquicklybecome:alogistical,regulatory and administrativeburdenforwhichtheywereun-prepared. Itwill only add to themalaise in Britain, where thecoronavirus pandemic is raging— lastweek one in 50people inEngland had the virus, and thecountry is under its third na-tional lockdown. And analystssaytheeconomyisheadingforadouble-dip recession.Some businesses had put

asideeffortstoplanforBrexitlastyear in favor of trying to keeptheir companies afloat duringthe pandemic. But even thosethattriedtopreparefacedafun-damental obstacle: an agree-menton the tradedealwith theEuropeanUnionwasn’treacheduntilDecember24, and the text

ofthe1,246-pagepactwasn’tcir-culateduntilDecember26.Otherdocuments,providing

full details of howBritain’s bor-derwouldwork,withillustrativeexamples and flow charts,

weren’t published untilDecember31,thedaybeforethenewrules tookeffect.“No wonder people are

struggling,”saidSallyJones,wholeads the trade strategy and

BrexitteamatEY,theconsultingandaccountingfirm.Forthefirsttime since 1993, British busi-nesses need to deal with cus-toms checks, additional foodsafety forms, andmyriad otherpaperwork to trade with theEuropeanUnion.OnFriday,DFDS,aDanishlo-

gisticscompanythatrunsferriesfrom of Dover to France, said a“highvolume”oftruckswerebe-ing refused or delayed for nothaving thecorrectpaperwork.DPD, the parcel delivery

company, said it paused serviceto the EuropeanUnion after upto 20 percent of parcels it han-dledhadincorrectorincompletedata,andsowouldneedtobere-turnedto thesender.“The thingswhich are prov-

ing problematic are the thingsthatweexpectedtobeproblem-

atic,” Ms. Jones said. “So forgoods, it’s all about the speedandaccuracywithwhichpeopleare preparing the right paper-work.”Many U.K. businesses — at

least 150,000, according todatafromBritain’staxagency—havenever traded beyond theEuropeanUnion,andsohavenoexperiencedealingwiththecus-tomssystems.Somebusinessesanticipated

cross-border problems withEurope, and filled warehouseswith stockpiled goods — autoparts and pharmaceuticals, forexample—beforetheendof theBrexittransitionperiod.Thathaskeptcross-bordershipmentsatafraction of their normal level sofar. Over the next fewweeks, asthosestockpilesrundown,busi-ness activitywill pick up, exac-

erbatingdelays.Sofar,therearefewimmedi-

atetangiblebenefitsofBrexitforbusinesses — beyond the factthat ending years of stormyde-bate and uncertainty may becountedasabenefit.It will be hard to realize any

substantialshort-termgainsfromBritain’s new trading arrange-mentwith the EuropeanUnion,especially since the pandemiccontinues to take a toll on theeconomy. Last year, the Britisheconomyexperienceditsdeepestrecessioninmorethan300years,and the lockdowns continue asvaccinesareslowlyrolledout.“A lot of the disruption that

Brexitbringsisgoingtobehiddenby the pandemic,” said AnandMenon, a professor of Europeanpolitics and foreign affairs atKing’sCollegeLondon. NYT

PoliceofficersonhorsebackpatrolLondon.Reuters

(Above)DistraughtfamilymembersofapassengeronSriwijayaAirFlightSJ182;(left)AradarimageshowingthepathofFlight182beforeitdroppedoff radar.Reuters/Flightradar24.comviaAP

Indonesian plane crashesinto sea, 62 feared dead

Pakistan court remands 56 to policecustody for vandalisation of templePRESSTRUSTOFINDIAPESHAWAR,JANUARY9

AN ANTI-TERRORISM court inPakistan on Saturday sent themainaccused,alongwith55oth-ers,arrestedinthevandalisationof aHindu temple by amob ledbymembersofaradical Islamistparty in Khyber Pakhtunkhwaprovince, to police custody forninedays.Thecourtalsoremandedan-

other56accused in the case, in-

cludingMaulviSharifwhoissaidtohaveincitedthecrowd,tojudi-cialcustody.The temple inTerri village in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karakdistrictwasattackedlastweekbythemob after members of theHinducommunityreceivedper-missionfromlocalauthoritiestorenovate its decades-old build-ing.Themobhaddemolishedthenewly constructedwork along-sidetheoldstructure.Khyber Pakhtunkhwapolice

chief Sanaullah Abbasi said on

Friday that Faizullah, whowasidentified as themain accused,wasarrestedfromKarakdistrict.He is said tohave instigatedandfacilitated themob forattackingthetemple.The attack on the temple by

members of radical JamiatUlema-e-Islam party (Fazal urRehmangroup)drewstrongcon-demnation fromhuman rightsactivistsandtheminorityHinducommunity leaders.Police have filed complaint

against350people inthecase.

New Delhi

13THESUNDAYEXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

SUNDAYSTORYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

THEYEARwas 1999. Officialsand scientists at theDepartmentofBiotechnology(DBT) were a little unsureaboutwhat to donext. They

had invited offers from Indian firms to be-comepartnersinthedevelopmentofavac-cine for rotavirus.Andtheonlycompanytohave shown interestwas an inexperiencedthree-year-oldupstartfromHyderabadwithlittletrackrecordtoboastof.The lackof enthusiasmwasnotentirely

unexpected.Earlierthatyear,theonlyexist-ingvaccineforrotavirus,oneproducedbyanAmericancompany,hadtobewithdrawnaf-ter some recipients reported a rare type ofbowelobstruction.Thevaccinehadbeenin-troducedinthemarketthepreviousyear.Rotavirusesarethemostcommoncause

ofdiarrhoeaininfantsworldwide.AccordingtoWHO,theywereresponsiblefordeathsofabout 215,000 childrenbelow five years ofagein2013,amajorityof theminIndia.Working atAIIMS in themid-1980s,Dr

MKBhan, a paediatrician and researcherwho laterbecametheSecretaryof theDBT,had succeeded in isolating an Indian strainof rotavirus that couldbeused todevelopavaccine.AnotherstrainwasisolatedbyProfCDurgaRao,working independentlyat theIndianInstituteofScienceinBengaluru.Thegovernmentwasverykeentohaveanafford-able rotavirus vaccine, andwaswilling tohandholdprivatefirmsindevelopingthis.Aftermuchdeliberation,theDBTdidac-

ceptthevolunteeringcompanyasthepart-nerinthiseffortandbeganworkingonavac-cinethatwouldgoontobecomeoneof thebiggest success stories of India’s youngbiotechnologysector.ForBharatBiotech,theHyderabad company that had showncouragetoparticipateinthisuncertainven-ture,theriskhadpaidoff.Thevaccine,calledRotavac,waslicensedonlyin2014,aftera15-year-longdevelopmentprocess,andthefirstshotswere given in2015. But itwasdevel-opedwith a commitment that itwouldbepricednotmorethanonedollaradose.Twootherrotavirusvaccinesthathadbeencom-mercialisedinternationallyinthemeantime,bypharmagiantsGSKandMerck in2006,costaboutUS$200perdose.“ItwasreallyaboldstepforKrishnaElla

(thepromoterofBharatBiotech)tocomefor-wardat that time.After thatvaccine (in theUS)waswithdrawn,everyonethoughtthatthe rotavirus fieldwas dead... Of course,Bharat Biotech received a lot of support...therewasa lotof handholding through theprocess. A good part of the research hap-penedintheUSaswellwiththesupportandinvolvementofUSinstitutions.Butitwasstillabigachievement.Thatkindofresearchanddevelopment, and clinical research, hadnever been done in India before,” saysGagandeepKang,virologistandProfessorofMicrobiology at ChristianMedical College,Vellore,whowasoneof the lead investiga-torsof theclinicaltrialsforthatvaccine.Rotavacwas not the first vaccine to be

madebyBharat Biotech. Shortly after thatpartnershipwith theDBTwas inked, thecompanywasabletoshipoutthefirstbatchof vaccines it had ever developed — forHepatitisB. Itwasthelastweekof1999,be-tweenChristmasandNewYear,thatatruckloadedwithHepatitis Bvaccinevials droveoutofarentedthree-storeyedbuildinginthe

residentialareaofJubileeHillsinHyderabadthathousedlaboratoriesofBharatBiotech.“Krishna Ella himself saw the truck off.

Therewas jubilation, understandably.Wewereasmall teamthen,”saysaformerem-ployeewhoaskednottobenamed.Ella,whogrewup in a reasonablywell-

off farmer’s family in a TamilNaduvillage,studiedagricultureincollegeandworkedata chemical and pharmaceuticalmultina-tionalbeforereceivingafellowshiptostudyintheUS.Heworkedonthemolecularbiol-ogy of yeast, and obtained a PhD from theUniversity ofWisconsin-Madison.He had begun a re-searchcareerintheUSbefore, according to astory he has sharedmultipletimesinpub-lic, hewas persuadedbyhismothertoreturntoIndiawithanassur-ance that till shewasalive, hewould neverhavetostarve!But around the

sametimethatEllare-turned from US, anIndianHepatitisBvac-cine came into themarket, developedbyanother Hyderabad-based company,ShanthaBiotechnics,whosestoryisnotverydifferentfromthatofBharatBiotech.LikeElla,ShanthaBiotechnics founderKVaraprasadReddywas born in an agricultural family,studiedscienceandengineering,workedinaprivate company,went abroad for higherstudies, and returned to set upa successfulcompanyof his own.Heevenhas a similarstoryof attendingaconferencewherehe issupposedtohaveheardsnideremarksaboutIndiaunabletodevelopavaccineonitsown.ShanthaBiotechnicswasstartedin1993

and is generally acknowledged as the firstIndianbiotechnology companywith a realR&D base. By 1996, it had delivered aHepatitisBvaccine,Shanvac-B,helpedinnosmallmeasurebyIndia’slenientpatentreg-ulations of the timewhich only allowedprocesspatentandnotproductpatent.Thatmeant that a company couldmanufacturethesameproductbyusingadifferentprocess

— the reverse engineering that hadhelpedsomanyotherIndianpharmaceuticalcom-paniestoproducegenericdrugs.InanIndiathatwasstilltakingitsfirststep

towardscreating the rightenvironment forprivateenterprise, the indigenousdevelop-mentof avaccinebyanewcompanywasabigdeal,andforseveralyearsafterthat,tillitwas eventually bought over by Sanofi in2009, ShanthaBiotechnicswas the posterchild of India’s biotechnology sector, regu-larlyfeaturingeveningovernmentliteratureasoneof thesuccessstories fromIndia. Ina

way, ShanthaBiotechnics alsoshowed the way forcompanieslikeBharatBiotech, though theywould be close com-petitors.Ella returned to a

Hyderabad thatwasgoingthroughapolit-ical transition. NChandrababuNaiduhad justmanaged tograb power after re-volting against his fa-ther-in-law, the im-mensely popularN TRama Rao, and wasselling thepromiseof

makingHyderabadthenewtechnologycap-italofthecountry.Hebuiltalotofinfrastruc-turetoinviteglobalmultinationals,andwasveryencouragingtopeoplewantingtostartbusinessesinHyderabad.ItwasagainstthisbackgroundthatBharat

Biotechwassetupin1996,withthefirstgoalofproducinganindigenousHepatitisBvac-cinethatwasevencheaperthanShanvac-B.“ThiswasahugemilestoneasBharatbe-

camethefirstcompanyintheworldtopro-duceacesium-freeHepatitisBvaccineatanaffordablepricewhenamultinationalwasselling that vaccine for Rs 1,400per dose,”EllatoldTheSundayExpress inaninterview.TheTeluguDesamPartyadministration,

receptive tonew ideas, alsowelcomedEllawith open arms.Many believe itwas Ellawhogave the ideaofGenomeValley toCMNaidu. A technology park, it nowhousesmore than100 firms, research centres andmanufacturingunits,mostofthemworking

inthebiotechnologysector,fromsmallincu-bators testingoutnewideas togiantmulti-nationalslikeNovartis,BayerandMerck.ButotherspointtotheroleoftwoIASof-

ficers of that time—Sheila Bhide and B PAcharya.AimingtorecreateanenvironmentsimilartoSiliconValleyintheUS,thetwoaresaid tohavegiven shape toGenomeValleywiththebackingof theirpoliticalbosses.BharatBiotechwasoneof thefirstcom-

paniestomoveintoGenomeValley.“Itisim-pressive... the physical infrastructure thatBharat Biotech has built. A biotechnologycompanyisnoteasytorun.Youneedsensi-tive,sophisticatedtechnology,advancedlab-oratories,andmanufacturingunits,noneofit comes cheap. And there is a lot of risk aswell.Vaccinesareanuncertainbusiness.Toitscredit,BharatBiotechhasbuiltworld-classfacilities,” saysaseniorscientistwithagov-ernmentlaboratory.As the company began to diversify its

product portfolio, it producedvaccines forrabies,polio,Japaneseencephalitis,H1N1in-fluenza, andalsoworkedonamalaria vac-cinewhichdidnotbecomesuccessful.Today,the companyhas abasket ofmore than15vaccinesinthemarket.After the rotavirus vaccine, the biggest

success came in the formof a typhoidvac-cine,whichwas commercialised twoyearsago.Basedonaninnovativetechnology, it isthe first and only typhoid vaccine in theworldthatcanprovidelong-termimmunityagainstthedisease.ThisvaccineisapprovedbyWHOaswellforglobaluse.Meanwhile,BharatBiotechhasalso for-

ayedintotheanimalvaccinemarket,andsetupaseparatecompany,BioVet,whichoper-ates out of Bengaluru. It produces vaccinesfor the foot andmouthdisease, one of themostcommonailmentsindomesticanimals.ItisequippedwithaBSL-3(biosafetylevel3)productionunit, andBSL-3 animal facility,incorporatingthehighestlevelcontainmentfeatures. Then there is another sister com-pany, Century Biologicals, that does foodpackaging. It has oneof thebiggest irradia-torsinthecountrytosanitisefoodpackets.Yetanothercompanyisengagedincarry-

ing out pre-clinical toxicology studies andtestingofvaccinesanddrugsonanimals.ThedevelopmentofCovaxin,particularly

thehastearoundit,hasdrawnBharatBiotechintoarowEllahascontestedasunwarranted.IfanimpossibledeadlineofAugust15,2020,for an indigenous vaccinewas the govern-ment’s first announcement, the regulatoryapproval to Covaxinwithout efficacy datafromPhase3trials—thoughtobeusedonlyin “clinical trialmode”—has brought thecompany that has largelyworked in thebackgroundunwantedattention.Thecoronavirusvaccineismostlikelyto

bemanufactured at its unit inHyderabad,which too is BSL-3 certified. The companyalsorecentlyboughtamanufacturingfacilitynearMumbai,whichwas let gobyanothercompany. A newmanufacturing facility iscomingup inBhubaneswar to cater to vol-umes. Even the facility inBengaluru canbeconvertedquicklyforhumanvaccines.Aretiredscientistfromaprominentgov-

ernment laboratory,whohas occasionallyadvisedElla, said he sees these facilities asnational assets. “Even inprivate conversa-tions,heisfondofsayingthatheisdoingallthisforthecountry,”hesaid.

Needle in the haystackWhenthe Indiangovernment lookedforapartner toproducean indigenouscoronavirusvaccine,BharatBiotechwasthe

natural contender. FromRotavirus toHepatitisBvaccinesandnowCovaxin,AMITABHSINHAonhowasmallHyderabad firm,dreamingbigandrisking large,hasemergedasoneof India’sbiggestbiotechsuccessstories

PrimeMinisterModispeaks toscientistsduringhisvisit toBharatBiotech’sHyderabadfacility lastyear; (below)KrishnaEllawithhis team.ANI/BharatBiotech

THE JOURNEY1996:BharatBiotechsetup

1999:Firstvaccine, forHepatitisB, rollsout

2006:Rabiesvaccine isout

2007: Influenzavaccine isdeveloped

2015:Rotavac, therotavirusvaccine is launchedbyPrimeMinisterNarendraModi

2018:TyphoidvaccinegetsWHOapproval

2020:WorkbeginsonCovid-19vaccine

THECOVID19VACCINESBesides,Covaxinwhichhasjustbeengrantedemergencyuseauthorisation,BharatBiotech isdevelopingthreeothercandidates for Covid-19vaccine:

■Asingle-dose intranasalvaccinewithWashingtonUniversitySchoolofMedicine inStLouis

■AnotheronewithThomasJeffersonUniversity inwhichaninactivatedrabiesvirus isbeingusedas thevector

■AcandidatenamedCoroFlubeingdevelopedincollaborationwithUniversityofWisconsin-Madison,andvaccinecompaniesFluGen

INMANYways,BharatBiotechanditscontem-porariesreflectthechangingandrisingIndiathatstartedtotakeanewcoursefromthemid-1990s.Theystartedoutwithlow-hangingfruits,makinggenericversionsofex-istingvaccines,andslowlygainedconfi-dencetoproduceworld-classproducts.“Thesecompanieswereinnovative,butnotre-allyinventive,” ishowonescientistdescribedthesecompanies.“InventivenessrequiresagoodecosystemthatIndiastill lacks.Soit istothecreditof thesecom-paniesfordoingwhattheydid,”hesaid.

Openingnewdoors

“Itwas really abold step forKrishnaElla to comeforwardat that time (in1999).After that vaccine (intheUS)waswithdrawn,everyone thought that therotavirus fieldwasdead...Therewas a lot ofhandholding through theprocess... But itwas still abig achievement”

Howdidyougetintothevaccinebusiness?WhenIbeganconceptualisingaHepatitis

vaccine, Iwasworking onyeastmolecularbiologyintheUS...Duringthatperiod,therewas a substantial demand formedicine inIndia.So,IsetupalabinHyderabadwiththemedicalequipmentIhadbroughtbackwithme fromtheUSand startedproducing theHepatitisBsurfaceprotein.BharatBiotechwas startedwithRs12.5

crore.Within three years,wewere able tolaunchour firstHepatitis vaccine.Wewentontosupplyseveralmilliondosesforthena-tionalimmunisationprogrammeatRs10perdose.Thiswasamilestoneaswebecamethefirst company in theworld toproduceace-sium-freeHepatitis B vaccine at an afford-able pricewhen the vaccinewas sold by amultinationalatRs1,400perdose.

Youtookalotofriskwithrotavirusvaccine.Howsurewereyouofsuccess?Rotavacwas a result of a unique social

partnershipthatbroughttogethertheexpe-rience andexpertise of Indian and interna-tional researchers aswell aspublic andpri-vatesectors...ThatvaccinedemonstratedthatanIndiancompanywascapableofconduct-ing high-quality research in advanced sci-ences...Again,itcostonlyonedollarperdose.

Whatwasthebiggestdifficultyyoufacedduringthattime?Frankly,wereceivedalotofsupportfrom

governmentandotherinstitutions,andthisproject(rotavirus)wouldnothaveadvancedwithout their help.Wehad set upan inno-vativemanufacturingprocesswhichhaden-abledthereductionofmanufacturingcosts...Whenitwaslaunchedin2015,therotavirusvaccinewasoneofthefirstsuccessfulexam-pleof 'MakeinIndia' initiative.

Whichisabiggersuccessforthecompany,rotavirusortyphoidvaccine?Botharesignificantscientificdiscoveries.

BoththesevaccinesreinforcedIndia’sleader-ship in developing aworld-class vaccine...Typhoid feverwas aneglected tropical dis-ease.Thesuccessof ourvaccine isa truere-flectionofBharatBiotech’sabilitytodevelopnovelvaccinesandsustain long-termprod-uctdevelopmentagainstinfectiousdiseases.

Whatisnext?Wehave several vaccine programmes

underway, includingthefourCovid-19vac-cinedevelopment initiatives. Furthermore,wewill continueourpursuit of identifyingpublic health problems andwork towardsdevelopingsafeandaffordablesolutions.Wewanttotargetsomeofthemostchallengingdiseases and deliver solutions to combatthem.Our research laboratories have pro-ducedan impressive successionof innova-tivevaccinesandbio-therapeutics.

INTERVIEWDRKRISHNAELLA,Founder & CMD,Bharat Biotech

‘Want to combatchallenging diseases,deliver solutions’

New Delhi

14 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHE SUNDAY EXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021OPINION

FifthCOLUMNTAVLEENSINGHTwitter@tavleen_singh

THE PANDEMIC seems to be on itswayout,butnotyetgone.Thevaccineseemsto be on its way in, but has not yetreachedhouseholds. Theone thing thathas remained unmoved throughout iscontroversy!AsIwritethisonJanuary9,thenum-

bers are a grim reminder of the havocwroughtbyCovid-19.Thenumberof in-fectionsis1,04,31,639(secondplaceaftertheUnitedStates);thenumberofdeathsis1,50,798(thirdaftertheUSandBrazil);and the number of active cases is2,24,190.Withapopulationof138crore,we can count ourselves lucky but cer-tainlynotashiningexampleofpandemiccontrol andmanagement.Therearesixapprovedvaccinesinthe

world.WeknowlittleabouttheRussianandChinesevaccines although theyarebeing distributed and administered ex-tensively in the respective countries. Asfar as I know, no other acknowledged,long-standingregulatorhasapprovedforuse theRussianorChinesevaccine.

FOUR VACCINES,GREAT OPPORTUNITY

That leaves four. The first is Pfizer’s,approvedbytheUSFDAwhich,inthesci-entificworldandamongthemedicalpro-fession,isthegoldstandard.Thevaccine’simmunogenicity,safetyandefficacyhavebeen proven in the mandatory threephases of the trials. Thedrawback is theconditionsofstorage(-70degreesC)andcost in India (undetermined). Pfizer ap-

pliedforEmergencyUseApproval(EUA)to theDrugs Controller General of India(DCGI), but didnot appear topresent itscase to the Expert Committee despitethree opportunities.My hunch is Pfizeris not keen onmarketing and distribut-ing its vaccine in Indiabecause ithasas-sumedthat,inIndia,itscostwillbeunaf-fordableandtheconditionsofstoragewillnot bemet. Since Pfizer’s vaccine hasbeenapprovedbymanycountries/regu-latorsandthedemandishighworldwide,PfizermayhaveplacedIndialowinitsor-derofpriority.The second isOxford-AstraZeneca’s,

that is beingmanufactured under a li-cencebytheSerumInstituteofIndia(SII).WecanbeproudthatanIndianresearch-cum-manufacturingcompanyhasqual-ified to test,manufactureanddistributeavaccineunder thenameCovishield.The third isModerna’s. It hasnotyet

applied in India forapproval.

NEEDLESSCONTROVERSY

ThefourthisBharatBiotech’sCovaxin.While thecompanymayhavedrawnonthework and knowledge of foreign re-searchersandscientists,Covaxinisa100percentIndianproduct.Itisaproudmo-ment for India. The vaccine’s approvalwasmired in an unnecessary contro-versy. The DCGI and the government’sspokespersons(especiallyDrVKPaulandDrBalramBhargava) shouldhave, at theoutset,made it clear that Covaxin’s EUA

was fordistribution-cum-Phase III clini-cal trialsandtheresults—especially theresults on efficacy—will determine itsfurtherdistributionanduse.Itistruethatreputedscientists,virologists,microbiol-ogists and doctors have questioned thespeed (or haste) in granting approvalevenwhenPhaseIIIclinicaltrialsareun-derway.Desperatesituationsmayrequiredesperateremedies.India’srequirementof vaccines (by volume) is so huge thatneither the SII’s Covishield nor importscanmeetthedemandforaquicknation-wideroll-out.Itiswisetoencourageapo-tentialcandidate(alifesaver)tocompletethe testing process quickly and also tokeep ready a vaccine as a back-up foremergencyuse.Mypersonalviewisthatweshouldbecharitable to theDCGIandthegovernment.There is no evidence that Covaxin is

harmful.Thetrials,sofar,havequalifiedthe vaccine on immunogenicity andsafety. No adverse reports on efficacyhave been received.We should collec-tively hope that Covaxinwill completePhase III clinical trials by the end ofJanuaryandtheresultswillbeevaluatedbyMarch. Thereafter,wecanacceleratetheroll-outwithtwovaccines—wemayalsoexport reasonablequantities tode-velopingcountries—andacquireaplaceamong nations that were able to re-search,find,manufacture,distributeanduseavaccine in12months.Therewas, I suspect, a tinge of busi-

nessbetweentheSIIandBharatBiotech.Happily, bothMr Adar Poonawalla andMr Krishna Ella buried the hatchet in a

coupleof daysandpromised tocooper-ate andwork together. That is thewayfrontline companies, especially in re-search and development, should con-ducttheiraffairs,witharightmixofpub-licgoodandprivateprofit.

REAL TEST BEGINSNOW

Therealtestbeginsnow.Howwillthegovernmentvaccinatethebulkofthe138crorepopulation?Hereareafewthoughts:

■ Theremustbeanorderof priorityandnobreachesof thatorder shouldbepermittedunderanycircumstances.

■ Thevaccinemustbeadministeredfreeofcostingovernmenthospitalsandvaccinationcentres.Levyingachargewillencourage people to cut corners and,consequently, lead tocorruption.

■When supplies improve, privatehospitalsshouldbebroughtintotheroll-out. If theywish to buy the vaccine andchargetheircustomers,thegovernmentshouldfixthepriceandletthosewhocanafford topay,pay for thevaccination.

■ Just aswe have allowed export ofIndia-madevaccines,weshouldalsoal-low import of approved vaccines.Protectionism is a discredited theory inworld trade and has certainly no placewhentheworld is facingapandemic.

■Wemust be prepared to face un-known consequences. Wemust keepfaith inourscientistsandresearchers tofind solutions. Ultimately, sciencewilltriumph.

Pandemic, vaccine and controversy

We should collectively hopethat Covaxin will complete

Phase III clinical trials by theend of January and the

results will be evaluated byMarch. Thereafter, we canaccelerate the roll-out with

two vaccines — we may alsoexport reasonable quantitiesto developing countries —and acquire a place amongnations that were able to

research, find, manufacture,distribute and use a vaccine

in 12 months

AcrossTHEAISLE

PCHIDAMBARAMWebsite:pchidambaram.inTwitter@Pchidambaram_IN

THISYEARstartedwithgriefforme.Havingjustbidfarewell towhatwasthemostdif-ficult year for all, Iwanted to look at 2021with optimism.However, it lasted only ashort while. My grandmotherChandrabhagabai, the common threadofourfamily,passedawayonJanuary4at9.15pm in Nanded. Shewas suffering fromasthma for the past quarter century, bat-tling exhaustion anddifficulty breathing.Thedaysheleftus,shesufferedalot.Mybrotherandunclewhoseturnitwas

thatnighttoattendtohersentmeaphotoofgrandmafromtheICUward.Shewasly-ing on a torn, nylon government hospitalbedwithno sheets. The sight brokeme. Iwasimmediatelydrawnintodepression.Before going to hospital, she hugged

mymother andwailed, and askedher totake care of us — her grandchildren.Mydad passed away six years ago; mygrandmawascrestfallentoseehereldestson—‘baba’asshefondlyaddressedhim—passaway in frontof hereyes.Aweekago,mysistertoldmethataai’s

healthwas serious. I immediatelymadeavideocalltoher.Herfacewasswollenbutatleast she could stare into the screen andcommunicatewithmy cousin’s help.Aaihadlostherabilitytohearafewyearsago.Chandrabhagabai’schildrencalledher

aai and the tradition continuedwith hergrandchildren.Herearsgrewaccustomedto themelody of three boys addressingher as aai and later nine grandchildrenaddingchorustothattune.Aai livedasat-isfactory life. Shewas about four feet tallandwhenwehuggedher,wehadtobendtoallowherenoughspace toexpandherarmslikeagianteagleandtakeusintoher.Once in, you felt thesafest.Ialwayswonderedhowshefeltwhen

she saw us, her grandchildren, who hadgrownintolargersizebeings.Seeingmeatanoticeableheight, shebegantoaddressme as “saheb”. Earlier, she called me“balla”. Shewould also addressmewithhonorifics such as “tumhi” or “aap” inHindi.Thiscametohernaturallyassome-onewhohadgrowntogenuflectoractas

subordinatetoaslightlyeducated,higherauthority.Myaai’s storyisemblematicofthe livesof theelderlyDalit generation.Our family is unsure of the year of

Chandrabhagabai’sbirth, letalonedateormonth. The closest guess is 1940, if as-sessedthroughherchildren’sages.Shewasborn to a family of landless labourers,Hanumante. Shewasdisciplined into thecastecodesearlyon. “Weweretaughtnotto touch the food andwater pots of thehigher castes”, grandma reminisced. “Wewerenevergivenwaterwithrespect.Theywouldpourthewaterfromtop.”Grandmaworked as a child labourer in the fields ofMaratha landowners. Her familywouldmake25paiseperdayduring theharvestseason.Sheneverwenttoschool.Chandrabhagabaiwas older thanher

twobrothers andyounger thanher sister,andlikemanysistersshevirtuallybroughther brothers up.Alongwithherhusband,thehandsomemillworker comradewhotoiled in theUsmanShahiMill inNanded,shelivedontheperipheriesofsemi-urbanlifeinaghettoofDalitlabourers.Thecouplehadamakeshiftroomwithoutadoor.Chandrabhagabaihadthreeboysand

worked odd jobs to raise her family. Sheworkedinfarms,inashoefactory,ascookinahostelforDalitstudents.Shediditforher children. Povertywas an inheritancefor her but aai never compromised onwearing a clean sari (lugda). Her beautywasunsurmountable.Yet,sheremainedavictimof toxic patriarchy inwhich everyIndiangirl ismarried into.Chandrabhagabai came froma com-

munityofgreatpeopleyetthelowest-classoutcastes,whodaredtodreambiggerthantheir immediate reach, time and life. ForDalits,ourancestorsareourgods.Itisupontheir livesthatwebuildonfurther.Aaihasjoined the pantheon of our ancestors toguideusandactasanexampleoffaith,tol-erance, integrity,andtightlove.Tothosewholosttheirlovedonesinthe

recent past, Imournwith you.Our lossesare irreplaceable, butwe should alwaysthink about the goodmomentswe hadwiththedepartedsouls.Afterall,whatre-mainsismemory.Weshouldacknowledgethe fundamental truthof life—death.WeshouldlearntoembracedeaththatguidestheBuddha’senlightenment.Mygrandmawasbornanuntouchable

butshediedaBuddhist.

SurajYengde,authorofCasteMatters,curatesthefortnightly ‘Dalitality’column

LASTYEAR,pre-Covid,Iattendedaweddingsoextravagantly grand that I never endedupmeeting thehost. Lostbetweentonnesof imported flowersandaglittering seaofhumanity, I commentedonher Instagrampostlatertomarkmypresence.Itseemsal-mostincredibletothinkthatwasamere12monthsagowhensuperfluitiesandblithewastage, not tomention a humungousguest list,were entirely acceptable. If onemustlookfortheproverbialsilverlininginthecoronacloud,it’sthatthepandemichasmadeastrongcaseforscalingdown.Socialisolationhasbroughtdifficultquestionstothe fore that in good times,we so easilyavoid: howdowe reallywant to live? Is it

possible thatoutof thischaoswillemergeaverydifferent,evenabetterworld?Astheweddingindustryreelsfromthis

disastrousyear,I’mreluctanttocriticisethatstatisticallytinynumberofIndianswhofeelcompelledtoinviteathousandpeopleandorganisetheCirqueduSoleil forentertain-ment.Thepressuretolivethedreammustbe intensewhen you’re the Richie Richamongyourcontemporaries.Besides,whatgoodistheirwealthdoingfortherestofusif it’s sittingunused inbanksor tiedup intrustfunds?Farbettertheyspendlavishly,and have some of it trickle down to theweaver toiling in obscurity in Benaras, orthe sunar inSurat.What isoffensive,how-ever,isthestupidityondisplaybythe1percentwhichhas unfortunately influencedtherestofIndia.Theysetthebarandnownowedding is completewithout abewilder-

ingarrayofcuisines.Notonlyisthesightofsomuchfoodaestheticallydispleasing,of-ten, the aromas of Chinese, Italian andIndian spices collide, creating a sensoryoverload forguests. Surely, therearemoreimaginative(andsubtle)waystoshowoff.It’struethatmoreandmore,identityis-

n’tdefinedbywhatoneis,butbywhatonespendsorowns. TheCovidyearhasmadepeoplequestiontheseabsurditieswenor-malised trying to fit into a societal ideal.Otherwise, our livesgoby ina fogof auto-matedbehaviour andall the little stressesthat pile up in the business of existence.Actually, our real problems run muchdeeper than inflationandrecession. Likealackofmeaningfulconnectionsandloneli-ness,oravaguesenseofdissatisfactionthatdespitehavingeverything,lifehasn’tturnedout aswewished.We replace adesire for

belongingwithaspiration,andtrytofillthevoidbycopyingourpeers. It tookamyste-riousvirustothinkaboutalltheseperceivedneeds: really,must fashion change everyseason?So,itwouldbearealpityif theex-perienceof2020,ofterrorandenforcedfru-gality,hasnolastingimpact.Through the ages, thewisest souls to

have inhabited earth have propagated asimplelifeasaroutetocontentment.Greatsages like RamanaMaharishi and JidduKrishnamurti, cladpermanently inwhitecotton,werepractitioners ofminimalismbeforethetermexisted.Theyknewthatthethingsweownendupowningus instead.“Mygreatestskillhasbeentowantbut lit-tle,”observedHenryDavidThoreauin1855,intheearliestcritiqueofconsumptioncul-ture,Walden. It speaksvolumesabouthu-manitythat150yearslater, limitingacqui-

sitions is as radical an idea nowas itwasthen.There isreasontohopethatayearoflivingintentionally—withamask,maintain-ingdistance—hasbecomeahabitthatmaytranscendCovid, and spill over into otheraspectsof life.At the beginning of the lockdown, a

friendcomplainedbitterlyaboutcancellinghis son’smeticulously plannedwedding.Afterdecadesofhandingoutenvelopes,hefelt cheatedhewouldn’tbecollectingany.ButhesoundedelatedwhenIcalledtosaycongratulations,afterhis10-guestcelebra-tion recently. Humanbeings adapt, that’swhytheycanlivelikeBedouinsinthedesertandEskimosintheArcticCircle. It’sbeenaweirdyearalright,yet,somehavemadethewonderful discovery that a life strippeddowntobareessentialsisultimatelyfreeing.

Thewriter isdirector,HutkayFilms

Leaving room for the important thingsOn theLOOSELEHERKALAleherkala@gmail.com

WHAT HAPPENED on Capitol Hill lastweek had a profound effect across theworld.Leadersofotherdemocraticcoun-tries watched in horror as did politicalcommentatorsandeventhosewithnoin-terest in politics. Personally, I foundmy-self reallyimpressedwithhowAmerica’sjudges, election officials and its mediahave stood up against Donald Trump’sbullying and his lies. It was this thatcausedme to tweet that ‘America maylookreallybadatthemomentbutlet’sre-member that its democracy just passedits hardest test and won.Would we beabletosaythesameinIndiaaboutourin-stitutions if put throughsucha test?’.In the ‘new India’ that the Prime

Minister boasts of having created, thistweet was seen as anti-national and itcaused the BJP troll army to orderme to‘leave India’. I am routinely attacked onsocialmedia,butthis isthefirst timethatIhavebeentoldthatIhavenorighttoliveinIndia. Itwouldnotmatterif thevicious,venomoustweets that filledmytimelinecamefromordinarytwitterers. Itmattersbecause they came from people whosehandlesproclaimtheirprideinbeingfol-lowed by Narendra Modi. This has in-spiredmetodrawforyouaportraitof the‘new Indian’who constitutes the base oftoday’s BJP, which is as heavily stampedinModi’s image as the Republican Partycame to be stamped in the image ofDonaldTrump.The most distinctive feature of the

‘new Indian’ is thathebelieves that criti-cismoftheModigovernmentamountstoan attack on India. Theymake this cleareverytimetheytweettheirsupportofthemantheyconsider ‘thebestprimeminis-terIndiahaseverhad’.Theyhopehecon-tinues to rule longafter2024andthathethenappointsYogiAdityanathashissuc-cessor. IntheeyesofmanyModisupport-ers, Yogi is alreadymore of a leader thanheisbecauseheisa‘stronger’Hindu.ThisleadsmetotheseconddefiningfeatureofthesenewIndians.They hate Muslims, Islam and

Pakistan. So, they are delighted that Yogihas brought his ‘love jihad’ law and thatthishasinspiredotherBJPchiefministersto follow his lead. They gloat every timethataMuslimisdraggedofftoapolicesta-tioninUttarPradeshformarryingaHinduwoman. They do not see this law as de-priving women of their right to choosewhomtheyloveandmarrybecausetheythinkofwomenasproperty.ABajrangDalactivist clarified this bluntly last weekwhen he told a reporter that ‘rescued’Hinduwomen aremarried off immedi-ately to ‘oneof ourmen’.RageagainstMuslims isso important

tothenewIndiansthatjusticeandtheruleof lawdonotmatter.AMuslimmansell-ing shoes on a Bulandshahr pavementwas arrested last week because he soldshoeswith‘Thakur’writtenontheirsoles.Thishurtthe ‘religioussentiments’of theBajrangDalactivistwhohadhimarrested.New Indians are very thin-skinned andare easily hurt. They are also conspiracytheorists who see international plots todefameHindusaroundeverycorner.Whenitcomestoconspiracytheories,

they competewith Trump’s supporters.If Trump’s supporters blame Antifa forhaving conspired to ‘steal’ the electionfrom Trump, Modi’s supporters are asconvinced that ‘Leftists, libtards, andLootyens’arebehindeveryattempttocrit-iciseModi’sgovernmentandhispolicies.In their book everyone who disagreeswiththemisanti-national. Intheirenthu-siasmtopaintprotestingfarmerswiththesame ‘anti-national’ brush used to paintprotesters against the Citizenship(Amendment) Act (CAA), theywent toofar. So, they were curbed andmade tochange their tune.‘New Indians’ exist not just on social

media but in real life. They can now befound in the drawing rooms of LutyensDelhi, inthinktanksof repute,onuniver-sitycampusesandinforeigncities.Duringthe protests against the new citizenshiplaw,IhappenedtobeinNewYorkinataxidrivenbyaGujaratiwhohad lived in theUnited States for more than 20 years.Whenhediscovered that Iwasan Indianfrom India, he launched into a tiradeagainst ‘theseJNUtypes’whoareprotest-ingagainstthemanhesawasthe‘saviourof India’. They should be shot, he said attheendof his tirade, they shouldbe shotbecause it is the only way that Indiawill progress.Thispointismadeoftenthesedaysby

Modi’s more violent supporters. Theymake it clear that there is no room inIndia for people who do not share theirpoint of view. Dissent of any kind is forthem exactly the same as sedition andtheysee it everywhere. Inperformancesby Muslim comedians, in Bollywoodfilms, in the media and in ‘liberal’Western newspapers who they believeexist for the specific purpose of defam-ingHindusand India. If you run intooneof these ‘new Indians’, remember that itis useless getting into any sort of discus-sionwiththem.Itwill takeyounowhere.This is because the other thing that de-finesthemiscertaintyofsuchanextremekind that there is not the smallest chinkthrough which the smallest doubt canfind its way. Have these new Indiansmade Indiabetter?You judge.

DalitalitySURAJYENGDETwitter@Surajyengde

Chandrabhagabai, mygrandma and guide

ITWAS in1863 thatMaharshiDebendra-nath Thakur, the father of RabindranathTagore, purchased 20 bighas of land atBhubandangainBengal’sBirbhumprovin-ce.Overthenextfewyears,hebuiltthereanashramcalledShantiniketan(theabodeofpeace),whereanyone,irrespectiveofcasteandcreed,couldmeditateabouttheform-less supreme god, a central tenet of theBrahmoSamaj ideologythathefollowed.In 1901, Tagorewould set up on this

land the Shantiniketan BrahmacharyaAshram,withfivestudents.Theseincludedhis eldest sonRathindranath Thakur andKhitimohanSen,thematernalgrandfatherof Nobel laureateAmartya Sen,whonowfindshimself inadisputeoverownershipof landthere.In the years that followed, the ashram

areawouldgrowmanifold,with1921see-ing thesettingupofVisva-Bharati, for thestudyofdifferentcultures,onitspremises.Shantiniketanwould gradually becomeauniversitytown,drawingillustriousalumnifrom Indira Gandhi toMaharani GayatriDevi,andgettheformalstampofacentraluniversity in1951.“Tagorewanted scholars and promi-

nent people to reside in Shantiniketan tospreadhis ideology. Theprocess of givinghouses or leasing out landwas startedbyhim through the ShantiniketanAshramicTrust.However, itwas informal innature.The formal leasing of landwas started byVisva-Bharati in1948andcontinueduntilthe 1960s,” says Dhrubajyoti Nandi, anauthorbasedinShantiniketan.InTowardsTagore,acollectionofessays,

Abhijit Sen, a professor at Visva-BharatiUniversity,saysthepoetwantedtoprovideanalternative to thecolonial styleof edu-cation through the ashram. “While he(Rabindranath) hadnot entirely shedhisregardforthe‘GreatEnglish’...,hewasalsocaughtupbythewaveofnationalist/anti-colonialist ideology,”Senwrites.Tagore’slovefornatureshapedtheway

teachingwas done at the ashram-school,as he himself underlined in an essayMySchool published in 1913. “I believe thatchildren should be surroundedwith thethings of nature, which have their owneducational value... Butwhat happens inschool is, thateveryday,at thesamehour,the samebook isbroughtandpouredoutforhim,”hewrote.ClassesatVisva-Bharaticontinue to be held in the open on thecampus, in linewiththatspirit.

Barnali Ghoshdastidar,whowasbornandeducatedinShantiniketanandisrela-tedtotheSinhafamilyofBirbhumthatow-nedthelandwhichTagore’sfatherbought,says,“Duringmychildhood,therewereonlyfew boundarywalls.ForGurudev(Tagore),educationwastobeimpartedinharmonywithnature.”Ghoshdastidar isaprofessoratNarasinhaDuttCollegeinHowrah.AsTagore’sfamespread,withhiswrit-

ingswinninghimtheNobelPrize forLite-raturein1913,Shantiniketandrewscholarsandprominent personalities fromacrosstheworld,whocamebothtoteachandex-periencetheashramlife.“HeturnedShan-tiniketan into a cosmopolitan universitytown. Renowned scholars visited Visva-Bharatiregularly.HewouldoftenleaselandtotheminShantiniketansothattheycouldhelphimdeveloptheashram,”saysMoni-shaBannerjee,analumnaofVisva-Bharati.Tagorealsomadethecelebrationofthe

annualPoushMela,startedbyhisfatherin1894,atradition.ThefairisheldoverthreedaysinDecember,concludingwithChristoUtsab(celebrationofChrist)onDecember26. Says sculptor andpainter Asis Ghosh,who has worked in Shantiniketan fornearly fourdecades, “TheMelawasanas-similationgroundforcultures.Bauls,Sufis,Santhals, all came together. This helpedtribal artisans get the opportunity to pro-motetheirproducts.”Lastmonth, thePoushMela couldnot

be held. While the official reason wasCovid-19,intheheatedpoliticalbattlefieldofWestBengalaheadoftheAssemblyelec-tion,set tobeabittercontestbetweentherulingTrinamoolandtheBJP,boththatandthelandrowareseentobemotivated.OnDecember24,Visva-Bharatiwrote

to theWest Bengal government allegingthat77plotsof landon theShantiniketanpremisesovertheyearshadbeenwronglyrecorded in the name of private parties.One of the parties namedwas AmartyaSen, a critic of theBJPgovernmentwhosefamily home Pratichi continues to belocatedontheuniversitycampus.Senhassaid the long-term lease of the land is“nowhere near its expiry”. ChiefMinisterMamata Banerjee has accused the BJP of“levelling baseless allegations”, andwrit-tentoSeninsolidarity,underlininghisfam-ily’s“deepbondwithShantiniketan”.ProfessorGhoshdastidar sees the row

as a product of the political tussle in thestate. “Gurudev always visualised Visva-Bharati to be a family.Whatwe arewit-nessing in Shantiniketan is an ugly fightbetween ideologies. This isnot aproblemof landencroachment.Andif landowner-shipistheprincipalissue,theMaharshididnotacquiretheamountoflandthatthein-stitutionownedevenin itsearlydays(thelanddealsmostlybeing informal).Wouldyou then call Debendranath Thakur andRabindranathThakurtocourt?”

Shantiniketan: Makingof a university town

historyHEADLINEAMITAVACHAKRABORTY

AviewoftheareaaroundShantiniketaninthe1930s.Courtesy:RabindraBhavana

The newIndian

New Delhi

15THESUNDAYEXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Crude WatchOIL LOGSWEEKLYGAINONSAUDICUTNew York: Oil prices hit their highest level in nearly a year Friday,gaining 8 per cent on the week, supported by Saudi Arabia’s pledge tocut output. Brent crude settled at $55.99 a barrel, climbing $1.61, or3 per cent, on the day and 8.1 per cent on the week.REUTERS

90DAYSTOARRIVEATAGREEMENT,30MOREDAYSFORNCLTAPPROVAL

KARUNJITSINGHNEWDELHI, JANUARY9

THE GOVERNMENT is likely toamend the Insolvency andBankruptcy Code (IBC) to intro-duce pre-packs as a resolutionmechanism, according to a gov-ernment official aware of thedevelopments.A pre-pack is an agreement

for a distressed company’s debtresolution between securedcreditors and investors insteadof a public bidding process, asunder theCorporate InsolvencyResolution Process (CIRP)of the IBC.The Corporate Affairs

Ministry,lastyear,formedacom-mittee led byMS Sahoo, chair-person of the Insolvency andBankruptcy Board of India, tolook into includingpre-packs asa resolutionmechanism undertheIBC.Pre-packsmayalsoofferanalternativeforcreditorstoini-tiate insolvency proceedings as

the government has suspendedinitiation of fresh cases for anydefaults occurring post-March24.The government, in June, is-sued an Ordinance preventinginitiationof insolvencyproceed-ings against companies for de-faults in the six-month periodstartingMarch25under the IBCand,subsequently,extendedthesuspensiontillMarch24,2021.Non-adherenceofprescribed

timelines under the IBC is a keycriticismthat thegovernment isseeking to address through theinclusionofpre-packsundertheIBC,with1,442ofatotal1,942on-going insolvency proceedingshavingpassedthe270-daymark.“The governmentmay seek

tointroducepre-packsundertheIBC in the next session ofParliament,”saidtheofficial.Themechanism thatwill need to beinitiated after approval by theNationalCompanyLawTribunal(NCLT) will allow 90 days forcreditors to arrive at an agree-mentwithapotentialbidderand

afurther30daysforapprovalbytheNCLT.Experts noted that the

process is relatively opaque,compared to the CIRP - underwhich any eligible party is per-mitted toplaceabid that is con-sidered by a Committee ofCreditors (CoC).TheSahoocommitteereport

has recommended that all pre-packagreementsinwhichoper-ationalcreditorsaresettoreceiveless thana full recoverybeopentoaswisschallenge,underwhichanyeligiblethirdpartywouldbepermitted to offer an improvedbid. The initial bidderwould, insuch cases, have the option tomatch the improved bid to getapproval for the pre-packagedagreement.In cases where operational

creditors are set to receive 100per cent recovery, however, thedecisiononwhethertoopentheagreement to a swiss challengewill be left to the CoC, whichwould comprise financial credi-torsas inthecaseof theCIRP.“The inclusion of pre-packs

shouldcertainlyhelpinexpedit-ing the insolvency resolution,whichhassignificantlyexceededprescribed timelines in manycases under the CIRP,” said RajivChandak, partner at DeloitteIndia, adding the governmentshouldconsidercreatingspecific

Benchestodealwithpre-packstoensurethatsuchcasesarenotde-layeddue to theheavy case loadofNCLTs.Chandakalsonotedthatthe inclusion of swiss challengewaslikelyaimedatpreventingfu-ture litigation fromoperationalcreditors,who receivemarginalrecoveries under the insolvencyresolutionprocess.NeerajDubey,partner at law

firm Singh and Associates, saidthe pre-pack processwould bemorestreamlinedwithlowerin-volvement from the NCLT, butnotedthat“partiesneedtofocuson good corporate governanceandnot try tocircumventanyoftheprocessesdefinedunderpre-pack regulations” as thiswouldbring increased scrutiny fromNCLTsanddefeat thepurposeofpre-packs.Dubey also noted that pre-

packsmay assume greater im-portance if the government de-cidestoextendthesuspensionofinsolvency initiation beyondMarch.

BRIEFLYKYConlyforbuyingjewelleryabove`2lakhNew Delhi: The RevenueDepartment has clarifiedthatKYC ismandatoryonlyfor purchase of gold, silverjewelleryorpreciousstonesaboveRs2lakh.Thenotifica-tionissuedunderPMLActonDecember 28 is a require-mentof FATFtospecifycar-rying out KYCwhen thereare‘cashtransactions’aboveRs10lakhandanyjewellerypurchase belowRs 2 lakhdoes not require PAN orAadhaarasamandatoryKYCdocument,sourcessaid.ENS

Indiausheringinrapidstructuralreforms:GoyalNewDelhi: Indiaisstrength-ening theentire ecosystemto achieve PrimeMinisterNarendraModi’s dreamofbecominga$5trillionecon-omyby2025throughrapidstructural reforms, Comm-erceMinister PiyushGoyalsaidonSaturday.

D-MartQ3profitup16.4%at`447croreNew Delhi: AvenueSupermarts Ltd, whichowns and operates retailchainD-Mart, on Saturdayreportedanincreaseof16.39per cent in its consolidatednetprofitatRs446.95crorefortheDecemberquarter.

Bitcoinonrecord spree,crosses $41KTokyo/London:Bitcoin jum-pedmorethan5percentonFriday to fresh recordhighsof$41,530.REUTERS

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,JANUARY9

THEUSadministrationhasonceagain amended the H-1B visanorms by changing the rules togivepriority tohigherwagesandskills for selection of deservingcandidates.Theoldlotterysystemofworkvisa selectionwill notbefollowednow.

WhatareH-1Bwokvisas?In1952,aftertheUSstartedex-

panding its presence in the sci-ence,technology,engineeringandmathematicsdisciplines,itfelttheneedtohirequalityworkerswhocouldhelpthecountryachievein-novationintheseareasatreason-ablecosts.Thisneedtohirework-erspavedwayfortheintroductionoftheH-1workvisasystem.This work visa systemwas

furthersubdividedintoH-1B,H-2B, L1,O1, andE1visas, depend-ingonthequalificationrequiredand the area forwhichworkerswere sought. Of these, theH-1Bvisa remains themost popularduetotherelativelybetterwagechance itoffers.Thearrivalofinternetandlow-

costcomputersinhomesanduni-versities of developing nationssuchasIndia,China,andPakistansawa large number of studentsgraduatingindisciplinesrelatedtocomputerscience,technology,en-gineeringandmathe-matics(STEM).Lackofjobs in their homecountries,ontheotherhand,meant that theSTEMgraduateswerewillingtowork intheUS at relatively lowcosts,whichprovedtobeawin-winsituationforboththeemployer and the employee,therebymaking theH-1Bworkvisasthemostpopular.TheH-1Bworkvisasystemhas

since undergonemany changesandrevisionstoallowordisallowcertaincategoriesofskilledwork-ers in theUS, depending on theeconomicsituationofthecountry.Of late, however, it has alsobeenoftenbeencriticised for sendinglow-costworkerstotheUSattheexpenseofdomesticworkers.

WhatwasthelotterysystemforselectionofH-1Band

otherworkvisas?Currently, every year theUS

administration issues85,000H-1Bworkpermits.Ofthese,65,000areforpeoplewithspecialtyoccu-pations,whiletherestarereservedfor foreign workers who haveearnedaMaster’sorahigheruni-versitydegreeintheUS.Eachemployerwho seeks to

employ aworker onH-1Bvisamustfilloutaregistrationformonbehalf of the em-ployee who theywish to employ. Theformcontainsall thedetails of the em-ployee, such as the

natureofworktheywillundertakeintheUS,thewagebeingofferedtothem, the level of education oftheseworkersandsoon.Since thenumberof applica-

tionsforH-1Bvisasfiledeachyearexceeded the 65,000 cap in thespecialtyoccupationsand20,000forthehighereducationcategory,the US Citizenship andImmigration Services then em-ployedarandomlotteryselectionoftheeligibleapplicantstofillthe65,000 vacancies, and thenmovedonthefillthenext20,000.This lottery system was com-pletely randomised anddid not

take into account any require-ments such as wages, skills orneedsof theemployer.

Whatisthenewwage-basedH-1Bworkvisaregime?The newwage-basedwork

visaregimewillnowgivepriorityinselectionofvisastoapplicationsof those employers where the“proffered wage equals or ex-ceeds” theprevailing level in thatarea of employment. The prof-feredwageisthethewagethattheemployerintendstopaytheben-eficiary.Thiswillbedoneforboththe65,000 regular visas and the20,000advanceddegreeexemp-tion visas. This regimewill alsotakeintoaccounttheskillsetthattherespectiveworkerbringstothecountryandcrosscheckitwhethersuch skill set is available at thesamecostamongtheUSworkers.According to theUSCIS, since

it is not possible to individuallyjudgetheskill setof all theappli-cants to the H-1B work visaregime,salariesarethebest indi-cators of the sameas employerswouldpayhighwagesonlytothemostdeserving candidates. This,theUSCISsaid,wouldalsonotun-dercutthejobsthatcouldbedonebyUSworkerswhowouldother-wisebeunemployed.

REUTERSTOKYO/DETROIT,JANUARY9

FORDMOTORCo,ToyotaMotorCorp,FiatChryslerAutomobilesand Nissan Motor Co Ltd saidon Friday theywould cut vehi-cle production thismonth dueto a shortage of semiconduc-tors, becoming the latest au-tomakers hit by a chip crunchas demand rebounds from thecoronavirus crisis.Honda Motor Co also said

FridayitsoutputinJapancouldbeaffected by a shortage of semi-conductors. Automakers andelectronic makers are facing aglobal shortage of chips as con-

sumerdemandhasbeenbounc-ing back from the coronaviruspandemic, causingmanufactur-ingdelays.Major auto chip suppliers

suchasNXPSemiconductorsaidauto production reboundedfaster than expected from thepandemic, leaving them strug-glingtocatchup.Meantime,chipmanufactur-

ing capacity has been stretchedthin globally as laptops fly offshelves forworking fromhome,andPCsandgamingconsolessellheavily,leadingchipfirmssuchasNvidia Corp towarn of supplyconstraints. And amove by USregulators to blacklist China’sSemiconductorManufacturing

InternationalCorp,thatcountry’slargest contract chipmaker, hassentchipfirmsaroundtheworldscramblingtofindnewpartners.Ford said it would idle its

Louisville, Kentucky, assemblyplant, which builds the Ford

EscapeandLincolnCorsairSUVs,pullingaheadascheduledweek-off fromlater intheyear.FiatChryslersaiditwilldelay

the restart of production at itsToluca, Mexico plant, where itbuildstheJeepCompass,andidle

its Brampton, Ontario plant thatbuilds the Chrysler 300, DodgeCharger and Dodge Challengercars.TheMexicanplanthadbeendue to restart production nextweek,butnowbothplantswillbeshut through the end of themonth,FCAsaid.Toyotawill cutproductionof

its Tundra full-size pickup truckat its San Antonio, Texas, plant,but spokesman Scott Vazin didnot immediately know howmanyunitswouldbelost. “We’llthrottle back production,” hesaid,addingnootherUSvehicleswereaffected.Ford declined to identify the

chipsupplierandspokeswomanKelli Felker said the company

hopestohavetheplantoperatingagainthefollowingweek.Nissan said it planned to re-

duceproductionoftheNote,ahy-brid electric car, at its OppamaPlant in Kanagawa prefecture,Japan but did not give details ofthescaleof theoutputcut.Germany’s Volkswagen said

lastmonth it faced a shortage inthe supply of semiconductorsandwould adjust production atfacilitiesinChina,NorthAmericaand Europe. Honda has also be-gun “seeing some impact in thepartssupply,”aspokesmansaid.GeneralMotorsCoandBMW

AG said they have not been af-fectedyetbutaremonitoringthesituationclosely.

REUTERSPARIS,JANUARY9

EUROPE’S AIRBUS postedstronger-than-expecteddeliveriesof566jetsin2020,remainingtheworld’s largest planemaker as ayear of pandemic-induced up-heavalforairtravelcoincidedwitha grounding crisis at US rivalBoeing. Deliveries fell by 34percent froma recordpostedayearearlier,when traveldemandwasridinghighontheincreasingmo-bilityof consumers in fast-grow-ingmarketsacrossAsia.Airbus said it had delivered

566aircraftin2020,exceedinges-timates earlier in the yearwhenthecoronaviruscrisisledtoalock-downofmajortravelmarkets.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JANUARY9

INDIA’STOTALfueldemandhitan11-monthhigh inDecember, butstill remained 2per cent belowpre-Covidlevels.Thetotaldemandforfuelprod-

ucts inDecemberwas18.60mil-liontonnes,downfrom18.95mil-liontonnesintheyear-agoperiod,but up 4 per cent, compared toNovember, according todata re-leasedbythePetroleumPlanningandAnalysisCell.Fuel demand fell sharply in

Marchafter thegovernment im-posedanationwide lockdowntocurb the spreadof Covid-19. Therecoveryof demand for fuelshasalso been hit by periodic lock-downs in various stateswhichhave set up containment zonesandmaintained localised lock-downstocurbthespreadofCovid.Demandforpetrolwasup9.3

percentat2.47milliontonnes inDecember, while demand fordiesel remained2.7per cent be-lowpre-Covid levels at 7.18mil-lion tonnes in the sameperiod.Petrol demandhas consistentlyposted growth since Septemberwhile diesel demand has onlyposted growth of 7.4 per centgrowthinOctober.

AUTOMAKERS ARE FACING SHORTAGE AS DEMAND HAS BEEN BOUNCING BACK AMID MANUFACTURING DELAYS

■Non-adherenceofprescribedtimelinesundertheIBCisakeycriticismthatthegovernmentisseekingtoaddressthroughtheinclusionofpre-packsunderIBC,with1,442ofatotal1,942ongoinginsolvencyproceedingshavingpassedthe270-daymark.

NON-ADHERENCETO TIMELINES

Eyeing faster resolution,govtmayamend IBCtobring inpre-packs APRIL2020:USPresident

DonaldTrumpsignsexecutiveordersuspendingapprovals forimmigrantandnon-immigrantworkersvisas,includingH-1Bfor60days

JUNE2020:TheTrumpadministrationextendsthe60daysuspensiontilltheendof2020

AUGUST5,2020:USPresidentTrumpsignsanotherexecutiveorderbarringfederalagenciesfromhiringH-1Bvisaholders

AUGUST15,2020:USchangesstance,allowssomeof theH-1Bworkvisaholders toreturntotheUSforcontinued

employmentwiththesameemployer

OCTOBER2020:DepartmentofHomelandSecurity (DHS)publishesinterimfinal rulesignalinglotterysystemforselectionofH-1Bworkvisaswouldbephasedout

DECEMBER31,2020:TheTrumpadministrationagainextendsthesuspensiononimmigrantandnon-immigrantworkvisas tillMarch2021

JANUARY8,2021:TheDHSreleases final rules,sayswages tobegivenpriority fromnow,lotterysystemofworkvisaselectiontobephasedout

CHANGES INH-1BVISAREGIMEOVERLAST 1YEAR

‘FY22: Risingmobility to helptoll collection growup to 15%’Toll collections are likely to grow 14-15 per cent in2021-22, rating agency Icra said, maintaining stableoutlook for the domestic road sector

FACTORSIncreasedmovementofbothpassengerandcommercialvehicles

FY22PROJECTIONThetraffic isexpectedtoincreaseby5percentandtoll rates(WPIlinked)by3-4percentresultinginanoverall increaseintollcollectionsby14-15percentonalowbaseinFY2021(giventheimpactoftollsuspensioninfirst20daysofApril2020)

13%Executionperdayto27.7km/dayin8M

FY2021from24.4km/dayin8MFY2020,whileadjustingforthefirst20daysofAprilwhereinnoconstructionactivitywasallowed

Strongliquiditybuffersandquickrecovery intraffichave

arrestedmajorslippagesinthecreditprofileoftoll roadassets

13%Therise intollmop-upinSeptember-

Novemberonanaverage, implyinggrowthof8-9percent intraffic intermsofpassengercarunits(PCUs);one-thirdofthisgrowthiscontributedbythepassengervehiclecategoryandtheremainingfromcommercialvehicles

Fewstateannuityprojectswithweakercounterpartycreditprofilesufferedduetoelongationinannuitypaymentcycle

Reliefmeasures like shift frommilestone-based billing tomonthly billing and release of retentionmoney/performancesecurity in proportion to thework already executed among others, which has immensely supported the road contractors

Source:Icra/PTI

6,207kmExecutionduringApril-

November(8M),4percenthigherthan5,958kmin

year-agoperiod

What are H-1B visas andnew wage-based rules?

■MajorautochipsupplierssuchasNXPSemiconductorsaidautoproductionreboundedfasterthanexpectedfromthepandemic, leavingthemstrugglingtocatchup.■Meantime,chip

manufacturingcapacityhasbeenstretchedthingloballyas laptopsflyoff shelvesforworkingfromhome,andPCsandgamingconsolessellheavily, leadingchipfirmssuchasNvidiaCorptowarnof supplyconstraints.

STRUGGLING TOCATCHUP

Chip shortage forces Ford, Toyota, Nissan, FCA to cut productionAirbus keeps top spotin Covid-hit jet marketamid Boeing’s troubles

AnAirbusA380outsidethefactoryofSteliaAerospace,anarmofAirbus,inFrance.File

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JANUARY9

LOW-COST AIRLINE GoAirSaturday said that it has termi-natedtheservicesof aseniorpi-lot who made derogatory re-marks on his Twitter account.Thepilotwhooriginallytweeted,“PM is an idiot. You can callmesame in return. It’s ok. I don’tmatter.BcozIamnotPM.ButPMis an idiot. Period” on Thursday,hasdeletedthetweetandlockedhisTwitteraccount.Later on Thursday, he also

tweetedanapology. “I apologiseformytweetsaboutPM,otherof-fensive tweetswhichmay havehurtsentimentsofanyoneassoci-ated.IconveythatGoAirisnotas-sociatedwith any ofmy tweetsdirectlyorindirectlyastheywere

personalviews,”heposted.A GoAir spokesperson, con-

firming the sacking of the pilot,said: “GoAir has zero tolerancepolicyand it ismandatory for allGoAiremployeestocomplywiththe company’s employmentrules,regulationsandpolicies,in-cluding socialmedia behaviour.The airline does not associate it-self with personal views ex-pressed by any individual or anemployee.GoAirhasterminatedthe services of the captainwithimmediateeffect”.

Theseniorpilothasdeletedthetweetandlockedhisaccount.Healsotweetedanapology

GoAir sacks pilotfor derogatorytweets about PM

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,JANUARY9

EXPRESSINGCONCERNof cronycapitalism, Congress leader andformer Finance Minister PChidambaramonSaturday saidthegovernmentneedstocreateanatmospherewhereeverybody istreatedequallyandensurethatnotjust fivebut500businesshousesareexpanding.“Todaywehavecronycapital-

ism.That cannotbedenied. I cangiveexamplesofcronycapitalism,youknowitaswellasIdo...Aslongasyouhavecronycapitalismthosewhoarenotyourcronieswillhes-itate to start business, saidChidambaram.Thegovernmenthastocreate

aclimatewhereeverybodymustbelieve that he or shewould betreatedequally andwill have an

equal opportunity, he saidwhileaddressing the 25th WhartonIndia Economic Forum. “It’s notenough to have five businesshouses expanding,weneed500businesshousestoexpandandweneednewbusinesses andentre-preneurs like Infosys,WiproandtheguywhostartedFlipkart.Weneednewbutthenewpeopleareafraid that unless they play thegame which the governmentwants themtoplay, theywill besqueezedout,”hesaid.

Chidambaram airsconcerns overcrony capitalism

‘Aatmanirbharmust not betaken as India’smove towardsisolating itself’PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI,JANUARY9

INDIA’SSELF-RELIANCEcampaignmustnotbyanystretchof imagi-nation be taken as amove “to-wards isolating itself”, but tobeapart of the global value chain, itmustimprovestandards,skilllev-els,consistencyandservicelevelsto consumers, Hero EnterpriseChairmanSunilKantMunjalsaid.Speakingatthe25thWharton

India Economic Forum, he saidIndiahastobecomeasignificantexporterif ithastobecomeakeyplayer in global trade. He said,“One is for India to becomebet-teratwhatitdoesisabsolutelyes-sential but AatmanirbharmustnotbyanystretchofimaginationbetakenasIndia’smovetowardsisolatingitself”.

TOTALDEMAND

■Thetotaldemandfor fuelproducts inDecemberwas18.60milliontonnes,downfrom18.95milliontonnes intheyear-agoperiod,butup4percent, comparedtoNovember,accordingtodatareleasedbythepetroleumplanningandanalysiscell.

18.60MT

Fuel demand touches11-month high, but staysbelow pre-Covid levels

“Todaywehavecronycapitalism...As longasyouhavecronycapitalismthosewhoarenotyourcronieswill hesitatetostartbusiness”

PCHIDAMBARAMFORMERFINANCEMINISTER

New Delhi

T H E S U N D A Y E X P R E S S M A G A Z I N E

SPOTLIGHT

Deadly DeceptionAs a film on a case that shocked Kerala and a

killer who was never caught is announced,former investigators recount a murder most foul

POINTOFVIEW

Rise in LoveMississippi Masala and why prejudicecan’t hold love back

JANUARY 10, 2021 | WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM | PAGE 16

SOUL CURRYThe most interestingthing about comfort

food is that it’s aconcept that’s

recognised widelyenough that onenever needs to

explain what it is,and yet, it manages

to encompass astunning variety

of foods

Pooja Pillai

JULIA CARMEN Desa has just madesoup for lunch. The soup is made ofwinter vegetables like bathua(Chenopodiumalbum),spinach,radishandcarrots; there’ssomecheese in it,as well as coconut milk, coriander

roots and a pinch of Madras curry powder.Desa will serve it for lunch to her family,alongwithsomegarlicbread.“If Ihadaddedchicken, it would have been better, but it’squitegoodevenwithoutit. It’ssimple,warmandcomforting,”Desasays.AtTRES,themodernEuropeanrestaurant

inDelhi’stonyLodhiColony,wheresheischefandco-owner,thefoodisalotmorefinessed:sweetpotatowithcaramelisedyogurt;grilledsmokedpaprikagarlictigerprawnswithpo-tato leek foam. While she needs to tasteeverything that ismade in her professionalkitchen,besideseatingatcompetitors’restau-rants,Desaassuresthatat theendof thedayall shewants is somehot rice and fish curry.“That’s theGoaninme,”shesays.Desaisn’taloneinlookingatthefamiliar

andcomfortabletotideoverstress.Overthelast 10months, as pandemic-related anxi-eties gripped us all, many of us sought sol-ace in food. Aswe tracked the R-number ofthe coronavirus, grappledwithnewsof paycuts and layoffs, we longed for the simpledalsandkhichdisofourmothersandgrand-mothers. When it became clear that wemight not be able tomeet our families for awhile,we sought to fill our houseswith thearoma of fresh rotis and breads, remindersofwhat itmeant tohave a full stomachanda happy heart.We Googled recipes for no-churnicecreamsandpressure-cookercakesto satiate our sugar cravings and lull usthroughanxiety-fillednights.Therecipeswelookeduponlineare, infact,agoodindicatorofwhatwas onourminds in 2020: accord-ingtoGoogle’s“YearinSearch2020”,nineofthe top 10 searches forrecipes last year was forcarb-heavyanddeeplysat-isfying food, such as sour-doughbread,naanandtheGreekpastry, ekmek.In their satiety value,

their familiar textures andflavoursandtheirunfailingability to calm our heartsandminds, these arewhatwe would broadly call“comfort food”. The term itself, according toMichael Owen Jones and Lucy M Long inComfortFood:MeaningsandMemories(2017,UniversityofMississippiPress),mayhavefirstappeared in print onNovember 6, 1966, intheDesMoinesRegister.Thereissomedisputeabout thishistory, but theoriginof the termisundeniablyAmerican,astheOxfordEnglishDictionarystatedwhenitaddedadefinitionin1997:“foodthatcomfortsoraffordssolace;hence, any food (frequentlywithhigh sugaror carbohydrate content) that is associatedwithchildhoodorhomecooking”.Butdoescomfortfood, indeed,comfort?

Researchhasrevealedthephysiologicalandpsychological effects of consuming carb-and/orsugar-heavyfood,oftendescribedas“comfort food”. According to a 2008 paper

by American psychologists Joyce A CorsicaandBonnie JSpring, a two-weekstudy theyconducted “supports the existenceof a car-bohydrate-craving syndrome inwhich car-bohydrate self-administration improvesmildly dysphoric mood”. A 1997 study byAmerican psychologist Larry Christensenhadputitmorebluntly:“…itisapparentthatcarbohydrateconsumptionisrelevantforin-dividuals experiencing symptoms of emo-

tionaldistress,particularlysymptomsindicativeofde-pression,andthattheindi-viduals with depressivesymptoms show a prefer-ence for sweet simple car-bohydrates.”Thishappensbecause carbohydrates in-creasetheavailabilityoftheamino acid tryptophan,whichcreatesniacin (vita-minB3).Niacinisessential

forthecreationoftheneurotransmittersero-tonin, which besides helping to regulatesleep and digestion, is also a naturalmoodstabiliser.Inanutshell,carbohydratesdohelpin improvingmood.Notsurprisingly,then,emotionaldistress

—ashasbeenwidelyexperiencedduringtheCOVID-19pandemic—isanaturaltriggerformany people to seek solace in food. This iswhatstudiesconductedlastyearrevealed:alotmore people resorted to “emotional eat-ing” to copewith the stress of losing a job,worryingover lovedonesor theboredomofstayingcoopedupindoors.AstudybyagroupofItalianresearchers,ledbyclinicalnutrition-istLauraDiRenzo,saidthat86percentofthepeople theysurveyedhadreported that iso-lation, lack of stimuli, boredomand change

offoodroutineledthemtoabandonanypre-vious inclination to control their diets.Similarly, aCanadianstudy, ledbyneurosci-entistMelissaJChee,onthe“pandemicbak-ing” phenomenon revealed that one of thepreferredstrategiesforcopingwithreducedhoursandbeing laidoffwastoeat.Mostresearchthatlinksmoodtofoodap-

proaches thesubject fromtheperspectiveofobesityorcardiovascularhealth.Butthisisjustonewayofunderstandingcomforteating.AsSangeetaKhanna,foodconsultantandauthorof Pakodas: The Snack for All Seasons (2019,Westland) points out, “Food is not the onlycomponent of ‘comfort food’. It’s also abouttheparticulartimeandplaceorsituationthatyou associate that foodwith.” In Khanna’scase, roastedbabypotatoesandpeasremindher of her childhoodwith her grandmotherwho,duringwinter,would roast these foodsonabhursi,asmallearthenheater,andwouldhandthemouttothechildrenwhogatheredaroundhertolistentostories.It’s not just a happy

childhoodthatgildscertainmemories and makes usreach for the food associ-ated with them. “I knowpeoplewho are self-madeandforwhomcomfortfoodrecalls the simple mealsthat theywould eat duringtheir struggling days,” saysKhanna. Here, the comfortderivedfromahard-earnedmeal is thrown into sharp relief by the des-peration of hunger— and thememory be-comesasourceoffuturecomfort.“WhenIwasabout16yearsold,Iheardaboutaneighbour’sfatherwhocouldonly afford to eat ricewith

chilli-garlic chutneywhen hewas youngerandpoorer.Yearslater,evenafterhewasverywell-off, itwashiscomfortmeal,”shesays.That it’s not just the foodby itselfwhich

elevates mood is backed by research. In a2005article, ‘ComfortFoods:AnExploratoryJourney into the Social and EmotionalSignificanceof Food’, published in the jour-nal Food and Foodways, medical sociologistJulie L. Locherwrote about a surveywhichhad led her and her colleagues to establishfourcategoriesofcomfortfoodbasedontheemotional and social needs they fulfilled:nostalgic foods,which are identifiedwith aparticulartimeandplaceinone’shistory;in-dulgence foods,which are defined in termsof how expensive they are or how rich incalories; convenience foods, which give ef-fortless gratification by how convenientlyavailable they are; and physical comfortfoods, which offer comfort through theirphysicalattributesorhowtheyphysicallyaf-fect theconsumer.

Of these four, the cate-gory that is most relevantfor understanding whatdrove comfort eating in2020 is the first one.Locher’sstudyshowedthatnostalgic foods werestrongly associated withmemories of being caredfor, sharing foodwith sig-nificantothersduringspe-cialoccasionsorpreparing

thefoodwithothers.Thisisborneoutbytheresultsofaconsumertrendsstudy(TheStateofSnackingReport)bytheglobalsnacksman-ufacturerMondelezInternationalinIndiain2020. According to this study, conducted

from October 6 to 20 and released inDecember, 88 per cent of 555 Indian adultssurveyed said that they snackedmore dur-ingthepandemicthanin2019,withcomfortbeingtheNo.1driver.About81percentsaidthatbuyingandeatingsnacksbroughtbackgoodmemories,while95percentsawsnacktimeasatimeforconnectingwithothers,ei-therbymakingasnacktogether(55percent)oreatingasnacktocelebrateaspecialocca-sion(54percent).“Theinterestingthingwashowsnacktimebecamearitualforcomfort,”saysAnilViswanathan,seniordirector,mar-keting(chocolates),MondelezIndia,“Peoplewould set aside time for it, as a break fromwork,sothattheycansitwiththefamilyandeat. This was also the case for those whowouldsnackbythemselves:theywouldfindcomfort ineatingduring theirbreak.”But, perhaps, themost interesting thing

aboutcomfortfoodisthatit’saconceptthat’srecognisedwidely enough that one neverneeds to explainwhat it is, and yet, itman-ages to encompass a stunning variety offoods— fromsoups, stewsandheartymeatdishes, to chips, cookies and cakes. Even aswe seem to instinctively understandwhy afriend describes chocolate ice cream as her“comfortfood”,wemightourselvesfindsuc-courinsomethingascompletelydifferentasriceandmuttoncurry. It comesdownto in-dividualandculturalcontext.“Everysocietyhas its equivalent of chicken soup for thesoul,”saysfoodhistorianPushpeshPant.“Forme ‘comfort food’means a simple, no frillswholesomemealthatnotonlynourishesthebodybutalsorevivesthespiritsevokingnos-talgiaof happy timesspentwith family.”While comfort food is supposed to pro-

videapersonal anchor inachaoticworld, asa broad concept it is constantly shifting andchanging.Pantpointstotheexampleofaone-dishmeal like jaula/chhansia (rice cookedwithcurdsorbuttermilkwithjustapinchofturmeric and salt), whichwas traditionallyprepared in the hills of Uttarakhand for theinfirmorconvalescent.“Idon’tthinkcomfortfoods can remain static. With changinglifestyles, convenience cooking and—moreimportantthananythingelse—thebreakingupofjointfamilies,fewintheyoungergener-ationhavememoriesofconsumingfoodpre-paredforthemtocheerthemup.Aspirationalfoods like soups fromsachets,momos, two-minutenoodlesetc.havepushedtraditionalcomfortfoodsoff-stage,”hesays,overemail.It has beenpointed out that our present

world issuchthatwenowresort tocomforteatingmore thanever in thepast. Inher es-say on comfort food for the Encyclopedia ofFood and Culture (2003, Charles Scribner’sSons), Locher wrote, “Conditions of post-modern societies present individuals withstressorsthatareoftenbeyondtheircontrol.Atthesametime,societieshavebecomecon-sumer-oriented, and individuals have be-comemoredefinedbytheobjectstheycon-sume…eatingcomfortfoodmaybeameansofmaintainingcontrolovertheselfwhenallelse seems out of control.” The bad news isthat, at present, with news of fresh lock-downs andmutant coronavirus strains, itdoesn’tseemlikethingswillbeundercontrolany time soon. The good news?We can al-ways eat some freshlybakedbread to com-fortourselves.

In times of unusual stress, such as the ongoing COVID-19pandemic, we often seek solace in food that is familiar andnourishing. What is it that makes certain kinds of food moreappealing than others in times of unease?

A HOT BOWLOF COMFORT

eye

PHOTOS:GETTYIMAGES

New Delhi

WE ARETHE WORLD

For2021tobedifferentand2020tonotbeawastedyear,

wemustacknowledgeourdependenceon

oneanother

YOU’VE GOTMAIL

(From top) TheRashtrapati BhavanPost Office in 1979,

and now

P O I N T O F V I E W17EYE , THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE

JANUARY 10, 2021

EYE SPYEVERYFORTNIGHT,WEPICK,YOUWATCH

Shubhra Gupta

ONEOFthemanypleasuresof runningintoafilmonehaswatched,andliked,manyyearsagoisdiscoveringhowithastravelled: I’mpleasedtoreportthatMiraNair’s1991

MississippiMasala,whichIcaughtattherecent IViewFestival,has legs.Watchingit todaycompelsyoutorevisitthepast,andtorealisehowpertinent it iseventoday.Afamilyof third-generationIndiansinKampala,

Uganda,relocatestotheUSintheearly ’70s. JayandKinnu,playedbyRoshanSethandSharmilaTagore, fetchupinMississippi,atownmanyof theircompatriotshavemadehome.Onarecce,Nairhaddiscoveredthatmanyofthemotels intheregionwererunbytheAsianswhohadfledIdiAmin’sUganda,andherfilmshinesalightonthebigotryandracismrampantatthetime.Oneof themosttellingelementsondisplayisthecom-

plexdisseminationofracism,andhowitisexperienced.Jay’sdiscomfortwithhisstraitenedcircumstancesisshowninhisconstantyearningtoreturntohiscomfort-able,prosperouslifeasalawyerinKampala.Hisbestfriend,whomhegrewupwithasachild, isBlack.ButhisdaughterMina(SaritaChoudhury,vital,glowing)gravitat-ingromanticallytowardsDemetrius(DenzelWashington),aBlackmanbornintheUS, isnotacceptable,neithertohim,nortotheextendedIndiancommunity.Finally, itallcomesdowntothecolourofyourskin.The

African-AmericanDemetriuswho,alongwithhisfather,runsamodestcarpet-cleaningoperation, is lookeddownuponbytheIndiancommunity.Theself-samebunch,initshypocriticalturn, issnarkyaboutMina’sdarkcomplexion:whichgood“desiboy”(andsaidboy’smother),will lookuponMinawithfavour?ThelocalWhitesare,ofcourse,ontopof thetotempole,thenandnow.It’snot justtheconservativedesicommunitywhich

closesranksagainst“outsiders”.RanjitChowdhryandMohanAgasheplayfamiliartypes:theformercomingdownheavyonthosewhomheemploys,whethertheyarekinornot,andthelatterastreet-smart fellowwhosweet-talkshispalsoutof trouble.AndNairherself comesoninadelightfulcameoinwhichsheisshowngossiping,andcalled, inthecredits, “Gossip1”.Kinnuispleasedwhenasuitabledesiboywantsto

dateMina,butwhatcanyoudowhenyourdaughterwantstobehavelikeAmericans?Kinnu, likesomanycon-fusedimmigrants, forgetsthatherdaughter, toall intentsandpurposes, isAmerican.ThenthereisDemetrius’sfamily,discomfitedbyMina’s“differentness”.Theonlywayoutisout:thetwotakingoff, leavingbehindtheirbaggageofcorrugatedidentities,providethefilmanup-beatend.Butalsoleaveuswonderingabouthowthepairfared,downtheroad.Lookaround, intoday’s India,andseetheunspeakable

difficultiesyoungpeopleofdifferentfaithsareexperienc-ingingettingtogether. Isrunningawaytheonlyanswer?Andhowfarcanyourun?Nair ishopingtore-releasethefilmthisyear,anditcannotcomeatabettertime.

Mississippi Masala and whyprejudice can’t hold love back

Rise in Love

LATEONEnightin2007,acall fromJean-LucNaret,publisheroftheesteemedTheMichelinGuideNewYorkCity, changed the fateofmyrestaurantandmyprofessional lifeasachefand restaurateur.My chef-partner, HemantMathur, and I had already been the recipi-ents of wonderfully kind, generous andlaudatoryreviewsacrossnewspapers,mag-azines,journalsandwebsites.Thewho’swhoof the food world and beyond had eitherdinedatDeviorhaditontheirmust-visitlist.Butwith the firstMichelin star given to anIndian restaurant in North America camemore recognition and celebrityhood,moreinfluenceandnotoriety.I found myself even more engaged in

speakingandteachingandmosthappilyso.While my business partners enjoyed theteemingcrowdspouringintosavourourcui-sine,Iwasoutsharingmyknowledgeandin-spiring—atleast, IhopedIwas—andreturn-ing homewith just enough time to createnewmenu items and freshen up the old,while being a spouse, dog- and cat-daddy,andkeepingallentertained.Somemonths, Iwouldfindmyselfontheroadfor20days,atthe restaurant for aweek, and at home foronly a night or two. I felt as invincible andpowerful as the US army. It was a rush thatwas intoxicating. Itwasahigh that fed itselfand keptme happily removed from the re-alitiesof life,fromgraspingthewearandtearthatmybodyandsoulwereenduring.Adecadeoffeelinginvulnerableandscal-

ingmanysummitswasathrillthatcamewithafeelingofbeingwanted,respected,admiredandloved. Ineverpausedtoworryaboutmybody.Ofcourse,thetravelsbroughtlucrativesuccesswhichkeptour farminupstateNewYork all natural and organic and a place forfamilyandfriendstoretreat.Ithoughtthatto

beworthmyrunningraggedandburningthecandleatbothends.But lifehadotherplans.It all endedwithme suffering concussionsowingtofalls,andamini-strokein2018.Poorhealthservedmetheultimateultimatum—tochangemywaysor losemylife.Theyear2020hasshownhownoneofus,

nomatter our colour, race, gender, class, na-tionality or celebrity status are immune to aruthless pandemic. Nowhere has the pan-demicshownitsmightmoremercilesslythanin theUS. Themost powerful nation in theworld, the richest and most dangerouslyarmed,whosecitizenshaveforcenturiesseen

therestoftheworldasbelowpar,wasbroughttoitskneesandbrokenintopieceswhichwilltakedecades toput back together. Thepatri-archal,invinciblenationtalkingdowntoothercountries,witha“mywayorthehighway”ap-proach todiplomacy, usingmoneyandmili-tarymighttobuyallies,wasexposedasunder-preparedandworse.Anation investing in itsowndemise,wherethe1percentisbusyfind-ingways to savemoneyon taxes as thepoorgowithout access to food, clothing, roof overtheirheads,healthcareandeducation.Returning tomybelovedmotherlandaf-

ter27yearsinNewYork,IseewhatailsIndia.Theworld sees it, too. If wedidn’t recogniseour follies, theWesternmedia would rubtheminourfaces. Iamgratefultheworldre-mindsusofourchallenges,ofhowbrokenweare.Weneedreminders.Allofusdo.CertainlyIwasterrifiedbythesightofmigrantlabour-erswalkingformilesonthehighways inthescorching summer heat, but I understoodtheywereheadedhome,toruralhamlets, tobewithfamily.IntheUS,therichwereescap-ing the cities for theHamptons, leaving thepoorandmiddleclassbehindintheeyeofthestorm,withno infrastructure to serve them,andworse, no familial help either. The nu-clear-familyconstructhadstolenthatpossi-bility decades ago.With people of colour intheUSdyingof COVID-19at three times therate ofWhite people, the virus has shownhowtheAmericannarrative has failed itselfandall that it stands for.Thepandemicdemandsfromustoques-

tion Big Daddy andwhether it ought to, atleast, spend some time in self-examination.TheAmericanmediaisattheepicentreofthetragedythathasbecometheAmericanstory.Is there anyone tacklinghowtoend theper-versityofthespectatorsportthatisBlackand

Brown suffering? Howmanymore Blackdeaths will it take for America to makeamendstohowitpolicesitsstreets?Whowillexpose the systemic failure that broughtDonald Trump to powerwith a substantialmandateandunderstandhowpeoplehemostdespisesbecamehisvotebank?Socialmediaandthepandemichaveexposedtherot.WithAmericabroken, theworldhaslosta leader.Many are looking to the Joe Biden-

KamalaHarristickettoreviveAmerica.Butitwillnotbeenoughthatthenewadministra-

tioncomescloakedinblueliberalgarb.Itwillneed to liberate theUS fromthe shackles ofpolicies of the past and create a newworldorder, a disruptiveway of thinking, wheregeopolitics is turnedupsidedownandlife isreassessedasanequitable journey forall.Ihadmyahamomentwiththestroke.For

2021 to be a year truly different from 2019oryearspast,andfor2020tobeayearwhichisn’t altogetherwasted, theUS— andwe—must have a similar ahamoment.Wemustacknowledgeourvulnerabilityanddepend-ence on one another.We cannot allow theworld to remain in the status quowhere afewwealthy nations or individuals dictatethemajority.Wemustdemandthattheme-dia go back to sharing news and facts, notcommentaryandopinions that support thelobbyistsandcorporationspayingfor itsex-istence. I yearn toseeanAmericannewspa-per admit the poverty, abuse, rape, pillageandplunderinandbytheUSinsteadofcarv-ingself-servingheadlinesoutofsimilarinci-dents in thedevelopingnations.Let’sbegin2021withapledgetothinkbe-

yond ourselves. To see our life as a connec-tion to our familial unit, our family as a linkto a larger community, our community as apieceoftheclearlydefinedyetforevergrow-ingandevolvingpuzzlethatisourcountry,asmallbutinterconnectedandinterdependentpart of theworld of nations. These nations,however different theirmake-up, are all to-getheraffectingthe lifeof theplanetEarth.Whenweunderstandthis, thatmoment,

that day,will be our ahamomentwhenwerealisewhat it reallymeansto live inaglobalvillage, nomatterwherewehouse our bod-ies, what flagwe salute, what languagewespeakandwhichdialectof thatwefavour,orwhatGod(s)wemayormaynotworship.Thenewyearwill be a happy one if our humancollectivecanriseaboveourcomfortingismsofsamenessandreachouttothoseotherswenever noticed before, in our owncommuni-ties,statesandnations,andacrosstheworld.Inseeingfaces,lives,lovesandsoulsinothers,wewillfinallyconnectwithourfellowbeings,and in that communion find the curewhichmightkeepussafefromfuturepandemics.

A Year of PossibilitiesNo matter how invulnerable we may feel, as individuals or nations,

we all need periodic reality checks

Jagannath Srinivasan

EVEN THEmost avid students ofhistory may not have heard ofMunshi Abdulla Khan, BabuWCChakravarty, L Amarnath andMathra Das. To allow these gen-

tlemen to shimmer through the mists oftime, onemust step back to the ViceregalLodge, Shimla, in1904.On July 24, 2014, the

then President PranabMukherjee inaugurated anew post office in thePresident’s Estate, andtweeted:“TheRashtrapatiBhawanPostOfficestartedastheViceroysCampPostOffice in Shimla on10.6.1904 andhas histori-cal records.” This state-ment was accompaniedby a photograph of a notebythePostmaster,Shimla,in the Order Book of theViceroys CampPost Office (VCPO). It notedthat the office was in good order, and thatthe first two letters received and stampedwere for Lady Ampthill, wife of LordAmpthill, Governor of Madras and actingViceroy,andMajorStrachey,ComptrolleroftheHousehold.

ItisinthisOrderBookthatthosefourgen-tlemen appear, as sub-postmasters andclerks of the VCPO. Since thiswas a touringpost office, they travelledwith all the para-phernalia between Calcutta, Shimla andDelhi,cateringtothecommunicationneedsof theViceroys.Theycameinforpraisefromthe inspecting officers for the “good order”ofthepostoffice.Anentryfrom1932records,“This office opened in 1904, has had a good

career, freefromanyfraudandwithbutfewirregular-ities.” In1927, the inspect-ingofficerstates,“Ihavenodoubt that BabuWoomacharanChakravatiSub Postmaster, takes akeen interest in his work,andappears tobe thecor-rect man in the correctplace, as he has an abun-dance of common senseandintelligence.”Inhisre-ply, the sub-postmasterwrites, “I feel thankful tonote that, atyour firstvisit

of my office, you have been able to carry ahappyimpressionwithyou,andIamgladtomention thatmy co-partner, BabuMathraDas,canbeaco-sharerinthecreditthatyoumaygive for thisofficeworking.”Apart from Chakravarty’s work ethics,

what theserecordsalsoreveal is the impor-

tanceof thepostoffice for theViceroy.Until1854, postal service was a chaoticmedley,withvaryingrulesandpostageratesindiffer-ent provinces. Regularmailswere availablebetween a few important centres, and thedistrict collectorswereresponsible for theirlocalpost-offices,withaseniormilitaryoffi-cer being postmaster for cantonments. Thepostal reformsinBritain,withthe introduc-tion of the “Penny Post” (uniform postageacross the country), hadn’t been replicatedinIndia.LordBentinckmadeinitialattempts,but it was Lord Dalhousiewho in 1854, es-tablished the Imperial Postal DepartmentunderaDirectorGeneral. Inthemidstof theAnglo-SikhWarin1848,hehadwrittenfrom

Ambala to the Governor of the North-Western Provinces (NWP) to replicate theEnglish system of a unified post office. Theexpansionoftherailwaynetworkalsomadethe taskeasier.The strategic importance of the post of-

ficewasmadeapparent in1857. TheBritisharmy in Indiawas thendeficient in twokeyareas, intelligence and transport. But thepostmasterswere able to provide informa-tion on the spread of the revolt, especiallywheretherewerenotelegraphlines.Ahighlyorganisedhorsetransportandbullocktrains,partof thepostalnetwork,aidedthearmyintroop movements and evacuation of thewounded and the refugees, including thesuccessfultransportof ladiesandchildrenofLucknowtoCalcutta,afterthesiegewasbro-kenbySirColinCampbell.The VCPO was so important for the

viceroys that themilitary secretary in 1920ruled thatonly thebestofficialswithat least10yearsofservicebepostedthere.TheRecordBookinitsearlydaysatteststheimportanceoftheViceroy’smail. Anorder of 1910directedthe“TownInspectorofPostOfficestoconveythe foreignmails of theViceroy to theVCPObyhiredrickshaw(keptreadybeforehandforthatpurpose)andtoconveyhisoutwardmailsunder receipt to the Overseer on the KalkaShimlaTrain.”Multipleentriesrecordingtheinspector’s receipt of the “Viceroy’s SecretBags” appear in theOrder Book. The impor-tanceofefficientdeliveryofmailswithintheViceroy’s Camp is attested in Babu WCChakravarty’srequestforefficientpostmeninviewof the irregularities committed by thetemporary postmenattached from the localpostofficewhenhewasontour.The telegraph, proven indispensable in

1857, continued togain importance. A1909order gave preference in promotion to offi-cials trained to operate the telegraph. TheVCPOhada telephoneand theRecordBooknotesanexchangeaboutwhetherthepolicecoulduse it freeof cost.Thepost office did not renounce its peri-

patetic nature even on shifting with theViceroytoDelhi.In1935,forexample,itwasinCalcuttainJanuary,DelhiinMarchandShimlainMay.FinallyitsettledintheViceroy’sEstate,andservicesbeyondthemailandmoneyor-ders started appearing. The DeputyPostmasterGeneral,PanjabandNWP,in1937educatedthestaffonlifeinsuranceandaskedthem to ensure availability of “Bijoya”telegram forms. As Indians started openingsavingsbankaccounts,therearereferencestotranslatingaddressesfromthe“vernacular”.In1947,itwasrechristenedtheGovernor

General’sCampPO, andsoonreflectednewrealities. An inspection report mentionsMohammad Alam, sub-postmaster, whoopted for Pakistan and was relieved onAugust9.EvenduringthechaosofPartition,itcontinuedtoprovide“exemplary”services,and the private secretary to the GovernorGeneralexpressedpleasureontheneatnessof the office. After a brief appearance as thePresident’s CampPO, in 1950 it became theRashtrapati Bhavan Post Office, and ceasedannual pilgrimages to Shimla. The RBPO isnowa service provider for theheadof stateofdemocratic India,andtheresidentsof thePresident’sEstate.

JagannathSrinivasan isOfficeronSpecialDutyinthePresident’sSecretariat

SuvirSaranSuvir Saran isachef, author, educator

andworld traveller

SLICEOFLIFE

Postcards from the PastFrom a chaotic medley to a unified system, the post office was important

for intelligence gathering and services of mail and money

Living HistoryAn Indian Express

collaboration with theRashtrapati Bhavan

SUVIRSARAN

PHOTOSCOURTESY:RASHTRAPATIBHAVAN

New Delhi

S P O T L I G H T 18EYE , THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE

JANUARY 10, 2021

The Smalland MightyFear not just the big and the fierce.Sometimes, the smaller thecreatures, the deadlier they are

RanjitLalRanjit Lal isanauthor,environmentalist andbirdwatcher

DOWNINJUNGLELAND

RIGHTFROMourchildhoodwearetoldbigani-malsaredangerous.At thetopof themost-feared listarethecarnivores—lions, tigers,leopards,hyenasandbearsonland,andcroco-

dilesandsharks inthewater.Thegrowlsandsnarlsof thebigcarnivoresarewarningenough,not tomentiontheirfearsomefour-inchcanineswithwhichthey’ll crunchyourbonesandmuscles.Thesubmarineattackersrearupinaheart-stoppingmomentof sheerviolence,orslinkupfrombeneathtochompyouclean inhalf.Generationshavebeenbroughtuponsuchhorror

storiesaswellasstirringtalesofbravehunterssettingforthtoridusof thesescourges.People invillagesandsmall townsaroundwhichtheseman-eatingpredatorshunted, lived inathrallof fear, lockingthemselves in-doorsatdusk—though,sometimes,eventhiswasnotenough.Andthen,withanunerringshot, thehunter tookdownthemenaceandcelebrationswere inorderandthebeastwasparadedthroughthevillagetoassureevery-onethat itwas indeeddead.Thesedays,withournewlovefor lynching,oftentheentiremalepopulationof thevillagewillhystericallyhuntdownthepredator,andbeatit toapulp.We’vehunteddownmorethan90percentoftigers, so thechancesof youmeetingoneandbecominglunchwhileonawalk inthe jungleareminuscule.Old junglehandsmight tell you thatmore thanthe

carnivores, thebigvegansneedtobe feared. InmostIndian forests,wildelephantsareconsidered tobe themostdangerous: silentas smoke, intelligentandmerci-less.Worse, gangswillnothesitate to invadevillagesand laywaste—snarfingup foodgrain, sugarcaneandvegetables—andguzzlingdownthehomemademoon-shineat the localbar.Othernotoriousvegans includerhinosandwildbuffalo,whoare famously short-tem-peredand likely tochargeonsight.Out inAfrica, thehippo is considered themostdangerous, killingmorepeople thanthebigcats. Even theportlywildboarcanprove tobeanunpredictable foe, ready to lacerateyou

with its tusks. It’s telling that theseguysdon’t eveneatyou, justmashyou into thedirt and leavewitha tri-umphant tossof theirheads.Then there is thealmostuniversally-hated (and-

feared)kingdomof reptiles.All snakesaswell as lizards—fromthegiantKomododragonto thesmilingwallgecko—areconsidered tobevenomous.Besides,wehaveseenwhatcrocodilesandalligators cando.Thepsychedelic arrow-poison frogsof Central andSouthAmericacan takedown20menbymere touch, andso,thenative Indians tippedtheirhuntingarrowswith thepoison. In theseasandoceans, strangemonstrous-look-ing fishandbeautifulmollusksare loadedwithvenom.Touchthemandyou’llwrithe inagony.Get stingedbythe lacy jellyfish trailingyardsof silkenstrandsandyouarenearlydone for.Abovewater,birdsaretaughttobefeared, too.Eagles

carrybabiesandsmallchildrenaway;owlspluckyoureyesoutorcastspellsonyouandcrowsmobyoumerci-lessly if youtakepotshotsat them.Then, there is themind-bogglingdiversityof insectsandarachnids:expe-riencedjunglehandsaremoreafraidof thesethanofbiggame.Thesmaller thecreaturesget thedeadlier theybe-come.Mosquitoes, rat fleas, fliesenmassecreatehavocamongus.Spidershaveaccountedformoreofusthanallthebigcarnivoresput together.Butwecanstill seeandhear them—andzap, if necessary,orsimplyswat.There’s amultitudeof life forms—mortal enemies,

manyof them—whichwecanneither seenorhearnorsmell, but just feel the terribleeffectsof, once theyat-tackus.Microbes,bacteriaandviruses—thesmallestandmostdiverse—are themostdangerous.Seen throughmicroscopes, they’reno less frighten-

ing thanasnarling tiger, as theyruthlesslyget toworkinvadinganddestroyingourcells anddevastatingourhealth.Wemayhavedevelopedweaponsofmassde-structionagainstmanyof them,but theydevelop im-munitiesas fast asweuptheante.Manyareevilly in-genious: the terrible rabiesvirusknows ithasdoomeditshostandso leaves thepartyas soonas it can—byde-liberatelycausing itshost togoberserkandbite some-one, so it canbe transferred throughsaliva toanewhost—andcontinue thegoodwork there.Others takeoverthebrainsof theirhosts toensure theyget thebest facili-ties for thepropagationof their species.Sincesmall sizemattersmore, if youreallywant to

bedeadly,besmall, invisible, odourlessandsilentandcomeuptrumps.

TINY TORMENTORSPoison dart frogs

WIKIMEDIACOMMONS

Vishnu Varma

ONAFOGGYmorning, around4amon January22,1984, amanburst into theMavelikkarapo-lice station in Kerala’sAlappuzha, startling the head

constable onduty. AblackAmbassadorwiththe licenceplateKL-Q-7831was goingup inflamesinapaddyfieldwithanalmost-charredbodyinthedrivingseat,heblurtedout.Afterfil-inganFIRwhenofficers rushed to thespot, acrowdhadalreadygathered.Therewerewhis-persthatthecarmighthaveveeredofftheroadandontothefield,catchingfireintheprocess.Murali Vrindavanam, then a20-year-old

local politicalworker, says, “When theblazewaspartiallyputout,wesawthattherewasaperson insidewho seemed to be tied to theseat. Some locals, on theirway home afterwatchingaplay, recalledseeingsomepeopledrivingawayfromthespot.”Itwasaftertheteamofthendeputysuper-

intendentofpolice(DSP)PMHaridasreachedthe spot around 5.30 am that tiny cluespointed to the incident beingmore than amere accident. Officers found amatchbox, apairof footwear,arubberglovewithastrandof hair in it and some footprints in themud.Therewasalsoawhiffofpetrol intheair.Thepost-mortem confirmed the police’s suspi-cions—thepersonhadbeenkilledbeforebe-ingplaced in thedriver’s seat. Therewerenotracesofcharcoalorashinhisrespiratorytractand thepresence of liquor and ethyl alcoholinthedigestivetractaddedtothemystery.By then, word had spread that the de-

ceasedwasSukumaraKurup,a30-somethingnativeofnearbyCheriyanad,whohadarrivedfrom theGulf recently. Though the face hadbeencharredbeyondrecognition,acloserel-ative, Bhaskara Pillai, testified it was him,basedontheheightandbuildofthebodyandthefactthatKuruphadn’treturnedhomeaf-terhedrovetoAmbalapuzha,anearbytown,thepreviousdayinthatcar.While the remainswere handedover to

Kurup’s family on the condition that it beburiedandnotcremated,unknowntothepo-lice,KurupwasaliveandinhidinginAluva,115km away. The body in the car was that ofAlappuzha-nativeChacko, a filmrepresenta-tivewhobecamethevictimofadiabolicalget-rich-quickplotbyKurup,Pillaiandtwoothers.It’sbeen37yearssincethatJanuarymorn-

ingwhenDSPHaridashadarrivedat thesiteof the burning car. He hadno clue then thathewould be drawn into amurder case thatwoulddefinehiscareerandgoontobecomeoneofthemostsensationalcasesinthecrim-inalhistoryofKerala.

■ ■ ■

SukumaraKurupwasn’tthenamehewasgiven at birth. It was Gopalakrishna Kurup.Bornintoamiddle-class,upper-castehouse-hold inCheriyanad,Kurupwasdrawn toad-venture froman early age. After completinghis pre-degree course (the equivalent of to-day’shigher-secondaryeducation),hejoinedtheIndianAirForceasanairman.Butafterhefailed to return to his unit following a pro-longedleave,hewasbrandeda“deserter”.It was at this juncture that Kurup’s

crookedness firstmanifest itself.Hebribedaheadconstableinthespecialbranchofthepo-licetoforgeareportstatingthatGopalakrishnaKuruphaddiedandsent it to the IAF toclearhis name. He also took on a new name—SukumaraPillai—whenheappliedforapass-port tomoveto theGulf. Pillai andKuruparesub-castesof theNaircommunityinKerala.Kurupdisplayedthesameintrepidbehav-

iour in love.Hemet Sarasamma, the daugh-terofthewomanwhoworkedasahelpathisresidence, at a relative’s home inMumbai,whenhewasstill in the IAF.Sarasammawasstudyingnursinginthecity.Whenhisparentsgotwind of it, theywere furious. But Kurupwasadamant.ShortlyafterhelefttheIAFandprepared tomove toAbuDhabi, hemarriedSarasammainasecretceremonyatatemple.ThenextchapterofhislifeinAbuDhabias

an operator with the Abu Dhabi MarineOperatingCompanywaslargelypeaceful.ThejobbroughtinasteadyincomeandKurup,anextrovert, quickly gathered a band of closefriends aroundhim. Suku, as hewas fondlycalled,spentlavishlyonparties;healsohelpedhis friendsout in crises.One such friendwasShahu,anativeofChavakkadinThrissurdis-trict,whoworkedasanofficeboy inKurup’sfirm.Hewouldgoontoplayasignificantrolein his future. On vacations to Kerala, Kurupbroughtsuitcasesfullofgoodiesforhisfriendsandfamily.Duringhisstay,hewouldinsistonpicking up their liquor tab. He also bought aplotof landinAmbalapuzhatobuildahouseandpurchasedanAmbassadorcar.The result of such opulencewas shoddy

financialmanagement.Despitethecombinedsalaries of Kurup andhiswife—anurse in aprivate hospital — touching Rs 60,000 amonth, their savingswere negligible. Itwasaround this time that Kurup began to hearstrongrumoursof companies in theGulf, in-cludinghisown,planningtoshedtheirexist-ingworkforce to hire newworkers at lowerwages.WithhishouseunderconstructionandhisfriendsencouraginghimtostartabusinessinKerala,moneywascrucial.What’s the quickestway to get rich? The

answerpresenteditselfinastoryinanEnglishdetectivemagazineKurupreadonenight.Toanyone else, itmay have been unthinkable,

buttohim, itseemedjustright.

■ ■ ■

Amankills anotherwith a strong resem-blance tohim,putshimin thedriver’s seatofhiscarandsetsitonfiretomakeitappearlikean accident to claimhis life insurance— themoreKurupthoughtabout it, themoreplau-siblethestoryseemed.Heinvestedinalifein-surancepolicyworthRs8lakhbutheneededhelp to carry out his plan. One night, afterdrinks, hepitched the idea toShahu.All theyhad todowasmake it seem like anaccident,claim insurance and split themoney. OnceShahu,whohadhis own financial problems,agreed, Kurup roped in Pillai and his driverPonnappan.Thingsmovedquicklyafterthat.Pillaiboughtasecond-handAmbassador

andKurupandShahu,onleavefromwork,ar-rivedinThiruvananthapuraminthefirstweekof January. “Kurup’s initial ideawas togetanunclaimed dead body. Pillai had a relativeworkingattheAlappuzhaMedicalCollege,sohe felt itwouldn’t be difficult to source one.Or else, a body could be scavenged from acemetery. Butwhen these didn’twork out,Kurup casually suggestedmurder. Just likethat,everyonegotonboard,”saysDSPHaridas.On the night of January 21, Kurup, Pillai,

Shahu and Ponnappan assembled at theKalpakavadi hotel at Karuvatta onNationalHighway47fordinneranddrinks.Afterwards,they trooped into two cars —Kurup in thenewly-purchasedKL-Q-7831andtheothersinacarwith the licenseplateKL-Y-5959—andwent hunting for a victim. The four drovealong the highway till Oachira, a distance ofabout25km,withoutanyluck.Turningback,as they approachedHarimovie theatre nearHaripad, they saw aman by the side of theroad,hishandoutstretchedforalift.“Areyougoing towards Alappuzha?” the strangerasked.“Comeonin,”saidPonnappan.Theman identified himself as Chacko, a

film representative returninghomeafter as-sessingticketcollectionsatthetheatre.Asthecar sped towardsAlappuzha, Pillaimade thefirst move — he offered Chacko a glass ofbrandylacedwithether.ButChackodeclined.Whenhesaidnotoyetanotherofferofadrink,itwas a cue for Ponnappan to swerve out ofthe highway into a side road. Chackowasforcedtoconsumethealcohol;theetherinitknockedhimoutalmost immediately.Accordingtothechargesheet, itwasPillai

and Shahuwho strangled Chacko to death.The group thenheaded to Sarasamma’s na-tiveplacewheretheyscorchedChacko’sfaceandreplacedhisclothes,ringandwatchwithKurup’s. Later, the twocarsproceeded to thepaddy field at Thannimukkam,where theyplacedChackointhedrivingseat,pushedthecarontothepaddyfieldandset itonfire.

■ ■ ■

Haridas,81,stillremembersthecasevividly,especially theobservationshe’dmade in theaftermathoftheaccidentthatarousedhissus-picion that itwasn’t Kurupwhohaddied. “Icouldgaugethattherewasnorealgrief inthehouse.Theyhadevenpreparedchickencurryfor lunchon thedayof the accident. In thosedays,chickenwascookedonspecialoccasions.Itwas certainlynoton themenuwhen therewasadeathinthefamily,”herecalls.Another strong indicatorwas the burn

marksonPillai’sforeheadandhand,incurredwhenhehadset the caron fire.Whenques-tioned,Pillaifirstsaidhegotburntwhilelight-ing a fire; in amatter ofminutes, he said hegotitwhilecarryinghotwater.Whenhistes-timonies got contradictory, the police knewtheywereontherighttrack.ItwasthethenMavelikkaracircleinspec-

tor KJDevasiawho apprehended Shahu lateinthenight.“WhenIknockedathishome,hewasabouttoleavetocatchabustoKochi,fromwhereheplannedtoescapetotheGulf.HadI

reached an hour late, I would havemissedhim,”saystheretiredofficeroverphone.Onquestioning,itdidn’ttakelongforShahu

to spill the beans,makinghis testimony thebedrockofthepolicecase.Tofindtheidentityof thedeceased, thepolicesentoutmessagestonearbypolice stations formissing-personcomplaints. Promptly, inAlappuzha, a com-plaintbyChacko’sbrotherstoodout.BasedonhisphysicalresemblancetoKurup, itbecameapparentthatitwasChacko’sbodyinthecar.WithKurup untraceable,thepolicefileda

chargesheetarraigningPillaiandPonnappanasthefirstandsecondaccusedinthecaseoncharges ofmurder, conspiracy anddestruc-tion of evidence, among others. Shahuwasmadeapoliceapprover.PillaiandPonnappanwere found guilty by the sessions court andsentencedtolifeinprison.ThewivesofKurupandPillaiwereacquittedforlackofevidence.Where luck aided the police in catching

Shahu,itbetrayedthemonmultipleoccasionswhen it came toKurup. Police accounts saidKurup had travelled to Mavelikkara andCheriyanadatleasttwiceafterChacko’smur-der. The closest the police came to trappinghimwasinAluva. “Wegota leadfromoneofKurup’s relatives that hewas in a lodgeneartherailwaystation.Butwhenwereached,hehadalreadyleftbytheMalabarExpress.Ifwehadgottentheinformationafewhoursearlier,wewould have caught him,” says the thenKayamkulam-circle inspector Jayaprakash,whoretiredasthesuperintendentofpolice.Over thenextdecade, thehunt forKurup

becamesomethingof aprestige issue for theKeralapolice,movingbeyondthestatetocitieslikeGwalior,BhopalandItarsi,totheAndamanandNicobar islands andoverseas to Bhutanand theGulf nations. Suchwas the fixationwithcatchinghimthatofficerslikeJayaprakashevenspent theirownmoneytochaseelusiveleads.“IfKuruphadbeencaughtthen,thecasewouldn’t have generated somuchpublicity,norwouldhehavebeen seenas anenigma,”saysDevasia. In1984itself, thecasefoundre-flection in the filmNH47, inwhich TGRaviplayed Kurup. Actor Dulquer SalmaanwillsoonbeseeninafilmtitledKurup,inwhichheplaysacharacterbasedonKurup.Chacko’ssonhasfiledalegalnoticeagainstitstatingthathisfather’smurderernotbeglorified.WhatbecameofKurupthen?AtaRanchi

hospitalonce, aMalayalinursewhoclaimedtohavetreatedthefugitiveKurup,toldthepo-licethathewasunlikelytolivelongashesuf-feredfromaseriousillness.Ifheisalivetoday,hewouldbe74yearsold,hisnamestillonthe“long-pending”listofcriminalcasesinKerala.

WithinputsbyDeborahThambi

Deadly DeceptionNearly four decades ago, a quick-fix murder and its daredevil perpetrator stunned Kerala.

With a new film coming up on the criminal mastermind who was never apprehended,former police officers recount a murder most foul

VYSAKHVENUGOPAL VISHNUVARMA

ILLUSTRATION:SUVAJITDEY

INCOLDBLOOD

Anartist’s impressionofKurup;debrisof the

engineof thecar inwhichChackowas

burntstill remainsattheMavelikkara

policestationcompound;PM

Haridas,whowas inchargeof theprobe,at

his residence inKollam

New Delhi

NOTICEBOARD CORPORATE ASSOCIATE DIARY A P P O I N T M E N T S , M O V E M E N T S , C E L E B R A T I O N S , H O N O U R S

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

PGoyal,MinisterofConsumerAffairs, Food&PublicDistribution& Minister of Comm & Industry & Railways inaugurated toytesting facilities of BIS & announced launch of certificate cour-ses on“assaying & hallmarking”& “quality control personnel”.

INAUGURATION - BIS

PNB announced the extension of its popular ‘PNB FestivalBonanza Offer-2020’, till 31st March 2021, rechristened nowas PNB NEW YEAR BONANZA -2021. The extension has beenundertaken to amplify the successful momentum created bythe PNB Festival Bonanza Offer 2020. Under the PNB NewYear Bonanza 2021 (during the offer period from 1st January2021 to 31st March 2021), PNB will offer full waiver ofupfront/ processing fees and documentation charges on allfresh housing Loans, takeover housing loans, car loans andmyProperty loans.

LIC Following the overwhelming response received forANANDA, LIC of India has introduced the feature of Onlineproposal Deposit collection in ANANDA, where the customercan pay the Online proposal deposit through PaymentGateway using various options like Credit Card / Debit Card/Netbanking / Wallets / UPI, etc at his own convenience. Thisfeature was launched at the hands of LIC Chairman MRKumar in the presence of Managing Directors, TC SuseelKumar, Vipin Anand, Mukesh Gupta and Raj Kumar recently.

IIIT-NR ranked 6th in the just released list of India’s Best 100Tech-Enabled Engineering Institutes by Dataquest magazine,leaving behind several other much older, well-establishedtechnical institutes of its type. The institute also bagged fifthposition in the Top Government Institutes in the survey. ViceChancellor & Director of IIIT-NR, Dr. PK Sinha attributed thisachievement of IIIT-NR to the relentless support offered bythe State Government as well as the hard work put in by thefaculty, staff, students and all other members associateddirectly or indirectly with this institute.

BHEL has bagged significant orders, valued at Rs.3,200Crore, for Electro-Mechanical (E&M) works for a HydroElectric Project (HEP) in Andhra Pradesh and E&M works ofPump-Motor sets for Lift Irrigation Schemes (LIS) inTelangana.

TRIFED In addition to its weekly endeavour of enhancingits range through the “From Our Homes to Your Home”campaign, TRIBES India will now become an excellent one-stop gifting destination. A webinar was organized recentlyto launch Tribes India as a one-stop destination for allgifting requirements. Attractive and customisable gift packsfrom a unique range of products which will be available inall the 126 Tribes India outlets and online platforms werealso unveiled on this occasion. The webinar was attendedby renowned designers Rina Dhaka, Masooma Rizvi,Winky Singh, several tribal artisans and suppliers fromacross the country besides TRIFED officials.

Russian Embassy in India Russian President Vladimir Putinextended his greetings on the New Year 2021 to President ofthe Republic of India Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister ofIndia Narendra Modi. He noted that Russia and India wereconnected by relations of privileged strategic partnership,which, despite this year’s difficulties and problems, includingthe coronavirus pandemic, are developing confidently.Vladimir Putin stressed that the two countries maintain asubstantive political dialogue and carry out promising jointprojects in various spheres, while cooperation within the SCOand BRICS yields good results.

BHEL Amidst stiff competitive bidding, BHEL has won aprestigious order for the supply of 32 Reactor HeaderAssemblies from the NPCIL. The order has been won underNPCIL’s Fleet mode procurement for India’s highest ratedindigenously developed 700 MWe Pressurized Heavy WaterReactors (PHWR) to be set up at four different locations inthe country. Notably, BHEL has the distinction of beingassociated with all the three stages of the Indian NuclearPower Programme and has been the primary supplier forReactor Headers, Steam Turbines, Steam Generators,Motors, etc., to NPCIL.

Canara Bank has raised capital by issuing Additional Tier Ibonds to the tune of Rs. 1635 Crore at 8.50% Coupon on31.12.2020. This will help the Bank to increase its CapitalAdequacy ratio.

Shankar Sanskriti Pratishthan On the occasion of the 83rdBirth Anniversary of noted Parliamentarian and Laureate Dr.Shankar Dayal Singh, the Shankar Sanskriti Pratishthanhosted a webinar on the topic of “Education, Culture andSamskara” in his memory. The program’s Chief Guest,Manish Sisodia, Dy. CM of Delhi stressed on the need forpolicy measures that inculcate emotional capabilities ofstudents in the initial years and create an entrepreneurialmindset in high school. He stressed that just the skilling ofstudents was not enough for nation building, and that themodel in Delhi built around the Happiness Curriculum, theEntrepreneurial Mindset Curriculum and the DeshbhaktiCurriculum needs to be studied and adopted on a greaterscale for the nation’s students to reach unto their truepotential in building their own career and in building thenation.

PNB has now successfully completed the IT integration ofall branches of erstwhile United Bank of India. This is incontinuation to the IT integration of all branches of erstwhileOriental Bank of Commerce, undertaken in November2020. With this PNB has concluded the integration andmigration of databases of both Banks.

NR Keeping in view of the preparedness of fogarrangements, GM NR, A Gangal briefed the media personsat New Delhi Railway Station recently. The various initiativesin this regard include – Informing Passengers through SMSon registered mobile about train running late status if thetrain is more than one hour late; Provision of opening ofCatering Stalls on the platforms beyond the normal salehours; Cold weather patrolling of rail lines to timely detectrail fractures especially during the night hours, etc.

Aavas Housing Aavas Foundation, the CSR arm of AavasFinanciers Ltd., has partnered with International FinancialCorporation to carry out a two-year-long feasibility researchon the profitability of green loans and the prospect ofinvolving housing finance institutions in acceleratingtransition towards green buildings. The goal is to draw up ablueprint for lending products which incentivize greenhousing in the Indian subcontinent. The said arrangementhas been executed in the form of a tripartite agreementbetween IFC, Aavas Foundation and Aavas Financiers.

Dharmendra Pradhan, MoPNG & Steel flagged-off a con-signment of critical equipment from Hazira to Paradip forIndianOil’s MEG Plant. SM Vaidya, Chairman, IndianOil, &other senior officials were present on the occasion.

CEREMONY - INDIANOIL

SBI donated INR 25 lakhs to Sheela Sharma MemorialCharitable Trust for setting up operation theatre for can-cer patients at Shankar Institute of Cancer Therapy & Re-search Centre, Mathura.

DONATION - SBI

Indian Bank recently transferred Rs 65.54 Crores to 16300beneficiariesunderUPMukhyamantri AwasYojanaunderDi-rect Benefit Transfer. Yogi Adityanath, CM of UP, participatedin the function and lauded the initiative of Indian Bank.

TRANSFER - INDIAN BANKP Chawla, CMD/RailTel, received the Eminent EngineersAward by Institution of Engineers (India) for his contributionto the field of engineering from SS Dhotre, MoS for Educa-tion, Communications, Electronics & IT, GoI.

AWARD - RAILTEL

SBI donated RTPCR COVID-19 testing machine to GB PantHospital and X-Ray machine and two patient monitors toDeen Dayal Upadhaya Hospital, New Delhi, under the guid-ance of V Ronjan, CGM, SBI, New Delhi circle.

DONATION – SBI

IndianOil has provided the complete energy solution to40th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. After about22 years, yet again, the Antarctica expedition is procuringfuel from India.

OFFERING - INDIANOIL

NBCC signed Annual MoU for the FY 2020-21 with MoHUA,outlining the performance targets for the Company. TheMoU has been signed by DS Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA,and PK Gupta, CMD, NBCC.

MOU - NBCC

SAIL Soma Mondal has takenover as Chairman of SAILw.e.f. 01.01.2021. Prior tothis, she was the Director(Commercial) of SAIL. Beforejoining SAIL as a Director,Mondal was the Director (Commercial) at NALCO. Mondalwas instrumental in introducing new marketing strategiesand products at SAIL enriching the company’s productbasket. Under her able leadership, the company launchedniche branded products like NEX (Structural) and SAILSeQR (TMT bars). She joined SAIL in 2017 as the Director(Commercial) and has, subsequently, become the Chair-man of SAIL.

WCL Manoj Kumar has as-sumed the charge of CMD ofWestern Coalfields Ltd.(WCL). Earlier, he was hold-ing the charge of DirectorTechnical of WCL. He startedhis career in the mining indus-try from WCL/SECL. He hasbeen serving the Coal Industry for more than threedecades. During that period, he served in WCL, SECL &ECL in various capacities. He is known for his expertise indifficult underground mining methods and ContinuousMiner Technology. He has been instrumental in growth &sustainability of production at the places he has worked.

APPOINTMENTS

LIC Chairman MR Kumar, in presence of MDs, TCSuseel Kumar, V Anand, M Gupta and R Kumar, intro-duced the feature of Online proposal Deposit collec-tion in ANANDA.

LAUNCH - LIC

SSFB announced the receipt of a license from RBI to carry onbanking business as a Small Finance Bank (SFB) in India.This marks the successful completion of the last major stepin the transition of Shivalik Mercantile Co-operative Bank(SMCB) to a SFB. SMCB is the first Urban Cooperative Bank(UCB) in India to transition to a Small Finance Bank under thevoluntary transition scheme.

TRIFED More than 35 new, attractive, immunity-boostingtribal products have found a new home in Tribes Indiaoutlets and website in the 8th edition of “From Our Hometo your Home”’ campaign. Key among the products arethe natural, fresh, organic produce from the Malayalitribes of Tamil Nadu, such as Giant Rock Bee Honey,honey, variants of millet rice, tamarind and black pepper.

Sunday January10Justbecauseyourideasarethebest, that’snoexcusetopreach.Thesecretof successistobediscreet. Inlove,yourconfidenceisgrowing.

Monday January11Yourcircumstanceswillshowanimprovement. Ifyouareverybraveandfacechallengesheadon,you'll triumphoveradversityandgiveyourconfidenceamassiveboost.

Tuesday January12Youwillbeabletomakethebestofyourimportantambitions,mostofwhatyoutouchwillworkoutinyourfavour.Youhavetofaceuptoapastfailures.

Wednesday January13Youcouldbeoneofsociety'smoversandshakersoverthecomingyear.Yourthoughts,dreamsandactionscouldstillhaveaneffectwaybeyondyourimmediatecircle.

Thursday January14It'safinetimetoputinalittleextraeffort.Youmightbeworkingquitehardatthemoment.Eventhoseofyounotofficiallyatworkwillbeundertakingseriousresponsibilities.You'llgaingreatpleasurefrommaturebehaviourandsoberactivities.

Friday January15Fromtoday,rememberthatpartners,colleagues, lovedoneswillputupafight.Youmaynotacceptthatyouhavehaditallyourownwayrecently,butthis ishowothersseeit. It'sgoodforyoutofaceachallenge.

Saturday January16Justtolookaheadforamoment,there'llbetimesinthecomingwhenyourconfidencewillbehigh.Listencarefullytoothers'opinions,butdon’t feelyouhavetotakethemseriously.Dowhatisbestforyou.

If it’s yourBirthday

19WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHE SUNDAY EXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021 CALENDAR

SUDOKU4348

DifficultyLevel5sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4347

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Lord,grantthatImightnotsomuchseektobe___asto__.-FrancisofAssisi(5,.,4)

SOLUTION:ELOPE,BLOWY,RETOLD,VIVIFYAnswer:Lord,grantthatImightnotsomuchseektobelovedastolove.-FrancisofAssisi

LPEEO EORTDL

BWYLO FIIYVV

JUMBLEDWORDS

ARIES (Mar21 -Apr 20)Getoff toafreshandbusinesslikestart.You'll soonbeinapositiontospread

thegoodnewsandshareyourideaswithothers-andallwelcomedomesticimprovementsshouldbecompletedbytheendof theweek.Bringingsomebodyelseroundtoyourwayof thinkingwill requiretheusualhardwork.

TAURUS (Apr 21 -May21)TheMoonbeginstheweeksympatheticallyalignedwith your

sign, so you can afford to bethoroughly optimistic abouteveryone and everything. Youcanuse any friendlyconditionsmid-week tomakeup for anunfortunate tiff, youjust cannot afford emotionalriftswith things as they are.

GEMINI (May22 - June21)Venus, planet oflove and affection, ismoving on, so you'llsoonbepassing

fromonepersonal cycle toanother. If Iwere you, I'dmakesure that all familyrelationshipswere on firmground, and that nomisunderstandings remain.Your feelings have changed,but partners' expectationswillremain the same.

CANCER (June22 - July 23)You're buildingupto a series ofplanetary clashesand confrontations.

In plain language thismeansthat personally, professionallyand emotionally you're aboutto embark on awhole newvoyage of discovery andadventure. Sit back, relaxand enjoy it.

LEO (July 24 -Aug23)Themajor planet inyour chart is stillMercury,which justhappens to be the

ruler of illusions andconfidence tricks. Joking aside,there is no situation you can'tget out ofwith somedeftfootwork andperhaps bypulling thewool oversomebody's eyes.

VIRGO (Aug24 - Sep23)Rememberthat, ifyouwant togeton intheworldat large,it'syourpersonal

relationships thatcount.Thiswon'tbe thecasenextweek, soexploityourundoubtedcharmswhileyoustillhave time.You'llbeenteringan intriguingandsecretivephasebytheendoftheweek.

LIBRA (Sep24 -Oct 23)The rapidlyapproachingalignment betweenthe Sun and the

Moonwill trigger a number ofwelcome improvements inyour circumstances,suggesting that you're headingfor great things. Hopefully,you'll be pleasantly surprisedwhenpartners at lastappreciate all the effort you'veput in on their behalf.

SCORPIO (Oct 24 -Nov22)Mercurywill becompleting athoroughlyindecisive and

awkward series of planetarypatterns. Please takemyadviceand refuse to rise toprovocation, especially fromemployers or frompeoplewhothink theyknowyoubetterthanyouknowyourself. Becharmingasonly a Scorpio can.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov23-Dec22)Your chance to dealwith financialquestionsmaynotcomeuntil the very

endof theweek. In themeantime, howaboutmakingpersonal relationships the keyto a truly satisfying andcontentedweek?Be sure tokeep family differencesin proportion.

CAPRICORN (Dec23 - Jan20)I'mnot going topretend that lifeisn't tiring at themoment, because it

is. On the other hand, there is agreat deal that you cando tohelp yourself and transformemotionally challengingsituations into opportunitiesfor great happiness. Don't letanyonehold youback.

AQUARIUS (Jan21- Feb19)As the Sun and theMoonperform theircelestialmotions,it's time to sit up

andmake your physicalwell-being thenumber onepriority.Don't get fanatical, but docleanupyour diet and see thatyou're getting all the correctand appropriate exercise. And,also, of course get rid oflingering resentments.

PISCES (Feb20 -Mar 20)Wednesday andThursday lookbestfor family fun andhomeentertaining,

whichmaynot, I guess, betotally convenient. However,by theweekend,whenyoushouldhavemore spare time,your starswill be superb forcultural pursuits, passionateendeavours and relationswith children.

YOURWEEKAHEADBRIDGE

Theopponentsbid1NT-P-3NTandyoumakeanuninformedleadofthetwoofclubs. ThisdoesnotworkoutatallwellasSouthtopsEast'seightwiththejack. Southhaseightpoints inclubs.Notyourbest leadever.South nowgoes after diamonds, leading to the king and back to his ace.Eastplaysthetwoofdiamondsanddiscardsthefourofhearts. Thisplaytellsyou that South has four diamonds to the ace. The information you havetellsyouthathehaseightpointsinclubsandfourindiamonds,twelvethatyouknowabout. SouthgivesyouyourdiamondtrickandEastdiscardsthefiveofhearts. Whatdoyouknowatthispoint?

NORTH♠ Q8❤Q3♦ A J8 763♣Q63SOUTH♠ A932❤A 10 7 64♦ KQ♣K 7

NORTH♠ J 4 2❤ AQ 10♦ K 7 653♣64

WEST♠ K65❤963♦ Q J9♣Q 7 52

WEST NORTH EAST SOUTH1NT

pass 3NT Pass PassPass

SUNDAY CROSSWORD 2303QUICKCLUESACROSS1.Negligent (6)4.Europeansea(6)8.Conditionof ariversystemwhenoverflowing(2,5)9.Speech(7)11.Defamatory (10)12.Scandinavian(4)13.Snowleopard(5)14.Pertinent (8)16.Vindictive (8)18.Snappish(5)20.EastEuropean(4)21.Aired(10)23.Circumstance(7)24.1920sart style (3,4)25.Firmlyplaced(6)26.Yarn(6)

DOWN1.Of thekidneys (5)2.Hairpigment (7)3.Absolutelyhardofhearing?(5,4)5.After inAlsace (5)6.Gossipsorchatters (7)7.Mumbai'smost famousbeach?(9)10.Addinguporamountingto (9)13.Fails toobserveordecides toignore (9)15.Maleheadof a family (9)17.OldFrenchdance(7)19.Wrapwithbandages (7)21. Irritated(5)22.Spanishwarriorhero (2,3)

CRYPTICCLUESACROSS1.Theydisturbandsetanumberupinarms(6)4.Surgeunderneath, theysay(6)8.Baby's father first supportednihilisticartmovement (7)9.Vulcanisedrubberwithonebitshapedtoapoint (7)11.Overbearingattitudeof onesurrendering?(10)12.Thenameafter that (4)13.Sounds likeGermansmellscompanion, theoldDutchpainter(5)14. Jeanapesnewfashion fromabroad(8)16.Theweaponwitha threatofmaximumdisaster (4-4)

18.BlackandblueRomanfigures(5)20.Girl inshort trousers? (4)21. It takes the fatherandmotherofamindtoproduce it ! (5-5)23.Getanumberroundthevesselduringtheday(7)24.Vital loosethreadonjumper?(3,4)25.Uncouthpersonmaygoa lotastray(6)26.Huntingevenbuckledrailway(6)

DOWN1.SailorBill isolates topcounters(5)2.Newsorganizationtakespains toacquirebravetypes (7)3.Ahotmusiccomposition forHair? (9)5.Resting inagardenplot (2,3)6.Battle inVietnamsustainedglow(4,3)7.Sawandreported in thecourt?(9)10.Their laboursoccasionallybringthemsomereward(3-3,3)13.Thedrillingoutside isannoying(9)15.Solepianocomposition-by

Chopin?(9)17.Nobreedingdisplayed inpublicamongrelatively richpeople (7)19.Amediumfor transportation(7)21.Barsalvooreveryotherwordofcongratulation! (5)22.Theboywhohas theFrenchrightonrailways (5)

QuickCluesAcross:6Drama,7Scramble,10Brought,11Helotry,12Raiment,13Awesome,14Springfield,19Tariffs,21Leafage,23Mocking,25Abscess,26Warhorse,27Rides.Down:1Calories,2Haggle,3Asitstands,4Arch,5Blotto,6Debars,8Maltese,9Lyres,13Affiliated,15Raffish,16Deadends,17Stomp,18Beasts,20Racial,22Assure,24Gore.CrypticCluesAcross:6Booze,7Drabbled,10Roedeer,11Neutral,12Fondant,13Dallies,14Dragonflies,19Quietus,21Enfolds,23Aunties,25Equator,26Athletic,27Herod.Down:1Governed,2Seneca,3Adorations,4Dawn,5HenryI,6Bereft,8Bouilli,9Blush,13Difference,15Anthill,16Salutary,17Squat,18Astrid,20Ignite,22Fought,24Sett.

Solutionsto2302

West leadsthetenofclubs. The leadcomestoSouth'sking. Ifdiamondsdividetherewillbeninetoptricks,makingSouth'sbidding lookverygood.On the king of diamonds both opponents follow but on the queen ofdiamondsWestshowsout. Ugly!IsthereawaytomakethisnowthatthediamondsarenotrunningandgiventhatEasthasallofthemissinghighcardpointsforhisopeningbid?

TheWestHand:S-J1074H-J952D-5C-1094TheEastHand:S-K5H-K8D-10942C-AJ852It iseasytomake3NTonceyouseetheplan. Leadthequeenofdiamondsandovertakeitwiththeace. PlaythejackofdiamondsandgiveEasttheleadwiththefourthdiamond.

What isEast todo? He ismarkedwith thekingof spadesand thekingofheartsandtheaceofclubs.WhicheverofthesesuitsEastleadswillgiveyouanentrytodummy. Eastchoosestheaceofclubsandanotherclub,Westfollowingonallofthese. Itcanneverhurttobegreedy.Canyoumakemorethanninetricksnow?

Poor East. Play the rest of the diamonds. You can see that East has adoubleton king in bothmajors. If he comesdown to a singleton king youcanplaythatsuitfortwotricks. Ifhekeepsbothofhisdoubletonkings(hehastodiscardsomeclubstodothis)youcanplaytheaceofonemajorandputhiminwithhiskingandhewillhavetoleadawayfromhisotherking.

Dealer:South,Vulnerable:NorthSouth

WESTNORTH EAST SOUTHPass Pass 1♣ ♦blPass 2♦ Pass 3NTAll Pass

Dealer:West,Vulnerable:NoneAttimes,itpaystobeanoptimistonbridgetable.Whenyouacertainlayoutforyourcontracttosucceed,justassumeitisthereandplanyourplayaccordingly.Dlr:North;Vul:N-S; IMPs

New Delhi

Vol.XIXNo.39 Regd.No. DL-21046/03-05 R.N.I. No. DELENG/2002/10884. Printed and Published by R.C.Malhotra on behalf of The Indian Express (P) Limited and Printed at The Indian Express (P) Limited Press, A-8, Sector-7, Noida - 201301 and Published at The Indian Express (P) Limited,Mezzanine Floor, Express Building, 9 & 10, Bahadur Shah ZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Editorial office: The Indian Express (P) Limited,Mezzanine Floor, Express Building, 9 & 10, Bahadur Shah ZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Phone: 0120-6651500. Advertising office: The Indian Express(P) Limited, B1/B, Sector - 10, Noida - 201301. Phone: 0120-6651291. Chairman of the Board: Viveck Goenka, Chief Editor: Raj Kamal Jha, Editor: Unni Rajen Shanker, Editor (Delhi): Rakesh Sinha ** **Responsible for selection of News under the PRB Act. Copyright: The Indian Express (P)

Limited. All rights reserved. Reproduction in anymanner, electronic or otherwise, inwhole or in part, without priorwritten permission is prohibited. The Indian Express®

THESUNDAYEXPRESS,JANUARY10,2021

20 SPORT

Cummins, showinga friendlydemeanour,puts theskidsunder Indiaashosts takechargeatSCG

SANDIPGJANUARY9

ANHOURbeforetea,aslow-burningTestbe-gantogatherfire.Thecontest–whosecontrolwasconstantlyexchanginghandsuntil then—tookadecisiveswinginthehosts’favour,asIndia lost wickets in a heap and theAustralianspiledonrunsatabriskclip.Froma rosy 195/4, India were dismissed for agloomy244allout,andtoadeficitof94runs.Australiaadded103morewiththelossofjusttheir openers. Their lead of 197 has alreadyacquiredamatch-definingproposition,whatwiththestripprogressivelydeteriorating.Theprecipitantof India’scollapsewasPat

Cummins,whodisarmsbatsmenfirstwithhissmileandthendevastatesthemwithhislethalcraft, abowlerwhofumeswithpacebutalsoshows adivinemastery of seammovementandaggressivelines.Pace,bounce,subtletyofmovement, a sharp, strongand flexiblemindareall his virtues, but themostglowingof allmustbehiscapacitytoproduceawicketwhenbatsmenareontop.Hisability tonotgiveup,evenwhenconditionsareharsh.LikewhenhedevouredShubmanGillon

the second day, with the young Indianopener seemingly in utter control. And likewhenheconsumedCheteshwarPujara,wholookedwedded to the crease for a lifetime.Cumminswas armedwith the secondnewball,butPujarahadseldomlookedfrazzledinwhatwas his slowest half-century. His 176balls of defiance and denial, and each pa-tientlyeked-out run,was takingthesapoutof theoppositionplayers’ legsandpainstak-inglylayingthefoundationofasolidfirst-in-nings total. From a generation demandinginstant gratification, his dournessmight in-vitecensure,but thiswasamasterbatsmansticking to his strengths and doing his besttoputhis teaminasecureposition.Morethananyotherside,Australiaknow

thePujaraeffect.Twoyearsago,his immov-ability cost them the series. Streaks of rest-lessness were creeping in, with even thechattyMarnus Labuschagne lost for energyand sound. The sun-beaten strip seemed todistil everyball of itsvenom.AndthenCumminsboundedin,withun-

flagging energy and unwavering smile.Realising that the good-length ball was notquiteseaming—heanywayisnotanexpan-sivemoverof theball—heresortedtoshort-pitched bowling. Straightaway, he hurriedRishabhPantintoapullstroke,andthewick-etkeeper-batsmanwas beaten for pace andstruck flush on the unprotected left elbow.He grimaced in pain, and could not take uphis duties behind the stumps whenAustralia’s second innings came about.Rattled,Pantwashalf themanhewasbeforegetting struck and eventually surrenderedsheepishly to JoshHazlewood.Itwas Pujara’s turn next. Hewas rapped

viciouslyontheupperarm,thebatshiveringinhishandattheimpactofthehit.Cummins,after all, is no stranger to breaking bones. InAdelaide, he had shattered MohammedShami’sarm;duringthe2019WorldCup,hebroke Shaun Marsh’s arm in the nets.

GrowingupintheSydneysuburbofPenrith,parentsofrivalbatsmenusedtorequesthimtobowlslowerwhentheirkidswerebatting.Cumminswouldagree,butintheheatof themoment, hewould forget to keep hisword.“I didn’tmean to but every year Iwould ac-tuallyhavebatsmenonthegroundrollinginpain,” he once told cricketaustralia.com.au.Therewasanothermatch,wherein thebailshad to be retrieved from the fence after hebowledabatsmanwithrawpace.Speed, tohim, isan instinct.Hecombines

it with smarts. Cummins knewhe neededsomething more to deceive Pujara. So hechangedtoamoreshort-of-lengthplan,coax-inghimtocomeforwardgraduallyanddefendonthefrontfoot.Thenhepushedintheeffortball,thatpitchedshortoflength,butexplodedlike ahandgrenade into the shoulder of the

bat(plusapartoftheglove),alreadylevelwithhischest.Pujaratookthebottomhandoff thehandle,but itwas too late topreventcontact.Thefortbreached,Indiaimploded.As Cumminswheeled away in celebra-

tion,Pujaralookeddownsuspiciouslyatthesurface oncemore. But the real culprit wasthemanwhosefast,explosivedeliveryinthefourth-stump channel had found the edge.InCummins, Pujarahad foundhis truebêtenoire.Theirencounters thisseriesread:129balls, 19 runs,4wickets.Cumminshasclearone-upmanshipoverIndia’sdefensiverock.“Thebestball Ihavefacedthisseries,”Pujarawould later say.

Out-thinking RahaneIn the morning, Cummins had out-

thought India’s hero inMelbourne, AjinkyaRahane, with an equally shrewd piece ofbowling. Rahane was softened up with aspateofshortballsathisbodybeforehewascaught unawares with a back-of-a-lengthball that jagged back sharply into him.Rahaneshapedupforadabthroughtheva-cant slip cordon butwas oblivious to seammovement. Theball crampedhim for roomandtook thebottomedgeonto thestumps.The short-ball strategy directly fetched

Australia just thewicket of No. 9 NavdeepSaini, but it was central to their third-day

dominance.Itwasnotaquickenoughsurfaceto extract frightening bounce at heightenedpace.Itcertainlywasnotapitchwhereintwobatsmenwould endupnursing sore thumband elbow. But the slowness of the surfacemadeshort-pitchedbowlingallthemoredif-ficulttohandle,becausebatsmenhadafrac-tionmoretimetothinkthantheywouldhaveonaquicker surface. Thiswas enough to in-fusedilemmaandconfusion.Itwasnot just short-pitchedbowling,but

thefearofshort-pitchedbowlingthatspookedIndia’s batsmen, especially the lower order.MohammedSirajkneltonthegroundevenbe-foreMitchellStarc’sshortballhadlanded.TheAussiepacemenshuffledthelengths,

changedtrajectoriesandsustainedthehostil-ity.Pujaracrawlednotbecausehewasaversetoruns,butbecauseCumminsandCo.hardlygifted hima freebie. Rahane perishedman-ufacturingastrokeandsomeofthekamikazerunningbetweenthewicketscouldbeattrib-utedtothechokingof run-scoringoutlets.Indianbowlersshouldhavetakenlessons

fromCummins and friends. They could noton Saturday evening, as Labuschagne andSteveSmith tucked intosome insipidbowl-ing. Inshort, IndianeedaCummins,heofanever-smilingvisage, twinklingeyesandun-relentinghostility,themanwhosettheslow-burningdayon fire.

Pat comes the collapse

SRIRAMVEERAJANUARY9

HOWDOESonedescribe theurge that leadsto run-outsexactlyat themomentwhen thegame iswaiting to be seized? Cheteshwar

Pujara had dramaticallyshifted gears at the fall ofAjinkya Rahane’s wicketand Indiawere on the as-cendancywhenHanumaVihariranhimselfout.Thematch and serieswere on

thelineonthelastspecialistbattingpairinthemiddlewhenRAshwinwas runout, limitedbyhisbodywhichinhibitshistrustinthepart-ner’s call.A lastchanceatamini-miraclewasstubbedoutwhenJaspritBumrahwasn’tquickenoughtosatiateJadeja’sthirsttoretainstrike.

Vihari’s brain fadeNotlongafterRahanehadleftIndiainabit

ofabotherat116for3,Pujarareached16from100ballsanddecidedtoupthetempobeforethesecondnewballwas taken.Hepicked11runsoff aNathanLyonover,withacoupleoffours, and also drove JoshHazlewood to theboundarywhenVihari’sbrainfadehappened.Hewasonfour,thatwashis38thball,thelast13 had just fetched just one run—andper-haps,hewantedtorotatestrikeovertoPujarawho had taken 16 from his last 19 balls.Perhaps,hewas tricked into thinkinghehadmomentumas he had gone down the trackforthedrive.Hesawasingleintherun-barrendesert; it proved to be amirage. Hazlewoodintervenedquickly,movingtohisrightatmid-off, swooped, cupped, and flung theball im-mediately even as he fell. ItwasVihariwhohadtodusthimselfoff thearena.TherewasastunningshotfromSpidercam:

all the Australiansmaniacally rushing pastVihari,whowasdragginghimselfoff,aforlornfigurewhoperhapsfearedhewasblowinghiscareeraway.Notsureof that,yet,astheman-agement has trust in himandmore impor-tantlythereisasecondinningsstillleftforhimtoprove,buthecertainlyhadputthegameinjeopardyforIndia.

TheAshwin runoutThishurtmoreintheoryasthiswasn’tasur-

prise.Vihari’srunoutwasnotpreventable.Thiswasbad.Ashwinknowsheisn’tagoodrunner.Jadejashouldknow.Theworldknowsforsure.Certainly, theAustraliansdid as theyhad re-peatedlytargetedAshwinonthefield,running

quick singles. Therewas evenawarning signjust twooversbefore themishap. JadejahadpushedaPatCumminsdeliverytocoverpointandwantedasingle,evenrunningashortdis-tance.Ashwinsenthimback.Thatshouldhavebeena reminder of the state of affairs. Itwasanunevencombo:Jadeja,oneof thequickestcricketersintheworldandAshwinoneoftheslowest.Oneextraeagertostealarun,theotherhappytorelinquisharun.Onewholikestorun,the other has resigned long ago about hisbody’sbetrayal.“IfIcould,Iwouldhavepulledmy soul out and killed this body,” he toldCricbuzzabouthisinjurieslastyear.In Jadeja’smind, itwasn’t evenprobably

tooriskyasingle.Hehadplacedittotherightof Cummins atmid-off. He set off without adoubt;Ashwincertainlyhadself-doubtsifnotabout his partner’s call. He turned to have aglanceatCumminsbeginning tomove tohisrightandsetoff.Withoutthatdelaytriggeredby the doubt, he would have been home.Without that doubt, though, hewouldn’t beAshwin. It’s a messy catch-22 situation.Ashwin shouldhave trusted Jadeja’s call andranbut then therewas in the episode in thepreviousoverwhichmusthave reiterated tohimthathecan’tbetrustedblindly.For,hadherunthatsingle,hewouldn’thavemadeitathispace.So,thistimetoo,hethrewaglanceside-waystowatchtheball.CouldJadejahaveshownbetterawareness

ofAshwin’shandicap?Withthatball,heprob-ably felt therewasnoneed to as trustwouldhavetakenAshwinhome.Andintheprocess,Ashwin,whohadstartedoffwithacoupleoffours, fellandIndiaweredeflatedat206for7.

Final blowWhenthenextrunoutcame,toleavethem

216 for9, therewasnoshockorgrimace, justlaughteratthetragi-comicstateofaffairs.Thistimetheerrorwasthestart,not inthemiddlewhentheyturnedforthesecond.Jadejahadtowaittoseeif theshort-legfielderhadstoppeditornotbeforehestarted to run. Theball hadbeendeflectedbyMarnusLabuschagne.Jadejawaited, and sodidBumrahwhowasn’t surewhat Jadejawasgoing todo. Suddenly, as theballleftLabuschagne’sshadow,Jadejastartedtosteamahead.Atthatpoint,Bumrahmusthaveknowntheintentwasnotonlyasinglebuttwo,andhe triedhis best todash across and turnbackblind.Butthedelayatthestart, forcedbythedeflection, andashewaited for Jadeja tomakethemovemeanthewasalwaysgoingtobebehindtheeightball,astheysay.Andfromthenon,sowasIndia.

SCORECARD

AUSTRALIA(1STINNINGS) 338

INDIA(1STINNINGS) 244(O/N:96/2)CPujaracPainebCummins 50(176b,5x4)ARahanebCummins 22(70b,1x4,1x6)HViharirunout(Hazlewood) 4(38b)RPantcWarnerbHazlewood 36(67b,4x4)RJadejanotout 28(37b,5x4)RAshwinrunout(Cummins/Labuschagne) 10

(15b,2x4)NSainicWadebStarc 3(13b)JBumrahrunout(Labuschagne) 0(2b)MSirajcPainebCummins 6(10b,1x4)■Extras (nb2,w5, lb2) 9■FoW:3-117(Rahane,54.4ov),4-142(Vihari,67.2ov),5-195(Pant,87.4ov),6-195(Pujara,88.2ov),7-206(Ashwin,92.2ov),8-210(Saini,94.5ov),9-216(Bumrah,96.3ov),10-244(Siraj, 100.4ov)■Bowling:MStarc19-7-61-1,JHazlewood21-10-43-2,PCummins21.4-10-29-4,NLyon31-8-87-0,MLabuschagne3-0-11-0,CGreen5-2-11-0

AUSTRALIA(2STINNINGS) 103/2DWarner lbwAshwin 13(29b,1x4)WPucovskicsub(Saha)bSiraj 10(16b,2x4)MLabuschagnebatting 47(69b,6x4)SSmithbatting 29(63b,3x4)■Extras (nb3, lb1) 4■FoW:1-16(Pucovski,5.5ov),2-35(Warner,9.2ov)■Bowling:JBumrah8-1-26-0,MSiraj8-2-20-1,NSaini7-1-28-0,RAshwin6-0-28-1

DDaayy44::LLiivveeoonnSSoonnyySSppoorrttssNNeettwwoorrkk,,55aamm

AUSTRALIA VS INDIASYDNEY CRICKET GROUNDToss: Australia, chose to bat

JaspritBumrahwasthethird IndianbatsmantogetrunoutonSaturday.AP

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIASYDNEY, JANUARY9

THEBCCIonSaturdaylodgedaformalcom-plaintwithICCmatchrefereeDavidBoonaf-ter Indian teamplayers, JaspritBumrahandMohammed Siraj, were allegedly raciallyabusedbyadrunkspectatorhereduringthethirddayof thirdTestagainstAustralia.According to BCCI sources, Siraj was al-

legedlyreferredtoasa"monkey"byadrunkspectator in one of stands at the SydneyCricket Ground, reliving the infamousMonkeygate episode of the Indian team'stourofAustralia in2007-08."BCCIlodgedaformalcomplaintwithICC

matchrefereeDavidBoonabouttwooftheirplayersJaspritBumrahandMohammedSirajbeingabusedbyadrunkspectator,"aCricketBoardsaid.Incidentally, the Monkeygate episode

alsotookplaceduringtheSydneyTestwhenAndrewSymondsclaimedHarbhajanSinghcalledhimamonkeymultipletimes.ButtheIndianoff-spinnerwas clearedafter ahear-ingonthematter.It islearntthatalongdiscussionwasheld

between the senior players of the visitingcontingent, including captain AjinkyaRahane, theumpiresandsecurityofficersattheendoftheday'splay.Theabusesweredi-rected at the Indian duo while they werefieldingduringtheAustraliansecondinnings.

Injured Jadeja out of 4th TestDepleted India's injurywoesworsened

on Saturday with senior all-rounderRavindra Jadeja sustaininga left thumbdis-location and fracturewhich is likely to rulehimoutof thefinalTest inBrisbane,startingJanuary 15. However, there is some goodnews for India as wicketkeeper-batsmanRishabh Pant's elbow injury is not seriousandhewillprobablybeavailablewhenIndiabat to save theTestmatch. Bothplayers un-derwent scans after being hit by short ballsfromAustralian pacers on third day of theTestmatch."RavindraJadejahassufferedadislocation

and fractureonhis left thumb. Itwill beverydifficultforhimtowearthoseglovesandbat,"

a seniorBCCI source toldPTIonSaturday. "Inanycase,hewillbeoutofactionforatleasttwotothreeweekswhichruleshimoutofthefinalTest. Pantwill beable tobat ashis injury isn'tthatserious."

Thevisitors'firstjoltcamewhenPantsus-tained an elbow injury after being hit by aPatCumminsdelivery.ReservewicketkeeperWriddhimanSahareplacedPantasperare-cent amendment in the ICC playing condi-tions."RishabhPantwashitontheleftelbowwhile batting in the second session onSaturday. He has been taken for scans," theBCCIhadearlier stated ina release.Pant,who looked goodduring his 36 off

67 balls on the third day of thematch, washit while trying to pull a short ball fromCummins.Hewas inpain immediately andafteron-fieldtreatmentthatincludedstrap-pingabandage,hewasbackinactionbutlostthe flowduetohinderedmovementas JoshHazlewoodhadhimcaughtbehind.

If thatwasnotenough,theAustralianfastbowlersinflictedfurtherpainontheIndianswith Jadeja sufferinganastyblowtohis leftthumb. He is unlikely to bowl in theAustralian second innings after being takenforscanstoascertainthedamagetohisbowl-inghand.Jadeja's28-runknockallowedIndiato limit Australia's first-innings lead to lessthan 100 but towards the end, a short ballfromMitchellStarchithimontheglovesandheneeded immediatemedical attention.Jadejawasinpainandoncetheteamwas

back on the field for the second innings, hisleft thumb looked pretty swollen and thephysio applied taping on it. He threw a fewballsbutthenitwasdecidedthatitwon'tbepossible forhimtocontinue.

KARLOVICOLDEST TOWIN IN25YEARSIvo Karlovic became the oldest player to win an ATP Tour matchin a quarter-century, beating No. 7-seeded Pablo Andujar 6-3, 5-7,6-4 in the first round of the Delray Beach Open. Karlovic, 41, isthe oldest to win on the top men's tour since Jimmy Connors atage 42 in 1995. AP

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTY&DEVENDRAPANDEYKOLKATA/MUMBAI, JANUARY9

COVID-19HADthreatenedtomakethe2020-21 Indian domestic cricket season null andvoid. Eventually, the BCCI, in consultationwithstateassociations,decidedtosettheballrolling. The SyedMushtaq Ali T20 tourna-ment,tobeplayedfromJanuary10-31,servesasacurtain-raiser.There’snocertaintyaboutthe Ranji Trophy and/or the Vijay HazareTrophy. The SyedMushtaq Ali Trophy, too,would be different this time – players andcoaching staff in bio-bubbles across sevencities,understrictCovidprotocols.

Five rounds of Covid testsBCCI secretary JayShah’s communiqué to

allaffiliatedunitsstipulatedfiveroundsofCovidtestsduringthetournament.Tostartwith,EliteGroupA,B,C,DandEhavesixteamseachwithBangalore,Kolkata,Baroda,IndoreandMumbai

as their respective venues for group league.EightPlateGroup teamswill play inChennai.After the teamsassembledat their respectivevenuesonJanuary2,threeroundsofCovidtestshavebeenconducted. ThegroupphaseendsonJanuary19followedbytwomoreroundsofCovidtestsbeforetheknockoutsareplayedinAhmedabad fromJanuary26.Only IPL talentscouts,selectorsandstagingassociationmem-bershavebeenallowedatmatchvenues.

Tendulkar JrBecauseof thepandemic,theBCCIhasal-

lowedtheteamstohave22-membersquads.Thishasauguredwell forSachinTendulkar’ssonArjun, a left-armseamer by occupation.AlthoughMumbaihavestarslikeSuryakumarYadav, Shivam Dube, Dhawal Kulkarni,Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan, Arjun isexpected to be the cynosure of all eyes. TheMumbai selection committee includedhimin the squad after the Indian board allowedthesquadstrengthexpansionfrom20to22.

Return of BhuviBhuvneshwarKumar,whohasn’tplayed

internationalcricketformorethanayear,suf-fered a thighmuscle injury suffered duringthe IPL. He is now ready for a comeback forUttarPradeshintheSyedMushtaqAliTrophy.It is learnt thatKumar,doinghisrehabattheNational Cricket Academy in Bangalore, hasinformed the Uttar Pradesh CricketAssociationaboutplayingafewmatchesdur-ingthe latterhalf of thetournament.

PatCumminstookfour Indianwickets toturnthematch inAustralia’s favour.AP

ArjunTendulkarhasbeenincludedinthe22-memberMumbaisquad. File

Bumrah, Siraj allege racial abuse by crowd, BCCI lodges complaintIt is learnt thata longdiscussionwasheldbetweentheseniorplayersof thevisitingcontingent, includingcaptainAjinkyaRahane, theumpiresandsecurityofficersat theendof theday'splay

With series on line, howIndia ran themselves out

Mushtaq Ali T20 begins with strict Covid protocolsElavenil,Hridaywin10mairrifletrialsNewDelhi:World number one ElavenilValarivan andHridayHazarika emergedwinnersinthewomen'sandmen's10mairrifle national selection trials. Elavenil fin-ishedwith251.7, twopoints aheadof sec-ond-placedAyonikaPaulwhileHazarikabeatAishwaryPratapSinghTomar,aTokyo2020quotaholder,253.2to251.5.

MohdSportingedgepastdebutantsSudevaKolkata: Ali Faisal's second-half strikehelpednewly-promotedMohammedanSportingbeatdebutantsSudevaDelhiFC1-0astheI-Leagueseasongotunderwayhere on Saturday. Faisal's 58th-minutegoalprovedtobethedifferencebetweenthe twosides.

EastBengalbeatBFC,extendunbeatenrunMargao:MattiSteinmann'sfirst-halfstrikeproved to be the difference as SC EastBengal edged past Bengaluru FC 1-0 torecordtheirsecondwinoftheHeroIndianSuperLeague,attheFatordaStadium.TheKolkata side is nowunbeaten in their lastfive gameswhileBFC’smisery continuedwiththeirfourthconsecutivedefeat.

Pliskovalosestoqualifier inAbuDhabiAbu Dhabi: Third seed Karolina Pliskovawaseliminatedinstraightsetsbyaqual-ifier.Third-seededPliskovawasbeaten6-2, 6-4 by Russian Anastasia Gasanova,whowas ranked 292nd in her first tourmaindraw.

AGENCIES

BRIEFLY

InCummins,Pujarahadfoundhistruebêtenoire.Theirencountersthisseriesread:129balls,19runs,4wickets.Cumminshasclearone-upmanshipoverIndia’sdefensiverock.“Thebestball Ihavefacedthisseries,”Pujarawouldlatersay

E●EXPLAINED

BARODA VICE-CAPTAIN DeepakHoodapulledhimselfoutof theSyedMushtaq Ali Trophy after allegedlyfalling outwith team captain KrunalPandya during a training session onSaturday.Thetwoallegedlyhadanar-gument at the nets on the eve of thetournament after which Hooda leftthebio-bubble. InhisemailtoBarodaCricket Association, accessed by TheSundayExpress,HoodaevenaccusedPandyaof “threatening”him.“...Hestoppedmypracticeshowing

hisDadaGiri. He (Pandya) is trying topullmedownall the time in the field.Heisthreateningme‘howyouwillplayforBaroda,Iwillseeyou’,”Hoodawrote.

Hooda pulls out aftertiff with Pandya

New Delhi