The lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak has disrupted supply chains. One crucial chain is delivery of information and insight — news and analysis that is fair and accurate and reliably reported from across a nation in quarantine. A voice you can trust amid the clanging of alarm bells. Vajiram & Ravi and T he Indian Express are proud to deliver the electronic version of this morning’s edition of The Indian Express to your Inbox. You may follow The Indian Express’s news and analysis through the day on indianexpress.com JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SINCE 1932
Transcript
The lockdown to contain the coronavirus outbreak has
disrupted supply chains. One crucial chain is delivery of
information and insight — news and analysis that is fair and
accurate and reliably reported from across a
nation in quarantine.
A voice you can trust amid the clanging of alarm bells.
Vajiram & Ravi and The Indian Express are proud to deliver the
electronic version of this morning’s edition of The Indian Express
to your Inbox. You may follow The Indian Express’s news and
DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
SMITANAIRMOLLEM,AUGUST3
QUESTIONABLEPROCESSESandclearances are now underscrutiny, resulting in apause onthe key section of a proposedRs1,500-crorepower transmis-sion network for supply fromChhattisgarh to Goa, a 400kVlinecrossing theWesternGhatsthroughKarnataka.The central project is de-
signed to evacuate power fromtheRaigarhpooltoenergy-defi-cient Goa and was allotted toGoa Tamnar TransmissionProject Limited (GTTPL), an SPV
allotted to Sterlite Power, inNovember2017.Since then, environment
lawyers and officials say, thecompany has broken up themegagridinto“piecemeal, low-impact projects”, instead of a“cumulative”whole,whileseek-ing environment approvals un-dervarious laws.Last month, environment
lawyerSreejaChakraborty,whois among the primemovers inthe opposition to the project,flagged the “absence of any cu-mulative assessment” for theprojectinalettertotheMinistryof Environment, Forests andClimateChange(MoEF).“Itisthe
responsibility of the state to ac-cessdiversionproposals for anylinear project in its entirety forcomprehensive assessment ofthe requirement of forest land,”shesaid.According to Chakraborty,
normslistedintheHandbookofthe Forest Conservation Act,1980, and Forest ConservationRules (Guideline andClarification), 2003, “have beenoverlooked”. Section 11.2 statesthat “any proposal for linearprojects such as roads, railwaylines, transmission lines, etc.needtobeprocessedintheiren-tiretyforcomprehensiveassess-ment of requirement of forest
land and consequences if ap-proval for any forest land is notgranted”.In Karnataka, officials have
conveyed to theMoEF that “nomitigationmeasures”havebeenproposedeventhoughtheproj-ect “bifurcates the entire land-scape” of a UNESCO-tagged“global biodiversityhotspot”. Ininspectionreports,officialscau-tioned that the project “willcompromisetheintegrityof theecology of Kali Tiger Reserve”,and cause “permanent irre-versibledestruction”of thetigerhabitat of theMalenad-MysoreTigerLandscape.Thereportspointto“degrada-
tion of surrounding contiguousforesthabitats” in theBhimgarh,Radhanagari andKoynawildlifesanctuaries ofMaharashtra, andtheCotigaoandNetravaliwildlifesanctuaries of Goa. These, theysay,arecorridorsfor“tigers,leop-ards, black panthers, dholes, bi-son,spotteddeers,sambars,palmcivetcat,hornbillsamongothers”.In this context, the state has
“not recommended” approvalfor diversion of 177.09 hectaresof itsforestlandtoallowa72-km“rightofway”,which ispartof a94-kmdouble-circuit segment.This is the supply end of a net-workofthreetransmissionlines,
ABOUT 20% of those who ex-pressed an interest in enrollingat AIIMS for clinical trials ofIndia'sfirstindigenousCovid-19vaccine,Covaxin,hadalreadyde-velopedantibodiesagainstcoro-navirus, making them unfit forthe trials.Sources said that twoweeks
afterAIIMSbeganenrollingpar-ticipants, the institute hasscreenedmore than 80 volun-teers, but only 16 have been re-cruited. Themedical institute istoadministerthevaccineto100people, whowill bemonitoredfor at least twoweeks after get-ting the first shot.Those between 18 and 55
years of agewith no heart, kid-ney, liver or lung illness and nouncontrolleddiabetesorhyper-tensionareeligibleforthestudy.Routine investigations like liver,kidneyfunction,Covid-19detec-tion,andrapidantibodytestsareperformedonvolunteersbeforerecruitment.“The rejection rate is very
high as we can only recruithealthy volunteers. In almost
THE HIGH-POWERED ChinaStudy Group (CSG), led byNational Security Advisor AjitDoval, will review Tuesday thediscussions held at the fifthmeetingonAugust2oftheCorpsCommanders at Moldo on theSino-India border and approvethe next steps in the disengage-ment process on the Line ofActualControl (LAC) inLadakh.Official sources told The
Indian Express that the CSG hadlastmet on Thursday to decideontheagendaandproposals fortheAugust2meeting.Sources said the key agenda
for the Indian sidewas to find away ahead for further disen-gagementatPangongTsowherethe Chinese have come inaround 8 km to the Indian sideof theLAC.In the meeting, the Indian
side is believed to have men-tioned the stalling of the disen-gagementprocessandtheunco-operative stance of the ChinesesideatPangongTso.The Chinese stance was
based on the official line statedbyBeijing'senvoy lastThursday
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Expression ofopinion is notcontempt,Bhushan tellsSC in replyPRANAVMUKUL,
AKEYbellwetherofactivityinthemanufacturing sector slipped inJuly after twomonths of steadygrowthreflectingtheadverseim-pact of localised lockdowns bystates to fight the surging Covidcurve. For thosewho lost theirjobs, this fresh metric threemonthsintothelockdown— PMIfalling to 46 in July from47.2 inJune— is adisquieting reminderthatareturntonormalcy,orevenasustainableuptick, is faraway.
More so for the thousands,whobecauseofjoblossesorlack-ingasafetynetif infected,movedfrommetrosandurbanindustrialhubstotheirhometownsandvil-lages.Manyof themarenowre-alising that the rural economyhas hit a saturation point andcannotabsorbmoreworkers.TakeChittranjanKushwaha.Thefirstinhisfamilytoholda
diploma in engineering, 30-yearold Kushwahawent to Pune in2014andfoundanassembly linejobwithamajorauto-componentmaker.EarningamonthlyaverageofRs21,000,hewaslaidoff inthelockdownand so returned tohisfamily in Kushinagar, easternUttarPradesh.Unlikemany, Kushwaha got
lucky: his diploma helped himget a job at a Common ServiceCentre (CSC) — but at less thanone thirdof hisPunesalary.His expenses aredownashe
doesn’t have to pay rent but thedrastic cut in incomemeans hehastocutseveralcorners.Onebigcasualty:hischildren'seducation.
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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST3
AFTERTHESupremeCourt initi-ated contempt proceedings andissuednotice to himover twoofhis tweets, advocate PrashantBhushanhasrespondedinanaf-fidavit that “such expression ofopinionhoweveroutspoken,dis-agreeable or however unpalat-able...cannotconstitutecontemptof court”. Thecourtwillhear thematteronAugust5.A bench headed by Justice
ArunMishra had on July 22 is-sued notice to Bhushan andTwitter Inc regarding thetweets dated June 27 and June29, stating that they “broughttheadministrationof justice indisrepute”.Replying to the notice,
Bhushantold thecourt in theaf-fidavit dated August 2 that theJune29tweetonphotosofChiefJusticeof India SABobde seatedonabike“wasmadeprimarilytounderlinemyanguishatthenon-physical functioning of theSupremeCourt for the lastmorethan threemonths, as a result ofwhichfundamental rightsof cit-izens,suchasthoseindetention,thosedestituteandpoor,andoth-ers facing serious and urgentgrievances were not being ad-dressedortakenupforredressal”.
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
SERUM INSTITUTEGETSNOD
Frontrunner Oxfordvaccine cleared foradvanced trial in IndiaNodate forstartof trialyet;1,600peopleat18sitescouldparticipate
INDIA’S TOP drug regulator hasapproved the application ofSerum Institute of India (SII) toconduct late-stagehumantrialsin the country for the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccinecandidate.Researchers in Oxford an-
nounced last month that theircandidate had triggered an im-mune response in humansagainst thenovelcoronavirus inearlytrials.TheOxfordcandidateis considered to be one of theglobal frontrunners for theCovid-19 vaccine, along withcandidates being developed byModernawith the US NationalInstitute of Allergy andInfectious Diseases, and PfizerwithBioNTech.
CONTINUEDONPAGE2
Sushant probe: Mumbai vs BiharPolice as Patna SP is quarantinedAlertedMumbaicopsinFebon‘threat’ tolife:actor’s father
THE INVESTIGATION into actorSushant Singh Rajput’s deathturnedintoaMumbaiPolicever-susBiharPolice rowonMonday,withBiharIPSofficerVinayTiwarialleging that hewas “selectivelyquarantined” till August 15 after
hisarrivalinMumbaionSunday.Tiwari, Superintendent of
Police, Patna City (Central), wassent toMumbai tomonitor theinvestigation by a Bihar Police
team,whichisprobingan“abet-ment tosuicide”caseontheba-sisofacomplaintfiledbytheac-tor's father inPatna lastweek.Rajputwas foundhanging in
JUST TEN months ago, theSrinagar wing of the Jammu&Kashmir High Court was con-frontedwith an unprecedentedsituation—astaggering250-plushabeascorpuspetitionschalleng-ingdetentionsunderthedracon-ian Public Safety Act filed in the
firstsevenweekspostabrogationof the special status of the erst-whilestateonAugust5,2019.While the High Court dis-
posedofcasesinabout160peti-tions filed between August and
December 2019, at least 270habeas corpuspetitions remainpending,accordingtodataavail-able on the e-courts platform.But records of cases dealt con-clusivelybytheHighCourtshowthat 61 per cent of the casesdragged on over 3-4 hearings,onlytobeeventuallyeither“dis-missed” or “settled” after thecourtwas informedby the gov-ernment that the petitions hadturned infructuous because thedetentionorderunderPSAhad
Deaths as a ratio ofpositive cases (in %);indicator of progressin averting deaths
Positives againstnumber tested
(in %); indicator ofthe spread of disease
Becoming sick vsrecovering; more
recoveries for 14 daysmay signal the peak
POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILYOUT
MANUFACTURINGSECTORSTALLS
THEOXFORDvaccineof-fersoneof themostpromisingweaponsagainst thevirus.Despitethepromise, it is impor-tant to rememberthough, that the roadaheadremainsuncertain,and that thevaccine isstill onlyacandidate.
HopeandcautionE●EX
PLAINED
Mapusa
Mollem
Narendra
Xeldem
ProposedTransmissionLine
KARNATAKA
MAHARASHTRA
GOAArabianSea
1 in 5 whosigned up forCovaxin trialalready haveantibodies
THE JOBCUTSA N E X P R E SS S E R I E S
LOCKDOWN SLOWDOWN
July harder than June, migrants outof work hit economic wall at home
of every shade of saffron flutterfrom rooftops. Road-facinghouseshavebeensplashedwithacoatof brightyellow, thehastymakeover masks crumblingwalls,coversthecracks.Hoardingsofeverysizejostle
for space towelcome the Prime
Minister to thebhoomi pujan forthetempleofRamathisjanmab-hoomi,oncethedisputedsiteandnowsettledwiththeimprimaturof a unanimous SupremeCourtrulingninemonthsago.For a town riven asmuch by
Ayodhyais in place for the ceremony thedayafter.Incidentally, August 5 also
marksoneyearoftheabrogationof Article 370 in Jammu &Kashmir.Article370andtheRamtemplewerethetwinideologicalplanks core to the BJPwhich, inthe NDA’s earlier avatar underVajpayee, put themon theback-burnercitingcoalitiondharma.But thatwas thenand this is
now.Today,with itsmajority gov-
ernment in its second term, fortheParivar,thisistheculminationof its over three-decademove-ment. Invitationshavegoneout,and the chatter is all aboutwhohasbeeninvited,wholeftout.Therearesmirks,there’senvy.
After all, Covidmeansonly a se-lectfewarebeinginvitedtomarkthe start ofwhatmanyhere saywillbecometheHinduVatican.In his small house in Punji
Tola, 53-year-old Iqbal Ansarilooks at the invitation fromMahantNrityaGopalDas, presi-dent of the Shri RamJanmbhoomiTeerthKshetra, theTrust for the construction andmanagementoftheRamtemple.The invitation card is num-
bered 146. He flips it open. InHindi, it says he is invited to thebhoomi pujan and the com-mencement of the temple at12.30pmonAugust5.Theguest list includesPrime
Minister Narendra Modi, RSSSarsanghchalakMohanBhagwat,UP Governor Anandiben Pateland Chief Minister YogiAdityanath.SonofthelateHashimAnsari,
a tailorwhobecamea litigant intheRamJanmabhoomi-Babri ti-tle suit—which theAnsaris lost— and who passed away fouryearsagoatage96, Iqbal sayshewillattendtheceremony.“Why shouldn’t I go? The
PrimeMinister is coming espe-cially for it. Forget the past, it’sover.Thehighestcourtofthelandhas ruled, and everyonehas ac-cepted the verdict. It’s time tomove on. In any case, outsidersdon’tquitegettheGanga-Jamunitehzeeb(thecultureof thenorth-ernplains).HindusandMuslimsarebrothers,wehavealwayslivedtogether, nomatter the differ-enceswemayhavehad,”hesaid.“Ayodhya is a dharm nagri
(holy town), the faithful comehereinthehopethattheirprayerswill be heard, their desires ful-filled.Howcanoneoverlookthat?Wefoughtatitlesuit,notthepeo-pleortheirfaith,”hesaid.Askhimaboutthedemolition
of theBabriMasjid, the violencethatfollowed,theconspiracycasestill incourt. Iqbalsaysheisinnomood to look back, reopenwounds.Forhim,that’swaterun-derthebridge.Barely a kilometre away, in
RaniBazar,GayatriDevi, too,hasreceived an invitation and saysshe will attend. Her reason,though,isdifferent.Herhusband,RameshPandey,wasfelledbypo-licebulletsonNovember2,1990,when kar sevaks tried to stormtheBabriMasjid,thesecondtimein three days. His bodywasdis-coveredinabylane.“Mypresence (at the event)
willbringpeacetomyhusband’ssoul.Heleftbehindfourchildren,theyoungeststillinmylap.Therewasverylittlemoney,butIraisedthemasbestasIcould.Nowtheyare all married, and it’s a largefamily,but I feel terribly lonelyattimes,”Gayatrisaid.Of her two sons, Subhash
works at the karyashala, theworkshopfortheproposedtem-ple, where columns and slabshave been chiselled over years,waitingforconstructiontobegin.There, policemen routinely
wagfingerstokeeppeoplemov-ingas they crowdaroundanoldmodel of the proposed templeandtakephotographs.For now, the karyashala has
beentakenoverbyTVcrews.Given that the temple site is
currentlyoutofbounds,thebuild-ing blocks stacked in thework-shop form theperfect backdropfortheprimetimestudio.BecauseeachcolumnhasitsownAyodhyastory—andin48hours,thesesto-ries,sometold,someuntold,andsomethatmayneedfreshtelling,willmarkthebeginningofanewchapterinanation'shistory.
NSA groupduringhis talk at the Institute ofChineseStudies,sourcesadded.SourcesaddedthattheIndian
side also raised the issue ofDepsangplainswheretheyhavebeen denied access to five pa-trollingpoints. But therewas lit-tle progress on this issue as theChinesesidehasbeeninsistentontheLACpositioninDepsang.Theprinciplefollowedfordis-
engagementsofarhasbeenbothsides stepback fromthe face-offsites by an equal distance at thesametime.Even at Pangong, the Indian
side stepped back towards itsDhan Singhpost as the Chinesesidethinnedoutonthenorthernbank from Finger 4 towardsFinger 5. But there is little possi-bilityofanyfurthersteppingbackby the Indian side at PangongwhereChinesetroopsremainde-ployedontheridgeatFinger4.WhiletheIndiansideconsid-
ersincrementalprogressasapos-itivesign,sourcessaidthatthefi-nal goal remains the restorationofstatusquoanteasofApril.Towardsthis,threeconditions
have to be met, sources said:withdrawal of Chinese troopsfrom the Indian side of the LAC,removal of new infrastructurecreatedincontentiousareasafterApril,andrestorationofpatrollingrightstoIndians.
Migrants“Ipaidfees foramonth.After
that I got them de-registered.Howwill I payRs1,500 for threekids?”hesaid.Records show that of the 64
lakhmigrantworkers across116districtsinsixstates—Bihar,UttarPradesh, Rajasthan, MadhyaPradesh, Jharkhand andOdisha(coveredunder theGaribKalyanRojgarAbhiyaan)—aquarter re-turnedtojust17districts.The highest number of re-
turned migrants under theschemehas been registered forBihar,with 32districts account-ing for 23.6 lakhor37.2per centof the totalworkers covered, fol-lowed by Uttar Pradesh, with17.47lakhreturnedworkers(27.5percentofthetotal)andMadhyaPradeshwith10.71lakhworkersor16.9percentof thetotal.The monsoon and a good
summer sowingnotwithstand-ing, the surge in Covid-19 casenumbersinBihar,JharkhandandUttarPradeshisbeginningtohurttheruraleconomy.The reduction in disposable
incomeformanyfamiliescomeson the top of rise in householdsavings—ametric that indicatespeoplestartsavingmoretocoverthemselves in crises, which, inturn, isanindicatorofaslumpinthe economy. RBI records shownet financial savingswent up to7.7%ofGDPin2019-20,comparedwith7.2%in2018-19.“This improvement has oc-
curred due to moderation inhouseholdbankborrowingsbe-ingsharperthanthatinbankde-posits, except in the fourthquar-ter of 2019-20…Studies showthat households tend to savemoreduringaslowdownandin-comeuncertainty,”theRBInoted.Jobopportunities,fewandfar
between, for thosewhohave re-turnedhomeare largely comingfrompublic setups.Anumberofstates, includingBihar andUttarPradesh,haverolledoutmigrantlabouremployment schemes, inadditiontotheMNREGS.In all of the116districts cov-
ered under the Garib KalyanRojgarAbhiyaan, thenumber ofhouseholds availingMGNREGAworkinthesedistrictsjumpedto89.83 lakh duringMay—86.27
percentupfrom48.22lakhinthesamemonthlastyear.Companies such asMaruti
Suzuki India Ltd, India’s biggestcarmakers,havebeenrampingupoutputbut are largely relyingonlocalworkerssincethosefromUPandBiharareyettoreturn.DeepakKumar fromDhagar
inBhiwanidistrictisamongthosewhohas queued up atMaruti'sManesarfactoryoverthepastfewdays. Kumar and other ITIdiploma-holders from nearbytowns in Haryana have re-spondedtocallstoreturn.“Myhope is that even if they
keep me as a temporary em-ployee,theydon’taskmetoleavesoon,”Kumarsaid.SimilaristheplightofSantosh
Kumar,32,fromDinapattivillageinSupaul,Bihar.HeranerrandsatasmallaviationlogisticscompanyinMumbai butwentback tohisvillageinMayinathree-wheelerauto-rickshaw. “I am relying onfarmingforsurvival,”hesaid.WhileintheCentre’sfinancial
package, micro, small andmedium enterprises (MSMEs)were among themain intendedbeneficiaries, these areyet to re-coverfromtheimpact.AccordingtoasurveybyCARE
Ratings— conducted over twoweeks from June 23 to July 7—one-third of theMSMEs facedrevenuelossesofover50%inthelast3monthsandover60%havebeenunabletopayfullsalaries.
BhushanTheJune27tweet,hecontended,was“mybonafideopinionaboutthestateofaffairsinthecountryinthepast six years and the role oftheSupremeCourt...”“It is theessenceof ademoc-
racy that all institutions, includ-ingthejudiciary, functionforthecitizens and the people of thiscountry,andtheyhaveeveryrightto freely and fairly discuss thestateofaffairsofaninstitutionandbuildpublicopinioninordertore-formtheinstitution.Isubmitthatmycriticismhasbeenoutspokenyetithasbeencarefullyweighedandmadewiththehighestsenseof responsibility. What I havetweeted is thusmybonafide im-pression about themanner andfunctioning of the SupremeCourt...,”Bhushanwrote.The affidavit also noted
speeches made by Justice D YChandrachud and formerSupreme Court Judge JusticeDeepak Gupta on dissent in ademocracy.Referringtothepressconfer-
ence by four senior SupremeCourtjudgesonJanuary12,2018,Bhushan said that “so seriouswerethemisgivingsoftheseniorsitting judges that they felt com-pelled to disregard the Code ofJudicial Conduct to call a pressconference andwarn citizens ofdanger todemocracybecauseofdangertoafreejudiciary”.Bhushan contended that
“freedomof speech andexpres-sionguaranteed to every citizenunderArticle 19(1)(a) is theulti-mate guardian of all the valuesthat the Constitution holds sa-cred...”Hewrote:“Articlel9(2)recog-
nisesthefettersthatcanbeplacedon freedomof speech&expres-sionunder theCourt's power topunishforcontemptunderArticle129. 'Reasonable restriction' be-ing the operative word underArticle l9(2), anyexerciseof con-tempt powers by the SupremeCourt,mustnecessarilynotbeofa nature that goes beyond 'rea-sonablerestrictions'.”Bhushan furtherwrote: “...to
prevent a citizen from forming,holding,&expressinga'bonafideopinion' inPublic InterestonanyinstitutionthatisacreatureoftheConstitution is not a reasonablerestriction...To curb constructivecriticismfrompersonsofknowl-edgeandstandingisnota'reason-able restriction'. Preventing citi-zens from demandingaccountability and reforms andadvocating for the samebygen-eratingpublicopinionisnota'rea-
sonablerestriction'.”The affidavit stated: “The
powerofcontemptunderArticle129 is to beutilized to aid in ad-ministrationof justiceand... can-notbepressedintoservicetosti-fle bonafide criticism fromcitizenswho arewell informedabouttheomissionsandcommis-sionsof theSupremeCourt.”
Goa power linetwoinGoaandonecrossingintothe state fromKarnataka, and asubstationinsouthGoa.The MoEF has now sought
“additional details” fromGoa,while putting onhold clearancefordiversionof forestland.Italsocautioned that “as forest land isrequired in respect of this trans-mission line inKarnataka State,the proposalwill have to be ex-aminedasfaitaccomplisituationneedstobeavoided”.TheMoEFhasalsopointedout
that GTTPL and Goa's ForestDepartment have not providedsufficient details of the “trees tobe felledunder the transmissionline for regular maintenanceworks”.Itsaidthatthisis“notsuf-ficiently explained” in the com-pany's application,which says“35%of treesonlyarerequiredtobeactually felledoutofenumer-atedtrees”.InGoa, officials said, permits
video conference of MoEF'sRegionalEmpoweredCommitteeon April 24, the company in-formed that the “transmissionlineprojectsarestand-aloneproj-ectsandarenotinter-linked”.In a statement sent to The
IndianExpress, thecompanysaidtheprojectconsistsof“fivediffer-ent elements” in the form oftransmission lines going acrossChhattisgarh,GoaandKarnataka,andasubstationinSangod.“Eachof these elements has a com-
afterwereceiveallapprovalsfrombothGoa andKarnataka for theXeldum (Goa) to Narendra(Karnataka)line,” itsaid.The transmission line was
among threeprojects clearedbythe state and national wildlifeboards -- the two others weredouble-trackingofa120-year-oldrail linefromKarnataka'sHospettoVascoandfour-laningoftheex-istingNH4A.Theseprojectsnowawaitclearanceunder theForestConservationActforuseofforestlandfornon-forestrypurposes.Nilesh Cabral, Minister in
charge of Power andEnvironment inGoa, said, “Goadoesnotproduceitsownelectric-itylikeotherstates,sowehavetodependonsupply fromnationalgrids.Werequireanother400KVto ensure proper supply inGoa.Wehave a daily requirement of650MWofpower.”But onMarch 19, GTTPL in-
voked the ForceMajeure clausecitingthe“outbreakofCovid-19”.Itsaidthatexceptforafforestationwork, “operations are not re-sumed after invoking ForceMajeure”. The project's originalscheduled date of competitionwasNovember21,2020.On the ground,meanwhile,
thepanchayatinMollem,thesub-station site, has demanded jobsforlocalresidentsandputonholdtheNOCforpendingconstruction.Sushant Bhagat, the DeputySarpanch, said: “They just cameand started felling trees, noneofuswastakenintoconfidence.”
Sushant deathmembersofmyteamhavebeeninMumbai since July 27. Theyhavebeenoutinthefield...NoonefromtheBMCapproachedthem...I have been selectively home-quarantined,”hesaid.“Whatever happened is not
proper,theofficerhasgonethereto dohis duty,” said Bihar ChiefMinisterNitishKumar.Hesaidthestate DGP “is dealingwith the
Pandeysaid:“IGP(centralrange)is sending a protest letter to theBMCchief.Asper rules,hecouldhavebeenexempted fromquar-antinerestrictions.”In a statement, theBMCsaid
Tiwariwasquarantinedaspertherules for domestic air travellers.“Hehasalsobeenguidedtoapplyto the competent authority ofMCGM(MunicipalCorporationofGreaterMumbai)forexemption,”it said.ABMCofficial saidTiwarihadnotsoughtexemptionsofar.However, the civic body did
not say why the police teamwhicharrivedfromPatnaonJuly27wasnotquarantined.Mumbai Police
ussayingtheywantedsomedoc-umentspertainingtothecase.Wedonotknowhowyoucaninves-tigateacaseoutsideyourjurisdic-tion...wearetakinglegalopinion...whenwegetanycomplaintfromanother statewe register it andtransferittothatstate.Wedonotinvestigateit...,”Singhsaid.In a video statement on
Monday, Rajput's father, K KSingh,saidhehadapproachedthePatnaPoliceastheMumbaiPolicedid not act on his earlier com-plaint,filedonFebruary25,abouta “threat” to the actor's life. K KSingh said that after his son'sdeath,hehadaskedtheMumbaiPolice to act against thepersonshenamedassuspectsinFebruary.Inhiscomplaint,onthebasis
of which an FIRwas lodged inPatnaonJuly25,KKSinghhadac-cused actor Rhea Chakrabortyandherfamilymembersofabet-tinghisson'ssuicideanddefraud-inghimofhismoney.Reacting toKKSingh's state-
ment,theMumbaiPolicesaidno
writtencomplainthadbeenfiledinFebruary."However,oneShriOPSingh,thebrother-in-lawoflateSushant Singh Rajput, had sentsomeWhatsAppmessagestothethenDCPZone9(ParamjitSinghDahiya)regardingthismatter.ThethenDCPZone 9had calledOPSingh and requestedhim that awrittencomplaint ismandatory.However,Mr Singhwanted thistoberesolvedinformally,andthethenDCPZone9clearlytoldhimthat it was not possible," saidMumbai Police spokesperson,DCP(Operations),ShahajiUmap.OPSingh,aHaryanacadreIPS
officer,didnotrespondtophonecallsormessages.Commissioner Singh said
Rajput's family had “not raiseddoubtsonanyone'sinvolvement”earlier. “On June 16, the state-ments of Sushant's father, threesisters andbrother-in-lawwererecorded... In fact, in one or twostatements, it also came to thefore that professional pressureandhismental health conditioncouldhaveledhimtosuicide.Buttheyclearlysaidthat theydonotsuspectanyone,”hesaid.He said police had recorded
56 statements so far, includingthatofRheaChakraborty.Healsodenied that therewas aparty atthe actor's residence before hisdeath. “We checked the CCTVfootageofJune13and14,andweknowwhoallwerepresentintheflat,”hesaid.He said theywere still prob-
ingall angles including financialdistress,professional rivalryandhealthrelatedissues.On Monday, the ED ques-
Maneshinde,deniedthatshewas“missing”.“ThecontentionoftheBihar Police that RheaChakrabortyismissingisnotcor-rect. Her statement has beenrecordedbyMumbaiPolice.Shehas cooperatedwith the police,asandwhencalled.Nonoticeor
summonshavebeenreceivedbyherfromBiharPolice,"hesaid.Meanwhile, parties in Bihar,
which have been demanding aCBI probe into the actor's death,raisedthematterintheHouseonMonday.
J&Kalreadybeenrevoked.Thewrit of habeas corpus is
consideredoneofthemostbasicprotections a citizen is guaran-teed under the Constitutionagainst unchecked State power— and theHigh Courts are spe-ciallyempoweredtoissueordersrelated to thiswrit, act swiftly,andorderthegovernmenttopro-duce the detainee before thecourt.Data analysed by The Indian
Express shows that of the 160habeascorpuspetitionsfileddur-ing August-December 2019, 42percentweredisposedof inJuly2020,almostayearsincetheab-rogation of Article 370; 65 percent were disposed of duringMarch-July. Just 15 per cent ofthese160casesweredisposedofin2019.“TheHigh Court judges give
undue latitude to the govern-ment counsel; there are caseswhere they have been given amonth, even twomonths, to fileobjections. It is unheard of,” GNShaheen,asenioradvocateofJ&KHighCourt,whohashimselffiled35habeascorpuspetitionssaid.In two cases, theHigh Court
did not quash the detention or-der: on a plea filed by AwamiNational Conference (ANC)leaderMuzaffar Ahmad Shah,where it directed him to “prove(his)arrestbyevidence”beforea“properforum”;andonapetitionfiled by J&K High Court BarAssociation president MianQayoom,where it dismissed itobserving “the court is not aproper forum to scrutinise themeritsofadministrativedecisionto detain a person” and that thematter “lieswithin the compe-tenceof theAdvisoryBoard.”However, in the 17 cases,
where the court did quash thedetentionorders, itmadesignif-icant observations. Fromnotingthat the detention order shows“total absence of application ofmind” to procedural require-ments not being followed, thecourtquashedordersforproduc-ingincompletedocumentstode-tained persons, including “in-criminatingmaterial”relieduponbytheexecutive.IntherunuptoAugust5and
in the days following it, severalthousandpeopleweredetainedfromacross the Kashmir valley.Of these, several hundredweredetainedunder the PSA, includ-ingforthefirst-timemainstreampoliticalleaderslikeformerChiefMinisters, Farooq Abdullah, hisson Omar Abdullah andMehboobaMufti.InMarch this year, respond-
ing to a question in the RajyaSabha,MinisterofState(MoS)forHome Affairs, G Kishan Reddyput the figure of preventive de-tentionsover7,000.“Outofthese,451 such persons are presentlyunder preventive detention,which includes396personsun-der JammuandKashmir PublicSafetyAct(PSA).”When contacted, Director
General of PoliceDilbagh Singh,said the PSAnumberswere ex-aggerated. “The number of ar-rests(postAugust5,2019)neverwent beyond 1,000. It actuallyrangedbetween800and900.”To avoid criticism fromhu-
man rights organisations, thegovernment has now startedbookingpeopleundertheUAPA,a senior police officer, who didnotwishtobenamed,said.“The cases underUAPAhave
seenasuddensurgeoverthelastyear,” says advocate Shaheen.“Every day, there are 30-40 re-mands (under UAPA) in thecourts. This is an easyway forthemtodenyjustice,”hesaid.
FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com
FROMPAGEONE
Serum Institute gets DCGI nod
AIIMS trials: 16 cleared, 20% have antibodies
SII, the world's largestmakerofvaccines,hasatie-upwith AstraZeneca, theSwedish-Britishpharmagiant,tomanufacture the Covid-19vaccine for low- andmiddle-incomecountries.The clearance from the
Drugs Controller General ofIndia (DCGI) who heads theCentralDrugsStandardControlOrganisation(CDSCO)cameaf-ter an expert committee onFridayaccepteda revisedpro-posal submittedbySII.The Institutecannowstart
larger phase II/III trials of thecandidate in India, ahead ofBharat Biotech’s Covaxin andZydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D, othercandidates that are still inphase I/II trials. The trials forCovishield – or, technically,AZD1222 or ChAdOx 1 nCoV-19 – will have around 1,600participants at 18-odd sitesacrossthecountry,aseniorof-ficialhadsaidearlier.“This (the DCGI clearance)
willhastenthedevelopmentof
the vaccine,” the UnionMinistry of Health andFamilyWelfare saidonMonday.Thetrial siteswill likely in-
clude those identified by theNational BiopharmaMissionand Grand Challenges IndiaProgramme,apartnershipbe-tweenthegovernmentandtheBill and Melinda GatesFoundation.Department of
Biotechnology(DBT)secretaryDrRenuSwaruphadsaidthesesites had been readied as partof India’spreparationsforfinalstage trials for theOxfordvac-cinecandidate.It was not immediately
clearwhen SII planned to be-gin the trials. Queries sent tothe firm remained unan-swered until press time onMonday. SII CEO AdarPoonawalla had told TheIndianExpress earlier that tri-alswouldbeginthismonthaf-ter regulatory approvalswerereceived and, if all wentwell,thevaccinecouldbeoutbythe
endof theyear.DrSanjayLalwani,medical
director at Pune's BharatiHospital, said it would take atleast a week to get the ethicscommittee's approval beforethe trials could start. PathikDivate, director of JehangirClinical Development Centre,said their ethics committeewouldmeetsoontocheckandapprove the revisedprotocol.Dr Ashish Bawdekar, prin-
cipal investigator at Pune'sKEMHospital, said each clini-cal trial site could get around200 participants, but at least160wouldbeenrolled.Itcouldbe twoweeks before the trialstarts, hesaid.On Friday, the CDSCO's
Subject Expert Committee(SEC)forCovid-19relatedther-apies recommended that au-thorisation to marketCovishield should be grantedafter considering clinical datagenerated fromboth the Indiaand international trials. TrialparticipantsinIndiashouldbe
ported on Friday that the SEChad recommended that CD-SCO grant permission to SII toconduct phase II/III trials hereafter the firmhadsubmittedarevised protocol. DCGI Dr V GSomani is learnt to have ap-proved the proposal late onSunday.Oneof the reasonswhySII
had to revise its protocol wasthat the SEC felt the firmneeded to take a “pan India”approach while consideringtrial sites. While it is unclearhowmanytrialsiteswerepro-posedbySII initsearlierproto-col,PoonawallahadearliertoldThe Indian Express that it in-tended toconduct the trials inPuneandMumbaionly.Following suggestions to
make eight changes, SII hadspeedilyamendeditsproposaland resubmitted it for consid-erationwithin the course of aday, it is learnt.
20%of thevolunteers,wehavefound antibodies. Thismeansthey have already been in-fected. The remaining peopledo not have optimum liver orkidneyfunction,”saidaseniordoctor at the hospital closelymonitoring the trials.Antibodies indicate a per-
sonisalreadyinfectedwiththevirusandhasrecovered.“So, itis difficult to study the impactof the vaccine in them,” saidthedoctor.Themedical institute has
received over 3,500 applica-
tionssofartoparticipateinthehumantrials.On July24, a30-year-old male was adminis-teredthefirstdoseofCovaxin.He was administered 0.5 mlthrough an intramuscular in-jection.“Hehascompletedthefirstweekandhasn't reportedany discomfort so far.WewillmonitorhimtillnextFridaybe-fore administering the nextdose of the vaccine,” said thedoctor.Thecountry'stopmed-ical institute is among the 12sites selected by the ICMR forconducting Phase I and II ran-
domised,double-blind(mean-ingneithertheparticipantsnorthose delivering the vaccineknowwho is getting it) andplacebo-controlledclinicaltri-als of Covaxin. In phase I, thevaccinewouldbetestedon375volunteers,ofwhomthehigh-est, 100, would be at AIIMS.The second phase would in-clude around 750 volunteersfromall12sitesput together.The vaccine has been de-
veloped by the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical com-pany Bharat Biotech in
collaboration with theNational Institute of Virologyand IndianCouncil ofMedicalResearch. TheDrugControllerGeneral of India earlier ap-proved phase I and II humanclinicaltrials.Aserologicalsur-vey jointly carried out by theNational Centre for DiseaseControl and state health au-thoritieshadrecentlyreporteda seropositivity rate of 22.86%for IgG antibodies on 21,387samples randomly collectedfrom across the 11 districts ofthecapital.
New Delhi
ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI,AUGUST3
ATA timewhen elective cancersurgeries across theworldwereputonholdorcurtailedduetothepandemic,doctorsatAIIMSper-formed41bonesarcomasurger-iesduringthelockdown.Astudyto evaluate the early results andfeasibility of surgeries for bonesarcomasduring theCovid lock-down conducted by the depart-ment of orthopedics has nowbeen published in the WileyJournalofSurgicalOncology.Thestudy, ‘Bonesarcomasur-
gery in times of Covid-19 pan-demic lockdown—early experi-encefromatertiarycentreinIndia’,was conductedon twogroupsofpatients— the “non-lockdowngroup” operated betweenFebruary 24 andMarch22; andthe “lockdowngroup” operatedbetweenMarch23andApril18.Ninety-onepatientsqualified
for the research, out ofwhich41werepartofthelockdowngroup.The study revealed that duringthelockdown,37patients,or90%,underwentamajorsurgicalinter-vention, against 24 patients, or48%,inthenon-lockdowngroup.Out of the 37major proce-
duresperformedduringthelock-down,31werelimbsalvagepro-cedures.“Sarcomasaretheworstcancers as for these patients it’sabout life anddeath. If youdon'toperateinthestipulatedtime,therisk of recurrence becomes veryhigh. Theaimwas to letpatientsknowsurgery ispossible.Due toavailability of beds and ICU,wewere able toperformmajor sur-geries, whichwas not the caseduringthepre-lockdownperiod.Acancerpatientgenerallydoesn'tdefer treatment. Patients hadbeenwaitingforalongtimetogetadateforsurgeryatAIIMS,sowetook a few steps to provide thetreatment,” said Dr Shah Alam
Khan, lead author of the studyand Professor at Department oforthopedicsatAIIMS.The researchers hope the
studywillhelpprovide inputs toformulateguidelinesforbonesar-comasurgeryintimessuchasthepandemic.“As lockdownsmay become
thenewnormaluntilwefindanefficient vaccine or drug forCovid-19, the statemachineryhas to chalk out proper referralpathwaysforensuringtimelydi-agnosisandtreatmentinitiationofpatientswithsarcoma, failingwhich we may end up losingmore lives due to non-Coviddeadlydiseases,”thestudystates.One of the co-authors of the
paper, Dr RajeshMalhotrawhoheads the orthopedic depart-ment and is the Chief of JPNATrauma Center, said: “It's beingsaidoneshouldlearntolivewithCovid, but you can't live withcancer;itwillkillyou.Cancerisabiggerthreatasit isboundtokillyou over a period of time if leftuntreated. The national lock-down did not mean a hospitallockdown. The hospital wasworking tirelessly for emergen-cies,trauma,andcancerpatients.Atleastinorthopedics,weneverstopped operating and utilisingour operation theatres to thefullest.”
3THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,AUGUST4,2020
THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHIOFFICE OF THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR
LOK NAYAK HOSPITAL, NEW DELHI-110002(ESTABLISHMENT -III)
No.F.40./4704/E-III/LNH/ Dated:
NoticeMs. Kornal Bhagat, Nursing Officer (Roll. No 02002196), ID.No151116, is hereby informed that “As per C.C.S rules you areunder the probation period of two years from the D.O.A i.e01/7/2014”. Since 6/8/2014 you have been unauthorized absentto till date without any intimation/information.And whereas correspondance has made by this departmentthrough this office Memo date 8/1/2016 & Show Cause Noticedated 1/6/2016 but neither have responsed nor joined thishospital to till date.Now, therefore, you are given last opportunity to join thishospital/LNH within 15 days from the publishing date of thisAdvertisement failing which further administrative action asdeemfit under CCS (TS) rule shall be initiated against her asapplicable without further correspondence.
Sd/-DIP/SHABDARTH/0185/20-21 MEDICAL DIRECTOR,LNH
GOVT. OF NCT OF DELHIOFFICE OF THE MEDICAL DIRECTOR
LOK NAYAK HOSPITAL, NEW DELHI-110002(ESTABLISHMENT-Ill)
No.F.40.//E-III/LNH/ Dated:NOTICE
Ms. Swati Singh, Nursing Officer (Roll.No 02025756) isinformed that “As per C.C.S rules you are under the probationperiod of two years from the D.O.A i.e 02/7/2019”. Since05/7/2019 you have been unauthorized absent to till date without any intimation/information.And whereas correspondance has made by this departmentthrough this office S.C.N date 29/8/19 & Notice dated 20/11/19but neither you have responsed nor joined this hospital to tilldate.Now, therefore, you are given last opportunity to join thishospital/LNH within 15 days from the publishing date of thisAdvertisement failing which further administrative action asdeemfit under CCS (TS) rule shall be initiated against heras applicable without further correspondence.
Sd/-DIP/Shabdarth/0186/20-21 MEDICAL DIRECTOR, LNH
805COVIDCASES, 17DEATHS INPAST24HOURS
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST3
BETWEENJULYandAugust, thetotal active cases of Covid-19 inDelhi came down from 27,007to 10,207— a reduction of over2.5 times.According to data shared by
theDelhigovernment,whileto-tal active cases on July 1 were30% of all cases recorded, thepercentage dropped to 7.3% byMonday,August3.The drop is a big relief for
doctors as well as district ad-ministrationofficers,whohaveto assess the condition of eachpatient,whetherhospitalised, ininstitutional Covid care centresorunderhome isolation.Aspartof theprotocol, daily
reports about symptoms fromall those under home isolationaretobecollatedandtheircon-ditiontracked. If theirconditiondeteriorates,theyaretobetakentothehospital.Withareductionin this number, the pressure onagencieshasalsobeeneased.Ofthe10,207activecases,5,577areunderhomeisolationatpresent.The Indian Express had re-
portedonAugust2thatinDelhi,theR-number,whichisanindexof transmission, has fallenwellbelow 1 and if the trend en-dures, the city could see the to-tal active casesdroppingbelow1,000bySeptember.Theprojec-tions were made by SitabhraSinha andhis researchgroupatthe Institute of MathematicalSciences inChennai.The percentage of patients
on ventilator support, as com-pared to all those admitted,however, has risen slightly be-
tween July 1 and August 3.While10%ofallpatientsadmit-ted to hospitals were on venti-latorsearlier, it isnow12%,datashared by the governmentshows.Theweeklymortality figure
between the week ending onJuly 5 and the week ending onAugust2,meanwhile,hassignif-icantly dipped from418 deaths
to 177 deaths. This means thatwhile an average of 60 patientsweredyingperday in theweekending July 5, the number hasdroppedto25peopleperdayinthe week that ended Sunday,August2.“Despite lifting lockdown in
thestate,Delhihasbeenable toreduce its active cases by halfsince the beginning of this
month.Delhiisseeingareducedpositiverate,reducedseverein-fectionsandbedoccupancy, re-duced deaths, and a national-high in recovery,” the Delhigovernmentspokespersonsaid.Delhi’s recovery rate stands
newcases,outof the10,133testsconducted.While 3,904peoplewere tested through RT-PCRmode — considered the goldstandardintesting—6,229weretested through the faster RapidAntigenTest kits. Thedeath tollreached 4,021, with 17 peopledyingof thediseasein24hours.
Out for a swim, twosiblings drown inYamuna, friend saved
Covid challan helps trace 2men with criminal records
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,AUGUST3
TWO SIBLINGS allegedlydrowned in the Yamuna riverwhile taking a swimwith theirfriendnearKotwalionMonday.Accordingtopolice,Ajay(23)
hadjumpedintotherivertosavehis brotherKaran (19),whowasallegedlydrowning,butcouldn't.Their bodieswere recovered bydiversafteranhour-longsearch,said the police. Their friend,Rakesh,who toowasdrowning,was saved by a passerby whopulledhimashoreusingarope.Police said that Ajay and
Karan,wholiveinGandhiNagar,wenttomeettheirfriendRakeshin Kotwali onMondaymorningandthethreewenttotheriver.Karan (19) and Rakesh
man, Suresh, whowas nearby,came to their aid and threw arope intotheriver.DCP (North) Monika
Bhardwaj said, “Rakeshgotholdoftheropeandhewaspulledoutof theriver.Karancouldn’tcatchthe rope andwas struggling tostayafloatwhenhisbrotherAjayjumpedintorescuehim.”Police said that divers found
the brothers after an hour-longsearch. DCP said the twowererushed to a nearby hospitalwhereKaranwasdeclareddeadon arrival and Ajay died duringthetreatment.Thesiblings livedwiththeirparentsandtwoelderbrothers inGandhiNagar.KaranworkedatasalonandAjaywasasalesmanatanearbystore.Meanwhile, three boys —
aged15-16—wererescuedfromtheYamunaMondayeveningbyDFS personnel and a local nearSignature Bridge area, said DFSchiefAtulGarg.
AstudyonthesurgeriesbyAIIMS doctorshasbeenpublished ina journal
SAKSHIDAYALGURGAON,AUGUST3
POLICEHAVEarrestedtwomorepeople, includingmainaccusedMonu, in the attack on a truckdrivertransportingbuffalomeatinGurgaon lastweek.According topolice,Monu, a
resident of Rithoj village, hasclaimed he is a “gau rakshak”.“Monu is themain perpetratorof the violence; he beat up thevictimwith a hammer, causingmajor injuries,” said SubhashBoken, PRO of Gurgaon Police.The second accused has beenidentifiedasAnesh,aresidentofSohna.The incident took place last
Friday, when the victim,Lukman,wastransportingmeatfrom Nuh to Gurgaon’s JamaMasjidareaandtheaccused,rid-ing motorcycles, tried to stophimandlaterbeathimup.Theyalsogotintoaconfrontationwithpolice personnel who tried tosaveLukman.ACP (Crime) Preet Pal
Sangwan, said, “Neither of theaccusedhaveapastcriminalhis-tory. They are not part of GauRaksha Dal or any such regis-teredgroup,but theycall them-selvesgau rakshaks.Monurunsadairy inBadshahpur.”“Thehammerheused in the
crimehasnotbeenretrievedyet.Monu has been produced incourt and taken into police re-mand,”hesaid.AmemberoftheGauRaksha
Dal denied involvement of thegroup’s members in the inci-dent:“Noneofthosearrestedareapartof ourgroup.”Fourarrestshavebeenmade
so far and three policemen, in-cluding an SHO, has been sus-pended for “negligence in du-ties”.
NewDelhi:Trying tochallan twomen for notwearing amask inpublic,aDelhiPoliceconstableonpatrolling duty in NorthwestDelhi clicked their photographs,secondsbeforetheyranawayaf-terpointingapistolattheconsta-ble. The incident took place onJuly27inMauryaEnclave,andthephotostakentoissueCovidchal-lanhavenowhelpedtrackdownthetwomen—ofwhomonehas59previousinvolvementincasesofsnatchingandrobberyinDelhiandHaryana."Thephotoswererunthrough
theDelhi Police's facial recogni-tionsystem(FRS) to findcluesorcriminalrecords.Thephotoswereveryclearandhelpedidentifythe
accusedasSunil,whohas59pre-vious cases against him inDelhiandHaryana,andAmit,aresidentof Narela, who has 15 previouscases against him. The FRS hastheir details because they havepreviously been arrested,” DCP(Northwest)VijayantaAryasaid.Whenthepoliceteamraided
Sunil'shouse,the27-year-oldwasfoundhidinginsideanalmirah.DCPAryasaid,"Apistol, three
livecartridges,andthreesnatchedmobile phoneswere recovered.Theyalsodisclosed that theygotthe illegal weapon from Tarun(22),who toohasbeenarrested.Amit and Sunil targetedpeople,especiallywomen, in isolatedar-easandatoddhours.”ENS
51-100 Satisfactory 101-200 Moderate 201-300 Poor 301-400 VeryPoor 401-500 Severe
DWARKA- SECTOR8Satisfactory
0
56AQIPM:10
82AQIPM:10
63AQIPM:10
New Delhi
SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI, AUGUST3
FOURPRIMARYchallengeshavecroppedup in the realmof childrightsinDelhiwiththeCovidout-break and the lockdown—childlabour,homelessness,reversalofprogress inchildhealthcare, andschooldrop-outs—whicharego-ingtogetcompoundedovertime,recently appointed chairmanofDelhiCommissionforProtectionofChildRightsAnuragKunduhastoldTheIndianExpress.Kundu has been in office as
chairman for amonth now andsaid that while the entire gov-ernmentmachinery is involvedin Covid, it will also need to ad-dress thesealliedchallenges.“Not just me, the ILO
(International LabourOrganisation) has said thatmil-lionsofchildrenareatriskofbeingpushedintochildlabourandithasalreadystartedtohappen,notjustinDelhibutinallcosmopolitanar-
eas...Secondly,IhavelivedinDelhifor30yearsandIhaveneverseenhomelessfamilies,withlittlechil-dren, inthescalethatwearesee-ingtoday,andhomelessnessisthestarkestmanifestation of whatpovertylookslike,”hesaid.Thethirdchallengehepointed
to is a consequenceof thediver-sionofhealthmachinerytoCovidcare,which, he said, is leading toneglectof“core”functions—such
aspregnancy care in institutionsand immunisationof children todiseasessuchastuberculosis—inwhich progress has beenmadeover years. The final point heflagged is a consequence of thefirsttwochallenges—statingthatchildren, especially boys, beingpushed into child labourwill re-sultinreducedschoolattendanceandincreaseddrop-outs.Kundusaidthatthecommis-
sion,with the government, is intheprocessofworkingoutmicro-targets that have the “capabilityto defeat the seemingly insur-mountablechallengesahead”.“Attendanceisthesharpestin-
dicator of a child being in an ad-versesituation... Ifachilddoesn’tattend school for a long time, itcould hint at the child being in-volved in child labour, to earlymarriage in case of girls, and arange of other issues tied toPOCSO and juvenile justice. Sowe’retryingtoworktowardsase-ries of actions if a child has lessthan 33% attendance—a call to
thefamily,visittothehome,acon-versationbetween the child andthecounsellor—sothattherecanbetimelyinterventions,”hesaid.He also said that during his
timeaschairperson,heislookingtorepositiontheapproachtoad-dressingchildrightsissues:“IfwetakethecaseofPOCSO,sofarourapproach has been that everytimea sexual assault is reportedwe try tomake sure the accusedischargesheeted...areconciliationbetweenthecriminaljusticesys-tem and the restorative justicesystemwill bea focuspointdur-ingmytenure. Thiswillinvolvefi-nancialcompensationtothesur-vivor, emotional and mentalwell-beingofthechild,educationintegration of the child back toschool, andmedicalneedsof thechild over time...We have nowstarted a reviewof all sexual as-saultcases thathavecometothecommissionover the last three-oddyears. It’s anapproach—it isapplicabletocasesofPOCSO,childlabourandelsewhere.”
SHIVAMPATELNEWDELHI, AUGUST3
STATESMAYhavetodowithlesswater from theYamuna and fo-cus on conservation as it hasbeen recommended to theMinistry of Jal Shakti to reworkthe 1994water sharing agree-ment between Uttarakhand,Himachal Pradesh, Haryana,Delhi andUttarPradesh.Thepact iscrucial toDelhias
by the Yamuna MonitoringCommittee, appointed by theNationalGreenTribunal,isbasedon the need to revive theYamunabyreleasingmorefreshwater into it,whichwould helpmaintainacertainenvironmen-talflowfortherivertosustainitsfunctions throughout theyear.Amemberof themonitoring
committee said, “The riverneeds water… For that, Statesmayhave todowith lesswater,focusonconservation,andhaveless water intensive croppingpractices.”As per the 1994
Rajasthan, the annual allocationofthewateris5.7billioncubicme-tres (BCM)toHaryana,4.03BCMtoUttar Pradesh—UttarakhandwasthenpartofUP—1.11BCMtoRajasthan,0.37BCMtoHimachaland0.72BCMtoDelhi.Changes to this have been
suggestedinaccordancewiththe
findings of a study by theNational Institute of HydrologyRoorkee (NIH), assigned by theNationalMissionforCleanGangain2018ontherecommendationof themonitoringcommittee.“Asalivingriver,theYamuna
should be able to fulfill its eco-logical functions. These includerecharging the groundwateraquifers, carrying nutrient richalluvial sediment, supportingbiodiversityandaquatic lifeandproviding forsocial andculturalneeds of the riparian popula-tions,” the committee said in areport to theNGT in June.Maintaining environmental
flow at the point that the riverenters Delhi is also a point ofcontention between Delhi andHaryana,with the formeralleg-ing time and again that notenough water is released byHaryana,therebyincreasingtheammonia levels inwater, mak-ing itdifficult to treat.
4THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,AUGUST4,2020
THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
AMIL BHATNAGARNOIDA, AUGUST 3
DAYS AFTER a woman whosebody was found in a suitcasewas identified as 22-year-oldVarishabyher family, followingwhichherhusbandandin-lawswere arrested on charges ofdowry death and domestic vi-olence, Ghaziabad Police saidthe body was wrongly identi-fied.In a letter to Ghaziabad
Police on Monday, DikshaSingh CO City, Bulandshahr,said, “During investigation, itwas found that Varisha… isalive and present inBulandshahr currently. Thebody was wrongly identifiedbyVarisha’sbrother. This infor-mation isbeing relayedas con-text for the investigation intothe case of the unidentifiedwoman found in the suitcasein Ghaziabad.”According to Bulandshahr
Police, Varisha had allegedlybeen beaten by her husbandand in-lawsanddecided to es-cape. She stayed with a friendin Noida and later went to
Aligarh, where shewas found,said police. While the domes-tic violence charges under IPC498A will remain, police saidSection304B(2) (dowrydeath)will be dropped against herhusband and in-laws.As the case now stands
open,GhaziabadPolicewill re-start the identificationprocessandare awaiting test results ofDNA samples.On July27,GhaziabadPolice
had discovered the woman’sbody inasuitcase inSahibabadarea and enquired with theircounterparts in adjacent dis-tricts for leads. Police werethenapproachedbya family inDelhi, who claimed to have
identified the woman’s bodyfromthephoto thatwas circu-lated. After further probe, thefamily was called toGhaziabad,whoreiterated thatthewomanwas Varisha.“Due investigationwascar-
ried out after the body wasfound —we sent messages onWhatsApp and other socialmedia platforms, hopingsomeonewouldcome forwardwith a credible lead. WhenVarisha’s acquaintances ap-proachedus,wecross-checkedthe information withBulandshahr Police. It appearsthat the family wrongly iden-tified thebody.A reportwill besent by the investigating offi-cer from Bulandshahr policestation and we will make ef-forts to identify the victim,”said Maneesh Mishra, SP City,Ghaziabad.Varisha’s brotherhad iden-
tifiedherbodyandalleged shehadbeenkilledbyherhusbandand his family. A missing per-son pamphlet dated July 22was also circulated inBulandshahr, which said thatshe had disappeared withoutinforming anyone.
ALMOST50percentof thesanc-tioned posts at schools inHaryana’sNuhdistrict, declaredthemostbackwardbyNITIAayogin2018,arecurrentlylyingvacant,reveal records of the district’sDepartmentofEducation.Accordingtodataaccessedby
The Indian Express, of the 9,083posts sanctioned in the district,4,418arecurrentlyvacant.Theseinclude44vacanciesfortheposi-tion of Principal at SeniorSecondary Schools, 156 vacan-
cies for the post of ElementarySchoolHeadMaster(ESHM)and77vacanciesforHeadTeacheratPrimarySchools.While 885 of the 1,473 posts
— 60.08 per cent — sanctionedfor lecturers inhigh schools andseniorsecondaryschoolsarecur-rentlyvacant,amongmiddleandprimaryschoolsitistheClassicalandVernacular (C&V)posts thatare the worst affected —with78.64per cent of theposts lyingvacant. C&Vposts include thosefor Hindi, Sanskrit, Drawing,Music, Physical Education, andPunjabi. Among these, PhysicalEducationandDrawinghavethe
highest proportion of vacancies– 93.63 per cent for the formerand87.20 per cent for the latter.Apartfromthis,75.97percentofthe posts for Hindi are also va-cant, thedatareveals.Among theothermajor sub-
jects, including English, SocialStudies, Science andMath, thehighest proportion of vacanciesare for thepost of English teach-ers,with68of 84posts— 80.95percent— lyingvacant.Forothersubjects too,more than 50 percentof theposts–58.07percentfor social studies, 56.74per centformath,51.65percentforscience–arevacant.
In this situation, eachday is astruggleforteachersinthedistrict.Ataprimaryschoolthathasre-
centlybeenconvertedintoamid-dle school, for example, thereareonly three teachers tohandle allthe8grades,whichcumulativelyhaveastrengthof160students.“Wemanagebytakingmulti-
ple classes. For example, I firstteachclasses1and2 foranhour,then give them some work tokeep thembusy, andmoveon to
the third grade, where again Ispendonlyanhourwithstudents.TechnicallyIamaprimaryschoolteacher,butIalsoteachclass6be-causenobodyhasbeendeployedto teach them,” saida teacherontheconditionofanonymity.“The post of headmaster is
alsovacantatourschool,thereisnopeon, no clerk, sowehave tomanage the official and admin-istrativeworkaswell,”hesaid.Apartfromcomplicatingtheir
lives, teachers said the biggerproblem is the threat this posestothefutureof students.“Youngerchildrenespecially
needmore attention. As teach-
erswehave to guide themhowto write, hold their hands andhelp them form letters.Theyneedmore time, whichwe arenotabletogivethem.Asaresult,their foundation is not strong,which creates problems,” saidtheprimaryschool teacher.TheDistrictEducationOfficer
vacancies.Thedifferenceof1,500posts in the last 2-3 years is be-cause additional teachers havebeenposted.More postswill befilledinfutureaswell,”hesaid.
SOME SCHOOLS RUNNING WITH NO PRINCIPAL, HEADMASTER, TEACHERS
In Nuh, half the sanctioned posts in schools lie vacant: Records
A 24-YEAR-OLD member ofgangster Kaushal’s gang wasarrested by Delhi PoliceSpecial Cell after an exchangeof fireonMonday. Police foundthat Kapil alias Ravi was in-volved in two recent firing in-cidents in the capital — at aused luxury car showroom inSultanpur onAugust 1 andat asweet shop in West Delhi’sHari Nagar on July 31.During investigation in the
showroom firing, where threeassailants fired four shots anddropped a note demanding Rs1.5croreas “protectionmoney”allegedlyonbehestof Kaushal,police found that a similar in-cident had taken place a dayearlier.On July31, twomenhadfired three shots at a sweetshop in Hari Nagar. Kapil wasallegedly involved inboth inci-dents, said police.“The men entered the
sweet shop around 2.45 pmand started firing. They werewearing masks, scarves andhurling abuses. One of themthreatenedstaff and left anotedemanding themoney.Noonewas injured,” anofficer said. Inthe note, they demanded Rs 1crore “protection money” onKaushal’s behest.A senior police officer said
the Northern Range of theSpecial Cell received informa-tion that Kapil would be com-ing to Rohini’s Sector 11.“Acting on this information, atrap was laid and he was ar-restedafter abrief exchangeoffire. He received a gunshot in-jury andwas taken to anearbyhospital, where he is recuper-ating,” the officer said.Initial investigation re-
vealed that Kaushal had askeda close associate to threatentwo businessmen who were
not giving him protectionmoney despite repeated calls.During questioning, Kapil toldpolice said Kaushal’s close as-sociate told him to carry outthe task.“We have registered an FIR
at Hari Nagar police station inconnection with the incidentunder IPC sections 386 (extor-tionbyputtingaperson in fearof death or grievoushurt), 336(act endangering life or per-sonal safety of others), 120(criminal conspiracy), andun-der the Arms Act after receiv-ing a complaint,” a senior po-lice officer said.The crime forensic team of
theWest district was called tolift fingerprints. “They foundthree cartridges at the spot.Policealso foundCCTV footagethat showed the assailantsleavingonamotorbike,” theof-ficer added.Police found that the sweet
shop owner has a number ofstores in Gurgaon and only hisstaff were at the Hari Nagarstore when the incident tookplace. Police said the ownerwas threatened two monthsago to pay Rs 50 lakh by
Kaushal’smen.Delhi Police said they will
arrest Kaushal, who is cur-rently lodged inHisar Jail afterhe was nabbed by HaryanaPolice last year, in the comingdays.A team fromWest district
visited Hisar Jail to gather de-tails about Kaushal’s associ-ates, who recently got out ofjail. “Some of his close associ-ates were questioned and itcame to light that Kaushalwanted to create terror inDelhi, sohehasaskedhis asso-ciates to scare prominent citybusinessmen,” anofficerprivyto the investigation told TheIndian Express.Last year,Haryanapolice in
coordination with their Delhicounterparts, Interpol, RAW,and Dubai police had arrestedgangster Kaushal in a covertoperation. He had been evad-ingarrest sinceDecember2016andwasoperatinganextortionracket fromDubaiafterprocur-ing a work visa through a fakepassport. He is allegedly in-volved in over 200 cases of ex-tortion,murderandattempt tomurder.
Man involved in 2 shootingsheld after shootout with cops
Covid brings child rights challenges:school dropouts, pushed into labour
Yamuna in need of revival, stateswill have to make do with less: Panel
Delhigovtbansall formsofhookahinpublicplacesNewDelhi: Inafreshorderto check the spread ofCovid-19, theDelhi gov-ernmenthasbanned theuseofhookahinallforms—with andwithout to-bacco,herbalhookah,wa-terpipes,etc—inallpub-licplaceswithimmediateeffect.Whilehookahwasearlier banned by theDelhigovernment,herbalhookahwasstill inuse incertainplaces.
FIR aftermanfindslizardinsambaratrestaurantNew Delhi: Amanwhohad gone to SaravanaBhavaninCPtohavedin-ner with his friends onSaturdayallegedlyfoundadead lizard inhis food.Pankaj Aggarwal (36)said, “I had finishedmydosa and was about tohave the sambarwhen Ifound the lizard. I calledthepoliceimmediately.”Eish Singhal, DCP (NewDelhi) said, “An FIRwasregistered against therestaurantunderIPCsec-tions 260 (negligent actlikelytospreadinfectionof disease dangerous tolife)and336(actendan-gering life).”
CivilDefencevolunteerheldforextortionNewDelhi:A37-year-oldcivil defence volunteerhasbeenarrested foral-legedly trying to extortRs 5 lakh from a shop-keeper in Alipur. Policesaid the accused,Devender Verma, is anassociate of jailed gang-ster Jitender Gogi. Gogihad allegedly given hima pistol, which Vermaused forextortion.
OneheldforposingascopNewDelhi:Delhi Policehasarresteda25-year-oldmanwho allegedly toldthemhe is an Inspectorand reported a fake rob-bery to get fourmen ar-rested. The incidentwasreported on Saturday inAlipur. A man namedPankaj Lakra called thepolice to complain thatfourmenstoppedhiscarand took his bag,whichhad Rs 5 lakh. PolicefoundthatwhenaSantrohit his car, he thrashedtwoofthem.Hemadeupthe story to get themar-rested,policesaid.ENS
BRIEFLY
New Delhi
5THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,AUGUST4,2020
GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
UPCMYogiAdityanathat theSaryuGhat inAyodhyaonMondaytoreviewpreparations for theAugust5event.PremnathPandey
AVANEESHMISHRALUCKNOW,AUGUST3
WITHTHEpandemichavingputpaid to the Shri RamJanambhoomi Teerth KshetraTrust's desire to have “all thosewhoparticipatedinthe77threv-olutionofthetemplein1984”at-tendWednesday's Ram templegroundbreaking ceremony, 175people are being invited for theevent, with Prime MinisterNarendraModiasthechiefguesttoinitiate it.According to the Trust's gen-
eral secretary, Champat Rai, theinvitees include 135 religiousleaders from36 spiritual tradi-tionsacrossthecountry.Modi is expected to arrive at
thetempletownaround11.30amand leave soon after the eventconcludes,around2pm.The other invitees include
Union and stateministers, BJPleaders, RSS office-bearers anddignitariesconnectedtotheVHP,amongothers(seeboxforsomeofthose expected to be present). Inkeepingwith Covid-19 norms,seatingarrangementshavebeenmade in away that all inviteeswillsitatadistanceofsixfeet,Raisaid.Given security for the high-
profileevent,theinvitationletter–“itisreadyandisbeingsentout”–will have a security code andwillbevalid foronlyoneperson,withsingleentrance,Raisaidatamedia conference. Mobilephonesandbagsareprohibited.Writteninredandblackover
a yellowbackground, the invita-tionlettersaskinviteestobepres-entatKarsevakpuraminAyodhyabyTuesday,4pm.While the bhoomi and shila
preparations are alreadyon. Thecityhasbeenpaintedyellow–anauspicious colour of knowledgeandlearning.The prayers and the cere-
mony will start on Tuesdaymorning with the worship ofLord Hanuman’s mark inAyodhya—Hanuman is believed
topresideoverthecity.Tuesday'sprogrammewas initially sched-uledforSundaybuthadtobede-layedduetoweekendlockdowninthestateduetothepandemic.OnWednesday, PMModi is
expectedtostarttheeventbyof-fering prayers at the HanumanGarhitemple,whereheissched-
uled to spend about sevenmin-utes.Heissubsequentlyexpectedto visit themakeshift RamLallatemple,madeofwoodandglass,andoffer flowerstothedeity.The bhoomi and shila pujan
willincludechantingofmantras,and after shovelling the earth, aworshipof thegroundandshila.Officials in Ayodhya said a 22.6-kgbrickmadeof pure silverwillbeusedforthebhoomipujan.Rai said although themain
programmewill take place onWednesday,prayersandworshiphadbegun108daysago—onApril18—withregularrecitationoftheVedas, Vastu, Grah, Nakshatrashanti path, Shri Ram naampaath,Hanumannaampaathandhavan.OndiscussionsoverRamLalla
andotherdeitiestobedressedingreen, Rai said somepeople aretryingtocreateacontroversy.HesaidgreenhasnothingtodowiththeTrustor thePrimeMinister'sOffice.“The subject in entirely con-
nectedwith the chief priest ofRamLallatempleandtraditions,”he told the media. “Colour ofdress for the deities are decidedonthebasisofnineplanetsinas-trology, andBudh (Wednesday)is connected to green. The tradi-tionisfollowedsinceRamLallaishere.”Temple chief priestMahant
SatyendraDashadearliertoldTheIndianExpressthatthedeities'at-tire are ritually changed everyday, with different colours fordaysofthewee—pinkonSunday,white on Monday, red onTuesday, green onWednesday,yellow on Thursday, cream onFriday,andblueonSaturday.Construction of the temple
willbeginafterWednesday'spro-gramme and members of theTrust said that itwill be ready insixmonthstoayear.
Covidmeasures, security inmind,bhoomi pujan to have 175peopleInvitewithsecuritycodewillbevalid foroneperson,withsingleentrance
MANOJCGNEWDELHI, AUGUST3
AHEADOFtheground-breakingceremonyfortheRamTempleinAyodhya,theCongressiscaughton the horns of a dilemma—how to enter the bhoomi pujandiscourse,orwhethertoenter itat all.Whilethepartyunderstands
thatany“falsestep”couldhurtitsprospects further in the Hindiheartland,asectionof itsleadersbelieves the Congress shouldshed its silence as the BJP looksto consolidate itsHindutvabasebyrecenteringtheAyodhyaissue.The Congress appears to be
circumspectaboutcommentingpolitically on the event ---withthe Ayodhya movement andBabrimasjiddemolitionhavingimpacted the party themost inthe heartland.While it lost up-per caste votes to the BJP, theMuslims – disheartened withthe P VNarasimha Rao govern-ment’s failure to prevent thedemolition– shifted to regionalparties like theSPandRJD.LastNovember,theCongress
had welcomed the Supremejudgment on the RamJanmabhoomi-BabriMasjidtitlesuitcaseanddeclaredthatitwasinfavourofconstructionofaRamTemple. But the party has beenvirtually silent now, though for-merMadhyaPradeshCMKamalNathwelcomed construction ofthe temple andDigvijaya SinghaskedPMNarendraModi tode-fer the event citing "inauspi-cious" timing.ACongressspokespersonlast
week reiterated that the partyhad welcomed the SC judge-ment,butthepartyavoidedget-tingdrawnintoquestionsaboutleaders like PMModi attendingthe event amid the pandemic,saying thedecisionon“thepar-ticipants, themethodology, theinfrastructure, the decisionsolelyrestswiththetrustandtheconcernedindividuals,whohavebeen invited to participate onthisholyoccasion”.“The BJP and RSS have en-
casheditmultipletimes.Theyal-waysbenefitpolitically.There isa nationalism fervour (overChina)…polarisation…alltheseconsolidate themovetowardsamajoritarianstate.Butweunfor-tunately cannot be seen on theother side. It will cost us politi-cally…,”aseniorleadertoldTheIndianExpress.Former Union minister
SalmanKhurshidsaidacounter-narrative has to be told. Askedabouttheguestlistfortheevent,he said, “If they aremaking it apolitical event…we should en-sure that our position is that ifyou accept Lord Ram as not ofjust somepeople but of all peo-
ple,excludingsomepeoplefrompayingobeisancetohimisadis-service to Lord Ram. This is acounter narrative that has to betold.Wehave to tell thecounternarrative.”Another leader said the
party’sUttarPradeshunitshouldhave said that it was the RajivGandhigovernmentthathadal-lowed the opening of the locksofBabriMasjid in1986andper-mitted Shilanyas there threeyears later.Not many agreed, though.
“The BJP and RSS have earnedthe right to celebrate. If we saysomething,itwillbenothingbutacockandbullstory,”oneleadersaid.“Will itmakeanydifferenceif
wetalkaboutthe1980s…itisbet-tertowelcomeconstructionofthemandir…youhaveno space onthatplatform,”aleadersaid.Sources said the party is
thinkingaboutawaytoenterthedebate. “Questioning the PM’spresence etc is futile. Has thecountry stopped functioningduring corona?Whyshouldwesaythatforthesakeofcriticism?Itwillbe interpretedas ifweareopposing the Rammandir,” aleader said, underlining thetightrope walk the Congressfaces.Khurshid said he has no
problemswithconstructionofaRamtemple.“Itisafactof lifewehave to recognise. It is a fact oflifethatdoesnotgiveperfectjus-tice in the eyes of some people.But it is approximate justice inthe best possible circum-stances...”Meanwhile, the CPM on
Mondaysaidthe“takeoverofthebhoomi pujan ceremony atAyodhya by the UP administra-tion alongwith the central gov-ernment involvement at thehighest level of the PrimeMinister goes against both theSupreme Court verdict and theletter and spirit of theConstitutionof India.”“The Supreme Court verdict
also condemned theDecember6, 1992 demolition of the BabriMasjid describing it as a crimi-nalact.Farfrompunishingthoseguilty, the involvement of theCentral/stategovernmentsmustnot provide retrospective legit-imization for this destruction,”theCPMsaid inastatement.
Counter-narrativeor silence: Congfaces tightropewalk on temple
AYODHYAGEARSUP
DELHICONFIDENTIAL
TAKING PRECAUTIONSHOMEMINISTERAmitShah,whoannouncedonSundaythathehadtestedpositive forCovid-19,attendedaCabinetmeet-ingonWednesday, but theprecautions takenat themeetingseemtohavemade isolationunnecessary forhisCabinetcol-leagues.Evenseniorministerssittingclosesttohimmaintainedsix-feetdistance,andnoneof themhadtogointoquarantine.However,LawMinisterRaviShankarPrasadchosetobehomequarantinedforatleastaweekashehadameetingwithShahonSaturday.Sourcessaidtherewerenosymptoms,butself-iso-lationwaspurelyinviewoftheexistingprotocols.Inthecom-ingdays,Prasadwillbeshiftinghisworktohisresidence.
SHORT STINTTHE NEWBritish High Commissioner, Philip Barton, whocame to India last month, has been appointed PermanentUnder-Secretary of the new Foreign, Commonwealth andDevelopment Office and will be returning to London.Equivalent to India’s Foreign Secretary Harsh VardhanShringla, hewill be heading the newlymerged departmentinLondon—whichisacombinationof theForeignOfficeandDFID,theBritishgovernment’sdevelopmentpartnershiparm.A career diplomat, he presentedhis credentials to PresidentRamNath Kovind on July 8. He has a daughter named Indiasince shewas born here in the 1990s. He possibly had theshortest stint asBritishenvoy to India.
HEALTH CONCERNKnowntotakeupcauseshefeelsstronglyabout,Unionmin-ister Nitin Gadkari has now trained his guns onmargarine,the so-called substitute tobutter.Hehaswritten to thePMOthat not only ismargarine not good for health, owing to thepresence of trans fat, but it causes financial loss to farmerssince it seeks to replace buttermade frommilk. Taking im-mediate cognizance, the PMOdirected the FSSAI, which is-sued a clarification, directives and future course of action tocontrol theuseofmargarine inedible items.
PRESSTRUSTOFINDIABENGALURU,AUGUST3
Karnataka Chief Minister B SYediyurappa, undergoing treat-mentatahospitalhereaftertest-ing positive for Covid-19, onMonday said therewasnoneedfor anyone toworry andhewillsoongetbacktoworkafterrecov-ery.TheManipalHospitalwhere
the 77-year-old leader has beenadmitted since last night saidheis“doingwell”and“clinicallysta-ble”.Whileoneofhisdaughtershas
also testedpositive for Covid-19and is admitted to the samepri-vate hospital, his son B YVijayendra saidhewasgoing for
activitieshavebeencarriedoutattheChiefMinister's homeofficeandofficialresidencehere,follow-ingwhichitemergedthatatleastsix staffers havebeen confirmedwiththeinfection,officialsourcessaid.A few of his cabinet col-
leagues, including, RevenueMinister R Ashoka, HomeMinister Basavaraj Bommai,Urban Development Minister
ByrathiBasavaraj,MuzraiMinisterKota Srinivas Poojary,who hadmetChiefMinisterinthelastcou-ple of days have gone on homequarantine,theysaid.The CM had tweeted on
Sundaynighttoannouncethathehas testedpositive for COVID-19andisbeingshiftedtohospital.“Doctors after tests have said
that thereareno issuesandIwillrecoverandgooutsoon.There isno need for anyone toworry, attheearliestIwillrecoverandcomeout andwill take part inmydu-ties,”hesaidinthevideo.Thehospitalinastatementin
the evening said the ChiefMinisterwasadmittedtoManipalHospitals at around 11 pm onAugust2withmildsymptomsofCovid-19.
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,AUGUST3
SEVEN HINDU sants fromGujarat have been invited toAyodhya for the Ram temple’sbhoomipujanonAugust5.The seven santswho have
been invited by the RamJanmabhoomi Trust are AvichalDasji from Sarsa Bal KuberTemple in Sarsa of Anand dis-trict; Parmatmanandji fromRajkot who is a follower ofDayanand Saraswati;Krishnamani Maharaj fromPranami Sant Sampraday inAhmedabad; ShambhunathjiMaharaj from Sant ShreeSavaiyanath Samadhi Sathan inZanzarka village in Dhandukataluka of Ahmedabad;MahantSwamiji Maharaj from AksharPuroshottam foundation inAhmedabad;MadhavpriyaDasjifromSardar Patel VidyaMandirTemple in Chharodi inAhmedabad; and AkhileshwarDasjiMaharajfromAhmedabad.According to VishwaHindu
Parishad (VHP) officials, amongthe seven invitees,AkhileshwarDasji Maharaj is an executivemember of the VHP centralcommittee who was also in-volved in the Janmabhoomimovement from1984to1992.Speaking to The Indian
Express,AshokRaval,thegeneralsecretary of Gujarat VHP, said,“ThefoundationofVHPhasbeenlaidbysants, so,wecansay thatall the seven invitees aremem-bers of the VHP. Many of themare also part of the VHP CentralMargdarshakMandal.Theagita-tion for the Ram Janmabhoomihasbeengoingon for500yearsbut VHP took up the issue in1984 and since then our santshavebeengoingtocities,talukasandvillagestomobilisesupportfor the cause. All seven inviteeshave worked for the RamJanmabhoomi andolan in somewayor theother.”The seven invitees will
board a flight from SardarVallabhbhaiPatel InternationalAirport in Ahmedabad onTuesdaymorning.
Kolkata: CPI(M) politburomemberMohammedSalimonMondaysaid thathehas testedpositive forCovid-19andexpe-riencing “very mild symp-toms”. The 63-year-old formerMP from Raiganj has been ad-mittedtoaprivatehospitalhere.“I have tested positive for
coronavirus with very mildsymptoms, but I gotmyself ad-
mitted intoahospital asper theadvice of my attending doctor.Thisdecisionalsoaimsatavoid-ing all kindsof risks of infection...,” Salimtweeted. ENS
After BSY, daughter, at least 6staffers test positive for CovidIwillbebacksoon,takecharge,saysKarnatakaCMinvideo
Bhopal: Former UnionministerUma Bharti Monday said shewouldvisit theRamtemple siteinAyodhyaafterPrimeMinisterNarendraModiandothersleavethevenuefortheground-break-ingceremonyduetoCovidfears.Bharti was among the lead-
ers of the Ram Janmabhoomiagitation and is an accused inthe Babri mosque demolitioncase.“IwillleaveBhopaltodayand
onthewayImightcomeincon-tactwitha coronavirus infectedperson.Takingthisintoaccount,I will keep a distance from theplace where @narendramodiand hundreds of others will bepresent,” Bharti tweeted inHindi. “I will go for darshan ofRamlala after @narendramodiandothers leavethevenue.”PTI
Covid fear: Bhartisays will visittemple site afterPM, others leave
MohammedSalim.
Seven sants from Gujaratget Ayodhya event invite
Chennai: Lok SabhaMPand sonof senior Congress leader PChidambaram,Karti,onMondaysaid he has tested positive forCovid-19.“Ihavejusttestedpositivefor
#Covid.My symptomsaremildand as permedical advice I amunderhomequarantine.Iwouldurgeallthosewhohaverecentlybeen in contact withme to fol-
lowmedicalprotocol,"hesaidina tweet.The Congress leader repre-
sents Sivaganga Lok Sabha seg-ment fromTamilNadu. PTI
NAVJEEVANGOPALCHANDIGARH,AUGUST3
THEPUNJABgovernmenthascol-lectedawhoppingRs15crore infinesamidtheCovid-19pandemicfor violations ranging fromnotwearingmasks,tospittinginpub-lic places to floutinghomequar-antine and social distancingguidelines.Thelion’sshareoftheamount
(Rs14.90crore)camefromthosenot wearing masks in publicplaces(tillJuly31),showedofficialdata accessed by The IndianExpress.Asmanyas3,54,173peo-plewere fined in the state and1,460FIRswereregisteredforthisviolation.ThehighestnumberofFIRsfor
notwearingmaskswasregisteredin Jalandhar (551), followed byLudhiana (291)andBatalapolicedistrict (258). Ludhiana andJalandharhavereportedthehigh-est number of Covid cases anddeathssofar.WhileLudhianahasrecorded 115 deaths and 3,714
cases so far, Jalandhar has re-ported2,610casesand55deaths.Amritsarhasreported1,985casesand85deaths.InLudhiana,Rs1.86crorewas
who did notwish to be namedsaid that thosewho failed topaythe fine amount were alsobooked.TheFIRswereregisteredundertheEpidemicDiseasesandDisasterManagementActs.The fine for not wearing a
FOURMONTHS since the lock-down,thefearofunemploymentinSolapurisfastreplacingthefearof Covid-19, especially amongthoseagedabove50.Known for its bidi and textile
factories, the city administrationlastweekallowedthere-openingof these units, butwith condi-tions: each worker would betestedforfeverandoxygensatura-tion level at entry, physical dis-tancing has to be followed andpregnantwomen cannot be al-lowed.Plus, therewasanother—bidiworkersagedabove58yearswouldnotbepermittedtowork.Onground, however, factory
ofjobsinceMarch,squatsoutsideher home in Shobhadevi slums.“There is no coronavirus in ourarea. Iamfit,butIcan'tearn,”shesaid.Halimaisabidi-rollingworker,
her husbandAbdulKarim (57) atextilemillworker.Bothmanaged
to earnRs 10,000 together untilthe pandemic struck. Theynowmakevadapavathome.Theirson,awelderwhoisalsooutofwork,sellsit.Thefamilyofeighthasseenitsincomeshrinkbyhalf.Solapur has an estimated
42,000 textile and 70,000 bidi
workers.With5,104casesand371deaths, thecity ranksamong thehighest inMaharashtra for its fa-talityrateof7.2percent.At least 94.8 per cent (352)
deathsareofpeopleagedabove40years.Aworriedmunicipalcorpo-ration decided to bar workersabove40fromworkingoutside.OnJune10, hundredsof bidi, textileworkers, construction labourers,andauto-rickshawdrivershit thestreetsforaprotestdemandingre-openingoffactoriesandwork.TheSolapurcorporationraisedtheagebarto58yearsforbidiworkersinaJune13notification.Followinga10-daystrictlockdownfromJuly17toJuly 27, bidi and textile units re-openedonJuly28.District Collector Milind
ShamharkarwasnotavailableforcommentbutSolapurMunicipalCommissioner P Siva Shankarsaid, “Maximum deaths havebeenofthoseagedabove40years.
Sincethisgroupishighlyvulner-able,weinitiallyplannedtonotal-lowthemtogooutforwork.Laterwedecidedtoincreasetheagebarbut asked factory owners toscreenandallowhealthypeopletowork.” The rulehaseffectivelyrenderedmanyunemployed."About15-16per cent of bidi
workers and about 30 per centtextile workers are agedmorethan50years.Theyareall joblessrightnow,”saidMSShaikh,gen-eral secretary, Centre of IndianTradeUnion(Maharashtra).Business for textilemills and
bidihasbeenhittoo.GuduruPoshalu,manager at
Shiva Krishna textilemills, saidtheirmanufacturingcapacityhasgonedownby30per cent sincereopening. “We have to followgovernment norms. There arefewerworkerscoming,”hesaid.
FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com
ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,AUGUST3
THEWORLDHealthOrganisation(WHO)onMondaysaiditwouldbe looking into the recent sero-prevalence studies conducted inDelhiandMumbaitounderstandwhether the data is an accuratereflectionof theactual rateof in-fectioninthepopulation.Whilemost seroprevalence
resultsfindlessthan10percentofthepopulationtobeseropositive—indicatingexposuretothevirus— India’s studies in these twocitieshavepeggedtheratesmuchhigher.InDelhi,nearly23percentof
thosesurveyedbetweenJune27and July 10 haddeveloped anti-bodies against the virus. InMumbai,wherealargerchunkofslum-dwellerswas surveyed, itwas foundaround57percentofthose tested in slumshaddevel-oped antibodies comparedwithonly 16per cent of those in resi-dentialsocieties.“We are aware of these two
studiesthathavebeenconductedin India. In fact,weactuallyhavea presentation from one of thegroupspresentingtouslaterthisweek, wherewewill getmuchmore detail about the studiesconducted, how theywere con-ducted, the tests which were
used,” said WHO HealthEmergencies ProgrammeTechnical Lead-Covid-19, DrMariaVanKerkhove.According toher, therewasa
needtolookattwoaspects.“Oneis thepopulations thatwereun-der study— if these are specificpopulationsandiftheyrepresenta larger, bigger population. And,secondly,whatthetypeof circu-lationwas in these areaswherethestudiesweredoneandtheas-says that were used,” she saidduringamediabriefing.“...in many of these sero-
prevalencestudies--andtheyareverywell conducted -- there arenaturalbiases inwhoissampledandwewilljustneedtojustcheckon the peer reviewed data tomake sure that the numbers in-dicatedareanaccuratereflectionof whatwe believe the popula-tion infection rate tobe,” saidDrMichaelJRyan,ExecutiveDirectorof theWHOHealthEmergenciesProgramme.The “worrying aspect” of the
spreadof the infection in India isthatthepositivityratecontinuesto increase at around 12.5 percent,demonstratingthatthedis-easeis“stillcirculatingintensely”,according to him. “...certainly inIndia there’s been a 35 per centincreaseincases inthelastweekandover 25per cent increase indeaths,”hesaid.
WITH ANDHRA Pradesh plan-ning to reopen its schools inSeptember, state EducationMinister AUDIMULAPUSURESH speaks to SREENIVASJANYALA about the bridgecourses his government has in-troduced to make up for thethreeacademicmonthslostdueto thepandemicand lockdown.Excerpts:
IsAndhraPradeshplanningtoreopenschools fromSeptember5?Weareassuming that by the
endofthismonthorbyearlynextmonth, ‘Unlock 4’ will be an-nounced and schoolswill be al-lowedtoreopen.Thestategovern-ment’s assessment is that thenumber of Covid-19 caseswillpeakinAugustandbynextmonth,thecurvewillflatten.Basedonthis,we are planning to reopen all45,000 government and the15,000-oddprivateschools.Ouraimistoensurethatstu-
dents do not lose an academicyearorarekeptawayfromedu-cation. In fact, apart from con-ducting online classes, we haveintroduced bridge courses tomake up for the threemonthsandpreventstudentsfromdrop-pingout.Tothosestudentswhodonot
haveaccesstoTVortheInternet,wearealreadytakingtheschoolto their doorsteps with ‘VidyaVaradhi’—mobile school vans.These vans were launched onJuly 31 and theywill go into in-terior villages and show videoson giant screens— of classes ofall subjects — to students whowill gather at a particular place.About 18 lakh studentswho donothaveaccesstoonlineclasseswill benefit fromthese...Thebridgecourse textbooks
have beenprovided to studentsby their respective schools andare taught throughDoordarshan. We started‘Vidyamrutham’—videoclassesbroadcastthroughDoordarshan— for Class 10 students onApril8...Vidyakalashamisaradiopro-gramme to acquaint studentswiththesubjectsandcoursesofthisacademicyear.Wehavecre-ated WhatsApp groups andFacebook live pages also to givelessons.
Whataretheprotocols inplaceforthesafetyofstudentsandteachers?All students, teachers and
schoolstaffhavetowearmasks,use hand sanitizers frequently,andmaintain physical distanc-ing. At the individual schoollevel, it canbedecidedwhetherto make students sit in zigzagpatternsoronalternatebenches.If in some schools, the numberof studentsismoreandphysicaldistancing is difficult, thenwemay ask those schools to con-ductclassesinshifts.Eachschoolhastoadaptbasedontheirneed.Teachers and staffwill also lookoutforanystudentswhomaybesick or ill. Parents visiting theschools also have to followCovid-19protocols.
Howwill the lossof threetofouracademicmonthsbecovered?
Wehave redesigned and re-oriented the syllabus withoutsacrificingmuchof the content.Wehave shortened it a little forthe2020-21academicyear...Weare also introducing teaching inEnglish in all classes so weprintedmultilingualtextbooks...the bridge courses and onlineclasses have covered somepor-tions and students are ready topickupquickly.Aspartof educationreforms,
weareintroducingactivity-basedlearningrather than justmemo-rising. Teachers will use a toolcalled BALA—Building asLearningActivity—whichwillusepictures of a building to explainmathsorphysics.Forexample,45degreeswill beexplainedwithapicture of a door or windowopened at that angle. Small sto-riesoranecdoteswillbeincludedinthetexttoexplainsomething.Thenewcurriculum ismore
informative and sophisticated...DespitethechallengesthatCovid-19 is posing, wewant tomakelearningjoyfulforthestudents.
AndhraPradeshhadstartedrepairingandrevampinginfrastructureof educationinstitutions.What is theprogress?The government launched
theambitious ‘NeduNadu’ pro-gramme to improve school in-frastructure.All45,000-oddgov-ernment schools would beprovided basic amenities likefurniture in all classes, separatetoilets for girls andboys, a com-poundwall around the school,renovation of existing class-rooms and building new oneswherenecessary,andsettingupparentcommitteesinallschoolswhichwillberesponsibleforen-suring that the schools are run-ningproperly.In the first phase, 15,715
schoolsarebeingcoveredwithabudget of Rs 3,600 crore. About70 per cent of the schools havealready been renovated and re-vamped. The remainingwill becompletedbyAugust31.In three years, wewill reno-
vate all the government educa-tional institutionsat a cost of Rs12,000crore.
FULLINTERVIEWONwww.indianexpress.com
SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,AUGUST3
DEPARTINGFROMKeralamodelof Covid-19 control, which in-volvedcommunityparticipation,thestategovernmentonMondaydecidedtogivethepolicealargerrole in contact-tracing, ensuringcomplianceofquarantineandso-cial distancing at functions, andcontrolofcontainmentzones.Thechangeinstrategycomes
tal case count was reported at26,873,theshareofcasesthroughlocal transmissionwas62.46percent — up from 12 per cent amonthago.Thestatehassofarre-ported84deaths,and70percentofthedeceaseddonothaveeithercontact or travel history, accord-ingtothehealthDepartment.Thedecisiontogivethepolice
alargershareofpreventivemeas-ures came hours after ChiefMinister Pinarayi Vijayan onSaturdayadmittedthattherehasbeen“complacencyandlapses”incertainareas.Inaugurating 102 family
health centres, Vijayan said, “Itshould be rememberedwith asense of guilt that Covid-19 pa-
tientshaveincreasedduetocom-placencyandlapses. Idon’twanttogointoreasons.Lockdownhasbeen in place inThiruvananthapuramsinceJuly6,yetcasesduetolocaltransmissionhavebeenincreasing.”Later in the day, Vijayan told
themedia that considering themagnitudeof thespread, thepo-licehavebeengivenmorerespon-sibilities. Now, primary and sec-ondary contacts of peoplewhotest positive for thevirushave tobe traced by the local policewithin24hours,hesaid.“Ateamled by a police inspector shouldfunction for contract-tracing,which has been so far done byhealthinspectors.Consideringthepresentsituation,policearegiventhatonus,’’Vijayansaid.He said, “There are instances
ofpeopleviolatingquarantineandnotmaintainingsocialdistancing.Suchthingsincreaseriskofinfec-tion. Thepolice are given full re-sponsibility in ensuring thesematters.”Vijayansaid thepolicewould
bemore active in containmentzones andensure complianceofhomequarantine. They are alsoentrustedwithensuring that so-cial distancing ismaintained atpublicfunctions,markets,funeralsandweddings.Vijayansaid thepolicewould
Curbs for elderly, visors duringworkout, gym rulesworked outEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST3
THE CENTRE on Monday re-leased detailed guidelines forgymnasiumsandyogainstitutes,specifically advising peopleabove 65 years and those withcomorbidities against usinggyms inclosedspaces.“Personsabove65yearsofage,
persons with co-morbidities,pregnantwomen, and childrenbelow10 are advised not to usegyms in closed spaces.Organisationsmanagingyogain-stitutesandgymnasiumsshallad-viseallmembers,visitorsandstaff
opening of yoga institutes andgymnasiums from August 5 aspartof the ‘Unlock3’phase.In the case of gyms, the
guidelinesstatethatspas,sauna,steambathandswimmingpoolswould continue to remainclosed.“Planyoga/gymnasiumsfloorareabasedon4m2perper-son.Placeequipment, includingcardioandstrengthmachines,6feetapart,wherever feasible,bymoving equipment to facilitatesocial distancing.Where avail-able, utilize any outdoor spaceby relocating equipment out-side,” theystate.
Thegovernmentsaidthatthepractice of yogic kriya “may beavoided for the time being”. Itsaid, “Even if it is tobepracticedessentially, it may be done inopenspaces.”Inviewofpotential threatof
thespreadof infection,“asfarasfeasible recordedmusic/songsmay be played” and “shouting/laughter yoga exercise shouldnotbeallowed”.The guidelines state that
temperature setting of all air-conditioningdevicesinthesefa-cilities shouldbe in the rangeof24-30degreesC,relativehumid-ity shouldbe in the rangeof 40-70 per cent and “intake of fresh
air should be asmuch as possi-bleandcross-ventilationshouldbeadequate”.On group fitness rooms and
classes, the guidelines state thatthereshallbe“staggeringclassses-sion times” andallowingamini-mumof“15-30minutesbetweenclasses toavoidoverlapbetweenmembersarrivingandleaving”.“Use of face covers/masks is
mandatoryatalltimeswithinthepremises. However, during yogaexerciseorexercisingingymnasi-ums, as far as possible only a vi-sormaybeused.Useofmask(inparticular N-95masks) duringexercisemay cause difficulty inbreathing,” theguidelinesstate.
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD,AUGUST3
THE AHMEDABADMunicipalCorporation (AMC) onMondaysealed one of the city’s mostpopularmallsafter itwas foundtobeviolatingCovid-19norms.TheAhmedabadOneMall in
Vastrapur area was sealed tillfurther notice after the AMCteamreported themall floutingprovisions of The EpidemicDiseases Act 1897 and promot-ing commercial activities, put-tingthe livesof visitorsandem-ployeesat risk.The mall had announced
wastemanagementteamthatin-spected and sealed thebuilding,action was taken after severalcomplaintsonsocialmediawithvisualsofcrowdedmallpremises.A notice issued to the mall
managementstates, “Asper thegovernment guidelines, for any
commercialactivity, it ismanda-tory for the owners, employeesand customers to wear masksandmaintain social distancingatanyworkspace.Butinthepastfewdays,ithasbeennoticedthatvisitors in yourmall are not fol-lowing these guidelines andyour management has com-pletely failed in implementingthesenorms.”The AMC also directed the
mall management to conductCovid-19 test for its employees.“As per the advice of the lo-
cal administration, we havehaltedoperationsatAhmedabadOne.Wehave been adhering toalltheapplicablesafety,hygieneandsocialdistancingnormsandshall resume operations afterfurtherinstructionsfromtheau-thorities,” the mall’s manage-mentsaid inastatement.
JOHNSONTABENGALURU,AUGUST3
WITH CORONAVIRUS cases inBengaluru projected to increasefromthecurrent60,998casesonMonday to 1.37 lakh by the firstweekof September as per someestimates, and hospital bed re-quirementtoover17,000fromtheavailability of around9,000, thegovernment is scrambling to in-creasecapacity.Across19governmenthospi-
tals in Bengaluru, there are only152ICUbeds,ofwhich99areven-tilator beds. Only nine ICUbeds,sixwithventilator,werevacantasofMondayevening,accordingtoa centralised hospital bed data-baseforthecity.With 60,998 casesMonday,
Bengaluruhasseen1,104deaths.As part of efforts to expand
government capacity, the State-run Bowring and Lady CurzonHospital,whichcurrentlyhas165bedsand35ICUbedsreservedforCovid treatment, has takenoverthe under-utilised BroadwayHospital of the city corporation.Alongwith the550-bedVictoriaHospital and 104-bed RajivGandhiInstituteofChestDiseases,BowringisthemainCovidhospi-tal in Bengaluru in the govern-mentsectoratpresent.Using over Rs 10 crore pro-
videdby the Infosys Foundation,Broadway has been convertedintoa170-generalbedand48-ICUbedCovid-19facility.“When Broadway Hospital
begins functioning,wewill haveover500beds...Wewillbeinapo-sitiontomeettheincreaseincaseswe are expecting,” Dr ManojKumar, the in-chargedirector ofBowringHospital,said.ThebulkofBowringandLady
CurzonHospital’snewventilatorshave beenprovidedby the stategovernmentfromaconsignmentof640ventilatorsobtainedundertheCentre’sPMCaresscheme.Apart from expanding
Bowring’s capacity, a30-bed ICUfacility is being created atEpidemic Diseases Hospital,whichcurrentlyhasonly40gen-eralbeds,anda20-bedICUatCVRamanGeneralHospital,whichhas150generalbeds.
THE EXPRESS
INTERVIEWWITH
AUDIMULAPUSURESH
ANDHRAPRADESHEDUCATIONMINISTER
‘Despite Covidchallenges, wantto make learningjoyful for students’
Bidi units, textile mills open in Solapurbut those above 50 not allowed to work
ATERRITORIALArmysoldierhasbeen missing from southKashmir’sShopiansinceSundayevening.TheArmyandhis fam-ilysuspecthemayhavebeenab-ductedbymilitants.“RiflemanShakirManzoorof
162Battalion(TA),ismissingsince1700hrs yesterday. His aban-donedburnt car has been foundnear#Kulgam.Itissuspectedthatthesoldierhasbeenabductedbyterrorists. Searchop inprogress,”theArmy’sChinarCorpstweeted.Shakir (24) left his home at
Harmain village of southKashmir’s Shopian on Sundayevening.His burnt carwas laterfound16 kmaway, atNeehamainneighbouringKulgamdistrict.Shakir joined the Territorial
Army three years ago andwasposted inSrinagar.According tohis family, he was posted atBalpora Army camp in Shopianfourdaysago.OnSunday,Shakirvisitedhis
homeandthenhissister’shomein Shopian, his family said. “Hewas allowed tomove out of thecampwith an official mail,” hisfatherManzoor AhmadWagaytold The Indian Express. “Aftercompleting his work, he camehomearound11.30.”His father said that Shakir
and his sister left home to visitanother sister. “He safely re-turned from there. At 3 pm, hehadlunch,andlefthomeat4pmfor the camp. Hewas travellinginhisowncar.”His father said that some
time that, he got a call fromShakir.“Hetoldmethathemetafriend on the way and thatwouldtakehimanhour.Hewashinting that he had been ab-ducted,” Wagay said. “I latercame to know that his vehiclewasstoppedlessthanakilome-tre from the house and somepeopleboarded it.”The Army and police have
launchedasearchtotraceShakir.
TA soldier missing from Shopian,abduction by militants suspected
DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI, AUGUST3
SECURITY FORCES have killednearly 150militants in Jammuand Kashmir in the first sevenmonths of this year— a signifi-cantsuccessascomparedto157militantskilledin2019.However,with only 17 foreign terrorists(FTs) killed till Julyend this year,the number of militants fromPakistan killed by the securityforces has nosedived by almost50%comparedto lastyear.The data is at oddswith the
claimof J&K Police that recruit-mentof localmilitantshasgonedownsincethescrappingofspe-cial statusof J&K.In 2020, local militants ac-
counted for more than 88% ofmilitantdeathsinsecurityoper-ations. In 2019, they accountedfor79%ofmilitantdeaths inen-counters. In2019,J&KPolice,theCRPFandtheArmykilled32mil-itants who had come fromacross the border. Amajority ofthem(19)belongedto JeM.Of the nearly 150militants
killedbysecurityforcesinJ&KtillJuly this year, 17 were fromPakistan. Among them, sevenwere from JeM, three from LeT,one fromHizb-ul-Mujahideen,while theallegianceof sixcouldnot be established. Intelligenceinputs suggest there are80-100Pakistanimilitants in theValley.Sources said there aremulti-
ple reasons for the fewer deathsofmilitants fromacross thebor-der this year. “One, it is assumedthatformuchoftheyearPakistanasked itsoperatives in theValleyto lie low as until June end, thesword of Financial Action TaskForce (FATF) blacklisting washangingoveritshead.ItisevidentFTs are not engaging securityforces this year as often. Therehavebeenhardlyanyfidayeenat-tacksorstormingofsecurityforcepremisesthisyear,”aseniorsecu-
rityestablishmentofficersaid.Another officer pointed out
that much of the intelligencegeneratedhasbeenaboutmove-ment of militants in SouthKashmirandsotherehavebeenmore operations in that region.SouthKashmirsendsmaximumnumberof localmilitantstoout-fitssuchasHizb-ul-Mujahideen.This is also reflected in the
data. In 2020, of 150-oddmili-tants killed, only 15were killedin operations inNorthKashmir.While10werekilledinSrinagar,the rest were all from southKashmir. In 2019, 41 of the 157militants killed were in opera-tions in North Kashmir, fourwere killed in Srinagar and therest inSouthKashmir.“It is in aNorth Kashmir op-
eration that you aremost likelyto encounter a Pakistani terror-ist. They cross the borders andtheneither straightaway launchan attack or hide in NorthKashmir for instructions. Thisyear it appears the FTs are notleaving the junglesorarehidinginremotevillages.Thingswillbeclear only in the next couple ofmonths,”aJ&KPoliceofficersaid.The narrative also fits with
Pakistan reportedly pushing anew group in Kashmir, TheResistanceForce, followingabro-gationofArticle370,sourcessaid.Thegrouphasbeen increasinglyclaimingattacksinNorthKashmirandusingsocialmediatoprojectitself asa local rebellion.Manyofitsmembers,however,havebeenidentifiedaseitherPakistaniorbe-longing to outfits such as LeT orJeMafter theywerekilled in en-countersbysecurityforces.
J&KONEYEARAFTER
AUGUST5AN EXPRESS SERIES
Nearly 150 militantskilled in J&K thisyear, only 17 ofthem from Pakistan
SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, AUGUST3
INWHATcouldbeanincremen-tal step towards providing legalremedy to former Indian NavyofficerKulbhushan Jadhav,whois on death row in Pakistan oncharges of spying and terroristactivities, the Islamabad HighCourt on Monday said Indiashould be given “anotherchance” to appoint a lawyer todefendhim.Pakistan’s Attorney General
KhalidJavedKhantoldreportersonMondaythat thecourtaskedthe Pakistan government to al-lowIndianauthoritiestoappointalawyerwhoislicensedtoprac-tice inPakistan.“Nowthatthematterisinthe
high court, why not give Indiaanother chance," said ChiefJustice Athar Minallah, whoheadedthetwo-memberbench,according toGeoNews.Asked if a team of Indian
lawyers could assist thePakistani lawyer, Khan said nosuchoptionhasbeengivensofar.
shall once again inform Jadhavregardinghisrights…heshallbespecifically informedofhisrightto avail the statutory remedy…andtoauthorisetheGovernmentofIndiatoarrangelegalrepresen-tation on his behalf,” the courtsaid in itswrittenorder.“Pakistan government shall
communicatethisordertoGovtof India, the lattershallbeat lib-erty to make appropriatearrangements on behalf ofJadhav,” it said.Last month, India said that
Islamabad had “blocked all the
avenues”foraneffectivejudicialremedy. Indian diplomatswerenotallowedtoget the“PowerofAttorney” legal documentsignedbyJadhavduringthecon-sularaccessmeetingon July16.On July22, thePakistangov-
ernment fileda reviewpetition,seekingappointmentof a “legalrepresentative” for Jadhav. Thecourt constituted a two-mem-berbenchtohear theplea.OnMonday, the court said it
wouldbeappropriate toconsti-tute a larger bench to hear thematter. It also appointed threeprominent lawyers of Pakistan,including a former AttorneyGeneral, asamicuscuriae.In July2019, the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) directedPakistan toallowconsular accesstoJadhavandundertakean“effec-tive reviewandreconsideration”ofhisconvictionandsentence.ThePakistangovernment, in
itspetition,askedthecourttoap-point a legal representative forJadhav so that it could imple-ment the ICJ's decision. It alsoclaimed that Jadhav refused tofileareviewpetitionoranappli-
cation to reconsider the verdictagainsthimbythemilitarycourt.TheIndianHighCommission
in Islamabadhadhired a lawyerearlier andmade repeated re-quests for access to documentsrelated to the case. Pakistanhadsaidthedocumentscouldonlybehanded over to an authorisedPakistanilawyer.Thereafter,IndiahadappointedaPakistanilawyer.“To our surprise, as advised
by the Pakistani authorities,when the authorised Pakistanilawyer approached the con-cernedauthorities,theydeclinedto hand over the documents tothe lawyer,” the Ministry ofExternal Affairs officialspokesperson, AnuragSrivastava,hadsaidon July23.In the absence of “unim-
peded” consular access toJadhav, and to the relevant doc-uments, Indiatriedtofileapeti-tion on July 18. “However, ourPakistani lawyer informed usthat a reviewpetition could notbefiledintheabsenceofapowerofattorneyandsupportingdoc-umentsrelatedtoJadhav’scase,”theMEAspokespersonhadsaid.
HesaidPakistanalsocreated“confusion”over the lastdateoffilingapetition.Sources told The Indian
Express onMonday that therecannot be any headway untilPakistan provides unimpededandunhinderedconsularaccess,wheretheIndiandiplomatscan“freely” discuss the case detailswith Jadhav andget the “Powerof Attorney” signedbyhim, andthe Pakistan government pro-videsalltherelevantdocuments– FIR, chargesheet, militarycourt’s judgmentetc.Over the past year, India has
requested consular access 12times.Sofar,Pakistanhasnotpro-vide unimpeded access. InSeptemberlastyear,consularac-cesswasprovided,butthemeet-ingwas recorded and Pakistaniofficialswerepresentintheroom.Last week, the MEA
spokespersonhadsaid: “Were-serveourpositioninthismatterandwhich includes the right toavailof furtherremedies,andwestand committed to protect thelife of our national KulbhushanJadhav.”
KulbhushanJadhav
Give India another chance to appointlawyer for Jadhav, says Pak court
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICESRINAGAR,AUGUST3
AHEADOF the first anniversaryof the revocation of special sta-tus to Jammu and Kashmir, theadministrationhasimposedcur-few in Kashmir fromMondaylateeveningandcontinuingintoTuesdayandWednesday.The decisionwas taken at a
core groupmeeting of securityofficials,civiladministrationandintelligence agencies operatingin the Valley. Themeetingwaschaired by General OfficerCommanding 15Corps B S RajuandDirectorGeneral J&KPoliceDilbagSingh.Citing police reports and in-
puts“suggestingthatseparatistsand Pak sponsored groups are
planning to observe 5th August2020asBlackDay”, theSrinagaradministration imposed “com-pleterestriction/curfew”onpub-licmovementunderSection144of CrPC. The order stated thatthere are specific inputs about“violent protests endangeringpublic lifeandproperty”.ther districts in the Valley
also imposed strict restrictionstill end of day on August 5.
However, amid the Covid-19pandemic,medicalemergenciesand movement of staff withvalidcardsandpasses issuedbythe administration have beenexempted fromtherestrictions.“Therewill be restrictions in
place across Kashmir. There areapprehensions of militants at-tacksinthecomingdays,andtherelaxationintheCovidlockdownwas only for Eid,” IG (KashmirZone) J&K Police K Vijay KumartoldThe IndianExpress.Former CM and NC leader
Omar Abdullah tweeted, “Thepreparationsstartafull24hoursearlier this year compared to2019 with Srinagar, and I pre-sume the same is being doneacross the valley, being placedunderstrictcurfewfromtonightfor thenext twodays.”
Security forces inSrinagaronMonday. ShuaibMasoodi
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, AUGUST3
ONTHEeveof the first anniver-sary of the abrogationof Article370 that gave special status tothe former state of Jammu andKashmir, the Left parties onMonday demanded the releaseof all those detained sinceAugust 2019, the restoration offull communications to the re-gionandtheliftingofcurbstoal-lowfreemovementof people.The leaders of the CPI(M),
CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc andCPI(ML)-Liberation said this is“essential for both combatingthepandemiceffectivelyandup-holding Constitutional guaran-tees on democratic rights andcivil libertieswhileprovidingre-lief to thebeleagueredpeople”.They said August 5 marks
one year of the abrogation ofArticle370, thedissolvingof thestateof JammuandKashmir,andthe“cagingofthepeopleof J&K”.“Last year, the Modi
Government made many tallpromisesaboutwhat thismovewould accomplish and how itwouldbenefitIndiaandthepeo-ple of J&K. Meanwhile manywarned that theModi regime'styranny inKashmirwould soonbe a blueprint for thewhole ofIndia,” Left leaders SitaramYechury, D Raja, DebabrataBiswas, Dipankar BhattacharyaandManojBhattacharya said inastatement.“A year later, the
Government’s promises standexposedbetrayingthepeopleofJ&Kwho continue to be cagedand silenced,” the statementsaid.
KAMALDEEPSINGHBRARAMRITSAR,AUGUST3
PUNJAB POLICE Monday ar-rested 12more people, includ-ingtwobusinessmen,inacrack-down against the illegal liquortrade even as the toll in thehooch tragedy rose to 110withsixmoredeathsbeingreported.Three fatalities were re-
ported from Tarn Taran, twofromGurdaspur'sBatalaandonefromAmritsar. TarnTaran is theworst affectedwith 83 deaths,followed by Batala (14) andAmritsar (13).Police arrested key accused
HarpreetSinghaliasHappyofvil-lageMaina Punder in Batala. Sofar, police have arrested 37peo-pleinthisregard.Amanhunthasbeenlaunchedforeightmoreac-cused, including a Ludhiana-based paint shop owner, RajeshJoshi,believedtobeakeyplayerin the illegal liquor trade, saidDGPDinkarGupta.Investigations are also in
progresstoidentifyotherlinks,he
said,addingthattheyweretryingto identify the various supplyroutesacrossdistrictssincetherewereseveralpeoplewhoboughtdenaturedspirit fromJoshi.Earlier,theDGPsaidthatade-
partmental inquiry has beenlaunched against twoDSPs andfourSHOswhowere suspendedby Chief Minister AmarinderSinghfornegligence.Themagis-terialinquiryorderedbytheCMisprobingtheinvolvementofallthesuspects,aswellasthesixpolicepoliceandsevenexcise&taxationofficerwhotooweresuspended.Meanwhile,Congressleaders
andRajyaSabhamembers fromPunjab, Partap SinghBajwaandShamsher Singh Dullo alleged“clear-cut failure” by the stateand claimed the tragedy couldhave been averted, had the CMactedintimeontheircomplaintsabout illegal liquorbusinesses.The two leaders met
GovernorVPSinghBadnoreanddemanded a CBI and ED probeinto the alleged illegal liquortrade in thestate.
POLICE IN Andhra Pradesh’sPrakasam district on Mondaysaidtheyhaveidentifiedat least235 personswho have becomeaddicted to consuming sanitis-ersdue tonon-availabilityof al-cohol. Last week, 16 people inthe district’s Kurichedumandaldied after consuming sanitizerin lieuof alcohol.SPSiddharthKaushalsaidpo-
liceonSunday identified35per-sonsandanother200onMondaywhohavebeenconsumingsani-tisers. “We are in the process ofidentifyingmore people. It is anongoing process andwe are incontinuous engagement withthem, counselling them andtellingthemaboutthedangersofconsumingsanitisers,”hesaid.As most of the areas in
Kurichedu,DarsiandVinukondamandalshavebeenidentifiedascontainmentzones,alltheliquorshops in these areas have beenshut. Due to non-availability ofliquor, several people who areaddicted toalcoholhave turnedtoconsumingsanitisers.Teams of police personnel,
ledbyKaushal,aregoingdoortodoorinthethreemandalstofindoutifanyofthefamilymembersareconsumingsanitisers.Alargenumberofusedandunusedbot-tleshavebeenseized.The SP said, “Till a few days
ago, if liquor shops in one areawere closed, they remainedopen in other areas. But it is aunique situation here as all theliquor shops in the threeman-dals are closed due to Covid-19restrictions. There are a largenumber of liquor addicts in thearea who drink daily. A beggargave them the idea of consum-ing sanitisers.While gel sanitis-ers are costly, the liquid is verycheapcompared to liquor.”Policeofficialsareseizingthe
sanitisers from the addicts andare providing counselling tothem. “We are informing themhowtheharmful chemicals cancause death in a few days. Allthosewho are now consumingsanitiser are extremely poordaily-wagers,beggarsorlabour-ers,” Deputy SP K Prakash Raosaid.Officialssaidthata‘sanitiser’
partywasheldinKurichedulastweek. “Two persons who diedlastweekhadhostedasanitiserparty on July 29 for some rela-tiveswhohadcometovisitthemfromGuntur. They consumed alotofsanitisermixedwithwateror softdrinks,” anofficial said.A special investigation team
has also been set up to investi-gate thedeaths thatoccurred inKuricheduaswellasavailabilityand sale of cheap sanitisers inlargenumbers.
40%RAINDEFICIT INONEOFMAHARASHTRA’SWETTESTPLACES
Driest June, July in 50 yrs at MahabaleshwarANJALIMARARPUNE,AUGUST3
THIS YEAR, Mahabaleshwarrecorded itsdriest Juneand July— the first two months of theSouthwest Monsoon — in fivedecades. Inthelasttwomonths,the hill station in Satara districthas recorded 1,922.8mm rain,which is40per centbelownor-mal for this timeof theyear.Thisisalsotheonlyyearsince
1970whenthecumulativerain-fall in JuneandJuly inthearea isbelow2,000mm.Considered among the
wettest areas in Maharashtraduetoitsorographicconditions,Mahabaleshwar’sannualrainfall
is nearly 5,710mm.Most of therainfalltakesplacebetweenJuneand September, amounting tonearly 5,530.1mm,making it atourist hotspot in the rainy
season.This year’s rainfall trend,
however, has been a departurefromnormal so far.During2018and2019mon-
soons,therainrecordedbymid-Augustintheareahadsurpassedthat of Cherrapunji inMeghalaya, which is one of theworld’swettestplaces.Thisyear,rainfall inJunewas
716mm,againstanormalof897mm.Therainfalldeficitgrewfur-ther in July, whenMahabaleshwar recorded1,206.8 mm of rain against itsnormalquotaof 3,182mm.Explaining the deficit this
year, J R Kulkarni, former scien-tistatIndianInstituteofTropicalMeteorology, Pune, said, “The
monsoonwindswerenotstrongenough to cross over theWesternGhats.Asaresult, therewaslittlerainfalloverSataraandMahabaleshwar in July.”Satara district ended up re-
maining28percentshortofnor-malrainfall,asonJuly31.There-duced rain has also hit waterstockindams,andthelivewaterstorageinKoyanadamisonly47per cent, as many rivers alongthe Krishna basin are yet to befloodedthis season.Moreover, large parts of
Madhya Maharashtra experi-enced prolonged dry spells inJuly.Accordingtometeorologists,thiswasduetolackoffavourableweather systems formed in theBayofBengal lastmonth.
ON JUNE 1, a 13-year-old inAssam’sNagaondistrictdrownedwhilechasingducks ina floodedriver near his house. Amonthlater, on July 1, a six-year-oldslipped and fell into the slushywatersoftheChampabatiriver,atributary of theBrahmaputra, inDhubridistrictwhilemakingherway home. On July 24, a two-year-oldtoddlerrolledoverinhissleep and fell from his bed,drowninginthewatersofhis in-undatedhouseinBarpetadistrict.These three are among the
to data analysed by The IndianExpress,49ofthetotal110deathsreportedtillAugust3—44.5percent—were of those below theageof18years.Forcomparison,32ofthe102
ing,” saidMSManivannan, thechief executive officer of theAssam State DisasterManagement Authority. “Morechildrenhavedied this year, andwewillbeformingaspecialcom-mitteetolookintothecauses.”As per rules, families of de-
ceased flood victims can get Rs4,00,000exgratiapayment.District after district has
recorded a similar pattern ofeventsleadingtochildrendying—“fallingintowaterwhileplay-ing”,“drownedwhilebathinginthe river” and “fell from bedwhile sleeping” are among thecommonones.“Apartfromplay-ing, children alsomisjudge the
strength of the current,” saidGoalparaDCVarnaliDeka.Belgium-based Debarati
Guha-Sapir, the director of theCentre for Research on theEpidemiology of Disaster inBrussels, has studied floods inIndia, specialising inhuman im-pactofdisastersandconflicts.Shebelieveschildrenaremuchmoresusceptibletofloodsbecausetheyare unable to run to safety orgaugethedepthofwaters.According to Guha, children
playinginfloodwatersalsomakethemvulnerable towater-bornediseases like diarrhoea or acuterespiratory disease. “Both cancausedeathin48hours,”shesaid.
FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com
Peopleonamake-shift raftinNagaondistrict. PTIFile
ASSAMFLOODS
110 dead, almost half of them children
Left parties callfor release of alldetainees in J&K,restoration ofcommunications
Curfew imposed in Kashmirahead of August 5 anniversary
NO GOING BACKRestrictionsonimportsmaybestepstowardsself-reliance.Theyalsoraiseconcernsaboutreturntofailedpoliciesof licenceraj
L ASTWEEK, THE Union government imposed restrictions on television im-ports,muchofwhichare sourced fromVietnamandChina, byplacing themintherestrictedcategory. Importerswillnowrequirea licence fromthegov-ernment to import fullybuilt televisionsets into thecountry. This isunlikely
tobeaone-offmove. Thegovernment is reportedly contemplating imposing similar li-censing requirements on imports of products such as furniture, toys and sports goods.Theoptionof raisingdutiesonimportsofcertainproductsis,reportedly,alsoundercon-sideration. Ostensibly, thesemeasures— in linewith the government’s stated policy of“atma nirbharta” or self reliance— aremeant to reduce the country’s import depend-ence,especiallyvisavisChina,andfacilitatedomesticproduction,andgenerateemploy-ment.Whilesectionsof thedomestic industrymaywellwelcomesuchmeasures, theseindicationsof areturntotheinfamouslicencepermitraj,andaresurrectionof thefailedpolicy of import substitution, couldmark a reversal of the gains of trade liberalisationover thepast fewdecades. Thiswouldbe takingnotonebut several stepsbackward.Inthecurrentclimate,thepoliticalallureofsuchpoliciesisunderstandable.However,
India’spastexperiencewithsuchpoliciesshouldbeenoughtodrivehomethepointthatthis isnot thewayforward.Protectionism,ashasbeenrepeatedlypointedout,byerect-ing barriers to entry, leads to the creation of a high-cost and uncompetitive domesticmanufacturingsector. Indiaimportstheseproductsfromvariouscountries,mostnotablyChina, simplybecause it is not competitive enough toproduce them.Addressing issuesthatafflictdomestic competitiveness requiresadifferent setof policyprescriptions,nottheimpositionof tariff andnon-tariffbarriers.Thelessonslearntfromthefailedpoliciesthatweremuchinvogueinthesecondhalfof thelastcentury,andthegainsthathaveac-crued fromtrade, andgreater integrationwith theglobaleconomypost1991, cannotbeignoredor forgotten.Moves suchas these could also create the space for further lobby-ing bydomestic players to raise barriers to entry in other segments aswell. Once theseareerected, theywill behard todismantle.Atabroader level,acertainpolicy incoherencemarksthisgovernment’sapproachto
trade. On the onehand, it talks of greater integrationwith global supply chains, andontheotherhand,itwalksoutof theRegionalComprehensiveEconomicPartnership(RCEP)agreementandalsoseeks toerectboth tariff andnon-tariff barriers toprotectdomesticindustry. This is unfortunate. Raising the country’s share inworld trade, taking advan-tageof thecurrentglobalenvironmentandtherelocationofmanufacturingfacilitiesoutof China, requires greater trade liberalisation, not less. Instead of looking inward, Indiashouldbeworking towards integratingwithglobal supplychainsmoreclosely.
MILKISAunique“crop”thatfarmersharvestdaily.Butbeingalsoconsumeddaily, supply-demandbalancing isn’t asdifficult as in, say,wheat that isharvestedover2-3months andhas tobe stocked to enable round-the-year sales.While production ofmilk is subject to seasonal fluctuations
—animals,particularlybuffaloes,producemoreduringwinter-springandlessinthesum-mer—dairiesknowtomanageit.Theyusuallyconvertthesurplusmilkofthe“flush”sea-son into skimmedmilk powder (SMP) and ghee/butter for reconstitution in the “lean”months,whendemandforcurd, lassiandice-creamalsogoesup.Thissystemhasgener-allyworkedwell. Evenas India’smilkoutputhasmore thandoubled in the last 15years,sotoohasconsumption,onthebackofrisingincomes.Dairies,then,haverarelybeensad-dledwithunsold inventories,unlikesugarmillsor theFoodCorporationof India.Theabovebalancingmodelis,however,beingrendereddysfunctionalbythedemand
destructionwroughtbythepost-COVIDshutdownofhotels,restaurants,hostels,canteensandmithaishops,apartfromnearlynomarriagesandothersocial functionstakingplace.With institutional salescollapsing—thesemakeupaquarterof thecountry’smarket formilkandmilkproducts—dairieshavebeenaccumulatingpowderandfatstocksthroughthe summer andmonsoonmonths. Not only is this unprecedented, the situationwillworsenonceproductionincreasesinthecomingmonthswithimprovedfodderavailabil-ity,calvingofbuffaloesanddropintemperatures.Alacklustrefestivalseason—thistime’sDussehra andDiwalimay not seemuch demand for sweetsmade fromghee, khoya orchenna—isn’tgoingtohelpeither.Dairiessellingonlycommodities(SMPandghee)havealready,sincetheMarch25lockdown,slashedmilkpricesbyRs10-13perlitre.Eventhoselargely into liquidmilkmarketinghavecutbyRs3-5/litre.ThegovernmentshoulddirecttheNationalDairyDevelopmentBoardtocreateabuffer
stockof about60,000tonnesof SMPand30,000tonnesof butter. Thecostof this—atRs200/kgforSMPandRs300/kgforbutter,correspondingtoaRs25/litrecowmilkprocure-mentprice—may come to aroundRs2,100 crore,which isn’t toohigh. It canwell be re-coupedinthenext“lean”summerseason,whensomedemandnormalcywouldalsohavereturned.Not interveningnowwillhurt farmers. If theywere torespondbynotproperlyfeedingorevenstarvingtheiranimals, itwouldharmconsumersaswell.
THE CONSULTANTTesting the limitsof thepermissible,AmarSinghmadehimself
visible in thepost-liberalisation, coalitionera
I NDIA’SBEST-KNOWNFILMpersonality’sbusinessdebtstobepaidoff?AmarSinghwasathand.Acontroversytobegeneratedandthendefused?AmarSinghwasatworkbeforeapplicationswereinvited.Agovernmenttobeshepherdedthroughatrustvote?Singh,again,workingfromtheoutside.Theinstinctiveconsultantwas
the first outlierwho flamboyantly challenged contemporary Lutyens’ Delhi, andmadehimself indispensable to it.He tickedall thewrongboxes. Born inAzamgarh,whichwaslatervilified for terrorism, educated incommunist-ruledKolkata, residentof thewhole-salemarketdistrictofBurrabazar,hedidn’tbelong inLutyens’Delhi.Buthewasthemanof themomentinpost-liberalisationIndia,whichwasleavingbe-
hindtheHindurateof growthandtheagonisingchoicebetweenbuyinganAmbassadoror a Fiat. Politically, in the coalition era, Singh began to test the limits of choice. Hewasahead of his time. Chargedwith bribing three BJPMPs, hewas sent to judicial custody,thoughthefinancial trailwasneverestablished.Now,chargesofbuyinglegislators invitenot themajestyof the law,but tiredhumouronsocialmedia.SinghalsotransformedtheSamajwadiParty,whichhejoinedin1996.IfBollywoodglamourheadlinestheparty’scel-ebrationsinSaifai,MulayamSinghYadav’svillage,itisthelegacyof itsformergeneralsec-retary,whowasalsoexpelled foraperiod.Twoarchivalnewsimagesillustratehisconflictedpersonality.Inone,hestandsbeside
AmitabhBachchan,whoholdsupablown-upflexchequepayingtheduesofhiscompany,ABCL. Singh,whomay have drummedup themoney, holds one corner of the flex, sig-nallingownership. Theother showsAmar Singh’s sandals. Ordinary sandals, not the ex-pensivefootwearofDelhi’spoliticians.Hehadtakenthemoffbeforeenteringsomeone’shome, in thetime-honouredmannerof theancients.
LIP SERVICE TO BHASHANEPdoesnotadequatelytackleissueofinequityarisingoutofmediumofinstruction
IFONEGRASPS themeaningof amoment, itis easier to decipher the challenges involvedin searching for the alternatives. The 5th ofAugust,2019and2020,constitutesamomentwhen,ratherthanshrillrhetoric,asoberreal-ism isnecessary tograsp themeaningof themoment. Going by the self-deceptive state-mentsofsomeCongressleaders,onesuspectsthatevenbeforetheconstructionof theRamtemple begins, the BJPmight have achieveditsgrandproject.As the bhoomi pujan ceremony unfolds
at Ayodhya tomorrow, the primeministermay aswell announce the commencementofanew“republic”.Duringthepastoneyear,India has entered a newpolitical arena. It istimetobeginidentifyingthepillarsonwhichthis new India stands and ask if the newarrangementsqualifytobedescribedasare-public at all. (In the introduction to his newbook,Making Sense of Indian Democracy,YogendraYadav, too,deploys thisanalogyofthe“secondrepublic”).Electoral outcomes occasionally intro-
duce ruptures. That 2014would be such arupturewasalmostforetold.Throughoutthepast six years, the BJP governmentwent onreorganisingthepolity.Duringits first term,thegovernmentwasbusyfirmingitsgriponthestateapparatus.Thetaskofpreparingthegroundforthenewrepublicwasmostlycon-ductedthroughorchestratedvigilantismandissues of cow and conversion. Through theface-offs with students, the regime had in-dicatedtwothings:Itspenchantforabrasiveuseofstatepoweranditsabilitytopositabi-nary of nationalism and democracywherethe latterwas shownas themachination oftheanti-national.Thelast15monthshaveseenamoresys-
tematicandruthlessactiontowardrewritingtheconstitutionandusheringinanewgram-mar of state power. This beganwith a com-parativelysofttarget—theissueoftripletalaq.Itwas soft in that only the orthodox amongtheMuslims could defend it. But in banningthe practice, the government inserted theclauseofcriminalisingtheact—betrayingtheintentofpunishingratherthanreforming.ThenbeganamoredirectassaultonIndia’s
firstrepublic.ThedrasticlegalinterventioninJ&KandthepassageoftheamendmenttotheCitizenshipActchallengedthefoundationsofthe Constitution. In J&K, the issuewas not
merelyArticle370,butalsoaboldexperimentin asymmetric federalism. The governmentsignalled its contempt for that experiment.The CAA signalled that all religions are notequalanymore.InKashmir,thenewrepublicushered inclosureofopensocietyandinthecase of the CAA, it brought state repressionandthestigmaofbeinganti-nationalforthoseupholdingtheoldorder.Now, inconjunctionwithcelebrating the
dismantling of Article 370, India is also dis-mantlinganother relic of the first republic—inter-faith accommodation. The SC ruling intheAyodhya case, ordering thatMuslimsbegivenan“alternative”site,formalisedthepe-ripheralisationof theMuslimsbothspatiallyandpolitically,whilethecelebrationsopenlyinvolvingstatemachineryunderscoretheof-ficialisationof thestatusofHindureligionasthebasisof thenewrepublic.FortheBJP,all thesehavebeenmattersof
itspoliticalfaith.Thecrucialquestionis:CouldtheBJPdothismerelybecauseithadthenec-essary legislativemajority? Itsmajority hasindeedbeeninstrumentalinformalisingthesechanges,butwhilenecessary,thatwasnotthesufficient condition for bringing about thenewpolity.Therefore,astheBJPcelebratesthenew polity, it might be in order to put onrecordfivepillarsonwhichthenewrepublicisbeingbuilt.A key pillar in the project of dismantling
theoldorderhasbeenthe transformationoftheIndianstateintoarepositoryofrepression.Toachievethis,theregimehasshapedapoliti-cisedandpoisonousadministration—partic-ularly in thecaseof theenforcementand in-vestigationmachineries. The vindictivenesswithwhichmostsuchagenciesnowfunctionis chilling and this is seen in themanner inwhichmainstreampoliticians fromKashmirare treatedasalso in therecklessapplicationoftheUAPA.Secondly,theideasofdissentandcritiquehavebeendelegitimisedoverthepastsixyears,moresointhelastoneyear.Anydis-sent is presented as detrimental to nationalinterestornationalprideandeveryactofdis-sent iscriminalised.Thespace forcontrarianideasandactionshasdisappeared,establish-ingaforcedconsensus.Third,thispoliticaltransformationwould
nothavebeensoeasywithoutthewillingnessof thejudiciarytolooktheotherway,andoc-casionally join in theproject. In theAyodhya
dispute, the Court validated the basic prem-ises propoundedby the Ram janmabhoomiagitation.That rulingdidnotmerelygive thedisputed land to one set of litigants, it facili-tatedahistoricspacelegallyandideologicallyto the project behind the agitation. Inmostothermatters, theCourthaschoseneithertodefer cases challenging government actionsor to acquiescewith theexecutive’swisdomandlogic.Fourth, is the politics of avoidance dis-
played bymost political parties. The BJP hasdisplaced the original republic, but historymust note themutewillingnesswithwhichother players contributed to it. On not evenone of these issues could any political partywagea full-fledgedpoliticalopposition. If onKashmir,manyevidenced their eagerness tojoin theBJP’s chorus, onAyodhya,most par-tieschosetoignorethecorequestions.WhenpartiesandpoliticianshailthebuildingoftheRam temple, they choose to ignore that it isbeingbuiltonthedebrisofmutualaccommo-dationandrepresentsanunprecedentedho-mogenisationofHindu-ness.Inthissense,thepastoneyear,andmore,hasbeentheperiodof “no contest” in India’s politics. If theBJP isguilty of dismantling the republic, all otherpartiesaresilentapprovers.Finally, the new republic is foundedon a
militant culture ofmajoritarianism. This didnot happen overnight. As thiswriter has ar-gued, the past three decades aremarked bythe shaping of this tendency. India’s demo-craticprojectalwayshadtheriskofmajoritar-ianism. That riskmaterialised through theAyodhyamovementandwasablyassistedbythe failures of the Congress during and afterthe 1980s. In the past six years, the BJP hasgivenmajoritarianism the teeth and legiti-macythatsignifiedthecomingofthenewre-public.Thesefivepillarsarealsothedefiningchar-
Thewriter, basedatPune, taughtpolitical scienceand is currentlychief editor
ofStudies in IndianPolitics
THEMEDIUMOFinstructionhasbeenawayof perpetuating class and caste structures inIndia.Acceptingthisrealitywillhelpusmakesense of the language policy sinceIndependence aswell as theNewEducationPolicy2020(NEP,2020).NEP2020hasmanypositives, including notmakingHindi com-pulsoryinSouthIndianstates.Butontheped-agogicallyrelevantandpoliticallysensitiveis-sue of themediumof instruction, the policyseemstofollowthewell-troddenpath.It says that themother-tongueor the re-
gional languagewould be the “preferred”modeof instructiontillClass5,possiblyClass8.Italsostatesthat,“whereverpossible”theselanguageswill be used inpublic andprivateschools.Giventhegroundrealitieswhatdoesallthisentail?Before Independence,andpossibly20-25
yearsafter Independence,mostschool-goingchildren attendedbhasha-mediumschools,even if their parentsbelonged to thewell-offsectionsofsociety.Onlytheelitesenttheirchil-drentoexpensiveEnglish-mediumschools.Ifonemakes a list of retired top civil servants,academiciansandofficialsofprivateandpub-lic sector enterprises above the ageof 60, it’svery likely thatmost of them studied in abhashaschool.Studyinginabhashaschooldidnothampertheirprogressinlife.Therearetworeasons for this. First, these schoolswere ex-cellent in those times. Even the standard ofEnglishtaughtinthoseschoolswasverygood.So, studentscopedeasily incollegesanduni-
versities. Second,most students belonged totheuppercastesandhadatraditionofeduca-tionintheirfamilies.Over the years,while school enrollment
has increased, the quality of education inbhasha schools — invariably governmentschools—hasdeteriorated.Atthesametime,moststudentsfromthewell-offsectionshaveopted out of them. This shift from bhashaschoolstoEnglish-mediumschoolsfirsthap-pened in themetros, then inmiddle-levelcities andhas reached the villages now. ThebhashaschoolshavebegundrawingchildrenfromtheBahujanSamaj.Thesechildrensufferfromtwohandicaps.First,theextremelypoorquality of education inmost bhasha schools—withexceptionsinstatessuchasKeralaandTamilNadu.Second,suchchildrenrarelyhavea tradition of education in their families andfind it very difficult to competewith theirpeerswhohaveamuchbetterfinancialback-ground, better education andproficiency inEnglish.But thebenefit of expandingeduca-tionisthatsuchchildren,whowouldnotaskforabetterdealearlier,arenowmakingtheirdemandsclear.Onerememberstheagitationin 2014when theHindi-speaking studentswere arguing that the higher education sys-temisloadedagainstthebhashamediumstu-dents,especiallyattheUPSClevel.There isaconflictbetweenwhattheedu-
cationists say—oneunderstands the subjectbest in themother-tongue, we as a nationshouldnotlosesuchamultitudeoflanguages,
studyingintheEnglish-mediumleadstogapsin theunderstandingof one’s ownsociety—andwhattheparentsthinkisnecessaryfortheeconomicsurvivaloftheirchildren.So,parentssendtheirkidstoEnglish-mediumschoolsassoonastheycanaffordit.Thebhashamediumstudents donot get the coveted jobs and thedisparitybetweenthetwowidens.NEP2020doesnot tackle the issueof in-
equity that arises out of themediumof in-struction. The document pays lip-service tothepromotionofbhashas,butthepolicywillendupreinforcingthestatusquo.TheEnglish-medium schoolswill continue as they are,rathermoreof themwill sprout.But theagi-tationof2014couldbeaharbingerofthepos-siblepoliticalunacceptabilityofthis“mannerofdoingthings”.One could let all students study English
from an earlier age. Admittedly, this goesagainstthebasicprinciplesofeducation,andthe non-elite will face more problems instudying English. But an exposure to basicEnglish from a very young age in bhashaschools—throughrhymes,simplesentences— couldmake learning the language latermuch easier.Making special funds availablefor English-teaching at panchayat or zilaparishad level schools couldalsohelp. Thesecouldbesomestepsinmakingschooleduca-tionsomewhatmoreegalitarian.
The BJP has displaced theoriginal republic, but historymust note the mutewillingness with which otherplayers contributed to it. Onnot even one of the issuescould any political party wagea full-fledged politicalopposition. If on Kashmir,many evidenced theireagerness to join the BJP’schorus, on Ayodhya, mostparties chose to ignore thecore questions. When partiesand politicians hail thebuilding of the Ram temple,they choose to ignore that it isbeing built on the debris ofmutual accommodation andrepresents an unprecedentedhomogenisation of Hindu-ness. In this sense, the pastone year, and more, has beenthe period of ‘no contest’ inIndia’s politics. If the BJP isguilty of dismantling therepublic, all other parties aresilent approvers.
FOUNDED BY
RAMNATH GOENKA
B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L
§ §
THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,AUGUST4,2020
WORDLYWISEFree trade is not basedonutility buton justice.
— EDMUND BURKETHEEDITORIALPAGE
AGITATION NOT OVERTHEPROJECTEDNEGOTIATIONSon the for-eigners issue appeared to have run agroundwith the sponsors of the Assammovementthreatening to resume their agitation if thegovernmentrefusedtoimplementtheJuly25accord. Leaders of the All Assam StudentsUnion and theGana SangramParishadhavedenied the claimsmade on their behalf byManipurChiefMinisterDorendraSinghthattheaccordimpliedawithdrawaloftheagita-tion. The statements said that the very termoftheaccordthattheoilblockadewouldcon-tinue implied that they haven’t committedthemselvestocompletewithdrawal.
ANDHRA DISSIDENTSTHE CONGRESS (I) dissidents in AndhraPradesh rejected the appeal for cooperationbyChiefMinisterChennaReddyandhiscon-tention that the party crisis had blownoverfollowinghistalkswithPrimeMinisterIndiraGandhi.ThestateFinanceMinisterGRajaram,whoisspearheadingthemoveforachangeofleadership, told newsmen after consultingsome of the 16ministers who soughtMrsGandhi’s permission to resign, that Reddy’sappealwas“misleading”andwasforthecon-sumptionof “thefewfollowersstill leftwithhim”.“Ifthecooperationsoughtisforhiscon-tinuance as leader of the Congress (I)
LegislatureParty,thequestiondoesnotarise.
PAKISTAN N-PLANTPAKISTANISNOWpreparingtostockpile fis-silematerialfornuclearweapons.Westernin-telligence analysts believe that another pilotreprocessingplantisunderconstructionfromwhichPakistanmaymanufacture thepluto-niumfor its firstexplosion.TheInternationalInstitute for Strategic Studies has stated that“althoughtechnicaldifficultiestoimplement-ing and engineering the centrifuge designsstill could slow the programme,within oneyearPakistanwouldhaveenoughfissilema-terial for five-sevennuclearbombsayear”.
AUGUST 4, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO
An exposure to basic Englishfrom a very young age inbhasha schools — throughrhymes, simple sentences —could make learning thelanguage later much easier.Making special fundsavailable for English-teaching at panchayat or zilaparishad level schools couldalso help.
“While FATF can be said to have forced Pakistan’s hand and compelled it tocrack down on the violent extremist groups that had long insinuatedthemselves into the warp and weft of society, this is the only viable path aheadfor this country. ” — DAWNTHE IDEASPAGE
WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM
Until recently, themainstream commentary inthe US media had pouredcold water on Trump’s digitalwar with China as self-defeating. But theadministration officialsbelieve the tide might beturning in America’s favourin the new digitalconfrontation. They point toWashington’s successfulcampaign against Chinesetelecom companies Huaweiand ZTE in recent months.Although the US did nothave a candidate of its own inthe race for the rollout offifth-generation wirelesstechnology, the TrumpAdministration went out ofthe way to persuade its alliesto abandon Huawei.
AYODHYA,THEBIRTHPLACEofLordRama,is raring to turn the pages of history andusheranewchapterinitssagawiththecon-structionofagrandShriRamTempleslatedtocommenceonAugust5.Thechronicleofthis festivalwill be inscribed ingolden let-ters in the cultural history of Bharat. Not amereblockofconcreteandstones,thistem-pleisthesymbolof faithandaspirationsofbillions of Bharatiya people spread acrosstheworld.Alandmarkevent,thisdaytrans-ports one back to the year 1952when thethen President of independent Bharat,RajendraPrasad,didpranapratishthapujaof theSomnathTemple. Illustrious leadersof the country like Sardar Patel,MahatmaGandhi,KanhaiyaLalMunshi,VPMenon,SRadhakrishnan and Rajendra Prasad hadhailed the resurrection and restoration oftheSomnathtempleasaproudmomentinthehistoryof independentBharat—anaf-firmation of our eternal legacy. However,then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehrudeemed the act as “Hindu revivalism”. InhisbookPilgrimagetoFreedom,KMMunshi,aminister inNehru’s cabinet, reproducedexcerpts of a debate that ensued betweenthe two of themat that time. Today, giventhebackdropofAyodhya, reinvokingpartsofthatdebateiscrucialtobetterunderstandthe cultural significance of the restorationof RamMandir, and also,why there is op-positionto it.ThehistoryofSomnathTempleiscom-
parable to that of the Ram Mandir ofAyodhya as the Muslim Turkic invaderMahmudof Ghazni attacked the SomnathtempleandsuccessiveMusliminvadersre-peatedlydemolishedit,eventuallydestroy-ingitcompletely.Templesthatcomprisetheculturalher-
itage of a civilisation arenotmerephysicalsymbols, they are an embodiment of themoral values and traditions that bind andenergisethewholesociety.Munshiwrites:“In November 1947, Sardar…visited thetemple. At a public meeting, Sardar an-nounced:‘OnthisauspiciousdayoftheNewYear,wehavedecidedthatSomnathshouldbereconstructed.You,peopleofSaurashtra,shoulddoyourbest.’”The country’s leadership of that time
was split into two opposing ideologicalcamps.Munshiwrites: “At the end of thecabinetmeeting, Jawaharlal calledmeandsaid: ‘I do not like your attempt to reviveSomnath.This isHindurevivalism.’”Why did Nehru oppose this act as
“Hindurevivalism,”whileMunshireferredtoitas“Bharatiyacollective-conscious”andsawtherevivalasacelebrationforthecom-monman? These two interpretations arein reality the twodifferent ideologies thathaveinhabitedtheBharatiyamind.Nehruwasnot opposed toBharat but theBharatof his dreams was a spin-off of theEuropean viewof life,whichwasdiamet-
ricallyoppositetotheBharatiyaview.Itwas“abharatiya”. Whereas the concept ofBharatof leaderslikeSardarPatel,RajendraPrasad and Munshi was steeped inBharatiyacivilisation.Munshi goeson towrite: “OnApril 24,
1951, Iwrotea letter tohim(Nehru)whichI amreproducingnext literally: ‘When thewhole schemewas discussed by SardarwithBapu,hestatedthatitwasallrightex-cept that the funds necessary for recon-structingthetempleshouldcomefromthepublic. Thereafter, the idea that theGovernmentofIndiashouldfinancethere-constructionof thetemplewasgivenup…Yesterday you referred to ‘Hindu revival-ism’. I know your views on the subject; Ihave always done justice to them; I hopeyouwillequallydojusticetomine... It ismyfaith in our past which has givenme thestrengthtoworkinthepresentandtolookforward to our future. I cannot value free-dom if it deprives us of the BhagavadGitaoruprootsourmillionsfromthefaithwithwhich they look upon our temples andtherebydestroysthetextureofour lives.’”Andsothereconstructionwentahead.
When the time came to install the deity,MunshiapproachedPrasadandaskedhimtoperformtheceremony,butaddedarider,“thatheshouldacceptitonlyifhewaspre-parednot to fail us.”Munshi says “when itwas announced that Dr Rajendra Prasadwas to inaugurate the Temple, Jawaharlalvehemently protested”. Still, “RajendraPrasad kept his promise. However, hisspeechdeliveredatSomnathwaspublishedinallthepapers,butwascutoutfromtheof-ficialorgans.”It is ironicthatNehru,theIndianiconof
liberalism and freedom of expression,shouldmake sure that the speech of thePresident is censored. In thismanner, de-spite opposition, Somnathwas rebuilt andtoday themagnificent shrine attractsmil-lionsofdevotees.However,60yearsof ruleofoneregimeandthepatronageofgovern-ments has proliferated the proponents oftheNehruvian idea of Bharat in academiaand themedia. Hence, history is repeatingitselfandtheoppositiontotheRamMandirinAyodhya ismore vocal than the opposi-tion to theSomnath templewas. Thisdoesnot dampen the spirits of innumerableBharatwasiswhobelieveintheintegralandholisticspiritual traditionofBharat.Restorationofthenationalandcultural
heritageofBharatwillbeginwiththeRamMandir construction on August 5. TheDoordarshan telecast of the inauguralwillenablepeopleofBharatiyaoriginacrosstheworld towitness this historicmoment. Inobservanceofcorona-relateddirectives,thiseventwill see fewer participants in atten-dance. It ismy firmbelief that the templetrustees also view this event as the re-es-tablishmentofeternalBhartiya legacyandpride and not just the construction of astructure. Thismust bewhy senior repre-sentatives of various faiths and sects likeJain, Bauddh, Sikh, Muslim, Christian,Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,priests,Mathadhish and spiritual gurus ofourcountryhavebeeninvitedtogracethisjubilantaffair.TheRamMandirisnotameretemple,it
is thesymbolofourculturalheritage.
Thewriteris jointgeneralsecretaryoftheRSS
INDIA’S BANON the hugely popular TikTokandotherChineseapps, aspart of its retalia-tion against China’s aggression in EasternLadakh,hasacquiredawiderdimensionthatfewcouldhaveanticipated. TikTok is nowatthecentreof a rapidlyexpandingdigitalwarbetweentheUnitedStatesandChina.Since Delhi’s announcement banning
TikTokandotherChineseappsinJune, therehas been talk of similar actions byWashington.USPresidentDonaldTrumpisdoingonebetterthantheNDAgovernment.LikeDelhi,Washingtontooiscitingnationalsecurityconcernsaboutthewidespreaduseof Chinese apps.Rather than simply ban TikTok,
Washingtonis“persuading”ByteDance, theChinese internet company that ownsTikTok, to hand over its business to the UStechnologygiant,Microsoft.Trump’sthreatover the weekend that hemight soon banTikTok set inmotion frenzied negotiationsbetweenByteDance andMicrosoft.Trumpdoes not justwant anAmerican
takeover of TikTok, but the best possibleterms for the United States. The US presi-dent appears to have intervened in the ne-gotiations by chatting over the phonewithMicrosoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella. In a state-mentissuedafterthetalks,Microsoftsaid, itisreadytoobligethePresidentandis“com-mittedtoacquiringTikToksubjecttoacom-plete security reviewandprovidingpropereconomicbenefits to theUnitedStates”.Microsoft said the negotiations with
ByteDanceinvolvemorethanTikTok’soper-ationsintheUS.Microsoftwantstotakeoverthe TikTokmarket in Canada, Australia andNew Zealand. Microsoft is also promisingthat the deal will meet all the administra-tion’snational securityconcerns.Trump’s American critics insinuate that
thepresidenthasapersonalbeefwithTikTokthatwas reportedly used to inflate the con-firmationstoattendhiselectionrallyinTulsa,Arizonaa fewweeksago. Theemptystandsin Tulsa were seen as a big setback forTrump’s campaign.Let’s assume for amoment an embar-
rassedTrump is getting evenwith aChineseapp. That does not, however, in anyway re-duced the political salience of theUS presi-dent’sstrikeagainstTikTok.NordoesitmaskMicrosoft’s commercial interest in acquiringanappthatcouldhelpovercomethetechgi-ant’sglaringabsenceinthesocialmediaspaceandwinalargeandyouthfuldemographic.Whilemuch of theUSmediawas high-
lighting Trump’s personal peeve, China’sGlobal Timeshadaverydifferentpoint. In aneditorial on Sunday, the paper called theUSdecision “a barbaric act of a rogue govern-ment”anddenounceditas“thehuntingandlooting of TikTok by the US government inconjunctionwithUShigh-techcompanies”.Untilrecently,themainstreamcommen-
tary in theUSmedia hadpoured coldwateronTrump’sdigitalwarwithChinaasself-de-feating. But the Administration officials be-lieve the tidemight be turning inAmerica’sfavourinthenewdigitalconfrontation.They point toWashington’s successful
campaign against Chinese telecomcompa-nies Huawei and ZTE in recent months.
Although theUSdidnot have a candidate ofitsownintheracefortherolloutof fifth-gen-eration wireless technology, the TrumpAdministrationwent out of theway to per-suadeitsalliestoabandonHuawei.Trumpnowseemstohaveembarkedona
moreconsequentialmissionathometorede-finetiesbetweenUSandChinesetechnologycompaniesthatflourishedinrecentyears.OnSunday,SecretaryofStateMikePompeoindi-cated that the takeover of TikTok is just thefirst step. The administration is expected tofollowthroughwithadditional stepsagainstChineseappsinthedaysahead.Until now,Beijingwas supremely confi-
dent in its assessment that it could excludetheUSappslikeFacebook,GmailandTwitterfrom itsmarket, but yet continue to exploitthe USmarket for the advance of its digitalentities. The reluctance to abandon theChinesemarket meant the US companieswerehappytoswallowthehumiliationsthatBeijingheapeduponthem.Inahard-hittingspeechlastmonth, the
US Attorney General William Barr re-minded Apple, Google, Microsoft andDisney not to forget their American iden-tity and their obligationsunderUS law.Barr told the US corporate bosses they
“might not see themselves as lobbyists” forChina.Butheremindedthemof thedangersofbeingusedbyBeijingandthattheireffortsonbehalfofChinacouldinvoketheprovisionsof the Foreign Agents Registration Act. TheFARAdoesnotprohibitlobbyingbutdemandsthatlobbyistsregisterthemselveswiththeUSgovernment. Lobbyingwithout registration,however,wouldbringmanypenalties.Barr also told theUStechandentertain-
mentcompaniesthatthey“mayviewthem-selves as global citizens, rather thanAmericaninstitutions”.“Buttheyshouldre-memberthatwhatallowedthemtosucceedinthefirstplacewastheAmericanenterprisesystem, the rule of law, and the security af-forded by America’s economic, technologi-cal andmilitarystrength”.Mightthisoffensiveagainsttheextended
nexusbetweentheUScompaniesandChinacome to an end if Joe Bidenwins the presi-dencyinNovember?UStechcompaniesandHollywoodarecertainlyamongbigsupport-ers of theDemocratic Party. But theymight
tohavemadeupitsmindontheurgencyofcopingwiththeChinesedigital threats.Theattitudes across the political spectrum to-wards China are also hardening. AlthoughTrump is trailing in the polls, he can takemanypolicyactionsagainstChinauntil histermcomestoanendnext January.Acom-pletereversalof thecurrentactionsagainstChinese companies might not be easy forthenext President.Althoughtotaldigitaldecouplingbetween
theUSandChinamight takea long time, if ithappens at all, new rules are nowemergingtodefinethetermsofengagement.Equallysignificant is thereturnofbipar-
tisanUSpoliticalsupportfor“industrialpol-icy” or conscious government effort to leadthenation’stechnologicalandeconomicevo-lution.Duringthelastfourdecadesanymen-tion of “industrial policy” was taboo inWashington’spolicycommunity.Lastweek,Trumpdramaticallyboosted
the stock prices of Kodak — the once-fa-mousUScompanythatwentbrokebycon-tinuing to make cameras in the age ofsmartphones. The Trump Administration,using theDefence ProductionAct, has lent$765 million to Kodak to start producinggenericdrugsandpharmaceutical ingredi-ents.TheDefenceProductionActdatesbackto the 1950s, when the USwasmobilisingfor the KoreanWar. Biden’s campaign toohas embraced industrial policy as ameansto cope with external and internal eco-nomic challenges to theUS.ManyinWashingtonarenowconvinced
that it was a terrible mistake for the US tohave believed that global trade and tech-nology flows after the Cold War weregeopolitically neutral. The new AmericanconsensusappearstobeinsyncwithIndia’sown recent turn towards decoupling fromChina and the plan to rearrange its digitalengagementwiththeworldwithinaframe-workof trustedpolitical partnerships.
CLUES FROM FARMTHIS REFERS TO the report, 'In farmpromise, someconcern', (IE,August3).Sinceadecadeortwo,therehasbeenareduction in the emphasis on the pri-mary sector andmigration of peoplehasbeenobserved fromrural tourbansections.Theproblemliesinthelackofpoliciesthattargetthevulnerablepeo-ple. Increasing theminimum supportprice for the crops and assuring farm-ers a sense of security can revive theagriculture sector, which in turn canboost theeconomy.
ChandravirSingh,Agra,UP
GROUNDWORK FIRSTTHIS REFERS TO the article, 'A peda-gogyforNewIndia', (IE,August3).Thetransitionenvisaged for theacademicecosystem in the country under thenew education policy will be a quan-tum leap. The existing system is notpreparedforsuchdrasticchangesevenif they are incrementally imple-mented. The Continuous andComprehensive Evaluation processmandated by the RTE Act couldn't beimplemented successfully even aftera decade of the law came into force.Therefore a rigorous timeline-basedapproachneeds tobe adopted to gearup the entire education system to laythe foundation for the changes pro-posedby thenewpolicy.
SudipKumarDey,Kolkata
REVENUE MATTERS
THISREFERSTOtheeditorial,'StressAndStrain' (IE,August3).Therecovery in in-directtaxrevenuehasprovedtheefficacyof GSTand that consumption is back tonormal.Butrelativelyhighercontractionindirecttaxesunderlinestwoimportantimperatives.First,acknowledgingthatin-dividual incomes have been badly af-fected and mitigating the economicshockbyjobcreation,enforcingthemin-imumwageactandharmonisinglabourlaws. Second, implementing theDirecttaxcode2.0canhelpraisingtheincometaxshare for thegovernmentandratio-nalisingslabratesfortheindividual.
SagarBorade,Thane
LETTERS TO THEEDITOR
THEAUGUST5ceremonythatwilltakeplaceinAyodhyaistheinaugurationofthefirstsig-nificantmonumentoftheHindunation.TheBJPandSanghParivararedeterminedtocre-atetheirownhistoryandmonuments.Alltheideologues of theHindu right havewrittenreamsaboutAbrahamicreligionsholdingthenationalimaginationhostagebecauseof thechicanery of Nehruvian secularism. Theyhave expounded on the need for new sym-bols,changesinhistoricalperception,indeedanewnation.ThemostsignificantexpositionhasbeenthatofVDSavarkar,whofirstcameupwith the termHindutva as the title of anessayandwouldwritethatitwasthe“Princeof Ayodhya”whoestablished theHinduna-tion. “ThedaywhentheHorseofVictoryre-turnedtoAyodhyaunchallengedandunchal-lengeable… that daywas the real birth-dayofourHindupeople,”hewrote.Itwould,therefore,beamistaketoseethe
Ayodhya ceremony as amere diversionarytactic in themidstof apandemicandasink-ingeconomy.Forthearchitectsof theHinduRashtra, it is a day to blow the conch shellsandrejoice.Thefact that thiswillhappenonAugust 5 thatmarks the anniversary of theabolitionofArticle370,thattheyhaveviewedasanabomination, isamatterofcelebration
and not a cause of concern for them. Itwasagain Savarkarwhowould say that aHinduwas someone forwhom Indiawas both thepitrabhumi (land of ancestors) and punyabhumi (holy land), by which definitionMuslimsandChristianswereexcluded.The fact is that till now in independent
India,theAugust15primeministerialspeechismade fromtherampartsof theRedFort, aMughalmonument,andthebusinessofgov-ernmentandParliamentcontinuedinBritish-built structures. This does not appeal to ad-herents of an ideology seeking to create amuscularnewHinduidentityafterwhattheyviewascenturiesofsubjugationatthehandsofMuslims and then, Christians. British ar-chitectEdwardLutyensdesignedthathistoriczoneandhislastnameisnowroutinelyusedas an insultmeant to put down an old elite.Thecentralvistaprojectannouncedlastyearto redevelop this zone inDelhimust alsobeseen in this light: There is an ideologicalun-derpinningtoit,beyondbeingamerevanityproject foraprimeminister.But to return toAyodhya, it lies in the re-
giononceknownforaculturaleffervescenceoftendescribedasGanga-Jumnitehzeeb,thatsoundslikeanoutdatedclichétoday.Forone,more rivers run through the region besides
the Ganga and Yamuna. There is the SaryualongwhichAyodhya stands and theGomtithat cuts through Lucknow. Faizabad, thetowntowhichAyodhya isattached,was thefirstcapitaloftheNawabsofAwadh,whopa-tronisedmusic, the arts, the dance form ofkathak, andmade donations tomany tem-ples. Ayodhya’s pre-eminent temple todatehas been the Hanumangarhi, whose con-structionwassupportedwithseveralrevenuelandgrantsbythenawabs.My first trip to Ayodhya was made in
November 1992, weeks before the Babrimosquewasbroughtdown.Inthebackdropof the Ram janmabhoomimovement, I be-ganmy reporting career travelling acrossIndia searching for the survival or death ofsyncretictraditionsandacompositeculture.The series, titled “InGood Faith”,was beingpublished in The Indian Express. Iwould seefragile traditions vanish in the face of risingHindu assertion and as the counterpoint, agrowing Muslim conservatism. Equally,manysurvived.There was a large police presence in
Ayodhya that year and it seemed that anapocalyptic event was round the corner.Between sadhus, kar sevaks, politicians andpolicemen, Imet Ansar Hussain, then 87, a
devoutMuslimwho had for 45 years beencaretaker of the Sunder Bhawan, one of themanySitaRamtemples inAyodhya.Hewascertainhewouldbesafe;why,hesaid,whenhe had fallen sick some years ago, two sad-hus of the Hanumangarhi temple had do-nated blood for him! I would return toAyodhya four days after the demolition andfindabig lockonhisdoorand learn that thefamily had fled. A young boywearing a saf-fronscarfwouldsaythatitisgoodtheoldfoolhas gone as hewas polluting the Gods. Butagain, visiting Ayodhya some years later, IwouldlearnthatAnsarHussainhadreturnedand continued looking after his Sita-Rammandir tillhisdeath inhismid-90s.The Awadh region has birthed many
cultures and contestingmemories, from anawabwhowouldcomposeadancedramacalled Radha Kanhaiyya ka Kissa, to thegreat singerof thumrisandghazalsnamedAkhtari Bai Faizabadi, whomwe know asBegumAkhtar.NowthemetaphoricalPrinceofAyodhya
returns and a grand symbol of the recastHindunationshalldominatetheskyline.
Naqvi,asenior journalist, is theauthorofShadesofSaffron:FromVajpayeetoModi
II HarshS/O Manoj KumarGuptaR/O.Flat.No-103, Keshav-BhawanKureniNarela, Delhi-110040have changedmynametoHarshGupta.
0040543776-1
PPEERRSSOONNAALL
Classifieds
1. Chief Engineer (R&B), NABARD&LWE and NDB on behalf of Governmentof A.P. invites bids for the works consisting of 5 Packages amounting toRs.786.54 Crores covering 5 Districts i.e, Kadapa, Anantapuramu,Prakasam, Kurnool & Chittoor under Andhra Pradesh Roads and BridgesReconstruction Project (APRBRP) & Andhra Pradesh Mandal Connectivityand Rural Connectivity improvement Project (APMCRCIP) schemes withthe Loan assistance of New Development Bank (NDB).
2. Bidding will be conducted through the Open Competitive Bidding (OCB)procedures agreed with NDB.
3. The Bid Document is available online and can be downloaded free of cost bylogging on to Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) https://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app”. The bids are to be submitted online through CentralPublic Procurement Portal (CPPP) “https://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app”only. Bids submitted manually will not be accepted. One can view/downloadthe bidding document as well as view the tenders published currently bylogging on the link https://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app
4. A pre-bid meeting will be held on 27.08.2020 at 11.00 AM in the office ofChief Engineer (R&B), NABARD&LWE and NDB, R&B HOD Building, MGRoad, Vijayawada.
5. The bidders can download the Bid document from Central PublicProcurement Portal i.e., “https://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app” from12.08.2020, 3:00 PM to 11.09.2020 up to 1:00 PM. The last date andtime for receipt of bids through Central Public Procurement Portal is11.09.2020 up to 3:00 PM.
6. Full version of this notice is available at www.aprdc.ap.gov.in7. Amendments/Addenda/Corrigenda if any, pertaining to Invitation For Bids
(IFB), would be placed on the website www.aprdc.ap.gov.in8. Amendments/Addenda/Corrigenda if any, pertaining to works, would be
placed on the website https://eprocure.gov.in/eprocure/app.
IFB No:1/CE(R&B), NABARD, LWE&NDB/01 to 05/APRBRP&APMCRCIP/2020-21, Dt: 30-07-2020
DIPR No.227PP/CL/ADVT/1/1/2020-21 Dt:03.08.2020
INVITATION FOR BID (IFB)OPEN COMPETATIVE BIDDING
GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESHROADS & BUILDINGS DEPARTMENT
e-Tender No: TNCSC/20-21/ET-09Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation invites Online electronictender for “The Purchase of 60,000 MTs of any one of Dalnamely Tur dal (Split - Husked & Fatka) / Canadian Yellow Lentil(Split - Husked & Laired No.2) as per Agmark specification”Complete e-tender document can be viewed and downloadedthroughhttps://www.mstcecommerce.com/eprochome/tncscandalso available in www.tenders.tn.gov.inThe bidders have to participate online bidding only with DigitalSignature Certificate (DSC) of Class-II or Class-IIIFor Registration and further details contact MSTC LIMITED,Phone:25222842/25251910/25261005e-Mail:[email protected] Date for Online Submission : 07.09.2020DIPR/2914/Tender/2020
Additional General Manager (DP & C), TSECL,Banamalipur, Agartala invites tenders through electronictendering (e-tendering) on behalf of TSECL from theeligible & resourceful manufactureres/ EPC (Engineering,Procurement and Construction)/ Authorized dealer havingsufficient technical & financial capabilities for followingworks. Details of tenders will be available in websitewww.tsecl.in. & https://tripuratenders.gov.in.
1. Procurement of ISI marked & BIS Certified, LT, AC, 3-Phase, 4-Wire Static Whole current LCD Energy Meter(20-100 A), Including Poly carbonate Meter Box/Enclosure.
2. Supply, installation, testing, commissioning, integrationof 3-phase, 4-wire whole current AMR, compatible LTmeter with up to date amendment.
3. Supply, installation, testing, commissioning, integrationof Distribution Transformer (D.T) Meter, Boundary Meter& Feeder Meters for IPDS and DDUGJY work.
4. Supply, installation, testing, commissioning of 11KV VCBPanel in different 33KV and above voltage level SubStations under TSECL.
5. Supply of 11 KV Indoor bus PT & CT, suitable for CToperated three phase meter with mounting arrangementas per relevant IS and technical specification (SNIQ).
Sd/-Additional General Manager (DP & C)
TSECL, Banamalipur, Agartala
DIPR/ 2912 /TENDER/2020
STATE INDUSTRIES PROMOTION CORPORATION OF TAMILNADU LIMITED19-A, RUKMANI LAKSHMIPATHY ROAD, EGMORE, CHENNAI - 600 008.
For and on behalf of State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil NaduLimited, sealed tenders are invited under “Two Cover System” for the followingwork from Class-I State level registered Civil contractors of PWD, Highways, NationalHighways, TWAD, CMWSSB or with an equal monitory limit in other Government/Quasi Government Organisations having experience in similar nature of works.Tenders will be received upto 3.00 PM on 03.09.2020 and the same will be openedon the same day at 3.30 PM.
MANAGING DIRECTOR, SIPCOT, Chennai-8
Name of Work Approx. valueof work EMD
Creation of Infrastructure facilities such asformation of Road, Construction of A.O. Blockbuilding, Providing water supply distributionsystem, Pumping machineries, Constructionof 5LL U.G. Sump & OHT in zone-I, Phase – I atSIPCOT Industrial Park, Manaparai.
Rs.5730.00lakhs
Rs.28,75,000/-in the form ofDemand Draftdrawn in favourof SIPCOT Ltd.,
payable at Chennai.The tender schedule can be Downloaded at free of cost from the websitewww.tenders.tn.gov.in
2nd Feb 1967-04th Aug 2008
Sashastra Seema Bal fondly remembers andcherishes the valiant act of the brave heart,LNK/GD Rana Sharma of 16th Bn SSB,Adabari(Assam) who made the supremesacrifice of his life for Nation in the line ofduty. LNK/GD Rana Sharma attainedmartyrdom on 04th August, 2008, when hewas returning back to his BOP (Border outPost) after completing the assigned task. Hewas shot dead by ULFA militant near Malvita
Baghmara Market of district Chirang (Assam). His gallant act willcontinue to inspire us all.
We salute the valor and supreme sacrifice of the brave soldier.
SASHASTRA SEEMA BAL
04 AUG
No 9405229X Lnk BomBahadur Limbu and No9408528F Rfn Parsu RamRai, Martyrs of 1/11Gorkha Rifles (BATALIK)made the supreme sacrificeduring 'NAGA HILLS' in1969 in a true act of valour.
These brave soldiers will always be remembered for theirenthusiasm and courage. To these brave martyrs we pledge thatwe shall always be guided by their immortal spirits and do theirnames proud.
CO AND ALL RANKS, 1/11 GORKHA RIFLES(BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE)
(BATALIK)
04 AUG
Lnk Debi Kumar Limbu of 1/11 Gorkha Rifles(BATALIK) made the supreme sacrifice during'OP RAKSHAK (J&K), on 04 Aug 1997 in atrue act of valour. The brave soldier will alwaysbe remembered for his raw courage andindomitable team spirit. To this braveheart wepledge that we shall always be guided by hisimmortal spirit and make his name proud.
CO AND ALL RANKS, 1/11 GORKHA RIFLES
(BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE)
(BATALIK)
LANCE
NAIK(GD) RANA
SHARMA
LNK BOM
BAHADUR LIMBU
LNK DEBI
KUMAR LIMBU
RFN PARSU
RAM RAI
''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.
ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI, AUGUST3
TAMIL NADU Chief MinisterEdappadi K Palaniswami onMonday rejected the three-lan-guage policy proposed by theUnion government in theNationalEducationPolicy(NEP)and said the statewill not devi-atefromitstwo-languagepolicy,being followed fordecades.“TamilNaduwillneverallow
theCentre'sthree-languagepol-icy. Thestatewill continuewithitsduallanguagepolicy(ofTamilandEnglish),” he said ina state-ment.Calling the Centre's plan
“painful and saddening”,PalaniswamisaidPrimeMinisterNarendra Modi should recon-sider the three-language for-mula andallowstates to imple-ment their own policies on thesubject.Opposition leader andDMK
chief M K Stalin thankedPalaniswami for his stronglyworded statement against theCentre’smove.The NEP states: “The three
languages learned by childrenwill be the choices of States, re-gions, and of the students, solong as at least two of the threelanguagesarenative to India.”On why the state cannot
agree with the three-languageformula, Palaniswami recalledpolitical history of Tamil Naduand pointed out that then chefministerCNAnnaduraihadde-clared the two-language policyin January 1968, followedby an
anti-Hindi agitation against theimposition of Hindi. Recallingthat M G Ramachandran –known as MGR, who foundedAIADMK– and his successor asthe AIADMK chief and formerchiefminister, lateJ Jayalalithaa,hadsafeguardedthestate’stwo-languagepolicy,Palaniswamire-called a statement fromJayalalithaaassertingthatHindicannotbeimposedonapopula-tion that doesn’t use that lan-guage.“She also demanded use of
TamilastheofficiallanguageandmakingittheofficiallanguageofMadras High Court,”Palaniswami said. He said bothMGRandJayalalithaahadfoughtagainst the impositionofHindi.He said when the NEP had
come for discussions, TamilNaduhadopposedtheidea,andhe had written to Modi aboutthis.Hesaid theentirestateandalmostallpoliticalparties inthestate are supporting the two-
languagepolicy.Anti-Hindi agitation had
given birth tomany top politi-ciansinthe1960sandDravidianparties continue to fight any at-tempt by the Centre to imposeHindi asamandatory subject inthestate's school curriculum.Since 2014, Tamil Nadu has
seen public protests on severaloccasions against the BJP-ledUnion government's alleged at-tempts to impose Hindi andSanskrit on Tamil people. Stalinat one point had accused PrimeMinisterModi of trying to rele-gate people who don't speakHinditosecond-classcitizensintheirowncountry.Among the Modi govern-
ment's alleged attempts to pro-moteHindi,politicalpartiesandcivicorganisationsinTamilNadupoint out a Parliamentary com-mittee'searlierproposaltomakeuseofHindimandatory forMPsand Unionministers as officiallanguage,useofHindi inairportannouncements, media adver-tisements,makingHindiacom-pulsorysubjectforCBSEschoolsacrossthecountry,promotionalcampaigns exclusively in Hindiscriptevenwhenthewordspro-nounced are in different lan-guages, transliteration of Hindinames of programmes andschemessuchasSwachhBharatAbhiyan insteadof translations,different government cess andschemesnamedonlyinHindiorSanskrit, renaming Teacher’sDay as Guru Purnima, mile-stonesonnationalhighwaysre-lettered in Hindi instead ofEnglish.
AMILBHATNAGARNEWDELHI, AUGUST3
AJOURNALISTinUP’sSaharanpurdistrict has been booked for al-legedlysharinganunverifiedpostonTwitterabouttheadministra-tion’shandlingofCovid-19.“Wereceivedaletterfromthe
Chief Medical Officer’s officeagainst the journalist, SankalpNeb.Itallegedthathehadsharedfake informationwith regards tothefunctioningoftheadministra-tion.Hehas beenbookedunderrelevantSectionsoftheEpidemicAct and the IT Act,” SaharanpurDSPsaidArvindSinghPundirsaid.TheFIRreads,“OnAugust2,a
message on Twitter was re-
postedonsocialmediabyNeb. Itsaid that in Saharanpur, negativeCovid reports are being turnedintopositive soprivatehospitalscan get government funds... Thepostwas unverified and it wasshowingthegovernmentinabadlight.”Nebclaimedhewasbeing“targeted” for reports thatwerenot in favour of the administra-tion.He said hehadmerely “re-posted” anotherperson’s allega-tionsintheformofascreenshot.
‘TNwill never allowthree-language policy’:CM rejects NEP proposal
THETAMILNaduPolice is inves-tigating if a man who died amonth ago in Coimbatore waswanted Sri Lankan druglordMaddumageChandanaLasanthaPereraaliasAngodaLokka.Lokka, 35, had gonemissing
fromSri Lanka in2017and isbe-lieved to have been living in thestateforthepastyear.Themanwhosedeathpolice
areprobing inCoimbatorewentby the name Pradeep Singh. InFebruary,awomancalledAmaniDhanji, 27, had arrived fromSriLankaandstartedlivingwithhim.Sheisnowunderarrest.The police inquiry was
sparkedoff byaquerybya jour-nalist over a media report inLanka, saying Lokka had beenpoisoned by a rival Bengaluru-basedgangandhisbodybroughttoCoimbatore.The office of the Sri Lankan
Policemedia division told TheIndianExpresstheyareyettocon-firmthenews.AseniorofficialofthecriminalinvestigationwingatColombo said theyhad started aprobeinthematteronJuly22.Lokka had gone missing
shortlyafteraprisonbusshooting
inwhich five inmates, all promi-nent underworld suspects, andtwopolicemenwere killednearthetownofKalutara.Itwasoneofthedeadliest attacks inSri Lankaafterthedefeatof theLTTE.Apart fromDhanji, police are
looking into the roleofMadurai-basedlawyer,TSivakamiSundari.OnJuly3,thetwoofthemhad
brought Singh’s body toCoimbatore Medical College,claiming Singhhad a cardiac ar-rest. AcasewasregisteredunderSection174oftheCrPC(over“un-natural” death). The next day,Sundari had approached policeclaimingSinghwasarelative,andwas allowed to take his body toMaduraiforcremation.A senior officer probing the
case said that in Coimbatore,SinghaliasLokkasuppliedproteinsupplements to body-buildingcentres. “Earlier, Sundari helpedLokka hide at her residence forthreemonths. Sundari’s friendSDhiyaneswaran,32,fromTirupurhelpedhimgetarentedhouseinCoimbatorecity.Wealsohavein-formation that Sundari helped
LokkagetanAadhaarcard in thenameofPradeepSingh,”theoffi-cer said. Coimbatore PoliceCommissioner Sumit Saran saidLokkawaswantedinSriLankaformultipleoffences.OnMonday,thecasewas shifted to the CB-CIDwing. Police’s suspicionswereraisedduetothecircumstancesofthe 35-year-old’s death, Singh’sNorth Indian identity aswell asthenameDhanji.Thewifeofari-val of LokkawhomhehadkilledwasalsocalledDhanji.TheLankanofficersaid,“There
was information that Lokkahadescaped to India and thewife ofhis rivalwhowasmurdered byhimwasmeetinghimoften...Ourinformationwas that last year,Lokkawas severely injured afterhewashitbya lorryandwasbe-ing treatedataBengaluruhospi-tal. Butwewereunable toascer-tain details of his treatment inBengaluru orhis reporteddeathinearly July.Wealsosuspect thismaybe a conspiracy tomakeusbelievehedied...Wehave inputsthatheunderwentplasticsurgerytochangehisappearance.”Headdedthataraidonprem-
ises owned by Lokka lastweekhad led to the arrest of his aides,andtheseizureofahawkthat,hesaid, might have been used intransportingdrugconsignments.
LokkamayhavebeeninTNforayear.
In UP, journalist bookedfor unverified post online HC bail condition for
molestation accused: Askcomplainant to tie rakhi
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA,AUGUST3
THEWESTBengalgovernmentonMonday formed a six-membercommittee to look into themer-itsofthenewNationalEducationPolicy(NEP)beforetakingacallonimplementingit inthestate.State Education Minister
ParthaChatterjeehadearliercrit-icised the policy—approved bytheUnionCabinetonJuly29–al-legingitwas“copiedfromeduca-tionsystemsofforeigncountries”.OnMonday, Chatterjee said,
“As apolitical party,wehaveourreservations regarding theNEP,2020. We have formed a six-membercommitteethatwillex-aminetheNEP’smerit.”The committee comprises
TMCMPSougata Roy, JadavpurUniversity Vice-ChancellorSuranjanDas, Rabindra BharatiUniversity Vice-ChancellorSabyasachiBasuRoyChowdhury,WestBengal syllabuscommitteechairmanAvikMajumdar,educa-tionist Pabitra Sarkar andIndologist Nrisingha PrasadBhaduri.TheyhavebeenaskedtosubmittheirreportbyAugust15.“Besides, there are various
teachers’ organisations in ourstate.Weare seeking their opin-ion aswell... They can send theiropinionvia email byAugust 15,”Chatterjeeadded.The new policy, which re-
placed the 34-year oldNationalPolicy on Education (NPE), hasproposedsweepingchanges.Chatterjee termed the new
policy“unilateral”.“The state governmentwas
not consulted...Wewould haveregisteredourreservations.ButnoonefromBengalwas included inthe committee that formulatedtheNEP,”addedChatterjee.
Bengal forms6-member panelto look intomerits of NEP
MADHYAPRADESH
Month after man died, TN copsprobe if he was Lanka druglord
Sushant death:PIL in BombayHC seeks transferof probe to CBI
EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, AUGUST3
A PIL has recently beenmovedbefore the Bombay High Courtseeking transfer of theprobe inthe Sushant SinghRajput deathcase fromtheMumbai Police totheCBI.A criminal Public Interest
Litigation (PIL) filed by oneSameetRakeshThakkarthroughadvocate Raspal Singh Renu islikely tobeheardonTuesday.This comes after the
Supreme Court on July 30 dis-missed a PIL seeking transfer ofthe probe fromMumbai Policeto theCBI.The top court had asked
lawyerstoapproachtheBombayHigh Court if they had some-thing concrete to show inthecase.AbenchofChief Justiceof IndiaSABobdeandJusticesAS Bopanna and VRamasubramanianhadsaidthatMumbaiPoliceareallowedtodothejobandif thereissomething,then a plea be filed before theHC.“GotoBombayHighCourtifyou have anything concrete toshow,” the top court benchhadsaid.
GRANTINGBAILinamolestationcase, theMadhya PradeshHighCourt has asked the accused tovisit the complainant to requesther to “tie a rakhi” and “promiseto protect her to the best of hisabilityforalltimestocome”.“He shall also tender Rs
11,000... to the complainant as acustomary ritual usually offeredby the brothers... and shall alsoseekherblessings. Theapplicantshall also tender Rs 5,000 to thesonof thecomplainantVishalforpurchaseof clothes and sweets,”statedtheorderonJuly30.Thecourtdirectedtheaccused
to visit the house of the com-plainantalongwithhiswife, andaskedhimtoobtainphotographsofthevisitandproofofthemoneygifted to the complainant.Separately,thecourtalsodirected
theaccusedtodepositabailbondofRs50,000alongwithapersonalsuretyfromanotherperson.The order was passed by
Justice Rohit Arya of the Indorebench.Thejudgeclarifiedthatthemoneygiftedtothecomplainantwillnot“influencethetrial”andisonlyabailcondition.Theaccusedhad spent twomonths in jail inUjjaindistrict and sought bail asthe trial is unlikely to concludeduetothepandemic.Usingcrim-inal forcewith intent to outragethemodestyofawomanisaseri-ousoffenceundertheIPC.Thelawyerfortheaccusedar-
gued that a false case had beenregistered against his clientwhowent to collect a loan from thecomplainant’s husband,who isalsoaneighbour. Hesaidthefam-ilyof theaccusedisonthe“vergeofstarvation”duetohisincarcer-ation. Thecomplainant’sversionwasnotsoughtbythecourtwhenitgavetheorder.
A NEW study suggeststhat the differing im-mune systemresponsesof Covid-19patients canhelppredictwhowillex-periencemoderate andsevere consequences ofdisease. The study, byYale University re-searchers, published injournalNature, suggeststhat the findings mayhelpidentifyindividualsathighriskof severe illnessearly.Researchers examined 113 pa-
tients admitted to Yale NewHavenHospital. All patients shared a com-monCovid-19“signature”inimmunesystemactivity early in the course ofdisease.Thosewhoexperiencedonlymoderate symptoms exhibited di-minishingimmunesystemresponsesand viral load over time. Thosewhobecame severe cases showed no de-creaseinviralloadorimmunesystemreaction, andmany of the immunesignals in thesepatientsaccelerated.Even in the early course of treat-
ment, researchers found indicatorsthatpredictedwhichpatientswereatgreatest risk of developing severeformsof the illness.“Wewere able to pull out signa-
tures of disease risk,” senior author
Akiko Iwasaki said in astatement released byYaleUniversity.As is already known,
the immune systemun-leashes damaging “cy-tokine storm” in severecases. Researchers saidone risk factor was thepresence of alpha inter-feron, a cytokine mo-bilised to combat viralpathogenssuchastheflu
virus.However,Covid-19patientswithhigh levels of alpha interferon faredworsethanthosewith lowlevels.Another early indicator of poor
outcomes is activationof the inflam-masome, a complex of proteins thatdetectspathogensandtriggersanin-flammatory response to infection.Inflammasomeactivationwaslinkedto poor outcomes and death in sev-eralpatients.Theresearchersfoundthatpeople
who respond better to the infectiontend toexpresshigh levelsof growthfactors — a type of cytokine that re-pairs tissue damage to the linings ofbloodvesselsand lungs.Taken together, the data can help
predict patients at high risk of pooroutcomes, theauthors said.
Source:YaleUniversity
PAPERCLIP
NEWRESEARCH
In immune system responses,indicators of Covid severity risk
AMITABHSINHA&PRABHARAGHAVANPUNE,NEWDELHI, AUGUST3
ACCORDING TO the latest list of theWorldHealthOrganization(WHO),atleast165vac-cines for the novel coronaviruswere beingdevelopedacrosstheworld.Therearepossi-blymore.AsDrDavinderGill, formerCEOofHilleman Laboratories, puts it, the actualnumberwouldprobablybe three times thenumber listedbyWHO.Those listedhave all entered at least the
pre-clinicaltrialsstage. Someareinthefinalstage of human trials, possibly only a fewmonths away from hitting the market (aRussian vaccine promises to be ready inweeks), whilemany others are just gettingintoanimaltrials,andareperhapsacoupleofyearsaway frombecomingready.Butwhyare somanyvaccinesbeingde-
eredinlaboratories,barely20makeit tothepre-clinical trial stage. This means almost80% of the candidates are not even consid-ered suitable to be tried on animals. Then,notmore than fiveof theoriginal lot areap-provedforhumantrials,andoutofthese,notmore thanoneor twostanda chanceof be-ingapproved forpublicuse.Inthecurrentcontext,the165candidates
listedintheWHOsurveyhaveallreachedatleastthepre-clinicaltrialphase.And,atleast23 of them are in human trials. Not all ofthesewill be successful.Thoughweare all being given tounder-
stand that it was only a matter of a fewmonths before some of the leading candi-dates, like that being developed by OxfordUniversity,wouldbeavailableinthemarket,thereality isquitedifferent. Eventhose thatare in the final stages of human trials, withencouragingresultsfrompreviousstages,arenotguaranteed tosucceed.Phase-III trials, in which the candidate
vaccine is testedfor itsability toprevent in-fectioninhumansinreal-lifesituations(out-sideof laboratoryconditions),arethetough-est part of the trial. Countries that haverobust regulatory systems are unlikely tolower their bar just because of the currentemergency. The effectiveness of vaccine inphase-III trials is crucial.In the end,we are not staring at a possi-
bility of hundreds of coronavirus vaccines.Even if only five or six succeed, thatwouldbeconsideredaverygoodsuccess rate.
Multiple vaccines are neededConsidering that everyonewouldwant
toget theirhandsonavaccineasquicklyaspossible,onevaccineisunlikelytomeettheimmediate global demand. There are al-ready indications that somecountriesmaycorner a bulk of the new vaccines, leavingotherstowait for themtobecomeavailableat a later date. TheUS, for example, has en-tered into billion-dollar agreements withmultiple leading contenders, and bookedhundreds of millions of doses in advance.This could potentially restrict access forother countries, especially in the develop-ingandpoorworld.Thatiswhyseveralcountrieshavestarted
theirowninitiativesatdevelopingavaccine.Countries like Egypt, Thailand, Nigeria,Argentina,whicharenotknownforvaccineresearch,areall intherace.Evenif theyarealittlelate, if successful,theywouldhavecon-troloverproductionandsupply.“Havingadiversityofcandidatesreduces
the possibility of bullying by sectorswithina country or by... countries against one an-otherbecause therearemorevaccineswithmoredifferentdistributionchannels,”MarcLipsitch, professor in the Department ofEpidemiology at the Harvard T H Chan
SchoolofPublicHealth,saidatasymposiumlastweek.There is another reason whymultiple
vaccineshelp.Thereisnoguaranteethatthefirst onewouldbe themost effective. Thesevaccines are being developed in haste, andthere is every likelihood that the ones thatcomelaterareabletolearnfromtheexperi-ences of the earlier ones, andmakemodifi-cations tobecomemoreeffective.
New technologies being triedAstheyraceagainsttime,researchgroups
aroundtheworldaretestingseveralcutting-edge technologies in vaccine development,someofwhichhavenever succeeded inde-liveringa finalproduct.“Someofthesearebleeding-edgetechnol-
approach to produce a vaccine has not suc-ceededtillnow.Buttheseapproachesarebe-ing tried out to develop a coronavirus vac-cine,becausetheyarepotentiallyquickerandeasier tomake.In this approach, the geneticmaterial of
the virus (either DNA or RNA; and RNA incaseofthecoronavirusthatcausesCovid-19)is injected inside the body to trigger an im-
mune response. In traditional approaches,whichhavesucceededinthepast,scientistsinject weakened live virus, or a dead virus,orakeyproteinof thevirustotriggeranim-muneresponse.“Before anyone could grow the virus in
tissueculture, thereweresectionsof indus-tryandacademiapreparingavaccineusingnewer technologies like nucleic acid-basedplatforms,”saidDrVineetaBal,animmunol-ogist and visiting professor, at IISER, Pune.“Everybody is trying different approachesandsomeareseeingpositivedevelopments.LikeModerna(whoseRNA-basedcandidateis in phase-III trials)… this is the first timethat this kind of vaccine has reached thestage ithas reached.”The deployment of these newer tech-
nologies has increased the number of can-didates.Someresearchersare intheraceforthe learningexperienceaswell. “In thismixof hundreds of companies, some, of course,areseeingthisasanopportunitytobuildthecapacity,raisecapitalandgettheirnameoutthere,” saidGill.
Funds are availableVaccinedevelopmentisaverycostlyen-
deavour, requiring hundreds of millions ofdollars. In normal times, only big pharma-ceutical giants with deep pockets and riskappetite, or institutionswith large researchgrantsget intovaccinedevelopment.Now, fromgovernments to donor agen-
cies tomultinational corporations to inter-national health initiatives, all have openedtheirpursestringsforacoronavirusvaccine.Every candidate that shows promise in thelaboratories isbeingbacked.Bal offers an interesting perspective.
“The practice that has been observed overtheyears is that, if developedcountriesareaffected, technological development for asolution is often fast-tracked. Here, youhave countries in the West that are af-fected… By comparison, if you look at thedevelopmentofvaccines fordiseasesofde-veloping countries like TB and malaria,which have been around for much longer,there isn’t the same level of enthusiasm,”Bal said.Commercial interests are also playing a
role.“Youhavetorememberthatthechancesof thisvirusspreadingaremuchhigherthanother coronaviruses. This gives not only alargermarkettovaccinecompanies,butalsoencouragesthemtoenterthespacebecauseof the kind of countries that are impacted,”saidBal.AndGill said: “I think thepotential is ac-
tuallyhuge.Ifyoumaketheassumptionthatthevaccineworksacross(allagegroupsandcomorbidities)... you’re looking at an un-precedented,blockbuster,multi-billion-dol-larpotential for thisproduct.”
ON MONDAY, Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot wrote to Prime MinisterNarendraModiurginghimtodeclarethelo-cust outbreak in the state a “national disas-ter”. His letter came at a timewhen locustswarms seen in several states inMay-Junehaveceased tobespotted inurbancentres.
Whathappenedtotheswarms?After the fresh swarms arrived in April,
muchbeforetheirusualsightingtimeofMay,the absence of standing crops led to theswarmsmigratinginsearchofgreenfodder.Thustheparksof Jaipur,theorangeorchardsof Nagpur, the sugarcane fields of easternUttarPradesh,andpartsofMadhyaPradeshreported locusts inMay-June.
Oncethemonsoonstarted,sightingsbe-came rarer with swarms flying back toRajasthan.LocationindicatorsofboththeUNFoodandAgricultureOrganization(FAO)andthe Union Agriculture Ministry’s LocustWarningOrganisation(LWO)showsconcen-tration of the swarms in Rajasthan districtsalong the India-Pakistanborder.
WhattookthembacktoRajasthan?The reason behind this can be found in
locusts’ egg-laying habits. The female drillsaholearound10-15cmintothegroundandlayseggsinpods.Andsandysoil ismostcon-ducive for this.Swarms that had returned to Rajasthan
earlier have completed their lifecycle andyoung hoppers have emerged from eggsthere. Such hopper bands have been re-ported from Hanumangarh, Ganganagar,JaipurandBikaner inRajasthan,andBhuj in
Gujarat. Breeding is going on Barmer,Bikaner,Jodhpur,ChuruandNagaour,aswellasBhuj.
Howserious is thesituation?LWO scientists say localised breeding
should not be a concern. “For the first andsecondgrowthstagesorinstars,thehopperscan’t fly. They crawl out of their pods insearch of food and can be easily controlledthrough spraying of chemicals ormechani-calmeans,” a scientist said. Till date, controloperations for swarms and young hoppershavebeencarriedoutover4.28lakhhectaresacross thecountry.
Dolocustsnotdevoureverythinggreenontheirway?Following the swarms’ return to
Rajasthan, there have been reports of dam-age to pulses, soyabean etc.While farmers
from some districts have reported damageto their castor crops, the LWO has said theextentof damagehasbeen low. LWOscien-tistssayitiseasiertocontrolfullygrown,yel-lowadultsthanimmature,pinkones(thelat-tercanflyaround100kminanight,andtheformeronlyaround40-50km).
Will therebea locustproblemintherabiseason?LWO officials say chances appear to be
slim,astheyareconfidentof controllingtheremainingswarmsbytheendofSeptember.Also,swarmsfromtheHornofAfricadidnotarrive inmid-Julyaswasexpected.Bhagirath Choudhary, founder director
of South Asia Biotechnology Centre, cau-tionedagainstofficialsloweringtheirguard.“We should ensure the locust does not be-comeendemictoIndiaandremainsseasonalvisitorsonly,”hesaid.
Where the locusts are, where they head next
@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to [email protected] EXPLAINED
THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY,AUGUST4,2020
SOMYALAKHANINEWDELHI,AUGUST3
AHEADOFthelayingofthefoundationstonefor theRamtemple inAyodhya, claims anddenialsemergedrecentlyaboutplansbytheRam JanmabhoomiTeerthKshetra Trust toinstall a time capsule, or ‘kaal patra’.WhileTrustmemberKameshwarChaupalsaidthe“capsule would carry a message aboutAyodhya,LordRamandhisbirthplaceanditwill be preserved so as to last thousands ofyears”,theTrust’sgeneralsecretaryChampatRai laterdismissedreportsof atimecapsulebeinginstalledonAugust5.
accommodatesdocuments,photosandarte-facts from the current era, and is buried forfuturegenerationstounearth.Thecapsulere-quires special engineering so that the con-
inthe20thcentury,onetheearliestsuchin-stallationsdatesbackto1777,foundbyhisto-riansinsideastatueofJesusChristinachurchinSpainduringrestorationworkin2017.The International TimeCapsule Society
(ITCS), formed in1990andnowdefunct, re-tains adatabase,which estimates there are“10,000-15,000timescapsulesworldwide”.
examples.Onetimecapsule,outsidetheRedFort placedunderground in 1972byPrimeMinister IndiraGandhi,wasdugoutby thesubsequent government. Other time cap-sulesareataschoolinMumbai, IIT-Kanpur,Lovely Public University in Jalandhar, andMahatmaMandir inGandhinagar.TheRedFortcapsulewassupposedtobe
dug out after 1,000 years. Professor SalilMisra, a historian currently at Delhi’sAmbedkar University, said, “In 1972,MrsGandhidecidedtocreatearepository.Thesewerehuge,cylindricalcasesmadeofmetal...Inside, therewerewrittenrecords,dataandartefacts.In1977,whentheJanataPartycameintopower, theydugoutthetimecapsule.”JD(U) national spokespersonKC Tyagi
toldTheIndianExpressthattheOppositionofthe time, including Hiren Mukherjee,JyotirmoyBasuandABVajpayee, protestedagainst the intallation. “The apprehensionwasthatonlythoseaspectsof India’shistorywhich are related toher orher familywerebeingpreserved. Therewas a lot of opposi-tion to this insideParliament andoutside ittoo.”Tyagi said thecontentswerenotmadepublicafterthetimecapsulewasdugout.
campus. It contains anaerialmapof the in-stitute,annualreportsof1961,1984and2008,menuof thehostelmess, theblazer crest, aDVDof a film on IIT Kanpur, some photo-graphs, andoral records of interviews con-
ductedbySunilShanbag. IITKanpurdeputydirectorManindraAgarwalsaid,“Allthedoc-umentswereprintedonacid-freepaper... Alotofinformationwasputonpen-drivesandexternalhard-drives,put inthecapsule,andthenoxygenwastakenoutso thatnodecayhappens.Itismadeofbrassandtheencasingisaninchthick,sonooxygengoesin.Wesug-gested thatwhen the institute completes acentenary,thecapsulemaybetakenoutbutitallreallydependsonthesetofpeoplethenbecausenoneofuswillbearound!”OnMarch31,2014,atimecapsuleofstain-
lesssteelwasinstalledatTheAlexandraGirls’EnglishInstitutioninMumbai.Apartfromtheschooluniform,firstannualreport,USBscon-taining photos and videos the capsule alsohasletterswrittenbystudentsandprincipalFrenyMehta—addressedtofuturestudents,andprincipals, andemphasisingthe impor-tanceofalibrary.Thetimecapsuleistobeun-earthedonSeptember1,2062.InJanuary2019,asquarecapsulecontain-
ing 100 items that representmodern tech-nology in India — a landline telephone, asmartphone,stop-watchetc—wasinstalledatJalandhar’sLovelyPublicUniversity.Itistobeunearthedafter100years.
Howsignificantaretimecapsules?Historians often criticise the idea.
ProfessorMisra said, “This exercise is in-evitablyasubjectiveexercise,gearedtowardsglorification,nottoconstructtherealpicture.Allhistorianslookatthistimecapsuleexer-cisewithsuspicion. It’snotavalidhistoricalmethod—whodecideswhatmatter,whatartefacts,documentsaregoingintoit?”Political scientist ZoyaHasan, Professor
Emerita,JNU,saidhistoricalresearchisbasedon critical inquiry andevidence. “Nohisto-rianworthhisorhernamewillrelyonacap-sule towrite history. Butwho cares for evi-dence and facts when political messagebecomesthefunctionofhistoryandso-calledacademicresearch,”shesaid.
GoldinsecretvaulttracedtoChávez’sex-nurseITWAS2014andVenezuela’sformer treasurer ClaudiaDíazwas looking for a safehaven to store the unex-plainedwealthshehadaccu-mulated over the years.Then-president HugoChávez,whosheonceservedasanurse,hadrecentlydiedandthenationwasintumult.SoDíazallegedlyboughtgoldwiththemoney.Then,ashellcompany established in theCaribbeanislandnationofStVincentand theGrenadinesthatsheallegedlycontrolledpurchased 250 gold barsworth $9.5million, accord-ing to court records fromLiechtenstein.ThebarswerestoredataprivatevaultinthetinyEuropeanprincipality.Afewyears later, an identicalamount of bullionwas ap-parently soldbya represen-tativeofDíaz.Thosetransac-tionsarenowatthecentreofaninvestigationintothenet-workofshellcompaniesanddodgySwissbankers.AP
ClaudiaDíaz
TOPOFTHEWORLD
VATICAN
FormerPopeBenedict isseriously ill: reportFORMER POPE BenedictXVI, the first pontiff in 600years to resign instead ofrulingfor life, isseriously ill,a German newspaper re-ported on Monday. Thenewspaper, PassauerNeuePresse, cited Benedict’s bi-ographer, German authorPeterSeewald,whometthe93-year-oldemerituspopeat the Vatican on Saturday.A Vatican spokespersonhadnocommentonthere-port and the formerpope’spersonal secretary,Archbishop GeorgGanswein,didnot immedi-atelyreturnacallaskingforcomment.REUTERS
UKRAINE
ManwhotookahostageinKyivbankarrestedPOLICE DETAINED a manwho took a hostage in abank in theUkrainian capi-tal Kyiv onMonday, deputyinterior minister AntonGerashchenko said. Thehostage was released un-harmed. GerashchenkowroteonFacebook that theman had entered the bankatmidday, told employeeshe had a bomb in his back-packandaskedthemtocallpolice. “Employees of thebanking institution left theofficewhile theheadof thebranch remained there (ashostage),” Gerashchenkosaid. He gave no indicationof hismotive.REUTERS
ingthevideogameMinecraft, inpart to escape what he toldfriends was an unhappy homelife. In Minecraft, he becameknown as an adept scammerwith an explosive temperwhocheated people out of theirmoney, several friendssaid.At 15, he joined an online
hackers’ forum. By 16, he hadgravitatedtotheworldofBitcoin,
appearing to involvehimself inatheft of $856,000 of the cryp-tocurrency, thoughhewasneverchargedforit,socialmediaandle-gal records show.On Instagramposts afterward, he showed upwith designer sneakers and abling-encrustedRolex.The teenager’s digitalmisbe-
haviour ended Fridaywhen thepolice arrested himat a Tampa,Florida,apartment.Floridaprose-cutorssaidClark,now17,wasthe“mastermind” of a prominenthack lastmonth, accusinghimoftrickinghiswayintoTwitter’ssys-temsandtakingovertheaccountsof someof theworld’smost fa-mous people, including BarackObama,KanyeWestandJeffBezos.
Clark is being charged as anadultwith30felonies.Millionsof teenagersplaythe
samevideogamesandinteractinthe sameonline forumsasClark.Butwhat emerges in interviewswithmore than a dozenpeoplewhoknowhim, alongwith legaldocuments,onlineforensicworkandsocialmediaarchives,isapic-tureofayouthwhohadastrainedrelationshipwithhis family andwhospentmuchofhislifeonlinebecoming skilled at convincingpeopletogivehimmoney,photosandinformation.“Hescammedmeforalittlebit
ofmoneywhen Iwas just akid,”saidColbyMeeds,19,aMinecraftplayerwho said Clark stole $50
Tampawiththeirmother,EmiliyaClark, a Russian immigrantwho
holdscertificationstoworkasafa-cialist andas a real estatebroker.Reachedatherhome,hismotherdeclined to comment.His fatherlivesinIndiana,accordingtopub-lic documents; hedidnot return
a request for comment.His par-entsdivorcedwhenhewas7.Clark doted on his dog and
didn’t like school or havemanyfriends, said JamesXio,whometClarkonlineseveralyearsago.Hehad a habit ofmoving betweenemotionalextremes,flyingoffthehandleoversmalltransgressions,Xiosaid.“He’dgetmadmad,”saidXio,18.“Hehadathinpatience.”In2016,ClarksetupaYouTube
channel,accordingtosocialmediamonitoring firmSocialBlade.Hebuiltanaudienceof thousandsoffansandbecameknownforplay-ingaviolentversionofMinecraftcalledHardcore Factions, underuser names like “Open” and“OpenHCF.”Buthebecameeven
better known for takingmoneyfromotherMinecraftplayers.One tactic usedbyClarkwas
appearing to sell desirable usernamesforMinecraftandthennotactuallyprovidingthebuyerwiththatusername.HealsoofferedtosellcapesforMinecraftcharacters,but sometimes vanished afterotherplayerssenthimmoney.In 2019, hackers remotely
seized control of the phone ofGreggBennett, a tech investor intheSeattlearea.Withinafewmin-utes, theyhad securedBennett’sonline accounts, including hisAmazon and email accounts, aswell as 164 bitcoins that wereworth $856,000at the timeandwouldbeworth$1.8milliontoday.
Bennett soon receivedanex-tortion note. It was signed byScrim, another of Clark’s onlinealiases,accordingtoseveralofhisonlinefriends. “Wejustwanttheremainder of the funds in theBittrex,”Scrimwrote,referringtotheBitcoinexchangefromwhichthecoinshadbeentaken.“Wearealwaysonestepaheadandthis isyoureasiestoption.”In April, the Secret Service
seized100bitcoinsfromClark,ac-cording togovernment forfeituredocuments. A fewweeks later,BennettreceivedaletterfromtheSecretServicesayingtheyhadre-covered100ofhisbitcoins, citingthesamecode thatwasassignedtothecoinsseizedfromClark.NYT
GRAHAM IVAN CLARK WAS ARRESTED OVER THE HACK THAT COMPROMISED THE TWITTER ACCOUNTS OF HIGH-PROFILE CELEBRITIES
From Minecraft tricks to Twitter hack: Troubled path of a teen ‘mastermind’
AHMEDSULTAN&ABDULQADIRSEDIQIJALALABAD,AUGUST3
AFGHAN SECURITY forces onMondaykilledatleast10IslamicState fighters who had takencontrolofaprisonintheeasterncity of Jalalabad, ending a siegeinwhichhundredsof prisonersescaped.Atleast29peoplewerekilled
in themilitants’ assault on theprison on Sunday evening andsubsequent clashes with secu-rity forces, a spokesman for thegovernorofNangarharprovincesaidbefore the final shootout.“The attack is now over,”
SohrabQaderi, amember of theprovincial council, said after se-curity forces clashed night anddaywithmilitantswhohadtakenovertheprisonwatchtowers.Theviolencecomesatasen-
sitivetimeforAfghanistanastheUnited States attempts to usherpeacetalksbetweentheAfghangovernment and the insurgentTaliban, who say they opposeIslamic State and have foughtagainst them.More than 300 prisoners
were still at large, AttaullahKhugyani, spokesman for thegovernorofNangarharprovince,said,said.Of the1,793prisoners,morethan1,025hadtriedtoes-
cape and been recaptured and430hadremained inside.“Therestaremissing,”hesaid.A defence ministry state-
ment said all 10 attackers hadbeen killed by Afghan securityforces.IslamicStateclaimedrespon-
sibility for the attack, whichcame a day after the Afghan in-telligence agency said specialforceshadkilledaseniorIslamic
StatecommandernearJalalabad,theprovincial capital.After detonating a car bomb
at the entrance on Sundayevening, Islamic State gunmenoverran theprisonwheremanyIslamicStatemilitants capturedduring a campaign in the pastmonthwere being held, alongwith Taliban fighters and com-moncriminals.Officials saidAfghanChief of
Army Staff Lt. Gen Yasin Zia ar-rived onMonday to oversee theoperation.Khugyanisaidcivilians,prisonersandmembersofthese-curity forceswere among the29deadandmorethan50woundedbeforethefinalassault.Asthesiegedraggedthrough
the day, the normally bustlingcitywasplacedunderacurfew.“Jalalabad is completely
empty,”Qaderi said.REUTERS
ISstormsAfghanprison, freeshundreds;29killed inattackClashes that lastedanightandadayendafter security forceskill10militants
MICHAELSHIELDS&EMMAFARGEGENEVA,AUGUST3
THE WORLD HealthOrganisation warned onMonday that, despite stronghopes foravaccine, theremightnever be a “silver bullet” forCovid-19, and the road to nor-malitywouldbe long.More than18.14millionpeo-
plearoundtheworldarereportedto have been infectedwith thedisease and 688,080 have died,accordingtoaReuterstally.WHO Director-General
Tedros AdhanomGhebreyesusand WHO emergencies headMikeRyanexhortedall nationsto rigorously enforce healthmeasures such as mask-wear-ing, social distancing, hand-washing and testing.“Themessage to people and
governments isclear: ‘Doitall’,”Tedros toldavirtualnewsbrief-ing from the UN body’s head-quarters inGeneva.Hesaid facemasksshouldbecomeasymbolof solidarity roundtheworld.“A number of vaccines are
nowinphasethreeclinicaltrialsandwe all hope to have a num-berofeffectivevaccinesthatcanhelppreventpeople frominfec-tion. However, there’s no silverbullet at the moment — andtheremightneverbe.”
Mothers urged tobreastfeed even ifinfected
Tedrosalsourgedmotherstocontinue breastfeeding even iftheyhadCovid-19, as thebene-fits “substantially” outweighedtherisksof infection.“WHO recommends that
mothers with suspected orconfirmedCOVID-19shouldbeencouraged the same as allother mothers to initiate orcontinue breastfeeding,” hesaid.REUTERS
ARJUNARANAWANACOLOMBO,AUGUST3
SRILANKANPresidentGotabayaRajapaksa hopes to tighten hisholdonthenation’sfractiouspol-iticsinanelectiononWednesdaythatcouldelevatehisbrotherandallowthetwotochangethecon-stitution if theyprevail.Rajapaksa,whoclaimscredit
for controlling the spreadof thenew coronavirus in the islandnation,hopes to install his elderbrotherand formerpresident—currentcaretakerPrimeMinisterMahindaRajapaksa—inthepostformally with an outright elec-tionvictory.Voters in the tiny Indian
Oceannation of 21million peo-plewillwearmasks, carry theirownpens tomark ballot papersandmaintainphysicaldistancingfortheparliamentarypollingthathas twice been postponed be-causeof theCovid-19pandemic.
Votes will be counted onThursday.Sri Lankahas reported2,816
infections of the new coron-avirusand11Covid-19deathsasof Sunday. The totals are lowerthan in neighbouring southAsiancountries,heldincheckbyastrict lockdownsinceMarch.“Wewillmake it safe for you
tovote,” said chief election com-missionerMahindaDeshapriya,urgingpeopletovote.REUTERS
Manhattan DA investigatingTrump, his firm over fraudFilingssuggestprobebroaderthanpreviouslyacknowledged
WILLIAMKRASHBAUM&BENJAMINWEISERNEWYORK,AUGUST3
THEMANHATTANdistrictattor-ney’sofficesuggestedonMondaythat it has been investigatingUSPresident Trump and his com-panyforpossiblebankandinsur-ancefraud,asignificantlybroaderinquirythantheprosecutorshaveacknowledgedinthepast.The office of the district at-
torney, Cyrus R Vance Jr, madethe disclosure in a new federalcourt filing arguing Trumpshould have to complywith itssubpoenaseekingeightyearsofhis personal and corporate taxreturns.Trumphasaskedajudgetodeclare thesubpoena invalid.The prosecutors did not di-
rectly identify the focus of theirinquiry but said that “undis-puted” news reports last yearaboutTrump’sbusinesspracticesmakeitclearthattheofficehadalegalbasis forthesubpoena.Thereports, includinginves-
tigations into the President’swealthandanarticleonthecon-gressional testimony of his for-
mer lawyer and fixer, MichaelCohen, said that the Presidentmay have illegally inflated hisnet worth and the value of hisproperties to lendersand insur-ers.LawyersforTrumphavesaidhedidnothingwrong.Theclashover thesubpoena
comes less than amonth afterthe Supreme Court, in amajorrulingonthe limitsof presiden-tial power, cleared the way forVance’s prosecutors to seekTrump’s financial records.
The filing from prosecutorscame in response to an argu-ment Trumpmade last week,calling the subpoena fromVance,aDemocrat,“wildlyover-broad”and issued inbad faith.Vance’s office subpoenaed
Inspired by StarWars, scientistscreate artificialskin able to feelSingapore:Singaporeresearchershavedeveloped“electronicskin”capable of recreating a sense oftouch, an innovation they hopewillallowpeoplewithprostheticlimbstodetectobjects,aswellasfeeltexture,oreventemperatureandpain.The device, dubbedACES, or
University of Singapore said itcouldprocess information fasterthanthehumannervoussystem.“So humans need to slide to
feel texture, but in this case theskin,with just a single touch, isabletodetecttexturesofdifferentroughness,” said research leaderBenjamin Tee. Tee said the con-ceptwasinspiredbyascenefromStarWars, inwhichthecharacterLuke Skywalker loses his righthandanditisreplacedbyaroboticone,seeminglyabletoexperiencetouchsensationsagain.REUTERS
IANGRAHAMBELFAST,AUGUST3
JOHN HUME, a key RomanCatholic architect of NorthernIreland’s1998GoodFridaypeaceagreementwhowon theNobelPeacePrizeforhisroleinending30 years of sectarian violence,diedonMondayattheageof83,hisSDLPparty said.Hume, a veteran civil rights
campaigner creditedwith kick-starting peace negotiations in aBritish region convulsed by
bloodshed in the early 1990s,shared the Peace Prize withNorthern Ireland’s then-first
minister, David Trimble of theProtestantUlsterUnionistParty.Hediedinacarehomeinhis
native Londonderry in the earlyhoursofMondaymorning.Humein1968joinedamove-
ment toprotect thecivil rightsofthe province’s pro-Irish RomanCatholicminority,fightingagainstdiscriminationbythepro-BritishProtestantmajorityineverythingfromhousingtoeducation.As leader of the moderate
Social Democratic and LabourParty (SDLP), Humewas an im-portantadvocateofnon-violence
asfightingeruptedbetweenIrishnationalistswhowantedaunitedIrelandandpro-Britishforces, in-cluding the British Army, whowanted tomaintain the region’sBritishstatus.In a pivotal breakthrough,
Hume in 1993 took part in pio-neering talkswithGerryAdams,whowasatthetimetheleaderoftheSinnFeinpartythatwasthenthepoliticalwingof theguerrillaIrishRepublicanArmy(IRA).Thetalkshelpedpavetheway
THERAJAPAKSASarehopingfor a bigwin in the electionthat could give thema two-thirdsmajorityinParliament.President GotabayaRajapaksahasrepeatedlysaidthat previous governments’reforms that diluted presi-dentialpowershavecomeintheway of his plans for thecountry’s development.Along with his brotherMahinda,hehopestowinthetwo-thirds majority inParliamentneededtoamendtheConstitutionandshoreupthepresident’spowers.
VotecouldalterConstitution
Rajapaksas hope to tighten gripon power in tomorrow’s polls
ANORWEGIAN cruise ship linehalted all trips and apologisedMondayforproceduralerrorsaf-ter an outbreak of coronavirusononeship infectedat least fivepassengers and36crew.Healthauthorities fear the ship couldhave infected dozens of townsand villages along Norway’s
westerncoast.The 41 people on the MS
RoaldAmundsenwhotestedpos-itive have been admitted to theUniversity Hospital of NorthNorwayinTromsoe,northoftheArcticCircle,wheretheshipcur-rently isdocked.“A preliminary evaluation
shows that therehasbeena fail-ure inseveralofour internalpro-cedures,”HurtigrutenCEODanielSkjeldamsaidinastatement.AP
REUTERSLONDON,AUGUST3
MILLIONSOFCovid-19testsableto detect the virus within 90minutes will be rolled out inBritain, the country’s healthminister said onMonday, aftercriticism there has not beenenough testing especially innursinghomes.Last week, one of Britain’s
largest care home providersCareUKsaid thegovernment is
unable to meet its promise toregularly test staff and resi-dents incarehomesafterprob-lemswerediscoveredwith thekits currently being used.Capacity will be boosted at
hospitals, care homes and lab-oratories starting from nextweek, the government said onMonday, comprising 5.8 mil-lion tests using DNA and450,000 swab tests.Neither will need to be
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE in thecountry softened to7.19per centintheweekendedAugust2from8.21percentaweekago,withur-banunemploymentratemoder-ating to 8.73 per cent from9.43percentandruralunemploymentrate easing to6.47per cent from7.66percent,datafromtheCentreforMonitoring Indian Economy(CMIE)showed.Thedataindicatesunemploy-
employment rate continued tomoderate. Overall unemploy-mentrateeasedto7.43percentinJuly fromadouble-digit level of10.99per cent in June,withboth
urban and rural unemploymentrates recording a moderation.UrbanunemploymentrateinJulyeasedto9.15percent from12.02percent in June,while ruralune-mploymentrateeasedto6.66percentfrom10.52percentinJune.Unemployment rate inDelhi
and Puducherrywas recordedhigher than 20 per cent. In July,Delhi’s unemployment rate roseto20.3percentfrom18.2percentamonthago,whilethatofPuduc-herry increased to 21.1 per centfrom4.2percentinJune.Unemp-loymentrateforWestBengalroseto6.8percentinJulyfrom6.5per
cent in June,while that forRajas-than increased to 15.2 per centfrom13.7percentandforGoato17.1percentfrom10.1percent.Unemployment rate in July
eased for the following states:Haryana(24.5percentfrom33.6percent),Bihar(12.2percentfrom19.5 per cent), Chhattisgarh (9.0per cent from 14.4 per cent),Jharkhand (8.8 per cent from21per cent),Maharashtra (4.4 percent from9.7 per cent), Punjab(10.4percentfrom16.8percent),TamilNadu(8.1percentfrom13.5per cent) andUttar Pradesh (5.5percentfrom9.6percent).
AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,AUGUST3
AFTER DECLINING for twoyears, the averagenumberofheatwavedaysincreased82.6per centyear-on-year (y-o-y)to157 in2019,withthehigh-estnumberrecordedinRajast-han(20days)followedbyUt-tarPradesh,UttarakhandandMadhya Pradesh (13 dayseach), state-wise data in theEnviStatsIndia2020reportre-leased by theNational Stati-sticalOffice(NSO)showed.Thereversaloftrendledto
2019being theyearwith thethirdhighest numberof heatwavedays inthedecadeafter254daysin2010and189daysin2012. Thenumberof aver-agecoldwavedaysalsosawarise, though the latest data isfor 2018: 45 in2018, a rise of55.2percentfrom29in2017.Thedatashowsthatacute
respiratory infection led to3,740 deaths in 2018 (provi-sionalestimate)—thehighestin six years. Themost deathsduetoacuterespiratoryinfec-tionwere reported inWestBengal (732), followed byUttar Pradesh (699), AndhraPradesh(587)andDelhi(492).Among the sevenmetro-
politan cities—Ahmedabad,Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi,Hyderabad, Kolkata andMumbai—in2018,particulatematter size less thanorequalto 10 µmwas the highest inDelhi(243),followedbyAhm-edabad (236) andMumbai(166).Delhi’sparticulatemat-ter roseby0.8per cent y-o-y,whilethatforAhmedabadin-creasedby96.6 per cent andMumbai9.9percentin2018.While tube well/hand
pumpremained theprimarysourceofdrinkingwaterinru-ralIndiahouseholds(53.8percent share), pipedwaterwasthe primary source in urbanareas (65 per cent share) in2019. InBihar,97.2percentofhouseholdsaredependentontube wells/hand pumps asprincipaldrinkingwatersou-rce,followedbyUttarPradesh(93.9percent).Inurbanareas,Daman&Diuhadthehighestshareofhouseholds(40.4percent) using bottledwater asprincipal drinking watersource,followedbyTelangana(31.4 per cent) and AndhraPradesh(28.6percent).The other key findings of
thereportareasfollows:The deaths due to heat
wave recorded a sharp jumpin2019to373from26in2018,butwas slightly lower than375 in2017. Toput thenum-bers inperspective, Indiahadreported 510 deaths due toheatwave in 2016 and2,081in 2015. Deaths due to coldwavesawasharpfall in2019,downto61from279in2018.
34.2percentoftotaldea-thswere due to lightning in2018,lowerthan40.4percentin 2017. The share of deathsdue toheat stroke among to-tal deaths, however, reducedto12.9per cent in 2018 from15.8percentin2017.
Natural extremeeventsledtogreaterlossofcattleanddamagetohousesin2018-19,evenas2,045peoplelostlivesin 2018-19, whichwas lessthan2,057liveslostinthepre-vious year. The impact ofKeralafloodswasvisible,withthe state losing477 lives and6.54lakhhousesgettingdam-aged in 2018-19, the highestamongallstates.
STATISTICSWATCHENVISTATS INDIA2020
Steep rise in averageheat wave days in 2019after 2 years of decline,claims over 370 lives
BRIEFLYAnti-dumpingdutyon5nationsNew Delhi: India has putanti-dumpingdutyondigi-tal printing plates fromChina, Japan,Korea,TaiwanandVietnam for five years,aiming to guard domesticmanufacturers fromcheapimportsfromthesenations.
BandhanBankpromoterstakeNewDelhi/Kolkata:BandhanBank’s holding companyBFHLMondaysold20.95percent stake worth over Rs10,550croretocomplywithregulatoryrequirements.
Googleunveilsitsfirst5GphonesBengaluru:GoogleMondaysaiditsfirst5G-enabledpho-nes, Pixel 4a (5G) andPixel5,will be available this fall,starting at $499. It also cutstartingprice for its smart-phonelineup. REUTERS
PSU insurers to get `3,475 cr soonCos from nationssharing border toneed govt nodNewDelhi:TheCentreonMondayclarifiedthatanyforeigndirectin-vestment(FDI)incommercialcoalminingfromanentityofacountrythat shares a land borderwithIndiawill be allowed only aftergovernmentapproval. “...anyFDIin thecommercial coalmining issubjecttoapplicablelawsinclud-ingthePressNote3of2020issuedbytheCentralGovernment....,”theCoalMinistrysaid. PTI
Unemployment rate eases to 7.19% in week ended Aug 2: CMIE
Mumbai:Afterscrappingthemer-gerproposal,theCentreonFridayamended theGeneral InsuranceBusiness (Nationalisation) Act,1972sothat theauthorisedcapi-tal of three PSUgeneral insurers—Oriental Insurance Company(OIC),NationalInsurance Compa-ny(NIC)andUnitedIndiaInsuran-ce(UII)—canberaisedtoimprovetheirsolvencyratiosandfacilitatethebusinessexpansionandprof-itabilityof thesecompanies.Thegovernmentalreadygaze-
tted the amendments on Fridayanditisexpectedthatthesecom-
panieswill getcapital infusionofRs3,475croresoon.Earlier, while calling off the
two-year-old proposal tomergethethreePSUgeneralinsurers,theUnionCabinethadalsoapproveda rise in authorised share capitalof NIC to Rs 7,500 crore fromRs2,600crore,andthatofUII(Rs200crore)andOlC(Rs250crore)toRs5,000crore,respectively.Ithadalsoapprovedcapitalin-
fusion of Rs 12,450 crore for thethree insurers that included Rs2,500 crore already infused inthesecompaniesin2019-20. ENS
Microsoft to continue talks tobuy TikTok from ByteDanceWashington/London:MicrosoftCorp said Sunday that it wouldcontinue discussions to acquirepopular short-video appTikTokfrom Chinese internet giantByteDance,andthatitwasaimingtoconcludenegotiationsbySepte-mber15.Thecompanymadethestatement following a conversa-tionbetweenisCEOSatyaNadellaandUSPresidentDonaldTrump.OnMonday, Trump said he
does notmind ifMicrosoft buysTikTok,butanypurchasebyanUScompanywouldhavetobedonebyaSeptember15deadline.Meanwhile, ByteDance said
Mondayitwasconsideringmov-ing the headquarters of TikTokoverseas, followingaBritishme-dia report that theunit could re-locate to London. The develop-mentwasreportedinBritain’sSunnewspaper. REUTERS
COVID-19 IMPACT
‘Real estate stakeholders remainpessimistic for next 6 months’Sentiments in real estate sector hit an all-time low inApril-June and remain pessimistic for next six months, the25th survey by Knight Frank, FICCI and Naredco said
Why this is important: The pandemic and theconsequent lockdown left a big dent on sentimentsand activity level in the second quarter of 2020
cap index recorded losses of 0.2percentandsmallcapwasdown1.1percent. LosseswereledbyRILshares and financials. Foreign in-vestorsmadenet investmentsofRs7,818croreonMonday.VinodNair, headof research,
ingmixed global cues. As viruscases continued to rise andwiththeuncertaintyregardingrateac-tions by the RBI, markets suc-cumbedtothemomentumslow-downvisible in the last coupleoftradingsessions.”Although momentum has
sloweddown,stockspecificactionis still happening, dependingmainlyontheearningsresultsandcommentary.“Aslongasthemar-ketsholdthecurrentrange,thesedownturns could be shortlivedandshouldbeutilizedtoaccumu-latequalitystocks,”Nairsaid.AsperAjitMishra,VP-research,
Sensex falls 667 points on risingCOVID cases, weak global mood
AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI,AUGUST3
THEMINISTRYofElectronicsandInformationTechnology (MeitY)is likely to come outwith a na-tionalpolicyframeworkforestab-lishing data centres across thecountry,which the stateswill befree to either follow in total ormouldslightlytosuittheirneeds,seniorgovernmentofficialssaid.Amongthemajorpolicyintro-
ductions in the newdata centrepolicy framework, theMeitY islikelytopushforusageofrenew-able energy suchas solar energyfor day-to-day operations of thebuildingwhichwill house thedata disks, an official said. “Datacentres consume a lot of powerandthereislittletonocross-sub-sidy available to them. So apartfromthedata consumedbydatatrays or data racks, wewant topush for renewable energy con-
sumption for other needs of thebuildinginwhichthedatacentreishoused,”aseniorofficialsaid.State governmentsmay also
be pushed to start giving cross-subsidy to data centres, whichcurrently get electricity at eithervery high rates or have to paycross-subsidysurchargeonpowerwhich they buy at low rates butfromastatedifferentfromwherethedatacentreislocated,theoffi-
cialsaid.“Oncethepowercostisman-
aged, more players can be at-tracted into the systemand theoverallcostofrunningormanag-ingadatacentrecomesdowndra-matically,”theofficialsaid.Apart from this, theMeitY is
alsolikelytosuggestthatdatacen-tresbeconsideredapartofurbanor semi-urban infrastructure sothat real estate players can con-sider investments in the sector,anotherofficialsaid.“So currently there are about
40clearancesneededtoestablishadatacentre,whichisextremelytime consuming.Weare talkingtoallstakeholdersanddiscussingiftherecouldbeasingle-windowclearanceforapplicants,”theoffi-cialsaid.To bring the costs further
down, thegovernmentmayalsogive some relief in the form oflowerleviestoelectroniccompo-nents used for data centres or
keepsuitableguidelinestofavourdomesticancillary industries, of-ficialssaid.In 2016, theMeitYhad come
outwithguidelines for technicaland financial support for estab-lishment of state data centres inwhichithadsuggestedthatsincethe processwas a complex onewhichrequiredsubstantialinvest-mentaswellasefficientmanage-ment, onlyexisting internetdatacentreplayersshouldbeallowed.The guidelines had also sug-
gested that the central govern-mentwould support the entirecost of establishment, operationandmaintenanceofthestatedatacentreforaperiodoffiveyearson100percentgrant-inaidbasis.Earlier this year inMay, soft-
warepolicy groupNasscomhadsuggested that data centresshould have connections fromdual power grids so that at leastonepowersourceisfunctionalincaseofabreakdown.
OFTHE total number of passen-gersthathaveflownondomesticflights since resumptionof serv-icesonMay25,around1,500havetestedpositive for coronavirusattheirdestinations,accordingtoof-ficialdata.However,datapertain-ing to howmany air passengerswereactuallytestedwasnotcen-trallyavailable.According to the Airports
AuthorityofIndiadata,around45lakh domestic passengerswererecorded at Indian airports be-tweenMay25andJune30.Thenumbers, however,may
not tell the full story, given thatmany of the jurisdictions likePunjab,Uttarakhand,Andaman&Nicobar Islands, Tripura, AndhraPradeshareonly testingpassen-gers at airports on a randomba-sis, while several others likeMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,Goa,WestBengalaretestingonlysymptomaticpassengers.Itisnoteworthythattheinitial
few cases,where flying passen-gerswere foundpositive for thecoronavirus upon reaching theirdestinations,wereinfactasymp-tomatic.“Itisdifficulttomaintainacen-
traldatabaseofhowmanypeoplehavebeentestedsofaratairportsbecause the rules for testing arenotthesameineverystate.Somestatesaretestingatrandom,whilesomearetestingcompulsorilyforpassengers arriving from someotherstates,”aseniorgovernmentofficialtoldTheIndianExpress.Only a few jurisdictions such
asJammu&Kashmirarecurrentlymandatorilytestingallpassengersuponarrival,with the exceptionof defence personnel. At certainplaceslikeCoimbatore,whichwasearliertestingallpassengersarriv-ing by domestic flights, officials
stopped compulsory testing,given the backlog test samplessent by theairport to the labora-tories.Instead,theadministrationadvisedpassengerstoquarantinethemselves.Further, the state guidelines
for TamilNadu stipulate that allpassengers coming in fromMaharashtra,GujaratandDelhitoChennai should bemandatorilytested for COVID, while thosecominginfromotherplacesinthecountrymaybetestedatthedis-cretion of the health officials.Testing for all passengers travel-lingwithin Tamil Nadumay bedoneatthediscretionofhealthof-ficials.Similarly,Karnatakaiscon-ductingCOVIDswabtest foronlysymptomatic passengers aswellas those seeking quarantine ex-emption.Globally, testinguponarrival
is being implemented as one ofthekeymeasuresalongsidecom-pulsoryquarantine,topreventen-try of the virus from outside acountry’sborders.TheresurgenceofthediseaseinNewZealand,af-terthecountrymanagedtogetridofit,wasrootedintwoBritishpas-sengers testingpositiveuponar-rival into the country afterNewZealandopenedupitsbordersforairtravellerslastmonth.
STATESHAVEDIFFERENTTESTINGNORMSONARRIVAL
ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,AUGUST3
THE SECURITIES and ExchangeBoard of India (Sebi) has askedproxyadvisoryfirmstoformulatethevotingrecommendationpoli-ciesand includetheviewpointofthecompanies in their reports toinvestorsandclients.Proxyfirmsadvisesharehold-
ersmainly on corporate gover-nance-related issues and assisttheminvotingonresolutions.Stating thatproxy firmsneed
tofollowsome“proceduralguide-lines,” Sebi said proxy advisorsshould share their reportwithclients and the company at thesame time. “This sharing policy
shouldbedisclosedbyproxyad-visors on theirwebsite. Timelineto receive comments from thecompanymaybedefinedbyproxyadvisors andall comments/clari-fications received fromthecom-pany,withinthetimeline,shallbeincludedas anaddendumto thereport,”themarketsregulatorsaid.Theproxyadvisoryfirmsmust
ensure thepolicies shouldbe re-viewedatleastonceannually,Sebisaid. Asper Sebi, if the companyhasadifferentviewpointon rec-ommendations stated in the re-port of the proxy advisors, thenproxyadvisors,aftertakingintoac-countthesaidviewpoint,mayei-ther revise the recommendationin theaddendumreport or issueanaddendumwithitsremarks.
Sebi to proxy advisory firms: Formvoting recommendation policies,include view of cos in reports
ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI, AUGUST3
AFTERTHEreboundin June, themanufacturing sector in Indiarecorded a sharp deteriorationinthehealthamidlockdownex-tensionsinJuly,accordingtotheIHSMarkit survey.At46.0inJuly,theseasonally
adjusted IHS Markit IndiaManufacturing PurchasingManagers Index (PMI) fell from47.2 in June, and pointed to amarked deterioration in busi-nessconditionsacrosstheIndianmanufacturingsector.The downturnwas partially
driven by a further contractioninoutput, it said.
In June, PMI Index had risento47.2inJuneascomparedwith30.8 inMay on a seasonally ad-justedbasis.Areadingbelow50indicates contraction. Manystates had announced localizedextensionof lockdownto tacklethecoronavirus infections.“Output contracted at a
slightly fasterpace than in June,asdemandconditionsremainedsubduedwith some businessesstill closed amid lockdown ex-tensions. Firms responded bycutting both staff numbers andpurchasing activity. However,despitetheongoingnegativeim-pact of the coronavirus disease,sentimenttowardsfutureactiv-ity improved for the secondmonthrunning,”IHSMarkitsaid.
Lockdowns push manufacturingPMI into contraction mode again
E●EXPLAINED
WITHTHEdemandfordo-mesticstorageofdata,bothpersonalandnon-personalrising, MeitY may pushstategovernmentsto startgiving cross-subsidy todata centres to cutoverallcostsondatacentres.
DGCA asks SpiceJetto stop ticket saleoffer as govt’s farelimits are in place
ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, AUGUST3
SHORTLY AFTER SpiceJet an-nounced its five-day sale offer-ing discounted tickets onMonday,theDirectorateGeneralof Civil Aviation (DGCA) inter-venedaskingtheairlinetowith-draw its scheme government-imposedfarelimitswereinplacetillNovember24.SpiceJet, in a press release
earlyMonday,saidithasstartedafive-day“1+1offersale”whereit was offering one-way basefares starting as low as Rs 899,excluding taxes, on itsdomesticnetwork. The airline laterwith-drewtheoffer.
Since resumption ofdomestic flights in May,around 1,500 test positive
DRUGMAKERWOCKHARDTonMonday announced that it hasentered into an agreementwiththeUKgovernment tohelp sup-ply COVID-19 vaccines to theirpopulation througha subsidiaryfacilityinNorthWales.Theagree-ment isexpectedtohelpaddressamajor supply challenge globalvaccinemakershaveflaggeddur-ingthispandemic—theneedforenoughvialstorapidlyfillthefin-ishedvaccinesolutions.In India, the firm is in talks
with the government toprovideits capacity to fill-finish (to fillvials) thevaccinesat its facility inAurangabad, which can cateraround600milliondoses a year,asperWockhardt founderchair-manDrHabil Khorakiwala. It isalso in talkswith various othervaccinemanufacturers,currentlyin early stage human trials, forsimilartie-ups.The agreementwith theUK
willmakeuseof the400-millionvialcapacityofWockhardt’ssub-sidiary, Wrexham-based CPPharmaceuticals, according tohim. While Wockhardt is ex-pectedoverthenextfewmonthstofillvialswitharound30milliondosesofthevaccinecandidatede-veloped jointlyby theUniversityof Oxford andAstraZeneca, theagreementdoesn’t limit its serv-icestothiscandidate.
Khorakiwala said the agree-ment means that CP Pharma-ceuticalswill cater tothevaccinecandidates that theUK govern-menthas entered into agreeme-ntsfor,includingthosedevelopedby Sanofi-GSK, Pfizer-BioNTechandModerna-NIAID.“Itdependson what the UK governmentwants. They haveworked on astrategy to tie upwithmultiplemanufacturers and theywill de-cide ...what kindof vaccine theywantforthemselves...,”hesaid.Following talks with the
Indiangovernment, thefirmisoftheunderstandingthat,asofnow,it is part of the country’s vaccinemanagement programme, headded. “Wehave been in touchwith the scientific advisor to thePrime Minister’s Office, Dr K.VijayRaghavan, and we are incommunication with him,”Khorakiwalasaid.
MurraywantsassuranceonquarantineissuesbeforeUSOpenPlayers need assur-ancethattheywouldnot facemandatoryquarantineuponre-turning to Europefrom the U.S. Openbefore travelling toNewYork amid theCOVID-19pandemic,formerworldnum-ber oneAndyMurrayhas said. OrganisersUnited States TennisAssociation (USTA)willsetupastrictbio-security‘bubble’tominimisethe risk of contracting thenovel coronavirusduring theGrandSlam,whichwill beplayedfromAug.31-Sept.13.Mandatoryquarantinewouldruleoutplayers’participation inotherATPandWTAclaycourt events scheduled inEuropebeforetheFrenchOpenfromtheendofSeptember.“MyunderstandingisthatitwouldbesortedbeforewegotoAmerica.Butthingscanchangeinthenext10to12days,”MurraytoldBritishmedia.“Hopefullybeforeweleave,theplayerswillhavetheassurancesthat,whentheycomebackfromAmerica,theywon’thavetoquarantinefortwoweeks.“Ifthatisthecase,and if youdowell in theU.S.Open, you can’tjust arrive on the Sunday before the FrenchOpenstartsontheMonday.That’snotgoingtowork.” REUTERS
The Asian Football Confederation has red-flagged six matches of last year''s GoaProfessional League for possible "matchma-nipulation" but the state association onMondaysaidtherewasnotenoughevidence.TheAFChadwrittentotheintegrityofficer
of AIFF, JavedSiraj, inMarch informingabout"suspicious betting patterns indicative ofmatchmanipulation"insixmatchesheldbe-tweenOctober16andNovember19lastyear.Goa Football Association secretary Jovito
Lopessaidhisorganisationhadconductedaninvestigationandalsocaughtholdofoneper-son—Gabriel Fernandes—whowas givingball-by-ball commentary of Goa Leaguematches but saidmatch-fixing couldnot beprovedduetoalackofevidence.The matches involved local teams
sonwascaughtred-handedwhilehewasgiv-ingthecommentaryduringanI-Leaguematchat Margao on March 8 this year betweenChurchillBrothersandGokulamKeralaFC."Wehaveinvestigatedaftergettingthelet-
ourinvestigationonMarch9andweareyettohear from theAIFF after that." In his reply totheletter,Lopessaidthesuspectedpersoncar-ried an I-Card issuedby theAIFF as the validreporterofGeniusGroup. PTI
AFC flags 6Goa leaguematchesfor possible ‘manipulation’
Thomasholdsoff Koepka towinWGC inMemphis, reclaimNo. 1Justin Thomaswants to make hissecondstintasNo.1in the world lastlonger than the firsttimearound.“Ihopeso,” Thomas saidSunday after win-ning the FedEx St.Jude Invitational totaketheNo.1spotforthefirsttimesinceJune2018. “I feel like I’mabetter player, and I feellike I’mmorecompleteof agolfernowthan Iwas then.” Thomasdueleddefending cham-pionBrooksKoepkadownthefinalholes,seal-ing theWorldGolf Championshipvictoryonthepar-516th.Thomastooktheleadforgoodwithhissecondstraightbirdie,whileKoepkabogeyed the hole. Koepka pulledwithin astrokewitha39-footerforbirdieonNo.17.ButKoepkaputhis tee shot into thewater alongthe18thfairwayonhiswaytodoublebogey,al-lowingThomas to finishupaneasyparputtforwhatwound up a three-stroke victory.Thomasclosedwitha5-under66to finishat13-under267andtakethe$10.5millionwin-ner’scheckforhis13thPGATourtitle.At27,hebecamethethird-youngestplayersince1960toreach13PGATourwins, trailingonlyTigerWoodsandJackNicklaus. REUTERS
NIHALKOSHIEAUGUST 3
TOCURBage fraud, theBoard of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) has comeoutwith aVoluntaryDisclosure Scheme for registeredplayers, liketheonethatexists for incometaxdefaulters.Theaimoftheschemeistogetcrick-eters toownupto falsification in theirdateofbirth. If theydo sobefore September15 thisyear, theywon’t facea two-yearbanandwillbeallowedtoplay inage-grouptournamentstheyareeligibleforintheupcomingseason.Oneof thedriving forcesbehind thisoffer
is former IndiaskipperRahulDravid,nowthehead(cricket)attheNationalCricketAcademyinBangalore. Last season, theBCCI imposedtwo-yearbanson250players,themostever.DrAbhijitSalvi,theBCCI’santi-doping,age
verificationandmedicalconsultant,saysbrain-stormingsessions started inOctoberandcul-minated10months laterwithnewmeasuresbeingannouncedonMonday.“Allalong,myself,RahulDravid,SabaKarim
cricketeradmitsagefraud,heorshehastowritetotheBCCI,attachsupportingdocumentslikeabirthcertificateorschoolmarksheets,andcanplayinolderagegroupsfollowingverification.According toSalvi, the schemegivesbud-
dingplayers a chance to comeclean as theywouldhavebeentooyoungtorealisethecon-sequencesoffudgingtheirage.“Alotoftimes,wefoundoutthatattheun-
der-16 level, the coachesor academyownersgettheseboysandgirlstochangetheirdateofbirth,makethemtwoorthreeyearsyounger.Atthatpointoftime,thesepoorkidsdon’tknow,they just follow instructions. Somebodyelsegetsthosefakecertificatesforthem.Eventually,wecatch themandtheygetbanned. Inordertogive themasecondchance,wehavedonethis,”Salvisaid.Dravidwasquotedas saying inaBCCI re-
leasethat‘age-fraudisdetrimentaltothehealth
ofthesport’.“Agefraudisaseriousmatterandisdetrimentaltothehealthofthesport.Manyyoungsterswhoaresupposedtobeplayinginaparticularagegroupfail tomake itowingtoagefraud.WiththeBCCItakingsternactionstocurbthis, it isonlyadvisable for theplayers tocome forwardandabideby thedirectives is-suedbytheBoard.”BCCIpresidentSouravGanguly said: “We
for falsifying agewas partly because of thelaunch of a dedicated helpline for tip-offs.Verificationof 5,000age-relateddocumentsweredone last seasonbySalvi andhis team,with5percentprovingtobefake.
ifaplayerdoesnottakeadvantageofthevolun-tarydisclosureschemebeforemid-September,andisfoundtobeoveragelater.“However, if registeredplayersdonotdis-
closethefactsandarefoundtohavesubmittedfake/tamperedDOBproofdocumentsbyBCCI,theywill be banned for twoyears, and after
completionof the two-year suspension, theywillnotbeallowedtoparticipateinage-grouptournamentsofBCCI,aswellas,age-grouptour-namentsorganisedbythestateunits,”thenewrulesstate.Salvi says one of the options considered
was imposing a five-year ban but thatwasdeemedtooharshbecauseitcouldendacrick-eter’scareer.“Thecurrentrulesaysthatifwecatchany-
one,webanthemfortwoseasonsbutthengo-ingforwardwearesayingtwoyears,plustheywillnotbeallowedtoplayanyage-grouptour-naments.Soafterthosetwoyears,theyareonlyeligibletoplayseniortournaments. If youarethatgoodtoplaysenior-levelcricketatsay17or 18, thenyoudeserve yourplace. But thenyoushouldleavetheage-grouptournamentstothekids,”hesaid.Othermeasures to ensure players don’t
dupe the systemincludeallowingacricketertoplayonlyayearofUnder-19cricket if birthcertificate is registered aftermore than twoyearsofbirthandallowingonlythosebetween14and16yearsofagetoparticipateinunder-16tournaments.Thedisclosurescheme,however,doesnot
apply toplayerswhohavecommitteddomi-cilefraud-producingfakecertificatestoshoweligibilitytoplayforastate-andsuchcricketers,if caught, face a two-year ban. Talking aboutwhyplayerswhohave committeddomicilefraud don’t benefit from the VoluntaryDisclosureScheme,Salvisaid:“Domicilefraudismostlycommittedbypeoplewhoareinthesenioragegroupandhaveknowinglydoneit.So,theyshouldn’tbespared.Whereasasinage-group (fraud), we don’t know if they haveknowinglydoneitorsomeoneelsehasdoneitforthem.Sowearegivingthemachance,”SalvisaidaddingthatuptotheUnder-23level“thereisnotmuchdomicilefraud”.The24x7helplinetoreportage-fraudand
thevoluntarydisclosure scheme,Salvihopes,will encouragemore cricketers to come for-wardandownup.A total of eightpeople, in-cludingaback-endteamwhichhandlesonlineregistrationand threewhogo throughall thedocuments,formtheage-verificationdivision.For up to the age of 16, the TW3or Tanner-Whitehousemethod-whereinanx-rayofthewrist isstudiedbyBCCI’sexpertpanelof radi-ologists todeterminematurityof thebones -alongwithverificationofdocumentsiscarriedout.Forthoseabove16,thetestisnotaccurate,and the BCCI has to depend on thoroughscrutinyofthedocumentssubmitted.“Cricketershavegot a lifeline (becauseof
voluntary disclosure). Until now theywerescaredthatifIrevealit,maybeitislikeapnepa-iron par kulharimarna (shoot oneself in thefoot). Butnowtheymight come forwardandsay‘wewillplayintherightage-group’.Itistooearlytosay,butwethinkitwillhelpandthatiswhywehaveintroducedit.”
TAURUS(Apr21-May21)There are timeswhenyou canbe sovery stubborn, butonce youhave let
go youwill be able to turnalmost any situation to youradvantage. At thepresenttime it’s all verymuch amatter of confidence. If youare to do your best, then youneed to know that youactually can succeed.
GEMINI (May22- June21)Mercury, thesymbolof brightideas,hasareputation for
CANCER(June22- July23)Allyour instinctsmustbetellingyoutostayandputupafight.However, the
danger is thatyou’llbe fightingoldbattlesand,even if youwin, it isunlikely todoyoumuchgood.Andthenthere’sthe littlematterofwhetherotherpeoplewillbackdownwhichtheyprobablywon’t.
LEO(July24-Aug23)What is revealednowmaymake yourealise that peopleat homewere
keeping you in thedark longbefore you ever suspected it.Hopefully, your sense ofhumour is sufficient for youto takepractical jokes in goodpart. If it’s not, thenpleaselightenupnow-while youstill have time.
VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)Onadaywhen theMoon is roughly onyour side, theopportunities for
self-improvement arelimitless. Youmayevenreturn to activities fromwhich youwere onceinexplicably barred.Hopefully, you yourself arealso no longermaking thesameold excuses.
It isnotideal ifwecarryonagainstBayern-theplayersneedtobegivenabreaktoplayatthelevelandthequalityproductthatthePremierLeagueis.Eveninaworst-casescenario,wedon’tgothroughagainstBayern(inChampionsLeaguelast-16tie),the12thfeelstooearlyformefortheplayerstostartplayingagain.”FRANKLAMPARD,CHELSEAMANAGERSAYSSTARTINGTHENEWPREMIERLEAGUE
