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indianexpress.com

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

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

SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

CITY

L-GREJECTSDELHIGOVTDECISION TOREOPENHOTELSPAGE 3

THEEDITORIALPAGE

NEP:TRICKORTREAT?BY PRATAPBHANUMEHTAPAGE10

JAMMU&KASHMIR

PRITAMPALSINGHNEWDELHI, JULY31

THEDELHIHighCourtonFridayasked Special Commissioner ofPolice Praveer Ranjanwhatwasthe“necessity” forhimto issuealetter to chiefs of teamsprobingtheNortheastDelhi riots,whichstatedthatarrestsof“someHinduyouth”fromriot-hitareashasledto a “degree of resentmentamongtheHinducommunity”.Justice Suresh Kumar Kait

also asked him to place beforetheHighCourt“fivesuchletters”issuedbyhimorhispredecessor.“... Such types of letters are

not known under CrPC to in-struct theofficers.However, it isnotindisputethatseniorofficersare duty-bound to guide theof-ficer time and again as per thecurrentsituationgoingonattheparticulartime,”JusticeKaitsaid.

“Accordingly, I herebydirectRespondent No. 4 (Ranjan) tosend five such letters which heorhis predecessor issuedon re-ceipt of complaint/input/repre-sentation in a sealed coverwithin twodays,”hesaid.As reported by The Indian

Express,Ranjan’sJuly8orderhadalso stated that “due care andprecaution”mustbetakenwhilemaking arrests. The order, ad-dressed to senior officers head-ing probe teams, asked them to“suitably” guide the investigat-ingofficers.Theorderwaschallenged in

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

‘Fivedaysshortofayear,havebeeninformedthat Iamafreeman’

NAVEEDIQBALSRINAGAR, JULY31

NEARLYAyear after hewas de-tained amidst a clampdown onthe political leadership inJammuandKashmiratthetimeof the abrogation of Article 370,People’s Conference chairmanSajad Lone was on Friday offi-cially “released” fromhouse ar-rest. However, he has been toldnot to step out or speak to themedia.Assoonashisreleasewasan-

nounced,LonetooktoTwittertosay,“Finally5daysshortofayearI have been officially informedthat I am a free man. So much

has changed. So have I. Jail wasnot a new experience. Earlierones were harsh with usualdosesofphysicaltorture.Butthis

was psychologically draining.Muchtosharehopefully soon.”Around 1.15 pm, authorities

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

BASHAARATMASOOD&PVAIDYANATHANIYERSRINAGAR, JULY31

THE J&K ADMINISTRATION onFridayextendedthedetentionofformer Chief Minister andPeoplesDemocraticParty(PDP)president MehboobaMufti bythree months for the secondtimeunderthePublicSafetyAct(PSA)evenasasectionofofficialsin the administration said theywerenotsureoftheneedtocon-tinuewith her detention. She istheonlypolitical leader still de-tainedunderPSA.An order issued by Home

SecretaryShaleenKabrasaidtheHomeDepartmentconsidereditnecessary to extend the deten-tion following recommenda-tionsby law-enforcingagenciestothateffect.MehboobaMufti’sdetentionunderPSAwassched-uled toexpireonAugust5.Butsomeseniorofficialstold

The Indian Express they wereCONTINUEDONPAGE2

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI, JULY31

IN THE month following thelaunch of the online mode forapplyingfordomicilecertificatesintheUnionTerritoryunderthenew rules, over thrice asmanypeople from Jammuhave beengranted the same as comparedtoKashmir.Whilethemajorityof the3.7

lakh-odd granted domicile cer-tificates are already permanentresidentsof theUnionTerritory,a significant proportion have

beengivenouttothosewhode-spitelivingorservinginthestatefor years were not consideredresidentsof thestateduetopro-visionsofArtice35A,whichnowstands repealed.Sources in the Ministry of

HomeAffairs(MHA)saidthatbe-tween June22,when theonlinefacility was launched, and lastweek,over2.9 lakhpeopleweregranted domicile certificates in

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Sajad freed, party says can’t goout;Mufti’s detention extended

Mehboobastill heldunder PSA,some raisequestions

J&KONEYEARAFTER

AUGUST5AN EXPRESS SERIES

People’sConferencechairmanSajadLoneafterhis releasefromhousearrest, inSrinagaronFriday.Express

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD, JULY31

AMIDST A record surge in thenumber of novel coronaviruscases,AndhraPradeshhasruledout the re-imposition of a lock-down and is insisting that a fo-cus on testingwill help containfurther spreadof thedisease.Thenumberofthoseinfected

inthestatehasincreasedover10timesfromamonthago— from14,595 on June 30 to 1,40,933on July 31. With that, it hasovertaken Delhi's tally to

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Amid surge, Andhra ramps uptests, says won’t shut down

Online open, 3.7 lakh get domicilein a month, 78% of them in Jammu

151DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■TamilNadu■Delhi■Andhra■Karnataka

7 DAYS EARLIER:

2.38NOW:

2.18

7 DAYS EARLIER:

8.35NOW:

8.70

DETECTED TODAY

55,078RECOVERED TODAY:

37,222

TOTALCASES4,11,7982,39,9781,34,4031,30,5571,18,632

DOUBLINGRATE**29.3322.7693.338.2612.79

SURGEIN24HOURS11,1475,8641,09310,1676,128

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*2.45%3.16%0.77%8.72%5.63%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:16,38,870TESTS: 1,88,32,970| DOUBLING RATE: 20.56**

RECOVERED: 10,57,805DEATHS:35,747

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

DataasonJuly30, releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch, trendsbasedondailynumbersare indicative,notdefinitive

CASE FATALITY RATIO

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

MehboobaMufti

DEEPMUKHERJEEJAIPUR, JULY31

ATLEASToneof the rebelMLAsin Rajasthan loyal to formerdeputy chief minister SachinPilothassaidthatif theCongressparty issues awhip, he and theotherMLAswill attend the up-comingAssemblysessionthatissettobeconvenedonAugust14.Speaking to The Indian

ExpressonFriday,GajendraSinghShaktawat, MLA fromVallabhnagarinUdaipurandoneof the 18 legislators in the Pilotcamp,said, “WearewithSachinPilotandwillabidebywhateverdecisionhetakes.Wehaveneverspoken about leaving theCongress party. If the Congressissuesawhip,Iwilldefinitelyat-tend the Assembly session.Wewill raise our voice fromwithinbybeing inside theparty.”

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Will attendHouse ifparty issueswhip: MLAin Pilot camp

On Delhi riot probenote, HC tells SplCP: Why the need,show 5 such letters

SUSHANTSINGHNEWDELHI, JULY31

CHINESE AMBASSADOR SunWeidong’s claim on Thursdayabout the location of the Line ofActualControl (LAC) at PangongTso and his refusal to clarify theLACpointtoascenariowheretheIndianArmywillhavetoincreaseits permanent deployment on

thedisputedandtenseborder.AseniorArmyofficertoldThe

Indian Express on Friday: “Ourpreparationsandactivitieswillbebasedontheactionsoftheadver-sary. As longas they retain capa-bility,wehave tobeprepared foritbecause intentcanchange.Wewillmaintain troops on the LACaccordingtothatassessment.”This means that the Army

willhaveenhanceddeployment

on the disputed Ladakh bordertill total disengagement bytroops at the points of frictionandcompletionoftotalde-esca-lationby the twoforces.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

SRINATHRAOMUMBAI, JULY31

THEPOLICEMENinwhosepres-ence amob in Palghar lynchedtwo sadhus and their driver inApril had chosen not to inter-veneforfearthattheytoowouldbekilled, themostseniorofficerpresent at the spot has told in-vestigators.The 21-strong squad includ-

ingRiotControlPolice(RCP)per-sonnelatGadchinchlevillageonApril16night,wascarryingrifles,rubberbullets,teargasshells,andstungrenades—buttheydidnotusetheirconsiderablearsenaltoprevent themurders.Afterafour-monthinvestiga-

tion into the killings, theMaharashtra CriminalInvestigationDepartment (CID)filed two chargesheets against126peopleearlierthismonthatamagistrate’s court in Dahanutown—a4,955-pagechargesheetagainstvillagersforattemptingtomurder the policemen, and a5,291-page chargesheet againstthethesamemenformurderingthesadhusandtheirdriver.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Police afraidto take on themob: Palgharlynching casechargesheet

DelhiPoliceSpecialCPPraveerRanjan

MIHIRVASAVDANEWDELHI, JULY31

A FORTNIGHT ago, a British-Indian entrepreneur inBirmingham launched a publiccampaign against the 2022Commonwealth Games over“perceived institutionalisedracism”.Overjustaweekend,hegalvanised support from headsof local churches,mosques andtemples, Labour and ToryMembers of Parliament, influ-

ential media and business per-sons from different back-groundsincludingPakistaniandIndian, besides both black andwhiteBritons.In the couple of

weeksthatfollowed,thecampaign led to thepresident of theCommonwealthGamesFederation,LouisMartin,steppingdownfromtheboardof the organisingcommittee,arevampofimportant decision-making bodies, andpromises to address issues of‘colonialinjustice’,amongothers.TheBirminghamGameshave

comeunderheavycriticisminthewake of the Black LivesMattermovement,with someacadem-ics in theUnited Kingdomeven

questioning the rele-vance of the CWG as aconcept.Themanwhostarted

it allwasAmmoTalwar,whorunsamusicagencyinBirmingham.He sayshehadtheideaofapub-lic campaign after read-ingalocalnewsreporton“systemicracismandanalmostentirelywhiteex-

ecutive board of the 2022 CWGorganising committee”. The

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PAGE1ANCHOR

Duringthe2018CommonwealthGamesopeningceremonyatGoldCoast,Australia.AP file

AmmoTalwar

MSMEsANDHRAPRADESHishoping thatas it stepsuptesting, and identifiesand isolates infectedpeople, itwill beable toslowdownthespreadofthe infection. Thestrat-egyhasworkedwell inDelhi. Butnot somuch inMaharashtra, TamilNaduorUttarPradesh.

TestingasstrategyE●EX

PLAINED

AUSTRALIA ENVOYTARGETSCHINAOVER LAC, SOUTHCHINASEAPAGE 5

Indian-descent Birmingham manleads a common(wealth) cause

India for returntopre-standoff sites,military talks likely

Army to retain additional troopsin Ladakh for the long haul

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

J&K domicileJammu against 79,300 in theValley.Apprehensionshadbeenexpressedbysomequartersthatthe change in domicile rules forJ&K,strippedof itsspecialstatusonAugust5lastyear,wasmeantto force a demographic changein theUnion territory by allow-ingentrytooutsiders.Sources said the domicile

certificates issued are propor-tionate to the applications re-ceived. “There is no region-spe-cific delay. More applicationshavebeenreceivedfromJammusomorecertificateshavebeenis-suedthere,”aJ&Kadministrationofficial said.The domicile certificates

makepeopleeligibletoapplyforjobs and admission into educa-tional institutions in the Unionterritory, and officials believe amajorityofapplicantsaimforthesame.Among thosewho have re-

ceived domicile certificates areWestPakistanrefugees,number-ing over 20,000, nearly all ofwhom are reportedly coverednow, and 2,000-odd sanitationworkers brought and settled inthestatebutneveraccordedba-sicrightslikevoting."Theyweredeniedcitizenshipandhenceac-cess to education and jobs,” anMHA official said, adding that700Gurkhastoohavebeenpro-videddomicilecertificates.As per the new rules that

cameintoforceinMaythisyear,peoplewhohave been living inJ&Kfor15years,thosewhohavestudiedintheUnionterritoryforsevenyears,orappearedinClass10or12examinationfromaned-ucational institution in the re-gion,aswellastheirchildren,areeligible for domicile. Also eligi-blearechildrenofofficialsoftheCentral government, all Indiaservices, banks andPSUs, statu-tory bodies and Central univer-sities,whohaveservedinJ&Kfor10years.Besides, all Permanent

Resident Certificate holders areautomaticallyeligible.Despite the setback due to

Covid-19, sourcessaid,domicilecertificates were not the onlymatter on which the govern-menthaskept its promise. “Themostsignificantchangehasbeenthe amendment extending thebenefits of reservation tomanydeservingcategories.Paharishadbeen demanding it for decades,andarenoweligiblefor4%reser-vation. EconomicallyWeakerSectionswillget10%,theincomeceiling forbackwardclasseshasbeen increased fromRs4.5 lakhperannumtoRs8lakh,andben-efitshavebeenextended to res-idents along the InternationalBorder. Also reservation in theAssemblyhasbeenextended toScheduledTribes,”theMHAoffi-cialsaid,addingthatthegovern-menthadalsobegundisbursingRs 5 lakh financial assistance toWestPakistanrefugees.Theofficialclaimedtherehad

beena262% increase inminor-ity scholarships, with over 4.76lakh beneficiaries since Augustlast year, a 100 % jump in SC/STpre-matricscholarships,and20%increase in OBC post-matricscholarshipswithover7.42lakhbeneficiaries overall (includingminorities).Onthejobfront--akeycon-

cernamonglocalspostArticle35A, that empowered the J&K leg-islature to define its permanentresidentsandtheirspecialrightsandprivileges--theprogresshasbeenmore tardy. At the time oftheabrogationofArticle370,theadministration had announcedthat50,000postswouldbefilledup soon. But, with over 84,000vacancies, the government hasonly just begun recruitment forthefirstphase, for10,000posts.

Delhi riot probecourt by families of twopersonskilled in theFebruaryviolence --Sahil Parvez,whose fatherwasshot dead near his home, and

Mohd Saeed Salmani, whosemotherwas lynched inside herhouse. ThepetitionershadcitedThe Indian Express report,‘ResentmentinHindusonarrests,take care: Special CP to probeteams’,publishedonJuly15.TheHighCourtsaidadecision

onwhethernoticehastobeissuedontheirpetitionwillbetakenafterperusing the documents to befiledbyRanjan. It listed themat-ter for furtherhearingonAugust7.InpursuancetotheHighCourt’sJuly27direction, theDelhiPolicehadplacedbeforeit theJuly8or-dersignedbyRanjan.Thetwope-titioners, through their counselMehmoodPracha, have soughtquashingoftheorder.Makinghissubmissionduring

thehearingviavideoconference,Prachasaidtheorderamountstounlawful and illegal interferencein theperformanceof investiga-tivefunctionsbypoliceofficers.Ranjan,who toowaspresent

for thehearingvia video confer-ence,said:“Iwillcomewithalltheorders.Iwillshowthedirectionis-sued in thisparticularmatterMrPracha is raising.” “I have veryspecificallymentioned inthebe-ginningthatthisisanintelligenceinput,whichwereceivedthroughsome agency. These advisorieshavebeenissuedtoallconcerned.Notonlybyme,bytheSpecialCPIntelligencealso...Thenewspapertitlethatitwasissuedintheinter-est of a particular community.Thatwasnotthepurpose,”hesaid.Ranjanwasrespondingtothe

HighCourt queryon “whatwastheoccasiontoissuesuchorder”.Healsocontendedbeforethe

High Court that the letter wasdated July8, bywhich time theyhad already done most of thecases. Towhich, the bench ob-served that “if youhavewrittensuchaletterinothermattersalso,thenyouarejustified”.Centralgovernmentstanding

counselAmitMahajan,appearingforDelhi Police, urged theHighCourt that the petition be dis-missedwithcosts.DefendingtheordersignedbyRanjan,Mahajansubmitted“it isahighlymischie-vouspetition...”.At this, JusticeKait observed,

“Maybemischievous. This letteris alsomischievous.Wewill say.Wherewasthenecessitytoissuesucha letter?Whywas this typeof letter issued?He (Ranjan) is aseniorIPSofficer.Hedoesn'tknowwhattobeissued,whatnottobeissued…Whilesittinginoffice,is-suea letter and think thathehasmadeagreatthing.”Mahajansaid“itwasnotcon-

fined to one community. This ismischievously read and inter-pretedbythecounselforthepeti-tioners as well as The IndianExpress. That’swhyclarificationwasissued”.JusticeKait said: “He is a sen-

ior officer;wherewas theques-tiontoissueandunderwhatpro-visionheisgivingthedirection?”“Personwhoisat thespot,he

will see,whether toarrest ornottoarrest...Everypoliceofficerisanofficer.ItisnotthatSpecialCPwillteachthem,onlytheywilldotheirduty. Theyknowwhathas tobedoneandnottobedone,”hesaid.Responding to The Indian

Express report on July 15, DelhiPolicePROMandeepSRandhawawrote: “The letterwaswrittenonlytoinformtheinvestigatingof-ficers about the representationsbeingreceivedfromboththecom-munities and to sensitise andguide themthrough the investi-gationof these cases.” But therewas no such mention in theSpecial CP’s orderwhich specifi-cally highlighted “resentmentamongHinducommunity”overarrestsof“someHinduyouth”.

Troops in LadakhThe Chinese ambassador

claimedthatdisengagementhasbeencompletedatmostlocations,but the Indian sidehas clarifiedthatdisengagementhas still notbeencompletedatPatrollingPoint17AandPangongTso.The Army officer said addi-

tional deployment of troops inLadakh, estimated tobe around35,000soldiers, isdirectly linkedtorestorationofstatusquoanteasofAprilwhichremainstheArmy’sgoal, as stated by theNorthernArmyCommander,LtGeneralYKJoshi in an interview to CNN-News18.Restorationofstatusquoante

involves reductionof additionaltroopsdeployedbybothsidesontheborder,removalofnewinfra-structure constructed in con-tentiousareas and restorationofpatrolling rights asexercisedbe-forethecurrentstandoffbeganinearlyMay.“Wearepreparedforallcontingencies. Logisticsprepara-tionsareunderwaytosupportad-ditionaldeploymentinwinters,ifsorequired,”theofficersaid,with-outgetting intodetails of theex-act numberof additional troopsthatwillcontinuetobedeployedinLadakh.Asecondofficer,however,said

that at least one additional divi-sioncanbeexpectedtostaybackinLadakh tobeprepared for anyeventuality, but didnot rule outgreater numbers depending onthesituationontheChineseside.Thenumberscouldbehigherthiswinter,eventuallystabilizingtoaslightlylowerpermanentdeploy-mentthereafter,theofficersaid.The Chinese ambassador’s

statementthatclarificationoftheLACwillleadtomoredisputesalsoindicates that no solution to thetensionsontheborderisintheoff-ing,whichwillwarrant ahigherdegree of alertness by Indiantroops.TheArmyhasbeendemand-

ingdelineationof theLACby thetwo sides to avoid faceoffs be-tween soldiers on both sides –thesehaveincreasedastheIndianside has started patrollingwithgreaterintentandfrequencyinthelast15years.Meanwhile, formerArmy chief General (retd) VPMalik, inaTwitterpost, said: “Byhis statement yesterday,Ambassador Sun Weidong ofChinahasvirtuallyendedanypos-sible progress in LAC talks be-tweenmilitarycommanders”.OneoftheArmyofficers,who

hadadifferenttake,said,“thenextroundof talkswill happen in thenext fewdays,mostprobablyaf-terAugust1”.

Pilot campHeadded that awhip is only

effective inside theHouse andcan'tbeissuedforothermeetings.The rebelMLAshad skipped

twomeetings of the CongressLegislatureParty, oneof the rea-sons that Mahesh Joshi, theCongress chief whip in theAssembly, cited inhispetition toSpeakerCPJoshi,seekingthedis-qualificationofPilotandtheother18legislators."Allwewantedwasachange

in leadership. A person whoworkedhardforsixyearstoformthegovernmentinRajasthan,youabuse him by calling himnikamma...This isabattleof self-respect.Youareabusingyourownfamilymembers.Wehaveneverspokenwith anybody from theBJP.Wedon'twant to leave theCongress,"saidShaktawat,whosefather,lateGulabSinghShaktawat,was a keyCongress leaderwhowaselectedmultiple times fromtheVallabnagarAssemblyseat.AnotherPilotloyalistandMLA

fromLadnun,MukeshBhakar,toldTheIndianExpressthathebelievesin the Congress ideology andwon'tleavethepartyfortheBJP.

Palghar caseThefirstchargesheetincludes

the statements of the21police-men,whowere ledbyAssistantPoliceInspectorAnandraoKale.Several of thesemen, includ-

ingKale,hadonly48hoursprevi-ously rescued two doctors andtheirdriver fromanothermob inanothervillageinthesamearea.The two sadhus, Mahant

Kalpavruksha Giri (70) andSushilgiriMaharaj (35), andtheirdriverNileshTelgade (30),weretravelling toSurat fromMumbai,andhadgoneoff themainhigh-way to get past lockdownbarri-cading.Thearea,inDahanutalukaof Maharashtra's tribal-domi-natedPalghar district, hadbeenagog over the previous severaldays with rumours about

childliftersandorganharvesters.The sadhus and their driver

wereattacked,butwere rescuedbyapoliceteam–however,a300-400-strong mob had thensnatchedthemenoffapoliceve-hicleandlynchedthem.Videosonsocial media had appeared toshowonepolicemanabandontheelderlysadhuandflee.Accordingtothechargesheet,

thepolicemenhadleftKasapolicestationat10.18pminfourvehiclesafter forestguardsatacheckpostinGadchinchle informed themthat a carwith threepassengerswasunderattack.Kalecompletedthe40-kilometrejourneyat11.10pm,reachingGadchinchle10min-utes ahead of his subordinate,PoliceSubInspectorSudhirKatare.Avancarrying15RCPperson-

nelarrivedat11.15pm.Aplatoonof30armedRCPpersonnel,work-ing in 24-hour shifts of 15meneach,hadbeenstationedatKasapolice station after rumours ofthieves and alleged organ-har-vestersintheareahadledtoinci-dents of villagers attacking trav-ellers. The chargesheet says thatthe villagers ignored three an-nouncementsbyKaleonthepub-licaddresssystem,orderingthemtodisperse.Intheirstatements,thepolicemen have said that theywere initiallyunable toreachtheoverturnedMarutiEecoinwhichthesadhusand theirdriverwerelyinginjured.Kashinath Chaudhary, a

Panchayat Samitimember fromthe areawhohadaccompaniedthepolice to thevillage, told theCID that the arrival of thepolicehadseemedtofurtherenragethevillagers. “When I asked thevil-lagers to allow the police to re-move the injured travellers andquestionthem,somevillagersac-cused us of working with thethieves.Thevillagerssaidthatthepolice had arrived in such largenumbersonlytohelpthethieves.Other villagers said that theywouldkillallofus,"Chaudharyhassaidinhisstatement.Kale told theCID thathis col-

leagueswerepeltedwith stonesastheyextricatedthevictimsfromtheirvehicleandput theminthe

police van. “Themobalso gath-eredaroundtheRCPvananddidnotallowthemtocomeout.Itwaswhen themobpulledback thattheRCPmenwere able to alightfromtheirvehicles,”hesaid.However, thepolicewereun-

able to shield Sushilgiri andYelgade,ortoassistAssistantSubInspectorRDSalunkhe,whowastrying to help the elderlyKalpavrukshaGiri,fromthemob,bothKaleandthemembersoftheRCPsquadhavetoldtheCID.“Themobhadpinnedusnear

ourvehiclesanddidnotallowustomoveahead.Wehadpistolsbutdidnothavethenervetofireinthemidstofthecrowd,”Kalesaid.Hisstatementhas been attached tothechargesheetfiledbytheCIDintheattempttomurderoffence.Thechargesheetsaysthatthe

RCP vanhad two12-bore rifles,100 roundsof 12-boreammuni-tion, agasgun,10 rubberbullets,10 tear smokegrenades, 10 tearsmoke shells, five colour smokegrenades, five stungrenades, 10stungradeshells,fivehandspades,shields, batons, andpads topro-tectarmsandlegs,andhelmets.However, in his statement,

Kalesaid,“IfeltthathadIfiredmyweaponor used tear gas at thattime,theviolentmobwouldhavekilledus. That is the reason I didnotfiremyweaponanddidnotor-dertheRCPtouseteargas.”TheRCP told theCID that the

mobprevented them from theshootingvideosoftheincident,as-saulted themwith stones andwoodensticks,andwarnedthemagainst intervening.AnRCPcon-stablewhoiscitedasawitnessinthechargesheet recalled that themobwasshouting:“Goback.Giveusyouruniforms.Wewill teachthem(thevictims)alesson.Ifyoudonotgoback,wewillkillyou.”Despite being pelted with

stones,hitwithsticks,andhavingtheirshieldsandbatonsgrabbed,theRCPpersonneldidnot retali-ate,saysthechargesheet.“Wedidnotuseteargasoranyotherforceatthattime.Wedidnotreceiveor-dersfromanyofficialtouseforce,”theRCPconstablehassaid.Pastmidnight,asthethreese-

verelybeatenvictimslaymotion-less,themobdisappearedintotheforestssurroundingGadchinchle.At 12.30am,GauravSingh, thenPalgharsuperintendentofpolice,arrivedalongwithAdditional SPVikrantDeshmukh,SubDivisionalPoliceOfficer (Jawhar) BhagwatSonawane, andnearly 300per-sonnel. TheSPwas later sent oncompulsoryleavewhileAPIKale,PSIKatare,ASISalunkheandtwootherconstablesweresuspended.Thirty-fiveotherpersonnelpostedatKasapolicestationweretrans-ferred.

Andhrabecome the statewith the thirdhighestcaseloadinthecountry,af-terMaharashtraandTamilNadu.OnlyKarnatakahashadacompa-rable increase in this period.Karnataka’scasesincreasedfrom15,242onJune30to1,24,115now,a seven-fold rise. But AndhraPradesh'sriseontheCovidgraphhas beenmuchmore dramatic,makingitthefastestgrowingstatefortwoweeksnow.On three consecutive days –

July 29, 30 and 31 – AndhraPradesh reported more than10,000caseseachday,with10,376new cases on July 31. Not evenMaharashtra,whichhasbeenre-portingthemaximumnumberofnewcaseseveryday,hasrecordedmore than twoconsecutivedaysof 10,000-plusnewcases. In fact,on July 29 and 31, AndhraPradesh’s number was higherthan that ofMaharashtra. Itwasthe first time since theoutbreakbeganinMaharashtrainthemid-dleofMarchthatanystatehadre-portedmorenumbers.TheAndhraPradeshgovern-

menthasbeenmaintaining thatthesurge innumberswasduetoincreased testing, and that thetestswouldbescaledupevenfur-ther, as thatwas theonlyway toidentifyandisolatethoseinfectedandslowdownthespread.“There are noother options.

We are doing targeted testingamongvulnerablegroupssuchaspeoplewith co-morbidities, andelderlypeople,andalsopeoplelikevendors or industrial workerswhocouldbeatheightenedrisk.Quarantining the infected per-sons,eitherathomeoratisolationcentres,orprovidingtreatmentincaseof serious symptoms is theonlysolution,"saidDrArjaSrikant,thestate'sCovid-19nodalofficer.Officials also said the testing

was focusedonneighbourhoodswheremigrantshadreturnedre-cently or in areaswith positivecases.Apartfromcollectingswabsamples at designated labs andhospitals, the government hasconverted state transport busesintoswabcollectioncentres.While it is true that Andhra

Pradeshhassteppedupitstestingin July, itwas never a laggard atconducingthediagnostictests.Bytheendoflastmonth,ithadtestedmorethan8.9lakhsamples.OnlyTamil Nadu (11.7 lakh) andMaharashtra (9.6 lakh)hadcon-ductedmoretestsatthattime. InJuly, however, Andhra Pradeshconductedmorethan10lakhad-ditionaltests.Butthen,everystatehasbeenabletotestgreaternum-bers in Julybecauseof the avail-ability of rapid antigen andTrunaat tests. State governmentofficials claimthe tests aremoretargetednow. As a result,morepositives arebeingdetected. Butinthelongrun,theyhope,thiswillhelpinslowingdownthespread,justlikeithashappenedinDelhi.Despitetheextraordinaryrise

incases, thestate isrulingoutre-impositionof lockdown.Infact, thestateisallsettore-

open tourist places fromAugust15.“Aswehaveseenearlier,alock-downwillservenopurpose.Oncealockdownhasbeenlifted,itcan-notbeenforcedagainbecause itwillcrippletheeconomy.Insteadof that, we are enforcing strictquarantine in containmentzones,’’saidstateHealthMinisterAKKrishnaSrinivas.Thestatehasalso rampedup

thenumberofbedsforCovidpa-

tients.Ason July31, 40,000bedshadbeenmadeavailable in 128hospitals,includingseveralprivateones.Thestatehasordered90,000doses of the anti-viral drugRemdesivirandordershavebeenissuedtorecruitabout17,000doc-tors, nurses andother staff overthenextfewweeks.

UK manresponsefromtheorganiserswas“vagueandabstract”, andhede-cidedtoswingintoaction.Talwardraftedanopen letter

to the organising committee,whichwassignedby53individu-als. Britain’s ShadowMinister ofSport, Alison McGovern, for-wardedittoSportsMinisterNigelHuddleston.Daysafter the letterwaspublished,Martin, the CGFhead, resigned, and in an inter-viewtotheBBC,Huddlestonsaid“morechanges”werelikelytofol-low.ACGFspokespersontoldTheIndian ExpressonThursday thattheywereseekingtoaddresssev-eral other–muchwider– issuesaswell.“Over the past decade the

Commonwealth Games andCommonwealthSporthavetrans-formed into amovement repre-sentingsocialchangeandseekingtobuildpeaceful,sustainableandprosperous communities acrosstheCommonwealth.TheCGFandGamesorganisershavesoughttoaddress issuessurroundingcolo-nial injustice, truthandreconcili-ation,humanrights andbroaderissuesaddressinginequality,”thespokespersonsaid.Talwar, whose roots are in

Punjab, said there “wereanum-berof frustrationsamongthecit-izens of Birmingham, especiallyamongtheblackandAsiancom-munities,whohavebeenmoreaf-fectedbecauseof Covid-19 thanourwhitecounterparts”.“Wefeltthatsomeofthework

theyweredoingwasperhapslazy,disrespectful and sometimesshameful,” Talwar said. “Around46percentofBirmingham’spop-ulationisnon-whiteBritish.Thereis averybigPakistani and Indiancommunity. Themainsiteof theCommonwealthGames, atPerryBarinnorthBirmingham,issuperdiverse.Itisaround70-80percentnon-whiteBritish,”headded.Given this demography, the

factthat19outofthe20membersoncrucialdecision-makingbod-ieswerewhiteBritonsdidnotsitwellwiththelocalpeople,Talwarsaid.Theexecutivemanagementteamhadfivewhitemenandtwowhitewomen,andtheboardofdi-rectorshadsevenwhitemen,fivewhitewomen,andoneblackman.While Talwar’s campaign fo-

cussedontheabsenceofdiversity,KehindeAndrews, professor ofBlack Studies at BirminghamUniversity, said theGameswere“problematic”becauseoftheiras-sociationwithBritain’s colonialpast.“ItshouldbeatimetorevisitthisbecausetheCommonwealthisallaboutBritaintryingtomain-tain somekindof symbolic linkbacktoits imperialpast.Theem-pire is still there in someways,”Andrewshasbeenquotedassay-ingbyBirminghamLive,thedigi-talchannelofthelocaltabloid,TheBirminghamMail. “The city hasembracedit(theGames)becauseit ismoney,whichisquiteagoodmetaphorbecause theempire isone of the things that builtBirmingham.We shouldn’t besurprised the city embraced it,”ProfAndrewssaid.Talwar acknowledges the

CWG’s “connection to the em-pire”, and concedes that the“Commonwealthdoesn’tmeanmuch to a lot of people” inBirmingham.Buthe insists there is excite-

mentabouttheGamesbecauseitis seen by the community as a“catalystof change”. “This iswhythetoneofourletteriscollabora-tive.Wewanttosolvetheissue,soourletterwasbasedonthatratherthan just bashing you over thehead,”Talwarsaid.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

Sajad freed, Mufti detention extended

Mehbooba still held under PSA, some raise questions

conveyedtoLonethathewasnolonger under detention. Twohourslater,whenhetriedtostepoutofhisChurchLane,Srinagar,residence, sources in thepartysaid, “itwas verbally conveyedto him that he cannot addressthe media or step out of hishouse till August 5”.Membersof the People’s Conference, in-cludingpartygeneral secretaryImranAnsari,were,however,al-lowedtomeetLone.Thegovernmentspokesper-

son, Rohit Kansal, couldnot bereachedforacomment.Ansari told The Indian

Express, “This is a happymo-ment.Wewere not expectingthe news of the release." Headded,"Wepreferthathe(Lone)makehis ownstatements, andthatwillhappenafterAugust5.”People's Conference

spokesperson Adnan Ashrafsaid, “It is ahappymoment forour workers and supporterswhowereeagerlywaitingforhis

release.”JustasthespecialstatusofJ&KwasstrappedonAugust5lastyear,LonewaspickedupandputunderdetentionattheSher-e-Kashmir InternationalConferenceCentrealongwith30seniorpartyleadersfromdiffer-entpoliticalparties.HewasthenmovedtoSrinagar'sMLAhosteland, in February, put underhousearrest.Welcoming Lone’s release,

former chief minister OmarAbdullah, who was released

fromdetentioninMarch,said,“Ihopeothers under similar ille-gal detentionwill also be re-leasedwithoutdelay.”WhileAbdulGaniVakilnow

remains the sole People’sConference party leader stillconfined, severalmembers ofthe National Conference andotherpartiescontinuetobeun-derdetentionattheirhomes.OnJuly13,theNCfiledapetitionintheJ&KHCseekingreleaseof16of itsmembers.

waiting for a signal fromNewDelhi to release MehboobaMufti.“Nopoliticalleaderisun-derPSA…Wedonotexpectanytroubleuponher release,” saidanofficial,whodidnotwish tobe named.When asked whywas shebeingkept in custody,theofficial said: "That's aques-tionmoreaptforNewDelhithanSrinagar."Another official said that

Mufti'scontinueddetentionhastodomorewithpoliticsthanse-curity.Theofficialsaidreleasingher ahead of completion of ayearsincetheabrogationandco-incidingwith Eid,wouldhavesentapositivesignaltoallpolit-icalpartiesandotherstakehold-ers.?Someofficialssaidtheexten-

sionwas routine, and doesn’tmeanshewouldbenecessarilykeptunderdetention for threemore months. Both FarooqAbdullah and his son OmarAbdullahofNationalConferencewerereleasedabouttwoweeks

and six weeks, respectively,aheadof theexpiryof theirde-tentionunderPSA.Infact,Mufti’sdaughterIltija

Muftihas termedthe thirdPSAagainst hermother as an “EidGift” fromthegovernmentsay-ing this would not deter hermotherfromexpressingherout-rage against the “onslaught onour dignity and constitutionalrights”. This is the second timetheHomeDepartmenthas ex-tended the detention period.“…theperiodofdetentionofMsMehboobaMufti...beextendedforaperiodofthreemonthsandshemaybelodgedatSubsidiaryJail Fairview Gupkar roadSrinagar,”theordersaid.MehboobaMufti,61,wasar-

restedonAugust5lastyear, thedaytheCentralgovernmentab-rogated the special status ofJammuandKashmiranddown-gradedthestateintotwoUnionTerritories. While Mufti waslodgedunderpreventivedeten-tion for six months, she was

bookedunderPSA in FebruarythisyearalongwithformerChiefMinisterandpoliticalrivalOmarAbdullah.InitsfirstPSAdossieragainst

Mufti,theadministrationhadre-ferredtothegreencolourofherparty flag, the resemblance ofherparty’selectionsymbolwiththat of Muslim United Front(MUF) – a conglomerate ofValley parties that contestedelections in1987–andher re-fusal to sign a bond that shewouldnottalkaboutthescrap-pingofArticle370asthereasonsforslappingPSAagainsther.WhileAbdullahwasreleased

March 24,Mufti continued toservedetention.OnApril 7, shewas shifted toher official resi-dence that was declared as asubsidiary jail by the govern-ment.When her first PSA ex-piredonMay5,itwasextendedforanotherthreemonths.Mufti’s daughter Iltija told

The IndianExpress that shewashopinghermotherwouldbere-

leasedonEid. “Because every-bodywas gradually being re-leased, I alsoheard that every-bodywouldbe releasedbyEid.But today, in an Eid gift, they(government)havegivenusthisnewPSAorder,”Itijasaid.“Justlikethespecialstatusis

apoliticaldecisionandnotaju-dicialone, I think, the releaseofdetaineeshere isalsoapoliticaldecision.Itisobvioustheydon’twantanykindofnormalcy,theywant their ownversionof nor-malcy,theywanttheirownnar-rativeandtheywantpeopleherejust tokeeptalkingaboutstate-hood”.Iltija said the third PSA

againsthermotherwouldn’tde-terherandshewouldspeakupwhensheisfree.“Obviouslysheisgoingtotalkaboutwhattheyhavedone. It is notonly anon-slaught ondignity but also onour constitutional rights. Theserightswere guaranteedby theconstitution and they weretakenaway,”shesaid.

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

THE DELHI High Court Fridaygrantedanticipatorybail to for-mer Delhi MinoritiesCommission chairmanZafarul-Islam-Khan in connectionwitha sedition FIR lodged againsthim,directingthatheshall“reg-ularly” appear before the trialcourt as and when thechargesheet is filed.Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri

ordered that in the event of ar-rest,Khanbereleasedonbailonhis furnishing a personal bondinthesumofRs50,000withonesuretyof the like amount.It further directed that he

shall join further investigationas and when directed to do soand shall cooperate with thesame.The court also ordered that

Khanwillnot leaveNCTofDelhiwithout prior intimation to theinvestigation officer (IO) con-cerned,and incaseof changeofaddress or contact details, shallpromptly inform the same tothe IOaswell as the court.Thecourtextendedtherelief

to the accused after AdditionalPublicProsecutorMPSingh,ap-pearingfortheState,submittedthat the petitioner has joinedthe investigation on two occa-sions and is no longer requiredfor any further investigation.AdvocateVrindaGrover, ap-

pearing for Khan, submittedthat he has already depositedhis laptop to the IO.She further submitted that

thepetitionerhadjoinedthein-vestigation on June 16 and 18,

andhadanswered all theques-tions raised by the IO. Groveralso argued that the petitioneris 72 years of age and is furtherreadytojointheinvestigationasandwhendirected todo so.Khan,whosetenureasDMC

chairman ended on July 19,2020,hasmovedtheHighCourtseeking anticipatory bail in thesedition case lodged againsthim,citingoldage,healthissuesand riskof Covid-19 infection.Heisaccusedofpublishinga

postwithallegedseditiouscom-ments through his official pageon socialmedia onApril 28. OnMay2,basedonacomplaint,theDelhi Police Special Cell lodgedan FIR against Khan under IPCsections 124A and 153A for theallegedoffencesof seditionandpromotingfeelingsofhatredbe-tween different groups on thegrounds of religion, race, placeofbirth,residenceandlanguage.Khan, in his application,

statedthattheFIRwasmalafide,misconceived and based onmisrepresentation of facts anduntenable readingof the law.

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI, JULY31

BARELY24hours after theDelhigovernmentannounceditsdeci-sion to reopenhotels in thecap-ital, Lt Governor Anil Baijalquashed the move, observingthat the situation in the city re-mains "fragile" and the threatfromthevirus is "far fromover".Baijal'sofficemaintainedthat

thematter was discussedwithChief Minister Arvind Kejriwaland the two sides "agreed" thatthe Covid threat was "far fromover". The ruling AAP, however,accused the L-G of "undermin-ing" theelectedgovernment."Thematter was discussed

with theHon'ble ChiefMinisterand it was agreed that whiletherehasbeenimprovement,the

pandemic situation in the capi-talcontinuestobefragileandthethreat is still far from over.Thereforeacautiousandconser-vative approach is required,"Baijal'sofficesaidinastatement."While theproposal toallow

rehari patriwallahs (street ven-dors)tooperateforlongerhoursfromAugust1wasapproved,theproposals of opening of hotelsand hospitality services andopening of weekly bazaars aredeferred for the time being andwould be reviewed later by theState Disaster ManagementAuthority," itadded.A Delhi government

spokesperson, however, said:"The statement fromRaj Niwasisincorrect.Withoutgettingintothedetails,ifHon’bleLGisagree-able, we can send the proposalagainforreconsideration.Revival

of Delhi’s economy,while at thesame time containing Covid, isthetopmostpriorityof theDelhigovernment.”Thedecisiontoreopenhotels,

allowed under the Home

MinistryguidelinesofJune4,wastaken on Thursday. However, aformalorderwasnotreleasedbythegovernment.Weeklybazaars,also allowed to function by thegovernment,will stay shutwith

Baijal turning down that pro-posal too.“It appears that the Central

government under BJP derivessadistic pleasure by inflictingpainandmiseryonthepeopleofDelhi and by undermining thedemocratically elected govern-mentofDelhi.Onbehalf of AAP,Iwant to tell the BJP-led centralgovernmentthattheyshouldim-mediatelystopinterferingintheworksoftheDelhigovernment,”AAPMLARaghavChadhasaid.The tussle over reopeningof

hotelscamewithinadayofBaijaloverturning the Cabinet's deci-sion to appoint a panel oflawyers of its own choosing toargue the Northeast Delhi riotscases in the High Court andSupremeCourt.Afterthegovernmentissued

a brief statement on reopening

hotels on Thursday, the hospi-tality industry had welcomedthe move, while pointing outthat certain challenges such asstaff crunch and renewal of firesafety licenses will have to beironedout.The government had said

thatsincehotelsarenolongerat-tachedwithhospitals,adecisionhasbeentakentoallowtheirnor-malfunctioningalongwiththeirhospitalityservices.Accordingtogovernmentes-

timates,therearearound55five-starhotelsinDelhi,120four-starfacilities,andaround1,800three-star hotels. There are over 1,500budgethotelsaswell.The AAP pointed out that in

BJP-led states, despite a "deteri-orating"Covidsituation,thestategovernmentshavereopenedho-telsandweeklymarkets.

BAIJALSAYSDISCUSSEDWITHCM,GOVTSAYSINCORRECT

‘Situation fragile’: L-G rejects Delhi govtmove to reopen hotels,weekly bazaars

Thereare1,500budgethotels inDelhi.Archive

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

3Ex-minoritiespanel chief getsanticipatory bail

UAPA: HC dismissesex-councillor’s pleaEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,JULY31

THEDELHIHighCourtFridaydis-missedapleabyformerCongressmunicipalcouncillorIshratJahan,bookedunderthestringentUAPAinconnectionwiththeNortheastDelhi riots, challenging an orderthatextendedby60daysthetimeforcompletingtheinvestigation.JusticeSureshKumarKaitsaid

thereisnoillegalityorperversityinthetrialcourt'sorder.“Findingnomerit in thepresent petition,the same is accordingly dis-missed,”theHighCourtsaid.Jahan, whowas arrested on

February 26, has challenged thetrialcourt’sJune15orderextend-ing, beyond the 90 daysman-dated under UAPA, the time forcompleting the investigation bytwomoremonths.

TheDelhiPolicehadopposedthepleasayingthattheHCshouldnotinterveneinthematterasfaras the order of the AdditionalSessions Judge, extending thetime to probe the case, is con-cernedas therewasno infirmityin it. TheHC said the trial courtjudgehadpassedthe June15or-deraftergoingthroughtheman-date of the provisions of the lawandrecordinghissatisfaction.“...Therefore, I amof theview

that there is no illegality or per-versity inthesaidorder,” itsaid.Jahanhadsoughtsettingaside

thetrialcourt'sorder,sayingitwas“erroneous,badinlawandwrongon facts” and against the demo-cratic and fundamental rightsguaranteedbytheConstitution.Her counsel had contended

that the prosecutor had not ap-pliedhismindwhilefilingtheap-plicationinthetrialcourt.

Khanisaccusedofpostingallegedseditiouscontentonsocialmedia

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New Delhi

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, JULY31

ANEWroundof the serologicalsurveillance will begin in thecapital from Saturday — underwhich 15,015 samples will becollectedtocheckforprevalenceof Covid-19amongthepublic.Thepreviousserosurvey,car-

ried out by the National CentreforDiseaseControl (NCDC),hadshownthat22.86%of the21,387peoplesurveyedhaddevelopedIgG (Immunoglobulin G) anti-bodies — indicating they hadbeenexposed to thevirus.The survey will be carried

out in all 11 districts fromAugust 1-5, with around 150teams going door-to-door tocollect25-40bloodsamplesperday. The state health depart-ment has authorised 18 labs toprocess the samples.“All districts have been told

to ensure that out of the totalsamples,25%shouldbeof thoseyoungerthan18,another50%intheagegroupof18-49years,andremaining 25% should be 50years and above. The districtswill ensure collections of a uni-form number of samples eachday so that processing at labs isstreamlined. The maximumnumberofsamplessentperdaywill not exceed 10% over andabovetheprocessingcapacityofthelab,”saidanofficial fromtheDelhihealthdepartment.“The surveywill help us as-

sess the spread of the virus. If40%-70% of the population hasdeveloped antibodies, we cansay Delhi is moving towardsherd immunity,” said anotherseniorhealthofficial.AsperSOPs, theexercisehas

to be completed by 2 pm everyday and teamsmust transportthe samples to the designatedlabsby4pm.“Selection bias must be

avoided. The individual/house-

hold that was included in thefirst round of sero surveymustbe excluded,” state the guide-lines issued by the state healthdepartment todistricts.As per data shared by the

health department, the highestnumberofsampleshastobecol-lectedby theNorthwestdistrict(2,200), followed by West(2,145), andCentral (1,548).This will be the third such

surveytobecarriedoutinDelhi.Earlier, ICMR had conducted apilot serosurvey inApril across83districts in21states. InDelhi,it was carried out in contain-ment zones of Southeast dis-trict, which showed a preva-lence of 9-11%.Thenextsero-surveyshowed

a Covid-19 prevalence of morethan 20% in eight districts. TheCentral,Northeast,andShahdaradistricts showed the highestprevalenceofover27%.On Friday, the city reported

1,195 new cases and 27 deaths.The total case count is now at1,35,598 and the death tollstands at 3,963. Active cases onFriday was 10,705, down from10,743 thepreviousday.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

WHILEgovernment-runschoolsacrossthecountryarecaughtupincopingwithremoteteaching-learning,teachersofNorthMCDschools have had a busymonthof trainingininclusivepractices.Teachers of the 700-oddpri-

mary schools run by the NorthMCDhavebeenattending large-scaletrainingworkshopsthroughJuly — on inclusion of childrenwithdisabilities,transgenderchil-dren,andthenongendersensiti-sation.Thesessions includesen-sitisingteacherstobasicconceptsofsex,genderandtrans-identity;issues faced by and needs oftransgender students; problemslinked to different kinds of dis-

abilites;howtobemoreinclusivetowardsdisabledchildren,learn-ing basics of sign language; andon inclusive language tobeusedintheclassroom.The sessions on disabilities

wereconductedwithpartneror-

ganisationslinkedwiththeRehabCouncil of India, andsessionsontrans-inclusivity were held inpartnershipwithNGOSPACE.Theinitiativehasbeenledby

Deputy Commissioner of NorthMCD Ira Singhal, who said thatthe current situation presenteditselfasanopportunitytospear-headtheselessonsoninclusivity.“Giventhatclassroomteach-

ingtimeislessandthesesessionsare being conducted online,weare being able to conduct thesesessionsonafarlargerscalewith-out disrupting teaching time. Inteaching,we can be so focussedonjust literaryoutcomesbutweshould also be looking atwhatkind of peoplewe’re producingthrough teaching... We are fo-cussingonmakingtheclassroomamoreinclusivespace,”shesaid.

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

AMILBHATNAGARNOIDA, JULY31

TWO PERSONS died and threewere injured after the frontportion of a building collapsedin Noida’s Sector 11 on Fridayevening.Policesaidthe incident took

place a little after 7 pm just astheeveningshiftofworkers in-volved in constructing apart ofthebuildingwasending.Rescueoperationswereonuntil late inthenight.“We received information

that aportionof anunder-con-struction building collapsed inSector 11’s industrial unit.Action was taken by the firebrigade and police along withteams of the administration.The injuredhave been taken tothedistrict hospital andwearelooking for survivors. TheNational Disaster ResponseForce(NDRF)wasinformedandthey sent technical assistancefromGhaziabad.Rescueopera-tions are on,” said Alok Singh,CP, Gautam Buddh Nagar onFriday evening.WhileGopi (22), aplumber,

and Jaynendra (40), a contrac-tor, were declared dead on ar-rival at the hospital, Sagar andRahul are undergoing treat-ment. Thewifeof the companyowner,whowasallegedlyover-looking the constructionwork,is also among those injured.According to an official, the

victims,whowerefromKanpur,

sustained head injuries. WhileSagar hails from Ghaziabad,Rahul is fromBaghpat.Police said the building

housed an electric panel man-ufacturing unit, and plumbingwork was being carried out inthe front. The under-construc-tionportiongaveway, trappingthe labourers.Localssaidtheyheardaloud

soundof astructure falling, fol-lowedbyscreams.Accordingtoaneyewitness,anirongirderonthesecondfloorof thebuilding

gavewayandasmallportionofa falseceilingfurthercollapsed,crushing four persons.Morethan20policeandfire

officials and dozens of localscould be seen involved in therescue operations.Locals tried to break small

partsof stoneslabstorescuethelabourers from beneath ironrods thatwere juttingout fromthedebris.The industrial unit, called

ShaktiTechnoFabProducts,be-longs to a local resident. Thecompany specialised inmanu-facturingelectricalcomponentsand switchgears.Foundedin1985, itemploys

around 10 people and caters tothe plastic, refrigeration andpharmaceutical industry.Localssaid that a small group oflabourers were carrying outconstructionwork at the time.UttarPradeshChiefMinister

Yogi Adityanath took cog-nizance of the incident and is-sued directives for adequatetreatment of the injured.Commissioner Alok Singh andDistrictMagistrateSuhasLYin-spected the spot along withother officials.Engineers of the Noida

Authorityalsoexaminedtheac-cidentsitetoascertainthecauseof the collapse and if thebuild-inghadpermissionsandpaper-work in order.A magisterial enquiry has

been ordered by the DM to as-certain the exact cause of thecollapse.

SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI, JULY31

ASKED TO pay their annual feeby August 5 or face a hefty latefine, students of DelhiTechnologicalUniversityareun-happywith the university’s re-cent feenotice.The university administra-

tion uploaded the fee notice fortheacademicyear2020-2021onthe DTU website this week.According to the schedule,B.Techstudentshavetopaytheirannual fee of Rs 1,90,000 byAugust5,whileBBAandBAstu-dents have to pay their annualfee of Rs 90,000 by the samedate.What has particularly irked

studentsisthepunitiveclauseinthe notice. Those who pay thefeeafterAugust5andbyAugust13havetopayafineofRs.2,000;thosewhopayafterthatbutbe-foreAugust20havetopayafineofRs5,000;andthosewhosub-mit the fee even later and byAugust 27 face a fine of Rs10,000.Studentswhofail topayby thenmay have their namesstruckoff university rolls.A third-year B.Tech student,

whose father works as a driverfor tourists, said his family hasbeen badly hit by the shrinkingofeconomicopportunitiessincethe pandemic and said the uni-versityshouldconsider feecon-cession this time.“It isnotpossibleforourpar-

entstopaythecompletecollegefeeinthesehardtimes.Theyarefinding it reallydifficult to fulfil

basichouseholdneeds,andthecollege fee amount is an addi-tional burden on them. Giventhat the collegehas beenphys-ically closed for the last fivemonths and the next session isgoing to begin with onlineclasses, the university shouldconsider at least a 50% fee con-cession for this academic yearor allow us to pay only the tu-ition fee in installments,” hesaid.The annual fee to be paid by

DTU students for every year oftheir study is stated by the uni-versity in its prospectus at thetimeof admission.However,studentswhohave

started an online campaignagainst fee collection have saidtheuniversitycouldconsidernotcollecting fees under certainheadsgiventhattheywillbeen-gaging in remote learning.“Feesarecollectedforco-cur-

ricular activities, extra-curricu-

lar activities, for conferences,seminars, the library, develop-ment, and soon. Evenabigpartof our tuition fees is for labora-toryexpenses,whilewithonlinelearningwe are just having on-line classes with our teachersand e-labs. We should not bechargedforthingswearenotus-ingatthistime,especiallywhensomany families are financiallyaffected.Ontopof that, there’sahugelatefeeasif thisisanormaltime,” said another B.Tech stu-dent.However, DTU Public

RelationsOfficerAnoopLathersaid these components cannotbe shaved off from the annualfee.“All expenses stand as they

were when the university wasopen. Salaries need to be paid,maintenance needs to be paidfor, payments need to be donefor software forwhichwe havesubscriptions. We have provi-sionsforstudentswithfinancialproblems, and every year weprovidecroresof rupees to sup-portthemandhaveprovidedex-emptions in the past. Studentswho have problems in payingcanput inanapplication for ex-emption, which can be consid-ered,”hesaid.Similar concerns have also

been voiced by students ofGGSIPU, where students ofMCA, BBA, BA (J&MC) and BCAhadbeenasked topay their en-tire annual fees by Friday, witha late fine of Rs 20 per day, aswell as students of NSUT whoalsohadtopaytheirannual feesbyFriday.

3 INJURED,RESCUEOPERATIONONTILL LATENIGHT

*Total active cases

CORONAVIRUS IN THECAPITAL

TOTAL CASES

1,35,598Total Vacant

HOSPITAL BEDS 13,626 10,628VENTILATORS 1,218 814

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsJuly 30 1,093 1,091 29 19,475July 31 1,195 1,206 27 19,091Total 10,705* 1,20,930 3,936 10,32,785

Sero survey round 3:150 teams to collectover 15,000 samples

SAKSHIDAYALGURGAON,JULY31

A 25-YEAR-OLD pick-up truckdriver fromNuhwas allegedlybeatenupwithsticksbyagroupofmenwhile hewas transport-ing buffalo meat to GurgaonFriday morning. The accusedalsogotintoaviolentconfronta-tionwith police personnelwhotried to save the driver. Policesaid one person involved in theincidenthasbeenarrested.An FIR has been lodged fol-

lowing a complaint by the vic-tim,Lukman,underIPCsectionsincluding rioting, unlawful as-sembly,voluntarilycausinghurt.“Pradeep Yadav (26), a resi-

dentofRajivNagar,hasbeenar-rested.Sofar,hedoesnotappearto be linked to any fringe ele-ments or political party.Investigation is on to nab theother accused,” said SubhashBoken,PROofGurgaonPolice.“Thevictimwasrescuedand

taken to the GovernmentHospital in Sector 10 for treat-ment, fromwhere he was re-ferred to SafdarjungHospital inDelhi,” saidBoken.In his complaint, Lukman

claimed the incident took placewhenhewas heading to a shopnear Jama Masjid in Gurgaon.“NearthetrafficsignalinSector5-6,mentravellingonfour-fivemo-torcycles tried to stopme but Ispedtothetruckmarketnearthemasjid. There, the men sur-

roundedme,broketheglassofmyvehicleandbeatmewithsticks,”healleged.Themen, Lukman claimed,

forcedhimback intohis vehicleand took him towards Sohna,wheretheyagainbeathimupatJailmod,Badshahpur.According to police, person-

neldeployedat anearbycheck-point soon arrived at the spotand helped Lukman get insidehis truck. Additional force wasdeployed to shift thevictim toapolice vehicle, even as thementriedtostopthem.Policesaidthemenmanhandledthepersonnelaswell,andbroketheglassofthepolicevehicle.In one of the videos that has

surfacedoftheincident,Lukmancanbeseensitting cross-leggedon the ground, his hands andlegs caked with mud, while acrowdsurroundshim.

In another 48-second video,he canbe seen sitting inside thepick-up truck, its windshieldcrackedintwoplaces,assomepo-licepersonnelspeaktothecrowd.A man then lunges towardsLukman,evenwithpolicestand-inginbetween,andavoicecanbeheardsaying“theyarehitting”.Inathirdvideo,policecanbe

seen pushing back the crowdstanding on the passenger sideof thetruck.AmaninabrownT-shirtliftsarockandhurlsitatthewindshield.Meanwhile,anothergroupof policemencanbeseenleadingLukmanoutof his vehi-cle and into a police car. Thecrowd tries to reach the vehicleand grab Lukman, even as per-sonnel push them away. As thevehicle attempts to leave, thesiren turned on, themen standin front to stop them. Some ofthemattempt to force open thedoorof thepolicecar.Before the violence, Lukman

managed to call the man towhoseshophewasmeanttode-liverthemeat,whoalertedpolice.Speaking to The Indian Express,shop owner Tahir Qureshi said:“Hecalledmeandsaidsomemenwere following him. He wasscared…whenhe arrived at theshop, themen immediately sur-rounded himand began hittinghimwith sticks. They then tookhimsomewhereelse inhispick-up truck...Wewouldhave inter-vened, but were concerned itwould worsen the situation. Ialertedpoliceinstead.”

DTUstudentssaythevarsityshouldreconsider thedecision

Group targets man overbuffalo meat, confronts cops

Tiwari visits riot-hitarea, writes to CM

AtRMLHospital. Thecityreported1,195newcasesand27deathsFriday.AbhinavSaha

Afghan woman, 105,recovers from Covid

Teachersof 700-oddprimaryschoolshavebeenattendingtheworkshops

Rescueeffortsunderwayatthebuilding inSector11.Policesaidthe incident tookplacea littleafter7pm.GajendraYadav

2dead as part of building underconstruction collapses in Noida

Grabfromavideoof theincident,whichtookplaceonFriday.Thegroupalsogotintoaviolentconfrontationwithpolice

Trans issues, gender rights: NorthMCD teachers get crash courses

AMILBHATNAGARNOIDA, JULY31

RABIAAHMADisalittletiredbutcan’tcontainhersmileasshesitson awheelchair at the entranceof Greater Noida’s ShardaHospital.ApatientofAlzheimer’swithdementia,the105-year-old,hailing fromAfghanistan and aresidentofFrance,hasrecoveredfromcoronavirus.Asshewasdis-chargedonFriday,agroupofdoc-torsandnursesbidherfarewell.Shewashospitalisedon July

16, after testing positive, withsymptoms of fever, breathless-ness and altered sensorium.According to a hospital official,shewas immediately shifted tothe ICUdue toher ageandcriti-cal condition.Doctors found that she also

hadaurinary tract problemandmildpneumonia. “Shewas kepton non-invasive ventilator for a

weekasshehadahighoxygende-mand…Shewasdrowsymostly.Duetodementia,itwasoftendif-ficultforhertoidentifyifshewasin thehospital or outsideorwhyweweretreatingher...HerresultscamenegativeonThursday,”saidDr Abhishek Deshwal, ICU in-charge,ShardaHospital.Accordingtoherfamily,Rabia

hadmigratedtoFrancewithherhusband from Afghanistan.Whileherhusbanddied60yearsago, she stayed in the countrywith her son, who runs a gar-ment business. Last year, sheshifted to Noida to spend timewithhergrandchildren.“Iwas diagnosedwith Covid

thismonth.Itappearsshewasin-fected through us. But she is afighter;evenattheageof105,shehasall her teeth intact,” saidhergrandson Zuhaib Ahmadi (30),who runs the popular AfghanDarbarandMazhaarrestaurantsinLajpatNagar.

RabiaAhmadbefore leavingShardaHospital, Friday.Express

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

NORTHEASTDELHIMPandfor-mer Delhi BJP chief ManojTiwari has, in a letter to ChiefMinister Arvind Kejriwal,claimed that people in riot-hitMaujpurare“notbeingheardbyyour local MLAs andministers,and none of them come to thisarea as it is dominated by onecommunity”.“You are the elected chief

minister of Delhi, voted byma-jority,representingallsectionsofsocietyandnotonlybyonepar-ticularcommunity,”hewrote.Heclaimedhehadvisitedthe

area amid reports that Hinduswere putting up ‘for sale’ signsoutsidehomesbecausetheydid-

n’t feel safe.Addressingagatheringthere,

hesaid: “Peopleneednot fear. Ifanti-social elements are tryingtoinstillfear,theywouldbedealtwith strictly. Investigation is onand I will keep these things infrontofpolice;justicewillbeen-sured.”A senior police officer, how-

ever, said, “Wehaven’t receivedany complaints from residentsabout wrongful arrests or fear.We have seen the notices (forsale,putupoutsidesomeHinduhouseholds)— these have beenputupbyfamilieswhosemem-ber(s) have been arrested in ri-ots cases. There’s no security is-sue in the area; families of thearrestedpeopleareopposingthearrests, but nobody has comeforward to fileacomplaint.”

DJB holdsplantationdriveNewDelhi: The Delhi JalBoardFridaycarriedoutaplantation drive on 12acres of the Okhlawastewater treatment plant.Officials said4,920differ-ent varieties of fruit andmedicinal saplingswereplantedbyDJBCEONikhilKumarandseniorofficers.

JournalistkillsherselfNewDelhi:A24-year-oldjournalistallegedlycom-mitted suicide at herhome in NortheastDelhi’sWelcome Friday.No suicide note wasfound,butpolicesaidshewas allegedlyupset aftershe lost her job as a TVnews anchor and wasalso seeking treatmentfordepression.

GangsterwhojumpedparolearrestedNew Delhi: GangsterJyoti Prakash, whojumped parole inAugust last year and es-caped to Surat inGujarat, was arrestedfrom the city by DelhiPolice’s Special Cell.Prakash is involved inmultiple cases of mur-der and thoseunder theArmsAct andMCOCA.

DeadlinetopaypropertytaxextendedNewDelhi:TheNorthandSouth civic bodies haveextended the last date ofpayment of property taxwith15%rebate,fromJuly31 toAugust31.

Mantriestohijackcab,heldNewDelhi:Amanwasar-restedforallegedlytryingto hijack a cab in a bid torobthefemalepassengerinside the car inNorthDelhi’sWazirabadThursday, policesaid.ENS

BRIEFLY

Asked to pay Rs 1.9 lakhin annual fee or hefty fine,DTU students seek relief

AbhinavSaha

New Delhi

Please tell us about your innovative prod-uct which has been in the news recently?

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MANOJCGNEWDELHI, JULY31

IN ITS 10 years at the helm, theCongress-led UPA had usheredin“transformativechanges”,andthosewho cannot see the goodworkithaddonebetween2004and 2014 should “re-educatethemselves,” Congress leaderandformerI&BministerManishTewari saidonFriday.Tewari'sremarkscomeaday

afterRajeevSatav,ayoungRajyaSabhaMP considered close toRahulGandhi,triggeredarowbysuggestingthat introspection intheparty, if needbe, should be-gin fromtheUPA-2period.Talking to The Indian Express,

TewariclaimedthattheUPAwasavictimof“internalsabotage”and“vicious campaign of calumnyandinnuendo”fromoutside.AmeetingofpartyRajyaSabha

MPs, convened on Thursday byCongresspresidentSoniaGandhiand attended by former PrimeMinisterManmohanSingh, hasonceagain revealed thegrowingstrainwithin theparty betweenveteransandyoungleaders,manyof the latter groupclose toRahulGandhi. At themeeting, formerUnionministerKapil Sibal’s sug-gestion for an introspectionwascounteredbySatav,whoarguedthat introspection shouldbeginfromtheUPA-2periodtoanalysehow the Congress fell to 44 LokSabhaseatsin2014.Tewari on Friday said, “The

UPA brought in the Right ToInformation Act, MGNREGA,middaymeal scheme, free andcompulsory education to chil-dren under RTE, and the FoodSecurity Act, which created themosttransformativesocialsecu-rity architecture.” Even Finance

MinisterNirmala Sitaraman, hesaid,admittedinherlastBudgetspeech that 271million peoplewere lifted out of poverty be-tween 2006 and 2016, eight ofwhichwereUPAyears.“TheUPAwasalsoavictimof

bothinternalsabotage—(formerComptrollerandAuditorGeneralofIndia)VinodRaibeingtheclas-sical example—andof a viciouscampaignof calumnyand innu-endo. However, none of thecharges levelled have stood thetestofthelawevensixyearsdownthe line,” he said. “If somebodycannotseethegoodworktheUPAhaddone,thenpossiblyheorsheneedstore-educatethemselves."Tewari also tweeted on

Friday,“WasUPAresponsibleforthe decline in fortunes of theCongress in2014isavalidques-tion – must be gone into?Equally valid is was UPA sabo-taged fromwithin?2019defeatmustalsobeanalysed….”Satav’s remarks have re-

openedadebate in thepartyonreasonsforitselectoraldownfall.DuringaninteractionwithIIM

alumni in Singapore in 2018,RahulGandhihadadmitted thatan “internal” and “generationalfight” and collisionbetween the“older vision” and a “newer vi-sion”,alongwithissuesofcorrup-tion, had contributed toCongress’sdefeatin2014.

ManishTewari

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JULY31

THE BRUISING diplomatic warbetween Canberra and BeijingreachedNewDelhi Fridaywiththe envoys of the two countriessparringoverthesituationintheSouthChinaSea.Australian High

Commissioner to India BarryO’Farrell, who met ExternalAffairs Minister S JaishankarThursday, targeted China overthe situation along the Line ofActual Control, saying“Australia opposes any at-tempts to unilaterally alter thestatusquo,whichonly serve toincrease tensionandtheriskofinstability.”On Friday, O’Farrell said

Canberra remains “deeply con-

cerned”by“actions”intheSouthChinaSeathatare“destabilising”andcould“provokeescalation”.While he did not name

China, itwas clearhewas refer-ring to Beijing’s aggressive be-haviour in theSouthChinaSea.What followedwas a public

spat between the Chinese andAustralianenvoysonTwitter.SunWeidong, Chinese am-

bassador to India, tweeted,“Noted remarks by Australian

HC to India on South China Seadisregarding facts.China's terri-torial sovereigntyandmaritimerights and interests are in con-formity with international lawincludingUNCLOS.It'sclearwhosafeguard peace and stabilityand who destabilize and pro-vokeescalation in the region.”Replying to Sun, O’Farrell

tweeted, “Thank you@China_Amb_India. I wouldhope then you follow the 2016South China SeaArbitral Awardwhichisfinalandbindingunderinternational law, and also gen-erally refrain from actions thatunilaterallyalterthestatusquo.”OnJuly23,Australialodgeda

note with the UN SecretaryGeneralrefutingChina’sunlaw-fulmaritimeclaimsintheSouthChina Sea: “It rejects China’sclaimtohistoricrightsandinter-

nal waters, its assertion of cer-tainmaritimezones,anditscon-tention there is wide interna-tional recognition of its SouthChinaSeasovereigntyclaims.”On Thursday, aftermeeting

Jaishankar, O’Farrell said:“Australia urges restraint alongtheLineofActualControl (LAC),and supports continuedmovestowards de-escalation. As I toldthe External AffairsMinister ofIndia today, Australia opposesany attempts to unilaterally al-ter the status quo, which onlyservetoincreasetensionandtheriskof instability.”“Itisimportantthatthebilat-

erally-agreed principles andnormsthathavehelpedpreventescalation ormiscalculation inthe border areas over manydecades continue to be ob-served,”hesaid.

BarryO’Farrell;SunWeidong

Australia envoy targets Chinaover LAC, South China Sea

5THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHENNAI, JULY31

CONGRESSNATIONALspokesper-son Khushbu Sundar has wel-comedtheNewEducationPolicy(NEP).InatweetonThursday,shesaid her stand onNEP “differs”fromthatofherparty.“Mystandon#NEP2020dif-

fersfrommypartynIapologizeto@RahulGandhi ji for that, but Irather speak the fact than be aheadnodding robotor apuppet.Everything is n cannot be aboutagreeingtourleader,butaboutbe-ing courages to voiceur opinionbravelyasacitizen,”shetweeted.Sharing Khusbu’s tweet,

Congress’sKarurMPSJothimani,who is known to have a closerapport with Rahul, tweeted,“Democracyisallaboutallopin-ions are heard and respected.Congress party and its leader-ship unlike BJP never expectpeople to be head nodding ro-botsorpuppets.”While her tweet triggered

speculation that Khushbumayjoin the BJP,multiple sources inthepartyruledthisout.“Butyes,sheistiredof theCongresslead-ership. She will never join BJP,she will continue to fight withcommunal groups and even in-dividuals in public forums butthat doesn’tmean that shewillcontinuelonginanationalpartythat lacks a vibrant leadership,”said a senior Congress leaderfromTamilNadu.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHANDIGARH, JULY31

UNMARRIED,WIDOWEDordi-vorced women employees inHaryana will no longer be re-quiredtoparticipate in“generaltransferdrive”whileopting forthe station of their choice un-der the Online Transfer policyof the state.“Ontheauspiciousoccasion

of Raksha Bhandan, HaryanaChiefMinisterManoharLalhasgivenabonanzatowomenem-ployees...the women employ-ees after theirmarriagewill beasked to choose an option andincaseof anewlymarriedoranemployee from above men-tioned categorieswill be giventhe first station of their choicefor a period of three years,” agovernmentspokespersonsaidon Friday.The Chief Minister made

this announcement while pre-siding over the meeting heldhereFridaytoreviewtheOnlineTransfer Policy being preparedbyvarious departments.“As per the decision taken

by theChiefMinister, in caseofa newly married or divorcedwomen employee, she will begiven the station of her firstchoice for a period ofthreeyears.After that if theem-ployee participates in the‘TransferDrive', thenshewillbeallotted first, second or thirdstation as per her choice.Similarly, incaseof100percentdisabled or any employeeabove 80 per cent locomotordisability, shewill be given thefirst stationof herchoiceasperthe transfer policy”, thespokesperson added.

KhushbuSundar

Congress leaderwelcomes NEP:Rather speak factthan be a puppet

Tewari takes on UPAcritics: Those whocan’t see big changesneed re-education

TRANSFERPOLICY

Haryana: Newtransfer categoryfor unmarried,widowed,divorced womenemployees

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JULY31

THECONGRESS on Friday ques-tionedtheprocessfollowedintheappointment of Maharashtra’sChiefElectoralOfficer(CEO),mo-untinganotheroffensiveinacon-troversypertaining toanagencyhired by the latter for publicityjustbefore2019Assemblypolls.InalettertotheChiefElection

Commissioner, state Congressgeneral secretaryandparty spo-kesperson Sachin Sawant said:“Thereareseriousquestionswithregards to the procedures fol-lowedfortheappointment.”Baldev Singh, aMaharashtra

cadre IAS officer of 1989 batch,currently occupies the post. Hewas appointed last July, threemonths before the Assemblypollsweredue.Theappointmentcame soon after his repatriationtothestatecadre.Sawant alleged that the CVC

ordered a probe into allegationsofmisuseof power andpositionagainst Singh onMay 11, 2018,whenhewasdevelopmentcom-missionerof theUnionComme-rceMinistry’s Santacruz Elect-ronicsExportProcessingZoneinMumbai. Sawant said that CAGhadalsopassedstricturesagainstsenior officials at SEEPZ in thesamematter, which dealt withtheawardofacapitalworkscon-

tractandadditionalexpendituresanctioned for the same, in al-legeddeviationfromnorms.Singh,whencontacted,descr-

ibedtheallegationsas“sad,mis-chievous andmisleading”. Hetweeted, “These are absolutelyfalse,untrueandincorrectallega-tions.Thecapitalworksbeingre-ferredwere allotted to the con-tractor before the present CEOhad joined asDevelopment Co-mmissioner,SEEPZ.Allpaymentsto the contractor were also re-leasedbythepredecessor.Allde-tailsinthisregardhavebeensha-redwithcompetentauthorities.”TheCEO’sofficepointedtoan

official document by UnionMinistryofCommercedatedJuly

3,2020,whichwasalsoreleasedby theCongress, stating that thename of the CEOwas notmen-tionedinthecase.As per norms, the ECI ap-

pointsaservingcivilservantfroma panel recommended by thestategovernment.LastJuly,whenSinghwasappointed,theBJPwasin power in the state. Raisingquestions over the process em-ployed,theCongressaskedif thethen state government wasaware of the pending inquiry inthematterand informedtheECIabout it.Singh’s office had earlier de-

niedallegationsofappointinganagencyallegedlyassociatedwiththeBJPforpublicitywork.

BALDEVSINGHSAYSALLEGATIONSFALSE,MISCHIEVOUS

Congress questions process followed toappoint Maharashtra chief election officer

New Delhi

GOVT&POLITICS6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

UNDER PRESSURECONGRESS LEADERS say the decision to shift itsMLAs fromJaipur to Jaisalmerwas not takenwithout reason. The lead-ersallegedthatpressureontheMLAsincreasedafteritwasde-cided that theAssembly sessionwouldbeheld fromAugust14.Manyof theMLAs, one leader said, have relativesandac-quaintanceswithbusinessinterests.Someofthemturnedupat thehotel in Jaipur telling theMLAs that theywere gettingphone calls warning of searches, a leader claimed.Interestingly,allthreecentralobservers–RandeepSurjewala,AjayMakenandAvinashPande–havebeenaskedbythehighcommandtostaywith theMLAs till theAssemblysession.

ANOTHER ANGLE?THECONGRESSsuspectsapoliticaldesignbehindattemptstoturn actor Sushant SinghRajput's death into ahot button is-sue. Some leaders feel the idea is to ensure aRajput consoli-dationwith an eye on Bihar elections. Congress leaders sayRajputs, though numerically not dominant, are influencers.Sushantwas from Patna and had admirers across the state.Interestingly, LJP chief ChiragPaswanwasamong the first todemand a probe into his death. Deputy CM Sushil KumarModi,whovisitedthelateactor’sresidencelastmonth,Friday,tweeted, “Bihar police is doing its best butMumbai police isnot cooperating,” and added, “BJP feel that CBI should takeover thecase.”

SPECIAL REQUESTSREQUESTS FOR help from children seem to be movingPresidentRamNathKovind.OnFriday,hegiftedaracingbicy-cletoRiyaz,aClassIXstudentwhowashesdishestofinancehisstudiesandwantstobeacyclist.AfterseeinghisstoryinaHindidaily,Kovindaskedhisofficeforhisdetails.Whenaskedwhathewould like as a gift, Riyaz said hewanted a racing cycle topractice. For Riyaz, itwas his best Eid gift. Earlier thismonth,KovindnoticedanSOSfromEdgarSebastian,aClassXstudentfromKerala,whosenthimanemailaboutseaerosionduringthemonsooninhisvillageChellanaminKochi.Hesaidhehadto leavehishouseas itwasdamaged. ThePresident immedi-ately asked the Kerala Governor's office to contact the stategovernmentandhelpSebastianandhis family.

POLL SUGGESTIONREITERATINGHIS stand on postponing Bihar elections, LJPpresident Chirag Paswan on Friday wrote a letter to theElectionCommissionsuggestingnottoholdthepollduringapandemic.His letter comesdaysafter theECIwrote topolit-ical parties seeking suggestionson theAssemblyelection. Inhisletter,ChiragarguedthatpeoplearefacingchallengesduetoCovid-19andfloods,andpollswouldaddtotheeconomicburdenonthestate.

HAMZAKHANJAIPUR, JULY31

WITH theAssembly session still14 days away, the Congress onFriday shifted its MLAs, shep-herdedbyChiefMinister AshokGehlot, to a resort in Jaisalmer --over560kmwestof Jaipur -- viacharteredflights.The legislatorshead there af-

ter an18-day stay at a hotel andresort on the outskirts of Jaipur,wheretheymovedfollowingtherevoltbySachinPilotand18MLAs.Indicating that theGehlot loyal-istswouldnowbeinJaisalmertilltheAssemblyconvenesonAugust14 or a floor test, the Congress

claimed a“threat” tothem and im-mense “pres-sure” on theirfamily and rel-atives.Talking to

journalistsout-side Jaipur air-port, Gehlot

said, “TheMLAsare getting calls,theirfamilymembersaregettingcalls, their contacts are gettingcalls, threat calls, to pressurisethem. The MLAs are mentallytroubled...Theyhavebeensittingherefor long...hencewethoughtto shift them. Therewill be lesspressurethere,anditisfaraway.”Accusing"theGovernmentof

India andHomeMinistry” of be-ingafterhisgovernment, theCMsaid “saving the government isimportant”alongwithgoverningthestate."Iamforcedtosay,'AmitShahji, what has happened toyou?Day andnight, awake andwhile asleep, you think how totopple a government'. If chosengovernments fall like this,whatwillbeleftofdemocracy?”hesaid.Gehlot added that hewould

be goingup anddownbetweenthe state capital and Jaisalmer. “IwillbeinJaipurandsowillmostofmyministers.Wewill not com-promisewithgovernance."AseniorCongress leader said

the legislators had themselvesraised the "pressure" theywereunderattheCongressLegislaturePartymeetingonThursday, afterwhichaunanimousdecisionwastaken that allwould shift some-whereoutof Jaipur.SourcessaidtheCongresswas

alsoworriedthatthefamilymem-

bers dropping in to meet theMLAsattheJaipurresortmightbeconveying offers to defect. FewMLAswereallowedvisitors, thattoo immediate familymembers,butwithupcomingfestivalssuchas Eid, Raksha Bandhan andJanmashtmi, Congress expectedrequestsforvisitstoincrease.OnThursday,Gehlothadsaid

the“rates”ofMLAshadincreasedmanifold. “Ever since theGovernordeclared14th (August,for the House to convene), thetelephoneshave started ringing.Weget newswho is calling andwhat they are offering. They(MLAs) are being asked, 'Tell uswhatyouwant'...”hesaid.WhiletheFairmontHoteland

ResortwheretheMLAswerestay-ing till Friday is now in thecrosshairsofED,theiraccommo-dation in Jaisalmer -- SuryagarhHotel--is14kmfromthecity.DenyingGehlot's allegations,

BJP statepresident SatishPooniasaid, "Who is saleable, disclosetheir names." Asking why theCongress was headed forJaisalmer, he saidwhatwas theneed for it “if all CongressMLAsare united, there is no danger,everythingisfine".“After Jaipur and beyond

Jaisalmer, there is Pakistan,"Poonia said. "For how longwillyourunawayfromreality?”

CongressMLAsat the JaipurairportonFriday.TheMLAs,whowerecampingatahotelontheDelhi-Jaipurhighway,weremovedto Jaisalmerviacharteredflights, aheadof theRajasthanAssemblysessiononAugust14.Rohit JainParas

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

CHIEF WHIP of the CongressLegislature Party in RajasthanAssembly Mahesh Joshi hasmoved the Supreme Courtagainst the High Court’s July 24order asking the Speaker tomaintain “status quo” on thequestionofdisqualificationof19rebelCongressMLAs.Theplea said theHighCourt

had “exceeded its jurisdiction“and that its order “impingesupon the domain of thelegislature”.JoshisaidtheHCorder“isex-

facieunconstitutional,illegalandintheteethofthelawlaiddown”by a Constitution Bench of theSupreme Court in 1992 in thecase Kihoto Hollohan vs.Zachillhu.Hesaidthewritpetitionfiled

bytherebelMLAsintheHC“wastotallynonmaintainableandpre-mature”. It “sought to challengeonlyanoticedated14.07.2020is-sued by the Speaker calling forcommentsoftheRespondentsonthedisqualificationpetitionsfiled

against themunder…the TenthSchedule”,hesaid,adding“therewasabsolutelynoadverseorderof any kind against theRespondentsandassuchtheWritPetition... was completely nonmaintainable”.Theirwrit petition sought to

raise the question of constitu-tional validity of Para 2(1)(a) ofTenth Schedule, whichwas al-ready settled by the SupremeCourtintheKihotocase,Joshisaid.Itwasondisqualificationpe-

titions filed by Joshi that theSpeaker issued the notices torebelMLAs.On this, Joshi said the peti-

tions filed by him “make out aprimary facie case against” theMLAs “of voluntary giving upmembershipof thepartyunderpara 2(1)(A)” of the TenthSchedule.Substantiating this, he said

“grave and sinister attemptswere beingmade by” them “tobreak the ranks of the INC andtopple the duly elected INCGovernment in the State ofRajasthan”.The rebels “had deliberately

absented themselves from two

crucial CLP meetings held on13.07.20and14.07.20despitere-peated reminders and notices”,he said, adding “themediawasrife with vociferous demandsby” theMLAs “calling for a floortest against their ownGovernment”.They even claimed that “the

INC Government had cheatedthe people of Rajasthan”. They“hadbecomeinaccessibletotheParty leadership by going in-communicado andwere enjoy-ing the hospitality of the StateBJPGovernment inHaryanaataresort in Manesar (Haryana)”,Joshi said.The chief whip said he had

“asserted”beforetheHCthattherebels“areactinginconcertwiththeBJP...andthereareseriousat-temptsbeingmadeby”them“tooffer allurements and bribes tomembers of the INC to switchsupport to theBJP”.Joshi said such “conduct” of

theMLAs“revealsgrossestformof defection under Para 2(1) (a)of theTenthSchedule”.OnJuly29,AssemblySpeaker

C P Joshi too hadmoved the SCagainst theHCorder.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

THECONGRESSonFridaysoughtan explanation from the BJP for“rampant corruption, compro-mise on national security andweakeningof thedefencestruc-ture” under the first NDA gov-ernment headed by Atal BihariVajpayee.The attack came a day after

former Samata Party chief JayaJaitlywassentencedtofouryearsin jail for a 2001 case of allegedcorruption in a defence deal,onlytobegrantedastayorderbytheDelhiHighCourtafewhourslater. Twootherswere also sen-tencedbythelowercourttofouryears' imprisonmentbutdidnotmove theHighCourt.The Congress also raked up

theRafalefighterjetdealcontro-versy in thewake of the judge-ment. “The verdict of the courtalsohighlightstheneedtoinves-tigatethetruthofRafaledealandprovesthattruthneedstobein-vestigated and is not what theBJP says,” said spokespersonJaiveerShergill.Shergill said that theconvic-

tion of Jaitly and two others bythelowercourthadexposedtheNDA-BJP’s“corruption,commis-sion and conspiracy” orientedapproachtowardsdefencedeals.Thelowercourtverdict,heal-

leged, has established the struc-tureof thedefenceprocurementmechanismunder theNDA-BJPregimeis filledwiththe“cementof money-making, influencingandbribingratherthanbeingbuiltonthepillarsoftransparencyandcomplianceofprocedures”."Thereexistsacultureofinflu-

encing, favouringand facilitatingdefencedeals in lieuof receivingbribery and gratificationwithintheNDA-BJP top leadership anddecision-makers,"saidShergill.Jaitly, Major General S P

Murugai (retd) and formerSamata Party leader GopalPacherwalwerecharge-sheetedafter Tehelkamagazine aired asting operation that showedthem purportedly acceptingbribes from its reporters—pos-ing as representatives of a ficti-tious company—for supplyingorders fromtheArmy forhand-held thermal imagers.

AshokGehlot

BIHAR WATER ResourcesMinister and national generalsecretary of JD(U) SANJAYKUMAR JHA speaks toDIPANKARGHOSEonefforts todealwith the pandemic aswellas the flood situation, and theupcomingAssemblyelections.

What is thefloodsituationinBihar?Asof July31, 108blocks in14

districtsareaffected.Accordingtoourestimates,thatmeansover39lakhpeopleareaffected.Oneofthemain issues is two to threebreachesontheGandakandacou-pleonBudhiGandakriver.About72 hours before heavy rain,wesendanalerttothedistrict.InBihar,people live insideembankmentstoo.Soifthereisanalert,ourengi-neersaremadeaware,andpeopleare asked tomove fromtheem-bankments. Followingthe July9-11heavyrainfall,andagainonJuly19-21,therewasaheavyrainalertintheGandakcatchmentofNepal,andtheconcentrationofrainwasabove200mmat several gaugestations.Inhundredsofplaces,ourengineershavecontinuedwork-

ingonseepageandpipingdayandnight.

What is theforecast for thenearfutureandwhatareyourpreparations?In the last 24 hours, while

Gandak has been stabilising;Budhi Gandak and Adhwaragroup rivers have received a lotofdischargefromNepalandlev-elsshowarisingtrend. Intwotothreedaysweexpectraintosub-side in the Gandak, BudhiGandak, and at Baghmati,AdhwaraandMahanandacatch-ments.Water levels of Gandak,Budhi Gandak, Adhwara grouprivers andMahananda have setnewrecords this July... breakingthose set in the 1987. ChiefMinisterNitishKumarhasbeenespecially concerned about en-suring that people living insideembankmentsmoveoutintime.Inhisdailystocktakingbriefings,heseekstoknownotonlyaboutrainfall, river trends, forecastsand flood-fighting efforts, butalsothereliefandrescueefforts.

Bihar’s floodsarealmostan

annualritual.HowhasCovid-19affectedoperationsthisyear?We had a lockdown from

March24,andthatwasthepeaktime for the department to doanti-erosion work. No trucks

could come. No labour or engi-neer could go to the site. AfterApril10or12,theCMexemptedthis work from the lockdown.But that was not enough. Wemade a cell that contractorscould contact if they had issueswithmaterial, sowe could con-tactthefactoryoutsidethestate,or the district collector con-cerned, and get the truckmov-ing. Only thenwerewe able tofinish 393 critical anti-erosionwork, which was difficult.Engineers also tested positive.We are sending people fromheadquarters, but they are notfamiliar with the terrain. Theseare not ordinary times, even forfloodwork.

Amonthagoyousaidtherewere issueswithmaintenanceworkontheGandakbarrageontheNepalside.What is thestatusonthat?This becomes a country-to-

country thing. MEA deals withthem. Our representative alsosits in Kathmandu. There havebeen some issues relating to

work this time. Here, it is ourgovernment, and we did thework accordingly. But we doflood fighting and anti-erosionwork in Nepal side also. Therewas a lockdown there, andwehad no access. Sowe requestedtheMEA.Isaidthatevenifwefixeverything,whatwill happen ifthings gowrong upstream. Butthey stopped our engineers.They said theywould let themgoonlyafter thermal screening.Later, theyagreedtheycouldgo.I don’t want to speak on India-Nepalrelations,butthingswerenotas smooth thisyear.

TheoppositionsaysthatamidfloodandCovid,CMNitishKumarisnotsteppingoutandis focusedonlyonelections.What isyourresponse?Fromday one Nitish Kumar

hasbeenmonitoring,reviewingevery day. The number of mi-grantswhocamewasnotsmall,30-40lakh.Ithinkhemanageditwell. Quarantine centres wereopened. I travelledwith him inJune by road to Darbhanga and

Madhubani, to reviewwork onthe India-Nepal border. He hasseenotherpointsofthefloodsit-uation. It is true that if the CMmoves toomuch, the adminis-tration of different regions getsaffected. As far as elections isconcerned, it is for the ElectionCommission to decide. As far asmypartyisconcerned,JDUisforthe election. Why people arerunning away from elections, Idon’t know. Because they haveseen the Lok Sabha results andtheywerewipedout.Theyhaveseen their future.

But if theCovidcurve ishigh,oramidfloods,howwillanelectionhappenwithoutsayrallies,orpeoplecomingtovote?Wehave time. Let’s see how

things unfold in August. EC hascome out with details like in-creasing booths, etc. Let themtake a call.We hope things im-prove in Bihar. Death rates areminimal, recovery rates aremore than national average.Things are not as bad as pro-jected.This is aglobalproblem.

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

SANJAYKUMAR JHABIHARWATER

RESOURCESMINISTER

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD, JULY31

ANDHRA PRADESH GovernorBiswabhushanHarichandan onFriday approved the AndhraPradesh Decentralisation andInclusive Development Bill andAPCapital RegionDevelopmentAuthority Repeal 2014 Bill,paving theway for establishingthreecapitals inthestate.TheGovernor’snodmakes it

unlikely for Amaravati to be thestate's sole capital, as envisagedbythepreviousTDPgovernment.AsperthedecentralisationBill,

Amaravatiwill be the legislature

capital,VisakhapatnamwillbetheexecutivecapitalandKurnoolwillbethejudicialcapital.However,atleastadozenpetitionsfiledintheHigh Court by TDP activists,Amaravati ParirakshanaSamithiandsocial activists are still pend-ing.Untilthecourtclearsthem,thestate cannot implement theGovernor’sorder.YSRCPworkers and leaders

set off firecrackers to celebrate

the Governor's decisionwhilefarmers in Amaravati region,who have been protesting forseveralmonths, held a demon-stration.Former chief minister and

Opposition leader NChandrababu Naidu said it is adarkday inthestate'shistory.“Using unethicalmeans, the

government has forced theGovernortoassenttothisfraud,”hesaid.MunicipalAdministrationand

UrbanDevelopmentMinister BSatyanaryana said the govern-ment'saimindecentralisingcap-itals is to ensure equal develop-mentacrossthestate.

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI, JULY31

THERE ISnoupper limit to faresthat private players can fix forpassenger trains theywill run,andoperatorswill notneedanyapproval fromanyauthority forit,theRailwaysMinistryclarifiedonFriday.Several prospective bidders

fortheprojecthadraisedasetofqueriesonvariousaspectsof themove to give out 109 routes torun151 trains toprivateplayersfor 35 years at a recent pre-ap-plicationmeeting.

Replying to thosequeries onFriday, theRailways said fares oftheseprivatetrainswillbemarket-driven,andnoapprovaliscontem-plated. Sources said tomake thisprovision legally tenable, theRailwaysmayneedCabinet ap-proval or evenParliament sanc-tion,sinceundertheRailwaysAct,onlytheministryortheUniongov-ernmentcandecidefaresforpas-sengertrainsinthecountry.Withnoupper limit for fares

andasteepprojectcost,thankstoexpensive,modern rolling stock,fares are expected to be waysteeper than existing train serv-ices, officials said. The private

playerisfreetosellticketsthroughitswebsitebutthebackendofthewebsitewillbetiedtotherailwaypassengerreservationsystem.Confusionprevailedover the

technical specifications of trainsthat Railwayswants the privateplayers to deploy.While severalcompanies askedhowRailwayscouldseek160kmphspeedfromprivatetrainswhenitsinfrastruc-ture is probably not ready to forsuch speed, the reply givenwas:“Theclauseisself-explanatory.Nochangeiscontemplated.”The Railways also did not

comeoutwithtechnicalspecifi-cations for the rolling stock that

it seeks the private players tobring in. On various questionsabout this, the reply was: “Thedraft Specifications andStandardswillbeissuedshortly.”Sourcessaidtechnicalspeci-

ficationcontemplatedforprivateoperators is such it requiresmaintenance after running40,000 km or for 31 days—something that is not easilyavailable in themarket.When asked how responsi-

bilitywillbefixedincaseofacci-dents, the reply given was:“Relevantprovisionsshallbein-cluded as part of draft conces-sionagreement.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

ASPARTofanewcentralschemetoprovideaffordablehousingonrent to thepoor fromthepoolofgovernmenthouseslyingunusedin India, Housing and UrbanAffairsMinister Hardeep SinghPuriFridaylaunchedaguidebookor knowledge pack to providepolicyclaritytoallstakeholders.Puri also launched ‘CREDAI

AwaasApp’andNAREDCO'son-line portal ‘HousingforAll.com’throughavideoconference.“About1.08lakhhousescon-

structedunderpreviousgovern-ment schemes are vacant in159cities,whicharepotentiallyavail-able for rentalhousing forurbanmigrantsorthepoor,”Purisaid.The Affordable Rental

Housing Complexes (ARHC)scheme, which has beenlaunched under the PradhanMantri Awas Yojana-Urban(PMAY-U) as part of Atma

Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, willprovidedignifiedandaffordablelivingspacesforurbanmigrants/poor inneed, saidPuri.The scheme will also help

real estate developers retainlabour forces on their sites, hesaid, adding the rental housingwill bebeneficial foryouths.Toachieve thegovernment's

targetunder ‘HousingForAll’by2022, Puri said theministry hasalmostsanctionedtheentire1.12croredwellingunitsasenvisagedunder the PrimeMinister AwasYojana (Urban). About 70 percent of sanctioned houses havebeengrounded.Purisaidthefaceof the national capital wouldchangewiththeimplementationof threemajor schemes, includ-inga landpoolingpolicy.

Rajasthan Cong chief whip moves SCagainst HC order on disqualification

Rampantcorruption indefence dealsduring NDA-1,says Cong

HardeepSinghPuri

Andhra Governor nod to 3-capitalplan; HC clearance still remains

Puri launches guidebookon central schemefor affordable housing

No upper limit on ticket fare inprivate trains, Railways clarifies

GovernorBiswabhushanHarichandan

Rulingpartyclaimsthreats to legislators, family;BJPsaysafter Jaisalmer, there isPakistan

RAJASTHANPOWERPLAY

House session 14 days away, Congnowshifts itsMLAs to Jaisalmer

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAJABALPUR, JULY31

APETITIONwasfiledonFridayintheMadhyaPradeshHighCourtchallengingCongress-turned-BJPleaderJyotiradityaScindia'selec-tiontotheRajyaSabha.Senior CongressMLA from

Lahar constituency inBhinddis-trict, Dr Govind Singh, filed theelection petition claiming thatScindia had suppressed facts re-garding an FIR filed against himwithBhopal police, his counselsSanjayAgrawalandAnujAgrawalsaid. Singhhas filed the electionpetitiononbasisof beingavoterinRajyaSabhapolls, theyadded.The petitioner has said that

Congress Rajya SabhamemberDigivjaya Singh had raised thisobjectionwith the election au-thorities onMarch17but itwasrejected, the lawyers said.

In MP, CongMLA files case onScindia’s RS win

‘These are not ordinary times, even for flood work’

New Delhi

THEOUTBREAK 7WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

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EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

THE SUPREME Court on Fridaytold the Centre that it was notenoughtohaveissueddirectionsto states to pay salaries to doc-torsandhealthworkersinvolvedinthefightagainstCovid-19,andit should also ensure compli-ance.“You are not helpless. You

havetoseetoitthatyourorderisimplemented. You got powerunderDMAct.Youcantakestepsalso,”JusticeMRShah,sharingabench with Justices AshokBhushan and R Subhash Reddy,told Solicitor General TusharMehta.The remarks cameasMehta

told the bench that the CentrehadissueddirectionsonJune18toallstatesbuthadnotreceivedcompliancereportfromtheNCTof Delhi, Punjab, Maharashtra,TripuraandKarnataka.Thesolicitorgeneralreferred

toanaffidavit filedbytheUnionHealthMinistry in this regard.The Supreme Court had on

June17askedthegovernmenttoissue appropriate orders to en-sure timely payment of salariestodoctorsandhealthworkersThe affidavit of the Health

Ministry said that accordingly,orders were issued under theDisasterManagementAct,2005,on June 18 to all the concernedsecretaries of health depart-ments“inter-aliadirectingthemtoreleasesalariesofdoctorsandhealthworkers doing COVID-I9relatedduty,on time”.Subsequently,anapplication

was filed in the court highlight-inginstancesofnon-paymentofremuneration to doctors andhealth workers in the NCT ofDelhi andthe four states.Thoughremindersweresent

tothem,“noreportwithrespectto the compliance of the orderdated17.06.2020wasreceived”,theaffidavitsaid,addingthatan-othersetof remindershadbeensent tothemtosendthereportson“urgentbasis”.Taking note, the bench

recorded in its order, “learnedSolicitorGeneralsubmitsthatanorder has been passed on

18.06.2020 by the Ministry ofHealth and FamilyWelfare di-rectingforpaymentofsalariesofdoctorsandhealthworkersdur-ing the period of Covid-19 ontime.HesubmitsthatfiveStatesi.e. Delhi, Maharashtra, Punjab,Tripura andKarnatakahavenotpaid the salaries to the doctorsand health workers on time tothe full satisfaction. He submitsthatappropriatestepsinthisre-gardshallbetakenbytheCentralGovernment to ensure thatsalaries of doctors and healthworkersisreleased.Hepraysforand is granted aweek's time.”The court was hearing a PIL

byDelhi-basedDrArushiJainonproblemsbeingfacedbydoctorsandhealthworkersontheCovidfront.Thebenchalso asked theSG

to look into complaints thatsome hospitals were countingthequarantineperiodofdoctorsandhealthworkers asperiodofleave.Mehta said the period of

quarantinecannotbe treatedasleaveandagreed to look into it.

Adoor-to-doorCovid-19screeningsurvey inMumbaionFriday.AmitChakravarty

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

THE SUPREMECourt on Fridaynoted that states and UnionTerritories(UT)wereyettoinformthe court aboutwhat had beendonetocomplywithitsJune9di-rectiontomaintainarecordofmi-grant labourerswhohadarrivedin these states and UTs in thewakeof thelockdown.“In our order dated

09.06.2020,wehavenoticedthatthetaskwhichhasnowtobeun-dertakenbytheconcernedStatesandUnionTerritories is tomain-tain record of all suchmigrantworkers,whohavearrivedatdif-ferent places… None of theStates/UnionTerritorieshavefiledanyaffidavit givingdetails of thecompliance of the... direction,” abenchofJusticesAshokBhushan,R SubhashReddy andMRShahsaid,givingthestatesandtheUTsthreemoreweekstocomply.The apex court pointed out

thatthey“arerequiredtobringonrecord themodeandmanner inwhichrecordsofmigrantlabour-erswhohavereachedtheirnativeplacesarebeingmaintainedwiththeirskill,natureofemploymentandotherdetails”.The June9orderhad, among

other things, said that “details ofallmigrant labourers,whohavereached theirnativeplaces, shallbemaintained(bythestatesandUTs)withdetailsoftheirskill,na-tureofemployment,earlierplaceofemployment”.Taking suomotu cognizance

ofthedifficultiesfacedbymigrantlabourers following the lock-down,theSupremeCourthadonJune9askedall statesandUTstodo the needful to send thosestranded back to their nativeplaceswithin15days.OnFriday, the court said that

despite the steps taken by thestates andUTs, therewere stillsomemigrantworkers strandedin different states, includingMaharashtra. The bench askedMaharashtratoensurethereturnofstrandedworkers .

Top courtgives states 3weeks for infoon migrantsback home

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI, JULY31

ANEXPERTcommitteeonFridayrecommended that SerumInstitute of India be allowed toconduct late-stagehuman trialsfor theOxford Covid-19 vaccinecandidateinIndiaafterthePune-headquartered firm revised itsproposal, The IndianExpresshaslearnt.IfthechiefofIndia’sapexdrug

regulatorybodysignsoff on this,Serumwillbeable tokickoff thetrials here, putting it ahead inIndia’s own race for a Covid-19vaccine.Thedevelopmentcomesthree

days after the Subject ExpertCommittee (SEC) for Covid-re-lated therapies on Tuesday rec-ommended amendments toSerum’s earlier protocol to con-duct the trials here. Serumhas atie-upwithSwedish-British firmAstraZeneca, which developedthe vaccine along with theUniversityofOxford,tomanufac-turethisvaccineforlow-andmid-dle-incomecountries. Followingtheserecommendations,thefirmhad speedily amended its pro-posal and resubmitted it, TheIndianExpresshaslearnt.SEC,whichhadreconvenedon

Fridayeveningtoevaluatethere-

vised proposal, recommendedthat the Central Drugs StandardControl Organisation grant per-mission for Serum to conductphase II/III trials here, said twosourcesclosetothedevelopment.ThenextstepwillbefortheDrugControllerer General of India tostudytherecommendationsandtakeacallontheproposal.Thepanel alsosuggestedthat

the authorisation tomarket thevaccine,which Serum is calling‘Covishield’,begrantedaftercon-sideringdatageneratedbothfromthe Indiaand international trials,saidoneof thesources.The firmplans to conduct its

phase II/III trialsonaround1,600participants, a government offi-cialearliertoldTheIndianExpress.Serumdeclined to comment

onthedevelopment.

AmongtheamendmentsthatSerumhasmadetoitsprotocol istoexpandthenumberoftrialsitesit is lookingattoaround20facili-tiesacrossIndia,saidaseniorgov-ernmentofficial.Thisisbecause,amongitsear-

lierobservations,theSEChadfeltthatSerumneededtotakea“panIndia”approachtothetrialsitesitwas considering.While it is un-clear howmany trial siteswereproposedby Serum in its earlierprotocol, the firm’s CEO AdarPoonawalla had earlier told TheIndianExpressthatitintendedtoconduct the trials in two cities—PuneandMumbai.The committee on Tuesday

recommended a total of eightamendments to Serum’s latestage trial protocol. These in-cludedrecommendationsrelatedtohowthetrialswouldtestfortheabilityof thevaccinetoinvokeanimmuneresponse--thecommit-teefeltthetrialsneededtolookattheabilityofthevaccinetoinduceacellularimmuneresponse.Cellular immunity includes

theabilitydevelopmentofspecificwhitebloodT-cellsthatcanattackandkillthevirus,asT-cellsusuallyremain in the body longer thanantibodiesdoandact as amem-oryresponse,saidtwopersonsin-volved in vaccine developmentandtesting,seekinganonymity.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

POINTINGOUT that the presentfinancial system is designed in a“verywrongway”andthecoron-avirusoutbreakhas revealed theweaknesses of the society in anugly way, Nobel laureate andfounder of Grameen BankMuhammadYunusonFridaysaidthepandemichasgiventheworlda chance to create a new orderwherethereisnoglobalwarming,nowealth concentration andnounemployment.In a conversation with

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi,Yunus referred to the exodus ofmigrantworkersandsaiditistime“we recognise thesepeople”.Hesaid thewestern economic sys-temseestheruraleconomyortheinformalsectorasanappendixtotheurban economy.He said it is

time for a changeand to create asystemthatwill create space forthe informal and rural economyandallsectionsofsociety.Referring to the stress on re-

turningtothepre-Covidworld,hesaid, “What is the hurry to goback?Because thatworldwas averyhorribleworld. Itwascreat-ingaworldwithglobalwarming”Yunus said coronavirus has

“givenusachancetothinknew”,an“opportunitytomakeabreak”andtake“bold”and“outrageous”decisions. “Wecan... build anewworld where they will be noglobalwarming, nowealth con-centration,nounemployment.”

UNLOCKINGI N S T A T E SPUNJABWHAT’SOPEN■Gymnasiums■Yoga institutes■Varsityentranceexams(Distancingnormsmust)■Placesofworship(5am-8pm)■Malls (7am-8pm)■Restaurants (till10pm)■Liquorvends(upto10pm)

WHAT’SSHUT■Educationalinstitutions■Cinemahalls■Bars■Swimmingpools■Nightcurfew(11pm-5am)■Non-essential shopsclosedonSundays

RAJASTHANWHAT’SOPEN■Gymnasiums■Yoga institutes■Smallplacesofworship■Marriage functionscanbeheld(upto50guests,socialdistancingmust)

WHAT’SSHUT■Educationalinstitutions■Cinemahalls■Swimmingpools■Bars

ODISHAWHAT’SOPEN■Gymnasiums■Yogacentres■Govt&pvtoffices(withreducedstaff)■Salons&spas (withsafetyprecautions)

WHAT’SSHUT■Placesofworship■Educationalinstitutions■Cinemahalls■Nightcurfew(9pm-5pm)

RAHULSPEAKSWITHWITHNOBELLAUREATEMUHAMMADYUNUS

Duringthewebdiscussion

‘Covid has given chance to create orderwith no global warming, unemployment’

Ensurestates implementdirection topayhealthworkers, SC tellsCentre

Panel recommends nod to Serumfor late-stage Oxford vaccine trials

Samples fromtheOxfordvaccinetrial.AP/File

New Delhi

8THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,NEWDELHI, PATNA,JULY31

THESUICIDEofBollywoodactorSushant Singh Rajput amonthago has now become aMaharashtravsBiharissue,withbothstatesintheSupremeCourtto be heard before any decisionis taken on an FIR filed in thematter.Bihar Deputy Chief Minister

SushilKumarModionFridayde-manded a CBI probe in the ac-tor’s death, while theEnforcement Directorate regis-tered amoney laundering case.Joining the issue, MaharashtraCMattacked the opposition BJPforcriticisingtheMumbaiPoliceover itsprobe.TheMumbaiPolicehassofar

recorded statements of morethan40people in thecase, fromproducer-directorSanjeevLeelaBhansali to film critic RajeevMasand. Earlier this week,Rajput’sfatherKKSinghfiledanFIR of abetment to suicideagainstRajput’s friendandbud-ding TV and film actor RheaChakraborty, 28, andher familymembers.After Chakraborty, whowas

dating Rajput, moved theSupremeCourtseekingtransferof thecasetoMumbai,theBihar

governmentandRajput’s fatherThursdayfiledacaveatinthetopcourt seeking to be heard first.On Friday,Maharashtra did thesame.TheEnforcementDirectorate

announcedFridayregistrationofa case of money launderingagainstChakrabortyandherrel-atives, reportedly based on theBihar Police’s FIR. Officials saidthe FIR showed prima facie si-phoningoffof “overRs15crore”belongingtoRajput,allegedlybyChakraborty and others, into“bankaccountsnotknowntothedeceased actor”. An official saidthe accusedwould be called forquestioningnextweek.The FIR against Chakraborty

andsixothershasbeenfiledun-der IPC Sections 306 (abetmentof suicide), 341 (wrongful re-straint), 342 (wrongful confine-

ment), 380 (theft in dwellinghouse), 406 (criminal breach oftrust) and 420 (cheating).CheatingfallsunderthecategoryofoffencesunderthePreventionofMoneyLaunderingAct.Singh has alleged that Rs 15

crore in an account held byRajput had gonemissing, whileon June 6, less than aweek be-fore Rajput was found dead,Chakraborty had came to hisplace and taken awaymany ofhis belongings, including cash,his laptop, ATM card and otherimportant documents. He hadalsosoughttoinvokeprovisionsof theMental Health Care Act,accusing Chakraborty and herfamily of putting pressure onRajput, causinghimto“crack”.Inavideostatementreleased

through her lawyers on Friday,Chakrabortysaid,“Thetruthshall

prevail”.“Ihaveimmensefaithingod and the judiciary. I believethatIwillgetjustice.Eventhougha lot of horrible things arebeingsaid aboutme on the electronicmedia, I refrain fromcomment-ing on the advice ofmy lawyersas the matter is sub-judice.Satyamev Jayate, the truth shallprevail,” theactorsaid.The NDA government in

Bihar Friday said it would fightChakraborty’s plea questioningthe state police’s jurisdiction ininvestigating the case, and thatit would be represented in theapex court by former AttorneyGeneralof IndiaMukulRohatgi.Thestategovernmentalsoques-tionedthefact that theMumbaiPolicewasyettofileanFIRinthecase.Bihar Deputy CM Sushil

Kumar Modi accused theMumbaiPoliceof“notcooperat-ing”with the Bihar team that isinthecityaspartof itsprobeintotheFIRagainstChakraborty,andsaidtheCBIshouldtakeoverthecase.TheleadersofModi’spartytheBJP, its ally LJP, aswell as theopposition party RJD, have allmet Rajput’s family and de-manded a CBI probe. CMNitishKumar, who hasn’t yet spokenon thematter, has alsomet hisfamilymembers.On Friday, JD(U)minister Jai

Kumar Singh said, “OurCMwill

first speak to his Maharashtracounterpart to demand a CBIprobe. If itdoesnotwork,hecanalsotakeupthematterwithPMNarendraModi.”Speaking to aMarathi news

channel Friday, UddhavThackeray said, “TheMaharashtraandMumbaipolicearecertainlycapableofhandlingthe case and there is noneed tohand over the case to the CBI.Otherwise, all the police forcesin other states should be dis-missed.” He urged anyonewhohad any information to comeforward. “Don’t fall prey to thepoliticsof theBJP.”TheMumbai Police has re-

tained its Accidental DeathReportinthecase,andonFriday,anofficersaidtheyhadreceivedan email fromanother friend ofRajput’s, SiddharthPithani, say-ing Rajput’s family memberswere pressuring him to give astatement against Chakraborty.“Pithani’sstatementhasbeenin-cluded in the plea filed byChakraborty in the SupremeCourt.”The Mumbai Police has

maintained that ithas so farnotfound any evidence of foul playor abetment of suicide inRajput’s case. A senior officersaidearlierthisweekthathisac-count had not shown any largetransfersofmoney.

Sushant Rajput case:Maharashtra,Bihar now in top court, ED files case

SushantSinghRajput RheaChakraborty

ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI, JULY31

THE ASSAM government iskeeping a close watch on thepossibilityofalarge-scaleCovid-19 spreadwithin the teawork-ers’community,officialstoldTheIndianExpress.Theteatribecommunityac-

countsfor17percentofAssam’spopulation. It is economicallybackwardandmostteaworkerslive in quarters next to tea gar-dens inpoorhealthconditions.Till Friday. 69 tea workers

havetestedpositiveforCovid-19— one has died, 26 have recov-eredand42areundertreatment.Officials say a large-scale trans-missioninteagardenscouldbe-

come amajor challenge for theadministration.InaletterdatedJuly28,state

Labour CommissionerGhanshyamDasswrotetoassis-tant labour commissioners andlabour inspectors, “If due toanyreason there is communityspreadofCovid-19inthelabourlines [residentialquartersof theworkers next to the gardens] itwill lead to amajor catastropheas the present medical facilityavailableisnotsufficienttocaterto a pandemic situation in thepresent day scenario. Thus thismight lead tohighmortality.”“Soallofficersaredirectedto

do the needful in coordinationwith thedistrict administrationand convince the tea gardenmanagement and unions to

carryout testingdriveof the teagardenworkersassoonaspossi-ble, so that if there is any infec-

tion it may be contained at theearliest,” the letter stated.Speaking to The Indian

Express, Dass said the teawork-ers’communitywasvulnerable,butstressedthat thesituationiscurrentlyundercontrol.“Wearekeepingaclosewatchandcoor-dinatingwiththehealthdepart-ment and district administra-tions,”hesaid.Pallav Gopal Jha, DC of

Dibrugarh, which hasmany teagardens,saidtheadministrationis conducting rigorous contacttracing in the gardens throughASHAworkers.“Allpersonswithsymptoms of Severe AcuteRespiratoryInfection,Influenza-like Illness or fever are beingtested,”hesaid.Jha said the positivity rate

withintheteaworkers’commu-nity is currently low.GonsuGosain, thepresident

ofalabourunionofateaestateinGolaghatdistrict,said,“Yes,thereis fear but work is going on inkeeping with strict hygienenorms.Wearemaintainingone-metre distance betweenwork-ers, washing hands frequentlyandconstantlywearingmasks.”Although there are no cases yetinthegardenheworksat,Gosainsaid, “We have to be careful inour residential quarters. Thereare no cases in our garden, butthere is fear.”Golaghat DC Bibhash

Chandra Modi said, “Till now,therearehardlyanycases in teagardens in thisdistrict.Wehaveheldmeetingswithgardenman-agers and sought cooperationfromvariousunions.Everyoneiscooperating. We have disal-

lowed entry of any unknownpersoninthegardensandlabourlines.”TheDC said he has started a

WhatsAppgrouponwhichrep-resentatives of gardens in thedistrict post photos and videosofdailysanitisationandphysicaldistancingduringwork.Lakshmanan S, Assam’s

MissionDirectorof theNationalHealthMission, said therewasnothingtobeespeciallyworriedaboutteaworkersasthegovern-ment is takingallprecautionarystepsinindustrieswherepeopleworkinclosecontact.“Ateagar-denisanopenspaceandtheriskisless.Thestategovernmenthadgivenclearguidelinesonhowtowork in tea gardens monthsback,” Lakshmanansaid.

Wary of large-scale spread, Assam keeps close watch on tea gardens

AtateagardeninGolaghatdistrictofAssam. Express

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

THEENFORCEMENTDirectorate(ED) on Friday conductedsearchesatsevenpremisesasso-ciatedwiththeAmbienceGroup,which owns Leela AmbienceConventionHotel in east DelhiandAmbienceMallofGurgaon.According to the agency,

searcheswereconductedattheof-ficesof AmanHospitalityPvt Ltd(AHPL),anAmbienceGroupcom-pany, andresidentialpremisesofits directors Raj Singh Gehlot,Dayanand Singh,Mohan SinghGehlotandtheirassociates.Thesearcheswereconducted

in connectionwith a case of al-legedsiphoningoff ofmore thanRs800croreinbankloan.TheEDalleges thismoneywasmovedthrough shell companies floatedbyGehlot,wherehisownemploy-eesweredirectors.The agency claimed to have

seizedRs16lakhcashandforeigncurrencyequivalent toaroundRs24lakh(16,120Euros;£5,115;and$6,302)duringFriday’ssearchesattheresidenceofRajGehlot.Severalincriminatingdocumentsanddig-italevidencewerealsoseizeddur-ingthesearch,accordingtotheED.TheEDcaseisbasedonanFIR

registeredbytheAnti-CorruptionBureau of Jammuagainst AHPL

and its directors in connectionwithallegedloanfraudinthecon-structionanddevelopmentofthe5-star ‘LeelaAmbienceConvent-ionHotel’at1,CBD,MaharajSuraj-mal Road, in eastDelhi. Sourcessaid the casewas registeredonacomplaint fromJ&KBank,whichwas part of the consortium ofbanksthathadgrantedtheloan.The ED said in a statement:

“Investigation under PMLA re-vealed that a huge part of loanamountofmorethanRs800croreforthehotelprojectwassiphonedoff byAHPLandRajSinghGehlotandhisassociates throughawebof companiesowned/controlledbythem.Asubstantialpartof theloanmoneywas transferred byAHPLtoseveralcompaniesandin-dividuals on thepretext of ‘pay-mentofrunningbillsandadvancefor supplyofmaterial/workexe-cuted’. The employees ofAmbienceGroupand theassoci-ates of Raj Singh Gehlot weremade directors/proprietors ofthese companies andRaj SinghGehlotwasthe‘authorizedsigna-tory’inmanyofthesecompanies.”Theagencystated,“Nomate-

rial was supplied and noworkwasexecutedandalmosttheen-tire amount was immediatelyroutedbacktotheentitiesownedbyRaj Singh&SonsHUF [HinduUndivided Family] and hisbrother’sson...”

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JULY31

AHEADOF theground-breakingceremony for theRamtemple inAyodhya on August 5, a war ofwordshasbrokenoutbetweentheruling CPMand theOppositionCongress inKerala,eachaccusingtheotherofanexuswiththeBJP.In an article in party daily

Deshabhimani on Friday, CPMstate secretary and politburomember Kodiyeri Balakrishnanwrote, “Opposition leaderRameshChennithalahasbecomethe sarsanghchalak of RSS inKerala. Chennithala is theheart-throb of RSS. He is the son of anRSS sympathiser. That is whyCongress-ledUDFismaintainingsilenceintheAyodhyaissue.’’Referring to the Ayodhya,

triple talaq and the CitizenshipAmendmentAct issues, Balakri-shnan alleged that theCongresshas always played the “soft-Hindutvacard”.TheCPM leaderwrote that it

was this “soft Hindu line” thatmade then PrimeMinister P VNarasimhaRaosupportthedem-olition of the Babri Masjid.“Chennithala is climbing up thepolitical ladder in the shadowofRao’s tradition. For theCongress,BJPandIUML,theironlyenemyisCPI(M),’’hewroteinthearticle.HeaddedthatPrimeMinister

NarendraModiwillbelayingthefoundationstoneforRamtempleinAyodhyaonAugust5 to“paintSri Rama in saffronandmakeSriRamaaHindu card evenduringthisCovid-19pandemic”.Chennithala,theLeaderofthe

OppositioninthestateAssembly,has steppeduphis attack on thestate government in thewakeof

a stringof controversies, includ-ing the gold smuggling scandal,promptingtheCPMtohitback.Recently, Balakrishnan had

stated that “whatBJP says in themorning is repeatedbyChennit-halaintheafternoon.TheOpposi-tionCongressisnowimplement-ing the RSS agenda.RSS wantsChennithalatoheadtheUDF.’’DefendingChennithala,Cong-

ress state presidentMullappallyRamachandran said the CPMwants to divert attention fromcriticalissues.Therulingparty,hesaid,isnowisolatedfromthepeo-pleandhasrealisedthatitcannotretainpower.SecularismisonlyafaçadefortheCPM,hesaid.CongressdailyVeekshanamon

Fridayquotedanarticleintheon-line edition of BJPmouthpieceJanmabhumionthe“RSSlinks”ofCPM politburo memberSRamachandranPillai.PillaionFridaytoldthemedia

thatthecontroversyis“unwarra-ntednow”.“IhadattendedRSStilltheageof15.Ibecameamaterial-istandshiftedtoCommunismaf-terrealisingthatinternationalismisbetterthannationalism,’’hesaid.Responding to the war of

wordsbetweentheCPMandtheCongress, BJP state presidentKSurendransaidboththepartieswant to woo minority votes.“CongressandCPMhavealreadystarted secret parleys in their ef-fortstodefeattheBJPinthecom-inglocalbodyelections,”hesaid.

Minor raped,murdered inMuzaffarnagarvillage; one held

AMITSHARMA,MEERUT, JULY31

ASEVEN-YEAR-OLDgirlwas al-legedly raped and strangled todeath by a 22-year-oldman inUttarPradesh’sMuzaffarnagarlateThursdaynight. Police said theyhavearrestedtheaccusedandthathehadconfessedtothecrime.The crime came to light on

Thursday after the father of thevictim filedanFIRwhendidnotreturn home till late evening. IntheFIR,thefathersaidthatwhenthe family tried to trace the girl,some of her friends said the ac-cused—who stays in the samevillage—askedhertocomealongwithhimashewasgoinghome.Muzaffarnagar Deputy SP

Ashish Pratap Singh said, “Wetookhimintocustodyandwhenwe interrogated him at the po-lice station, he confessed to notonly killing the seven-year-old,but also raping her. He will besent to jail onSaturday.”Theincidentcamedaysafter

a16-year-oldgirlwasgangrapedin a Muzaffarnagar village byfourmen.

Woman raped inBulandshahr

Bulandshahr: A 50-year-oldwomanwas allegedly raped byfive men in Uttar Pradesh’sBulandshahr district, police saidon Friday. A case under Section376D (gangrape) of the IPChasbeen registered against twoidentified and three unknownpersonsonthebasisof thecom-plaint filed by the woman’sbrother-in-law, theysaid.According to the complaint,

the incident took place onThursday nightwhen thewid-owedwomanwenttoanagricul-tural fieldnearherhouse, policesaid.Whenshedidnotreturn,herfamilymembers started search-ing for her and she was laterfound in the field, they said. Thewoman told her family that fivemenassaultedherandidentifiedtwoofthemfromherneighbour-ingvillage,policesaid. PTI

Final-yearexams: SCrefuses to passinterim order

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JULY31

THESUPREMECourtonFridayre-fusedtopassanyinterimorderona batch of petitions challengingguidelines to hold final year/se-mester examinations by Septe-mber amid the Covid-19 pand-emicandaskedtheCentretoclearthestandoftheMinistryofHomeAffairs(MHA)ontheissue.The UGC told the top court

thatnobodyshouldremainunderthe impression that since theSupremeCourt isexaminingthisissue,thefinalyear/semesterex-aminationwillbestayed.A bench headed by Justice

Ashok Bhushan said that itwasnotpassing anyorders on the is-sueandpostedthematterforfur-therhearingonAugust10.The bench, also comprising

JusticesRSubhashReddyandMRShah,wasinformedbySolicitorGeneralTusharMehta,appearingfor theCentre and theUGC, thathewouldapprisethecourtabouttheMHA’sstand.Mehta said they were only

concernedwith finalyearexamsandoutofover800universitiesinthecountry,209havecompletedtheexaminationsandaround390universities are in theprocess ofconductingtheexaminations.“Letnobodyremainunderthe

impressionthatsincethiscourtisexamining this, itwill be stayed.Let students continuewith theirstudies,”Mehtasaid.Tothis,thebenchsaid,“Weare

notpassinganysuchorder.”OnThursday,theUGCjustified

itsdecisiondirectingalluniversi-ties and institutions tohold finalyear/semester examinations bySeptember saying itwasdone toprotecttheacademicfutureofstu-dentsacrossthecountry.

ED raids ownersof Ambience mall,5-star Delhi hotel

TEMPLE TREATSweetsbeingpreparedfor theRamtemple’s foundationstone layingceremony, inAyodhyaonFriday. PTI

MAULSHREESETHLUCKNOW,JULY31

BSP PRESIDENT Mayawati onFridaysaiditwouldhavebeenbet-ter had an invitation been ex-tended to “Dalit Mahamanda-leshwar”KanhaiyaPrabhunandanGiri for the ‘bhoomipujan’ cere-mony of the Ram temple inAyodhyaonAugust5,addingthatit “wouldhavehadsome impactontheConstitutionalintentionofsettingacastelesssociety”.This comes after reports in

sectionsofthemediathatPrabhu-nandanGiriwas unhappy overnotbeinginvitedtotheevent.

InatweetinHindi,Mayawatiwrote,“ConsideringDalitMaha-mandaleshwarSwamiKanhaiyaPrabhunandanGiri’scomplaint,it would have been better if hewas also invited for the cere-mony along with other 200saints/sadhus.”

Atthesametime,theBSPchiefadvised theDalit community todistance themselves from suchmatters and “focus onwork bywalking on the path shown byBabasahebBhimraoAmbedkar”.Theremarkscameinthewake

of allegations by PrabhunandanGirithathewasnotinvitedtotheevent possibly out of apprehen-sionsthathisvisitwouldmakethetemple“apavitra”(impure).Narendra Giri, president of

Akhil BhartiyaAkhara Parishad,deniedPrabhunandanGiri'salle-gations,sayingthat“saintsdonothaveanycaste.”Kameshwar Chaupal,mem-

berofRamJanmaBhoomiTeerth

KshetraTrustwhobelongstotheDalitcommunity,alsodeniedtheallegationsandsaidheisarepre-sentative in the trust andmore-over,mudfromplacesofworshipof Dalits fromdifferent parts ofBiharwas being brought for thebhoomipujanceremony.“The allegations are false.

Amidthecoronavirussituationinthecountry,normsarethatnum-ber (of people at functions)shouldbe limited. I, KameshwarChaupalamthere.IamaDalitandthere areothers, too. It is not ap-propriate tomake such allega-tions.Iambringingmudfromdif-ferent places of worship of theDalitSamaj inBihar.”

Dalit religious leader should have beeninvited for Ram temple bhoomi pujan: Maya

BSPchiefMayawati

Kerala: CPM, Congaccuse each otherof nexus with BJP

CPM statesecyBalakrishnanhastargetedChennithala

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJAMMU,JULY31

THE JAMMUandKashmirPoliceon Friday held the head of amadrasa in Banihal town onchargesof committing anact in-tended tohurt the religious feel-ingsofanothercommunity.Police identified the accused

asGhulamRasool,whohasbeenrunning amadrasa at Banihal’sNagbal. Theysaidhehadputoutanadvertisement seekingdona-tions frompeople tosacrificean-imals on their behalf onEid. Theadvertisementsaidonepieceofa“big animal”will cost Rs 3,000,while thepieces of small animalwillcostRs8,000-10,000.The president of Ramban

unit of theVHP,Ashish Sharma,hadlodgedacomplaintwithpo-lice, saying the advertisementabout sacrificing “big animals”was aimed at hurting the reli-gious feelings of a particularcommunity.Ramban SSP Haseeb ur

Rehman said that police haveapprehended Ghulam Rasooltoavoidalawandorderproblem.Thematterisunderinvestigation.

J&K madrasahead held for‘hurting religioussentiments’

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPATNA, JULY31

NINE PEOPLE, including fourchildren, died in two boat inci-dents on the Gandak river inBihar’s Gopalganj district in thelast24hours.Whilesixpeople—including

fourchildrenagedbetweennineand 11 years — from ParsauniMalahi villagedied in aboat ac-cidentonFridaymorning, threefrom Baikunthpur died onThursdayastheirboatcapsized.TheGopalganjdistrict adminis-tration has stopped ferryingof private boats after theincidents.

6 children among9 dead in Biharboat mishaps

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK 9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

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KAMALDEEPSINGHBRARAMRITSAR, JULY31

ATLEAST41peoplehavediedinthreedistrictsofPunjab’sMajharegion allegedly after consum-ing spurious liquor in the lasttwodays.AsdeathtollmountedonFriday,PunjabCMAmarinderSingh ordered a magisterialprobe into thedeaths tobecon-ducted by the JalandharDivisionalCommissioner.Till Friday evening, 11

deaths were confirmed inAmritsar. Two villages,Muchhal and Tangra, inAmritsarhadreported7deathson Thursday, while 4 more fa-talities were confirmed onFriday. In separate cases, 11deaths due to alleged con-sumption of spurious liquorwere reported from Batala inGurdaspurdistrict and19 fromTarn Taran. According to SDM,Tarn Taran, RajneeshArora, sixmore people are critical in thedistrict.DGP Dinkar Gupta Friday

saidthatthedeathtollcouldrisefurther as the spurious liquornetwork was evidently spreadacrossmanyareas.Just like bodies of five de-

ceased in Amritsar were cre-matedwithoutpost-mortemonThursday, lastritesofafewbod-ies in Batala and Tarn Taran toowere performed without au-topsyonFriday. Aroundnoon, aPunjab government press notesaidthatdeadinthesecaseswillnotbecrematedwithoutapost-mortem.CM Amarinder Singh said

thattheinquirywill lookintothefactsandcircumstances leadingto incidents, as well as into anyother issues connected or rele-vant to the incidents. Theprobewill be conducted byDivisionalCommissioner, Jalandhar, alongwith Joint Excise & Taxation

Commissioner Punjab, and SPs(Investigation)of theconcerneddistricts,accordingtoastategov-ernmentspokesperson.Promising strict action

against anyone found complicitin the case, theCMdirectedpo-licetolaunchasearchoperationto crack down on any spuriousliquormanufacturingunitoper-ating in thestate.It may be recalled that the

Punjab Police had seized awhopping 8.32 lakh litres of la-han(rawmaterialmixedfordis-tillation of illicit liquor) in themiddle of June in a drive titledOperation Red Rose. The drivehad led to registration of 3,490cases under the Excise Act andarrests of 2,664 accused. Earlierin the 40-day period of lock-down, 1.81 lakh litres of lahanwasseized.On Friday, Punjab Police ar-

rested seven bootleggers fromAmritsar, Batala and Tarn Tarandistricts in over 40 raids con-ductedbyfiveteamsledbysen-ior officers. The total number ofpersons apprehended so far inthe spurious liquor deaths case

has gone up to eight, includingBalwinder Kaur, who was ar-rested Thursday night fromMuchhalvillage inAmritsar.DGP Dinkar Gupta said a

hugequantityofspuriousliquor,drums, storage cans etc havebeen recovered from the ac-cused and the same have beensent for chemical analysis tocheck for constituents of spuri-ous liquor. More arrests arelikely, he said, adding that raidswere continuing and the policeteamswould continue to crackdownonallthoseinvolvedinthecasetounraveltheextendof thespurious liquormafiaoperatingin the region.While two persons,

Balwinder Kaur and Mithu,were arrested from Amritsar(Rural) district, another twopersons identified as DarshanRani and Rajan were nabbedfrom Batala district. Four oth-

ers—Kashmir Singh, AngrezSingh, Amarjit andBaljit—havebeenarrested fromTarnTaran.Mithu, who was arrested

fromvillageJassoNangal,PoliceStationKhilchian,Fridayhasad-mitted to his role in the supplyof spurious liquor, said theDGP.The state police chief re-

vealed that FIR no. 253, datedJuly 31, has been registered un-derSections304,307and120ofthe IPC at Police Station SadarTarn Taran against the four ac-cusedarrestedfromthedistrict.Headdedthatthesebootleggershadadmitted to supplying spu-rious liquor in villageNorangabad.According to thepolice, first

five fatalities were reportedfromMucchal and Tangra vil-lages in Amritsar on the inter-veningnightofWednesdayandThursday.OnThursdayevening,two more people died undersuspicious circumstances inMuchhal, and one person diedat SriGuruRamDasHospital inAmritsar after being shiftedfrom Tangra. Batala too had re-ported two fatalities linked toconsumption of illicit liquor onThursday.On Friday, 9 more persons

died in Batala, taking the deathtoll in the town to 11, while 19spurious liquor related deathswere reported fromTarnTaran.Meanwhile, opposition par-

tiesinPunjablashedoutagainstthe Capt Amarinder Singh gov-ernment for the alleged lapseswhichledtodeathlinkedtocon-sumptionof illicit liquorandde-mandedahigh-level independ-ent inquiry into the incidents.

(WITHINPUTSFROMENSCHANDIGARH)

41dieafterconsuming illicit liquorin3Punjabdists,CMordersprobe

ThekinofAmrikSingh,oneof thedeceased,atTarnTarandistrictonFriday.RanaSimranjit Singh

SREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD, JULY31

AT LEAST 10 people in AndhraPradesh’sPrakasamdistricthavedied over a period of three daysafter consuming sanitisers as asubstitute for alcohol. Officialssaid liquor shops in the areawere shut eitherdue togovern-mentpolicyorbecause they fellunderacontainmentzone.Prakasamdistrict’sKarichedu

andDarsimandalshavebeende-claredcontainmentzonesduetothe high number of Covid-19cases, and all shops— includingliquoroutlets—havebeenshut.Prakasam SP Siddharth

Kaushal,whovisitedthetwoar-eas on Friday, said police foundsanitisers in at least 20 homes,but quite anumberof people inthe townwere consuming it asanintoxicant. “Wefoundemptyaswell unopened sanitiser bot-tles in some homes. Familymembers confirmed that thevictims were consuming it inlieuof liquor.Weare looking formore peoplewho are consum-ing it since the last 8-10 days.Liquor is not available to theseaddicts due to the closure ofshopsincontainmentzonesandthey got their hands on cheapsanitisers,”hesaid.

Police officials said that theaddictsgatheredbehindatempleinthetownandmixedsanitiserswithwater and soft drinks andhavebeenconsumingitsincethepast 8-10 days. OnWednesdaynight,onePSrinucomplainedofsevere stomach ache and col-lapsed. He was rushed to theDarsi Government Hospital,wherehetoldpolice—investigat-ing the death of another personthepreviousnight—thatheandotherswere consuming sanitis-ers forseveraldays.On Thursday night, three

others, including Srinu, died inhospital. On Friday, sevenmorepeoplesuccumbedatthehospi-tal, sending alarm bells ringingamonghealthofficials.“Almostall of themaredaily

wage labourers or beggars.Wehave seized some stock of sani-tisers from some shops whilethosewithmedicalshopswouldbe examined for chemical con-tents. Apart from the post-mortemreportwearealsoseek-ing a toxicology report toascertain what exactly hap-pened. At least 10 people havediedsofarinthelastthreedays,”Kaushal said.Chief Minister Y S Jagan

Mohan Reddy has sought a re-portfromthepoliceandthedis-trict collector.

Unable to findalcohol, 10 die afterdrinking sanitiser

EXPRESSNEWSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY31

THE INDIAN Express SpecialCorrespondentDipankarGhosehaswonthePremBhatiaAwardfor political reporting for hiswork on issues related to theCovid-19 pandemic, includingthemigrant labourcrisis.WhileGhosewontheaward

for the category of reporting onpolitical issues,theawardforre-porting on environmental anddevelopmentissueswasgiventothe People’s Archive of RuralIndia (PARI), a journalismweb-sitededicatedtoreportingonru-ral India.The Prem Bhatia Memorial

Trust,whichconfers theawardsforoutstandingjournalism,saidinapressreleasethatGhosehasbeen awarded “for his coverageof themigrant labour crisis andotherCovid-19related issues”.Apart from reporting on the

issueofmigrant labourwalkingback hundreds of kilometres totheir home towns during thelockdown, Ghose also reportedaseriesofstoriesfromBhagalpurin Bihar for over amonth start-ingmid-June tounderstand theeffects of thepandemic and thelockdowninsmall-townIndia.On July 6, Ghose reported

about the children of Musaharitola, a Mahadalit colony inBadbillavillage,whohadturnedtorag-pickingandbeggingafterthe mid-day meal scheme,which guaranteed one stablemeal a day, came to a halt asschoolswereclosed.Taking note of the report

within hours of it being pub-lished,theBihargovernmentis-suedanordertoproviderationsaswellasmoneythroughDirect

BenefitTransfertoallschoolchil-dren across the state for 80workingdays fromMayto July.ThePatnaHighCourtandthe

National Human RightsCommissionalsotooksuomotucognizanceof the report.While thecourtdirected the

stategovernmenttoensurethatno child is “pushed into or in-dulgesinanyactivityofragpick-ing or beggary, more so on theaccount of lack of food”, theNHRC issued notices to theUnion Ministry of HumanResource Development andBihar’schiefsecretaryandmen-tioned that it was a “serious is-sueofviolationofhumanrights”,demanding a replywithin fourweeks.The Prem Bhatia Award to

PARI “collectively for its armyoffieldreporters,volunteersanditsdedicated teamwhich sifts andpublishesdata”,thepressreleasesaid, is “for itsextensive fieldre-ports, including climate changeeffects and the impact of thepandemiconrural India”.PARI'sfoundereditorPSainathhasalsowontheawardearlier.The trust had instituted the

awards in 1995 in thememoryof journalist Prem Bhatia, whodiedthatyear. “Themainobjec-tive of the Trust is to propagatethe values that Prem Bhatiastood for: objective reporting,fearless pursuit of the truthandacommitmenttoimprovingthestandards of journalism inIndia,” the releasesaid.

DipankarGhose

Indian Expressjournalist wins PremBhatia Award forpolitical reporting

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JULY31

THESUPREMECourtonFridaydi-rectedofficialstohaltregistrationsofallBS-IVvehiclesuntilitdecideson the issue of their sale duringthe lockdownperiod inMarch,contrarytoitsdirectives.The top court, irked over the

violation of its order, had earlierpulledupanautomobile dealersassociation,sayingmoreBS-IVve-hicleswere soldduring the lock-downperiod in the lastweek ofMarch, andbeyondMarch31 aswell.“Wedirect all the authorities

not to registeranyBS-IVvehicles

till we decide this,” a benchheaded by Justice ArunMishrasaidonFridayduringthehearingconductedviavideo-conference.On July 8, the apex court had

referred to itsMarch27order inwhichitallowedthesaleofBS-IVvehicles for 10days across India,exceptinDelhi-NCR,afterthelift-ingof thelockdown.During thehearingonFriday,

the apex court asked thedealersbodytodetailthenumberofBS-IVvehiclesalesthathadtakenplacetillMarch31duringthelockdown.“Youare in great trouble.We

will prosecute somebody,” thebenchtoldthecounselappearingfor the dealers association. “Wewill take appropriate action

against these fellows,” it saidwhile referring to the surge innumberofBS-IVvehiclessoldes-peciallyonMarch29,30and31.The bench, also comprising

Justices B R Gavai and KrishnaMurari,saidithasperusedtheaf-fidavit filed by theMinistry ofRoad Transport andHighways,whichhasflaggedtheissueofver-ificationregardingaround39,000suchvehicles.Theapexcourtsaiditwouldverifythedetailsregard-ingthesaleandregistrationofBS-IV vehicles. It posted thematterforfurtherhearingonAugust13.InOctober2018,thecourthad

said no BS-IV vehiclewould besold or registered in India fromApril1,2020.

TORAAGARWALAGUWAHATI, JULY31

THE LAST leg of the operationstocontroltheblowoutandfireatOil India Limited’s (OIL’s)Baghjan well in Assam faced asetback on Friday, just as engi-neerswere attempting to placetheBlowoutPreventer (BOP)onthewellhead toplug the leak.Formore than twomonths,

OILhasbeentryingtocontroltheblowout in the Baghjan oilfield,located close to the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park andMaguri-Motapung wetland inTinsukiadistrict.A release by OIL on Friday

eveningsaid,“Whilethecappingoperationwasbeingattempted,the AtheyWagon toppled overat the lastmoment, and the at-temptdidnot succeed.”The Athey Wagon is a 90-

foot-long vehicle used to liftheavy equipment— in this casethe BOP, a device that needs tobe reinstalled at thewell head,followingwhichthewell canbe‘killed’orshutdowncompletely.“Wewould have been able

plug the blowout today itself ifthewagonhadnottoppled,”saidOIL spokesperson TridivHazarika.Headded,“Awell-killingliq-

uid—basically chemically cre-atedmud—will be pushed intothewellathighpressuretocom-plete theoperations.”The spokesperson said the

processmaytakeuptofour-fivehours, depending on the condi-

tionoftheactivityunderground.TheOIL release said that en-

gineerswere trying toascertainwhy the wagon toppled at thelastmoment. “Our focus now isto look into the damage and re-pair thewagon,” said Hazarika,“Thecappingoperationswillre-sumeafter that.”Friday’s incident delays the

pluggingoperationsbyatleastadayor two.Incessantrainandfloodingin

June led to a bridge collapse,which delayedwork at the site.Then, earlier this month, threeforeignexperts fromSingapore,who had especially been calledin for the operations, sufferedburn injuries when part of thewell suddenlycaught fire.“We lost a good eight-ten

dayswhen thebridge collapsedbecause of the rains,” saidHazarika, “Therehavealsobeenperiodic blockades/gheraos bylocalpeopleat thesite.”The disaster at Baghjan has

impacted the surrounding eco-logicallifeanddisplacedcloseto11,000peoplefromtheirhomes.

SC: Halt registrations of BS-IV vehiclestill we decide on their lockdown sale

ANDHRAPRADESH

Setback in ops to plugblowout at OIL wellin Assam’s Baghjan

OILworkersatBaghjan. File

New Delhi

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

BARBED WIRESCneeds toask tougherquestions,of thosewhowieldpower—before itdismissesan83-year-oldcitizen'splea for freedom

THEIRLORDSHIPSCOULDlookatthephotograph.ItwastakenonThursday,adayaftertheSupremeCourtdisposedofapetitionbyJ&KCongressleaderSaifuddin Soz’swife challenginghis “illegal detention” and accepted thegovernment's contentionthathewasundernorestrictions. It frames the83-year-old leader speaking to reporters, from behind a boundarywall

mountedbyabarbedwire,beforebeingpulledawaybypolicepersonnel,athisresidenceinSrinagar. It isnotnecessarytolistentowhatSozhadtosayacrossthewallonThursday—thatphotographand that video, tell the story andposeaquestion. It is not only:Whydid the J&Kadministration take libertywith the facts incourt? It is also, andmore:WhydidthecourtaccepttheJ&Kadministration’swordforit?Whydiditacceptthestate'sdef-initionof freedomwhenitisclearlyinconflictwiththecitizen’s?Unfortunately,thatlat-terquestionisnowembeddedinarecurringpattern. Incaseaftercaseinvolvingcitizens'fundamental libertiesandallegedtransgressionsbythestate,thecourtsseemtogivethegovernment thebenefitof thedoubt.On JammuandKashmir, amarkerof thispatterncame lastyearonOctober1,when,

responding to petitions challenging the constitutional validity of theAugust 5 decisiontoabrogateJ&K’sspecialstatus,afive-judgeConstitutionbenchof theSupremeCourtre-fused to order a stay and adjourned the hearing to November 4— until well after thescheduledimplementationoftheCentre’sorderslicedthestateintotwoUnionTerritoriesonOctober 31. Thepatternhas continued through theCourt’s treatment of habeas cor-puspetitionsrelatedtopoliticians,business leaders, lawyersandjournalists—its lackofalacrity, its adjournments, effectively extended those detentions. InMay, the SC orderdecliningpleas for restorationof4Ginternetserviceswasdisturbingnot just forcontin-uingthedenialof suchservicesbutalsobecause it seemedtocede itsownpowersof ju-dicialreviewtoaspecialcommitteeheadedbytheUnionhomesecretary—theveryde-partmentswhoseorderswere inquestionwouldadjudicateon thevalidityof thecurbsoncitizens’ freedoms imposedby them.Soz's isatestcasebecausetherearemanylikehim.Trappedinazonebetweenarrest

anddetention,unofficialandofficial,verbalandformal,atthemercyof thepolicemanatthe gate. This is exactly the zone tailor-made for abuse, where the apex court needs toshine the light, clear theair.All themorereason for thecourt, as thecustodianof consti-tutionallymandatedindividual liberties, toaskmorequestions,not less—of theadmin-istrationthatwieldsthepower,beforeitdecidestodismissthepleaof thefamilyofan83-year-old Indiancitizenwhoneedspolicepermission tostepoutof hishome.

SIGNS OF LIFEOver140yearsafterGiovanniSchiaparelli sawcanalson

Mars,Nasaseeksaliens ina lakebed

WHILEELONMUSKhurlscarsintoorbitforfun,Nasahassentacar-sizedrovertoMarsindeadlyearnest.Perseverance isheadedfortheJezerocrater,whichisbelievedtohavebeenoncefilledwithwater, the first principleof earth-like life. Itwill bringbackan-cientclaydeposits fromthe lake floor,whichwillbeexamined

for traces of ancientMartian life, from before the planet turned into a desert. It is pre-sumedthat thenatives, if anysurvive, are friendly, andthatPerseverancewillnotbecar-jackedby littlegreenmen.Butlittlegreenmenareabsurdlyanthropomorphic. Ifhumansdoencounterlifeout-

side ourworld, theymay not even recognise it as living. Itmay have developedwith adifferent biochemistry and genetics, and different gravity, pressure and temperaturewouldhavemoulded theoutcome.OnVenus,whosesurface ishotenough tomelt leadbecause of a runaway greenhouse effect, science fictionmight imagine life formswithmoltenmetalcoursingthroughtheirveins.Andindeepspace?TherecouldbeVogonsandKlingons, andthedragonsof Eden.ResearchersattwoUSuniversitieshaverecentlyproposedawideningof theconcept

of life intotheunknown—to“lyfe”.Toqualify, lyfemustbeabletomanageenergy,grow,maintain its internal environment (like wemaintain body temperature) and record,process andacton information. Interestingly, apart fromspacealiens, anightmarearti-ficialintelligencewhichoperatesautonomously—preciselytheonewhichElonMuskandStephenHawking had raised the alarm about— could probably tick all those boxes. Inthat case,wewouldnot have to send a rover the size of a sedan all theway to the otherplanets in searchof alien life. It couldbe righthereonearth, dreamingof impossible fu-tures in its siliconbrain.

NEP: Trick or treat?

Pratap BhanuMehta

Textofeducationpolicyartfullynavigatesseveralthickets.Fearsaboutdocumentcomefromcontext

THENEWEDUCATION Policy, for themostpart, provides a forward-looking frameworkfortransformingIndianeducation.Ifthegov-ernmentdoeslittleelsebutimplementmostoftherecommendationsonschooleducationandempower India’sschoolchildren, thefu-turewill belong to India. Butwe should alsobe under no illusion that the accumulatedweightofbetrayalsineducationalsothreatentomake this promising document just that:Anotherdocument.India’s political economyhas simply not

madequality education a toppriority.Whathas changed in the last couple of decades isthe explosion of aspiration and demand foreducation. But that demand has yet to bechannelisedintoinstitutionalchange.Alargepartofthebetrayalhascome,notfrompoliti-cians, but educators. Our resistance to fairchangehasbeenmonumental.Thereisanothercontextforscepticismas

well.Theemphasis inthedocumentoncriti-cal thinking and free inquiry is entirelywellplaced. But it is difficult to read thosewordsina context,whereaswespeak, universitiesare being intimidated into political and cul-turalconformity.Afreeeducationsystemcan-notflourishwithoutafreesociety;reasoncan-notbesovereigninthefaceofidentitypolitics.Sotheworkofensuringthatfreedomandcrit-ical thinking are notmerewords in a powerpoint, constrained by realities of power,willbedoublyharder.Itisaclichétosaythatitalldependsonim-

plementation.Itishardtodisagreewithmanyproposalsunlessoneseestheiroperationali-sation. The document lays downobjectives;the strategyhasyet to come. There is yet an-other promise of a new regulator, a new re-search foundation. A lotwill depend uponnorms that get embedded in these institu-tions.Thisgovernment’srecordonregulationis not inspiring. So the critical questionwill,less,be:Doesoneagreewiththedocument?Ithastoshifttoadifferentquestion:Whataretheconditionsthatwillmakesomeofitsmostpromisingideaswork?So fears of the document come from the

contextratherthanthetext.Thetextitselfisforthemostpartadmirable. Itdoesanartful jobofnavigatingseveralthickets.Onthelanguageissue, it is nicely ambiguous. It prefers thelong-standing recommendation of primary

educationinthemothertongue,butdoesnotcategorically recommend curbing languagechoice for English. On the basic architectureofdelivery,thedocumenthasanagnosticismon the issue of public versus private educa-tion both in school and higher education.Whether or not public education succeedswill not be determinedby this document; itwillbedeterminedbywhatthegovernmentdoeswith its expenditure andpriorities. So,criticisingthedocumentonthiscountismis-placed. The repeated emphasis on engage-mentwith Indiancivilisationalhistory isun-exceptionable,butif thatengagementcanbehonest, itwill inspiremore confidence. Thereductivedishonestyofsomepastcurriculumshouldnotbereplacedbythenewdishonestyofpride.Themost promising parts of the docu-

mentsareonschooleducation:Thefocusonearlychilddevelopment, learningoutcomes,differentformsofassessment,holisticeduca-tion, and,most importantly, recognising thecentrality of teacher and teacher education.Thispartofthedocumentwillgettheleastat-tentionbut is themost important.Thedocu-mentrecognisesthat“theveryhighestprior-ityof theeducationsystemwillbetoachieveuniversal foundational numeracy and liter-acy.”Therestof thepolicywillbeirrelevantifthis basic requirement is not achieved. Thesuggestions for school education are ambi-tious, centred on the students, cater to theirpedagogical diversity, and take onboard theworldofknowledgeasitisnowemerging.Thedocumentdropsthewordmultidisciplinaryabit toomuch, without explicatingwhat itmeans.Onewayof thinkingabout this isnotintermsofmultiplesubjects. It isreorientingeducationfromdisciplinarycontenttomodesofinquirythatallowstudentstoaccessawidevarietyofdisciplines.But thereare twoworrying tensions. The

document talks about flexibility, choice, ex-perimentation. Inhighereducation, thedoc-ument recognises that there is a diversity ofpedagogicalneeds.Studentsmightneeddif-ferentexitoptions.Butitisunclearif thedoc-umentisrecommendingthatthediplomaorearlyexitoptionsallbemadeavailablewithinasingleinstitution,ordifferentinstitutionsof-fer different kinds of degrees. If it is aman-dated optionwithin single institutions, this

willbeadisaster, sincestructuringacurricu-lum for a classroom that has both one-yeardiploma students and four-year degree stu-dents takesaway fromthe identityof the in-stitution.There isalsoarisk thatwithoutad-equatefinancialsupport,theexercisingofexitoptionswill be determined by the financialcircumstancesof thestudent.But the document betrays itself most by

recommendingthatallhighereducationinsti-tutionsbecomemultidisciplinary.Thisbetraysthe principle that different institutions havedifferentidentities,differentcomparativead-vantages,differentpedagogicalphilosophiesandadifferentmission.Somewillbenarrowandspecialised,somebroad-based.Ahealthyeducationsystemwillcompriseofadiversityofinstitutions,notaforcedmulti-disciplinar-ity. Students should have a choice for differ-entkindsof institutions.Thepolicyriskscre-atinganewkindofinstitutionalisomorphismmandatedfromtheCentre.The second tension is in termsof exams.

Thedocumentrightlyemphasises that focusneeds to shift fromexams to learning. But itcontradicts itself. Examsareneuroticexperi-ences because of competition; the conse-quences of a slight slip in performance arehugeintermsofopportunities.Sotheanswerto theexamconundrumlies in the structureofopportunity.Thiswillrequirealessunequalsociety both in termsof access to quality in-stitutions, and income differentials conse-quentuponaccesstothoseinstitutions.Indiaisfarfromthatcondition.Examsarealsonec-essary because in a low trust systempeoplewantobjectivemeasuresofcommensuration.So thedocument reinstates examsback intothepicturebyrecommendinganational ap-titude test. But the idea that thiswill reducecoaching iswishful thinking, as all the evi-dence fromtheUSandChina is showing. So,inthetyrannyofexams,themorewechangethingsthemoretheywillappearthesame.Butweshouldbegratefultoanadmirable

documentforfocussingontherightquestions.Thereismuchtodiscuss.Butthehopeisthatwith this our education policy can be trans-formedintoatreat,notanothertrickinalonglineofbetrayals.

Thewriter iscontributingeditor,TheIndianExpress

The emphasis in thedocument on criticalthinking and free inquiry isentirely well placed. But it isdifficult to read those wordsin a context, where as wespeak, universities are beingintimidated into political andcultural conformity. A freeeducation system cannotflourish without a freesociety; reason cannot besovereign in the face ofidentity politics. So the workof ensuring that freedom andcritical thinking are not merewords in a power point,constrained by realities ofpower, will be doubly harder.

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

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

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

WORDLYWISETwoandtwomakes five.

— GEORGE ORWELLTHEEDITORIALPAGE

Will Cathcart

THE DIGITAL LIFELINESCOVID-19underscores importanceoftoolsthathelpalleviatepoverty,buildresilience

INARECENTaddresstoleadersoftheUS-IndiaBusiness Council, PrimeMinisterNarendraModi highlighted the growth and gaps inIndia’s digital economy.Nearly 500millionIndianstodayareactiveinternetusers,hesaid,butanother500millionhaveyettocomeon-line.DoublingthesizeofdigitalIndiarequiresbridging this divide andexpanding access totoolsandplatformsthatpower India’sdigitaleconomytoday.Foremost among these platforms is the

UnifiedPaymentsInterface(UPI)system.Morethan four years ago, Modi launched thisground-breakinginitiativetoenableIndiancit-izenstomakedigitalpaymentstooneanotherandto themore than60million Indiansmallbusinesses that serve local communities andtheworld.TheUPIsystemsetanationalopenstandard

forallof India’sbanks(155andcounting)thattechnologycompaniescanadoptonanequaland level-playing field. This approachmeansthatnoonecompany,foreignordomestic,canwrite the rules for theother. Everyonehas tomeetthesamestandardssetinIndia.Thisprojecthasbeenverysuccessfulinjust

fouryears.Sinceitslaunch,theUPIsystemhasgrown tomanage a 100million-stronguserbase, and it is just scratching the surface.Meanwhile, it has set important new frame-worksaroundsecurityandefficiency.Becauseof thestrongrules that Indiahasput inplace,payment transaction information remains

withthebanksandwithinthecountry.AndasaplatformbuiltonIndiantechnologyandgov-ernedbyIndianrules,UPIbenefitsIndiansnowandholds great potential for further innova-tionandcommerce.RapidlyscalingUPIistheneedofthehour

andoneofthebestwaystostrengthenIndia’sdigitaleconomy.Todaypeoplecansendmoneytotheiragedparents,isolatedduringthistimeof physical distancing.Migrantworkers cansupport their families. Farmers can sell theirproductsoutsidethemarket.WithUPI,technologycompaniescanpart-

nerwith local technology leaders, andIndianfinancialinstitutions,toservetheuniqueneedsof India’sdiverseusers—especially those liv-ing inruralareasortransitioningtotheinter-net. Infact,NPCIhasalsosetagoaltoincreaseUPI’suserbaseto500millionby2022,whichifachieved,wouldbeatruegamechangerforDigitalIndia.Weareeagertocontributetothiseffort by launchingpayments onWhatsAppacrossIndiaandhelppoweranewwaveoffin-techinnovationandfinancial inclusion.TheUPI infrastructurewasbuilt for scale

and to reachhundreds ofmillions of peoplewithouttheriskofanyonecompanygrabbinganunfair share.Given the limitednumberofpeoplewhoareabletosendmoneytofriendsand loved ones even today, it is imperativemoretechcompaniesareabletoleveragethepowerofUPItoexpandthedigitalecosystemtoacceleratefinancial inclusion.

Indeed,UPIisaworld-classpaymentssys-temthatcanalsoanchorabroadersuiteoffin-techapplications likemicro-pensions, digitalinsuranceproducts, and flexible loanswhichWhatsAppcanfacilitate.Thesearecustomso-lutionscreatedby Indian technologycompa-nies, on thepublic infrastructure of UPI, thatwillfirstsolvelargesocial,businessandfinan-cialproblemsinIndiaandthenbecometem-platesforothercountriestodeploy.Thesepow-erful tools can build on the extraordinarysuccess India hasmade in liftingmillions ofpeople out of poverty andbuild resilience tofuture economic shocks. COVID-19has onlyunderscoredtheimportanceofthesetoolsthatwillserveascritical lifelinesforsmallandmi-cro-enterprisesandindividualsastheylooktorecoverfromthepandemic.Even amid global uncertainty, I ampro-

foundlyoptimisticaboutIndia’sfuturegrowth,andwesharePrimeMinisterModi’sbeliefthat“therehasnever beenabetter time to investin India.” While the world grapples withCOVID-19, India continues to stride forward.Weseeanationthatisdeterminedtomeetitsmomentandtheuniqueneedsofallof itscit-izens.Withcourage,ambition,andboundlesspotential, India can emerge from this pan-demic stronger thanever before—a leadingdemocraticdigitalpowerhousethatwill leadtheworldinthe21stcentury.

ThewriterisheadofWhatsApp

Since its launch, the UPIsystem has grown to managea 100 million-strong userbase, and it is just scratchingthe surface. Meanwhile, it hasset important newframeworks around securityand efficiency. Because of thestrong rules that India hasput in place, paymenttransaction informationremains with the banks andwithin the country. And as aplatform built on Indiantechnology and governed byIndian rules, UPI benefitsIndians now and holds greatpotential for furtherinnovation and commerce.

RAO ON BORDEREXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER P VNarasimha Rao told the Lok Sobha thatIndia was fully convinced that the align-ments shown in our map regarding theboundarywith China are true to the inter-national border. He was replying to a call-attentionnoticebyGhulamRasoolKochaksuggestingthatChinahadbeenbackslidingby disputing India's stand on theMacMahon Line as the boundary betweenthe twocountries.Raosaidaccording toaninterview carried by the official Chinesenewsagency,Xinhua,ChineseVicePremierDengXiaoping,had toldan Indian journal-ist that ever since negotiations on the

boundary question had begun, China had“never asked for the return of all territoryillegally incorporated into India by the oldcolonialists”.Thisbynecessary implication,reiterated the well-known Chinese viewabout the legality of theMcMahonLine.

CHENNA-INDIRA MEETTHERE IS NO question of resignation. Thiswas the cryptic answer given by AndhraChiefMinisterMChennaReddy towaitingjournalistsafterhishour-longmeetingwithGandhi. Reddy said he had a “frank andheart-to-heart”discussionwiththePM.Herefused to be drawn in further into the is-sue.HismeetingwiththePMwaspreceded

by twomeetings with the UnionMinisterfor Parliamentary Affairs, Bhishma NarainSingh, who has been named observer forAndhra Pradesh.

CENTRE WAITSTHECENTREISawaitingtheresponseof theAssamagitationleadersto itsacceptanceofthe“accord”broughtaboutbytheManipurChiefMinisterDorendra Singh, before tak-ing thenecessary follow-upaction.

RAFI IS DEADMOHAMMADRAFI, THE renownplaybacksinger,diedat theBombayHospital follow-ing aheart attack.Hewas54.

AUGUST 1, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

PASSING THE BLAMELeadershipcrisisof theCongress isnowmanifest ina farcical

battleof thegenerations

SIXYEARSAFTERitsufferedarout inageneralelection, theCongress isyettofigureoutwhyithaslosttheconfidenceofvoters.Since2014,whenthepartywasdramaticallyreducedfrom200plusseatstoameagre44intheLokSabha,the Congress has lost numerous elections, including the next general elec-tionin2019whenitstallywentupbyamereeightseats.Andyet, its leaders,

youngandold, seemcontentwithpassing theblame toeachother rather thanhonestlyreckoningwiththeirownfailings.AmeetingoftheRajyaSabhaMPscalledbyCongresschiefSoniaGandhionThursdaysawtheyoungblametheoldandthelatteraskall toreflectonwhythepartyperformssopoorly in successiveelections. Thisperiodic chest-beatingal-mostneverdemandsaccountabilityfromtheGandhifamilythathasledthepartytomul-tiplepolldebacles—afewwhospokeatThursday’smeetingdemandedthatRahulGandhi,who quit as party president after the 2019 defeat, be persuaded to return. Therein, per-haps, lietherootsof theCongress’swoes—aleadershipandcadrethatseesofficeaspriv-ilegeandinheritance, insteadof aprize forhardworkandperseverance.At Thursday’smeeting, younger leaders deemed close to Rahul Gandhi reportedly

blamedtheparty’sfallonthosewhowereministersintheUPA2government.Indeed,onereason for theUPA’sdebacle in2014was theperceivedcorruptionandmis-governancethatplaguedManmohanSingh’ssecondtermasprimeminister.Yet,thereseemstohavebeennoaccountability.Thesamecastof leaderscontinuestooccupypartypositionsanda fewhaveevenbeen rewardedwithberths in stategovernments and inParliament.Atthe same time, the younger leaders have little to show for themselves. Themore ambi-tiousamongthemseemall toowillingtoabandonideologyandexploreoptionsoutsidetheCongress rather thanchallenge theseniorswithin thepartyand forceachange.TheCongresswillneedtoarrestthedrift if itdoesnotwanttolosemoreleaderstori-

vals, oreven faceasplit. The listlessnessat the top in thepasthas seen it lose theoppor-tunitytoformgovernments—GoaandManipur—orsaveitsgovernments—KarnatakaandMadhyaPradesh.Beingthecountry’smainOppositionparty,thestateoftheCongresshas a bearing on India’s democracy. An alert and active Opposition that holds the gov-ernmentaccountable ismissing. It ismuchneeded.

New Delhi

11THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“The picture in Europe and further afield is grim. But we must not resignourselves to a large-scale recurrence of coronavirus.” — THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGE

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Many Opposition leaders donot want an honest debateand hence have been askingthe prime minister to refrainfrom attending this event.For long, blatant anti-Hinduism flourished underthe garb of the grandNehruvian secularismproject. L K Advani’s RathYatra in September 1990marked the beginning of theend of this kind of toxicsecularism.

Tilak, sedition, and afew lessons

OnBalGangadharTilak’shundredthdeathanniversary,whatgovernmentscanlearn fromhistwotrials

A LITTLEAFTERmidnight, Bal GangadharTilakpassedawayinBombayafterabriefill-nessexactly100yearsago.MahatmaGandhiandLalaLajpatRaiwereamongstthemanyleaderswhowerepartofthefuneralproces-sion that was attended by an estimated2,50,000people.Hisdeathbroughttoanendanamazinglyeventful65-yearjourneythatmarkedthebeginningofasystematicstrug-gle for thecountry’s freedom.This article isconfined to the two trials for sedition thatdemonstrate how the judicial systemwasmisusedtosilencethevoiceof freedom.Tilak’sfirsttrialforseditionhaditsorigin

inthefamineof1896.Itishardtobelievethatbetween 1876 and 1900, 18 famines oc-curred,takingastaggering19,000,000lives.Kesari, theweekly newspaper started byTilak, had a series of articles that criticisedtheconductofofficialswhoinsistedoncol-lectinglandtaxevenduringafamine,andfornot implementing the FamineRelief Code.Bubonicplague struckPune in1897,whichincidentally forced theBritish administra-tiontoenacttheEpidemicDiseasesAct,1897.Tostemthespreadofthiscontagiousdisease,repressivemeasureswereadoptedbyWalterCharlesRand,whowasappointedasaspe-cialdutyofficer.Intenseresentmentwasalsocausedbythedesecrationof placesofwor-ship. Rand was killed by DamodarChaphekar,whowasconvictedandhanged.Thisprovokedmoreanger,leadingtofurtherrepression.Tilakhadwrittenstrongarticlescondemning thebrutality of themeasuresadoptedevenbeforethismurder.Inaddition,Tilakalsowroteanarticlejustifyingthekillingof Afzal Khanby Shivaji. TheAnglo-Indianpress bitterly criticised theBritish govern-mentfornottakingactionagainstTilak.On July27,1897,Tilakwasarrestedand

tried for sedition before the BombayHighCourt. Ironically, the lawyerwho securedhimbail,DinshawDavar,becamethejudgewhowouldpass a savage sentenceonhim10years later.It is amatter of deep regret thatwhen

Tilak’s trialwasabout tobegin,noneof theleading lawyers of the Bombay HCwerewillingtoappear forhim.WCBonnerjee,aCongressleader,MotiLalGhosh,thefounderoftheAmritBazarPatrika,andRabindranathTagore collected almost Rs 20,000 fromdonorsandthiswasusedtosendtwolead-ing English barristers fromCalcutta to ap-pearforTilak.The trial before JusticeArthur Strachey

was a farce. Strachey’s address to the jurywasdeplorableanditisalmostunbelievablethatanarticleonthekillingofAfzalKhanbyShivaji couldbepart of the foundationof acase of sedition. Evenmore bizarre wasStrachey’s ruling that “disaffection”whichconstitutes the offence of sedition, undersection124AoftheIPC,wassimply“theab-senceofaffection”.HesentencedTilakto18months’ imprisonment.While theAnglo-

Indianpressgloatedoverhisconviction,therulingwascriticisedinEngland.Onenews-paperwrote that therewashardlyanyevi-dencethatwouldjustifysuchaseveresen-tence andobserved that if criticismwas tobepunishedassedition,“thegovernmentisonaperilouspath”.TheBritishpressnotedthat Strachey’s interpretation of “disaffec-tion”wouldbeunacceptable inEngland.ThepartitionofBengalandthekillingof

two Englishwomenby a bombhurled byKhudiramBoseledtolarge-scalerepression.The Anglo-Indian press attacked Tilak forprovoking the youth to engage in violentprotests.Onceagain,Tilakwroteseveralar-ticlesinKesariandaskedthegovernmenttostoprepressingfreedom.Hepointedoutthatthe bestway to stop violence and bombswastograntself-rule tothepeopleof Indiaand, inonearticle, criticised theExplosivesAct. Once again, Tilakwas arrested in June1908andchargedwithsedition.Initially,MAJinnahappeared forTilakandapplied forbail, but thiswas rejected by JusticeDavar,whohadappearedforTilakin1897.Thissecondtrialwasonceagainamere

formality. Tilak argued his own case. Hepointed out that the English translation ofhisarticleshadseriouserrorsandaskedforacorrectversion,butthispleawasrejected.Themostshockingpartof thetrialwasthatTilak’s residenceinPunewassearched,butnothingwas foundexcept a cardonwhichTilak hadwritten the names of twobooksonexplosives.TilakexplainedthatwhenhewaswritinganarticleontheExplosivesAct,he came across the names of these twobooks,butthiscardwasthebasisofanalle-gationthatTilakwasmanufacturingbombs.Whatwasregrettablewasthat the jury

consisted of seven Englishmen/Anglo-IndiansandtwoIndianswhoeventuallydis-sented.Davaracceptedthemajorityverdictand sentenced Tilak to six years imprison-ment.Hisarticles,accordingtoDavar,wereseethingwith sedition and approved thecommittingofmurderwithbombs.Hecon-cluded that Tilak’s journalismwas a cursefor India. Tilak respondedwith these im-mortalwords: “Imaintain that I am inno-cent. Therearehigherpowers that rule thedestiny of things and itmay be thewill ofProvidencethatthecausewhichIrepresentis toprospermorebymysuffering thanbymyremainingfree.”TilakwassenttoMandalayjailinBurma

and returned in 1914. JusticeDavar's judg-mentcameinformuchcriticism.Animpor-tantquestionraisedwasthatwhentheHighCourt'sjurypanelcontainedseveralMarathi-speakingHindus, therewasnoexplanationfor their exclusion.Davar’s verdictwas alsocriticisedbyseveralnewspapersinEnglandexceptforTheTimes,whichwelcomedit.Onenewspaper sarcastically remarked that thetrialcouldhardlybeanillustrationoftheim-partialityof theBritishjusticesystem.Tilak's imprisonment by invoking the

lawof sedition failed to suppress the free-domstruggle.Thetwotrialsteachususefullessons in dealingwith public protests. Awise governmentwould dowell to ascer-tain the opposite viewpoint and have thegracetocorrectitspathwherevernecessary.Suppressingwidespreaddissentorcriticismhasalwaysprovedcounterproductive.

Thewriter isaSeniorAdvocatepractisingintheSupremeCourt

INDECEMBER2017,theScienceChannel—apartofDiscoveryInc.—releasedashortvideoclip analysing the land bridge connectingIndia and Sri Lanka based on scientific evi-dence. The video clip released on Twitterclaimedthatthebridge,knowntoHindusastheRamSetu(thebridgeofLordRama),wasman-made. The short video has geologistAlan Lester, a professor at the University ofColorado,Boulder, ErinArgyilan, aprofessorintheDepartmentofGeosciencesatIndianaUniversityNorthwest,andothersdiscussingthefactthatthesandbarbetweenthetwona-tions is natural and that the stones coveringthesandbarhavebeenbrought fromfarandsetontop.PractisingHinduswouldknowthatthis incident is described in the YuddhaKandaoftheRamayana—thearmyofRama,theVanaraSena,createdthebridgeafterwrit-ingtheLord’snameontherocks.India does not needWestern academi-

cianstovalidatethescientificnatureofHindubeliefs.However,thismatterissignificantow-ingtothestanceofthethenCongress-ledUPAgovernment. InanaffidavitsubmittedtotheSupreme Court in September 2007, to dis-mantle the Ram Setu so that theSetusamudramshippingcanalprojectcouldbebuilt, theUPAgovernmentstatedthat“…mythologicaltexts,whichformedanimpor-tant part of ancient Indian literature…can-notbesaidtobehistoricalrecordstoincontro-vertiblyprovetheexistenceofthecharactersor the occurrence of the event.” In this case,theUPAmisusedtheArchaeologicalSurveyofIndia(ASI)tofurtheritsagendaanddenytheexistence of Lord Rama so that they coulddeny the existence of the Ram Setu in theprocess. Thanks to consistentpressure fromthe Sangh Parivar, this affidavit was laterwithdrawn. TheDirector of Monuments inthe ASI, who had signed the affidavit in theSupremeCourt, laterstatedthattheaffidavitwas prepared by theMinistry of Law andJusticeandhewasaskedtosign it.Theideaofsecularismwasgoodonpaper

as long as its practitioners believed it servedthe purpose of separating the affairs of thestate from religion. However, within a fewyearsofthecreationoftherepublic,itbecameatoolthatwasusedtoeitherguilt-tripthema-jority religionor to ekeoutdisproportionateconcessionsfromthem.Overtime,Nehruviansecularismdescendedintowhatittrulystoodfor — naked anti-Hinduism. Although thistransitiontorankanti-Hinduismseemslikearecentdevelopment,theoriginscanbetracedback toasearly as1951with the reconstruc-tionof theSomnathTemple.ThedecisiontoreconstructtheSomnath

TemplewasmadebySardarPatelandothersimmediately after Independence, inNovember1947.Gandhijifavouredtherecon-struction,butwantedittobefundedthroughpublicdonationsandcontributionswiththeUnion government playing no role in its re-construction. PrimeMinister JawaharlalNehrufoundthisinitiativetoberevivalist.HevehementlyopposedthemoveandwhenheheardthatPresidentRajendraPrasadwouldbeparticipatingintheeventtoinstallthede-

ity in the temple inMay1951, hewrote sev-eral letters todissuadehimfromdoingso.Two aspects become clear from Prime

MinisterNehru’s letter to thePresident:First,thedeepdiscomfortinaHinducivilisationtak-ingpride in itspastandtakingsteps to reviveitandsecond,themockingofHinduritualsandpractices suchas the request to embassies ofothercountries tocollect twigsandwater forthe consecration of the temple.While in hisletter to the President, the PrimeMinistertermstheactof collectingwaterandtwigsasrash, inthenotestotheForeignSecretaryandothers, he terms it as fanciful and asks em-bassiestonotentertainsuchrequests.The arguments thatweremade during

theSomnathconsecrationareusedevento-day.Somepublicintellectualsopinethatonlyaspecific typeofpublicgoodshouldbebuiltwhenever activities to reconstruct templesare initiated. Little do they understand thattemples are actually public goods, owing tothe philanthropic activities they undertakeandthesenseof communitythat they instil.This brings us to the event early this

month.ThePrimeMinisterandchiefministersof

variousstateshavebeeninvitedfortheBhumiPujan of the grand temple for Lord Rama at

his birthplace in Ayodhya on August 5. ThePM’sdecision to attend this eventbears sig-nificance as it sets the tone for us to discussanddebatethefulltruthregardingtherepres-sive regimes of the past and the attemptsmadetowipeoutanddestroysymbolsdeartoHinduism.ManyOppositionleadersdonotwantan

honest debate and hence have been askingtheprimeministertorefrainfromattendingthis event. For long, blatant anti-Hinduismflourished under the garb of the grandNehruvian secularismproject. L K Advani’sRathYatrainSeptember1990markedthebe-ginningof theendof this kindof toxic secu-larism. The symbolism of August 5, 2020,should signify the death of this kind of fakesecularism—where one community bearsthebruntofaprojectthatwascreatedtopre-ventthemfromunitingitspeople.Letthere-turn of Lord Rama in Ayodhya bring light toall, especially to those ignorant souls whorevel in creating narratives and barriers topreventareligionfromstakingclaimtowhatwasrightfullyhers.

Thewriter is theMinisterofState forHomeAffairs,andaMemberofParliament

fromSecunderabadconstituency

LIMITED PURPOSE

THISREFERSTOtheeditorial,‘Newpolicy,old test’ (IE, July31).TheNEPalonecan-notguaranteeatransformationintheed-ucation sector. One hopes that the in-creasedfundsreachestheschoolsacrossthecountrythatdonotevenhaveatoiletor a roof. Teachers’ vacancieshave tobeaddressed.Itislaudablethatinhighered-ucation, themodelhaschangedbut theissueofunemploymentremains.Englishisthelanguagerequiredforjobsandop-portunitiestheworldover.

SSPaul,Nadia

18 OR 21THISREFERSTOthearticle'Tackingtheeasywayout',(IE,July31).InIndia,onattainingtheageof 18, aperson is thought tohavetheagencytotakedecisionsforthemselvesandthesocietyatlarge.Thelegalageofma-rriage should ideallybea littlemore thanthis.Therehasbeenalongstandingdema-nd for a gender-neutral ageofmarriage.MoSPI data suggests the average age ofmarriageinIndiais22.1years,whereasforrural India it is21.7years.Anaveragewo-manisalreadygettingmarriedat21years.

SudipKumarDey,Kolkata

LIVES OF OTHERSTHISREFERSTOthearticle, 'For the loveofdog' (IE, July30). Thepieceunderlines theneedforlocalauthoritiestoconductproper

sterilisationdrives.Ashumanbeings,wesho-uldbeconsiderateofothersentientbeings.

VarunDas,Zirakpur

WALLS SPEAKTHIS REFERS TO the editorial 'Amma'sthings'(IE,July31).Theoft-spokenproverb,“Evenwallshaveears”shouldhaveanad-dition, ”andcanspeakaswell”giventheinventory of the personal possessionsfoundatthehomeofthelateTamilNaduChiefMinisterJJayalalithaa's.Itrevealsherasavoracious reader. Incontrast, the re-coveryoflargeamountofgold,silverandthousandsofclothesshowsherpredilec-tionforpersonalgratification.

AzharAliKhan,Rampur

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

ASTATEBECOMESstablewhenthepeopleliv-inginitacquirewhatiscalled“nationaliden-tity”, saysFrancisFukuyama.Somehow, reli-giondoesn’thelp in thisprocessof acquiringcollective identity. If one looks at the Islamicworld, thisprocessof becominganationhasbeenderailed by religion. Yet,most politicalleadersseektoemphasisereligiontostabilisethe senseof being anation among its variedpopulation.IfIndiahadobservedhowreligiondeprived Pakistan of its national identity, itwouldhavethoughtdifferentlyaboutthepo-tentialof religion.Pakistanthoughtitcouldbecome“one”by

havingasingle“nationallanguage”,butwhenUrduwasproposedasthenational language,the people of East Pakistan, proud of theirBengali legacy, refused toaccept it. Insteadofacquiringanationalidentity,thepeoplegotdi-videdandfinallyseparatedin1971.In 1949, Pakistan sought to become an

“Islamic” state to give its people a “nationalidentity”thatwouldbindthemtogetherandstabilise the state.What happened immedi-atelywas that its non-Muslim communitiesfeltleftout.Inthe1941census,Pakistan'snon-Muslimsconstituted25percentofthepopu-lation.However,inthe1998census,thisnum-ber had declined to 3.6 per cent. Instead ofacquiring a “national identity”, Pakistanpurgeditselfof itsnon-Muslims.What stabilises the state— according to

Fukuyama—is its firmnational identity. Butit isnot religionwhichbestowsthis identity;religion actually destroys it. In Pakistan,mi-norityHindusandChristianshaveeitherfledor are being treated badly. But this does notmeanthat theMuslimsofPakistan—theso-calledmajority—are living inpeacewithanagreed collective identity. Among theMuslims, themost prominent factor goingagainst “national identity” is the Shia-Sunnischism. The Shia population—around6percent—isincreasinglyunhappybecauseofthewaynarrow interpretations of religionhavesidelined them. They are killed by extremistSunni “non-state actors” that Pakistan har-bourstofight itsneighbourhoodwars.Intense religious identity, instead of be-

stowing “national” identity, starts purgingMuslimsnotconsidered“regular”by fellow-Muslims.PakistanhasconstitutionallyoustedtheAhmadiMuslims fromstate nationality.They are notMuslims in Pakistan. They be-comeMuslims themoment they step into,let’s say, India thathasnotapostatisedthem.Thereareotherpotential“apostates” liketheAga Khani Ismaili and Bohra communities,whocanbetargetedby jihadioutfits that in-creasinglyclaimtobethearbitersof identityinthecountry.DoesthismeanthatPakistanisultimately a Sunni statewhere only Sunniscan live in peace?Unfortunately, the SunnishaveaDeobandi-Barelvisplitandcanbevery

nastytooneanother.AndthereisaWahhabiAhleHadith variety thatwould like topurgebothof themif itgotthechance.InthecaseoftheShiaofQuettaandGilgit-

Baltistan,thegrowthofjihadiIslaminPakistanhas forced them to turn to Iran for consola-tion,ifnotsurvival.TheAfghanTaliban“shura”—whichPakistan“sheltered”inQuetta—andthe Islamic State, kill Hazaras, the local Shiacommunity that has done rather well asPakistanis.Nothing ismoreheart-rending inPakistanthantoseetheHazarasbeingmassa-cred by fellowMuslims fromas far away asPunjabtocoverthemselves inglory.If religion doesn’t give a stable national

identity,whatshouldthestatedotosurvive?Looking at theMiddle East before the ArabSpringdestroyedit,onecansaythatonlyau-thoritarianismcan keep religion at bay. Theregionwasreasonablystablebefore the ideaof democracy came to the fore in Egypt andthe religiously conservative Arabs thoughtthey should give democracy a chance. Aftertheradical-IslamistIkhwanwontheelectionthere, Egypt started falling apart forcing themilitarytotakeoverandpreventtheChristianCoptsfrombeingputtothesword.Today,the“authoritarian”Gulfsurvivesas

a stable regionwhile “democratic” Tunisia,Iraq,SyriaandLibyafaceself-destruction.Thedictators had kept them going, posing nothreattootherArabstatesruledoverbykings.

After theArabSpring failedamidbloodshed,themonarchshelpedstabilisethedictatorstokeeptheArabstatesgoing.Others,likeoil-richIraq andmulti-racial Syria, are dangerous toliveinbecauseofanabsenceof“nationaliden-tity”. In Iran,where an authoritarian-clericalgovernance has survived external threats,peaceiskeptonlythroughtheremovalofthedemocraticopposition.Stable states havewell-entrenched na-

tional identities,but it isnot religionthatbe-stowsnationalidentity.LikePakistan,Turkeyis going religious after removing an indirect“secular” dictatorship; and itsminorities arefeelingtheheat.Itisalsotakingpartinthere-vivalofthe19thcenturyTurkish-ArabconflictinLibyawhererivalUnitedArabEmiratesandEgypt are trying to impose a dictatorship to“save” it frombecoming “democratic” and,therefore,self-destructive.Fukuyamawrites: “In the contemporary

world,diversity—basedonrace,ethnicity,re-ligion,gender,sexualorientation,andthelike— is both a fact of life and a value. Formanyreasons, it is a good thing for societies.Exposuretodifferentwaysofthinkingcanof-ten stimulate innovation, creativity, and en-trepreneurship. Diversity provides interestandexcitement.”

Thewriter isconsultingeditor,NewsweekPakistan

Ratherthanshoringupnationalidentity,itcreatesschisms

Religion does not holdKhaledAhmed

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●NEPANDATMANIRBHARBHARAT:

RAGHAVENDRAPTRIPATHI

●●TILAKANDARCTIC:

UTTAMKUMARSINHA

www.indianexpress.com

GKishanReddy

Arvind PDatar

CR Sasikumar

PM’sdecisiontoattendBhumiPujanofRamtemplesets thetone forus todiscussanddebate the full truthabouta toxicsecularism

Somnath to Ayodhya

New Delhi

HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI, JULY31

THEUTTARPradeshgovernmenthastoldtheCentrethatithasplannedtofixtheminimumenvironment flow for thepolluted stretchesof at least six rivers.E-flow is theminimum limit of flow re-

quired tomaintain a river in the desired en-vironmental state.Thestategovernmenthasplannedtoreg-

ulate the E-flow for polluted stretches ofSaryu,Hindon,Ramganga,Betwa,GhagharaandRaptirivers.Sofar,Gangaistheonlyriverin the country for which E-flow has beenfixedbytheCentre. InOctober2018,thethenMinistry of Water Resources, RiverDevelopment and Ganga Rejuvenation —nowMinistryof JalShakti—hadissuedano-tification, fixing theE-flowforGanga.

“Environment Flow of River Ganga ismaintained as per the provisions of the E-Flow notification of MoWR, GoI. TheIrrigationandWaterResourcesDepartmentUPhaspreparedaplanforEnvironmentFlowstudies of 6 perennial polluted rivers in theState,” theUttarPradeshgovernmentsaidina monthly progress report to NationalMission forCleanGanga (NMCG).Thestatehasreportedthestatusof12rivers

—Hindon,Kali(East),Varuna,Yamuna,Gomti,Ganga,Ramganga,Betwa,Ghaghara,Rapti,SaiandSaryu.Ofthese,GangaandYamunaarein-ter-stateriversandtheE-flowforGangahasal-readybeennotifiedby theCentre. Thee-flowforYamunaisyettobedecided.The NMCG had assigned a study to the

National Institute of Hydrology (NIH),Roorkee,toassesstheminimumrequireden-vironmental flow of Yamuna in the stretchbetween Hathini Kund and Okhla. NIH hassubmittedaninterimreporttotheNMCGanda final is expected in thecomingmonths.TheE-flowcannotbemaintainedforKali

(East), Varuna, Gomati, and Sai as these arenon-perennial rivers, states the report.The stategovernmentplans to fixE-flow

for Hindon between Saharanpur andGhaziabad, the report said. It added E-flowforSaryuwillbefixedforthepollutedstretchbetween Ayodhya and Elafatganj, a town inAmbedkarNagar. OnRamganga,whichorigi-natesfromDoodhatolirangesinUttarakhand’sPauriGarhwal, theplan is to fix E-flow fromMoradabadtoKannaujwhereitmeetsGanga.

EXPRESSNETWORK12 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

''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.

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0040543522-1

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0040543522-2

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0040543509-5

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II,, RashmiAroraW/oSh.ManojKumarR/o 705-E/6MehrauliDelhi doherebydeclare thatmynamebeforemarriagewasRekhaKumariwhichwasmentioned inmypolicyno.115019165. RashmiAroraandRekhaKumari is the sameandone lady.

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II,,MANOJJ SKUMAR,S/OJAGADISHSKUMAR,R/O-À-19/20, DOUBLE-STORYMALKA-GANJ,DELHI-110007,havechangedmynameMANOJKUMAR toMANOJJ SKUMAR,for all purpose.

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LLOOSSTT&&FFOOUUNNDD

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PUBLIC NOTICEBe it known to all that my client namelyZuhuruddin S/o Gafoora R/o 156,Chandanhola Village, Near NooraniMasjid, New Delhi-110074 has severed hisall relations from his son namely Azruddinand his wife Smt. Afsana and alsodebarred them from his all moveable andimmoveable properties. My client shall notbe responsible for any acts, deeds andthings done by them in future in anymanner whatsoever. Whoever deal in anymanner with them may do so at his or herown free will and responsibility.

Sd/-M.S. KHAN

ADVOCATEOffice : B-253, Chhatterpur Enclave,

New Delhi-110074,Mobile : 98104 71894, 95555 99923

PUBLIC NOTICENOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN TO THE GENERALPUBLIC THAT MY CLIENTS NAMELY SHRIPRAVEEN ANAND S/O LT. G.B. ANAND ANDSMT. SUNITA ANAND W/O PRAVEEN ANANDBOTH R/O C-144, JHILMIL COLONY, DELHI-110095 HAD DEBARRED TO THEIR SONNAMELY ASHISH ANAND AND HIS WIFEPOOJA FROM THEIR MOVABLE AND IMMOV-ABLE PROPERTIES WITH IMMEDIATEEFFECT REASONABLY IN THEIR OLD AGETHEY DO NOT WANT ANY HARASSMENT ANDCREATION OF PROBLEMS FROM THEIR SONAND HIS WIFE IN DAILY LIFE BEING BOTHARE THE SENIOR AND PEACEFUL CITIZENS.IF ANYBODY DEALS WITH THEM FOR ANYKIND MAY AT THEIR OWN RISK AND CONSE-QUENCES AND MY ABOVE SAID CLIENTSSHALL NOT BE HOLD RESPONSIBLE IN ANYWAY.

Sd/- NIKKHIL MALHOTRA (ADVOCATE)632 WESTERN WING, TIS HAZARI COURTS,

DELHI- 110054, (M) 9716040058

3 4hRLY(4)PUBLIC NOTICE

My clients Shri Ramesh Kumar S/o Sh.Mohan Lal and Smt. Nisha W/o Sh.Ramesh Kumar both R/o H. No. RZ-R-127,Chankya Place, Part-2, Uttam Nagar, NewDelhi-110059, have debarred and disownedhis son Sahil Kumar S/o Sh. RameshKumar and his wife Smt. Kajal W/o Sh.Sahil Kumar from all their movable andimmovable properties and broken allrelations with them as all of them are out ofcontrol and creating trouble to my abovesaid clients. If any body dealing with them.He/she shall be responsible for the same athis/her own risks and consequences. Myclients shall not be responsible for thesame, whatsoever, in any manner.

Sd/- H.S. DhillonAdvocate

Enr. D/345/97 (R)Chamber No. : 135, Patiala House Court,

New Delhi-110001

PUBLIC NOTICEThis is to notified to all that my clientnamely Sh. Madan Gopal S/o RadheyShyam R/o House No. 4/2625, Gali no.7, Bihari Colony, Shahdara, Delhi-110032 is going to purchase a property,vide bearing no. IV/2621, Gali No. 7,Govardhan Bihari Colony, Shahdara,Delhi-110032 from Mr. Pradeep BansalS/o Sh. Baij Nath Bansal R/o House No.IV/2621, Gali No. 7, Govardhan BihariColony, Shahdara, Delhi-110032. Butearlier in the year 2006-2007, Sh.Pradeep Bansal had also executed aSale Deed vide bearing its no. 7541 quathe House No. IV/2621, Gali No. 7,Govardhan Bihari Colony, Shahdara,Delhi-110032This is further notified to all that thedocuments pertaining to aforsaid saledeed duly executed by Sh. PradeepBansal in favour of Sh. Shiv KumarBansal has been losted somewhere. If inany case, anybody will use the aforesaidsale deed legally, the use of the saiddocuments will be treated as null andvoid. Further a legal action will be takenagainst him.

Sd/- SANJAY GAURADVOCATE

Enrol. No. D-2045/2007Chamber No. E-712, Karkardooma

Courts, Delhi-110032.

PUBLIC NOTICEBe it known to all that my client namelyNasir S/o Gafoora R/o 156, ChandanholaVillage, Near MCD School, New Delhi-110074 has severed his all relations fromhis son namely Mustakeem and his wifeSmt.Arfina and also debarred them fromhis all moveable and immoveableproperties. My client shall not beresponsible for any acts, deeds and thingsdone by them in future in any mannerwhatsoever. Whoever deal in any mannerwith them may do so at his or her own freewill and responsibility.

Sd/-M.S. KHAN

ADVOCATEOffice : B-253, Chhatterpur Enclave,

New Delhi-110074,Mobile : 98104 71894, 95555 99923

HIMACHAL PRADESHPUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

☎ (01905-272269 Fax:- 272862 Email: ee-dhar-hp@nic.inNo: PW-DPD-CB-Tender/2020:6548-50 Dated: 30/07/2020

INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)The Executive Engineer, Dharampur Division, HPPWD Dharampur , Distt: Mandi (H.P) on behalf of Governor of H.P invites the item rate bids, in electronic tendering sys-

tems from the eligible class of contractors registered with HPPWD for the work as detailed in the table.

The bidders are advised to note other details of tender from the department websitewww.hptenders.gov.in.

Sr. Name of Work Estimated Starting date Earnest Money Deadline forNo. Cost (Rs.) for bid Money (in submission

downloading bid Rs.) of bid

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 8,29,85,396/- 14/08/2020 500000/- 28/08/2020M/T Guin Ubhak Banerdhi Kaunsal Kandapattan road KM 0/00 to 24/00(SH: C/O R/Wall, B/Wall, CD Works, Mettaling and Tarring, V ShapeDrain, Parapets and Sign board in KM 0/00 to 24/00)

Executive Engineer,Dharampur Division, HPPWDDharampur,Distt: Mandi (H.P)on behalf of Governor of H.P2010/HP

CX.X ´fi. ´ff½fSX MÑXfaÀfd¸fVf³f IYfSX´fûSmXVf³f d»f.X BÊ-d³fd½fQf Àfc¨f³ff Àfa.30/BÊXÀfeMXeÀfe/¸fbSXf./2020-21BÊ-M`¯OS, ¨ffS ¸ffW I e ½f`²f°ff WZ°fb QfZ ·ff¦fûÔ ¸fZÔ,·ff¦f-1 ½f ·ff¦f-2 A²fûd»fd£f°f d½f½fS¯f IZ A³fbÀffSAf¸fadÂf°f dI ¹fZ ªff°fZ W`ÔÜ Ii ¸ffaI 1 ÀfZ 2 °fI I ed³fd½fQf¹fZÔ ´fif~ Wû³fZ E½fa £fû»fZ ªff³fZ I e dQ³ffaI ½fÀf¸f¹f 04.09.2020, 14.00 ¶fªfZ E½fa05.09.2020, 14.00 ¶fªfZ W`Ü IiY¸ffaIY 1. IYf¹fÊIYf ³ff¸f 220 IZ .½fe. C´fIZ ³Qi ¶f²ffBÊ I »ff,¸fbªfµR S³f¦fS ´fS ´fWba¨f ¸ff¦fÊ E½fa I »½fMÊ IZ d³f¸ffʯfWZ°fb ´fiÀ°ff½ff³fbÀffS I f¹fÊ IiY¸ffaIY 2. IYf¹fÊ IYf ³ff¸f132 IZ .½fe. C´fIZ ³Qi ¶f¶fSf»ff Àf¸·f»f ´fS 132IZ .½fe. ¶f¶fSf»ff-²f³ffSe (Àf¸·f»f) Me.EÀf.EÀf.»ffB³f IZ d»f¹fZ 01 AQQ 132 IZ .½fe. kk¶fZll IZªff³f´fQe¹f I f¹fÊÜ d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf BÊ-´fiû¢¹fûS¸fZÔM½fZ¶fÀffBÊM http://etender.up.nic.in ÀfZ WeÀ½feI fS dI ¹fZ ªff¹fZÔ¦fZÜ C¢°f d³fd½fQf ÀfZ Àfa¶fad²f°fd½f½fS¯f ¹f±ff °fI ³feI e d½fdVf¿MeI S¯f, I f¹ffʽfd²f,²fSûWS SfdVf, d³fd½fQf ´fi´fÂf I e »ff¦f°f, B°¹ffdQ E½fadI Àfe ´fiI fS IZ ÀfaVfû²f³f, ´fdS½f°fʳf, Vfbdð ´fÂf WZ°fbhttp://etender.up.nic.in A±f½ffwww.upptcl.org ´fS »ffgd¦f³f I SmÔÜ kSfáÑ dW°f ¸fZÔd¶fªf»fe ¶f¨ff¹fZÔl WXÀ°ff./- A²feÃf¯f Ad·f¹f³°ffd½fôb°f ªff³f´fQ ´ffSmX¿f¯f ¸f¯OX»f, CX.´fi. ´ff½fSXMÑXf³Àfd¸fVf³f IYfSX´fûSmXVf³f, d»f., ¸fbSXfQf¶ffQÜ´fÂffaIY 453 dQ³ffaIY 31/07/2020

Government of GujaratNarmada Water Resources, Water Supply

and Kalpasar DepartmentTender Notice No. 03 of 2020-21

ONLINE Tender is invited for the work of Supply, Installation,Testing, Commissioning of Automatic Water Level Recorder (Non-Contact Radar Type-AWLR) and Automatic Rain Gauge (ARG) RealTime Data Acquisition System (RTDAS) GSM/GPRS based atVarious Location Across Gujarat State Including operation andmaintenance of AWLR & ARG, Maintaining Data Acquisition Systemfor 4 (Four) years and other allied services under NationalHydrology Project by The Executive Engineer, W.R.I. Division,Ahmedabad. Last Date of Online Tender submission: 21/09/2020upto 16.00 Hrs. Date of Pre-Bid Meeting: 24/08/2020 at 12.00 Hrs.Subsequent addendum and corrigendum will only be published onwww.nprocure.com. Website and it will be bound to all the bidders.

For further details contact to this office during office hours.Detailed Tender Notice can also be seen on www.nprocure.com,www.nhp.mowr.gov.in & www.statetenders.com.

No. INF/ABD/413/2020

PUBLIC NOTICEBE IT KNOWN TO ALL THAT MY CLIENT SHRINAGENDRA PRASAD S/O LATE SHRIBHAGRIRATH PRASAD R/O 1/5786, 2NDFLOOR, BALBIR NAGAR, MAIN CHOWKSHAHDARA, DELHI-110032 HAS DISOWNEDHIS SON NAMELY ATUL KUMAR DUE TO HISMISBEHAVIOR AND MISCONDUCT TOWARDSMY CLIENT. MY CLIENT ALSO SEVERED ALLTHE RELATIONS AND DEBARRED HIM FROMHIS ALL MOVABLE AND IMMOVABLEPROPERTIES AND THAT’S WHY MY CLIENT ISNOT RESPONSIBLE REGARDING ANY ILLEGALACT AND CONDUCT DONE BY HIS SONNAMELY ATUL KUMAR AND IF ANY PERSON/PERSONS DEALING WITH HIM COMPLETELYON HIS/ HER/ THEIR OWN RISK ANDRESPONSIBILITY AND MY CLIENT SHALL NOTBE HELD RESPONSIBLE LIABLE FOR ANY ACTOR CONSEQUENCES DONE BY HIM. AMARJITSINGH ADVOCATE.

Sd/-(AMARJIT SINGH)

AdvocateKh. No. 374, MG Road, Sultanpur,

New Delhi-1100030

Mob.: 9871776545, 9873080036

SADAFMODAKMUMBAI, JULY31

ALIHUSSAINAnsarifinallyman-agedtoboardaShramikSpecialtrain on Friday evening for hishometown Hazaribagh inJharkhand after over fourmonthsofbeingstrandedwith-outwork inMumbai.ThelastShramiktrainbefore

Friday had left the city forManipuron June30.Ansarinei-ther had money to board theothertrainsthathadstartedop-erationsnorcouldhemanagetofind a job despite the gradualopeningupof thecity.Ansariworkedas a loader in

a garment factory's godown insouthMumbai.Thegodownwasalsohishome,aswasthecaseforfive others fromHazaribagh, allof whomhad come toMumbaitogether in January.The job paid him Rs 9,000,

but he had barely worked fortwo-and-a-half months whenMumbai started shutting downfromthesecondweekofMarch,followed by the lockdown onMarch22.Hecountshimself for-tunate that he could continuesleepinginthegodown.Forfood,he had to depend on ration andfooddistributedbysocialgroupsin thearea.During the lockdown, his at-

temptstoreturntoJharkhandre-mained unsuccessful. But thisThursday, he received the call hehadbeenwaitingforallthesedays

– he had been listed for theShramiktrainthatwouldtake70other passengers like him fromBandra Terminus to Giridh inJharkhand. The five others inhisgrouparealsoreturningwithhim.Justbeforethelockdownwas

imposed,theyhadtriedtoreturnhomeby train. Apart of a largergroupofwomenandsenior cit-izens, they could not board thecrowded train. “Hiring privatevehicleswerealsonotanoptionas we did not have enoughmoney,”Ansari said.Evenasmanymigrantwork-

ers have begun returning to thestateforwork,stayingbackisnotanoption forAnsari.“Wecontinuedtostay in the

godown without earning anymoney, our savings dwindlingpainfully.Wewouldhavestayedback if there was any hope ofworkresumingsoonbuttheem-ployerdoesnothaveanyclarityonthematter,"hesaid.

Passengersof theShramiktrainatBandraTerminus inMumbaionFriday.PradipDas

ANJALIMARARPUNE, JULY31

INDIAWILLreceivenormalrain-fall during August andSeptember, the IndiaMeteorological Department(IMD)saidonFriday.The country-wide rainfall

during August and Septemberwill be 104 per cent of the LongPeriod Average (LPA), which is428.3mm,accordingtotheLongRangeForecastissuedbytheIMD.Rainfall inAugust isset tobe

97 per cent of the LPA. Of thefour rainy months, at least 70per cent of the season's rainfallover the country is recordedduring July andAugust. As halfof thesouthwestmonsoonsea-son comes to a draw, the coun-try rainfall stands at 452.1mmagainst a normal of 453mm –the cumulative rainfall sinceJune1 is just aboutnormal.Rainfall distribution in July

has been particularly concen-trated over the east and north-east regions, leading to severefloodingineasternUttarPradesh,BiharandAssamformostdaysofthemonth. On the contrary, thenorthwest and central India ex-periencedprolongeddrydays."We expect the seasonal

rainfall tobe102percentof theLPA. Monsoon will revive inAugust and central India re-gions will experience wide-spread rain," said MrutyunjayMohapatra, director general,IMD.The forecast also said

favourable sea conditions areprevailing."Theseasurfacetem-peratures indicate cold El NinoSouthern Oscillation (ENSO)conditions,whichwillprevailtilltheendofthemonsoonseason,"the forecast said.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMOHALI, JULY31

HIGHDRAMAwaswitnessedout-sideaprivatehospitalinDerabassiafter rats allegedlynibbledawaypartsofadeadwoman’s faceandears. Wife of a retired ArmyColonel fromPanchkula, JasjotKaur (52) had passed away onThursdayandherbodyhadbeenkeptatthehospital’smortuary.On Friday, the family of the

deceased protested outside thehospitalbuildingafterwhichthepolice and the local tehsildarrushed to the spot. The protestended after the family was as-sured of a thorough investiga-tion intotheallegednegligence.Later,thelocalpolicetookthe

bodyintotheirpossession,afterwhich itwas taken toDerabassiCivil Hospital where a post-mortemwill be held Saturday.The deceased, Jasjot Kaur, wasidentifiedas thewifeof ColonelAmarjeetSinghChandok(retd).Jasjot's family said that she

was admitted to IndusHospitalin Derabassi where she died onThursdaydue tocardiacarrest.The deceased’s daughter,

ChamanpreetKaur,saidafterhermother'sdeath,shechangedherclothesandthebodywas trans-ferred to the mortuary in thehospital.“WhenIarrivedtotakethe body, I noticed blood stainsonmymother’s face and ears.When I asked the hospital staffabout it, they did not give anysatisfactory reply followingwhich I informedmyfather.Weexaminedthebody,andfoundithad been eaten up at the earsandthe face,” shealleged.The Managing Director of

Indus Hospital, Dr SurinderSingh Bedi, said they will con-ductproperinquiryintotheinci-dentandtakeaction.

Lucknow: Clashes erupted be-tweentwocommunitiesinaRaeBareli village on Thursday overanallegedmolestationincident,leading to fivebeingarrested.Police arrested fiveMuslim

youths – all in their 20s – on acomplaint lodged by the villagepradhan, a Hindu, who allegedthathisniecewasmolesteddur-ing a scuffle between the twoneighbours.Thefamilyofthear-restedaccusedalsofiledacross-FIR against the pradhan andhisfamilymembersaccusing themof assault. Police, however, ex-punged it later. IG (LucknowRange) Laxmi Singh said it wasexpunged as the charges werefoundtobefalseduringaprobe.While the local Station offi-

cer has been suspended, ChiefMinisterYogiAdityanathhasdi-rectedpolicetotakestrictactionagainsttheaccusedandconsiderinvoking the National SecurityAct (NSA)against them.ENS

Stuck in Mumbai for 4 monthswithout work, labourer boardsShramik train back to Jharkhand

Ansari slept inthegodownofagarmentfactory insouthMumbaianddependonrationdistributedbysocialgroups

IMD: Rainfallacross Indiato be normalin Aug, Sept

PUNJAB

Rats eat awayat woman’sbody, kin allegenegligenceby hospital

Clash in RaeBareli village, 5held for molestingpradhan’s niece

Plan to regulate E-flow forpolluted stretches of sixrivers, UP govt tells Centre

New Delhi

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Phone-07762-232668, Email-cmhoraigarh@rediffmail.comIiY¸FFaIY/·FaOXFSX/2020-21/14498 /SXF¹F¦FPX, dQ³FFaIY 28.07.2020

dªFÕXF SXF¹F¦FPX Aa°F¦FÊ°F dÀFd½FÕX AÀ´F°FFÕX JSXdÀF¹FF E½Fa ²FSX¸FªF¹F¦FPX IZY dÕXEDigital X-Ray Machine 300 MA With CR System IiY¹F E½Fa À±FF´F³FFÀFdWX°F d³F¸FFÊ°FF A±F½FF CX³FIZY Ad²FIÈY°F d½FIiZY°FFAûa ÀFZ ÀFeÕX ¶FaQ dÕXRYFRZY ¸FZÔ d³Fd½FQFAF¸FadÂF°F IYe ªFF°Fe W`XÜ d³Fd½FQF ¶FaQ dÕXRYFRZY ¸FZÔ A²FûWXÀ°FFÃFSXIY°FFÊ IZY IYF¹FFÊÕX¹F ¸FZÔdQ³FFaIY 31.08.2020 IYû ÀF¸F¹F 3 ¶FªFZ A´FSXF³WX °FIY ´FiF´°F WXû ªFF³FF ¨FFdWXEÜÀF¸F¹FF½Fd²F IZY ´F¾¨FF°F ´FiF´°F WXû³FZ ½FFÕZX d³Fd½FQFAûa IYû ¸FF³¹F ³FWXe dIY¹FF ªFF½FZ¦FFÜd³Fd½FQF IYe ¾F°FZÊ ½F d³F¹F¸F ÀFc¨Fe IYF¹FFÊÕX¹Fe³F ÀF¸F¹F ¸FZÔ (A½FIYF¾F IZY dQ³FûÔ IYû LXûOXIYSX) 1000-00 ÷Y´F¹FZ ³F¦FQ I`Y¾F¾FFJF ¸FZÔ ªF¸FF IYSX Ad²FIÈY°F d½FIiZY°FF ´Fi¸FF¯F-´FÂF ´FiÀ°Fb°F IYSX, ´FiF´°F IYe ªFF ÀFIZY¦FeÜd³Fd½FQF RYF¸FÊ ´FiF´°F IYSX³FZ IYe Aad°F¸F d°Fd±F 25.08.2020d³Fd½FQF ªF¸FF IYSX³FZ IYe Ad³°F¸F d°Fd±F 31.08.2020 Qû´FWXSX 03 ¶FªFZ °FIYd³Fd½FQF JûÕX³FZ IYe d°Fd±F 31.08.2020 ÀFF¹Fa 4 ¶FªFZ

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No.CSB/CSTRI/33(20)/2020-Stores

The Director, CSTRI, Central Silk Board, Bengaluru invites bids throughe-procurement portal under two bid system from reputed manufacturers ortheir Authorized dealers/suppliers in accordance with revised PublicProcurement (Preference to Make in India) Order No. 2017 dated 4.6.2020byMinistry of Commerce and Industries, Govt. of India for Rate Contract formanufacturing and supply (to the beneficiaries) of Indigenous Automa cReeling Machinery Package (400 ends & 200 ends) - Empanelment ofManufacturers / suppliers.Interested par es may download the details about the technicalspecifica ons, terms & condi ons, price schedules from the websites ofwww.cstri.res.in/www.csb.gov.in/www.eprocure.gov.inLAST DATE OF SUBMISSION OF BIDS : 31.08.2020 TILL 2.00 PMDATE OF OPENINGOF BIDS : 01.09.2020 3.00 PM

TENDER NOTIFICATIONSubject : Rate Contract for Indigenous Automa c Reeling Machinery Package - Empanelment

of Manufacturers/suppliers -Reg.

CENTRAL SILK TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTECENTRAL SILK BOARD

Ministry of Textiles, Government of IndiaBTM Layout, Madiwala, Bengaluru - 560 068, Karnataka

Ph.: 080-26282325/2326, Fax: 080-26680435, E-mail: cstriban.csb@nic.in

Date: 01.08.2020

Appx. Tender Value : Rs. Two Crores

DIRECTORDAVP: 41109/11/0008/2021

Save Energy for theBenefit of Self and Nation

The date of Sale and opening of tender for Design, Manufacture, Supply,Transportation, Insurance, Erection, Testing and Commissioning of 3 nos.500 kVA, 11/0.440kv Dry type station indoor type transformer alongwithpower cables and accessories for Bassi Power House (4x16.5MW),HPSEBL, Jogindernagar, District Mandi(H.P.) is hereby extended as perthe following schedule:

HIMACHAL PRADESH STATE ELECTRICITY BOARD LIMITED

The detailed tender notification can be viewed/downloaded free of costfrom website http://www.tenderwizard.com/hpsebl and tender documentcan be had after making prescribed payment. Any clarification/amendmentshall be uploaded on the above website.All other terms and conditions shall remain unchanged

Sd/-(Pratap Thakur)Superintending Engineer (Designs)Power House Electrical,HPSEB Ltd, Sundernagar,Distt. Mandi (HP)-175019

(e-tendering Mode only)(A State Govt. Undertaking) CORRIGENDUM -3

Request/Issue for onlinetender documents

From 16.06.2020 (10.00Hrs.)to 14.08.2020 (12.30Hrs)

Last date of submissionof online Tender Up to 17.08.2020(11.00Hrs)

Date of opening ofTechno-commercial bid (Part-1) 17.08.2020(15.00Hrs)

Tel/FAX :- 01907-262596 | Email – sedphel@gmail.com

OOFFFFIICCEE OOFF TTHHEE DDGG && IIGG OOFF PPOOLLIICCEE,,JHARKHAND, RANCHI-834004.JHARKHAND, RANCHI-834004.

Corrigendum Notice

With reference to advertisement under PR No.229753\ (Police) 2020-21 regarding AnnualMaintenance Contract of IT Equipments toJharkhand Police Tender No.02/2020-21 by PoliceHeadquarters, Jharkhand, Ranchi, followingmodifications have been made after Pre-BidConference:-

The last date for submission of Tender Documentis amendedas 04-08-2020 by 15.00hrs.

Opening of the tender paper is amended as 04-08-2020 by 16.00 hrs.

Document related to Pre- Bid queries, responseand amendments can be downloaded from JharkhandPoliceweb-site“jhpolice.gov.in”.

I.G of Police (PrI.G of Police (Provision)ovision)Jharkhand, RanchiJharkhand, RanchiPR.NO.231362 Police(20-21):D

Government of IndiaDepartment of Atomic Energy

Bhabha Atomic Research CentreTechnical Services Division

North Site, Trombay, Mumbai-85

The Chief. Engineer, Technical Services Division, Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre, North Site, BARC, Trombay, Mumbai - 400 085, onbehalf of the President of India invites online item rate tenders on twobid system for following work :-NIT No. BARC/TSD/145/2020-21, Name of work - Maintenance ofelectrical system for the various buildings and providing round the clockoperation for substation andAC plant at Training school Building,BARC,Anushaktinagar,Mumbai ; Estimated cost - ` 1,35,00,000/- ; EarnestMoney - ` 2,70,000/-; Period of completion – 18 months; Last date andtime of submission of bid - 14.09.2020 (23:59 Hrs.).The bid forms and other details can be obtained from the Websitewww.tenderwizard.com/DAE or www.barc.gov.inChanges if any, in the above scheduled date etc. will be notified only onthe website www.tenderwizard.com/DAEContact for assistance / clarifications 24x7 @ 9969395522Shri Rudresh, e-mail: rudresh.tenderwizard@gmail.com

Chief Engineer

Notice Inviting e-Tenders

OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGERJKPCC LTD. MECH UNIT

Brick & Tile Factory Premises, OppositeSRTC Yard, Pampore, Kashmir-192121Email: dgmmechSrinagar@jkpcc.com

Gist of E-NIT NO: JKPCC/MU/K/25 of 2020-21

Issued under endorsement no:Mech/K/927-32, dated: 27-07-2020

On behalf of the Managing Director J&KPCCLtd. E-tenders are invited from manufacturers(OEM’s)/ Authorized dealers/firms/channel part-ners/experienced firms/contractors having validauthorization/Experience as per SBD of enit forDesign, Supply, Installation, Testing &Commissioning of one no 20 passenger, G+2,bed lifts& one no 13 passenger, G+2 gearless liftincluding electrification of lift shafts at DistrictHospital Ganderbal. The tenders shall be pub-lished on official website http://jktenders.gov.inon or before 29/07/2020, 6.00 PM and shall beavailable for download from 29/07/2020 at 6.00P.M. to 10/08/2020 6.00 P.M. The bidders arerequested to refer to the website for furtherdetails.

( Er. Faisal Azmat Shah)Deputy General Manager,

Mechanical Unit, JKPCC Ltd,Srinagar.

DIPK-NB-1654/20

Walk-in-InterviewApplications are invited from eligible candidates for engagement ofONE Senior Research Fellow in the AICRP Project entitled“Nutritional and Physiological Interventions for EnhancingReproductive Performance in Animals” funded by ICAR. Theservice of persons so engaged will be co-terminus with terminationof the project or earlier without assigning any reasons thereof.Interested candidates may send their application in advance in theprescribed format to Dr. Narayan Dutta, Principal Scientist &Principal Investigator, AICRP Project, Division of AnimalNutrition, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI),Izatnagar-243 122 (UP), and attend the walk-in-interview alongwith original certificates on 19/08/2020 at 11.00 AM in Division ofAnimal Nutrition, IVRI, Izatnagar. The details regardingqualification, eligibility, remuneration and application guidelinesare available at the institute website (http://www.ivri.nic.in).

ICAR-INDIAN VETERINARYRESEARCH INSTITUTE

IZATANGAR -243 122, BAREILLY (U.P.)

COL VASANTH V, ASHOK CHAKRA

(POSTHUMOUS)

25 Mar 1967 - 31 Jul 2007

In fond memory of our gallant CommandingOfficer who supreme sacrifice in the service ofthe nation at Uri (J&K) on this day. You willforever remain in our hearts.

Col Prashant Kumar Singh, SM, CO and All Ranks of 9MARATHA LI (NASHAK NAUVVI), ASHOK CHAKRA BATTALION

LNK SHASHIKANT BACHHAV, SHAURYA

CHAKRA (POSTHUMOUS)

01 Jun 1979 - 31 Jul 2007

In fond remembrance of our valiant soldierwho made the most noble service to thenation at Uri (J&K) on this day. We saluteyou and pledge never to let your sacrifice goin vain.

Col Prashant Kumar Singh, SM, CO and All Ranks of 9MARATHA LI (NASHAK NAUVVI), ASHOK CHAKRA BATTALION

13WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

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416,179Mexico

303,913United Kingdom

353,536Chile

482,169South Africa

4,496,737US

2,610,102Brazil

400,683Peru

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 17,334,539 DEATHCOUNT:674,038

Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonJuly31. JHU’sIndiatallyandHealthMinistry’stally(below)maynotmatchiftheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD838,461Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 16,38,870 (35,747 DEATHS)

4,11,798Maharashtra

2,39,978Tamil Nadu

46,080Bihar

81,039 UP1,34,403Delhi

60,285Gujarat

67,692West Bengal

1,30,557Andhra Pradesh

60,717Telangana

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

1,18,634Karnataka

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,July31.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.

1057805PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN35STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 471ArunachalPradesh 1484Assam 38407Bihar 48477Chandigarh 1016Chhattisgarh 8761DadraandNagarHaveli 1064Goa 5704Haryana 34254HimachalPradesh 2506JammuandKashmir 19869Jharkhand 10167Kerala 22303Ladakh 1378MadhyaPradesh 30968Manipur 2505Meghalaya 803Mizoram 408Nagaland 1566Odisha 30378Puducherry 3298Punjab 15456Rajasthan 40145Sikkim 610Tripura 4706Uttarakhand 7065

If youtestpositive,doyouhavethedisease?The unequivocal answer is: maybe. No

diagnostic test is 100% accurate. But if youarenot showing any symptoms, anddonothave any reason to believe youmight havebeen exposed to the virus, getting yourselftestedjusttocheckyourstatusmightnotbeadvisable.Youwouldpossiblybesurprisedtoknowhowbig theprobabilityof yourbeingincorrectly identified as positive can be insuch a case. The key, as youwill see later, istheprevalenceof thedisease,meaninghowwidespreadthediseaseisinthecommunity.

Howaccuratearetests?Notestis100%accurate. It isnotverydif-

ficulttobelievethis.Diagnostictests, includ-ing theonesused fordetectionof Covid-19,haveamarginoferrorandoftengeneratere-sultsthatarefalsepositivesorfalsenegatives.Afalsepositivemeansthetestincorrectlyla-bels ahealthypersonasdiseased. Similarly,afalsenegativeincorrectlymarksadiseasedpersonashealthy.Anytesthastoaccomplishtwogoals:cor-

rectly identify the diseased and thehealthyindividuals. The two goals are distinct, andonecanbeachievedwithouttheother.Toil-lustratethepoint, let’sconsiderthisextremeexample:imagineatestthatlabelseveryoneas diseased. This test wouldwork remark-ablywell if a largemajority of those under-taking itwere actually sick, but itwould failmiserablyifmostof themwerehealthypeo-ple.Therefore, itwouldcorrectlyidentifythediseasedpeopleinonescenario,whilefailingto find thehealthyones in theother.Therefore,accuracyofatest ismeasured

by two parameters, aligned with the twogoals. Sensitivity is the ability of the test tocorrectly identify diseased individuals. Ahighlysensitivetestpicksupalargepercent-age of the diseased. It is calculated as thenumberofpositivesdetectedoutofthenum-berofdiseasedindividualstested.So,ifoutof100 peoplewho undertake the test, 10 aresick, and nine of them get correctly identi-fied, then thesensitivitywouldbe90%.The secondmeasure, the ability to cor-

rectly identify healthy individuals, is calledspecificity.Itiscalculatedinasimilarmanner.

Most tests have different sensitivity andspecificityvalues.

DoIbelievemyresult?Letusimagineatestwith90%sensitivity

and95%specificity. The test is conducted ina population that has an overall diseaseprevalenceof 5% (meaning, 5%of thepopu-lationis infected).This isanother importantparameter.Wedonotalwaysknowthetruespreadofthedisease,andtherefore,typicallyanestimate isused forprevalence.Now let us test 1,000 people from this

group.Byourassumptions,950ofthesepeo-plewouldbehealthyandonly50(5%diseaseprevalence) would be infected. The tableshowsthe test results for these1,000.Out of 50 diseased people, this test cor-

rectly identifies 45, andmarks five as nega-tive.Andamongthe950healthypeople,903(95%)arecorrectly identified, and47are in-correctlydetectedas infected.Althoughtheactualnumberof diseased

people is only 50, this testmarks 92 (45 ac-tual, plus 47 false positives) as infected. Apersonwho receives a positive result willonly be 49% likely to have the disease. Thisrealisation comes from the calculation thatonly 45 out of the 92 positive results (49%)are correct. This ratio is called the positivepredictive value, or post-test probability ofdisease, and indicates thedegreetowhichapositive test can predict actual sickness. Itshouldbe ashigh aspossible todrive confi-dence inapositive result.Similarly, there is a negative predictive

value and it indicates confidence in a nega-tiveresult. In thisexample, anegativeresulthasa99.4%probabilityofbeingaccurate(903out of 908 negative results are actuallyhealthy).One insightfulwayto interpret these re-

sults is to compare the probability of beingsickbeforeandafter the test. Before the testistaken,theprobabilityofapersonbeingsick(called pre-test disease probability) is 5%—the same as the disease prevalence. A posi-tive test increases this probability to 49%(post-testdiseaseprobability).Interestingly, the probability of being

healthy also increaseswith this test. Beforethe test, the probability of being healthy is95%.Anegativeresultincreasesthisprobabil-ity to99.4%.So, this test increases the confidence in

either diagnosis — though the confidencelevel inapositiveresult fromthis testmightnotbesatisfactory.A good test is one that raises this confi-

dence toveryhigh levels.

Howcanfalseresultsbereduced?Inthisscenario, thehighnumberof false

positives, 47, was a result of 95% specificityand 950 healthy individuals. Inmost con-texts, 95% accuracy would be consideredgoodenough.Butinasituationwithlowdis-easeprevalence,atestofmuchhigherspeci-ficity is required. Topush the false positivesdown to, let’s say, 10, a testwith 99% speci-ficity isneeded.Increasing specificity is one way to re-

duce false positives. The other lever,math-ematically, is toreducetherelativenumberof healthy people. This can be achieved bytestingapopulationgroupinwhichthedis-ease is muchmore widespread. This doesnotmeanwaiting for thedisease to spread,but to limit testing to a sub-group that ismore likely to have the disease — the pri-marycontactsof infectedpeople, forexam-ple, orhealthworkers.Repeating theabovecalculationswitha

populationsizeof500with50diseasedpeo-ple reveals that false positives come downto 22. The positive predictive value (confi-dence in a positive result) increases from49% to67%.In summary, false positives are reduced

withtwolevers:ahighspecificitytest,andahigh disease prevalence setting (high pre-testdiseaseprobability).Similarlogicindicatesthatfalsenegatives

arereducedwithahighsensitivitytestusedinasituationwith lowdiseaseprevalence.

Howaccuratearethetestscurrentlybeingused?In the Covid-19 setting, two kinds of

tests are beingused—RT-PCR todetect in-

fections,andantibodytests toestimatethedisease prevalence. (Antigen and other di-agnostictestsarenotconsidered.)Theaccu-racy data for either of these tests is notwidelyknown.ArecentstudyevaluatedRT-PCR kits from 22 companies in laboratorysettings and showed that sensitivity wasupwardsof90%,andspecificitywasat least95%(data from finddx.org). Laboratorytest-ing results usually show higher numberscompared to clinical testing results (testson samples from individuals). Sample col-lectionmethodology, apart fromother fac-tors, impacts these results.TheantibodykitsdevelopedinIndiahave

92.4% sensitivity and 97.9% specificity. TheIndian Council of Medical Research com-pleted a seroprevalence study inMay, pre-sumably using these kits. The study esti-matedthediseasespreadtobe0.73%.Aswehave seen above, at such low prevalence,falsepositiveswillbeaproblem.Calculationsusingthesetestparameterswith1%diseaseprevalence show that 70%of all positive re-sultswouldbe false. Since theobjectiveof aseroprevalencestudyistoestimatetheover-all disease spread, options such as limitingthesizeofthepopulationgrouparenotavail-able. Therefore, further analysis and inter-pretation of the calculated prevalence rateare required.

What is thetakeawayfor individualswhowanttoknowtheirstatus?For an individual, there could be an un-

derstandable urge to “test and just check”andreduceuncertaintybyseekingthecom-fortofananticipatednegativeresult(theRT-PCRtesttodetectactiveinfection). Thepru-dentdecisionistocounterthisimpulsewiththeknowledgethat testingwillnotprovidecertainty unless conducted in the correctcontext.Forasymptomaticindividualswith-out any risk of exposure, thepre-test prob-ability of disease is low. The chance of falsepositives in such a setting is high.Asymptomatic individualsshouldthereforeopt fora testonly if theyhaveasolidreasonto fear exposure. If a person is required toundergo testing, the individual should, ifpossible,demandatestingkitwiththehigh-est specificity.This reasoning is applicable to any test,

not justaCovid-19test. Testing inasympto-maticindividuals“justtocheck”leadstofalsepositiveswhendiseaseprevalenceislow,andisnotappropriate.Adherence to thisprinci-plebytheoverallhealthcarecommunitywillresult inhigher truepositives.

TusharGore isMD/CEOatResonanceLaboratories, anichepharmaceuticals

manufacturer

14WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ANEXPERTEXPLAINS

OncopingwiththepandemicIthasbeenadifficulttime,Imusttellyou.Itwas

alsosudden,wewerenotpreparedwellenough…WhenCovidstruck,withinamatterof10days,twoweeks,we told faculty youwere teaching in theclassrooms,nowyousuddenlystartdoingevery-thingonline.Thetransitionwasnoteasyatall.Evenpersonally forme, itwasabigchallenge.Becausewith the kind of infrastructurewehave on ourcampuses,withthekindofdiversitywehave,stu-dentsfromsuchvariedeconomicandsocialback-grounds,suddenlytomovetoanonlinekindofed-ucationwasanightmare.Themomentwesaidwewill run classes, therewill be a hundred emailsfromstudents saying, “But Idon'thavea laptop”.Weare still struggling…butnow I thinkwearebetter prepared.Within amatter of amonth, atleast300courses fromIITDelhiwentonline, buttherearestillchallenges.I thinknow thenext semester is going to be

muchbetter.Infact,wearealsobringingbackstu-dentswhohaveissueswithonline.Wehavedonea survey: 4% of IIT Delhi students cannot takeclasses from their hometownsor their places ofstay,sonowwearetryingtobringbackthese4%tothecampus,makethemstayinhostels,evengivethemlaptopswheretheyrequirethem.

HoweffectiveisonlinelearningOnline teaching is not just about teaching in

frontof acamera.Thewayyoubehave inaclass-room,thewayyoubehaveinfrontofacamera,areverydifferent.IfyoumakeTendulkaract,weknowhow lousy Tendulkar iswhenhe is in front of acamera.Butyoumakehimplayandyoushoothimwhileheisathisnaturalbest,hewillcomeacross

astheworld’sbestbatsman.Thatistruewithsomeofourteacherstoo.Someofourbestteachers,whoareverygoodat connectingwith students in theclassroom—themomenttheymovedonline,theyjust didnot knowwhere to start. So the trainingpartalsobecameveryimportantforus.In a classroom, I can give a one-hour lecture

without any issues. But online, if I start lecturingonehour,peoplegetboredvery,veryfast.Weevensawsomestudiesthatsay10minutesisthemax-imumtimethatyoucanholdthestudents’atten-tionwhenyouareonline.Sohowdowenowgiveaone-hourlectureinsmallermoduleswhenyouareonline?AnotherbigchallengeIseeis:Oncam-pusalotofpeer learninghappens—youlearnbyinteractingwithyourpeers—and that ismostlymissingintheonlinekindofamodel...Ihopethatwewillalsobeabletomovetomore

hybridformsof teaching.

HowtomakeupforpeerlearningandtutorialsystemWearenowtrainingmanyofourfacultyonthe

flip classroomapproach,where youmakeavail-ablethelecturecontent.Someofitcanberecordedbythefacultymemberhimselforherself.SomeofitmaybealreadyavailablebecauseIITshavebeenvery extensively participating in theNPTELpro-gramme.NPTEListhousandsofcoursesandallofthemare available. Sowewill alsomakeuse ofsomeof the resourcematerial, and studentswillget tohear the lecturewhenever theywant. Butwhenyouare livewith the facultymember, thatwillbeamorediscussionkindofsession...Butnothingcanreallybeattheclassroomand

the real-timeand thephysical. If youaskme, thegurukulwayofteaching,whatourancientsusedtodo,isthebestformofeducation,andwehavecom-promiseditbecauseweneededtoscaleupoursys-tems.Nowwehavereachedastagewherethegu-rukulkindofeducationisgone,andthehostelkindofeducationhascomein.Fromheretojumptoon-lineandsayeverythingwillbecomevirtualisnever

goingtobethesameaswhatwestartedwith…Certain things canbedone verywell online,

certainthingscannotbedonewellonline.IITsaremostly engineering-centric and almost everycoursehas a laboratory component. Those labo-ratorythings,wecannotdoanymore…Now,if inDecemberwecanstartthecampuses,wemaybeokay.But if it furthergetsextended…thatuncer-taintyisalsothere.Therefore,nowwearenolongersaying thatwewill postpone examinations.We

aretryingtomakeuseoftechnology,makeuseofwhatever is available for you…and start closingdownthesemester,startimprovingyoureffective-ness online, and start conducting examinationsonline…Don’t postpone anything becausewedon’tknowwhenwearegoingtoreconvene.

OnconductingentranceexamsIthinkjoiningofthenewbatchcanbedelayed,

iftheexaminationgetspostponedforsomemore

time.Wewillbeabletoaccommodatethatinourcalendars. But conducting these examinations isimportant... At somepoint,weneedto figureoutwaysofgettingbacktoanormalstatebytakingalltheprecautionsweneedtotake.Ifyouarefollow-ing social distancingnorms, if youarewearing amaskall thetime…Idon’t thinkanybodyshouldhaveareasontocomplain.But thechallengeagaincomesdowntoinfra-

structure.Alltheseexaminationsareheldinvari-ouscentres,whicharemanagedbymultiplecom-panies. For example, JEEAdvanced is conductedbyTCS.Whenwefollowsocialdistancingnorms,youneed twice the number of centres as com-paredtonormaltimes.Wehadacertainmemberof centres, let’ssay80centres,nowyousuddenlyrequire150-160ifyouaremaintainingsocialdis-tancingnorms.Thequestionis,canTCSmakeavail-ableinthesetimes,another80centres?Whatarethesecentresandwhatistheircondition…Ifyouarenot able tohold JEEAdvanced in one centre,theentireexamneedstobecancelled.InJEEMainsthatisnotanissue;theydoitinmultiplesessions.Sowehave toexpandthenumberof centres,

wehavetofollowsocialdistancingnorms,butthatcostsmoney.Infact,wehavebeeninnegotiationswithTCS.Thesearethechallenges.

TRANSCRIBEDBYMEHRGILL(Editedexcerpts)

VIDEO:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JMAclZCszjyyHb-

074hulw0EVXRM8hla

Should you test just to check?Notadvised,becausetheprobabilityofbeingfalsely identifiedasCovid-19-positive isquitehigh.Whennotest is100%accurate, thekeyaspect toconsider isdiseaseprevalenceinthepopulationthat isbeingtested

TusharGore

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINED

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

ActualDiseased ActualHealthy Totals FalseResults

TOTALS 50 950 1,000

PositiveResult 45 47 92 47(90%Sensitivity) (FalsePositives) (45+47) (FalsePositives)

NegativeResult 5 903 908 5(FalseNegatives) (95%Specificity) (903+5) (FalseNegatives)

ACCOUNT ING FOR ERRORS

AUDIENCEQUESTIONSOnalternativeplans if examsarenotpossibleeveninSeptemberI would like to believewewill be able to

conductinSeptember.Ifwearenotabletodothat… two batches simultaneously is an is-sue in terms of logistics. Butwewill have toseewhatotheroptionswecanconsider.Wecanobserveasemesterkindofabreak. If thenextsemesterdoesn’thappen,wewillbeabletostillabsorbit.Decemberwouldhavebeenvacation time andMay to June-Julywouldhave been vacation time. By consumingDecember and the summer next year, wewouldhavebrought things toanormalstateat leastbytheendof2021.

OnthepossibilityofusingartificialintelligenceforexamsinvigilationWearediscussing someof these aspects

rightnow.Forexample,therearestart-upcom-paniesdevelopingonlineevaluationmethods.IITDelhiwouldliketolookintothat.Theotheroption is take-homeexaminations, andas aninstructor, I always give students take-homeexaminations.IusedtotellstudentsthatevenifIamconductinganexaminationintheclass-room, if yousay I couldnotanswer thisques-tion because I don't remember, Iwould giveyoufullmarks.Wearenottestingstudentsontheirmemory,we are testing themon theircognitiveability,ontheirthinking.

ProfVRamgopalRao(left) inconversationwithRitikaChopraonZoom.

InthisE-XplainedsessionbeforeanationwideaudienceonZoom,ProfVRamgopalRao,Director IITDelhi,discusseschallengesposedbythepandemic,andtheeffectivenessandlimitationsofonline learning

‘We are trying to improve online… don’t postponeexams, we don’t know when we will reconvene’

02.07.2020 30.07.2020

DAILY NEWCASESUNTIL JULY3060,000

40,000

20,000

0

New Delhi

15THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MEANWHILE

DEGENERESAPOLOGISES TO SHOW’S STAFFEllenDeGeneresapologisedtothestaffofherdaytimeTVtalkshowamidaninternalcompanyinvestigationofcomplaintsofadifficultandunfairworkplace. “Ondayoneofourshow,I toldeveryone inourfirstmeetingthat ‘TheEllenDeGeneresShow’wouldbeaplaceofhappiness,”shewrote.Somethingchanged,shesaid, “andforthat, Iamsorry.”

BRITAIN

AlanParker,directorofMidnightExpressdiesat76BRITISH FILMMAKERAlan Parker, whosemovies included BugsyMalone,MidnightExpressand Evita, has died at 76.A statement fromthedi-rector’s family saysParker died Friday inLondon after a long ill-ness. Parker was one ofBritain’smost successfuldirectors, whose diversebody of work includesFame,MississippiBurning,The Commitments andAngela’s Ashes. Togetherhis movies won 10Academy Awards at 19British Academy FilmAwards. Parker alsochampioned Britain’sfilm industry, serving aschairman of the BritishFilmInstituteandtheUKFilmCouncil.AP

AlanParkerwithaBAFTAin2013.Reuters

TOPOFTHEWORLD

BRITAIN

UKwinsbidtoappealShamimaBegumcaseTHE UK government onFridaywonpermissiontoappealagainstacourtrul-ingallowingLondon-bornISIS bride ShamimaBegumtoreturntoBritainto challenge stripping ofher British citizenship.Bangladeshi-originBegum, now20,was oneof three schoolgirls whofledLondonto join ISIS inSyria in 2015. The UKCourtofAppealruledthatthe case must go to theSupremeCourtbeforesheisallowedbackinbecausethe case raised a point oflawof public importancethatonlythehighestcourtcanresolve.PTI

USA

Amphibiousmilitaryvehiclecarrying16sinks;1dead,8missingASEAFARINGtankwith15MarinesandaNavysailoraboard sank near amili-tary-owned islandoff thecoast of SouthernCalifornia, leaving one ofthe Marines dead andeightmissing, authoritiessaid Friday. They weretravelling intheamphibi-ous assault vehicle fromthe shores of SanClementeIslandtoaNavyship Thursday eveningwhen they reported thatthevehiclewas takingonwater, a Marine Corpsspokesman said. Two ofthe Marines who wererescuedwereinjured.Theincidenttookplaceduringaroutinemilitaryexercise,theMarineCorpssaid.AP

ASSOCIATEDPRESSBEIJING, JULY31

CHINAIScelebratingthecomple-tion of its BeiDou NavigationSatellite System that could rivaltheUSGlobalPositioningSystemand significantly boost China’ssecurityandgeopoliticalclout.PresidentXiJinping,theleader

of the ruling Communist PartyandthePeople’sLiberationArmy,officially commissioned the sys-temFriday at a ceremony at theGreatHallofthePeopleinBeijing.That followed a declaration

thatthe55thandfinalgeostation-

ary satellite in the constellationlaunched June23wasoperatingafterhavingcompletedall tests.The satellite is part of the

thirditerationoftheBeiDousys-temknownasBDS-3,whichbe-gan providing navigation serv-ices in 2018 to countries takingpart in China’s sprawling “Beltand Road” infrastructure initia-tivealongwithothers.Aswellasbeinganavigation

aidwith an extremely high de-gree of accuracy, the systemof-fersshortmessagecommunica-tion of up to 1,200 Chinesecharacters and the ability totransmit images.

ForeignministryspokesmanWangWenbinsaidthesystemisalready inuse inmore thanhalftheworld’snationsandstressed

China’sdedicationtothepeace-ful use of space and desire toworkwithothercountries.“China iswilling to continue

tostrengthenexchangesandco-operationinspaceandsharetheachievementsofspacedevelop-ment with other countries onthe basis of mutual respect,openness, inclusiveness, equal-ity andmutual benefit,”Wangsaidatadailybriefing.WhileChina says it seeks co-

operationwithothersatellitenav-igationsystems,BeiDoucouldul-timately compete against GPS,Russia’s GLONASS and theEuropean Union’s Galileo net-works. That’s similar to howChinesephonemakersandotherproducersof sophisticatedhard-warehavetakenonforeignrivals.

YANNICHOW&CAROLMANGHONGKONG, JULY31

HONGKONG leader Carrie Lamon Friday postponed aSeptember 6 election to theChinese-ruled city’s legislatureby a year because of a rise incoronavirus cases, dealing ablow to the pro-democracy op-position which had hoped tomakehugegains.The United States quickly

condemned themove, saying itwasthelatestexampleofBeijingundermining democracy in theChinese-ruled territory.“Thisactionunderminesthe

democratic processes and free-doms that have underpinnedHongKong’sprosperity,”WhiteHouse spokeswoman KayleighMcEnanytold reporters.Thedecisiontodelaythevote

came after 12 pro-democracycandidates were disqualifiedfromrunningforperceivedsub-versive intentions and opposi-tion toasweepingnewsecuritylawimposedbyBeijing,prompt-ing questions among manyabout whether the pandemicwastherealreasonforthedelay.“Postponing the September

elections for a year is a cynicalmovetocontainapoliticalemer-gency, not a public health one,”said Sophie Richardson, China

directoratHumanRightsWatch.“This simply allows Hong

KongChief ExecutiveCarrie LamtodenyHongKongpeople theirrighttochoosetheirgovernment.”AveryNg,secretary-generalof

the League of Social Democrats,wasequallysceptical.“Obviously the Chinese

CommunistParty isusingCovid-19asacovertostopHongKongersfromvoting against the govern-ment and democrats’ potential

majoritywin,”hetoldReuters.“Togetherwiththemassdis-

qualification of candidates, theCCP... only allows an election inwhich they can control theout-cometo takeplace.”Germany announced it

would suspend its extraditionagreementwithHongKong fol-lowingLam’sdecision.Theoppositionhadaimed to

ride awave of resentment overthenationalsecuritylawtowina

majorityintheLegislativeCouncil,wherehalf the seats are directlyelectedwith theother half filledmostlybypro-Beijingappointees.Lamsaidshehadtoinvokean

emergencylawtomakethepost-ponement andnopolitical con-siderationswereinvolved.China’sParliamentwoulddecidehowtofill the legislative vacuum, sheadded.Shetoldreporters thede-cisionwasaimedatsafeguardingpeople’shealth.REUTERS

REUTERSKABUL,QUETTA, JULY31

CROSS-BORDER ARTILLERY firebyPakistankilledatleast15civil-iansinAfghanistanonThursday,Afghanofficialssaid,promptingKabul to put its ground and airforcesonalert.The artillery fire came after

clashes between Pakistani andAfghan security forces at theclosedChaman-SpinBoldakbor-der crossing,where crowds onboth sideswerewaiting to crossforthefestivalofEidal-Adha.“If thePakistanimilitarycon-

tinues its rocket attacks onAfghan territory, theywill faceretaliationbytheAfghanarmy,”Afghanistan’s defenceministrysaid inastatement.Pakistan’s foreign office and

militarydidnotimmediatelyre-spond to Reuters’ requests forcomment, but ForeignMinisterShahMahmoodQureshitoldre-portersthatthematterhadbeentaken upwith Afghan authori-

ties and hoped it would be re-solvedamicably.PakistanandAfghanistanare

bothUSalliesbuttheirrelationshaverarelybeenclose.Afghanistanhasforyearsac-

cused Pakistan of supportingTalibanmilitants. Pakistan de-niesdoingsoandinturnaccusesAfghanistanof supportingmili-tants fighting thePakistanigov-ernment.The governor of the south-

eastern Afghan province ofKandahar,HayatullahHayat,saidtheshellsfell inresidentialareasof SpinBoldak and thatwomenandchildrenwereamongthe15deadand80wounded.Hospital officials in Pakistan

toldReutersthreebodiesand20people suffering bullet woundshad been brought after theclashes betweenprotesters andsecurity forces.They exchanged fire when

crowds waiting to cross intoAfghanistanbecameunrulyandattackedPakistaniinstallations,aPakistaniofficial said.

HongKong postpones elections bya year citing virus, Oppn cries foul

CHRISTOPHERBING&MARISATAYLORWASHINGTON, JULY31

CHINESEGOVERNMENT-LINKEDhackers targeted biotech com-panyModerna Inc, a US-basedcoronavirusvaccineresearchde-veloper, this year in abid to stealdata,accordingtoaUSsecurityof-ficialtrackingChinesehacking.China on Friday rejected the

accusationthathackerslinkedtoithad targetedModerna.Last week, the US Justice

Departmentmadepublic an in-dictmentoftwoChinesenation-als accused of spying on theUnited States, including threeunnamed US-based targets in-volved in medical research tofight thenovel coronavirus.Moderna,which announced

itsCovid-19vaccinecandidateinJanuary,confirmedthatthecom-panyhadbeenincontactwiththeFBI andwasmade aware of thesuspected “information recon-naissanceactivities”bythehack-ing group mentioned in lastweek’s indictment.REUTERS

ASSOCIATEDPRESSWASHINGTON, JULY31

ONCE A coronavirus vaccine isapproved as safe and effective,Americans should have wide-spread access within a reason-able time, Dr Anthony Fauci as-sured lawmakersFriday.Appearing before a House

panel investigating the nation’sresponsetothepandemic,Fauciexpressed “cautious” optimismthat a vaccine would be avail-able,particularlybynextyear.“I believe, ultimately, over a

period of time in 2021, thatAmericanswill be able to get it,”Faucisaid,referringtothevaccine.Therewillbeaprioritylistfor

who gets early vaccinations. “Idon’t thinkwewill have every-body getting it immediately,”Fauci explained.But“ultimately,withinarea-

sonabletime,theplansallowforany American who needs thevaccine toget it,”headded.Fauci, the nation’s top infec-

tiousdiseaseofficial,saidaquar-ter-million people have ex-pressedinterest intakingpart instudiesofexperimentalvaccines.

PHILNOBLEMANCHESTER, JULY31

BRITAIN IMPOSED tougher lock-downs across swathes of north-ernEnglandafterariseintherateofcoronavirustransmissions.Britain reported its highest

numberofinfectionsinmorethanamonth on Thursday, as PrimeMinisterBorisJohnsonspokeofasecondwave in Europe andputpeopleonalertaboutmorequar-antinerestrictions.More than 4million people

were ordered not to mix withother households in GreaterManchester, the biggest city innorthernEngland,partsofWest

Yorkshire and East Lancashire,though they can still go to thepubandtowork.

“The problem with thisvirus is that it thrivesontheso-cial contact which makes lifeworth living,”HealthSecretaryMattHancocksaid. “Wecanseethat second wave in Europe,”he added.Asked by the BBC if the UK

was now entering a secondwave, Hancock said: “It is notyet and we are absolutely de-terminedtotaketheactionthatis needed.”The measures were intro-

ducedhastily during the start ofthe annual Eid al-Adha “feast ofsacrifice”, disrupting thecelebra-tionthatmarkstheendofRamzanfor hundreds of thousands ofBritishMuslims.REUTERS

STEVEPEOPLESNEWYORK, JULY31

US PRESIDENT Donald Trumprepeatedly tests the RepublicanParty’slimitsonissuesincludingrace, trade and immigration.Now,hehas struckaboundary.GOP officials from New

Hampshire to Mississippi toIowa quickly pushed backagainst Trump’s suggestion onThursdaythatitmightbeneces-

sarytodelaytheNovemberelec-tion—whichhecannotdowith-out congressional approval —becauseoftheunfoundedthreatof voter fraud. They reassuredvoters that the election wouldproceed on the constitutionallymandateddayas ithasformore

than twocenturies.Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley

was especially blunt: “All I cansayis, itdoesn’tmatterwhatoneindividual in this country says.We still are a country based onthe rule of law, andwewant tofollowthe law.”

NewHampshire Gov. ChrisSununu vowed his statewouldhold its elections as scheduled:“Endofstory.”Rep.LizCheney,R-Wyo., who leads the HouseRepublicanConference,said,“Theresistance to this idea amongRepublicansisoverwhelming.”The top Republicans in the

HouseandSenatealsodistancedthemselves fromthenotionof adelayedelection.ThePresidentdidnotdenythat

hewastryingtocastdoubtabouttheelectionresultswhenaskeddi-rectly during Thursday’s pressbriefing. Instead, he repeatedlycitedtheprospectofvoterfraud.“I don’twant to delay. Iwant

to have the election. But I alsodon’t want to wait for threemonthsandthenfindoutthattheballots are all missing, and theelectiondoesn’tmeananything,”Trumpsaid,warningofthepossi-bilityof“acrookedelection”.AP

Pro-democracycampwashopingforasweepingwininSeptpollsamidangerovernewsecuritylaw

Atapressconference,HongKongChiefExecutiveCarrieLamsaidtheelectionswerebeingpostponedbecauseauthoritieswantedto“ensurefairness,publicsafetyandpublichealth”.AP

China-backedhackers targetedvaccine firm,says US official

DrAnthonyFauci

Vaccine will be available in2021, Fauci assures House

Pakistan artillerykills 15 civilians inAfghanistan: Kabul

ASSOCIATEDPRESSISLAMABAD, JULY31

THOUSANDS OF radicalIslamists rallied on Friday innorthwestern Pakistan in sup-port of a manwho earlier thisweekwalked into a courtroomin the city of Peshawar andgunned down a US citizen ontrial forblasphemy.TheAmerican,TahirNaseem,

died of his wounds before hecouldbetakentohospitalwhilethe gunman, Faisal Khan, wastaken intocustody.The US State Department

said Naseemwas standing trialafter being “lured to Pakistan”fromhishomeinIllinoisanden-trappedbythecountry'scontro-versialblasphemylaw,whichin-ternational rights groups havesought tohaverepealed.The US statement did not

elaborate on the circumstancesinwhichNaseemcame to be intheSouthAsiancountry.The blasphemy law calls for

the death penalty for anyonefound guilty of insulting Islam.ButinPakistan,themereallega-tion of blasphemy can causemobstoriotandvigilantestokillthoseaccused.“We are shocked, saddened,

andoutragedthatAmericancit-izen Tahir Naseemwas killedyesterday inside a Pakistanicourtroom,” read the StateDepartmentstatement,releasedonThursday.Pakistani officials said

Naseemwaschargedwithblas-phemy after he declared him-self Islam's prophet. Police inPeshawar,whooriginally iden-tified him as Tahir ShameemAhmed but later correctedthemselves, said he was ar-rested two years ago. The as-sailantwasalso initially identi-fied incorrectly,asKhalidKhan.It was later learned his realname is Faisal Khan.It wasn’t clear howheman-

aged to enter the courtroomonWednesday and get past secu-ritywithaweapon.

AFTERTWEETINGABOUTPOSTPONINGELECTION,HENOWSAYSHEWANTSNODELAY

Trumponavisit to theAmericanRedCrossNationalHeadquarters inWashington.Reuters

RACE FORTHEWHITE

HOUSE

Trump faces rare GOP rebuke over tweet

Obamaat thefuneralofJohnLewis.Reuters

Obama takesaim at Trumpin fiery eulogyfor John Lewis

RICHMCKAY&NATHANLAYNEATLANTA, JULY31

INAfieryeulogyforlongtimeUSRepresentative John Lewis onThursday, former PresidentBarack Obama took a series ofthinlyveiledshotsattheactionsofhissuccessorthathesaidtoreat the legacy of the Black civilrights iconbeing laid to rest.The funeral for Lewis, who

played an instrumental role inpassing theVotingRights Act of1965, came on the same dayRepublican President DonaldTrumpsuggestedtheNov.3elec-tioncouldbedelayed.Trumphasalsowaged awar againstmail-in ballots, a tactic critics say isaimedat suppressingvotes.“Weno longerhave toguess

thenumberof jellybeansinajarinorder tocastaballot,”Obamasaid in the eulogy, referring toonewayBlackpeoplewereoncedisqualifiedat theballotbox.“Butevenaswesithere,there

are those in power doing theirdarnedest to discourage peoplefromvotingbyclosingpollinglo-cations and targetingminoritieswith restrictive ID laws and at-tackingourvotingrightswithsur-gicalprecision,”hesaid.REUTERS

Amodelof theBeiDousysteminChina’sZhuhaicity.Reuters file

KELVINCHANLONDON, JULY31

TWITTER SAYS the hackers re-sponsible for a recenthigh-pro-filebreachusedthephonetofoolthesocialmediacompany’sem-ployeesintogivingthemaccess.Thecompanyrevealedafew

moredetailslateThursdayaboutthe hack earlier this month,which it said targeted “a smallnumberofemployeesthroughaphonespear-phishingattack.”“Thisattackreliedonasignif-

icant and concerted attempt tomislead certain employees andexploithumanvulnerabilitiestogain access to our internal sys-tems,” thecompanytweeted.The July 15 attack compro-

misedtheaccountsof someof itsmosthighprofileusers, includingTesla CEOElonMusk, in a bid tolure their followers into sendingmoneytoaBitcoinaccount.After stealing employee cre-

dentialsandgettingintoTwitter’ssystems,thehackerswereabletotargetotheremployeeswhohadaccess to account support tools,thecompanysaid.Twitter said itwouldprovide

amoredetailedreportlater.British cybersecurity analyst

GrahamCluleysaidhisguesswasthata targetedTwitter employeeor contractor receivedamessageby phone asking them to call anumber. Thehackers could thenuse “social engineering” tech-niques to trick the victim intohandingovertheircredential.AP

Twitter says hackersused phone to foolstaff and gain access

BYCOMPLETINGBeiDou,Chinanowhasitsownsatellitenaviga-tionsystemtocompetewiththeUS’sGPS,Russia’sGLONASSandtheEuropeanUnion’sGalileo.Ofthese, theGPS is themostwidelyused,not just forper-

sonalnavigation,butalso formoresensitivemilitarypurposes.AsWashington-Beijingtiescontinuetodeteriorate,

itbecomesmore importantthanever forChinatohaveanavigationsystemthat theUSdoesnothavecontrolover.

SYSTEM ALREADY BEING USED BY COUNTRIES TAKING PART IN BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

China officially commissions BeiDou sat navigation system to rival GPSIncreasingly importantamidUStensions

Britain tightens lockdown rules innorthern England amid rising cases

UKPMBoris JohnsononapolicebikeThursday.Hehasaskedpeople toremainalertaboutnewquarantinerestrictions.Reuters

Thousands rally inPakistan in supportof killer of American

New Delhi

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THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

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Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

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d³fQZVfIY E½fa Àfa¹fb¢°f VffÀf³f Àfd¨f½fUBN NO.-SOC2021GLRC00009DIPR/C/5969/2020

E-Tender Notice No.09/2020-21(Online) Parent Portal:http://mahatender.gov.in

BARAMATI MUNICIPAL COUNCIL, BARAMATIPUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT

BNPAWS-17/332/2020-21 Dated:31/07/2020

The Chief Officer, Baramati Municipal Council, Baramati invites e-tender (online)under vishesh vaishithyapurna fund for work mentioned below, on percentage ratebasis in form B1, from the registered contractors from PWD,MJP, CPWD and IrrigationDepartment in appropriate class or who are experienced in similar type of work andhaving bidding capacity and from those who can fulfill the qualification conditions. Thedetail tender notice and qualification conditions are available onhttp:mahatender.gov.in, which can be downloaded free of cost.

E-tender notice of above work is available on NIC’s website http://mahatenders.gov

Sd/-Chief Officer

Baramati Municipal Council, Baramati

E-TenderWorkNo.

Name of Work EstimatedCost ofWork

EarnestMoney

Timelimit

Cost of e-tender

document(non

refundable)

Class ofRegistrati

on

1. ProposedConstruction of 165ML CapacityR.C.C.balancingtank at G.No.362 &363 Balancing Tank,For BaramatiMunicipal Council,Baramati, Dist.Pune.Sub Work;-Earthwork Excavation

8,88,79,321/- 8,88,800/- 4 Months(Includingmansoon)

10,000/- Asmentioned

above

1 Publication of tender 04/08/2020 - - -2 Document Download 04/08/2020 11.00 25/08/2020 15.003 Prebid Meeting 14/08/2020 11.00 - -4 Bid Submission 04/08/2020 11.00 25/08/2020 15.005 Opening of Technical Envelope 31/08/2020 11.00 . .6 Opening of Financial Envelope 03/09/2020 11.00 . .

Seal

OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL S. M. S. MEDICAL COLLEGE& CONTROLLER OF THE ATTACHED HOSPITALS, JAIPURNo-F/MC/Store /Covid-19/ 2020-21/ 18115-20 Dated:-29/7/2020

E- TENDER NOTICE No. 56-70/2020-21The office of the Principal and Controller of the attached hospitals, Jaipur, SMSmedical college, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Jaipur invites Online Bid supply andinstallation of equipments/items for establishing of RTPCR lab at PMO's at Tonk,Sawai-madhopur, Karuli, Dausa and Dholpur and for equipments for EYEdepartment Bharatpur from reputed firms/companies/Individuals having nationallyand internationally.

1. All other information related to this NIT can be seen and downloaded from website http://eprocrajasthan.gov.in and http://sppp.rajasthan.gov.in

2. Tender shall be submitted online only through websitewww.eproc.rajasthan.gov.in

Sd/-DIPR/C/5958/2020 PRINCIPAL & CONTROLLER

Date ofPublishing Tender

Documents

BidSubmission

End Date

BidOpening

Date

TotalItemsin NIT

Total Valueof NIT

(In Lac)

UBN No.

31/07/2020 At02:00 PM

10-08-2020 at04:00 PM

11-08-2020at 11:30 AM

15 Rs. 440.50(Approx)

SMS 2021GLOB00182 ToSMS 2021GSOB00196

e-TENDER NOTICEPunjab Pollution Control Board invites e-Tender for the Supply,

Installation, Commissioning, Operation & Maintenance Services of 08Nos. Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations to be installedat Ludhiana and Amritsar (04 each),Important Dates and Times

1. Sale of Bid Documents from 10.08.2020 (09.00 A.M.) to10.09.2020 (02.00 P.M.)

2. Tender Closing Date 10.09.2020 (05.00 P.M.)3. Pre-Bid Meeting Date 17.08.2020 (11.00 A.M.)4. Opening of Technical Bid 11.09.2020 (11.00 A.M.)5. Opening of Financial Bid (To be intimated later)

1. The Tenderer should be the manufacturer (original equipment-Manutacturer) or authorized representative of the manufacturer,who on its own or along with his associate as O&M partner meetsthe qualifying requirment stipulated for participation in the tender.

2. It is mandatory for the Tenderer who wish to participate in the e-Tendering Process to get themselves registered with the web por-tal www.eproc.punjab.gov.in & get User ID, Password & Class 2 &Class 3 Digital Signatures.

3. Interested Tenderer can purchase the tender document throughonline mode only from website www.eproc.punjab.gov.in by mak-ing a payment of Rs. 5000/- through Demand Draft in favour ofMember Secretary, Punjab Pollution Control Board, payable atPatiala.

4. Detailed speciflcetions and other terms and conditions can bedownloaded from the website i.e. www.eproc.punjab.gov.in.

5. The Pre-bid meeting will be held in the Committee Room of PunjabPollution Control Board, Vatavaran Bhawan, Nabha Road, Patiala.

6. The instructions with regard to COVID-19 and Social Distancingshall be maintained during meeting.

Corrigendum, if any, will be issued on website only.MEMBER SECRETARY

E-Mail: msppcb@gmail.com

PUNJAB POLLUTION CONTROL BOARDVATAVARAN BHAWAN, NABHA ROAD, PATIALA

57631/PB

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JULY31

AFTERHDFCchiefDeepakParekh,StateBankofIndia(SBI)ChairmanRajnishKumar Friday cameoutagainst extending themoratori-umontermloanrepaymentsbey-ondAugust.“Mostbankers,inclu-dingmyself, believe that there isnoneedforamoratoriumbeyondAugust31,”hesaid.“Weareconfi-dentthatsixmonthsis longeno-ughforallowingnon-repayment.”Bankersareworriedthatloan

restructuring, if allowed,will bemisused by corporates. Loanmoratoriumby the RBI is beingmisused some borrowerswhohave the capacity to pay up.

Parekh had earlier this weekurged Reserve Bank GovernorShaktikantaDasnottoextendtheloanmoratoriumbeyondAugust.

BRIEFLYCoresectoroutputshrinksNewDelhi:Output of eightcoreindustriesshrank15percent Junedue to fall in out-putofcoal,crudeoil,naturalgas,steel,cement&electric-ity.Meanwhile,fiscaldeficitin the first quarter of FY21widenedtoRs6.62lakhcro-reofbudgetestimates.PTI

AirtelseekslowertaxesNew Delhi: Bharti AirtelchairmanSunilBhartiMittalFridaysaid theCentremustreview high tax rates andleviesapplicablecurrentlyinthetelecomsector.Meanw-hile,RILCMDMukeshAmb-ani againdemandedpolicyintervention fromtheCen-tretoend2Gservices. ENS

NointerimchiefforWTOyetBrussels: TheWorld TradeOrganization (WTO) hasfailed to select a caretakerchief due to an impasseamongmemberswhomuststillagreebyNovemberonareplacement for outgoingDirector-General RobertoAzevedo,theGeneva-basedbodysaidFriday. REUTERS

No need for moratoriumbeyond Aug 31: SBI Chairman

NewDelhi:Concernedovertheex-clusionof ‘unemploymentinsur-anceforunorganisedsectorwork-ers’, the StandingCommittee onLabour recommended the gov-ernment to incorporate it in theCode on Social Security to dealwithunprecedentedlabourmar-ketsituations.InitsfinalreportontheCodesubmittedonFriday,theCommittee has also flagged thevaguenessoftheFinancialMemo-randum, stating that it does notquantify estimated expenditureorsourceofrevenue.It alsoproposed reducing the

continuous service period fromfiveyearstooneforgettinggratu-ity,alongwithsuggestingextend-ing social security benefits to allworkerswithout discriminationordifferentiation,inclusionof‘’ex-changeof services’’ in thedefini-tionofestablishmentwithapro-visionofunder10workers. ENS

GEORGEMATHEWMUMBAI,JULY31

ADAYafterthecentralbankpro-posed dilution of the Centre’sstakes in public sector banks(PSBs) to26per cent, formerRBIDeputyGovernor Viral Acharyaproposed divestment and evenprivatisationofhealthierPSBs.“Inmy opinion, the divest-

mentsareafirststep...divestmentbeyondmajority stake, becausetheywillhelprelaxthefiscalcon-straint,”hesaid,adding,“Perhapsprivatisationofsomeofthehealt-hiestpublicsectorbanks—relativ-elyhealthier public sector banks—shouldalsobeonthetable.”Whilelaunchinghisbook‘Qu-

estforRestoringFinancialStabilityinIndia’,AcharyasaidtheNarasi-mhamcommittee had said thatgovernmentstakeinPSBsshouldbe lowered to 30 per cent andthereshouldbesynergisticmerg-ersdesignedwithbetweenbanks

wherethereiscomplementarity.In a presentation to PrimeMini-sterNarendraModi,ReserveBankofIndia(RBI)officialshadpropos-ed cutting the Centre’s stake inPSUbanksto26percentandlon-gertenureforthechiefsofPSBs.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

Privatisation of healthier PSBsshould be on table: Acharya

Mumbai:SBIposteda81percent rise in standalone netprofittoRs4,189croreforthequarter ended in June asagainstRs2,312crore in thesameperiodof lastyear.NPAsfellduringthequar-

ter, while gross NPAsweredownat5.44percentofad-vances from7.53per cent ayearago.ENS

SBI Q1 standalonenet profit rises 81%

‘Direct deficitfinancing shouldbe last resort’

NANDAGOPALRAJANNEWDELHI,JULY31

DESPITESMARTPHONEsalesco-mingtoahaltforatleastacoupleofmonthsinmanycountriesduetothepandemic,Applemanagedaquarterly revenueof $59.7 bil-lion,ariseof11percentfromthe

year-ago quarter. Research firmCanalys saidApplewas the onlycompany that grew inQ2, ship-ping45.1millioniPhonesglobally,ariseof25percentyear-on-year.CEOTimCooksaidthe“record

Junequarterwasdrivenbydou-ble-digitgrowthinbothProductsandServices andgrowth in eachofourgeographicsegments”.

Record 11% rise in Apple Q2 revenue

Mumbai: FormerRBIGove-rnorDSubbarao saiddirectfinancing of deficit by RBIshouldbeabsolutelythelastresort“nomatterthattoday’scrisis isextraordinary”. “Thecase for direct financing ismadeon theargument thatgovernmentborrowing thisyearhas balloonedwaybe-yondnormal,”hesaid. ENS

House panelsubmits finalreport on Codeon Social Security

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY31

FINANCE MINISTER NirmalaSitharaman Friday has said thegovernment isworkingwith theReserveBankof Indiaonrestruc-turing of loans and extension ofmoratoriumontermloans.Bankscannot refuse credit toMSMEsunder the emergency credit lineguaranteeschemeandanyrefusalshouldbereported,shesaid.“Thefocusisonrestructuring.

FinanceMinistry is actively en-gagedwithRBIon this. Inprinci-ple, the idea that theremaybe a

restructuring required, is welltaken,” she said in an interactionwithFICCI, asper a statement is-suedbytheindustrychamber.On concerns raised by FICCI

members in raising loans underECLGS,shesaid“bankscannotre-fusecredittoMSMEscoveredun-deremergencycreditfacility.Ifre-fused, such instancesmust bereported.Iwilllookintoit.”Bankshave sanctioned43.5per cent ofthetargetedRs3lakhcroreundertheECLGSforstressedMSMEsasof July23,officialdatashows.

Google, FB get 3 mthsto negotiate withAustralian media ‘fairpay for news content’

‘Give one-time recast facility to all borrowers’SUNNYVERMA&SANDEEPSINGHNEWDELHI,JULY31

THERESERVEBankofIndiashouldprovideaone-timerestructuringfacility to all loan accounts irre-spective of timeand category ofborrowers,saidSatishMarathe,di-rectorontheRBI’sCentralBoard.Thedemandcomesaheadof

thecompletionof the six-monthmoratoriumonAugust31, and isin linewithgrowingconcernsonexpected rise innon-performingassets in the year endedMarch2021.Marathehascalled forgov-ernment to reduce its holding instate-ownedbanksto26percentandnotgoforbankprivatisation.

AllaccountsthatcameinstressfromApril1,2019,shouldbegivenanopportunity for one-time re-structuringwithout anydown-grade.“One-timerestructuringforall accounts, irrespective of thetimeorcategoryofborrowers,weshouldgivethisfacility.ThisIhavesaidonthebackgroundofacontin-uousslowdownofmorethantwoyears.Lockdowncameonthebackofthiscontinuousslowdown,thathasputoureconomyinfurtherdis-tressleadingtoanunprecedentedsituation,”hesaid.“WewrotetotheFinance Minister and PrimeMinisteralso(asthefoundermem-berofNGOSahakarBharati) ...be-causeIhavebeeninteractingwithseveralMSMEs, small andbigur-bancooperativebanks.”

InitsFinancialStabilityReport,the RBI has projected that in a“veryseverestressedscenario”,thegrossNPAsof thebanking sectorcouldrisetoashighas14.7percentoftotalloansbyMarch2021.Thegovernment shouldkeep

itsstakeinpublicsectoratamini-mumof 26per cent and rest besoldtoretail investorsandstaff tocreateanewownershipstructurethatpromotes efficiency, he saidin an interactionwithThe IndianExpress.Healsocalledforbringingemployees’“skininthegame”andargued that employees of state-ownedbanksshouldbegivensig-nificant stockoptionsandsharestocreateasenseofownership.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

ASSOCIATEDPRESSCANBERRA,JULY31

THEAUSTRALIAN governmentsaidFriday itplans togiveGoogleandFacebookthreemonthstone-gotiatewithAustralianmediabusi-nessesfairpayfornewscontent.In releasing a draft of a

mandatorycodeofconduct, thegovernment aims to succeedwhere other countries havefailed inmaking the global dig-ital giants pay for news si-phoned from commercial me-dia companies.Google said Australia’s draft

codewas a heavy-handed stepthat could impede the digitaleconomy.Treasurer Josh Frydenberg

saidGoogleandFacebookwouldbe the firstdigitalplatforms tar-getedbytheproposedlegislationbutotherscouldfollow.It’saboutafair-goforAustraliannewsme-diabusinesses,Frydenbergsaid.

Forex reserves rise by $5 bnto hit fresh high of $522 bnENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY31

THECOUNTRY’Sforeignexchangereservesrosebyanother$5billionintheweek-endedJuly24tohitanewhigh of $522 billion.Withthis, India has seen its forex re-servesexpandby$94billionoverthepast10months.Whilethereserveshavebeen

drivenbyarise in foreignportfo-lio investmentand foreigndirectinvestment, and has been sup-ported by lower crudeoil prices

anddeclineinimportsonaccountofthepandemic,expertssaythatithasprovidedmuchneededre-lief totheeconomy.The RBI data released on

Friday shows that in theweek-endedJuly3,foreigncurrencyas-sets expanded by $3.6 billion to$480.5billion.DespitetheCOVID-19-related

stress on the economy and thecountry going into a stringentlockdown towards the end ofMarch, the first sevenmonthsofcalendar2020haveseenariseof$65billioninforexreserves.

FMNirmalaSitharaman.@nsitharamanTwitterhandle

FinMin working with RBI on loanrecast, moratorium extension: FM

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,JULY31

ASSTATESopposetheproposalforthemtoborrowtobridgetherev-enue gap under the Goods andServices Tax (GST) regime, somestateshave suggested raising taxratesandbringingmoreitemsintotheambitofcompensationcesstoshoreuprevenues.Punjab Finance Minister

Manpreet SinghBadal, in a lettertoUnionFinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharamanFriday,tookstrongob-jectiontorecentreportsofthecen-tral government not having themoneyortheobligationtopayGSTcompensation to states, statingthatCentrehadprovided “innu-merableassurances”intherun-uptoGST for “assured and unhin-deredcompensation”.Punjab is already operating

with aGSTdeficit of over 45per

cent, Badal said, adding theGSTCompensationActhasbeenacen-tral legislationand theobligationtopaycompensationfollowsfromthe law’senactment.Hehassug-

gested fivemeasures—ad-valor-emcompensationcesstofactorininflation,subsumingcentralexciseduty on cigarettes and tobaccoproducts in compensation cess,settlementofpending IGSTdues,bringingback certain items intothe28percenttaxslabandinclu-sionofservicesconsumedbyrichinthetopmost28percentslab—aspossiblesolutionsforreducingthe revenue gap and hence theburdenofcompensationtostates.“Any shortfall after these ad-

justmentsmay bemet throughcentral borrowings. Thiswill bebothefficient intermsof thecostof borrowing aswell as equity.Statesshouldnotbemadetobeartheburdenof borrowing,whichin any case is likely to be higherthantherateatwhichthecentralgovernmentwill be able to bor-row,”Badalsaid.Kerala Finance Minister

Thomas Isaac said, “AG opinion

seems to be that if there is nomoneyincess fundit’suptoGSTCouncil to make appropriatearrangements. Fine. But theCentrehas1/3rdvotesinCouncil.No decision can be takenwith-outitsconcurrence.Sotheques-tion is,what is its stance?Topayornot topay?”BiharDeputy ChiefMinister

SushilKumarModialsoconcurredwith theviewthatborrowingbystatesortheCentre,iftoberepaidfromthecompensationcessfund,isnot feasible. Instead theCentremust consider raising the longpendingdemandofraisingthefis-caldeficit limit for states toallowthemtoborrowmore.“Stateshavealreadybeendemanding raisingthefiscaldeficitlimituncondition-allyfrom3.5percentto4percent(of GSDP). States should be al-lowed toborrowmore,which isnot tobepaid through the com-pensation cess fund.Andeven if

thatconditionisput,nobodywillgiveyou that loanbecause therewon’tbemuchmoneyinthatkitty(compensation cess fund). So, iftherearenotenoughcess collec-tions,thenultimatelyyouhavetopayfromtheconsolidatedfund(ofstates),”hesaid.Modi said theonly solution is

toraiseGSTrates.“Notonlystatesbut theCentre is alsogetting lessrevenueandIdon’tthinkit is fea-siblefortheCentretoborrowandcompensatestates.Itisnotaone-timeaffair, it is going tocontinuefor another 1 year or 2 years ormore.Sotheonlyotheroptionleftis to increase the tax rates,whichwillhavetobedecidedbytheGSTCouncil. Pandemicwill continuefor amuch longer time, so ulti-matelyyouwillhavetodecideaf-ter 1 month, 2 months or 3months, whether it is inverteddutystructureortaxrates,sothatthereislessrevenueloss,”hesaid.

MOVENOT FEASIBLE, SAYPUNJAB, BIHAR, KERALA

E●EXPLAINED

AFTERFINANCEMinistryofficials are reported tohavecitedtheirinabilitytopaystatesinthenearfuturein a Parliamentary panelmeeting on Tuesday, fol-lowedbyalegalopinionbyAG suggesting that theCentre does not have theobligation to pay, stateshave stressed upon thecommitmentof compen-sationmadeatthetimeoftheGSTroll-outin2017.

Thematterathand

GSTcompensation:SomestateFMsobjecttomarketborrowingproposal,suggeststepstoshoreuprevenue

PRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,JULY31

ADAY after Kuwait announcedliftingoftravelbanforitsresidentsacross theworld, except thosefromseven countries, includingIndia, theDirectorateGeneral ofCivilAviation(DGCA)saida‘trans-port bubble’ arrangement hasbeensignedwithKuwait“toupliftstrandedpassengersboth to andfromIndia”.AseniorgovernmentofficialsaidtheCentrewasintalkswith theUKandCanada to signarrangementsforsuch‘transportbubble’.

“Toallowgradualmovementof passenger traffic during theCOVID-19 situation, ‘TransportBubble’ agreements have beensigned with USA, France, andGermany. Recently, ‘TransportBubble’agreementhasalsobeensigned with Kuwait to upliftstrandedpassengerbothto/fromIndia.Moresimilararrangementsarelikelytofructifyandeasepas-sengermovementsfromdifferentcountries,”theDGCAsaid.InatweetThursday,Kuwait’s

CenterforGovernmentCommu-nication said: “Allowing citizensand residents of the country totraveltoandfromKuwait,exceptforresidentscomingfromthefol-lowingcountries:SriLanka,India,The Philippines, Bangladesh,Nepal, IranandPakistan”.India’s other ‘transport bub-

bles’ with France andGermany

are also subject to the countriesandtheEuropeanUnionallowingIndiancitizenstoarriveintotheirjurisdictions— something theycurrentlydonotallow.A senior government official

saidthetransportbubblearrange-mentsmeanthatairlinesof bothcountrieswillbepermittedtoflypassengersbothways,butalludedto the fact that restrictions im-posedby India’sHomeMinistryand the foreign countries couldmeanonlythosewhoclearthesecheckswillbeabletotraveloutorin. TheMinistry of Civil Aviation,andAir Indiawerelookingtoop-erateflightstoHongKong,buttheMinistry said theHongKongad-ministrationwas not allowingflights fromcertainpointsof ori-gin, includingIndia.

Fullreportonwww.indianexpress.com

India inks air bubble deal with Kuwait,even after being denied travel relaxationsTalksonforsimilararrangementwiththeUK,Canada

New Delhi

THEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VolLXXXVIIINo.227 Regd.No.DL-21046/03-05

R.N.I.No.506/57. PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandPrintedatThe IndianExpress (P) LimitedPress,A-8, Sector-7,Noida -201301andPublishedatThe IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Editorial office:The IndianExpress (P) Limited,MezzanineFloor, ExpressBuilding, 9&10,BahadurShahZafarMarg, NewDelhi-110002. Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingoffice: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector -10,Noida -201301. Phone:0120-6651291.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor (Delhi):RakeshSinha ** **Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct. Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

17NRAIpostpones camp for core groupThe national shooting federation has postponed the compulsory training campfor its Olympic core group planned here from Saturday after taking into theaccount the situation arising out of the pandemic. On Thursday, a shootingcoach at Dr. Karni Singh Range tested positive for COVID-19 but thedevelopment will not force a closure of the facility. PTI

Players, coacheskneel as NBAreturns to action

ASSOCIATEDPRESSLAKEBUENAVISTA,JULY31

BLACKPLAYERSwerenexttowhiteplayers.Coaches fromoneteamwerenext to theircompatriotsfromtheopposingside.Manylocked armswith themannext to them,someshuttheireyestightly,afewincludingLeBronJamesbrieflyraisingafistintotheairorpointingskyward.TheNBAhadastrong,powerfulre-openingnightmessage.Whenitcomestodemandingchange,

theleaguestandsunited—andThursday,the four teams that played on the firstnight of the league’s restart showed thatbynot standing.Theywereunprecedented images for

the league in unprecedented times: TheUtah JazzandNewOrleansPelicanskneltalongside one another during “The Star-SpangledBanner,” theirwayof joining thechorusofthosedemandingracialjusticeandequality in society. In the second gameThursday,James’LosAngelesLakersandtheLosAngelesClippersdidthesamethingdur-ingtheanthemprecedingtheirmatchup.“Tonightwewitnessedsober,powerfully

movingandheartfeltdemonstrationsbyourplayersof theircommitmenttothepursuitof justice,” National Basketball PlayersAssociation ExecutiveDirectorMicheleRobertstweeted.“Veryproud.”TheNBAhasarulethatdatestotheearly

1980sdecreeingthatplayersmuststandforthenational anthem, andCommissionerAdamSilverquicklyannouncedthatthepol-icyisbeingadjusted.Theanthemswerepre-recorded:JonBatisteperformedtheonebe-forePelicans-Jazz, theComptonKidzClubhadthetaskbeforeClippers-Lakers.“I respect our teams’ unified act of

peaceful protest for social justice andun-dertheseuniquecircumstanceswillnoten-force our long-standing rule requiringstandingduringtheplayingofournationalanthem,” saidSilver,whowatched fromaplexiglass-enclosed suite becausehehasnotbeenquarantinedandthereforecannotbearoundplayersandcoacheswhoareliv-ing inside theNBA’s so-called bubble atWaltDisneyWorld.

CROSSWORD4185

ACROSS1 Sadreflectionabouteverything inTexas (6)

4 Danceorchestra ledbyawoman(8)

9 Concedes thereareaboutathousandapproaches (6)

10 Tendtohave little rest forrecreation(8)

12 Part that’s left insideeggs (4)13 Turf out,of course (5)14 Assent toachangeofname(4)17 Butoneskater turnsout tobeanoldcomedian(6,6)

20 Getupbefore ten(4,3,5)23 Lovegirl’s curvedshape(4)24 Soft cryofpainproducespurse,butnotof the lips (5)

25 Jewel inringgiventoclosefriend(4)

28 Retaina foreigndrinkasasouvenir (8)

29 Nobodyelsewillknowifwekeep it (6)

30 Sortof stepmanydebtorsneglect tomake(8)

31 Formofdecoration intheforces,perhaps (6)

DOWN1 Bittercriticism- I’dbear itsomehow(8)

2 Lackingmembers (8)3 Hotheadputupthestake (4)5 Asheaf of cornthatcomesasasurprise (1,3,2,1,5)

6 Unproductivesortof raid (4)7 Fallback incommonmutualdefence (6)

8 Manyacall forcourage(6)

11 Just theplace tokeepabilloffare (6,6)

15 Heatedcomplaint (5)16 Thiswilldo for thepresent (5)18 Staysupwhentherearegamesabout (8)

19 Lets itbreaktoapoint thatcouldbedangerous (8)

21 Jail soundshair-raising (6)22 It’snotoftenthere’s realtrouble in therailway(6)

26 Is theFrenchoneringed in themain?(4)

27 Hetakesafterhis father,presumably (4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Youhaveareputation forgettingyourownway. Inpart, this is

others’ fault forallowingthemselves tobeoverruled.However, todaymayIadviseyoutobeextrasensitive topartners’ ratherdelicatefeelings.Themorepleasantyouare to them, thenicerthey’llbe toyou.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Youcouldbeatyourmostpersuasive.This really isasociabledayand

youshouldmakegreatplayofyourability tobringpeopletogether.Prospects for those inthepropertymarketaredistinctlybetter thanaveragebut, asusual, yourplanninghas tobeperfect.

GEMINI (May22- June21)ThevariousrelationshipsbetweenMars,Mercury,Venusand

Jupiterareperfectlyoptimisticin their inclinations, andshouldsuityoudowntotheground.This isa timetogetonwithyour favourite tasks, toexchange information,makeshort tripsandgenerallychaseyourspecialambitions.

CANCER(June22- July23)Yourparticularbrandof sensitivityisonewecouldalllearn from.Powerful

emotionalalignmentssuityourmoodandmayencourageyoutoputyourself onthe lineas farasonespecialrelationship isconcerned.You’llneedall thecourageandconfidenceatyourdisposal.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Slowlybutsurelyyououghttobereassuringpartnersofyourloyaltyand

dedication.Thelessontolearnatthemomentisthatpartnershipsmustbeworkedat.Thissimpletruthisquitecompatiblewiththefun,pleasureandenjoymentthatcomefromspecialassociations.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)Otherpeopleholdthekey. Itdoesn’tmatterwhetheryourspeciality isa

workingpartnership, aromantic liaisonor justfriendship ingeneral.All that isimportant is thatyouopenyourheart.Onceyoudothat,thenotherpeoplemayrespond intheways thatyoualwayshopedtheywould.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Whatyoucandonow is takeamuchfirmer linewithchildren. You

should also realise that therearemanychores tobecompletedand tasks tobedone, even if youare in themood for adayoff. Yourbestapproach is to call in a long-forgotten favour.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)As theMoonmovesto and frobetweenchallenging regionsof your chart and

harmoniousones, the chancesfor romantic happinessimprove. You should seize theopportunity to enjoyyourself,regardless ofwhether yourinterests arehigh-browor low.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Once again, homeand family affairsoccupy yourattention. Itmaybe

aday to indulge in yourfavourite practical tasks, or toenjoy the companyofyour favourite relations.Friendly communicationwith everyone is the toptheme for thenext twenty-four hours.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)There isagreattemptationto talkaboutsubjectsofwhichyouknow

nothing. If youcangetawaywithabluff,dosobyallmeans.Ontheotherhand, if factsareimportant, youmaycare togetasecondopinion.That’sespecially thecase if you’reriskingyourowncash.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Thetimehascometoclear thedecks, asI thinkyouknow.Aslongasyouhave

majorpersonalmatters inhand,youmayindulgeafinancialwhim. If spendingplansareyour toppriority,then it looksas if frivolitiesmaybeabetterbuythannecessities.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)There are somany thought-provokingplanetary patterns

at themoment, but thedominantmood is emotional.Myhope is thatwewill seethe very best of your caring,compassionate sensitivity.My concern is that youmaybe a little too ready to buildmolehills into quiteunnecessarymountains.

SUDOKU418

7

DifficultyLevel3sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU418

6

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Iwoulddefine, inbrief,the___of___astherhythmicalcreationofBeauty-EdgarAllanPoe(6,.,5)

SOLUTION:RERAN,SPOOK,ODDITY,WARMUPAnswer:Iwoulddefine,inbrief,thepoetryofwordsastherhythmicalcreationofBeauty-EdgarAllanPoe

ANERR DIODTY

KPOOS AMRUPW

SolutionsCrossword4184:Across: 1Refer,4Patient,8Sou,9Democracy,10Moabite,11Seton,13Drills,15Enosis,18Mimic,19Mustard,21Potentate,23Eon,24Everest,25Paths.Down:1Resumed,2Feudalism,3Radii,4Pamper,5Tucksin,6Era,7Tryon,12Testament,14Licence,16Sidings,17Impart,18Maple,20Steep,22Tie.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

‘If we are not seen praising iconic players,fans tend to assume that we are antagonistic’Manjrekar ‘happytoapologise’ for reinstatement incommentarypanel

DEVENDRAPANDEYMUMBAI,JULY31

FIVEMONTHSafterhewas removed fromtheBCCI commentarypanel, formercrick-eterSanjayManjrekarhaswritten toBoardpresidentSouravGangulyandothermem-bersof theApexCouncil explaininghispo-sition and offering to apologise “if I haveoffended anyone.”Manjrekarstatedthathewouldbe“happy

to apologise” and that the sacking has“shakenmyconfidence”andwasa“bigjolt”.InthiscommunicationaccessedbyTheIndianExpress,ManjrekarnotedthathewastoldbyanBCCIofficialonphonethathewassackedbecause“someplayershadanissuewithmeasacommentator”.Themailwasaprecursortoanotherletter

the former batsmanwrote toBoardofficialsrequestinghisreinstatementinthecommen-tary panel for the upcoming edition of theIndianPremierLeague-mostlikelytobeheldin theUnitedArabEmirates - andpromisingtoabidebytheregulationssetbytheBCCI.“You are already in receipt of the email I

sent to explainmypositionas commentator.WiththeIPLdatesannounced,bcci.tvwillpickitscommentarypanelsoon.Iwillbehappytoworkaspertheguidelineslaidbyyou.Afterall,weareworkingonwhatisessentiallyyourpro-duction. Last time, maybe there was notenoughclarityonthisissue,”hewrote.IthasbeenspeculatedthatManjrekarwas

removedfromthepanelasaresultofhiscom-mentcallingRavindraJadejaa“bits-and-piecesplayer”during last year’sODIWorldCupandthe subsequent reactions from fans and theplayer himself were an important trigger inhimlosinghisjob.OnJuly3lastyear,Jadejahadtweetedhisire

atManjrekar’scomments:“Still,IhaveplayedtwicethenumberofmatchesyouhaveplayedandIamstillplaying.Learntorespectpplwhohave achieved. I have heard enoughof yourverbaldiarrhea@Sanjaymanjrekar”.After his half-century in theWorld Cup

semi-final against NewZealand, Jadeja hadgesticulatedangrilytowardsthecommentarystudio. Theofficial Twitter handle of the ICCpostedavideoofapost-matchdiscussionin-volvingManjrekar. “Bybits andbypieces, hejust rippedme apart today. Bits of pieces ofsheerbrilliance, heprovedmeallwrong,” hehadsaidthatday.InhisfirstmailtoBoardofficials,Manjrekar

also flagged theperils of being a commenta-torinthesetimes.“Ifwearenotseenpraisingtheiconicplayersallthetime,thefansofthoseplayerstendtoassumethatweareantagonis-tictowardstheplayerstheyworship…Anyonewhohas followedmycareerasacommenta-tor would know that I have no maliciousagendaagainstanyoneandthatmyopinionscomefromaverypureplacethatIholdsacred.It’s cricketweare talkingabout, a sport that’s

givenmeandmyfathersomuch,”Manjrekarstated.“Iwasgreatlyhurt!Especiallybecausethiscameasarealshock!”headded.Manjrekar reiterated hiswillingness to

apologise. “So, really, thissackingforwhat-ever reason, has shakenmy confidence asa professional. If unwittingly, I have of-fended anyone Iwould be happy to apolo-gise to the concernedparty.”Manjrekaralsobroughtup the Jadeja is-

sue in great detail in his email to the ApexCouncil, attaching an audio file of his com-ments. “Youwill see howbenign it iswhenyou hear it in right context”. He alsowrote,“Theplayerconcernedobviouslymisunder-stood this orwas perhapsmisinformed. Bytheway,theplayerandIhavesinceprivatelymadepeaceover this issue.”Hestatedthatthecommentwasnotmade

during commentary but in an interview.“Pleasenote this commentwasnotmadebymeonTwitteror incommentary, itwasinanaudio interview to anewsagency…that gotblownoutofproportion.Itwasmadeasapartof a longmedia interviewbutunfortunatelywasmade into an eye-catching headline byjustonewebsiteandtheplayerreactedsharplyto itonTwitter.Thisgot the issuethetractionitdidnotdeserve.‘Bits-and-pieces’isacricket-ing termcommonlyused for cricketerswhoarenon-specialists.Itisregularlyusedbycom-mentators todescribecertainplayersand it’sneverconsideredtobedemeaning.”Inhisemail,Manjrekarlistedouthisstand-

ingasacommentatoruntilhewas“suddenlynot foundgoodenough”. “Until thismomentI hadbeen the leading commentator on theBCCI panel formanyyears fulfilling someofthe biggest responsibilities there are in livebroadcasting:leadcommentator,post-matchawardspresenter,hostingthetoss,doingplayerinterviewsandyes,impromptuBCCIfunctionsongroundtoo.IamalsooneofthefirstIndiancommentatorsthatgetsrosteredfortheWorldCupsbythe ICC. Ididmyjobwithgreatprideanda100percentcommitmentandsuddenlynotfoundtobegoodenoughtobeinthepanelwasabigjolt.”

“AnyonewhohasfollowedmycareerasacommentatorwouldknowthatIhavenomaliciousagendaagainstanyoneandthatmyopinionscomefromaverypureplacethatIholdsacred. It’scricketwearetalkingabout,asportthat’sgivenmeandmyfathersomuch...Iwasgreatlyhurt!Especiallybecausethiscameasarealshock!”

SANJAYMANJREKAR

Dearesteemedmembersof theApexCouncil,

InFebruary2020,completelyoutoftheblue,IwastoldbyDevShriyan,theheadofproduction,BCCITv,thatIwasbeing removedfromthecommentarypanel.I have publiclymaintained that—“theBCCIaremyemployersandthey

haveevery right toeitherhavemeornot, in their commentarypanel. I haveneverconsideredbeingonacommentary panel anentitlement.”Buthere, amongsta small circleof important stakeholdersof Indian

cricket, friendsandcolleagues,pleaseallowmetoopenmyheart.Iwasgreatlyhurt!Especiallybecause this cameasa real shock!Ididmyjobwithgreatprideanda100percentcommitmentandsuddenly

not foundtobegoodenoughtobe in thepanelwasabig jolt.Later Iwas toldonphonebyaseniorofficebearer that someplayershadan

issuewithmeasacommentator .Nowhere iswhereour jobgetsabit tricky.Ifwearenot seenpraising the iconicplayersall the time, the fansof those

players tendtoassumethatweareantagonistic towards theplayers theywor-ship. That’s theprofessionalhazardwehave to livewithdoingour job.Anyonewhohas followedmycareerasacommentatorwouldknowthat Ihavenoma-liciousagendaagainstanyoneandthatmyopinionscomefromaverypureplace that Iholdsacred. It’s cricketweare talkingabout, a sport that’s givenmeandmyfather somuch.

Mycommentsandopinionscouldbewrong,but theyareneverpersonal,derogatoryorborneoutof prejudiceorcunningdesign, I amonlybiased to-wardsexcellence inperformances,whether it’s a teamoraplayer.Now, let’s take the ‘bits andpieces’ comment thatgotblownoutof pro-

portionduring the lastWorldCup.‘Bits andpieces’ is a cricketing termcommonlyused forcricketerswhoare

non-specialists. It is regularlyusedbycommentators todescribecertainplay-ersand it’sneverconsidered tobedemeaning.Theplayerconcernedobviouslymisunderstood thisorwasperhapsmisin-

formed.By theway, theplayerand Ihavesinceprivately madepeaceover thisissue.So, really, this sacking forwhatever reason,has shakenmyconfi-

denceasaprofessional. If unwittingly, Ihaveoffendedanyone Iwouldbehappytoapologise to thecon-cernedparty.

Regards,Sanjay

*Excerpts fromManjrekar’s email toBCCI

[ MANJREKAR ’S LETTER ]

New Delhi

CONSIDERED the backbone of the national economic struc-ture, the Indian MSME sector has consistently acted as abulwark for the Indian economy, providing it resilience to

ward off global economic shocks and adversities. Its contributionto the national economy can be gauged from the fact that theclosure of MSMEs results in mass unemployment, leading to afall in economic growth.Through this sector, the industrialisationprocess reaches our rural areas,not only generating employmentbut also ensuring development of backward regions.

As per industry experts,“The MSMEs contribute significantly inthe development of Indian economy through export production,domestic production, low investment requirements, operationalflexibility, technology-oriented enterprises etc. The sector’s sta-bility is critical in meeting the national objectives of employmentgeneration as well as in discouraging rural-urban migration, lead-ing to an overall socio-economic metamorphosis of the country.”

As per a report published in February 2020, “The MSME seg-ment accounts for 31% of India’s GDP and 45% of exports.Thereare an estimated 55.80 million MSMEs employing close to 124million people. Out of this, 14% are women-led enterprises and59.5% are in the rural areas. Hence, the sector has the scope foracting as a catalyst for economic growth across the geographic,so-cial, and cultural strata of the country.”

However, the sector,already in trouble,got further stressed afterthe advent of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to a nationwidelockdown. The absence of buffers that exist for the bigger firmsand lack of access to cheap capital have made the survival ofMSMEs a growing concern in these trying times. In the early days ofthe lockdown, the Reserve bank of India stepped in to ease theMSME sector’s financial woes by announcing several measuressuch as a moratorium on term loans,and easier working capital fi-nancing. To further ease financial distress, “some public sectorbanks have also opened up emergency credit lines for businesses.”

Realising the mounting financial troubles for the sector andthe drastic impact of the nationwide lockdown on the economy,theGovernment of India unveiled its Rs 20 lakh crore economic reliefpackage, the first tranche of which includes “Rs 3 lakh crore col-lateral free 4-year tenure loan for MSMEs with moratorium onpayment for first 12 months.A loan provision of Rs 20,000 crore forstressed MSMEs was also made and a Rs 30,000 crore special liq-uidity scheme for investment in debt papers of NBFCs was an-nounced, among other schemes.” Further, these collateral-freeloans will be“fully guaranteed by the Centre.There will be a prin-cipal repayment moratorium for 12 months and the interest ratewill be capped and there will be no guarantee fee.”

The government further announced, “All MSMEs with aturnover of up to Rs 100 crore and with outstanding credit of up toRs 25 crore will be eligible to borrow up to 20% of their total out-standing credit as on February 29, 2020.These loans will have afour-year tenure and the scheme will be open until October 31.Atotal of Rs 3 lakh crore has been allocated for this.”

To end the lending dilemma on part of formal finan-cial institutions, “the government has said that it willbackstop banks up to Rs 3 lakh crore and said that theseloans do not need collaterals. Banks are now expectedto be more comfortable in assisting this category of bor-rowers because the risk is zero (since the loans are guar-anteed by the central government).” About 45 lakhMSMEs are expected to gain from this proposal.

Further, as per an online report,“A partial credit guar-antee scheme has been extended to enable promoters ofthese units to increase their equity.A total of Rs 20,000crore will be funnelled through the Credit GuaranteeFund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE)whereby banks will lend money to promoters which canbe infused as equity in their businesses.About two lakhstressed MSMEs with non-performing assets (NPAs) areprojected to benefit from this. The CGTMSE will offer apartial credit guarantee to banks.”

The government has also proposed setting up a Fund ofFunds (FOF) to infuse equity into MSMEs,wherein the gov-ernment will provide Rs 10,000 crore as the initial corpus ofthe Fund. “The Fund of Funds shall be operated through amother and a few daughter funds. It is expected that withleverage of 1:4 at the level of daughter funds, the Fund ofFunds will be able to mobilise equity of about Rs 50,000crore,”the government statement said.“The aim is to ex-pand size and capacity of the MSMEs with equity and helpthem get listed on the stock exchanges.”

The Union Government has also tweaked the definitionof MSMEs and,henceforth,MSMEs will not only be recog-nised based on their investments but also on theirturnover.Also, the existing distinction between manufac-turing and services units has been eliminated. “Hence-forth, a unit with up to Rs 1 crore investment and Rs 5crore turnover will qualify as a micro unit, investment up toRs10 crore and turnover up to Rs 50 crore will qualify as asmall unit,and investment up to Rs 20 crore and turnoverup to Rs 100 crore will qualify as a medium enterprise.”

Certainly, the Union Government realises the mas-sive importance of MSMEs in the economy and the slewof measures it has unveiled, if implemented timely andcorrectly, will help revive the ailing sector in post-COVID-19 India.

*ADVERTORIAL An initiative by

* ( READ. ENGAGE. DELIVER.) IS THE MARKETING SOLUTIONS TEAM OF THE INDIAN EXPRESS GROUP

The Union Government certainly realisesthe massive importance of MSMEs in theeconomy and its recent slew of measures, ifimplemented timely and correctly, willprove to be a milestone for the ailing sectorin post-COVID-19 India.

MSMEs Actas the

Bulwark forthe National

Economy

PNB’s Laghu Udyami Credit Card Scheme

A boost to ‘Make in India’

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AHASSLE-free financial product forsmall business units, retail traders, ar-tisans, village industries, self-em-

ployed persons,etc.The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

(MSME) sector is the backbone of the Indianeconomy, being a critical part of our supplychain for products and services as well as thelargest employment creator and industrialisa-tion in rural and backward areas.Our MSMEsand SMEs have played a vital role in bringingeconomic stability in terms of growth of lever-aged exports, inclusive growth, and simplemanagement structures.

With the focus on $5 trillion in GDP growthby 2025, the country today relies much moreon the success of ‘Make in India’ through suchenterprises.Given this significance, India’s sec-ond-largest public sector bank, Punjab Na-tional Bank has always been at the forefront of

giving credit through several means to theMSME and SME sectors.

To provide financial support to small busi-ness units, retail traders, artisans, village in-dustries, micro and small enterprises (bothmanufacturing and services) and tiny units,professionals and self-employed persons andso on, PNB has launched a Laghu Udyamicredit card which forms one of the easiest loandelivery mechanism in banking.

Borrowers belonging to above-said cate-gories, enjoying cash credit limits up to Rs 10lakh and having satisfactory dealings with thebank for the last three years, are eligible forthe credit card.Among other key parameters,the individual credit limit of up to Rs 10 lakh(maximum) is available, subject to conditions.Assessment of the limit for small businesses,re-tail traders, etc is up to 20% of their annualturnover while for professional and self-em-

ployed persons, they can avail up to 50% oftheir gross annual income as per Income TaxReturn statement. For Micro & Small Enter-prises units, the limit is as per the simplifiedturnover method.

Margin requirements are moderate andvaried as per the respective target group. Forexample, for MSEs (other than trading), cashcredit is given as per the stocks,and for those intrading, a cash credit of (as per stocks) 30-40% is allotted,keeping in view the nature ofstocks, price fluctuation, shelf life, etc. Secu-rity conditions include a nil margin for up toRs 2 lakh,and 15% for those above Rs 2 lakh-Rs 5 lakh. Above Rs 5 lakh, a 20% margin isapplicable.

No collateral security and third-party guar-antee are required for loans up to Rs 10 lakh,covered under the Credit Guarantee FundTrust for Micro & Small Enterprises (CGTMSE).

18 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,SATURDAY,AUGUST1,2020

New Delhi