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

TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2021, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SUKRITABARUAHGHAZIABAD, JANUARY4

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

roof collapse rose by onemoreto24,therewereseveralfamilieslikeMamata'swonderingwhatwouldhappento themnow.Pramod,36,andRobinSingh,

23,hadgonetothecrematoriumfor the last ritesof Pramod'sun-cle Jai Ram, a vegetable seller.Now all that are left in her ex-tended family,Mamata said, areherself, hermother-in-law, hertwochildrenandRobin'smother."My husbandwas a graphic

designerandhadastudio.Robinhadjoinedajobataprivatecom-panyjusttwodaysback.Robin's

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Earning membersamong 24 dead atcrematorium in UP,families left destitute

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

NEGOTIATIONSTORESUMEONJANUARY8

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

LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

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

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

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

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

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

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

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

otherviruseslikerabiessupportCONTINUEDONPAGE2

RAAKHIJAGGA&HARIKISHANSHARMALUDHIANA,NEWDELHI, JAN4

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

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

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

soughttimefromthePM.HehasCONTINUEDONPAGE2

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

TARGETEDBY farmers opposedto the new agriculture laws,Mukesh Ambani-led RelianceIndustries Limited (RIL) saidMonday that the companywould always support the de-

mandofthefarmersfor“fairandprofitablepriceonapredictablebasis”fortheirproduce,andthatthecompanyhadnoplanstoen-ter corporate or contract farm-ing,nowor in the future.RIL also said it had, through

its subsidiary Reliance JioInfocomm, mentioned a

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

Womenbeingtrainedtodrive tractors,onthe Jind-PatialanationalhighwayonMonday. Express

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

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

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

with the UK strain of the virus)have been kept in single roomisolation in designated HealthCarefacilitiesbyrespectiveStateGovernments. Their close con-tacts have also been put underquarantine.Comprehensivecon-tacttracinghasbeeninitiatedforco-travellers,familycontactsand

others. Genome sequencing onotherspecimensisgoingon,”theUnionHealthMinistry said in a

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

KHUSHBOONARAYAN&AANCHALMAGAZINEMUMBAI,NEWDELHI,JANUARY4

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

foundthatbothZeeandL&Thaveavailedbogusinputtaxcreditun-derGST. TheDGGI is investigat-ing therecordsof these firms forthe last five financial years. “Theinformation gathered by theDGGIwassenttotheIncomeTax

Department even as the GSTprobe is still on so that it couldtaketimelyaction,”sourcesfamil-iarwiththedevelopmentsaid.Sources said starting 11 am

onMonday, the I-TDepartmentconductedsurveysatover15lo-cations in the Mumbai andChennaiofficesofthecompaniesunder Section 133A of theIncome Tax Act. Some surveyswerealso conductedat their as-sociateofficesinafewothercitiesacross thecountry, saidsources.“Officials from the tax de-

partment visited the offices ofthe company with certainqueries. The officials concernedof thecompanyareprovidingalltherequiredinformationandex-tendingcompletecooperation,”the official spokespersonof Zee

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

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

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

AMIDCONCERNSthatCovaxinhadbeengivenemergencyuseauthori-sationwithout fulldata,HealthMinisterDrHarshVardhanhasclarifiedthat thiswasa“strategicdecision”. “...This ap-provalensures Indiahasanadditionalvaccineshield in its arsenal espagainstpotentialmutantstrains inadynamicpan-demic situation -Astrategicdecision forourvaccinesecurity,”hepostedonTwitter.

ExtrashotinarsenalE●EXPLAINE

D

Grievingrelatives inMuradnagaronMonday.AbhinavSaha

PAGE1ANCHOR

IRAMSIDDIQUEINDORE, JANUARY4

INWHAT has deepened anxi-etiesinthewakeof thecommu-nal tension during rallies byright-wingorganisations in fewdistricts inMadhyaPradesh, thelocal administration in Indorepartially demolished 13 housesin the minority-dominatedChandan Khedi village lastWednesday, stating thesewere

illegal encroachments on gov-ernment land.The demolition happened a

day after clasheswere reportedlast Tuesday during a Ayodhya

CONTINUEDONPAGE2Ahousethatwaspartiallydemolished.VishnukantTiwari

SUKHBIRSIWACHCHANDIGARH, JANUARY4

ASFARMERSthreatena“tractorparade” toNewDelhiontheoc-casion of Republic Day if theirdemands against the new agri-cultural laws are notmet, join-ingthemwouldbewomenfrom

Haryanavillages.At several places across the

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

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‘Daughters of farmers’ ontractors headed for Delhi

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ThequestionsraisedbyIndiaapprovingtwoCOVID-19vaccinesNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

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

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Agri-export bodyWhiletheearlierRedMeatManualofthe

APEDA, which handles agri-exports undertheMinistryofCommerceandIndustry,said“animalsareslaughteredstrictlyaccordingtohalalmethod tomeet the requirement ofIslamiccountries”, itnowsays “theanimalsare slaughtered according to the require-mentof importingcountry/importer”.It has also deleted these lines: “The ani-

malsare slaughteredbyhalal systemunderstrict vigilance of (a) recognised and regis-tered Islamic body as per the tenets ofIslamic Shariyat. The certificate for halal isissued by the representative of registeredIslamic body underwhose supervision theslaughter is conducted inorder tomeet therequirementof (the) importingcountry.”Sourcessaidthechangewasmadeasthe

useofwordhalal intheoldmanualgavetheimpression that thiswasmandatory for allmeatexports.Islamiccountriesallowtheimportofonly

halal-certifiedmeat, and India exports buf-falomeattomanyof these. In2019-20, IndiaexportedRs22,668.48croreworthofbuffalomeat, with the chief buyers being Vietnam(Rs 7,569.01 crore), Malaysia (Rs 2,682.78crore), Egypt (Rs 2,364.89 crore), Indonesia(Rs 1,651.97 crore), Saudi Arabia (Rs 873.56crore), Hong Kong (Rs 857.26 crore),Myanmar (Rs 669.20 cr) and the UAE (Rs604.47 cr). Most of the exports to VietnamandHongKonggetdivertedtoChina.Right-winggroups,whichhad cited the

APEDA manual to say the governmentseemed to be promoting halalmeat, calledthe change “the first step in the right direc-tion”. However, said Harinder Sikka, one oftheleadingcampaignersagainsthalalcerti-fication, “This is just one step.Wewill con-tinueourcampaign.Halalmeatisharam(un-lawful) forusSikhs.”Sikhorganisationshavealsoapproached

Union Civil AviationMinister Hardeep PuritostopservinghalalmeatonAirIndiaflights.The VHP’s Vinod Bansal said, “Halalo-

nomics should be stopped in the country. Ithascapturedtheentireeconomy...Halalcer-tification should be removed from every-thing... If there is halal certification, thereshouldbea jhatkacertificate.”

Bharat Biotechthehypothesis,DrElla said— becauseof theplatformituses, Covaxinwouldbehighlyef-

fective against suchmutations. The vaccineusesaninactivatedplatform–itwasdevelopedbyusingkilledstrainsoftheSARS-CoV-2virus.Bharat Biotech,whichhas sent around5

milliondosesofitscandidateforqualitychecksandclearancesattheCentralDrugsLaboratoryinKasauli,hopestobeabletorolloutthevac-cineforuseamongthepublicassoonaspos-sible.Ithasstockpiledaround10milliondoses,andwill be readywithanother10millionbyFebruary,DrEllasaid.“Wewillbereadywith150milliondosesbyJuly-August,”headded.The firm is also preparing a protocol to

expandthe testingof itsvaccine tochildrenaged2-15years,whichwillbesubmittedtoan expert committee of the country’s drugregulatorybodysoon,hesaid.However, noprocurementdeal hasbeen

finalisedasyet.Thecompanyhasnotsaidwhatthecostforthetwo-dosevaccinemaybe.“Right now, the government is talking to

us,”DrEllasaid.“Thecostis(basedon)thesizeofthevolume/scale.Inthebeginning,thecostmaybealittlehigherinthevaccinefield,butasthescale-upofproductionincreases,whenmarketcompetitionbuildsup,thepriceisau-tomaticallycontrolledbythemarket,”hesaid.Bharat Biotech has been criticised for

seeking approval for Covaxinwithout pro-vidingdataon thevaccine’s efficacy, that is,its ability to bring down the number ofsymptomaticCovid-19cases.While Drug Controller General of India

(DCGI)DrVGSomanionSundaygrantedre-stricteduseapproval“inclinicaltrialmode”toCovaxin“inpublic interest”, theregulatordidnot clarifywhether the approval had beengrantedonthebasisofefficacydata.Thefirmhas submittedpre-clinical testing data, andphase1and2safetyandimmunogenicitydata.DrElla said theapprovalmeans that the

firmwillnolongerrequiretohaveaplacebogroup in its ongoing clinical trial, andwillvaccinate people in an open-label format.“Their safety and efficacy, we’ll monitorthem,”hesaid.Headdedthatthefirmwasstill tryingto

figureoutvariousmodalitiesofvaccinationsand the clinical trials for Covaxin followingtheapproval, includingwhetheranewclin-ical trial protocolwouldhave tobe submit-ted,andwhethertheywouldberesponsibleforseriousadverseeventsthatdevelopdur-ing thisphaseof vaccination.AIIMSDirectorDrRandeepGuleria,mem-

berofthenationalCovid-19taskforce,toldTheIndianExpressonSundaythattheapprovalfor

Covaxinwas“likeaback-up”.“If we find that cases don’t rise,

thenwe stick to the SII (which hasmanufactured the Indian variant oftheOxford-AstraZeneca vaccine) tilltheBharat Biotechdata comes earlynextmonth... They (the regulators)havegiven,Iwouldsay,agreensignaltostartstockpilingincaseweneedit,”DrGuleriahadsaid.Responding to a question from

The IndianExpressat thevirtualme-diabriefingonMonday,DrEllasaid:“Wehavenotsubmittedanyinterimefficacy data at all. What we havedone is,wehaveproduced (data onthe) highest antibody response,long-termimmunogenicityandhowneutralisationprotection is there.”Theefficacyfromlate-stagetrials

of Covaxinonnearly26,000partici-pantswill become clearer betweenMarchandOctober2021,whichistheefficacy readout timeline set for thevaccineasper thedesignof thetrial.

UK variant casesstatement issuedonMonday.This variant of SARS-CoV-2, first

detected in Kent, England, has nowreached over 30 countries aroundtheworld.TheMinistrysaidthatsixlabs have so far detected the UKstrainduringgenomesequencing.Ithasbeendetectedin11samples

attheCSIRInstituteofGenomicsandIntegrativeBiology(IGIB),NewDelhi;10 samples at theNational InstituteofMentalHealthandNeurosciences(NIMHANS), Bengaluru; eight sam-plesattheNationalCentreforDiseaseControl(NCDC),NewDelhi;fivesam-ples at the National Institute ofVirology (NIV), Pune; three samplesat the Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology (CCMB),Hyderabad; and one sample at theNational Institute of BiomedicalGenomics (NIBG),Kalyani.Significantly, NIV Pune has now

successfully isolated and culturedthe variant, with all signaturechangesfromtheclinicalspecimenscollectedfromtheUKreturnees;andtheresearch institutewillbetestingvaccinesontheisolatedvirusstrain.TheHealthMinistry onMonday

said the situation is “under careful

watch”,andthat“regularadviceisbeingpro-videdtotheStatesforenhancedsurveillance,containment, testing&dispatchof samplesto INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 GenomicConsortium) labs”.

Homes demolishedRamMandirfund-raisingrallywhichpassedthroughthestreetwherethesehouseswerelocated in Chandan Khedi. Therewere alsoreports of stone-pelting by the residentswithseveral injuredonboth thesides.Pratul Sinha,SubDivisionalMagistrateof

Depalpur Tehsil, which covers ChandanKhedi, toldThe IndianExpress the initialplanwasonlyforroadconstruction,notwidening.“After theclash, itwas realised that the roadwasnotwideenoughforevenafiretendertopass.Followingtheclashes,thevillagersweretoldtodemolishthehousessincethesewereillegalencroachmentsonlandownedbythegovernmentofMadhyaPradesh.”According to Sinha, villagers were told

thateithertheadministrationwillbreakthehouses, whichmay cause greater damage,or they can themselves pull down the re-quiredportion.Hesaid,thedemolitionwork

was carried outwith verbal consentwith-outanydemolitionnotice.The villagers are critical of the move.

AlmostimmediatelyaftertheDecember29clashes, 27 of themwere arrested for pelt-ingtherallywithstones.Evenas thearrestscontinued, thebulldozers rolled in.A panchayat member, Mohammad

Rafeeq’s housewas among the ones on thedemolition list.Arrested inconnectionwiththeclashes last Tuesday,hiswifeParveenBisaiddistrictadministrationofficialscameandaskedhertovacatethehousefordemolitiona day later. “I told them thatwith the frontwall demolished, howcan awomanwhosehusband has been taken away live safely?Whydid they suddenly decide to demolishourhomeswithoutanynotice,” shealleged.Located 40 km from Indore, Chandan

Khedihas400Muslimfamiliesandabout15Hindu families. Itwitnessedclashesalmostsimilar to those at Ujjain's BegumBagh lo-cality and Mandsaur in the last week ofDecember during fund-raising rallies byright-wingorganisationsfollowedbystone-pelting fromtheother side.HarinarayanChariMishra,DIG,Indore,said

therallywasorganisedbyoneBharatPatelandthe first altercationwasover villagers shoot-ingvideosof therallyas itpassedby.“Duringtheargument, somevillagerspeltedtherallywith stones inwhich three peoplewere in-jured.Thatledtotheclash,”hesaid.Bharat SinghAnjane,whoorganised the

rally under the banner of Shri Ram JanmaBhoomiNirmanSamiti,allegedthatthecon-voycameunderattackfromvillagerswithoutanyprovocation.“Therallyhadsloweddownnearthevillageasthe12feetPCCroadcuttingthroughthevillagewasnarrowinsomepor-tionsduetowhichabout70bikes,whichwerepart of the rally, got clustered inoneportion.Itwasnotthefirsttimethatourconvoycameintoattack; therehavebeenat least three in-stances in thepastwhere anyonegoing to anearbyHanumanmandirwasattacked.”

GST tax credit probesaid. L&Tdidnotcommentonthematter.In the last onemonth, the DGGI has ar-

rested over 141 people across the countryandbooked3,479 entities in 1,161 cases forillegally availing or passing on input taxcredit, causing loss to the exchequer of Rs

13,447.95crore .At the endof trading onMonday, shares

ofZeeEntertainmenthadfallen2.58percenttocloseatRs219.15apiece,whileL&Tshareshadgained1.43percenttoRs13,15.55apiece.ThebenchmarkSensexatBSEclosed307.82pointsor0.64percentupat48,176.80.

UP crematoriumfather,myhusband'selderbrother,diedlastyear," she said, adding, "There is no respitefromdeath."Fivefamilies, includingMamata's,saton

MondayontheMeerut-Delhihighway,withthe bodies of their loved ones, demandingaccountability. Residents of neighbouringareas joined them in support, and theirprotest continuedevenas it rained.Four arrests have beenmade based on

the FIR filed against twomunicipal officersandthecontractorinvolvedintheconstruc-tionoftheroof,finishedjusttwomonthsago.Those arrested include Nagar PalikaExecutive Officer Niharika Singh, JuniorEngineerChandraPal,contractorAjayTyagiandsupervisorAshish.OnMonday afternoon, the office com-

plex of the Muradnagar Nagar PalikaParishadwasempty,withall rooms locked.Ghaziabad DMAjay Shankar Pandey couldnotbecontacted.Another woman protester, also called

Mamta (38), said her husbandOmkar (41),whowasamongthedead,wasalso thesolebread-winnerof thefamily."Ihavetwochil-dren,16and18,bothofwhomstudyina lo-cal private school, and we live with mymother-in-law.My husband had a job at aprivatecompany," shesaid.Jai Ramwas theirneighbour andOmkar

hadgoneforthecremationwhileshestayedback."Wegotacallthatanaccidenthadtakenplace at the crematorium, andwe rushedthere.Whenwe reached,we saweveryonewascrushedunderrubble,"Mamtasaid.WithhusbandSunilDhakolia,44,among

thedead,Pushplataisleftwithfourchildren,aged 18, 14, 10 and 9. Siya, 14, sat with hermotherontheroadwithDhakolia'sbodyonMonday. "We all go to school," she said,addingthatthemonthlyrentalonefortheirhousewasRs3,000.The families vacated the road only after

sixhours, on the interventionof IG,MeerutRange, Praveen Kumar, DivisionalCommissioner Anita Meshram and DMPandey. The officials handed over signednotespromisingthefamiliesRs10lakhcom-pensation, free education for their minorchildren, a government job for amembereach, and strict action against those guiltyfor the lapses that led to the incident.

‘Daughters of farmers’large numbers at the protests beingheld byfarmersatDelhiborders,nowinto their sec-ondmonth. By havingwomen ride into theCapitalonJanuary26now,whileridingtrac-tors,astartlingchangeforpatriarchalHaryana,farmunionsdon'tjusthopetoattracteyeballsbut also send amessage that their familiesstandbehindthemintheagitation.At the Khatkar Toll Plaza— the farmers

have made all such tolls across Haryana“free” — the women are trained in every-thingfromhowtostartatractorandswitchitoff, beforebeinghandedthesteering.SikkimNain,fromSafaKherivillage,said

around hundred of them from the districthavebeenattendingthetrainingsessionsatthe toll plaza, with similar preparations onacross the state. “This is just a trailer for thegovernment.WewilltakeourtractorstotheRedFort toparticipate inthetractorparade.Itwill beahistorical event,” saidNain,38.“Womenpowerhasjoinedthebattlefield

now.Wearenotgoingtoretreat,don’ttakeuslightly. This is the secondbattle of Indepen-dence. Ifwedon’t fighttoday,whatwouldbeourreplytofuturegenerations?”sheadded.Introducingherselfas“Khatkargaonhai,

Rajpal ki gharwali hun, Saroj naam hai (MyvillageisKhatkar,myhusbandisRajpal,andI am Saroj”, a 35-year-old said, “I am thedaughter of a farmer. The government hasalready committed a lot of atrocities onfarmersbutwewon’ttoleratethisanymore.”Vijender Sindhu, a farmer, saidwomen

werecomingfortrainingfromKhatkar,SafaKheri, Barsola and Pokri Kheri villages,among others. An elderly farmer, SatbirPehlwan, admitted that letting thewomentake this stepwasahuge leap for them,buta natural one. “Our sons are fighting at theinternational borders while ourmen havegheraoedthenationalcapital,”saidPehlwal,addingthattheyweredeterminedtointen-sifytheirstir if theirdemandswerenotmet.KhapleaderAzadSinghPalwanalsodrew

themilitary parallel, saying the tractor pa-rade by theirwomen andmen “will be likethe one taken out by jawans (onRepublicDay)”.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

Farmers insist on repeal, Govtfor clause-wise discussion

After Adanis, RIL seeks to placate farmers

called us to his campoffice at5.45pmTuesday.”Jyaniischair-manofaneight-memberpanelofBJPleaders,includingGrewal,coordinatingwith the farmerunions.InDelhisinceNovember28, they returned to Punjab afewdaysago.Emergingfromthemeeting

withtheunionsMonday,UnionAgricultureMinisterNarendraSinghTomartoldreporters,“Wewanted a clause-wise discus-sion on the laws, so that wecouldproceedon theway for-ward. The discussion wasmainlycentredonthis.Wedis-cussedthe issueofMSPbriefly,butcouldnotarriveatadecision.Therefore,thegovernmentandthe unions decided to meetagain on January 8 to take thediscussionsforward."“Themeetingwas cordial

butcouldnotfindawayforwardas they (farmer leaders)wereadamantonthedemandforre-peal of theActs. But I hope theway thediscussions tookplacetoday,meaningfuldeliberationswillagaintakeplaceatthenextmeeting and, possibly,wewillfindasolution,”hesaid.“Swabhavik roop se raasta

nikalne ke liye toh taaliyaandononhihaath sebajaatehainna (Naturally,wehave tomeethalf-waytofindawayforward)…The legalaspectof theprob-lem and the entire countryneedstobekeptinmind.There

are crores of farmers in thecountry and they have theirownviews. Their interests arelinkedtotheadvantagesordis-advantagesofthelaws.Thegov-ernmentiscommittedtofarm-ers across the country.Therefore, when the govern-menthas todecide, itwill keepinmind theentire country,” hesaidinresponsetoquestions.Farmer union leaders said

theymade it very clear to thegovernment that the talkswillhave tobeon theirdemand forrepealof thenewlaws.BKU (Ugrahan) president

Joginder SinghUgrahan said:“Today,webecamevery strictwhenweweretoldagaintodis-cuss the benefits of the farmlaws.WetoldthemwehadsaidearlieraswellthatourtalkswillonlybeontherepealoftheActs,nothing else. They told us thatfarmers in therestof thecoun-tryarehappy.At this,weaskedthemwhattheythinkofpeoplewhohavebeensittingonroadssince September. Nearly 500farmer unions of India areprotesting,don’ttheyrecogniseanyofthem?”.“Thenextmeet-ing is on January 8. Talkswillonlybeontherepealandguar-anteeonMSP.Wetoldthemthatiftheydon'twanttodiscussthisissue,theyshouldnotcallus.Butafteradetaileddiscussion,theyasked us to come again onJanuary8.Weeventoldthemto

make themaindecision-mak-ingauthoritysitatthemeeting,onewhocandecidethematter.Theydidnotrespondtothis,”hesaid. Kirti KisanUnion generalsecretary Rajinder SinghDeepsinghwalasaid:“Today,theUnion Ministers observed atwo-minute silencewithus inmemory of 70 farmers whohave left us (died)duringmor-chas since September.We callthemmartyrs… The govern-mentwantstodiscussthelawswith us clause-wise, but wehaveone line for them:no ap-peal,nodaleel,onlyrepeal.Thegovernment said they havewalked ten steps forward andwetooshouldmovealittle,butwerejecteditcategorically.”Punjab KisanUnion presi-

dent Ruldu SinghMansa said:“Although themeeting todaydidnot yield a result,we couldjudgethatthegovernment'sat-titudewassoft.Wetoldthemtodiscuss only the repeal of theActsatthenextmeeting.Wearehopeful theywillwalk only inthatdirection.”BKU (Dakaunda) president

Buta Singh Burjgill said: “TheAgricultureMinistertoldusthatmajority farmer unions arehappywith the farm laws.Wetoldthemtoarrangeourmeet-ingwiththem.Theygavenoan-swer.Wecall theseunionspartof the kisan cells of theBJP andallianceparties.”

All IndianKisanSabhagen-eral secretaryHannanMollahsaid: “Wetold thegovernmentthattherewillbenotalkexcepton the repeal (of farm laws)…Wewill discuss the repeal first.The issueofMSPwill be takenupthereafter."Atthemeeting,Tomaralong

withtwoministerialcolleagues—FoodMinister PiyushGoyaland Minister of State forCommerce and Industry SomPrakash— led thegovernmentsidewhilefarmerunionshad41representatives.At their last meeting on

December30,theCentreagreedto“decriminalise”stubbleburn-ingby excluding farmers fromthe ambit of the ‘CommissionfortheAirQualityManagementinNational Capital Region andAdjoining Areas Ordinance2020’,anddropthoseprovisionsof the draft ElectricityAmendment Bill, 2020,whichintend to change the existingmode of subsidy payment toconsumers.TheSamyuktKisanMorcha, the umbrella body offarmer unions camping at thegatesofDelhi topress theirde-mands, told the press lastSaturday that if their demandsare not met by January 26 —British Prime Minister BorisJohnson is to be chief guest atthe Republic Day celebrationsthis year— farmerswill lead atractorparadeintoDelhi.

petitionbefore thePunjab andHaryanaHighCourt,inwhichithadsoughturgentgovernmentintervention to stopvandalismof itstowers.“NeitherReliancenoranyof

our subsidiarieshaspurchasedanyagriculturalland,directlyorindirectly,inPunjab/Haryanaoranywhere else in India, for thepurpose of ‘corporate’ or ‘con-tract’ farming. We have ab-solutely noplans to do so,” RILsaidinastatement.RIL and theGautamAdani-

ledAdaniGrouphavebeensin-gledout by farmers protestingthefarmlaws.Farmunionshavecalled foraboycottof thecom-panies,allegingtheyarelikelytobenefit fromthenewlaws.Lastmonth,theAdaniGroup

hadalsoissuedastatement,say-ing the companywas only in-volvedinthebusinessofstorageofgrainsanddidnotinanywayinvolveitselfinpricingofgrains.“Thecompanyhasnorolein

deciding thevolumeof storageaswell as pricingof grains as itis only a service/infrastructure

provided for the FCI (FoodCorporationofIndia),whiletheFCI controls the procurementand movement of the foodgrainsforthePublicDistributionSystem (PDS).Wedonot ownany food grain procured fromfarmers,andareinnowaycon-nectedtothepricingofgrains,"theAdaniGroupsaid.Claimingthatthenewrules

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Contact for Advt. Booking: M/s Friends Publicity Service

23276901, 23282028 (M): 9212008155, 9212665841.

EXP E S EDU TIONR S CA

New Delhi

AMILBHATNAGARNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

BEFORE NOVEMBER 26, a KFCstore inside an under-construc-tionmallonGTKarnalHighwaywas a preferred stoppage fortravellerstorestandhaveaquickbite.Sincethen,though,themallcompound has become a safehavenforprotestingfarmersandastorehouseof supplies for lan-gars.AndnumerousemptyshopplotsattheKesselGrandMallarenowmakeshiftroomsprovidingrelief in the rains toprotesters.As protesters from Punjab

started arriving at the SinghuBordermore than amonth ago,thelargelyunusedmallwasoneof the placeswhere they beganunloading supplies. Since then,dozens of tractors have beenparked outside the malls andlangars have come up for pro-testers. Such is thepopularityofthelocationthatpeopleuseitasalandmarktoprovidedirections.Inthemainlobbyofthemall,

sacks of grains, wheat, atta andrice are piled up. Volunteergroups heading langars nearbysay theyprefer to keep the foodinside since that keeps it safefrom the rain. “This place helpsus to keep things organised es-peciallywhen it comes to food.It’sanopenareaandanyonecancome and stay here. It has be-come even more useful espe-cially intherainssinceit'sacov-eredbuilding.Therearetentssetup and washrooms outside,”said Bahadur Singh fromMajorLeagueFederation,whichispro-vidingsevaat theprotest.Protesters say no one from

themall’smanagementhas ap-proached themso far.

Intherearendof themall,arow of camping tents havebeen set up, while a counterhascomeupwherethreepeo-plenotedowndetails of thoseusing the tents. Plastic sheetshavebeeninstalledasdoorsonempty shop plotswheremat-tresses have been placed forwomen and children. Duringtherain,protesterssay,apartofthe railingononeof the floorscollapsedbutnoonewashurt.Currently, nearly 400-500

people can find accommoda-tion in themall.The parking lot is used for

washing clothes and clothes-lineshavebeeninstalledtodrythem. The now defunct KFCdrive-throughcounter isusedby people to charge theirphonesandotherdevices.Duringthefirstweekof the

protest,farmershadclimbedupfive stories of themall to placepicturesofrevolutionariessuchasBhagatSinghontheroof.

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

TEARGASSHELLINGBYHARYANAPOLICE INREWARI

SAKSHIDAYALGURGAON, JANUARY4

ADAYafterHaryanapolicefiredteargasshellstostoparound400farmers frommoving towardsDelhi, protesters claimed “10 to15”ofthemhadsustainedminorinjuries. On Sunday, police per-sonnel and protesters hadclashed beneath the Sabi PulnearMasani villageonNationalHighway48inRewari—thesec-ondsuch incident inaweek.Speaking to The Indian

Express, Gurjeet Singh, a farmerfromGanganagar in Rajasthan,who sustained a head injurywhen a tear gas shell allegedlylanded near him, said, “Whenwehadfirstbrokenthroughthebarricades at the Haryana-RajasthanborderlastThursday,Ihad sustainedminor cuts andbruises as police fired tear gasand water cannons. However,things were much worse onSunday.”AttheSabiPulMondayafter-

noon, hundreds of police per-sonnel remained deployed forthe fifth day in a row. AbhishekJorwal,SPRewari,said:“Wehadtousebetween100-150teargasshells yesterday to control thesituation, but things have re-mained peaceful today. Around500-600 personnel have beendeployed in the area as of now.Some protesters tried to pushthrough this morning but wecalmedthemdown.Wearepre-pared and, further down thehighway,GurgaonPolice is pre-paredaswell.”Protesters said the fear of

their ration being damaged is

alsostoppingthemfrommakinganother attempt to march toDelhi. They claimed one truckhad caught fire on Sundayevening, when a tear gas shelllanded inside it. The vehicle,which contained two gas cylin-ders,amotorcycle,andbedding,was amongst the first to ap-proach thebridgeonSunday.“Wemanagedtoremovethe

motorcycle and cylinders butseveralblanketsandmattresseswere gutted. Another concernwithpolice firing tear gas shellsis of the cylinders bursting.Weare risking our lives for thiscause,” said Avatar Singh, afarmer fromHanumangarh.AlthoughtheSamyuktKisan

Morcha— theumbrella bodyoffarmer unions protesting atDelhi’s borders — had not di-rectedprotestersattheHaryana-

Rajasthan border tomove for-ward, a group had brokenthrough the barricades lastThursday,with 50more joiningthemonSunday.Said Javed Khan, a farmer

fromSriGanganagar,“Leadersofthe Samyukt KisanMorcha hadsaidtowaitattheborderuntilthenumbersbuiltupandthenmoveforward.OnThursday,wefeltthishad happened... We had beenwaitingsinceDecember14....OuraimistomovetoDelhi,nottostopseveral kilometres away.However, leadershaveappealedtoustostayputfornow,sowearefollowingtheirdirections.”Reacting to the incident,

AAP’s Punjab unit co-inchargeRaghav Chadha comparedHaryana CM Manohar LalKhattar to British GeneralReginaldDyer. “Iwas reminded

of April 13, 1919, whenGeneralDyerorderedopeningfireonin-nocentgroupofpeoplewhohadcongregated at JallianwalaBagh,”hesaid.TheAllIndiaKisanSangharsh

Coordination Committee alsocriticisedtheclampdownbythestategovernmentandwarnedof“escalationofangeramongstthepeople” and “intensification ofthemovement” if it continues.In a press note on Monday,AIKSCC stated, “TheWorkingGroup of AIKSCC has criticisedthestategovernment for lettingloose severe repression onprotesting farmers...”Rohtash Singh (83) from

Hisar added, “The behaviour ofthe police has been very disap-pointing. We are protestingpeacefully, we made our ownarrangements for everything,putourmoneyandtimeintothiscause...”

‘Determined to stay’Meanwhile,asfarmerswent

about their routines— hangingclothes to dry by the side oftrucks,preparingeveningmealsand bathing in the open — thefirst drops of rain fell around 4pm.While some rushed insidetrucks covered with plasticsheets,othershunchedbeneaththevehicles for shelter.“Our clothes, our bedding,

everythingisgettingwetrepeat-edly, but these are allminorob-stacles,”saidPushpenderSingh,a farmer fromHanumangarh.“The rain is also a blessing,

because itmeans our crops arelooked after evenwhile we arehere protesting for our liveli-hood,”hesaid.

TheprotestersarecampednearMasanivillageonNH-48 inRewari. PraveenKhanna

Under-constructionmall near Singhu isrefuge for farmers

In therearendof themall,a rowof campingtentshavebeensetup.AmitMehra

Rain provides relief fromcold, temp above normalEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

TEMPERATURES IN the city re-mained above normal onMonday, even as rain lashedDelhifortheseconddayinarow.As compared to Sunday, rainfallwasmuchlighterwithgaugesatSafdarjung recording1.7mmofrainduring theday.

Thecitysawovercastskiesatnightandsporadicsunshinedur-ing the day and themaximumtemperaturewasrecordedat22.6degrees Celsius, three degreesabove normal. The minimumwas11.4degreesCelsius,fourde-grees above normal. Officials atIMD said rain is expected onTuesdayandWednesdayaswellandtemperatureswillremainbe-tween20and11degreesCelsius.

2 who rapedwoman andher daughter,man who shotvideo arrestedEXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

AFTER A video showing a womanand her daughter being raped inNorthwest Delhi went viral on so-cialmedia, Delhi Police launched aprobe and arrested threemen, in-cluding two of the alleged rapistsandathirdmanwhoallegedlyshotthe video. The women have beentakentoashelterhome.Accordingtopolice,theincident

took place on the night ofDecember 29 and 30. “The crimehad not been reported by the vic-tims at first. It was only after thevideosurfacedthatwemadeeffortsto locate the 35-year-old womanandher18-year-olddaughter,”saidDCP (Northwest)VijayantaArya.Anofficer said thevictimswere

ragpickers.“In view of the gravity of the

case, multiple teamswere consti-tuted to trace the victims and ac-cused... all police teams examinedCCTV footage, local intelligencewas collected, local enquiry wasinitiatedatnearbybusstops,Metrostations, shelter homes... The vic-timswere tracedaftergreateffort;their statements were recordedandmedicalexaminationwascon-ducted. They said theywere rapedby two unknown persons...,” saidtheDCP.Totracetheaccused, suspected

personsbetweentheagesof20and30were examinedbased on videofootage anddescriptions providedby the victims. “We narroweddown on a few people. After localinquiries, theaccusedwerefound,”said anofficer.The victims later identified the

accused— the two attackers Sonu(22),aresidentof Jahangirpuri,andAmit (24);andRitik(18),a residentof JJColonyWazirpur,whotookthevideo.AnFIRwasregisteredunder IPC

sections 323 (voluntarily causinghurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354(criminal force), 354C (voyeurism),376(rape),509(word,gestureoractintended to insult modesty of awoman), 506 (criminal intimida-tion) and 34 (acts done by severalpersons in furtherance of commonintention).The DCP said police arewriting

tosocialmediaplatforms,includingYouTube, to ensure the video istakendown.

0-50 Good

ANANDVIHARModerate

0 500

193AQIPM:2.5

SIRIFORTModerate

0 500

SHADIPURModerate

0 500 500

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

DWARKA- SECTOR8Moderate

0

160AQIPM:2.5

105AQIPM:10

136AQIPM:2.5

FORECAST: Jan5Generallycloudy.Lighttomoderaterain/thunderstorm

S K Y WA T C H

MAX:200.4°Cabovenormal

MIN:113.8°Cabovenormal

Day after clash, uneasy calm,protesters say 10-15 injured

New Delhi

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, JANUARY4

THEWORKon the storage facil-ity for Covid-19 vaccination atDelhigovernment'sRajivGandhiSuper Speciality hospital(RGSSH) is finishedandthehos-pitalissettostartthestoragepro-grammeoncethevaccinearrives.On Monday, the hospital

wrappedupinstallingallequip-ment. The 650-bed hospital inEastDelhi’s DilshadGardenhasbeen identifiedas thecity's firststoragefacilityforthevaccine. Ithas40freezersandrefrigeratorsthat canholdvaccines in a tem-perature range of 2-8 degreesCelsius.“Theworkfromthehos-pital’s end has been completedandwe are nowwaiting for thevaccinetoarrive,”saidDrChhaviGupta, media spokesperson ofthehospital.OnSunday,India’sdrugsreg-

ulator approved the OxfordCovid-19 vaccine, Covishield,

manufactured by the SerumInstitute, and indigenously de-veloped Covaxin of BharatBiotechforrestrictedemergencyuse in thecountry.According to senior officials,

the state governmentwill planthe entire storage facility atRGSSSH and the centre in Civillineswillnotbeused.Earlier,of-ficialshadstatedthatthestoragewill takeplaceatbothcentres.

As per the plan, the vaccinewillbestoredatthecentreattheprescribedtemperatureandwillbe transported to cold chainpoints where the vaccinationprogrammewilltakeplace.Ato-

talof603coldchainpointshavebeen identified in thecity.“We are going step by step

and the next step is the processof vaccinating the general pop-ulation.We visited the storagecentreatRGSSHand ithasbeendecided that therewill be onlyone storage facility in the city.The hospital has sufficient stor-agefacilityandthecentreatCivillineswillnolongerbefurtherre-quired,” saidDr Sunila Garg, di-rector, professor of the depart-mentofcommunitymedicineatMaulana AzadMedical College(MAMC),whohasalsobeenap-pointed to the state Covid-19task force for theDelhi vaccina-tionprogramme.On Sunday, HealthMinister

Satyendar Jainhad said that thecity governmentwas all set forthe vaccinationdrive as soon asanyvaccinearrives.Jainsaidthat500 centres for vaccinationwillbe set up in the city in the firstphase and the number will beextendedupto1,000centres.

MAHENDERSINGHMANRAL&ARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI,JANUARY4

NOARRESTS,nochargesheetandthe university’s internal probedissolved—ayear aftermaskedpeoplewentonarampageinsideJawaharlalNehruUniversity, theinvestigationintotheviolencehasmadelittleprogress.Accordingtopolicesources,a

special investigation teamof theDelhi Police Crime Branch hasidentified 15 suspects— all stu-dents— but their investigationwas stalled after the lockdownwasannouncedandstudentsre-turnedtotheirhomes.OnJanuary9lastyear,apress

conference was called by theDelhi Police — four days afteraround 100 masked personswentonarampageinsidetheJNUcampus, leaving 36 students,teachers and staff injured —wherein it had released thenames of nine suspects, all stu-dents,ofwhomsevenwereiden-tifiedasmembersofLeft-studentoutfits.TheothertwowerefromABVP,thoughpolicedidnotnametheoutfit.ThreeFIRswereregisteredat

VasantKunj(north)policestation,but the investigationwas trans-ferred to the Crime Branch bythenDelhi Police CommissionerAmulyaPatnaikandaspecial in-vestigationteamof20policeper-sonnelsetupacampofficeinsidethe JNU admin block. After theFebruary Northeast Delhi riots,however, the same team wasasked toproberiot cases, aswellas the case against NizamuddinMarkaz headMaulana Saad inconnectionwithallegedviolationofCovidprotocol.Sources told The Indian

ExpresstheSIThasquestioned88people, including nine suspectswhosepictureswerereleasedbySIT chief DCP Joy Tirkey at thepressconference.TheSIThasalsorecorded statements of injuredstudents, teachers,wardens, se-curity guards and studentsagainstwhomallegationswere

made. “After questioning, wefoundnamesof someother sus-pects,butsincethelockdownwasannounced, the teamwas notable to gathermore conclusiveevidenceagainstthem,”saidapo-licesource.The SIT has also questioned

Delhi University student KomalSharma in connectionwith theviolence following allegationsthatshewasseeninvideos fromthatday.“Sheclaimedduringherquestioning that some peopleweretryingtoframeher,andde-niedher involvement in thevio-lence. She also claimed shewasnot present on the campus thatday,”asourcesaid.DelhiPolicespokespersonDr

EishSinghalsaidthreeFIRswereregisteredinconnectionwiththeviolence and investigation ispending.After comingundercriticism

for inactionandnotmeeting thestudents and teachers injured inthe January 5 violence, the JNUadministrationhadsetupa five-membercommitteetoprobetheincident.

However, one year later,RegistrarPramodKumartoldTheIndian Express that the internalprobe had been shelved as thepolicewasalreadydoingitsinves-tigation. Teachers and studentsinjuredintheattackalsosaidtheyhadn't been approached by thecommitteemembersevenonce."Police are investigating the

mattersothiscommitteehasnotsubmitteditsreport.What is thepoint? It'll be the same thing ofwho started the fight, etc. Wehave helped the police instead,"saidKumar.JNUSU president Aishe

Ghosh,who received16 stitchesonherheadafterallegedlybeinghit by iron rods, said: "One yearlater,weshouldhaveseenatleastsomedevelopmentinthecase…Policetoldustheyarewithusbutafter taking our statement once,theydidn't followup.Wehadnohopefromtheinternalprobe,buttheydidn'teventalktousonce.”ProfessorSucharitaSen,who

hadreceivedfourstitchesonherheadafterstoneswerethrownather,said:"IhadsentalettertotheV-Caskingforanimpartialprobeand action against the securityagency (firm hired by JNU) onJanuary 20 last year, towhich Ihave not received any responsetilldate.Eventhepolicehasspo-kentousonlyonce.”

VANDANAKALRANEWDELHI, JANUARY4

ASMUSEUMS across theworldrecordreduced footfallamidthepandemic,artinstitutionscloserhome are trying to reinvent theexperience to attract more pa-trons.While the Kiran Nadar

Museum of Art (KNMA) willopen its doors on January5, theNational Gallery of Modern Art(NGMA)has planned a series ofprogrammes, including free

weekendvisits, at themuseum.“Thisisanewphaseinthelife

ofthemuseum.Asweallreadjustour lives and continue the fightwiththevirus,aslowreclaimingofourpublicspacesispartofouremotional,mental and physicalrecovery,” said Kiran Nadar,founderandchairperson,KNMA.AdwaitaGadanayak,director

general of NGMA, agreed.Launching the programme“Weekends in NGMA” with adance troupe fromManipurandthebeatsofthedrumonJanuary2,healsopointedtotheroleofart

in relievingstress.Under the ini-tiative,NGMAwillbeopentothepublicfreeofcosteveryweekend.Severalactivitiesarealsobe-

ing planned, including art andphotography workshops, filmscreenings,curatedgallerytoursand cultural performances.Eminent authors, poets andartistswill be invited to interactwith theaudience.On the inaugural day, artist

Jatin Daswas seen teaching thenuances of sketching. “The ideais to engagewith the audienceand remove inhibitions. For

many,artisstill intimidating.Wewant to create a relaxedatmos-phere, where people feel atease,” addedGadanayak.Likeallpublicspaces,adher-

ing to the rules of the ‘newnor-mal’ are compulsory -- frommaintainingat least six feetdis-tance tomandatory use of facemasksandfrequentuseofhandsanitisers.KNMAwillonlyallow

visitors by appointment, and atthe NGMA the events will bespreadacross the lawns.While KNMA has been ac-

tively planning virtual work-shopsandDIYsessionsonitsso-cial media handles, a livewalkthrough of current exhibi-tionswasconductedbyRoobinaKarode, director and chief cura-tor,KNMA,on January4.Planned for nextweekendat

NGMA is aKathakperformanceandanotherbystudentsfromtheGandharvaChoir,apotterywork-shop and a sketching class. The

museumcafeteria and store arealsobeingrevamped.Theupcom-ing calendar year at thenationalinstitution,meanwhile, includesretrospectives of Nandalal Bose,RamkinkerBaijandAmritaSher-Gil,andanexhibitionofTantraArt.Anartresidencyisalsobeing

planned at The Red Fort inMarchandanimmersivework-shop and exhibition will takeplace in Srinagar. “Wewant toencourage interactionbetweendifferentarttraditions, formsaswellas indigenousandcontem-poraryartists,”saidGadanayak.

Artist JatinDas(right)andGadanayakattheinaugural‘WeekendsinNGMA’session

ADAPTING TO ‘NEW NORMAL’

With free entry on weekends, events, museums hope to attract patrons

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONSHELVED

Year on, little headwayin JNU violence probe

Thehospitalhas40freezersandrefrigerators tostore thevaccines.Archive

Woman stabshusband to death,attempts suicide

MCD landfill auditflags ‘undue benefit’to the contractor

OnJanuary5,around100maskedpersonswentonarampage insidethe JNUcampus; (above)damagedSabarmatihostel incampus

Umar questions ‘chargesheetleak, vicious media campaign’ARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI, JANUARY4

FORMER JNU student UmarKhalid andhis lawyersMondaymovedanapplicationincourtonthe “viciousmedia campaign”againsthimforhisallegedrole intheDelhi riots. Appearingbeforethe court of MetropolitanMagistrate Dinesh KumarthroughvideoconferencingfromTihar jail, Khalid asked howchargesheets were repeatedlyleakedtothemediabeforetheac-cusedgotaccess to them,andal-legedthe“mediatrial”wasaffect-inghisrighttoa“freeandfairtrial”.News18 had recently run a

report on the basis of a supple-mentary chargesheet on theKhajuriKhasviolencecase,stat-ing Khalid had “admitted” he“conspired to fuel riots”.Whilepolice had submitted thechargesheet on December 26,Khalid and his counsel had notreceived it tillMonday.Khalid said, “I’mnotingwith

absolute dismay this patternwhich has emerged of the con-ductofDelhiPolice,whichisprej-

udicialtoafairtrial.Tilldate,Ihavenotreceivedthechargesheetbutinthelastfewdays,themediahasbeengivenaccesstoit.”“Things are put out in the

publicdomainwithoutgivingusachancetorebut... I got toknowfromthemedia thatmyconfes-sional statement is part of thechargesheet. If thisistrue,Iwantto point out that on October 4,whenIwasremandedtojudicialcustodyinthiscase,Ihadgivenitinwriting that I have not givenany confessional statement; Ihave not signed on absolutelyanypaper,”hesaid.“This is an absolutely fabri-

catedcase,”hesaid.Khalid requested theMMto

ask the investigating officer orprosecution lawyer how it wasbeing leaked “again and again”.“I’mbeing condemnedwithouta trial.... This only shows one

thing, the prosecution is ab-solutelynotconfidentaboutanyevidence... they want to con-demnme in the public domainthroughtheseleaks,”Khalidsaid.He was represented by his

counselTrideepPais,RakshandaDekaandSanyaKumar. Pais toospoke out against the “brazen”mediatrial,statingtheyreportedconfessional statements like“gospel truth”. “Unless the IOgave it to them (media), itwouldn’t goout. The leakhas tobe theirs,”heclaimed.The MM said he could not

pass an order on the matterMonday, and listed thematterfor Tuesday, when the supple-mentary chargesheet andmainchargesheet will be put up be-fore court. After Pais raised ob-jections to the News18 report,theMMsaid hewould hear thematteronTuesdayatlength,butadded, “Sometimes they (me-dia) write that such thing hasbeendonebysoandso. ‘Alleged’wordhasbeenmissinginthere-ports inmanycases.”TheNetwork18groupeditor

didnotrespondtorequestseek-ingacomment.

UmarKhalidhasbeenarrested inariotscase

Equipment ready, city’s biggest storage facilityat Rajiv Gandhi hospital awaits Covid vaccine

BRIEFLYCop,sonheldforcheatinginpoliceexamNew Delhi: The CrimeBranchof theDelhiPolicearrested a Delhi Policeheadconstableandhis21-year-soninacheatingandimpersonation caseSunday. Head constableVineet,whowaspostedattheNewDelhirailwaysta-tion,andhisson,Kashish,a final-year B.Com(Honours) student,werearrestedforallegedlyget-ting"anotherpersontositfor a Delhi Police exam",confirmed Delhi PoliceAdditional PRO AnilMittal.Apoliceofficersaid,"Theheadconstable'ssonKashish applied for thepost of a constablewiththeDelhiPolice,theexamfor which took place inMuzaffarpur in Bihar onNovember 27. The StateSelection Commissioncomplained to the DelhiPolice that instead ofKashish, another persongavetheexam."

76-year-oldattackedNewDelhi: A 76-year-oldgrocer on his way backhomewas allegedly at-tackedbyanunidentifiedman,who robbedhimofhis bag of cash, andslashed his cheekwith aknife, in east Delhi'sShakarpurSaturdaynight.

SC judgmentonCentralVistatodayNewDelhi: The SupremeCourt will deliver itsjudgment on petitionschallenging the CentralVista project Tuesday. Abench of Justices A MKhanwilkar, DineshMaheshwari and SanjivKhanna had onNovember 5 reserved itsverdict on the petitionsagainst the project,which also includes aCommon CentralSecretariat as part of anintegratedcomplex.ENS

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

“I KILLEDmy husband ChiraagSharma and now I am killingmyself too”—minutes after al-legedlystabbingherhusbandtodeath at their home onSaturday afternoon, 36-year-oldRenukapostedthismessageon Facebook.DCP (South) Atul Kumar

Thakur said that after allegedlykillingherhusband, thewomanattempted to kill herself. “Bothwere rushed to a hospital.Chiraag was declared dead onarrival and Renuka is undergo-ing treatment. She is stable butunfit togiveastatementnow.Acase of murder has been regis-tered,” he said.Thecouplegotmarriedover

eight years ago, and had beenliving in South Delhi’sChhattarpur Extension since2013.Theyworkedforaninsur-ance firm.A senior police officer said

Chiraagsufferedmorethanfivestabwounds.“Theaccusedtriedtocutherveins,drankLizol,andalso tried to hang herself from

theceiling fan,” said theofficer.DCP Thakur said thematter

cameto lightwhentheirhouseownercalledpoliceandsaidthetwowerenotopeningthedoor.“A PCR call too was receivedabout how the woman hadposted about her husband’smurder on Facebook. The doorwasbrokendownand the cou-ple was found unconsciousstate — Chiraag on the floor,Renuka on the bed. There wasblood on the floor and thewalls,” said Thakur.Apoliceofficersaidrelatives

who saw Renuka’s FacebookposttriedtocallherandChiraagand informed the landlordwhenneither responded.In the long post on

Facebook,whichhasnowbeentaken down, Renuka made anumber of allegations againsther husband and also claimedthat hewanted adivorce.PolicesaidChiraagwasfrom

Haryana’sYamunaNagar,whileRenukais fromMP’sUjjain.Thetwomet at work a decade ago.Chiraag’s post-mortem hasbeen conducted and his bodyhas been handed over to hisfamily.

ABHINAVRAJPUTNEWDELHI,JANUARY4

THEMCD’Sauditdepartmenthasraisedseveralredflagsintheon-going exercise to shorten theheightoftheBhalswalandfillus-ing trommelmachines— frompayments that caused unduebenefittothecontractortolackofanti-pollution and fire-fightingmeasures inplaceatthesite.In their report prepared for

theyear2019-2020,theauditorssaid:“Incaseofhiringmachinery,thecostof fuel isnormallybornebythecontractor.Butinthiscase,there has been a payment ofRs 1.6 crore for electricity con-sumed in running the trommelsto the contractors up toOctober2020.Thisisacaseofundueben-efit tothecontractor.”As per estimates, 1 trommel

machineprocesses300tonnesofgarbageaday.Itwas,however,no-ticed there was no system tomeasure thequantityof garbageactually processed; neither hadthecontractormaintainedsucharecord.Paymenttothecontractor— a total of Rs 5.06 crore tillOctober2020—wasbeingmade

onlyonthebasisofthenumberofdaysthemachinewasused.“Thuspayment...tothecontractorisnotjustified...,”saidthereport.It further said: “There are no

arrangements for a sprinkler towater. Screening of very oldgarbage through trommels cre-ates huge clouds of dust andsmell...NGTfromtimetotimedi-rected tomake arrangements tostop flying of dust. But no sucharrangementsarethereonsite.”NorthMCDMayorJaiPrakash

said garbage is taken from thetrucks so there is a standard ofmeasurement. “Weare ready tosortoutanyissues,”hesaid.Themayor furthersaidsmog

gunshavenowbeen installed tocontrol thepollution,andCCTVswouldbeputupsoontomonitorthe area andwatch out for fires.Prakashsaidhehasaskedofficialstogivetheirresponsetootheris-suesraisedinthereport.ANorthMCD spokesperson

saidadetailedexplanationisbe-ingpreparedbythedepartment.AAP,meanwhile,hitoutatthe

BJP,with leader of opposition intheNorthMCDVikasGoelclaim-ing themachines are being en-gagedat“inflatedcosts”.

Total VacantHOSPITAL BEDS 14,080 12,241VENTILATORS 1,462 1,019

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsJan3 424 708 14 68,759Jan4 384 727 12 50,288Total 4,689* 6,11,970 10,597 89,26,806

CORONAVIRUSIN THECAPITAL *Tota

lactivecases

TOTAL CASES

6,27,256

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

AAP and BJP Monday sparredover the demolition of aHanuman temple in ChandniChowk, and the issue of air pol-lution in the city. TheHanumantemplewas demolished as partof the Chandni Chowk redevel-opmentproject,afteracourtbat-tle that lastedover fiveyears.Delhi BJP president Adesh

Gupta said CMArvind Kejriwalhas shown“anti-Hindutemplesmentality” and demanded thatthe Delhi government come upwithamodifiedredevelopmentproject in Chandni Chowk andrebuild the temple. “Kejriwalportrays himself as a Hanumandevoteebutwhenitcametosav-

ing the PrachinHanuman tem-ple,hesteppedback,”Guptasaid.AAPMCDin-charge,Durgesh

Pathak, however, said BJP wasonly trying to divert attention:“TheBJP-ruledMCDdemolished

thetemple.Nowtodivertatten-tionofpeople,theyarefalselyac-cusing AAP... TheMCD recentlysubmitted an affidavit in courtwheretheynotedthatthis tem-ple was built on encroachedland... and expressed its inten-tion todemolish the temple.”Thecourthadearlierdirected

authorities, including the Delhigovernment, particularly theAdditional Chief Secretary(Home), to discharge their con-stitutional and statutory duties.It also said the stand of the lawenforcement agency that “it ispowerless toensure lawandor-der, and, therefore, cannot im-plementordersof thiscourtandtheSupremeCourt,” ifaccepted,would seriously threaten legiti-macyof the ruleof law.The NorthMCD had earlier

tried to carry out the court’s or-derbuthadfailedasalargenum-berofpeoplehadgatheredatthespot tooppose theaction.Meanwhile, keeping up the

pressure on the BJP-ledMCDsaheadofthecivicpollsnextyear,AAPMLA Atishi said civic offi-cialsdon’thaveaclue regardingthelengthofroadsthatwassup-posed to be vacuum cleaned tocontrol dust pollution. The cor-porationshavenowbeenaskedto submit an action plan for re-ducingdustpollution.Leaderof thehouseof South

MCDNarendraChawla,however,said,“MechanicalsweepershavebeendeployedacrossDelhi,evenon PWD roads, even at a timewhenthegovernmenthaswith-held funds... This is away to ha-rassofficialsunnecessarily.”

WithAAPhavingstartedthecampaign for2022MCDelections severalmonthsago, attacksoneachotherhavegainedmomentum.Onthe is-sueof templedemoli-tion,AAPbelieves ithasfound awaytoattackBJPat its corebase.

MCDpollsroundthecorner

Eye on civic body polls, AAP and BJPsparring escalates on temple, pollution

New Delhi

GOVT&POLITICS 5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

Corps of Signals salutes its following Signallers who left us fortheir heavenly abode during the month ofNov & Dec 2020.

(a) JC-386191A Nb Sub Mool Singh

(b) 15720271X Sigmn Shashank Yadav

(c) JC-384657Y Nb Sub Puran Chand

(d) JC-385001W Nb Sub Barham Pal

(e) 15741358M Sigmn Sonu Routela

(f) 15690430M Nk V Saravanan

(g) 15725918K Nk Shelke Vidhyadhar Damodhar

(h) 15752764M Sigmn Vipin Varkey

(j) 15699187F Hav AK Yadav

On behalf of the Corps, we sincerely pray to Almighty forpeace to departed souls & strength to the bereaved familiesto bear this irreparable loss.

OBITUARY

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

QUICK RESPONSEWHENTHEBJPgovernmentinHimachalPradeshcelebratedits third anniversary lastweek, anofficial fromTripuraChiefMinister Biplab Deb's office tweeted a picture of DefenceMinisterRajnathSinghaddressingthefunctionvirtuallyfromDelhi,wearingaHimachalicap.Seeingthis,ayounggirl fromRajasthan sent a request to the DefenceMinister and theAgartalaCMOandaskedforasimilarcap.Deb'sofficeimme-diatelybroughtittothenoticeofSingh,whodirectedofficialsfor steps toprovideher aHimachali cap.OnSunday, thegirl,avolunteerwithanNGOthatworksforconservationandpro-motion of nature and culture, received the cap. In an emo-tional note, she thanked the officers and said that itwas thefirst timesomeone fulfilledherwishsoquicklyafter she losther father.

REQUEST TO RALLY ALLWITH RAHUL Gandhi expected to return from abroad thisweek,theWestBengalCongressiskeenthathevisitsthestatetoaddressarallyorholdaroadshowlaterthismonthtosettheball rolling for the party's Assembly election campaign.Although elections are still threemonths away, the BJP andthe ruling Trinamool Congress have begun campaigningrather aggressively. A huge rally or amassive roadshowwillalsohelptheCongressdriveahardbargainwiththeLeftwhenitcomestoseat-sharingtalks.AICCin-chargeJitinPrasadato-dayannouncedafour-memberpanelfortalkswiththeLeftforseat sharingand jointprogrammes. Theparty is alsokeen tohaveRahulholda joint rallywith theLeft leadership.

GLOBAL PUSHINAnewinitiativetoequipofficersfromstatesandUTsininter-nationalengagementinthecurrentgeopoliticallandscape,theSouthBlock’s training institute—theForeignServiceTrainingInstitute—has started a short-termprogramme for bureau-crats.Theprogrammefocusesonpromotionandfacilitationofinternationaltrade,foreigninvestment,jointventures,connec-tivity, technologyandtourismtohelpstatesandUTs.

DIPANKARGHOSENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

PRIME MINISTER NarendraModi onMonday said the newyearhadbroughta“bigachieve-ment”with thedevelopmentofnotonebut“twomade-in-India”Covid vaccines. Speaking at the75th jubilee of the NationalPhysical Laboratory under theCouncil of Scientific andIndustrial Research, the PrimeMinister said that every Indianwas indebted to India’s “scien-tists andtechnicians”.“The new year has brought

withitanotherbigachievement.India’sscientistshavesuccessfullydevelopednot just one, but twomade-in-IndiaCovidvaccines.InIndia, theworld’s largest Covidvaccineprogrammeisalsoaboutto begin. For this, the country isvery proud of the contributionsofitsscientists.Everycountryper-sonisindebtedtoallourscientistsandtechnicians,”Modisaid.The PM said that because of

the “sacrifice” of scientists, thecountry had a new respect forscientific institutions. “Today is

the day to remember that timewhen our scientific organisa-tionsputnightanddaytogetherfor the fight against corona, todevelopthevaccine.AlongwithCSIR, other organisations cametogetherandfacedallchallengestogether,andfoundsolutions tonew circumstances. Because ofyoursacrifice,thecountryanewfeelingofawarenessandrespectforscienceinstitutionshasbeenborn,”hesaid.Modi said that in the past,

India has been dependent onforeignstandardsforqualityandmeasurement,butthecountry’sstandards will decide thestrengthof thecountry, itsprod-ucts and its global standing. “In

this decade, India will have togivenewheightstoitsstandards.In this decade, India’s pace,India’s progress, India’s growth,India’s image, India’s influence,ourcapacitybuildingwillbesetbyourstandards. Inourcountry,there should be quality in ourservices, whether it is the gov-ernment sector or the privatesector. Let there be quality inproducts, whether the govern-mentmakesthem,ortheprivatesector.Ourqualitystandardswilldecide howmuch the strengthof India, and its products, in-crease in theworld,”hesaid.Addressing the CSIR NPL, at

the National MetrologyConference,thePMsaidthatthe“the more trustworthy themethodologyofthecountry,thehigheritstrustworthinessintheworld”. “In common language,metrology is the science ofmeasurement and standards.For any scientific achievement,thisworksasapillar.Noresearchcanmoveaheadwithout ‘maap’and‘naap’.Tothepoint,thatevenour own achievements, have tobemeasuredagainstsomestan-dard. For this reason,metrology

is the standard for modernity.The better your methodology,the better yourmetrology. Andthe more trustworthy themetrology of a country, thatcountry’s trustworthiness willbehigher in theworld,”hesaid.Modisaidthatthegoalwasn’t

to simply fill theworldmarketwith Indianproductsbut towinthe “heart of every customerwhobuysanIndianproduct”.“Todaywhen the country is

moving aheadwith the convic-tionof theAatmanirbharBharatAbhiyan, then we have to re-member that its goal isquantity,but along with that quality isequallyimportant.Meaningthatscaleshouldgrow,andstandardsshould aswell.Wedon’t have tojust fill themarketwith Indianproducts. We have to win theheart of every customer whobuysanIndianproduct.Wehavetowin hearts in every corner oftheworld.Thereshouldnotonlybe a global demand forMake InIndia, but there should also beglobal acceptance. Thiswehavetodecide.WehavetomakebrandIndiamore secure on the pillarsofqualityandcredibility,”hesaid.

Jaishankar tobegin 3-day visitto Lanka today

MANOJCG&SANDEEPASHARNEWDELHI,MUMBAI,JANUARY4

WITH THE Congress high com-mand deciding to gauge theopinionofpartyMLAsandMLCsinMaharashtraforapossiblere-vamp of the state unit, stateCongress president BalasahebThorat on Monday rushed toDelhi and had ameeting withAICCgeneralsecretaryinchargeofOrganisationKCVenugopal.ThereisuneaseintheThorat

campover thestyleof function-ingofAICCin-chargeof thestateHKPatil and it is learnt that thestate Congress chief has offeredtostepdownifthesituationdoesnot improve. Venugopal, how-ever,maintaineditwasaroutinemeeting. Sources said the highcommandhas set inmotion theprocessforareshuffleinthestateunit. Aspart of the exercise, PatilistotraveltoMumbaiTuesdaytomeetMLAs andMLCs individu-ally.It is learntthatThorat’soffice

was not involved in organisingthemeetings. Sources close toThorat said that bypassing himin this manner diminishes hisauthority, a point he is learnt tohave raisedwith the party high

command.Thorat currentlyholds three

positions – PCC chief, CongressLegislature Party leader andRevenueministerintheUddhavThackeray-ledgovernment.It is learnt that there is pres-

sureonthehighcommandtofol-lowtheoneperson,onepostprin-cipleinthiscase.Also,hisnephewSatyajeet Tambe isMaharashtraYouthCongresspresidentandhisrivals in the party have com-plainedabout the concentrationofpowerinonefamily.It is also learnt thathis rivals

have complained to the highcommand that under Thorat’sleadership, the Congress is notgettingitsdueintherulingcoali-tionwithShivSenaandNCP.Congress’s Maharashtra

leaders say Thorat will have togiveupat least twoposts.Therearealso issues regard-

ing “attempts tomicromanage”byPatil, saidasource.

MaharashtraCongchiefThorat;AICC’sVenugopal

PMNarendraModi

Newyearbroughtachievementwithmade-in-India vaccines:PM

BJP leader, aide hacked to death inCuttack, son blames state ministerAISHWARYAMOHANTYBHUBANESWAR, JANUARY4

ODISHAPOLICEhas registered acaseagainst13personsafteraBJPleader and his associate werehackedtodeathinCuttackdistrict.Kulamani Baral (75), BJP’s

Salipur in-charge and formerMahangablockchairman,andhisassociateDibya SinghBaral (80)were killedwhile theywere ontheway to their villageNrutangon Saturday night, police said.WhileBaral diedon the spot, hisassociate succumbed to injuriesonSundayatSCBMedicalCollegeandHospital inCuttack.Inhis complaint atMahanga

police station, based onwhichtheFIRhasbeenfiled,Baral’ssonRamakanta has alleged that hewaskilledbygoonsatthebehestof state LawMinister and BJDMLAfromMahanga,PratapJena.Ramakanta has alleged that hisfather was killed as he hadstartedunearthingcorruptioninimplementation of the PradhanMantriAwasYojanaintheregion.The FIR names the 13 per-

sons of which six had allegedlyattacked the victims, while theothers have been accused ofplanning the attack alongwiththem,police said.“Thepolicehavebeencalling

itacaseofpastenmity,butthisisa case of political vendetta. Myfatherwaskilledbecausehewas

awareofmalpracticesunderwayintheconstituencyandintendedto expose the corruption,”Ramakant told The IndianExpress. “Theminister is shield-ing theaccused,”headded.Jenadeniedtheallegationsand

condemned theattack. “There isnoplaceforviolenceinpoliticsandthe incident is highly con-demnable.IwillensurethatthosewhokilledtheBJPleaderarepun-ished.”HeaccusedtheBJPofpoliti-cisingthemurder.“TheBJPisgiv-ing the crime a political colourwithoutanysubstantialevidence.Thepolice are investigating andthoseinvolvedwillbearrestedaf-tertheprobeconcludes,”Jenasaid.The Opposition is staging

protestsindemandof Jena’sres-ignation fromtheAssembly.OdishaBJPgeneralsecretary

Prithviraj Harichandan said, “Ifthe culprits are not arrested

within 48 hours, the govern-mentwill face protests in everycornerof thestate.Noministersor even the CMwill be allowedto attend public functions.” Hefurther said the BJPwill gheraopolice stations across the stateand the DGP office on Tuesday,and accused the ruling BJD oftrying tosupress thematter.BJP spokesperson Sambit

Patratweeted,“SeniorBJPleaderKulamani Barala of Mahangawasbrutallyhackedtodeathjustbecause he spoke against thecorruption of Minister PratapJena in Odisha govt. Theminis-ter’snamefindsamentionintheFIR aswell. IsOdishagovt goingtheBengalway??”Respondingtotheallegations,

the BJD said the party has neversupported any kind of violence.“The partiesmaking allegationsare inpowerinalotof statesandtheymustfirstcheckincidentsofviolence there. As per theNCRBreport, therehavebeennopolit-icalkillingsinthestate.Thepolicehaveassured thatall theculpritswill be arrested and the BJPshouldwait for the investigationto conclude,” BJD spokespersonChinmayiSahoosaid.CuttackruralSPJugalKishore

Banothsaidsixteamshavebeenformed to arrest the accused.“The role of all the accused andtheirinvolvementwillbeprobedand arrests will be made,”Banothsaid.

“Thepartiesmakingallegationsareinpowerinalotof statesandtheymustfirstcheckincidentsofviolencethere.Thepolicehaveassuredthatallculpritswillbearrested”

CHINMAYISAHOOBJDSPOKESPERSON

EXPRESSNEWSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MinisterSJaishankarwillgotoColomboonTuesdayforathree-dayvisittoSriLanka,duringwhichhewillholdtalkswiththecountry'stoplead-ership anddiscuss issues ofmu-tual and bilat-eral interests.Thiswillbe

the first visitby Jaishankarin the newyear.Jaishankarwillalso be thefirst foreigndignitary tovisit the island nation in 2021,andhisvisitwillbethefirstsinceSri Lankan President GotabayaRajapaksa assumed full presi-dential powers through thetwentieth amendment to theConstitutionadopted lastyear.Jaishankarwillholdtalkswith

the Lankan President, PMMahindaRajapaksaandhiscoun-terpartDineshGunawardena.His visit takes place amid

concernsraisedbytheColomboPorttradeunionsonaproposedjoint venturewith India on theColombo Port’s EasternContainerTerminal.Unionsandleftist opposition groups havebeenmounting public opposi-tion to theportdeal.

S Jaishankar

UNEASE INMAHARASHTRACONGRESS

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

VIVEKDESHPANDENAGPUR, JANUARY4

AGAINST THE backdrop of afarmers’ agitation against per-ceivedgovernmentabdicationofits responsibility onMinimumSupport Price (MSP) assurance,the Centre has granted permis-sion toMaharashtra to procure25percentofthetotalarharpro-duction.Whilearharprocurementby

thestateisanannualoccurrence,the permission for the processusuallytakesaboutthreeweeks.“We got the permissionwithintwo days this time,” PrincipalSecretary (Marketing) AnoopKumar toldThe IndianExpress.Kumarsaid,“Wewillbestart-

ing procurement at 187 centresfrom January 20 at MSP of Rs6,000perquintal.”TheMSPof Rs6,000 isby far

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

every year under the PriceSupportSchemeof thePradhanMantri Annadata AaySanraksHanAbhiyanforvariouscrops.Usually, theprocurementstartsinFebruaryeveryyearbutthis year, we are starting earlydue toearlyharvest,”hesaid.Under the scheme, the

National AgriculturalCooperative MarketingFederationprocures25per cent

of the total produce through astate agency, in this case theMaharashtra State CooperativeAgricultural MarketingFederation. After that, the pro-curement,ifnecessary,isdonebythe state agency, with the stategovernment footingthebill.“This year, the 25 per cent

threshold is expected to be28,90,500 quintals. So we arepreparing to procure that ini-tially,” saidKumar.The government, however,

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

highest, 61,29,092 quintals, in2016-17, when prices hadslumpedwell belowtheMSPofRs5,050.In2017-18,thegovern-ment had purchased 26,22,507quintalssinceopenmarketratescontinued to remain below Rs4,000perquintal.But in 2018-19, the procure-

mentwasonly2,83,731quintalssince the open market ratesrangedbetweenRs5,200andRs6,000 against the MSP of Rs5,675. In 2019-20, the procure-ment rose again to 10,83,452quintals.

Maharashtra gets nodto procure 25% oftotal arhar produced

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA, JANUARY4

THEWEST Bengal governmentis set to convene a specialAssemblysessiontopassareso-lutionagainst theCentre’s threefarmlaws.Chief Minister Mamata

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

wantwithdrawal of these threebills for the sake of the countryandthe farmers,” shesaid.Five state Assemblies so far

have passed resolution againstthe three farm laws. Earlier, theCongressandLeftpartieshadde-mandedanAssemblysessioninthis regard.Banerjee also indicated that

her government is ready to im-

plement the PM-Kisan scheme,sayig that she has asked theCentre to give details of theschemeaswell as all thosewhohave registered for it on theUniongovernment'sportal.Banerjee said, “I had repeat-

edlyaskedtheCentretotransferfunds allotted under the PM-Kisan scheme to the state gov-ernment... They (Centre) havesoughtverificationof thisdata. Iunderstood that theCentrewastrying to politicise thematter.Werealisedthatfarmersshouldnotsufferbecauseofthis... Ihaveasked the Centre to pass on thedatasothatwecanstartthever-ificationprocess,” shesaid.

CMMamataBanerjee

Bengal special session topass resolution againstCentre’s 3 farm laws

New Delhi

6THEINDIANEXPRESS,TUESDAY, JANUARY5,2021

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JANUARY4

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

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

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

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

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

the ownership of the animalonlyuponconviction.Section29,whichdealswith

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

Additional Solicitor GeneralJayantKSudinformedthecourtthatthe2017ruleshadbeenno-tifiedasithadcometolightthatatrocities were being commit-

tedonanimals.But the bench said, “We are

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

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

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

gers forcommunalpolarisationof society”, theassociationsaid.

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,JANUARY4

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

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

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

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

Department denied conductingany search or survey against

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

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

searchesorsurveysbythedepart-

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

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

Mumbai man,YouTubechannel barredfrom defamatoryposts againstAdani group firm

SOHINIGHOSHAHMEDABAD, JANUARY4

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

YouTube channel namedLoktantraTV.Thead-interiminjunction,as

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

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

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

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

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

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

WITHMOHAMEDTHAVERINMUMBAI

BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR,JANUARY4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

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

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

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

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

moneysiphonedbyPravinwereloansavailedbyHDILfromPMCBank.HDILanditspromotersareaccusedofaRs6,200-crorefraudat thebank. ENS

ABHISHEKANGADRANCHI, JANUARY4

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

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

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

ENS&PTISHIMLA,MUMBAI,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JANUARY4

SAMPLES OF dead migratorywater birds found at the PongDam Lake in Himachal Pradeshhavetestedpositiveforavianin-fluenzaorbirdflu.Ithasnowbe-comethefifthstatetoreportsus-pected cases of bird flu afterHaryana, Rajasthan, Kerala andMadhyaPradesh.In neighbouring Haryana,

around one lakh poultry birdsare reported to have died inBarwala in the last few days,while in Rajasthan, the death ofa number of crows in Jhalawarhas been linked to avian in-fluenza. Samplesof someducksin Kerala have also reportedlytestedpositive for thebird flu.Birdfluviruswasdetectedin

around 50 crows whose car-casses were found in Indore inMadhya Pradesh last week,prompting authorities to issueanalert.Around 1,800 migratory

birds,mostof themBar-HeadedGeese, havebeen founddead inthe lake sanctuary in HimachalPradeshsinceMondaylastweek.

“The laboratory at the IndianVeterinary Research Institute(IVRI) in Bareilly had detectedavianinfluenzainthesamplesofdead birds, according to infor-mation conveyed to us by theCentreMonday.Wewereawait-ing confirmation byNIHSAD asit isthenodalbodyfordetectingthisdisease,”saidPrincipalChiefConservatorofForests(Wildlife)ArchanaSharma.Director of animal hus-

bandryDrAjmerDograsaidthatthe department has formed arapidresponseteamtodealwiththesuspectedepizootic.Bird flu is ahighly infectious

andsevererespiratorydiseaseinbirds caused by the H5N1 in-fluenza virus, which can occa-sionally infect humans aswell,although human-to-humantransmissionisunusual,accord-ing to the World HealthOrganisation.InRajasthan,deathsofmore

than 170 new birds were re-ported from some districts onMonday, taking the total fatali-ties in recent days to over 425.“Bird flu has been confirmedonlyinJhalawar(district).Reportof other deaths is yet to come,”according to the state animalhusbandrydepartment.

As some parts of Kerala tooreportedtheinfluenzaoutbreak,authoritieshaveorderedcullingofducks,hensandotherdomes-ticbir