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JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

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

FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ASHNABUTANI&LIZMATHEWNEWDELHI, JULY23

NOSCHOOLCHILDREN,apared-downlistofdignitaries,chairsin-stead of rugs for seating in sev-eral areas, and police in PPE —Independence Daymorning atRedFortthisyearwillreflectthemood of a nation in themiddleof aglobalpandemic.In the afternoon, during the

AtHomefunctioninRashtrapatiBhavan, the focus will be on

India's “CoronaWarriors”, withinvitationslikelytobeextendedtomedicalprofessionalsandkeyfigures in thehealth sector.“At the Red Fort, instead of

the 900-1,000 invitees everyyear, around 250peoplewill bepresent as the PrimeMinisteraddressesthenation,”anofficialwith the Archaeological Surveyof India (ASI) told The IndianExpress.Thefinal listwillbepre-paredby theDefenceMinistry.Apart fromministers, diplo-

mats and other dignitaries, theattendees until last year in-cluded thousands of school-childrenwearingdressesthatre-flect theTricolour.“This year, childrenwill not

takepartduetothepandemic,ex-ceptforNCCcadets.Socialdistanc-ingwill bemaintained, staffwill

be inPPEkits, and therewill beanumber of sanitisation points,”saidMonika Bhardwaj, Deputy

CommissionerofPolice(North).TheAtHomewill“definitely

be held”, but the nature of thefunctionhasnotbeenfinalised,official sources said.“The list of invitees, size of

the gathering, venue hall,whetherteashouldbeserved...all these detailswill have to befinalised. A lot depends on theCovidsituationbymid-August,andthenatureofrestrictionsinplace,” said sources.They said that queries are

beingmadeaboutthenamesofmedical professionals andhealthcare experts to be in-cluded.Thelistusuallyincludesministers, political leaders,

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PAGE1ANCHOR

Preparationshavebegunat theRedFort.AmitMehra

At Red Fort this I-Day, no schoolchildren,police in PPE, list of invitees down to 250

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

WORLD

MAY CLOSEMORECHINESEMISSIONS:TRUMP; BEIJINGSLAMS ‘SLANDER’PAGE10

THEEDITORIAL PAGE

TIMETOBELESSAFRAIDBY MILINDSOHONIPAGE8

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI, JULY23

ASCOVID-19 and the lockdownthat followedconfinedpeople totheir homes, complaints of do-mestic violence andcyber crimeagainstwomenwent upwhilethose of harassment, sexual as-sault, and rapedipped,with theeffectmore pronounced in thecountry'sredzones,districtswiththestrictestlockdownmeasures,according to a new study by re-searchers at the University ofCalifornia,LosAngeles.“Intheirstudypublishedasa

USNationalBureauofEconomicResearch paper on June 21,SaravanaRavindranandManishaShah,professorsof Public Policyat UCLA, compiled complaints

registeredwith India's NationalCommission for Women andmapped themon to districts inthe red, orangeandgreenzones—districtsdemarcatedbythead-ministrationbasedon theCovidcaseload — and cross-checkedthe findings with GoogleMobilityandSearchtrends.Overall, therewere392com-

plaintsofdomesticviolenceregis-teredwith theNCW'sComplaintandInvestigationCell inMaythisyear compared to 266 in May2019. Therewere73cyber crimecomplaints involvingwomen inMay2020,comparedto49inMay2019. Rape and sexual assaultcomplaintsdecreased66%— from163inMaylastyearto54thisMay.In2019, theyhaddecreased17%from198inMay2018.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Chinese dig in atPangong Tso andGogra, India saysmore talks soonDisengagementstalled;diplomaticandmilitary talks tobreak logjam

KRISHNKAUSHIK&SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JULY23

WITHCHINESEtroopsreluctantto step back further fromPangongTsoandPatrollingPoint17AatGogra,twoof fourfrictionpoints along the Line of ActualControl in Ladakh, a top sourcein the Army said Thursday thatCorps Commanders of the twosides could meet again nextweekto“breakthelogjam”overdisengagementof troops.The “need for anothermili-

taryordiplomaticmeetingisbe-ing felt,” the source said, espe-cially over the situation inPangongTsowhere“somediffer-enceshaveemerged”onthe“sta-tus and claims” of the LAC andrearwardmovement of troops.The disengagement and de-escalation processes, the sourcesaid,are“presentlystalled”.Also Thursday, theMinistry

ofExternalAffairssaid,“anothermeeting of the WorkingMechanism for Consultation &Coordination on India-ChinaBorder Affairs (WMCC) is alsoexpectedtobescheduledsoon”.InMay,Chinesetroopscame

up to Finger 4 on the PangongTso north bank, 8 km west ofFinger8whichIndiasaysmarksthe LAC. As part of disengage-mentof troops,theyvacatedtheFinger 4 base area and headedtowards Finger 5. But the PLAcontinuestooccupypositionsontheridgelineatFinger4.At PP 17A, the Army source

said there has been “no changeofstatussincethelastreportandsome troops continue to be en-gaged at this location”. Sourceshad earlier said that around 50troopseachonbothsidesarestillwithinakilometreofeachotherat this location.At PP 15 in the Hot Springs

sector, the Chinese “indicatedCONTINUEDONPAGE2

‘WILLWELCOME(PILOT) IFHEDECIDESTOAGAINREPOSEFAITH INCONG’ASHOKGEHLOTRAJASTHANCHIEFMINISTER

THE EXPRESSINTERVIEW

P5

JIGNASASINHANEWDELHI, JULY23

AMINOR girl, who tested posi-tiveforCovid-19andwasadmit-tedtotheSardarPatelCovidCareCentre in South Delhi, wassexually assaulted allegedly byanother patient inside the facil-ityonJuly15.Policehavearrestedtheaccusedandasecondpersonwhoallegedlyfilmedtheassault.

Police said they received acomplaintfromtheIndo-TibetanBorder Police (ITBP), who aremanagingthecentre.Thecentre,built on the grounds of theRadha Soami Satsang Beas cen-treinSouthDelhi,hasacapacityof10,000beds,ofwhicharound300areoccupiednow.In her complaint, theminor

alleged that on the night of July15,shewassexuallyassaultedbya19-year-oldinsideabathroom

at the centre. She accused an-other 19-year-old patient at thecentreof recording the incidentonhisphone.Parvinder Singh, Additional

DCP (South district), said, “Wehaveregisteredacaseagainstthetwomen under the POCSO ActandIPC376(sexualassault).Theaccusedhavebeenarrestedandsent to judicial custody butwillremain in institutional care till

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Minor sexually assaulted, filmedat Covid centre in Delhi: Police

SANCTIONISSUED,WOMENNOWELIGIBLEFORPERMANENTCOMMISSIONINARMYP7

ArmyvehiclesheadingtoLadakh,ontheManali-Lehroute inKulluThursday.ANI

143DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■TamilNadu■Delhi■Karnataka■Andhra

7 DAYS EARLIER:

2.57NOW:

2.41

7 DAYS EARLIER:

7.61NOW:

8.22

DETECTED TODAY

45,720RECOVERED TODAY:

29,557

TOTALCASES3,37,6071,86,4921,26,32375,83364,713

DOUBLINGRATE**24.5024.1465.3310.308.02

SURGEIN24HOURS10,5765,8491,2274,7646,045

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*2.94%2.98%1.10%6.99%8.98%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:12,38,634TESTS: 1,50,75,369| DOUBLING RATE: 20.16**

RECOVERED: 7,82,606DEATHS:29,861

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

DataasonJuly22, releasedbyUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch, trendsbasedondailynumbersare indicative,notdefinitive

CASE FATALITYRATIO

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

More domestic violencecomplaints in red zonesduring lockdown: study

Clockwise fromtop:boxerLovlinaBorgohainsowspaddy inGolaghat,Assam;shuttlerSatwiksairajRankireddywithamosquito-swatter inAmalapuram,AndhraPradesh;swimmerSrihariNataraj inBengaluru

MIHIRVASAVDANEWDELHI, JULY23

HERFEET submerged inmuddywater,boxerLovlinaBorgohainissowing paddy in Assam'sGolaghat.InChandigarh,shooterAnjumMoudgil has swappedher air rifle for a paintbrush.Swimmer Srihari Nataraj isstrummingaguitarinBengaluru.And in Andhra's Amalapuram,shuttlerSatwiksairajRankireddyisbusy—notwitharacquet,buta mosquito-swatter to keepmalariaaway.If all had been well, all of

themwouldhavestruttedoutatthe National Stadium in TokyoonFridaymorning,fortheopen-ing ceremony of the OlympicGames.But then, all isnotwell.Insteadof beingapartof the

100-oddmemberIndiancontin-gent at the biggest sportingevent in theworld— thegoal ofa lifetime — they are at home,leading ordinary lives, resignedtoanexcruciatingwait.Fourmonthsago,forthefirst

time ever, the InternationalOlympicCommitteeandorgan-isers in Tokyo postponed theOlympics following the Covidoutbreak. The Gameswill nowbeginon July23,2021.Moudgil, who has been

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

OLYMPICDREAMS

In world without Covid, theywould all be in Tokyo today

RAJASTHANCRISIS: COURTSAYSWILLHEARMATTEROFJURISDICTION

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY23

ASKINGIFdissentingvoiceswerebeing shut down, the SupremeCourt Thursday refused to staythereliefgiventillFridaytorebelRajasthan CongressMLAs to re-plytothedisqualificationnoticesissuedtothem.Rajasthan Speaker C P Joshi

hadmoved the Supreme Courtagainstthehighcourtorderask-ing him to give the rebel MLAstimetillJuly24toreplytotheno-tices.While declining Joshi's ap-

peal for a stay, the Court ad-journed hearing on the "ques-tion of jurisdiction" raised byhim till July 27. Joshi has con-tendedthatcourtscannotinter-fere in disqualificationmattersbefore the Speaker has taken afinaldecision.“Asthehighcourthasalready

heardthematterafterprolongedarguments and reserved the or-der,wearenotstayingthepassingof theorder.However,whateverorder is passed, shall beultimatelysubjecttotheoutcomeof this petition," the SupremeCourt Bench, comprising

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SCrefusesstayontimegiventorebelMLAs,askscandissentbeshutdownlikethis

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJAIPUR, JULY23

RAJASTHAN CHIEF MinisterAshokGehlotThursdaysaidthatan Assembly session will becalledsoon,addingthathisgov-ernmentwouldproveitsmajor-ity even if the rebel CongressMLAsstayaway.Speakingtoreportershere,he

alsosaidtheaudioclipsthathadsurfacedwithpurportedconver-sationsaroundtopplinghisgov-ernmentcouldbesentabroadforverification,if thereweredoubts

aboutthe investigationthatwason here. The Special OperationsGroup of the Rajasthan Police islooking intothematter.Saying that the rebelMLAs,

ledbyformerDeputyCMSachinPilot,had“losttheirway”,Gehlotsaid, “Those being held hostagethere (at a hotel in Haryana),guarded by bouncers, they arecalling, (asking) how dowe getout. They are unable to leave.I hope that when they come,several of themwill vote, but(even without them) we havea majority and, on the

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

OnSpeaker’spleaagainstHCdirection,courtsays ‘theseareelectedMLAs’

Assembly session soon,we have majority: Gehlot

AANCHALMAGAZINE&SUNNYVERMANEWDELHI, JULY23

INAmovethatwillmainlyaffectentities fromChina, thegovern-menthas amended theGeneralFinancial Rules, 2017, imposingrestrictions on public procure-ment frombidders of countriesthat share a land border with

India, citing grounds of defenceandnational security.Biddersfromthesecountries

will be eligible only if they areregisteredwith theRegistrationCommittee constituted by theDepartment for Promotion ofIndustry and Internal Trade(DPIIT). They will also be re-quired to takemandatorypolit-ical andsecurityclearance from

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Govt tightens biddingregulations for bordercountries (read China) THELATESTmoveman-

datingregistrationandse-curityclearanceforbid-dersof countriessharinglandborderswith India, inpublicprocurementten-ders,willeffectivelyput inplacemorefilters forenti-ties fromChina.There-strictions followaseriesofstepstakeninrecentmonthstoprevent the in-fluxofChineseproductsandinvestments into India.

MorefiltersinplaceE●EX

PLAINED

EXPRESSNETWORK

New Delhi

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020

Bidding rulestheministriesofExternalAffairsandHome,theFinanceMinistrysaid in an order issued lateThursday.Thecentral governmenthas

alsodirectedstategovernmentsto implement this order for allpublicprocurement.Listing out the exceptions,

the FinanceMinistry said thatrelaxationwill be provided forprocurement of Covidmedicalsupplies till December 31. Also,the order for prior registrationwill not apply for countries towhich thegovernmentextendslinesofcreditorprovidesdevel-opment assistance, even if theysharea landborderwith India.India shares its borderwith

China, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan,Bangladesh andMyanmar. Asperofficialdata,outof these,thegovernmenthasextended linesof credit to Bangladesh, Nepal,Myanmar, exempting themfrom the new order. India hasextendedlinesofcredittotalling$30.59billionto64countries,in-cluding41 fromAfrica."AspertheOrderanybidder

from such countries sharing alandborderwithIndiawillbeel-igibletobidinanyprocurementwhether of goods, services (in-cluding consultancy servicesand non-consultancy services)or works (including turnkeyprojects)onlyif thebidderisreg-isteredwith the competent au-thority,” theorder said.“The competent authority

for registration will be theRegistrationCommitteeconsti-tuted by the Department forPromotion of Industry andInternal Trade (DPIIT). Politicalandsecurityclearance fromtheMinistriesofExternalandHomeAffairs, respectively, will bemandatory," it said."For national security rea-

sons, the competent authorityshallnotberequiredtogiverea-sons for rejection/cancellationof registration of a bidder," itsaid.Thesemeasures followase-

ries of steps that have beentaken in recentmonths to pre-vent influx of Chinese productsand investments into India.On June23, thegovernment

madeitmandatoryforsellersontheGovernmente-Marketplace(GeM)portaltoclarifythecoun-tryof originof goodswhenreg-isteringnewproducts.TheGeMportal nowallows buyers to re-serve a bid for Class I local sup-pliers, or suppliers of thosegoods with more than 50 percent local content. For bids be-lowRs200crore,onlyClassIandClassII(thosewithmorethan20percent local content)areeligi-ble.The decision came in the

backdrop of the government’spush for Atmanirbhar Bharat,and following the clashes be-tween Indian and ChinesetroopsinGalwanValleyonJune15,whichpromptedseveralgov-ernmentdepartmentstolaunchan offensive against importsfromChina.At $70.32 billion in 2018-19

and$62.38billionbetweenApril2019 and February 2020, Chinaaccountsforthehighestpropor-tionofgoodsimportedintoIndia-- around 14 per cent in 2019-2020so far.In April, the government

amended FDI rulesmandatingpriorapprovalforinvestmentbyentities in countries that shareland borders with India. “...anentityofacountry,whichshareslandborderwithIndiaorwherethe beneficial owner of an in-vestment into India is situatedin or is a citizen of any suchcountry, can invest only underthe Government route,” theDPIIThadsaid.The move came days after

China’s central bank, People’sBank of China (PBoC), raised itsshareholding in HousingDevelopment FinanceCorporation(HDFC) tooverone

percent.The government stated that

prior approvalwas compulsoryfor foreign investments fromallcountries sharing borderswithIndia to prevent “opportunistictakeovers”ofdomesticfirmsfol-lowing thepandemic.Apart from attached min-

istries and departments, andsubordinatebodies,thisnewor-derwill be applicable to all au-tonomous bodies, public sectorbanksandfinancial institutions,centralpublicsectorenterprises,public private partnerships re-ceiving financial support fromthegovernmentorpublicsectorundertakings, union territoriesand National Capital Territory(NCT)ofDelhi.Thismovewill not apply to

cases where orders have beenplacedorcontracthasbeencon-cluded or letter of acceptancehasbeen issued--butnewten-derswill be covered.Also, if thefirst stageof evaluationof qual-ifications has not been com-pletedinthetendersalreadyin-vited, bidders not registeredunder the new order will betreatedasnotqualified."If this stage has been

crossed, ordinarily the tenderswillbecancelledandtheprocessstarted de novo. The orderwillalsoapplytootherformsofpub-lic procurement. It doesnot ap-ply to procurement by the pri-vate sector," theministry said.Inworkscontracts, including

turnkey contracts, contractorswill not be allowed to sub-con-tract work to any contractorfromacountrythatsharesalandborderwith India unless regis-tration is provided by the con-tractor.TheRegistrationCommittee

under DPIIT shall be headed byanofficer not below the rankofjoint secretaryandwillhaveof-ficials from MHA, MEA and

otherconcerneddepartmentsasmembers.

Gehlotbasisof thatmajority,wewillgototheHouseandproveourma-jority.”Hours after saying that the

Assembly sessionwill be calledsoon, the CM met GovernorKalrajMishraatRajBhawan.Raising the issue of raids on

peopleclosetohim,theCMsaid,“Earlier,when therewere raids,one came to know only later.Now, the situation is, there arehintsthree-fourdaysinadvance.And the raids happen accord-ingly.Wearenotgoing to trem-ble,andneitherwillourmissionstop.Weare(opposing)policiesof the BJP, its programmes anditsprinciplesareruiningthena-tion.(Theyare)fascists,murder-ingdemocracy.”Gehlot said his administra-

tionwasreadytosendtheaudiotapes under probe to a "fabu-lous"forensicsciencelaboratoryin the US for tests, if theRajasthangovernment, itslaborDelhi isnot trusted.Hinting at Union minister

GajendraSinghShekhawat,whohasbeennamedbytheCongressasoneofthepeopleinthetapes,theCMsaidthosebeinginvesti-gated should give their voicesamples. “Whyare theynotdo-ing so?" Public representativesgive somany addresses, Gehlotsaid, and so “everyoneknows itishisvoice,theworldagrees,thestateagrees, thepublic agrees”.Gehlot claimed that the

Congress would overcome.While the party's strength hadfallen drastically in the LokSabha, he said, “the CongressandCongress-men, spirit of theCongress (are) in every home.Andthewisepeople,beit intheBJPoranyotherparty,knowthatthe Congress should remain

strong.Governmentswill comeand go, butwe do politics withthethought that thestrengthofthe Congress is the strength ofthenation.”The CM accused Prime

Minister Narendra Modi ofshowmanship over the coron-avirus, even as his partyschemed to topple Oppositiongovernments, in MadhyaPradesh and Karnataka beforethat, during the pandemic.GehlotsaidthatinRajasthan,hehimselfhadbeenmeetingMLAsandMPs, includingof opposingparties,aswellasreligiouslead-ers and doctors, to tackle thevirus. Hence, he said, peoplewould not forgive attempts tooverthrowhisgovernment.Aboutwhyhehadwrittena

lettertoModionthematter, theCM said he wanted to ensurethatthePMlatercouldn'tsayhewasnotawareorwasonlyhalf-aware.Asked whether the

Rajasthan developments, withdifferent parties filing separatepleas in different courts, indi-cated a growing clash betweenconstitutional bodies, Gehlotsaid, “We respect the judiciarythe most. We never interferewithit,andthinkneithershouldanyone else. The judiciary iswhereanyone,pooror rich, canseekjustice.Howwill thecoun-trybe saved if faith is lost in thejudiciary?”

Red zonesExamining this data, the re-

searchersfoundthattheaveragenumberofmonthlydomesticvi-olence complaintsper redzonedistrictwas below1.5 inMarch2020,whichwentuptoalmost2inMay2020.Forgreenzonedis-tricts, this number stayed ataround0.3duringthelockdownperiod – or around three suchcases forevery10districts.

Theredzonesalsosawanin-creaseincybercrimecomplaintsmade by women when com-pared to green zones. Whilethese complaints averaged be-low .1 per red zone district inFebruary, it increased to .35 inMay, while in green zones, thenumber increased from .03 to.06during thisperiod.Ontheotherhand,relativeto

greenzones,complaintsofrape,sexual assault and harassmentdecreased in red zones in theApril-Mayperiod.Theaveragenumberof rape

andsexualassaultcomplaintsineach of the red zone districtsmoved from .5 inMarch to lessthan .1 in April to above .2 inMay. In green zones, it movedfrom .1 to almost 0 to less than.05.This could be “likely due to

decreased mobility in publicspaces, public transport, andworkplaces,” the study read.“These findings are consistentwith research highlighting themagnitudeofstreetharassmentwomen in India face.”“Domestic abuse” and “do-

mestic violence helpline”wereGooglesearchtermsthatbeganto significantly increase mid-March and peaked on April 19andonMay10inIndia,theUCLAresearch found.The study says, “This is an

important finding because ifweweretosimplyestimatetheimpact of lockdowns on vio-lence against women, wemight find null results due tothe increase in domestic vio-lenceandcybercrimesand thedecrease inrapeandsexualha-rassment, masking importantheterogeneities. Our resultssuggest that women face aportfolio of danger, and somepolicies can improve certaintypes of violence outcomeswhile exacerbating others.”

Olympic dreamssellingherpaintingstohelpthosefinancially affected by the pan-demic, finds comfort in thethought that “theOlympicswillat least take place”. “Our firstmatch would have been onSaturday.When I thought aboutitonWednesday, I startedto feelnervous,”shesays.“Ihavemixedfeelings about thewait...we canhaveagoatitnextyear.”Moudgilwas one of the first

Indians toqualify.AndshecouldalsohavebeenamongthefirsttofinishonthepodiumonDayOne,with an unprecedented sevenIndians inmedal contention infour events. The others? PistolshootersSaurabhChaudharyandAbhishek Verma, Moudgil'steammate and rifle shooterApurvi Chandela, weightlifterMirabaiChanuandthearchersinamixedteamevent.Verma, a lawyerbyqualifica-

tion,receivedhislicencefromtheBarCouncil of India lastMondayand is hoping to start practice.“TheOlympics are a year awayandtherearenocompetitionsthisyear.Soafterdailytraining,Ihopeto startmypractice simultane-ously,” he says, adding thatConstitutional law and cyber-crimearehisareasof interest.His 18-year-old teammate

Chaudhary,worldNo. 4, is train-ing in the cowshed-shootingrangeathishomeinUP'sKalina.Chanu,whowon theWorld

Championship gold in 2017, hasresumedtrainingafter spendingnearlythreemonthsinherhostelroomat theNational Institute ofSportinPatiala.“Coronahaskilledall our emotions,” says Chanu’scoachVijaySharma.“Wearejustprayingfornormalcytoreturn.”Even the veterans are strug-

glingtocope.“IhavespentthelastfourmonthswatchingTV, doingyoga, cooking andmopping thefloor,” says archer DeepikaKumari,atwo-timeOlympian.“Imiss the buzz of the OlympicGames, the stress, nervousnessand excitement. It’s amundaneliferightnow.”For some others, too,mun-

daneisthenewnormal.ShuttlerRankireddy says he has beentraining but also busy swattingmosquitoesintheevenings.“Theyare a big problem in this seasonandwedon'twanttotaketheriskof fallingillandgoingtohospital.Athome,wehavetoshutallwin-dows anddoors by 6 pmor themalarial mosquitoes becomedangerous,”hesays.For Nataraj, the lockdown

meantnohaircut -- his curls arenow up to shoulder length.Swimmers prefer to keep theirhairtrimmedtominimiseresist-ance in thewater. ButNataraj'snew avatar is complete withfunky, Olympic rings-shapedglasses, and a guitar aroundhisshoulder.“Somepeoplestillhavelonghair,butI'llcutitbeforeabigmeet. I got those goggles at theYouthOlympics.Mybrotherhadlefttheguitarathome,I'mlearn-inghowtoplayit,”hesays.The 18-year-old national

recordholderin100mbackstrokeis hoping to secure qualificationfor theGameswhen the eventsresume.Sofar,74Indianathletesinsevensportshavemadethecut,withmoreexpected toseal theirspotsatthequalificationeventsinthefirsthalfof2021.As for 2020, the government

and sports federations have de-cided that no athletewill be al-lowed to travel abroad for train-ing for safety reasons -- and,barring a few sports like bad-minton andwrestling, there areno international tournamentslikelytobeconducted.ForboxerBorgohain,however,

all of this has comeas ablessingin disguise. After work at thepaddy field, she rushes home tocook forherbed-riddenmother.In theevening, she strapsonherglovesandpractisesaloneinatinyroom with a boxing bag andtreadmill.“Mymotherhasbeenunwell

andwashospitalised.Now, I cantakecareofherwithoutworryingaboutanythingelse.”

(WITHSHAHIDJUDGE,SHASHANKNAIR&SHIVANI

NAIK)

I-Dayofficials,judges,civilianawardees,freedomfighters,prominentciti-zensandmediapersons.“Itwillbeprunedineverysec-

tion,andthesizeofthegatheringcould be between 60 and 90.UnlikeonRepublicDay,thefunc-tion cannot be held inMughalGardensas thepossibilityof raincannotberuledout.Ifthestaffareto serve tea, their number alsoneedstobedecided,”sourcessaid.At the Red Fort,meanwhile,

preparations have startedwithwooden logs stacked in a cornertoconstructspecialseatingareas.“Thistime,chairswillbeplacedindesignatedareastoensuresocialdistancing.Thefortwillbeshuttothe public starting August 1.Earlier, itwould remainopen tillAugust7,”saidanofficialinvolvedinthearrangements.An unusual challenge this

time, officials said, is findingworkers. “There are usuallyaround2,000workersonsite.Butwehavemanagedtogetonlyhalfsincemany have gone back totheirvillages.Wehadtocallsomeof themback and pay a higheramountinwages,”anofficialsaid.Apart from theDelhi Police,

several agencies are involved inpreparationsonthegroundeveryyear. They include:NorthDelhiMunicipal Corporation,which isresponsible for sanitation;DelhiPublicWorksDepartment,whichisinchargeofroadsleadingtoRedFort; and, the Central PublicWorksDepartment.

Delhi Minorthey recover from the infection.Weare investigating thematterfurther.”Sources in thepolice said the

girlwas admitted to the centrewithafamilymemberearlierthismonth. The accusedmenwerealso admitted around the samedate. Themanwhohasbeenac-cused of sexually assaulting thegirlwasalsoadmittedwithafam-ilymember.Aftertheincident,thegirltold

her familymemberat thecentreabout the incident,whothen in-formed the ITBP doctors. Policewere called and informedabouttheincident.One of the staffmembers at

the centre told The IndianExpress,“Thegirlwenttothetoi-letlatenight.Wesuspecttheac-cused entered the area to com-mit the crime. The men andwomen have separate bath-roomshere.Wearelookingintothe matter. There are manywomen at the centre and welook after all of them. There is aseparate unit for women. Thegirl is being counselled and iswith her familymember at an-othercentre.”Both the men have been

shifted toAIIMS. Police sourcessaid the twomenwill be sent tojail once they test negative forCovid.The Sardar Patel Covid Care

CentrewasinauguratedonJuly5and is thebiggest such centre inthe country. Delhi Governmentofficials saidmore than500pa-tientshavebeenadmittedto thecentretilldate.The security of the centre is

beingmanagedbytheITBP,whohavealsodeployedtheirdoctors.Whenaskedwhetheraninquirywould be conducted to fix re-sponsibility, a spokesperson forITBPrefusedtocomment.A senior district administra-

tionofficer said, “Wehavemadearrangementsforeveryone.CCTVcamerashavebeeninstalled.ITBPpersonnelaremanningthefacil-ityandhavedeployedpersonnel.The SHOhas the complaint, andtwomenhave beenheld…Thepolicewillsubmittheirreportandthenjudicialproceedingswilltakeplace.”

FROMPAGEONE

SC snubs Speaker, cites rebels’ voice

Chinese dig in, India says more talks soon

JusticesArunMishra,BRGavaiandKrishnaMurari,said.“Theseare importantques-

tions relating to democracy.Howwilldemocracyfunction?These are very serious issues.Wewant tohear it," theBenchsaid.It also turned down a re-

quest to stay further proceed-ingsbefore thehighcourtor totransferthependingcasetotheSupremeCourt.Appearing for the Speaker,

SeniorAdvocateKapilSibalsaidthehighcourtcouldnothavedi-rected Joshi to extend time totheMLAsbeforehehadtakenafinaldecision.Sibalcitedthe1992decision

ofaSupremeCourtConstitutionBench in Kihoto Hollohan vsZachillhu, where it was “ex-presslyheldthatCourtscannotinterdict theSpeaker frompro-ceedingaheadatthequiatimetstage (where action is threat-ened or imminent but has notyetcommenced)”.He also referred to a recent

top court judgment directingthe Speaker of the ManipurAssemblytodecideonadisqual-ificationpetitionwithin a spe-cifictime.Atthis,JusticeMishraasked,

“The question is, can voices ofdissentbeshutdownlikethis?...Afterall,theseareMLAselectedby people." Sibal replied thatthesewere questions of factsand courts could not go intothem.Sibalalsocontestedthatthe

Supreme Court going in for aprolonged hearing withoutstaying the high court orderwouldbe“givingtheMLAstimetodowhattheycan”.“Everyjudicialorderhaspo-

liticalconsequences.Soit’sbet-ter your Lordships stay furtherproceedingsifyoudon’twanttostaytheHCorder,"hesaid.Declining, theBench reiter-

ated that there were “largerquestions of democracy” in-volvedandsaiditwantedtoex-aminethematterindetail.Referring to thegroundfor

the disqualification notices,Sibal said there were allega-tions against the rebelCongressMLAs. "They are in aresort in Haryana and are in-communicado... They havegivenstatements inthemediaaccusingtheRajasthangovern-ment...Whyaretheynotreply-ing (to the notices)?... If theyarevoicing their opinion, theyshould come to the party andexplain."JusticeMishra then asked,

“CanawhipbeissuedforthingshappeningoutsidetheHouse?”In their petition before theRajasthanHighCourt, therebelMLAshavequestioned thedis-qualification notices on theground that theyonly skippedtwoCongress LegislaturePartymeetingsandthatapartywhipdoesn't apply outside theAssembly.Sibal said thatwhatwas is-

sued to the MLAs was not awhip, but anotice by theChiefWhip asking them to attend apartymeeting.Hesaiditwasup

to the Speaker to decide“whether this amounts to vol-untary givingupmembership(ofaparty)".Sibalsubmittedthatjudicial

decisions had earlier held thatthis was indeed the case.Speakingonbehalf of Joshi, hesaid,“IasSpeakerhavetoexam-ine the conduct of members.That they did not attend twomeetingsisjustoneaspectof it.Neither canHCnor SCdecodethat."The rebel MLAs led by

Sachin Pilotwere representedby Senior Advocates HarishSalve and Mukul Rohatgi.Opposing Joshi'splea forastay,theysaidtheSpeakerhadgiventwo letters in the high courtagreeing to deferment of pro-ceedings. "If the Speaker canhimself agree to defer twice,whycan'thewaitforanother24hours?"askedRohatgi.SibalsaidtheSpeakerdidso

indeferencetothedignityofthecourt. “Hewasnot acquiescingtoanything.”

theywill move backwithoutconditions” further on theirside of the LAC, the Armysource said. The pullback, thesource said, was likely to re-sumeThursday itself.At PP 14 in Galwan Valley,

the fourth friction point,Chinese troops have movedbacktotheirsideoftheLAC.Thesource said some IndianArmyvehicles got “stranded” andmost have since been “evacu-atedthroughcrossingsmadeontheriverforthispurpose”.The gap between soldiers

ofbothsidesatPP14andPP15is around4kmand10km, re-spectively. Itwas at PP 14 that

20 Indian Army personnelwere killed in clashes withChinese troopson June15.On Thursday, Anurag

Srivastava, spokesperson fortheMinistryofExternalAffairs,said: "As conveyed earlier, re-spectingandstrictlyabidingbythe LAC is the basis of peaceand tranquility in the borderareas.Severalagreementscon-cluded by India and Chinasince1993firmlyacknowledgethis. Inmy statement of June26th, Ihadnotedthat thecon-ductofChineseforcesthisyear,including the deployment oflarge body of troops andchanges in behaviour, accom-

panied by unjustified and un-tenable claims, has been incomplete disregard of all themutual agreements.”“Wehavealsomadeitclear

thatIndiaisfullycommittedtoobserving and respecting theLACandthatwewillnotacceptany unilateral attempts tochange the status quo alongtheLAC.""Thetwosideshaveagreed

duringtheconversationof theSpecial Representatives toworktowardscompletedisen-gagement of the troops alongtheLACandde-escalationfromIndia-China border areas forfull restoration of peace and

tranquility,"hesaid."Both sides are engaged in

discussionsthroughtheestab-lisheddiplomaticandmilitarychannelstoachievethisobjec-tive expeditiously. I had in-formed lastweek that the 4thround of the meeting of theSeniorCommanderswasheldon 14th July, where they alsodiscussed further steps to en-surecompletedisengagement.In this context, anothermeet-ingoftheWorkingMechanismfor Consultation &Coordination on India-ChinaBorder Affairs (WMCC) is alsoexpected to be scheduledsoon,”Srivastavasaid.

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HowIndiaandUSarecollaboratingkeepingChina inmindNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

WetalkabouthowIndiaandtheUSareintensifying intelligenceandmilitarycollaborationandwhat itwouldmeanforboththecountries.

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WHYHISTORIANSHAVECALLED FORAREVIEWOFUK’S CITIZENSHIP TESTInanopenletterpublishedonJuly21intheOfficialJournaloftheHistoricalAssociation,181signatorieshavecalledforareviewofthistestonthegroundsthatthe“officialhandbookpublishedbytheHomeOfficeisfundamentallymisleading”.ThetestappearstoglorifyBritain’scolonialpast,saythehistorians.

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IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

JIMMYLEIVONIMPHAL, JULY23

PRIMEMINISTERNarendraModionThursday laid the foundationstone of the Rs 3,000-croreManipurWaterSupplyprojectviavideo-conference,sayingitwouldbenefit25smalltownsand1,700villages in the state, besides theGreaterImphalregion.Manipur Chief Minister N.

Biren Singh, Governor NajamaHeptulla, MLAs and and stateministers, too,werepresent vir-tuallyatthelaunchoftheproject,started under the Jal JeevanMission.PrimeMinisterModisaid the

projectwould reduce thewaterproblems facedby the state andcomeasahugerelief,particularlytoitswomen.“Todayisabigdayforthepeo-

pleofManipur,includingImphal,andespecially foroursisters.TheManipurWaterSupplyProject,tobe completed at a cost of aboutRs3000crore, is going to reducewater problems for thepeople,”hesaid.PrimeMinisterModisaidthe

projecthasbeendesignedkeep-ing inmind theneeds for 20-22years. The project—which has atotal outlay of Rs 3054.58 crorewithaloancomponentfromtheNewDevelopment Bank—wasdesigned to provide FHTCs tosomehouseholds intheGreaterImphal planning area and1,731rural habitations, covering2,80,756 households in all 16districtsof thestate.TheManipur Chief Minister

saidwith suchprojects, potabledrinking water would be pro-vided toeveryhouseholdof thestateby2024.

SANTOSHSINGHPATNA, JULY23

ACANCER patient fromBihar’sSheikhpuradistrict,whohadbeenadmittedtotheNalandaMedicalCollege andHospital (NMCH) inPatnaaftertestingpositiveforthecoronavirus on July 3, has beenmissingsinceJuly6,hisfamilyhasalleged. The hospital admittedthat he is not the only Covid-19patienttohavegonemissing.The52-year-oldwasadmitted

toNMCHon July 3 after testingpositiveforthevirus.His nephew told The Indian

Express, “On July 6,we foundhismobile phonewas switchedoff.WevisitedNMCHonJuly7andadoctorconfirmedtousinwritingthat thepatientwas ‘not onbed’buttheydidnotownupresponsi-bility.”Bihar Director General of

PoliceGupteshwarPandeysaid,“Ihavereceivedanapplicationfromthefamily.IwillaskthePatnaSSPtoinitiateactioninthematter.”

PM Modi laysfoundation stoneof Rs 3,000-croreManipur WaterSupply project

Covid positivecancer patientgoes missing fromPatna hospital

Bhopal:TheGunadistrictadmin-istration has externed GabbuPardhi,whoallegedlyencroachedongovernment land in JaganpurChakk, from Guna, Rajgarh,Shivpuri, Vidisha, Bhopal andAshoknagardistrictsforayear.Pardhihadengagedasshare-

croppersaDalitfamily,whosetwomembers tried to take their livesandtwoothersweresubjectedtobatonchargebypolicewhotriedtoevictthemfromtheland. ENS

Guna ‘encroacher’externed from 6districts in MP

New Delhi

1,041NEWCASES,26DEATHSREPORTEDONTHURSDAY

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

I-DAY RUN-UPAttheKiteMarket inOldDelhi’sLalKuanonThursday.AmitMehra

SOURAVROYBARMANNEWDELHI, JULY23

IN A communication to ChiefSecretary Vijay Kumar Dev, theDelhiAssemblyhas flagged “vi-olationof protocols” bygovern-ment officerswhoare allegedlynot responding to representa-tionsofMLAs—anissuewhichislikely to be placed before aHousecommitteeon"contemp-tuousbehaviourbyofficerswithpublic representatives”.AssemblyDeputy Secretary

(Legislation) Sunil Dutt SharmawrotetoDevearlierthismonthonthe directions of Speaker RamNiwasGoel.Thematterwassub-sequentlyraisedwithallheadsofdepartments on July 7,with theGeneral AdministrationDepartment (GAD) directingthemtorespondtothecomplaint.The ties between the politi-

calexecutiveledbytheAAPandthe bureaucracy in Delhi werestrained during the party's sec-ondterminofficebetween2015and 2020. Senior officers werecalled for privilege proceedingsfor allegedly not responding orissuingdelayedanswerstoques-tions raised in theHouse.The Indian Expresshas learnt

that the latest episode wassparkedbya letter, dated June2,writtenbyAAPMLABSJoon.TheBijwasan legislator,who is alsoaformerdirectorofprosecutionofDelhi government, wrote toSpeaker Goel raising what he

called was a “very disturbingpractice”prevalentinthedepart-mentsofDelhigovernment.“Government officials who

are otherwise under obligationtorespondtoandreplytocorre-spondencesmadebypublicrep-resentativestoredressthegriev-ances of the general public areviolating thesaidprotocol.“Unfortunately,mostgovern-

mentofficialsat thedistrict levelandDelhiSecretariatleveldonotprefer to reply to letterswrittenby theMLAs, in the capacity ofpublicrepresentatives inrespectofvariousissues,"Joonwrote,re-questing instructions be issuedthattheirqueriesareattendedto.The Speaker then directed

the assembly deputy secretary(legislation)towritetotheChiefSecretary,seekinghiscomments

onthematter,andaddingthatitwill beplacedbefore theHouseCommittee.GAD Deputy Secretary

PromilaMitra alsowrote to theadditionalchiefsecretary,alltheprincipal secretaries, heads ofautonomous bodies, highlight-ing thematter. She also reiter-ated that the House committeewill takeup the issue, forwhichreplies need to be sent directlyto theassembly.Theassemblysecretariathas

not yet fixed a date of the pro-posedmeeting of the commit-tee. However, on July 9, Dev is-suedacircularemphasisingthatthemanual of office procedurestipulatesthatcommunicationsreceivedfromVIPsshouldbeat-tendedtopromptly.“Ithasbeenbroughttomyno-

tice that instructions are not be-ing followed scrupulously. It ishereby directed that each com-munication received from aMP/MLA/VIP shall be acknowl-edgedforthwith,followedbyare-plywhichshallbesentwithin15days of acknowledgement sent.Appropriaterecordshallbemain-tainedinrespectofsuchcommu-nicationsandshallbemonitoredbytheHoDconcerned,”hewrote.A large section of govern-

ment employees led by seniorIAS officers had hit the streetsand later boycotted work forover threemonths in2018,overaninstanceofallegedassaultonthen Chief Secretary AnshuPrakashbytwoAAPMLAs.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEGURGAON, JULY 23

ADEPUTY Jail Superintendentwas arrested along with an-other person on Thursday forallegedly supplying mobilephones and illegal items to in-mates at Gurgaon’s BhondsiJail.According to police, a raid

was carried out on Thursdayafternoon on the jail premisesand SIMcards and contrabandwere found in the possessionof DJS Dharmbeer Chautalaand Ravi. The accused wouldtake money from prisoners toillegally supply the items, po-lice said.“For the past several days,

mobile SIM cards and contra-band were being recoveredfrom criminals lodged inBhondsi Jail.Astricteyewasbe-ing kept on them through se-cret channels. We received in-formationthat theywerebeingsupplied the items inside thejail. Sector39policecarriedouta raid, andmobile phones, SIMcards and drugs were found.Immediately, the Deputy JailSuperintendentandhisassoci-ate were arrested, and a casehas been filed at the Bhondsipolice station,” said a Gurgaonpolice spokesperson.According to police, teams

carried out searches atChautala’s residenceandrecov-ered 11 4G SIM cards and 230grams of hash.During investigation, itwas

found that that jail officialwould allegedly facilitate sup-ply of 4G SIMs and phones sothat inmates could operateWhatsAppandothersocialme-dia accounts from within thejail. Theofficialwouldallegedlytake Rs 20,000 from the in-mates in return.Police also seized drugs

worthRs10 lakh fromthepos-session of the inmates and theaccused.Police are currently ques-

tioning the inmates on the al-leged involvement of other jailofficials in the supply scheme.The information with re-

gard to the illegal supply wasbeing gathered by the CrimeBranch in Sector 39 police sta-tion. The police was asked tokeep the operation a secret inorder toavoidsuspicionamongthe inmates or jail staff.The teamwas also asked to

keep an eye on the activities ofcriminals lodged in the jail forserious offences.


ALMOST Amonth after testingnegative, a 50-year-old police-man has reported a recurrenceofCovid-19infection.Thepolice-man,who is currentlyadmittedto IndraprasthaApollo hospital,first tested positive inMay buthadnosymptoms.According to doctors, he

tested negative onMay 25 andresumed duty. On July 10, hecomplained of fever and drycough andwas tested throughrapidantigenandRT-PCRonJuly13.Bothreportswerepositive.“This is the first such case I

have seen so far.When the pa-tient was tested earlier, he hadnosymptoms…InJuly,hedevel-oped some symptoms andwastested again. After he recoveredthe first time, we couldn’t findany antibodies,” said Dr RajeshChawla, senior consultant,Respiratory and Critical CareMedicine,ApolloHospitals.While therehavebeenafew

cases of relapse reported fromothercountries, there isnocon-cretemedical literature yet thatconfirms the recurrence ofCovid-19.“Ifeveryreportiscon-sideredtobetrue,thenheprob-ablygotre-infected...RT-PCRhasa sensitivityof 60-65%soa falsepositive can occur but chancesareverylow.Thisisahighlyspe-cific test,” saidDrChawla.Earlier this week, a nurse

workingwithMCD’sHinduRaohospitalalsotestedpositiveagainforCovid-19, days after recovery.However,municipal authoritiesclaimeditcouldostensiblybebe-cause of “dead virus left in herbodyfromthepreviousinfection”.“…Ifonesuchcaseisreported

from the citywhich has over 1lakhcases,thenitcouldbeaprob-lem of testing, interpretation,conditions, etc. About7-10%canbefalsepositive;italldependsonthe amount of the virus in thebody...,” saidDrJugalKishore,di-rector,headofthedepartmentofcommunitymedicine,VardhmanMahavir Medical College(VMMC)andSafdarjunghospital.

0-50 Good

ANANDVIHARSatisfactory

0 500

89AQI

Pollutant:OZONE

SIRIFORTSatisfactory

0 500

SHADIPURSatisfactory

0 500 500

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

DWARKA- SECTOR8Satisfactory

0

59AQIPM:10

62AQIPM:10

69AQI

Pollutant:OZONE


THEDELHIHighCourtThursdaydirectedDelhiUniversitytoplacebefore it the entire data relatingtothefirstroundofmocktestsoftheonlineopenbookexam,andsoughtthepresenceofacompe-tentofficer to assist thevarsity’scounselduringthehearing.“By the next date, learned

counsel for the University ofDelhi shall keephandy thedataof the first mock test that shallconcludeonJuly27...,”abenchofJustice Hima Kohli and JusticeSubramoniumPrasadsaid.Senior counsel SachinDutta,

appearing for the university,agreedtothecourt’sdirectionandsaid, “Iwill place the entire dataforthefirstphasemock(test)...Thedetailsofhowmanyofthemhaveparticipated, howmanyof themhavedownloaded thequestionsand uploaded,will also be pro-vided.”Hesaidthephysicalexam-inationdateswilldependonhowmanyof the students sat for the

onlineopenbookexam.The court was hearing a

batchofpetitionsconcerningtheconduct of final-year examina-tionatDelhiUniversityamidtheCovid-19pandemic.It,however,deferredthehear-

ing for July 28, after it was in-formedthattheSupremeCourtisscheduled tohearpetitions chal-lenging theUGCguidelinesper-mittingCentraluniversities togoahead with exams, either byadopting theofflinemode,or theonlinemodeorablendofboth.

High Court asks DUto present data of firstround of mock tests

Thecourtwashearingpetitionsonconductoffinal-yearexamsatDU

Months after coptested negative, hecontracts Covid again


WITHLT-GOVERNORAnil Baijalfirmon appointing the panel ofsix public prosecutors recom-mendedbytheDelhiPolicetoar-gueNortheastDelhi riot-relatedcases, theDelhiCabinetwill takeupthematternextTuesday.After successive rounds of

deliberations between theelected government and Baijalremained inconclusive, the L-Ghad argued that the mattershouldnowbeplacedbeforetheCabinet.If the Cabinet rejects the

panel, the L-Gwill have the op-tion of invoking Article 239AA(4)oftheConstitutionandre-ferring the matter to thePresident of India, citing differ-enceof opinion.Baijal had invoked theprovi-

sion inMay after similar differ-ences had croppedupbetween

the two sides over the appoint-mentofthepaneloflawyerstoar-guetheriotcasesinlowercourts.OnSunday,AAPRajyaSabha

MP Sanjay Singh had taken ontheBJPoverthedispute,allegingthattheCentreandL-Gweretry-ing to “shield the culprits anddark deeds of BJP leaders whoengineered theriots”.Delhi Police had sent a pro-

posal to appoint six seniorlawyers,includingTusharMehtaand Aman Lekhi, as Special PPsin the High Court and SupremeCourt in 85 cases related toNortheastriotsandtheanti-CAAprotest.During his talkswith Baijal,

Deputy Chief MinisterManishSisodiahadrejectedtheproposalof the police, saying that Delhigovernment’s standing counsel(criminal) RahulMehra and histeamwill represent these caseson behalf of the police and noseparateappointmentoflawyersbytheCentre isneeded.

Jail officialheld for‘supplyingdrugs’ toinmates

Cabinet to meet nextweek to decide onpublic prosecutors

ASTHASAXENANEWDELHI, JULY 23

PRESSURE ON ventilator facili-ties in the city has eased overthe past month, with almost63%of ICUbedswithventilatorsearmarked for Covid-19 pa-tients lying vacant at hospitals.Official Delhi government

data shows that of the total1,180 ICUbedswithventilators,749 are lying vacant. With thenumberof activecasesdecreas-ingand fewerpeoplebeingad-mitted to hospitals, the pres-sure has eased, givinghealthcare workers a slightbreather.Close to amonthago,when

the city had 743 ventilators,500 of them— or close to 67%—were occupied.Doctors also say their re-

sponse to the disease haschanged as the months havepassed.“In March, the initial

process was to put the patientontheventilator first.Now, thatis the last resort.Thewholeem-phasis has shifted to clinical

management for the disease.Whatwehaveseen is thatonceapatientgoesonto theventila-tor, then the mortality rate is50%andthesameinnon-venti-lated patient is 5%. The idea isto intervenewith treatment atan early stage so that you canpreventapatient fromgoingonthe ventilator. The severity ofpatients has changed over thelast threemonths,which isduetotheguidelinesbeingupdatedby authorities,” said DrSandeep Budhiraja, GroupMedicalDirector,Maxhospital.On Thursday, the city re-

ported 1,041 fresh cases, takingthe total number of confirmedcases to 1,27,364. The death tollin Delhi was recorded at 3,745,with26newdeaths reported inthelast24hours.Thenumberofactive cases on Thursday stoodat 14,554, a marginal declinefrom14,594, thepreviousday.Of the total active cases,

8,000 are availing treatmentunder home isolation. TheDelhi governmenthas distrib-uted24,279pulseoximeters topatients in home isolation tilldate.*Total active cases

CORONAVIRUS IN THECAPITAL

TOTAL CASES

1,27,364Total Vacant

HOSPITAL BEDS 15,431 12,218VENTILATORS 1,180 749

Dailycases Recoveries Deaths TestsJuly 22 1,227 1,532 29 20,060July 23 1,041 1,415 26 18,226Total 14,554* 1,09,065 3,745 8,71,371

Ahealthworkercollects swabsamples totest forcoronavirusonTuesday. PraveenKhanna

Pressure eases, 63%bedswith ventilators vacant

New Delhi: Deputy CMManishSisodiaonFridayhitout at Home Minister fortransferringeducationdirec-torBinayBhushan.“Withinaweekofgovernmentschoolsposting a 98% result...HomeMinistrydidn’t evenconsultthe state government. AmitShah ji, is this a punishmentfor giving quality educationtopoorchildrenofDelhi?”hetweeted.ENS

Sisodia hits out atHM on transfer

Assembly flags ‘protocolviolations’ by govt officers

New Delhi

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,JULY23

DEPUTYCHIEFMinisterManishSisodiaThursdayinteractedwithsomeclassXII students fromthe‘EssentialRepeat’categoryattheDelhi Secretariat and took theirfeedback to “assist them to pre-parebetter”fortheirresultsnextyear.WhiledeclaringClassXandXII results, CBSE used ‘EssentialRepeat’ inplaceof ‘Fail’ thisyear.Interactingwiththestudents

and their parents, Sisodia spokeaboutthe98%passpercentageinClass XII in Delhi governmentschools thisyear. “Ifwe lookat it(‘Essential Repeat’) only as a fig-ure, it isvery less.Wecouldhavebeensatisfiedwiththe98%result.But,forus,theseareourstudents,not just amere statistic... This isthe reason why, this year, I’mmeeting those childrenwho, forsomereason,havenotbeenabletosucceed,"hesaid.Sisodiaaskedstudentstogive

him feedback on how the gov-ernment can improve. “Today,wehavenotcalledanyprincipalor teacher so thatyoucanspeaktomeasyourelderbrother.Therehasbeenadrastic change inour

schoolsbut if there is still some-thingmissing,thenweneedyourhelp in fixing it. If a student isn’tabletosucceed,thenwewanttounderstandwhat is still lackinginoursystem,”hesaid.Several students spoke of fi-

nancial,health,andmentalissuesasthereasonfortheirpoorresult.Sisodia said family issuesmayhinder children’s learning andthat“weneedtocreateacompre-hensivesupportsystemforeverychild”.Healsosaidparentswouldbecounseledtoallowstudentstotakeanacademicstreamof theirchoiceafterclassX.Atishi, former advisor to the

Education Minister, said lowscores should not be equatedwithfailure.“Ifanyonehasfailed,thenwe have failed ourselves,our school has failed, whichcould not help you reach yourdestination,”shesaid.


THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Need your helpto fix the system:Sisodia to students

‘Lockdown cleared air,increased solar power’

ANANYATIWARINEWDELHI, JULY23

WITHMOST of their employersrefusing to let them return towork,over40domestichelpsliv-ing inabuildingatHasanpurvil-lagenearEastDelhi'sIPExtensionarestrugglingtomakeendsmeet.Saraswati (50), whose hus-

band is a daily wage labourerearning around 8,000 amonth,used towork as a cook in threehouseholdsatvarioussocietiesatIP Extension, earningRs13,000-14,000permonth.OnJuly11,one

householdaskedhertoreturntowork. "I have beenworking atthese households for over 15years.Noneofthempaidmedur-ingthelockdown,"shesaid.Witha15-year-oldsontolook

afterandherhusband'sworkbe-ing erratic after the lockdown,Saraswati has askedher son-in-law, a bankmanager in Bihar, tosend her Rs 8,000. "We facedmuchdifficultygettingfoodtoeatduring the lockdown.Wehad togotoanearbytemplewheretheydistributedfood.Westillgothere.Wegotrationonlytwicethroughthe online system, as we don't

haverationcards,"shesaid.Hailing fromSamastipur, she

said, "What is the point goingback?Thereisnoworkbackhome

either. I don't even have familythere.Andit'sfloodedrightnow."Severalothersareconsidering

heading back to their villages.Anita Devi (30) used towork atthreehouseholds.HerhusbandisapackagingworkeratacompanyinPatparganj,andthecouplehavetwochildrenaged7and6.She said, "I used to earn Rs

6,000 per month, but none ofthesehouseholdsareaskingmetoworknow.Myhusbandisbe-ingpaidforjust15daysafteronemonth's work, which is Rs4,000."Shesaidthatfeedingherfamilyhasbecomedifficult:"We

comefromMotihariinBihar.Wesometimestalkofgoingbackbutthere isnowork thereeither."Minto(22),whohastwotod-

dlers,usedtoworkinthreehouse-holds,earningRs5,000-6,000permonth.Herhusband,amechanic,earnsRs6-7,000permonth.Nowoutofwork,sheisconsideringre-turning toMuzaffarpur inBihar:"Iaskedthemwhentheywillcallmeforwork,andtheysaidtowaitforafewmoremonths.Whatcanwedohere?"Onlyafewemployersoffered

topaythemduringandafter thelockdown. Parmila (37), who

usedtoworkatninehouseholds,was paid in full by three duringthelockdown.Threehouseholdspaid her partially and three didnot pay her at all. "It is up to thegoodnessof theemployerif theypay.Mostofthe40-50maidswholiveherehavenotbeenpaiddur-inglockdownorafter,"shesaid.Noneof themhavepaidtheir

rentinthelastfourmonths."Rentcomesup toRs5,000-6,000,notincludingtheelectricity.Noneofusherehavepaidit...Thelandlordsaidwe could pay back the rentslowly as and when we earnsomething,"saidParmila.

IP EXTENSION

As employers keep their distance, helps struggle to make ends meet

AnitaDevi (left)andSaraswatiareamong40househelpslivingonrent inabuilding in IP Extension


REDUCED AIR pollution levelsover Delhi under lockdown re-sulted in clearer skies that in-creasedsolarirradiance,orsolarpower, by over 8% in lateMarchand nearly 6% in April, a newstudyhas found.Authoredbyscientistsbased

inGermany and theUS, includ-ing at the Helmholtz InstituteErlangen-NürnbergandMIT,thestudy notes that solar panelsgeneratemore electricitywhenairpollution levels remain low.Researchers arrived at this

conclusionbyusingamethodtocorrelate the concentration of

particulate matter of 2.5 mi-crometers (PM2.5) over the USembassy in Delhi with the cu-mulativesolarenergy,orinsola-tion,receivedclosetoacommer-cialsolarpanelinPaschimVihar.The data on PM2.5 showed

that a reduction in air pollutionwas visible for all years aswin-tergavewaytospring,however,the concentration of the pollu-tant in March and April 2020reachedlowerlevelsthanusual.“Results shown here paint a

plausible picture: air pollutionlevelsdropnotably,andthisdropresults in clearer air that allowsmore sunlight to pass throughtheatmosphere,whichincreasesthe yield of PV (solar panel) in-stallations,” thestudyadded.


A 25-YEAR-OLDman has beenapprehended for allegedly pos-ingasUnionHomeMinisterAmitShah’s personal secretary andcallingupministerstoaskforjobs,saidpoliceonThursday.Delhi Police’s Crime Branch

caught the accused, SandeepChoudhary, from Rajasthan’sAlwar,hishometown.Police said Choudhary

worked at aHeroHonda show-room in Haryana’s Dharuhera,anduponlosinghisjobduetotheCovid pandemic, he planned togetajobbyallegedlyposingasthepersonal secretary to theHomeMinister.HethencalledHaryanaLabour&EmploymentMinisterAnup Dhanak and RajasthanLabourMinisterTikaramJully.A senior police officer said,

“Wegotcomplaints fromtheof-fices of theministers about thecalls. They said a man, whoclaimed to be the HomeMinister’s secretary, asked for ajobforsomeoneatafactory.”The CrimeBranch registered

acaseandtracedthecalltoAlwar,and apprehended Choudharyfromhis village. Choudhary toldpolicehehadboughtaSIMcard,whichwas registered under thename of his girlfriend, and al-legedlymade calls to theminis-terstogethimself a factoryjob.Lastweek,anotherman,who

allegedly posed as the personalsecretary of Shah and soughtfavours fromanotherminister’soffice,wascaughtfromIndore.

DeputyCMManishSisodia

Astudybyscientistsbased inGermanyandtheUSfoundlowerPM2.5concentration inMar-April.Archive

WORKSTALLEDBYPANDEMIC,SAYSCM

ASHNABUTANINEWDELHI, JULY23

ASSESSING THE Rs 90-croreChandniChowkredevelopmentprojectThursday,ChiefMinisterArvindKejriwal said the stretchwill be ready for public use bythe firstweekofNovember.Speaking to themedia, the

CMsaid,“Wearestandingatthemain area of Chandni Chowk,andwe arewitnessing that thewhole area has been redevel-oped.ChandniChowkisahistor-icalplaceandhasbeenthereforages. The historical glory of thearea will be brought backthrough its beautification. Thiswill beanon-motorisedvehiclearea from9amto9pm.”Urban Development

Minister Satyendar Jain andotherofficialsaccompaniedhimonhisvisit.The project, which began in

December 2018, was supposedto be completed byMay, withKejriwalattributingthedelaytothe Covid-19 lockdown. “Roadreconstruction could not becompleted by May due to theCovid lockdown, the area is ex-pected to be reopened by thefirstweekofNovember,”hesaid.Work on the 1.3-km stretch

betweenRedFortandFatehpuriMasjidrestartedbyMay-endbutgathered steam in the last twoweeks. However, officials saidtheyhad tograpplewith labourshortage while trying tomakeup for lost time.An official associated with

the project said, “There werearound 550-600 labourers un-der PublicWorks Department,BSES and the Delhi Jal Boardcombined. Now, there are only300.” A PWD official said,“Around65%of thetotalworkiscomplete.We areworking day

in and day out. The project willbecompletedbyOctober.”Work on the central verge,

adorned with planters, sand-stone seats and bollardswhichfeatureMughalmotifs,hasbeencompleted till Fountain Chowk—30%of the total stretch.

Oncecompleted,itwillhavea5.4-metre-wide footpath, a 5.5-metre-widecarriagewaynexttoitforcyclerickshaws,followedbya 3.5-metre-wide central vergewithplantersandbollards.Nexttothiswillbethesecond5.5-me-tre-widecarriagewayandthena

5.4-metre-wide footpath. Fourtoilets,atfourdifferentlocations,arealsounderconstruction.Work is also incomplete in a

fewlanes,whichwillhavepath-wayssimilartothoseonthecen-tral verge, posing problems totraders.Kishan Goyal (41), who has

been running a clothes shop for15years,said,“Businesshasbeenheavily affected since the proj-ect began; then came the lock-down. Right now, there is nospace for customers to stand asit is very muddy. I am rentingwoodenplanksatRs50aday,sothat customers have a place tostand. Else no onewill come tothestore.”Similar concerns were

echoed by a several traders buttheyhopetheprojectwillbene-fit them in the long run. AnkitMaheshwari (28), who alsoowns a clothes shop, said, “Theproject has taken a long time.Nobody wants to walk to thestoreswhentheroadsareinthiscondition. But hopefully, it willbeoversoonandcustomerswillstartvisitingagain...”Sanjay Bhargava, president,

ChandniChowkVyaparMandal,said, “A parking facility is beingbuilt by theNorthMCD. For thetimebeing,wehavebeengivenan additional parking space atNishad RajMarg, which comesin between Red Fort andShantivan.Almost95%oftheun-dergroundwork is complete. Itismainly the surfacework thatisstill leftandwillbecompletedover thenext fewmonths.”The NorthMCD confirmed

that themulti-level parking fa-cility is under construction atGandhi Maidan to accommo-date over 2,300 cars andwill becompleted by 2022. Itwill haveeight floors and three under-ground levels.

ThecentralvergeatChandniChowk;CMArvindKejriwalandUDMinisterSatyendar Jain inspectedthesite,Thursday

RevampedChandni Chowkwillbe open to public by November

Man posingas HomeMinister’spersonal secyapprehended

SHIVAMPATELNEWDELHI, JULY23

A PUBLIC hearing for the city’sfirsthazardouswastetreatmentfacility, proposed at NorthDelhi’s Bawana, was held lastweek and received over 70 ob-jectionsandsuggestions.The hearingwas held three

months after it was initiallyplannedonApril9, asa resultofthe coronavirus lockdown, ac-cordingtoadocumentpreparedby the Delhi Pollution ControlCommittee (DPCC) on the pro-ceedingsof thehearing.The treatment, storage and

disposal facility for hazardouswaste is planned on a 14-acreplot adjacent to awaste-to-en-ergyplantandthePragatipowerstation in Bawana. It would re-ceivewaste including chemicalrefuse from industries and do-mestichazardouswastesuchasCFL bulbs, expired medicinesand used batteries, which cur-rently either goes to landfills orare stored in thepremisesof in-dustrial units or at common ef-fluenttreatmentplants(CETPs).“A huge quantum of haz-

ardous waste is lying in thepremisesof industriesandCETPsof Delhi leading to lack of spaceand resultant increase in pollu-tion,” states the environmentimpact assessment (EIA) reportprepared by project builderTamilNaduWasteManagementLtd (TNWML) in January2020.Amongtheobjectionsraised

bylocalresidentswereconcernsontheeffect that thewasteunitwill have on the land, as it isplanned close to an agriculturalarea.SangeetaDevi(33),aresident

of Metro Vihar, which is a fewkilometres away from the proj-ectsite,said,“ThereisDhancur-rently planted in the area andthere were farmers present atthe hearing who enquired iftheir crop would be affected.Theywere told it would not be.Wewereworried about smokethatwould come out of this fa-cility,butweretoldtherewouldnotbesuchaproblem.”In the document of the pro-

ceedings,arepresentativeof theconsultantfirmisquotedassay-ing that the plantwould use airpollution control devices. It fur-ther quotes him as saying thatthe plant would provide em-ploymenttolocalsdependingontheir skills.Multiple objections also

claimed that the project propo-nent was going beyond thescopeofworklaidoutintheten-derandwastryingtogetpermis-sion to process other wastestreams beyond hazardouswaste,whichthefirmdenied,asper theproceedingsdocument.The Delhi government’s

Cabinethadapprovedthefacilityin June 2018, following direc-tions from the National GreenTribunal in 2015 for setting upsuchafacilityinthecity.Throughatenderingprocess,DSIIDChadawardedtheprojecttoTNWML.

Some objectionsto first hazardouswaste treatmentplant in Bawana

AUDadmissionformsgoliveNew Delhi: Admissionforms for AmbedkarUniversityDelhi’sunder-graduate programmeswent liveThursdayonitswebsite. The last day ofregistration is August 18.AUDisgoing onlineforitsadmissionprocessforthefirst timethisyear.

JNUthesessubmissionstogoonlineNewDelhi:TheExecutiveCouncil of theJawaharlalNehru UniversityThursday approved aproposal to enable digi-tal submissionofM.Phil,M.TechdissertationsandPhD theses. “JNUwill betakingtheleadinIndiatolaunchthisnovelprocessofdissertationandthesissubmission...Thiswillfa-cilitate a timely, hassle-freeandveryconvenientprocess of submission,”Rector I ChintamaniMahapatra said, addingthat the varsity alreadyhad an online theses-trackingsystem.ENS

NorthMCDdocstogetsalaries inrostersNewDelhi:Citing“paucityof funds”, North bodymayor Jai PrakashThursdaysaidasthecivicbodyisunabletodisbursesalaries to doctors andhealthworkersatonce, itwillpaythemroster-wise.

SnakerescuedNew Delhi: A five-foot-long rat snake was res-cued after it took shelterat R K Khanna TennisStadium in Hauz Khasafter rains, wildlife res-cuerssaidThursday.PTI

BRIEFLY

AmitMehra

ARANYASHANKARNEWDELHI, JULY23

THE GOVERNING Body (GB) ofDyalSingh(Evening)Collegehasunanimously accepted the re-portsubmittedbyathree-mem-bercommitteewhichfoundtheprincipal guilty of plagiarism,TheIndianExpresshaslearnt.TheGB decided that he be asked tohand over charge to themost-seniorteacheronJuly27,thedayafterhis tenureends.While GB chairman Rajiv

Nayan did not respond to callsand texts, another GBmember,on condition of anonymity, said,“ThereportfindingDSC(Evening)principalPawanSharmaguiltyofplagiarising his book ‘Trainingand Development’ was unani-mouslyaccepted.Thereportsaidthebookwasheavilyplagiarised.”The report said that Dr

PawanKumar Sharmahad “notonlyplagiarisedthebookalmostcompletely frompublicly avail-able sourcesbut also, atmost oftheplaces,hascopiedthemline-by-line, word-by-word... In thiscase, with evidence of such ahigh degree of plagiarism, it isclear that Prof Sharma hasshown complete disregard foracademichonestyandintegrity”.Sharma said he received no

communicationontheGB’sdeci-sion:“Thisisfakenewstomalignmy image. Theminutes of themeeting have not yet been pre-

pared. I have got an extensionfromDU,withdispatchnumberanddate;itcanbeconfirmed.”Sources said theGB also de-

cided to turndowna letter, pur-portedly sent by Dean CollegeBalaramPanitotheGBchairper-son,askingforSharma’stenuretobeextendedbyamonthgiventhe“emergency situation and pan-demicconditions”.Sharma’sfive-yeartenureistoendonJuly26.“The letter was sent from a

Gmail account, not the officialemailID,anddidnothavesigna-tures of the signing authority.Therefore, itwas decidednot toconsiderit,”sourcessaid.Thelet-ter, seenbyThe IndianExpress, iswritten in the name theAssistantRegistrar(Colleges)butdoesn’tcarryanysignature.Panididnotrespondtocallsandtexts.Ina separate case, freshalle-

gations of plagiarismwere lev-elled against Zakir Hussain

College principal MasroorAhmad Beg by social activistRanjanaKumari.Begwasearlieraccused of plagiarising works,including that of former UGCchairmanSukhdeoThorat.Kumari said shehadwritten

totheDUV-CandUGCChairman,allegingthatBegliftedsectionsofa report titled ‘SurrogateMotherhood - Ethical orCommercial’, brought outby theCentre of Social Research,whereshe is thedirector, andused it inhis paper titled ‘ChangingDimensionsofCommercialisationof The Surrogacy Services inIndia:ADiscourse’.“Iwasinformedofitbysome-

bodyfromDU,andsawthatpor-tions had been lifted from ourworkwithoutanycitationorac-knowledgment.Ihavewrittentothe DUV-C andUGC Chairmanaround 10 ago back saying thatthis isacademicdishonesty, andthemattershouldbeprobedandactiontakenaccordinglyagainsthim(Beg),” saidKumari.WhileBegdidnotrespondto

calls seeking comment, his per-sonal secretary said, “All allega-tions of plagiarismare false. Hispapersandbookshavebeenver-ifiedby softwarewhichDUusesandithasn’tbeenfoundtobepla-giarised.He’s being targetted bysometeachersbecauseheuncov-ered a scamrelated to LTC ticketreimbursement.”DUV-CYogeshTyagididnotrespondtocallsandtextsseekingacomment.

DrPawanKumarSharma’sfive-yeartenureasprincipalendsonJuly26

Dyal Singh governingbody accepts plagiarismreport against principal

REDEVELOPINGCHANDNI CHOWK

ALONGTHESTRETCHMoulsari trees 210Streetlights 180Firehydrants 100Transformers 19Redsandstone 175benchesToilets 4Stoneplanters 175Policeposts 2Feederpillars 80

Length-1.3km(RedForttoFatehpuriMasjid)

Projectcost`90cr

New Delhi


GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

HAMZAKHANJAIPUR, JULY23

A LOCAL court in Jaipur has di-rected Rajasthan’s SpecialOperationsGroup(SOG)toinves-tigatetheallegedroleofUnionJalShaktiMinister and JodhpurMPGajendra Singh Shekhawat andhiswifeNaunandKanwar,amongothers, in a Rs 884-crore ponziscamcasewhichisbeinginvesti-gatedbytheSOGsincelastyear.Hearingarevisionpetitionby

BarmerresidentsLabuSingh,40,and Guman Singh, 70, Jaipur’sAdditional District and SessionsJudgePawanAgrawalorderedaninvestigation on the allegationsmadebythem.Following complaints, the

SOGhadlodgedanFIRonAugust23lastyearandfoundthatabout50,000investorshadbeendupedofRs884crorebySanjivaniCreditCooperativeSociety.Amongoth-ers, the SOG has since arrestedVikramSingh,thefounderof theSocietyanditsfirstmanagingdi-rector, who was often pho-tographedwithShekhawat.Singhandotherswerebooked

underIPCSections420(cheating),406(criminalbreachoftrust),409(criminalbreachoftrustbypublicservant, banker,merchant etc.),467(forgeryofvaluablesecurity),468(forgery for the purpose ofcheating),471(usingforgeddoc-ument as genuine) 201 (causing

disappearanceofevidenceorgiv-ing false information) and120B(criminalconspiracy).TheSocietywasregistered in

February2008,and2,14,472peo-ple in Rajasthan andGujarat in-vestedRs883.88croretillJune30,2019,butnoinvestorwaspaidaf-ter June 1, 2019. Petitioner LabuSingh said, “Seeing records andposters—whichlaterturnedouttobefake—andpowerfulpeoplewhousedtoappearinadvertise-ments of the society, I andmyfamilymembershadinvestedRs54.42 lakh—nowRs 58.91 lakhwithinterest—inthesociety.”AdvocateAKJain,whorepre-

sentedthepetitioners,said,“Theyhad also alleged that SOG itselffound that Shekhawat, hiswifeNaunandKanwar,hiscompaniesnamely Soorya Bhoomi BuildInfra Private Limited, LucidPharma Private Limited, NavPrabhaBuildtechPrivateLimitedand their other friends RajendraBaheti and KevalchandDakliyawereinstrumentalintheoffenceandmoneyhasbeentransferredto themasper the charge-sheet,but these personswere neitherinvestigated nor the propertypurchasedbythemseized.Someproperty was purchased inEthiopiaaswell.”The petitioners had submit-

tedadetailedchart of paymentsallegedlymade to Shekhawat,hiswife, and companies ownedbythem.

WITH RAJASTHANHigh Courtset to pronounce on Friday itsverdict on a petition by SachinPilot and 18 rebel CongressMLAs, challenging disqualifica-tion proceedings against them,ChiefMinisterASHOKGEHLOTtells MANOJ C G what wentwrong, andhow.Excerpts:

Thecrisis inRajasthanhasputaquestionmarkonyourgovernment.Howstable is it?Thecrisisisnotonaccountof

anythingrelatedtoperformanceof the state government. Thisproblem has been created byover-ambition of Shri SachinPilot anda small groupofMLAsof my partywho are playing inthe hands of the BJP. TheCongress government inRajasthanhasacomfortablema-jority in the Assembly.We alsoenjoy support of the people. Sothe government is fully stableandwill complete its full term.

Areyouthinkingofgoingforafloortest toproveyourmajority?Wearenotshyingawayfrom

anythingwhich the democraticprocesses may require at anypoint intime. If required,wearereadyforafloortestandwillwinitwitha thumpingmajority.

WhydoyouthinkPilotwentagainstyou?

AsIhavealreadystated,heisengagedinmisadventurism—aresult of his undesirable over-ambition.Thepartyandthegov-ernment inRajasthanhadgivenhim positions which aremuchmore thanwhatonecanvalidlyaspireatthisearlystageof lifeascomparedtohiscontributiontothe party. Moreover, thingsshouldhavebeen raisedbyhimwithin the framework of partydisciplineandprocedures.

CantheGehlot-Pilotrelationshipbemendednow?If yes,how?Ifno,whatis the implicationforthegovernmentandCongresspolitics inthestate?Muchwould depend on his

future course of action and thedecisionofpartyhighcommand.I have been active in politics formore than 40 years and seenground realities of Rajasthanmore than anyone else in stateCongress.Basedonaffectionandpublicsupport, IcansaythattheCongresswillcontinuetobetheparty the peoplewill look up tofor its track record of commit-menttodevelopment,pro-poorstance, goodgovernance, etc.

Neverbefore,orat leastnotinrecentpast, inIndianpoliticshaveweseenanFIRfiledagainstadeputychiefministerwithsedition

charges.Whydidyoudothat?The complaint regardingho-

rse-tradingdoesnot contain anynames. Let the lawtakeitsowncourse.

WhenyoubecameCM,didtheCongresscentralleadershiptellyoutherewillbeachangeofguardafter three-and-a-halfor fouryears?There have been

countless specula-tionsinsomesectio-nsofthemediawithoutanybasis.

...OrwasitagiventhatyouwillbeCMforwholefiveyears?Therearesetprocedurestode-

terminewhichleaderoftheparty

withmajorityintheAssemblyhassupportofthemaximumnumberof electedpartyMLAs.Decisions

in various politicalpartiesaretakenac-cordingly. Thus anyaspirationotherwiseisnotvalid.

YouhavesaidPilothasbeenplottingagainstyourgovernmentforsomemonths.Didyoubring it tothenoticeof theCongresscentral

leadership?There is a well-established

communication systemwithinparties. We are constantly intouchwith the leadership. Theissues related to Sachin Pilot-ji

are being handled as per thestandardprocedureof theparty.Wewill abide by the party highcommand’sdecision.

What is thebasis foryourallegations(againstPilot)?I have been receiving inputs

to this effect for more than sixmonths. A lot of material is al-readyavailableinpublicdomain,thereforeIneednotelaborateonthat.Thematterisunderinvesti-gationby theappropriate agen-ciesof thestate.

Whenthegovernmentwasformed,whydidn’tyougivePilotsomeheavyministries?That issaidtobeoneof thereasonsforhisunhappiness.The question seems to be

basedonyourimagination.Iwon-derwhatdoyoumeanbyheavyministries. Shri PilotwasmadeDeputyCMalongwith themin-istries of PWD, Rural Develo-pment andPanchayati Raj, Scie-nce&Technology and Statistics.Theseministriesarevery impor-tantandthere isamplescope forperformance for commongood.Still,ifhehadtosaysomething,hecouldhaveraised thatbeforemeorwithintheparty.

YouhavesaidPilotandyouhavenotbeenontalkingtermssincethegovernmentwasformed.Whathaveyou

donetobuildconfidenceasaveteranleader?Whydidyounotreachouttohim?My statement was misun-

derstood by themedia. All duehonour was accorded to ShriPilot inthepartyandinthegov-ernment. Things have come tosuch a pass only due to his am-bition-drivenactivities.

There isanallegationthatyouwantedtopromoteyourson. Is that true?Therecouldbenothingmore

baseless thanwhatyouaresug-gesting. It is also a fact that no-body, includingmy opponents,wouldbelieve this.

AsdeputyCMandasPCCpresident,howdidPilotcontributetoyourgovernmentandtheparty inRajasthan?Itisbettertoaskthisquestion

toShriPilotandmakeyourownindependentassessment.

DoesSachinPilothaveaplaceinyourgovernmentandRajasthanpolitics ifhereturnsnow?Thiswoulddependuponthe

future course of action by ShriPilot and the decision by theCongress high command. I willwelcome (him) if he decides toagain repose his faith in theCongress.

‘Problemdue toPilot’s over-ambition...willwelcomehim if heagain reposes faith inCong’

THE EXPRESS

INTERVIEWWITH

ASHOKGEHLOTCM, RAJASTHAN

Jaipur court to SOG:Probe Shekhawat‘role’ in ponzi case

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JULY23

CALLINGTHEsituationattheLineofActualControl(LAC)“concern-ing”, the new British High Co-mmissionertoIndiaPhilipBartononThursday termedas “encour-aging” the commitmentsmadebytheSpecialRepresentatives todisengageandde-escalate.Healsoexpressed concerns onBeijing’sactions inHongKongandon thehumanrightssituationinChina.Bartonexpressedcondolences

for Indian soldiers killed in theGalwanValleyclashandnotedthe“de-escalation” and “tensionwhich seem to have eased overthe last week or two after thetragiclossof life”.Barton,whotookchargeearly

inJuly,saidtheUKgovernmentis“veryclear-sightedaboutthechal-lengesthatsomeChineseactionspresent toall of us”. “Wewant toworkwithChina.Andwewanttohave positive, constructive en-gagementandtherearemanyis-sues,includingthingslikeclimatechangewherewecandopositivethingsbecausewewon't be ableto take the stepsweneedon cli-matechangewithoutChina.”Responding toquestions at a

virtualbriefing,hesaid,“ButtherearechallengesandfortheUK,wedon't have a borderwith Chinabutwedohaveparticularrespon-sibilities forHongKong, and thenewnationalsecuritylaw,whichChinaimposedisaveryclearandseriousviolationof theUKChina

JointDeclaration.”“Andwe’vealsogotgravecon-

cerns around human rightsabuses. In particular, againstUighurMuslimsininXinjiang.”He also spoke about collabo-

rationbetween Indiaand theUKinthehealthsector.“The latest reports of the re-

sultsoftheOxfordUniversityvac-cine candidate are encouragingandof course, as youall know, itwillbemanufacturedhereinIndiabytheSerumInstitute.Ithinkthatreally illustrates ourpartnershipinthehealthsector—fortheben-efitofbothourcountriesbutalsomorebroadlyfortheworldingen-eralaswetrytocopewithandgetbeyondthepandemic.”Ontradeand investment ties,

hesaid, “Tomorrow,we’llbecon-vening the 14thmeeting of ourJointEconomicandTradeComm-ittee with CommerceMinisterPiyushGoyalandUKInternationalTradeSecretaryLizTruss.Theywillbediscussing the futureof our tr-adeandinvestmentrelationship...”

While BJP weansaway MLAs, Congadmits ex-ministertwice in two years


ADAYafter 45 of 61newmem-bers took oath, Rajya Sabha Ch-airman M Venkaiah Naidu onThursdaynominatedthemtovar-iousdepartment-relatedParliam-entaryStandingCommittees.While formerChief Justice of

India and nominatedmemberJustice RanjanGogoiwas nomi-nated to the panel on ExternalAffairs, BJPmember JyotiradityaScindiawill be amember of thecommitteeonHRD.SeniorCongress leaderMalli-

karjunKhargewasnominatedtothecommitteeonCommerce,hispartycolleagueDigvijayaSinghtotheUrbanDevelopment panel,andNCPchiefSharadPawartothecommitteeonDefencealongwithCongress’sRajeevSatavandRJD’sPremChandGupta.FormerPMHDDeveGowda,

whoisyettotakeoath,wasnom-inated to the committee on

Railways, andBhubaneswarKal-ita, formerLokSabhaDeputySp-eakerThambiDuraiandGKVasanwerenominatedtotheHRDpanel.First-timeMPPriyankaChatu-

rvedi of Shiv Sena and TMC’sMausamNoorwill bemembersof theCommercecommittee.Former Rajya Sabha deputy

chairmanHarivanshwill bepartof the Standing Committee onAgriculture.BJP’sVinayPSahasr-abuddhewas appointed chair-manoftheHRDcommitteesinceSatyanarayan Jatiya,whoearlierheldtheposition,hasretired.TMC’sDineshTrivediwillbea

member of the committee onHomeAffairs, Congress’sKCVe-

nugopalonthecommitteeonTr-ansport,TourismandCulture,al-ongwith senior DMKmemberTiruchi Siva. Venugopal’s partycolleague ShaktisinghGohilwillbeintheITpanel.JMMfounderShibuSorenwill

beintheCoalandSteelcommittee,andCPM’sElamaramKareemintheFinancepanel.Congress’sKTSTusliwasnominatedto thepanelonEnergy, andDeependerSinghHoodatoPersonnel,PublicGrieva-nces,LawandJustice.Amongoth-ersnominated topanelsareSub-rataBakshi,RamChander Jangra,Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy andSumerSinghSolanki(UrbanDeve-lopment);DeepakPrakash(Com-merce);NabamRebia, JMLokh-andwala, SudhanshuTrivedi,AjitKumarBhuyan,MuzibullaKhan(Energy);UdayanRaje Bhonsle,NarahariAmeenandPhuloDeviNetam(Railways);BiswajitDaim-ary(SocialJustice&Empowerme-nt), Parimal Nathwani (IT) andRoopaGanguly (Food,ConsumerAffairsandPublicDistribution).

UK envoy welcomeseasing of LAC tension

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JULY23

THE DISAPPROVAL shown byRajya SabhaChairmanMVenk-aiah Naidu after BJPMP Uday-anrajeBhosalechantedasloganhonouring Chhatrapati ShivajiMaharajwhiletakingoathintheUpperHouseWednesdayhassetoff a controversy.TheNCPhasdecidedtosend

20lakh letters toNaidutoregis-ter theirprotest.Bhosale, after taking oath in

RajyaSabha,raisedtheslogan‘JaiBhavani, Jai Shivaji’. Naidu,whowas in theChair,washeard say-ing,“ItisnotaHouseitismycha-mber.Nothingisgoingonrecord,only the oath. No other slogansare allowed in the House, keepthatinmindforfutureguidance.”Several Congress, NCP and

ShivSenaleaderstookexceptiontoNaidu’s remarks.

Theyouthwingof theNCP—Bhosale’s former party— said itwould send 20 lakh letters toNaidu,protestingover the issue.NCPyouthwing chiefMahebubShaikh said the letterswill inc-lude the text 'Jai Bhavani, JaiShivaji'. Themove is seen as anattemptbytheparty togetbackat theBJP,whoseyouthwingonWednesday said it would send10 lakh letters toNCPchief Sha-rad Pawar against his remarksthat “some people think build-

ingtemplewilleradicateCovid”.Pawarmade the remarks a dayafter the Ram JanmabhoomiTeerth Kshetra Trust invitedPrimeMinister NarendraModito lay the foundation stone fortheRamtemple inAyodhya.Bhosale tried to downplay

thecontroversy.“Naidusaidyoucan take oath, but do not addanythingelse...But somepeoplehavecreatedacontroversy.Had(Shivaji)Maharaj been insulted,I amnot the one to keepquiet. Iwouldhaveresigned...,”hesaid.The Vice-President, mean-

while, clarified that he did notmeandisrespect toanyone.“Always been a strong and

vocal admirer of ChhatrapatiShivajiMaharajandworshipperofGoddessBhawani.RemindedMembers that as per conven-tionalpracticeatthetimeoftak-ingoath,noslogansaregiven.Nodisrespectatall,”NaidutweetedonThursday.

SLOGANCONTROVERSY INRS

NCP wing to register protest againstVenkaiah, send him 20 lakh letters

MVenkaiahNaidu

MILINDGHATWAIBHOPAL, JULY23

IN A bid to outdo the ruling BJPahead of the bypolls, the oppo-sition Congress on Thursdayended up laying the red carpetagain fora formerministerwhowasalreadyapartymember.KLAgrawal,aministerinthe

Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet,lostthe2013Assemblypollsandcontested the 2018 polls as anIndependentfromBamoriwhentheBJPdeniedhimaticket.Agrawalwas a vocal critic of

Congress’sthenGunaMPJyotir-adityaScindiabutjoinedthepa-rtyalongwithhundredsof sup-porters at an event in Guna inScindia’spresence in2019.HeagainjoinedtheCongress

on Thursday, this time in thepresenceof formerCMandPCCchiefKamalNath.Hesaidmanydistrict and block level func-tionaries were among his 400supporterswhojoinedthepartywithhimatanevent inBhopal.The BJP said it had expelled

Agrawal after he filed nomina-tion as an Independent and re-fused towithdrawit.

1more CongMLA quitsCongressMLA fromMandhata,Narayan Patel, resigned andjoined theBJPonThursday.Patel’s resignation has reducedthe party’s strength in the 230-member Madhya PradeshAssembly to89.

Gogoi Scindia

PhilipBarton

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA, JULY23

TMCCHIEFMamataBanerjeeonThursdayappointedChhatradharMahato, a former leader of theMaoist-backed PCAPA, to theparty’sstatecommitteeasshean-nouncedamajor reshuffle in theorganisationandgaveleadershiproles tonew faces aheadof nextyear’sAssemblyelections.At a meeting with district

presidents and observers, sheannouncedanewstatecommit-tee with 21 members and aseven-member core panel — afirst for theparty.Mahato’s appointment is be-

lievedtohavebeenmadeinabidtorevivetheTMCorganisationinJunglemahal,wherethepartywasdefeated by the BJP in 2019 LokSabha polls. According to the

TMC’sassessment,themaincauseofthedefeatwasinternalclashes.MahatoledthePeople'sCom-

mittee Against Police Atrocities(PCAPA) andwas the face of theLalgarhmovement. Hewas ar-rested in2009and convictedonseveralcharges,includingseditionandsectionsofUAPA.Hewasre-leasedonbail inFebruary.Afterhisappointment,Mah-

atosaid,“Thisisatimelydecision.Thepartyhastoturnaround.Theorganisationmustberearranged.I amgetting immense responsefromthepeopleofJunglemahal.”MPMahuaMaitrawasmade

district president of Nadia, andformer cricketer andnowMini-sterofStateforSportsLaxmiRatanShuklawasmadedistrict presi-dent of Howrah town area.Expelled CPM leader RitabrataBandopadhyay was also ap-pointedtothestatecommittee.

Gogoi, Scindia among new RSmembers named to House panels

Chhatradhar Mahatogets key Trinamool post

DELHICONFIDENTIAL

REMEMBERING PROMISESINRESPONSEtoBJPgeneralsecretarySarojPandey’srakhi,tilakanddemandtohonourhispre-pollpromiseasaRakshabandangift, ChhattisgarhChiefMinister BhupeshBaghel said, “SisterSarojPandey,todayyourbrotherBhupeshispromisingthattherewill be complete prohibition in Chhattisgarh.We are in theprocessofpreparing for it.”Buthis reply toPandey’s letterwasnotwithoutapoliticalpoint.HethankedtheRajyaSabhaMPforremindingthepeopleof thestatethatherpartycolleague, for-merCMRamanSingh,hadkeptbreakinghispromisefor15years.

DIFFERENT TRACKTHECRISISinRajasthanhastheCongressleadershipontenter-hooks.Butsomeoppositionpartiesarekeenlyobservingthede-velopments, too. Left partieswant the crisis to be over so theycanhavetalkswiththeCongressonseat-sharingforBiharpolls.ItislearntthatAICCinchargeShaktisinhGohilmetaseniorLeftleader.SeniorCongressleaderAhmedPateltoohadawordwithatopLeftleader.ThemessagewasthatCongresswillsettheballrollingonseattalksoncetheRajasthancrisis isover.

NEW MISSIONBJPVICE-PRESIDENTBaijayantPandaseems tohaveanewmi-ssion– to cleanBollywood.He said he cameacross “shockingthreadsdocumentingpersonal andbusiness linksof someBo-llywoodpersonalitieswithcertainPakistanisandNRIswithun-deniabletrackrecordencouragingviolenceinJ&K,whohavever-ifiablelinkstoISI&PakArmy”.Heurged“patrioticBollywoodies”to renouncesuch links, triggeringa floodof responsesonsocialmedia.Helatersaid:“Bollywoodhadconnectionswithmafiaop-eratingwithPakistan... looksliketheseconnectionsstillexist.”

EC seeks Maharashtra CEO reporton hiring agency ‘with BJP link’RITIKACHOPRA&SANDEEPASHARNEWDELHI,MUMBAI, JULY23

THE ELECTION Commission onThursday sought a report fromthe Chief Electoral Officer ofMaharashtra on allegations ofhiringanagencyassociatedwiththeBJPforpublicityworkbeforetheAssemblyelection lastyear.RTIactivistSaketGokhaleal-

leged on Twitter Thursday thattheMaharashtraCEOhad"hiredtheBJP IT Cell for handling theirsocialmedia"beforetheelection.Gokhale said that the govern-ment-empanelled agency em-ployedbytheCEOshareditsreg-istered address with anotheragency that was owned byDevangDave,nationalconvenorof IT and social media of BJP'syouthwing.Reactingtotheallegations,EC

spokesperson Sheyphali Sharantweeted,"RegardingtweetofMrGokhale @SaketGokhaleCommissionhassoughtdetailedfactualreportinthismatterfromCEOMaharashtrawithrespecttoallegedlocaleoftheincidentim-mediately."As per records, the

Directorate General ofInformationandPublicRelations(DGIPR)hadappointedSignpostIndia Private Limited for socialmediapublicityworkofElectionCommission of India,Maharashtra in 2018. The con-tractwasawardedafteratender-ingprocess.

Formed in 2008, Signpost isregistered at 202, PressmanHouse, Near Santacruz AirportTerminal, Vile Parle. As perrecords, the firmhas four direc-tors -- Sushil Pandey, RajeshBatra, Shripad Ashtekar andDipankar Chatterjee. SocialCentral Media Solutions, ofwhichDevangDaveismanagingdirector, also uses the same ad-dress, but none of Signpost's di-rectors is officially on the firm'sdirectorialboard.Dave'sfirmwasfoundedin2015.Dave,when contacted, said,

"Baseless allegations are beingraisedagainstmetosuitthepolit-

ical narrative of Opposition par-ties. I'mbeingtargetedas I comefromamiddle class backgroundwithnopolitical legacy.Mylegalteam is going through the accu-sationsandwill replysoon."Maharashtra CEO Baldev

SinghtoldTheIndianExpressthatthe agencywas recommendedby the DGIPR under the stategovernment.Theagency,hesaid,washiredforthelimitedpurposeof spreading voter awarenessaheadof stateelections.Incidentally, the advertise-

ments shared by Gokhale onTwitter, which he saidwere is-suedbytheagencyallegedlyas-sociated with the BJP on theCEO'sbehalf,wereonencourag-ingvoters tovote."Wehavesoughtdetailsfrom

DGIPRonthisagency,andaclar-ificationwillbeissuedtomorrow.I don't think the allegations arecorrect,"Singhsaid.When askedwhy the EC ap-

proached the state governmentto recommend an agency forvoterawareness,hesaid,"Were-quest them because they are aprofessionalbodythatisdealingwithmedia.Theyhavetheirpro-cedureforselectingtheagency."Asked if the CEO office had

specified its requirement for anapoliticalagency,hesaid,"Itgoeswithout saying that the agencyhas tobeapolitical.Wewill givedetailed clarification tomorrowaftergettingalldetails."Congress leaders have de-

mandedaninvestigationintotheawardof thecontract.

BYPOLLS FOR8SEATSDEFERREDNewDelhi: The EC has de-ferredbypollsforeightAsse-mbly and Parliamentaryseats in six states “in publicinterest”. According to sour-ces,thedeadlineforcomplet-ingbypollswasSeptember7,butthepandemicandmon-soonwouldmake itdifficultto meet the deadline. Theconstituencies are ValmikiNagar(LokSabhaseat) inBi-har,Sibsagar(Assemblyseat)inAssam, Thiruvottiyur andGudiyattam (Assembly) inTamilNadu,Agar(Assembly)in Madhya Pradesh, Bula-ndshahr and Tundla (Asse-mbly) inUttar Pradesh, andChavara(Assembly)inKerala.

ENS

New Delhi

EXPRESSNETWORK6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020

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SOMYALAKHANI&ESHAROYNEWDELHI,JULY23

DELHIPOLICEonThursdaysaidithadwithdrawnanoticesenttoanInternetservice provider (ISP) earlier thismonth,inwhichithadcitedthestrin-gent anti-terrorism law, UnlawfulActivities (Prevention)Act (UAPA), toask the company to block awebsitecriticalofadraftnotificationissuedbytheUnionEnvironmentMinistry.The notice to Endurance

Domains Technology LLP had beensent “inadvertently” and “bymis-take”, thepolice saidonThursday.Thewebsite that the police had

askedtheISPto“blockimmediately”isFridaysForFuture (FFF) India, theIndianarmoftheinternationalmove-ment ledbytheteenageSwedishen-vironmentactivistGretaThunberg.FFF India hadbeen campaigning

againstthedraftEnvironmentImpactAssessment (EIA)Notification, 2020.OnThursday, Thunberg retweeted athreadbyFFF India on thepoliceno-tice, saying, “Please read, share andsupportFridaysforFutureIndia!”InitsnoticeissuedonJuly8“under

section79(3)(B)ofITActincomplaintof Hon'ble Cabinet Minister ShriPrakash Javadekar regarding gettingmultiple emails onhis email IDwith

thesubjectnamesimilarto'EIA2020'”,the Cyber Crimeunit of Delhi Policesaid the sitewww.fridaysforfuture.in“depicts objectionable contents andunlawful activities or terrorist act,which are dangerous for the peace,tranquillityandsovereigntyof India”.The site was “being accessed

throughyourservicesandcontainre-ligioushatredcontent/material,whichis punishable u/s 18 of theUnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act andInformationTechnologyAct,2000...”,thepolicesaidinthenoticetotheISP.On Thursday, however, DCP

(CyberCrime)AnyeshRoy–thesen-iorofficerwhohadsignedthe July8notice – told The Indian Express thatthe notice “was sent inadvertently,bymistake,anditwasbroughttoournoticeandwithdrawnon July12”.Roy said: “TheUAPA cannot and

hasnot been invoked in the case.OnJuly12,wemodifiedthenoticesenttotheISP,whichdoesnotmentionUAPA.ItmentionsonlysectionsoftheITAct.This toowaswithdrawnonJuly16astheissuehadbeenresolved.”On July16, thepolice sent a letter

to the nodal officer of the ISPwhichsaid:"...Thesaidwebsitehadengagedin unlawful activities coveredundersection 66 of the InformationTechnologyAct...Thematterhasbeenreviewedand it has been found that

theunlawfulactivityhasnowceased.Therefore,thenotedated08/07/2020and12/07/2020...isherebywithdrawnwithimmediateeffect.”OnJuly20,theCyberCrimeunitre-

ceived an email from the “responseteamoftheISP”,Roysaid.Itsaid:“Weacknowledgethereceiptof thewith-drawal request for domain nameFridaysForFuture.inandarecurrentlyclosingtheissue.”TheofficeralsosaidEnvironment

Minister Prakash Javadekar hadnotcomplained to the police, asmen-tionedinthenotice.ButofficialsofhisMinistryhadbeenspammedby“lakhsofemails”inthemannerresemblinga“denialofserviceattack”,DCPRoysaid.“TheMinister has not filed any

complaint, itwaswrittenmistakenlyin thenoticedated July8.Therewere7-8emailIDsofofficialsoftheMinistryof Environmentwho got lakhs andlakhsofmails thatwerebeingsent inan automated fashion regarding theEnvironment Impact Assessment,”Roysaid.The official spokesperson of the

MinistryforEnvironment,ForestandClimate Change, GauravKhare, saidJavadekar's personal email hadbeentargeted. “TheDraft EIANotification,2020isinthepublicdomain.Anysug-gestionsandpubliccommentscanbesent at the officialmail provided for

the purpose, that is, [email protected],2020asmen-tioned in the notification. How isspammingtheHon'bleMinister’sper-sonalmailwith lakhs ofmails justi-fied?”thespokespersonsaid.MinistryofficialssaidtheemailID

in questionwas themain email thatJavadekar uses for official business.“TheMinisterhadreceivedanywherebetween 80,000 to 1 lakhmails, allwiththeheading'EIA2020'.Hecould-n’tevenwork.ThecomplaintthathadgonefromtheMinistrywasanon-spe-cificcomplaintraisingthisissue,that’sall,’’anofficialsaid.KrubaHebbarofFFFIndiasaidthey

were amovement of the youth, andnotaformalorganisation.“Wehadputuptheofficialemailfortheobjectionsaswell as theMinister’s emailonourpage.Manyhavewritteninanindivid-ual capacity, sinceweare younganddon’thavetheskills tomakeacaseoftheobjections...Wedon’t knowhowmanymailstheMinisterreceived,butourpagereceived80,000views,’’ shesaid.While DCPRoy said thewebsite

hadbeenunblocked,MYuvan,anac-tivistwhoisinvolvedintherunningofthe FFF Indiawebsite, said itwas stillblocked. Thewebsite could not bereachedonThursdayevening.

(INPUTSBYSHIVAMPATEL)

PRITAMPALSINGHNEWDELHI, JULY23

THEDELHIHighCourt onThursday granted bail toformer Fortis HealthcarepromoterShivinderMohanSingh inamoney launder-ingcase registeredagainsthimby the ED. The courtobserved that “people’strustinthecriminaljusticesystemmust rest on surerfooting than on pre-trialpunishmentbykeepingac-cusedpersonsinprison”.Granting bail, Justice

Anup JairamBhambhanireferred to his own deci-sionof June18inabailap-plication, inwhichhehadobserved,“Criminalinves-tigationisnotametaphor-ical fishing-rodhanded toaninvestigatingagency,toindulge its penchant for‘fishing around’ for evi-dence, at its own leisureandinthefullnessoftime”.“Investigationhastobe

a time-limited process, tobe conducted strictlywithin the structure andframework of applicablelaw,”thecourtsaidanddi-

rected Singh to furnish apersonal bond of Rs 1crore,withtwosuretiesofRs 25 lakh each from twofamilymembers.The court also ob-

served:“Nowhereisitthelawthatanaccused,yettobe tried, is to be kept incustody only on a hunchor a presumption that hewill prejudice or impedetrial; or to send anymes-sage to the society. If any-thing, the only messagethat goes out to the soci-etybykeepinganaccusedin prison before findinghimguilty is that our sys-tem works only on im-pressionsandconjecturesand can keep an accusedin custody even on pre-sumptionof guilt...”The ED had arrested

SinghandothersinthecaseonDecember12.However,hewill notbeable towalkoutofDelhi’sTiharJailsincehe continues to be underjudicialcustodyinconnec-tionwith the case lodgedagainst himandothers bythe Economic OffencesWing(EoW)ofDelhiPolice.In the EoW case, he

was arrested on October10 lastyear.Singh and his elder

brotherMalvinderMohanSingh—formerpromotersofRanbaxy,Fortis,ReligareEnterprises–werearrestedbyEoWinOctober2019forallegedly causing losses tothetuneofRs2,397croretoReligareFinvest Ltd, a sub-sidiary of ReligareEnterprises. TheEDsubse-quentlyarrestedShivinderinamoneylaunderingcase.While granting bail,

the HC on Thursday im-posed several conditions,directingSinghtosurren-der his passport, not toleavethecountrywithoutpermission of the desig-nated court, and cooper-ate in any further investi-gation into thecase.

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JULY23

AWEEK after Pakistan did notprovide “unimpeded” consularaccesstoformerIndianNavyof-ficerKulbhushan Jadhav—whois on death row in Pakistan oncharges of spying and terroristactivities — India on Thursdaysaid Islamabad has “blocked alltheavenuesforaneffectiverem-edy”available for India.As reported by The Indian

Express, Pakistan on July 16 didnot allow Indian diplomats tocarrythe“PowerofAttorney”le-gal document that could besignedby Jadhav.“Pakistan advised India that

therelevantdocumentscouldbehanded over only to an autho-risedPakistanilawyer.Thereafter,India appointed a Pakistanilawyertoobtaintherelevantdoc-uments. To our surprise, as ad-visedbythePakistaniauthorities,when the authorised Pakistanilawyer approached the con-cernedauthorities,theydeclinedtohandoverthedocumentstothelawyer,” Ministry of ExternalAffairs spokesperson AnuragSrivastavasaidonThursday.“In the absence of an unim-

pededandunhindered consularaccess aswell as of the relevantdocuments, as a last resort, Indiatried to file a petition on18 July.However,ourPakistanilawyerin-formedus that a reviewpetitioncouldnot be filed in the absence

ofpowerofattorneyandsupport-ingdocumentsrelatedtoJadhav’scase,”theMEAspokespersonsaid.HesaidPakistanalsocreated

“confusion”over the lastdateoffilingapetition.Pakistan onMay 20 passed

anOrdinancetoallowforaHighCourt to review the sentenceawardedbytheirmilitarycourt.“Pakistan took twoweeks to

informus about this Ordinanceand shared the copy of theOrdinance only after India re-quested thesame. Indiahascon-veyedthattheOrdinanceneitherfulfils nor does it give completeweighttothejudgmentoftheICJ.Withregards to theOrdinance, itseems,Pakistanwasnon-seriousinitsapproachandwasnotinter-ested in implementing the judg-mentoftheICJinletterandspirit.It hasblockedall the avenues foraneffective remedyavailable forIndia,”Srivastavasaid.InJulylastyear,theICJhaddi-

rectedPakistantoallowconsularaccess to Jadhav and effectivelyreviewhisdeathsentence.

ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI, JULY23

THENAGALAND government has clari-fiedthatithadpassedanorderrequiringall itsemployeestodeclareifanyrelativewasworking forundergroundorganisa-tions only on the insistenceof GovernorR N Ravi. Ravi is also the interlocutor inNagapeace talkswith theCentre.The Nagaland government said in a

statement onWednesday evening thatRavi had written to the state ChiefSecretaryonFebruary14abouthaving“adatabase of State Government employ-ees’ familymembersandrelativesinun-dergroundorganisations”.The letter fromRavi “required every

Governmentemployeetomakeaselfdec-laration in a formatwhichwas enclosedalongwiththe letters”.“The decision of the Government to

issuetheOfficeMemorandumdated7thJuly, 2020wasmade on the direction oftheHonourableGovernorwhichwasde-liberatedbytheStateCabinetinitsmeet-ing held on 3rd July, 2020,” the govern-ment statement said.The government statement comes

days after the NSCN-IM, the largest andthemost influential Naga group in talkswithCentre,reactedtothedirectivesay-ing that it was “one retrograde stepworked out insidiously to cripple theNaga politicalmovement and forcefullybring the Naga political issue under thepurviewof ‘lawandorder’ issue”.TheIndianExpresshadearlierreported

thatanofficememorandumissuedbytheNagalandHomeDepartmentdatedJuly7askedallitsemployeestoself-declareifanyof their familymembers aremembers ofundergroundorganisations.

Delhi Police cite UAPA in noticeover spamming Javadekar, retract

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JULY23

ASPECIALCBIcourt inLucknowrecorded the statement of vet-eran BJP leaderMurli ManoharJoshi in the 1992 Babri Masjiddemolition case through videoconferenceonThursday.After the deposition, Joshi’s

lawyerAbhishekRanjansaid, “Inhis statement, he said false evi-

dence hasbeen col-lectedagainsthimandhe isbeing falselyimplicated inthecase.Joshitoldthecourtthere thatwas no con-spiracy in the(demolition)incident.”

RanjansaidtheCBI,hasbeendirected to get the signature ofJoshiondocumentscarryinghisstatement and submit them tothecourt.Joshiisthesecondaccusedin

the casewho deposed throughvideo conference. On Tuesday,the court recorded the state-ment of RamChandra Khatri —lodgedatSonipatjail inHaryana—throughvideoconference.Formerdeputyprimeminis-

ter Lal Krishna Advani (92) islikelytorecordhisstatementonFridaythroughvideoconference.Themosque inAyodhyawas

demolished on December 6,1992, by ‘kar sevaks’ whoclaimedanancientRamtemplestood at the same site. Advaniand Joshi were among thoseleading the Ram templemove-mentat that time.Since June 5, the special CBI

court has been recording thestatementsoftheaccusedunderCrPC Section 313 after it com-pleted the examination of 354prosecutionwitnesses.Under CrPC Section 313, the

judge questions the accused onthebasisof theevidenceputbe-fore the court during the trial,and the accused is given an op-portunity to refute the allega-tionslevelledagainsthim.Sofar,the court of Special Judge S KYadavhas recordedstatementsof 29 accused in the case.The court is conducting the

day-to-dayhearinginthecasetocompleteitstrialbyAugust31asdirectedby theSupremeCourt.

MurliManoharJoshi

IndiaarmofGretaThunbergmovementrancampaignagainstdraftEIANotification,2020

HARIKISHANSHARMANEWDELHI, JULY23

NITIAAYOGhasdescribedthedataused in theGlobalHunger Index(GHI)2019—whichrankedIndiaat102among117countries—as“outmoded”andasked thepub-lishers to “consult” the govern-mentbefore“publishingreports”.InalettertotheGHIpublish-

ers Welthungerhilfe andConcernWorldwide,NITIAayogCEO Amitabh Kant said, “ThedatasourcesusedwithregardtoIndiaforcalculationof theIndexareoutmodedandtherefore,theGHI does not accurately repre-senttheprogressIndiahasbeenmakinginimprovingtheoverallnutritionalstatusinthecountry.”Kant’s letter dated July 15

comes threemonths before theGHI2020.“Datausedforcomputationof

GHI2019rankingsintheaveragevalue over varying periods i.e.,2016-18 forUndernourishment;2014-18 forWasting&Stunningand of 2017 for Under-fiveMortality (sourceof data is fromWorld Bank, FAO, WHO &UNICEF),” Kantsaid.“Average values are affected

byextremevalues...Evenif thereisimprovementintheindicators(which is the case for India),upon taking average value overperiod, the improvementmadewill not get rightly repre-sented…,”headded. “Thus, cal-culation of the scores is neitherdoneonlatestdatanoranystan-dardizedapproach is followed.”Kant argued if the latest data

wereused, India’s rankwouldbe91 instead of 102. Suggestingmodifications in theGHI reports,hesaid,“TheconcernedMinistry,namely theMinistry ofWomanand Child Development,GovernmentofIndiamaybecon-sultedbeforepublishing reports,andbeprovidedaccesstothedataandmethodologyusedforcalcu-latingthescores.”

Global HungerIndex 2019 doesnot representIndia’s progress,says NITI CEO

Order to declare kins’link to undergroundoutfits on Governor’sinsistence, saysNagaland govt

ShivinderMohanSingh

Babri case: Joshisays falseevidence againsthim, deniesconspiracy

HC grants bail to ex-Fortispromoter, says probe musthave ‘time-limited process’

KULBHUSHANJADHAVCASE

Pak has blocked allavenues for effectiveremedy, says MEA

KulbhushanJadhav

New Delhi


EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM


FIVEMONTHSaftertheSupremeCourtorderedthatwomenbeal-lowed Permanent Commission(PC)inallnon-combatstreamsintheArmy,thegovernmentissuedaformalsanctiononThursday.Army spokesperson Colonel

Aman Anand saidwomenwillnow be allowed PC in all 10streams.“Ministry of Defence has is-

sued the formal GovernmentSanction Letter for grant ofPermanent Commission towomen officers in the IndianArmy, paving the way for em-powering women officers toshoulderlargerrolesintheorgan-isation,”ColAnandsaid.“The order specifies grant of

PC to Short Service Commi-

ssioned(SSC)WomenOfficersinall10streamsoftheIndianArmy,”thespokespersonsaid.Womenhave so far been al-

lowed PC in only the JudgeAdvocateGeneral(JAG)andArmyEducational Corps (AEC).Withthe government’s sanction,womenwill nowbe eligible forPC also in Army Air Defence(AAD), Signals, Engineers, ArmyAviation, Electronics andMechanical Engineers (EME),ArmyServiceCorps (ASC),ArmyOrdnance Corps (AOC), andIntelligence Corps.“In anticipation, the Army

Headquartershadset inmotionaseriesofpreparatoryactionsforconduct of the PermanentCommissionSelectionBoardforaffected Women Officers,”Anand said, adding that the“Selection Boardwill be sched-uled as soon as all affected SSC

Women Officers exercise theiroption and complete requisitedocumentation”.The Army, Anand said, “is

committed to provide equal op-portunities to all personnel in-cludingwomenofficers to servethenation”.As of January 1, therewere a

total1,648womenofficersinthe10 streams. ArmyAviation hadthe lowest representation ofwomenofficers(24officers;3.46per cent of the stream); JAGhadthehighest(103;40.23percent).Additionally,therewere1,185

women(21.25percent)medicalofficers in the Army, and 170womendental officers (makingupaquarterof theArmy’sdentalofficers), according todatagiventoRajyaSabhabyMinisterofStatefor Defence Shripad Naik onMarch 2. In July 2019, Naik hadstated that women comprised

just 3.8 per cent of the Army’sstrength.In its February judgment

throwing open the doors forwomentobeconsideredeligiblefor PC in all 10 non-combatstreams of the Army, includingrisingtotakeupcommandposi-tions,theSupremeCourthadsaidthat the expression “in variousstaff appointments only”men-tioned in the government’sFebruary 2019 communication“shallnotbeenforced”.It had also said that “at the

stageofoptingforthegrantofPC,all the choices for specialisationshallbeavailable towomenoffi-cersonthesametermsasforthemale SSC officers”, and that“womenSSCofficersshallbeen-titledtoexercisetheiroptionsforbeingconsideredforthegrantofPCs on the same terms as theirmalecounterparts”.

A fewdays later,ArmyChiefGeneralMMNaravanehadde-scribed it as a “very enablingjudgment”, and said that “it(the judgment) brings out asenseof clarity andpurpose togainfully employ officers forbetter efficiency of theorganisation”.On February 25, 2019, the

governmenthadstatedinanoti-fication“considerationofgrantofPermanent Commission to SSCWomen Officers in the eightarms/services in Indian Army”,and mentioned “Signals,Engineers, ArmyAviation, ArmyAir Defence, Electronics andMechanical Engineers (EME),Army Service Corps, ArmyOrdnance Corps andIntelligence”.PC forwomenofficers in JAG

and AEC streams had beenopenedin2008.

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI,JULY23

ADAYafterthecountryreportedarecord46,000coronaviruscasesin a single day, it was learnt onThursday that the Centre willhold a video conference witheight states, which it views as a“cause of concern”, to check thespreadof thevirus.Themeeting, scheduled for

Friday,willfeatureadetaileddis-cussion between a team of ex-perts from the Centre aswell assenior HealthMinistry officialsand officers from AndhraPradesh,Bihar,Telangana,Odisha,West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka,and Uttar Pradesh, The IndianExpresshaslearnt.“These states are a cause of

concern for different reasons,” atop government functionary,whoispartof theteammonitor-ingthepandemic,said.OnThursday,AndhraPradesh

reportedasingle-dayrecordhighof 7,998 cases. The source saidthatthestateisacauseofconcernon two fronts: “First, it is testingeightorninetimesmorethanitsneighbour Telangana, but eventhenitspositivitycontinuestobehigh.Second,thestatecontinuestoreportahigherabsolutenum-berofdeathsweekafterweek.”Theseeightstatesarereport-

ing60-plusdeathsonadailyba-sis, thesourcesaid.OnThursday,AndhraPradesh

reported testing a record58,052

samples in a single day— it re-portedpositivityof13.77percent.Thehighpositivity is in contrastwith the Centre’s strategy oframping up testing to keep thepositivity rate below the 5-percentmark.TelanganaonWednesdayre-

ported testing only 15,882 sam-ples, and continues towitness acumulativesamplepositivityrateashighas16percent.“Telanganahas the resources but is still nottestingenough,”thesourcesaid.The Centre, it is learnt, will

takeupanother important issuein Friday’smeeting. “Telanganawasfollowingapolicyofsending(most) patients to Hyderabad.TheCentrediscouragedthis.Thestatehastofocusonaugmentingfacilities indistrict-specific insti-tutions,” thesourcesaid.In Karnataka, with 49,931

active cases and reporting an

average80deathseachdaythisweek, mortality is a cause ofconcern, the government offi-cial said.WhileBengalurucontinuesto

drivethestate’scaseload,asourcesaidthemeetingwilltakeupcon-cerns related to emergence of“newhotspots”inthestate.Overthe lastweek, Dharwad (33.4%),DakshinaKannada (32%), Udupi(25.8%) and Ballari (25.2%) dis-trictshavereportedhighpositiv-ity, thesourcepointedout.For Bihar, West Bengal,

Odisha,WestBengal,AssamandUttarPradesh,concernscontinueto remain on “low testing andsurgeincases”, thesourcesaid.With testing below140 tests

perdaypermillion,UPandWestBengalreportedmorethan2,000cases on Thursday. Odisha andBihar reportedmore than 1,000casesontheday.

Telangana officials say viruswidely spread at community levelSREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD, JULY23

THE COVID-19 infection hasspread“widely”atthe“commu-nity level” in Telangana, stateHealthDepartmentofficialssaidonThursday.The state, which has faced

criticism for low Covid-19 test-ingandallegationsofdatafudg-ing, becomes the third state toannouncelocalisedcommunitytransmission of the virus — af-terKerala andWestBengal.Officials of the Health

Department and Greater

Hyderabad MunicipalCorporation issuedawarningonThursdaymorningthatthevirusisoutof control inHyderabadarea.StateHealth officials have untilnowmaintained that they havethe infectionunder control, andhad denied any communityspread.State Director of Public

Health Dr G Srinivasa Rao said,“Coronavirus has gone to thecommunitylevel.Thenextthreeto four weeks will be very cru-cial...especially in Hyderabad.We have to enforce strict con-tainment zones,”Rao said.AHealthofficial said: “Many

peoplewho came fromoutsidethestatehave infectedothers—we are looking at a communityspread because of this…. Theydid not take adequate precau-tions... If thenumberof positivecasesisaround200perday,thenhealthworkers and police offi-cials trace their contacts. Buthowwill they trace contacts ifthe daily number is 1,000ormore?”Telangana reported 1,567

new Covid-19 cases onThursday,raisingthestate'scasecount to 50,826. Of this,Hyderabad alone reported 662cases.

RITUSHARMAAHMEDABAD,JULY23

EVENAStheface-offbetweentheGujarat governmentandprivateschoolassociationscontinuedonThursdayoveragovernmentres-olution (GR) preventing suchschoolsfromcollectingfeesforon-line classes, state EducationMinister BhupendrasinhChudasamasaid thegovernmentwillcoverallstudentsfromClass3to12throughitsonlineeducationprogramme under the GujaratSecondaryandHigherSecondaryEducationBoard(GSHSEB).Theannouncement followed

adecisionby theprivate schools’association to suspend onlineclassestilltheGRwaswithdrawn.TheGujarat High Courtwill

Fridayhear aPIL challenging thedecision of private schools tocharge fees foronlineclasses.OnJune 19,while hearing a similarplea, the court had said that itwantedthestategovernment“tointervene and work out fewmodalitieswiththeschools”.“Since self-financed schools

have decided to stop all onlineclasses,thestategovernmentwillteachstudentsfromClass3till12inEnglishandGujaratimedium,”saidminister Chudasama,whiletheprotestingschoolswerehold-ing a meeting on the issueThursdayafternoon.

Theprotestingschoolsincludethose affiliated to GujaratSecondaryandHigherSecondaryEducationBoard,CentralBoardofSecondary Education,International Baccalaureate,Council for the Indian SchoolCertificate Examination, andInternationalGeneral Certificateof Secondary EducationCambridgeUniversity.Chudasamasaid,“Wealready

havelearningmaterialdevelopedin Gujarati medium and theprocess has already started tocoverEnglishmediumstudents.Weareexpectingtocomeoutwiththis(studymaterial)in10days.”When asked about the con-

cerns of parents of students en-rolled under boards other thanGSHSEB, theminister said, “I amonlyresponsibleformyboardanditsstudents.”Hesaidnecessaryinstructions

have been passed on to theGujarat Council of EducationalResearch and Training (GCERT)andGSHSEB.“Whenthestategovernment

has failed to reach out to 80percent of government school stu-dentswith its online educationprogramme,howwillitreachoutto70-80 lakh students of privateschools,” said Bharat Gajipara,PresidentofGujaratSelfFinancedSchoolManagementAssociation.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI,JULY23

ATEAMoftopIsraeliscientistswillsoon arrive in India for the finalstagesoftestingoffouradvancedtechnologies for rapid diagnosisof thenovelcoronavirus.These include two Covid-19

tests that could give results inminutes froma saliva sample, athird that could tell if a personhas incipient Covid by listeningto their voice, andavirusdetec-tor that uses radio waves on abreathsample.Israel’s envoyRonMalka said

that the first phase of testing ofthese technologieswas done inIsrael and the last stagewill nowbecarriedoutinIndia.TheprojectisledbyDaniGold,

head of Israel’s Directorate ofDefence Research andDevelopment, and K VijayRaghavan,principalscientificad-visortoPrimeMinisterNarendraModi.Thefunding,logistics,coop-eration and results aremutual,saidMalka.The Israeli and Indian scien-

tistswill carry out 4,000-5,000tests using each technology inIndia to determine if they canwork.OnetechnologyisanewCovid

test thatusespolyaminoacids toproduce a result in 30minutes,Dani said over the phone fromIsrael.“Thiswillmeanyoucanbetested as you enter an airport, amalloranywhereandbecleared.Real-timetestingwouldallowtheeconomytoopenagain.”A second, inexpensive bio-

chemicaltestcanbeusedathomeandgives a result in 30minutes.Bothcanworkwithsalivasample.The third technologyusesar-

tificialintelligence(AI)tolistentoa person’s voice and determinefirst stageCovid. “It plays on thefact that Covid attacks the respi-ratorysystem.Onecouldevendothe diagnosis through a cellphone,”saidGold.The thirdmethod is a breath

analyser.“Onewouldbreatheintoatube.Weputthetubeintoama-chinewhichuses terahertz radiofrequencies and an algorithm totell ifyouhavethevirus.”All testswill be validatedus-

ingPCRtests.The airplanewill also bring

cutting-edge technologies andequipmenttohelpIndia.Malkasaidthatthenewcoop-

erationwas“partofourstrongbi-lateral friendship”. PMModi andIsraeli PMBenjaminNetanyahuhavespokenthreetimessincethepandemicbrokeout.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENOIDA, JULY23

A 30-YEAR-OLD doctor was ar-rested for allegedly sexually as-saultingaCovidpatientinahos-pital in Aligarh onWednesday,police said.“We received a complaint

fromawomanpatientadmittedat DeenDayal Hospital allegingthat a doctor sexually assaultedherwithinthehospitalpremises.Apoliceteamwassenttothehos-pital... The doctor, who himselfwas inquarantine,was arrested.Weare questioning hospital au-thorities...Furtherinvestigationison,”saidaseniorpoliceofficer.The woman resides in an-

other state andwas visiting rel-atives inAligarh, police said. OnMonday, thewomandevelopedsymptoms and her samplesweresent fora test. Shewasad-mitted the next day after hersamples testedpositive.Police have obtained CCTV

footage inwhichtheaccused,DrTufailAhmad,whowasonCovidduty,canbeseenenteringtheiso-lationwardwhere thewomanwas admitted. Thewoman al-leged that the doctor attemptedsexual assault twice during theperiod of admission, on thepre-textofmedicalexamination.Thecasewasregisteredundersection354 (molestation) and 376 (2)(advantageofpositiontocommitrape)atthelocalpolicestation.The localadministrationhas

sought a report from the ChiefMedical Superintendent of thehospital.

GARGIVERMADANTEWADA,JULY23

THEFAMILYofoneof thetwoal-legedMaoists killed by securityforces in Dantewada district inMay has claimed that hewas aminor, only 15 years of age, andhasgonetotheChhattisgarhHighCourtdemandinganinquiry.Rishu Istam and Ramsingh

Alamia.k.aMaatawerekilledonMay 21, following an “en-counter” near their village,Pidiyakot.TheDantewadapolicesays bothwere seniorMaoists,facing several cases, with cashrewards of Rs 8 lakh and Rs 1lakhintheirname.Accordingtothem,while Istamwas “deputycommandant”ofPlatoonNo.16,Maatawas Pidiyakot Janmilitia“commandant”.Istam’selderbrotherGopide-

nies the allegations, showinganAadhaar cardwhere Istam’s ageis mentioned as 15. Sobbing,Istam’smotherPalosaysthatfor-get a gun, her son didn’t knowhow to use even a bow and ar-row.“Herarelywentout,andwasbusy with farming work andhousehold chores all day,” saysPalo,58.Pidiyakot village sarpanch

Umaram Kawasi also conteststhe claim that Maata, 32, whowas the village ‘Perma (tribalpriest)’ and a father of three,was a Janmilitia member. “Hewas arrested long back, duringtheSalwaJudummovement,asa Naxal. However, they had torelease him after two years asthey had no evidence againsthim,” Kawasi says, adding thatthe police never came askingabout the two in the run-up tothe “encounter”.Dantewada Superintendent

of Police Abhishek Pallav saidtheyhadrecoveredweaponsaswellas5kgIEDfromthetwo.Headdedthathavingnotraisedanyquestions for twomonths, thevillagers were now protestingunderNaxalpressure.“Thefam-ilymembersandlocalrepresen-tativesacceptedatthetimethatboth were Naxals. Their issuewasthatwecouldhavearrestedand not killed them. But ourmencameunder fire, and in re-taliation,bothmenwerekilled,”he said.On claims that Istamwas a

minor,hesaid,“ItisaNaxalstrat-egy, to put a fake date of birthwhenmaking Aadhaar cards sothat the cadres can get away byclaimingtobeminors.”SarpanchKawasisaysthaton

thedayof the encounter, Istam,Maata and someother villagerswere returning from Chote

Tumnar, 40 km away, after col-lectingPDSrice,whentheywereapprehended by security per-sonnel right next to Pidiyakot.One of the villagerswho claimsto have witnessed the arrest,Manki Berta, says the securityforces had their faces coveredand“carriedplasticgunnybags,whichhadguns”.Bertasays IstamandMaata’s

faceswere coveredwith a clothandtheywereledintotheforest.Maata’s wife Jilo Alami says

she and two other women fol-lowed themen, staying hidden,andthenheardthegunshotsthatwent on for almost 15minutes.“I knewmyhusband and Istamwere dead,” she says, her eyesfixedonheryoungestdaughter,atoddler.Gopi says the family’s lives

had earlier been destroyed dur-ingthevigilanteanti-NaxalSalwa

Judumcampaign. “Ourhouse inPidiyakotwasrazed.Welived inKasuli camp for seven years, af-terwhichmyparentsandoneofmy sistersmoved to Pidiyakot,while I, my family and Rishustayed in Tarlapal,” he says, re-grettinghavingconvincedIstamtomovetoPidiyakot lastyear.“Ouragedparentscouldn’tdo

farming any more. So, Rishuhelped them,” Gopi, a paddyfarmer, says.According to theDantewada

police, they had got inputs re-gardingmovementofMaoistsinthearea,andthatduringanoper-ation,theirmenhadcomeunderheavyfire.SPPallavsaidtheyhadproof to show Istam andMaatawereMaoist cadres. “There areseveralcasesagainst them,theirnames are in statements of sur-renderedcadres.”Asked about details of the

casesagainst the two, thepolicesaid they could not share thesame as thematter was subju-dice.Pallav added that a bone os-

sificationtesthadputIstam’sageat around 18, and that he waslikely to have been older. “InBastar, due to malnutrition,bones are underdevelopedsometimes, so it is clear that hewasat least20-21yearsold.”Bastar IG P Sundarraj said,

“ThisispropagandabytheNaxalstodemoraliseanddefamesecu-rity personnel.Wehave recordsthatbothmenwerepartofNaxaldalams for six-seven years.Maatahadbeenarrested earlierandwasoutonbail.”Gopisaystheyareafraidofre-

taliationnowovertheirdecisiontogotothehighcourt.“Recently,somepolicemencametomyvil-lageandaskedwhereIwas. Iamafraid.”

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICECHENNAI, JULY23

EIGHTY-FOUR of the 147 policeand fire service personnel sta-tioned at the Tamil NaduGovernor’sresidencetestedpos-itiveforCovid-19onThursday.ARajBhavanstatementsaidnoneof these persons had come incontact with GovernorBanwarilalPurohitorothersen-iorofficials.These 84were part of 1,336

freshcasesreported inChennai,whichaccountsforthemajorityof Covid-19 cases in the state.TamilNadureported6,472new

cases.Asthestaterampsuptesting

usingRT-PCRkits,themostcred-ibletestingmethod,theinfectionrateisvisiblyincreasinginotherareas aswell. Twenty other dis-trictsrecordedcasesintripledig-its — including 415 cases inThoothukudi and 480 cases inVirudhunagar—onThursday.

Tamil Nadu tested 60,375people across the state onThursday, compared to 50,055onTuesday.Witharecoveryrateof60per

centinthestate,thecasefatalityrate in Chennai alone increasedfrom 1.67 per cent to 2.17 percent,withanadditionof444un-accounteddeathstothetallyonWednesday.Of the total 1.92 lakhCovid-

19casesreportedsofar inTamilNadu, Chennai, with a popula-tion of 80 lakh, has recorded90,900. It has recorded themaximumnumber of deaths—1,947 of the state’s total toll of3,232.


THE NATIONAL Institutes ofTechnology (NITs) on ThursdaydroppedtheClass12performancecriterionforadmissionsthisyear,aweekafter the IndianInstitutesofTechnology(IITs)didthesame.Thisyear,asaone-timeexcep-

tion,theNITsandotherCentrallyFunded Technical Institutions(CFTIs) will only require JointEntrance Examination (Main)rank-holderstohavepassedtheir

Boardexams.Usually, a general category

rank holder should have eitherscoredat least75percentor fig-ureinthetop20percentileofherBoard results to secure a seat atan IIT. SC/ST candidates shouldhaveeitherscoredatleast65percentorfulfillthetop20percentilerequirement.OnThursday,theCentralSeat

Allocation Board (CSAB),whichdecidestheadmissionprocessfortheNITs, approved the proposalondroppingtheBoardexamcri-terion. Human Resources

DevelopmentMinister RameshPokhriyal announced the deci-siononTwitter.The decision, sources said,

wastakeninthewakeof thedis-ruptioninBoardexamscausedbythe Covid-19 outbreak. Manyschool Boards, including CBSEandCISCE,hadcancelledtheirre-maining Class 10 and 12 examsamidgrowingconcernsoverstu-dents’safetyasmanystatescon-tinue to report a surge in Covid-19cases.JEE(Main) is scheduled to be

heldfromSeptember1to6.


AGOVERNMENT panel has de-cidedagainstrelaxingthealmostyear-longcurbsonInternetserv-ices in Jammu and Kashmir fornow, the Supreme Court wastold on Thursday. The specialcommittee, set up on theSupremeCourt’sdirections,willreview the situation again aftertwomonths.The top courtwas hearing a

contempt plea by an NGO,ForumForMedia Professionals,whichallegedthatnosuchcom-mitteehadbeencreateddespitethe court’sMay 11 direction. Inresponse, theCentre filedanaf-fidavit Thursday that said thepanelhadmettwice—onMay15and June10.The May 15 meeting dis-

cussedthematterelaboratelyand“decided to obtain further de-tailedinputsinregardtothepre-vailing situation on the groundlevel before taking a decision inregardtothepossibilityofeasingtherestrictionson4Gservices”.The Special Committee,

whichmetagainonJune10,“ob-tainedandanalysed...detailedin-puts in regard to the prevailingsituation,” theaffidavit said.“Athoroughandcomprehen-

siveconsiderationofallfactorsofthematterincludingthefeasibil-ity of the alternatives suggestedby the petitioners aswell as therecent occurrence of terrorismrelated incidents in the regionwascarriedout... thecommitteearrivedatadecisionthat...nofur-therrelaxationoftherestrictionsonInternetservices,including4Gservices, could be carried out atpresent,” thegovernmentsaid.

Sanction issued, women now eligiblefor permanent commission in Army

Relaxation inJ&K Internetcurbs unlikelyfor 2 months

Family goes to HC, says ‘Maoist’killed by cops in Dantewada was 15

Israel scientists to visitIndia to test 4 Coviddiagnosis technologies

After IITs, NITs do away withClass 12 criterion for admissions

TN Raj Bhavan: 84 personnel infected

RishuIstam’smotherPaloandfatherBudhru.GargiVerma

Wary of Covid caseload, Centre to conferwith 8 states today

Werenot incontactwithGovernorBanwarilalPurohit

Doctor heldfor bid to rapeCovid patient:Aligarh cops

Atatestingcentre insouthKolkataonThursday.ParthaPaul

Pvt schools stay shut,Gujarat govt says itsonline classes willcover all students

PILAGAINSTFEEFORONLINECLASSES INHC

New Delhi

8WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SEIZE THE DEALIndiamustmoveforwardontradeagreementwithUS,whilenegotiatingdegreesof access, addressingstructural issues

ONTUESDAY,UNIONCommerceMinisterPiyushGoyalannouncedthatIndia and theUSwere close to finalisinga “quick” tradedeal. This lim-iteddeal, unlike amore comprehensive free tradeagreement, is likelyto cover around 50-100 goods and services. Discussions between thetwocountrieshavereportedlyrevolvedaroundprovidingconcessions

toUSfarmproducts,dairyinparticular,andonpricingofmedicalproductssuchasstents,in return for the restorationof benefits extended to Indiaunder thegeneralised systemof preferences (GSP), andmarket access for generic drugs. For theUSPresident,DonaldTrump, a deal that provides American agricultural productswith greater access to theIndiamarket,andisconcludedbeforeNovember,couldbringbenefitsinthepresidentialelections.For India, a tradedeal, eventhoughlimited, if concluded, isawelcomesign,asitsignalsareversalof theprotectionist impulsesemanatingfromgovernment.However,itmustbemindfulofnotofferingtoomanyexceptionsinordertosecurethepact.Marketaccess shouldbegrantedstrategically, securingone’sownbenefit.Moving from a limited agreement towards a comprehensive free trade agreement

will prove to be a farmore trickyproposition. TheUS is likely to push for far greater ac-cessforitsagricultural/dairyproductsthanIndiawillbepreparedtooffer—thiswasalsoamajor stickingpoint in theRCEPnegotiations.Other thorny issuesare likely to includeintellectualpropertyrightsanddigitaltaxation.Onitspart,theIndiangovernmentneedstodevelopaclearandcoherentstrategyonfreetradeagreements. Inthepast, ithasvac-illated in its approach.While arguing for greater trade and integrationwith the globaleconomy,ithaswalkedoutoftheRCEPandcalledforreviewingthepreviouslysignedFTAsbasedon thenotion that the countryhasnot benefited from them.And thougha studybyNITI Aayoghas shownhow Indian exporters hadnot gained from trade agreementsaccordingtotheexpectations,othershaveshownthatmuchof India’stradedeficitstemsfromimportsof rawmaterials, intermediateandcapital goods,not consumergoods.Signals emanating fromthegovernment in the recentpast—thedecision tooptout

of theRCEP,aswellasthehikesinimportduties—havesuggestedit isveeringawayfromfreertrade,towardsamoreinward-looking,protectioniststance.Thisapproachneedstobereconsidered.Thebenefits stemming fromfree tradeare indisputable.While thede-greesof access andprotection shouldbeaggressivelynegotiated, thebottomline is thatfree trade is good. At the same time, the government needs to focus on addressing thestructural issues thatcontinuetoplaguethecountry’sexportcompetitiveness.Thecur-rentglobalenvironment—thespreadof theCOVID-19pandemic,andtheincreasingUS-China altercations— provides an opportunity for reconfiguring trade relations.WhileChinacontinuestobecentraltoglobalsupplychains,andanyre-adjustmentwillbetimecostumingandacostlyaffair in theshort run, Indiamust seize thismoment.

REMOVING BLINKERSCitizenship test rowpoints toUKrefusal toconfrontcolonialpast,whichobstructsmeaningfulengagementwithpresent

SINCE 2005, ALL immigrantswhowant to become British citizens have topassa45-minutetestthatincludesquestionsonthecustoms, lawsandhis-toryoftheiradoptedland.Akeypartofthecountry’simmigrationprocedure,the“LifeintheUK”test,oftenattractscriticismforfocusingonunnecessary—attimes, factually incorrect—trivia.Thisyear,nearly200historianshave

calledoutthetestforbeing“fundamentallymisleading”onissuesrelatingtoslaveryandtheBritish Empire. The target of their criticism is thehandbookgiven to the applicants,whichhassentenceslike,“bythesecondpartof the20thcentury,therewas,forthemostpart, an orderly transition from the Empire to Commonwealth, with countries beinggrantedtheirindependence”. Inasimilarvein,theabolitionofslaveryisseensolelyasanact of enlightened policy. The historians have asked the British HomeOffice to reviewthehandbook.PerhapstheircriticismcouldalsorenewdebateonhowtheUKhasengagedwith its colonial legacy, especially theerasuresandsilencesof itsofficialhistory.TheBritishEmpireshapedlargepartsof themodernworld. ItpoweredtheIndustrial

Revolution,built socialandeconomichierarchiesandcreatednewborders.Colonialad-ministrators cannotbeabsolvedof culpability inmodern-dayconflicts andproblems—between India and Pakistan, Palestine and Israel, some of the environmental concernstoday.There isalsoawealthof scholarshiponhowtheempire, itspeopleandtheirwaysof living impactedEnglish culture. Yet, people in the colonies arenever actors in schooltextbooks in the UK. The abolition of slavery is discussed but there is silence on theprocessesof enslavement.Britainseemstobequitehappytotalkabout itscolonialpast,aslongasit’sframedinnostalgiafortheempire. TheJallianwalaBaghkillings,theBengalfamine, the brutality of the Boerwars, themassacres in Kenya in the 1950s, have beenairbrushed fromtheofficialnarrativesof thepast.A fewmainstreamBritishpoliticianshavedemanded the inclusionof colonial history

intheschoolcurriculum.Lastyear,thethenLabourPartychief,JeremyCorbyn,talkedabouttheneedtoaddressthelegacyofslavery.Thecriticismofthehistoriansshouldbeseenasapartofthisdiscourse.Withoutsuchanacknowledgementofcolonialism,anyengagementwithracismormulti-culturalismwouldbeincomplete.

WATCH IT!Withfans likean insistenthostage-taker inUkraine,noone

canafford to ignoredocumentariesanymore

THEDOCUMENTARYHASbecome aneglected art form. Shows depictingcarnivoresmurderingherbivores,surrealcreaturesoftheabyssdoingtheirthing,andthelivelierbitsofhistory,likewars,disastersandmarketcrashes,remainsomewhatpopularontelevision.Butwell-meaningworkdepict-ingthedifficultiesofmarginalfarmers,endangeredweaversandbrilliant

butmisunderstoodpoetsisoftenrelegatedtoBYOF(bringyourownfilm)festivals,toed-ify otherdocumentary-makers.Meanwhile, theworld remains indifferent. It carries onwatchingdocumentariesaboutOperationTorchandthedietarypreferencesof bigcats.This isadisgrace,becausetherearecompellingreasonstowatchdocumentaries.They

expandthemind,broadentheoutlookandraiseawarenessinamannerthatJasonBournecannot.Andnow,themostcompellingreasonhasbeendiscovered—thebusinessendofagun.IntheUkrainiantownofLutsk,a44-year-oldmanwithahistoryofextremeviewsandaportrait showinghimcradling a sawn-off Kalashnikov, took 13people hostage in a busandforcedthemtowatchShaunMonson’sEarthlingsatgunpoint.HealsodemandedthatPresidentVolodymyrZelenskypromotethedocumentary.Beingacomedianbyprofession,thepresidentcomplied,andpromptlypulledthepromowhenthehostageswerereleased.Earthlings, exposing the sufferingof animals in laboratories and farms, couldbeone

of themost popular documentaries ever. IMDb reports that 91 per cent of peoplewhowatcheditsinceitpremiered15yearsagolikedit.TheUkrainianinteriorministeragreedthat itwasagoodfilm,andahostagedramawasnotrequiredtourgepeople towatch it.Nevertheless, the incidentdrawsattention todocumentariesquite forcefully.Weantic-ipateasurgeof interest in thisneglectedgenre.

Time to be less afraid

Milind Sohoni

Resultsof sero-prevalencesurveyofferhope.Nextphaseneeds less fear,bettergovernance

OFTHEMANYsero-prevalencesurveyscon-ductedinIndia, thefirstofficial resultshavefinallybeenpublished.ThiswasdonebytheNational Centre for Disease Control, anagency of the Government of India. Morethan 20,000 random blood samples weretaken in the period June 27 to July 10, fromthecityofDelhiandtestedforantibodiestothe COVID-19 virus. Close to 23 per centwere found to have experienced corona insome form, good enough to have becomeimmune to it for at least the next fewmonths if not years. The actual number ofthe people immune may be even larger,given that a serological test does not countimmunityduetosuitableT-cellswhichmaybepresent inourblood.This is a remarkable findingandshould

provideaturningpoint inthemanagementof the epidemic. Of the 198 lakh people ofDelhi, 23 per cent, that is, close to 45 lakhhave been infected. Of these 45 lakh, thenumber of officially confirmed cases is amere 1.23 lakh, of which roughly 3,700peoplehavedied.Thisgivesusan infectionfatality ratio (IFR) of about 0.9 per 1,000.This is,of course,muchless thanthat intheUS,Germanyandothercountriesandmorein linewithother tropicalcountriessuchasThailand.Thesecondfactisthetiming.Itwasabout

July 10 that the intensity of the epidemicstarted to diminish in Delhi. Hospital bedsbecame available and the number of casesstarted to fall. The survey seems to indicatethat since a large number of people are al-ready immune, the virus is indeed findingfewer and fewer new people to infect.Moreover,theinformalworkersofDelhiwhostay in dense pockets were the first to facetheepidemicandaremostlikelytohavede-veloped this immunity. Since they formthematrix for amajority of the social and eco-nomic transactions in the city, their immu-nityshouldbeanimportantfactorinslowingtheepidemic.Thatsuchheterogeneityinthepopulation, intermsofnumberofdailycon-tacts, may hasten the onset of herd immu-nitywasrecentlynoted inthereputed jour-nal, Science, in their June issue. And this iswhatseemstobeplayingoutinDelhi.Asim-ilar scenario is unfolding in Mumbai,

Ahmedabad and other cities of India. Thus,ifwecontinue to take care,wewill nowseea slow burn and the extinguishing of theviruswithinourmajorcities.The second conclusion that we must

drawis that thevirus is indeed intensely in-fectious. It has jumped over roadblocks,slippedthroughcontainmentzones,evadedquarantineandcontacttracingandmanagedto infect43 lakhanonymouspeople,whosenames have not appeared in any officialrecordorcontactlists.Mostofthemhadmildor no symptoms. Thosewho hadmore se-vere symptomsandvisited a clinic, enteredintotheofficialcoronarosters.Whateverbethe claimsof our topbureaucrats, scientistsandministers, this transmission has hap-penedrightunder theirverynoses.Worldwide, themanagementof thedis-

ease has revolved around three key opera-tions.Thefirst istocontroltransmission,thesecondis toprovideaccesstothosewhoareill, and finally, the third is to evolve the sci-ence of treatment. The worst excesses inIndia have been in the name of controllingtransmission. In fact, common people,tradersandindustrialists,workersandfarm-ers, are vexed by the current patchwork oflocalandregional lockdownsandarangeofregulationswhich are purported to “breakthe chain of transmission”.We now knowthat this is futile.What is needed is a rapidresponsetosymptomaticpatientsandasta-tistical approach to transmission, of simplerules of masks, ventilation and distance. Ofbetter designedpublic spaces andmarkets,autorickshawsandbusschedules, andnewways tomanufacturenewproducts.And,ofcourse, toavoidsuper-spreadingevents.Thethirdpart, thatis, thescienceof treat-

menthasalsoevolved.Wenowknowthatthetreatment for the 97 per cent is simple andmay evenbe given at home. Early diagnosisandcarecanreducemortalitysubstantially.It is really themiddle part, of ensuring

that the ill have rapid access to hospitals,which isproving tobeourweakest link. It isthisweshouldbeafraidof andnot somuchthe virus. Evenwith such a small infectionfatalityratio,thehighinfectivityandthelargenumber of cases pose huge logistical prob-lems.Simplecalculationsnowshowthatwe

needtoprovideoneadditionalhospitalbedper1,000population,alongwithnursesanddoctors.Most districts inMaharashtrahavestruggled to arrange 0.3 beds per 1,000throughpublicinfrastructure.Thesewillnotsuffice.TheexperienceofAurangabad,Thaneand Jalgaonshows thatprivatehospitals al-readyplayasignificantrole.Thiscomeswiththe usualmalpractices and exorbitant hos-pital bills, especially for thosewhohave lit-tleaccess togood informationoradvice.Thekey, then, istogetthemaximumout

ofourpublichealthsystems.InMaharashtra,thismeanshometreatmentofmildpatients,identification of moderate and serious pa-tientsbylocalhealthworkersandtheirquicktransfer to the hospital. This requires guid-ance,equipmentandsupportfromthestateadministration to gram panchayats, townsand cities, to ASHAworkers and the newlyformedcadreofCommunityHealthOfficers.It alsomeans better utilisation of hospitalbedsandbetterhospitalmanagement. Thisrequires a planning approach and ameas-urement framework. For example, we stilldon’tknowtheaveragetimeacoronapatientstays in the hospital, or the fraction of pa-tients who need oxygen treatment. Suchframeworksshouldhavecomefromourcen-tralscientificagencies.Butthelesssaidaboutthem,thebetter. It istimeforthestatestodotheir science themselves.Insummary, theresultsof thesurveyof-

fer us hope, and perhapsmark a beginningof the end. The initial lock-downs did pro-vide us some time to understand the virus,ifnottopreparefor it.Anditdidprovideourpoor, the first patients, the first crack at ourpublic systems. But thenext phase requiresawidespreadunderstandingof thedisease,of less fear and better governance. And aschedule of relaxations and tightening ofruleswhichaimtomeet infrastructurecon-straintsandnotmerelytopromotevirtue. Itneeds amore studied approach and a part-nershipbetweenbureaucrats and the com-munitiesthattheyserve.Thiswillsaveboth,livesand livelihoods.

Thewriter iswithCentre forTechnologyAlternatives forRuralAreas, IITBombay.He

is currentlyondeputation to IITGoa

Worldwide, the managementof the disease has revolvedaround three key operations.The first is to controltransmission, the second isto provide access to thosewho are ill, and finally, thethird is to evolve the scienceof treatment. The worstexcesses in India have beenin the name of controllingtransmission. In fact,common people, traders andindustrialists, workers andfarmers, are vexed by thecurrent patchwork of localand regional lockdowns anda range of regulations whichare purported to ‘break thechain of transmission’. Wenow know that this is futile.

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,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020WORDLYWISE

Thehistorianwithouthis facts is rootlessandfutile; the factswithouttheirhistorian

aredeadandmeaningless.— E H CARRTHEEDITORIALPAGE

SamaKhan

PANDEMIC AND THE CITYCovidcrisisunderlines falseurban-ruralbinary,neglectofurbanareas

IT ISMORE vital today to talk about urbanpolicy than ever before since the COVID-19pandemic ismost active in cities. The con-gestion that plagues large cities has turnedout to be their worst enemy during thiscrisis.Thiscongestionismostevident inslums

in large cities and poses a grave health andenvironmental challenge. The riskof conta-giousdiseases ismorepotent in theseareasas residents also suffer from a lack of basicservicessuchassafedrinkingwaterandsan-itation. To ask them to navigate congestionand practise social distancing seemsmostironic. It isnosurprisethenthatmanyslumsinMumbai andDelhi have becomeCOVID-19 containment zones. Unfortunately, theSwachhBharatMissionhasdisregardedthegravityof thesanitationandhygienecrisisincities— the Centre’s allocation for the ruralcomponent of theMission is about seventimesmore than forurbanareas.The health systems in megacities like

Delhi andMumbai are also overburdenedandfaceashortageofhospitalstaffandbeds.Class I cities (more than a lakh population)have1.4bedsper1,000people.Delhihas1.5bedsper1,000peoplewhereasMumbaihasonebedper 1,000people.However, theur-ban support under the National HealthMission is just threeper cent of the total al-location, while 97 per cent of the funds aresetaside for rural areas.

The growth of large cities can be attrib-uted to their role as economic engines in arapidly globalising world. Urban develop-ment programmes such as the JawaharlalNehru National Urban Renewal Mission(2005-2014) allocated the bulk of funds tolargecities(70percenttolargecitiesand30per cent to smaller towns). Current infra-structure development schemes, includingtheAtalMissionforRejuvenationandUrbanTransformation (AMRUT) and the SmartCitiesMission, focus on Class I cities. Boththese schemes focus on development proj-ects and provide funds for themore devel-opedcitiesthatalreadyhaverelativelybetterinfrastructureandoverlookthenearlysevencrorepeoplewholiveinsmallertowns(pop-ulationbetween20,000andonelakh).Thesearetownsthat lagbehindinservicesandin-frastructureascompared to thebigcities.Thereturnofmigrantworkersfromlarge

citiestosmallertownshassignalledthesig-nificanceof the latter. These townsarenowforcedtoprovidenotjusthealthcarebutalsosome form of livelihood to those arrivingfrom the big cities. This is bound to stretchtheir capacities. The lownumberof COVID-19 tests conducted in these towns reveals alack of capacity, which, in turn, distorts thescale of the current crisis. While theMahatma Gandhi National RuralEmploymentGuaranteeAct(MNREGA)pro-vides employment opportunities to rural

households, there is no equivalent schemefor thepoor inurbanareas.Thestateofourcitieshasbeenamatterof

concernfordecades.Beitairqualityandun-safe drinking water, or now, the virus, theprecarious nature of urban living has neverbeenmore pronounced. In contrast to theimaginationof thecityasahubofsocialandeconomicactivity, it isnowperceivedasthecentreofdiseaseanddistress.Thepandemichas forced us to reflect on the unequal andunplanned development of urban settle-ments and the absence of infrastructure toprovide for the teeming millions.Oversimplifiednotionsoftherural-urbanbi-naryhaveinfluencedpolicyformulationandcreated huge disparities in the allocation ofpublic resources. The challenges of urbanpoverty and congestion cry formore atten-tion,moregovernmentsupport.Furtherneg-lect will lead to grave health and environ-mental challenges.Smalltownsthatareurbaninnaturebut

rural in character are themost neglected inthe current policy environment. They areforcedtoexistwithpoorerservicesandpol-icy neglect while having to meet the de-mands of a largepopulation. They aremostprone toplunge intodistress, as the currentcrisishas revealed.

Thewriter isa researchassociateat theCentre forPolicyResearch,NewDelhi

In contrast to theimagination of the city as ahub of social and economicactivity, it is now perceivedas the centre of disease anddistress. The pandemic hasforced us to reflect on theunequal and unplanneddevelopment of urbansettlements and the absenceof infrastructure to providefor the teeming millions.

ABDULLAH’S SUSPICIONPRIMEMINISTERINDIRAGandhidisownedanyplantotoppletheSheikhAbdullahmin-istry in JammuandKashmir. ChiefMinisterAbdullah,whometMrsGandhi inDelhi onJuly23,toldjournaliststhatshehadtoldhimthat shewasnotawareof anyconspiracy toousthisgovernmentandinstiltheCongress-Iinoffice.Nordidsheeversupportsuchpoli-cies. Since the PMhaddenied such amove,hehadtobelieveher,Abdullahsaid.But thechief minister did not hide his feeling thatsomeone in the Centrewas supporting thestateCong-I elementswhohadbeen tryingto create law and order problem and insta-bilitywithaviewtobringingdownhismin-

istry.Why could not the Central leadershipandMrsGandhidisciplinetheirpartyunitinthestate,heasked.

INDUSTRIAL POLICYTHE GOVERNMENT OF Prime MinisterIndiraGandhiwill havea set of “pragmaticpolicies”whichwill removeconstraintsonindustrial production and act as catalystsfor faster growth. This is reflected in thestatementonindustrialpolicypresentedinthe Lok Sabha by theMinister of State forindustry,CharanjitChanana. The33-monthrule by the Janata Party and its successorgovernmenthavecomeinforsevere indict-mentinthestatement,whichindicatesthat

the district industries centres schemewill be abandoned in favour of betteralternatives.

AFGHAN TURMOILTHEKHALQANDParchamfactionsoftherul-ingPeoplesDemocraticPartyofAfghanistanseemedmoving towardsashowdownwithonemoreminister reportedlyplacedunderarrest and two others shot dead. RadioPakistansaid that thecommunicationmin-ister, Colonel AslamWatanjar had been ar-rested and the educationminister and viceminister of the interior had been shot deadtwo days ago in Kabul.Watanjar is consid-ered tobeclose toMoscow.

JULY 24, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

New Delhi


WHATTHEOTHERSSAY‘‘Reversing Ataturk’s secular legacy plays well among Turkish nationalists,for whom the museum inside the Hagia Sophia long represented ahumiliating foreign imposition .’’ — THENEWYORKTIMESTHE IDEASPAGE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Since most armed conflictsin the world do not end invictory or defeat or peace butin a draw, it is not unusualfor state authorities to be insome form of de factopartnership with armedgroups. In the context ofNortheast India, we may beindulging in wishfulthinking by uncriticallylabelling all documentssigned by rebel factions andthe government — markingsome sort of a suspension ofactive hostilities — as peaceaccords. Perhaps the use ofthe word ‘peace' in thiscontext may require a greatdeal more decoding than wehave been inclined to do.

Peace and its disorders Raza's time

WHENHEwrote “Iwill bringmy time” ina love letter to JanineMongillat, a Frenchartist who became his life-companion in1959, SayedHaider Razawas notmakingan aesthetic boast but a gentle assertion.Hehadbeen inParis for about adecade, ayoungstrugglingartistwhoeventuallyre-mained there for six decades, the longestthatanyIndianartisthaslivedandpaintedinFrance.Razadidnot changehisnation-ality and retained his Indian passport tilltheend.HereturnedtoNewDelhiforgoodtowards the end of 2010 and died on July23, 2016. Hewas buried, as hewanted, inMandla next to his father's grave, close totheriverNarmada,whichhealwaysmen-tionedwithdeep regardasNarmadaji.Havingexperiencedbeautyandfear in

the thick jungles of Mandla, the two be-camehis life-long concerns. Fearwas su-perseded as he pursued beauty throughhis art. He attained a rare but vitally cre-ativefusion,ofFrench lasensplastiqueandIndian metaphysical concepts such asbindu, prakriti, kundalini, ankuran, etc. Heused to say that he learnt how to paintfromFranceandwhattopaint fromIndia.Raza searched for a visual language inpainting, which could enact his celebra-tionandaffirmationof lifeandrevealsen-suously the vibrant colours and dynamicform of his spiritual reality. Living in theWestfornearlysixdecades,Razaexploredin his iconic work an alternativemoder-nityof consonance, celebratoryandcere-bral, of affirmation and silence, of germi-nation and rejuvenation, of the fusion ofthe sensuousand the spiritual.Raza’searlyFrench-periodworkswere

largelycityscapesandhelaterpainted“in-scapes”. He termedhis art as “roop adhy-atam”—spiritual form—underliningthatfor art beauty is both physical andmeta-physicalsimultaneously.Therearenovis-ibletracesof thepostWorldWarIIhistoryin his painting though he was in Francethen. Once, I told him that he wasmoreconcernedwith eternity rather than his-tory.He joyously agreed.For a couple of decades, life was not

easy for Raza in France. Hewas acceptedas a painter of the Parisian School whichgave him some recognition but it madehimunhappyabouthis artistic identity. Itis then that he, through a lot of agonisingself-questioning, recalled the “bindu”,whicha rural primary school teacherhadtoldhim, aboywithaway-wardmind, toconcentrate on. Bindu as a source of en-ergy, a point of entry and exit, and a stillcentre,becamethecentral imageforRaza.In the1980s,Raza's love forpoetrybe-

came an element in his paintings. He isperhaps the only modern artist in India,maybe the world, who has inscribed innearlyahundredcanvaseslinesandwordsof Sanskrit, Hindi and Urdu poetry. Also,most of his canvases fromthe1980shavetitles inHindi. Thepoetshedrewfromin-cluded the creators of the Upanishads,

Kabir,Tulsi,Sur,MahadeviVerma,Agyeya,Muktibodh,FaizandSahirLudhianvi.Eventhoughhisgazewasfixedoneternity,his-tory seeped in through these poems, areinvention of someminiature paintingconventions.Hispaintingscanbegainfullyreadasloveletterstotheworld,asprayersforgrace.Whilethereareworkswhichex-pressagitationandfury, largelyRazachosepeace, tranquillity, resonance and silenceas the leadingmotifs or emotions his artwouldevoke.Widely acknowledged as a master

colourist,Razarealisedduringhisnumer-ousvisitstoIndiafromFrance,“thatcolourwas the essence of mywork. I wanted tocreateamusicalharmonyincolour:Colourasdensity,asexpression,asastateofemo-tion, as sentiments, as time”. In hisItinèraire (itinerary) he concludes: “Butwhether it is literature, music, painting,onealwayscomesback to life, to thedailylife in themost ordinary things, and it isultimatelyalwaysnaturewhichisthecul-minationpoint.”A half-done canvas is still on the easel

asheleft it inearly2016,beforehefell ter-minally ill, in his Delhi studio which theRazaFoundationhaskeptitasitwas,nam-ing it TheLast Studio.Healsoasserted,“Ihavenoapologyfor

my repetition of the form of the Bindu.With repetition, you can gain energy andintensity as is gained through Japmala,or the repetition of a word or a syllableuntil you achieve a state of elevatedconsciousness.”Recalling his days of youth, both in

Bombay and Paris, he wanted to be ofsomesupportandassistancetotheyoungartists, poets, musicians and dancers ofIndia.TheRazaFoundationwassetupasacharitable trust and is today perhaps thelargest trust set up by an Indian artist. Ithas been organising art shows, talks, lec-tures, concerts, recitals and publications,largely featuring theyoungergeneration.RazaspokeandwroteinHindi,English

andFrench.AMuslim,hevisitedmosques,temples andchurches regularly.With FNSouzaandMFHusain, he established theProgressiveArtistsGroupin1947.Razare-mained in touch with most of hisProgressivefriendsincludingRamKumar,Akbar Padamsee, Tyeb Mehta, BalChhabra, Gaitonde, Husain, KrishenKhanna,etcandtheRazaArchivescontainmorethan20,000letters.Raza’sbirthcen-tenary year will begin from February 22,2021, and the Raza Foundation will alsocelebrate Raza’s close artist-friends suit-ably. A major show of Raza is beingplanned inParis in2021.Raza was full of love and lure of the

world, especially nature but he also en-actedhis gratitude to theworld and civil-isation he belonged to. Hewas a gratefulheir totheplurality, richnessanddepthofIndiancivilisation.In 2002 when Raza turned 85, I con-

cluded a poem, Raza’s Time, with the fol-lowingwords: Inthesoul’sheat/desiresstillexistdespite turning toashes/words still ex-ist despite being used up in paintings-/theheart’s call still exists despite having van-ished inprayer-/weconsecratewithwhat isleft/withwhat will persist beyond time/de-spite attempts of death-/with handswoundedbytime/weconsecrate/himwhoisoutside of time.

Vajpeyi is aHindi poet andcritic

Governor-interlocutorRNRavi’s strongcriticismof rebelgroupshewasnegotiatingwith inNagaland isyetanotherpointer:Peaceaccords inNortheast requiremoredecodingthanwehavebeen inclinedtodo

BYANYMEASURE, NagalandGovernor RNRavi’s letter to Chief Minister Neiphiu Riodated June 16 is a significant episode in thepoliticalhistoryofthestate.“Rampantextor-tion and violence by armedgangs”, says theleakedletter,havemadethelivesoflaw-abid-ingcitizensinthestatemiserable.Morethana half-dozen “organised armed gangs”, ac-cording to the governor, brazenly run theirownself-styledgovernments.Theirdepreda-tionsthatincludethecaptureofdevelopmentfunds, facelittleresistancefromstateinstitu-tions.Therehasbeenacollapseoflawandor-der inthestate.It is hard to quarrelwith the official facts

and statistics that a governor canmarshal.Though many may roll their eyes at thescathingtoneandlanguageoftheletter,itisadramatic departure frompast gubernatorialpractice,whichwastolooktheotherway.Ordinarily, such an assessment by a gov-

ernorwouldbereadasapreludetobringingastateunderPresident’sRule.ButNagaland’suniquepoliticalhistorydoesnotwarrantsuchspeculation based on a false analogywithstatesintherestofIndia.Nobodyexpectssuchaturnofevents inNagaland.Afterall, theBJP—therulingpartyinIndia—isapartnerinthestate’scoalitiongovernment.Nodictionarydefinitionofwordslike“or-

ganisedarmedgangs”or “extortion”used inthe governor’s letter,would help inmakingsense of the political drama unfolding inNagaland. There is always a conflict overmeaningwhenissuesareessentiallypolitical.Raviis,ofcourse,noordinarygovernor.He

isalsotheUniongovernment’sinterlocutortotheNagatalks;hehasservedinthatpositionformuchlongerthanasgovernor.Bynowhewasexpectedtodeliveronthepromiseofafi-nalpeaceagreementwithallNagafactionsonboard. It turnsoutthatthe“organisedarmedgangs”thatthegovernor’sletteralludestoarenoneotherthantheNagarebel factionswithwhomhe,wearinghisotherhat,hasbeenne-gotiatingforpeace—at leasttill recently.Not surprisingly, all his negotiatingpart-

ners—currentanderstwhile—havesharplycriticisedthegovernor’sletter,takingparticu-larexceptiontothewords“extortion”and“or-ganised armed gangs”. TheNSCN-IM, by farthestrongestNagarebelorganisation,andtillrecently, themain party representing theNagas at the talks, has said that “taxes havebeen the source of sustenance that hasbroughttheNagapoliticalmovementthisfar”,and that the legitimacy of the practice hasbeenacknowledgedbyRavi’spredecessorin-terlocutors and “Indian authorities”. If Ravinowsuddenlychoosestoview“theNagaissueasa ‘lawandorder’ problem”,hemaybe thewrongpersontoresolvetheconflict.Even theNagaNational Political Groups

(NNPG), the coalition of sevenNaga factionsthat seems prepared to sign a peace agree-mentevenwithouttheNSCN-IM,rejects thegovernor’slanguage.Eversince“theinceptionofourstruggle”,saystheNNPG,“Naganational

workers”havebeencollecting“nominal”butmandatory“contributions”tothecause.Whethertheyarecontributions, taxes,or

extortionisperhapsintheeyeofthebeholder.To be sure, their prevalence does not fit thetextbook definition of an ideal-typical statewith amonopoly over legitimate taxationpowers.Butthephenomenonishardlyunfa-miliartoanalystsinvestigatingtheactuallyex-isting nature of post-colonial sovereignty invariouspartsoftheworld.Ratherthanchoos-ing betweenRavi’s vocabulary and that pre-ferred by the armedgroups, the empiricallyorientedpoliticalanalystwillperhapsbebet-terservedbyananalyticalphrase like“infor-maltaxationbynon-stateactors”.Of course,notaxcollectionregime—for-

mal or informal — can be free of coercion.ManyordinarycitizensofNagalandandcer-tain adjacent areas seek the endof theNagaconflict because they earnestly hope that itwouldendtherelentlessdemandsofthelong-standing informal taxation regime. But thatshouldnotleadonetounderestimatethesub-stantial influenceandlegitimacyof theNagamilitant organisations, including theNSCN-IM,amongtheNagapublic.Nagaland’selectedstatelegislature,forin-

stance, has repeatedly endorsed theNSCN-IM’s key demand for the “integration of allNaga-inhabited contiguous areas under oneadministrative umbrella”. Former ChiefMinisterTRZeliangevenprovidedarationalefor the prevailing informal taxation regime.Unlikemanyotherarmedgroupsintheregion,he said in response to a journalist’s question,theNagaarmedgroupsdonotreceivegovern-mentsubsidies.That,heimplied,isamatterofnationalhonour.Thus,theyare“boundtocol-lecttaxfromthepeoplefortheirsurvival”.It ishardtoescapetheconclusionthatin-

formaltaxationisbuiltintotheverystructureandhistory of Nagaland. ConsiderGeneral SK Sinha’s account of how the statewas cre-ated.Duringhis long armycareer, Sinhahadsignificant counterinsurgency experience inNagaland.Afterhisretirement,hehadservedasgovernorofbothJammuandKashmirandAssamduring particularly troubled times.“ThereweremanyeffortstopacifytheNagas,”

saidtheGeneral, speakingat the Institute forConflictManagement inNewDelhi in 2001,“and through concessions in 1963, the StateofNagalandwascreated”.“This Statewas for apopulationof barely

5,00,000—lessthanthepopulationofmanyof thecoloniesofNewDelhi—andyetall thetrappingsthatgowith full statehood,a legis-lature, cabinet, chiefminister and later, evengovernor,wentwiththisnewstatus.ButthisfailedtosatisfytheNagas,andtheycontinuedwiththeiroperations”.A formerNaga civil servant, Alemtemshi

Jamir,oncereflectedfarmoresympatheticallyonNagaland’s peculiar fiscal predicament.Drawing on his long administrative experi-enceinthestateinvariouscapacities, includ-ing in thepositionof development commis-sioner, he said that because the state ofNagalandwas “created out of a political ne-cessity”, itwasnotexpectedtobe“economi-callyviableforalongtime”.Ithasa“hugeover-loaded governmental structure, thesustenanceofwhich,occupiesalmostall theenergies and resources of the government”,whichleaves“verylittleresourceforotherac-tivities includingdevelopment”.Sincemost armed conflicts in theworld

donotendinvictoryordefeatorpeacebutina draw, it is not unusual for state authoritiesto be in some formof de facto partnershipwith armed groups. In the context ofNortheastIndia,wemaybeindulginginwish-fulthinkingbyuncritically labellingalldocu-ments signed by rebel factions and the gov-ernment—markingsomesortofasuspensionof active hostilities — as peace accords.Perhaps the use of theword “peace” in thiscontextmayrequireagreatdealmoredecod-ingthanwehavebeeninclinedtodo.Armed groups inNortheast India have a

long track record of successfully claiming ashareofdevelopmentfunds—withthecom-plicity of elected and appointed public offi-cials—both before and after signing “peaceaccords”.Nagalandmaybe the leader in thisregard,butnotanexception.

Baruahistheauthormostrecentlyof IntheNameof theNation:IndiaanditsNortheast

Sanjib Baruah

SPEAKER’S DECISION

THISREFERSTOthearticle,‘Cheatingthefloor test' (IE, July23). It is not correct tosaythatthe Bommai judgmentrequiresa fresh look. The said judgment appliesto the fullHouse andnot to a truncatedHouse.Novoteof confidenceornocon-fidence can bemoved in a truncatedHouseandthereforethequestionoffloortestoranyothertestdoesnotariseinsuchHouse. In thepresent case of RajasthanAssembly,theSpeakerhasfirsttodecidewhetherthedefectedmembersaredis-qualified. If he disqualifies them, therewillhavetobefreshelectionsfortheva-cated seats. It is only after theHouse isfullyconstitutedwithnewlyelectedrep-resentatives that thevoteof confidenceor no confidence, if any, can bemovedand the Bommai judgmentwill apply,whichhasprescribedfloor test foropenandaccuratecountingofheads.

PBSawantvia email

CITIZEN’S RIGHTSTHIS REFERS TO the editorial, 'Twotweets' (IE, July 23). The contempt ofcourt charges against senior advocatePrashantBhushanandTwittergoagainstthe Supreme Court’s own dictums onpreservingtherightoffreespeech.Whilethecontemptprovisions serve thepur-poseofhonouringthejudiciary'sstature,ithasalsobeenresortedtofrequentlybythecourtsinsilencingcriticalvoices.Thecontemptprovisionsarethemselvesdis-arrayedanduncodifiedwhichalsoleads

to inconsistent judgments in similarcases.Contemptoffencesmustbecodi-fied and SOPs should be framed for re-ducingarbitrariness.

SagarGaneshBorade,Thane

ALLIES AND ENEMIESTHISREFERSTO the editorial, 'Throughits ownprism', (IE, July 23).WithChinaand Iran developing strategic partner-ship,Indiamustchooseitsalliesanden-emies wisely. It has over the years,strengthened its tieswith Iran. China’stieswithRussia andArab countries arestronger than ever. NewDelhi shouldtakealeafoutofBeijing’sbooksindevel-oping strategic relationshipswith itsneighbours.

DakshSolanki,Delhi

LETTER TO THEEDITOR

THENATIONALInvestigationAgency(NIA),which has custody of the Telugu poet andiconicleaderof theViRaSam(RevolutionaryWriters’Association),VaravaraRao,arrestedin the Bhima-Koregaon case, has opposedhisbailpleaarguingthatheis“tryingtotakeundue benefit” of the COVID-19 pandemicand his advanced age. Rao is 81, has testedpositive for COVID-19, and has been in jailfor the past 22 months. Given that thesefacts are not contested by the NIA, the ra-tional reader is compelled to reflect on themeaning of the phrase “undue benefit”.Who is trying to take undue advantage ofwhathere?Thisquestionisbestansweredviaasec-

ondcomparativeone:Whatdoestherecentencounter killing of the Uttar Pradesh donVikas Dubey have in common with Rao’scurrent situation?Thismayseemastrangequestionbecauseof theobviousdifferences.The don is dead, the poet is not.

Moreover, since the UP authorities havestopped short of claiming that the gunswhich killed Dubey fired themselves andthatthepolicemenholdingthemwerehelp-less spectators, thedon’sdeathwas causeddeliberately. By contrast, theNIA can claimto be a blameless bystander because it didnot cause thepoet’s infection.There are bigger differences of social

identity thatweighmore heavily onpublicperception. One aspect of their identity iswhatDubeyandRao“do”,anddescriptionslikedonandpoetmaybeconsideredbiased.

Dubeycouldbedescribedasasocialworkerdedicated to solving the problems of over-workedpoliticians. Rao couldbedescribedasadreadedurban-naxal.Anotheraspectofidentity iswho they “are” in the eyes of so-ciety. Coincidentally, both Dubey and Raowere born asHindus, Brahmins andmales,but theirattitudes towards theseattributesprobablydiffer.Forexample,theformerwasa devout temple-goer while the latter is adeclaredatheist.Suchdifferencescouldbemultiplied,but

theyaredwarfedbyone fundamental simi-larity. Both Dubey and Rao voluntarily sur-renderedthemselvestopolicecustodywhenthe police — and by extension, the state —took “undue benefit” of its power to harmthem. That this harmhas resulted in deathinonecasebut“only”apotentiallylethal in-fectionintheotherisimmaterial. IfRaoweretomiraculouslysurviveCOVID-19despitehisadvanced age and pre-existing conditions,the credit for thiswould not go to the state.On the other hand, if hewere to succumb,thestatewouldbesquarely toblame.This is not unfair because of the nature

of state custody.When a law-abiding stateimprisons citizens accusedof crimes, it au-tomatically assumes custodial responsibil-ity for theirwell-being. Custodial responsi-bility istheothersideof thecoinof thelegaldeprivationof liberty—orimprisonment—and it is morally if not legally enhanced inthe case of prisoners awaiting trial. That isalsowhy,generallyspeaking,bail is therule

andjail theexception.ButRao,his10co-ac-cused in the Bhima-Koregaon case, and anunknownnumberofothersacrossthecoun-try, have been charged under a special lawwithstringentbailprovisions, theUnlawfulActivities (Prevention) Act. Effectively, theNIA argues that persons accused of crimesagainstthestateshouldbekeptinjail indef-initelybasedonsuspicionalone,even if theaccused is81yearsoldandCOVID-positive.The fact that Dubey was yet to be

chargedunder any lawwhile Raohas beenchargedunderaspecial lawshouldnotblindus to the essential similarity they share —thestate tookunfair advantageof its custo-dial power over them. But the real dangersuch casespose is that they always carry intheirbackgroundthesuggestionofpopularsupport, which sometimes ripens into anexplicit claim.Every child is taught that the law treats

everyoneequallybecauseit is,anditshouldbe, neutral towards all social identities. Butevery teenager knows that it is not, andmanyadultsbegintobelievethatitneednotbe.Thelegitimationofauthoritarianismbe-ginswithwhatpeople like tocall “realism”,which is really a sort of default cynicism.Everyone knows thatmurder is not alwaysa crime, because if Dubey had led a lynchmoborincitedariotagainsttherightkindofvictims,hewouldbehailedas ahero.Theterminal—butnotnecessarilyshort

—stageofauthoritarianismisreachedwhenit yokes together an aggressivemajoritari-

anism and a fact-resistant sense of victim-hood. Across the world today we see theemergence of a new “authoritarian pop-ulism”, where regimes backed by sociallydominant groups with a victim-complexhavecapturedelectoral controlof thestate.They are led by charismatic dictators whopersonalise state power and begin erasingthe functional differentiation andmutualautonomy of legislature, executive and ju-diciary. They turn the liberal state appara-tus inside out, negating its neutrality andturning it into aweapon to be used againstwhoeverdares todisagreewith them.When played by authoritarian populist

regimes, statevigilantismbecomesa lethalgamewithout rules. The efficient produc-tion and dissemination of mediatised nar-ratives of popular support serve to justifyandeventuallynormalisepervasive illegal-ities, producing durable forms of impunitythat damage institutions permanently.Damagedinstitutionsbehavearbitrarilybe-causetheyobeythewhimsof theirmastersratherthanthelaw.Thatiswhy,thoughtheydonotmatterasindividuals,andthoughwemaydisagreewithorevendespisetheirpol-itics, wemust protest both themurder ofVikas Dubey and the risking of VaravaraRao’s life.Becauseeveryconceivablekindofpolitics is threatenedwhen due process isre-definedas “unduebenefit”.

Thewriter teachesatDelhiUniversity.Viewsarepersonal

WhywemustprotestbothVikasDubeymurder,riskingofVaravaraRao’s life

The don and the poetSatishDeshpande

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●OURCOLOURPREJUDICES:

PANKAJBUTALIA

●●MYSTRUGGLESWITHCOVID:AMITABHA

SARKAR

www.indianexpress.com

AshokVajpeyi

CR Sasikumar

Remembering theartistwhowasagratefulheir to theplurality, richnessanddepthof

Indiancivilisation

New Delhi


THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GERMANY

Manconvictedinoneof lastHolocausttrialsA GERMAN court con-victeda93-year-oldmanon Thursday for helpingthe Nazis murder thou-sands of peoplewhile heservedasaconcentrationcampguardmorethan75years ago, inwhatmightbeoneof thelastverdictsto be handed down to aliving participant in theHolocaust. TheHamburgstate court found BrunoDeyguiltyof5,230countsofaccessorytomurder—one for each person be-lievedtohavebeenkilledintheStutthofconcentra-tioncamp,eastofGdanskinPoland,duringthetimehe served as a guardthere, fromAugust 1944toApril 1945.

BrunoDey.Reuters

TOPOFTHEWORLD

AFGHANISTAN

Govtairstrikekillsat least14:WitnessesAGOVERNMENTairstrikekilledatleast14peopleinAfghanistan's westernHerat province,many ofthem women and chil-dren, witnesses said onThursday. Hundreds ofpeople had gathered inHerat's Adraskan districttowelcome home a for-mer Taliban fighter freedfrom jail when aircraftpounded the gathering,saidNoorRahmati, awit-nesswholostthreemem-bers of his family in theairstrike.Governmentof-ficials said on Thursdaythe airstrike a day earlierwasbeinginvestigated.USPeace envoy ZalmayKhalilzad tweeted a con-demnationoftheviolenceandwelcomed the gov-ernmentprobe.

PAKISTAN

17injuredinbombblastatopen-airmarketPeshawar: A bombplanted on a vegetablecart went off at a busyopen-air market in atribal district in north-western Pakistan onThursday, injuring atleast17people includinga child. The bomb blastoccurred in Turi Bazar inthe city of Parachinarwhen the explosiveswent off as people werebusy buying groceriesand vegetables.Parachinar DistrictSuperintendentofPoliceNajabAlisaidthecauseoftheexplosionwasanim-provised explosive de-vice (IED) thatwas fittedinsideavegetable cart.

PTI&APBEIJING,WASHINGTON,JULY23

THEUSdoesnotruleoutthepos-sibility of closingmore Chinesediplomaticmissionsinthecoun-try,PresidentDonaldTrumphassaid,hoursafterWashingtonor-deredtheclosureofBeijing'scon-sulate in Houston to "protectAmerican intellectual propertyandprivate information".The consulate in Houston,

Texas, is one of five Chinesediplomatic missions in the US,not counting the embassy inWashingtonDC.TheUSmovecameafter the

Justice Department said thathackers working with theChinese government targetedfirms developing vaccines forthe coronavirus and stole hun-dreds of millions of dollarsworth of intellectual propertyand trade secrets from compa-nies across theworld."As far as closing additional

embassies, it'salwayspossible,"Trump saidWednesday duringa daily press briefing at theWhiteHouse.Foreignministryspokesper-

sonWangWenbinsaidtheorderto close the consulate "violatesinternational law and basicnorms governing internationalrelations,"and"seriouslyunder-minesChina-USrelations."

Initsstatementontheclosingof the consulate, the StateDepartmentallegedthatChineseagents have tried to steal datafromfacilities inTexas, includingthe Texas A&Mmedical systemstatewide and TheUniversity ofTexas MD Anderson CancerCenter in Houston.Wang saidtherewasnobasis to that claim."This is completely maliciousslander,"Wangsaid.

Tedros responds toPompeo remarksTheheadoftheWHOsaidon

Thursday that reported com-ments by US Secretary of StateMike Pompeo questioning his

independencewereuntrueandwouldnotdistracttheorganisa-tion fromitswork.Director General Tedros

Adhanom Ghebreyesus hascomeundercriticism,especiallyfrom US President DonaldTrump and Pompeo, who haveaccusedhimofbeingpro-China.“And the comments are un-

trueandunacceptableandwith-outanyfoundation,forthatmat-ter,”hesaid.“Oursolefocus-andthe focusof theentireorganisa-tion- isonsaving lives.“...AndWHOwill not be dis-

tracted by these comments.Wedon’twanttheinternationalcom-munityalsotobedistracted.”

REUTERSSHANGHAI/BEIJING, JULY23

CHINA THREATENED onThursday towithdraw its recog-nitionofBritishNationalOverseaspassports held by residents ofHongKong, in retaliation for theformer colonial ruler’s policy ofeasingtheirpathtocitizenship.Starting from January 2021,

thoseinHongKongwithsuchsta-tuswouldbeabletoapplyforspe-cialvisastoliveinBritainthatcouldeventually confer citizenship, in-teriorministerPritiPatelsaidthisweek. However, China opposessuchapolicyas interfering indo-

mesticaffairs,aspokesmanforitsforeignministry said, calling themoveaviolationofBritain’sprom-ises, internationallawandprinci-plesof internationalrelations.“AstheEnglishsideisthefirst

toviolatethepromise,Chinawillconsider not recognising BNOpassports asavalid traveldocu-ment, and reserves the right totake further measures,” thespokesman,WangWenbin,said.Even before Britain’s offer,

China did not recognise suchpassports as a valid documentformainlandentryby residentsof Hong Kong. Instead, it re-quired them to use travel per-mits issuedbyChina.

ASADULLAHTIMORY,NAJIMRAHIM&MUJIBMASHALJULY23

THE TEENAGE girlwas the heroof anightof carnagethat leftherfamily’shillsidehomeinwesternAfghanistanstrewnwithbodies.QamarGul, 15, fought toher lastbullet,gunningdownTalibanat-tackerswhoraidedthehouseandkilledherfatherandmother.In the days after the attack

last week, Afghan social mediawasfullofslickposterscelebrat-

ingheras“MyHero.”Someuserscompared her to the Kurdishwomen of Kobani, Syria, whofought the IslamicState.But the story of her heroism

is steeped in pain, in a culturethatoftentreatswomenasprop-erty, and in the confusion of anAfghan war that has twistedfamilies into knots of complexloyaltiesand feuds.One of the attackers she

killed was her own husband,who was fighting on theTaliban’s side and apparentlyseekingher forcible returnafterafallingoutwithGul’sfamily,ac-

cordingtorelativesandofficials.QamarGul’smother,Fatima,

hadmarried twice before end-ingupwithher father, ShahGulRahimi,accordingtoZabihullahRahmani, a relative.Her secondmarriage to a local commanderwasshort-lived:Hewaskilledinclashes with the Taliban in the1990s. Shah Gul, the local com-mander’s younger brother,steppedintomarryFatima.Theyhad two children together,QamarGul, andher12-year-oldbrotherHabibullah.In recent years, Rahimi,who

wasjust40, tookonhisbrother’s

responsibilities as a communityelderinTaiwara. Aboutfouryearsago,Rahimistruckanagreementwithalocalmanfromanadjacent

villagenamedMohamedNaeem:Naeemwouldmarry Rahimi’sdaughter, Qamar, as his secondwife. Inexchange,RahimiwouldtakeNaeem’steenagenieceashissecondwife.Just howNaeem joined the

Taliban is not exactly clear.Naeem,whohad takenhis newbridetohisoldhome,rightawaygotintoargumentswithhispar-entsoverhowunfairlyhetreatedhis firstwife by spending all histime with the younger QamarGul, said the relative, Rahmani.After one fight, Naeem tookQamarGuland left.

The trouble seems to havebegunwhenRahimi’snewwifevisited her family and refusedtoreturntoherhusband,sayingshedidn’twanttolivewithhim,according to the two relatives.In return, when Qamar Gulcamehome,her fatherheldheruntil the family returned hiswife and Naeem paid a $3,000debt forwhich Rahimiwas be-ingharassed.But Naeem had other

thoughts:HehadgrownclosetoaruthlessTalibancommanderinGhorwhowould help him takeQamar Gul homewithout pay-

ing anymoney. They chose theearly hours after midnight onJuly17forasurpriseattack,withabout a dozen of their fighterssurrounding the hillside homeandbarging in.WhenRahimihadcomeoutof

thehallwaytoseewhatwashap-pening,hewasgivennochancetorunforhisweapon.Hehadsixbul-letwounds, includingone in theneck.WhenQamarGul’smother,Fatima,cameouttocryforhelpaf-terherhusbandwasshot,shewasalso shot, three times— twice inher chest, once also in theneck,familymemberssaid.

Qamar Gul grabbed her fa-ther’sweapon, ran to the door-way,andbegansprayingattheat-tackers in theyard. She shot twoof themdead, andwoundedtheseniorTalibancommander.Twodaysaftertheattack,the

Ghorprovincialgovernorputouta statement saying Qamar Gulandher12-yearoldbrotherhaddefeatedan“offensiveattack”bythe“Taliban terrorist group”.The statement attached

graphicphotosoftwobodies.Onewas Naeem, Qamar Gul’s hus-band, the chest of his embroi-deredtunicsoakedinblood.NYT

ONE OF THE ATTACKERS SHE KILLED WAS HER HUSBAND, WHO WAS FIGHTING ON THE TALIBAN SIDE

A 15-year-old girl’s heroic battle against the Taliban was also a family feud

CHINA’S FIRST MARS PROBE TAKES OFFTheLongMarch5Y-4rocket, carryinganunmannedMarsprobeof theambitiousTianwen-1(orQuest forHeavenlyTruth1)mission, takesoff fromWenchangSpaceLaunchCentre inChina onThursday.Theprobe,China’s first toMars, isexpectedtocompleteorbiting, landingandroving inasinglemission. It shouldarrive inorbitaroundtheredplanet inFebruary.Reuters

TIMCOCKSJOHANNESBURG,JULY23

SOUTHAFRICAwitnessedsome17,000 extra deaths fromnatu-ral causes or 59% more thanwouldnormallybeexpectedbe-tween earlyMay andmid-July,scientistssaid,suggestingmanymorepeoplearedyingofCOVID-19thanshowninofficialfigures.New data by the South

African Medical ResearchCouncil (SAMRC), releasedovernight, showed that just inthe week to July 14 - the latest

figures available - therewas anexcessof5,022deathsbynaturalcauses, about half more thanusual.

Africa’s most industrialisednation is in themiddle of a run-away epidemic of the coron-avirus,with cases increasing bymore than 10,000 day and thecurrenttotaljustshyof400,000.Butitsrecordeddeathtollhassofar been low, at 5,940 deaths orless than1.5percentof cases.DebbieBradshaw, chief spe-

cialist scientist at the govern-ment-funded research council,saidthefiguresrevealed“ahugediscrepancy” between the con-firmedCOVID-19death toll andthe number of excess naturaldeaths. REUTERS

ASSOCIATEDPRESSWASHINGTON, JULY23

DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIALcandidate JoeBiden and formerPresident Barack Obamastepped up their attacks onPresidentDonaldTrumpandde-fended their time in theWhiteHouse in a new video showingtheir first in-person meetingsince theoutbreakbegan.The former president and

vice president used the inter-view-style conversation to am-plify Biden’s arguments against

Trump,with Obama emphasis-ingBiden’s experience andper-sonalattributes.Theypointedtotheiradministration’ssignaturehealth care law and blamedTrump for stoking division andanimosity among Americansfromthemomentheenteredthe

2016presidentialrace.Theyalsowere sharply critical of theRepublicanpresident’seffortstocombat thecoronavirus.“Can you imagine standing

upwhenyouwerepresidentandsaying, ‘It’s notmy responsibil-ity, I take no responsibility’?”Biden says, offering a line of at-tack similar to his recent cam-paign speeches when he as-serted that Trump “quit” on thecountry and has “waved thewhite flag” in thepandemic.“Those words didn’t come

out of our mouths while wewere inoffice,”Obamareplies.

ELIZABETHPIPER&GABRIELABACZYNSKALONDON,BRUSSELS, JULY23

BRITAIN AND the EuropeanUnionclashedonThursdayoverthe chances of securing a freetrade agreement, with Brusselsdeeming it “unlikely” butLondon holding out hope onecouldbereached inSeptember.SinceBritain left the bloc in

January, talks on the tradeagreement and other futureties have all but stalled, witheach side accusing the other offailing to compromise before atransition period runs out atthe end of this year.Those accusations grew

louder after the latest round,with theEU’snegotiatorMichelBarnier saying London hadshown nowillingness to breakthe deadlock and his BritishcounterpartDavidFrostdescrib-ingthebloc’sproposalsasfailingto meet the government’s de-mand to be treated as an inde-pendentcountry.But both sides agreed on

one thing: there had been nomovement on the main stum-bling blocks to a deal on faircompetition guarantees — theso-called level playing field —or on fisheries.“Byitscurrentrefusaltocom-

mittoconditionsofopenandfaircompetition and to a balancedagreement on fisheries, the UKmakes a trade agreement — atthis point — unlikely,” Barniertoldanewsconferenceafter thefaceto facetalks inLondon.“The time for answers is

quicklyrunningout,”hesaid. “Ifwe do not reach an agreementonourfuturepartnership, therewillbemorefriction.”REUTERS

THENEWYORKTIMESNEWYORK,JULY23

THENUMBERof people knownto have been infectedwith thecoronavirus intheUnitedStatespassedfourmilliononThursday,anothergrimmilestoneinapan-demic full of them,according toaNewYorkTimesdatabase.And it’snot just cases thatare

rising.Thenumbersofhospitalisa-tionsanddeathsreportedintheUSeachdayhavealsobeenincreasing.Public health experts have

warned that the actual numberofpeopleinfectediscertainlyfarhigher than the number of re-portedcases, andcouldbeupto13timesashighinsomeregions.Casesaretrendingupwardin

39states,aswellasWashington,DC,PuertoRicoandtheUSVirginIslands, and are decreasing inonlytwo.Inthepastweek,caseshaverisenmostquickly, relativeto population, in Florida,LouisianaandMississippi.Texashas added more than 10,000caseseachday,onaverage.More than 143,000 people

have died of the virus in theUnited States, and experts saythatthetrendinhospitalisationsanddeathsoftenlagsweeksbe-hind the trend incases. Evenso,the number of people hospital-ized in the country on

Wednesday very nearly ex-ceeded the previous high ofnearly 60,000, set on April 15when the outbreakwas largelyconcentratedinNewYork.Casesare now rising throughout theUnited States, and hospitals arefeeling thestrain.

ASSOCIATEDPRESSPORTLAND, JULY23

THEMAYORofPortland,Oregon,was tear gassedby theU.S. gov-ernment lateWednesday as hestood at a fence guarding a fed-eral courthouse during anothernightofprotestagainstthepres-ence of federal agents sent byPresidentDonaldTrumptoquellunrest in thecity.Mayor Ted Wheeler, a

Democrat, said it was the firsttime he’d been tear gassed andappeared slightly dazed andcoughed as he put on a pair ofgoggles someone handed himanddrankwater.Hedidn’t leavehis spot at the front, however,and continued to take gas.Around Wheeler, the protestraged,withdemonstratorslight-ing a large fire in the space be-tweenthefenceandtheMarkO.HatfieldFederalCourthouseandthe pop-pop-pop of federal

agents deploying tear gas andstungrenades into thecrowd.Earlier in thenight,Wheeler

wasmostly jeered as he tried torally demonstratorswho haveclashed nightly with federalagentsbutwasbrieflyapplaudedwhen he shouted “Black LivesMatter”andpumpedhisfistintheair. Themayorhas opposed fed-eral agents’ presence inOregon’slargestcity,buthehasfacedharshcriticismfrommanysides.

China’sForeignMinistryspokespersonWangWenbinatabriefing inBeijingonThursday. AP

China threatens to derecogniseBNO passports of HK residents

Washington: PresidentDonald Trump castwideblame for a surge inCovid-19 cases, pointingto racial justice protests,travelers from Mexicoandyoungbar-goers.Hesaidtheprotestsfol-

lowing the death ofGeorgeFloyd“presumablytriggeredabroader relax-ationofmitigationeffortsnationwide.” “Youngpeo-plecloselycongregatingatbars and probably otherplaces,maybe beaches,”likelyalsoledtonewcases,he added. Trump alsoblamed travelers crossingtheUS-Mexicoborder fortheriseincases. AP

Protests, thosecoming fromMexico toblame: Trump

US crosses 4 mnCovid cases asstates see surge

US protests: Mayor ofPortland teargassedby federal agents

Ataprotest inPortland,Oregon.Reuters

Britain, EUclash overpost-Brexitrelations

‘Hidden toll’ amid outbreak in S Africa:17,000 excess deaths from natural causes

InSouthAfrica.Reuters/File

QamarGul,15.NYT

E●EXPLAINED

Questions over politicalmotivesbehind closure

EVENASexpertsandpoliticiansstressedtheneedforstrongactionagainstChina,somequestionedtheUSdecisionandsuggestedthemovecouldbepoliticallymotivated.Someex-pertspointedoutthatifthemovewasmotivatedby“intellec-tualpropertytheft”,asisallegedbytheUS,theconsulateinSanFranciscowhichcoversSiliconValleywouldhavebeenabettertarget.OneclaimedthemovetoclosetheHoustonconsulateinsteadislikelyintendedtoappealtoTrumpvotersaheadofthe2020pollsanddistractfromthegovernment’sCovidpolicy

May closemore Chinesemissions,says Trump; Beijing slams ‘slander’

BarackObama, JoeBiden

In stepped-up role, Obama appearswith Biden in election campaign video

IN COLD NUMBERS

195The backlog, in years, foranIndiannationaltogetpermanentresidencyorGreenCard,asperatopRepublicansenator. ‘SomeonefromIndiaenteringthebacklogtodaywouldhavetowait195yearstoreceiveanEB-3greencard.Evenifwegivetheirchildrenthislimbostatus,noneofthemwillhaveaprayerofbecomingaUScitizen,’saidUtahSenatorMikeLee

New Delhi

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

1,238,798India

284,034Iran

362,274Mexico

297,952United Kingdom

334,683Chile

394,948South Africa

3,973,370US

2,227,514Brazil

366,550Peru

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 15,265,081 DEATHCOUNT:624,370

Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonJuly23. JHU’sIndiatallyandHealthMinistry’stally(below)maynotmatchiftheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD793,720Russia

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 12,38,635 (29,861 DEATHS)

3,37,607Maharashtra

1,86,492Tamil Nadu

32,334Rajasthan 55,588 UP

1,26,323Delhi

51,399Gujarat

49,321West Bengal

64,713Andhra Pradesh

49,259Telangana

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

Write to [email protected]

75,833Karnataka

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,July23.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.7,82,607PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN35STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 221ArunachalPradesh 949Assam 26772Bihar 30369Chandigarh 793Chhattisgarh 5968DadraandNagarHaveli 733Goa 4176Haryana 28186HimachalPradesh 1725JammuandKashmir 15711Jharkhand 6485Kerala 15032Ladakh 1206MadhyaPradesh 24842Manipur 2060Meghalaya 514Mizoram 317Nagaland 1084Odisha 19835Puducherry 2300Punjab 11301Sikkim 438Tripura 3449Uttarakhand 5300

LUNGULTRASOUNDhasbeenfoundhighlysensi-tive fordetectingabnor-malitiesinpatientswithCovid-19, Chinese re-searchers report in theAmerican Journal ofRoentgenology, pub-lished by the AmericanRoentgenRaySociety.Themostcommonly

observed features wereB-lines, a thickened pleural line, andpulmonaryconsolidationwere.Inad-dition,theresearcherssaid,theresultsindicatethatlungultrasoundfindings

can be used to reflectboth the infection dura-tionanddiseaseseverity.FromMarch 3 to 30,

the researchers did lungultrasound on Covid-19patients. All 28 patientshad positive findings onlung ultrasound. B-lineswere present in all pa-tients,and19(67.9%)pa-tients had pulmonary

consolidation.Thickenedpleurallineswereobservedin17patients(60.7%).

Source:AmericanRoentgenRaySociety

PAPERCLIP

NEWRESEARCH

Study flags lung ultrasound asa pointer to Covid severity

KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI,JULY23

WITH THREE extra Army divisions havingmovedtotheLineofActualControl inLadakhtomirror the Chinese build-up (The IndianExpress, July22), theArmyhasstartedprepar-ingforextraprovisionsfortheadditionaltroopswhowillremaindeployedthroughthewinter.TheArmydoes not share specifics about

whatwillberequiredandisbeingtransported.Alookatwhatittakestomaintainasoldierinsuchharshconditions:

Whyisitsochallenging?The eastern Ladakh region is a high-alti-

tudedesert,where temperaturescandropto-20°C. The thinner air at high altitudes alsomakesbreathingtougher.MajorGeneralAPSingh,whoserveddur-

ing2011-13astheheadoflogisticaloperationsofXIVCorpsthatisresponsiblefortheChina-facingLAC,explainedthatonsuchterrainthesoldieris“fightingthreeelements:theenemy,theweatherandhisownhealth”.

Whatisthecost?“Costofkeepingonesoldierthere,starting

frombuyingofmatchestohiscondiments,tohis food, tohis fuel forwarmingtohis sheltertoeverything, foroneturnaroundyear iseas-ilyatleasttothetuneofRs10lakh,”Singhsaid.“Iamjusttalkingaboutkeepingasoldierthere,equipping him, feeding him, keeping himfightingfit,providinghimwithallthewhere-withal.” Then there are a lot of “untold coststhatnobodywill tellyou”becauseof thesen-sitivenatureof theinformation.“Mirror deployment through thewinter

willbeahugetrade-off,”Singhsaid.Otherofficerswhohaveservedinthere-

gion agreedwith the assessment; one for-merseniorcommandersaidthecostmaybeevenhigher.

Howarethesuppliestransported?By road transport or throughaerial trips.

Land supply routes are openonlyduring thesummer,withhigh-altitudepassescoveredinsnowfromaroundNovembertoMarch-April.TherearetworoadaccessestoLadakhfrom

Srinagar:RohtangPassandZojiLa.Butneitheris open round theyear.WithRohtang tunnellikelytoopenlaterintheyear,itcanpotentiallysolve the problem, but there are twomorepasses on that route, Baralacha La andThanglangLa,bothofwhichareatahigheral-

titude thanRohtang, andmaybe snowed induringthewinter.SinghsaidoneroundtripbetweenSrinagar

andLehforatruckthatcancarry10tonnesofsupplies costs around Rs 1 lakh. A C-17Globemastermilitaryaircraft, Singhsaid, cancarryupto50tonnesandanhour-long flightcostsroughlyRs24lakh.Aircraft usually carry about 200-250

tonnesaday;heavymaterialhastogobyroad.

WhathappensafteratruckreachesLeh?Even to reach Leh, theArmyhas to build

transit shelters for thecrewof the trucks.ButbringingthesuppliestoLehisjustthefirststop.Nearly70%ofallthesesupplieshastobetakentoforwardbasessuchasSiachenorKargil.Astheterraingetstougher, theArmyuses

thehelpof locals andmules to carry someofthematerials. Theywalk around10 kmandbackeverydaythroughthesummermonthssothatthetroopsarestockedforthewinters.

Whatwillbetheadditionalcostthistime?With the usual deployment, the Army

startstheprocessofAdvanceWinterStockingin April-May. Aircraft are usually used foremergencyrequirements.“Innormal course youhave about2 lakh

tonnesofsupplies,food,equipmentetcforXIVCorps for being stocked for the6-7months,”Singh said.With thenewtroops retained forwinters, “itmaynot double everything, but

close to 3 lakh tonnes of essentials will beneedednow”.WithRs1lakhfortransportingtentonnes

through road, and thehighpriceof air trans-port, the total additional transportation costcan be calculated, he said. The governmentwill have to buyeverything “at a higher ratenow in the openmarket, compared towhatwewouldhaveprovisionedearlier”.

Whatspecialisedequipmentdothesoldiersrequire?Forhighaltitudes,theArmyprocuresspe-

cialisedequipmenttokeeptroopswarmandreadyforpossiblehealthissues.“Mosttroopswillbetherefortheirfirstwinter.Itwillbeverydifficult for themas theywill alsohave tobecombat-trained in these excruciating condi-tions,”Singhsaid.Anythingabove14,000 feet is considered

super-highaltitude.Ofthefourfrictionpointsinthestandoff,GalwanValley,HotSpringsandGogra Post are higher than 14,000 feet.DepsangPlains—where troopswerenot in-volvedinafaceoffbut whereIndia’saccesstotraditional patrol points has beenblocke byChina—ishigherthan17,000feet.Forsuchaltitudes,theArmyprovisionsfor

Special Clothing and MountaineeringEquipment (SCME). It includes ropes, specialhelmets, snowboots, jackets etc. Singh saideach soldier posted to Siachen is issued twosets,eachcostingoverRs2lakh.

“Werequisitionforabout30,000soldiers,including5,000inreserve,”hesaid,andaddedthat at least a third of the additional deploy-mentwillneedSCMEastheywillbepostedinGalwanValley,GograPostandDepsangPlains.Inareportfor2015-18tabledinParliament

inFebruarythisyear,theComptroller&AuditorGeneralnoted“delaysinprocurementofhigh-altitude clothing andequipment itemsup tofour years leading to acute shortage...”. TheArmylaterdismissedthereport,sayingitper-tained to an earlier period and the issuehasbeenaddressedsince.

Whatotherchallengesareinvolved?The forceshave to fight against time. The

turnaroundtimefromSrinagartoLehandbackis15-20days.IttakesevenlongerfromRohtangPass.Withnearlytwicethesuppliestobetakenbeforethepassescloseinthewinter,“nowyouaretryingtopumpinmore”,Singhsaid.Additionally,theforceshavetostockupfor

theinfrastructureworkgoingonnearthefor-ward areas, includingon theDurbuk-Shyok-DaulatBegOldieroad.Anotherimportantaspectisbuildingnew

shelters.“Withthestrengthdoubling,youcanimagine the amount of stuff that has to bebuilt, includingheat-proofsheltersoratleastliveable for the -20°C temperatures,” Singhsaid. The cement does not set afterSeptember,hesaid,sotheArmy“onlyhasthemonthofAugust left”.

11WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

KABIRFIRAQUENEWDELHI, JULY23

THESPIKEproteinofSARS-CoV-2—the‘co-rona’ in thecoronavirus thatcausesCovid-19disease—has just revealednewsecrets.Researchershavefoundthatthespikepro-tein changes its formafter it attaches itselfto ahumancell, folding inon itself andas-suming a rigid hairpin shape. The re-searchers have published their findings inthe journalScience,andbelievetheknowl-edgecanhelp invaccinedevelopment.

What is thespikeprotein?It is a protein that protrudes from the

surfaceofacoronavirus, likethespikesofacrownorcorona—hencethename‘coron-avirus’. IntheSARS-CoV-2coronavirus, it isthe spike protein that initiates the processof infection in a human cell. It attaches it-self toahumanenzyme,calledtheACE2re-ceptor,beforegoingontoenterthecellandmakemultiple copiesof itself.

Whathasthenewresearchfound?Using the technique of cryogenic elec-

tronmicroscopy (cryo-EM), Dr Bing ChenandcolleaguesatBostonChildren’sHospitalhave freeze-framed the spike protein inboth its shapes — before and after fusionwith thecell.The images showadramatic change to

the hairpin shape after the spike proteinbindswiththeACE2receptor.Infact,there-searchers found that the “after” shape canalsoshowitselfbeforefusion—withoutthevirus binding to a cell at all. The spike cango into itsalternative formprematurely.

Whatdoesthatsignify?DrChensuggests that assuming theal-

ternative shapemayhelpkeepSARS-CoV-2frombreakingdown.Studieshaveshownthatthevirusremainsviableonvarioussur-facesforvariousperiodsof time.Chensug-gests that therigidshapemayexplain this.Moresignificantly,theresearchersspec-

ulatethatthepostfusionformmayalsopro-tectSARS-CoV-2fromourimmunesystem.

Inwhatwaycanitprotect thevirusfromtheimmunesystem?Thepostfusionshapecouldinduceanti-

bodies that do not neutralise the virus. In

effect,thespikesinthisformmayactasde-coys thatdistract the immunesystem.“Antibodies specifically targeting the

postfusionstatewouldnotbeabletoblock

membrane fusion (viral entry) since itwouldbetoolateintheprocess.Thisiswellestablished in the field of other viruses,suchasHIV,” Chen toldThe IndianExpress,byemail.In principle, if both conformations

sharedneutralisingepitopes(thepartofthevirustargetedbyantibodies),thenthepost-fusion form too could induce neutralisingantibodies,Chensaid.“Butbecausethetwostructures are often very different, in par-ticular, in case of SARS-CoV-2 and HIV, Ithinkitisnotverylikelythatthepostfusionformwould be useful as an immunogen,”heexplained.

Dothetwoformsshareanysimilarities?Yes,boththe“before”and“after” forms

have sugar molecules, called glycans, atevenly spaced locations on their surface.Glycans are another feature that helps thevirusavoid immunedetection.

Howistheknowledgeaboutthe

alternativeshapeuseful?The researchers believe the findings

haveimplicationsforvaccinedevelopment.Many vaccines that are currently in devel-opment use the spike protein to stimulatethe immune system. But thesemay havevaryingmixesof theprefusionandpostfu-sion forms, Chen said. And thatmay limittheirprotectiveefficacy.Chen stressed the need for stabilising

the spike protein in its prefusion structurein order to block the conformationalchanges that lead to thepostfusionstate. Iftheproteinisnotstable,antibodiesmaybeinduced but they will be less effective intermsof blocking thevirus,hesaid.“Using our prefusion structure as a

guide, we should be able to do better (in-troducing stabilizingmutations) tomimicthe prefusion state, which could bemoreeffective in eliciting neutralizing antibodyresponses,” Chen told The Indian Express.“Weare in theprocessof doing this incasethe first roundof vaccines arenot as effec-tiveasweallhope.”

Maintaining troops on LACSIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWER

TheArmyispreparingforextraprovisionsforadditional troopswhohavebeenmovedtotheLACamidthestandoffwiththeChinese.Whatdoes it taketokeepasoldierbattle-fit insuchharshconditions?

GEORGEMATHEW&SUNNYVERMAMUMBAI,NEWDELHI,JULY23

CLOSETO8.5lakhbankemployeesaresettoget a15% salaryhikewith the IndianBanks’Association (IBA) – the apex body of banks— and the United Forum of Bank Unions(UBFU) signing amemorandum of under-standing to settle the three-year-long issueofwagerevision.Thebankmanagementsandunionshave

also agreed to introduce the systemof per-formance-linkedIncentive(PLI)inpublicsec-torbanksforthefirst time.ThewagerevisionwillbeeffectivefromNovember1,2017.Itwillbenefitemployeesofold-generation

privatebanks and some foreignbanks as theagreementhasbeensignedby11state-ownedbanks,12private sectorbanksandseven for-eignbanks.New-generationprivatebankslikeHDFCandICICIarenotpartof this.

Howmuchwillitcostthebanks?Theannualwageincreaseinsalaryandal-

lowanceisagreedat15%ofthewagebillasonMarch31,2017.ThisworksouttoRs7,898croreonpayslipcomponents,accordingtotheMoUsignedbythe IBAandunions. In thepreviouswage settlement,whichwas for the periodNovember1,2012,toOctober31,2017,theem-ployeesgota similar15%hike. TheUBFUhadinitiallydemanded20%;theIBAinsistedthatitwouldbe10%,refusingeventhe15%theunionshadaskedfor intheearlierroundof talks. IBAfinally agreed to a 15%hike after protractedtalks.Distributionofannualwageincreasebe-tweenworkmenandofficerswill beworkedout separately andproportionately basedonbreakup of establishment expenses as onMarch31,2017.

Howwillitimpactbanks?Thewagehikehas comeat a timewhen

mostPSUbankshadreportedheavy losses inthelastseveralquarters.Moreover, lossesandnon-performingassets(NPAs)areexpectedtorisewhentheloanmoratoriumannouncedbytheRBItotackletheimpactoftheCovid-19pan-demic is lifted inAugust.However, industry

sourcessaidthehikeshouldnotbeseeninthecontext of Covid-19,which is expected tohitthebanks’profitsinthemediumterm.Thene-gotiations for thewagehikehavebeengoingonfornearlythreeyears. “Thehikewon’tbeaburdenonbanksasitwasexpectedandmadeprovisionsaccordingly,”saidabankingsource.

Whatisperformance-linkedIncentive?After prolonged discussions, both sides

agreedtointroducePLIinpublicsectorbanks.Itwill be based on the operating profit/netprofitoftheindividualbank.Itwillbeoptionalfor private and foreign banks. “The PLI ispayable to all employees annually over andabovethenormalsalarypayable.ThePLIma-trix decides the amount payable to the em-ployeesdependingontheannualperformanceof thebank,”theMoUsays.As per the formula, if the year-on-year

growth in operating profit is less than 5%,there’snoincentive. If theY-o-Ygrowthisbe-tween5-10%, fivedays’salarywillbegivenasincentive.If thegrowthisbetween10-15%,10days’ salarywill be the incentive; if it is 15%-

plus,15days’salarywillbegiven.“In today’s banking scenario, there’s stiff

competition among different categories ofbanks–public sector, private sector and for-eignbanks.Inordertoinculcateasenseofcom-petitionandalso to reward theperformance,theconceptof PerformanceLinkedPay is felttobeintroduced,”theMoUsays.WhilePLIhasbeenintroducedtomotivate

employees, itmaybedifficult in reality sincebanks are expected topost losses in comingquarters,bankingindustrysourcessaid.

WhataboutEmployeeStockOptions?Therewas aproposal in thepast to grant

stockoptionstoseniormanagementofstate-ownedbanks,linkedtoabankreachingoper-atingand financialmilestones.However, thishasnotbeenincludedaspartof thewagene-gotiations,andthePLIschemehasbeenintro-duced. Themanagement and unions haveagreed to increase thebanks’ contribution totheNPS (National Pension Scheme) fund to14%insteadofthepresentrateof10%fromtheprospectivedateofsigningthesettlement.

How pay hike in banks will be rolled out

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

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020

Cryo-EMimagesof SARS-CoV-2beforeandafter fusionwiththehumancell.Postfusionshape is likearigidhairpin.

Prefusionstate

ACE2

Postfusionstate

ImageprovidedbyDrBingChen,BostonChildren’sHospital

Cellmembrane

Viralmembrane

How ‘corona’ of the virus changes into a hairpin shape—andwhy

ArmyvehiclesmaketheirwayfromKhuruLehtowardsEasternLadakh.Wangailkaya/FilePhoto

New Delhi

HIMACHAL PRADESH

STATE ELECTRONICS DEVELOPMENT

CORPORATION LIMITED1st & Ground Floor, I.T. Bhawan, Mehli, Shimla-171013

Tel. No. 0177-2623259, 2623513, 2626320, 2623513 2623043FAX: 0177-2626320 , Website: www.hpsedc.in

No: SEDC/RC/Printers/2k20-1591 Date: 22.07.2020

e-TENDER NOTICE

e-Tenders are invited from the eligible bidders, for General RateContract of Printers and Scanners for the year 2020-2023 for variousGovt. Departments/Boards/Corporations/ Autonomous Bodies.

Pre-bid meeting will be held on 29.07.2020 at 11.30 A.M. throughvideo conference. Last date for online e-bid submission is18.08.2020 (upto 02.30 P.M.) and shall be opened on 19.08.2020 at2.30 P.M. Detailed Tender Document containing TechnicalSpecifications and Terms & Conditions are available on HPSEDCwebsite www.hpsedc.in and https://hptenders.gov.in.

GENERAL MANAGER (TECHNICAL)0263/HP

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esaLo'kklh jkT; fpfdRlk egkfo|ky; ,ao fpfdRlky;] fQjkstkckndksfoM&19 ds n`f"Vxr~ Outsourcing of Mechanized Cleaning &Gardening Services vUrxZr bZ&gsrq izfrf"Br@[;kfryC/k QeksZa lsfufonk;sa fufonk fnukad% 24-07-2020 vijkUg%vkeaf=r dh tkrh gSA bZ&03%00 cts ls fnukad% 31-07-2020 vijkUg% 03%00 cts rd MkmuyksM ,oaviyksM dh tk ldrh gS ,oa fnukad% 01-08-2020 dks vijkUg% 03%00 ctsrduhdh fcM [kksyh tk;saxhA bl lEcU/k esa foLr`r fooj.k laLFkku dhosclkbV gmcfirozabad.in ,oa bZ&Vs.Mj dh vf/kd`r osclkbV ijiznf'kZr fd;k tk;sxkA

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Notice Inviting Bid (NIB)The General Manager, SF Complex. Jagdalpur- 494001, invites separate sealed bids in the prescribedformat from reputed firms for execution of following work at SF Complex, Jagdalpur.

The Bid document is to be downloaded from the DRDO website: vvww.eprocure.gov.in/epublish/app. Thecost of EMD in the form of demand draft drawn in favour of General Manager, SF Complex, Jagdalpur-494001 payable at Jagdalpur, at the time of submission of the bid, failing which the bid would not beconsidered.The General Manger, SF Complex reserves the right to reject any or all bid without assigning any reason.

Sd/-General Manager

davp 10301/11/0037/2021 SF Complex Jagdalpur

Government of India. Ministry of DefenceDefence Research & Development Organization (DRDO)SF Complex, Airport Terminal Building, .Jagdalpur-494001Tel: 07867-289461/62/63/64/65,Fax :07867-289466,Email: [email protected]

Annexure-’A’

SI.No.

Bid Reference No. Name of theWork

EMD (Rs.) Bid SubmissionEnd Date & Time

Bid OpeningDate & Time

01. SFC/MMG/INST-I/D-009/2020-21

ADAM Al AOModules

5,500/- 04/08/202012:30 PM

04/08/202004:00 PM

''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.

12 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020

New Delhi

CLASSIFIEDS&TENDERS 13WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020

II AnjuBalaD/o Late Sh. AshaNandW/oSh.TarunKumarNarulaR/oBH-12,WestShalimarBagh, Delhi-110088have changedmynameaftermarriage toAnjali Narula for allpurposes. 0040542591-4

II,, VViimmaalliisshhKumari Sharmaw/o-jc 761711h subAnil KumarSharma, Resident.of,H.No-1-lalitaNagar,colony jai GuruDevtemple-Salimpour rodmathura-281004 (u. P)myActual date,ofbirth,is,28/10/1970,instead.of,01/07/1972,forAll-Future,Purposes, VideAffidavit.No-06AE091221Date02/7/2020 (mathurau.P).

0040542661-3

II,, VivekVohraS/oVinodVohraR/oB-207, BehindVipul Square,Sushant lok-1, Gurgaon,Haryana-122002, have changedmyminor daughter’s namefromYati Vohraaged 14 yearstoRaizel Vohra forever

0070709311-1

II,, UshaSharma,W/oN.P SharmaR/o-505GuruRamDass-NagarLaxmi-NagarDelhi-110092.have changedmynameUshaRani,FORall purposes.

0040542617-4

II,, Susheel Kumar S/oSurinderKumarR/o.H.No.154/SF, Block-6, SubhashNagar, Delhi-110027.have changedmynametoSushil Trikha.

0040542621-5

II,, ShaluAlias ShaluAgarwalD/oAmrik SinghandW/oTarunAgarwal R/o 182, PanditwariPhase-2, Dehradun, ChakrataDehradun, Uttarakhand-248001, have changedmynametoSomyaAgarwal

0070709313-1

II,, Sanghmitier S/ORamDassR/O-C-107, Plot. No.GH-9, GAILSociety, Sector-56, GurgaonHR-122011.HaveChangedmyName toSanghMitter.

0040542617-7

II,, SAEDOOLSINGHS/O ARJUNSINGH, R/o-C2NEW-ASHIYANAAPARTMENTSEC-21DFARIDABADHR-121012, havechangedmyname to SARDOOLSINGH. 0040542617-1

II,, RudrakshS/o-SatishKumarMeenaR/o-486, Four-StoreyQtrs,Tagore-GardenExtn,Vishal-EnclaveNewDelhi-110027.have changedmynametoRudrakshMeena.

0040542621-7

II,, RinkuS/oSh.MaheshPalSingh, R/o 119-A, 3rd Floor, FlatNo. C6, Humayunpur,SafdarjungEnclave, Delhi-110029 havechangedmynametoSamRyu for all purposes.

0040542558-1

II,, Parth S/oShri.YogeshKumar,R/o-H-28Ward-08,Ramesh-Nagar Tehsil-CampPanipat,Haryana-132103,thatinmyschool-certificate andmarksheet (10th-& 12th-class)issuedbyCBSEmyfather-namehasbeenwrongly-writtenasRahulSharma insteadof YogeshKumarwhichmaybeamendedaccordingly. 0040542617-6

II,, Paramjit kaurW/o-JasvinderSinghR/oWZ-41A/2, SantGarh,Gali.No.10, TilakNagar,New.Delhi-18HaveChanged,MyName toParamjeet Kaur.

0040542601-1

II,, Pankaj KumarVasudevS/oCharanjit Lal H.No.A-167,Gali.No.44, AryaSamaj-Road,Uttam-NagarDelhi—110059,have changedmynametoPankaj Vasudeva.

0040542617-8

II,, UshaDeviW/oAshokKumarR/oHNo-22, VillageVishvanathgaj, Khagaria,Bihar-851204, have changedmyname toPramatmaDevi

0070709315-1

II,, NiteshKumarBafna, S/oChandraPrakash Jain, R/o FlatNo.166, 6th Floor, Sar godhaVihar, CGHSLtd. PlotNo.13,Sec-7, Dwarka, NewDelhi-110075, has changedmynametoNiteshKumar Jain for allpurposes. 0040542555-1

II,, NehaRohilaD/oVinodKumarR/oKA-182Ground-FloorPratapViharGhaziabadU.P.-201009 changedmyname toPersisHanna. 0040542621-1

II,,Mukeshkumar, R/oMTSecationHQWac (u)AFsubroto-park,newDelhi-110010,have changedmyminorDaughter’s namesatakshipriya to shatakshi priya vide-Affidavit Dated-23/07/2020,beforeNCT-Delhi.

0040542621-8

II,, Kamaljit SinghS/oDilbaghSinghR/oA-3/425, SultanpuriC-Block, Delhi-110086.havechangedmyname toKamalJeet Singh. 0040542621-4

II,,MPandi S/oCMuthuR/o 1477,Lodhi RoadComplex, Delhi-110003, have changedmynametoKartikAaryan

0070709310-1

II,, KAMALADEVI, D/OTejRam,DOB (01/01/1948) residingat(1629/28 Faridabad,Haryana),have changedmyname toKAMLADEVI for all purposes.

0040542566-1

II ChunindaD/oSh. RameshKumarMandavi R/oH.No.E-3,Phase-1, QutubVihar, SouthWestDelhi, Delhi-110071havechangedmyname toChanchalfor all purposes.

0040542591-5

II,, JITENDRA JADHAV, S/oSHANKARRAO JADHAV,R/o-L-167, TYPE-II 2NDFLOORGOVT-QTRSCHITRAGUPTA-ROADARAM-BAGHPAHARGANJ,DELHI-110055.have changedmynameto JITENDRASHANKARRAOJADHAV. 0040542621-6

II,, INDERAJ SINGH,S/o lt.DULICHAND,ADDRESS-1683 LODHI-ROADCOMPLEX,NEWDELHI,have changedmynameto INDRAJ SINGH,for all futurepurposes. 0040542617-2

II,, DipeshChhabdiH.No-25,MolarbandVillage, Badarpur,Delhi-110044, have changedmyminor son’s nameMayankChhabdi toManraj SinghChhabdi. 0040542661-2

II,, DhrmendraKumar SahS/oKaladhar SahR/o.H.No.1138,Gali No.12, KapasheraDelhi-110037. have changedmynametoDharmendraKumar.

0040542621-3

II,, Christian SeemaEmmanuelAlias SeemaChristianW/oRajan JohnR/oGirjaghar keAndar, Purani SabjiMandi,KotaCity, kota, rajasthan-324006, have changedmynametoSeemaChristian

0070709339-1

II,, Bimlesh/BimleshDevi,W/OMr.BhagwanDassKabira,R/O-HouseNo. D-18,HarshDevPark,BudhVihar, Phase-2, Delhi-110086,have changedmynametoVimleshKabira.

0040542661-1

II,, Amit KumarKashyapS/OZileSinghR/Oplot no- 14, Sec - A-10, pocket-2, NarelaDelhi-40have changemyname toAmitKumar for all purposes.

0040542564-1

II,, AkhileshMishraAliasAkhileswarMisraAliasA.MishraS/oKokilMishraR/oStNo-10, QtrNo-B/2B, PO-Chittaranjan, Dist-PaschimBardhaman,WB-713331, havechangedmyname toAkhileshwarMishra

0070709320-1

II,, Ajit KumarNagpal R/o-House.No.281-282/14,Gali.No.9,Ward.No.16,ArjunNagar,Gurugram,Haryana,have changedmyson’s nameDhruv toDhruvNagpal forall,futurepurpose.

0040542617-9

II,, AbhishekRohila S/oVinodKumarR/oKA-182Ground-Floor PratapViharGhaziabadU.P.-201009 changedmynametoAbhishek Jonathan.

0040542621-2

II Taarinie KochharD/oSh. VarunKochharR/o 10, LICApartments, ArjunNagar, EastDelhi-110032have changedmyname fromTaarinie Kochhar toTaarinie Rai Kochhar for allfuturepurposes.

0040542565-1

II RameezuddinRaja S/oNaseemuddinR/o 3405,Bageechi Achcheji nearChotiMasjid, BaraHinduRao, Delhi-6 haveChangedmyNameFromRameezuddin toRameezuddinRaja forAllFuturePurposes.

0040542569-2

II RamParkashDagar S/oHariSinghR/o Jajru (52), Sagarpur,Ballabhgarh, Faridabad,Haryana-121004, have changedmyname toRamparkash

0070709319-1

II PoonamVigW/oRajeevMadanR/o 8,MotherDairy, GandhiNagar, Ghaziabad, UP-201001,have changedmyname toSaritaMadan 0070709321-1

IIMUKESHKUMARS/o LALTAPRASADR/o-RZ-68/397GALI.No.1-A,SHIVPURIWEST-SAGARPURNANGALRAYA,DELHI-110046, HAVECHANGEDMYNAMETOMUKESHKASHYAP,FORALLPURPOSES 0040542617-5

II LovenishMalik S/oUdaySinghMalik R/oHouseNo-889/22A,Gali No-6I, Gandhinagar,Gurgaon,Haryana-122001,have changedmyname to LuvMalik 0070709323-1

II Jyoti Devi SangotraAlias JyotiD/oManohar Lal R/oRZC-3/190A, 1st Floor,Western SideFont Side,Mahavir Enclave,palamVillage, Delhi-110045,have changedmyname to JyotiManoharNath Sangotra

0070709305-1

II ChitranjanDassAliasChitranjanDassMahant S/oDamodarDassR/oSamoli(136), Shimla, HP-171207, havefinally changedmyname toChitranjanDassMahant

0070709322-1

II SunitaD/oKhemChandR/o93/1, PO-Tikkar, Tehsil-Sadar,Bhadyal,Mandi, HP-175006,have changedmyname toSukashya 0070709316-1

II AnjuRawatW/oDeepakYadavR/oVill-Momanpur, post-Jaguwas, Alwar, Rajasthan-301701, have changedmynametoAnjuYadav 0070709333-1

JJaaggjjiitt KaurW/oSh. ParshotamSingh, R/oS-1/159(GF)OldMahavir Nagar, TilakNagar,NewDelhi-18 is also knownasJagjeet Kaur. Bothnamesbelong tooneand the sameperson. 0040542591-2

II Shagufta JabeenBeighD/oGhulamNabi BeighR/oHouseNo-270, Sector-17A, Gurgaon,Haryana-122001, have changedmyname toZubin Eirene for allpurpose 0070709324-1

II,,MEENUYADAV,W/OANILYADAVR/O.H.NO.2478BLOCK-AGALI.NO.3 JAINNAGARKARALADELHI-110081, changedMYname toMEENAKSHIYADAV.

0040542617-3

II SidakBhatia S/OSaranjeetSinghBhatia R/OGH-13/700,PaschimVihar,NewDELHI-110087, have changedmynametoSidakSinghBhatia.

0040542604-1

II Sneh LataW/O,VedParkashGoel R/oD-12, BhagwanDasNagar, East Punjabi Baghhavechangedmyname toSnehGoelfor all purposes.

0040542524-1

II ShrepaAroraD/o Late Sh.SurinderKumarAroraW/oSh.Rahul LuthraR/oC-218, FirstFloor, SuryaNagar, ChanderNagar, Ghaziabad, UttarPradesh-201011have changedmynameaftermarriage toShruti Luthra for all purposes.

0040542591-3

II ShatmanyuTomarS/O, RajeevSinghTomarR/oVictoriaA 502,GrandOmaxe, Sector-93b,Noida, GautamBudhNagar, U.p- 201304 havechangedmyname toShatmanyuSinghTomar for all purposes.

0040542576-1

II SaadShakeel S/o ShakeelAhmedR/o 1002, NeemStreet,H.H. Haider, Punjabi Phatak,Ballimaran Delhi-6 declare thatnameofmy father andMotherhasbeenwronglywrittenasMohdShakeel andShabanaBegumrespectively inmyEducational Documents theCorrect nameofmy father andMother is Shakeel AhmedandSadaf Shakeel respectively

0040542569-1

II RinaDeviW/OShankar Tiwaribornon 03/04/1981 residingatD-9/10AUpperGFPremNagarUttamNagarNewDelhi havechangedmyname toReenaTiwari videaffidavit dated22/07/2020 0050166874-1

I POOJAW/ONO14663660ANKKRISHANVEERSINGHRESIDENTOFVILL- DARIYAPUR,POST-SIMBHAOLI,DIST-HAPUR(U.P),MYACTUALDATEOFBIRTH IS 02APR1987INSTEADOF31OCT1986 FORALLFUTUREPURPOSES, VIDEAFFIDAVITDATED10/7/2020BEFOREMADANLALGUPTA

0040541701-6

PPEERRSSOONNAALL

LLOOSSTT&&FFOOUUNNDD

Classifieds

PUBLIC NOTICETo be known to all that my client Chittar MalS/o Chhagan Lal R/o E-93, Rao Vihar, GaliNo. 5, Nangloi, Delhi-41 and Owner of B-33,PVC Bazzar, Tikri Border, Delhi-41. The originalDDA Letter, Lease Demand Letter, PossessionLetter, Sight Possession slip, Original Challan& other document in Respect Property No.B-33, PVC Bazzar, Tikri Border, Delhi-41has been lost/misplaced. An F.I.R to this effecthas been lodged in the Police Station, CrimeBranch, Delhi Vide LR No.419125/2020. Anyperson(s) claiming any right, interest, havingany objection or found in possession or originaldocument, may write/contact with above address/Phone No. 9999882982 in 15 days from thedate of publication of this notice or DeputyDirector & Commercial Land, A-111, DDAVikas Sadan, INA, New Delhi-110023.

S.K. Gupta (Advocate)Ch.No. D-209, Karkardooma Court, Delhi-32

PUBLIC NOTICENotice is hereby given on behalf of myclient Suchita Maskara W/o LalitMaskara R/o C-90, Inderpuri, New Delhi-110012 to all concerned for theinformation and any claim if anyonehaving related to property no. RA-9,Inder Puri, New Delhi as my client is theowner of the above said property andhas lost original Relinquishment deedregistered in SR-II with no. 7985 inadditional Book no. 1 volume no 7476 onpages 107 to 108 dated 05.10.1993 andthe report of same has been lodged inPS crime branch dated 13.06.2020 withLR no. 352209/2020.I call upon any person whosoever claimson to lodge claim or whosoever found thedocument in original, may contact theundersigned within 15 days of thisadvertisement.

Sd/- PRATEEK TANWARAdvocate

D/1905/2009Off. 12/21, 1st Floor, Old Rajinder

Nagar, New Delhi-110060

LOST & FOUNDWe, Kamran Khan S/o Sh. AsjadKhan & Mrs. Sanober Rana W/oKamran Khan R/o Flat No.730,Tower-6, Ashiana Upvan, AhinsaKhand-2, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad,UP-201014 have lost our OriginalGeneral Power Of Attorney in favourof Mr. Rashid Ali Khan S/o Sh.Kasimuddin Khan R/o B-260,Sector-19, Noida-201301, executedin Doha Qatar on 27-01-2009,stamped by AIG (Stamp), G.B.Nagar, UP vide challan no. 98 dated05-02-2009 for execution of registryon 21/02/2009 vide Book No.1,Volume No.1398, Pages 730 to 776,Sr. No.,532 of Flat No.730, Tower-6,Ashiana Upvan, Ahinsa Khand-2,Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, U.P. -201014. If found contact KamranKhan, Mob. -9650418934.

PUBLIC NOTICEBe known to all that I MushtaqAhmad Salik (DoB 10.04.1950)s/o Late Nazeer Ahmad (wronglywritten as Nazir Ahmed in pilgrimpass number BVI/477 dated11.06.1955 issued by office ofthe port huj committee Bombay)R/O E-35/B, Abul Fazal Enclave-I, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-25,added name ‘Salik’ in my namein 1965 and I am also known asSalik Dhampuri', my pen name. Iadded Salik word in my daughterFarzana's name when she wasminor. From now onwards I shallbe known as 'Mushtaq AhmadSalik' for all purposes

PUBLIC NOTICEBe it known to all that my clients Sh.Vipin Gautam S/o Late Sh. S. N.Gautam and his wife Smt. KamleshGautam R/o A-347, Gali No. 19, ShyamColony, Budh Vihar, Phase-II, Delhi-110086, have severed all theirrelationships with their son VivekGautam from all their propertiesmovable and immovable, whatsoeverand wheresoever situated and alsosevered all their relations, social andeconomical, with him for hismisbehavior and adamant attitude.Anybody dealing with him shall be athis/her/their own risks and my clientsshall not be responsible for the same.

Sd/- Rajender Kumar Rawat(Advocate)

Ch. No. V-6, Opp. SBI, Tis HazariCourts, Delhi

PUBLIC NOTICEBe it known to the general public that myclient Smt. Misha Prasad W/O NeerajPrasad, R/O A2B, 179B, Ekta Appts.Paschim Vihar, New Delhi-110063 is thetrue and lawful owner of plot of landsituated at Mauja Bhondsi, Teh-Sohna,Distt. Gurgaon, Khewat/Khata No.1191/1390, M.No. 107, Kila No. 2(8-0),9(8-0), 12(8-2), 19/1(6-0), 19/2(2-0),22(8-0), Kila-6, Rakba 40, Kanal-0,Marla K-60/7200, Bhag Bhagadar-0,Kanal-6, Marla-6 purchased from Smt.Kavita W/o Dharmender, by virtue ofSale Deed dated 21/03/2012. Thegeneral public is hereby informed/cautioned not to buy, sell or deal in anymanner whatsoever with abovementioned property. If anybody does sohe/she/they would be doing solely athis/her/their own risk and consequences.

Sd/- BHANU PRATAPADVOCATE

E.NO. D/4386/2016CHAMBER:- 1120, 11th FLOOR,

ROHINI COURT COMPLEX,ROHINI, DELHI

PUBLIC NOTICETake Notice that my client Md. Saleem S/oMd. Zahid, residing at F-3/815/12, SangamVihar, Deoli, New Delhi-110062 has disownedhis wife namely Noore Saba, present addressnot known, from all his movable andimmovable properties due to her immoral anddishonest conduct. Noore Saba is therefore,not authorized to enter into any kind ofagreement, arrangement, charge,encumbrance, lien, over all movable andimmovable properties of Md. Saleem andspecially property F-3/815/12, Sangam Vihar,Deoli, 110062. Anybody dealing with NooreSaba in respect to movable and immovableproperty will be doing so at his own risk, costand consequences, as she has no right, titleor interest in the same. Furthermore Md.Saleem would not be responsible for any actsand deeds on part of Noore Saba.

Sd/- VIKAS GUPTAADVOCATE

Add: B-19, Tigri Extension,New Delhi-110062

PUBLIC NOTICEBe it known to all concern that my clientsKhem Chand Sharma S/o Dal ChandSharma and his wife Geeta Sharma bothR/o C-2/80, Sector-16, Rohini, Delhi- 89,disowned and severe all relationship withhis son namely Sunil Kumar Sharma andhis wife Dilraj Sharma and debarredthem from all their movable andimmovable properties acquired or to beacquired because of their mis-behaviour &conduct and their nature are beingdisobedient and they are abusing andquarrelling with my client so my client havebroken all relations from them. Any persondealing and having relation with them inany manner shall be at their own risk, cost& consequences and my client shall not beresponsible for any act and deed of theaforesaid.

VISHAL SINGH (Advt.)Enrl. No. D-749/2014

k 3 4hRLY( )PUBLIC NOTICE

It is hereby noticed that my clientSmt. Meera Gupta and her husbandSh. Nawal Kishor Gupta R/O H. No.C – 174, Maharana Pratap Enclave,Pitampura, Delhi-110034 havedisowned/debarred their sonRAKESH BANSAL aged about 38years from their all immovable andmovable properties/assets due totheir misbehaviour and out of controltemperament and also havesevered all their relations from him.My clients shall not be responsiblefor his any acts/deeds in past &future.

Rakesh Kumar AdvocateCh. No. 204, Western Wing,

Tis Hazari Court, Delhi- 110054

CORRIGENDUMFISHERIES DEPARTMENT HARYANA

e-AUCTION NOTICEIt is for information to General Public that e-auction of Fishing

Rights of notified waters, rivers, canals and drains of the districtsof Haryana State Whose e-auction is not Completed on dated23.07.2020 for the year 2020-21 (01.09.2020 to 31.08.2021)shall be put to open public e-auction on 30.07.2020 from 09.00A.M. to 12.00 Noon online at the e-Procurement portalhttps://harfish.sets.co.in.

Before start of the e-auction the interested bidders shall have todeposit earnest money as shown against each District/Districts ondated as given below in shape of offline Demand Draft in favour ofDirector Fisheries Haryana, Panchkula in order to take part in thee-Auction.

The successful bidders will have to deposit the full amount ofcontract or 1/3rd of e-Auction amount and 5% of the contractamount as security in the Bank Account of the concerned DistrictFisheries Officers, online through RTGS/NEFT as per BankAccount details given, on the same day of e-Auction and theremaining amount within 30 days from the date of the e-Auction. Incase of failure to deposit the remaining 2/3rd amount by the bidderwithin the stipulated period of 30 days, the 1/3rd amount depositedby the bidder at the time of e-Auction and 5% of the contractamount as security and earnest money shall be forfeited.

Others details, terms and conditions can be seen at thehttps://harfish.sets.co.in and Haryana Fisheries Departmentalwebsite www.harfish.gov.in and details can also be procuredfrom the office of the District Fisheries Officers of the District orDeputy Director Fisheries at Division level or Director FisheriesHaryana, Panchkula.

Sd/-Director Fisheries Department Haryana,

Bays. No. 31-32, Sector 4,Panchkula.

Date of E-auction Date of Deposit of Earnest Money30.07.2020 28.07.2020 till 4.00 P.M.

81895/Hry

II,, PraveenKumarVats s/oSh. T.R. Sharma r/o 2, PaschimiMarg, VasantVihar, Delhi,declare that I have lostmypassing certificate andmark-sheet of Secondary&SeniorSchool CertificateExamination issuedbyCBSEvideRoll No.6389247 (1994)andRoll No.6661752 (1996),alongwithmy3yearsmark-sheets issuedbyDelhiUniversity for B.Com(H) videEnrolmentNo.ZH-279/96 andRoll No.127952.

0040542591-1

II,, RishabhSharmas/oanilkishore sharma r/oM- 86, 3rdfloor gali no.5 shastri nagar,Delhi-52 lost 12thCBSEcertificate, roll no. 9147080,year- 2018. If foundpls inform.

0040542603-1

MM//SSNewage InfrapromotorsPvt.Ltd. R/oH-215, Sector-63Noida, lost original documentsof Plot.No.5/1118ofwave city,Ghaziabad1). PaymentReceipts 2). Builder buyersagreement.

0040542601-2

New Delhi

14SENSEX: 38,140.47 ▲ 268.95 NIFTY: 11,215.45 ▲ 82.85 NIKKEI: 22,751.61 ▼ 132.61 HANG SENG: 25,263.00 ▲ 205.06 FTSE: 6,211.44 ▲ 4.34 DAX: 13,103.39 ▼ 0.86

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`51,443

RUPEE`74.75

OIL$43.28

SILVER`62,760

Note:Gold, silverratesat spotmarket inDelhi;goldper10g, silverper1kg;Brentcrudeasof0000IST

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400 051. Tel: 26590001/04,Fax : 022-26591264 e-mail: [email protected]

[email protected]: https://mmrda.maharashtra.gov.in/

MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGIONDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

(A Government of Maharashtra Undertaking)

Date : 23/07/2020Place : MumbaiAdvt. No/T&C/ITS/2020

Sd/-Metropolitan Commissioner

MMRDA

Selection of a Mobile App Technology Partner to Developand Operate the Common Mobility App for IntegratedTicketing System in Mumbai Metropolitan Region

e-TENDER NOTICE

MMRDA invites proposals from International Reputed Bidders forSelection of a Mobile App Technology Partner to Develop andOperate the Common Mobility App for Integrated TicketingSystem in Mumbai Metropolitan Region.The Request for Proposal (RFP) will be available to downloadon e-tender portal : https://etendermmrda.maharashtra.gov.in,from 24.07.2020 - 15.00 hrs.Please visit MMRDA website: https://mmrda.maharashtra.gov.in/ home for further details. Pre Bid Meeting will be held on06/08/2020 at 15:00 hrs via Video Conferencing (to receive theVideo Conferencing Link- Refer Annexure 13 of RFP).

Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400 051. Tel: 26590001/04,Fax : 022-26591264 e-mail: [email protected]

[email protected]: https://mmrda.maharashtra.gov.in/

MUMBAI METROPOLITAN REGIONDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

(A Government of Maharashtra Undertaking)

Date : 23/07/2020Place : MumbaiAdvt. No/T&C/ITS/2020

Sd/-Metropolitan Commissioner

MMRDA

Selection of a Banking Partner for Transaction Acquiring,Card Issuing and AFC integration services for Integrated

Ticketing System in Mumbai Metropolitan Region

e-TENDER NOTICE

MMRDA invites proposals from Reputed Bidders for Selectionof a Banking partner for Transaction Acquiring, Card Issuingand AFC integration services for Integrated Ticketing Systemin Mumbai Metropolitan Region.The Request for Proposal (RFP) will be available to downloadon e-tender portal: https://etendermmrda.maharashtra.gov.in,from 24.07.2020 - 15.00 hrs.Please visit MMRDA website: https://mmrda.maharashtra.gov.in/home for further details. Pre Bid Meeting will be held on05.08.2020 at 15:00 hrs via Video Conferencing (to receive theVideo Conferencing Link- Refer Annexure 13 of RFP).

BRIEFLYFMreviewsCPSEcapexNewDelhi:FinanceMinisterNirmala Sitharaman onThursday reviewed capexplans of PSUs belonging tolarge infrastructuremin-istries, and asked them tochasetheirFY21targets.

GSTe-invoicingfromOct1NewDelhi: TheCentrewillnotify a newGST e-invoicescheme,underwhichbusi-nesseswith turnover of Rs500 crore and above willgenerate all invoices on acentralised governmentportal,startingOctober1.

‘MonetisationbyRBIhasacost’Mumbai:FormerRBIGover-norRaghuramRajanThurs-daysaidthecentralbankhasbeen buying governmentdebt on the back of excessliquiditybutcautionedthatthiscomesatacost.

FlipkartdigitalmarketplaceBengaluru: Flipkart GroupThursdayannounced laun-ch of FlipkartWholesale, anew digital marketplace,and acquisition of 100 percentstakeinWal-MartIndiaPrivateLimited. PTI

Forensic audit flags 2012 stake sale ofIL&FS arm to Singapore-based firmKHUSHBOONARAYANMUMBAI,JULY23

AFORENSICaudit of IL&FSTamilNaduPowerCompanyLtd(ITPCL)has flagged its 2012equity stakesale to a Singapore firm, ASCoalResourcePte Limited, controlledbyJaiminVyas,aBritishnational.Theaudit report,preparedby

Grant Thornton, has raised con-cernsoverthetransactionunder-lyingthesaleof ITPCLstaketoASCoalResourceasithasfoundthatSEPCOElectric Power Construc-tionCorporation, a Chinese con-struction and engineering com-pany,allegedlyprovidedfinancialassistance of about Rs 800 croreto entities associatedwithVyas,foracquisitionof ITPCLshares.Theauditreport,submittedto

a consortium of lenders led byPunjab National Bank in June2020, has found that SEPCOwasoneofthecontractorsofITPCLand

it had receivedmoney from thepowerfirmforvariouscontracts.ITPCL operates a 1,200-MW

imported coal-based plant inCuddalore. Around Rs 10,600crorewasinvestedintheproject,ofwhichpublicsectorbankshavegiven loansof Rs6,080croreandIL&FS Energy DevelopmentCompanyLtd(IEDCL),asubsidiaryofIL&FS,hasputinRs4,560crore.ITPCL,whichisundergoingin-

solvencyproceedings,owesoverRs6,700croretobanksandaboutRs900 crore to IL&FS entities. Atpresent,ASCoalResourcehas8.6percentstakeinITPCLandIEDCLholdstheremaining91.4percent.Formerpetroleumandnatu-

ral gas secretaryMS Srinivasanwasthechairmanof ITPCLwhenASCoalResourceboughtthestakein ITPCL. “I haveno comments. Ileftthecompanyone-and-a-half-yearsago,”Srinivasan,whojoinedthecompany in2008andquit inNovember 2018, told The Indian

Express over the phone. EmailssenttoASCoalandSEPCOElectricPowerConstructionCorporationdidnotelicitanyresponse.Bijay Kumar, deputyMD of

IL&FS,Mondaycalledthetransac-tionsreportedintheauditas“ob-jectionable”,addingthattheissuehas been referred to RBI and in-vestigating agencies areprobingtheIL&FScollapse.SourcessaidtheEnforcement

Directorate has issued a lookoutcircular against JaiminVyas andsent letter rogatory to Singaporeseeking information onASCoalResourceandentitiesrelatedtoit.Theauditalsoflaggedalleged

irregularitiesinpricingandacqui-sitionoflandforITPCL’sCuddaloreplant through an aide of aDMKpolitician,aswellasITPCL’sacqui-sitionofanIndonesiancoalminedomiciledunder IL&FSMaritimeOffshorePteLimited.

Fullreportonwww.indianexpress.com

GST, I-T numbers show recovery signs, butcertain sectors facing difficulty: Finance SecyENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY23

TAXREVENUEcollectionsande-way bills trends show that theeconomyiscomingbackontrackandrecoveringsoonerthanwhatwasanticipatedatthetimeofthelockdown inMarch, though sec-torssuchashospitality,educationandtourismarefacingdifficulties,Finance SecretaryAjayBhushanPandeysaidThursday.Direct taxmop-up in the first

quarterhavebeen80per cent oflast year’s Q1 collection, Pandeysaid,addingthat incometaxrev-enuemaybeaffectedmoreduetothepandemicthanindirecttaxes.“For themonthof June,going

by the current trends, we havecertain trends about howmanypeoplehavemadepaymentsofar,and also the e-way bill ... truckmovement ... all these things aregiving encouraging signals thatthe economy is coming back tothe realmsooner thanwhatwasbeinganticipatedwhenthelock-

downwas started inMarch,” hesaidwhileaddressingaFiccievent.“These two numbers—GST

and income tax—are encourag-ing numbers and also gives ussomehope thatwhereverpossi-ble,businessesarefindingwaystogetstarted.Buttherewerecertainsectors ... which are facing diffi-culty,”Pandeyadded.Healsosaidtaxationdata for anyentityusedtoexist insilos,butwiththenewForm26AS,allinformationwouldbeavailabletotaxpayerstoassistinaccuratelyreportingincome.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY23

WITHMANYjurisdictionsinclud-ing theUSand India turning theheat on short-video appTikTok,two of its investors — GeneralAtlanticandSequoiaCapital—areconsidering taking theplatformover from its owner ByteDance,whichwasfoundedinChinaandsubsequentlyrelocateditsbase.According to a report by

Financial Times, the two invest-mentfirmsareindiscussionswiththeUSgovernmentandotherreg-ulatorsregardingthetakeoverandare considering spinning TikTokoutandfirewallingitfromitspar-entstoallayconcernsraisedbytheUnitedStates.GeneralAtlanticde-clined to comment for the story.ByteDance and Sequoia Capitaldidnotrespondtoe-mailqueries.Lastweek,USPresidentDon-

aldTrump’selectioncampaignal-legedthatTikTokwas“spying”onits American users. Lastmonth,IndiabannedTikTok (alongwith58otherappswithChineselinks)

citingathreattonationalsecurity.Since then, NewDelhi has sig-nalledanumberof curbsagainstChineseinvestmentinIndia.WhileByteDancehasunder-

gone corporate restructuring forthemainparententitytobeincor-porated in Cayman Islands, thecompany—according to aWallStreetJournalreport—isplanningtomove its headquarters out ofBeijing, given the scrutiny it hascomeunderfromitsbiggestmar-kets. Notably, India is the largestmarket for TikTok,withover611milliondownloads, representingnearly a third of the video-plat-form’s base, followed by China(whereitoperatesunderadiffer-entbrand)andtheUS.

However,Indiadoesnotmakethecut as far as the top revenue-generating geographies are con-cernedfortheapp.In2018-19,thefirstfullyearofthecompany’sop-erationsinthecountry,BytedanceIndiaposted revenuesof Rs 43.6crore, and the company targetedrevenues of Rs 100 crore for thenext year. In theUS, the apphasbeen downloaded 165milliontimes,withrevenuesof$86.5mil-lion (over Rs 650 crore) in 2019.China, with nearly 197millionusers, contributed $331million(aroundRs2,500crore)duringtheyear,accordingtoSensorTower.Theparent entity ByteDance

Ltd,basedinCaymanIslands,hasfive subsidiaries, oneofwhich isTikTokLtd(alsobasedinCaymanIslands). TikTok Ltd is theparententityofUS-basedTikTokLLCandSingapore-based TikTok Pte Ltdwhichowns the India-operatingentity.InMaythisyear,ByteDanceappointed a new COO KevinMayer, who is also the CEO ofTikTok.MayerwasropedinfromDisney,whereheoversawthede-velopmentandrolloutofDisney+.

‘General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital weightaking over TikTok from parent ByteDance’


ASTRESSEDasset fundset spon-soredby the governmenthas sofarapprovedfundingfor81hous-ing projects across the country,entailing an investment of Rs8,767 crore. Investments in18ofthese81projectshavebeengivenfinalclearanceanddisbursementis at various stages across 7 resi-dential projects, a FinanceMinistrystatementsaidThursday.LastNovember,theCentrehad

announced theplan for a specialwindowtoprovidepriority debtfinancingforcompletionofstalledhousingprojects.ManagedbySB-ICAPVentures,theSWAMIH(Spe-cialWindow for Affordable andMidIncomeHousing)InvestmentFundI, isalsoexaminingapplica-tions from353 stressedprojectsforadditionalfunding.In a reviewmeeting, Finance

Minister Nirmala Sitharamanaskedofficialstospeedupeffortsto“completeconstructionofproj-ects forwhich lastmile fundinghasbeensanctioned”.

Fund for stressedrealty projects:`8,767 cr clearedfor 18 projects


THEGOVERNMENTdoesnothaveanyplantopursuedirectmoneti-sationof itsdebtwith thecentralbankatthemoment,butplanstoextendproduction linked incen-tivestomoresectorstoboostlocalmanufacturing, Department ofEconomicAffairsSecretaryTarunBajaj saidThursday.He saidgov-ernment revenues have startedpickingupwithadditional levieson petrol and diesel helping toraisetaxmop-up.Whiledatafromvariousagen-

cies, includingWorld Bank andIMFsuggestGDPcontractionthis

year, theeconomy is expected torecoversharplynextyear,indicat-ingaV-shapedrecovery,hesaid.“At this point of time, I have

some calculations. I have someplansinmind...RBIhasassistedusin a great deal this time. At thispointof timemonetisation isnoton the tableat all. It hasnotbeendiscussedwith the central bankalso,”hesaidataFICCIconferenceon capital markets organisedthroughavideolink.Still,hesaidhe’dbetterableto

answer this question in 3-4monthswhenmoredataon rev-enuepositionbecomeavailable.Monetisation simplymeans

thattheRBIdirectlyfundsthecen-tral government’s deficit. Until1997,thegovernmentusedtosellsecurities—adhocTreasury-Bills—directlytotheRBI,andnottofi-nancialmarketparticipants. Thisallowed thegovernment to tech-nicallyprintequivalentamountofcurrencytomeetitsBudgetdeficit.Amid falling revenues and a

likely contraction in growth, thegovernmenthasalreadyincreaseditsborrowingtargetbyover50percentfromRs7.8lakhcroretoRs12lakhcroreinMay.Evenasgovern-mentmaymissitsBudgettargets,the contraction in the economymaynotbeasbadassomepeople

haveprojected,heindicated.Toboost domesticmanufac-

turing, production-linked incen-tives announced formobile andmedicalgearandpharma,willbeextendedto4-6moresunrisesec-torswithalotofexportpotential.TheCentreexpectsgrowthto

comeback fromnextyear,whileagriculturesectorhasbeendoingwelleventhisyearwithgoodrabicropproductionandexpectationsof agoodkharif cropaswell. Thegovernmentwill soondecideonprivatisation of two sets of sixIndianairports,includingthoseinAmritsar, Indore, Ranchi, Trichy,BhubaneswarandRaipur,hesaid.


THE INDIAN Express Group an-nouncedThursday itsentry intoinsurancewebaggregationspaceby acquiring 100 per cent stakeinMyInsuranceClub.While thedealwassignedearlier thisyear,itgotconcludedrecentlyafterre-ceivingtheapprovalof theregu-lator — Insurance Regulatoryand Development Authority ofIndia (IRDAI).As an insuranceweb aggre-

gator, selling both life and non-life insurance products,MyInsuranceClub (MIC) is ex-pectedtobenefit fromthereachof The Indian Express Group,which is one of the world’slargest digital news groupsreachingover140millionusers/month (according to ComscoreMediaMetrixMay2020) acrosstheworld insix languages.An IRDAI-licensed insurance

webaggregator,MIChasbeenanearly entrant into the insurancecomparison business in India.Despitethechangeintheowner-ship, MIC founders DeepakYohannan (CEO) and ManojAswani(COO)willcontinuetorun

andoperate the business underthenewshareholdersandwillre-porttoSanjaySindhwani–DigitalCEO,IndianExpressGroup.AnantGoenka, executive di-

rector of The Indian ExpressGroup, said, “We liked the spaceand thepeoplewhoare runningthecompany,pluswesawsyner-gies with our media businesswhich now reachesmore than140Muniqueusers/month.WithlowinsurancepenetrationinIndia,thisspaceoffershugeopportunityfor growth.Asamedia andmar-keting organisation our skills inbuilding a strong and trustedbrandwillworktotheadvantageofMyInsuranceClubtoenableittobecomeasignificantplayerinthisbusiness,andbeafirststepforustodiversify our revenue streamsbeyondadvertising.”Yohannansaid, “This acquisi-

tionofferstwobenefits...Firstly,for

anyinsurancebusinesstosucceed,trust plays a crucial role. Withbrand“IndianExpress”onboard,wehopetosolvethatproblemtoalargeextent. Secondly, thegrouphasvery largedigital footprint inmultiple regional languages. Thiscanbeagreat catalyst for anon-line-only business like ours.Weareveryexcitedinthisnewphaseofourentrepreneurialjourney.”While MIC has been fo-

cussingonsellingterminsuranceand health insurance plans, thecompany said that it will nowalso focus on the other retailplanslikemotorandtravelinsur-ance. On the customer acquisi-tionfront,thecompanyhasbuiltastrongorganicchannelandgetsa little less than half a millionmonthlyusers,totallyfreeofcost.The Indian Express Groupwasadvised by Lastaki Advisors forthis transaction.

‘ECONOMYTORECOVERSHARPLYNEXTYEAR—V-SHAPEDBOUNCEBACK’

Express Group acquires insuranceweb aggregator MyInsuranceClub

GEORGEMATHEW&SUNNYVERMAMUMBAI/NEWDELHI,JULY23

AROUND8.5 lakhbankemploy-eeswillgeta15percentincreaseintheir salary packages with theIndian Banks’ Association (IBA)and the United Forum of BankUnions (UBFU) lateWednesdaysigningamemorandumofunder-standingonthesalarynegotiationpackage.Thewagerevision,whichwill cost banks aroundRs 7,900crore, will be effective fromNovember1,2017.Bankmanage-mentsandunionshaveagreedtointroducethesystemofperform-ance-linkedincentive(PLI)inpub-licsectorbanksforthefirsttime.Thesalaryhikemovewillben-

efit employeesof PSUbanks, oldgenerationprivatebanksandsomeforeignbanks,whilePLIisoptionalforprivateandforeignbanks.Theannualwageincreaseinsalaryandallowanceisagreedat15percentof thewage bill as onMarch 31,2017. Thisworks out toRs7,898crore on pay slip components.While employeeunionshadde-

mandeda20percenthike, thefi-nalagreementcameto15percent.Thewagehikehas comeat a

timewhenmost PSUbankshadreportedheavy losses in the lastseveral quarters, and losses andNPAsareexpectedtopileupgoingforwardduetoimpactonCOVID-19pandemiconeconomicactiv-ity.However,industrysourcessaidthe hike won’t be a burden onbanks as it was expected andmadeprovisionsaccordingly.PLIinPSBsisbeingintroduced

whichwillbebasedontheoperat-ingprofit/netprofitoftheindivid-ualbank.Thiswillbeoptional forprivateand foreignbanks.Asperthe formula, if the year-on-yeargrowth inoperatingprofit is lessthan5per cent, there’sno incen-tive; forprofit growthbetween5and10per cent, five days salarywillbegivenasincentive.Ifitisbe-tween10and15percent,10dayssalarywillbegiven,andinthecaseof 15 per cent-plus growth, 15days’salary.WhilePLIhasbeenin-troduced tomotivateemployees,itmaybedifficult in reality sincebanksareexpectedtopost lossesincomingquarters,sourcessaid.

REUTERSBENGALURU, JULY23

AMAZON.COMINC is in talks tobuya9.9percentstakeinthere-tail arm of Reliance IndustriesLtd, ET Now reported onThursday, citingsources.Amazonwants a preferred,

strategicstake inRelianceRetailfor JioMart, according to tweetsby the television channel.JioMart, the e-commerce ven-tureofReliance'sretailarm,waslaunchedinMayandposesafor-midable challenge toAmazon.com's local unit andWalmart Inc's Flipkart.An Amazon spokeswoman

throughemailsaidthecompanydoes not comment on specula-tion,while Reliance did not im-mediately respond to a requestfor comment.

E●EXPLAINED

MONETISATION SIMPLYmeansthattheRBIdirectlyfunds the central govern-ment’s deficit. Until 1997,the government used tosell securities — ad hocTreasury-Bills—directlytotheRBI,andnottofinancialmarketparticipants.

Whatismonetisation?

Nodirectmonetisationplanyet:DEASecy

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, JULY23

THEGOVERNMENT committeeon non-personal data gover-nanceframeworkhassuggestedthat all raw non-personal datamustbesharedbetweengovern-ment and non-government en-tities for a healthy innovationecosystemtodevelop.In a virtual press conference

on Thursday, the committeememberssuggestedthatcompa-niesmust allow open access tothe raw data they collect fromtheir users. Such entities, how-ever,willbeundernoobligationtoshareanydataordata-relatedconclusionstheyderivebyusingproprietaryalgorithms.Theadjudicationofwhether

adatashouldbesharedbetweenentities,whethergovernmentornon-government, will be de-cided by the non-personal dataauthority, thechairpersonof thenine-member committee, KrisGopalakrishnansaid.Earlier thismonth, the com-

mitteehadmadepublic itsdraftreport inwhichithadsuggestedthat entities such as hospitals,banks, and other industrieswhich collect, store, process ormanage data in any formmustalsoregisterthemselvesasa‘databusiness’ once they cross a cer-tain data collection and storagethreshold.The nine-member Gopala-

krishnan-headedcommitteehadthenalsosuggestedthatsuchen-titiesdeclaretheirbusinesses,thevariouselementsofthedatatheycollect, themechanism for thesame andwhether the data isstored inasecure facility.

‘Sharing rawnon-personaldata willencourageinnovation’

‘Amazon intalks to buy 9.9%stake in Relianceretail arm’

Amid rising bad loans, lossesand COVID disruption, bankstaff to get 15% salary hike

AsperaFinancialTimesreport,thetwoinvestmentfirmsareindiscussionswiththeUSandotherregulatorsregardingthetakeover

New Delhi

CALENDAR 15WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JULY24,2020

CROSSWORD4178

ACROSS1 Laboratoryequipmentusedtosupply theanswers (7)

5 Wehear fortyof theRomansdobetter (5)

8 So in loveas tobetransformedindemeanour (9)

9 Inshapeandsizeone isverylikeanother (3)

10 Anumbersetaboutareligiousgroup(4)

12 Itmayadvertise inglowingterms(4,4)

14 Producedreturnedbill andsuedmaker (6)

15 Outside the limits it’sdonebyarrangement (6)

17 Remove itperhaps forextrapay(8)

18 Girl Iobjectabout (4)21 Itwillbe inmanyawintersportsman’skit (3)

22 Disembarksat theheadlandandmakesascene(9)

24 Neglectedstudymayeasilybecomeso(5)

25 Is tochangestatebrieflybutappears indifferent (7)

Down1 Possibly freespartsof thesail(5)

2 Pottedplant leaves (3)3 Measureupadoor(4)

4 Presumablyhe looks forwardtogettingontheboard(6)

5 Burythehatchet thoughputin jeopardy?(8)

6 Tropic islandproduce(9)

7 Eruditecomposershownthewayout (7)

11 Primitivepaintings inneedofrefinement(5,4)

13 Peopleagree in thought (8)14 Thwartedby interbreeding?(7)

16 Improvescompensation(6)

19 Anumbergetwelland live(5)

20 Capital solocomposition(4)

23 Achurchvault (3)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)AssertiveMartianalignments shouldnowbehaving aneffect, and today

they’re joinedby emotionallunar patterns, indicating thatif you should feel like showingoff or being a bit of a prima-donna, go right ahead!And ifyouwant to re-live formertriumphs,whynot?

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Keep yourwitsabout you at alltimes,mainlybecausewhat is

now takingplace away fromyour gazewill affect yourfuture interests. Itmaybenextweekbefore youdiscoverwhat partners are doing. Thesimple solution is to see to itthat your ownplansarewatertight.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Atworkandathomeyoumustkeepthetalkinggoing,awareof theneedfor

agreement.At thevery leastyoumustmakesure that lovedonesknowyourviewsonapromisedgatheringorengagement. If youexplainyourself, thentheycan’tpretendtheydidn’tunderstandyou.

CANCER(June22- July23)It’s timetogetoutand indulge inaspotof shoppingtherapy,hopefully today,but

tomorrowwilldo if youreallyare tiedup justnow.There’snothing likespendingabitofmoneyonanoverduetreat toliftyourmorale.But, then,youstillneeda long-termsolution,sodon’t imaginethatyou’reoffthehook.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Youarebathed inbeneficial lunaralignments, andtheseareboundto

makeyoufeel increasinglyemotional -andmorecompassionate.Youmayalsobea littlegullible, andhenceasoft touchforsome!So,keepaweathereyeopenfor rovingconfidencetricksters.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sep23)Youdo tend toworry, andsometimes youwonder if you’ve

backed thewronghorse.However, right nowyoushould allowyourself a greatdealmore space to considerthe options andgive currentdevelopments time toworkthemselves out beforemakingrashdecisions.

LIBRA(Sep24-Oct23)Your social stars arebeginning to lookmorebuoyant, andyou shouldkeep

your eyeopen fornew friendsand fascinatingmeetings.Where romance is concerned,it looks verymuchas if securityis increasingly themain issue.Youwant tohangon towhatyou’ve got.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov23)Stridentplanetaryaspectsforceyoutochoosebetweenhomeandwork,

betweenfamilyinterestsandoutsideambitions.Onceyouhavemadeyourpositionclear,othersshouldgiveyouthefreedomtogoyourownway.Butisthatreallywhatyouwant?Youwon’tknowunlessyou’vegotit.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov24-Dec22)Let thepast takecareof itself andconcentrateontheuntriedanduntested

solutionsof the future. Itwilldoyouapowerof goodto improveconditionsatwork, spreadingabitof colouraroundandgenerally raising thequalityoflife.Andwhileyou’reat it,whydon’tyoureassurepeopleyoulivewiththatyou’re rightbehindthem?

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Perhapslong-termfinancialcommitmentsandobligationsare

causingconcern,butyouwillhavetounderstandthatpartnersmaynotshareyouroutlook.Relaxandtrustalittlemoreinthehealingpoweroftime.It’sstrangehowwhatissoimportanttodaycanbecompletelyforgottentomorrow.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)It’sa fairlystressfulday,butbynomeansabadone.Muchdependsonhowfar

youarepreparedtowelcomechange,andtowhatextentyoucanturn frictiontoyouradvantage. Itmaybeacliché,butdo lookonthebrightside,won’tyou?Afterall, optimismbreedssuccess.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Staybusyandkeepactive. It’sadaytocopewithroutinechores,gettingas

muchaccomplishedasyoupossiblycan.Theessential ruleis that theharderyouworknow, themoretimeyou’llhaveoff lateron. Iknowyouknowthat,but it’sworthremindingyourself, all thesame.

SUDOKU4179

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius

SOLU

TIONSUDOKU4178

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.Theartof______isnoslightart,thepleasurenotaslightpleasure-MicheldeMontaigne(6,4)

SOLUTION:GENII,KNOLL,HINDER,WANGLEAnswer:Theartofdiningwellisnoslightart,thepleasurenotaslightpleasure-MicheldeMontaigne

GNEII EHIRDN

KOLLN AELNGW

SolutionsCrossword4177:Across:1Perjurer,5Trip,9Award,10Flounce,11Shortcomings,13Masque,14Apache,17Nevertheless,20Talents,21Tails,22Date,23Teenager.Down:1Pear,2Reaches,3Undercurrent,4Effect,6Runin,7Pressmen,8Cosmopolitan,12Emanated,15Casting,16Chaste,18Valet,19Tsar.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

e-Procurement Notice

INVITATION FOR BIDS (IFB)1. The Executive Engineer Seraj Division HP.PWD Janjehli Distt. Mandi on behalf of Governor of H.Pinvites the online bids on item rate, in electronic tendering system, in 2 Cover System for the undermentioned work from the eligible and approved contractors/Firms registered with HPPWD Department.

4. TENDER DETAILS:

The Tender Documents shall be uploaded online in 2 Cover:

i) Cover 1: shall contain scanned copies of all “Technical Documents/ Eligibility Information”.ii) Cover 2: shall contain “BOQ/Financial Bid”, where contractor will quote his offer for each item.

5. SUBMISSION OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS: The bidders are required to submit (a) original demand drafttowards the cost of bid document and (b) original bid security/Earnest Money Deposit (EMD) and otherTechnical Documents in O/o Executive Engineer Seraj Division HP.PWD Janjehli Distt. Mandi as spec-ified in Key dates Sr. No. 4 on Tender Opening Date, failing which the bids will be declared non-responsive.

6. BID OPENING DETAILS: The bids shall be opened on 18.08.2020 at 11 00 HRS in the office ExecutiveEngineer Seraj Division HP.PWD Janjehli Distt. Mandi H.P by the authorised officer. In their interest thetender are advised to be present along with original documents at the time of opening of tenders. If theoffice happens to be closed on the date of opening of the bids as specified, the bids will be opened on thenext working day at the same time and venue.

7. The bids for the work shall remain valid for acceptance for a period not less than 120 days after the dead-line date for bid submission.

8 The Bidder are advised to quote rates inclusive of GST as applicable. GST shall not be paid extra9. Other details can be seen in the bidding documents. The officer inviting tender shall not be held liable for

any delays due to system failure beyond its control. Even though the system will attempt to notify the bid-ders of any bid updates, the Employer shall not be liable for any information not received by the bidder. Itis the bidders’ responsibility to verify the website for the latest information related to the tender.

(Er. K. K. Kaushal)Executive Engineer

Seraj Division HP.PWDJanjehli Distt Mandi H.P1756/HP

1. Date of Online Publication 04.08.2020 1130 HRS

2. Document Download Start and End Date 04.08.2020 1130 HRS upto 18.08.2020 09.00 HRS

3. Bid Submission Start and End Date 04.08.2020 1130HRS upto 18.08.2020 09.00 HRS

4. Physical Submission of EMD Cost of Tender Document 18.08.2020, 1030 HRSand original technical document

5. Date of Technical Bid opening, Evaluation of Technical 18.08.2020 1100 HRSBid followed by Opening of Financial Bid.

2. Availability of Bid Document and mode of submission: The Bid document is available online and bid shouldbe submitted in online mode on website https://hptenders.gov.in. Bidder would be required to register in theweb-site which is free of cost. For submission of bids, the bidder is required to have Digital SignatureCertificate (DSC) from one of the authorized Certifying Authorities (CA). “Aspiring bidders who have notobtained the user ID and password for participating in e-tendering in HPPWD may obtain the same from thewebsite:https://hptenders.gov.in. Digital signature is mandatory to participate in the e-tendering. Biddersalready possessing the digital signature issued from authorized CAs can use the same in this tender.

3. Key Dates:

Sr. Name of work Estimated Earnest Cost of EligibleNo cost money Tender class of

Contractor

1 90,58,587/- 1,23,900/- 2000/ Class A-B

2 2,24,55,347/- 2,57,100/- 5000/ Class A

3 5,98,166 11,500/- 500/- Class C-D

4 31,06,377/- 59,800/- 2000/- Class C-B

5 9,11,619/- 20,000/- 500/- Class C-D

Balance work of M/T on Bagsaid to Thunag via Raindhar road Km0/000 to 9/500 under NABARD (SH;- P/L M/T R/Wall, V-shapedrain)

C/o Govt. Sen. Secy School Kaharsi in Tehsil Chachyot Distt.Mandi (SH;- C/o building portion, WS&SI, and site development)

C/o additional accommodation ITI Bagsid in Tehsil Thunag Distt.Mandi (SH;- C/o R/Wall in front side in building)

C/o Govt. Senior Secondary School building at Bandal inTehsil Balichowki Distt. Mandi (SH;- Building portion and sitedevelopment)

C/o Missing CD work on Bilagad Magarugalla road Km 0/000 to8/500 (SH;- C/o 3.00 mtr span R.C.C slab culvert with both sidewing wall at RD 1/155)

NOTICEInterested persons are invited to attend “walk-in-Interview” for contractualengagement on DC rate as ‘Chowkidar (01)’ on outsourcing basis, initially forone year further extendable on requirement basis. Preference will be given tothe candidate who also know cooking and can serve as Chowkidar cum Cook.The person should be in the age limit of 18 to 42 years and able to read andwrite Hindi. Interested candidates must report on July 30, 2020 at 9.30 am inthe Multimedia Centre of the University along-with certificates of Identify, Dateof Birth and Education.

REGISTRAR

J.C. BOSE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCEAND TECHNOLOGY, YMCA, FARIDABADNAAC ‘A’ Grade Accredited State Govt. University

Advt. No. 02/2020

NH-2, SECTOR-6, MATHURA ROAD, FARIDABAD, HARYANA-121006

81908/HRY

GSRTC invites online tenders

Asper tenderspecification,pre-qualificationcriteriaandconditionsmentioned in respective RFP. Please visit the website mentionedbelow for the details regarding submission of tender documents throughonlinee-tenderprocesshttps://gem.gov.in. For furtherdetailspleasecontactonPhoneNo.079-22801236(inofficehours) emailat:[email protected].

CME,GSRTCAhmedabad

GSRTCGUJARAT STATE ROAD TRANSPORT CORPORATION

for appointment of operator for operating Electric Buses for GSRTCon Gross Cost Contract Model under FAME India Scheme Phase-II.

GOVT. MEDICAL COLLEGE & HOSPITAL,

SECTOR-32, CHANDIGARHE-Auction Notice

E-Auction are invited for the disposal ofcondemned material and linen items ofHospital. The last date for the submissionof Technical Bid containing the requireddocuments for E-Auction is 17.08.2020(Condemned Material) and 24.08.2020(Condemned Linen items). AuctionNotice with terms and conditions avail-able on http://eauction.gov.in and alsoon GMCH website www.gmch.gov.in

New Delhi


SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

VolLXXXVIIINo.220Regd.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:Unni

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DiamondLeaguetrackmeetinEnglandcalledoffTheDiamondLeaguetrackmeetinGateshead,England,hasbeencancelledbecauseofthecoronaviruspandemic.It isthefifthofthe15meetsintheseriestobecanceled.TheeventinLondonwasalsocalledoff.TheGatesheadmeetwasoriginallyscheduledforAug.16andthenmovedtoSept.12beforebeingcancelled. AP

The Kloppian art of gegenpressingLiverpool'swinning formula is a variationof anage-old tactic that theGermanmanagerhas refined

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJULY23

THESEDAYS, there is a fearful apprehensionwheneverShaiHopebatsinaTestmatch.Theclutchingfearofabrightyoungbattingtalentcrushedasmuchasbyself-expectationsasbyadreadof failure.The experience ofwatchinghim ismore

realistic, and frustrating, than skimmingthroughhisstringofwretchedscores(57runsinfourinningsof thisseriesandanaverageof19.41in34inningssincetheNewZealandse-ries inDecember 2017). Such listless figurescouldconveytheimpressionofawoefullyout-of-touch,out-of-syncbatsman.Butonthecon-trary,helookssurprisinglyassuredinthemid-dle. He strides in confidently, his defence isresolute and stroke-playmasterful, his foot-workdecisiveandbalanceimperious.Yethecontrivestoperish.Nottoanextrav-

agantstrokeorastrikingtechnicalglitch.Thereis nodefinitivepattern todismissals.Hegetsoutindifferentfashions,ortoputitdifferently,thereisnoonewaytodismisshim,butseveral.Atonemoment,heseemsflawless,yet in thenext seems full of flaws.Hehas anoutstand-ing judgementoutside theoff-stump, leavesreassuringly,yethepokesatdeliverieshehasnobusinessto.Heisanexcellentplayerofspin,butsometimesconcedestheimpressionthathe’sanervousnovice.Hehas a terrific back-foot defence, but at

timesheconcedesafearof short-pitchbowl-ing.It’sasifhe’saPakistanibatsmanwhohadaccidentallywandered into the Caribbeandressingroom.Noneas instructiveof the volatility of his

batting as his 25 in the first innings in OldTrafford.HepassedthetoughStuartBroadex-amination,butfailedtherelativelyeasierSamCurrantest.Itwasneitheragreatballnorapoorstroke——aroutineoff-cutterthatgrippedoffthe dry surface,whichhe tried to defend. Inhindsight, he couldhave left it, ormaybehecouldhaveplayeditclosertohisbody,buttherewasnothingtoadmonishhimaboutthatshot.Itwasatthemostabasicerrorinjudgment,

whichmanybatsmenmake.Only that,Hopeiserringfartoofrequently,andtimeisfastrun-ningouttoprovethatheisindeedajewel.He

needstounlockthemysterythatheis.What’sexactlyeatinghim,onlyhecanre-

veal oneday. Several youngbatsmenenduresuch indifferent times,whennothing seemstohappendespiteeverythingfallingintoplacetheoretically. Itcouldbetheburdenofexpec-tations he has been shouldering since theHeadingleyheist,wherehemade147and118notout.Some are convinced that he has lost his

temperament,thatlimited-overmethodshavecrept intohis gameand impededhis growthasaTestbatsman.Tosolidify theirargument,they point out his exceptional numbers inODIs, wherein he averages 52.20, twice asmuchashiscorrespondingTestnumbers.It’s almost aRohit Sharmaquandary. You

expect limited-over success to seamlesslytranslateintoTestsbutitdoesn’t.Hissustainedfailures have not gone unnoticed in theCaribbean,wherecriticismshaveonlygrownlouderwith eachpassing game. Even coachPhilSimmonsadmittedthatHopeisnolongeranautomaticpick for thedecider. “He's gonefourinningswithoutascore,incontrasttohowheplayedover the last five, sixmonths in theotherformats.Iamconcernedabouthisform.We'llhave to thinkabout thatvery, veryseri-ously,”hesaid.Therewouldn’t be a better time to arrest

thedrought than inthedeciderandforHopetoprovethatheisapreciousjewelafterall.LIVEONSONYSIX:3rdTest,Manchester,

3:30pmonwards

SANDIPGJULY23

AFTERAnerve-wracking5-3winoverChelseaonWednesday, Liverpool lifted the PremierLeaguetrophy.Infrontofemptystandsattheirhomeground,LiverpoolmanagerJürgenKloppjoinedhis players at the sanitised silverwarepresentingceremony.Aroundtheworld,millionsoffootballfans

hailedKlopp’s unwavering ambition topro-duce aggressively beautiful football. Evenamong theneutrals therewas excitement inthe triumphof Liverpool’s eye-catching stylethat embodies theGermancoach’s attackingfootballphilosophybasedon“gegenpressing”.

Whatexactlyisgegenpressing?Whodiscoveredit?Literally, itmeanscounter-press-

inginGerman.Butcounter-pressingis not to pressing what counterat-tacking is toattacking. It’snot coun-tering a press—on the contrary, it’spressingacounter.Thefundamentalprincipleistostartpress-

ing as soon as you lose the ball, so that youcouldregainpossession.Usually,whenteamsconcedepossession,especially intheopposi-tionhalf,theyretreattoreorganisetheirshape,bolstering the defence for the offensive on-slaught.ButKlopp’smen,be itatLiverpoolorwhenhewasatBorussiaDortmund,begintoswarm the personwith the ball, cutting hisball-distributingchannels, crowdinghimoutand intimidating him, so that he falters andsurrenderstheballtothem.TouseKlopp’swords,“gegenpressthemto

death.”Oncehismenreclaimpossession,theybuzzawaylikesparklingredwasps.Thetactic, ironically,hasEnglishroots.Acruderversionwasprevalentinthe1960s

inEngland,butwassystematicallyusedintheDutchleague,whereErnstHappel’sFeyenoordandRinusMichels’AjaxAmsterdamdeployedit occasionally. The Total Footballers underMichelsborrowedcertainprinciplesofitinthe1974WorldCup. But theseweremere facets,notthedefiningtheme.Later, ItalianstrategistArrigoSacchiwove

gegenpressingintohissuccessfulMilanteams

of thelate1980sand1990stocounter the ultra-defensiveapproach of Italian rivals atthat time.Herealisedthat re-gainingpossessionhigherupthepitchwastheonlywaytocreatemoregoal-scoringop-portunities.

But itwasKloppwho refined the idea. InGermany,it’softenlaudedasthefirstGermantacticalinnovationafterFranzBeckenbauerre-defined the role of sweeper in the 1970s.Beckenbauer,whomanagedtheGermanteamat the1990WorldCup, had alsomasterfullydeployedthetactic,especiallyinthepre-quar-terfinalagainsttheNetherlands.SohadItaly’smanagerAzeglioVicini.

HowdoesLiverpoolgegenpressdifferentfromtheoneusedbyKloppatDortmund?Kloppwasquicktorealisehehadtotinker

withhistactics,dependingonthefootballcul-tureofthecountryandthemenathisdisposal.InDortmund, hehadanexemplaryhold-upstriker inRobertLewandowski; soheshapedhis side into anarrow4-2-3-1,withhismenpressing.Thefullbackswouldoftentrackbackrapidlytoregainthedefensiveshape.ButatLiverpoolhedoesn’thaveastrikerof

Lewandowski’spedigree,soheusually formsa4-3-3, deployingRoberto Firminoas a falsenine, flankedbypacyMohammadSalahandSadioMane. Firminodrops into thehole be-tween the oppositiondefence andmidfield,

acting likea link-manof sorts,distracting thedefenders andproviding space for thewing-men.Moreover,KloppfoundtheEnglishleaguemore defensive-minded—defenderswerehappy passing the ball among themselvesrather than panickingwhen pressed. TheyweresoefficientathoofingthelongballsthatLiverpoolwasmorevulnerable to counterat-tacks. Sohe focused thepressmore towardsthe centre of the field (theDortmundheat-mapwasalwaysonthewingsandextremelyclustered).Butatthesametime,hishyper-ad-venturous fullbackswouldn’t drop back asdeepastheDortmundcounterparts.

Isgegenpressingsimilartotikitaka?Pressing for Liverpool, it’s their lifeblood;

forBarcelonaunderPepGuardiola,itwastheirlife-support.Bothpresstoregainpossession,butwhile

Liverpoolchargeswithsnappycounters,ratch-etingupthetempo,Barcelonausedtodeceler-ateandresumetheirpassinggameandkeeppossession for long periods, restructuringthemselves.WhileGuardiola’sstyleofplaywasdefen-

sive,Kloppsawitasanattackingoutlet.Theypresseddifferentlytoo.Guardiola’smenwould press conserva-

tively,with oneman (usually LionelMessi)pressuringtheopponentontheball,andoth-ers cutting off passing angles. Aware ofBarcelona’sporousbackline,hewascautiousaboutnot committing toomanymenon the

ball.Histeamsweresostructuredthathedis-likedthechaosofagegenpresssituation.But Kloppwas a radical—hismenwould

converge onto the ball-carrying oppositionplayer.It’sthereasonhismidfielderspredom-inantly operate centrally to compress space,andnotthroughwidechannels.At the same time,Klopphasof late in the

biggames,embracedthepassinggame.It’snotquiteliketikitaka,butmoreofawearying-out-the-opponentplan.

Andwhat’stheantidoteforgegenpressing?Notactic is invincibleor invulnerable.The

sparklingnovelty of tiki taka graduallyworeoff, and pragmatic managers like JoseMourinho chalkedup strategies toneuter it,playing thepatience gamewithdeepdefen-sive lines, briefly bringing counterattackingbackinvogue.Some reckon AtleticoMadridmanager

Diego Simeone could be Klopp’s nemesis.SimeoneforensicallydismantledLiverpoolintheChampionsLeagueroundof16withade-fensivestyleofplaydubbed‘Cholismo’,anim-provisationof Simeone’s nickname “Cholo”,whichmeansstubborninSpanish.Notthathisteamsareforthrightlycynical,

but Simeonehabitually built teams fromtheback. Since his reign, Atletico has employedsomeofthefinestdefendersintheworld.Likeall good defensive sides, they have clinicalratherthanflashyforwards.TheethosisdrawnfromtheArgentinian ‘anti-futbol’ tradition—sit deep, play the offside smartly, scrap andscrape, and look to absorb pressure beforeworkingtheball forwardquickly.AtAnfield,hefrustratedKloppsomuchso

thattheLiverpoolmanagercalledhisbrandoffootball anti-football. “It doesn’t feel right. Idon’tunderstand,withthequality theyhave,thattheyplaythiskindof football.”Simeone’smethodsmightnotgetthero-

mantictractionoftikitakaorgegenpressing—though defensive discipline is as hard toachieve as attacking harmony. But asLiverpool look to expand their dominationandidealism,‘Cholismo’couldbethebiggesthindrance.Structuredpressingversuschore-ographed defence could be the next defini-tivenarrative in football.

Windies hopingagainst Hope

LiverpoolwerehandedthePremierLeaguetrophyonWednesday.Reuters

E●EXPLAINED

ShaiHopehasanaverageof19.41 in34inningssincetheNewZealandseries inDecember2017. Reuters

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