040621 ml 01 - bandhan.ongc.co.in

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA ● REG .NO . MCS/067/2018 - 20 RN I REGN . NO . 1543/57

FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 2021, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

JAYPRAKASHSNAIDUMUMBAI, JUNE3

THREE EXECUTIVE directors ofOil andNatural Gas Corporation(ONGC) were suspended onWednesdayaspartofanongoinghigh-levelenquiryintothechainofincidentsatBombayHighdur-ing Cyclone Tauktae that led tothe death of 86workers in theArabianSeaandendangeredthelivesofhundredsmore.A huge rescue operation

mountedbytheIndianNavyandCoast Guardmanaged to rescue628 people from various loca-tions in the Arabian Sea offMumbai.The three senior officials are

executive directors in charge ofdrilling, safety andexecutive ex-ploration,respectively.Theyhavebeensuspendedpendinginquiryby the high-level committee in-stituted by the Ministry ofPetroleumandNatural Gas into

the entire incident,which is thebiggest tragedysofar inBombayHigh due to a cyclone, saidsources intheministry."Thedirectorshavebeensus-

pended to ensure a free and fairenquiryandtoensuretheydonotinterfere with the enquiry," asourcesaid.Oneofthecrucialpiecesofev-

idence before the enquiry com-mittee is an email sent by theDeckOfficerofP305--thebargethatservedasaccommodationto261workers -- to anONGCoffi-cial and copied tomany others.Theemailpointsoutthataprivateweather forecaster StormGeo,thatmany seafarers rely on, hadpredicted a cyclone in the "westcoast/Mumbaihighregion".Noting that thewind speeds

were likely to reach 40 to 50knots,andtheseaswellhadbeenpredictedtoreach7to9mts, thedeckofficerrequestedtheofficials"to guide or instruct the

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

VALLABHOZARKARMUMBAI, JUNE3

TO ENSURE that online educa-tion of students does not sufferfor lack of resources, the NaviMumbaiMunicipalCorporation(NMMC) has decided to extendfinancial assistance of Rs 500 toeach student studying in corpo-ration-run schools tohelp thempurchaseamobile internet con-nection.AccordingtoNMMCofficials,

ever since the lockdownstartedlastyear, schools runbythemu-nicipal corporation have re-mained closed and classes havemoved online. However, sincemoststudentsinNMMCschoolscome from lower-middle classfamilies, many do not have themoney to purchase an internetconnection, theysaid.Therearearound40,000stu-

dentsenrolled in thecivicbody-runschools inNaviMumbai.According to the NMMC, it

hasbeenobservedthatwhiletheparentsdonotpossess comput-ers inmany cases, most own abasicsmartphone.However,dueto the inability of the parents topurchaseamobileinternetpack,the studentswere unable to at-tend the classes, which ulti-mately affected their education,anofficial said.With thenewacademic ses-

sionsettostartsoon,andwithnosignsofschoolsreopening,itbe-comesevenmore important forthe children to have an internetconnection, theofficialadded."We all know that the third

wave is expected in August orSeptemberandschoolswon'tbe

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

MANOJCGNEWDELHI, JUNE3

THIS DAY, exactly 10 years ago,NarendraModi, asGujarat ChiefMinister,moved a resolution atthe BJP’s national executive inLucknow. Titled “UPA – aGraveThreat to our Federalism”, it ac-cusedtheCongress-ledCentreofusurping law-makingpowers ofthestates,misusinginvestigativeagencies,exploitingstatutoryandconstitutionalbodiestoundercutstates and gettingGovernors to

workaspoliticalagents.“Non-Congress ruled states

aremaking their voiceof disap-proval heard from all over thecountry,” said the resolution.“But their cry is only falling ondeaf ears.”Cuttotoday,theshoe’sonthe

other foot.Over the last onemonth, es-

peciallyafter theMay2electionresults, several state govern-ments are echoing the spirit ofthat resolution, accusing theModigovernmentof hardening

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

10 yrs ago, Modi as CM hadflagged UPA threat; federalshoe now on the other foot

86DEADDURINGTAUKTAE

3 executive directorsof ONGC suspendedpending inquiry

YOGESHNAIKMUMBAI, JUNE3

ANANNOUNCEMENTbyReliefandRehabilitationMinisterVijayWadettiwar on Thursday thatlockdown-likerestrictionswouldbe lifted in 18 districts ofMaharashtraonFridayforcedthegovernmenttoclarifyhastilythatnosuchdecisionhadbeen takenandthatitwasonlyaproposalun-derdiscussion.Blindsided byWadettiwar's

announcement,whichcamesoonafter ameetingof ChiefMinisterUddhav Thackeray and otherministerswith theStateDisasterManagementAuthority,atwhicha "five-step unlockdown" pro-posalwasdiscussedindetail,andwas disseminated across thecountrywithinminutes,theChiefMinister's Office had to swiftlydenyanysuchdecision.Officials attachedto theCMO

werecallingreporters tosaythatWadettiwar's statement waswrongandshouldnotbedissem-

inated.Thegovernment'spublic-itydepartmentissuedaclarifica-tion that the five-step unlock-downwas only a proposal. Therelief and rehabilitationdepart-menthadproposedrelaxationbutanydecisionwouldbebasedontheCovid case count ineachdis-trict, which is being looked atclosely,thereleasesaid."Covid'ssecondwavehasstill

not reduced and the spreadhasincreased in rural areas. A pro-posal is being examinedonhowthelockdowncanberelaxedandnoproposal has beenokayed sofar. A five-phase unlockdownprocess isbeingplannedandthegovernmentwill be informingataformallevel.Thegovernmentisassessingthesituation invariousdistricts,"thegovernmentsaidintheclarification.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEAHMEDABAD, JUNE3

UNION HOME Minister AmitShah said Thursday that thecountryhad“controlled”thesec-ondwaveofthecoronavirus“inavery short time”, attributing thesuccess to the leadership ofPrimeMinisterNarendraModi.Virtually inaugurating nine

oxygenplantssetupbyanorgan-isationinGujarat,Shahsaid, “Jab

corona ki doosri lahar aayi aurvirus ne apna swaroop badal karbadi tezi se phailna shuru kiya —nakevaltezisephailnashurukiya,iskesaath-saathmanavkisehat

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Shah: PM Modi led, wecontrolled second wavein a very short time

‘Indiasetrecord intheworld forfastestvaccination’

No decision yet, clarifiesstate govt after ministerannounces ‘unlock plan’

NMMC schoolstudents to getRs 500 each formobile internet

NOCLASSXII STATEBOARDEXAMS: GOVTMAKES IT OFFICIALPAGE5

ANANTHAKRISHNANGNEWDELHI, JUNE3

STRESSING THAT “a citizen hasa right to criticise or commentupon themeasures undertakenbytheGovernmentanditsfunc-tionaries, so longashedoesnotincitepeopletoviolenceagainsttheGovernment establishedbylaw”, the Supreme CourtThursdayquashedtheFIRregis-tered by Himachal PradeshPolice against journalist VinodDuaforsedition,publicmischiefandotheroffencesoverthecon-tentsofatalkshowbroadcastonYouTube lastyear.A bench of Justices UU Lalit

andVineetSaransaideveryjour-nalist is entitled to protectionspecified under the SupremeCourt’s 1962 judgment in theKedarNathSinghvsStateOfBiharcase. That judgment upheld theConstitutionalvalidityofIPCsec-

tion 124A (sedition) butmadeclearthatitsoperationbelimited“onlytosuchactivities...involvingincitement to violence or inten-tionor tendency tocreatepublicdisorder or cause disturbance ofpublicpeace”.This is the first time that the

apex court has explicitly linkedtheKedarNathSingh judgment

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SC underlines itsruling to protectjournalists againstsedition law abuse

SEDITIONFIRAGAINSTVINODDUAQUASHED

Says1962KedarNathSinghnormofincitement toviolencehas tobetest

KEYOBSERVATIONS■Citizenscancriticisegovt, can’t inciteviolence■ JournalistsentitledtoprotectionunderSCrulingof1962■Petitioner’scommentsanappraisalof situation■PetitionerwastouchinguponissuesofconcernA MONSOON DATE

RaincloudsintheKochiskyonThursdayastheSouthwestmonsoonmadeanonsetoverKeralaafteradelayof twodays.PTI

COVIDVACCINEPOLICYSHIFT

Hyderabad’sBiological-E tomake7.5crdosesofCorbevaxavailablebySept

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI, JUNE3

THE GOVERNMENT said onThursdaythat itwouldmakeanadvance payment of Rs 1,500croretoHyderabad-basedman-ufacturerBiological E to reserve30 crore doses of its under-de-velopmentCovid-19vaccine.This is the first time that the

Centrehasplacedanorderwitha vaccinemanufacturer beforethe product has been grantedemergency use authorisation(EUA)by theregulator.The vaccine doses forwhich

arrangements have been “fi-nalised”,will be “manufacturedand stockpiled by Biological EfromAugust-December 2021,”the Union HealthMinistry saidinastatement.“For this purpose,

the...Ministry...wouldbemakinganadvancepaymentofRs1,500crore toBiologicalE.”

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Harris calls PM on US vaccinesfor India; first set is one day’s doseSHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JUNE3

DAYS AFTER External AffairsMinisterSJaishankarmetkeyof-ficials in the Biden administra-tion inWashington DC, the USannouncedThursdaythatitwilldistribute Covid-19 vaccines toIndia as part of its “strategy forglobalvaccinesharing”.PresidentJoeBidenmadethe

announcement and VicePresident Kamala Harris calledup Prime Minister NarendraModi regardingWashington’splanstomakevaccinesavailableto other countries, includingIndia.Initial estimates suggest

Indiawill get about 2-3milliondosesinthefirsttrancheofdosesviaCOVAXanddirectlyfromtheUS.Thisisaday’sdoseforIndia–onThursday,thecountryadmin-

istered 2.62million doses, ac-cording to a provisional officialreport.Theseincluded24,04,166first dose beneficiaries and220,805seconddosebeneficiar-ies.AUSstatement said that the

administrationwill begin shar-ing the “first 25milliondosesofCOVIDvaccines”withcountriesas part of the framework forsharing at least 80 million

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI, JUNE3

THEDECISION to book 30 croredoses of Biological E’s Covid-19vaccine before it has launchedmarks amajor shift in the gov-ernment’s stance on procure-ment for mass immunisation

against thecoronavirus.The ad-

vance order,which in-cludes Rs1,500 crore in

monetaryassistancetohelpthecompany stockpile doses, is thegovernment’sfirstat-riskinvest-mentonvaccines so far.It is significant that the gov-

ernmenthasput itsmoneyonanovel platform for a Covid-19vaccinethatisyettoreceivereg-ulatoryapproval.

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Healthstaff intherecordroomof JumboCovidhospital,Pune.ThedailycasecountinPuneisnowbelow2,000.ArulHorizon

E●EXPLAINED

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

‘At-risk’ policychange: Govtputs money onnew-platformCovid vaccine

In a first, Centrewill payRs 1,500crto reserve30cr doses of newvaccine

AMITABHSINHAPUNE, JUNE3

APRIL4wasthefirsttimeIndia’sdailyCovidcasecountcrossed1lakh setting off themost explo-sivephaseof thepandemicdur-ingwhichthedailycountofnewinfectionsreachedashighas4.14lakhonMay6.Twomonthssincethatmile-

stone, the Covid curve, afterclaiming a devastating toll of at

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

1-Apr

5-Apr

9-Apr

13-Apr

17-Apr

21-Apr

25-Apr

29-Apr

3-May

7-May

11-M

ay15-M

ay19-M

ay23

-May

27-M

ay31-M

ay

40,00,000

30,00,000

20,00,000

10,00,000

06,14,696

17,13,413June2

37,45,237May9

ACTIVE CASES IN INDIA

APRIL4-JUNE3:ATLEAST1.76LAKHDEATHS

2 months after explosive surge, 2ndwave still visible but its worst over

RAVIKBHATTACHARYA&ATRIMITRAKOLKATA,JUNE3

IN THEmonth of upheavals inWest Bengal since MamataBanerjeestormedbacktopower,oneman’s silence hasmade theloudest noise. The former TMCNo. 2, nowaBJP vice-president,MukulRoyhaskeptlargelyquietsince theMay 2 result except totweethis steadfast loyalty to theBJP. On Wednesday, the buzzabout his plans returned asBanerjee’s nephew Abhishek

dropped in at a Kolkata hospitaltocallonRoy’swifeKrishna,whoisailing fromCovid.This, in turn,prompted a similar visit by BJPWest Bengal chief Dilip Ghoshsoon after, followed by a phonecall by PrimeMinisterNarendraModi on Thursday to Roy, whohasbeeninhomeisolationsincethemiddle of May after testingpositive.It’s not just Roywho is keep-

ingBJPcirclesguessing.Inarever-sal of fortunes from before theAssembly elections, which sawhigh-spectacle desertions fromthe TMC to the BJP, it is the BJP’s

turnnowtowatchtheexitdoor.While some leaders have

madetheirdesiretoreturntotheTMCknown,inplaintiveappealstoBanerjee,othershavedroppedhintsoftheir“remorse”viasocialmedia.TheTMCclaimsadmittingthem is not on the agenda rightnow, busy as the Banerjee gov-ernment iswith fighting CovidandCycloneYaas’saftermath.Onthedayoftheresultsitself,

ex-TMCminister Rajib Banerjee,who lost on the BJP ticket fromDomjurinHowrah,tweeted,“Thelovable people of Bengal havemadetheirchoiceveryclear...Any

attempttodopoliticsnowwhileBengalisfightingCovidcannotbeacceptable.”Then,onMay8,Royskippeda

BJP meeting in the Assemblywhilenotablyexchangingpleas-antries with TMCWest Bengalchief Subrata Bakshi. His tweetdeclaring loyalty to the BJP fol-lowedadaylater.Oneof the first TMC-turned-

BJP leaders who appealed toBanerjeetotakeherbackwasherone-time confidant and formerSatgachia MLA Sonali Guha.Having joined the BJP after theTMC denied her an Assembly

ticket,butfailingtogetanomina-tion,Guharecentlytweeted,tag-ging Banerjee, “Mach jemon jolcharabanchteparena,temoniamiapnake chara banchte parbo na(Like a fish cannot livewithoutwater,Icannotlivewithoutyou)”.Guha told The Indian Express,

“Ihaveacceptedmyguilt.TheBJPdidnotgivemeanyimportance.”Accordingtoher,whenshewentfor the post-death rituals forBanerjee’s brother, who died ofCovid, several TMC leaders as-sured her not toworry. “My re-turn to the TMC is only amatterof time,”shesaid.

Ex-MLAofBashirhatDakshinand former footballer DipenduBiswassaiditwastheCBI’sarrestof TMC leaders in the 2014NaradastingcasethatconvincedhimtoleavetheBJP.Biswas,whoalsoreleasedalettertoBanerjee,toldTheIndianExpress,“Atatimewhenweare fighting Covid, theCBI arrested leaders like FirhadHakimandSubrataMukherjee.Itwas political vendetta and I quittheBJPthatday.”Several leaders fromNorth

Bengal who had joined the BJPbefore the Assembly polls have

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PAGE1ANCHOR

Ex-MLAsDipenduBiswas(abovewithMamata)andSonaliGuhahavereachedouttoMamata.Source:Facebook

Now, BJP turn to watch exit door as leaders reach out to TMC

Harris calls PMvaccines globally by the end ofJune.Biden said: “At least 75 per

cent of these doses -- nearly 19million--willbesharedthroughCOVAX,includingapproximately6milliondosesforLatinAmericaandtheCaribbean,approximately7millionforSouthandSoutheastAsia,andapproximately5millionforAfrica... The remainingdoses,justover6million,willbeshareddirectlywithcountriesexperienc-ing surges, those in crisis, andother partners andneighbours,includingCanada,Mexico, India,and the Republic of Korea,” hesaid.White House Coronavirus

Response Coordinator JeffreyDunston Zients said the firsttranche of 25million doseswillincludePfizer,ModernaandJ&J.Biden said the US has allo-

cated the first 25million of thevaccinesto laythegroundfor in-creasedglobalcoverageandtoad-dress real and potential surges,highburdensof disease, and theneeds of the most vulnerablecountries.PrimeMinisterModi, after

speakingtoHarris,said:“Ideeplyappreciate the assuranceof vac-cinesupplies... Ialsothankedherfor all the support and solidarityfrom theUS government, busi-nessesandIndiandiaspora.”USNSAJakeSullivansaidthat

Bidenmadeacommitmenttoen-surethatIndiareceiveddoses,andan allocation not just under theregionalportionthroughCOVAXbutadditionalallocation.He said “theprecisedestina-

tion... is a combinationofwherethere are specific urgent situa-tionswherepartnercountriesarefacingcrises”.ZientssaidthattheUSadmin-

istration is also “removing theDefence ProductionAct priorityratingsforAstraZeneca”.“This actionwill allow these

companiesthatsupplythesevac-cinemanufacturerstomaketheirowndecisionsofwhichorderstofulfil first.”Thismoveisexpectedtoease

supply of rawmaterials for vac-cinemanufacturersincludingthePune-based Serum Institute ofIndia.

‘At-risk’ changeBio E’s two-dose vaccine,

knownasCorbevax,islikelytobeamong the cheapest Covid-19vaccines in India; it is also ex-pectedthatitwillbeeasytoscaleupproduction.Corbevaxusesarecombinant

proteinplatform,notusedbyanyothervaccineinIndia.It targets the specific part of

the SARS-CoV-2 virus that canhelpthebodytriggeranimmuneresponse, in this case, the spikeproteinonitssurface.Whileothervaccinesalsotar-

get the spike protein by givingcells the instructions to makethem,Corbevaxdoessobyinject-ingacertaindoseofclonedspikeproteinsgrowninalab.Suchaplatformhaslongbeen

used for developing immunityagainstotherviruseslikeHepatitisB.Earlyon in thepandemic, re-

searchers at Baylor College ofMedicine inHouston, Texas, hadpulled out the sequence for thegene for the spikeprotein touseas their target. They had thenworkedoncloningandengineer-ingthecandidate intheir lab ina“quick” turnaround time, DrMaria Elena Bottazzi, AssociateDean, BCMNational School ofTropicalMedicine, had told TheIndianExpressearlier.InAugust2020,BCMandBio

E entered into an agreement totake this vaccine candidatethroughclinicaltrialsinIndia,andtoscaleupproductionofthevac-cinefortheworld.Several countries including

theUnitedStatesandtheUnitedKingdomhadmade at-risk in-vestmentsinvaccinessuchasthe

ones being developed by PfizerandAstraZenecalastyear,andhadplacedorderswhile their candi-dateswere still under develop-ment.Indiahad,however,waitedto

place its first ordersuntil thena-tional regulator had granted re-strictedusepermissionstoBharatBiotech’s Covaxin and SerumInstitute of India’s (SII’s) Covish-ield on January 3. Procurementfromthesecompaniescontinuedin this format until the end ofApril,whenithadbecomeappar-ent that theywere struggling torampupproduction tomeet thedemand.

NMMCopening anytime in thenear fu-ture. So,wearepreparing aplanwhereinonlineeducationwillbesmooth,andweareencouragingit. But, it has beenobserved thatwhile imparting online educa-tion,parentsandstudentsarefac-ingseveralissuesandoneofthemis internet recharge on theirphones,”saidNMMCchiefAbhijitBangar.“We are coming up with

manyinitiativestoenableonlineschoolingand, tobeginwith,wehavedecidedtosolvethisbasicis-sueofinternetdataplan.Wehavedecided thatwewill provideRs500 to theminitially for themo-bilerechargesothattheyhaveac-cesstointernetforaminimumofthreemonths,”Bangaradded.Bangarsaidthecorporationis

workingoutaproposalonthedis-bursal of this amount,which islikelytobedepositedinthebankaccount of the guardians of thestudents.He also said that there are

around 1,600 studentswho donotevenhavemobilephones,andthat the corporation is trying tosolvethisissueaswell.“Providing internet pack is

onlyoneoftheinitiatives.Itisnotanultimatesolution,butitwillen-ablethecorporationtoengageallstudents.Wearealsointheproc-essofadoptingseveralotherprac-ticestostartenhancingtheonlineeducationsystem.Wewill intro-ducethemsoon,”Bangarsaid.

Worst overleast1.76lakhlives,isfinallyfallingintoazonewherethedisease,ex-pertssay,couldbehandledbyex-istinghealthinfrastructure.Thenumberofactivecasesin

the country is less thanhalf thatofthepeak;thecasecounthasbe-gun to decline in almost everystate; and, for the first time inmore than two months, theweekly positivity rate has fallenbelowoverallpositivity.The biggest relief is that the

daily count of deaths has begunto comedownaswell. Less than3,000deaths arebeing recordedeveryday, compared to thehighofover4,400barely10daysago.Theworstmight beover but

the secondwave is not yet. Thedaily count of cases, at least 1.22lakh Wednesday, is still wayabove thepeakof the firstwave:97,894onSeptember16lastyear.So is thenumberof active cases,and the daily death count. Andmoststates in theNorth-Easternbarring Assam are still in themidstofasurge.“Bytheendofthismonth,the

dailycasecountshouldbesome-where around 20,000. Thatmeanswewould be roughly atthesameplacewherewewereatthe end of January,” said ProfManindraAgrawalof IITKanpur,who has been running a com-puter simulation to predict thepandemiccourse.Agrawal saidhewasnot sur-

prisedbytherapidpaceofthede-cline.“Thelockdownsbythestategovernments have helped, nodoubt.Butevenintheabsenceofthe lockdowns, the peakwouldhave been achieved around thesame time, in the first or secondweek ofMay. Just that the peakwould have beenmuch higher

thanthe4.14lakhthathaveseen.”Agrawal said his model

showedthattheratioofreportedand unreported cases had notchangedmuchbetweenJanuaryandnow.“Theactual numberof infec-

tionsinthepopulationislikelytobe25 timesmore than the con-firmedcases,”hesaid.Thatwouldmeanthatnearly

70crorepeople(25timescurrentcase count of 2.8 crore) in Indiawould have been infected sincethestartofthepandemiclastyear.Even a conservative estimatewould put this number at 40crore, or close to one-third ofIndia’spopulation.This numberwould have a

bearingonhowstrongthesubse-quentwavesofinfectioncouldbe.Anotherkey factorwouldbe thenumberofpeoplewhohavebeenvaccinated.Over22crorehavere-ceivedatleastonedoseofthevac-cineuntilnow.Therewouldbeanoverlapbetweenthosewhohavebeeninfectedandthosewhohavereceived the vaccine. But eventhen, close to 50 crorepeople inIndiacouldbesaidtohavedevel-opedsomeamountof immunityagainst the virus, either throughnatural infection or through thevaccine.

10 yrs ago...Centre-state battlelines on asweeping rangeof issues: politi-cal upmanship tohealth, BengaltoLakshadweep,CBItovaccines.And,intheprocess,forgingaunityandapushbackthat,theysay,willplay out in Parliamentwhen itmeets.Prominent in the cross-hairs

isWestBengal.Four days after Mamata

Banerjee returned to power,Central teams landeddays aftertheverdicttoprobepost-pollpo-litical violence (May6); CISF se-curity coverwas given to all 77newBJPMLAs (May10); CBI ar-rested twoministers and twoother Trinamool leaders in theNarada case (May17); Banerjeesaid CMs were not allowed tospeakat ameetingPMhadwithDMs (May 20).The standoff culminated in

ChiefMinisterMamataBanerjeestayingawayfromacyclonereliefmeeting(May28)chairedbythePrimeMinisterandtheCentrere-callingthethenWestBengalChiefSecretary.Jharkhand Chief Minister

Hemant Soren went on record(May6) tosaythePMdidnotlis-ten tohimduringaCovidphone

call.TheTamilNadugovernmentboycottedavirtualmeeting(May17)convenedbyUnionEducationMinisterRameshPokhriyalwithstatesfordirectlyinteractingwithofficialsratherthanministers.Congress-ruledstatesarealso

upset over the exclusionof theirFinanceMinisters fromaGroupofMinistersformed(June1)toex-amine exempting Covid-19 es-sentialsfromGST.Ever since itwas opened on

May1, vaccine supply is aperen-nial flashpointwithOppositionstates.EventhecancellationoftheClass XII CBSE exams came at ameetingofthePMdaysaftersev-eral states had asked for a trun-catedversionof thetest.Ironically, for theBJP, its long

yearsintheOppositionwereseento ahve made it sensitive toCentre-State relations.More so,becauseoftherampantmisuseofArticle 356 in the IndiraGandhiyears.The BJP’s electionmanifesto

for the1984LokSabhaelections— the first general election itfought—saidstateshadbeenre-ducedtoglorifiedmunicipalitiesandthattheBJPwouldrestorethefederal balance. Its promises in-cluded appointingGovernors inconsultationwithstates. Its2019manifesto promised to imple-mentcooperativefederalism.So the tussle between the

CentreandOpposition-runstateshas unnerved somewithin theBJP too. Said a former BJP CM:“The Centre and the PrimeMinister should come forward.Kuchchbaatonko ignorekardenachahiye (some things should beignored).Otherwise,thisisaslip-peryslope.”Referring to the controversy

overtheformerWestBengalChiefSecretary, ex-Karnataka CMMVeerappaMoily,whoheadedthesecondAdministrative ReformsCommission, said it seems thegovernmenthadno“institutionalmemory”asthereareproceduresregardingofficials.Suchmoves are uniting the

Opposition. The CMs of KeralaandOdisha,PinarayiVijayanandNaveenPatnaik, havewritten totheircounterpartsflaggingprob-lemsinthevaccinepolicy.“TheCentre shouldnot pun-

ishOppositionstates,” saidDMKleader T R Baalu. His colleagueRajyaSabhaMPTKSElangovan:“They(BJP)don’twantstates,theywantaunitaryIndia.Thereshouldbe a strong fight for the rights ofthestates.”Congress leader inLokSabha

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury saidthattheseissueswillberaisedinParliament. A strident critic ofMamata Banerjee and her gov-ernment,Chowdhurysaidthetugofwaroverabureaucratsendsthe“wrong message” that the“Government is impatientwiththeOpposition,soimpatientwithdemocracy”.Trinamool Congress leader

SukhenduShekharRoy said it istime for theOpposition tounite“against the arbitrariness of theCentre”.Constitutional expert

SubhashKashyapframesthecur-rent standoff as amisreading oftheConstitution.“Wearenotwill-ingtoadmit that thereareno in-alienable rights of states. Article256and257provideforwhatyoucallCentreissuingdirectivestothestates and if thosedirectives arenotobeyedthenArticle365saysthat a situationmay be said tohavebeencreatedwherethegov-ernmentof thestate isnotbeingcarriedoninaccordancewiththeConstitution... The Union hasgiven certain rights to the Statesas a concession and they canbewithdrawnatanytime,”hesaid.

SC on journaliststo the protection of journalistsfromabuseof theseditionlaw.The bench ruled that “every

journalistwillbeentitled topro-tection in terms of Kedar NathSingh,aseveryprosecutionunderSections124A(sedition)and505(publicmischief)of the IPCmustbe in strict conformitywith thescopeandambit of said sectionsasexplainedin,andcompletelyintunewith the law laid down inKedarNathSingh”.The 1962 judgment over-

turnedaPatnaHighCourtrulingthat upheld the conviction ofKedarNathSingh, a CommunistParty activist, for his statementsagainst the police and theCongress party at a gathering inBihar’sBaraunivillageonMay26,1953.Recalling the principles laid

down in that ruling, the benchsaid Thursday that “it is onlywhen thewords or expressionshavepernicious tendencyor in-tention of creatingpublic disor-derordisturbanceof lawandor-derthatSections124Aand505oftheIPCmuststepin”.The court, however, rejected

Dua’sprayerinhispleathatnoFIRberegisteredagainstapersonbe-longingtothemediawithatleast10 years of standing unless

cleared by a Committee “to beconstitutedbyeverystategovern-ment”.Thebenchsaid“anyreliefgranted...wouldcertainly...amount to encroach-mentuponthe field reserved forthelegislature”.Thursday’srulingcomesthree

days after another bench of theSupreme Court said it is of theviewthatSection124AoftheIPCwill need interpretation, espe-cially on its applicationwith re-gardtofreedomofthepress.Duahadmoved the court on

June13, 2020, seekingquashingof the FIR registered onMay 6,2020,attheKumarsainpolicesta-tioninShimla.TheFIRwasregis-teredonacomplaintfiledbyAjayShyam,alocalBJPleader,thatDua“had asserted that the PrimeMinister useddeaths and terrorattacks to garner votes and thatthePrimeMinistergarneredvotesthroughacts of terrorism” in theHindi talk show uploaded onMarch30,2020.Buttheapexcourtbenchcon-

cluded that “it has been estab-lishedthatthestatementsattrib-uted to thepetitioner”werenotmadeintheshow.“The petitioner did say that

theairstrikesbyIndiaonBalakotand attacks on Pathankot andPulwamawere used... to garnervotes but no allegations weremadeagainstthePrimeMinister,”thebenchsaid.On comments regarding the

Government’sresponsetoCovid,the court said that “countries allovertheworldfoundthemselveswanting... (in)thepandemic”.Thecomplainanthadalsore-

ferredtosomestatements intheshowon themovement of mi-grant labourers in the first lock-down.“Ifthepetitionerinhistalkshowuploaded on 30.03.2020,thatisevenbeforethematterwastakenupbythisCourt,madecer-tain assertions... he would bewithinhis rights to say that as ajournalist hewas touchinguponissues of great concern,” thebenchsaid.Thecourtsaidthatthe“state-

mentsbythepetitioner...ifreadinthelightoftheprinciplesemanat-ing from the decision in KedarNathSinghandagainsttheback-dropof thecircumstanceswhentheyweremade, can at best betermedasexpressionofdisappro-bation of actions of theGovernment...”It said: “Theywere certainly

notmadewiththeintenttoincitepeople or showeda tendency tocreatedisorderordisturbanceof

publicpeace...ThepetitionerwaswithinthepermissiblelimitslaiddowninthedecisionofthisCourtinKedarNathSingh”.Thebenchsaiditis“therefore,

ofthefirmviewthattheprosecu-tion of the petitioner for the of-fencespunishableunderSections124A and 505 (1) (b) of the IPCwouldbeunjust”. The court alsorejectedthecontentionthatsomeof the statements amounted tocirculatingafalsealarm,whichisan offence under the DisasterManagementAct.

Shahparbhibahuttezisenuksanpahun-chane ka iss baar uska lakshandekhagaya—phirbhiisskobahutkamsamaykeandarniyantritkarkedhalankiaurlejaanemeinhumsabkoeksamoohiksafaltamilihai(When the secondwave cameand the virusmutated, startedspreading rapidly — not justspreadingrapidlybutalsoaffect-ing people fast and in a muchworsemanner— still, in a shorttime, controlling it andensuringit declines, is a collective successforus).”Chief Minister Vijay Rupani

toosaidthatwhileIndiahadtack-ledthepandemic firstwavesuc-cessfully, the secondwavewasnowcontrolledandthestatehadstarted preparations for a thirdwave.Shahsaidthiswasnotamean

achievementinacountrythesizeof India,addingthatwhile“therewould not be reports inmediafromothercountries...whenyougothroughsocialmediayouwillseethatarrangementsinveryde-velopedcountriescrumbled”.Adding that he shared the

grief of thosewhohad lost nearanddear ones, or saw themsuf-ferinhospitals,Shahsaid,“InIndiawe fought this battlewithplan-ningandcourage...Here fightingalongside the governmentwere135 crore Indians, under PrimeMinisterNarendraModi’sleader-ship.”Withthegovernment’svacci-

nationpolicyfacingcriticismfromcourtsandtheOppositionacrossstates, Shah said India had set a“worldrecord”infastestvaccina-tion, and that the PMaimed tocovermaximumpeopleinmini-mumtime.TheHomeMinister said one

ofthebiggestchallengestheModigovernmentandstatesfacedwasoxygensupply,withthedemandincreasing ten-fold, from1,000metric tonnes daily to 10,000metrictonnes.

BJP to TMCalsomadepublic their desire toreturn, includingSaralaMurmu,whocrossedoverdespitegettinga ticket from the TMC, and ex-MLAAmalAcharya.OnMay30, twodays before

Abhishek’s visit to hismother,Mukul Roy’s son ShubhranshupostedonFacebook, “Beforewecriticise a government whichcametopower throughpeople’smandate,weneedself-criticism.”Shubhranshu,whowaspres-

ent at the hospital duringAbhishek’svisit,saidtheassocia-tionbetweenthetwofamilieshadnot ended just becauseRoyhadlefttheTMC.“AbhishekBanerjeecametoseehisaunt... Iamgrate-ful to thechiefminister too,whothroughvarioussourcesenquiredabout us,my father andmotherduring these Covid times.NarendraModialsocalledupmyfather,”hetoldreporters.Askedwhetherhewilljointhe

TMC, Shubhranshudidnotdenythe possibility. “Letmymothercomehome. Thenwewill thinkaboutallthat,”hesaid.On Thursday, Abhishek told

reporters thathiscallonKrishnaRoywasnotaboutpolitics.“Ihaveknownhersincemychildhood.”TMCspokespersonKunalGhoshadmitted several former party-menhave“publiclyadmittedguiltand expresseddesire to return”,and that otherswere in touch.“But thepartyhasnotdiscussed

theissueyet,”hesaid.Asked about a possible re-

verse exodus, BJP spokespersonSamikBhattacharyasaid,“Peopleof Bengal are seeing everything.They(theleaders)cametotheBJPcryingandnowwanttoreturntotheTMClaughing.”

Suspensionconcernedparties totakeappro-priate action and to ensure thesafetyofallpersonnelandassets".The suspension of the three

officials hasnot gonedownwellwith ONGC officers, who ex-pressed their resentment in astrongly worded letter to thechairmanandmanagingdirectorof ONGC throughAssociationofScientific & Technical Officers(ASTO)onWednesday.Asmanyas 20,000 officers/engineers ofONGCarepartofthisassociation.Aseniormemberoftheasso-

ciation said, "Suspension is a so-cial insult. It demoralisesus. Theofficials aremade to sit at homeand50per cent of their salary iscut and it can affect their futurepromotionsiftheinquiryispend-ingforalongtime."An excerpt from the letter

states,"Thefactisthattherewere22bargesworkingONGCduringthat period and 19 of themad-heredtoONGCweatheradvisorybutthethreebargesbelongingtoM/sAFCONSdidnot.M/sAFCONSfailed to adhere to the require-ments of Marine Operationsmanual, bridging documents,warnings issuedbyONGC. Theyalso gave false information toONGC that theyhave takenade-quate precaution as perONGC'sadvisory. It is not a co-incidencethatallthreebargesbelongtoM/sAFCONSbecause this companytimeandagainhasviolatedsafetyandhumanrightsnormsandhasscant respect for ONGC's safepractices…""Withdraw the disciplinary

actionsinitiatedagainst fewoffi-cers of ONGC as they are notbasedonanyoutcomeof factualinquiry.InitiateactionsagainstthecontractorM/sAFCONSandtheirpartners as their culpability isclearlyestablished.Wethereforerequestyoutotakeimmediateac-tiononASTO's demands. In casethesameisnotdoneby15thJune2021, then ASTO shall be con-strained to take further action inthis regard," states another ex-cerptfromtheletter.Regarding the allegations, an

Afcons spokesperson said, "Thelettermakesseveralunsubstanti-ated and factually incorrect alle-gations against Afcons, all ofwhich arebeliedby the volumi-nousdocumentary evidence onrecord that Afcons has alreadysubmitted to theHPC that is in-vestigatingthis incident.The let-terisrepletewithmisinformedal-legations, including that thebarges chartered byAfcons didnot leave theoperational area intime. It iswell knownanddocu-mentedthatallbargeschartedbyAfconswereinstructedtodemo-bilisefromtheworkareaanddidsobyMay14/15,well before theonset of the full fury of CycloneTauktae." The statement said,"Giventhatthematterisbeingre-viewedbyHPC, it is unfortunatethat suchaspersions contrary tofactsanddevoidoftrutharecast."

9bodies identifiedThe YellowGate police said

thatsofarninebodieshavebeenidentifiedusingDNAtests,whileDNA test of one body did notmatch.Atotalof17bodiesremainunidentified at the JJmortuary.TwobodieskeptinamortuaryatValsad are unidentified too, andDNAtestingisbeingdone.OnWednesday, ONGCwas

helpingmortuary staff in hand-ingover fourbodies identifiedasVivek Singh, Umesh Chavan,Santosh Yadav from MathewcompanyandSachinPathnefromAfcons.AllwereonboardP-305.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

Centre will pay to reserve 30 cr doses

State clarifies after minister announcement

India'svaccineprocurementpolicyhascomeundercriticismfordelayedplacementoforders.Othercountrieshithardbythepandemic, such as theUS, hadmade early investments lastyear to reserve largequantitiesofvaccines.On April 24, against the

backdrop of its vaccine aug-

mentationplan,theCentrehadmade a 100 per cent advancepayment of Rs 1,732.5 crore toSerumInstituteofIndia(SII)for11croredosesofCovishielddur-ingMay,June,andJuly—andRs787.5croretoBharatBiotechfor5croredosesofCovaxinduringthesameperiod.Biological E’s vaccine can-

didateiscurrentlyundergoingphase 3 clinical trials. It is aproteinsub-unitvaccine,sim-ilar to inactivated whole-cellvaccines such as Covaxin, anddoes not contain live compo-nents of the virus. However,unlike inactivatedwhole-cellvaccines, a sub-unit vaccinecontains only the antigenic

parts of the virus to trigger aimmune response.According to the Centre’s

plan, theHyderabadcompanyisexpectedtomanufacture30crore doses of Corbevax be-tweenAugust andDecember,of which at least 7.5 croredoses will be available bySeptember.

While it is unclear whyWadettiwar decided to jumpthegun,hisdetailedannounce-ment on how the lockdownwouldbe lifted gave a glimpseofwhat the removal of restric-tionsmaylooklike."Inlevelone,thereare18dis-

trictswhichwillhaveanunlock-down,fivedistrictsinleveltwo,10inlevelthreeandtwoinlevelfour.Therestareinlevel5.LevelonehasAurangabad,Bhandara,Buldhana, Chandrapur, Dhule,Gadchiroli, Gondia, Jalgaon,Jalna, Latur, Nagpur, Nanded,Nashik, Parbhani, Thane,Washim,WardhaandYavatmaldistricts. Level two hasAhmednagar,Amravati,Hingoli,Mumbai,Dhuledistricts.Inlevel

three, Akola, Beed, Palghar,Ratnagiri, Kolhapur,Osmanabad, Sangli, Satara,SindhudurgandSolapurarein-cluded, and Pune and Raigadwill open later.Wewill imple-mentfromtomorrowieFriday,"heannounced.Healsosaidthatif thenum-

ber of fresh cases comesdownfurther inMumbai, local trainswouldberestarted.Thegovern-menthasproposedthatunlock-downwillhappenonpositivityratio, numberof cases andbedavailability.Soonafter thepress confer-

ence,WadettivarflewtoNagpur,wherehesaidthattheissuewasdiscussed in the StateDisasterManagementAuthorityandthe

CMwouldmaketheformalan-nouncement.However,thegov-ernment's clarification ap-peared to suggest that thefive-level plan is still work inprogress.Leader of Opposition in the

Legislative Council PravinDarekar said, "The entire gov-ernment is in confusion.WhileministerWadettiwarwas an-nouncing theunlockdown, theChiefMinister'sOfficewascall-ingeveryoneandsayingthereisno unlockdown. People havebeen left confused. There is noproper communication by thegovernment."HealthMinisterRajeshTope

also said that a lockdownwasstill in force andno restrictions

had been relaxed since June 1,whenthegovernmentallowedshopstoremainopenforlongerhours and permitted non-es-sentialshopstoreopen.Maharashtra on Thursday

registered15,229Covidcases,asubstantial decrease from thehighest single-day tally of68,631thatitregisteredonApril18. The number of cases hasbeen seeing a steady declinesincemid-May. The total casesin the state nowstand at 57.91lakh, ofwhich2,04,974 are ac-tive.Thetotaldeathtollwas307,

of which 228 had occurred inthe last 48hours and79 in thelastweek,takingthetotaldeathtollto97,394.

FROMPAGEONE

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JUNE4,2021

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Cantheruraleconomygrowthisyearaswell?NEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

Todayonthe3Thingspodcast, IndianExpress’sruralaffairseditorHarishDamodarantalksaboutthereasonswhytheruraleconomydidwell lastyear,andwhetherthiscanhappenagainthistime.

DOWNLOADAPP

LAKSHADWEEP: AN ISOLATED ISLANDTHATBECAMEAMELTINGPOTOFCULTURESThesocio-cultural life in the islands isunique.Though inhabitedbyamajorityofMuslimresidents, Islampractised in theLakshadweep isunlike that followedanywhereelse in thecountry. It isamatrilinealsociety, also influencedbyHindutraditionsandcastestructure.

EXPLAINED TECH

UNDERSTANDINGINDIA’SGDPFALL

Accordingtoestimates,India’sGDPcontractedby7.3%in2020-2021

WEB

EXCLUSIVE

SCANTHISQRCODETODOWNLOADTHEAPP

ASUSZENBOOKPRODUO15OLEDREVIEW

Afantasymachineandagoodinvestmentforcreativepros

■VISUAL STORIES

■ DAILY BRIEFING

■ PODCASTS

■ CUSTOMIZABLENEWS EXPERIENCE

IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

3THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JUNE4,2021

THECITYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOVT. OF INDIA, MINISTRY OF DEFENCEDEFENCE ESTATES OFFICE,

MUMBAI CIRCLE, COLABA,MUMBAI-400005

PUBLIC NOTICEIT is notified for the information of lessees/ex-lessees

of defence land granted under Cantonment Code 1899 &1912, Cantonment Land Administrative Rules (CLAR) 1925& 1937, the Government of India, Ministry of Defence hasformulated an interim policy to deal with (i) Extension ofexpired/expiring Cantonment Code leases of 1899 & 1912and leases under CLAR 1925 & 1937 (ii) Renewal ofCantonment Code & CLAR leases whose full term has notexpired.

The lessees/occupants of such properties are herebyrequested to contact the Defence Estates Officer, MumbaiCircle, Colaba, Mumbai-05 during working hours andsubmit their request within 30 days from the date ofpublication of this notice for renewal of lease alongwithwillingness to make payment of rental and also submitnecessary documents for condonation of breaches, if any,where applicable.

It is notified for the information that in case of failureto apply, eviction proceedings may be started againstthose who do not hold any subsisting lease hold rights.

Sd/-(RAHUL ANAND SHARMA)

No. C/178/IV DEFENCE ESTATES OFFICERDate : 03.06.2021 MUMBAI CIRCLE

LAXMANSINGHMUMBAI,JUNE3

INAbid to scaleup theCovid-19immunisationdrive inMumbai,the Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation(BMC)hasrequestedthestategovernmenttosupplyatleast 12 lakh vaccine doses forJune.Officials said theyare look-ingtoinoculateabout50,000ben-eficiariesperdaythismonth.The BMC on Thursday re-

ceived 94,000 doses ofCovishieldandCovaxin.OfficialssaidthatvaccinationwillresumeonFriday. Thevaccinationdrivein civic- and state-run centreswassuspendedonThursdaydue

toshortageof vaccines.“Wehave requested thegov-

ernment to provide us with astockof at least 12 lakhdoses forthismonth so that thedrive cancontinuesmoothly.Ifwegetmorethan1 lakhdosesdaily, thedrivecanberampedupandvaccinationcanbestartedforallagegroups,”said Suresh Kakani, AdditionalMunicipalCommissionerofBMC.There are340Covid vaccina-

tion centres across Mumbai.However,only5,510peoplewerevaccinatedonJune2duetoshort-ageofvaccinesatBMCandstate-run centres. Data shows that44,323peoplewerevaccinatedatprivatehospitalcentresonJune2."Our drive depends on the

stockwegetfromthegovernmentand there is no certainty aboutthat.Privatehospitalscanprocuretheirownstocks,"Kakaniadded.Continuingitscurrentsystem

for the next two days, the BMCwill allow vaccination onlythrough online appointments.Thedrivewill remainsuspendedonSunday.According to a BMC official,

2.65lakhpeoplehavebeenvacci-natedinMumbaiinJanuary,5.71lakhinFebruary,8.1lakhinMarch,9.47lakhinApriland5.23lakhinMay.TheBMCstartedthevaccina-

tion drive for 18-44 years fromMay1.Sofar,33.74lakhhavebeenimmunised inMumbai. Of this,

26.19 lakh got the first dose and7.54lakhgotbothdoses.Overthelastfewdays,private

hospitals have been vaccinatingmorepeoplethanBMCandstatecentres.Currently,theBMCisvac-cinating senior citizens, peopleabove 45 years, specially-abled,studentswhoarestudyinginfor-eign universities and lactatingmothers. Thedrive for 18-44agegrouphasbeensuspendedsinceMay23.However, the civic bodyhassaidthatitwillnowallowben-eficiarieswhoaredueforthesec-onddoseofCovaxin.“Wehaveplannedthedrivein

aphasedmanner.Peopledue forseconddoseswill be allowed totakethejab,”saidKakani.

Mumbai: City Congress presi-dentBhaiJagtaponThursdayal-legedthatBMC’srecentclaimofgettingallnullahscleanedinthecityaheadofmonsoon is false.Jagtap on Thursday visited

Dharavi, Govandi, Mankhurd

and Ghatkopar to take stock ofnullahdesiltingworkcarriedoutbyBMC. Speaking tomediaper-sons later in the day, he said:“The BMC spends about Rs 100crore on nullah desiltingwork.However, during our visit, we

found that at many places, re-movedsiltwasstilllyingnearthenullahs. After monsoon, it willflowback into thenullahs.”“Thereiscorruptioninnullah

cleaningwork. A probe shouldbeconducted,”headded.ENS

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JUNE3

MAYOR KISHORI Pednekar hasstokedacontroversyaftersheal-legedly posted an offensivetweet fromherTwitterhandle.On Wednesday, the Shiv

Senaleaderhadtweetedanewslink of her interaction with achannel on vaccine procure-ment.Followingthis,aTwitteruser

asked Pednekar who wasawardedacontract forprocure-ment of vaccine. In reply, themayor tweeted – “tujha bapala(to your father)”. Later, shedeleted the tweet.However, by then, her tweet

hadgoneviralwithBJPwasalsotargetingPednekarforusingob-jectionable language.Following the controversy,

Pednekarclarifiedthatthetweetwasmadebyapartyworkerandnotbyher.“I was at a function in BKC

andmy phonewaswith one ofthe party workers. The phonewas not locked... so, after read-ing the question, the partyworker posted an offensivetweet.When I saw the tweet, Irealisedthemistakeandimme-diately deleted it. I do not usesuch language,” sheclaimed.She added, “I have warned

thepartyworker not todo suchthings in the future.”

SANJANABHALERAOMUMBAI, JUNE3

THE FEDERATION of RetailTraders Welfare Association(FRTWA) on Thursdaywrote toBMCCommissioner Iqbal SinghChahalallegingthathawkersareviolatinglockdownrulesbyille-gally carryingout their trade.“Hawkersatcertainareaslike

DadarWesthaveoccupiedbothsidesof thefootpath.Weunder-stand that shops are allowedonly one side to ensure nocrowdingtakesplace,buthawk-ershavecompletefreedomtodobusiness everywhere and incompleteviolationof socialdis-tancingandprotocolduring thelockdown,” FRTWA wrote toChahal.The Azad Hawkers'

Association,oneoftherepresen-tativeorganisationsofMumbai’sover one lakh street vendors,meanwhile, wrote to BMC onWednesday demanding thatstreet vendorsbeallowed to re-sumeoperations.From June 1, under the state

government's ‘Break the Chain’initiative, BMC has permittednon-essential shops to operatebetween 7 am and 2 pm fivedays aweek on either side of aroad on a rotational basis on al-

ternate days. However, streetvendors and hawkers have notbeenpermittedtoconductbusi-ness.Hawkers’ unions have been

demanding that all street ven-dorsbeallowedtoplytheirtradebetween 7 am and 2 pm.“Currently, only vegetable andfruit vendors are allowed tofunction.Wehavewrittentothemunicipal commissioner to al-lowallstreetvendorstoresumetheir businesses,” saidDayashankarSingh,presidentofAzadHawkers'Association.Asperasurveyconductedby

BMC in 2014, there are 1.2 lakhhawkers in the city. However,streetvendorsarestillanunreg-ulated sector, with only 15,000licensedhawkers inMumbai.Last August, the state had

toldtheBombayHighCourtthatit has no plans to permit streetvendors to conduct businessamid the pandemic because itdidnothavethecapacitytoreg-ulate theirwork.Butmanyvendors,whohave

no other source of income, re-sumed their trade anyway onlytobeforcedtodiscontinuefromAprilthisyear.“Iambackatworkagain because I have no otherchoice. I wearmymasks prop-erly, follow social distancingnorms, why shouldn’t I be al-

lowed to do business? I am justhopingthatconsumersarebackonthestreets,”saidVijayKumar,who sells cellphoneaccessoriesnearGoregaonstation road.Meanwhile, Hotel and

Restaurant Association ofWestern India (HRAWI) onThursdaywritten to Chahal re-questingthatstandalonerestau-rants and bars as well as thoseinside hotels be allowed to re-open. It has also requested thecommissionertoextendtheop-erationtimingof restaurants till11 pm. At present, hotels andrestaurantsarepermittedhomedeliveryandtakeawayservices.“The industry's revenue at

the beginning of 2021was be-low20percentofpre-pandemicdays. Since April,it hasn’t eventouched 5 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.Each lockdownextensioniscost-ing the industrymassive losses.No data or studyhas shown thatCovid-19 isspread at hotelsandrestaurants,”said SherryBhatia, presidentofHRAWI.

MAHARASHTRA JEEVAN PRADHIKARAN DIVISION, JALGAONE-TENDER NOTICE NO.1 FOR 2021-22MJP invites e-Tender for the work of under JJM

Programme Paldhi BK & Kh Water Supply Scheme, Tal.Dharangaon, Dist. Jalgaon in the state of Maharashtra, valued atRs. 14.97/- Cr. The e-Tender details are available onwww.mahatenders.gov.in from dated :- 07.06.2021.

All relevant dates will be as per the tender published inweb portal www.mahatenders.gov.in

Sd/-Executive Engineer,

DGIPR-2021-22/712 MJP Division, Jalgaon

Pre-monsoon preparations: Cong targets BMC, saysat many places, removed silt still lying near nullahs

BMCseeks 12 lakh vaccinedoses fromgovt thismonth

Traders accuse hawkers of violatingnorms, illegally doing businessStreetvendorsdemandtheybeallowedtoresumework

Offensive tweetposted frommayor’s handle,she says workof Sena worker

KishoriPednekar

Adesertedvaccinationcentreatamunicipal school inThaneonThursday.Deepak Joshi

MAHARASHTRA4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JUNE4,2021

OFFICE OF THE MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT,SAWAI MAN SINGH HOSPITAL, JAIPUR

[Sawai Man Singh Road, Tonk Road, Jaipur, Rajasthan 302001]{Phone 0141-2518308, 2565647, Email- [email protected],

[email protected]}No. 1689/Store/SMS/MH/2021 Jaipur dated, the 27.5.21

NOTICE INVITING BIDBids are invited for two year Rate contract for supply of Absorbent cotton wool IP 500 gm,Guage & Bandage from interested bidders up to 5.00 P.M. on 22.6.2021. Other particular ofbid may be visited on the procurement portal (http://sppp.rajasthan.gov.in &http://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in)

UBN No. MCJ2122GLRC00047Sd/-

Medical SuperintendentDIPR/C/5038/2021 Sawai Man Singh Hospital, Jaipur

GOVERNMENT OF ODISHAOFFICE OF THE ADDITIONAL CHIEF ENGINEER,

P.H. CIRCLE, NAYABAZAR, CUTTACK-753004Ph.- 0671-2440841, Fax- 0671-2440841, E-mail: [email protected]

NATIONAL COMPETITIVE BIDDING THROUGH e-ProcurementInvitation For Bids (IFB) No. SEPHCTC-01/2021-22 Dtd. 31.05.2021

1. Date & time of availability of bid :- 11.00 hours of dt. 08.06.2021 todocument in the portal 17.30 hours of dt. 22.06.2021.

2. Last date / time of receipt of :- 22.06.2021 upto 05.30 P.M.bids in the portal

3. Date & time of opening of bids :- 23.06.2021 at 12.30 P.M.4. Name and address of the

Officer Inviting Bid :- The Additional Chief Engineer,P.H. Circle, Nayabazar,Cuttack-753004, Odisha,Ph. (0671) 2440841,email: [email protected]

Further details can be seen from the web sitewww.tendersorissa.gov.in

Sd/-Addl. Chief Engineer,

P.H. Circle, Cuttack.OIPR-13029/11/0001/2122

C-349

Sl.No.

Name of work Estimated cost(Approx)

1. Construction 5.00 MLD Intake Well, 1.00 lakhltr capacity ESR inside Sub-Division, HospitalCampus and laying of pipe line in newlydeveloping areas in different wards with otherancillary works under Athagarh NAC.

` 286.44 lakh

OFFICE OF CHIEF ENGINEER (URBAN & NRW),PUBLIC HEALTH ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT, JAL BHAWAN, 2-CIVIL LINESJAIPUR, RAJASTHAN

BID NOTICEOn behalf of Governor of Rajasthan, PHED invites bids online in electronic format on websitehttp://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in, from manufacturers for procurement of following items on ratecontract basis. The bid form can be downloaded from the website.

NOTE:-1. The bidder shall deposit cost of bid document i.e. Rs. 1000.00 (Rs. 500.00 for MSME of

Rajasthan), bid processing fee Rs. 1000.00 and bid security (as applicable) online throughsingle challan on web portal “http://egras.raj.nic.in” in the following budget head as perFinance (G&T) Department, GoR Circular No. 1.6(5) d½f°°f / Àffd½f»fZ³fe/2018 ªf¹f´fbS dQ³ffaI 27.04.20The scanned copy of Challan shall be uploaded with technical bid on eproc & originalchallan shall be submitted along with envelope “Qualifying Bid”.

2. Bidders who wish to participate in this bid will have to register onhttp://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in. Further Bidders who wish to particpate in online bids will haveto procure digital certificate as per information technolgy act 2000, using which they can signtheir electronic bids.

3. Bidders shall submit their offer online in electronic format on above mentioned website totime and date mentioned herein above.

4. As per the Finance Department Rajasthan notification no. ER 2(1) d½f°°f/ªfeE¯OMe-EÀf´feER Àfe/2017 ªf¹f´fbSdQ³ffaI 18.12.2020 & 23.12.2020, bidder can now provide a Bid Securiing Declaration on Rs50 stamp paper in lieu of bid security.

“WATER IS MOST PRECIOUS SAVE IT”

NIB Code :- PHE2122A0919UBN (SU):- PHE2122GLRC02264DIPR/C/5087/2021

No NIB No. &Date

Particulars Last Date &Time ofonline

receipt ofbid and

download ofbid

Date & Timeof online

opening ofbid

(qualifyingbid)

EstimatedBid Cost

in Rs.

BidSecurityfor unitsother thanMSME ofRajasthanin Rs.

1 2 3 4 5 6 71 Sluice

Valve/21-22/13dated

17.05.2021

Procurement of ISI MarkedSluice Valve conforming to IS14846:2000 (Amended/Revisedup to date)

09.06.2021(Up to 12:00

Hours)

09.06.2021(12:00Hours)

4.00Crores(Four

Cores)

8.00 Lac(EightLacs)

Sd/-SUPERINTENDING ENGINEER

MATERIAL MANAGEMENT CIRCLE


THE BOMBAY High Court onThursday allowed DelhiUniversity associate professorHany Babu, an accused in theElgaarParishadcase,toremaininBreachCandyHospitaluntilJune15ashismedicalreportindicatesa swelling in his optic nerve re-quiring anMRI scan and othertests.Initially, the court wanted

himtobetransferredtostate-runJJHospitalbasedonareportfromBreach Candy hospital that hewas ready for discharge as hisconditionwasstable,andtheNIAlawyerpressedfor this.However,Babu’swife’scoun-

sel insisted the court allowhimtostayintheprivatehospitalandsaid the family would bear thecosts for additional stay, whichthecourtaccepted.Thecourtalsoallowed the petitionerwife andotherfamilymemberstovisittheaccusedasperhospitalprotocols.Seekingfurtherhealthstatusre-portofBabubyJune14,thecourt

postedfurtherhearingtoJune15.AvacationbenchofJusticeSS

Shinde and Justice AbhayAhujawashearingawritpleabyBabu’swife Jenny Rowenna, seekingthat he be released on bail onhealthgroundsorshiftedtoapri-vatehospital for treatmentof aneye infection.Babu (55),whowasarrested

by the National InvestigationAgency(NIA)lastJuly,hadtestedpositiveforCovid-19.Hewasad-mitted to the government-run JJ hospital in the city and latermoved to GT hospital. He wasthentransferredtoBreachCandyHospital as per theHigh Court’sMay 19 order, which had saidthat charges for treatment at aprivatehospitalwouldbebornebyBabu's family.The HC had on June 1 ex-

tended Babu's private hospitalstayto June3.OnThursday,theHCperused

amedical report submitted bythehospitalonJune1whichsug-gestedthathewasclinicallysta-bleandreadytobedischarged.Advocate Yug Mohit

Chaudhryforthepetitionersub-

mitted thatwhile Babuhad justrecoveredfromCovidandasthereport also said that therewascontinuousinflammationofop-tic nerve, he should not be sentback to jail environmentand in-steadbesent tohousearrest.Advocate Sandesh Patil, rep-

resenting the NIA, objected toChaudhry'ssubmissionsandsaidthe report clearlymentions thataccusedcanbedischarged fromBreachCandyhospitalandthere-forehecanbesent to J JHospitalfor furthercare."Weareof theview that this

matter would require furtherconsideration and also furtherexamination by specialists as towhether the petitioner’s hus-bandcouldbetakencareofdur-ingthisperiodofconvalescence.We accordingly request the pri-vatehospitaltoexaminehimandsubmit a further report by June14.Inthemeanwhile,ad-interimorderpassedbythiscourttocon-tinuetillnextdate,"theHCnotedintheorder.The bench extendedhis stay

atBreachCandyHospitaltillJune15andallowedBabu's lawyer to

inform the hospital not to dis-charge him till the next hearingonJune15.Meanwhile,thecourtpointed

out that an associate of thelawyer appearing in thepresentmatter hadwritten an article ina newspaper -- -- the referencewastolawyerPayoshiRoy’sopedin The Indian Express -- pertain-ing to the incarceration of an-other Elgaar Parishad case ac-cused Father Stan Swamy.However,Chaudhrysaid thathedid not represent Swamy in thecasebeforetheHC.Justice Shinde said, "When

you are appearing in a group ofmattersoridenticalmatters,thatis not acceptable. It could be away of pressurising the court.Youareanofficerofthecourtandifyoudonothavefaithinthesys-tem and the court, whowill as-sist us?We never said that youshouldnotwrite but faith is im-portant. Fair criticism is neces-sary,we are the last to say thereshould be restrictions on free-domof expression. Please keepfaith in us andwewill give jus-ticeasper law."

AcrowdedMulundTollNakaonThursday.Deepak Joshi


REALESTATEbuildersanddevel-opers’ associations in the statehave called for a reduction instampdutytohelpboostpropertysale. The demand comes in thebackdropof a 45per cent slumpin property sale registration inMumbaiforMaycomparedtothepreviousmonth,theysaid.Last year, inAugust, thegov-

ernment had announced a dis-count of 3 per cent stamp dutyforthosewhohavepaiditbeforeDecember 31, 2020 and 2 percentdiscountforthosewhopaidit byMarch 2021. A time frameof fourmonths from thedate of

paying the stampdutywas alsogiventothemtoregisterthesaleagreement.Therebateledtoarecordsale

of 19,581 units in December2020 and 17,728 units inMarchthis year. As the discount waswithdrawn, the property salesdeclined. While 10,135 unitswere sold in April this year, thesale went down to 5,360 inMay,data showed.According to the MCHI

(Maharashtra Chamber ofHousing Industry), the industrybodyhaswrittenmultiplelettersto Chief Minister UddhavThackeray, Deputy CM AjitPawar and Revenue MinisterBalasaheb Thorat urging thestate government to reduce theStampDutycharges inMumbaiback to 2% till 31stMarch 2022,stressing on the slowdown inhousingsalesand“drasticreduc-tion”instampdutyrevenuecol-lections by the state govern-ment.Deepak Goradia, President,

CREDAI MCHI, said, “It is nowimperativethatthestategovern-ment realize the need for astamp duty rebate to enhancehomebuyer’sentimentsandalsoincreaseitsownrevenuecollec-tions, which have taken amas-sivehit inMay.”


THEMUMBAIdivisionofCentralRailway(CR)hascollectedRs9.5croreinfinefrom1.5lakhpeopletravelling in mail express andsuburbantrainsinAprilandMayin violation of lockdown rules.While the 1.5 lakh people trav-elledwithouttickets,manywerealsonotinvolvedinprovidinges-sential services.According to CR, intensive

and regular ticket-checkingdriveswereconductedinsubur-ban and non-suburban ormailexpresstrainstoensurethatonlybonafide passengers travel.According to government rules,only people involved in provid-ing essential services can board

local trains.Of the 1.5 lakh passengers

found travelingwithout tickets,while 54,000peoplewere finedin May, 96,000 were fined inApril.Inaddition,1,269passengers

were fined for not wearingmasks fromApril17to June2. Inall,Rs2.4lakhwascollectedfromthem. Officials also detected2,018 cases of unauthorisedtravel by people violating theDisaster Management Act. AnamountofRs10.09lakhwascol-lectedfromtheviolators inMay."Central Railway appeals to

passengerstotravelwithproperand valid tickets to avoid incon-venienceandtravelwithdignityand follow all Covid-19 norms,”said Shivaji Sutar, Chief PublicRelationsOfficerofCR.

ELGAARPARISHADCASE

HCextendsHanyBabu’s stayatprivatehospital till June 15,seekshismedical report


THREE ACCUSED in the ElgaarParishad case have tested posi-tive for Covid-19 at the TalojaCentral Jail. After Father StanSwamy--anotheraccusedinthe

case --was found infectedwithCovid-19, testswere conductedon the jail premises in whichMahesh Raut, Ramesh GaichorandSagarGorkhetestedpositiveonWednesday.Swamyiscurrentlyadmitted

to private hospital Holy Familyafter directions from theBombayHighCourt lastweek.Officialssaidthat57inmates

weremade to undergo RT-PCRand rapid antigen tests lastweek.These included 10 accused

in the Elgaar Parishad case, in-cludingArunFerreira,whohadattended to Swamy tohelp the84-year old in his daily chores.Ferreira, along with VernonGonsalves, Surendra Gadling,Anand Teltumbde, GautamNavlakha, Rona Wilson andSudhir Dhawale, tested nega-tive.

Raut is a former PrimeMinister Rural DevelopmentFellow while Gorkhe andGaichoraremembersofculturalgroupKabirKalaManch.A source said the trio had

been experiencing symptomsincluding fever, cough and lossof tasteforoveraweeknowandwere tested fourdaysago.A jail official said they have

been shifted to a separatequar-antinespacewithin theprison.The source said that the

space is only 15x8 feet widewhichtheyaresharingwithan-otherCovidpatient,addingtheyhave sought to be shifted to amoreopenspace.Thesourcealsoclaimedthey

have neither been given a spe-cialdiet suitable for their condi-tion nor medicines althoughtheir oxygen level was beingcheckedbyprisonauthorities.

Currently, thereare11activecases of Covid-19 in TalojaCentral Jail and 346 in the agegroup of 45 years and abovehavebeenvaccinatedso far.Earlier, Swamy and Delhi

University associate professorHany Babu had tested positive.Babu is also undergoing treat-mentatahospital.Poet Varavara Rao, 81, an-

other accused in the case, hadtestedpositive last year.Hewasreleased on bail on medicalgrounds thisyear inMarch.Of thethreewomenaccused

inthecaseandlodgedinBycullaWomen's Prison -- Jyoti Jagtap,Sudha Bharadwaj and ShomaSen-- JagtaphadtestedpositiveforCovid-19 inApril.Taloja jail,whichhasanoffi-

cialcapacitytohouse2,124pris-oners, currently has 2,766 in-mates.

3 more accused test positive at Taloja jail

STATE HORTICULTUREMISSION KERALA

Phone: 0471-2330856, 0471-2330857email id: [email protected] TENDER NOTICE

E-tenders invited fromManufacturers / reputed firmsin India for Establishing CoEfor Vegetables and Flowers atWayanad, Kerala.Tender id: 2021_SHM_424852_1

EMD: Rs. 2,00,000/-Tender fee: Rs.11900/-

Website:https://www.etenders.kerala.gov.in

Mission Director, SHM-K

CENTRALRAILWAY

In 2 months, Mumbaidivision collects Rs 9.5 cras fine from passengersfor violating lockdown

Nagpur:Aveterinarydoctorwasinjured during an attack by a ti-gress, ona field tripwith a teamof the state forest departmentnear a village in the buffer zoneofTadobaAndhariTigerReserve(TATR) onThursday. The animalwasreportedtohavebeensittingin thearea,withoutmakinganymovementforovertwodays.Theveterinarianisundergoingtreat-mentforleginjuriesatahospitalinChandrapurandisoutofdan-ger, saidtheforestdepartment.The incident tookplace near

Doni village in Mul tehsil ofChandrapur. VeterinarianRavikantKhobragadewasintheteam that reportedly venturedclose to the tigress, which sur-prised them by jumping ontothemandmaking the forest de-partmentteammembersrunforcover. In themelee,Khobragadefellandthetigresscaughtholdofhis feet, but the accompanyingstaff stopped and rushed to hisrescuemakingalotofnoise.Thetigressran intothebushes.ENS

Realtors seek reduction in stampduty as property sale tanks in May

Demandcomesinbackdropofa45%slumpinpropertysaleregistrationinMumbaiforMaycomparedtothepreviousmonth

Veterinarianinjured duringattack by tigress

Nagpur:Nagpur district regis-tered its first single-digit deathtallysinceMarch15onThursday.There were eight Covid-19

deaths in the district onThursday with Nagpur cityrecording only two. The districtalsorecordeditslowestnumberof newCovidcasesat190.Based on 11,354 tests con-

ducted, Thursday's positivityratewas just1.67percent.The slump in number of

deathsandcasescontinuedeveninotherdistrictsofVidarbha.Theregion's 11 districts, includingNagpur,had1,525newcasesonThursday.

ENS

Nagpur recordssingle-digit tollfor first timesince March 15


MAHARASHTRAWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MOHAMEDTHAVERMUMBAI,JUNE3

THEMUMBAIPoliceinvestigationinto thedata leakof sensitive in-formation related to postings ofseniorIPSofficersisnowfocussedon trackingdownamissingpendrivewhich is believed to havebeenusedtotransferthedata.Purportedcallrecordingsofal-

leged lobbyingby some IPSoffi-cersinMaharashtrawiththethenHomeMinister Anil DeshmukhweremadeavailabletoLeaderofOppositionDevendra Fadnavisearlierthisyear.AnFIRwasregis-teredagainstunidentifiedpersonstofindouthowthesensitivedatagot leaked fromthe cyberpolicestationatBKConMarch26.Aspart of their investigation,

the Mumbai Police has so farrecordedstatementsofsomeoffi-cers posted with the StateIntelligenceDepartment (SID) oftheMaharashtra Police that hasthemandatetocarryoutsurveil-lanceaftergettingnecessaryper-mission.“During the investigationwe

found the sensitive informationwascopiedonthreependrivesatthe SID office. While we haveseized twopendrives, the thirdpen drive ismissing. It is due tothismissing pen drive that thedata theft sectionwasapplied intheFIR,”asourcesaid.Thepolicearealsotakingtech-

nical help to get more detailsabout how andwhen the datawas copied. The source said thatitwasgoingtobealong-drawnin-vestigationthatwillhavetoestab-

lish how the data from the pendrives landedup in thehandsofformer CM and BJP leaderFadnavis.ThepolicecouldrecordthestatementsofotherseniorIPSofficersandpoliticians.ApoliceteamfromBKCcyber

has recorded the statement ofsenior IPSofficerRashmiShukla,currently postedwith CRPF inHyderabad. Shuklawas the SIDCommissioner when the callrecordings are believed to havebeencarriedout.Allegingthattherecordings indicated lobbying,Shukla had forwarded a reportabout the same to then DGPSubodh Jaiswal, who then pro-videdthesedetailstoCMUddhavThackeray.Earlierthisyear,soonafterIPS

officerParamBirSinghwrotealet-ter to CM Thackeray allegingDeshmukh indulged in corrup-tion,FadnavistoomadethedetailsaboutthecallsrecordedbyShuklapublictobolstertheallegationsofcorruptionagainstDeshmukh.EventuallyaftertheCBIregis-

teredanFIRagainstDeshmukh,hesteppeddownashomemin-ister.Later,anFIRwasregisteredat

BKC cyber police station afterMaharashtra Chief SecretarySitaramKunteallegedinhisreportto theCMthat Shuklamayhaveleakedherconfidentialreportonallegedcorruption in transfers intheMaharashtra police depart-menttoFadnavis.Inthereport,Kuntehadmen-

tioned that the officer had al-legedly unauthorisedly tappedphones in 2020 and had laterapologisedforthesame.

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI, JUNE3

OBSERVINGTHATMaharashtragovernmentneeded tobe “sen-sitive” about shortage of medi-cinestotreatmucormycosispa-tients in Marathwada, theAurangabad bench of theBombayHighCourtonThursdaydirected the state to apprise theUniongovernmentaboutthesit-uationas the regionhas669ac-tive cases and witnessed 124deaths due to the fungal infec-tionso far.A division bench of Justice

Ravindra V Ghuge and JusticeBhalchandra U Debadwar washearing a suomotu PIL filed onthe basis of news reports, seek-ing that issues pertaining toCovid-19management, includ-ing treatment ofmucormycosispatients, beaddressed.

Government Pleader D RKale,representingthestate,sub-mittedthatMarathwadahasre-ported 1,178 mucormycosis

cases. While 669 patients arecurrently under treatment, 385havebeencured.Sofar,124peo-plehavedied.

The bench noted that inMarathwada, as against the re-quirement of 50,178 vials ofAmphotericin B – a key drugneededtotreatmucormycosis–only received 13,428 vials totreat infected patients. The fig-ure is only30per centof the re-quiredquantity.Additional Solicitor General

Anil Singh, appearing for theUniongovernment,saidthatbe-tween May 11 and May 31,Maharashtra was allocated

68,660 of 2.7 lakh vials ofAmphotericin B available withtheCentre,asthenumberofpa-tientsinMaharashtra,KarnatakaandGujaratarerelativelyhigherthanothers.“...Maharashtra will have to

apprise the Union of India ongrowing number of mucormy-cosis patients and especiallyhighlight the fact that in someparts of the state, like inMarathwada,patientsaredyingduetoshortageofAmphotericinB. As patients are being admin-istered inadequate doses, mor-tality rate is quite high,” thebenchsaid.Itdirectedthestatelawyerto

provide details of mucormyco-sispatientswhohaverecoveredanddied,alongwiththenumberofAmphotericinBvialsavailablewith it fromJune2and9.The HC will hear the case

nexton June10.


EASE OF doing business, appli-cable to industry, shouldalsobeincorporated in the agriculturesector, Chief Minister UddhavThackeraysaidonThursday.Hewasaddressing the151st

State Level Bankers Committeemeeting,whereanannualcreditplanofRs4.6lakhcrorefor2021-22 was approved forMaharashtra.Ofthis,theagricul-turesectorgetsRs1.18lakhcrore.CroploansworthRs60,860crorewere also sanctioned at themeet.Emphasisingthestate'sagri-

culture policy – 'Vikel te Pikel(sow the crops that sell)' –Thackeray stressed on the needforbetterplanningandmarket-ing toboost the agriculture sec-tor. “The IMD has predicted agood monsoon this year.Therefore, banks should ensurefarmers receive crop loans intime,”hesaid.

Referring to the state's zerointerestschemeoncroploanupto Rs 3 lakh to farmerswho re-pay the money on time,Thackeraydirectedthebankstonote the enhanced amount. Inthe 2021-22 Budget Session ofthe state Assembly, the govern-menthadannouncedtheincen-tiveforfarmerswhohavenotde-faultedoncroploanrepayment.The zero interest crop loanamountwas increased fromRs1 lakh toRs3 lakh.At themeeting, Deputy CM

andFinanceMinisterAjitPawarsaid: “Banksmust provide croploans to farmerswithout delayaheadof kharif sowing season.”Pointing to financial crunchfaced by district cooperativebanks in Nagpur, Nanduebar,Dhule, Buldhana, Beed, NashikandOsmanabaddistricts,PawardirectedNABARDtoassistthem.


ADAYafterthestateCabinetde-cided to cancel Class XII stateboardexaminations,thegovern-ment on Thursdaymade a for-mal announcement following ago-aheadfromtheStateDisasterManagement Authority(SDMA).The SDMA,which is headed

by Chief Minister UddhavThackeray, gave the final ap-provaltotheproposalsubmittedbythestateschooleducationde-partmentonWednesday.Minister for Relief

and Rehabilitation VijayWadettiwar,whoisalsoamem-ber of SDMA, said that the au-thorityapprovedtheproposalonThursday.School Education Minister

VarshaGaikwadsaid that toen-

sure health and safety of stu-dents and to maintain unifor-mity in assessment of variousboards inMaharashtra, thegov-ernment has formally taken adecisiontocancelClassXII stateboardexams.“The state board's assess-

ment policy for Class XII stu-dentsandthedateof thedeclar-ing results will be announcedsoon.Wearecommittedtoeval-uatingstudentsaccurately,” shetoldmediapersons.Due to the second wave of

Covid-19, the state governmenthad earlier postponed stateboardexamsofclassesXandXIIscheduledtobeginfromApril23andApril 30, respectively.Gaikwad said that teachers,

non-teaching staffers and stu-dents,whoareappearingfortheexam,shouldbegiventhestatusof “frontline workers” and getpreference invaccination.

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI, JUNE3

THEMAHARASHTRA govern-ment on Thursday clarified be-foretheBombayHighCourtthatthe Common Entrance Test(CET)forClass11admissionscanbe taken by Class 10 studentsacrossalleducationalboardsin-cluding the state board, CentralBoard of Secondary Education(CBSE), Council for the IndianSchoolCertificateExaminations(CISCE)and InternationalBoard(IB)astheaimisto“bringallstu-dents on the same/ single plat-form”.TheHCdisposedofapetition

challenging the state govern-ment decision of May 12 can-celling the Secondary SchoolCertificate (SSC-Class 10) examandseeking tohold thesame.A division bench of Chief

Justice Dipankar Datta andJustice Girish S Kulkarni washearing a PIL by Pune residentandretiredprofessorDhananjay

Kulkarni argued through advo-cateUdayWarunjikarchalleng-ing cancellation of Class 10 ex-amsof thestateboard.OnMay28, theMaharashtra

government announced thatClass 10 studentswill be evalu-atedthroughaninternalassess-ment formula for the academicyear2020-21.Italsosaidthatad-missionstoClass11willbecon-ducted physically through op-tional CET based on Class 10syllabus and those unwilling toappearforitwillbeadmittedonthebasisofanaggregateof theirClass10marks.OnThursday,advocateUday

Warunjikarsubmittedthatmost

schools in the state do not havethe infrastructure for online fa-cilities and could not completethe curriculum for Class 10. Healsosaidthereshouldnotbedis-crimination among students ofdifferent boards regarding CETClass 11 admissions and the GRdidnotclarifywhetherstudentsfrom all boards can appear fortheCET.Thecourt,however,saidthat

therewasnoground for it to in-terfere in thematter.“Why do you think tests

should be held, and if they areheld and student community isaffected, whowill bear respon-sibilityforthat?Whetherexamsarebeingheldornot,undercon-stitutionalscheme,statesareen-trustedtomakepolicydecisions.Whentheexecutivehasmadeadecision, it may appear to youandus tobea foolishpolicy, butonly becausewe think it's not agood policy, that's not groundsfor us to interfere..." the courtsaid.Advocate General Ashutosh

Kumbhakoni, representing theMaharashtra government, clar-ified that "irrespective of theboardsconductingthepublicex-amination at Class 10 level, allsuch students, if declared'passedClass10' andarewillingto participate in state CET forClass 11 admissions later thisyear shall be allowed to so par-ticipate." Kumbhakoni also saidthatSOPsareissuedforphysicalinternal assessment tests.Warunjikarsubmittedthatin

light of the state's submissions,theissuesexceptevaluationfor-mulawere“virtuallyover”.The court noted in its order,

“In viewof the statementmadeby Advocate General, the peti-tionerdoesnotwish toproceedtocontinuewiththepetition.Asperpetitioner, since theMay28circulardidnotappropriatelylaydowntheprocedure forevalua-tion of class X examination, lib-ertytohimtochallengesuchcir-cularthroughfreshproceedingsbereserved.Wegrantliberty.Wedismiss thePILaswithdrawn.”


ALREADYREELINGundermon-etary losses, the MaharashtraState Road TransportCorporation (MSRTC) has beendealt a severe body blow aftertheCovid-19pandemic.TheCorporationhasaccrued

losses of Rs 6400 crore fromApril 2020 tillMay2021, after itwas forced to regulate its inter-district operations due to thepandemic-induced lockdown.TheCorporation,whichruns

inter- as well as intra-districtpublic transport services, had

beenfacingacashcrunchbeforethelockdowntooandhadadebtburden of over Rs 3500 crore.The shutting down of servicesduring the two lockdowns, im-posedlastyearandthisyear,hasincreased its debt burden to Rs9500crore.The halt in services has

meantthatMSRTCbuses,whichwould run55 lakhkmadaybe-forethelockdown,ranonly21.85lakh km a day during the April2020-May 2021 period. Withthis, the daily earning of theCorporation has gone downfrom Rs 21.65 crore to Rs 6.94crore. “TheMSRTC has suffereda lossof Rs6,400crore approxi-

mately just during these 14monthsofpandemic.Earlier,thecumulative loss of the corpora-tiontillMarch2020wasRs3500crore.Whencombinedwiththecurrent loss due to the pan-demic, it goes up to Rs 9900crore,” said an official, request-inganonymity.TheMSRTC has introduced

new schemes over themonthsinabid to recover the losses.Accordingtotheofficials, last

yearinMay,theCorporationhadstarted a goods freight serviceswhich would transport thegoods of farmers, small entre-preneurs, tradersandmanufac-turers at affordable rates.

Through this, theMSRTCman-aged to earn Rs 56 crore from95,000roundtripsthrough1,150cargovehicles.

Noting the success of theseservices, a government resolu-tion (GR) has been introduceddirecting the state's 17 depart-

mentstocarryout25percentoftheir goods' transportationthrough Mahacargo -- theCorporation’sgoodsfreightserv-ices. TheMSRTCplans togener-ate annual revenue of Rs 150crore throughthis service.TheCorporationisalsoplan-

ning to launch a ‘part-loadfreight’ (parcel service) for thegeneralpublic,alongwithsmallandindividualfreightersinabidtoearnmorerevenue.Shekhar Channe, Vice

Chairman and ManagingDirector of theMSRTC, told TheIndian Express: “TheCorporation is suffering lossesduetothelockdown;wearetry-

ingourbesttorecoverthem.Wehave also introduced a fewschemestogetanadditional in-come. The (state) governmentalsohelpedlasttime(in2020)inreleasing thesalariesof theem-ployees and so far, there havebeen no such issues this timearound.”MSRTC has an employee

strengthof over99,000person-nelandthereisafearamongtheworkers that the precarious fi-nancial situation of the agencycould lead to job losses.Shrirang Barge, the general

secretary of Maharashtra ST(State Transport) KarmachariCongress,saidthatthenewproj-

ects being launched by theagency could not compensatefor the losses that it was facingalready.StatetransportministerAnil

Parab, during a virtual event tocelebrate the 73rd anniversaryof theMSRTC on Tuesday, saidthat “whatsoever the situationarises, no employee of theMSRTC will lose their job”,adding,“Thecorporationstandsfirmly behind all the employ-ees.”Last year, Maharashtra gov-

ernmenthadsanctionedafinan-cial assistance of Rs 1,000 croreto pay the salaries of the state-runCorporation’semployees.

Covid compounds losses of cash-strapped road transport corporation

Govt to HC: Students from all boardscan take CET for Class XI admission

No Class XII stateboard exams: Govtmakes it officialafter SDMA’s nod

Farmers shouldget crop loan ontime, ease ofdoing businessneeded in agrisector: Uddhav

Cops look for‘missing pendrive’ in dataleak case

HC asks govt to seek Centre’s help to dealwith shortage of mucormycosis drug

YOGESHNAIKMUMBAI,JUNE3

THESTATEonThursdayappointedS V R Srinivas as MetropolitanCommissioner of MumbaiMetropolitanRegionDevelopmentAuthority (MMRDA). Srinivas re-placesRARajeev,whowasdeniedasecondthree-monthextensionby the state government. Rajeevhadretired inFebruary2021andhadbeengivenathree-monthcon-tracttohelmtheMMRDA.Srinivas, an IASofficer of the

1991batch,earlierworkedinMM-RDAasadditional commissionerandintheBMCasadditionalcom-missioner.Forest Secretary Milind

Mhaiskar,whowas also in con-tentionforthepostofMetropolitanCommissioner, will replaceSrinivasasthestate’snewhousingsecretary. B Venugopal Reddy,ManagingDirector, SICOM, hasbeen posted as the new ForestSecretary.LokeshChandrahasbeenap-

pointedthenewGeneralManagerfor BEST, replacing SurendraBagade,whohasgoneoncentraldeputation.VikasChandraRastogi,Project

Director,NanajiDeshmukhKrishiSanjeevani Project,MumbaihasbeenpostedasPrincipalSecretary,General Administration

Department,Mantralaya.SNBhange,ManagingDirector,

Maharashtra State FisheriesDevelopment Corporation,Mumbai has been posted asSecretary (SDC) and SpecialEnquiryOfficer(2)inGAD.Dr Shrikar Pardeshi, who

worked in the PrimeMinister’sOffice, has been posted asManaging Director, SICOM,Mumbai,whileGondiaCollectorDeepakKumarMeenahasbeenposted as Deputy Secretary,Bahujan Welfare and OBCDepartment.Meanwhile,sourcesinthebu-

reaucracysaidthatChiefSecretarySJKunteisverykeenthataregularsecretaryisappointedinchargeofthe irrigationdepartment.Earlier,manyinthebureaucracywereop-posedtoretiredIASofficersbeingbrought in asOfficersonSpecialDuty.VKGautam’sappointmentasofficeronspecialdutyinirriga-tionafterhis retirementhadalsoraisedacontroversy.Therearein-dications that BMC AdditionalCommissionerAshwiniBhidemayreplaceGautamasprincipalsecre-taryirrigation.Thestate is yet to takeadeci-

sionon the fate of RadheshyamMopalwarwho,inspiteofretiringin2018,hasreceivednumerousex-tensionsasManagingDirectorofMaharashtra State RoadDevelopmentCorporation.

Theaimis to“bringallstudentsonthesame/singleplatform”,Maharashtragovernmentsaidat theBombayHighCourt

IASRESHUFFLE

Thackeraystressedontheneedforbetterplanningtoboost theagriculturesector

People inqueuetobuyAmphotericinBatThaneDistrictGovtHospital.Deepak Joshi

AnelderlywomanbeingvaccinatedatKarjat inRaigaddistrictonThursday.NarendraVaskar

MSRTChasaccrued lossesofRs6,400crore inayear. File

MMRDA gets newcommissioner

Asagainstrequirementof50,178vialsofAmphotericinB,Marathwadareceived13,428vials totreatinfectedpatients

MARATHWADA

EXPRESSNETWORK6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JUNE4,2021

KEYONKEYON Publicity- OfficialAdvertising Agency AllNewspapers, LoksattaAccepts All Kinds OfAdvertising ReasonableRates WhatsApp/Email- 9653683498/9920992393/02228253077.

0070726851-2

ADVERTISEMENTS

SERVICES

ThankThank you God, I amgrateful to you foreverything – PM

0070742118-1

THANKS GIVING

PERSONAL

FreshFresh Chicken TradingBig birds 95/- kg., Smallbirds 96/- kg., TurbheNaka, Navi Mumbai.Mobile: 9769468897.

0070727146-1

MEAMEA Mumbai EggsAssociation SuggestedSelling Rate in MumbaiRs. 540/- per 100 Eggs.Mobile: 9820057700/9820351822/ 7303390009.

0070734347-1

S.S. K. Patel Small: 106/-,Big: 109/-. 8082040343/24460095/24459098. Tosubscribe to paper rate& purchase rate.9320460095/ 9930193010.

0070741448-1

VENCOBBVENCOBB Ex-FarmYesterday’s price inPune Rs. 84/-.SuggestedRetail Price isRs. 102/-.

0070735580-1

ZORABIANZORABIAN TOday’s Ex-Farm Live Broiler RateRs. 84/-. Retail MarketRate Rs. 110/-. Mobile:8879050887/ 9372663242Office: 022-26604937/38/ 39.

0070740732-2

AMIRAMIR Broiler, Small:Rs. 106/-, Big: Rs. 109/-.Contact: Phone:+91-8828895000/8080432388/ 022-25251901/ 022-23860517.

0070741513-1

N.E.C.CN.E.C.C suggested pricefor 100 eggs in Mumbaion 04/06/2021 Rs. 560/-(Five Hundred Sixty)only. NECC 22834107.

0070741413-1

POULTRY

BUSINESS

''IMPORTANT''

Whilst care is taken prior to acceptance ofadvertising copy, it is not possible to verifyits contents. The Indian Express (P.)Limited cannot be held responsible forsuch contents, nor for any loss or damageincurred as a result of transactions withcompanies, associations or individualsadvertising in its newspapers orPublications. We therefore recommendthat readers make necessary inquiriesbefore sending any monies or enteringinto any agreements with advertisers orotherwise acting on an advertisement inany manner whatsoever.

To place your ad

in Classifieds

call:

Sanjeev:

9967552226

Jitendra :

9967966093

Vinay Yadav:

8451957053

Harsh Dwivedi:

7021818976

Shalvika:

8692939901

Steffi:

9920288236

Sukanya:

9594353694

TThhee IInnddiiaann EXPRESS

Government of RajasthanPrinting & Stationery Department

P(1)/paper/2021-22/1910 Date: 1/6/2021

Notice Inviting BidSingle-Stage, Two-Envelope online E-Bid is invited from eligible firmsfor the supply of “Different types of paper, Colour Plastic Coatedsheet, Stra board, Azurlaid paper, Pulp board, Pink paper, White ArtCard Sheet, D.O. paper, Gumming Sheet and Carbon-less paperetc. as per IS specifications” on Rate contract basis for a period of 12months (1 Year). The details are available in the Bid Document whichcan be downloaded from SPPP portal, Government of Rajasthan viz.“sppp.raj.nic.in” or https://eproc.rajasthan.gov.in. Bid document feeof Rs 1000/- and RISL processing fee of Rs 1000/- is to be paid onlinethrough e-GRAS portal as per procedure laid down in FD circular dt.27.04.2020 to 09.07.2020.UBN No. PSD2122GLRC00002 Sd/-DIPR/C/5187/2021 Director

GUJARAT MEDICAL SERVICES CORPORATION LIMITED(A Government of Gujarat Undertaking)

Regd. Office : Block No. 14/1, Dr. Jivraj MehtaBhavan, Sector-10, Gandhinagar079-23250767, 23250766, 23257698

Tenders are invited online from reputed Manufactures/formulators/direct importers for Purchase of Isavuconazole Capsule 100mgon quantity contract basis and details of specification,quantity is available on, https://gmscl.gujarat.gov.in All tenderdocuments can be downloaded free on the website:https://gmscl.nprocure.com Instrested bidders are requested tosubmit the tender through e-tender process.Duration of downloading of tender document (online) :-01/06/2021 to 07/06/2021 up to 18.00 Hrs.Last date for Submission (online): 07/06/2021 upto 18.00 Hrs.Last date for Submission of Physical document : 08/06/2021 up to12.00 HrsOpening of Technical Bid Date (online): 08/06/2021 At 13.00 Hrs.

INF-317/21-22 MANAGING DIRECTOR

TENDER NOTICE: D-15/2021-2022

INDIAN RAILWAYS INSTITUTE OFELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, NASHIK-ROAD

Open E-Tender NoticeTender Notice No. IRIEEN/W/S/02(2021-22) Date : 03.06.2021DIRECTOR General, Indian Railways Institute of Electrical Engineering, EklahareRoad, Nashik-Road, (Telephone Nos. 2407322, 2462545, 2462546) invites for and onbehalf of the President of India from reputed and experienced contractors through E-tendering system.1) Name of Work : Maintenance of lawns and gardens for a periodof 01 year at IRIEEN.2) Approximate cost of work : `23,70,682/-3) Completion period : One year.4) Earnest Money to be Deposited : EMD/Bid Security

Declaration in lieu of BidSecurity to be submitted withtender

5) Date & Time for closing of tender : 28.06.2021 upto 1500 hrs.6) E-Tender Information is also available on the notice board ofDirector, Indian Railways Electrical Engineering Institute, Nashik- Road.7) The tenderer should participate electronically in the e-tender only through theweb site www.ireps.gov.in and do not have permission to present manual proposalsagainst e-tendering and no manual proposal will be opened nor will it be considered.

Sd/-For Director General/IRIEEN, Nashik-Road

For & on behalf of President of India

SALUTE THE SOLDIERMartyrs of CISF on 04th June5

CISF proudly remembers the supreme sacrifice of these brave-hearts.On this day,they laid down their lives at the altar of duty.Theircourage and bravery would remain an abiding source of inspiration forthe force.The force will remain eternally indebted to them for theirnoblest deeds.

ASI/Exe

LACHMAN PANDEY

CCL KARGALI

04-06-2003

CT/GD

P. MURMU

CCL KARGALI

04-06-2003

CT/GD

DWARKA YADAV

CCL KARGALI

04-06-2003

BÊ-d³Fd½FQF ´Fi±F¸F ¸FbQ°F½FFP ÀFc¨F³FF(BÊ-d³Fd½FQF Ii . sqsr_VVCMC_689999_1)½FÀFBÊ-d½FSFS VFWS ¸FWF³F¦FS´FFd»FI FAa°F¦FÊ°F ¸Fb£¹FF»F¹F, z ´Fi·FF¦F ÀFd¸F°Fe

I F¹FFÊ»F¹FZ ½F B°FS d½F·FF¦Fe¹F I F¹FFÊ»F¹FFa³FF BaMS³FZM ÀFbd½F²FF ´FbSd½F¯¹FFI F¸Fe ´FG³F»F½FSEªF³ÀFe d³F¹Fb¢°F I S¯¹FFI F¸Fe BÊ-d³Fd½FQF ¸FF¦Fd½F¯¹FF°F AF»Fe AFWZ. ÀFQS I F¸FF¨FZd³Fd½FQF R FG¸FÊ https://mahatenders.gov.in ¹FF ÀFaIZ °FÀ±FTF½FS dQ.qt.qw.sqsr Qb. rs.qq ½FFªFZ´F¹FË°F C´F»F¶²F Wû°FZ. °¹FF»FF ´FbPe»F´Fi¸FF¯û ´Fi±F¸F¸FbQ°F½FFP QZ¯¹FF°F ¹FZ°F AFWZ.´FdS´Fc¯FÊ d³Fd½FQF ÀFFQS I S¯¹FF¨FF Aad°F¸F dQ³FFaI : qy.qw.sqsr Qb. qt.qqd³Fd½FQF C§FO¯¹FF¨FF dQ³FFaI : qz.qw.sqsr Qb. qt.qqMe´F : d³Fd½FQFÀFa¶Fa²Fe ÀFd½FÀ°FS ¸FFdW°Fe https://mahatenders.gov.in ¹FFÀFaIZ °FÀ±FTF½FS (½FZ¶FÀFFBM) ´FFWF½F¹FFÀF d¸FTZ»F.

ÀFWe/-CX´FF¹Fb¢°F,

½FÀFBÊX-d½FSXFSX VFWXSX ¸FWXF³F¦FSX´FFd»FIYF

cegKÙe keâeÙee&}Ùe efJejejefJejej (hetJe&),

lee. JemeF&, efpe. hee}Iej, efheve 401305.

otjOJeveer : 0250-2525105/06/2529888/2529890He@âkeäme : 0250-2525107F&-ces} : [email protected]â ›eâ. : Je.efJe.çe.ce./cee.leb./48/21-22efoveebkeâ : 03.06.2021


MAHARASHTRAMINISTER forOther Backward ClassWelfareVijayWadettiwar on Thursdayannounced the names of thenine members who would bepartoftheCommissiononOtherBackward Classes (OBCs) thatwassetupcollectempiricaldataon thecommunity.The members are Baban

Taywade, ChandulalMeshram,Balaji Bhillarikar, SanjivSonawane, Gajanan Kharate,Nilima Lakhade, Govind Kale,LaxmanHake and Alka Rathod.Former judge Anand Nirgudewas appointed the head of thecommission inMarch.The Supreme Court, on

March 4, had directed the stateto appoint a commission to col-lect empirical data on the OBCcomunity after it struck downOBC reservations in local bodyelections.The state had filed a review

plea,whichwasquashedonMay28.Meanwhile, the BJP has de-

mandedWadettiwar's resigna-tionandstartedaagitationseek-ingastatewidesurveyofOBCs.

Nine members of OBCcommission announced

MAHARASHTRA

TheSupremeCourthadstruckdownOtherBackwardClasses (OBC)reservations in localbodyelections


AGAS leak fromachemical fac-toryinBadlapurwasreportedonThursday night. No casualtieswere reported.Accordingtothepreliminary

information, the incident tookplace around 10.22 pmat a fac-torycalledNobel IntermediatesPvt Ltd at Shirgaon MIDC inAptewadi area, Badlapur. Theleak is suspected to have hap-peneddue tooverheating.People in theareawerehav-

ing troublebreathing.The fire brigade had rushed

to the factory and the leakwasstoppedat11.24pm.Civic officials were inspect-

ing the factory. The gas is nottoxic and the situation is undercontrol, anofficial said."Weappeal tocitizenstonot

to panic and stay at home for afewhours,"theThaneRDMCof-ficial said.

Gas leak atchemical factoryin Badlapur

BASHAARATMASOODSRINAGAR, JUNE3

A SUSPECTED terrorist waskilled inside a campof the J&KPolice’s Special OperationsGroup(SOG)inSouthKashmir’sTral on Thursday after he re-portedlysnatchedariflefromapolicemanduringinterrogationand shot at him, leaving himcritically injured.Police said Mohammad

AminMalik, whowas on po-

Suspected terrorist‘snatches’ gun, killedin J&K Police camp

NAVEEDIQBALSRINAGAR, JUNE3

ASINDIAandPakistanapproach100 days of adherence to theceasefire along the Line ofControl in JammuandKashmir,Army chief General MMNaravanesaidThursdaythatthesituationinJ&Kpointstoareturnto normalcy on all parameters,andtheonusofensuringthattheceasefireholdsliessquarelywithPakistan.Hesaid“afteralongtime,we

havereachedasituationwherepeaceandtranquillityprevails”.Speaking to reporters in

Srinagarattheendofatwo-dayreviewof security in theValley,General Naravane said: “I havebeen briefed by all command-ers on ground on the situation,bothontheLCandinthehinter-land.Alltheparametersthatwejudge normalcy by have seengreatimprovement.Therehavebeenveryfewterrorist-initiatedincidents, hardly any cases ofstone-pelting, no cases of IEDsin the recent past. All these are

indicatorsof a return toa senseofnormalcy…theseareall indi-catorsthattheawaam(thepeo-ple)alsowant thesame.”Reiterating that India will

holdtheceasefirealongtheLoCaslongasPakistandoes,hesaid:“The onus of making sure thatthe ceasefire holds is squarelyonPakistan.We are willing to

observeceasefireaslongastheydo so. While ceasefire is on,otheractivities that theyare in-dulging in, that is the terror in-frastructure there on the otherside of the LC, that continues.

Therefore,therecanbenoslack-ening, as far as we are con-cerned,inourlevelofprepared-nessoralertness.”He said there have been

“decades of mistrust” betweenPakistanandIndiaandthesitu-ation on that count cannotchange overnight. However, “ifthey continue to observe theceasefire in letter and spirit, iftheystopanddesistfromtryingtopushterroristsacrossandfo-ment trouble in India, then allthesestepswilldefinitelygoin-crementally to build that levelof trustbetween the twocoun-tries,”hesaid.On February 25, India and

Pakistan, in a joint statement,said they had agreed on “strictobservance of all agreements,understanding and cease firingalongtheLineofControlandallother sectors with effect frommidnight24/25February”.According to official data

shared with Parliament inFebruary, the year 2020 saw5133 ceasefire violations, upfrom3479 in 2019 and 2140 in2018. Therewere 591 ceasefire

violations during January andFebruarythisyearbeforethean-nouncement by the two coun-tries.Speaking on the possibility

of troop reduction as the situa-tion improves, GeneralNaravanesaiddeploymentsareviewed periodically and if thesituation permits, “then defi-nitely we do take recourse topulling out some troops fromactive deployment to the rearareas. So they also get time forrest and relief… but they willnotbepulledoutaltogether”.Stating that “after a long

time, we have reached a situa-tionwherepeace and tranquil-lityprevails,” he said the roleoftheArmyliesinworkinginsyncwith the local administrationandallother forces in J&K,withthe ultimate aim of bringingdownthe levelof violence.“Weshouldshunthispathof

violence,itdoesnotgetyouany-where.Wejusthavetoseehowtheworld hasmoved on, howIndiahasmovedonand, there-fore, embrace the future,” hesaid.

Signs of normalcy in J&K,onus on Pakistan: Army chief

Terror infraacrossLoCstillthere,saidGenNaravane.PTI

BSP shrinkseven moreas Mayawatiexpels twosenior leaders

ASADREHMANLUCKNOW,JUNE3

WITHtheAssemblyelectionsinUttar Pradesh just about sixmonths away, BSP chiefMayawationThursdayexpelledtwoof itsmostprominent lead-ers, Lalji Verma and RamAchalRajbhar, for "indulging in anti-party activities" during the re-centpanchayatpolls.Added to the expulsions by

Mayawatiearlier, this leavestheBSPwith just sevenMLAs in theAssembly, with one of them(Mukhtar Ansari) in jail. It hadwon19 seats of 403 in the 2017Assemblyelections.Verna, however, said hewas

verymuchintheBSPstill,hadnoplansof joininganyotherparty,andwas hopeful of ironing outdifferences after meetingMayawati. He also pointed outthatallthoseexpelledcontinuedtotechnicallybemembersoftheBSPasMayawatihadn'twrittento theSpeakerabout them.While Verma is a five-time

MLA from Katehri seat inAmbedkarnagar district, a BSPstronghold,andtheleaderof thepartyintheAssembly,Rajbharisan MLA from Akbarpur inAmedkarnagar.While Rajbhardoesn't hold a post in the BSPcurrently,hewasearlierthestatechiefofthepartyanditsjointna-tional general secretary. He hasbeen aminister in BSP govern-ments in the past, like Verma, aKurmi leader. The BSP an-nounced that Shah Alam aliasGuddu Jamali would replaceVerma as its leader in theAssembly. Alam is a two-timeMLA from Mubarakpur inAzamgarhdistrict.VermatoldTheIndianExpress

that an Ambedkarnagar leader,GhanshyamSinghKharwar,hadmisled Mayawati about him."Kharwar told Behenji that Iacted against the party in thepanchayatpollsandwaslikelytojoin another party. Firstly, I wasin ahospital in Lucknowduringthepanchayatpolls,andIamnotjoining any other party. I stillconsider myself a BSP leader.Kharwar'scandidates lost inthepanchayat polls, and to hide hisfailures, he said all this," Vermasaid.

Chennai Port moves HC,wants bank to repay Rs100-cr FD lost to fraud

ARUNJANARDHANANCHENNAI, JUNE3

THECHENNAIPort Trust (ChPT)onThursdaymovedapetitionintheMadrasHighCourtdemand-ingthattheIndianBankpayitanamountofRs100.67crore—thefixed depositmade by the portwhich an impersonator hadmanagedtolootfromthenation-alisedbank’scustody lastyear.ACBIprobeintothematter is

in progress but the ChPT said itwas “in noway hampering thepayment of amounts” and “afraud said tohavebeencommit-tedatthebanklevelisnodefencetotheliability”.The ChPT had deposited the

amount in five instalments lastyear to the bank’s Koyambedubranchthroughonlinetransfers.Aspernorms,ChPThadinvited

quotesfortheFDin“non-callable”category,underwhichtheamountcannotbe redeemedearlyby theissuerexceptwiththepaymentofa penalty. Problems started onMay14,2020,whentheChPTse-curities section received amailfrom the bank stating that thedeposit of Rs 62.08 crore wasclosed onMay 8. They receivedachequebookfromthebankonMay15, in thenameof ChennaiPort Trust General InsuranceFund,anaccounttheyneverhad.On June9, thebank said that

the current account, to whichfixeddepositsweretransferredfortheallegedclosurewithoutChPT’sknowledge,wascreatedonMarch10, 2020, at the Koyambedubranch. It was in the name ofChennaiPort’sgeneral insurancefundby an impersonator repre-senting deputy director finance(ChPT)asauthorisedsignatory.

lice remand, hid in the interro-gation room and kept shootingat police personnel, before hewaskilled ina jointoperationofpolice, Army and paramilitaryforces.PolicehaddetainedMalikon

May30, allegedly after recover-ing arms and explosives fromhimaswellasphones“andotherwarlikestoresusedinfabricationof IEDs”.Hehadbeenbroughttothe camp for further interroga-tion. An official release said,“During interrogation the terroroperative got hold of the servicerifle (AK-47) of ConstableAmjadKhan and fired indiscriminatelywith the intention tokill person-nel.HecriticallywoundedAmjadKhan... The terror operative thentooktotalcontroloftheinterroga-tion room and engaged policepersonnelbyfiringintermittentlyfromthesnatchedweapon.”

THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JUNE4,2021

THESECONDSURGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Panmasala,gutkasalebanned inSAndamandistPort Blair: In view of the recentsurge in Covid-19 cases, theSouthAndamandistrictadmin-istrationhasprohibited the saleof all forms of panmasala andgutka, anofficial said.Port Blair,the capital of Andaman andNicobar Islands is in the SouthAndaman district. SouthAndaman District MagistrateSuneel Anchipaka in an orderdated June2banned themanu-facture,storage,distributionandsale of all forms of panmasalaandgutkainthedistrictwithim-mediate effect for onemonth.Thedistrictmagistrate inhisor-dersaidthatpeople livingintheislandsare in thehabitof chew-ing tobaccoandspitting inpub-licplaceswhichcausethespreadof thevirus. PTI

OdishaannouncesspecialpackageforPVTGsBhubaneswar/Malkangiri:Withabout 50members of Odisha’sParticularly Vulnerable TribalGroups (PVTG) getting infectedby Covid-19 during the secondwaveof thepandemic, the stategovernment Wednesday an-nounced a special package forthem. The special package in-cludesdistributionof freemasksand sanitising materials to allPVTGs, a dry ration kit of Rs2,500 to all affected PVTGhouseholds, an incentive of Rs1,400 to all PVTGs at the rate ofRs100perdayforthoseaffectedby Covid-19 during their stayin institutional quarantinecentres.PTI

Hundredsgatherfor ‘holywater’cureatMP villageRajgarh: Defying Covid-19norms,alargenumberofpeo-ple gathered at a village hereinMadhyaPradeshunderthebelief thatwater offered by awoman, supposedly blessedby local deity ‘PariMata’, canprotectthemfromtheviralin-fection, police said onThursday.Followingthegath-ering of over 150 people onTuesdayatChatukhedavillageinRajgarh,police registeredacase against thewoman andthreeotherpersonsundertheIPC and the DisasterManagementAct,Khujnerpo-lice station in-charge UmeshYadav said. A video of the in-cident went viral on socialmedia. PTI

INBRIEF

7

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEBENGALURU,JUNE3

WITH THE test positivity rateand case fatality rate inKarnataka yet to dip below pa-rameters set by experts, ChiefMinister B S Yediyurappa an-nounced an extension of thenear-total lockdownbyanotherweek.The lockdown,whichhasbeen in place sinceMay 10 and

was earlier extended till June 7,willnowcontinue till June14.The Chief Minister also de-

claredaRs500crorepackage togo alongside a Rs 1,100 crorepackageannouncedonMay19.The state reported 18,324

newcasesonThursdaywith514deaths. The test positivity ratewasat12.20percentandcasefa-tality rateat2.80percent.“Having decided that strict

measures areneeded to control

the spread of Covid-19 infec-tions, we issued guidelines fortheperiodfromMay24toJune7.Although there is a reduction inthe number of new cases beingdetected in thestate, thespreadof the disease still continues.Basedontheadviceof technicalexperts, it is considered appro-priate to continue the currentguidelines for control of thespread of infections till 6 amonJune14,”theChiefMinistersaid.

Karnataka lockdown extended, BSYannounces Rs 500 cr relief package

DELHIDRUGSCONTROLDEPTTOHC

SOFIAHSANNEWDELHI,JUNE3

DELHI'S DRUGS ControlDepartment Thursday told theDelhi High Court that BJP MPGautamGambhir’s foundationwas involved in “unauthorisedpurchase/procurement, stock-ing and distribution” ofFavipiravir,adrugbeingusedtotreatCovid-19,andmedicaloxy-gen, which is not permitted bythe law, and that action wouldbe takenagainst it andothers.“By doing so, M/S Gautam

GambhirFoundationhascontra-venedtheprovisionsoftheDrugsandCosmeticsAct,1940&Rulesthereunder, and therefore hascommitted an offencewhich isprosecutable/punishable underSection 27 (b) (iii) and 27 (d) ofthe said Act,” said the depart-ment in an investigation reportplacedbeforethecourt.Thedivisionbenchof Justices

Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet SinghdirectedtheDrugControllertofileastatusreportontheactiontaken

in thenext sixweeks. “Wewanttocurbthistendency.Thisshouldnothappenthatpeoplehoardjustbecause they have the resourceandsaythatwearenowgoingtodistributeittoaparticularsectionofthesocietywhethertheyareinmy constituency or because Iwanttogainpopularity, Iwanttoprepareformynextelection.Thisshouldn’tbethecriteria.Wewanttocurbthisandwantyoutotakeactionsothatitbecomesalessonforothersthattheydon’t indulgeinthesepracticesagain,” itsaid.The court also saidGambhir

may have acted out of publicspirit but he had to see the pros

and cons of his actions: “Youmaybetryingtohelpthepeopleinyourconstituencybutatwhatexpense?Attheexpenseofpeo-plewhoneededit.Youdidchar-itynodoubt,butyoualsocausedashortagewhichcouldnothavebeen felt to that extent (other-wise). When genuine patientsneeded that medicine, theycouldnotget it.”Thedepartmenttoldthecourt

it is established that his founda-tion does not hold any drug li-cence as required by the law forpurchase,stocking,ordistributionof the drugs. The courtwas alsotoldthatshowcausenoticeshavebeen issued to the dealerswhosold themedicine andmedicaloxygentohis foundation.Lastweek, the court rapped

theDrugsControlDepartmentforgiving a clean chit to Gambhirwithoutaproperinquiry .InhisstatementdatedMay14,

GambhirhadtoldDelhiPolicethattheGautamGambhirFoundationhad organised a free medicalcampatJagritiEnclavefromApril22toMay7toprovideassistance

to people suffering fromCovid.Thecampremainedunderthesu-pervision and control of DrManishofGargHospital,hesaid.“A total of 2,628 strips of

Fabifluwerepurchasedfromau-thorised vendors against pre-scription… given by Dr SanjayGarg(GargHospital).Respectiveinvoices were obtained by thefoundationfromthevendorsforsaid purchase," Gambhir hadsaid, adding that 2,343 strips ofthedrugweredistributedfreeofcosttoattendantsofCovid-19pa-tients against the prescriptionproducedbythem.He had also said that “un-

precedentedanddesperate situ-ationscallfordesperatemeasuresandremedies”.OnThursday,thedepartment

told the court GargHospital hasclarified that their rolewas lim-itedtoprovidingsupervisionwithrespect to scrutiny and verifica-tion of prescriptions brought byattendantsorpatients, andwerenotdirectlyorindirectlyinvolvedintheprocurement,stocking,anddistributionof themedicines.

‘Gambhir’s foundation notauthorised to get Covid drug’

BJPMPGautamGambhir

TORAAGARWALAGUWAHATI,JUNE3

ON THURSDAY, 24-year-oldJeromeKVabeihruapathaijoinedstudents acrossMizoram for theEnvironmentalStudies(EVS)un-dergraduatesemesterexam,con-ducted online by theMizoramUniversityduetothepandemic.But Vabeihruapathai’s exam

wasnot held in an examinationhallinfrontofacomputerscreen,nor athomewitha smartphone,but ina sheltermadeof bambooand banana leaves located on ahilltop,accessibleonlythrougha3kmuphill trekthroughaforestinMizoram’sSiahadistrict.Lack of internet connectivity

in the remoteMawhrei village,

whereVabeihruapathailives,hasledhimandhisfriendstotrekuptheTlaoTla(hill),locatedabout10kmfromtheborderorMyanmar,thrice already thisweek. This istheonlyspotnearhisvillagethathas stable internet connectivity,crucialtowritetheexam.“Today,wecarriedtwobenches

from our village as well,” saidVabeihruapathai, speakingonthephonefromMawhrei,adding:“Itisverydifficult– bothtoprepareandtaketheexam.Wehavetotrekforonehourthroughaforesttoreachthehilltop.Bythetimeit istimetostarttheexam,wearealreadytired.”Approximately 24,000 stu-

dentshave registered for theon-line semester exams for under-graduatestudentsattheMizoramUniversity.Prof Lalnuntluanga,Controller

of Examinations, MizoramUniversity,said,“NotjustSiahadis-trict,butsimilarissuesarefacedbystudents inLawngtlaidistrict too.NGOs,villagecommunitiesandstu-dentunionsarepitchingintomaketemporaryexamshelters...wher-ever4Ginternetworks.”

SHIVNARAYANRAJPUROHITBIKANER, JUNE3

SAROJCHOUDHARY,afinal-yearnursingstudent,clipsanoxime-ter on 60-year-old Godavari'sringfinger.TheSpO2levelonthebite-sized device reads 86. Herbatchmate Pooja Saini, mean-while, shuffles to the top endofthe bed and scans the flowme-terstopperbobbingat7litresperminute.Choudharynotesdownboth the readings.Togetherwith140otherstu-

dents of Bikaner's GovernmentSchool of Nursing, ChoudharyandSainiarePBMHospital'sdes-ignated 'Oxygen Mitras', whohave helped halve its daily perpatientintakeofthepreciousgasto 2.1 cylinders. In the process,

Bikaner'sonlygovernmenthos-pital, which accounts for 70% ofitshospital load,hasputthedis-trict from top of the per patientoxygenusetable inRajasthanin

April to among the lowest inMay.Duringarecentmeetingwith

district magistrates, PrimeMinister Narendra Modi ac-

knowledged theBikaner hospi-tal'sOxygenMitra initiative. .Bikaner has not lost a single

patient to lackof oxygen,pointsout District Magistrate NamitMehta.Whilethreedeathsattheprivate Tanveer MalawatHospitalinMaywereblamedonoxygen,itwasmoretheresultofmismanagementofsupplies,sayofficials.While PBMHospital got its

ownoxygenplant inApril, ithasa liquidmedical oxygen (LMO)store tank, and procures fromthreeotherplantsinthedistrict,it realised in April that the con-sumption per patient was un-sustainable given the high load.Officials say that at the time thehospital accounted for 75% ofBikaner's oxygen consumption.So, onApril 30, it decided to as-sign 30 oxygen beds to each

nursingstudentforsupervision.Calling these students "our

unsung heroes", PNB HospitalSuperintendent Dr ParminderSirohi says little thingsmadeallthe difference. "Earlier, whileeating or going to the toilet, pa-tientswouldnotturnofftheoxy-gen valve or increase the flow,thinking themore, the better."Constant monitoring of levelsand oxygen flow as well as su-pervising pronal breathing alsohelpedcutdownconsumption.Thehospital thendid an en-

gineeringtweakandrearrangedoxygen beds. Says DMMehta,“Another reason for oxygenwastagewastheuniformsupplyto high-flow (ventilators andBiPAPs) and low-flow patients(through 'manifolds', where D-type cylinders are attached to amain line).

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE3

HAVING received no bids to itsglobal tender for vaccine pro-curement,AndhraPradeshChiefMinisterYSJaganMohanReddyThursday wrote to CMs of allstates that the situation hastransformed into a “States vs.Union” issueand itwas time forall states to “speak in a singlevoice”.Withvaccinationdriveslow-

ingdowninstates,JaganReddy’stone has changed quite a bitfrom a month back when he‘urged’ his Jharkhand counter-part Hemant Soren not to in-dulge inpoliticsbypointing fin-gersatPrimeMinisterNarendraModi.OnMay6,Sorenhadtweeted

thatPrimeMinisterModicalledandonlyspokehismind,anddidnotbothertolisten.Respondingtothis, JaganReddytweeted,“InthiswaragainstCovid-19, thesearethetimesnottopointfingersbut to come together andstrengthen the hands of ourPrime Minister to effectively

combat thepandemic.”In Thursday’s letter to CMs,

Jagan Reddy, however, termedthe Centre’s decision to givestatesalargersayinvaccinepro-curement as “unwarranted” es-pecially with so many con-straints in vaccine production.The vaccination drive itself was“plagued bymultiple coordina-tion issues”,hesaid.“It ismyrequestthatasChief

Ministers we speak in a singlevoiceandurge theGovernmentof India to take charge and re-sponsibility of the vaccination

drive, theway itwashappeningin the early part of the year,” hesaid. A centralised and coordi-natedvaccination,supportedbythestate,wouldleadtowonder-fulresultsforthepeopleof India,he further said.The AP government had

floated a global tender onMay13 for procurement of Covid-19vaccine(fromforeignproducers)sufficient to inoculateonecrorepersons.“Thedateofsubmissionof bidswas3rd Juneuntil 5 pm,but to my dismay no onequoted…,”hesaid inhis letter.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JUNE3

THEUTTARPradeshgovernmenton Thursday cancelled the class12 (intermediate) board exami-nationandwillpromotestudentson the basis of marks scored inpreviousexams.The announcement was

made byDeputy ChiefMinisterDineshSharma,also inchargeofthe Ministry of Higher andSecondary Education, followingameetingheldbyChiefMinisterYogi Adityanathwith officers ofthe departments concerned onThursday.The decision comes close on

theheelsof theCentre’sdecisiontocancelCBSEClass12Boardex-ams.TheUPBoardClass10exams

were cancelled earlier. Thedeci-siontocanceltheexamswillben-efit nearly 56 lakh students ofclasses10and12.Following the meeting,

Sharmasaid,“Afterassessingdif-ferent states, the PM has can-celled the 10th and 12th CBSE

Boardexams.TheUPMadhyamikShiksha Parishad is the biggesteducation board in the countrywithahistoryofover100years...Forthefirsttime,wewillnotholdhigh school and intermediateboardexaminations.Wehaveal-ready cancelled the class 10 ex-ams,andtodaywehavedecidedto scrap the class 12 exams too,keepinginmindtheCovid-19in-fection.”Hesaidstudentsofclasses10

and 12will be promoted afterconsidering their averagemarksfromprevious exams.However,thestudentswhobelievetheyarebetterpreparedwilllaterhavean-otherchancetowritethegeneralexamandimprovetheirmarks.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI,JUNE3

DISCUSSIONS ARE underwaywithmajor pharma companiesaboutsourcingandpossiblyman-ufacturingtheirCovid-19vaccineslocallywhile India is looking for-ward to World HealthOrganisation’s (WHO) approvalforBharatBiotech’s indigenouslydeveloped vaccine, ForeignSecretaryHarshVardhanShringlasaidonThursday.“We are also part of discus-

sionswithmajor vaccinemanu-facturers likePfizer, JohnsonandJohnson, and Moderna aboutsourcingandpossible localman-ufacturing of their vaccines inIndia.Wehavealsohelpedtoex-pedite the introduction of theSputnik-Vvaccine,”Shringlasaid.AddressingtheWHO’sSouth-

East Asia Regional HealthPartners’ ForumonCovid-19, hesaid that the government hasworkedwithkeypartnerstoeaseregulatorydisruptionstovaccine

supplychains.“Vaccineshavecomplexsupply

chains.Wehaveworked toeaseregulatorydisruptionstothesesup-ply chains with key partnersthroughdiplomatic interventions.We are also looking forward toWHO’sapprovalforIndia’sindige-nous vaccine made by BharatBiotech,”Shringlasaid. Hesaidthepandemicisnowwell intoitssec-ondyearandIndiaisfightingan“ex-ceptionallysevere”secondwave.Indiaisalsoworkingwithsev-

eralcountriesintheWTOonatar-getedandtemporarywaiverunderTRIPStoensuretimelyandsecureaccesstovaccinesforall,hesaid.

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JUNE3

THE SUPREME Court Thursdaysaid that it is happy tonote thatthegovernmenthas takenade-cision to cancel the class 12board exams, and directed theCBSE and CICSE to place onrecord objective criteria for as-sessmentofmarksintwoweeks.A bench of Justices AM

Khanwilkar and DineshMaheshwari asked AttorneyGeneral K K Venugopal and ad-vocate JKDas, appearing for theCISCE toplaceonrecord thepa-

rameters in twoweeks.“We are happy to note that

government has taken decisionto cancel class 12 board examsbutwewant that the objectivecriteria fixed for assessment ofmarks be placed before us,” thebenchsaid.The bench clarified that it

willnotgivemoretimeforplace-ment of objective criteria asmanystudentswillbetakingad-missionsincollegesinIndiaandabroad.Thetopcourtsaidthatitwillgothroughtheobjectivepa-rameters for assessment ofmarks,sothat if anyonehasanyobjections it canbedealtwith.

VACCINE ROLLOUTPeopleare inoculated insideanair-conditionedpublicbus inKolkataonThursday.Thebuswill travel todifferentmarketsof thecity tovaccinateprioritygroups, includingvegetableandfishsellers,whocannotaffordtogofor inoculation leavingbehindtheirbusinesses forhours.The ‘vaccinationonwheels’ initiativewas launchedbytheKolkataMunicipalCorporationThursday incooperationwiththehealthandtransportdepartmentsof theWestBengalgovernment,MinisterFirhadHakimsaid. ParthaPaul

‘States vs Union’ situation,says Jagan; asks CMs to ‘speakin single voice’ on vaccines

INSAiravatarriveswithCovidreliefmaterial fromVietnamandSingapore, inVisakhapatnam. PTI

Highest O2 use in Rajasthan to among lowest:How Bikaner govt hospital caught PM attention

NursingstudentsSarojChoudharyandPoojaSainiarePBMHospital’sdesignated ‘OxygenMitras’.

UPministerDineshSharma

Poor internet, Mizoramstudents trek 3 km for exam

Studentswriteexamsatashelter inSiahadistrict

FS Shringla: In talks withpharma majors to locallymanufacture vaccines

‘ALREADYTIREDWHEN IT’STIMETOSTART’

HarshVardhanShringla

UP cancels class 12 board exams SC: Happy that govtcancelled Board exams

459DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

TRACKING THE SECOND SURGE

NEWCASES: 1,22,297ACTIVE CASES: 16,36,032VACCINATIONS:22,10,43,693

DAILY DEATHS2,694

TOTALDEATHS3,40,683

WEEKLY CFR1.10%

OVERALL CFR1.31%

TESTS TODAY: 20,69,703 | TOTAL TESTS: 35,58,52,351

WEEKLY POSITIVITY: 6.00% | OVERALL POSITIVITY: 8.03%

STATESREPORTINGMOSTCASES

STATE NEW ACTIVE WEEKLY TOTALCASES CASES POSITIVITY VACCINATION

■TamilNadu 24,405 2,80,426 16.07% 9,339,816

■Kerala 18,853 1,84,994 15.58% 9,676,157

■Karnataka 18,324 2,86,819 13.62% 14,141,929

■Maharashtra 15,229 2,04,974 7.06% 23,052,074

■Andhra 11,421 1,38,912 13.94% 10,225,904

STATESREPORTINGMOSTDEATHS

STATE TODAY’S TOTAL WEEKLY OVERALLDEATHS DEATHS CFR CFR

■Maharashtra 654 1,00,233 2.32% 1.82%

■Karnataka 514 30,531 1.27% 1.31%

■TamilNadu 460 25,665 1.43% 1.48%

■Kerala 153 9,423 0.62% 0.42%

■UttarPradesh 108 20,895 1.41% 1.27%

Note:DataasonJune3;vaccinationnumbersasofJune2.Deaths includethosefrompreviousdays.


GOVT&POLITICSWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

8

SANTOSHSINGHPATNA, JUNE3

INWHATcouldbea first foranystate, theBihargovernmenthasproposed to reserve33per centseats to girls inmedical and en-gineeringcolleges.The government has been

planningtobringtwonewBills-- the Bihar EngineeringUniversities Bill and BiharMedical Education Bill -- in thenext Assembly session to giveformal shape to theproposal.

Thestatehas2,035engineer-ing seats and1,330medical andBDS seats in the11medical and38 engineering colleges it runs.Agovernmentofficialsaidwhilethereare30percentgirlsingov-ernmentmedical colleges, theirrepresentation in engineeringcollegesisonlyabout15percent.Bihar Chief Minister Nitish

Kumar saidat a reviewmeetingonWednesday, "Let us reserveone-third seats inmedical andengineering colleges [for girls].Thiswill increasethenumberofgirls in technical education. It

will be a unique thing.Engineering colleges are beingopened in every district andmedical collegeshavebeenalsoopened in some districts. ThewholeideaistoensurethatBiharstudentsdonothavetogooutofthe state for technical educa-tion".

Thereviewmeetingalsodis-cussed a proposal to set up ex-clusiveengineeringandmedicaluniversities in thestate.TheCMsaid this would help in bettermanagementofmedicalanden-gineeringcolleges.Thestategov-ernmenthasproposedtosetupfournewuniversities.Themovetoreserveseatsfor

girlsisbeingseenasanotherpo-liticalmasterstrokeofCMNitishKumartoconsolidatehis"caste-neutral"constituencyofwomen.The Nitish-led government

hadin2006reserved50percent

seatsforgirls inprimaryschoolsand 35 per cent in secondaryschools at the panchayat levels.The state has also reserved 35per cent jobs for women in thepolice and 33 per cent in othergovernment jobs.To encourage girls to pursue

highereducation,thestategivesa cash incentive of Rs 50,000 tothosewhopasstheirgraduation.Women-centric schemes

suchasbicycles andschooluni-formsforgirlswerehugelypop-ularandhadlaterbeenextendedtoboysaswell.

DEEPTIMANTIWARYNEWDELHI, JUNE3

THEENFORCEMENTDirectorate(ED) on Thursday arrested RJDmember of Rajya SabhaAmarendra Dhari Singh in con-nectionwithitsmoneylaunder-

ingprobe intoalleged cor-ruption in im-portof fertilis-ers by theIndianFarmersFertilizerCooperativeLtd (IFFCO).Singh has

been impli-cated in the case on the basis ofhis associationwith a companynamed Jyoti TradingCorporation, Dubai -- he is vicepresident of the firmwhich is akeyaccused in thecase.TheEDcaseisbasedonaCBI

FIR of May 17 in which theagency has booked IFFCOMDandCEOUSAwasthi,alongwithnine others, including his twosons, for allegedcorruptionandcausing a loss to the exchequerby importing fertiliser rawma-terial at inflated prices fromabroad.Singh,alongwithVVIPchop-

percaseaccusedRajivSaxena, ismentioned among the accusedin theCBIFIR.Saxena isaccusedofmovingmoneyforseveralac-cused in the AgustaWestlandcase apart from Kamal Nath’snephewRatulPuriwhohasbeencharged in thecase.

ARUNSHARMA&BASHAARATMASOODJAMMU,SRINAGAR, JUNE3

THE LAST rites of BJP councillorRakeshPandita,whowaskilledbymilitants in Tral onWednesdaynight, were carried out at hisJammuresidenceThursday,withsenior leaders including theparty's J&K president, RavinderRaina,attending.Pandita'sson,Paras,whois in

Class12,saidhisfatherhad“diedforthenation”andhopedthatthecountrywouldnowlookafterthefamilythathadlost itsonlyearn-ingmember.Pandita'sfatherdiedjustlastmonth,andheissurvivedbyhismother,wifeandson.Pandita,who livedunder se-

curityinagovernmentaccommo-dation in Srinagar, was killedwhile on a visit tomeet a friend.Hehadnot takenhis security of-

ficialsalong.A relative said Pandita had

beenhometillMonday,havingar-rivedonMay18,whenhis fatherhaddied.PoliceinSrinagarsaidhehaddrivenfromJammutoTral.J&K BJP general secretary

(Organisation) AshokKoul saidPandita took the risk and stayed

inKashmirashewantedtoservehis constituency. Tral, amilitantstronghold, was also Pandita'shometown.Theparty saidwhile Pandita

had erred in leavinghis securitybehind,thegovernmentcouldnotescapeitsresponsibility. “Didthegovernmentmachinery andpo-licenotknowthatterroristswerepresent inTral?”Koul said. “I be-lievethatitisthefailureofthegov-ernmentandpolice...Peoplewithguns are openlymoving aroundintheValley.”In theValley, as police issued

anadvisoryurgingthosegivense-curitynot to travelwithoutallot-ted PSOs,mainstreampoliticalleaders accusedofficials of using"security as a tool", and de-mandedthatboththeadministra-tionandpoliceshouldfaceactionforfailingtosecurepoliticians."Noprotectee shouldgoany-

wherewithoutPSOs.Visitsareal-

lowedonly after ground assess-ment of the local threat," IGP,Kashmir, Vijay Kumar saidThursday. "Request is to all pro-tecteesnottoviolateSOPsandrisktheir lives."FormerministerandPeople's

ConferencechairmanSajadLone,who has Z-category security,pointedoutthatabullet-proofve-hicleboughtbyhimforhisuse isstillstrandedataChandigarhfac-tory due to lack of governmentclearance. "Somuchabout secu-rityutalkaftersomeonedies.Weknowhowyouuse security as atool,"Lonetweeted.Following Lone's tweet, for-

mer Chief Minister OmarAbdullah posted, "We alsowantedtoorder twobulletproofvehicles for our senior Kashmirbasedofficebearerswhoarebe-ingdeniedproperprotectionoutofspite...” FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

STATEMEDICAL, ENGINEERINGCOLLEGES

SOFIAHSANNEWDELHI, JUNE3

THE CENTRE on Thursday toldthe Delhi High Court thatWhatsApp is trying to get “trickconsent” from its users for themessaging platform's updatedprivacypolicytoensurethattheexistinguserbaseismadetoac-cept the terms and conditionsbefore the Personal DataProtectionBill becomesa law.“It issubmittedthatmillions

of WhatsApp existing users —thosewhohavenotacceptedtheupdated 2021 privacy policy —arebeingbombardedwithnoti-ficationsoneverydaybasis,”thegovernment said in response toa petition challenging theFacebook-owned messagingapp’s2021privacypolicyIn response, a WhatsApp

spokespersonsaid theyhaveal-ready responded to thegovern-mentandassuredthemthatpri-vacyofusersremainsitshighestpriority.Initsaffidavit,theCentretold

the court that WhatsApp has“unleashed its digital prowess”to its “unsuspecting existingusers” and would like to forcethem to accept the privacy pol-icybysendingsuchnotificationsat regular intervals. “The gameplan is very clear — to transferthe entire existing user basecommittedtoupdated2021pri-vacy policy before the Personal

Data Protection (PDP) Bill be-comes law,” the governmentstated in its reply.Seeking directions from the

court to stopWhatsApp fromsending such notifications tousers, the Centre also arguedthat WhatsApp’s actions areagainst “the verygrainof primafacieopinionoftheCompetitionCommission of India’s order”,datedMarch24.In a statement, the

WhatsApp spokesperson said,“As a reminder, the recent up-datedoesnotchangetheprivacyof people’s personalmessages.Its purpose is to provide addi-tional information about howpeople can interact with busi-nesses if theychoose todo.”Thecompanyalsostatedthat

WhatsAppwillnotlimititsfunc-tionalityandinsteadcontinuetoremindusers from time to timeabouttheupdate.“Wehopethisapproach reinforces the choicethat all users have whether ornot theywant to interactwith abusiness.Wewillmaintain thisapproachuntilatleasttheforth-coming PDP law comes into ef-fect,” thestatement reads.InMarch,theCentrehadtold

the court thatWhatsApp's newprivacy policy violates the 2011IT Rules on five counts. It urgedthecourttorestrainthemessag-ing app from implementing it[newprivacy policy?] , pendingadjudication of the case by thecourt.

SHAJUPHILIPTHIRUVANANTHAPURAM,JUNE3

Thursday denied an allegationthat its state chief K SurendranhadpaidRs10 lakh to thepresi-dent of ally JanathipathyaRashtriyaSabhatocontestasanNDA candidate in the state as-sembly election, a day after theemergenceofapurportedaudioclipof THEBJP the“cashdeal”.Surendrancalledthechargea

bid to insult tribal leader JRSpresidentCK Janu, aprominenttribal face.Janu had contested the re-

cent Assembly elections fromSulthanBathery.OnWednesday,her party treasurer PraseethaAzhikode had alleged that JanuhaddemandedRs10crorefromBJP statepresidentKSurendrantoreturntoNDAbeforetheelec-tion—andfinallysettledforRs10lakh.Praseetha, in an audio tape,

was heard speaking withSurendranregardingtheallegeddemandbyJanu.Surendranwasheard telling Praseetha that shealongwithJanucancometothestate capital onMarch 6 to col-lectRs10 lakh.Reacting to the allegation,

Surendran told reporters inKozhikode that neither BJP norhe required a third party for fi-nancialdealings. “At Janu’s con-stituency, BJP had legally spentmoneyas thepartyhaddone inall other constituencies. Who

will believe that BJP has offeredRs 10 crore to Janu to become acandidate? The audio tapewastampered. I don’t say thatPraseethadidnotcallme.Butthedemandof Rs10 crorehad sud-denly comedown toRs10 lakh.Things would get clarity if theaudioof theentireconversationis brought out. During the elec-tion, many people would havecalledme. I can’t remember allsuchcalls,’’ he saidSurendransaidtheallegation

aimed at tarnishing the reputa-tionof Janu,asocialworkerwhohadworked forDalits and tribalrights in thestate.“Janudidnotcallme.Shehas

the freedom to call me. If BJPwantedtopayasumtoJanuandif she required such a thing, BJPcould have done it without theknowledgeof anyone,’’ he said.Janu told reporters in

Wayanadthatshewouldsendalegal notice to her estrangedparty colleague Praseetha, whohadraised theallegation.Praseetha,however, stuck to

herstand.“Theaudiotapecanbesubjectedtoanyexaminationtoproveitsauthenticity.Therewasno tampering of the tape as al-legedbySurendran,” shesaid.Janu had floated JRS in 2016

and contested the AssemblyelectionthatyearasanallyofBJP.Later,shewalkedoutof theNDAand toyedwith the idea of join-inghandswithLDF.Asthatplandidnotmaterialize,herpartyre-turnedtoNDAontheeveof thiselection.

MAULSHREESETHLUCKNOW,JUNE3

INAsurprisemove, theCongressThursday appointedUrdupoet-turned-politicianMohd ImranKhan as the chairmanof itsmi-nority department. Sources saidhisappointmentcouldbethefirstof the many organisationalchangesintheparty.Better known as Imran

‘Pratapgarhi’, the33-year-old re-placedanotheryouthleaderfromeasternUttar Pradesh, NadeemJaved.WhileImranlostthe2019Lok

SabhaelectionsfromMoradabad,gettingjust5%ofthevotes,heisaprominentpresenceonsocialme-diawith his aggressive poetry.While his YouTube channel has1.55 million subscribers, hisFacebookpagehas19lakhfollow-ers,andtheCongressusedhimasa star campaigner in the BiharAssemblyelections.The Congress hopes Imran,

withhisfanbaseandpoliticalvo-cabulary, can help it attract theyouthminorityvote,as thepartyseekstoclawitsbackintoreckon-ing inUttar Pradesh,whichgoestopollsnextyear.SpeakingtoTheIndianExpress,

Imran said, “Myselectionprovesthat the Congress does not sup-press voices and instead givesthem a chance and freedom toraise issues of their communityandsocietyintheirownway.”ThechoiceofImranisalsosur-

prising as hehadbeen apartici-pantintheCAAprotestslastyear,with Moradabaddistrictadmin-istrationsayingitwouldissuehimashowcausenoticeto“recoverRs1.04crore”ascostofdeployingse-curityfortheprotests.TheCongress also appointed

four new secretaries Thursday.Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka forChhattisgarh, Deepika PandeySingh for Uttarakhand, ImranMasudforDelhiandBrijlalKhabriforBihar. WITHENS,DELHI

‘Will increasenumberofgirls intechnicaleducation’

Bihar plans33%reservation for girls

AmarendraDhariSingh

ED arrests RJDRajya Sabhamember overfertiliser scam

Centre to HC: WhatsApppushing privacy policybefore data law comes

Audio tape row: KeralaBJP chief says no ‘cashdeal’ with NDA ally

BJP leader killing: Parties seek probe; copsurge politicians to follow security rules

J&KBJPchiefRavinderSinghwiththekinofkilledBJPleaderRakeshPandita inJammuonThursday.PTI

Social media star poet isCong minority dept head

Imran ‘Pratapgarhi’withRahulGandhi


THE EASTERN CaribbeanSupremeCourt (ECSC) Thursdayadjournedahearinginthedepor-tation case of fugitive diamondjewellerMehulChoksiThursday,directingthetwopartiestocometoaconsensusontheadministra-tive issues relating to the case.Theseincludefilingofdocumentsand replies by theparties; fixingoftimethateachpartywillrequirefor arguing the case; and the se-quenceofcourtproceedings.Choksi's lawyerinIndia,Vijay

Aggarwal,saidthecasemaynowcomeupforhearingonlyonJuly1.“Till then, as per the existingDominican court order,MehulChoksishallremaininDominica,is what I understand,” saidAggarwal.OnThursday,forthefirsttime

sinceChoksiwas reportedmiss-ing in Antigua and Barbuda onMay23, the Indian governmentspoke about the legal tussle in-

volvinghim inDominica. “IndiaremainssteadfastinitseffortsthatfugitivesarebroughtbacktoIndia.Mehul Choksi is currently in thecustodyof Dominicawith somelegalproceedingsunderway,”saida Ministry of External Affairsspokesperson.Earlierintheday,amagistrate

courtofDominicarejectedthebailapplicationof Choksi in connec-

tionwithhisillegalentryintothecountry. Choksi pleaded notguilty,buttheprosecutionarguedthatthe62-yearoldmayfleeifheisgrantedbail. Choksiisinhospi-talunderpoliceprotectionforin-juriessustainedreportedlywhilein custody. Themagistrate courtwill hear this particular case onJune14. FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

KANCHANVASDEVCHANDIGARH, JUNE3

REBEL AAMAadmi Party legis-lators Sukhpal Singh Khaira,PirmalSinghDhaulaandJagdevSingh Kamalu Thursday joinedthe Congress in presence of CMAmarinder Singh just before heleft for Delhi tomeet the three-member panel constituted totackle infighting in the party’sstateunit.Thejoiningwasahurriedaf-

fairatthehelipadnearCM’soffi-cial residence after whichAmarinder left for Delhi in the

statechopper.PatialaMPandtheCM’s wife Preneet Kaur waspresent during the induction.

TheCMisscheduledtomeetthepanel led by Leader ofOpposition in Rajya Sabha,MallikarjunKharge,onFriday.WiththreerebelAAPleaders

joiningtheCongress,Amarinder,sources said, has conveyed amessage to his colleagues thatleaders from other parties arestill willing to work under hisleadership.“Thisconveysamessagethat

leaders from other parties arewillingtojoinevenasCM’sownpartymen are creating an issuethat saying the government islosing the game of perception,”aparty leader said.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JUNE3

THE BLUE-FINNED Mahseer,whichwas on the InternationalUnion for Conservation ofNature’s(IUCN)redlistofendan-geredspecies,hasnowmovedtothe“leastconcern”status,aTataPowerstatement said.The company has been in-

volvedintheconservationoftheblue-finnedandgoldenmahseerfor around50years inLonavala,Maharashtra. The goldenmah-seerisstill indangerofgoingex-tinct. “The GoldenMahseer isstill onthat list, and…we…willnot lie back till this endangeredspecies too swims out of thered…”thestatement said.Aroundfivelakhmahseerare

bred at theWalvanHatchery inLonavala,whereanartificial lakehasbeencreatedby the firm.

‘Blue-finnedMahseer out ofIUCN red list’

CHOKSIDEPORTATIONCASE

Court adjourns, Choksi lawyersays next hearing only on July 1

Choksiarrives incourt inawheelchair.ANI

Punjab: 3 AAP rebel MLAs join Cong

AAPrebelswithChiefMinisterAmarinderSinghinChandigarhonThursday.

Express

ENS&PTINEWDELHI,JUNE3

THERE’S NO point dwelling onbad times andone should focusonlessons learnedandusethemto move ahead in life, PrimeMinisterNarendraModitoldstu-dents in an interaction onThursday.Hewasreferringtothedevastationwreakedby the sec-ondwaveof thepandemic.TheEducationMinistryhelda

virtual interactionwith a selectgroup of Class 12 students onThursday, justtwodaysafterthegovernment scrapped the CBSEBoardexaminations.ThePMsur-prised thestudentsbydroppingin during this interaction togauge their reaction to the gov-ernment’sdecision.Several students shared their

experienceswiththeprimemin-ister about how the announce-mentbroughtrelief forthemandendedalongspellofuncertainty.HiteshwarSharma, aClass12

studentfromPanchkula,said,“Thepressureonuswasjustincreasingevery day. Iwas preparing to beamongthetoppersbutIfeelwhatisstudiedisneverwasted.”When thePMasked the stu-

dentsaboutwhetherthecancella-tion of exams created a vacuumfor themastheymusthavebeenbusy studying and makingtimetables so far, a student fromGuwahatisaid,“Sir,youhavesaidbeforethatexamsshouldbecele-bratedas a festival. So, therewasno fear inmymind for examina-tions.Thoughcircumstancesout-sidewerenotgood,Ihadfaiththatawisedecisionwillbetaken.”Some parents shared their

thoughtsabouthowstudentscanfocusnowoncollegeadmissions.Modi told the students that

thedecisiontocancelexamswastakenintheirinterest. “TheCovidperiodhasshownusexamplesofteamspirit...Wehave faced trou-ble, but will come out ofstronger...that’sthemessagemanyIndiansaregivingout,”Modisaid.

PMModivirtually interactswithstudents. PTI

Don’t dwell on bad times,focus on lessons learnt,PM tells class 12 students

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JUNE3

TheCentralVigilanceCommissiononThursday saidall Central gov-ernment organisations shouldmandatorily obtain vigilanceclearancebeforeofferingpost-re-tirementjobstobureaucrats.Incasearetiredofficerserved

inmore than one organisation,vigilance clearance should beobtained from all the organisa-

tionswheretheofficerservedinthe previous 10 years, it said inan order. The CVC circular ismandatory for all Central gov-ernmentministries, PSU, banksandthe insurancesector.Thecommissionsaidtheab-

senceof a uniformdefinedpro-cedure for obtaining vigilanceclearance, before engaging re-tiredofficialsbygovernmentor-ganisations, sometimes leadstoa situationwhere officials witha taintedpastareengaged.

Vigilance nod must for officersto get post-retirement jobs: CVC

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA, JUNE3

INHISreplytoashow-causeno-tice seeking his explanation forskippingacyclonereviewmeet-ing held by Prime MinisterNarendraModiatKalaikundaonMay 28, former West Bengalchief secretary AlapanBandyopadhyay told theCentre

that he wasscheduled tovisit the cy-clone-affectedareasandwasfollowingChiefMinisterMamataBanerjee’s or-der, sourcessaid onThursday.Chief

SecretaryHariKrishnaDwivedi,meanwhile,alsowrotealettertothe Centre and explainedwhyBandyopadhyay reached 15minuteslateforthemeetingandleft immediately.Though Banerjee, accompa-

nied by Bandyopadhyay, hadskippedthemeeting,shehadin-teractedwith the PM for a fewminutes and submitted tworeports.After Bandyopadhyay

skipped themeeting, the 1987-batch IAS officer was recalledand asked to report in Delhi onMay 31. The state governmentrefused to release him, and onMay 31, he resigned from theservices andwithin hours wasmadeadviser to theCM.According to sources,

Bandyopadhyay told theCentrethatCMBanerjeeandheleftthemeetingaftertakingModi’sper-mission. He also mentionedwhat he did after skipping thereviewmeetingonMay28.

Alapan toCentre: Had tovisit cyclone-hitareas, followedCM’s order

FormerBengalChiefSecy

SOFIAHSANNEWDELHI, JUNE3

REFUSING TOpass any interiminjunction against Yoga guruRamdev, the Delhi High CourtThursday said his statementsagainstallopathycomewithintheparametersofrighttofreedomofspeech and expression. IssuingsummonsinthesuitfiledbyDelhiMedical Association againstRamdev and others, the courtlisteditforhearingonJuly13.Justice C Hari Shankar said

the allopathic profession is notso fragile that thedoctor’sbodywill rushtothecourt. “Youpeo-pleshouldbeinterestedinfind-ing out ways to beat the pan-demic... rather than taking upcourt time and having litiga-tions,” the court told theDMA.“We have something called

Article 19 (1) (a) in the country.If I feel a particular science isfake and make a statement in

the public domain that the sci-ence is fake, what is so action-able about it,” it added.CallingRamdev’s statements

“public opinion” and observingthat“shackles”cannotputonsuchviews, the court said any caseseeking blocking of statementshas to be tested on the anvil ofArticle19(1) (a): “There isarightto... voiceanopinion.Sometimestheopinionis,maybe,voicedinaterminologywhichmayappear...veryoffensive.Somepeoplemaybemorevitriolicthanothersinthemanner inwhich they expresswhat theywant to say. Someonemay be more temperate.Someonemaybemoreintemper-ate.”Italsosaidthereareprotocols

and institutions to check falsemedical claims ormagic reme-diesanditcannotsayifCoronil,aproductofRamdev’sPatanjali, isa cure for Covid or not, and thesameistobedecidedbymedicalexperts.

Ramdev’s allopathy statementwithin free speech ambit: HC

EXPLAINED YOURMONEY

ONMONDAY,theEmployees’ProvidentFundOrganisation (RPFO) allowed its over 5 croresubscriberstoavailasecondCovid-19advance,withthesecondwaveofinfectionshavingim-pacted families across the country. Asmem-bers weigh their options, experts say EPFshouldnotbethedefaultoptionbutindividu-als should definitely considerwithdrawingfromthefundif theyare inneedofmoneyorneed to repay adebt to preserve their creditscore,ortohaveanemergencyfundintheab-senceofothersourcesof funds.

Howmuchadvancecanyouwithdraw?Forthesecondtimeinsuccessiveyears,the

EPFOallowed subscribers to avail a Covid-19advance. InMarch last year, the Centre an-nouncedanonlinefacilitytoallowmemberstowithdrawanamountnotexceedingthebasicwages and dearness allowances for threemonthsorupto75%oftheamountstandingtoa member’s credit in the EPF account,whicheverisless.ThatschemewasnotifiedonMarch27,2020andtheonlinefacilitylaunchedonMarch29.OnMonday,theoptionofasec-ondCovid-19advancewasmadeavailable.Thegovernmenthaspermittedmemberswhoal-ready availed the first Covid-19 advance lastyear,tooptforasecondadvance.Priortothepandemicperiod,withdrawal

conditionsallowedsubscriberstotakeanon-refundable advanceorwithdrawmoneybe-fore retirement only for specified purposes,suchasamedicalemergency,marriage,highereducationorpurchaseofahouse,etc.Also, subscriberswhohave beenunem-

ployed formore thanamonthcanwithdrawupto75%of theirbalance.

WhenshouldyouconsiderdippingintoyourEPF?OnemustrememberthatEPFearnsyoua

higherinterestrateincomparisontobankFDsorsmallsavings instruments,andin2020-21theinterestrateofferedtomemberswas8.5%.Thisispost-taxinterestincomeandisequiva-lenttopre-taxinterestincomeofaround12.5%forsomeoneinthehighesttaxbracketof30%.Usually, thiswouldbe enough reason for

an individual to leave the EPF corpus un-toucheduntilretirement,unlessitisformeet-ingcriticalgoalssuchashomepurchase,chil-dren’s educationor theirwedding.However,thelast15monthshavebeenfinanciallyverychallengingforanumberof individuals.If on the onehandpeople have seendis-

ruptionsinincome,manyhavesufferedhugemedicalexpensesand,insomecases,havelosttheirnearones.Thesecircumstanceshavenotonlydried individual savings in a lot of casesbuthavepotentiallyforcedmanypeopletogofor either apersonal loanor other expensivesourcesofborrowing.Insuchcircumstances,oneshouldnothes-

itatetowithdrawfromone’sEPFaccount. It isbetter todothat rather thangoforadditionalborrowingandpileondebtatatimewhenoneis already facing disruptions in income andstrugglingtoservicetheirexistingdebts.Personalfinanceexperts,however,caution

thatoneshouldonlyconsiderwithdrawalfromEPFafterhavingexhaustedotheroptions,andwithdrawal shouldbedrivenbyneed ratherthanease of access. “It shouldnot be thede-faultoption.Oneshouldonlydipintoitonlyifhe/shehasdriedupotheroptionssuchasfixeddeposits,debtmutualfundsorothersmallsav-ings instruments,” said Vishal Dhawan,founderandCEO,PlanAheadWealthAdvisors.

Shouldyouwithdrawtorepaydebt?Ifindividualsarefindingittoughtoservice

theirexistingdebtandhavenoothersourceoffunds to repay it, experts feel they canwith-drawfundsfromEPFtorepaysomeofthedebtinordertomakeitmanageable;otherwise,thecredithistoryoftheindividualcouldbeatstake.Credithistorymayimpact theborrower’s

abilitytosecurealoanfromafinancialinstitu-

tioninthefuture,Dhawanobserved,stressingthat it isnotagood idea to letyourcredithis-torygetimpacted.IfyourCibilratingisonecon-siderationthatyoushouldlookat,itisalsoim-portanttonotethat if yourEPFisearningyoulowerinterestincomethantheinterestoutgoonyourexisting loan, thenitmustbeutilisedtorepaytheloan.

Shouldyouwithdrawforotherreasons?Whileitmaybeadecentideatowithdraw

somemoneyfromEPFandkeepitliquidasanemergencyfundifyouhavenoothersourceoffunds left in theseuncertain times, youmustavoidpullingitoutforinvestingelsewhere.Atatimewhenequitymarketshavedone

well andmutual funds have seen investorspullingoutmoney to investdirectly instocks,there couldbeanurge topull EPFmoneyoutandinvest instocksforhigherreturns,butex-perts adviseagainst this. EPF is akeyelementof asset allocationand individuals should fol-lowahealthymixofdebtandequityassetallo-cation.Ifequitiesaredoingwell,itdoesn’tmeanall themoney fromdebt investments should

bediverted intoequities.Whileequitieshelpgeneratehigherreturn,debtprovidesstabilitytotheportfolio.AndsinceEPFisakeycompo-nentof retirementplanning, investorsshouldavoidpullingmoneyouttoinvestinequities.“Whiletherecouldbeatendencytoaccess

the EPFmoney nowand invest in equities,whicharedoingwell, investorsshouldnotdothat. EPF provides stable return and is notvolatile,”saidDhawan.

Howmanyavailedthefacilityearlier?AsonMay31,2021,theEPFOsettledmore

than76.31lakhCovid-19advanceclaims,dis-bursingatotalofRs18,698.15crore,agovern-ment statement said.UntilDecember31 lastyear, the EPFOhad settled56.79 lakh claimsworthRs 14,310.21 croreunder the advancefacilityaftertheCovid-19pandemic.Atotalof197.91lakhfinalsettlements,anddeath,insur-anceandadvanceclaimsworthRs73,288crorewere settled during April-December.Exempted establishments,which run theirownPFtrusts,alsosettled4.19lakhclaimsdis-bursingRs3,983crore.

SIMPLYPUTQUESTION&ANSWERCORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

9WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

AVISHEKGDASTIDARNEWDELHI, JUNE4

AFTER RELEASING the draft in 2019, theUnionCabinetonWednesdayapprovedtheModelTenancyAct(MTA)tostreamlinetheprocessof rentingpropertyinIndiaandaidtherenteconomyin theestate sector.

Why this ActAs per Census 2011,more than 1 crore

houses were lying vacant in urban areas.“Theexistingrentcontrol lawsarerestrict-ing the growth of rental housing and dis-courageowners fromrentingout their va-canthousesduetofearofrepossession.Oneof thepotentialmeasurestounlocktheva-canthouse is tobringingtransparencyandaccountability in the existing system ofrenting of premises and to balance the in-terestsofboththepropertyownerandten-antinajudiciousmanner,”saysthenewAct,

piloted by the Ministry of Housing andUrbanAffairs.StatescanadopttheActasitiswithfresh

legislation,sinceit isastatesubject,ortheycanamendtheirexistingrentacts to factorin the new MTA. States and UnionTerritorieshaveMoUswith theCentreun-derthePradhanMantriAwasYojana-Urbanwhichhas thisprovision.The government says the Act aims to

formalise the shadowmarket of rentalhousing,unlockvacantproperties, increaserental yields, ease/remove exploitativepractices,reduceproceduralbarriersinreg-istration, and increase transparency anddiscipline.

How itwas conceivedIn 2015, before the Housing for All by

2022 Mission (Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana-Urban) was launched, it was de-cided that 20% of the two crore houses tobe created should be exclusively for rent.

Thedecisionwasbasedona2013reportbyaTaskForceforRentalHousing,whichheldthat affordable rental housing “addressestheissuesoftheunderprivilegedandinclu-sive growth, in an evenmore directman-ner than affordable ownership housing”.The Expenditure Finance Committeecleared an outlay of Rs 6,000 crore for arental component in PMAY-U; the Centrewould bear 75% with the rest borne bystates,urbanlocalbodies,orthroughNGOsorCSRactivitiesof theprivate sector.

Where it appliesAfterenforcementof thisAct,noperson

can letor takeonrentanypremisesexceptbyanagreement inwriting.Repealof localrentcontrolActshasbeenapoliticallysen-sitive issue in cities with high-value rentmarkets,suchasespeciallySouthMumbai,where old properties in prime locationshavebeenoccupiedfordecadesbytenantsatnegligiblerent.TheModelActhasbeenin

themaking since 2015, but has been helduponthispoint.ThenewActwillbeapplicableprospec-

tivelyandwillnotaffectexistingtenancies.TheActseekstocoverurbanandaswell

as rural areas.

What’s newStateswill set up a grievance redressal

mechanism comprising of Rent Authority,Rent Court and Rent Tribunal to providefast-track resolution of disputes. Disposalofacomplaint/appealbytheRentCourtandtheRentTribunalwillbemandatorywithin60days.Thereisnomonetaryceiling.Atpresent,

inmanyoldpropertiesletoutunderarchaicrent-control Acts, such ceilings have leftlandlords stuck with outdated rentamounts.A digital platformwill be set up in the

local vernacular language or the languageof theState/UnionTerritory for submitting

tenancy agreement andother documents.Rent Authority will keep a tab on theseagreements.Verbalagreementswillbeoutofthepic-

ture, as theMTAmandateswritten agree-ment for all new tenancieswhich is to besubmitted to Rent Authority. Tenant willcontinue to pay the rent even during thependencyof adisputewitha landlord.Sublettingof premises canonlybedone

withthepriorconsentofthelandlord,andnostructuralchangecanbedonebythetenantwithoutthewrittenconsentof thelandlord.

Practices enshrined in the ActThe security deposit to be paid by the

tenantshouldnotexceedtwomonths’rentforresidentialproperty(sixmonths’rentincase of non-residential property), andshouldbeaminimumof onemonth’s rentfornon-residentialproperty.The Act lists the kinds of repairs each

party would be responsible for, with the

proviso thatmoney for repairs can be de-ductedfromthesecuritydepositorrent,asapplicable, if a party refuses to carry outtheir share of thework. No arbitrary evic-tionofatenantcanbedoneduringcurrencyof thetenancyperiod,exceptinaccordancewithprovisionsof theAct.The Rent Court can allow repossession

by the landlord if the tenantmisuses thepremises,afterbeingservedanoticebythelandowner.Misuse of the premises, as de-fined, includespublicnuisance,damage,orits use for “immoral or illegal purposes”. Ifthe tenant refuses to vacate, the landlordcanclaimdouble themonthly rent for twomonths, and four times themonthly rentthereafter.Incaseofa forcemajeureevent,theland-

lord shall allow the tenant to continue inpossessionuntilaperiodofonemonthfromthe date of cessation of such disastrousevent, on the terms of existing tenancyagreement.

The Kedar Nath sedition ruling

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


APURVAVISHWANATHNEWDELHI,JUNE3

THE SUPREMECourt on Thursday quashedcaseof sedition filedagainst journalistVinodDua inHimachal Pradesh for allegedlymak-ingremarksagainstPrimeMinisterNarendraModi and the government’s handling of themigrant crisisduring theCovid-19 lockdownlastyear.In doing so, the court also reiterated the

principlesinthelandmarkcaseonsedition —KedarNathSinghvUnionof India(1962).

WhatwerethecasesagainstDua?Inavideo,DuahadcriticisedPrimeMinster

Modi and theCentre for thehandling of themigrantcrisislastyear.BJPleaderAjayShyamfiled a case of sedition against Dua. Section124Aof the IPCpenalises seditionaspunish-ablewitheither imprisonment ranging fromthreeyearstoalifetime,afine,orboth.TheHimachal Pradeshgovernment, rep-

resentedby SolicitorGeneral TusharMehta,arguedintheSupremeCourtthatDuahadat-tempted to spreadmisinformationor incor-rect information and causepanic in theper-ceptionof thegeneral public— “for example,the statement that somepeople feared thatthere couldbe food riots post lockdownwaswithout anybasis andhad clear potential ofspreadingpanic.”Both the state and the Centre argued

against quashing the FIR because the statewanted to investigatewhether such state-mentswere “deliberate”or “unintendedandinnocentassertions”.

Whathasthecourtruled?While the SupremeCourt shieldedDua

fromarrestearlier,thecaseitselfwasquashedonThursdaybya two-judgebenchcompris-ingJusticeUULalitandJusticeVineetSaran.Itheldthathisremarksconstitutedgenuinecrit-icismof thegovernmentandcouldnotbe la-belledseditious.Duahadalso sought that the court direct

thatFIRsagainstpersonsbelongingtotheme-diawith“atleast10years’standingnotbereg-isteredunless cleared by a committee to beconstituted by every StateGovernment, thecompositionofwhichshouldcompriseoftheChief Justiceof theHighCourtora Judgedes-ignatedbyhim, the leader of theOppositionandtheHomeMinisteroftheState”topreventmisuseof theseditionlaw.

DidtheSupremeCourtgrantthisprayer?No.Thecourtsaidthatformulatingsucha

committeewould amount to encroachmentof the legislature’s domain, although suchscreening committees havebeen appointedbycourtsfordoctorsandindomesticviolencecasesforexample.“Itmust however be clarified that every

JournalistwillbeentitledtoprotectionintermsofKedarNathSingh, aseveryprosecutionun-derSections124Aand505oftheIPC3mustbeinstrictconformitywiththescopeandambitofsaidSectionsasexplainedin,andcompletelyin tunewith the law laiddown inKedarNathSingh,” thecourtsaid.

WhataretheKedarNathSinghguidelines?In the landmark 1962 Kedar Nath Singh

case,theSupremeCourtupheldtheconstitu-tionalvalidityoftheseditionlaw,itattemptedtorestrict itsscopeformisuse.Thecourtheldthatunlessaccompaniedbyanincitementorcall for violence, criticismof thegovernmentcannotbelabelledsedition.Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code

states: “Whoever,bywords, either spokenorwritten, or by signs, or byvisible representa-tion,orotherwise,bringsorattemptstobringintohatredorcontempt,orexcitesorattempts

toexcitedisaffectiontowards,theGovernmentestablishedbylawin[India],shallbepunishedwithimprisonmentforlife,towhichfinemaybeadded, orwith imprisonmentwhichmayextend to three years, towhich finemaybeadded,orwithfine.”Sevenprinciples in theKedarNath Singh

ruling specify situations inwhich the chargeofseditioncannotbeapplied.

■ The expression “ ‘theGovernment es-tablishedbylaw’hastobedistinguishedfromthepersonsforthetimebeingengagedincar-ryingontheadministration.‘Governmentes-tablishedby law’ is the visible symbol of theState.TheveryexistenceoftheStatewillbeinjeopardyiftheGovernmentestablishedbylawissubverted.”

■“AnyactswithinthemeaningofSection124-AwhichhavetheeffectofsubvertingtheGovernment by bringing that Governmentintocontemptorhatred,orcreatingdisaffec-tion against it, would bewithin the penalstatutebecausethefeelingofdisloyaltytotheGovernmentestablishedbylaworenmitytoit imports the ideaof tendency topublicdis-order by theuse of actual violence or incite-menttoviolence.”

■ “Comments, however stronglyworded, expressing disapprobation of ac-tions of the Government, without excitingthose feelings which generate the inclina-

tion to cause public disorder by acts of vio-lence,wouldnotbepenal.”

■ “Acitizenhasarighttosayorwritewhat-ever he likes about the Government, or itsmeasures,bywayofcriticismorcomment,solong ashedoesnot incite people to violenceagainsttheGovernmentestablishedbylaworwiththeintentionofcreatingpublicdisorder.”

■ “TheprovisionsoftheSectionsreadasawhole, alongwith the explanations,make itreasonablyclear that thesectionsaimat ren-deringpenal only suchactivities aswouldbeintended,orhavea tendency, tocreatedisor-derordisturbanceofpublicpeacebyresorttoviolence.”

■ “It is onlywhen thewords,written orspoken, etc.whichhave the pernicious ten-dencyorintentionofcreatingpublicdisorderor disturbanceof lawandorder that the lawstepsintopreventsuchactivities intheinter-estofpublicorder.”

■ “Weproposeto limit itsoperationonlytosuchactivitiesascomewithintheambitoftheobservationsoftheFederalCourt,thatistosay,activitiesinvolvingincitementtoviolenceorintentionortendencytocreatepublicdisor-derorcausedisturbanceofpublicpeace.”

Whathasbeentheimpactofthatverdict?The significance of the verdict lies in the

SupremeCourt’ssubsequentreiterationoftheKedarNath Singhprinciples. A fresh constitu-tional challenge by two journalists,KishorechandraWangkhemchaandKanhaiyaLal Shukla, against the sedition lawpendingbefore the SupremeCourt, and the ruling inDua’s case,makea strong case against keep-ingthecolonial lawinthebooks.

Model Tenancy Act: what changes for property owners and tenants

TOTALVACCINATED IN INDIA (at least one dose)

17,56,65,160

DOSESONJUNE02 24,97,026JUN01:25,00,029 (22,11,3301st doses; 2,88,6992nd)

May24 Jun02

■Firstdose ■Seconddose

30,00,000

15,00,000

0LAST 10 DAYS (daily)

COVISHIELD88.8%

COVAXIN11.2%

TOTALDOSES21,85,46,667(Sputnik V's 14,185 dosesnot represented in pie)

2,43,362

INDIAACTIVECASES 17,13,413

May24 Jun02LAST 10 DAYS

INDIATOTALCASES 2,84,41,986Source:Ministry of Health & FamilyWelfare, updated at 11 pmon June3

25,86,782

17,13,41330,00,000

20,00,000

10,00,000

Note: The June2 figures in thesegrapharebasedon thegovernmentupdateson June3

23,05,125

22,53,664

1,81,912

Sandeep Singh &AanchalMagazine

(Left)Protest in JNUin2016against thearrestofKanhaiyaKumarforsedition;(above)VinodDua, againstwhomseditioncasehasbeenquashed. File

Covid advance: Should you dip into your PF account?

Inquashingtheseditioncaseagainst journalistVinodDua, theSCreferredto theKedarNathSinghjudgmentof 1962.Whatare theprinciplesonthesedition lawlaiddowninthat landmarkverdict?

10WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

A VACCINE ROADMAPSupremeCourtordershouldpushgovernment tobringclarityandcohesion intopolicy, address issuesof shortageandequity

THESUPREMECOURT’Sreprimandshouldbeawake-upcall for theCentretoput its flounderingCovidvaccinationdrivebackonthetrack.TheCourt’sor-deronWednesdaylistsshortcomings—vaccineshortage,statesbeingforcedtocompetewitheachother,marginalisedsectionsbearingthebruntoftheac-

cessibilitybarrier createdby relianceondigitalmeans—thathavebeenapparent for atleast amonth. The Centre has, so far, sought to either downplay this crisis or shift theblameonto the states. Lastmonth, for instance, it urged theCourt to “trust thewisdomoftheexecutiveandleavepolicydecisionstoit”.Thisresponsehasnotcutmuchicewiththe three-judge bench, which described the vaccination policy for the 18-44 years agegroup as “irrational” and “arbitrary”. The Court’s 32-page order asks the Centre to ad-dressafundamentalrequirementsorely lackinginitsCovidvaccinationpolicysofar—aroadmapdescribinghowit intends tomeet its statedobjectiveof inoculating thecoun-try’s entireadultpopulationbyDecember.Thegovernmenthassaidthatvaccineavailabilitywillbescaledupinthecomingweeks

andmonthsandmorethantwobilliondoseswillbeavailablebyDecember.Arealitycheckconductedbythispaper inthesecondweekofMayhasrevealedthechallengesthisplancouldcomeupagainst—itwillrequireamassiverampingupofindigenousproductionca-pacity andopeningnegotiationswith foreignmanufacturers. TheCentrehasn’t demon-stratedadequatealacrityinthisrespect.AdealhasbeenstruckforthesupplyoftheRussian-madeSputnikVvaccineandthegovernment isholdingtalkswithpharmagiantssuchasPfizer, Johnson& Johnson, andModerna.But its currentpolicyputs theonusonstates tosecurevaccinedealsforthe18-44agegroup.This,astheSCpointsout,goesagainstthepro-cedure established by theUniversal Immunisation Programme “underwhich essentialvaccineswereprocuredby theUoIanddistributed tostates/UTs freeof cost foradminis-teringthemtotheendbeneficiary”.Thecourt’scritiqueisinasimilarveintotheconcernsraisedbyseveralstates.KeralaChiefMinisterPinarayiVijayan’sdemandthattheCentrefloatglobaltendersandfacilitatefreeuniversalvaccinationhasbeenechoedbytheCMsofsev-eralOpposition-ruledstates.Significantly,also,proposalstoreviewthevaccinationpolicyhaveacquiredtractionamongstBJP-runstategovernmentsaswell.MadhyaPradeshCMShivraj Singh Chouhanhas, for instance, suggested that “all CMs come together and ap-proachthePrimeMinister to formacentralisedpolicy forCovidvaccination”.The SChas asked the government to respond to its concerns in twoweeks. The vac-

cineisthestrongestshieldagainstthevagariesof thepathogen.Thislessonfromthehor-rorsof the last twomonthsmustnotbelostontheCentreas it framesitsresponsetotheCourt'sorder.

PENSION GAGNewrulesseektoheminretiredintelligenceandsecurityofficers.Centre’sbidtocontrolideasonlymakesitlookweak

ASGAGORDERSgo, thisoneisblatant.TheCentre’snewpensionrulesbarof-ficers who retire from intelligence and security organisations fromwriting/publishinganythingrelatedtotheirworkorcareer—evenanopedonamatterofpublicimportance,letaloneabook—withoutaclearancefromthe

current headof the organisation. The failure to do somight put their pensionbenefits atrisk—aharsh threat todangleoveracitizen for theexerciseof her freedomof expressionandspeech.The lawwill apply toofficerswhoretire fromthe IntelligenceBureau,R&AW,CBI,ED,NarcoticsControlBureau,DRDOandallcentralarmedpoliceforcessuchastheCRPFandBSF,amongothers.Worse,thisbarwillapplyinperpetuity.Thegovernmentcouldwellhave, but chose not to, set a cooling-off period from thedate of an officer’s retirement—whethertwoorfiveyears—inwhichshewouldbeforbiddenfromwritingaboutherworkexperience.While it isunderstandable for thestate tohaveconcernsaboutmattersofna-tionalsecurity,thisistooblanketandvaguelywordedarestriction.AsaformerR&AWchieftoldthisnewspaper,“Thewaytherulehasbeenworded,evenifIhavetosaythatfirstR&AWchiefRNKaowasagreatman,IwillhavetotakepermissionfromthecurrentR&AWchief.”TheCentre’smovereeksofanall-too-familiarneedtocontrolandmicro-manageideas,

factsandnarratives—inthenameofnational interest—inwaysthatonlyendupmakingit look insecure. The samemistrust of ideaswas evident in orders such as the one thatsoughttobarvirtual“internationalconferencesandseminars”onmattersof India’ssecu-rity,theNortheasternstatesandJammuandKashmirinuniversities—acircularsounde-mocratic in its spirit that ithadtobewithdrawnafteranoutcry.Thecurrentgagorder, ineffect, forcesofficerswhohavespentdecades inthetrenchesofofficialdom,shapinganddeterminingnationalpolicyatcrucialmomentsof Indianhistory,outsidethepaleofpub-lic discourse. Their experience andknowledgedonotneed tobebarb-wiredbyoaths ofsecrecy,butmustbejudiciouslybroughtintothepublicrealm—toenrichhistorywriting,institutionalmemory,andacademia.Moreover,doesthisbanalsoapplytoretiredofficersjoiningthink-tanksandspeakingatseminars?Howmuchcontrol isadequatecontrol?For a knowledge society, discussions and deliberations are key tomoving forward.

TheCentre’smove is onemoreexampleof how itmaybegetting thesebasicswrong. Itmustwithdrawthisorder.

SHOW CATZoomfailsareamongthesmallmercies tobegrateful

for indull,work-from-homelives

WHENLIFEANDworkseemconfinedbythetwo-dimensionalworldoflaptopandphonescreens,astheyhaveseemedduringthepandemic,itisabitstartlingtogetremindersofthereal,three-dimensionalworld.TaketherecentZoombombingincident, starringactor JuhiChawla,a

Bollywood fan, an irateDelhiHighCourt judge andbemused lawyers: Thiswouldhavebeenjustanotheronlinehearingforacasethatveryfewpeoplehadanyinterestin, ifnotfortheself-styledherowhoburstontowhatwasclearlyaratherdullsceneandsangnotone,not two,but threesongs fromChawla’s films. Itdidn’tmatter thathecouldn’t carrya tune—hestole the internetwithhisperformance.Inoverayearof thework-from-homelife,theChawlaZoomincidentisonlythelatest.

Otherepisodes include “Shweta,YourMic isOn”, featuringagirlwhounwittingly trans-mittedthegraphicdetailsofafriend’sromanticlifetoherclassmates.And“WhatNonsenseAreYouDoing?”, inwhichawifetriedtokissherratherstartledhusbandbeforerealisingthat he’s in a video conference. But the best episodes feature themost unpredictable ofthemall: Small children and animals. Remember “Scarlet, I Think It Looks Better on theLowerShelf”, inwhichayounggirlattemptedtoredecoratearoomwhilehermotherdidavideointerviewwiththeBBC.Or“Rocco,PutYourTailDown”, inwhichanunrepentantgingercatzoombombedhishuman,aBritishMP,duringavirtualparliamentarymeeting.Work,without the impromptuwatercooler sessionsandcommunalchaiandsmoke

breaks of pre-pandemic times, is a slog. So, let’swelcome the unexpectedwhenever itcrashes into thedull, 2D life everyone is trapped in. Themottonow,asarticulatedby theboywhospokeforallhisclassmatesuponcatchingsightoftheirteacher’spet:“Showcat”.

KSujathaRao

Badri Narayan

Vaccinepolicymustbebasedonprinciple.Currently, it isaCentrevsstatevsprivatesectormess

THE NEW BODY POLITICSVocabularydrawnfrompandemicwill shapepoliticalnarrative incomingdays

AGOODPUBLIC policymust be based on aprinciple. Ithasbeenchallengingtofindonein India’s liberalised vaccine policy, even fortheSupremeCourt,whichobservedinitsor-derWednesdaythatithassimplyfragmenteddemand,expandedeligibilitywhensupplyisseverely restricted, allowed suppliers to fixprices and fixed quotas to control sales. TheCourtsummedupthepolicyas“arbitraryandirrational”and, likemostofus, foundit tobeneitherfittingintoanyknowneconomicthe-ory nor substantiating a principle, be it eq-uity, competition or choice. It seems fair toconclude that the vaccine policy is simplywhimsical.Thereisnoevidencetoshowthatthe states demanded the right to procure.Instead, several CMshavewritten to thePMasking him to follow the settled policy gov-erning immunisation,underwhichthecen-tralgovernmentprocuresthevaccinesforob-viousreasonsofmarketadvantage.Adeeperreflection,however, showsthat

the convoluted policy is not “muddled” butwell thought through to serve three objec-tives for theparty in power:One, deflect at-tentionfromownmismanagementontothestates,asevidencedbythefrontalattacksonthemfortheir“inability”toprocurevaccinesforthosebetween18-45years.Whatwenowseeistheembarrassingcharadeofstatesrun-ning around suppliers, competing againsteachotherandtheprivatesector,asifwearemanycountriesandnotone.Weseegovern-ments’ vaccination centres shutting downwhile the private hospitals sell vaccines forpricesbetweenRs850 toRs2,000perdose.This situation does not seem toworry thepowers that be, even as the external affairsministerhasjustreturnedafterlecturingthewesternworld about the virtues of equitywhentheyhaveprovidedfreevaccinationtotheircitizens.Two,politically,thecentralgovernmenthas

arrogatedtoitself thepowertoallocatequan-titiestobesuppliedtocompetingentities.Butthereappearstobenolegalbasisforimposingsalesquotasonthemanufacturersandcorner-ing half the stocks at Rs 150/dose for itself.Besides,asthispowerisbeingleveraged“infor-mally”, the companies arenot obliged to in-formstatesondeliveryofstockstoensurebet-

tercoordination.Thisislikelytocreateconfu-sionanddisharmonybetween the stategov-ernmentsandprivatesectorentities.Three, this is anassertionof thepolitico-

economicmodel being pursued by the cur-rent government in sectors like telecomorcivil aviation, now applied to health, as canbeseeninthereluctancetouseitssovereignpower of compulsory licensing, and insteadpreferencetofavourafewconglomeratesandtheprivatehospital industry. In theUS,peo-ples’aspirationforuniversal,equitablehealthforallhasbeenconsistentlythwartedbythesectional lobbying of the hospital, pharmaandinsuranceindustry.InIndia,suchamodelwoulddestroymillionsof lives.Indestroyingawell laiddownpublichealthuniversal im-munisation programme that is the envy oftheworld, the government is endangeringpeoples’ right tohealthsecurity.Notwithstandingthepoliticaladvantages

that the ruling party is deriving from theabovepolicymix, thesocialpricebeingpaidmaynotbeworthwhile. TheCovid caseloadisfallingbutathirdwaveisexpectedtohitusaroundSeptember,givingus fourmonthstoprepare.Currently, anestimated12percentpopulationhasreceivedonedoseof thevac-cineandabout4percent theseconddose.The recent Public Health England study

regarding the efficacy of AstraZeneca(Covishield) vaccine against the strainB.1.617.2,thedominantstraininIndia,showsthat one dose is 33 per cent efficacious andthatincreasesto59.5percentwhenthesec-onddoseistakenaftereightweeks.Since90per centof ourvaccination isCovishield,weneed to use our data to study its impact ondifferentagegroups/durationofvaccinationtoarriveattherightpolicy.Likewise,weneedto get Bharat Biotech to complete its phasethree trials andpublish the findings and theSII topublishtheresultsof theirbridgingtri-als. It’s unacceptable that they should be al-lowedtoprofiteerwithoutevencompletingtheminimumprotocol required for techni-calevaluation.Globally, also, the supplymarket is re-

stricted.WhileModernahasindicateditsin-abilitytosupplyanyvaccinetillthemiddleof‘22, for Pfizer, the asks are ambitious — no

technology transfer, regulatory oversight,bridging studies or indemnity. As it is, theIndianregulatorhaslostalotof itsreputationin the various emergency approvals it hasgivenwithoutduecircumspection.India has awell-grounded vaccination

policy with well-defined boundaries be-tween the Centre and the states regardingwhathas tobedonebywhomandbasedonthe principle that infectious disease controlisasharedresponsibility.IncreatingaCentrevsstatevsprivatesectorsituation,thecentralgovernmenthascreatedamessyrigmarole.Ihavesixsuggestionsforthewayforward:

One, centralise procurement to speed upplacingofordersandaccessingvaccines.Pricedeterminationcouldbebasedonashortten-deroralternatively,notifyvaccinesundertheDrugPriceControlOrderandhavetheNPPAdeclarethebaseprice.Keepingpriceswithinareasonablerangeissoundpolicy intoday’seconomicsituation,asthereisstillnodatatoshowforhowlong thevaccinesprovide im-munity andwhether a booster dosewouldbe required soon. Affordabilitymust defi-nitelybeaconcernforgovernment.Two,makethevaccineavailablefreetoall

so as to ensure no blackmarketing, siphon-ing,pricegougingetc.Three,undertakedataanalysis to base policy on evidence.Vaccinating people on a randomor a first-come-first-serve basismay not be themostefficientway. Instead,prioritisationmustbebased on epidemiological data. State levelsero-surveillance studies, as done in Kerala,couldbe immenselyuseful.Four, invest to ramp up production and

place full orders to incentivise it, withoutcompromisingonquality. Five, launch cam-paigns particularly in rural areas to removevaccinehesitancy; and, six, let CoWINbeanoption, not a mandatory requirement, asmorethanhalf thepopulationhasnoaccesstosmartphonesor technology.Thereisnotimetoloseandnonetowaste

on blame games. The GoI must heed thesound advice of the SupremeCourt and re-view its policy so as tomake it sustainable,basedontheprincipleof fairnessandjustice.

Thewriter isa formerUnionHealthSecretary

AVIRUSISlikeamahamaya,agreatmystery.It is very difficult to figure out its form andpredictitsimpactaccurately.Thecoronavirushas produced a disastrous and far-reachingimpact on human society and democraticpolitics not only in India but all over theworld. It has already reshaped the politicaldiscourse in various countries. It is sure tobring about a shift in the political narrativein Indiaaswell.Thisnewnarrative isdevelopingaround

theexistentialworriesandanxietiesofpeo-ple, particularly concerns related to publichealth, healthcare facilities and infrastruc-ture. The distribution of resources such asmedicines, vaccines and availability of hos-pital beds, treatment facilities, the new es-sentialssuchasoxygenmasks,areemergingas influential factors in the domain of poli-tics and state power. Call it the politics ofmedicalisation,thisisgoingtodeterminethefutureof electoral democracies and test thepopularity of politicians in power andOpposition.Themeaning of development in India is

likelytochangeinthecomingdays.Insteadofbijli, sadak and paani as well as highways,mallsandcashtransfers,thesafetyandwell-being of the biological body is likely to takecentrestageinourdevelopmentaldiscourse.Thepanicandfearof losingone’slifetoarap-idlymutatingcoronavirusaregoingtoinflu-

encethemobilisationalstrategiesofpoliticalpartiesinthecomingdays.Thepoliticsofso-cialjusticeandpeople’srightsmayhavetobereframedaroundissuesconcerningthepro-tectionofhumanlife.Issuessuchasdistribu-tion of free rations, financial support to thepoorasapolitical gift, etc.mayyieldgroundtohealthcare issues forat leasta fewyears.This shift in narrative is already finding

echoesinconversationsonsocialmediaandotherpublicspaces.Protectionfromthevirushas become the first and foremost desire ofsociety. Caste, class, region and other suchdeterminantshavebecomesecondarytothepolitics of body and life as the pandemicrages. Infact, thecoronavirusislikelytoturnusintoa“biologicalbody-centricsociety”atleast for some time. Proverbs such as jaanbache to lakho paye (getmillions if you saveyour life) in some sense are going to deter-mineour identity.Wemay retreat fromthesocial space and reframe ourselves asmerebiologicalbody-centredindividuals,asmanywritershavepointedout.This temporary shift in the existential

meaning of human lifemay be at variancewith theargumentof Bhakti saints, that lifeis fragile like a drop of water on the leaf, sodon’t paymuch attention to it. The currentfearof death, a falloutof theemergencysit-uation created by the unpredictable virus,compels people to think differently from

great saints such as the Buddha, Kabir andRavidas, who have reflected deeply on hu-man life. This change in the understandingof themeaning of human existence couldcreateconditionsthatwouldalsoforceashiftinthepoliticalnarrative,atleasttillthemem-oryofCovidlasts.Thevirusislikelytodimin-ish social identities derived from caste andreligionuntilthehealthemergencyrecedes.So, the project of building a political narra-tive around social identities is likely toweaken in the immediate future. Thebittermemory of the death of dear ones due toCovid-19 is likely to lingeron in thepoliticalnarrative even after the threat of the pan-demic recedes.A new diction and vocabulary may

emerge and get prominence in the framingpoliticalnarrativeofthecountry,particularlyinnorthernIndia.Termssuchashealth,virus,oxygen, vaccine,mortality rate,medical re-sources andplanning could emerge as key-words in electoral discourse and politicalcampaigns.Sevaofvirussurvivorsandcom-mitmenttohelppeopleindistressmayturnout tobe important ingredients in themak-ingofpopularleaders.Thisshiftmaybetem-porary, but it is sure to shape Indianpoliticsin thecomingdays.

Thewriter isprofessor,GovindBallabhPantSocial Science Institute,Allahabad

This is an assertion of thepolitico-economic modelbeing pursued by the currentgovernment in sectors liketelecom or civil aviation, nowapplied to health, as can beseen in the reluctance to useits sovereign power ofcompulsory licensing, andinstead preference to favoura few conglomerates and theprivate hospital industry. Inthe US, peoples’ aspirationfor universal, equitablehealth for all has beenconsistently thwarted by thesectional lobbying of thehospital, pharma andinsurance industry. In India,such a model would destroymillions of lives. Indestroying a well laid downpublic health universalimmunisation programmethat is the envy of the world,the government isendangering peoples’ right tohealth security.

A new diction andvocabulary may emerge andget prominence in theframing political narrative ofthe country, particularly innorthern India. Terms suchas health, virus, oxygen,vaccine, mortality rate,medical resources andplanning could emerge askeywords in electoraldiscourse and politicalcampaigns.

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, JUNE4,2021WORDLYWISE

This is slavery, not to speakone’s thought.

— EuripidesTHEEDITORIALPAGE

TEXTBOOK REVIEWALLTEXTBOOKSWILLbereviewedtomakesure that theypromotenational integrationand do notmilitate against national unity.Historyandlanguagetextbooksarelikelytobe reviewed first. The reviewwill be underthe overall guidance of the Centrewith theguidelinesbeenpreparedbytheNCERT.Thiswas oneof themajor decisions taken at thestate education minister’s conference inDelhi on June 3. The resolutionwhichwasadopted unanimously said that the reviewmust beundertakenona time-boundbasisso that the textbooks can be corrected be-fore the 198-83 academic year. S B Chavan,UnionEducationMinister, said that thetask

will be undertaken by state-level reviewcommitteesconsistingof experts.

ASSASSINS NABBEDSIX OF THE killers of Bangladesh PresidentZiaur Rahman were arrested fromChittagongonJune3.Theyarearmyofficersoftherankofmajorandcaptain.Meanwhile,the Bangladesh army has intensified com-bined operations in Chittagong to flush outan estimated 3,000 rebels. About 4,000rebelshavesurrendered.

BEIRUT VIOLENCESYRIANTROOPSAREengaged in an intenseartillery battle with Christianmilitiamen

near thebesiegedeasterncityof Zahleaftermidnight shelling exchange between theIsraeligunboatsandPalestinianguerrillasinNorth Lebanon. Cinemas, nightclubs andschools remained closed in most parts ofChristianEastBeirut.

A DIRE DIAGNOSISTHEWORLD BANK, in preparation for theconsortiummeeting on June 9 and 10 saysthat after fairly rapid growthwith plentifulresources in the last half of the ’70s, India isenteringthe1980sonuncertaintermswithresource constraints. It faces infrastructuralandsupplyconstraintswhoseresolutionre-quiresmakingdomestic investments.

JUNE 4, 1981, FORTYYEARSAGO

Injecting confusion

11THEINDIANEXPRESS,FRIDAY, JUNE4,2021 WHATTHEOTHERSSAY

All countries — Afghanistan’s neighbours and global powers — must dowhatever is possible to help formulate a lasting Afghan peace accord, thoughby no means should foreign forces get involved in nation-building

—DAWNTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Criticism of ministerscannot be equated with thecreation of disaffectionagainst Indian State. Nogovernment, as MahatmaGandhi told Judge R SBroomfield, has a right tolove and affection. India ofthe 21st century should notthink like Stephen who wastoo much worried aboutMacaulay’s code notpenalising criticism of thegovernment, however severe,hostile, unfair ordisingenuous. We mustunderstand no slogan byitself can be legitimatelytermed as seditious as perthe ‘Balwant Singh’ (1995)judgment of Supreme Court.

INHIStrademarkstyle,SunilJainwasalwaysfirstofftheblocks.Weeksbeforethebudget,sometimesmonths, he would request abudget dayop-ed for The Financial Express.This yearwasnodifferent. Unfortunately, Iwasn’t able tohonourhis request this timebecause of work commitments on budgetday.SowhenIwroteaboutthebudgetinan-othernewspaperaweeklater,heshotbackinhischaracteristicallywittymanner:“Verynicepiece…pityitwasinthewrongnews-paper”.Hewas,ofcourse,onlyjoking,sign-ing off with a naughty smile. I replied thatthenextpiecewoulddefinitely be forhim,which he enthusiasticallywelcomed. Fourmonthslater,it’sunfathomabletothinkthatpiecewouldnotbeforSunil,butabouthim.Such is the incomprehensible and surrealrealitythathascharacterisedourexistencefor the last15months.I knewSunil for a decade, and that too

professionally—ashorteranddifferentrela-tionship thanhis close friendsandacquain-tances—but,despitethat,a900-wordop-edappearsinadequatetodojusticetohisuniqueandquintessential traits: A remarkable as-tutenessabouteconomicsandpolicy,aburn-ing passion about getting to the bottomofthings,andanunflinchingdesiretosaywhathe feltwas right for the country, inevitablylacedwithanuncommondirectness.AnyonewhoknewSunilwouldhaveguessedthathisintellectual curiosity and zealwould be inoverdrivewhenfacedwithanexistentialcri-sis suchasCovid. True to form, Sunilwas inhis elementover the last year, churningoutincisive op-edafter op-ed, on every impor-tantissueof theday.His astutenesswas evident in his early

recognitionthatastrongfiscalresponsewascriticalnotjusttoholdtheeconomytogetherduringthecrisis,buttosafeguardmacroeco-nomic stability thereafter. That India’s debtdynamicsdependedmoreonmediumtermgrowththantheydidontheexactpaceoffis-calnormalisation.ThatIndianeededtogrowitsway out of this crisis and governmentspendingwaskey tominimise the scarring.That, counter intuitively, fiscal conservatismcouldbecounterproductivetofiscalsustain-ability. And sohewrote op-ed after op-edmakingtheselinkagesandarguingforastrongfiscalresponsefromearlyoninthecrisis.ThelatestGDPprintwhichshowedthatgovern-ment spending was key to propping upgrowthintheJanuary-Marchquarterwouldhavevindicatedhiswritingsandefforts.Theastutenesswasalsoondisplaywhen

—contrary to the commonperception thatIndia’s intercontinental size should reflex-ively argue for theprimacyof domestic de-mand—he recognised the criticality of ex-ports. That exports were the lynchpin of

India’sgrowthburstinthefirstdecadeofthismillennium. That noemergingmarket hadgrownwithout strong export growth. Thattherewasasymbioticrelationshipbetweenimportsandexports,suchthatstreamliningthe formerwas the key to successwith thelatter.Truetoform,heprolificallyturnedoutpieceafterpieceferventlyarguingfortheur-gencyofstokingexportgrowthandsituatingthis imperative amidst the broader con-stituentsofGDP:C+I+G+X-M.WhenI jokedthat his economic acuitywas going to putprofessionaleconomistsoutofwork,heshotbackwithcharacteristicnonchalanceandhu-mility:“I’mjustagoodnotetaker!”His passion came through in almost

everythinghewroteandwasparticularlyondisplay on the vaccinationpolicy in recentmonths. One of his last columns entitled,“That little thing called economics”, effec-tivelybecamea“Microeconomics101”class,augmentedwithsupplyanddemandcurvesandshaded trianglesdepictingdeadweightlosses.Onecouldalmost envisionprofessorJainanimatedlywalkingaroundaclassroompleadingwithhis audience to see the light.Agree or disagreewith Sunil, he left every-thingonthefield.Hispassionalsocamethroughwhenhe

occasionallymet foreign investors—whowerekeentoelicithisthoughtsontheecon-omy— in person inNewDelhi, in the pre-Covid days. Inevitably, a one-hour lunchspilled over into twice the agreed timebe-causeapassionateSunilwasreelingoff factsandfiguresthathadhis listenerscaptivated.Of course, no suchmeeting endedwithoutSunilespousingastrongviewonthetopic!Ultimately,hisdesire toembracewhat’s

bestforthecountrywasreflectedinhisnon-ideologicalapproachtoeconomics.Hiswrit-ingsaretestimonythathecouldnotbelazilybucketedintoaliberalorconservativestereo-type.Hewasequallycomfortablecallingforincreasedgovernmentspendingandincomesupport to prevent scarring of householdsandSMEs, as hewas for sounding a clarioncall for privatisation and more market-friendlyreforms.Thiscomesthroughstarklyinhislastpre-

budget column, “Five things to judge thebudgetby”,whereinhebattedfor“expendi-turegrowthtobehigh,a lotofprivatisation,nonewcesses,biginfra-pushand1991-stylesweeping reform”. This just confirms Sunilwasn’t constrainedby tyinghismast to anyoneeconomicphilosophy.Instead,alwaysin-formedbydata, hepassionately advocatedwhathethoughtwasbestforthecountryatthatpointintime.ForthereadersofSunil’smuch-followed

“Rational Expectations” column, there isnothingrationalnorexpectedabouthisun-timelydeparture.Whetheryouagreedwithhisviewsornot—andtherewassometimesplentytodisagreewith—Sunil’suniquecom-binationof remarkable astuteness, passionandfranknessisirreplaceable.Allthattherestof us cannowdo is continue championingthemanyworthycausesthathesopassion-atelyespoused.

Thewriter is chief Indiaeconomist, J.P.Morgan.Viewsarepersonal

WHETHERPEOPLEINafreecountrycommit-tedtothelibertyofthoughtandfreedomofex-pressionbe criminally punished for express-ingtheiropinionaboutthegovernmentisthemootquestion.Doesthegovernmenthavetherighttoaffection?WhatistheoriginofthelawofseditioninIndia?HowdidtheframersoftheConstitutiondealwithit?Howhaveourcourtsinterpretedthisseditionprovision?Inthelastsevenyears,anextremenation-

alistideologyactivelysupportedbypliantjour-nalistsrepeatedlyusedaggressivenationalismtosuppressdissent,mockliberalsandcivillib-ertarians and several governments routinelyinvokedSection124-Athatpenalisessedition.An84-year-old Jesuitpriest, StanSwamy,and21-year-old Disha Ravi were not spared. AnumberofCAA(CitizenshipAmendmentAct)protesters are facing sedition charges. NCRBdata shows that between2016 to2019, therehasbeenawhopping160percent increaseinthefilingofseditionchargeswithaconvictionrate of just 3.3 per cent. Of the 96 peoplechargedin2019,onlytwocouldbeconvicted.OnThursday,atwo-judgebenchofJustices

UULalitandVineetSaranobservedthat“everyjournalistisentitledtotheprotectionundertheKedarNath judgment (1962)” on thepetitionfiledby journalistVinodDua.DuahadsoughtthequashingofanFIRagainsthimfiledbyaBJPleader of Himachal Pradesh. The bench tookeightmonths topronounce its order as argu-mentshadconcludedonOctober6,2020.Justice Lalit in his 117-pagehistoric judg-

mentdemolishedalltheargumentsagainstthewiderapplicationoftheseditionprovision.Thecourt entertainedDua’swrit petition underArticle32astheHimachalPradeshpolicefailedtocompletetheinvestigationandsubmititsre-portunderSection173oftheCodeofCriminalProcedure.TheCourtfoundthatstatementsat-tributed toDua that the PrimeMinister haduseddeathsandterrorthreatstogarnervoteswere indeed notmade in the talk showonMarch30,2020.TheCourt reliedon theKedarNath judge-

ment inwhich theapexcourthadheld that acitizenhas the right to sayorwritewhateverhelikesaboutthegovernmentoritsmeasuresbywayofcriticismsolongashedoesnotincitepeople toviolenceagainst thegovernmentorwiththe intentionof creatingpublicdisorder.Section124A readalongwith explanations isnot attractedwithout suchanallusion tovio-lence. The Court concluded that statementsmadebyDuaaboutmasks,ventilators,migrantworkers,etc.werenotseditiousandweremeredisapprobationsothatCovidmanagementim-proves. The samewere certainlynotmade toincite people to indulge in violence or createanydisorder. TheCourt in Para44 concludedthatDua’s prosecutionwould beunjust andwouldbeviolativeof thefreedomofspeech.Governmentsofoppositionparties,includ-

ingtheCongress,havealsoindiscriminatelyin-voked sedition charges against intellectuals,writers,dissentersandprotesters.Infact,itwasaCongress government that hadmade sedi-tion a cognisable offence in 1974. ArundhatiRoy,AseemTrivedi,BinayakSenandeventhosewho opposed the nuclear plant inKudankulam, TamilNaduand the expansionof the Sterlite plant in Thoothukudi werebookedunderSec124-A.

Section124-AwasnotapartoftheoriginalIndian Penal Codedrafted by LordMacaulayandtreasonwasconfinedjusttolevyingwar.Itwas Sir James Fitzjames Stephenwho subse-quently got it inserted in 1870 in response tothe Wahabi movement that had askedMuslims to initiate jihad against the colonialregime.While introducing theBill, he arguedthatWahabis aregoing fromvillage tovillageandpreaching that itwas thesacredreligiousdutyofMuslimstowageawaragainstBritishrule.StephenhimselfwasinterestedinhavingprovisionssimilartotheUKTreasonFelonyAct1848becauseofhisstrongagreementwiththeLockeancontractualnotionofallegiancetothekinganddeferencetothestate.MahatmaGandhi,duringhistrial in1922,

termedSection124-Aasthe“princeamongthepolitical sections of IPCdesigned to suppressliberty of the citizen”. Hewent on to tell thejudgethat“affectioncannotbemanufacturedorregulatedby law. If onehasnoaffection forapersonorsystem,oneshouldbe free togivefullestexpressiontohisdisaffectionsolongasit doesnot contemplate, promoteor incite toviolence”. Though JusticeMauriceGwyer inNiharendu DuttMajumdar (1942) had nar-rowedtheprovisionandheldthatpublicdisor-derwas the essence of the offence, the PrivyCouncilinSadashivNarayanBhalerao(1947)re-lyingonExplanation1observedpublicdisor-derwasnotnecessarytocompletetheoffence.Strangely, the Fundamental Rights Sub-

Committee (April 29, 1947)headedbySardarPatel includedseditionasa legitimategroundtorestrictfreespeech.WhenPatelwascriticisedbyothermembersoftheConstituentAssembly,hedropped it. Constitutionally, Section124Abeingapre-Constitution lawthat is inconsis-tentwithArticle19(1)(a), on thecommence-mentof theConstitution,hadbecomevoid. In

fact, itwas struck downby the PunjabHighCourtinTaraSinghGopiChand(1951).JusticeLalitoughttohaveclarifiedthedis-

tinctionbetween“governmentestablishedbylaw”and“personsforthetimebeingengagedincarryingontheadministration”asthevisiblesymbolofthestatemadebytheCourtinKedarNath. Theveryexistenceof thestatewillbe injeopardyifthegovernmentestablishedbylawissubverted.ThisobservationdidrequiresomeclarificationbytheCourtasthestateandgov-ernmentarenotthesame.GovernmentscomeandgobuttheIndianstateisapermanenten-tity. Criticismofministers cannot beequatedwith the creation of disaffection against theState.Nogovernment,asMahatmaGandhitoldJudgeRSBroomfield,hasarighttoloveandaf-fection. India of the 21st century should notthinklikeStephenwhowastooworriedaboutMacaulay’scodenotpenalisingcriticismofthegovernment,howeversevere,hostile,unfairordisingenuous.Wemustunderstandthatnoslo-ganby itself, howsoever provocative such as“Khalistan Zindabad” can be legitimatelytermedas seditious asper theBalwant Singh(1995)judgmentof theSupremeCourt.TheCongress'slossinthe2019generalelec-

tion is attributed to, amongother reasons, itsmanifesto’spromisethatitwouldremovetheseditionprovisionifvotedtooffice.In2018,theLawCommissionhadrecommendedthatthesedition law should not be used to curb freespeech.Letthecriminal lawrevisioncommit-teeworkingundertheMinistryofHomeAffairsmake thebold recommendationof droppingthedraconianlaw.Apoliticalconsensusneedstobeforgedonthisissue.

Thewriter is constitutional lawexpertandVice-ChancellorofNALSARUniversityofLaw,Hyderabad.Viewsarepersonal

FaizanMustafa

Sajjid ZChinoy

SupremeCourthasheldthatevery journalist isentitledtoprotectionundertheKedarNathjudgment.Anationalconsensusonscrappingseditionlawiscalledfor

Affection via coercion Voice that couldn’tbe boxed in

SunilJaincouldnotbebucketedintotheliberalorconservativestereotype.Hisastuteness,passionand

uncommonfranknessareirreplaceable

CR Sasikumar

CHANCE FOR REFORMTHISREFERSTOtheeditorial, ‘Therealtest’ (IE, June 3). The cancelling of theCBSEboardexamsprovidesanoppor-tunity to introspect intooursystemofeducation. The time is ripe for the im-plementation of a more pupil-ori-ented, quality enrichment mode oflearning.ThenewNationalEducationPolicy is a case in point. Online apti-tude tests, continuous evaluation inschools,vocational learning,etcshouldbe the focus rather than rote learningso as to tap our rich demographicdividend.AnjaliBhavana,Thiruvananthapuram

UNDEMOCRATICTHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘TheCalcutta chromosome’ (IE, June 3).Yashwant Sinha has elaborated howthe power by the central governmenthas beenmisused to demolish its po-litical opponents. It is said power cor-ruptsandabsolutepowercorruptsab-solutely.The Indianpeoplehavegivenamandatetothepresentgovernment,expecting better governance—not todemolishdemocracy.

RobertDabre,Vasai

SCHOOLS NEEDEDTHIS REFERS TO the article, ‘How torestart schools’ (IE, June 3). The issueof schoolingisapertinentone,keepinginviewtherisingcompetitionandun-employment. Online learning doesmore harm than good. For better hu-mancapitalpostCovid, theeducationsystemneedstoensuretwothings—a

safeoffline school environment andamore objective assessment frame-work.Thefirstwillbeensuredwithro-bustvaccinationandCovidpreventivemeasures at school. The second willneedmore research and reforms. Thegovernment needs to bemore proac-tive in this.

PriktaSrivastava,Prayagraj

THISREFERSTO theeditorial, ‘Howtorestart schools’ (IE, June 3). The vari-ous governments’ failure to prioritiseeducation has resulted in manymissed opportunities for openingschools this past year. Schools werelow-hanging fruit, while malls, cine-masandrestaurants tookprecedence.The digital divide is causing a regres-sion intopoverty.Ourchildren'ssocialandemotionalskillsaresuffering.Theregime is advised toheed the article'ssuggestions.

TanyaAggarwal,NewDelhi

LETTERS TO THEEDITOR

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●SURVIVORONTRIALINTARUNTEJPALJUDGMENT:

SALINAWILSON

●● INDIA ISFAILINGTOCOMBATVACCINE

HESITANCY:AKSHAYTARFE

www.indianexpress.comIAMappalledatthegrossinsubordinationex-hibitedbytheoutgoingchiefsecretaryofWestBengalandthesubsequentoutpouringofsym-pathyforthisrecalcitrantofficerbysomeintheIASfraternity.Just as there is a basic structure of the

Constitution that is inviolable, there is abasicethos of federalismwhich is the cornerstoneofourconstitutionalscheme.Itispainfultonotethat the actions of the chiefminister and theactionsoftheoutgoingchiefsecretaryofWestBengal, AlapanBandyopadhyay, onMay28,havedealtabodyblowtothisbasicethos,bothinletterandspirit.Our constitutional scheme clearly delin-

eatestheroleandresponsibilitiesoftheprimeminister.Nodoubt shouldprevail inanyone’smindabout theprecedence theprimeminis-teroccupies inourconstitutionalschemevis-à-visachiefminister.This isnot justacourte-ousnicety, buta foundational requirementoftheConstitutionof India.Itisinconceivablethatachiefministerhas

not onlywilfully defied the schema of theConstitution,buthasalsoexacerbatedasitua-tionwhichprecludedtheprimeministerfromperforminghisconstitutionalandlegalrespon-sibilities, not only as the primeminister, butalsoasthechairpersonoftheNationalDisasterManagementAuthority.

WhatwaswitnessedinWestBengalwasacollapseofgovernmentalresponsibilityofthestate government, orchestrated gamesman-ship andbreakdownof cooperative federal-ism. As regards the matter of recallingBandyopadhyay to central deputation, all ac-tions against himwere taken in accordancewithRule6(1)ofIndianAdministrativeService(Cadre)Rules1954.Thereshouldbenoconfu-siononthepowersthattheserulesenablethecentral governmentwith,which is also thecadrecontrollingauthorityofAllIndiaServices.What is rather disturbing is that

Bandyopadhyay,aschiefsecretaryofthestate,didnotadvisethechiefministercorrectlyinhisofficial position,while the chiefministerwaswritingaletteronMay31tomakehispersonalcase.However,whatisevenmoredistressingisthatdespitethechiefministerstronglyplead-ing the case of Bandyopadhyay in her letterwrittenonMay31,hehaschosentosuperan-nuate on the sameday, even thoughhe hasbeengiventhreemonthsextension.That three-monthextensionwasgranted

onlyafterthestategovernmentofWestBengalsodesired.Havethecircumstancesthatsone-cessitatedanout-of-turnextensionceased toexistthatBandyopadhyayhaschosentosuper-annuate?One is constrained to askwhetherhisresponsibilitiestothestatehavenowtaken

aback seat andpersonal benefits have takenprecedence?Some IAS officers sympathetic to

Bandyopadhyaymay feel that hewas in aCatch-22 situation and hence cannot beblamed.Theyarewrong.TheIASandIPShavelostmuchoftheirreputationbecausethepub-licviewsthemassycophantsofchiefministersandministers.Weallknowthattheprimeminister’spro-

gramme in the state is of thehighest priority.Thechiefsecretary,downtotheconcerneddis-trictmagistrateandthesuperintendentofpo-lice, are personally responsible that all goessmoothly.When the chief minister left themeeting,whydidBandopadhyaygowithher?Was itnothisduty tostaybackandmakethescheduledpresentationtotheprimeministeronthecyclonesituationsothathecouldgetatruepicture anddecidewhat level of centralassistance is required? The officer breachedprotocolbyleavingthemeetingandthiswasadirectinsulttopersonsholdinghighconstitu-tionaloffice.Ourdemocracy, theworld’s largest, is en-

capsulated ina federal structure that ensurestheharmonious functioningof theentire sys-tem. Cooperative federalism,which PrimeMinisterNarendraModi’sgovernmenthasbeenpractising for sevenyears, remains the touch-

stoneforworkingtogether.Anywantondevia-tionbyastateoritschiefministermilitatesthesanctityofsuchcoordinatedworking.Bymak-inganinvasiveincursioninthereviewarrange-mentsplannedbytheprimeminister,thechiefminister ofWestBengal tried to arrogate au-thorityontoherselfwhichdoesnotexist.It is clear thatWest Bengal, historically

known for its culture, respect for elders andhospitalityof its guests, sawan inconceivableincident,where its chiefminister created anunfortunate recordof leaving theprimemin-isterbyexcusingherself of otherresponsibili-tieselsewhere.The chiefminister’s actionshavenotonly

undermined the establishedauthority of theprimeminister,buthavealsodealtanirrepara-bleblowtothefederalstructureofourdemoc-racy. It is the government’s duty to ensure agoodbureaucracy, not bureaucratswhoplaypolitics.TheactionagainstBandopadhyayun-dertheDisasterManagementActisjustthelawtakingitscourse. If someoneviolatesalaw,hehastofacepunishment.Moralofthestory:IASandIPSofficers,stop

hobnobbingwithpoliticians.

Thewriterisformersecretary,MinistryofAgriculture,andformermember,Central

AdministrativeTribunal

PKBasu

A breach of federal protocolActionsofWestBengalCMandchiefsecretaryunderminedauthorityofPM


THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

MEANWHILE

SRILANKABRACESFOROILSPILLFROMSHIPSri Lanka on Thursday braced for the possibility of an oil spill after a cargo ship ladenwith chemicals sank off its western coast, in what is already the country’s worst everman-made environmental disaster. The MV X-Press Pearl was carrying 25 tonnes of ni-tric acid and other chemicals caught fire after an explosion on May 20.

BANGLADESH

RohingyaprotestonisolatedislandROHINGYAREFUGEESfromMyanmar, angry at livingconditions on a remoteBangladeshiisland,sufferedbaton injuries as theyprotestedagainstthelackofaccesstoavisitingUNteam,twooftherefugeessaid.TheRohingya cannotmoveoffthe flood-prone island ofBhasanChar,which is sev-eral hours away from themainlandbysea.REUTERS

TOPOFTHEWORLD

AFGHANISTAN

BombonminivankillsfourinKabulABOMB ripped through aminivan in the westernpartofKabulonThursday,killingat least fourpeople,policespokesmanFerdawsFaramarzsaid.Noonetookresponsibility for the at-tack in the area, which islargely populated by theminority Hazara ethnicgroupwhoaremostlyShiaMuslims. AP

EUROPE

‘Germanybrokeairpollutionrules’GERMANYPERSISTENTLYviolatedEUlimitsonairpol-lution, the EuropeanUnion’s top court said onThursday, in a ruling thatcould see the country facefinancial penalties if it failstoimproveairqualityinsev-eralbigcities. REUTERS

Rohingyatakento Bha-sanCharisland.Reuters

PATRICKKINGSLEY&ERICNAGOURNEYJERUSALEM,JUNE3

AFTER FOUR elections in twoyearsandnowunsettledbyare-centwarandcivilunrest, IsraelisawokeonThursdaytothepossi-bilitythattheymighthaveagov-ernment—andthatthelongest-serving leader in their historymighthavebeenousted.LateWednesday,animproba-

bleassemblageofpoliticalpartiesagreedtoformacoalitiongovern-ment.ShouldParliamentapprovethe arrangement, BenjaminNetanyahu’s singular reign asprimeministerwill come to anend, at least for now, and a frag-ile,painfullycobbledtogetheral-liancewillassumepower.ButNetanyahusignalledearly

Thursday that hewould not godownwithout a struggle, calling

onlawmakerstooppose“thisdan-gerousleft-winggovernment”.While he appeared to have

fewavenuestohangontopower,Netanyahu’s career has beenmarkedbyakeeninstinctforpo-litical survival.Under the last-minuteagree-

mentbyacoalitionof opposition

parties,Naftali Bennett,whoop-poses aPalestinian state and is astandard-bearer for religiousna-tionalists,willbePMuntil2023.Should thenewgovernment

hold together that long, thedealthencallsforhimtobereplacedbyYairLapid,acentristformertelevi-sionhost considereda standard-

bearer for secular Israelis. Lapidwould serve the remaining twoyearsofthecoalition’sterm. NYT

Israel: PMNetanyahu’s rivalsagree on coalition to oust him

HUIZHONGWUTAIPEI, JUNE3

INTHE spanof just fivedays lastmonth, China gave out 100mil-lionshotsofitsCovid-19vaccines.Afteraslowstart,Chinaisnow

doing what virtually no othercountryintheworldcan:leverag-ingthepowerandall-encompass-ingreachof itsone-partysystemandamaturingdomesticvaccineindustry to administer shots at astaggeringpace.Therollout is farfromperfect, including unevendistribution, but Chinese healthleadersnowsaythey’rehopingtoinoculate80%ofthepopulationof1.4billionbytheendof theyear.AsofWednesday,Chinahad

givenoutmorethan704milliondoses—withnearlyhalfof thosein May alone. China’s total isroughly a third of the 1.9 billionshots distributed globally, ac-cordingtoOurWorldinData,anonline researchsite.The call to get vaccinated

comesfromeverycornerofsoci-ety. Companies offer shots totheir employees, schools urgetheir students and staffers, andlocalgovernmentworkerscheck

ontheir residents.That pressure underscores

both the system’s strength,whichmakes itpossible toevenconsidervaccinatingmore thanabillionpeoplethisyear,butalsotheriskstocivilliberties—acon-cerntheworldoverbutonethatis particularly acute in China,wheretherearefewprotections.Chinaisnowaveragingabout

19millionshotsperday,accord-ingtoOurWorldinData’srollingseven-day average. ThatwouldmeanadoseforeveryoneinItalyabout every three days. TheUnited States, with about one-quarter of China’s population,reachedaround3.4millionshotsper day in April when its drivewasat full tilt. AP

LALITKJHAWASHINGTON, JUNE3

A BIPARTISAN legislation hasbeenintroducedintheUSHouseof Representatives to eliminatethe per country cap on employ-ment-basedGreenCards,amovewhich is likely to benefit IndianIT professionals, someofwhomhavewaited for decades for thePermanentResidentCard.The legislation was intro-

duced by lawmakers ZoeLofgrenand JohnCurtis.The Equal Access to Green

CardsforLegalEmployment(EA-GLE)Act,2021needstobepassedby theHouseandtheSenatebe-foreitcanbesenttothepresidenttosignit intoalaw.The Bill seeks to phase out

the7%per-country limitonem-ployment-based immigrantvisas.TheBillcouldalsoraisethe7% per-country limit on family-sponsoredvisas to15%.Thebasicframeworkforallo-

cating immigrant visaswas lastseriouslyupdatedin1990. PTI

AbuDhabi:BecksKrishnan,a45-year-oldIndianwhowasondeathrow in theUnitedArabEmiratesoverthedeathofaSudaneseboyin a road accident in 2012, willsoonbeabletoreturntohis fam-ilyafterprominentNRIbusiness-man and philanthropist M AYusuffalihelpedtopaythe“bloodmoney” in his case, whichamountedtonearlyRs1crore.Krishnan,whoisfromKerala,

was sentenced to death by theUAESupremeCourtafterhewasfoundguiltyofkillingaboyafterhis car rammed into a group ofchildren inSeptember2012.Ever since, his family has

been trying hard for Krishnan’sreleasewithoutanysuccess.They then approached

Yusuffali,chairmanofLuluGroup,whowent about getting the de-tails of the case and got in touchwithallstakeholders.UltimatelyinJanuary2021,the

victim’sfamilyinSudanagreedtopardonKrishnan. Subsequently,Yusuffali paid 500,000Dirhams(approximately Rs 1 crore) ascompensationinthecourt.“It'sare-birthforme,asIhad

lostallhopeofseeingtheoutsideworld, let alone a free life,”Krishnansaid.He is expected totravelback toKerala soon. PTI

DANICAKIRKALONDON, JUNE3

BUCKINGHAM PALACE barredethnic minorities from officejobs during the 1960s, theGuardian newspaper reportedThursday, citing documents inBritain’sNationalArchives.The revelation, published on

thenewspaper’s frontpage,was

based on papers showing thatQueen Elizabeth II’s chief finan-cialmanagertoldcivilservantsin1968 that itwasnot thepalace’spractice tohire “coloured immi-grants or foreigners” for clericalpostsandotheroffice jobs.Thepalacerepliedforcefullyto

thehistoricalallegations,stressingthatthequeenandherhouseholdcomply “inprincipleand inprac-tice”withanti-discriminationleg-

islation. “Claimsbasedona sec-ond-hand account of conversa-tions from over 50 years agoshouldnotbeusedtodrawor in-ferconclusionsaboutmodern-dayevents...”apalacespokesmansaid.Parliamentapprovedlawsbar-

ringdiscriminationbasedonraceandsex in the1970s.DocumentsintheNationalArchivesshowhowthequeen’s advisers influencedthewordingofthatlegislation,the

newspapersaid.Racehasbecomeacentral is-

sue for themonarchy followingstatementsmadebyPrinceHarryand Meghan, the Duke andDuchessofSussex,intheirMarchinterviewwith talk show hostOprahWinfrey.Meghan allegedthatbefore their son,Archie,wasborn,amemberof theroyalfam-ily commentedonhowdark thebaby’sskinmightbe. AP

Aheadofvote inparliament,Netanyahuurges lawmakerstoreject thealliance

YeshAtidparty leaderYairLapid,Yaminaparty leaderNaftaliBennettandUnitedArabListparty leaderMansourAbbas inRamatGan,nearTelAviv,onWednesday.Reuters

Indian in UAE off death row afterNRI tycoon pays ‘blood money’

Slow to start, Chinais now vaccinatingat a staggering pace

Residents lineupoutsideavaccinationsite inBeijing.AP

Buckingham Palace barred minorities from office jobs in ’60s

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAWASHINGTON, JUNE3

DONALD TRUMP has perma-nently closed his blog, a web-pagewheretheformerUSpres-ident shared his speeches andstatements after being banned

bysocialmediagiants, includingFacebookandTwitter.Thepagetitled“FromtheDesk

of Donald J Trump”hasbeen re-movedfromTrump’swebsiteaf-ter going live less than amonthearlier, his spokesperson JasonMillertoldCNBCnews.“It was just auxiliary to the

broader effortswehave andareworkingon,”Miller said, addingthepage“willnotbereturning”.

“Hoping to havemore infor-mation on the broader effortssoon, but I donot have a preciseawarenessoftiming,”Millersaid.The former president was

banned frommajor socialmediaoutlets after his posts weredeemed tohave incitedviolenceamidtheJan6Capitolriot.

FormerUSPresidentTrump

Trump shuts down blog page set up after social media ban

Bill introduced inUS House to scrapper country capon Green Cards

CROSSWORD4447

ACROSS1 Wayoutroute isbuilt (5)4 Lying inacaseperhaps(7)

8 Ageshownbyacharacteractor(3)

9 Basicwayto travelonearth(4,5)

10 Singular ingredientof theweather (7)

11 ANorthEuropeanreturned indismay(5)

13 Aflickerof light? (6)15 Goods thrownout fromplanesin themorning(6)

18 Dancehavingbeatandvigour(5)

19 I lamentaboutdisorder(7)

21 Agoodonegetsa lotof backing(9)

23 Talk thatmaycomenaturally(3)

24 Lookafteraminorcharge(4-3)

25 It’s said tosaveawanderingtribe (5)

DOWN1 Strangely there’snosense inunity (7)

2 Actor that is seriousat readingplay (9)

3 Bearhasnoright to invest(5)

4 Hestoleawayfromtheshore(6)

5 Desertpeoplestruggle tosurvive (3,4)

6 One Italiangirl’sname(3)

7 Countrymanof fiftyunderservitude(5)

12 Ineffectiveplayermaybeseengoingto train (9)

14 Linenchest that’snew; lookinside (7)

16 AFrenchpainterputs itupenmasse (7)

17 Birdonemaybuyorpartexchange(6)

18 Feverishactivity in temples(5)

20 Itwilldrawblood(5)22 Penmate (3)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Youknowfullwellthat it iswithinyourpower todeterminetheoutcomeof

financialnegotiationsanddiscussions. There's somethingthat’s still notentirelyclear, though.Perhapsthe roleof a femaleassociatehasyet tobeestablished, youdon’tquiteknowwhereyoustand.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Current astrologicaltrendsoffer youamarvellousopportunity to face

up to awkwardorhighlyemotional situations.Acknowledgepartners’complaints andcriticismin theknowledge that youhavegotwhat it takes toput themright. Youmust believeinyourself.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Youarenowenteringaphase inwhichyoumayreasonablyallow

situations to taketheirowncourse.However, as farasspecifically financialaffairsareconcerned,youmustbecarefulnot to letevents runoutof yourcontrol, especiallyat thisdelicatestage.

CANCER(June22- July23)You’restillontopofevents,butyourbestbetat themoment istooccupyyour time

insuchamanner thatyoucannotbe forcedtoacceptunsatisfactoryconditions.Keepaclosewatchonfinancialaffairslater in theday,andmakesurethatnobodypulls thewooloveryoureyes.

LEO(July24-Aug23)This is likely tobeacrucialperiodas farasbothcareeranddomestichopesare

concerned.Familypressureswhichhavesurfacedrecentlymaygobacka longway.Nowyouhavetheopportunity totackle theseentrenched, long-termissuesanddealwithpartnerswhohavedugtheirheels in.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sept23)ThecurrentPlutoalignment indicatesthatanemotionalorfamily tie isquite

clearlygivingyousomecauseforconcern justnow.However,a solution lieswellwithinyourgraspand it is therefore inyourinterests tobeplacatory; it’seasywhenyouknowhow.

LIBRA(Sept24-Oct23)In amatter of days anumber of pieces ofthe jigsawwill fitinto place. Yet first

youmayhave to endure acertain amount of aggravationfrompartnerswho stilldo not believe you are up tothe job. It is true, though, thatyoumayhave to smartenupyour act.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov22)Mercury’srelationshipwithyoursignsuggeststhatyouhave

probablybecomeaccustomedtoharshwordsandheavydemands,especiallywhendiscussingpersonalquestions.All therelevantissuesmustnowbebrought tothesurface.Andsoonerratherthan later.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov23-Dec22)Therereallyseemstobe littlepoint inarguingorapportioningblame

overacareermatter.Youmustsee that there ismuchgoodsense inwhatotherpeoplehavetosay,andyouwill rejectgoodadviceatyourperil. It’stimeto listen,andtobideyour time.

CAPRICORN(Dec.23- Jan20)Partners andcloseassociateshavereally beenremarkablywilling

to compromisewhenyouthinkabout it. Youhaveonly ashort time left to reacha firmagreementbefore youagainrun into stiff opposition.Oh, andkeepaneyeonlegal irritations.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)Recentstatementshaveundoubtedlybeenaneye-opener,andyounowhave

theperfectopportunity topull anumberofdifferentemotional strands together.Close friendswill appreciateyournew, freshapproach. Itmakesachange frompartnerscomplainingthatyouareupsettingtheirplans.

PISCES(Feb20-Mar20)Othersmaywellbeplausibleandconvincing,yet itnowseemsrather

unlikely thatyouwillderivemuchbenefitbychangingthepatternof your lifeeitherathomeoratwork.Suchchangesrequireagreatdealmorethought,at least for thenextfewweeks.

SUDOKU4492

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4491

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.We__atdifferent___-ClintEastwood(4,.,7)

SOLUTION:LEVEE,ORRIS,CLOSED,BOUGHTAnswer:Weboilatdifferentdegrees-ClintEastwood

LVEEE CEODLS

RSIOR HOTUBG

SolutionsCrossword4446:Across:1Ceremonial,8Clear,9Upstage,10Electra,11Omens,12Petals,14Bemoan,17Alpha,19Athlete,21Ketchup,22Tails,23Phrenology.Down:2Everest,3Egret,4Ocular,5Inshore,6Lease,7Messengers,8Cheapjacks,13Leather,15Opening,16Sampan,18Putup,20Hotel.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

DESPITETHEformationofacoalitionthat,onpaper,hasenoughvotestooustNetanyahu,thePMhasnotgivenuphisbidtoretainpower.ThecoalitionstillhastowinavoteintheKnesset—Israel’sparliament.However,theSpeaker,whoisfromNetanyahu’sLikudparty,canlegallydelaythevotebysev-eraldays,givingthePMsometimetotrytoconvincewaver-ingpartnersinthefragilecoali-tiontobreakaway.

NetanyahusettofighttokeeppowerE●EX

PLAINED

136 school childrenabducted inNigeria: state govtMinna:Gunmen abducted 136students froman Islamic schoolin the north-central NigerianstateofNigeronSunday,anoffi-cial saidWednesday.Anarmedgangonmotorcy-

clesattackedthetownofTeginainthestateonSunday.Stategov-ernment officials in the follow-ingdayssaidtheywerecontact-ingparentstoascertaintheexactnumberofmissingchildren.“We cannowconfirm that a

total of 136 students were ab-ducted,” Niger state’s deputygovernor, AhmedMohammedKetso,saidatanewsconferencein thestatecapital,Minna.Criminal gangs carrying out

kidnapping for ransom wereblamed for a series of raids onschoolsinNigeria. REUTERS

13SENSEX: 52,232.43 ▲ 382.95 (0.74%) NIFTY: 15,690.35 ▲ 114.15 (0.74%) NIKKEI: 29,058.11 ▲ 111.97 HANG SENG: 28,966.03 ▼ 331.59 FTSE: 7,017.08 ▼ 90.92 DAX: 15,482.08▼ 120.63


ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

GOLD`48,530

RUPEE`72.91

OIL$69.43

SILVER`70,772

Note:Gold, silverratesatDelhi spotmarket;goldper10g, silverper1kg;Crudeoil (Indianbasket)asonJune2,2021

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JUNE3

KERALAHASretainedthetoprankinNITI Aayog’s SDG India Index2020-21,whileMizoram,Haryana,andUttarakhandarethetopgain-ers in terms of improvement intheirrankingsfrom2019,accord-ingtoareportreleasedbythegov-ernmentthinktankonThursday.The Index for Sustainable

DevelopmentGoals(SDGs)eval-uates progress of states andUnion Territories on various pa-rameters including health, edu-cation,gender,economicgrowth,institutions, climate changeandenvironment.Kerala retained its rankas the

top statewitha scoreof 75. BothHimachalPradeshandTamilNadutookthesecondspotwithascoreof74.Bihar,JharkhandandAssamweretheworstperformingstatesin this year’s index. ChandigarhmaintaineditstopspotamongtheUTswithascoreof79,followedby

Delhi(68).“Oureffortofmonitor-ing SDGs through the SDG IndiaIndex&Dashboard continues tobewidelynoticedandapplaudedaroundtheworld. Itremainsararedata-driven initiative to rankourStates andUnion Territories bycomputing a composite indexon the SDGs,” NITI AayogViceChairmanRajivKumar saidwhilelaunching thereport.“Weare confident that itwill

remainamatterofaspirationand

emulationandhelppropelmoni-toringefforts at the internationallevel,”hesaid.While in 2019, 10 states/UTs

belongedtothecategoryoffront-runners(scoreintherange65-99,including both), 12 morestates/UTsfindthemselvesinthiscategoryin2020-21.Uttarakhand, Gujarat,

Maharashtra,Mizoram, Punjab,Haryana, Tripura, Delhi, Laksh-adweep, AndamanandNicobar

Islands, JammuandKashmirandLadakhgraduatedtothecategoryof front-runners(scoresbetween65and99,includingboth).The country bettered its

SustainableDevelopmentGoalscore,climbing6pointsfrom60in2019 to66 in2021. The improve-ment comes as a result of im-provement in two key areas —cleanwaterandsanitationandaf-fordableandcleanenergy.Delhi andGujarat provided

best facilities forhealth andwellbeingaswell as industries, inno-vation and infrastructure.Himachal Pradesh andChandigarhscoredhighestineco-nomicgrowth.“Fromcovering13Goalswith

62 indicators in its first edition in2018, the third edition covers 16Goalson115quantitative indica-tors,withaqualitativeassessmentonGoal17, therebyreflectingourcontinuousefforts towards refin-ing this important tool,” saidSanyukta Samaddar, adviser(SDGs),NITIAayog.

MIZORAM,HARYANA,UTTARAKHAND IMPROVERANKSMOST

AANCHALMAGAZINENEWDELHI,JUNE3

THEUNITED States govern-ment on Wednesday an-nouncedfurthersuspensionofpunitive tariffs for sixmonthson India, Austria, Italy, Spain,Turkey, and the UnitedKingdom,whileitcontinuestoresolve the digital servicestaxes investigation amid theongoingmultilateralnegotia-tionsattheOECDandtheG20.“TheUSisfocusedonfind-

ingamultilateralsolutiontoarangeof key issues related tointernational taxa-tion, including ourconcernswithdigi-tal services taxes.TheUnitedStatesre-mainscommittedtoreaching a consen-susoninternationaltax issues throughOECDandG20processes.Today’sactionsprovidetimeforthosenegoti-ations to continue to makeprogresswhilemaintainingtheoptionof imposing tariffsunderSection301ifwarrantedin future,” US Trade Repre-sentativeKatherineTaisaid.

WhatistheUSinvestigationregardingdigitalservicestaxation?The US has conducted a

year-long investigation intodigitalservicestaxesimposedbycountries, statingthattheyareagainsttechcompanieslikeApple, Amazon, Google andFacebook. The investigationbegan in June 2020 and, inJanuary2021followingprobes,theUSTRdeterminedthatthedigital services taxesadoptedbyAustria, India, Italy, Spain,Turkey, and the UnitedKingdom discriminatedagainstUSdigital companiesandwere inconsistentwithprinciplesofinternationaltax-ationandburdenedUSfirms.TheUSonWednesdayan-

nounced25percenttariffsonover $2 billionworth of im-portsfromthesesixcountries

but then immediately sus-pended the duties to allow

time for interna-tional taxnegotia-tions.

What’sthecaseagainstIndia?In the case of

India, the USTR’sproposedcourseof action in-cludesadditional tariffs of upto25per cent advaloremonanaggregateleveloftradethatwouldcollectdutiesongoodsof India in the range of theamountofDSTthatIndiaisex-pectedtocollectfromUScom-panies. Around26categoriesofgoodsareinthepreliminarylist of products thatwouldbesubjecttotheadditionaltariffs.Thisincludesshrimps,basmatirice, cigarettepaper, culturedpearls, semiprecious stones,silverpowder and silver arti-clesofjewelry,goldmixedlinknecklacesandneckchainsandcertainfurnitureofbentwood.

WhatarethedigitalservicestaxesinIndia?TheNDAgovernmenthad

movedanamendment in theFinanceBill2020-21imposinga2percentdigital service taxontradeandservicesbynon-resident e-commerceopera-torswithaturnoverofoverRs2crore, effectivelyexpandingthescopeof equalisation levythat, till lastyear,onlyappliedtodigitaladvertisingservices.

Fullreportonwww.indianexpress.com

TAXATIONWATCHDIGITAL SERVICES

‘Services PMIin contractionzone for firsttime in 8 mths’

1st GST GoM meet: Talks on‘tax cuts for benefit of people’ABHISHEKSAHAGUWAHATI,JUNE3

MEGHALAYA CHIEF MinisterConrad Sangma on Thursdaychaired the firstmeeting of theGroupofMinisters(GoM)formedtoexamineGSTconcessionsandexemptionsonCovidreliefmate-rials like vaccines, drugs, handsanitisers,masks,PPEkitsandoxy-gen-relatedequipment.SangmasaidtheGoMhasrec-

ommendedthereductionofratesonanumberoftimes,butthefinalcallwouldbetakenbytheCouncil.TheGoMwasformedafterthe

states andCentre had differingviewsonthereductionintaxratesfor these items in the 43rdGSTCouncilmeetingonMay28. TheGoMhas to submit its report byJune8. “Iwillnotbeable toshare

thedetailsrightnowbecausetheseare only recommendations.Ultimately,thesewillbeputintoareport and submitted to theCouncil.ThentheCouncilwillulti-matelytakeadecision,”hesaid.Sangma said theGoMwent

intoadetaileddiscussionofalmostall the items thatwere recom-mendedbyFitmentCommittee.Hedescribedthatthe“basicprin-ciple”thatwasfollowedinthedis-cussionwas,firstly,“toseetheben-efits and the tax reductions thatwouldgive thebenefitdirectly tothepeople”.“Therefore,itemsthatwerepersonalorientedthatpeo-pleorpatientswouldhave todi-rectlybuy,wemadesurethatwe

couldbringdownconcessionsandrates to themaximumamountpossible, so thatmaximumreliefcanbegiven,”saidSangma.ChiefMinisters of Congress-

ruledRajasthanandChhattisgarhthisweekhitoutattheCentrefornot including FinanceMinistersfrom party-ruled states in theGoM.Congress andotherOppo-sition-ruled stateshavebeende-mandingareductionintaxesandzero rate for these items, but theCentrefeelsthemovemaynotre-sultinbenefitsbeingpassedon.TheotherGoMmembersare

Gujarat Deputy Chief MinisterNitinbhai Patel, MaharashtraDeputyChiefMinisterAjitPawar,Goa TransportMinisterMauvinGodinho,KeralaFMKNBalagopal,OdishaFMNiranjanPujari,Telan-ganaFMTHarishRaoandUPFMSureshKumarKhanna.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JUNE3

THESERVICESsectorstruggledinMay,withtheintensificationoftheCovid-19 crisis causing reneweddeclinesinnewbusinessandout-put.At46.4inMay,downfrom54inApril, the seasonally adjustedIndia Services Business ActivityIndexwasincontractionterritoryfor the first timeineightmonths,IHSMarkitsaid.A readingbelow50 indicates

contractioningrowth.“Thelatestreadingpointed to a solid rateofreduction thatwasneverthelessslower than those seen in theaf-termathof theCovid outbreak,”IHSMarkit said. It said firmsbe-cameincreasinglyworriedaboutgrowthprospects.

■TheUSTRdeterminedthatthedigital servicestaxesadoptedbyAustria, India, Italy,Spain,Turkey,andtheUnitedKingdomdiscriminatedagainstUSdigitalcompanies

DISCRIMINATIONAGAINSTUSTECHCOS

Top5positionsState ScoreKerala 75HimachalPradesh, 74TamilNaduAndhraPradesh,Goa, 72Karnataka,UttarakhandSikkim 71Maharashtra 70

Bottom5positionsState ScoreChhattisgarh, 61Nagaland,OdishaArunachalPradesh, 60Meghalaya,Rajasthan,UttarPradeshAssam 57Jharkhand 56Bihar 52

Sustainablegoals index:Keralaretainstopslot,Biharatbottom

GEORGEMATHEWMUMBAI,JUNE3

WITHTHEDelhiHighCourt andinsuranceregulatorIrdaidirectinginsurance firms to complete set-tlementofCovidclaimswithinanhourafterdischarge, theGeneralInsuranceCouncil—therepresen-tativebodyof34general insurersin thecountry—has laiddownabasicframeworkforseekingcoop-eration fromhospitals to imple-mentthedirectives.It has askedhospitals to sub-

mitallthepatientdischargedocu-mentsinonegowithouthavingtoberemindedofthemissingdocu-mentslikecashlesstreatmentap-proval reference, copy of casesheet,prescriptions,diagnosticre-ports, bills, discharge summary,Covid positive and subsequentCovidnegativereports.Theywerealso advised to ensure billing atpre-agreedratesandprovidejus-tificationwithsupportingmedicalrecords for any co-morbiditiesnecessarilytreated.According to theGI Council,

whenapatient’sprogress isgoodanddischarge is planned for thenextday,hospitalsshouldinformthe insurancecompanyorTPAofthe impending discharge thesoonest andsubmit theavailabledocumentsandbills.“Balancedoc-umentsandbillspertainingtothelast24hours couldbesubmittedat thedischarge time so that theinsurancecompanyorTPAcouldalsostartworkingonthedischargesimultaneously,”itsaid.Currently, insurers takeup to

fiveor sixhours for settlementofhospital claims andpatients areheldupinthehospitalduringthisperiod. Hospitals refuse to dis-chargepatientswithout gettingtheinsurer’sapproval.“Insurance companies are

ready to extend theirmaximumcooperation tohospitals in com-pleting thedischargeprocess inthe quickest possible time in allcashless claimsasper theHCdi-rectivesandsolicitthekindcoop-erationof all hospitals in this re-gard,”saidAtulSahai,ChairmanofGICouncilandCMDofNewIndiaAssurance, the largest generalinsurerinthecountry.Earlier, the Insurance

Regulatory andDevelopmentAuthority of India (Irdai) hadaskedallgeneralandhealthin-

surancecompaniestocommuni-catetheirdecisionontheauthori-sation of cashless treatment forCovid-related claims tonetworkproviderswithinanhourofreceiv-ing the request. It also said theyhave to communicate theirdeci-sionon the final dischargeof pa-tients,whoseCovidclaimsarecov-ered,withinanhourof receivingthefinalbillfromthehospital.Over15lakhclaims,pertaining

toCovid treatmenthavebeenre-portedandthenumbersareonlyrisingbytheday.“Thelarge-scaleprevalenceofCovid-19,aswiththeother organisations, has also ad-versely impacted theoperationsof insurance companies and theTPAs. Several of their employeesandortheirfamilymembershav-ingbeendiagnosedCovidpositiveare either out of actionor strug-glingtomeetthedemandsof thesituation,”GICouncilsaid.Claims made under Covid

health insurancehave shotup toRs 22,955 crorewith 14.82 lakhcustomers submitting theirhos-pital bills as onMay14,with thenumberofinfectionsrisingrapidly.While insurershave settledonlyclaimsof12.33lakhcustomersforaboutRs11,794crore,theyareyettosettletheclaimsofover2.5lakhcustomersandamountinvolvingRs11,161crore.

Fullreportonwww.indianexpress.com

Settle claims in 1 hour,ensure agreed rates:Insurers ask hospitals

GICOUNCILLAYSCOVIDCLAIMSFRAMEWORK

ACovidwardinDhanvantariHospital,Ahmedabad.TheGICouncilhasaskedhospitalstosubmitalldischargedocumentsinonego. File

Punitive tariffsuspension by US:What is the case?

TelecomPLI: Normsfinalised,July 3 lastdate to applyENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JUNE3

THE TELECOM ministry onThursdaysaidithadfinalisedtheguidelines for the Rs 12,195-crore production-linked incen-tive (PLI) scheme for domesticmanufacturing of telecom andnetworking products, such asswitches, routers, radio accessnetwork, wireless equipmentandotherinternetof things(IoT)accessdevices.The scheme, to be effective

fromApril1thisyear,willgivein-centivesforthenextfiveyearsupto2025-26,whileeligiblecompa-niescansendintheirapplicationsoverthenext30daystill July3.As per the guidelines, appli-

cantcompaniescanchoosetoei-ther invest in a singleproductorspread their investment acrossproducts. There is, however, aminimum threshold for invest-ment for bothmicro, small andmedium enterprises and otherlarger companies. MSMEswillhave to invest aminimumof Rs10crore,whilenon-MSMEcom-panieswillhavetoinvestamini-mumofRs100crore.Meanwhile, Nokia andHFCL

willparticipateinthetelecomPLIscheme, forwhich registrationwillbeginonFriday,companyex-ecutivessaid,asperaPTIreport.“Nokiaiscommittedtothisvi-

sionwith our Chennai factory,”NokiaIndiatweeted.“PLI schemewillgo longway

in achieving the objective ofAtmanirbharBharat.Wewillpar-ticipateinthescheme,”HFCLMDMahndraNahatasaid.

BRIEFLYFTAwithEU,UKNewDelhi:CommerceSecr-etaryAnupWadhawansaidThursdaythetimeframetoresume talks for the stalledfree trade agreement (FTA)with the EU and to initiatefreshtalksforapactwiththeUKwillbe“veryearly”.

WhatsApppolicyNewDelhi:WhatsApp saidThursdayitwillnotlimitthefunctionality of the app forusersnotagreeingtoitsnewprivacypolicy,butwill con-tinue to send remindersabouttheupdate.PTI

BanonChinacosWashington:TheBidengov-ernmentwillissueanexecu-tiveorderonThursday thatbansUSentitiesfrombuyingorsellingpubliclytradedse-curities for59Chinese firmswithalleged ties todefenseor surveillance technologysectors, senior administra-tionofficialssaid.REUTERS

USFedassetsaleWashington:TheUSFederalReserve saidWednesday itwillstartsellingoffthehold-ingsofoneof itsemergencylending programs createdlastyeartostabilizefinancialmarkets. TheFedwill beginwindingdowntheportfolioof theSecondaryCorporateCredit Facility,whichat thecloseof last yearheld$14.2billioninassets. AP

ADBloanpactNewDelhi:AsianDevelop-mentBankhas inkedapactwiththeCentrefor$2.5mil-lion assistance to upgraderoadinfrainSikkim. PTI

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JUNE3

THE LABOUR and EmploymentMinistryonThursdayconstitutedanexpert group toprovide tech-nical inputs and recommenda-tions on fixation of minimumwagesandnationalfloorformin-imumwages.Thisisthesecondexpertcom-

mittee on minimum wagesformedbythegovernmentwithinthe last two years. The earlierpanel,headedbyAnoopSatpathy,Fellow, VVGiri National LabourInstitute,was set upby themin-istryonJanuary17,2018,tounder-take anevidence-based analysistodeterminemethodologyforfix-ingnationalminimumwage.Therecommendations,whichweren’tacceptedby theCentre, includedsettingthenational floorwageatRs 375 per day (Rs 9,750 permonth)asperJuly2018prices.Theexpertgroupannounced

onThursdayhasbeenconstitutedfor aperiodof three years and ischaired byAjitMishra, Director,Institute of EconomicGrowth. Itincludes TarikaChakraborty, IIMCalcutta;AnushreeSinha, SeniorFellow,NCAER;VibhaBhalla,JointSecretary; H Srinivas, Director

General,VVGNLIasthemembersandDPSNegi, SeniorLabourandEmployment Advisor as theMemberSecretary.Toarriveatthewagerates,the

groupwilllookintointernationalbest practices on thewages andevolve a scientific criteria andmethodologyforfixationofwag-es,astatementsaid.Under theCodeon

Wages,which is yet tobeenforced,aNationalFloor LevelMinimumWagewillbesetbytheCentre to be revisedevery five years,whilestates will fix mini-mumwages for theirregions,which cannotbelowerthanthefloorwage.Thecurrentfloorwage,whichwasfixedin 2017, is at Rs 176 aday, but some stateshaveminimumwageslowerthanit.

Govt sets up expertpanel to fix minimumpay, national floor wage

Recommendationsoftheearlierpanel,headedbyAnoopSatpathy,weren’tacceptedbytheCentre

PANDEMIC IMPACT

Covid created unparalleled job crisis: ILOThepandemic has created an “unparalleled” global labourmarket crisis thatwill affect theemploymentmarket for years, the International LabourOrganization (ILO) said in a report

Highworkinghour losses:Recurringwaves of thepandemic globally havecausedworking hour losses toremain high,with,

■ 4.4% loss corresponding to140million full-time jobs infirst quarter of 2021

■ 4.4% loss in second quarterof 2021 equivalent to 127million full-time jobs

8.8%Estimatedshare of total

working hours lost during2020—the equivalent ofthe hoursworked in one yearby255million full-timeworkers Source: ILO/PTI

TheGoMhastosubmitits reportby June8

MIHIRVASAVDAMUMBAI,JUNE3

GRAHAMREID is obsessedwith the smalldetails. Once, before the Rio Olympics, hemadeAustralia’shockeyplayerssitinabusfor45minutes.Why? “We’ve seen in previouscampaigns,whenyougetyourbustogofromtheairporttothevillage,orfromthevillagetoa venue, it will get lost,” Reid, who wasAustralia’scoachinRio,says.“Sowewerejustmimickingthescenario.”With just a fewweeks togo for theTokyo

Olympics, Reid, nowthe coachof the Indianteam,hasbiggerthingstoworryaboutthanthebuslosingitsdedicatedlane–hefirsthastopickthe players who will be on that bus. ThatprocessstartedonThursday.Thehockeyteammarkedthe50-daycountdownbykickingoffasix-matchintra-squadseries,whichwilldecidethe16-memberteamfortheOlympics.Itmightnotbe the idealway to select the

squad, especiallywhen India’sopponentsaregetting toplay somehigh-level internationalgames.Lastweek,AustraliaandNewZealandplayedafour-matchbilateralseries–theirfirstassignmentinmorethanayear–whichservedas a selection trial for players from the twocountries. Starting Friday, the five Europeanteamsthathavequalifiedfor theGames–the

Netherlands, Britain, Belgium, Spain andGermany–will compete in their continentalchampionship,puttingthemintheperfectzonebeforetheOlympics.TheIndianteamdoesnothavethis luxury

even thoughHockey India tried to arrangetours.Thetravelrestrictions imposedontrav-ellers fromthecountry following the secondwavemeantheIndianteamhasbeenstuckin-side theSportsAuthorityof India’sBengaluruCentre. So, Reidhashad to improvise. The33probableshavebeendivided into two teamsthatwillplaythreesetsoftwomatcheseachin12days.Afteroneset, the teamswill be shuf-fledsothecoachingstaffcantrydifferentcom-binations. Indeed, thecoreof the Indianteamselects itself but thebattle is intense fora fewspots,especiallyintheattackingdepartment.“Thesearenotpracticegames, they’renot

muck-aroundgames,”Reidsays.“Thesearefull-on,youneedtoshoweverythingyou’vegotbe-cause that's howyoualsomakesure thatwearereadytoperformatthat(Olympics)level.”AfterthelastmatchwillbeplayedonJune

14,Reidwillhavetheunenviabletaskofbreak-ingthenewstohalfof theprobablesthattheyhaven’tmadethecut.Themoodis‘tense’,Reidsays,whichmightbenormalinanOlympicyearbutstressfulnevertheless.“Youhavepressure,it’s avery stressfulperiod for theathletesandcoachesaswell. It'speople's lives thatyouare

dealingwith, anddreamsandvisions…peo-plehavedreamtofgoingtotheOlympicssincetheywerefiveyearsold,”Reidsays.Within the limitations, Reid is simulating

Tokyo conditions, startingwith theweather.Thesixmatcheswillbeplayedaccordingtothetimingof India’s games at theOlympics andwith theweatherexpected tobehotandhu-midduringtheGames,somewillbeheldintheafternoons.Reidisn’tconcernedaboutthefit-ness levelsbutsince Indiaplaysahigh-speed,quick-passingstyleofhockey,theabilitytohan-dletheheatissomethingthecoachiskeepingoneeyeon.

Covid calculations, too, have tobemade.WiththeInternationalOlympicCommitteeyettodefine clearly theCovidprotocols for teamsports,thereisalotofambiguityonwhathap-pensifoneteammembergetsinfected.In absenceofwell-established rules, Reid

says itwill be paramount tohave ‘flexibilitywithinthegroup.’“Ifyouhaveadefenderthatgets injured or something, then you've gotsomeonewhocanplay indefence,butalso inthemidfield,alsoastriker,”hesays.These ruleswill have an impact beyond

mereteamcombinations.Sinceclosecontactswillalsobemonitored,theteammanagementwillhavetocarefullychooseroompartnersattheOlympicvillage.Someearlydiscussionsre-volved around individual athletes and notteams,Reidsays.“That'sgoingtobecomingoutin thenextweekor so. Sowecanplan roomconfigurationsandotherthings.”Inhisobsessivepursuitofdetails,Reidisre-

laxedaboutonething:themovementrestric-tionsimposedonathletesduringtheOlympics.Theathleteswillbetestedeveryday,havebeenadvisedtosocialiseless,travelonlyfromthevil-lage to thevenueandeat theirmealsquickly,andinsmallgroups.“Funnilyenough,wehavebeen living like

thisforsometime,”Reidsays.“Sowhilewearemimicking all scenarios on thepitch,weareprettymuchusedtotheprotocolsoff it.”

VISHALMENONJUNE3

WITH WICKETS of New Zealand’s TomLatham and Ross Taylor onDayOne, it wasshaping up to be a dream Test debut forEngland pacer Ollie Robinson atLord’s. Instead, it quickly snow-balled intooneof theworstdays inthe 27-year-old’s cricketing careerafter screenshots containing racistandsexist tweetspostedbyhimonTwitternineyearsagobegandoingthe rounds.

Whatwere the tweets andwhen did it resurface?In one particular tweet from 2012,

Robinson,whowas18atthetime,said:“MynewMuslimfriendisthebomb”.Inanother:“IwonderifAsianpeopleputsmileyslikethis¦)#racist”,whileathirdtweetquipped:“GuynexttomeonthetraindefinitelyhasEbola.”These screenshots resurfacedonnumeroussocialmedia platforms after lunch intervalon Day 1 of the ongoing Test betweenEnglandandNewZealand.

Howdid Robinson react?Hehas served anunconditional apology

forhistweets.“Onthebiggestdaysofmycareersofar,Iamembarrassedbytheracistandsex-ist tweets that I posted over eight years ago,whichhave todaybecomepublic,” Robinsonsaid in a statement released shortly after

stumps on the opening day of theLord’sTest.

Whobegan circulatingthese old tweets?Itremainsunclearastowhocir-

culatedthesescreenshotsonsocialmedia onWednesday afternoon.

Robinson’s Twitter handle is currently sus-pended.

Whatmakes the discovery ofthese 9-year-old tweets ironic?That’sbecauseRobinson, alongwith the

rest of his England team-mateshadpartici-patedin‘MomentofUnity’aheadof thefirstday’s play, where they donned t-shirts as ashow of solidarity toweed out intoleranceinall formsfromthegame. Inthisbackdrop,theserevelationssurroundingRobinsonarelacedwitha tingeof irony.


WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SPORT14

Vol. LXVNo.131Printed for theproprietors, The IndianExpress (P) LtdbyMsVaidehiThakaratThe IndianExpressPress, PlotNo.EL-208,TTC IndustrialArea,Mahape,NaviMumbai -400710andpublished fromMafatlalCentre, 7th floor,RamnathGoenkaMarg,NarimanPoint,Mumbai400021.Editorial&Administrativeoffices:MafatlalCentre,7th floor,RamnathGoenkaMarg,NarimanPoint,Mumbai400021.Phone:22022627/67440000. Fax:022-22835726.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajen

Shanker, Editor (Mumbai):NirupamaSubramanian.* (*Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct)Additional air surchargeof `1 .00-Goa.Copyright:The IndianExpress (P) Ltd.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited.The IndianExpress®

Why debutant Robinson isunder fire for old tweets

MILKHAADMITTEDWITHDIPPINGO2LEVELFour days after Milkha Singh was discharged from a Mohali hospital aftercontracting Covid-19 last month, the former Commonwealth Games championand 1960 Rome Olympian was admitted to Nehru Hospital Extension at PostGraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) withdipping levels of oxygen. ENS

Worldnumber1’spull-out leaveswomen'sdrawwithouttoptwoseeds;Federer,Djokovicadvance

ASSOCIATEDPRESSPARIS,JUNE3

BOTHEREDBYapainfulhip, top-rankedAshBartyretiredThursdayfromhersecond-roundmatch at the FrenchOpen, leaving the clay-courtGrandSlamtournamentwithoutitstoptwowomen’s seedsandanyof the top threewomenintherankings.The2019championtrailed6-1,2-2when

shesignaledthatshecouldn’tcontinueagainstPolish opponentMagda Linette on CourtPhilippeChatrier.“Iwasbattlingthepain,anditjustbecame

toosevere, and like I said,wasbecomingun-safe,” Barty said of the injury that had flaredupduringtrainingbeforethetournament.Top-ranked Novak Djokovic and Roger

Federer,bothformerchampions,advancedtothethirdround.FedererbeatMarinCilic6-2,2-6,7-6(4),6-

2forhisninthwinin10meetingsagainstthebig-servingCroatandfifthinmajors.“IthinkIplayedareallygoodmatch,Isur-

prisedmyselfabit.Ididn’tthinkIcouldplayatthislevelfor2½hoursagainstMarin,”Federersaid. “I still think the levelwas high, I triedeverything and I had some very goodmo-ments, notably in the tiebreak. I finished byservingreallywell.ItshowsIhavesomethingin reserve, I have someenergy left and that’sreallygoodformyconfidence.”Theeighth-seededFederernextfacesun-

seededDominikKoepfer.

‘Am Iplaying too slow?’Federer looked sharp, and could evenaf-

fordtogetalittledistracted,arguingwithchairumpireEmmanuelJosephafterbeinggivenatimewarningforslowplayduringthesecondsetonCourtPhilippeChatrier.FedererevenaskedCilic forhisopinion.“Marin,amIplayingtooslow?”heasked.Cilic suggestedhewas.Butafterwinning

in the first roundonMonday, Federer spokeabout thestrangefeelingofhavingtohandlehis own towel, because of coronavirus rules,andhow it upset his rhythm.He argued thepointtoEmmanuel,andtoCilic.“Iunderstandtherule,”FedererprotestedtoCilic.”(But)I’mgoingfromonecornertothenexttryingtogetmytowel. I’mnotdoingitonpurpose.”

Federer, whose 40th birthday is Aug. 8,hadn’t appeared on the Grand Slam stagesinceJan.30,2020,whenhelosttoDjokovicintheAustralianOpensemifinals.Theycouldmeethere,sincetheyareinthe

same side of thedrawalongwithdefendingchampionRafaelNadal—whoislevelalltimeon20majortitleswithFederer.Djokovicmadebriefworkofbeatingclay-

courtspecialistPabloCuevas6-3,6-2,6-4,sav-ingeightoftheninebreakpointshefaced.The18-timeGrandSlamchampionnextplaysun-seededLithuanianRicardasBerankis.Nadalwassettoplayduringthenightses-

siononhis35thbirthday,withfanshavingtoleave thegroundsby9p.m.becauseof coro-navirusrules.

The13-timechampionwasfacingRichardGasquet, having a16-0 career record againsttheFrenchman.Anotherdefendingchampion,IgaSwiatek,facedRebeccaPetersononCourtSimonne-Mathieu.

Fieldwide openThis is only the third time at anyGrand

Slam tournament in the professional era,which began in 1968, that the top twowomen’s seeds are gone before the thirdround.ItalsohappenedattheFrenchOpenin2014(No.1SerenaWilliamsandNo.2LiNa)andtheU.S.Openin2018(No.1SimonaHalepandNo.2CarolineWozniacki).In addition to Barty’s departure, No. 2

NaomiOsakawithdrewafter the first round,

sayingsheisgoingtotakeabreakfromcom-petitionformentalhealthreasons.Thethird-rankedHalep pulled out before the tourna-mentbecauseofa leginjury.In thebuildup to thisyear’s FrenchOpen,

Bartyplayed13matchesonclayandwon11.Shepostedarecordof27-5andwonthreesin-gles titles beforeRolandGarros. But shewasforcedtoretireinthequarterfinalsinRomeinMaybecauseofaninjurytoherrightarm.Shesaidthat injuryhadhealedanddidnotham-perher inParis.“It’sheartbreaking,”Bartysaid. “Wehave

hadsuchabrilliant clay-court season, and tokind of get a little bit unluckywith timing,morethananything, tohavesomethingkindof acute happen over theweekend and justkindofrunoutoftimeagainsttheclockisdis-appointing.”TheAustralianstartedthematchwithher

left thigh bandaged and itwas immediatelyclear she couldnotmoveproperly. Too slowtochaseheropponent’sshots,shestruggledinlongralliesandwithherfirstserve.Barty called for amedical timeout at the

end of the opening set, then briefly left thecourtfortreatment.ShestoppedafterLinettehit an ace. Barty thenwalked to the net toshakethe45th-rankedplayer’shand.

Bopanna-Skugor in 3rd roundPTI adds: India’s Rohan Bopanna and hisCroatianpartner FrankoSkugoradvanced tothe pre-quarterfinals 6-4, 7-5 win overAmericans Frances Tiafo and NicholasMonroe.The41-year-oldBopanna,ranked40in theworld, isnotdefendinganypoints thisyear at the RolandGarros. He needs to earnpoints since the this is his last chance to im-provehisranking.TherankingsonJune10willbe considered for entry into the TokyoOlympics.

KEY RESULTS:Men’s second round 1-NDjokovic bt P Cuevas 6-3, 6-2, 6-4; 8-RFedererbtMCilic6-2,2-6,7-6 (4), 6-2;9-MBerrettini bt F Coria 6-3, 6-3, 6-2; 10-DSchwartzmanbtAljazBedene6-4,6-2,6-4;MikaelYmerbt14-GaelMonfils 6-0, 2-6, 6-4,6-3Women’ssecondround5-ESvitolinabtAnnLi6-0,6-4;4-SKeninbtHBaptiste7-5,6-3;MLinettebt1-ABarty6-1,2-2,ret;9-SStephensbt9-KPliskova7-5,6-1

Barty retires hurt

Barty,the2019champion,trailed6-1,2-2whenshesignalledshewasnotabletocontinueagainstPolishrivalMagdaLinette.AP

IndiacoachGrahamReidissimulatingTokyoconditionsfortheplayers,startingwiththeweather. HockeyIndia

Hockey coach Reid riding in Tokyo selection hood

SHAMIKCHAKRABARTYKOLKATA,JUNE3

THEBOARDof Control for Cricket in India’s(BCCI)ethicsofficerJustice(Retd)DKJainhasadjudged Tamil Nadu Cricket Associationpresident RupaGurunath to be in conflict ofinterest.Thisisthefirsttimetheethicsofficerhasfoundastateassociationpresidenttobeinapositionofconflict.Rupa,whoisthedaughterof formerBCCI

president N Srinivasan, became the TNCApresidentin2019.FollowingapleabySanjeevGuptainNovemberlastyear,JusticeJainheldthat Rupawasperceived to be in conflict forholdingtwoposts–TNCApresidentandoneofthedirectorsofIndiaCementsLimited(ICL),which in turn runs Chennai Super KingsCricket Limited (CSKCL), the owner of theIndianPremierLeague(IPL)franchiseChennaiSuper Kings (CSK). CSKCL is one of the sub-sidiarycompaniesof IndiaCements.The BCCI’s ethics officer, however, hasn’t

directedRupa to step down fromoneof thepostswithimmediateeffect,sendingthemat-ter to the cricket board instead todecide thefuture course action as per Rule 38(2) of theBCCIconstitution.

“...inviewoftheconnectionsbetweenICLand CSKCL, undoubtedly, the Respondent(RupaGurunath) has at least indirect (if notdirect) interest in CSKCLwhich has enteredinto an agreement/contractwith the BCCI,thusattractingoneof the formsof conflictofinterest,”statedtheorder.Itadded:“Foralltheaforesaidreasons,the

EthicsOfficerisoftheviewthatacaseofcon-flict of interest is made out against theRespondent. Having arrived at the aforesaidconclusion,theBCCIshalltakerequisitesteps,in accordancewith law, to ensure due com-plianceofRule38(2)...”Rule38(2)talksaboutdisclosurewhenan

individualholdstwoseparatepostsundertheBCCIandfailuretoissueacompletedisclosurecould render the individual open to discipli-nary action. According to senior advocateRaghuRaman,whorepresentedRupabeforetheethicsofficer,asbecauseit isperceivedtobe a case of indirect conflict of interest, theBCCIwilljudgeiftheconflictistractableorin-tractable.“Asperthelearnedjudge’sorder,there’sa

potential conflict, even though there’snodi-rectevidencethatanybodyhasbenefitedfromit. The rules strictly say that even apotentialconflictbecomesaconflict. So thiswill come

under the category of indirect conflict. Thelearned judgehad the power to ordermanythings.Hecouldhavesimplysaid,removeher,shehas to stepdown... Buthe (ethicsofficer)hasconsciouslyrefrainedfromgivinganysuchdirections and simply said the BCCI shouldstrictly complywith the procedure as laiddown inRule 38(2),” Raman told The IndianExpress.Heelaborated:“Now,Rule38(2)says,dis-

close. So therewill be complete disclosure,whichwill be put up on the BCCI website.Thereafter, the Board has to decide under38(3),whether thisconflict is tractableor in-tractable. If it is a tractable conflict, they canexcuseiteitherbysayingyouputinplacecer-tain circumstanceswhich removes the per-ception that there’s a conflict. For example,perhapstheymaysay,youdon’tsponsorthisCSKteamanymore.OrtheymaydirecthertositoutofanydecisionsrelatedtotheIPL.“Now,theymaysayallthiscircumstances

show it is an intractable conflict. In that casetheymaydecidetodosomethingaboutit.Buttheseareallhypotheticalsituations.Today,thesituationisthatthelearnedjudgehasnotcho-sentopunishher.Andnowhereintheorderisthereanythingpointingthatshehasbenefitedfromthisorthatshehasinfluencedthecourse

of things in CSK, or that India Cements hasgainedoutof this.”Accordingly,theTNCAhasdecidedtowait

fortheBCCI’sdecision. “Wehavesenttheor-dertoourlegal teamandwewillwait fortheBCCI’s decision,” TNCA secretary RSRamasaamytoldthispaper.

Inhersubmission,Rupadenied“anycloseassociationwithCSKCLoranyofthedirectorsofCSKCL”.Theethicsofficer,however,inferredthat Rupa inher capacity as a director of theICL “has close association with” with the“Trustees of IC Shareholders Trust and theDirectorsofCSKCL”.

E●EXPLAINED

Whyconflictof interest isattheheartofcricketreforms

FORSEVERALyearsnowconflictofinteresthasbeenoneof themost talkedabout is-sues in Indian cricket. Until 2008, clause6.2.4 of the BCCI constitution dealtwithconflict of interest anddidn’t allowplay-ers, administrators,match officials andteamofficialstohavecommercialinterestincricketactivitiesWith the launch of IPL, the constitu-

tionwas amended and this clausewasdone away with to allow BCCI officebearer N Srinivasan to own ChennaiSuper Kings through India CementsLimited.

Inthewakeofthe2013IPLspot-fixingand betting scandal,with then CSKoffi-cial GurunathMeiyappan being one ofthe accused, the Lodha Committeewasformed to do a structural reform of theBCCIandtheconflictof interest issueyetagain came to the fore. The court oncecalledtheconflictof interest“therealvil-lainofthepiece”.AsanewBCCIconstitu-tion was formed as per the LodhaCommitteeguidelines,Srinivasan,alongwithmany other senior administrators,became ineligible to continue in cricketadministration. ENS

E●EXPLAINED

ASSOCIATEDPRESSLONDON, JUNE3

NEWZEALANDbuiltontestdebutantDevonConway's chanceless double-hundred bytaking two early England wickets beforeRoryBurnsandJoeRootmountedarecoveryon Day 2 of the first test at Lord's onThursday.Replying to New Zealand's first-innings

total of 378 thatwasanchoredbyConway's347-ball 200, England reached stumps on111-2with Burns unbeaten on 59 and Rooton42notout, theirpartnershipupto93.It was England's day at the home of

cricket,withRoot's teamgaining a footholdinthematchafteranopeningdaydominatedby theNewZealanders.But it was also another special day for

Conway,whoresumedon136andstayedpa-tientandcomposedaswicketsfell regularlyat the other end to eventually become justthesecondNewZealandbatsmantoscoreadoublehundredontestdebut.Hereachedthemilestonewithapull for

sixandtookhishelmetoff toreceivetheac-claim of the 25% capacity crowd at Lord's,where his name will be on the storiedvenue'sHonoursBoard.Conwaydidn'tfaceanotherballas, inthe

very next over, he cameup just short of thecreaseashesprintedbacktothenon-striker'send for a second run. Hewas the last manout,leavingNo.11NeilWagneron25notoutoff21balls—potentiallyvaluablerunsattheendof the innings.Conway, a South African-born opener,

was given a standing ovation, havingmadethehighestscorebyabatsmanontestdebutin England. He broke a 125-year-old recordheld by former England player K.S.Ranjitsinhji,who scored154 inManchesterin1896.Earlier, the dismissal of Henry Nicholls

for61triggeredtheBlackCaps'collapsefrom288-3 to 319-8, which included a six-overspell by MarkWood where the pacemantook threewickets for sevenruns.Ollie Robinson, another playermaking

his test debut, had England's best bowlingfiguresof4-75.AfterstumpsonWednesday,thepacemanwasclose to tearsasheapolo-gizedforastringofsexistandracistmessagesthathepostedonTwitter from2012-14andwhichresurfacedoversocialmediawhilethegamewasbeingplayed.BRIEF SCORES: England 111 for 2 (Burns59*, Root 42*) trail New Zealand 378(Conway200,Nicholls61,Robinson4-75)by267runsat stumpsDay2

England recoverafter Conway’srecord-breaking200 on debut

DevonConway’s200isthehighestscorebyabatsmanonTestdebutinEngland.TherecordwasheldbyformerEnglandplayerKSRanjitsinhji,whoscored154inManchesterin1896.Reuters

Ethics officer points to Rupa Gurunath’s conflict of interest

MIHIRVASAVDAMUMBAI, JUNE3

INDIANWRESTLINGfindsitself inthemiddleofanotherdopingsagaaheadof the Olympics after one Tokyo-bound grappler tested positive for abannedsubstance.TheUnitedWorldWrestling (UWW) has provisionallysuspendedthewrestlerforanallegedanti-dopingruleviolationwitheffectfromThursday, it is learnt.Eight Indianwrestlers, fourmen

and four women, have qualified forthe TokyoOlympics,which begin onJuly23.However, theparticipationofthewrestlerisnowuncertainandthecountryriskslosingonequotafollow-ing the faileddope test.The identity of the wrestler has

beenwithheld because of a pending‘B’ sample test. The WrestlingFederation of India (WFI) said theywere unaware of the incidentwhilethe National Anti-Doping Agency(NADA)didnotcomment.Wrestling isoneof India’sbiggest

medalsportsandhassecuredpodiumplacesinthreeback-to-backOlympics(2008, 2012 and 2016). At the sametime, it is also one of the sportswithmaximum doping cases. As perNADA’s2019-2020records,wrestlingwas the sportwith the third-highestanti-doping rule violators after ath-letics and weightlifting. It had ac-counted for12 ruleviolationsduringthatperiod.This is for thesecondconsecutive

Olympics thatan Indianwrestlerhasfailed a dope test just before theOlympics. Ahead of the Rio Gamesfive years ago, Narsingh Yadav faileda drug test that became one of thebiggest scandals in Indian sport.Yadav,whohadbeenselectedafter along-drawn court battle with two-timeOlympicmedalistSushilKumar,accusedhis rivals of spikinghis food.Yadav made a return and tried toqualify for the Tokyo Olympics butfailed todo so.

Olympics-boundIndian wrestlerfails dope test