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  • &6%$ !˜< 0# ˚ -ˆ (’/˚+ ˚+ *+: -˚::*< ?’> ˚- ˚ ’-ˆ...2021/01/05  · Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. The NCBS, InSTEM in Bengaluru, CDFD in Hyderabad,
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T he seventh round of talks between protesting farmers’ unions and the Government failed to end the impasse on Monday as the Government ruled out rollback of the three agricultural laws and the farmer leaders refused to call off their agitation till that hap- pens. The next round of talks will be held on January 8. According to farmers’ leader Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, the Union Ministers have clearly said that the laws will not be repealed. “The Ministers even told us to approach the Supreme Court for repeal of the laws,” he said. The farmer lead- ers said they will continue with their agitation till the laws are repealed. The Government, repre- sented by Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Prakash, told the delegation of 41 partici- pating union leaders that it would review any clause the protesters have a problem with. The Ministers also asked the farmer leaders to point out what they considered objec- tionable in the legislations. The Government has main- tained that these apprehen- sions are misplaced and has ruled out repealing the laws. Sources said the Government has offered a joint committee on minimum sup- port price for crops to discuss the farmers’ demand for legal- ising it, but the union leaders remained adamant on dis- cussing the repeal of the farm laws. During the meeting, the Government listed various benefits from the three laws, enacted a few months ago, but farmers kept insisting that the legislation must be withdrawn to address their apprehensions that the new Acts would weak- en the MSP and mandi system and leave them at the mercy of big corporates. After the meeting, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Government is sensitive about farmers’ issues and offered clause-wise discussion on the three Acts but they could not reach a conclusion. “We are hopeful that we can find a solution in the next meeting on January 8,” Tomar said but asserted that efforts need to be made from both sides for a solution to be reached (taali dono haathon se bajti hai). “The meeting was held in good atmosphere but farmers were adamant on their demands and we could not arrive at any conclusion. The Government wanted a clause- wise discussion on the legisla- tions to take forward the talks,” he said. “Several rounds of talks are held during such important issues. The Government has to decide keeping in mind farm- ers of the entire country. Both sides want to resolve the issue. The laws have been made keep- ing in mind the best interest of farmers,” Tomar added. The first two hours of talks focussed only on the three laws and the other key demand of farmers for a legal guaran- tee to the MSP procurement system did not come up for dis- cussions. Sources said before the meeting at Vigyan Bhavan began, both parties observed a two-minute silence as a mark of tribute to the 50 protesting farmers who died during the agitation. Farmer leaders, however, alleged that it was the Government’s “ego problem” that was coming in the way of resolving the issues and they insisted they would not relent on their key demands for the repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee for the MSP (minimum support price) sys- tem for procurement of their crops. The Government is not interested in resolving the issue, claimed farmer leaders. From the very beginning of the meeting, union leaders kept on insisting on the repeal of the three contentious farm laws and the two sides took a long break after just about one hour of discussions. Farmer leaders said the Government informed them that it needs to consult inter- nally and thereafter it would come back to the unions. During the meeting, farmers categorically told the Ministers that they don’t want clause by clause discussions on three farm laws. “We have already rejected any alternative to repeal. We want quick withdrawal of these laws and it can be done through Ordinance when Parliament is not in session,” the union leaders said. Farmers’ leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Rakesh Tikait said that ‘Kanun wapsi nahi, to ghar wapsi nahi’ (We will not go home until the laws are withdrawn). The union leaders will also have their own meeting on Tuesday to decide their next course of action. A total of 38 people have test- ed positive for the new UK variant of SARS-CoV-2 in India so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. These include the 29 cases which were announced till Friday. All these people have been kept in single-room iso- lation in designated health- care facilities by respective State Governments and their close contacts have also been put under quarantine, the Ministry said. Of the 38, the mutated UK strain was detected in eight samples at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi, 11 in the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi, one in the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani (near Kolkata). The other five samples were detected in the National Institute of Virology in Pune, three in Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in Hyderabad and 10 were sequenced at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences Hospital (NIMHANS), Bengaluru. The NCBS, InSTEM in Bengaluru, CDFD in Hyderabad, ILS in Bhubaneswar and NCCS in Pune have so far found no UK mutant virus, the Ministry said. “A total of 38 samples have been found to be positive with the new UK variant genome,” the Ministry said. It said comprehensive con- tact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family con- tacts and others. Genome sequencing on other speci- mens is going on, it added. “The situation is under careful watch and regular advice is being provided to the States for enhanced surveil- lance, containment, testing and dispatch of samples to INSACOG labs,” the Ministry stated. The presence of the new UK variant has already been reported by Denmark, Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Sweden, France, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore. L auding scientists and tech- nicians for coming out with India’ indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Modi on Monday said world’s biggest vaccination drive against coronavirus is set to begin in the country. “World’s biggest Covid-19 vaccination programme set to begin in India. For this, the country is proud of the contri- butions of its scientists and technicians,” Modi said. He was addressing scientists at the National Metrology Conclave. Asserting that “Made in India” products should not only have a global demand but also global acceptance, the PM said, adding, “Quality is as much important as quantity, our standards should rise with our scale in our quest for Aatmanirbhar Bharat.” Modi said in any progres- sive society, research is key and effective and its effects are commercial and social. They also help widen approach and thinking. “We do not want to fill the world with Indian products, but we must win the hearts of every customer of Indian prod- ucts in every corner of the world,” he said. Quality of services in our country and products, both public or private sector will determine India’s strength in the world, he reiterated. The Prime Minister point- ed out that historically any country has progressed in direct correlation to its effort to promote science. He termed this “value creation cycle” of science, technology and indus- try. He said scientific invention creates technology and this leads to industry development. Industry, in turn, invests fur- ther in science for new research. “This value creation cycle of science to mass creation has become all the more important in today’s world when the country is moving forward with the goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar’ India. CSIR will have to play its role in this,” he said. Modi also dedicated the National Atomic Timescale and Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya Pranali to the nation and laid the foundation stone of the National Environmental Standards Laboratory through video conference. The con- clave was organised by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory (CSIR- NPL), New Delhi, on its 75th year of inception. The NPL is one of the oldest laboratories in the country. Modi said metrology also sets the foundation for any sci- entific achievement and no research can proceed without measurements. “Even our achievement has to be measured on some scale. The credibility of the country in the world will be dependent on the reliability of its metrol- ogy. Metrology is like a mirror showing us our standing in the world, the scope for improve- ment,” said the PM. T he Government will have to shell out between 219 to 292 per shot of Covishield vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford and sold and man- ufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) in the country. The SII has a licence to produce the shot and has already manufactured close to 50 million doses. The Government has plans to roll out the vaccination drive at the earliest with at least 3 crore health workers and corona warriors to be given the jab in the first phase. However, the Covishield vaccine is likely to cost 1,000 per dose when it is available in the open market and for private use. As of now, the SII cannot export or sell in the open mar- ket its Covid-19 vaccine. Adar Poonawalla, chief executive officer of the SII, has said that the vaccine manufac- turer is likely to charge a spe- cial price of 200 per dose for the first 100 million jabs, which it will supply to the Government. Indian drug regulator on Sunday approved Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for restricted emergency use in the country. “We want the vac- cine to be affordable and acces- sible to all. The Government of India will receive it at a far more affordable price of $3-4, since they will be buying in a larger volume,” he said. Poonawalla, said the pri- ority supplies will go to India and the GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) nations. Only after meeting their requirements, “the private mar- ket will open up where the pric- ing would be $6-8 per dose,” he said. Serum will have 100 mil- lion doses in a month, and will possibly double it by April. The Government has indi- cated that it may need 300 mil- lion doses before July 2021, with frontline health workers and the elderly given priority. A day after the DCGI’s deci- sion to approve Covaxin kicked up a major row with a string of experts pointing to the lack of its efficacy data, its developer Bharat Biotech hit out on Monday at critics assert- ing that the company was in “no way” inferior to Pfizer, a US pharma MNC, in terms of coronavirus vaccine. Bharat Biotech managing director Dr Krishna Ella clar- ified the phase 3 trial in India will be over in the next two- three days and the data should be available by February or March. While claiming that Bharat Biotech is the only firm to have published five articles on the Covid-19 vaccine process, Dr Ella at a virtual Press confer- ence also questioned Serum Institute of India’s Covishield authorisation in the absence of phase 3 data from Indian trials. “They don’t have any immunogenicity data — why were they given the licence? They have been given licences based on the UK data. Where is their Indian data?” Dr Ella asked without naming SII. Dr Ella also took an oppor- tunity to slam AIIMS director Dr Randeep Guleria for his comment regarding the use of Covaxin as a “backup”. “I don’t understand what is ‘backup’. On TV, everyone can sling mud at each other. We are all now cleaning our coats. There is no backup for humans. No backup for virus,” Dr Ella said. “I have not got any Gates Foundation money. Still, we have taken the risk and man- ufactured 20 million doses. We are an Indian company struggling alone,” he said. On Sunday the DCGI granted “restricted use in an emergency situation in public interest” to Covaxin and AstraZeneca-Oxford University’s Covishield, which will be produced by Pune- based SII. The drug regulator and the Hyderabad firm has been drawing flak for getting approval for the Covaxin with experts flagging the lack of phase III trial data and others questioning the drug’s efficacy, branding it “... safe, like water”. C hief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that a separate development plan should be prepared for each district. Its implementation will start from April 1st. Development plans should also be made at the gram panchay- at level. Chouhan said that besides providing full benefit of devel- opment to the citizens, the state government is committed for good law and order. Along with the creation of District Development Plan, our prior- ity is to provide good gover- nance, optimum use of modern technology, better implemen- tation of schemes, providing necessary services on time to the citizens, strengthen law and order and strengthening all types of mafia. All collectors, commissioners and officials of government level should work in accordance with these goals and perform. Only those who perform well will continue in positions. Continued on Page 3 A nnoyed over the state of affairs in Gwalior, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during the confer- ence directed the officials to immediately remove Gwalior Municipal Commissioner Sandeep Kumar Makin.Within a couple of hours, an order to transfer Makin was issued. For the past few days, the sanitation workers in Gwalior are agitating over delay in their wages. On Monday, the work- ers did not collect garbage door to door and whatever they collected threw on main roads. The CM got annoyed over the Municipal Commissioner for not handling the situation properly and directed to trans- fer him. He has been posted as Deputy Secretary in State Mantralaya. A brupt weather conditions with light rainfall was wit- nessed in state capital on Monday while day was wit- nessed with changing tempera- tures while light rainfall and shal- low fog is likely to be witnessed in the morning on Tuesday. The day and night temperatures were recorded at 19.3 and 16.7 degree Celsius in the state capital and this narrowed difference main- tained cold conditions at extreme on Monday. Rainfall has been witnessed in Ujjain, Gwalior and Chambal divisions with Malhargarh, Sheopur and Badoda recorded 3 cm of rain- fall which was the highest in the state, Manasa recorded 2 cm while Ater recorded 1 cm of rainfall. The night temperature are recording at chilling cold lev- els, lowest night temperature was recorded at 9 degree Celsius in Mandla. Significant increase in day temperatures have been recorded at few places which recorded day temperatures were recorded around 30 degree Celsius. Continued on Page 3 RNI Regn. No. MPENG/2004/13703, Regd. No. L-2/BPLON/41/2006-2008

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  • ������������ ��������

    The seventh round of talksbetween protesting farmers’unions and the Governmentfailed to end the impasse onMonday as the Governmentruled out rollback of the threeagricultural laws and thefarmer leaders refused to calloff their agitation till that hap-pens. The next round of talkswill be held on January 8.

    According to farmers’leader Sarwan Singh Pandherof the Kisan MazdoorSangharsh Committee, theUnion Ministers have clearlysaid that the laws will not berepealed. “The Ministers eventold us to approach theSupreme Court for repeal of thelaws,” he said. The farmer lead-ers said they will continuewith their agitation till thelaws are repealed.

    The Government, repre-sented by Union MinistersNarendra Singh Tomar, PiyushGoyal and Som Prakash, toldthe delegation of 41 partici-pating union leaders that itwould review any clause theprotesters have a problem with.The Ministers also asked thefarmer leaders to point outwhat they considered objec-tionable in the legislations.The Government has main-tained that these apprehen-

    sions are misplaced and hasruled out repealing the laws.

    Sources said theGovernment has offered a jointcommittee on minimum sup-port price for crops to discussthe farmers’ demand for legal-ising it, but the union leadersremained adamant on dis-cussing the repeal of the farmlaws. During the meeting, theGovernment listed various

    benefits from the three laws,enacted a few months ago, butfarmers kept insisting that thelegislation must be withdrawnto address their apprehensionsthat the new Acts would weak-en the MSP and mandi systemand leave them at the mercy ofbig corporates.

    After the meeting, UnionAgriculture Minister NarendraSingh Tomar said the

    Government is sensitive aboutfarmers’ issues and offeredclause-wise discussion on thethree Acts but they could notreach a conclusion.

    “We are hopeful that wecan find a solution in the nextmeeting on January 8,” Tomarsaid but asserted that effortsneed to be made from bothsides for a solution to bereached (taali dono haathon se

    bajti hai). “The meeting washeld in good atmosphere butfarmers were adamant on theirdemands and we could notarrive at any conclusion. TheGovernment wanted a clause-wise discussion on the legisla-tions to take forward the talks,”he said.

    “Several rounds of talks areheld during such importantissues. The Government has todecide keeping in mind farm-ers of the entire country. Bothsides want to resolve the issue.The laws have been made keep-ing in mind the best interest offarmers,” Tomar added.

    The first two hours of talksfocussed only on the threelaws and the other key demandof farmers for a legal guaran-tee to the MSP procurementsystem did not come up for dis-cussions.

    Sources said before themeeting at Vigyan Bhavanbegan, both parties observed atwo-minute silence as a markof tribute to the 50 protestingfarmers who died during theagitation.

    Farmer leaders, however,alleged that it was theGovernment’s “ego problem”that was coming in the way ofresolving the issues and theyinsisted they would not relenton their key demands for therepeal of the three laws and a

    legal guarantee for the MSP(minimum support price) sys-tem for procurement of theircrops. The Government is notinterested in resolving the issue,claimed farmer leaders.

    From the very beginning ofthe meeting, union leaderskept on insisting on the repealof the three contentious farmlaws and the two sides took along break after just about onehour of discussions.

    Farmer leaders said theGovernment informed themthat it needs to consult inter-nally and thereafter it wouldcome back to the unions.During the meeting, farmerscategorically told the Ministersthat they don’t want clause byclause discussions on threefarm laws.

    “We have already rejectedany alternative to repeal. Wewant quick withdrawal of theselaws and it can be donethrough Ordinance whenParliament is not in session,”the union leaders said.

    Farmers’ leader ofBharatiya Kisan Union (BKU),Rakesh Tikait said that ‘Kanunwapsi nahi, to ghar wapsi nahi’(We will not go home until thelaws are withdrawn). Theunion leaders will also havetheir own meeting on Tuesdayto decide their next course ofaction.

    ���� ��������

    Atotal of 38 people have test-ed positive for the new UKvariant of SARS-CoV-2 inIndia so far, the Union HealthMinistry said on Monday.

    These include the 29 caseswhich were announced tillFriday. All these people havebeen kept in single-room iso-lation in designated health-care facilities by respectiveState Governments and theirclose contacts have also beenput under quarantine, theMinistry said.

    Of the 38, the mutatedUK strain was detected in eight

    samples at the National Centrefor Disease Control (NCDC),New Delhi, 11 in the Instituteof Genomics and IntegrativeBiology (IGIB), Delhi, one inthe National Institute ofBiomedical Genomics, Kalyani(near Kolkata).

    The other five sampleswere detected in the NationalInstitute of Virology in Pune,three in Centre for Cellular andMolecular Biology (CCMB) inHyderabad and 10 weresequenced at the NationalInstitute of Mental Health andNeuro Sciences Hospital(NIMHANS), Bengaluru.

    The NCBS, InSTEM inBengaluru, CDFD inHyderabad, ILS inBhubaneswar and NCCS inPune have so far found no UKmutant virus, the Ministrysaid.

    “A total of 38 samples havebeen found to be positive withthe new UK variant genome,”the Ministry said.

    It said comprehensive con-tact tracing has been initiatedfor co-travellers, family con-tacts and others. Genomesequencing on other speci-mens is going on, it added.

    “The situation is undercareful watch and regularadvice is being provided to theStates for enhanced surveil-lance, containment, testing anddispatch of samples toINSACOG labs,” the Ministrystated.

    The presence of the newUK variant has already beenreported by Denmark,Netherlands, Australia, Italy,Sweden, France, Spain,Switzerland, Germany, Canada,Japan, Lebanon and Singapore.

    ���� ���������

    Lauding scientists and tech-nicians for coming out withIndia’ indigenously developedCovid-19 vaccine, PrimeMinister Modi on Mondaysaid world’s biggest vaccinationdrive against coronavirus isset to begin in the country.

    “World’s biggest Covid-19vaccination programme set tobegin in India. For this, thecountry is proud of the contri-butions of its scientists andtechnicians,” Modi said. Hewas addressing scientists atthe National MetrologyConclave.

    Asserting that “Made inIndia” products should notonly have a global demand butalso global acceptance, the PMsaid, adding, “Quality is asmuch important as quantity,our standards should rise withour scale in our quest forAatmanirbhar Bharat.”

    Modi said in any progres-sive society, research is key andeffective and its effects arecommercial and social. Theyalso help widen approach andthinking.

    “We do not want to fill theworld with Indian products,but we must win the hearts ofevery customer of Indian prod-

    ucts in every corner of theworld,” he said.

    Quality of services in ourcountry and products, bothpublic or private sector willdetermine India’s strength inthe world, he reiterated.

    The Prime Minister point-ed out that historically anycountry has progressed indirect correlation to its effort topromote science. He termedthis “value creation cycle” ofscience, technology and indus-try. He said scientific inventioncreates technology and thisleads to industry development.Industry, in turn, invests fur-ther in science for newresearch.

    “This value creation cycleof science to mass creation hasbecome all the more importantin today’s world when thecountry is moving forwardwith the goal of ‘Aatmanirbhar’India. CSIR will have to play itsrole in this,” he said.

    Modi also dedicated the

    National Atomic Timescaleand Bhartiya Nirdeshak DravyaPranali to the nation and laidthe foundation stone of theNational EnvironmentalStandards Laboratory throughvideo conference. The con-clave was organised by theCouncil of Scientific andIndustrial Research-NationalPhysical Laboratory (CSIR-NPL), New Delhi, on its 75thyear of inception. The NPL isone of the oldest laboratories inthe country.

    Modi said metrology alsosets the foundation for any sci-entific achievement and noresearch can proceed withoutmeasurements.

    “Even our achievement hasto be measured on some scale.The credibility of the countryin the world will be dependenton the reliability of its metrol-ogy. Metrology is like a mirrorshowing us our standing in theworld, the scope for improve-ment,” said the PM.

    ���� ��������

    The Government will have toshell out between �219 to�292 per shot of Covishieldvaccine developed byAstraZeneca and the Universityof Oxford and sold and man-ufactured by Pune-basedSerum Institute of India (SII) inthe country. The SII has alicence to produce the shot andhas already manufactured closeto 50 million doses.

    The Government has plansto roll out the vaccinationdrive at the earliest with at least3 crore health workers andcorona warriors to be given thejab in the first phase.

    However, the Covishieldvaccine is likely to cost �1,000per dose when it is available inthe open market and for privateuse. As of now, the SII cannotexport or sell in the open mar-ket its Covid-19 vaccine.

    Adar Poonawalla, chief

    executive officer of the SII, hassaid that the vaccine manufac-turer is likely to charge a spe-cial price of �200 per dose forthe first 100 million jabs, whichit will supply to theGovernment.

    Indian drug regulator onSunday approved Covishieldand Bharat Biotech’s Covaxinfor restricted emergency use inthe country. “We want the vac-cine to be affordable and acces-sible to all. The Government ofIndia will receive it at a farmore affordable price of $3-4,since they will be buying in alarger volume,” he said.

    Poonawalla, said the pri-ority supplies will go to Indiaand the GAVI (Global Alliancefor Vaccines andImmunization) nations.

    Only after meeting theirrequirements, “the private mar-ket will open up where the pric-ing would be $6-8 per dose,” hesaid. Serum will have 100 mil-lion doses in a month, and willpossibly double it by April.

    The Government has indi-cated that it may need 300 mil-lion doses before July 2021,with frontline health workersand the elderly given priority.

    �������������� ��������

    Aday after the DCGI’s deci-sion to approve Covaxinkicked up a major row with astring of experts pointing to thelack of its efficacy data, itsdeveloper Bharat Biotech hitout on Monday at critics assert-ing that the company was in“no way” inferior to Pfizer, a USpharma MNC, in terms ofcoronavirus vaccine.

    Bharat Biotech managingdirector Dr Krishna Ella clar-ified the phase 3 trial in Indiawill be over in the next two-three days and the data shouldbe available by February orMarch.

    While claiming that BharatBiotech is the only firm to havepublished five articles on theCovid-19 vaccine process, DrElla at a virtual Press confer-ence also questioned SerumInstitute of India’s Covishieldauthorisation in the absence ofphase 3 data from Indian trials.

    “They don’t have anyimmunogenicity data — whywere they given the licence?They have been given licencesbased on the UK data. Whereis their Indian data?” Dr Ellaasked without naming SII.

    Dr Ella also took an oppor-tunity to slam AIIMS director

    Dr Randeep Guleria for hiscomment regarding the use ofCovaxin as a “backup”.

    “I don’t understand what is‘backup’. On TV, everyone cansling mud at each other. We areall now cleaning our coats.There is no backup for humans.No backup for virus,” Dr Ellasaid.

    “I have not got any GatesFoundation money. Still, wehave taken the risk and man-ufactured 20 million doses.We are an Indian companystruggling alone,” he said.

    On Sunday the DCGIgranted “restricted use in anemergency situation in publicinterest” to Covaxin andA s t r a Z e n e c a - O x f o r dUniversity’s Covishield, whichwill be produced by Pune-based SII.

    The drug regulator andthe Hyderabad firm has beendrawing f lak for gettingapproval for the Covaxin withexperts flagging the lack ofphase III trial data and othersquestioning the drug’s efficacy,branding it “... safe, like water”.

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    Chief Minister Shivraj SinghChouhan has said that aseparate development planshould be prepared for eachdistrict. Its implementationwill start from April 1st.Development plans should alsobe made at the gram panchay-at level.

    Chouhan said that besidesproviding full benefit of devel-opment to the citizens, thestate government is committedfor good law and order. Alongwith the creation of DistrictDevelopment Plan, our prior-ity is to provide good gover-nance, optimum use of moderntechnology, better implemen-tation of schemes, providingnecessary services on time to

    the citizens, strengthen lawand order and strengthening alltypes of mafia. All collectors,commissioners and officials ofgovernment level should work

    in accordance with these goalsand perform. Only those whoperform well will continue inpositions.

    Continued on Page 3

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    Annoyed over the state ofaffairs in Gwalior, ChiefMinister Shivraj SinghChouhan during the confer-ence directed the officials toimmediately remove GwaliorMunicipal CommissionerSandeep Kumar Makin.Within

    a couple of hours, an order totransfer Makin was issued.

    For the past few days, thesanitation workers in Gwaliorare agitating over delay in theirwages. On Monday, the work-ers did not collect garbagedoor to door and whatever theycollected threw on main roads.

    The CM got annoyed overthe Municipal Commissionerfor not handling the situationproperly and directed to trans-fer him. He has been posted asDeputy Secretary in StateMantralaya.

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    Abrupt weather conditionswith light rainfall was wit-nessed in state capital onMonday while day was wit-nessed with changing tempera-tures while light rainfall and shal-low fog is likely to be witnessedin the morning on Tuesday. Theday and night temperatures wererecorded at 19.3 and 16.7 degreeCelsius in the state capital andthis narrowed difference main-tained cold conditions at extremeon Monday.

    Rainfall has been witnessedin Ujjain, Gwalior andChambal divisions withMalhargarh, Sheopur andBadoda recorded 3 cm of rain-fall which was the highest inthe state, Manasa recorded 2cm while Ater recorded 1 cm

    of rainfall.The night temperature are

    recording at chilling cold lev-els, lowest night temperaturewas recorded at 9 degreeCelsius in Mandla. Significant

    increase in day temperatureshave been recorded at fewplaces which recorded daytemperatures were recordedaround 30 degree Celsius.

    Continued on Page 3

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    The deadly avian influenza-H5N1 has been confirmedin migratory birds, whose car-casses were found in Pongwetland in Himachal’s Kangradistrict.

    Around 2000 migratorybirds have died till Mondayevening due to the outbreak ofbird flu at Pong Dam Lake,which is known as migratorybirds’ paradise. Following this,a bird flu alert has been sound-ed in the state.

    According to the reportreceived from NationalInstitute of High SecurityAnimal Diseases in Bhopal,samples of five dead Bar-

    Headed Goose were foundpositive for H5N1 avianInfluenza virus by Real timeRT-PCR. The samples weretaken from Wildlife Sanctuary,Pong Dam, Himachal.

    The bird flu scare comesamid COVID-19 pandemicoutbreak across the country.Several states includingRajasthan, Kerala and MadhyaPradesh have also soundedbird flu alert after the death ofbirds.

    Currently, several coun-tries in Europe and East Asiaare also grappling with an out-break of highly pathogenicavian influenza.

    Since the past one week,2000 migratory birds havereportedly died due to the out-break of bird flu at Pong Dam.

    The dead birds were ofaround nine species and max-imum of those were Bar-Headed Geese. Other speciesincluded Common Teal,Northern Pintail, Tufted Duck,Common Pochard, Ruddy

    Shelduck and GreatCormorant.

    Following the confirmationof bird flu, a high-level meet-ing was held between theKangra district Administration,Forest and WildlifeDepartment and otherDepartments to deal with thesituation and control the spreadof bird flu in the state.

    During the meeting, it wasdecided to collect samples frompoultry farms and get themtested for bird flu.

    One km area around Pongdam has already been declaredas alert zone (red zone) andhuman and livestock activitieshave been banned in the areawhile nine km area would besurveillance zone till furtherorders.

    The local Administrationhas also prohibited slaughter-ing, sale, purchase and exportof any poultry birds, fish of anybreed and their related prod-ucts in Fatehpur, Dehra, Jawaliand Indora sub-divisions of the

    district. The shops selling theseproducts would also remainclosed in these four subdivi-sions till further orders.

    “An advisory has beenissued for taking preventionand control measures in viewof bird flu. Experts are moni-toring and supervising theentire exercise and the teams offorest guards and other fieldstaff deputed at Pong wetlandare keeping a strict vigil in thearea,” said Upasana Patiyal,Chief Conservator of Forest(wildlife wing) Kangra whiletalking to The Pioneer.

    The Department’s employ-ees collect the bodies of deadbirds by wearing a PPE kit andthen burn the carcass. Theremnants are then buried in adeep pit to contain the spreadof bird flu, she said.

    Taking precautionary mea-sures, the Department hasalready closed the entry oftourists and other visitors in thePong Dam area. Also, the vil-lagers have been asked not to

    graze cattle in the area, sheadded.

    According to the guidelinesissued by the World HealthOrganisation (WHO), H5N1 isa type of influenza virus thatcauses a highly infectious,severe respiratory disease inbirds called avian influenza.Human cases of H5N1 avianinfluenza occur occasionally,but it is difficult to transmit theinfection from person to per-son. Almost all people withH5N1 infection have had closecontact with infected birds orH5N1-contaminated environ-ments. When people dobecome infected, the mortali-ty rate is about 60 percent.

    Notably, Pong Dam wet-land, known as 'BirdingParadise', is currently hostingaround 60000 migratory birdsof different species namelyEurasian Coot, NorthernPintail, Common Teal,Northern Shoveler, CommonPochard, Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gull, Brown-headed

    Gull, Little Ringed Plover,Ruddy Shelduck, Gadwal,Eurasian Wigeon, GreenSandpiper, Wood Sandpiper,Pallas's Gull, Gull-billed Tern,Great Cormorant, Osprey,White Wagtail among manyothers.

    Escaping extreme winterchill in their summer homes,lakhs of migratory birds fromCentral Asia and Siberian reachPong Dam every year byOctober and stay till March.

    Earlier in March also, thesamples from migratory birdsthat had visited Pong Damwere collected and sent for test-ing. All samples had tested neg-ative for avian influenza virusat that time.

    The Pong Dam, about 100kms from Dharamshala, isknown as Pong Reservoir, PongDam Lake and the MaharanaPratap Sagar. The site is a well-known wildlife sanctuary andone of the international wet-land sites declared in India bythe Ramsar Convention.

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    After the detection of bird fluat Pong Dam in Himachal,the Chandigarh Administrationon Monday launched an activesurveillance and monitoringprogramme at Sukhna Lake,where migratory birds havearrived for their annual sojourn.

    More than 1000 migratorybirds have reached Sukhna Lakeand water bodies in SukhnaWildlife Sanctuary this timeDrAbdul Qayum, DeputyConservator of Forests,Chandigarh told The Pioneer theforest guards and other field staffhave been directed to keep astrict vigil and report to the officein case of death of any migrato-

    ry bird.We are continuously moni-

    toring the situation. No death ofmigratory bird has so far beenreported in Chandigarh, headded.Notably in December2014, after positive reports of serasamples of ducks in SukhnaLake, bird flu was declared by theGovernment of India in the city.

    Nearly 90 ducks were culledat Sukhna Lake following thedetection of bird flu and the UTAdministration had issuedorders putting a ban on the entryof people to the city's primetourist spot- Sukhna Lake andsurrounding areas for more thana month’s time.

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    From Page 1Khargone recorded day temperature at 33 degree Celsius

    while Khandwa recorded day temperature at 30.1 degreeCelsius. The Met department issued warning of thundery activ-ities of Ratlam, Neemuch, Mandsaur, Sheopur and Indore dis-tricts. Shallow to moderate fog conditions would be witnessedin Chambal division, Bhopal, Rajgarh, Shivpuri, Datia, Gwalior,Neemuch and Mandsaur.

    Light to moderate with light rain and strong winds are like-ly to be witnessed in Guna and Shivpuri in Ashoknagar, Neemuch,Tikamgarh, Betul, and Datia districts. Rain and thunderstormsand light rains are expected in Rajgarh, Niwari, Soni, Mandla,Hoshangabad, Gwalior, Raisen, Bhind, Chhatarpur, Mandsaurand Ratlam.

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    Haryana got its first e-charg-ing station in Panchkula topromote the use of electricvehicles in the state.

    Union Secretary, Ministryof Petroleum and Natural Gas,Tarun Kapoor inaugurated thee-charging station at theRenewable Energy Building inPanchkula. At this e-chargingstation, free-charging facilitywill be provided to all types ofelectric vehicles.

    It was informed that thegovernment will install e-charging stations at 500 placesin the state so that an e-charg-ing station can be set up afterevery three kilometers.

    Speaking on this occasion,Tarun Kapoor said that if suf-ficient numbers of e-chargingstations are available for e-vehicles, then more people willbe able to use e-vehicles.

    He said that petrol anddiesel have to be importedfrom outside, but we haveenough solar power, therefore,efforts are being made to installsuch e-charging stations inevery corner of the country fore-charging so that people cancharge their vehicles withoutfacing inconvenience. Now it isnecessary to increase the cir-culation of e-vehicles in theelectronic era, he added.

    Haryana Additional ChiefSecretary, New and Renewable

    Energy Department, TC Guptainformed that Haryana is thefirst state in the country to con-serve renewable energy.

    Haryana Government hastaken several necessary steps,which have benefited the citi-zens greatly. With the availabil-ity of e-charging stations, citi-zens will develop an inclinationtowards e-vehicles, he said.

    During the year 2021, theDepartments in Haryana willhire only e-vehicles, he said.

    The Additional ChiefSecretary said that it has beendecided by the department toinstall e-charging stations at500 places in the state so thatan e-charging station can be setup after every three kilometers.

    He informed that due to theintroduction of e-vehicles, theconsumption per km of petroland diesel driven vehicles willalso be very low. The noise andpollution from e-vehicles willalso be very low and e-chargingstations will prove to be effec-tive in bringing revolution in thefield of e-vehicles, Gupta added.

    On this occasion, keys offive e-vehicles were handedover to persons from Karnal,Gurugram, Faridabad, andPanchkula. During the pro-gramme, HAREDA also signedan agreement with M / sConvergence Energy ServiceLimited CESL, under whichinfrastructure will be developedin the state for e-vehicles.

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    Amid concerns over the effi-cacy of Covishield vaccina-tion for COVID-19, PGIMERDirector Dr Jagat Ram onMonday said that there is noadverse effect of the trial of boththe doses for Covishield vacci-nation.

    The trial was conductedsuccessfully on 149 volunteers,Dr Jagat Ram said during ameeting convened by PunjabGovernor and UT AdministratorVP Singh Badnore to reviewCOVID-19 situation in the city.

    The PGIMER Director saidthat the hospital has 63 COVIDpatients in Nehru HospitalExtension, out of which 20belonged to Chandigarh, 26 toPunjab, 8 to Haryana, 5 toHimachal Pradesh and remain-ing to other states.

    Notably, India’s drugs regu-lator DCGI had on Sunday gavefinal emergency use approval fortwo COVID-19 vaccines-Covishield and Covaxin.AstraZeneca and OxfordUniversity’s Covishield is beingmanufactured by Pune-basedSerum Institute of India (SII).

    Covishield is to be admin-istered in two doses and claimsto have an overall efficacy of 62per cent. The vaccine is believedto have higher efficacy if the twodoses are administered threemonths apart. During the meet-ing, it was informed that dry runexercise went on smoothly in thecity. The dry run of vaccination

    has been conducted at three sitesin GMSH-16, Civil Hospital,Manimajra and Sector 22Hospital to check end-to-endtesting of CoWin portal.

    The UT Administrator wasapprized that the staggering ofhealthcare workers for vaccina-tion needs to be done to ensurebetter coordinated effort andGovernment of India has alreadybeen requested to make requisiteamendment in the portal.

    A total of 8,830 healthcareworkers including private health-care providers have been regis-tered in Chandigarh, which areto be administered vaccinationin the first phase.

    KK Yadav, Commissioner,Municipal Corporationinformed that the data of almost10,500 frontline workers ofMunicipal Corporation has alsobeen compiled and ready foruploading for vaccination in thesecond phase. Similarly, data forother frontline workers likePolice, Civil Defence, Revenueand Disaster Management isalso being compiled.

    It was further informed thata total of 12,223 COVID sampleshave been tested in the last 12days, out of which 617 have beenfound positive with 5 percentpositivity rate. One walk-in-refrigerator has been sanctionedby the Government of India forChandigarh to augment the vac-cination effort. Apart from this,post-Covid Care Clinics are suc-cessfully operating in GMCH-32and GMSH-16.

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    From Page 1In the first session of the

    virtual Collectors-Commissioners Conference inMantralaya on Monday,Chouhan said that it is neces-sary that immediate and long-term efforts should be made toput an end to hooliganism,Naxalism, smuggling etc. in thestate.

    Chief Secretary Iqbal SinghBains and other officials werepresent in the conference.

    He said that MadhyaPradesh has to remain first inthe implementation of schemesinitiated by Prime MinisterModi. Our efforts should be thebest so that good results are achieved.

    Chouhan said that MadhyaPradesh has to remain numberone in every scheme. Thereshould be healthy competi-tion in the districts.

    He said that the state alsohas to stay ahead in the PrimeMinister’s schemes. Collectorsshould also make plans fordevelopment of districts at thelocal level.

    We do not have to walk upa blind alley. Regular monitor-ing of schemes is required.Commissioner and I.G. mustkeep an eye on all works undertheir jurisdiction. Annual planof development must be pre-pared.

    This plan has to be runfrom April 1. Reviews will beconducted every month.Districts will be rated on thisbasis, departments will also berated.

    He said that we have toincrease revenue also. Theexcuse of lack of funds will notwork. The role of districts willbe important.

    Chouhan said that all thedistricts should start makingpreparations to get their citi-zens vaccinated againstCorona.

    Priority groups will be vac-cinated first. Chouhan saidthat he has decided that he willnot get vaccinated first. Thepriority group should be thefirst to benefit.

    He instructed the collectorsthat after training of the HealthDepartment staff for vaccina-tion, further process should bepaced up. District level staffmust be active to implementthe system of vaccination.

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    Two Truck drivers werearrested here on Sundaynight allegedly after the recov-ery of over 2,223 kilograms ofmarijuana from a truck, offi-cials said on Monday.

    The accused were identi-fied as Bhupender (34) andOmji (34) both are residents ofKannauj district in UttarPradesh. They were smugglingmarijuana valued at crore ofrupees from Orissa to Uklanain Hisar, police said.

    The accused were hidingthe contraband inside bags ofcottonseed. The duo had alsostruck a deal with their accom-

    plice of Rs 4 lakh to supply thecontraband to uklana. 1 truck,380 bags of cottonseed, 70 bagsof marijuana (2,233.20 kg)recovered from their possession.

    "After getting a tip-off, acrime unit Sector-10 of theGurugram conducted a raidnear the Panchgaon Chowk onthe Kundli-Manesar-PalwalExpressway and arrested theduo on Sunday at around 11.30pm," ACP (crime), Preet PalSangwan said.

    During the search, 70gunny bags containing2,223.200 kilogram of mari-juana were found concealed ina middle cavity of the vehicle,the ACP said.

    “Duringquestioning the

    culprit disclosed that he hadhidden the contraband in thetruck among cottonseed bagsso that the police could be mis-led during checking and theycould easily supply the con-signment at the designatedplace. They used to sell mari-juana after dividing it intosmall packets,” Sangwan said.

    Both the arrested culpritswere booked under theNarcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act at the Bilaspurpolice station in Gurugram, thepolice said.

    The accused were pro-duced before a local court onMonday for further investiga-tions.

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    The crime branch unitSector-39 of the Gurugrampolice arrested two dreadedcriminals after an exchange offire in the early hours onMonday from Rithoj village inGurugram.However, threeother criminals managed toescape the spot due to darkness.The arrested two criminalssustained gunshot wounds intheir legs while two policemenalso suffered bullet injuriesduring the shootout, officialssaid on Monday.

    All the injured are under-going treatment at the CivilHospital Sector-10A inGurugram.The police haverecovered a Mahindra Scorpioand two pistols from their pos-session.The arrested accusedhave been identified as Sunil

    Kumar alias Sonu of CharkhiDadri and Sandeep ofHanuman district in Rajasthanwhile the absconding culpritswere identified as ShriBhagwan of Rohtak, Amit ofBikaner and Rahul Barar ofBathinda in Punjab.

    According to the police, allthe criminals were involved inheinous crimes committed inRajasthan and Punjab.

    The gunfight broke out ataround 4.00 am on Mondaymorning near the Rithoj villagein Gurugram.

    "All the five criminals in aScorpio were intercepted by thepolice team headed by Sub-Inspector Rajkumar near theBadshahpur governmentschool on the Sohna Roadafter a tip-off. After seeing thepolice party the accused hadtried to flee the spot while fir-ing on the police party.

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    Delhi Police has arrested its constable and his son A DelhiPolice head constable and his son after the latter used a proxycandidate during the force’s recruitment exam in Muzaffarpurdistrict in Bihar.

    The accused has been identified as head constable Vineet andhis 21 year-old son Kashish. Police said that Vineet was postedat the New Delhi Railways Station and suspected to have arrangedthe proxy candidate.

    According to a senior police official, Kashish, who was pur-suing graduation from distance learning, applied for the post ofconstable in the force. "Kashish filed Muzaffarpur as his examcentre. The exam was conducted on November 27, 2020. However,another person appeared in the examination centre and took theexam on behalf of Kashish," he said.

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    ABangladesh tri-service con-tingent will participate inthe forthcoming Republic Dayparade this year, coincidingwith the 50th anniversary ofthe India-Pakistan war andliberation of Bangladesh.

    Britain’s Prime MinisterBoris Johnson is the chief guestfor the Republic Day celebra-tions at the Rajpath.

    Given the raging coronapandemic, this year’s paradewill commence from its tradi-tional spot Vijay Chowk andend at the National Stadiuminstead of Red Fort. It meansthe parade will cover a distanceof about three kms instead ofnine kms in earlier years.

    Moreover, not more than25,000 spectators will beallowed to witness the paradeas against one lakh earlier.Also, children will not beallowed to see the parade at thevenue as a safety measureagainst pandemic, sources saidhere on Monday.

    The fly past will take place,they said adding the numberof soldiers in the marchingcontingents have also beenreduced as a precaution. Asagainst the 115 marchers inthe previous years, only 96 willmarch down the Rajpath thistime.

    As regards the Bangladeshcontingent, they said it willarrive in Delhi on January 12and will depart on January 30.Upon arrival, the contingentwill be quarantined till January

    19. The contingent includes amarching contingent and amilitary band.

    Indian Air Force (IAF)planes will ferry the contingentto and from Bangladesh. Thecontingent will be carryingtheir own ceremonial riflesand the personnel will be intheir combat dress during themarch past. It will also visitplaces of historical signifi-cance in Agra and Ajmer onJanuary 28 and 29 before theirdeparture.

    Sources said the Ministryof External Affairs (MEA) hasrequested the Bangladesh sideto include personnel from theArmy Units which took part inthe Liberation War in the vis-iting contingent. India andBangladesh have planned aseries of events through theyear to mark the 50th anniver-sary. In 2018, French Armybecame the first foreign con-tingent to take part in the

    Republic Day parade onRajpath.

    Incidentally, more than150 Army jawans tested pos-itive last month. They werepart of the marching contin-gents for the Republic Day andthe Army Day on January 15.Adequate steps were taken toquarantine them.

    Giving details of the coro-na test, sources said, “Thesoldiers who came in fromoutside to participate in vari-ous parades were tested beforeputting them into a safe bub-ble. Some of them tested pos-itive. Almost all except sevenare asymptomatic.”

    These were among thefew thousand soldiers whohave been tested, the sourcestated. Officials said the sol-diers who tested positive werequarantined at the DelhiCantonment where Covid-19facilities have been set upsince April.

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    The Congress on Mondayconstituted a four-mem-ber committee under the chair-manship of West BengalCongress chief Adhir RanjanChowdhury to hold talks withthe Left parties regarding seat-sharing and joint programmesfor the upcoming West BengalAssembly elections. The mem-bers are Abdul Mannan, PradipBhattacharya and NepalMahato.

    Both the parties haveengaged in talks for long to takeon the ruling TrinamoolCongress and an aggressiveBJP, which made inroads inBengal during the 2019 LokSabha elections. The commit-tee has been chosen to metic-ulously work on the data andanalysis and decide on theseats based on the groundreports from the workers of thealliances team.

    West Bengal Congress in-charge Jitin Prasada said talkson seat sharing will begin soonand the party will fight with fullforce to restore the pride ofBengal which is being“destroyed by the BJP andTMC”.

    Chowdhur y hadannounced last month that theCongress high command hadgiven its approval to tie upwith the Left in West Bengal.The Congress had also con-tested the last assembly elec-tion in alliance with the Left.In the last election, the CPI-

    M had contested 148 seats andwon 26. Congress had con-tested 92 but won 44, regis-tering a better strike rate thanits partner in the State. TheTMC had swept the electionby winning 211 of 295 seats.

    The West Bengal assemblyelections is expected to be adifficult terrain for the rulingTMC this year as the BJP hasmade massive inroads inBengal with high pitched cam-paigns led by its top leadersincluding Home MinisterAmit Shah. In the Lok Sabhaelections 2019 BJP won 18Lok Sabha seats with close to41 per cent vote share whichis just two per cent less thanwhat TMC got.

    BJP has sharpened itsattack on Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee in the recentpast.

    In one of the recent publicrallies, Home Minister AmitShah said that his party willform the next government bywinning over 200 seats. AIMIMchief Asaduddin Owaisi hasalso announced that his partywill contest the next Assemblypolls in Bengal.

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    The CBI has registered acase on a complaint fromPunjab National Bank againsta Delhi-based private com-pany Sonear Industries Ltdand others including its direc-tors/guarantors and unknownpublic ser vants/private persons for causing a loss of�168.73 crore to the publicsector lender.

    The CBI on Monday conducted searches at five locations in Delhi at the officeand residential premises ofthe accused firm and indi-viduals in the case.

    “It was alleged that thesaid accused had cheated thePunjab National Bank by wayof diversion of bank funds,fraudulent transactions, crim-inal misappropriation etc.,”the CBI said in a statement.

    Besides the firm, its pro-moter Jitendra Kejriwal,directors Roop Kishore Tuliand Mohan Kumar Jha havealso been named as accusedin the case.

    Earl ier, the SonearIndustries Ltd. Was incorpo-rated as Donear Décor PvtLtd. In May, 2004.

    The company is engagedin the business of manufacturing decorative ply-wood, veneers and laminatessold under the brand namesDonear/Sonear.

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    The CBI has booked aDefence Avionics ResearchEstablishment (DARE) scientistand a US-based firm for allegedirregularities in the import ofradar components worth aboutUSD one million in 2009, offi-cials said.

    The agency registered thecase after getting clearance tolodge FIR against Priya Suresh,a scientist then posted atDARE, Bengaluru, they said.

    Besides her, the CBI hasnamed AKON Inc based inCalifornia in the US in its FIRfor allegedly sending incom-plete equipment even afterreceiving payments for 35VCO-based RF Generator usedin radar-based electronic war-fare for USD one million (Rs7.3 crore as per presentexchange rates), they said.

    It is alleged that the com-pany was selected for supplyingthe equipment through a glob-al tender and 90 per cent of thepayment was made in threetranches in February, 2009,they said.

    The CBI has alleged thatshe had accepted these 35 unitseven after having knowledgefrom AKON representativesthrough emails that these unitswere in developmental stage,they said.

    The agency, which did apreliminary enquiry into thematter before filing the FIR,found that 24 units were sentback for “upgrade” withoutstating the nature of upgrade,11 remained in DARE store till

    2011 unused and untested,they alleged.

    She allegedly allowed bal-ance payment to be made toAKON certifying that unitswere working satisfactorilyknowing that 24 units are stillwith the USA-based vendor,they said.

    In 2011, after ensuringpayment to the vendor, the sci-entist recommended that 11units held in store are notworking at all and should besent back to the vendor forrepair, they said.

    The CBI has alleged thateven now only 13 units are heldby DARE and the remainingare with AKON, it said.

    The units supplied by thevendor did not meet the spec-ifications of the order and theirweight were approximatelythree times more than thedummy provided by it, theysaid.

    Testing of VCO-basedradar threat simulator couldnot be completed by aBengaluru-based vendor evenafter full payment of �9.5 lakhbecause of non-supply of thecomponent by AKON, it said.

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    The Income Tax departmenton Monday visited thepremises of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, to record hisstatement in connection withits probe against him under thebenami assets law, officialsources said

    They said Vadra was askedto join the investigation at the taxauthority’s office but as he citedCovid-19 restrictions, a team ofofficials visited his premises inDelhi’s Sukhdev Vihar area.

    A department team hasgone to record Vadra’s statementunder the provisions of theProhibition of Benami PropertyTransactions Act, they said.

    The department has beenprobing Vadra, the husband ofCongress leader PriyankaGandhi Vadra, on charges ofalleged possession of someundisclosed assets in the UK.

    The EnforcementDirectorate too is investigatingthese charges, under the anti-money laundering law, againstthe businessman.

    Vadra had denied anywrongdoing in the past even asthe Congress party had calledthe action political vendetta.

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    The India MeteorologicalDepartment (IMD) onMonday said that the averagemean land surface temperaturewas 0.29 degree Celsius abovenormal over the country in2020 and it was the eighthwarmest year on record sincenation-wide records com-menced in 1901.

    According to the IMD,extreme weather events likeextremely heavy rainfall, floods,landslides, thunderstorm, light-ning and cold waves hadclaimed over 1900 lives in2020.

    The IMD said that theaveraged seasonal mean tem-peratures were also above theaverage during all the seasonsexcept pre-monsoon seasonwhile averaged mean monthlytemperatures were warmerthan the normal during all themonths of the year exceptMarch and June in the country.

    “The monsoon and post-monsoon seasons with meantemperature anomalies (Actualtemperature-Normal tempera-ture) of +0.43 degree Celsiusand +0.53 degree Celsiusrespectively mainly contributedto this warming. Mean tem-perature during the winter wasalso above normal with anom-aly of +0.14 degree Celsius.However, during the pre-mon-soon season temperature was

    below normal (-0.03 degreeCelsius),” the IMD said in astatement on Climate of Indiaduring 2020.

    The five warmest years onrecord in order were: 2016(+0.71 degree Celsius), 2009(+0.55 degree Celsius), 2017(+0.541 degree Celsius), 2010(+0.539 degree C), and 2015(+0.42 degree Celsius). It maybe mentioned that 12 out of 15warmest years were during therecent 15 years (2006-2020).Past decade (2001-2010/2011-2020) was also thewarmest decade on record withanomalies of 0.23 degreeCelsius /0.34 degree Celsius.

    The country averagedannual mean temperature dur-ing 1901-2020 showed anincreasing trend of 0.62 degreeCelsius /100 years with signif-icant increasing trend in max-imum temperature (0.99 degree

    Celsius/100 years) and rela-tively lower increasing trend(0.24 degree Celsius/100 years)in minimum temperature.

    The Global mean surfacetemperature anomaly during2020 (January to October asper WMO state of the globalclimate) is +1.2 degree Celsius.

    The IMD said that thecountry also experienced otherhigh impact weather eventslike, extremely heavy rainfall,floods, landslide, thunder-storm, lightning and coldwaves. Bihar and Uttar Pradeshwere the most adversely affect-ed states during the year whichreportedly claimed more than350 deaths from each statemainly due to thunderstorm,lightning & cold wave events.

    Heavy rainfall and floodrelated incidents reportedlyclaimed over 600 lives from dif-ferent parts of the country

    during pre-monsoon, mon-soon & post-monsoon sea-sons. Of these, 129 lives werereportedly claimed fromAssam, 72 from Kerala[Specifically, 65 persons report-edly claimed dead in a singleday from Pettimudi in Munnar,Idukki district of Kerala on 7thAugust due to landslide.], 61from Telangana (while, 59 livesreportedly claimed only duringthe period 1st to 20th October),54 lives from Bihar, 50 fromMaharashtra, 48 Uttar Pradesh,& 38 from Himachal Pradesh.

    Thunderstorms and light-ning reportedly have claimed815 lives from different parts ofthe country. Among these, 280from Bihar, 220 from UttarPradesh, 122 from Jharkhand,72 from Madhya Pradesh, 23from Maharashtra and 20 fromAndhra Pradesh were signifi-cant.

    “Cold wave conditionsmainly prevailed over centralparts the country especially inthe month of January. It causeddeaths of about 150 people. Ofthese deaths, 88 deaths werereported from Uttar Pradeshalone, 45 from Bihar only onsingle day on 1st January & 16from Jharkhand,” the IMDsaid.

    “The annual rainfall overthe country was 109 % of longperiod average (LPA) of 117.7cms. During 2020, 5 cyclonesformed over the North IndianOcean,” it added.

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    Thiruvvananthapuram: At atime when Women's safety isa huge concern, a state-runagency is offering a platformfor them to get training in mar-tial arts for free of cost inKerala.

    The State YouthCommission, aimed at empow-ering youth and protectingtheir rights, is getting ready togive free self-defence trainingfor young women.

    The objective of the pro-gramme was to prepare everywoman in the southern statefor self-defence against physi-cal assault, Commission offi-cials here said.

    Those women, agedbetween18 and 40 years whohave registered with theCommunity Volunteer Force ofthe state government, can applyfor the free martial arts train-ing, the officials said.

    Chintha Jerome,Chairperson of the YouthCommission, said the trainingprogramme would begin inThiruvananthapuram districtin the initial phase. PTI

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    Thiruvananthapuram: Afterschools, Colleges and univer-sity campuses opened partiallyin Kerala on Monday, afterremaining closed for over 290days due to restrictions andlockdown imposed in the wakeof COVID-19 pandemic.

    Over 1,350 higher educa-tion institutions including artsand science and engineeringcolleges, state universities andthe lone central university in thestate located in Kasaragod wel-comed a limited number of stu-dents in compliance with strictCOVID protocols.

    Classes restarted for thefinal year undergraduate andpostgraduate students.

    Thermal screening, manda-tory usage of face masks, socialdistancing and frequent saniti-sation of campuses greeted stu-dents in each institution.

    As per the governmentinstructions, only 50 per cent of

    students were allowed in eachclass and shift system was intro-duced in many institutionsbased on the strength of stu-dents.

    The respective institutionscan arrange the classes in theircampus in two shifts between8.30 AM to 5 PM on all daysexcept Sundays, it said.The decision to increase theworking hours and to conductclasses on Saturday has irked asection of the academic frater-nity especially those belongingto teachers' unions affiliated toopposition parties.

    Schools in the southernstate, remained closed sincethe coronavirus-induced lock-down in March, had openedpartially on January 1 in adher-ence to COVID guidelines.Classes began for 10th and12th standard students in theschools in government and pri-vate sectors. PTI

    Puducherry: All schools here and inKaraikal re-opened on Monday with adher-ence to Covid-19 safety norms. Theschools remained shut for nine months dueto the pandemic-induced lockdown.

    Today, the institutions re-opened forhalf-a-day from 10 AM to 1 PM. Studentswere subjected to thermal scanning toassess their body temperature, a source said.

    The premises of schools were disinfectedas per the standard operating proceduresbefore being re-opened.

    Attendance was not insisted upon andletters of consent from parents were madenecessary.

    Already, students in standards X, XI andXII have been attending classes fromDecember 17in view of the public exams inthe next few months. Full-day classeswould be held from January 18.Attendance ranged between 80 to cent percent, the source said. PTI

    Patna: All educational institutions inBihar, including schools, colleges andcoaching centres, reopened onMonday after a gap of over ninemonths.

    Physical classes were held for stu-dents of standards 9-12 in schools andfinal year students in colleges. Theinstitutions were closed since March14 due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

    Wearing of masks, use of handsanitiser and maintenance of physi-cal distancing have been mademandatory at the educational insti-tutions. Schools have been asked tooperate at half the strength to ensuresocial distancing in classes.

    Attendance, however, remainedthin as many parents were appre-hensive of sending their wards to theeducational institutions till they werevaccinated. Many students, on theother hand, were enthusiastic aboutthe development. “I am happy thatschools have reopened as studentswere getting badly affected. Most of

    the children studying in governmentschools do not have laptops to carryout online studies. Our syllabus is lag-ging and we will work hard to coverit,” a class 9 student of Patna's MillerHigh School said.

    Another class 11 student said thatthough COVID-19 fears loom large,studies are equally important and can-not be missed, while assuring thatsafety protocols will be maintained.

    Teachers too seemed happy to beable to take physical classes again.

    “It is good that we are getting anopportunity to teach students inphysical classrooms. All these monthswe used to come to schools but didnot have teaching work,” an educatorof Miller High School said.

    The attendance of class 11 and 12students is lesser than that of class 9and 10 pupils, he said.

    Students have to bring consentletters from their guardians to be ableto attend the classes, another teachersaid. PTI

    Jaipur: Rajasthan Health MinisterRaghu Sharma on Monday said thestate government, after bringing downthe daily case count of COVID-19, isnow focusing on reducing the post-COVID-19 effect.

    Post-COVID-19 care treatment isnow the top priority of the state gov-ernment, he said.

    Sharma requested the people, whohave recovered from COVID-19 buthave post-COVID effects, to consultand take treatment at 'post-COVIDcare clinics' and 'day care centres' runby the medical and health department.

    He said the people who haverecovered from COVID-19 should bein constant touch with the doctors ifthey have any kind of post-COVIDsymptoms such as physical weakness,weakness in lungs, pain in hands andlegs so that it can be cured.

    The health minister said manysymptoms are appearing as post-COVID effects and in the view of it,post-COVID centres have been set upat the government medical institutionsin the state. PTI

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    Controversial farm laws and cel-ebration of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose’s birth anniversaryhave suddenly become the two cen-tral topics ahead of Bengal Assemblyelections.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeon Monday renewed her demandsfor declaring January 23 the birthanniversary of Netaji as a nationalholiday.

    “I personally feel we haven'tdone anything important for NetajiSubhas Chandra Bose after inde-pendence. I've written a letter toCenter to declare 23rd January, birthanniversary of Netaji SubhasChandra Bose, as a national holiday.It is my demand,” the Chief Ministersaid unraveling grand programmesincluding an apolitical rally to cele-brate the national icon’s birth daywhich would be observed as “Desh

    Nayak Diwas.”In what experts called a ploy to

    evaluate her support base, Banerjeesaid, “the people of the State wouldbe encouraged to blow conch shellsand give azaans at the time ofNetaji’s birth.”

    The Chief Minister said she hadearlier written to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi requesting him toconsider declaring Netaji’s anniver-sary as a national holiday. TheGovernment schools would be askedto prepare Jai Hind and Azad Hindbrigades to promote nationalism,Banerjee who held video conferenceswith civil society members said.

    Banerjee also said that she wasagainst playing politics with farmersadding her Government would bringa motion in the State Assemblydenouncing the farm laws.

    “There should not be any poli-tics over the farmers … they are ourfood providers … We are thinking

    to bring a motion in the StateAssembly against the farm law forwhich the House will be opened fora couple of days,” Banerjee said.

    Threatening a nationwide stirshe had earlier said that the “the cen-tral government must withdraw thisanti-people law.”

    With an apparent eye on theelections the Chief Minister alsoannounced a slew of welfare projectsparticularly free eye care.

    The Government would freeeye treatment to the people of theState and would “provide free spec-tacles to 8.25 lakh people,” Banerjeesaid adding 20 lakh cataract opera-tions would also be conducted freeof cost.

    The students would be given freeeye care in the Government schools,she said adding the eye treatmentwould be provided in about 1,200gram panchayats and primary healthcare centres.

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    Defending the anti-conversionlaw enacted by the YogiAdityanath government in UttarPradesh, a group of former judges,civil servants and veterans onMonday hit out at its critics, sayingthey seem to have “usurped” theconstitutional power of judicialreview to put every law of the landto the “test of their own whims”.

    In a statement signed by 224persons, including those from acad-emia, they claimed that the UttarPradesh Prohibition of UnlawfulConversion of Religion Ordinance,referred as 'love jihad' law byHindutva groups, applies to every-one and safeguards the dignity ofwomen.

    Slamming the law's critics forterming it illegal and anti-Muslim,the statement alleged that it is a“shocking obsession of this biasedgroup to stoke communal fire byinstigating the religious minori-ties”. Former UP chief secretary

    Yogendra Narain, former Punjabchief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal,former Haryana chief secretaryDharam Vir, former Delhi HighCourt chief justice Rajendra Menon,former ambassador Lakshmi Puriand former Maharashtra DGPPraveen Dixit are among the signa-tories to the statement.

    Their support to the law camedays after 104 retired civil servantsalleged that Uttar Pradesh hasbecome the “epicentre of politics ofhate, division and bigotry” and theinstitutions of governance are“steeped in communal poison”. Theyhad sought repeal of the law, sayingit is being used to particularly vic-timise Muslim men.

    Countering them, the state-ment said 'Ganga-Jamuni' culture, acolloquial term for peaceful inter-faith existence, does not stand forunlawful conversions with criminalintent, leading to murders, mutila-tion, torture and betrayal of womenin particular. “We strongly believe ina secular India with harmoniouscoexistence of people of all faiths,

    and consider unlawful conversionswith wrongful intent and question-able means a threat to communalharmony.... We urge all state gov-ernments to discharge their func-tions in the best public interest inmaintaining law and order, socialharmony and dignity of womenwithout succumbing to any pres-sures,” it said.

    The signatories said the formercivil servants, who had issued a state-ment slamming the law, shouldhave kept in mind that even prior toIndia's independence, princely states,including Kota, Patna, Surguja,Udaipur, and Kalahandi, had passedlaws regarding religious conver-sions.

    After independence, Orissa,Madhya Pradesh, ArunachalPradesh, Himachal Pradesh andUttarakhand among others had leg-islated on matters relating to unlaw-ful conversions, they noted, addingthat new laws reflect the evolvingneeds of a dynamic society.

    They said it is a hasty general-isation based on a solitary incident

    of alleged lapse in Moradabad thatthe law itself has been dubbed as ille-gal and, in particular, anti-Muslim.The critics lost sight of a large num-ber of incidents where hapless vic-tim women have been “brutallymurdered” in a ghastly manner inthe course of inter-faith marriagesand conversions, they said, citingseveral cases.

    The group of 104 former civilservants is “visibly biased”, theyalleged, accusing them of workingwith an anti-establishment attitudeand availing of every opportunity to“put the Indian democracy, its insti-tutions, and persons legitimatelyholding high offices in poor lightbefore the whole world by makingill-considered public statements”.

    Those defending the law saidthis “politically motivated pressure-group” does not represent thousandsof former civil servants, judges,veterans and other “nationalist intel-lectuals” who believe in India emerg-ing as the greatest democracy of theworld, and “a global icon” bringingpride to every Indian.

    Lucknow: Two days after Akhilesh Yadav saidhe will not get himself injected with a “BJP vac-cine” against coronavirus, the Samajwadi Partychief asserted Monday that he had never insult-ed the scientists who developed it.

    Yadav's comment on Saturday that hecould not trust a vaccine which would be usedby a BJP government had triggered sharp reac-tions from the ruling party as well as leaders likeOmar Abdullah of the National Conference.

    The SP chief had tried to make amends onTwitter the same day, saying he was not refer-ring to the scientists.

    Questioned again by reporters on hisremarks, the SP asked the Centre to tell whenthe poor people in the state will get the anti-COVID shot and if it will be available free.

    “I have never raised any questions on anyscientist developing the vaccine or any personhelping in making the vaccine. I only raised ques-tions on the BJP as people do not have faith inthe party because of the decisions taken by it,”he said. But he appeared to raise doubts againagainst the vaccines set to be rolled out in thecountry in the coming days, asking what hap-

    pened with the Haryana minister who had gothimself vaccinated.

    “The government hospital could not treathim, so he went to a private hospital to save hislife,” Yadav said.

    The apparent reference was to Haryana'sAnil Vij who had tested positive for coronavirusdays after taking part in a trial for BharatBiotech's Covaxin. It was however clarified thenthat not all participants in the trial were inject-ed with the vaccine – a proportion of them wereadministered placebos. In any case, it needed twoshots days apart for the immunity to kick in.

    Akhilesh Yadav said after the “debate” on thevaccines, the government should come forwardand remove all doubts. “We want to know fromthe government when the poor people in thestate will get vaccinated, and whether it will befree of cost or not,” he said.

    “The government should tell its plan. Firstof all the people of the press should get vacci-nated. I am saying this with full seriousness thatyou people risked your lives during the COVID-19 coverage, and some of your people lost theirlives,” Yadav added. PTI

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    Gujarat Chief Minister VijayRupani on Monday saidthe state is fully equipped forthe COVID-19 vaccinationdrive and will begin the processas soon as the central govern-ment announces the plan.

    Preparations related to coldchain infrastructure, surveyand training of vaccinatorshave been completed, Rupanisaid addressing an event atAhwa in Dang district.

    India's drugs regulator onSunday approved OxfordCOVID-19 vaccine Covishield,manufactured by the SerumInstitute, and indigenouslydeveloped Covaxin of BharatBiotech for restricted emer-gency use in the country,paving the way for a massiveinoculation drive.

    “Gujarat is fully equippedfor vaccination againstCOVID-19. Soon, the Made inIndia vaccine will be availableand the vaccination processwill start,” Rupani said.

    The state government hasmade necessary arrangementsfor the vaccination, he said.

    “Cold chains have been setup, survey work has been com-pleted, and training for vacci-nation has also been given tothe personnel (concerned),”Rupani said.

    The state government willstart the process in accordancewith the Centre's plan, headded.

    The Serum Institute ofIndia, the world's largest vac-cine manufacturer, has tiedup with AstraZeneca to man-ufacture Covishield, whileCovaxin has been indigenous-ly developed by Bharat Biotechin collaboration with theIndian Council of MedicalResearch (ICMR).

    On Sunday, Gujarat's tallyof coronavirus cases rose to2,47,228 with the addition of715 fresh infections.

    The state has so far report-ed 4,318 deaths due toCOVID-19, according to offi-cial figures.

    Puducherry: Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamysaid on Monday that the territorial administration has read-ied infrastructure to vaccinate 14,000 health and field work-ers against COVID-19.

    Addressing a virtual press conference, he said the vac-cines were expected to be made available by the Centre in10 days.

    “We have, in the meanwhile, got ready the infrastruc-ture to first inoculate 14,000 personnel of Health Departmentand field staff,” he said.

    Right now, 13,000 personnel and workers had registeredthemselves for coverage and no time will be lost to inocu-late the workers and health staff, he said.

    The territorial government would meet the expendi-ture to purchase the vaccines for free inoculation, the ChiefMinister said. He said 41 centres were readied for the inoc-ulation. While Puducherry would have 29 centres, Karaikalwould have eight, Mahe three and Yanam one.

    Each of the centres would vaccinate around 200 peo-ple a day, he said.

    Those above 50 and those with diabetes and blood pres-sure would be covered in the next phase.

    Cold chain facilities were also in place to preserve thevaccine. While Puducherry would have 36 cold chain units,Karaikal would have 15 followed by Mahe three and Yanamone. He said Puducherry had recorded the largest numberof sample tests. The recovery rate was high and fatality ratelow. The test positivity was 0.8 per cent now.

    He mentioned the dedicated work by health staff, offi-cials of the Revenue Department, police personnel and otherdepartments to ensure that the pandemic was kept at bay. PTI

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    Till Sunday morning AnnaArivalayam, the headquar-ters of the DMK in Chennai’sMount Road looked like a bee-hive of activities. But by eveningthe ambience in the party officehas given way to a sense ofuncertainty. What shocked theparty leadership and cadre wasthe announcement fromMadurai.

    M K Alagiri, the Maduraibased son of late MKarunanidhi, the former ChiefMinister who was also the partychief for nearly five decadesdelivered a powerful blow to thechief ministerial dreams of M KStalin, the reigning president ofthe party who is also theyounger brother of the former.

    “Stalin can never becomethe chief minister of Tamil Naduwithout my support. My sup-porters will never let Stalinbecome the chief minister,”Alagiri declared while address-ing his followers in a publicmeeting. The DMK leadershiphas not responded to Alagiri'ssalvo till Monday evening.

    Alagiri, who was the organ-ising secretary of the DMK for

    the southern districts of the Statewas expelled from the primarymembership of the partyallegedly for anti-party activities.“Till this day I have not been toldthe reason for my expulsionfrom the party. It was a con-spiracy hatched by certain lead-ers in the party in order toappease Stalin,” said Alagiri.

    Alagiri, who was the unionminister for fertilisers and chem-icals during 2009 to 2013 in thesecond UPA Government, hasbeen lying low since 2013 afterhis expulsion from the party. Hedid not campaign actively for theparty in the 2014 Lok Sabhapolls and the DMK was obliter-ated in the hustings. The DMKcould not win against theAIADMK in the 2016 assemblyelection despite the anti-incum-bency factor. This is being seenas the fall out of Alagiri’s non-cooperation with the party lead-ership.

    Political commentatorspoint out that whenever Alagirihad been antagonised by theparty leadership, the DMK wasmauled in the polls. “He is aforce to reckon with in southernTamil Nadu and the DMK cannever afford to ignore him,” saida political commentator in

    Chennai.Bhanumathi Swaminathan,

    a former banker with a leadingcorporate bank said Alagiri iscapable of spoiling the prospectsof the DMK.

    “He has been portrayed asa rough and arrogant personwhich is a blatant lie. Alagiri isa nice and jovial person. Sincehe worships in temples, theDravidian media had created anotion that he is power hungryand incapable. Having knownhim for years, I can say that heis respected and loved by thou-sands,” said Bhnumathy.

    She pointed out how Alagirisinglehandedly ensured thedefeat of many DMK bigwigs inthe 2001 election despite afavourable situation. “AllKarunanidhi had to do was toaccommodate five or six personsrecommended by Alagiri ascandidates. Stalin vetoedAlagiri’s request for which theDMK had to pay heavy price,”she said.

    There are reports thatAlagiri may launch a separateparty and form a front with likeminded parties. “He has friendsin all parties in the State who arealways willing to help him,”said a long time associate.

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    Aligarh: Due to the intermit-tent rains since Sunday morn-ing, a farm owner and thelaborer standing near theground, died of lightning in thefarm of Aurangabad village ofHarduaganj. At the same time,teenager died after being hit byfalling walls due to heavy rainin Lodha. And a farmer dieddue to excessive cold inGangiri.

    According to theHarduaganj representative,Chandraveer (46) son of RamSingh, a resident of villageShahpur, has a farm in theneighbouring village ofAurangabad. Chandraveerwent to the farm to break thepea pod. At the same time,Vinod Manjhi's son, GandhiManjhi, a Gaya resident ofBihar, who works on a brickkiln located in the neighbor-hood, also reached out to talkto Chandraveer in some con-nection. Both were talking andsuddenly a heavy rain camewith hail, which they ran toavoid. PNS

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    The only shooter and inter-national shooting refereeVedprakash Sharma, who rep-resented India from Aligarh atthe International ShootingChampionships, has earnedkudos for the country. TheScanner League being orga-nized by England started onJanuary 3. The first leagueround was played on 3 January.In this, Vedprakash performedseventh in the top-8, perform-ing brilliantly. He is the onlyparticipant from India to par-ticipate in this competition.

    Vedprakash said that, inthe age group above 40 years,veteran shooters from 60 coun-tries are participating.

    It is important to be in thetop-8 in shooting sports fromNational to Olympic. Becauseonly the shooters in the top-8list go to the next round or thefinal. He took aim in thisonline competition throughSwitzerland's state-of-the-artmachine.

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    In a significant development,as many as 10,362 patientswere discharged from varioushospitals in Maharashtra afterfull recovery from Covid-19 onMonday, even as the deathsdipped further to 29 and theinfections came down to 2765in the state.

    Mumbai’s downward trendcontinued, with the daily deathtally plummeting to three forthe second consecutive day.

    As a result, the Covid-19toll rose from 11,135 to 11,138,while the total infections in themetropolis climbed to 2,94,986.

    As 10,362 patients weredischarged from the hospitalsacross the state after full recov-ery, the total number of peopledischarged from the hospitalssince the second week of Marchthis year went up to 18,47,361.The recovery rate in the staterose from 94.59 per cent to94.88 per cent.

    A day after the deaths inMaharashtra dropped to 35and the state logged 3282 infec-tions, the Covid-19 deaths slidfurther to 29, while the infec-tions went down further by 517to touch a daily tally of 2765.

    With 29 fresh deaths in the

    state, the total number ofdeaths in the state went upfrom 49,666 to 49695. With2765 fresh infections and a fur-ther increase of 2110 positivecases because of the reconcili-ation process, the total numberof infected cases climbed from19,42,136 to 19,47,011.

    Meanwhile, the number of“active cases” total cases in thestate dropped from 54,317 Thefatality rate in the state stood at2.56 per cent to 2.55 per cent.

    Pune district, which con-tinued to be the worst-affectedcity-district in Maharashtra,saw the total number of casesincrease from 3,74,272 to3,74,748 while the total num-ber of deaths in Pune went upfrom 7,770 to 7772.

    Thane district remainedin the third spot --after Puneand Mumbai – after the totalnumber of infections rose from2,55,678 to 2,59,123 while thetotal deaths climbed from 5593to 5599.

    Of the 1,30,04,876 samplessent to laboratories, 19,47,011have tested positive (14.97 percent) for COVID-19 untilMonday.

    Currently, 2,41,728 peo-ple are in home quarantinewhile 3078 people are in insti-tutional quarantine.

    8

  • The recent judgment of theAllahabad High Courtupholding the freedom ofexpression guaranteedunder Article 19(1)(a) and chidingthe State of Uttar Pradesh (UP) formalicious prosecution of a personwho had criticised the ChiefMinister for “poor handling of lawand order in his State”, shouldhopefully have a salutary effect onthe State Governments which havebeen recklessly using penal provi-sions in our laws against those whoexpress dissent.

    The case pertained to a FirstInformation Report (FIR) lodged inAugust 2020 against YashwantSingh, who put out a tweet criticis-ing the Chief Minister for trans-forming the State “into a jungle rajin which no law and order prevails”.The tweet also made reference tovarious incidents of abduction,demand of ransom and murders.He was accused of violating twoprovisions in the law — Section 500of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) per-taining to defamation and Section66D of the Information Technology(IT) Act, 2008, which pertains topersonation, or what is commonlyunderstood as impersonation.Yashwant Singh petitioned theHigh Court and sought the quash-ing of the FIR.

    The petitioner’s counsel con-tended that the right to commenton the affairs of the State was wellwithin Yashwant Singh’s constitu-tional right envisaged under Article19 of the Constitution of India andthat “mere dissent does not amountto criminality”. Hence, the FIR reg-istered against him was mala fide“and was meant only to coerce himto stop expressing his dissent againstthe State Government”. He also con-tended that no offence had beenmade out and that the FIR shouldbe quashed.

    A Division Bench, comprisingJustices Pankaj Naqvi and VivekAgarwal of the Allahabad HighCourt, has made a succinct but sig-nificant observation while quashingthe FIR and other proceedingsagainst the petitioner. Referring tothe charge of “defamation” underSection 500 of the IPC, the judgessaid that no case had been made out“as the alleged tweet cannot be saidto fall within the mischief ofdefamation”. The judges struck ablow for democracy when they saidthat “expressing dissent on the lawand order situation in the State is ahallmark of a constitutional liberaldemocracy like ours, constitution-ally protected under Article 19 of theConstitution”.

    The second charge against the

    petitioner pertained to violationof Section 66D of the IT Act,2008, which states: “Whoever, bymeans of any communicationdevice or computer resource,cheats by personation, shall bepunished with imprisonment ofeither description for a termwhich may extend to three yearsand shall also be liable to a finewhich may extend to �1 lakh.”The judges analysed these provi-sions vis-à-vis the allegationmade in the FIR and said thatthey did not find “even remote-ly” a commission of offenceunder Section 66D, as the saidprovision relates to cheating bypersonation and it is not the caseof prosecution that while com-mitting the overt act, the petition-er tweeted using somebody else’stwitter handle nor was there anyallegation of cheating. Hence, thecourt concluded that no offencehad been made out under thisSection as well.

    As far as the State is con-cerned, this is indeed a damningindictment of the Governmentand the police. To prosecute a cit-izen for criminal defamation —which can entail a fine or a jailterm which can extend up to twoyears — because he is disappoint-ed with the Chief Minister’s han-dling of the law and order situa-tion is something unheard of inthis country, and the judges haverightly ticked off the State fordoing so.

    But this scenario is not con-fined to UP only. Several otherChief Ministers and StateGovernments have begun chal-lenging the basic freedoms givento all citizens by the Constitution.The State of West Bengal would

    head this list, not only for thesheer number of such cases butalso for starting this trend of jail-ing its critics. It all started with theMamata Banerjee Governmentarresting Prof AmbikeshMahapatra of JadavpurUniversity and his friend in 2012and charging them with offencesunder the IT Act for circulatingcartoons lampooning the ChiefMinister. Following his arrest,

    Prof Mahapatra moved the StateHuman Rights Commission,which criticised their arrest anddirected the State Government topay each of them a compensationof �50,000. The State did notcomply with the directions of thecommission, compelling theProfessor to move the CalcuttaHigh Court. The court upheldthe rights commission’s order andenhanced the amount of com-pensation payable to ProfMahapatra and his friend to�75,000 each.

    Even more absurd was thesedition charge slapped on a folksinger in Tamil Nadu in 2015 forcriticising the then Chief MinisterJ Jayalalithaa’s policy on the issueof prohibition.

    The Communist Party ofIndia (Marxist)-led KeralaGovernment was unhappy withthe State Lalithakala Akademi’sdecision to select a cartoon,which mocked a Bishop accusedof rape, for its annual awards.Several Christian outfits and theState Government wanted theautonomous body to re-consid-er its decision. The Akademi,however, did not relent.

    Those of us who are seniorcitizens, have lived and thrived ina healthy democratic environ-ment in this country in which wehave said much harsher thingsagainst the persons in power. Atthe height of the controversy overthe kickbacks paid by Bofors, theSwedish arms manufacturer, toIndian politicians and others, theIndian Express ran RamJethmalani’s famous 10 ques-tions to Prime Minister RajivGandhi every day. Reading thosequestions, Rajiv must have

    squirmed every morning but hehad to grin and bear it!

    In fact, many of these ChiefMinisters must look at howPrime Minister Narendra Modideals with those who abuse himon the social media. The Modi-baiters constantly upload car-toons and memes seeking toridicule him on Twitter andFacebook. They often generatehashtags like “#WorstPrime-Minister” or some such andbegin a trend along with theircamp followers. On his last birth-day, they created a hashtag,“#NationalUnemploymentDay”,and kept it going the whole day.He is probably the most trolledIndian. Often, his political ene-mies cross the limits of decency.As Modi himself said at a publicmeeting during the last LokSabha elections, a Congressleader called him “gandi naali kakeeda” (a gutter insect) whileanother said that he was a “maddog”. Can there be anythingmore defamatory and abusivethan this? If the Prime Minister’sOffice were to prosecute all thesepeople, Modi would need to cre-ate a full-fledged department tohandle these prosecutions.

    In fact, this is one of the pro-fessional hazards of being inpublic life in a democracy and,over the years, and especially inthe age of social media, thepoliticians across democraticcountries — including India —have learnt to develop a thickhide. Some of our Chief Ministersmust follow suit.

    (The writer is an author spe-cialising in democracy studies. The views expressed arepersonal.)

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