cmyk
THE LARGEST CIRCULATED ENGLISH DAILY IN SOUTH INDIA
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CORONA
C UNT
CASES DEATHS
(+41,312) (+566)
3,09,86,360 4,12,007
covid19india.org
STATE GOVERNMENT BULLETINS
(+2,458) (55)
TN:25,26,401 33,557
WORLD CONFIRMED CASES
18,89,22,828
DEATHS
40,69,525
COUNTRIES,
219
AREAS WITH
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worldometers.info
28 per cent DA as per
7th Finance Commission
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on
Wednesday decided to restore
Dearness Allowance (DA) and
Dearness Relief (DR) for central
government employees and pen-
sioners from July 1, 2021 while
increasing the rate of allowance
to 28 per cent. The increase in
the DA and DR will impose an
additional annual burden of Rs
34,401 crore on the exchequer,
Minister of Information and
Broadcasting Anurag Thakur
told reporters after the cabinet
meeting. In view of the COVID-
19 pandemic, the Union
Government had frozen the
three additional instalments of
the DA and DR which were due
from January 1, 2020, July 1,
2020 and January 1, 2021. The
move, Thakur said, will benefit
about 48.34 lakh central
employees and 65.26
COUNTER
pensioners.
POINT
Jaishankar meets Chinese FM, takes up LAC status
New Delhi, July 14:
External affairs minister S.
Jaishankar and his
Chinese counterpart Wang
Yi held a one-hour meeting
on Wednesday in Dushanbe
with a focus on resolving
the outstanding issues
along the Line of Actual
Control (LAC) in eastern
Ladakh.
After the talks, Dr
Jaishankar said he high-
lighted that unilateral
change of status quo was External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with Chienes Foreign
not acceptable to India and Minister Wang Yi at bilateral meeting on the sidelines of
that both sides agreed on Dushanbe SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting.
convening an early meeting
of the senior military com- Dushanbe SCO Foreign
manders. Ministers
“Concluded a one-hour Discussions focused on the
bilateral meeting with State outstanding issues along
Councilor and FM Wang Yi the LAC in the Western sec-
of China on the sidelines of tor," the minister tweeted.
Tangedco violated norms
on Ennore project: Greens
deccanchronicle.com, facebook.com/deccannews, twitter.com/deccanchronicle, google.com/+deccanchronicle
Centre flags R-factor, asks Most people oppose Neet,
states to control crowds says Rajan panel report
■Make officers personally responsible, says home secy
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JULY 14
Close on the heels of
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi express-
ing concern over large
crowds visiting hill sta-
tions and other public
places, Union home sec-
retary Ajay Bhalla on
Wednesday wrote to all
states and Union territo-
ries asking them to take
steps to control crowding
and shed their compla-
cency as the R-rate of
Covid infections is rising
in many states.
It also asked them to
make officers personally
responsible for any laxi-
ty. An increase in the R-
factor above 1.0 is an
indicator of the rapid
spread of the coron-
avirus. At present the R-
factor in India is just
0.88, but it is showing
indications of rising fast.
“With the decline in the
number of active cases,
states and UTs have
started reopening activi-
ties in a gradual man-
ner… However, blatant
violations of Covid-19
norms have been
observed in several parts
of the country, especially
in public transport and
at hill stations. Massive
crowds are also throng-
ing marketplaces, violat-
ing all the norms of
social
Consequently,
distancing.
an
increase in the “R” factor
(reproduction number)
in some states, is a mat-
ter of concern,” the home
secretary said in his let-
ter.
The home secretary
also cautioned the states
any increase in the R-fac-
tor above 1.0 is an indica-
tor of the rapid spread of
Covid-19. The authorities
concerned should be
made responsible for en-
suring “covid appropri-
ate behaviour” (CAB) in
all crowded places. ■ P4
Curfew in Pulwama Rtd Gen. moves SC
as 3 LeT ultras shot against sedition law
YUSUF JAMEEL | DC
SRINAGAR, JULY 14
Pulwama, a hotbed of
Kashmiri separatist cam-
paign, was on Wednesday
placed under curfew amid
rising tension following
the killing of three
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT)
militants including a
Pakistani national in a
firefight with the security
forces.
Also, mobile internet
services in the entire
Pulwama district were
snapped “as a precaution-
ary measure to prevent
rumour mongering and
possible misuse of social
media by anti-social ele-
Meeting.
CITY | 2
A crowded market after ease in COVID-induced lockdown restrictions, in Mumbai,
Wednesday.
SC issues notice to Centre,
UP govt on Kanwar Yatra
DC CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI, JULY 14
The Supreme Court on
Wednesday took suo motu
cognisance of the decision
of the Uttar Pradesh gov-
ernment to allow Kanwar
Yatra amid the ongoing
Covid-19 pandemic and
sought responses from the
state as well as the Union
governmetn “given the
disparate political voices”
on the matter.
of
Recalling the statement
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi that not
even a bit of compromise
can be made on Covid-19
containment, Justice
Rohinton Fali Nariman,
heading a bench, also com-
prising Justice B.R. Gavai,
said, “The people are com-
pletely perplexed. They
don’t know what is going
on.”
The bench said it was a
little disturbed to read
that UP has chosen to con-
tinue with the Kanwar
ments to instigate vio-
lence”, the authorities
said.
Inspector-general of
police (Kashmir range)
Vijay Kumar said the
LeT’s Pakistani comman-
der Aijaz alias Abu
Huraira and two local
Kashmiri militants were
killed in an encounter
that took place in
Pulwama town’s New
Colony residential area
overnight. A tweet of the
J&K police said the IGP
has “congratulated” the
J&K police, the Army’s
Rashtriya Rifles and
Central Reserve Police
Force for killing ‘terror-
ists ‘in a joint operation’.
— AP
He said full restoration
and maintenance of peace
and tranquillity in border
areas was essential for the
development of the bilateral
ties. — PTI
CHENNAI I THURSDAY 15 I JULY 2021
included in agri budget: Min
Union min trashes
states’ worry on vax
New Delhi, July 14:
Amid complains by some
states about shortage of
Covid-19 vaccines, Union
health minister Mansukh
Mandaviya on Wednesday
said “useless”' statements
are being made only to
create panic among the
people, and asserted that
states know very well
when and in what quanti-
ty they will get the doses.
The Union government
yatra, while Uttarakhand
with its hindsight of expe-
rience, has decided
against it.
It issued notices to the
Union government and
the state governments of
Uttar Pradesh and
Uttarakhand while post-
New Delhi, July 14: The
Supreme Court on
Thursday agreed to exam-
ine a fresh plea by a for-
mer army officer challeng-
ing the constitutional
validity of the sedition law
on the ground that it caus-
es “chilling effect” on
speech and is an unreason-
able restriction on free
expression, a fundamental
right.
A bench comprising
Chief Justice N.V.
Ramana, A.S. Bopanna
and Hrishikesh Roy
directed the petitioner to
serve a copy of the plea to
attorney-general K.K.
Venugopal.
The plea, filed by Major-
World opposes Taliban’s violent
takeover of Afghanistan: India
SRIDHAR KUMARASWAMI
| DC
NEW DELHI, JULY 14
India on Wednesday fierce-
ly opposed the Taliban’s
move to take over
Afghanistan by force, say-
ing the “world is against the
seizure of power by violence
and force” and “will not
legitimise such actions”.
Speaking at the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation
(SCO) foreign ministers’
contact group meeting on
STATE | 3
Farmers’ inputs will be
— PTI
has informed states about
the allocation of doses in
advance, he said.
In a series of tweets, Mr
Mandaviya said the avail-
ability of vaccines can be
better understood by an
“actual analysis of the
facts”. He said 11.46 crore
doses were made avail-
able to the state govern-
ments in June and this
has been increased to
13.50 crore in July. — PTI
ing the matter for a hear-
ing on Friday.
The apex court took suo
motu of a newspaper
report and issued notice to
the Union of India and the
States of Uttar Pradesh
and Uttarakhand to file
their early response.
General S.G. Vombatkere
(Rtd) submitted that
Section 124-A of the Indian
Penal Code, which deals
with the offence of sedi-
tion, is “wholly unconsti-
tutional and should be
unequivocally and unam-
biguously struck down”.
He contended a statute
criminalising expression
based on unconstitutional-
ly vague definitions of ‘dis-
affection towards govern-
ment’ etc. is an unreason-
able restriction on the fun-
damental right to free
expression guaranteed
under Article 19(1)(a) and
causes constitutionally
impermissible ‘chilling
effect’ on speech.
Afghanistan in Tajikistan’s
capital Dushanbe on
Wednesday, external affairs
minister S. Jaishankar said
that peace talks were the
only answer and the new
generation of Afghans
should not be let down,
adding that “Afghanistan’s
future cannot be its past”.
Echoing India’s concerns
and in a veiled reference to
Pakistan, the minister
made it clear that neigh-
bours should “not be threat-
ened by terrorism, sepa-
Ashwin takes six wickets
in county game
Vol. 17 No. 110 Established 1938
G. BABU JAYAKUMAR,
D. SEKAR | DC
CHENNAI, JULY 14
An overwhelming majori-
ty of the people from
whom the A.K. Rajan
committee elicited views
on the conduct of the
National Entrance-cum-
Eligibility Test (Neet) for
admission to medical
courses were fully against
the entrance examina-
tion.
Former judge A.K.
Rajan, who submitted his
165 page report on his
finding to the Chief
Minister M.K. Stalin on
Wednesday, told
media that the committee
the
had taken the views of
86,432 persons.
The committee had cov-
ered students from all sec-
tions of society during the
course of the study to
ascertain the impact of
Neet on students, their
parents and others on
various fronts and found
that at least 85,000 of the
people were not in favour
of Neet, he said.
The newly-formed DMK
government, as part of its
measures to honour the
election promises, had set
up the committee headed
by Justice Rajan (rtd) as
the first step towards its
move to abolish Neet in
the state.
■ P4
RAHUL WALKS
OUT OF DEFENCE
PANEL MEET
New Delhi, July 14:
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi raised the issue
of national security vis-a-
vis Pakistan, the standoff
with China and the
Taliban capturing fresh
territories
Afghanistan
Parliamentary
at
in
panel
a
meeting Wednesday and
demanded a discussion
on them, sources said.
However, he left the
meeting of
Parliamentary Standing
Committee on Defence
minutes before it con-
cluded as chairman and
BJP leader Jual Oram
denied a discussion on
these issues saying they
were not part of the pre-
decided agenda, the
sources said.
Mr Gandhi stressed
that rather than dis-
cussing the working of
board, the panel should
deliberate on more rele-
vant and important secu-
rity issues. — PTI
ratism and extremism”,
adding that “there are
forces at work with a very
different agenda”.
The eight-nation SCO
comprises Russia, China,
India, Pakistan and most of
the Central Asian republics.
Wednesday’s meeting was
held following the sweeping
military advance by the
Pakistan-backed Taliban th-
at has posed a serious chal-
lenge to the Afghan govern-
ment led by embattled Pr-
esident Ashraf Ghani. ■ P4
SPORT | 8
Justice A.K. Rajan (Rtd) presents the report of the com-
mittee to Chief Minister M.K. Stalin at secretariat on
Wednesday.
ALL-PARTY DELEGATION TO MEET
UNION MIN ON MEKEDATU DAM
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JULY 14
An all-party delegation
leaving for New Delhi on
Thursday will try and pre-
vail upon the Union gov-
ernment to not accord per-
mission for Karnataka to
go ahead with its plans to
build a dam across river
Cauvery at Mekedatu.
The delegation, led by
water resources minister
Duraimurugan, is expect-
ed to hand over a copy of
the resolution passed at
Pact with PAC on
LAC intact: Army
New Delhi, July 14:
There has been no attempt
by the Indian or the
Chinese side to occupy the
areas in eastern Ladakh
from where they disen-
gaged in February and
both sides are engaged in
talks to resolve the
remaining issues in the
region, the Army said on
Wednesday.
The Army said it has
been monitoring activities
by the People’s Liberation
Army (PLA) including
turnover of troops in the
region.
The Army made the com-
ments as part of a state-
ment trashing a media
report that said the
Chinese military has
again crossed the Line of
Actual Control (LAC) in
eastern Ladakh at several
places and that there has
been at least one incident
of clash between the two
sides.
“Ever since the disen-
gagement agreement in
February this year, there
has been no attempt by
either side to occupy the
areas from where the dis-
engagement had been
undertaken. There have
been no clashes in Galwan
or any other area, as
reported in the article,”
Drop cases under IT
Act Sec 66A: Centre
New Delhi, July 14: The
Union government on
Wednesday asked the
states to direct their
police not to register cases
under the repealed
Section 66A of
Information Technology
Act, 2000 related to post-
ing online comments.
the
The Supreme Court in
2015 had struck down the
controversial Section 66A
of the IT Act that made
posting “offensive” com-
ments online a crime pun-
ishable by jail, after a long
campaign by defenders of
free speech.
However, recently, the
apex court had said that it
was shocking that the
judgment striking down
the law has not been
implemented even now.
The ministry of home
cmyk
| 8 PAGES| `3.00
the meeting of leaders of
all legislative parties in
the state, which discussed
the latest simmering dis-
pute with Karnataka with
the neighbouring state
taking an adamant stand
on building the Mekedatu
dam.
Though the team had
expected to meet Prime
Minister Narendra Modi,
it is learnt that they
would meet Union Jal
Shakthi
Gajendra
minister
Singh
Shekhawat instead.
147 MORE WOMEN
GET PERMANENT
ARMY COMMISSION
PAWAN BALI | DC
NEW DELHI, JULY 14
After Supreme Court
intervention, Indian
Army has granted perma-
nent commission to 147
more women officers.
With this, permanent
commission (PC) has been
now granted to 424 women
officers out of the 615 offi-
cers considered.
All women officers
granted PC would under-
go special training cours-
es and challenging mili-
tary assignments to
empower them for higher
leadership roles in the
Indian Army. A batch of
33 women officers has
already successfully com-
pleted the mid-level tacti-
cal orientation course
from Army War College
Mhow recently. ■ P4
the Army said. It also said
that the report mentioning
that agreements with
China have collapsed is
“false and baseless”.
affairs (MHA)
requested states and
has
Union territories (UTs) to
direct all police stations
under their jurisdiction
not to register cases under
the repealed Section 66A
of the Information
Technology Act, 2000, a
ministry statement said.
The ministry said it has
also asked the states and
UTs to sensitise law
enforcement agencies for
the compliance of the
order issued by the
Supreme Court on March
24, 2015.
The MHA has also
requested that if any case
has been booked in states
and UTs under section
66A of the IT Act, 2000,
such cases should be
immediately withdrawn.
— PTI
 CITY
DECCAN CHRONICLE | THURSDAY | 15 JULY 2021 | CHENNAI
OTHER STORIES
Tamil Nadu receives
4,80,000 doses of
Covishield vaccine
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JULY 14
Tamil Nadu on Wednesday
received Covid-19 vaccine from
the Centre. As many as 4,80,000
doses of Covishield arrived in
Chennai from Pune.
Doses of Covishield, supplied
by the Serum Institute of India,
Pune, arrived at the Chennai
airport on Wednesday evening
and were taken to the Centre’s
vaccine storage unit in
Periamet.
Thwart third wave
with Covid
protocols: Minister
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JULY 14
Maintaining Covid-appropriate
behaviours is the key to avoid
the third wave of the pandemic,
said health minister Ma.
Subramanian on Wednesday.
The minister told reporters
here that all district adminis-
trations had been instructed to
take all possible steps to ensure
Covid-19 protocols. When point-
ed out about serious violations
of Covid-19 protocols in
Chennai, he said the corpora-
tion administration was taking
strict action by imposing fines
on the violators.
The GCC administration has
been providing details of fine
collection on a daily basis.
Responding to the rally being
planned by the BJP, the minis-
ter said that all political parties
have the responsibility to
adhere to Covid-19 protocols.
There is an allegation that the
second wave was a result of
election campaigns. In western
countries, the third wave is
spreading fast. So, it’s impor-
tant for people to abide by the
Covid-19 protocols’, said the
minister.
Air passenger
traffic picks up
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JULY 14
Officials at the Airports
Authority of India (AAI) said
that there is a sharp increase in
the number of travellers and
flight services at Chennai due
to lowering Covid-19 cases in
the state.
AAI officials said from the
first week of July the number of
passengers was around 15,000
as against less than 3,000 during
mid-May. The number of air-
craft movements has also seen
an increase in the month of
July.
According to an official, since
the beginning of the Covid-19
second wave in the state, the
passenger traffic and flight
operations at Chennai airport
came down slowly. The airport
saw the lowest passenger traffic
(less than 3,500 ) in over a year
on May 11. People in the state
got more cautious and avoided
travelling.
In June, nearly 80 to 83 flights
were handled at the airport
daily. Most people, still stuck in
the city, began departing from
here and those wanting to
return too came here and the
passenger count reached more
than 4,000 passengers a day.
Meanwhile, In the month of
July, the Chennai airport
catered to 15,000 flyers who trav-
elled with more than 130 flights.
On July 14 alone, 15,800 passen-
gers used 61 flights, while 5,707
passengers travelled out of
Chennai on 59 flights.
On Wednesday , 15,800 passen-
gers travelled in 136 flights,
both ways , the airport sources
said.
Active infections in
TN fall to 30,600
Chennai, July 14: Tamil Nadu
has reported 2,458 new Covid-19
cases, including those of three
returnees from Jharkhand and
Bihar, the Department of
Health said on Wednesday.
With this, the total cases till
date are 25,26,401, said the
department.
The number of deaths is
33,557 with 55 people succumb-
ing to the virus in the last 24
hours, a bulletin said here.
Recoveries outnumbered new
infections with 3,021 people
recovering today, aggregating to
24,62,244 and leaving 30,600
active cases, according to the
bulletin.
As many as 31 districts report-
ed new infections in double-dig-
its while there were no fresh
deaths in 11 districts.
Chennai, the capital of the
State, added 160 new infections
aggregating 5,35,439 till date
and the number of COVID-19
related fatalities is 8,272.
Among the districts,
Coimbatore reported the maxi-
um of 270 cases while
Ramanathapuram saw the least
with 11. — PTI
Tangedco violated norms
on Ennore project: Greens
OP ARULN I DC
CHENNAI, JULY 14
Violating the norms of the
Union environment min-
istry, the Tangedco has
encroached on water bod-
ies for its mega Ennore
SEZ project, alleged green
activists. Deviating from
the Union environment
ministry-approved align-
ment for the Ennore SEZ
project, the Tangedco is
laying its corridor in an
unapproved route by
dumping illegally trans-
ported dredged sea sand
and fly ash into water bod-
ies, including the
Kosasthalaiyar river’s
tidal channel. Tangedco
has misled electricity min-
ister V Senthil Balaji for
issuing a statement that
everything is legal.
The activists of Save
Ennore Creek campaign
found this by using a
handheld GPS that the
ongoing construction has
already led to the loss of
more than 15 acres of wet-
lands, including 1.1 acres
of the Kosasthalaiyar
river. “If allowed to pro-
OXYGEN FOR STATE
Health minister Ma. Subramanian along with health secretary Dr J. Radhakrishnan
receives 1,000 oxygen concentrators on DMS campus.
Rudy flies Maran in a ‘flight to remember’
Chennai, July 14: So,
how does it feel when a fel-
low Parliamentarian dou-
bles up as your commer-
cial aircraft pilot? Ask
Dayanidhi Maran.
“A flight to remember
indeed," Maran said, after
he travelled in a private
aircraft from Delhi, pilot-
ed by none other than
Rajiv Pratap Rudy, MP,
with the face mask initial-
ly hiding his identity,
before the Captain
declared he will fly the
DMK MP and others all
the way here in the three
hour flight on Tuesday.
In a series of tweets and
a statement, the Central
Chennai MP described
EC free to choose best procedure for
maintaining purity of electoral rolls: HC
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JULY 14
The Madras high court
has disposed of a Public
Interest Litigation, by
leaving the Election
Commission free to choose
the best procedure for
maintaining the purity of
the electoral rolls.
The first bench compris-
ing Chief Justice Sanjib
Banerjee and Justice
S e n t h i l k u m a r
Ramamoorthy disposed of
the PIL filed by
N.Shyllappa Kalyan.
In his petition, the peti-
tioner sought to quash the
guidelines specified in a
letter dated August 7, 2020
by Election Commission of
India to All Chief
Electoral Officers and
final voter list released by
the Tamil Nadu govern-
ment. He also sought a
direction to the Chief
Election Commissioner,
New Delhi and Chief
Electoral Officer, Tamil
Nadu to take necessary
steps to update the list by
removing the double
entries and deceased per-
sons names from the voter
list.
The bench said the peti-
tion has really become
redundant now since it
The activists of Save
Ennore Creek campaign
found this by using a
handheld GPS that the
ongoing construction has
already led to the loss of
more than 15 acres of
wetlands, including 1.1
acres of the
Kosasthalaiyar river
ceed, this alignment will
claim an additional 2.4
acres of river-spread
including mangroves”,
they said. On Tuesday, a
three-member team com-
prising Prof. S.
Janakarajan, artist and
singer T.M. Krishna and
Poovulagin Nanbargal G.
Sundarrajan visited
Ennore and highlighted
the Tangedco’s ongoing
illegalities.
After using an alignment
that avoids water bodies to
get an approval, Tangedco
has illegally altered the
alignment without
informing the Union envi-
ronment ministry, and
went ahead with a com-
pletely different align-
ment that runs mostly on
water bodies.
how it came as a surprise
when Rudy, a former
Union minister, made the
revelation. "So you are
traveling in this flight as
well, said a person dressed
in the Captain's uniform. I
could not recognize him
with his mask on,
although his voice sound-
ed familiar. I nodded my
head, still wondering who
it could be. He looked at
me and his eyes gave away
the smile behind the
mask," Maran said.
"So you don't recognize
me,he exclaimed. I real-
ized then that it was none
other than my colleague,
senior Member of Parlia-
ment and former Union
was instituted at a time
prior to the State elections
conducted in April and
pertains to the electoral
rolls. The petitioner, how-
ever, says that one aspect
of the matter remains live,
insofar as it pertains to
electoral rolls containing
the names of many
deceased voters.
The petitioner suggests
that the aadhaar details of
the deceased should be
entered in every death cer-
tificate, so that even the
Election Commission may
verify the status of any
person who was claimed
by relatives or others to
have died.
“It is for the Parliament
to consider such a meas-
ure or for the Election
Commission to consider
On July 14, the electrici-
ty minister stated that the
Ennore SEZ electricity
project and stage three of
the (NCTPS) project are
being carried out after
obtaining clearances from
all the departments con-
cerned in the state and
Union governments.
The time window given
by the Union government
for the 2x660 MW Ennore
SEZ project was till 2023
and the work in the region
being conducted as per
status number 265 of the
state government’s public
works department,
informed Senthil Balaji in
a statement. “All the
required clearances,
including a no-objection
certificate, were obtained
by the department," he
added.
Rejecting the statement,
activists and local fisher-
folk stated that the
Konamudukku Kalvai,
which is the part of the
river being encroached by
Tangedco, is one of the
most biologically produc-
tive segments in the area.
The presence of man-
— DC
Minister- my very good
friend Thiru @RajivPra-
tapRudy!" Maran added.
He recalled that just two
hours from then, the two
were part of intense dis-
cussions at the Estimates
Committee and now "I
couldn't believe my eyes,
seeing his transformation
from a politician to a
pilot."
"I was pleasantly sur-
prised and told Rudyji
that I couldn't believe that
he was going to be the cap-
tain flying us from Delhi
to Chennai. He laughed
and said "Yes, I noticed
that you didn't recognize
me. I fly frequently!,"
Maran said. — PTI
Ensure all personnel engaged on polling
duty cast their votes, HC tells EC
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JULY 14
The Madras high court
has said the Election
Commission should take
necessary steps to ensure
that all personnel engaged
on polling duty, including
drivers who ferry the
other officers, ballot boxes
and material from one
place to another, have the
opportunity to cast their
votes and do not lose such
right merely because of
their engagement.
The first bench compris-
ing Chief Justice Sanjib
Banerjee and Justice
S e n t h i l k u m a r
Ramamoorthy made the
observation while dispos-
ing of a Public Interest
Litigation filed by
Vaadagai Urimaiyalarkal
Ottunarkal Nala
how to best prepare the
electoral rolls and ensure
the sanctity and purity
thereof. There is no doubt
that the petitioner’s sug-
groves and deep-water
habitats makes this a shel-
tered breeding place for
prawns. Fishers report a
drastic drop in fish catch
over the last three months.
“Enough is enough. We
are going to pursue this to
its logical end. We want
these encroachments
removed, and we want to
be fully compensated for
the damage done to our
source of livelihood,” said
R.L. Srinivasan
Kattukuppam fishing vil-
of
lage.
“Given the encouraging
steps taken by the govern-
ment in the appointments
of efficient senior envi-
ronment and forest staff,
we are hopeful that the
government will ensure
that the law prevails in
this case,” Save Ennore
Creek campaign and the
region’s fishers said in a
statement.
The Save Ennore Creek
campaign will release doc-
uments soon highlighting
how Tangedco misled the
minister about the legali-
ty of NCTPS’ operations
in Ennore.
Gold worth
`27.18 lakh seized
by air customs
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JULY 14
Customs officials at
Chennai airport seized
gold worth `27.18 lakh
and arrested a passen-
ger in this connection.
According to sources ,
based on intelligence,
Pazhanisamy Muruge-
san (27) of Unjini,
Ariyalur district, who
arrived from Sharjah by
Air Arabia flight G9-471
was intercepted at exit
on suspicion of carrying
gold.
On his personal
search, four bundles of
gold paste weighing 648
grams were recovered
from rectum.
On extraction 550
grams of 24K purity gold
worth `27.18 lakh was
recovered and same was
seized under Customs
Act.
The passenger was
arrested and further
investigation is under
progress.
According to
sources , based on
intelligence,
Pazhanisamy
Murugesan (27) of
Unjini, Ariyalur dis-
trict, who arrived
from Sharjah by Air
Arabia flight G9-471
was intercepted at
exit on suspicion of
carrying gold
Munnetra Sangam.
The bench said the peti-
tioner has brought it to the
notice of the Court that
during the conduct of any
elections, particularly an
Assembly or the
Parliament, several per-
sonnel are engaged,
including drivers, but ade-
quate arrangements may
not be made for such
personnel to cast their
votes.
The bench said there was
now an elaborate proce-
dure which was adopted
by the Election
Commission to ensure
that every person involved
in the election machinery
exercises the right to cast
his vote and has due
opportunity in this
regard. Indeed, orders
have been passed and mat-
ters pertaining to
gestion will be considered
by the Election
Commission in trying to
ensure that only such per-
sons who are alive and are
INSPECTION TIME
HR&CE minister P.K. Sekar Babu inspects Velachery Sri Vasudeva Perumal temple on
Wednesday.
Health min to meet Union
minister on IVC revival
T. SUDHEESH I DC
CHENNAI, JULY 14
Health minister Ma.
Subramanian will take up
the revival of the defunct
Integrated Vaccine
Complex (IVC) at
Thirukazhukundram in
Chengalpet district with
the Centre again on
Thursday
silence to
despite its
repeated
requests by the state.
Subramanian said the
matters on IVC and
Pasteur Institute would be
taken up with Union
health minister Mansukh
Mandavya during their
meeting in Delhi.
“The `700 crore worth
M.P. Saminathan, minister for information & publicity,
inspects Gandhi Mandapam and Museum in Guindy on
Wednesday.
Returning Officers and
other personnel have been
specifically dealt with.
Even in the course of the
recent Assembly elections
in this State, the Election
Commission made elabo-
rate arrangements to
ensure that the personnel
engaged for polling could
exercise their voting
rights, whether by postal
ballot or other means, the
bench added.
The bench said this peti-
tion pertains to a small
class of persons who were
drivers ferrying election
personnel at the time of
the polling.
The Election
Commission should take
necessary steps to ensure
that all personnel engaged
on polling duty, including
drivers who ferry the
other officers, ballot boxes
entitled to vote find their
names in the electoral
rolls and the others do not.
Petition is disposed of by
leaving the Election
Subramanian said
the matters on IVC
and Pasteur Insti-
tute would be taken
up with Union
health minister Ma-
nsukh Mandavya
during their meeting
IVC run by HLL Biotech
Limited under the Union
Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare (MoHFW)
has been dysfunctional for
the last 10 years. The
chief minister has
already written a letter to
both the Prime Minister
and Union health minis-
ter. Apart from that, the
— DC
and material from one
place to another, have the
opportunity to cast their
votes and do not lose suh
right merely because of
their engagement. Senior
counsel G.Rajagopalan,
who usually appears for
the Election Commission,
was requested to take
notice on behalf of the
Election Commission. A
copy of this order will be
forwarded to
G.Rajagopalan along with
copies of the petition so
that immediate appropri-
ate action can be taken by
the Election Commission
in accordance with law to
ensure that at the next
election, no official
engaged for polling pur-
poses misses out on the
right and opportunity to
exercise his franchise, the
bench added.
Commission free to choose
the best procedure for
maintaining the purity of
the electoral rolls”, the
bench added.
pg 2
— DC
state labour minister was
sent to Delhi to meet the
concerned authorities in
this regard. The labour
minister told the authori-
ties that the IVC should
either be handed over to
the state or the Centre
should come up with a
roadmap to produce vac-
cines. After this, the
authorities of Bharat
Biotech Limited which
manufactures Covaxin
visited the complex. But
no information has been
received from them on
further course of action.
The status of the issue
will be known when we
meet the minister,” said
Subramanian.
Woman, baby
die during
attempted child
birth at home
DC CORRESPONDENT
CHENNAI, JULY 14
A 22-year-old woman
and her newborn died
during an attempted
delivery at home per-
formed by her parents in
Chengalpet.
According to the
sources, the deceased
woman identified as
Rekha, a resident of
Palur in Chengalpet dis-
trict was rushed to the
government hospital in
Chengalpet on Tuesday
night following a severe
blood loss after home
delivery.
However , she died of
post-delivery complica-
tions.
Based on the alert from
the hospital, Palur
police rushed to their
house and found a dead
newborn inside a buck-
et.
Police sources said
they arrested Rekha’s
parents for an inquiry.
A preliminary investi-
gation by the police
revealed that the
woman, who worked in a
private company in
Maraimalai Nagar was
impregnated by her
lover a year back under
the pretext of marriage.
Since then, she was
restricted from going
out of her house by her
parents.
On Tuesday night ,
when Rekha went into
labour, her parents had
attempted to perform a
normal delivery at his
residence. However , the
baby died and Rekha suf-
fered profuse blood loss.
The family called the
ambulance service and
she was rushed to
Chengalpet GH , where
she was declared dead
on arrival.
Police recovered the
body of the newborn
baby and sent it to
Chromepet Government
hospital for post-
mortem.
Further investigations
are underway.
According to the
sources, the
deceased woman
identified as
Rekha, a resident
of Palur in
Chengalpet district
was rushed to the
government hospi-
tal in Chengalpet
on Tuesday night
following a severe
blood loss after
home delivery
 STATE
DECCAN CHRONICLE | THURSDAY | 15 JULY 2021 | CHENNAI
pg 3

Min: Farmers’ inputs will Pondy government to

IN BRIEF
Tiruchy corpn gets
new commissioner
G. SRINIVASAN I DC
THANJAVUR ,JULY 14
P.G.N Mujibur Rahman on
Wednesday took over as the new
Tiruchirapalli city corporation
commissioner.
Rahman, till recently regional
director of Chengalput munici-
pality, replaced S. Sivasubram-
anian who was posted as com-
missioner of Dindigul munici-
pal corporation.
3 girls, 2 women
drown in temple tank
Chennai, July 14: Three girls,
aged between 11 and 14, and two
women drowned in a temple
tank in the nearby Tiruvallur
district on Wednesday. Chief
Minister M K Stalin condoled
the deaths and announced a
solatium of `five lakh from the
Chief Minister's Public Relief
Fund to their families, an offi-
cial press release here said.
be included in agri budget oppose Mekedatu project
G. SRINIVASAN I DC
THANJAVUR ,JULY 14
The suggestions from
farmers will be incorpo-
rated in the agriculture
budget to be presented for
the first time in the coun-
try by the Tamil Nadu gov-
ernment, said agriculture
minister M.R.K.
Paneerselvam here on
Wednesday.
He heard the views of
farmers from Thanjavur,
Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam
and Mayiladuthurai dis-
tricts on the farm budget.
He said farmers expressed
their views on fixing
prices of their produce,
new technologies to be
used in agriculture, infra-
structure development,
achieving maximum yield
of paddy and maximum
yield of horticulture crops
at affordable expenditure.
‘’I am going to hear the
views of farmers of
Tiruchy, Ariyalur, Pera-
mbalur and Pudukottai
districts tomorrow. Views
of farmers of entire Tamil
Nadu will be heard and
put before Chief Minister
M.K. Stalin. A good budget
will be prepared and
released by the chief min-
ister," said the minister.
He said that steps were
taken jointly by him and
food minister
Sakkarapani for protect-
ing the paddy bags affect-
ed by rain and started to
sprout at the direct pur-
chase centres. It has been
decided on the advice of
the Chief Minister to shift
1,57,000 tonnes of paddy
from the DPCs to safer
places like marketing
committee godowns,
TNCSC godowns and
godowns of sugar mills
etc. Till Tuesday we have
moved 70,000 tonnes of
paddy to safer places. Rest
will be moved soon,
Panneerselvam said.
Mobile driers will be
introduced to deal with
increased moisture con-
tent of the paddy.
Tarpaulins will be sup-
plied to farmers to protect
paddy affected by unsea-
sonal rains.
Farmers said that impor-
tance should be given to
organic farming, chemical
fertilisers and pesticides
should be banned and bio-
fertilisers should be
encouraged. They also
demanded fixing of Rs
2,500 per quintal as price
for paddy.
Thirty-five farmers
including Mannargudi S.
Ranganathan, secretary,
Cauvery Delta Farmers
Welfare Association, P.R.
Pandian, co-ordinator of
Thamizhaga Anaithu
Vivasaya Sangangalin
Orunginaippu Kuzhu gave
their views. S. Rama-
lingam, Mayiladuthurai
MP, and MLAs from the
four districts participated
in the meeting.
In a statement,
Thanjavur MP S.S.Palani
Manickam said that
thrust should be given to
research and extension,
result-oriented subsidy,
mixed farming, water and
soil conservation and
water resource manage-
ment. TNCSC can take
over the control of sugar
mills, the MP suggested.
C. Samayamurthy, secre-
tary, agriculture depart-
ment, A.Annadurai, direc-
tor of agriculture and
Thanjavur collector
Dinesh Ponraj Oliver par-
ticipated in the meeting.
Puducherry, July 14:
After Tamil Nadu, the
AINRC-led NDA govern-
ment in Puducherry has
decided to oppose
Karnataka's proposed dam
on river Cauvery at
Mekedatu, with Chief
Minister N. Rangasamy
set to take up the issue
with the Centre, official
sources said on
Wednesday.
Rangasamy would write
shortly to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Union
Jal Shakti
Gajendra
Minister
Singh
Shekhawat seeking their
intervention in the matter,
requesting them not to
permit Karnataka to con-
struct the estimated Rs
9,000 crore balancing
reservoir.
The issue has become a
dispute between
Karnataka and neighbour-
ing Tamil Nadu, a lower
riparian state, with the lat-
ter insisting its interests
would be affected if the
project takes shape.
Karnataka has said the
project will not affect its
neighbour, with the ruling
BJP insisting it will go
ahead with the initiative,
which, once completed,
could ensure drinking
water to Bengaluru and
neighboring areas (4.75
TMC) and also generate
400 MW power. On
Wednesday, a meeting was
held at the chamber of the
chief minister here to dis-
cuss the matter and it was
decided that a detailed let-
ter be written to Modi and
Shekhawat, seeking their
intervention to ensure the
project was not taken up
by Karnataka, the sources
said.
The sources said the
meeting felt that the flow
of Cauvery water to Tamil
Nadu and consequently to
Karaikal, an enclave of
this union territory
dependent on Cauvery
water for agricultural
operations, would be hit if
the dam was constructed.
"Karaikal is lying at the
tail end of the Cauvery
basin and depends on the
river for farm operations
and hence if the dam
comes up as planned by
Karnataka, farm opera-
tions would be hit,"
sources said quoting the
discussions held.
PWD Minister K Laksh-
minararayan, Transport
Minister Chandra
Priyanga, AINRC legisla-
tor P N R Tirumurugan
and Independent member
P R Siva (the last three
are elected from
Karaikal region to the
Assembly) and PWD
officials also participated
in the meeting. —PTI

Elevated road in Man gets lifer for sexual

abuse of 7-yr-old girl
NDC honcho recalls how DMK saved NMR from extinction in 1968
B. RAVICHANDRAN I DC NMR line was an essen-

Tiruchy soon: Min DC CORRESPONDENT

PUDUKKOTTAI, JULY 14

The district fast track mahila

OOTY, JULY 14

As the famed Nilgiri

R. VALAYAPATHY I DC
TIRUCHY, JULY 14
Urban development minis-
ter K.N. Nehru said the
state highways department
is planning to construct an
elevated road between
Anna Statue and court in
order to ease the traffic con-
gestion in Tiruchy city.
Nehru accompanied by
school education minister
Anbil.Mahesh Poyyamozhi,
Tiruchy collector S.
Sivarasu, Dr K. Vanitha,
dean, Mahatma Gandhi
Memorial Government
Hospital (MGMGH) told
newspersons after inaugu-
rating Rs 53 lakh oxygen
plant and Rs 2 crore endo-
scopic ultrasound sono-
gram at MGMGH at
Tiruchy on Wednesday that
efforts are underway to pre-
vent submerging of drain
water in 13 places in
Uyyakondan canal in
Tiruchy city.
Mahesh Poyyamozhi said
the Tamil Nadu govern-
ment has planned to deal
with the Neet issue legally
and added the announce-
ment of the date for the
Neet is a big concern for the
Tamil Nadu government.
He admitted that there is
no facility to reach the Neet
coaching to a section of
government school stu-
dents online due to non-
availability of mobile
phones, and steps are on to
arrange Neet coaching to
such students in an alterna-
tive way.
He said the government
has initiated actions to sort
out the shortage of text-
books.
court on Wednesday awarded
double life sentence to a 24-year-old
youth for sexually assaulting
his 7-year-old-relative girl at
Koppanapatti village in Pudukkottai
district.
T. Angavi, the special public prose-
cutor, said the accused N. Karthick
sexually assaulted the girl at his
house on July 22, 2018.
Based on the complaint of the vic-
tim's mother, the all-woman police
station authorities arrested the
accused under the Pocso Act and
filed a case against him before the
mahila court.
Judge Dr R. Sathiya awarded life
sentence to the accused and also
slapped a fine of `1 lakh on the
accused. She said if the accused
failed to remit the fine he should
undergo one more year’s imprison-
ment.
The judge directed the Tamil Nadu
government to pay `1.5 lakh as com-
pensation to the victim.
Mountain Railway (NMR)
tial amenity for tourists
and should not be viewed
from the economic gro-
und alone. Further, the
will observe its heritage rail link served the needs
day anniversary on July of the people connected
15, the Nilgiris Docume- with the tea and coffee
ntation Centre (NDC) plantations as also sever-
recalled how the DMK al industrial projects
government in 1968 saved located in the Nilgiris.
the NMR from extinction, Mr.Karunanidhi also stat-
as the Centre then decid- ed that the move would
ed to close down the NMR. cause hardship to stu-
The NMR was accorded dents and government
the world heritage site employees who were
status by the Unesco on enjoying the cheap tr-
July 15, 2005. ansport provided by the
D. Venugopal, the direc- Ooty hill train chugs along the NMR track during the mid-1900s. railway. The DMK gov-
tor of NDC, said that ernment urged the Centre
hardly a year after the In the 1960s all the The DMK, which had ment had urged the to reconsider the issue
historic victory of DMK mountain railways just assumed power for Centre to give up its move bearing in mind these fac-
in Tamil Nadu in 1967, the including the Darjeeling the first time, decided to to dismantle the NMR tors and also the feelings
Railway Board and Simla railways were protest against the deci- line between Ooty and of the local people.
announced the closure running at a loss. Yet, sion of the Centre by giv- Mettupalayam as the rail Thanks to the firm
of the NMR by declaring only NMR, which was ing valid reasons. Late link served the needs of stand of the DMK govern-
it to be uneconomic. But then nearly 70 years old, chief minister M. tourists and helped to sus- ment, the decision to dis-
for the timely protest by was singled out for clo- Karunanidhi, then PWD tain the economy of the mantle the NMR was
then DMK government, sure. There was wide- minister, announced in Nilgiris. finally dropped in March
the NMR would have spread protest all over the Assembly on March 1, The DMK government 1969 by the Centre, Mr
become history. Tamil Nadu and outside. 1968 that the state govern- told the Centre that the Venugopal divulged.
 NATION
DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI | THURSDAY | 15 JULY 2021
pg 4

SHORT TAKES ALL-PARTY ADHIKARI SEEKS

MODI TO OPEN MEETING ON TRANSFER OF CM’S
CONVENTION SUN AHEAD OF PLEA OUTSIDE WB
CENTRE TODAY PARL SESSION New Delhi, July 14: BJP
leader Suvendu Adhikari on
New Delhi, July 14: Prime DC CORRESPONDENT Wednesday moved the
Minister Narendra Modi will NEW DELHI, JULY 14 Supreme Court seeking
inaugurate an international transfer of Chief Minister
cooperation and convention The government has Mamata Banerjee’s petition
centre, ‘Rudraksh’, in called an all-party meet- challenging his election from
Varanasi on Thursday that ing on Sunday, July 18, a Nandigram constituency
will offer a glimpse of the cul- day ahead of the com- outside West Bengal.
tural richness of the ancient mencement of the The BJP leader seeks
city of Kashi. Monsoon Session of transfer of Banerjee’s peti-
As many as 108 Rudraksha Parliament, which tion, pending in the Calcutta
have been installed at this con- Prime Minister High Court, outside the
vention centre and its roof is Narendra Modi is state, lawyer Kabir Bose
shaped like a Shiva Linga, offi- expected to attend. said.
cials said, adding that the While the government Adhikari, a former close
entire building will glow with will seek the aide of the chief minister,
LED lights at night. Opposition’s coopera- who joined BJP in 2020, is
The two-storey convention tion for the smooth func- presently holding the post of
centre has come up at posh tioning of Parliament, the leader of opposition in
Sigra area on 2.87 hectares of which will sit from July the state assembly after
land and has a seating capacity 19 till August 13, the defeating Banerjee in a close-
of 1,200 people. Opposition parties will ly-contested polls by a mar-
The officials said the try to corner the govern- gin of 1,956 votes.
objective of the project is to ment on a range of — PTI
provide opportunities for issues, including the
social and cultural interac- “mismanagement” of
tions between people at the
international convention cen-
Covid-19 and its second
wave, the surging petro-
World opposes
tre in Varanasi that would
strengthen the city's competi-
leum prices, inflation,
Rafale, among others.
Traffic jam at Mukarba Chowk after heavy rains in New Delhi on Wednesday. Two people were killed and four injured in rainfall-related inci-
dents in northern states of the country, with rains lashing Delhi for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, leading to heavy waterlog-
Taliban’s violent
tiveness by developing its
tourism sector.
The Central govern-
ment will also table 23
ging on major roads and low-lying residential areas, and disrupting traffic for long hours. — PTI
takeover of
It is ideal for holding interna- bills, out of which 17

Kejriwal says every family

tional conferences, exhibitions
and music concerts and other
will be new bills while
three others will replace
Afghanistan: India
events and the gallery is done ordinances including FROM PG 1
up with murals depicting the Insolvency and
Varanasi's art, culture and Bankruptcy Code Whom New Delhi has

in Goa will get free power

music, they added. (Amendment) Bill, the always backed. Pakistan’s
Essential Defence foreign minister Shah
MAN PARADES Service Bill and the
Commission for Air
Mahmood Qureshi also
attended the meeting.

WIFE NAKED Quality Management in

National Capital Region
In a series of tweets, the
EAM said: “Presented the

IN GUJARAT and Adjoining Areas

Dahod, July 14: At least 19
persons were arrested in
Gujarat’s Dahod district on
Wednesday after a young trib-
al woman was stripped and
paraded by her husband and
others for allegedly running
away with another man, police
said. The State Women’s
Commission also took notice
of the shocking incident
which came to light when a
video made by the accused
went viral, and sought a report
from the district police.
A First Information Report
(FIR) was lodged on Tuesday
and the woman’s husband and
18 others — most of them his
relatives — were arrested on
Wednesday, sub-inspector B.M.
Patel of Dhanpur police sta-
tion said.
The incident took place at
Khajuri village in the tribal-
dominated Dhanpur tehsil on
July 6, he said.
The video showed the 23-
year-old victim’s husband and
some other men dragging, hit-
ting and stripping her in pub-
lic in the presence of women
and children, the police officer
said.
147 more women
get permanent
army commission
FROM PG 1
After Supreme Court land-
mark judgement in February
last year, to grant Permanent
Commission (PC) to Women
Officers in Indian Army, a
Special Number 5 Selection
Board for screening Women
Officers for grant of PC was
constituted in September 2020
and results were declared in
November 2020.
In March 2021, the Supreme
Court had directed to re-con-
sider some cases of Women
Officers who were not granted
PC by laying down revised
parameters for grant of PC.
"The Women Officers were
re-considered as per directions
of the Supreme Court and
fresh results have now been
de-classified. Consequently,
147 more Women Officers are
being granted PC, taking the
total PC granted to 424 out of
the 615 officers considered,"
said Indian Army. It said that
results of few Women Officers
have been withheld for admin-
istrative reasons and awaiting
outcome of the clarification
petition filed in the SC.
Bill.
The all-party meeting
has been called by par-
liamentary affairs min-
ister Pralhad Joshi of
the floor leaders of all
political parties at 11 am
on Sunday, July 18.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om
Birla will also chair an
all-party meeting of the
floor leaders of the
Lower House of
Parliament on July 18.
Rajya Sabha Chairman
M. Venkaiah Naidu has
also called a meeting of
floor leaders of the
Upper House on July 17.
Meanwhile, Union
minister Piyush Goyal
has been named as the
Leader of the House in
the Rajya Sabha and will
succeed Thawarchand
Gehlot, who has been
named as the governor
of Karnataka.
Cong. was cheated Sharad Pawar says not MOST PEOPLE OPPOSE NEET,
in 2014: Patole in race for Prez’s post SAYS RAJAN PANEL REPORT
SONU
SHRIVASTAVA | DC
MUMBAI, JULY 14
Maharashtra Congress
president Nana Patole on
Wednesday stoked anoth-
er controversy by stating
his party was cheated in
2014 and it is now prepar-
ing for the 2024 general
elections keeping that in
mind. He said that
Sharad Pawar-led NCP
had taken a decision to
contest the 2014 Assembly
separately. He also reiter-
ated that his party would
contest the Assembly
election in 2024 independ-
ently and the decision
would be taken at his
party level.
Speaking with the
reporters on Wednesday,
Mr. Patole claimed that
his party would be in
number one position in
2024. “We (Congress)
were cheated in the 2014
(elections). We are now
preparing for the next
Lok Sabha elections keep-
ing that in mind,” the
Maharashtra Congress
chief said.
Mr Patole’s remark on
2014 Assembly election
assumed a political sig-
nificance as NCP and
Shiv Sena are not happy
In 2017 Goa Assembly polls, Aam Aadmi Party had drawn a blank
Panaji, July 14: Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal on Wednesday
said each family in Goa
will get up to 300 units of
electricity free per month
if his Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) is voted to power
in the state Assembly
elections, due in
February next year.
Unveiling four “guaran-
tees”, the AAP national
convener promised to
waive all the old electrici-
ty bills if his party gets a
chance to rule the coastal
state. Every family will
get up to 300 units of elec-
tricity free per month. We
will start on a clean slate.
Once the AAP govern-
ment is formed in Goa, 87
per cent of consumers
will start getting a zero
with his controversial
remarks portraying a pic-
ture of cracks in Maha-
rashtra Government
before the opposition and
public at large.
In 2014, the NCP had
snapped its ties with
Congress to contest the
Assembly elections in
Maharashtra separately.
A group of Congress
leaders believes that
NCP’s decision benefited
the BJP in the 2014
Assembly election result-
ing in defeat of the
Congress-NCP coalition.
Even the Congress, which
was the single largest
party in Maharashtra
before Maharashtra
Assembly election in
2014, had slipped to the
fourth position in terms
of MLAs in Assembly.
Two days ago, Mr. Patole
had said that chief minis-
ter Uddhav Thackeray
and deputy chief minis-
ter Ajit Pawar were keep-
ing an eye on him. The
Maharashtra Congress
chief had said that his
phone was tapped. Over
his allegations, the NCP
chief had ridiculed him
saying that he was “a
small leader whose com-
ments do not warrant a
response”.
electricity bill, he told a
press conference on the
last day of his two-day
visit to Goa. Kejriwal also
promised free electricity
to farmers in the state.
If people in Delhi can
get free electricity, then
why not free power for
people in Goa, he said.
Despite Goa being a
power-surplus state,
there are frequent power-
cuts in the coastal state,
he added.
In 2017 Goa Assembly
polls, the AAP had drawn
a blank. During his two-
day visit, Kejriwal met
various stakeholders and
claimed that the AAP was
getting a good response
from the common people
“who are looking for a
clean politics after a
BHAGWAN PARAB | DC
MUMBAI, JULY 14
NCP supremo Sharad
Pawar on Wednesday
made it clear that he
will not contest the next
presidential election. I
will not be a candidate
for the presidential elec-
tion, he said.
“It is absolutely false
that I will be a candidate
for the Presidential elec-
tion. I know what will be
the result, given the
party that has more
than 300 MPs. I will not
be a candidate for the
Presidential election,”
he said on Wednesday.
With poll strategist
Prashant Kishor meet-
ing Mr Pawar twice
since the West Bengal
Assembly election
results, there is a buzz
in political circles that
he was lobbying to get
the NCP chief elected as
the next President of
India.
However, the veteran
leader said, “Prashant
Kishor met me twice,
but we only talked about
a company of his. No
discussion was held
regarding the leader-
ship for the 2024 elec-
spate of defections in the People feel betrayed, he
state during the current said. The AAP leader said
tenure”. the people of Goa now
Kejriwal slammed the want change.
MLAs who left Congress The people of Goa have
and other parties to join seen how Delhi govern-
the BJP after the last ment has been providing
Assembly elections in free electricity to its resi-
Goa.The party (Congress) dents. If Delhi can do it,
which had won 17 seats is why can't Goa? he asked.
now left with only five Kejriwal said 73 per
MLAs whereas the party cent of Delhi gets zero
(BJP) which had won electricity bill under the
only 13 seats is currently AAP government.
having 28 MLAs, Kejriwal Despite being a power
said. surplus state, Goa is wit-
These MLAs who nessing an erratic supply,
switched sides claimed he wondered.
that they were joining the “Delhi once faced a sim-
BJP to get people’s work ilar situation. When we
done. Did they do people's took over, this situation
work as they claimed? was corrected within two
Now people are saying to three years and people
that they switched sides started getting uninter-
for the lure of money. rupted power supply,” the
recently met Congress
leaders Rahul Gandhi
and Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra leading to specu-
lation that he was trying
to build an opposition
front against the BJP in
the next presidential
elections and later in
general elections in
2024.
Meanwhile, senior
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay
Raut has said that Mr
Pawar is the right candi-
Sharad Pawar date against Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi in the Lok Sabha
● SENIOR SHIV SENA polls. The opposition
leader Sanjay Raut has has a slim chance of
said that Mr Pawar is winning the 2024 gener-
the right candidate al elections until it has a
against Prime Minister face, he said.
Narendra Modi in the Sharad Pawar could be
Lok Sabha polls. The the face of the
opposition has a slim Opposition in 2024 since
chance of winning the he is a senior leader. His
leadership is acceptable
2024 general elections to all, Mr Raut added.
until it has a face, he “Without a strong face
said. of the Opposition, it will
be difficult to defeat
Modi in 2024. The
tions or the Presidential Opposition currently
election. Prashant has no face to battle
Kishor told me that he against PM Modi. All
has left the field of for- opposition parties
mulating poll strate- should try and find a
gies.” face to fight the elec-
Mr Kishor had also tion,” he said.
Delhi CM said. He blamed
defective power transmis-
sion lines for the irregu-
lar power supply, which,
he said will be fixed.
Kejriwal also pointed
out that consumers in
Goa are getting huge
power bills that are not
corrected by the con-
cerned department.
People in Goa are asked
to pay money if they go to
correct their power bills,
he added.
Kejriwal said that he
felt “encouraged” as even
opposition leaders are
talking about his party, a
day after Congress MLA
Navjot Singh Sidhu
tweeted that the AAP has
always recognised his
vision and work for
Punjab. — PTI
FROM PG 1
Not only had the DMK
made a promise to abolish
Neet soon after the party
took charge of the govern-
ment, the national entrance
examination had been
drawing widespread opposi-
tion all through the state
right from the beginning.
Since medical and dental
college admissions were
made on the basis of the
marks scored in the school
final year examination till
then, the sudden introduc-
tion of Neet led to many top-
pers in the public examina-
tion failing to score ade-
quately.
Alleging that the question
papers set for Neet were not
based on the syllabus that
the state board followed, a
hue and cry was raised on
various fronts with activists
and political party leaders
too joining the chorus.
One major ruse was that
children from privileged
homes scored better as they
could pay huge amounts of
money to private coaching
academies, which sprang
like mushrooms all over the
state to train medical aspi-
rants on cracking Neet.
Since the demand for its
abolition never died out
despite medical college
admissions continuing to be
Indian view at the SCO FM
Contact Group meeting on
Afghanistan at Dushanbe
today. The world, region and
the Afghan people all want
the same end state: 1. An
independent, neutral, uni-
fied, peaceful, democratic
and prosperous nation. 2.
Ceasing violence and terror-
ist attacks against civilians
and state representatives,
settle conflict through polit-
ical dialogue, and respect
interests of all ethnic
groups, and 3. Ensure that
neighbours are not threat-
ened by terrorism, sepa-
ratism and extremism.”
The minister added: “The
challenge is to act seriously
and sincerely on these
beliefs because there are
forces at work with a very
different agenda. The world
is against the seizure of
power by violence and
force.”
made on the basis of Neet
scores, the DMK made a
promise to do it in its elec-
tion manifesto. Then it set
up the Rajan committee on
June 5.
But a petition was filed by
a BJP senior functionary
against the appointment of
the committee, saying that
it went against the Supreme
Court orders. After the peti-
tion was dismissed by the
Madras High Court on
Tuesday, Justice Rajan (Rtd)
submitted the report.
Meanwhile, former chief
minister Edappadi K.
Palaniswami accused the
Stalin government of reneg-
ing in its poll promise and
urged the DMK to stop
cheating the students of the
state.
At the hustings, the DMK's
campaigners starting from
the youth wing secretary to
the lowest level cadre were
harping that Mr Stalin
knew how to eliminate Neet
and would do it as the first
thing after taking over as
chief minister, Mr
Palaniswami recalled.
Recounting the various
efforts made by the previ-
ous AIADMK government
to get exemption for the
state from Neet, Mr
Palaniswami said he party
was always opposed to
Neet.

FRESH | APPROACH This is for first time that a Kerala governor observed fast for a social cause CENTRE FLAGS R-FACTOR, ASKS
STATES TO CONTROL CROWDS
Kerala Gov. observes fast against dowry
GILVESTER ASSARY | DC Nidhi backed the fast made an emotional appeal “evil”, he had said social raise awareness against Hailing Khan for taking
FROM PG 1

The Union home ministry

with agency inputs
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM,
JULY 14
Days after a series of
dowry deaths rocked
Kerala and kicked up a
heated debate on the men-
ace, Kerala governor Arif
Mohammad Khan on
Wednesday observed a
dawn-to-dusk fast against
the practice of giving and
taking dowry.
The governor’s fast began
at the Raj Bhavan at 8 am
concluded at 6 pm. Various
Gandhian organisations
including Gandhi Smaraka
aimed at creating social
awareness against the
practice of dowry and
atrocities against women.
This is the first time that
a Kerala governor observed
fast for a social cause. The
Gandhian organisations
had also given a call to
organise campaign against
the social evil.
Mr Khan said dowry is a
grave injustice and
ignominy to the dignity of
women whose contribu-
tions to Kerala’s society
and state’s growth are
widely acknowledged.
Last month, Khan had
to women to say no to
dowry when it was
demanded during the time
of marriages and
expressed willingness to be
part of any “organised”
voluntary movement to
create awareness against
the menace.
He reacted after visiting
the house of Vismaya, an
Ayurveda medical student,
who was recently found
dead in husband’s house
under mysterious circum-
stances after she had com-
plained of dowry harass-
ment in Kollam district.
Terming dowry as an
awareness should be creat-
ed about its unholy aspects
and urged NGOs or volun-
teers, who selflessly work
for public causes, to start a
special movement against
it.
In a video message issued
on Monday evening, Khan
said dowry is a “grave
injustice and ignominy to
the dignity of women”
whose contributions to
Kerala’s growth are widely
acknowledged.
The opposition Congress
and BJP extended support
to the Governor for adopt-
ing the “Gandhian path” to
the menace.
Lapping up the opportu-
nity to criticise the Left
government over the issue,
they alleged that the fail-
ure of the Pinarayi Vijayan
government to ensure safe-
ty of women in the state
had forced the Governor to
observe a fast to open the
eyes of authorities.
“Greetings to the
Governor who is observing
a fast seeking to ensure the
safety of women and girls
of Kerala,” senior BJP
leader and Union Minister,
V Muralee-dharan, said in
a Facebook post.
up such a cause, he said it
may be a “rare episode” in
the administrative history
of the country.
He also said it is for the
state government to find
out why the Governor, the
head of the state, has to fast
seeking the safety of
women.
Kerala Pradesh Congress
Committee President K.
Sudhakaran claimed that
the failure of the state gov-
ernment to ensure safety
and security of people was
one of the reasons why the
Governor was sitting on a
fast.
directed all states to ensure
strict compliance of CAB in
all crowded areas like “shop-
ping malls, market complex-
es, weekly markets, restau-
rants and bars, mandis, bus
stations, railway platforms
and stations, public parks
and gardens, gymnasiums,
banquet/marriage halls, sta-
dia/sports complexes as well
as at all areas identified as
hotspots for transmission of
the Covid virus”.
“It needs to be ensured that
if the norms of covid appro-
priate behaviour are not
maintained at any establish-
ment/premises/markets etc,
such places shall be liable
for the reimposition of
restrictions, for containing
the spread of Covid-19 and
the defaulter(s) shall also be
liable for action under the
relevant laws,” the home sec-
retary further stated in his
letter.
The states have been asked
to issue the appropriate
orders to district and local
authorities for regulation of
crowds and make officers
personally responsible for
any laxity in the strict
enforcement of Covid appro-
priate behaviour.
“It is emphasised that the
second wave of Covid is not
over yet… we must guard
against any complacency
and laxity which creeps in
as positivity declines.”
 WORLD
DECCAN CHRONICLE | CHENNAI| THURSDAY | 15 JULY 2021
pg 5

SHORT TAKES
BELARUSIAN Taliban seizes border at Pak Republicans post
POLICE RAID Afghan interior ministry denies claims even though photos flood social media record fundraising
OFFICES
ahead of 2022 race
Kandahar, July 14: The women and girls are going

Moscow: Belarusian security

services on Wednesday raided
a dozen human rights and op-
position groups as President
Alexander Lukashenko's
regime clamps down on civil
society in a months-long
crackdown on dissent.
The raids come a day after
Lukashenko, who has been hit
with a slew of sanctions by
Western nations, met with
Russian leader and key ally
Vladimir Putin in Saint
Petersburg.
The country’s notorious KGB
targeted at least five independ-
ent human rights organisa-
tions — including the promi-
nent Vyasna group and the
Belarusian Helsinki Com-
mittee — and detained several
activists.
Vyasna has been monitoring
mass arrests that followed
huge anti-Lukashenko
protests last year.
POPE RETURNS
TO VATICAN
Taliban captured the
strategic border crossing
of Spin Boldak on the
frontier with Pakistan on
Wednesday, continuing
sweeping gains made
since foreign forces step-
ped up their withdrawal
from Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s interior
ministry denied the insur-
gents had taken the area
even as social media was
flooded with pictures of
Taliban fighters relaxing
in the frontier town.
Residents also said it was
in the Taliban’s hands.
Spin Boldak is the latest
in a string of border cross-
ings and dry ports seized
by the Taliban in recent
weeks, with the insur-
gents looking to choke off
much-needed revenue
from the government in
Kabul while also filling
Russia, US united on climate: Putin
Afghan troop pullout
a ‘mistake’, says Bush
Berlin, July 14: Former
US president George W.
Bush on Wednesday criti-
cised the withdrawal of
Nato troops from Afgha-
nistan and said civilians
were being left to be
“slaughtered” by the
Taliban.
“I’m afraid Afghan
women and girls are going
to suffer unspeakable
harm... They are going to
be left behind to be
slaughtered by these very
their own coffers.
As Kabul’s grip over the
country appeared to fur-
ther loosen, former US
president George W. Bush
brutal people and it
breaks my heart,” Bush
said.
Asked whether he
thought the withdrawal
was a mistake, Bush re-
plied: “Yes, I think it
is.””I've spent a lot of time
with Afghan women and
they're scared. And I
think about all the inter-
preters and people that
help not only US troops
but Nato troops,” he said.
— AFP
slammed current White
House incumbent Joe
Biden’s decision to with-
draw all troops.
“I'm afraid Afghan
to suffer unspeakable
harm... They are going to
be left behind to be slaugh-
tered by these very brutal
people and it breaks my
heart,” he told German br-
oadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Asked whether he
thought the withdrawal
was a mistake, Bush
replied: “Yes, I think it
is.”It was his administra-
tion that launched the US
invasion into Afghanistan
in 2001 that toppled the
Taliban government fol-
lowing the September 11
attacks on US soil by Al-
Qaeda militants.
Along with his key secu-
rity advisers, Bush was
later blamed for a series of
miscalculations in Afgha-
nistan that led to a costly
20-year occupation and the
revival of the Taliban
movement. — AFP
UK COULD WORK
WITH TALIBAN:
DEF. SECRETARY
London: Defence Secr-
etary Ben Wallace said
Britain will work with the
Taliban if it enters into a
power-sharing govern-
ment in Afghanistan and
respects human rights.
“Whatever the govern-
ment of the day is, provid-
ed it adheres to certain
international norms, the
UK Government will
engage with it,” he told
the Daily Telegraph.
“Just like other govern-
ments around the world, if
they behave in a way that
is seriously against hu-
man rights, we will review
that relationship. — AFP
Washington, July 14:
The committee charged
with helping Republicans
wrest control of the Ho-
use in 2022 raised $45.4
million over the last three
months, a record quarter-
ly haul during a year wi-
thout a national election.
That total was bolstered
by $20.1 million raised in
June, the highest ever
monthly off-year total,
according to numbers
shared before a public fil-
ing deadline. The Dem-
ocratic Congressional
Campaign Committee last
week announced that it
had raised $14.4 million
in June, bringing its sec-
ond-quarter total to about
$36.5 million — its best
ever for that stretch.
The large sums signal
that excitement is high
among donors to both
parties as they prepare
for what is expected to be
a contentious midterm
The party that occupies
the White House typically
sees large losses in both
the House and the Senate.
GOP fundraising has also
been bolstered by former
President Donald Trump,
whose name continues to
dominate fundraising ple-
as for small-dollar contri-
butions, even as he con-
tinues to spread lies ab-
out the 2020 election,
which he lost to Democrat
Joe Biden.
In its next filing, the
National Republican
Congressional Committee
will report that it raised
$79.2 million during the
first half of the year, best-
ing the $44.5 million
raised in 2019 and mark-
ing the most ever raised
for that period in the com-
mittee's history.
The committee now has
$55 million cash on hand,
versus more than $44 mil-
lion for the DCCC. But

AFTER OPERATION Moscow, July 14: for talks in Geneva last election season. this year’s numbers were

Rome: Pope Francis was dis-

Russian President Vlad-
imir Putin told US climate
envoy John Kerry that
EU to unveil tough month. Moscow has wel-
comed Kerry's visit and
called it a positive step to
Democrats hold a razor-
thin majority in the
House, but Republicans
also bolstered by major
contributions
Republican
from
leadership

climate, tax rules

charged from a Rome hospital
and returned home to the
Vatican on Wednesday, 10 days
after undergoing surgery to
remove half his colon.
Pope, 84, sat in the passenger
seat of the Ford car, which left
Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic
around 10.45 a.m. (0845 GMT;
4:45 a.m. EDT). He made a stop
to pray at Rome’s Santa Maria
Maggiore basilica, which has
a beloved icon of the Virgin
Mary which Pope always vis-
its after returning home from
a foreign trip.
After the brief stop, Pope’s
small motorcade approached a
side entrance to the Vatican.
The Ford stopped before
reaching the gate and he got
out with the help of a body-
guard. He greeted some
Italian security guards – two
army soldiers standing guard
and a handful of Italian police
motorcycle escorts – and got
back in the car, which then
entered the Vatican through
the Perugino gate.
Moscow and Washington
have a shared interest in
battling climate change,
the Kremlin said
Wednesday, in a rare area
of common ground
between the rivals.
“The climate problem is
one of the areas where
Russia and the United
States have common inter-
ests and similar approach-
es,” Putin said in a phone
call with Kerry who is vis-
iting Moscow, the Kremlin
said in a statement.
The former secretary of
state is in Russia this
week to discuss climate
change with officials and
has called on the country
to cooperate with the US
on the issue.
Putin said Moscow
“attaches great impor-
tance” to achieving the
goals of the Paris
Agreement and” advo-
cates de-politicising” dia-
Brussels, July 14: The
European Union unveiled
sweeping new legislation
Wednesday to help meet
its pledge to cut emissions
of the gases that cause
global warming by 55%
over this decade, includ-
ing a controversial plan to
tax foreign companies for
the pollution they cause.
The legislation present-
ed by the EU’s executive
branch, the European
Commission, encompass-
es about a dozen major
proposals, ranging from
the de-facto phasing out of
gasoline and diesel cars
by 2035 to new levies on
logue on climate
change.The comments on
a rare point of coopera-
improve relations. have history on their side: accounts. — AP
For years Putin was
notorious for his scepti-
cism about man-made
gases from heating build- global warming and say-
ings. ing Russia stands to bene-
They involve a revamp fit from it.
of the bloc’s emissions
trading program, under
which companies pay for
carbon dioxide they emit,
and introduce taxes on
shipping and aviation
fuels for the first time.
Most of the proposals
build on existing laws that
were designed to meet the
EU’s old goal of a 40% cut
in greenhouse gas emis-
sions by 2030 compared to
1990 levels — and must be
endorsed by the 27 mem-
ber countries and EU law-
makers. — AP
tion between the two coun-
tries come after Putin met
US President Joe Biden

OZ MOVES TO Be vigilant: UK spy GERMAN’S INTEL

SAVE GREAT
BARRIER REEF
Brisbane: Australia will take a
group of ambassadors sn-
orkelling on the Great Barrier
Reef Thursday in a last-minute
lobbying effort to keep the
World Heritage site off Unesco’s
endangered list. The United
Nations cultural agency last
month recommended that the
world’s largest reef system —
and a jewel in Australia’s
tourism crown — be downgrad-
ed because of damage to the
corals, chiefly from climate
change.
That threat angered Australia
and sparked an intense lobby-
ing campaign ahead of
UNESCO’s virtual meeting
hosted by China starting Friday,
where a vote will be held on
downgrading the reef to “World
Heritage In Danger” status.
Ambassadors from the
European Union and more than
a dozen countries who could
help sway the outcome — will
be ferried to Agincourt Reef.
chief tells Britons
London, July 14: The
British public now needs
to be as alert to covert
infiltration by hostile
countries as it is to terror
threats, according to the
head of the MI5 intelli-
gence agency.
In a speech later on
Wednesday, Ken
McCallum will warn that
it is wrong to believe that
other countries represent
only a threat to the UK
government, organisa-
tions or high-profile indi-
viduals.
Over the past five years,
“we have seen over 10,000
disguised approaches
from foreign spies to reg-
ular people in the UK,
seeking to manipulate
them,” he was to say,
according to pre-released
excerpts of the speech.
“We see the UK's bril-
liant universities and
FINDS BIDS TO
researchers having their
discoveries stolen or
INFLUENCE POLLS
copied; we see businesses
hollowed out by the loss
of advantage they’ve
worked painstakingly to
build,” McCallum said.
“Given half a chance,
hostile actors will short-
circuit years of patient
British research or
investment. This is hap-
pening at scale. And it
affects us all: UK jobs, UK
public services, UK
futures.”
The chief of the domes-
tic intelligence agency
said that for Britons
working in high-tech
businesses, cutting-edge
research or those export-
ing to certain markets,
"you will be of more
interest — more interest
than you might think —
to foreign spies”.
— AFP
Berlin, July 14: German
authorities see an interest on
some countries’ part in influ-
encing Germany’s national ele-
ction in September, but so far
such activities are at a “low
level,” the domestic intelligence
chief said on Wednesday.
Germany will elect a new par-
liament in a Sept. 26 vote that
will determine who succeeds
Chancellor Angela Merkel. She
is not seeking another term
after nearly 16 years in charge.
Thomas Haldenwang, the
head of the BfV domestic intel-
ligence agency, said there have
been varied efforts to exert
influence by other countries in
previous German elections and
“we definitely see the interest of
certain states in exerting influ-
ence on this year''s parliamen-
tary election — there are indi-
cations of this.” He didn’t iden-
tify those countries.

World’s top floating solar

farm in Singapore
Singapore, July 14: Sing-
apore on Wednesday unveiled
one of the world’s biggest float-
ing solar power farms, covering
an area the size of 45 football
pitches, as part of the city-
state’s push to
cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The project is the country's
most ambitious yet, comprising
1,22,000 panels on Tengeh
Reservoir that will produce
enough electricity to run its
five water treatment plants.
Singapore is among the
biggest per capita carbon diox-
ide emitters in Asia and its
land scarcity makes boosting
renewable energy sources a This undated handout photograph released by Singapore’s national
challenge. water agency PUB on Wednesday shows an aerial view of
The prosperous financial hub Sembcorb energy company's new floating solar power farm at
has turned to setting up plants Tengeh reservoir in Singapore. — AFP
off its coasts and in reservoirs,
and aims to quadruple solar “Solar energy is plentiful, trees, reducing waste sent to
energy production by 2025. clean and green, and is key to landfills and building more
The new farm can produce up reducing PUB’s and also charging points to encourage
to 60 megawatts of electricity, Singapore’s carbon footprint,” electric car use.
and will lead to carbon emis- said the water agency’s chief Singapore has pledged to
sions reductions equivalent to executive Ng Joo Hee. achieve net-zero emissions “as
removing 7,000 cars from roads, Singapore has also built a soon as viable” in the second
according to Sembcorp solar farm in the Johor Strait, half of the century.
Industries and national water which separates the island Critics say the city-state’s
agency PUB. state from Malaysia, as well as goals are behind that of other
Sembcorp built the project, plants on land. developed economies, and that
which covers about 45 hectares The government in February it has not gone far enough to
(110 acres), with backing from unveiled a “green plan” that achieve its environmental
the agency. included steps such as planting ambitions. — AFP
 EDIT
DECCAN CHRONICLE | THURSDAY | 15 JULY 2021 | CHENNAI
pg 6

15 JULY 2021

Step up vaccination, don’t Subhani

blame it all on the people
T
he Union government has of late been warning the people of the
impending third wave and the need to take precautions. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that the opening of the
economy is good news but the attendant crowding of markets and
tourism spots could be an invitation for a possible third wave. Niti Aayog
member V.K. Paul has lamented that people are talking about the third
wave as casually as weather updates and the gross violations of Covid-
appropriate behaviour could cancel the gains in managing the pandemic
so far. He has warned that the world has already started witnessing the
third wave of the pandemic and it is people’s behaviour that can invite it
here more than anything else.
The government has a duty to inform and instruct people on the ways to
handle a public health crisis but it must also do its job. The scientific com-
munity has identified and the political class has agreed to the singular
role vaccination can play in preventing the virus from spreading, but
reports emanating from various parts of the country on the topic are not
at all encouraging. India has set a target of vaccinating all eligible people
by December 31 this year. To meet the target, we must vaccinate over 80

Stabilising population by LETTERS

lakh people a day. The number hovered around the target figure for a cou-
ple of days after June 21, when the Union government took over the
responsibility of distributing the vaccines after dropping its earlier self-
defeating policy to hand it over to the state governments and the private TENNIS GREATS FOREVER
sector.
Latest figures, however, talk of a steep drop in the number of doses
administered across the country. After recording an average of 61.14 lakh
doses in the week starting on June 21, the figures dropped to 41.92 lakh
doses daily. For the week starting July 5, the figure is a mere 34.32 lakh
doses, which is less than half the target. Several states have started com-
plaining of the lack of availability of doses while some, such as Tamil
Nadu and Kerala, have pointed out the imbalance in the allocation of vac-
coercion can never work riage and overall human Political observers say
Apropos your editorial,
Tennis greatness person-
ified. By winning
Wimbledon 2021,
cines and asked for a substantial hike. Several states have either shut development. This is also the draft bill is less about Serbian great Novak
down or are on the verge of shutting down their vaccination centres. Patralekha true for other countries in
the neighbourhood which
population stabilisation
and more about the poli-
Djokovic has finally
Chatterjee
The government, in an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, had drawn caught up with his great
up a schedule for the procurement of vaccine doses and their administra- have successfully sta- tics of perception.
tion. However, it seems it has allowed the momentum to taper off, given bilised their population. Irrespective of whether it rivals Roger Federer and
the poor show which the country is witnessing now.
The nation is engaged in a war with a dangerous micro-organism, and it Dev 360 There is a wealth of evi-
dence that suggest that
becomes a law or not, it is
already being seen as a
Rafael Nadal with 20
Grand Slam titles. The
takes a sustained, targeted and well-funded war to defeat it. Occasional women with no, or low marker of muscular
spurts are good for the gallery but cannot guarantee success. The people education, have higher Hindutva that will keep triumvirate has guarded

W
may have been lax but the government, which looked the other way when e can’t have
festivals were conducted with millions in attendance, and never bothered a sustain-
to ensure availability of adequate quantity of vaccine doses to conduct the able planet
world’s largest vaccination programme, is no less culpable. At least now it without sta-
must wake up to correct the course. bilising our
population.
It is also no secret that
Deuba needs India’s quiet support coercive population con-
trol policies are not the
way to stabilise popula-
Uttar Pradesh Population
(Control, Stabilisation and
Welfare) Bill 2021, which
is open for suggestions
from the public till July 19,
has kicked up a storm.
The proposed law offers
a slew of incentives to pub-
lic servants who adopt the
two-child norm such as
fertility as compared to
women with higher levels
of education. India’s coun-
try-wide female literacy
rate is 70.3 per cent, while
the male literacy rate is
estimated at around 84.7
per cent, going by a
nationwide study by the
National Statistical Office
the minorities in their
place. With Uttar Pradesh the Grand Slams like a
Assembly elections inch- demesne, repelling one
ing closer, this could help generation after the
consolidate the BJP’s sup-
port base in the state. next. The big three are
As Ashwini Deshpande, well past their 30s, but
professor of economics,
Ashoka University, said
in a recent commentary:
among them, they have
won a staggering 60

T
he experienced Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba walked tion. The Narendra Modi two additional increments from July 2017 to June “The unstated, or often Grand Slams, and still
into a wholly unsettling situation when he was sworn in as Prime government at the Centre during their entire ser- 2018. But a bunch of states, stated, argument is that
Minister of Nepal on Tuesday after his predecessor K.P. Sharma Oli was clearly aware of these vice, maternity or as the including UP, trail behind ‘certain communities’ refusing to let go of their
was ejected from that position following an order of the Supreme Court, well-known facts when it case may be, paternity the national average when have too many children.” grip on the biggest tro-
which also ordered the revival of Parliament that had been dissolved on told the Supreme Court in leave of 12 months, with it comes to female litera- This stokes baseless
the recommendations of Mr Oli by the conniving Nepal President, Bidya December last year that full salary and allowances. cy. Female literacy rate in majoritarian fears. phies. The legends have
Devi Bhandari. India is unequivocally All this is being done, Uttar Pradesh was pegged Of course, Uttar Pradesh reached dizzying heights
If Mr Oli is widely seen today as one who mangled the Constitution and against forcing family the UP government at 63.4 per cent, while male isn’t alone in believing in
failed to keep up party-level political agreements and decorum, Mr Deuba planning on its people and argues, because there are literacy in the state is the power of the stick.
in men’s tennis and still
will be expected to stabilise the ship of state. This is a daunting task. that “international experi- “limited ecological and around 81.8 per cent. Assam, also a BJP-ruled have the utmost respect
No party in Parliament is large enough to form government on its own. ence shows that any coer- economic resources at If a state wishes to sta- state, is debating a popula- for each other, showing
Nepali Congress is the second largest in the Pratinidhi Sabha, but way cion to have a certain hand” in the state and “it bilise its population, it tion control policy.
short of majority. Mr Deuba has claimed support of nearly 150 MPs in a number of children is is necessary and urgent could start with focusing Gujarat, another BJP the world a perfect
House of 275 who had helped to bring down Mr Oli, but it remains to be counter-productive and that the provision of basic its political energy on state, says it plans to study model of sportsmanship
seen how many of them stick with him when he takes his vote of confi- leads to demographic dis- necessities of human life, improving female literacy the new population con-
dence in a month’s time. tortions”. In an affidavit including affordable food, and other development trol laws in other states. In among rival stars. No
Nepal has several unresolved domestic issues, among them the devolu- filed in the Supreme safe drinking water, indicators. Health activ- Gujarat, those with more doubt, they will go down
tion of powers to the highlands and the plains population alike. There is Court, in response to a PIL decent housing, access to ists are pointing out that than two children cannot in the history of tennis as
also Chinese interference as massive infrastructure projects cover for seeking enactment of a quality education, eco- states which have a dis- contest local body polls.
political skullduggery. There is also the traditional overbearing posture of law to control population, nomic/livelihood oppor- mal record in infant mor- Many states have experi- not only the best players
New Delhi which has lately been subdued on account of the Chinese com- the health and family wel- tunities, power/electricity tality, where institutional mented with the two-child of their generation but
petition. fare ministry referenced for domestic consump- births are fewer, and policy in one form or
Mr Deuba will be called on to strike a difficult balance when he is him- the Programme of Action tion, and a secure living is where female illiteracy is another over the years. possibly the best of all
self likely to be politically unsteady even if he manages to win a vote of of the International accessible to all citizens”. high have a much higher But they aren’t uniform, time.
confidence by seeking to please the smallest political factions. This essen- Conference on Population The state wants to bring birth rate than others. and it’s hard to quantify R. Sivakumar,
tially means giving posts to greedy individuals of different dispositions and Development 1994, to down its gross fertility The government’s own their impact. Population
with no binding thread. With all the attending risks, he may as well do this which India is a signatory, rate from 2.7 (at present) surveys show that women experts say coercive popu- Chennai
and take the country to the next election, due in about eighteen months, and asserted that the to 2.1 by 2026, and to 1.9 by in the lowest wealth quin- lation policies can do
without turmoil. Else, there could be further instability when the country country was unequivocal- 2030. tile, and the least educated harm — worsen the child
has been hit hard by Covid. New Delhi must offer quiet support and some
hand-holding.
ly against coercion in fam-
ily planning. It noted that
No one can have any
quarrel with the idea of
women, had on an average
one more child than those
sex ratio, malnutrition,
etc — and should be avoid-
POPULATION CONTROL
the country’s family wel- any state government with more than 12 years of ed at all costs. World Population Day is
fare programme was vol- wanting to provide basic schooling and in the high- It’s critical that we keep observed with various pro-
untary in nature. necessities to its people. est wealth quintile. the fundamentals on the grammes with a view to having
DECCAN CHRONICLE
More than six months But where is the evidence The total fertility rate front-burner. The Uttar overall control over the popula-
KAUSHIK MITTER K. SUDHAKAR down the line, Uttar to show that coercive mea- (TFR) in the country as a Pradesh government tion all over the world and India
Editor Printer & Publisher Pradesh, ruled by the sures help stabilise popu- whole is coming down --19 headed by Yogi is not an exception to this. The
R. MOHAN lation in the long run, out of 22 states now have a Adityanath acknowledges
Resident Editor same BJP which calls the focal theme is meant for adopting
DECCAN CHRONICLE offices are located at: shots at the Centre, is especially in democra- below-replacement fertili- that illiteracy and poverty family planning for upkeeping
Chennai: SP 3 Developed Plot, Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai 600032. Phones: (044) 22254747, singing a totally different cies? Why is “population ty which means women in can slow down population the health status of mother and
22254748 tune. It has come up with a control” and “population these states have less than stabilisation. Women with child’s health in a big way. When
Coimbatore: 77 Vivekananda Road, Ramnagar, Coimbatore 641009. Phone: (0422) 2231255, 2231256 balance” becoming the two children. In UP too, no schooling have a high-
Hyderabad: 36, Sarojini Devi Road, Secunderabad 500 003. Phone: (040) 27803930-4. Fax: (040) new population policy for the same talk is opened up in
27805256. 2021-2030 and wishes to talking points instead of the fertility rate is on a er fertility rate in UP, as in India to control less than 135
Bengaluru: 5th Floor, BMTC Commercial Complex, 80 Ft. Road, Koramangala, Bangalore-560095. Ph: bring in a law that would the real issues that need to downward trajectory — it other states. crore population there is no con-
08043460500; Fax: 080-22960551/52/55 debar those with more be addressed so that the nearly halved from 4.82 in There’s an urgent need currence from the people or from
Visakhapatnam: Survey No. 1/3A Beach Road, Near Kailasagiri Ropeway, Sector-9 MVP Colony, than two children from state can deliver the 1993 to 2.7 in 2016. to act on the “why” in the political leaders. And given
Visakhapatnam - 530 017. Phones: (0891) 2552333/2552334, Fax (0891) 2755285
Vijayawada: No. C 3 & 4, Patamata, Industrial Estate, Auto Nagar, Vijayawada (A.P.). Phones: (0866) contesting in local polls, basics to its people. these areas, and not popu- the current rate of growth, the
2555284/ 2555287, Fax (0866) 2555234 prevent them from apply- There has been a contin- lation control through population of India is expected to
Rajahmundry: Vemagiri, Dhawleswaram Rd, Rajahmundry 533125. Phones: (0883) 2417208, 2417618 ing for or getting promo- uous fertility decline If a state wishes to coercion, if the goal is sus- surpass that of China by the year
Anantapur: Thapovan Colony, Bangalore Bye-Pass Road, Anantapur 515004. Phones: (08554) 276903, tion in government jobs, among most states in stabilise its tainable and inclusive 2028. Family planning, which
Fax: 08554-276904
and get various govern- India over the years. development. helps to free women from the
Nellore: Survey No. 527/2, Burranpur Village, Venkatachalam (M), Chemudugunta Panchayat, Nellore.
Phone: (0861) 2348581/ 82, Telefax (0861) 2348580 ment subsidies. The pro- States like Kerala and population, it could incessant cycle of pregnancy,
Karimnagar: Survey No. 1341, Vavilalapally Colony, Jagityala Road, Karimnagar 505 001. posed law also says that Tamil Nadu, which have start with focusing The writer focuses on breastfeeding and childcare, is a
Phone: (0878 ) 2228908; Telefax (0878) 2220433
Kochi: No. 3-B, 3rd Floor, DD TRADE TOWER, Kaloor-Kadavanthara Road, Ernakulam,
“it shall be the duty of the succeeded in sharply its political energy development issues in critical element of reproductive
Ph: 0484-4039408 government to introduce a reducing their total fertili- on improving India and emerging health, women's empowerment
compulsory subject relat- ty rate, have done so by economies. She can be and economic development is the
Kozhikode: No 6/1002 E, First Floor City Mall, Opp. YMCA Kannur Road, Kozhikode - 673 001
Fax : 0495 4019018 ing to population control focusing on female litera- female literacy and reached at need of the hour.
Thiruvananthapuram: St Joseph Press Thycaud post, Cotton Hills, Thiruvananthapuram-14, Ph: 0471- in all secondary schools”. cy, women’s education, other development patralekha.chatterjee M.R. Jayanthi,
2735105/6/7, Fax: 0471-4016112 Gram: CHRONICLE Postal registration no: No. H/SD-348/2006-08ss
Unsurprisingly, the increasing age of mar- indicators @gmail.com. Tiruchy

I
t is often considered that the
most important babu in Delhi
is not the chief secretary but
the police commissioner. High-
Dilip Cherian profile incumbents of this chair
have graced Parliament and
become governors in states.
Dilli Ka Babu Getting to be commissioner of
police is very often a long process.
Most of it, DKB (Dilli Ka Babu)
knows, is conducted in
stealth and in the wee hours of the
morning. With the lieutenant gov-
ernor now in full command of the
post in May, barely a month before
his retirement. Will history be
repeated with Balaji? While clearly
odd, some fear that the government
could in fact “regularise” this mode
of appointments.
STARVED OF POWERS,
WATCHDOGS STRAIN AT LEASH
Surely the government saw it com-
ing but did not move fast enough.
Now Sanjay Kothari has completed
his term as the Central Vigilance
Commissioner (CVC) and retired
needed. And a handover that could
have been managed with more ele-
gance or, if not, just good past
practice.
In recent times, the nation’s top
vigilance institution has been
struggling to fulfil its mandate,
having to deal with rising corrup-
tion complaints and shortage of
staff. It is also hamstrung by the
fact that when it was
constituted it was made just as an
advisory body, with Central depart-
ments and ministries free to accept
auditors, but it suffers from similar
problems like the CVC. Fighting for
space with too many other regula-
tory authorities, including RBI,
SEBI and the ministry of corporate
affairs among others, NFRA is cur-
rently lost in the crowd. The watch-
dog of corporate misdoings will
need its role redefined at the
earliest.
BABUS AND TECHNO-BABUS,
FRAGRANCE OF NEW CABINET
Loud murmurs are being heard
Ashwini Vaishnaw from Odisha,
who will now hold the important
railways portfolio. Meanwhile, for-
mer home secretary and minister
of state R.K. Singh along with
another foreign service babu
Hardip Singh Puri, who now gets
equal ranking as his former foreign
secretary but junior S. Jaishankar
who has been Cabinet minister
from the start.
The new team also has a sprin-
kling of technocrats and doctors
including Rajiv Chandrashekhar,

Making Delhi CP state, the control of the Union home

ministry is far more than it ever
has been.
without a permanent successor in
place at the probity watchdog.
Tardiness or just indecision sud-
or reject its advice. Only last year
the commission initiated some
unconventional but “systemic”
both from babus as well as the
faithful about the sudden influx of
non-politicos in the latest reshuffle.
Devusinh Chauhan,
Sarkar, Bharati Pawar and
Bhagwant Karad.
Subhash

additional charge For the second time, the Centre

has chosen to give the prestigious
commissionerate position as an
additional charge. Police babus tell
denly led to vigilance commission-
er Suresh N. Patel being named act-
ing CVC. He’s walking on eggs till
the Modi Sarkar appoints Mr
changes
action
To
in
keep
to ensure
corruption
that
prompt
cases.
momentum
going would probably be Mr Patel’s
They insist that a sarkar that is
seen to be treating babus shabbily
has mysteriously changed course.
After the setbacks of Covid and the
The reshuffle indicates a clear
shift in policy and even a U-turn —
remember all that talk about avoid-
ing technocrats, especially those

Centre’s new trick us that this always helps to ensure

greater control to those who actual-
ly pull the strings.
Kothari’s successor. Informed
sources say that the personnel min-
istry has already called for applica-
first major task. But the govern-
ment will eventually need to
reframe the panel’s currently limit-
recent Assembly poll results,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
ousted 12 ministers and brought in
with academic degrees from west-
ern universities. Seems that Mr
Modi needs them, and, of course,

to control police It should be recalled that Balaji

Srivastava’s
Sachidanand
predecessor
Srivastava
appointed similarly in February
was
tions for the posts of CVC and
another vigilance commissioner.
Will Mr Patel get confirmed in his
added role or will we see a new face
ed powers.
Likewise, the National Financial
Reporting Authority (NFRA), the
audit watchdog, too is seeking
technocrats and babus. The mes-
sage is that he is focussed on good
governance and the delivery of
promises.
the babus-turned-netas for the rest
of his term.

Share a babu experience! Follow

last year during the bloody Delhi at the helm of CVC? This is a mys- more powers. It may have been set Among the former babus brought dilipthecherian@Twitter.com. Let’s
riots. He was regularised in the tery that was perhaps not really up as a super-regulator to audit in are R.C.P. Singh from Bihar and multiply the effect.
 THURSDAY | 15 JULY 2021 | CHENNAI
pg 7
■ Ban for not keeping data storage rules

quick Mastercard barred

Infosys lifts
revenue Car sales rise to 2.3L units in
BITES from adding cards guidance
SETHURAMAN R &
SANKALP PHARTIYAL
BENGALURU, JULY 14
June but concerns remain
MICHAEL GONSALVES
PUNE, JULY 14
Q1 of FY 20-21, he said.
The passenger vehicles
sales last month stood at
INDICATORS % FALAKNAAZ SYED Infosys Ltd raised its
The wholesale dispatches
of passenger vehicles in
over 2.31 lakh units, up
from about 1.05 lakh units
Sensex 52904.05 0.25 MUMBAI, JULY 14 annual revenue forecast the country more than in June last year. Within
Nifty 50 15854.00 0.26 on Wednesday, as India's doubled year-on-year to the passenger vehicle seg-
The Reserve Bank of India second-largest IT servic- over 2.31 lakh units in ment, car sales grew to
S&P 500* 4,372.79 0.08 1.21 lakh units in June
on Wednesday barred es company wins more June, driven by a low base
Dollar (`) 74.58 0.10 Mastercard Asia from on- contracts from global amidst easing of lock- 2021 from 55,497 units in
Pound Sterling (`) 103.27 -0.06 boarding new domestic businesses expanding down restrictions, the June 2020, utility sales to
customers—debit, credit or their digital offerings Society of Indian about 1 lakh units (from
Euro (`) 87.96 0.28 prepaid— onto its card net- during the Covid-19 pan- Automobile Manufactur- Siam, said. 46,201 units) and sales of
Gold (10gm)* (`) 47,024▲23 0.04 work from July 22 for vio- demic. ers, or Siam, said on Rajesh Menon, director vans stood at 9,495 units
lating data storage rules. The outlook raise fol- Wednesday. general, Siam, said the (3,919 units).
Brent crude ($/bbl)* 74.29 -2.88 The RBI said that its super- lowed a strong first The auto industry is passenger vehicle seg- The sales of two-wheel-
IN 10-Yr bond yield 6.109 0.00 visory action will not quarter in which the however concerned about ment registered sales of ers grew 4 per cent at over
US 10-Yr T-bill yield* 1.368 -0.047 impact existing customers company's profit jumped the adverse impact of a 6.46 lakh vehicles in the 10.55 lakh units, up from
of Mastercard. 22.7 per cent, mirroring sharp rise in fuel and April-June quarter, which 10.14 lakh units sold in
* As of 8:30 PM IST In a statement, the cen- upbeat results from big- commodity prices, short- is lowest in past seven the year-ago month.
tral bank said Mastercard ger rival TCS and under- age of semiconductors, years, barring Q1 of FY While scooter sales were
had not complied with data scoring demand for and a fear of third Covid- 20-21. Sales of 1.06 lakh down 10 per cent to about

Oil minister Puri

storage rules from 2018
that require foreign card
networks to store Indian
dials UAE payments data locally so
the regulator can have
end-to-end transaction The RBI banned HDFC India's outsourcing serv- 19 wave, on vehicle units for the commercial 2.41 lakh units, motorcy-
details / information col- Bank after a series of tech- ice providers. demand and production vehicle segment and 24.04 cles sales grew 10 per cent
lected / carried / processed nology outages at the bank The company signed operations in the coming lakh units for the two- to over 7.77 lakh units.
as part of the message /
payment instruction) relat-
over the previous years.
The latest cards data
several large contracts
in the quarter in fields
months.
"In such an uncertain
wheeler segment were the
lowest in the past 12
Overall, total vehicle
sales across categories

for affordable oil 'unfettered supervisory
access'.
“Notwithstanding lapse
Petroleum minister Hardeep of considerable time and
Singh Puri has dialled oil-pro- adequate opportunities
ducing nations, highlighting the being given, the entity has
need for affordable oil. Puri, who been found to be non-com-
last week called energy minister pliant with the directions
of Qatar, on Wednes-day dialled on Storage of Payment
his counterpart in the UAE, System Data. This order
will not impact existing
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber. "Con-
veyed my desire to work closely
with UAE and other friendly
countries to bring a sense of
customers of Mastercard.
Mastercard shall advise all
card issuing banks and
calm, predictability and realism non-banks to conform to
among other suppliers in the these directions,” the apex
energy market...,” Puri tweeted. bank said in a statement.
The move comes less
than three months after
Printed & Published by the RBI, in April, barred
K Sudhakar on behalf of Deccan American Express and
Chronicle Holdings Limited. Printed & Diners Club International
Published at Deccan Chronicle Presses from on-boarding new
situated at SP-3 Developed Plot, domestic customers onto
Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai. their card networks over
Editor: Kaushik Mitter, RNI Reg. No. similar violations.
TNENG/2008/25473 Air surcharge Re 1. In April 6, 2018, the RBI
© All rights reserved. Reproduction in had directed all Payment
whole or in part without written per- System Providers to
mission of The Editor, Financial ensure within six months
Chronicle ® is prohibited.
that the entire data (full
ing to payment systems released by the RBI shows such as cloud, data and environment, the indus- years, barring Q1 of FY (passenger vehicles, two-
operated by them is stored that between December analytics, CEO Salil try is working hard to 20-21. The three-wheeler wheelers and three wheel-
in a system only in India. 2020 and May 2021, HDFC Parekh said in a news maximise production and segment was the worst- ers) grew 14.6 per cent
They were also required Bank, the largest player in conference. sales while ensuring safe- hit with sales of just from about 11.30 lakh
to report compliance to the the credit card market, has Infosys said it expects ty of our people and cus- about 24,000 units, which units in June 2020 to over
RBI and submit a board- lost 5.28 lakh cards. revenue growth of 14 to tomers," Kenichi has been lowest in more 12.96 lakh units in June
approved System Audit Its total credit cards out- 16 per cent for the finan- Ayukawa, president at than two decades, barring 2021.
Report (SAR) conducted by standing numbered 1.485 cial year to March 2022,
a CERT-In empanelled crore as of May 31, 2021, compared with the 12 to
auditor within the time- compared to 1.53 crore on 14 per cent growth pre-
lines specified. November 30, 2020. On the dicted in April.
The RBI directive led to
intense lobbying by US
companies, which said the
other hand, ICICI Bank,
which had 0.97 crore out-
standing credit cards as of
The Bengaluru-based
firm also maintained its
margin forecast for fis-
DA for central staff, pensioners hiked
rules would increase their November 30, gained over cal 2022 at 22 per cent to New Delhi, July 14: The briefing reporters about There will be no payment
infrastructure costs and 11.6 lakh cards by the end 24 per cen. Centre has increased the the decision of the Union of arrears this time, as the
hit their global fraud detec- of May this year. "Given Infosys' strong rate of dearness allowance Cabinet that met under rate of DA/DR for the peri-
tion platforms, but the RBI SBI Card, the second- deal pipeline, increasing (DA) and dearness relief Prime Minister Narendra od from January 1, 2020 to
did not relent on this. largest player in the credit internet penetration and (DR) after a gap of one- Modi. The decision, June 30, 2021 shall remain
According to analysts a card market, also gained healthy balance sheet, and-a-half years from 17 Thakur said, will benefit at 17 per cent of basic
ban on Mastercard is likely 6.6 lakh cards and Axis the outlook for the stock per cent to 28 per cent, ben- 48.34 lakh central employ- pay/pension.
to benefit rival payment Bank another 2.4 lakh. remains optimistic," efiting nearly 1.14 crore ees and 65.26 lakh pension- "Cabinet approves restor-
gateways like Visa and RBL Bank added 1.8 lakh said Likhita Chepa, sen- employees and pensioners. ers. ing of three instalments of
domestic payment network cards. ior research analyst at The new rates of DA and In view of the Covid-19 Dearness Allowance and
RuPay. Citibank India, which CapitalVia Global DR, which will impose an pandemic, the Union gov- Dearness Relief with effect
They have pointed out had announced its plans to Research. annual burden of Rs 34,401 ernment had frozen the from 01.07.2021 represent-
that the RBI’s ban on shut its India retail opera- Large deal flows crore on the exchequer, three additional instal- ing an increase of 11 per
HDFC Bank from adding tions earlier this year, also remained strong in the will come into effect from ments of the DA and DR cent over the existing rate
new credit card customers lost about 1.2 lakh cus- quarter ended June 30. July 2021, said information which were due from of 17 per cent of the Basic
in early December last year tomers in the same period, — Reuters and broadcasting minister January 1, 2020, July 1, Pay/Pension...," said an
data showed.
has benefited its rivals. Anurag Thakur while 2020 and January 1, 2021. official tweet. —PTI

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Your day today By Dr C.V.B. Subrahmanyam QUICK CROSSWORD

Aries: Your confidence will help you in facing
tough situations on the professional front. Stay
in touch with family members as they face
tough situations at home.
Taurus: Your tendency to skip several stages
of learning at one go might complicate
things. Neglecting your parents’ health THE WIZARD OF ID|Parker and Hartsd
could prolong their illness.
Gemini: Family members will hold a special
place in your life. Past investments will prove
to be profitable after a long gap. Romance
will change your zest for life.
Cancer: Work will not be challenging thus pre-
venting you from enjoying it. Watch your
health and don’t lose your cool especially dur-
ing the time of crisis.
Leo: You will be able to effectively commu-
nicate your feelings to your family. You
might face legal problems today. ARCHIE|Bill Henry Scarpelli & craig boldman
Monotonous work might bore you.
Virgo: It is time for you to make children real-
ize the importance of extracurricular activi-
ties. Don’t dictate terms and avoid rude
behavior in romance. Visit an unwell relative
to lift up their spirits. Across Down YESTERDAY’S ANSWER

You share your b’day with 1.Double twice (9)

6. Centre of attraction (5)
2.
3.
Male relative (5)
Twilight (4)
Across: 1. Poultice, 7.
Cedes, 8. Raven, 9.
Brian Austin Green is an American actor, rapper and 7. Receiver of stolen goods (5) 4. Biased (6) Tremor, 10. Etch, 12.
9. Highest point (4) 5. Seaside golf course (5) Lids, 14. Cordon, 17.
producer, best known for his portrayal of David Silver on the Natal, 18. Agape, 19.
10. Washed out (6) 6. Praise excessively (7)
television series Beverly Hills, 90210. Green was also seen in 12. Plasterer’s tool (6) 8. Tolerated (7)
Contract.
Freddie, Wedding Band, and Anger Management.a 14. Successor (4) 11. Official count (6) Down: 1. Padre, 2.
Libra: You are likely to purchase expensive 17. Controlling straps (5) 13. Basketry willow (5) Upshot, 3. Tarn, 4. BLONDIE|Dean Young and John Marshall
18. Association of craftsmen (5) 15. Decree (5) Covet, 5. Acetylene, 6.
jewelry or home appliances. Businessmen are 19. Possibilities of future suc- 16. Malarial fever (4) Unchanged, 11.
likely to succeed in adding to their profits. cess (9)
Sonata, 13. Ditto, 15.
Draft, 16. Plot.

Scorpio: Special efforts made to nurture love

life will yield expected results. Short trips
with relatives will bring you respite from a
hectic daily schedule. Word Mine jumble
Sagittarius: Unseen influences will strengthen
your romantic bond. Your confidence and
W
energy will be high today. Take a balanced
diet to improve your health. K U B
Capricorn: Your romantic relationship is likely to
move towards newer heights. Financial invest- H R R S O ANDY CAPP |Reg Smythe
ments will yield good results. You will motivate
TODAY’S RATINGS: 3 AVERAGE; 4 GOOD;
youngsters and impress seniors today. 5 OUTSTANDING
Aquarius: You are recommended to make invest- How many words of four or more
ments but seek proper advice before putting your letters can you make from the
letters shown in today’s puzzle?
money at stake. Testing times in love life must be In making a word, each letter
handled with patience and kindness. may be used once only. Each
word must contain the letter at
Pisces: Attend lectures that will broaden your the top of the pyramid. There
should be at least one nine letter
mental horizon. A sudden arrival of guests, a word. Plurals, foreign words and
new job, and fresh proposals are indicated proper names are not allowed.
for some of you. Listen to your heart for
guidance.
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN|Stan Lee
ANSWERS: brow, BRUSHWORK, burrow, show, work

bridge D rew Carey hosts a show in

which perfectly normal
people act embarrassingly to
PHILLIP have a chance to win big
ALDER prizes, in particular a new car.
He said, "I'm not against rat-
HERE IS A ings per se. I think more infor-
mation is always good. But I
occasionally, but they are
right often enough to make
them worth remembering.
won on the board, played a
heart to his ace and led his
remaining heart, West dis-
soon as the dummy came
down with a void, East should
have been nervous about a
Which guideline did East carding a club. After East won crossruff. He had two chances
overlook on today's deal? with his jack, he tried to cash to cash his spade ace: trick
In the auction, North was a the club jack, but South two and trick five. When he
tad cautious when he only
invited game, but his diamond
ruffed, banked the diamond
ace and crossruffed, losing
did not do that, declarer
brought home his contract.

RELIABLE certainly don't think the gov-

ernment has to step in and set
guidelines for how shows
DEFENSIVE should be rated."
Bridge teachers set guide-
GUIDELINE lines for their students,
almost all of which are wrong
void was of uncertain value.
South, though, had only six
only one club, one heart and
one spade. Where did East
losers, so he raised to game. err?
West led the unbid suit.
East won the first trick with
Well, it wasn't totally his
fault. West, with four spades,
Copyright
United Feature Syndicate
his club king and continued
with the club six. Declarer
probably should have led a
trump at trick one. But as
(Asia Features)
 GAMES
DECCAN CHRONICLE | THURSDAY | 15 JULY 2021 | CHENNAI
pg 8

CAN THEY TURN

THE TABLES?
Sharath, Sathiyan look to pull off a few surprises in Tokyo
NEHA SURANA | DC
CHENNAI, JULY 14
Indian table tennis veteran Sharath Kamal will embark
on his fourth Olympic trip when a chartered flight carry-
ing Indian athletes leave for Tokyo on July 17.
The 39-year-old who made his Games debut at Athens
2004 will be featuring in the mixed doubles with Manika
Batra apart from competing in the singles. Sharath and
Manika, who won a historic bronze at the 2018 Asian
Games, are considered dark horses in the mixed event.
G. Sathiyan, the highest ever ranked Indian, would be
hoping to pull off a few upsets in the singles. The experi-
ence he gained by playing in the highly-competitive
Polish and Japanese leagues should hold Sathiyan in
good stead at Tokyo.
The Chennai youngster is pumped up to deliver on his
maiden Olympic outing.

G. Sathiyan

Sharath Kamal

S S
easoned Sharath gave this year. Not enough athiyan spoke about THE RAMAN
a lowdown on the match games are going to his preparations, pre- EFFECT
training camp in be a problem for everybody. vious Japanese expe-
Sonipat and his medal My experience will surely rience and why he would My coach, S. Raman, has
chances in mixed doubles. play a role. I feel ready and miss his coach Raman in been a great mentor. I have
FRUITFUL fully prepared for the Tokyo. been training under him
TRAINING CAMP games. There’s no anxious IMPROVING since 2012. My journey
or panic feeling as I am POWER GAME from world No.1 420 to 24
I have been training at the kind of in a ‘been there, was only possible because
Delhi Public School felt that’ situation. I have been training with of his guidance. I was hop-
(Sonipat, Haryana) for NO-FUN my sparring partner ing he would come with me
almost a month. The feder- OLYMPICS Anirban Ghosh from to Tokyo (the Indian
ation organised the train- Kolkata. We have been Olympic Association
ing camp in a secured bio- It’s a ‘no-fun’ Olympics for working hard with specific rejected Sathiyan's request
bubble. There are six spar- me. You are supposed to regimes to improve my to include Raman in Indian
ring partners, so it has enjoy the game and not feel strength along with my fit- contingent). As an
helped prepare well for the restricted. I understand it ness trainer Ramji Olympian himself, he
mixed doubles. I am com- is for our safety but there Srinivasan from Sports knows what it’s like to play
pletely satisfied with the are just so many protocols, Dynamix. The focus is also on the big stage. I will defi-
preparation. I am just and the complete focus is on improving my power nitely miss him. He will,
happy to be able to train not just on the sport, it’s on game and trying to add however, be guiding me
and, hopefully, perform. the health. Every day we more variations in my through video calls and as
Coming out from the lock- have to keep updating skill-set. usual I will take his advice
down definitely hasn’t details about our health in I would have loved to have before every game.
been easy on any of us. an app and it gets a bit a foreign sparring partner
MIXED DOUBLES A tedious. or a training stint abroad, TARGET
REAL OPPORTUNITY FIFTH GAMES but the second wave QUARTER-FINAL
NOT RULED OUT spoiled all the plans.
I’m definitely hoping to Luckily, I had set up a mini My main objective is to
win a medal. There are 16 After the Games, I want to gym and a TT hall at home. qualify for the quarterfi-
teams in the fray for the take some time off, spend In a way, I was better pre- nals. I think that will be an
mixed doubles event. We time with my family and pared for the lockdown. I amazing achievement for
need to win three rounds to maybe go on a vacation or didn’t want to take us. Actually, no Indian has
achieve a medal and I something. Professionally, a chance on my prepara- gone beyond round of 32.
think this is the closest we our next immediate target tion. We are having the best
have ever got to win a is the Commonwealth and PRESSURE IS A Indian team this time and
medal. I really hope we can Asian Games, so we have to PRIVILEGE our main aim is to pull off
pull this off. start preparing for that as a couple of upsets. We have
We are also trying to sim- soon as possible. Next I am just going to enjoy it. to take down two big
ulate a lot of practice Olympics is just three Yes, it’s a huge responsibil- names in a big match like
matches, situations like in years away, but it all ity but I think the pressure the Olympics as it will give
tournaments as we didn’t depends on my fitness. But, is kind of a privilege. If a lot of confidence. If you
have many tournaments I could still be going. people have expectations, make those couple of
it is only because you are upsets then definitely
good and you have the quarterfinals are some-
KNOW YOUR SPORT — TABLE TENNIS capability. And, when you
go inside the court, all you
thing that we can achieve
and on that day you can
HISTORY have to think about is even hope to win an
● Table tennis has come a long way from its late 19th working on the process, Olympic medal. We have
century origins as an after-dinner game played by upper- enjoying the game and done it in Asian Games.
class English families. Legend has it that the first players coming out without any NO STRANGER
used the lids of cigar boxes for rackets and a rounded-off regrets. So, expectations TO JAPAN
cork from a champagne bottle as the ball. are good but it shouldn’t be
● Table tennis made its Olympic debut at the Seoul 1988 overbearing. I visited Tokyo during the
Games with men’s and women’s singles and doubles. DRAW IS pandemic. I know how
Since Beijing 2008 the competition has consisted of CRUCIAL things work there. There’s
men’s and women’s singles and team events, while the going to be a lot of restric-
Tokyo 2020 competition will also include a mixed doubles The competition is going to tions; there will be tests
event. The International Table Tennis Federation was be extremely difficult as every day and you will not
founded in 1926 and is one of the largest governing there will be 64 contenders be allowed to meet people. I
bodies in international sport. in the singles and I’ll be would love to meet my
seeded 27th. Not only China Japanese fans and my club
SCORING SYSTEM but the world No. 2, Japan members. But I think that’s
● A table tennis table is 2.74m long and 1.525m wide, can also be a very strong the price you have to pay to
positioned 76cm above the floor and divided in half by a competitor. They also have play there. My Japanese
net. The sport follows the same basic principles as tennis the home advantage. China, stint helped me under-
but has a very different scoring system. Japan, Korea, Germany are stand the country and rub
● A point is won by a player when the opponent cannot expected to be at the top. A shoulders with some fine
hit the ball with a racket over the net and onto the other lot depends on the draw as players. Now, I know what
side of the table. A game is won by being the first player well. Hopefully, we get a rea- to expect there in terms of
to win 11 points, and be at least 2 points ahead of his or sonable draw and if I play weather, playing in mas-
her opponent. well a medal is definitely sive halls on different
possible. tables.

Warning signs for England
as Ashwin bags six wickets
London, July 14:
Ravichandran Ashwin
sounded a warning bell for
the English batsmen ahead
of the five-Test series with
a superb match-turning
spell of 6 for 27 as Surrey
bundled out Somerset for
69 in their second innings
of the English County
Championship contest
here.
Looking to get some qual-
ity match practice ahead of
joining the Indian in
Durham on Thursday,
Ashwin did more than
enough with 58 overs
under his belt and a match
haul of 7 for 127.
If the first innings was
used towards about build-
ing bowling workload and
hitting the good areas, the
second innings was more
about showing his skill-
sets with the famous car-
rom ball bamboozling
opposition batsmen.
R. Ashwin
In fact, the veteran off-
spinner bowled 15
unchanged overs with the
new Dukes and got able
support from left arm spin-
ner Dan Moriarty who
took 4 for 20 as Somerset
were all out for 69 in only
29.1 overs after scoring 429
in their first essay.
This was after Surrey
was all-out for 240, adding
only a single run to their
overnight score of 239 for
eight. Surrey now chase a
258-run target.
The script entirely
changed in the second
innings as Ashwin ran
through the opposition get-
ting enough drift and also
using the carrom ball and
off-breaks judiciously.
Left-handed opener
Steven Davis edged one to
wicketkeeper Jamie Smith
while Jaden Clark caught
Tom Lammonby. Skipper
and first innings centurion
James Hildreth was
adjudged plumb in-front
when he missed a or herself.”
straighter one.
The difference from first
innings was extra bounce
that Ashwin got off the
pitch and one such flighted
delivery, turned a shade
and bounced enough to
fool George Bartlett who
shouldered arms.
Only three Somerset
batsmen got into double
figures. — PTI
ATHLETES TO PUT
ON THEIR OWN
OLY MEDALS
Tokyo, July 14:
Athletes at the Tokyo
Olympics will put their
medals around their own
necks to protect against
spreading the coron-
avirus. The “very signifi-
cant change” to tradi-
tional medal ceremonies
was revealed by IOC pres-
ident Thomas Bach. “The
medals will not be given
around the neck,” Bach
said. “They will be pre-
sented to the athlete on a
tray and then the athlete
will take the medal him
— AFP
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