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

MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2021, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMJOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

TABASSUMBARNAGARWALAMUMBAI, JANUARY17

THEMAHARASHTRA govern-ment is set to restart the Covid-19vaccinationdrive in the statefromTuesday.

Thestatehaddecidedtokeepthe drive, which began onSaturday,inabeyanceforacoupleof days following widespreadcomplaints about the Co-WIN(Covid Vaccine IntelligenceNetwork) app, a software de-signedforreal-timeregistrationof

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Vaccination drive to resumetomorrow in Maharashtra,with or without Co-WIN

NOTICES,SUMMONS ISSUED

ManywhogotnoticesdecidenottoappearbeforeCentralagency

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUDHIANA,AMRITSAR,CHANDIGARH,NEWDELHI,JANUARY17

BOTH THE Congress andNDA’serstwhile ally, the ShiromaniAkali Dal (SAD), Sunday con-demned the summons and no-tices by the NationalInvestigation Agency (NIA) tofarm leaders, journalists and anNGOprotestingagainstthethreefarm laws alleging that theCentrewas using the agency tointimidate thoseopposed to it.“Will you now send notices

to the farmers of this countryfrom an agency which probesterrorists? The farmers of thiscountry are called terrorists,Naxalites, agent of China, agentofPakistan…JournalistsaresentNIAnotices,farmersaresentNIA

notice...(there's an) income taxraidonarhatiya…WhatdoestheModi government think? Thatbyusing theseagencies to scareandthreatenfarmers…theywillbow down. Nobody has beenable to subjugate the farmers,”Congress communication de-partment head RandeepSurjewalatoldreportersinDelhi.The NIA has issued notices

andsummonstoseveralpersonsincluding Baldev Singh Sirsa,President of Lok Bhalai InsafWelfare Society, and amemberof the delegation in talks withthe government on farm laws;PunjabiactorDeepSinghSidhu,who is supporting the protests;threebusinessmenwhostarteda bus service from Ludhiana toDelhitotransportfarmers;threejournalists vocal on protests;Khalsa Aid, an NGO, and some

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

8 NEW TRAINS TO STATUE OF UNITYTheAhmedabad-Kevadia JanShatabdiExpress,oneof thetrains flaggedoffbyPMNarendraModionSunday,hasaVistadomecoachwithglass rooftop.NirmalHarindran REPORT,PAGE7

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI, JANUARY17

WHEN NIHARIKA Singh firstused dating app Bumble in herhometownof Lucknow in2018,she found that after a fewswipes, therewerenomorepo-tentialpartners.Butaftershegotstuck at home following thelockdownlastyear, the24-year-old found awhole new crop ofmenonsuchapps,manyofthembackathome likeher.“Theywould sendme non-

stopoffers,” shesaid, afterdelet-ingtheappsinDecember.“Idon’tthinkI’llusetheappsinLucknoweveragain.Ifoundthathere,men

weretoopsychologicallydesper-ate tomeet — that was not thecaseinDelhi,Mumbai,Bangalore.The experience difference be-tweenagirlandaguyishuge,es-peciallyhere.Iamsufferingfromaproblemofabundance.”Across India, dating app

executives havenoted anunex-pectedCovid effect: the growth

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

PAGE1ANCHOR

Surge in dating appsin Tier-II cities, butskew against women

31million Indiandatingappusers in2020,67%men

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JANUARY17

ALMOSTAfortnightafterBritishPrimeMinister Boris Johnsoncalled up Prime MinisterNarendraModi and expressed“regret” that he would not beable tovisit India asChief GuestfortheRepublicDaycelebrationsinviewof thepandemic, hehasinvited the Indian PrimeMinister to the UK for the G7summit in June thisyear.

Johnson, who had extendedan invitation toModi during aphone call last year, also reiter-atedhisplantovisit Indiaaheadof theG7summit.Theproposedsummitwillbe

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

SANDIPGNEWDELHI, JANUARY17

THE FURTHER these Indiancricketers are pushed to theropes, the stronger theybounceback.On Day 3 of the fourth Test,

the series level at 1-1, Indiaslipped and staggered to 186 forsixbutralliedspectacularlytofin-

ishtheirfirstinningsat336.Attheheart of their latest featwas theunflusteredseventh-wicketstandof123runsbetweenWashingtonSundar, a 21-year-old debutant,andShardulThakur,a29-year-oldone-Test tailender, that limitedAustralia’s leadto33.At stumps, the home team

were21fornolossandagamethatseemed to be swaying towards

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

In latest fightbackfor India, Chennaiflair and Palghar grit

Johnson invites PM to G7 in June,says will visit India before summit

G7PLUS India,AustraliaandSouthKorea is seenasagatheringofD-10—10 leaderswhorepresentover60%of people livingindemocraciesaroundtheworld. This is alsoseenasasignal toChina.

CoalitionofdemocraciesE●EXPLAINE

D

BorisJohnson:absent forR-Day

To spur growth &jobs, booster forconstruction andlow-cost housing

SUNNYVERMA&SANDEEPSINGHNEWDELHI, JANUARY17

THE UPCOMING Budget is ex-pected to give a special focus toconstruction development andaffordablehousingas increasedactivity in these areas provide ahigher boost to overall demandintheeconomybecauseof theirforwardandbackwardlinkages.Sourcessaidthegovernment

plans further liberalisation offoreign direct investment (FDI)regulations for theconstructiondevelopment sector while ahigherallocationisexpectedto-wards a credit-linked subsidyschemeforaffordablehousing.Onefactorbehindtheexodus

of migrants from cities during

the pandemicwas their lack ofaccess to safe, affordable hous-ing inurbanclusters.Significantly, as part of the

pandemic slowdown stimulus,several state governments pro-vided various concessions in

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

ShardulThakurandWashingtonSundarduringthe India-AustraliaTest inBrisbane,Sunday.AP

BUDGET ’21

COUNTDOWNIN&OUTOF COVID SHADOW

Ontable:morefundsforPMAwas;easingofFDIrulesinconstructiondevelopment

CentreusingNIAtoscarefarmers,itwon’twork,sayCong,Akalis

KAUNAINSHERIFFMNEWDELHI, JANUARY17

OF THE 2,24,301 beneficiariesfromtheprioritygroupwhore-ceived their doses by the endoftwodaysof thenationwidevac-cination programme againstCovid-19,only447reportedad-

verseeventsfollowingimmuni-sation (AEFI), the Union HealthMinistry said on Sunday. Of the447, only three required hospi-talisation,with twoof thembe-ingdischarged.OnSunday,only553sessions

wereconductedacrossthecoun-try, with 17,072 beneficiaries

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

THEEDITORIALPAGE

U.S.: INCITEMENTTORACISMBYSANJIBBARUAHPAGE12

EXPERTEXPLAINSPraveen PardeshiFromThe IndianExpresspanelof specialists, exclusive insight

EXPLAINEDPAGE11

Vaccines off to smooth start, cross2-lakh mark; dip in active cases

‘Of courseDDCpollshavekickstarted apolitical processfromdeep freeze...Theywill create anew leadership’OMARABDULLAHVICE-PRESIDENT, NC

PAGE9

THESECONDPAGE2 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JANUARY18,2021

Booster forconstructionstampdutyandotherchargestokickstart transaction activity inthe construction and real estatesector. The Centre, too, set up afundtoprovidelast-milefundingto stressed housing projectsacrossthecountry.Revivalofconstructiondevel-

opmentsectorisalsoseenascru-cial foremploymentcreation.“While100percentFDIisal-

readypermitted inconstructiondevelopmentsector,certainlegalstructuressuchasLLParenot al-lowed to receive foreign invest-mentinthissector.Wehavedis-cussed these and other ruleswhere there is a scope for liber-alisation,”saidasource.Barring real estate business

andfarm-houseconstruction,theFDIregimeisquiteliberal fortheconstruction development sec-tor including that for townshipdevelopment and residentialpremises. Last November, thegovernment had announcedstepstopromotehousingsector.Thefinanceministryallowed

developers to sell their housingunits at 20 per cent lower thanthecirclerateonaccountofpricereductioninthemarket.Thegov-ernmentallowedincreaseinthedifferentialfrom10percentto20percent(underSection43CA)forthe period from the date of theannouncementtoJune30, 2021.The benefit is available on pri-mary sale of residential unitswith a price value of up to Rs 2crore.In its proposal to the

Government, industry body CIIhas called for a special focus onlow-cost housing and an exten-sion of the interest subventionschemeso that it cancover totalhousingcostofuptoRs35lakh.Therehasalsobeendemand

toraiseallocationunderPradhanMantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)from the Rs 27,500 crore allo-catedintheUnionBudget2020-21 to ensure every Indian has ahomeinthenearfuture.“To provide relief to stressed

homebuyers,fundscouldalsobesetasidefortheNationalBuildingConstruction Corporation tocomplete stalledprojectswhichhave been stuck due to fundshortage. Thiswouldboost con-sumersentimentandrevupthedemand cycle. There could be aprovisiontorecoverthecostsin-volved once the project is com-pleted,”saidCII in itsproposal.The industry body has also

called for increase in the rebateonhousingloantohelpboostde-mandforhousingandpushcon-structionactivity.While the rebate of interest

paid on housing loan (for self-use) has not been revised since2014when itwas raised to Rs 2lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh, CII hascalled for an upward revisiongiventheriseinthecapitalvalueofhouses.

G-7 invitationthefirstin-personG-7summitinalmosttwoyears,asitwillbeheldintheEnglishregionofCornwallfromJune11to13.BesidesIndia,Australia and South Korea havealsobeen invited as guest coun-triesasatestamenttoUK’scom-mitmenttoensuringmultilateralinstitutionsbetterreflecttoday’sworld, according to a statementissuedbytheBritishgovernment.Modi had attended the G-7

summit in Biarritz in France inAugust2019andwasalsoinvitedfor the 2020 summit hosted bythe US—which could not takeplaceduetothepandemic.This is expected tobeModi’s

secondG-7 summit; his prede-cessorManmohanSinghhadat-tended the G-8 summit (it be-came G-7 from G-8 with theexpulsionof Russia in2014) fivetimes between 2005 and 2009throughhisfirst terminUPA1.Makingtheinvitationofficial,

Johnson said: “As the mostprominent grouping of demo-

cratic countries, theG7has longbeen thecatalyst fordecisive in-ternational action to tackle thegreatestchallengesweface.FromcancellingdevelopingworlddebttoouruniversalcondemnationofRussia’s annexation of Crimea,theworldhaslookedtotheG7toapply our shared values anddiplomatic might to create amore open and prosperousplanet.“Coronavirusisdoubtlessthe

most destructive forcewehaveseen for generations and thegreatesttestofthemodernworldorderwehave experienced. It isonly right thatwe approach thechallengeofbuildingbackbetterbyunitingwith a spirit of open-nesstocreateabetterfuture,”hesaidSunday.The G7, which includes UK,

Canada, France, Germany, Italy,Japan, theUSAandtheEU, is theonly forumwhere theworld’smost influential and open soci-eties and advanced economiesgatherfordiscussions.Thesummititselfwillbeheld

inthecoastaltownofCarbisBay,supported by neighbouring St.Ives and other towns across theCornwallregion.In February, UKwill assume

thePresidencyoftheUNSecurityCouncil,and,laterthisyear,itwillhost theCOP26 climate summitinGlasgowand a global educa-tionconference.British officials said that as

“pharmacy of theworld”, Indiaalready suppliesmore than 50per cent of theworld’s vaccines,andUK and India haveworkedclosely together throughout thepandemic. “OurPrimeMinistersspeak regularly and PrimeMinisterJohnsonhassaidhewillvisit India ahead of the G7,” aBritishofficialsaid.

India fights backAustralianowhunginbalance.ForIndia,Sundaywasimpor-

tant because late-order flour-ishes,oflate,hadbecomeararity--thelasttimeaseventh-wicketpair got a century-partnershipabroadwas in2018. InBrisbane,not only did Thakur (67) andWashington (62) break India'sseventh-wicket record at theGabba, they did so bymovingpastIndia'sall-timegreatTestall-rounders, Kapil Dev andManojPrabhakar.It was a throwback to those

days when India had severalmulti-skilledplayerswhobatteddeepwiththetailwagginghard.Washington also broke a 110-year-old recordwhen he regis-teredthehighestscorebyavisit-ing player batting at No.7 ondebut inAustralia.Washington and Thakur are

an odd couple -- the ChennaiwonderkidcoachedbyhisfatherattheirTNagarAcademyandthelate-bloomer from Palgharwhose daily journey to theMumbaimaidanswouldseehimwake up at 3.30 am and spendcloseto7hoursinadayonthelo-cal trains.Given the doggedness and

courage this teamhasmusteredsince the 36 all out in Adelaide,theyneitherflinchednorsurren-dered. Theywere like a pair ofchoirboys putting in the shift ofthechiefchoristerandbeltingouthymnswithout an out-of-placetune. Thakur demonstrated hisutility;Washingtonbustedafewstereotypesaroundhim.Sincebuildingareputationas

a crafty new-ball wielding off-spinner in T20Is,Washington’sbattingaptitudehasbeenbarelyhighlighted.Worse, he has notevenplayed first-class cricket inthelasttwoyears.Fortunately,Washingtondid

not fall into the trappings ofstereotypes. “Peoplewho havewatchedWashington in the IPLand T20s have the perceptionthatheisanoff-spinnerwhocanbat abit. In fact, Iwould say thatheis70percentbatsmanand30percentbowler.That’showgoodheis,”sayshis fatherSundar.Sundar alwaysdreamtof his

son tobeabatsman, aTestbats-man, before junior coachesrecognised that his natural loopandheightwould be harnessedifhewereaspinner.Butheneverforgothisbatting.“Battingiswhatwe discuss at home.Wehave asmall academywhereweprac-tisealot,andhewilljustkeepbat-ting,”saysthefather-coach.Sundar’s favourite cricketer

wasWVRaman, and hence hemodelledhisson’sstanceontheformer India opener. There is aneconomy of movement and alanguid extension of the armswhenhedrives.Heseldomstabsor swipes at the ball, and in his144-ball62,hehardlylookedlikesomeonewhohas not batted inafirst-classgamefor26months.ThesixoffNathanLyonmight

havebeenthemostbreathtakingofhisstrokes,but itwashisdriv-ingthatstoodout.It’satechniquehonedbypractisingandplayingonmat surfaces back home. Itseems risk-fraught, but he ridesthebouncemasterfully,thetrans-fer ofweight is seamless.His fa-therhadwantedWashington tobeaTestbatsman;inBrisbaneonSundayhewasone.In contrast, Thakur has no

cricketing pedigree. Based atPalghar, over 100 km fromMumbai,his family is into farm-ing. Undeterred by the body-crushing daily commuting, heopted for the same school inKandivali, aMumbai suburb, asRohitSharma.Bothshareacom-moncoach,DineshLad,andhavehoned their skills on theirschool's cementpitch. Today, heplayed a fewstrokes thatwouldhavemadeevenSharmaproud.He probably essayed the

stroke of his life when heclampeddownhisfrontfootand

smacked Pat Cummins on therisethroughcovers.Englishcom-mentatorNickKnight,onairdur-ingIndia'sfightback,wouldcallitthe "shot of the series". He thenleapt out of the crease to heaveLyon over long-on to completehis first Test half-centurywithaplomb. The scattered Sundaycrowdrosetoapplaudhim.EventheAustralian fielders, tiredandfrustrated, were seen clappingtheirhandsinappreciation.

Dating appsofusersincitiesoutsidethemet-ros,withoutanyspecificmarket-ing push. And, a persistent andgrowing gender imbalance: outof the 31million Indian datingapp users in 2020, 67 per centweremen.India is the second-largest

revenuemarket for dating apps,aftertheUS,with$323millioninrevenue in 2020, according toStatisa.com.A Tinder spokesperson told

TheIndianExpressthatgrowthinTier-II cities has grown twice asmuch as themetros in the pastyear.Happn,oneofthemostpop-ularappsinIndiawith28millionusers, now has Nagpur, Surat,Ludhiana, andAgra in its top 20cities.“Becauseofthepandemic,smaller cities are rising in termsof newmembers or activity onthe app,” saidMarine Ravinet,HeadofTrendsatHappn.TrulyMadly,anIndiandating

appwith7.8millionusers,foundthat, outof citieswitha revenuebase in lakhs, those likeBhubaneshwar, Jammu,Kanpur,Patna, Rajkot, Varanasi, andVijaywadahaveseenaseven-foldrevenue growth since the pan-demic -- muchmore than themetros. “One factor could be re-

verse migration as our smalltown growth accelerated inMarch... We also saw the peaktime for usage shift from11pmto2am,”saidSnehilKhanor,CEOofTrulyMadly.“Wedidsee,especially inthe

engineering community, thatpeoplemovingoutof BangaloreandHyderabadledtotrafficspik-ing in Tier-II cities,” said AbleJoseph, CEO of Aisle, an Indiandatingappwith2millionuniqueusers in2020.Almostallgrowthin 2020 cameoutside the Tier-Imarket,statisticsprovidedbythecompanyshow.Thosewhohavetravelledbe-

tweenmetros and small townsoverthelastfewmonthsspeakofdifferences in how the apps areused.Profilesoftenhiderealiden-tities,especiallyforwomen,high-lighting a lingering stigma andtrust deficitwith online dating.“Photos ofmandirs, KatrinaKaif,orjustablackbox,”saidSandeepMertia,whohasbeenonanarrayof apps for sevenyears ashehastravelled between Delhi, NewYork,andhishometown,Jodhpur.“Instead, there are bios withRajputini, Jat andother caste la-belssimilartowhatweseeontheback of cars.Womenhide theirnames,writingR,S,orA,”hesaid.When Mertia first used

Tinder in Jodhpur in 2015, heswiped left four times and theapp told him therewas no oneelse to show in his area. But henoticed a swell to triple digits in2017, just as the country saw itsInternetuserssurgewiththede-cline in data costs. ThisMarch,when he returned due to thelockdown, he saw another un-precedentedspike.“Awholenewcrowdof reversemigrants fromBangalore,Hyderabad,ortheUK

werestuckathomeandontheseapps (Bumble, Tinder, andOkCupid). I saw profiles say‘Forced here because of COVID,’‘Only here because of COVID,’‘BoredtodeathbecauseofCOVIDandthereforehere’,"saidMertia,a 29-year-old completing hisPh.D.atNewYorkUniversity.Joseph, fromAisle, acknowl-

edgesotherhurdles to thesmalltowndatingappspace, fromnothaving an anonymous place tomeet and issues of authenticity.Hiscompanyhasusedlastyear’sshift to beginmarketinghis appas amarriage-focused platformto overcome the stigma, espe-ciallyoutsidelargemetros.TakethecaseofSimar,whois

in his 20s andpreferred to keephissurnameanonymous.For the first time insixyears,

SimarreturnedtoJalandharafterstudying in Sweden. He down-loaded the app in Novemberwhen he found it hard to findlike-minded friends. “In themidstofthepandemic,therewasno otherway tomeet people. Ifiguredwhynotgiveitashot.Butinmytown,datingisstillconsid-eredtaboo.Arrangedmarriageisstillpredominantaroundme.Allthe womenwere hiding theirfaces and names on the app. Iuninstalleditlastmonth,”hesaid.

NIA summonsSikhyouths.Sirsa has been asked to ap-

pear at theNIAheadquarters inNewDelhionJanuary17.SADPresidentSukhbirSingh

Badal said the Central govern-ment did not find anythingwrongwith Khalsa Aidwhen itprovided humanitarian aid inGujarat buthas “unleashed” theNIAontheNGOforsteppinginto

help farmers protesting peace-fully.Meanwhile, some of those

whoreceivedtheNIAsummonsdecidednottoappear.“DeepSinghSidhu(whowas

to appear before the NIA onSunday) did not appear beforeNIAtoday.Hisbrother(MandeepSingh), who has been asked topresent himself on January 19,will also not appear,” saidAdvocateHakamSingh,whorep-resentsthebrothers.Hesaidhewasplanningtofile

a petition in the Punjab andHaryanaHighCourttoseektran-sitbail forall thosewhohavere-ceivednotices.Said a volunteer, who ap-

pearedbefore theNIA followingsummons,ontheconditionthathenotbenamed:“Ihavenolinkwith SFJ (Sikh for Justice). Iwassurprised theyhaveeverydetailof mine. I am scared, and havegiven them all the details theywanted.Idonotknowiftheyaresatisfied.”“The Centre thinks it can

weakenthefarmprotestbysuchintimidatory measures. Littledoes it know that the KisanAndolan is onlygetting strongerduetotheserepressivesteps,”theAkali Dal chief told reporters inFerozepur where a local BJPleader joined theAkali Dalwithhissupporters.Punjab Congress President

Sunil Kumar Jakhar said the BJPwas trying to vilify the farmingcommunity and Punjabis. “Notonlyaretheytryingtobrowbeatthefarmers,theyarealsounder-miningtheirsupportsystem.”Thenoticesexposedthegov-

ernment’s “forked tongue”, hesaid. “DefenceMinister RajnathSinghsaidthefarmersshouldnotbe discredited. But BJP leadersfromPunjab andHaryana keptcallingthemnames.TheNIAno-ticesareacleardesignof theBJPand lendcredence to thosewhovilifiedfarmers,” Jakharsaid.RespondingtotheNIAnotice,

NGO Khalsa Aid, said, “A largescaleindiscriminateNIAinvesti-gationof thisnatureagainstvol-untary agencies, groups and in-dividuals, who providehumanitarian support is un-precedented in Indian history.Ourteamwillcooperateandan-swer any queries raised by theNIAteam.”OnSaturday,raisingquestions

on the timing of the summons,ShiromaniGurdwaraParbandhakCommittee(SGPC)presidentBibiJagirKaur condemnedwhat shecalledtheCentre’s“tacticsforsti-flingthevoiceof farmersprotest-ing against theblack agriculturelaws.”The NIA, which is probing

multiple cases of terror againstSikhForJustice,registeredafreshcaseagainsttheproscribedorgan-isationonDecember15,2020.TheFIRalleges thatSFJ is try-

ingtorecruityouthforterroracts,and is sending foreign fundsthroughNGOsto“pro-Khalistani”elements in India to precipitate“on-groundcampaignandpropa-ganda against Government ofIndia”.TheNIAFIR,registeredonaref-

erencefromtheUnionMinistryofHomeAffairs, alleged that “hugefundsarebeingcollectedabroadfor on-ground campaign andpropagandaagainstGovernmentofIndiaincludingstagingdemon-strationsoutsideIndianmissionsin countries like the USA, UK,Canada,Germanyandsoforth.”The FIR named SFJ leaders

Gurpatwant Singh Pannu,HardeepSinghNijjarandParamjitPamma—allofwhomaresaidtobebasedinforeigncountries—astheaccused.Lastweek,AttorneyGeneralK

KVenugopal told the SupremeCourt that theGovernment has“been informed there is aKhalistaniinfiltration”inthefarm-ers’protestsonDelhi’soutskirts.Farmers’unionshavedenied

anylinksandsaythis isaploybythe Centre to discredit theprotestsandtheprotesters.

FROMPAGEONE

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

Reckoningwithracismincricket, andsetbacksatThailandOpenNEWEPISODEEVERYDAY

Whether theSydneyTest incidentwill leadto lastingchanges incricket;andwhyweshouldn’tworryabout India’spoorperformanceat theThailandOpen.

DOWNLOADAPP

WHYFAISAL KHAN, HELD FOROFFERINGNAMAZ IN A TEMPLE, IS CONVINCEDHATEWILL NEVERWIN IN INDIAKhan,theconvenerofKhudaiKhidmatgar,hasreadthesacredtextsofall religions,apartfromKabirandGandhi.Whathelearnt,hesays, isthatthebestwayofservingGodis lovingyourfellowbeings.

TECH EXPLAINED

INTELONAPPLE’SCHANCES INENTERPRISEMARKET

‘Largerenterpriseswillalways favour Intel’

WEB

EXCLUSIVE

SCANTHISQRCODETODOWNLOADTHEAPP

WHATRUSSIA’SEXITMEANSFORTHEOPENSKIESTREATY

InNovember, theUSleft theOSTfirst

■VISUAL STORIES

■ DAILY BRIEFING

■ PODCASTS

■ CUSTOMIZABLENEWS EXPERIENCE

IndianExpress★★★★★■4.6

Vaccines off to smooth start, hit 2-lakh markbeing vaccinated, theministrysaid.SpellingoutdetailsoftheAEFI

casesreportedafterthefirsttwodays, Dr Manohar Agnani,AdditionalSecretary,MinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,said,“MostAEFIreportedinthecoun-tryareminor: fever, headache,andnausea;only threeof themrequiredhospitalisation...OnehasbeendischargedfromNorthernRailway,Delhi, in24hours; thesecondbeneficiaryhasbeendis-chargedfromAIIMS,Delhi;andthethirdisunderobservationatAIIMS Rishikesh and is doingfine.”TheHealthMinistry reiter-

ated that the adverse events“mayormaynot”berelatedtothe vaccines or vaccination

processandthat“protocolsarealso in place for systematic in-vestigation”.“MajorityoftheAEFIaremi-

nor in nature: pain, mildswelling at the injection site,mild fever, body ache, nausea,giddiness andmild allergic re-action like rashes. Only a fewAEFImay require hospitalisa-tion,which is classified underserious AEFI. Protocols are inplace for reporting, immediatecasemanagement at vaccina-tionsessionsite,transportationandhospitalisationandfurthercareofsuchcases,”Agnanisaid.OnSunday,forthefirsttime,

active cases declined below2per cent of the total cases re-ported in the country.According to data released by

theministry, the country’s ac-tivecaseloadstoodat2,08,826,whichis1.98percentof theto-talcases.For the last 10 days, daily

newcaseshavebeenbelowthe20,000-mark.Kerala continues to report

thehighestdailynewcases.OnSunday, the state reported5,960 new cases; followed byMaharashtra(2,910)andTamilNadu(610).Accordingtothelatestdata,

in the last 24 hours, five stateshavewitnessedadropofatleast200 cases:Madhya Pradesh (-433), Uttar Pradesh (-419),Rajasthan (-322), and, AndhraPradesh(-212).Significantly, the daily case

fatalityratecontinuestoregister

a steadydecline: in the last 23days, India has reported lessthan300dailyCoviddeaths.The Health Ministry said

that today being Sunday, onlysix states conducted vaccina-tion sessions: Andhra Pradesh(308), Tamil Nadu (165),Karnataka (64), ArunachalPradesh (14), Kerala (1) andManipur(1).TheMinistry also gave out

details of states’ vaccinationschedules. While AndhraPradeshwill hold sessions sixdaysaweekandMizoramwilldo so on five days aweek, 23statesandUTswillholdsessionson four days, three states onthree days, and three otherstates, including UPwill holdsessionsonlytwodaysaweek.

data of peoplewho are vacci-nated.However, with the Union

governmentdirectingallstatesthat the entire process needsto resume and can continuewithout Co-WIN software inregionswhere there are tech-nicalglitches,theMaharashtragovernmentsaidthatitwillre-sumethedrive fromTuesday.Across the state, 28,500

healthcare workers will beshortlisted for vaccination onTuesday. The number also in-cludes 10,200 healthcareworkerswhohadmissedtheirjabon January16.The drive will be under-

takenonfourdaysoftheweek.“It will mostly be Tuesday,Wednesday, Friday andSaturday. But that can changeif needed. If the Co-WIN textmessagesystemdoesnotwork,wewill call upbeneficiaries toinformthemadayortwoinad-vance,” said DrDNPatil, stateimmunisationofficer.Co-Winisadigitalplatform

tomonitorvaccinedistributionandrecorddataofallbenefici-

aries. On the first day of thevaccinerolloutonSaturday,theapplication did not work inmanyofthe285centresacrossMaharashtra. Insomecentres,theservercouldnotconnecttoit,andinsome,thevaccination“session list”didnotopen.In several centres, the soft-

ware failed todeliver textmes-sagestobeneficiariestointimatethemabout their centres andthe time of vaccination.Mostcentreswere forcedtoconductvaccinationwithoutCo-WIN.DNPatilsaidalldataofben-

eficiarieswasnotedinphysicalcopiesorspreadsheetsandwillbe uploaded on Co-WIN overthenext twodays.Maharashtra had short-

listed 28,500 doctors, nurses,paramedics,ASHAsandauxil-iary nurse midwives for theJanuary 16 vaccination drive.Only 18,328 (64.3 per cent)turned up. Thosewhomissedthe shot will be remindedthrice before their name is re-moved fromthe list.On Tuesday, districts will

have the choice to go com-

pletely offline if Co-WIN doesnotwork.Alistofbeneficiarieswill be drawn up centre-wiseand distributed to them.“Names can be verified fromthe list and vaccine shots canbegiven.IfCo-WINworks,thisprocess will be online,” D NPatil said.On Saturday, the

Brihanmumbai MunicipalCorporation (BMC) had to calleachof the4,000beneficiariesinMumbai to request themtocomeforvaccinationwhenthetext message system of Co-Win failed.Civicofficialssaidtheymay

have tomanually choose an-other 4,000 beneficiaries forthe second round and callthemupif thesoftwarefailstoworkagain.“Thenameswillbedistributed to 24 ward warrooms.Fromthere,callswillbemadetobeneficiaries,”anoffi-cial said.Meanwhile, to overcome

hesitancyoverCovaxin,whichisstillundergoingPhaseIIItrial,Dr Lalit Sankhe – in charge ofCovaxin vaccination at JJ hos-

pital in Mumbai – said videoconferencingmay be done todiscuss this issue and brain-stormsolutions.“The Unionministry was

informed about the lowturnout for Covaxin. Severalheads of departments hadturned up for vaccination inour centre. This may encour-ageothers.Wearehopefulofabetter turnout in the nextround,”Sankhesaid.State officials, too, believe

that two factors led to poorturnoutfortheoverallvaccina-tiondrive–weekendandben-eficiaries being intimatedabout the vaccine schedule atthe lastminute.“These are new vaccines

withnopriorexperiencetoac-count for. Taking this into ac-count, 64 per cent turnout isokay. Let us see how manypeople turn up on Tuesday,”saidDrArchanaPatil,Director(FamilyWelfare)ofDirectorateof Health Services and incharge of overall Covid treat-ment and vaccination in thestate.

Vaccination drive to resume tomorrow in Maharashtra

Class X, XIIreopen in Delhigovt schools,pvt ones sayneed time

SUKRITABARUAHNEWDELHI, JANUARY17

ASGOVERNMENTschoolsacrossthecityreopenforclassXandXIIstudents onMonday,many pri-vate schools said that theywilltakea fewmoredays topreparethemselves for reopening.OnSunday,educationminis-

terManishSisodiaheldareviewmeetingwitheducationdepart-ment officials in anticipation ofthereopening.“Everyoneisexcitedandalit-

tlenervousathavingclass10and12studentsbackinschoolsfromtomorrow for practicals/coun-selling. All preparations— sani-tisers,masks,socialdistancing—are in place,” he said on Twitterafter themeeting.Attendance for studentswill

beoptionalandschoolswillhaveto obtainwritten consent fromparents. Many private schoolssaid that theywill not open onMondayastheyneedtimetoad-heretotheprotocol.“We have sent emails and

messages on class WhatsAppgroups to parents and we arewaiting... ItshouldbecompletedbyMonday. Depending on thenumber of parents who agree,we will decide in how manyclassrooms and labswewill ac-commodate students...,” saidAshok Pandey, director, Ahlcongroupof schools.

‘Bogus bills’after loot:Police file FIRagainst matchfixing accusedMAHENDERSINGHMANRALNEWDELHI,JANUARY17

DELHI POLICE has registered anFIR against Rajesh Kalra, an ac-cused in the 2000match-fixingscandal involving late SouthAfrican cricket captain HansieCronje, andhis business partnerfor allegedly submitting forgedbills toraiseaclaimof aroundRs4.78 crore that was allegedlylootedbytheiremployees.OverRs5.5crorebelongingto

Kalra and his Gurgaon-basedbusiness partner Rahul Ahujawasallegedlyrobbedfromthemin a South Delhi street in 2014.Police had arrested 14 personsandapprehendedajuvenile.Kalra was named in the

match-fixing chargesheet alongwith Cronje; Kishan Kumar,brother of the slain T-SeriesfounderGulshanKumar;allegedkingpin Sanjeev Chawla;Manmohan Khattar and SunilDaraaliasBittu,policesaid.Theywere accused of entering into acriminalconspiracytofixanODIseries between India and SouthAfrica inFebruary-March,2000.On January 29, 2014, six

armedmenintwostolenvehicleshadallegedlyinterceptedacarinLajpatNagarandrobbeditsoccu-pants. Initially, the complainanttoldpolicethattheywererobbedofRs7.70crore,butpolice foundlater the figurewasRs 5.5 crore.Ahuja’smanager RakeshKumarSharmawasonhiswaytodepositcash in three different banks inConnaughtPlace,MotiNagarandKarolBaghwhentherobbers in-terceptedtheircar,policesaid.The investigation of the case

was later transferred to theNewDelhi range of the special cell,whicharrested14people,includ-ingtheformeremployeeofKalra,whowas allegedly the master-mindbehindtherobbery.

3 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JANUARY18,2021

4THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JANUARY18,2021

HARDLOOK DECENTRALISATIONOFBMCWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

LAXMANSINGH&VISHWASWAGHMODEMUMBAI, JANUARY17

A POLITICAL demand to appoint two sepa-ratemunicipal commissioners for the cityandsuburbsintheBrihanmumbaiMunicipalCorporation (BMC)and theproposedbifur-cation of Mumbai's biggest administrativeward—thefirstsuchdivisioninthelast twodecades — have put the focus back on thechallengesbeforethecountry'sbiggestmu-nicipal corporation toprovide civic servicesefficiently in India'sbiggest city.According to the BMC data, the popula-

tionofMumbaiwas1.28crore(12.8million)bymid-2020. It is contained in an area of483.14 square km,makingMumbai one ofthe densest cities with 26,500 persons persquarekm(excludingtheareamarkedoffas"nodevelopmentzone").Theislandcityhasthehighestdensityof

44,170 people per square km. It is 24,500square km in thewestern suburbs (BandratoDahisar)and22,110squarekmintheeast-ern (Kurla toMankhurd andMulund) sub-urbs.Just to give a sense of how bigMumbai

has(intermsofpopulation)grown, it isbig-ger than Sweden (1 crore) and Denmark(58.1 lakh).Within the country, at least 10Indian states, including Uttarakhand,HimachalPradesharesmallerthantheBMC.

History of administrativebifurcationThe BMC,whichwas formed as a "town

council", had its first-ever meeting inSeptember 1873. Having a history of over145 years, the BMC has grown administra-tivelywiththecity'sexpansiontothenorth.Currently,thereare24administrativewardsthroughwhich themunicipality is dealingwithcivic issues in the islandcity (ColabatoMahimandSion)andsuburbs.According to the book, Municipal

Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM)andWardAdministration,writtenbyretiredDeputyMunicipal Commissioner Dr DavidAnthony Pinto and DrMarina Rita Pinto in2008, after the corporation's formation in1950, suburbs fromBandra to Andheri andSion toGhatkopar, and in 1956 the remain-ing portion of Andheri to Dahisar andGhatkopar toMulundweremerged in themunicipal corporation.Later, in order toprovidebetter facilities

to the growing population, six divisionalwardswerefurtherdividedinto21adminis-trativewardsundertheregionaldecentrali-sation process in 1964. The last bifurcationof administrativewardswas done in early2000, taking the total wards up to 24. Thebookalsomentionsthatin2007-08,theBMChad 1.15 lakh employees, providing civicservices to 1.2 crore population. Apart froman increase in administrative wards, thenumber of administrators have also in-creasedgraduallyfromoneIASofficertofivenowhandling thecorporation.Therearecertainwards thathaveapop-

ulationofmorethanninelakhandhugeland

areaswhere it is achallenge toprovidecivicfacilities.Forexample,P-northward(Malad)alonehasatotalpopulationof9.67lakhand17corporatorsfollowingLward(Kurla)with9.26 lakh and15 corporators. There are 227corporatorelectoralwardsin24administra-tivewards.In the past several years, civic officials

have been vocal about re-organisation astheyhavebeen taskedwithother responsi-bilitiesalongwiththeircoredepartmentrole.In recent instances, civic officials have citedwork pressure before the Bombay HighCourt.In December 2020, the court imposed a

fine of Rs 1 lakh on Assistant MunicipalCommissioner of C ward (Chandanwadi)Chakrapani Alle over contempt of court fornot giving a proper hearing to a restaurantowner fromDhobi Talao and ordering thedemolitionofhisstructuredespitethecourtsayingthattheownershouldbegivenahear-ingbeforeaction.DefendingtheBMC,senioradvocateAnil

Sakhare, had said itwas abonafidemistakebyAlleduetoworkpressureashewasman-aging17 internaldepartments andanaddi-tional chargeof Bward.Similarly,inanothercaseofactionagainst

illegal construction by DeputyMunicipalCommissioner (DMC) of zone 2, VijayBalamwar,theBMChadsaidthecivicstaff isoverworked.Currently, many top civic officials are

holdingadditionalchargesforotherdepart-ments alongwith theirs.With about 27percentvacancies, thecountry'srichestmunic-ipal corporation is already facing a staffcrunch,andemployeesoftencomplainaboutbeingoverworked.AccordingtotheBMCfig-ures, there are nearly 37,800 vacant postsacrosscivicdepartments.Thecivicbodyhas1.43 lakh sanctioned (status till June 2019)posts for technical, and administrative offi-cials and sanitationworkers, of which 1.05lakhare filled.BMC'splansof re-organisingwardsIn 2017, thenmunicipal commissioner

and current principal advisor to ChiefMinisterUddhavThackeray,AjoyMehtahadproposed re-organisationof administrativewards, taking note of difficulty in handlingbigwards by only one administrator (assis-tantmunicipal commissioner) during elec-tionsandonregulardayswithservices.According to Mehta's proposal, all 24

wardboundarieswouldberedrawntobringparity in the number of electoral wards. InIslandCity,administrativewardB(Dongari)andC(Chandanwadi)wouldbemergedintoEward (Byculla) andDward (Malabar Hill)respectively.Both B and Cwards have only two and

threeelectoralwardsrespectively.Similarlyinwesternsuburbs,P-north(Malad)willbedivided into two--P-east andP-westwards.Intheeasternsuburb,L-wardwillbedividedinto L-south and L-north. However, the re-organisation isyet to takeplace.City urban planners said that the focus

shouldbemoreonensuringservicedeliver-iesandsmalladministrativeunitswillactu-allybehelpful in this regard."Inothercountries,planningunitsareas

small as 1,000 families which is helpful inmanagingservices.Mumbaicityisquiteun-wieldyandlarge.Forbetterservicedelivery,wehavetoidentifyareaswhereitisnothap-pening instead of talking about dividingwards and asking IAS officers to sit in sub-urbs. For example, if there are 60 studentsandone teacher, then each studentwill notget the attention that they deserve, but for20 students, it is possible. The same thing iswith governancewhere if you can bring asmall denominator then it will be good forservice delivery," said Principal Director,UrbanCentreMumbai, Pankaj Joshi.Headded:"Thefocusshouldbetoensure

amechanism for servicedelivery to the lastperson. Itcanbedonebyonecommissioneralsoonlywithanorganisedstructure."

In 2017, former Congress minister andlegislator Arif NaseemKhan had raised theissueof dividing theBMCinto threemunic-ipal corporations - Island City, WesternSuburbs and Eastern Suburbs - for effectivefunctioning, on the lines of threemunicipalcorporations inDelhi.Khanhadraisedthedemandfollowinga

fire in a shop in Sakinaka in suburbanMumbai that claimed 12 lives. "The city'spopulationhas increased a lot. The suburbshave the highest population density com-pared to the islandcity.Due to the shortageof officers, the civic body is not able to pro-videserviceseffectivelytothecitizensinsub-urbs," saidKhan."It isnotaboutdividingMumbaibut the

divisionof theBMC'sadministrativeworkis

requiredtoofferbettercivicservicestopeo-ple. It can be done by having two separatecommissioners for city and suburbs on thelines of the two districts collectors inMumbai," he added. However, Khan's de-mandwas opposed by the BJP and the ShivSena in the state legislature. The parties al-legedthat thedivisionwouldbeaninsult tothe hundreds of martyrs who fought forMumbai.

Mayor in council in BMCFollowingtheBMCelectionsinApril2017,

thenChiefMinisterDevendra Fadnavis hadformedathree-membercommittee tosug-gestwaystobringintransparency,efficiencyandaccountabilityinthecivicbodyandothermunicipal corporations in the state. Thecommitteesubmitteditsreport in2018andhad suggested adopting a directly electedmayor system on theline of the US presiden-tial elections. The com-mittee had also recom-mended vesting themayorwithalldecision-making powers.However, even afterthree years, no decisionhas been taken. Thecommittee was com-posed of former BMCMunicipalCommissioner SharadKale, former HousingSecretary GautamChatterjee and formerPune MunicipalCommissionerRamanath Jha.Aretiredbureaucrat,

who had held key postsinMumbaiandPune,onthe condition ofanonymity said themayorshouldbedirectlyelected and given more powers with ac-countability."Ourcitiesareinastateofwar.Becauseif

you have a huge population coming in anddailyissuestoberesolvedthenthedecision-makingprocessinsuchanorganisationmustbe very quick. But in the current system ofthemunicipalcorporations,youhaveaverylarge consultative process. By the time thedecision is taken, the situation changes. Tostrengthentheorganisation'sdecision-mak-ing process, we have tomake sure that thechiefexecutiveofficershouldbeverypower-ful,"hesaid.Headded:"Also,wehavetoen-sure that there is a mechanism of trans-parency and accountability that helps yourun the system properly." The former bu-reaucratisalsooftheopinionthatdecentral-isationisaviableoptionatthewardsleveltoensurebetter servicesandquickdecisions."Itshouldbeexaminedifatthewardlevel

moredecentralized is needed. The splittingof largewardsthathavepopulationsofamu-nicipal corporation isagood idea,"hesaid.In the past,Mayor Kishori Pednekar has

been vocal aboutmore powers formayorsandhadwritten toThackerayonthe issue.

Politics on BMCThe demand for the BMC's division al-

waysattractsstrongpoliticalreactionsfromthe Shiv Sena which has been benefittedfromthe issue fordecades.In 1985, then Chief Minister Vasandada

Patil hadmade a statement, creating a sus-picionthattheCentrewasplanningtobringMumbai under its administration and thusseparating it fromMaharashtra. The SenapickeduptheissueasitsweaponfortheBMCpollsandemergedasthesinglelargestpartynearing themajoritymark in the election.Sincethen,theSenahasbeenrakingupfearsofseparationofMumbaifromMaharashtra,an emotive issue in the state's rural parts,timeandagain.Recently, Congress leader and Fisheries

MinisterAslamShaikhstokedacontroversybydemanding twomunicipal commission-ers intheBMCandjustifieditontheground

thatitwouldbeeasierforthecivic body to provide basicamenities to the people inSuburbanMumbai.However,the demandwas rejected bythe Congress, stating that itwas his personal view andnot the party view.Subsequently,ShaikhandtheBJP corporators have de-manded that the additionalmunicipalcommissionersofIAS officer level should sit intheir respective zones -Western and EasternSuburbs- forbetterredressalof civic issues.SenasourcessaidShaikh's

demand for two commis-sionerswas a result of a fall-out between him and themunicipal commissionerover some issues in the civicbody. However, the BJP im-mediately accused theCongressof conspiring todi-

videMumbai.ShivSenaleaderssaidthereisnochange

intheirstandofnotallowingMumbai'ssep-aration from Maharashtra. "There is nochangeinourstand,"saidTransportMinisterand Shiv Sena leader Anil Parab. He addedthatsincetheCongresshasalreadyclarifiedthatitisnotapartydemand,itisnolongeranissue."TheBJP,whichisdesperateforpower, is

raking up the issues these days to enjoypowereverywhere,includingchawlsandlo-cal residentcommittees,"healleged.AseniorShivSenaleadersaidthefeasibil-

ity of the demand of asking additionalmu-nicipalcommissioners tosit in their respec-tivezonesneeds tobestudied."If it helps the administration, wewill

havetoseeitsfeasibilityasalltheseniorcivicofficials sit in the headquarters in SouthMumbaiwherealldecisionsaretaken,"saidtheleader. Evenifnoactionistakenondivid-ing the BMC into threemunicipal corpora-tions,engagetwocommissionersoronotherdemands, it is likely to become an issue intheupcomingBMCelectionstobeheldearly2022.

Splitting it upDemandsseekingthere-organisationofBrihanmumbaiMunicipalCorporationunder twomunicipal commissioners

torunthecountry’s richestbutunwieldycivicbody find increasingresonanceas itheads topollsnextyear.

Forsometimenow,BMC officialshavebeenvocalaboutre-organisationcitingadditional responsibilitiesandworkpressure.Archive

Smallerwardswillensurebetter

citizen services. PNorth(Malad) has 17corporator electoralwards. It is almost animpossible task for oneassistantmunicipalcommissioner to lookafter civic issues in suchahuge landwith a largepopulation. Focus onsmallerwards canimprove infrastructureandbasic services."VINODMISHRABJPCORPORATORFROMMALAD

ADMINISTRATIVE MAKE-UP

1Commissioner

24Assistantmunicipalcommissioners:

4Additional commissioner:(City, easternsuburbs,westernsuburbs,projects)

ATAGLANCE

R/N

R/SP/N

P/S

K/WK/E

F/NM/W M/E

H/WH/E

G/S F/S

E

LN

S

T

DC

A

B

G/N

R/CArea itgoverns

483.14sqkm

Populationdensity

26,500persqkm.

Mumbaicity56

Easternsuburbs59

Westernsuburbs102

Numberofcorporators

217

Westernsuburbs57.18 lakhEasternsuburbs39.63 lakhCity31.92 lakh

1.28cr POPULATIONUNDERITSPURVIEW

Administrativewards:24

Wardcommittees

17

City Easternsuburbs Westernsuburbs

5 7 5Graphic:RiteshKumar

THECITY 5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JANUARY18,2021

Newly-appointed MumbaiCongress presidentAshok (Bhai)Jagtap speaks to SandeepAsharontheplanstogosoloinBMCpolls,the 'Mazhi Mumbai, MazhiCongress' campaign, factionalismwithin the party and the promiseof freewater toslums.

YouhaveannouncedaplantogosoloinBMCpolls. Is itfeasible?EvenwhentheCongresswas

in power with the NCP in thestate, we fought the Mumbaicivic elections independently.Congress has mostly foughtalone (inMumbai). So, this isn’tnewforus.Wehavepresence inall the 227wards and are capa-bleof fightingonall seats.

Butyourperformancehasbeensliding. Inthe2017polls,youwonjust31seats.I agreethatourperformance

in the last electionswas belowpar. Wewon just 31 seats. Butthenwewere placed second in33wards.Thismakesit64seats.Thentherewerethosewherewecameaclosethird.Wecouldhavefaredmuchbetter,buttherewasaModiwaveinthecountrythen.Thingsaredifferentnow.Wehavebeenoutofpowerin

BMC for 28 years, but it is also afact thatwehad80-plusseatsatone point.We haveworkers ineveryward.Wehavetodojusticewith the party structure andcadre.

So the announcement to gosoloisnotmereposturingforabetter bargainwith Shiv Senaassomebelieve?Weare firm thatwe should

contest alone and have alreadyconveyedthis toour leadership.

Congresshasjustlaunchedthe‘Mazhi Mumbai, MazhiCongress’ initiative. This is a100-daycampaign.Whatwillitbe like?Under‘MajhiMumbai,Mazhi

Congress’, wewill hold districtsammelans and padyatras. Theideaistoreachouttopeopleandour own workers and under-standtheissuesfacedbythemaswell as spread awareness aboutparty initiatives. Asper the100-day plan, we will first be an-nouncingorganisationalrestruc-turing. The first districtsammelan was held in northMumbai on January 16. Fivemore (one each in all Lok Sabhaconstituencies)will be held be-fore January 31.Wewill launchpadyatrasinvariouswardsfromFebruary.Wearealso launchingthe‘CongressAaplyaDaari’cam-

paignwherepartyministerswillholdjanatadarbarsinvariousLokSabha constituencies to resolvegrievancesof thepeople.

Your first pre-election pollplank is a freebie – promise offreewater to all slumhouse-holds.Howdoyoujustify it?InMumbai,everysecondres-

ident is a slum dweller. TheCongress has always strived fortheir welfare. A Congress-ledgovernment had announcedslumregularisationtillJanuary1,2000.Wewantthiscut-off tobeextended to rehabilitatemoreslumdwellers.Butwhilethereg-ularisationisanongoingprocess,ourdemandisthatwatershouldbe given free-of-cost to all slumhouseholds. The BMC is alreadyobligatedtogivewatersupplytopre-2000hutments.Butlakhsofnewslumhomeshave comeupsince. Intheabsenceof legalisedwater supply, such householdsareexploitedbythenexusofcivicofficialsandthetankermafia.Wemustbreakthisnexus.

Slum regularisation issuesresurfaces every election sea-son. Cut-off deadlines havebeen extended, FSI incentivesshowered on slum dwellers.Butslum-freeMumbaistill re-mains a pipe dream. Yourviews?The Slum Rehabilitation

Schemewas the best opportu-nity tomake the city slum-freebut unfortunately, it has faredmiserably.Wedemandareviewof regulations and governmentslum rehabilitation. There is aneed togivemoreFSI to accom-modatemorefamilies.

Howdoyouplan to tackle fac-tionalismwithintheCongress?I and (working president)

CharanSinghSaprahavemetall

senior party leaders fromMumbaiandtheyhavepromisedusallsupport.Allofuswillworktogether. Congress is just like abig family.

Areyouconcernedthatyoural-liance with Shiv Sena (in thestate) will hurt your supportbase among north IndianHindumigrants,whichhasal-ready substantially shifted totheBJP.This is a concern.Weneed to

studyitclosely.Wecan’taffordourownvoterbasetoshrink.ButthenBJPwas also in an alliancewithShivSenaforalongtime.All Iamsayingis that thereareotherrea-sonsalso for theneedtoconnectbetterwithnorthIndianvoters.

Mumbai’s GuardianMinisterAslam Shaikh has triggered adebate by opining that a vastcity likeMumbaishouldbedi-vided into two civic commis-sionerates.What is the party’sstand?Ispoketotheminister.Hehas

saidthathisdemandwasforthesakeofpeople’sconvenience.Asfarasthepartygoes,wefeelthereis noneed for two commission-ers or commissionerates. Thecurrent commissioner (IqbalSingh Chahal) has done com-mendable work during theCovid-19pandemic.

Are you satisfied with ShivSena’s functioninginBMC?WeareaOppositionparty in

theBMC. It iswewhohavebeenraising issues, not BJP.Wewillcontinue to raise themwith thesame force. I can tell you thattherewon’t beanycompromiseon issues that matter toMumbaikars.

Is GharWapsi of formerCongress leaders just a sloganor is thereaplan?NotjustformerMLAs,weare

getting in touchwithworkers,leaders and corporators whohaveshiftedtootherparties.Weare in touchwithmanyandwilltryourbest tobringthemback.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI, JANUARY17

THE BOMBAY High Court re-cently held that merely beingpresent during a crime of ob-scene acts in public, which alsofalls under the purview of theMaharashtra Prohibition ofObscene Dance in Hotels,Restaurants andBarRoomsandProtectionofDignityofWomen(Working Therein) Act, 2016,cannot be considered unless aspecific role is attributed to theaccused.

With this, the High CourtquashedanFIRagainsttwomenbookedduring a raid in a dancebar in January2017.The court held that neither

were the two involved inobscene acts nor did they abetany.Adivisionbenchof JusticeSS

ShindeandJusticeManishPitalepassedtherulingonapleabythetwoaccusedmenfromMumbai,whosoughttheFIRagainstthemtobequashed.Acasewasregisteredagainst

thematSantacruzpolicestationon January 21, 2017, alongwith

other accused, under Section294 (punishment for obsceneactsorwordsinpublic)oftheIPCand offences punishable underthe 2016 law pertaining to pro-hibitionondancebars.Thepetitionerswerebooked

on the allegation that obscenedanceswerebeingperformedbywomenatabarownedbyotheraccused, where they were al-legedlypresent.Advocates Rajesh

Khobragade and Gayatri Nayakfor the petitioners submittedthat therewereno specific alle-gations and no role was attrib-

uted to their clients attractingcharges levelled in the FIRand the chargesheet filed bypolice.The bench observed, "A pe-

rusal of thematerial on recordshowsthatnoallegationsasperSection294of the IPCaremadeagainst the petitioners at all.Similarly, as per Section 114 ofthe IPC, a person is liablewhenhe is an abettor present whenthe alleged offence is commit-ted.Thematerialonrecorddoesnot indicate any specific act onpartof thepetitioners toqualifyasabettors."

Merely being present during crime of obsceneact not sufficient to register offence, says HC

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JANUARY17

THE BRIHANMUMBAIMunicipal Corporation (BMC)onSunday said thatno finewillbe imposed on people for notwearingmasks inside theirpri-vate vehicles. However, thosetraveling in public transportmust keep their masks on ortheywill be fined.Currently,theBMC-deployed

clean-upmarshals fine peoplefor not wearing masks even iftheyareintheirprivatevehicles.Manycomplainedthatcivicstaffhave fined them for keepingmasks off in their private cars.The BMC can penalise thosewithoutmasksRs200perhead.The civic body's action came asapreventivemeasuretostopthevirus’s spread."Instructions have been is-

sued to all local ward officersthat no fine should be imposedonpeopletravelinginprivateve-hicles. In public transport, pas-sengers have to wear masks,”saidaBMCofficial.

No fine for notdonning masksinside privatevehicles: BMC

TheBJPonSundaystagedaprotest inGhatkopardemandingstrictactionagainst theproducers,directorsandactorsof therecentlyreleasedwebseriesTandav. It isallegedthatascene intheserieshas insultedHindudeities.Deepak Joshi

MONDAYINTERVIEW

ASHOK (BHAI) JAGTAPMUMBAI CONGRESS

PRESIDENT

‘We can’t afford ourvoter base to shrink’

Govt committed toincorporating Karnataka’sMarathi-speaking areasinto Maharashtra: CM

MAHARASHTRA6 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JANUARY18,2021

YeeYee HejceeCeg DevegmebOeeve keWÀêBhaBha atomic ReseaRch centRe

On line item rate tender through e-tendering mode is invited on behalf of thePresident of India by Associate Director, Reactor Group, BARC, TrombayMumbai-85 for the following work from eligible contractors on the approvedlist of Railways, CPWD, MES, DAE and other departments / undertakingsof Government of India having adequate experience and capabilities toexecute similar works for the following work.

Complete details of e-tender notice can be viewed on BARC websitehttp://www.barc.gov.in http://www. tenderwizard.com/dae

Head, RRMD(For and on behalf of President of India)

e- tenDeR notice

Tender Notice No BARC/ RRMD/TN-02/2021dated 13/01/2021Name of the work Design,fabrication/manufacturing,

inspection,testing,installationand commissioning of DC LEDlighting fixtures in Dhruva,BARC,Mumbai - 85

Estimated cost ` 96,74,000 /-Tender Processing fee ` 5,708/-Period of completion 12 MonthsPeriod for purchase /download ofe-tender Document (excel/word formats)

20.01.2021 (10:00 hrs.) to29.01.2021 (16:30 hrs.)

Last date and time of closing of onlinesubmission of e-Tender

18.02.2021 (15:00 hrs.)

Last date for submission of originaldocuments, receipt of e-payment towardstender processing Fee and Bid SecurityDeclaration.

On or before on 19.02.2021(15.00 Hrs.)

Date & time of opening of the Tender 22.02.2021 at 14:00 Hrs.

ceneje°^ efJeOeeveceb[U meefÛeJee}ÙeefJeOeeve YeJeve, cegbyeF&-400032.

efoveebkeâ 18 peevesJeejer, 2021(ojhe$ekeâ efveefJeoe metÛevee)

ceneje°^ efJeOeeveceb[U meefÛeJee}Ùe, efJeOeeve YeJeve, cegbyeF&-400032 ÙesLeer} efHeâleOJeefvecegõkeâ mebJeiee&leer}heoebÛeer keâeces yee¢eÙeb$eCeebkeâ[tve keâ¤ve IesCÙeekeâefjlee efoveebkeâ 17 Dee@iemš 2020 jespeer Øeefmeæ keâjCÙeele Dee}s}erpeeefnjele jö keâjCÙeele Dee}er Deens. efHeâleOJeefvecegõkeâ mebJeiee&leer} heoebÛeer keâeces yee¢eÙeb$eCeskeâ[tve keâ¤ve IesCÙeekeâefjleeveJÙeeves ojhe$ekeâ/efveefJeoe ceeieefJeCÙeele Dee}s}er Deens. Ùee meboYee&le efHeâleOJeefvecegõkeâ heoemee"er heomebKÙee, keâe}eJeOeer,Den&lee Je hee$elesÛÙee Dešer, Flej Dešer/çeleea Ùeebmen DevÙe DeeJeçÙekeâ mebhetCe& leheçeer}www.mahatenders.gov.in Ùee mebkesâlemLeUeJej Ghe}yOe Deens.

($e+legjepe pe. kegâ[lejkeâj)GhemeefÛeJe

ceneje°^ efJeOeeveceb[U meefÛeJee}Ùe

VISHWASWAGHMODEMUMBAI, JANUARY17

IN ONE of the strongest publicpushbacks by the CongressagainstalliancepartnerShivSenaoverrenamingAurangabad,stateRevenue Minister BalasahebThorat said the Sena's standwas"hypocritical"andquestionedtheparty overwhy it hadnot raisedthe issue in the last five yearswhen itwas part of the govern-ment in the state aswell as theCentre, inalliancewiththeBJP."Someentities, for their own

politicalbenefit,arerakinguptheAurangabad renaming issue. It ishypocritical to rakeup this issuenow... in the last five years, theyneverspokeaboutit,"saidThoratsaid, while slamming the SenaandtheBJPforraisingtheissue.OnSaturday, state Industries

MinisterSubhashDesaiandSenaleadersaidthestategovernmentwillsoonapproveaproposaltore-name Aurangabad asSambhajinagar. On Sunday,Sanjay Raut, SenaMP and chiefspokespersonof the party, criti-cised the Congress in Saamana

stating that itwasagainst the re-naming as itwas afraid of losingtheMuslimvote."If itisrenamed,Muslimswill

beupsetandthatwillhaveanim-pactontheirvotebank.Itmeansaquestionmarkwill be raised ontheir own secular image," Rautsaid.HealsoreiteratedtheSena'sstandthatthereshouldnotbeanycity in Maharashtra bearingAurangzeb'sname.Soonafterthearticlecameout,

theCongressonSunday issuedapublicstatementvoicingitsoppo-sitiontotherenaming.Thoratalso

criticised the Sena for theway ithad governed the AurangabadMunicipal Corporation,which itpresentlycontrols."Boththeseparties(Senaand

BJP),whichhavebeenatthehelmof the Aurangabad MunicipalCorporation, shouldbe speakingabout thedevelopmentof the is-sue.That iswhat residentsof thecityexpect fromthem.However,the two have disappointed thepeopleandthisisthereasonwhytheynowhave to rely on the re-naming issueon the eveof elec-tions,"Thoratsaid.

Despitethedifferences,how-ever,ThroatstatedthattherewasnothreattotheMVA(MahaVikasAghadi) government. "No oneshouldbeunder the illusion thatthiswill destabilise the govern-ment. Our government is stableand strong," he said, adding thatthe "politics of emotion" hadnoplace intheMVAcommonmini-mumprogramme(CMP).Since December, Sena and

Congress are sparring over re-naming Aurangabad toSambhajinagar. Chief MinisterUddhav Thackeray, through hisTwitter handle, has also referredtoAurangabadasSambhajinagarwhile putting out a tweet on acabinet decision. This didnot godownwell with the Congress.Thackeray, however, defended itby saying Aurangzebwas not asecularperson.In1988,aftertheSenacameto

power in the local body atAurangabad city, late supremoBalasahebThackerayannouncedthatthecitywouldberenamedasSambhajinagar. Since then, theSenahasusedSambhajinagar inpolitical rhetoric and partymouthpieceSaamana.

Sena to contest Bengal pollsMumbai: The Shiv Sena hasdecided to contest theAssembly elections inWestBengal, due in April-May,partyMPSanjayRautsaidonSunday.Hesaid thedecisionhasbeentakenafterholdingdiscussionswith chief min-ister and Sena presidentUddhavThackeray."So, here is the much-

awaitedupdate.Afterdiscus-sions with Party Chief ShriUddhavThackeray,ShivSenahas decided to contest theWest Bengal AssemblyElections. We are reachingKolkata soon...!! Jai Hind, JaiBangla!"Raut tweeted.He,however,didn'tspec-

ify the number of seats theSenawill contest. PTI

VIVEKDESHPANDENAGPUR, JANUARY17

IN24hoursafterhealthcarework-erswere administered vaccineagainstCovid-19onSaturday,over280casesofadverseeventfollow-ingimmunisation(AEFI)werere-ported from across the state.Officials said "all cases aremild"andrequirednoseriousinterven-tionexceptsymptomaticconsul-tation.Usually,oneinevery10vacci-

nated experience some kind ofdiscomfort ranging fromnausea,vomiting, fever and pain at thevaccinationsite.Ofthe18,328vac-cinated on January 16, over 280(1.5percent)complainedofthesesymptoms."Infact,wewillnotlabelthem

asAEFI cases, as theseweremildreactions to the vaccine. AEFI oranaphylactic reaction hasmoreseveresymptoms.Noneofthead-verse reactionswere fatal. Some

peoplewereadmittedinhospitalforobservationandsymptomaticcare," said Dr Archana Patil,Director (Family Welfare),DirectorateofHealthServices.Of the cases reported, 233

were fromacrossVidarbhawithat least 34people requiringhos-pitalisation.While68caseswere

reported in the five districts ofAmravati division, 164were re-portedfromsixdistrictsofNagpurdivision, authorities said. They,however, said that the reactionswereexpectedandallpersonsarestable.Amravati Divisional

CommissionerPiyushSinghsaid,

"Here, 68 vaccinatedpeople de-veloped adverse reactions aftermidnightonSaturday.Theycom-plained of nausea, vomiting,headacheandmildfever,whichisconsiderednormal. Of these, 25were hospitalised in Yavatmal,four in Buldhana, three inAkolaandoneinWashimdistrict.While

patientsinYavatmalandWashimhave been discharged, those inAkola and Buldhana have beenkept under observation. They all

are stable andwill go home to-morrow."Eighteen cases of adverse

eventswerereportedinAkoladis-trict and 20 in Amravati, saidSingh. Asked the reactionswerenoticed inwhichof the twovac-cines - Covishield or Covaxin -Singhsaid,"Covaxinwasadminis-tered only in Amravati DistrictHospital. Threewereno such re-portsfromthere."Deputy Director of Health

Services(Nagpurdivision),SanjayJaiswal,said,"Asmanyas165peo-ple reportedmild adverse reac-tionstoday,whichisnormal.Theyareallarestable.OnlyonepersonisinhospitalinNagpurandisdo-ingwell."OnSaturday, thestatehadre-

ported14peoplewithadversere-actions observedwithin half anhour of getting vaccinated. Nodeathshavebeenrecordedduetovaccinationinstate.

(WITHINPUTSFROMENS,MUMBAI)

COVIDVACCINEDRIVE

Healthcareworkerscollectswabs forCovid-19testsatabusstandinThaneonSunday.

Deepak Joshi

CUT TO SIZEHIGH-PROFILENCPMinisterDhananjayMundemayhavesavedhisjobfornowafterallegationsraisedbyotherpoliticiansagainstthewomanwho had accused him of rape. But sources in theNCPsaythatthecontroversyhashitMunde’sstockinthepartyand also in the government. The social justiceminister,who isseen as a close confidant of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar,retains his position, but has been cut to size. Nowonder thenthatthoseclosetohimarerootingforanearlycompletionoftheprobeordered in thematter.

FARCE?THE RECENTLY-COMPLETED elections for theMumbai YouthCongress president’s post turned out to be a farce, with com-plaints of largescalebogusvotingovershadowing theelection.The poll, conducted online, saw nearly 4 lakh voters. SeniorCongress leadersbelieve that close to50per centof thesemaywellbebogus.Inanycase,thewinnerdoesn’tautomaticallybagthepost.TheCongresshighcommandwill stillhavea final say.

LICENSE TO HITFIVEMONTHS after his abrupt transfer from theNagpur civiccommissioner’spost,high-profileIASofficerTukaramMundhewas lastweekappointedas secretaryof theMaharashtraStateHumanRightCommission,whichisseenasasidepostinginad-ministrative circles. But the newpostmaywell give the 2005-batchIASofficer,whoisfastearningthereputationofbeingano-nonsense bureaucrat, the license to pin state departments oncasesof humanrightsviolations.

UNWANTED EXPENSEFORTHElastdecade-and-a-half,thepostsofmanagingdirectorsof the loss-makingMaharashtra State Financial CorporationLimited andMaharashtra Petro Chemicals Limited have beenused for parking senior IAS officers,whohave lost favourwiththegovernment.But recently, thestate industriesdepartment,which oversees the functioning of the two corporations, haswrittentothechiefminister-ledgeneraladministrationdepart-mentdemanding thathenceforth, IASofficersnotbeposted inthese positions. It has cited the risingwage bill of these loss-makingunits to justify itsdemand.

SINGLED OUTIN LASTweek’s Cabinetmeeting, CongressMinisterNitinRautfoundhimself isolatedandsingledout,withevenministersfromhispartyvocallyopposinghisdepartment’sproposalregardingthestatebearingadditionalcosts for installationandGSTcom-ponent for solar-powered farmpumpsunder the PM-KUSUMscheme.Theproposaldidnotgo throughandRaut is said tobemiffedwith his colleagues in the Congress for not backing hisproposal.

OVERSTAYING BABUSACRACKDOWNon retiredbureaucrats overstaying in govern-mentaccommodation isonthecards.Withseveral IASofficersandseniorofficialsawaitingallotmentof quarters, theUddhavThackeray government has decided to initiate action againstsomeretiredIASandIPSofficers,whoareyettoshiftoutof theirgovernment allotted accommodation. However, it is still notclear if actionwillalsobe initiatedagainstservingofficerswhoholdmore thanoneofficial accommodation.

COMPILEDBYSANDEEPASHAR

MUMBAICONFIDENTIAL

Haveacommentor suggestion forMumbaiConfidential?Write tomumbai.newsline@expressindia.comwithsubject line:MumbaiConfidential

OMKARGOKHALEMUMBAI, JANUARY17

THEBOMBAYHighCourtrecentlydirected the UnionMinistry ofHealth, the National MedicalCommission (NMC) and theMaharashtra government to re-spondtoapleabyastudentwithan amputated upper limb,whoapproachedthecourtallegingdis-crimination, as shewas not al-lowedtopursueamedicalcourseonthegroundsofherdisability.Thestudent,AnitaShinde,has

claimedthatinthepast,manylikeher had got admission to suchcoursesandshebeingdeniedthesameopportunitywasarbitrary.Adivisionbenchof JusticeSC

GupteandJusticeSPTavadewashearing the petition filed byShindeonJanuary13.HerlawyerGaurav Bansal informed theHCthat Shinde had appeared forNationalEligibilitycumEntranceTest(NEET)examin2020andse-cured 60.64 per cent marks.Followingthis,shehadappliedforadmission in an undergraduatemedicalcourse.Bansal added that as per the

2019notification of theMedicalCouncil of India (nowknownasNationalMedical Commission),having an upper limbdisability

made Shinde eligible for admis-sionunder thepersonswithdis-abilityquota,whichsheavailed.Bansal said that while the

commissioner of the DisabilityWelfare Commission had di-rectedtheDisabilityAssessmentBoard -whichhad certified thatShindewas ineligible foradmis-sion - to consider her disabilitywithnecessaryassistivedevices,theboarddidnotpayheedtothesame, prompting the petitionertomoveHC.Afterhearingthesubmissions,

thebenchsoughtresponsesfromthe respondentswithin aweek."TheNMC is expected to remainpresent throughauthorised rep-resentativeorcounselonthenextdate,sincetheissueisofsomeur-gency," the court noted whileposting thematter for furtherhearingonJanuary20.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI, JANUARY 17

CHIEFMINISTERUddhav Thackeray andDeputyCMAjitPawaronSundaysaidthegovernmentwascommittedtoincorporatingMarathi-speakingar-easofKarnataka intoMaharashtra.Thackeray said bringing Karnataka occupied

Marathi-speaking and cultural regions toMaharashtrawouldbea"truetribute"tothethosemartyred intheboundarybattle in1956. "Weareunitedandcommittedto it,"hesaidofferingtrib-utes tothosewhodied inthestruggle.Maharashtra claims areas such as Belgaum,

KarwarandNippani,whicharepartofKarnataka.Pawar also said fightingwith determination tobring the "last Marathi village" occupied bytheKarnataka intoMaharashtrawill be the "truetribute".The linguisitic boundary dispute has been

pending intheSupremeCourt.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPUNE, JANUARY17

HOT AND dry day conditions,cloudy skies during afternoonhours and the complete absenceofwinterchillwillcontinueforthenextthreedaysoverPuneanddis-tricts along southern MadhyaMaharashtra and Konkan.However, the IMDhaspredictedreturnofcoldconditionslaterthisweek.Boththedayandnighttem-peratures recorded in Pune(Shivajinagar) on Sundaywereabove normal at 32.2 degreesCelsius and16.7degreesCelsius,respectively,theIMDsaid."Maharashtra iscurrentlyex-

periencing southerly-southeast-erlywind, which is bringing insomemoisture,leadingtocloudyandovercastskyconditions.Theseclouds form at higher altitudesandwill not cause rainfall," saidAnupamKashyapi,head,Weatherdepartment, IMD,Pune.

Except some stations inVidarbha -Gondia (11.5 degreesCelsius), Nagpur (13.4 degrees),Brahmapuri (12.3 degrees), theminimumtemperaturesrecordedon the day in other parts of thestatewasover15degreesCelsius.

Inthiswinterseason,thestatehasnotexperiencedacoldwaveso far. This year, January has re-mained a month with mixedweather - from rain in the firstweektotheprevailinghotcondi-tions for Pune, but largelywith-

outcoldconditions.Vidarbhaandparts ofMarathwada, normally,experiencecoldconditionsduetocold wave in December andJanuary,butthisseason,ithasnotbeen realised. The minimumtemperatures have remainedmostly over 15 degrees Celsius,makingitanunlikelyJanuaryforPune and many places in thestate, theIMDsaid.However,withmostofNorth

andNorthwestpartsofthecoun-try continuing to reel under coldwave, the northern parts ofMaharashtra too shall comeun-deritsinfluencethisweek.Asare-sult, cold conditions couldmakea come back overMaharashtralater thisweek, an IMDofficialsaid. "For a short duration, theminimum temperatures acrossthe state, including Pune, couldseeadropby2to4degreesCelsiusfrom January 21 onwards. Thiswill bedue to thepenetrationofcoldnortherlywindsoverpartsofMaharashtra,"addedKashyapi.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEPUNE, JANUARY17

BOLLYWOODFILM-MAKERandactorMaheshManjrekarhasbeenbookedforallegedlyslappingandverballyabusingamanwhosecarhit his car frombehindonPune-SolapurhighwayonFridaynight.The non-cognisable offence

wasregisteredonSaturdayunderPune rural jurisdiction, basedona complaint filedbyaman iden-tifiedasKailasSatpute.Manjrekarhasclaimedthatthedriverof thecarwasundertheinfluenceofal-cohol.Manjrekar (62) has beenbooked under the sections 323(voluntarilycausinghurt)and504(intensionalinsult)of theIPC.Inspector Bhausaheb Patil of

Yawat police station told TheIndianExpress,"Theincidenttookplace on Friday night, on Pune-Solapur highway. Near Yawat,Manjrekar's car was hit by thecomplainant's car. The incidentwas followedby a heated argu-ment between them. The com-plainant,Satpute,hasclaimedthat

hewas slapped and abused byManjrekar.Wehave registered anon-cognisableoffence."Foranon-cognisableoffence,

thepoliceneedcourt'spermissionto initiate theprobeandtomakean arrest. Manjrekar told TheIndianExpress, "IwasonmywaytoChaufula for a shoot,where acrewof around200waswaitingforme. Somewherenear Yawat,thisdriverhitmycarfrombehind.Twocolleaguesofminewhowereinmycarhavesufferedwhiplashdue to the impact. I now knowdamages tomycarareof aroundRs4lakh.Wethenfoundoutthatheandthoseaccompanyinghimwereclearlydrunk.Iwasinhurryfortheshootanddecidednotfileacomplaint,becausepeoplewerewaitingforme.NowIfeelIshouldIhavegonetothepolicestation."Manjrekarsaid,"Aftertheinci-

dent, the driver did not evenbothertogetoutofthecartoapol-ogise.Thepersonhasfiledacom-plaintonSaturdayandnotonthesamenight,becausehewasdrunkthat time. I don't knowwhy it isbeingmadeintoabigissue."

Withachange inseason, flowersdot trees liningEasternExpressHighwayinMumbai. AmitChakravarty

Mahesh Manjrekarbooked for ‘slapping,verbally abusing’ man

19.90 lakhTOTALPOSITIVECASESINMAHARASHTRAActiveCases 52,653NewCases 3,081TotalDeaths 50,438NewDeaths 50Quarantined 2.27lakhTested 1.38crore

3,02,757TOTALPOSITIVECASESINMUMBAINewCases 531TotalDeaths 11,244NewDeaths 7

Over 280 mild cases of adverse events reported across state

Thestudenthasclaimedthat inthepast,manylikehergotadmissiontosuchcoursesandshebeingdeniedthesameopportunitywasarbitrary

HC notice to Centre,NMC on disabled womanbeing refused admissionto medical course

RENAMINGAURANGABAD

Thorat slamsShiv Sena, saysparty’s stand hypocriticalSenasaysalliancepartneragainstmoveasit isafraidof losingMuslimvote

Cold conditions set to return in state by Jan 21

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,MONDAY, JANUARY18,2021

EXPRESSNETWORKWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

ANKITADWIVEDIJOHRINEWDELHI, JANUARY17

ULTRA-VIOLETLIGHTINGforsani-tisation in classrooms, pathwaysandseatsmarkedwithstickerstoensure social distancing, anAarogyaSetu-likeapptomonitorpositive caseswithin coachingcentres,plushstudioapartmentsfor students to ensure theydon’tneed to step out, and a new31-bedhospitalwith anambulanceoncall.Nearly 10months after the

pandemicforcedKota’sRs3,000-crore coaching industry to shutdown, and prompted anovernight digital switch, theRajasthan town is preparing toopen its doors to students againonMonday, following amajoroverhaul in the last fortnight.OnJanuary6, theAshokGehlotgov-ernment decided to reopenschools, colleges and coachingcentresinlightofthedipinCovid-19casesinthestate.KotaDistrictCollectorUjjawal

Rathoresaid,“OnJanuary6,weis-sued a Standard OperatingProcedure to coaching institutesandhostelswithinstructionstheyneed to followbefore classesbe-gin,duringclass,andatthehostel.Wehavealsoformedthree-mem-berteamswithaneducationoffi-cer, a representativeof thepoliceandthedistrictadministrationtodo the rounds of the institutesfromMonday. Severalmeetingshave been held with heads ofcoaching institutes andhostels,andmoreareplannedinthecom-ingdays.Theywereincurringalotof losses andhadbeenurgingustoopenthecentres.Theeconomyof the town should get back ontracksoon,”saidThe eight-page SOP docu-

ment, stuck on thewalls of allcoachingcentresinthetown,callsfor classes to function at 50%strength, 30-minute gaps be-

tweenclasses,‘Nomask,noentry’for students, daily sanitisationofstationery and furniture, amongothermeasures.“Many companies had been

reaching out to uswith theUV-light sanitisation technology.Wedid a trial on 30-40 classrooms,andwillsoongetit installedatallour 22 campuses in Kota. Apartfromsocial distancingmeasuresin classrooms and corridors,wehave removed notice boards,where students gathered, andshutdownthecanteen.All infor-mationwillnowbemailedtostu-dents.Weare also in theprocessoflaunchinganappthatwillhelpstudentstellusaboutothersnearthemwhoshowsymptomsofanyillness,” said a senior staffmem-ber of AllenCareer Institute, thetown'slargestcoachingcentre.The coaching centre has also

built a 31-bedhospital-cum-iso-lationcentrewithdoctorsoncall.“Before classes begin, we willcheck students' RT-PCR reports,whichshouldnotbemorethan24hoursold.Wewillmakeanexcep-tionforstudentswhohavecomefromfar-offplaces,”headded.Of itsnearly1.5lakhstudents,

AllenCareer Instituteexpects “atleast60-65%toreturninthecom-ingweek”.KotaHostelAssociationpresidentManishJainsaysthatasofSunday,about20,000studentshavereturnedtothetown.“Overthelastweek,therehasbeenalotofactivityinKota,andwearepre-paredforafreshstart.Allourhos-tels nowhave single-rooms forstudents,mealswill beprovidedin the rooms, a new7pmdead-linehasbeensetforstudents,andallhostelshavebeentoldtokeepa floorof their buildingempty toisolate any studentwith symp-toms.Wehave also trained ourguards to carry out thermalscreening at the entrance,” ex-plainsJain.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

UV sanitisers,apps: Kota opensto students today

VAIBHAVJHAAHMEDABAD, JANUARY17

PRIME MINISTER NarendraModi on Sunday flagged off re-motely eight trains connectingsix states of the country withKevadia in Gujarat’s Narmadadistrict, where the Statue ofUnity is located.The PrimeMinister said the

movewill transform the villageinto “mini India”.Healsoinauguratedthenew

Kevadia railway station and therenovatedDabhoiandChandodrailwaystations.The PrimeMinister said in a

virtualaddress,“InthehistoryofIndian Railways, for the firsttime, somany trains from vari-ous corners of the countryhavebeen flagged off for one place.After all, Kevadia is a place thatgets its identity from someonewho united the country andgave themessage of ‘Ek Bharat,ShreshthaBharat’.Today’sfunc-tionresonateswiththevisionofIndianRailwaysandthemissionof SardarVallabhbhaiPatel.”“Amongtheeighttrains,one

is also arriving from PuratchiThalaivar M G RamachandranCentral Railway Station inChennai, Tamil Nadu and it’s apleasantcoincidencethat todayis thebirthanniversaryofMGR,a leader who ruled over thehearts of the people right fromfilms to politics. To commemo-rate the life and efforts of MGR,the central government has re-cently changed the name ofChennaiCentralRailwayStationtoMGRCentralRS,”headded.TheeighttrainsareKevadia-

Varanasi (MahamanaWeeklyExpress),Kevadia-Dadar(DadarKevadiaDailyExpress),Kevadia-Ahmedabad (Janshatabdi DailyExpress), Kevadia-HazratNizamuddin (NizamuddinKevadia Sampark Kranti BiWeeklyExpress),Kevadia-Rewa

(KevadiaRewaWeeklyExpress),Kevadia-Chennai (ChennaiKevadia Weekly Express),Kevadia-Pratapnagar (MEMUDaily)andPratapnagar-Kevadia(MEMUDaily).The PrimeMinister said the

rail connectivity to Kevadiawillnotonlybenefittourists,butalsothe localAdivasipopulation.“Therailconnectivitywillnot

onlybringcomforttothetouristsbut also change the lives of theAdivasi brothers and sisters ofKevadia as it will create oppor-tunitiesofemploymentandselfemployment. The rail lineswillalso connect to places such asKarnali ghat, Poicha andGarudeshwarnearNarmadaandtheentireareaisfilledwithspir-itual vibration. Today, the num-ber of visitors coming towatchtheStatueofUnityhassurpassedthose flocking to the Statue ofLibertyintheUSandasmanyas50lakhhavealreadyvisitedhereafteritsinauguration,”thePrimeMinister said.“After theCorona lockdown,

we are havingmore andmorevisitors and according to a sur-vey,ithasbeenestimatedthatasconnectivity is increasing, onelakh people are expected to ar-riveinKevadiaeveryday.Today,the tiny beautiful village ofKevadia has emerged as a fineexample of how in a plannedmanner, both development ofecology and economy can bedone,”hesaid.SpeakingabouttheRailways,

he said, “The Indian Railways,apartfrombeingaconventionalmedium for travel and trans-portation of goods, is now pro-viding connectivity to places oftourism and spiritual impor-tance. In thepast fewyears, un-precedented work has beendone towards technological ad-vancements in the IndianRailways.”

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Familymembersof SardarVallabhbhaiPatelonboardthenewtrain.NirmalHarindran

PARIMALDABHIKEVADIA, JANUARY17

THE FIRST Jan Shatabdi Expresstrain with a vistadome coach,displaying images of the coun-try’sdiversityincuisineandcul-ture,chuggedalongthe180-kmroute from Ahmedabad toKevadia, after PrimeMinisterNarendra Modi virtuallylaunched it and Deputy ChiefMinisterNitinPatelflaggeditoffamid chant of vedic hymns attheAhmedabad railway stationonSunday.Noted Gujarati folk singer

GitaRabariwhowasamongtheguests riding the vistadomecoach commended Modi forturning Kevadia into a touristspot.Shesaid,“IhaveneverbeentoStatueofUnityandamexcitedtovisit it today.”The inaugural ride had

coaches allotted for religious

leaders, industrialists, peoplefromruralareas,schoolstudents,sportspersons, media persons,cadets of NCC and NSS, andtravel agents.Eight members of Sardar

Vallabhbhai Patel’s family alsoboarded the train atAnand rail-waystation.Bhupendra Patel, grandson

of Sardar Patel’s youngestbrother, Kashibhai Patel, wholives in Vallabh Vidyanagar, hasbeen takingguests to theSoU. “Iusuallytakethembyroad.Thistrain hasmade it much easier.People from any part of thecountry can reach this placewithout any transportation is-sues,”he told thispaper.AtulPatel,anotherrelativeof

Sardar Patel, who lives inVadodara, said, “With the con-struction of SoU and this trainservice, Kevadia has got chancetobeinthelimelightasatouristdestination.Thebestthingisthat

thistrainservicewasmadepos-sible in20months.”Kevadia, nestled in the

Vindhyamountains and hometotheSardarSarovarDamontheNarmada river, has been popu-lar as a picnic spot for school-children. The Vistadome coachthatwould costRs885per seat,had 44 passengers, includingPadmaawardeeVishnuPandya,who is the chairperson of theGujarat Sahitya Akademi, andhas helped provide content fortheSardarmuseumat theSoU.Around 25 students of

SanskritGurukulVidyalay fromAsarva area of Ahmedabadchantedslokas andfolkdancersperformed as themarigold be-decked train left Ahmedabad,withatotal14coacheswithaca-pacity of1,276 persons. OnSunday,885people took the in-augural ride.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Train with vistadome coachadds cultural connect to SoU

PM flags off eight trains to boostconnectivity to Statue of Unity

Govt to takeback land givento trust run byAzam Khan

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICELUCKNOW,JANUARY17

INMOREtrouble forSamajwadiParty leader Azam Khan, theRampur district administrationhaspassedanordertotakeback173acresof landof JauharTrust,headed by the formerministerandhis family.Additional District

GovernmentCounsel(Revenue)AjayTiwarisaidtheordertotakeback the land was passed byADM (Administration)JagdambaPrasadGuptaafterthecourtfoundthattheJauharTrustwasnotfollowingtheconditionssetbythestategovernmentdur-ing thesaleof the land in2005.“Whenapersonororganiza-

tion has to buymore than 12.5acres of land, then permissionhas to be sought from the stategovernment. The state govern-menthadsetsomeconditionsatthe time of the sale of this par-ticular land. One of the condi-tions set by the state govern-mentwasthatthelandwouldbeused for charitable work. Thecourtfoundthatitwasnotbeingdone.Otherconditionsincludedthat no purchase will be donefrom people who belong to SCandSTcategoriesandthatgramsamajlandwillnotbetakenover.The UP Revenue Act ruleswerealsobeingviolatedby theTrust.The landwill nowbe registeredin the name of the governmentinrevenuerecords,”Tiwarisaid.“He (Azam Khan) had also

takenoversomelandwhichwassupposed to be a public road,and there is also some EnemyProperty, which has been ac-quired for the university by theTrust,” Tiwari said, adding:“DuringaprobebyRampurdis-trict administration, it wasfoundthattheTrustwasnotfol-lowingtheconditionslaiddownin 2005. He was asked by theADM court to present his sidewhich he did not do,” saidTiwari.

DIPANKARGHOSENEWDELHI, JANUARY17

EVENAS the “insider-outsider”theme has become one of thecentral planks of the BengalAssembly elections, the TMC isgrowingwaryofalienatingnon-Bengali voters in thestate.SeniorTMCleaderssaidthey

were aware that the BJP is at-temptingtoturnthenarrativetotheir favour by using it to winover thenon-Bengalis.“We are aware that the BJP

will use this to try and tell ournon-Bengali residents that theTMCdoesn’t care for them. Thisissomethingweareworkingon.For TMC, the definition of aBengali is someonewho lives inthestate,understands it, knowsits culture, andcontributes to it.It doesn’t matter where theycomefrom.TheyareallwelcomeinBengalandyouwillseethisin

thecampaign.ThosewhoattackBengali cultureandhavenoun-derstanding of it, they are theoutsider,” a senior leader draft-ing theparty’s strategysaid.On December 2, Ghosh said

those “who have come fromother states” have played a cru-cial role in Bengal’s develop-ment”. He accused TMC of re-sorting to divisive politics andtagging “thosewhoworked forthe welfare of the state” out-siders.According to party leaders,

non-Bengali votebank in thestateisaround15percentof theelectorate and it is influential inandaroundKolkata,whereitac-countsforabouthalfof thepop-ulation. “Kolkata attracts lots ofworkers fromnearbystatesandthey make up a big number.ThenthereistheMarwadicom-munity that is very influentialandprosperous,”aseniorleadersaid.

MohammadSalim,politburomember of the CPM, which isfighting the election in alliancewith theCongress, said thepol-itics of both the TMC and BJP is“basedonexclusion”.“Ifyoulookattheyearsbeforethisone,TMCwas nearly always alignedwiththeBJP.Theyhavenoideologicalopposition.Thisinsider-outsiderpolitics is only an extension ofthese ideas that divide,” Salimsaid.

The CPM leader said, “In therest of India, in the BJP’s world-view, particularly of Hindi,Hindu,Hindustan,Bengalishavefaced being the outsider, beingcalledpuffedriceeatersetc.Thisis what TMC is doing in Bengal,and Bengal has always foughtagainst thesedivisions.”In the eighties, the Amra

Bangali movement that es-poused Bengali ways and lan-guage had attempted to turn

such a narrative political. AmraBangali had emerged as acountertoamovementinAssamto drive away Bengalis called“Bongali Kheda”. The outfit hasnow been reduced to a fringerole. Shiv Sena, which also haslittlepresenceinBengal,hassaiditmaytieupwithAmraBangali.Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, Chief

WhipofTMCinRajyaSabha,said“it is a wrong perception” thattheparty is calling theBJP “out-siders”. “We call them outsider‘bargis’. Thisword is important.In 2011, CPM were calledHarmadsfortheirreignofterror.WecallBJP ‘bargis’becausedur-ingtheMarathainvasion,Bargisdestroyedcropsandplundered.If youlookatBJP’s language, it isnot a language ofwinning elec-tions. It is oneof conquest. Theydonot say theywant tocometoBengal, present their vision fordevelopment and win peopleover.... They use words of

bahubalis…Theywanttocreateasituationofviolence,”Raysaid.Ray said TMCwas “proud of

its non Bengali” residents andthat Bengal has always been“mini India”. “Bengalis and nonBengalishavealways stoodsidebyside, asbrothersandsisters.”A key member of TMC’s

communication wing said theparty was keen to focus on theterm “tourist gang” in its out-reach. “Both words are impor-tant. Touristoroutsiderby itselfisn’t bad. But thegang is impor-tantaspeoplewhodon’trespectBengal.Forinstance,thestrategyis to juxtapose two images.Oneof Amit Shah eating at a villagehome and Mamata Banerjeestanding in queue for herSwasthya Sathi health card.These two images showwho isan outsider just here for photoopportunities,whiletheotherisinvested in the state,” a seniorleader said.

TMC wary of BJP using its ‘outsider’ plank to woo non-Bengali voters

E●EXPLAINED

Fine-tuningstrategy

AKEYplankof TMChasbeentoattackBJPasapartyof out-siders, accusing thepartyof having fewlocal faces. Thishasbeen furtheredbyallegationsagainsteconomistandNobellaureateAmartyaSen, including remarksbyBJPstatepres-identDilipGhosh.TheTMCusedthisasanexampleof theBJPattackingan“iconof Bengal”.

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEKOLKATA, JANUARY17

TRINAMOOLCONGRESSMPandactorSatabdiRoywasonSundaymade the vice-president of theparty’s West Bengal unit onSunday.BesidesRoy,thepartyalsoaddedtwonewnamesinitsstatecommittee –MoazzemHossainandShankarChakraborty.The move elevate Satabdi

comesdaysafterspeculationthatshemayquittheparty.Expressinghappiness, Roy, a

three-timeMP, said shewouldworkasadedicatedworkeroftheparty. “This goes to show that ifonehas any reservations againstthe party, the top leadership isreadytoaddresssuchissues,”the

TMCMPfromBirbhumsaid.On Thursday, Roy had ex-

pressedunhappinessovernotbe-ing informed about the party’seventsinherconstituency,sayin-git caused “mental pain”. In aFacebookpost,Roysaidshewouldinform thepeople of her “futurecourse of action”. Amid reportsthat she may head to Delhi tomeetBJPleaderandUnionHomeMinisterAmitShah,theTMClead-ership had reached out to her.After a meeting with TMCMPAbhishekBanerjeeonFriday shehadannounced shewould “staywiththeTrinamool”.

Satabdi Roy made TMCBengal unit vice-president

SatabdiRoy

MANOJCGNEWDELHI, JANUARY17

NEARLYAmonthafterCongresspresident SoniaGandhimet thetop party leadership and thegroupof23leaderswhowrotetoher, seeking sweeping reformswithintheparty,seniorCongressleader Kapil Sibal Sunday saidwhileSoniaheldan“opendiscus-sion”andpromisedinternalelec-tions, there is still “no response”and “clarity” on howandwhenthatwillhappen.In an interview to The Indian

Express, Sibal spoke about thecontinuing farmers’ agitation,sayingtheonlywayoutwasthat“youmusthavealawwhichgivesMSP to the farmer for his pro-duce”, the central vista project,state of the economy, the nextBudget and the forthcomingAssembly elections in four keystates.Hesaidwhiletheindustrygets maximum support, thefarmersareaskingforminimumsupport.“What thisgovernmentdoes

is to act on impulse withoutthinking things through. This

happenedwithdemonetisation,with GST and this is an issue asthese lawswerepassed…with-out full consultation...Mishandlingissuesisinthisgov-ernment’sDNA....It is likethede-cisions in a Sultanate. Decisionsmade are cast in stone.We areback in the days of medievalIndia,”hesaid.On themeetingwith Sonia,

Sibal said, “I, unfortunately,wasnottherebecauseIwastravelling.But I think thatwehad an opendiscussion. And obviously, theCongresspresident,whoisatthemoment, guiding the party saidthat therewould be an election.Now,wearenotclearwhattheseelections are going to be...in thesense....webelievethatelections

willbeconductedconsistentwiththe provisions of theConstitution.”“For example, the election of

the Presidentwill be conductedalong with the election of theWorking Committee, and theelection of the Central ElectionCommittee. That's part of theConstitution.Wehaveno clarityonthat.Thereafter,wealsowantthe institutions of theParliamentary Board to revive.And since the meeting onDecember 19,we’re almost onemonth down the road....we’vehad no response on how andwhenthiswillhappen.Wehopethat that response comes in thenext few days because it’s veryimportantfortheCongresstore-viveitselfasapoliticalforceinourcountry.”“Thosewho feel that it’s al-

ready a political force and verystrongpoliticalforceandisdoingall that it can, and theprocess ofrevival has started, I think, needto look at what’s happening invarious states. There is a level ofdisenchantment.IcantalkaboutDelhi...severalleadershavecometome and expressed grave con-

cernaboutprocessesinDelhiandwant theparty toact swiftly.Wearealldie-hardCongressmen...sothattheCongresscanbetheforcethatitwas,andshallbeintimestocome.Butwehaven'tyetgot thekind of response that wewerehoping,”hesaid