CMYK TUESDAY www.thestatesman.com 19 JANUARY 2021 FIND US ONLINE Scan this with your smartphone twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd facebook.com/thestatesman1875 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC* KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR OLI MUST BE BANNED FROM POLITICS WHAT BIDEN CAN AND CAN’T GET FROM DIVIDED SENATE P10 WEATHER Fog/mist in the morning , mainly clear sky later. Temperature most likely to be in the range of 24-15 degrees Celsius. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max.98% TEMPERATURE MESSI SHOWN THE DOOR, BARCA LOSE MAKE ALL EFFORTS TO EXTRADITE MALLYA, CENTRE TELLS SC P7 P5 India records lowest fatalities in 8 months Day III: 3.8 lakh get Covid jabs; 580 adverse events SNS & PTI Even as active cases dip, the nation is in the midst of the world’s biggest vaccination drive Min. 52% SNS & PTI Max: 23.9°C (-2) Min: 13.7°C (N) SUN RISES SUN SETS 06:18 hrs 17:15 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 09:57 hrs 22:03 hrs Next moon quarter on 21 January THUMBNAILS Indian women’s hockey team return to international competition after a year with a 2-2 draw against Argentina’s junior women’s national team. In Buenos Aeris on Monday. IANS HC urges restraint on SSR coverage: The Bombay High Court on Monday asked media houses to exercise restraint when reporting on suicide cases, saying “media trial leads to interference and obstruction to administration of justice” and amounts to contempt of court. A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said the Press must avoid discussions and debates relating to criminal investigations, and it should confine only to informative P5 reportage. China's economy grows by 2.3 per cent: China's economy, which was the first to be hit by the coronavirus pandemic and early to recover from its impact, grew 2.3 per cent in 2020, registering the lowest annual growth rate in 45 years, but bucking the trend of slowdowns being experienced by major world economies. The GDP of world's second-largest economy grew by 2.3 per cent, expanding to P9 $15.42 trillion in dollar terms in 2020. AT A GLANCE NEW DELHI, 18 JANUARY total of 3,81,305 beneficiaries have so far been vaccinated for Covid19 and 580 adverse events following immunisation were reported in the country till now, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday. Addressing a Press briefing, Manohar Agnani, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Health, said 1,48,266 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 25 states and union territories till 5 p.m. on Monday. “A total of 3,81,305 beneficiaries have so far been vaccinated (till 5 pm on Monday) till today through 7,704 sessions, as per the provisional reports,” the Ministry said. Of the 1,48,266 beneficiaries who were administered the vaccine on Monday, 8,656 were from Bihar, 1,822 from Assam, 36,888 from Karnataka, 7,070 from Kerala, 6,665 from Madhya Pradesh, 7,628 from Tamil Nadu, 10,352 from Telangana, 11,588 from West Bengal and 3,111 were from Delhi. Agnani said a cumulative 580 adverse events following immunisation (AEFIs) and seven hospitalisations have so far been reported in the country since the nationwide Covid inoculation drive began on 16 January. The reported case of AEFI in Uttarakhand is stable and under observation at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Rishikesh.  1,48,266 beneficiaries A were vaccinated across 25 states and UTs  580 adverse events following immunisation, seven hospitalisations have so far been reported since 16 Jan Two deaths not linked to vaccine: Govt  Further dip in turnout, only 8 get jabs at AIIMS, New Delhi Vaccination against Covid-19 at the Max Hospital in Patparganj. In the Capital on Monday.  SNS In Chhattisgarh, one person is under observation at the Government Medical College, Rajnandgaon. Of the two cases of AEFI in Karnataka, one is under observation at District Hospital, Chitradurga and the second person is under observation at General Hospital, Challakere, Chitradurga, Agnani said. “No case of serious/severe AEFI attributable to vaccination till date,” the additional secretary added. The Health Ministry has said each vaccination session will cater to a maximum of 100 beneficiaries per day and has advised states not to organise “unreasonable numbers of vaccination per site per day”. Vaccination in Delhi: Nearly 3,600 healthcare workers received the Covid19 vaccine shots in Delhi on Monday, a further dip in the figures compared to that on opening day of the immunisation drive, with sources saying just eight medical staff got the jabs at AIIMS. The sharp fall comes after one severe and 50 minor cases were report- ed, following the vaccination drive on Saturday. Various reasons are being attributed to the low turnout, including some technical issues and fears related to adverse events. However, the government has maintained that no case of serious/severe AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) is attributable to vaccination till date. “On day two, 3,598 people have been administered corona vaccine.AEFI was reported in 26 persons,” a senior official of Delhi health department said. WHO chief lambasts vaccine profits GENEVA, 18 JANUARY The World Health Organization chief on Monday lambasted drugmakers' profits and vaccine inequalities, saying it's not right that younger, healthier adults in wealthy countries get vaccinated against Covid-19 before older people or health care workers in poorer countries and charging that most vaccine makers have targeted locations where profits are highest. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus kicked off WHO’s week-long executive board meeting virtually by lamenting that one poor country received a mere 25 vaccine doses while over 39 million doses have been administered in nearly 50 richer nations. Just 25 doses have been given in one lowest income country. The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure, Tedros said. P12 MORADABAD/ BELLARY, 18 JANUARY Two persons who received Covid jabs have died also but neither deaths are related to vaccines, the government said. A death was reported from Moradabad, UP last evening. Mahipal Singh, 46, a ward boy at a government hospital, had received the vaccine shot 24 hours before. The district's Chief Medical Officer has said the death is unrelated to vaccination. The postmortem report reveals the immediate cause of death as "cardiogenic shock/septicemic shock" due to “cardio-pulmonary disease”, the state government said. According to his family, he had been unwell before the jab. The second person to die was a 43-year-old man in Karnataka's Bellary. The government said he had died of cardio-pulmonary failure. The postmortem is yet to be done, the government said. AGENCIES NEW DELHI, 18 JANUARY India reported 13,788 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours as it continued its low streak of single-day cases, posting an overall tally of 1,05,71,773, according to the Union Health Ministry here on Monday. The daily coronavirus infections fell below 14,000 for the second time this month taking India’s Covid19 caseload to 1,05,71,773, while 145 new fatalities were recorded, the lowest in around eight months, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The country has been recording less than 20,000 daily new cases from the past 11 days. Daily death toll is below the 300-mark from the last 24 days, the Ministry data said. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said 145 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours taking the death toll to 1,52,419. As per the Ministry’s data, 1,02,11,342 people have recovered so far and currently there are 2,08,012 active cases. The recovery rate stands at 96.59 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.44 per cent. About 81 per cent of the daily new cases are reported from eight states ~Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. Meanwhile, Maharashtra, Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh have logged 66 per cent of the total daily deaths. The most-awaited mass vaccination drive kick-started on 16 January, with the approval of two Tractor rally: SC puts onus on Delhi Police ‘Ratings must remain suspended STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 18 JANUARY In view of farmer unions’ adamant on holding a "tractor rally" on Republic Day, the Supreme Court on Monday said that it is the Delhi Police, and not the court, that is the first authority to take a decision on whether to allow farmers' entry into Delhi or not. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde and comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Vineet Saran said "We have not taken charge of the matter except one issue...apparently our intervention has been grossly misunderstood. We are not going to tell you about your powers." The bench stressed that the Delhi Police have the authority to take a decision over the issue, and not the Supreme Court. The observation from the top court came after Attorney General K.K.Venugopal said the Centre is seeking restraint orders against the farmers from entering Delhi as the court has taken charge of the matter. The Centre through Delhi Police has moved the top court seeking direction to restrain farmer unions from conduct- ing the tractor rally as a method to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations. Unions adamant: Protesting union leaders on Monday said that farmers have a constitutional right to take out their tractor rally peacefully and asserted that thousands of people will participate in the proposed event on 26 January. Govt hopeful: A day before the crucial tenth round of talks with representatives of protesting farmers on controversial new farm laws, the Centre on Monday said both sides want to resolve the longcontinuing stalemate at the earliest but it was getting delayed due to involvement of people of other ideologies. Asserting that the new farm laws are in the interest of the farming community, the government said obstacles do come whenever good things or measures are taken and it is taking longer to resolve the issue as farmers' leaders want a solution their own way. SC panel to meet today: The SC-appointed panel on the three new farm laws is scheduled to hold its first meeting with members on Tuesday at Pusa campus in New Delhi, its member Anil Ghanwat said. till BARC takes necessary action’ PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI, 18 JANUARY In the wake of purported WhatsApp conversations between Republic TV editorin-chief Arnab Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) head Partho Dasgupta emerging in the public domain, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) on Monday said ratings of television news channels should remain suspended till the TV ratings agency takes action to address concerns and shares details of it with the stakeholders. In a statement, the Rajat Sharma-headed NBA said it is “shocked to see hundreds of WhatsApp messages that have been exchanged betw- NCP seeks JPC on Goswami-Dasgupta chats: The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday asked the government to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the purported chats between Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami and former BARC head Partho Dasgupta. Referring to the purported chats widely reported in media which mentioned that Goswami was privy to the Balakot air strikes, NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “It is extremely shocking and disturbing to know how issues related to national security have been used to gain TRPs.” Tapase said he will meet Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday on the issue and seek clarification from Union Home MinPTI ister Amit Shah on the ‘chatgate’. een BARC India’s former CEO~Partho Dasgupta~ and Arnab Goswami, MD, ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd”. It demanded that the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) should suspend membership of Repub- lic TV with immediate effect till the case related to manipulation of ratings is pending in court. The NBA urged the BARC to come up with a clear statement about the veracity of its ratings in the period during the audit. Smiles, sanitizers greet students as Delhi schools reopen FIR registered in UP against Tandavdirector, Amazon head SNS & PTI NEW DELHI, 18 JANUARY PRESS TRUST OF INDIA LUCKNOW, 18 JANUARY A criminal case has been registered here against the makers of web series Tandav and Amazon’s India head of original content for allegedly depicting Hindu gods in an objectionable manner, hurting religious sentiments of people. The FIR was lodged against the Amazon’s India head of original content, Aparna Purohit, series director Ali Abbas, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki, and an unknown person on Sunday night. The film starring Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapa- dia, Sunil Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Dino Morea, Kumud Mishra and others premiered on the streaming platform on Friday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Somen Burma said a four-member police team left for Mumbai on Monday for a detailed probe into the matter. The FIR was lodged at Hazratganj police station by its Senior Sub Inspector Amarnath Yadav himself after he saw the allegedly objectionable web series, the DCP said. Tandav makers apologise: The makers of Tandav on Monday apologised unconditionally after complaints that one of its episodes had hurt “Hindu sentiments.” An official statement said, “Tandav is a work of fiction. The cast and crew take cognizance of the concerns expressed by the people and unconditionally apologize if it has unintentionally hurt anybodys sentiments.” (See Page 5) Balloons, flowers, sanitisers and smiling faces welcomed class 10 and 12 students in schools in the national capital on Monday as they returned to campuses after over 10 months. The students who were elated to be able to attend the first offline class of the academic session wore masks and queued up outside schools maintaining social distance. Schools reopened on Monday after over 10 months of being closed in view of coronavirus pandemic. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said it was an emotional moment to see children back in school. “Seeing kids back in school after a long time, is an emotional moment for me. Schools have Students return at Kautilya Sarkar Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya as schools reopened for Classes X & XII on Monday in the Capital. SNS reopened today after leaving behind a very difficult time. We are hopeful that soon, everything will be normal and all students will be able to come to schools and meet their teachers and friends,” he tweeted. Pragati Diwan, an excited CMYK class 12 student said, “it was optional to come but I was sure I have to. It is the last year of my school life and I haven't come to school even one day,” said Pragati Diwan, an excited class 12 student. For another student at Geeta Bal Bharti School, the feeling was similar to that of attending first day at school. “It does not feel like I am coming to school after ten months, it feels like I have come to school for the first time. I am looking forward to the preparations for board exams here,” she said. Prince, a student at Delhi government school, said, “The online classes were a great help for theoretical subjects but the practical subjects were a challenge. I am glad to be back at school so the practical concepts will be easily brushed up before the board exams”. The school put up posters of “welcome back” in corridors where teachers stood with sanitisers and checked the temperature of each student before letting them in. 1,05,71,773 2,08,012 13,788 14,457 1,52,419 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. MONDAY 18 JANUARY 2021 Covid vaccines. As many as 2,24,311 beneficiaries have received doses of Covid vaccines in the last two days. The total Covid-19 recoveries have surpassed the active caseload by more than one crore, the Union Health Ministry said on Monday, terming it as a landmark achievement. Bengal records only 389 fresh cases: West Bengal today registered 389 fresh Covid cases and 10 deaths due to infection. The total Covid case count is 5,65,661 and death toll is 10,063 in the state till now while there are 6,893 active cases. Kolkata recorded 90 cases and 1 death and North 24 Parganas recorded 128 fresh Covid cases and 5 deaths. In the last 24 hours, 569 patients were discharged from hospitals taking the number of recovered patients to 5,48,705 and discharge rate to 97.00 per cent. Mamata takes on Suvendu on his home turf, to contest from Nandigram NANDIGRAM (WB), 18 JANUARY Mamata Banerjee on Monday declared she will contest the upcoming Assembly election from Nandigram, as she took her battle for West Bengal to the home turf of political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, who recently quit the Trinamul congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. That Banerjee chose Nandigram to make the big announcement reflects the TMC supremo’s determination to take the BJP, which has launched a spirited campaign to unseat her after a decadelong stint in power, head on. Addressing a rally here, Banerjee said she is not worried about those joining rival parties as they were hardly areound when the TMC was formed. Banerjee said these leaders left the ruling party to protect the money “they have looted” in the last few years. “I have always started my campaign for the Assembly polls from Nandigram. It is a lucky place for me. So this time I feel that I should contest the Assembly polls from here. I request our state party president Subrata Bakshi to approve my name from this seat,” Banerjee said. Details on Page 3