TUESDAY www.thestatesman.com 09 FEBRUARY 2021 FIND US ONLINE Scan this with your smartphone twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd facebook.com/thestatesman1875 Pages 12 |`5|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR ROUSING WELCOME IN TAMIL NADU AS SASIKALA RETURNS P5 Partly cloudy sky. Shallow to moderate fog in the morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 25 and 09 degrees Celsius respectively. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY NEW DELHI, 8 FEBRUARY A THUMBNAILS Bangladeshi soldiers learn White Water Rafting Node from Indian Army in Aqua Nodal Centre IANS in Arunachal Pradesh. Sensex closes above 51K: The Sensex closed above 51,000 points for the first time while the Nifty smashed past the 15,100-mark on Monday as the post-Budget rally continued for the sixth session amid strong corporate results and robust foreign fund inflows. A persistently bullish trend in global markets further bolstered risk appetite, traders said. After touching a lifetime high of 51,523.38 points during the day, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 617.14 points or 1.22 per cent higher at its record closing P8 peak of 51,348.77 points. 2 coaches of train derail near Chapra: Two coaches of the Lokmanya Tilak Express passenger train derailed near Chapra junction railway station in Bihar on Monday evening. No casualties or injuries were reported as the coaches were vacant. Special Chapra-Lokmaniya Tilak Express train was going from Chapra Court station to Chapra junction in Bihar. Senior railway officials have reached the location to take stock of the situation. India on Monday reported 84 fatalities as it continued to register less than 150 daily Covid19 deaths for the last 10 days, while the tally of active cases shrunk to 1,48,609 which is 1.37 per cent of the total infections. Seventeen states and Union Territories did not report any Covid-19 deaths in the 24 hour period till Monday 8 am, the Health Ministry said. These are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Lakshadweep, Ladakh, Sikkim, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam. The number of people who Massive rescue operation launched to evacuate trapped workers from Tapovan tunnel ccusing the Opposition of taking a U-turn on the farm reforms, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today invited agitating farmers for talks on the farm laws and said the Government was ready to exchange views and resolve their apprehensions. In the same vein, he also hit out at deleterious influences from abroad, referring to them as 'foreign destructive ideology', as well as a new “breed” of agitators ~ ‘Andolanjivi’ ~ in the country who cannot live without a tumult. In an apparent reference to tweets by pop star Rihanna and Swedish climateactivist Greta Thunberg favouring the agitating farmers, Modi played on the term ‘Foreign Direct Investment or FDI’ to warn against deleterious influences from abroad. Replying to the Rajya Sabha debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, he said “options” were still open, and there were no tensions in the talks, even after several rounds of discussions. The Prime Minister said the Opposition, including the Congress Party, had from time to time, called for reforms in agriculture, and it was not clear why they were opposed to them now. India was not a static society, he said, and legislative changes were brought gradually, he said. Time had come to bring ‘Sent names of 2.5L farmers under PM Kisan scheme’ I see that a new FDI has come to the fore. We have to protect the nation from this new FDI. We need Foreign Direct Investment but the new FDI is ‘Foreign Destructive Ideology’, we have to protect ourselves KOLKATA, 8 FEBRUARY NARENDRA MODI PRIME MINISTER LS RESUMES DEBATE ON PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS The Lok Sabha on Monday conducted its proceedings properly by resuming discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s address for the first time after the Budget was presented in the House on 1 February, breaking the deadlock created by the Opposition on the three contentious farm laws. CENTRE ASKS TWITTER TO BLOCK 1,178 ACCOUNTS The Centre has directed Twitter to block nearly 1,200 accounts with suspected links to Khalistan sympathisers or Pakistan. The government said these accounts were causing a threat to public order amid the farmers’ protest against agricultural laws reforms in the agriculture sector. The proposed reforms should be given a chance, and if shortcomings were found, they would be corrected, he said. The Prime Minister said the MSP(Minimum Support Price) was there and it would continue, as it was now. The sanctity of the place where he was giving this assurance should be respected, he said. Modi said reforms were opposed even on earlier occasions, but they were pursued with good results. Even former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had referred to the rigidities in the marketing system which prevented the farmers from getting good returns, and offered to remove the handicaps, the PM said. He said the Opposition had made several speeches on the farmers’ agitation but concentrated on the manner it was being conducted; there was no attempt to refer to the spirit of the laws. The farmers would only land in darkness, if there was politics on the reforms, he said. Modi said the farm laws would benefit the small farmers particularly, whose number had risen to 86 per cent. The number of those owning up to half a hectare of land had risen from 51 A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the TMC dispensation for not implementing Central schemes in Bengal, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday told the Assembly that her government has sent to the Centre names of 2.5 lakh farmers who are eligible for benefits under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. She sought to know why the Union government has not disbursed any cash benefit to the beneficiaPTI ries as yet. Details on page 4 per cent to 68 per cent. As the Prime Minister rose to give his 80 minute reply, the Trinamul Congress members staged a walk-out. The Motion of Thanks to the President’s address was adopted by the House after rejecting all amendments moved by the Opposition. He said by increasing the ambit of Fasal Bima Yojana in 2014, claims worth `90,000 crore have been settled benefiting small farmers in the country. He said nearly `1.15 lakh crore rupees were directly transferred into the accounts of the farmers under the PMKISAN scheme. Daily Covid-19 fatalities below 150 for last 10 days 1 NEW DELHI, 8 FEBRUARY P12 P9 DEEPAK RAZDAN Min: 07.6°C (-2) SUN SETS 18:07 hrs MOON SETS 15:39 hrs SNS & PTI ISHANT REACHES 300 TEST WICKETS LANDMARK PM slams those abusing Sikhs; assures MSP will remain; plea to call off stir Min: 50% TEMPERATURE Max: 24.6°C (1) SUN RISES 07:04 hrs MOON RISES 06:05 hrs P6 Modi extends olive branch to farmers WEATHER Max: 100% NETANYAHU PLEADS NOT GUILTY AS GRAFT TRIAL RESUMES FEELERS TO HOUTHIS have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,05,34,505, pushing the national Covid-19 recovery rate of 97.20 per cent, while the Covid-19case fatality rate stands at 1.43per cent. The Covid-19 active caseload remained below 2 lakh. Delhi adds 125 cases, 3 deaths: Delhi today recorded 125 fresh Covid cases and 3 more coronavirus-linked fatalities, even as the positivity rate stood at 0.23 per cent, according to the Delhi government’s latest health bulletin. The new Covid cases were detected out of 55,390 tests. The Covid tally in the city rose to 6,36,160 while its toll mounted to 10,882, the health bulletin stated. The active cases tally dropped to 1,096 from 1,112 the previous day, the bulletin said. (SEE P2) 1,08,38,194 1,48,609 11,831 11,904 1,55,080 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. MONDAY 08 FEBRUARY 2021 Rescue team inside the Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli on Monday. SNS HIMALAYAN TRAGEDY RAJU GUSAIN DEHRADUN, 8 FEBRUARY Massive search and rescue operation was launched to save trapped workers from the Tapovan tunnel in Chamoli on Monday. The Uttarakhand government has officially confirmed that 197 workers remain missing in the flash flood. The rescue team has so far recovered 20 bodies and was successful in evacuating 12 persons trapped in a tunnel. A big rescue team, involving Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Army, SSB, State Disaster Response Force and National Disaster Response Force, are working day and night to find trapped workers. A flash flood in the Rishiganga river created havoc near Reni village in district Chamoli on Sunday. The Rishiganga and Tapovan power projects were badly affected by the disaster. Providing a new theory on the flash flood, the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS)(a constituent unit of Indian Space Research Organisation) claims that the flash flood took place after a landslide triggered a snow avalanche. The institute rejects the earlier theory of the disaster taking place due to glacier burst. The Dehradun based Indian Institute of Remote Sensing used two imagesone of 6 February and other of 7 February – to state, “It has been observed from the satellite data of 7 February 2021 in the catchment of the Rishiganga at the terminus of the glacier at an altitude of 5,600 Mts, a landslide triggered a snow avalanche covering 14 sq. km and causing a flash flood in the downstream of the Rishiganga.” The IIRS finding estimates that the flash flood has generated 2-3 million cubic meter of water in a short span. The entire focus of the teams involved in search and rescue operations since Sunday is to rescue trapped workers from the two tunnels at Tapovan. PEOPLE MISSING BODIES RECOVERED An ITBP team saved the lives of a dozen workers, who were stuck in a tunnel. Excavators were used to clear the slush and debris inside the other tunnel and the operation continued for the second successive day. Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said, “I am leaving for Joshimath and will spend the night there. Tomorrow I plan to visit the affected areas and will also meet people. Our relief and rescue operations are continuing in full swing and we are doing best to save lives.” A joint team of the ITBP , Army, SDRF SSB and NDRF , were involved in clearing debris from the Tapovan tunnel. The team has cleared debris from 90 Mts patch and the target is to remove the remaining 50 Mts stretch to reach a junction of the tunnel. It is assumed that 30 to 35 persons are trapped in the tunnel. Uttarakhand Police’s DGP Ashok Kumar, “We are involved in the search and rescue work and presently operation to clear debris from the Tapovan tunnel is underway. We are supplying relief material to affected villages~ which lost their connecting road as their bridges were swept away in the flash flood.” About a dozen villages’ remains cut off from the rest of the world after losing the bridges. The Uttarakhand government used choppers to supply rations in the affected areas. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Raj Kumar Singh and Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank toured the affected area on Monday. Rajnath: 46 security personnel killed in ceasefire violations by Pak in 2020 Infiltrator shot dead by BSF in Jammu MLAs to display ‘honesty boards’ outside homes, says Bihar Speaker Pokhriyal: No proposal for JNU name change PRESS TRUST OF INDIA JAMMU, 8 FEBRUARY MANOJ CHAURASIA NEW DELHI, 8 FEBRUARY NEW DELHI, 8 FEBRUARY Pakistan resorted to 5,133 incidents of ceasefire violations last year in which 46 security force personnel were killed, Defence minister Rajnath Singh said on Monday, referring to Pakistani hostilities along the Line of Control and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir. In replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, the defence minister said “appropriate retaliation” to the ceasefire violations has been carried out by the security forces. “In addition, all ceasefire violations are taken up with Pakistan authorities at the appropriate level through the established mechanism of hotlines, flag meeting as well as weekly talks between Diplomatically, India has repeatedly emphasised at the highest level, the need for Pakistan to uphold the sanctity of the Line of Control and the International Border as its obligations emanating from the understanding in vogue RAJNATH SINGH DEFENCE MINISTER the director generals of military operations of the two countries,” Singh said. “Diplomatically, India has repeatedly emphasised at the highest level, the need for Pakistan to uphold the sanctity of the Line of Control and the International Border,” he said. The defence minister said 299 incidents of ceasefire violations were reported till 28 January this year. According to official data, the number of ceasefire violations by Pakistan in 2019 was 3,233. Notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic in the region, Pakistan has been resorting to unprovoked ceasefire violations along the LoC and making concerted efforts to push militants into Kashmir. Pakistani hostilities increased after India anno-unced its decision to withdraw the special status of J&K and divide the state into two Union Territories in August 2019. To another question on whether a proposal to develop indigenous conventional submarine was approved, Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik said the information is sensitive in nature and its disclosure is not in the interest of national security. PATNA, 8 FEBRUARY A Pakistani infiltrator was on Monday shot dead by BSF troops near the international border fence in the Samba Sector of Jammu. The intruder was shot about 40 metres inside the Indian territory and near the spot where the BSF had recently detected a cross-border tunnel dug by Pakistani agencies to push in terrorists. A Pakistani intruder was earlier killed near the spot in November. A BSF spokesman said, “On 8 Feb at 0945 hrs, BSF troops observed a Pak intruder heading towards BS fence near in BOP Chak Faquira, Samba, Jammu. Despite repeated warnings, intruder kept moving and approached fencing in an aggressive manner and was fired SNS upon by BSF troops.” All legislators of Bihar Assembly have been asked to declare in writing that they have nothing to do with crime. They have been advised to write such messages on boards outside their homes. The advice has come from none other than Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha. “We all legislators will put up formal boards outside our houses, declaring that we have nothing to do with crime, our families are free of any addiction, we do not support child marriages, do not support dowry system and child labour,” Sinha said while addressing the centenary celebrations of Bihar Assembly on Sunday. He added they would LIST OF DON’TS We have nothing to do with crime, our families are free of any addiction, we do not support child marriages, do not support dowry system and child labour launch intense campaigns to free society of these five social evils and would work for checking sharp fall in values. He said the campaigns would continue throughout the year. He appealed to the lawmakers to create such an environment so that people’s faith in democracy can be restored. The Speaker's move to put up boards by legislators to publicly reject links with crime is in sharp contrast to the reports of election watchdogs Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Election Watch. According to the latest report of ADR and Election Watch, at least 68 per cent of newly-elected legislators in the Bihar Assembly have criminal cases against them ~ an increase of 10 per cent as compared to 2015 Assembly polls. As per the report, the total number of legislators with criminal records against them is 163 in 243-member Assembly. In the previous House, 142 lawmakers faced criminal charges. A maximum of 73 per cent such lawmakers belong to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) followed by 64 per cent of the BJP, 47 per cent of the Janata Dal United (JD-U). The Congress has only 17 per cent of such lawmakers. There is no proposal for changing the name of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Union Education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said on Monday. BJP general secretary C T Ravi had proposed last year a name change of the JNU after Swami Vivekananda. “No sir,” Nishank said in response to a question in the Lok Sabha whether the government had any proposal for changing the name of JNU. In November, Ravi had tweeted: “It is Swami Vivekananda who stood for the Idea of Bhara”. His philosophy signifies the “Strength of Bharat”. It is only right that JNU be renamed as Swami Vivekananda University. Life of Bharat's patriotic Saint will inspire genPTI erations to come.”