CMYK SATURDAY www.thestatesman.com 20 FEBRUARY 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 WEATHER Partly cloudy sky. Maximum and minimum temperature most likely to be around 30 °C and 20 °C respectively. India, China complete Ph1 of disengagement RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY China admits losing 4 troops in Galwan clash; 10th round of talks today Max. 88% STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 FEBRUARY TEMPERATURE Min. 33% Max: 30.2°C (N) Min: 19.5°C (1) SUN RISES SUN SETS 06:05 hrs 17:36 hrs MOON RISES MOON SETS 11:20 hrs 00:07 hrs Next moon quarter on 20 February THUMBNAILS Bengal anganwadi workers and helpers union take part in a protest rally over their various demands in Kolkata on Friday.  IANS Court rejects Lalu Prasad’s bail application: The Jharkhand High Court on Friday rejected Lalu Prasad's bail application in a fodder scam case, dashing the RJD president's chance of immediate release from jail. Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh turned down Prasad's bail request in the Dumka treasury case, an offshoot of the multi- crore rupees fodder scam. The court said since the RJD supremo has to serve two more months in jail to complete half of the tenure of his total sentence, the bail plea is not granted. he first phase of disengagement between India and China at the Pangong Tso Lake in eastern Ladakh has been completed, setting the stage for the 10th round of military commanders’ talks between the two countries tomorrow. The announcement coincided with China for the first time acknowledging that it had lost four of its troops in the 15 June Galwan Valley clash with Indian soldiers though Russian and Western media have suggested that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had suffered as many as 45 casualties. According to official sources, tomorrow’s meeting between the military commanders will review the situation in the wake of the pull-back from both the northern and southern banks of the Pangong Tso Lake and discuss disengagement at other friction points like Gogra, Hot T Springs and strategicallylocated Depsang Plains. The Indian Army had earlier released videos and photos showing thinning down of troops and dismantling of bunkers and camps by the Chinese military in the areas around the Pangong Tso Lake in line with the agreement reached between the two sides. The visuals showed the PLA using a bulldozer to flatten structures, and vehicles with troops and equipment preparing to retreat to rear bases. After a nine-month standoff, the two militaries had reached the agreement on disengagement at the Pangong Tso Lake that required both sides to withdraw the troops in a “phased, coordinated and verifiable” manner. Defence minister Rajnath Singh had last week made a statement in Parliament on the disengagement pact. Meanwhile, the PLA Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese military, said five Chinese frontier officers and soldiers stationed in the Karakoram Mountains have been recognised by the Central Military Commission of CMYK China (CMC) for their sacrifice in the border clash with India, including four posthumously. A total of 20 Indian soldiers died in the GalwanValley clash, regarded as the worst in over four decades at the IndiaChina border. The daily said the CMC, the overall high command of the PLA headed by President Xi Jinping, has awarded Qi Fabao, the regimental commander from the PLA Xinjiang Military Command, who the newspaper said was seriously injured in the skirmish, the title of “Hero regimental commander for defending the border”. Battalion commander Chen Hongjun was posthumously awarded the title of “Hero to defend the border,” and Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan and Wang Zhuoran received ‘First Class Merit’ titles. Three PLA soldiers were killed in the combat while another soldier died while crossing the icy river when he went to support his army mates, the newspaper said. Toolkit case: Some media reports against Ravi sensational, says HC PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI, 19 FEBRUARY The Delhi High Court on Friday said certain media coverage of investigation into the FIR against climate activist Disha Ravi for her alleged involvement in sharing a toolkit backing farmers’ protest indicates “sensationalism and prejudicial reporting”, but declined to order removal of any such content at this stage. “Recent coverage by the media definitely shows that there is sensationalism,” Justice Prathiba M Singh said and added that the issue of removal of content which was already in public domain shall be considered at a later stage. Later in the day, a trial court sent Ravi to judicial custody for three days after her five-day police custody expired on Friday. The high court heard Ravi’s plea to restrain police from leaking to the media any probe material in relation to the FIR lodged against her. The petition also sought to restrain the media from publishing the content or extract of any private chats, including those on WhatsApp, between her and third parties. The high court, in its order, asked media houses to ensure that no leaked investigation material is broadcast as it could affect the probe and directed Delhi Police to abide by its stand on affidavit that it has not leaked nor intends to leak any probe details to the press. Uptick in daily Covid cases SNS & PTI NEW DELHI, 19 FEBRUARY Daily new cases of Covid-19 in the country climbed to over 13,000 after 19 days taking India’s tally of cases to 1,09,63,394, with experts attributing the rise to increased economic activity and complacency among people. A total of 1,56,111 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 51,669 from Maharashtra followed by 12,444 from Tamil Nadu, 12,282 from Karnataka, 10,896 from Delhi, 10,239 from West Bengal, 8,709 from Uttar Pradesh and 7,166 from Andhra Pradesh. Amravati district in eastern Maharashtra has witnessed the sharpest spike in cases in the state this week. Meanwhile, India took only 34 days to achieve the landmark feat of one crore Covid-19 vaccinations, the second fastest in the world after US which took 31 days, the Health Ministry said. Bengal: Bengal today registered 194 fresh Covid-19 cases, along with 3 deaths linked to the coronavirus. There are 3,625 active cases. Kolkata logged 68 cases. 1,09,63,394 1,39,542 13,193 10,896 1,56,111 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. FRIDAY 19 FEBRUARY 2021