SATURDAY www.thestatesman.com 20 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 BIDEN READY FOR TALKS ON 2015 IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL ‘OIL TAXES EASIEST FOR REVENUE’ P7 WEATHER Mainly clear sky. Shallow to moderate fog in the morning. The maximum and minimum temperatures would be around 28 and 10 degrees Celsius respectively. RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY Max: 100% Min: 48% TEMPERATURE Max: 26.8°C (+2) SUN RISES 06:54 hrs MOON RISES 11:55 hrs Min: 9.9°C (-1) SUN SETS 18:15 hrs MOON SETS 01:59 hrs THUMBNAILS 34th Garden Festival organised by Delhi Tourism at the Garden of Five Senses at Saket, in the Capital on Friday. SNS HARRY, MEGHAN WILL NOT RETURN TO ROYAL DUTIES P10 MANCUNIANS OWE IT TO FERNANDES P11 P12 LAC: Disengagement phase 1 complete China acknowledges losing four troops in Galwan Valley clash; 10th round of military-commander level talks today STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 19 FEBRUARY T 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, tomor- row’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 Springs and strategically-located 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 ninemonth 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 China (CMC) for their sacrifice in the border clash with India, including four posthumously. A total of 20 Indian soldiers died in the Galwan Valley clash, regarded as the worst in over four decades at the India-China border. The daily said the CMC, the overall high command of Toolkit case: Some media reports Uptick in daily Covid addition against Ravi sensational, says HC SNS & PTI NEW DELHI, 19 FEBRUARY Two Unnao teen girls buried in village: The last rites of two teenage girls, found dead in an agriculture field in Babuhara village of Asoha police station area, were performed in Unnao on Friday morning amidst tight security arrangements, officials said. Three girls -- aged 16, 15 and 14 -- were found in a field by the villagers on Wednesday night when they did not return after leaving their house to take fodder for cattle. A medical bulletin by the Kanpur hospital treating the third girl had noted that it was a P4 suspected case of poisoning. Plane makes emergency landing in T'puram: A flight from Sharjah to Kozhikode with 112 passengers made an emergency landing at the international airport in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday due to a snag in the aircraft. The Air India Express plane developed the snag in the hydraulic system and made the landing at Thiruvananthapuram where the airlines has the base with more technical experts,an airport official said. 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 A trial court sent climate activist Disha Ravi to judicial custody for three days for her alleged involvement in sharing a toolkit backing farmers’ protest in public domain shall be considered at a later stage. Later in the day, a trial court sent Ravi to judicial custodyfor 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. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE JAMMU, 19 FEBRUARY Both received bullets in the back. The terrorist escaped from the spot after firing several gun shots. A video of the attack went viral on social media. IGP (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar said that the critically injured policemen were rushed to the hospital where they succumbed to injuries. The area has been cordoned by the Army, CRPF and police and search launched for the terrorist who has been identified. In a separate encounter in the Beerwah locality of Budgam district, a special police officer (SPO) Mohammad Altaf was killed and constable Manzoor Ahmad injured. The two trapped terrorists managed to escape but a combing operation has been launched in the area. The IGP said that three terrorists of Al-Badr were killed in an encounter in the Badigam area of Shopian. Recent coverage by the media definitely shows that there is sensationalism and prejudicial reporting DELHI HIGH COURT 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 Terrorists kill policemen in uptown Srinagar Three policemen were killed and one injured in two separate incidents of terrorism in the Kashmir valley on Friday, while three terrorists of Al-Badr outfit were eliminated in another encounter in south Kashmir’s Shopian district. The valley witnessed three incidents of terrorism back to back within hours after the group of 24 foreign envoys completed their two days visit and returned to Delhi from Jammu and Kashmir. Two unarmed policemen, Mohammad Yousuf and Suhail Ahmad, died when a terrorist suddenly appeared in the crowded Bagat area of Barzulla on the airport road and opened fire at them, injuring the policemen critically. Two AK rifles and other arms and ammunition were recovered from the encounter spot. The encounter began on Thursday night after the security forces cordoned the area following inputs about the hiding terrorists. Former chief ministers Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the killing of policemen. Omar tweeted; “What makes this attack even more reprehensible is that policemen Mohammad Yousuf and Suhail Ahmad were unarmed & shot in the back”. The IGP said that joint teams of Army, CRPF and J&K Police were involved in these encounters during which opportunity was given to the terrorists to surrender. The two terrorists, a Pakistani and a local, managed to escape from (SEE P4) Budgam. Delhi Police to abide by its stand on affidavit that it has not leaked nor intends to leak any probe details to the Press. Justice Singh said that while a journalist cannot be asked to reveal a source, he/she has to ensure that the source is “verified and authentic” and the content being published is not “merely speculative or conjectural, not offensive or scandalising and to be factual in nature.” Justice Singh further ordered that editorial teams of the media houses shall ensure that only verified content is broadcast and the investigation in the FIR against Ravi “is not hampered in any manner”. Daily new cases of Covid19 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 13,193 new cases were registered in a span of 24 hours. The death toll increased to 1,56,111 with 97 daily new fatalities, the data updated by the Health Ministry at 8 a.m. showed. 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 NEW DELHI, 19 FEBRUARY Addressing the annual convocation of Visva-Bharati University through video conferencing today, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, who is the Chancellor of this Central University, said that the new ‘National Education Policy’ is a significant step towards a selfreliant India. In order to find solutions to the ongoing problems, Modi appealed to the students’ community to adopt a “nation first” approach instead of being a part of the crisis. Praising the world view of poet-philosopher Rabindranath Tagore, Modi asked VisvaBharati students to help farmers and artisans of nearby vil- lages find global markets. He said Guru Rabindranath Tagore had not envisioned the university as a typical educational institution but one that will help Indian culture realise its full potential globally. He asked the institution’s students to prepare a 25-point vision document for the next 25 years that will lead all education establishments in the country to emulate it and enhance India’s image globally. “A starting point could be that the students under mentorship of teachers of this inspirational institution begin helping farmers, artisans living in villages nearby to find global markets for their products. That will be a step towards building an ‘Atmanirbhar’ (self-reliant) Bharat,” he said. 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 Jharkhand high court rejects Lalu Prasad’s bail plea RANCHI, 19 FEBRUARY Union Home Minister Amit Shah flags off a cycle rally at National Library in Kolkata on Friday Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the convocation ceremony of Visva-Bharati University through video conferencing. He said Bengal can become an example of how unity can boost national growth and progress. “Bengal is an inspiration for Ek Bharat-Shreshth Bharat campaign. Visva Bharati will 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. On Friday, tyhe state as a whole reported more than 6,000 new coronavirus infections in a single day for the first time after more than three months, indicating a worsening situation. 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 on Friday. POLL-BOUND Modi asks VBU to help farmers, artisans access global market SNS & PTI 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. Qian Feng, director of the research department at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, was quoted as saying that China unveiled the details of the incident to refute previous “disinformation” that stated China suffered greater casualties than India or that China incited the incident. It also blamed the Indian soldiers for the clash. play a big role in the 21st-century knowledge economy, taking Indian knowledge and identity to every corner of the world. Students should prepare a vision document for the next 25 years about the 25 biggest goals of Visva Bharati in 2047,” he said. He told the gathering that with knowledge comes responsibility and the knowledge attained by the students was not theirs alone but a legacy for future generations. “Your knowledge is not only yours but society’s... it is the heritage of the country.Your knowledge and skill can make a nation proud or push society into the darkness of slander and ruin,” he said. Modi said some highly educated and skilled people were spreading terror and violence in the world, while others were toiling day and night to free people from a global epidemic like Covid-19. “It is not about ideology but the mindset, whether it is positive or negative,” he said. Visva-Bharati University, situated at Birbhum’s Santiniketan was founded by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1921. It is one of the oldest Central Universities in the country. In May 1951, Visva-Bharati University was declared to be a Central University and ‘an Institution of National Importance’ by an Act of Parliament. The PM is the Chancellor of this university. More than 2,500 students received their degrees in the convocation. Bengal Governor and Rector of Visva-Bharati, Jagdeep Dhankhar, Union Education Minister Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and VBU vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty were present on this occasion. IANS 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 and asked him to file a fresh application after two months. Prasad has already acquired bail in three out of the four cases of the fodder scam in which he has been convicted and acceptance of his request in the case related to illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from the Dumka treasury could have helped him come out of the jail.PTI India’s next Mars probe likely to be an orbiter PRESS TRUST OF INDIA NEW DELHI, 19 FEBRUARY As NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on Mars in the early hours of Friday to look for signs of past life, ISRO’s next mission to the Red Planet is likely to be an orbiter. Perseverance, the biggest and the most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, made its landing at Jezero Crater. After its successful Mars Orbiter Mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) called for ‘Announcement of Opportunities’ on Mars Orbiter Mission-2. “It is now planned to have the next orbiter mission around Mars for a future launch opportunity.” After the Mars Orbiter Mission’s success, ISRO also decided to explore Venus. However, the immediate priorities of ISRO remain to be Chandrayaan-3 and Gaganyaan~ both projects have been delayed due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. Under Chandrayaan3, ISRO will once again try to land a rover on the Moon. The mission was to be launched late last year. Chandrayaan2 did not yield expected results as the lander hardlanded, dashing India’s hopes to land on the Moon. Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter Mission was India’s first endeavour to successfully reach another planet.