YK MYK CAPITOL HILL RIOT WAS A MAJOR BLOT FOR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY OPINION Rs. 3 KOLKATA WEDNESDAY, 13 JAN, 2021 PG-12, YEAR—7, ISSUE—237 (RNI NO: WBENG / 2014 / 56803) WEATHER TODAY MAX 25 C MIN 15 C Sky will be clear. AT A GLANCE RETAIL INFLATION DROPS TO 4.59 PC IN DEC: DATA NEW DELHI: Retail inflation fell sharply to 4.59 per cent in December, mainly due to declining food prices, government data showed on Tuesday. Retail inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.93 per cent in November. Food inflation declined to 3.41 per cent in December in 2020, compared to 9.5 per cent in the previous month, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) factors in retail inflation while arriving at its monetary policy. COVID-19: INDIA RECORDS LOWEST CASES IN SEVEN MONTHS NEW DELHI: India recorded 12,584 new cases of coronavirus, the lowest in around seven months, taking the country's COVID-19 caseload to 1,04,79,179, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The death toll increased to 1,51,327 with 167 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 1,01,11,294 pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.49 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate stands at 1.44 per cent. The COVID-19 active caseload remained below 3 lakh. CORONA METER INDIA TOTAL CASES: 1,04,85,420 TOTAL DEATH: 151,389 WORLD TOTAL CASES: 91,444,745 TOTAL DEATH: 1,956,386 NIFTY CROSSES 14.5K FOR THE FIRST TIME, SENSEX ON NEW HIGH BUSINESS Morning India Body of Army officer, who went missing in Jodhpur reservoir, found JAIPUR : The body of Captain Ankit Gupta of the Army Para Commandos (Special Forces), who went missing in the waters of a reservoir in Jodhpur during an exercise, was finally traced on Tuesday on the sixth day of a massive search by around 200 personnel from all three services. Gupta had jumped from a helicopter into the Takhat Sagar during an exercise six days ago and then went missing. Army experts, since then, were searching for him in the reservoir which was 51 feet deep. The Army had called its divers and commandos from across the country to trace his body. After a five day intensive search, the team finally found his body stuck between stones in the depths of the reservoir, after an anchor got stuck in his dress. Exercises of Para Commandos take place throughout the year. As a part of this exercise, the team from 10 Para Commandos had to jump in Minister’s brother, 6 others get life term for murder SURESH PRASAD NIKHAR BOKARO: The court has sentenced seven convicts, including Baijnath Mahato, the brother of Education Minister Jagarnath Mahato, to a life term in the Santosh Pandey murder case. The court has also imposed a penalty of ten thousand rupees on the killers. 25-year-old Santosh had been beaten by the public on the charge of a love affair, due to which he died. According to the FIR lodged in this case, Santosh Pandey, a resident of Alargo village of Nawadih police station area, used to teach tuition to a girl. Santosh was also a teacher in the tribal Shishu Mandir of Bhandaridah. While teaching her, Santosh and the girl started liking one other. Before the family and society felt an inkling, Santosh ran away to Chennai with the girl. The girl's family got the information of both of them being in Chennai and recovered and brought them back to the village. Santosh had told before dying that he had taken her there on the insistence of the girl. Those who went to Chennai to fetch them from the village, tortured them on the way and his girlfriend was taken off the car and sent to a relative's house before reaching the village. On the complaint of Anant Lal Pandey, elder brother of Santosh, a case was registered at Nawadih police station. According to Anant, Santosh Pandey was beaten up by setting up a Janata Darbar in the village. His brother was tortured inhumanly under the leadership of Baijnath Mahato, the brother of Minister Jagarnath Mahato. The brother, unconscious after the beating, was admitted to the DVC hospital, where he died. In this case, the statement of 34 witnesses was recorded in the court on behalf of the prosecution. Additional Public Prosecutor Sanjay Kumar Singh on behalf of the prosecution and Advocates Satyanarayana Dey, Kumar Anant Mohan Sinha, and Arun Kumar Sinha on the defense side argued in the court. Raju Ranjan, District Judge-I of Tenughat Court, heard the case and sentenced Ganesh Bharti, Nemi Puri, Kailash Puri, Jitendra Puri, Neeraj Puri and Kewal Mahto to life imprisonment besides Baijnath Mahto. Three other accused Satyendra Giri, Mehlal Puri and Suraj Puri have been released for lack of evidence. Baijnath Mahto is already lodged in Tenughat Jail. The other six were taken into custody on January 7. ‘COVID-19 VACCINE MAY COST BETWEEN RS 200 TO 295 IN INDIA’ NEW DELHI: Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan on Tuesday said the COVID-19 vaccine may cost in the range of Rs 200 to 295 in India and two vaccines—Covishield and Covaxin—have received Emergency Use Authorisation (EAU) after going through established safety and immunogenicity in a well-prescribed regulatory process. The ministry said 54,72,000 vaccine doses have been received till date PG 5 at the vaccination stores across the country. the water from a helicopter, and then, move on a boat to attack the "enemy". On Thursday, 4 commandos, including the Captain, jumped into the water. Three commandos reached the boat, but Gupta did not emerge. His fellow commandos jumped into water to search for him but could not find him and then reported the incident to their headquarters. The rescue operation was subsequently launched. Gupta was married in November last year. of troops along the northern borders, adding "that is what we have put in place now." The Chief of Army staff said he was hopeful that India and China will be able to reach an agreement for disengagement and de-escalation based on an approach of mutual and equal security. "I am confident of finding a solu- KOLKATA : West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has no right to observe the occasion of Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary. Trinamool Congress took out a rally from Kolkata's Golpark to Hazra where Banerjee said: "The BJP has no right to take out any rally remembering Swamiji. They have no right to talk about the great icon. When former US president Donald Trump had wrongly spelt Swami Vivekananda's name our Prime Minister Narendra Modi never protested against that." The Trinamool MP said that his party would never stoop to that level that they will have to do politics over Swamiji's birth anniversary. "We cannot stoop to that level. May the ideology of Swamiji lead us in the years to come," he added. He said that Mamata Banerjee will never buckle down under the the Centre's pressure as Bengal does not believe in divisive politics. "The political party who is trying to break the nation with the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) and has vandalised academician Vidyasagar's statue in the past, the people of Bengal will never forgive them," Banerjee said. NO POWER CAN PREVENT US FROM SETTING UP PANEL SC stays 3 farm laws, forms committee to hold talks with farmers NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of three farms laws until further orders and formed a four-member committee to hold talks with farmers over the Acts. "Implementation of the three laws stayed until further orders," said Chief Justice of India SA Bobde. A three-judge bench, headed by the CJI, is hearing a batch of petitions, including those filed by DMK MP Tiruchi Siva, RJD MP Manoj K Jha, regarding the constitutional validity of three farm laws, passed by the Central government, and the plea to disperse protesting farmers. "We are forming a committee so that we have a clearer picture. We don't want to hear arguments that farmers will not go to the committee. We are looking to solve the problem. If you (farmers) want to agitate indefinitely, you can do so," CJI Bobde said. "We are concerned about the validity of the laws and also about protecting the life and property of citizens affected by protests. We are trying to solve the problem in accordance with the powers we have. One of the powers we have is to suspend the legislation and make a committee," he said. "This committee will be for us. All of you people who are expected to solve the issue will go before this committee. It will not pass an order or punish you, it will only submit a report to us... The committee is part of the judicial process in this case. We are planning to suspend the laws but not indefinitely," he added. The Apex Court also issued the notice on the Delhi Police's application seeking to stop the proposed tractor rally on Republic Day by farmers protesting against the new farm laws. Attorney General KK Venugopal said that if these farmers are allowed to enter, then no one can say, where they will go. To this, the CJI replied: "The police is with you (government)... Entry to the city will be a decision of the police." The Attorney General said that there is no question of a huge group of one lakh people entering the city on Republic Day. "We can't say where they all will go," he said. The CJI said it is within police powers to control that and check if they are armed. The CJI asked Attorney General, "If there is an infiltration by a banned organisation and somebody is making an allegation here before us, you have to confirm it. File an affidavit by tomorrow." The AG responded by saying that he will file an affidavit in this regard and place the IB records. The Attorney General said the protesters have said that the tractor rally will take place on Republic Day and therefore an injunction application has been filed by Delhi police to stop that. The Supreme Court issued notices on the Delhi Police's application filed seeking to stop the proposed tractor rally on Republic Day. An aerial view of protesting site at Delhi-Ghazipur border on Tuesday. tion to the issue on the basis of mutual and equal security," he said. Gen Naravane said there was no reduction in deployment of troops by both India and China in eastern Ladakh. The Chief of Army Staff said Indian troops are maintaining high level of alertness all along the Line of Actual Control and not just Ladakh. Nearly 50,000 troops of the Indian Army are currently deployed in a high state of combat readiness in various mountainous locations in eastern Ladakh in sub-zero temperatures as multiple rounds of talks between the two sides have not yielded concrete outcome to resolve the standoff. China has also deployed an equal number of troops, according to officials. Last month, India and China held another round of diplomatic talks under the framework of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination (WMCC) on India-China border affairs. The eighth and last round of military talks between the two sides had taken place on November 6 during which both sides broadly discussed disengagement of troops from specific friction points. ANI FARMERS LAUD VERDICT, BUT PROTEST TO CONTINUE NEW DELHI: Farmer leaders welcomed the Supreme Court order to stay the implementation of three farm laws on Tuesday, but said they would not call off their protest until the legislations are repealed. The Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of around 40 protesting farmer unions, has called a meeting later in the day to decide the next course of action. The farmer leaders said they are not willing to participate in any proceedings before a committee appointed by the Supreme Court, but a formal decision on this will be taken by the Morcha. "We welcome the court's order to stay the implementation of the farm laws, but we want a complete repeal of ‘Hopeful of solution; ready to deal with any eventuality’ New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) Chief of Army Staff Gen MM Naravane on Tuesday said he was hopeful that India and China will be able to reach an agreement to resolve the eastern Ladakh standoff but at the same time asserted that Indian troops will maintain a high state of combat readiness to deal with any eventuality. Addressing a press conference ahead of the Army Day, Gen Naravane said the operational preparedness of the Indian armed forces has been of very high level and they will continue to hold onto their ground. "We are prepared to hold our ground as long it takes to achieve our national goals and objectives," he said. Talking about increasing security challenges at the Line of Actual Control, the Chief of Army Staff said a need was felt about "rebalancing" BJP has no right to observe Swami Vivekananda anniversary: Abhishek Banerjee India has all along been maintaining that the onus is on China to carry forward the process of disengagement and de-escalation at the friction points in the mountainous region. Following the sixth round of military talks, the two sides had announced a slew of decisions including not to send more troops to the frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground and avoid taking any actions that may further complicate matters. This round was held with a specific agenda of exploring ways to implement a five-point agreement reached between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a meeting in Moscow on September 10 on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO) conclave. Farmers leaders address media during an ongoing protest at Singhu border on Tuesday. these laws, which is our main demand," Abhimanyu Kohar, a senior leader of the Morcha, told PTI. Another farmer leader, Harinder Lokhwal, said the protest will continue until the contentious farm laws are repealed. "We do not have faith in the idea of a committee and we have been saying this since the very beginning, when the government had suggested the formation of a committee. But this time, it is the Supreme Court and we will see the functioning of this committee," All India Kisan Sabha (Punjab) vicepresident Lakhbir Singh said. MORE ON PG 7 State records 127 new Covid cases ANURAG THAKUR RANCHI: The State on Tuesday reported 127 cases of Covid-19 taking the total tally to 117088. Among the samples tested positive, 52 cases were reported from Ranchi, 3 from Chaibasa, 4 from Koderma, 18 from Jamshedpur, 2 from Palamu, 3 from Deoghar, 23 from Dhanbad, 8 from Bokaro, and 1 from Saraikela. Meanwhile, no death was reported on Tuesday. Earlier, 144 cases were reported on Monday. However, 153 patients recovered from the virus and returned home. 65 patients recovered from the virus in Ranchi, 16 in Jamshedpur, 23 from Dhanbad, 3 from Garhwa, 6 from Hazaribagh, and 4 from Saraikela. Active cases reached 1356 and total of 114684 patients recovered from the virus so far in the state. However, 1048 people lost their lives. Health Secretary, Dr Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that the recovery rate of COVID-19 infected patients has increased to 97.94 percent which is a good sign for us. As per the bulletin, the doubling rate of Covid-19 in the state was 536.43 days against the national doubling rate of 484.65 days. In the past one week, the growth rate of Covid-19 in Jharkhand was 0.89 per cent against the national average of 1.40 per cent