YK MYK RERA A GAME CHANGER FOR THE REAL ESTATE SECTOR OPINION KOLKATA THURSDAY, 21 JAN, 2021 PG-12, YEAR—7, ISSUE—245 (RNI NO: WBENG / 2014 / 56803) MAX 27 C MIN 13 C Sky will be clear. AT A GLANCE AFTER MONTHS, JACK MA REAPPEARS BEIJING: Ending speculation about his whereabouts, Alibaba Cofounder Jack Ma has reappeared in public view after months amid increased scrutiny of his companies by Chinese regulators. The news of his reappearance came after a video of his on Chinese social media appeared. In the video, Ma can be seen addressing rural teachers as part of one his charity foundation's initiatives, CNBC reported on Tuesday. DON'T WEAR MEDALS, RIBBONS AT PUBLIC FUNCTIONS, EX-SERVICEMEN TOLD NEW DELHI: At a time when a number of veterans have been seen attending political rallies, the Indian Army has issued an advisory regarding wearing of ribbons and medals by ex-servicemen at public functions. An advisory has been issued by the Army which cites where all these ribbons and medals can be worn by veterans as per the Army regulations. The Army rules do not permit the wearing of uniforms, ribbons and medals in political rallies, the Army sources said. In the recent past, there have been various incidents where ex-servicemen have been seen wearing uniforms with medals and ribbons at protest rallies. BUSINESS Morning India Rs. 3 WEATHER TODAY FISCAL DEFICIT OF STATES TO HIT PEAK OF RS 8.7 LAKH CR Biden, Harris to be sworn in, kicking off new era in US WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden's motorcade arrived at the US Capitol ahead of his inauguration as the 46th President of the country. The CNN reported that the Congressional leaders are expected to greet him upon his entrance to the Capitol building. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff were also seen climbing the steps of the US Capitol alongside Biden. Harris will be escorted to the inauguration ceremony by Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police officer who became popular after he aided the resistance to rioters who stormed the Capitol two weeks ago. A Biden aide confirms to CNN that Goodman will escort Harris in his new role as acting deputy House sergeant at arms. Biden is expected to take the oath of office outside the building at 12 pm ET. Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton along with Michelle Obama, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton have arrived at the inauguration as well. Vice President Mike Pence has also arrived at the Capitol for Biden's inauguration. Former US President Barack Obama on Wednesday congratulated his former deputy, Joe Biden, who is also set to take over the top post in a few hours. "Congratulations to my friend, President @JoeBiden! This is your time," Obama tweeted, attaching a photo of them walking out of the Oval Office together. Obama will join former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at Biden's inauguration, while outgoing President Donald Trump has already left Washington this morning. WILL ALWAYS FIGHT FOR YOU, TRUMP SAYS IN HIS FINAL ADDRESS AS PRESIDENT WORLD Don't call committee biased, resolve farm laws deadlock: SC NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday did not leave any stone unturned to persuade the farmer unions, agitating against the three farm laws, to talk to the court-appointed committee to resolve the deadlock. A bench headed by Chief Justice S. A. Bobde and comprising Justices A. S Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian slammed the barrage of criticism unleashed at the committee members for having expressed views on the three farm laws. "You people unthinkingly cast aspersions on people, someone expressed some opinion in the past, and you find them unqualified," the Chief Justice told counsel appearing for Kisan Mahapanchayat, which sought modification of its order January 12, naming the members on the committee. The farmers union sought replacement of the existing members, who are perceived pro-farm laws, with persons, who have independent thoughts and views on the laws. Irked by this criticism, the Chief Justice said: "People should have opinions. Even best judges have opinions, you cannot brand someone like this... a judge can change opinion within hearing. It is a cultural SC DECLINES TO ENTERTAIN PLEA AGAINST TRACTOR RALLY, SAYS IT IS FOR POLICE TO DECIDE The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to entertain the Centre's plea against the proposed tractor rally by farmers on Republic Day, saying it is the matter for the police to decide. The Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI), SA Bobde, said police have the authority to deal with the issues pertaining to the proposed tractor rally. PG 7 thing: branding people who you don't want and criticising them like this." The bench stressed that its committee has not been given power of adjudication, then what is the issue. "We gave powers to listen and report back to us. Where is the question of bias here," said the Chief Justice. The bench emphasised that it is wrong to brand people and then malign them, insisting that aspersions should not be cast on the committee. MORE ON PG 7 CORONA METER INDIA TOTAL CASES: 1,05,96,445 TOTAL DEATH: 152,754 WORLD TOTAL CASES: 96,741,757 TOTAL DEATH: 2,068,733 Meanwhile, President Donald Trump will not be attending the ceremeony. He gave a farewell address earlier in the day before boarding Air Force One and heading to Florida. Following the ceremony, Biden and Vice Presidentelect Kamala Harris will visit the Arlington National Cemetery and will also receive a military escort from 15th Street to the White House. The escort will include the US Army Band, a Joint Service Honor Guard, and the Commander-inChief's Guard and Fife and Drum Corps from the 3rd US Infantry "The Old Guard." Second lot of Covishield vaccine reached at NSCBI Airport in Kolkata. An artist paints a wall mural depicting Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s daring escape from British custody at the National Library in Kolkata on Wednesday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to kick-off celebrations to mark Netaji’s birth anniversary which the Centre has termed Parakram Divas at the National Library on Saturday. Centre ready to put new farm laws on hold: Tomar NEW DELHI: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Wednesday that Centre is willing to put on hold new farm laws for one to one-anda-half years and noted that the farmer unions have taken the proposal "very seriously". Talking to reporters after the tenth round of talks between the farmer unions, the minister hoped that a solution will be found during the next round of talks on January 22. "During discussions, we said that the government is ready to put on hold the farm laws for one or one-and-a-half year. I am happy that farmer unions have taken this very seriously and said that they would consider it tomorrow and convey their decision on January 22," Tomar said. "I feel that talks are progressing in the right direction and there is a possibility of finding a resolution on January 22," the minister added. He said the day the agitation by farmers ends, it will be a victory for the country's democracy. Farmers leader addresses media after the meeting with Union leaders over farm laws, at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday. ANI The tenth round of talks was held between farmer unions and the Central government at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday. The talks were earlier scheduled for Tuesday and were postponed to Wednesday. Food Minister Piyush Goyal was also present in the meeting. Farmers have been protesting on different bor- ders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. 14 killed in Bengal road accident JALPAIGURI: Fourteen people, including three children, were dead and many others seriously injured when a boulder-laden truck overturned and fell on three small vehicles near Jaldhaka Bridge at Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri late on Tuesday. Local police said the truck lost control, hit several vehicles and overturned on the three vehicles in which the victims were travelling. Police and rescue teams reached the spot. "A vehicle collided headon with a boulder loaded truck whose driver lost control of the vehicle and hit the divider and slipped towards its right side. Two other vehicles coming from the wrong side collided into the body of the truck due to which boulders loaded in the vehicle fell on them. Another small lorry in front of the truck was also damaged. In all, four vehicles got damaged," Sumant Roy, Assistant Superintendent of Police, Jalpaiguri, said. "Circle inspector of Dhupguri and his team reached the place of accident in less than 10 minutes and multiple cranes were brought. I believe that there was some fog on the road which reduced visibility," he added. According to the local police, the victims were headed to a wedding. Eyewitnesses said several women and children were among the victims. No official confirmation on the death toll or the injured were available. "The road is now cleared. The driver of the truck survived the accident and has been detained. Treatment of injured at the nearby hospital is being monitored," Roy said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences and announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to be given to the kin of those who have lost their lives. "The road accident in Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri (West Bengal) is extremely anguishing. In this time of sadness, prayers with the bereaved families. May the injured recover soon," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted. "From the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF), ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each would be given to the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the accident in West Bengal. Rs 50,000 each would be given to those injured," another tweet by the Prime Minister's Office said. Home Minister Amit Shah also condoled the deaths. “Deeply anguished to learn about the tragic road accident in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri. My deepest condolences are with those who lost their loved ones. May the injured recover at the earliest,” he tweeted. India-WhatsApp letter game on amid data security concerns NEW DELHI: Another data privacy concern, another "stronglyworded" letter to Facebookowned WhatsApp. At a time when countries are taking social media firms to task with heavy fines asking them for real-time actions, India is busy playing the letter game sans a strong personal data privacy law. There are no changes to WhatsApp's data-sharing practices in Europe from the new policy update (now deferred globally including in India for three months till May 15). Europe has a strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in place since May 25, 2018, that insulates citizens from misuse of their private data by social media platforms and third-party tech companies. In India, forget the data privacy law, the government has even failed to notify the draft intermediary Guidelines (Amendment) Rules for the last two years. The government had proposed changes to its intermediary rules that would require the intermediary to inform its users at least once every month, that in case of non-compliance with rules and regulations, the intermediary has the right to immediately terminate the access or usage rights of the users to the computer resource of intermediary and remove non-compliant information. In the case of upcoming WhatsApp data privacy policy, the Union Ministry of Electronics and IT has asked the messaging platform to withdraw, not defer, the recent change. In its letter to WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart, the ministry slammed the platform's "all or nothing" approach. This is not the first time a letter has been dispatched to the Facebook Corporation. In July 2019, Prasad told Cathcart to enable traceability of messages to prevent untoward incidents. The minister said the top official had assured him of prompt action in these issues of "concern", after fake news circulated on WhatsApp incited mob fury that led to several instances of lynching across the country in 2018-2019. Amid criticism over the alleged collusion of Facebook India executive Ankhi Das (who has quit the company) and the BJP, Prasad wrote a "hard-hitting" letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, blaming the Facebook India management of alleged bias against people sup- porting the right-of-centre ideology. In 2018, WhatsApp was hauled up by the government on its failure to check the spread of fake and provocative content on its platform amid growing lynching episodes. In another "stern" notice, the Ministry of Electronics and IT asked WhatsApp to come out with more effective solutions. To tackle the spread of false information, WhatsApp limited forward messaging to five chats in India. Not just Facebook, the same letter game continues with Twitter. Taking strong exception to the "misrepresentation" of India's map, the government wrote a "stern" letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, saying that any attempt by the platform to disrespect the sovereignty and integrity of India, which is also reflected by the maps, was "totally unacceptable". The moot question is: Once the global tech giants write back to the government, the matter ends amicably and according to leading experts who are following the data invasion for years, data of crores of Indians are constantly being misused in the absence of a robust mechanism. According to advocate Virag Gupta who represents Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC) and has taken WhatsApp to the court, the IT minister in his fresh letter has raised the issue of legal rights of crores of Indians. "On that basis, strict action can be taken against WhatsApp as was done in the case of Chinese apps. The Parliamentary Committee and the government are regularly interacting with the Indian officials of tech giants, then why a letter is being written to the global CEO?" asked Gupta. A WhatsApp spokesperson told IANS on Wednesday: "We wish to reinforce that this update does not expand our ability to share data with Facebook. Our aim is to provide transparency and new options available to engage with businesses so they can serve their customers and grow".