YK MYK BUDGET EXPOSES GROWING FINANCIALISATION OF INDIAN ECONOMY AMITABH BACHCHAN OFFERS DEFINITION OF GOOD FRIEND OPINION SCREEN & CINEMA Morning India Rs. 5 RANCHI MONDAY, 8 FEB, 2021 PG-12, YEAR—10, ISSUE—274 (RNI NO: JHAENG / 2012 / 44137) WEATHER TODAY PRODUCTIVE FIRST WEEK OF BUDGET SESSION IN RS MAX 24 C MIN 09 C Sky will be clear. AT A GLANCE ARMY LAYS FOUNDATION OF NATION'S TALLEST NATIONAL FLAG IN J-K'S GULMARG GULMARG: The Indian Army on Sunday laid the foundation stone of the tallest Indian national flag in Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir. The flag will be on a 100 feet-high pole. This iconic Indian national flag will be a first in many ways. The site is expected to become another tourist attraction, among the snow-clad mountains of Kashmir. INDIA'S COAL IMPORT RISES BY 15% IN DEC NEW DELHI: The country's coal import rose by 15.1 per cent to 23.63 million tonnes (MT) in December 2020 compared to 20.52 MT in the year-ago month. Noncoking coal imports were at 15.63 MT in December this fiscal against 14.21 MT in the same month last fiscal. Coking coal imports were at 5.36 MT against 4.47 MT in December 2019-20, according to provisional data compiled by mjunction services. WANTED FOR RED FORT VIOLENCE, SUKHDEV SINGH HELD NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has arrested Sukhdev Singh, an accused in the January 26 violence during farmer protests at the Red Fort, from Chandigarh. The Delhi Police had earlier announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh each PG 5 for information. CORONA METER INDIA TOTAL CASES: 1,08,28,049 TOTAL DEATH: 155,037 WORLD TOTAL CASES: 106,427,511 TOTAL DEATH: 2,322,059 Rescue operation underway by the ITBP personnel for the trapped people in a tunnel after a devastating flood, in Chamoli on Sunday. ANI DISASTER STRIKES ‘DEVBHUMI’ Over 150 missing, 10 bodies recovered in Uttarakhand: ITBP CHAMOLI: Nearly 150 people are missing or "feared dead" as a sudden flood inundated a power project at Reni village in Joshimath area of Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Sunday following a glacier burst, the ITBP, which is engaged in rescue and relief operations there, said. Citing updated inputs received from local administration, ITBP spokesperson Vivek Pandey told IANS at least 10 bodies have been recovered so far from the spot, and several people have been rescued, while that there is no information about other persons. In its initial information received from the spot, the ITBP had, through a statement that "more than 100 labourers at the barrage and 50 plus in the tunnel lost their life as per the incharge of Tapovan NTPC work site... As many as 150 people are missing". Clarifying these inputs, Pandey said: "As 150 people CENTRE ANNOUNCES RS 2 LAKH EX-GRATIA FOR KIN OF DECEASED NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the tragic avalanche caused by a glacier breach in Chamoli, Uttrakhand. The Prime Minister also announced Rs 50,000 from Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF) for the people who were seriously injured. "PM @narendramodi has approved an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the tragic avalanche caused by a glacier breach in Chamoli, Uttrakhand. Rs 50,000 would be given to those seriously injured," an offcial said. are still missing, it is difficult to say that all are dead. They can be said 'feared dead' or 'missing'. Missing persons cannot be declared dead till seven years." The tragedy took place after the water level in Dhauliganga river, one of the six sources of the Ganga river, suddenly surged on Sunday morning following an avalanche near the Rishi Ganga power project. The 85 km river meets the Alaknanda river at Vishnuprayag at the base of Joshimath mountain. The ITBP said that the flash flood occurred in Rishi Ganga at around 10.45 a.m. due to a glacier falling into it and exponentially increasing the volume of water. Due to this, the Rishi Ganga hydro project was completely devastated, it said. "The BRO bridge on Joshimath highway was also completely washed away. There were six graziers with their livestock there and they were also swept away by the flash flood," the ITBP said. "Rishiganga meets Dhauliganga near Reni village. So Dhauliganga also got flooded. Five to six houses of the village were also washed away. An NTPC project on river Dhauliganga near Tapovan was completely devastated. Two 'Jhula' bridges connecting villages on the other side of the river were also washed away. "Two bodies were recovered at Tapovan NTPC site. One more was recovered from Chamoli village near Tapovan. About 16 to 17 labourers are safe inside the tunnel," the ITBP said, adding that an operation to rescue them was on. Around 250 personnel of ITBP are carrying out rescue and search operations on the PG 5 site. NEW DELHI: The first six sittings of Rajya Sabha during the ongoing Budget session have proved productive with the House recording productivity of 82.10 percent, a statement said. During the sittings, the House witnessed a 15-hour debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address in the upper house. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the debate after Question Hour on Monday. The discussion on the motion has been the main business transacted by the House over three days in which 50 members from 25 parties participated, an official statement said. Against the total scheduled sitting time of 20 hours and 34 minutes, 4 hours 14 minutes were lost on February 3, due to disruption. The members, however, sat for extra 33 minutes beyond the business hours on Friday, the statement said. To enable extra time for discussion on the Motion of Thanks, Question Hour was dispensed with on February 3 while both the Question Hour and Zero Hour were shelved on the next two days. Private Members' Business was not taken up on Friday. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, seeking to replace the Ordinance in this regard, was also introduced during the week. The house also saw eight Zero Hour and seven Special Mentions made during the first week. PM Narendra Modi greets people during a function in Haldia on Sunday. ANI ‘Bengal will show Ram Card to TMC’ PURBA: Using a football analogy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that soon Bengal is going to show the Ram Card to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) which has committed many back to back fouls including misgovernance, violence, corruption and attacks on beliefs. The PM said that TMC has criminalised politics, institutionalised corruption and politicised administration and police. "Bengal is a footballloving state. I want to say in the language of football that TMC has made many back to back fouls including misgovernance, violence, corruption and attacks on beliefs. People of Bengal are watching and soon Bengal is going to show the Ram Card to TMC," Prime Minister Modi said at a public meeting in the Haldia area of Purba Medinipur district in West Bengal. In football, if a player commits two fouls (acts committed by players that are deemed by the referee to be unfair and are subsequently penalised) that are worthy of being a yellow card for each one, then a red will automatically be issued and the player will have to leave the field of play. MODI ASKS VOTERS TO STAY AWAY FROM LEFT-CONG ALLIANCE TOO KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday warned the voters of West Bengal to be careful about the ruling Trinamool Congress' secret partners while voting in the forthcoming state Assembly polls. "We need to be very careful of Trinamool's secret partners while casting votes in the coming state Assembly elections. The Left and the Congress are hand-ingloves with the Trinamool Congress. If you cast votes to the Left-Congress alliance, it will actually help the Trinamool Congress here," PM Modi said at a rally in East Midnapore's Haldia. Cong wants 12th cabinet berth No ‘ghar wapsi’ till farmers’ based on numbers, says Oraon demands are met: Tikait SANJAY SAHAY RANCHI: The State unit of Congress party has sought the 12th cabinet berth in the JMM-led government in Jharkhand saying that with increased strength it has right to stake the claim. Congress state president Rameshwar Oroan said, “Going by the formula of one minister for four MLAs we were given four ministers during the formation of the government. Our strength has increased from 16 to 18 after joining of two MLAs. Now we should have another cabinet berth.” Notably, two MLAs of the erstwhile Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey have joined the Congress after the party broke up in early 2020. Oraon further said that apart from six ministers, the JMM also has the post of CM and the Speaker. Another Congress minister would give the right platform for his party to grow, he added. Sources said Congress party leaders also feel that most of the important ministries in the cabinet are with the JMM. The Congress state chief, however, emphasised that the demand has been raised at the state level, adding a final decision on staking claim lies with the party’s high command namely Sonia Gandhi. Notably, with the induction of Hafizul Hassan Ansari as the 11th minister last Friday the JMM has six ministers while the Congress has four and the RJD has one. According to rules, only 15 per cent of the total 81 MLAs in state assembly could be ministers. When contacted, JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said, “The decision on whom to induct as a cabinet minister is the prerogative of the Chief Minister.” It may be stated here that there is no state-level platform of ruling parties to discuss this issue. CHARKHI DADRI: Asserting that the agitation against the Centre's farm laws is a people's movement that will not fail, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said there will be no "ghar wapsi" till protesting farmers' demands are met. Tikait lauded the role of "khap panchayats" (caste councils) and their leaders in supporting the farmers' stir. Addressing a "Kisan Mahapanchayat" near here, Tikait said the government should rollback the contentious farm laws, frame a new legislation to assure the continuation of the minimum support price (MSP) for crops and release the farmers arrested recently. "There will be no 'ghar wapsi' till farmers' demands are met," he said. "Yeh jan andolan hai, yeh fail nahi hoga (this is a people's movement, this will not fail)," he added. Tikait claimed the campaign against the agriculture laws is going strong. With many "khap" leaders present at the mahapanchayat , Tikait lauded their role in strengthening the stir. Independent MLA from Dadri and chief of the Sangwan Khap, Sombir Sangwan, who in December withdrew his support to the BJP-JJP government in Haryana, dubbing it antifarmer , was present at the event. Earlier on February 3, Tikait had addressed his first Kisan Mahapanchayat in Haryana's Kandela in Jind. The BKU leader from Uttar Pradesh has been camping at Ghazipur on the Delhi-UP border as part of a campaign by farmer unions against the central laws enacted in September. Tikait said that khaps go back to the days of King Harshvardhana and have been playing their role in society ever since. The BKU leader said when the farmers' stir started, attempts were made to divide it by calling it the agitation of Punjab and Haryana. Murdered naval sailor was stock market player with huge debts: Police PALGHAR: The Indian Navy sailor who was kidnapped in Chennai and later burnt alive in a forest in Maharashtra was an avid stock market player who had piled up huge debts of nearly Rs 23 lakh, police said here on Sunday. Even as the motive behind his gruesome killing remains unclear, the police have formed 10 teams comprising 100 policemen and are understood to have developed strong leads which could help crack the case soon, officials indicated. Surajkumar M. Dube, 27, a Leading Seaman (LS), working at INS Agrani in Coimbatore, was kidnapped by some unknown persons outside Chennai Airport on January 31 evening and after 3 days of confinement was brought to the forests in Palghar - around 1,500 kms away - doused with petrol and burnt after he refused to pay a ransom of Rs 10 lakh to his abductors. Dube succumbed to 90 per cent burns late on Friday, but the Palghar Police managed to record his dying declaration, even as the Naval Police launched its own independent probe into the case. Addressing the media, Palghar Superintendent of Police Dattatray Shinde said that the deceased used 3 mobile ones of which one was exclusively for dealing in stocks and shares which even his family was unaware of. Besides, Dube had picked up a The mortal remains of Surajkumar M. Dube who was burnt alive in Palghar, arrived at Ranchi airport on Sunday. personal loan of Rs 8 lakh, a private loan of Rs 5.75 lakh from a colleague, and after his engagement on January 15 had got another loan of Rs 9 lakh from his future in-laws. The police are also investigating the mystery behind 13 calls he got from a particular number repeatedly demanding the details of his Raipur-Hyderabad-Chennai flight on January 30-31. Shinde added that the deceased had promised his colleague that he would return the loan soon either by cheque or online transactions, though the motive behind the 1,500-km trip from Chennai to Palghar remains a mystery. After Dube failed to rejoin duty, his father Mithilesh Dube contacted INS Agrani Commander Ashok Rai to enquire, though the family did not get any ransom calls after his sudden disappearance outside Chennai Airport. Dube had switched off his two personal phones on the night of January 31 with the last location indicating Chennai Airport's vicin- ity, puzzling the family which filed a missing complaint with Chainpur Police Station in Jharkhand. On February 1, his cousin Chandan Dube learnt of the third number which was active but Dube did not answer after which the police contacted the two share-trading firms. Mithilesh Dube has claimed he has no knowledge of his son's stock market investments, the huge loans and related aspects, Shinde said. "The real motive behind the murder is not clear. Our team has already reached Chennai to probe. We hope to solve the case as soon as possible," the Palghar SP added. Despite the huge loans Dube had picked up, his two accounts in different branches of State Bank of India showed a measly balance of Rs 392, with the rest of the amounts transferred to the two share-trading firms through which he conducted his deals. Shinde said that after Dube was taken to a remote hilltop in the forests in Palghar and burnt, the badly charred and bleeding Dube managed to climb down the hillock to drink some water when horrified locals spotted him. They alerted the Gholvad Police which rushed there and shifted him first to a Dahanu hospital and later the INS Asvini in Mumbai where he died late on Friday.