YK MYK LIBERAL POLICIES ON GEOSPATIAL DATA PART OF ‘AATMANIRBHAR’ VISION: PM NATION Rs. 3 KOLKATA TUESDAY, 16 FEB, 2021 PG-12, YEAR—10, ISSUE—271 (RNI NO: WBENG / 2014 / 56803) WEATHER TODAY MAX 31 C MIN 19 C Sky will be clear. AT A GLANCE SC NOTICE ON PIL AGAINST ED DIRECTOR'S EXTENSION NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from Centre on a PIL by NGO Common Cause challenging the November 13, 2020 order which retrospectively amended the tenure of the present Enforcement Directorate (ED) Director, Sanjay Kumar Mishra. A bench comprising Justices Nageswara Rao and Justice Ravindra Bhat, after a brief hearing in the matter, issued notice. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the NGO, submitted that according to the scheme of the act, the present Director shall have maximum tenure of 2 years, but instead, he has been given a one-year extension. Bhushan vehemently argued that this is destroying independence of the ED and contended that this has become means for harassment. The bench told Bhushan that it is impressed with his submissions and it will examine the plea. CHINESE VACATING FINGER 4 AREA OF PANGONG LAKE, DISMANTLING SHELTERS NEW DELHI :The Chinese People's Liberation Army is finally vacating Finger 4 area on the northern bank of Pangong lake that it had occupied last year and changed the status quo on the Line of Actual Control with India. The Chinese troops are dismantling shelters and removing other structures they had built up during the occupation. This is happening as per the disengagement agreement between India and China. The agreement states that Chinese troops will move back to Finger 8 and Indian troops will pull back to the Dhan Singh Thapa post between Finger 2 and 3 of the north bank of Pangong lake. Further, there would be a temporary. CORONA METER INDIA TOTAL CASES: 10,919,616 TOTAL DEATH: 155,789 WORLD TOTAL CASES: 28,262,355 TOTAL DEATH: 497,175 JOSEPHINE JOBERT WANTS TO BE A BOND GIRL SCREEN & CINEMA Morning India WhatsApp may be worth $2-3 tn, Tapovan project: NTPC working on modalities people value privacy more: SC for compensation NEW DELHI : People have grave apprehensions on loss of privacy, the Supreme Court said on Monday, making it clear that it is the court's duty to protect this right as it heard an application against WhatsApp's new privacy policy. The observation came as senior advocate Shyam Divan, representing petitioner Karmanya Singh Sareen, sought direction to restrain WhatsApp from implementing its new privacy policy in India. "They have come up with new differentiating privacy policy for the Europeans and different set of rules applicable to Indians," Divan argued. He added that till the time new data protection law comes into force in India, WhatsApp should not bring its new privacy policy. At this, Chief Justice S.A. Bobde replied: "We will issue notice in the matter." A bench, headed by the Chief Justice and comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian, told counsel for WhatsApp: "People have grave apprehensions about loss of priva- cy. You may be 2 or 3 trillion dollar company, but people value their privacy more than your money... we have to protect people's privacy." The top court issued notice to WhatsApp and Facebook on this plea against its new privacy policy. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arvind Datar, appearing for WhatsApp, strongly contested Divan's argument, saying that the Delhi High Court is already seized of the matter. Questioning Disha necessary for info on Pro-Khalistani Group: Delhi Police NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police Special Cell procured five-day custody of 21-year-old climate activist Disha Ravi from the court to identify ProKhalistani Group - Poetic Justice Foundation and its active members, and to recover the deleted WhatsApp Group. Ravi was arrested from Bengaluru on Saturday in connection with allegedly editing and sharing a 'toolkit' on social media related to the farmers' protest. She was produced before the court the next day and was remanded to five days police custody. During the course of proceedings, the police told Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Dev Saroha that her custody is necessary to recover the deleted WhatsApp Group having "vital information" along with other devices and mobiles used in the offence. "It is further stated that for proper investigation, her detailed interrogation is required to get information by the Pro Khalistani Group Poetic Justice Foundation and their active members are to be identified," according to the court's order copy. The court, while remanding her to the custody of the police, directed medical test to be conducted. She will now be produced before the court on February 19 at the end of the custody period. While seeking her custody for interrogation, the Delhi Police told the court that, "It is a larger conspiracy against the government of India." The accused broke down in the courtroom and told the judge that she did not make the toolkit but only "edited two on February 3". Legal Aid Counsel (LAC) Pramod Singh appeared for the accused, while Delhi Police Investigating Officer (IO) Praveen Kumar came to court with the case file. Sibal said that Europe has a different set of data privacy laws, and WhatsApp's new privacy policy for India is similar to policy applicable in the US, Australia and other countries. "The fact is that this policy is applicable to the rest of the world except Europe.. In Europe, it is different because they have a special law," he argued. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said the right to pri- vacy is a fundamental right and they cannot compromise with the privacy of people. Divan cited that WhatsApp has already delayed the implementation of its new privacy policy till May 15 this year and sought a notice which is returnable before this date. The bench said it is impressed with Divan's submission that while the Data Protection Bill is about to be brought into force, WhatsApp is framing a policy to share data. Datar also said that the messages are encrypted end to end. The top court directed WhatsApp and Facebook to file their statement contesting the contentions in the present application. The Chief Justice told WhatsApp counsel that people think if a message is sent from a person to another and then to a third person, the whole thing is disclosed to Facebook. As counsel contended that this is not happening, Chief Justice Bobde disagreed, saying that they are telling information heard and read through news reports, and if WhatsApp disagrees, it should clarify this on oath. The top court noted that it will have to consider if a similar petition, pending before the Delhi High Court, is maintainable when the apex court's constitution bench is already seized with the matter wherein WhatsApp's 2016 privacy policy has been challenged. After a detailed hearing in the matter, the top court issued notices to WhatsApp, Facebook and the Centre in the matter and fixed for further hearing after four weeks. NEW DELHI : NTPC on Monday said it has fast tracked all modalities and procedures for distribution of compensation to the immediate families of those who lost their lives in the natural disaster that struck Tapovan project in Uttarakhand's Chamoli District on February 7, even as rescue operation continued in full swing with high-end machinery. While NTPC is extending a compensation of Rs 20 lakh to the immediate family of the contract labourers of the agency engaged in construction of the project, the Uttarakhand and Central governments have separately announced compensation package of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 2 lakh, respectively. Further, compensation against PF and Employees' Compensation Act covered under statutory provisions of the workers in the range of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh will also be made available. A dedicated taskforce from NTPC has been working out the modalities including collating necessary information with regard to every missing worker and liaisoning with district administration in order to fasttrack compensation distribu- tion. The rescue operation at NTPC's Tapovan Vishnugad project continues in full swing, while extensive coordinated work is being carried out by multiple agencies to reach those trapped in the tunnel. Real time information is being shared with all agencies involved in the rescue operation to avoid any delays, the company said in a statement. More than 325 personnel including engineers, officers, geologists, scientists, security officials from NTPC, THDC, CISF, UPNL and others are at the site and engaged in rescue operations. There is also continuous support from district administration, the ITBP, the BRO, the NDRF, the SDRF, the army, the state PWD, SJVN and RVNL, the statement added. While dedicated teams from NTPC are managing the entire rescue operation behind the scene by assisting the rescue teams, the company airlifted machinery including high-end submersible slush removal pumps to increase the pace of operations. The diversion of river course from left bank to right bank and approach to de-silting basin from upstream. Health infra improved considerably in Bengal: CM KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that the health infrastructure in the State has improved considerably over the last few years. Inaugurating a “mother and child” hub Matri Maa at Chittaranjan Seva Sadan Hospital here, she said hospitals across the state have been upgraded to international standards. "Bengal is number one in health sector in the country. The government has also developed related infrastructure required. West Bengal has also done great work in dealing with the Covid crisis", she said. Banerjee said, West Bengal is the only state to provide free ration, free health care and free education to its people. The Swasthya Sathi card has been given to 10 crore people in the State, she added. The Chief Minister also said the number of mother and child hubs now stands at 17 in the State, while 43 multi- speciality hospitals are functioning at the moment. CM nod to HC bench proposal in Dumka SANJAY SAHAY RANCHI: Chief Minister (CM) Hemant Soren on Monday approved the proposal for setting up a bench of Jharkhand High Court in Dumka. Notably, a committee headed by the then chief secretary had given instruction to the building construction secretary to identify land for building the HC bench. A letter was also sent to the Supreme Court and the union law and justice ministry for determining the jurisdiction of the HC bench. It may be stated here that there is no bench of Jharkhand HC in any part of the state. In united Bihar, a bench of the Patna High Court was functioning in Ranchi. A fullfledged HC came into existence after the formation of the state. In another development, a delegation of the Jharkhand Scheduled tribe and Scheduled caste Karamchari Sangh met the CM at Project Bhawan and submitted a letter related to alleged irregularities in the promotion of the STs and SCs in government services. Referring to a report submitted by a Vidhan Sabha committee headed by MLA Deepak Birua the organization demanded early implementation of the resolutions of the committee. They said that the affected government employees be given a promotion with economic benefits with retrospective effect. Notably, a four- member committee was formed after MLA Bandhu Tirkey raised the issue of violation of norms in the promotion of SC and ST officials in the state. The committee headed by Birua comprised Tirkey, Neelkanth Munda and Sarfaraz Ahmad. The committee said that cases be registered under the SC/ST Act against all officers responsible for illegal act in promotion, adding departmental proceedings be also initiated against them. 18-19 corona vaccines in different stages of trials: Vardhan NEW DELHI : Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Monday that 18-19 potential vaccines against novel coronavirus were in different stages of clinical trials, adding that vaccination of around 27 crore Indians above the age of 50 will begin three weeks from now. "Some are in Phase I, some in Phase II, and a few approaching Phase III of the clinical trials. We are elated to have a huge portfolio in the near future," he said at a press conference here. The Minister said that the Department of Biotechnology had been provided a budget of Rs 900 crore for the development of potential vaccines against Covid-19. "The money has been kept aside for the department for use in research and development of potential vaccine candidates against the viral disease," he added. Vardhan also said that the Union government will begin vaccination drive for around 27 crore Indians above the age of 50 three weeks from now. "Three weeks from now, the government will start giving doses of coronavirus vaccines to 27 crore persons above the age of 50," he said. An expert group on vaccination will discuss how to pay for the doses for those above 50, he added. The vaccination for frontline workers began earlier this month. On the private healthcare sector's role in the vaccination process, he said that such facilities and workers were already a part of the drive. "During emergency use authorisations (EUA), it is the government's responsibility to keep things under control; open market sales are not part of the EUA," he added. Meanwhile, the Minister reviewed the Covid19 situation in the country. He said that no new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in 188 districts of the country in the past seven days. Vardhan emphasised the importance of social distance and appropriate healthcare behaviour amid the pandemic despite falling number of corona cases in the country. "It is crucial that people continue to follow COVIDappropriate behaviour which I had called a social vaccine, along with the real vaccine," he quipped. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said that a new flagship programme -Prime Minister Atmanirbhar Swastha Bharat Yojana -has been announced in the Union Budget 2021-22. "The Budget refers to a holistic approach toward health and healthcare. Allocation to the health sector for 2020-21 is 1.8 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product," the Ministry added. The Union government has prioritised vaccination of 30 crore Indians, dividing them into three categories -- one crore healthcare workers, 2 crore frontline workers, and 27 crore general populace above the age of 50. On January 3, the Drugs Controller General of India had approved 'Covishield' vaccine developed by Punebased Serum Institute of India and 'Covaxin' of Bharat Biotech for emergency use authorisation in the country. Both vaccines have been provided in the nationwide immunisation drive, that was kicked off on January 16. Till Sunday, more than 8 million (82,85,295) doses of vaccines had been administered across India.