01072020-TT-01.qxd 6/30/2020 11:29 PM Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | jammu | srinagar | vol.140 no.181 | 16 pages | ~4.50 | regd.no.chd/0006/2018-2020 established in 1881  haryana CHINA APPROVES NATIONAL SECURITY LAW FOR HK WORLD /thetribunechd INDIA, KAZAKHSTAN JOIN HANDS FOR PEACE OPS BACK PAGE FISCAL DEFICIT TOUCHES 58.6% IN TWO MONTHS BUSINESS /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com wednesday, july 1,2020 Talks on, no sign of de-escalation yet Free ration till Nov, no Chinese buildup continues as Lt Generals meet at Chushul to resolve standoff LAC mention by PM Ajay Banerjee DAULAT BAIG OLDIE Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 30 Even as the Lt General-level Commanders of India and China were locked in yet another marathon meeting on Tuesday discussing the disengagement, the assessment on the Indian side was “to be ready for a long haul”. Military developments in the past three-four days indicate that there could be no immediate let-up along the 826-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. The series of meetings have not led to anything that can be called “de-escalation” or stepping towards status quo ante as on the first week of May. The third round of meeting at Chushul was on till 10 pm. The movement of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China in the past three-four days has raised a “red flag” at New Delhi. “The present posturing could stretch till winter. Let’s see if the PLA is ready for a winter at those altitudes where the valleys are in excess of 13,000 feet and the peaks are even higher,” a senior functionary explained. The latest inputs from Indian agencies using a slew of methods, including satellite imagery, show additional structures have been built by the PLA. More war-like Taj hotel security beefed up after Lashkar threat Mumbai, June 30 Security was beefed up at the Taj group of hotels’ properties in Mumbai on Tuesday after a caller threatened to carry out terror attacks at the Taj hotel near the Gateway of India. The police said the phone call from Pakistan was received shortly after Monday midnight. The caller who called up the board of Taj hotel said the Lashkar-e-Toiba would carry out a terror attack at the hotel. The police said though nothing suspicious was found at the hotel, security had been tightened. Apart from Taj Mahal Palace and Hotel at the Gateway, security has been enhanced at Taj Land’s End in suburban Bandra. The hotel, located near the Gateway of India, was targetted by terrorists in 2008. — TNS REGION COMBATS VIRUS FIVE DEATHS IN PUNJAB Chandigarh: With 150 fresh cases and five deaths, the Covid count in Punjab has reached 5,568. Two deaths were reported from Amritsar and one each from Patiala, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The state death count is 145. TNS COVID-19COUNT REGION STATE Chandigarh Punjab Haryana Himachal Pradesh J&K Ladakh Delhi +VE DEATHS 440 06 5,568 145 14,548 236 953 08 7,497 101 973 01 85,161 2,680 HRY RECORDS 4 DEATHS Chandigarh: With four more deaths and 338 fresh cases, including four doctors and five other health workers of a private hospital in Karnal, the Covid tally reached 14,548 in Haryana on Tuesday. TNS 11 FRESH CASES IN HP LADAKH AKSAI CHIN GALWAN NALA JN. LAC LEH PANGONG TSO CHUSHUL INDIA CHINA POSTURING MAY STRETCH TILL WINTER ■ The PLA movement at the LAC Protesters hold placards against use of Chinese mobile applications in New Delhi on Tuesday. AFP ‘UPHOLD RIGHTS OF CHINESE INVESTORS’ The Indian Government has the responsibility to uphold the legitimate and legal rights of the international investors, including the Chinese ones. Zhao Lijian, SPOKESMAN, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY ❝ stores, including vehicles, tanks, guns and even cutting-edge missile regiments, of the PLA have been making their way towards the LAC. India has matched the PLA in terms of numbers and equipment. Also at the Depsang plains further north of Galwan towards the Karakoram pass, there has been a movement of additional troops in the past 10 days. The strategic airfield of Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) is less than 25 km from the Chinese posts in the Depsang sector. The past two meetings on June 6 and June 22 of Lt General-level Commanders did not yield the desired results, leading to mistrust on the Indian side. After the June 6 meeting, a deadly clash occurred on the night intervening June 15 and 16 at the Galwan valley, leading to 20 Indian troops getting killed in action while an unspecified number of PLA men got killed as well. At the second round of in the past three-four days has raised a “red flag” at New Delhi. “The present posturing could stretch till winter,” said a senior functionary ■ Military developments indicate that there could be no immediate let-up along the 826-km LAC in Ladakh ■ The meetings have not led to anything that can be called “de-escalation” or stepping towards status quo ante as on the first week of May ■ The past two Lt Gen-level meetings on June 6 and June 22 did not yield desired results talks on June 22, the Commanders decided to work out the modalities on the ground to disengage troops and withdraw their heavy military equipment, including fighter jets and tanks, from the LAC. Two days after showing some signs of moving back, the PLA was back to making structures. Tribune News Service New Delhi, June 30 The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, providing free ration to 80 crore people, will be extended till November, involving Rs 90,000 crore expenditure. The scheme has been in operation for the past three months so that the poor and marginalised, suffering on account of loss of income due to Covid-19, do not remain hungry. Together with this extension, the scheme will cost Rs 1.5 lakh crore. Announcing this in a 16minute address to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that during monsoon, activities around the farm sector increase while decreasing in other sectors. This coupled with a number of festivals between July and November added to the expenses of people. Keeping these factors in view, the scheme which entailed 5 kg wheat or rice per person and 1 kg of pulses per family every month was being extended. The announcement comes after Congress president Sonia Gandhi wrote to PM Modi on June 22, pressing for the extension of the scheme continued on back page Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation on Tuesday. PTI MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, SAYS CONGRESS Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address was much ado about nothing. It could have easily been replaced with a government notification. Congress ❝ of 9 cr farmers; and ~50,000 PM SPEAK ON FOODGRAIN cr was being spent on jobs for ■ Over ~90,000 cr to workers in rural areas. be spent on extenON BEATING COVID sion of PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana ■ People mustn’t by 5 months. By adding the lower their guard. last 3 months’ expenditure on Governments, the free ration, the total budg- local bodies and et will be ~1.5 lakh crore citizens must show alertness ■ The scheme entails 5-kg by cautioning those not adhering to rules.“Be it a vilwheat or rice per person and lage pradhan or the PM, no 1 kg of pulses per family one is above law in India” every month ON DIRECT BENEFIT TRANSFER ■ In last 3 months, ~31,000 cr was given to 20 cr poor households through direct benefit transfer; ~18,000 cr deposited in bank accounts Chandigarh, June 30 The Punjab and Haryana High Court today ruled that all schools were entitled to collect tuition fee irrespective of offering online classes during the Covid lockdown period. Permission to collect admission fee henceforth was also granted, but the schools were restrained from recovering charges for any facility they did not spend money on. The court also asked the schools not to hike the fee for 2020-21 and adopt the old structure of 2019-20. A Bench of Justice Nirmaljit Kaur said the pleas of parents facing hardships due to the lockdown would be considered sympathetically EXPENSES GENUINE The management of each school shall work out its actual expenditure for the period the school remained closed and recover only genuine expenditure.Justice Nirmaljit Kaur ❝ Parents move SC for moratorium on fee during lockdown by the schools before deciding on either giving concession or exempting the entire fee, as the case may be. For this, the parents could file an application along with necessary proof about their finan- Tickets for nine Canada flights gone in two mins Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 30 Hundreds of youngsters looking to fly to Canada on the basis of permanent residency, matrimony or study permit were left in the lurch last night as at least nine special flights under the Vande Bharat Mission were booked in a matter of minutes. Ved Prakash Khurana from Bholath in Kapurthala said: “My daughter had her papers ready to join her husband in Calgary. At exact 8 pm, we clicked ‘book the ticket’ option and started filling the details. But within two minutes, the system said all tickets had been sold out.” Many tried reaching out to Air India through its helpline, email and social media platforms, but got no reply. Some even posted videos to prove a point. cial status. “No parent shall misuse the concession by laying a false claim,” warned Justice Nirmaljit Kaur. In case of grievances following an adverse decision by a school on their plea, the parents were given the liberty to approach the regulatory body. Justice Nirmaljit Kaur also asked the schools to continue imparting online/distance learning to prevent education from being adversely impacted due to the “present or future lockdowns”. The directions came on a bunch of petitions filed against Punjab and other respondents by the Independent Schools’ Association, Chandigarh, and other schools through senior counsel Puneet Bali, Aashish Chopra and other advocates. WOMAN THRASHED BY CO-WORKER OVER MASK Hyderabad: A differentlyabled woman was thrashed by her colleague when she asked him to wear a face mask. A video of the incident went viral on the social media, triggering public outrage. The errant official was suspended. He has been arrested. BACK PAGE The PM thanked farmers and honest taxpayers for the free ration. “While farmers produced enough grains, contribution from honest taxpayers has helped poor cope with the crisis” 103-YEAR-OLD SIKH VANQUISHES COVID HC gives schools go-ahead to collect tuition, admission fee Tribune News Service TAXPAYERS LAUDED ■ A 103-year-old, Sukha Singh COURTESY: TWITTER 66% cases in June alone, recovery rate 59.07%; TN surpasses Delhi New Delhi, June 30 As India enters Unlock-2 on Wednesday, Covid-19 tally has jumped to 5,66,840, with 66 per cent (3,76,305) cases reported in June alone. At 18,522 cases, the country saw over 15,000 cases for the seventh day in a row. Recording nearly 4,000 cases in the 24 hours, Tamil Nadu surpassed Delhi to regain the second spot among the list of worst-hit states. Maharashtra, TN, Delhi and Gujarat account for two-thirds of the total cases. The recovery rate in the Capital was 66.03 per cent on June 29 as against the national rate of 59.07 per cent. Lakhs of doctors continue to risk their lives daily at the COVID-19CASES INDIA COUNT RECOVERED 3,34,821 FRESH FATALITIES 418 TOTAL DEATHS 16,893 5,66,840 TOTAL RECOVERED DEATHS WORLD 1,04,96,816 57,23,866 5,10,612 ANOTHER FLU STRAIN FOUND IN CHINA Beijing: A new strain of flu that has the potential to become a pandemic has been found in China by scientists, the media reported. Scientists said the new virus (G4 EA H1N1) was similar to one that caused the 2009 swine flu, but with some new changes. IANS Chhabra, from Thane has vanquished Covid-19 ■ Chhabra was treated at Kaushalya Medical Foundation Trust Hospital in Thane ■ Lahore-born Chhabra is ranked as India’s oldest ICU survivor of Covid-19 ■ His younger brother, Tara Singh (86), who was also infected, has recently been shifted to a ward. IANS Nepal PM faces revolt over anti-India stand KATHMANDU: Top leaders of the ruling Nepal Communist Party, including former Premier Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, on Tuesday demanded Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s resignation, saying his recent anti-India remarks were “neither politically correct, nor diplomatically appropriate”. — PTI EU bans Pak airline for at least 6 months ISLAMABAD: frontline. Nearly 70 Indian doctors are feared dead so far. Health experts say the government must launch infection control audits across hospitals to determine the scale of dangers healthcare workers face. “It is perhaps no coincidence that 2020 is ‘Year of the Nurse and Midwife’, the World Health Day theme. Healthcare workers face the greatest risk. It’s time the government analysed data and conducted infection control audits,” says Rajib Dasgupta of JNU’s Community Health Department. — TNS/PTI The European Union’s aviation safety agency said on Tuesday that Pakistan’s national airline would not be allowed to fly into Europe for at least six months after Pak aviation minister revealed that nearly a third of Pakistani pilots held fake licences. — AP SCORES LEFT HIGH & DRY ■ At 8 pm, A-I opens bookings on portal under phase 4 of Vande Bharat Mission ■ 40 flights — 31 to US and nine to Canada — between July 3-15 are up for grabs ■ At 8.03 pm, tickets are sold out; many left dejected, vent ire on social media Neeraj Bakshi, who has a study permit under the May intake, said: “It’s a cruel joke on students like us. As I tried making the payment, all tickets had been booked. It was 8.03 pm then. If the demand is so high, more flights must be added.” 14-day lockdown, aggressive testing in 8 Gurugram zones Sumedha Sharma Tribune News Service Gurugram, June 30 In what is being cited as one of the biggest attempts by the Gurugram administration to curtail Covid, eight municipal zones identified as ‘large outbreak regions’ have been placed under “limited” lockdown starting today. Prohibiting the movement of people, cops have taken charge of the entry and exit points at the residential colonies in these large out- break regions (LORs) and erected barracks. Though shops selling essential commodities have been allowed to operate, all other commercial activities will remain suspended till July 14. The small-scale industries in these belts could not function as a majority had no arrangements to lodge their workers. What remained the highlight was aggressive tracing and testing by 11 health department teams headed by BATTLING IT OUT We have made a successful start and hope the stabilisation we have achieved in Covid numbers continues. The SOPs shall remain in force till July 14. ❝ Amit Khatri, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER CMO Dr Virender Yadav. The teams checked all houses and thermo-scanned each resident. Those with symptoms or any contact or other vulnerability were tested in 11 camps erected today. Of the 977 samples, 68 have reported positive so far. “We will be scrounging each area thrice by July 14 to reach out to every patient. We are scanning each resident and testing is being done wherever required. The testing is free,” said Dr Yadav. There were reports of people trying to sneak out with families from the LORs or resist screening, but the health teams managed to get all abide by the standard operating procedures (SOPs). The Health Department has declared that it shall double the testing from tomorrow. “We have made a successful start and hope the stabilisation we have achieved in Covid numbers continues. The SOPs shall remain in force till July 14 and we will fight the spread in these areas through tracing and testing,” said DC Amit Khatri.