05112020-TTB-01.qxd 11/5/2020 12:14 AM Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | vol.140 no.307 | 12 pages | ~5.00 | regd.no.chd/0006/2018-2020 established in 1881 COVID SPREADING RAPIDLY IN EUROPE: WHO WORLD /thetribunechd SBI Q2 NET PROFIT JUMPS 55% AS BAD LOANS DECLINE BUSINESS ARMY CHIEF IN NEPAL TO RESET TIES BACK PAGE /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com thursday, november 5,2020 Premature military retirees may see pension cut MoD proposes ‘serve more, earn more’ formula | Retirement age could be raised Ajay Banerjee EXERCISE TO DOWNSIZE EXPENDITURE Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 4 In two path-breaking initiatives that would affect senior officers in the armed forces, the Department of Military Affairs has proposed to cut down the pension of those opting for premature retirement and hike the retirement age of certain categories by up to three years. The pension cut issue has come under severe criticism ■ An officer with 20 to 25 years of service will get 50% of the entitled pension, which is half of the last pay drawn ■ Those with 26 to 30 years will get 60% of the entitled pension ■ It will be 75% for those with 30 to 35 years of service ■ Only those whose tenure exceeds 35 years will get full pension as the existing formula would get changed in a manner that could impact the financial prospects of those retiring in the future. A senior lawyer dealing with military law said, “The DMA (Department of Military Affairs) has no locus standi to alter the existing formula and the decision would be challenged in court”. The DMA, headed by Gen Bipin Rawat, is a newly created entity under the Ministry of Defence and is tasked for HR and coordination issues between the Army, Navy and the Air Force. MUKESH AGGARWAL IN BRIEF WB Govt grants land rights to refugees KOLKATA: With an eye on the 2021 Assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday granted land rights to 25,000 refugee families and said a total of 1.25 lakh families would be given land rights. PTI 8-phase DDC poll from November 28 JAMMU: The first-ever elections to district development councils (DDC) in J&K were announced on Wednesday. The polls will be held in eight phases beginning November 28 and conclude on December 22. INSIDE Fake liquor may have killed 20 in Sonepat, say police; probe on CHANDIGARH: At least 20 persons have died in Sonepat in the past three days. The police believe the deaths were caused by spurious liquor. SL Poonia, Deputy Commissioner, has constituted a special team headed by the ADC to probe the matter. A postmortem was conducted on four bodies on the intervention of the police. Family members of the deceased are unwilling to lodge a complaint, police sources said. — TNS Congress leader Navjot Sidhu greets CM Capt Amarinder Singh at a dharna in New Delhi. Don’t mess with livelihoods, resume trains: Capt to Centre Tribune News Service ‘ECONOMIC BLOCKADE’ New Delhi, November 4 Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today warned the Centre of repercussions on the national food security due to the suspension of goods trains and farmers’ prolonged protest against the central Acts. Leading a dharna of Punjab MLAs at Jantar Mantar here, Capt Amarinder urged Railway Minister Piyush Goyal to resume the train service. He assured him of security of wagons and claimed farmers had blocked railway lines to only two coal shutters. He said he wanted to meet President Ram Nath Kovind (who declined the request) to apprise him of the ongoing Congress legislator Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was briefly stopped by the Delhi Police at the border, slammed the ‘economic blockade’ of Punjab, warning: “We won’t let Ambani & Adani to set foot in Punjab and snatch farmers’ rights.” ~1,200 CR LOSS: RLYS The agitation by farmers in Punjab continued at 32 points around Railways property, authorities claimed on Wednesday. They said the loss was expected to have crossed ~1,200 crore. situation in Punjab. “The state farm Bills were not on agenda. But I wonder why the Punjab Governor has not sent the Bills to the President,” the CM said. He asked how would the state survive without the supply of coal and agriculture inputs and lack of space to stock foodgrain? “There will be protests if governments mess up with livelihoods and religion of people. If trouble erupts in Punjab where 75 per cent farmers are marginal, national security would be at stake,” he said, asking the Centre to stop “stepmotherly treatment” towards the state. The CM also questioned the timing of ED and IT notices to him and his family. A letter sent out by the DMA office on October 29 says a draft of the government sanction letter is being readied by November 10 for review by Gen Rawat, the DMA Secretary and also the Chief of Defence Staff. The letter proposes to increase the retirement age of Colonels, Brigadiers and Major Generals to 57, 58 and 59 years from 54, 56 and 58 years currently. continued on Back page Arnab arrested in suicide case Mumbai, November 4 The police today arrested Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami here for allegedly abetting the suicide of a 53-year-old interior designer in 2018, a police official said. Goswami, who was later sent to 14-day judicial custody, claimed he was assaulted by the police at his home before being arrested. The police, however, booked Goswami, his wife and son for allegedly assaulting cops and trying to obstruct them from performing duty. — PTI Tribune News Service Patiala, November 4 The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), which is facing coal shortage due to farmers’ agitation, is imposing power cuts ranging from four to five hours in villages and one to two hours in cities. Criticising the PSPCL, former senior officials said, “Despite adequate power in the open market, the PSPCL is imposing outages.” Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Sangrur and Amritsar cities faced power cuts on Wednesday morning. continued on Back page Geetanjali Gayatri MPs to meet Union Home Minister Shah GOODS TRAINS MAY BE BACK ON TRACK SOON Chandigarh: With Punjab assuring the Railways unobstructed operations, goods trains in the state may be resumed shortly. While Capt Amarinder Singh spoke with Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in Delhi in this regard, a senior government functionary held talks with Railway Board officials. INSIDE tribune News Service Chandigarh, November 4 To deal with “non-performers”, the Haryana Government will table the “right to recall” Bill during the Assembly session, which resumes tomorrow after the last session was suspended in view of the rising Covid-19 cases. Sources say the “right to recall” will be applicable to sarpanches and panchayat samiti and zila parishad members. As per the procedure, 50 per cent of the members of a ward must sign a draft to initiate the proceedings after which it has to be HRY HOUSE SESSION INLD PROPOSES BILLS TO GUARANTEE MSP ■ INLD legislator Abhay Chautala has submitted three private member Bills on agriculture to the Speaker for tabling these in the Assembly ■ The Bills propose punish- ment of not less than three years’ imprisonment and fine for procurement below MSP New Delhi, November 4 Terming the sudden spike in Covid-19 cases in Delhi as the “third wave” of the pandemic, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday assured the people that there was no need to panic as the AAP government was closely monitoring the situation. Kejriwal said while there were adequate beds for patients in the city, there was a KERALA WITHDRAWS CONSENT TO CBI The Kerala Government on Wednesday withdrew the general consent given to the CBI to probe cases. BACK PAGE passed by the two-thirds majority. Following this, the sarpanch or the member will be removed. The sources say the government will also table another Bill, which will grant 50 per cent reservation to women in the panchayat poll. The government is keen on passing the Bill before the next panchayat elections, which are due in February next year. The reservation will be done in wards on oddeven basis. The Bill also proposes to give 8 per cent reservation to Backward Classes (A) category for the post of sarpanch. SClays down norms on alimony, ensures uniformity Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, November 4 The right to claim maintenance under all enactments, including those under Section 125 of the CrPC, must date back to filing of the application, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday. “Financial constraints of a dependent spouse hamper their capacity to be effective- ly represented before the court. In order to prevent a dependant from being reduced to destitution, it is necessary that maintenance is awarded from the date on which the application for maintenance is led before the court concerned,” a Bench headed by Justice Indu Malhotra said. “The delay in adjudication is not only against human Apex court says warring spouses must disclose income, assets rights, but also against the basic embodiment of dignity of an individual,” it said, while deciding a matrimonial case from Maharashtra in which the maintenance of a wife and son under Section 125 of the CrPC had to be determined. As courts adopt different judicial yardstick to grant interim maintenance and permanent alimony in mat- Trump to move SC over ‘fraud’ Biden ready for it , Washington, November 4 The race for the White House between Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden was poised for a photo-finish, even as the incumbent Republican President on Wednesday claimed “fraud” in the counting of votes and said he would approach the Supreme Court to stop it. With millions of votes still being counted and several swing states yet to declare results, both Trump and Biden say they are on course for victory in the 2020 presidential election, one of the most divisive and bitter in the American history. Tuesday’s election saw tight races in many key battleground states with Biden winning 224 electoral college votes and Trump closely behind with 213. The winner should have at least 270 votes of the 538-member electoral college. Fox News, considered to be the favourite news network of the President, gave him continued on back page OPTIMISTIC OF WIN FRAUD ON NATION It’s not my place or Trump’s to declare who’s won. That’s the decision of the people. I’m optimistic about the outcome. Joe Biden be used in a proper manner. So we’ll be going to the Supreme Court. Donald Trump US-INDIANS RE-ELECTED NARROW MARGIN All 4 Indian-American Democratic lawmakers — Dr Ami Bera, Pramila Jayapal, Ro Khanna and Raja Krishnamoorthi — were re-elected to House of Representatives. TNS CANDIDATE ❝ Third wave in Delhi: Kejriwal No coal, Punjab faces ‘Right to recall’ Bill on agenda, power cuts up to 5 hrs applicable to panchayats, ZPs Aman Sood WHITE HOUSE RACE DOWN TO THE WIRE rimonial cases, the SC also laid down guidelines to ensure uniformity in judicial practice in such matters. The guidelines addressed issues of overlapping jurisdiction, interim maintenance, criteria for determining the quantum of maintenance, date from which maintenance is to be awarded and execution of orders of maintenance. shortage of ICU beds with ventilators in a few private hospitals which would be addressed in the next one or two days. The Capital has been witnessing a fresh surge in Covid cases. On Tuesday, Delhi recorded over 6,000 fresh cases for the first time. Meanwhile, with Covid-19 recoveries improving beyond 92 per cent of the total cases across the country, active cases remained below six lakh for the sixth day and 16 states reported lower cases per million than the national average of 6,025. HP with 3,077 cases per million and Punjab with 4,472 are among the 16 states showing improvements in checking new infections. — TNS/PTI This a fraud ❝nation.isWemajorlaw toon our want Donald Trump Joe Biden ELECTORAL POPULAR VOTE* VOTE 213 238 48.4 pc 50 pc *PROJECTIONS BY FOX NEWS COVID-19CASES INDIA COUNT 83,13,876 RECOVERED 76,56,478 FRESH FATALITIES 514 TOTAL DEATHS 1,23,611 WORLD 4,81,62,722 3,45,06,422 12,25,155 NEED TO BE CAUTIOUS: MIN TOTAL RECOVERED DEATHS Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the virus posed a potential threat during the winter and people must follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.