11012021-TT-01.qxd 1/10/2021 11:04 PM Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | vol.141 no.11 | 12 pages | ~5.00 | regd.no.chd/0006/2021-2023 established in 1881  haryana US ENDS CURBS ON TIES WITH TAIWAN WORLD /thetribunechd DAYS AFTER EAM VISIT, SL ARRESTS MORE FISHERMEN BACK PAGE NOT JUST A TEMPERATE FRUIT, APPLE IS GOING PLACES INFOCUS /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com monday | 11 january 2021 SC mustn’t mediate, won’t give in: Unions Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service Farmers storm the venue at Karnal’s Kaimla village, where Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar was to chair a ‘kisan mahapanchayat; and (right) police use water cannons on protesters. TRIBUNE PHOTO/PTI Khattar’s ‘mahapanchayat’ venue ransacked Parveen Arora Tribune News Service Kaimla (Karnal), January 10 Braving tear gas shells and water cannons, hundreds of farmers on Sunday broke through barricades, stormed Kaimla village in Chief Minister ML Khattar’s home constituency Karnal and ransacked the venue for a ‘kisan mahapanchayat’, forcing the CM to cancel his programme. The protesting farmers, who had the villagers’ support, damaged the helipad where Khattar’s chopper was to land. A face-off between local BJP workers and the farmers left 10 persons with minor injuries. The farmers breached six police checkpoints to reach the helipad. A strong police con- FARMERS DAMAGE HELIPAD; 71 BOOKED ■ Farmers carrying black flags assemble at Bastara plaza ■ At 11.30 am, begin moving towards Kaimla on vehicles ■ Cross the barricade on Gharaunda-Kaimla road ■ Stopped at the 2nd barri- cade, farmers stage a sit-in ■ Park vehicles on the road- side and proceed on foot ■ At 3rd barricade, police use tear gas shells, water cannons ■ Protesters make way through fields, reach Kaimla ■ Raising slogans, they storm the venue, damage helipad BID TO DISRUPT BJP EVENT IN JALANDHAR tingent comprising four Superintendents of Police and more than 12 DSPs deployed at various points failed to prevent them from entering the village. The ‘kisan mahapanchayat’, which was planned to educate the farmers on the “benefits” of the recent farm laws, was to be addressed by the CM, who was also to ded- icate to the people projects worth Rs 47.17 crore. Hundreds of farmers carrying black flags started assembling at the Bastara toll plaza in the morning. At around 11.30 am, they began moving towards Kaimla village on tractors, SUVs and bikes, crossing the first barricade on the Gharaunda-Kaimla road without any resistance. At the second barricade, the police had lined up trucks and dumpers to foil the march. When stopped by Ganga Ram Punia, SP and , other officers, the protesters staged a sit-in. Later, parking their vehicles on the roadside, they proceeded on foot. As they crossed the third barricade, the police used tear continued on page 9 CM: Charuni to blame Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 10 Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today blamed BKU (Charuni) chief Gurnam Singh Charuni for instigating youths who vandalised the “kisan mahapanchayat” venue at Kaimla village in Karnal. Addressing a press conference, Khattar said, “There was no intelligence failure as the protesters had assured the administration that they would hold a peaceful symbolic protest. These people have defamed farmers through such violent acts. In fact, today’s incident gave a stronger mes- VIDEO INCITED TROUBLE Charuni’s video that ❝gone viral since January has 8 was basically responsible for today’s unruly behaviour by some youths. ML Khattar, HARYANA CM sage to the people, bigger than I intended to give by attending the function.” Blaming the Congress, Left and BKU (Charuni) president for instigating protesters, he said such acts only exposed them. continued on page 9 Capt staged J&K encounter for RACISM HALTS SCG TEST ~20 lakh prize money, say cops IN BRIEF SC’s Aadhaar review plea verdict today NEW DELHI: The SC will pronounce on Monday its verdict on pleas seeking review of a verdict upholding the Centre’s Aadhaar scheme as constitutionally valid. — PTI SAD to meet Prez for Rajoana release CHANDIGARH: Sukhbir Badal, SAD chief, will lead a delegation to the President seeking release of Balwant Rajoana, convict in Beant Singh assassination case. — TNS Massive outage across Pakistan ISLAMABAD: Power supply was restored fully or partially on Sunday in many cities in Pakistan, hours after several towns plunged into darkness following a huge blackout due to a technical fault. WORLD IN CHARGESHEET, POLICE NAME 75 WITNESSES ■ The J&K Police have given evidence, including call data records, of the accused ■ On July 18 last year in Shopian, 3 Rajouri youths were killed and branded as terrorists ■ The police have named 75 witnesses in the chargesheet against the Captain, 2 civilians ed as terrorists. The chargesheet submitted before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the district also details the role of the two civilians — Tabish Nazir and Bilal Ahmed Lone — in the case. Lone has since turned an approver and recorded his confessional statement before a magistrate. After reports emerged on social media that the three youths were not associated with terrorism, the Army had ordered a Court of Inquiry, which completed its probe in September. It had found “prima facie” evidence that the troops had “exceeded” the powers granted under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Following this, the Army had initiated disciplinary proceedings against the officer. The chargesheet submitted by the Special Investigation Team of J&K Police has listed 75 witnesses in support of its findings and has also provided technical evidence, including call data records, of the accused persons. — PTI slurs for a second successive day in third Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) briefly halted as six spectators were evicted from the ground ■ Mohammed Siraj was called a “Brown Dog” and “Big Monkey” from the SCG stands CRICKET AUS APOLOGISES “As series hosts, we unreservedly apologise to our friends in the Indian cricket team and assure them we will prosecute the matter to its fullest extent” — Cricket Australia The ICC issued a statement condemning the turn of events and seeking an action taken report from CA Mhmd Siraj clearly backed by the government and should be dismissed,” unions alleged. While they had no problems if the apex court decided to look into the constitutionality of farm laws, the SC should not get into mediation on a policy issue around whether the laws are good or bad for the farmers, they said. “The SC, in two earlier petitions that sought a law to prevent farmers’ suicides and another to change continued on page 9 APEX COURT TO HEAR 3 SETS OF PLEAS TODAY The Supreme Court will on Monday take up petitions challenging the farm laws and those seeking removal of farmers who have blocked entry points to Delhi. The Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations has contended the reforms are beneficial and that it should be heard before any decision is taken. BACK PAGE No sign of survivors, 62 were aboard ■ The fourth day’s play had to be ICC SEEKS REPORT FARMERS AT SINGHU AT LEAST 47 DEAD, SAYS BKU-UGRAHAN Indonesian jet’s black boxes located in sea ■ Indian players endured racist Shopian, January10 The Army Captain, involved in the alleged fake encounter in Shopian in July last year in which three youths were killed, had hatched a conspiracy along with two civilians to “grab” the reward money of Rs 20 lakh and also fired at the victims even before his men could lay a cordon, said a police chargesheet. Capt Bhupinder Singh, currently in the custody of the Army, was likely to face courtmartial proceedings, said sources. The case relates to the encounter at Amshipora in Shopian on July 18 last year in which three youths of Rajouri district — Imtiyaz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed and Mohammed Ibrar — were killed and brand- New Delhi, January 10 Farm unions today resolved to continue their agitation for the repeal of farm laws and urged the Supreme Court not to become a “mediator” in the policy issue concerning farmers’ welfare. The unions chalked out an agitation plan in the run-up to Republic Day and said they would not use disruption and violence to make their point and never do anything to undermine the Tricolour. Terming the anti-farmer protest petition in the SC as “motivated”, the unions said they would seek its dismissal in the court. “Farmer unions have not petitioned the SC, nor has the government. Some persons have gone to the SC seeking removal of farmers from protest sites alleging the agitators are inconveniencing people, but that is not true. The petitions are Police evict spectators after a complaint by Indian players in Sydney. AP/PTI VIRAT KOHLI TWEETS SUPPORT TO HIS TEAM Racial abuse is absolutely unacceptable. Having gone through many incidents of really pathetic things said on the boundary lines, this is the absolute peak of rowdy behavior. Virat Kohli Jakarta, January 10 A day after a Boeing aircraft crashed into the Java Sea with 62 persons aboard shortly after taking off from the Indonesia’s capital, the authorities today said they had determined the location of the crash site and the black boxes. Bagus Puruhito, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, said officials believed they had identified the location of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder (black boxes) since emergency signals transmitted by the devices were detected by a navy ship’s sonar system. Military chief Hadi Tjahjan- A diver shows debris found in sea to said: “Hopefully, we can lift the black boxes in a short time to determine the cause of the crash.” The plane was en route from Jakarta to Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan province. All the 62 on board were Indonesian nationals, including three babies. There was no sign of survivors. — AP 33K tonnes of waste Offences impeachable, Accused admits he embezzled generated in 7 mths says top USRepublican fundsvia fake institutes in HP New Delhi, January 10 India generated around 33,000 tonnes of Covid-19 biomedical waste in the last seven months, with Maharashtra contributing the maximum 3,587 tonnes, as per Central Pollution Control Board data. Over 5,500 tonnes of waste was generated across the country in October alone, the maximum for a month so far. According to the data received from state pollution control boards, since June 2020, all states and UTs generated 32,994 tonnes of Covid19 biomedical waste, which is being collected, treated and disposed of by 198 common waste treatment facilities. The waste could include PPE kits, masks, shoe covers, gloves, human tissues, items contaminated with blood, body fluids like dressings, plaster casts, cotton swabs, beddings contaminated with blood or body fluid, blood bags, needles, COVID-19CASES INDIA COUNT 1,04,50,284 TOTAL RECOVERED DEATHS RECOVERED 1,00,75,950 FRESH FATALITIES 201 TOTAL DEATHS 1,50,999 WORLD 9,03,61,161 6,46,34,372 19,39,016 FREE VACCINE FOR ALL IN BENGAL, SAYS MAMATA Kolkata: West Bengal Government is making arrangements to provide free Covid vaccines to the people of the state, CM Mamata Banerjee said. STOP BHOPAL VAX TRIALS, NGOs WRITE TO MODI P12 syringes etc. Maharashtra generated 5,367 tonnes of waste since June, Kerala 3,300 tonnes, Gujarat 3,086 tonnes, TN 2,806 tonnes, UP 2,502 tonnes, Delhi 2,471 tonnes, Bengal 2,095 tonnes and Karnataka 2,026 tonnes. — PTI Washington, January10 Democrats’ momentum for a fresh drive to quickly impeach outgoing President Donald Trump has gained support, and a top Republican said the President’s role in the deadly riot at the Capitol by a violent mob of supporters was worthy of rebuke. Sen Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said on Saturday he believed Trump had committed “impeachable offences”. But he did not explicitly say whether he would vote to remove the President from office at the conclusion of a Senate trial if the House sent over articles of impeachment. “I don’t know what they are going to send over,” Toomey said Saturday on a news channel. — PTI Bhanu P Lohumi Tribune News Service Shimla, January 10 The CBI has got a major breakthrough in the investigation into the Rs 250-crore scholarship scam with key accused Arvind Rajta reportedly confessing to his involvement in the crime. The CBI found that Rajta, Scholarship scam 272 centres under lens the then Superintendent in the Department of Higher Education, had 33 per cent stake in the name of his wife in nine fake institutions. The institutes located in Una, Chamba, Sirmaur and Kangra districts in the name of Nilet, Skill Development and ITI were not affiliated and over Rs 28 crore of scholarship money was disbursed to these centres. There were three partners having equal share. CBI raids revealed that the centres were running from continued on page 9 China recovering fast, IMF projects 8% growth this yr Washington, January 10 China is recovering fast ahead of most large economies, but the recovery is still unbalanced and facing significant downside risks, the IMF has said, projecting 8 per cent growth for the world’s second largest economy in 2021. However, the main concern around the Chinese recovery BUT DOWNSIDE RISKS REMAIN ❝ China is recovering fast, but the recovery is still unbalanced and facing significant downside risks. We saw 2% growth in 2020 and expect 8% in 2021. IMF official that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has is the lack of balance, said Hlge Berger, Mission Chief for China and Assistant Director, Asia and Pacific Depart- ment of the IMF “China is . recovering fast ahead of most large economies, but the recovery is still unbalanced and facing significant downside risks. We are seeing 2 per cent growth in 2020 and around 8 per cent in 2021. December numbers have been surprising on the upside, so there are some upside risks to that forecast,” said Berger. On the other hand, he said there are significant downside risks. Domestically, there is a pandemic risk that is still around. Also, external environment has generally become a little more difficult for China and its economic ties with other nations. — PTI