13012021-TTB-01.qxd 1/13/2021 12:03 AM Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | vol.5 no.13 | 16 pages | ~5.00 | regd.no.chd/0006/2021-2023 established in 1881 US PLANNED TO ASSIST INDIA AGAINST CHINA: REPORT WORLD /thetribunechd FACTORY OUTPUT SHRINKS 1.9% IN NOV, ENTERS NEGATIVE ZONE BUSINESS DYNASTIC POLITICS WEAKENING DEMOCRACY: PM BACK PAGE /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com IN BRIEF 12 die after drinking spurious liquor in MP BHOPAL: At least 12 persons have died and seven others have fallen seriously ill after consuming suspected spurious liquor in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district. PTI In Pak, 3 get jail for vandalising gurdwara LAHORE: A Pakistan court on Tuesday handed down up to two-year imprisonment to three men for vandalising Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in January 2020. PTI Cold to worsen over next 4 days New Delhi, January 12 Due to the prevalence of dry north/northwesterly winds, minimum temperature is expected to remain below normal in most parts of northwest India for the next 4-5 days. This will lead to severe cold conditions in parts of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Uttarakhand for three days, the IMD said. — TNS wednesday | 13 january 2021 SC puts laws on hold, forms 4-member panel Committee to submit report in 2 months| No tinkering with MSP for now | Landholdings to be protected Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 12 A day after pulling up the Centre for its poor handling of farmers’ agitation, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of the three farm laws being opposed by farmers who have blocked key entry points to Delhi since the third week of November last year. A Bench headed by CJI SA Bobde set up a four-member committee to hear various stakeholders on the three laws — Farmers (Empowerment & Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance & Farm Services Act, Farmers’ Produce Trade & Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act and Amendment to Essential Commodities Act — and report back to it. Those named committee members are Bhupinder Singh Mann, Bharatiya Kisan Union national president; Pramod Kumar Joshi, Director, South Asia International Food Policy; agricultural economist Ashok Gulati and Shetkari Sanghatana leader Anil Ghanwat. The panel will listen to the grievances of farmers on the laws and the views of the government and submit a report continued on page 9 EDIT: Farm laws on hold ❝ We are looking to solve the problem. If you want to agitate indefinitely, you can. Those genuinely interested in solving the problem... can go before committee. It will not punish... pass orders. SC Bench Bhupinder Singh Mann BKU national president Anil Ghanwat Shetkari Sanghatana president Pramod Kumar Joshi Director-South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute Ashok Gulati Agricultural economist Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 12 Farmers’ unions on Tuesday rejected the SC-appointed committee, alleging it comprised “pro-legislation” members. They said the agitation would continue till the laws were repealed. Representatives of 32 Punjab-based unions said all four committee members had been openly advocating the laws. “Even if the court forms another committee, we will not 2 more ‘ineligible’ VCs of Himachal varsities quit Shimla, January 12 Vice-Chancellors of Indus International University and APG Shimla University, who were found ineligible for the post as per UGC norms, put in their papers today. With this, eight of the 10 “ineligible” VCs of various private universities in the state have quit so far. UGC issued notices to 10 of 16 varsities A tough stand by the HP Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission against private universities employing ineligible persons has yielded results. The commission had sent notices to VCs of 10 out of 16 universities as they did not fulfil the norms to occupy the post. — TNS COVID-19CASES INDIA ■ Covishield costs ~200 per dose and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin ~206 COUNT RECOVERED 1,01,11,294 FRESH FATALITIES 167 TOTAL DEATHS 1,51,327 1,04,79,179 ■ Pfizer vaccine is priced at ~1,431, Moderna ~2,348-2,715, Sputnik V and J&J ~734 each NOTICE TO UNIONS ON R-DAY TRACTOR MARCH Leaders of farm unions address the media at Singhu after the Supreme Court order on Tuesday. PTI Unions won’t end stir, say panellists pro-laws The first vaccine batch reaches New Delhi. MANAS RANJAN BHUI INDIAN VAX PRICE LOWEST The SC asked the Centre to file an affidavit to substantiate its allegation after Attorney General KK Venugopal said “Khalistanis had infiltrated” the farmers’ protest. He said the Centre would file an affidavit along with intelligence inputs. Lauding the farmers for peaceful stir, the SC said apprehension had been expressed about some persons creating trouble. PANEL MEMBERS Covishield delivery begins, 13 cities receive first batch New Delhi, January 12 Preparation for the Covid-19 vaccination drive, scheduled to begin on January 16, gathered steam with the Centre on Tuesday receiving 5.5 million of the 11 million Covishield doses it ordered from the Serum Institute of India. Nine flights from Pune carried 54.72 lakh doses of vaccine to 13 cities — Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati, Shillong, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Bhubaneswar, Patna, Bengaluru, Lucknow and Chandigarh. The supplies will be stocked at four national cold storage sites at Karnal, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata and 37 state-level depots. In all, 30 million doses have to be procured to vaccinate three crore priority group people. — TNS EDIT: Getin the queue, please RADICALS AT STIR SITE? GOVT TO FILE AFFIDAVIT LOOKING TO END IMPASSE TOTAL RECOVERED DEATHS WORLD 9,15,38,689 6,54,98,460 19,58,174 ‘SUSPENSION OF LAWS HOLDS NO SIGNIFICANCE’ WHO SUGGESTED NAMES TO SC, ASKS CONGRESS The panel includes only experts who support government’s viewpoint. The suspension of laws doesn’t hold significance. ■ Cong’s Randeep Surjewala ❝ Joginder Singh Ugrahan, BKU (UGRAHAN) New Delhi, January 12 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today presented an eight-point action plan to the UN Security Council (UNSC) that included the scrapping of “blocks and holds without any rhyme or reason” on a person or organisation that promoted terrorism. Jaishankar’s broadside was against China that kept a “hold” on Pulwama attack mastermind Masood Azhar from being designated as international terrorist. Speaking at the UNSC for the first time during an open debate on “International cooperation in combating terrorism”, he acknowledged that some states didn’t have the legal framework Jaishankar delivers first address after India began its 2-yr tenure Practice of ‘blocks and holds’ on terror tags must end and technical expertise to detect and prosecute terrorfinancing cases. “We must enhance their capacities”, but the international committee must call out those guilty of providing safe havens and hold them accountable, he said in a broadside against Pakistan. Today’s issue consists of 16 pages, including four-page Jalandhar Tribune. ■ NCP chief Sharad Pawar, how- ever, welcomed the panel FIVE MORE FARMERS DIE INSIDE engage with it. The move is an attempt to scuttle our agitation,” a union leader at Singhu New policy won’t affect privacy, says WhatsApp New Delhi, January 12 Seeking to address concerns around security of user data on its platform, WhatsApp today claimed its policy update does not affect the privacy of messages. “We continue to protect your private messages with end-to-end encryption. We cannot see your private messages or hear your calls,” the Facebook-owned company tweeted after facing backlash over its latest privacy policy. “The update does not affect the privacy of your messages. Instead, the update includes changes related to messaging business on WhatsApp, which is optional, and provides further transparency about how we collect and use data,” said WhatsApp. — TNS Targeting China at UN, India lists 8 points to counter terror Tribune News Service asked: “Who suggested panellists’ names to the SC? What justice can farmers expect from a pro-laws panel?” The eight points suggested by Jaishankar for effective action against terrorism included: There should be no “ifs and buts” in calling out terrorism; terrorists are terrorists and there is no good or bad distinction; increase the effectiveness of sanctions by removing the practice of “blocks and holds without any rhyme or reason”; discourage exclusivity as it facilitates radicalism and listing and de-listing under the UNSC regime must be objective. The other points were linkages between terrorism and trans-national organised crime be recognised and addressed vigorously; FATF’s anti-money laundering and counter-terror financing frameworks must be strengthened; and adequate funding should be ensured to UN counter-terrorism bodies. border said. “We will talk to the government, but won’t let it put the onus on the apex court,” said Darshan Pal of Sanyukta Kisan Morcha. All panel members have in recent past favoured the laws. Agricultural economist Ashok Gulati has been the most vocal supporter of deregulation of agriculture markets, while PK Joshi has written articles regretting the prolonged agitation. Bhupinder Mann of the BKU and Anil Ghanwat of Shetkari Sanghatana had called for implementation of the laws after amendments. The SC has issued a notice to the unions on a plea by the Delhi Police seeking to stop a proposed tractor march on Republic Day. The police contended the march “could cause law and order problems and prove embarrassing for the nation”. The plea will be heard on January 18. KHATTAR MEETS SHAH, SAYS HRY GOVT STABLE Haryana CM ML Khattar and his deputy Dushyant Chautala met Home Minister Amit Shah and apprised him of the law and order situation. After the meeting, Khattar said his “government was stable”. Call Parl session, repeal laws: Oppn New Delhi, January 12 Opposition parties have thrown their weight behind the protesting farmers and demanded that the three farm laws be repealed and a special Parliament session called to discuss all issues concerning them. Airing their views during a “special kisan session” of Janta Parliament, leaders of the Congress, TMC, RJD, CPM, CPI and the Forward Bloc pressed for a legislation on MSP with guaranteed procurement. “It is clear that the laws are only meant to benefit the corporate sector,” CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury claimed. CPI general secretary D Raja said: “Parliament is being used to implement the BJP and RSS agenda. It is all about centralisation of power. We first heard about ‘one nation, one tax’, and now we are hearing ‘one nation, one election’,” Raja said. — TNS