18012021-TTB-01.qxd 1/17/2021 11:41 PM Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | vol.141 no.18 | 12 pages | ~5.00 | regd.no.chd/0006/2021-2023 established in 1881 KEY POSTS IN BIDEN ADMN FOR 20 INDIAN-AMERICANS WORLD /thetribunechd CROP DIVERSIFICATION: NO ROOM FOR COMPLACENCY INFOCUS PM FLAGS OFF 8 TRAINS TO STATUE OF UNITY BACK PAGE /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com IN BRIEF monday | 18 january 2021 Ahead of SC hearing, unions ‘All ministers with us’: Arnab flaunts links in leaked chats out with tractor parade plan Passed on classified information to BARC ex-chief To organise 50-km Republic Day march on Delhi’s Outer Ring Road 103-YR-OLD SHYAM SARAN NEGI India’s 1st voter keeps date with ballot in HP SHIMLA: Despite his failing vision, India’s first voter Shyam Saran Negi (103) reached his polling booth in Kinnaur to exercise his franchise in panchayat elections, for which 78.4 per cent turnout was recorded on Sunday. INSIDE Boris Johnson invites Modi for G7 summit NEW DELHI: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has invited PM Narendra Modi to participate in the first in-person G7 summit in almost two years to be held from June 11 to 13. Johnson also plans to visit India before the summit. BACK PAGE House panel notice to Facebook, Twitter NEW DELHI: Amid a row over WhatsApp altering its privacy policy, the parliamentary panel on IT on Sunday issued notices for January 21 to Facebook and Twitter in connection with the misuse of social media platforms. — TNS Tribune News Service Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 17 Screenshots of purported WhatsApp conversations between former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) chief Partho Dasgupta and Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami show the latter claiming close links with the government, going to the extent of saying, “All ministers are with us”. Explosive details of chats which the Mumbai Police are now relying upon in the TRP scam probe reveal how he had advance information on not just sensitive national security matters, but also of top constitutional, ministerial and administrative appointments. The supplementary chargesheet containing the chats claim that Arnab allegedly passed on classified information to Dasgupta for the latter’s help in manipulating TRPs in favour of Republic TV. A chat dated May 2017 shows Arnab boasting of close proximity to the government. In a July 2017 conversation, Arnab displays advance knowledge of Cabinet formation when he tells Dasgupta of the future developments at the Ministry of Information Sonepat/New Delhi, January 17 Farmers protesting against the three central agricultural laws today decided to go ahead with their January 26 tractor parade and said the march would be organised on Delhi’s Outer Ring Road. The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of around 40 farm unions, made the announcement on the eve of a hearing in the Supreme Court on the Delhi Police’s petition to stop the tractor rally even as the government reiterated it was “ready for anything but repeal” of the laws. Addressing the media at DOUBLING AGRI INCOME GOVT’S PRIORITY: SHAH ❝ If there is any big priority of the Modi government, it is to double the farmers’ income. The new laws will increase their income multifold. Amit Shah, Farmers protest at Ghazipur border near Delhi. MANAS RANJAN BHUI HOME MINISTER MORCHA DISTANCES ITSELF FROM CHARUNI EVENT ‘BOUND BY MORCHA AGENDA’, SIRSA SKIPS NIA SUMMONS P2 READY TO PROTEST TILL NEXT 2024 LOK SABHA POLL: TIKAIT Sanyukt Kisan Morcha leaders distanced themselves from Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh Charuni’s programme in Delhi on Sunday in which many Opposition leaders participated. INSIDE Singhu border, union leaders, including Darshan Pal, Shiv Kumar Kakka, Hanan Mol- lah and Jagjeet Singh Dallewal, said their protest would be peaceful and all the farm- In Hry, 20L birds may be culled Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 17 Close on the heels of the decision to cull 1.66 lakh birds in Panchkula’s Barwala poultry belt, four more samples are suspected to be positive. Their confirmation is likely to sound the death knell for 20 lakh birds in Samples sent to Bhopal lab for confirmation Asia’s largest poultry belt. Sources in the Animal Husbandry Department said four more samples tested by the Jalandhar laboratory carried the strain. The samples have been forwarded to a Bhopal lab for confirmation. “If we follow the government guidelines which state that all birds in farms falling in the radius of 1km of the epicentre have to be culled, the entire Barwala belt will turn into a graveyard. Also, there is no space to bury 20 lakh birds,” a senior officer explained. INSIDE ers would carry on their tractors would be the Tricolour. continued on page 9 ‘No jab, no pay’ diktat in J’khand New Delhi, January 17 In the first instance of a district authority mandating Covid vaccine shots for staffers, the Koderma Chief Medical Officer and District Vaccination Officer have issued an order asking all staffers to get vaccinated or continued on page 9 TRANSCRIPT OF WHATSAPP CHATS TRP SCAM & ART 370.. May 17, 2017 Arnab Goswami: Boss trust me the industry knows how badly we have demolished them Partho Dasgupta: All kinds of political games have started AG: All ministers with us August 2, 2019 PD: Is Article 370 being revoked? AG: Sir I have set platinum standard in breaking...this story is ours July 17, 2017 AG: Venkaiah probable Vice-Prez PD: So again change of I&B minister; so who is next AG: Smriti…so happy, she is a fighter and a great friend and Broadcasting. “Venkaiah probable VicePresident,” Arnab says, with the then BARC boss asking who the next I&B Minister would be. Arnab discloses the name of Smriti Irani and says he’s happy at her elevation and that he was worried about “J” (Prakash Javadekar) coming in. The same day BJP parliamentary board picks Naidu as the party’s vice presidential candidate. Internal security matters were also reportedly known to continued on page 9 Arnab Goswami Partho Dasgupta SURGICAL STRIKES.. February 14, 2019 AG: Sir 20 min ahead on the biggest terrorist attack... only channel with a ground presence…We have won like crazy February 23, 2019 AG: Something big will happen PD: Dawood? AG: No sir Pakistan... the government is confident of striking in a way that people will be elated Had ‘prior info’ on Balakot air strike New Delhi, January 17 Three days before the Indian Air Force (IAF) jets launched an air strike at Balakot in Pakistan, Arnab had sent a purported WhatsApp message claiming that it would be “bigger than a normal strike”. “On Pakistan, the government is confident of striking in a way that people will be elated,” he allegedly said in continued on page 9
The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising four eminent persons as trustees.
The Tribune, the largest selling daily in North India, publishes news and views without any bias or prejudice of any kind. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language and partisanship, are the hallmarks of the paper. It is an independent newspaper in the real sense of the term.
The English edition apart, the 133-year-old Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).