21012021-TT-01.qxd 1/20/2021 11:25 PM Page 1 13 chandigarh | gurugram | jalandhar | bathinda | vol.141 no.21 | 12 pages | ~5.00 | regd.no.chd/0006/2021-2023 established in 1881  haryana UN WORKING WITH INDIA AS IT BEGINS VAX DRIVE WORLD /thetribunechd SENSEX, NIFTY AT RECORD HIGH AMID GLOBAL RALLY BUSINESS PM RELEASES ~2,600 CR TO 6L UP RESIDENTS BACK PAGE /thetribunechd www.tribuneindia.com thursday | 21 january 2021 Govt offers to put farm laws on hold for 1.5 yrs Farmers to discuss Centre’s fresh proposal today | Next round of talks tomorrow Vibha Sharma UNIONS WON’T SHIFT RALLY TO KMP E-WAY Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 20 In a major development that hinted at thaw in the impasse over the three contentious farm laws, the BJP-led Union Government today offered to suspend implementation of the legislations for a year and a half or a period agreed upon mutually between the protesting farmers and the Centre. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who briefed the media after the 10th round of negotiations with the farm unions, said the government was ready to submit an affidavit in the Supreme Court to dispel any doubts on their proposal. The unions appeared firm on their demand for the repeal of the laws, though they said they would hold internal consultations tomorrow on the fresh proposal. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said, “The government proposed to sus- IN BRIEF Rajasthan Cong MLA Shaktawat dead JAIPUR: Rajasthan Congress MLA Gajendra Singh Shaktawat, who was suffering from liver infection, died at a private hospital in Delhi on Wednesday morning. Shaktawat (48) had also tested positive for Covid19, sources said. Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, former deputy CM Sachin Pilot and other leaders have expressed grief over the demise. — PTI Lt Gen Mohanty is next Army Vice-Chief NEW DELHI: Southern Army Commander Lt General CP Mohanty has been appointed the next Vice-Chief of the Indian Army. He will take over from Lt General SK Saini after he superannuates on January 31. In the past, Lt Gen Mohanty has commanded the crucial 33 Corps in the eastern sector after the 73-day Doklam standoff. —TNS ■ Farmers rejected a suggestion by police to hold Jan 26 tractor rally on Kundli-ManesarPalwal Expressway instead of Delhi Outer Ring Road ■ Union leaders and officers of the Delhi, UP and Haryana police met at Vigyan Bhawan to discuss the route ■ There might be another meeting with the police officers on the route on Thursday, a farmer leader said 34-YR-OLD DIES AT SINGHU Protesters take part in a procession to mark Guru Gobind Singh's Parkash Purb at Singhu on Wednesday. PTI BREAKTHROUGH EXPECTED: GOVT We are ❝amicablehopeful ofinreaching an solution the next round of talks on January 22. NS Tomar, AGRICULTURE MINISTER pend the farm laws for one and a half years. We rejected the proposal but since it has come from the government, WANT REPEAL, BUT WILL DISCUSS OFFER ❝ The govt proposed to suspend the farm laws for 1.5 years. We rejected the proposal, but since it has come from govt, we will meet tomorrow to discuss it. JS Ugrahan, BKU LEADER we will meet tomorrow and deliberate over it.” Tomar said he was hopeful of reaching an amicable solution in the next round of talks on January 22. “It will be victory for Indian democracy the day farmers' agitation ends and they ■ A 34-year-old protesting farmer died reportedly due to cardiac arrest at Kundli border on Wednesday. ■ He has been identified as Jagjeet Singh of Dhatt village in Mullanpur of Ludhiana district of Punjab return to their homes,” he said. The government, he said, was keen on ending the continued on page 9 SC fumes over ‘biased’ tag for panel members Satya Prakash Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 20 The Supreme Court on Wednesday took strong exception to casting of aspersions on a four-member committee appointed by it to talk to farmers agitating against farm laws even as it issued notice to the Centre on pleas seeking reconstitution of the panel after recusal of BKU leader BS Mann. “If you don’t want to appear before the committee, we can’t compel you. But you can’t malign people like this and cast aspersions on them and the court. Why do you need to brand people like this? How can you play with people’s reputation like this? We have serious objections to them being called biased,” a Bench headed by CJI SA Bobde said. Senior advocate Dushyant DON’T MALIGN IMAGE ❝ We have serious objections that members of the committee are criticised and called names. How can you play with people’s reputation like this? 4 soldiers injured in Pak firing JAMMU: Four Indian soldiers sustained injuries as Pakistani troops opened fire targeting forward areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Akhnoor sector, sources said. The ceasefire violation from across the LoC in the Keri Battal area took place on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, they said. The injured soldiers were shifted to the military hospital in Udhampur for treatment. — PTI SA Bobde, CHIEF JUSTICE OF INDIA Dave and advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing farmers’ unions, told the Bench that the unions were not interested in making any representation to the courtappointed panel as they wanted the farm laws repealed. The Bench, which issued notice to the government on applications filed by BKU (Lokshakti) and others for reconstitution of the panel, posted the matter for further hearing after two weeks. continued on page 9 FIR filed against ‘Tandav’ makers MUMBAI: The Mumbai police on Wednesday registered an FIR against the makers and cast of Amazon Prime’s controversial web series “Tandav”, based on a complaint lodged by a BJP MLA, an official said. The case was registered by the Ghatkopar police against the actors of the web series, including Saif Ali Khan and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, its director Ali Abbas Zafar. — PTI In United States, Biden-Kamala era begins Expect immigration ❝ relief for Indians At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed Joe Biden, 46TH PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES DURING INAUGURAL ADDRESS Washington, January 20 Democrat Joe Biden was sworn in as president of the United States on Wednesday, assuming the helm of a country reeling from deep political divides, a battered economy and a raging pandemic that has killed more than 4 lakh Americans. Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, became the first Black person, first woman and first Asian American to serve as Vice-President after she was sworn in by US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Biden, 78, became the oldest US president in history at a scaled-back ceremony in Washington that was largely stripped of its usual pomp and circumstance, due both to the coronavirus and securi- 15 EXECUTIVE ACTIONS TO ADDRESS US CRISES Sandeep Dikshit Tribune News Service ■ Biden will sign 15 executive actions to address Covid, economy, climate change and racial inequity ■ Health crisis to be tackled by rejoining WHO and going in for mask mandate ■ Recession to be addressed by federal moratorium on evictions & on student loan debt ■ Climate change to be han- dled by rejoining Paris pact ■ Racial inequality by reversing travel ban on visitors from Muslim countries Lady Gaga sings the national anthem as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris look on. REUTERS ty concerns following the January 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump. With his hand on an heirloom Bible that has been in his family for more than a century, continued on page 9 TRUMP SKIPS EVENT ADVOCATE OF INDO-US TIES SCALED-DOWN CEREMONY Donald Trump skipped his successor’s inauguration and exited the White House for the last time as US President to board a flight to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, his permanent home Joe Biden has a track record of being an ardent advocate of strong India-US ties both as a Senator from Delaware for three decades and as Obama’s deputy for eight years The inauguration began around 11 am with an invocation by Leo Jeremiah O’Donovan, a Jesuit priest who is a close friend of the Biden family. Lady Gaga performed the national anthem New Delhi, January 20 Shortly after taking oath as US President, Joe Biden will begin overturning many of his predecessor Donald Trump’s orders in order to address four simultaneous national crises: the pandemic, recession, climate change and racial inequality. At least a dozen reversals are expected on the inaugural day though only a couple will be implemented right away. This is because most need approval from a narrowly divided Congress and a Senate which Democrats control 50-50 with the tiebreaking vote to Vice-President Kamala Harris. “On Inauguration Day, President-elect Biden will sign roughly a dozen actions,” the incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has said. In fact, some of the proposals might make it to the Congress and the Senate later than expected because Biden’s first priority will be to get his Cabinet choices confirmed. The process has been delayed because of delays in counting and the confirmation of electoral votes by the Congress and the Senate. Among the reversals that Biden’s transition team has said will be announced on inaugural day, Indians will be acutely interested in the US Citizenship Bill of 2021, the legislation to modernise the immigration system. Highly skilled Indian IT professionals who come to the US on H-1B work visas have been the hardest hit by continued on page 9 It’s treason, punish guilty under Bird flu cases at 2 Pb poultry farms, culling from today secrets Act: Cong on info leak Tribune News Service Tribune News Service New Delhi, January 20 Upping the ante on the explosive Arnab GoswamiPartho Dasgupta chats, the Congress on Wednesday said the leakage of information about IAF strike at Balakot amounted to treason and those responsible must be punished under the Official Secrets Act. “How could a journalist get information about a military operation three days before the strike? Leaking official secrets is a crime under the Official Secrets Act, but leaking an official secret about a national security matter is treason, anti-national,” said former Defence Minister AK Antony, as the Congress threatened to raise the matter in the Budget session and seek a joint parliamentary committee probe into the matter. The Congress alleged only members of the Cabinet Committee on Security — the PM, Home Minister, Defence Minister and CONG RELEASES MORE CHATS Arnab Goswami Partho Dasgupta ON TRAI/AMIT SHAH.. December 18, 2018 AG:Amit Shah at 9.30; please come by 9.15 am; Make you meet him AG: Govt will officially ask for measurement of landing pages to be stopped. Spoke to MIB (Ministry of IB) now. Trying to announce NBF. Will neutralize Rajat. PD: Yes. Get it blessed by Minister. AG: That he will and PMO. National Security Adviser — knew about the operation. “The information could have been shared by one of them. An inquiry must be ordered,” Congress leaders and former ministers Antony, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Salman Khurshid said in a joint statement. Citing Dasgupta’s “buy the ON ARUN JAITLEY.. Aug 19, 2019 AG: Jaitley stretching it. PMO does not know what to do. PM leaving on Wednesday for France. PD: So has not died yet? AG: Maintaining him. I expect something by the evening. SUSHANT CASE.. Aug 9, 2020 PD: Good stuff. You were the force behind the SC verdict (Referring to Sushant Rajput case wherein the SC declined Rhea Chakraborty’s plea to transfer the probe from Patna to Mumbai) judge” remark to Arnab, former Law Minister Salman Khurshid asked if the duo tried to influence the judiciary and a favorable verdict was secured through such means? Citing Dasgupta’s “request” to Arnab to get him media adviser’s role in the PMO, the Congress asked why the PM was allowing such proximity to Goswami? Chandigarh, January 20 Three samples from two Dera Bassi poultry farms have tested positive for bird flu strain H5N8. The Department of Animal Husbandry has started preparations for initiating a culling drive at the infected poultry farms tomorrow. The National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal, has confirmed the presence of H5N8 virus strain in the samples. The samples were from Alpha Poultry Farm having 55,000 birds and Royal Poultry Farm having 60,000 birds at Behra village in Dera Bassi. A sample taken from a dead crow at Balongi (Mohali) has also tested positive for H5N8 strain. On January 15, the Mohali administration sent a suspected case of bird flu from the area to the Northern Regional Disease Diagnostic Savarkar’s portrait in UP House gallery, row erupts Lucknow, January 20 A portrait of Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar in the picture gallery of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council has sparked a row, with Congress MLC Deepak Singh raising an objection and writing a letter to the Chairman seeking its removal. The portrait was inaugurated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday. “The installation of the picture of Savarkarji along with that of great freedom fighters who withstood atrocities of the British and yet did not bow before them is an insult to all those who continued to bear all kind of torture and kept fighting for independence,” he wrote to Chairman Ramesh Yadav. He said the picture should be removed. — PTI H5N8 STRAIN ■ It is a sub-type of Influenza A virus (bird flu) ■ It’s highly lethal for wild birds and poultry ■ Till date, no human case of H5N8 infection has been detected Laboratory (NRDDL), Jalandhar, from where it was sent to Bhopal institute for further investigation. NRDDL Joint Director Mohinder Pal Singh said, “The culling will be undertaken at commercial poultry farms in the 1-km radius of the affected site.” VK Janjua, Additional Chief Secretary, Animal Husbandry, said they had constituted 25 teams of five members each for the culling drive. Each team includes a veterinary doctor. “Though we are waiting for directions from the Centre, 50,000 birds will be culled at the two farms in the first phase,” he said. He said they had already started taking samples from poultry farms situated in the vicinity of the infected farms. On Tuesday, a wild goose found dead in Rupnagar had tested positive for bird flu, which became the first case of bird flu in the state. Charkhi Dadri stone crushers fined ~36 cr, green panel told Bhartesh Singh Thakur Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January 20 As many as 277 stone crushers in Charkhi Dadri had been fined Rs 31.45 crore for illegal groundwater extraction while a Rs 4.89 crore penalty had been slapped on 33 for violating other norms, a panel constituted to look into the irregularities has GROUNDWATER EXTRACTION told the National Green Tribunal. Formed following directions from the NGT on August 19, 2020, the sevenmember committee submitted the details before the tribunal on January 13. The panel comprised Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) Member Secretary S Narayanan, State Environment Impact Assessment Authority Member Secretary Continued on Page 9