FREE PRESS Regd. No. Indore MP/ICD 216/2018-2020 INDORE UJJAIN BHOPAL MUMBAI `3 RNI No. mpeng/2010/35815 - PUNE VOL. 10 NO. 209 | BHOPAL | TUESDAY | JANUARY 12, 2021 | PAGES 12 NAVY TO HOLD MEGA COASTAL EXERCISE COVERING OVER 7,500 KM OF COASTLINE Pg-7 Quality at Value WEATHER 25.00c. 17.00c Sunrise : 07.09 Sunset : 06.00 THOUGHT FOR THE DAY www.freepressjournal.in EDIT FARMERS’ STIR: NO LIGHT AT THE END OF TUNNEL Pg- 6 Real education is not just superimposing all kind of date upon our brains from outside sources. Real education is to bring out what is within us. His Holiness Radhanath Swami Maharaj PRIYANKA CHOPRA WRAPS SHOOT OF HER NEW HOLLYWOOD FILM Pg-10 Govt orders 11 mn vax from Serum Institute Each dose to cost Rs 210 NEW DELHI The Union government on Monday placed a purchase order with Serum Institute of India (SII) for 11 million doses of Oxford's Covid-19 vaccine, Covishield, each costing Rs 210 including GST, official sources said. Dispatch of the vaccine is likely to start by late Monday evening, they said. According to the order placed, each dose of the vaccine has been priced at Rs 200 and with GST of Rs 10 it would cost Rs 210. The health ministry is also likely to soon sign a purchase order for another anti-coronavirus vaccine, Covaxin, which has been indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech, a source said. Covishield vaccine doses would be initially shipped to 60 consignee points from where those would be distributed to various vaccination centres across India, the sources said. As many as 2,54,500 doses of Covishield are set to be delivered at Delhi's central storage, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital, in Tahirpur. The HLL Lifecare Limited, a public sector undertaking, issued the supply order on behalf of the Union Health Ministry in the name of Prakash Kumar Singh, Additional Director, Government and Regulatory Affairs at Serum Institute of India. "The Ministry of Health has nominated HLL Lifecare Limited vide letter dated January 11 as procuring agency for procurement of vaccine. For the purpose of this order, the Ministry of Health, Government of India is the 'purchaser' and HLL Lifecare Limited (HLL) is 'procuring agency'. Vaccine-laden trucks will move out from Manjari location of the Punebased SII amid elaborate police securi. ty The Maharashtra government has decided to provide police security to the trucks carrying the vaccine up to airports and to the borders of the state. India had recently approved two vaccines, Oxford's Covishield manufactured by the Serum in the country and Bharat Biotech's Covaxin, for restricted emergency use. Govt to bear expenses for 1st round of vaccination: Modi JABS FOR 30 CR IN FIRST FEW MONTHS: PM rime Minister Modi Pannounced onNarendrathatthe the Monday Central government will bear expenses of vaccinating nearly 3 crore healthcare and frontline workers in the first round and suggested that public representatives should not be part of this initial exercise. Interacting with chief ministers, Modi underscored the enormity of what he described as the world's biggest vaccination exercise, which begins on January 16, saying over 30 crore citizens will get the jabs in the next few months in India against only 2.5 crore people vaccinated so far in over 50 countries in around a month. Put farm laws on hold or else we will do it, SC tells Centre “Each one of us is responsible. The responsibility is on all of us, including the SC, that there will be no bloodshed. We don’t want any blood on our hands. There should be no violence. A stray incident can spark violence” News Brief Surya Namaskar to be performed online today BHOPAL: Covid-19 pandemic has laid its shadow on 'Surya Namaskar' event that has witnessed gathering of students in large number every year. The group Surya Namaskar event that is organized as part of Yuva Diwas on the occasion of birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda on January 12 will be held online this year due to Covid pandemic. Participants have been asked to remain at home and perform Surya Namaskar through radio. The online programme will start at 9 am and continue till 9.45 am. YC to collect soil as part of anti-farm laws protest INDORE: The Youth Congress on Monday started a campaign here against the Centre's new farm laws as part of which soil from different places will be used to make a map of India in Delhi, the outfit's president Srinivas BV said. Bharti held, youth hurls ink at him RAE BARELI: AAP MLA Somnath Bharti on Monday had ink hurled at him in Rae Bareli and was arrested later for allegedly making objectionable remarks last week. He was arrested for criminal intimidation and promoting enmity between groups, police said, following remarks two days ago allegedly referring to CM Yogi Adityanath and the state's hospitals. Illegal coal mining: ED raids 12 locations in Bengal KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday raided 12 premises across West Bengal, as part of an ongoing investigation into illegal coal mining, an official of the agency said.The searches were conducted at the residences and offices of people who are “considered close to Anup Majhi alias Lala” — the main accused in the coal scam, he said. STAY ON 3 FARM laws on cards, SC order likely today OUR BUREAU NEW DELHI The Supreme Court on Monday expressed its "disappointment" at the way the Centre is handling the farmers' protest, bluntly telling it that the court may step in if the government cannot control the crises. "Tell us whether you will put the laws on hold or else we will do it, what is the ego here," remarked Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde who is hearing a bunch of petitions on the farmers' protest. The Bench noted that there is no improvement on the ground as every round of talks has resulted in a stalemate. It, however, made it clear that it would not at this stage go into the question of con- stitutionality of the laws. Bobde CJI Finally, abruptly adjourned the hearing for Tuesday without passing any order. To the farmers, he said that an order of stay on the implementation of the laws would not mean they have to call off their protests, pack up and go home. “Even after we stay the implementation of the laws, you [farmers] can carry on with the protest. We don’t want any criticism that the court is stifling the protest,” the CJI observed. Censuring the government’s two top law officers for claiming that majority of the farmers support the farm laws, the CJI said: "We don't know whether you are part of the solution or the problem. There is not a single petition here which says the laws are beneficial....If the laws are put on hold, negotiations before the committee will be much better." He also questioned the government's "insistence" Farmers during their ongoing agitation against new farm laws, at Ghazipur border, in New Delhi, on Monday on implementing the laws first, wondering why they were brought without proper consultations. advocates Senior Dushyant Dave, Colin Gonsalves, H S Phoolka and Prashant Bhushan suggested that former Chief Justice of India R M Lodha could head the committee to resolve the stand-off. The court, however, said it would choose from a panel of names; the Bird flu spreads to 10 states GOVT ALLAYS fears of transmission to humans NEW DELHI The Union Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairies informed on Monday that avian influenza has been confirmed in 10 states of the country till date. CAR-NIHSAD has confirmed death of crows and migratory/wild birds in Tonk, Karauli and Bhilwara districts in Rajasthan, and Valsad, Vadodara and Surat districts in Gujarat. Further, death of crows has been confirmed in Kotdwar and Dehradun districts in Uttarakhand. In Delhi, crows and ducks were reported dead in New Delhi and Sanjay Lake areas, the ministry said in a statement. Additionally, the outbreak of avian influenza ith bird flu being in 10 states Wconfirmedon Monday so far, the Centre 'States shouldn't curb poultry sales' urged state govts, including Delhi, not to shut poultry markets and restrict sales based on "public perception", asserting that there are no scientific reports of transmission of bird flu to humans. Currently, bird flu has been confirmed in Delhi, , , Kerala, Himachal, UP MP Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttarakhand. Culling operations are on, Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh told reporters. has been confirmed at a poultry in Parbhani, and in Mumbai, Thane, Dapoli and Beed, as per the statement. In Haryana, culling of infected birds is underway for the containment of the spread of the disease. A Central team has visited Himachal and will reach Panchkula on Monday to carry out monitoring the epicentre sites and conduct epidemiological investiga- tion, the statement said. States have been requested to build awareness among the people and avoid the spread of misinformation. States/UTs also have been requested to increase surveillance around the water bodies, live bird markets, zoos, poultry farms etc. along with proper disposal of carcass, and strengthening of bio-security in poultry farms. government has promised to come back on this on Tuesday. On the lawyers telling the court that they would have to first discuss with their clients, the Kisan Ekta Morcha was quick to clarify that none of the farmer unions under its coordination has gone to the court, nor did they empower any lawyer to commit on their behalf. CONTD. ON P8 Sensex captures 49,000 peak MUMBAI Equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty soared to lifetime highs for the second straight session on Monday as encouraging corporate earnings prompted investors to accumulate IT, finance and auto stocks. After touching a record intra-day high of 49,303.79, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 486.81 points or 1 per cent higher at 49,269.32, closing above the 49,000-level for the first time. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 137.50 points or 0.96 per cent to finish at its fresh lifetime high of 14,484.75. It hit a record 14,498.20 during the session. IT stocks led the rally after TCS on Friday reported a 7.2 per cent jump in December quarter net to Rs 8,701 crore and projected double-digit revenue growth for FY22. Woman gangraped by four in Siddhi OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL The condition of Sidhi gang rape victim is stated . to be stable on Monday A 45-year- old widow was ganged raped and the accused inserted an iron rod into her private parts on Sunday night. This Incident occurred at Mura Pahad near SidhiRewa border under Amalia police station in Sidhi district. All the four accused-Balkrisna, alias Pintu Bailal Patel, Lallu Kol and Yogendra Kol-- have been arrested under Section 376, 452 and other sections of the IPC. The accused will be produced in the court on . Tuesday After medical reports, sections may be enhanced. The victim, in profuse bleeding condition, was referred to Rewa Medical College. Her condition is stated to be stable after operation. Her two children, who are of 20 to 25 years of age, are working in Surat. Sidhi ASP Manjulata Patle said, "The gang-rape victim's condition is stable after operation. The widow, who runs shop at Mura Pahad area, was gangraped and the accused inserted an iron rod in to her private parts. CONTD. ON P8 I t was good news for Indian cricket all the way on Monday as Virushka was blessed with a daughter and the depleted Team India stood its ground to technically draw the match but at the end we WON the dirty mind game which the Aussies started. We actually paid them back in their coin. This was the longest period when India batted "anywhere" in a fourth innings in the last 41 years… to be precise since 1979. In that year, against England at the Oval, faced with a fourth-innings chase of 438, India managed 429/8. We had then batted for 150.5 overs. At the SCG on Monday, India earned a draw, batting 131 overs and scoring 334/5 in their second innings. Four batsmen - Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant, Hanuma Vihari and Ravi Ashwin - played 100plus deliveries to earn us this feat, which can be actually termed as our victory of sorts. We came into the Test with just ONE experienced fast bowler - Jasprit Bumrah. Ishant missed the series. Mohammed Shami returned with an arm fracture during the Adelaide Test. Umesh Yadav suffered a calf muscle injury during the second Test in Melbourne and returned home. India was "armoured" (so to say) with only Mohammed Siraj playing his second Test - and debutant Navdeep Saini along with Bumrah. We even lost the toss and bowled first which in itself was a major disadvantage, given the SCG pitch's penchant to offer turn and unpredictably bouncy as the match went ahead. To make matters worse, we lost Ravindra Jadeja who fractured a finger. The southpaw was the team's most successful bowler in the first innings with four wickets and also the side's only genuine allrounder. CONTD. ON P8 18-year is too less to be burdened with household responsibilities OUR STAFF REPORTER BHOPAL The State government will soon increase marriage age of girls from existing 18 to 21 years. This would ensure over-all development of girls, said Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan while addressing felicitation programme of ‘real hero’ of crime against . women on Monday The event marked start of 15-day programme to felicitate people who foiled crime specially against women. Appreciating the role of police in curbing crime during lockdown, he said, “Crime rate dropped 15% to 50% across the state during lockdown.” Referring to marriageable age of a girl, the CM called for a discussion to fix the age of marriage. “I think 18 years is quite low to take up the household responsibilities. Besides, it also hinders overall development of the girl,” he said. Sharing concern over high incidence of girls, boys and women going missing, he said that serious action was required in case of missing girls. Terming disappearance of girls a matter of concern, he said finding and recovering such girls should be a priority for police and administration. CONTD. ON P8 Fed up with extortion, Power Mech to surrender contract in Bhind, Sehore Firm has already left Hoshangabad mine NITENDRA SHARMA BHOPAL The extortion from the companies by local politicians, police, bureaucrats and goons has become a big problem for the firms digging sand in various districts. Fed up with extortion, Power Mech Projects Limited is planning to give up mining contracts in Sehore and Bhind. Power Mech Company did not take the contract in Hoshangabad, just after the mining work had been allotted to them. Power Mech has two and a half years more for the contract. Therefore, the firm will surrender the work in two districts in June after completing the Sydney Test draw no less than a WIN for us ROBIN ROY Girl’s marriage age to be increased to 21 yrs: CM Vihari with Ashwin during their dogged batting target. The company has a contract of Rs 120 crore in Sehore and that of Rs 90 in Bhind. It is because of the goons in these two districts that the company has incurred heavy loss. It says unless the government protects the companies, they cannot earn profit. This is the reason why they are planning to pack off from MP. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is going to hold a meeting with the di- rectors of Power Mech Company, and it is only after that, the company will take a decision. Executive director of Pow, er Mech Company Krishna Praveen Kota, says whether the firm continues its work in MP or not will be decided soon. He said that the directors of the company would soon hold a meeting with the chief minister. A decision on the issue will be taken only after the meeting, he said. CONTD. ON P8 Ash's win is Tim's 'Pain' India… to cow down was every was the Oz crowd There is was bad,attempt team's attitudeTeam worse. If the Sledging a part of the pyrotechnics during a match Down Under, there emerged footage of Australia's Steve Smith deliberately scuffing up batting marks in the crease. The exchange between Paine and Ashwin was hardly invigorating after the racist slurs that were hurled on Sunday. Referring to Friday's series-deciding Test at the Gabba in Brisbane, where Australia haven't lost since 1988, Paine said to Ashwin: ''I can't wait to get you to the Gabba, Ash, I'll tell you what, woo hoo.'' Ashwin hit back: ''Just like we want to get you to India. That will be your last series.'' Paine then replied, ''May be. Are you a selector here as well?'' The Aussie skipper then added: ''At least my team-mates like me, d***head. I've got a lot more Indian friends than you do. Even your team-mates think you're a goose, don't they? Every one of them.''