www.freepressjournal.in | twitter.com/fpjindia Reg. No. Mcs/048/2018-20; RNI No. 1541/1957 I M.p.c.s office Mumbai-400001 Wipro net rises 21% in Q3, revenues hit 36-Quarter high Pg 7 sC soft on farMers bloCking publiC roads and highWays Mithun Chakraborty gears up for digital debut Pg 22 310c. 210c. Sunrise: 07:15 am Sunset: 06:21 pm Vol. 64 No. 220 | THURSDAY | JANUARY 14, 2021 | 13 Pages | EDITIONS: Mumbai*, Pune, Indore, Bhopal, E-Paper EDIT NEEDLING BEFORE THE JAB Pg 10 Maha gets 9.83 lakh Covid-19 vaccine doses, as against 17.5 lakh that are needed SANJAY JOG Mumbai Just as the country is on the cusp of embarking on what is being billed as the world's largest Covid vaccination drive, differences between the Maha Vikas Aghadi government and the Centre surfaced on Wednesday . Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday accused the Centre of dispatching fewer vaccine doses. The state has received a total of 9,83,000 doses against its requirement of 17.5 lakh doses. Of the 9,83,000 doses, 9,63,000 alone have come BETWEEN THE LINES NO CHICKEN TIKKA FOR DELHI BELLY NEW DELHI: Scrumptious omelette fry, juicy chicken tikkas and other non-vegetarian items will not be available in shops and restaurants in large parts of Delhi as the civic authorities on Wednesday imposed a temporary ban on sale and storage of poultry or processed chicken meat in view of the bird flu situation here. Fish and muttonbased items, however, will continue to be on the menu in restaurants and be available in raw form for purchase at shops too, officials said. All the three municipal corporations warned such establishments of strict action, including cancellation of their license, if they fail to comply with the orders. The New Delhi Municipal Council, which constitutes nearly five per cent of Delhi areas, however, has not issued any official order on the ban, but said they are following the directions issued by the Delhi government with respect to bird flu. The government has not imposed any such ban similar to the one issued by all the three MCDs. The ban comes two days after Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying Giriraj Singh said that there is no need to be scared, urging people to eat items after cooking them properly at a particular temperature. He had also said that eggs are safe to eat. The civic bodies' decision left the owners of meat shops and restaurants in the national capital worried as they termed the order "needless" and said it would cause a huge loss to their businesses. The order issued by the veterinary services department of the NDMC, also said that owners of restaurants and hotels will face action if eggbased dishes or poultry meat and other products are served to customers. Testing of samples of crows and ducks had confirmed bird flu cases in the national capital on Monday, prompting the city government to impose a ban on sale of processed and packaged chicken brought from outside the city. Several ducks at Sanjay Lake and a large number of crows across various city parks have been found dead in the last one week. Reports of over 50 bird deaths were received on a helpline of the Delhi government's animal husbandry unit, and 18 samples from different parts of the city were sent for avian flu testing on Tuesday, officials said. from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) and the remaining 20,000 from Bharat Biotech. "Maharashtra needs a total of 17.5 lakh vaccine doses, but we have only been able to acquire 55 per cent of the required number as of now, taking into account wastage of about 1.50 lakh," he said. Tope also said that the Centre has asked the state government not to show haste in carrying out the vaccination campaign from January 16. “The Centre has also asked the state to reduce the number of inoculation centres from 511 to 350. It wants the government to focus on other emer- gencies also,’’ he noted. However, hours after Tope’s accusations, the Union Health Ministry refuted these allegations and clarified that there was no question of discrimination against any state in the allocation of vaccine doses. The ministry said, “Full initial procurement amount of 1.65 crore doses of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines allocated to all States/UTs in the proportion of healthcare workers database. There is no question of discrimination against any state in the allocation of vaccine doses.” CONTD. ON P13 83 TEJAS JETS TO JOIN FLEET OUR BUREAU / New Delhi The Cabinet Committee on Security on Wednesday approved the purchase of 73 LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) fighter jets and 10 trainer aircraft at a cost of Rs. 45,696 crore. The Tejas falls in the first indigenously designed, developed and manufactured category of combat aircraft (with an indigenous content of 50 per cent that will reach 60 per cent by the end of the programme), the government statement said. "This deal will be a self-reliance game chang- er in defence manufacturing," Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said. The Tejas is going to be the backbone of the IAF fighter fleet in the years to come and incorporates a large number of new technologies, many of which were never attempted before. The Tejas has been designed by the Aircraft Development Agency which falls , under the Defence Research and Development Organisation, and has been manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). CONTD. ON P13 The Centre on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court with a plea that its 2018 judgment decriminalizing adultery should not apply to the Armed Forces, where such acts amount to 'unbecoming conduct' and a ground for court martial. During the hearing, Attorney General K K Venugopal said that under the relevant rules of armed forces, adultery is indeed a ground for court FPJ NEWS SERVICE / Washington The House of Representatives is on its way to impeach President Trump for a historic second time for “inciting an insurrection” that led to his supporters running amok at Capitol Hill. The vote is expected to come after the debate, with a small but significant number of Republicans joining Democrats to impeach Trump for the second time, making him the first president to be impeached twice. Washington was in a state of siege on Wednesday as lawmakers opened their session, with armed National Guard soldiers taking position, central streets barred to cars and public spaces fenced off. The expected majority vote will come seven days ahead of Democrat Joe Biden's inauguration. Trump, however, still remains defiant, refusing to accept responsibility for his campaign to undermine Americans' belief in the election system and his final, fiery speech on the Mall, where he asserted that Biden had stolen the election and that they needed to march on CONTD. ON P13 Congress and show "strength." PRATIK SALUNKE Mumbai The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday arrested Sameer Khan, the son-in-law of Maharashtra Minority Affairs and Skill Development Minister Nawab Malik, in connection with their ongoing probe of seizure of high-quality marijuana from a British national who was arrested on Saturday . This is the fifth arrest in the case. Khan was summoned by the agency and reached their Ballard Estate office on Wednesday morning. NCB sources said they had stumbled upon an alleged transaction between Khan and the accused British national Karan Sajnani, who was arrested in a case involving the import of highly potent marijuana from abroad. “Khan has been supporting Sajnani. We have found a financial trail between Khan and Sajnani,” a senior NCB officer privy to the investigation said. An NCB statement read, “Dur- from the top court on the applicability of the verdict to armed forces. In question is a landmark judgment of a 5-judge Constitution Bench on September 27, 2018, which decriminalised adultery after striking down a British era law, Section 497 of the IPC, terming it as unconstitutional, archaic and manifestly arbitrary, with Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman saying that women can't be treated as "chattel". CONTD. ON P13 ing investigation, the role of Khan, a resident of Bandra, also came to light. Khan was called for examination. After detailed examination, he has been placed under arrest. Further follow-up action is underway Khan was ,” questioned by Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede. In November last year, Malik had voiced his opinions against the arrests initiated by the antinarcotics agency The comments . had come on the heels of the arrest of comedian Bharti Singh Farmers will not mar R-Day, says Rajnath NEW DELHI: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that he has confidence in Indian farmers and believes that they would never mar the Republic Day celebrations in Delhi. Rajnath Singh made the statement on being asked how the government plans to manage the tractor rally being organised on Republic Day. In an interview with Aaj Tak's Prabhu Chawla, Singh added that the farmers will find a solution to the issue. The  protesting farm unions have planned a tractor parade on January 26  will be marching into Delhi that from different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. "We believe that our farmers have a constructive approach. Other things are in the future so I can't say," he said. He further informed that the RDay celebrations are low-key this year. Notice not must for inter-faith marriage OUR CORRESPONDENT Lucknow In a judgement that is likely to bring relief to inter-faith couples, the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday declared as optional the mandatory requirement to give written notice of the marriage to the district officer. The court said making publication of such notices mandatory "would invade the fundamental rights of liberty and privacy". It would also affect the couple's freedom to choose marriage "without interference from State and non-state actors", Justice Vivek Chaudhary said. He said it shall be optional for the parties to the intended marriage to make a request in writing to the marriage officer to publish or not to publish such a notice. If the couple did not intend so, the marriage officer has to solemnise their marriage forthwith without publication of the 30 days’ notice, the court said. The court passed the order fol- lowing a petition by a Muslim woman who converted to Hinduism to marry a Hindu man. The petition said her father was not permitting her to live with her husband. In his judgment, Justice Chaudhary observed that the couple had expressed views that they could have solemnized their marriage under the Special Marriage Act, which requires the 30day notice that invites objections from the public at large. "They expressed views that any such notice would be an invasion in their privacy and would have definitely caused unnecessary social pressure/interference in their free choice with regard to their marriage," the judge said. The judgement comes against the backdrop of a recent controversial law enacted by the Uttar Pradesh government which prohibits forcible conversion for the sake of marriage. The UP government had specially promulgated an Ordinance for that. heralding the harvesting season. Those arriving from Punjab distributed roasted corn from the new harvest they had brought along; the squatters lit bonfires at various agitation sites to say goodbye to the harsh winter and celebrated by eating kheer, jaggery and gajak made from the January sugarcane crop. Lohri is celebrated a night before the Makar Sankranti, which is a festival of harvest across the country though , known by different names. It's Makar Sankranti in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and West Bengal, Pongal in Tamil Nadu and Bihu in Assam. Farmers at the Singhu border said they missed the celebrations with their families but would continue to protest at Delhi's borders because they were doing so for posterity . CONTD. ON P13 Farm law copies consigned to Lohri bonfire LAST WORD T OUR BUREAU / New Delhi he farmers agitating at Delhi’s borders on Wednesday burnt copies of the three controversial farm laws and tried to create a festival mood with bonfires to mark the Lohri festival, which is celebrated with much fervour in North India. However, the festivities were marked with a tinge of sadness since the families were not there to join the protestors in Impeachment is on course Minister's son-in-law arrested of adultery in Armed Forces martial and therefore armed forces should be exempted from the purview of the 2018 judgment of the Constitution bench. It has been contended that jawans and officers are often posted in inhospitable areas and their families are taken care of at base camp by other officers; therefore, laws and rules, penalising adulterous or promiscuous activity, help in maintaining discipline. Therefore, the AG said a clarification is needed in this regard Making US great again Brahma Kumaris MARIJUANA SEIZURE CASE Centre for criminalisation FROM OUR BUREAU New Delhi Soul consciousness awakens divinity leading to noble to thoughts and feelings. and her husband Haarsh Limbachiyaa in a cannabis case. “The way NCB is arresting people who consume drugs. These are addicts who should be sent to rehab, not jail. NCB’s duty is to track down drug traffickers but no action is being taken against them. Is NCB protecting them by giving publicity arrest, ing drug addicts, especially from the film industry?” he had asked then, according to news agency ANI. “There is something wrong within the system. They must see from where the drugs are coming. Who are the traffickers and peddlers? There is no action against them,” Malik had added. Ramkumar Tiwari, co-owner of Mumbai’s famous Muchhad Paanwala, who was found in possession of 500 grams of suspected cannabinoids, was also arrested for his alleged links with Sajnani. On Saturday an NCB team detect, ed a suspicious parcel from a courier in Bandra (West) that contained marijuana. CONTD. ON P13 Search for fighting fit Team India PRESS TRUST OF INDIA / Brisbane The injury-ravaged Indian team on Wednesday underwent its first training session at the Gabba here, hoping against hope to be able to field 11 fit players in the series-deciding fourth Test against Australia. Ruled out of the last Test owing to an abdominal strain, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah still accompanied the visiting team for its training session. Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav was seen bowling at the nets and there is a chance that he could be picked for the match with influential all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja ruled out due to a fractured thumb. Also part of the session were seamer Shardul Thakur and allrounder Washington Sundar Either . T Natarajan or Shardul is likely to replace Bumrah in the playing XI at Gabba, forming a new-look pace attack alongside Mohammed Siraj and Navdeep Saini. CONTD. ON P13 Metro lines 2A & 7 will be operational in 2021 JESCILIA K AND RN BHASKAR Mumbai The two metro lines — 2A (Dahisar-DN Nagar) and 7 (Dahisar EAndheri E) — will be operational in 2021, confirmed RA Rajeev, Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA. These projects, which were delayed due COVID-19 and its subsequent lockdown, were supposed to be completed by December 2020. Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Rajeev said, “Unfortunately the projects, which were , supposed to conclude in December 2020, have been delayed due to COVID-19. Two metro lines — line 7 and 2A — were supposed to be completed by December 2020. But expect the work of these lines to be complete this year.” He also added that COVID-19 did have a short-term impact on various projects. “Certainly in , the short-term, there have been impacts like in the implementation of the project; increased cost of construction; manpower and machines were ideal for sometime and so on.” Manpower for MMRDA projects are not just Indian but from 12 different nationalities that came down especially for metro projects. So, MMRDA had to manage them. “That pushed up costs further.” Due to the pandemic, MMRDA was able to look and plan nonmotorised transport for first and RA Rajeev last-mile connectivity differently . Citing the example of Yulu EBikes at Bandra Kurla Complex, Rajeev is optimistic that there will be takers for non-motorised transport. Other than last mile connectivity MMRDA has also introduced , a ticketing structure which will enable seamless movement of passengers. This was keeping in mind the pandemic. Rajeev said, “The ticketing system can be patented in the market. This is because the design of the system was developed and implemented (by me) during the COVID-19 times. This is mainly because this will integrate the various modes of travel experience through one travel system.” This is a precursor to the FPJ webinar with RA Rajeev, Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA, on January 16 at 3 pm. Read complete interview on pg 5