FARM LAWS WILL BE CONSIGNED TO WASTEPAPER BASKET THE DAY CONG FORMS GOVT:

RAHUL GANDHI

From the heart of the protests against the three contentious farm laws in

Punjab's Moga, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack

against the Narendra Modi government and asserted that the legislations

would be revoked if Congress was voted to power.

Addressing a public meeting in Badhni Kalan in Punjab's Moga district before

leading a tractor rally, which has been named 'Kheti Bachao Yatra', Gandhi

wondered what was the "hurry" and need to implement these laws amid Covid-19

pandemic.

"I guarantee the day Congress government is formed (at the Centre), these

three black laws would be scrapped and consigned to wastepaper basket,"

Gandhi said

"And if farmers are happy with these laws, then why are they agitating

across the country? Why is every farmer of Punjab agitating," he said at the

rally, which was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Congress

state chief Sunil Jakhar and MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Rahul Gandhi further claimed that PM Modi had been lying to the people for

the last six years. "This is a kathputli government whose strings are in the

hands of the Adanis and Ambanis. These are the three black laws that have

been passed. The Modi government wants to destroy the three pillars of

Indian agriculture - MSP, food grain procurement and Mandis," he said.

Addressing another rally in Ludhiana, Gandhi said, "People of Punjab provide

food to the country, you are the backbone of our country. Why is Modi ji

breaking this backbone to benefit few people? Congress will never let this

happen."

Sidhu, who had stayed away from all Congress activities ever since he

resigned as cabinet minister last year, dubbed the farm laws an "attack on

federal structure" and alleged the central government was being run by

"capitalists".

BIHAR ELECTIONS: LJP BREAKS OFF WITH JD(U) BUT WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT BJP

Amid bickering between LJP and JD(U) in recent months, the Chirag

Paswan-headed party will go alone in the upcoming elections but still

"support the BJP". "Lok Janshakti Party will not contest the upcoming Bihar

elections in alliance with Janata Dal (United) due to ideological

differences," said Abdul Khaliq, LJP national general secretary, as saying.

At the LJP parliamentary board meeting, the party passed a resolution in

favour of an alliance with the BJP and said its MLAs would work to

strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With LJP going solo, a source told The Indian Express that Chief Minister

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United (JDU) and BJP are likely to evenly split

the number of seats they contest. The two allies will contest 119 seats each

and give five seats to Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha.

The relationship between JD(U) and LJP nosedived in the past months, with

the LJP chief taking potshots at the JD(U) government over its handling of

Covid-19 and the migrants crisis that followed the lockdown.

The Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases on October 28,

November 3, and November 7, with counting on November 10.

LAC ROW: SEVENTH ROUND OF CORPS COMMANDER TALKS LIKELY ON OCT 12

The seventh round of Corps Commander-level talks between armies of India and

China is expected to be held on October 12 with a specific agenda of firming

up a roadmap for disengagement of troops from the friction points in eastern

Ladakh, people familiar with the developments said on Sunday.

At the talks, the two sides are also expected to look into further steps to

maintain stability on the ground and avoid any action that may trigger fresh

tension in the region where troops from both sides will be facing difficult

conditions in the next four months due to harsh winters, they said.

Following the last round of military talks on September 21, the two sides

announced a slew of decisions including not to send more troops to the

frontline, refrain from unilaterally changing the situation on the ground

and avoid taking any actions that may further complicate matters.

The military talks were held with a specific agenda of exploring ways to

implement a five-point agreement reached between External Affairs Minister S

Jaishankar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at a meeting in Moscow on

September 10 on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

conclave.

The pact included measures like quick disengagement of troops, avoiding

action that could escalate tensions, adherence to all agreements and

protocols on border management and steps to restore peace along the LAC.

'REPREHENSIBLE' - EDITORS GUILD ON CURBS ON MEDIA IN HATHRAS, PHONE-TAPPING

The Editors Guild Of India Sunday condemned journalists being obstructed in

doing their job in the Hathras case, the phone tapping of reporters covering

the case, and "noted with concern that such attacks against the media are

becoming part of a growing trend" in recent months.

In a statement released Sunday, the Guild said: "The Editors Guild Of India

condemns the manner in which the law enforcement agencies of the Uttar

Pradesh government, led by Yogi Adityanath, have prevented media persons

from reporting on developments in and around Hathras after a brutal assault

on a woman leading to her death and the hurried cremation of her body by the

authorities without the presence of the family of the deceased."

In its statement, the Guild said: "Equally reprehensible is the way the

government has tapped the telephones of journalists engaged in covering the

Hathras incidents. Worse, the tapped conversation of the journalists has

been selectively leaked, leading to a social media calumny against them. Not

allowing the media to visit the incident spots and tapping the phone

conversation of journalists undermine and obstruct the functioning of the

media."

The Guild added that attacks on the media have increased in the recent

months, "in which a few other state governments have also indulged in such

harassment of journalists."

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

DONALD TRUMP EXPECTED TO BE DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL SOON

President Donald Trump's blood oxygen level dropped suddenly twice in recent

days, but he "has continued to improve" since then, the White House

physician said Sunday, adding a new layer of confusion to the president's

fight with COVID-19 even while suggesting he could be discharged from the

hospital as early as Monday.

Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley acknowledged he was trying to downplay the

severity of the president's condition the day before. "I was trying to

reflect the upbeat attitude of the team, that the president, that his course

of illness has had. Didn't want to give any information that might steer the

course of illness in another direction," Conley said. "And in doing so, came

off like we're trying to hide something, which wasn't necessarily true. The

fact of the matter is that he's doing really well."

Conley said the president had a "high fever" and a blood oxygen level below

94% on Friday and during "another episode" on Saturday. He was evasive when

asked whether Trump's level had dropped below 90%: "We don't have any

recordings here on that."

Trump's Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, pulled his attack ads off the air

during Trump's hospitalization, and on Sunday, he dispatched senior aides to

deliver a largely friendly message. "We are sincerely hoping that the

president makes a very quick recovery, and we can see him back out on the

campaign trail very soon," Biden adviser Symone Sanders said.

AZERBAIJAN'S MOST-POPULATED CITY GANJA HIT BY ROCKET ATTACKS

The fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces continued on Sunday

over the separatist territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, with Azerbaijan's

second-largest city coming under attack.

Azerbaijani officials said Sunday that Armenian forces attacked Ganja, the

country's second largest city. Hikmet Hajiyev, an aide to the Azerbaijani

president, tweeted a video depicting damaged buildings, and called it the

result of Armenia's massive missile attacks against dense residential areas"

in Ganja.

Hajiyev said in another tweet that attacks on Ganja and other areas in

Azerbaijan were launched from territory of Armenia.

Armenia's Defense Ministry said that no fire of any kind is being opened

from the territory of Armenia in Azerbaijan's direction.

But Nagorno-Karabakh's leader, Arayik Harutyunyan, confirmed on Facebook he

ordered rocket attacks to neutralize military objects in Ganja.

THE REST

========

HATHRAS CASE: BHIM ARMY CHIEF, SP, RLD MEET VICTIM'S FAMILY

A day after the Uttar Pradesh Police lifted a two-day blockade around the

village of the 19-year-old Dalit woman who died after she was brutally

assaulted and allegedly raped by four upper-caste men, politicians cutting

across party lines trooped into Hathras district to meet the victim's family

even as Congress' Priyanka Gandhi demanded removal of the district

magistrate and an investigation into his role in the entire matter.

The Uttar Pradesh Police used mild force on Rashtriya Lok Dal and Samajwadi

Party workers in Hathras after they broke the police barricade to reach the

victim's village in large numbers.

The RLD alleged that its vice-president Jayant Chaudhary and party workers

were lathicharged by police and roughed up. Condemning the police action,

RLD's UP unit president Masood Ahmed said, "The BJP is trying to suppress

the voice of the opposition."

A Samajwadi Party delegation and Chaudhary were finally allowed to meet the

family of the 19-year-old woman.

Bhim Army Chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who was initially stopped by the UP

Police from entering the village, demanded Y-category security for the

family besides a probe in the case under a retired Supreme Court judge.

The Yogi Adityanath-led government, under fire from the Opposition over the

incident, has recommended a CBI investigation into the entire chain of

events in the Hathras assault and alleged gangrape case, including her

hurried cremation without the family's presence. All the four accused -

Sandeep (20), Ravi (35), Luv Kush (23) and Ramu (26) - have been arrested.

The government has also suspended three police officers, including Hathras

Superintendent of Police Vikrant Vir, till now.

MODERNA COVID VACCINE SPURS 'STRONG IMMUNE RESPONSE, NO SERIOUS SIDE-EFFECT'

IN OLDER ADULTS

A phase 1 investigational trial has revealed that the Covid-19 vaccine

developed by US-based pharmaceutical company Moderna elicited a strong

immune response in older adults with no serious adverse effects, a study has

claimed.

The vaccine, called mRNA-1273, is being developed by Moderna in partnership

with the US government's National Institutes of Health (NIH). For the trial,

40 adults over the age of 56 were inoculated with the vaccine.

According to the results of the study, published in the New England Journal

of Medicine (NEJM) on 29 September, the vaccine produced high levels of both

binding and neutralising antibodies in older adults. Neutralising antibodies

prevent infectious particles from interacting with host cells while binding

antibodies can bind to the coronavirus but do not necessarily attack it.

The study noted that testing the vaccine on older participants was of

"paramount importance" since "these persons account for the majority of

serious Covid-19 cases and associated deaths". It added that the results are

also significant because the "immune response to many other vaccines has

been shown to decrease with increasing age".

COVID-19: INDIA POSSIBLY PAST THE PEAK

Covid-19 infections in India continued to fall for the third straight week,

adding to the growing evidence that the pandemic may now be past its peak in

the country, at least for now. India recorded just over 5.5 lakh cases

during the September 28-October 4 period, the lowest tally in five weeks.

The weekly death toll from the virus followed a similar trend. The country

recorded 7,143 fatalities in the last seven days, the lowest in four weeks,

as per data collated from state governments. This was the second straight

week of fall after fatalities had peaked at 8,175 during the September 14-20

week. The weekly toll has fallen by 13% since then.

The total no. of Active Cases is down to 9.35 lakkhs fro a peak of 10.17

lakhs on Sep 18.

Revealing details of India's vaccination plans for Covid-19, Union health

minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday the government is expecting to receive

and utilise 40-50 crore doses to cover 20-25 crore people by July 2021 and

has started working on plans to ramp up human resource and training capacity

on a massive scale.

PAYTM TAKES A BABY STEP TO CHALLENGE TO GOOGLE

Paytm has taken the challenge to Google's Play Store by launching its

Android Mini App Store, through which it seeks to help developers take their

applications to the masses. This is the start-up's latest move to break

Google's monopoly over distribution of Android applications.

Paytm is providing listing and distribution of these mini apps from within

its app, without any charge. Developers will be able to give a choice of

Paytm Wallet, Paytm Payments Bank, UPI, net banking, and card payments to

users.

Mini apps are custom-built mobile websites that give users an app-like

experience without requiring an actual download - which will benefit

millions of users by helping them save their data and memory. This comes

weeks after Google pulled down the Paytm app from its Play Store

temporarily, citing violation of its gambling policies.

Paytm has created the digital infrastructure to help small developers and

businesses set up low-cost and quick-to-build mini-apps that can be built

using HTML and javascript tech.

Paytm's Android Mini App Store offers direct access to discover, browse, and

pay without downloading or installing separate apps. More than 300 app-based

service providers such as Decathalon, Ola, Rapido, Netmeds, 1MG, and

Domino's Pizza have joined the programme.

VODA IDEA, AIRTEL BAT FOR TARIFF HIKE, BUT RELIANCE JIO IS SITTING TIGHT

The chorus for a tariff hike from incumbents is getting louder. In August,

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal declared firmly that mobile tariffs have

to go up for the industry to be sustainable. Backing him up was Vodafone

Idea chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla who called tariffs, despite last

December's 40-50 per cent increase, very low and said raising them was vital

for growth.

But Reliance Jio is sitting tight or at least is in no mood to oblige.

Instead, a few days ago, it unleashed a price war in the post-paid mobile

space, an area where it has less than one per cent share of the market. The

company launched new tariff plans with more data bundled with OTT platforms

like Netflix that were priced 20 per cent lower than Bharti Airtel's entry

level plans and offering twice the data of Vodafone Idea for the same price.

Those in the know say there could only be two factors that could compel Jio

to fall in line over a tariff hike. One is if the government nudges it to do

so, to ensure the survival of a three-operator private mobile play. The

second factor is the possibility of TRAI revisiting the proposal to fix a

floor price of tariffs. This proposal by Bharti and Vodafone sets limits for

Jio.

SUSHANT SINGH RAJPUT'S FAMILY LAWYER CASTS ASPERSIONS ON AIIMS REPORT

Actor Sushant Singh Rajput's family lawyer Vikas Singh said on Sunday that

he was highly perturbed by the AIIMS' medico-legal opinion submitted to the

CBI and would request the probe agency's chief to constitute a fresh

forensic team in the case.

Casting aspersions over the AIIMS' medical board ruling out murder in the

death of Rajput, the senior advocate said how can the expert team give a

conclusive opinion in the absence of the actor's body.

The AIIMS' medical board has ruled out murder in the death of actor Sushant

Singh Rajput and termed it "a case of hanging and death by suicide", the

premier institute's forensic chief Dr Sudhir Gupta said on Saturday. In its

conclusive medico-legal opinion to the CBI, the six-member team dismissed

the claims of "poisoning and strangling", with Dr Gupta saying the panel did

not find any trace of poison and drugs in the viscera. It is a case of

hanging and death by suicide. We have submitted our conclusive report to the

CBI," Dr Gupta, who is also the chairman of the forensic medical board,

said.

There was no injury on the body other than that of hanging. Also, there was

no mark of struggle and scuffle. The ligature mark on the neck was

consistent with hanging, he said.

FRENCH OPEN: POLISH TEENAGER IGA SWIATEK STUNS TOP SEED SIMONA HALEP

Polish teenager Iga Swiatek shocked top seed and 2018 champion Simona Halep

to reach the Roland Garros quarter-finals where she will face Italian

qualifier Martina Trevisan as the tournament took another dramatic twist on

Sunday.

Swiatek, just 19 and ranked 54 in the world, triumphed 6-1, 6-2 on the back

of 30 winners and not allowing 2018 winner Halep a single break point. "I am

surprised I could do this," admitted Swiatek after ending the 17-match

winning streak of Halep who was the overwhelming favourite in the absence of

2019 champion Ashleigh Barty and US Open winner Naomi Osaka and the

injury-enforced withdrawal of Serena Williams.

Sunday's early shocks mean that only four seeds remain in the women's draw

-- third seed Elina Svitolina, fourth-seeded Australian Open champion Sofia

Kenin, two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova, seeded at seven, and

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, the 30th seed.

IPL: MUMBAI INDIANS AND CSK SCORE EASY WINS

Quinton de Kock was back amongst the runs with a sizzling 39-ball 67 before

the bowlers did a commendable job in batsmen friendly Sharjah to power

Mumbai Indians to a clinical 34-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday.

The swashbuckling duo of Hardika Pandya (28) and Kieron Pollard (25 not out)

scored at their usual brisk pace but it was Krunal who propelled MI to 208

for five with 20 runs off a mere four deliveries in the last over.

Then, the MI bowlers did just enough to restrict SRH to 174 for seven.

In Sunday's 2nd match, in Dubai, Kings XI Punjab opted to bat first and

posted 178/4.

Chennai Super Kings openers Shane Watson (83 off 53) and Faf du Plessis (87

off 53) chased the target by themselves with 14 balls remaining.

These 4 teams have played with 5 matches each with MI scoring 3 wins, CSK

and SRH 2 wins each and KXIP just one win.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

You can't reason with your heart; it has its own laws,

and thumps about things which the intellect scorns. - Mark Twain

OFF TRACK

A dying man smells his favorite oatmeal raisin cookies cooking downstairs.

It takes all the strength he has left but he gets up from the bed and crawls

down the stairs. He sees the cookies cooling on the counter and staggers

over to them. As he reaches for one, his wife's wrinkled hand reaches out,

smacks his and she yells:

"No, you can't have those! They're for the funeral!"