PROTESTERS ALLOWED TO ENTER CAPITAL'S OUTSKIRTS

Thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana, seeking repeal of newly

enacted farm laws and assurances from the Centre on the MSP regime and the

mandi system, reached the gates of Delhi Friday where police used tear gas,

water cannons and lathis to block their march.

The showdown between police and the protesting farmers, who showed up in

hundreds of vehicles, tractors and trolleys, took place at the Singhu border

on GT Karnal Road. By afternoon, police stepped back, allowing farmers to

head to the Nirankari Ground in Burari, less than a kilometre away. Many

farmers, though, appeared reluctant to move, and were still at the border

late evening.

With the Centre making no new effort to reach out to the farmers - Union

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, reiterating that farmer

organisations had been called for another round of talks on December 3,

urged protesters to return in view of Covid-19 and winter - Delhi Police

sought permission from the Delhi govt to use nine stadiums as makeshift

detention centres.

The Delhi govt, however, turned down the police request. A note signed by

state Home Minister Satyendar Jain stated: "Non-violent protest is every

India's Constitutional right. They can't be jailed because of it."

Slamming the BJP for its "cruelty against farmers", AAP leader Raghav Chadda

said "we will treat farmers as our guests. let the BJP do what it wants, it

will pay the price", adding that AAP will provide the farmers whatever they

require like water, toilet facilities etc.

AIKSCC and Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, which earlier wrote to Prime Minister

Narendra Modi asking him to begin "sincere dialogue" on the issue, said the

"Govt of India had to surrender to the will and resolve of farmers of India,

to march into the National Capital, to voice their demands and express their

resistance against the three black central farm laws".

"Farmers across the country are satisfied while Punjab farmers are being

misled for politics," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar insisted even

as seeking "sincere dialogue".

Farmers organisations urged the prime minister to "call the

all-India/regional platforms of the farmers for sincere discussions with

senior ministers of your Cabinet on demands to repeal the three Farm Acts

and the Electricity Bill 2020".

JAISHANKAR, DOVAL, SHRINGLA IN A DIPLOMATIC OUTREACH

India's three leading foreign policy managers on Friday held talks with

leaders of India's extended neighbourhood to consolidate existing

relationships.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is in Colombo for a security trilateral

with Maldives and Sri Lanka, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar

concluded his visit to the UAE and is in Seychelles to meet its newly

elected president, and Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla concluded

his two-day visit to Nepal where he met the top leadership to turn the page

on six months of acrimony.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Friday called on Sri Lankan Prime

Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and also met with the country's defence secretary

to further advance the "valuable" bilateral cooperation which contributes to

peace and security in the region.

In Seychelles, Jaishankar handed over a letter from Prime Minister Narendra

Modi to the newly elected president of Indian-origin Wavel Ramkalawan.

Before being elected President, Ramkalawan's party had combined with three

others to reject a pact signed between PM Modi and his predecessor to take

over Assumption island for building a naval base.

Shringla in Nepal met the entire leadership and struck the right notes by

promising to "work to Nepal's priorities" and terming the country as

"fundamental" to India's 'Neighbourhood First' approach.

CHEER IN RECESSION: GDP GROWTH CONTRACTS AT A SLOWER PACE OF 7.5% IN Q2

With two successive quarters of decline in the GDP, India on Friday

officially entered a technical recession, but the gloom seems to be finally

lifting. The economy did better than most estimates in the second quarter of

the fiscal year as the contraction in GDP moderated from 24 per cent in

April-June (Q1) to 7.5 per cent in July-September (Q2) over the previous

year.

The GDP contraction logged better than the estimate of the Monetary Policy

Committee (-9.8 per cent) and the RBI's Nowcast (-8.6 per cent). The number

was also better than other estimates, which ranged from a 7.8 per cent

contraction estimated by Bank of America to a 12.7 per cent decline assessed

by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER).

Though India witnessed the fastest rise in Covid-19 cases in Q2, the

"Unlock" phase, wherein most restrictions were relaxed to let economic

activity pick up, seems to have helped the economy contain the fall in Q2.

As a result, in the first half of FY21 (two quarters), the economy

contracted 15.7 per cent.

As expected, agriculture held up yet again, clocking a growth of 3.4 per

cent for the second consecutive quarter. But the real surprise was

manufacturing. The gross value added of manufacturing showed a growth of 0.6

per cent.

The services sector was the worst hit, with trade, hotels, transport,

communication and broadcasting services posting the sharpest contraction of

15.6 per cent among the eight major sectors.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

SUSPECTED IRANIAN NUCLEAR MASTERMIND FAKHRIZADEH ASSASSINATED NEAR TEHRAN

An Iranian scientist long suspected by the West of masterminding a secret

nuclear bomb programme was killed in an ambush near Tehran on Friday, likely

to provoke confrontation between Iran and its foes in the last weeks of

Donald Trump's presidency.

The military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed

to strike against the killers of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who died of injuries in

hospital after armed assassins fired on his car, state media reported.

"We will strike as thunder at the killers of this oppressed martyr and will

make them regret their action," tweeted Hossein Dehghan, also a military

commander.

Fakhrizadeh has long been described by Western countries as a leader of a

covert atomic bomb programme halted in 2003, which Israel and the United

States accuse Tehran of trying to restore in secret. Iran has long denied

seeking to weaponise nuclear energy.

WILL LEAVE WHITE HOUSE DESPITE BEING ROBBED OF VICTORY: TRUMP

Still unable to bring himself to concede defeat in an election that he has

lost by most accounts, US President Trump said on Thursday that he will

nevertheless leave the White House if the electoral college formalises

Democrat Joe Biden's victory.

"Certainly I will, and you know that," Trump said in his first explicit

commitment to vacate office if the process did not go his way, adding, "It's

going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know that there was

massive fraud." Asked if he would attend Biden's inauguration on January 20,

Trump said "I know the answer", but declined to elaborate.

The president's meeting with the media, his first in the three weeks since

he lost the election, was a testy affair in parts as he continued to make

claims his legal team has failed to press in court. In a blistering

decision, a Philadelphia appeals court denied on Friday the Trump campaign's

bid to challenge a lower court loss that had sought to stop - or even

reverse - the certification of election results in Pennsylvania that

solidified Biden's victory. "Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling

an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations

and then proof. We have neither here," Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump

appointee, wrote.

But Trump has continued to denigrate the elections claiming he was defeated

through fraud. "We were robbed. I won that by hundreds of thousands of

votes. Everybody knows it," he said. "If the media were honest and big tech

was fair, it wouldn't even be a contest. And I would have won by a

tremendous amount," Trump said, quickly correcting himself to say, "And I

did win by a tremendous amount."

On December 14, the electors will meet in their respective state capitals to

formally vote for the president and vice president. During this election, 33

states and DC prohibit faithless electors. Among those, 16 states and DC

however have no actual enforcement mechanism, 14 states do void the votes of

faithless electors and have them replaced, and three states impose some sort

of a penalty but still count their faithless electoral votes as cast.

THE REST

========

A TENTATIVE FIRST STEP IN POLITICAL PROCESS, AFTER ABROGATION OF ARTICLE 370

There are 89 women candidates among 296 overall, who are contesting in the

opening phase of the first ever District Development Council polls across

Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, covering nearly 7 lakh voters and 43

constituencies.

The polls form the first test for the Centre's move to restart the political

process after the bifurcation of the state into the Union Territories of J&K

and Ladakh last August. Polling is spread across eight phases over this

month and the next.

BJP ROLLS IN HEAVY ARTILLERY FOR MUNICIPAL POLLS IN HYDERABAD

Union Home Minister Amit Shah who arrives in Hyderabad today will start his

day with a visit to the Bhagyanagar temple that stands abutting the

429-year-old Charminar.

The choice of the Hindu temple amid a campaign that has touched highly

polarised notes already, reinforces the dominant narrative of the BJP's

election campaign for municipal polls in Hyderabad.

State BJP president Bandi Sanjay known for his provocative speeches has

already declared that his "Vijay Yatra" or victory lap after winning the

mayoral election would start from there too. "They are asking, why

Bhagyanagar temple? I say, why not Bhagyanagar temple? Is it in Pakistan?

They say it will lead to India-Pakistan clashes? Why? Are you saying the

temple is in Pakistan. If they say yes, then we will carry out surgical

strikes, to weed out illegal Rohingya, Pakistani and Afghanistanis, on whose

vote the TRS-MIM depend," he had earlier said.

Earlier on Friday, a colourful roadshow addressed by BJP national president

JP Nadda in Hyderabad. The other BJP heavyweights who've pitched in this

poll battle include Smriti Irani, Prakash Javdekar, and young firebrand

orator Tejasvi Surya. Yogi Adityanath is also scheduled to make a visit

before campaigning ends on Sunday evening, for the Dec 1 polls.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, though not campaigning, is making a visit to

the city today, for a visit to Bharat Biotech lab that is producing the

Astra-Zeneca vaccine.

UBER, OLA SURGE PRICE CAPPED; 10-HOUR BREAK MUST FOR TAXI DRIVERS

Ride-hailing aggregators such as Ola and Uber have been brought under the

Centre's regulation, implying greater scrutiny and stringent penalties for

any non-compliance related to passenger fare and labour rules like working

hours of drivers. Govt control over the cab tariff structure tops the list

of regulations. The new norms, as per the Motor Vehicle Aggregator

Guidelines 2020, have mandated a cap on surge price, preventing aggregators

from charging more than 1.5 times of the base fare.

The new legal framework would also mean a driver working with Ola, Uber or

similar aggregator companies cannot be logged in for more than 12 hours in a

day. There has to be a mandatory 10-hour break after working for 12 hours.

A cancellation fee of 10% of the total fare, not exceeding Rs 100 would be

for both riders and drivers where they cancel the ride without any valid

reason.

Aggregators may provide pooling facilities to only those riders whose KYC

details are available. Female passengers seeking to avail ride pooling will

be provided the option to pool only with other female passengers.

The driver shall receive at least 80% of the fare applicable on each ride,

and the rest shall go to the aggregator

Even commercial car pooling platforms will have to comply with the norms and

get licences. The guidelines enable states to allow attaching personal

passenger vehicles to aggregators, with the condition that such vehicles can

be allowed to carry passengers twice in a day within a city (intra-city) and

only twice a week between cities.

ARNAB GOSWAMI'S BAIL PLEA: SC COMES DOWN HARD ON HCs, LOWER COURTS

Sixteen days after ordering release of Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab

Goswami's release, the Supreme Court on Friday delivered a detailed

judgement which said the FIR against him prima facie didn't establish

abetment to suicide charge.

A Bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud ordered that the interim bail

granted to Goswami and two other accused-Feroz Mohammad Shaikh and Neetish

Sarda-on November 11 shall remain operational four weeks after the Bombay

High Court disposed of their plea for quashing of the FIR. If rejected, they

can move the top court. The top court criticised the Bombay High Court for

failing to notice the contents of the FIR and making a prima facie

evaluation and abdicating its role, functions and jurisdiction when seized

of a petition under Section 482 of the CrPC.

The high court should not have refused to exercise its powers "when a

citizen has been arbitrarily deprived of their personal liberty in an excess

of state power."

The top court lamented that 91,568 bail applications were pending in High

Courts, while 1.96 lakh such pleas were hanging fire in district courts.

Maintaining that "Liberty is not a gift for the few", the top court asked

high courts and District Court's to monitor pendency of bail applications to

ensure protection of personal liberty of ordinary people. "The remedy of

bail is the solemn expression of the humaneness of the justice system," it

said.

IN RELIEF TO KANGANA RANAUT, BOMBAY HC QUASHES BMC'S DEMOLITION ORDER

In relief to actor Kangana Ranaut, the Bombay High Court on Friday quashed

and set aside the September 9 order issued by the Brihanmumbai Municipal

Corporation (BMC) directing demolition of alleged alterations carried at her

Bandra office.

"The BMC order actuated by legal malice. There is material in pleadings that

smacks of malafide and was done to cause substantial losses. We would be

perfectly justified to order compensation against respondents," the bench

said, referring to photographs of the premise and other material produced

before it.

The court appointed valuer to determine monetary damages caused to the actor

and pass an appropriate order on compensation.

The court also warned Kangana Ranaut - who was alleged to have baited the

Maharashtra govt with incendiary remarks on social media - to "show

restraint in airing opinions on the govt". "We do not accept allegations

made by the petitioner (Ranaut) in view of the alleged atmosphere in the

state or film industry. The petitioner is suggested to maintain restraint on

public platforms...We make it clear that this court does not countenance

unauthorised construction. we do not approve any statements made by the

petitioner," it said.

UK TO TRIAL 'GAME-CHANGER' BLOOD TEST THAT 'MAY DETECT 50 TYPES OF CANCER'

AT EARLY STAGE

The National Health Service (NHS) of the UK is all set to conduct trials on

a unique blood test developed by a California-based healthcare company that

"may detect more than 50 types of cancer" at an early stage. Around 1,65,000

people in the UK will be offered this test for the first time next year, the

govt healthcare body announced Friday.

In its statement, the NHS cited research to claim the test could identify

different forms of cancer - head and neck, ovarian, pancreatic, oesophageal

and some types found in the blood - that are difficult to diagnose early.

According to the NHS, people diagnosed with stage-one cancers typically have

a five-to-10-times higher shot at survival than those diagnosed at stage

four. "This promising blood test could therefore be a game-changer in cancer

care, helping thousands of more people to get successful treatment," NHS

Chief Executive Sir Simon Stevens said.

IN FIRST INTERNATIONAL MATCH IN 9 MONTHS, INDIA CRUSHED BY AUSTRALIA

Hardik Pandya's career-best score of 90 wasn't good enough to compensate for

a forgettable bowling effort as India slumped to a 66-run defeat against

Australia in the first One-day International in Sydney yesterday.

As the Indians returned to international duty after a break of close to nine

months, their bowlers and fielders were below-par, giving away 374 runs in

50 overs. Aaron Finch (114 off 124 balls) and his illustrious predecessor

Steve Smith (105 off 66 balls) hit contrasting 100s as they played their

first home match since March 13.

A pitch that looked docile during the first half suddenly came to life when

India batted as Josh Hazlewood (3/55) bounced out the Indian top-order,

including Kohli and an intimidated Shreyas Iyer, who got himself into a

tangle.

Pandya's 76-ball 90 and a 128-run stand with opener Shikhar Dhawan (74 off

86 balls) delayed the inevitable but it was always a catch-up game after

they were reduced to 101/4 inside 14 overs. India ended their 50 overs with

a score of 308/8.

A WORD ABOUT ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP SUPER LEAGUE

The 2020-22 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League is on from July 2020 to March

2022, and serves as part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup Qualification

process.

It features thirteen teams, the twelve Full members of the ICC and the

Netherlands. Each team will play an ODI series against eight of the other

twelve teams, four series at home and four away. Each series consists of

three ODI matches.

For the World Cup, the hosts (India), and the top seven sides thereafter,

will qualify automatically. The remaining five teams will play in a

qualifying event-the 2022 Cricket World Cup Qualifier-along with five

Associate sides, from which two sides will go through to the World Cup.

The top twelve teams in this Super League remain in the Super League for the

next World Cup cycle. The 13th ranked team in this Super League could be

relegated to the next Cricket World Cup League.

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Silver (Rs. Per KG) 64,400

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of

the environment in which you first find yourself. - Mark Caine

OFF TRACK

Dukandar: bolo Sahab, kya Chaahiye ?

Aadmi : hone wali biwi ke kutte ke liye cake lene aaya hoon, milega kya ?

Dukandar : haan.. per yahin Khaaoge ya pack Kar doon??