FARMERS UNIONS CALL OFF PARLIAMENT MARCH, ALLEGE PLOT TO BREAK THEM

Its negotiators with the government named in Republic Day violence FIRs and

under pressure following cracks within over the direction of the protest,

the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organisation of farmer unions

seeking the repeal of new agriculture laws, Wednesday called off its march

to Parliament House on February 1.

As two organisations, BKU (Bhanu) and Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan,

withdrew from the protest at the borders of Delhi, Krantikari Kisan Union

leader Darshan Pal, speaking for the Morcha at a press conference, said: "We

have cancelled our plan for a march to Parliament on Budget day on February

1. But our agitation will continue and there will be public meetings and

hunger strikes across the country on January 30."

The Morcha blamed the Republic Day violence on "a dirty conspiracy. hatched

with the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and others" to break the

agitation.

It also called actor-activist Deep Sidhu as an "agent" of the government,

and alleged he was behind the hoisting of the Nishan Sahib, the religious

flag of the Sikhs, at the Red Fort.

The Morcha offered an "unconditional apology" to those whose feelings had

been hurt by the storming of the Red Fort.

BKU (Tikait) chief Rakesh Tikait questioned the police decision not to fire

at protesters who unfurled the flag and indulged in vandalism inside the Red

Fort.

Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav said the Morcha was taking "moral

responsibility" for the "regrettable events" as it had given the call for

the rally.

Sarvan Singh Pandher, general secretary of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh

Committee, said: "We never gave any call to occupy Red Fort or ITO. It was

the actor's call (referring to Deep Sidhu) to which several people

responded. We condemn the actions of all those who indulged in rioting and

violence. I have respect for farmer leaders in the Morcha and will not give

in to the government's plan of dividing us."

Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of BKU (Ugrahan), said there was delay in

"marginalising" and "expelling" those giving the farmer movement a bad name.

"All such communal elements and government agents should now be identified

and completely removed from our struggle," he said.

GOVT SITTING ON NEW JUDGES' NAMES, MATTER OF GREAT CONCERN: SC

Frowning upon an inordinate delay in clearing the names of candidates

recommended by the Collegium for appointment as judges in high courts, the

Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the government to fix a timeline for the

same.

A Bench headed by CJI SA Bobde - which termed it a "matter of great concern"

- asked the Ministry of Law and Justice to spell out how much time it would

take to process the recommendations.

Pointing out that recommendations sent by the high courts of Bombay and

Allahabad in May-June 2020 were hanging fire, it said in many cases

government took more than a year.

"You say something is pending with the Intelligence Bureau and some chief

minister has not responded. But we want to know your timeline," it told

Attorney General KK Venugopal.

SOME MORE RELAXATIONS AS MHA ISSUES FRESH COVID-19 GUIDELINES

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday allowed cinema halls and theatres

to operate with more people while swimming pools have been permitted for use

by all in fresh COVID-19 reopening guidelines.

For cinemas, a revised SOP will be issued by Ministry of Information and

Broadcasting in consultation with MHA," the guidelines said.

Social, religious, sports, entertainment, educational, cultural and

religious gatherings have been permitted up to a maximum of 50% of the hall

capacity, with a ceiling of 200 persons in closed spaces.

The main focus of the guidelines is to consolidate the substantial gains

that have been achieved against the spread of COVID-19 which is visible in

the steady decline in number of active and new cases in the country over the

last four months. "It is, therefore, emphasised that to fully overcome the

pandemic, there is a need to maintain caution and to strictly follow the

prescribed containment strategy focussed on surveillance, containment and

strict observance of the guidelines and SOPs issued by MHA and Ministry of

Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW)," the guidelines said.

CHINA CALLS ON INDIA TO REVOKE BAN ON MOBILE APPS

Calling India's permanent ban on 59 Chinese mobile apps discriminatory,

Beijing on Wednesday accused India of repeatedly using national security as

an excuse for taking action that violated WTO rules. The Chinese embassy

here urged the Indian government to immediately correct its "discriminatory

measures" and avoid causing further damage to bilateral cooperation. It said

since last year, India had repeatedly used national security as an excuse to

"prohibit some mobile apps with Chinese background" and that the Chinese

side firmly opposed India's actions.

"These moves, in violation of WTO non-discriminatory principles and fair

competition principles of market economy, severely damage the legitimate

rights and interests of Chinese companies," spokesperson Ji Rong said.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

RUSSIA SAYS U.S. AGREED TO RENEW NUCLEAR WEAPONS PACT "ON OUR TERMS"

Russia's parliament ploughed ahead on Wednesday to ratify a bill extending

the New START nuclear arms control treaty with the United States after the

first phone call between President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin

announced on Tuesday that Russia and the U.S. had struck a deal to extend

the treaty - the last arms control pact between the world's two biggest

nuclear powers - which is set to expire on February 5.

But Russia's eager declaration that an agreement had been reached "on our

terms" appeared to get slightly out ahead of the Biden administration's

assessment of circumstances.

The White House did not immediately react to the vote in the Russian

parliament. A readout of the Biden-Putin phone call provided by the White

House on Tuesday, however, said only that the presidents had "discussed both

countries' willingness to extend New START for five years, agreeing to have

their teams work urgently to complete the extension by February 5."

There was nothing after that statement from the White House to confirm that

any agreement had been reached, suggesting the Biden administration could

have at least been expecting a few more days of negotiation with Moscow

before a formal announcement.

Nonetheless, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov declared on

Wednesday morning that the U.S. had agreed to extend the treaty "on our

terms" for another five years, without any preconditions or changes to the

existing terms of the pact.

The extension doesn't require approval from lawmakers in the US.

BIDEN SIGNS SET OF CLIMATE ORDERS

President Biden on Wednesday signed a series of executive orders that aim to

"confront the existential threat of climate change" across the federal

government while emphasising job creation. "In my view, we've already waited

too long to deal with this climate crisis. We can't wait any longer. It's

time to act," said Biden, speaking at the White House. The president cast

many of the executive orders as opportunities for job creation, among other

things pledging to use the purchasing power of the federal government to buy

a vast fleet of zero-emissions vehicles. "This will mean one million new

jobs in the American automobile industry."

Wednesday's executive orders also set broad new foreign policy goals,

including specifying that climate change, for the first time, will be a core

part of all foreign policy and national security decisions.

Biden's international climate envoy, John Kerry, said earlier in the day

that the US would host an international climate change summit on Earth Day,

April 22. Kerry pledged that by that date he would announce a new set of

specific targets detailing how the US would lower its carbon dioxide

emissions under the terms of the Paris Agreement.

THE REST

========

WE KNEW THEIR INTENTION, BUT ALLOWED RALLY IN GOOD FAITH' - DELHI POLICE

CHIEF

Delhi Police Commissioner S.N. Srivastava has said the night before Republic

Day, his force had an inkling that farmers may "exercise aggression" at

their tractor rally the next day. However, the police did not withdraw the

permission in "good faith", since they had already "signed an agreement with

the farmer groups", with an "assurance from farmer leaders that nothing will

go wrong", the officer said.

"On the night of 25th January, the aggressive and militant groups of these

farmers were given the centre stage, from where they delivered provocative

speeches," Srivastava said. "At that time, we understood their intentions.

But we did not cancel the permission as we had signed the agreement and were

assured by farmer leaders that the rally will pass off smoothly. We dealt

with it in a very calm and professional manner," he said.

In Tuesday's violence, over 394 policemen were injured. The police till now

have registered 25 FIRs in connection with the violence, and have arrested

19 people. Over 200 people have been detained.

Commissioner Srivastava called the violence a "breach of trust", and said

all farmer leaders were involved in this episode, insisting that no one will

be spared.

FIRs have been registered against 37 farmer leaders, many of whom were

meeting the govt during the repeated rounds of talks.

One of the FIRs, on the Red Fort incident, names Punjabi film actor Deep

Sidhu and Lakhbir Singh Sidhana alias Lakha Sidhana,

gangster-turned-politician and president of the Malwa Youth Federation.

THINNER CROWDS AT GHAZIPUR, SINGHU DAY AFTER R-DAY VIOLENCE

A day after the farmers' tractor rally turned violent, the protest sites at

Delhi borders - Singhu and Ghazipur - didn't have the usual hustle-bustle,

with the number of agitating farmers reducing manifold.

The size of the protest site at the Singhu border - the epicentre of the

agitation against the Modi government's three farm laws - has also reduced

far more than Ghazipur.

Farmers have started returning home in the fear of detention and arrests in

the aftermath of the violence Tuesday, saying "the cause has gone off the

tracks". They are also divided on the hoisting of the Nishan Sahib at Red

Fort, which had sparked off a raging controversy.

Besides this, chants of 'Hum ghaddar nahin hain', 'Deep Sidhu murdabad',

'Lakha Sidhana murdabad' rent the air, instead of the 'Jai Kisan Jai Jawan'

slogan that they would shout earlier.

The Congress and AAP named Sidhu on Wednesday to allege a "conspiracy" by

the Centre. Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Randeep Surjewala

said: "A concerted conspiracy aided and abetted by the Modi government took

place to malign the entire farmers' movement. A set of people with a

pre-meditated motive of violence.who have nothing to do with the SKM were

permitted to enter the premises of Red Fort. climb on to its columns and put

a flag there. This is sacrilege, unacceptable and those who did it.Deep

Sidhu and gang. they have been seen in the past with the Prime Minister and

the Home Minister.."

SASIKALA'S RELEASED FROM JAIL

V.K. Sasikala, former general secretary of the AIADMK and close associate of

late former Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalithaa, was released Wednesday after four

years in jail. She had contracted Covid-19 and continues to be in Victoria

Hospital, where the formalities for her release were completed by Bengaluru

Central Jail officials.

Sasikala had been imprisoned in February 2017 in a Rs 66 crore

disproportionate assets case. Politicians and analysts expect her release

could have an impact on the faction-ridden AIADMK, which is bracing for a

likely internal struggle as it fights to retain power in this year's

assembly elections. A close associate of Sasikala said her top priority was

to ensure she gains control of the AIADMK again.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, better known as EPS, has

declared that Sasikala will no longer be a part of the AIADMK.

FARMERS TOLD TO PAY BONDS, ALLAHABAD HC SEEKS UP GOVT REPLY

The Allahabad High Court has sought a response from government authorities

in Sitapur on a PIL alleging "financial hardship" to farmers after the

district administration demanded "exorbitant personal bonds" ranging from Rs

50,000 to Rs 10 lakh from them, plus sureties, "on the apprehension that

they may violate law and order" given the farmers' protests on in the

district.

In the PIL, activist Arundhati Dhuru said the Sitapur district

administration issued the notices to farmers who own tractors on January 19,

and police surrounded their houses to prevent them from joining the

protests. In its order on January 25, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad

High Court asked the state authorities to state "as to under what

circumstances such an exorbitant amount of personal bond and two sureties

have been asked". The matter has been listed for next hearing on February 2.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Maholi) Pankaj Rathore says the action was

justified. "If we had not taken such action, Sitapur would have had the same

situation which happened in Delhi."

OVER 23 LAKH HEALTHCARE WORKERS VACCINATED SO FAR ACROSS COUNTRY

Over 23 lakh healthcare workers have received COVID-19 vaccine jabs in the

country so far, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday while

underlining that no case of severe adverse event or death is attributable to

the vaccination till date.

A total of 23,28,779 beneficiaries have been vaccinated for COVID-19 through

41,599 sessions till 6 pm on Wednesday, the twelfth day of the nationwide

immunisation drive in the country, as per a provisional report, it said.

Till date, there have been the total 16 hospitalizations which is 0.0007 per

cent of the total people vaccinated so far, additional secretary in the

Union Health Ministry Dr Manohar Agnani said.

"Total nine deaths have been reported so far. None of these deaths have been

causally linked with COVID-19 vaccination," the ministry said. In the last

24 hours, one person aged 23 years, a resident of Odisha, has died. The

post-mortem report is awaited, it said.

"No case of serious/severe adverse event/death is attributable to COVID-19

vaccination till date," the ministry underscored.

COVAXIN NEUTRALISES UK VARIANT OF COVID IN LAB SETTING, NEW ICMR PAPER SAYS

Scientists at ICMR's National Institute of Virology (NIV) and Bharat Biotech

have released a pre-print, non-peer-reviewed paper, which has found that

when tested in a lab, neutralising antibodies produced by Covaxin have the

ability to combat the mutant UK strain of the coronavirus.

Among the foremost concerns around the UK strain is that vaccines may not be

able to perform as efficiently because of the mutations on the virus'

surface.

"A comparable neutralization activity of the vaccinated individuals sera

showed against UK-variant and the heterologous strain with similar

efficiency, dispel the uncertainty of possible neutralization escape," says

the paper, which was released on 26 January on the non-peer-reviewed site

biorxiv.

SUPREME COURT STAYS BOMBAY HC'S 'NO SKIN TOUCH, NO SEXUAL ASSAULT' VERDICT

IN POCSO CASE

The Supreme Court Wednesday stayed a Bombay High Court judgment that

interpreted sexual assault as only "skin-to-skin" contact with sexual intent

under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.

In a judgment passed on 19 January, Justice Pushpa V. Ganediwala acquitted

the accused, Satish, under Section 7 (sexual assault) of the POCSO Act,

while ruling that the act of groping a child's breast, without any

skin-to-skin contact and sexual intent, is not sexual assault under the law.

On Wednesday, Attorney General K.K. Venugopal mentioned the Bombay High

Court verdict before Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde's court, calling it a

"disturbing conclusion" and asserted that it "sets a dangerous precedent".

SC REJECTS TANDAV PLEA FOR RELIEF FROM ARREST

The Supreme Court Wednesday declined to grant interim protection from arrest

to the makers of the Amazon web series Tandav, who are facing charges of

hurting religious sentiments, but agreed to consider their plea for clubbing

of FIRs registered in different states.

"Approach High Court," a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy

and M R Shah said as Senior Advocate Fali S Nariman, appearing for the

petitioners, urged the bench to direct that no coercive action be taken

against the petitioners.

The bench did not seem to agree with advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, counsel

for Tandav actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, who contended that the statements

of the character cannot be attributed to the actor in person. To this,

Justice Shah said that the actor would not have accepted the role without

reading the script and added, "you cannot hurt religious sentiments of

others".

Nariman pointed out that the objectionable parts, which allegedly hurt

religious sentiments, have been removed and an apology tendered. Despite

this, seven more FIRs have been filed even after that, he said.

Emphasising that it was a case of free speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the

Constitution, Nariman referred to Republic TV Editor-In-Chief Arnab

Goswami's case in which the SC had clubbed the FIRs pending in different

states.

Agreeing with Nariman, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Amazon

India Creative Head Aparna Purohit, said, "(The show) is a political satire.

If people are so sensitive. then art, cinema, TV, all will be destroyed."

Article 19(1)(a) is the most zealously guarded right and must be protected

as was held in the Goswami case too, he urged.

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4,800, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 66,200

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

The rate at which a person can mature is directly proportional to the

embarrassment he can tolerate - Doug Engelbart

OFF TRACK

Don buys a hotdog cart and sets it up in a prime spot on a busy downtown

corner, right near a large bank. One day, his friend Jim approaches him and

asks Don if he can lend him some money. Don refuses.

"But why?" asks Jim. "Everyone knows you're doing well, and I'm not asking

for much."

"Well, Jim, in order to get this spot I had to sign a Non- competition

Agreement with that bank over there. According to the agreement, they're

don't sell hot dogs, and I don't lend money."