PROTESTORS THINNING AS SECURITY TIGHTENED, LOCALS PUT PRESSURE ON FARMERS

After the violence that rocked the Capital on Republic Day, it may be an

uphill task for farm leaders to keep the agitation against the Centre's farm

laws on course as the first signs of resistance to their sit-ins have begun

to surface in Haryana.

While the farm leaders are out to restrategise, locals from villages around

Singhu and Tikri have started voicing their concern about the adverse impact

of the stir on their lives and livelihood.

Protesting close to the main site of the agitation at Singhu, villagers of

Manoli, Aterna and Sersa among others demanded that the farmers vacate the

border. Stating that the traffic flow must resume between Delhi and Haryana,

the residents announced the decision to hold a panchayat today to decide the

future course of action if their demand was not met.

The authorities have also increased the deployment of police personnel,

Rapid Action Force, CISF and CRPF. Crowds had Thursday thinned at all three

borders, with very few protesters left at Ghazipur (UP border to the East of

Delhi), Tikri (Haryana border to west of Delhi) while a slightly bigger

crowd was present at Singhu (Haryana border to north of Delhi).

"Police are building pressure on us to leave," said a farmer at Singhu.

"They have themselves left over fear of arrests and seeing heavy police

force," a senior police officer at Singhu said. "We haven't given any

orders to vacate," Sanjay Singh, special CP, Delhi Police, said. "The

situation remains tense after the Republic Day violence. Let's see for the

next 2-3 days. As of now we haven't asked them to leave."

At Ghazipur, the Apar Nagar Ghaziabad district magistrate's office has

issued a notice to farmer leaders Rakesh Tikait an others, to vacate the

area.

The notice lists seven reasons including threat to life, increasing litter,

loud sound apart from "nuisance" resulting in difficulty for Delhi-Ghaziabad

commuters for the decision.

Majority of the protesters here have already left the site even as Rakesh

Tikait, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader urged the farmers to stay

put.

The situation escalated in the evening when police marched onto the site.

Tikait and other leaders went onto the stage. "Goli kha lenge par yahan se

nahi jayenge (Even if we face bullets, we will not leave here)," Tikait said

on stage. "I was going to surrender but now I won't." He also said he was

calling more people from UP villages to join the protests at Ghazipur.

UAPA CASE ON FARM LEADERS; LOOKOUT NOTICE FOR DEEP SIDHU; JOURNALISTS BOOKED

The special cell of the Delhi Police has registered a case under the

stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) to probe criminal

conspiracy leading to violence during the farmers' tractor rally.

Farm leaders, including Yogendra Yadav, Medha Patkar, Rakesh Tikait and

Darshan Pal, would be probed under the UAPA, a police official said.

The Delhi Police have issued lookout notices against 44 persons named in 33

FIRs registered so far in connection with the violence during the farmers'

tractor parade.

The police said names of Punjabi singer and actor Deep Sidhu and

gangster-turned-social activist Lakha Sidhana had been added to the FIR

registered at Kotwali police station over Red Fort violence. In a separate

FIR over the same incident, the police have invoked sedition charges. The

officials said a case under Section 124A (sedition) of the IPC had been

registered and the incident was being investigated.

Separately, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists have been booked

by the Noida Police for sedition, among other charges, over the violence

during farmers' tractor rally in Delhi, officials said on Thursday. It

follows a complaint by a resident who alleged that "digital broadcast" and

"social media posts" by these people were responsible for the violence

during a tractor rally by farmers in the national capital.

The journalists named in the FIR are Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vinod

Jose, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath and Anant Nath.

CONGRESS, 15 OPPOSITION PARTIES TO BOYCOTT PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS IN

PARLIAMENT: GHULAM NABI AZAD

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Thursday announced that 16

opposition parties will be boycotting the President's address to joint

sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget session. The major reason

behind this decision is that the Bills (Farm Laws) were passed forcibly in

House, without Opposition," said Azad.

Besides Congress, the 15 other parties are NCP, Shiv Sena, AITC, DMK, JKNC,

SP, RJD, CPI(M), CPI, IUML, RSP, PDP, MDMK, Kerala Congress and AIUDF.

EAM OUTLINES 8 PRINCIPLES TO MEND STRAINED TIES WITH CHINA

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today suggested three "mutuals" and

eight broad propositions to mend strained ties between India and China. The

minister gave no indication whether any of this was being discussed by the

two nations.

He said the two countries were at crossroads and their choices would have

profound repercussions, not just for them, but for the entire world.

"The three mutuals - mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests

- are determining factors. Any expectation that they can be brushed aside is

simply not realistic," he said, while delivering the keynote address at the

13th All-India Conference of China Studies.

Jaishankar underlined the importance of stabilising the relationship through

eight broad propositions. Among these are: Agreements already reached must

be adhered to in entirety; the LAC must be strictly observed; border area

peace and tranquility basis for development of relations in other domains;

management of differences essential to ties; and the two nations must always

take the long view.

On Galwan clash and troop buildup along the LAC, he said: "Significantly, to

date, we have yet to receive a credible explanation for the change in

China's stance or reasons for massing of troops along the borders."

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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

CHINA WARNS AGAINST PRESUMPTIONS OVER COVID-19 ORIGIN

An assertive China cautioned against negative speculation and politicised

interpretations over the origin of the coronavirus to Wuhan, as a WHO team

of experts stepped out of their hotel on Thursday ending their two-week

quarantine to make field visits in the central Chinese city, where COVID-19

first emerged in 2019.

The 14-member World Health Organization team of international scientists,

who had been confined to their hotel in Wuhan due to the quarantine, kicked

off the field part of their month-long mission to explore how the

coronavirus transmitted to humans.

Team members were seen boarding a bus outside their hotel in Wuhan in the

noon after being cleared to leave following the mandatory isolation period.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told the media

that the expert team will conduct interviews and discussions with their

Chinese colleagues while complying with China's epidemic prevention

regulations.

China also emphatically denied former US President Donald Trump's charge

that the virus may have escaped from the bio-lab called the Wuhan Institute

of Virology. "Presumptions, negative speculation and politicised

interpretations will be very inappropriate and will bring unnecessary

disruptions to WHO experts' joint study in China and is not conducive to

reaching science-based conclusions," Zhao said.

"On the origin tracing, there are reports and studies.that show origin

tracing is an ongoing process that might involve many places and it is a

complicated scientific matter that should be conducted by scientists all

over the world," he said.

While denying that coronavirus originated in Wuhan, China points to reports

from Italy, Spain and the US about its prevalence to predating its emergence

in Wuhan.

Also, Beijing appeared relieved over US President Joe Biden banning his

predecessor's references to COVID-19 as "China virus and Wuhan virus"

PAK SC FREES MAIN ACCUSED IN DANIEL PEARL'S BEHEADING

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the release of Ahmed Omar Saeed

Sheikh, the principal accused in the 2002 beheading of American journalist

Daniel Pearl, dismissing the appeal of the govt of Sindh province against a

high court order for his immediate release. Pearl's family, in a statement

released by their lawyer, said, "Today's decision is a complete travesty of

justice and the release of these killers puts in danger journalists

everywhere and the people of Pakistan."

The order was issued by a three-judge SC bench, of which one member opposed

the decision. Sheikh's lawyer said that according to the SC, there wasn't

sufficient evidence to prove that he had committed the offence. Provincial

attorney Salman Talibuddin said the court also ordered that three others who

had been sentenced to life in prison for their part in Pearl's kidnapping

and death be freed.

In April last year, the Sindh HC had overturned the death sentence of

Sheikh, who had been convicted of the 2002 kidnapping and killing of the US

journalist by an anti-terrorism court, into seven years' imprisonment and

acquitted the three others. Sheikh, who had already spent 18 years in

prison, was expected to be released after the verdict. The accused, however,

were not released as the Sindh govt kept them behind bars under the

Maintenance of Public Order law.

THE REST

========

MANY MORE MADE IN INDIA VACCINES TO COME: PM MODI AT DAVOS

Lauding India's response in the fight against the novel coronavirus, Prime

Minister Narendra Modi Thursday said India has developed two coronavirus

vaccines so far which have been exported to over 150 countries and the world

would see many more Made in India vaccines in the coming days.

Addressing the World Economic Forum's online Davos Agenda Summit, PM Modi

said India has beaten all odds to battle the pandemic. "When Covid-19

arrived, India had its share of problems. At the beginning of last year,

several experts and organizations had made several predictions that India

would be most affected by the pandemic. Someone had even said that 700-800

million would be infected and someone had said that over two million Indians

would die from the pandemic. Looking at the condition of countries with

better health infrastructure, the world was right in worrying about us," he

said.

"India, however, took a proactive public participation approach and

developed a Covid-specific health infrastructure and trained its resources

to fight Covid," the PM added.

PM Modi said that India, which is the home to the world's 18 per cent

population, has not only taken care of its citizens but also helped other

countries by exporting PPE kits and masks.

The PM said India has started the world's largest vaccination drive where it

inoculated more than 2.3 million healthcare workers in just 12 days. "In

next some months, we will achieve our target of vaccinating 300 million

elderly people and people with comorbidities," the PM said.

On the economic front, the PM said that even during the coronavirus induced

lockdowns, India continued its economic activities and created employment

opportunities through infrastructure projects worth trillions of rupees.

Meanwhile, the Centre yesterday announced that no new case was reported in

146 out of India's 734 districts in a week and considerably low levels of

infection in the rest of the country.

GOVT DOING NOTHING ABOUT CHECKING INSTIGATING CONTENT ON TV, SAYS SUPREME

COURT

Stressing on the need to check "instigating" content on television, the

Supreme Court Thursday said the govt appeared to be "doing nothing about

it".

"The fact of the matter is that there are programmes which have instigating

effect and you being the govt is doing nothing about it," Chief Justice of

India S A Bobde told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

The bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, was

hearing a plea by Jamiat-Ulema-I-Hind, which alleged that the issue of the

Tablighi Jamaat congregation last year - during the onset of the pandemic -

was reported in such a manner that it would spread communal hatred.

The CJI also sought to draw a parallel with the restrictions placed on the

Internet following the Republic Day violence during the farmers protests.

"There are programmes which instigate or impact a community. Yesterday you

shut down the Internet and mobile because of the farmers' visit to Delhi..,"

he observed. "Fair and truthful reporting is normally not a problem. Problem

is when it is used to agitate others. It is as important as providing

'lathis' to policemen. It is an important preventive part of the law and

order situation," he said. "We are not interested in what the people say on

TV. As long as they do not instigate, incite violence, we have no problem

with that. We are interested in broadcasts or programmes which have

instigation effect and there are situations when it can cause riots, and

there can be loss of life, property," the court said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre, told the bench

that there are effective mechanisms in place to prevent spread of hateful

content or news. The problem arises during live, discussion-based

programmes, as there cannot be pre-censorship of such programmes, he said.

SAME JUDGE AGAIN: HOLDING HAND, UNZIPPING IN FRONT OF GIRL NOT SEX ASSAULT

The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court has reversed the conviction of a

50-year-old man under Pocso Act for allegedly molesting a 5-year-old girl.

It ruled that holding her hands and unzipping his pants in front of her

cannot be defined as "sexual assault". The order was given by Justice Pushpa

Ganediwala, whose recent ruling that groping a girl's breasts without

removing her clothes was not sexual assault as there was no skin-to-skin

contact was stayed by the Supreme Court following an uproar.

The acts of holding the hands of survivor or opening the zip of the pant, in

the opinion of this court, doesn't fit in the definition of sexual assault,"

said Justice Pushpa Ganediwala.

At most, the minor offence punishable under Section 354-A (1)(I) of IPC

(outraging modesty) read with Section 12 of the Pocso Act is proved against

the petitioner," she added, before quashing charges under sections 8 and 10

of the Act slapped against Libnus Kujur from Gadchiroli and maintaining his

conviction for outraging of modesty.

Kujur had challenged the Special Pocso court verdict of October 5 last year,

where he was awarded five years rigorous imprisonment.

HC DENIES BAIL TO COMEDIAN MUNAWAR FARUQUI

The Indore bench of MP high court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of

stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui in a case related to making objectionable

remarks on Hindu gods and goddesses at an event in the city on January 1.

No case is made out for bail, Justice Rohit Arya said. "It is not a case of

no evidence. More so, the probe is on. The possibility of collecting more

incriminating material and other persons being complicit cannot be ruled

out. The evidence/material collected suggests that in an organised public

show, under the garb of stand-up comedy, prima facie scurrilous, disparaging

utterances outraging religious feelings of a class of citizens of India with

deliberate intendment were made by the applicant," the judge said.

Nalin Yadav, the organiser of the show, was also denied bail.

INDIA'S RANK SLIPS TO 86TH IN CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX 2020

India's rank has slipped six places to 86th among 180 countries in a

corruption perception index (CPI) in 2020. For 2020, Transparency

International (TI)'s corruption perception index was released on Thursday.

India was ranked at 80th position in 2019

The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of

public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a

scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

This year, New Zealand and Denmark were ranked at first position while

Somalia and South Sudan were ranked lowest at 179th position with scores of

12.

SCHEDULED INTERNATIONAL PASSENGER FLIGHTS STAY SUSPENDED TILL FEB 28

The coronavirus-induced suspension of scheduled international passenger

flights has been extended till February 28, aviation regulator DGCA said on

Thursday.

"However, international scheduled flights may be allowed on selected routes

by the competent authority on a case-to-case basis," the Directorate General

of Civil Aviation added.

Scheduled international passenger services have been suspended in India

since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. But special international

flights have been operating under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and

under bilateral "air bubble" arrangements with selected countries since

July.

BHARTI AIRTEL CONDUCTS LIVE TESTING OF SERVICE

Exhibiting its 5G prowess, Bharti Airtel on Thursday announced that it had

successfully conducted a live demonstration of 5G service over a commercial

network in Hyderabad city.

The company said the full impact of the 5G experience would be available to

Airtel customers when adequate spectrum is available and govt approvals

received.

Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer of Bharti

Airtel, said, "Every one of our investments is future proofed as this

game-changing test in Hyderabad proves. With Airtel being the first operator

to demonstrate this capability, we have shown again that we have always been

the first in India to pioneer new technologies in our quest for empowering

Indians everywhere."

The demonstration in Hyderabad was conducted over an existing liberalised

spectrum in the 1800 megahertz (MHz) band.

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we

must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do. - Leonardo da Vinci

OFF TRACK

The young man at the flower shop was taking an unusually long time to place

his order.

When the clerk asked how she could help, he explained that his girlfriend

was turning 19 and he couldn't decide whether to give her a dozen roses or

19 roses -- one for each year of her life.

The woman put aside her business judgment and advised, "She may be your

19-year-old girlfriend now, but someday she could be your 50-year-old wife."

The young man bought a dozen roses.