NEW DELHI 2 AUGUST 2020 SUNDAY `9 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  twitter.com/TheMornStandard  instagram.com/themorningstandard MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES Post your questions on website www.newindianexpress.com, and Prabhu Chawla, Editorial Director, The New Indian Express, will answer them. India’s Shadow Warriors The Garden of Spiritual Wisdom Vaccine scramble looms as 40 cr will need it first Planning for vaccine distribution has been slack, say experts VULNERABLE, HIGH-RISK SECTIONS S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @ New Delhi IF vulnerable groups in India are to be the first beneficiaries of the Covid-19 vaccine, as enunciated by the government, a whopping 40 crore people, or 30% of India’s total population, will need the vaccine, prompting fears of a scramble, at least in the beginning. The sheer scale of the numbers, coupled with the fact that the government appears to be slow in putting together a vaccination distribution plan, is worrying experts and planners alike. On June 30, a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said that PM Narendra Modi had outlined four guiding principles that would form the foundation of the Covid-19 vaccination programme. These principles included identification and prioritisation of vulnerable groups such as healthcare workers, Healthcare workers: 22 lakh People above 60 years: 12 crore Hypertension, diabetes, cancer patients: 35 crore Police, paramilitary personnel: 15 lakh non-medical frontline corona warriors and vulnerable people among the general population and availability of vaccines without conditions such as domicile. It also said the vaccine must be affordable and universal, in other words, no person should be left behind, and the entire process from production to vaccination should be monitored and supported in real time with the use of technology . A query sent to the department of biotechnology secretary Renu Swarup and newlyappointed health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on the vaccination distribution plan re- mained unanswered but Bhushan, on being asked a related question at a press conference a few days back, had said the vaccine distribution policy was “under deliberation.” But several government scientists told this newspaper that the pace of discussion and planning for vaccine distribution has been “rather slack” so far. “I would say that by now we should have had the blueprint ready for who will get the vaccination first under different scenarios—when varying amounts of vaccines are available—but that has not happened yet and that’s worrying,” said a senior government virologist. Another virologist attached with the department of biotechnology said the “vulnerable section of the society” that are expected to get the medicine first could be nearly 30% of India’s total population. CONTINUED ON PAGE 7 HOOCH TOLL 86 A boy is consoled by a relative as he mourns the death of his father at Mucchal village near Amritsar on Saturday. Three districts in Punjab have reported deaths owing to illicit liquor in the last three days | PTI | PAGE 8 H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh COW vigilantes thrashed a meat supplier in the Sadar Bazar area of Gurugram on Friday as they suspected him of transporting beef in his pick-up truck. The attackers later fled, leaving behind the badly injured man. One of the accused, Pradeep Yadav was arrested. “We have identified more people and they will be arrested soon. The local SHO was transferred to the police lines,” police said. Lukman, 25, from Mewat was on his way to Gurugram when around 9 pm, 10 cow vigilantes on five motor cycles chased him for about 8 km. The men stopped Lukman’s truck at Sadar Bazar, where he was thrashed. The group later drove his truck towards Sohna Road. But somehow the meat supplier called his brother, who alerted the police. On Sohna Road, policemen at a barricade stopped the group and Lukman but they too were attacked. The cow vigilantes later fled from the spot. A case was registered by the at the Badshahpur police station. Have a Good Hair Day PLUS: 12 PAGES ASK PRABHU Man suspected of carrying beef thrashed in NCR www.thesundaystandard.com/www.morningstandard.in Prabhu Chawla TJS George Jawhar Sircar Anand Neelakantan Anuja Chandramouli Sathya Saran Neil McCallum Ravi Shankar The Case of Missing Meticulosity Why We are the Way We are East Meets West in a Perfect Fit WITH RAM TEMPLE, AMMA SPEAKS Road to Peace TEMPLE TOWN WILL GET ALL-NEW LOOK AYODHYA TO GET A MAKEOVER N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow THE construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, a seminal event in itself, is expected to kick off a makeover of the temple town. From an elevated road and a theme park to a Ramayan circuit and a Ram katha park, the town will get an all-new look The pre and post temple movement Ayodhya has remained backward across economic parameters of development. The nearest airport in Faizabad was upgraded in 2014, it has no big industry to boast about and no gainful employment, though the literacy rate at 78.15% is higher than Uttar Pradesh’s average of 67.68%. Ayodhya’s largely agrarian support is slackening as productivity has gone down. Good news is the temple town is set to turn the corner. The impending temple construction, to be rolled out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 5, promises to unleash dozens of development schemes for which the blueprint is ready. The foundation for many schemes would be laid the same day In all, the PM . would launch and lay the foundation of development projects worth `487.91 crore. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is credited with kicking off much of the work since 2017 when the BJP government took over: Faizabad district was named as Ayodhya and the town was upgraded as a municipal corporation for improving civic standards. The CM has paid at least two dozen visits to Ayodhya since assuming charge. These resulted in Diwali being celebrated on a grand scale. The government created a Guinness world record last year by illuminating the town with over half a million diyas on the banks of the Saryu. PROJECTS ON ANVIL An artiste gives final touches to a sculpture ahead of the foundation laying ceremony of the Ram Temple | PTI Besides, the infrastructure projects worth `350 crore are nearing completion by this year-end. Some of them, delayed due to Covid-19, are: an `640-crore international airport, a Lord Ram’s statue and an upscale, ultra-modern township Navya Ayodhya. The UP government has already released `400 crore for the proposed airport. The 1.5-km long and 30-metre wide existing airstrip will be redeveloped to handle bigger aircraft for international operations. It needs to be at least 45-metre wide with a runway of 2.5 km to handle wide-bodied scheduled flights. The project spans 465 acre. The most exciting will be the proposed tallest statue of Lord Ram – at 221 metre -- 38-m taller than the current tallest Statue of Unity in Gujarat. According to the preliminary design, the 150-metre bronze statue will stand on a 50-metre pedestal, covered under a hood of another 20 metre. It will show Lord Ram holding a bow in his left hand and an arrow in his right. The statue will come up away from the temple. The government has allocated `200 crore for soil testing, WORK COST (In D crore) Elevated road: NH 27 bypass to Ram Janmabhoomi 275.25 Widening of 13.3 km Sahadatganj-Nayaghat road 210.62 Widening of NH 27 to Ram Ghat (Digambar Akhara) to Faizabad 8.60 302 shops near Tedi Bazar 21.41 Commercial complex 9.71 15 drains falling into Saryu river, sewer line, pumping station 363.95 Lighting of Hanuman Garhi, Dashrath Mahal, Kanak Bhawan, Janki Mandir, Digambar Akhara, Rajdwar Mandir 4.30 Road widening near Ram Janmabhoomi campus 4.26 Widening of Panchkoshi Parikrama Marg 25.35 Widening of road from Saryu Ghat up to Ram Janmabhoomi 6.45 Embankment at Guptar Ghat 39.63 Road widening from bus stand, railway station, 165 KM SEWER LINE airport to Ram Janmabhoomi 23.21 IN OLD Other projects near Ram Janmabhoomi 22.68 FAIZABAD PM TO INAUGURATE PROJECTS (COST: IN ` CRORE) 134.67 Rajarshi Dashrath State Medical College 10.22 Lakshman Quila Ghat renovation under Ramayan circuit project 7.40 6.87 New bus station Police barrack 2.37 Plastic surgery & burn unit at district hospital PM TO LAY FOUNDATION STONE (COST: IN ` CRORE) 54.56 16.82 2.75 252.25 Ayodhya drinking water project-III Tulsi Smarak Bhawan modernization Ram katha park expansion AyodhyaAkbarpur-Baskari four lane road ONGOING PROJECTS BHAJAN SANDHYA STHAL SATSANG BHAWAN, YATRI BHAWAN RAM KATHA PARK QUEEN MEMORIAL PARK RAMAYAN CIRCUIT LAKSHMAN QILA GHAT RENOVATION GUPTAR GHAT RENOVATION RAM KI PAUDI REMODELING PRESS CLUB INTERNATIONAL RAM LEELA CENTRE THEME PARK, AUDITORIUM AYODHYA RAILWAY STATION MAKEOVER wind tunnel test, design development and a DPR preparation. A roadmap for ‘Navya Ayodhya,’ a township spanning nearly 500 acres is ready. The township will come up between Ayodhya and Faizabad. It is estimated to cost `1,200 crore. A ‘Katha Kunj’ depicting over 100 instances from the life and times of Lord Ram through statues and idols is on the anvil. Work is already going on in a separate workshop in Ayodhya. Over 125 statues depicting the life of Lord Ram at Guptar Ghat along the Saryu will be shown. As Gehlot softens, Pilot writes to party Amar Singh, man of many colours, dead RAJESH ASNANI & R I C H A S H A R M A @ Jaipur/New Delhi IN his first official communication with the party in over a fortnight, rebel Congress leader Sachin Pilot has written to Mahesh Joshi, the party chief whip in Rajasthan Assembly, reiterating that he continues to be part of the Congress and explaining the reasons for him and 18 other MLAs skipping two le gislature par ty meetings. In tur n, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot softened his stand, saying he was ready to embrace the rebels if they apologise to the Congress high command and it forgives them. “It depends on the party high command. If the party high command forgives, I shall PLEA We have no personal quarrel with anyone. In a democracy, fights happen over ideology, policies and programmes and not for toppling a government. Modi should get the drama which is going on in Rajasthan ended Ashok Gehlot, Rajasthan CM embrace them,” he said. Gehlot took aims at the BJP . “We have no personal quarrel with anyone. In a democracy, fights happen over ideology, policies and programmes and not for toppling a government. Modi should get the drama ended,” he said in Jaisalmer. According to Cong ress sources, Pilot sent an e-mail sent to Joshi, “which says he leader Mohammad Shahid, while expressing grief and sorRAJYA Sabha MP and former row at Singh’s demise. Samajwadi Party leader Amar On January 6, 2010, Singh Singh passed away after a pro- along with his protege, actor longed illness on Saturday at a Jaya Prada, resigned from all Singapore hospital where he party posts following differencwas undergoing treatment for es with Rampur strongman and the last six months. Singh, 64, SP leader Azam Khan. He was was in the ICU and his family expelled by Mulayam on Februwas by his side when he ary 2, 2010. He spent a brief pebreathed his last. riod in judicial custody in 2011. Singh had suffered That year he tried a kidney failure in to revive his declin2013 and had undering political career gone a transplant as by floating his own well. Earlier on Satoutfit, the Rashtriya urday he had tweeted , Lok Manch. He fielda tribute to freedom ed candidates in the fighter and educaUP assembly polls in tionist Bal Gangad2012 but without any har Tilak on his luck. In 2014, he death anniversary joined Jat leader Ajit AMAR SINGH and also wished EidSingh’s party, the 1956-2020 al-Adha to his Rashtriya Lok Dal. followers. Born on July 27, 1956, and Singh was the SP general sec- hailing from Azamgarh district retary and a key member of the of UP, Singh first went to the decision making group in the upper house of Parliament in party Part of SP patriarch Mu- 1996. He was again elected to . layam Singh Yadav’s core con- the Rajya Sabha in 2016 as an fidantes, Singh used to have independent member but with direct access to Mulayam’s per- support from the Samajwadi sonal space. Party much against the wishes , “Mulayam Singh Yadav used of the then UP CM Akhilesh to take his opinion in all most Yadav. Singh was reappointed all the decisions, both personal the SP general secretary in OcCONTINUED ON P8 and political,” said former SP tober 2016. N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow could not attend the meeting of MLAs as he was seeking legal remedy for false accusations against him and his colleagues for toppling the Rajasthan government. Moreover, FIRs have been registered against them and legal notices were served”. The Congress is moving cautiously as it feels Pilot’s move is aimed at strengthening his WAR FILED BY PRASHANT BHUSHAN IN SC VETERAN YET TO TAKE REST Contends that the SC secretary general allegedly ‘acted unconstitutionally and illegally’ in accepting a ‘defective contempt petition’ against him | P7 Retired Army brigadier is imparting guerilla warfare training to police, SSB, BSF, ITBP, CRPF personnel at Kanker in Chhattisgarh since 2005 | P5 case legally. “It is a well-prepared legal document to prove that it is a kind of dissent in the party, for he and his colleagues wanted a leadership change and not to be seen as a defection,” said a source. The change in Gehlot’s tone indicates that the number game in the assembly is tight. He seems eager to win back rebel MLAs before August 14. EXPRESS READ Blast at factory kills 5 workers in Nagpur New Delhi: Five workers were killed in an explosion at a bioCNG plant in Maharashtra’s Nagpur district on Saturday afternoon, the police said. The blast was reported at the premises of sugar and distillery plant of Manas Agro Industries and Infrastructure Ltd at Bela in Umred tehsil, police said.