INDIA, CHINA HOLD FRESH ROUND OF TALKS BENGALURU  FRIDAY  AUGUST 21, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 30  LATE CITY EDITION FILE PHOTO India and China on Thursday held a fresh round of diplomatic talks on the border standoff in eastern Ladakh, agreeing to resolve outstanding issues in an “expeditious manner” and in accordance with existing agreements, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated. MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the two sides had a “candid and in-depth” exchange of views on the LAC situation. CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ WARANGAL ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Cabinet okays 10-day House session from Sept 21 SC gives Bhushan 3 days to apologise A N U S H A R A V I @ Bengaluru SIX months after its last sitting, the Karnataka legislature will be convened on September 21. The Cabinet, headed by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, on Thursday decided to hold a 10day session, the modalities of which are yet to be finalised. The activist-lawyer refuses to change statement on controversial tweets, quotes Mahatma Gandhi K A N U S A R D A @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Thursday gave lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan three days to reconsider his stand that he won’t apologise for his defamatory tweets against the judiciary . A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra observed the tone, tenor and content of Bhushan’s ‘defiant statement’ makes the matter even worse. It asked Attorney General K K Venugopal to go through Bhushan’s affidavit in justification of his tweets, and see if his reply is a defence or an aggravation of contempt. However, Bhushan told the court he won’t change his statement. Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he said that he will not seek mercy to escape punishment for doing what believed was right. Bhushan told the court, “I am pained, not because I can be punished, but because I’ve been misun- derstood. I believe open criticism is necessary to safeguard the constitutional order. My tweets were a small attempt to discharge what I consider my highest duty .” Dushyant Dave, appearing for Bhushan, urged the court to defer the hearing on sentence as he sought to file a review petition on it. The bench, also comprising Justices B R Gavai and Krishna Murari, said if any punishment is given for contempt, it will be inflicted only after the review petition is decided. When senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, also appearing for Bhushan, said his client has filed several cases in public interest, the bench retorted, “You may do a hundred good things but that doesn’t give you the licence to do ten crimes.” The Supreme Court had, on August 14, held Bhushan guilty of criminal contempt for tweeting two derogatory comments against the P9 judiciary . Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the legislature session in March was cut short and there was no clarity on when the House would meet again. But, with the Constitution mandating that the legislature should meet at least twice a year and the gap between two sittings should not exceed six months, the State Cabinet on Thursday decided to go ahead with the session. “The Chief Minister has asked me to hold discussions with the Assembly Speaker and Council Chairman to decide on the modalities, venue, guidelines, etc. For now, these dates have been zeroed in on for con- Inflation worries made RBI decide against rate cuts EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi My tweets were out of a bona fide attempt to discharge my duty as a citizen. I would have been failing in my duty if I did not speak up at this juncture of history. I submit to any penalty which the court may inflict. It would be contemptuous on my part to offer apology - Prashant Bhushan THE Reserve Bank of India’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee, which met for the last time in its four-year tenure earlier this month, found the spike in consumer inflation so alarming that it chose to delay taking more steps to address the “deepest contraction in history”. Minutes of the MPC meeting, released on Thursday, showed the elevated inflation reading pushed the committee members to vote for a sta- tus quo. The RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 4%, after an unconventional 115 bps cut since March to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. “The generalised inflationary pressures across food and CPI, excluding food and fuel, in a situation where growth is expected to contract sharply is a , matter of serious concern,” said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, adding that the slack in the economy indicates there is little risk to inflation from the demand side. Retail inflation rose to 6.93 per cent in July on account of higher food prices. P12 vening the session,” said Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy . Apart from approving pieces of legislation to be introduced in the House to replace ordinances passed by it, the cabinet also approved two other key decisions. CONTINUED ON: P7 Govt will wait for police report on PFI role in riots A N U S H A R A V I @ Bengaluru ‘LOOKING AT UP MODEL’ The state is looking at how the Uttar Pradesh government amended its laws to handle violence. “UP made effective amendments to law which we’ll look at,” Madhuswamy stated. THE Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday decided that it will wait for the police to submit a report on the August 11 DG Halli violence before initiating action against any organisation. While the violence, the provocation for the riots and its aftermath were discussed at length during the cabinet meeting, the State Government will decide on the next course of action depending on what the police are able to provide in their report about the involvement of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), said Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy . Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa will take up the issue of banning the PFI with the Centre, P7 Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.