CHENNAI  MONDAY  SEPTEMBER 07, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 32  LATE CITY EDITION SMALL POSITIVE GROWTH LIKELY IN FY21: RANGARAJAN Despite lockdown, agri and essential goods/services were fully operational in Q1, ex-RBI governor C Rangarajan said ABOVE PAR PERFORMANCE NOT RULED OUT FOREIGN INVESTMENT ANOTHER FACTOR Rangarajan and EY India chief policy advisor D K Srivastava in a paper stated though many have projected a sharp GDP contraction in 2020-21, there are reasons to believe the outcome may be much better. “Agriculture and related sectors, public administration and defence services may perform normally or better than normal,” the paper said ■ ■ Given the current geopolitical situation, Central and state governments have become more active in attracting investment from abroad, which could push growth, the paper noted It added reforms in corporate tax rates in 2019-20 will also facilitate the relocation of various production platforms to India -23.9% RECORD CONTRACTION IN INDIA’S GDP GROWTH IN THE 1ST QTR OF FY21 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 Fresh Covid cases cross 90K peak K E S A V A N A N D A B H A R AT I S R I PA D A G A LV A R U DECEMBER 9, 1940 — SEPTEMBER 6, 2020 Seer who saved Constitution’s basic structure EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi His appeal against Kerala govt’s attempts to take over part of his mutt’s land created a landmark case law, though he lost the suit G EO R G E P O I KAY I L A N D KA N U SA R DA @ Kasaragod / New Delhi KESAVANANDA Bharati Sripadagalvaru, the Hindu seer whose petition in the Supreme Court led to the judgment that Parliament cannot alter the fundamental structure of the Constitution, died at his mutt in Kasaragod on Sunday . Bharati, the pontiff of Edneer Mutt, died of heart ailment at 12.40 am, said his former manager and legal advisor I V Bhat. He was 79. A week ago, Bharati was admitted to a hospital in Mangaluru. “He had a condition in his heart valve and the doctors advised surgery But he returned . to his mutt saying he could not stay away from the daily rituals,” said Bhat. Bharati’s nephew Jayarama Manjathaya, anointed as the new seer of Edneer Mutt, led the funeral rites. Bharati was interred in the mutt on Sunday , following the Covid protocol. The seer had become a beacon of constitutional rights and found a place in law school syllabus when he challenged the constitutionality of the Kerala government’s Land Reforms Act in the SC in 1970. He lost the case, but his writ petition led to the adoption of the landmark Basic Structure Doctrine. The apex court ruled that Parliament cannot alter the fundamental structure of the Constitution. The verdict involved 13 judges — the largest bench ever to sit in the apex court till date. The case was heard for 68 days and continues to hold the top spot for the longest proceedings ever to have taken place in SC. The Ayodhya land dispute case is the closest case in terms of longest day-to-day hearing. It’s also the most cited constitutional case in Indian constitutional law. Bharati had contended the land reforms law by the government was an attempt to impose restrictions on the management of the mutt’s property, which was the only source of income for his ashram. While the landmark judgment did not offer individual relief to the seer, the top court by a 7:6 majority judgment ruled that the basic structure of the Constitution was inviolable and could not be amended by Parliament. The basic structure doctrine has formed the basis of the Indian judiciary’s power to strike down amendments to the Constitution by Parliament, which are in conflict with or seek to alter this principle. Noted legal luminary, Nani Palkhivala, who appeared for Bharati in the SC never met or spoke with the petitioner as per the Courtroom Genius, a biography of Palkhivala. The three Constitutional amendments, challenged in the Bharati case, were passed by the Indira Gandhi government to overcome the apex court’s 1967 judgment in the Golak Nath case that ruled Parliament could not amend fundamental rights, including the Right to Property . But there was more to Kesavananda Bharati than the landmark case. He took over the reins of the mutt at the age of 19 in 1968. By then, he was a trained Carnatic classical singer, Yakshagana vocalist and an We will always remember Pujya Kesavananda Bharati Ji for his contributions towards community service and empowering the downtrodden. He was deeply attached to India’s rich culture and our great Constitution. He will continue to inspire generations Narendra Modi, Prime Minister SPLIT VERDICT The SC by a 7:6 majority judgment ruled that the basic structure of the Constitution cannot be amended by Parliament. The majority opinion was delivered by Chief Justice S M Sikri and Justices K S Hegde, A K Mukherjea, J M Shelat, A N Grover, P Jaganmohan Reddy, and H R Khanna. Justices A N Ray, D G Palekar, K K Mathew, M H Beg, S N Dwivedi, and Y V Chandrachud dissented LONGEST HEARD CASE The case of Kesavananda Bharati vs State of Kerala was heard for 68 days and continues to hold the top spot for the longest proceedings ever to have taken place in the Supreme Court. The Ayodhya land dispute case is the closest case in terms of longest day-to-day hearing educationalist, said BJP’s Kasaragod district president K Shreekanth. “The mutt lost more than 300 acres because of the Land Reforms Act. Yet, he recently gave 28 cents to the government to build a school at Edneer,” he said. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu condoled the seer’s death. SBI BOARD CLEARS VRS FOR Rijiju confirms 2020, THOUSANDS TO APPLY five youth in PLA custody ARMY HOTLINE E X P R ESS N E WS S E RV I C E EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Guwahati UNION Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju on Sunday virtually confirmed that the five “abducted” Arunachal Pradesh youth were in the custody of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as he said the Indian Army had sent a hotline message to its Chinese counterpart. “The Indian Army has already sent hotline message to the counterpart PLA establishment at the border point in Arunachal Pradesh. Response is awaited,” Rijiju, who hails from Arunachal, tweeted. The youth from the state’s Upper Subansiri district were allegedly abducted by the PLA at the LAC after they had ventured out in the jungle for hunting. The incident came to light after two other villagers, who managed to escape, revealed it on Friday . According to Arunachal Pradesh Police, such incidents do occur in that district. In March last, one person was “abducted” by the PLA and following talks, he was released about a month later. THE State Bank of India board has approved the voluntary retirement scheme for 2020, a senior official told TNIE. All permanent employees who have completed 25 years of service or 55 years of age can opt for the scheme. However, it is up to the bank to accept or reject applications. Those who avail VRS get one year’s full salary or half pay for the remaining service period (whichever amount is lower). SBI offers VRS every year between December and March, subject to board approval. The bank doesn’t have any ‘targets’ for VRS; each year, 15,000-20,000 SBI employees retire. VRS gives the bank the opportunity to rationalise costs while of ficers who have reached a saturation level in their career get a respectable exit option. However, National Organisation of Bank Workers opposed the move saying it reflects the management’s antiworker attitude. INDIA’S fresh Covid-positive count kept going North, with a record 90,632 new cases reported on Sunday morning. The overall case tally crossed 4.13 million, which took it past Brazil as the country with the second highest coronavirus cases. According to the World Health Organisation, Brazil has 40.41 lakh infected people. On the positive side, as many as 31,80,865 people have recuperated so far, improving the national recovery rate to 77.32%. “For the second successive day In, dia has clocked a record recovery of more than 70,000 patients in a single day. 73,642 patients have recovered and been discharged from either home/ facility isolation or hospitals in the last 24 hours,” the Union health ministry said in its advisory . While the total coronavirus cases rose to 41,13,811, the toll was at 70,626 (over 70% of them due to co-morbidities) — with 1,065 deaths in the last 24 hours — bringing down the case fatality rate to 1.72%. As of 8 am on Sunday , there were 8,62,320 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country, which is 20.96% of the total caseload. To help states contain the ACTIVE CASES virus spike, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan spoke to health secretaries of five states and one Union Territory on the management of Covid in 35 districts under their jurisdiction. Four of these districts are in West Bengal, 17 in Maharashtra; all 11 in Delhi and one each in Gujarat, Puducherry and Jharkhand. Also, the health ministry has decided to deploy high level Central teams to Punjab and Chandigarh where cases are ballooning. They will be stationed there for 10 days. Meanwhile, the Director General of Civil Aviation has proposed in the Supreme Court that full refund shall be provided by airlines immediately for tickets booked during the Covid lockdown period for domestic or international travel within the lockdown period. “If the tickets have been booked during the first lockdown period, that is March 25, to April 14, 2020 for the journeys to be undertaken in both first and second lockdown period that is from March 25 to May 3, 2020, in all such cases, full refund shall be given by the airlines immediately (this is being mandated vide MoCA’s OM dated April 16, 2020 as the airlines were not supposed to book such tickets),” it said. RECOVERED DEATHS 8,62,320 31,80,865 70,626 UNLOCKED PRAYERS Worshippers at the Saint Michael’s church in Coimbatore on Sunday after the government allowed reopening of places of worship | U RAKESH KUMAR Record spike of 33 cases at Sriharikota spaceport SV KRISHNA CHAITANYA @ Chennai RECORDING its highest single-day spike in Covid-19 cases so far, the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC-Shar) in Sriharikota witnessed 33 fresh infections on Sunday, sending the administration into a frenzy. This comes barely a week after the lockdown restrictions were relaxed and operations resumed with 50 per cent staff at India’s sole spaceport. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu reported 5,783 fresh cases on the day, driving up the tally to 4,63,480, of which only 51,458 are active. The State also reported 88 deaths, taking the toll to 7,836. The fresh spike in Sriharikota came to light when 110 people residing inside the highly-guarded spaceport and the three Shar housing colonies in Sullurpet were tested as part of the contacttracing exercise. The results, which were out on Sunday, revealed 33 positive cases. Significantly, many among the infected carried veryhigh viral load, as per the test reports accessed by TNIE. Among the positive cases, three were employees working at the Solid Propellant Rocket Booster Plant and the Solid Propellant Plant, where works for the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle were underway. The fresh surge throws up a challenge for Shar authorities as hospital beds have become scarce in ChenP2 nai and Nellore. Bldg collapses as heavy rain lashes Kovai Teachers directed not to compel students to attend online classes E X P R ESS N E WS S E RV I C E E X P R ESS N E WS S E RV I C E @ Chennai @ Coimbatore A three-storey building in KC Thottam near Chetti Street in Coimbatore collapsed due to incessant rain on Sunday night, leaving many stuck under the debris. The house collapsed around 8.40 pm, and within 15 minutes, the fire and rescue service and police personnel rescued two people who were stuck under the rubble. Efforts were on to rescue others. “The occupants of the collapsed building apart, an elderly couple who was staying in a tiled-roof house is also believed to be stuck under the debris,” PICTURE ON: P5 sources said. WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST YOUR LIFE COACH 32 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID), 4 OF CITY EXPRESS IN a big relief to several students who are struggling to access online lessons due to a plethora of reasons ranging from poverty to connectivity , the Commissioner of School Education in Tamil Nadu has instructed all Chief Educational Officers to make sure that no child is compelled to attend the online classes. Also, the attendance in online classes “shall not be counted” while evaluating the performance of a student. A letter issued by the Commissioner of School Education, Sigy Thomas Vaidhyan, to all Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) in the state on Saturday, directed that “no teacher shall compel students to attend online classes by using terms like ‘shall’, ‘should’, ‘must’, ‘compulsory’, ‘will be counted in attendance’, ‘grades/marks/evaluation are based on this’, etc”. TRAIN TO TEACH All teachers, especially the counsellors, must attend an online training on sustainable conduct of online classes, hosted on the Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Platform Teachers have also been directed to take responsibility and ensure that all students who have been absent from online sessions are suitably coached and brought on par with other students, when the school reopens. “All communications re- garding online classes shall be communications of information only. All teachers, school staff and authorities may be sensitised that there shall be no hint of compulsion even in their tone of voice or in the language of communication to students,” the letter noted. The letter also stated that while assessments and assignments can be done online, they cannot be made mandatory or counted towards final perfor mance evaluation. Parents, guardians or others who lend their devices to children shall have complete freedom on whether to let their wards attend online classes, based on personal circumstances and safety perceptions. Also, all schools have been instructed to appoint a teacher as counsellor for ensuring cyber safety and security of P3 students and teachers. TRENDING T-shirt sloganeering adds fresh hues to language activism in TN EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai LANGUAGE activism in Tamil Nadu took the garb of T-shirts on Sunday after musician Yuvan Sankar Raja and actor Shirish Saravanan released a photo of them wearing designer T-shirts with slogans I am a Tamil pesum Indian (I am a Tamil speaking Indian) and Hindi theriyathu poda (I don’t know Hindi, go man). The slogans soon transformed into viral hashtags and kickstarted a so- cial media storm, especially on Twitter where a host of political leaders, including those from the DMK, Left parties and the VCK, picked up the issue and showered support to some pro-Tamil twitterati. Meanwhile, pictures of two more T-shirts with slogans “Tamil Speaking Indian” and “I am Indian, I don’t speak Hindi” surfaced on social media and added more fuel to the ongoing heated debates over the alleged imposition of Hindi. Interestingly the order books , of some online T-shirt sellers are likely to swell as several people have started searching for the merchandise. Some users even shared screen shots of their online purchase of the slogan-bearing clothes. As expected, the BJP took exception to the debate and said instead of opposing Hindi, the TN people should ask others to Musician Yuvan Sankar Raja (L) and actor Shirish Saravanan (R) on Sunday released a photo of them wearing clothes with pro-Tamil slogans | TWITTER learn Tamil. Narayanan Thirupathy, a spokesperson for the State BJP said the New Educa, tion Policy has paved way for people in other states to learn Tamil. “NEP promotes Tamil among non-Tamils. Those who oppose the NEP don’t want Tamil to be promoted,” he said. Meanwhile, the DMK said the hashtags have sent a strong message to the Centre. Constantine Ravindran, a DMK spokesperson, said, “We have always represented the feelings P3 of Tamils at every level.”