VILLUPURAM  WEDNESDAY  OCTOBER 21, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION ANTITRUST SUIT AGAINST GOOGLE FOR STIFLING COMPETITION The US Justice Dept filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alleging Google has been abusing its dominance in online search to stifle competition REGULATORS WANT TO BREAK UP TECH GIANTS APPLE, AMAZON, FB COULD BE TARGETED According to reports, US regulators are keen to break up tech giants to end their monopoly. And Google is their first target. The case is expected to be filed in federal court in Washington, D.C. The suit alleges Google uses billions of dollars collected from advertisers to pay phone makers to ensure Google is the default search engine on browsers | P9 Most of Google’s services are offered for free in exchange for personal information that helps it sell its ads ■ Google insists it holds no special power forcing people to use its free services or preventing them from going elsewhere ■ Apple, Amazon and Facebook are also on US regulators’ radar ■ 90% OF GLOBAL WEB SEARCHES IS CONTROLLED BY GOOGLE 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 Punjab builds MSP into its own farm bills, rejects Central laws SUPPLY HIT H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh PUNJAB on Tuesday became the first state in India to formally reject the Centre’s contentious farm laws, with the state Assembly unanimously passing a resolution and three bills against the Central laws. The three bills are: the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment Bill; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Onions sell at `100 a kg; Egypt sends 28 tonnes (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill; and the Essential Commodities (Special Provisions and Punjab Amendment) Bill. The first bill says no sale of paddy and wheat in the state will be valid unless it is paid equal to or above the minimum support price (MSP). The pro- posed law also calls for a threeyear jail term and a fine in case anybody compels a farmer to sell his agricultural produce below MSP . The second piece of legislation makes it mandatory for those entering into contract farming with farmers to pay the MSP. It also stipulates a AMARINDER SINGH MEETS GUV Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Tuesday on Tuesday met Governor V P Singh Badnore after the state assembly passed four Bills against the Centre’s farm laws and hoped that he will ‘will listen to the voice of Punjab’ and give his nod to the legislations three-year jail term to those who violate the Act. According to the third bill, all powers to fix stock limits of food grains are with the State government and not the Centre. It also envisions imprisonment of three years and a fine to those who force a farmer to sell his agricultural produce below MSP . These bills are aimed at preventing any damage to farmers in Punjab because of the Central laws. All 115 MLAs unanimously voted in favour of the resolution and the bills, except two BJP MLAs who were absent during the special session of the Vidhan Sabha. Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, who moved the resolution against the Centre’s farm law, urged farmer unions to allow movement of trains for the transportation of coal, urea and foodgrains, pointing out that the state government had already lost `40,000 crore due to Don’t be lax as virus is still on the prowl: PM EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE & M S T H A N A R A J @ Chennai/Tiruchy EVEN as onion prices breached `100 per kilogram in the city a container carry, ing around 28 tonnes of Egyptian onions made its way into Koyambedu wholesale market on Tuesday, in a bid to bring down the price. According to traders, the onion will be sold from Wednesday and is likely to be priced between `55-`65 per kg. Interestingly, this is the second consecutive year onion is being imported from Egypt as the price crossed `100. While a kg of large onions is being sold between `100 and `110, smaller onion is being sold at `120. This comes amid warning from traders that onions will continue to get costlier over the next two to three months as onion producing States are battling unseasonal rains and menace from pests. Chennai, which consumes 1,000 tonnes of onion per day, is facing a crisis as arrivals have become scant with 90 per cent of crops in the neighbouring Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra destroyed by rains. In a bid to address rising concern, Minister for Cooperation Sellur K Raju on Tuesday announced that good quality onion would be sold at `45 per kg through Farm Fresh outlets in Chennai and at all municipal corporations from Wednesday. In the other parts of the State, onion would be sold through Farm Fresh outlets from Thursday he said. Price rise , during the rainy season is normal, but rains have done a lot more damage in the neighbouring States this year. The government is monitoring the prices on a daily basis, Raju added. P4 Urges people not to let their guard down in festival season, says vaccines are on track imposed night curfew in nine cities while limiting gathering to a maximum of 10 persons at TAKING a grim view of wide- a time. Spain has clamped a spread flouting of Covid-19 pro- state of emergency for 15 days tocols such as wearing masks in Madrid. and following social distancing Netherlands, Denmark, Belnorms, Prime Minister Naren- gium, Germany and Italy have dra Modi on Tuesday cautioned all taken restrictive measures people not to lower their guard to combat the surge in cases. against the virus till Modi’s address to vaccines are available the nation has come at in the country . a time when a large “Work on developpart of the country is ing vaccines is going celebrating festivals on at a brisk pace and while Bihar and Madall preparations are hya Pradesh are in being made to make poll mode. Plasma them available to eveLast week, an extherapy to rybody in the country perts panel had prebe scrapped in shortest possible dicted, using a mathePlasma therapy, matical model, that time,” the PM said. may soon be Modi said he has India is past its peak come across videos discontinued as a in Covid-19 cases. The treatment for and photographs panel also warned of a Covid-19, the showing people floutsurge in cases if CovCentre said on ing Covid-19 protocols. id-19 protocols such as Tuesday. The He called for responsiwearing masks and decision was ble behavrour, saying maintaining social taken after the lockdown has been distancing in public finding the lifted but the virus is places are not followed therapy doesn’t strictly still in the air. . Citing the examples help patients | P7 Quoting statistics, of European countries the PM also said that and the US, the PM highlighted India has done well in combathow coronavirus cases have ing the pandemic as the coungone up there after a phase of try reported only 5,500 cases recovery, as a direct fallout of per million in contrast to over lifting restrictions and resump- 25,000 per million in the US, tion of economic activities. Brazil and other countries. BeThe second wave of Covid-19 sides, India reported only 83 has forced some European per million fatalities against countries to re-impose restric- 680 per million in the US, Brazil tions. France, for instance, has and other countries, he added. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi NEEDING MORE Despite incessant rains, the Thirumoorthy Dam in Tirupur district is yet to reach its full level | A RAJA CHIDAMBARAM Doc who called out no-rape UP spin denied service extension N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow WAS a temporary doctor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Hospital (JNMCH) in Aligarh denied service extension because of he contradicted the state police’s theory in the alleged Hathras gang-rape and murder case? While the UP Police had on October 1 cited a forensic lab report — that said there was no trace of semen or sperm on the victim’s samples — to argue she was not raped, Dr Mohammad Azimuddin Malik had joined issue on October 5, saying the samples were lifted 11 days after her assault and had no evidentiary value. His comments were reported in a section of the media. Dr Malik was a temporary Casualty Medical Of ficer (CMO) at the JNMCH run by the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and his tenure ended on October 10. He had sought extension of service till November 8 since another doctor was on Covid leave till then. But the AMU rejected the request. On Tuesday, Dr Malik received a letter signed by CMO-incharge Dr S A H Zaidi, informing him that AMU Vice-Chancellor Prof Tariq Mansoor had turned down his (Dr Malik) extension request with immediate effect. He was advised not to perform any further duties. Dr Malik received his first rejection letter on October 16. Tuesday’s letter was his final termination notice. While social media sought to tie it to Dr Malik’s statement contradicting the state police, AMU authorities denied it. “AMU Administration denies any suspension of their employee in regard to Hathras Incident. The news circulating in social media on the subject is false & holds no ground,” it tweeted. Dr Malik had bravely contested the no-rape theory of the police though he was holding a temporary job. However, he was only echoing the position taken by appalled experts, who had said it is normally difficult to get traces of semen 72 hours after the assault. Dr Malik could not be contacted for his comments. HOME AWAY FROM HOME A centre for children where therapy exists alongside fun and frolic O M J A S V I N M D @ Chennai FIVE-YEAR-OLD Saipriya and 11-year-old Keerthana are so engrossed in playing that they hardly realise it is time for them to go back home. Their mother, Mareeshwari, is also very happy and does not want to disturb the children. She says they never leave Stanley Medical College Hospital without playing at least for half an hour after their autism therapy ends. Walking into the recentlyrenovated District Early Intervention Centre (DEIC) for children located on the second floor of the Institute of Social Paediatrics will make it clear that it is a place where treatment exists alongside fun. Like Sairpriya and Keertha- The paediatrics centre at Stanley hospital was recently renovated| EXPRESS na, hundreds of children have fun at the centre, which was reopened a few weeks ago. It houses swings, rocking chair and word games in thebackdrop of walls decorated with cartoons. It also has tunnel games, trampoline, dynamic LED lightings and big televisions screens to play cartoons. The walls are also painted with word games and other puzzles like ‘Find the Differences’ of two pictures and jumbled alphabets. “It is a big relief for me to see my children play happily espe, cially at a place where they come for therapy. Sometimes, play equipment are used even during treatment, which makes them feel so comfortable,” says Mareeshwari, a resident of Royapuram. Sponsored by the State government and the National Health Mission under the Rasthriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, the renovation was done two years after DEIC was opened at the hospital. The centre treats children for disabilities and development delay , birth defects, deficiency disorder and childhood disease. P2 COVID COUNT FRESH CASES DEATHS 3,094 50 6,94,030 TOTAL CASES Recording less than 1,000 cases for the second consecutive day, Chennai reported 857 new cases The State tested 80,371 samples on Tuesday, 5,000 less than Monday the ‘rail roko’ protests. He pointed out that the farmers’ fight should be against Delhi, and not Punjab. The House also passed the Code of Civil Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2020, which aims to provide relief to farmers from attachment of their land not exceeding 2.5 acres. The Vidhan Sabha session has been extended by a day. The CM said his government will bring more pro-farm and pro-poor bills in the House on Wednesday . INTERVIEW ‘IN-HOUSE PROBE INTO JAGAN’S CHARGES NEEDED’ Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s allegations against Supreme Court judge N V Ramana has shaken the people’s faith in the judiciary. An in-house inquiry must be ordered to look into the charges JUSTICE A P SHAH Delhi High Court chief justice (retd) Q&A: P7 EXPRESS READ Internal rumblings against BSY Bengaluru: Trouble appeared to be brewing for Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, as senior party leader and legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal lanched a broadside claiming the former’s time was up and that his successor would be from north Karnataka | P5 Fund cut for social sector schemes? In another austerity drive in the wake of the pandemic playing havoc, the Union finance ministry has recommended costcutting measures in nonurgent social sector schemes. All ministries have been advised to compile a list of such schemes | P10