BHUBANESWAR l wednesday l november 25, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE city EDITION Donald Trump finally agrees to begin transition of power Don has not formally conceded defeat but has given the nod to begin the transition process for president-elect Joe Biden Don yet to formally concede defeat Janet Yellen tipped to be treasury secy On Monday, Trump tweeted, “In the best interest of our country, I am recommending that Emily Murphy, Administrator of the General Services Administration) and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols”. However, he later hardened his stance: “The GSA does not determine who the next President of the US will be.” ■ ■ ■ President-elect Joe Biden is expected to name former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen (pic) to lead the treasury department If confirmed, she would be the first woman to hold the position The 74-year-old economist is credited with helping steer the economic recovery after the 2007 financial crisis | P9 30,000 Dow Jones Industrial Average touched record highs on Tuesday 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 Enhance cold chain capacity for Covid shots, CMs urged PM laid emphasis on 8 high burden states; assured it will be ensured that vaccine reaches all E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @ New Delhi Parts of Tamil Nadu received heavy rains ahead of Nivar’s landfall; A scene from Ennore in Chennai on Tuesday | ashwin prasath TN braces for ‘Nivar’ impact S V K RISHNA C HAITAN YA rn Ka THE slow-moving cyclonic storm Nivar is intensifying in the warm waters of the Bay of Bengal, and is turning into a “very severe” cyclonic storm that will make a landfall between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram late on Wednesday, with wind speed reaching up to 120-130 kmph and gust up to 145 kmph. “The storm was moving at 5 kmph, centred over southwest of the Bay of Bengal, about 380 km east southeast of Puducherry and 430 km south-southeast of Chennai,” said S Balachandran, deputy director general at Regional Meteorological Centre. “Nivar will intensify into a severe cyclonic stor m by Wednesday mor ning, and then into a very severe cyclonic storm in the subsequent 12 hours. It is very likely to cross ata k a @ Chennai an dh r r ap ade sh Chennai Mahabalipuram kerala Karaikal tamil nadu Nivar between Karaikal and Mahabalipuram coasts on November 25 late evening,” Balachandran said. A further intensification of the storm cannot be ruled out, considering the ocean and atmospheric conditions, said experts. “Chennai will also feel its impact,” says weather b l o g g e r P r a d e e p Jo h n . “Though the landfall is likely to happen in the PuducherryMarakkanam belt, Chennai will experience gust at the UP govt clears draft law against ‘love jihad’ Singh said if anyone wants @ New Delhi to change religion after marriage, he or she can do so. The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet But the district magistrate on Tuesday cleared a draft has to be infor med two ordinance that seeks to check months in advance. religious conversions for the In recent weeks, BJP-run sake of marriage. The proH a r y a n a a n d M a d hy a posed law entails severe punPradesh have also revealed ishment up to 10 years for plans to enact laws to counviolators. ter alleged attempts Confir ming the at converting Hindu Other development, state women into Islam in states minister Siddharth the guise of marArunachal Nath Singh said, riage, which Hindu “The way in which Pradesh, Odisha, activists call ‘love MP, Himachal religious converjihad’. Pradesh, sions are done using The development Jharkhand, deceit, lies, force and comes days after the Chhattisgarh, dishonesty is heart Allahabad High wrenching, and it Uttarakhand and Court said the right Gujarat already to live with a person was necessary to have antihave a law in this of one’s choice, irreconversion laws spective of religion, regard.” Punishment unis intrinsic to right der the new law is a jail term to life and personal liberty . of 1-5 years, and a fine of The Yogi Adityanath gov`15,000. If the girl involved is ernment had recently set up a minor or belongs to Scheda special investigation team uled Caste or Scheduled to probe into at least 14 cases, Tribe, then the jail term will where Muslim men have alrange from three to 10 years legedly concealed their reliwith the fine increasing to gious identity to lure Hindu `25,000. girls. E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce Multicrore gold heist: IIFL staff among 7 held The Commissionerate Police has made a big breakthrough in the sensational daylight robbery at the India Infoland Ltd (IIFL) by detaining seven persons allegedly involved in the heist. Two kg gold and bikes used in the crime were recovered from the possession of the accused | P3 speed of over 100 kmph as the storm is moving northwards.” The State has declared Wednesday a public holiday, to reduce the impact. “All government offices, including offices of local bodies, government undertakings/ statutory corporations, boards, banks and financial institutions etc., will be closed on November 25. However, all essential services will function as usual,” said a government order issued to this effect. Three ports in and around Chennai have also stalled operations and raised a level-6 warning. The Railways too cancelled 14 pairs of trains run via Villupuram and Tiruchy . Speaking to reporters about the arrangements that have been made ahead of the cyclone, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami assured the public that there was no reason to panic or worry . Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urged all the chief ministers to augment their cold chain capacity for Covid-19 vaccine distribution and set up a task force at the district and block levels for a smooth immunisation. The special Covid-19 immunisation programme will run parallelly with the existing Universal Immunisation Programme, thogh it will use the latter’s processes, technology and network, officials said. The National Expert Committee on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 under Niti Aayog Member V K Paul and Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan have already mapped the available cold chain facilities and made projections for additional needs, they added. In a virtual review meeting, Modi laid special emphasis on eight high burden states, including Haryana, Delhi, Chhat- tisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Gujarat and West Bengal. The modalities of Covid-19 vaccine delivery, distribution and administration were discussed. Modi urged all CMs to share their Covid-19 strategy in writing, adding no one can impose any view and all have to work together to deal with the pandemic. “Vaccine distribution strategy will be chalked out in collective coordination with states. States must also start working cold storage facilities,” he said. “It’s yet not decided which vaccine will cost how much. Though two India-based vac- Seeking justice for daughter, couple attempts self immolation outside Odisha Assembly Speaker asks Minister to reply in House new ordinance Pressured Kerala to kill amendment to Police Act E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @ Bhubaneswar E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce @ T’Puram A day after putting it on hold in view of widespread criticism, the Kerala government on Tuesday decided to withdraw the controversial amendments to the Police Act that gave sweeping powers to the police to prosecute anyone posting objectionable comments on social media. A special cabinet meeting on Tuesday decided to recommend Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to issue another ordinance to repeal Section 118-A introduced last week. The new ordinance will clearly mention that the amendment is being withdrawn in view of widespread concerns and apprehensions, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. “Opinions cropped up that the amendment will give more powers to the police and there are possibilities of this being misused. The Left government gives due value to opinions emanating from society In view of such con. cerns and suspicions, the government feels it would be appropriate to withdraw the same,” he added. He also claimed the amendment to the Police Act was introduced with good intention and that it was not aimed at gaging the media. The CM added that in future, legislations of this nature would be introduced only through debates in the state Assembly . cines are at the forefront, we’re working with global firms also,” he said, adding, “Even after drugs have been available for years, some people have adverse reactions. So a decision needs to be taken on a scientific basis.” Care will be taken to ensure the chosen vaccines meet all the necessary scientific criteria. Just like the focus in the fight against Covid was on saving lives, priority will be given to ensure that the vaccine reaches everyone, the PM assured. Past experiences, he said, have shown that several myths and rumours are spread around vaccines, adding they need to be tackled through spreading greater awareness, by taking all possible help. On the pandemic situation, Modi said the country needs to bring down the positivity rate to 5% and the fatality rate below 1%. On the controversial PM-CARES fund, he said its special emphasis is on making medical oxygen available. A TV grab of policemen escorting the couple away from the spot E x p r e s s Ne w s Se r v i ce one Babuli Nayak, a close aide @ Bhubaneswar of a minister. “We requested the police and district adminisThe high security zone outside tration to arrest the accused but the Odisha Assembly witnessed to no avail”, Ashok said, adding high drama on Tuesday when a that although a murder case couple from Nayagarh district has been registered, the main attempted self-immolation de- accused is still at large. manding justice for their fiveSeeking justice for his daughyear-old daughter, who was al- ter, Sahoo had filed a petition in legedly murdered in July this the Orissa High Court accusing year. police of tardy investigation. They accused police of shield- He had sought the Court’s diing the murderer of rection for a judicial their daughter as he inquiry or probe by a happens to be a BJD Special Investigation worker and aide of a Team into the mysteriminister in the ous death of his daughOur daughter was government. ter. The High Court kidnapped and Covered in shawls, had directed Nayagarh killed by one Ashok Sahoo and his police to submit a reBabuli Nayak, a wife Saudamini of port regarding the staclose aide of a Jadupur village artus of the minister. We requested the rived at the spot in an investigation. auto-rickshaw and at- police and district Nayagarh SP Pratytempted to set them- administration to ush Diwakar said selves ablaze by pour- arrest the accused some suspects in the but to no avail ing kerosene. Police case have been identipersonnel deployed fied and investigation Ashok Sahoo, outside the Assembly is on. victim’s father immediately rushed to “We can only arrive their rescue and preat a concrete concluvented them from lighting the sion after the investigation is fire. They took them to Capital over”, he added. Police said the police station for questioning. postmortem report of the vicThe child had gone missing tim does not indicate any sexuwhile playing in front of their al assault before she was house on July 14. A few days murdered. later, her skeletal remains were Diwakar refused to comment found in a bag behind the house. whether the murder was a reHer parents had filed a case sult of personal enmity. Meanwith the Nayag arh Sadar while, the couple was allowed to police. leave after a station diary entry They alleged that their daugh- was made in the Capital police ter was kidnapped and killed by station. Speaker of the Assembly Surjya Narayan Patro on Tuesday directed the Minister of State for Home Dibya Shankar Mishra to make a statement in the House on the alleged murder of a minor girl in Nayagarh district on Wednesday . The Speaker’s direction came following demands by Opposition BJP and Congress members who wanted to know why the case has not been investigated by the police even though a complaint was lodged in this regard three months back. The Speaker asked the Minister to give the statement clarifying four issues raised by the Opposition members. The issues are, how did the parents of the child enter the security zone of the State Assembly, how did the couple attempt to commit suicide by pouring kerosene on themselves inside the security zone and why the Nayagarh Police have not investigated the case even after three months. Besides, the members raised the allegation that a minister is protecting the accused .. Leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Narasingha Mishra and senior MLAs Santosh Singh Saluja and Tara Prasad Bahinipati said the parents of the child have brought allegations against a Cabinet minister. Stating that the couple had come to Bhubaneswar to protest the apathy of Nayagarh Police, they wanted to know under whose pressure, police are not taking any action. They urged the Speaker to suspend the remaining businesses in the House and direct the Minister of State for Home to make a statement. Leader of the Opposition Pradipta Naik also demanded that the government should give a statement in the House. Odisha ready for vaccine distribution, says Naveen Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday said that Odisha is fully prepared with a system in place for vaccine distribution when it is available, with focus on frontline health workers, people above 50 years and those with comorbidity. The Naveen said this while attending a virtual meeting of chief ministers with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the status and preparedness of Covid-19 response. He, however, said that the State cannot lower its guard against Covid-19 even after the availability of vaccines. “Though we have prepared for a seamless vaccination programme to save every life on priority basis, we cannot lower our guard, even when the vaccine is available as duration efficacy of the vaccine against Covid-19 is still unknown,” he said. express read Abdullahs’ house on encroached land Srinagar: Former J&K chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah were beneficiaries of the the controversial Roshni Land Act, and a house in Jammu is built over illegally possed land, the J&K administration said on Tuesday Co2 in atmosphere hit a new high in 2019 New Delhi: Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit a new record of 410.5 parts per million in 2019 and are expected to keep rising this year while lockdown-related fall in emissions is just a tiny blip on the long-term graph, the World Meteorological Organization said | P7 Govt blocks 43 more Chinese mobile apps New Delhi: India on Tuesday blocked 43 more Chinese mobile apps, including AliExpress, in a fresh wave of web sanctions amid its border standoff with China. The banned apps were a threat to the “sovereignty and integrity of India”, an official statement said | P10 Nagarjuna Besha minus devotees, no live telecast Puri: Devotees will not be witness to Nagarjuna Besha of the Trinity in Sri Jagannath temple this year. The Besha scheduled on November 27 will be organised only with participation of servitors and temple officials. There will be no live telecast of the event as well. Chief administrator of Sri Jagannath Temple, Dr Krishan Kumar said, the decision was taken in a meeting between temple and district administration and Chhatisha Nijog, the apex body of servitors, on Tuesday | P4