KALABURAGI  TUESDAY  DECEMBER 01, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION JOE BIDEN BREAKS HIS FOOT WHILE PLAYING WITH PET DOG HAIRLINE FRACTURES SHOW UP IN CT SCAN The Democratic leader twisted his ankle on Saturday when he slipped while playing with Major, his two-year-old German shepherd. “Initial X-rays did not show any obvious fracture, but CT scan confirmed hairline (small) fractures of President-elect Biden’s lateral and intermediate cuneiform bones, which are in the midfoot,” Biden’s physician Dr Kevin O’Connor said The US President-elect has hairline fractures in his mid-foot and may need a walking boot for a few weeks, his doctor said ‘GET WELL SOON’, TRUMP TWEETS ■ ■ ■ Biden’s last health record was released by Dr O’Connor in Dec ’19 The physician said Biden is “healthy, vigorous”. Biden does not use tobacco or drink alcohol and exercises five days a week President Donald Trump, a Republican, who has not yet conceded the November 3 presidential election, tweeted, “Get well soon!” 78-yr-old BIDEN WILL BE THE OLDEST PREZ IN U.S. HISTORY WHEN HE TAKES OATH ON JAN 20 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 Gram Panchayat polls to be held on Dec 22, 27 Districts divided into two for 2-phase polls; Counting on Dec 30 MODERNA SHOT 100% efficacy in severe cases raises the bar EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi US-BASED biotech major Moderna on Monday said its Covid vaccine candidate COVE showed 100% efficacy in severe cases, while it was 94.1% effective overall, as final results of of its phase 3 study in the US came in. Of the 30,000 who participated in its phase 3 study in the US, 196 developed Covid-19. However, 185 of them had received a placebo (dummy drug) while just 11 got the real vaccine. In all, 30 participants got severely ill, including one who died. But all 30 got dummy shots, indicating the vaccine was 100% effective against the novel coronavirus. “We have already just in the , trial, have already saved lives. Just imagine the impact then multiplied to the people who can get this vaccine,” said Dr Tal Zaks, the company’s chief medical officer. Moderna is in the process of applying for emergency use authorisation for its vaccine. Meanwhile, the cost of the Oxford vaccine in the Indian open market is expected to be $4-6. Karnataka gears up for Covid vaccine delivery The Union Cabinet Secretary held a video conference with chief secretaries of various states and UTs on Saturday to discuss Covid-related issues, including vaccination. In a statement following the meeting, the Karnataka Health Department said it has initiated necessary preparations for vaccine delivery, distribution and administration P3 as per the Centre’s advice. ELECTIONS AT THE GRASSROOTS DEC 22 : FIRST PHASE 2,930 GPs from 113 taluks of all 30 districts DEC 7: Notification issued by DCs DEC 11: Last day to file nomination DEC 12: Scrutiny of nominations DEC 14: To withdraw nomination DEC 27: SECOND PHASE 2,832 GPs from 113 taluks of all 30 districts DEC 11: Notification issued by DCs DEC 16: Last day to file nomination DEC 17: Scrutiny of nominations DEC 19: To withdraw nomination o To Ps ta l G fm em b e rs ies enc Bharatiya Kisan Union members protest after the police imposed Sec 144 at the Ghazipur border, during their Delhi Chalo march, in New Delhi on Monday | PTI MINISTERS IN HUDDLE TO SET UP TALKS TABLE, FARMERS FIRM EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi/Chandigarh Poll Arena Factsheet ber THE Karnataka State Election Commission on Monday announced elections for 5,762 gram panchayats, which will be held in two phases on December 22 and 27 across the state. Counting for both phases will be on December 30. The polling will be held from 7 am to 5 pm, while the State Election Commission (SEC) has made a provision for Covidpositive patients to vote in the last hour. The Model Code of Conduct will come into force from Monday . The elections were due in May/June this year, but postponed because of the pandemic. After a PIL was filed, the Karnataka High Court had directed the SEC to announce the dates by December 4. State Election Commissioner B Basavaraju told the media that since gram panchayat elections are being held under the shadow of a pandemic for the first time, all precautionary measures will be taken. Unlike earlier elections, this time the Commission has divided each district into two parts. “The idea is to avoid travelling of poll staff outside their district limits. Anyway it is not , advisable to travel with the pandemic still prevailing,” he added. The first part will face elections in the first phase, while the second in the latter phase. The SEC will use electronic voting machines (EVMs) at all panchayats in Bidar district, while the remaining districts will have regular paper ballots. As many as 2.70 lakh poll staff are needed for both phases, including 5,847 returning officers and 6,085 assistant returning officers. “For the first time, we are taking the help of Anganwadi, Asha and healthcare workers,” he said. The state has over 6,000 gram panchayats, of which the term of 162 will end after December. Some panchayats have cases pending before courts, while some others have been upgraded to town municipalities. The total number of voters is 2.96 crore, of which 1.49 crore are male, 1.47 crore female and 1,048 others. The notification for the elections will be issued by respective deputy commissioners on December 7 and December 11 for the first and second phases, respectively . Even before the dates were announced, all political parties have started preparations on P3 the ground. Num @ Bengaluru wards/con No of stit u EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE 5,762 92,121 35,884 Each booth will have a maximum of 1,000 voters EXPRESS READ HAL delivers C32 LH2 tank to ISRO Utpal Kumar Singh is LS Secretary General Bengaluru: Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd on Monday said it has delivered the biggest cryogenic propellant tank (C32 LH2) ever fabricated by the company to ISRO, much ahead of the contractual schedule. P5 New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday appointed IAS officer Utpal Kumar Singh as Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, an order said. He assumes charge on December 1, succeeding Snehlata Shrivastava. UNION Home Minister Amit Shah met Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar for the second time within 24 hours on Monday as the farmers’ protest entered its fourth day showing , no signs of abating. Sources said the government is ready to set up a talks table with the farmers unconditionally but is against repealing the three new farm sector reform laws. They added that Shah may hold talks with the protesting farmers in Delhi on Tuesday or the day after. Buta Singh, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, claimed he received a phone call from Shah to resolve the issue but the minister’s office denied the conversation. “I spoke to Shah and he invited the farmers organisations for talks without pre-conditions. A formal invite is yet to arrive. If we get it, then we will decide accordingly said Buta Singh. ,’’ ‘Modi must listen to our Mann ki Baat’ The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, an umbrella body of 250 farmer unions, criticised the stout defence of the new farm laws, saying it was the turn of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to listen to their Mann Ki Baat Also, former Punjab minister and senior BJP leader Surjit Kumar Jayani said he was the conduit for the call between Shah and Singh. “I made Buta Singh speak to Amit Shah. A formal letter inviting farmers for talks will be issued without any conditions, as we met minister Narendra Singh Tomar,” he said. A host of issues were discussed at the meeting Shah had with Tomar, sources said, including the politicisation of the protests, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised in Varanasi. The sparring match between Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar and his Punjab counterpart Amarinder Singh over the protests also came up for discussion. The meeting happened at a time when the protesting farmers have threatened to block five entry points — Sonipat, Rohtak, Jaipur, Ghaziabad-Hapur and Mathura — into the Capital. Meanwhile, Sombir Sangwan, an independent MLA from the Dadri segment in Charkhi Dadri, announced support to the agitation. He heads the the OPPN SPREADING CANARDS ON FARM BILLS: PM Lucknow: Amid a battle of perception on the three new farm reform bills, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday tore into the Opposition for allegedly misguiding the farmers by spreading canards in the name of baseless futuristic lurking threats to their interests. The PM, however, reached out to the agitating farmers, saying they cannot be blamed for the protests as they were misled by vested interests. Modi was addressing a gathering in Varanasi during a visit to take part in the Dev Deepavali celebrations on 84 ghats of the Ganga illuminated with around 15 lakh earthen lamps. “New laws have been brought to realise the promises we made to the farmers of our country. Policies are being framed not to deceive the farmers but with honesty and transparency,” Modi said. Criticising the previous governments for allegedly deceiving farmers through subsidies, the PM said: “I feel the farmers should not be blamed for the agitation. It is natural for them to be suspicious as they have suffered deception for decades in the past.” Vishwanath disqualified, STATE UNVEILS E-LEARNING TOOL FOR GOVT COLLEGE STUDENTS can’t be minister, says HC EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru IT’s bad news for BJP MLC A H Vishwanath who wanted to become a minister. The Karnataka High Court on Monday upheld his disqualification for the present term of the assembly. Vishwanath is a nominated member of the Legislative Council. But with the other two MLCs --R Shankar and N Nagaraj (MTB) -- the court said disqualification will not operate in their case as they have got elected to the upper house. “We hold that Vishwanath ex facie (on the face of it) attracts disqualification under Articles 164 (1) (b) and 361 (B) . Thus, his disqualification will continue till the expiry of the term of the Assembly However, after . the expiry of the term, if he gets elected (not nominated), the disqualification cannot apply. As of today the disqualifi, cation under both the provisions are applicable,” it said. “If the Governor is asked by the CM to appoint a person who is disqualified as minister, the Governor having due regards to the Constitution and laws is empowered to decline to appoint him and administer oath,” said a division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty . CONTINUED ON: P4 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru CHIEF Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday unveiled the firstof-its-kind digital education initiative for government college students -- Learning Management System (LMS) Karnataka. It will be rolled out for five lakh students in 430 government first-grade colleges, 87 government polytechnics and 14 government engineering colleges from academic year 2020-21. Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education Dr Ashwathnarayan called it a revolutionary step in the teaching and learning process in higher education in the country The open-source platform, . developed at Rs 4 crore, will give a leg-up in education to all government college students, providing them access to self- learning and live learning, while gauging the performance of each student, he added. The department of higher education touted this as a means to bridge the digital divide between the urban and rural students, and private and government institutions. The platform will have videos of one-hour lectures that take place in classes, PPTs, study material and practice test of 10 multiple-choice questions. The content, both in Kan- nada and English, has been developed university-wise and subject-wise by the faculty of the Department of Collegiate and Technical Education over the past one month, said Pradeep P, Commissioner for Collegiate Education. The PPT will be a step-up from chalk and board method, he added. He told TNIE that only the first phase of the platform, developed by a third party in 15 days, has been rolled out at present. In this phase, the login and content access will be given to students and teachers. Deeming the platform as a medium to close the learning loop with continuous evaluation, he said it has daily and weekly tests and the continuous evaluation works as an effective tool to gauge the capacity and weakness of students P3 and teachers. CYCLONE LOOMS It will be a chilly, gloomy December, warns Met Dept EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru NIVAR was only the harbinger of the season. Storm clouds are once again gathering on the horizon, threatening to make it a cloudy week and wet weekend for Bengaluru and most parts of south interior Karnataka. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast the formation of another cyclone in Bay of Bengal, besides a cyclonic circulation in the Arabian Sea. Both are likely to result in wet, dreary weather. The depression forming over southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to become a cyclonic storm and move north westwards towards Tamil Nadu Chennai Ramanathapuram Kanniyakumari coast and Sri Lanka. IMD Bengaluru director in-charge C S Patil told TNIE that the cyclone will bring rain to south interior Karnataka on December 3 and 4. The prevailing easterly winds will result in cloud cover, bringing down the maximum temperature, while the minimum temperature will be near normal, he added. Sangwan Khap that has influence in 40 villages in Bhiwani and Dadri districts. Capt Amarinder Singh asked the Centre to listen to the farmers. “It is the job of the government to listen to its people. If farmers are joining the agitation from so many states, then they must be upset,” he said. As for the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, an umbrella body of 250 farmer unions, it said: “Our demand for the withdrawal of the new laws is not negotiable.” P7 We at h e r o f f i c i a l s a l s o warned of the formation of a cyclonic circulation over southeast Arabian Sea, off the Kerala coast, extending 0.9 km above mean sea level. Patil said that winter is already setting in the northern hemisphere and easterly winds are still prevailing over the P5 southern hemisphere. RAJINI’s POLITICAL PLUNGE STILL UNCERTAIN Actor meets with district secretaries of Rajini Makkal Mandram, but no concrete response from him yet | P5 Took pills by mistake, says Santhosh EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru CHIEF Minister B S Yediyurappa’s Political Secretary N R Santhosh on Monday denied having attempted suicide, saying he had taken sleeping pills “by mistake”, and hit out at KPCC chief D K Shivakumar for demanding a probe into the alleged suicide attempt, indicating that there could be a political reason for the incident. Santhosh (31), after being discharged from MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital around 1.30 pm, told reporters that he had suffered indigestion after a feast at a cousin’s wedding on Friday P4 .