NAGAPATTINAM  SATURDAY  DECEMBER 05, 2020  `7.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION COVID-19 VACCINATION DRIVE AFTER SCIENTISTS’ NOD: PM Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that experts believe the coronavirus vaccine will be ready in a few weeks HEALTHCARE WORKERS TO BE GIVEN PRIORITY PANDEMIC A SECURITY CHALLENGE: AZAD In his remarks at a virtual all-party meeting, Modi said healthcare workers involved in treating Covid-19 patients, frontline workers including police personnel and municipal staff, and old people suffering from serious conditions would be inoculated on priority. On vaccine price, the PM said public health will be accorded top priority and states will be fully involved ■ ■ Covid-like pandemics can pose a threat to the country’s internal security and policy makers should address this challenge, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said This is the second all-party meeting by the Centre to discuss the Covid-19 situation since the outbreak of the pandemic | P7 8 vaccines AT VARIOUS STAGES OF TRIAL & THEIR PRODUCTION ASSURED IN INDIA: PM 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 ‘COMMITTED TO MAKING TN WATER SCARCITY-FREE’ E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Madurai/ Sivaganga Farmers during their protest against the new farm laws at Ghazipur on the Delhi-UP border on Friday | PARVEEN NEGI Farmers intensify stir, announce Bharat Bandh H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh FARMER unions on Friday intensified their agitation by announcing a Bharat Bandh on Tuesday (December 8) if the Centre fails to agree to repeal three contentious farm sector reform laws that were rammed through by Parliament. Rejecting the government’s offer to suitably amend the laws to address their concerns during Thursday’s talks, the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s meeting at the Singhu border unanimously decided to explore other means as well to bring the Centre to its knees, including laying siege to toll plazas across the country to stop them from charging toll tax from commuters and choking all entry points to Delhi. Though a timeline for the new agitation programme is yet to be firmed up, the earlier decision on burning effigies of the Modi government and corporate leaders on Saturday will happen as scheduled. Also, the award wapsi that began on Thursday with Badal Foreign office pulls up Canadian envoy The foreign office on Friday summoned the Canadian High Commissioner and lodged a protest against comments by Canadian leaders and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the farmers protests, saying it could have a damaging impact on bilateral ties | P7 Senior returning his Padma Vibhushan, would intensify on Monday they decided. In all, 51 , union leaders participated. All 32 protesting farmer unions had a joint session before the marathon meeting of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha. Though farmers will participate in the next round of talks with the Centre on Saturday a , categorical assurance on repealing the three laws and constitutional guarantees on the minimum support price (MSP) regime alone will take the process forward, they said. Bharatiya Kisan Union, Punjab (Lakhowal Group) general secretary Harvinder Singh Lakhowal said, “Now that farmers from across the country are with us, dharnas will be held in Karnataka, Maharashtra and elsewhere. It’s no longer an agitation restricted to Punjab farmers. We have told the government to call a special session of Parliament to repeal the three farm laws.’’ Bharatiya Kisan Union general secretary Yudhvir said, “Farmers are upset across the country We have told our state . leaders to get the farmers ready for a long battle as the government wants to test our patience.’’ Political support for the protest snowballed on Friday with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav announcing a series of agitations in solidarity Mamata spoke to . various groups of agitating farmers and announced street protests from next week in Bengal to amplify the call against the new farm laws. Saffron dims pink glow in RBI holds key rates, projects Greater Hyderabad polls MONETARY POLICY revival by Q3 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi WITH inflation remaining stubbor nly high, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday chose the predictable option of leaving interest rates unchanged for the third time in a row, but maintained its accommodative stance and improved growth forecast. The banking regulator’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep the benchmark repo rate — at which RBI lends to commercial banks — at 4%. The reverse repo rate — at which banks lend to the central bank — was kept unchanged at 3.35%. The MPC also decided to continue with the accommodative stance “as long as necessary” — not just in the current financial year but also in the next year too. Talking to reporters after the MPC meeting on Friday RBI Gover, nor Shaktikanta Das said inflation continues to be a sticky issue, hinting at similar monetary policy action in the next MPC meeting. Factoring in the nascent signs of economic revival, Das said RBI now expects GDP to contract only 7.5% in FY21, as against its previous projection of 9.5% slippage. It also expects the economy to clock positive growth of 0.1% in the third quarter and 0.7% in Q4. “Data available for Q3 FY21 confirms the economy is recuperating faster than P10 anticipated,” said Das. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Hyderabad IN a major setback for the ruling TRS in the keenly contested Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) polls, the BJP has emerged as the second largest party winning 12 times , seats it had won in 2016. The BJP’s stellar performance came close on the heels of TRS suffering a drubbing in its hands in the by-election to the rural assembly constituency of Dubbaka in erstwhile Medak district a few weeks ago. The GHMC results signify two aspects — the political space hitherto occupied by the Congress or the TDP is going the BJP’s way and the victories in Dubbaka and Hyderabad for BJP may see more leaders from other parties beginning to look at the saffron party with renewed interest. It is a shocker for the ruling TRS to lose one third of the seats it had won in 2016. However, with 31 ex-officio members in its kitty the Mayor and , Deputy Mayor posts are likely MVA wins 4 of 5 Council seats, BJP loses Nagpur Mumbai: The Shiv Sena-NCPCongress coalition in Maharashtra won four of the five Legislative Council seats. In a major setback, the BJP also lost its bastion Nagpur in the biennial elections to the upper house | P8 PARTY POSITION TRS 55 (-44*) MIM 44 (0*) BJP 48 (+44*) Cong 2 (0*) Results declared: 149 (one result withheld) TOTAL DIVISIONS: 150 *Figures in brackets are gain/loss from 2016 polls to go to the TRS. If it still falls short, AIMIM might chip in with the requisite numbers. TRS working president K T Rama Rao said: “The results have not come the way we expected. We had expected 20-25 seats more.” CHIEF Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami exuded confidence that his government’s strong performance would see AIADMK through in the 2021 hustings. The chief minister was here on Friday to give a major fillip to the water management efforts and works in the field of artificial intelligence, besides a slew of infrastructure facilities. Reiterating his commitment to making Tamil Nadu a scarcity-free State, the chief minister listed out the giant leaps the State has taken on the integrated water supply scheme front. Later in the day, Palaniswami visited Sivaganga, where he launched Tollscope Phase-II project. The project aims at helping traffic police to enforce laws strictly through the use of artificial intelligence (AI). He then attended a Covid review meeting. Meanwhile, distancing himself and the party from O Panneerselvam’s remarks hinting at a possible tie-up with Rajinikanth, the chief minister said, “Let the actor register and float his party. Till then, I will not make any comREAD ON: P4 ment.” Cyclone Burevi loses steam, but takes Delta districts by surprise MORE RAINS TO LASH TN? Burevi is in a quasi-stationary position over Gulf of Mannar, close to the Pamban coast. It is likely to cause more rains, but the intensity is expected to come down CENTRE TO TAKE STOCK An interministerial Central team will be on a four-day visit to Tamil Nadu from today to assess damage caused by cyclone Nivar CM Edappadi K Palaniswami giving away cows to beneficiaries at an event in Sivaganga on Friday Tollscope project to aid manage traffic HIGH-TECH TRAFFIC CONTROL The police have installed 15 automatic number plate recording cameras with embedded AI system in and around Sivaganga, to track the traffic flow, identify and capture an image of the violater, vehicle registration number and take owner’s details from RTO database SERVING CHALLAN ONLINE The device will also generate an auto e-challan that will be uploaded in the Central government e-challan server and from there, the owner will get an SMS EXPRESS READ Surappa files impleading petition in PIL against inquiry Madurai: Anna University Vice-Chancellor, MK Surappa, on Friday moved the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court seeking to be impleaded in a PIL filed this week, challenging the State’s GO ordering an inquiry against him over complaints of corruption. The judges issued a notice and adjourned the matter to December 9. November 19 Nagrota terror attack handed over to NIA New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency will investigate the recent November 19 Nagrota attack in which four terrorists of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed were killed by police. Sources said that the Centre decided to hand over the case to NIA as a central agency would be more suitable in a case where Pakistan’s hand is evident $1 MN AWARD Global teacher with a golden heart E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi FOR a primary school teacher in rural Maharashtra, it was a million dollar moment as he was named winner of the 2020 Global Teacher Prize that had more than 12,000 contenders from over 140 nations. That Ranjitsinh Disale has a heart of gold became evident from the fact that he resolved to share a whopping 50% of the prize money with nine other fellow finalists. Hailing from Paritewadi village in Solapur district, Disale, 32, won The Thillai Nataraja temple in Chidambaram was flooded after nearly 43 years, on Friday | SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT Ranjitsinh Disale the $1 million prize for his efforts to promote girls’ education and help trigger a quick-response coded textbook revolution in the country . A video clip of the ceremony cap, turing the moment Disale was named the winner and his beaming parents, trended on Twitter. Disale’s interventions since 2009 helped kids access books in local languages. He embeded textbooks with unique QR codes to give students access to audio poems, stories and assignments. Teachers, he said, are the real changemakers. “They always believe in giving and sharing, which is why I will share 50% , of the prize money among my fellow finalists.” Well said. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE EVEN as cyclone Burevi weakened into a deep depression on Friday, rains wreaked havoc across northern and Delta districts in the State. While Kanniyakumari was anticipated to be among the worst-hit districts, hardly any rainfall was recorded in there. The district administration had made elaborate arrangements with about 75 shelter camps being set up and rescue teams being deployed to help the affected. However, except Nagercoil, no other place in the district received rainfall for the last 24 hours. The sky remained mostly cloudy and the sea receded a , few metres in the district. Coastal districts in northern part of the State, however, witnessed heavy downpour. Lowlying areas across Villupuram, Cuddalore, and Puducherry went under water. In Cuddalore, two persons, a 55-yearold woman and a 10-year-old girl, died after parts of their houses collapsed. Over 40,000 people have been moved to camps, and the district administration is continuing with mitigation measures. Nearly 43 years later, the Thillai Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram was seen flooded as rain water gushed into its premises. Meanwhile, in the Delta districts, close to 60,000 hectares of farm fields were left inundated, according to estimates. (Inputs from across State) FULL COVERAGE: P2,3