tirupati l thursday l december 17, 2020 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l anantapur EDITION Ahead of 2021 assembly war, ldf wins local body battle The ruling CPM-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala on Wednesday appeared to make a clean sweep of the local body elections Cong loses shine, bjp set to improve tally Befitting reply to Centre, says Vijayan With counting still going on, the LDF was leading in 514 of the total of 941 grama panchayats, 3 corporations and 10 district panchayats. Congressled United Democratic Front was in the 2nd spot, leading in 375 grama panchayats, 3 corporations and 4 district panchayats. BJP was ahead in 23 panchayats and 2 municipalities against 14 and 1, respectively, in 2015  P5 ■ ■ In the last local body elections, the Congress had won 365 panchayats, 41 municipalities and two corporations Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has come under a shadow of doubt following the gold smuggling case, said the results are the people’s reply to the central agencies trying to “wreck the state” Apr-May 2021 When elections to the Kerala Assembly are expected to be held 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 SC panel in the works to seek stir’s solution India to name ‘trusted’ telecom sources, may blacklist Chinese firms E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Fears matters could snowball; impleads 8 farmer unions; extensive hearing today E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi With the deadlock persisting on the farmers’ protest against three contentious farm sector laws, the Supreme Court on Wednesday indicated its intention to set up a committee of all stakeholders to open talks, adding the issue could soon snowball into a national one if not quickly resolved. “This is what we propose to do tentatively. We will form a committee to resolve this dispute,” the bench told solicitor general Tushar Mehta while hearing three petitions related to the protests. “This panel will comprise members from BKU or any other farmer association that are protesting, government representatives and other farmers groups,” the CJI said while issuing notice to the Centre on the three petitions. As per the order, eight farmer organisations have been included in the case: Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rakesh Tikait), BKU (Sidhupur), BKU (Rajewal), BKU (Lakhowal), Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, BKU (Dakaunda), BKU (Doaba) and Kul Hind Kisan Federation. Mehta told the bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde that the government is keen on engaging with the farmers, but it can happen only when the other side is open to discuss the laws, clause by clause. Instead, “they come with just one demand of taking back the law,” Mehta rued. At this, CJI Bobde observed, “Your negotiations have not worked apparently Mehta claimed the .” agitation had been taken over by vested interests. “Whenever they came to meet our ministers, they carried placards with ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Also, when the ministers spoke to them they turned around in their seats to show their back to the Central ministers,” he said. Delhi government counsel Rahul Mehra batted for the farmers saying they were compelled to protest in winter. “The Centre must do something to resolve their problems,” he added. The case will be heard at P7 length on Thursday  . New CJs for andhra, ts and madras HCs E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi The Supreme Court collegium’s decision to shake-up the higher judiciary, as reported in these columns, including the transfers of chief justices of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, was formally uploaded in its website on Wednesday . In all, 14 judicial officers were part of the recommended shuffle: promotion of five judges as chief justices; transfer of four chief justices to various high courts; and transfer of five judges. Apart from the elevation of Justice Dr S Muralidhar as Chief Justice of Orissa High Court and Delhi High Court judge Hima Kohli as Chief Justice of Telangana High Court, the collegium approved proposals to promote Calcutta High Court judge Sanjib Banerjee as Chief Justice of Madras High Court, Allahabad High Court judge Pankaj Mithal as Chief Justice of Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand High Court judge Sudhanshu Dhulia as Gauhati High Court Chief Justice. The judges whose transfers have been approved include Justice Sanjay Yadav, presently serving as the acting Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. His name has been recommended for transfer to the Allahabad High Court. Justice Rajesh Bindal, who is currently the acting Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, has `1.49L power bill shocks thatched house owner E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Anantapur K Nagamma, a daily labourer, was shocked on seeing the monthly power bill for her thatched house in Kanekal on Wednesday The power bill for . the small house located near the Zilla Parishad Boys High School in the mandal headquarters was a whopping `1,49,034. The only electrical appliances in the house are a fan and a TV, besides a tubelight. Normally, her monthly power bill does not cross `100. “I used to get a power bill of around `100 month. The components of the bill include `50 as minimum charges, `25 as customer charges and another `25 as late fee surcharge. But, the arrears from April to December in the bill were shown Farmers shout slogans against the new farm sector laws, at the Singhu border in New Delhi on Wednesday | Shekhar Yadav Wary unions want to wait and watch H a r p r ee t B a j w a @ Chandigarh Protesting farm unions on Wednesday reacted cautiously to the Supreme Court’s proposal to set up a committee to resolve the deadlock over the three contentious farm laws. While some said they will decide on the court’s suggestion only after receiving it in writing and taking legal advice, others claimed the new panel was meaningless since they had already rejected the Centre’s proposal to amend the three laws. Harinder Singh Lakhowal, General Secretary of BKU (La- khowal) and Omka General Secretary of BKU (Rajewal) said, “After discussion among farmer leaders today it was de, cided that once we get any notice from the court, we will take legal advice and decide as to what to do.” Forming a new committee at this stage may not work, according to Sukhdev Singh, Punjab General Secretary of Bhart i ya K i s a n U n i o n ( E k t a Ugrahan). “The government should have formed a committee of farmers and others before enacting the new agriculture laws,” he said. Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav, who is also a member Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, said the SC can decide only the constitutionality of the farm laws but it is not for the judiciary to decide on the desirability of these laws. “SC monitored negotiation would be a wrong path,” he noted. Meanwhile, a 65-year-old religious leader Baba Ram Singh shot himself dead at the Singhu border. He reportedly left behind a suicide note in Punjabi saying he took this extreme step as he could no longer see the struggles of the farmers. Agitation figured in talks, says Rabb New Delhi: Visiting British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday said he had discussed the ongoing farmers’ protests at Delhi’s borders with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar during their interaction. India, he said, had a “vibrant heritage of peaceful protests”, and the United Kingdom respects it | P7 Promotions Name of judge Present HC HC where appointed as CJ Dr S Muralidhar Punjab & Haryana Orissa Hima Kohli Delhi Telangana Sanjib Banerjee Calcutta Madras Pankaj Mithal Allahabad Jammu & Kashmir Sudhanshu Dhulia Uttarakhand Gauhati T r a n s f e r o f C h i e f J u s t i ce s Name High Court from High Court to R S Chauhan J K Maheshwari Mohammad Rafiq A K Goswami Sudhanshu Dhulia Telangana Andhra Pradesh Orissa Sikkim Uttarakhand Uttarakhand Sikkim Madhya Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Gauhati Transfer of judges Name High Court from High Court to Sanjay Yadav Madhya Pradesh Allahabad Rajesh Bindal J&K Calcutta Vineet Kothar Madras Gujarat Joymalya Bagchi Calcutta Andhra Pradesh Satish Chandra Sharma Madhya Pradesh Karnataka been proposed for a transfer to the Calcutta High Court. The other transfers of judges are Madras High Court judge Vineet Kothari to the Gujarat High Court; Calcutta High Court judge Joymalya Bagchi to the Andhra Pradesh High Court; and Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Satish Chandra Sharma to the Karnataka High Court. Approve rce of polavaram, CM urges centre Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy called on Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in New Delhi on Wednesday and urged him to approve Revised Cost Estimates of Polavaram project to the tune of `55,656 cr | P4 After taking a slew of steps against Chinese mobile apps, India will soon come out with a list of ‘trusted sources’, only from whom telecom equipment can be purchased by service providers. Senior officials said the move is aimed at building indigenous capacity in the manufacturing of the telecom equipment, and cut down on the dependency on imports. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday decided that a panel headed by the deputy national security advisor will prepare the ‘trusted sources’ list, which seeks to secure India’s communication network. The panel will also prepare a ‘negative list’ of companies, whose products will not be allowed in the country. The black list is likely to contain Chinese firms. The National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector, cleared by the CCA, directs all service providers to mandatorily source equipment from “trusted sources”. However, it will not affect equipment that have already been deployed. “The CCS has approved the directive in line with the needs of the national security , and accordingly the National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector has been given the nod,” said Union law and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The panel will comprise members from relevant de- Next round of spectrum sale The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal for the auction of 2,251.25 megahertz of spectrum worth `3.92 lakh crore. The sale will be held in March 2021 | P10 partments, ministries, besides two from the industry and also independent experts. The directive has provisions to qualify telecom gears made by domestic players in the trusted category, while those that meet the criteria of the DoT’s “preferential market access scheme” will be certified as India trusted sources. Pesticide residue is reason for Eluru mystery illness: Experts E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Vijayawada Experts from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, and other premier research institutes who were roped in to ascertain the reasons for the mystery illness in Eluru, surmised organochlorine as its cause. They also said pesticides could be the reason for the presence of organochlorine and it might have entered the human body in the process of food cycle. AIIMS experts said their tests showed lead in the blood of patients and nickel in all the milk samples collected from Eluru. Lead was also found in the blood samples taken from the relatives of the patients and an in depth study in this regard is needed. They, however, maintained that the exact reason for the illness can be known only after analysing the samples of food, drinking water and vegetables for a few months. They also felt the need to geo tag the samples to analyse the reason for the illness. AIIMS experts submitted their study analysis to Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy who held a video conference , with them on Wednesday. Experts from National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and other research institutes also participated in the conference. Jagan said AIIMS and Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) should conduct a study for a long term to ascertain the exact cause for the outbreak of the illness. He directed Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney to prepare an action plan for it. IICT experts said they collected water samples from 21 places in Eluru, apart from blood samples. “There are no traces of heavy metals in the water samples. No pesticide residue was found in them. We have analysed the water samples more than once and came to this conclusion,’’ they said, adding that endosulfan was traced in blood samples.  P5 WG town back to normal Central institutes continue study to ascertain exact cause of illness 615 Total cases No cases for the past four days Expert findings No bacteria or virus was found in the samples Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad No evidence was found to prove viral infection Pesticide residue was found in the samples of tomato and brinjal and it might be the reason for the illness National Institute of National Institute of Virology, Pune Nutrition, Hyderabad How the pesticide residue entered the human body should be studied. The committee set up by the State government to probe the mystery illness, should work on it - Dr Ashish of WHO Blood shortage as `1,48,034. Even if I have not paid the power tariff for the past seven months in view of the Covid-19 pandemic, it should not be more than `1,000,’’ Nagamma lamented. When the issue was taken to the notice of APTransco Assistant Engineer Srinivas Reddy he attributed the excess bill, ing to technical glitch. “We will resolve the matter if the consumer brings the power bill to us. Once the matter is resolved, the consumer will get normal bill like earlier,” he said. Motivation of MGNREGA workers yields results for IRCS G R a m e s h B a b u @Srikakulam Around 200 patients suffering from chronic ailments like thalassemia, sickle cell anaemia, dialysis and cancer approach the Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) blood bank for their treatment every month. In the aftermath of the Covid-19 induced nationwide lockdown, the IRCS blood bank was unable to meet the blood requirements of chronic patients. Due to conduct of blood donation camps by mobilising employees of various government departments and members of voluntary organisations, the blood stock has increased slightly But, it is not . suffice to meet the requirement of all chronic patients. Now, the IRCS blood bank is not able to supply more than 1,500 units against the requirement of nearly 3,500 units per month. Consequently, patients are MGNREGA workers donate blood at a camp in Rajam of Srikakulam I Express forced to go to blood banks in Visakhapatnam incurring huge expenses during emergencies. To overcome the acute shortage of blood, District Collector J Nivas has proposed to involve MGNREGA workers in donation of blood. “As the blood bank had less than 10 units of blood, we started collecting blood from MGNREGA workers on December 5 by motivating them. They have donated 470 units of blood till now. Bu- oyed by the good response to our blood donation campaign, we have set a target of collecting nearly 25,000 units of blood by the end of March,” said IRCS blood bank chairman P Jagan Mohan Rao. There are 9,49,176 workers enrolled in MGNREGA in Srikakulam district. Of the total, as many as 6,84,041 workers from 4,27,677 households have got wage works during the curP5 rent fiscal.