over 6L doses of covishield arrive With the Covid-19 vaccine set to be rolled out across India on January 16, the first consignment of vaccines arrived at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru on Tuesday. The consignment contained 6,47,500 doses of Covishield, developed by Oxford University and manufactured for the Indian government by Pune-based Serum Institute of India. | vinod kumar T full coverage: p3 bengaluru l wednesday l january 13, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 24 l late city EDITION 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 Govt quietly accepts CJI’s formulation in contrast to its stiff opposition on Monday; no-show by three senior advocates on the farmers’ side; tractor rally on R-Day will be peaceful, say unions SC sets up panel, pauses farm laws K A N U S A R D A @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an “extraordinary order” to stay the implementation of the three disputed farm laws and set up a panel of four agriculture experts to talk to all stakeholders and report back to the court within two months. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde stayed till further orders the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act; Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion & Facilitation) Act; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act. “We are of the view that the constitution of a committee of experts in the field of agriculture to negotiate between the farmers’ bodies and the Government of India may create a congenial atmosphere and improve the trust and confidence of the farmers... a stay of implementation of all the three farm laws for the present may assuage the hurt feelings of the farmers and encourage them to come to the negotiating table with confidence and good faith,” the 11-page order by the threejudge bench read. The court’s order comes a day after pulling up the Centre for its poor handling of the farmers’ agitation. The bench also said that while the court doesn’t want to stifle a peaceful protest, “the extraordinary order of stay of implementation of the farm laws will be perceived as an achievement” and will encourage the agitating farmers to end their protest. Unlike on Monday, the Centre represented by Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta did not oppose the staying of the laws or formation of a committee. The SC rejected the submission by advocate M L Sharma, one of the petitioners questioning the laws, that the farmers are unwilling to appear before the panel. “If you want to agitate indefinitely you can. Every , person who is genuinely interested in solving the problem is expected to go before the committee. The committee will not punish you or pass any orders. It will submit a report to us,” it said. The bench said it will protect farmers’ land only if they participate in the proceedings before the panel. “We are concerned about the validity of the laws and also about protecting the life and property of citizens affected by protests,” it said. The bench turned down the far mers’ demand that the Prime Minister should approach them to hold negotiations and said, “We cannot ask the Prime Minister... he is not a party here.” The bench was surprised to learn that none of the three senior counsel appeared for the farmer unions on Tuesday P9 . meet The Four Wise Men Tesla readies for charge in B’luru B ans y K a l a p pa @ Bengaluru It’s official now. US-based EV giant Tesla Inc has registered with the Registrar of Companies in Bengaluru as ‘Tesla India Motors and En- ergy Private Limited’ on January 8, 2021. Confirming Tesla’s entry into the state, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa tweeted, ‘’Karnataka will lead India’s journey towards Green Mo- e x p r e ss r e a d Who: Bhupinder Singh Mann is the national president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Mann) and All-India Kisan Coordination Committee View: Was among a group that met minister Tomar and backed the new laws, but with some amendments; wants MSP ensured Who: Dr Pramod Kumar Joshi is an agricultural economist and Director (South Asia) for International Food Policy Research Institute View: Votary of legalising MSP; on contract farming; feels it’s not govt’s job to buy/sell produce; market should determine prices Who: Ashok Gulati is an agricultural economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices View: Supports farm reforms. Has urged govt to address concerns on contract farming and assurance that MSP and APMC systems will continue Who: Anil Ghanwat is the president of Shetkari Sanghatana, a Maharashtra-based organisation founded by Sharad Joshi View: Has sided with the government but agrees it did not hold proper discussions with farmers’ organisations before bringing the laws Unions to stay away, see govt ploy H ar p r e e t B a j w a @ Chandigarh Terming the four-member expert committee set up by the Supreme Court on Tuesday as progovernment and pro-agri reform laws, farmer leaders refused to appear before it and decided to continue their protests. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of around 40 protesting farmer unions, following the SC order. Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Punjab (Rajewal) said, “The committee members are pro-government and thus not dependable. We never asked the court to form a committee; the government is behind all this.” Calling it a government ploy, Rajewal said, “our only demand is repealing the farm laws.” He, however, said the farmer unions will attend the ninth round of talks with the government on January 15 “as we do not want to give them any excuse”. He also assured that the proposed tractor march on January 26 will be peaceful. The All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee said: “We had already said that we will not accept any committee for med by the SC for mediation.” Toyota Kirloskar lifts lockout BENGALURU: Toyota Kirloskar on Tuesday said it has ended the lockout at its Bidadi plant after 12,000 employees gave an undertaking of good behaviour. p13 Release of series on Veerappan stayed BENGALURU: A city court has passed a stay order, restraining AMR Pictures and filmmaker AMR Ramesh from releasing web series, ‘VeerappanHunger for Killing’. p4 bility Electric Vehicle Manu. facturer Tesla will soon start its operations in India with an R&D unit in Bengaluru. I welcome @elonmusk to India & Karnataka and wish him all the very best.” p13 BSY’s new ministers to take oath today A sh w i n i M S r i pad / N aushad B i j a p ur @ B e n g a l u r u / B e l a g a v i After months of speculation over cabinet expansion, new ministers in the BS Yediyurappa gover nment will finally take oath at 4 pm on Wednesday at Raj Bhavan. But the day before the exercise, CM BS Yediyurappa and senior leaders were in a huddle to finalise the list of legislators to be inducted into the cabinet and they were discussing whether to drop some ministers to make way for new faces. “I have personally informed Run ends, Aditya Alva held E x p r e ss N e w s S e r v i c e @ Bengaluru Former Karnataka minister late Jeevaraj Alva’s son and Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi’s brother-in-law Aditya Alva’s run finally came to an end with the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police arresting him in Chennai on Monday night in connection with the Sandalwood drug case. Alva was absconding for more than 120 days after an FIR was registered against him at the Cottonpet police station on SepContinued on: P5 tember 4 last year.  them (about the oath-taking ceremony). Seven to eight new ministers will be inducted,” the chief minister said on Tuesday evening, even as he was holding meetings with several senior leaders, including Revenue Minister R Ashoka. Asked who are likely to be dropped, Yediyurappa said, “It’s under discussion and we are working on it.” Water Resources Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi said that Umesh Katti, Murugesh Nirani, C P Yogeshwar, R Shankar, N Munirathna and MTB Nagaraj will get cabinet berths. Continued on: P4  saina tests negative Shuttlers Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy on Tuesday tested negative for Covid, hours after returning positive results | P19