sambalpur l friday l january 15, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION fight for Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Wounded india vs mighty aussies The fourth and final test is a winner-take-all contest with the series poised at 1-1. Australia need a win but a draw will be enough for India Team India resembling a hospital ward Ravindra Jadeja has already been ruled out with a broken left thumb while Hanuma Vihari (right hamstring injury), R Ashwin (back tweak) and Jasprit Bumrah (abdominal strain) are all serious doubts. Without their star skipper and best batsman, Team India have shown resolve beyond compare but can they repeat the feat starting Friday? 0 big name players need to step up ■ If ■ Bumrah is not passed fit, India might opt for Shardul Thakur or T Nataranjan. Prithvi Shaw or Wriddhiman Saha in place of Jadeja. Washington Sundar’s name is also doing the rounds. All 3 senior batsmen -- Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma will have to shoulder the majority of the responsibility. | P11 India Yet to win at the Gabba. In six tests, have lost five and drawN one 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 Modi to launch vaccination drive at 10.30 am Saturday Govt fears less than expected number of beneficiaries may turn up for getting the jabs due to ‘vaccine hesitation’ Express News Service @ New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the muchawaited Covid-19 vaccination programme at 3,006 designated centres across states at 10.30 am on Saturday . “This will be the world’s largest immunisation exercise. A total of 3,006 session sites across all states and Union Territories will be virtually connected during the launch,” a gover nment statement on Thursday said. The Centre also released a rulebook for the vaccine rollout to all the states and UTs, listing the dos and don’ts which say minors (under-18), pregnant women and lactating mothers should not be given the shots. Healthcare workers in both government and private sectors, including anganwadi workers, will receive the vaccine during the first phase. As per the details shared, at every centre, 100 healthcare workers have been registered for inoculation on the first day However, . the government fears that the actual count of people who take Vaccinate docs first, build trust among people: Experts Bhubaneswar: AMID the apprehensions over the efficacy and safety of Covid-19 vaccines, Odisha government’s decision to initially start the inoculation with Class IV employees like safai karmacharis has not gone down well with the health experts. P3 the jab may be far lower, owing to “vaccine hesitation”. “Over 3 lakh people are being sent messages to receive their vaccines on Day 1 at the designated centres. But it won’t be surprising if lesser than expected number of beneficiaries turn up,” said a senior official. “This will be just the beginning of the vaccination in India and it’s likely that many will want to see others take the vaccines first before they take the jabs.” All the states which have got the supply of the two approved vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin — have been advised not to administer more than 100 vaccines per day per centre. The number of designated centres could be increased to 5,000 later. The government has procured 1.65 crore doses of vaccines for the first phase which include 1.1 crore doses of Covishield produced by the Serum Institute of India and 55 lakh doses of Covaxin by Bharat Biotech. Meanwhile, the health ministry clarified that the three-day polio immunisation programme, set to begin on January 17, will now be carried out on the last day of this month. It said the decision is in keeping with the ministry’s stated policy to ensure that Covid management and vaccination services as well as non-Covid essential health services proceed in tandem without adversely impacting each other. Kalahandi no longer land of hunger, it is feeding the nation, says Naveen Express News Service @ Bhawanipatna/Bhubaneswar Kalahandi is no longer the land of hunger, it has transformed into the rice bowl of the State. Kalahandi farmers are now feeding the nation, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on Thursday while launching projects worth over `2,085 crore in the district. Addressing a public meeting at Mangalpur in Jaypatna block of the district, his first since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, the Chief Minister said Kalahandi has shown Odisha the path of development. “It is no longer a laboratory of poverty it has now become the , model of development in the country Naveen said. ,” Seeking to strike an emotional chord with the people, he recalled his father and former chief minister Biju Patnaik’s deep commitment to Kalahandi. “Biju Babu was in- e x p r e ss r e a d Petrol, diesel prices soar in Capital city Bhubaneswar: Petrol and diesel prices have hit a record high in the State Capital. While petrol price climbed to `85.35 per litre on Thursday as against `85.09 a litre on Wednesday, diesel price touched `81.57 per litre on the day as compared to `81.29 a litre a day yesterday. P2 Befitting reply if any superpower hurts national pride: Singh Amid the eight-month-old border standoff with China, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that India does not want a war, but its soldiers are capable of giving a befitting reply if any superpower hurts the P7 country’s pride. Washington House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. displays the signed article of impeachment against President Donald Trump in an engrossment ceremony before transmission to the Senate for trial on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday | PTI Donald Trump impeached, again Express News Service Just eight days before he is slated to leave office, Donald Trump earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first American president to be impeached twice, with 10 of his fellow Republicans joining the Democrats in the House of Representatives to charge him with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in provoking his supporters to storm the US Capitol on January 6. Trump will now face a trial in the Senate where, if convicted, he could be barred from holding office ever again. The Democrats will need 17 Republican votes in the 100-member Senate DC locks down week before inauguration All through downtown Washington, the primary sound for several blocks was the beeping of forklifts unloading more fencing. There were no cars or scooters and seemingly no tourists on Wednesday, just the occasional jogger and multiple construction crews at work. P9 as a two-thirds majority is required in the Upper House of the US Congress to convict and impeach the president. However, Trump will not have to quit the White House before his term ends as the Senate is adjourned till January 19, a day before Joe Biden takes oath as the 46th President of the United States. The Democratic-controlled House on Wednesday impeached Trump by 232 to 197 votes after an impassioned debate. The House went ahead with the move after Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday refused to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. Those who voted in favour of the impeachment included the House’s No. 3 Republican, Liz Cheney as well as all four Indi, an-American Democratic members — Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Raja Krishnamoorthi and Pramila Jayapal. jured in a stone-pelting incident at Bhawanipatna in the 1990s. When I asked him about the incident, he said nothing to be worried about. People of Kalahandi love me very much and I love them equally I will . work ten times more for them,” he recalled. Naveen said, the very words of Biju Babu inspired him to work for Kalahandi’s develop- ment. “The picture of the district has completely turned around,” he asserted. The Chief Minister inaugurated 54 projects worth over `1,064 crore and laid foundation stones of 52 projects estimated at `1,020 crore during the visit. Projects inaugurated included the Upper Indravati Lift Canal system constructed at a cost of `987 crore. The ca- nal will provide irrigation to 25,275 hectares farmland in Jaipatna, Koksara and Dharamgarh blocks which were deprived of the water of Indravati project due to their high elevation location. He also inaugurated 10 drinking water projects worth `20 crore and 13 check dams constructed at a cost of `4.83 crore. Appreciating Kalahandi’s development in the agriculture sector, the Chief Minister said that the district now holds the second position in production of paddy in the State. This has been possible due to dedication and toil of farmers. Irrigation facilities have increased three-fold in the district and and fish production has gone up significantly . He said that `1,200 crore was deposited in the accounts of farmers during the procurement season through direct bank transfer (DBT).  Continued on: P5 Ex-IAS officer, Modi lieutenant joins BJP, likely to get crucial role in UP N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow Former bureaucrat AK Sharma joined the ruling BJP in Lucknow on Thursday . Believed to be a trusted lieutenant of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the 1988 batch IAS officer was inducted into the party by UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh in the presence of deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dr Dinesh Sharma. While Sharma is tipped to be a BJP candidate in the upcoming council elections scheduled for January 28, the political corridors are abuzz with speculations of him taking up a crucial role in State with Assembly elections just a year away . Speaking to reporters after the induction, Sharma said that he was happy to join the party and would work for the welfare of the people. The UP BJP chief expressed confidence that the BJP would benefit from Sharma’s administrative experience gained while working with the PM closely especially the six years , which he spent in the PMO. A Bhumihar by caste and a postgraduate in political science from Allahabad University Sharma hails from Kajha , Khurd village in Muhammadabad Gohna tehsil in Mau district of eastern UP. He joined Modi as the secretary in CMO October 2001 when the former took over as the Gujarat CM. He continued to work with him in the PMO from 2014 onward as well and took over as the MSME secretary in April, 2020. While the BJP State unit is keeping a guarded silence over the role of Sharma, those privy to the developments, said, he may be made a deputy chief minister. However, in such a situation, the sword of suspense would hang on existing deputy CMs - Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma - and the responsibility they would be entrusted with in future. “Obviously, party leadership must be having a bigger plan behind sending Sharma to UP Council,” said a senior BJP functionary seeking anonymity . Gupkar leader tones down Article 370 promise Three months after the formation of People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) to fight for restoration of J&K’s special status, the convener of the seven-party alliance, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, on Thursday stated that the alliance never said it would get back Article 370. He also ruled out launching any big agitation.Talking to TNIE, Tarigami said they are planning to meet national leaders. “We will also be holding a convention. We will visit different parts of Jammu region and talk to people.” | P7 TRIBUTE TO DEVI Students of Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya present an Odissi choreography on ‘Shakti’ at the inaugural evening of Mukteswar Dance Festival in Bhubaneswar on Thursday | IRFANA foul play Google cracks whip on digital lenders found violating its policies Bi s m a h M a l i k @ Bengaluru Tech giant Google said on Thursday that it had removed several personal loan apps from its playstore in India after the digital lenders were found violating its policies on tenure for repayments, annual percentage rate and disclosure of total loan costs. More lending apps which do not comply with the local laws and regulations could face similar action. Users as well as government agencies have flagged concerns regarding some of the lenders adopting coercive tactics for loan recovery. “We have reviewed hundreds of personal loan apps in India, based on flags submitted by users and government agencies. The apps that were found to violate our user safety policies were immediately removed from the Store, and we have asked the developers of the remaining identified apps to demonstrate that they comply with applicable local laws and regulations. Apps that fail to do so will be removed without further notice. In addition, we will continue to assist the law enforcement agencies in their investigation of this issue,” Google said in a statement. Regarding the user privacy the , company said developers must only request permissions that are necessary to implement current features or services. “They should not use permissions that give access to user or device data for undisclosed, unimplemented, or disallowed features or purposes. Developers must also only use data for purposes that the user has consented to, and if they later want to use the data for other pur- poses, they must obtain user permission for the additional uses,” it stated. The announcement comes close on the heels of the Reserve Bank of India constituting a working group to formulate regulatory measures for facilitating a safer digital lendi n g e nv i r o n m e n t i n t h e country . Digital lenders that offer small personal loans at the click of a button without ask- ing for collaterals have come under scanner for coercing the borrowers for repayments by harassments through their recovery agents, offering shorter tenures for repayments, sending abusive texts, charging high interest rates and calling their contacts. These apps typically cater to the underserved populations which either don’t have access to traditional banking facilities or don’t have a good credit score. The RBI said a balanced approach needed to be followed so that the regulatory framework supports innovation while ensuring data security, privacy, confidentiality and consumer protection. “Recent spurt and popularity of online lending platforms/ mobile lending apps has raised cer tain serious concer ns which have wider systemic implications,” the central bank stated.