MANGALURU  MONDAY  JANUARY 25, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 28  CITY EDITION NINTH ROUND OF TALKS OVER LAC STAND-OFF UNDER WAY The Corps Commander-level talks to address the situation in Eastern Ladakh began at Moldo on Chinese side on Sunday INDIA FIRM ON DEMANDING STATUS QUO ANTE TIES IN ‘DIFFICULT PHASE’ DUE TO CHINA While India is demanding that China pull back its troops from all stand-off points and restore status quo ante along the Line of Actual Control, the latter wants India to first withdraw its soldiers deployed on strategic heights on the southern bank of the Pangong Tso lake. Indian jawans continue to hold their positions despite the merciless Himalayan winter ■ ■ On December 9 last, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said ‘five differing explanations’ by China for its deployment on the LAC had pushed bilateral ties into its most difficult phase It’s not a problem of lack of communication. The fact is there are ample pacts but the other side is not following them, he said Round 8 OF BILATERAL TALKS HAD TAKEN PLACE ON NOVEMBER 6 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 Concern over proposal to tie forests to WPI Lens now on illegal quarries in state EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Shivamogga, Bengaluru Formula has been suggested in draft to panel R I C H A S H A R M A @ New Delhi IN what is being seen as a severe threat to the country’s green cover, the Union Environment Ministry has proposed that forests be treated as tradable commodity having value as per the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), to cut cost of diversion of prestine forests for infrastructure projects. In a draft note on the revision of the Net Present Value (NPV) of forest land diverted for nonforest purposes sent to a Committee of Secretaries (CoS), the ministry, on January 22, suggested the interim arrangement of aligning the rates with the WPI till the NPV rates proposed by experts of Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM), Bhopal, are revisited. “Keeping in view that more than three years had elapsed since the NPV came into force, WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST the MoEF&CC proposed to revise NPV based on the WPI,” said the ministry in the draft. The ministry in a meeting in , November last, estimated that NPV rates could be abruptly jacked up by as much as four times the existing ones (as per IIFM proposal), which may impact ongoing power and other infrastructure sector projects due to increase in tariff. However, experts expressed serious concern over the proposed new system. Kanchi Kohli, Legal Research Director at CPR-Namati Environment Justice Program, said: “This new proposal further embeds forests as a commodity to be traded through instruments such as the ‘Wholesale Price Index’. It is not focused at protecting forests or forest rights. Ironically the success of this exercise is only dependent on more forests being lost.” YOUR LIFE COACH 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) Explosives may have come from AP: Minister Citing initial information, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said the suspicion is that the explosives were brought from Andhra Pradesh as such materials are not available in Karnataka. COMING under attack from the Opposition for his remarks on regularising illegal stone quarries in the state, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Sunday stressed that only those unauthorised mines which meet regulations can apply for regularisation and it will be considered as per law. The officials will conduct a spot inspection and permission will be given only if it does not cause any inconvenience to people, he said. The CM said the problem of illegal mining is widespread and added that he has given directions to district deputy commissioners to stop all illegal mining with immediate effect. “This problem is prevalent not only in Shivamogga, but across the state,” he rued. A case in point is Gadag district where there are 65 legal quarries near Adrahalli, Nelugal, Chennapattana and Nadihalli villages, as per the records of Mines and Geology Department. Of these, 49 quarries are operating while the Gadag Forest department officials issued notice to six quarries and 10 other quarries have stopped working. However, villagers say that there are many illegal stone quarries in the region and locals have also witnessed minor accidents. In a related development, several stone quarrying and crushing units in Mandya district were raided on Sunday and hundreds of electric detonators and gelatin sticks were seized. Meanwhile, the preliminary investigation into the blast at a stone-crushing unit at Hunasodu near Shivamogga on Thursday night has indicated that the explosives was brought from Andhra Pradesh. FULL REPORT: P4 FAMILIES OF BLAST VICTIMS CLUELESS Two of the six workers who died the Hunasodu explosion, were the sole bread-winners for their families. The kin of Manjunath (35) say they do not even know what what kind of job he was doing. The family of Praveen (36) too are clueless about how he died. GREEN CARPET Chepauk pitch to have ‘English’ look for Tests V E N K ATA K R I S H N A B @ Chennai V RAMESH KUMAR has an MBA in international business. Growing up in Tiruppur – India’s textile hubs — he wanted to be an athlete. He even represented Tamil Nadu in 100m hurdles in open nationals. An entrepreneur who runs a garment and dying factory which em- ploys around 700 people, these days he is camped in Chennai for some other reason. Ramesh, 43, a certified BCCI curator, will oversee the pitch preparation for India’s upcoming two Tests against England from February 5 at MA Chidambaram Stadium. He might be young for a curator but, in TN cricket, he already has a reputation for making sportive wickets. Ramesh was the one who laid turf wickets at Salem, Tiruppur and Coimbatore: all BCCI approved venues to host first-class cricket. It was this trait that ma de TNCA give him this huge responsibility The Che. pauk pitch over the couple of seasons has come under criticism, including from MS Dhoni for its slow nature. The last time Chennai hosted a Test match in 2016, it provided a flat strip and a repeat of it would also affect India’s chances of making to the Word Test Championship final. P5 UP diesel sale bar to block farm rally lifted N A M I TA B A J PA I @ Lucknow A circular issued by the Gazipur police in eastern Uttar Pradesh advising fuel outlets not to tank up tractors ahead of the proposed farmers’ parade in New Delhi was withdrawn after it drew flak on social media on Sunday . Ghazipur SP Om Prakash Singh sought to play down the circular, claiming it was issued by a station officer two days ago. “It has been withdrawn,” he added. The circular issued by station officer of Sohawal in Ghazipur refers to the ‘high alert’ ahead of the farmers’ rally, and tells fuel outlet owners to sell diesel P7 to tractors. EXPRESS READ ‘Cong-AIUDF will open doors to infiltrators’ Nalbari (Assam): Pitching for another term for a BJP-led government in Assam to “safeguard” the interests of the state, Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the Congress-AIUDF alliance will open “all gates” to infiltrators if they are voted to power. P8