the New Indian Express Wishes its readers a Happy republic day Our offices and press will remain closed today and there will be no issue of the paper on Wednesday BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l january 26, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 14 l JEYPORE 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 Minor face-off on LAC, this time in Naku La M AYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi Hours after India and China concluded talks on resolving the months-long stand-off along the Line of Actual Control, reports of another face-off on January 20 between troops on both sides emerged, this time in north Sikkim area. “There was a minor face-off at Nakula area of North Sikkim on January 20. It was resolved by local commanders as per established protocol,” an army officer said, which indicates the entire border with China continues to be hot. However, the ruling Chinese party’s mouthpiece Global Times called it fake news. This was the second face-off in over eight months in the same spot at Naku La; the first one happened on May 9. Monday’s meeting of Corps Commanders of both sides went on till 2.30 am on Tuesday A joint statement issued later stated, “The two . sides agreed to push for an early disengagement of the frontline troops. They also agreed to follow the important consensus of their state leaders, maintain the good momentum of dialogue and negotiation.... The two sides agreed to continue their effective efforts in ensuring the restraint of the frontline troops, stabilize and control the situation along the LAC in the Western Sector of the ChinaIndia border, and jointly maintain peace.” Galwan warrior Colonel Babu gets Maha Vir Chakra M AYA N K SI N G H @ New Delhi Acknowledging the bravery of soldiers who fought against PLA troops in Ladakh’s Galwan valley to safeguard India’s territory the Army decided to confer , awards on them that are given only during wartime. Col Bikumalla Santosh Babu, who led the Galwan offensive and laid down his life, has been awarded the Maha Vir Chakra. Six others who were part of the same operation will receive the Vir Chakra. The Maha Vir Chakra was last given during the 1999 Kargil operations. Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was honoured with the Vir Chakra in 2019 for downing a Pakistan F-16 and his fortitude P9 while in enemy territory . Parveen negi 2 lakh tractors to roll into Delhi today l 2 lakh tractors will take part in the kisan parade today, according to farmers’ unions l Thousands of farmers are ready with tractors at three Delhi borders Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur l 500 women, too, are expected to drive tractors l Tractor march likely to begin at 11.30 am and continue for over 12 hours l Each tractor can carry a maximum of five persons, including the driver; no It has been 60 days since the farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan are protesting near Delhi. Did the country’s PM enquire about them? - NCP supremo Sharad Pawar overtaking allowed l Over 3,000 volunteers, including women, to manage the parade l Three routes decided for rally; expected to cover over 100 km in Delhi l Coming up, protest on budget day, Feb 1. Farmers will march towards Parliament on foot | P9 padma for Abe, spb, Paswan, gogoi E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Former Union minister late Ram Vilas Paswan, two ex-chief ministers — late Tarun Gogoi of Assam and late Keshubhai Patel of Gujarat — renowned Islamic scholar Kalbe Sadiq and PM Narendra Modi’s former principal secretary Nripendra Mishra will be awarded Padma Bhushan, the government said on Monday . Former Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan and singer K S Chithra will also receive this year’s Padma Bhushan. Ex-Japanese PM Shinzo Abe will be among the seven recipi- ents of Padma Vibhushan along with late singer S P Balasubramaniam and ex-director-general of Archaeological Survey of India B B Lal, who was part of the team which found a Hindu temple beneath the now-demolished Babri mosque. Veteran table tennis player Mouma Das was among the six sportspersons awarded the Padma Shri. A total of 102 people have been named for the Padma Shri this year. The list includes billionaire techie Sridhar Vembu, singer Bombay Jayashri, and lyricist Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri. P Anitha, Madhavan Nambiar, Sudha Hari Narayan Singh, Vi re n d e r S i n g h , a n d K Y Venkatesh have also been awarded the prestigious award for their achievement in sports. Padma, one of the highest civilian awards conferred by the President on the eve of Republic Day every year, will be conferred on 119 people from various fields including arts, science, medicine, agriculture, trade, sports, education and spiritualism. Six from Odisha to receive Padma awards E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar As many as six personalities from Odisha have found place in the list of Padma Awards this year. Sculptor Sudarshan Sahoo will receive Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, for his contribution to the field of Art while five other inspiring persons from different segments of the society have been chosen for the Padma Shri honour. The Padma Shri awardees this year include teacher Nanda Prusty author Rajat Kumar Kar, , Gandhian social worker from Rayagada district Shanti Devi, tribal poet and singer from Kandhamal district Purnamasi Jani and Dr Krishna Mohan Pathi from Ganjam, who has dedicated his life to treating tribal people. The 98-year-old Prusty has been on a life-long mission to eradicate illiteracy while author Kar holds the record of being the longest commentator of Puri P2 Rath Yatra.