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 ■ ■ thiruvananthapuram l saturday l January 30, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Mob violence at Singhu, massing of farmers at Ghazipur; Shah trip off E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi A day after the police tried to evict farmers from Ghazipur, action on Friday shifted to the Singhu border — the nerve centre of the ongoing protests against the three farm laws — where a group of ‘locals’ clashed with agitators demanding that they vacate it. The Delhi Police and security personnel resorted to lathicharge and launched tear gas shells to control the situation as both sides resorted to stoning and the mob allegedly snatched batons from security forces to attack the protestors. The clashes began after more than 100 locals reached the site with placards and the Tricolour around 1.15 pm and shouted slogans like Jai Shri Ram, Goli Maaro Salon Ko, Desh Ke Ghaddaron ko, Khalisthan Khali Karo. They allegedly damaged tents and other paraphernalia of farmers, which led to retaliation. In the melee, Delhi Police SHO (Alipur) Pradeep Paliwal was injured as a man allegedly attacked him with a sword. “These people carrying national flags came with stones and lathis and asked us (farmers) to vacate the highway After heated . exchange of words, they attacked our tents, pelted us with stones and hit us with lathis,” said Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general secretary of BKU (Lakhowal). The police arrested 43 people in connection with the day’s clashes, including farmer Ranjeet Singh (22) for attacking the SHO. A common FIR charging them with at- tempt to murder, damaging public property, attacking public servant on duty, etc., has been registered. In contrast, the UP-Delhi border at Ghazipur was peaceful, but the crowd swelled in the morning following an emotional appeal by Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union. Farmers in batches, small business owners, and social and political activists visited the protest site in droves. The camps of protestors now span a distance of 6 km on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway. Similarly, farmers in large numbers on their tractortrailers from Punjab and Haryana are moving back towards Singhu and Tikri borders. With the situation still evolving, Union home minister Amit Shah cancelled his proposed weekend trip to West Bengal. Earlier in the day, a mahapanchayat of farmers in Muzaffarnagar decided to throw weight behind the BKU. The GIC ground near Mahaveer Chowk, where the meeting took place, was jam packed. The mahapanchayat was called by BKU national president Naresh Tikait after the Ghazipur developments. Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh has already announced his support to the BKU and his son Jayant Chaudhary met Tikait at Ghazipur. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police sent notices through WhatsApp messenger app to nine farmer leaders to join the investigation in connection with the violence at Red Fort on January 26. `23k min basic salary for state govt staff, 20,000 may get 1-yr extension WHAT THEY’LL DRAW BASIC PAY Minimum Maximum B23,000 B1,66,800 (Current min pay D16,500) INCREMENT B700 B3,400 HRA B1,200 B10,000 (10% in Corp, 8% dist centres, 6% in municipalities & 4% in panchayats, no more city compensatory allowance) 10% Fitment benefit PENSION Minimum Maximum B11,500 B83,400 Family pension B11,500 B50,040 Part-time contingent employees PAY B11,500 B22,970 K17 lakh is the death-cumretirement gratuity, an increase from the current ceiling of D14 lakh K1,000 allowance for pensioners who crossed 80 years K5 lakh is the new ex-gratia allowance, raised from D1.5 lakh LEAVE Parent care leave up to one year with 40% leave salary to take care of bedridden parents Leave up to one year with 40% salary to take care of children up to three years Paternity leave raised from 10 days to 15 PENSION B5,750 B11,485 Tahsildar post elevated to principal tahsildar K1,500 special allowance for village officers Posts of grade 1 overseer and grade 1 draftsman elevated to sub-engineer K 4,8 1 0 c r is the additional liability to the state exchequer because of the revised salary and pension c h u rc h DESPITE the state government walking a tightrope between Covid spending and shortfall in revenue, the pay revision commission has recommended a hike in salary , pension and allowances for government employees in the election year. It will cause the state coffers an additional liability of `4,810 crore. The 11th commission has fixed the minimum basic pay of employees at `23,000 and the maximum at `1.66 lakh against the existing `16,500 and `1.22 lakh, respectively . The revised salary and pension will be paid with retrospective effect from July 1, 2019. The commission headed by K Mohandas submitted the recommendations to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Finance Minister Thomas Isaac on Friday . Though the panel did not propose to increase the retirement age, it recommended a one-year extension to around 20,000 employees who are about to retire this year as it will allow the government to hold on to `5,700 crore for a year. The commission also suggested to give 10% house rent allowance to employees in corporation limits and 8% in district headquarters, 6% in municipalities in semi-urban areas and 4% in panchayats. The minimum HRA is fixed at `1,200 and the maximum at `10,000. Village officers will be given a special allowance of `1,500 while a unification of salaries of paramedical staff in health department has been proposed. The panel also recommended the government to carry out next pay revision only after the Central government does it in January 2026. Minimum pension will be `11,500 and maxium `83,400. The ceiling fixed for gratuity fund has been raised to `17 lakh from `14 lakh. Pensioners who turned 80 years will be given an additional allowance of `1,000. Full pension will be given to mentally challenged children who receive family pension. The state employees will be given leave up to one year with 40% salary and other benefits for taking care of children up to three years and bedridden parents or parents with dementia. Paternal leave has been extended to 15 days from 10. The pay and pension were revised using the multiplication factor of 1.38. The employees earned a dearness allowance of 28% as on July 1, 2019. d i p lo m acy The Church, whose inclinations might be a deciding factor in the assembly polls, saw ‘courtesy calls’ from leaders across the political spectrum on Friday. Cong top brass visits Jacobite headquarters Kochi: Congress veteran Oommen Chandy, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and Benny Behanan, MP, visited the Patriarchal Centre, the headquarters of Jacobite faction, in Puthencruz at 4pm on Friday. They enquired after the Catholicos’ health. “It was only a friendly visit,” said a Church office-bearer. P4 Orthodox metropolitans call on IUML leaders Kozhikode: A delegation from Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church visited IUML state president Hyderali Shihab Thangal at the latter’s house at Panakkad in Malappuram on Friday. The visit holds political significance in light of CPM’s statement that Congress was cosying up to fundamentalist outfits. P4 BJP’s Pillai meets Jacobite, Orthodox faction heads Kochi: Mizoram Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai visited the headquarters of both churches on Friday and interacted with Catholicos Mor Baselios Thomas-I of the Jacobite faction and Catholicos Baselios Marthoma Poulose-II of the Orthodox faction. P4 16 pages, including 4 pages of thiruvananthapuram Express Yudhvir Singh, farmer leader Demand to withdraw FIRs against journos Police personnel pin down a farmer (top), who allegedly attacked police Station House Officer (Alipur) Pradeep Paliwal, during clashes between locals and farmers at the Singhu Border in Delhi on Friday; and a man hurls a stone at protesters at Singhu as policemen look on | PTI president defends new farm laws New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday defended the contentious farm laws in his address to Parliament and described the recent Republic Day violence as unfortunate. With the laws put in abeyance on the Supreme Court’s orders, Kovind said the government will abide by the verdict of the highest court of the nation. While he addressed a range of issues, including the tension on the China border, the biggest focus of his speech was on the agriculture sector | P7 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Delhi Police after cordoning off the area outside the Israeli Embassy where the bomb exploded | Parveen Negi A low intensity blast occurred on the high-security posh Abdul Kalam Road near Israel Embassy on Friday evening at a time when the annual Beating Retreat ceremony was underway at Vijay Chowk near Rashtrapati Bhavan, sending security officials in a THE Left government, which drew flak over eight encounter deaths during its tenure so far, informed the High Court on Friday that it will consider granting compensation to the legal heirs of Naxal leader A Varghese. He was shot dead in a police encounter in Tirunelli forest area in 1970. Considering the submission, the court directed the government to consider and pass orders within two months. Justice A Nagaresh issued the order while disposing of the petition filed by the brothers tizzy President Ram Nath Ko. vind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the three Service Chiefs were attending the ceremony just a few km away from the location of the blast. While no injury or casualty was reported, three cars parked nearby on the opposite side of the carriageway suffered minor damages. Friday also happened to mark the 29th anniversary of India and Israel establishing full diplomatic relations back in 1992. While the officials in the security establishment said the blast was being investigated as an attempted ‘security attack’, Delhi Police called it a ‘mischievous’ attempt to creP8 ate a sensation.  Survey sees V-rebound, growth @ 11% J aya n ta R o y C h o w d h u r y @ New Delhi India is likely to grow by 11% in the next financial year (FY22), the annual Economic Survey tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on Friday said, predicting a V-shaped recovery from the sharp 7.7% economic contraction in this pandemichit year. “With the economy’s returning to normalcy brought closer by the initiation of a mega vaccination drive, hopes of a robust recovery in services sector, consumption, and investment have been rekindled,” said the Survey. However, it cautioned it would take at least two years to get back to the prepandemic levels. The Survey, an annual exercise in economic stocktaking Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian and future policy prescriptions, drew lessons from the pandemic to strongly recommend raising healthcare spending from 1% to 2.5-3% of GDP . It indicated that the government would overshoot its fiscal deficit target by a wide mark and may look at increased spending and stimulus measures in the year ahead to push growth. Former member of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council and Chief Economist with Brickwork ratings Dr M Govin- The key takeaways Rising from down under IT boom continues GDP to replicate V-shaped performance Norms relaxation enable IT-BPM of Indian cricket team in Australia to companies to ‘Work from Home’ scale historic heights after a poor start to post growth Bollywood’s bare necessity link Tinsel town’s rhetoric on ‘Roti, Kapda Aur Makan’ (Food, clothing and housing) mirrors socio-economic issues of country Saved 1 lakh lives Strong lockdown measures helped restrict cases by 37 lakh, save 1 lakh lives More teeth to redress system Current ombudsman set up is only advisory in nature, rendering it ineffective and younger sisters of Varghese seeking to declare that they are legally entitled to be compensated with an amount of `50 lakh with interest, for the loss of reputation, goodwill, dependency, care and protection caused to the petitioners. Senior prosecutor Suman Chakravarthy said if the petitioners prefer a representation within two weeks, the government will consider it and pass appropriate orders. When the petition came up for hearing, counsel for the petitioners pointed out that there is a change in circumstances and they are expecting that the da Rao said: “Relaxation in fiscal deficit targets may be necessary, and the government may have to revise the target upwards for the current year in view of the need to augment capital expenditures.” While analysts at Barclays say the fiscal deficit has widened to 7.7% of GDP, Darren Aw, Asia Economist at Capital Economics, calculated it at 8%. This is against a target of 3.5% set in this year’s Budget. Chief Economic Advisor Dr K Subramanian said: “Reforms must go on to enable India to realise its potential growth and erase the adverse impact of the pandemic.” Analysts predict a spate of state-run enterprise privatisations and asset sales in the budget to help fund infrastructure spending the government is likely to have planned. P10 Women empowerment Power point India’s Transmission & Distribution losses are over 20 per cent of generation, twice the world average Naxal Varghese case: State willing to pay compensation, govt tells HC E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kochi With the Noida Police and the Madhya Pradesh Police filing FIRs against Congress MP Sashi Tharoor and senior journalists Rajdeep Sardesai, Mrinal Pande, Zafar Agha, Paresh Nath, Anant Nath and Vinod Jose for misleading tweets/retweets over the Republic Day violence, media bodies, including the Editor’s Guild, demanded their withdrawal, saying it was an attempt to browbeat and intimidate the media. The FIRs were booked under 10 different provisions, including the sedition law MINOR blast outside israeli embassy E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ T'Puram A quick look at the recommendations of the 11th Pay Revision Commission We don’t need lecture on respecting national flag from these people. Majority of farmers who are sitting here have their children fighting on the border for the country government will favourably respond to their demand. In an affidavit, the government had earlier taken the stand that the conviction by the lower court is not a ground for seeking compensation for Varghese’s death and the alleged state brutality which was not in existence at any point of time. The government had also stated neither the probe agency nor the court could find a reason to deny the fact that Varghese was a ‘notorious criminal’ involved in murder and dacoity cases in Wayanad area. But the government withdrew the affidavit during the pendency of the case.  ● More on P4  Promote non-discriminatory practices like pay and career progression to increase female participation rate Agriculture as modern biz Bats for urgent reforms to transform farming into modern business enterprise Upskilling children Vocational courses for skill development of students from classes 9 to 12 Online education a great leveller Online schooling can reduce inequalities in educational outcomes if well-utilised Focus on R&D, jugaad can take you only so far B i s m a h M a l i k @ Bengaluru The Indian industry’s growth under trying circumstances has often been attributed to the spirit of jugaad (makeshift solutions). The Economic Survey for the first time war ned against its limitations, saying mere-reliance on Jugaad innovation by the private sector instead of adequate spending on Research and Development (R&D) could result in India missing crucial opportunities. On the brighter side, India improved its ranking on the Global Innovation Index (GII), and is now at the 48th position. When it came to competing with the top 10 global economies, India lags behind on the basis of the seven pillars of GII, including knowledge and technology outputs (KTO-27th rank), market sophistication (31st), business sophistication (55th), human capital and research (HCR-60th), institutions (61st), creative output (64th) and infrastructure (75th). “India must significantly ramp up investment in R&D if it is to achieve its aspiration to emerge as the third largest economy the Survey said. ,” express read Suraj Venjaramoodu and Kani Kusruthi, who won the Best Actor awards for their performances in Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 and Biriyaani, respectively, at the state award ceremony held at Tagore Theatre in T’Puram on Friday | B P DEEPU | P3 Frontline workers to get vaccine from next week New Delhi: The Centre on Friday asked states to start Covid-19 vaccination of frontline workers from next week, adding that their immunisation will run parallelly to the ongoing exercise covering healthcare workers. A year passes... Exactly a year has passed since the Covid-19 virus first arrived on the shores of Kerala. TNIE takes a look at how the state has gone through the grind, still refusing to give up. P2