CHENNAI  SUNDAY  FEBRUARY 07, 2021  `8.00  PAGES 30  LATE CITY EDITION IN A FIRST, 34 WOMEN INDUCTED INTO CRPF’S ELITE CoBRA UNIT After a 3-month training, they will be deployed in Naxal-hit districts of Chhattisgarh like Sukma, Dantewada and Bijapur BREAKING GENDER-BASED STEREOTYPES 35 YEARS OF GLORIOUS SERVICE CRPF Director General A P Maheshwari underlined the induction as a step towards defeating gender-based stereotypes. An all-woman brass band of the country’s largest paramilitary was also commissioned at the force’s Kadarpur camp near Gurugram during a ceremony to mark the 35th Raising Day anniversary of its first women battalion known as the 88 | P11 ■ ■ Raised on Feb 6, 1986, 88 Mahila battalion has served the country with distinction for 35 years. It has been part of many UN missions. It comprises six units with over 1,000 women in each CoBRA was raised in 2009 for intelligence-based jungle warfare operations. It had been an all-male affair for this unit till now MARTYRS 7 PERSONNEL OF 88 BATTALION HAVE MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE SO FAR 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 SC judge heaps lavish praise on PM, creates ripples in legal circles K A N U S A R D A @ New Delhi DELHI KARNATAKA ODISHA (From left) Securitymen at the barricaded Ghazipur border in New Delhi during the farmers’ chakka jam on Saturday; police arresting agitators in Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar | PTI, ASHISHKRISHNA HP, BISWANATH SWAIN We will sit here till October 2. After that, we will do further planning. We will not hold discussions under pressure. Nobody can touch the farmlands. Farmers will protect them. Both farmers and soldiers should come forward - Rakesh Tikait, farmers’ leader Kisans ready for long haul, to protest till Oct Set Gandhi Jayanti deadline for govt to repeal farm laws; Tikait says won’t wilt, insists talks only on equal terms EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi ANNOUNCING that the agitation against the farm laws would go on till October, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait declared on Saturday that talks with the government would not happen under any pressure. Addressing farmers during the nation-wide chakka jam protest, Tikait said they were giving the government time till October 2 to repeal the contentious laws, till then they would stay put on the borders.It was not clarified if the deadline had anything to do with the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.He said there was no chakka jam in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand as they had inputs that some people might take advantage of the protest and could indulge in violence. “If the government is placing nails on our way then we will grow crop there. We are ready to talk but it has to be on an equal platform, no pressure tactics will work,” he said. In sharp contrast to the farmers’ tractor rally on January 26, which turned violent, Saturday’s protest was completely peaceful and took place under heavy security cover in Delhi and adjoining states. With the Capital, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand out of the ambit of the road blockade, vehicular movement was affected mainly in Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. Roads were blocked in several places in Punjab and Haryana from 12 noon to 3 pm. Farmers parked tractors, trailers and other vehicles on national, state highways and oth- Cong’s Hindu outreach bid with draft law on protecting Sabarimala traditions EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ T’Puram THE Congress in Kerala on Saturday released the draft of a law it promised to enact for the protection of traditional practices at the Sabarimala temple if it came to power. Releasing the document in Kottayam, senior party member Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said the law will ensure two-year jail term for people violating the traditional rituals of the shrine. The draft — Sabarimala Ayyappa Devotees (Protection of Religious Rights, Customs and Usages) Act, 2021 — pro- poses entry restrictions with the permission of the temple thantri. Thiruvanchoor said the draft, prepared by former director general of prosecution T Asaf Ali, will be the UDF’s trump card while going to the polls in less than three months’ time. “The LDF gover nment has been dilly-dallying on the Sabarimala legislation, saying it cannot do anything since the matter is before the Supreme Court. In reality the state gov, ernment can intervene since it comes under the concurrent list. Travancore Devaswom Board’s former president A Padmakumar and senior Su- preme Court advocate Abhishek Singhvi, who had appeared for the board, were removed when they did not toe the LDF government’s line,” said Thiruvanchoor. He also said the LDF government can override the Supreme Court verdict only with a new legislation. The draft states the TDB, in consultation with thantri, shall impose a ban on unauthorised entry into the Ay yap p a t e m p l e a n d i t s precincts. The BJP state leadership has criticised the UDF draft, saying it is just a move ahead of the elections with vice-president M T Ramesh describing it as a political stunt. er roads. Ambulances and school buses were not stopped. Women took part in large numbers in Sangrur and Ludhiana. Punjabi actors Binu Dhillon and Dev Kharoud with singer Pammi Bai participated in the blockade in Patiala. There were similar scenes in Rajasthan. Most cities saw tractor rallies on state and national highways. Meanwhile, farmers in Karnataka, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand expressed solidarity by staging protests in their P11 respective states. A couple of years back, a devastating severe cyclonic storm, Gaja, crossed the Tamil Nadu coast between Nagapattinam and Vedaranyam, killing 52 persons and displacing over five lakh people. At the time of its landfall, wind speeds of 100120 kmph were experienced and the highest sustained speed of 160 kmph was recorded at Muthupet, home for Tamil Nadu’s largest mangrove forest. In our new series titled, Lost Treasure, we bring you a walk through from the oncedense mangrove forests of the coastline. Going by the multiple testimonies of jurisdictional forest officials and the local populace, the fatality count of Gaja could RELATIONSHIP HAS TO BE CORRECT, NOT CORDIAL SC advocate Sanjay Hegde recalled when CJI M N Venktachaliah was sworn in, PM P V Narasimha Rao hoped for a cordial relationship between the judiciary and government. Prompt came Venktachaliah’s response that the relationship had to be correct, not cordial Trump unfit to receive intel briefing: Biden Depressed at husband’s arrest, woman kills self Thoothukudi: The wife of the accused in the murder of a sub inspector died by suicide here on Saturday. Selvalakshmi (32) was allegedly depressed over the arrest of her husband, Murugavel, accused of deliberately running over Sub Inspector V Balu, who was riding a bike | P4 LAC stand-off: No visible expression on ground Vijayawada: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that India and China have held nine rounds of military commander-level talks on disengaging troops in eastern Ladakh. However, there has been no “visible expression” of the talks on the ground, he noted | P9 60% reduction in TN’s largest mangrove cover @ Thiruvarur/Thanjavur There was no road blocking in UP and Uttarakhand, as announced by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), as there were fears of anti-social elements disrupting the protest. However, the UP Police deployed 144 PAC companies, six paramilitary companies, with senior officers at the state and national highways. In parts of western UP, a number of farmer leaders were placed under house arrest EXPRESS READ COASTAL BODYGUARDS S V K R I S H N A C H A I TA N YA No road block in UP, U’khand over fears of anti-social elements IN another instance of a Supreme Court judge praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an open forum, Justice M R Shah described the PM as a “popular, loved, vibrant and visionary leader”. Speaking at the Gujarat High Court’s diamond jubilee celebration, which was attended by Modi also, on Saturday, Justice Shah said: “I feel proud and privileged to participate in this function to release the commemorative stamp of Gujarat High Court and that too, by our most popular, loved, vibrant and visionary leader, honourable Prime Minister Narendabhai Modi. I consider it a very special privilege to be a part of this function.” The effusive praises were mutual as Modi hailed the judiciary for performing “its duty well in safeguarding people’s rights, upholding personal liberty, and also in the situations when national interests need to be prioritised”. This is not the first time Justice Shah has praised the PM. In 2019, Justice Shah, while be- department, accessed by Express, shows that a whopping 60 per cent of the total 11,886 hectares of Muthupet mangrove area has now degraded. Only 2,000 hectares (16.8 per cent) is currently a dense mangrove forest. The State of Forest Report, 2019, says there was a decline of 4 sq.km forest cover in the State beI OF III PART SERIES tween 2017 and 2019. “This loss is significant in Ramanathapuram (1.07 sq.km) and Thiruvarur (1.04 sq.km) districts. It is due to the A view of the Muthupet mangrove forest in Tiruvarur district that was damaged during the Gaja cyclone in 2018 | SHIBA PRASAD SAHU devastating damage caused by the Gaja cyclone,” the report have easily run into hundreds tricts. However, the storm was says. if not for Muthupet mangroves too strong for even 20 to 30-footMuthupet, or the ‘Land of that acted as a natural barrier, tall fully-grown mangroves to Pearls’, is part of the Point Calpreventing the killer storm endure. imere Wildlife Sanctuary, from hitting coastal villages in The latest remote sensing which is the only Ramsar Site MORE ON: P3 Tiruvarur and Thanjavur dis- data from Tamil Nadu forest in Tamil Nadu. ing sworn as the chief justice of the Patna HC, had termed Modi as a role model. Justice Shah was not the only one to lavish praise on Modi at the function. Gujarat HC chief justice Vikram Nath said the PM was popular because of his commitment to the country . Legal experts expressed reservation over sitting judges openly praising members of the political executive, saying the conduct of judges must be in consonance with institutional ethics. They said as the judiciary was the final arbiter of legality and the constitutionality of the executive’s actions such statements do not bring credit to the institution. Supreme Court advocate Sanjay Hegde said: “It reminds me of an effusive letter written by the late Justice P N Bhagwati to Indira Gandhi on her return to power. He was criticised for it. The wall of separation between the government and the judiciary must be maintained at all times.” Echoing Hegde’s sentiments, SC advocate Shwetank Sailakwal said: “The judiciary and executive are independent and function within a framework provided by the constitution. Beyond that any relationship, be it cozy or otherwise, shouldn’t be allowed in a P11 healthy democracy .” A ‘THANK YOU’ CALL Leaders of farmers’ associations from across the State thank Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday for announcing a `12,110-cr loan waiver | P4 Sasikala & TTV threat to law and order in State: AIADMK EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai DAYS after lodging a complaint over the usage of the party flag by VK Sasikala, the AIADMK on Saturday lodged another complaint against her, and TTV Dhinakaran, alleging that the duo posed a threat to the law and order situation in the State. “Sasikala supporters in Bengaluru are saying that a hundred of them are ready to turn into suicide bombers and enter the State. Dhinakaran also said that he was least bothered about the petitions submitted to police against her (Sasikala). They are planning to disrupt peace and tranquility by creating huge riots,” Law Minister CVe Shanmugam said. The minister was speaking to reporters after submitting a petition to the Director-General of Police, JK Tripathy here. , He was accompanied by Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar, AIADMK Presidium Chairman E Madhusudhanan and a few others. Stating that Sasikala was imprisoned for four years in a disproportionate asset case for looting public money, Shanmugam said that her claims to take over the AIADMK are against the Supreme Court order. “The Apex Court had clearly stated that the two-leaf symbol belongs to the AIADMK, headed by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam,” said the minister. CONTINUED ON: P4 IN a break from tradition, former US president Donald Trump will not be given access to classified intelligence briefings due to his “erratic behaviour”, US President Joe Biden said in a TV interview. “What value is giving him an intelligence briefing? What impact does he have at all, other than the fact he might slip and say something?” Biden said. Biden said he did not want to “speculate out loud” but made it clear that he thinks there is no need for Trump to have any more intelligence briefings. Early this week, the White House had said it was reviewing if Trump should receive the intelligence briefings. For weeks after the November 3, 2020 presidential election, Trump himself broke with tradition by not including his successor in security briefings. Trump’s own relationship with the intelligence community was not smooth and he went through six national intelligence directors during his stint. According media reports, Trump was not known to regularly read the President’s Daily Brief, a highly classified summary of nation’s secrets, when he was in office. ENS WITH THIS ISSUE THE K WAVE PLUS 12 PAGES