VIJITH HEGDE RENJALA MANGALURU FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12, 2021 `7.00 PAGES 14 CITY EDITION 9.15-SECOND DASH BREAKS BOLT’s RECORD, AGAIN Usain Bolt’s 9.58-second 100-metre dash record stood bettered this year, too, with a 23 year-old clocking 9.15 secs in a buffalo race NISHANT SHETTY, SRINIVAS GOWDA BETTERED ELITE CLUB OF FOUR KAMBALA JOCKEYS Kambala jockey Vishwanath Devadiga (23) sprinted through a slushy track in Udupi, taking 0.36 seconds lesser than last year’s champion Nishant Shetty, whose dash had clocked 9.51 seconds. Earlier, Srinivas Gowda’s 9.55 seconds sprint had brought him social media fame, resulting in the Union sports minister offering a nationals trial, which he declined ■ While kambala and a 100-m sprint are markedly different, the former draws national attention owing to the endurance of the buffalo racers, who sprint 140-odd metres through multiple laps ■ Vishwanath joins the elite club of four racers who have bettered the much-vaunted Jamaican sprinter’s 100-m record set in 2009 3rd try VISHWANATH MANAGED TO SET THE RECORD AFTER FALLING TWICE 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 Govt talks tough, says Twitter can’t overstep Indian law E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi BETTER SENSE FINALLY PREVAILS Clockwise from left: Video grab of Indian and Chinese officers shaking hands to break the ice; and tanks rolling back to begin the process of disengagement Full Pangong pull back expected in two weeks Rajnath says vacated space on the banks of the lake will be a no-go zone for both sides; disengagement elsewhere later M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi A day after the Sino-Indian disengagement began from standoff positions in Eastern Ladakh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday confirmed the pull back in a “phased, coordinated and verified manner” in Parliament, and gave a sense of how the whole process is expected to unspool. While the Chinese Army will move back to the east of Finger 8, the Indian Army will fall back to Dhan Singh Thapa post, short of Finger 3 in the North bank area of the Pangong Lake. A similar disengagement began on the South Bank of the lake on Wednesday Full disen. gagement on both sides of the lake is expected in 10-15 days, a senior officer said. After the drawdown from Finger 4, Rajnath said, unless a decision is taken otherwise, the area in between will be a no-go zone for both sides. “It has also been agreed to have a temporary moratorium on military activities by both sides in the North Bank, including patrolling to the traditional areas. Patrolling will be resumed only when both sides reach an agreement in diplomatic and military talks that would be held subsequently .” A similar action would be taken in the South Bank area by both sides, he said. Given the sensitivities involved, local commanders of both sides are meeting twice a day to iron out the wrinkles. India is wary as a similar disen, gagement in the past was dishonoured by the Chinese side earlier in the hot spring area, although they had withdrawn from the Galwan Valley Within . 48 hours after this phase is over, Corps Commanders of both sides will meet to work on other positions of the stand-off. NATIONWIDE BUST I-T raids on Khodays unearth undisclosed income of `878 cr EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru THE Income Tax (I-T) Department that carried out search and seizure operations on a major liquor manufacturer group based in Bengaluru on Tuesday has detected a total undisclosed income of `878.82 crore. The I-T sleuths had raided 26 different locations across the country and sources said the raid is connected to Khoday Group, a major player in the liquor business. The taxmen raided the company’s beverage manufacturing unit, its offices and also the residence of its chief. An official release said that the group has a large land bank that is being developed into residential and commercial properties with a Bengaluru-based builder. “The searches have unearthed incriminating evidence relating to concealment of income of over `692.82 crore on account of Joint Development Projects with a major builder based in Bengaluru. Also, the group companies have fraudulently claimed expenses amounting to `86 crore,” the release stated. INCOME CONCEALED IN REALTY DEAL Incriminating evidence relating to concealment of income of over D692.82 crore on account of Joint Development Projects with a Bengaluru-based builder. Also, the group companies have fraudulently claimed expenses of D86 crore “In their liquor business, unaccounted sales amounting to `74 crore have been detected from one of their liquor manufacturing plants in Kerala. The group companies have also claimed bogus expenses of `17 crore. The Directors of the group have incurred an unexplained expenditure of `9 crore attracting the provisions of Section 69C of Income-tax Act,1961,” it said. The raids have also unearthed ‘Benami properties’ valued at `150 crore in the names of their employees and associates. “In total, 35 suspected Benami properties in the names of their relatives and associates valued at over `150 crore have been identified. There is also evidence of foreign assets in the name of a director of the group company it stated. ,” A day after chiding microblogging platform Twitter for noncompliance, the Centre on Thursd ay w a r n e d s o c i a l m e d i a platforms of strict action on failure to crackdown on inflammatory content. Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the Centre is committed to freedom of media, but it was equally concerned about the security and law and Domestic flights just became costlier Be ready to pay more for air travel as the cap on lower and upper limits of domestic airfares have been raised by 10% to 30% STRUCTURES BUILT AFTER APRIL 2020 TO BE REMOVED BAND 1 Up to 40 mins flight | Up from On the heights India occupied in Rechen La and Razang La on the Kailash Ranges and fortified its positions, Rajnath said structures raised by both sides will be removed. “These are mutual and reciprocal steps and any structures that had been built by both sides since April 2020 in both North and South Bank area will be removed and the landforms will be restored.” He said nothing has been conceded as part of the agreements C2K-6KC2.2K-7.8K BAND 2 40-60 mins flight | Up from C2.5K-7.5KC2.8K-9.8K BAND 3 60-90 mins flight | Up from C3K-9KC3.3K-11.7K BAND 4 90-120 mins flight | Up from C3.5K-10KC3.9K-13K BAND 5 120-150 mins flight | Up from C4.5K-13KC5K-16.9K BAND 6 120-150 mins flight | Up from C5.5K-15.7KC6.1K-20.4K BAND 7 120-150 mins flight | Up from C6.5K-18.6KC7.2K-24.2K EXPRESS READ M’rashtra Guv disallowed use of govt plane Mumbai: Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari was denied permission to use a state government aircraft to travel to Dehradun on Thursday, triggering a row and inviting a strong criticism from the opposition BJP which sought an apology from the MVA dispensation over the incident. Countries weighing sanctions on Myanmar Held talks with Modi: Trudeau Seoul: A growing number of governments around the world are curbing diplomatic ties with Myanmar and increasing economic pressure on its military over the coup last week that erased the fragile democratic progress in the long-oppressed Southeast Asian nation. Ottawa: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has said that he held a “good discussion” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on several important issues, including the importance of resolving issues through dialogue. order in the country. Naming Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn, Prasad said: “We respect your good work. You bring FDI, but you have to respect the laws of the country .” On Wednesday, the ministry had come down heavily on Twitter, saying social media platforms should not treat differentially the problems at Capitol Hill and the Red Fort. After the Republic Day violence, the Centre had asked Twitter to block over 1,100 han- We respect social media, it has empowered the common people. Social media has a big role in Digital India programme. However, if social media is misused, action will be taken Ravi Shankar Prasad, Information Technology Minister dles and posts that allegedly spread misinformation about the farmer protest. These included accounts of journalists, activists, and politicians. Twitter blocked some accounts, only in India, and said these demands were inconsistent with Indian law. Meanwhile, despite a French expert claiming Koo, a desi alternative to Twitter, exposed user data, its popularity surged among users and investors. The app developer, however, said steps have been taken to protect user data. Gushing sludge, water halt Tapovan tunnel floor boring V I N E E T U PA D H YAY FLOOD SAFETY @ Tapovan (Uttarakhand) WITH a change in strategy failing to deliver, attempts to save 37 workers trapped in the Tapovan hydropower plant tunnel since Sunday following flash floods appeared to be a long shot, as no official or agency could say how much longer it would take to reach them. Ravinath Raman, commissioner of Garhwal division of Uttarakhand said, “At this point of time, no one can tell how much time the operation will take. This is a developing situation and unstable landscape. The response strategy keeps changing according to the developing situation.” Also, a meeting in Delhi discussed reports of a lake formation in Rishiganga in the higher reaches. “We will act as per instructions,” he said. The changed strategy to drill into the floor of the tunnel to reach a silt filtration tunnel underneath in the hope that the men were perhaps stuck there, had to be suspended as sludge and water gushed in when they reached a depth of six metres. Earlier in the day there was high drama as wa, ter levels of the Rishiganga and the Dhauliganga suddenly rose, forcing rescuers to suspend operations for two hours. P9 Rishiganga valley home to glaciers with subglacial lakes Experts point at an ice avalanche leading to release of water from sub-glacial lakes in the Raunthi glacier for the recent calamity They call for further investigation to assess risk from flash floods ‘Ice avalanche, subglacial lake burst set off flash floods’ B A L A C H A U H A N @ Bengaluru THE flash floods in the Rishiganga valley that claimed more than 30 lives, with 204 people still missing, might have started with a “massive ice avalanche”, stated Dr Anil Kulkarni, distinguished scientist, Divecha Centre for Climate Change (DCCC), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, in a research note on the Uttarakhand devastation. “It could be the snow avalanche/landslide downstream, and a release of 1.6 million cubic metre of water stored in subglacial lakes in the Raunthi glacier,” added the scientist. The region also has many glaciers with subglacial lakes. “Therefore, further investigation is necessary to assess risk from a flash flood,” said Kulkarni. Glacial lakes are formed when glacial ice melts to form lakes, which are held together by loose debris. A glacial lake outburst flood occurs P7 when the dam for these glacial lakes fails. Hum Do Hamare Do Sarkar: Rahul take on family planning slogan to bait BJP M A N I S H A N A N D @ New Delhi FORMER Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday hurled Hum Do Hamare Do Sarkar (we two, ours two government) barb on the NDA government, alleging that the country was run by only four persons. Without naming anyone, he claimed the contentious farm laws are meant to benefit big corporate entities alone. The BJP hit back sharply at the Congress, saying Gandhi’s barb must be a reference to Didi-Jija and two (sister, brother-in-law and family). The Congress leader sought to link his charge of crony capitalism against the current dispensation with the ongoing f ar m agitation by harping on his slogan in the Lok S ab h a d u r i n g t h e B u d g e t discussion. The former Congress president alleged that the first farm law would destroy APMC Mandis as anyone could purchase any amount of food grains; the second would unleash hoarding; the third would deprive the farmers of judicial remedy . “The farm laws will destroy the rural economy,” said Gandhi amid protests from the Treasury bench, objecting to his speaking on the farm laws in place of the Budget. Though Gandhi said that he was laying the foundation for discussion on the Budget, he abruptly ended his speech, calling for a “two-minute silence for 200 farmers who have died since the start of the agitation”. CONSERVATION Too hot to handle? Officially, state has no wetlands, Ramsar site B O S K Y K H A N N A @ Bengaluru AT least 16-17 per cent area of Karnataka are potential wetlands, but officially, the State hasn’t got a single wetland or Ramsar site. No initiative has been taken to mark out and declare wetlands, highlighting the negligible protection for Karnataka’s rich biodiversity. If wetlands or Ramsar sites are declared, they require stringent conservation measures. This fact emerges in the report ‘Wetlands Ecosystem: A Sensitive Landscape of Unorganised Non-Administered Services’, which has been accepted by the European Jour- A bird’s-eye view of the Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary near Mysuru | UDAYSHANKAR S nal of Applied Sciences and is to be released by February-end. The report was prepared by UV Singh, retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer and member of the National Green Tri- bunal Committee, and Deepthi Hebale, research scholar, Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, at Indian Institute of Science (IISc). According to Wetland Rules 2017, wetlands and Ramsar sites (wetland sites designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental environmental treaty by UNESCO, 1975) should be outside forest areas. However, in Karnataka, the state wetland committee is not even notified. Besides, government bodies have been unable to convince locals on what is per- mitted and prohibited, once an area is declared as wetlands. Forest officials point out that in most cases, ministers and government departments are also not convinced on the ecological responsibilities that follow declaration of rivers, lakes and sites as wetlands. “At present, there are 41 Ramsar notified wetlands in India. (But) There is no notified wetland or Ramsar wetland in Karnataka as on date. The need of the hour is to introduce panel provisions with Institutional authority in the Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules, 2017,” the report states. CONTINUED ON: P5
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12 February 2021 of The New Indian Express-Mangaluru
