India skipper Virat Kohli introduces his team to President Ram Nath Kovind and Home Minister Amit Shah before the Test | BCCI | P13 KALABURAGI  THURSDAY  FEBRUARY 25, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION STADIUM GETS A NEW NAME India take control of the third Test against England after a grand opening ceremony and foundation stone-laying event of the Motera sports complex BIG STAGE President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the world’s largest cricket stadium and renamed it Narendra Modi stadium leading to a controversy. However, the govt later clarified that it’s only the cricket arena that has been renamed; the whole complex is still named after Sardar Patel RAHUL JIBE Congress leader Rahul Gandhi got an opportunity to land a punch after the surprise renaming. “Beautiful how the truth reveals itself. Narendra Modi stadium — Adani end — Reliance end. With Jay Shah presiding,” he tweeted, with the hashtag ‘HumDoHumareDo’ PATEL SIXER Once again, Axar Patel showed his guile picking up six wickets for 38, including the scalps of Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow & Ben Foakes. England were all out for 112 on a turning track. This is his second fifer in three innings. He took five wickets in the second innings of the second Test STARTING GEAR India’s approach was clear. Fight out the most challenging session and get going on Thursday. Openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill shelved the shots. Although they ended up losing Gill, Pujara and Kohli, Rohit got going at the first sight of opportunity to take India to 99/3 11 TALKING POINTS ON THE FIELD  England all-rounder Ben Stokes was seen applying saliva on the ball. The incident took place at the end of the 12th over, prompting umpire Nitin Menon to have a chat with him. The ball was sanitised  Two third-umpiring decisions went against England much to their THE NUMBER OF BLACK AND RED SOIL PITCHES IN THE CENTRE  A fan ran on the the ground breaching bio-bubble protocols Australian firm Populous, which designed the MCG among others, is the architect of the stadium chagrin. To be fair to the visitors, they had a point with at least one of those appeals — the stumping of Rohit Sharma 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 JAB FOR THIRD PRIORITY GROUP FROM MARCH 1 For the first time, the private sector too has been roped in; Updated CoWin app to be rolled out soon Starting March 1, people aged above 60 years and those above 45 years with comorbidities will be vaccinated. The shots are free at 10,000 govt centres, but chargeable at private facilities. The cost of the vaccines at private hospitals will be decided in 3-4 days after the meeting with manufacturers and hospitals, said Union minister Prakash Javadekar. Two vaccines for Covid-19 have been approved, one each by SII and Bharat Biotech. However, it’s not clear whether there will be a choice of vaccines for the third priority group. Clinical criteria for those with underlying conditions to qualify for vaccination yet to be made public. But they have been defined by a panel of doctors appointed by the Centre. Underlying conditions likely to include diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. Process on to integrate CoWin portal with Aarogya Setu app which will allow easy registration of beneficiaries. KEY QUESTIONS What is the process of taking the vaccine? Vaccination is voluntary and beneficiaries will need to register on the CoWin app. Upon submitting the details, they will be asked choice of hospitals. They will then need to select an available slot. If a beneficiary misses an assigned slot, they can register again. At the site of vaccine administration, beneficiaries will require to submit proof of age through a valid government ID and proof of any comorbidity What will be the cost of vaccines? It will be free at government hospitals. At private facilities, one will have to pay the price fixed by manufacturers and any overhead costs charged by the hospital. TEXT: SUMI SUKANYA DUTTA, NEW DELHI India 2nd-most hit by cybercrimes in ’20 EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Bengaluru INDIA was the second-most targeted country in the Asia-Pacific region as far as cybercrimes are concerned, with a 7 per cent share in such incidents globally, a new study by technology major IBM has revealed. As per the IBM analysis, the attackers benefitted from the socio-economic challenges brought about by Covid-19 and targeted businesses which were at the forefront of the Covid response such as hospitals, medical and pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as energy firms powering supply chain. In India, ransomware (sending suspicious links via emails/ messages) to block access to one’s personal files/data) was the most rampant cyber crime accounting for 40 per cent of all attacks. Finance and insurance was the most targeted sector in Govt biz bar lifted for private banks, says FM EXPRESS READ Nod for President’s rule in Puducherry New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to impose President’s rule in Puducherry, days after a Congress-led government in the Union Territory lost power. Nirav extradition ruling today London: Wanted diamond merchant Nirav Modi, who remains behind bars in London as he contests his extradition to India, will know the UK court’s ruling on Thursday. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi RAHUL GANDHI REACHES OUT TO FISHERMEN IN KERALA The Congress leader on Tuesday raked up controversy when he stated he was used to a “different type of politics” in North India, and added that people in Kerala were interested in “real issues” | P5 China’s creeping forward playbook won’t work: Gen M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi ARMY Chief General M M Naravane on Wednesday said China’s known strategy of nibbling into neighbouring territory slowly, like it did in the South China Sea, will not work with India. “I think more than anything else what we have achieved is to show that this strategy will not work with us,” the General said referring to the recent reciprocal disengagement at Pangong lake in Ladakh after a stand-off that lasted more than nine months. He was giving a talk on the “Role of the Indian Army in dealing with the contemporary national security challenges” at a Del- hi-based think tank, Vivekananda International Foundation. “China has been in the habit of creeping forward making very small incremental changes where in each change by itself was not very big or worthy of a very strong reaction.” And because India (60 per cent), followed by manufacturing and professional services. The study said a majority of the cyber attacks took place on Indian firms between May-July 2020. “The 2020 threat , landscape in India was largely shaped by the pandemic. As the pandemic’s timeline of events and progress unfolded, so did trends in the attacks shift. Ransomware was the major type of attack in India with a 40 per cent share in the overall threat landscape,” Sudeep Das, Security Software Technical Sales Leader, IBM Technology Sales, P10 India/South Asia, said. of the very small incremental moves that were never contested, it has been able to achieve its aims without firing a shot or any loss of life, he pointed out. Gen Naravane described the Pangong disengagement as a win-win for both sides, adding it was achieved as all the organs of the government worked in tandem. “I think it is a very good end result,” he said. THE Centre on Wednesday decided to lift the embargo on granting government-related business to private banks. Till now, government banking transactions were done only through public-sector banks and select private banks such as Axis Bank. The decision, announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will open the doors for the private sector to participate in governmentrelated banking transactions running into lakhs of or crores, such as taxes and other revenue payment facilities, pension payments, small savings schemes. In 2012, RBI had allowed private sector banks to act as agency banks but the move was not supported by the then government, which put an embargo on extending government-business to private banks. Now the government has decided to lift the embargo to Level playing field Private banks will get to handle government transactions such as:  Tax payments  Revenue receipts and payments on behalf of the Centre as well as state govts  Pension payments in respect of Central and state govts  Work related to Small Savings Schemes, the commission for which is borne by the Centre  Defence transactions push its privatisation drive. Bankers have welcomed the move. Uday Kotak, chairman of Kotak Mahindra Bank, said, “It will enable the banking sector to serve customers better.” Meanwhile, bank unions opposed the government’s decision saying it is unfair and to the disadvantage of public sector banks, which have to meet social banking obligations. Stop benefits to converted tribals: Simha EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Mysuru MYSURU-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha directed tribal welfare department officials in Mysuru not to extend government benefits, including special ration, for tribals who have converted to other religions. He said those wearing a ‘Cross’ are not tribals and should be filtered out of the beneficiaries’ list. Mysuru district has a high density of tribal population, which is largely concentrated in Hunsur, HD Kote, Periyapatna and Nanjangud taluks. During a Disha progress review meeting in the district, Simha linked conversions to lack of proper distribution of ration to tribals. “If you are distributing rations properly, why are conversions rampant in the area,” he asked the officials. He directed them to remove ‘such tribals’ from the list of beneficiaries, saying it was announced in Parliament that those who have converted to Christianity or Islam are not eligible for reservation. Srikanth, Director of Hunsur-based NGO Development Through Education, said, “This comes on top of ration allocation from the Centre being halved and the Forest Rights Act that came 15 years ago not being implemented despite a High Court order six years ago, directing rehabilitation of 3,400 tribal families in the division.” He sugg ested that instead of punishing the tribals, authorities should study why they are turning to conversion.