MANGALURU  FRIDAY  FEBRUARY 26, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 14  CITY EDITION U.K. COURT RULES NIRAV MODI CAN BE EXTRADITED TO INDIA The fugitive diamantaire will now have to face trial in India in the `14,000-crore Punjab National Bank scam case BRITISH HOME SECRETARY TO SIGN THE ORDER 14-DAY WINDOW TO CHALLENGE DECISION District Judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Sam Goozee, will send his findings to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs, Priti Patel, who is authorised to order an extradition under the India-UK Extradition Treaty. She has two months to make that decision. The Home Secretary’s order rarely goes against the court’s conclusions | P9 ■ ■ ■ Nirav Modi has 14 days to approach the High Court and seek leave to appeal after the Home Secretary has made her decision known Any appeal, if granted, will be heard at the Administrative Division of the High Court in London Nirav Modi is currently lodged at Wandsworth Prison Barrack #12 IF EXTRADITED, HE WILL BE LODGED IN MUMBAI’S ARTHUR ROAD PRISON 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 OVER THE TOP  Social media intermediaries to publish a monthly compliance report on complaints received, action taken, and content removed proactively Guns silent on LoC, both sides to enforce truce  Social media platforms must remove content depicting nudity, sexual acts or morphed images of women within 24 hours of receipt of complaints  Code of Ethics for OTT platforms, online news and digital media entities M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi  A grievance officer should be appointed to deal with complaints  OTT platforms to self-classify content into five age-based categories - U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult)  If a social media platform removes any content on its own, it must explain the reason to the user, who will have the opportunity to contest it  OTT platforms must deploy age verification mechanisms for A-rated content and implement parental locks for U/A 13+ or higher Govt tightens grip on social media content New rules call for stricter monitoring, tools to trace sender of objectionable messages R I T W I K A M I T R A @ New Delhi The Centre on Thursday announced sweeping regulations for social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, online streaming or over-thetop (OTT) services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram to protect users’ interest and curb fake news. Social media platforms will have to deploy automated tools to remove objectionable content. In the case of a government or court order, they must take down the flagged content within 36 hours. The new rules will require messaging to enable ‘traceability’ so that the sender of harmful messages could be identified. Experts fear this could result in compromising end-to-end encryption. Also, if a social media platform decides on its own to remove a user’s content, it must D3-CRORE SPEND Some K’taka ministers eye swanky new rides A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ Bengaluru THE State Gover nment, which is already doing a tightrope walk on finances, is looking to buy at least 10 to 12 new high-end cars for some ministers as well as Parliament members from Karnataka. For this, the government will be spending close to `3 crore and the Department of Personnel and Administrative Services (DPAR) has already issued an order capping the price limit at `23 lakh per car. Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office pointed out that most of the ministers and MPs prefer the high-end model of the Toyota Innova Crysta MUV, which was priced at `21.7 lakh (excluding road tax). All State Government vehicles are exempt from paying road tax. In December last year, a facelift model of the Innova Crysta was launched, costing close to `23 lakh. “Hence, the DPAR officials wrote to the Finance Department to raise the limit, and it was approved,’’ the sources said. The Government Order states that the expenditure limit per car was `21 lakh which was increased to `22 lakh in February 2020. It has now been further increased by `1 lakh. CONTINUED ON: P4 inform the user in advance. Digital news media publishers should follow Press Council of India’s norms of journalistic conduct and adhere to the programme code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act. This, according to Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, will provide a level-playing field to all media platforms. The new laws, called Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, came into effect from Thursday However, social me. dia platforms will be given an additional window of three months to come under the purview of the new regime. According to the government, the new rules will establish a “soft-touch self-regulatory architecture and a Code of Ethics and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism” for news publishers, OTT platforms and digital media. P9 GUNS fell silent on the Line of Control and the International Border India shares with Pakistan on Wednesday-Thursday midnight in a surprising deescalation of tensions after both sides agreed to strictly observe all bilateral ceasefire agreements and protocols. The truce came about two weeks after China announced disengagement of troops in the Pangong lake in Ladakh from stand-off positions and both sides pulled back their troops. In the space of a fortnight, both the volatile China and Pakistan frontiers have become tranquil, indicating hectic back channel diplomacy, giving peace a unexpected booster shot in the often troubled neighbourhood. “Both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the Line of Control and all other sectors with effect from midnight 24/25 February 2021,” both countries stated in a joint statement. Indian Army officials attrib- uted the truce to the realisation on both sides of collateral damage as innocent civilian lives were needlessly lost in the cross-border firing. “One of the aims is to safeguard the lives of innocent civilians as we are bound to retaliate to ceasefire violations,” said a senior Army officer. This agreement will be a big relief for the people living on the border and their cattle. The Union home ministry has built community bunkers in the villages along the LoC to safeguard the lives of civilians caught in the border crossfire. As many as 70 civilians on the Indian side of the LoC were killed in the cross-border firing between 2018 and 2020 while 341 others were were injured dur- WEEKLY CONTACT AT THE BRIGADIER LEVEL The DGMOs speak only when required but Brigadier-level officers from both sides speak every Tuesday. Their hotline is always functional to manage day-to-day affairs on the ground Biggest cricket stadium, shortest game V E N K ATA K R I S H N A B @ Ahmedabad THE grandeur of the Narendra Modi Stadium will dwarf most things. For the last two days, focus has only been on the state of the art facilities. In less than two days the focus has shifted to the heart of the ground — the pitch. A strip with spin and unpredictability produced a match that ended in less than two days giving it the moniker — the shortest Test in post-War era. The wicket around the batsmen looked like a patch of dust where any spinner who could land the ball would get a wicket. No wonder Joe Root got five wickets giving away just eight runs. And the England captain summed it up perfectly after the match, which India won by 10 wickets. “It is a real shame. It is a fantastic stadium and 60,000 people came to watch and I feel for them. They came here to see a James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Virat Kohli and instead they saw me taking wickets.” This was far from an ideal Test wick- EXPRESS READ 7 out of 10 informal workers in B’luru were hit during lockdown: Study BENGALURU: A study by Azim Premji University has found that seven out of 10 informal workers in Bengaluru lost employment during the lockdown, with women and people of lower castes being disproportionately affected. Titled ‘Impact of Covid-19 on livelihoods of informal sector workers and vulnerable groups in Bengaluru: A view from the ground’, the study reveals that while 70 per cent of informal workers lost their jobs during the lockdown, this figure hides the fact that some groups were affected more than others. et. Seventeen wickets fell on Thursday It was a turner from . the first day and was turning blind on second. And with modern-day batsmen, especially the English, lacking skill to bat on turning wickets, the script is foretold. After the first Test in Chennai, there were talks about India utilising its home advantage. But that they have opted for these kind of surfaces, especially after outplaying Australia there, was a surprise. Barring the 2015 series against South Africa, India have resorted to this kind of surface only once at home — against Australia in Pune 2017. The World Test Championships has been designed to bring new fans and to provide context to bilateral series. Also let spectators and players rejoice at the romance of the competition between bat and ball. Ironically this Test failed , to do just that. In this, it can be argued that it was loaded too much in favour of the ball. Tests are not meant to get over P13 in two days. ing the same period. However, there won’t be any let up in the deployment of forces. “The operational posture will not have any change and we will follow the policy of zero tolerance to any action from the other side of the LoC,” the officer said. The decision to enforce truce was taken by the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) on both sides, who agreed to address each other’s core issues and concer ns, which have the propensity to disturb the peace and lead to violence. TS link to two blasts in K’taka E N S @ Bengaluru HOME Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday revealed that the explosives that went off near a quarry in Chikkaballapur district a few days ago, and in Shivamogga district last month, originated from the same supplier in Telangana. It is suspected that the explosive materials were defective since in both cases, they exploded while being transported, claiming 14 lives. FULL REPORT: P4