SCRAP 5% 4-6% Manufacturer discount THAT PAYS A voluntary scrappage scheme for personal vehicles from 2024 and heavy commercial vehicles from 2023 promises discounts on new buys. A look made 100 Scrapping centres to betwo years operational in the next ■ TOLL BOOTHS TO MAKE WAY FOR GPS-BASED COLLECTION Physical plazas will be done away with in a year as Centre will use GPS imaging to collect highway levy through FASTag While new vehicles are FASTag-enabled by the manufacturers, the older ones would get the RFID tags for free from the Centre, said transport minister Nitin Gadkari. He said 93% users were paying the levy through the tag ever since it was made mandatory on February 16. Those not complying will face the heat for toll theft and GST evasion, he added Steep hike in FCs for vehicles that are older than 15 years ■ OLD VEHICLES TO GET FREE FASTag A GST cut on new vehicles, whose buyers have scrapped their old cars ■ COIMBATORE  FRIDAY  MARCH 19, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 14  LATE CITY EDITION Road tax rebate of up to 25% for personal vehicles and up to 15% for commercial vehicles by states proposed Registration fees may be waived for the new vehicle against the scrapping certificate ■ Of ex-showroom price of a new car as scrap value for the older one SCRAP CENTRES MUST ■ Comply with environmental and pollution norms and with all applicable Acts Have adequate parking facility, de-pollution equipment for air, water and sound pollution and adequate facilities for hazardous waste disposal 35,000 ■ JOBS LIKELY TO BE CREATED DUE TO THE SCRAPPAGE POLICY 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 Highest one-day spike in Maha since last year S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai MAHARASHTRA on Thursday recorded 25,833 new Covid-19 cases, marking the highest single-day spike since September last when 24,896 cases were recorded. With the caseload mounting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to ramp up testing and expedite containment measures. While the cases have increased in the State, the mortality rate at 2.2% is lower than Future tense as Delhi HC judge validates S’pore deal verdict B I S M A H M A L I K @ Bengaluru DEBT-riddled Future Group led by its embattled founder Kishore Biyani suffered a major setback after the Delhi High Court upheld an emergency arbitration (EA) award delivered by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre last year. The EA had put on hold a `24,713-crore deal between Reliance and Future Group. Delivering the verdict on an appeal filed by e-commerce giant Amazon, a single judge bench of Justice J R Midha on Thursday issued a show-cause notice to Biyani and other FRL promoters, asking them why they shouldn’t be detained in prison for violating the EA order. Ordering the attachment of their assets, the HC directed Biyani and others to furnish additional details of their assets. Maintaining that the EA order was enforceable under Section 17(2) of the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, Justice Midha criticised Biyani and other promoters for wilfully disobeying it. While directing the Biyani to appear in person for the next hearing in April, the HC said that the Singapore’s emergency arbitrator had rightly invoked the group of company doctrine and restrained Future Group from selling its assets to Reliance. Biyani and FRL have been directed to stop further action in seeking regulatory approval to the RIL-FRL deal and bring on record all the actions taken for furtherance of the deal after the EA order was passed in October last. FRL had approached NCLAT to get the deal with RIL cleared in a bid to save its retail, warehousing and logistics businesses, reeling under a debt of `13,000 crore. Amazon, which owns a 49% stake in FRL’s promoter entity Future Coupons, argued that Biyani had violated a contract, restraining the firm from entering into any shareholding arrangement with rival companies, including Reliance. last year’s, a senior official said. “Of the total cases reported, a majority are asymptomatic. Further, the cases are coming out in clusters unlike last year when individual cases led to the spurt,” the official said. With a view to shoring up the vaccination drive, state health minister Rajesh Tope urged the Centre to deliver more doses. At a time when the numbers are rising, there is a shortage of vaccines, Tope claimed. “Lockdown is not the answer to the present situation. Rapid and massive vaccination drives must be undertaken. We need 10-day advance stocks or else the vaccine centres will run out of shots soon,” Tope said. Many places in Pune, Amaravati, Nashik, Navi Mumbai and Jalgaon opted for localised REQUEST FOR 2.2-CRORE MORE DOSES Maharashtra Health Minister Tope has sought 2.20 crore doses to immediately vaccinate 1.70 lakh people in the co-morbid and senior citizen categories. The Centre has made available 56 lakh does, of which36 lakh have been already used, so far lockdowns, ordering schools, colleges, hotel and restaurants to shut down. Meanwhile, after reporting 2,039 fresh cases and 35 fatalities on Wednesday Punjab, gov, ernment on Thursday ann o u n c e d a t wo - h o u r extension in the night curfew in the state’s nine worst-affected districts. The night curfew will now span 9 pm to 5 am. A similar extension was ordered in Ahmedabad, where cases surged significantly . COVISHIELD LOW ON STOCK IN TN’S VACCINATION CENTRES? 989 9 8,63,363 E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Chennai FRESH CASES AMID rising concerns of rapidly increasing Covid cases in the State, the urban community health centres (UCHC) and primary health centres (PHC), offering Covid vaccines, said that they were low on stock on Covishield, and that only Covaxin was available, as on Thursday This even as . Tamil Nadu reported close to 1,000 cases on the day . A UCHC staff in Perungudi said that the available doses of Covishield was being reserved for those who would return for their second jab. “Until yesterday we were admin, DEATHS TALLY istering Covishield. It is only today that we have switched to Covaxin,” said the staff. According to the health bulletin, as many as 989 new cases and nine deaths were recorded on the day taking the State’s tally to 8,63,363 , and the toll to 12,573. Chennai alone reported 394 cases. With this, the active case count in the State has gone up to 6,222. Meanwhile, two more people tested positive for the UK variant, taking the total number of those infected by it to 15. Prime Minister recalls Mamata’s critical take on the Army during the Pulwama blast in J&K in 2019 and the Balakot counterattack; slams her for calling the 2008 Batla House shootout as a fake encounter Modi’s nationalism pitch to attack Didi P R O N A B M O N D A L @ Kolkata REVIVING the BJP’s nationalism plank, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday cited the Pulwama terror attack in J&K and the subsequent airstrike deep inside Pakistan’s Balakot to put West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the back foot for criticising the Army earlier. Modi also recalled Mamata pitching the Batla House shootout in 2008 as a fake encounter, a narrative that was negated by a Delhi court convicting a terrorist and awarding capital punishment in the case recently . “The people of Bengal have not forgotten who you stood with after the Pulwama attack and criticised the Army No one . has forgotten how Mamata Didi and a few other parties reacted when the Batla House encounter took place. These people stood with the terrorists at that time and raised questions on the encounter. A court recently convicted one of the terrorists and sentenced him to capital punishment,’’ said Modi, while addressing a rally in Junglemahal’s Purulia district. Turning to the alleged extortion and cut money issues that have smeared the reputation of the ruling Trinamool Congress, Modi said, “BJP believes in DBT, which stands for direct bank transfer, whereas Didi believes in TMC, which is transfer my commission. TMC’s days are numbered in Bengal.” Referring to the foot injury Mamata sustained while on her campaign trail in Nandigram, the PM said, “Like millions of THE ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ IN GUDIYATHAM R S I V A K U M A R @ Vellore Plenty has been spoken about women empowerment and their representation in every aspect of nation-building. Seventy-five years after independence, the country has seen only one woman Prime Minister and just the same number in the presidential chair. Call it the wheel of fortune or power, times have changed. Here’s one constituency — Gudiyatham — where all the four contestants are women. The ‘fantastic four’ are G Paritha (AIADMK), V Amalu (DMK), C Jayanthi Padmanabhan (AMMK) and R Kalaiyenthiri (NTK). Interestingly gender is not the only criteria that holds , them all together. Three of the four candidates also share a common cultural trait of entering an inter-caste marriage. While Paritha and Kalaiyenthiri are throwing in their weight for the first time in an election, Amalu and Jayanthi have experienced the heat once before. Amalu had tried her luck in the previous election from the neighbouring KV Kuppam seat, but lost to AIADMK’s G Loganathan, who was denied a ticket this time. Jayanthi, however, had tasted success here on an AIADMK ticket in 2016. However, she lost the position after she switched camps to support the TTV Dhinakaran-faction during the infight in the party. Later in the 2019 by-polls, DMK’s S Kathavaryan won the seat, but it fell vacant again after P4 he died of an illness. The Trinamool has created a new breed of Maoists in Bengal who loot public money. The money is meant for poor people. Didi’s government has patronised Maoist violence Narendra Modi, Prime Minister other women, for me, Didi is also a daughter of the nation. When she got injured, I was worried. I pray for her speedy recovery .” Referring to the khela hobe (there will be a game) one-liner Mamata is making at every public rally, Modi said, “Didi bole khela hobe, BJP bole chaakri hobe. Didi bole khela hobe, BJP bole shiksha hobe. Didi bole khela hobe, BJP bole vikas hobe. Khela sesh hobe, vikas aarambh hobe (Didi says there will be a game. BJP says, there will be employment, education, development and education. The game will over over and development will begin.” Modi also accused Mamata of encouraging West Bengal’s Maoists, who have waged war against the country for her po, litical gain. Castigating her for playing the politics of religion, Modi said, “After practicing politics of appeasement in Bengal, suddenly there seems to be a change in Didi. This is not transformation of the soul. This is fear of defeat.” Won’t let NPR, says Mamata Asserting the Trinamool would never allow the enumeration of the National Population Register in Bengal, Mamata said, “The BJP will omit names of voters if they are not found at home during the visit of enumerators. But we will not allow them to do the exercise in Bengal.” Ex-CEA too resigns, pressure on Univ to take back Mehta the “prevailing circumstances” led to his exit. “The decision to leave THE faculty and students at the Ashoka was not an easy one, Ashoka University issued especially because of the exstrong statements in support of ceptional quality of students I political commentator Pratap have been privileged to teach,” Bhanu Mehta, who resigned he wrote. “But after discussions from the university two days with the university about the ago citing infringement on aca- prevailing circumstances, it became clear to me that demic freedom, and it was best to move on. demanded that the inHence, I took the decistitution ask him to sion to resign.” join back. The faculty of the A day after Mehta’s university, in a letter exit, noted economist to the chancellor Malaand former chief ecobika Sarkar on Thursnomic advisor Arvind Subramanian put in Pratap Bhanu Mehta day said, “it is not only an occasion for sorrow his papers, ruing that the institution “even with its over the departure of a deeply private status and private capi- respected and admired coltal, can no longer provide space league, it also raises urgent for academic expression and questions about the university’s commitment to academic freedom”. Mehta, who quit as the uni- freedom as well as the internal versity’s vice-chancellor two processes.” It is plausible that Mehta’s years ago, in an email to his students on Wednesday evening resignation was a consequence — a day after he resigned — of his role as a public intellechad hinted that a discussion tual and a government critic, with the university regarding the faculy said. EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi G Paritha (AIADMK) V Amalu (DMK) C Jayanthi (AMMK) R Kalaiyenthiri (NTK) ‘Troubling he felt compelled to leave’ “That someone of such integrity and eminence, who embodied the vision underlying Ashoka, felt compelled to leave is troubling,” Arvind Subramanian said in his resignation letter to vicechancellor Malabika Sarkar Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami greets supporters during an election campaign in Tiruvarur district on Thursday AIADMK promises to scrap expansion of Kattupalli port E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @Nagapattinam/Mayiladuthurai THE AIADMK on Thursday assured that it will not implement any project that would affect the State, and said the Kattupalli Port expansion project would be scrapped permanently Speak. ing at a campaign in Ponneri, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said, “We have heeded to requests from this constituency especially , from the fisherfolk, and decided to scrap the port expansion project once and for all.” Meanwhile, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said that the DMK has always remained in news for its corrupt practices and it scaled a new high in 2014 with its ‘corruption in air’. He was making a veiled reference to the alleged 2G spectrum scam, while campaigning for AIADMK candidates in Nagapattinam and Mayiladuthurai. Palaniswami said, “The DMK is the only party whose government was dismissed for corruption. Now, DMK president MK Stalin is calling us corrupt and trying to defame us. Our hearts are light and we have nothing to fear. It is the DMK which has to worry as people haven’t forgotten its corrupt practices.” The Opposition parties are trying to paint themselves as saviours of the minorities. “However, it is the AIADMK government which has remained their true protector. In the last four and a half years, my government has ensured them a peaceful and happy life, and has been safeguarding their interests,” Palaniswami said, adding that it would develop further if the AIADMK alliance’s candidate T Kathiravan gets elected. While campaigning in Sembanarkoil, Palaniswami hailed incumbent MLA and contestant S Pavunraj for being persistent in findCONTINUED ON: P4 ing solution to issues. ‘75% JOB QUOTA FOR LOCALS COULD HURT ECONOMY’ | P6 18 DAYS TO GO UDHAYANIDHI PLACATES WARRING GROUPS IN TIRUPATTUR DMK | P4 ONE YEAR OF COVID: A CHAT WITH HEALTH MINISTER | P6 JUDICIAL SENSITIVITY SC slaps high court on the wrist on rakhi-for-bail order K A N U S A R D A @ New Delhi TERMING the Madhya Pradesh High Court order last year that had asked a man accused of sexual assault to have a rakhi tied by the victim to get bail, as a judicial stereotype, the Supreme Court on Thursday set it aside and issued a slew of guidelines on gender sensitivity in judicial approach. A bench comprising justices A M Khanwilkar and S Ravindra Bhatt said, “Judges play — at all levels — a vital role as teachers and thought leaders. It is their role to be impartial in words and action, at all times. If they falter, especially in gender related crimes, they imperil fairness and inflict great cruelty in the casual blindness to the despair of the survivors.” The judgment came on a plea filed by nine woman lawyers who had challenged the high court’s directive saying such bail orders have the effect of trivialising sexual offences. “Using rakhi tying as a condition for bail, transforms a molester into a brother, by a judicial mandate,” the judgment read. “This is wholly unacceptable, and has the effect of diluting and eroding the offence of sexual harassment. The act perpetrated on the survivor constitutes an offence in law, and is not a minor transgression that can be remedied by way of an apology, rendering community service, tying a rakhi or presenting a gift to the survivor, or even promising to marry her, as the case may be,” the 24-page judgment stated. The bench while issuing a set of directions to the trial courts and high courts, also stressed the need to include gender sensitisation in the curriculum as well training of judicial officers in National Judicial Academy on this subject. The syllabi and content of such courses shall be framed after due consultation with domain experts, preferably within three months, the verdict said adding that the use of language and appropriate words and phrases should be emphasized as part of this training. STEREOTYPE SAMPLES  Women are physically weak and need protection  Women are incapable of or cannot take decisions on their own  Men are head of the household and should take decisions on the family  Women should be submissive and obedient according to our culture  Good women are sexually chaste  Motherhood is duty and role of every woman; assumption that she wants to be a mother  Women should be the ones in charge of their children, their upbringing  Being alone at night or wearing certain clothes make women responsible for being attacked  A woman consuming alcohol, smoking, etc. may justify unwelcome advances by men  Women are emotional and often overreact or dramatise events, hence it is necessary to corroborate their testimony  Testimonial evidence provided by women who are sexually active may be suspected when assessing consent in sexual offence cases  Lack of evidence of physical harm in sexual offence case leads to an inference of consent by the woman