chennai l Sunday l march 21, 2021 l `8.00 l PAGES 38 l vellore EDITION Tokyo organisers say no to fans from abroad In a historic decision, no spectators from outside Japan will be allowed to watch the Olympic Games because of pandemic will hit income but too risky Sharath, Manika qualify in mixed Officials said the risk was too great to admit ticket holders from overseas during a pandemic. Japanese public too was against fans entering the country. About 1 million tickets are reported to have been sold to fans from outside Japan. Organisers have promised refunds. Japan had a budget of $800m through ticket sales -- third largest income source in the Games ■ ■ ■ Sharath Kamal is on a roll. A day after securing Olympic berth in singles, he paired up with Manika Batra for TT mixed spot On Friday, India booked four berths in men’s and women’s singles. The total now stands at five This is the first time mixed-doubles is included in Olympics 4.5m Number of tickets sold to spectators in japan 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 RSS gets future-ready, picks Hosabale for top post A s h w i n i M S r i pa d & M a n i s h A n a n d @ Bengaluru/New Delhi Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and US Secretary of Defence Lloyd James Austin III making Covid-appropriate contact at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on Saturday | pti Human rights, LAC dominate India-US parleys Aiming to position the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) at the forefront to address “modern societal complexities” and prepare a new leadership, the Akhil Bhartiya Pratinidhi Sabha, the top decision-making body of the organisation, on Saturday unanimously elected Dattatreya Hosabale (66) to succeed Suresh ‘Bhaiyaji’ Joshi as the next Sarkaryawah (general secretary), a position Joshi served for 12 years. Sharing his thoughts on the road ahead for the RSS, Hosa- bale said there is a need for an intellectual campaign. “It is time to set right the narrative on India,” he stressed. On the hotly debated issue of ‘love jihad’, he said the organisation will fully support laws to regulate it, while favouring inter-caste marriages. He stressed the need for reservation for backward communities. “Hosabale is known for dialogue, and he’s seen as best suited to address the emerging modern societal complexities. In the past, Hosabale deftly responded to issues, including the rights of India’s tension with China on the LAC and alleged human rights violation in India were among the major issues that figured in the talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin on Saturday . Austin is on a two-day visit to India. This is the first overseas visit by a top functionary of the Biden administration. Sources said Austin told Jaishankar that “as the two largest democracies in the world, human rights and values are important to us and we will lead with these values”. Later, talking to reporters, Austin said, “India is our partner whose partnership we value… Partners need to be able to have those kinds of discussions. And certainly, we feel comfortable in doing that and you can have those discussions in a very meaningful way and still make progress.” The issue of human rights was raised amid global concerns raised over the government’s handling of the farmer protest, alleged persecution of minorities and independent voices being gagged. Ahead of Llyod’s visit, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had urged him to take up the issue with India. On India-China tension, Austin said the US never thought the two countries were on the brink of a war. During the meeting that lasted an hour, the two leaders also discussed the importance of the Indo-Pacific region and the Afghanistan situation. Earlier, Austin held talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and the two countries decided to increase interaction between their armed forces, specifically with the US military commands having their operations into the Indian Ocean Region, Eastern Coasts of Africa and the Gulf. “We have agreed to pursue enhanced cooperation with the US Indo-Pacific Command, Central Command and Africa Command,” Singh said after the meeting. He added the discussions focussed on defence cooperation and expanding military-to-military engagement across services, information sharing, cooperation in emerging sectors of defence and mutual logistics support. Class 9, 10, 11 students back to online classes SUSH M I T H A R A M A K RISHN A N @ Chennai With Tamil Nadu recording more than 1,000 Covid-19 cases for the second consecutive day the State govern, ment on Saturday ordered for schools to be shut for Classes 9, 10 and 11 from Monday The order was is. sued as Covid clusters emerged in a few schools. Students of Class 12, meanwhile, may attend school in accordance with safety protocols. Their State Board exams will be conducted, and the Covid standard operating procedures will be implemented, the order said. Hostels too must be shut, and students sent back home, the government said, adding that online or digital education will continue for Classes 9, 10 and 11. Class 10 public exams for other boards will be allowed, and special classes and opening of hostels for these students will be permitted. Teachers and school managements said a little learning was possible in the last two months, but the new wave of Covid-19 sparked panic among parents. “Once the public exams were cancelled, students were excited to come to school. But their parents are scared to send them,” said PK Ilamaran, leader of the Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association.Continued on: P5 Thanjavur schools face the heat Eleven schools in Thanjavur, which had reported students and staff testing positive for Covid-19, were fined by Collector M Govinda Rao, and cases were registered against the institutions on Saturday. Chennai Corpn on alert once again The Chennai Corporation has reintroduced a slew of measures — including mobile fever clinics and fever surveillance — to control the pandemic. Houses with infectees will be disinfected twice sidelined in bjp, madhav recalled to sangh Fold M a n i s h A n a n d @ New Delhi Six months after he was dropped from BJP’s team of national office bearers, the RSS recalled former national general secretary of the saffron outfit Ram Madhav to its fold. Seen as BJP’s powerful general secretary who shaped , the government’s policy and approach on Jammu and Kashmir, Madhav was sidelined in the run up to the 2019 election. Madhav will now be on RSS’ national executive. Besides Madhav, JP Nadda had dropped another national general secretary P Murlidhar Rao. Both Rao and Madhav were the nominees of the RSS in the BJP and the names of their re, placements will be revealed soon, said sources. Maha HM used Waze to extort money? S u d h i r S u r ya w a n s h i @ Mumbai Austin says US never considered the LAC conflict would trigger an India-China war P u s h ka r Ba n aka r & M aya n k S i n g h @ New Delhi transgenders. Conversant in several languages, his elevation as the executive head of the RSS is a generational change along with an attempt to connect with the people through discourse, pointed out Prof Badri Narayan of the GB Pant University of Social Sciences and author of the book Republic of Hindutva. Hosabale, who is a contemporary to key functionaries in the echelons of BJP, has been at ease with them and is forceful in articulating the RSS viewpoints.  P5 Crowd-puller Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami campaigns for the AIADMK-led alliance’s PMK candidate Raja in Kallakurichi on Saturday | Express AiaDMK complains to CEO against Stalin The AIADMK on Saturday lodged a complaint with Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo against DMK president MK Stalin and the party’s youth wing secretary Udhayanidhi Stalin for allegedly making malicious remarks on the Arumugasamy Commission, appointed to inquire into the death of former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa | P4 Now, Kamal injures his leg 16 DAyS TO GO Following West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and BJP candidate John Kumar, MNM founder Kamal Haasan injured his leg on Saturday. The incident happened when an unidentified person reportedly stamped his leg in Kovai. Kamal had to be hospitalised, and doctors advised him rest | P4 In a new twist to the bomb scare case near industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s residence, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh on Saturday accused state home minister Anil Deshmukh of using arrested assistant police inspector Sachin Waze to extort money In an eight-page let. ter addressed to CM Uddhav Thackeray, Singh said Waze was set an extortion target of `100 crore per month. Rejecting Singh’s charges, Deshmukh said he would sue the ex-Mumbai police chief. He said Singh was leveling false allegations as he faced inquiry and arrest in the SUV case. Singh claimed that Waze was called to Dyaneswar (Deshmukh ’s residence), where the minister told him to collect `2-3 lakh each from the 1,750-odd bars and restaurants in the city amounting to at least `40, 50 crore. Waze was allegedly instructed to tap into other sources to meet the shortfall. Sharing the transcripts of purported WhatsApp chats with his colleagues to substantiate his allegations, Singh said it was normal for Deshmukh to bypass the top brass and bend the course of investigations by prevailing upon subordinates. In the missive to Thackeray , the ex-CoP claimed he had kept NCP chief Sharad Pawar and deputy CM Ajit Pawar abreast of Deshmukh’s misdeeds, which are also known to many NCP ministers. Singh was transferred as Commandant-General of Maharashtra Home Guards over his alleged mishandling of the bomb scare case. The case refers to an explosives-laden SUV which was found near Ambani’s residence in Mumbai last month. Waze was arrested in conncetion with the mysterious death of Thane-based businessman Mansukh Hiran, who was the owner of the SUV . express read 6.9 magnitude quake rocks Japan’s coast Tokyo: Japan’s meteorological agency lifted a tsunami advisory an hour after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday, causing no immediate damage or injuries.The strong quake hit in Pacific waters off the Miyagi region with a depth of 60 km WITH THIS ISSUE Maha records 27,000 cases, 92 deaths New Delhi: With the spurt in Covid-19 cases mostly in Maharastra, daily deaths due to the infection, too, have jumped. On Saturday, Maharashtra reported 27,126 fresh cases — its highest single-day count — and 92 deaths in a 24-hr period | p7 Covidology 2021 PLUS 12 PAGES Ashoka University bartered its soul, says Rajan Former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan termed Pratab Bhanu Mehta’s ‘forced’ resignation a serious blow to free speech | P8