BHUBANESWAR l monday l march 22, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 28 l JEYPORE EDITION Aadhaar voluntary for digital Life certificates Authentication norms relaxed after pensioners complained of unreadable fingerprints and non-availability of Aadhaar cards changes in biometric attendance system sandes app to be made public soon With this change, the onus is now on the organisations to offer alternative means for submission of digital Life Certificate under the Jeevan Pramaan scheme. Another notification of March 18 makes Aadhaar authentication voluntary for biometrics attendance systems used in government offices. Here too, offices will have to create alternative system for authentication ■ ■ ■ Govt has also made Aadhaar optional for users of the National Informatics Centre-developed instant messaging app Sandes Developed under Government Instant Messaging System project, Sandes is used by public depts for internal communications The app will soon be made available for the general public, too 150+ departments, including niti aayog, indian army, use sandes app 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 Slew of freebies Call on Deshmukh to woo women in today, says Pawar BJP manifesto They will have to do it now because people are fed up with all this,” said Ribeiro, who has A day after shunted out Mum- served as the Mumbai Police bai police commissioner Para- commissioner and the DGP of mbir Singh outed home minis- Punjab and Gujarat. ter Anil Deshmukh’s extortion Saturday’s letter bomb by racket, an embarrassed NCP Singh had accused Deshmukh chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday of directing controversial asadmitted that the charges were sistant police inspector Sachin very serious and required an Waze, who is at present in in-depth probe. NIA’s custody to run an extor, With Deshmukh’s political tion racket to raise `100 crore future hanging by a per month. thread, Pawar said Trying to deflect the call will be taken criticism from by Chief Minister Thackeray and DeshUddhav Thackeray mukh, Pawar sought by Monday . to blame Waze’s conPawar also tried troversial reinstateto limit dama g e ment on Singh. “It since Deshmukh bewas Singh who asSharad Pawar longs to his party by , signed sensitive cassuggesting that a es to Waze. After probe into the charges be con- Mansukh Hiren’s wife alleged ducted by a celebrated police Waze was involved in her husofficer like Julio Ribeiro. But band’s death, we decided to inRibeiro lobbed the ball back in vestigate it thoroughly,” he Pawar’s court, saying at 92 he claimed. was in no position to initiate a It was only after Singh was probe and in any case it was transferred that he made the the NCP founder who was the allegations, said Pawar. He best person to clear the mess. conceded that Singh had “The probe must be done by briefed him earlier on DeshSharad Pawar himself. He is mukh, but said the CoP had the head of the party. They not mentioned the sum colthemselves know everything lected or handed over to the and they should take action. minister or his staff. E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Mumbai Sops for farmers, fisherfolk; CAA right up on agenda; probe on political killings promised E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Kolkata The BJP on Sunday sought to woo women voters in a big way , by promising 33% reservation in state government jobs, free travel in state-run public transport network and free education from kindergarten right up to the post graduate level. The promises were part of its 62-page manifesto released by Union home minister Amit Shah here. The document also prioritised the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, saying it would be taken up at the first state cabinet meet after coming to power. It also promised to give Hindu refugees a financial grant of `10,000 per year for the next five years. “It is not just a manifesto but a resolution letter for West Bengal. It emphasises on women’s safety, infrastructure development, better healthcare services and setting up industries in the state. The core idea is to build a Sonar Bangla,” said Shah. The manifesto promises to give `18,000 to each of 78 lakh farmers in Bengal in one go under the Centre’s PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. “The Bengal government deprived the farmers from getting an- Amit Shah releasing the BJP manifesto, at Kolkata on Sunday | Bibhash Lodh nual grant of `6,000 for the past three years. After coming to power in Bengal, we will transfer the due amount of `18,000 in one go. Besides, the annual financial assistance will be increased to `10,000 from `6,000. Landless farmers will also be given `4,000 annual assistance,’’ said Shah. Eying fishermen, who form a considerable chunk of electorate in East Midnapore, South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas districts, the manifesto promised a scheme to give `6,000 per year to each fisher family. Shah also announced that if the party wrests power, three AIIMS will be set up in north Bengal, Junglemahal and Sunderabans. Shah announced a special investigation team will be set up to probe all political killings, adding victim families will get `25 lakh relief irrespective of political allegiance. Virus load rising On a day India registered its highest single-day tally this year, the Centre said six states are the worst-hit. A look 43,846 highest single-dayyear spike in India this cases reported from l Maharashtra l Kerala l Punjab l Karnataka l Gujarat l MP 197 deaths reported in 24 hrs 86.8% deaths from the above six states 98 Bhubaneswar accounted for highest 15, with protocols new being brazenly flouted by cases in odisha people in the State Capital 27,126 new cases in Maharashtra, followed by Punjab (2,578) 1,15,99,130 nationwide tally 38 succumb in Punjab 92 casualties in Maharashtra The State reported one death after a gap of one week. Cuttack has the highest 109 active cases express read Didi questions EVMs fearing defeat, says PM Kolkata: Unleashing a blistering attack on the West Bengal chief minister on Sunday, Prime Minister Narandra Modi said Mamata Banerjee is repeatedly questioning the credibility of EVMs due to her fear of defeat. “You are questioning about EVMs’ functioning. These EVMs gifted you 10 years in power | P7 WITH THIS ISSUE THE ESSENTIAL CAMPUS DIGEST 1 shot dead in Myanmar, two Aussies detained Security forces in Myanmar shot dead an anti-coup protester on Sunday in the central city of Monywa and at least two people were injured in a clash with security forces, two witnesses told AFP “I saw people carrying a man who was shot and killed,” a local resident told reporters, adding that the body was taken to a local hospital | P9 YOUR LIFE COACH 28 PAGES, INCLUDING 16 OF edex (TABLOID) Ashoka University admits to lapses E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Days after the resignation of political commentator Pratap Bhanu Mehta and economist Arvind Subramanian from Ashoka University the insti, tution admitted to lapses in its processes on Sunday Its chancellor said the university remained . committed to academic freedom and its board head promised an open line No interference of communication. As for Mehta, he wrote to in academic the the students urging freedom: them to not press for his re- Chancellor turn, pointing out that the In his separate circumstances that led to letter, chancellor his resignation will not Rudrangshu change in the foreseeable Mukherjee wrote, future. “the founders have Mehta recently stepped never interfered down as professor saying with academic the founders made it clear freedom: faculty that his association with members have been the institution was a ‘politi- left free to construct cal liability’. Subramanian their own courses, resigned two days later. follow their own “We acknowledge that methods of teaching there have been some laps- and own methods of es in institutional process- assessment.” es which we will work to rectify in consultation with all stakeholders. This will reaffirm our commitment to academic autonomy and freedom which have always been at the core of the Ashoka University ideals,” the institution said in a statement that was jointly issued by the university chancellor, vice chancellor and the chairman of Board of Trustees, along with Mehta and Subramanian. CONTINUED ON: P7 That long walk, a year on PAGE-8 cm gyaan Blame self for few kids, less ration: Rawat V i neet U pa d h yay @ Dehradun New Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat’s footin-the-mouth moments continued to grow on Sunday, as he berated jealous people with planned families for taking home lesser free ration. “ N ow b ro t h e r, who is to blame for this? He produced 20 (children) and you produced only two. So he gets a quintal of ration. When there was time you produced only two and not 20. Now why this jealousy?” the CM reasoned while dwelling on the ration scheme in his speech in Nainital to mark the World Forestry Day . He said the government provided 5 kg of high quality rice per person and those with 20 in the family took home 100 kg during the pandemic. Rawat also erroneously blamed the US instead of the UK for 200 years of rule in India. “America, which enslaved us for 200 years and ruled the whole world, it is struggling at present to manage Covid,” was his second nugget. By his count, the Covid mortality figure in the US currently stands at 50 lakh, while the actual toll is 5.4 lakh. Ripped jeans Last week, Rawat had criticised women wearing ripped jeans, wondering what values they would impart to children. A huge backlash later forced him to apologise President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurating the super specialty hospital of IGH at Rourkela on Sunday | Express India gaining self-reliance in vaccine production: Kovind E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Rourkela President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday hailed India’s vaccine policy stating the country , is not only becoming self-reliant in vaccine production but also simultaneously providing vaccine to other countries for free or at nominal price. Dedicating the 200-bedded Ispat PG Medical Institute and Super Specialty Hospital to the nation, Kovind said, healthcare and education are the two most significant foundations of good governance and the pandemic has made the world realise about the importance of health sector. “Frontline healthcare work- ers have fought an extraordinary battle against the invisible enemy of coronavirus. We are also thankful to the scientists in pharmaceutical laboratories. We can hope of getting rid of Covid-19 due to their capability , innovation and hard work,” he said. “The Covid-19 crisis has taught us lessons to boost healthcare and make it affordable and accessible to all. We need to continue the effort,” he added. The President said in recent years, India has made adequate investment in primary health sector with the objective of expanding healthcare coverage to the deprived population and inaccessible areas. Information and technology too has been instrumental in expansion of healthcare. “It is equally important to improve access of people to secondary and tertiary healthcare. I am happy that the world’s largest healthcare initiative Ayusman Bharat-PM Jan Arogya Yojana is focused on that,” he said. Kovind said as the region was deprived of super speciality healthcare, Prime Minister Narendra Modi planned to develop the Ispat General Hospital (IGH) into a super speciality hospital six years back. With Central funding of `300 crore and joint efforts of RSP and SAIL, the NBCC completed the modern hospital in two CONTINUED ON: P5 years.