KALABURAGI  THURSDAY  MARCH 25, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION CCI TO PROBE ‘EXPLOITATIVE’ PRIVACY POLICY OF WHATSAPP The Competition Commission of India on Wednesday directed its investigation arm to conduct a probe into WhatsApp’s privacy policy INVESTIGATION TO BE CONCLUDED IN 2 MONTHS The move came after the fair trade regulator prima facie found the firm has contravened competition law provisions through its “exploitative and exclusionary conduct” in the garb of policy update. The CCI directed its investigation arm, the director general (DG), to complete the probe into WhatsApp’s updated privacy policy and submit a report within 60 days |P10 ■ CCI DISCLOSE TO WHAT EXTENT IS DATA SHARED ■ The Commission said users, as owners of their personalised data, are entitled to know the extent, scope and purpose of sharing of such information by WhatsApp with other Facebook companies WhatsApp claims the update does not expand its ability to share data with Facebook but offers transparency about data usage OBSERVATIONS ARE PRELIMINARY AND WON’T IMPACT THE MERITS OF THE CASE 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 Ball set rolling for Ramana to take over as next CJI 3,68,457 S U M I S U K A N YA D U T TA @ New Delhi EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE Budget business done, leaders focus on polls A S H I M S U N A M @ Bengaluru EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE IF a last minute change of venue sounded extreme enough, para-atheletes at the ongoing National Para Athletics Championships were in for a rude shock on Wednesday night. For shot put was conducted with help from mobile phone lights and car headlights at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) didn’t respond to calls but the videos doing the rounds painted a sorry picture about sport in India. This incident under the Bengaluru lights was the latest in a series of snafus the PCI has seemingly entangled itself in since March 21. First, they shifted the competition from Chennai to Bengaluru leaving some athletes stranded. Even if they couldn’t be blamed for that as TN government denied permission due to rising covid cases, the first day itself has eyebrow-raising episodes play itself out. First, deciding to organising a para meet at a venue not friendly to wheelchairs. Then, there were multiple reports of Covid-19 breaches, including not adhering to SOPs, a fact acknowledged by Sports AuP11 thority of India. @ Bengaluru With bypolls in the state round the corner and the electioneering heat rising several notches in the neighbouring states ahead of the first phase of polling, the Karnataka legislature wound up business for the Budget Session on Wednesday The early adjourn. ment of the legislature will help the ruling and opposition parties kickstart their campaigning for upcoming bypolls for Maski and Basavakalyan Assembly seats and Belagavi parliamentary seat in a fullfledged manner. Before being adjourned sine die, both the Assembly and Council passed finance-related bills and other key bill even as many legislators from treasury benches were missing. Senior members like C T Ravi, Dr C N Ashwathnarayana, Suresh Kumar, Sunil Kumar from BJP, who have been appointed as in-charge and campaigners for Assembly elections in other states, as well leaders like MLC Ravikumar, who have been appointed for bypolls in Karnataka, have been juggling between legislative and party duties. No discussion or debate was held over supplementary estimates as a defiant government was keen on getting the Bills passed even as Congress refused to cooperate and participate in debate. For the third day in a row, no bills were discussed, scrutinised or debated in the House. The adjournment came on a day the Congress intended to stage an allnight protest inside Vidhana Soudha. The Opposition party now intends to take its protest P4 outside the secretariat. EXPRESS READ Petrol price cut by 18 paise, diesel by 17 paise Dr Murthy is Surgeon General: US Senate NEW DELHI: In the first reduction in rates in over a year, petrol price on Wednesday was cut by 18 paise per litre and diesel by 17 paise a litre as international oil prices tumbled to the lowest since early February. Rates have been reduced across the country depending on the local incidence of taxation (VAT). WASHINGTON: Indian-American physician Dr Vivek Murthy has been confirmed by the Senate as President Joe Biden’s Surgeon General, a post he will occupy for the second time. In 2011, President Obama tapped him to serve on the advisory group on prevention, health promotion, and integrative and public health. P9 TOP 10 DISTRICTS IN INDIA WITH HIGHEST ACTIVE CASES MUMBAI 26,599 THANE 22,513 PUNE 43,590 NAGPUR 33,160 NANDED 10,106 AURANGABAD 15,380 KARNATAKA SECOND WAVE BATTLE Single-day positivity rate climbs to 2.12% on Wednesday, from 0.58% on March 1 12 People succumb to Covid in the state, of which 7 deaths reported in Bengaluru Urban AKOLA 5,704 B JALGAON 6,087 EN NASHIK 15,710 U RU U RB GAL A N National para athletics meet held in the dark 47,262 FRESH CASES RECORDED IN THE LAST 24 HOURS 23,907 RECOVERIES IN A DAY CENTRE CONFIRMS DOUBLE MUTATION IN MAHARASHTRA In-house panel of Supreme Court dismisses AP CM Jagan’s charges and the same, on due consid- expected to take over as top@ New Delhi eration, stands dismissed. It most judge of the land on April be noted that all the matters 24 and will retire on August 26, WITH just a month left for his dealt with under the In-House 2022. Only twice so far, the set retirement, Chief Justice of Procedure being strictly confi- procedure was not followed — India S A Bobde has recom- dential in nature, are not liable first when Justice A N Ray mended the name of to be made public.” was appointed the CJI on April Justice N V Ramana Among other al- 25, 1973 superseding three senas his successor. legations in Jagan’s ior-most judges and next when Parallelly, an inletter to CJI Bobde Justice M H Beg was appointhouse inquiry against was the influenc- ed the CJI on January 29, 1977 Justice Ramana foling of the Andhra superseding Justice H R lowing a complaint by High Court to stay Khanna. Andhra Pradesh a probe into an FIR Justice Ramana was apChief Minister Jagan filed by the Anti- pointed permanent judge of Mohan Reddy on alCorruption Bureau the Andhra High Court on legedly manipulating against former Ad- June 27, 2000 and functioned Justice N V Ramana the Andhra Pradesh vo c a t e G e n e r a l as Acting Chief Justice of High Court’s roster to lean to- Dammalapati Srinivas and 12 Andhra High Court from wards the Telugu Desam Party others, including his (Justice March 10, 2013 to May 20, 2013. and its founder N Chandraba- Ramana’s) two daughters, in Appointed as the Chief Justice bu Naidu, was dismissed, pav- the Amaravati land scam. of Delhi High Court on Seping the way for his appointWith Bobde sending the rec- tember 2, 2013, Justice Ramament as the new CJI. ommendation letter, Justice na was elevated as a judge of A bland statement issued by Ramana is now in line to be ap- the Supreme Court on Februthe Supreme Court said: “A pointed as the 48th CJI. He is ary 17, 2014. complaint dated 6th October, The call of convention 2020 sent by the Chief MinisAs per convention, the CJI recommends the senior-most judge of the ter of Andhra Pradesh to the Supreme Court as his successor. The law minister puts it before the Supreme Court was dealt with Prime Minister who advises the President on such appointments under the In-House Procedure INDIA'S TOTAL ACTIVE CASELOAD 10,766 ACTIVE CASES 1,398 Bengaluru Urban reports the most cases, followed by Kalaburagi with 118 cases and Tumakuru with 94 cases 1,08,013 samples tested (RAT + RT PCR) in the state during the day THE Centre on Wednesday officially announced the detection of a new double mutant Covid-19 virus, in addition to several variants of concern (VOC) that have been found in at least 18 states in India. This newspaper in its March 17 edition was the first to report the two mutations — E48Q and L452R — found together in about 20% samples in Maharashtra. This double mutation has not been seen anywhere else globally yet. The Union health ministry said since Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics (INSACOG) began its work, 771 VOCs have been detected out of 10,787 positive samples shared by states. They include 736 samples that tested positive for the UK variant, 34 for of the South African variant and one of the Brazilian variant. These samples came from 18 states across the country . “Such (double) mutations confer immune escape and increased infectivity These muta. tions have been found in about 15-20% of samples and do not match any previously catalogued VOCs,” the ministry said. Also, of the 2,032 samples from all 14 districts in Kerala sequenced so far, the N440K variant that is associated with immune escape has been found in 123 from 11 districts. This variant was earlier found in 33% of samples from Andhra, and in 53 of 104 samples from Telangana. We have to understand that this virus will mutate and when strains are formed, then they can get dangerous and one needs to understand how the virus is behaving — Dr Satyanarayana Mysore, Head, Department of Sleep Medicine, Manipal Hospital Small genome sample size, low funds hit studies C H E TA N A B E L A G E R E @ Bengaluru WHILE the Union Health Ministry has announced a new ‘double mutant’ variant in India, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru — where genome sequencing of samples from across the state is being conducted — has also been able to test only 180 samples so far and the analysis have not revealed any new strain in Karnataka. The institute is also facing a severe fund crunch to carry out detailed sequencing procedures. Medical experts, who are noticing changes in the behaviour of the virus in patients, argue that the samples collected in the state are extremely few and say that the situation calls for more genome sequencing to know if there is any new variant in the state which is leading to an increase in the number of cases. Speaking to TNIE, Dr V Ravi, Nodal officer for genomic con- POLITICAL PULSE Thumbs up for delivering devpt in Assam, but a big no for price rise I F upgrading of national highways and construction of roads in the rural belts of Assam could win an election, then the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party should race to power, leaving in its wake a Congress-led alliance and a large number of smaller, ethno-nationalist political parties. From Tinsukia in the eastern tip of the state to Nagaon in middle Assam and beyond, dumper trucks, JCBs, bulldozers and road rollers work through the day, forcing traffic to weave left and right at regular intervals. While rural roads are being metalled, the national highways are being four-laned. “The BJP has done a lot of development work, it has made roads, toilets and houses,” said Sanjib Bora, an owner of a shack restaurant next to the national highway in Chabua, Tinsukia. “People here will support the BJP for this.” ASSAM POLLS H KHOGEN SINGH @ Dibrugarh/Nagaon (Assam) Bora’s sentiment was endorsed by Dhanesh Pegu, also a roadside dhaba owner in Dhemaji district next to the recently-opened Bogibeel bridge, the longest one on the Brahmapu- tra river. “Modi ne bahut kaam kiya hain (Narendra Modi has done a lot of work),” he said. “Take the Bogibeel bridge for instance, The foundation stone was laid by (H D) Deve Gowda, then (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee did some work but after that there was a Congress government both at the Centre and in the state but nothing happened. When Modi came he finished the bridge,” Pegu said. It’s no wonder then that from Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Chief Minister Sarabanda Sonowal and state finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to the ordinary BJP karyakarta (worker), development is one of the main talking points. CONTINUED ON: P7 firmation of SARS-CoV-2 and retired professor at NIMHANS, said, “Of all the samples we have tested in Karnataka, including the recent clusters from Yelahanka and the Nursing College in Bengaluru, there has been no new mutant variants. However, we are continuing to take samples for genomic sequencing.” The NIMHANS is also one of the labs under Indian SARSCoV-2 Genomic Consortium (INSACOG). According to the data given by Dr Ravi, the lab began tests for genome sequencing from December 20 and has so far tested 180 samples, including UK returnees. Of the 75 traveller samples tested, they have found the UK strain in 30 samples and the South African strain in three samples in Karnataka. However, experts believe that the sample size of 180, given the positive numbers the state is witnessing now, is too small and they believe that the presence of a new variant canP3 not be ruled out. Thackeray starts damage control over allegations S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ Mumbai MAHARASHTRA Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called an urgent meeting of senior Cabinet ministers at his residence on Wednesday to discuss the political situation following the explosive letter written by ex-Mumbai top cop Param Bir Singh. The meeting was in the backdrop of the Supreme Court’s observation that Singh’s allegations against Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh were “quite serious”. Singh had approached the SC challenging his transfer but the apex court directed him to approach the Bombay High CONTINUED ON: P8 Court.