China withheld data from probe team, says WHO chief HUBBALLI  WEDNESDAY  MARCH 31, 2021  `7.00  PAGES 14  CITY EDITION BIG CHANGE IN AUTOMATIC PAYMENTS FROM APRIL 1 3 1 New RBI rules require banks to send a notification to the customer 24 hours before the transaction is slated. The amount will be debited only after the customer gives his nod 2 Auto-debit payments for utility bills and subscription-based services will come to a halt 3 Standing instructions on credit or debit cards will get deactivated WHAT WILL BE AFFECTED Mobile and utility bill payments, subscription for online streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar etc WHAT WILL NOT BE AFFECTED Standing instructions on bank accounts for recurring payments such as EMIs, payments or mutual funds etc will continue as usual WHY THE NEW RULES To safeguard customers from data leaks, hacking of confidential data and payment frauds `5,000 For auto-debit payments above this amount, banks must send a one-time password to customer to authenticate EXPRESS READ PM slams Cong-DMK for ‘anti-women’ mindset Dharapuram (TN): In a veiled attack, PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday dubbed former union telecom minister A Raja, an ‘outdated 2G missile’ of the Congress and DMK that targeted Tamil Nadu women and slammed the opposition parties for their ‘anti-women’ mindset. The PM alleged it was part of CongressDMK culture to insult women. P7 With Covid spike, IT firms extend WFH by 3 months Govt employees too want work from home or 50% staff at office A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ Bengaluru AS Covid cases are shooting up across the State, especially in Bengaluru, many IT and ITES companies are extending the work from home (WFH) option for their employees by three more months. The firms had earlier said WFH would be till March 31 and asked employees to return to work from Wednesday. But now they are sending out emails, asking staff not to visit offices, unless absolutely necessary . State Government employees too are asking for work from home option as they pointed out that they are at a higher risk as there is no restriction on the number of people visiting government offices. A leading IT service management firm in east Bengaluru had earlier given the WFH option till March 31, but on Monday, employees received an email saying it has been extended by three more months. A multinational investment bank and financial services company in Bengaluru which had asked its employees to return to office from Wednesday , has told them to continue to work from home. An IT major too has extended WFH till May 31 and sent the mail to its employees a couple of weeks ago. K S Viswanathan, Vice-President (Industry Initiatives), Nasscom, told TNIE that most of the companies had extended work from home till June and a P5 few till September. KARNATAKA SECOND WAVE BATTLE 21 HIGHEST SPIKE IN DAILY DEATHS SO FAR 11 deaths logged in Bengaluru Urban, followed by 3 in Mysuru, 2 in Bengaluru Rural and 1 each in Bidar, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Kalaburagi and Mandya Situation is getting worse, says Centre The coronavirus situation is “turning from bad to worse”, the Centre said on Tuesday, while stressing that the whole country is at risk and nobody should be complacent. It said that eight of the top 10 Covid-19 high-burden districts are from Maharashtra. FULL STORY P 10 1,06,971 35,90,581 TOTAL TESTS ON TUESDAY TOTAL VACCINATIONS SO FAR 2.78% STATE’S POSITIVITY RATE A day after the WHO-China final report on the origin of Covid rejected the Wuhan lab leak theory, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tore into it, aying the international probe team did not get access to raw data in China @ Kalaburagi THE Covid-triggered ban on protests and rallies in the State will not apply to poll-related political activities in Basavakalyan and Maski Assembly constituencies and Belagavi Lok Sabha segment, where the byelections will be held on April 17, said Chief Secretary of Karnataka P Ravikumar, here on Tuesday . Ravikumar, who is touring Kalaburagi district, told The New Indian Express in an exclusive interview that political parties are allowed to hold indoor and outdoor political functions and rallies, but they should adhere to Covid protocols when there is a congregation of people. Taking the example of Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, where Covid norms are being followed during rallies, he said political parties here too can hold public meetings by asking people to adhere to Covid protocols. He also spoke about the withholding data. “In my discussions with the team, they expressed the difficulties they encountered in accessing raw data.” 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 ■ ■ P14 CD row: Woman records statement E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru IN a major development in the sleaze CD row case that involves former minister Ramesh Jarkiholi, the woman in the clips on Tuesday appeared before the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court and gave her statement before the magistrate under Section 164 of Criminal Procedures Code (CrPC), which pertains to recording of confessions and statements. She was taken to a special hall set up due to the Covid situation at Gurunak Bhavan in Vasanthnagar and her statement was recorded in-camera for P4 about one-and-a-half hours. Nirani: All for lifting ban on iron ore exports, as it can increase revenue $160. Karnataka is the ultimate loser. It can gain three times the revenue on the same quanCITING that the State is facing tity of iron ore if exported,” a loss of `8,000 crore annually the Minister for Mines and Gedue to a ban on iron ore ex- ology said. ports, Minister for Mines and Karnataka had slapped the Geology Murugesh Rudrapban in 2010 and it was later pa Nirani said that lifting upheld by the Supreme the ban can bring three Court following a multitimes more revenue to EXPRESS crore mining scam in Karnataka. Ballari. TALK Nirani, who visited The Federation of InThe New Indian Express dian Mineral Industries office on Tuesday, spoke in 2020 had requested the at length about his plans for State Government to reconthe ministry and said propos- sider its decision on the export ing to lift the ban on iron ore ban. exports is on his priority list. The federation had estimated “In Karnataka, iron ore is that the gross loss over to the priced at $40-$50 per tonne since state over 10 years was approxiexport is banned. But in the in- mately `29,058.8 crore. FULL STORY: P4 ternational market, it is $150EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE No ban on bypoll-related rallies, says Chief Secretary RAMKRISHNA BADSESHI Tedros did not want to smoke out the lab leak angle, as he called for further investigation on all hypotheses, with additional missions back to China “I do not believe that this assessment was extensive enough,” Tedros said. “Further data and studies will be needed to reach more robust conclusions.” @ Bengaluru Mines Minister Murugesh Nirani at the TNIE office in Bengaluru | VINOD KUMAR T