NEW DELHI 04 APRIL 2021 SUNDAY `12 PAGES 24  facebook/TheMorningStandard  twitter.com/TheMornStandard https://epaper.morningstandard.in Back to Bed Pride and Patrimony PLUS: 12 PAGES MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE VOICES The Spirit is Willing Art of the Matter A 10-day-long Conversation TJS George V Suryanarayan Ashoke K Maitra Ravi Shankar Light in the Valley of the Dark Partition’s Darkening Shadows Devapriya Roy Gautam Chintamani Rajat Chaudhuri Amar Bhushan The Chaotic World of Doctors Mothers and sisters, don’t be intimidated. Challenge them. We have no problems if the forces act impartially. But if they act on behalf of a particular party, we will protest Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal CM TASK CUT OUT E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ Raipur New CJI has to fill vacancies, tackle pendency K A N U S A R D A @ New Delhi WITH just a few days left for incumbent Chief Justice of India S A Bobde to demit office, the biggest challenge for his successor, Justice N V Ramana, is to tackle the huge pendency and vacancies in the Supreme Court. CJI Bobde will demit office on April 23, bringing down the number of apex court judges to just 28 against the sanctioned strength of 34. No judges have been appointed to the top court since September 2019. As on 1 March 2021, there were 66,727 matters pending in the Supreme Court whereas on March 1, 2020, the figure was 60,469. This shows that the number of cases pending in the court has increased over a year’s time. Though the Supreme Court worked more during the Covid-19 restrictions than what it did in other years, the pendency has still touched an all time high. The main reason for the high pendency is the restricted physical hearings and shifting of the whole judicial work online. In the beginning only important cases were taken up for hearing but gradually miscellaneous cases too were taken up. Urgent e-filing protocols were drafted and implemented. Despite the initial glitches, to the judiciary’s credit the system improved and evolved, quite literally with each passing day As per the Economic . Survey 2017-18, pendency hampers dispute resolution, contract enforcement, discourage investments, stall projects, hamper tax collection and escalate legal costs, which leads to Increasing cost of doing business. Due to the backlog, most of India’s prison population are detainees awaiting trial and are in turn overcrowding the prisons. The main challenge is to immediately focus on how to make the virtual courts user-friendly. Once it is achieved, more cases in addition to urgent matters can be listed for adjudication which results in timely delivery justice despite the pandemic. You keep your TMC goons under check. Explain to them that Modi is here. Their bullying will no longer be tolerated. Bengal doesn’t want violence and terror Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee both campaigned in South 24 Parganas on Saturday, exchanging charges against each other over alleged bribery to attend election rallies | BIBHASH LODH Psyops is BJP’s new weapon against Didi In attempt to demoralise Trinamool workers & supporters, Modi, BJP brass repeat Mamata will lose in Nandigram P R A N A B M O N D A L @ Kolkata IF mind games could win elections, then the Bharatiya Janata Party would win in West Bengal in a canter. Even two days after a high drama voting in Nandigram, where chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is pitted against her confidanteturned-rival Suvendu Adhikari, the saffron party continues to claim that she will lose from the prestigious seat. Addressing a rally in South 24-Parganas on Saturday Prime , Minister Narendra Modi said Mamata should accept defeat in Nandigram and that if she decides to contest from another seat, she would lose from there also. Her twin defeat would lead to the Trinamool’s disappearance from Bengal’s political landscape, he added. Earlier, union home minister Amit Shah, BJP chief J P Nadda and other heavyweights of the saffron camp have also talked in the same vein. With six phases of polling yet to go, the attempt is to make Trinamool workers and voters into actually believing this will happen, leavi n g t h e m demoralized. Even if half the supporters of Mamata are convinced, it could play into the saffron party’s hands. “Mamata Banerjee is the one and only face of the party Now we are going to face . elections in south Bengal districts in the next few phases, which is known as the TMC’s strongholds. If a message can be delivered that her defeat is imminent, her followers and the ruling party’s voters will get scared and subsequently it , will give us electoral dividend in the next phases,” a BJP leader said. ‘’From your home, you went to Nabanna on a scooter. Then you went to Nandigram where you are going to lose with a huge margin. Defeat is standing in front you. Accept it Didi. I have heard that a section of your educated party colleagues is now saying your decision to contest from Nandigram was a wrong,” Modi said. The PM’s scooter ride remark was a reference to Mamata’s protest held in Kolkata against rising fuel prices before the announcement of the elections. As a mark of protest, the CM ditched her car and rode pillion on a scooter while going to the secretariat. “I also heard you are planning to contest from another seat. If you do, it will be another wrong decision Didi. Because your twin defeat will lead to the TMC’s disappearance from the electoral landscape of West Bengal,” Modi added. Shah and Nadda campaigned in the same breath. On Friday , Shah said he had come to know from Trinamool insiders that Mamata was planning to contest from another seat. A few days earlier Nadda echoed the same. Trinamool MP and spokesperson Saugata Roy said the BJP was trying to play the game of fear psychosis but this would not work. RELATED REPORTS ON PAGE 7 YOGI RALLIES FOR BJP AT HOWRAH Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a roadshow in Howrah district on Saturday, seeking to bolster BJP’s campaign in West Bengal. Standing atop a vehicle, Adityanath waved at crowds that gathered along the road. Locals queued up on both sides of the road. MAGISTERIAL PROBE INTO ASSAM EVM ROW A magisterial probe has been ordered to determine why a polling team in Assam carried an EVM in a vehicle owned by the wife of a BJP candidate. Karimganj Deputy Superintendent Anbamuthan MP issued the order to probe the incident which has snowballed into a controversy. AT least five security personnel, including a CRPF jawan, and two Maoists were killed in a fierce exchange of fire in Bijapur district, south Chhattisgarh, on Saturday Around . a dozen personnel were also injured in the encounter. The encounter ensued during an intelligence-based operation. Security forces were sent on anti-Maoist operations from three directions along the Bijapur-Sukma border area on Friday night. A team of security personnel reportedly got trapped in an ambush near Tarrem on Saturday noon and the ensuing encounter continued for nearly three hours, according to the information reaching the state capital stated. The Maoists carried out the attack when the forces were returning after the operation. Two helicopters and nine ambulances have been rushed to Bijapur. Reinforcements were rushed to the spot and the forces are yet to return from the operation, DGP D M Awasthi said. Two bodies of rebels were also recovered from the encounter site. This is the second major Maoist attack in which they have inflicted casualties on the forces during the last 10 days in Bastar after March 23 in which five DRG personnel were killed. EXPRESS READ Policy for rare diseases gets nod New Delhi: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan approved the National Policy for Rare Disease, 2021. A provision for financial support up to `20 lakh under the Rastriya Arogya Nidhi is proposed for the treatment of those rare diseases that require a onetime treatment (diseases listed under Group 1 in the rare disease policy). COLOUR CODED Visitors throng Asia’s largest tulip garden in Srinagar on Saturday on the opening day of the Tulip Festival | PTI PANEL FOR NEW LAW TO UNCAGE CBI K U M A R V I K R A M @ New Delhi EXPRESSING concern over the rising trend of state governments withdrawing their consent for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe, a parliamentary standing committee has recommended to the Centre to assess if there was a need to amend the existing laws or pass a new law in order to clearly define the CBI’s mandate and vest more powers in it. So far, eight non-Bharatiya Janata Party ruled states have withdrawn their general consent required for initiating a CBI investigation. Five of these states, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand and Punjab, did this only last year. In its report, the panel has referred to the CBI’s submission that it was unable to take up investigation of new cases in the absence of general consent from the states, especially in cases of bank fraud/economic Awaken Selfless Love Five security men killed in encounter with Maoist rebels ANNOUNCEMENT The cover price of The Sunday Standard has been revised to `12 with effect from April 04, 2021. — Editor AMMA SPEAKS WITHDRAWAL OF CONSENT STATE ORDER ISSUED Mizoram West Bengal Chhattisgarh Rajasthan Maharashtra Kerala Jharkhand Punjab 17.07.2015 16.11.2018 10.01.2019 19.07.2020 21.10.2020 04.11.2020 05.11.2020 06.11.2020 offences and corruption involving central government employees where there are allegations of misappropriation of huge amounts of public money . “The committee agrees with the view of (the) CBI that withdrawal of general consent by states impedes investigation. The committee, therefore, recommends the government to assess if there is a need to amend the existing Laws or bring out a new law altogether in order to clearly define the mandate of (the) CBI and vest more powers in it,” said the report recently tabled in Parliament. Mizoram, West Beng al, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Kerala, Jharkhand and Punjab are the other states which have withdrawn their general consent. Mizoram did so in July 2015, followed by West Bengal and Chhattisgarh in November 2018 and January 2019, respectively and the remaining states withdrew consent in 2020. As per section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, the consent of state governments is required by the CBI to carry out investigations in any area of a State that is not being a union territory or a railway area. Pursuant to the grant of consent by the state government, the central government, by a notification under section 5 of the DSPE Act, extends the powers and jurisdiction of the CBI to the state to conduct investigations for specified offences. A confrontation between non-BJP ruled state governments and the Centre has become quite frequent as the CBI has delved into cases that are seen as politically-motivated or were being probed by local law enforcement. Recently, the Maharashtra government withdrew its consent hours after the CBI filed a case to investigate the TV ratings scam on the basis of a complaint filed in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. Earlier this year, the investigation in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput was handed over to the central agency as well. Panel submits report on Isro espionage New Delhi: A high-level probe panel appointed by Supreme Court to take erring cops to task for causing harassment and anguish to Isro scientist Nambi Narayanan in the 1994 espionage case has submitted its report to the court. The court had directed Kerala to cough up `50 lakh in compensation for illegally arresting Narayanan. SERVICE ANGEL FOR SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN Desperate for treatment for her child, a woman sets up a wellness centre in Ranchi PAGE 5 Covid spike hits 75 years of Independence extravaganza PA R V E Z S U LTA N @ New Delhi MOUNTING concerns caused by the sudden rise in coronavirus cases has forced the Delhi government to stall all its programmes planned to mark the 75th anniversary of Independence for an indefinite period. Senior officials associated with the arrangements of the proposed celebrations said the sharp spike in daily count of Covid infection cases had “disturbed” the planning and preparations and directions had been issued to put all activities on hold for the time being. “This Covid wave is obviously a matter of concern. It is not the right time to hold events or organise gatherings. All plans will remain suspended till the next order. No date has been specified otherwise the plan was to organise a big event every week. Unfortunately, Covid numbers have played spoilsport,” a senior government official said. He said the first causality was a special event scheduled for March 27 in which families of prominent freedom fighters of Delhi were invited. “The discussion on the free- TESTING STATUS 57,296 RTPCR/CBNAAT/ TrueNat tests conducted 1,48,20,857 Total tests done so far 7,80,045 Tests per million DELHI COVID WATCH STATUS OF CASES Today Cumulative TOTAL +VE CASES 3,567 5,56,744 DEATH 10 8,909 ACTIVE CASES -38,181 RECOVERED 2,904 5,09,654 PATIENT MANAGEMENT Total beds Occupied Vacant HOSPITAL 5,947 2,441 3,506 CARE CENTRE 5,525 29 5,482* HEALTH CENTRE 82 41 41 6,569 HOME ISOLATION *14 beds of CCC are occupied by persons under quarantine including travellers who came by Vande Bharat Mission and Bubble flights Source: Delhi health bulletin | April 3 dom movement as part of the celebrations –75th anniversary of Independence was to be held at the IICC. The families of freedom fighters, including Mir Mushtaq Ahmed, Hakim Ajmal Khan, and Jugal Kishore Khanna, were also invited. Sadly, it had to be cancelled due to the Covid scenario. We had planned a mobile exhibition, which has also been shelved,” the official said. As per the initial 75-week long celebrations, cultural functions, heritage walks and discussions were proposed at Qudsia Bagh, Kashmere Gate and their vicinity where most , of the activities took place during 1857 rebellion. The programmes were to be held jointly by Delhi Tourism, the state archeology department, Delhi Archives, and the arts, culture & language department. The government had also planned to illuminate all historic buildings related to the freedom movement in Delhi. The government will tie up with non-government agencies such as INTACH to conduct heritage tours and baithaks at sites connected with the 1857 revolt and subsequent developments such as St James Church, Kashmere Gate.