Vir Chakra for Abhinandan President Ram Nath Kovind presents Vir Chakra to Group Captain Varthaman Abhinandan, in New Delhi on Monday. “He showed conspicuous courage, demonstrated gallantry in the face of the enemy while disregarding personal safety and displayed exceptional sense of duty,” the Rashtrapati Bhavan tweeted | pti MADURAI l tuesday l november 23, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l LATE CITY EDITION 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 Andhra CM takes Slew of dissent notes in JPC report on personal data bill a step back on 3 capitals in state Express News Service @ New Delhi K a lya n T h o l e t i @ Vijayawada in a surprise move, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh on Monday withdrew the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Act and the Capital Region Development Authority Repeal Act (the three capitals Acts), citing “suspicions, misconceptions and legal hurdles” created by some elements, indirectly pointing fingers at the opposition TDP . Nonetheless, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy made it crystal clear that his government will come up with a “better and comprehensive” legislation, indicating that he hasn’t dropped the three capitals move altogether. Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, the finance minister of Andhra Pradesh, tabled the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Repeal Act-2021 in the Assembly, which passed it by a voice vote. Making a statement on the floor of the House, Jagan said, “The three capitals — legislative in Amaravati, executive in Visakhapatnam and judiciary in Kurnool — were sought to be set up to ensure balanced development of all the regions including the backward North Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.” “Several suspicions were sowed, misconceptions and legal hurdles created.... good intentions of the government were ignored and an argument was advanced that injustice was meted out to some,” he said. Stating that the government was withdrawing the three capitals Acts in larger public interest, he said it will return to the House with a better and comprehensive bill and incorporate in it answers to all legal questions. Significantly, Jagan said the government will “explain to all sections of people and all the regions, extensively and exhaustively, the need for decentralisation of development”. Briefly touching on the earlier TDP government’s plan to build a brand new Amaravati capital city, Jagan said it would cost `1 lakh crore and with time, the cost might escalate to `5-6 lakh crore and wondered if the State could afford it.  Visakhapatnam, on the other hand, has everything and could be the capital with a little bit of expenditure, he observed. A Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) that was examining the Personal Data Protection Bill, adopted its report on Monday though its Opposition members like Congress’ Jairam Ramesh and Manish Tewari and Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien and Mahua Moitra submitted separate dissent notes. However, Ramesh was generous in his appreciation of the democratic manner in which the committee functioned under the chairmanship of BJP leader P P Chaudhary “Finally . , it is done. The Joint Committee of Parliament has adopted its report on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019. There are dissent notes, but that is in the best spirit of parliamentary democracy Sadly such examples . , are few and far between under the Modi regime.” In his two-page dissent note, the Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha argued that Section 35 of the bill gives almost unbridled powers to the Centre to exempt any government agency from the entire Act itself. “Under the amendment I had suggested, the Central government will have to get Parlia- Midway change of head “We started in December 2019 and finished in November 2021,” Tewari said. The report got delayed because the panel’s former head Meenakshi Lekhi got a ministrial berth. Chaudhary was then appointed as its new chairperson mentary approval for exempting any of its agencies from the purview of the law. Even then, the government must always comply with the bill’s requirement of fair and reasonable processing and implementing the necessary security safeguards,” he said. Ramesh argued that the JCP report allows a period of two years for private companies to migrate to the new data protection regime, but governments and government agencies have no such stipulation Kovai, Tiruppur get CMDA-type bodies C S h i v a k u m a r @ Chennai All ears Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin distributed financial aid and other benefits in Coimbatore on Monday. He also interacted with the beneficiaries | U Rakesh Kumar Jab-o-meter Take your shot Nov 21 32,70,520 doses Nov 22 63,98,165 doses Total: 117,54,69,625 NATIONWIDE nov 21 nov 22 tamil nadu nov 21 nov 22 Fresh cases 10,488 8,488 Recoveries 12,329 12,510 Deaths 313 249 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 756 847 14 750 843 13 The Tamil Nadu government has formed ad hoc Urban Development Authorit i e s fo r T i r u p p u r a n d Coimbatore as a precursor to establishing dedicated authorities. Once constituted, the new entities will function along the lines of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), formed 47 years ago. The DMK government, in its Budget, announced that the State will set up new urban development bodies for M a d u r a i , C o i m b a t o r e, Tiruppur and Hosur to facilitate better planning. Accordingly a Government Or, der, on Monday, said an advisory council and a planning cell will be set up to advise and assist the two ad hoc bodies. The exact composition of the authorities will be finalised when amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act are enacted. Both ad hoc Urban Development Authorities will be chaired by the Housing Secretary with the respective district collectors being nominated as the vice-chairman. Each will have representatives from finance, transport, industries, public works, municipal administration and water supply ru, ral development departments and panchayat raj. There will also be representation from the Director of Town and Country Planning, corporation commissioner, TNHB managing director, TN Water Supply and Drainage Board managing director and CMRL managing director.  and that the constitutional right to privacy arises only where operations and activities of private companies are concerned. Tewari, in his very detailed dissent note, said, “I do not agree with the fundamental design and construction of the bill.” He said he is not in sync with many of the proposed clauses and suggested clause by clause amendments. He added that in its present form, the bill would not withstand legal scrutiny . express read Aavin ghee now part of 2022 Pongal hamper Chennai: Each of the 2.15 crore rice ration card holders in TN will get 100 grams of Aavin ghee in the Pongal hamper that will be distributed in January 2022. For the first time, the State will give Aavin products through PDS | P4 Justice Bhandari takes charge as Acting CJ Chennai: Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari assumed office as the Acting Chief Justice (ACJ) of the Madras High Court on Monday. He said he would speak less and do more while serving the temple of judiciary | P4 Shahrukh heroics help TN defend T20 title New Delhi: M Shahrukh Khan smashed a last-ball six to help Tamil Nadu defend the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 with a thrilling four-wicket win over Karnataka on Monday | P11