BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l november 23, 2021 l `7.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Vir Chakra CONFERRED on Abhinandan Varthaman India’s third highest wartime gallantry medal was given for showing “exceptional sense of duty”, the award citation said DOWNED PAK F-16 RAISED MORALE OF FORCES Other awards President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday conferred the award (pic) on Group Captain Abhinandan Varthaman, who downed a Pak F-16 a day after the Balakot surgical strike in 2019, ejected from his MiG-21 after it was hit in enemey territory and was held captive there for three days. The citation said his action raised the morale of India’s armed forces The Gallantry awards included included two Kirti Chakras (one posthumous), one Vir Chakra and 23 Shaurya Chakras (10 posthumous) 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 E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi K a lya n T h o l et 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 And, hra 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 devel- opment 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 Ja, gan 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. express read New Delhi: The bull-run of India’s equity market has faded out in recent weeks and Monday’s big crash could be the first sign of a correction that market analysts have been predicting for quite some time. On Monday, the BSE Sensex tanked 1,170 points or 1.96% to end at 58,465 while the Nifty 50 closed 348 points or 1.96% lower at 17,416. This was their biggest single-day fall since April 2021. The investors lost over `8 lakh crore in the sell-off | P10 Five killed as SUV ploughs into US Christmas parade A vehicle plowed through barricades and into a Christmas parade, killing five people and wounding at least 40 others in the US state of Wisconsin on Sunday, the police said. The red SUV broke through barricades at the annual holiday event, with videos showing the car zoom past spectators right into the heart of the parade — and witnesses saying it sped into a school marching band. “We can confirm that 5 people are deceased and 40 are injured,” the local police said | P9 Not going anywhere till all demands settled: Tikait at mega farmer event Lucknow: Unimpressed by PM Narendra Modi’s November 19 announcement on repealing the three farm laws and apology, the Kisan Mahapanchayat on Monday declared that farmers won’t withdraw their agitation till the Centre discusses and settles all pending issues. The farmer leaders appear to have hardened their stance, raising new demands and linking their stir to resolution of these | P7 NATIONWIDE nov 21 nov 22 10,488 8,488 12,329 12,510 313 249 Jab-o-meter Take your shot Nov 21 32,70,520 doses Nov 22 63,98,165 doses Total: 117,54,69,625 odisha Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 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 Cen- 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 nov 21 nov 22 205 263 02 171 245 01 tral government will have to get Parliamentary 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 agen- cies have no such stipulation 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 . Complete report on Puri intl airport sent to Odisha govt: Scindia E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Jharsuguda Hazardous Practice A farmer burns paddy stubble at a farm on the outskirts of Amritsar on Monday. The pollution and haze around the adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana, especially New Delhi has been linked with stubble burning | pti Markets see biggest single-day fall since April this year Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths A Joint Committee of Parliament (JPC) that was examining the Personal Data Protection Bill, adopted its report on Monday though its Opposition members like Cong ress’ 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 Panchayati Raj bodies and mines to be audited under CAG: Murmu E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) will oversee the audit of Panchayati Raj institutions in view of huge funds sanctioned by the Centre for implementation of welfare schemes by the local bodies. Announcing this here on Monday CAG Girish Chandra , Murmu said that guidance by the CAG in the audit of Panchayati Raj institutions will help in the detection of anomalies and suggestion of corrections in implementation of schemes. The CAG guidance will help in real time audit of the local bodies in the State. Murmu was speaking at the inauguration of the new office building of the Principal Accountant General at Keshari Nagar here. Elaborating on the issue, he said, Expenditure of audit of the rural bodies is now done by their own auditors. We will handhold them, guide them for a real time audit. CAG will also conduct natural resources accounting in Odisha and  look into the expenditure incurred on the extraction of natural resources from mines Girish Chandra Murmu, CAG “Expenditure of audit of the rural bodies is now done by their own auditors. We will handhold them, guide them for a real time audit.” The CAG said that the Centre allocates huge funds to the rural bodies for implementation of development and other schemes. The audit will also find out how the funds are being spent. Besides, Murmu said that the CAG will conduct natural resources accounting (NRA) in Odisha and  look into the expenditure incurred on the extraction of natural resources from mines. The CAG will find out whether the deposits extracted from the mines are profitable for the State. The CAG will account the natural resources, audit its value, expenditure done in its development and profit and loss incur red through natural resources. The retired Odia IAS officer took charge as CAG in August 2020 after resigning as Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor. Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday said a complete report for an international airport at Puri has already been sent to the Odisha Government by the Airport Authority of India (AAI). “We are awaiting its response to develop a greenfield airport at Puri,” he said during his visit to Jharsuguda. The Union Minister visited the Veer Surendra Sai Airport - selected by AAI as the nodal centre under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) to attend the Udan Utsav program of the Union Government. Scindia visited exhibitions on handlooms as well as airlines at the airport and later addressed a public gathering. Later addressing the media, Scindia said the expansion of Jharsuguda Airport requires 180 acre land. In 2019-20, about 2.16 lakh passengers commuted from this airport as against 2.04 lakh in 2020-21 during the Covid restriction phase, he added. “We have to do a lot for Odisha and both the State and Union government will work in coordination,” Scindia said. With the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide air connectivity to every common citizen, Jharsuguda has become a prominent part of the Indian map which once was erased from the picture after the World War II. There are many such stories of Jharsuguda, he added. During the programme, he released a report on ‘The Socio-Economic Impact of RCSUDAN Scheme: Phase I’ prepared by the Indian School of Business. A new logo of Udan Scheme was also unveiled. Scindia also virtually inaugurated a new GuwahatiShillong-Dimapur flight under the RCS scheme which started from Meghalaya airport. An agreement was signed with Make My Trip too. He flagged-off a short joy flight for 26 orphans including four physically challenged and 20 senior citizens. Later the minister visited J h a d e sw a r t e m p l e i n Jharsuguda. Odisha State Commerce Minister Padmanabh Behera, AAI Chairman Sanjeev Kumar, Joint Secretary of Civil Aviation Usha Padhee besides Odisha Commcer and Transport Secretary Madhu Sudhan Padhi were present. Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia meets a girl orphaned by Covid-19 during the Udan Utsav at Veer Surendra Sai airport in Jharsuguda on Monday I Express HC seeks SEC response on rural poll reservation plea Vaxxing E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Cuttack The Orissa High Court on Monday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to file a response to a petition challenging reservation guidelines notified for the upcoming panchayat elections. The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice AK Mohapatra sought the SEC affidavit by December 20, the date fixed for considering the maintainability of the petition filed by one Birendra Das. Panchayat polls in the State are due as tenure of gram panchayats, panchayat samitis and zilla parishads ends on March 10, 2022. Das has challenged Odisha Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department’s order issued on October 1, notifying the guidelines of reservation to the offices of PRI - members of zilla parishads, panchayat samitis and sarpanch. Advocate Sukanta Kumar Dalai, who argued on behalf of the petitioner, submitted that in terms of the proposed time schedule only the preparation of the electoral rolls is underway. Since the election schedule is yet to be announced there should be no constitutional bar on entertaining the petition, he submitted. The petitioner contended that reservation of seats for the SC and ST categories should be done according to their Statewide population and not on the basis of population in wards, panchayats and districts. While implementing rotation of seats for reservation, the 1997 election should be taken into consideration instead of limiting it to the 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 panchayat elections, the petitioner stated. However, the Bench declined to pass any interim order till the maintainability of the petition is decided. kids may help prevent new virus strains LOUISVILLE: Each infection — whether in an adult in Yemen or a kid in Kentucky — gives the virus another opportunity to mutate. Protecting a new, large chunk of the population anywhere in the world limits those opportunities. Vaccinating kids also means reducing silent spread, since most have no or mild symptoms when they contract the virus | P12