saturDAY 30 january, 2021 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard twitter.com/TheMornStandard Economic Survey poor service in pvt hospitals Suggests to set up agencies to assess the quality of doctors and hospitals Page 7 president defends new farm laws A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 l New Delhi: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday defended the contentious farm laws in his address to Parliament and described the recent Republic Day violence as unfortunate. With the laws put in abeyance on the Supreme Court’s orders, Kovind said the government will abide by the verdict of the highest court of the nation. While he addressed a range of issues, including the tension on the China border, the biggest focus of his speech was on the agriculture sector | P7 PAGES 12 Classes IX and XI, colleges to resume on Feb 5 in Delhi I can’t believe local people could have turned against farmers. Miscreants may have been brought by vested interests to foment trouble —Amarinder Singh Demand to withdraw FIRs against journos With UP and MP Police filing FIRs against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and six journalists including Rajdeep Sardesai for misleading tweets over the Republic Day violence, media bodies, including the Editor’s Guild, demanded their withdrawal, saying it was an attempt to intimidate the media. Express News Service @ New Delhi parents were unsure about sending their children. Close Delhi schools will reopen for to 80 per cent of those stuClasses IX and XI from Febru- dents who were called are ary 5. Other educational insti- coming to the schools,” said tutions like colleges, degree Sisodia. and diploma institutes includThe Directorate of Educaing polytechnics will also tion (DOE) has issued examiopen on the same day, follow- nation instructions for Classing strict Covid-19 protocols. es IX and XI. For XI, practicals, The announcement projects and internal was made by Delhi’s assessments will be Deputy Chief Minisconducted in the ter Manish Sisodia on schools from March 1. Friday . Mid-term examinaSisodia, who is also tions may be conductthe education minised between March 20 ter, said the decision and April 15. was taken following “Assessment of indemand from stuternal grades should dents, parents and also be done prior to It won’t be school representatives the commencement possible to for counselling and compensate for of annual examinaguidance for exams the learning loss tions. Question papers and preparation for for annual examinadue to the pandemic, but practicals. tions will be set up Sisodia directed of- it’s important to covering a reduced ficials to ensure safety utilise remaining syllabus which is uptime this of the students and loaded on DOE’s webacademic year proper sanitisation of site,” said a Delhi govthe school premises. ernment statement. Manish Sisodia, “The decision to reo- Education Minister For Class IX, schools pen schools was taken may conduct periodic so that students can attend assessments in the fourth classes with parental consent week of February and third and gradually get involved in week of March to ensure that the learning process. It won’t Covid-19 guidelines are mainbe possible to compensate for tained. Projects and assignthe learning loss due to the ments given to students as pandemic, but it’s important holiday homework or home to utilise the remaining time assignments during winter this academic year. Schools vacations will be considered were reopened for Class X and a s S u b j e c t E n r i c h m e n t XII from January 18. Initially Activities. , Mob violence at Singhu, 43 held Provocative slogans raised against protesters; farmers flocking back to Delhi borders; Shah trip to West Bengal off E x p r e ss N e ws Se r v i c e @ New Delhi A day after the police tried to evict farmers from Ghazipur, action on Friday shifted to the Singhu border — the nerve centre of the ongoing protests against the three farm laws — where a group of ‘locals’ clashed with agitators demanding that they vacate it. The Delhi Police and security personnel resorted to lathicharge and launched tear gas shells to control the situation as both sides resorted to stoning and the mob allegedly snatched batons from security forces to attack the protestors. With the situation still evolv- E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi Security officials cordon off the blast site near Israel Embassy | Parveen Negi A very low intensity improvised device went off at 5.05 pm near5 APJ Abdul kalam Road. No injury to any person is there and nor any damage to property... Initial impressions suggest a mischievous attempt to create a sensation —Delhi Police statement the blast was being investigated as an attempted ‘security attack’, Delhi Police called it a ‘mischievous’ attempt to create a sensation. Delhi Police Special will register an FIR.Multiple agencies including Special Cell, district police and intellegence agencyies have started investigatiions, said a senior official. Phone call details of the last 36 hours near Israel embassy are being investigated, sources said. Initial investigation by Delhi Police revealed that an improvised explosive device (IED) bomb was planted in a fl owe r p ot ke p t at t h e divider. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was briefed about the blast while he was attending the Beating Retreat ceremony officials said, adding that , India is taking the explosion “very seriously”. Shah spoke to the Delhi Police Commissioner and Intelligence Bureau officials and sought details of blast from them. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar spoke to his Israeli counter par t Gabi P8 Ashkenazi.  ing, Union home minister Amit Shah cancelled his proposed weekend trip to West Bengal. The clashes began after more than 100 locals reached the site with placards and the Tricolour around 1.15 pm and shouted slogans like “Jai Shri Ram, Goli Maaro Salon Ko; Desh Ke Ghaddaron, Khalisthan Khali Karo.” They allegedly damaged tents and other paraphernalia of farmers, which led to retaliation. In the melee, Delhi Police SHO (Alipur) Pradeep Paliwal was injured as a man allegedly attacked him with a sword. “These people carrying national flags came with stones and lathis and asked us (farmers) to vacate the highway Af. ter heated exchange of words, they attacked our tents, pelted us with stones and hit us with lathis,” said Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general secretary of BKU (Lakhowal). The police arrested 43 people in connection with the day’s clashes, including farmer Ranjeet Singh (22) for attacking the SHO. A common FIR charging them with attempt to murder, damaging public property, attacking public servant on duty , etc., has been registered. “We don’t need lecture on respecting national flag from these people. Majority of farm- J aya nta R o y C h o w d h u r y @ New Delhi India is likely to grow by 11% in the next financial year (FY22), the annual Economic Survey tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on Friday said, predicting a V-shaped recovery from the sharp 7.7% economic contraction in this pandemichit year. “With the economy’s returning to normalcy brought closer by the initiation of a mega vaccination drive, hopes of a robust recovery in services sector, consumption, and investment have been rekindled,” said the Survey. However, it cautioned it would take at least two years to get back to the prepandemic levels. The Survey, an annual exercise in economic stocktaking Krishnamurthy Subramanian and future policy prescriptions, drew lessons from the pandemic to strongly recommend raising healthcare spending from 1% to 2.5-3% of GDP . It indicated that the government would overshoot its fiscal deficit target by a wide mark and may look at increased spending and stimulus measures in the year ahead to push growth. Former member of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council and Chief Economist with Brickwork ratings Dr M Govin- key takeaways Rising from down under IT boom continues GDP to replicate V-shaped performance Norms relaxation enable IT-BPM of Indian cricket team in Australia to companies to ‘Work from Home’ scale historic heights after a poor start to post growth Bollywood’s Bare Necessity link Tinsel town’s rhetoric on ‘Roti, Kapda Aur Makan’ (Food, clothing and housing) mirrors socio-economic issues of country Saved 1 lakh lives Strong lockdown measures helped restrict cases by 37 lakh, save 1 lakh lives More teeth to redress system Current ombudsman set up is only advisory in nature, rendering it ineffective Eyeing India’s ‘cleanest city’ tag for a fifth consecutive year, Madhya Pradesh’s biggest city Indore is in the eye of a storm. A series of viral videos showed an Indore Municipal Corporation team abandoning 8-10 aged destitute persons on the city’s outskirts. After an outcry and opposition from local residents, in Kshipra showed the IMC team abandoning the destitute near the highway in biting cold and throwing their belongings on the roadside. Joshi is heard in the video saying how the IMC team brought the homeless elderly persons on a truck and dumped them. A subsequent video showed the IMC team bringing them back on the same truck. “It happened between 2 and 2.30 pm. An IMC truck carrying around 8-10 came here. The staff on the truck forcibly got them down on the roadside. When I asked why they were doing this, they said they had been directed by authorities to leave them here because they were creating filth in Indore. da Rao said: “Relaxation in fiscal deficit targets may be necessary, and the government may have to revise the target upwards for the current year in view of the need to augment capital expenditures.” While analysts at Barclays say the fiscal deficit has widened to 7.7% of GDP, Darren Aw, Asia Economist at Capital Economics, calculated it at 8%. This is against a target of 3.5% set in this year’s Budget. Chief Economic Advisor Dr K Subramanian said: “Reforms must go on to enable India to realise its potential growth and erase the adverse impact of the pandemic.” Analysts predict a spate of state-run enterprise privatisations and asset sales in the budget to help fund infrastructure spending the government is likely to have planned. P10 Women empowerment Power point India’s transmission & distribution losses are over 20 per cent of generation, twice the world average Dumping of destitute blotch on Indore’s cleanest city drive they were brought back. Taking cognizance of the episode, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ordered the suspension of Indore’s deputy municipal commissioner Pratap Solanki. Services of two contractual workers involved in the incident were terminated. Threeo videos shot by a local ers who are sitting here have their children fighting in the border for the country,” said Yudhvir Singh, farmer leader. At Ghazipur on UP-Delhi border, the crowd swelled in the morning following an emotional appeal by Rakesh Tikait, national spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union. Farmers in batches, small business owners, and activists visited the site in droves. The camps of protestors now span a distance of 6 km on the Delhi-Meerut Expressway Similarly farmers . , in large numbers on their tractors from Punjab and Haryana are moving back towards Singhu and Tikri borders. Earlier in the day a mahapan, chayat of farmers in Muzaffarnagar decided to throw weight behind the BKU. The GIC ground near Mahaveer Chowk, where the meeting took place, was jam-packed. The mahapanchayat was called by BKU national president Naresh Tikait after Ghazipur developments. Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh has already announced his support to the BKU and his son Jayant Chaudhary met Tikait at Ghazipur. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police sent notices through WhatsApp to nine farmer leaders to join the iprobe in connection with the violence at Red Fort.  P4&7 Survey sees V-rebound, growth @ 11% CAU G H T IN T H E AC T E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhopal The protesting farmers will observe ‘Sadbhavna Diwas’ on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary on January 30 and hold day-long fast. Civil society members like Aruna Roy, Harsh Mander and Prashant Bhushan called for repealing the farm laws and withdrawing all cases filed under UAPA against farmers. Police personnel pin down a farmer who allegedly attacked Alipur SHO Pradeep Paliwal during clashes at the Singhu border in Delhi on Friday; (top) a man hurls a stone at protesters as policemen look on | PTI high alert after blast outside israel embassy A low-intensity blast occurred on the high-security and posh Abdul Kalam Road near Israel Embassy in the national capital on Friday evening at a time when the annual Beating Retreat ceremony was underway at Vijay Chowk near Rashtrapati Bhavan, sending security officials in a tizzy . President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the three Service Chiefs were attending the ceremony just a few km away from the blast site. While no injury or casualty was reported, three cars parked nearby on the opposite side of the carriageway suffered minor damages. Ball bearing, broken pieces of cans, a letter with an envelope marked ‘To Israel Embassy Ambassador’ was later found by the forensic team from the spot. The entire area was cordoned off and officers are investigating the CCTV footages installed in and around the locality . Friday happened to mark the 29th anniversary of India and Israel establishing full diplomatic relations back in 1992. While the officials in the security establishment said Farmers to observe day-long fast today The truck was leaving without these people, but we forced them to take them back,” said Joshi, a roadside shop owner. Congress state spokesperson Narendra Saluja tweeted the videos. “In the name of keeping the city clean, they wanted to leave them in the open in this cold. They are acting in line with the BJP’s new ideology of abandoning its veterans .” Promote non-discriminatory practices like pay and career progression to increase female participation rate Agriculture as modern biz Bats for urgent reforms to transform farming into modern business enterprise Upskilling children Vocational courses for skill development of students from classes 9 to 12 Online education a great leveler Online schooling can reduce inequalities in educational outcomes if well-utilised Focus on R&D, Jugaad can take you only so far B i s m a h M a l i k @ Bengaluru The Indian industry’s growth under trying circumstances has often been attributed to the spirit of jugaad (makeshift solutions). The Economic Survey for the first time war ned against its limitations, saying mere-reliance on Jugaad innovation by the private sector instead of adequate spending on Research and Development (R&D) could result in India missing crucial opportunities. On the brighter side, India improved its ranking on the Global Innovation Index (GII), and is now at the 48th position. When it came to competing with the top 10 global economies, India lags behind on the basis of the seven pillars of GII, including knowledge and technology outputs (KTO-27th rank), market sophistication (31st), business sophistication (55th), human capital and research (HCR-60th), institutions (61st), creative output (64th) and infrastructure (75th). “India must significantly ramp up investment in R&D if it is to achieve its aspiration to emerge as the third largest economy the Survey said. ,” Take the joke Kunal Kamra defends tweets in SC Facing contempt charges, stand-up comedian says constitutional offices know no protection from jokes | P8 Express read EAM talks expansion of ties with US Secy of State New Delhi: In their first telephonic conversation, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday resolved to “consolidate and expand” the India-US strategic partnership and reaffirmed commitment to peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. In a tweet, Jaishankar said it was agreed to build on the “solid foundation” of bilateral ties.