TUESDAY 16 FEBRUARY, 2021 epaper.morningstandard.in BIG WPI JUMP EXPECTED facebook.com/TheMorningStandard twitter.com/TheMornStandard IN THE NEWS T O D AY INDIA More vax in pipeline Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said over a dozen vaccine candidates against the coronavirus disease are in the pipeline and in different stages of the clinical trials. “About 18-20 vaccine candidates against Covid-19 are in the pipeline and are in preclinical, clinical and advanced stages,” said the minister. Vardhan also reiterated that the shots which are in the public domain are safe and effective. He also said that 80-85% of frontline workers in several states have taken jabs against Covid-19. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI BCCI Bail for Nodeep Labour rights activist Nodeep Kaur was granted bail on Monday in a second case registered against her, said her counsel. She activist will, however, have to remain in Karnal jail as her bail plea in yet another case, registered on January 12, was rejected earlier by a sessions court. Kaur is facing three cases that include charges of extortion. The Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan member was arrested on January 12 for allegedly gheraoing an industrial unit and demanding money from the company in Sonipat P4 INTERNATIONAL Myanmar turmoil Security forces in Myanmar pointed guns toward anti-coup protesters and attacked them with sticks on Monday to quell demonstrations calling for the military junta that seized power. Over 1,000 protesters rallied in front of the Myanmar Economic Bank in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, when at least 10 trucks full of soldiers and police arrived and immediately started firing slingshots toward the protesters, according to a photographer present at the site. Police were also seen pointing guns toward the protesters. P9 Female head at WTO Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed Monday as the first female and first African head of the beleaguered World Trade Organization, saying a stronger WTO would be vital for the global coronavirus recovery. The WTO called a virtual special general council meeting at which member states officially selected the former Nigerian finance minister as its new directorgeneral.“A strong WTO is vital if we are to recover fully and rapidly from the devastation wrought by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the 66-year-old economist said. P9 J8.00  PAGES 12 WHOLESALE PRICE INDEX FOR JAN TOUCHES 2.03% Rise in demand for manufactured items since economic activities resumed in September pushing prices up MANUFACTURED ITEMS INFLATION AT 5.13% Inflation in manufactured items, accounting for 65% weight in WPI, stood at 5.13%. This grouping comprises 22 bands, of which 18 like furniture, motor vehicles, machinery saw prices rising. Trices of food items dropped in Jan at (-) 2.8% while prices of non-food articles rose by 4.16% Toolkit heat on two more activists Cops claim Nikita, Disha edited doc made by Shantanu; were in touch with Khalistani outfit G AYAT H R I M A N I & S U D H I R S U R YA W A N S H I @ New Delhi/Mumbai Relief for SSR’s kin The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to quash the FIR lodged against late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s sister Priyanka Singh for allegedly forging and fabricating a medical prescription for her brother. It, however, quashed the FIR against Sushant’s other sister Meetu Singh. The FIR against the duo was lodged by Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. The judges said the CBI, which is already probing Rajput’s death, said the central agency will also look into the FIR against Priyanka Singh.  Fuel and power index contracted 4.78% in January. A deeper disinflation in primary food articles helped cushion the impact of rise in core inflation, but headline WPI inflation would hover around 5% to 5.5% in FY2021, warn analysts ALL-ROUND APPLAUSE FOR ASHWIN BAD START On a pitch that came under criticism after England were bowled out for 134 in the first innings, India wanted to make a statement by batting long enough on Day 3. However, they ended up losing five wickets inside the first session KOHLI-TY KNOCK With Jack Leach and Moeen Ali finding enough purchase off the pitch, batting was by no means easy. Batsmen found it hard to negotiate the turn and bounce. But Virat Kohli displayed quality by playing late and stretching forward in order to defend ASHWIN’S DAY OUT The moment he walked in to bat, Ashwin meant business. He swept the spinners, used his feet against them and scored briskly. After scoring fifty, he quietly went about building the innings in the company of the tail. He scored 106 off 148 balls S TA R I N G AT T H E I N E V I TA B L E England need a miracle in the remaining two days to get something out of the contest. Chasing 482 for victory, the visitors were reeling at 53/3 in the second innings, needing 429 more runs for an improbable win | P11 EVEN as the arrest of Bengaluru student-activist Disha Ravi in connection with Greta Thunberg toolkit case has sparked an outrage, Delhi Police are searching for two other persons, Mumbai-based lawyer Nikita Jacob and environment activist Shantanu Muluk, against whom non-bailable warrants have been obtained. The two moved Bombay High Court for transit anticipatory bail on Monday, a day after a Delhi court remanded Disha in five-day police custody . Along with Disha, Jacob and Muluk, who is based in Delhi but hails from Beed in Maharashtra, have been identified by the Delhi Police as creators of the toolkit document titled ‘Global Farmer Strike’ and ‘Global Day of Action, 26 January . According to the police, both Jacob and Muluk are absconding. However, in her plea filed in the Bombay High Court, Jacob expressed apprehension that she may be arrested “due to political vendetta and a media trial” and sought transit anticipatory bail for four weeks. She also sought interim protection from any coercive steps by the police. Muluk filed a plea seeking similar relief in the Auranga- bad bench of the Bombay High Court. According to Delhi’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Cyber Cell) Prem Nath, initial investigation revealed that Muluk’s e-mail account was the owner of the toolkit that was uploaded and later deleted by Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, while the others were its editors. All three — Disha, Muluk and Jacob — have been booked under IPC sections for sedition, creating disharmony and illwill against the Government of India. Briefing the media, the JCP said a Canada-based woman named Puneet connects all the accused with “pro-Khalistan” Poetic Justice Foundation’ (PJF) co-founded by Mo Dhaliwal, a Canadian-born Sikh and a known Khalistan supporter. The police said that on January 11, Jacob and Mulak attended a Zoom meeting organised by PJF in which the modalities of the protests were worked out. About 60-70 people had attended that meeting. Based on the course of action decided during the virtual meeting, the toolkit document was drafted. Police said Disha deleted a Whatsapp group which she had created to spread the toolkit and sent the document to Thunberg via P4&7 Telegram app. STORM OVER FARMER STIR Nov 27: Farmer protests begin at Singhu, Ghazipur, Tikri borders Dec: Delhi Police’s Cyber Cell starts monitoring social media Jan: Police identify about 300 social media accounts including pro-Khalistan outfits Feb 3: Greta Thunberg uploads Toolkit document created for personal use by PJF; deletes later Feb 4: Delhi Police’s Cyber Prevention Awareness Detection team finds toolkit document; preliminary probe reveals it’s created by pro-Khalistani group WHAT THE TOOLKIT SAID One part mentions ‘action point, prior action’. Tweets increase from Jan 23. ‘Digital strikes, physical action, entering Delhi for Kisan Rally’ mentioned Second part mentions disruptions at India’s cultural heritage sites and targeting Indian embassies abroad. Programme in toolkit mentions execution of Red Fort violence ROLE OF UNDER-SCANNER GREEN ACTIVISTS IN TOOLKIT CREATION As per Cyber Cell DCP Anyesh Roy, the toolkit is a dynamic document. It has certain hyperlinks that are linked to various Google drive, Google docs and websites. One of such websites is AskIndiaWhy.com which has a lot of Pro-Khalistan content Feb 9: Police obtain search warrant to conduct raid at Jacob’s Mumbai residence Feb 11: Police confiscate Jacob’s laptop, phone; asks her to remain at home next morning Feb 12: Police visits Muluk and Jacob’s residences; both absconding Feb 13: Delhi Police arrests Disha Ravi Feb 15: Jacob, Muluk seeks anticipatory bail The toolkit was a private document to be shared among limited number of people, who were then supposed to influence public opinion. Its link was accidentally shared on twitter by Greta Thunberg HOW THE CONSPIRACY PLAYED OUT On Jan 11, modalities of garnering global support for agitation discussed during a Zoom meeting organised by PJF attended by 60-70 people A Canada based woman named Puneet connected Jacob, Muluk and Disha to proKhalistan group Poetic Justice Foundation Muluk’s e-mail ID was used for creating the farmers’ protest toolkit based on the course of action decided at Zoom meet Disha sent toolkit to Greta via Telegram, who accidentally made it public. Disha asked her to delete Privacy important than money: SC SC gives five days to Kerala journalist for meeting ailing mom EXPRESS NEWS S ERVI CE @ New Delhi WhatsApp denies separate rules for India E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday granted interim bail to Kerala journalist Siddique Kappan to meet his ailing 90-year-old mother. Kappan, who was arrested in October last year, was granted a five-day interim bail after four months in custody . A bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde noted that Kappan’s mother is said to be in a critical situation.The court imposed several bail conditions on him after Solicitor General Tushar Meha expressed concerns that Kappan may use the time to garner public support. Kappan should visit Kerala only to see his mother and he shall not give any interview to any media including social media, the top court said. It also ordered the Kerala journalist not to meet any members of the public, except for his relatives and doctors. He will be escorted by officTOUGH RULES ers of the Uttar Pradesh Police to and FOR RELIEF from his mother’s house. The top court said During the hearing, Mehta had exthe police may guard pressed his reluctance of granting bail to the house from Kappan. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal apoutside, but shall pearing for the petitioner, Kerala Union not go inside the of Working Journalists (KUWJ), asserted house, when Kappan that Kappan’s mother did not have much visits his mother. It time left and could pass away soon. barred him from Kappan was arrested on October 5 last meeting the public year while he was on his way to Hathras to report on the alleged gang rape and death of a Dalit woman. The FIR against Kappan, charges him with sedition, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, and deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) under the IPC, along with provisions of the UAPA and the Information Technology Act. On behalf of the petitioner, senior advocate Shyam Divan pointed out that WhatsApp was differentiating between Indian and European users in terms of privacy standards. But, WhatsApp denied differential treatment in its new privacy policy. WHATSAPP may be a $2-3 trillion company but people value their privacy more than money , the Supreme Court said, issuing notices to the US-based instant messaging firm's reply on a fresh plea challenging its new policy to share users' data with parent company Facebook. The new privacy policy was originally scheduled to come into effect on February 8 but it was delayed by three months after users expressed concern about their privacy The policy . asks WhatsApp users to agree to its new data-sharing norms, a key point of which is sharing data from business conversations with Facebook. On Monday, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India S A Bobde noted that people's privacy must be protected in view of the allegation that their data was being shared with other companies. It asked the respondents to respond in four weeks. Indian citizens have grave apprehensions regarding the privacy concerns posed by the new privacy policy introduced by WhatsApp, it said. "You (Facebook and WhatsApp) may be a $2-3 trillion company but people value their privacy more than money ." The petitioners demanded that WhatsApp should not apply lower privacy standards for Indians and that it should be on the lines of what is followed in Europe. UP TO GIVE COACHING FOR ALL-INDIA EXAMS NAMI TA BAJ PAI @ Lucknow SEA OF COLOURS Tents are lined up at Sangam area on the eve of the Basant Panchami festival during the ongoing Magh Mela in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj on Monday | PTI U T TA R P r a d e s h h a s launched a free coaching scheme for young candidates aspiring for competitive exams. CM Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the Abhyudaya scheme on Monday . Interacting with the aspirants, around 5 lakh of whom have already registered for the facility on the portal, the CM said the scheme would help those who are unable to get access to good study material for exams conducted by government wings. “We will ensure holistic development by providing coaching facilities similar to the ones available in Rajasthan’s Kota and UP’s Prayagraj to the interested candidates in other parts of the state,” said the CM. He called the scheme as ‘path pradarshak (guiding light)’ for the candidates. “We decided to introduce such a facility when we came across around 30,000 such aspirants stuck in Kota and Prayagraj due to Covid.” Under Abhyudaya, free-ofcost coaching centres will be provided across 75 districts and 18 divisions. Initially, the coaching centres would operate at divisional headquarters. Later, they would be organized at districts. DO-GOODER Former IPS officer safeguards schooling in Jharkhand tribal belt M U K E S H R A N J A N @ Ranchi ARUN Oraon quit the Indian Police Service with a desire serve the people of his home state Jharkhand as an elected representative. While his wish to get elected to the state legislature still remains unfulfilled, it has not stopped him from serving the people. The former Punjab cadre IPS officer, who took voluntary retirement in 2014, was disturbed by the poor educa- Arun Oraon (in blue shirt) with his volunteers and students at a school in Ranchi tion standards in government schools and started teaching children at his home. On the request of a student from a nearby village, Oraon started an evening school at Uchari village on the outskirts of Ranchi. Now, a total of 27 such evening schools are being run successfully under the guidance of Oroan in the villages of Ranchi, Gumla and Lohardaga at their respective community centres. More than 2,000 stu- dents are taught by over 200 volunteers, including some retired teachers, without any fee being charged from them. Classes are conducted from 6 to 8.30 in the evening. Local volunteers trained by Oraon not just teach what’s in the syllabus but also impart ‘extra knowledge’ to the students. According to Oroan, children in the rural areas mostly go to gover nment schools where teachers are usually engaged in non-teaching activities and can’t pay desired attention towards their primary duty “How . can one expect these children to become doctors and engineers when they don’t have even basic knowledge of English, science and mathematics?” he asks. This is the reason the poor, tribal children living in the rural areas are not able to compete with those studying in private schools, says Oraon. He hopes his initiative will help give a level-playing to them. BIHAR IS JDU TRYING TO BREAK LJP? Speculation floats after CPI leader and ex-president of JNUSU Kanhaiya Kumar’s meeting with CM Nitish Kumar’s close aide PAGE 8