FRIDAY Barrack #12 26 IF EXTRADITED, HE WILL BE LODGED IN MUMBAI’S ARTHUR ROAD PRISON FEBRUARY, 2021 epaper.morningstandard.in twitter.com/TheMornStandard PLOT THICKENS DIVIDE STARK IN RAJASTHAN BJP PAGE 8 The fugitive diamantaire will now have to face trial in India in the `14,000-crore PNB scam case BRITISH HOME SECRETARY TO SIGN THE ORDER District Judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, Sam Goozee, will send his findings to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs, Priti Patel, who is authorised to order an extradition under the India-UK Extradition Treaty. She has two months to make that decision. The Home Secretary’s order rarely goes against the court’s conclusions | P7 facebook.com/TheMorningStandard Vasundhare Raje keeps mum even as party leaders fight in open UK court rules Nirav Modi can be extradited to India A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS  NEW DELHI  J8.00  14-DAY WINDOW TO CHALLENGE DECISION Nirav Modi has 14 days to Any appeal, if granted, will approach the High Court be heard at Administrative and seek leave to appeal Division of the High Court after the Home Secretary in London. He is currently makes her decision in the Wandsworth Prison PAGES 12 Guns fall silent on LoC as both sides agree to strictly enforce truce M AYA N K S I N G H @ New Delhi GUNS fell silent on the Line of Control and the International Border India shares with Pakistan on Wednesday-Thursday midnight in a surprising deescalation of tensions after both sides agreed to strictly observe all bilateral ceasefire agreements and protocols. The truce came about two weeks after China announced disengagement of troops in the Pangong lake in Ladakh from stand-off positions and both sides pulled back their troops. In the space of a fortnight, both the volatile China and Pakistan frontiers have become tranquil, indicating hectic back channel diplomacy giv, ing peace an unexpected booster shot in the often troubled neighbourhood. “Both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, Govt tightens grip on social media content New rules call for stricter monitoring, tools to trace sender of objectionable messages THE Centre on Thursday announced sweeping regulations for social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, online streaming or over-thetop (OTT) services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram to protect users’ interest and curb fake news and other harmful content. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter will have to deploy automated tools to remove objectionable content. In the case of a government or court order, they must take down the flagged content within 36 hours. The new rules will require messaging to enable ‘traceability’ so that the sender of harmful messages could be identified. Experts fear this could result in compromising end-to-end encryption. Also, if a social media platform decides on its own to remove a user’s content, it must inform the user in advance and explain the reasons. Digital news media publishers should follow Press Council of India’s norms of journalistic conduct and adhere to the programme code under the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act. This, according to Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, will provide a level-playing field to all media platforms. The new laws, called Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, came into effect from Thursday However, social me. dia platforms will be given an additional window of three months to come under the purview of the new regime. According to the government, the new rules will establish a “soft-touch self-regulatory architecture and a Code of Ethics and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism” for news publishers, OTT platforms and digital media. The grievance redressal mechanism stipulates that publishers must address complaints within 15 days. The self-regulating body will be led by a retired judge or an eminent person and have not more than six members. However, cyber experts are not impressed. “The new rules can be interpreted to target websites/platforms. It may hamper right to free speech and expression,” said lawyer P7 Ankur Raheja. OVER THE TOP  Social media intermediaries to publish a monthly compliance report on complaints received, action taken, and content removed proactively  Social media platforms must remove content depicting nudity, sexual acts or morphed images of women within 24 hours of receipt of complaints  Code of Ethics for OTT platforms, online news and digital media entities R I T W I K A M I T R A @ New Delhi  A grievance officer should be appointed to deal with complaints  OTT platforms to self-classify content into five age-based categories - U (Universal), U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+, and A (Adult)  If a social media platform removes any content on its own, it must explain the reason to the user, who will have the opportunity to contest it  OTT platforms must deploy age verification mechanisms for A-rated content and implement parental locks for U/A 13+ or higher categories understandings and cease firing along the Line of Control and all other sectors with effect from midnight 24/25 February 2021,” both countries stated in a joint statement. Indian Army officials attributed the truce to the realisation on both sides of collateral damage as innocent civilian lives were needlessly lost in the cross-border firing. “One of the aims is to safeguard the lives of innocent civilians as we are bound to retaliate to ceasefire violations,” said a senior Army officer. This agreement will be a big relief for the people living on the border and their cattle. The Union home ministry has built community bunkers in the villages along the LoC to safeguard the lives of civilians caught in the border crossfire. As many as 70 civilians on the Switch in six months for over 2,000 cars According to an order from the AAP government, vehicles used by ministers and senior officials will switch to electric mode in six months. Over 2,000 cars will be impacted by this. All departments will produce monthly action reports. The Transport department is running an awareness campaign EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ New Delhi THE Delhi government and its various departments are going to be the first in the country to completely shift to electric vehicles. Aimed at reducing pollution, the AAP government has issued an order to shift all petrol/diesel run vehicles used by ministers and senior officials to electric vehicles within six months. The city government on Thursday directed its departments, autonomous bodies and other institutions to make a shift to EVs as per the Electric Vehicles Policy 2020. The switch can be through a lease/ I-T ACTION MLA who withdrew support to Khattar & backed farmers raided H A R P R E E T B A J W A @ Chandigarh SLEUTHS of the Income Tax department on Thursday conducted raids at the residences and offices of Independent MLA Balraj Kundu at Rohtak and Gurugram in Haryana. An Independent MLA from Meham in Rohtak and former zila parishad chairman from Rohtak, Kundu has been a vocal opponent of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government in Haryana. Kundu was reportedly running a ‘kisan rasoi’ at the Tikri border for farmers agitating against new farm laws. Sources revealed said that I-T officials conducted raids at Kundu’s residences at Sector 14 in Rohtak and Gurugram and Delhi. Kundhu was at his Gurugram residence when the raids took place, while other members of his family were in Rohtak. The I-T officials took away documents after scrutinising them. Houses of Kundu’s two brothers in Rohtak and of his mother-in-law in Hansi were also raided. A team of nearly 100 officials searched the premises of the Kundus and his relatives, sources said, adding that 20 vehicles of the I-T department arrived at Kundu’s Rohtak residence. During the raid, mobile phones of his family members and staff were confiscated. Largest cricket stadium, shortest game THE grandeur of the Narendra Modi Stadium will dwarf most things. For the last two days, focus has only been on the state of the art facilities. In less than two days the focus has shifted to the heart of the ground — the pitch. A strip with spin and unpredictability produced a match that ended in less than two days giving it the moniker — the shortest Test in post-War era. The wicket around the batsmen looked like a patch of dust where any spinner who could land the ball would get a wicket. No wonder Joe Root got five wickets giving away just eight runs. And the England captain summed it up perfectly after the match, which India won by 10 wickets. “It is a real shame. It is a fantastic stadium and 60,000 people came to watch and I feel for them. They came here to see a James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Virat Kohli and instead they saw me taking wickets.” This was far from an ideal Test pitch. Seventeen wickets fell on Thursday It was a turn. er from the first day and was turning blind on second. And with modern-day batsmen, especially the English, lacking skill to bat on turning wickets, the script is foretold. After the first Test in Chennai, force truce was taken by the Directors General of Military Operations on both sides, who agreed to address each other’s core issues and concer ns, which have the propensity to disturb peace. “India desires normal neigh- NO LET-UP IN TAKING ON TERRORISTS The truce will not stop the Army’s fight against infiltrating terrorists. “The operational posture won’t change and we will follow the policy of zero tolerance to any action from the other side,” an officer said EVS FOR DELHI MINISTERS, TOP BABUS MOTERA MELTDOWN V E N K ATA K R I S H N A B @ Ahmedabad Indian side of the LoC were killed in the cross-border firing between 2018 and 2020 while 341 others were were injured during the same period. However, there won’t be any let up in the deployment of forces. The decision to strictly en- there were talks about India utilising its home advantage. But that they have opted for these kind of surfaces, especially after outplaying Australia there, was a surprise. Barring the 2015 series against South Africa, India have resorted to this kind of surface only once at home — against Australia in Pune 2017. The World Test Championships is designed to bring new fans and to provide context to bilateral series. Also let spectators and players rejoice at the competition between bat and ball. Ironically, this Test failed to do that. In this, it can be argued that it was loaded too much in favour of the ball. Tests are not meant to get over in P11 two days. Another turner for last Test? The teams will be apprehensive heading into the fourth and final Test beginning on March 4. It will be played at the same venue. If conditions do not change dramatically in the next few days, chances of witnessing another lowscoring affair cannot be ruled out. hiring model. Dry lease/wet lease model has been encouraged. “It’s history! Driven by the vision of CM Arvind Kejriwal, the government today became the first in the world, not just India, to mandate its entire hired car fleet to switch to electric within six months,” said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday . He said over 2,000 cars will be impacted by the decision. “We hope the decision inspires governments to tackle pollution with the seriousness and urgency it deserves,” he said. The Transport Department will be the nodal agency to monitor the transition to EVs. All departments have been told to produce monthly action reports on the transition by the 5th of each month before the nodal department. Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot termed the decision unprecedented. The department is running an eight-week awareness campaign to sensitize Delhiites as well as make them aware of the incentives being offered under the EV policy . The first two weeks of the campaign focus on promoting two and three wheeler owners. The third week targets fourwheelers. Driven by the vision of CM Arvind Kejriwal, the government today became the first in the world, not just India, to mandate its entire hired car fleet to switch to electric —MANISH SISODIA, Delhi Deputy CM bourly relations with Pakistan. We have always maintained that we are committed to addressing issues, if any, in a peaceful bilateral manner. On key issues, our position remains unchanged,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said. India has maintained that there can be no dialogue with Pakistan if cross-border terror does not end. With inputs from Pushkar Banakar EXPRESS READ No relief, Pak to remain on FATF ‘grey list’ New Delhi: The Financial Action Task Force retained Pakistan on its ‘grey list’ till June after concluding that Islamabad failed to act on three of the total 27 recommendations. “As all action plan deadlines have expired, the FATF urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan before June 2021,” it said CLASH FIGHT FOR BENGAL NOW ON CULTURE While BJP claims Mamata govt paid no attention to preserve the state’s legacy, TMC takes a dig at BJP for labelling its ‘Jai Bangla’ slogan pro-Bangladesh | P8