| Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day's biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying safe. Centre to borrow ₹1.1 lakh crore to compensate States for GST shortfall In an apparent climbdown from its stance that States should undertake market borrowings to bridge the ₹1.1 lakh crore of GST compensation shortfall this year, the Centre on Thursday said the Government of India will undertake the borrowings in tranches and pass it on to States as a 'back-to-back loan' that will reflect on their own books. Asserting that this borrowing to be conducted through a special window won't affect the Centre's fiscal deficit or expand general government debt, the finance ministry said this is being done to ensure that States won't have to pay different interest rates for these borrowings. This will also be an administratively easier arrangement, the ministry pointed out. "Under the Special Window, the estimated shortfall of ₹1.1 lakh cr (assuming all States join) will be borrowed by Government of India in appropriate tranches. The amount so borrowed will be passed on to the States as a back-to-back loan in lieu of GST Compensation Cess releases," the finance ministry said in a statement. "This will not have any impact on the fiscal deficit of the Government of India (GOI). The amounts will be reflected as the capital receipts of the State Governments and as part of financing of its respective fiscal deficits," the ministry explained, adding that this will avoid the prospect of individual States having to pay differential interest rates if they borrowed this corpus as a State development loan. Opposition leaders called it a change of stance from the government. "If the Centre has decided to borrow the ₹1.1 lakh crore and extend it to the states as back-to-loans, I welcome the change of position," former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, said reacting to the development on Twitter. In its original proposal put up at the 41st GST Council meeting in August, the Centre had said the shortfall on account of GST implementation will be borrowed by States through issue of debt under a Special Window coordinated by the finance ministry. Supreme Court likely to ask Allahabad HC to monitor Hathras case The Supreme Court on Thursday indicated it might ask the Allahabad High Court to supervise the CBI investigation into the brutal assault, alleged gang-rape, and subsequent death of a 19-year-old Dalit girl in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh. A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde orally told the petitioners and intervenors who wanted the apex court to directly monitor the probe that "we are sending all of you to Allahabad High Court". The Bench then reserved the case for orders.  Members of Kerala Union of Working Journalists stage a candlelight vigil in New Delhi on October 15, 2020 demanding the release of journalist Siddique Kappan. U.P. Police arrested Mr. Kappan and three others on October 6, 2020 while they were on their way to Hathras. "We are here as appellate, ultimate supervisory body, but let the Allahabad HC do it... We are always here," Chief Justice Bobde orally remarked during the hearing. The State government and the Director General of Police (DGP) left it to the wisdom of the court to decide which court should supervise the probe, saying their only purpose is to see justice in the case. "Do not be concerned... State government has raised no objections. There should not be any shadow of doubt. The CBI took over the case on October 10 and the investigation is on," Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, for the government, submitted. BARC suspends ratings Following the fake Television Rating Points (TRP) scam, the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) on Thursday announced a temporary suspension of weekly ratings of news channels across languages. The council intends to review and augment the current standards of measurement to improve "statistical robustness" and the exercise will result in a "pause" in the weekly ratings for up to 12 weeks, an official statement said. At least five people have been arrested by Mumabi police, which busted the scam earlier this month. While those arrested include news channel employees, the police is also questioning executives of Arnab Goswami-led Republic Media Group with regard to the case. Republic Media Group has denied any wrongdoing.  "In the light of the recent developments, BARC Board has proposed that its technical committee review and augment the current standards of measuring and reporting the data of niche genres, to improve their statistical robustness and to significantly hamper the potential attempts of infiltrating the panel homes," an official statement said. SC asks Arnab Goswami to go to Bombay HC on TRP scam probe The Supreme Court on Thursday asked ARG Outlier Media and journalist Arnab Goswami to have faith in the Bombay High Court rather than come straight to the top court with their plea against the Mumbai police investigation in the Television Rating Point (TRP) scam involving allegations of rigged viewership. "I think your client's office is in Worli. It is not far from Flora Fountain and the Bombay High Court. Why don't you go there under Article 226 [of the Constitution] or under Section 482 [of the Code of Criminal Procedure to quash the FIR]..." Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for ARG and Goswami. Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee, on the Bench, also suggested that the parties should move the High Court. "How do we entertain a petition like this without the High Court going into it first? You go to the High Court. We must have faith in our High Courts. They have been functioning through the pandemic," Justice Chandrachud said. Salve said he would withdraw the case then and "go to Flora Fountain". Crime Branch raids actor Vivek Oberoi's house in Mumbai Central Crime Branch police teams raided Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi's residence in Mumbai after receiving a tip-off that one of the prime accused in the drug case they are probing, Aditya Alva,was hiding there. Aditya, son of the late minister Jeevaraj Alva and Oberoi's brother-in-law, has been absconding ever since he was accused of being a part of a drug racket involving Kannada film stars, dealers and party organisers. "Acting on information that Aditya was hiding in his brother-in-law's house in Mumbai, the CCB obtained a search warrant from the court. The search is still on," said Joint Commissioner (Crime) Sandeep Patil. The CCB is expected to question Oberoi and his family members on Aditya's whereabouts, said sources. Air quality in national capital turns 'very poor' The air quality of Delhi, Gurugram, and Noida — which are part of the NCR (National Capital Region) — worsened to the 'very poor' category on Thursday morning, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data. The Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi was 318 at 10 a.m. and the values for Gurugram and Noida were 302 and 315 respectively. An AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 and 100 'satisfactory', 101 and 200 'moderate', 201 and 300 'poor', 301 and 400 'very poor', and 401 and 500 'severe'. The AQI of all three cities was in the 'poor' category, as per CPCB's 4 p.m. bulletin on Wednesday, which is an average of the past 24 hours. Also, a ban on diesel generators, except for emergency purposes, came into force in Delhi and neighbouring cities from Thursday as part of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) measures to control air pollution. India's first Oscar winner Bhanu Athaiya passes away in Mumbai Costume designer Bhanu Athaiya, India's first Oscar winner, died at her home on Thursday after prolonged illness, her daughter said. She was 91. Athaiya, who won an Oscar for her work in the epic 1983 film Gandhi, passed away peacefully in her sleep, her daughter Radhika Gupta said. The Kolhapur-born Athaiya began her career as a costume designer in Hindi cinema with Guru Dutt's 1956 superhit C.I.D. She went on to work in over 100 films.  Bhanu Athaiya. File Photo. She won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi, with Ben Kingsley as the Mahatma. In 2012, Athaiya returned her Oscar to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for safe-keeping. The veteran, who defined the aesthetics of Hindi cinema through her prolific work, created some of Bollywood's best remembered looks, including Vyjayantihmala in Aamrapaali, Waheeda Rehman in Guide, and Zeenat Aman in Satyam Shivam Sundaram. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 73,61,097 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,12,137. World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan on Thursday said that young and healthy people may have to wait till 2022 to get the vaccine against the coronavirus. "Most people agree, it's starting with health care workers and front-line workers, but even there, you need to define which of them are at highest risk, and then the elderly, and so on," Swaminathan said. "There will be a lot of guidance coming out, but I think an average person, a healthy young person, might have to wait until 2022 to get a vaccine," she added. In Brief: 'Mahakavi' Akkitham Achuthan Namboothiri, who brought last year's Jnanpith Award to Malayalam literature, died at a private hospital in Thrissur on Thursday morning. He was 94. The last Malayalam poet to be called 'Mahakavi' (great poet), Akkitham had been in hospital for the past two days. Former Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress leader Meira Kumar has claimed that her Facebook page has been blocked right in the middle of the Bihar assembly elections. The Congress has once again questioned the neutrality of the social media giant, with party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala tweeting, "We witnessed as to how #Facebook India leadership was compromised by Modi Govt as subservient to its agenda. Now blocking the account of Former Speaker & a leading light of @INCIndia proves that petty tactics are being used to stifle the voice of Opposition leaders." Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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