| 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. Farmers front rejects government's talks offer yet again, seeks 'concrete proposal' Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a joint front of farmer unions, on Wednesday rejected the Union government's recent offer to resume talks. Its leaders asserted that they were seeking the withdrawal of the three farm laws, and not amendments to them. At a press conference at the Singhu border, Swaraj India national president Yogendra Yadav stressed that farmers were ready for talks, but were waiting for a "concrete proposal" from the government and not a repetition of the already rejected proposals. He was reading out from a letter to the Agriculture Ministry by the Morcha in response to the government's talks offer. Yadav said the government was treating farmers like political opponents and not citizens of this country with genuine concerns. "The government should invite the farmers for talks with an open mind, a big heart and honest intentions," he added. Bharatiya Kisan Union general secretary Yudhveer Singh said the government was taking the "protests lightly" and "playing with fire". Farmers represented around 60% population of the country and the government must listen to them. All-India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah said farmers had come all the way to Delhi to talk and get a solution for their concerns. India loses Cairn Energy arbitration case British explorer Cairn Energy Plc has won an arbitration case against the Indian government, seeking ₹10,247 crore in retrospective taxes, sources said Wednesday. This is the second blow to the government in three months. An international arbitration tribunal had in September ruled against India levying retrospective taxes on the Vodafone Group. In the Cairn Energy case, an international arbitration tribunal ruled that the tax claim was not a valid demand and asked the government to repay the funds withheld, along with interest, to Cairn. India had seized dividend, tax refund, and shares to partly recover the dues. The judges unanimously ruled that India's retrospective tax demand breached the U.K.-India bilateral investment protection treaty, Cairn said in a statement on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that Cairn Energy surged as much as 45% in early London trading, its biggest intraday gain in almost 17 years. Upset over idea of Jaitley statue, Bedi quits DDCA, wants his name removed from stands Lambasting the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for deciding to install a statue of its late former President Arun Jaitley at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground, spin legend Bishan Singh Bedi has asked the body to remove his name from the spectators' stand, named after him in 2017. Lashing out at the DDCA's culture, which he alleged promotes nepotism and puts "administrators ahead of cricketers," Bedi also renounced his membership of the body. He made the demand in a scathing letter addressed to DDCA President Rohan Jaitley, the son of the late politician.  Former left-arm spinner, Bishan Singh Bedi. File "I pride myself as a man of immense tolerance and patience...but all that I'm afraid, is running out. DDCA has truly tested me and forced me to take this drastic action. "So, Mr President I request you to remove my name from the stand named after me with immediate effect. Also, I hereby renounce my DDCA membership," Bedi wrote in his letter. Arun Jaitley was DDCA president for 14 years, from 1999 to 2013, before quitting cricket administration. The body plans to have a six-foot statue of him installed at the Kotla to honour his memory. DDCA had named one of the stands after Bedi in November 2017. Putting his decision in context, Bedi wrote that he was never a fan of Arun Jaitley's working style and always opposed any decision that he did not agree with. "My reservations about the choice of people he had hand-picked to run the day to day affairs of DDCA are well known. I remember walking out from a meeting at his residence whence he was unable to throw out a rowdy element using terribly foul language." "I think I was too head strong..too Old school..& too proud an Indian cricketer to be co-opted into the corrupt darbar of sycophants Arun Jaitley mustered at the Kotla during his stewardship," his letter read. Bedi said it pained him that even the current leadership followed the culture of "fawning obeisance". J&K DDC polls: Gupkar alliance increases tally to 110, BJP to 75 The Gupkar Alliance, a grouping of six parties, increased its tally to 110 seats out of a total of 280 seats in Jammu and Kashmir's District Development Council (DDC) polls, and the BJP bagged 75 seats, according to the results announced for 277 seats so far. The BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 75 seats, followed by National Conference (67), People's Democratic Party (27), and Congress (26). The maiden DDC polls were conducted in 280 seats, with each district divided into 14 constituencies. A significant number of independents (49) also managed to register their wins. In many of the districts, the independents are likely to play a key role in determining who becomes the district chairperson. J&K has 20 districts and it remains to be seen which party secures the maximum number of chairperson posts.  Counting of votes for the recently concluded District Development Council elections in progress at a centre, in Jammu on December 22, 2020. According to the trends, the Gupkar alliance and the Congress are likely to have their chairmen in around 13 districts, while the BJP is confident of winning five to six. "It's amusing to see the desperation of the BJP propaganda. Yesterday it was about three seats in the Valley and today it's about being the single largest party. They aren't even embarrassed about making comparisons with the National Conference, which contested far fewer seats due to an alliance," National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah tweeted. Father Thomas Kottoor, Sister Sephy sentenced to life A special CBI court on Wednesday sentenced Fr. Thomas M. Kottoor and Sister Sephy to life imprisonment for the murder of 19-year-old novice sister Abhaya, who was found dead in a well at Pious X convent of the Knanaya Catholic order in Kottayam in March 1992. CBI Special Judge K. Sanal Kumar found the priest and nun guilty of murder and destruction of evidence under Sections 302 and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The judge also imposed a second life sentence on Fr. Kottoor for house-trespass to murder under Section 449 of the IPC. The court said both life sentences would run concurrently. The judge also fined the accused ₹5 lakh each.  Sister Abhaya murder case convict Father Thomas Kottoor is escorted out of the CBI court premises in Thiruvananthapuram on December 23, 2020. The court awarded him a double life sentence and a fine of ₹6.5 lakh in the case. The CBI had argued for capital punishment for the suspects. It said the case fell in the rarest of rare category, which warranted forfeiture of life. Fr. Kottoor and Sister Sephy pleaded for clemency. They cited ill-health. Sister Sephy said she had aged parents to support on her meagre stipend as a nun. The case, plagued by legal wrangling, had meandered through various judiciary levels for almost 28 years before reaching the trial stage in August last. The CBI case was that the accused had killed Sister Abhaya after the novitiate found them in objectionable circumstances when she went to collect drinking water from the convent's kitchen on the night of March 27. The accused were startled by Sister Abhaya's unexpected appearance. To prevent their liaison from being known, Sister Stephy bludgeoned her on the side of her head with the blunt side of an axe. The suspects dumped the victim's body in the convent well to make it appear as suicide, the CBI had argued. The counsel for the defence said the accused would appeal the verdict in the High Court. Republic Bharat fined £20,000 by U.K. regulator for hate speech against Pakistani people Republic Bharat, the Hindi news channel arm of Republic TV, was fined £20,000, or around ₹19 lakh, by the United Kingdom's communications regulator, Office of Communications (Ofcom), on Tuesday for broadcasting content that involved "offensive language", "uncontextualised hate speech" and "abusive or derogatory treatment of individuals, groups, religions or communities". The channel has also been asked to air an apology. The fine was levied for the channel's daily current affairs discussion programme 'Poochta Hai Bharat,' presented by Arnab Goswami and telecast on September 6, 2019. Ofcom's order stated that the "programme contained statements which amounted to hate speech against, and was abusive and derogatory about, Pakistani people on the basis of their nationality." It added that "these statements would potentially be harmful and highly offensive to any person who did not share the sentiment being expressed by the presenter and his Indian guests. In Ofcom's view, the potentially harmful and offensive nature of the content was compounded by the political context in which the episode of Poochta Hai Bharat was broadcast." The sanctions have been imposed on Worldview Media Network Limited, which holds the licence for airing Republic Bharat in the UK. The decision on breach of the Ofcom code was taken on February 24 this year and the fine has been laid on Tuesday. PM to interact with farmers from six states on Friday Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Friday interact with farmers from six different states as part of an event to release the next installment of financial benefits under a central scheme. The Prime Minister's Office said today that the event will be held virtually. As per details available, the PM will initiate the transfer of more than ₹18,000 crore to over nine crore beneficiary farmer families. The event is due to start at 12 noon and will be telecast live. The event is being held amid the ongoing farmers' stir against the newly-formulated farm laws. The agitation on the Delhi borders is now nearing a month. "PM Narendra Modi will release the next installment of financial benefit under PM Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) on December 25 via video-conferencing. PM will enable the transfer of more than ₹18,000 crore to more than 9 crores beneficiary farmer families," the PMO said. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,01,20,644 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,46,664. In Brief: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in direct-to-home (DTH) service, extension of the license period from 10 years to 20, and a reduced licence fee. At a press conference, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said, "The Commerce Ministry had already spoken of 100% FDI in the DTH sector, but because of the guidelines issued by the Information and Broadcasting [I&B] Ministry, the FDI was limited to 49%. We have corrected that aberration today." The licence fee had been reduced in keeping with the rates in the telecom sector, he said. The Tamil Nadu government has allowed jallikattu across the State this Pongal season but with fresh restrictions in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to an official release, not more than 300 bull tamers are to be allowed in every jallikattu, manjuvirattu, or vadamadu event. The audience would be allowed into the event area only after undergoing a thermal scanning. Only 50% of the capacity in the audience gallery would be allowed in order to ensure physical distancing norms. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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