| 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. Delhi Police issue notice to 20 more farmer leaders The Delhi Police on Thursday issued notices to 20 more farmer leaders for defying terms and conditions agreed upon for the tractor rally. DCP (Headquarters) Chimoy Biswal confirmed that notices had been sent to farmer leaders who met with the police for the rally. In the letter, the leaders have been asked to explain why legal action should not be taken against them and other members of their organisations. They have been told to file a reply within three days. The letter further said that despite agreeing to the mutually decided terms and conditions for the rally, the farmer leaders acted in an irresponsible manner on January 26. Militant elements occupied the stage and delivered provocative speeches right from the early hours of the day. Meanwhile, the Ghaziabad administration has given an ultimatum to protesting farmers to vacate U.P. Gate by January 28 midnight or face forcible removal, officials said. "Ghaziabad District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey has communicated to the protesters camping at the U.P. Gate at Delhi border to vacate the spot by tonight or the administration will remove them," a district official said. AIKS raises questions on police narrative, hints at conspiracy Reacting to allegations that farmer organisations are responsible the violent turn of events on Republic Day, one of the protesting unions, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) put out a series of tweets raising questions about the government's version of what transpired on the day of the tractor rally. "The turn of events on Republic Day points clearly to the complicity of the BJP Gov. & @DelhiPolice in aiding & abetting the disruptors. The following questions have to be answered: The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee which isn't part of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) was allowed permission behind the stage of SKM & wasn't surrounded by barricades while the SKM mobilisation was heavily barricaded. What is their relationship with the police and the BJP Gov??" asked AIKS. In subsequent tweets, it went on to ask, "Why did police go against the route plan agreed with the SKM leadership and allow an alternative route to the KMSC which was allowed to reach up to the Red Fort? Why did police resort to brutal unprovoked lathi-charge on the [tracgtor] Parade from Palwal at Sikari after it peacefully crossed 15 km while the mutually agreed route was to cover 45 km? Why the police that resorted to brutal lathi-charge on peaceful protestors from Palwal made no effort to stop the group from reaching Red Fort?" And finally, "There have also been many instances of farmers handing over agent provocateurs to the police including on 26 Jan 2021 & the anti-social elements who claimed to have come with the intention to shoot farmers' leaders. What is the police action on them?" 16 Opposition parties to boycott President's joint address to Parliament Leaders of 16 Opposition parties, in a joint statement on Thursday, announced their decision to boycott President Ram Nath Kovind's address to a joint sitting of Parliament on Friday over the Union government's "undemocratic" attitude towards the farmers. The Budget session will get underway on Friday and President Kovind will address the first sitting this year of both Houses. But Opposition leaders have set the tone for a stormy session by announcing their decision to skip the Presidential address over the Centre's refusal to repeal the three farm laws and its handling of the farmer agitation. These leaders also asserted that "an impartial investigation will reveal the Central Government's nefarious role in orchestrating those events". "The Prime Minister and the BJP Government remain arrogant, adamant and undemocratic in their response. Shocked by this insensitivity of the Government, we, the following opposition political parties, reaffirming the collective demand for the repeal of the Anti Farmer Laws and in solidarity with the Indian Farmers, have decided to boycott the President's address to both the Houses of Parliament on Friday, January 29, 2021," read the joint statement, signed by senior Opposition leaders. The signatories include representatives from the Congress, NCP, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, National Conference, DMK, Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPI, and CPI-M. The BSP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, YSR Congress, Biju Janata Dal and AAP have not signed the joint the statement even though some of them had protested against the farm laws during their passage in Parliament last September. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi appealed to Ppposition leaders to desist from their proposed boycott of the President Ram Nath Kovind's joint address. Stopping hate on TV as essential as police lathis, barricades to prevent riots: Supreme Court The Supreme Court on Thursday said stopping hate on television was as essential for law and order as arming policemen with lathis and putting up barricades to prevent the spread of violence and riots. "Control over certain kind of news which agitate people to violence and riots is a law and order problem. Preventing it is as powerful as putting up barricades. Preventing instigation is as important as providing lathis to policemen," Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde, heading a three-judge Bench, addressed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre.  The CJI said the court, by government control, did not mean to curb free speech on TV. "People can take any tone on TV as long as they don't incite violence, hatred, communal riots. We are interested only with people instigating and inciting violence and riots. These are situations which cause loss of lives and property. That is what we are worried about," Chief Justice Bobde explained. One more Bombay High Court POCSO fiasco The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has ruled that a man holding the hands of a minor girl and opening the zip of his trouser does not fall under the purview of 'sexual assault' or 'aggravated sexual assault' of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The observation was made by a single judge Bench of Justice Pushpa Ganediwala on January 15 while passing an order on an appeal filed by a 50-year-old man challenging a Sessions court's order convicting him of sexually assaulting and molesting a five-year-old girl.  The convict, Libnus Kujur, was in October 2020 convicted under sections 354-A (1)(i) (outraging modesty) and 448 (house trespass) of the IPC, and sections 8 (sexual assault), 10 (aggravated sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of the POCSO Act. He was sentenced to five years in jail. In her judgment, Justice Ganediwala noted that while the prosecution has established that the accused entered the house of the victim with an intention to outrage her modesty or sexually harass her, it has not been able to prove the charge of 'sexual assault' or 'aggravated sexual assault'. This ruling is reminiscent of another verdict, delivered on January 19, also by a single judge, Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court. It had acquitted a man charged under the POCSO Act, ruling that mere touching or pressing of a clothed body of a child, without "skin to skin contact", did not amount to sexual assault. Subsequently, the Supreme Court stayed this verdict. New Zealand, Vietnam top Covid-19 performance index; India 86 from 98 countries New Zealand and Vietnam were ranked the best-performing countries in their response to the pandemic, according to a Covid-19 "performance index" put together by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank, which sought to assess the impact of geography, political systems, and economic development in assessing outcomes. The index, which was based on six different indicators, including confirmed cases, deaths per million people, and the scale of testing, sought "to gauge the relative performance of countries", and assessed 98 countries in the 36 weeks that followed their hundredth case. India ranked 86th out of 98 countries, while the United States placed 94, and Brazil at the bottom of the index. New Zealand and Vietnam led the list, followed by Taiwan, Thailand and Cyprus in the top five. Sri Lanka was the best performing nation in South Asia, ranking 10, while the Maldives was at 25, Pakistan at 69, Nepal at 70, and Bangladesh at 84. Biden reverses Trump decision on H-1B for spouses A week after his inauguration, US President Joe Biden has withdrawn a Trump-era rule rescinding work authorisation for H4 visa holders, who are spouses of those possessing H-1B work visas, with majority of them being highly-skilled Indian women. An H-4 visa is issued by the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to immediate family members (spouse and children under 21 years of age) of the H-1B visa holders, most of whom are Indian IT professionals. The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China. The H4 visa is normally issued to those who have already started the process of seeking employment-based lawful permanent resident status in the US. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on Monday said the rule titled, 'Removing H-4 Dependent Spouses from the Class of Aliens Eligible for Employment Authorisation', was being withdrawn. Spouses of Indian professionals on H-1B visas, mostly women, are the biggest beneficiaries of the Obama-era rule that gave employment authorisation cards. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,07,13,640 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,54, 031. The government on Thursday said a fifth of the districts in the country had reported no new cases for a week. Meanwhile, the Covid-19 immunisation campaign has covered 2.4 million people. "India has successfully contained the pandemic," Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said, noting that fewer than 12,000 cases were reported in the past 24 hours. He said 146 of India's 718 districts have had no new cases for a week and 18 districts for two weeks. "India has flattened its Covid-19 graph," Dr. Vardhan added.  A row of Covid-19 antigen test kits seen at a testing centre in Karol Bagh, New Delhi. File With infections falling, the government said that from February 1, it would lift curbs on the use of public swimming pools, allow cinema halls and theatres to seat more than 50% of capacity, and let all types of exhibition halls to operate. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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