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. Supreme Court suspends farm laws, forms committee despite farmers' objections The Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the implementation of three controversial farm laws, terming its order the "victory of fair play". "If there is a victory at all, it is the victory of fair play," Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde corrected senior advocate Harish Salve. The CJI was responding to an apprehension expressed by Salve that the stay on the implementation of the laws should not be misconstrued by some as a "political victory" of sorts. "The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act shall be stayed until further notice," Chief Justice Bobde said at the end of an hour-long virtual court hearing. The stay on their implementation means the Centre cannot, for the time being, proceed with any executive actions on the basis of the three laws. The court formed an expert committee to hear the apprehensions raised by farmers against the laws. The committee is composed of Bhupinder Singh Mann, agriculture economist Ashok Gulati, Dr. Pramod Kumar Joshi (former director, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management) and Anil Ghanwat from Shetkari Sangathan. The committee will report back to the court. Interestingly, all the panel members have a track record of endorsing the farm laws – a fact that has caused outrage among the agitating farmers. In forming the committee, the court was undeterred by statements issued by certain farmers' bodies on Monday, declining to cooperate with its committee. "There is no power on earth which can prevent us from forming the independent committee. We want to solve the problem. We want to understand the ground situation. This is not politics. You have to cooperate," Chief Justice Bobde told the farmers' side. The CJI made it clear that the implementation of the laws have been stayed to facilitate negotiations with the committee. Will continue protest, won't appear before 'pro-government' panel, say farmers Farmer unions protesting against the new agriculture-marketing laws on Tuesday disapproved of the Supreme Court-appointed committee and said they will not appear before the panel. Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border near Delhi, union leaders asserted that the members of the committee formed by the top court are "pro-government". "The members of the SC-appointed committee are not dependable as they have been writing on how agri laws are pro-farmer. We will continue our agitation," farmer leader Balbeer Singh Rajewal told the press conference. Another farmer leader Darshan Pal Singh said they will not appear before any committee, and added that the Parliament should discuss and resolve this issue. "We don't want any external committee," he said. However, the farmer leaders said they would attend the January 15 meeting with the government. Before the Samyukt Kisan Morcha meeting, Singh, the Krantikari Kisan Union president said, "All the members of the committee have already declared themselves in favour of the three laws, so what is the point of this fraud exercise? I know Bhupinder Singh Mann, he is from Punjab, and he has already met the Agriculture Minister and expressed support for the laws. Anil Ghanwat is from the Shetkari Sangathan, both do not speak for farmers interests. [Agricultural economist] Ashok Gulati is known to be a government man." Pramod Kumar Joshi, the fourth member of the panel, has also supported the farm sector reforms. CJI not in favour of resuming physical hearings Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde on Tuesday disagreed with the idea of resuming physical hearings in the Supreme Court, saying the court did not want to be the cause of fatalities due to the spread of coronavirus. "We have been facing closedown of courts for nearly a year. It is dangerous to get a congregation of people in courts. We do not want the number of fatalities to increase due to the courts," Chief Justice Bobde said. "We will take appropriate decision after consulting medical authorities," the CJI said. The three-judge Bench was hearing a suo motu case seeking financial aid to young lawyers struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. One of the lawyers had sought a physical court hearing in the case. Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde. File During the hearing, senior advocate P.S. Narasimha, as a senior member of the Bar, said Bar Councils were ready to stand guarantee for government loans of up to ₹3 lakh to young, struggling lawyers. But the Chief Justice said the Bar and affluent lawyers should contribute more than what they had already done. Ways to channelise funds from the Bar should be devised. "The Bar has primary responsibility to these lawyers. The government has only a secondary responsibility," the Chief Justice said. Carlsberg India probes find 'potential improper payments', child labour An investigation of alleged unlawful practices at Carlsberg India found "potential improper payments" to government officials and other regulatory lapses, its former auditor said in a document seen by Reuters. Reports by a different global consultancy, also seen by Reuters and previously unreported, disclosed other lapses at Carlsberg India Pvt Ltd in 2018, including child labour. Carlsberg beer cans are seen at a pub in Mumbai. | File The findings cast a fresh shadow on operations and compliance practices at the Indian joint venture of Danish brewer Carlsberg A/S, which has a 17% share of India's $7 billion beer market. Carlsberg's probes and a boardroom dispute come amid other challenges: an antitrust investigation last year concluded that Carlsberg India colluded for years on prices with rivals, though a final ruling is pending. An India affiliate of the Price waterhouse Coopers (PwC ) network recently resigned as Carlsberg India's financial auditor after declining for two years in a row to give an opinion on the brewer's financials, amid boardroom tussles and internal probes into local practices, Reuters reported in November. Since at least 2019, Carlsberg had been probing allegations levelled by some past and current employees around promotion of alcohol in prohibited areas, kickbacks, and bribery. Will hold ground along LAC as long as it takes: Gen. Naravane Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane on Tuesday asserted that the Army was ready to hold territory as long as it took along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh to achieve the national objective, and noted that a collusive threat from China and Pakistan existed and India must be ready for it. Chief of Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravane addressing the Annual Press conference at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi on Tuesday. "Every summer, for training, a number of People's Liberation Army (PLA) units come to Tibet and go back. These are, in terms of depth, anything from 500-1,500 km from the border. We should not lay too much significance on these comings and goings. But we keep an eye on them as they can be moved to the front in 24-48 hours," he said, at the Army's annual press conference. "There has been no reduction in the friction areas or where we are in eyeball to eyeball situations," he said, in response to questions on whether China has withdrawn some troops from the depth areas. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 1,04,91,964 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 1,51,531. As part of the sequential rollout, the vaccination of about 1 crore health workers will begin on January 16, followed by two crore frontline workers, then of the nearly 27 crore people aged 50 years or older, and finally those below this age limit but with co-morbidities, Health Secretary Rajeev Bhushan said today. The cost of vaccination of health care and frontline workers will be borne by the Central government. Vaccines will first reach four major stores in Karnal, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai. All States have at least one State-level regional vaccine store. 54.72 lakh doses have already been received till 4 p.m. today, and 100% of the doses will be received by January 14 in all States and Union Territories. In a related development, the Centre on Tuesday announced that it has agreed to procure 55 lakh doses of Bharat Biotech's vaccine against the coronavirus. Of these, 38.5 lakh doses will be priced at ₹295 each. Earlier in the day, Serum Institute of India (SII) Chief Executive Officer Adar Poonawalla said the company has given a special price of ₹200 for the first 10 crore doses of the coronavirus vaccine only to India, in order to support the common man and the health workers. In Brief: Industrial production contracted by 1.9% in November, entering negative territory after a two-month gap, mainly due to poor showing by manufacturing and mining sectors, official data showed on Tuesday. The manufacturing sector — which constitutes 77.63% of the index of industrial production (IIP) — recorded a contraction of 1.7% in November 2020, as per data released by the National Statistical Office. President Donald Trump is issuing an emergency declaration for the nation's capital amid growing concerns about violence in the lead-up to, and during, President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20. The declaration allows the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate with local authorities as needed. The emergency declaration is in effect from Monday through January 24. It comes five days after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol. The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday announced that the general public would not be allowed in beaches across the State and in certain tourist spots in Chengalpattu district between January 15 and 17. Besides beaches, including the Marina in the State capital, public would not be allowed entry into Vandalur zoo and tourist spots in Mamallapuram, and also into the National Park in Guindy for these three days. The move is part of the precautionary measures being taken to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the Pongal season, when more footfalls are expected in these places. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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