DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Hazarika’s son slams Bill, puts Govt on notice on Bharat Ratna How Centre moves far outweighs award... display of short-lived cheap thrills:Tej ABHISHEK SAHA GUWAHATI, FEBRUARY 11 TWO DAYS after Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to Bhupen Hazarika and took a swipe at previous governments for delaying the Bharat Ratna conferred posthumously on the celebrated singer this Republic Day, Hazarika’s son Tej, protesting the “painfully unpopular” Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, put the government on notice Monday, saying the Bill was “actually undermining” his father’s “documented position” and“wouldin reality be in direct opposition to what Bhupenda believed in his heart of hearts”. “Bharat Ratnas and longest bridges,whilenecessary,willnot promote the peace and prosperity of the citizens of India. Only just popular laws and foresight on the part of leadership will. Numerous media journalists are Was awarded Bharat Ratna on Republic Day now asking me whether or not I will accept the Bharat Ratna for my father. I go on record here to answer that A), I have not received any invitation so far there is nothing to reject, and B), how the Center moves on this matter far outweighs in importance the awarding and receiving of such national recognition — a display of short-lived cheap thrills,” Tej Hazarika,whoisbasedintheUS, saidinanemailstatementto The Indian Express. When his comments were CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 11 THE PARLIAMENTARY Committee on Information Technology Monday decided to summon Twitter CEO Jack Dorseyandtopcompanyofficials to appear before it on February 25, it is learnt. The committee alsoresolvedtosummonofficials from other social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and other tech platforms on the issue of “Safeguarding Citizens Rights on Social/Online News Media Platforms”. The decision to summon top THE CITY SCHOOLBUSRAMS INTOTREE,4HURT PAGE 3 BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Twitter executives comes after the microblogging platform declined to send Dorsey or global executives to appear before the parliamentary committee Monday and sent instead officials from Twitter India. Sources said the parliamentary committee did not call Twitter India executives for deliberations Monday when they reached the meeting venue. Twitter India Director of Policy Mahima Kaul and Twitter India Government and Policy official Payal Kamat were seen outside the venue. It is learnt that committee chairman Anurag Thakur read out a letter from Twitter that Shah dials Uddhav who talks of old formula, more tickets PRADEEP KAUSHAL NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 11 BJP PRESIDENT Amit Shah dialled Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray Monday as a part of his efforts to finalise a seat-sharing agreement well before Lok Sabha polls. The Sena chief, according to sources, sought a returntothe1995-formulatoshare Maharashtra Assembly seats withtheBJP,whentheSenacontested169of the288seats,while the BJP had fought 116. Then, the two parties had secured a total of 138 seats — the Sena 73 and the BJP, 65 — and formed their first coalition government in the state, headed by Manohar Joshi of the Sena and supported by independents and DECISION 2019 others. Apartfromthequotaof seats, this arrangement would mean that the Sena would choose the chiefministerintheeventofboth parties forming a coalition governmentinthestate.WhileShah is keen on stitching a deal vis-avis the Lok Sabha polls, Uddhav, his priority being the assembly, is determined to negotiate for a package that involves both. Asleadersof thebickeringallies indulged in hard bargaining earlier, by evening, Sena parliamentary party leader and company officials in India were not authorised to take enforcement decisions. He is learnt to havesaidthattherewasnopoint in the committee meeting Twitter officials from India, to which the members agreed. The committee, it is learnt, was informed that the CEO (Dorsey)couldnotappearbefore it on such short notice. The members, it is learnt, agreed with Thakur that the committee couldnotacceptthat theTwitter CEOcouldnotobligeParliament. Twitter sources said a letter fromthecommitteeonFebruary 1 asked for “representatives of Twitter” to attend the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 11 MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 11 AN INDIAN woman prisoner in Pakistan has presented Mumbai Police with a unique challenge. The woman, who has given her name as Gulo Jan, and her address confoundingly as “Jalindhar” in Mumbai, is mentally ill, and has been unable to giveamoredetailedaddress.The government needs to verify her nationality before accepting her A sketch of Gulo Jan as an Indian. To Mumbai Police hasfallenthetask,akintofinding a needle in a haystack, of tracking down any family that she may have in this city. The only other clues that the police have are a photograph of her, and some details gleaned by Indian officials during consular access: her parents are Raj Kumar and Yasmeen; she has SaamanaexecutiveeditorSanjay Raut turned up at Andhra BhawaninNewDelhitodemonstrate his support to Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who was sitting on a dharna against the Central Governmentthere.Themessage totheBJPwasclear:theSenahas other options too. Shah’s phone call to Uddhav CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Anand Teltumbde CPI-Maoist. Pune Police are investigating charges of Maoist involvement in the Elgaar Parishad, which was held a day before the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon, during which violent clashes had erupted across the city. Police claim the speeches made during Elgaar Parishad were in part responsiblefortriggeringtheviolencethe following day. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ON THE ROAD Congress president Rahul Gandhi, general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Jyotiraditya Scindia and UPCC chief Raj Babbar in Lucknow, Monday. Vishal Srivastav REPORTPAGE7 Quitting last act in long story of disregard: Stats panel ex-chief ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 11 EVEN AS the government responded tothecontroversy over withholdingaNationalStatistical Commission(NSC)employment survey for 2017-18 by calling it a draft report, P C Mohanan, who resigned as the acting Chairman of theNSCinprotestoverthedelay in releasing the survey, has said that questioning the report is perhaps the first step in the standard government response. According to Mohanan, the next step possibly would be to refer the report and its methodology to a committee of experts, only to delay the findings. “...it was the NITI Aayog and not the Chief Statistician whose job it is to uphold the integrity of theofficialstatisticsthattookthe initiative to raise technical doubtsonthereportandthesurvey methodology. A similar CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE EDITORIAL PAGE BECAUSE DATA IS A PUBLIC GOOD BY P C MOHANAN PAGE 10 Jailed in Pak, mentally ill woman from ‘Jalindhar’ in Mumbai has cops probing SAGAR RAJPUT Not having shared the best relations with the Sena post2014, BJP chief Amit Shah is trying to win back their trust and support before the Lok Sabha polls. His phone call to Uddhav underlines as much his sense of urgency as his keenness to finalise a deal. The allies, too, have sensed it and are, therefore, pushing him as hard as they can. TOP PENTAGON OFFICIAL VISITS AFGHANISTAN AMID PEACE PUSH PAGE 12 SAILEE DHAYALKAR PAGE 1 ANCHOR BJPkeenbut allypusheshard WORLD Release Teltumbde on Rs 1 lakh bail bond if arrested: HC to police AFTER PUNE Police refused to make a statement over not arresting professor and activist Anand Teltumbde before February 22, the Bombay High Court on Monday directed Pune Police to release him against a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh in the event of his arrest. Teltumbdeisnamedasanaccused in an FIR lodged by Pune Police on January 8, 2018. The Dalit scholar has been charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and is accused of being part of the Elgaar Parishad, which was held in Pune on December 31, 2017, and having links with the banned `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 House panel summons Twitter CEO, may call other platforms too KARISHMA MEHROTRA & LIZ MATHEW REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES ‘CITIZENSHIP BILL PAINFULLY UNPOPULAR’ ● four sisters and three brothers; she has two sons and two daughters,andtoaddtotheconfusion, she has also given her husband’s name as “Jalindher”. “We are not even sure whetherthedetailsthatwehave been asked to work on are reliable but we are still working on the inputs. After we received the letter we first tried to get the location with the help of Google maps, but we couldn’t find ‘Jalindhar’anywhereinMumbai. It was just Jalandhar which we could find and that too in Punjab,” said an officer. Like Gulo Jan, there are 31 other mentally ill Indians in Pakistani jails, whose nationality the Indian mission in Islamabad is trying to verify. The HighCommissionhasputupthe details of 26 of these persons along with the details they have given about themselves. Last December, it also wrote to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, requesting for help from state governments. The letter dated December 28, 2018, was received by the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 8, 2019, which in turn forwarded it to state governments. “There are 32-believedto-be-Indian-nationalslodgedin CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 2 wks before Rafale announcement, Anil Ambani met French Defence officials SUSHANT SINGH NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 11 IN THE fourth week of March 2015, about a fortnight before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the procurement of 36 Rafale fighter aircraft from France, businessman Anil Ambani visited then French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian’s office in Paris and had a meeting with his top advisors, The Indian Express has learnt. Themeetingwasattendedby Le Drian’s special advisor JeanClaudeMallet;hisindustryadvisor,ChristopheSalomon;andhis technical advisor for industrial affairs, Geoffrey Bouquot. Ambani’s meeting was described by Salomon to a top official of a European defence company as “confidential and plannedasyoucanimaginewith very short notice”. Ambani, according to an official who was briefed on the meeting, expressed his wish to workwithAirbusHelicopterson both commercial and defence helicopters.Heisalsosaidtohave mentioned a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU)“inpreparation and the intention to sign during the PM visit”. When Ambani visited the French DefenceMinister’soffice, it was known that Prime Minister Modi would make an official visit to France from April 9-11, 2015. Subsequently, Ambani was part of the PM’s delegation during the visit where the deal for 36 Rafale aircraft was announced by Modi and then Ambani visited office of then French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian CONG, BJP TRADE CHARGES ON RAFALE THE BJP and Opposition partiescontinuedtotrade charges over the Rafale deal Monday inside and outside Parliament. While the Congress, citing a report, accused the Centre of droppingprovisions for anti-corruption penalties days before the aircraft deal was signed, the BJP said the Congress was “lying on a daily basis on the Rafale deal, in the hope that some allegations would stick”. P7 French President Francois Hollande in a joint statement issued by the two sides. Incidentally, Reliance Defence was incorporated on March 28, 2015, in the same week as this meeting. Emails sent to the official spokesperson of Le Drian last week did not elicit any response. Emails sent to Ambani’s Reliance Group have also gone unanswered. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2