DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 18 PAGES SINCE 1932 INDIA-CHINA STANDOFF IN LADAKH `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM FOCUS ON 3 STATES, 17 DISTRICTS Serious situation... need Cases surge, Centre reaches out to hotspot districts, finds glaring gaps deep conversations at political level: Jaishankar District staff briefed on containment, training; new manuals commissioned NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 State of border can’t be delinked from state of relationship, he says, ahead of meeting with Chinese in Moscow KRISHN KAUSHIK NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 TWO DAYS ahead of his trip to Moscow where he is likely to hold discussions on the border stand-off with China’s Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Monday laid down the broad contours of the upcoming bilateral conversation by underlining that “the state of the border cannot be delinkedfromthestateof therelationship." Acknowledging that the current situation along the Line of ActualControlwas"veryserious," BJP leader at cremation of Nyima Tenzin of Special Frontier Force. Twitter The Foreign Minister at Adda KRISHN KAUSHIK CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 Pangong on boil again: China claims India fired warning shots KRISHN KAUSHIK NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 DAYS AFTER Indian troops thwarted Chinese manoeuvres and occupied strategic heights on the south bank of Pangong Tso and Rechin La near Rezang La,thesouth bankof thelakeappeared to be on the boil again late Monday night with the ChinesePLAclaimingthatIndian troops had fired warning shots, prompting it to “take countermeasures to stabilize the situation on the ground”. BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Y+ security for Kangana as Centre sees threat DEEPTIMAN TIWARY & LAXMAN SINGH NEW DELHI, MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 7 THE UNION Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has accorded Y+ category security to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut. The decision comes in the wake of a spat between Ranaut and Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, with the actor comparing Mumbai to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and claiming a threat to her ‘No one can life in the city. crush a “An assesspatriot’ ment has been made by intelligence agencies and it has been concluded that there is a threat to her life andaccordinglysecurityisbeing provided,” a Home Ministry official said. The ministry’s order CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 In message to Beijing, Madhav at Tibetan unit soldier funeral There was no immediate response from the Indian Army or the Ministry of Defence. In a statement, Colonel Zhang Shuili, spokesperson for the PLA Western Theatre Command, claimed the Indian Army “crossed the line and entered Bangong Hunan, the western section of the Sino-Indian border” and the “Indian actions seriously violated the relevant agreements and agreements between China and India, pushing up regional tensions, and easily causing CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SENDING A strong message to China,BJPgeneralsecretaryRam Madhav attended the funeral Monday of Subedar Nyima Tenzin of the Special Frontier Force, a covert Indian unit, comprising mostly of Tibetans in India, tasked to carry out classified missions. Nyima died on August 30 when he, according to Army sources, stepped on a vintage mine near the south bank of Pangong Tso. This was around the time Indian forces were occupying strategic heights in areas of the Chushul sector to turn the tables on the Chinese – the PLA has been reluctant to complete the disengagement of troops along the Line of Actual Control. Whilethegovernmentorthe Armyhasnotcommentedonthe death of Nyima, the presence of Madhav, a senior member of the ruling party, at the funeral in Leh will rile the Chinese given that the Vikas regiments of the SFF largely comprise Tibetans in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 THE CENTRE has received detailed feedback from officers at the district level, identifying loopholes in the implementation of containment, surveillance, and clinical management strategies for Covid-19 in several states.Theselapses,sourcessaid, were among the key reasons for the massive spike in cases in recent weeks. Following the detection of nearly 6 lakh new infections in the week beginning August 31, the Centre has over the last few days made a significant change in targeting its messaging on tackling the novel coronavirus. It has moved away from addressing states at the level of their health secretaries, and has instead begun to communicate E E X P L A I NE D KAUNAIN SHERIFF M Taking the message ● to ground MANY MONTHS into the pandemic, and with containment and surveillance strategies well known, the continuing high numbers indicate blockages in the percolation of the message to those on the ground. That is why the Centre is now talking directly to them. directly with administrative officials and chief medical officers (CMOs)whoarefightingthepandemic at the level of the district. India on Sunday recorded 90,802 new infections, the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 Delhi Metro on Samaypur Badli-Gurgaon stretch Monday. Metro services resumed with curtailed operations across the country after over five months. Praveen Khanna REPORT,PAGE3 DELHI RIOTS: 24-YEAR-OLD FAIZAN’S DEATH DEEPTIMAN TIWARY MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL THEENFORCEMENT Directorate Monday arrested Deepak Kochhar,husbandof formerICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, in connection with its probe into an alleged money laundering case. Deepak Kochhar, ED sources said, had been called forques‘New money tioning in contrail proof’ nection with some “fresh evidence of money trail” in the case involvingloansdisbursedbyICICIBank to the Videocon Group for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Policeman questioned in case of riot-injured made to sing anthem Tear gas registers lead to unit behind video featuring cops NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 INVESTIGATING the circumstances around the death of 24year-old Faizan in the Northeast Delhi riots after he, along with two other men, were allegedly Amid GST row, Centre signals it will not borrow ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU ICICI loans: ED arrests Deepak Kochhar NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 Finance Ministry unlikely to cede to the states’ demand made to sing the national anthem and Vande Mataram by a group of policemen, the Delhi Police Crime Branch has questioned a policeman posted with the Delhi Armed Police, The Indian Express has learnt. A video of the incident first cametolightFebruary25,showing three men, including the vic- tim, writhing in pain on the ground even as a group of police personnel stood by, purportedly telling them to sing the national anthem, and, occasionally, hitting them with their lathis. Families of two other men seen in the clip had told The IndianExpressthatthevideowas CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 AS THE Centre and non-BJP ruled states continue to face off over the mechanism to meet the compensation deficit under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime, the Union Finance Ministry is unlikely to cede to the states’ demand that the borrowing should be done by the Central government. In fact, government officials pointed out that states had parked about Rs 1.8 lakh crore in T-Bills, suggesting that they were not short of funds. “While it is true that states too are keeping the powder dry, just like the Centre, for the coming quarters, they cannot complain that they do not have money to spend,” said a government official who did not want to be named. The official said states have, on an average, borrowed about 2.75 per cent of their GSDP so far, against 3 per cent of their GSDP. States, however, said not all of themhadhugefundsinvested inT-Bills.“Thereisalsoavariance CONTINUED ON PAGE 2