DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA ● REG.NO. MCS/067/2018 - 20 RNI REGN. NO. 1543/57 JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2020, MUMBAI, LATE CITY, 14 PAGES `5.00, WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 INDIA-CHINA STANDOFF IN LADAKH Serious situation... need deep conversations at political level: Jaishankar Finance Ministry unlikely to cede to the states’ demand Amid GST row, Centre signals it will not borrow State of border can’t be delinked from state ot relationship, he says, ahead of meeting with Chinese in Moscow KRISHN KAUSHIK NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU 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 THE WORLD KHASHOGGI MURDER RULING: EIGHT SENTENCED TO PRISON PAGE 12 THE CITY THREAT CALLS AT SHARAD PAWAR RESIDENCE, ANIL DESHMUKH’S NAGPUR OFFICE MAN CRUSHED TO DEATH UNDER ELEVATOR PAGES 5, 7 FIRST DAY OF MAHARASHTRA ASSEMBLY Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray at the Vidhan Sabha on Monday, the first day of the two-day Monsoon Session of the legislature. Express REPORTS,PAGE4 FOCUS ON 3 STATES, 17 DISTRICTS Cases surge, Centre reaches out to hotspot districts, finds glaring gaps District staff briefed on containment, training; new manuals commissioned KAUNAIN SHERIFF M NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 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 NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 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. 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 LAXMAN SINGH MUMBAI, SEPTEMBER 7 DAYS AFTER the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) told the Supreme Court (SC) it needs additional reclamation of six hectares for the Coastal Road project in Mumbai, it has now tional affidavit on August 28 informing the court and petitioners that while the original estimated reclamation for the project was supposed to be 90 hectare, it needs an additional sixhectare.TheBMC’slatestsubmission comes after the SC on August 18 asked the civic body CONTINUEDONPAGE2 DELHI RIOTS: 24-YEAR-OLD FAIZAN’S DEATH ` 84 per kilo ` 112 per kilo ` 137 per kilo ` 62 per Dozen Policeman questioned in case of riot-injured made to sing anthem MAHENDER SINGH MANRAL 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 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 victim, 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. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Deepak Kochhar DEEPTIMAN TIWARY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 THE ENFORCEMENT 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 ‘New money sources said, trail proof’ hadbeencalled forquestioning in connection with some “fresh evidence of money trail” in the case involvingloansdisbursedbyICICIBank to the Videocon Group for CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Y+ security for Kangana as Centre sees threat PAGE 1 ANCHOR 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 life in the city. “An assessment has been made by intelligence agencies and it has been concluded that thereisathreattoherlifeandaccordingly security is being provided,” a Home Ministry official said. The ministry’s order said she would be provided security across the country. Thanking Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Ranaut tweeted,"Thisshowsthatnoone can crush a patriot in the country...Hadhe(AmitShah)wanted, he would have told me to visit Mumbai later but he respected India’s daughter and acknowledged my self-respect. Jai Hind." ‘No one can crush a patriot’ Ranaut, who is in her home state Himachal Pradesh currently, has said she would be returning to Mumbai on September 9. According to a source, under the Y+ category, Ranaut will be allocated 11 commandos in all, with two armed ones for her mobile security at any time, and one guarding her residence. Maharashtra Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY Wadettiwar called the Centre’s move"politicallymotivated"and accused Ranaut of being the BJP’s "parrot". State Home MinisterAnilDeshmukhsaidthe move was "surprising", given how the actor had "insulted" Mumbai and Maharashtra. Calling Ranaut Himachal Pradesh’s"daughter",stateChief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said they had requested for a paramilitaryforcetoprovidesecurity to the actor, after being approached by her father and sister. In a video statement, Thakur saidthestatepolicewouldguard the actor’s Manali residence and added that he had told the DGP to assess the threat to her. "If CONTINUEDONPAGE2 DAYS AFTER Indian troops thwarted Chinese manoeuvres and occupied strategic heights on the south bank of Pangong Tso and Rechin La near Rezang La,thesouthbankof 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”. In message to Beijing, Madhav at Tibetan unit soldier funeral KRISHN KAUSHIK CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 KRISHN KAUSHIK BMC wants to reclaim 15 hectare ICICI loans: ED arrests more in sea for coastal road filed a fresh affidavit, seeking 15 more hectare from the sea. On Monday, the BMC filed a supplementaryaffidavitinforming the SC and petitioners that it would need to reclaim a total of 111 hectareinsteadof 96hectare mentioned in its previous affidavit. The BMC had filed an addi- The Foreign Minister at Adda NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 7 Pangong on boil again: China claims India fired warning shots Taking the message ● to ground 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 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 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