DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2020, NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 20 PAGES `6.00 (`8 BIHAR & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 ASTRAZENECA ADMITS TO ‘ERROR’ Oxford vaccine viable even at 60-70% efficacy: Serum Institute ANURADHA MASCARENHAS PUNE, NOVEMBER 26 THE ASTRAZENECA-OXFORD vaccine candidate, even at the lowestefficacyof 60-70percent, is a viable one against the novel coronavirus, the Serum Institute of India (SII) said on Thursday. SII has partnered with the University of Oxford and AstraZenecaforthemanufacture and distribution of the vaccine candidate. "Even though the lowest efficacyresultsare at60-70%,itisa viable vaccine against the virus. Thatsaid,variedagegroupswith different dosage forms will result in slight variations and efficacy.Wemustbepatientandnot panic," SII said in a statement. The statement — a couple of days before PM Narendra Modi isscheduledtovisitthecompany — comes amid an acknowledgment on Wednesday by AstraZeneca of a key error in the dosage received by some of the study participants of its Covid19 vaccine candidate AZD1222 (named Covishield in India). According to partial results Indiatrial resultsnot in THE EFFICACY results of AstraZeneca were based on trials being conducted in the United Kingdom and Brazil. It does not include the trials of the same vaccine being conducted by the Serum Institute in India. The results of the Indian trials are expected to come out in December. announcedonMondayfromongoing trials in the UK and Brazil, the vaccine showed a striking differenceinefficacy,depending on the amount delivered. A regimen of two full doses given a month apart was 62 per cent effective while participants who received half a dose of the vaccine in the first round and then CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPLAINED SIMPLY PUT TAKEAWAYSFROM OXFORDERROR Protesting farmers at the Punjab-Haryana border, in Shambhu, Patiala, on Thursday. Harmeet Sodhi ‘DELHI CHALO’ AGAINST FARM LAWS Farmerscrossbarricades,water jets;Tomar,Rajnathoffertalks Protesters take over roads to Delhi; Amarinder, Khattar spar on Twitter SUKHBIR SIWACH, RAAKHI JAGGA & HARIKISHAN SHARMA CHANDIGARH, LUDHIANA, NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 26 AS THOUSANDS of farmers from Haryana and Punjab took over nationalandstatehighwaysleading to Delhi on Thursday, Union Ministers Narendra SinghTomar and Rajnath Singh appealed for calm and invited them for talks. After braving water cannon and lathis, and casting aside barricades, protesters on the march against the three new central farm laws were camping for the night on the highways. A large group of farmers, mainly from Haryana, were at Panipat toll plaza, some 65 km from the Delhi border on the Delhi-Ambalahighway;another group of mainly farmers from Punjab was camping at Karnal, 100kmfromtheDelhiborderon the same highway. A third, smaller group was moving on the Delhi-Sirsa highway, and had reached Hansi in Hisar district, some 115 km from the Delhi border. Swaraj India PAGE 15 Tech reliance during Covid has led to new inequality, says CJI Unfair criticism of Constitutional bodies: Justice Ramana DIPANKAR GHOSE NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 26 Cong bids farewell to Ahmed Patel, Tarun Gogoi PAGE 6 EXPRESS NETWORK MONEY LAUNDERING PROBE: COX & KINGS PROMOTER HELD PAGE 8 CHIEFJUSTICEof IndiaSABobde said Thursday that the “pandemichasbeenthebiggestchallenge in delivering unhampered justice to the common man”, and urged the government to lookforsolutionsfora“newkind of inequality” that has emerged fromjusticebecoming“technology dependent”. The CJI was speaking at an event organised by the Supreme MUMBAI, NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 26 TRUMP PARDONS FORMER NSA MICHAEL FLYNN PAGE 16 PAGE 1 ANCHOR Court to commemorate Constitution Day that was attended by President Ram Nath Kovind and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. In his welcome address, Justice N V Ramana, the second most senior judge in the apex court, spoke of the “unfounded criticism”thatConstitutional institutions were facing and said the only answer was to work hardtofulfillConstitutionalduty. “Thereisatrendof unfairand unfounded criticism against our Constitutional institutions. Such criticism destroys the public trust, which harms the foundation of democracy. The only answer for this criticism is to work hard to fulfill our Constitutional duty. Nothing should deter us,” Justice Ramana said. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Need tighter supervision before corporates run banks, say experts GEORGE MATHEW, SUNNY VERMA & SANDEEP SINGH WORLD CJI spoke at an event to mark Constitution Day NEARLY 27 YEARS after the Reserve Bank of India allowed private promoters to set up banks in 1993, it is still a divided house over letting corporates run banks. A cross-section of stakeholders contacted by The Indian Express, including three of the THE IDEAS PAGE ACAPITALMISTAKE BY SHANKAR ACHARYA, VIJAY KELKAR & ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN PAGE 13 ten experts consulted by the RBI's Internal Working Group which last week favoured entry of business houses, said companies can bring in much-needed capital, business experience and managerial competence into banking. But they expressed concerns over supervision of related-party lending,especially deals that hide behind complex company structures or were structured through lending to suppliers of promoters and their group companies. One of the experts, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, who is the MD and CEO of Bandhan Bank, said, “There is a need for more banks for growth in the financial sector. Maybe there are not that many people other than the CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 president Yogendra Yadav was detained at Bilaspur village in Gurgaon while leading a group of protesters on the Delhi-Jaipur highway. As they converge on Delhi from multiple directions, the farmersarepreparedforthelong haul. Their tractor trolleys are laden with rations and bedding. They are also on trucks, buses, and jeeps; many are marching BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MORE REPORTS PAGES 3, 7 Cracks widen in Trinamool after minister Adhikari quits key office Foreign Secy meets Nepal PM as Delhi moves to repair ties SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 26 IN THE first high-level diplomatic visit to Nepal since the slide in ties after the boundary row this summer, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla reached Kathmandu Thursday and met the country’s leadersincludingPrimeMinister K P Sharma Oli. Sources said that Foreign Secretary’s discussions with Oli — they had a one-on-one meeting, apart from the delegationlevel talks — included a “candid review of the state of the bilateralrelationship”,andthepotential for bringing India and Nepal closer. Oli, Indian sources said, conveyed Nepal’s desire to build on the momentum in the bilateral RAJNATH: TALKS ON WITH CHINA, NO NATION SHOULDBE EXPANSIONIST PAGE 7 relationship and enhance the level of engagement. Sources said the special relations between India and Nepal, and the importance of “respecting each other’s sensitivities” were noted during the meeting. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Two Armymen killed in J&K firing, hunt on for gunmen KOLKATA, NOVEMBER 26 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS NETWORK Police cars, campaign crunched, a candidate steps out of J&K cold ATRI MITRA & SWEETY KUMARI RUMBLINGS WITHIN the ruling TMC in West Bengal came to the fore Thursday when minister Suvendu Adhikari resigned as chairman of the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC), and partyMPKalyan Banerjee was named to the Suvendu post with imAdhikari mediate effect. Minister for transport,irrigation and water resources, Adhikari has been distancing himself fromtheTMCforseveral months now, organising programmeswithoutthepartybanner. Posters of ‘Amra Dadar Anugami’ (We are the followers of Dada) have been put up by his supporters at several places, and there’s intense speculation that he may leave the TMC for BJP ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal next year. Adhikariwasnotavailablefor comment Thursday, but a close aide, who is also a TMC leader, Harsh Vardhan Shringla BASHAARAT MASOOD SRINAGAR, NOVEMBER 26 Choudhary Mohammad Yaseen Poswal, an independent candidate, campaigns in Tral. Shuaib Masoodi rity personnel and chaperoned to their constituencies. ARIPAL (PULWAMA), This is the first step in the NOVEMBER 26 Centralgovernment'sbidtorestart the political process in the newly AT 10 AM, Choudhary createdUnionTerritorywithelecMohammad Yaseen Poswal tions to 280 constituencies — 140 emerges from the security blan- each in Kashmir and Jammu — ket over the EDI building starting November 28. But in Pampore on the outon the ground, there are skirtsof Srinagar.Acannoposters,nopartyflags, didate in the first ever and very little talk about District Development thepolls. Council elections in The only sign of an Jammu and Kashmir, electionaresecurityvePoswal is the only civilDECISION hicles passing by. ian in the mini-convoy Moving swiftly, they 2020 of two vehicles with take 44-year-old J&K DISTRICT, armed policemen. Poswal,anindependent With two days to go LOCAL POLLS candidate, to Aripal for the first phase, and tehsil in the Tral area of criticism from the mainstream Pulwama, about 70 km south. PAGD alliance of being kept Off the main road, is an open away from the electorate, the field of boulders, after which the candidates are flanked by secuCONTINUED ON PAGE 2 NAVEED IQBAL TWO SOLDIERS of the Army's Quick Reaction Team succumbed to bullet injuries Thursday afternoon after two militants openedindiscriminate fire at a convoy deployed on the road at Zainakote in Srinagar's suburbs, less than 2 km from the headquarters of the counterinsurgency Kilo Force. J&K Police sources told The Indian Express that a joint search operation has been launched to nab the gunmen who were armed with automatic weapons, wearing combat fatigues and travelling in a Maruti car in the high-security zone. Police suspect that the attackers were Pakistani terrorists from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). “Terrorists fired indiscriminatelyattheQuickReactionTeam of Indian Army in Aban Shah Chowk, HMT, Khushipora, Srinagartodayafternoon.Twosoldiers were critically injured and were evacuated to the nearest CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Fields to doorsteps: Nashik businessman keeps supply chain running PARTHA SARATHI BISWAS PUNE, NOVEMBER 26 THECOVID-19lockdowncouldn't havecomeatamoreinopportune time for Amol Gorhe, who was in the middle of expanding his GreenfieldAgroLimitedbusiness. Eventually,Gorheprovedthebest man at the worst time, as he kept his business of delivering fresh supplies from Nashik fields to doorsteps in Thane and Navi Mumbai running through those days—notjusthelpingmanyprevent unnecessary Covid risks, but also averting job and other losses formany. Every year since 2016, The Indian Express has been marking the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai with stories of strength andapubliceventshowcasingthe spiritofthesurvivors.Thisyear,the oneswhomostpowerfullyepitomisethatspiritarethecoronawarriors, women and men at the frontlinesagainstCovid-19. Nashik-based Gorhe started AGreenfieldteaminNaviMumbaiduringthelockdown. Express Greenfield Agro in 2012. “As a third-party auditor for export houses,Irealisedthatscientifically grown and healthy vegetables werenoteasilyavailabletoourdomestic consumers. Such produce would mostly leave for overseas markets,”hesays. Gorhe found success early, building a dependable value chain,andabusinesswithannual earnings of around Rs 70 lakh. “As the next step, we were planninganapp-basedservicewhich would allow consumers to preorder,whichwouldhelpfarmers growtheirproduceaccordingly,” he says. Then came the lockdown in end-March. “As the supply chain for essentials stopped abruptly, firms like ours were asked by the state government to step in. The challengeswereimmensebutthe governmenttrustedusduetoour experienceandgoodwill." Gorhe's primary concern was ensuring the safety of delivery boys, drivers, etc going to doorsteps at a time when Covid wasnewandMumbaianditssuburbsamongtheworst-hit.Masks, sanitisers and gloves became a part and parcel of Greenfield Agro's delivery SOP, along with packedwaterbottlesandtiffinsto ensuretheemployeesdidn'thave tostopforanythingontheway. “Our people would go right into buildings where there were suspected cases. There were instances of societies not disclosing they had patients on their prem- ises,”hesays. On average, Greenfield Agro managed to deliver three-four tonnesofessentialslikefruits,vegetables,pulsesdaily. Realisingthatdailywageearners like newspaper delivery boys were out of work, Gorhe, whose ordershadshotup,decidedtohire them.“Wetrainedthemandnow they are getting calls from other playersneedingthem." The40-year-oldisgratefulthat notasinglepersoninhisteamcontracted the infection. He is also grateful for the lesson the experiencetaughthim,hesays."Re-look atthewayweliveandconcentrate onwhatIcalltheessentials”.