eye THE SUNDAY EXPRESS MAGAZINE Homeward Bound NEWDELHI,LATECITY Diwali is about coming home. In these difficult, polarising times, how our ideas of home have been reshaped OCTOBER31,2021 26PAGES,`6.00 (`8 BIHAR &RAIPUR, ` 12 SRINAGAR) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA Kohli stands up for Shami: Attacks over religion pathetic... spineless people A PRIME MINISTER AT THE VATICAN AFTER TWO DECADES ModiinvitesPopetoIndiaasthey talkvaccinerole,climatechange PMsaysverywarmmeeting;FSquotes PopesayinglookingforwardtoIndia EXPRESSAT SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 30 T20WORLDCUP PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi met Pope Francis at the Vatican Saturday and invited him to India. Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla quoted the Pope telling Modi: “You have given me the greatest gift… I am lookingforwardtovisitingIndia.” Pope Francis, Shringla said, has never been to India and the conversation with the Prime Minister was full of “warmth, conviviality and closeness”. “It was avery personal meeting,fullof warmthandcandour,” Shringla said. Asked if issues related to religious freedom were discussed, he said no such issue was discussed, and the conversation was “devoid of any extraneous issues”. SHAMIK CHAKRABARTY DUBAI, OCTOBER 30 NEW ZEALAND have been India’s biggest bogey team for a while now and on match-eve, ahead of a virtual quarter-final situation at the T20 World Cup, skipper Virat Kohli would have had plenty on his mind. But it was the faceless social media trolls whom Kohli chose to deal with first-up. Addressing the media a day before facing the Black Caps, Kohli threw his weight behind teammate Mohammad Shami who suffered vile abuse after India’s 10wicket loss to Pakistan in the team’s T20 World Cup opener. Theskipperclearlyhadsome unfinished business, sending backaclearsignalaboutwhathe thought of “fans” who picked on Shamipostthedefeatbysniping at him with faith-based slurs. “There's a good reason why we are playing on the field and not some bunch of spineless peopleonsocialmediathathave no courage to actually speak to any individual in person. They Going after people through social media has become social entertainment: Kohli hide behind their identities and go after people through social media,makingfunof peopleand that has become a social entertainmentintoday’sworld,which is so unfortunate and so sad to see,” Kohli said at the press conference. “This is literally the lowest level of human potential that one can operate at and that’s how I look at these people,” he said. India’s big-ticket T20 stars Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja had failed to last long against Pakistan even as Kohli made a defianthalf-century.Whilenone CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 J&K gets less than 10% of funds for Central schemes for 2021-2022 SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 30 THE JAMMU and Kashmir government has received less than 10 per cent of funds against the budgetary allocation under the Centrally sponsored schemes fromtheCentreinthefirstseven months of the current financial year. As on October 27, as many as 25 departments of the Union Territory received just Rs 1,809 crore, which is less than 10 per cent of the CSS allocation of Rs 18,527 crore for 2021-22. Centrallysponsoredschemesare largelyfundedbytheUniongovernment but are implemented bythestates.Apartof theexpenditure for such schemes is borne by the states. A dozen of these 25 departments, including that of Jal Shakti, tasked with the implementation of the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission, Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Power Development, Civil Aviation, and Information Technology, had not received any funds under the CSS till October 27. AseniorofficialintheJ&Kadministration told The Sunday Express that part of the delay in receiptof fundscanbeattributed to the devastating second wave of Covid-19 through April and May. “A lot of this has to do with departments not picking up work in thefirst quarter of thefinancial year,” the official said. Therelease of funds depends on ‘utility certificates’ for previously released funds and for some departments, on audits of previous expenditure. “For Centrally sponsored schemes, it depends upon how much you are able to move forward also. There are still five months to go in the current financial year. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Mamata in Goa: Modi will gain as Congress Covid distress: MNREGS demand indecisive, not serious above 2-cr level 10th month in a row April May Infact,themonthly figure for households availing of the MNREGS has been hovering over two crores since December last year. In the last 18 months, or July August 2.00 2.08 1.21 1.23 2.01 2.11 1.50 2.94 June 2.76 2.69 3.89 ■ 2019-20 ■ 2020-21 ■ 2021-22 2.15 OVER TWO crore households availed of the MNREGS in September, indicating that the demand for work under the rural job guarantee scheme remains high even months after the Centre and states lifted most Covid restrictions. Data available on the MNREGSportalshowthat2.07crore households availed of the scheme in September — which was 3.85% higher than for the samemonthin2020(comingafter the first wave and the severestrestrictionsof thepandemic), and as much as 72.30% higher than September 2019, the last non-Covid year. HOUSEHOLDS AVAILING MNREGS (IN CR) 3.31 NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 30 2.22 URGING REGIONAL parties opposed to the BJP to join hands with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), party supremo Mamata Banerjee Saturday attacked the Congress, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi will become more powerful as the grand old party is not serious about politics, and that the country is sufferingbecausetheCongressdoes not take decisions. The statement by Banerjee, who was on a three-day visit to GoathatendedSaturday,cameafterhermeetingwithGoaForward Party(GFP)presidentandformer deputy chief minister Vijai Sardesai, a former ally of the BJP. HARIKISHAN SHARMA 2.10 PANAJI, OCTOBER 30 While silent on whether doors to the Congress are closed or not, the TMC chief said: “The Congressdoesnottakethingsseriouslyinpolitics. Modijiisgoing to be more powerful because of the Congress, because they are slacking. Why should the country suffer because they cannot take a decision? They have had enoughopportunities.Insteadof contesting against the BJP, they contestedagainstmeinmystate. How do they expect that they will contest against you, but you should go to them with flowers and sweets.” Banerjee’s criticism of the Congress came on the day its leader Rahul Gandhi was also in Goatokickstarttheparty’s campaign in the state. It signals CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 1.69 1.11 2.13 MAYURA JANWALKAR Sept since the pandemic hit, the numbers have been below the two-crore mark only thrice — in April 2020 (1.10 crore), CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Covid delay, string of extreme weather events add to burden of expectations in Glasgow AMITABH SINHA EDINBURGH (SCOTLAND), OCTOBER 30 ON TWO previous occasions, in 2009 and 2015, over 120 world leaders — Presidents, Prime Ministers, monarchs, heads of states — have gathered under one roof in a climate conference. Those have remainedthe largest Climate activist Greta Thunberg at Euston Station, London, ahead of boarding a train to Glasgow, on Saturday. AP single gatherings of world leaders anywhere. A similar galaxy — Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to fly in from the G20 in Italytomorrow—isscheduledin the Scottish city of Glasgow this week, for yet another climate conference, or COP 26, short for Conference of Parties (to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). That probably makes Glasgow appear in the same league as Copenhagen (2009) or Paris (2015). But the difference couldn’t be more stark. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E E X P L A I NE D EXPRESSAT COP26 The Prime Minister, who tweeted photographs with the Pope which showed them embracing each other, said: “Had a very warm meeting with Pope Francis. I had the opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues withhimandalso invited himto visit India.” Thiswasthefirstmeetingbetween an Indian Prime Minister and the Pope in more than two decades. Sources said the meeting that was scheduled for only 20 minutes lasted an hour. Arindam Bagchi, spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said: “The two leaders exchanged views on various issues, including climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic. The PM also extended an invitation toPopeFrancistovisitIndiaatan early date.” In a statement, the MEA said CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INDIA READY TO PRODUCE 5 BILLION VACCINE DOSES BY 2022-END: PM AT G20 PAGE 5 Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Pope Francis at the Vatican City on Saturday. PTI NAVEED IQBAL West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Panaji on Saturday. Express PAGES 24, 25, 26 Redflags, reality ● check SUMMIT COMES after IPCC warning that barely two decades on, the world may be 1.5 degree Celsius hotter than preindustrial times. But agreeing on a net-zero emissions target looks highly elusive. India wants a breakthrough on climate financing. SUNDAY STORY PAGE 15 Aryan Khan after being released from Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai on Saturday. Ganesh Shirsekar Aryan leaves jail, court grants bail to 9 more in cruise raid EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE MUMBAI, OCTOBER 30 THE GOOD FRIEND Aroosa Alam, the Pak journalist at the centre of a slugfest between Amarinder Singh and Congress leaders A SPECIAL Narcotic Drugs and PsychotropicSubstances(NDPS) Act Court on Saturday granted bail to nine people arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)inthecruiseshipraidcase, two days after the Bombay High Court allowed the bail plea of prime accused Aryan Khan, the son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, and two others. Overall, 14 of the 20 arrested are out on bail now. Among those granted bail on Saturday was Aachit Kumar, accused of supplyingdrugstoAryanandcoaccused Arbaaz Merchant. On Saturday, Aryan walked outof ArthurRoadJailaftercompletion of his bail formalities. He had been granted bail on Thursday along with Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha. Merchant and Dhamecha are likely to be released from jail on Sunday. Avin Sahu and Manish CONTINUED ON PAGE 2