log on to thegoan.net @thegoaneveryday THURSDAY JANUARY 21, 2021 China’s e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma appeared on Wednesday in a video posted online, ending a 2 1/2-month disappearance from public view that prompted speculation about his business empire’s future. PTI HC overturns conviction of art teacher Kanhaiya PANAJI: The Bombay High Court at Goa has overturned the conviction of artist and art teacher Kanhaiya Naik who was convicted by the Children’s Court and sentenced to four years rigorous imprisonment for allegedly having molested and sexually assaulted a 17-year-old female student.  >> See pg 3 Covid case: Dhempe’s defers examinations PANAJI: The Dhempe College of Arts and Science has put off examinations for the final year BSc and BA students which were scheduled for Thursday with two students reportedly testing positive for the dreaded Coronavirus after answering their first paper on Monday.  >> See pg 3 Section 144 imposed around IFFI venues PANAJI: Section 144 has been imposed in the areas surrounding the venues of 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) till January 24. Carrying of firearms, use of loudspeakers, shouting of slogans and burning of firecrackers near the petrol pump and at the venues of meetings etc in any public place within the radius of 500 metres of IFFI venues has been prohibited. CEC urged to consider objections to projects MARGAO: Asserting that the three linear projects will cause damage to Goa environmentally and economically, various organizations under the banner of “Goenkar – Ek Pavl Ekcharachem” have made a fervent plea to the CEC to consider objections against anti people, anti-environment projects.  >> See pg 2 WEATHER >> Max: 33.5 C Min: 22.6 C Humidity: 93% TIDES Low: High: 11:06 04:03 22:20 17:39 The Goan (Playstore) 10 pages PRICE ` 6 PANAJI MARGAO GOA VOLUME VI, NO. 212 IFFI to pay tribute to Bose on 125th birth anniversary IN SHORT >> Facebook.com/thegoaneveryday 2 GOA 8 In absence of shelter home, cops leave beggars at Margao Rly Stn Instagram.com/thegoaneveryday RNI: GOAENG/2015/65729 GOA Yet to decide about Goa polls, will go with like-minded parties: Pawar 3 Goa Cabinet flags down Traffic Sentinel Scheme UNDECIDED ON IMPLEMENTING AMENDED CENTRAL MOTOR VEHICLES ACT THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI In a significant move, the State Cabinet has decided to discontinue the much-hyped Traffic Sentinel Scheme in Goa. Speaking to media persons after the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that some had made it a business to run after violators with their mobile phones which later turned into violent scenes. The scheme was launched by the Goa Traffic Police for empowering general public to participate in better management of traffic on roads. In this initiative, any person could report traffic violations by capturing the photo/ video of the defaulting vehicle and send it via WhatsApp to Goa Traffic Police. Once a traffic sentinel accumulates 100 points he/she gets cash reward of Rs 1000. Meanwhile, the cabinet remained undecided on the issue of implementing the amended Central Motor Vehicles Act which has introduced tougher provisions for traffic discipline, including hefty hikes in fines for traffic law violations. The Chief Minister said people will have to be made aware and sensitised on the changes in the traffic laws before implementing the amended Central MV Act. He also acknowledged that there are issues and inadequacies in relation to infrastructure and the roads. Lok Pal amendment gets the nod to make retd HC judges eligible PANAJI: The Pramod Sawant led Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the path for introduction and passage in the forthcoming session of the State Legislature the Goa Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill to widen the pool of eligibility for appointment to the post of the anti-corruption Ombudsman. The amendment proposes to make retired High Court Judges also eligible for the Lokayukta’s post in addition to retired judges of the Supreme Court and chief justices of High Courts. Goa is without a Lokayukta since the post fell vacant when the term of then incumbent Justice P K Mishra ended on September 17 last year. “We have cleared the Goa Lokayukta (Amendment) Bill 2021, which will make retired High Court Judges eligible for the post,” Sawant said at his customary post-cabinet press conference on Wednesday. No snap polls, will complete term: Sawant PANAJI: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday dismissed the notion that a snap poll is being contemplated to take advantage of an opposition which is demoralised and in disarray. Sawant ruled out a snap poll and said his government will complete its term which extends till early March of 2022. “Government is stable and we will have a full term,” Sawant said while addressing his customary >Continued on P5 Centre ready to suspend farm laws for 18 months SPORTS IPL-14: Steve Smith released as Sanju Samson named RR captain 10 More Covid vaccines arrive in the State; Round-2 from Friday THE GOAN I NETWORK PANAJI Goa received the second batch of Covid-19 vaccines early in the morning on Wednesday from Mumbai. The consignment comprised two boxes containing 18,000 doses of the vaccine which were handed over by Airport Authority of India officials to health officials. Expected to be of a much larger scale, the second round of vaccination will commence on Friday. Director of Health Services Dr Jose D’Sa told reporters that the second round of vaccination drive would be held from Friday onwards in various government-run and private medical institutions. The list of hospitals will include the seven session sites which participated in the first round of vaccination held on January 16 as well as a few more additional hospitals. It was also learnt that the vaccination is likely to be under- NO DEATHS FOR THE FOURTH DAY „„No Covid-related deaths were recorded in the state for the fourth consecutive day taken four to five days a week from the coming week onwards. Previously, on January 13, Goa had received a stock of 23,500 doses of Covishied vaccine. Out of these, only 426 doses were utilized. Meanwhile, no Covid-related deaths were recorded in the state for the fourth consecutive day. The Covid victim count remains steady at 756. The Directorate of Health Services detected 87 new cases of the infection from among the 1,802 samples tested in the last 24 hours. The total confirmed cases in the state have now touched 52,657. Of these, 865 are presently active while 51,036 have recovered. The recovery rate is 96.92 per cent. BY JOE! BIDENING OF A NEW ERA NEXT ROUND OF TALKS SLATED FOR JANUARY 22 AGENCIES NEW DELHI The Central government on Wednesday proposed to suspend the three contentious farm laws for up to 18 months during the 10th round of talks with the protesting farmers unions. The next round of meeting has been scheduled for January 22. Soon after the meeting, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, “Government is ready to keep three farm laws suspended for 1-1.5 years, during which solution can be reached with mutual dialogue.” Stating that talks are progressing in the right direction, Minister Tomar said, “Talks held in cordial atmosphere despite some ‘naram-garam’ moments. However, I feel that talks are progressing in the right direction and there is a possibility of finding a resolution on January 22. I’m happy that farmer unions have taken this very seriously and said that they would consider it tomorrow and convey their decision on January 22.” The farmers, however, wanted a complete withdrawal of the laws as a mere suspension of the laws for some period of time will not bring A ‘Nihang’ shows his skills during ongoing farmer’s protest against the new farm laws, at Ghazipur border in New Delhi, on Wednesday.  PTI Will not participate in the meetings of court-appointed panel: Unions to SC >> See pg 6 about any change, farmer leaders said on Wednesday after the 10th round of talks concluded. Meanwhile, All India Kisan Sabha’s General Secretary Hannan Mollah said, “Govt said that it is ready to file an affidavit in the court to the effect that it would put the implementation of the laws on hold for one & half a year. They also said that a committee would be formed on MSP and the laws and they would implement the recommendations of the committee. We’ll hold a meeting tomorrow and take a decision on the proposal.” Reacting to the government’s proposal, a farmer union leader said, “There is no point in suspending the laws and made it clear that we want the repeal of the laws.” >Continued on P5 Joe Biden being sworn in as the 46th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Jill Biden holds the Bible during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, on Wednesday.  PTI Contaminated water? 30 take ill in Sattari village THE GOAN I NETWORK VALPOI About 30 persons have taken ill at Brahmakarmali village in Nagargao-Sattari since the last few days and a health team has collected samples for further tests. According to reports, several people began complaining of diarrhoea and vomiting in the village and they sought treatment at a private medi- cal dispensary in Valpoi town and at the Valpoi Community Health Centre (CHC). Expressing concern in the matter, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane directed health officials to trace the cause for the illness. On Wednesday, a Valpoi CHC team led by Dr Abhijit Wadkar along with the officers Aqib Sheikh and Santosh Gawas visited the village and interacted with the resi- dents, besides collecting different samples for analysis. The results are expected to be made available by Thursday evening. Local panch Parag Khadilkar is also in touch with health officials and villagers in order to bring the situation under control. After finding out that many people consume water from >Continued on P5 SAMPLE RESULTS BY THIS EVENING „„On Wednesday, a Valpoi CHC team visited the village and collected different samples for analysis „„The results are expected to be made available by Thursday evening Comunidades slam govt plans to regularise illegal constructions THE GOAN I NETWORK MAPUSA earing attempts by the government to bring a legislation to regularise illegal constructions on communidade land, the comunidades in the State on Wednesday said any attempt to encroach on the functioning of the ageold institution would be met with stiff opposition including legal recourse. The comunidades also slammed the government for trying to mollycoddle the migrants who have illegally settled on comunidade land in various parts of the State. The comunidade bodies, their components and all Goans see this as a clandestine attempt by the government to bring in and regularise F all the migrants as possible vote banks and dilute the Goan identity, said Tulio de Souza, President of Guirim comunidade. The Guirim comunidade president along with the representatives from several other comunidades was addressing a news conference in Mapusa. The comunidade representatives later met the Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate and handed her a representation condemning and opposing the government move. De Souza sought to remind that comunidades were autonomous village level bodies envisaged by the Code of Communidade in force and the government only provides administrative tutelage at the expense of the comunidades. The government has no 1 Guirim comunidade president Tulio de Souza addressing the media in Mapusa on Wednesday.  Agnelo Pereira power to legalise illegal constructions existing on comunidade land as the comunidade bodies are the absolute owners of the land, he said. The comunidades also slammed the government for trying to mollycoddle the migrants who have illegally settled on comunidade land in various parts of the State The comunidade representatives later met the Revenue Minister Jennifer Monser- 2 He further disclosed that an earlier attempt by the government to regularise illegal constructions on comunidade land through an amendment of Article 372-A in 2001 fell flat as it was met with stiff opposition from a united communidade bodies in the State. rate and handed her a representation condemning and opposing the government move They sought to remind that comunidades were autonomous village level bodies and the government only provides administrative tutelage at the expense of the comunidades 3 The comunidades also said by regularising the illegal houses on communidade land, the government was cocking a snook against its own TCP Act. The TCP Act prohibits construction in wet and agriculture land in non-settlement zones while there are several rules and regulations to follow to carry out a construction in settlement zones. So those who have constructed in comunidade land don’t have to follow TCP rules and regulations? Will you violate the TCP Act to regularise illegalities? Then shut down the TCP office. We do not want the TCP law, said Venzy Viegas, President of Carambolim comunidade. Condemning the government’s attempt to give a backdoor entry to migrants, Viegas said the comunidade land has to be protected at all cost. Is this bill being passed in the interest of the Goans? Or does the government want to make the outsiders who have come and settled here into a vote bank? he queried. January 21st & 22nd UK 27 The Fern Hotel Belagavi