tuesdAY Competition Commission slaps `213 crore penalty on Meta 19 The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Monday imposed `213.14 crore penalty on the company for abusing its dominant position november, 2024 epaper.morningstandard.in facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard c h e at i n g singapore tycoon given 18 years jail Lim Oon Kuin, the founder of a failed oil trading company, was sentenced on Monday to nearly 18 years in jail for cheating HSBC of millions of dollars. Page 9 Action over 2021 whatsapp privacy update A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS l New Delhi l J8.00 Delhi huffs and puffs with ‘severe plus’ air quality in yrs, SC for strict GRAP 4 implementation P r a b h at S h u k l a & I f r a h M u f t i @ New Delhi Desperately breathless and beyond redemption in the immediate future — Delhi’s air quality plummeted to alarming levels on Monday, leaving people gasping with itchy eyes and sore throats as the Air Quality Index stood at 494, the secondworst in the last six years. With the Air Quality Index (AQI) entering the ‘severe plus’ category choking the national capital, the Supreme Court directed all Delhi-NCR states to immediately set up teams to strictly enforce anti-pollution GRAP 4 restrictions, making it clear that the curbs will continue till further orders. The court asserted that it is the constitutional duty of all states to ensure all citizens live in a pollution-free environment. “We make it clear that till further orders are passed by this court, the implementation of stage 4 of GRAP will continue even if the AQI level drops below 450,” a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Augustine George Masih said as it sought compliance reports from DelhiNCR states and the Centre by Thursday. It also faulted the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for “delaying” the implementation of Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) and said it followed a “wrong” approach. Doctors raised concer ns about health risks, cautioning that the toxic air can harm not just vulnerable groups but also healthy individuals. The air quality data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) shows that Delhi’s average AQI for November has increased steadily over the past two years. This year, the city recorded an average AQI of 381 in the first 18 days of November compared to 377 during the same period last year. The last time pollution levels soared to such heights was in 2021 when the average AQI reached 383. However, this November marks the first time in the past five years that pollution levels have remained above 300 every single day Among the 38 func. tional air quality monitoring stations in Delhi, the worst pollution was reported in Dwarka and Najafgarh with an AQI of 500 as of 11 am on Monday . The CPCB data showed that the hourly average PM2.5 and PM10 levels have been on a sharp rise since Sunday noon. The average PM2.5 level was 354 micrograms per cubic metre — more than 20 times the standard prescribed by the WHO. More reports on page 4 Living hell Worst locations with AQI above 500 Discontinue physical classes for Class X, XII Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, Dwarka Sector 8, Jahangirpuri, Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, Mundka, Najafgarh, Nehru Nagar and Punjabi Bagh The Directorate of Education stated that all govt, govt-aided, private recognised, MCD and NDMC schools are directed to discontinue physical classes for all classes including class X & XII until further orders. ‘No undue concerns’ Amid concerns about growth slowdown, Sitharaman assured there is no need to have “undue concerns” 1 dead, another hurt; More troops rushed to Manipur Record farm fires reported in Punjab With 1,251 farm fire incidents, Punjab on Monday reported the highest stubble burning cases this season. This year, the state has recorded 9,655 such cases, as per data with the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB). Sources said the PPCB is facing allegations of under-reporting farm fire incidents. Many farmers were setting paddy residue on fire post afternoon, dodging satellite monitoring, sources said. As the window for the Rabi crop — wheat — is very short after paddy harvest, some farmers set their fields on fire to quickly clear the crop residue for sowing a new crop. Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in Manipur with senior officials, his second in as many days. One person was killed and another injured in alleged police firing during mob violence in Jiribam town on Sunday night even as several local office bearers of the ruling BJP submitted their resignations expressing deep concern over the prevailing “unwelcome/ helpless situation”. A mob had gone on the rampage in Jiribam and attacked the offices of the BJP and the Congress, prompting the police to allegedly open fire. The state government has ordered a probe. Given the volatile situation, the Union home ministry decided to send 50 more companies of the Central Armed Police Forces to the trouble-torn state. This is over and above 20 companies sent last week. At the meeting, Shah directed the CAPFs and the state police to intensify their operations to quickly restore normalcy. In Imphal, Chief Minister Govindas Konthoujam’s residence, that was set on fire in Bishnupur | PTI There is no question of withdrawing support. The govt is doing its best but unfortunately, it could not save lives. We appeal to people to exercise restraint — BJP ally Naga People’s Front minister Awangbou Newmai Minister N Biren Singh chaired a meeting with the NDA legislators. Twenty-three MLAs — 14 from BJP, five from its ally Naga People’s Front, three from National People’s Party (NPP) and an Independent — besides the lone Rajya Sabha member attended the meet. The NDA has a strength of 46 in the 60-member House. The NPP served notices to its three MLAs who attended the meet despite the party’s withdrawal of support to the government. The meetings came in the wake of arson attacks and vandalism by mobs targeting the Tirumala temple board ‘Nov has never been so bad... says non-Hindu staff to no bright sun for next 45 days’ be sent to AP govt pool Gufran Beigh, the founder and project director of SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research), is currently a Chair Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru. He talks to Ifrah Mufti about the dangerously high levels of toxic air surrounding the capital and the measures to tackle it. Excerpts: What could be the reasons for this severe pollution? One potential external factor is the stubble burning. Interestingly, this year, the number of fires was significantly lower against last year’s counts of 4,000-5,000. However, the situation is set to improve by Tuesday evening, as there will be no intrusion and surface winds will pick up. As per the hourly E x p r ess ne w s se r v i c e @ Mumbai Nirmala Sitharaman PAGES 12 M UK E S H RA N J A N a n d P r a s a n ta M a z u m d a r @ New Delhi/ Guwahati current interest rates stressful, cut them, FM urges banks Bank interest rates will have to be far more affordable l The penalty is over Meta-owned WhatsApp’s 2021 privacy policy update on a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ basis. The commission said the update forces users to comply, undermining their autonomy, and constitutes an abuse of Meta’s dominant position. The CCI said it constituted “an imposition of unfair condition” under the Competition Act, 2002 | P10 Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the current cost of borrowing is very stressful and asked banks to cut the interest rates to make borrowing more affordable. “What is important is that when you look at our growth requirements, and you have so many different voices coming out and saying the cost of borrowing is really very stressful, and a time when we want industries to ramp up and move (to) building capacities, interest rates will have to be far more affordable,” Sitharaman said at a SBI event here. Her remarks come amid the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision not to lower the interest rates since February 2023. The rates were left unchanged for the tenth time in the October policy Retail inflation, too, remains above . the tolerance level. With the retail inflation rising to a 14-month high of 6.21% in October, analysts are expecting the central bank to keep the rates unchanged in the next policy review in December as well. However, the finance minister’s nudge came amid concerns about a possible slowdown in economic growth. Falling demand from urban consumers is one of the prime worries. readings, the AQI began to deteriorate at 9 am and continued to worsen till 1 pm before improving in the evening. Is the government taking enough measures? Under the current circumstances, 50% of pollution is from the smog. Even if all emissions are stopped, 50% will still remain. Currently , the smog levels are at 600 per cubic metre. Stopping of the emissions will only reduce it to 300. The government has enforced GRAP-IV has it . made any difference? It should help in a big way but am not aware of the current implementation status. This also involves a risk of failure Express read Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother held in US? Jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol, wanted for the murder of NCP leader Baba Siddique and firing outside Salman Khan’s Bandra home, has been detained in the US, Mumbai Police sources said on Monday. The sources did not provide further details related to his detention. Earlier this month, an official said that the Mumbai Police has sent a proposal to the Centre for extradition of Anmol. Day after quitting AAP, Kailash Gahlot joins BJP Former minister Kailash Gahlot joined the BJP on Monday, a day after resigning from AAP, and accused his former party of picking fights with the Centre. He joined the BJP in the presence of Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva, party vice-president Baijayant Jay Panda among others. Gahlot said efforts are being made to build a false narrative that his decision to quit AAP was the result of ED and CBI pressure. | P3 as the norms of GRAP- IV require a certain approach. Can artificial rain help? Artificial rain is no magic. We need to have seeded clouds for water molecules to form; else there will be nothing to inject. Not all water droplets lead to rain. If there’re no clouds, what can we seed? Will Delhi be able see the winter sun soon? Every phenomenon has changed. Earlier, what you experienced in the first week of November, is now being observed in the third week. The air quality has never been this bad around November 18-20. Unfortunately, we can forget about the bright sun for the next month and a half. next SANJAY CAG WILL BE K MURTHY: GOVT Murthy, a 1989-batch IAS officer, will succeed Girish Chandra Murmu upon taking office on Nov 21. Peetham, he said the lease will be cancelled and the building The new Tirumala Tirupati there will be demolished beDevasthanams Trust Board, cause of several violations. which met for the first time Sarada Peetham chief Swamy here on Monday, took several Swaroopanandendra Saraswati important decisions, including was considered the spiritual the surrender of non-Hindu guru of former chief minister employees working in Tiruma- Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy . la to the Andhra Pradesh The board also discussed the government. possibility of reducing the It also decided to rewaiting time for Sarva voke the land lease to Darshan. Since is takes the Visakha Sarada up to 30 hours for Sarva Peetham and provide Darshan on some days, darshan to local people the board decided to deon the first Tuesday of ploy Artificial Intellievery month. gence and hire a consulShortly after taking tancy to cut down the over as trust board wait time to two hours. chairman on October 31, In a gesture to The trust board also B R Naidu had said, the local, the decided to withdraw all “Everyone who works at TTD fixed deposits from TTD has Tirumala should be Hinprivate banks and dedecided to du. That would be my offer darshan posit them in nationalfirst effort. There are to the people ised banks. many issues in this. We of Tirupati on The system of issuing the first have to look into it.” around 4,000 darshan Tuesday of At Monday’s meeting, tickets to the tourism every month it was decided to hold de par tment will be B R Naidu consultations with nonwound up due to misHindu employees of the use. In fact, Tirumala TTD, B R Naidu said. They will is a pilgrim centre and not be given the option of taking a tourism centre, the TTD voluntary retirement or join- chief said. ing any other government deIt was also decided to add anpartment, he added. other food item to Annadanam As for the Visakha Sarada Canteen buffet. E x p r ess N e w s S e r v i c e @ Tirumala houses and the properties of over a dozen legislators, including ministers. Leishangthem Susindro, a minister, has built a bunker at his house, which was targeted by a mob. The government extended the ban on internet and mobile data services in seven affected districts, and ordered the closure of all educational institutes in Imphal East, Imphal West and Bishnupur districts. Influential Meitei organisation, ‘Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity’, locked the GST Bhavan and election department office on Monday . 3 Bills passed Andhra scraps 2-child policy for local polls S Vis w a n at h @ Vijayawada The Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Monday passed three Bills to amend the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act, 1992, Andhra Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1955 and Andhra Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1965 to lift the bar on those having more than two children from contesting in local body polls. Individuals, irrespective of the number of children they have, can now contest local body polls. Curiously, it was CM Chandrababu Naidu’s government that introduced the two-child norm for local body polls in 1994 to curb the population growth. With India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) declining since 1992-92, Naidu has shifted his stance of late, urging people to have more children. In October, Naidu said he will introduce a law to drop the twochild norm in local polls. As per the National Family Health Survey-5, TFR fell from 3.7 children per woman in 199292 to 2.1 in 2019-21 in rural areas, and from 2.6 in 2001 to 1.5 in 2019-21 in urban areas. It only happens in India No custodian for locked room in Nirman Bhawan Pa r v e z S u lta n @ New Delhi The custody of a nondescript locked room No 4 on the ground floor in ‘ ’ wing of Nirman BhaA wan has become a mystery of sorts as no one seems to know which ministry or department it has been allotted it. Nirman Bhawan houses offices of a couple of ministries and departments, including the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and its affiliated divisions such as Central Public Work Department (CPWD), Land and Department Office and the ministry of tribal affairs. However, no ministry or department operating from the complex has come forward to claim its custody despite sending multiple reminders. In a fresh circular recently CPWD stated that it , would break open the lock under supervision by the panel as no office had responded. Following the notices, only the Directorate of Estates, under MoHUA, sent its response. “It is still known which department or ministry holds the possession of the room. November 25 is fixed to open the room,” said an official. As part of the Special Cam- Monday date set for breaking open the Lock “All ministries or departments located in Nirmal Bhawan premises are hereby informed that lock of the Room No 4, GF, A Wing will be broken on November 25 at 11 am,” the latest circular said paign 4.0 launched by Department of Administrative Reforms Public Grievances for institutionalising cleanliness, the ministries and departments were earlier requested to claim custodianship by November 8. The room’s lock will be broken on Monday at 11 am in the presence of a panel. “Representative of the ministries or departments (if any) may be deputed to present at the scheduled time and venue. Further, this room will be taken into this directorate’s (CPWD) custody read the latest circular. ,”